-
Tech NewsA Ghost Ship Carrying 8 ‘Skeletonized’ Bodies Washed Up in Japan—and It’s Not the First Time
A battered wooden fishing vessel containing eight partially skeletonized bodies washed ashore in northern Japan over the weekend. Disturbingly, it’s just the latest in a string of similar “ghost ships” that seem to be coming from North Korea. At the moment, it’s unclear how long the boat had been floating in the Sea of Japan … Continued
-
Tech NewsArtificial Intelligence
Facebook Expands Self-Harm Prevention Program That Monitors Users’ ‘Thoughts of Suicide’
Facebook is expanding its artificial intelligence-based suicide prevention efforts. The company said today that it has plans to eventually monitor and respond to suicidal intent on Facebook “worldwide,” excluding the European Union. Today, Facebook’s vice president of product management Guy Rosen published a blog about the company’s efforts to detect and report users who express … Continued
-
Tech News
The Department of Defense Is Developing Plants That Are Spies
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to bioengineer plants so that the military can turn foliage into spies. DARPA calls the Black Mirror-esque effort the Advanced Plant Technologies (APT) program. The end goal doesn’t appear to be developing a ficus that narcs on you, but rather organic “discreet, self-sustaining sensors” that can monitor … Continued
-
Tech News
Skype Removed From Apple’s App Store in China
Skype is now absent from several app stores in China, namely Apple’s, making it the latest victim of the nation’s harsh internet censorship efforts known as the Great Firewall. The New York Times reports thats the messaging and calling app was removed from the online stores almost a month ago. “We have been notified by … Continued
-
ScienceHealthThe Last of the Iron Lungs
Martha Lillard spends half of every day with her body encapsulated in a half-century old machine that forces her to breathe. Only her head sticks out of the end of the antique iron lung. On the other side, a motorized lever pulls the leather bellows, creating negative pressure that induces her lungs to suck in … Continued
-
Tech NewsSocial Media
Report: Facebook Fact-Checking Is A Sham, According to Facebook Fact-Checkers
Facebook has been on a mission to stamp out the spread of misinformation and propaganda since last November, after reports first began to shed light on the role that social media played in the US election. But the fact-checkers the company has relied on don’t seem to have much faith in the tech giant’s plan … Continued
-
Tech NewsAlphabet X’s Project Loon Has Provided Internet to 100,000 People in Puerto Rico
Project Loon has provided mobile data to more than 100,000 people in Puerto Rico, according to Google parent company Alphabet, which operates the enterprise. The project, which began as a Google X Lab offshoot, provides basic internet to crisis zones and out-of-network areas using weather balloons. In the wake of Hurricane Maria devastation, Project Loon … Continued
-
Tech NewsSocial Media
Former Facebook President Admits It’s ‘Exploiting a Vulnerability in Human Psychology’
Sean Parker, the visionary techno-elf who cofounded Napster and served as Facebook’s first president, seems to have some regrets about building the social behemoth that’s taken over our world, telling an audience this week, “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.” At an Axios event on Wednesday, Parker reportedly described as himself becoming … Continued
-
Tech News
Greta Van Susteren Made an App Or Something—Really We Have No Clue What She Is Talking About
Have you been wondering what Greta Van Susteren has been up to since she ended her brief stint as a MSNBC host? Well regardless, she’s been working on a nutty app that appears to be called Sorry. The anchor-turned-developer announced Sorry this morning in a long, bizarre, stream-of-consciousness Facebook post filled with random capitalizations and … Continued
-
Tech NewsUber Is Still Trying to Do That Flying Car Thing [Updated]
Correction: This story originally overstated NASA’s relationship with the Uber project. It has been updated to better reflect the agency’s involvement. We regret the error. Since the world we are currently living in is very much not the future we all dreamed of, Uber is trying to at least make a sliver of our flying … Continued
-
Tech News
Twitter Goes Through With It: You’re All Getting 280 Damn Characters
After several weeks of Twitter users tweeting about how much they hate the idea of expanded character limits, Twitter has officially announced that it’s doubling the previous 140-character limit for all users. Twitter has been considering increasing the limit since at least last year. In September, the company finally announced the plan and started giving … Continued
-
Tech News
Twitter Blocked ‘Bisexual’ Searches Because It Was Using a List of Words Linked to Porn
After users noticed last week that the terms “bisexual” and “bisexuality” were turning up no search results on Twitter, the company responded to criticism from LGBTQ advocates on Tuesday, apologizing and blaming a “technical issue” for the error. As it turns out, Twitter used an outdated list of terms associated with porn to determine what … Continued
-
Tech News
WeWork Wants to Teach Kindergartners to Disrupt Shit Up
WeWork has an unsettling vision for disrupting education by prepping kids to become the next Zuckerberg before they start learning their times tables. And while it’s a hell of a lot better than anything Betsy DeVos could dream up, the company’s technocratic, seemingly Shark Tank-inspired take on Montessori makes me fear for my unborn children. … Continued
-
Tech News
Here’s to the Brave Laika, Who Became the First Doggonaut 60 Years Ago Today
On November 3, 1957, a street dog named Laika became the first Earthling to orbit our planet. The Soviet Union had launched many good dogs into outer space before, but Laika became a global sensation because she was the first to enter low Earth orbit. As The New Yorker wrote in its remembrance of the … Continued
-
Tech News
Why Is TripAdvisor Removing Rape Warnings From Its Site?
TripAdvisor has deleted multiple reports of rape and sexual assault over the last several years, according to a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which also highlights the confusing rules and algorithms that determine which reviews are deleted or featured more prominently than others. The expose includes reports from several travelers who claim that TripAdvisor … Continued
-
Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
Richard Branson Creates New Space Venture to Launch Government and Military Spacecrafts
Richard Branson could play a part in our upcoming star wars. The billionaire’s satellite-launch company Virgin Orbit has started a new venture, Vox Space, aimed at wooing government clients. The Vox Space website states that the Manhattan Beach, California-based company “provides the national security community of the USA and allied nations with responsive, dedicated, and … Continued
-
Tech News
Best Buy Stops Selling Overpriced iPhone X Models After People Complain
You don’t want to spend $100 more to pay upfront for the latest iPhone models? Fine, we wont sell you the iPhone. How about them apples? That’s essentially the stance Best Buy has taken in the wake of consumer backlash from news that the company was charging consumers more to buy the phone upfront instead … Continued
-
Tech News
Why Is Best Buy Overcharging for the iPhone X?
Best Buy is charging more for iPhone X buyers who don’t want installment debt. If you want to pre-order the iPhone X through Best Buy and pay for the whole device upfront then you have to pay $100 more than if you choose the Best Buy installment plan or if you buy the phone through … Continued
-
Tech News
Twitter Admits It Accidentally Inflated User Growth for Three Years
Today Twitter revealed that while it’s actually growing now—it added four million monthly Tweeters over the last three months—the company has made a crucial error: It accidentally inflated user growth in its reports for the previous three years. On Thursday morning, Twitter released its quarterly earnings in a letter to shareholders. In the report, the … Continued
Jennings Brown
Jennings Brown's posts
