Syfy’s fantasy show The Magicians kicks off its second season tonight, but New York City residents also have a chance to explore a real-world installation tied to the show for the next few days. I got a chance to stop by the Hall of Magic last week, where each room offered a different type of fantasy-themed experience. Some of them simply provided fun gimmicks, like the ability to take… Read More
After a couple months of restricting development on Daydream, Google has opened the floodgates, now allowing anyone to submit an app or experience for the company’s mobile VR platform. Previously, the company had worked with a select group of partners to build out apps for the platform, assumedly to give developers interested in Daydream a taste of what works well on it. Apps and games… Read More
Hmm. Twitter users searching for the word “asshole” will receive a recommendation for the profile of our 45th president of the United States, Mr. Donald J. Trump.
Why is this happening? We reached out to Twitter for comment and will update if we hear back. Our best guess is that Trump’s mentions are full of people calling him an asshole, and so this has convinced… Read More
We are now in a day and age where cyborg insects no longer even raise an eyebrow. Hell, you can order kits! But this particular cyborg insect is especially interesting: a dragonfly that has been modified inside and out to follow the path programmed into a solar-powered electronic backpack the size of a fingernail. Read More
If caught early, skin cancer isn’t particularly deadly. But unfortunately for many, signs and symptoms go unnoticed until health has irreversibly deteriorated. Research findings published in Nature today hint at a future where anyone, anywhere, might be able to perform a basic skin cancer screening on a smartphone. Utilizing machine learning, a Stanford team, including… Read More
It’s been a rough day, and maybe what you need is a few chiptunes from Sega’s arcade and console hits. Many cartridges’ worth have just been added to the company’s Spotify channel. Read More
President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch a trade war with China, threats that the country is beginning to take ever more seriously. Over at GGV Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that’s been actively investing in China for more than 15 years, managing director Hans Tung seems to be watching the jockeying with some wonderment – and patience.… Read More
Technology and the internet have empowered science just as they have business and communication. As with the others, tech has helped make scientific endeavors global in scope, robust against interference, and accessible by billions — with or without the consent of the powers that be. That’s just one reason why the current administration’s efforts to muzzle scientific inquiry… Read More
This isn’t the first time Francis Ford Coppola has overhauled Apocalypse Now. In 2001, the director teamed up with long-time editor Walter Murch for Redux, a new cut that added nearly an hour to the classic Vietnam edit. Now the semi-retired director is enlisting a new generation of collaborators to reimagine the 1979 film as a “psychological horror RPG” that puts the player… Read More
Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said today on the company’s call accompanying its first-quarter earnings report that Qualcomm would continue to work with Apple as a supplier despite a major legal battle between the two companies.
“We intend to remain a good supplier to Apple even while this dispute continues,” Mollenkopf said on the call. “Our preference is to resolve… Read More
The Trump administration has told the EPA that its scientific work must pass through a political vetting process before being released, multiple sources indicate. Doug Erickson, head of Trump’s EPA transition team, has made it clear to NPR and the AP, among others, that “We’re taking a look at everything on a case-by-case basis, including the web page and whether climate… Read More
U.S. President Donald Trump is unprecedented in a lot more ways than could be listed in 140-characters. But his prolific and unpredictable use of Twitter is one difference that marks him out from presidents past… Read More
Bikeshare programs in the US have mostly consisted of kiosks, or stations, where users can unlock a bike, take it off the rack, use it and return it once their errand or joy ride is done. Some only allow subscribers others charge by the hour. Meanwhile in China, bikeshare programs have evolved from kiosk-based systems into something else entirely. Venture-backed companies in China like… Read More
A growing number of political activist websites have popped up in recent days to help those opposed to the Trump administration’s policies and agenda to take action. But a new one, 5 Calls, has just launched its simple online tool that makes the more cumbersome process of getting in touch with your representatives a lot easier than before.
The site, created by a team of volunteers… Read More
EBay reported its fourth quarter earnings for the bell. Investors were closely watching the holiday quarter to see if it met expectations, which it did. The stock rose 7% in initial after hours trading. Gross merchandise volume, a metric of that shows the total dollar value of all purchases on eBay’s platforms, came in at $22.3 billion, when analysts were expecting $22.4 billion.… Read More
It all started with a fish tank. It was the 1990s, while I was in grad school working on a project for University of Michigan’s Advanced Technology Lab in their EE department. Someone at another university had aimed a webcam at the office fish tank and published the feed out on the early web. You could hit the refresh button on primitive browsers like HotMetal every 30 seconds to see if… Read More
When it comes to VR, a system is only as good as your tracking setup. A chief complaint for many current high-end VR systems is that they’re just too damn complicated. When the HTC Vive came out in April, nearly everyone complained about the complexity of setting up the SteamVR sensors to track your movement. The sensor boxes had to be plugged into outlets and you needed to mount… Read More
Being able to book a restaurant table online or on your phone is pretty nice, but what about your next doctor appointment? While it doesn’t sound as sexy, I’d rather call a restaurant than a doctor’s office. That’s why French startup Doctolib is trying to make it easier to book appointments. The company just raised another $28 million (€26 million).
French public… Read More
We have the opportunity to transform politics, making it clean and crony-free. As a citizen, this is your chance, your opportunity to participate in the process and create your government. We can create a new generation of leadership, replacing the crony capitalism of Tammany Hall with the ethos of the millennial economy, making politics accessible, easy and on-demand. Read More
As first reported by The Information, Dropcam co-founder Greg Duffy has found a new home at Apple. The move comes after a bit of a tumultuous stint at Google, when its subsidiary Nest picked up Duffy’s internet-connected security camera business in 2014 for $555 million.
Duffy reportedly butted heads with Tony Fadell, accusing the Nest founder (and high-profile Apple ex-pat) of… Read More
