Technology news

Image: Library of CongressIn the first decade of the 20th century, the age-old custom of pistol dueling was briefly resurrected as a non-lethal sport, even making it into the 1908 Olympics as a side event.To accurately simulate the conditions of a duel, opponents would use real dueling pistols and gunpowder. The bullets, however, were waxDuelists were dressed like fencers in heavy canvas clothes with wire-and-glass face masks, their pistols augmented with metal hand guards.Even with those precau

Pristine soundscapes are so important that the National Park Service works to preserve wilderness sound in many natural parks. There's even federal legislation in the US, like the 1987 National Park Overflights Act, that aims to keep noise from airplanes out of the lands below. Of course, it's impossible to escape noise where I live in New York City, but recently I've been inspired to look for quieter pastures.
After reading Bernie Krause’s The Great Animal Orchestra, I took the first

If you noticed "McChicken" was trending on Twitter this morning, hopefully you didn't investigate further. 
Please, for the love of God, do not Google it. Because you might end up watching a video of a man copulating with a McChicken sandwich. 
SEE ALSO: Kanye West wrote a poem about McDonald's for Frank Ocean
Once you see this video, you cannot unsee it. I'd rather watch the haunted video from The Ring — you know, the one that straight up kills you seven days after you watch it

Clitoris.
It's a word that elicits giggles from adults, let alone children. That's one of the reasons the sexual organ is surrounded by misinformation and mystery. And that is very serious business — especially when it comes to the fight for gender equality.
SEE ALSO: 4 smart ways to use the internet to educate yourself about sex
But French public schools are tackling this problem, using tech to address gender inequality in sexual education. This school year, children in France are going t

The starting line is just ahead of us, and the guy behind the wheel of this 650-horsepower muscle car is showing off for the crowd. We're spinning the tires, doing burnout after burnout. Ostensibly it's warming them for a quick blast up the 1.16-mile hillclimb, but really it's to show off. This is what the Goodwood Festival of Speed is about.It's glorious. And I think I can safely say that the this event, held every year in the south of England, is the greatest car show in the world. I've been t

Simone Biles has set her sights on a new goal: Meet Kim Kardashian.
At a press conference held Saturday, the decorated Olympic gymnast revealed her MTV Video Music Awards game plan to a group of reporters, noting that she'll be in attendance and that she intends to meet Kim and bestow upon North West a few precious gifts. 
SEE ALSO: Simone Biles and North West are each other's biggest fan
"I have planned tomorrow at the VMAs, I'm gonna meet Kim Kardashian and then I'm gonna send her daughte

LOS ANGELES — It was arguably the best thing any studio showed at Comic-Con, and a month later, it's finally online: Marvel's very funny short film about what Thor's been up to lately.
(Because what happens in Hall H does not stay in Hall HNot anymore.)
SEE ALSO: No digital tricks here: Captain America's 'Civil War' bicep bulge was all Chris Evans
For its dizzying array of characters, Captain America: Civil War was missing a couple of key pieces in Thor and the Hulk. Fans will remember tha

Landing late at night in Shenzhen for my first trip to China, I was nervous about being able to navigate the city. I didn’t speak the language and had never been to Asia. Starting the next day I would have the services of a local translator, but for that first night, I was on my own.
I opened my iPhone, connected to an international Mifi, and tapped the Uber app. The interface alerted me that I would be switching to the Chinese version, controlled now by Uber’s rival turned business

If you pass out on a stranger's property, know that you will become the subject of that stranger's Snapchat story. 
Take, for example, the guy who documented his morning with a pantless stranger who passed out on his porch couch. 
[H/T: Reddit]Marvel's 'Luke Cage' is tired of buying new clothes
What happens when you reply to a scam email from Nelson Mandela’s former wife
Abandoned puppy has the most adorable reaction when he spots a human
Fake-out snake attack footage will strik

Production is well underway on Spider-Man: Homecoming and two new videos — both shared to Instagram — provide a peek at star Tom Holland's work on the set.
The first comes from director Jon Watts. In the video, a moody Holland sits on a wooden box in the middle of a green screen set. The only contextual clue we have is a flickering "spooky shadow" behind him that may or may not be a silhouette of Spidey.
SEE ALSO: Zendaya's 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' surprise may have just been reveale

I love steak. That's why, for most of my adult life, I've tried to hone my skills at cooking it. Grilling, pan-frying, broiling — I've done it all, with all kinds of cuts. But a new kind of cooking gadget has taken my steaks to the next level.
It's called the Joule, and when I first saw its promise of cooking perfectly done steaks (via a Facebook ad), I was intrigued, but skeptical. A white cylinder roughly the size of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber handle would supposedly cook steaks better

Don't Breathe buttoned up a sweet, little $26.1 million (estimated) opening weekend box office — the final of the summer — and it was enough for a dominant #1 finish.
The movie, directed by Fede Alvarez, features few stars — Avatar villain Stephen Lang is the most established — and came together around a relatively tiny $10 million budget. And yet it's already a moneymaker.
SEE ALSO: 'Don't Breathe' puts an innovative spin on an old tale
A mix of high critical praise and

Drinking and driving is a terrible, dangerous decision. 
Drinking while flying 141 passengers in an airplane? That's even worse. 
SEE ALSO: Potentially Earth-like planet found orbiting our neighboring star
Two pilots, aged 45 and 35, were arrested on Saturday for suspected intoxication before a flight from Glasgow, Scotland, to Newark, New Jersey.
The flight was delayed 10 hours while United Airlines searched for pilots who could replace them. Apparently, Glasgow Airport has some good

Leah Reich was one of the first internet advice columnists. Her column "Ask Leah" ran on IGN, where she gave advice to gamers for two and a half years. During the day, Leah is a Senior User Researcher for Slack, but her views here do not represent her employer. You can write to her at [email protected] and read more How to be Human here.
Hi Leah,
I'm in my late twenties and feeling stuck with not being able to come to terms with my childhood trauma of growing up with a paranoid schizophrenic

It's finally koala breeding season, meaning now's a great time to revisit the male koala mating call.
Male koalas can bellow at a pitch that is 20 times lower than expected for their size, thanks to a special set of vocal folds that other land mammals lack.
SEE ALSO: Koala crashes house, tries its best to climb up a dancing pole
The result is a sound that's deeply sexy to female koalas and horribly upsetting to pretty much everyone else. But hey, if that's your thing...
Sydney's Taronga Zoo has

So you’ve made the decision to reboot your diet: Eat healthier, cook more, and — once you download all the necessary apps — live your best food life. But choosing which app is worth your phone’s precious memory is harder than it looks. With new options appearing daily and each one claiming to solve every conceivable dietary challenge, the process can be daunting.
“We don’t know of any healthy eating apps that have undergone rigorous evaluation and been demonst

The official 2016 Olympic Games may be over, but global athletic competitions sure aren't. 
The 2016 Paralympics are set to begin on Sept. 7 in Rio de Janeiro, bringing together athletes with disabilities from around the world to compete in 22 sporting events over 11 days. And, like the Olympics, some athletes in attendance will be competing on behalf of refugee populations from around the globe, marking a first for the Paralympics.
SEE ALSO: 6 facts that reveal how humanitarian aid is fail

In case you’re as blind as the man in Don’t Breathe and missed the headline, this post is going to include spoilers. That’s because you can’t talk about a movie like this without talking about The Scene. Which scene, you ask? Oh, you’ll know it when you see it. And you won’t be able to un-see it, either. 
I’m talking about the scene where would-be rape victim Rocky (26-year-old Jane Levy) turns the tables on her blind rapist (64-year-old Stephen Lan

This column is part of a series where Verge staffers post highly subjective reviews of animals. Up until now, we've written about animals without telling you whether they suck or rule. We are now rectifying this oversight.
As an adult who survived public schooling, I am aware that science generally demands objectivity of its practitioners. As a girl who "adopted" a mustang out of an overwhelming sense of duty and fate, I am here to tell you that there is nothing more beautiful in this

So yay, you're in college!Image:giphyLess yay: you have no idea what you're doing. Image:giphyI mean, I don't care what anyone says, adulting is hard. But I believe in you, I believe you can pull this all together. You just need the right tools. Below, we've assorted the best apps for studying, money management, time management, health and exercise, job hunting and finding cheap textbooks.
(And yeah, older grown-ups use a lot of these, too.) 
1. Your college's app
Image:canvasImage:har

Calling it now: Luke Cage will feature a running joke wherein star Mike Colter, as the titular Cage, complains about having to replace his bullet hole-ridden clothes.
Netflix shared a new look at its upcoming series on Saturday with a clip in which Cage administers beatdowns to an assortment of deserving criminals. It ends, as you might have guessed, with some of the gun-toting ruffians giving Cage's outfit some extra ventilation.
Luke Cage comes to Netflix on Sept. 30.What happens when you rep

Beyoncé. Drake. Kanye West. Future. Rihanna. Frank Ocean. That's just a sampling of some of the artists who have released albums in 2016 exclusively to either Apple Music or Tidal. The streaming service's desire to grow their user base through exclusive content deals has been a boon for a talented group of artists who can once again get great value for their creations. These artists are now making money directly off music like it's 1999.
Apple Music and Tidal have both grown in notoriety

1933The last living thylacine in captivity yawns at the Hobart Zoo. Thylacines were capable of opening their jaws as wide as 80 degrees.Image: Public DomainThe thylacine, more popularly known as the Tasmanian tiger, was an apex predator in Australia and Tasmania before its extinction in the early 20th century.Despite its superficial resemblance to a large dog, the thylacine was actually a marsupial, with no relation to canines — its doglike features emerged as it evolved to fill an ecologi

If you're looking for a fight, there's no better place to lurk than social media. 
At its best, the digital public square can connect people whose lives — and ideas — would otherwise remain distant. At its worst, that open-ended conversation can quickly devolve into an online screaming match, no matter the subject. 
SEE ALSO: How to stand up to bullies with a simple emoji
This poses a difficult challenge for people who are passionate about their politics, causes and even ce

The discovery of a new, possibly habitable alien planet is always met by media coverage marked by sweeping pronouncements about our place in the universe, and even *gasp* alien life.
Wednesday's announcement of a newfound, possibly Earth-sized planet in a potentially habitable orbit around a star not far from our sun threw that kind of breathless coverage into overdrive. 
SEE ALSO: A large, unknown 9th planet lurks in our solar system, evidence suggests
Publications declared it what could b

With all the news about driverless cars, Facebook collecting WhatsApp data and high school football on Snapchat, you may have missed some of this week's best new apps. Each weekend, we round up a few of our favorite new and updated apps. This week's list includes a habit-building RPG app, an app that has kitty weather anchors and a flashy maze game. 
SEE ALSO: 10 apps to help make you a morning person
Check out the gallery below to see our top picks. If you're looking for more items to

A saving strategy that doesn’t feature a savings account might seem counterintuitive, like trying to get in shape without a gym membership. But you don’t need elaborate equipment to break a sweat, and you don’t have to depend on your savings account to boost your nest egg.
With low interest rates, you won’t see significant growth in your account, so the following strategies could prove to be much more effective.
1. Use certificates of deposit to set aside cash
The benefit

(Reuters) – Iran has detected and removed malicious software from two of its petrochemical complexes, a senior military official said on Saturday, after announcing last week it was investigating whether recent petrochemical fires were caused by cyber attacks.
The official said the malware at the two plants was inactive and had not played a role in the fires.
“In periodical inspection of petrochemical units, a type of industrial malware was detected and the necessary defensive measure

The transgender swimming group that's changing lives
Taking the fear out of swimming.By Rachel ThompsonThe transgender swimming group that's changing lives
Taking the fear out of swimming.By Rachel Thompson
The familiar smell of chlorinated water. The feeling of cool air against unclothed skin. The cacophony of laughter, splashes and sharp intakes of breath. And, the nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach as you take the plunge.The swimming pool is usually a place where the water makes you

In case you ever need to be rescued from a tropical island, just remember, a well-placed S.O.S. is not only a Hollywood cliche.
A couple doing their best Blue Lagoon impression was rescued Friday from a remote island in Micronesia after writing the rescue message on the beach, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
SEE ALSO: Obama creates world's largest protected area
A U.S. Navy aircraft took a look after lights were spotted on the uninhabited East Fayu Island during a search for two missing peopl

After Prisma, the much-hyped mobile app that instantly transforms pictures into artwork, and Artisto, a similar app for videos, Russian programmers are affirming their particular talent in developing technologies inspired by neural networks.
This time, this approach is being applied to food recommendations with ‘Borsch,’ a new mobile service launched over the past weeks in nine cities in the USA — including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Houston and Phoe

While he may live isolated in Australia's Manus Island detention centre, the cartoonist Eaten Fish's powerful images are travelling the world.
The Iranian asylum seeker was awarded the 2016 Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for his work depicting life on the island. The award will be presented in North Carolina in September by the Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI), but Eaten Fish's fate in Papua New Guinea remains uncertain.
SEE ALSO: Here's how Team Refugees fared at the O

Soaring about 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) above the planet's clouds, NASA's Juno space probe had its closest-ever look at Jupiter Saturday.
The pass was the first of 36 planned orbital flybys, NASA said in a statement. Soaring at 130,000 miles per hour (208,000 kilometers per hour), it was the nearest the solar-powered spacecraft will get to Jupiter during its main mission, which should end in February 2018.
SEE ALSO: Experience Juno's final approach to Jupiter through the spacecraft's own ey

Someday, sooner than you think, chatbots will be deployed to help us with mundane tasks. My daughter, who just got married this past June, could have used one to help her find the best deals on a wedding dress. As I mentioned recently, a college campus chatbot could greet new parents and direct them around campus. (When I asked if anyone would take up the call and build this bot, several developers took up the call. Stay tuned for the results) There could be a chatbot for any purpose, and someon

In Australia, Sept. 4 marks Father's Day. While many of us will spend the day in the company of our dear dads, millions of families around the world will have a very different experience.
The refugee crisis is worsening, with 2015 seeing the highest levels of displacement on record according to the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR. 
SEE ALSO: Meet the Olympic swimmer, and Syrian refugee, who saved 20 refugees from drowningTwo generations of residents in the Old Homs neighbourhood in Syria try

TORONTO — Immortals bested Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) in a battle for third place in the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Playoffs, earning them the top seed in the 2016 World Championships qualifiers.
SEE ALSO: Winning cosplay from 'League of Legend's' Oceanic Pro League final
CLG and Immortals went head-to-head in a best-of-five series Saturday at the Air Canada Center in Toronto, where Immortals paved the way to a 3-2 victory. CLG will have to bank on Team Sol

Nate Parker is getting a crash course in male privilege after apparently not giving much thought to the woman who accused him of rape over the past seventeen years.
Now, as Parker explained in an in-depth interview with Ebony, he's trying to learn a lifetime's worth of information about gender politics.
"I didn’t even think for a second about her, not even for a second," he told the magazine. 
SEE ALSO: When men set a powerful example by talking about rape
The filmmaker was accused of

First came 1010! Then Merged! And now there’s Six! That’s a lot of exclamation points from Gram Games, the Turkish company that has specialized in hit puzzle titles for smartphones and tablets.
This week, Gram Games launched the free-to-play Six! on iOS as the latest in a series of games that have been downloaded more than 75 million times. That’s a pretty good track record in the ultra-competitive $36 billion mobile game market.
Gram Games describes it as challenging, exciting

The last time a company tried popularizing wearable tech embedded in glasses, most notably with Google Glass, the public mostly rejected the idea as equal parts creepy and silly. 
Now a new project looks to take another whack at the tech space with a pair of glasses that double as a fitness tracker. 
SEE ALSO: McDonald's recalls Happy Meal fitness tracker
VSP Global is teaming up with the University of Southern California (USC) Center for Body Computing to work on presenting the glasse

GUEST: Companies have invested over $4 billion to create bots and analyze the resulting data, which is now being generated by millions of users around the globe. Far from being a specialized subset, bot data contains all of the hallmarks of user behavior data that’s been collected since the dawn of the internet, but it’s more than just conversions, demographics, and engagement.
Read on to learn how much more value bot data can provide beyond answering wtf is that.
1. Data is awesome.