Technology news

GUEST: The first week on any college campus is hectic, but what if there was a digital assistant available 24/7 to help new students and their families navigate the college processes?
With chatbots rapidly infiltrating every aspect of our personal lives, it’s no surprise that student technology is an area full of processes ripe for bot intervention. With both students and faculty embracing bots in their personal lives for things like checking the weather, ordering pizza, or finding a cab,

Tilt Brush is one of the most popular virtual reality experiences for the HTC Vive. People simply can’t get enough of the freedom and creativity that the Google-developed application provides. As a result, people have made marriage proposals, music videos, touching tributes, and more this 3D art studio. As amazing as some of these creations are, they may end up looking small in comparison to what’s to come.
A new update released this week on the Steam digital

The Associated Press ran into some criticism on Twitter on Saturday. 
The news organization tweeted about comments Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made the night earlier and an ensuing statement. 
“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables,’ Right?” Clinton said at a fundraiser Friday, according to The Washington Post. “The racist, sexist, homophob

I tend to associate film festivals with crushing crowds, hours-long waits, and being stranded in beautiful places under the ugliest possible circumstances. All of which led me to go through my second day here at the Toronto International Film Festival with a sort of dumb wonder: how does this place have everything so together? Yes, this is my first trip to the festival, and there may be some general "gee-whiz, new and shiny!" factor, but I know terrible public transit and misguided ticketing wor

The recent rumors about a potential Apple car may have all been a massive waste of anticipatory energy better directed toward the levitating, hologram-beaming "iPhone 10," if a new report is accurate. 
SEE ALSO: Chief iPad engineer is now heading Apple's car efforts, report says
Despite months and months of hints and movements that prompted many tech insiders to believe that Apple was secretly working on producing a car, whatever the company's plans were have apparently drastically changed,

This cat is a better pedestrian than most humans.
Please notice that he waits to cross until he's sure it's safe for him to do so. Observe that he does not try to dart in front of a moving car, risking his life to reach his destination just a few seconds sooner.
A round of applause for this cat, who puts safety first. Now, please follow this cat's example the next time you cross the street.'Happy Gilmore' hits the golf course as an 8-bit movie
Artistic filmmaking techniques behind the 'Saving P

Executives at Univision, the company that bought the beleaguered Gawker Media, voted on Friday to delete six contentious posts from the company's network of websites, Gawker Media site Gizmodo reported. 
The six posts are all involved in ongoing litigation. Three of the posts are from the sports site Deadspin, two are from Gizmodo and one is from the women's site Jezebel. 
The company voted not to delete one other post proposed for elimination. 
“I communicated to Felipe and

Like every collectibles market, the world of antique dolls is subject to towering heights and devastating lows.
"It's almost like the wind, or almost like fashion," said Jay Lowe, the head of the doll department at Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pa. "What people want this year might be different than what people will want 10 years from now."
Such is the case of a William and Mary doll in Morphy's upcoming Toys, Dolls, Marbles, and Figural Cast Iron auction, which contains almost 1,300 lots estimated

Now this is a cheesy gift we can get behind.
Hannah Spooner, a 19-year-old Detroit resident, was delighted to discover she and her boyfriend had won a year of free pizza — $500 worth — after entering a raffle at Little Caesar's. 
But instead of keeping the pies for themselves, they donated them to Covenant House, a nonprofit that offers shelter, classes, vocational programs and three square meals a day to homeless, runaway and at-risk youth.
SEE ALSO: Kind stranger comforts baby

Star Trek has had an enormous influence on the world of science fiction ever since it aired on NBC in 1966. Gene Roddenberry’s drama aboard a spaceship introduced millions of viewers to science fiction across the world, and inspired some viewers to become science fiction authors in their own right.
We asked a handful of authors how they came to discover Star Trek, and how the show inspired them. Here is what they told us:Allen M. Steel, author of Coyote and Arkwright:I was eight years old

Star Trek has had an enormous influence on the world of science fiction ever since it aired on NBC in 1966. Gene Roddenberry’s drama aboard a spaceship introduced millions of viewers to science fiction across the world, and inspired some viewers to become science fiction authors in their own right.
We asked a handful of authors how they came to discover Star Trek, and how the show inspired them. Here is what they told us:Allen M. Steel, author of Coyote and Arkwright:I was eight years old

A day before the 15-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Christine Todd Whitman, then head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has finally admitted that she may have been wrong about the safety of the air in the city following the incident. 
SEE ALSO: A bill passes allowing 9/11 victims' families to sue Saudi Arabia
"I'm very sorry that people are sick," Whitman told the Guardian. "I'm very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any wa

Maybe you do it for social justice, or environmental sustainability, a food allergy, or some other reason. For those of us who endeavor to eat conscientiously and in line with certain values — whatever the rationale — staying on the wagon, and knowing what we’re eating is what we’re told it is, can be difficult.
Can we be sure that this scone contains absolutely zero gluten? That this “spring water” is free of contaminants? That the fish in the fridge hasn&rsq

Donald Trump is planning to attend Sunday's 9/11 ceremony at ground zero, NBC foreign correspondent Katy Tur tweeted on Saturday.
The news comes after Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton announced Friday that she will be in attendance at the event.
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump's tangled web of Russian influence#breaking: Source familiar w plans says Trump will be attending 9/11 ceremony at ground zero tomorrow morning.
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) September 10, 2016Trump's comments on 9/11 are numero

LONDON — There are some books out there that are just unanimously enjoyed by everyone, right? Certain classics that defy criticism because they're so universally iconic and well-loved?
Well, no. No matter how famous or well-received a book might be, no novel is without its critics.
SEE ALSO: Listen here: 10 great podcasts for book lovers
From jumbled anger to extremely blunt shut-downs, we've scoured Amazon for the oddest one-star reviews of classic British novels we could find.Harry Potte

You aren't just craving mac and cheese and creamy mashed potatoes because they sound tasty. You actually love the taste of starch. 
Along with salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami, "starchy" could be the next officially recognized taste. SEE ALSO: 7 Instagram-worthy healthy dessert recipes
At least, that's the thinking behind a study led by Oregon State University's Juyun Lim. When she served volunteers different carbohydrates, they were able to taste starch in both long and short carb

On Thursday, the small Appalachian city of East Liverpool, Ohio, posted photographs on Facebook of a man and woman apparently passed out from an opioid overdose. The two adults sit slumped in the front and passenger seats of a car. A small boy looks out from the back. The city warned that the photos might shock and outrage, but that was its goal: "It is time that the non drug using [sic] public sees what we are now dealing with on a daily basis," the city administration wrote in the post. "We fe

A Denver Broncos linebacker joined Colin Kaepernick this week in facing criticism for sitting out the national anthem.Brandon Marshall lost a sponsorship deal with the Air Academy Federal
Credit Union after kneeling during the anthem before the Broncos' Thursday night game against the Carolina Panthers, according to CBS Denver.
The AAFCU announced on Facebook that it had dropped Marshall."While we respect Brandon's right of expression, his actions are not a
representation of our organization and

A tiny little movie theater opened up a few blocks from my apartment last month. When I say tiny, I mean literally there are about 25 seats in the place. It mostly screens offbeat old films, and all tickets cost $8, which sounds expensive, but is legitimately a bargain in New York City.When I went with my girlfriend a few weeks back to see a screening of Sidewalk Stories, which is silent and funny and quite good, we ended up being the only two people in the theater, minus the guy running the pla

The internet is reaching for the tissues after a stranger's kind gesture to a mom traveling with her baby earlier this week.
Teacher Monica Nelson, who is pregnant, had been anxious about flying with 20-month-old Luke without her husband there to help, according to TODAY. Her fears were confirmed when Luke started to grow restless on the plane.
That's when fellow traveler Reid swooped in. Reid offered to help, and when Nelson agreed, he took Luke in his arms, soothing him as he walked up and dow

Picture this: a courtroom full of loud, impatient onlookers, all dead set on seeing your client jailed for a murder she didn’t commit. The prosecutor is a deeply religious lawyer who claims to have the ability to see the outcome of a trial before it happens, thus allowing him to prepare for every rebuttal you might have. You start to sweat. The judge is demanding a piece of evidence right now, one that will prove your client’s innocence.
Unfortunately, you have no idea what that cruc

Many have said Saving Private Ryan is the most realistic representation of war ever on screen, and this has much to do with the teams in front of and behind the camera. 
From Steven Spielberg's filmmaking techniques to the costumer creating 3000 authentic uniforms, the war drama's beach scene is intense and iconic, and CineFix's Art of the Scene dove into exactly how it was created. 
Subscribe to CineFix for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/cinefix  Read more...More about Ma

The infamous Taylor Swift squad is back in full force.
After a brief three-month break to walk on rocks with Tom Hiddleston, Swift is back to supporting her besties full-time — including at Gigi Hadid's Tommy X Gigi show at New York Fashion Week.
SEE ALSO: It's time to move on, internet. 'Hiddleswift' is over.
At the show, she sat next to Martha Hunt, who you might remember from "Bad Blood" or the Fourth of July. They were in the front row, obviously.A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylor

How’s this for an interesting career path? Learn the tactics of malicious data thieves, then use them for good with The Ethical Hacking, Cyber Security & Forensics Bundle. For a limited time, you can pick up this two-tiered training bundle for just $49 from TNW Deals. You’ll begin with the Cyber Security and Forensics Bundle, which will train you to think like a black hat hacker. Dive into the fundamentals underlying two different computer security roles: Certified Ethical

As Election Day looms and the polls tighten, GOP nominee Donald Trump may be making yet another pivot: he is apparently ditching his role as a prominent voice in the "Obama Birther" movement.
The news came via Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani, who says Trump now believes Obama was born in Hawaii as the president and his birth certificate have made clear. Of course, Trump himself has not yet vocalized this belief, but Giuliani swears it's true.Trump re: Obama's birth place: "I don't talk about it."H

Nissan just bolted an 188-horsepower turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine to the Sentra. Why? Because it can.
Sporty Sentras have always been popular. Sure, it might not make a ton of sense, but neither does the popularity of Jeremy Renner. But let's not get bogged down in the "why" and instead focus on the "what."
SEE ALSO: Sorry Tesla, Woz says he's trading the Model S in for a Chevy Bolt EV
For the 2017 model year, Nissan — as mentioned above — has blessed the subcompact Se

Celebrities are keen on adopting righteous causes, but few are as vocal as Leonardo DiCaprio about his quest to save the planet from ecological collapse. "I am consumed by this," DiCaprio told Rolling Stone in a profile earlier this year.  "There isn’t a couple of hours a day where I’m not thinking about it."
With Before the Flood, DiCaprio is asking us to sample his daily two-hour burden. Directed by Fisher Stevens, Before the Flood documents DiCaprio as he jet-sets from Greenl

Early on in Denis Villeneuve’s new film Arrival, it becomes pretty clear that for an alien invasion movie, it’s actually not all that interested in aliens. As 12 mysterious spacecraft land in different locations around Earth, we see college students getting texted with the news, newscasters describing it, and a linguistics expert played by Amy Adams taking it all in — but we don’t see the ships themselves. Humanity’s reaction is what’s important, and it’

What went wrong with Hiddleswift? The same thing that always makes Taylor Swift's relationships go down in flames — her man's unwillingness to commit to a Faustian bargain.
See, Swift's uncanny resemblance to Zeena Schreck, former high priestess of the church of Satan, has been common knowledge on the internet for a while now. Rumors of a deeper connection have reached a fever pitch recently, based in part on the airtight theory that Swift is a clone of Schreck, who is the daughter of Chur

Yahoo released a lengthy regulatory filing on Friday evening in which the aging search engine details some of the corporate intrigue behind the scenes of its sale to Verizon earlier this summer.
The 360-page document describes the long and meandering road — and the dozens of meetings with buyers along the way — leading to the dilapidated web portal's sale to the telecom giant. Segments of it may be familiar to those who watched the story messily play out in the press.
SEE ALSO: Yahoo

Adam Sandler's character may still have hockey dreams, but he is hitting the golf course again in a new version of Happy Gilmore. 
8-Bit Cinema gamifies your favorite Hollywood blockbusters into '80s arcade and NES-inspired action.
Subscribe to CineFix for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/cinefix Cat crossing the street is a model for pedestrians everywhere
Artistic filmmaking techniques behind the 'Saving Private Ryan' beach scene
Subway singer is so absurdly talented, you'll b

Virtual Reality is the next big thing, allowing us to immerse ourselves in our favorite games, movies, and more. Here’s your chance to grab a piece of the action: The Choose Your Own VR Experience Giveaway. Enter to win your choice of two industry-leading VR devices — the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, courtesy of TNW Deals. Neither HTC Vive nor Oculus Rift need an introduction, as both headsets are on the cutting edge of VR tech. They’ve redefined what it means to truly immerse you

Many have said Saving Private Ryan is the most realistic representation of war ever on screen, and this has much to do with the teams in front of and behind the camera. 
From Steven Spielberg's filmmaking techniques to the costumer creating 3000 authentic uniforms, the war drama's beach scene is intense and iconic, and CineFix's Art of the Scene dove into exactly how it was created. 
Subscribe to CineFix for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/cinefix Cat crossing the street i

The year was 2013, and gaming studio Cyan Worlds was running a crowdfunding campaign for Obduction — a spiritual sequel to Myst, one of the most beloved adventure games of all time. When the campaign launched, Cyan co-founder Rand Miller dropped by Reddit, and somebody asked him a tantalizing question: would Obduction support a young, but increasingly exciting, new platform called the Oculus Rift?
Miller’s answer was vague, but it seemed like a perfect match. In 1994, Myst had pushed

With every new iPhone comes a series of separate, smaller purchases. Perhaps a phone case or a portable charger, or maybe a new adapter for your car. This year, with the iPhone 7 and its lack of headphone jack, we can expect that even the most avid of tech hardware collectors won’t have all the necessary accessories on day one.
Sure, Apple is bundling a 3.5mm dongle and a pair of Lightning EarPods in the box, but that won’t be enough. And no one knows this better than third-party acc

My daily routine works like this: I go on Snapchat, I post a few pictures, I watch my crush Derick's story over and over and then I update my spreadsheet of Snapchat scores for all the boys I like. 
It's a great app and I'm very good at it, but Snapchat's features aren't quite perfect. I have some suggestions that would make Snapchat my own personal utopian app. 
SEE ALSO: What your favorite Snapchat filter says about you
If anyone knows Snapchat's CEO Evan Spiegel can you please send

Throughout the course of her political career, Hillary Clinton has been routinely accused of one irredeemable sin: failing to smile.
From GOP chairman Reince Priebus to conservative commentator Dick Morris to an infinite parade of egg avatars on Twitter, everyone is deeply emotionally invested in getting the candidate to lighten up a little.  She's running for president of the United States — and a true commander in chief knows just how to lol.
SEE ALSO: If Hillary Clinton had her own

A group of nine female chimpanzees just took a 16-hour road trip of a lifetime.
Jennifer, Charisse, Buttercup, Latricia, Samira, Gertrude, Emma, Genesis and Gracie have spent their lives as scientific research subjects at the New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana. Now they're retired, due to the phasing-out of invasive medical research on chimpanzees across the U.S. 
On Thursday morning they arrived at the new Project Chimps sanctuary in Morganton, Georgia, to move into their new home.
SE