Technology news

AppNexus, a leading advertising technology company, says it has banned the conservative website Breitbart News from using its ad tools, according to a report from Bloomberg. The reason, according to a company spokesperson, is Breitbart’s violation of AppNexus’ hate speech rules. "We did a human audit of Breitbart and determined there were enough articles and headlines that cross that line, using either coded or overt language," AppNexus spokesman Joshua Zeitz told Bloomberg in an int

What if President Obama and Sonic the Hedgehog mind-melded to create one public statement? Perhaps it would sound something like this: This message is the end result of a site called Tweet Mashup. It works by combining various tweets from two accounts of your choosing into one, mostly conversational tweets. If you’re shy of a few ideas, Tweet Mashup is happy to get you started with popular mashups of accounts like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Emo Kylo Ren, Selena Gomez and Elizabeth Windsor, or

The Play:1 is the entry-level gateway speaker from Sonos, and this weekend it’s on sale for $149 — $50 off the usual price — at a variety of retailers, including Amazon, Sonos, Best Buy, and the Apple Store. And despite being at the lower end of the Sonos product line, the Play:1 is still a fantastic speaker, whether used on its own or in a multi-room setup.Sonos has bundled two Play:1s together for $349 in the past, but this individual $50 discount is one of the best prices we

Carmakers and tech companies working on self-driving cars are pushing back against the Obama administration’s request to share data and safety specifications with the federal government. But they are expressing hope that President-elect Donald Trump will continue the current administration’s approach to regulating self-driving cars, which has so far avoided making any concrete rules or mandates.“Extrapolating President-elect Trump’s posture on regulations, he’s clea

It's going to be a green Thanksgiving for families across a lot of America this year.
Gathering with family and a copious amount of food and drink is part of what makes the Thanksgiving holiday so special. But many families in certain America states may be considering adding a different offering to their holiday menu this year: marijuana. 
Thanks to the 2016 election, California, Massachusetts, Nevada and possibly Maine have all voted to legalize cannabis for recreational use among adults,

Promoted by Coors LightCoors Light believes that what challenges you, inspires you and drives you is what makes you who you are. Whatever your mountain, #ClimbOnWhen opportunity and determination collide, amazing things can happen. For Noramay Cadena, co-founder of hardware accelerator startup Make in LA and the Latinas in STEM Foundation, a career that helps others realize their dreams is the key to her happiness.But getting to this place of contentment has required what at times has been a rat

In an interview with Variety, current head of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy said the studio is looking for a female filmmaker to direct a Star Wars movie. Great! She then implied that the process is a slow one because “they’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.” Okay.This statement, my friends, is bullshit.
First of all, though the number of films directed, written, or shot by women each year is still pitifully low, that does not mea

The NCAA placed Notre Dame's football team on one-year probation Tuesday after a student-trainer committed academic misconduct, according to a statement from the NCAA. 
During the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the trainer completed coursework for two football players and gave "impermissible academic assistance" to six other players, according to the NCAA. A number of those players also committed academic misconduct individually by playing while ineligible. 
As a result, the team is forced to

Snapchat's new smart sunglasses, Snapchat Spectacles, are the hottest gadget in town. It's probably the first wearable designed specifically for the Snapchat generation. They're also in incredibly short supply and only available through special robot vending machines. Which is why we had to tear one down.
SEE ALSO: Snapchat Spectacles review: Wearables have never been this cool
Snapchat Spectacles, which arrived on the social media landscape a little more than a week ago, let you Snap videos fro

 Early stage venture firm, Draper Nexus, has closed its second fund at $175 million, according to Managing Director Q Motiwala. Its debut fund closed in 2013, at $50 million. Limited partners in Draper Nexus are global tech conglomerates, primarily based in Japan. For its second fund, the firm signed up about 20 LP’s including Panasonic, Hitachi, Kyocera, Shimizu, NEC, Canon and others.… Read More

Symmetra is one of the least-played heroes in Overwatch, so Blizzard is giving her a redesign.
In a developer update video on Tuesday, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan explained a host of different changes coming to support-hero Symmetra, which will be available to try on the public test region "very soon." 
Blizzard will also be adding a new "Stay With Group" feature that allows players to stay with their teams after a match ends. It's meant to give strangers that end up playing well to

After struggling to control her unwanted metahuman abilities for the past few episodes, Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) will take center stage in the Nov. 22 installment of The Flash, ominously titled "Killer Frost." 
A heroic deed has dire consequences for our favorite scientist in Tuesday's episode, when — as Caitlin's mother predicted — a powerful display of her abilities unleashes her inner villain. 
Mashable has an exclusive sneak peek at Killer Frost in action abov

No CGI trick can defeat the 8-bit magic of arcade games! In this episode, Doctor Strange falls into the trippy, grainy world of '80s video games.
8-bit Cinema "gamifies" your favorite Hollywood blockbusters into '80s arcade and NES-inspired action.
Subscribe to CineFix for more videos.Killer Frost proves she's ice cold in this chilling 'Flash' sneak peek
Baby eats broccoli for the first time and realizes the world is cruel
Get your first look at the final season of 'Girls'
Stephen Colbert makes

Though hot, fresh gravy improves most holiday dishes, there are exceptions to the rule. Candy canes, for example. 
And yet:Image:archie mcpheeSold in packs of six at Archie McPhee, these brown-and-white gravy-flavored candies ostensibly taste like meat in cane form. One pack retails for $6.50.
SEE ALSO: 30 gift ideas for the person in your life who knows wine is the best medicine
Beyond gravy, Archie McPhee's savory candy-cane offerings include pickle, wasabi, bacon and coffee. Image:a

It's happened: teens have finally lost their damn minds.
The mannequin challenge and Andy's coming are dead, and a new, much more violent challenge is making its way through American high schools: the #BackpackChallenge.
SEE ALSO: 'Trump is Coming' is the most terrifying challenge yet
Here's how the #BackpackChallenge works: one very brave person runs between two rows of lined-up participants, who throw their backpacks full-force at the runner. 
As you might guess, this doesn't turn out wel

White House security does not mess around, and pulling a "Do you know who I am!?" probably isn't going to help much. 
Ellen DeGeneres is in the nation's capitol to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom—but because she forgot her ID, the comedian and talk show host had a hard time getting inside President Obama's house.
SEE ALSO: The internet takes a fond look back at the Obama presidencyThey haven't let me in to the White House yet because I forgot my ID#NotJoking#PresidentialMeda

Kid Cudi is giving thanks a bit early this year. 
The rapper — who recently left rehab after receiving treatment for depression — appears to be in a much better place now after taking time to thank those who expressed love and support while he was away. 
SEE ALSO: Kid Cudi performed his first post-rehab show this weekend
In the post, Cudi showers a wide range of public figures and entertainers with gratitude — including collaborators Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Tra

Word on the street is Tesla has some serious solar power skills.
In case you weren't 100 percent convinced, the energy storage company is working to provide the entire island of Ta’u in American Samoa with energy.
An entire island. No big deal, right?
After Tesla's $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity was approved by its shareholders on Thursday, the company announced its major solar energy project: SolarCity and Tesla: Tau Microgrid.
SEE ALSO: Elon Musk says Tesla's solar roof will be c

LOS ANGELES — PewDiePie is taking a break from his daily vlogging.
The YouTuber (whose real name is Felix Kjellberg) said last week he will take a brief hiatus from his videos because of the stress of his busy schedule. He's currently in Los Angeles working on season two of YouTube Red series Scare PewDiePie. 
"I'm doing the show, daily vlogs, Revelmode stuff...it's just been too much," he said in his latest vlog titled "I quit (for now)". "Everyone is just stressed out over the

The Girls are back in town — or at least they will be next February, when Lena Dunham's critically-acclaimed dramedy returns for its sixth and final season on HBO. 
The teaser puts a clock on Hannah (Dunham) and company's shenanigans — which touts the season as "their last chance to get it almost right." 
"I haven't made my mark on this city yet," Hannah laments to Elijah (Andrew Rannells) in the first trailer, which promises plenty of uncertainty and upheaval for the whol

It's long been established in pop culture that if you've got a "Super" in your name, you're probably going to have an issue with the Luthor family. 
Season 2 of The CW's Supergirl has deepened those ties to the Superman mythos with the introduction of Lex Luthor's sister, Lena (Katie McGrath) and mother Lillian (Brenda Strong), who was revealed to be the mastermind behind the shadowy organization known as Cadmus — a group dedicated to eliminating aliens on Earth. 
In the Nov. 21

Lenovo’s Miix line of Microsoft Surface-like 2-in-1s just added the Miix 510, which went on sale last month. Yet rumors of an upcoming successor, the Miix 520, are making the rounds today. According to a report and leaked product images from WinFuture, the device won’t look much different than the 510. Yet it will come with Intel’s new Kaby Lake processor, a bump in RAM from 8GB to 16GB over the 510, a fingerprint sensor, and an increase in battery life to 10 hours on a single

After Jurgen Klinsmann lost the U.S. men's national team (USMNT) head coaching gig on Monday, the speculation mill quickly churned out Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena as a leading replacement candidate.
SEE ALSO: This NFL quarterback is the MVP of yelling things
U.S. Soccer made those rumors official Tuesday, saying Arena was named the successor to Klinsmann as the new head coach of the men's national team. He will begin his tenure as head coach on Dec. 1.
Arena is no newcomer to the role.

President-elect Donald Trump seemed to reverse his feelings about climate change this afternoon during a sit-down meeting with journalists of the New York Times, admitting he thinks there may be a link between humans and warming temperatures. He said he is keeping an “open mind” about it, and added that he thinks “clean air is vitally important,” according to Times reporters who tweeted during the meeting.
"Clean air is vitally important," Trump says about climate change.

A huge group of scholars is refusing to let the sophisticated hacks that marred the U.S. election be forgotten. 
Dozens of experts in cybersecurity, defense, elections and authoritarian regimes have signed an open letter calling on members of Congress to investigate reports of hacking by foreign powers in an effort to influence the outcome of the U.S. election. The letter called for a particular focus on Russia's involvement. 
SEE ALSO: Students only needed 36 hours to solve Facebook's

Microsoft originally announced its plans to stream Xbox One games to the Oculus Rift back in June, 2015. While it's taken nearly 18 months to arrive, the software giant is planning to allow Oculus Rift owners to play Xbox One games on December 12th. Rift owners will be able to download a free Xbox One streaming app from the Oculus Store, and any console output will be streamed directly to the Rift headset.
Microsoft is also supporting the Rift natively in Windows 10, and the company continu

LOS ANGELES — Moonlight and American Honey dominated the Independent Spirit Awards nominations with six apiece, Film Independent announced Tuesday.
Both films were nominated in the Best Feature category alongside Chronic, Jackie and Manchester by the Sea.
SEE ALSO: Indie Spirit Awards honor black actors, first transgender woman
Manchester, the Sundance breakout by writer/director Kenneth Lonergan, was nominated for five Indie Spirit Awards including editing, male lead (Casey Affleck), scre

How the starship captain died is tough to recall, but I do remember his office.
On the floor is a soccer ball. On the shelf is a tiny model of the vessel the captain once led; on the table is a generic computer workstation, the mundane place where life and death decisions were made. This office looks like any other office. The futuristic technology waits outside on the ship’s elaborate deck, a wide semi-circle with a breathtaking view of the galaxy. But that’s hazier, not like the of

Booooooooring.
That's how almost everyone felt about the iPhone 7 before Apple even announced it. Before anyone even got to see it in person. And most importantly, before anyone even got to use it for any extended period of time.
SEE ALSO: Portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus will take your Instagrams to the next level
And yet, there I was, up until 3 a.m., Apple Store app all set up on my iPhone and iPad, ready to go, as soon as Apple's store went back online on pre-order day.
I placed my order f

As America reels from perhaps its most divisive election in recent memory, a new set of ads seek to remind everyone that patriotism and respect for our country's diversity are two sides of the same coin.
The ads feature members of often-oppressed minority groups in patriotic settings. For instance, a gay military couple embraces in a train station, a transgender cheerleader poses in red, white and blue gear and a Sikh man prays in a gurdwara while wearing a star-spangled turban.A gay couple embr

Donald Trump's off-again, on-again trip to the New York Times finally happened on Tuesday morning. And it was exactly the surreal circus you might expect, to say nothing of the contents of the actual meeting. 
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump will wield the biggest media operation in the history of the U.S. presidency
The confab between Trump and the Times was reportedly one in which the president-elect took a blunt tone to the paper he's lobbed legal threats and insults at over Twitter, a meeting wh

Ever since Gilmore Girls premiered — 16 long, coffee-infused years ago — fans have been locked in a seemingly eternal debate: which of Rory's boyfriends should she end up with? 
Sure, there were a few disposable Tristans and Martys along the way, but it all comes down to three enduring camps: Team Dean (Jared Padalecki), Team Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) and Team Logan (Matt Czuchry). 
Netflix's long-awaited revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, may definitively answer tha

Google’s redesigned ‘Sites’ tool for creating web pages is now available for everyone. If you’re not familiar, Google Sites isn’t meant to be used to create personal sites, a la Squarespace or Wix, so much as building a shared resource for a company or team. The redesigned Sites first launched in an early adopter program back in June, bringing various updates to make it easier to make your own site. Mainly, Google says creating a site is as easy as m

LONDON — If ever you needed proof that the world is a truly wicked, despicable place, just cast your eyes over the map below.
SEE ALSO: I made a spectacular vagina-shaped map riding London buses, using GPS tracking
From the American community of New Erection in Virginia to the tiny hamlet of Shitterton in the south of the UK, our planet is awash with delightfully rude place names.
The Magnificently Rude Map of World Place Names, made by mapmakers Strumpshaw, Tincleton & Giggleswick (th

After almost three years of buzz, one wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, and multiple product delays, German startup Bragi has finally made good on its promise: a pair of truly wireless earbuds that actually work. That resolution just didn't come in the form that we thought it would. Because I’m not talking about the Dash earbuds, which were a fantastic idea that now feel like a lost product. No, Bragi pulled this off with its second product: the Headphone.The Headphone was announced

Most smart bed products help you gain insight on how to get a better sleep, but few help you actually get up and grab your morning coffee. Now there’s a smart mattress you can program to start your coffee machine while it nudges you awake.
The Eight Sleep mattress wants to be the command center of your home by offering an IFTTT integration to work with other smart gadgets. Its channel currently offers recipes like brew coffee when you hit snooze, turn Hue lights off when Eight’s nigh

Amazon’s Alexa has found its way into a variety of non-Amazon hardware devices, from smartwatches to entertainment hubs to kitschy refrigerator speakers. Now Alexa is popping up in vacuums.
Neato, which makes an Roomba competitor called the Botvac, just rolled out new software that lets Alexa users control their Botvac with their voices. The idea is that you’ll be able to commit the ultimate act of gadget-utopia laziness, shouting "Alexa, ask Neato to start cleani

Skin gels said to contain aloe vera at Walmart, Target, and CVS were found to have no evidence of the plant, according to a Bloomberg News investigation. The store-brand products were tested in a lab for aloe’s chemical markers; the chemicals were absent, indicating that no actual aloe plant is in the skin gels.
Aloe vera is a plant that’s been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Today, aloe is used in products purporting to treat skin burns and cold sores, as well as

Factories might not seem like the coolest thing you could think of, but this recent innovation in conveyor belt technology is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. After having produced normal conveyor belts for a long time, Intralox felt it was time to revolutionize the market with magical machines that can freely move boxes and other items wherever they need to go in the factory. Instead of using a traditional band to push things around, the system uses small, fully rotational wheels giv

Cheese is incredible — delicious, versatile, goes with everything...need we go on?
And now, thanks to a new device called the Fondoodler, our cheese consuming experience just got even better.
The Fondoodler is simply a hot glue gun for cheese. Just pop some cheese in and watch it turn into melty goodness with the potential to revolutionize nachos, cheese and crackers, grilled cheese sandwiches and more.
SEE ALSO: Cheetos, maker of cheese snacks, is selling a $20,000 jewelry setA photo post