• Become Michael Knight with Dashbot, an AI for your car

    Become Michael Knight with Dashbot, an AI for your car
     Who needs a smart car when you have a cool car? The Dashbot is a $49 add on for your vehicle that allows you to interact with your phone and Alexa while driving, thereby keeping your hands free to fend off pomaded villains and to swoop in an save innocent people before a helicopter explodes overhead. The product is a sort of Bluetooth speaker on steroids with lots of functionality built-in and… Read More
  • What happens when bots start writing code instead of humans

    What happens when bots start writing code instead of humans
    GUEST: “‘It may be a hundred years before a computer beats humans at Go — maybe even longer.” — New York Times, 1997
    “Master of Go Board Game Is Walloped by Google Computer Program” — New York Times, 2016
    Software development has gone through massive paradigm shifts over the past decade. Once limited to developers with years of study or access to expensive servers, web development has now become a trade where boo
  • Firefly star Ron Glass has died

    Firefly star Ron Glass has died
    Television actor Ron Glass, who was best known for his roles as Shepherd Book on Firefly and as Detective Ron Harris on Barney Miller has passed away yesterday, according to TV Line. He was 71 years old.
    Glass got his start acting for the stage in Minneapolis before landing roles on a variety of television shows in the early 1970s, such as All in the Family, Hawaii Five-O, and Sanford and Sons before landing a major role in Barney Miller in 1975. In 2002, Joss Whedon cast him in his science fict
  • The cloud hit escape velocity in 2016, powering an SaaS buy-up

    The cloud hit escape velocity in 2016, powering an SaaS buy-up
    GUEST: GE’s recent acquisition of ServiceMax, a cloud-based field service solutions provider, marked the first billion-dollar SaaS (software as a service) acquisition by a company outside the traditional software business. The move not only underscores the growing importance of SaaS and digital to companies beyond the technology space, it’s also evidence of the tremendous importance of the cloud. As we close out 2016 and move into a new year, I predict we’ll see many more billi
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  • Hackers pose threat to retailers’ cyber sales plans

    Hackers pose threat to retailers’ cyber sales plans
    Getting knocked offline is costly.
    When a novel hacking attack crippled parts of the Internet in October, it cut off consumers access to popular websites like Netflix and Kayak for hours at a time. For online retailers, the effect was the same as when a physical store shuts down: no customers and no sales.
    While hacking is not responsible for every website shutdown—an ordinary onslaught of customer traffic caused the online operations Target and Neimen Marcus to buckle last year — th
  • What if Google and Facebook got it all wrong?

    What if Google and Facebook got it all wrong?
    GUEST: Google and Facebook are without a doubt two of the greatest entrepreneurial success stories of the digital age. Both companies serve billions of users. They are the winners of our era. But what if they got the core of their business wrong?
    What if Google and Facebook focused on the wrong monetization strategy from a long-term perspective? What if ads are inferior to transactions? And what if we can watch our future unfolding in China today?
    There are a growing number of signs that this mi
  • Ears, hands or eyes

    Ears, hands or eyes
     Even before smartwatches, I did not wear a watch. I did not buy an Apple Watch or Pebble, despite the cool factor, even though I always upgrade to the latest iPhone as soon as it comes out. I would also suggest that in order for an innovative new device to take off and become a platform, it actually needs to pioneer a new user interface that utilizes a different one of our limbs or senses. Read More
  • The Clinton campaign will participate in the Wisconsin election recount

    The Clinton campaign will participate in the Wisconsin election recount
    Now that Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has received over $5 million to fund a recount in Wisconsin, and other battleground states, an official from the Clinton campaign has announced that they would be assisting with the recount efforts, even as the final results are not expected to change.
    The Clinton campaign has already been on the lookout for tampering
    Marc Elias, general counsel for the Clinton campaign, said in a post on Medium this morning that the organization will "parti
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  • CloudTot baby monitor will detect if your infant has wet the crib

    CloudTot baby monitor will detect if your infant has wet the crib
    DockATot has sold nearly 10 million units of its well-designed baby lounger in the past year. Now the company has come up with CloudTot, a monitor that detects moisture and alerts the parent if the baby has wet the bed in the DockATot.
    By adding a tech component, DockATot is joining the Internet of Things, or making everyday objects smart and connected. The CloudTot product will come out in the summer of 2017, and it will be shown at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas dur
  • Tiny galleries, tiny gardens, and tiny food: finding (literally) small joys on Twitter

    Tiny galleries, tiny gardens, and tiny food:  finding (literally) small joys on Twitter
    Nestled among the jokes, the takes, and the joke-takes on my Twitter feed is at least one small joy. It is literally small: @thetinygallery, a bot account that spits out an image of an imaginary art gallery a few times a day. Sometimes the galleries are empty, and sometimes there are couples or a dancing lady inside, but each one contains two tiny pieces of art.The account was created by Emma Winston, a musician and artist based in London. She was inspired by the @tiny_star_field and @tiny_seas,
  • The VR industry’s biggest threat is underwhelming content

    The VR industry’s biggest threat is underwhelming content
    GUEST: Vrideo, the portal that started back in 2014 with the lofty aim of being the YouTube of virtual reality, called it quits earlier this week. Two years is like a decade in “VR-years”, as those in the fast-moving industry can readily testify, and while Vrideo’s founders tried to stretch the $2 million they raised from early 2015, it could only take them so far before the well dried up.
    One reason Vrideo failed to get the traction it needed to survive was its inability
  • PlayStation leads console brands’ ongoing stranglehold on fall TV

    PlayStation leads console brands’ ongoing stranglehold on fall TV
    GUEST: Mobile games haven’t heard the Call of Duty the past few weeks.
    GamesBeat has partnered with iSpot.tv, which measures TV advertising in real-time, to bring you a monthly report on how gaming brands are generating the most digital response to their ads. Below are or the top five most engaging gaming industry brands from October 16 through November 15.
    In total, 40 brands ran 129 spots nearly 23,000 times, for a total estimated spend of $105.6 million. Of that spend, Sony’s Play
  • New trailers: Martin Scorsese’s passion project, a young Barack Obama, and more

    New trailers: Martin Scorsese’s passion project, a young Barack Obama, and more
    Hey everyone, I just got back from seeing The Edge of Seventeen, which was every bit as sharp, smart, and funny as its trailer let on.
    So many high school movies seem to exist in a weird fantasy world where, even amid the drama, its characters are having a good time — but The Edge of Seventeen doesn’t. It’s main character gets to be quick and funny, but it also makes her truly isolated and lost in a way that so few teen films actually make their stars. It conveys an uncomfortab
  • Machine learning can fix Twitter, Facebook, and maybe even America

    Machine learning can fix Twitter, Facebook, and maybe even America
     Quitting Twitter is easy — I’ve done it a hundred times. Someone called it “a clown car that drove into a gold mine,” and like all clown cars, Twitter makes the passengers get out once in awhile.
    If I go back, it’s because I’m addicted. The tight news cycle, tweetstorms, gossip mongers, insight, argument, factoids, snark and one-liners. For an information… Read More
  • Venture capitalists and the search for moonshots

    Venture capitalists and the search for moonshots
    In Silicon Valley, there are companies that prefer to target low-hanging fruit, problems that may not be significant but that have a high likelihood of gaining traction quickly. But a few are bucking this trend, instead opting to look at the bigger picture and developing technology that can genuinely solve some of the world’s most challenging problems.
    Endeavors such as these require a high amount of capital and a lot of patience. Traditional investors are not likely to bank on them, but t
  • The final trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story asks you to trust in the force

    The final trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story asks you to trust in the force
    Disney has released a new trailer — titled Trust — for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, signaling that we’re finally in the home stretch before the next installment of the franchise hits theaters.
    The new trailer shows off a mix of footage that we’ve seen in the most recent international trailer, as well as a couple of of new moments that makes it look as though Alan Tudyk’s K-S20 will steal the show and inject a bit of humor into the film.
    This coincides with the anno
  • It’s not too late to finish up your holiday shopping, thanks to our Extended Black Friday Sale

    It’s not too late to finish up your holiday shopping, thanks to our Extended Black Friday Sale
    Black Friday may be over…but we’re not done yet! TNW Deals is excited to offer four stellar deals in our Extended Black Friday Sale: An outdoors-ready Bluetooth speaker, a three-pack of Lightning cables, a handy smartphone lens kit, and games delivered straight to your inbox. All these items have been previously discounted and are further marked down for today only. And if that’s not enough for you, grab 15 percent off items storewide with coupon code BLACKFRIDAY15 (some rest
  • The new episode of Telltale’s Batman game introduces a terrifying new Joker

    The new episode of Telltale’s Batman game introduces a terrifying new Joker
    Through its first three episodes, Telltale’s Batman game series has managed to carve out a niche, tackling very familiar territory in its own unique way. The Batman you control is a composite of the choices you’ve made in the game, while characters like the Penguin, Harvey Dent, and Catwoman all feel distinct from other takes on the Dark Knight. Even this version of Gotham City feels different, with a history largely its own. In episode four, called ”Guardian of Gotham,”
  • Moana review: after 80 years of experiments, Disney has made the perfect Disney movie

    Moana review: after 80 years of experiments, Disney has made the perfect Disney movie
    Virtually everything about Disney’s latest fairy tale, Moana, is familiar from past Disney films. The studio is still following the broad parameters it started laying down in 1937, with Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, by reshaping a culturally specific fairy tale to fit a family-friendly, accessible template. Once again, there’s a young woman leaving a safe, comfortable home, venturing into a dangerous world, and finding her destiny, all while singing catchy songs about what she wan
  • Watch an Absurdly Lovely Film Dedicated to the Unexpected

    Watch an Absurdly Lovely Film Dedicated to the Unexpected
    This animated short explores the beauty (and frustration) of the unexpected The post Watch an Absurdly Lovely Film Dedicated to the Unexpected appeared first on WIRED.
  • The Best Holiday Movies and TV Shows Ever—Don’t Even Argue with Us

    The Best Holiday Movies and TV Shows Ever—Don’t Even Argue with Us
    No, seriously. The post The Best Holiday Movies and TV Shows Ever—Don't Even Argue with Us appeared first on WIRED.
  • Tech Was Supposed to Crash in 2016. It Got Real Instead

    Tech Was Supposed to Crash in 2016. It Got Real Instead
    The tech bubble was supposed to burst this year. Turns out clichés aren't the best way to understand the direction of an industry. The post Tech Was Supposed to Crash in 2016. It Got Real Instead appeared first on WIRED.
  • How Humans Can Force the Machines to Play Fair

    How Humans Can Force the Machines to Play Fair
    The computer scientist Cynthia Dwork takes abstract concepts like privacy and fairness and adapts them into machine code for the algorithmic age. The post How Humans Can Force the Machines to Play Fair appeared first on WIRED.
  • Doctor Strange Proves Learning Magic Isn’t Strange at All

    Doctor Strange Proves Learning Magic Isn’t Strange at All
    In this one scene from Doctor Strange, we get a glimpse of real learning. The post Doctor Strange Proves Learning Magic Isn’t Strange at All appeared first on WIRED.
  • How voice search may threaten Google’s advertising business

    How voice search may threaten Google’s advertising business
    When the world shifted from desktop to smartphones, one thing didn’t change: the existence of a screen on both devices.
    The screen shrank, but it remained the medium through which we interact with computers.
    For Google, that meant its core online advertising business — visible search ads on a webpage — remained intact and lucrative.
    Today, Google may be at the beginning of a new shift — one toward artificially intelligent virtual assistants, in which we use our voice to i
  • Inspired by uncle’s death, Kenyan teen develops organ-matching app

    Inspired by uncle’s death, Kenyan teen develops organ-matching app
    In 2014, Kenyan teenager Caroline Wambui lost her uncle after he suffered kidney failure. Nobody in her family was a match for a donation, and Kenya, like so many other African countries, lacks an official countrywide organ donor program. Organ donation has in fact become somewhat of a taboo. In the meantime, individual’s like Caroline’s uncle die unnecessarily, or are forced to turn to an unregulated and unsafe market that has sprung up around organ donation in reaction to the coun
  • 9 content marketing tips for sales people

    9 content marketing tips for sales people
    If your content marketing and sales processes each exist in a hermetically-sealed bubble, then you are not getting the most out of your investment in content production. Many leaders are happy to let the marketing team produce content, hand over qualified leads to sales and never the twain shall meet. But storytelling has an important role to play throughout the sales journey, from introduction and establishing credentials at the top of the funnel, to actually assisting the sales team with coll
  • Uber seeks EC ruling that it is a digital service, not a transportation company

    Uber seeks EC ruling that it is a digital service, not a transportation company
    (Reuters) – Uber will seek to convince Europe’s top court next week that it is a digital service, not a transport company, in a case that could determine whether app-based startups should be exempt from strict laws meant for regular companies.
    The European Commission is trying to boost e-commerce, a sector where the EU lags behind Asia and the United States, to drive economic growth and create jobs.
    The U.S. taxi app, which launched in Europe five years ago, has faced fierce oppositi
  • Putin: Tech should not be demonized, but it is ‘an objective threat’ to businesses

    Putin: Tech should not be demonized, but it is ‘an objective threat’ to businesses
    Earlier this week Russian president Vladimir Putin said that, while new technologies such as Uber or Alibaba should not be demonized, they may still threaten the traditional economy in the future.
    “I believe that [new] business models are not a threat to existing ones. They represent a new way of organizing things which businesses consider as being more effective and necessary. They should not be accused of undermining activities — they just apply up-to-date metho
  • Banks reportedly seek to invest $59 million in blockchain startup R3

    Banks reportedly seek to invest $59 million in blockchain startup R3
    (Reuters) – Banks involved in the blockchain consortium R3 CEV have expressed interest in investing $59 million in the company’s first funding round, less than half its overall target, a person close to the deal said on Friday.
    R3, a New York-based startup, is seeking to raise $150 million from its members and strategic investors to fund its activities focused on developing blockchain-based technology for the financial services sector.
    It had originally sought to raise $200 million,
  • How Star Wars: The Old Republic keeps rolling in a universe outside of the movies

    How Star Wars: The Old Republic keeps rolling in a universe outside of the movies
    Rogue One isn’t the only Star Wars event in December.
    On December 2, BioWare will release a new expansion for its massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. The expansion, called Knights of the Eternal Throne, adds nine chapters of story content which includes two new planets for players to explore. Set thousands of years before the events of the movies, TOR originally came out back in 2011. It didn’t live to its hype as a World of Warcraft-killer, b
  • Black Friday online sales to hit a record-breaking $3 billion, over $1 billion from mobile

    Black Friday online sales to hit a record-breaking $3 billion, over $1 billion from mobile
     Black Friday online shopping is continuing to grow, and this Friday was another record-breaking day. According to a new report out this evening from Adobe, which has been tracking e-commerce transactions throughout the sales holiday, Black Friday is on track to set a new record by surpassing the $3 billion mark for the first time. It’s also expected to become the first day in U.S.… Read More
  • How to recruit, hire and retain female engineers

    How to recruit, hire and retain female engineers
     Leaders at tech startups are alarmed by the absence of women from mission-critical roles — software engineering, especially. This article is a how-to guide for finding and hiring women software engineers who will get the job done. Front-end or full-stack, QA or customer success specialist, it doesn’t matter. These steps to success apply to hiring women into any coding or… Read More
  • Stripe now worth more than $9 billion after raising $150 million

    Stripe now worth more than $9 billion after raising $150 million
    Stripe, a US fintech firm founded by two Irish brothers, has raised $150 million (£121 million) in a funding round that values the company at over $9 billion (£7 billion).
    The investment round, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, was led by CapitalG and General Catalyst, and also included participation from existing investors including Sequoia Capital. Facebook investor Peter Thiel and Tesla founder Elon Musk have also invested in Stripe in previous rounds.
    Founded in 2011, St
  • How our company culture helped us scale from 10 employees to 275

    How our company culture helped us scale from 10 employees to 275
    Scaling a company without compromising its culture can be an incredibly challenging problem to solve, but it’s certainly not impossible. One of the keys is building and maintaining a strong, genuine company culture. Through the people you hire and how you structure your teams, you can enable the company to scale effectively. Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky explains the role of culture in scaling: The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture
  • Fairy Tales Still Inspire Modern Female Writers

    Fairy Tales Still Inspire Modern Female Writers
    In her newest collection, author Aimee Bender writes new versions of classic fairy tales. The post Fairy Tales Still Inspire Modern Female Writers appeared first on WIRED.
  • Jill Stein Filed for a Recount in Wisconsin. What Now?

    Jill Stein Filed for a Recount in Wisconsin. What Now?
    Don't expect anything to happen fast. The post Jill Stein Filed for a Recount in Wisconsin. What Now? appeared first on WIRED.
  • Siren Care makes a “smart” sock to track diabetic health

    Siren Care makes a “smart” sock to track diabetic health
     Diabetic health tracking startup Siren Care has created smart socks that use temperature sensors to detect inflammation — and therefore injury — in realtime for diabetics. Co-founder Ran Ma was working on growing biomass to grow back skin that had been damaged while at Northwestern University when she started learning how to treat diabetic feet and thought of making a… Read More
  • Pokémon Go could get a huge December update with 100 new creatures

    Pokémon Go could get a huge December update with 100 new creatures
    EXCLUSIVE: Niantic Labs is reportedly planning a huge Pokémon Go update for December that will give players a lot of what they’ve been asking for.
    The update will include more than 100 new normal and Legendary Pokémon, player-versus-player battles, raising your critters (like Tamagotchi pets, after the eggs hatch), and trading between players, according to an analysis of the hit mobile game’s code by people associated with web scanner PokeVS. If true, that could se