Technology news

Before Rachel Carson became the mother of the modern environmental movement, she was stuck in a job that paid the bills but left her restless.
A new documentary revisits Carson's days as an information specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1930s and '40s, where at first she filed mundane reports about the agency's conservation work. 
It was in that role that Carson learned about DDT — a potent pesticide that farmers sprayed indiscriminately over their crops. Carson

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band may be a long way from home, but The Boss took some time out of his set in Australia on Sunday to talk about the Women's Marches which occurred across the United States on Saturday.“We’re a long way from home, and our hearts and spirits are with the hundreds of thousands of men and women that marched yesterday in every city in America — and in Melbourne!” Springsteen said with his guitar in hand.
Springsteen went on spit out a laund

The Democratic Party might have just found the perfect ticket to run against Donald Trump in 2020. 
This weekend, two of the NBA's most successful coaches posterized Trump with their words. First up was San Antonio Spurs coaching legend Gregg Popovich. 
SEE ALSO: How fans pay the price for the NBA's grueling schedule
"I'd just feel better if somebody was in that position that showed the maturity and psychological and emotional level of somebody that was his age," he said of Trump on Sa

Donald Trump is really, really, really obsessed with numbers, especially those that reflect his popularity, sending members of his staff into the world armed with lies and "alternative facts" to claim the attendance at his inauguration on Friday was HYUGE.
SEE ALSO: Who pulled the bigger crowd: Trump or Obama?
Unfortunately for Trump, every indication is that, no matter what he says, there were far fewer people there than the president would like to think and the NHL's Dallas Stars were more tha

There are plenty of horror movies featuring aliens, ghouls, and masked slashers, but I appreciate it most when the genre finds terror in the real world. So I was extremely curious to see Australian director Cate Shortland’s latest film, Berlin Syndrome — even more so after Netflix picked the movie up the week before Sundance even started.The film stars Teresa Palmer (Lights Out) as Clare, a young woman visiting Germany who crosses paths with an aw-shucks English teacher named Andi (S

On Saturday, January 21, in the wake of President Donald Trump being sworn into office, more than a million women — and men — of all ages marched in cities around the US and vocalized support women’s rights and for broader equality. Protests have not been uncommon since the new US president was elected in November, but this one stood out for two reasons: first, for the sheer volume of people participating, not just in the US but around the globe; and because, by almost all acco

Here's another reminder that the turnout for the hundreds of Women's Marches across the globe Saturday was YUGE. 
SEE ALSO: Yes, Trump watched the Women's Marches, and yes, he tweeted about it
From San Francisco to D.C. to Madison, Wisconsin, throngs of supporters packed streets and parks, a massive show of unity in the wake of the inauguration of Donald Trump as the nation's 45th president. 
And these timelapses give us an idea of just how immense the groups were, as the crowd moves o

With a squishy embrace, a new soft robot can keep a weak and failing heart pumping. So far, it’s only been tested in pigs. But if it works in humans, it could one day keep people with heart failure alive.Researchers at Harvard developed a new soft robot that is basically a sleeve with silicone muscles that twist into a heart shape — much like the muscles in the heart itself. Compressed air makes these soft muscles contract, squeeze, and twist, according to a paper published last week

Heroes of the Storm’s esports are evolving.
Blizzard’s new Heroes Global Championship league starts this weekend. It’s a new format for competitive play for Heroes of the Storm, the developer’s multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). These are some of the most popular games in the growing esports market, and Blizzard has put a lot of focus on creating and promoting esports events for its games. You can find the full schedule here.
GamesBeat interviewed Sam Braithwait

The Women's Marches brought together millions of people in the United States — and not all of them were women.
Dads, too, came out to show their support for the march and the women in their lives. The subways and streets of Washington, D.C., were full of grown men wearing knitted pink vagina hats on their heads. At the march, they were seen handing out sandwiches, pushing strollers and raising their children and their fists.
SEE ALSO: All the best protest signs from Women's Marches across

In 2014, a company called Condition One released the first extended 360-degree Oculus Rift film. It was a narratively and visually disjointed pseudo-documentary shot on early 360-degree film equipment, and for the initial crop of VR fans, a bit of a letdown. But Condition One kept working, and this year, founder Danfung Dennis has returned with a companion piece to An Inconvenient Sequel — the new documentary about former Vice President Al Gore and global warming, which is also premiering

It's been 13 years and seven directing gigs since an M. Night Shyamalan movie opened at the top of the box officeSplit broke that drought over the weekend.
While Sunday box numbers are admittedly estimates, there is zero chance for #2 finisher xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. The Vin Diesel-led action movie nabbed an estimated $20 million domestically — it's not a bad showing, but it's far behind the $40.2 million domestic estimate for Split.
SEE ALSO: 'Split' review: M. Night Shyamalan's n

GUEST: Corporate venture capital (CVC) is an investment by a corporate (fund) into external startups in order to make a financial return or to gain a competitive advantage. CVC is a polarizing subject and opinions are divided. Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures believes that it’s evil and corporates should not invest in startups but simply buy them. While Marc Andreessen from Andreessen Horowitz on the other hand is co-investing with corporations such as General Electric. Whatever the

Yordano Ventura, the Kansas City Royals star young right-handed pitcher, died early Sunday in a car accident, per ESPN.
He was 25 years old, and died in his native Dominican Republic.
SEE ALSO: It's Aaron Rodgers' NFL and everyone else is just playing in it
The Royals confirmed Ventura's death in an official statement. 
"Our prayers right now are with Yordano's family as we mourn this young man's passing," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said in the statement. "He was so young and so ta

“There’s something young happening here,” DJ Walshy Fire says late into the sprawling, inspiring concert documentary Give Me Future. He’s sitting outdoors in Havana, Cuba with Diplo and Jillionaire, his partners in the genre-hopping electronic-music trio Major Lazer. They’re talking with reverent awe about Cuba’s music scene, and how rapidly it’s changing.A little over a year after President Obama eased the 54-year trade sanction against Cuba, Major Laze

Before Hamilton was a Broadway smash and a lightning rod for controversy in Trump's America, it was just a searing collection of beats and rhymes. And now you can listen to those formative rough drafts.
Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda released eight "Hamildemos" via SoundCloud on Saturday. These stripped-down takes on some of the show's music give fans a glimpse into Miranda's creative process.
SEE ALSO: The 'Hamilton' cast performing 'One Last Time' at the White House will wreck you
The col

Deadline is reporting that James Cameron is engaged in early talks to return to his Terminator franchise, not as a director, but in a godfather role for Deadpool’s Tim Miller, who would direct a “reboot and conclusion” to the franchise.This is interesting news, but should also be taken with a grain of salt. Cameron only regains some of the rights to Terminator in 2019, and a lot can happen in the film industry in two years. Cameron is currently working on a four sequels to 2009

On Nov. 8, mothers all across the country walked with their daughters to cast their votes for what they'd thought would be the first woman president. On Jan. 21, 2017, they came together again, this time for a different reason.   
Anywhere from 3.6 to 4.8 million people marched at the Women's March on Saturday — and that's just in the United States alone. In more than 600 U.S. cities, in 60 countries and on seven different continents, mothers and their daughters walked together a

ASMR is to audio as melting videos are to visuals. They both scratch an itch that appeals to us on a sensory level. Today, I’d like to introduce you to the perfect marriage of both: ASMR defrosting.
This thawing video from YouTube channel Stereokroma is seven-plus minutes of different vegetables and fruits doing exactly that. It combines the strange satisfaction of melting videos, where you watch a substance slowly erode, with the auditory delight that ASMR videos deliver so well. It&rsquo

Tokyo has begun quietly testing out USB ports on a single bus in its metro area, according to the Japanese publication IT Media. There’s been no official word from Tokyo transportation authorities, and given that the test includes only one bus, that isn’t too surprising. But what is shocking is that USB ports on public transportation aren’t commonplace in 2017.
都バスにUSB充電ポートがついてる

GUEST: Hackers can shut down entire networks, tamper with data, lure unwary users into cybertraps, steal and spoof identities, and carry out other devious attacks by leveraging centralized repositories and single points of failure.
The blockchain’s alternative approach to storing and sharing information provides a way out of this security mess. The same technology that has enabled secure transactions with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum could now serve as a tool to prevent cy

Some dogs are good at fetch, others can show off their sweet tricks. This pup is a master in jumping over a gate that's likely intended to keep her out of a certain area of the house.Her form is simply perfect throughout the entirety of the launch. It's remarkable. 
@GeoMcBerry tweeted the clip of the dog in action on Friday, and has since racked up over 92,000 retweets and some hilarious comments. @GeoMcBerry your dog reminded me of these lil rubber things I use to play with as a kid

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft is currently orbiting Jupiter, taking some spectacular images as it studies the gas giant’s atmosphere. The spacecraft is making its next close pass to the planet on February 2nd, and the agency is asking the public to help it figure out where to point its cameras next.Juno will approach Jupiter’s North Pole and will swing south, ending the flyby below the South Pole and will take pictures using JunoCam, a visible-light camera. NASA noted that the spacecr

In the world of fake news, now we also have "alternative facts." 
On Saturday, President Donald Trump's first full day in office, his press secretary Sean Spicer held a press conference in which he falsely claimed that the previous day's crowd was the "largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period."
SEE ALSO: Inauguration crowds are looking puny compared to Women's March crowds
Spicer's false remarks instantly became a new meme and sent the internet into a fury.
On Sunday, Kellya

Square Panda is trying to walk the lines between fun and learning, and between the digital and the physical. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has launched a $99 product that combines proprietary learning hardware with games that run on an iPad.
The company has received funding from tennis legend Andre Agassi, who attended CES 2017, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas earlier this month, with company CEO Andy Butler. I interviewed Butler at CES, and he has some big ambitions for Square Panda.

Square Panda is trying to walk the lines between fun and learning — and between the digital and the physical. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has launched a $99 product that combines proprietary learning hardware with games that run on an iPad.
The company has received funding from tennis legend Andre Agassi, who attended CES 2017, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas earlier this month, with company CEO Andy Butler. I interviewed Butler at CES, and he has some big ambitions for S

When Edward Snowden leaked details of the NSA’s mass surveillance program PRISM in 2013, he had been using a secure e-mail service called Lavabit. Later that summer, the service shut down after the government ordered its owner to turn over the site’s encryption keys.Now, four years later, Lavabit is relaunching.On January 20th, Lavabit founder Ladar Levison published a note announcing that he was relaunching Lavabit. He explained that while much has changed since the site was origina

GUEST: The esports industry, for many, seems to have appeared overnight – at least in the mainstream. It tallied $892.8 million in revenues in 2016 with over 213.8 million spectators watching the competitive gaming tournaments and matches. That’s coming from market researcher SuperData, which estimate that the industry will surpass the $1 billion dollar mark by 2018 and reach a global audience of 303 million by 2019. Asia leads, but North America and Europe follow closely.
A few year

On April 16th, 2013, IamDRock went into the forum and wrote a post titled I Love Rainbowdasher.Rainbowdasher has become a very important part of my life and I have come to care about her very much and I no longer can hold my feelings in and I have to confess that my feelings for rainbowdasher are very real. we care about each other very much. We have never met in person but our interactions with one another go far beyond talking on EP.
EP is the Experience Project, an online community that conne

When I saw the entry for Hue on Sundance’s virtual reality programming sheet, my first thought was “An interactive story about making human connections with a fictional character sounds cool and sophisticated.” My second thought was “This guy in the concept art looks really emo.”Turns out I was sort of right on the first count, and spot-on-correct on the second.Genre:
Lightly interactive motion-controlled virtual reality narrative.
What’s it about?
“Hue&

 Henry Ford famously said that if you asked people what they wanted, they wouldn’t have said “ a car.”  They would have said – “a faster horse.” I believe driverless cars are today’s equivalent of faster horses. A continuation of what exists – not a true category break. Predictable but not revolutionary enough. That takes me to Elon Musk, who… Read More

FEATURE: Investment in autonomous vehicle technology entered overdrive in 2016, and 2017 is gearing up for more of the same.
In the last six months of 2016, the first public self-driving taxi service hit Singapore roads, courtesy of NuTonomy, while Uber followed suit a month later in Pittsburgh. The question of self-driving cars becoming a reality on roads around the world is no longer an “if,” it’s a big fat “when.”
Amidst all the hullabaloo over driverless automob

TAIPEI (Reuters) – The head of Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronic goods and a major Apple Inc supplier, said on Sunday that the rise of protectionism is unavoidable.
Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, warned that uncertainties for this year make it tough to have a very clear analysis and outlook, but he said it was clear politics would underpin economic development.
His remarks came after U.S. President Donal

Actress Ashley Judd made news today at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., for her performance that skewered President Donald Trump. But she also gave another recent heated speech at a TED conference where she criticized the video game industry.
The TED speech, which went up a few days ago, called for an end to hate speech, sexual harassment, and threats of violence against women in online venues. Judd said that she is attacked every single day on forums, such as Twitter and Facebo

Women are half the gaming population but represent only a small minority in competitive gaming, an industry that is set to hit $1.1 billion in revenues by 2018. One contributing issue is the sexism that takes place in the otherwise burgeoning industry. With 85 percent of professional gamers male and the number of cases of online harassment and abuse that have left many female players feeling disenfranchised, esports is in trouble of being associated as a “boys club.”
One of the indus

For anyone who lives near a major city, you know there are many stress points. Traffic is one of them, but the real hair-pulling exercise happens when you need to find a parking spot.
Ford recently announced a new app called FordPass — which will debut in the 2018 Ford Mustang — that could solve this problem. For someone like me who hates how much time it takes to find a spot and then find the terminal to pay for parking, the app is a welcome perk.
Ford is making

 A Whitehouse.gov petition calling for President Donald Trump to immediately release his tax returns has surpassed the 100,000-signature threshold in under a day, garnering a Whitehouse response. It’s not clear that the current administration intends to follow the practice established under Former President Barack Obama, of accepting petitions online, reviewing and responding to… Read More

The Discovery has the premise of Black Mirror episode and the spiritual optimism of Chicken Soup for the Sci-Fi Nerd’s Soul. It's the not-so-distant future, and Dr. Thomas Harber (Robert Redford) has collected overwhelming scientific evidence that upon death our brainwaves make an exodus on a subatomic level. The “soul” leaves the body.
Where consciousness goes, nobody knows, but the loose thread is enough to unravel humanity, inspiring an epidemic of suicides. When life is too

They came with pussy hats and placards. Thousands of people turned out for marches in the San Francisco Bay area to remind President Donald Trump about women’s rights.
In solidarity with the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., protesters held hundreds of marches in big cities around the world to celebrate women’s rights and protest Trump’s election. I attended the Women’s March in San Jose, Calif., and VentureBeat’s Khari Johnson was at a march in Oakland, Cali