Technology news

Moog announced last week that it is bringing back one of its iconic synthesizers — the IIIp — for a limited reissue for $35,000. The company says only 40 units will be handcrafted, and each one will feature the original’s documentation, art, and circuit board files. In total, each IIIp will have 37 modules including ten 901-Series audio oscillators, the 984 4-channel Matrix Mixer, and the 905 Spring Reverb.
Originally released in the late 1960s, the Moog Synthesizer IIIp was t

The US East Coast has been unusually hot this week, breaking temperature records from Boston to Washington, DC. But what’s causing this sudden warm spell?
The answer has to do with the air currents in the atmosphere, according to Mark Chenard, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center in College Mark, Maryland. Most of the time, winds in the atmosphere flow from west to east; this is called “zonal flow” and it’s responsible for our everyday weather. But every once

You have to admire Pavel Durov’s audacity.
Over the past few months, the CEO of Telegram convinced 81 accredited investors, including Silicon Valley giants Sequoia Capital and Benchmark, to give him $850 million in a presale of his company’s cryptocurrency in advance of an initial coin offering, or ICO. Now he’s trying to raise even more money from accredited investors before the coin gets offered to the public in a secretive second presale.
This week, investors got an email e

Ford Motor Company President Raj Nair is leaving the company “effective immediately” after an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior. “Certain behavior by Nair was inconsistent with the company’s code of conduct,” the company writes in a statement. No further specifics were given about which parts of the company’s code of conduct were violated.“We made this decision after a thorough review and careful consideration,” For

Today, budget Android phone maker Blu announced its latest flagship handset, the Blu Vivo X. The device’s standout feature is that it has not two or even three, but four cameras. The Blu Vivo X continues the trend of lower-end phones featuring four cameras, with a dual front-facing one for taking selfies and a more powerful dual rear-facing system for standard mobile photography. Blu explains the logic in the press release: “When it comes to cameras, two is better than one, and four

A former Tesla employee claims the company knowingly sold defective cars, often referred to as “lemons,” and that he was demoted and eventually fired after reporting the practice to his superiors. He made these allegations in a lawsuit filed in late January in New Jersey Superior Court under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA).
The former employee, Adam Williams, worked for Tesla as a regional manager in New Jersey dating back to late 2011. While there, he says he watch

Journalists have written fascinating accounts of the people creating online misinformation or “fake news,” from a group of Macedonian teenagers to the infamous Internet Research Agency, whose members were recently indicted for attempting to influence the 2016 election. Fact-checking groups have circulated advice for spotting fake stories, and partnered with social media platforms to flag them. Quizzes and games like Factitious will test your personal ability to spot misinformation.

A couple years ago, I got to test out the (potential) future of text input. It was called the “Tap Strap,” and it was a weird foam prototype that slid up over my fingers and allowed me to painstakingly input text through taps and combo taps.
Well, now it’s shipping. It’s just called Tap now, and it looks a bit more comfortable: a series of loosely connected rings, instead of a foam block. It’s $149.99, it connects to your phone or computer over Bluetooth, it has ei

Snap has officially responded to a hugely popular Change.org petition calling for the company to walk back the recent redesign of Snapchat. In a message signed by the Snapchat team and posted as a reply to the petition, the company says it’s heard the feedback loud and clear and that it acknowledges how the “new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many.” The petition was signed by more than 1.2 million people, a milestone that perhaps prompted Snap leadership to draft a respon

Last year at San Diego Comic-Con, HBO hosted Westworld: The Experience, an immersive activation that let guests visit the offices of Delos, Inc., thanks to some impressive set design and the performances of many committed actors. At this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, the network is upping that ante by recreating the series’ entire town of Sweetwater. SXSW is known its lavish brand activations, but this seems like a significant step up from past experiences.
Dubbed the &ldqu

Dish has announced separate numbers for its Sling TV over-the-top subscription service for the first time, and things seem to be looking good, with the company revealing it had over 2 million subscribers by the end of 2017.
That number — 2.212 million, to be exact — represents a 47 percent growth year over year for the streaming service, which Dish claims is the “#1 live and on-demand internet streaming service” available. That works out to a gain of around 700,000 new u

Bryan Singer’s 2000 X-Men movie marks the beginning of the modern era of superhero blockbusters. But the film doesn’t open with the titular team. The first scene depicts a young Erik Lehnsherr losing his parents at Auschwitz, showing the pain and firsthand experience with the very worst of humanity that led him to become Magneto, the supervillain who has most shaped the X-Men universe. Other villains come and go, but Magneto helped found the X-Men, and as he alternately works alongs

It’s probably not a stretch to say that the droids of Star Wars, like R2-D2 or C-3P0, are some of the most famous robots in science fiction. But how feasible are these iconic droids in real life?Robin R. Murphy, a researcher at Texas A&M University, looked at how realistic some of the Star Wars robots are. In a study published today in the journal Science Robotics, she concluded that while having an intelligent, sentient robot buddy fix your spaceship might be a little beyond today&rs

The world is getting flooded with tiny (creepy) robots that can crawl all over the place, including your clothes. The latest one, created by scientists at Harvard University, uses artificial scaly skins to move forward — kind of like a snake.The soft robot is just a silicone rubber tube. But what’s special about it is its skin — a thin, stretchable plastic sheet that’s been cut with a laser. The cuts, in the shape of triangles or circles, resemble the scales on the skin

Last week, Google’s Area 120 division announced that it’s building a new app that would add Smart Reply features to a number of popular messaging apps, such as Facebook Messenger, Slack, and Hangouts. This week, Android Police surfaced an APK so you can download and try Reply on Android devices right now. Note, however, that it’s just a beta, so try it at your own risk.
In my initial testing, the app does work as promised, though it is a little less contextual than Gmail&rsquo

A newly published attack let researchers take over Tinder accounts with just a user’s phone number, according to a new report by Appsecure. Tinder has changed its login system to protect against the attack and there’s no evidence it was exploited before the patch. Still, it’s a reminder of how fragile many login systems still are, and how powerful even basic vulnerabilities can be when chained together.
The attack worked by exploiting two separate vulnerabilities: one in Tinde

Just ahead of the Overwatch League’s debut season, Blizzard and Twitch announced a multiyear deal that would see every match of e-sports league broadcast on the streaming service. Now, the two companies are revealing a series of features designed to further enhance the viewing experience and offer bonuses to those who watch on Twitch.For fans who “cheer” in Twitch chat (cheering involves using animated chat emotes purchased with real money) during matches, they’ll have a

Qualcomm announced a Wi-Fi chip for phones and tablets today that’s compatible with the forthcoming generation of Wi-Fi. The company says it’s the first to deliver 802.11ax features to manufacturers and the first to support WPA3 encryption, which protects user passwords and privacy.
The 802.11ax generation of Wi-Fi, which is supposed to begin seeing mass adoption next year, will deliver higher network throughput and use less power compared to the previous generation, 802.11ac. Qualc

Disney is planning to create a new Muppets TV series for its not-yet-launched streaming service, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Details on the series are scarce, but it’s in line with earlier reports about the kind of streaming service Disney plans to operate. Earlier this month, Deadline reported that Disney plans to release a handful of original films and series within the first year and that the service would stick with family-friendly TV shows and movies.
The Muppets reboot would

The Netflix remake of Lost in Space is set to arrive on April 13 and here's your first look, in the form of a trailer.
Much like the original, the Netflix series tells the story of the Robinson family, one of many selected to fly off and colonize a new world in Earth's future. Disaster strikes when their ship is thrown off course, leaving the Robinsons – along with fellow crew members Don West (Ignacio Serricchio) and Dr. Smith (Parker Posey!) – stranded on the surface of a dangerous

Excited for Black Panther? So are we. Which is why we're rolling out obsessive coverage with Black Panther Week. 
Will Smith just showed the world that he's one of the biggest Black Panther fans around.
SEE ALSO: 'Black Panther' is a huge victory for representation in film
After the tremendous success of Black Panther's opening weekend, Will Smith took to Instagram to share an inspiring message he himself heard from Nelson Mandela along with a video of himself geeking out about Black Panthe

The East Coast feels more like May on Wednesday than February, with temperatures of at least 30 degrees Fahrenheit above average for this time of year. All-time record high temperatures are being set from Florida to the northern tip of Maine, as a southwest flow of air transports mild, moisture-laden air from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. 
These records will add to the milestones already achieved on Tuesday, when cities like Boston and Washington, D.C. broke records. Mirroring the

Avocados are fine. Great, even. But when we as a society begin proposing with avocados, I get afraid.
SEE ALSO: This couple accidentally proposed at the same exact time, and it was precious
Yes, that's correct. People are proposing with avocados.Tag someone who should propose like this #valentinesday #2018 #avobox #vegan #proposal #💍 #avocadoproposal
A post shared byF O O D D E C O (@fooddeco) on Feb 10, 2018 at 1:26am PSTIn an avocado? Seriously? So the proposer has to take the ring out

Jennifer Lawrence doesn't address the public on social media much, so when she does, it's best to listen. 
Today, she's here to defend her decision amidst what she calls the "'Jennifer Lawrence wearing a revealing dress in the cold' controversy."
While attending a press call for her latest film Red Sparrow yesterday, Lawrence joined her co-stars on a balcony in London on a blistering winter's day to snap a few promotional images. Lawrence's choice of dress managed to upstage the event and s

Fans of genre film have probably seen Joel Harlow’s work, even if they didn’t realize it at the time. The longtime makeup designer and MorphologyFX founder got his start on horror films in the 1980s, including two of the Toxic Avenger films, and went on to multiple Oscar nominations (for The Lone Ranger and Star Trek Beyond) and one win (for 2009’s Star Trek). He’s worked with Johnny Depp on films from the Pirates of the Caribbean series to Alice In Wonderland to Tusk, a

In rude Olympic news, a North Korean speed skater received a penalty during his race for appearing to attempt to throw off one of his fellow skaters. 
Speed skater Jong Kwang-Bom fell – twice! – during the men's 500 meters heat on Tuesday in Pyeongchang. Jong's first fall came within seconds of starting, prompting the judges to pause the race and restart. On the second round, the skater fell again.
SEE ALSO: How to calm your nerves while watching the OlympicsSpeed skater Jong Kw

Flint, MI has been on national radar for a while now, but the city's problems aren't over, nor did they arise from nothing. Netflix's latest documentary series, Flint Town, explores the background and trajectory of this city how poverty, police relations, and a notorious water crisis took a heavy toll.
SEE ALSO: Anger management isn't going so well in new 'Jessica Jones' trailer
Flint is a city of 100,000 people with roughly 0.1 percent of that staffing the police force. In the trailer, multiple

Smart home company Nest today announced that a promised Google Assistant update for its Cam IQ security camera has now arrived, which brings Google’s voice-based artificial intelligence platform to the indoor version of the camera.Nest originally promised Google Assistant for the Cam IQ back in September, when it launched the outdoor version of the camera alongside a new video doorbell and home security system. It appears Nest missed the deadline, but the company says it’s now ready

French startup Blade announced today that its Shadow game streaming service is launching in California, marking the first time the company will be making its product available in the US. Blade has been operating in France since July 2016, where it opened its first data center operation. (The service only works at low latency if a user is physically near their dedicated machine.) After a launch in the UK last month and a round of live demos ahead of this year’s CES back in January, Blade i

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is leaving the board of OpenAI, the nonprofit research group he co-founded with Y Combinator president Sam Altman to study the ethics and safety of artificial intelligence.The move was announced in a short blog post, explaining that Musk is leaving in order to avoid a conflict of interest between OpenAI’s work and the machine learning research done by Telsa to develop autonomous driving. “As Tesla continues to become more focused on AI, this will eliminate