Technology news

Google chief Sundar Pichai wants the people working for him to understand this clearly: Google's search results aren't influenced by political bias.
That's the message Pichai focused on sending in a Friday email to all employees. He was responding to reports of a January 2017 email chain that started a few days after Donald Trump instituted his first version of the Muslim ban.
SEE ALSO: Google is trying, and failing, to cover its creepy Chinese search engine tracks
A Thursday report from the Wal

No, this is not an episode of Breaking Bad. This is real life.
On Friday, Sept. 21, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) posted on Facebook about a drug mix up that sounds like it has just as wild a story behind it as the hit AMC TV series.
The department received 45 boxes of donated bananas from Ports of America in Freeport near the Gulf of Mexico. But it turns out the donation was a greater gift than either organization could have imagined, containing an additional 540 packages of c

The casual uniform of the millennial techie is a running joke by now, but some are starting to swap in their t-shirts and worn jeans for actual adult clothes. Stylist Victoria Hitchcock told Vox what it's like to overhaul the lives and styles of Silicon Valley's emerging employees – who literally can't dress themselves – as they go "from boys to men."
SEE ALSO: This picture of Mark Zuckerberg's wardrobe is hard to believe
Hitchcock has been styling members of the tech and business in

For once, it seems the story of a big Hollywood studio facing criticisms over poor representation ended with a happily ever after.
In the months since teasers for Wreck-It Ralph sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, started showing a Disney princess reunion scene, fans have been calling out the studio behind the movie for whitewashing one of its few princesses of color: Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.
SEE ALSO: This Disney princess cameo in 'Ralph Breaks the Internet' is already a meme
Accord

I am most tired on during my period on Thursdays. It’s random fact, but one that I never confidently knew about myself until recently. When I was a teenager, my periods were agonizing; they were painful, unpredictable, difficult to track, and basically debilitating. The intense cramps and dizziness caused me to frequently miss school, so much so that my doctor recommended I skip periods altogether and start birth control to regulate my cycles. I didn’t look back for a decade.
But be

It's just like the movie Armageddon, but without the apocalypse scenario.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has reason to celebrate after successfully deploying a pair of robots on the surface of an asteroid. The mission, which played out on Friday, aims to gather photos and data from the asteroid called Ryugu.
SEE ALSO: Astronaut captures photos of ominous-looking Hurricane Florence from space
The mission's success — marking the end of a four-year journey — was confirmed

Beau Willimon, the screenwriter and playwright who created Netflix’s “House of Cards”, has turned his attention from Washington, D.C. to outer space in his latest series “The First”.
The shows have more in common than I expected. Sure, “The First” is about a future expedition to Mars, not present day political machinations. And instead of the fourth wall-breaking monologues that “House of Cards” was known for, the new series relies on long, n

The internet has changed how kids learn about sex, but sex ed in the classroom still sucks. In Sex Ed 2.0, Mashable explores the state of sex ed and imagines a future where digital innovations are used to teach consent, sex positivity, respect, and responsibility.
Have you ever had a weird question about sex? We want to know about it. Fill out this Google Form and your response may be included (anonymously) in a future story.My period has always been something of a mystery. 
For months at a

The above photo is of Backdoor Pipeline, an installation piece by the famous artist Richard Serra. Like most of Serra’s work, the picture doesn’t really do it justice. It’s enormous, designed to be walked through, and the sheer weight of the bent steel is tangible when you’re in the room with it. It shapes the space around it, remaking the relationship between the viewer and the piece.
The pink lines aren’t part of the piece; I’ve added them to drive home how

Film is an expressive medium — at least as flexible as books are, in terms of the potential for variety and nuance. So how to explain the way cinema processes so many diverse, nuanced books into generic, nearly identical hunks of cookie-cutter product? And the problem seems particularly pronounced with books aimed at younger readers. When novels as tonally and creatively wide-ranging as Bridge to Terabithia, The Dark is Rising, the first five Spiderwick Chronicles novels, and Cirque du Fr

Director Julius Avery's Overlord screened for the first time at Fantastic Fest on Saturday, and the jam-packed war thriller has audiences buzzing with excitementCollider praises the film's blend of gore and drama and its commitment to genreThe trailer offers enough to pique our interest – World War II but with super-soldier monsters – but early reactions promise one hell of a ride.
SEE ALSO: Netflix's 'Maniac' is seriously messing with people's headsOverlord is a blast. It’s a

Something new is happening in Pokémon Go.
A mysterious critter has appeared in the game, and it's something Pokémon fans have never seen before. It was first discovered when a programming-savvy fan found an image and a reference to "Pokémon 891" in the game's code.
SEE ALSO: Pokémon fans are freaking out after realizing Venusaur is a frog
The newcomer has the body of a sheet-covered ghost and a nut — the hardware, not the legume — for a head, with one eye

Researchers at Deezer have developed an AI system capable of associating certain songs with moods and intensities, as spotted by VentureBeat. The work is described in a newly published paper on Arxiv.org titled “Music Mood Detection Based on Audio Lyrics With Deep Neural Nets.“
To determine a song’s musical mood, the team considered both the audio signal and the lyrics. To start, they fed audio signals into a neural network, along with models that reconstruct the linguistic co

Porsche says that it’s getting out of the diesel business — for good. In a release this morning, it explains that amidst falling demand for diesel vehicles, and a growing interest in hybrids, it “has decided to no longer offer diesel propulsion in future.”
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume notes that his company isn’t “demonising diesel” with the announcement, and says that the fuel still important worldwide, even though it’s never been a huge part of the

The #MeToo movement received a jolt this weekend with the new hashtag #WhyIDidntReport, prompted by Donald Trump's pushback on allegations raised by Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
Actress Alyssa Milano was among the staggering number of people who tweeted heartbreaking personal stories of being sexually assaulted and choosing not to report it for any number of reasons. In a new essay for Vox, Milano unpacks the stigma of reporting

"If you ask me why I’m in politics, my answer will be simple: children," New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the audience at Mashable’s 9th annual Social Good Summit on Sept. 23.
On the one-year anniversary of the general election that elevated her to power, Ardern spoke about one of her greatest passions as a politician: helping kids. 
"When I came into office, somewhat surprisingly, I did so with the single-minded determination to improve the lives of children in Ne

There are a ton of podcasts out there, but finding the right one can be difficult. In our column Pod Hunters, we cover what we’ve been listening to that we can’t stop thinking about.
The third season of Serial starts off with host Sarah Koenig introducing the place where the podcast listener will reside for the duration of its run. It’s a stunning, almost cinematic monologue. Koenig takes the listener through Cleveland’s Justice Center Complex, explaining that the &ldquo

Several years ago, Sonita Alizadeh's parents were considering selling her into marriage in order to pay for her older brother's bride. Alizadeh, an Afghan refugee who was living in Iran at the time, dreamt instead of getting an education. 
While such conflict plays out for millions of girls around the world every year, Alizadeh decided to channel her despair into rapping. Eventually, with the help of a documentarian, she turned her song "Brides for Sale" into a viral YouTube video. Now Aliz

Netflix's Maniac, starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, is here to fuck you up.
The 10-episode series is being compared to all kinds of pop culture cousins, from Inception to Westworld to Legion (Superbad jokes are in the rearview now)Variety called it one of the year's best shows, while a more critical New Yorker review still praises the show's "alluring technique."
We can't quite explain it without giving things away, but please enjoy the reactions of everyone along for the ride.
SEE ALSO: With

NASA technology is usually associated with the far reaches of space, but research from the government agency is surprisingly close at hand: hair dryers, water softeners, skin cream, landmine removal!
NASA even has a cool interactive tool called NASA Home and City to showcase all the ways space research affects us back here on Earth. In the city, we learn that software first designed for NASA robots helps Earth robots with manufacturing: Image: NASA Home and City
And NASA’s extra rocket fu

Diss tracks looked a lot different in 1971.
Here we have John Lennon performing in the studio with his fellow Beatle George Harrison and the Plastic Ono Band. The song? A funked out version of "How Do You Sleep?" from Lennon's second solo album, Imagine.
The song's lyrics take aim Paul McCartney, whose troubled relationship with Lennon led to The Beatles' break-up in 1970. "A pretty face may last a year or two / But pretty soon they'll see what you can do / The sound you make is muzak to my ears

Airbnbwants to give the homeowners who power its service the opportunity to own a piece of its business. That’s why, as Axios reports, the $31-billion-valued company has written to the SEC to ask if its rules around security ownership can be revised.
Specifically, Airbnb is seeking a change to the SEC’s Rule 701 — which governs ownership of equity in companies — to allow a new kind of shareholder class for workers who participate in gig economy companies and the

If you have an email inbox, you’ve probably received a message that promises money or luck if you share it and unspecified misfortune if you don’t. “Please do not throw this letter away until you have carefully considered what I am about to tell you,” it might begin. “This can be the most important communication you will ever receive if you can understand and act upon this incredible opportunity.” (Emphasis theirs.) But if you’ve received one of these m

You may know Nyle DiMarco from America's Next Top Model, where he was crowned the victor of the show's 22nd season, in 2015. You may have seen DiMarco demonstrate perfect rhythm on Dancing With the Stars, where he went home with yet another grand prize. DiMarco, in short, is a winner. 
But DiMarco, who is deaf, believes he owes his good fortune in life to a childhood experience: learning language — both spoken and signed — at an early age. Language acquisition, he says, helped h

The internet has changed how kids learn about sex, but sex ed in the classroom still sucks. In Sex Ed 2.0, Mashable explores the state of sex ed and imagines a future where digital innovations are used to teach consent, sex positivity, respect, and responsibility.
Have you ever had a weird question about sex? We want to know about it. Fill out this Google Form and your response may be included (anonymously) in a future story.Relying on schools for quality sex education doesn't cut it, unfortunat

On Sept. 14, Wendy Dockray strolled down to Newcomb Hollow Beach, on the shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The waves were mighty that day, so she went to watch the surf pound the shore. 
The waves also attracted surfers. "I actually thought, 'Aren't they worried?'" Dockray, whose family has owned a house on the cape for 60 years, said in an interview.
The next afternoon, a shark — suspected to be a great white — sunk its teeth into 26-year-old boogie-boarder Arthur Medici. The t

Presidents didn't always down twelve Diet Cokes and multiple McDonald's sammies per day. Some even ate their vegetables.
Back in early 2010s, things were different. Better. More than a few of the country's leading political figures had decided to go vegan. In earlier eras, the stereotype (in America at least) was that only grating liberal arts college activists downed Tofurky dogs and seed-based salads.
Thanks to our leaders at the time, eating right — or, at the very least, just eating le

Let's face it: Technology makes life a lot easier, doesn't it? With a few swipes and taps, you can do just about anything from hailing a cab, to meeting romantic suitors, to ordering a heaping plate of lo mein straight to your doorstep.
SEE ALSO: Defy gravity at this interactive optical-illusion museum
However, one of the (very) few things technology can't simplify is art. Sure, there are a ton of apps that'll turn your ho-hum snapshot into an Insta-worthy, filtered-to-perfection masterpiec

Convinced coloring and sketching is child's play? Think again.
It may come as no surprise that drawing, painting, and other creative pursuits can actually bolster creativity, improve memory, decrease stress, and make you a better communicator. Not just a kiddie activity anymore, huh?
SEE ALSO: The world's oldest human drawing is a hashtag-like doodle
Sure, you don't have to be the next Picasso in order to dabble in doodling, but it doesn't hurt to know the bare basics of art. That's where The Fu

Hard to believe, but Startup Battlefield MENA is just over a week away. We’ve got some of the top founders and investors in the region speaking, including Magnus Olsson of Careem, Imad Kreidieh of Ogero, Mai Medhat of Eventtus, Konstantinos Papamiltiadis of Facebook and Henri Asseily of Leap Ventures, and many more!
As we told you last week, we’re bringing our premier Startup Battlefield competition for the first time to the Middle East and North Africa. Showcasing the hottest new st

There’s an episode in the latest season of the Hulu original series Casual, where the main character, Alex, tries his hand at dating in virtual reality. He quickly meets a woman and develops a big, adrenaline-inducing crush only to realize she’s a scammer out for his credit card information.The season takes place around 2021 or 2022, when technological advances have made dating in VR both possible and socially acceptable. We’re not there yet, and we probably won’t be