Technology news

Sure, Elijah Wood might be the model Animal Crossing visitor, but T-Pain has proven himself to be your ideal Animal Crossing husband.
The world at large first learned of this monumental fact just a couple of days ago when the rapper and R&B singer tweeted about the generous stimulus package that he left for wife, Amber Najm.If my next partner doesn’t go out of their way to do shit like this for me, I don’t want it https://t.co/hmES3cGYzB
— Emma Kidwell (@EmmaKidwell) May 2,

US Capitol In a joint statement on Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declined President Trump’s offer to provide rapid coronavirus tests for members of Congress.
“Congress is grateful for the Administration’s generous offer to deploy rapid COVID-19 testing capabilities to Capitol Hill, but we respectfully decline the offer at this time,” the statement reads. “Our country’s testing capacities are cont

May Day is a real cause for celebration in Finland, but since the country is practicing social distancing in hopes of slowing the spread of coronavirus, many in-person celebrations had to be put on hold.
In an attempt to unite Finland's population, however, the country carried out a remote May Day celebration. Thanks to help from popular rap stars, JVG, and Helsinki-based virtual reality studio, Zoan, residents were able to celebrate May Day by watching the virtual concert shown above.
According

Dave Zatz/Zatz Not Funny The Sonos Playbar may finally, at long last, be getting an upgrade, according to an image discovered by Dave Zatz over at Zatz Not Funny. The renders don’t show a power outlet or HDMI ports, which Zatz speculates may mean ports and any buttons are either recessed within the ledge or elsewhere along the sound bar (although it may also mean the renders are just not fully illustrated). Zatz’s images show both black and white versions.Sonos debuted the Playbar i

Did you know TNW’s Couch Conference has a track fully dedicated to exploring new design trends this year? Check out the full ‘Sprint’ program here. Having started MING Labs in China in 2011, we have seen a big development from the old-internet world of overladen landing pages, to digital products of world-class defining design today. In parallel, we have seen the move from clunky desktop applications with small user bases, to the mobile-first B2C revolution to the rise of the

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo commercial space plane has officially made its first successful test flight out of Spaceport America, its base in New Mexico.
On Friday, the company announced that its suborbital spacecraft, called VSS Unity, marked "an important flight test milestone in preparation for commercial service."
Though Unity had already completed several successful glide tests — including milestone flights in December 2018 and February 2019 — this was the first successful fr

Disney Disney is selling non-medical face masks in the US featuring characters from across its multiverse, including Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, the company announced. Disney will donate one million masks to to underserved communities via humanitarian aid organization MedShare, and all profits from the mask sales in the US through September 30th, up to $1 million, also will go to MedShare.
The masks, which include Anna and Elsa from Frozen; Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story; The Avenger

Elizabeth Warren's very good dog, Bailey, is celebrating his birthday with a delicious treat that puts any cake to shame: a birthday burrito.
On Friday, Warren shared a video on social media of Bailey chowing down on his birthday burrito in their Cambridge, Massachusetts home — straight off of the carpet, might we add.
In the video, Warren and her husband Bruce can be heard singing to Bailey and Warren gently asks him, "Are you a happy birthday boy?"
I think it's clear the answer is yes.
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Social distancing has been hard for everyone, even the eels at Tokyo's Sumida Aquarium. 
Since the aquarium closed to the public on March 1, its nearly 300 spotted garden eels have apparently been getting "used to a non-human environment and have forgotten about people." Now, whenever the aquarium staff comes around, the eels act especially shy and bury themselves in the sand.
On April 28, the aquarium shared a post on its website to explain that the eels' behavior is concerning — not

All stars emit varying amounts of light over time – and the Sun is no exception. Such changes in starlight can help us understand how habitable any planets around other stars are – a very active star may bombard its planets with harmful radiation. Now a new study, published in Science, shows that the Sun is significantly less active than other, similar stars. In many stars, the observed variation in brightness is driven by their internal magnetic field. When parts of the magnetic fi

To say that the Class of 2020 is in for a unique graduation season would be a serious understatement.
As a result of coronavirus social distancing guidelines, many high schools and universities around the world have had to cancel upcoming graduation ceremonies for students. Choosing not to hold these large gatherings is definitely the smart and safe move, but missing graduation is still a huge bummer.
Many individual schools will be holding virtual, makeshift, heavily scaled-down graduation cere

The union for Kickstarter employees reached an agreement with management on Friday which provides protections for laid-off workers, the union said in a press release. The crowdfunding company announced in an internal memo April 20th it would likely seek layoffs, along with other cost-cutting measures. CEO Aziz Hazan wrote in the memo that Kickstarter had seen a 35 percent drop in new crowdfunding projects on the site in the past several weeks, with “no clear sign of rebound.”Kickstar

Image: Epic Games Fortnite’s new no-guns “party royale” mode just launched on Wednesday, and the new map played host to its first live concert Friday evening. DJ and producer Diplo performed a live Major Lazer set, and actor and performer Jordan Fisher also made appearances before and after the show.
The concert was held at the big, music festival-like main stage on the east side of the island. Because there are no weapons in the new mode, attendees didn’t have to worry

Going outside without music or podcasts to listen to can be a drag. During the coronavirus pandemic, however, you might consider taking some extra precautions so you can jam out safely during your grocery runs.
The CDC recommends properly cleaning personal electronics as necessary. While headphones and earbuds aren't specifically named in its guidelines, you probably touch them enough to warrant proper disinfection just to be safe. The good news is there are fairly easy ways to do this.
We've ta

Internet of Yum digs into all the things that make us drool while we're checking our feeds.Getting mad online over food is a proud, longstanding tradition. 
Sure, the rage you feel over someone ruining guacamole or using way too much fucking mayo sounds irrational. But there are very legitimate reasons to publicly shame bad recipes on the web.
Just look at this entire Twitter account (with over 73,000 followers as of publication) exclusively dedicated to screenshots of Italians and those of

Hulu's Normal People dropped on Wednesday, and within hours viewers were moved by the quiet beauty and devastation in the main characters' relationship. 
Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) can't seem to escape each other, nor do they want to, but they struggle to find the contentment that love promises to bring. Mashable spoke to Mescal and Edgar-Jones ahead of the show's premiere about what makes a relationship like this so intriguing and what it means to be soulmates &

After 40 years in the data game, Excel users have developed tricks on top of tricks to help accomplish virtually every numbers-driven task that could ever be done. If you’re interested in joining the ranks of the Excel uber-elite, the training found in The Complete 2020 Microsoft Excel Expert Bundle ($29.99, 89 percent off from TNW Deals) can take you a long way toward unlocking all the talents hidden within the software’s still vital depths.

Work(out) From Home is a weekly column where we review smart fitness machines and apps in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Thanks to technology, there are still plenty of ways to exercise if your gym is closed.
Charge Running
The Good
Easy to use • Motivational instructors• Variety of classes and levels • Tight-knit community of runners
The Bad
Lack of playback controls for on-demand classes • No music app integration • Can't filter classes
The Bottom Line
The Charg

Picture this: It's pre-pandemic and you're sitting in a work meeting. You've diligently prepared your notes and you're excited to present your ideas. Instead, you spend the entire meeting trying — and failing — to get a word in. 
Fast forward to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of staring at your coworkers from across a conference room table, you're at home speaking to them via video. But it's still the same story: When you attempt to talk, you're cut off multiple times. Each t

TL;DR: A two-year subscription to Surfshark is on sale for $1.99 per month as of May 2, saving you 83% on list price.You generally get what you pay for in the world of technology, meaning you tend to have to spend a little more to get the best quality.
But every now and then a product or service offers everything you need at a low price. That's the case with Surfshark, and you can now sign up for its comprehensive plans for under $2 per month.
SEE ALSO: What to watch with every streaming service

TL;DR: Get ready for your close up with this beauty ring light for $50.99, a 15% savings as of May 2. With everyone settling into their new stay-at-home routines, it's no longer a question of what you'll wear, but how to look presentable on Zoom. If you're working from home, you still want to appear put together in front of your colleagues. If you're dating from home, you still want to make sure you're looking cute and presentable.
Thankfully, video conferences don't require wearing pants (

TL;DR: Map out all your thoughts and ideas with a lifetime subscription to this MindMaster Software for $49, a 62% savings as of May 2.Turning a passing thought into a structured idea is harder than it seems. But mind mapping definitely makes it easier. Devised in the early 1970s by British psychology author Tony Buzan, this effective way of visually shaping your thoughts and "mapping" out your ideas can really elevate your creative process and presentations. And it's come a long way since

TL;DR: This Dell XPS 13 7390 2-in-1 laptop is $450 off in the PCMag Shop as of May 2 — get one while you can at this great price. Good tech is selling out left and right lately — everyone is on the lookout for hardware that can either improve their work from home situation or fill their newfound free time. (That's assuming they have free time. Some of us are strangely... busier now?) If you missed the initial mass exodus of the internet's tech supply, you've kind of been left st

TL;DR: Become a stock market pro with this Wall Street Survival and Stock Trading Guide Bundle for $29.99, a 98% savings as of May 2.FYI: 10 billionaires added a total of $51 billion to their fortunes in a single week in April amidst the stock crash. Rather than feeling angry or jealous, maybe we should all take a page out of their books and learn as much as we can about stock and trading as we can, yeah? You've got some time on your hands, so do yourself a favor and check out this Wall Street S

TL;DR: Learn to create drawings that give the illusion of being 3D with the Complete Creative Art and Science of Drawing Bundle for $39.96, a 96% savings as of May 3.While drawing is an excellent skill to pick up anytime, it's even more appropriate during these days. Why? Because it can help you enter a state of flow. Or, in other words, it can make the outside world (and all the chaos that comes with it) fall away, and heighten your imagination, mindfulness, focus, and introspection. That's som

Whether you're working from home and need some retail therapy to unwind or you're simply looking for something to do, we've got you covered. These top-selling deals are massively discounted — up to 98% off — for no good reason other than to make your social distancing life a little better. 
From app subscriptions to online courses to smartphone accessories, there's something for every type of pandemic personality that'll surely appease your boredom.
Apps
MosaLingua Language Lear

A pause has been forced on urban life. Quiet roads, empty skies, deserted high streets and parks, closed cinemas, cafés and museums – a break in the spending and work frenzy so familiar to us all. The reality of lockdown is making ghost towns of the places we once knew. Everything we know about our urban world has come to a shuddering halt. For now. The lockdown will, at some point, end. Urban life will begin to hum again to the familiar rhythms of work, leisure and shopping. This

TL;DR: A three-month subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited is free for new customers.It has been difficult to get hold of a lot of products recently, because everyone has been scrambling to secure more entertainment options.
Subscription services have remained unaffected despite the increased demand, and you don't even need to wait for shipping. You just need to sign up and you'll get all the benefits of the service instantly.
SEE ALSO: 6 of the best digital radios for every listener
Amazon Mus

TL;DR: A 15-month subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £5.55 per month, saving you 49% on list price.Streaming services have saved millions of people from total boredom over the last couple of months, and for that they should be celebrated. 
It's not all good though, because there is one really frustrating aspect to these services and it relates to your location. You might have a subscription to Netflix, but that doesn't mean you get to watch everything it offers. Some movies and