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Tech News
Adobe Is Screwing With Its Cheapest Software Plan In the Scummiest Way
When Adobe switched from a flat price for its software products and updates to a subscription model a few years ago, many worried it could be used to discreetly introduce dramatic price increases down the road. Adobe claimed this wouldn’t be the case, but this week some users discovered that the cheapest Creative Cloud subscription … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle
Travel Vlogger Finds Suitcase, Two Years Later Discovers It Probably Contained a Dead Body
In Sarah Funk’s YouTube video about Cyprus’ Mitsero Red Lake, her partner joked, “This is what murder episodes are made of.” He probably didn’t realize how spot-on he was. The Mitsero Red Lake was created when a copper pyrite mining company excavated the area, leaving behind a crater after it ceased operations. The pit fills … Continued
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Tech News
UK Drivers to Stage Massive Strike Coinciding With Uber’s IPO
Rideshare drivers across the Atlantic have plans to sign off the Uber app and spend their time protesting in four major metro areas. The message, coordinated around Uber’s plans to go public, is a clear rebuke of the company’s IPO plan, which will make many employees wealthy overnight, but leave drivers in the same deteriorating … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech News
L.A. Museum Opens New Exhibit of Dystopian Vehicles From Movies Like Blade Runner and Mad Max: Fury Road
If you’ve never been to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, you have to go. And there’s no better time than this year, as the museum opens up a new exhibit of vehicles from TV and movies that looks cool as hell. The exhibit is called “Hollywood Dream Machines: Vehicles of Science Fiction and … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsNews
Spotify Is Bringing Voice-Controlled Ads to Our Engagement Hellscape
I think most of us can safely agree that there are few things consumers want to engage with less than ads. We certainly do not want ads that require us to actively speak to them. But the future is now, baby! And if this sounds like hell, now might be a good time to upgrade … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook’s Secretive Cryptocurrency Payment System Is Apparently Code-Named ‘Project Libra’
Facebookcoin, or whatever we’re calling it, is reportedly getting even closer to becoming a reality. Following previous reports that such an project was underway, the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported Thursday that Facebook has been in talks with “dozens” of financial groups about its super-secret cryptocurrency initiative, which is apparently … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsTransportation
Uber Users in Denver Can Now Buy Train and Bus Tickets Directly From the App
Love it or hate it, Denver is turning to Uber to make navigating public transit a little smoother for anyone with a smartphone. Uber on Thursday announced that its users in Denver can book and redeem public transit tickets directly through its own app via Uber Transit, which officially launched earlier this year and allows … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech News
For Sale: Massive Blogging Platform, Lightly Used
Six years after being acquired for an astonishing $1.1 billion, blogging platform Tumblr and its 550 million monthly users are reportedly on the auction block with no indication of who might be in market to buy it. Yahoo—which was folded into Oath, and now Verizon Media Group—purchased the scrappy start-up for a billion and change … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsNews
Oops… a Pirated Copy of Avengers: Endgame Was Aired By a Philippine TV Station
Spoilers be damned, a local Philippine cable station has invited the fury of theaters and fans by airing a pirated version of Avengers: Endgame just one day after the film premiered in the country. The act was highly unappreciated by Teatro de Dapitan, a local movie theater authorized to show screenings of the film. The … Continued
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Tech NewsNews
NBA Severs Ties With Company Doing Censorship Dirtywork on Twitter [Updated]
Update: A few hours after this story was published, the NBA terminated the relationship with the local company responsible for this tweet according to NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO Mark Tatum. The story has been updated. Everyone knows that NBA Twitter is already one of the weirder parts of the internet but not many of … Continued
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Tech NewsFacebook
Later, Losers
Facebook announced today that it is banning a number of far-right political figures on its platforms, including InfoWars founder Alex Jones, former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopolous, and InfoWars contributor Paul Joseph Watson, among a host of others. The ban extends to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook and has been getting more attention as a … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsGadgets
Does Asking Alexa Actually Save Time? An Investigation
Digital assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri are easier to use than ever. Not only are they built into smart speakers, these days you can access them via your phone, TVs, and even your smartwatch. But is using a digital assistant faster than figuring something out for yourself? To figure this out, we teamed … Continued
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Tech News
Microsoft’s Solitaire Is Finally Getting Honored in the Video Game Hall of Fame
It’s hard to imagine a video game dominating more screen time than Microsoft’s Solitaire has since first introduced with Windows 3.0 in 1990. It’s been the go-to distraction for procrastinators for almost three decades, and it’s finally being honored with a rightful place in the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Today, The Strong’s National … Continued
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Tech News
A New Storage Breakthrough Could Squeeze a Library’s Worth of Data Into a Teaspoon of Protein
By 2020, researchers estimate that the world’s digital archive will weigh in at around 44 trillion gigabytes. That’s an astounding amount of data that isn’t necessarily being stored in the safest of places. Most storage mediums naturally degrade over time (if they’re not hacked or accidentally destroyed) and even the cloud isn’t as reliable as … Continued
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Tech News
For Men Who Will Try Anything to Get Taller, There’s a World of Grifts and Gimmicks
No matter how old you are, the website Height Maximizer claims it can provide you with “legitimate information that will actually help you become taller.” It features “height hacks,” alleged height-boosting supplements, and “8 Ways to Get Taller: Tips That Work (for Every Age).” Each page is topped off with the site’s logo—a picture of … Continued
By Jed Oelbaum -
Tech NewsNews
Julian Assange Declines Voluntary Extradition to the U.S. in Latest Court Appearance
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had his second court date of the week this morning where he formally declined extradition to the U.S. to face charges brought by the Justice Department. The WikiLeaks founder was sentenced in a British court to nearly a year in prison yesterday for jumping bail in 2012. Assange appeared before the … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsApple
Qualcomm Scored $4.5 Billion or More in Settlement With Apple
Semiconductor and telecommunications equipment manufacturer Qualcomm said on Wednesday it will take home a one-time payment of between $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion from its settlement with tech giant Apple over the next quarter, the New York Times reported. Last month, Qualcomm and Apple put to bed a massive, long-running patent and antitrust case that … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsArtificial Intelligence
Fully Automated Warehouses Are a Decade Away, Amazon Says
Amazon recently came under fire when the Verge revealed it used a system that automatically determines the productivity levels of its warehouse workforce, and terminates laggards if they’re too slow to move packages. It was yet another sign that automation was taking over at the retail giant, and a particularly ominous one at that. In … Continued
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Tech NewsNews
Lyft Fails to Overturn NYC Driver Minimum Wage Law
Lyft’s lawsuit to overturn New York City’s minimum wage for ride-hailing drivers failed after a ruling by Judge Andrea Masley on Wednesday. The city’s rule mandates that companies pay drivers, which are considered independent contractors and not company employees, make at least $17.22 an hour after taxes and expenses. To achieve this, the rules dictate … Continued
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Tech NewsNews
Apparently, Spotify’s Plan for Serving You Podcast Suggestions Is Shuffling Them in With Your Music
After announcing its pivot to podcasts, Spotify appears to have kind of a wonky idea for how to get you to listen to them. Spotify is testing a playlist feature that will shuffle podcasts in with its algorithmically-generated music recommendations, the Verge reported Wednesday. The Verge’s Dan Seifert said this playlist is intended for listening … Continued
By Catie Keck