The past few weeks have been a culling of well-loved celebs. At the too-young age of 74, Meat Loaf passed away. He was in a ton of movies and wrote epic-level, theatric songs & albums. Born Marvin Lee Aday, the rock musician’s career spanned six decades across the music and film industries. He was beloved by fans and soared to unlikely rock stardom with theatrical, dark-hearted anthems and an iconic long-haired look. NBC News His best-known album, Bat Out of Hell, is one of the biggest-selling albums in US history. Talk about staying power. That album came out in 1977 and can…
It’s a beautiful day in the woods. Far off the grid, away from stores, people, or even shelters more stable than a tent, Jeff Wilson is backpacking through deep woods. It’s a return to nature that brings him enjoyment and is a complete disconnection from society. But Jeff has no connection to the world at large and in this case, unaware of what is coming. He is deep in the forest when a loud series of beeps emits from his pocket. The small plastic rectangle continues to sound until Jeff pulls it out and silences it with a push of…
Much has been made of The Great Resignation over the past year. This mass exodus of employees from their jobs has been of great concern to employers looking to retain a workforce. It is also indicitive of the fact that for the first time in decades, employees hold the upper hand in the workplace relationship between themselves and their employer. Generally, people dedicated themselves to a job at various levels and The Powers That Be would hire or fire as they pleased. Unspoken rules for the workplace cropped up over the years such as being undervalued or overworked was something…
If you’re not addicted to Wordle yet, it’s a surprise. The game has gone viral over the past month with players all over the world enjoying this one-a-day guessing game. What gets missed a ton in all of the reporting is that Wordle is not an app. Wordle exists solely on the web and it’s 100% free. However, Steven Cravotta who created an app called “Wordle!” 4 years ago noticed a ton of purchases of his old app. Cravotta’s app has been a big hit in the Wordle fever that’s been brewing. But what to do about this surprising newfound…
Gifs are apparently going out of fashion. That’s according to Vice and their interviews with twentysomethings about the image format used all over the internet. The story explains that the younger generation sees gif usage as something older people use. As such, that makes it quite uncool. Gen Z might think GIFs are beloved by millennials, but at the same time, many millennials are starting to see GIFs as a boomer plaything. And this is the first and easiest explanation as to why GIFs are losing their cultural cachet. Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor of communication at Syracuse University and author of multiple…
Depending on whom you speak to, cryptocurrency is either the second-coming of money or it’s a complete waste of time. Leave it to people who have too much time on their hands to come up with some Fyre Fest level ideas on what to do with the crypto ‘riches’. Two people who want to create a crypto utopia of sorts in Fiji have run into real-world roadblocks. Widely mocked plans to establish a tropical haven for cryptocurrency enthusiasts have run into trouble after a contract to buy an island in Fiji for US$12m fell through. A group of crypto-evangelists, led by Max…
A month ago on Reddit, a unique and quite funny story went viral. It is a tale of two cats at a workplace and their human owner asking if he’s in the wrong by how he talks about them. A user with a throwaway username (as is common to do on the site) posted to /r/AITA, which is a section to ask if “Am I the Asshole” in a situation. In this particular case, a person describes two cats at their workplace named Jorts and Jean. Jorts seems to be a bit silly but a co-worker feels she needs to…
Yes, a real story from NPR details how researchers in Israel are teaching goldfish to operate a fish tank on wheels. This team is looking to explore whether animals’ ability to navigate are present only in their native environments or if their abilities exist everywhere. Researchers created the “fish operated vehicle,” a set of wheels under the goldfish tank that uses an intricate camera system to record and translate a fish’s movements into navigational directions. The FOV changes its position based on the fish’s movement characteristics, location and orientation in the water tank. NPR While this sounds like a silly…
Leave it to the constant march of time to give CDs a nostalgic resurgence. News out of Pitchfork, like it’s 1999, shows that 2021 was the first time CD’s have increased in sales in 17 years. Madison Bloom has the scoop: The top-10 CD sales list also includes Taylor Swift’s Evermore (213,000 units sold), BTS’ Map of the Soul: 7 (210,000) and Be (187,000), Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour (195,000), and others. 2021 marked the first year that CD sales saw a gain since 2004, when revenue from the format was exponentially higher than it is today. Last month, vinyl saw its biggest sales week since at least 1991, with roughly 2.11…
From the slow-news pages of The Washington Post comes this tail of a Canadian couple whose cats have made a blender box their own. Back in November Jessica and Nikii Gerson-Neeves bought a blender and their cats claimed it. One is always perched on it and the blender remains in the box to this day. Treats, decoy boxes and toys have been used, all for naught. The Gerson-Neeveses moved the box to a less-central area of the kitchen, hoping the change in geography would end the stalemate. But a cat remained on the box, on guard at all times. Jessica…
Facebook can only dodge legal ramifications for the way they run their business for so long. The more they acquire companies, the more they try to hoover up people’s data, the more they think they can get away with anything, the bigger chances they’ll run afoul of the law. The FTC has been granted permission to force Facebook Meta to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. Judge James Boasberg ruled that the FTC can proceed with a bid to force Facebook, now Meta, to sell its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram. Meta asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed in December, Reuters reported, but Boasberg rejected…
If there was a big eye-roll moment, it’s Google’s Android team bellyaching about iMessage. Apple’s advantage is obvious because it’s a form of lock-in for their ecosystem. When the iPhone debuted, it supported SMS and nothing more. Then with iOS 5 in 2011, Apple rolled out iMessage. It was a simple and secure messaging platform that was an alternative to SMS. It famously only works between Apple devices. What really set it apart though was it became the default messaging protocol when you first messaged someone. Google has been fighting this fight for a long time. However, due to Android’s…
Classic animation gets a modern take over on YouTube where user Xtremee_Ghost has done a phenomenal job with Thundercats. This person has hand drawn each frame of the original opening of the 80’s cartoon. It has a modern style and it’s super-crisp, which I suspect is due to modern tools that exceed what could be done in the 80’s. Thundercats Redrawn captures the essence of the original show while also showcasing how a modern take on drawing can revitalize a television show’s look. Xtremee_Ghost has really knocked it out of the park. You can watch Thundercats Redrawn directly on YouTube…
News broke late Sunday that Bob Saget had passed at the too-young-age of 65. It was a shock to me, and to most I’m sure. Of course Saget was known as the straight-laced dad on Full House but he also was a really funny stand-up comedian. And he was the host of America’s Funniest Home Videos, which was basically TikTok long before the internet was invented. The man never stopped working though. Variety has a nice list of the work Saget did in the years since his most-notable roles: Besides “Full House” and “AFHV,” Saget was also known for narrating…
It’s been fifteen years since Steve Jobs spoke those words. A lot of grand claims were made at MacWorld 2007 at the iPhone’s unveiling. Some were seen as laughable. Some were seen as revolutionary. Nearly all of it came true. I (among many others) believe this was Jobs’ pinnacle performance on stage. I remember watching it and being floored over and over with the (LIVE!!) demo. Something as simple as the Slide to Unlock feature garnered amazed reactions. If you didn’t experience the event, even remotely, at the time it is hard to put into words how important it felt.…
Canon makes printers. Printers suck. They have been awful for so long, as I’ve mentioned before. Every company who makes them tries to pull some nonsense regarding price, lock-in and ink levels. For years, ink and toner cartridges have shipped with chips in them. It was a form of security that forced customers to only buy their ink or toner. If a printer doesn’t see the chip (because you’ve chosen to buy 3rd party ink), it gives you a hard time or will stop printing. That’s worked fine and dandy… until we’ve hit a global chip shortage. Canon can’t source…
A full six months ahead of 2022’s E3 gaming convention, the Entertainment Software Association announced E3 will be virtual this year. “Due to the ongoing health risks surrounding COVID-19 and its potential impact on the safety of exhibitors and attendees, E3 will not be held in person in 2022. We remain incredibly excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon.” VentureBeat E3 was virtual last year too and they’re taking no chances with Omicron causing enormous spikes in cases everywhere. Contrast this with CES and their insistence that they conduct an in-person event in…
The NY Times is a fantastic publication, however if you’re a sports fan it’s not a place to go. The surprising hit since 2016 has been The Athletic. The Athletic is an online sports-focused site with a dedicated reporter for every North American team. For teams that have traditionally been under-covered or in markets where local newspapers have gone out of business, The Athletic has been a breath of fresh air. Now, it’ll become part of the New York Times for a cool $550 million. The deal brings The Times, which has more than eight million total subscriptions, quickly closer…
Games are insanely popular on mobile to the point where entire companies have been built around them. Many come and go, but some have a real impact. Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, Threes, Words With Friends, and more have become juggernauts on mobile. Now, we get a new contender: Worldle. Created by Josh Wardle, the idea is simple: guess a 5-letter word in six tries. But that’s where the game aspect of Wordle ends. This game is not an app. Wordle exists only on the web. It does not have ads. It doesn’t force you to watch videos, offer purchases, timers,…
When Apple rolls out new products or services, the hook is their ecosystem. People can make fun of “it just works” when things don’t work. However, many ways Apple devices and services have an interplay between them is a huge benefit. Airdrop for starters is amazing. Airplay is another no-hassle way to sling content from one device to another. Even AirPods are part of it with a single-pairing that carries to all your other devices. At CES, Google has unveiled their plans to develop their own ecosystem. The company announced several new features that will be available in 2022: Coming…
We seem to be reaching an inflection point for car manufacturers’ embracing of electric vehicles. Whether it’s for financial reasons, a response to customer’s embracing of Tesla, or other reasons we don’t exactly know, it’s great to see nearly every company make public statements. They are not designing prototype or “compliance” cars for California. They’re making full-fledged EVs for everyone. Personally, I believe a car needs to look normal. It should be electric as an “extra” in order to appeal to people. Nobody wants a Jetsons car. With the F150 Lightning, Ford is ready to make waves. Ford says its…
The NHL expanded into Seattle, Washington over the summer with a new team called the Kraken. For a trainer on the Vancouver Canucks, this business decision for the league has literally saved his life. At an October game where the Canucks visited Seattle, Nadia Popovici, a Vancouver fan, spotted something wrong with Brian Hamilton’s neck. Popovici had written a note on her phone that said she was concerned about a mole she’d noticed on his neck. She made the text on the screen large and colourful, obviously hoping he’d notice it. He finally saw it but didn’t think much of…
In less than 15 years, the gargantuan Blackberry went from “must-have” to “see ya later”. If it wasn’t the iPhone who did it, Android certainly would’ve been the one to hammer the first nail in the coffin. For anyone who truly was hanging onto their “crackberry” devices, January 4th signals the shut down of everything that made Blackberry worthwhile. On January 4th, Blackberry will be shutting off all the key services — data, SMS, phone calls, and 911 support. In official terms, they are ending network provisioning for these older devices, meaning that they won’t be able to join any…
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Sometimes a company has a monumental screwup so big that they simply want to move on. Never look back and never talk about it again. For Microsoft, that is certainly the 2007 “Red ring of death” debacle during the days of the Xbox 360. That video game console had a green ring surrounding the power button. However, if it turned red and remained that way, the console was dead. This “red ring of death” was immensely infuriating to gamers. The system would brick due to a design flaw and it would come out of nowhere. The system was basically overheating…
For many cord-cutters out there, YouTube TV has been a good option as a replacement service. The Alphabet-owned streaming service carries a bunch of live channels for $65 a month. Unlike cable, there’s no contracts or hoops or bundling or any other nonsense. One thing however that has carried over from cable-land are disputes with networks. As of today, YouTube TV lost access to all Disney channels it was carrying. Jon Brodkin as more at Ars Technica. YouTube TV was seeking a most-favored-nation (MFN) clause from Disney. “Our ask to Disney, as with all our partners, is to treat YouTube…
There are two types of companies most people can agree we all hate: cable / ISP companies and cell phone carriers. Verizon, being both, doubly-sucks when news broke of its data collection it’s beginning to turn on. They are rolling out something called “Custom Experience” which collects data about your apps and web browsing activity to help “provide you more personalized experiences with Verizon.” Even worse: Verizon is opting in everyone by default. Yes, if you do nothing, you are giving them permission to collect everything they want on an ongoing basis. Emma Roth at The Verge has more details…
Little by little, cities and towns across the US are enacting stricter regulations to help the environment. Sometimes they offer incentives to builders to construct better spaces. Rebates and tax credits are a big part as well for getting alternative energy into real use. On the opposite side is eliminating the use of machines and devices that pollute. New York City has come close to making that reality this past week. Emily Pontecorvo over at Grist has the details. The New York City Council voted to pass a bill on Wednesday that will address the Big Apple’s biggest source of…
Have you noticed lately that every single time you’re driving at night, you can’t see behind you? No it’s not from fog or heavy rain or even someone moving your mirrors out of alignment. I’m talking about cars with headlights so bright they nearly burn your retinas out of your skull. Finally, something is about to be done with that. Peter Holderith writing for The Drive explains that a provision buried in the recently-passed infrastructure bill is a provision to address the scourge of blinding headlights The text that enables this change is relatively straightforward. Under section 24212 of the bill, which…
December now can mean one sure thing on YouTube: Mark Rober puts out a Glitter Bomb video. This year has him iterating on his designs and rolling out version 4 of his Porch Pirate Bait. The idea is simple: invent a package that tempts thieves to steal it. When it opens, it wreaks havoc on those scummy people who stole it. Plain and simple. Oh and it records everything. Mark Rober has a great channel that makes science and engineering fun. This video in particular is always a great one. It’s now a December tradition.