The march of technology is inevitable. As time passes, components get cheaper. Manufacturing costs dwindle as efficiencies get established. What was once an expensive device to build can get lower in price with better ways to do things. From computers to phones to most any gadget, we see this happen time and time again. But one piece of technology has come so far that it can turn against us if we’re not careful. One item we all have and very possible two or three. It watches everything we do and reports it back to its manufacturer wherein that information is…
Tag: culture
You know you truly live in the future when robots are having encounters with police. Recently a Cruise driverless car was stopped by San Francisco police during the evening. Cue lots of walking around, trying to figure out what to do, and… the car driving off for a short distance to then stop again. Surely that’s something a driver IN the car would’ve been arrested for! Alexander Stoklosa at Motor Trend has more. The Cruise vehicle, which is based on a Chevrolet Bolt electric hatchback, initially stops for the officers attempting the traffic stop. Amusingly, not long after one of…
It’s no secret we all hate cable companies. They are deceitful, money-hungry monopolies that have no interest in serving their customers. So it’s no wonder that every time they try to get away with something, there is tons of blowback. Cue Jon Brodkin’s reporting about how a massive amount of Cox customers are forcing arbitration cases because of undisclosed fees. Cable TV provider Cox is facing hundreds of arbitration demands alleging that it failed to adequately disclose its “Broadcast Surcharge” and “Regional Sports Surcharge” and that it used these fees to raise prices on customers who were promised fixed rates.…
One staple of the mid-nineties is Mortal Kombat. The arcade game took the world by storm due to its digitized fighters recorded from real actors. Oh, and there was violence galore. So it came as no surprise when a sequel came out soon thereafter. Mortal Kombat II was a phenomenon and (in my opinion) the best of the series. Midway took everything great about the first one, dialed it up to the extreme, and improved it in so many ways. Now, YouTuber Modern Vintage Gamer goes over the AI of Mortal Kombat II and how it looks like the game…
Perennial awesome dude Tony Hawk posted a video back in 2019 of him driving around town. Sounds boring, right? Well in fact he was hauling a bunch of skateboard decks he’d autographed and went looking for kids skateboarding around town. This is when the magic happened. Hawk repeatedly rolled down the window of his Tesla and shouted “do a kickflip!” to which the skater responded with the trick. Then Hawk simply handed them a board or other swag for doing it. The surprise and joy of people randomly having one of the best skaters on the planet roll on by…
Prince is one of the greatest modern musicians. His influence was huge and certainly, he left this planet way too early. But something that can bring a smile to music-lovers faces is this happy accident courtesy of WCCO’s archives. While viewing archive material to find teacher strike footage, a reporter’s eye was caught at the sight of a boy interviewed. It only takes a moment to know who this boy is. And then the magic happens. I can say more, but the story is so heartwarming that I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. Just sit back and enjoy.
Leave it to SNL to more succinctly get their point across than I can. You may remember back in February when I talked about movies being too long. It’s a problem that isn’t getting talked about nearly enough. Movies are easily coming in at two and a half hours, three hours, or even longer. Pete Davidson, with the help of some others, put up a fun skit on the latest episode of SNL. He just wants to watch a short movie. Plain and simple. It’s a humorous way to explain that movies are too damn long! One great thing about…
If you’re worried about your job getting taken over by the robot uprising, then today is your day. Over on The Takeout, Dennis Lee reports on how White Castle is gearing up to use a robot named Flippy to work its fry stations. Specifically, the Flippy 2 is a second-generation robot that will be able to handle working a fry station in a more consistent way than a person can. The Flippy 2 can recognize different types of food such as fries, onion rings, and chicken fingers. More importantly, it frees up employees to handle other tasks instead of losing…
Pour one out for the death of another long-standing event that is likely never to return. This week it was announced that the E3 video game expo was officially canceled. The in-person and virtual portions were all scrapped. While E3 was surely a victim of COVID and the inability for people to go to conferences, it seems that companies discovered they simply didn’t need E3 to make a splash. Sam Machkovech at ArsTechnica has more. Many gaming companies, including formal members of the ESA, have gotten along just fine for years without formal E3 presentations. Sony, EA, Activision Blizzard, and…
Here in the US, we all jumped our clocks ahead (for perhaps maybe one of the final times) and that event surfaced this interesting deep dive onto my radar: the Time Zone Database. In a fascinating 14-minute read, Daniel Rosehill goes into two key details that are, no joke, keeping an essential part of the internet running. The first is the actual database itself. This is one that has been in existence for decades and computers running macOS and Linux use to retrieve their time zone information. This is baked into the operating system itself. That’s how important it is.…
Whether we know what Facebook Meta’s “metaverse” is or not, it’s impossible to ignore their push into virtual reality. There have been lots of responses to what they’re doing, but this one strikes at the heart of what is going on. Reggie Fils-Amie, the former President and COO of Nintendo of America gave his take on the metaverse at the SXSW conference. “Facebook itself is not an innovative company,” Fils-Aime told Emily Chang. “They have either acquired interesting things like Oculus and Instagram, or they’ve been a fast follower of people’s ideas. I don’t think their current definition will be…
Sunday night’s Oscars were… memorable for a big reason. But I’m not here to talk about THAT. Instead, I want to mention CODA. This movie has been on the radar since it debuted on Apple TV+. And in a first, this film took the award for Best Picture when it was only on a streaming service. Owen Gleiberman over at Variety has more. …just as “CODA’s” Oscar triumph signifies that we’re in a whole new ballgame of an era, where streaming is the paradigmatic new normal (which potentially scrambles the very metaphysic of “movies,” since that word no longer means…
Here’s an interesting update on the most affordable cities to live in in 2022. This list, courtesy of Living Cozy, shows that Tulsa, Oklahoma is the most affordable place to score a 2-bedroom apartment. At under $900 per month, this is a steal compared to most places. Here’s more of the breakdown from Ash Read. Huge numbers of people do not own their own homes, renting them from landlords instead. There are many reasons why people might rent rather than buy, the foremost being the huge cost of purchasing your own property. Aside from that, renting gives people the flexibility…
Long ago, an app / service rolled into New York City and declared war on an institution. A scrappy startup called Uber wanted to usurp the sleepy taxi industry that was the lifeblood of New York. In only a few years, “taking an Uber” became so commonplace, it’s used all the time. People don’t use taxis as much. But with any war, it must end and now, Taxis will join in on Uber’s giant customer base. Andrew J. Hawkins at The Verge has more. Riders will pay the same fare for taxi rides as they would for an Uber X…
Tesla has been applauded for many things. They were the first to make a legit EV that is ‘sexy’. They had the foresight to know people wanted a reliable charging infrastructure and built one. Elon Musk has become a Founder / CEO visionary-type that uses charisma to get things done. But Tesla also has a lot going against it. Racism seems to be one of those. Lawrence Hodge reports on this at Jalopnik Three workers and their accounts are detailed in a lawsuit that was filed February 9 in the California Superior Court in Alameda. With over 4,000 Black workers…
In 2013 Lego introduced the first Back to the Future kit. This time-traveling Delorean was notable for being the first Lego Cuusoo fan-created set to be sold. Of course I bought it right away and to this day it sits on a shelf for everyone to see. But, like most Lego, it takes a bit of imagination to see it for what it is. That is now going to change. Jonathan Gitlin at Ars Technica has more details. For those who missed out, there’s now a way to get a Lego BTTF DeLorean—no time machine required. On April 1, the…
New theme park experiences are a big focus at Disney with the Galactic Starcruiser, Galaxy’s Edge, and the new Avengers experience. Not to be outdone, Universal Studios opened Super Nintendo World in Osaka about a year ago. Now, they have announced this immersive experience is coming to their California theme park. A. Khalid at Engadget has more. What can fans expect from the US park? The original Super Nintendo World in Osaka has a ride where fans can race on a life-sized Mario Kart course, as well as a slower ride on Yoshi’s island. While Universal representatives aren’t giving details on which rides are…
A restaurant group in Florida is suing Google for allegedly setting up landing pages that don’t belong to the eateries. According to the group, Google is providing a profile within their search results that have “Order Online” buttons but those point to delivery apps. Tim De Champ at Ars Technica has the story. When users click the “Order Online” button, they’re directed to a page that in many cases contains large links to food delivery companies, complete with their logos. The restaurant’s own site gets a link as well, though it’s a small, generic “website” button. In some cases, Google…
When Disney announced the price of their Galactic Starcruiser experience I was taken aback by the cost. Six grand for a 72-hour experience in Florida is asking a lot of people. Maybe it’s because of the price or people still not wanting to travel because of COVID, but Katie Dowd at SFGate reports that Disney isn’t exactly in need of any sort of waitlist. [The Galactic Starcruiser] is not even close to selling out, Disney’s availability calendar shows. Guests who check the “start planning your voyage” page will nearly have their pick of dates through the second half of 2022.…
With yet another shifting of the clocks forward to begin Daylight Saving Time, the frustration I (and many others) shared with super-early sunsets was alleviated. Finally we got back to a time I prefer where it will get dark at sometime closer to 6:30 than 5:30. Then out of nowhere, it seems this change is on its way to becoming permanent. Without any sort of fanfare or reporting before the fact, the United States Senate voted on the “Sunshine Protection Act” (talk about an over-dramatic name!) that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent beginning in 2023. Sam Machkovech at Ars…
In the heydey of the aughts, it was extremely common to find music downloading software running on every college kid’s computer. Music piracy was rampant. After the downfall of Napster, one service became king: LimeWire. It was sued into oblivion by the RIAA in 2010. Now, it returns but in the most 2022 way possible: an NFT marketplace. Meera Navlakha at Mashable has more. The defunct platform is getting a crypto makeover, thanks to a pair of entrepreneurs in Austria who have just bought the rights to LimeWire. Paul and Julian Zehetmayr will be relaunching under a new company, LimeWire…
After a very public and very humiliating experience with trying to get around car emission requirements, Volkswagen promised to do better. They also promised to go all-in on building electric vehicles. The ID4 was released with a nice look to it and now VW has dipped into the nostalgia well with the ID Buzz, an electric reimagining of the classic VW Bus. While the car only releases in Europe this year and won’t come to America for another 2 to 3 years, it is worth noting this is a production car and IS coming. The Buzz looks really cool with…
Generally, music follows a structure. A song will have some verses, a chorus, a bridge, then more chorus. That key and repeating part of the song is usually what sticks the most. Now, enter this video from David Bennett that goes over famous songs without a chorus. The chorus is also a big way in which we identify a song. There are so many “I didn’t know what song this was until the chorus” situations that have crossed my mind over the years. However, Bennett talks about specific songs that are mega-hits. None of them have a chorus. But a…
Clicking around the internet, you may be looking for something new to watch. Some TV shows look interesting while some have run their course, yet continue for another season. But then you spot it. Something familiar. A title that hasn’t crossed your mind in 5, 10, or even 20 years. A TV show that once graced the airwaves is in the news again. But it’s not because of some controversy. It’s because it’s new. And it’s coming back. It happens again and again and it’s the state of many streaming services to bring back “TV comfort food”. Because we live…
I always say that we’re living in the future, we just haven’t realized it yet. More proof comes out of this report by Steve DaSilva over at Jalopnik. It recounts Jón Schone’s attempts to 3D print a Mercedes wheel that would actually work on his car. He started it back in 2020 and only recently got it to function somewhat. Not only did the wheel support the weight of the Mercedes and the pressure of an inflated tire, it held up to driving, turning, and stopping. It may not quiteclear the Mercedes’ front calipers, judging by all the scraping sounds, but…
A sequel to look forward to. That’s what I’ve been calling the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie. This was the last movie I saw in theaters and was only a short time before COVID lockdowns began. Now at a lull in the pandemic, we get the sequel. And, oh man, it looks great. The trailer looks to have a lot of faithful lifts from Sonic 2 and Sonic 3. Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles, snowboarding, red biplanes, and, of course, Miles “Tales” Prower. Luckily enough we don’t need to worry about Paramount retooling Sonic’s look this time after their disastrous Sonic look…
With COVID numbers falling across the country from Omicron’s spread, many companies are calling their employees back to the office. Apple has pushed back their return date many times, but this time it may stick. Earlier this month they announced April 11th will begin the transition for employees to return. Kim Lyons at The Verge has more. In the third week of the pilot, Cook writes, employees will come in twice a week, with the full hybrid pilot — where workers will come into the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and work “flexibly” on Wednesday and Friday — would…
Every few months some new Wheel of Fortune “controversy” swirls around the internet. This time around it’s about three contestants who either don’t know, what looks to be an obvious, answer or never get the chance. With the puzzle nearly revealed, a contestant asks to solve and then gets it wrong. It’s a cringy moment, but it happens. Heck, it’s a game show. People are going to mess up. But then the next contestant also guesses letters that weren’t there and the third ends up landing on Bankrupt. They go around the horn a few more times, with the middle…
One of the biggest pains when signing up for a service or an overzealous policy is choosing a password. Back in the day, you came up with something you could remember. That was it. Then it became more complicated. Systems began requiring a mix of upper, lower characters, special characters, and numbers. Soon our passwords looked something like P@ssword123. Then with being forced, usually at work, to change them periodically, we soon just settled into P@ssword1234, P@ssword1235, and so on and so on. Enter Hive Systems and their “Password Table” that explains how secure a password can be. They recently…
Katie Wedell and Laura Layden writing for USA Today with a bonkers story on how renting a car could literally turn you into a criminal. She’s [Paula Murray] now one of 230 plaintiffs suing Hertz for false arrest and in some cases prosecution. The lawyers for this cohort say they know there are more cases out there – warrants for arrest that people who rented from Hertz years ago don’t even know exist, like ticking time bombs waiting to explode their lives at any moment. USA Today This entire thing sounds like something out of a low-budget comedy, but it…