In response to three recent pieces—one discussing the public and private parts of the U.S. system of self-governance that are still working, another arguing that Donald Trump’s monologue to the New York Times represented a new frontier in self-revelation, a third saying that a ha … | Continue reading
One day, we may find the smoking gun, or the one thing that unlocks what really happened in that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. But Friday morning’s Reuters story about Veselnitskaya’s legal work for the FSB isn’t … | Continue reading
This week, the Trump administration reportedly cancelled a long-running covert program to support vetted Syrian rebels in the war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. While this move has provoked a small outcry among Assad’s opponents, the development itself is far from surpris … | Continue reading
A new Federal Reserve report highlights creative proposals for how the central bank might adapt to changes in technology.Source | Continue reading
Like many of Donald Trump’s closest non-family advisers, Anthony Scaramucci traveled a circuitous route into the inner orbit of the mercurial president.The Wall Street financier and former Obama donor once called then-candidate Trump “a hack politician,” a big-mouthed “bully,” an … | Continue reading
Microsoft is taking down suspected Russian hackers using American trademark law, with a year-long legal battle tentatively drawing to a close this week. Microsoft filed suit against the hackers last year for computer intrusion and infringing on its trademarks. It alleged the John … | Continue reading
REVIEW: The gaming-headset market has endless options from dozens of vendors, and that’s because each person has a slightly different use case in mind when they are shopping for one of these devices. If you play primarily on PC and split your team between single-player experience … | Continue reading
Fitness-tracking app Strava is introducing some new perks for subscribers of its Premium membership option, which go on top of the additional in-app features the service already provides. Chief among the new perks is an offer for accidental damage coverage to phones or GPS device … | Continue reading
Tyler, the Creator became famous, in part, for being hateful. When his rap collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (“Odd Future” is fine) caught buzz around 2010, it was because of their delirious energy and Eminem-like love of mayhem. But it was their threats against women … | Continue reading
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) are creating a new microscope technology they hope will empirically determine if life exists beyond our planet. The device is called a Digital Holographic Microscope and it’s designed to find microbes in space. The l … | Continue reading
On the night of the 2016 election, Sean Spicer took a break from celebrating Donald Trump’s victory to demand that I “eat crow.”I was standing in the New York Hilton ballroom waiting for Trump to deliver his victory speech, when Spicer approached me out of the blue, in the full g … | Continue reading
Air France is introducing a new airline for millennials called Joon. Launching in September, Air France said in a statement that Joon will be “aimed at a young working clientele, the millennials (18 to 35 year-olds), whose lifestyles revolve around digital technology." How do the … | Continue reading
Watching Anthony Scaramucci’s formal introduction as White House communications director on Friday, it was clear why President Trump wanted him for the gig.Even though he’s never worked as a spokesman for anyone other than himself (and a great spokesman he was, bringing wide reno … | Continue reading
Cupertino Residence - On a steep lot in the hills just west of Cupertino the house will span from grade into the canopy of oak trees.... | Continue reading
Wacom tablets are normally associated with digital artists and illustrators. I am neither of those, but when Wacom sent me their new Intuos Pro M, I decided to give it a go anyway. I figured many artists used drawing tablets and their primary mousing device, so I wanted to see if … | Continue reading
Scotch in Sapporo After exiting the Norbesa, a rooftop ferris wheel on top of the 7th floor of a building in Sapporo, my wife and I wanted a drink. (Our six-year-old daughter Molly wanted to ride again. No chance, kid. Even though, pro tip, they sell beer for the rides.) In most … | Continue reading
The trailer for The Walking Dead season eight was released today, first playing for the audience in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con. And Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) seems pretty sure those watching will need their “shitting pants.”An all-out war between the Saviors and Rick and his … | Continue reading
The growth speaks for itself. The concentration of tech talent in Madison, Wisconsin increased by more than 30 percent over the past two years. In Fort Lauderdale, Kansas City (Missouri), Miami, and Salt Lake City, there were gains of more than 20 percent. Oh, and Omaha, Pittsbur … | Continue reading
Microsoft's chatbots really are the gift that keeps on giving.Its latest chatbot, Zo, is no exception. The bot, which lives on Facebook Messenger and chat app Kik, has some interesting opinions about Microsoft's most important product: Windows.SEE ALSO: Free robot lawyer helps lo … | Continue reading
The seventh season of Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology series American Horror Story is officially called American Horror Story: Cult, announced today via a typically creepy teaser trailer. The teaser shows a bunch of truly emo clowns with axes crowding in on a woman who looks sort of l … | Continue reading
Now comfortably outside of a 13-year, mid-career retirement, Aphex Twin has made it easier than ever for fans to listen to his music all in one place. The musician (born Richard D. James) unveiled a massive archive of unreleased and classic Aphex Twin albums this week, Ars Techni … | Continue reading
In the second part of our “A Mathless Guide to Neural Networks”, we’ll take a look at why high-quality, labeled data is so important, where it comes from, how it’s used, and what solutions our eager-to-learn machines can expect in the near-term future. Read More | Continue reading
While tech giants such as Google and Facebook have been transparent about sharing their diversity statistics and efforts to increase minority representation, the low numbers of women and minorities at work in Silicon Valley’s thriving tech industry have, in the words of a recent … | Continue reading
The Silk Road, Silk Road 2.0, AlphaBay, and Hansa: These are the dark-web marketplaces shuttered by law enforcement, leaving online buyers and sellers of drugs, weapons, and who knows what else scrambling to find the next online bazaar for their illicit wares. They found it in Dr … | Continue reading
For this barn-inspired home, our first design decision was to take the concept of the “aisle” from barns—essentially a thoroughfare for ... | Continue reading
"Everyone gets frustrated with their computer every now and then, and sometimes you just want to chuck it against the wall, but you can’t. Wrecking Club’s just a place to get some stress out. It’s a place where you can come, put simply, break a bunch of stuff." —Tom Daly, founder … | Continue reading
In and interview earlier this week at the TechCrunch Robotics Session held on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA, Sami Atiya, president of ABB’s Robotics and Motion division, said he believes bringing robots into the manufacturing process actually adds jobs instead of killing them. … | Continue reading
President Trump is reportedly apoplectic over the possibility that Special Counsel Robert Mueller might look into his finances—specifically his tax returns—as part of Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump suggested in a New York Times interview t … | Continue reading
Google's Motion Stills app brought some much-needed focus and balance to the iPhone's Live Photos when it launched last year. Thus far, however, it has only brought its steady video stabilizing goodness to iOS users. That's no longer the case. Google Research is finally rolling o … | Continue reading
YouTube is getting rid of its video editor and photo slideshows due to lack of use, the company announced yesterday. The changes won’t happen until September 20th, so if you still rely on YouTube to edit your videos, you’ll have a bit of time before you have to find a new service … | Continue reading
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is seeking a court order to force both Uber and Lyft to share records on driver safety, disability access and other operations, in compliance with the city attorney’s subpoenas from last month. Read More | Continue reading
China sees artificial intelligence dominating our future, and it's willing to bet $150 billion to make sure it doesn't get left behind.The Chinese government on Friday announced a major push into the field of artificial intelligence, declaring it would create a $150 billion domes … | Continue reading
Playkey, a game streaming service we saw earlier this year at Disrupt NY, has just closed an additional $2.8 million round of funding from Russia’s Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF). Created at the suggestion of Vladimir Putin in 2013, the IIDF has invested in 293 com … | Continue reading
Want to chat with Alexa via Slack? A new bot called Silent Echo now makes that possible. The idea is that there are times when you want to interact with Amazon’s virtual assistant, Alexa, but you don’t want to do it by voice. For example, if things are too noisy in the room for … | Continue reading
Donald Trump’s name is linked to steaks, hotels, vodka, and an isolationist political platform. Some of these ventures have succeeded, many have failed, and the last one has put him in the White House. Less known, however, is the time he tried to clone Kickstarter. The site was c … | Continue reading
Earlier today, The Atlantic debuted its flagship podcast, Radio Atlantic, along with its theme song: Julia Ward Howe’s iconic Civil-War anthem, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” reinterpreted by renowned jazz musician Jon Batiste.The lyrics of the “Battle Hymn” premiered in our page … | Continue reading
Summer editions of The Vergecast continue as Nilay and Dieter welcome Ashley Carman and Jake Kastrenakes back to the show to discuss the news that hit the site this week. Elon Musk said he got “verbal” approval from The White House to build a hyperloop on the East Coast, Comcast … | Continue reading
Lyft announced today it was opening its own self-driving car division in Palo Alto called Level 5, and its first cars will hit the streets of Boston by the end of this year. According to David Vincent, Lyft’s head of autonomy, self-driving cars won’t replace its drivers: When a p … | Continue reading
Highland Games in Scotland, a diving jaguar in France, wildfires in California and western Canada, virtual reality in Japan, a rally race through China, a wax Donald Trump, and much more. | Continue reading
When it emerged that Donald Trump had had a second, unscheduled and unsupervised chat with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, the media’s already-overstressed conspirometer dialed up to 11. But what if the real story now is less one of collusion with the Russians as collisi … | Continue reading
Facebook is exploring new handheld gadget with interchangeable parts that could used like a smartphone or portable speaker, a new patent application revealed on Thursday.The product is described in the patent as a "modular electromagnetic device" and would work with different swa … | Continue reading
One out of every five phone calls to 911 in Memphis is a mistake. Of the 130,000 emergency calls in 2016, some 25,000 of them are really non-emergency calls, for everything from misdiagnosed stroke symptoms to simple sore throats. The city dispatches thousands of ambulances to re … | Continue reading
This week: Snap, Inc. has some new announcements, Amazon launches Instagram for shopping, and wait until you see how much native ad buying has increased in the past year. Here’s what happened this week in digital marketing. Introducing Amazon Spark: Instagram for Shopping! This … | Continue reading
OPINION: It’s been a tough month for wearables. Two weeks ago, The Information revealed that Jawbone is being liquidated. This week, CNBC reported that Intel had axed its wearables division. As my colleagues and friends know, I’m one of the biggest skeptics of wearables in the wo … | Continue reading
Last week, astronomers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico announced they had picked up some strange radio signals coming from a small red dwarf star, and they couldn’t quite figure out what was causing them. Now, it seems they have an answer: it turns out these bizarre rad … | Continue reading
Our nervous system is the fastest, most adaptable tissue in the body. Our thoughts scientifically translate to our physical abilities. | Continue reading
Aditya Agarwal, who came in to Dropbox from its acquisition of Cove way back in 2012 and was given the CTO role last year, will be leaving the company. He announced his departure in a post on Facebook. Agarwal held the CTO role for about 9 months and was previously the VP of eng … | Continue reading
Yesterday, we reported that Verizon Wireless appeared to be throttling Netflix traffic, — and today, the company seems to have come clean. In a statement provided to Ars Technica and The Verge, Verizon implicitly admitting to capping the traffic, blaming the issue on a temporary … | Continue reading