On June 23rd, 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog made its debut on the Sega Genesis. A blaze of speed and attitude, Sonic proved to be just what Sega needed in order to keep pace with Nintendo in the earliest iteration of the game console wars. But 25 years later, Sonic’s legacy is mixed a … | Continue reading
Feminism's greatest ally, Fall Out Boy, has released a rerecording of the Ghostbusters theme song specifically designed to make you realize what could actually retroactively ruin a 30-year-old movie. Are you happy?This is what America deserves, if I'm honest.Do you remember Fall … | Continue reading
Since Apple insists on continuing to sell a 16GB iPhone in 2016 like its totally okay, mobile storage will continue to be an issue for millions of people for some time. SanDisk is trying to alleviate that problem with its iXpand Memory Case, an iPhone case with flash storage buil … | Continue reading
The days are getting warmer, which can only mean one thing: it's time to stay indoors and play lots of cheap games on Steam. Valve's digital PC game store just kicked off its annual summer sale, and it includes some great deals on both new and classic titles.You can get the fanta … | Continue reading
Matt Cutts, a 16-year Google veteran who authored the company's SafeSearch content filter, is taking a leave from the search giant to work on the Pentagon's Defense Digital Service. The division, formed last fall, is responsible for improving the Department of Defense's ability t … | Continue reading
Who says you can’t have pizza while you camp? Who says preparing that camper pizza has to be hard? BioLite, the maker of the BaseCamp and BaseLantern, is now making all your camping pizza dreams come true with the public launch of its PizzaDome. The dome sits on top of the BaseCa … | Continue reading
Next time you're looking for something to watch on Instagram, you might have better luck: Instagram is rolling out an update to its Explore section so that it'll start recommending video collections it thinks you'll be interested in. These collections won't just be a big stream o … | Continue reading
Two patent applications filed by Apple and published to the US Patent and Trademark Office have shed some light on what the company could have in store for users of future generations of the iPhone and iPad. The first is a stylus with multi-touch sensors along the body, which can … | Continue reading
Boston Dynamics — the (for now) Alphabet-owned company behind BigDog and other impressive machines — has just unveiled its latest robot: SpotMini, an all-electric, smaller version of its Spot robot.One notable change: the 'bot can now be equipped with an elongated neck, which it … | Continue reading
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled a new set of endorsements from business leaders today, including a number of major tech leaders. Netflix founder Reed Hastings, Box founder Aaron Levie, and Tumblr founder David Karp all appear on the list en … | Continue reading
According to Recode's Peter Kafka, Adele's blockbuster 2015 LP 25 is finally making its way to Spotify. The album is landing on the streaming service over seven months after its initial physical and digital release, which smashed sales records all around the world while being hel … | Continue reading
After Walt's review of the HP Spectre, Nilay and Walt pick up where the review left off and dig into how the laptop compares to its direct competitor, the MacBook. They also look back at Walt's review of the Lenovo Yoga, which, back in 2012, had tablet-like features — something W … | Continue reading
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced at an event last night that Facebook will be requiring political bias training for employees, according to a report from The Hill.According to the report, Sandberg told a crowd that the company has already held classes "focused on racial bia … | Continue reading
Today is the 20th anniversary of the Nintendo 64, which is an excuse to play one of the console’s better games, Goldeneye. Which means I must remember the brilliant meme that game inspired: Geddan.Unfortunately, remembering is the best I can do. Geddan, my favorite meme, has been … | Continue reading
Nextbit has been one of the more interesting smartphone companies of late. Its head-turning Robin has a striking industrial design, but the company hangs its hat on the unique software features it adds to Android. Its initial trick, Smart Storage, promised to eliminate worries ab … | Continue reading
BitTorrent is coming to your TV, smartphone, and tablet — though not in the way you might expect. It's launching an app today called BitTorrent Now that basically sounds like a bizarro mashup of Netflix and Spotify, offering on-demand streaming of videos and music, but largely fr … | Continue reading
Two years ago, I wrote a story about Nextdoor, a private social network that requires users to register with proof of both their identity and address. Once accepted, you belong to a neighborhood and can see and speak with any nearby users who have signed up. It's trying to build … | Continue reading
Express Drive, the car rental service created by General Motors and Lyft, is launching in three US cities today: Baltimore, Boston, and Washington, DC, according to Recode. The short-term rental program, which first launched in Chicago in March, is designed for people who want t … | Continue reading
In March of last year, shortly after live-streaming via smartphones became a genuine phenomenon, Dan Pfeiffer declared that 2016 would be "the Meerkat election." "Whether it is Meerkat, Periscope or someone else," wrote Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to President Obama, "the p … | Continue reading
Each year since 1997, the Goodwood Festival of Speed has been graced by a Central Feature, a grand sculpture celebrating a particular marque and its latest anniversary or celebration. In 2016, the honored carmaker is BMW, which is marking 100 years in business by taking a trio of … | Continue reading
The Site:1 wireless speaker from Wisconsin-based Princeton Audio wants to be an alternative to plastic speakers, so it relies on wood. It comes in four different types of wood, actually: mahogany, black walnut, maple, and black cherry. Design is the big selling point for the Site … | Continue reading
Today is the day the UK decides whether or not to leave the European Union. It's a big moment for us. Life-changing if we leave, life-remaining-broadly-the-saming if we stay. It's also the culmination of a political campaign that has been one of the nastiest in recent British his … | Continue reading
Three weeks ago, scientists announced a controversial plan to create synthetic human genomes from scratch. The paper — which they published following reports about a private, off-the-record meeting — outlined an ambitious plan to build human genomes with various, medically releva … | Continue reading
Dyson's fans look cool. There's no getting around it — there's just something about them that makes you want to spend stupid amounts of money on what ought to be a very basic home product.There are a few big perks to Dyson's latest, the Pure Cool Link, that might make it all wort … | Continue reading
Samsung has announced the Notebook 7 Spin, a convertible laptop with a folding design reminiscent of Lenovo's Yoga line. The Notebook 7 Spin is available with either 13.3-inch or 15.6-inch 1080p LCD touchscreens; the smaller model is powered by an Intel Core i5 processor and inte … | Continue reading
Xiaomi continues to push the message that it's not just a phone company — it's a technology company. Over the past year or so the company has launched various internet-connected devices, including air purifiers, wearables, rice cookers, and kettles. And it's latest? A folding ele … | Continue reading
The browser battery wars are heating up. Microsoft made a bold claim earlier this week that its new Edge browser in Windows 10 is better for your laptop's battery life than Opera or Chrome. While everyone who uses Chrome is aware of the bad effect on battery life, Opera introduce … | Continue reading
The Brooklyn Public Library has been awarded a grant for nearly $400,000 to place inmate video calling services in a dozen libraries, giving inmates' friends and family members a new way to stay in contact. Continue reading… | Continue reading
Huawei, the world's third largest smartphone manufacturer, is reportedly developing its own mobile OS. Phones made by the Chinese manufacturer currently run on the company's Android skin, EMUI, but according to a report from The Information Huawei is building an alternative OS in … | Continue reading
Solar Impulse 2 has successfully crossed the Atlantic — the first journey of its kind made by a solar-powered plane. The experimental aircraft set off from New York on Monday and landed this morning in Seville, Spain.The four day crossing is one of the most difficult sections in … | Continue reading
Instagram will soon start translating comments, captions posted alongside its pictures, and user bios. The image-sharing social network announced that it would be adding the feature in the coming month, automatically translating comments and descriptions to the user's chosen lang … | Continue reading
Google Fiber is acquiring San Francisco-based internet service provider Webpass. The news, announced in a press release this afternoon, means Google's own fiber internet service now has a well-established commercial provider of gigabit internet to aid its continued expansion. Web … | Continue reading
Today, Facebook-owned Oculus announced the launch of 360-degree video reactions for the Gear VR headset. So now, when watching Facebook videos using Samsung's virtual reality goggles, you'll be able to choose between the social network's standard series of reactions, including th … | Continue reading
It is rare that I'm compelled to seek out C-SPAN live coverage. Today was a little different. House Democrats staged a dramatic sit-in to demand action on gun control, chanting "no bill, no break." But after a recess was called, C-SPAN's live video footage was cut off by House R … | Continue reading
These are our robot babies. They are not pretty or intelligent and they lack skin. But they are our robot babies nonetheless. Please show them love and kindness. Do no upset the robot babies, because their knowledge and experience may one day be transferable to a larger, more pow … | Continue reading
A week after the mass shooting that left 49 patrons of a gay nightclub dead in Orlando, Florida, upcoming fan convention Flame Con is asking its attendees to drop the firearms from their costumes.Flame Con, in its second year, is an LGBTQ-focused geek fandom convention that will … | Continue reading
Remember how Sony launched the PS3 with "OtherOS" support, so you could install Linux or whatever other PowerPC-compatible OS you could finagle onto your shiny new next-gen gaming system? And then remember how just a couple years later Sony discontinued support for OtherOS, with … | Continue reading
Legendary screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Steve Jobs) is partnering with the online education platform MasterClass to offer a course on screenwriting that's being made available later this summer. Over the course of 25 video lessons spanning five hours, Sorkin is g … | Continue reading
Fiat Chrysler says that it is moving up the schedule for updating software in around 1.1 million vehicles that use a confusing gear selector design that was first recalled in April. The design, which makes it unusually easy to accidentally place a vehicle in neutral instead of pa … | Continue reading
Women who live in some Latin American countries where the Zika virus is spreading are increasingly seeking access to abortion — even though, in many instances, abortion is illegal or restricted. Since November 17th, 2015, when the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an … | Continue reading
Three years ago, the design agency Critical Mass created a prototype of a high-top Converse Chuck Taylor with a built-in wah pedal called the . Now, in partnership with CuteCircuit, Converse has brought the shoe to life, and giving a pair to legendary guitarist J Mascis of Dinosa … | Continue reading
As grand touring cars go, they don't get much more beautiful than the Vanquish Zagato that Aston Martin revealed as a concept several weeks ago. At the time, Aston didn't reveal any production plans — but it was pretty obvious that they wanted to make a few. (Who wouldn't?) Now, … | Continue reading
Congress has failed to pass an expansion of online surveillance powers for monitoring suspected terrorists — at least for now. In a vote today, the Senate fell just short of the 60 votes needed to adopt an amendment brought by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), mustering only 58 support … | Continue reading
Dear friends and loved ones,This is my son Klav. As you can see, he is beautiful. Thank goodness, because I am emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted from delivering Klav into the world. It took forever, plus however long it takes to read "What is Code?"Have you ever hea … | Continue reading
Democrats are in the middle of a sit-in protest on the floor of the US House of Representatives, but C-SPAN isn't allowed to turn its TV cameras on to film it. So it's turned to something else: Periscope and Facebook LiveC-SPAN has been airing live video from representatives on t … | Continue reading
I want to hate these Zungle Panther sunglasses, which have bone conduction speakers built into them, but I kind of can’t resist them. They’re so unfashionable that maybe I’m into them? They’ve also already surpassed their Kickstarter goal of $50,000 with 23 days to go. Is this so … | Continue reading
Medium format cameras are known for a few things. First and foremost, they produce excellent images that smaller format cameras can’t touch. Second, they are big and heavy and aren’t really designed to ever leave the studio. And finally, they are known for being really, really ex … | Continue reading
I am all for a world of brand mashups. Taco Bell's Doritos Loco Tacos had me racing to the drive-thru opening week, and the Sour Patch Kids-flavored Slurpee at 7-11 is...not my favorite, but I just like knowing that it exists.For the latest edible remix, Burger King has tunneled … | Continue reading