Tech Boys

https://youtu.be/TukuNt6EBDE Three people brought a net to the San Antonio Aquarium, and when no one was looking, they scooped up a 16-inch horn shark and placed it into a baby carriage. They then strolled it up a staircase and made their way to the parking lot, taking off in a red pick up truck. The thieves were able to steal the shark from the aquarium's "touch pool," the area where people are able to touch and pet sea life, while the attendant was distracted by other visitors. According to NBC : They then ducked into a filter room and emptied out a bleach bucket, into which they deposited the shark, the aquarium said. They used the bucket to transfer the shark into the stroller and "hurried up the stairs and out to the parking lot," it said. Unfortunately, the shark is still at large. "We are offering a reward for any tips that lead to the recovery of this animal," says the aquarium. "We value the lives of all of our animals and take pr

I've enjoyed all of Dan Brown's thrillers. Great literature they ain't but they always keep me reading past my bedtime. I happened to miss Origin when it first came out, but since it's on sale for $3 , how could I pass it up? from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2LEHBtq via IFTTT

Motherboard reviewed a " device that looks just like an iPhone but is actually an Android that has been reskinned from top-to-bottom to seem as close to an iPhone as is possible ... the phone is also loaded with backdoors and malicious apps." Once I started trying some of Apple’s more recent and advanced features, though, things started going off the rails. Siri’s graphical interface has been recreated, but it doesn’t really work. My favorite thing about the phone is its “Face ID” system. I clicked over to Face ID in the settings menu, clicked “Add a Face ID,” and was hilariously bounced over to the camera, which did manage to draw a green box around my face. It said “Face Added,” and closed. I was then able to unlock the phone with my face. So was literally anyone else who put their face in front of the phone. Clicking around further betrayed the phone’s actual software: the keyboard is clearly an Android keyboard; when the reskinned App Store crashed, I got a popup noti

p> It's always a pleasure to watch Chris Notap make a new tool. One thing he likes to make is mousetraps. This time, he made an ingeniously simple trap that lures mice into a cylinder made from a soda tube and dumps them unceremoniously into a bucket. from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2vjIxIw via IFTTT

The 1949 book, Prophets of Deceit, A Study in the Techniques of the American Agitator , by Leo Lowenthal and Norbert Guterman, was written to explain how an aspiring dictator "molds already existing prejudices and tendencies into overt doctrines and ultimately into overt action." The authors intended to not "merely to describe prejudice but to explain it in order to help in its eradication." An admirable goal, but the book could also be used as a manual for indoctrinating members into a mass cult of hatred. Take a look at this list of four "grievances" that totalitarian dictators use to highjack the minds of the susceptible: 1. ECONOMIC GRIEVANCES. The agitator roams freely over every area of economic life. He may begin anywhere at all. Too much help is being extended to foreign nations. "If we have any money to offer for nothing, or to loan, or to give away, we had better give it to our own first. Of course, that is old fashioned." Not only

The theme of this year's Burning Man is I, Robot , which focuses "on the many forms of artificial intelligence that permeate our lives..." So, naturally, someone trained a neural network to come up with some camp names. It spit out believable names like Spankles, Astro Sparkin, and Space Rock Screamin Camp, as well as weirder names like Corn Viral Hammers, Wiq Renames Spaghette, and Hellball Lounge. Then it went with some truly bizarre ones like Cohnie Stacefur Ass Chaos, Sir Liberains the Wreck Middle, and Awes Orpoop. The woman behind the experiment, research scientist Janelle Shane, writes : Thanks to an anonymous burner, I had a list of 1593 past Burning Man camps to feed to a neural network. A neural network is a kind of machine learning algorithm that learns to imitate the data it sees. My starting point was a textgen-rnn neural net that had been previously trained on metal bands and roller derby names , so it had a few ideas of its own to bring to the table. I

Part Four of SomeNews's series on Facism clearly shows how Trumpism is Facism. from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2vf7iFM via IFTTT

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) got this cool shot of Venus by using new adaptive optics that ignore earth's atmosphere while imaging celestial phenomena. Via Universe Today : In astronomy, adaptive optics refers to a technique where instruments are able to compensate for the blurring effect caused by Earth’s atmosphere, which is a serious issue when it comes to ground-based telescopes. Basically, as light passes through our atmosphere, it becomes distorted and causes distant objects to become blurred (which is why stars appear to twinkle when seen with the naked eye). Head over to the article to see a remarkable before and after shot . • This is a photo of Neptune, from the ground! ESO's new adaptive optics makes ground telescopes ignore the earth's atmosphere (Universe Today) . from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2mXR1Bu via IFTTT

Jeff Whitman, driving a van emblazoned with a company logo and contact number, made it his business to follow another man home to let him "know how much of a N— you are. " The victim, who was black, filmed the encounter . Whitman, who is white, is laying low. Theodore Decker with The Columbus Dispatch spoke to him on the phone: Whitman called again. He said he chose the wrong word and insists he is not a bigot. He provided a woman’s number and urged me to call her. He wouldn’t say why exactly, but I get the sense that he sees her as a character witness. He rambled a bit and said a few other things, including one sentiment that would have many of his newfound enemies guffawing: “I just don’t understand the intensity of the hate,” he said. He just don't understand the intensity of the hate. from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2Kbvu1r via IFTTT

Assigned to covertly observe and, if necessary, violently protect air travelers on flights which include passengers on a TSA terrorist watch list or on routes that are considered to have a higher probability of coming under attack in a terrorist action, federal air marshals have been a fixture on many flights since the September 11th attacks of 2001. That we seldom hear about the work that air marshals do is a very good thing. It means that we’re safe as we travel and that they’re very good at keeping a low profile as part of doing their job. It’s a gig that anyone should be proud to do. However, the pride that comes with quietly and professionally protecting folks may be in for a bit of tarnish thanks to a disturbing new program launched by the TSA called Quiet Skies. As part of Quiet Skies, air marshals are being asked to step off of the flights that they’ve been assigned to protect to undertake a new detail: gathering intelligence on civilians who aren’t on a terrorist watchlist –

After a month off, John Oliver is back and, where Facebook's bullshit apology for all of the greasy stuff they've been doing with their user's data is concerned, he's taking no prisoners. from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2NXLmH7 via IFTTT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Y1WRUZLfQ I'm headed to DC to sit down in studio with BookTV's "In Depth" on August 5 ; it'll air live on Aug 5 at 12PM Eastern/9AM Pacific and be repeated on August 6 at 12AM Eastern/(9PM Pacific on Aug 5) and on Aug 11 at 9AM Eastern/6AM Pacific. It's a phone-in! from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2AoCNTI via IFTTT

Federal Air Marshals are furious that they have been tasked to follow thousands of Americans who are not on any watch-list and not suspected of any crime; they shadow these people (who are selected for surveillance on the basis of flimsy criteria like once having visited Turkey) and send minute-by-minute updates to the TSA, noting whether their targets are sleeping, using more than one phone, waiting until the last minute to board their planes, observing boarding areas from a distance, and other innocuous behaviors. (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2LAq0mg via IFTTT

I needed more blue tape for my build plate . (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2mWkmfy via IFTTT

Servicemembers willing to undergo dangerous test pilot duties are remarkably brave. The military is now conducting tests on different body sizes to ensure women serving as pilots get the same safety benefits. (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2Ap78Bl via IFTTT

Joi Ito ( previously ) is the Director of MIT's Media Lab, an appointment that raised a few eyebrows because Joi never got an undergrad degree, much less a doctorate. (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2LTiG4m via IFTTT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kaJaDx51iw Archprankster Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G, Borat, etc) has a new show called Who Is America? where he disguises himself sits down with US politicians and tries to get them to do something absurd, with some pretty remarkable ( and even career-ending ) results (though not everybody falls for it ). (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2vhHicR via IFTTT

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's credibility lacking PR stooge who is nominally an attorney, continues to spout any story he can to stir up the pot. Contradicting himself to the point of frustrating even Fox News, no one can possibly believe what this man says. Today's bullshit circles around 'collusion is not a crime' -- treason, however, is. I can not understand why lying blowhards like Giuliani and Conway, who are clearly just propaganda tools of the Orange Menance, are given air time. from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2mWplwK via IFTTT

In 2008, Universal Music fraudulently claimed that a short Youtube clip of a toddler dancing to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" was a copyright infringement, leading to eight years of litigation and, eventually, a landmark ruling secured by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in which the court found that Universal had a duty to consider fair use before using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to censor other peoples' media. (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2Ka0DSK via IFTTT

Sharp-eyed ornithologists noticed that some specimens of Vogelkop Superb Bird-of-Paradise that they observed looked different enough that they may be a separate species . They captured video of the other kind for comparison. (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2Lyr89S via IFTTT

Brett writes, "As a critique of the IoT buzz, I hacked a portable karaoke machine , stuffed a Raspberry Pi in it, connected it to the internet, and installed Docker on it." (tl;dr: he needed a portable CRT for an installation, found one embedded in a thrift-store karaoke machine, and got it wired up to the Raspi on the first try and discovered it made a perfect and delightful casemod). from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2vjLngv via IFTTT

The damage done by domestic violence doesn't stop when a victim finds the strength and support system needed to escape physical or emotional abuse at home. Breaking the cycle of abuse inflicted by the hands of someone you once trusted can send shock waves into every facet of your life: shared friends may turn against you, individuals you called family may disbelieve your claims of abuse and the time and energy it takes to break ties with an abuser can take a toll on your professional life. Happily, with a piece of policy that every nation on the planet should copy, New Zealand is taking steps to ensure that the latter won't be something that those looking to escape domestic violence will have to worry about any longer. According to The New York Times, members of New Zealand's parliament have voted to approve a bill which states that individuals feeling domestic violence in their country must be given a 10-day leave of absence from their jobs--time to care for children, see

Blackstone is the largest private equity fund in the world; when the 2008 crash hit and banks used the trillions in taxpayer bailouts to fund mass evictions of working people who'd been tricked into taking out predatory mortgages, Blackstone started bulk-buying them, creating rent-backed bonds (called Single-Family Rental Securities or SERS) that are the even-shittier successors to the mortgage-backed securities that detonated the world economy in 2008. (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2M1mwoS via IFTTT

Earlier this month, the United Nations Relief and Works agency for Palestinian refugees in the near-east (UNRWA) warned that it’d have no choice but to make deep cuts to its programs, due to a funding freeze enacted by the United States Government. Last week, in light of a 217 million dollar funding shortfall, UNRWA lowered the boom : employees for a number of vital programs, including housing assistance, medical and mental health support, education and employment programs have either been given drastic pay cuts or told that they no longer have jobs. According to The Washington Post, UNRWA dismissed 154 of its employees, 125 of which are located in Gaza, and downgraded another 580 to contract workers. The head of UNRWA’s Palestinian employees union, Amir al-Miss’hal stated that in addition to this, UNRWA has also canceled an additional 1,000 jobs by ordering a hiring freeze of employees destined to fill in for UNRWA workers approaching retirement. Unsurprisingly, shit is now going

Samsung's new QLED TV comes with configuration option: take a picture of the wall behind it before you hang it up and it will use it as a background wallpaper, drawing UI widgets (like weather display, etc) overtop of it, creating the hi-rez illusion that your TV has disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the bezel. Hard to get it aligned properly, and probably a config option on most TVs (but buried 11 menus deep and just advertised as "set wallpaper" rather than "make TV vanish"). ( via Red Ferret ) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2uZVIPD via IFTTT

Many of the world's most iconic movies have problematic themes or plots, but the romanticization of kidnapping and false imprisonment ranks among the worst. (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2OqJLdX via IFTTT

Former Air Force spy Denver Riggleman is the GOP Congressional candidate for Virginia's 5th district, and he's caught flack for campaigning with the notorious white supremacist Isaac Smith, co-founder of Unity & Security for America. (more…) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2M6kUKw via IFTTT

What the hell, Scotland? Why would you ruin perfectly good ice cream by putting the devil's condiment -- mayonnaise -- into it?! Artisanal ice cream shop ICE Falkirk , the creators of Mayonnaise Ice Cream, have some 'splaining to do. https://ift.tt/2AovA69 image via ICEFalkirk , used with permission ( Delish ) from Boing Boing https://ift.tt/2NS3H8e via IFTTT

The human brain is a funny thing. You can give it plenty of sleep, but when you're hours away from the weekend, it's virtually impossible to stay focused. Unfortunately, the world doesn't stop just because your brain has checked out, but you can still ensure you don't miss any important details thanks to the  Uqique USB Recorder With Playback , available in the Boing Boing store for $21.99. Smaller than most flash drives, this pocket-sized recorder gives you the ability to capture important details at a moment's notice. Whether you're stuck in an afternoon lecture or a meeting at work, you can whip this device out, record what you need, and play it back when you're ready to focus. It's engineered with intelligent noise cut filtering and voice amplification to ensure you get a clear recording from any angle, and it's rated to last 10 hours on a single charge. Of course, there has to be more to this device for it to merit a spot in your pocket's s

The head of Sony's virtual reality efforts has left the company after 19 years and moved to another California-based tech giant: Google. Richard Marks headed Sony's Magic Lab, the group behind the PlayStation VR headset, and served as the company's v... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2v2GkBN via IFTTT

As expected, Samsung's Q2 2018 earnings report shows that operating profit is still up from last year and net profit for the same periods came in 0.1 percent lower as growth is slowing. While its memory chip and processor businesses remain strong, th... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2vko32h via IFTTT

We've all been unable to make it to appointments for one reason or another, so Google Calendar has added an option which could make finding a new meeting time a cinch. When you're invited to an event, instead of responding with yes, no or maybe, you... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2Ows4K3 via IFTTT

As the market for equipment needed by podcasters, streamers and other content creators grows, Blue Microphones has become a trusted and well-known name. Now Logitech has stepped in to acquire the company for about $117 million in cash. Both companies... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2KcFHL3 via IFTTT

The Harley-Davidson electric motorcycle has been a long time coming. First announced as Project LiveWire back in 2014, the bike has gone through some design changes as well as becoming only one of the electric bikes the company plans to release over... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2mW7lCw via IFTTT

While Marvel takes a break before releasing its next comic book movie, the first part of its Avengers vs. Thanos battle arrives via video on-demand services packing two hours of extras. Starting tonight you'll be able to stream Avengers: Infinity War... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2vjmhPa via IFTTT

WhatsApp teased that its messaging app would add a long-awaited group video calling feature several weeks ago, and it's finally here. Both Android and iOS users can now hold audio and video conversations with up to four people. You'll have to star... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2LQQlvA via IFTTT

The fight to keep 3D-printed gun designs off of the web continues as a number of states said on Monday that they would be jointly suing the Trump administration, Reuters reports. In a press release, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2LNtgtW via IFTTT

MoviePass' financial and technical problems keep getting worse. According to a Business Insider source, company chief Mitch Lowe not only told staffers that the service wouldn't offer tickets for the next two major movie releases this summer (Christo... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2Ar8kV0 via IFTTT

Drive.ai's autonomous ride-hailing service has launched in Frisco, Texas, providing transportation between Hall Park offices and The Star. The company announced in May that the service was on the way, and while a safety driver will be present in the... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2LLbZBn via IFTTT

The TSA has been using CT scanners to screen airline passengers' luggage since last year -- early tests of the technology have been taking place in Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport and Boston's Logan International Airport. But now, the agen... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2mV1PA8 via IFTTT

The jury's still out on whether or not Snapchat Stories are successful, but giants in the sports realm are apparently happy. Snap has signed deals with the NFL and NBC that will bring more sports programming to your phone. To begin with, it's exten... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2KbeUym via IFTTT

When we had our hands-on with Xiaomi's Mi 8 Explorer Edition, we expressed our doubts that the circuit board you could see through the transparent rear actually showcased the phone's actual internals, not least because of the board's atypical layout.... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2mUikMT via IFTTT

Two years after Uber bought self-driving truck developer Otto to the tune of $680 million, the ride hailing company announced on Monday that the Uber Advanced Technologies Group is shuttering its autonomous truck unit. The company remains committed t... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2AvrxES via IFTTT

How do you infiltrate US government computers when security experts are increasingly aware of your hacking campaigns? Send old-fashioned mail, apparently. The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center has warned officials of a China-based c... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2AqSgT6 via IFTTT

It's still early days in creating the kind of human-like androids we see in the movies, but new research brings us ever closer to the idea. Boston Dynamics has become the de facto image of locomotion for both humans and their pets, while LG already h... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2vkKkgj via IFTTT

NASA's TESS spacecraft is officially up and running. The agency recently announced that TESS, which stands for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, started its search for exoplanets -- planets outside of our solar system -- on July 25th. Its first... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2LJgSer via IFTTT

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) has put together a policy paper that both highlights some of the bigger problems facing online platforms today and includes potential ways in which to address them. Axios got ahold of the 23-page paper and it focuses on thr... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2Kb4rTL via IFTTT

This week's hardware IRL keeps us indoors and out of the sun. UK Bureau Chief Mat Smith replaced his elderly in-box PS4 DualShock with Hori's Onyx, the first licensed third-party wireless controller to land, though it's no longer the only one. After... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2mTBySQ via IFTTT

Lyft has been trying out an All-Access subscription that lets you ride on a frequent basis for one flat fee, but it's overkill for many people. What if you mainly tend to take one route every time? There's now an option for you -- Lyft has unveiled a... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2AnkjTr via IFTTT

"Well, my grandchildren were over and it's something about a pornography virus," says the soft voice of an elderly woman over the phone. "I unplugged my computer right away," she continues, and after she explains her worries in a little more detail,... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2mTWbOI via IFTTT

As more and more people use their mobile devices for everyday computing tasks, it makes sense that there would be more attacks. The latest phishing attempt, discovered over at Ars Technica, involves a false webpage that initiates a call on your iPhon... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2AldPEw via IFTTT

iHeartRadio announced today that it's adding a new playlist for users to stream -- a weekly updated selection of tunes based on what you listen to. Your Weekly Mixtape will be refreshed every Monday and will include 30 to 75 songs chosen for you base... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2NYMAlp via IFTTT

Preloaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narro... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2NX48yg via IFTTT

Dropbox Professional and Business Standard users have more storage to play with starting today, as the company is bumping up the capacity on each plan by 1TB. Professional users now have double the space with 2TB, and Business Standard teams will sha... from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2NXLKFn via IFTTT

It’s been no secret that the music industry has been struggling over the past couple decades. After years of spiraling album sales, the industry hit a new low in 2016 , with just over 100 million units sold — a nearly 14 percent decrease from the previous year, reflecting declines in both physical and digital album sales. That’s not the whole story, of course. The music industry’s sluggish sales gave way to music streaming, which overtook physical music in terms of revenue last year. With streaming music’s revenues skyrocketing to $6.6 billion — representing growth of 41 percent — the music industry has championed streaming as its new golden goose. This is a good change — the music industry lost billions by fighting the shift to streaming. By focusing on CDs and digital downloads, never mind the fact that CDs saw an 84 percent decline in sales over a decade, the industry found itself “ fighting over pennies while waving goodbye to dollars,” as The New York Times pointed out. M

First, there were smartphones and then smart houses. Now, the next disruptive “smart” move is the smart city. As work, life, and society become increasingly connected through the wide adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, it’s a natural progression to build smart cities that leverage tech to provide benefits like convenience and efficiency. What makes smart cities so interesting is that they are not necessarily just about technology. The city is the heart of an economy from which pulses work, school, retail, entertainment, and social life. By connecting the city in new ways, it becomes smarter and more capable of quickly responding to the changing (and growing) needs of those who live and work within its boundaries. Also, the evolution of smart cities provides opportunities to address some key challenges urban areas have faced, such as making room for affordable housing, improving transportation systems, and leveraging available data to create safer neighborhoods and st

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Tuesday. 1. Uber is shutting down its self-driving truck division and will instead focus on self-driving cars . Uber Freight, a unit which connects truck drivers connect with shipping companies, will be unaffected. 2. The CEO of Moviepass announced in an all-hands meeting that tickets to big upcoming movies will not be available on the app .  The implication was that the practice of not offering tickets to major releases would continue for the foreseeable future. 3.  'Fortnite' is reportedly heading to Android as an exclusive to a brand-new Samsung phone . Rumours point to the game being exclusive to Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note 9 smartphone when the phone arrives in late August, with wide availability a month later. 4.  It looks like photos of Google’s next phone have leaked .  New leaked photos supposedly show the white version of Google's upcoming Pixel 3 XL smartphone, which has a surprisingly large