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Tech NewsIs the Innanet RUINING teh English Language??? ¯(°_o)/¯
There exists a certain paranoia that the web will somehow destroy the English language as we all start communicating solely in LOLs and smileys. But seen another way, the linguistic tricks we’ve enlisted to portray attitude and action, tone and meaning through text online are just the natural evolution of the written word—a way to … Continued
Kyle Chayka -
ScienceHealth
A Health-Tracking App Analyzed My Blood and Told Me I’m 31 Going on 54
It sounds like a pretty damn good deal: Pay a hundred bucks for a blood test and get five simple personalized nutrition tips that promise to add years to your life. Sold! I tried it. And I found, as with any data-based health app, its claims need to be taken with a hulking heap of … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Tech News
The Mysterious Origins of 21 Tech Terms
We use 21st century tech terms like hashtag, stream, and mouse with casual indifference, but how did these words get to be so commonplace in our everyday vernacular? We know the origins of Superman (kryptonite), Spider Man (radioactive spider), and Batman (rich boy’s revenge) but not “podcast,” “spam,” or even “hacker.” So I looked at … Continued
Elyse Wanshel -
ScienceHealth
What Is a Heat-Not-Burn Cigarette and Can It Help You Quit?
The Next Big Trend in vaping is actually a very old idea: cigarettes that heat tobacco to produce an inhalable aerosol, but never reach the point of combustion, thus avoiding that sketchy part of smoking where you light something on fire and suck the smoke into your lungs. How is that any different than the … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Tech NewsGadgets
Get a new iPhone? Camera? Tips to Master Your Brand New Gadget
There are a couple things that can go through your head upon unwrapping a shiny new electronic device: hell yesss is closely followed by: uhhh, so how do I use this thing? You could read the instructional manual cover to cover, but c’mon F that. So, we’ve compiled some tips for how to master your … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Tech News
The NSA Dumped Its Spying Violations While You Were Waiting on Santa
The U.S. government has released proof that it repeatedly spied on American citizens without being allowed to… and you probably missed it. The National Security Administration finally dumped a heap of redacted documents revealing the surveillance violations made over the last decade. Hooray for transparency! Of course, it released them midday on Christmas Eve, when … Continued
By Meg Neal -
EartherClimate Change
Climate Change Is Melting Christmas :(
“I’M DREAMING OF an ozone layer, Just like the one I used to know / Which kept out UV rays / Before aerosol sprays / And allowed for actual snow.” OK, so this week’s lyrical New Yorker essay on climate change Christmas carols is a blatant oversimplification of a serious issue—but it is not untrue … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Tech News
Nothing Is Better Than These 80s Internet Depictions of Technology
Ever spend time imagining what the world was like the year you popped into it? I love it. Because man, 1983 was ridiculous. And terrible. And awesome. Michael Jackson did his first moonwalk. AOL, Microsoft Word and My Little Pony came into existence. The first consumer Camcorder came out (Sony!) and weighed 7353009 pounds. And … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Tech News
A Pen That Is Also a Charger Because Your Phone Is Dead Again
It should be simple: Charge phone overnight, wake up with enough battery to last the day; repeat. Nope. Try more like: Get home way too late, pass out, press snooze 748 times the next morning and get to work at 9:02 either with no phone at all or one whose battery now has about 20 … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Tech NewsThe Only Truly Intimate Online Experience Left
The internet has long promised a certain kind of connection between people, one that is now close to being fulfilled: We can reach anyone, at any time, anywhere! But while the web was born in plain text in IRC chat rooms and messageboards, our online conversations were supposed to be multimedia, dynamic, and visual by … Continued
Kyle Chayka -
Tech NewsBionic Eyes Can Already Restore Vision, Soon They’ll Make It Superhuman
We now live in an age where radical technology can help the blind to see, an impressive enough accomplishment in its own right that gets even more mind-bending when you consider what’s it means for the future. UV vision? Eyeballs that zoom in and out like a camera lens? It’s coming! Scientists ’round the world … Continued
Zoltan Istvan -
Tech NewsGoogle
A Big Round of Applause to Google for Shaming Spain Worldwide
There are strange moments when you feel ashamed not as an individual, but as a member of a collective, of something bigger. In my case, today, it’s of being Spanish. And what I feel right now is a deep, profound sense of ridiculousness. The first rumours began to swirl late last night, and today in … Continued
Carlos Rebato -
Tech NewsWhen Porn and Virtual Reality Collide (NSFW)
The porn of the future is titillating. As virtual reality matures, we’ll be aroused in three-dimensional immersive alternative realities, interacting with super-lifelike porn stars customized to our taste. People will look back on our passive and lonely 2D smut and pity us. But… when? Oculus Rift porn, like VR everything else, has been overhyped for … Continued
Fruzsina Eordogh -
Tech News
25 Years After the Wall Fell, Berlin Is a Haven for Cyber Rebellion
It’s been exactly 25 years since the wall came down and Berlin—a city that was once the epicenter of a worldwide ideological struggle—took its first, daunting steps toward reunification. Despite all odds, the graft took. And today the scar the wall left is so faint that unless you know what to look for, it’s practically … Continued
William Herkewitz -
Tech NewsFacebook
Twitter Takes Another Teeny Tiny Step Toward Becoming Facebook
Twitter tweaked its website design today to move the status bar where you compose a tweet a couple short inches from the right-hand corner to the center of the page. And guess what, it looks just like Facebook now. Before, you had to navigate alllll the way over to either the small nondescript compose button … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Reviews
My First Kindle: I Finally Stopped Multitasking and Got Lost in a Novel
Still don’t have an e-reader? I can respect that. Physical books just feel better. Print is sacred. I’m with you—or at least I was, until our reviews editor thrust a Kindle in my hand and made me use it. Amazon has just updated its bare-bones, entry-level Kindle to finally include touchscreen navigation like phones and … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Tech News
The Best and Worst Celebrity Apps
In today’s flooded app market, it’s hard for developers to get an idea noticed, and even harder to get it to stick. Needless to say celebrity cred goes a long way, and so has birthed an unlikely partnership between Hollywood stars and software programmers. It’s win-win. Society’s fascination with the rich and famous and their … Continued
Elyse Wanshel -
Tech News
The Future E-Cig Comes With an Internet Connection—And Real Tobacco
Cigarettes’ high-tech makeover hasn’t stopped with vaping’s souped-up mods and flavored liquid nicotine. There’s a new sort of quasi e-cig that’s electronically heated, but still contains tobacco. And soon, it could be internet-enabled too. Smoking with your computer A patent recently filed by Philip Morris (maker of Marlboro) and unearthed today by the Atlantic details … Continued
By Meg Neal -
Tech NewsApple
Walter Isaacson Talks AI, Apple Watch, and His New Book The Innovators
The stories we tell ourselves about genius and geniuses are often stories about history’s great men. But Walter Isaacson’s latest project is different. A biographer in the strict sense, Isaacson wrote the hugely successful 2011 book on Steve Jobs following biographies of Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Kissinger. (The fact that Jobs approached Isaacson to … Continued
Hamza Shaban -
Tech NewsApple
What iPhone Frenzy Is Like for an Apple Store Employee
It’s iPhone 6 launch day, Christmas for Apple fanboys and girls—and for employees of the Apple Stores where eager customers are currently lined up around the block, it’s a strange glimpse into the tech-obsessed human psyche. WNYC’s New Tech City recently interviewed a few former Apple Store employees (even ex-staffers are strictly forbidden from talking … Continued
By Meg Neal
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