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Tech NewsDesignThe Golden Gate Bridge Almost Ended Up With a Bumble Bee Paint Job
The Golden Gate Bridge’s iconic “International Orange” paint job was a bit of a happy accident. If the United States Navy got its way, the landmark stretch of infrastructure would look like a bumble bee. That would’ve been just sad. The black-and-yellow stripe color scheme, of course, was a design that emphasized practicality and visibility. … Continued
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Tech News
San Francisco’s Plan to Turn Stadium Parking Into Affordable Housing
The affordable housing crisis in San Francisco has reached a fever pitch, with even George Lucas helping out. Here’s another smart solution that chips away at the problem: Swapping a parking lot with a new neighborhood, courtesy of one of the city’s most influential landowners, the San Francisco Giants. Right now, the swath of bayfront … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
This Photo of San Francisco Was Shot Just Minutes Ago From Space
What an amazing year we are living in! “San Francisco. I almost felt like I was with you as we flew overhead a few minutes ago,” NASA astronaut Scott Kelly posted on his Facebook page directly from the International Space Station. Wish we were with you space station commander!
By Attila Nagy -
Tech News
Drones Buzz Golden Gate Bridge, Crashing and Generally Being Creepy
The quake-prone Bay Area is already a pretty precarious area for bridges, but now suspicious drone activity is also a concern for San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate. Officials are now reportedly spotting drones near the bridge several times a month, and one even crashed into the road. Those San Francisco officials understandably have some security … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
George Lucas Wants To Build Affordable Housing on His Skywalker Ranch
Having safely outsourced the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas can focus on his real estate projects. He’s got his museum in Chicago, and now, an affordable housing project proposed for his own Skywalker Ranch. Those who can’t afford San Francisco could live just over the Golden Gate Bridge in what’s otherwise one of the priciest … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
These incredible aerial views of San Francisco are just jaw dropping
My God, take a look at these photos. Master photographer Vincent LaForet captured San Francisco in such incredible detail and in such a fascinating perspective that it’s truly breathtaking. You can see the entire city—all 7 miles by 7 miles—stamped on the Earth with its beautiful bridges stretched across the sea. Click on the magnifying … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsDish Just Agreed To Blanket San Fran With This Crazy New Cellular Tech
Dish wants to be a mobile phone carrier. Dish wants it bad. And Steve Perlman—the genius behind QuickTime, WebTV and OnLive—has spent over a decade working on tech that could allegedly leapfrog our current cell networks. So guess who just teamed up to potentially revolutionize the mobile internet? Yep. Dish just agreed to lease some … Continued
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io9
Update: Science Fiction Bookstore Borderlands Will Stay Open!
Here’s a huge chunk of happy news to brighten your Sunday: San Francisco’s scifi and fantasy bookstore, Borderlands, will stay open for at least another year thanks to a successful sponsorship campaign. YAY! If you’ll recall, the beloved institution (which we here at io9 are huge fans of, for many obvious reasons … and the … Continued
By Cheryl Eddy -
io9
The CIA Once Ran Brothels And Dosed Unsuspecting Customers With LSD
For ten years during the Cold War, the CIA conducted mind-control experiments on unsuspecting San Franciscans. Dubbed Operation Midnight Climax, the program was packed with salacious details: a power-mad narcotics agent, a brothel equipped with two-way mirrors, and gallons of LSD. Top image: Surian Soosay/Flickr Operation Midnight Climax was one of a few operations involving … Continued
By Cheryl Eddy -
Tech NewsSploidGood night, San Francisco
San Francisco isn’t Gotham. That’s New York (or Chicago if you want to be wrong). San Francisco is too colorful, too weird, too positive and too future friendly to be the dark and gritty Gotham City. But Toby Harriman stripped the color of SF in this time lapse and man, the city by the bay … Continued
By Casey Chan -
io9
That Time A Bankrupt Businessman Declared Himself Emperor Of America
For many years, Joshua Norton was a successful 19th-century businessman. Then he lost his entire fortune trying to take over San Francisco’s rice market. Here’s the story of how his fortunes flipped around one final time and made him Emperor of America. In response to this call for your take on history’s most fascinating figures, … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech News
A Bizarre Statistical Fact About Patents in San Francisco
I have discovered something extremely strange about San Francisco. It has to do with how many patents the city has produced in the past 25 years. One of the most fascinating things about urban life today is that city populations are growing to historically unprecedented sizes. Basically we’re at a stage in urban evolution that … Continued
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io9
Suitcase Stuffed With Human Remains Found On San Francisco Sidewalk
A “suspicious package” report yesterday afternoon led San Francisco police to a wheeled suitcase filled with dismembered human body parts in the city’s South of Market neighborhood, just blocks from the headquarters of Twitter, Uber, and other high-tech companies. CNN reported on the grisly discovery: “We do have people of interest that homicide investigators are … Continued
By Cheryl Eddy -
Tech NewsSploidI find this guy putting pylons on the Golden Gate very unnerving
Why don’t they have a 24-hour channel of humans doing repetitive or crafty work? It would be the perfect thing to watch when you want to relax. Like this dude putting pylons on the Golden Gate bridge. He should have his own two-hour program every week. Updated. Update: Some readers pointed out that it’s more … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
Scientists Used Sonar to Find San Francisco’s Notorious Lost Shipwreck
In 1901, steamer ship City of Rio de Janeiro sank on its way into the San Francisco Bay, killing 128 passengers and disappearing into the ocean. The famous lost ship stayed disappeared for over 100 years, its location suspected but never confirmed. Now, thanks to a sonar technology called “Echoscope,” scientistshave pinpointed the wreck’s location, … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech News
L.A. and San Francisco Are Suing Uber, Too
On Monday, Portland sued Uber; now, L.A. and San Francisco are joining in, too. The cites have sued the ride-hailing company on the grounds that it misleads consumers about their safety as well as overcharging them. The L.A. Times reports that the San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon accused Uber of “making false and misleading … Continued
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Tech NewsApple
Trust Us, Change Your Yosemite Font From Helvetica to San Francisco
Brittle, anemic Helvetica is simplynot a good choice as a default display font for Apple’s operating system. That’s why I’m pretty excited about this little trick to replace Helvetica Neue (the standard font that comes with Yosemite) with San Francisco, Apple’s new typeface designed in-house for the Apple Watch. As you’ll remember, we first laid … Continued
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Tech News
59% of robberies in San Francisco involve the theft of a smartphone
Thefts involving smartphones are on the rise according to a new FCC study. In 2013, 3.1 million Americans had their smartphones stolen. That was up from 1.6 million thefts in 2012. Some interesting facts from the new report: 22 percent of smartphone users installed software that can locate their phone 34 percent of smartphone users … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Poop, Giant Snails, Men’s Legs: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week
Mapping human poo in San Francisco. Tracking stinky snails in Florida. And coming up with a way to tell men that if they could just learn to close their legs, please, the NYC subway would suck so much less for everyone. Be forewarned, it’s kind of a gross edition of What’s Ruining Our Cities. Human … Continued
