Spooky NASA posters highlight the mysterious world of exoplanets
NASA’s newly released posters have a vintage horror movie look just in time for Halloween, and highlight exoplanets in a series called Galaxy of Horrors. The colorful posters are meant to be informative about different exoplanets that have been discovered outside of our galaxy and are free to download.
Twitter announces it will ban all political ads starting in November
Twitter announced on Wednesday that it will stop hosting political ads on its platform, with CEO Jack Dorsey saying that allowing targeted paid political ads pushes unwanted messages on users, especially by ad buyers who can game the system. The new ban goes into effect on November 22.
Black market THC vape pods have killed dozens. Why are people still buying them?
At least 34 people have died from a vaping-related lung illness that has plagued the country in recent months, and health officials finally have a culprit: Black-market THC vapes. Experts say people are still buying THC electronic cigarette pods on the black market because they’re cheaper and easier to find.
Juul sold tainted pods to people ‘drunk and vaping like mo-fos,’ lawsuit claims
A new lawsuit filed against Juul Labs on Tuesday claims the company shipped out one million contaminated e-cigarette products without telling anyone. Juul's former senior vice president of finance, Siddharth Breja, alleges that batches of Juul’s mint e-liquid were found to be contaminated in March.
EA goes against the grain, brings its games back to Steam
You’ll soon be able to play your favorite EA games on Steam, including the new Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. EA games will launch on Steam in the spring. Steam users will now be able to access tons of EA Access subscription perks, such as discounts on games, in-game items, expansions, and more.
Discord ‘Spidey Bot’ malware is stealing users’ data, including passwords
Discord has been infiltrated by malware that has the potential to steal users’ email addresses, phone numbers, usernames, IP addresses, and more. The malware affecting the gaming-centric online chat app is being called “Spidey Bot." Twitter user MalwareHunterTeam first brought attention to the malware on October 9.
Twitter’s #CashAppFriday hashtag is filled with scammers
What was meant to be a trending Twitter hashtag is turning out to be a scammers paradise. The #CashAppFriday hashtag asks users to tweet to their official account their “cashtag” or username, to choose a random person to deposit money to through the app. As it turns out, it’s proven to be easy for scammers to copy.
Quick thinking and an Apple Watch helped save a woman from sexual assault
A woman in Calgary, Alberta used an Apple Watch to call for help after a man broke into her apartment and attempted to sexually assault her, authorities said. After the man allegedly broke into her home, she was able to use her Apple Watch to text her boyfriend, asking him to call the police.
Twitter removes more than half of abusive tweets automatically
Twitter now removes half of tweets containing abusive content automatically without relying on content moderators or users reporting them. The social media platform’s 2019 third quarter report revealed that tweets that were removed due to abusive content were done so through improvements in machine learning.
REI will once again be closed on Black Friday, but it’s going one step further
REI is once again opting out of the biggest shopping day of the year and is instead encouraging its customers to opt outside on Black Friday by participating in a day of action. The store’s new slogan this year, Opt to Act, encourages its 18 million members to sign up for various cleanup events.
Congress shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg no mercy during Libra hearing
Lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the platform’s proposed Libra cryptocurrency and the social media giant's practices as a whole during a wide-ranging hearing on Wednesday morning.
Watch Live: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress about Facebook Libra
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee about Facebook's cryptocurrency, Libra. Here's how to watch live throughout his entire testimony, which begins at 7 a.m. PT on Wednesday, October 23.
Disney CEO Bob Iger thinks you’ll gladly pay more for Disney+ than Apple TV+
Even though Apple TV+ is debuting the same month as Disney+, Disney CEO Bob Iger said he is not worried about his competitor's lower price point -- and he expects you won't care about it either. Both streaming services will debut in November.
Here’s how Mark Zuckerberg plans to defend Facebook Libra in front of Congress
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will argue before Congress on Wednesday that the social network's cryptocurrency, known as Libra, is essential to expanding banking access around the globe, according to a written version of his testimony released Tuesday.
Almost every state joins in on antitrust investigation into Facebook
Almost every state has joined New York in an antitrust investigation into Facebook. In total, 47 attorneys general are looking into whether the social media giant stifled competition in a way that impacted user data and ad prices. Attorneys general from both parties are part of the effort.
New bill would make it easier for you to get off Facebook once and for all
A new bipartisan bill aims to make it easier for you to transfer your social media data to other social media platforms, so you might finally be able to get off of Facebook. Called the Access Act, the bill applies to online platforms with products or services that have over 100 million monthly active users.
How to watch NASA’s first all-female spacewalk on the ISS online
NASA's first all-female spacewalk will take place outside of the International Space Station on Friday, October 18 -- and you can watch the whole thing live right here on Earth. Here's how to watch it live, and what you need to know about pioneering astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir.
Bop it, twist it, pull it, grip it: MIT robot hand can pick up objects with ease
Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have figured out a way to make a robot grasp an object quicker and more efficiently. It can take a robot tens of minutes to plan out the possibilities of the sequence, but with a new algorithm, it takes less than a second.
GoDaddy is down, with 2,000 reporting issues with accessing websites
Websites that are hosted on GoDaddy have been experiencing problems on Thursday, October 17, according to Down Detector. An outage map shows that affected outage areas are all over the U.S., especially big cities. At approximately 11 a.m. PT, there were more than 2,000 reports of issues with GoDaddy sites.
Zuckerberg says it’s not Facebook’s job to worry about misleading political ads
Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook won't be banning political ads, even if they contain false information, during a speech at Georgetown University on Thursday. The Facebook CEO argued that political advertising is more transparent on Facebook, and that they are an essential form of free speech.
Dream job will pay you $1,000 to binge-watch Disney+. Here’s how to apply
A review company will pay up to five people $1,000 to watch a variety of movies and TV shows to be featured on the upcoming Disney+ streaming service -- you just need to watch 30 of them in 30 days. The service debuts on November 12. Here's everything you need to apply to the dream job.
Hurricanes stir up ‘stormquakes’ at the bottom of the sea, scientists discover
The phenomenon of a hurricane and an earthquake happening at the same time now has a name: Stormquake. Scientists discovered this natural disaster combo in a new study. The study says that during a stormquake, a hurricane causes the seafloor to rumble like a 3.5-magnitude earthquake.
Hackers stole 26 million credit cards, but vigilantes just rescued them
In an ironic twist of fate, BriansClub, a black market site that contains stolen credit cards, was hacked to rescue the data of more than 26 million credit and debit cards. The data stolen was shared with financial institutions who were able to identify, monitor, and reissue cards that were compromised.
Annie Leibovitz didn’t expect to love the Google Pixel 4’s camera
Annie Leibovitz was skeptical of the Google Pixel 4, but ended up liking it much more than she expected, the legendary photographer said during Tuesday’s Made By Google Event, where the company unveiled the smartphone and other new Google products.
SpaceX could launch NASA astronauts on the Crew Dragon in 2020
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made a visit to the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, on Thursday to get a firsthand look at the progress on the Crew Dragon rocket and provide updates on the important partnership between the space agency and the company.
This vending machine sells pixels, not Pepsis, to help digital artists
Artist Danner Milliken wants to create a digital art vending machine that marries technology and art into one device that not only serves as a product, but as an art exhibition in and of itself. Once it’s created, people will be able to walk up and purchase contemporary digital art in the form of USBs.
Get your popcorn ready. Zuckerberg is set to testify before Congress again
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be back in Washington D.C. to testify before Congress once again, this time for the platform’s Libra cryptocurrency. Zuckerberg will be testifying in a hearing on October 23 titled 'An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors.'
Controversial image site 8chan is back online for now and has a new name: 8kun
8chan is back online, but this time, under a new name. 8kun has taken over as the controversial image board’s new name. After being down since August 5 due to the El Paso mass shooter’s involvement with the site, 8chan’s Twitter account tweeted a video promoting the site’s new name and logo.
Snapchat is down again. Here’s the latest on the outage
It’s not just you: Snapchat is currently down for users worldwide, particularly those in parts of Europe and the U.S. Users are having trouble receiving and sending snaps, as well as experiencing issues with the app loading. At least 7,100 people have reported problems so far.
Uber Pet allows furry passengers to ride with you for an extra fee
Whether you’re taking your four-legged friend to the vet or the dog park, they can now ride along with you with Uber’s new Uber Pet feature. Riders can select the Uber Pet option within the app to find pet-friendly drivers that are willing to accommodate furry friends of all kinds -- for an added fee.
Civil rights groups pen letter opposing Amazon Ring police partnerships
More than 30 different civil rights groups are calling on Amazon to stop its partnerships involving local police departments and its Amazon Ring smart doorbell. Fight for Future penned a letter to elected officials about a variety of concerns over the tech giant's Ring partnerships with police.
Interstellar comet contains cyanide, similar to comets from our solar system
Since 2I/Borisov will be the closest interstellar object to pass us, scientists have been able to study it better, and have found a thin cloud around the comet which indicates cyanogen gas. The presence of cyanide does not pose a threat, since Earth will not come close to passing through the comet’s tail.