Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Tumblr’s future is finally clear: Verizon is selling the blogging platform, which Yahoo once valued at more than a billion dollars, for a “nominal amount,” according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Verizon announced Monday that it planned to sell Tumblr to Automattic, the San Francisco company that owns WordPress. 

“WordPress.com and Tumblr were both early pioneers among blogging platforms,” Tumblr wrote in a statement. “Automattic shares our vision to build passionate communities around shared interests and to democratize publishing so that anyone with a story can tell it, especially when they come from under-heard voices and marginalized communities.” Read more…

More about Tech, Yahoo, Tumblr, Verizon, and Tech

Ninja has beef with Twitch, the platform where he first found fame.

The superstar streamer whose real name is Richard Tyler Blevins now reps Microsoft’s competing Mixer, as of Aug. 1. But he left behind a community of 14.7 million followers on Twitch, and now he’s claiming Twitch is exploiting the community he built without his permission.

Blevins laid it all out in a video posted to Twitter on Sunday. He starts by explaining his new streaming situation on Mixer and describes what he says was a “smooth” transition off of Twitch. “Super professional, we haven’t said anything bad or negative about Twitch, obviously, because we haven’t needed to.” Read more…

More about Ninja, Twitch, Mixer, Entertainment, and Streaming Services

Weapons that injure crowds of people by emitting dangerous sounds may seem like the stuff of science fiction. Unfortunately, malicious hackers might be able to do just that — but with Bluetooth- or WiFi-capable smartphones, headphones, speakers, or laptops.

Researcher Matt Wixey is unveiling research at the Def Con hacking conference that shows the potential for devices with speakers to be hacked and turned into sonic weapons, as reported by the BBC. 

Wixey found that by creating a virus and exploiting “known weaknesses,” many devices have little protection to ensure the integrity of their speakers. Once hacked, devices could be made to play “dangerous” sounds, such as sounds at high or low frequencies that could deafen, disorient, or injure. Read more…

More about Def Con, Cyber Attack, Tech, and Cybersecurity

Not even your precious memories are safe from hackers. 

That much was made clear at the annual DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas, where a security researcher demonstrated just how easy it is to remotely encrypt a digital camera with ransomware. And once that happens, you can say goodbye to all your photos — unless you pay up. 

The specific camera in question was a Canon EOS 80D, but, as Eyal Itkin explained to the early Sunday morning crowd of seemingly hungover hackers, it’s likely not the only model vulnerable. 

“If you can do something to cameras, you have many potential victims you can affect,” he observed. “Would you pay to get your camera back?” Read more…

More about Canon, Def Con, Digital Camera, Tech, and Cybersecurity

Swedish photographer and dog enthusiast  Evelyn Edblad has trained her three Australian Kelpies to be extraordinarily still.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, Edblad filmed her three dogs standing motionless for some 30 seconds, before she gave the call for them to sprint off.

“I’ve taught Jackson, Cash, and X to stay still on command before I give them the signal that they are free to go,” Edblad wrote online. “They then freeze in expectation, knowing they’ll soon get to run around.”

It’s an impressive level of group discipline, even for keen-witted sheep-herding dogs. Read more…

More about Dogs, Culture, Culture, and Animals

Fencing might be a sport of play-fighting, but this fencer isn’t messing around.

American fencer and Olympian Race Imboden kneeled in protest of racism and gun violence issues while the national anthem played during his medal ceremony at the Pan American Games on Saturday. Imboden, a member of the gold-winning fencing team, explained his actions on Twitter, saying that the societal problems plaguing America “cut short” his pride for the country, so he kneeled to call attention to the issues.

Imboden’s actions come one week after a weekend of deadly shootings in America, including the El Paso shooting in which the shooter specifically targeted “Mexicans.” Imboden called out Donald Trump as “a president who spreads hate,” connecting his behavior to increasing racism and gun violence in American society. Read more…

More about Protest, Athletes, Kneeling, Social Good, and Sports

BTS has made their vacation official, and the ARMY is being super-chill about it.

It’s been rumored/known for several weeks that the band had a two-month break coming, said to kick off after an Aug. 11 performance in South Korea and conclude on Oct. 11 with a scheduled show in Saudi Arabia. Now, the label that manages BTS, Big Hit Entertainment, has confirmed the vacation.

“This period will be an opportunity for the members of BTS … to recharge and prepare to present themselves anew as musicians and creators,” the letter reads. “This will also provide them with a chance to enjoy the ordinary lives of young people in their 20s, albeit briefly.” Read more…

More about Bts, The Army, Culture, Web Culture, and Music

NASA describes the dying star, NGC 6543, in elegant scientific prose.

“The Cat’s Eye (NGC 6543) represents a brief, yet glorious, phase in the life of a sun-like star.”

The space agency recently posted a sharpened image of the distant planetary nebula, located some 3,000 light-years beyond Earth. These sprawling clouds of dust and gas form when stars similar to our sun reach the end of their lives and “gently eject their outer gaseous layers,” according to NASA and ESA astronomers. The legendary Hubble Space Telescope, now nearly 30 years old, originally captured this image of the planetary nebula. Read more…

More about Space, Science, Stars, Nebula, and Science

Like everyone else who’s not a monster, Lady Gaga is deeply distraught following the recent spate of mass shootings. On Friday, she pledged to do something about it.

In a Facebook post, Gaga announced her intent to “fully fund the classroom project needs” in Dayton, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; and Gilroy, Calif. Those three communities have all suffered in recent weeks in the wake of mass shootings that left, in total, close to 100 people dead or injured.

“My heart goes out to those who were taken from us too soon and to their families, loved ones, and communities who are left to grieve,” Gaga’s note begins. “Everyone has the right to laws that make them feel safe in their communities. In this moment, I want to channel my confusion, frustration, and fury into hope. Hope that we are there for each other and for ourselves.” Read more…

More about Lady Gaga, Born This Way Foundation, Donorschoose, Social Good, and Activism

Hope, a 19-year-old college student at the University of Texas, had just walked off a plane from a family vacation when she had a sinking realization: she had left her AirPods onboard.

She soon grew desperate. In an effort to get back her beloved earbuds before the plane left for its next destination, she climbed onto the wing. But she was unsuccessful, and the plane took off with her struggling to cling to the wing — still trying to retrieve her AirPods.

It was literally a nightmare scenario. “I woke up crying,” she said. 

The whole ordeal had been an exceptionally vivid dream.

Hope, a design student who asked to be identified by her first name only, says she, like most people, has had stress dreams in the past. But this one — the only, so far, to feature her AirPods — affected her much more than other dreams. Read more…

More about Tech, Gadgets, Apple, Airpods, and Tech