Author Archives: Carol Edwards

If you know how to protect your mainframe from the backdoor trojan worm that’s duplicated the virus code malware drive in the reboot server, uh, code, then this article isn’t for you. If it sounds made up and like a movie script from the ’90s, then keep reading unless you want your identity stolen and used on the dark web to buy caviar and rhino horn.

Unless you can type as well as the guy below (a government official in the original 1995 film Ghost in the Shell), or you’ve already got a cybersecurity solution like Bitdefender set up, then the world of computer viruses and hacking can be real confusing — but important to know. Read more…

More about Tech, Movies, Cybersecurity, Hacking, and Virus

YouTube’s loudest couple is engaged, and honestly nobody surprised.

Jake Paul proposed to fellow vlogger Tana Mongeau during a weekend trip to Las Vegas to celebrate her 21st birthday. At around 1:30 a.m. at a club on Monday, he brought out a three-tier cake decorated with an enormous ring and the words, “Will you marry me, Tana?”  

She immediately tweeted about it. 

More about Youtube, Jake Paul, Tana Mongeau, Culture, and Web Culture

Some fans are not happy with the new dub Netflix put on Neon Genesis Evangelion. 

It’s a time-honored media pastime at this point to bend over backward in order to avoid describing gay relationships as, well, actually gay. Just look at these gal pals! Just a couple of guys being bros! Those aren’t lesbians, they’re, uh, cousins. 

But there’s a difference between an animation studio choosing to keep LGBTQ relationships subtle, and censorship of queer themes and language. Translation falls right into a grey area between the two.

Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of the most popular and influential anime series to come out of the ’90s, was recently released from licensing hell, and has found a new home on Netflix. For unknown reason, Netflix updated the whole series with a new script translation. Read more…

More about Twitter, Netflix, Lgbtq, Translation, and Neon Genesis Evangelion

It’s Pride Month, the time of year when corporations do their very best to prove just how supportive they are.

Rainbows are everywhere: in clothing stores, on public storefronts, and on nearly every brand logo on Twitter. And while some of the profits from specialty Pride merchandise do go to worthy nonprofits, other brands donate a paltry amount, and some merch is simply used to generate additional profit. (It’s worth noting as well that many companies that plaster their brands with rainbows for Pride also donate large sums to politicians who actively oppose LGBTQ rights.)

Then there’s the merch and branding that just takes it a step too far. Either these products are far too corny for public consumption, or the brands themselves are too hypocritical to be involved.  Read more…

More about Brands, Pride Month, Lgbtq Pride, Culture, and Identities

Named the “Agrobot,” the robot’s designed to carry out its tasks autonomously. Read more…

More about Mashable Video, Robot, Artificial Intelligence, Agriculture, and Strawberry

We love tales about monsters.

Especially monsters that dwell in the dark, and have only been glimpsed alive in grainy, murky pictures or videos. But recent footage of the legendary giant squid — including a new video captured during a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition on June 19 — shows the elusive cephalopods likely aren’t beasts of horror. They’re a somewhat cautious, though huge, deep sea species.

“When we think of the giant squid we think of the Kraken dragging sailors to their deaths and images of doom,” said marine biologist Nathan Robinson, who helped seek out and find the recent giant squid.  Read more…

More about Science, Ocean, Deep Sea, Giant Squid, and Science

It’s not every day that you receive a Google Calendar lunch invite from Wendy’s. Yes, the entire corporation, Wendy’s, is going to wine and dine us.  

Today, Wendy’s official Twitter account teased us all with the promise of something when they posted a subtle GCal link with the caption “Let’s hang.” Since using something as official and business-y as Google Calendar to announce a potential new item is new territory for brand marketing, I’ll bite — but the internet has so many questions. Is this a casual hang, a professional lunch, or does Wendy’s want something more? Do we have to bring a greasy bouquet of french fries?  Read more…

More about Twitter, Brands, Wendy S, Culture, and Social Media Companies

In the market for a brand new couch? If the answer’s yes, IKEA’s website is here to help. If the answer’s no, that’s OK. You should still visit IKEA’s website.

Why? Well, the furniture store that also sells the weirdly delicious Swedish meatballs has a bunch of planning tools on its website, which customers can use to get a better idea of how they want to furnish their space. One of the features lets you design your own sofa, and because there are essentially no rules and very few restrictions in the digital design tool, you can make a virtual sofa look however you want.

Twitter user @rudermensch, for example, made this “extremely powerful $15,000 couch.” Stunning. Read more…

More about Furniture, Ikea, Couches, Culture, and Web Culture

Most people know that flying can be scary, but it turns out simply sitting in a stationary plane at the airport can be a nightmare, too. 

We know this thanks to Facebook user ‎Deanna Noel-Dale‎, who shared a post to Air Canada’s page on Wednesday on behalf of her friend, Tiffani Adams. The post detailed a terrifying experience that Adams had after she fell asleep on an Air Canada flight and woke up hours later to find that the plane had landed and she was the only person left onboard.

Apparently, Adams had a row to herself on a flight from Quebec to Toronto that was about a quarter of the way full. She got comfortable and fell asleep less than halfway through the hour-and-a-half flight, only to wake up around midnight, freezing cold and on a pitch black plane. That’s when she realized everyone had deplaned without waking her. Read more…

More about Travel, Planes, Air Canada, Culture, and Transportation

Ravelry, a wildly popular social media site for knitters and crocheters, is taking a stand against white supremacy, which includes supporters of Donald Trump and the Trump administration.

In an announcement made by Ravelry on Sunday, the site plainly states, “We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry.” The new policy was set in the spirit of inclusiveness, and Ravelry states that allowing white supremacist rhetoric on the site goes against that spirit.

More about Donald Trump, Culture, and Politics