Author Archives: Carol Edwards

It’s 107 degrees outside, and a disturbing number of people charging down the sidewalk are wearing black jeans. 

That seemingly incongruous fashion choice, more than the blinking digital badges swinging from the necks of every mohawk-sporting passerby, clues the confused tourists into the reality that this week in Las Vegas is different. Yes, this week is DEF CON, and the hackers are very much in town.

And you better believe they’re already breaking Vegas. 

Thursday was the official start of the 26th annual DEF CON hacker convention, this year spread out between Caesars Palace and The Flamingo. As typical, the first day of the four-day affair started slowly — the hacking villages where people practice remotely hijacking cars and breaking into voting machines are still getting set up, and the few opening talks cover decidedly non-technical tricks like how to lose your police tail.  Read more…

More about Hackers, Las Vegas, Def Con, Tech, and Cybersecurity

Amazon doesn’t just want to compete with Google and Apple in your home. It’s coming for your car, too. Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant will soon be “Hey Alexa” ready through the car infotainment system — a territory Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have inhabited for years. 

On Thursday, Amazon released a developer kit to integrate Alexa’s AI skills into car infotainment systems. Soon you could ask Alexa for directions, to make calls, stream songs, search for nearby restaurants or hotels — just like you do with devices, like the Echo, at home. Except you don’t need to plug your phone into your car, the car is the voice assistant.  Read more…

More about Amazon, Ai, Alexa, Voice Assistants, and Digital Assistants

Google’s making it easier for celebrities to control what appears in their search results.

Thursday, the search giant released a new app called Cameos, which lets celebs record vertical full-screen video answers to commonly searched-for questions about them.

Google has opened the app up to an array of musicians, athletes, and other public figures. Those who have access can choose from a set of common Google questions and record brief video answers. Those videos will then appear at the top of relevant search results. Read more…

More about Google, Google Search, Big Tech Companies, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

More information is leaking out about just how Google is planning to re-enter the Chinese market with a mobile search engine application that complies to the country’s censorship laws.

The Intercept first broke this story when a whistleblower provided them documentation detailing the secret censored search project (codenamed Dragonfly). According to them, an overlooked Google acquisition from 2008 — 265.com — has been quietly laying down the foundation for the endeavor. 

Back in June of 2008, Google acquired the Chinese website 265.com, which Chinese internet entrepreneur Cai Wensheng, known as “King of the Webmasters,” founded in 2003. Cai is the current chairman and founder of the company behind the popular selfie app Meitu. As an early domain name investor, Cai “found it frustrating to have to type domain names in English,” according to a 2010 Wall Street Journal profile. So he set up what amounts to an early-internet web directory, or daohang — which roughly translates to navigation — as they’re known in China. His internet portal, 265.com, which provided Chinese internet users with a list of popular website links right on its homepage, was an instant success.  Read more…

More about Google, China, Censorship, Search Engine, and Tech

Posting your makeup skills on Instagram is cool and all, but can you paint an Instagram post on your face?

Makeup artists are flexing their skills with the Instaception challenge, going all out on one eye, and then painting borders so it looks like a screenshot of an Instagram post. 

The trend started with @dom.skii, who first posted the look three weeks ago and captioned it “picture perfect.” He framed his eyes with the like, comment, and share icons.  Read more…

More about Instagram, Makeup, Culture, and Web Culture

A lawyer in Bermuda became internet-famous for dancing ballet alongside his two-year-old daughter, comforting her stage fright by being there and doing the dance moves right with her. He knew the part because he had practiced ballet with his children before – and said it was just a normal part of fathering daughters.

That isn’t a common sentiment about fatherhood, even now. But social norms have been changing over the past 40 years, as more women – and mothers – have entered the workforce. While mothers still do more work at home, the burden is becoming more equal. However, the concept of father-as-breadwinner is still stronger than ideals of fathers as nurturers. As a result, fathers often find themselves out of place at parks, malls and other areas frequented by mothers and children. The same problem happens when they visit most parenting forums online. Read more…

More about Parenting, Social Media, Culture, Kids, and Social Media Companies

Searching for an open power outlet in an airport is often a frustrating experience.

It’s certainly not helped by what seems to be a raft of pranksters who are putting stickers of fake power outlets onto walls, bins, and any highly visible surface.

This diabolical feat has been captured by people on Twitter, who’ve brandished an avowed aim to make enemies of the people who are behind these stickers from hell.

More about Pranks, Culture, Airport, Airports, and Culture

Your car could act a lot more like your iPhone in the future — at least according to Apple patent filings for an augmented reality windshield.

Patently Apple found a European patent application for a windshield display that presents map and road conditions in autonomous cars. Apple has been testing self-driving cars, but hasn’t divulged much about the project. We reached out to Apple about the AR display, but haven’t heard back.

So yes, in the future might be able to sit back and relax in your self-driving car while information flashes on the heads-up display. (Don’t get too excited, though. Companies file many patents that never become actual products.) It’s reminiscent of the augmented windows proposed on the ultra-high-speed Hyperloop. Based on where you look and the scenery outside, you’ll see different things on your screen.  Read more…

More about Apple, Autonomous Cars, Augmented Reality, Facetime, and Heads Up Display

It seems Verizon is taking a page out of T-Mobile’s handbook in terms of adding value to its unlimited plans.

Verizon is entering into an exclusive, multi-step partnership with Apple. Step one is to offer a musical perk. Both new and current Verizon Unlimited customers will get 6 months of Apple Music at no extra charge. 

Even better, if you’ve already taken advantage of the free three months of the streaming service that Apple offers, you’re still eligible for this deal. This means that Verizon Unlimited customers could have up to 9 months of Apple Music for free. Read more…

More about Apple, Verizon, Apple Music, Unlimited Data Plans, and Unlimited

Twitter’s CEO is still going out of his way to appease conservatives and conspiracy theorists.

One day after publicly reaffirming his company’s decision not to suspend InfoWars host Alex Jones, Jack Dorsey went on Sean Hannity’s radio show to reassure conservatives that Twitter does not “shadow ban” people for their political beliefs. 

Shadow banning is the term used by some conspiracy theorists to describe Twitter’s practice of limiting the visibility of users who engage in trolling, harassment, and other toxic behavior. But for the far-right, it’s become a rallying cry — proof that Twitter does in fact “censor” users with whom it disagrees. Read more…

More about Twitter, Jack Dorsey, Social Media Companies, Tech, and Social Media Companies