Author Archives: Carol Edwards

It’s 11:15 p.m. on a Friday night and a man in a white button-down shirt named Joey just ordered me a shot of Fireball. It’s a little hard to hear him over the music blasting from the other side of the velvet ropes, but the club’s director of services leans in close to make sure I can hear him. 

“Excellence and hospitality in the crypto world,” Joey says in response to my request that he describe just what, exactly, is going on here. 

I’m sitting on a spacious couch in a private club, inside of another nightclub, inside of a casino, and we’re discussing Las Vegas’s first cryptocurrency nightclub: MORE Las Vegas. Launched in April by Peter Klamka — a man known for, among other things, his involvement with The Legends Room gentlemen’s club which allowed patrons to tip performers in bitcoin — the nightclub comes with all the trappings of a typical VIP Vegas destination. There’s the $250,000 bottles of champagne, high-heeled cocktail waitresses, and view of the Bellagio fountains that’s to die for.  Read more…

More about Bitcoin, Las Vegas, Def Con, Ethereum, and Cryptocurrency

No shoes were removed, no toiletries put into separate clear bags, and there was no need to arrive two hours before the flight. 

As part of flight-sharing app Blackbird’s media flight, we walked right onto the tarmac to the door of our plane at the small but busy San Carlos Airport. San Francisco International is just 10 miles away, but this tiny airport would end up being much more efficient for a quick jaunt down the California coast.

We then climbed aboard a Pilatus PC-12, a pretty luxurious single-engine turboprop plane. For startup Blackbird’s newest service, dubbed Hitch, passengers fly on smaller private airplanes, splitting the cost of travel (that’s oil and fuel costs and any airport and rental fees) with the pilot and any passengers. We were flying fewer than 100 miles south and back for a day trip to show how smooth and simple this could all be, if only people could accept flying as a normal — instead of extravagant — travel option.  Read more…

More about Startups, Airplane, Air Travel, Tech, and Startups

The tweet may have become a meme, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission isn’t laughing at Elon Musk’s tweet about taking Tesla private.

The electric car company CEO blurted out on Twitter last week that he plans to buy back Tesla from shareholders. He said he had “funding secured.” Now the feds are worried about market manipulation and other violations from that seemingly innocuous tweet.

The company followed up with a lengthy blog post from Musk about what it would take to make Tesla private instead of publicly traded. He cited a recent meeting with the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund to explain his funding comment.  Read more…

More about Tesla, Elon Musk, Goldman Sachs, Sec, and Tech

Hypebeasts: You’re in luck. Thanks to a new shirt collaboration between a streetwear brand and the internet’s encyclopedia, looking cool and doing good just got easier. 

In an effort to raise money for the donation-fueled Wikimedia Foundation, the brand Advisory Board Crystals released a shirt emblazoned with the Wikipedia logo across the front. The back reads “INTERNET MASTER” in bold letters surrounding a picture of the site’s spherical puzzle logo.

“Knowledge is power and awareness is survival,” reads the shirt description. “In addition to being a large source of inspiration and information for our projects, Wikipedia leads us to a place in which you can imagine a world where every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.”  Read more…

More about Fashion, Wikipedia, Street Wear, Culture, and Web Culture

The Apple iPad Mini 4 Wi-Fi is on sale at Walmart right now for $299.99. Normally, the tablet goes for $399.99, so $100 off is a welcome discount on the Apple device.

The Mini comes packed with the dual-core A8 chip for processing, so it will definitely deliver the speeds you’d associate with iPads and iPhones. And with 128 GB of storage, the tablet will be able to handle all those apps and games you may want to play while on the train or laying in bed.

Saving $100 on any Apple product is great and doesn’t happen every day, so if you like Apple, need to upgrade, or want to jump ship to Apple, give the iPad Mini 4 a look. Read more…

More about Apple, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Daily Deal, Ipad Mini 4, and Shopping Linkshare

China, the largest gaming market, has not approved any video game licenses for at least four months due to President Xi Jinping’s recent government shake up (read: power consolidation), reports Bloomberg.

Although China is notoriously stringent with media censorship, this game licensing freeze is taking the vetting process one step further.

Unnamed sources told Bloomberg that officials are concerned over sex and violence displayed in these games, and it’s been impacting games across all platforms: console, online, and even mobile.

The National Radio and Television Administration (the agency that grants game licenses) and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (the agency that lays out game registration procedures) command the game approval, and both are tightening the process after undergoing personnel changes and restructuring earlier this year. Read more…

More about China, Government, Video Games, Block, and Tech

What’s the only thing better than going on shopping spree to Sephora and buying things you definitely don’t need? Having a shopping spree delivered right to your house and spending way less than you would in the store for the same amount of stuff.

That’s right, ya’ll, we’re talking about beauty subscription boxes. These are a clutch way to discover new brands and decide if you like a product before buying it at full price, especially when you’re too lazy to return stuff to the store (raises hand). The best part is that these boxes are always valued significantly more than what you’re paying — so you could end up paying $25 for a box that contains $150 worth of stuff. One tiny item at the store is usually $25. Who’s gonna say no to finessing the system like that? Read more…

More about Beauty, Makeup, Subscription Services, Mashable Shopping, and Shopping Fun

This post is part of Hard Refresh, a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter.

We’ve all tried our hand at making shapes out of pancake batter — a first initial perhaps, or maybe a crude version of a dog that bears closer resemblance to a Rorschach test.

But making a pancake that actually resembles anything other than a pancake is difficult. Sometimes the batter is too runny, sometimes your pan is too hot, and sometimes your design gets destroyed when the time comes to flip. But pancake artists have all this down to a science. Read more…

More about Youtube, Art, Pancakes, Hard Refresh, and Culture

“We need to destroy the—oh, fuck you, Ruffalo.” 

Even if you’re not typically a sucker for exclusive bonus content, this super gag reel clip could have you sprinting to the nearest Best BuyAvengers: Infinity War‘s 4K UHD Blu-ray edition features behind-the-scenes giggles with your favorite superheroes. And Vision has never been funnier.

This is the second clip of the Infinity War gag reel released. The first featured Chris Pratt juggling, amongst other shenanigans.

It may be $22.99, but those screaming goats make the Blu-ray seem kinda worth it. And, of course, you could always spring for the more costly SteelBook version. But that’s gotta be your call. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Marvel, Bloopers, Blu Ray, and 4k

Instagram says it is “aware that some people are having difficulty accessing their Instagram accounts” and that it is investigating the “issue” that’s caused hundreds of users to lose access to their accounts.

The blog post comes one day after Mashable reported that hundreds of accounts have been hacked in recent days.

The company did not comment on how many accounts have been affected, but its latest statements suggest that it is widespread. In a blog post published Tuesday evening, the company urged users to revisit their security settings and enable two-factor authentication on their accounts.  Read more…

More about Tech, Instagram, Social Media Companies, Tech, and Social Media Companies