Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai has sent a note to all staff in the company following a shooting at YouTube’s headquarters.

Three people were shot and one person is dead following an active shooter at the company’s offices in San Bruno, California. There was a fourth victim with non-shooting injury.

In his note, which was tweeted by Google’s communications team, Pichai assured employees that the situation was now under control, and thanked first responders to the incident, as well as for the outpouring of support. Read more…

More about Google, Youtube, Shooting, Consumer Tech, and Big Tech Companies

For Muslim communities across the United Kingdom, March was a particularly frightening month. 

Muslim homes and nonprofits began receiving letters declaring April 3rd “Punish a Muslim Day” in Britain. The letter detailed specific acts of violence against Muslims that would be rewarded with points, with some of the highest number of points awarded to people who “butchered” a Muslim “using a gun, knife, vehicle or otherwise.”

Whether the letter intended to inspire actual violence, or just incite terror, Muslim communities in both the United Kingdom and the United States went into high alertOne nonprofit helped to launch a counter-hashtag, #LoveAMuslim, and it easily took off.  Read more…

More about Terrorism, Activism, Muslim Community, Hashtag Campaign, and Culture

Major tech executives from the likes of Twitter and Uber have called for gun control following a shooting at YouTube’s California headquarters.  

Three people were shot, one killed, after a shooter opened fire at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, California on Tuesday afternoon. One of the shooting victims is in critical condition. A fourth person injured their ankle as they fled the scene. 

The motive of the suspect, who died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, is not yet clear. 

After the shooting, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posted a rallying cry for gun control along with a link to the website for the March for Our Lives movement. Read more…

More about Twitter, Youtube, Shooting, Gun Control, and Big Tech Companies

Pop-up ads have long been the scourge of the internet. But the rise of ad blockers, plus anti-pop-up moves by Google and Firefox had given us hope that those days would soon be behind us. 

So why are even the most tech-savvy among us starting to see ads appear congratulating us for being “selected as a winner” of a $1,000 Amazon gift card?

The pop-ups in question appear on both smartphone and desktops, promising a prize in exchange for your personal information or a few clicks. They are is undeniably annoying, and quite clearly a scam.  Read more…

More about Amazon, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Tech

Police responded to an active shooter at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California on Tuesday that left three people injured and one dead. But before police could even get a grasp on the situation, Twitter erupted with lies and misinformation. 

While many people on Twitter grabbed their “fake news” pitchforks, this situation felt different than the misinformation spread in the past, especially during the election. This wasn’t some politically-driven website promoting lies; this was straight up trolling in the most classic sense of the word.

More about Youtube, Shooting, Trolling, Fake News, and Culture

Ah, wardrobe malfunctions. Everyone has them, but not everyone handles them as gracefully as actress Jenna Fischer.

The star of The Office stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live to discuss her new ABC show, Splitting Up Together, but the dress she intended to wear did some splitting of its own before the interview started and she wound up wearing a towel.

While seated next to what would have been her very nice outfit, Fischer explained to Kimmel that her zipper broke right before she had to come on stage and she had to improvise.

“The show must go on,” the actress said, adding, “I’ve never been more comfortable.” Read more…

More about Jimmy Kimmel Live, Jenna Fischer, Tv Shows, Wardrobe Malfunction, and Culture

Without so much as a warning, Siri suddenly became smarter, Google Translate became more accurate, and Amazon could straightaway predict when you were going to buy a new pack of toilet paper. If you’re wondering how this happened, you can thank artificial intelligence and deep learning. 

Yup, you read that right. They’re not just buzzwords thrown around by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to prove that they’re smarter than everyone else. These technologies are swiftly creeping into our lives and changing how the world works in more ways than we even realize.  Read more…

More about Artificial Intelligence, Coding, Machine Learning, Mashable Shopping, and Shopping Stackcommerce

Reddit’s design has stayed mostly the same since it launched more than a decade ago, and that’s the way many of its users like it.

But starting from Monday, the news aggregator will slowly roll out a redesign to a small percentage of users, Reddit’s administrators announced in a post.

The refresh will apply to the desktop version of the site, and in coming weeks users will be able to opt-in to the new version of Reddit. 

As WIRED notes, the redesign has been in the works for the past year-and-a-half. Reddit’s co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman noted in an “Ask Me Anything” last year that the site’s information-dense setup was often confronting to new users, hence the need for a redesign. Read more…

More about Reddit, Design, Culture, Tech, and Web Culture

Step Up fans, the dream is over.

Hollywood stars and Lip Sync Battle favourites Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum are separating after nine years of marriage.

The couple posted their co-written statements to their individual Twitter accounts. About their conscious uncoupling, the pair said they have “lovingly chosen to separate as a couple.” The statement was also published by People. 

Dissolving tabloid speculation about their separation, Tatum and Dewan wrote, “There are no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision — just two best-friends realizing it’s time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible.”  Read more…

More about Entertainment, Separation, Celebrity Couple, Channing Tatum, and Jenna Dewan Tatum

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery — unless you’re talking about straight up ripping off someone else’s show.

Michael Rauch, showrunner behind the new CBS crime procedural, addressed accusations of plagiarizing from the well-loved and recently canceled Fox crime show, Bones. You see, when Episode 3 of Instinct (not to be confused with the 1999 Anthony Hopkins crime thriller of the same name, or the 1992 crime thriller Basic Instinct) premiered, fans expressed indignation at its uncanny similarities to a plot from an episode of Bones in 2009.

More about Entertainment, Cbs, Bones, Fox, and Crime Thriller