Category Archives: Blog

New York City straphangers, rejoice!

The city’s subway and bus systems are adding new contactless payment readers to select stations, enabling passengers to pay for rides using their smartphones.

Beginning May 31, you’ll be able to purchase a single-use digital MetroCard using Google Pay. The local transportation authority will be rolling out the feature to all Staten Island buses and all subway stations on the 4, 5, and 6 lines between Grand Central and Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center.

In short: You’ll be able to easily buy a ticket and travel between much of Manhattan and Brooklyn without having to buy a physical MetroCard. It’s expected to be a huge deal for visitors and tourists who often struggle to navigate the aging kiosks that sell physical MetroCards. Read more…

More about Google, Apple Pay, Contactless Payments, Mta, and Google Pay

Facebook’s fake account problem keeps getting bigger.

The company is removing more fake accounts than ever, taking down more than 2 billion accounts so far in 2019 alone, Facebook disclosed in a new transparency report.

Company executives said there’s been a sharp uptick in the number of fake accounts created this year. There were 2.19 billion accounts removed during the first quarter of 2019, nearly double the 1.2 billion removed during the fourth quarter of 2018.

That rise was largely due to spammers and other “bad actors who attempt to create large volumes of accounts at one time,” Facebook’s VP of Integrity Guy Rosen wrote in a blog post. Read more…

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

If you’re a glasses-wearer, you’ve probably heard of affordable designer eyewear company Warby Parker. If you haven’t tried out their glasses yet and are still picking from the small selection at your optometrist’s office, you’re probably overpaying and you’re definitely missing out on some pretty cool frames.

Warby Parker was founded in 2010 by Warton School students who noticed that most of the “designer” glasses are simply licensed to a few giant eyewear companies and sold in bulk to optical shops. They realized that if they cut out the middle man by designing their own glasses and selling them online, they could pass on huge savings to the customer.  Read more…

More about Glasses, Warby Parker, Mashable Shopping, Lifestyle, and Work Life

The publishers of indie favourite Firewatch have unveiled quite the surprise: a handheld gaming system.

Playdate is an adorable, pocket-sized unit from app developer Panic, who said they worked on the project over the last four years “just for fun.” 

Panic explains that Playdate is not meant to replace any existing consoles or platforms that are out there, rather that it’s “designed to be complementary.”

“It’s designed to deliver a jolt of fun in between the times you spend with your phone and your home console; something to fill the moments when you just want a game you can pick up and play,” the company explained in a post. Read more…

More about Tech, Entertainment, Gaming, Console, and Playdate

Women are more productive when they’re warm, a study concludes, confirming the complaints of chilly female employees everywhere. 

While women’s gripes about frigid workspaces have long been dismissed as a sign of oversensitivity, a study published in PLOS ONE argues differently. The University of Southern California and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center had 543 students in Berlin perform tasks and steadily raised the temperature of the environment. Temperatures in each session varied in increments from 61 degrees Fahrenheit to 91 degrees Fahrenheit. 

As the temperature increased, women’s performance did as well. Although men performed better at lower temperatures and worse at higher temperatures, the disparity was less pronounced than women’s performance across temperatures. Read more…

More about Cold, Office, Culture, and Web Culture

If you believe Ben Mezrich’s reporting, young Mark Zuckerberg was a huge asshole. Like, the make a fake and racist social media profile for someone you don’t like kind of asshole. 

The author of The Accidental Billionaires, the 2009 basis for Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network, is back at it again with some wild claims about the Facebook CEO’s early days. Specifically, while promoting his latest book on The Jim Rome Show, Mezrich alleged that Zuckerberg once made a fake online profile for Cameron Winklevoss that just so happened to be sexist and racist. 

The book, Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption, focuses on both Bitcoin and the Winklevoss twins. In it, Mezrich claims he documents an episode where Zuckerberg hacked the Winklevoss’ ConnectU website (previously known as HavardConnection, and the supposed inspiration for Facebook) in order to make a fake account for Cameron. He bases the accusation on Instant Messages that were shared after The Social Network was written. Read more…

More about Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Media, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

Sure, online dating is a hellscape. But in this new online dating game, that’s a good thing.

Developer Ben Berman and designer Miguel Perez created a game that seeks to expose the inherent bias that fuels dating app matching algorithms. The pair are winners of Mozilla’s Creative Media Awards, which enabled the work.

The best part of the game, besides the admirable mission and all, is that the game is based around a dating app — for monsters.

The new game/dating app simulator is called MonsterMatch. Yep, the name rocks. The simulator launched Wednesday, and you can play it here. Read more…

More about Tinder, Dating Apps, Bias, Algorithms, and Tech

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has proclaimed unfaltering adoration for his electric car company’s Autopilot feature on highways. But after a recent update meant to make it easier to use the semi-autonomous system, not everyone is so keen on the advanced-driving assistance tool.

Review service and publication Consumer Reports blasted Navigate on Autopilot on Wednesday following Tesla’s updates to the assistance tool last month. The automatic lane-changing and speed-suggesting system, which only works on certain highways, had several issues. 

“We found that Navigate on Autopilot lagged far behind a human driver’s skill set,” the publication’s Keith Barry wrote. Read more…

More about Tesla, Elon Musk, Autopilot, Consumer Reports, and Semi Autonomous

The Mayor of Flavortown’s long track record of being an overall good Guy was immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Guy Fieri was honored with a star on Wednesday, making him the third celebrity chef, after Wolfgang Puck and Bobby Flay, to receive a star. 

“How you’ve managed to work nonstop, build an empire, take care of your family and friends, and still find out how to be an amazing father is truly inspiring,” his son Hunter said during the ceremony. “People always ask me, ‘How does he do it? How does he manage work and family time? What’s it like having the mayor of Flavortown as a father?’ It’s quite simple. He puts his family first. He makes sure we are never hungry.” Read more…

More about Food, Guy Fieri, Walk Of Fame, Culture, and Web Culture

The first in a series of congressional hearings on facial recognition technology took place on Wednesday, and it brought about a rare occurrence in Washington: agreement between Democrats and Republicans.

The House Oversight Committee’s hearing was focused on the impact facial recognition has had on civil rights and liberties from its use among law enforcement. A panel of experts, including face recognition researchers, legal professionals, and former law enforcement, spoke of the threat of mass surveillance. The panel was nearly in full agreement that the use of facial recognition technology in the field must be halted immediately. Read more…

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