Category Archives: Blog

That pet hedgehog might not be such a great idea after all.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a notice Friday about 11 Salmonella infections across eight states, and in all but one of the cases the people had been in contact with a pet hedgehog.

Only one person has gone to the hospital because of the outbreak, but health officials are concerned about the growing number of cases infecting people in Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, and Wyoming.

Those infected are 2 to 28 years old and the infections started in October. The same Salmonella strain was found in three hedgehogs from two infected people’s homes in Minnesota. It’s not clear yet if a common hedgehog supplier can be traced back, but in the meantime hedgehog owners are advised to be careful. Read more…

More about Cdc, Hedgehog, Diseases, Salmonella, and Science

Electrify America has electric car charging stations around the country, but on Friday many of the plugs were pulled offline.

A notice went out Friday that the Volkswagen-backed charging network was shutting down most of its high-powered chargers across the U.S. because of a safety issue with liquid-cooling cables from Huber+Suhner. The Swiss company supplies the cables to Electrify America and many others in the charging industry, like Fastned and Ionity in Europe.

In a statement, the EA CEO said the company was shutting down all stations that use the affected high-powered cables. Huber+Suhner recommended shutting down stations using its cables after a short circuit incident in the plug of a charger at a test site in Germany. The charging station was using a first-generation prototype that went out to some locations in summer 2017. Chargers made since then have better sealing, the company said. It also said the cooling system used at the EA sites was not involved in the incident. Read more…

More about Electric Vehicles, Electrification, Charging Stations, Tech, and Transportation

David Matheson has spent a large chunk of his professional life working to “cure” people of their homosexuality. Not anymore. 

In a Facebook post dated Jan. 21, Matheson acknowledged that he’s a gay man. He explained that the realization struck him about a year ago, in early 2018, right around the same time he and his now-former wife divorced.

“Toward the end of this decline [in my marriage], I also realized that being in an intimate relationship with a man was no longer something I wanted to avoid. It had become a non-negotiable need,” he wrote. Read more…

More about Social Good, Identities, Conversion Therapy, Social Good, and Identities

Do you know how mom and dad are always telling you how bad TV is for you, and to stop watching so much of it because you’re going to rot your brain out?

Well, guess what ma and pa? Watching The Office helped one man save a woman’s life after he performed CPR on her without any prior knowledge of how to do it. Michael Scott saves the day, again!

Unexpected hero Cross Scott sprang into action after he noticed a woman, identified later as simply “Clara,” was unconscious behind the wheel in her still-moving car, according to a report from the Arizona Daily Star. Scott’s adrenaline kicked in and before he knew it, he’d smashed her window open with a rock to check her vitals.  Read more…

More about Rescue, The Office, Emergency, Cpr, and Culture

Fremont, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area is home to electric car company Tesla’s massive vehicle factory and it’ll soon be the home to what’s believed to be the first U.S. police department with a Tesla in its fleet.

Fremont police bought a used 2014 Tesla Model S 85 kWh battery version from Tesla a year ago. They have the bill to show it cost $61,478.50. Now after updating the vehicle with more than $4,000 in modifications to make it look and act like a police car with lights, a push bumper, interior prisoner seating and partition, and bulletproofing, the first Tesla patrol car is almost ready for its debut. Read more…

More about Police, Tesla, Electric Vehicles, Tech, and Transportation

Nokia’s finally ready to return to the smartphone race in the U.S.

The phone brand, once an independent global powerhouse, then sold to off to Microsoft, then revived under HMD Global in 2016, has announced it’ll sell two new Android phones on Verizon and Cricket Wireless, respectively.

While the new Nokias don’t stack up (not even close in terms of performance) to an iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or Galaxy S9, or OnePlus 6T, the phones are significant in that they’re the first of what could become a bedrock of devices to restore the mobile brand’s glory.

More about Mobile, Android, Verizon, Nokia, and Tech

Have you ever wondered how to be Instagram famous without needing to know how to take a perfectly-framed photo or write an inspiring caption?

It’s possible… if you’re Pete Souza’s pet tortoise Charlotte. Thanks to the former White House photographer under President Barack Obama, Charlotte — better known as @charlottethetortoise to her 20,000-plus Instagram followers — has not only become the internet’s latest viral animal sensation, but also a rallying soldier in the resistance against Donald Trump.

The Washingtonian has published a short chronicling of Charlotte’s rise to fame and unexpected modeling career in Souza’s photography, which often throws shade at Trump and his administration in the cleverest of ways by contrasting the embarrassingly chaotic White House with the dignified and more orderly administration under former President Obama. Read more…

More about Instagram, Animals, Trump, Shade, and Pete Souza

Mindy Kaling loves romcoms. This is clear if you’ve seen her show, or read her books, or watched her interviews, or followed her tweets. 

No surprise, then, that the first movie she’s written follows the classic romcom formula, only applied to a passion for work rather than love. 

Like so many beloved romcoms, Late Night takes place in a version of New York City that’s slightly better than the one that exists in our reality. In this universe, a woman has hosted her own late-night talk show since the 1990s. And in this universe, an aspiring comedy writer can get a job at that show simply by appearing at the right time and demonstrating the right amount of pluck. Read more…

More about Late Night, Sundance, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

Wellness is a buzzy word lately. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a surge in all things health, wellness, and spirituality. Juice bars are popping up, boutique studios are becoming more accessible, and essential oils are chilling us out. Self-care is becoming more of the norm too, but amidst all this hype, it can be challenging to find the right routine that promotes good exercise, sleep, vitals, and mindset. 

Fortunately, there is a potential solution to the wellness madness. If you’re determined to make your #healthgoals happen, fitness trackers with heart rate monitors can be a major help. These wearable devices are game changes for keeping tabs on physical and mental wellbeing. While some feature basic tracking, others come with advanced features like mileage reports and smartphone compatibility.  Read more…

More about Fitness Trackers, Smart Watch, Heart Rate Monitor, Mashable Shopping, and Tech

Mark Zuckerberg is doing exactly what he promised Instagram and WhatsApp he wouldn’t: messing with their independence by creating one system to rule them all. 

The Facebook founder plans to bring the back ends of Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram closer together with that of his own social network, as Facebook has now confirmed to the New York Times. 

This consolidation may come with benefits for the billions of users involved, such as making it easier for anyone to send messages across the apps. But it’s also the biggest sign yet that Zuckerberg is tightening his grip on services he once promised complete autonomy — and it comes on the heels of  the Instagram and the WhatsApp founders exiting Facebook.  Read more…

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