Category Archives: Blog

Poor ’90s tweens! They never used Facebook Messenger. They couldn’t text people from their iPhones, they couldn’t add GIFs to their WhatsApp messages, and they were far too young for any Twitter DMs. 

Somehow, they survived. And a lucky few of them even had access to one of the most sophisticated pieces of messaging technology to come out of the mid-’90s: The Casio Secret Sender JD-6000.

This tiny purple toy, marketed to tween girls, is the messaging app’s true digital ancestor.

If you’re an Xennial like me, you might remember  Casio My Magic Diary, an “electronic organizer” that premiered in 1993. At the time of its release, the Magic Diary was the height of technology. It had software that could store phone numbers and addresses, report local times from across the world, function as a calculator, record friends’ birthdays, log diary entries, give users their horoscopes, and even allow them to “design” digital faces — ideally of their crushes <3 <3 <3. Read more...

More about Watercooler, Nostalgia, Toys, Messaging Service, and Culture

President Donald Trump gave a rare press conference on Wednesday, and it was … bonkers?

After a day filled with meetings at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump talked to reporters for over an hour, facing questions on everything from trade policy to his embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. His answers were rambling and at times incoherent, and even for those accustom to his unusual rhetorical style, this was a wild ride. 

Here are the five standout moments:

1. Taking aim at George Washington

Trump didn’t offer much in the way of concrete answers in response to several questions about the multiple sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, except to claim it was a “big fat con job” by the Democrats. But he did somehow manage to bring George Washington into the conversation, saying, “Look, if we brought George Washington here, and we said, ‘We have George Washington.’ The Democrats would vote against him, just so you understand. And he may have had a bad past, who knows? He may have had some — I think accusations made? Didn’t he have a couple of things in his past? George Washington would be voted against 100 percent by [Chuck] Schumer and the con artists.” Read more…

More about Donald Trump, New York Times, Brett Kavanaugh, Culture, and Politics

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who has been spearheading the investigation into foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election in an effort to uphold our nation’s democracy, needs tech support.  

Mueller was apparently spotted at the Apple Store in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington D.C. seated at a table with his wife and a store employee. D.C. local @megpianta snapped a photo of the trio for her Instagram story, tagging the location. 

“Give this man ALL the Genius Bar support he needs, pls,” she captioned the photo.  Read more…

More about Apple, Robert Mueller, Culture, and Web Culture

Why aim for five stars when four will suffice? That seems to be the logic behind Amazon’s latest brick-and-mortar shop in New York City.

That’s right, the online retailer is encroaching on real, physical businesses yet again — but this time it’s not groceries but items from its website that are rated four stars and above, top-sellers, or are new and trending online. It’s called Amazon 4-Star.

Basically it’s the Amazon homepage in physical form. (It’s very reminiscent of the Barnes & Noble stores that Amazon effectively killed.)

More about Amazon, Shopping, E Commerce, Tech, and Consumer Tech

President Donald Trump held a rare solo press conference on Wednesday afternoon, and it went about as you’d expect. 

Trump went head-to-head with CNN’s Jim Acosta early on. Before even asking his question, Acosta asked if Trump would call on a female reporter next.

“If you don’t mind, after I’m finished … if one of our female colleagues could go that would be great,” Acosta said. At that point in the conference, Trump had only called on male reporters for questions. 

“What does he mean by that? Explain,” Trump demanded.

Trump then cuts off Acosta, “What does it mean, no, what does it mean?” Read more…

More about Politics, Cnn, Culture, Donald Trump, and Jim Acosta

The grizzly bears are spared from hunting, for now. 

For as low as $600 per hunting permit, grizzly bears were scheduled to be legally hunted in Wyoming beginning on Sept. 1, making it the first such hunt in over four decades. But after first just temporarily suspending the hunt, a federal judge has now bucked attempts by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the Yellowstone-area grizzlies from the endangered species list.

The 48-page decision, however, wasn’t about hunting. It was about how this isolated population of some 700 bears requires influxes of fresh genetic material to remain biologically resilient in the years ahead. This detached bear population, Chief District Judge Dana Christensen determined, were too biologically vulnerable to be removed from the infamous list.  Read more…

More about Science, Bears, Endangered Species, Genetics, and Grizzly Bear

We’re calling it now: Air fryers are the Instant Pot of 2018. 

We’re always on the lookout for new kitchen gadgets that will make cooking easier and more fun. Air fryers have been popping up all over recently, and for good reason. A way to get crispy french fries or chicken wings as a moment’s notice? We’ll take two.

But if you thought you were overwhelmed with all of the different Instant Pot models, just wait until you see the air fryer market.

Before we dive into the different devices, let’s answer one lingering question. Read more…

More about Cooking, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Amazon, Shopping Solo, and Air Fryer

Would you rather: Date someone who’s clingy, makes you spend a ton of money on them, and who bosses you around…

OR

Date someone who’s super chill, lets you do your own thing, and always makes sure you’re happy?

The latter, right? Well, get this: The first relationship is with cable, and the second relationship is with streaming services.

Yup, we’re talking about cord cutting: A favorite term of the past few years that basically means breaking up with your cable company and only paying for the content you want without messing around with a cable box or satellite. Because life with cable is so last decade. Read more…

More about Streaming Services, Cord Cutting, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Fun, and Shopping Ziffdavis

A lot of things go bump in the night, especially a bus traveling 60 mph down Interstate 5 from San Francisco to Santa Monica, California.

But if Cabin, the bus-hotel startup that’s driven 10,000 passengers on overnight trips between San Francisco and SoCal since launching in July 2017, can do something about what they call “road turbulence” they think they can get more people to sleep better while traveling.

Co-founders Tom Currier and Gaetano Crupi have developed a new suspension system for the three converted sleep buses in the Cabin fleet. Calling it Cabin Cloud, they plan to have the beds equipped with the new tech that uses sensors, accelerometers, small motors, and predictive algorithms to know when the bus ride is about to get bumpy and what to do about it.  Read more…

More about Hotel, Sleep, Hospitality, Bus, and Beds

Instagram will soon be without its founders for the first time ever. 

With CEO Kevin Systrom and CTO Mike Krieger leaving soon, the future of the photo-sharing app will be much more controlled by Facebook executives, which could have big implications for the service.

News of the departures sent shockwaves around Silicon Valley, primarily because it was so unexpected. Though it’s common for founders to depart a company after an acquisition, Instagram’s founding duo has long been an exception. 

The abrupt nature of the news itself, which broke late Monday night, immediately gave rise to rumors that the resignations had come as the result of some greater falling out with Facebook’s upper management.  Read more…

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