Category Archives: Blog

To Fly. To Serve. To have your customers’ financial information stolen by unidentified hackers. 

British Airways today announced it was the victim of a data breach in which the “personal and financial details” of customers were stolenThe Guardian reports that 380,000 “payment cards” were affected. 

So who exactly are those hundreds of thousands of victims? According to the airline, customers using the BA website or mobile app to make “bookings” between Aug. 21 and Sept. 5 are the ones who should be nervously checking their credit card statements.  Read more…

More about Hackers, British Airways, Data Breach, Tech, and Cybersecurity

Someone give this man a raise. And maybe a modeling gig. 

When this UPS driver delivers packages to Reddit user u/deadleaf_shrimp’s apartment, the building mailroom emails its residents with a picture. As deadleaf_shrimp writes in a post, the email is supposed to include a photo of the shipping label. 

Instead, a certain driver got creative. 

The hero was identified as Colby Holloway. He acknowledged his newfound fame on his Instagram story: “Since I’m Reddit ‘famous’ for a day … everyone listen to @dolloppodcast.” 

He also dropped a Patton Oswalt quote about kindness. 

More about Reddit, Selfie, Ups, Culture, and Web Culture

Boutique fitness classes may be on the rise, but working out from the comfort of your home has always had its positives.

For the new wave of in-home workouts, there’s Mirror. It’s an actual mirror you can use for your morning routine, but with high-powered tech built inside. The panel itself is a liquid crystal display (LCD), with stereo speakers, a camera, and some custom software powered by a quad-core processor. Bluetooth and WiFi allow you to connect with monitoring devices and stream the classes from Mirror. As for the classes, there’s cardio, yoga, strength, barre, boxing, stretch, and pilates, with various levels of each. Read more…

More about Fitness, Live Streaming, Mirror, Mirrors, and Tech

If the only news you ever read came from Twitter, you’d think America was some kind of post-apocalyptic political landscape. And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. 

But it’s not all dystopia. If you travel to Vermont, for example, you’ll find Democrat Christine Hallquist, who won her primary this August and could very well become the country’s first openly trans governor. 

It’s a remarkably modern accomplishment, and one — for liberals at least — well worth getting excited about. Just don’t dilute your political high and look at what people tweet at her. 

More about Watercooler, Transgender, Vermont, Governor, and Culture

Instagram Stories have become a dominant force in our visual-obsessed culture, and a little-known hack is about to make it a bit GIF-ier.

For this tutorial, a third-party keyboard is your secret weapon (Gboard, Bitmoji, and Giphy are all good options).

But before we get started, we should point out that Instagram’s partnership with Giphy has already made it easy to insert some GIFs into your stories — the problem is that the in-app database doesn’t include every GIF you could ever want.

But with this trick, noticed by Matt Navarra on Twitter, users can copy a GIF from, say Google Images, Tumblr, or GIF sites, paste it natively in an Instagram Story, and then arrange it however you want. The world of GIFs is your oyster.  Read more…

More about Instagram, Gifs, How To, Bitmoji, and Instagram Stories

It’s time to get hyped!

Google just sent out press invites for a “Made by Google” launch event in New York City on Oct. 9, where the company will most likely announce the Pixel 3.

As for hints on the invite, there’s not much that could tell us what to expect from the event.

The invite shows a Google logo and then an “I <3 NY". The "3" in the "<3" (that's a heart in case you didn't know) likely refers to to the Pixel 3.

Google’s expected to announce a Pixel 3 and a Pixel 3 XL. Much of the Pixel 3 XL has already leaked out thanks to various unboxings by Russian YouTubers who were able to illegally obtain the unreleased phone. Not to mention someone apparently left a Pixel 3 XL in a Lyft (yeah, really). Read more…

More about Mobile, Google, Android, Pixel 3, and Tech

Uber keeps rolling out new safety features for drivers and passengers.

Just a few months ago, Uber introduced a 911 button and a way to share your trips to trusted contacts. On Wednesday, the ride-sharing app added hands-free features for drivers picking up riders, better data privacy, and automated crash detection. 

As part of a laundry list of safety improvements, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi talked about making Uber trips safer for both passengers and drivers. A passenger killing in China on the ride-hailing app Didi last month has shaken up the ride-sharing community and revived conversations about driver background checks, customer support, and other safety issues. Read more…

More about Uber, Ride Hailing Apps, Safety, Tech, and Transportation

Jeff Goldblum loves a spontaneous stunt, and if it involves surprise jazz, we’re all for it.

The professional purrer and beloved actor is about to release his first jazz album, The Capitol Studios Sessions, so he sprang a surprise set on commuters at London’s St Pancras International station on Wednesday morning.

Just weeks after London enjoyed a giant statue of Goldblum popping up by Tower Bridge, the man himself played a few tunes on the piano at St Pancras. And while the two events aren’t related (the statue wasn’t a promotion), this is some kind of Goldblum fiesta for Londoners. Read more…

More about London, Jeff Goldblum, Jazz, Entertainment, and Celebrities

The World Surf League (WSL) has set the standard for other sports by announcing equal prize money for men and women.

Coming into force from the 2019 season, the move makes it the first U.S.-based global sports league to implement pay parity at the events it controls.

The announcement comes after the winner of the Ballito Pro under-18’s women’s competition received exactly half of her male counterpart back in June, sparking criticism toward the WSL.

“This is a huge step forward in our long-planned strategy to elevate women’s surfing and we are thrilled to make this commitment as we reveal our new 2019 schedule,” WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said in a statement online. Read more…

More about Sports, Women, Equality, Surfing, and World Surf League

Prepare to simmer down with a spot of “slow radio” on tap.

The BBC announced a new permanent radio program dedicated to “slow radio,” with 30-minute recordings that will kick your autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) into overdrive.

Helmed by Radio 3’s Alan Davey and set to launch with the station’s autumn schedule, programming will revolve around newly commissioned, ASMR-conducive clips of relatively quiet scenes with minimal but effective sounds.

You can expect such soothing sounds as the hallowed halls of Durham Cathedral at evening time, the mooing of cows en route to County Galway in the Burren cattle blessing, the ticking clocks of Upton House in Warwickshire, and the animal-peppered sounds of dusk at an unnamed zoo. Read more…

More about Uk, Audio, Asmr, Slow Tv, and Slow Radio