Category Archives: Blog

Guess who’s sending fat checks to Mark Zuckerberg and company? 

Yep, Donald J. Trump. The president’s political action committee (PAC) has spent $274,000 on Facebook ads since May, reports the New York Times. 

That makes him the biggest political spender on Facebook. Planned Parenthood, which came in second, spent $188,000.

The numbers were crunched by New York University researchers who scraped data from Facebook, which created a publicly searchable archive of political Facebook ads in May. 

So, what does $274,000 get you? Ads seen by 37 million people, according to the researchers. As an example, the Times highlighted an ad promoting Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.  Read more…

More about Facebook, Donald Trump, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

Even more delightful than a great SNL segment is a great SNL segment executed terribly, with cast members flubbing their lines and laughing at their own jokes.

That’s our takeaway from this behind-the-scenes video, featuring stars like Ryan Gosling, Kenan Thompson, and Donald Glover riffing, goofing, corpsing, and just plain acting silly.

Honestly, the really impressive thing about this video is that these screwups don’t happen more often. We can barely keep from laughing out loud while watching these at home – we’d be disasters at keeping it in if we had to perform them ourselves. Read more…

More about Saturday Night Live, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

For the second time in less than a week, Facebook is facing uncomfortable questions about why it continues to allow InfoWars and other conspiracy theory-slinging groups to have a presence on its platform.

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Facebook’s policy chief Monika Bickert fielded questions from Democrats who demanded to know why InfoWars has not been banned by Facebook. 

Her explanation did not go over well.

Though Bickert acknowledged that Facebook does remove some individual posts, she said the site’s violations — including numerous claims that victims of school shootings are paid actors — have not yet been egregious enough to warrant an outright ban, even though it regularly promotes conspiracy theories and other false information. Read more…

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

Someone send a submarine to rescue Elon Musk’s reputation.

It turns out the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has donated seven times as much to money to Republicans than Democrats since the beginning of 2017, according to Federal Election Commission data reviewed by HuffPost. 

Overall, Musk gave $88,900 to Republicans and $13,300 to Democrats, including more than $50,000 to a fundraising committee run by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who doesn’t exactly hold the most enlightened views on climate change.  Read more…

More about Tesla, Elon Musk, Spacex, Donald Trump, and Republican Party

A serial trespasser was released on bail on Sunday.

A criminal pug was caught running through private property in New Jersey on Sunday, according to the Cape May Police Department. 

“This is what happened when you run away from home,” the police posted on Facebook. The furry delinquent was detained and held in custody until her owner could pick her up. Her mugshot was dubbed #pugmug.

“He didn’t choose the pug life,” Mary Ellen Van Buskirk commented. “The pug life chose him.”

Another local, Matt Wintner, was concerned about the dog’s well being: “Any word on if the police ruffed him up after he was taken into custody?” Read more…

More about Facebook, Animals, Police, Culture, and Web Culture

Oh hell yeah. Bitcoin’s back, baby.

After languishing in the depressing realm of the six thousands for what seemed like forever, the price of bitcoin has skyrocketed straight to the moon! 

Well, skyrocketed past $7,000, anyway.

Yes, friends, it’s time to join the hordes of true believers on Twitter and Reddit in celebration. And while you’re at it, you definitely want to ignore the fact that last December, bitcoin briefly hit $19,000, which means that the current price is less than half of that. But you’re not going to let a little thing like context get in the way of your fun, right?  Read more…

More about Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Tech, and Other

Sure, it’s nice having all of your special moments documented via social media. But what about when you want a physical copy to keep in your room or share with friends? Home desktop printers are bulky and inconvenient (not to mention entirely non-portable), and getting pictures printed elsewhere is a hassle. Luckily, Amazon has this HP portable pocket-sized printer that will print pictures straight from your phone and social media, and it’s $40 off for Prime Day.

The HP Blue Sprocket Portable Photo Printer is about the size of a smartphone and can easily fit in a pocket, backpack, or purse, making it the ultimate portable printer.  Read more…

More about Hp, Printer, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Amazon, and Shopping Solo

Rule no. 1 of Prime Day: People will fight you for kitchen appliances. If you see a good kitchen deal, do not wait to pull the trigger.

Because if you don’t hop on it when you see it, it’s likely that when you go back, the deal is either over or the item is sold out.

That’s happened with a ton of good kitchen deals since yesterday, and while it’s a bummer, there’s no time to stew over missing an old deal — because new ones keep coming out of nowhere. Even if you’re a total newbie and your skill set ends at toast, these kitchen gadgets can help you at least feel like you know what you’re doing, even if you didn’t do anything but press a button.Instant Pots, Nespresso coffee machines, air fryers, fancy cookware sets, and more are still on sale, but that probably won’t be for long — so get on these now before they have a line through them as well.  Read more…

More about Kitchen Gadget, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Amazon, Instant Pot, and Prime Day 2018

With the popularity of LaCroix over the last few years, it has become really, really expensive to keep buying cases of sparkling water week after week. Why not just make your own with SodaStream? It’s cheaper in the long run and Amazon has a great deal on SodaStream’s Genesis Sparkling Water Maker for just $49.99 on Prime Day.

Usually retailing for $79.99, the Genesis Sparkling Water Maker kit from SodaStream comes with the lightweight and sleek soda maker itself, a mini-canister of CO2 carbonator that makes up to nine liters, and two one-liter reusable carbonating bottles that are BPA-free. It uses twist-lock technology to turn ordinary tap water into exciting and extraordinary sparkling water and it doesn’t require batteries or electricity to power it. Just add any fruit flavoring or fresh fruit to your sparkling water to make a very refreshing treat for yourself. Read more…

More about Sodastream, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Amazon, Shopping Solo, and Prime Day 2018

Hawaii’s youngest volcano, Kilauea, continues to erupt and flow into the sea — which means lava bombs.

An airborne blob of volcanic lava hit a tour boat off the eastern edge of Hawaii’s Big Island on Monday morning, injuring 23 people.

According to the Hawaii County Fire Department, reported by Reuters, the lava bomb landed on the roof of the boat, punctured it and fell into the seating area.

Like a typical lava bomb, the chunk of molten rock was propelled into the air as hot lava from Kilauea poured into the Pacific Ocean.  Read more…

More about Hawaii, Lava, Kilauea, Kilauea Volcano, and Science