Category Archives: Blog

When a major grocery store chain starts using driverless cars to deliver groceries, it’s a good sign that autonomous tech has gone mainstream.

Supermarket chain Kroger and autonomous robots startup Nuro announced Wednesday that the two were partnering to deliver groceries using a fleet of driverless delivery vehicles.

The autonomous vehicles will start delivering milk, eggs, and bread through a pilot program this fall in an unspecified market. Eventually Kroger is hoping to use Nuro’s vehicles at its 2,800 stores across America.

More about Delivery, Autonomous Vehicles, Grocery Delivery, Tech, and Transportation

I guess it’s easier than just admitting your tweets are bad.

A majority of Republicans surveyed by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center claim that the technology companies of the world are liberal, and, what’s more, that social media companies specifically censor opposing political viewpoints on their platforms. 

In other words, Republicans believe they’re the victims of a vast Silicon Valley conspiracy that will do anything in its power to keep the lid on the Truth. Or something. 

This, of course, is nonsense — but don’t tell that to the Republicans surveyed by Pew. The report, released today, quantifies the kind of conspiratorial thinking that gave rise to the likes of alt-right social media platforms such as Gab. And the picture those numbers paint isn’t pretty.  Read more…

More about Facebook, Twitter, Google, Social Media, and Republicans

In the midst of Facebook’s biggest public relations crisis ever, the social media behemoth wants everyone to know that it’s going to start taking transparency very, very seriously.

That new commitment, the company explained, starts with changing its notoriously opaque policies and products to better reflect this newfound commitment. In a blog post, Facebook announced an update to its pages that will allow users to see all the ads that page is currently running, along with a detailed history of any name changes that have been made to the page. 

Previously, there were very few ways page owners could be held accountable for the ads they ran. A page could “dark post” hyper-targeted ads into users’ News Feed or Instagram feed and there would be no clear way to tie the ad back to the organization that paid for it. Read more…

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

Are you an entrepreneur who specializes in selling handcrafted soaps and artisanal candles? Are you an entrepreneur who doesn’t specialize in anything at all? Congratulations, you’re pre-qualified to be America’s next shipping magnate. 

At least, that’s what Amazon wants you to believe.

Amid soaring sales, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant launched the Amazon Delivery Service Partner program this week to convince you— yes, you— to get delivering packages.

The new program goes a huge step beyond the gig economy side-hustle that is Amazon Flex. The Amazon Delivery Service Partner program wants entrepreneurs to start your very own package delivery business — even if those entrepreneurs have no prior experience with shipping logistics..  Read more…

More about Amazon, Amazon Prime, Delivery, Logistics, and Tech

The award-winning two-part Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is heading to California in 2019. The show, which just earned six Tony Awards, will premiere at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco. 

“The Bay Area is where cutting-edge culture meets cutting-edge technology, so this wonderful example of riveting storytelling and first-of-its-kind stage magic has found its ideal home in our great city,” said the Ambassador Theatre Group’s Carole Shorenstein Hays in a press release. 

“My family and I are filled with joy thinking about all the audiences coming to San Francisco to experience Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – particularly first-time and young theatergoers, who have always been a core part of our mission.” Read more…

More about Entertainment, San Francisco, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, and Harry Potter And The Cursed Child

Sometimes you forget your keys. Sometimes your forget your phone. But someone in Dover, Delaware forgot their whole ass house. 

The Dover Police Department posted two photos of  an abandoned house in the middle of the street on Tuesday. 

“Sooooo somebody left a house on Long Point Road. Nope this is not a joke,” the police captioned the photos. 

The Dover Police Department said they were “unable to move the house until Wednesday,” and closed the road until then. 

The whole incident reminded a few Dover residents of a certain 1982 hit. Read more…

More about Facebook, Transportation, Culture, and Web Culture

To hear Facebook tell it, no one at the company is secretly using your phone’s microphone to listen in on your conversations for the purpose of ad targeting. 

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t open to the possibility. 

A patent application filed by the Menlo Park-based  company details a convoluted process to trigger users’ devices to record the ambient audio surrounding them — be that your conversation or the sounds in your bedroom — and then send some form of data based on that recording back to the company.  

And yeah, it’s creepy as hell. 

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

Convincingly beaten 3-0 in its match against Sweden, Mexico were set to be the next team sent packing from the World Cup on Wednesday.

Then, the incredible happened.

South Korea’s team, the deus ex machina, scored twice in the final minutes of the game against Germany. Die Mannschaft, as Germany’s team is nicknamed, had won the last World Cup in 2014 and were favourites to win this year.

The result saw Germany eliminated from the tournament, and El Tri, as Mexico’s team is called, progress to the next stage of the World Cup in extraordinary circumstances.  Read more…

More about Sports, Soccer, Mexico, South Korea, and Culture

Apple is considering a sole subscription bundle for its TV, music, and online magazine services, if a new  report in the Information is to be believed. 

And if that kind of reminds you of Amazon Prime, well, that’s because it seems pretty similar.

Per the Information, the Cupertino-based tech giant is consolidating its various subscription-based services into one, according to “two people familiar with Apple’s plans.”

What might that subscription bundle actually include? While little is known at present, in early June, media mogul Oprah Winfrey teamed up with Apple to produce a slate of original programming “that embrace her incomparable ability to connect with audiences around the world.”  Read more…

More about Apple, Apple Music, Subscription Services, Texture, and Apple News

Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court on Wednesday, effective July 31. Given that Donald Trump gets to pick his replacement, and Mitch McConnell controls the Senate confirmation process, it seems all but certain that the next judge on America’s all-important bench will be a hardline conservative. 

Kennedy, appointed by President Reagan, was something of a conservative jurist himself. He has voted with the court’s four other conservatives in every major decision of the Trump era thus far. But he was also the court’s so-called swing vote; his decisions saved Roe v. Wade in 1992 and instituted gay marriage as the law of the land in 2015.  Read more…

More about Supreme Court, Margaret Atwood, Handmaid S Tale, Culture, and Politics