Category Archives: Blog

On Saturday, people around the U.S. gathered for Families Belong Together marches in solidarity with the migrant parents and children who’ve been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

As the New York Times reports, there are more than 2,000 children in detention centers, and concrete plans to return them to their parents are few and far between. At Saturday’s marches, protestors carried signs demanding swift action. 

Plans for a June 30 “Day of Action” began earlier in the month, after reports of family separations and the devastating photos and audio that followed came to light. And while a massive protest took place in Washington D.C., people in cities all around the country — from New York to Hawaii — and even overseas made plans to march as well. Read more…

More about Watercooler, Families Belong Together, Culture, Identities, and Politics

Fortnite‘s rocket launch may be over, but the memories linger.

Epic Games staged a one-time-only “Blast Off” event on SaturdayFortnite players that were lucky enough to be online and in-game at precisely 1:30 p.m. ET had the opportunity to witness a proper spectacle: A rocket launch.

Seeing it firsthand was no easy task. Even at the best of times, Fortnite hits players with long waits and server queues when they’re trying to join a game. And for Blast Off, a hyped event with a very specific timetable, servers were absolutely slammed.

For anyone out there who might have missed it, social media provides…. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Gaming, Epic Games, Fortnite, and Entertainment

In an era when Marvel is showing everyone how blockbuster franchises are done, it’s easy to forget that M. Night Shyamalan built a superhero universe out of nothing.

The twist-loving filmmaker’s upcoming Glass is due for a major San Diego Comic Con presentation in Hall H — the big room — on July 20. To give fans a taste of what to expect, Shyamalan released the first poster for the Jan. 18, 2019 release on Friday.

It speaks volumes.

More about Entertainment, Film, Glass, Split, and M Night Shyamalan

This is One Good Thing, a weekly column where we tell you about one of the few nice things that happened this week.

The small African country of Swaziland celebrated its first ever LGBTQ pride on Saturday and no one, not even Donald J. Trump, can destroy this tiny bit of joy.

It wasn’t an easy event to organize in Swaziland, a largely conservative country where anti-sodomy laws exist, according to the Daily Beast. Still, organizers pushed forward. 

The event was organized by Rock of Hope, a local Swazi LGBTQIA+ nonprofit, as well as volunteers from home and broad.  Read more…

More about Watercooler, Lgbtq Rights, Swaziland, Culture, and Activism

Listen, I don’t need to tell you that things aren’t great right now. There are separated families in desperate need of help, mass shootings are a regular occurrence, and a U.S. Supreme Court justice is retiring, among other terrible things happening right now. 

But we do have one (1) nice thing to discuss: The rescue of a little puppy named Toffee, who got stuck in a hole on Thursday.

According to Alabama’s WHNT, a team of rescuers managed to lift Toffee to safety early Saturday morning, after more than a day of trial-and-error attempts at reaching the pup.  Read more…

More about Watercooler, Dogs, Culture, Animals, and Web Culture

Just don’t call it a Windows Phone.

Rumors of a dual-screen Surface have been kicking around for a little bit, but here’s a surprising new detail: It’s built for your pocket. That’s what it sounds like, anyway. The revelation comes from an internal document obtained by The Verge, though Microsoft hasn’t confirmed it.

“It’s a new pocketable Surface device form factor that brings together innovative new hardware and software experiences to create a truly personal and versatile computing experience,” the document — which is merely quoted, rather than reprinted in its entirety — reads. Read more…

More about Tech, Microsoft, Surface, Tech, and Innovations

The ceiling escape attempt: Great for action stars, less so for normal people. 

That’s the lesson learned from this bananas CCTV footage taken from a Canadian convenience store where an attempt to evade local police ended with a hole in the ceiling. 

In a clip obtained by CTV News (that Deadspin astutely noted seems “magnificently, almost suspiciously well-edited,”) a man and a woman are under arrest for, per CTV News, trying to check out with a stolen credit card. 

The clip begins as an officer is attempting to take the man into custody. From there, it just escalates, culminating in a pile of broken ceiling tile by the coffee counter.  Read more…

More about Culture, Culture, and Web Culture

Most people can hit the gym with a pair of run-of-the-mill Apple earbuds, have a light workout, maybe get a bit sweaty, and call it a day. You’re not most people. Your workouts are a perfect storm of intensity and activity. You don’t sweat, you rain. And you can’t settle for wimpy sound quality. 

For people like you, BlueAnt has created the PUMP Wireless HD Sportsbuds. Designed to deliver unrivaled performance during extreme conditions, this elite audio accessory is just what you need to push yourself harder. 

The PUMP Sportsbuds feature audiophile-approved sound quality, generated by customized 12.5mm speaker drivers in a Kevlar- and Teflon-sealed speaker enclosure. While most wireless headphones sacrifice audio fidelity for data transmission efficiency, these headphones don’t have to. Their built-in Bluetooth 3.0 technology with AptX and AAC codecs ensures lossless listening and superior wireless range, so you can leave your mobile device in a safe place when your workouts get extra wild.  Read more…

More about Headphones, Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones, Mashable Shopping, and Shopping Solo

Not cool. 

A combined task force of the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Austrian Federal Police, and Europol yesterday announced what they’re calling “Europe’s biggest ever LSD bust” and oh man in unrelated news I totally need to rethink my July 4 plans to just sit back and stare at fireworks for hours while contemplating life.

According to the press release, the bust went down in the Spanish cities of Granada and Valencia, and resulted in the seizure of approximately €4.5 million (around $5.25 million) worth of bitcoin, lumens, and IOTA. Read more…

More about Bitcoin, Lsd, Cryptocurrency, Dark Web, and Iota

Say goodbye to your whole entire childhood everyone, Toys ‘R’ Us is closing its doors for good. 

Even Geoffrey, the Toys ‘R’ Us mascot, is packing up. A photo of the star-patterned giraffe — dressed up for vacation with giraffe sunglasses and a giraffe hat — went viral on Wednesday as people mourned the loss of a childhood staple. 

He even has a giraffe suitcase!

The photo made its rounds on the internet, climbing to the top of Reddit’s front page. 

The original poster, Rene Johnpiere, also posted a super dramatic message from Geoffrey that’s guaranteed to make you cry. 

“We will smile with invisible tears because a heart is touched with a strong word,” the message says. “And you will say: ‘It was with them that I had some of the best days of my life.”  Read more…

More about Twitter, Toys, Culture, and Web Culture