Category Archives: Blog

Love is truly in the air.

Australia’s overwhelming yes vote in its marriage equality postal survey was announced on Wednesday morning, and nervous supporters gathered around the country to hear the result.

In Melbourne, they gathered in front of the State Library of Victoria. In Sydney, upbeat music blared through Prince Alfred Park at a party full of believers in marriage equality, standing together — prepared for any result, but hoping for a yes. In Canberra, where the announcement took place, politicians also anxiously waited for the result. Read more…

More about Australia, Photography, Marriage Equality, Same Sex Marriage, and Lgbtq Rights

A federal regulator announced an investigation into Apple on Tuesday over claims that elements of the tech giant’s products violate another company’s patents, Reuters reported.

The U.S. International Trade Commission launched the probe after a software company called Aqua Connect and one of its subsidiaries filed a complaint last month. 

The agency, which presides over trade in and out of the United States, has the power to block imports of Apple’s products if it decides the company is breaking the law.

Aqua Connect’s case hinges on Apple’s AirPlay technology — the feature that allows audio and video to be streamed across different Apple devices. Aqua Connect sells software that allows Macs to be accessed remotely, and it claims Apple ripped it off after ending its working relationship with the company six years ago. Read more…

More about Apple, Business, and Big Tech Companies

Being a teen today means wrestling with how social media and screens shape the very essence of your identity. The anecdotal truth is that both can tear you down as quickly as they build you up; friends and followers can turn into enemies while the promise of human connection can give way to profound loneliness.  

Whether or not that dynamic is significant enough to take a toll on our emotional and mental wellbeing still isn’t clear. In fact, researchers are engaged in an intense debate over what it would take to prove that outcome.  Read more…

More about Science, Smartphones, Social Good, Mental Health, and Social Media

President Donald Trump is quick to use the term “fake news,” but in reality a lot of what he himself says is as fake, misleading, and inaccurate as it comes. He even tried to claim he came up with the term “fake news.” Add that to growing list of falsehoods.

The Washington Post has been tracking Trump’s lies since he was sworn into office earlier this year. That’s 298 days of falsehoods — some small, others way bigger. The paper’s total is at 1,628 lies, which breaks down to an average of 5.5 lies a day. 

Assuming that he continues to lie at the same pace, by the end of the year he should hit about 2,000 false statements. By the end of his first four-year term as president he can be forecast to lie about 8,000 times. Read more…

More about Politics, Washington Post, Donald Trump, Misinformation, and Fake News

Australia just voted overwhelmingly in favour of legalising same-sex marriage.

Following a non-binding, non-compulsory nationwide postal survey on the matter and a lengthy campaign from both the “Yes” and “No” camps, 61.6 percent of eligible Australians voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage.

Australians gathered in parks, pubs and huddled on their couches awaiting the news, delivered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

Here’s the moment when Sydney found out, at an event in Surry Hills’ Prince Alfred Park. Read more…

More about Australia, Marriage Equality, Vote, Same Sex Marriage, and Same Sex Marriage

I’m not falling for the prime minister of Canada’s game anymore.

It’s been just over two years since Justin Trudeau took the leadership of the Great White North’s liberal government and the internet has been sweating him ever since. Immediately after the Oct. 20, 2015 elections, the headlines began.

In the beginning, those headlines seemed generally worth it. His progressively gender-split cabinet, his desire to put women on Canada’s money, his greeting of Syrian refugees, all set Trudeau up to be a darling of the internet’s left, thirsty for another wold leader to champion their causes.

But over time those headlines became less … meaningful.  Read more…

More about Watercooler, Canada, Donald Trump, Trump, and Justin Trudeau

More about Apple, Fitbit, Xiaomi, Apple Watch, and Wearable Tech

Australia did it.

The country has decidedly voted yes to marriage equality in its voluntary postal survey. Results were handed down by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday — Australians voted 61.6 percent in favor of marriage equality, giving the government a mandate to allow LGBTQI couples to marry. The nation’s parliament will now be under enormous pressure to pass a bill legalising that right.

It’s been a difficult, stressful period for many in the LGBTQI community in Australia, and the result comes as great relief. An unnecessary relief, due to the expense and legally non-binding nature of the survey, but relief nonetheless.  Read more…

More about Twitter, Australia, Marriage Equality, Lgbtq Rights, and Culture

If you’ve ever taken a selfie and thought, “this is fine, but I’d really love to look more soul crushingly terrible,” then there’s a selfie app for you.

It’s called MakeApp and it’s a face-filtering app whose marquee feature is that it lets you “remove makeup from any face.” 

The premise is similar to FaceTune and any number of “beauty apps” that add different effects to your selfies to make it look as if you’re wearing different styles of makeup. MakeApp’s claim to fame, though, is that it can also digitally strip away your makeup and turn your perfectly-airbrushed selfies into something well, a lot less flattering. Read more…

More about Tech, Apps And Software, Consumer Tech, Tech, and Consumer Tech

The company that owns Moscow-based media outlet RT just registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice.

T&R Productions, LLC filed paperwork under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) registering as an agent for a Russian government entity, according to the DOJ. This entity, ANO TV-Novosti, is responsible for worldwide broadcasts of the Russian government-funded English-language TV network. 

RT reported in September that T&R Productions had received a letter from the DOJ demanding it to register as a foreign agent. The D.C.-based corporation is responsible for the production and operations of RT America. It has operated studios, hired and paid U.S. employees, and produced programming for the Russian network. Read more…

More about Russia, Doj, Rt, Press Freedom, and Business