Category Archives: Blog

When it comes to the integrity of our elections, it’s important to remember that things can always get worse.

That painful truth was ground even deeper into our skulls today with the revelation that the busted app responsible in part for the flat out disaster of a Feb. 3 Iowa Caucus also happened to be extremely hackable. That’s right, according to security researchers who analyzed the app’s code, it would have been possible for bad actors to change vote counts. 

So reports ProPublica, which asked the security company Veracode to look over the IowaReporterApp. What Veracode found definitely did not reassure. In addition to potentially being able to change vote tallies, Veracode told ProPublica that passwords could have been intercepted.  Read more…

More about Hackers, Iowa Caucus, Election 2020, Tech, and Cybersecurity

Here we go again. 

As it reckons with its own diversity problems, the literary world attempted a misguided push towards increasing diversity — which was met with indignation, bewilderment, and a canceled event. 

Earlier this week, AM New York reported that Barnes & Noble was partnering with Penguin Random House and TBWA/CHIAT/DAY, a division of the TBWA Worldwide advertising agency, to put together a collection of new “culturally diverse” covers for classic books, which were going to be available for purchase in the bookseller’s Fifth Avenue location in New York. 

Dubbed “Diverse Editions,” the collection was going to include new cover art featuring people of color for the following books:   Read more…

More about Books, Barnes And Noble, Children S Books, Diversity And Inclusion, and Diversity In Publishing

Whether you use the internet to share memes, talk sports, or drive yourself to the brink of madness by following political news, one thing we can all agree on is that internet access isn’t always as easy as it should be. 

Take the United States, for example. Internet quality varies wildly from state to state, seemingly at random. New Jersey and Maine might not look very far away from each other on a map, but download speed in the two northeastern states was dramatically different when we wrote about it last year.

The differences are stark when talking purely about speed, but looking at access paints an even more grim pictureBroadbandNow released its broadband access report for the last quarter of 2019, comparing how easy it is to get usable internet in each state without going bankrupt.  Read more…

More about Internet, Broadband, Internet Access, Broadband Network, and Broadband Internet

Developed by a team of engineers based in Copenhagen, Go Dogo is an artificially intelligent, interactive training program for your dog.  Read more…

More about Animals, Mashable Video, Dog, Dog Toy, and Future Blink

Finding time for proper workout recovery is — but shouldn’t have to be — a luxury.

Between a job, social life, and chasing eight hours of sleep, workouts get squeezed into the day’s only free time slot. (*Cue the Peloton ad making you feel like shit for not biking at dawn.*) A proper cool down (let alone a massage) is usually the thing that gets glossed over, or else skipped completely.

Enter: those massage guns that have taken fitness Instagram by storm. Turns out that those mesmerizing skin ripples are more than just a weird flex: The form of portable muscle therapy that started with professional athletes has trickled down into the lives of your average gym-goer who doesn’t have the time or money for foam rolling sessions on sore days. Read more…

More about Sports, Exercise, Health Fitness, Mashable Shopping, and Consumer Tech

IMAGE: Amazon

OUR TOP PICK

Theragun G3Pro

Pro athletes stan the Theragun for its high-velocity reps and six swappable attachments.

• Strokes per minute: 1,740 to 2,400
• Stroke depth: 16 mm
• Speed settings: 2
• Battery life: 150 minutes
• Interchangeable tips: 6

$599 from Amazon

IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR TRAVELING

Hyperice Hypervolt

These high-powered vibrations are great for general soreness and a more peaceful experience.

• Strokes per minute: 2,000 to 3,200
• Stroke depth: 16 mm
• Speed settings: 3
• Battery life: 180 minutes
• Interchangeable tips: 5

$319 from Amazon

IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR APPLYING HEAT

TimTam Power Massager

The TimTam Power Massager Pro employs heat to help loosen up your muscles.

• Strokes per minute: 1,000 to 2,800
• Stroke depth: 32 mm
• Speed settings: 3
• Battery life: 40-60 minutes
• Included heads: 2

$499.99 from Amazon

IMAGE: Amazon

BEST FOR BEGINNERS

Exerscribe Vybe Pro

The manageable price point and robust speed settings of the Vybe Pro make it great for beginners.

• Strokes per minute: 1,800 to 3,400
• Stroke depth: 16 mm
• Battery life: 180 minutes
• Speed settings: 9
• Included interchangeable heads: 5

$197.99 from Amazon

IMAGE: Walmart

BUDGET PICK

NordicTrack

NordicTrack’s low power at high speeds offers an affordable warm up before workouts.

• Strokes per minute: 1,500 to 3,900
• Stroke depth: 6 mm
• Speed settings: 3
• Battery life: 90 minutes
• Included interchangeable heads: 3

$99.99 from Walmart

President Donald Trump snubbed a handshake offer from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who extended her hand to the commander-in-chief as he prepared to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday. 

Trump ignored Pelosi’s extended hand — either that or he really went out of his way to not see it — and instead turned back toward the lectern. Pelosi appeared to shrug her shoulders at the snub and mouth the word, “Oh.” 

Here’s the moment in question:

President Trump did not shake Vice President Mike Pence’s hand either, though Pence did not extend his hand like Pelosi when Trump them a copy of his speech.  Read more…

More about Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, State Of The Union Address, Culture, and Politics

Mando’s return is not so far, far away.

On Tuesday, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced The Mandalorian will debut its second season in October 2020 — less than a year after its Nov. 12 premiere on Disney+.

Iger also confirmed that the series would run beyond two seasons (no surprise there), and spin-off stories “infusing [The Mandalorian] with more characters and taking those characters in their own direction in terms of series” were being discussed at Disney. 

The Star Wars news, revealed during an earnings call with investors and journalists, committed Disney+ to another deadline in an already full fall slate.  Read more…

More about Streaming Services, Bob Iger, The Mandalorian, Disney Plus, and Entertainment

The new Cadillac Escalade will feature an impressive 38 inches of screen. And they will supposedly have double the pixel density of a 4K TV. 

The fifth-generation Escalade was revealed Tuesday in Los Angeles. Its OLED screens are paper-thin and curve for better visibility. You’ll notice the screens don’t have a protective “hood” on the edges, as Cadillac says sun glare won’t be an issue. And some of them are touch-friendly. 

Here’s how the screens break down. They include a 7.2-inch driver control panel on the left and a 14.2-inch display behind the steering wheel.

The car also includes a 16.9-inch touch infotainment screen, which is nearly the size of the 17-inch display in the Tesla Cybertruck. Byton’s infotainment screen will dwarf them all. It’ll be 48 inches, although it won’t be a touchscreen. Instead you’ll control it with your voice, gestures, and old-fashioned buttons. Read more…

More about Touchscreen, Cadillac, Infotainment, Tech, and Transportation

It certainly looks like Samsung is getting ready to launch an upgraded set of Galaxy Buds designed to be more appealing to iPhone owners.

The company plans to show off its Galaxy Buds+, a higher-end version of the wireless earbuds it launched last year, according to a spec sheet first posted by leaker Evan Blass. 

The new $149 buds will have better sound and battery life, and will have an accompanying iPhone app, according to details on the spec sheet.

The Galaxy Buds+ also look like they will bring significant improvements over their $129 predecessors. The earbuds will have almost double the battery life, with 11 hours for the buds plus an additional 11 hours from the charging case, compared with six hours for the standard Galaxy Buds and 7 hours for its charging case.  Read more…

More about Tech, Gadgets, Samsung, Galaxy Buds, and Tech

When it comes to conducting secure elections, keeping things old-fashioned is often the best bet. 

This simple reality can be broken down into two digestible nuggets of security wisdom: The internet and voting don’t mix. And auditable paper trails beat fancy digital recording devices every time. 

Security experts beat us over the head with these admonitions time and time again. And yet, as yesterday’s Iowa caucus screwup shows, we still have a lot of listening left to do.  

The Iowa Caucus app fiasco

The Iowa caucuses — trending on Twitter at the time of this writing as the “#IowaCaucusDisaster” — represent a spectacular failure in modern day election reporting. According to numerous reports, a shoddily tested app was employed to relay caucus results to party officials. That app failed to properly function, throwing presidential candidates’ campaigns — and the country — into a brief fit.  Read more…

More about Election 2020, Tech, and Cybersecurity