Category Archives: Blog

At 8:30 in the morning on the first official day of CES, my cab driver and I were on the same page. 

“These are the worst three days of the whole year,” he said as we sat, and sat, and sat some more in traffic.

The traffic, bad suits, recirculated air, and endless hawking of wares makes most industry trade shows a living nightmare. But CES is its own beast for the sheer scale of the thing: it takes over multiple convention centers across the Las Vegas strip, bringing companies and humans from around the globe to what feels like the least walkable city in the world. 

Getting anywhere on time and without sweating through your shirt is a feat. Staying hydrated? Forget about it. There are bright lights and salespeople vying for your time and attention. All the while you have a schedule to keep, emails to answer, and — oh yeah — your feet are killing you. Read more…

More about Ces, Relaxation, Meditation, Tech, and Consumer Tech

We knew hackers were creeping on Ring video feeds, but Ring’s own employees?

In a Jan. 6 letter addressed to five U.S. Senators, Amazon-owned Ring admitted that, yes, an unspecified small number of employees have at least tried to inappropriately access customers’ home surveillance videos. Which, well, damn.

The letter, obtained and published by Motherboard’s Joseph Cox, acknowledges four internal reports of employees going above and beyond their job duties in exactly the wrong kind of way. 

“Over the last four years, Ring has received four complaints or inquiries regarding a team
member’s access to Ring video data,” reads the letter. “Although each of the individuals involved in these incidents was authorized to view video data, the attempted access to that data exceeded what was necessary for their job functions.” Read more…

More about Amazon, Privacy, Ring, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

Well, Grimes has hinted that she’s pregnant. Of course, who can truly know the nature of the universe?

The musician, whose legal name was Claire Boucher and is maybe just “c” now, posted a photo to Instagram on Wednesday in which she appears to be pregnant. The Instagram post, which showed her nipples, was taken down, but she posted it on Twitter, too. She also posted a similar photo, but with her nipples covered by her braided hair, on Instagram after the original was removed. “Censored for insta haha – almost got away w it 😮,” reads the new photo’s caption.

The first Instagram post was caption-less, but she did speak to the “feral & war-like state of being” she feels while “knocked up” in a reply to a comment on the original post, so there is an extremely good chance pregnancy is truly what’s happening. She captioned her tweet with what one could describe as feral and war-like emoji. Read more…

More about Twitter, Instagram, Social Media, Grimes, and Culture

The smart home has reached peak cute.

If you care about your weight, stepping on the cold, metallic top of a scale can be a scary moment. But a new model debuted at CES — made from soft white silicone in the shape of clouds and adorned with a friendly three-dimensional character — delivers something cuddlier. 

The best part? It’s a smart scale with an app that will say nice things to you, no matter what the number reads.

The smart scale is made by Kakao Friends, a spinoff design and merchandise company from a Korean messenger app called Kakao Talk. In the app, three characters — Ryan the bear, Muji the bunny, and Apeach the … pink mushroom? – became so popular that it began creating merchandise like plush toys around the characters. Read more…

More about Weight Loss, Scale, Tech, Health, and Consumer Tech

Uber’s making some interesting changes in California, but not for the usual reasons apps add new features.

In an email received by customers in the Golden State, the ride-share giant revealed a small handful of new additions to the app. Attributed only to “a new state law,” Uber in California will now display prices differently, allow users to pinpoint preferred drivers, and discontinue some Uber Rewards benefits.

Prices will be displayed as an estimated range rather than a set amount for everything other than Uber Pool rides. You’ll pay what the app calculates based on time and distance traveled at the end of a ride, like a regular taxi cab.  Read more…

More about Transportation, Uber, California, Ride Hailing Apps, and Labor

Well, it’s eight days into the new year and I’m already dropping the ball on one of my resolutions: to start using a paper planner. It’s not for lack of initiative, either. I simply can’t find one that fits both my requirements, which are 1) not too expensive and 2) not ugly.

I loved using a paper planner in college, mostly because I didn’t have a smartphone and my laptop could only hold a charge for about an hour and a half. I usually opted for a spiral-bound paper option from Target, which was always both affordable and a little cutesier than I’d have preferred. They also came loose from their spiral bindings after only a few months. Read more…

More about Lifestyle, Culture, and Work Life

Some of the world’s top tennis stars, including Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, are coming together on January 15 in Melbourne, Australia to take part in an exhibition match to raise money for Australia’s bushfire relief efforts, CNN reported. 

Other big names lined up to participate include Naomi Osaka, Caroline Wozniacki, Nick Kyrgios, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. 

Tennis Australia, the country’s governing body on tennis, organized the Australia Open Rally for Relief match as part of its larger Aces for Bushfire Relief program, which launched last week in response to the fires. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to Australia’s bushfire relief. The match takes place five days before the Australia Open.  Read more…

More about Australia, Social Good, Bushfires, Serena Williams, and Roger Federer

For the second year in a row, there won’t be a high-profile celeb presiding over the annual Academy Awards show.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed the decision to forgo a host yet again via tweet on Wednesday. That’s probably wise after a 2019 ceremony managed to avoid stepping into a proverbial pile of feces.

If vague emoji tweets aren’t enough to satisfy you, there’s also a statement from ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke, who chatted about the news on Wednesday before an appearance at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour (h/t The Hollywood Reporter). Read more…

More about Academy Awards 2020, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

Have you ever wondered how “Facebook is Helping Ensure the Integrity of the 2020 Election?”

Well then, does Teen Vogue have a story for you! Or wait, at least it did, before a fawning article with that very headline was pulled by the award-winning publication — without explanation — shortly after it was published Wednesday morning. 

The article, which uncritically profiled five Facebook employees, presented itself as a “behind the scenes” look at how the social media giant is “taking measures to protect against foreign interference and stop the spread of misinformation.” In other words, it stunk of sponsored content and initially ran both with no byline and no disclaimer regarding its potential ad nature. Read more…

More about Facebook, Election 2020, Teen Vogue, Tech, and Social Media Companies

Twitter is trying to make it a lot harder for trolls to hijack conversations.

The company will start testing a new feature that will allow users to set limits on who can reply to their tweets before they hit send. The feature, which the company plans to test in a limited rollout later this year, marks one of the company’s most aggressive efforts to fight trolls and targeted harassment on its platform. 

With this new feature, Twitter users will be able to choose who can reply to their tweets from a list of options that include: everyone, only followers, only people who are mentioned in the tweet, or nobody.  Read more…

More about Tech, Twitter, Ces, Trolls, and Tech