Weed and yoga might just be a match made in heaven. But despite pot’s legal status in Denver, “ganja yoga” isn’t permitted. Well, unless you get stoned yourself and then go to a yoga class. But maybe there’s another option on the way…

Owners of the Utopia All Natural Wellness Spa and Lounge submitted a social consumption application on Wednesday to the city of Denver in hopes of becoming the first “fully licensed, state-legal cannabis spa.” Which means you’ll be able to get baked and relax on the premises.

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Travis Kalanick, the former CEO of ride-hailing app Uber, let out some laughs, reminisced about old colleagues, and shared his awe over flying cars during several hours of questioning in a San Francisco courtroom this week.

Quick overview: Kalanick is one of many witnesses in the trial over autonomous vehicle technology that Waymo, a driverless-car company spun out from Google, accuses Uber of stealing. 

Waymo alleges that a former engineer who worked for the company, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded 14,000 files of proprietary information that he later brought to Uber’s self-driving team. 

Uber is accused of using what Waymo considers secret information, including research about LIDAR, a laser and sensor technology that helps cars navigate on their own. Levandowski’s own self-driving truck company, Otto, was suspiciously acquired by Uber shortly after he left Google’s autonomous vehicle project.  Read more…

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House Minority Leader has something she’d like to say: more than eight hours worth of things, to be specific.

Pelosi took to the House floor beginning at 10:04 am on Wednesday to advocate on behalf of young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers. Republicans in the House are hoping to pass a spending bill before Friday. Pelosi is refusing to sign any bill that doesn’t include a path to citizenship for this population.

Her #DACAbuster, clocking in at an epic 8 hours and 7 minutes, broke the record for the longest speech ever delivered in House history, not exactly a chamber known for its brevity. Unlike the Senate, filibustering is not allowed in the House. (Pelosi got around that as her speech wasn’t obstructing the passage of specific legislation.)  Read more…

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Your favorite Nest products may soon get a lot better. 

In a blog post published Wednesday, Nest CEO Marlan Farwaz and its senior vice president of hardware, Rick Osterloh, announced that smart home appliance maker Nest Labs is joining Google, Alphabet’s biggest subsidiary. 

Google acquired Nest in 2014, but spun it off as a separate division following its restructuring into Alphabet Inc. the following year. After operating as a division of Alphabet Inc. for three years, Nest is a part of Google once again.  Read more…

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Roman Polanksi’s rape survivor responded to the recently resurfaced Howard Stern interview in which Quentin Tarantino defended the actions of the disgraced French-Polish film director. 

In the interview, Tarantino characterized the survivor as a “13-year-old party girl” who “was down with to party with Roman.” In reality, she was drugged and raped by the then 43-year-old Polanksi. Tarantino even went as far as to claim that, “She’s talked about it since, about, ‘No, he didn’t really do anything to me, it was a technicality from being 13.'”

But the now 54-year-old Samantha Geimer doesn’t need Tarantino to put words in her mouth and is perfectly capable of speaking for herself. Read more…

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Unless you spent your day under a rock on Tuesday, you probably already know that SpaceX successfully launched its largest rocket ever, the Falcon Heavy. Oh, and on that rocket was a Telsa Roadster, because why not?

Elon Musk shared the last image of the Roadster — equipped with a “Starman” at the wheel — before it spends the rest of eternity somewhere in space. Kind of haunting, kind of beautiful. May he ride forever, and not be blown to bits. 

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Nissan used the ProPILOT technology used in its semi-autonomous vehicles to build “self-driving” slippers. The slippers feature a motor and wheels  that sink into the sole once stepped into. The sandals are currently being used at the ProPILOT Park Ryokan, a hotel in Japan, for its guest. Guest are expected to take off their shoes in the lobby and put on the slippers, which can be returned at the touch of a button.  Read more…

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Bots, bots, everywhere, but nothing good to click. 

As the social media networks of the world engage in a performative struggle to become good for people’s well being, they have been simultaneously peppered with questions about bots on their respective platforms. The automated accounts degrade the user experience and poison the well, the argument goes, and calls to cull them from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have only grown since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 

The bots, however, are very much here to stay.  Read more…

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For the next three weeks the autonomous vehicle industry will be in overdrive. Waymo and Uber, the two biggest leaders in self-driving car technology, are battling it out in court.

The trial over driverless car trade secrets started Monday in San Francisco’s U.S. District Court exposing some of the inner workings of the rival companies. Waymo, a spin-out company from Google’s parents company, Alphabet, has to prove Uber took and used trade secrets for its self-driving car program, along with proving the trade secrets are actually that — secret.

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People around the United States are taking on a new challenge: photographing models in Hobby Lobby. 

They’re creating gorgeous portraits with some careful posing, a lot of editing, and the craft store’s stock of fake plants.

Kelsey Maggart started the trend in late January, when she took the “Ugly Location Challenge” to Hobby Lobby. Her photoshoot inspired other models and photographers to attempt the challenge.

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