We’ve covered how to ask, or not ask, for free professional advice: Don’t say “Can I pick your brain?” and do make a specific, realistic request. But when you’re on the other side of the tiny café table, take Quartz’s thoughtful advice on how to get your brain picked.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Handle a Request to ‘Pick Your Brain’
In a new report from Pro Publica, Facebook apologized for inconsistently policing hate speech on its platform. Pro Publica reporters submitted 49 samples of posts from users who believed moderators made the wrong call, either by removing legitimate expression or by allowing hate speech to remain online. In 22 of those…
Source: Gizmodo – Facebook Admits Its Censors Are Failing to Consistently Define Hate Speech
The fourth weekly release candidate of Wine 3.0 is now available for testing…
Source: Phoronix – Wine 3.0-RC4 Released With One Dozen Fixes
In case you needed further proof that people really, really, really like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), Steam has your back. Today, the game shattered its previous concurrent-players record by more than double the amount, peaking at 3,106,358…
Source: Engadget – ‘PUBG’ sets new record with three million simultaneous players
These textile works of art are bursting with soft corals, algae and more.
Source: TreeHugger – Artist’s earth-inspired rugs feature luxurious landscapes
Note: Larger version HERE in case you want to make an I Spy game out of it or something.
This is a shot from the International Space Station of the crew watching Star Wars: The Last Jedi while bungee corded to their theater seats, drink bags in hand. Man, that must have been one hell of a way to watch the movie. I mean, sure, you don’t get the giant screen and wicked surround sound and all, BUT YOU’RE IN SPACE. That has to add an extra level of realism to the movie. Plus when someone asks what you thought of the film you can tell them you saw it in space. Then when they say that doesn’t answer the question you can tell them they’re not an astronaut, they wouldn’t understand. Haha, man, astronauts are kinda dicks.
Thanks to Patrice, who plans on being one of the first humans to watch a movie on the moon. Save me a seat!
Source: Geekologie – A Shot Of The Crew Aboard The International Space Station Watching The New Star Wars
It’s not just tech giants like Amazon or corporate behemoths like Walmart that are hoping to reduce the need for checkout lines. Kroger is expanding its Scan, Bag, Go self-checkout technology from a handful of stores in the Cincinnati area (which hav…
Source: Engadget – Kroger is the next grocery chain hoping to cut checkout lines
Earlier this month we reported that Venezuelan President Maduro planed to introduce a cryptocurrency named the “petro” backed by oil, gas, and other resources in Venezuela. Now it appears this is about to come true because the communications minister just announced it will be released in the next few days. Venezula plans to back their cryptocurrency with 5.342B barrels of oil worth $267B. Keep you eyes peeled, speculators.
The government appears to be hoping the petro will offset a collapse in Venezuela’s currency – 97 percent in one year against the U.S. dollar on the black market – and isolate the country from the U.S. dollar and Washington.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Venezuela to Release Petro Cryptocurrency Within Days
We downloaded, we installed, we played. We nominated, we debated, we decided. Here, in alphabetical order, are Kotaku’s top 12 video games of 2017.
Source: Gizmodo – The 12 Best Video Games Of 2017
When we rounded up our staff’s Weekly Upgrades last Friday, our editors were honing our crossword skills, finally getting eyeliner right, cutting down on tab clutter, and buying clothing for our pets.
Source: LifeHacker – Get a Set of Speakers Just for Your Bathroom
Apple’s new store on the Chicago riverfront has received plaudits for its design. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin called it “thrillingly transparent, elegantly understated, and a boon to the city’s riverfront.” But in designing Apple’s latest “statement” store, which features a large open plaza and a roof reminiscent of a MacBook, London-based architects Foster + Partners appear to have overlooked one crucial detail: Chicago winters.
As Matt Maldre at Spudart points out, the lack of gutters on the roof has forced Apple to close off the plaza surrounding the store. Not only is there a risk of snow falling off the sloped roof, there are some nasty-looking icicles hanging there as well.
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Source: Ars Technica – Apple Store designers appear to have forgotten about Chicago winters
Apple may have apologized for the confusion surrounding its intentional slow down of older iPhones to balance battery life and performance, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s happening. If your iPhone is out of warranty and you don’t want to…
Source: Engadget – iFixit discounts iPhone battery replacement kits amid Apple backlash
Loren Grush, writing for The Verge: Next year is already overflowing with exciting missions to space. NASA is launching a new lander to Mars, as well as a spacecraft that will get closer to the Sun than ever before. And two of NASA’s vehicles already in space will finally arrive at their intended targets: one will rendezvous with a nearby asteroid, while another will pass by a distant space rock billions of miles from Earth. But it’s not just NASA that has a busy year ahead; the commercial space industry has a number of significant test flights planned, and the launch of one of the world’s most anticipated rockets, the Falcon Heavy, is slated for early 2018. And if all goes well, people may finally ride to space on private vehicles. Here’s the complete list.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – The Biggest Rocket Launches and Space Missions We’re Looking Forward To in 2018
Congress has done, well, basically nothing to ensure that the 2018 midterm elections won’t be in some way compromised by hackers, even though almost every lawmaker is adamant nothing could be more important than securing the vote. Making matters worse, it now appears that even states willing to accept the federal…
Source: Gizmodo – States May Have to Wait Nine Months for Federal Help Securing Election Systems
This is a video of 30-years of experience safari guide Alan McSmith somehow managing to not get trampled by a charging elephant, maintaining his composure while the elephant lumbers straight at him hoping to scare him away. I made the mistake of watching the video on the projector here at work, and now I regret not going to the bathroom before. “Did you make a stinky?” What are you, a new parent? I shit my pants, yes. Now can somebody call their mom and ask her to bring me another pair? “Why don’t you call your own mom?” Why the hell do you think? “Because that would be the second time this week and you’re trying to convince her you’re a big boy so she’ll let you get a scooter?” Did she tell you that?!
Keep going for the whole video, complete with multiple charges.
Source: Geekologie – Balls Of Steel: Man Stares Down Elephant Charge
It was a big year here at Lifehacker. Together, we tried to save the bees, got hacked, stared right into the sun, ate gross chain restaurant food, and hid from nuclear bombs. These are our most popular stories from 2017.
Source: LifeHacker – The Most Popular Posts of 2017
Enlarge / Rice County Courthouse in Faribault, MN. (credit: AlexiusHoratius)
A 14-year-old girl is facing charges in Minnesota juvenile courts that could lead to her being placed on a sex offender registry—all for taking a nude selfie and sending it to a boy at her school. Prosecutors say that she violated Minnesota’s child pornography statute, which bans distributing sexually explicit pictures of underaged subjects.
But a legal brief filed this week by the ACLU of Minnesota says that this is ridiculous. Charging a teenager for taking a nude selfie means the state is charging the supposed victim—an absurd result that the legislature can’t have intended when it passed Minnesota’s child pornography statute, the ACLU argues.
The case is being heard by a juvenile court in Rice County—about an hour south of the Twin Cities. Because this is juvenile court, there’s a lot we don’t know including the name of the teenager. We don’t even know if the selfie in question was a photo or a video.
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Source: Ars Technica – Child porn law goes nuts: 14-year-old girl charged for nude selfie
In an article published today in TechCrunch, US Representative Rick Crawford called for a change in how elected officials engage with their constituents on social networks. He compared current options like Facebook and Twitter to a constituent trying…
Source: Engadget – US Representative calls for civics-focused social networks
I have bad news for you If you’ve been wanting a Pixel C and were just holding out for a bit longer. The Pixel C has been dropped from the Google Store. It’s not clear at this time what this means for Google and android tablets, but it could mean Google is done with this market and plans to push Chrome OS from now on. Only time will tell.
The Pixel C was an odd device. By all accounts, the hardware was originally intended to run Chrome OS, but Google couldn’t get the platform ready for an all-touch device in time. So, the Pixel C became an Android slate. Google has been selling the device continuously since late 2015.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Goggle Store Drops Pixel C
PUBG has set a new record of 3M concurrent players on Steam. However, to further put this number in perspective, 1.5M bans have been handed out since it’s been out. I can’t believe how popular it is and it just keeps growing and growing. However, I haven’t tried it, but I’ll give it shot sometime when it’s polished up. Tell me about your experiences now that it’s overrun with players. Check out the tweet from Steam about the number of players.
Alongside the concurrent player record it’s hit another, more worrisome milestone: 1.5 million players banned. Cheating has been a problem for a long time in PUBG and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds Sets a Record of 3M Concurrent Players on Steam
