Thursday, February 22, 2024

Technology News and More-Friday Edition

Technology News and More...





AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are down – here's what we know about the US outages
500+TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 17h
A major cellphone outage has hit the US, with thousands of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile customers complaining about a lack of mobile signal and internet. The issues appeared to start at around 3.30am ET, according to Downdetector , with AT&T seemingly the hardest hit. At the time of writing, over 35,000 AT&T customers have reported problems with the network, with that number on the rise. The main h


Get more from your rewards with these transfer bonuses — including a new Virgin Atlantic offer from Citi
4KThe Points Guy / 8h
Citi is a TPG advertising partner. If you truly want to maximize your points and miles, periodic transfer bonuses can offer lucrative opportunities for fantastic award redemptions . You can sometimes get significantly more value from your rewards by transferring them to a specific airline or hotel partner during one of these bonuses. However, these are limited-time offers. We’ve compiled the tran




Twitter/X staff ignored Elon Musk's orders, prevented an FTC violation200+Mashable / 20h
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has found that Twitter/X owner Elon Musk gave staff orders that would have violated a FTC consent decree on privacy and security — if they'd been carried out. It turns out that the only reason Twitter/X remained in compliance was because its staff disobeyed their then-CEO. In an open letter to House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan published on Wednesday, FTC chair



The Galaxy Book4 is open for pre-orders; here are 5 features I'm excited about
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 40min
Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 series is available for pre-order and its product listing shows off features that either weren’t known until now or were only hinted at. We’ve briefly covered the laptop line in months prior. Back in December , some of the hardware specs for the Galaxy Book4 Ultra came out. They revealed the model would house a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card and a 2TB SSD. That batch


Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for February 23
Mashable / 2h
Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle . As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for Feb. 23's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. Where did Wordle co




Five Takeaways From The Times’s Investigation Into Child Influencers
36NYT > Technology / 2h
Mothers are running Instagram accounts for underage girls aspiring to stardom. Many encounter a dark underworld dominated by men, including pedophiles.


AT&T Says Outage Wasn't Cyberattack Despite Widespread Conspiracy Theories Online
Gizmodo / 2h
AT&T issued a statement Thursday night to explain that the telecom’s widespread network outage earlier in the day wasn’t caused by a cyberattack. Countless conspiracy theories emerged online Thursday morning as people naturally wondered why they’d lost service—theories that will hopefully be put to rest as AT&T… Read more...


A Marketplace of Girl Influencers Managed by Moms and Stalked by Men
90NYT > Technology / 2h
Seeking social media stardom for their underage daughters, mothers post images of them on Instagram. The accounts draw men sexually attracted to children, and they sometimes pay to see more.


NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for February 23
Mashable / 3h
Connections is the latest New York Times word game that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle , Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle. If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the e



Vice Media stops publishing on site and cuts jobs
200+BBC News / 3h
Vice Media Group filed for bankruptcy in May and was bought by Fortress Investment Group.


A little US company makes history by landing on the Moon
83Ars Technica - All content / 3h
Enlarge / Odysseus passes over the near side of the Moon following lunar orbit insertion on February 21. (credit: Intuitive Machines) For the first time in more than half a century, a US-built spacecraft has made a soft landing on the Moon. There was high drama and plenty of intrigue on Thursday evening as Intuitive Machines attempted to land its Odysseus spacecraft in a small crater not all that


UnitedHealth says Change Healthcare hacked by nation state, as pharmacy outages drag on
25TechCrunch / 4h
U.S. health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group said Thursday in a filing with government regulators that its subsidiary Change Healthcare was compromised likely by government-backed hackers. In a filing Thursday, UHG blamed the ongoing cybersecurity incident affecting Change Healthcare on suspected nation state hackers but said it had no timeframe for when its systems would be […] © 2024 TechCrun


Here Are the Secret Locations of ShotSpotter Gunfire Sensors
52Wired / 4h
The locations of microphones used to detect gunshots have been kept hidden from police and the public. A WIRED analysis of leaked coordinates confirms arguments critics have made against the technology.


Jeff Bezos’ New Glenn rocket finally makes an appearance on the launch pad
Ars Technica - All content / 4h
Enlarge / Dave Limp, Blue Origin's new CEO, and founder Jeff Bezos observe the New Glenn rocket on its launch pad Wednesday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. (credit: Jeff Bezos via Instagram ) Anyone who has tracked the development of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket has been waiting for signs of progress from the usually secretive space company. On Wednesday, engineers rolled a full


U.S. company makes history with first commercial moon landing
100+Mashable / 4h
A small American company's robotic spacecraft has brought the United States back to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than a half-century. Intuitive Machines , a Houston-based space company, landed on Thursday, becoming the first commercial company to reach the moon intact. The unprecedented achievement is a win for NASA , which has invested $2.6 billion in contracts with Intuiti


The Odysseus has become the first US spacecraft to land on the moon in 50 years
53Engadget / 4h
The Odysseus spacecraft made by Houston-based Intuitive Machines has successfully landed on the surface of the moon. It marks the first time a spacecraft from a private company has landed on the lunar surface, and it’s the first US-made craft to reach the moon since the Apollo missions. Odysseus was carrying NASA instruments, which the space agency said would be used to help prepare for future cr


Reddit’s IPO Filing Is Missing Something: Cofounder Alexis Ohanian
24Wired / 4h
Only one of Reddit’s two cofounders is named in a new filing that puts the company weeks away from going public. Ohanian and Steve Huffman, now CEO, fell out in 2020.


Elon Musk's Battle with Swedish Unions Is Now Impacting Tesla's Charging Stations
Gizmodo / 4h
For the past several months, Tesla has been locked in a battle of wills with the labor unions of Sweden. The company’s refusal to ratify a collective bargaining agreement with a small number of workers associated with the Swedish union IF Metall has led to boycotts by other regional unions, turning what should have… Read more...


Odysseus Lander Touches Down on the Moon
Gizmodo / 5h
Intuitive Machines landed its Odysseus spacecraft on the Moon on Thursday at 6:23 p.m. ET, becoming the first private company to pull off a soft landing on the lunar surface. Read more...


10 Tasty Horror Movies (Including Thanksgiving) Streaming on Netflix
Gizmodo / 5h
Thanksgiving is killing it on Netflix —it’s currently ranked among the streamer’s top flicks. When one horror film does well , that’s great news for the genre at large, so if you head to the streamer for John Carver’s merry Massachusetts massacre, why not stick around and feast on these other titles, too? Read more...


Tumblr CEO publicly spars with trans user over account ban, revealing private account names in the process
TechCrunch / 5h
Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Tumblr owner Automattic, is supposed to be on sabbatical. Instead, he’s arguing with Tumblr users over an individual content moderation decision, which has sparked communitywide outcry and accusations of transphobia. Over the last few days, the situation escalated to the point that Mullenweg has engaged with the user in question on […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved


Crypto users in Nigeria briefly lose access to Binance, Kraken and Coinbase
TechCrunch / 5h
Some cryptocurrency exchanges in Nigeria faced accessibility issues for users, prompting speculation of imposed restrictions on crypto sites, the Financial Times reported. On Wednesday, local media reported that Nigeria’s telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), received instructions from the country’s apex bank to suspend access to crypto websites, including Binance, Coin


Quordle today – hints and answers for Friday, February 23 (game #760)
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 5h
It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I'm still playing now, around two years after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it's fun, but also difficult. What's more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keep


The Private Moon Lander Has Safely Touched Down on the Moon
90Futurism / 5h
Land Ho! Intuitive Machines' NASA-funded lunar lander, Odysseus, hit some issues during its final approach to the lunar surface: when the sensors it intended to use during its final approach failed, the team opted to use an experimental NASA payload instead. But the gambit appears to have paid off: at about 6:38pm, the livestream reported that it was receiving a signal from the lander indicating


OpenAI's Video-Generating AI Is "Doomed to Failure," Says Meta's Top AI Scientist
Futurism / 5h
Pixel Imperfect Sora, OpenAI's new AI model for generating video, has become the talk of the town since its release last week . But Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta, doesn't think the much-hyped text-to-video model is all that. In particular, LeCun takes issue with OpenAI's claims that its work with Sora will eventually enable the building of "general purpose simulators of the physical worl


The 'mind-bending' bionic arm powered by AI
BBC News / 5h
BBC Click reporter Paul Carter tries out a high-tech prosthetic promising a 'full range of human motion'.


China tech firm claimed it could hack Foreign Office
BBC News / 5h
A Chinese company claimed it had the ability to hack the UK's Foreign Office, leaked documents suggest.


Why some cyber-attacks hit harder than others
BBC News / 5h
The British Library has been hobbled for months by a cyber-attack and experts warn of similar damage ahead.


Dave Bautista Opens Up About His Relationship With Denis Villeneuve
Gizmodo / 5h
Read more...


Maximize Your Miles: Master the Two-Card Strategy Every Smart Traveler Uses
View from the Wing / 5h
Maximizing credit card rewards requires a strategic two-card approach, focusing on cards that offer more than one point per dollar on spending and allow point combining across different reward programs. Continue reading ...


Netflix's 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' hid a spirited reference in the marketplace


Mashable / 5h
Netflix's live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender is brimming with applause-worthy cameos and Easter eggs that will turn fans into Pointing Rick Dalton . And in the third episode of the series, "Omashu," there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it detail lurking in the background. About 45 minutes in, Prince Zuko (Dallas James Liu) and Uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) are standing in the bustl


Intuitive Machines makes history by landing the first commercial spacecraft on the moon
42TechCrunch / 5h
Intuitive Machines has landed a spacecraft on the lunar surface, in a historic first for a private company. Flight controllers confirmed the landing at 5:23 p.m. CST, though the exact condition of the spacecraft is unclear as engineers work to refine their signal with the lander. “What we can confirm without a doubt is that […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Reddit files for IPO and will let some longtime users buy shares
50Engadget / 5h
After years of speculation, Reddit has officially filed paperwork for an Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The company, which plans to use RDDT as its ticker symbol, will also allow some longtime users to participate by buying shares. In a note shared in the company’s S-1 filing with the SEC, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said that many longtime users already feel a “deep sense o


Stable Diffusion 3 is a new AI image generator that won't mess up text in pictures, its makers claim
20Engadget / 6h
Stability AI, the startup behind Stable Diffusion, the tool that uses generative AI to create images from text prompts, revealed Stable Diffusion 3, a next-generation model, on Thursday. Stability AI claimed that the new model, which isn’t widely available yet, improves image quality, works better with prompts containing multiple subjects, and can more accurate text as part of the generated image


Battlefront's New Classic Collection Is a Chance to Return to the Deadliest Bridge in Star Wars History
Gizmodo / 6h
What is the most brutal battlefront in Star Wars history—the sands of Geonosis? The harsh icewinds of Hoth? The teddy bear-infused terror of Endor’s forests? The dark nights of Umbara? The answer we’re looking for was delivered 20 years ago in one of the all-time classic Star Wars games : this bridge. Read more...


Private Lunar Lander Hits Unexpected Issues During White-Knuckles Descent
63Futurism / 6h
Update: The lander has successfully touched down on the lunar surface. Final Countdown Things were looking promising as Intuitive Machines' NASA-sponsored lunar lander Odysseus prepared for its final approach and touchdown on the Moon this week. In the final hour as the landing approaches, though, there are signs that things aren't going according to plan as the spacecraft hits unexpected issues.


Tinder Signs Deal to License ChatGPT
90Futurism / 6h
Tying the Knot Tinder parent company Match Group, which also owns other popular dating apps like OkCupid and Hinge, is fully embracing the artificial intelligence craze — and in light of the many insane ways users have already made use of AI on its platforms, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. On Wednesday, the conglomerate announced a deal with OpenAI to use its large language model ChatGPT. Whi


The Google Pixel Fold 2 could come with a radical redesign
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 6h
The rumored Google Pixel Fold 2 could sport a significantly different design to its predecessor by ditching the camera visor and potentially taking the phone in a new direction. That’s going by claimed renders of the next-generation Pixel Fold shared by reliable leaker @OnLeaks in collaboration with SmartPrix , which shows off a new design that tracks with supposed photos of a prototype Pixel Fol


Ransomware associated with LockBit still spreading 2 days after server takedown
3 TTPs•
Ars Technica - All content / 6h
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images ) Two days after an international team of authorities struck a major blow at LockBit , one of the Internet’s most prolific ransomware syndicates, researchers have detected a new round of attacks that are installing malware associated with the group. The attacks, detected in the past 24 hours, are exploiting two critical vulnerabilities in ScreenConnect , a remote des


ISPs keep giving false broadband coverage data to the FCC, groups say
34Ars Technica - All content / 6h
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Andrey Denisyuk) Internet service providers are still providing false coverage information to the Federal Communications Commission, and the FCC process for challenging errors isn't good enough to handle all the false claims, the agency was told by several groups this week. The latest complaints focus on fixed wireless providers that offer home Internet service via


Use ‘Spicetify’ to Give Spotify a Visual Makeover
LifeHacker / 6h
Spotify isn't all that customizable straight out of the box. The home screen is populated by a combination of your recent listening and whatever the company is hoping to promote at the moment (right now it's audiobooks). There's not a lot you can do to change how the app looks and behaves. But if customization is important to you, Spicetify is a great little tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux tha


The Best Exercises for Beefier, More Powerful Hamstrings
LifeHacker / 6h
For strong, powerful legs, you need to work both your quads (on the front of your thighs), and hamstrings (on the back). For the quads, squats are a given. But what are the best exercises to hit the hammies? Read on for a breakdown of how to work this muscle and my picks for the best moves. What the hamstrings are and what they do The hamstrings are the muscles on the back of your thighs. I was a


Reddit moves forward with share listing plan
BBC News / 7h
The filing offers a glimpse of the company's efforts to turn online popularity into profit.


Apple reveals new details about Spotify’s business as possible EU fine nears
TechCrunch / 7h
With the European Commission set to rule on Spotify’s complaint focused on competition in the streaming music market, there are hints that the ruling will not be in Apple’s favor. This week, the Financial Times reported the EC will issue its first-ever fine against the tech giant for allegedly breaking EU law over competition in […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Gareth Edwards Dropped Everything to Be Jurassic World's Next Director
Gizmodo / 7h
The news that Gareth Edwards was scooped up by Universal to direct the upcoming Jurassic World feature shook the internet just a few days ago. During a Q&A after a recent screening of The Creator hosted by Collider, the filmmaker dished a bit on his new gig in the Jurassic franchise . Read more...


Reddit says it’s made $203M so far licensing its data
22TechCrunch / 7h
Reddit’s prospects as it barrels toward a stock market listing have a lot more to do with relationships with AI vendors such as OpenAI than one might expect. In its IPO prospectus filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Reddit repeatedly emphasized how much it thinks it stands to gain — and has […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


TrueBlue deals: Spring flights to Mexico, Caribbean for as little as 4K points one-way
24The Points Guy / 7h
If you’re in the market for a warm-weather destination in the final weeks of winter or plotting a spring break trip, you may want to check your stash of JetBlue TrueBlue points. JetBlue is offering some pretty intriguing late winter and early spring deals to places like Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. In some cases, you may be able to find a one-way flight to a destination like Cancun,


These are the best (and worst) days to fly for spring break in 2024
The Points Guy / 7h
We all deserve a getaway after surviving the cold, wintry weather much of the country has been dealing with for the past few months. Even if you live somewhere that doesn’t see cold temperatures, spring break is the perfect time to get out and explore the world. After all, there is only so much time to maximize your annual PTO days or take advantage of school breaks. Related: These are the 15 bes


Indian Drugmakers Whipping Up Generic Versions of Wegovy
Futurism / 7h
Pharmaceutical manufacturers in India are looking to cash in on the weight loss injection craze by making their own version of Wegovy — but they'll have to compete with all the marketplaces selling it off-brand. As Reuters reports , the weight loss market is ripe for new blood considering that Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy and its diabetes sister drug Ozempic, and Eli Lilly, which makes the a


CrossOver 24 Improves Windows Apps on Mac & Linux (And It’s on Sale)
How-To Geek / 7h
CrossOver is a popular compatibility layer for Windows applications on Mac, Linux, and Chromebooks, based on the Wine project. CrossOver 24 has just been released, with some great usability improvements and significant upgrades to app and game compatibility.


The Best Earbuds for Under $150
Gizmodo / 7h
Upgrading to a better pair of buds doesn’t always require splurging. If you’re looking for a modest, no-frills pair of buds that checks most of the must-haves list, we have a few recommendations for you for $150 or under. The must-haves list can be decent audio, a comfortable fit, intuitive controls, a battery that… Read more...


Google pauses Gemini’s ability to generate people after overcorrecting for diversity in historical images
100+Engadget / 7h
Google said Thursday it’s pausing its Gemini chatbot’s ability to generate people. The move comes after viral social posts showed the AI tool overcorrecting for diversity, producing “historical” images of Nazis, America’s Founding Fathers and the Pope as people of color. “We’re already working to address recent issues with Gemini’s image generation feature,” Google posted on X ( via The New York


JetBlue Is Shrinking So Much, It Will Start Paying Pilots Not To Fly
43View from the Wing / 7h
Just a few months ago, JetBlue had a big plan for growth. Now they're shrinking quickly. They offered buy out packages to non-union employees to reduce staff count . And now they're offering to pay pilots not to fly. Continue reading ...


Amazon Finally Sells a Proper Smart Home Control Panel
How-To Geek / 7h
It's about a decade overdue, but Amazon finally sells a smart home control panel. The wall-mountable Echo Hub costs $180 and provides direct access to all of your smart home devices, including Echo speakers and smart displays.


How to Decide Between a Juicer and a Blender
LifeHacker / 7h
Kitchen appliances seem to gain more and more functionality each year, and with that, the lines can blur. Two appliances that might seem similar and equally capable (some look nearly identical) are the juicer and blender, but they’re actually quite different. Before you start shopping, consider the differences between these machines. It’s pretty likely that one will serve you better than the othe


Intel’s CEO Says AI Is the Key to the Company’s Comeback
46Wired / 7h
Pat Gelsinger says that Intel’s renewed investment in cutting-edge manufacturing technology will allow it to become a leading supplier of AI chips. Microsoft is already onboard.


Stability announces Stable Diffusion 3, a next-gen AI image generator
Ars Technica - All content / 7h
Enlarge / Stable Diffusion 3 generation with the prompt: studio photograph closeup of a chameleon over a black background. (credit: Stability AI ) On Thursday, Stability AI announced Stable Diffusion 3, an open-weights next-generation image-synthesis model. It follows its predecessors by reportedly generating detailed, multi-subject images with improved quality and accuracy in text generation. Th


Nvidia’s new app doesn’t require you to log in to update your GPU driver
31Ars Technica - All content / 7h
Enlarge (credit: Nvidia) Nvidia has announced a public beta of a new app for Windows, one that does a few useful things and one big thing. The new app combines the functions of three apps you'd previously have to hunt through—the Nvidia Control Panel, GeForce Experience, and RTX Experience—into one app. Setting display preferences on games and seeing exactly how each notch between "Performance" a


As China Expands Its Hacking Operations, a Vulnerability Emerges
54NYT > Technology / 7h
New revelations underscore the degree to which China has ignored, or evaded, U.S. efforts to curb its extensive computer infiltration efforts.


Intuitive Machines Lunar Landing SUCCESS
Next Big Future / 8h
Intuitive Machines will have a livestream of the IM-1 lunar landing time has hit and there has been a communication issue. They are rebooting the ground transmitter. 3:33 PST Signs of life. Tracking a return signal. Successful Landing confirmed at about 3:35 PST Flight controllers chose to exercise an additional orbit before starting the IM-1 ... Read more


TWA Hotel owner plans to turn London’s BT Tower into a hotel
The Points Guy / 8h
A hotel is coming to London’s famed BT Tower, but you’ll need to wait a few years to check in. MCR, a U.S.-based hotel ownership group that owns the TWA Hotel at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), has a purchase agreement for the 620-foot BT Tower in London’s Fitzrovia neighborhood. BT Group, the building’s seller, announced the deal was worth 275 million British pounds


Riker's Hometown Wants to Put a Perfectly Postured Statue Up in His Name
97Gizmodo / 8h
Captain Kirk has one. Captain Janeway has one . If Star Trek fans are going to insist on slowly but surely getting every major character a landmark in their hometown-to-be, Jonathan Frakes ’ legendary Will Riker is certainly up there as a priority—especially one that celebrates his most iconic tactical maneuver. Read more...


Reddit files to go public — at last
44TechCrunch / 8h
Social media giant Reddit filed to go public today. Its long-awaited S-1 filing will see it approach the public markets potentially at the head of a long column of richly valued technology startups and private companies that need to find an exit this year. The timing of Reddit’s IPO is not a surprise. The company’s got […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


No, Google Isn’t Sunsetting Gmail
42Gizmodo / 8h
Have you seen a claim on social media that Google is “sunsetting” Gmail this coming August? What appears to be a screenshot from an official Google announcement has gone viral on X, but it’s completely fake. Read more...


Lawsuit Accuses Dating Apps of Intentionally Addicting Users
Futurism / 8h
Game-Set-Match A class action lawsuit filed against Match — the parent company that owns the dating apps Tinder, Hinge, and The League — accuses the dating app giant of purposefully getting users hooked to the apps, The Washington Post reports . The suit, filed in California, argues that Match gamifies its apps to the point that they become addictive, ultimately disincentivizing users from forsak


Etihad Guest announces major changes to award redemptions, elite status and more
The Points Guy / 8h
Etihad Airways announced a wide range of changes coming to its Etihad Guest loyalty program starting in June 2024. There are some winners and losers under the new system. Etihad Guest is an under-the-radar frequent flyer program, and customers can usually find valuable partner sweet spots on its published award charts. For example, some TPG staffers prefer to book American Airlines flights throug


American’s Brilliant Evil Gambit To Undermine Travel Agents With AAdvantage Business
View from the Wing / 8h
When American Airlines announced the AAdvantage Business program, an odd quick was that you would only be able to earn in AAdvantage Business if you booked directly through American Airlines. But travel agents could still add an AAdvantage Business number to the reservation. This was.. odd? And then the big reveal that AAdvantage Business customers would be exempt from the ban on mileage-earning


AT&T Says Service Is Restored After Widespread Cellular Outage
500+NYT > Technology / 8h
White House officials said the incident was under investigation, but it did not appear to be a cyberattack. Verizon and T-Mobile said their networks were operating normally.


Snapchat isn’t liable for connecting 12-year-old to convicted sex offenders
Ars Technica - All content / 8h
Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg ) A judge has dismissed a complaint from a parent and guardian of a girl, now 15, who was sexually assaulted when she was 12 years old after Snapchat recommended that she connect with convicted sex offenders. According to the court filing, the abuse that the girl, C.O., experienced on Snapchat happened soon after she signed up for the app in 20


LockBit registered nearly 200 "affiliates" over the past two years
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 8h
More information about the business operations of the LockBit ransomware gang have emerged, a day after the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) and partners were able to apparently disrupt the group and deface its leak site . According to The Register , the NCA found 187 groups and individuals registered inside the LockBit affiliate portal. LockBit operated on a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, i


Reddit Files to Go Public, in First Social Media IPO in Years
25NYT > Technology / 8h
The message board site, founded in 2005, detailed its financial performance in a filing. It is the last of an early generation of social media companies to aim for a public offering.


United to become first US airline to resume Israel flights
The Points Guy / 9h
United Airlines is set to resume Israel service early next month. The Chicago-based carrier announced Wednesday that it would become the first U.S. airline to resume flights to Tel Aviv, following the suspension of service related to the war between Israel and Hamas. United, which has historically been the largest U.S. airline serving Israel, scrapped all of its Tel Aviv flights in the wake of Ha


Hyatt special offer: Earn up to 21,000 bonus points on stays through April
500+The Points Guy / 9h
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. World of Hyatt has launched another promotion called Bonus Journeys , which allows World of Hyatt members to earn 3,000 bonus points for every three eligible nights completed for stays between March 1 and April 30. Plus, World of Hyatt Credit Card members can earn an additional 1,000 bonus points, up to 7,


Apple's rumored foldable device could be a tablet or laptop instead of an iPhone, according to a new report
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 9h
There have been rumors of a foldable Apple iPhone since at least 2023, with many reports asserting that it would be coming in 2026 . However, a new rumor has made its way through the grapevine which could put the kibosh on a foldable phone. A Taiwanese supply chain source (reported on by MacRumors ) stated that Apple has been working on this foldable device for five years and that it’s actually a


Google Chatbot’s A.I. Images Put People of Color in Nazi-Era Uniforms
45NYT > Technology / 9h
The company has suspended Gemini’s ability to generate human images while it vowed to fix the historical inaccuracy.


Disney Reveals a New Look at Splash Mountain's Princess and the Frog Makeover
Gizmodo / 9h
Spring break is almost upon us—so here’s what’s going on at theme parks and major tourist destinations as we go into the new year of vacation travel . Read more...


Glued Blades Are the Oldest Ever Found in Europe—and They Weren't Made by Us
34Gizmodo / 9h
A trove of Neanderthal tools made between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago were forged with glue, according to a team of researchers that recently studied the objects. Read more...


Try These Alternatives to SMART Goals to Get More Done
LifeHacker / 9h
SMART goals are a helpful way to turn your ideas and to-dos into actionable plans, but if you work on a larger team or need to track more ambitious, long-term goals, SMART might not be the best method to turn to. Depending on your needs and workflow, other goal-tracking methods, like FAST and PACT, may be a better fit. What are SMART goals? When should you use them? SMART goals are specific, meas


Is Using LinkedIn’s 'Open to Work' Badge Helping or Hurting Your Job Search?
LifeHacker / 9h
Current job seekers have access to an unprecedented array of programs, platforms, and other online tools designed to make the tedious and time-consuming task of finding employment a little easier. Unfortunately, knowing how and when to use them isn't always straightforward. Take LinkedIn's "Open to Work" feature , for example. Starting in 2020 , the platform's users have been able to add a green


Ahead of testing, Blue Origin raises New Glenn on the launch pad for first time
24TechCrunch / 9h
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin raised a test version of its massive orbital rocket on its launch pad for the first time Wednesday, inaugurating the start of a major test campaign ahead of the first launch later this year. The test version of the rocket is all Blue Origin hardware, but not all of it will […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Nvidia could keep making gaming GPUs thanks to Microsoft and Intel's new deal
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 9h
For those who have been worried about Nvidia’s eventual departure from the graphics card market, the partnership between Microsoft and Intel could keep the manufacturer of the most popular cards still in the game – which is great news for gamers. Microsoft and Intel announced a landmark deal during the Intel Foundry event that would see the latter manufacture custom chips for the former. The deal


Lawsuits Piling Up Against Stanley Cups Due to Lead Content
29Futurism / 9h
Pedal to the Lead-al The Stanley cup lead drama continues apace — and now, legal proceedings are underway. As HuffPost reports , there are at least three lawsuits targeting Pacific Market International (PMI), the company that's owned Stanley since 2002, related to recent revelations about the lead contents in the mug-maker's viral Quencher tumblers, which sell for $40 to 50 new. In the aftermath


NVIDIA Is Simplifying Its Mess of PC Apps
How-To Geek / 9h
NVIDIA's GeForce Experience and Control Panel are merging into a single, unified app. Available today in beta, the new NVIDIA app provides driver updates, per-game settings, a reworked gaming overlay, new AI-powered filters, and more.


Google’s ‘Woke’ Image Generator Shows the Limitations of AI
76Wired / 9h
Google has hit pause on Gemini’s ability to generate images of people after a far-right backlash to its historical depictions.


Leak Reveals the Unusual Path of ‘Urgent’ Russian Threat Warning
50Wired / 9h
The US Congress was preparing to vote on a key foreign surveillance program last week. Then a wild Russian threat appeared.


Reddit is licensing its content to Google to help train its AI models
65Engadget / 9h
Google has struck a deal with Reddit that will allow the search engine maker to train its AI models on Reddit’s vast catalog of user-generated content, the two companies announced. Under the arrangement, Google will get access to Reddit’s Data API, which will help the company “better understand” content from the site. The deal also provides Google with a valuable source of content it can use to t


Why does my iPhone say SOS? What it means – and how to set up Wi-Fi calling
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 9h
If you’re an iPhone owner currently living in a major American city, you may see the words “SOS only” on your status bar. You’re probably not the only one, because at the time of this writing, the US is recovering from a major cellphone outage leaving tens of thousands without service. This outage hit one of the US' largest wireless providers: AT&T (it's unclear if any other service was offline o


Our favorite free audio editor finally gets AI capabilities thanks to Intel — Audacity gets OpenVINO as it eyes next step for Audio.com and its own DAW capabilities
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 9h
Massively popular audio editing tool Audacity is getting a major upgrade thanks to Intel. The tech giant has developed a suite of OpenVINO plugins for Audacity, bringing a number of AI-powered editing features to the software. These AI plugins, which run entirely on your PC, include noise suppression and transcription for spoken word content, and generation and separation plugins for music. Windo


Are you eligible for a new Marriott Bonvoy card? This chart tells you yes or no
86The Points Guy / 9h
Editor’s note: This post is regularly updated with new information and offers. When Marriott acquired Starwood Preferred Guest a few years ago, it merged three separate loyalty programs — SPG, Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Marriott Rewards — into Marriott Bonvoy , becoming a massive rewards program with a global footprint of hotels and resorts. This streamlined branding has helped minimize confusion,


The POSEC Method Is a Better Way to Structure Your Time
LifeHacker / 9h
Managing your time throughout the day is key to getting everything accomplished, but it’s easier said than done. Try the POSEC method, which mirrors Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs to give you a daily outline that leaves room for fulfillment—which, in turn, will keep you motivated. What is the POSEC method? First of all, the conventional wisdom of the internet claims that this method was inven


OnlyFans is the most lucrative side hustle, tax service shows
67Mashable / 9h
In not-so-surprising news, OnlyFans is a pretty lucrative side hustle. Keeper, a tax-filing service focused on freelance workers, found OnlyFans had the highest median income of the top side hustles. It found the median annual income was $4,995. For comparison's sake, the most popular side hustle — DoorDash — had a median annual income of $2,636. SEE ALSO: Diary of an OnlyFans queen at AVN Delive


Gboard on Android Can Now Type from Scanned Text
How-To Geek / 9h
Optical character recognition, or OCR for short, is nothing new. We've had it for years, and aside from the occasional accuracy improvement, how we use it has mostly remained the same. We can identify text from photos, translate it, or use it to kick off a web search. Gboard, the default keyboard on many Android phones and tablets, is adding a handy new feature that takes advantage of OCR.


From Fish Pie to Mac & Cheese Misery: Is This The Worst Airline Meal Ever Served?
View from the Wing / 10h
A travel blogger’s meal on China Eastern is being called the “worst meal after” after being served “mac and cheese topped with shrimp and ‘slimy’ mushrooms'” for breakfast. Nicola Easterby, “Polka Dot Passport,” described her “bad smelling” fish pie and then things got worse. Nicola and James were given ‘bad smelling’ tuna fish pie accompanied by vegetable couscous and a pear and ricotta crumble,


Why Nimona Got Saved From Disney to Become an Oscar Contender
100+Gizmodo / 10h
Nimona went from being a movie that was almost certainly lost to the ether to an Oscar nominee —a story as miraculous as the sumptuous, wildly inventive, and queer as hell film turned out to be when we finally got to see it on Netflix. But it was only allowed to do so when Annapurna helped bring the project out of the… Read more...


FTC bans antivirus giant Avast from selling its users’ browsing data to advertisers
25TechCrunch / 10h
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday said it will ban the antivirus giant Avast from selling consumers’ web browsing data to advertisers after Avast claimed its products would prevent its users from online tracking. Avast also settled the federal regulator’s charges for $16.5 million, which the FTC said will provide redress for Avast’s users […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. F


Sony’s PS VR2 is getting compatibility, possibly by end of year
TechCrunch / 10h
PlayStation VR often gets overlooked in conversations about mixed reality. These days, it seems all anyone wants to talk about is Apple Vision Pro versus Meta Quest. But Sony has been an enduring presence in VR for years now, throughout the industry’s various ups and downs (mostly downs, if we’re being honest here). The Japanese […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Photo
Music, Arts & Literature / 10h



Google Pay App Is Finally Shutting Down in the U.S.
31How-To Geek / 10h
Between the confusing name changes and having two apps with a similar function, Google Pay will finally shut down in the United States later this summer. Google Wallet will replace it entirely.


We Talked to the Guy Who Wore a Vision Pro VR Headset at His Wedding
100+Futurism / 10h
Earlier this week, a wildly 2024 photo came across our desk: an image of a young bride standing with her groom, who's donned one of Apple's new Vision Pro headsets for their big day. The groom is notably smiling; the bride, meanwhile, looks a little less than pleased. We had to know more. Did he wear the roughly $3,500 spatial computing headset during the ceremony? Did he dream of one day strappi


Stable Diffusion 3 arrives to solidify early lead in AI imagery against Sora and Gemini
TechCrunch / 10h
Stability AI has announced Stable Diffusion 3, the latest and most powerful version of the company’s image-generating AI model. While details are scant, it’s clearly an attempt to fend off the hype around recently announced competitors from OpenAI and Google. We’ll have a more technical breakdown of all this soon, but for now you should […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use


Bluesky opens up federation, letting anyone run their own server
TechCrunch / 10h
Social network Bluesky, a competitor to X, Threads, Mastodon and others, is opening up its doors with today’s news that the network is now opening up federation, following its public launch earlier this month. The move will allow anyone to run their own server that connects to Bluesky’s network, so they can host their own […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


19 Things I Love About The Capital One Venture X Card
42View from the Wing / 10h
There’s no question that Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is the most exciting premium rewards card of the last couple of years. It has a huge up front bonus offer, strong points-earning, airport lounge access and a host of premium benefits. Here are the 19 things I’m loving about the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. Continue reading ...


The Best Ways to Furnish a Small Living Space
LifeHacker / 10h
The narrative is that Americans like everything big—our cheeseburgers, our SUVs, and, of course, our homes. But the fact is apartments have been getting smaller, dropping from an average of 941 square feet in 2012 to an average of just 887 square feet today. That’s 54 fewer square feet, or the loss of one whole small room from our lives. And it’s not just apartments—new houses have shrunk by 13%


Pick Up a Smart Thermo-Hygrometer for Under $10
How-To Geek / 10h
Take control of both the temperature and humidity in your home with the Govee's Smart Thermo-Hygrometer, currently on sale for only $8.


How to watch the moon landing live: See the Intuitive Machines landing attempt
25Mashable / 10h
We might be watching a historic moon landing today. Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 spacecraft, the uncrewed Odysseus, could potentially land on the surface of the Moon on Feb. 22 at around 4:24 p.m. ET , after an eight-day journey through space . While we can't be completely sure that the landing will be successful, on Wednesday Intuitive Machines said Odysseus "continues to be in excellent health in l


How to Make a Call When Your Cell Network Is Down
100+NYT > Technology / 10h
Step 1: Connect to Wi-Fi.


Join our free webinar to learn how to maximize business credit cards
The Points Guy / 10h
There are many ways to leverage top credit cards to unlock a variety of rewards — including “free” flights, hotel rooms or even cold, hard cash back in your pocket. However, there’s a key strategy that travelers often overlook in earning rewards: using business credit cards. And before you click away, know that you may not need to own a big, super-formal company to be eligible for a business card


Credit card sign-up bonuses you can earn with $1,000 or less in spending
The Points Guy / 10h
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. One of the biggest reasons we hear people give for not participating in the points and miles hobby is that they don’t spend enough money to earn the big bonuses offered by the most popular credit cards. And let’s be honest: some of our favorite cards definitely require a lot of spending — several thousand


Save $50 on upcoming Southwest Airlines flights with a discounted $500 gift card from Costco
41The Points Guy / 10h
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. Costco is back with another deal for Southwest Airlines flyers: Costco shoppers can save $50 on upcoming Southwest Airlines flights by purchasing a $500 Southwest gift card for $449.99 while supplies last. Deal basics COSTCO.COM Airline: Southwest How to book: Purchase the e-gift card through Costco Travel


Does Fubo’s antitrust lawsuit against ESPN, Fox, and WBD stand a chance?
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Enlarge (credit: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images ) Fubo is suing Fox Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) over their plans to launch a unified sports streaming app . Fubo, a live sports streaming service that has business relationships with the three companies, claims the firms have engaged in anticompetitive practices for years, leading


Framework's new sub-$500 modular laptop has no RAM, storage or OS
24Engadget / 10h
Framework is all about modular, upgradable laptops and now the company is offering people a more-cost effective entry point. It has dropped the price of its B-stock Factory Seconds systems (which are built with excess parts and new components). As such, it's now offering a Framework Laptop 13 barebones configuration for under $500 for the very first time. The 13-inch machine comes with an 11th-ge


Etihad Guest Worsens Mileage Expiration Policy
One Mile at a Time / 10h
Major changes are being made to the Etihad Guest program. While some of the changes are positive, there are also some negative developments, like Etihad introducing a ridiculous new award cancelation policy . That’s not the only negative change, though, as Etihad is also worsening its mileage expiration policy. Etihad Guest miles expire after 18 months without a flight As of June 2024, Etihad Gue


There’s a Playdate games showcase on February 28
Engadget / 11h
The little console that could, Playdate, is getting a developer’s showcase on February 28 at 12PM ET. Manufacturer Panic promises a 14-minute presentation chock full of new games that may or may not make use of the console’s weird little crank. We only know one game that’ll be featured at the event, but it’s a doozy. Lucas Pope, the creator behind Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn, has b


Yorba’s service is like Mint for uncluttering your entire digital life
TechCrunch / 11h
Spend enough time online, and you’ll collect a digital paper trail of accounts, logins, subscriptions, mailing lists and passwords wrapped up in data breaches. A new startup called Yorba can help you get a better handle on your ever-expanding digital footprint with the launch of its multi-purpose tool for decluttering your online life. From its […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For pers


A Buff Bill Skarsgård Seeks Wacky Post-Apocalyptic Revenge in Boy Kills World
21Gizmodo / 11h
Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd came to mainstream attention playing Pennywise in the It movies, and he’ll soon be seen as The Crow’s undead hero as well as Nosferatu’s vampire . But he’s clearly not casting aside roles that don’t involve prosthetics and make-up, as this beefy first look at Boy Kills World reveals. Read more...


Can't wait for Netflix's The Gentlemen? These 3 hit crime capers will tide you over until March
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 11h
The Gentlemen is a highly-anticipated new crime series landing on Netflix on March 7, 2024. The series comes from well-known director and screenwriter Guy Ritchie ( Snatch, Sherlock Holmes ), and it's inspired on his 2019 action movie of the same name. News of the series landed earlier this year alongside a teaser trailer , but Netflix has whet our appetites even more this week with a slick and s


Galactic Wave May Have Crossed Paths With Earth, Scientists Find
65Futurism / 11h
Chain Reaction In 2020, astronomers revealed the existence of an incredible cosmic structure right in our galactic neighborhood called the Radcliffe Wave, a wave-shaped chain of stars — and their epic clouds of gas and dust — that stretches an astonishing 9,000 light years across. Now, a new study published in the journal Nature details another revelation about this remarkable oddity: not only is


Niklaus Wirth, Visionary Software Architect, Dies at 89
85NYT > Technology / 11h
Pascal, the programming language he created in the early days of personal computing, offered a simpler alternative to other languages in use at the time.


Outrageous: New Etihad Guest Award Cancelation Fees
29One Mile at a Time / 11h
Earlier I wrote about how major changes are being made to the Etihad Guest program as of June 2024. There’s one really negative change that I missed, which applies immediately (in addition to a minor negative change ). This greatly limits the value of Etihad Guest miles, in my opinion, and limits my desire to earn or redeem miles with the program. Etihad Guest adds 25-75% award cancelation fee Et


Nikola sells abandoned electric Badger pickup truck program to friend of disgraced founder Trevor Milton
TechCrunch / 11h
Beleaguered electric trucking company Nikola has sold the Badger electric pickup truck assets it was once supposed to build with General Motors. The buyer? A new company called Embr Motors created by vehicle builder and television personality Dave “Heavy D” Sparks, one half of the former TV duo the Diesel Brothers. Embr now owns the […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use onl


'Avatar: The Last Airbender' episode 4 features a heartbreaking musical callback
Mashable / 11h
If you're an Avatar: The Last Airbender fan and have a keen ear and a penchant for heart-wrenching, melancholy moments, you might have heard a devastating musical callback in the live-action Netflix series. In episode 4, "Into the Dark," the show takes a beat to focus on the cruel impact of war. It's here we learn of the tragic loss suffered by Uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), whose son Lu Ten di


Why is your phone in SOS mode? U.S. cell services have faced outages all morning.
Mashable / 11h
UPDATE: Feb. 22, 2024, 4:02 p.m. EST T-Mobile reached out to Mashable with a comment stating that it has not experienced any network outages. Did you wake up this morning and find that your smartphone was in SOS mode? You're not alone. There appears to be a major cell service outage across the U.S. What's going on? On Thursday, hundreds of thousands of smartphone users reported trouble with their


The iPad Mini just dropped to the lowest price we've ever seen at Amazon
Mashable / 11h
SAVE $120: The Apple iPad Mini (WiFi, 256 GB) is just $529 at Amazon, marked down from the normal price of $649. That's an 18% discount and the lowest price we've ever seen at Amazon. Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPad Mini (WiFi, 256GB) $529 at Amazon (save $120) In a world of oversized electronics, sometimes a mini version is actually best. If you've been sensing that most tablets f


Galaxy AI is coming soon to other Samsung devices
Mashable / 11h
Galaxy AI is coming to more Samsung devices, and soon. On Thursday, Samsung announced that the Galaxy S23 series, S23 FE, Z Fold5, Z Flip5, and Tab S9 series are poised to get Galaxy AI in late March. Galaxy AI, a focal point of this year's Samsung Unpacked , is an AI model on newer Samsung devices that enables features like live translation, summarizing text, drafting messages, and some snazzy p


What to Consider Before Buying a New Kitchen Faucet
LifeHacker / 11h
No one thinks too hard about their kitchen faucet—until it's time to spend real money on a new one. Whether you’re installing a whole new kitchen or just looking to update around the edges by replacing your existing faucet (or your faucet betrayed you and stopped working properly), you’ve suddenly realized there are many more decisions involved in choosing a kitchen faucet than you might have ima


The 13 Best Shows and Movies for Your Dino-Obsessed Kid
LifeHacker / 11h
It frustrates my youngest son that he's still too young to watch Jurassic Park while his older brother has now seen it twice and watches the Netflix spin-off Camp Cretaceous regularly. However, the future paleontologist/astronaut/doctor/first responder (he likes jobs) can watch plenty of dino-centric content appropriate for his age, with much of it falling into the educational realm. We're Back:


What Is Reverse Wireless Charging?
How-To Geek / 11h
Wireless charging is pretty straightforward—it's charging without a wire. But reverse wireless charging, what's that?


Substack now lets writers curate a ‘network’ of recommended publications for their subscribers
TechCrunch / 11h
Substack is updating its peer-to-peer recommendation system, the company announced today. With this new update, Substack is helping writers aid other writers in expanding their reach and potentially getting more subscribers and followers, as the company is now allowing writers to curate and share a list of publications for their readers to subscribe to. In […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserv


Wi-Fi software found in many major laptops and smartphones has a major security flaw — here's what you need to know
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 11h
Many of the most popular laptops and smartphones in use today could be vulnerable to two major security flaws that could result in identity theft , data exfiltration, business email compromise (BEC) and other risks, experts have warned. This is according to cybersecurity researchers at Top10VPN and Mathy Vanhoef, who found two separate vulnerabilities - one tracked as CVE-2023-52160, and another


Can any English word be turned into a synonym for “drunk”? Not all, but many can.
54Ars Technica - All content / 11h
World's End The lads from Edgar Wright's 2013 sci-fi comedy World's End know when to start drinking and get "totally and utterly carparked." (credit: Universal Pictures) British comedian Michael McIntyre has a standard bit in his standup routines concerning the many (many!) slang terms posh British people use to describe being drunk. These include "wellied," "trousered," and "ratarsed," to name a


Conspiracy Theories Run Wild Amid Mass U.S. Cell Outage
200+Gizmodo / 11h
Wireless customers with AT&T, Cricket Wireless, T-Mobile, and Verizon all reported outages across the country this morning . And just like clockwork, some folks online pounced on the disruption as evidence of a global conspiracy. Read more...


The Boys season 4 release date has been revealed, and it'll be on Prime Video before you know it
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 11h
Fasten your seatbelts, everyone, because The Boys season 4's release date has officially been revealed. Taking to its various social media channels today (February 22), Amazon Studios confirmed its hugely popular satirical superhero series will return on Prime Video on June 13, 2024 . The reveal was made alongside a new piece of key art for The Boys ' highly-anticipated next outing, which shows o


American Adding New York To Tokyo Haneda Flights
5KOne Mile at a Time / 12h
Several weeks ago, we learned that American Airlines had been granted slots by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to operate a new nonstop flight between New York and Tokyo Haneda. There’s now an exciting update, as the details of the new route have been published, and the flight will go on sale soon. American will offer New York to Tokyo Haneda service As of June 28, 2024, Amer


Complete guide to the AAdvantage Business program
The Points Guy / 12h
American Airlines recently retired its Business Extra program and launched the new AAdvantage Business program . This new program rewards businesses and employees when they book revenue flights through American-owned channels. In this guide, we’ll discuss what you should know about the AAdvantage Business program. What is the AAdvantage Business program? The AAdvantage Business program is designe


Google Pay takes its QR soundbox to small merchants in India after trial run
22TechCrunch / 12h
Google said Thursday it plans to roll out the SoundPod, its portable speaker designed to instantly validate and announce successful payments, to small merchants across India over the coming months. The Google Pay expansion in India, where the company is among the mobile payment market leaders, comes even as the firm winds down some of […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use o


along-the-meadow-path: Vintage Book Covers on the Internet...
Music, Arts & Literature / 12h
along-the-meadow-path : Vintage Book Covers on the Internet Archive + Garnet ( X X X , X X X , X X X )


Starbucks Odyssey’s community lead sees NFTs as the best way to build brand loyalty
TechCrunch / 12h
The NFT space may be down substantially from all-time highs, but brands and loyalty programs looking to reach fans in new ways can still find value, said Steve Kaczynski, co-author of the book “The Everything Token” and community lead for Starbucks Odyssey. “Brand anchors” to gated areas like reward programs are something that companies will […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For persona


Gemini for Google Workspace is officially here — and it could be the AI-boosted help you never knew you needed
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
Google has revealed moves to make its Gemini AI platform available for businesses of all sizes as it continues its push to bring artificial intelligence to workers everywhere. As first announced a few days ago, the company has officially rebranded its Duet AI for Google Workspace offering as Gemini for Google Workspace , which will be available to businesses in two new subscription plans - "Gemin


China’s Hacker Network: What to Know About the I-Soon Document Leak
32NYT > Technology / 12h
Documents leaked on a public website show that China is hiring private hackers to obtain sensitive information from foreign companies and governments.


The best all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana for every type of traveler
100+The Points Guy / 12h
When it comes to finding the best all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic , you’re in for a treat. This Caribbean paradise offers a little something for everyone. Picture this: miles of pristine white-sand beaches, crystal-clear blue waters and a variety of resorts that cater to your every need. Punta Cana has it all, and we’re here to help you choose the perfect spot for yo


Peacemaker has received a gameplay trailer ahead of his debut in Mortal Kombat 1
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
Peacemaker, Mortal Kombat 1 's newest DLC fighter, is set to arrive in Early Access on February 28. At long last, the characters' gameplay trailer has been revealed, giving us the first look at what we can expect from the game's latest guest character. Opening with a cinematic showing off Peacemaker going up against Liu Kang, we get a glimpse at combat and what Peacemaker offers to separate him f


2XKO is the official name of Project L - the League of Legends fighting game
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
Riot's upcoming free-to-play fighting game has finally had its official title revealed; it'll be known as 2XKO. Formerly known simply as Project L, the upcoming game had its proper name revealed in a brief, minute-long trailer posted to its official YouTube channel . The trailer also gave us a first in-game look at champion Illaoi, who was previously revealed through screenshots and concept art.


Digesting the big network outage of 2024, and what carriers like AT&T got wrong
26TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
If you live in the US and you didn't get that call or text you were expecting today, it may not be your fault. AT&T experienced on Thursday an hours-long outage that, as of this writing, is ongoing (but may be quickly winding down). And by outage, we mean no cell service at all for tens of thousands of customers, mostly AT&T ones, in multiple states. I learned about it early this morning via a te


Google Shuts Down AI Image Generator After It Made "Racially Diverse Nazis"
81Futurism / 12h
Faulty Bot Google has paused its AI image generator due to its penchant for creating grossly inaccurate historical illustrations — such as, and no we are not kidding, racially diverse Nazis — that had people howling on social media. Google announced the hiatus for its Gemini AI tool in a post on the social media platform X-formerly Twitter this morning. "We're already working to address recent is


Celebrate NordVPN's birthday with 74% off a monthly subscription
Mashable / 12h
SAVE $9.60 MONTHLY: As of Feb. 22, get two years of NordVPN Standard for $3.39 a month and a free $10 Uber Eats voucher. Opens in a new window Credit: NordVPN NordVPN Standard (2 years) $3.39/month (save $9.60/month) + free $10 Uber Eats voucher If you're looking to subscribe to a VPN service , there are several big names out there that you could potentially try out. But one of the best and most


Universal Antivenom for Snake Bites Might Soon Be a Reality
28Gizmodo / 12h
We might be soon on the verge of having a super snake antivenom. In new research, a team of scientists says they’ve created a lab-made antibody geared to counteract toxic bites from a wide variety of snakes. In early tests with mice, the uber-antivenom appeared to work as intended. Read more...


Chrome's latest experimental AI feature can help you write
22Engadget / 12h
Google has added an experimental generative AI feature to its browser with the launch of Chrome M122. The new AI tool is called " Help me write ," because it can literally help you write more descriptive sentences or even full paragraphs from a short prompt. Google says the tool uses its Gemini models to understand the context of the web page you're on so that it could generate appropriate sugges


As VCs slow gaming investments, Frost Giant turns to community for fresh capital
TechCrunch / 12h
The company's decision to test the waters for an equity crowdfunding round comes after it sold several million dollars worth of goodies to its fanbase on Kickstarter earlier this year. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Almost half of adults on TikTok have never posted a video, research shows
TechCrunch / 12h
Adults on TikTok lean camera-shy, a new study from Pew Research Center suggests. A survey of 2,745 adults who use TikTok revealed that 48% of respondents have never posted a video, and a typical user hasn’t even updated their bio. It’s not abnormal to prefer lurking to making original content on social media. In fact, […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Chrome gets a built-in AI writing tool powered by Gemini
TechCrunch / 12h
Google Chrome is getting a new AI writing generator today. At its core, this Gemini-powered tool is essentially the existing “Help me write” feature from Gmail, but extended to the entire web and powered by one of Google’s latest Gemini AI models. The company first announced this new tool in January and it remains in […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


Rabbit’s Jesse Lyu hops into StrictlyVC LA on February 29
TechCrunch / 12h
We’re announcing an exciting addition to our speaker lineup for StrictlyVC Los Angeles on February 29. Jesse Lyu, founder and CEO of rabbit Inc., will be joining us and showcasing rabbit r1, the pocket-sized AI hardware assistant that took CES — and the broader news cycle — by storm last month. Lyu is an entrepreneur […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.


New ASUS Vivobook S Laptops Have RGB Keyboards And Lots of Ports
How-To Geek / 12h
ASUS sells a lot of laptops, but the Vivobook series is the company’s premium option for productivity work. The company has now revealed an updated Vivobook S lineup for 2024, with crisp OLED screens and newer processors from AMD and Intel.


How to Transfer Screenshots and Videos From Your PS5
How-To Geek / 12h
The PS5's Create button makes it easy to capture screenshots of videos while you're playing, but this media doesn't have to live on your console. Here's how to transfer your gaming memories for sharing, backup, or simply to free up space.


Google’s hidden AI diversity prompts lead to outcry over historically inaccurate images
100+Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Enlarge / Generations from Gemini AI from the prompt, "Paint me a historically accurate depiction of a medieval British king." (credit: @stratejake / X ) On Thursday morning, Google announced it was pausing its Gemini AI image-synthesis feature in response to criticism that the tool was inserting diversity into its images in a historically inaccurate way, such as depicting multi-racial Nazis and


SpaceX seeks a waiver to launch Starship “at least” nine times this year
200+Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Enlarge / SpaceX's second Starship rocket is seen on the launch pad at its Starbase facility in South Texas. (credit: SpaceX) As SpaceX nears its first Starship launch of 2024—possibly as soon as within three weeks—from its Starbase facility in South Texas, the company is pressing regulators to increase its cadence of flights. During a press availability this week, the administrator for Commercia


Mercedes-Benz scales back electric ambitions as EV pessimism grows
Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Enlarge / Mercedes-Benz's next EV will be the CLA, which makes use of the very efficient powertrain tech we tested in the Vision EQXX concept . (credit: Mercedes-Benz) Mercedes-Benz is the latest automaker to dial back its electric vehicle ambitions. In 2021, the company published its electrification plan, which called for it to sell only battery EVs from 2030, at least in countries with the infr


American Airlines to AAdvantage Business Customers: Talk To The Hand
View from the Wing / 12h
If AAdvantage Business were just a devaluation that would be one thing. But it's a massive headache. Have issues with opening an account, as many have had? Try getting any customer service. American is even telling reservations agents not to help with AAdvantage Business problems. Continue reading ...


Chrome's New Right-Click for AI Tool Will Fill the Web With Robot Writing
22Gizmodo / 12h
Google just launched a new AI Google Chrome feature that lets users right-click in any text box and fill it with words from a chatbot. It’s called “Help Me Write,” and while it might sound small, it could have a profound and permanent effect on the internet. Until this point, it took a couple of steps to spin up some… Read more...


Star Wars: The Bad Batch's Producers Tease That Huge Palpatine Connection
31Gizmodo / 12h
Right now in Star Wars, if something evil is going on, odds are it’s all part of Emperor Palpatine’s master plan . The Bad Batch has been playing with this idea as it set up its Rise of the Empire-era world across its first two seasons , but season three’s premiere made it even more explicit with the big boss showing up… Read more...


Riot's Project L fighting game is officially titled 2XKO
28Engadget / 12h
It's been a big few months for fighting games between the likes of Mortal Kombat 1, Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 all popping up. There's another would-be major player sitting in the wings though, as Riot is preparing to enter the fray. The publisher has provided an update on Project L, the long-awaited League of Legends spin-off it announced in 2019 . The fighting game now has an official name:


The best flight deals to catch a glimpse of the total solar eclipse on April 8
Mashable / 12h
This year, all eyes are on April 8. That's when a rare total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the U.S., and Canada, giving people in the right place at the right time the opportunity to witness the moon completely block out the sun. If you want in on the action, you'll need to get yourself near the path of totality (where you can see the total solar eclipse). Here are the best flight deals to


Buy bonus points and miles with these February promotions
1KThe Points Guy / 12h
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. Loyalty programs are a huge moneymaker for airlines and hotel companies because they have many revenue streams. One of these revenue streams is selling airline miles and hotel points directly to travelers. By selling points and miles, programs can get an immediate cash injection as travelers prepay for fut


What is a balance transfer?
The Points Guy / 12h
Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information. You’ve probably heard of a credit card balance transfer . But how does one work? And how could a balance transfer save you money on your next credit card bill? These are the types of questions we receive from people new to the world of credit cards, and we’ve got answers. So keep reading to find out how balance trans


These Are the Best Vegetables for a More Vibrant Spring Garden
LifeHacker / 12h
Spring is about to start springing, and while many of us are jonesing for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, there’s an entire season of vegetable gardening ahead before our nightshade friends get put into the ground. Spring is good for short crops—that is, vegetables that do well in colder weather, and don’t need a long time to harvest, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, peas, lot


Locker organizes your shopping links into virtual wish lists and collages
TechCrunch / 12h
After years of copying and pasting shopping links into spreadsheets and taking screenshots of products to share with her friends and family, Kristine Locker finally decided to launch a social shopping platform (which she named after herself) that could take her endless tabs and organize them into a shareable, virtual wish list all in one […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal us


You Can Use Your Amazon Echo Device As a Bluetooth Speaker
LifeHacker / 12h
If you have an Amazon Echo device at home, you're probably using it for its best feature—the voice assistant Alexa. However, you can use Alexa as a speaker too—it's easy enough to pair your Amazon Echo device to your smartphone or other devices. How to use Alexa as a speaker To get started, you should enable Bluetooth on your smartphone, tablet, or other device first. This process varies dependin


Microsoft is giving Windows Copilot an upgrade with Power Automate, promising to banish boring tasks thanks to AI
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 12h
Microsoft has revealed a new plug-in for Copilot , its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, named Power Automate that will enable users to (as the name suggests) automate repetitive and tedious tasks, such as creating and manipulating entries in Excel , handling PDFs, and file management. This development is part of a bigger Copilot update package that will see several new capabilities being a


Framework Is Selling B-Stock Laptops for Just $500
How-To Geek / 12h
Framework is now selling a $500 barebones configuration of its Laptop 13. It's the cheapest laptop ever offered by Framework, though it uses B-stock parts and a three-year-old Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor. And because it's a barebones "Factory Seconds" model, RAM and other components must be