Choose your values wisely — they will shape your life happiness and success.
Emergency ventilators, hands-free door handles, and antiviral fabric help shape the way we move forward amidst a pandemic.
Here are the Four Horsemen Threatening to End America’s Superpower Status
A fleeting glimpse of a passing spring left an indelible mark in memory and human experience: snippets of a fragmented diary about life.
Thus far, 2020 has an excellent track record with on-screen crushes.
Over the past six months, plenty of TV and film characters have won our hearts. Whether they seduced main characters center stage or existed on the periphery as background snacks, heartthrobs of all kind have filled our screens and made an otherwise tumultuous start to the decade enjoyable. We're a long way from crowning the biggest fictional catch of 2020, but no reason we can't check-in at the halfway mark to see who has got a fighting chance.
Listed in particular order (because wow, how dare you), here are 10 of the most swoon-worthy on-screen crushes we've fallen for this year. Read more...
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Image: Facebook
Facebook has shown off a new proof-of-concept virtual reality headset, and it has a completely different design than most other VR devices on the market today. Instead of a bulky contraption that covers up the top half of your face and has to be strapped to your head, this proof-of-concept headset looks kind of like a pair of large sunglasses that can sit comfortably on your ears.
Yet Facebook is billing this new device as not a pair of augmented reality glasses, as common conceptions of AR devices go, but a legitimate VR product. They’re very thin, with a display thickness of less than 9mm, and Facebook claims they have a field of view that’s “comparable to today’s consumer VR products.” Here’s a top-down view:
In Welcome to Chechnya, the third film from Academy Award nominee David France, viewers are asked to relinquish the comforts of abstraction. There's no time for sweeping shots of foreign countrysides, or graphics placing the small Russian republic on a world map. Instead, it is immediately apparent that this is a very real, very dangerous place — one that viewers, no matter how ill-prepared in their understanding of its tumultuous history, must reckon with.
The guerilla-style documentary begins with a man on the phone. David Isteev, the crisis response coordinator for the Russian LGBT Network, is speaking with a young woman using the alias “Anya.” Anya’s uncle has discovered his niece is a lesbian. If Anya does not agree to have sex with her uncle, she says, then he will tell her father. Isteev hangs up, promising Anya, “We are coming.” Read more...
More about Hbo, Lgbtq, Documentary, Chechnya, and Movie Review
Verily Life Sciences, the Alphabet-owned healthcare company, is suspending employee spot bonuses, as reported by Business Insider. The money will be funneled instead to fund diversity and inclusion initiatives. The move frustrated workers, many of whom have been working grueling hours on the company’s COVID-19 testing projects.
In a letter to management obtained by Business Insider, employees said the decision implied these initiatives are not a priority. They wrote: “The use of spot bonuses to subsidize social justice programs such as Healthy@Work for HBCUs [Historically Black colleges and universities], clinical trial recruitment of underrepresented populations, and an internal Product Inclusion group implies that these efforts are...
Facebook is cracking down on the Boogaloo movement.
On Tuesday, the social media giant announced that it was classifying a network on its platform associated with the boogaloo movement as a “dangerous organization.” As a result, this network has been banned from the platform.
The Boogaloo boys, as members are often referred, are a far right libertarian extremist movement seeking to incite a civil war in the U.S.
In a statement, Facebook said that it removed 220 Facebook accounts, 106 Facebook Groups, 28 Facebook Pages, and 95 Instagram accounts associated with the Boogaloo movement. The social network also removed 400 additional groups and 100 more pages that it said hosted content similar to that of the banned Boogaloo accounts. Read more...
More about Facebook, Social Media, Ban, Boogaloo, and Tech
“By the weekend, we were ready for our first screening.”
Well, we can't say we weren't warned.
San Diego police have turned a technology pitched on the promise of reducing traffic fatalities and tracking carbon emissions into a tool to surveil protesters. And yes, legal and tech experts saw this coming years ago.
In the midst of ongoing Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests following the killing of George Floyd, San Diego police looked to an unexpected source to gather surveillance footage: the 3,200 so-called smart streetlights installed across the city beginning in 2017. So reports Voice of San Diego, which, through public records requests, determined that in late May and early June the network of smart streetlights was accessed at least 35 times. Read more...
More about Privacy, Surveillance, Black Lives Matter, George Floyd, and Tech
NASA is pushing back the launch of it next Mars rover, called Perseverance, by a week, due to a problem with the rocket that’s supposed to send the spacecraft to the Red Planet. The rover is now slated to launch no earlier than July 30th out of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
That puts the launch of Perseverance perilously close to the end of its limited launch window, which originally spanned from July 17th to August 11th. NASA and other space agencies only have a small window of time every two years to send spacecraft to Mars, when the Red Planet comes closest to Earth on its orbit around the Sun. NASA has already pushed back the launch a few times before, to July 20th and then to July 22nd, due to issues with the ground equipment that...
A disturbing “Karen” clip drives home the dangers of caught-on-camera “everyday racism” exposés
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Watching 4K Netflix video on a Mac seems like it’s about to get much easier, as the forthcoming macOS Big Sur includes a Safari update that reportedly lets you watch Netflix in 4K, along with Dolby Vision HDR, according to a tweet from Ishan Agarwal (via 9to5Mac).
This may mark the first time that macOS users will be able to stream Netflix in 4K. Previously, streaming 4K Netflix on a computer at all required you to be on Windows and using Microsoft’s Edge browser or the Netflix Windows 10 app. That means, in theory, you could watch Netflix in 4K on a Mac via Windows in a Boot Camp partition — but just loading up Safari, which is installed with macOS Big Sur, could be a far easier option once Big Sur is released (it’s scheduled to come...
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Google Photos will no longer backup images and videos saved from folders created and managed by social media apps by default (via Android Police). Previously, Google’s photo backup platform would automatically upload all images saved to your Android or iOS device, including those files stored in folders created by apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Now, Google says that feature is turned off, and you’ll have to toggle it on for specific apps or run manual backups on specific folders.
Google is citing the surge in image sharing happening since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “People are sharing more photos and videos due to COVID-19. To save internet resources, backup & sync has been turned off for device folders created by...
TL;DR: The Brain Booster bundle is on sale for £16.23 as of June 30, saving you 97% on list price.
Your brain, like any other part of your body, needs exercise in order to operate at peak capacity.
Yes, it also needs fuel and plenty of sleep, but exercise is essential. If you're not quite sure how to mentally exercise, no worries. We've got you covered with this Brain Booster bundle.
As the name suggests, this four-course collection is designed to boost your brainpower. Each course introduces you to different aspects of your brain function and how it impacts your life. You'll start by learning new strategies to improve your memory, so maybe next time you forget your shopping list, you'll remember what you wrote on it. Read more...
More about Online Classes, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Uk, Uk Deals, and Tech
Alongside data that predictably drips with discord, I found hope. Scientists intended only to observe what transpired, but I saw hope.
A scan of why do we keep saying this, what’s wrong with it, and how to better approach it
Progressives and Conservatives are not happy with their own party Establishment. To change this, we must understand the purpose of parties…
Amazon is giving its Prime members the ability to watch TV shows and movies on Prime Video with friends using its new Watch Party feature.
The feature is slowly rolling out, according to the company, and is only available in the US right now. Watch Parties will accommodate up to 100 viewers in one group, but each person must have a US-based Prime subscription. Once inside the Watch Party, people can choose from thousands of titles, according to Amazon, including originals and licensed shows and movies.
Anything from the service’s US streaming video on demand catalog is featured. This includes originals like Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Jack Ryan, The Big Sick, The Boys, Homecoming, and My Spy, as well as licensed titles available...
President Donald Trump has been saying covertly and overtly racist stuff since before he became the president.
Now, after protests against police brutality and systemic racism swept the country, some social media companies are finally doing something about it.
In May, after Trump called for violence against protesters, Twitter took (mild) action. More companies acted after the president retweeted, and later removed, a video in which someone yelled “white power,” and more than 20 companies boycotted Facebook because it let Trump spread hate and misinformation.
Some companies banned groups that support the president. Others took action against the president's account. They probably won't be the last. As with Alex Jones' mass deplatforming in 2018, when the dominoes in a social media empire begin to fall, they all fall at once. Read more...
More about Trump, Hate Speech, Content Moderation, Tech, and Social Media Companies
Mirror
Lululemon, the company behind trendy fitness apparel, is getting into the hardware business with Mirror. The fitness lifestyle company announced on Monday it would spend $500 million to acquire the startup, which sells a $1,495 reflective display so subscribers can exercise while simultaneously streaming workouts and watching themselves.
The apparel company’s CEO Calvin McDonald tells The New York Times the purchase is about “strengthening our community and our loyalty and our relationship with our guests and memberships.” He also noted that Mirror comes with its own revenue model, which he and the team are “excited about.”
The Times says Mirror expects to bring in over...
Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began a series of test flights on Monday to determine whether the 737 Max should be allowed back in the air, after it was involved in two deadly crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019. The tests are expected to last around three days.
“While the certification flights are an important milestone, a number of key tasks remain,” the FAA said in a statement. “The FAA is following a deliberate process and will take the time it needs to thoroughly review Boeing’s work. We will lift the grounding order only after we are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards.”
Part of Monday’s test flights, which happened in the Seattle area, reportedly involved taking the plane...
America Already Has the World’s Worst Coronavirus Numbers. And They’re Getting Exponentially Worse. By the Day.
The filmed original cast performance of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton is now only a moment away, due to land on Disney+ on July 3. To tide over eager fans as they wait for it, Disney has just released a sneak peek of Renée Elise Goldsberry's Angelica Schuyler performing her iconic song "Satisfied."
The unexpectedly heartbreaking song is one of the musical's most lauded numbers — which is saying a lot considering the entire production won near universal critical and audience acclaim. The performance of "Satisfied" is a defining moment in Hamilton, so it's thrilling that so many people will finally get to see it as it was originally staged. Read more...
More about Lin Manuel Miranda, Hamilton, Musical, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and Disney
And 8 simple strategies you utilize to handle negative people in your life
