In a post on Google+ today, Google said that it does not intend on approving any apps with facial recognition features — though it hasn't closed the door the possibility in the future. In the post, Google said "many have expressed both interest and concern around the possibilities of facial...
"We won’t be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time." Google statement
An asteroid the size of the Golden Gate Bridge (about 1.7 miles wide) is due to fly near the Earth on May 31st, that much scientists have known for a while. But what they did not know was that the asteroid, named 1998 QE2, would be bringing along...
Benny and The Pets. Crockett Man. Can You Feel the Dove Tonight. Tiny Panther. 60 Dog Years On. I Don't Wanna Doe On With You Like That. Goodbye Yellow Brick Toad.
It's a sad day for the old internet. Xanga — which has long tagged behind LiveJournal as a journaling platform — is running out of time: in a blog post, the team behind it said they'll be forced to shut the site down if they can't raise $60,000 by July 15th. "The status quo is no longer possible," says the team, revealing that the "expensive" lease on its network facility is almost up. And while the team could try to revamp the site or sell to a larger platform, they're realistic about their prospects. "The thing is, it's really hard to grow a social site that has fallen from previous heights. MySpace, Friendster, LiveJournal... lots of people have tried to resurrect these sites, and it has rarely, if ever, worked."
"Someday I would like to invent a CD that looks like a cassette." Adi Robertson, Xanga user circa 2005
It's that time! Here's at look at some of the latest trailers to make the rounds — including a peek at a familiar face with a not-so-familiar name.
Some for the family... some not
It's difficult to say how close Hulu is to being sold off to a new owner, but the bidding war is ramping up once again. Bloomberg reports that DirecTV and two other prospective buyers are each offering $1 billion or more for the video streaming service. Hulu’s board is said to be considering at least seven acquisition offers and aims to pursue talks with "three or four" of the most serious...
Earth's oceans are growing increasingly acidic, and the phenomenon is expected to produce both environmental and economic problems over the next century, according to a new study. At the center of all this is a key player in the oceanic food chain — the squid. As the acidity of seawater rises, squid will have a harder time growing and developing, according to a study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Such stunted growth would dramatically impact their crucial role as both predator and prey to other underwater life, and in the process be a detriment to the fishing and...
Microsoft launched Windows 8 on October 26th, with a volley of new hardware designed for the touch-based interface. Just 12 months after an early Windows 8 Release Preview, Microsoft is now keen to talk about some upcoming changes in an update named Windows 8.1. Originally codenamed Blue, Windows 8.1 sets the pace for changes to Microsoft's software that will continue in the future for both the ARM (RT) and x86 versions of the OS.
We've seen hints thanks to some leaks, but there are a whole host of additions and improvements that make some fundamental changes to Windows 8. The Start button makes its rumored return, as Microsoft has...
The Queen of Snakes has a lot going for it. It's a simple and fun point-and-click adventure game with an absolutely stunning comic book art style, as well as a treasure hunting theme that elicits some very strong Indiana Jones vibes. You'll explore a labyrinth temple full of secrets, treasures, puzzles, and of course snakes, and you might even stumble across a famous adventurer along the way. The actual gameplay is standard adventure game...
Why did it have to be snakes?
Rdio is following Spotify's introduction of its Discover feature this week with some new music discoverability features of its own. The streaming music service announced five new features plus a redesigned "Now Playing" section that applies the design of its mobile apps to the desktop. New users...
In early May Trent Wolbe traveled to the High End trade show in Munich, Germany. This is part one of a two part series exploring the cutting edge of audiophile technology.
Every American should be required to tour the eight distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail before they are allowed to...
Decades ago, Atari produced a legendarily awful video game based on E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. According to reports from the time, the game was such a flop that Atari was left with millions of unsold and unsellable copies, marking a fatal turning...
Jamen Shively spent six years working at Microsoft, where he served as corporate strategy manager before leaving the company in 2009. Now, he's set his sights on an entirely different industry — legal marijuana.
This week, Shively announced plans to create the first...
The number of wind power installations connected to the electrical grid in the US has exploded in recent years, driven in part by government tax credits for renewables, but all of them have been confined to land so far. That changed today, when North America's first-ever offshore wind turbine,...
In June 2011, a Silicon Valley startup released a well received iOS app named Fanhattan to serve as a central place for finding streaming video. More recently, Fanhattan brought its service to the web. But it turns out the apps were something of a feint — for its entire existence the company has been secretly working on its own media-streaming device, and after two years Fanhattan is showing it to the world.
T...
The open source web browser Camino is no longer in development, after landing on Macs about a decade ago. Camino's developers felt that it had fallen behind modern browsers like Chrome and Firefox, and that continuing to slowly develop the browser...
What’s in your bag? is a recurring feature where we ask people to tell us a bit more about their everyday gadgets by opening their bags and...
Google's attempts to fight FBI National Security Letters, controversial requests to hand over user data without telling them and without getting a search warrant, aren't going so well. A US...
4K Ultra High-Definition TVs are already on their way to our living rooms, but Asus is planning on giving users the option to connect a next-gen monitor up to their laptops and desktops next month....
Amid a myriad of Twitter account and website hackings, two-step verification has become an increasingly popular inclusion: just in the last ten days, both Evernote and Twitter have begun rolling it...
While others search for life on distant planets, one company is using satellite imagery to identify human features back on earth. German design specialist Onformative has created a new project...
A number of design firms have drawn up plans for new a Penn Station and Madison Square Garden as part of campaign to rebuild the complex. Renowned...
LG's Nexus 4 is now available in white from Google Play and T-Mobile. The white variant of the stock Android handset was announced on Tuesday and was said to be rolling out globally in "the coming weeks," but after just three days it's already made its way to the US. If you purchase the phone from Google's Play Store, the company will throw in a free bumper case.
Apart from the new color and...
People of Los Angeles — do you like to party? Do you like free booze? Do you enjoy fist-pumping to beats by DJ Trent? Oh, and what about video games, do you like those as well?
If you answered yes to even just one of those questions you're in luck — The Verge and Polygon are kicking off E3...
