Day: December 27, 2012
Article
Striking Photos Of The Devastated Rockaways Two Months After Sandy
As reported on Businessinsider.com by Daniel Goodman Daniel Goodman / Business Insider Nearly two months after Hurricane Sandy, the devasted community of Rockaway Beach, N.Y. is still reeling. Pieces of the boardwalk are littered across the beach, homes need to be cleaned in full hazmat gear, and insurance claims are only just starting to get resolved if at all. Click here to see photos > Many people we spoke to said they felt let down…
Culture Story
13 Former Criminals Who Turned Their Life Around
As reported on Businessinsider.com by Vivian Giang and Samantha Cortez Everyone deserves a second chance. And ex-criminals like Frank William Abagnale — the man who inspired ‘Catch Me If You Can‘ — and rap mogul Jay-Z prove that anyone can turn their lives around if given the chance. We’ve compiled a list of 13 people — including a former Mafia member and a former target on FBI’s Most Wanted list — with inspiring stories. Former hacker Kevin Mitnick was on…
Culture
How I Learned to Rely on My Own Memory (and Stop Depending on Technology)
As reported on LifeHacker. by Thorin Klosowski The majority of us rely on “external memory” of some kind. Whether it’s calendars, to-do lists, notes, or even Google Maps, we frequently outsource our memories to paper. I wanted to see how much I could remember if I ditched all these. Here’s how it went. We talk a lot about to-do lists, and notes, but relying on moving your memory elsewhere means you spend a lot of time managing your…
Government Story
Pentagon Preps Stealth Strike Force to Counter China
As reported on Wired. BY DAVID AXE F-22s and a B-2 fly over Guam in 2009. Photo: Air Force The U.S. military has begun a staged, five-year process that will see each of its three main stealth warplane types deployed to bases near China. When the deployments are complete in 2017, Air Force F-22s and B-2s and Marine Corps F-35s could all be within striking range of America’s biggest economic rival at the same time. With Beijing now…
Games Politics Story
EA removes links to weapon companies from Medal of Honor Warfighter website
As reported on Polygon. By ALEXA RAY CORRIEA A “virtual showroom” linking Medal of Honor Warfighter to real-life products from its gunmaker marketing partners illustrates how the firearms and video game industries have “quietly forged a mutually beneficial marketing relationship,” according to The New York Times. The subpage on the official website for Medal of Honor Warfighter displayed information for the McMillan Group and Magpul, two weapon manufacturers, and allowed viewers to peruse guns, knives and other combat gear depicted in Warfighter. Magpul and…
Article
Newtown shooting and video games: Gamers, politicians and the NRA react
As reported on The Verge. By BRIAN CRECENTE The impact of violent video games on society is being reexamined in the wake of the Newtown shooting. One group of gamers called for a one-day online cease-fire in virtual warfare, a sort of gamer moment of silence. Another young gamer, in Newtown, Conn., is asking children to join him in throwing away violent video games. The National Rifle Association partially blamed violent video games and other violent entertainment for the Sandy Hook…
Entertainment TV
Smart TV owners stream video, but shun other apps
As reported on The Verge. By Kimber Streams It’s no secret that smart TVs aren’t the internet-connected living room computers that they’ve been made out to be — earlier this year, an NPD study revealed that less than half of smart TV owners even have them hooked up to the internet. A new study from the NPD shows that little has changed, and connected TV owners still aren’t using the devices to their full potential. Of those who have connected their sets…
Article
Museum of London publishes a family’s Christmas home recordings from 1902
As reported on The Verge. By T.C. Sottek Last week, the Museum of London announced that it discovered “the earliest known home recording to have been made on Christmas Day.” The phonograph recordings, from a “middle-class” family in North London, date back to 1902 and were found in wax cylinders belonging to their descendants. As museum Curator of Social and Working History Julia Hoffbrand notes, “it is extremely unusual for wax phonograph cylinders, containing retrievable recordings…
Application Story
Inside Snapchat, The Little Photo-Sharing App That Launched A Sexting Scare
As reported on TechCrunch. by JORDAN CROOK It started with an assumption, really. Snapchat, a photo-sharing application that auto-destroys images seconds after being opened, launched in September 2011 with zero media coverage. A homegrown product, built by two Stanford guys, grew to now see over 50 million snaps per day today. In fact, Facebook launched a clone of the app just Friday. It wasn’t until the company made its first milestone announcement, nine months after launch, that the media picked up…