As reported on The Verge. By Ellis Hamburger Researcher danah boyd talks about teens, identity, and the future of digital communication danah boyd’s SXSW keynote is sold out. When it’s over, a dozen fans rush the stage. These fans aren’t young groupies hoping to get a closer glimpse at their favorite rock star, but full-grown adults hoping to hear one more word from boyd. She’s one of the world’s sharpest authorities on how teens interact with…
As reported by The Verge. By Amar Toor As attention shifts toward Crimea’s referendum, Ukrainian activists look back on the months that changed their lives In April 1977, Ukrainian activist Myroslav Marynovych was arrested by Soviet police. He was 28 at the time, and had become an outspoken advocate for human rights, working to raise awareness about ongoing violations in what is now Ukraine. In the eyes of the Soviets, though, his work threatened to…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Gregory Ferenstein Google Chairman Eric Schmidt took a not-so-subtle swipe at tech critics who say that college is overrated. “There are various people who run around and make claims that higher education is not a good use of your time: they’re just wrong,” he told the audience at the SXSW conference, where he was on stage promoting his book The New Digital Age. The average college loan racks up $30,000worth of debt and the…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Frederic Lardinois Google drastically dropped the price for storage on Google Drive this week, to the point where it now undercuts virtually all of its competitors. At $9.99 per month for a terabyte of online storage, Google puts all of its competitors to shame, but there is more going on here than just a price war. Dropbox wants $9.99/month for 100GB, SugarSync has a $55/month plan for one terabyte of data that is shared by up…
As reported on Engadget. BY MAT SMITH In a rare interview, Apple’s VP of Design offers at least a little insight into both his thinking and how Apple makes its products. Apparently, it all starts with Jonathan Iveimagining what a new kind of product should be and what it should do. After that, the process moves on to what it should look like. Inspiration here apparently comes from, well, everywhere, from candy manufacturers to metalworkers in Northern Japan. It’s…
As reported on The Verge. By Sean Hollister And why can’t we find it? Five days ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished into thin air. With no distress calls and no warning signs, a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 227 passengers simply disappeared. Just 40 minutes after the plane departed Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with members of 14 different countries on board, it abruptly vanished from radar screens. And as of today, a massive search consisting of over…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Sarah Perez A number of startups over the years have tried to reinvent PowerPoint with services that made it easier or quicker to create a slideshow presentation. Newly launched SketchDeck is taking a different approach: Instead of providing an alternative to PowerPoint or similar software applications, it’s offering a service that enables individuals or businesses to have their slides made beautiful by a team of designers who can turn around assignments within 24…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Jonathan Shieber Goldman Sachs thinks that Bitcoin believers need to take a cold shower, drink some coffee, and sober up. In the wake of Mt. Gox’s collapse, the supposed outing of Bitcoin’s creator, and some high-profile arrests, the financial services firm has put together an exhaustive survey of “Bitcoin” and “bitcoin” and ultimately finds the technology promising but the currency wanting. The key takeaway: Bitcoin likely can’t work as a currency, but … the ledger-based technology that underlies it…
As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS If you’re an Android user traveling to the Middle East or southern Asia, you’ll likely want to grab a just-released update to Google Translate. The new app expands on a recent iOS upgrade with handwriting recognition for 13 extra languages that mostly come from the above two regions; you can now write in Arabic and Persian as well as Indian dialects like Gujarati, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. You’ll also find support…
As reported on Engadget. BY STEVE DENT We’ve seen some overly elaborate invisibility cloaks in our day, but Duke engineers have shown that lo-fi may be best for audio. After much refinement, they’ve developed a shield that can hide objects from sound waves thanks to a highly engineered pyramid shape and carefully placed holes. The stacked layers retard sound coming from any angle, so that it appears to have bounced off a flat wall when picked up by a detector…