As reported on LifeHacker. by Thorin Klosowski 6 Common Tech Myths That Cost You Money Ever scoff at someone for buying refurbished? Or found yourself dropping $40 on an HDMI cable? We all hear (and spread) tech myths to mostly harmless ends, but in some cases those myths end up costing you a lot of money. Here are a few of the worst offenders. Technology myths spread through a number of channels. Perhaps it’s as…
As reported on LifeHacker. by Roger S. Gil Denial may be the biggest way we lie to ourselves. While it can help, we often do more harm than good when we refuse to accept the truth and enable maladaptive behaviors and relationships. Here’s how denial works, how it affects your choices, and what you can do to fix the problem. What Is Denial? Full size Denial is a psychological defense mechanism that helps a person…
As reported on Wired. BY BRANDON KEIM Many people know Benoît Mandelbrot from the computer screensavers of a pre-LCD era. Others have a deeper understanding of his mathematics, the repeating geometries that earned him the sobriquetFather of Fractals. Less appreciated, though, is the process underlying his work: Mandelbrot relied as much for guidance on visual imagery as whiteboard formulae. Primitive computer printouts were his maps to uncharted mathematical terrain, their dot-matrix patterns a “here be dragons”…
As reported on Wired. BY NATHAN MATTISE Black Angel was screened before Empire back in 1980. Then it disappeared. Photo: Courtesy of Rogers Christian It’s been a legend on geeky message boards for decades: a beautiful sword-and-sorcery flick made by a key person behind Star Wars. Many distinctly remembered seeing it as children, but no one could track it down. Well, it turns out the mythical movie really does exist and will be back in circulation soon. The 25-minute…
As reported on The Verge. By Dan Seifert Google’s Project Glass product, the company’s venture into wearable computing, was officially unveiled over half a year ago at the Google I/O conference. Since then, we haven’t heard much from Google about the device, but today IEEE Spectrum published an interview with Babak Parviz, head of the project at Google. Parviz didn’t reveal too much that we didn’t already know, but he did lend a few details about Google’s intentions for Glass…
As reported on Businessinsider.com by Alex Davies TSA Every day, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screens about 1.8 million passengers, along with all of their luggage. Those searches produce a lot of interesting results. Every week, dozens of firearms are found, along with inert grenades, cleverly-concealed knives, exotic animals, throwing stars, and a surprising number of swords hidden in canes. The TSA blog posts a weekly roundup of various and interesting prohibited items its agents discover. From…
As reported on TechCrunch. by GREGORY FERENSTEIN Never before have I binged on so many delicious desserts, yet been stronger or more ripped. For 3 weeks, I experimented with a cult bodybuilding diet, Carb Backloading, which promises outcomes too good to be true: slam carbs at night after heavy lifting, get slimmer and build muscle. Like all web sensations, there aren’t any large scale studies, and anecdotal reviews never properly control for all the right variables. Thankfully, a new…
As reported on TechCrunch. by RYAN LAWLER I’m just wrapping up a week-long road trip, in which a travel companion and I visited some friends in Southern California. We hit up a few different spots along the way, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Palm Springs. Not a crazy trip, but enough wandering around to go to a few places I’d never been to. The thing that amazes me about our…
As reported on TechCrunch. by MICHAEL ARRINGTON It’s just about 2013 and I gotta say, I’m a little bored. At least, the blogger in me is. As an investor things are just peachy. All this panic about overpriced consumer startups has led to a nice softening of the market (periodic reports ofBlubbles are great for that). And other sectors, like business to business, is still under capitalized v. the consumer sector. But as a consumer and observer…
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…