Science, Tech and Gadgets

Amid Rolling Blackouts, California Gets the World's Biggest Battery In the past week, millions of Californians have lost power in rolling blackouts in response to a punishing heat wave. As much as conservatives love to yell about how this shows renewable energy isn’t reliable, that’s simply not true. Read more... Go to Source

WordPress to Add In-App Purchases Because Apple Won't Let it Push Updates Otherwise Hot damn, Apple’s really gunning for the title of “most despised tech company,” huh?Read more... Go to Source

Aukey's Svelte Basix Pro Power Bank Wirelessly Charges My Finicky Phone on the Go Aukey Basix Pro Wireless Charger | $41 | Amazon | Clip CouponRead more... Go to Source

Mods? MODS!?: Facebook's QAnon Ban Is Too Little Too Late Content and moderation decisions by tech companies are increasingly the focus of unending kicking and screaming—to the point where it’s now essentially a campaign plank for at least one of the U.S.’s major political parties. The likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Google are also trying to convince the public how well…Read more... Go to Source

Fun Game Ruined by Reality I love video games. The popular battle royale game Fortnite, however, is not one of them. That’s probably a good thing for the planet because new data shows that the game is really carbon-intensive. Sorry to my 11-year-old nephew and millions of others, though, who play.Read more... Go to Source

Apple Strikes Back By Making Epic Games Look Like Jackasses, But It Seems to Have Backfired Apple is claiming that Epic Games asked for a “special deal” to bypass its in-app purchase policies in a filing it released today. According to CNBC, former Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller, now a Fellow with the company, said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney asked “for a ‘side letter’ from Apple that would create…Read more... Go to Source

Add the Prospect of ‘Gigafires’ to Your List of 2020 Horrors On top of the global pandemic and increasingly nightmarish election race, good chunks of the country are spending the last bits of their summer dealing with one of the most brutal wildfire seasons to date. So brutal, in fact, experts turning to new words to describe just how unprecedented this year’s California…Read more... Go to Source

What to Know About Covid-19 and Frozen Foods Scientists are seriously investigating the possibility that refrigerated and frozen meat could be contaminated with the coronavirus that causes covid-19. Officials in New Zealand and China have even speculated that imported frozen foods could be behind recent local cases, but, for now, there’s no good evidence that…Read more... Go to Source

One of the Best Ryzen Motherboards Is Back In Stock MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WiFi Motherboard | $220 | NeweggRead more... Go to Source

Do Not Be Stupid and Buy a $10,000 iPhone Just to Play Fortnite—Try These Alternatives Instead With Apple having booted Fortnite from the App Store, many iPhone users may now be looking for an alternate way to get their Victory Royale. But whatever you do, I implore you, please don’t drop a ton of money on eBay to buy an iPhone with a previously installed version of Fortnite.Read more... Go to Source

Peninsula's Yeon Sang-ho on How Zombie Movies Can Bring Us Hope Amid Real-Life Horrors Peninsula, the sequel to 2016 South Korean zombie sensation Train to Busan, is out today, and if you were a fan of its predecessor—or are just a fan of thrilling, post-apocalyptic, flesh-chomping action—it’s a must-watch. We got a chance to chat with director Yeon Sang-ho to learn even more about his latest.Read more... Go to Source

Check Out NASA's New Toy: A Full-Scale Replica of Blue Origin’s Lunar Lander A team led by Blue Origin has delivered a full-scale mockup of the lunar lander that could carry NASA astronauts to the Moon in 2024.Read more... Go to Source

http://youtu.be/Uw_bweN_90E Rise. and. shine! Get up and seize the day! You can do anything under the sun...when the sun powers everything. Your phone, your home, and all that's in between. This is life on the golden grid. But is it the utopia we thought it would be? In 2018, the state of California passed a law requiring all new houses to be built with solar panels after 2020. Now you might think that sounds both extreme and unfair, considering it will raise home prices by as much as $12,000. But it's a lot more sensible than you think. Transcript and sources: https://insh.world/science/what-if-all-houses-were-covered-with-solar-panels/ Made possible with the support of Ontario Creates http://www.ontariocreates.ca Watch more what-if scenarios: Planet Earth: https://www.youtube.com/wa...

If You Have An Older Relative With Dementia Who Still Wants To Drive, This May Be A Kind Solution As a human, or at least as a primate close enough to human, I have the same anxieties about aging as anyone. As a gearhead, there’s the extra element of dread at knowing that, at some point, I will just be too damn old to drive in a safe way. And you know, not into a Safeway, which may be a possibility. For parents or…Read more... Go to Source

Look at What You Started, Epic—Now Everyone's Saying Screw the Apple Tax Major news organizations are joining Epic Games in the push for Apple to rethink its app store terms following Fortnite’s high-profile ban this month.Read more... Go to Source

Google's Limiting Third-Party Camera Apps on Android 11 to Keep Their Mitts Off Your Location Data With Android 11, Google’s forcing all apps to use the device’s built-in camera app—as opposed to whatever third-party camera app you may have set as your default—when snapping photos or taking video in order to better protect users’ location data, a company rep told the Verge on Thursday.Read more... Go to Source

The Best Breathable Face Masks, According to Our Readers Let’s talk about it, folks. This week’s Co-op called for breathable face masks, and with my own personal stance on the matter, I knew there’d be some friction between us. I know many are worried about their health in these times, but can we also accept that others aren’t interested in rooting in either extreme side of…Read more... Go to Source

Stranger Things Is Getting a Socially Distant Drive-Through Haunted House The scariest part is knowing you can’t leave your car. Netflix has teamed up with Fever and Secret Cinema to debut a drive-through immersive Stranger Things adventure in Los Angeles this October, where fans will experience nostalgia and frights from the Upside Down...from the safety of their vehicle. Read more... Go to Source

Donald Trump Will Not Rest Until He Can Block Randos on Twitter How much does Donald Trump hate getting dunked on in his Twitter replies? So much so that amidst unprecedented global and domestic crises which you’d imagine would be more pressing concerns, he’s brought his fight against a handful of civilians on Twitter all the way up to the highest court in the land. Today,…Read more... Go to Source

Search Your Feelings, You Know Lego's Empire Strikes Back Anniversary Set to Be Cool Yes, it can be fun when Lego’s Star Wars sets are ginormous, hyper-detailed monstrosities that vaporize our bank accounts like Death Stars vaporize Alderaanians. But there’s something to be said about the company taking one small, iconic moment, and turning it into a cool little set.Read more... Go to Source

This Keyboard Will Quell All Your MacBook Keyboard Woes, and It's $10 off at B&H Photo Logitech K380 Bluetooth Keyboard | $30 | B&H PhotoRead more... Go to Source

Lyft Really Did It Lyft announced Thursday its ceasing operations in California, yanking the rug out from under its riders and drivers in the region.Read more... Go to Source

At Least I Can Get Pot Delivered Are you a frontline worker dealing with new stresses or irresponsible management? Is working (or not working) from home starting to take a psychological toll? How are you coping with reopening? Submit a story using this Google form or send me an email with the subject line “My Covid Story”…Read more... Go to Source

Stop Paying the Apple Tax The Apple tax is no joke, but neither is a typical Apple owner’s fear of popping open their systems and feeding their Mac some extra-delicious low-cost memory. But here’s the thing: If you pay Apple for RAM that you can install yourself, you’re wasting money. Full stop.Read more... Go to Source

Is Border Patrol Arresting Firefighters in California During Wildfire Season? An official with U.S. Border Patrol sent out a tweet on Tuesday, claiming the agency had arrested ten “illegal aliens” in El Centro, California after some were allegedly caught with fake Social Security numbers. Strangely, the Border Patrol official said the suspects had claimed to be firefighters who were certified…Read more... Go to Source

Seiko's Street Fighter-Inspired Watches Celebrate All the Right Moves Hadouken! Seiko and Capcom have teamed up to bring us an entire line-up of watches inspired by the beefy players in the Street Fighter saga. The watches, now available for pre-order in the U.S., feature color schemes and clever nods to the original video game characters. Not content to just show you these timepieces…Read more... Go to Source

Home Theater Hoarders, Meet the HDMI Switcher Whether you’re looking to swap between a streaming box and video game console or you’re looking for a way to manage multiple high-end pieces of equipment, HDMI switchers are a boon for anyone who values an effortless home theater setup. It’s a massive pain to manually swap out HDMI cords every time you want to use a…Read more... Go to Source