Apple Acquisitions

"Apple buys a company every three to four weeks"

Iceberg Misconceptions

"You're Drawing Icebergs All Wrong"

Juanita Moody And The Cuban Missle Crisis

"The Once-Classified Tale of Juanita Moody: The Woman Who Helped Avert a Nuclear War"

Fry's Gone

"Fry's Electronics is shutting its doors for good"

The Bayesian Trap

Video: "The Bayesian Trap"

3D-Printed Firearms Update

"3D-Printed Guns Are Getting More Capable and Accessible"

Bad Prison Software

"Software bugs reportedly keep Arizona inmates jailed past release dates"

Ice Cycling

"This guy replaced his bike wheels with circular saws so he could ride on a frozen lake." (Via H.R.)

Queen's Gambit Re-Imagined

"The Queen's Gambit, but for Children's Board Games".

My favorite:

 

Art Heists

"The 25 Greatest Art Heists of All Time"

Mammoth DNA

"Oldest DNA Sequenced Yet Comes From Million-Year-Old Mammoths"

Ten Years Ago

See what the Internet looked like 10 years ago.

SawStop Explained

"The Table Saw That Won't Cut Your Fingers Off".

Includes an informative video:

xkcd On mRNA Vaccines

xkcd explains mRNA vaccines using Star Wars.

Chicxulub Update

"Did Jupiter kill the dinosaurs?"

Ransomware Is A Growth "Industry"

"Ransomware gangs made at least $350 million in 2020. The figure represents a 311% increase over ransomware payments recorded the previous your, in 2019."

Untrustworthy Watchers

"A Home Security Worker Hacked Into Surveillance Systems to Watch People Have Sex":

Telesforo Aviles, 35, pleaded guilty to a count of computer fraud in federal court this week, confessing that he inappropriately accessed the accounts of customers some 9,600 times over the course of several years. He is alleged to have done this to over 200 customers.

Authorities say that the IT technician “took note of which homes had attractive women, then repeatedly logged into these customers’ accounts in order to view their footage for sexual gratification.” He did this by adding his personal email address to customer accounts, which ultimately hooked him into “real-time access to the video feeds from their homes.”

 

Simpsons Intro Remix

"The Simpsons Intro Recreated Using Stock Footage".

 Actually, quite well done! 

Gaming Pigs

"Pigs can play video games with their snouts, scientists find".

 

Deception Detection

"Humans Are Pretty Lousy Lie Detectors"

3-D Printed Steak

"Israel's Aleph Farms unveils 3D-printed ribeye steak"

Bitcoin Energy Consumption

Just wondering -- did this terrible thing happen in 2020?

Anti-Filming Hack

"Cops playing copyrighted music to stop video of them being posted online":

On several occasions, cops have started playing popular music when they realize they're being filmed. The odd behavior has a point: they hope that copyright-strike algorithms on YouTube, Instagram and other social media sites will prevent the video being posted and shared. The latest example...

Don't Swallow Your Airpods

"Man swallows AirPod while sleeping; X-ray discovers it lodged in his esophagus"

French Government Allows Workers To Eat At Their Desks

COVID must be getting bad in France: "The Labor Ministry says it will allow French employees to eat lunch at their desks in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus, a practice previously forbidden under Article R.4428-19 of the 3,324-page French labor code..."

Three For Mars

"Three countries are due to reach Mars in the next two weeks"

Phone Lens Update

"A new lens technology is primed to jumpstart phone cameras". (Via H.R.)

Princess Bride Home Movie

"Home Movie: The Princess Bride"

In June and July of 2020, Jason Reitman directed an at-home reenactment of the entirety of The Princess Bride featuring too many notable actors to list here. It ran in 10 installments on doomed streaming platform Quibi — which is why you probably haven’t heard of it — but it is fantastic. Mixed media, multiple actors playing all the roles, Fred Savage and Cary Elwes reprising their roles from the original, the star power & talent, the fact that they got permission to do it — it’s just so weird and good. You can watch the whole thing [at this link].

Ok, ok, here’s just a few of the actors who appear: Adam Sandler (as The Grandfather), Jon Hamm (Westley), Zoe Saldana (Buttercup), Penelope Cruz (Prince Humperdinck), Pedro Pascal (Inigo Montoya), Shaquille O’Neal (Fezzik), Charlize Theron (Fezzik), Andy Serkis (Count Rugen). And Carl Reiner as The Grandfather in his final onscreen role — he died just three days after recording his part.

Direct link to YouTube video.

Legos And Coronavirus

Clever use of Legos to illustrate how the coronavirus variants interact with patient immune systems: "What's Going On With All These Coronavirus Variants? An Illustrated Guide"

 

Musk's Satellites

"Elon Musk now controls over a quarter of all active satellites"

Google Alternatives

"The complete list of alternatives to all Google products". (Via J.Z.)

3-D Printed Bones

"Ceramic-based ink enables 3D-printed bone tissue". (Via H.R.)

Singapore Police and COVID Data

"Singapore police can access COVID-19 contact tracing data for criminal investigations".

If US law enforcement agencies are allowed similar access, we'll see much more reluctance by Americans to use COVID tracking apps. 

Amazon Mountain

"First look: Amazon's jaw-dropping new HQ2 looks like a glass mountain".

 (Confession: I personally don't particular find it very appealing.)

 

Don't Reply To Spammers

"Why You Should Never 'Unsubscribe' From Illicit Spam Emails and Texts"

Doritos Ranked

"Every Flavor of Doritos, Ranked"

[Off Topic] Hsieh Forbes Column: Relaxing Regulations During A Pandemic

[Off topic] My latest Forbes piece is now out: "The Case For Relaxing Regulations During A Pandemic".

Reducing regulations can help during a pandemic. And also not during a pandemic.

Equality Failed

"CEO Secrets: 'We tried paying everyone the same salary. It failed'"

Saffron Innovation

"Saffron Tech Challenges Iranian 1,000-Year Monopoly on the Lucrative $1B Saffron Market". (Via H.R.)