A timeless quote from Tolstoy: "The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Tolstoy on Difficulty, 1897
Playing video games makes you happy, say scientists working with EA and Nintendo
A paper out of Oxford University, "Video game play is positively correlated with well-being", reports that playing video games makes you happy. The study tracked 518 players of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and 2,756 players of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Key findings include: • Actual amount of time spent playing was a small… READ THE REST
Germany's new COVID-19 spot is very clever and funny, stay-at-home couch potatoes are national heroes
"Our couch was the front line and our patience was our weapon." Absolutely amazing coronavirus 'stay at home' spot from the German government, above. You might not think of humor as an effective way to drive home the message that staying at home helps slow the spread of COVID-19. But that's what's most amazing about… READ THE REST
Herzog's new film Fireball, all about meteorites, premieres tomorrow
Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, premiering tomorrow on Apple TV+, is filmmaker Werner Herzog and geoscientist Clive Oppenheimer's new documentary about meteorites, their impact (heh) on culture, and the existential threat that a giant meteor could mean the end of humanity. From The Guardian: Weird things spring up in the blast radius. The shock and awe… READ THE REST
The DeliverySafe is the ultimate foil for porch pirates and it could save your holidays
With everyone stuck in COVID quarantine for much of the year, online sales for Amazon and other retailers have gone through the roof. That means more and more packages coming right to your door, to the sheer delight of a more loathsome brand of COVID opportunist: the porch pirate. Thieves taking off with delivered packages… READ THE REST
Become a machine learning aficionado with this training bundle
In the past few days, the U.S. Air Force rolled out new tools fueled by machine learning to help stem the spread of misinformation about COVID. Additionally, the Library of Congress has launched a project on how to use machine learning to better cross-reference all 170 million items in its overflowing archives. Every day, we… READ THE REST
This portable USB charger can get an Apple Watch back to full power on the go
The Apple Watch is a great addition to any tech arsenal–until it runs out of juice, that is. Then, you have to go about the process of recharging. Of course, the Apple Watch only recharges via wireless charging, meaning it can sometimes end up being pretty inconvenient to power up, especially if you're out and… READ THE REST