Here's video from a debate I participated in at last summer's Howthelightgetsin festival in Wales, with the BBC's Kate Russell and Steve Fuller, an advocate for creationism and transhumanism, who said some pretty silly things, as you might expect.
Can technology become a force for global equality, or is the future destined to remain unfair?
Watch the incredible sales video for Rockwell Automation's Retroencabulator
This 1997 pitch for Rockwell Automation's Retroencabulator makes me feel like an idiot for not already owning one. The technology improves upon a 1944 machine called the turboencabulator: The original machine had a base plate of prefabulated amulite, surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing in such a way that the two main spurving bearings were… READ THE REST
Lou Ottens, inventor of the cassette tape, RIP
Lou Ottens, who in 1963 invented the cassette tape while an engineer at Philips, has died. He was 94. I'm glad that he lived to see the cassette resurgence of recent years. From NPR: The cassette tape was Ottens' answer to the large reel-to-reel tapes that provided high-quality sound but were seen as too clunky… READ THE REST
Parler wanted Donald Trump, who demanded an ownership stake, which didn't happen
A scoop from Buzzfeed News: "Parler wanted Donald Trump on its site. Trump's company wanted an ownership stake. Here's the exclusive story of their negotiation." Parler is the chat app founded in 2018 by former college roommates John Matze and Jared Thomson, and Rebekah Mercer, the right-wing political donor and daughter of hedge fund magnate… READ THE REST
Score a refurbished HP ProBook x360 laptop for almost 50% off right now
If you're in the market for a laptop, it's tough out there. Between companies producing incredibly similar models with only slight tweaks and variations and shoppers starved for reliable sources of information to make sense of it all, you practically have to be a computer science major to untangle what's what. And when shoppers get confused… READ THE REST
This cool 3D build toy sparks creativity and key tech learning for youngsters
If you've ever seen a 3D printer in action, you know it's a pretty wondrous process. Even if you're crafting nothing more than a plastic bauble or a geometric shape, just watching that filament settle and build into something recognizable and useful is fairly awe-inspiring. And man, to a kid…it's like a miracle. And they really,… READ THE REST
Jumpspeak uses AI to make you a better Spanish speaker on Day 1
High school Spanish class is permanently embroidered into most of our brains. Vocabulary quizzes. Verb conjugation drills. Language lab. It's all tattooed on our souls like it happened yesterday, right? Estudiantes. Escuchen. Language learning doesn't have to be like that. Instead of being trapped in endless repetitions and dry academic book learning, Jumpspeak wants to… READ THE REST