Geekish

Anyone who works as a freelancer these days has to be at least a bit familiar with techie things. But it isn’t just that. When I was a kid and those vaguely SF puppet shows were on the television and all the other kids wanted to be Greg Gogetem or Steve Savetheuniverse, I wanted to be the guy in a white coat and glasses called Doc or Brains. Here are some technology-related feeds I find useful and/or entertaining.

Mashable » Delightfully well-meaning grandma doesn't understand how Uber works

Monday 1 January 23:47:03 UTC 2018

Remember a time before Uber? Your grandma does, and she's more pure than this world will ever be again. Especially reddit user ck2400's grandma, who presented her grandchild with a 2018 weekly pocket planner because she "thought this would be good for your Uber appt's." SEE ALSO: This hidden gem of a game will make you want to hug your grandpa … [Link]

Slashdot » Bitcoin Starts a New Year by Tumbling, First Time Since 2015

Monday 1 January 23:13:00 UTC 2018

Bitcoin is already having a bad year. From a report: For the first time since 2015, the cryptocurrency began a new year by tumbling, extending its slide from a record $19,511 reached on Dec. 18. The virtual coin traded at $13,440 as of 3:55 p.m. in New York, down 6.1 percent from Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's … [Link]

Mashable » John Williams is back for 'Solo: A Star Wars Story', but there's a catch

Monday 1 January 22:20:32 UTC 2018

Solo is bringing back a beloved member of the classic Star Wars crew – but there's a catch. SEE ALSO: 27 reasons 2018 might not totally suck (pop culture edition) John Williams, whose legendary music has driven all but one of the Star Wars movies to date, is set to return for Solo: A Star Wars Story. However, he'll only write … [Link]

Mashable » Newsweek tweets scarily tone-deaf photo of MLK Jr. in a casket

Monday 1 January 21:44:37 UTC 2018

The next time you're thinking of tweeting a photo of a Civil Rights legend in a casket, just, uh … don't. Earlier today, the Newsweek twitter account shared a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his casket with the caption, "Have you seen my brother Martin?" The tweet was promptly deleted, but not before it caught the attention and … [Link]

Mashable » Do not f*ck with the Rose Parade or people on the internet will yell at you

Monday 1 January 20:42:58 UTC 2018

Buckle up, folks – 2018's first flurry of angry one-star Amazon reviews is already underway. The streaming giant decided to get in on the Rose Parade this year, working with Funny or Die to present a live broadcast of the annual event for Amazon Prime. SEE ALSO: Lin-Manuel Miranda's tender New Year's message made the holiday a little less horrible … [Link]

Slashdot » UK 'Faces Build-up of Plastic Waste'

Monday 1 January 20:06:00 UTC 2018

The UK's recycling industry says it doesn't know how to cope with a Chinese ban on imports of plastic waste. From a report: Britain has been shipping up to 500,000 tonnes of plastic for recycling in China every year, but now the trade has been stopped. At the moment the UK cannot deal with much of that waste, says the … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Our liver vacation: Is a dry January really worth it?

Monday 1 January 19:30:47 UTC 2018

Less liver fat, cholesterol and weight – just some of the benefits that New Scientist staff enjoyed in a pioneering study into a month's alcohol abstinence [Link]

Mashable » The women of Hollywood have a plan to fight back – and not just in Hollywood

Monday 1 January 19:14:33 UTC 2018

The women of Hollywood are fighting back – and not just for themselves. Over 300 women in the entertainment industry (film, TV, and theater) have come together to form Time's Up, a wide-ranging initiative that aims to battle systemic sexual harassment not just in Hollywood, but in blue-collar and service industry jobs as well. SEE ALSO: Time Person of the Year … [Link]

Slashdot » The World's First 88-inch 8K OLED Display

Monday 1 January 19:05:00 UTC 2018

From a report: Come CES, LG will be letting attendees get up close with its new 88-inch 8K OLED display, which is both the largest and the highest-resolution OLED panel to date. But as far as specs go, that's all we have for now. Previously, the largest OLED screen size was 77 inches, and it "only" came in 4K. While … [Link]

Mashable » Passengers on Hawaiian Airlines flight got to kiss 2017 goodbye twice

Monday 1 January 18:51:24 UTC 2018

Back to the Future is real, just not the way our '80s selves imagined it would be. Last night, Hawaiian Airlines Flight HA446 took off in Auckland, New Zealand in 2018, and arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2017, proving that time travel is real — sort of. SEE ALSO: These photos of the deep freeze will make you move in with … [Link]

Slashdot » 2018 Is the Last Year of America's Public Domain Drought

Monday 1 January 18:07:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader shares a report: Happy Public Domain Day, every-some of you! In New Zealand and Canada, published works by artists who died in 1967 — Rene Magritte, Dorothy Parker, John Coltrane, and many others — have entered the public domain; Kiwis and Canadians can now freely distribute, perform, and remix a wealth of painting, writing, and music. In … [Link]

Mashable » John Mayer served up the #KyloRenChallenge and the internet took him up on it

Monday 1 January 17:22:15 UTC 2018

Of all the OMG moments in The Last Jedi, the most memeworthy has to be Kylo Ren's beefcake moment. And the internet being what it is, it wasn't about to let such a golden opportunity slip by. SEE ALSO: Star Wars crew insists there was an ACTUAL REASON Kylo Ren was shirtless for a hot sec in 'Last Jedi' John Mayer, … [Link]

Mashable » These photos of the deep freeze will make you move in with your Florida grandmother

Monday 1 January 17:16:00 UTC 2018

Do you have any relatives in Florida, Los Angeles or the Caribbean? Now is an excellent time to catch up. New Year's 2018 was marked by bone-chillingly low, sad temperatures in much of the continental United StatesNew York City had its coldest New Years since 1962Chicago's New Year's, which was measured at about zero degrees right before midnight, was its most … [Link]

Slashdot » How Do You Vote? 50 Million Google Images Give a Clue

Monday 1 January 17:00:00 UTC 2018

Artificial Intelligence is now being used to scan millions of pictures taken by Google Street View to glean insights like income or voting patterns, The New York Times reports. In a Stanford project, computers scanned millions of pictures of parked cars to predict voting patterns and pollution. From the report: The Stanford project gives a glimpse at the potential. By … [Link]

Slashdot » Call For Tech Giants To Face Taxes Over Extremist Content

Monday 1 January 16:00:00 UTC 2018

Internet companies should face a tax punishment for failing to deal with the threat of terrorism in the UK, security minister Ben Wallace has said. From a report: Mr Wallace said firms such as Facebook, Google and YouTube were too slow to remove radical content online, forcing the government to act instead. While tech firms were "ruthless profiteers," governments were … [Link]

Mashable » What backlash? 'The Last Jedi' just crossed $1 billion at the box office

Monday 1 January 15:46:12 UTC 2018

While the rest of the world was off ringing in the New Year, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was busy crossing an important landmark. Actually, make that two. SEE ALSO: 'The Last Jedi' rules the 2017 box office with a chart-topping $220 million opening Less than three weeks after its debut, The Last Jedi has officially crossed the $1 billion mark … [Link]

Mashable » Lin-Manuel Miranda's tender New Year's message made the holiday a little less horrible

Monday 1 January 15:32:06 UTC 2018

Unless you live in a designated warm place like Miami or Los Angeles, New Year's is widely accepted as the worst holiday of the year. Thankfully, there are little tweets for us cold climate people that keep us goingHamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda had one of the sweetest this year, with just the right amount of corniness to make it chug. SEE … [Link]

Slashdot » Germany Starts Enforcing Hate Speech Law

Monday 1 January 15:00:00 UTC 2018

Germany is set to start enforcing a law that demands social media sites move quickly to remove hate speech, fake news and illegal material. From a report: Sites that do not remove "obviously illegal" posts could face fines of up to 50m euro ($60m). The law gives the networks 24 hours to act after they have been told about law-breaking … [Link]

Mashable » Genius ushers in 2018 with iconic moment from Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj's 'Feeling Myself'

Monday 1 January 14:21:45 UTC 2018

There’s only one person in this entire damn universe with the power to command the world to stop—Beyoncé. In the final milliseconds of 2017, the dulcet sound of Beyoncé ordered the world—and year— to stop. And, as 2018 began, she gave the world permission to "carry on." This was no coincidence, friends. Ingenious Twitter user @xavierliciouss spent New Year's Eve conducting … [Link]

Slashdot » Efforts Grow To Help Students Evaluate What They See Online

Monday 1 January 14:00:00 UTC 2018

Alarmed by the proliferation of false content online, state lawmakers around the country are pushing schools to put more emphasis on teaching students how to tell fact from fiction. From a report: Lawmakers in several states have introduced or passed bills calling on public school systems to do more to teach media literacy skills that they say are critical to … [Link]

Mashable » New Year's Eve at Hogwarts Castle was a magical kaleidoscope of fireworks

Monday 1 January 13:42:58 UTC 2018

While some of us were dancing our hearts out and glugging champagne, others were ushering in the New Year in the most magical way possible — at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. SEE ALSO: Cozy up inside the Hogwarts house of your choosing for the winter They didn't have to run through a wall at King's Cross Station to get … [Link]

Mashable » Mariah Carey had just one hot demand during her NYE performance

Monday 1 January 13:00:49 UTC 2018

All Mariah wants for 2018 is… hot tea? Mariah might have managed to emerge from her New Year's Eve performance unscathed this time around. But, there was one thing she wasn't thrilled about—the absence of hot tea. Oh dear. SEE ALSO: Queen of Christmas Mariah Carey has issued her order on when to take down the tree A lip sync fail … [Link]

Mashable » How to build your own robot for $50

Monday 1 January 13:00:00 UTC 2018

Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable's commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. SunFounder’s newest robotics learning kit, the SunFounder Nano DIY 4-DOF Robot Kit, lets you do build and program your own robots and will basically make all your childhood dreams come true. No … [Link]

Mashable » Get MBA skills without the debt in this $15 course

Monday 1 January 13:00:00 UTC 2018

Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable's commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. The business world is a perennially competitive field. To make it out alive, you have to have all the skills of a well-rounded entrepreneur. Traditionally, to learn all the ropes in business … [Link]

Mashable » Mom records Animoji of herself coughing uncontrollably and we're screaming

Monday 1 January 12:34:06 UTC 2018

Parents and technology aren't always a match made in heaven. But, one mother's attempt to use Animoji to send a message to her daughter went hilariously wrong when she succumbed to a coughing fit mid-way through the message. SEE ALSO: Apple has officially jumped on the Animoji karaoke bandwagon Twitter user's @nmariesinclair video of her mother's disastrous-yet-brilliant Animoji fail went viral, … [Link]

Slashdot » Some Hopeful Predictions for 2018

Monday 1 January 12:34:00 UTC 2018

NBC asked 15 "top science and tech leaders" for their predictions for 2018. Despite arguments that technology has "created a monster," one anonymous reader sees their answers as a reason for hope: NBC notes the detection of gravitational waves in 2017 (predicted almost a century ago by Einstein) and the creation of genetically modified human embryos. And a professor of … [Link]

Mashable » Smartphones with removable batteries are never coming back

Monday 1 January 12:15:00 UTC 2018

Apple rarely apologizes when it messes up. But when it does, it's usually followed by even more fervor and upset users. Case in point: Apple finally admitted it did a poor job communicating to its customers about how and why it slowed down iPhones with older batteries. And while most people will forgive the company and accept its two forthcoming solutions … [Link]

Mashable » Paris Hilton rings in 2018 with the most Paris Hilton tweet imaginable

Monday 1 January 11:29:18 UTC 2018

As 2017 fizzled and faded away to all of our great relief, Paris Hilton had one final parting message. One that might just make you choke on your champagne. SEE ALSO: Paris Hilton claims that she and Britney Spears invented the selfie, but no one really believes her True to Paris form, the tweet began with a bit of a tease: … [Link]

Mashable » Ed Sheeran, king of angsty love songs, absolutely crushes cover of Eric Clapton's 'Layla'

Monday 1 January 10:52:07 UTC 2018

There's no song on earth that better captures the agony of unrequited love than Eric Clapton's "Layla". And, Ed Sheeran—king of angsty songs about love—is the only person on earth equipped to cover it. The 1971 song was written about Clapton's then-unrequited love for his friend's wife, Pattie Boyd. Oh, and his friend just so happened to be George Harrison, … [Link]

Mashable » 14 times Mark Hamill's Twitter game was quite simply out of this world

Monday 1 January 9:30:00 UTC 2018

Mark Hamill is quite literally the gift that keeps on giving. Whether he's demonstrating his IRL use of the force, delivering an on-point impression of Harrison Ford or just generally being awesome to his fans all the time, the original Jedi is never anything short of a delight. SEE ALSO: Mark Hamill's story about keeping 'Star Wars' spoilers from Carrie Fisher … [Link]

Slashdot » New Year's Resolutions For Linux Admins: Automate More, Learn New Languages

Monday 1 January 8:34:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader writes: A long-time Unix sys-admin is suggesting 18 different New Year's resolutions for Linux systems adminstrators. And #1 is to automate more of your boring stuff. "There are several good reasons to turn tedious tasks into scripts. The first is to make them less annoying. The second is to make them less error-prone. And the last is … [Link]

Slashdot » Which Programming Languages Are Most Prone to Bugs?

Monday 1 January 7:00:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader writes: The i-Programmer site revisits one of its top stories of 2017, about researchers who used data from GitHub for a large-scale empirical investigation into static typing versus dynamic typing. The team investigated 20 programming languages, using GitHub code repositories for the top 50 projects written in each language, examing 18 years of code involving 29,000 different … [Link]

Slashdot » Congo Shuts Down Internet Services 'Indefinitely'

Monday 1 January 5:34:00 UTC 2018

On Saturday Engadget wrote: Authoritarian leaders are fond of severing communications in a bid to hold on to power, and that tradition sadly isn't going away. The Democratic Republic of Congo's government has ordered telecoms to cut internet and SMS access ahead of planned mass protests against President Joseph Kabila, whose administration has continuously delayed elections to replace him. Telecom … [Link]

The Joy of Tech » JoT #2479: The evolution of Internet prayer…

Monday 1 January 4:32:28 UTC 2018

JoT thumb Blessed be the bandwidth! [Link]

Slashdot » Ask Slashdot: Has Technology Created A Monster?

Monday 1 January 2:34:00 UTC 2018

Stack Overflow co-founder Jeff Atwood posted a worried blog post on New Year's Eve. Remember in 2011 when Marc Andreeseen said that "Software is eating the world?" That used to sound all hip and cool and inspirational, like "Wow! We software developers really are making a difference in the world!" and now for the life of me I can't read … [Link]

Slashdot » See a Random Slashdot Story from 2017

Monday 1 January 0:35:00 UTC 2018

An anonymous reader writes: Happy New Year, Slashdot! To say goodbye to 2017, I've created a web page that displays random Slashdot stories from the year gone by. It chooses a page from over 6,600 different URLs — every story that Slashdot ran in 2017. And every time you reload this page, it pulls up a different story from 2017. … [Link]

John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons