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Why Mark Zuckerberg wore a tie to work every day in 2009
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is famous for not thinking about what he wears—he would rather think about work. That’s why he has so many plain gray t-shirts. Just grab one and go, no decision-making required, fashion police be damned.<p>But there was a time in Facebook history when Zuckerberg dressed …
Mark ZuckerbergThis is the Samsung Note 8, the phone that must not explode
Samsung announced the successor to the ill-fated Note 7 smartphone today, an updated phone named the Note 8. The new phone resembles a larger version of Samsung’s flagship devices, the S8 and S8+, but is slightly larger and includes a stylus called an “S pen,” which slips into the device.<p>Here are …
SamsungElon Musk is teasing space travel fanatics with a photo of SpaceX’s first working spacesuit
Elon Musk teased space travel fanatics with the first photo of the SpaceX’s spacesuit today. On Instagram, the CEO of SpaceX claimed that the minimalist white prototype “actually works” and had already been tested under near vacuum.<p>Musk notes that the design team wrestled with balancing …
ExplorationThe death of Kim Wall is not just a crime-novel tale
The disappearance and death of freelance Swedish journalist Kim Wall hasn’t been covered by the media like an ordinary crime. The details have made for a compelling story. She was a young, intrepid reporter, exploring an unusual story involving a DIY submarine, a vessel that then sank in Danish …
JournalismThe UN has warned the United States over its alarming rise in ethnic violence
A United Nations committee has issued a formal warning to the United States and its president, Donald Trump, over recent racial violence in the country, indicating serious concern that conflicts like the recent one in Charlottesville, Virginia, will spread.<p>The Committee on the Elimination of Racial …
RacismArizona’s tough-guy sheriff, Joe Arpaio, wrote the outrage playbook Trump used last night
The ability that US president Donald Trump has to blurt out shocking positions without losing the support of his base might seem like an innovation in the American political scene.<p>But Trump’s signature style, which was in full display during his Phoenix rally last night (Aug. 22), is in many ways a …
Joe ArpaioThe science behind why having a best friend as a teen pays off as an adult
Parents often think teenagers are overly obsessed with their best friends. They should let them be.<p>New research published in the journal Child Development shows that teens aged 15 and 16 who had a close friend, rather than a bigger peer group featuring less intense relationships, reported higher …
PsychologyDon’t base your Amazon purchases on the number of reviews a product has
Quick. Which of these two products would you buy on Amazon: Thing A, which has an average rating of 2.7 stars and 258 reviews, or Thing B, which has an average rating of 2.7 stars and 14 reviews?<p>Did you pick Thing A? Most people pick Thing A. In a study recently published in the journal</i> …
AmazonClimate change is coming for your cava and champagne
First it wreaked havoc on our tea, then coffee. Now sparkling wine—both cava and champagne—is under threat from climate change.<p>A new study in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology looked at grape varieties in northeastern part of Spain, which is famous for producing cava. They found that, as global …
Climate ChangePeople who are lonely are more likely to buy products that have faces on them
People who are lonely are more likely to buy products that have faces on the label, a new study suggests.<p>“Visuals can fill a void for consumers experiencing a lack of social connection,” says Bettina Cornwell, professor of marketing at the University of Oregon. “When people see faces in branding …
PsychologyDisco isn’t dead: It’s being used as a secret weapon for disarming British neo-Nazis
At one point in Woody Allen’s <i>Manhattan</i> (1979), the main character, Isaac, tells friends at a black-tie New York cocktail party about an upcoming Nazi rally in New Jersey:<p><i>Isaac: We should go down there and get some guys together, you know, get some bricks and baseball bats and really explain things</i> …
Woody AllenAfter just two years, the original US national drone-racing competition is dead
Two summers ago, I stood in a dusty field in 100-degree weather to watch what was billed as the first US national drone-racing competition, sensibly titled US Drone Nationals. Its organizer, Scot Refsland, a technologist from the San Francisco Bay Area, had grand designs for turning drone racing …
Drones“Dark UX” design is everywhere online and it’s turning you into a sleep-deprived internet addict
Last week, Facebook rolled out an update to the design of its News Feed. The design tweaks—near imperceptible pixel spacing and color enhancements—were designed to make Facebook’s infinitely updating cascade of stories even easier to consume and comment on. “Small changes, like a few extra pixels …
UX DesignEavesdropping actually makes us better people
If you’ve taken mass transit, stood in a crowded cafe, or just been around strangers before, the chances are high that you’ve eavesdropped. If you say you haven’t, you’re lying. Eavesdropping, or the act of listening in on the conversations of those around us, is often stigmatized as something only …
PsychologyIn our new situational economy, the challenge is to stay human
The combination of sensors, smartphones, and cloud computing is enchanting the world. On average, there is now almost one connected device for every acre of the world’s inhabitable land. One upshot to our newfound connectivity: Nowadays we read the world, and the world reads us back. That may …
Amazon Web ServicesAs software eats the world, it will also destroy the way we define ourselves as humans
The combination of sensors, smartphones, and cloud computing is enchanting the world. On average, there is now almost one connected device for every acre of the world’s inhabitable land. One upshot to our newfound connectivity: Nowadays we read the world, and the world reads us back. That may …
Amazon Web ServicesThe videos that will make you glad you weren’t outside in Hong Kong when Typhoon Hato struck
A powerful typhoon battered Hong Kong today (Aug. 23), leading to hundreds of flight cancellations and the shutdown of its stock market. As the storm strengthened, the Hong Kong Observatory issued a No. 10 hurricane signal—its strongest—the first time it’s done so in five years.<p>Typhoon Hato, which …
Hong KongA new high-tech fabric could mean the end of bulky layers in the winter
Imagine it’s freezing cold outside. Now imagine that instead of bundling up in a coat, all you need to do to feel comfortable is dial up the temperature of the base layer you’re wearing, like a heated seat in a car. Researchers from the US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering …
U.S. ArmyThe agonizing trade-offs that must be made to reduce bias in the hiring process
Like many economists, I try to form opinions on the economy based on research and data, rather than anecdotes. And like many economists, I worry that occupational licenses do more harm than good. Obtaining a license requires people to take part in training and pay fees in order to work in certain …
Human ResourcesIs wellness culture creating a new kind of eating disorder?
If you’ve ever ordered a turmeric matcha latte, you probably know someone like Daniella Isaacs. The 20-something British actress and playwright was once entrenched in the world of wellness, with the attendant blogging career, paid appearances, and budding gluten-free granola brand. But all that …
WellnessResearchers have shown that politicians don’t let facts get in the way of their beliefs
Researchers tested to see whether politicians changed their prior beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence, and the results were pretty depressing.<p>The study, published in the British Journal of Political Science, set out to answer two questions: Does evidence help politicians make informed …
ResearchWhy do Indians hate going to the gym?
Even as gyms and fitness centres proliferate across urban India, hardly any have figured out how to get users to show up after their first few sessions.<p>Through a recent survey of 1.06 million people aged 20-35 years in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, fitness aggregator Gympik found that …
FitnessAnother once high-flying Japanese cellphone maker is calling it quits
The sun is setting on Japan’s consumer electronics industry, as yet another world-renowned brand tries to shed off an important business unit.<p>Yesterday the Nikkei business daily reported that (paywall) Fujitsu is looking to sell off its mobile phone unit as early as next month. Potential buyers …
JapanThe fate of smartphones in India depends on festivals and feature phones
The world’s second-largest smartphone market hasn’t had it easy over the past few months.<p>After last year’s demonetisation prompted a cash crunch that hit sales, the complications following the recent implementation of the goods & services tax (GST) only made things worse, prompting a slowdown in …
IndiaThe internet is loving CNN anchor Don Lemon’s calm, frank response to Trump’s Phoenix rally
In a minute and a half, CNN anchor Don Lemon was able to clearly and calmly articulate just what was wrong with president Donald Trump’s Aug. 22 rally in Phoenix, Arizona.<p>Twitter quickly lit up that evening with praise for his off-the-cuff remarks. “What we’ve witnessed is a total eclipse of the …
Donald TrumpKenya’s newest tech hubs are sprouting outside its “Silicon Savannah” in Nairobi
For years, Nairobi has been the cradle of technological innovation in Kenya, and the center of the country’s thriving tech ecosystem, famously known as Silicon Savannah.<p>Most of the innovation spaces, incubation centers, accelerators, and maker labs were also concentrated in the capital—making …
InnovationThe Mayweather-McGregor fight is a battle of the brands
Las Vegas is soon to host one of the most lucrative boxing matches of all time. Dubbed “The Money Fight” it features UFC (which stands for the Ultimate Fighting Championship) star Connor Mcgregor making his boxing debut against undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather. What is not in doubt is that both …
UFCDJI will hold its customers’ drones hostage until they update their software
Owners of DJI’s latest consumer drone, the Spark, have until September 1 to update the firmware of their drone and batteries or they will not be able to fly them, the company announced Aug. 21.<p>The new software will improve stability and connectivity, as well as provide updates for the drone’s …
DronesMapped: Where in the world the US still has a military presence
In a speech delivered last night (Aug. 21) in Fort Meyer, Virginia, Donald Trump confirmed what was expected: he is walking back opposition to military involvement in Afghanistan, and instead sending more troops to a war that’s already cost the US some $800 billion and over 2,400 troops’ lives. …
WarArtificial intelligence has opened up a whole new way to steal pictures online
In June, Google told stock photography website Shutterstock that its researchers had found a weakness that could destroy the site’s entire business.<p>Google’s researchers had built an AI-powered tool that could easily remove the watermarks Shutterstock uses to protect all of its images across the …
Artificial Intelligence