Flirt like it’s the early 2010s. The “Poke” feature is back on Facebook — and Gen Z is loving it. In Facebook’s heyday, poking was all the rage, using the feature as a way to flirt, get someone’s attention, annoy your friends or start a poke war. At the beginning of 2024, Meta redesigned the … Read more
“Suppose that when your first child turned ten, a visionary billionaire whom you’ve never met chose her to join the first permanent human settlement on Mars … Would you let her go?” “Of course not,” writes Jonathan Haidt. But the social psychologist argues in his upcoming book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of … Read more
Royally ruthless. The theories aren’t slowing down over Kate Middleton’s whereabouts since her planned abdominal procedure in January. This time, a conspiracy assumption has surfaced from tech CEO Christopher Bouzy — who is connected to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The Bot Sentinel CEO, 48, who appeared in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2022 Netflix … Read more
Too much screen time is literally making men soft: Chinese scientists found that playing computer games for a prolonged period can drastically increase someone’s likelihood of experiencing erectile dysfunction, per a study published in the journal “Andrology.” “The present study offered substantial evidence for a positive causal association between computer use and the risk of … Read more
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto. An android barista kiosk in Hudson Yards is causing coffee drinkers to short-circuit from excitement as the mocha-making machine autonomously handles their orders. But what this bot really runs on is tips. That’s right folks, even robots are prompting customers to pay it forward on a tablet screen nowadays. And don’t … Read more
It’s an act of text-pionage. A concerned parent has issued a warning after she discovered her child sending “concealed” texts to their friends, as detailed in a viral Reddit post. “My child has found a way to conceal texts,” the unnamed guardian lamented while describing her child’s incognito correspondence on the subreddit Apple/help. They also … Read more
They’re giving emojis a thumbs down. Gen Xers and baby boomers understand the meanings behind the digital icons, but they are not confident in their ability to use them, a new study from the University of Ottawa has found. “We found that older users are less likely to use emojis, use fewer emojis, and feel … Read more
Call it the Skytanic. Engineers have unveiled plans for the world’s largest airplane, dubbed the WindRunner, which could revolutionize renewable energy by transporting gigantic wind turbine blades from point A to B. Designed by the Colorado-based energy company Radia, the behemoth cargo carrier measures a whopping 356 feet long and 79 feet tall with a … Read more
Airplane toilets suck … literally. Airplane toilets are anything but a simple touch-and-flush operation. Flight experts wowed travelers after revealing the “extraordinary” amount of engineering that goes into allowing people to safely do their business at 40,000 feet. “It’s like your vacuum cleaner – it sucks,” explained Nigel Jones, an aircraft engineer from Kingston University in London. … Read more
Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self Driving technology and nine other assisted-driving systems marketed by major automakers received “poor” ratings from the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in a new study released on Tuesday. The IIHS, a safety research arm of the insurance industry, also said there is no evidence that Autopilot or other assisted-driving systems … Read more
Do you believe in AI-ngels? Sirine Malas, who lives in Berlin, Germany, lost her mother in 2018 to kidney failure at age 82, Sky News reported. Sirine, who had just given birth to her first child, Ischtar, before her mother’s death, felt unsurmountable grief — and turned to AI four years later to connect with … Read more
Airbnb said it’s prohibiting the use of indoor security cameras in all of its listings worldwide, regardless of their purpose or location. In an effort to simplify its policy on security cameras and other devices, hosts will no longer be allowed to use cameras in any area of the home, effective April 30, the company said in … Read more
As if anyone needed it, there’s a new way to kill time on social media. Instagram has hidden an emoji-based game within the direct messaging feature of their smartphone app — and people are beginning to notice it. To play, both iOS and Android users should open a message and draft and send a single … Read more
Combining virtual reality (VR) exposure with low electrical brain stimulation offers promising results for people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry found. Although it is not systematically tracked, about 6% of Americans — and an even larger percentage of veterans — will have PTSD at some point … Read more
Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang was in a board meeting when he received a text from tech reporter Kara Swisher, asking bout a decision the Yahoo board had made. The problem was that this decision had just been made in that very meeting. Kara Swisher is the author of “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.” “His … Read more
Her life changed in a flash. A UK mom of four says she was able to detect her infant son’s rare cancer using the flash on her phone’s camera. Sarah Hedges, 40, was cooking a shepherd’s pie dinner in November 2022 when she looked across at her 3-month-old son, Thomas, and noticed a “white glow” … Read more
Messing with their home Wi-Fi settings could be causing couples to lose their connection. A TikTok snoop has shared a tech trick that can shed light on a partner’s internet usage and online interests — for better or worse — leaving amateur sleuths searching for answers. Abby Paige, who posts about the trials and tribulations of … Read more
Tesla will aim to ship its Roadster electric sports car next year, the electric vehicle maker’s CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday. “Tonight, we radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster,” Musk said in a post on X, adding that Roadster’s production design will be completed and unveiled by the end of this year. Tesla CEO Elon Musk … Read more
Can you handle this baby name trend? A professional baby namer says parents are now selecting monikers that sound “cool” as a TikTok or Instagram handle. “Communication and technology are so huge right now and it helps individualize the child and gives them their own unique identity,” Steph Coffield, 40, explained to SWNS. “People want … Read more
Smartwatches and rings that claim to measure blood sugar levels for medical purposes without piercing the skin could be dangerous and should be avoided, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Wednesday. The caution applies to any watch or ring, regardless of brand, that claims to measure blood glucose levels in a noninvasive way, the agency … Read more