The USPS may not have gone forward with its plans to kill Saturday mail delivery, but Netflix isn’t waiting. A few customers have noticed it’s no longer processing shipments on Saturdays, opting for a five day schedule instead. Company spokesman…
Technical
Seattle votes to legalize ridesharing services like Lyft and Uber
It’s official: following an earlier agreement, Seattle council members have voted eight to one in favor of legalizing transportation network companies. The move lets ridesharing outfits like Lyft and UberX operate in the West coast city without fear…
Google’s Play Store is getting a big, visually intensive makeover
Many would argue that the Google Play Store for Android is useful in its current form, but pretty? Not so much. However, there are now signs that it’s going to be much better-looking — if not necessarily more functional. Android Police has obtained…
Russia’s new tram is a Batmobile on the outside, tech hub on the inside
Many trams are memorable, but they tend to evoke nostalgia rather than embrace the future. You can’t accuse UralVagonZavod (UVZ) of being behind the times with its new Russia One, though. To begin with, it looks like the Batmobile on a closed track…
Hulu gets exclusive rights to stream South Park’s full show catalog
If you’re determined to catch up on South Park episodes without downloading them, you’d better get used to Hulu — you’ll be using it a lot. The service has just unveiled a deal that gives it exclusive US rights to stream the series’ complete catalog…
Chromebooks can get cheaper thanks to new support for a low-end chip
You can pick up a Chromebook for a dirt-cheap $200, if you know where to shop. However, there are now signs that these Google-powered portables could get even cheaper. MediaTek has contributed code to Chromium OS (the base for Chrome OS) for a test…
Google Maps on iOS now plots search results, your appointments
Slowly but surely, the iOS version of Google Maps is gaining parity with its Android equivalent. With the latest update, those who use Google’s mapping application on Apple’s mobile platform will be able to see search results along with their…
Playdate: We’re livestreaming ‘Divinity: Original Sin’ on PC! (update: on pause)
Welcome, ladygeeks and gentlenerds, to the new era of gaming. The one where you get to watch, and comment, as other people livestream gameplay from PCs and next-gen consoles. Because games! They’re fun!…
BlackBerry opens BBM for Windows Phone beta
“We’ve gotten an incredible number of requests for BBM to come to Windows Phone,” BlackBerry proclaimed in its post announcing BBM for Windows Phone beta today. Whether that means 10 or 10,000 of you have been begging for the service is unclear, but…
Acer upgrades its C720 Chromebook with more power… and a higher price
Looking for a more powerful Acer Chromebook? It’ll cost you — the company announced today that its C720 Chromebook is getting a processor bump and a new price tag. $350 buys a notebook with a 4th generation Intel Core i3-4005U CPU clocked at 1.7GHz…
The return of Homestar Runner is imminent
Do you fondly recall anxiously awaiting a new installment of Strong Bad Email? Yeah, me too. Well, the creators of the Homestar Runner series of web cartoons are resurrecting the project following a popular April Fool’s Day episode earlier this year….
Refusing to decrypt data for investigators gets student 6 months in jail
Christopher Wilson is a 22-year-old computer science student with Asperger’s syndrome. He’s also facing six months in prison for refusing to hand over the encryption keys to police during the course of an investigation. Wilson first found himself on…
Dubai’s beating the heat with Mall of the World, a massive climate-controlled city
Dubai is hot. Summer temperatures can easily exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and desert conditions can mean weeks without relief. The city is already home to a slew of all-weather venues, such as Ski Dubai, the Middle East’s first indoor ski resort,…
Facebook and many other tech players looking to high school for interns
Internships aren’t just for college students and bad movie premises anymore. Top tech companies like Facebook and LinkedIn are seeking interns at a younger age than ever, with the idea of converting high school-age talent into staff. Before you get…
Sorry, folks: Study says musical talent mostly comes from your genes
We like to imagine that musical talent is just a matter of putting in enough hours. The Beatles became superstars because they spent years honing their craft in Hamburg, right? Well, maybe not. A recently published study from the Karolinska…