For all the influence Twitter has had on our culture, no community there has made quite as much impact as Black Twitter. The virtual community grew from a loose online hangout to an influential cultural force that directed conversations about race and culture not only on social media, but in …
Read More »C’mon, Why Isn’t the New Apple Pencil Pro Backward Compatible?
Apple announced four new iPad models today, and alongside these tablets is a new stylus: the $129 Apple Pencil Pro. It’s the first major overhaul of the iPad accessory to introduce new features since the company launched the second-generation Apple Pencil in 2018. The new stylus is very similar to …
Read More »10 Last-Minute Deals on Mother’s Day Gifts
Time flies. If you too just looked at a calendar and realized Mother's Day is this Sunday, you may be panicking about your weekend plans (or lack thereof). A gift is a nice way to show appreciation for your mom (she might not care for one!), and we've hunted down …
Read More »I Rode This ‘Holographic’ Bike and Things Got a Little Weird
Until this past week, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been on a bike. In the past decade, I had kids and moved from flat, mostly bike-friendly Chicago to the hilly east side of Los Angeles, but I don’t really have an excuse. I’ve just been lazy. I miss …
Read More »Google’s New $500 Pixel 8A Smartphone Will Get 7 Years of Software Updates
Google’s Pixel A-series Android smartphones have long proven that there's no need to spend anywhere close to $1,000 for a great, feature-packed smartphone. While the price of these handsets has slightly increased since the first Pixel 3A in 2019, the new Google Pixel 8A seems to have everything you'd want …
Read More »Everything Apple Announced at Today’s iPad Event
Apple's iPads have been on the back burner since 2022—there have been plenty of iPhones and Macs since, even a mixed-reality headset, but it's been two years since we've seen a new tablet. Now the wait is finally over. During its virtual event today, Apple announced the next-generation iPad Pro …
Read More »They Bought Tablets in Prison—and Found a Broken Promise
“Has anyone heard from medium today?” Nicole writes in a Facebook group dedicated to the wives of men locked up in federal prison, where “medium” is shorthand for medium security detention. “Nothing today or yesterday,” someone comments beneath her post. A thread of comments follows: “No, nothing today.” “No, not …
Read More »How to Follow the Boeing Starliner Mission
It’s been a rough few years for Boeing, but now the company is about to fly closer to the sun than ever before. After nearly a decade of development and delays, the first crewed launch of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft finally has liftoff. Here’s how to follow its journey live. …
Read More »As Elon Musk Abandons the $25K Tesla, This EV Costs Just $4,400
As Elon Musk steps away, yet again, from the idea of a $25,000 Tesla, let’s take this opportunity to zoom out and appreciate what a truly affordable EV can be. For this we need to ignore the Nissan Leaf—currently the cheapest EV in the US at $29,280—and skip over Europe, …
Read More »Translation Tech Is Amazing, Except When It’s Not
Today’s language translation apps are like self-driving cars: incredibly useful, promising, nearing maturity, and almost entirely powered by machines. It's astonishing that the technology even exists. Even so, machine translation is still clunky at times, if not awkward. Consider a recent conversation I had with my neighbor, Andre, who immigrated …
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