08 Mar 2018

RAD is a new system to help the visually impaired play racing games

A PhD candidate in Computer Science at Columbia Engineering, Brian A. Smith, created a new system for blind gamers who want to get a little racing in. The system, called racing auditory display or RAD, is truly amazing. It lets the visually impaired play racing games without “seeing” the screen. Instead, the audio output tells the player when they’re getting closer to an edge… Read More
08 Mar 2018

Snap Interactive, quietly settling with Snap over trademark infringement, changes name to PeerStream

 Back in 2016 after Snapchat rebranded the company name to Snap Inc to reflect its status as a camera company and more than just Snapchat, an existing publicly-traded business by the name of Snap Interactive filed a trademark infringement lawsuit to bar the change. Snap Interactive’s concern: it was already distributing social network apps and using the name Snap in association with… Read More
08 Mar 2018

YouTube TV will be all over the World Series for two more years

 As promised last month, YouTube TV is today launching the MLB Network on its streaming TV service, and with it, comes the announcement of an expanded promotional partnership with Major League Baseball. YouTube TV will again serve as the “presenting” sponsor of the World Series for two more years, and will debut a season-long sponsorship as well. In addition, YouTube TV subscribers… Read More
08 Mar 2018

Ovipost wants to help drop the labor cost of building cricket farms

Trina Chiasson says a lot of cricket farmers will talk about how figuring out when they are laying their eggs is an art — and she hopes to turn it into a science. She and her co-founder James Ricci started Ovipost, a new startup looking to optimize the right conditions for a cricket grower to get the most yield from a generation of eggs without having to lose a bunch of crickets in the process.
08 Mar 2018

Ovipost wants to help drop the labor cost of building cricket farms

 Trina Chiasson says a lot of cricket farmers will talk about how figuring out when they are laying their eggs is an art — and she hopes to turn it into a science. She and her co-founder James Ricci started Ovipost, a new startup looking to optimize the right conditions for a cricket grower to get the most yield from a generation of eggs without having to lose a bunch of crickets in… Read More
08 Mar 2018

New DDoS extortions hit the Internet

 A 1.3 Tbps DDoS attack – essentially a massive torrent of data aimed at a single target – nearly took down network provider Akamai on March 1. While the attack itself is notable more interesting is what was hidden inside the attack itself. The attack used a memcached exploit which is a legitimate service on many servers. The service is set to accept data, using the User Datagram… Read More
08 Mar 2018

The Tesla Model 3 is a love letter to the road

 Tesla’s Model 3 is making progress heading out to customers (though not as much as either Tesla or those on the waiting list would like) and as a result, we got a chance to spend some time in one of the new production models that just rolled off the line. The Model 3 is a much more affordable car from Tesla than either its Model S or Model X, and it hopes to one day achieve true mass… Read More
08 Mar 2018

Jon Favreau is making a Star Wars show for Disney’s streaming service

The Los Angeles World Premiere of Marvel Studios' BLACK PANTHER Disney plans to include Star Wars and Marvel TV shows as part of the lineup in its upcoming streaming service, but details about those shows have been scant until today, when the company announced that Jon Favreau will be writing and producing a live action Star Wars series. While Favreau is best-known for directing films like Iron Man, The Jungle Book and the upcoming Lion King remake… Read More
08 Mar 2018

Alexa gets time-based music controls

 Ever since the announcement of Apple’s HomePod, Amazon’s been on the music offensive for Alexa. The company improved the sound quality on the baseline Echo and has been working to add control over Amazon Music over the past year and change. Today, it announces a bunch of new features for US and UK subscribers designed to engage with playback in ways that go beyond just asking Alexa… Read More
08 Mar 2018

Curious Fictions helps readers find (and pay for) short stories

 Most of you, I suspect, haven’t read a short story in a long time. Well, there’s a Y Combinator-backed startup called Curious Fictions looking to change that — and to turn those stories into a regular source of income for their writers. The company was founded by Tanya Breshears, a designer who previously worked for Airbnb. (I’ve known Breshears for more than a… Read More