Technology

On October 24th, 2020, an art trafficker in Darnah, Libya posted a series of unusual ads. For sale: a Greco-Roman statue, its marble bust covered in a toga. If it looked like it belonged in a museum, that’s because it did. The seller posted photos of the piece in private Facebook groups dedicated to trafficking antiques. The black market for looted goods is flourishing on Facebook. While the company banned the sale of historical artifacts in June, many of the posts are in Arabic, and Facebook lacks the expertise to properly enforce its new policy. Photo courtesy of Athar Project When Facebook is able to identify groups that flout its guidelines, experts say the company simply deletes them, expunging crucial documentation for researchers studying stolen art. “This is critical evidence for r...

Amazon is hosting a wide variety of tech deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The company started its deal festivities early by knocking down prices for many of its own devices, including some of its newer products that hadn’t yet seen any discounts. The fourth-generation Echo smart speaker, the latest Eero 6 mesh Wi-Fi routers, and more are all discounted right now, in addition to several other Amazon devices, such as the company’s entire range of Fire TV streaming devices. Of course, that’s just the beginning. More deals will come later this week, and we’ll be including the best deals we find below. The latest deals to hit the wire will be at the top, while the others will be organized by category. If your search for gifts spans wider than what Amazon has in stock, check out our othe...

You might not see it each time you make a purchase, but online shopping takes up a lot of space in the real world. The number of warehouses built to keep e-commerce running smoothly is growing quickly, and they’re creeping closer to neighborhoods in order to meet consumers’ expectations for quick deliveries. Online shopping has changed the landscape These images taken by satellite show how dramatically online shopping has changed the landscape of one county in California. I grew up in this county, and I’ve seen that transformation happen in person. A lot of the stuff that Americans buy passes through here. The nearby ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handle about 40 percent of all goods Americans import. Once it gets off a ship, most of that stuff is quickly sent inland to “dry ports,” a...

Watching the original Animaniacs today is probably the closest you can get to scrolling through a TikTok feed from the mid-’90s. The madcap variety show was like Looney Tunes by way of golden-age Saturday Night Live, a pre-social media era meme factory that seemed more interested in parodying show business and celebrity than actually entertaining children. (The first episode is about a dang psychiatrist to the stars!) Funny thing is, kids loved the antics of the Warner brothers and sister as they guffawed and rampaged their way across studio lots. Adults, on the other hand, were laughing at the jokes actually taking place on said studio lots — jokes full of innuendo and references meant for avid consumers of celeb gossip, alongside deep-cut jokes about animation history. It was uncommonly ...

Square Enix, the studio behind the Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Tomb Raider games, says it’ll allow most of its employees to work from home permanently. The policy comes into effect on December 1st and will see its employees designated as either “home-based” or “office-based.” In its announcement, the company says it expects around 80 percent of its employees to be designated as home-based from December. The company gives a number of reasons for making the policy permanent. These include creating a “flexible and diverse working environment,” helping employees “achieve the optimal work-life balance,” and helping to “bolster productivity.” It also hopes the policy will help it better adapt in the future, whether it’s to disasters or just new employment models. 80 percent of the company...

Xiaomi’s Poco sub-brand has launched its latest entry-level phone, the Poco M3. As with most other Poco phones, the M3 has an strong spec sheet for its comparatively low price. The Poco M3 has a 6.53-inch 1080p LCD screen with a waterdrop notch for the 8-megapixel selfie camera. The display is pretty basic: the chin at the bottom is quite big, the fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button on the side rather than the screen, and the panel is only 60Hz, but it’s sharp enough and perfectly serviceable. The phone’s design certainly stands out from behind, with a large glossy camera bump emblazoned with a bright white “POCO” logo. The main camera is 48 megapixels, but the other two cameras are just 2-megapixel sensors for depth and macro, so this isn’t really a meaningful triple-ca...

Smart homes are no longer just for the rich or digital experimenters. Your speakers, locks, lights, security cameras, and kitchen utensils can now be controlled via your phone or other digital device — and there are a lot of products to choose from. Many of which are going for less during this year’s Black Friday event. You can start with a simple smart speaker from Google, Amazon, or Apple, and then add some smart bulbs or a security camera. Use a smart display to make controlling your home even easier and to communicate instantly with a friend or relative. And you can make your home internet fast and accessible with a mesh network. We’ve listed below all of the best deals we could find on home tech, and we’ll keep it updated as the holiday weekend proceeds. Keep in mind that if you (or y...

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If you are a gamer looking to expand your gaming library, this time of year is an ideal time to get a ton of games for less. Like many other retailers, GameStop is slashing the prices on many products. Keep in mind that if you are looking to buy a next-gen console from the retailer, the supplies are limited. GameStop has confirmed that all of its locations will have the PS5 and Xbox Series X for walk-in purchase on Black Friday, but there will only be two units per console at each store with purchases limited to one console per customer. If you are not planning to buy a next-gen console, then there’s a ton of game deals to take advantage of. Many games released for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One are heavily discounted. including some of the most popular games released this year, such as Doo...

Best Buy was one of the first retailers to launch Black Friday deals — all the way back in mid-October to go up against Amazon Prime Day. Now that Black Friday is actually here, Best Buy is back with a bunch of great sales that you can take advantage of. Best Buy stores around the US will be closed all of Thanksgiving, but if you want to shop in-person, most will re-open at 5AM local time on Black Friday. Alternatively, just stay home and do your shopping online. Below, you’ll find the best deals currently happening at Best Buy. If you want to find out what’s happening at other retailers, check out our other Black Friday coverage. As new deals come out, we’ll add those to the top so you can see them easily. Latest deals Image: Vizio Vizio’s Elevate rotating Dolby Atmos-ready soundbar with ...

The upcoming Monster Hunter movie doesn’t exactly look like the most faithful adaptation of the games, centering as it does around a gun-toting US Army soldier played by Milla Jovovich, but that’s not stopping Capcom from engaging in some cross-promotion. Downloadable content based on the movie is coming to Monster Hunter World: Iceborne next month. You’ll be able to embark on a two-part event quest featuring the Black Diablos and Greater Rathalos, two monsters featured in the movie, and special bonus items will be available. There’s also a player skin based on Jovovich’s character Captain Artemis, which you can see in action here: It’s all very Street Fighter: The Movie, which was an actual video game Capcom released in 1995. The themed content will come to Iceborne on December 4th ahead ...