Technology

The Boring Company has earned numerous local projects over the years in cities like Las Vegas and Los Angeles. But CEO Elon Musk‘s grand vision of a city-linking hyperloop has still yet to materialize despite an earlier approval back in 2017 from New York City and Washington D.C. Regardless, it now seems that Musk is still hoping to construct one in the near future. Taking to Twitter once again, the tech mogul says that Boring Company is planning on building a working hyperloop “in the coming years.” According to Musk, a hyperloop — which features low-pressure tunnels running vehicles or pods to transport people and goods at up to 800 mph — is the fastest way to get from point A to point B for distances less than 2,000 miles since it won’t be affected by traffic or weather and road conditi...

Since the advent of personal computing technology, pioneers like Acer broadened the possibilities of understanding the world around us. Now, as the need to reconsider our relationship with the planet becomes ever more pressing, the iconic brand has unveiled its most innovative product yet to better open our eyes to a sustainable way of living. The result is the Acer Aspire Vero, a green personal laptop made from recycled plastic, representing a commitment to engineering a more sustainable future. Created using 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic in the chassis, and designed to be durable, easily disassembled, paint-free and energy efficient, the Aspire Vero is able to save around 21% in CO2 emissions compared to conventional laptops—earning it an EPEAT® Silver registration and making ...

In the moments before Elon Musk bought Twitter, the company’s Slack channels were lit up with nervous anticipation. It had been days since Twitter leadership had shared anything with them, and after a weekend’s worth of reports that a sale was imminent, employees were looking for answers. For the first few hours of the morning, none came. Work all but came to a halt, employees told me. Like a classroom where the teacher is late and students are attempting to self-govern, one said. A “hellhole,” said another. One thread, in which an employee asked good-naturedly whether anyone was excited about the prospect of working for Musk, drew dozens of responses, many of them quite ugly. Then, just before the markets closed, the news arrived: the board had accepted Musk’s offer to take the company pr...

President Biden’s administration called for Congress’s help in letting more law enforcement agencies access drone tracking systems on Monday. In recent months, government use of counter-drone systems has become more controversial after a Ukrainian government official asked drone-maker DJI to cut off Russia’s access to its AeroScope drone location system. The White House’s outline of what it calls the “Domestic Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems National Action Plan” called for Congress to “reauthorize” the authority to track drones given to organizations like the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Defense, and State. (The plan also notes that the CIA and NASA also have limited authorities.) The statement also asks Congress to give more drone detection powers to state, local, territo...

During a Nintendo Direct event last fall, the company revealed a release date for the animated Super Mario Bros. movie that it’s making with Minions animation studio Illumination. Now the company has revealed that the movie will not hit theaters on December 21st as planned and instead will be released in the spring of 2023. A tweet credited to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto says that after consulting with co-producer Chris Meledandri, the new release dates for the Super Mario Bros. film are April 28th in Japan and April 7th in North America. The tweet did not offer an explanation of how Chris Pratt will portray Mario, a title, or answer any of the other questions we’ve had since this project was announced in 2018. This is Miyamoto. After consulting with Chris-san, my partner at Illuminatio...

You know what, I’m into it. Let’s go full, unkempt beard for this one. The Gen-Xers are online and they are posting Radiohead on main. It did fill me with nostalgia to see Twitter co-founder, former CEO, and newly-minted “Block Head” Jack Dorsey post Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place” (he linked to niche music service Tidal, which is owned by Block) like he was setting an early-2000s AIM status about soon-to-be-Twitter-owner Elon Musk, who is one of the site’s more prolific users. Musk is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, which make cars and rockets, respectively. He also founded a company, Neuralink, to implant devices in people’s heads. The idea and service is all that matters to me, and I will do whatever it takes to protect both. Twitter as a company has always been my sole is...

In a surprising turn of events that has shaken up the business and tech world, Elon Musk has officially acquired Twitter for $44 billion USD. After weeks of back and forth conversations between Twitter’s board and Musk, Twitter agreed to accept his offer, quickly sending the internet in a frenzy. Immediately after the sale was announced, the platform exploded with many fans and critics expressing their opinions on the business deal. Some were concerned that President Donald Trump will be making a return to the platform, while others celebrated Musk’s pledge to encourage freedom of speech. The topic of censorship or became a major discussion with Senator Marsha Blackburn chiming into the conversation hoping that, “Elon Musk will help rein in Big Tech’s history of censoring users taht have a...

A group of staffers working for a company that supports BioWare, the studio behind hits like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, are taking the first steps toward possible unionization. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada Union, Local No. 401 has applied to become the “certified bargaining agent” for a group of staffers at Keywords Studios, which offers game development support services for things like making art and doing localization and QA testing. On its website, Keywords Studios lists many recognizable video gaming companies as clients, including BioWare owner EA, Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and Sega. According to a notice from the Alberta Labour Relations Board that was shared on Reddit, the group seeking to organize are includes “all employees employed in dev...

China’s space agency plans to send a spacecraft to slam into an asteroid, knocking it into a new — and hopefully safer — orbit. The prospective new mission will launch within the next four years, and was announced on Sunday by Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration, according to Global Times, a state-run news outlet. The country hasn’t yet determined which asteroid to target. The mission was announced as one part of a larger new planetary defense effort, which will seek to catalog and monitor near-Earth asteroids, especially those that might pose a threat to our planet. The effort would include a new warning system as well. Eventually, the plan is to identify an asteroid that might threaten Earth, and send a spacecraft to crash into it, changing its orbit in ...

Just before Twitter announced it’s accepting Elon Musk’s $44 buyout bid, the world’s richest man tweeted, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.” His commitment is getting a mild test thanks to a fellow tech billionaire / rocket enthusiast / media mogul. Jeff Bezos quoted a New York Times reporter’s tweet pointing out that Tesla’s business interests in China could give the government leverage over Twitter via its new owner, saying, “Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?.” Bezos is far from the only person with questions, comments, and criticisms over Elon Musk buying Twitter (Twitter employees are likely near the front of the line). However, unlike most, he owns the Washingto...

Valve’s newest Steam Deck update adds a lock screen to the handheld gaming PC, the company announced Monday. The change means you can now set a PIN when you wake the device from sleep, which could prevent people from accessing your device who shouldn’t be. After you’ve installed the update, you can turn on the lock screen and set a PIN in the Steam Deck’s settings menu from a new Security tab. The update also adds a handful of other welcome changes. The achievements page has gotten a “refresh,” and Valve says it’s now “faster to load and easier to navigate.” There are localized keyboards for 21 languages and layouts, and you can enable multiple keyboards at the same time, though Valve notes that it’s “currently working” on keyboards for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. And the Steam Deck now...