Technology

On Sunday, an attacker managed to drain around $182 million of cryptocurrency from Beanstalk Farms, a decentralized finance (DeFi) project aimed at balancing the supply and demand of different cryptocurrency assets. Notably, the attack exploited Beanstalk’s majority vote governance system, a core feature of many DeFi protocols. The attack was spotted on Sunday morning by blockchain analytics company PeckShield, which estimated the net profit for the hacker was around $80 million of the total funds stolen, minus some of the borrowed funds that were required to perform the attack. Beanstalk admitted to the attack in a tweet shortly afterward, saying they were “investigating the attack and will make an announcement to the community as soon as possible.” “We are seeing an increasing trend in f...

Apple’s AirDrop is a hugely convenient feature for transferring photos, videos, documents, and other files between the company’s devices, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs. You can easily send something to a friend — or use AirDrop as a handy way of transferring files between your own products. What’s great about AirDrop is its simplicity. Instead of trying to clumsily share files using Dropbox, Google Drive, or some other cloud storage, it’s an immediate transfer from one device to another that (in most cases) takes only seconds. With AirDrop, Apple creates a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection between the two devices in an AirDrop exchange. These devices communicate directly and aren’t required to be using the same internet connection. TO USE AIRDROP, YOU MUST: Be near the person or device yo...

Almost anything becomes a little more appealing once the price goes down. Take HP’s Chromebook x2 11 tablet, for example. It’s currently selling for $299.99 at Best Buy, a price cut that’s mighty enough to outweigh its flaws. This one-day deal on the 11-inch tablet with Chrome OS makes for a much more compelling argument compared to its $599.99 regular price. When our own Dan Seifert reviewed the Chromebook x2 in December 2021, he scored it a 5.5 out of 10 due to its occasionally choppy performance. But for half price, it seems like a good deal. What you’re getting today for $299.99 is a modestly sized tablet with a convenient 3:2 aspect ratio screen, making it taller than 16:9 alternatives, which is better for note-taking and web browsing. Its included pen and keyboard case with a kicksta...

Netflix is expanding its work in gaming by partnering with the makers of the silly card game Exploding Kittens on a mobile title and a TV series based on the popular franchise. Exploding Kittens — The Game, described as “an exclusive version of the beloved mobile game,” will launch in May, while the TV show, “an adult animated comedy series,” will launch in 2023. The new game will be the latest in an ever-growing series of mobile titles available to play for free with a Netflix subscription. There’s already a version of Exploding Kittens available on the App Store and Google Play, but with Netflix’s version, there will be two exclusive cards at launch. Down the line, there will be new cards and game mechanics “themed around the animated series.” The version of Exploding Kittens that’s curr...

Unionized workers at Parcast, a podcast production company owned by Spotify, shared details of their new three-year employment contract today. The contract covers workplace issues like pay, diversity, healthcare, severance, and more. It’s rare for a tech company to have one union, let alone three, as is the case with Spotify. The Parcast unionization follows successful drives at Gimlet Media and The Ringer, which ratified contracts with Spotify last year. The Parcast union announced in early April that it had reached a deal. The union, like Gimlet and The Ringer, is represented by the Writers Guild of America, East. (Disclosure: WGAE represents Vox Media’s editorial staff, which includes The Verge.) The lowest-paid employees will receive a raise between 10 percent and 25 percent The deal w...

There they are again — in the compost caddy, littered through the backyard pile, stuck in the sifter, peeping out of the garden beds — the eternal bane of many home gardeners: the small, ubiquitous, and remarkably indestructible produce sticker. “I painstakingly remove every produce sticker from every piece of fruit and veg that enters our home,” says James Hohman, a professor at the University of Connecticut. But his compost pile lives on top of a compost pile used by the previous owners of his house. When Hohman’s family first moved in, he sifted the pile, removing “probably hundreds of stickers.” But more stickers kept showing up for years — in the pile and in the garden beds. Joshua Simpson, who lives in Washington, knows his pain. “I have composted blue jeans well before those dumb st...

Critics have long argued that the consumption of cryptocurrency requires too much energy and is extremely harmful for the world. Now, according to Ars Technica, the group of over 200 long-time Wikipedia editors have formally placed a request to the Wikimedia Foundation to stop any form of future crypto donations. In the most recently fical year, the foundation reportedly received approximately $130,000 USD worth of crypto donation. The proposal has been debated for the past three months. A Wikipedia user named GorillaWarfare, who was the original author of the proposal expressed his initial disdain for the crypto donations writing, “Cryptocurrencies are extremely risky investments that have only been gaining popularity among retail investors. I do not think we should be endorsing their use...

Three Chinese astronauts, also known as taikonauts, safely returned to Earth yesterday after spending six months aboard China’s unfinished Tiangong space station, according to a report from Space.com. This is China’s second crewed mission to Tiangong and its longest so far. The Shenzhou 13 spacecraft landed in the Inner Mongolian desert at 9:56AM local time on Saturday morning, departing from the space station’s core Tianhe module about nine hours prior. The crew took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert last October and spent a total of 183 days on the space station. Wang Yaping made history as the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalk This mission is not only China’s longest, but taikonaut Wang Yaping made history as the first Chinese woman to visit the Ti...

This LEGO flip-walking vehicle looks like it has a mind of its own, but it’s really just powered by gravity and a tiny motor. Custom LEGO builder JK Brickworks walks us through the build in a video on YouTube, which was actually inspired by the old-school Bear Mobill toy made by Bandai in 1987. It looks like the original toy is supposed to be some kind of sci-fi military vehicle, but JK Brickworks gives it a flashy new look. The hypnotic flipping motion is triggered by a forward-moving trolley in the center. It weighs down the machine just enough at the end of its track, causing the build to flip over on two legs, resetting the entire process. As shown in JK Brickworks’ video, the toy’s unique flipping motion lets it climb up small steps and even go up a slight incline. [embedded content] ...

Tesla has stopped including its mobile connector with new car purchases, and will instead sell the accessory separately for a cheaper $200 price, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed in a series of tweets. The mobile connector comes with an adapter that allows drivers to charge their cars from a standard household outlet, with other adapters available for purchase separately. Based on feedback received, we will drop mobile connector price to $200 & make it easy to order with car. Note, mobile connector is not needed if you have a Tesla wall connector or to use Superchargers. Recommend installing Tesla wall connector well before car arrives. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2022 On Saturday night, Twitter user @Tesla_Adri found that Tesla updated its support page to note that the mobile conne...

Just a month removed from unveiling the M1 Ultra chip, Apple is already working on at least nine new Mac models featuring four different iterations of the upgraded M2 processors. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that the information surfaced from developer logs that showed Apple testing the new chips on third-party apps. The highly anticipated 2022 Apple MacBook Air is expected to have one of the biggest redesigns in years and is one of the machines rumored to feature an M2 chip, along with eight CPU cores and 10 cores for graphics — a substantial upgrade in graphic cores over the current generation MacBook Air. Having split with Intel several years ago to create its own silicon, Apple has shown a resurgence in sales by home office workers and seeks to further its presence through the M2 c...