Geek News

Tesla wrapped up an interesting week -- CEO Elon Musk took a puff or two from a joint live on Joe Rogan's podcast , its recently-hired chief accounting officer quit after less than a month on the job and its HR chief announced she would not return from a leave of absence -- by announcing a round of executive promotions. In a letter to staff that's also posted on the company's website , Musk said: " For a while, there will be a lot of fuss and noise in the media. Just ignore them. Results are what matter and we are creating the most mind-blowing growth in the history of the automotive industry." Most notable, Tesla now has a new President, Automotive. In a move that may take some direct responsibilities and pressure off of Musk, Jerome Guillen "will oversee all automotive operations and program management, as well as coordinate our extensive aut...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching the Air Force's X-37B spaceplane " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UqoM-6g8R7-HYGtPpTnFllR6B78=/0x0:2304x1536/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61240801/36251815974_8b996dbbfb_o.0.jpg" style="max-width:600px;margin:0 auto;"> After a full day of the internet intimately dissecting Elon Musk's pot use , reports began to surface that the US Air Force has opened an investigation into the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's drug habit, since SpaceX is a government launch provider. However, an Air Force official tells The Verge that those reports are premature and that the military hasn't figured out what it's going to do. "It's inaccurate that there is an investigation. We'll need time to determine the facts and the appropriate process to handle the situation," an Air ...

Space Saturn's northern pole is home to a six-sided feature that mystifies scientists. The planet Saturn's northern pole has a beautiful—and mysterious—weather feature: a vortex of clouds shaped like a hexagon. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2Nr5h4h"

Huawei got caught cheating on benchmark tests, and now it's trying to make amends. Today the company announced that it'll let users force their phone into "performance mode," saying it respects "consumers' right to choose what to do with their devices." This optimizes their device to run faster, but requires more of the phone's power. Users will be able to do so starting with EMUI 9.0, a future version of Huawei's OS. This week, AnandTech exposed Huawei as optimizing its smartphones to over-perform on benchmark tests, specifically the 3DMark program. As such, 3DMark delisted the P20, P20 Pro, Nova 3, and Honor Play from its leaderboards. The phones were coded to detect this software and adjusted their performance accordingly. They didn't... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2w...

Google's incubator Area 120 is at it again with a new tool to help you find vacation activities. The tool, called Touring Bird , is a website designed for mobile that lists tours, attractions, and activities to do in popular travel destinations. You can filter by price from zero to over $500, time of day, duration, and even by cancellation policies, which sounds convenient. So far, the site only provides information for a handful of destinations, including Prague, Toronto, Orlando, Chicago, and Amsterdam. It looks like it's North America and Europe-centric so far. It's also only available in English, so tourists who prefer other languages won't find much utility from this site. Tips some locals might not know about If you click on cities... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2wSxAzg ...

Audible isn't done offering freebies (of sorts) to subscribers. Members now receive two Audible Originals audiobooks every month on top of whatever they download using their credits. The Amazon-owned service will make six of its Originals available on the first Friday of every month, and ask you to choose two favorites from the bunch. The initial selection gives you a sense of what to expect. You'll see high-profile titles like Carey Mulligan's theatrical production Girls & Boys , an X-Files side story ( Cold Cases ) and a fresh reading of Jane Austen's classic novel Emma . This is clearly meant to sweeten the pot for Audible subscribers, but it also gives the service's exclusive material a better opportunity to shine. You no longer have to give up on a must-read thriller or tell-all just to take a chance on one of Audible's own works. Tha...

So I saw an ad for this project, "OpenWorm." Seemed like it checked all the boxes that cause me to click a link:   Vaguely open source Something to do with Legos Robots Has an app associated with it. "Get the App!" And it's for "real worm geeks!"   I consider myself a geek, and I'm real. Except, what the hell is the worm part? And even though I'm a real geek, I'm not a "worm geek." Eeewww.   Turns out that the OpenWorm project is trying to digitally simulate the mind of one of Earth's simplest creatures, the C. elegans nematode, a microscopic worm with only 302 neurons and 95 muscle cells. Researchers have scanned C. elegans and uploaded its neural map into a docker container or something,...

So I saw an ad for this project, “OpenWorm.” Seemed like it checked all the boxes that cause me to click a link:   Vaguely open source Something to do with Legos Robots Has an app associated with it. “Get the App!” And it’s for “real worm geeks!”   I consider myself a geek, and I’m real. Except, what the hell is the worm part? And even though I’m a real geek, I’m not a “worm geek.” Eeewww.   Turns out that the OpenWorm project is trying to digitally simulate the mind of one of Earth’s simplest creatures, the C. elegans nematode, a microscopic worm with only 302 neurons and 95 muscle cells. Researchers have scanned C. elegans and uploaded its neural map into a docker container or something, where you can troll it with various stimuli and model its reactions.   Its tiny brain is even smaller than those of many YouTube celebrities and can easily fit into an app on your phone.   RAY KURZWEIL Photo by Michael Lutch. Courtesy of K...

The United States isn't ready to hold elections online now or in the foreseeable future, a new report says. Not until the technology is good enough to ensure the votes are kept private and aren't tampered with. The recommendation is part of a massive new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report that lays out dozens of recommendations for an election system the report calls "accessible, reliable, verifiable, and secure." A big one is to phase out voting machines that don't leave a paper trail, and only use paper ballots that humans can double-check — ideally by the 2018 midterm elections, but for sure by the presidential election in 2020. "The most significant threat to the American elections system was coming... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2Nmm0WH ...