What is the Ultra HDTV Soap Opera Effect?

Q.

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Tech Q&A: Saving money on Internet, finding Wi-Fi dead spots

Kim Komando answers your questions about finding the cheapest Internet plans, cutting down on spam and eliminating wi-fi dead spots.

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Grindr Went Down And Panic Ensued

“Swear #Grindr goes down more times than I do”

Grindr had an outage on Saturday, and users were pretty upset to say the least.

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The app appeared to be down for several hours, forcing many to take to social media to vent their frustrations.

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Plants and preservation

Seed banks around the world aim to preserve the genetic basis of plant life in order to help humans adapt to future global climate change. We talk with several people involved in such endeavours, and we also meet American David Milarch who gives us a lesson in how to clone a giant Californian Redwood.

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5 tech purchases you shouldn't miss in February

Like many of you, I love to shop and, like everyone, I love to save money.

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Facebook announces stricter policy on firearms sales

Facebook says it's cracking down on online gun sales, announcing Friday a new policy barring private individuals from advertising or selling firearms on the world's largest social network.

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Facebook, Instagram Ban 'Peer-to-Peer' Gun Sales

Facebook said it has banned the sale of private firearms on the site and on the photo-sharing app Instagram, a company spokesperson told NBC News. The policy only applies to “peer-to-peer” sales of guns,...

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Facebook announces stricter policy on firearms sales

Facebook says it's cracking down on online gun sales, announcing Friday a new policy barring private individuals from advertising or selling firearms on the world's largest social network.

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We Asked 13 Friscans How They Feel About Frisco

Frisco gives us the ~feels~!

1. You should!

2. This dog is also wrong.

It its defense, it is a dog.

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Private Gun Sales Banned On Facebook, Instagram

Facebook is planning to announce that the network will no longer allow its user to conduct private firearms sales through pages and groups, according to a Reuters report.

While Facebook confirmed that "Licensed retailers will still be able to advertise firearms on Facebook that lead to transactions outside of Facebook's platform," sales from private citizens will be subject to crackdown from the site.

Previously, Facebook's terms of service stipulated that, "Ads and Sponsored Stories may not promote firearms, ammunition, paintball guns, bb guns, fireworks, explosives, pepper spray, knives, tasers, or weapons of any kind, including those used for self-defense. Ads and Sponsored Stories may not directly or indirectly link to landing pages where users can purchase any of these products." It did not mention private groups, pages, or private messages, leaving room for pages such as this:

Facebook / Via Facebook: 882482471810753

As of now, it's unclear whether this affects just Facebook's site or its other companies as well, including What'sApp and Instagram.

Facebook has not yet responded to request for comment.

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Boeing's new 737 MAX plane takes its maiden flight

Boeing’s new 737 MAX aircraft completed its first test flight Friday.

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This Is The Version Of The Kim Kardashian Game That Could've Been

A rival game company’s lawsuit claims Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was based on these images.

Kung Fu Mobile claims in a lawsuit that they met with Kris Jenner in 2011 to discuss a potential Kardashian themed video game – and showed her mockups of what the game would look like. Jenner didn't go with Kung Fu, and instead partnered with competitor Glu Mobile instead. Glu subsequently came out with the smash hit Kim Kardashian: Hollywood in 2014.

The lawsuit claims Glu based its game off the mockups and pitch that Kung Fu had made for Jenner, and is suing for copyright infringement and breach of contract.

Kris Jenner and Glu are fighting the claims and asking for a dismissal. A hearing for the motion to dismiss will be held February 29th.

Kung Fu's mockups were entered into evidence in the court document of the case. Here's what their game would've looked like:

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Apple's Netflix rival might be unveiled later this year alongside iPhone 7

Apple has not canned its TV plans, and a new report says Apple is looking to ink deals for exclusive TV shows that would be streamed on iTunes, planning to possibly unveil the new product during the iPhone 7 media event in September.

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Why A Marxist Social Policy Is Gaining Ground In Silicon Valley

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This week, the startup incubator Y Combinator put up a job listing for a researcher to study basic income, a policy where the government would, as described by Y Combinator boss Sam Altman, give all citizens "enough money to live on with no strings attached."

There are other ways to describe the UBI ("universal basic income"), the cutest being "mincome" (short for minimum income), but the general parameters include just that: all citizens get a base amount of money, unconditional on employment status or other factors.

"If you give people freedom — and you free them from the worry and stress of paying for food — some people will do nothing," Altman told BuzzFeed News in an interview. "And some people will create incredible new wealth."

It's an idea that has united Marxists and libertarians, making unlikely comrades of anarchist anthropologist David Graeber and billionaire investor Peter Thiel. Some proponents argue the policy would raise the standard of living, return a degree of labor market power to working people, and compensate unwaged work by women. Others believe direct cash payments are a more efficient way for the government to distribute money than the current welfare system.

To these pluses, Altman adds the promise of a "truer" meritocracy.

"Fifty years from now, I think it will seem ridiculous that we used fear of not being able to eat as a way to motivate people," Altman wrote. "I also think that it’s impossible to truly have equality of opportunity without some version of guaranteed income."

The notion of paying people for nothing, which has been gaining popularity in recent months, last had traction at the level of government in the 1960s and 70s, when both conservatives and liberals voiced support for versions of the policy. Free-market champion Milton Friedman and Richard Nixon each favored variations of basic income, as well as Democratic politicians such as George McGovern.

'Pepper', humanoid robots, are displayed at a smartphone stall to illustrate their applications for corporate use.

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The idea in, its new tech context, is a kind of Soylent for economics, a synthetic miracle cure-all for poverty, manufactured by the same method and minds that tackled hunger by making a hipper, nerdier version of nutritional shakes.

After all, basic income is not such a far cry from unemployment benefits, the Earned Income Tax Credit, social security, or a souped-up take on Obama's recently proposed "wage insurance." But when techno-utopian VC firms get involved, a semi-radical social safety net study becomes a futuristic moonshot to sketch a blueprint for a society in which robots will have eliminated most kinds of work.

"I’m fairly confident that at some point in the future, as technology continues to eliminate traditional jobs and massive new wealth gets created, we’re going to see some version of this at a national scale," Altman wrote.

BuzzFeed News spoke with Altman to learn more about the proposal. Here's what he had to say.

Given that a number of studies have looked at basic income in the past, what's behind the decision to fund more research now?

I think those past studies are not super relevant to the world in 2016. It’s such a different time in the world. Technology in 2016 enables people to accomplish much more, with much less, than at any time in history.

Which technology in particular do you have in mind?

I don't think it's any one technology. I think it's where we are on the general exponential curve of technology. We are not so far away from a society where we have enough for everyone.

Also, in the world today, many people can create new innovations. However, with the fear of poverty that so many people face, it's very difficult to take the risks to do that. I don't think we can have equality of opportunity without something like a basic income.

Do you think favor for basic income has reached a high level of saturation in Silicon Valley?

I think there are still a lot of people who think it’s a really horrible idea. And there are a lot of people who look at how quickly everything’s changing and see this as something on the scale of the industrial revolution or cultural revolution in terms of changing the potential of what people can accomplish when you take away the fear of not being able to pay rent or for food.

If you give people freedom — and you free them from the worry and stress of paying for food — some people will do nothing. And some people will create incredible new wealth. We see this all the time at Y Combinator with people who wouldn’t be able to start up without support from us.

People dress as robots for Halloween in West Hollywood.

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You mentioned you've been interested in basic income for a long time. Did you come to it via conservative thinkers like Milton Friedman, liberal theorists, or some combination?

I honestly can't point to the time I became interested in this. [It's been] sort of a gradual process over the past 10 years. As you point out, it comes from a lot of places — it's one of the few ideas that I've heard staunch support for from liberals, conservatives, libertarians, authoritarians, etc.

What do you think it is about basic income that appeals so much to some in the tech community, rather than proposals such like welfare, unemployment benefits, food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit, or wage insurance?

I'm not entirely sure. Speaking for myself, it seems fair, it seems simple, and it seems like it could be good for society.

Mannequin robots perform different poses during a demonstration at the annual International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo.

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There seem to be good indicators that on-demand economy workers can't all count on making minimum wage. Might a basic income help underwrite gig economy startups, by raising the floor for contingent workers? Or could you see basic income undercutting the model?

I'm not sure. It would certainly give the workers much more power [and] flexibility.

One of the questions you mention trying to answer is, "Do people sit around and play video games, or do they create new things?” To push against that — would it be so bad if people do both — if a basic income enables more play?

Of course it'd be okay. I personally love playing video games. On a more serious note, I don't think hard work for its own sake is valuable (only if it actually creates new value). I think we are heading towards a world where we don't need everyone to work. If some people are happy and fulfilled playing video games, more power to them.

(Edited and condensed for clarity and length.)

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Apple Recalls AC Adapters Over Potential Shock Hazard

Apple issued a voluntary recall this week of certain AC wall plug adapters because they may break and cause electrical shock when touched. In a statement posted on their site, Apple said it's recalling AC wall...

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Facebook Doesn't Like Calling Twitter By Its Name, And Twitter Is Pissed

When a Twitter flame war between Wendy's and Burger King last week ended with Wendy's saying it would respond to its rival's antics by serving "edible food," the spat became national news. And like many such silly and shareable stories, it made its way to Facebook's Trending List, which happily named the brands involved, but not the platform on which they sparred.

To Facebook, the Wendy's vs. Burger King Twitter fight happened not on Twitter, but in an otherworld called "Social Media."

Evidently, the word "Twitter" is something of a stumbling block for Facebook, which seems to abstain from using it, particularly in its Trending column where Twitter-related stories are often described as "Social Media" ones. And this has caused enough consternation over at Twitter that some executives are finally calling bullshit. Twitter COO Adam Bain, for example, has clearly lost patience with the euphemism, repeatedly calling it: Facebook's "Code for Twitter."

And, to be fair, Facebook has given Bain and Twitter plenty of reason to protest this week. That epic Kanye West vs. Wiz Khalifa Twitter fight? Facebook said it happened on "Social Media." The Twitter debate between B.O.B and Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Earth's shape? Yup, also "Social Media."

All this during a week in which Facebook poached Twitter product head Kevin Weil to work for Instagram, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg began referring to Facebook as the new "town hall" — a phrase that sounds an awful lot like Twitter's description of itself as the "global town square."

In fairness, Facebook does occasionally refer to its own posts as occurring on "social media," and the company has no policy forbidding the use of Twitter's name.

Asked why the Trending column often refers to Twitter as "Social Media," a Facebook spokesperson sent the following response in an email: "Trending topic descriptions and summaries are written with the goal of making sure that the topic is clear and well-summarized, so that people get an accurate summary of the news event quickly.”

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How many true friends do you have on Facebook? The answer will surprise you

Just how strong are your relationships with your friends on Facebook? Are they your best friends? Are they casual acquaintances? Are they family members? Are they strictly friends you have online? More importantly, how many of them are real friends? Would they help you if you were in trouble?

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Tired of computer bugs? MIT may have the answer

Researchers at MIT have developed a system to automatically repair computer bugs.

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iPhone may get long-range wireless charging in 2017

It seems Apple is all about going wireless these days.

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Patent tips details of Google's Project Wing drone delivery

With Google's plan, drones use infrared beacons to connect with and navigate to a container on the ground.

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Guess how much Google paid the guy who briefly owned google.com

When student Sanmay Ved saw the google.com

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Japan unveils stealth plane, may combine with next-gen jet

Japan unveiled its first homemade stealth plane Thursday as it tries to catch up on the technology and enhance its reconnaissance and intelligence capabilities as China expands its own military presence in the region.

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Ted Cruz Mocks Trump Debate Absence With Cartoon Duck Snapchat Filter

Ted Cruz has a new nickname for Republican rival Donald Trump: Ducking Donald. And he's propagating it on Snapchat.

The nickname is a reference to Trump's decision to withdraw from tonight's Republican debate, and Cruz's campaign used it in a sponsored Snapchat filter that also included a cartoon rubber duck sporting Trump's trademark hairdo.

In an email, a Snapchat spokesperson confirmed the filter's authenticity and said that it will run today in Iowa only.

Snapchat isn't exactly a part of the political-advertising mainstream, but it's picking up some steam. The campaigns of Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and John Kasich — as well as some Super PACs — have all run ads on the platform this election season.

Cruz used the same "Ducking Donald" attack in a post included in Snapchat's Live Story from the debate. "I'm looking forward to being on the debate stage tonight in Iowa," he said. "The only question is: Where will Donald be?"

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Zuckerberg Surpasses Kochs on Bloomberg Billionaire List

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has passed billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch to become the sixth richest person on the planet, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. No, the social media...

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FCC: U.S. Broadband Still Terrible

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The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday agreed to release its 2016 Broadband Progress Report to the public at the end of this week. And when it’s published, it will be as shocking and dismal as the one that preceded it.

Conducted over 2015, the FCC’s review found that broadband internet is “not being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion to all Americans,” a finding that prompted the agency to “take immediate action” to accelerate connectivity. Worse: The U.S. ranks just 16th out of 34 developed nations in broadband speed and access.

Thirty-four million Americans currently lack access to broadband internet, according to the FCC. Rural communities are especially deprived, with 39% of the rural population lacking access, compared to just 4% in urban areas. The commission found that 41% of American schools have failed to meet the agency’s short-term goal of 100 MB speeds. These schools educate nearly half of the nation’s children.

FCC officials described the disparity in web access as a significant barrier to economic and social life. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn challenged those who have access to connected computers and mobile devices to “forgo either for a week” to see “how challenging it is to keep up with the daily demands of work, school, home, health, commerce, sanity, just about everything.”

But even as the majority of FCC commissioners support efforts to close the gap — providing broadband subsidies for poor households, offering government grants to schools and rural communities, spurring industry investments in network infrastructure — commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Ajit Pai registered their displeasure.

“The [Obama] administration’s policies have failed,” said Pai, who along with O’Rielly, the other Republican commissioner, often voices dissenting opinions within the FCC. “You might think that for all the money the administration has spent, there would be real progress. But the FCC doesn’t think so. And in many ways, I agree."

O’Reilly characterised the broadband report as politically motivated, designed to invite additional government regulation into the broadband market. “I strongly oppose the notion that broadband is not being deployed in a timely fashion,” he said. “Apparently, no amount of progress will ever be good enough for a commission that is bent on regulating broadband at any cost.”

To be fair, the FCC’s report indicates that the country’s glaring internet gap seems to be closing, with the percentage of Americans without access at 20% in 2012, 17% in 2013, and 10% in 2014. That said, five years ago, in its 2011 Broadband Progress Report, the agency also concluded that "broadband is not being reasonably and timely deployed and is not available to all Americans,” a conclusion the agency has come to pretty much every year since.

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Amazon Stock Crashes After Company Reports Record Profit

Yes, profit.

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Amazon

Amazon stock had soared in the lead-up to what many expected would be a positive earnings report. It was up up almost 9% on Thursday, and its share price more than doubled in the past year.

But investors sold off the stock in after-hours trading following the earnings report, and the stock was down almost 13%. Amazon reported a $482 million profit for the quarter, which was more than double the $214 million profit in the same period in the previous year, but well below what analysts expected. It was also the largest quarterly profit Amazon has ever reported.

This is a huge shift for Amazon, which in recent years has worried investors with its large spending and seeming indifference to profits. In early 2013, Slate described Amazon as "a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers." The company was coming off a $39 million loss in 2012.

In 2013, it would earn $274 million, and in 2014, the company lost $214 million. In all of 2015, however, profit soared $482 million. The gyrations in income came with massive investments by Amazon in faster delivery, free delivery for Amazon Prime members, and the expansion of its media offerings, including original content, for Prime members.

But revenue didn't grow as much as people expected in the last three months. Amazon had $35.7 billion worth of sales, up 22% from $29.3 billion a year ago but slightly below what analysts had expected.

Investors have flocked to Amazon because of the belief that it will continually hoover up more and more of the brick-and-mortar retail business, along with having the most profitable cloud computing business in the world. That's why Amazon trumpets metrics besides profits like revenue, to show how quickly its e-commerce footprint overall is growing, and different measures of cash flow, which generally track money coming into the company and the money it takes to run the business in a given period.

One bright spot was Amazon web services, the company's cloud computing business. It reported $2.4 billion in revenue, just above what analysts expected, and $687 million in operating profit — a huge number given that all of Amazon made about $1.1 billion in operating profit for the quarter.

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Nintendo expected to launch a new handheld game console this year

Nintendo is expected to launch a new portable gaming device in 2016, according to a statement from IHS senior principal analyst Hiroshi Hayase on Thursday. This console is expected to be the first of two next-generation devices that will make up the much-rumored NX project.

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