Friday, February 28, 2014

Reddit's giving away 10 percent of money made off its ads to charity this year


Reddit's turning from an entertainment and philanthropy-enabler to a philanthropist of its own. The popular social network today said it plans to take 10 percent of the revenue it makes off advertising during 2014 and give it to a charity that will be chosen by the Reddit community. "We want to show that advertising doesn’t just support the reddit platform, it also directly supports the causes and goals of reddit as a whole," Reddit CEO Yishan Wong wrote in a post announcing the program.


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Mt. Gox files for bankruptcy protection: 90 Seconds on The Verge

Wake up. Find a tree. Punch it. Pick up wood blocks. Make wood planks. Craft. Make crafting bench. Craft. Punch a mountain. Make sticks. Craft. Make an pickaxe. Craft. Make an axe. Craft. Make another pickaxe on accident. Craft. Make a sword. Craft. Punch a rock. Grab coal. Make torches. Craft. Make a giant woodblock tower and climb into the sky. Slip. Fall. Oops. New game.


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Lidstrom's enjoying retirement

DETROIT – For the second time in three days, legendary defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom will attend a Red Wings’ game when he and close friend, and former teammate, Tomas Holmstrom, take in Friday’s contest against the Anaheim Ducks at Joe Louis Arena....



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Spec Sheet: the tracking bands of MWC 2014


A lot of products come out each week — we don't highlight all of them, but all of them make it into The Verge Database. In Spec Sheet, a weekly series, we survey the latest product entries to keep track of the state of the art.


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Tor developing anonymous instant messenger


Tor has been making it easier and easier over the years to anonymously browse the web, and now it's working to make it just as easy to chat anonymously too. Tor is currently working on a secure instant messaging app for the desktop that will automatically route encrypted messages through its anonymous network. The instant messenger may be available on its own or included as part of the Tor Browser Bundle — an app that allows users to easily enable Tor and begin browsing the web anonymously.


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Decrypting the most mysterious book in the world


Around two-thirds of the way into the aged vellum pages of the Voynich manuscript, you'll find a line drawing of a bath. A pipe leads into it, another pipe leads away. Inside the bath, knee-deep in a green liquid, squat 16 naked women. Over the page, more naked women stand in the openings of ornate horns, seemingly suspended by jets of water and using their hands to support pipes, or archways, or rainbows.


All around these pictures — above, below, to the left and right, sometimes in gaps...


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Fortress Investment Group reports a $3.7 million loss on Bitcoin


The first public company to invest in Bitcoin had a $3.7 million paper loss on the digital currency, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.


Fortress Investment Group, which was founded as a private equity fund but expanded into hedge funds and other types of investments, reported that it bought $20 million worth of Bitcoin in 2013. The company was still holding onto its Bitcoin as of the filing, meaning it could recoup its losses and even make money if the currency's value rebounds.


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GONE PURPLE

Purple will literally be the name of the game on Friday, March 7 when the Griffins host their third annual Purple Community ® Game to benefit Van Andel Institute (VAI) and cancer research.



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Ancient Roman sarcophagus lid, believed stolen, turns up in Queens warehouse


An ancient Roman marble sarcophagus lid of a woman laying on a couch showed up in a warehouse in Queens, earlier this month — and federal investigators think it was stolen.


Today they plan to seize the lid that is believed to have been stolen by Gianfranco Becchina, a convicted Italian antiques dealer who operated a gallery in Switzerland until he was convicted for trafficking thousands of Roman artifacts in 2011. During the investigation, Italian national military police searched his property and found documentation of his dealings in Switzerland — including evidence of the sarcophagus lid, which Becchina allegedly bought damaged in two pieces in Italy and sent to his Swiss gallery in 1981. It was later sold, and a photo of the lid...


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The 530-pound Exosuit is a submarine you can wear


The six-and-a-half foot tall, 530-pound aluminum suit looks like something out of an action movie. In reality it has an entirely different — and more intriguing — purpose. Come this summer, scientists will be using the suit, known as the Exosuit, to dive up to 1,000 feet into the ocean with the aim of collecting and studying bioluminescent fish. At such extreme depths, despite almost no visible light, a bounty of mysterious, glowing fish thrive. And with the Exosuit, scientists will observe these fish like never before.


The Exosuit itself is the latest "atmospheric diving system" — a term for suits that protect the operator in a bubble of hospitable conditions. That means divers using a suit like this feel the same pressure that...


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Blockbuster production: an inside look at building the 2014 Oscars


This Sunday the entertainment world will assemble for its biggest night of the year: the 86th annual Academy Awards. The Oscars will cap off an awards season that’s been particularly kind to the science fiction genre, with the space adventure Gravity and Spike Jonze’s futuristic drama Her both up for multiple Oscars — including the honor of best picture of 2013. It will also be a night full of potential for Netflix, which has already scored its first Emmy and Golden Globe wins, and c...


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The Vergecast 113 - Six degrees of 'Lawnmower Man'


The Vergecast is a discussion of all things relevant and irreverent in the worlds of art, culture, science, and technology — and anything else that pops into the twisted minds of this week's hosts. Join Joshua Topolsky, Ross Miller, and T.C. Sottek for a scintillating discussion on latest tech news.


On this week's episode, we talk about how cable network oligopolies and the FCC are ruining the internet, whether the new Samsung Gear line is what consumers have been waiting for, and how Google is slowly buying up an entire town.


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The next flu drug might already be in your medicine cabinet


On January 31st, billions around the world rang in the Chinese Lunar New Year. Hualan Chen, a scientist with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, however, celebrated from her office. Like so many days before, Chen got to work and immediately checked the number of new cases of H7N9 flu that had been recorded overnight. After a small outbreak in 2013 the virus had gone quiet, only to resurge with a vengeance in December.


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'Play Magnus' for iPhone pits you against a young chess Grandmaster


I just beat a chess Grandmaster. Sort of. Play Magnus is a new app that lets you challenge a digital version of reigning chess world champion Magnus Carlsen on your iPhone. Playing against Carlsen, who holds the highest rating of any Grandmaster ever, might not sound like a fair match, but Play Magnus actually allows you to challenge the champion at various stages in his career.


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Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox files for bankruptcy protection with $64 million in liabilities


After weeks of speculation over its financial health, the beleaguered Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has filed for bankruptcy protection. A company lawyer made the announcement at an impromptu news conference held at Tokyo District Court, according to The Wall Street Journal . Mt. Gox says it has ¥6.5 billion ($63.9 million) in liabilities at present.


Mt. Gox suspended Bitcoin withdrawals in early February, ultimately blaming a transaction bug that could have led to theft. The exchange went offline altogether on Monday amid reports that 744,000 bitcoins had been stolen. Authorities in the US and Japan are now looking into Mt. Gox's business, it emerged this week.


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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Watch GLaDOS from 'Portal' explain the difference between fission and fusion


Do you know the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion? Here's a teacher guaranteed to hold your attention in class. GLaDOS, the hilarious homicidal artificial intelligence from the Portal games, explains the two nuclear reactions in a new video produced by NASA. While she isn't explicitly called GLaDOS in the educational piece, the credits leave no doubt that voice actress Ellen McLain is reprising her role. (You might remember her recent stint in Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim as well.) For an educational, entertaining look at the basic principles, not to mention her latest plot to take over the world, be sure to listen closely to NASA's official talking General Leisure and Diversion Operational Server in the following...


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Google's Project Ara could arrive next year for $50: 90 Seconds on The Verge

Anarchy ... anarchy ... democracy ... anarchy ... left ... democracy ... pee your pants ... pee yourself ... anarchy ... what is this? ... play magic ... up ... start ... start ... anarchy ... *** FREE ROMS AT V U L P I X . G E O C I ... democracy ... JIGGLYPUFF! ... anarchy ... democracy ... right


Stories of the day:



Hosted by TC Sottek. Written...

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Obama jokes about creating 'Iron Man,' but military is already doing it


President Obama dropped quite the news at a press conference this Tuesday: "Basically," he said, "I'm here to announce that we're building Iron Man."


Of course, the president was only joking — he was really announcing the creation of high-tech manufacturing hubs — but that doesn't mean there wasn't a sliver of truth in it. The United States government has in fact been creating a suit designed to give its wearer superhuman strength and perception. Called the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), the US Army announced work on it last May and said it was hoping to have an initial suit within a year, with an eye toward potentially having it on the field within three.


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The Vergecast 113 - February 27th, 2014

The Vergecast is a weekly discussion of all things relevant and irreverent in the worlds of art, culture, science, and technology.






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Google Street View captures Canada's polar bears in conservation effort


Google has taken its Street View cameras out to plenty of unconventional places, but its most recent venture brings to the world more than just a pretty view. Through a partnership with Polar Bears International, Google has collected imagery of Churchill, Manitoba in Canada — a location that the conservation group says is home to one of the largest polar bear populations in the world. While the partnership resulted in a few incredible shots of polar bears wandering the vast tundra, the more important addition to Google Maps' archives is simply the land: conservationists will now be able to compare future imagery to today's Street View imagery to help determine how the bears' climate is changing as it's warped by global warming.


The...


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The world's oldest cheese has been found buried with Chinese mummies


In a finding that puts even the most well-aged cheese to shame, researchers say they've discovered the world's oldest variety — dating way back to 1615 BC — buried with ancient mummies in China.


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Play it again: 'Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy' review


Some things never change. Sometimes that's a good thing.


Since the first game launched on the Nintendo DS in 2007, the Professor Layton series has been one of the best reasons to own a Nintendo handheld. The games artfully blend puzzle solving and an ongoing whodunit narrative into a fantastic experience that has spawned six games, a mobile spin-off, and even an animated film. This week Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy is launching on 3DS, a game that closes the loop on the series' second...


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ShowYou update turns viral videos into a personalized iPad TV channel


For all the great videos on the web, picking which ones to watch has never been much fun. Sites like YouTube and Vimeo suggest related videos for you to watch, but often require a lot of decision-making on your part. YouTube's TV interface will choose videos for you and play them back to back, but it still asks you to pick a channel before diving in. A true TV experience for web video — something you can simply turn on — has proven elusive. Now ShowYou, an app that collects and highlights all the videos being shared across your social networks, is trying to change that.


With an update to the iPad app today, ShowYou will now begin playing your personalized video stream as soon as you open the app. (It will continue to work as before...


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ABC to stream Oscars for the first time, but with major limitations


For the first time ever, ABC plans to stream the complete Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday. That's the good news. The bad news is that the network is limiting the feed to its Watch ABC website and mobile app, which requires a cable subscription for live content. Worse still, since Watch ABC isn't yet available nationwide, the Oscars will only be streamed in select cities: viewers in Chicago, Fresno, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, and San Francisco can watch online. Most cable providers support Watch ABC, though Time Warner Cable stands out as a notable exception. But if you're with one of the other big cable companies (including Comcast, Optimum, Verizon FiOS, and even Google Fiber) and live in one of...


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Google highlights specialized maps from around the world in new online gallery


In December, Google collaborated with National Geographic to bring more than 500 of the magazine's historic maps online. The effort was created through Google Maps Engine, which lets third-party developer tools build maps on top of the company's location platform to create specialized maps. But National Geographic was only one of Google's partners — and today, the company is beginning to highlight the rest of them with the new Google Maps Gallery.


Nonprofit groups, government organizations and cities are among the groups that have contributed to the project so far. They have posted maps detailing municipal construction projects, old city plans, changing populations, and the path of deforestation. Early partners include the US...


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How will Sochi handle its Olympic hangover?


The Winter Olympics are over, but the massive stadiums, hotels, and roadways that were built for the event aren't going anywhere. And if history is any indicator that could be a major problem for host city Sochi.


Russia spent a record $51 billion preparing Sochi to host the games, transforming the seaside resort city into a winter wonderland in one of the most ambitious overhauls in Olympic history. Authorities have said they hope the investment will turn the region into a major tourist destination, though few specifics have been offered and experts are raising red flags.


"They don't seem to have made any real plans as to what happens after," says David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians. This...


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Joby Ogwyn is going to jump off Mount Everest in a wingsuit


Not long after 39-year-old Joby Ogwyn summits Mount Everest this May, he's going to strap on a wingsuit and jump right off it. He will fall for ten minutes traveling at speeds of up to 150 mph before he reaches his final destination at Everest base camp — unless he miscalculates and hits a rock face, or a rogue wind gust blows him into China. Fortunately, Ogwyn is bringing his passport.


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'Out There' is a lonely, lovely space survival game


In space, no one can hear you second-guess yourself. And you'll be doing a lot of that in Out There, which launches today on iOS and Android. It's a game that has you exploring the furthest reaches of space in order to get back home, with nothing to get you there but your ship, whatever resources you can scrounge along the way, a bit of quick thinking, and hopefully some luck. You'll constantly have to make tough choices — when your ship is low on fuel, do you travel to a new star system to find more, or risk destroying your ship to skim some energy from a nearby star? Out There originated with a near-universal obsession: like many of us, the game's developers are fascinated by space, and the vastness it entails.


"The thing is," says...


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Ultra-minimalist animal sculptures invade New Zealand


Stark white pieces of art never looked so inviting: New Zealand-based sculptor Ben Foster creates aluminum forms of animals using modern, geometric shapes. The sculptures are the same size as the real animals they portray, and Foster photographs them in picturesque spots in the New Zealand countryside.


The most striking thing about the animals is how they change depending on the viewing angle: shadows and light bouncing off them can make it look like they are composed of jagged triangular...


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The Dalai Lama has joined Instagram


The Dalai Lama has joined Instagram, marking the Tibetan spiritual leader's latest foray into social media. The announcement was made today on the Dalai Lama's official Twitter account, though his first Instagram post was published on February 1st. So far, he's posted 16 photos, including images of him alongside Larry King and Barack Obama.


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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

GETTING OVER THE HUMP

Three-point games by Teemu Pulkkinen and Calle Jarnkrok helped the Grand Rapids Griffins defeat the Milwaukee Admirals 5-1 and earn vital points in the Midwest Division on Wednesday at BMO Harris Bradley Center.



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The Boston Marathon tightens its rules after last year's bombing


After last year's bombings, Boston Marathon organizers are tightening rules for anyone competing in the event, with an unanticipated crackdown on both signs and costumes. Under the new rules, runners in costume will not be allowed to wear bulky clothes or anything that covers their face, and signs wider than 11 inches will be prohibited for spectators. The measures also prohibit large bags, suitcases and strollers from the athlete's village near the starting line, presumably with an eye to the duffel bags used in last year's bombing.


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Uber encourages surge pricing: 90 Seconds on The Verge

Adam Driver in final talks to play the villain in the new 'Star Wars' movie! David Fincher in early talks to direct the new Steve Jobs biopic! Now, Dieter Bohn is in middle, somewhat solid, but not enough to confirm talks play an undisclosed character in a new movie from a soon-to-be-announced high profile director. The film, set for release in 2026, will find Bohn's character faced with a difficult decision, one that will alter his life forever. Get ready for the feel-good-suspense-romcom-dramedy of the 2020's!


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Tesla announces plans to build battery-producing 'Gigafactory' in the US by 2017


Being able to produce massive batteries is a core part of Tesla's electric car business, and the company has just announced plans to get even better at that. The company just announced plans to build a "Gigafactory," a US-based facility that'll focus on manufacturing lithium ion batteries — and Tesla's plans for this factory are highly ambitious. By 2020, Tesla says it hopes its Gigafactory will produce as many batteries as were produced worldwide in 2013.


To meet that goal, Tesla will be partnering with other battery manufacturing partners in an effort to improve the economics of scale and reduce costs — the company says after one year of operation, it expects the per kWh cost of its battery pack will drop by 30 percent.


This...


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How to steal Bitcoin in three easy steps


In the wake of the apparent theft of $400 million-worth of Bitcoin from the popular exchange website Mt. Gox, it's worth examining just how the cryptocurrency – which backers purport to be a superior and more secure alternative to established currency – can be stolen in the first place.


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See the iconic Warner Bros. logo morph over a century of movies


Five years ago, designer Christian Annyas set out on a unique mission. He wanted to track the evolution of the Warner Bros. Pictures logo, starting with the some of the company's earliest films all the way through present day. It wasn't easy. "I started in 2009 and have watched the first part (and trailers) of at least 1,000 Warner Bros. movies since," he told The Verge. The result is a brilliant look at a piece of branding that — like Universal's spinning globe and the mountains below...


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Google will start teaching people how to build their own smartphone parts this April


Google announced today it will host the first Ara Developers’ Conference this April. The series of three conferences will show developers what they will be able to do with Google's modular phone project. The first conference will be held online with a live webstream and an interactive Q&A, and a limited number of people will be able to attend in person at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. This is the first word of Project Ara's future since Google sold off Motorola, where the project originated, to Lenovo in January.


Developing...


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SPROUL RETURNS FROM WINGS

The Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday assigned defenseman Ryan Sproul to the Griffins.



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Who stole $400 million from Mt. Gox?


Mt. Gox headquarters in Tokyo


By now, Mt. Gox's fate is more or less sealed. The Bitcoin exchange probably won't be bailed out, CEO Mark Karpeles will move on, and the rest of the Bitcoin economy will move on as if this was just a bump in the road. But as the community recovers, it's left a single, thorny question unanswered: who took $400 million worth of bitcoins from Mt Gox's vault?


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Google's Nexus 5 experience now available for other Nexus devices


Google is today bringing its Google Now-infused Android launcher to more devices. Anyone with a Nexus device or Google Play edition smartphone running Android 4.4 KitKat can now install Google's launcher, which puts Google Now just a swipe away on your home screen. It also lets users say "OK Google" to activate the feature — but again, this only works when you're on the home screen. Since it's currently limited to Nexus and GPe hardware, other changes are relatively minor. But Google Now Launcher does bring some handy user interface additions like a new wallpaper chooser and larger app icons to more devices; previously these were only found on the Nexus 5.


If Google were to release its launcher on a wider scale, it would enable users...


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Welcome to Googletown


Some days it feels like Google is taking over the world. For the residents of Mountain View, California, that feeling is personal. Two weeks ago, Google signed a deal for its very own airport just east of the Googleplex, complete with a blimp hangar large enough to house the Hindenburg. But building a better blimp probably isn't the reason that Google is leasing the historic Moffett Federal Airfield from the US government. At the same time the search giant is building robots and self-driving...


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Augmented reality could help amputees with phantom limb pain


An augmented reality racing game has given a 72-year-old amputee relief from phantom limb pain for the first time since 1965, Wired UK reports. The man was prone to waking up in the middle of the night in terrible pain due to the dissonance caused by his brain trying to control a limb that was no longer there, feeling as if his lost fist were constantly clenched tightly. But after six weeks of therapy with augmented reality, he now feels as if his phantom hand is relaxed and open.


After six weeks, he now feels as if his phantom hand is relaxed and open


The method is similar to mirror therapy, in which patients look at a reflection of an existing limb in order to trick the brain into thinking it is moving the lost limb, but uses...


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Make it work: what should fashion look like in the age of connected devices?


Asher Levine wants me to wear a jumpsuit. At Tech In Motion's Wearable Tech Fashion Show, the young American designer is wearing a onesie the color of caution tape with zippers running down the front. He tells me it's not one of the pieces being shown tonight among all the wearable fashion technology — he just made it for himself. "I think everyone should wear jumpsuits," he says as we walk out of the crowd.


And then his jumpsuit starts beeping. Levine has outfitted it with a TrackR...


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The Verge Mobile Show 081 - February 26th, 2014

The Verge Mobile Show is a weekly podcast about the biggest news in mobile technology with Verge editors Dieter Bohn, Chris Ziegler, Vlad Savov, and Dan Seifert.






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Uber kept new drivers off the road to encourage surge pricing and increase fares


Andrew Lane is a regular Uber customer with some fond memories of the service. Last year on President's Day he was the lucky rider selected for an "Ubercade" upgrade. "They sent over a free limo with secret service agents and everything. I got my girlfriend and we cruised by her ex-boyfriend's place. It was awesome."


"We didn't activate new drivers to make earnings even higher this weekend."


But this Valentines day, while traveling through San Diego in an Uber car, Lane heard something that disturbed him. "The driver had a Ford Sync system, and it read his text messages out loud." The message, which came wedged between numerous texts about a promotion for free roses, said, "UberX is very close to SURGE. It's Valentine's Day! People...


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4K gaming is coming to an Android tablet near you


Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon 805 processor back in November, but it wasn't until today that we could try out its promise of Ultra HD graphics for ourselves. The American chipmaker has built its own 4K tablet — spanning a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution — to demo the graphical capabilities of its latest chip and the consequent benefits of owning a 4K Android device. That tablet is on show here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.


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The hard-to-find Stephen Hawking documentary 'A Brief History of Time' is now on iTunes


If you have $19.99 and an interest in astrophysics, here's some good news. Errol Morris's documentary "A Brief History of Time," a profile of the brilliant scientist Stephen Hawking and his struggle with the degenerative disease that paralyzed him, is now available on iTunes. The film, named after Hawking's book, was critically acclaimed for its ability to break down some of his theories into layman's terms. However, it was not widely available until now. Super fans can also preorder the Criterion Collection Blu-ray edition on Amazon.


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The Mt. Gox fiasco won't kill Bitcoin


By Adrianne Jeffries and Russell Brandom


On Monday at around 11PM Mt. Gox, the largest exchange for trading the virtual currency Bitcoin, started disappearing piece by piece. First the homepage disappeared. Next the support page was pulled, followed by the press releases and then the API. "The requested page was not found on this server," customers were told when they tried to access their deposits. Users started to panic as they realized they might never get their bitcoins back.


It had been a rough month for Gox. The company froze customer accounts, citing a technical vulnerability. Now, three weeks later, a leaked internal document revealed that the exchange is more than $100 million dollars in the hole owing to a theft that stole...


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The Verge Mobile Show is live at 10AM ET / 3PM GMT


After several days of Catalonian bliss on the shores of the Mediterranean, Mobile World Congress 2014 is just about to draw to a close — and that means it's time to talk about what we saw, what we didn't see, and what's next in the smartphone universe. Chris and Dieter will be joined by one of our onsite reporters in Barcelona to talk through the week's events, so get seated and comfortable... this could be a long one.


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NASA to admit that astronaut's near-death could have been avoided


NASA today will admit that the near-death of an astronaut during a spacewalk last year could have been avoided, according to a report from ABC News. In a report to be released Wednesday morning, NASA will acknowledge that astronaut Luca Parmitano's suit leaked on two occasions in July. The agency had previously only reported one leak, on July 16th, when Parmitano's suit helmet began filling up with water. Today's report will acknowledge that the suit leaked on July 9th, but news of the mishap never made it up NASA's chain of command.


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Obama assessing four alternatives to NSA phone data collection: WSJ


The Obama administration has been presented with four wide-ranging options on how to reform the National Security Agency's (NSA) phone data collection program — including doing away it altogether — according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Citing officials close to the matter, the Journal reports that intelligence officials presented the options ahead of the March 28th deadline that President Barack Obama set forth in a speech about NSA reform earlier this year.


One proposal would be to put phone metadata collection under the purview of US telecommunications companies. Under this option, the NSA would inform the companies of when it needs to search their databases for terrorism-related investigations, and the phone...


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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

US government reportedly investigating Mt. Gox while its CEO sidesteps theft claims


The woeful situation for Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which went offline earlier today, is seemingly no close to getting better. A pair of reports suggest that the company is now being investigated by federal prosecutors, and could have indeed lost over 744,000 Bitcoins in a theft several years ago. Citing an unnamed source, The Wall Street Journal says federal prosecutors subpoenaed Mt. Gox sometime this month, asking it to preserve documents. One of those could include details of the company's "crisis strategy," an unverified document that leaked out earlier this week cataloging the supposed theft. In an IRC chat log obtained by Fox Business, Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles now says that document is "more or less" legitimate, though he steered...


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MasterCard program will protect credit card purchases using your smartphone's location


MasterCard is testing a new program to protect purchases made on credit cards by using smartphone geolocation. A new partnership with Syniverse lets shoppers limit foreign purchases made on those cards unless their smartphone is also in that location. That measure is designed to keep fraud at bay, while minimizing calls to banks to alert them to travel, something that can make a card useless unless the bank or credit card company knew you were traveling. With this system, the credit card company will simply check the location on your smartphone to see if you're in the same place as your card.


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Twitch is coming to Xbox One in March: 90 Seconds on The Verge

Milk Inc. is sad to retire our classic "Got Milk?" campaign, but we are ecstatic about our new "Milk Life" slogan. However, that was not our original plan. Our first batch of catchphrases included "Milk, grab life by the teat," "Milk, the udder drink," "Milk, it's nipple juice," and "Milk, cookies not included."


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Weiss won't return to lineup vs. Canadiens

DETROIT – Red Wings center Stephen Weiss has been eyeing Wednesday, February 25 ever since he was sidelined by a sports hernia in December. But although he’s been on track to return for Detroit’s trip to Montreal, Weiss will not be available for e...



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Motorola plans to launch a smartwatch later this year


Motorola is planning to jump back into the wearables market later this year, according to senior vice president Rick Osterloh. The company will launch a smartwatch that Osterloh claims will address "consumer issues like style and battery life." The news was revealed at a panel discussion at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.


Motorola's prior efforts with wearables, the ill-fated MotoACTV activity tracker, weren't known for being stylish or having great battery life, so it seems that the company has redirected its efforts in the area. Osterloh did not provide any further details about the products, such as exact release dates or price, but he did note that it was an important area for the company.


Smartwatches and wearables are one of...


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Motorola will bring Moto Maker to Western Europe and Mexico next quarter


During a panel event at Mobile World Congress today, Motorola's Rick Osterloh announced that the company plans to bring its Moto Maker customization service to Western Europe and Mexico in the second quarter this year. Until this point, Moto Maker has been an exclusive to US customers of the Moto X.


Moto Maker lets buyers customize their Moto X smartphone with a variety of different colors and finishes, including various styles of wooden backs, and then have it shipped directly to their door. The company has long said that it is able to offer this service in the US because of its Texas-based assembly plant, but it's not clear at this point if it has opened new plants in Europe or Mexico to offer it there.


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Vape life: welcome to the weird world of e-cig evangelists


On Saturday night at a pink-lit bar in New York's Lower East Side, the musician Aaron David Ross took a moment away from DJing his own party to evangelize a bit.


"Look," he said between vaporous pulls of a dual-coil atomizer, "I'm like the vegetarian that won't leave you alone. Cigarettes are terrible for you."


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Apple issues fix for major security flaw on OS X


Apple has released an update to OS X that patches a vulnerability that left a number of apps open to man-in-the-middle attacks. The vulnerability was first detailed last Friday when Apple issued an update to iOS devices that both identified and resolved the security issue on mobile. Since then, security researchers discovered that the flaw was also active on Mac desktops and called for Apple to quickly release an update that would fix it. Just days later, it has — though it appears that the actual vulnerability may have been around months, if not longer, before now.


The security update is said to resolve the issue on both OS X Mavericks and Mountain Lion. On Mavericks, Apple is releasing the patch as part of a larger update to OS X...


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Cult role playing game 'Persona 5' coming to North America in 2015


Persona 5 is coming to North America. The fifth entry in the cult hit Japanese role playing series was first revealed back in November, but at the time only a Japanese release was announced. Today developer Atlus confirmed that the game is coming to the US and Canada, but there will be quite the wait — the game isn't slated to launch until 2015, and it's coming to the PlayStation 3, not next-gen consoles. Outside of a short teaser — which features short quips like "You are a slave. Want emancipation?", but no actual gameplay — not much is known about the game.


The series usually features groups of high school students battling demons and other mystical forces, while also dealing with typical teenage problems. The last entry in the...


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Godzilla sends humanity 'back to the Stone Age' in new trailer


The latest trailer for Godzilla is out and it's already promising the king earth-shattering kaiju insanity that was only teased a few months ago. Bryan Cranston is featured prominently in the new spot, talking about the immense destruction that authorities are already writing off as natural disasters. It turns out that the monster reared its head in 1954, and even nuclear missile "tests" couldn't bring it down. "You have no idea what's coming," Cranston intones. Definitely watch out for it this May.


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