Heavy metal: Life at the world's largest shipyard

How South Korea has become a global leader in shipbuilding.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Fo2XN0

Microsoft registers "HoloPet" trademark, likelihood of augmented reality kittens rises

During Build 2015 Microsoft very briefly showed an augmented reality dog as part of their HoloLens presentation. It now seems as though the pixel pup could represent a flagship HoloLens brand. Microsoft registered the "HoloPet" trademark a few days ago, which means I may soon be able to circumvent my girlfriend's aversion to dogs by getting an augmented reality companion instead.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1dFDyro

Here's the hourly wage you'd need to afford a 2-bedroom rental in every state.

Poverty, inflation, and gov't benefits are calculated as if renters spend 30% of their income on housing. Increasingly, that number is a fantasy. Here's the hourly wage a full-time worker would need t
Read more: http://ift.tt/1eKu2Ug

Life and Death at Cirque du Soleil

After a long slump and a tragic accident, the entertainment company is embarking on bold new ventures. Michael Joseph Gross lifts the curtain on Cirque du Soleil’s gravity-defying aerial choreography—and weaves his way through the investigation into how an acrobat fell to her death during a live performance.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1BAo9h4

The Economist Who Realized How Crazy We Are

Richard Thaler made the equations a lot more messy. Which is good. By Michael Lewis.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1K34yNC

House bill would require gun owners to have liability insurance

House Democrat Rep. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.) has introduced a bill that would require gun owners to carry liability insurance. The Firearm Risk Protection Act, unveiled Friday, would require gun buyers to have liability insurance coverage before being allowed to purchase a weapon, and would impose a fine of $10,000 if an owner is found not to have it. Service members and law enforcement officers, however, would be exempt from the requirement.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1JggqLy

Uber updates privacy policy, but can still track users

The ride-hailing service revises its privacy policies to be "easier to understand," but it also mentions it can access passengers' location data even when they're not actively using the app.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FUWFIh

Amazon Lazy People Same-Day Delivery Service Is Now Free In 14 Cities

Amazon Prime subscribers will now get free same-day shipping on “over a million” items in 14 metropolitan areas. It’s practically Seamless for stuff.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1BynEEu

Multitasking makes you stupid, studies find

Several scientific studies around the world have concluded the brain doesn't switch tasks like an expert juggler.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1HVWOO9

California Set To Give Solar Panels To Low-Income Families For Free

California is the best state in the country if you want to go solar – but only if you’re rich enough. Due to the steep upfront costs of around $15,000, only those from middle- to upper-income families can afford to install solar arrays. A novel initiative is, however, looking to change that. This new project hopes to help disadvantaged communities see the sun in a different light.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1BxIQKA

A Short History of Unnecessarily Terrifying Toy Patents

Google does a lot. Search, email, translation, browsers, phones, chat, docs and much, much more. And if its most recently published patent application is any indication, it’s thinking about getting in on the high-tech, creepy toy game. Said patent is for a connected “anthropomorphic device” that will respond to “social cues” to control media devices in the home, likely with the intention of becoming an integral part of the Internet of Things.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1AEy0aF

Edith Wharton Reviews the Starbucks Located at Her Childhood Home

It's exactly what it sounds like.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1AAWeTo

Stop Calling the TPP a Trade Agreement – It Isn’t

Trade is a good thing. But enabling companies to move $30/hour jobs to countries with $.60/hour wages so a few billionaires can pocket the difference is not trade.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1LPV0EL

Ford follows Tesla's lead and opens all their electric vehicle patents

In a press release today, Ford announced that they are opening to competitors the patents and patent applications they have for electric vehicles. The move is not unlike what Tesla did last year
Read more: http://ift.tt/1SIjwMF

In the Bay Area, Adjuncts and Artists Unite to Unionize

It is no longer a stretch to draw connections between adjunct professors and other workers in the service economy. The corporate university model is deeply invested in the notion that treating all of its employees as disposable labor (while at the same time raising student tuitions at an unbelievable rate) can maximize profits.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1KDW1lr

That’s Business, Man: Why Jay Z’s Tidal Is a Complete Disaster

Like many rappers, Jay Z writes songs that have a paranoid streak. He lashes out against conservative cable news anchors, overzealous cops, lazy music critics, and less talented lyricists, all of whom, he insists, are out to get him because he’s famous. On May 16, Jay Z uncorked one of these bilious anthems, Say Hello, from his 10th studio album, American Gangster, at an exclusive performance for people who’ve signed up for Tidal, his subscription-only streaming-music service.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1HTO7Ul

Snapchat's Evan Spiegel: 'We need to IPO'

Evan Spiegel, the notoriously secretive and prickly chief executive of Snapchat, has revealed one juicy tidbit: The Venice startup wants to go public, and plans are underway for an IPO. The 24-year-old made the admission Tuesday evening during an onstage conversation with Re/code founders Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at their Code conference in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1JZSVXZ

Restaurants Really Need to Stop Serving Food on Wooden Boards

Steak presented on wooden boards, bread arranged in hats and chips in plant pots. Will our obsession with food served on things that aren’t plates ever end?
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FSz0by

Pop music’s biggest sellout: How many brands paid for product placement in your favorite songs?

Your ad is now a song, and vice versa, thanks to opaque backroom deals
Read more: http://ift.tt/1cnxlyS

White House sides with Oracle, tells Supreme Court APIs are copyrightable

Google v. Oracle: Unlicensed use of APIs might be a fair use, US says.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1BusWRj

Ben & Jerry's made a new flavor to raise global warming awareness

Ben & Jerry's wants ice cream lovers to know their dessert isn't the only thing in danger of melting. They announced new flavor Save Our Swirl, or SOS for short, to draw awareness to December's UN Climate Summit in France.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1SGdhZV

Fort McKay: The Canadian town that sold itself to tar sands

The tiny Alberta town is one of the world’s single biggest source sites of carbon pollution. The community grew rich on oil, and was wrecked by oil. So local, Cece Fitzpatrick, decided to run for chief, promising to stand up to the industry which came there 50 years ago...
Read more: http://ift.tt/1eCm8fs

High-tech Dutch trend of 'city farming' grows food faster without sunlight

In their beds, the salad greens enveloped by magenta hues from the lights above hardly seem appetizing. Surprisingly, the unblemished leaves taste pretty good when they come out from under the lamps. Those who visit Brightbox, a high-tech horticulture lab in the Netherlands' agricultural hub of Venlo are invited to taste what is grown under light-emitting diodes, or LED lights. The salad greens are raised in such immaculate conditions, there is no need to wash the leaves before sampling...
Read more: http://ift.tt/1LNlU0b

Bernie Sanders Would Tax The Income Of The Wealthiest Americans At 90 Percent

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate on the richest is too high in order to combat income inequality.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1PS37GH

Fossil industry faces a perfect political and technological storm

The IMF says we can no longer afford the economic wastage of fossil fuels, turning the green energy debate upside down as world leaders plan a binding climate deal in Paris
Read more: http://ift.tt/1HzM82a

Proposed FCC Rules Tighten Restrictions on Annoying Robocalls

NEWS ANALYSIS: If adopted the new rules will place significant restrictions on automatic recorded phone calls as well as those that are autodialed, but have real people standing by to annoy you.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1cmrjhO

TISA: Yet Another Leaked Treaty You've Never Heard Of Makes Secret Rules for the Internet

A February 2015 draft of the secret Trade In Services Agreement (TISA) was leaked again last week, revealing a more extensive and more recent text than that of portions from an April 2014 leak that we covered last year.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1RsFMc1

The Technology Of Books Has Changed, But Bookstores Are Hanging In

The debate over whether digital books are better continues. But in the age of Amazon, the number of independent booksellers is up. The revival is fueled, at least in part, by digital natives.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1HyNlGU

Mary Meeker's Internet report: User growth slowing, but disruption full speed ahead

The Internet is powering up the "sharing economy," Airbnb, Uber, and Thumbtack, which in turn is driving down both prices for rooms, taxis, and chores (Yea!) and "wages" (Boo!)
Read more: http://ift.tt/1J5Oxaq

Uber Closes In on Its Last Frontier: Airports

In a productive week, Ingemar Smith, driver for hire, picks up about 50 passengers from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Instead of pulling up to the curb outside the baggage claim area, the typical zone for fetching fliers, Mr. Smith and his silver Toyota Prius often lurk in the short-term parking deck, another minute’s walk. Mr. Smith works for Uber, the ride-hailing service that has helped upend the taxi business in many corners of the world, with one exception: airports.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1G3V1Gf

PowerPoint should be banned. This PowerPoint presentation explains why.

Make these slides the last ones you ever read.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1SEEQTf

Cord cutters' dream come true: HBO is already pondering special discounted HBO Now plans

Cord cutters across the country knew they had turned a corner the moment HBO announced that it was finally placing some distance between itself and traditional pay TV with its new HBO Now service. With this new plan, households that chose not to subscribe to a pay TV service would still be able to access all of HBO’s content with a new streaming-only option. And the best part, perhaps, was that cord cutters knew HBO would be...
Read more: http://ift.tt/1GGRcFR

Holy Crop: How Federal Dollars Have Made America’s Drought Crisis Worse

The federal subsidies that prop up cotton farming in Arizona are just one of myriad ways policymakers have refused to reshape laws to reflect water shortages throughout the Colorado River Basin states.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1dzCGVl

5 marketing lessons from P&G's YouTube ad ban

The ASA has banned a Max Factor make-up tutorial on for failing to indicate clearly that it was marketing. Nicola Kemp lays out the implications for brands.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1cksleg

Wealthy Chinese 'Star Trek' fan builds company headquarters in shape of USS Enterprise

If you long to work on the Starship Enterprise, send your resume to NetDragon Websoft. The online game developer run by an avid "Star Trek" fan has built its headquarters in China in the shape of the legendary spaceship that Captain Kirk used to "boldly go where no man has gone before."
Read more: http://ift.tt/1JWeNTZ

Tracking Honeybees to Save Them

Can outfitting bees with tiny radio transmitters solve colony collapse disorder?
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FbU48i

How The White House And Paul Ryan Are Making Sure Forced Labor Remains Part Of Their Trade Deal

The House of Representatives will quickly get down to unfinished business once it returns from the holiday recess: defending trading partners that engage in slavery...
Read more: http://ift.tt/1J7pH8F

The Retargeting Myth – How Remarketing Could be Sabotaging Your Sales and Conversion Rates

But what about from the customer’s point of view? Do they see remarketing ads as a gentle prod, or a clingy nuisance? One study wanted to find out.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1exz7iC

The Galaxy-Sized Video Game

No Man’s Sky lets virtual travellers explore eighteen quintillion unique planets.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1SCOUfH

The Mystery of the Hardy Boys and the Invisible Authors

The secret behind the longevity of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys is simple. They’re still here because their creators found a way to minimize cost, maximize output, and standardize creativity. The solution was an assembly line that made millions by turning writers into anonymous freelancers—a business model that is central to the Internet age.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1RogbRv

Japan Tells Its Workers to Take More Vacation

Japan wants its workers to take more holidays and work fewer hours to cut down the number of people pushing themselves into an early grave. Decades after "karoshi," death from overwork, entered the Japanese lexicon, the government is still battling to get control of the problem. Leave entitlements and national holidays have increased, but the Japanese still shun vacations and the number of work-related suicides is little changed over the past decade.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Hwen1C

London’s Most Mysterious Mansion

Ever since it was purchased by an offshore company, Witanhurst has been expanding—and nobody knows who owns it.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1FXBqrp

Sen. Sessions explains Obamatrade in key Senate speech

Senator Sessions’s floor speech against Obamatrade on Friday could go down as one of the most important Senate speeches ever
Read more: http://ift.tt/1PMBHlA

10 Ways a Time & Attendance System Updates Your Small Business

  Investing in a time and attendance systems may not be the first thing small business owners think of when considering ways to achieve their expected revenue growth. Improving customer service and investing in new customer acquisition methods are cited far more often, but failing to do so is taking a risk. According to a [...]
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Ffs04I

Why do people waste so much time at the office?

The workplace is where people go to work. But much of the day is increasingly padded out with less productive activities, writes Peter Fleming. A few years ago a disturbing story appeared in the media that seemed to perfectly capture the contemporary experience of work and its ever increasing grip over our lives: "Man Dies at Office Desk - Nobody Notices for Five Days".
Read more: http://ift.tt/1LEFtXz

California Is Giving Free Solar Panels to the Poor

Taxing the rich to give the poor clean power.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1KlXQQQ

Unilever's CEO says he is 'ashamed' of his pay and has the company's 'simplest job'

What do Ben & Jerry’s, Dove, Hellmann’s and Lipton all have in common? Each is among the 400 brands owned by Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch company run by CEO Paul Polman that brought in more than €48 billion in revenue last year. When Polman took over in 2009, he made several bold decisions for the consumer goods giant. Among them was a major commitment to sustainability. He vowed to cut Unilever’s environmental footprint in half by 2020, and to double the size of its business at the same time.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1KlK3cW

Remembering Pakistan’s Biggest and Baddest Fraud Scandal

Before Axact, there was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1AsdFFL

Why Greece’s Syriza party is not sticking to the script on an IMF deal

European officials trying to secure a last-minute deal in the debt stand-off between Greece and the IMF now have to anticipate the threat of revolt within the country's ruling Syriza party. By Paul Mason.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1AtvQKM

‘Does MapQuest still exist?’ As a matter of fact, it does.

In the far corner of a typical-looking tech office, past the ping-pong table and medicine balls, past the whiteboard covered with aspirational Post-it notes, there’s an old walk-in storage closet filled with reminders of a different era. In there, the old red MapQuest logo is everywhere: on giveaway knickknacks, on little tech gadgets, tokens from a time when MapQuest had nearly 100 percent of the online mapping market.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Htf0ZP