The History of Cell Phones
The bad news: Americans pay more than anybody else in the world for cell phone service. The good news: Putting that expensive device down will help keep your IQ up.
Category Archives: Culture
Language meets logic as computers mark English papers
A British exam board plans to grade written responses to English tests with computers. It’s the first time machines have been used to assess language rather than merely mark multiple choice tests. At the moment, the marking will only be used for a test designed to check if students have the English skills necessary for […]
Wednesday Geeky Picks: Pirates
Talk Like a Pirate Day was of course last weekend, but assuming that some of you are still in the swashbuckling mood, here are some geek-inspired pirates… or pirate-inspired geeks… or something. Yo ho ho. ARRRRRR2D2 – kaptainkobold (CC)
Why you should raise your kids to be scientifically literate
In the following video, American astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson explains why people should raise their kids to be scientifically literate. Another brilliant piece of advice (among countless others) from our favorite scientific personality here at [GaS].
Solved: The Million Dollar Napoleon Dynamite Conundrum
A team of seven former rivals has won a three-year contest to improve Netflix’s recommendation system. They pipped another team to the million dollar prize by just twenty minutes. The contest involved the system the movie rental firm uses to predict which films a particular customer might like, based on how they’ve rated previous titles. […]
Sexy Monday Ukulele Joy via the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
By Natania Barron Contributing Writer, [GAS] I have a theory. I believe it is impossible to remain sad in the presence of a ukulele. There have been moments in my life where despair has crept in, and in spite of efforts to the contrary, very little has managed to scatter those dark clouds. Except my […]
Sony Depicts Nigeria as Home of Fraud in Latest PS3 Ad
A few weeks back, when Sony dropped the price of the PS3 to $299, they started airing the following ad to promote the new deal: But now that this has been running for a few weeks, it seems that Nigeria is Mad at Sony and wants them to withdraw the ad. The country also “demands […]
Google Books offers bizarre new media: the printed page
Every so often you’ll see a print-on-demand machine which is billed as changing the way publishing works. The dream is to be able to walk into a bookstore and quickly print off a copy of any book you like rather than be limited by what is currently in stock on the shelves. That’s likely still […]
Gleek like me
Part of me knows that “Glee” is an attempt by the Fox Network to tap into the High School Musical craze brought forth by Disney a few years ago. Part of me is resistant to such a marketing ploy. But the other part of me, the one who once dreamed of singing “On My Own” […]
The Empire Strikes Barack
Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. The Force is strong in this one. This was taken during a photo op to promote Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. You can see Photoshop treatments in the comments at Gawker and at Buzzfeed. And everywhere else on the ‘net soon!