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Alt - Boing Boing - 4 hours ago

Work offline and on the go with MS Office 2021 for just $30

TL;DR: If you want productivity software that works without constant internet access, this Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows Lifetime License is a straightforward offline solution that's only $29.97 (reg. $219.99). It's hard to be a go-getter when your productivity is tied to subscription-based services, the cloud, and reliable internet access. Read the rest The post Work offline and on the go with MS Office 2021 for just $30 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 22 hours ago

Upgrade your PC with this $26 MS Office and Windows 11 Pro bundle

TL;DR: This all-in-one MS PC bundle deal gives you lifetime access to both MS Office Pro Plus 2019 and Windows 11 Pro for just $25.99 (reg. $428). Upgrading your desktop setup doesn't have to be a drag when you've got software that works with you, and not against you. Read the rest The post Upgrade your PC with this $26 MS Office and Windows 11 Pro bundle appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 1 day ago

This tool replaces your pile of productivity apps for $65 for life

TL;DR: Hive AI combines docs, notes, mind maps, whiteboards, collaboration tools, and AI-assisted workflows into one workspace, now $64.97 (reg. $619) for life. Every productivity app claims it will simplify your life, only to introduce another sidebar, dashboard, or notification sound that will activate your fight-or-flight mode for life.  Read the rest The post This tool replaces your pile of productivity apps for $65 for life appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 1 day ago

Grandpa Pudding Brains: "Most people don't know dumb has a B"

Next week's breakthrough: why "knife" starts with a K. In the middle of calling someone stupid, Donald Trump took a detour into what appeared to be a fresh personal revelation about basic English spelling, carefully explaining that "dumb" contains a silent B as though this was a major scientific breakthrough. Read the rest The post Grandpa Pudding Brains: "Most people don't know dumb has a B" appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 1 day ago

Ubisoft lost a billion and a half dollars last year

Hey, remember when I was like "oooh, the Black Flag remake is pretty clearly a desperate Hail Mary to turn games giant Ubisoft's ailing fortunes around?" I love it when I'm vindicated. Per an earnings report Ubisoft filed recently, they closed out last year with a major loss of 1.3 billion euros, or about 1.4 billion dollars, a record for the company according to their CFO. Read the rest The post Ubisoft lost a billion and a half dollars last year appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 1 day ago

Mac people who think faster than they type: the Voibe dictation tool is now $40 for lifetime access

TL;DR: Voibe turns your Mac into a private, offline dictation machine that helps you capture ideas up to 3x faster than typing—for a one-time payment of $39.97 (reg. $199). For years, "working faster" somehow became synonymous with "typing faster," which feels a little unfair when humans literally come with built-in voice input. Read the rest The post Mac people who think faster than they type: the Voibe dictation tool is now $40 for lifetime access appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 1 day ago

Another graduation speaker hypes AI to boos, tells students their education is already obsolete

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and private equity managerial Gloria Caulfield, addressing graduates, both got booed recently as they talked up AI. You'd think commencement speakers would get the memo. But Scott Borchetta did not get the memo before speaking at Middle Tennessee State University. Read the rest The post Another graduation speaker hypes AI to boos, tells students their education is already obsolete appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

No sign of fabled Trump phone in the wild

Trump phones were sent out to reviewers, but today The Verge's Dominic Preston reports that they are the only models shown to exist. "The Trump phone is not here," he writes, despite the company having claimed it was shipping them. Read the rest The post No sign of fabled Trump phone in the wild appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

Armed with German copyright, Fender threatens makers of Strat-style guitars

Fender does not hold a U.S. copyright or trademark on the shape of its 1950s Stratocaster guitar, having failed in a years-long legal effort to control the use of a . The patents expired long ago; by the time Fender started slathering them with polyurethane in the 1970s, it was a classic. Read the rest The post Armed with German copyright, Fender threatens makers of Strat-style guitars appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

Avoid price discrimination with this 3-year VPN subscription for $68

TL;DR: Planning a trip? This Surfshark VPN subscription can help you avoid regional price hikes. Grab your 3-year subscription for $67.20 (reg. $430) with code VPN20 for an extra 20% off. Surfshark VPN can help you avoid travel restrictions and price gouging thanks to its access to 3,200+ 10 Gbps servers in 100 countries. Read the rest The post Avoid price discrimination with this 3-year VPN subscription for $68 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

Trump not committing to attending son's wedding: "not good timing for me"

President Trump will "try" to attend his son Donald Jr.'s wedding to socialite Bettina Anderson, but the timing is "not good" for him. Responding to a reporter at the White House, he pointed out that the Iran war "and other things" are already on the schedule. Read the rest The post Trump not committing to attending son's wedding: "not good timing for me" appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

Irish seagull shits on King Charles III

On a visit to Northern Ireland, King Charles III received an indifferent gift from one of the locals. "At least it didn't land on my head," he said, after a seagull shat on his jacket. Charles was visiting the southeast coastal town on the second day of a three-day visit with Queen Camilla. Read the rest The post Irish seagull shits on King Charles III appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

Helldivers crosses over with Warhammer for satire squared

They're calling it the most misunderstood collab of all time. Both horde shooter Helldivers 2 and tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 have fallen into the same trap: being satirical critiques of fascism that are somehow too subtle to keep actual fascists from unironically adopting them. Read the rest The post Helldivers crosses over with Warhammer for satire squared appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

Bush releases extremely cursed summer-flavored baked beans

Ahh, the tastes of summer. Nothing beats apple pie a la mode or a classic cheap, sugary rocket pop on a hot, sticky July day. Well… nothing except infusing the taste of those summertime treats into a can of baked beans, that is. Read the rest The post Bush releases extremely cursed summer-flavored baked beans appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

Louvre creates containment zone for people who only came to selfie with Mona Lisa

The Louvre is giving the Mona Lisa her own dedicated exhibition space, a move that should dramatically improve conditions both for art lovers and for the daily migrating herds of tourists whose primary relationship with the painting consists of holding a phone over their heads for six blurry seconds. Read the rest The post Louvre creates containment zone for people who only came to selfie with Mona Lisa appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

This Mac PDF editor is actually worth paying $70 for

TL;DR: Quickly convert, merge, split, rotate, crop, delete, and reorganize pages with this lifetime subscription to PDF Expert's Premium Plan—now at 50% off.  PDFs are a lifesaver when you need to print or submit work, but terrible when it comes to using or editing them. Read the rest The post This Mac PDF editor is actually worth paying $70 for appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 2 days ago

Experts warn men not to turn scrotums into septic DIY water balloons

Doctors are pleading with men to stop injecting assorted fluids into their testicles for social-media masculinity cred, which feels like the sort of sentence that should never have needed writing. Online masculinity culture continues its determined march well beyond its current body-horror parody with "ballmaxxing," a trend involving DIY scrotal inflation and extremely foreseeable medical consequences. Read the rest The post Experts warn men not to turn scrotums into septic DIY water balloons a...

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Waymo's autonomous taxis remain strangely drawn to floodwater

Somewhere inside the neural net is apparently a very determined salmon. Waymo has reportedly suspended robotaxi operations in yet another city after one of its autonomous vehicles drove directly into floodwater and got stuck, continuing the fleet's ongoing scientific inquiry into whether roads and rivers are, spiritually, the same thing. Read the rest The post Waymo's autonomous taxis remain strangely drawn to floodwater appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Democrats finally release 2024 autopsy, somehow forget to examine the body

After months of treating its 2024 election autopsy like the Ark of the Covenant, the Democratic National Committee has finally released the document, only for it to emerge as a 192-page error-strewn bundle that reportedly omits interviews with Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and senior campaign officials, which is one approach to forensic analysis. Read the rest The post Democrats finally release 2024 autopsy, somehow forget to examine the body appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Police sue to stop Trump's apparent Jan. 6 loyalty rewards scheme

Nothing says law-and-order presidency like a possible rebate program for political violence. Having offered up a scheme that seats Donald Trump more as a comic book criminal and less like the sitting President of the United States, Police are suing to stop his apparent $1.8B loyalty rewards program as the people who beat up cops speculate about their payouts. Read the rest The post Police sue to stop Trump's apparent Jan. 6 loyalty rewards scheme appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Trump's ghoul boasts of massive imaginary fan club during Fox News masculinity pageant

The truly confident man, as we all know, must periodically explain his confidence to Jesse Watters. Stephen Miller dropped by Jesse Watters' ongoing televised symposium on fragile masculinity to explain that, unlike lesser men, he possesses a "very, very secure, intact ego," has apparently never enjoyed a larger fan following thanks to Fox appearances, and that working for Donald Trump is basically an emotional CrossFit regimen for alpha males. Read the rest The post Trump's ghoul boasts of mas...

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

LA's Tesla road rager gets 7 years after taking his act to Hawaii

The baffling part isn't that he did it again; it's that he was in a position to. Nathaniel Radimak, the notorious Los Angeles Tesla road-rage attacker whose violent confrontations became viral shorthand for "how is this guy still on the road?", Read the rest The post LA's Tesla road rager gets 7 years after taking his act to Hawaii appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Would-be Pokémon Professor sues Nintendo for denying him the status

Kyle Owens, 34, should by rights be recognized as a Pokémon Professor, a status conferred by Nintendo to knowledgeable experts of the game franchise seeking leadership roles in the fan community. But as Owens claims in a federal lawsuit against the company and Pokémon Company International, he has been unfairly denied the prestigious accolade. Read the rest The post Would-be Pokémon Professor sues Nintendo for denying him the status appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Small potatoes: Oregon county backs away from Greater Idaho fantasy

Turns out "becoming Idaho" gets less exciting once someone mentions wages, infrastructure, and math. The long-running dream of peeling conservative chunks off Oregon and gluing them onto Idaho just lost a little starch, as Wallowa County voters decided they were done entertaining the Greater Idaho fantasy and its twice-yearly ritual of pretending county commissioners can redraw state lines. Read the rest The post Small potatoes: Oregon county backs away from Greater Idaho fantasy appeared first...

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Want ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini? Open the ChatOn AI app—a full year is now just $30.

TL;DR: ChatOn bundles multiple top AI models, image/video tools, web search, and productivity features into one app—try the whole AI thing for a year for $29.99 (reg. $39.99). There's a real digital exhaustion happening right now for many professionals relying on AI: one app for writing, another for brainstorming, one for image generation, another for research, then approximately seventeen open tabs because you forgot where you started. Read the rest The post Want ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini? Op...

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

16 bytes of code generate this video and the music in it

Linus Akesson's A Mind is Born, a chiptune and graphic demo generated by just 256 bytes of code, is famous for its incredible brevity and spookily good output. All rise for wake up! by DESiRE, which somehow pulls the same trick–pumping soundtrack and striking visual accompaniment—in just 16 bytes of x86 real-mode assembly. Read the rest The post 16 bytes of code generate this video and the music in it appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Trump phone is years-old knockoff with wrong number of stripes on U.S. flag logo

Imagined as an original made-in-America smartphone, but realized as a made-elsewhere knockoff, the $500 Trump Phone is finally here. It's an Alibaba-tier variant of the years-old HTC U24 Pro and has an American flag with the wrong number of stripes on it. Read the rest The post Trump phone is years-old knockoff with wrong number of stripes on U.S. flag logo appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Kingdom Come: Deliverance devs are making a Lord of the Rings game

Although its predecessor didn't exactly grip me, sprawling medieval RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance II proved to be one of my favorite games of the 2020s. So big! So immersive! So stuffed with content that it made me concerned for the dev team! Read the rest The post Kingdom Come: Deliverance devs are making a Lord of the Rings game appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Quantic Dream's inexplicable live service hero shooter dies an ignominious death

Marathon may not have turned out to be the next Concord, but Spellcasters Chronicles might now have a decent claim to the title. Perhaps Quantic Dream, the studio known exclusively for story-driven singleplayer experiences that have about as much actual gameplay as reading a book does, was not the right choice to develop a live-service hero shooter. Read the rest The post Quantic Dream's inexplicable live service hero shooter dies an ignominious death appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Revisiting the strange world of Dick Tracy

When I was a kid first getting into comics, there was something about Dick Tracy that genuinely made me uneasy. I was already into Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, other popular spandex supes. Their worlds felt heightened and fantastic, but also somehow fundamentally safe. Read the rest The post Revisiting the strange world of Dick Tracy appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

PlayStation to give its next game reveal a nationwide theater screening

Nothing says "confidence" quite like letting people get tickets to go see the announcement of a lineup of upcoming games in a proper movie theater. Granted, it could also say "let's blast ads to our core audience on as big a screen as humanly possible." Read the rest The post PlayStation to give its next game reveal a nationwide theater screening appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

A virtual museum runs 570 operating systems in your browser

Andrew Warkentin has spent over twenty years collecting old operating systems and getting them to run. The result is the Virtual OS Museum, a launcher and Linux VM that boots 570-odd operating systems on top of QEMU, VirtualBox, or UTM, with everything pre-installed, pre-configured, and rolled back to a known-good state by a snapshot tool when an install breaks. Read the rest The post A virtual museum runs 570 operating systems in your browser appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Tennessee man jailed 37 days for a Trump meme wins $835,000

Larry Bushart, a Tennessee retiree who spent his career in law enforcement, will receive $835,000 from Perry County and Sheriff Nick Weems to settle the federal civil rights case he filed last December, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression announced today. Read the rest The post Tennessee man jailed 37 days for a Trump meme wins $835,000 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

Humans are the only primates with a lopsided hand preference

Of all the monkeys and apes scientists have studied, no species shows a population-level hand preference. Individual primates often have strong biases, and chimpanzees, gorillas, and a few other species lean slightly to the right or left as groups, but not nearly as much as humans. Read the rest The post Humans are the only primates with a lopsided hand preference appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 3 days ago

This $40 food-tracking app may tell you more about your groceries than the box does

TL;DR: Fooducate Pro is $40 (reg. $199.99) and combines meal tracking, barcode scanning, food grades, ingredient analysis, and nutrition tools in one app for new users. Grocery packaging has become its own weird dialect. Everything is "natural," "smart," "light," "clean," or otherwise trying very hard to sound innocent.  Read the rest The post This $40 food-tracking app may tell you more about your groceries than the box does appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

H.P. Lovecraft borrowed from this real Connecticut seismic phenomenon

The Connecticut village of Moodus lies over a seismic fault that produces shallow microearthquakes that cause weird booms, rumbles, and cracks. The Algonquian peoples named the area Matchitmoodus. ("the place of noises") The biggest Moodus Noise on record was an intensity-7 earthquake on May 16, 1791. Read the rest The post H.P. Lovecraft borrowed from this real Connecticut seismic phenomenon appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

DOJ quietly slips Trump what looks a lot like permanent audit invisibility

"What could he possibly be hiding?" is, admittedly, not the reassuring question we're all thinking. While Todd Blanche was apparently busy testifying before the Senate about other matters, the Justice Department reportedly posted a one-page addendum that if accurately described permanently shields Donald Trump, his family, and associated entities from IRS examinations of previously filed returns, which is one of those sentences that sounds made up even while you're typing it. Read the rest The ...

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Incredible AI slop from the Department of Education

This is what happens when you do not care. Everything about this image says "wow, AI really went nuts here!" and not "we should use this to represent the United States Department of Education," until you look at who is running the United States. Read the rest The post Incredible AI slop from the Department of Education appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Anna's Archive hit with $19.5M judgment and global domain order

Thirteen major publishers Penguin Random House, Elsevier, HarperCollins, and ten others won a $19.5 million default judgment against the shadow library Anna's Archive on May 19, handed down by federal judge Jed Rakoff in New York's Southern District. The publishers claimed that Anna's Archive isn't just sharing pirated books with readers it's become "a primary training data hub for AI companies like Meta and NVIDIA." Read the rest The post Anna's Archive hit with $19.5M judgment and global doma...

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Grandpa Pudding Brains free associates a commencement address

The real question here is what speech or words are being displayed on the teleprompters, as convicted felon, real estate fraudster, and over 26 times credibly accused of sexual assault, Donald Trump babbles on about unimaginable "things" happening. It is literal babble. Read the rest The post Grandpa Pudding Brains free associates a commencement address appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

What actually makes hybrid cars fuel-efficient?

The 2021 Toyota Sienna is a three-row AWD minivan that gets 34 mpg city and highway beating its nearest rivals by more than 50%. Most people assume the batteries and electric motors explain that number. Alec Watson at Technology Connections has made a 55-minute deep dive on why that assumption is wrong, and the actual answer goes back to 1887. Read the rest The post What actually makes hybrid cars fuel-efficient? appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Protesters tore the crowns off NYC's oldest fence in 1776

Bowling Green is the oldest park in New York City. The park was established in 1733 as, well, a bowling green, and leased from local businesses for the cost of "one peppercorn a year," or a nominal fee. The Charging Bull has attracted the most attention from tourists since its installation at the northern end of the park in 1989. Read the rest The post Protesters tore the crowns off NYC's oldest fence in 1776 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Would you spend $650,000 to ride a transforming mecha?

Hey! Do you have $650,000 to spend? Not interested in pissing away that cash on feeding a school full of kids lunch for a few years or helping a couple of families off the street? Then you, friendo, could soon find yourself riding around in your own giant, transformable mecha. Read the rest The post Would you spend $650,000 to ride a transforming mecha? appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Plex lifetime pass is jumping from $250 to $750 in July

For years, Plex has been an inexpensive, easy way for folks to organize and stream their media collection. Starting in July, Plex will still be an easy way to do that, but it won't be cheap: for the second time in as many years, the service is raising the cost of its lifetime membership, and boy howdy, is this price hike steep. Read the rest The post Plex lifetime pass is jumping from $250 to $750 in July appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Victorian hair jewelry: bracelets and rings woven from the dead

Victorian hair jewelry, like the ones in these photos, was one of those old traditions that feels both beautiful and maybe a little eerie today. At the time, though, it was considered deeply sentimental and romantic. Hair didn't decay the way flowers or paper did, so it became a lasting keepsake people could carry with them for years. Read the rest The post Victorian hair jewelry: bracelets and rings woven from the dead appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Tom the Dancing Bug: The Shadow Docket comes out of the shadows!

Tom the Dancing Bug: The Shadow Docket comes out of the shadows! -> Please join the team that makes it possible for your friendly neighborhood comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug to exist in this hostile Trumpverse! JOIN US IN THE INNER HIVE, and be the first kid on your block to get each week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic – before it's published anywhere. Read the rest The post Tom the Dancing Bug: The Shadow Docket comes out of the shadows! appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Erotic wooden puzzles from 1960s spark joy

The whimsical and erotic puzzles of William Accorsi capture the free-spirited vibe of 1960s and '70s folk art. His sculptural puzzles are playful and colorful, with tiny details that make the images feel alive. These are the fidget toys I wish I had on my shelf. Read the rest The post Erotic wooden puzzles from 1960s spark joy appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Vintage clown photos capture old circus culture

The old clown photos in TASCHEN's The Circus. 1870s–1950s are incredible. A lot of the clowns look more fantastical than funny, with smeared makeup, giant costumes, and intense expressions. Some of the photos are charming, and others feel haunting yet beautiful. Read the rest The post Vintage clown photos capture old circus culture appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Darksiders remaster costs PlayStation players $10, Xbox gets it free

Remember Darksiders? No, not Darkstalkers, the fighting game series that's kind of weird about women. No, not Dark Souls, the ARPG series that's also weird about women but in a far more esoteric way. I mean Darksiders, the surprisingly well-produced series of God of War knockoffs that managed to stand out by having you slay your way through Christian mythology instead. Read the rest The post Darksiders remaster costs PlayStation players $10, Xbox gets it free appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

What happens when a prop comedian refuses to touch his prop?

At this point, I'm convinced that Aaron Westberry is less a standard comedian and more an avant-garde performance artist whose genius will only be properly appreciated in a few decades. After writing about his bit in which he told the same joke repeatedly for the duration of a five-minute set, I delved deeper into his oeuvre and surprise, surprise, it's full of similar absurd performances twisting the established format of standup comedy in any number of creative ways. Read the rest The post Wh...

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Someone modded Skyrim into Fallout 4's Pip-Boy games

I'm convinced that fifteen years without a sequel is doing bad things to the Skyrim player base. Give them enough time, and they won't even need an Elder Scrolls 6. Case in point: when recent developments in the modding scene made it possible to insert other games into Fallout 4, I thought it was a fun curiosity. Read the rest The post Someone modded Skyrim into Fallout 4's Pip-Boy games appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

This MacBook Pro is only $400 yes, really.

TL;DR: Get a Grade A refurbished Apple MacBook Pro (2020) with the Touchbar for only $399.99 (MSRP $1,580) with all the tools you need. For practical techies, a refurbished laptop is the smart decision to add a MacBook to your roster. Read the rest The post This MacBook Pro is only $400 yes, really. appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Sci-Hub and Libgen descend from a Soviet tradition of smuggled science

Today's enormous shadow libraries Sci-Hub, Library Genesis, and the rest trace back to Soviet samizdat, the underground practice of typing forbidden books onto carbon paper and passing the copies hand to hand. Russian scholars who grew up inside that culture started digitizing texts in the 1990s, and the through-line from clandestine typewriters to today's gigantic online archives is direct. Read the rest The post Sci-Hub and Libgen descend from a Soviet tradition of smuggled science appeared f...

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Occupy Wall Street co-founder built an AI organizing mentor that runs offline

Most AI assistants send your conversations to someone else's server. Outcry, a free app from Micah Bornfree, PhD, takes the opposite tack: the model lives on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple silicon Mac, and nothing it discusses with you is ever transmitted anywhere. Read the rest The post Occupy Wall Street co-founder built an AI organizing mentor that runs offline appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Microsoft 365 is almost $100/year, but you can get Microsoft Office and Windows 11 Pro for life for only $135

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office 2024 Home and Business and Windows 11 Pro for life for $134.97. Microsoft 365 costs around $100 a year, which means if you've been subscribing since it launched, you've probably spent more on it than a decent piece of furniture. Read the rest The post Microsoft 365 is almost $100/year, but you can get Microsoft Office and Windows 11 Pro for life for only $135 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

In 1997, NOAA recorded a sound louder than any known animal

In the summer of 1997, NOAA's underwater microphone network a Cold War-era array of hydrophones originally built to track Soviet submarines and later repurposed to monitor earthquakes and whale migrations picked up something strange off the coast of southern Chile. Read the rest The post In 1997, NOAA recorded a sound louder than any known animal appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 4 days ago

Granta published a likely AI-written story as a prize finalist

Ethan Mollick, the Wharton professor who studies AI adoption, ran "The Serpent in the Grove" through Pangram an AI-detection tool that claims 99% accuracy and got 100% red flags. The story had been selected from 7,806 entries as a Caribbean regional finalist for the Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize and published in Granta. Read the rest The post Granta published a likely AI-written story as a prize finalist appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Tesla Cybertruck owner, intending to test "wade mode," learns about "sink mode"

"Numerous water safety violations" is a spectacular phrase when discussing a pickup truck. A Texas man reportedly looked at Tesla's "wade mode" feature, absorbed whatever meaning he wished from those two words, and drove his Cybertruck directly into Grapevine Lake, where the vehicle promptly demonstrated its lesser-known "become expensive artificial reef" setting. Read the rest The post Tesla Cybertruck owner, intending to test "wade mode," learns about "sink mode" appeared first on Boing Boing...

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Greenlanders offer Trump envoy the universally understood finger gesture for "no to annexation"

In what appears to have been a pilot program for "colonialism, but make it weirdly condescending," Trump emissary Jeff Landry reportedly tried to win over Greenlanders with MAGA merch and cookie promises, receiving in return a remarkably clear statement of local sovereignty. Read the rest The post Greenlanders offer Trump envoy the universally understood finger gesture for "no to annexation" appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

The 1960 blob that gave all mystery blobs their name

In August 1960, something washed ashore on a remote beach in western Tasmania, about two miles north of the Interview River. It was 20 feet wide, 18 feet long, weighed somewhere between five and ten tons, and had no eyes. Instead of a mouth, it had what witnesses described as soft, tusk-like protuberances. Read the rest The post The 1960 blob that gave all mystery blobs their name appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

AI's giant rural job machine mostly appears to manufacture hype

The AI boom has discovered rural America, where struggling towns are being promised salvation in the form of enormous data centers, industrial temples to machine learning that reportedly create far fewer permanent jobs and more heat than the factories and mills they replace. Read the rest The post AI's giant rural job machine mostly appears to manufacture hype appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

The UK has formally declared Badger Badger Badger worthy of preservation

In a move that confirms the internet is no longer a youthful experiment but a fully historicized source of collective psychic damage, the British Film Institute has officially preserved Badger Badger Badger, the hypnotic early-web earworm featuring crudely animated mustelids, occasional mushrooms, and whatever passed for humor in our flash-animation era. Read the rest The post The UK has formally declared Badger Badger Badger worthy of preservation appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Fake courtesy machine automates the modern art of insincere politeness

There's something weirdly comforting about a machine that openly admits what most modern social interaction quietly is: repetitive, performative courtesy generated by rote mechanism and low-grade obligation. It's less a machine than a physical manifestation of "per my previous email." Read the rest The post Fake courtesy machine automates the modern art of insincere politeness appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Dave Baker's "Halloween Boy" resurrects pulp adventure comics

Dave Baker's Halloween Boy Vol. 1: Last of the Halloween Boys is a super-fun and clever mash-up of old-school pulp adventure comics, underground comix, and postmodern ennui, all brewed together into a single, satisfying draught. Oni Press is collecting the first five oversized issues of Baker's self-published underground into a hardcover edition arriving May 26, 2026. Read the rest The post Dave Baker's "Halloween Boy" resurrects pulp adventure comics appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Surprise, there's another gaming price hike

If you're sick of reading this, imagine how sick I am of writing it to say nothing of the people who actually have to pay for it. Sound the horns, stop the presses, close the gates: another console manufacturer is upping their prices. Read the rest The post Surprise, there's another gaming price hike appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

The Norwegian Dawn cruise ship flunks health inspection

Fruit flies, mold, and refrigeration failures, oh my! Cruise ships sure are having a moment. Just in the first half of 2026, norovirus outbreaks sickened 115 people on the Caribbean Princess in early May, dozens on the Oceania Insignia in early April, and at least 153 on the Star Princess in March. Read the rest The post The Norwegian Dawn cruise ship flunks health inspection appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Bear-deterring "Monster Wolves"sold out in Japan

Japan has a growing bear problem, and one deterrent is so popular that it has sold out. A Hokkaido company has been selling "Monster Wolves" since 2016 to help combat the problem. As seen in this video, the $4000 solar powered animatronic scarecrows are absolutely terrifying, with flashing red eyes and screams that can be heard a half a mile away.   Read the rest The post Bear-deterring "Monster Wolves"sold out in Japan appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Dr. Pompeii, Dr. Pompeii! Emergency! Come right away!

Even ancient doctors occasionally lost patients to weather-related scheduling conflicts. New scans suggest one of Pompeii's ash-preserved fugitives was likely a Roman doctor, discovered clutching what appears to be his medical kit while making the sort of commute-ending dash that tends to happen when the local mountain abruptly becomes a murder cloud. Read the rest The post Dr. Pompeii, Dr. Pompeii! Emergency! Come right away! appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

JD Vance attacks "crazy leadership in Washington" from his convenient seat inside Washington leadership

Somewhere, irony quietly packed a bag and left the country. Sycophant JD Vance has apparently embraced the timeless political strategy of angrily denouncing the very governing apparatus you currently inhabit, urging Americans to vote against the "crazy leadership in Washington DC" in what sounds like a self-own delivered with perfect confidence. Read the rest The post JD Vance attacks "crazy leadership in Washington" from his convenient seat inside Washington leadership appeared first on Boing ...

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

This photo editor is for anyone intimidated by Photoshop's… everything

TL;DR: The award-winning Luminar Neo Lifetime Bundle is on sale for $64.97 (reg. $682) through May 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT, giving you AI-powered photo editing tools without the Photoshop headache or subscription circus. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who edit their vacation photos, and folks whose camera rolls contain 14,000 blurry screenshots, accidental ceiling pics, and one suspiciously artistic hot dog. Read the rest The post This photo editor is for anyone intimidated by Ph...

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Drew Friedman's new Mel Brooks portrait marks the comedian's 100th birthday

Drew Friedman has released a limited edition fine art print of Mel Brooks, hand-numbered and signed in a run of just 20, to mark Brooks's 100th birthday on June 28, 2026. Friedman's announcement recalls Brooks's career starting at 14 as a Borscht Belt "tummler" doing audience warmup, then The Two Thousand Year Old Man with Carl Reiner, Your Show of Shows, Get Smart, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, producing The Elephant Man, and writing "Springtime for Hitler." Read the rest ...

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Two-thirds of US doctors now ask an AI chatbot for treatment advice

About 650,000 American physicians roughly two-thirds of the country's doctors now use a chatbot called OpenEvidence to help decide how to treat their patients, the company told NBC News. In April alone, the service was queried during nearly 27 million clinical encounters, plus another 1.2 million users abroad. Read the rest The post Two-thirds of US doctors now ask an AI chatbot for treatment advice appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Vulture vomit is the leading theory for Kentucky's 1876 meat shower

Mrs. Crouch, a farmer's wife in Bath County, Kentucky, was stirring a kettle of soap on her porch around 11 a.m. on March 3, 1876 when chunks of fresh meat began dropping out of a cloudless sky. By her own account, quoted in Wikipedia's writeup of the Kentucky meat shower, the sky was simply snowing meat, and each piece hit the ground with a sharp snap. Read the rest The post Vulture vomit is the leading theory for Kentucky's 1876 meat shower appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Tiny conspiracy notes keep turning up inside sealed groceries in Pennsylvania

Someone has been folding 2-by-3-inch slips of paper into sealed packages of Lucky Charms, Lindt chocolate, Milk Duds, Tylenol, and Velveeta Skillets, and tying them in plastic bags to trees along Pennsylvania hiking trails. Each slip carries 19 lines of densely printed text, often with one corner shouting a single word like LIES in capitals. Read the rest The post Tiny conspiracy notes keep turning up inside sealed groceries in Pennsylvania appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

On one night in 1888, tens of thousands of English sheep fled their fields at once

It was around 8 p.m. when, on a dark night in early November 1888, every sheep across roughly 200 square miles of Oxfordshire decided, all at once and for no apparent reason, to leave. Tens of thousands of them broke from their fields and pens and ran into the night. Read the rest The post On one night in 1888, tens of thousands of English sheep fled their fields at once appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Those 100-foot Korowai tree houses are mostly built for film crews

The BBC's Human Planet showed a Korowai family in Papua climbing a bamboo ladder into a hut roughly 100 feet up in an ironwood tree, while the narrator declared height equals prestige in their culture. British tabloids later revealed the scene was staged the BBC paid a family to build the house for the cameras, then apologized to viewers. Read the rest The post Those 100-foot Korowai tree houses are mostly built for film crews appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Meta is tracking its employees' every mouse click and they're mad

It's been a while since I had a good belly laugh: employees at Meta are having the vapors over the company monitoring their keystrokes and mouse movements. Imagine having your every move recorded! How fast you type or what else you look at on your laptop is being monitored! Read the rest The post Meta is tracking its employees' every mouse click and they're mad appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Eric Schmidt gets booed at University of Arizona commencement

Commencement! A time for students to reflect on their years of hard work. They've become an expert in their field or trade, and they've got the paperwork and the massive debt to prove it. To mark this important milestone in their lives, the institution they earned their diplomas or degrees from often asks a speaker an individual of industry or inspiration to give a keynote and wax whimsical about what lies ahead for them. Read the rest The post Eric Schmidt gets booed at University of Arizona ...

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Early 1900s Thermocap hair loss device looks like sci-fi medical tech gone wrong

This photo from the early 20th century shows what a hair loss treatment called the Thermocap looked like. This pseudoscientific gem was marketed towards men who were balding. The device consists of a tall metal hat that looks like something a Martian in a sci-fi cartoon would be wearing. Read the rest The post Early 1900s Thermocap hair loss device looks like sci-fi medical tech gone wrong appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

This $60 app scans, signs, redacts, and sorts paper from your phone

TL;DR: SwiftScan VIP is $59.99 (reg. $199.99) and turns an iPhone, iPad, or Android device into a mobile scanner for PDFs, JPEGs, OCR, signatures, redactions, and cloud uploads. Paper has a funny way of pretending it still runs things. Between a receipt that shows up when you don't need it, a form that needs to be signed right now, or handwritten notes that start looking important two weeks later, suddenly somebody is crouched over a kitchen counter using their phone flashlight like a very sad o...

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Opening 80-year-Old WWII US Army C-Ration can with original chocolate, coffee, biscuits, and jam inside

This fascinating video shows an original World War II–era US Army C-Ration can from the 1940s being opened today, in 2026. Its preserved contents are revealed after roughly 80 years, and the results are surprisingly edible-looking. These olive-drab tins were designed to provide soldiers in the field with a meal, and this particular example still contains a small assortment of wartime provisions. Read the rest The post Opening 80-year-Old WWII US Army C-Ration can with original chocolate, coffee...

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

WHO declares global health emergency over Congo Ebola outbreak

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been hit by an outbreak of Ebola. According to the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the outbreak was discovered in the northeast of the African nation. It's not the first time that the country's citizens have had to endure the fear of contracting the deadly hemorrhagic fever: there have been 17 outbreaks, that we know of, since the virus was discovered 50 years ago. Read the rest The post WHO declares global health emergency over Congo Ebo...

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

What happens when an artist draws Pokémon without ever seeing them

An artist and mom has found the funniest possible way to engage with Pokémon: by drawing them without ever seeing them. PokéMum creates her own versions of Pokémon based only on written descriptions, turning familiar mascots into fantastical sketches. Some come out surprisingly accurate; others look like cryptids from a lost medieval bestiary. Read the rest The post What happens when an artist draws Pokémon without ever seeing them appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 5 days ago

Two Navy jets collide at Idaho air show, all four crew eject safely

Two US Navy EA-18G Growler jets collided mid-air while performing in an aerial demonstration at the Gunfighter Skies air show near Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. The incident occurred during a scheduled performance on the second day of the event. Read the rest The post Two Navy jets collide at Idaho air show, all four crew eject safely appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Swiss movie theater brings the cinema into the bathroom

Sometimes, deciding whether to go to the restroom or stay seated in a theater is no easy choice. I've probably come close to injuring my bladder because I didn't want to leave the theatre. A movie theater in Switzerland has come up with the perfect solution, though. Read the rest The post Swiss movie theater brings the cinema into the bathroom appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

These 100-year-old flounder photos look like abstract design studies

These images of flounders come from an early 20th-century study published in 1911 in the Journal of Experimental Zoology by American zoologist Francis Bertody Sumner. Working between research stations in Naples, Italy, and Woods Hole, US, he tested how flounders adapt their appearance when placed on sharply contrasting, artificial-looking backgrounds designed to challenge their camouflage. Read the rest The post These 100-year-old flounder photos look like abstract design studies appeared first...

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Moss gets a second life with non-VR release this summer

Moss and its sequel, Moss II, are two of the best games released in virtual reality. In Moss, players guide Quill, a fierce but adorable little mouse, through a storybook adventure. In addition to directing Quill's actions directly like a standard platformer —jumping, fighting, and solving puzzles the player, acting as the omniscient reader of the book, steps in to help out directly. Read the rest The post Moss gets a second life with non-VR release this summer appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Man throws giant rock at endangered seal, gets repeatedly punched in the head and arrested

An entitled tourist thought he could harass and endanger an animal and face no consequences. He was very wrong. A man on a Maui beach hurled a large rock right at the head of Lani, an endangered Hawaiian monk seal beloved by locals, barely missing her and causing her obvious distress. Read the rest The post Man throws giant rock at endangered seal, gets repeatedly punched in the head and arrested appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

HBO's Lanterns trailer goes heavy on the green light

When the first teaser for HBO's upcoming Lanterns series was released, a lot of fans griped about the lack of power ring use. Fair enough: the ring is both a weapon and badge of authority for the DC Universe's corps of space cops. Read the rest The post HBO's Lanterns trailer goes heavy on the green light appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Grammarly caught using AI to simulate dead writers… again

You may recall that AI writing and editing helper Grammarly admitted to shitting the bed last month when it was caught allowing its users to polish their scribbling in the writing style of well-known journalists, without those journalists' permission. There was more poop earlier this year, when the company was found to be using the writing voice of dead authors to edit and critique its subscribers' work. Read the rest The post Grammarly caught using AI to simulate dead writers… again appeared f...

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Cuba is bracing for a U.S. invasion

With everything going on in Iran, the dangerous anti-terrorism laws being set in motion here at home, and the lunacy surrounding a ballroom that taxpayers are definitely paying for, it's hard to keep track of all the humanitarian calamities the Trump administration is responsible for. Read the rest The post Cuba is bracing for a U.S. invasion appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Doom's 1993 soundtrack inducted into the Library of Congress

While the United States Congress can't seem to find its ass with both hands of late, the United States Library of Congress has a bead on what's vital to the American people: the soundtrack to the video game Doom has been inducted into its collection. Read the rest The post Doom's 1993 soundtrack inducted into the Library of Congress appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Man tried to sell 150,000 poop photos he collected via AI app

When Boing Boing alum Cory Doctorow coined the phrase enshittification, I'm positive he didn't see this coming. Today's newsletter from 404 Media tells the tale of an everyday data hero whose coding science is tight. Unfortunately, in a thread on Reddit, he explains that, with the help of AI, he has used his powers for evil. Read the rest The post Man tried to sell 150,000 poop photos he collected via AI app appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Comedian tells the same joke for his entire set and it works

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm not sure whoever first coined that bit of timeless advice had tight five-minute comedy sets in mind, though. Regardless, it's advice that comedian Aaron Westberry has taken to heart. In some weird marriage of comedy set and social experiment, Westberry went to a local open mic night and proceeded to tell the same joke repeatedly for the duration of his set. Read the rest The post Comedian tells the same joke for his entire set and it works appeared first on ...

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Atari is doing furry bait now and I'm scared

At a certain point you just have to give it to ancient, flagging games company Atari just for continuing to throw shit at the wall. With the much-lauded "Atari gaming hotel" currently existing as nothing more than an AI-generated pitch deck that everyone and their mother rightly clowned on, the time has apparently come for the next scheme. Read the rest The post Atari is doing furry bait now and I'm scared appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

This website shows you exactly what sites know about you

There are a lot of things you can do to make it harder to trace who you are online. But, like the criminal in a shitty prime-time cop show, we always leave behind a little something of ourselves. It's the price we pay for a free and open internet where "free" means no subscription, and "open" means corporations rip your life open like a bag of chips to glean everything they can about you. Read the rest The post This website shows you exactly what sites know about you appeared first on Boing Boi...

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Xbox becomes XBOX, and the crowd goes mild

There's a new CEO in charge! It's a bold new era for Xbox! Asha Sharma's leadership has already brought us such seismic, paradigm-shifting changes as, uh, walking back some of the Xbox Game Pass price hikes (but still not to their original level). Read the rest The post Xbox becomes XBOX, and the crowd goes mild appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

The Steam Controller doesn't just scream. It sings, too

Valve's brand-new PC gaming controller, the aptly-named Steam Controller, is full of secrets. At that hundred-dollar price point, it better be! Those lucky enough to actually get their hands on it after it sold out in half an hour have already discovered that the controller will play a Wilhelm scream if dropped from high enough. Read the rest The post The Steam Controller doesn't just scream. It sings, too appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

Bastl Kalimba synthesizer is really thumbsing

Turn off the DAW and put down the tablet. David Hilowitz (previously) got his thumbs on the Bastl Kalimba, a peculiar and extremely fun-looking handheld that's currently live on Kickstarter. From the company's pitch: "Treat it like an acoustic Instrument, it will answer like one." Read the rest The post Bastl Kalimba synthesizer is really thumbsing appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alt - Boing Boing - 6 days ago

The annual SNL joke swap returns

I'm not exactly a strict viewer of long-running sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, but there is one tradition that I'm always seated for: the Weekend Update joke swap. At the end of every season, Michael Che and Colin Jost, the hosts of SNL's satirical news segment Weekend Update, write jokes for each other to read with as straight a face as they can manage. Read the rest The post The annual SNL joke swap returns appeared first on Boing Boing.