business-and-politics
The Foxconn "iPhone Riot" Was Just One Of Hundreds in China Today
There's no word yet on how many fights broke out over the new iPhone at shops around the world over the weekend between eager customers or "Apple and Samsung":http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444032404578007862126166322.html?mod=googlenews...
Finland is Now Crowd-Sourcing New Laws Online
Iceland crowd-sourced its new constitution. The U.K. government lets online petitioners get their proposals heard (kind of maybe) if they can collect 100,000 upvotes. But Finland just might have taken the longest stride yet into the great e-democracy...
A Russian Chemist Arrested on Drug Trafficking Charges Is Sharing a Cell With Pussy Riot
Olga Nikolaevna Zelenina is a leading Russian chemist who specializes in studying hemp and opium poppies who's often called on as an expert witness in narcotics cases. She's also been arrested for being implicit in narcotics trafficking, charges that...
Bask In the Hilarious Beauty of Mitt Romney's Inexhaustible Awkwardness
Some of the most unsung heroes of the Internet are those enterprising souls who spend their enormous amounts of free time to whips together giant mixtapes of absurd video footage. YouTube has democratized the TV Carnage, and the Nic Cage freakout video...
Google Bought Photo App Snapseed, Continues to Take Over the World
Google just bought Nik Software, the guys who created photo editing and filter app Snapseed, for probably much less money than Facebook paid in its dramatic takeover of Instagram not even half a year ago. It’s an obvious move for Larry Page and...
Exhaust Burger: Why Iranians Invented the Most American BBQ Ever
It's kind of stunning that the above contraption was not, in fact, invented by Americans. As I understand it, our culture's foundation rests upon cars, hamburgers, and fast food. And yet, neither the creators of the George Foreman grill or McDonald's...
How to Get an Internet "Terrorist" To Plant a Bomb (If You're the FBI)
Last Friday, the U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force announced the arrest of Adel Daoud, a suburban Chicago teenager who’s since been said to be “enamored with Osama bin Laden and intent on killing Americans.” Daoud is charged with planting a bomb outside...
How Big Pharma Hooked America on Legal Heroin
Frank Morris was only 23 when he ended up in drug rehab. But he was already a full-blown junkie, smoking crack on the streets of San Francisco, and nearly losing his left arm after accidentally pumping a full shot into his artery.
Motherboard TV Preview: Drone On
They are overhead, far way, buzzing in the distance, doing their thing. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are "cruising over Benghazi":http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/14/us-protests-libya-airport-idUSBRE88D0PJ20120914 in the wake of attack on the...
The NYPD Gives Us Another Great Reason To Update Our Facebook Privacy Settings
NYPD police commissioner Ray Kelly issued a five-page memo last week, giving officers permission to created fake Facebook profiles to assist with electronic probes. Officers will be able to register their alias with the department and obtain a laptop...
Let's All Take a Moment To Appreciate the New eBay Logo
In 2010, deep in the recession doldrums, eBay handled $62 billion worth of buying/selling transactions and $92 billion worth of financial transactions, while bringing in about $9 billion worth of revenue for itself. A rare big-name survivor of the...
America's Border-Industrial Complex Can't Get Its Virtual Fences in a Row
Border security will never die. Federal budgets and immigration waves may both be on the wane, but hey, no matter. The U.S-Mexico border-industrial complex continues booming apace, with some even saying there's no end in sight in pushing to build up a...