Category: Science and Technology

Discounts are rare for Microsoft’s Xbox One wireless controller for console and Windows 10, but it’s available today at Walmart and Amazon for $39.99, which is $20 off of its original price.

Enhanced over the version that first launched with the Xbox One, this revised controller features a 3.5mm headphone jack for private listening and chatting, as well as Bluetooth functionality for operability with Windows 10 computers. If your PC doesn’t have Bluetooth or if you just want a wired connection that won’t drain the controller’s AA batteries, this model includes a Micro USB cable that allows for immediate plug-and-play recognition. If you’re alright with spending a bit more, Amazon also has the controller bundled with Microsoft’s new…

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Amazon is opening its first cashier-less grocery store outside of its hometown of Seattle. The new store is opening in Chicago today. Like the other stores before it, it’s open long hours (from 7AM to 8PM), and it doesn’t have any checkout lines.

Amazon has three other Amazon Go stores, all in Seattle, that it launched between 2016 and this year. They’re each the size of a small convenience store, which is far smaller than the average US supermarket. Similar to a 7-Eleven, Amazon Go mainly sells ready-made lunches, drinks, snacks, frozen dinners, and basic groceries.

The stores use hundreds of cameras and sensors to account for what people are buying. People simply need to use their Amazon Go app to enter the store, pick up what they…

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Lucid Motors, the electric car startup that aims to compete with Tesla, will receive an eye-popping $1 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the kingdom announced on Monday. The investment will finance Lucid Motor’s 2020 commercial launch of its first electric vehicle, the Lucid Air. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock dipped by as much as 2 percent in early trading on news of the investment.

The deal is a major win for Lucid, which has languished over the last year as it failed to secure the funding necessary to start making its luxury electric cars. News of the talks comes weeks after Saudi Arabia purchased 5 percent of Tesla and emerged as a central player in Elon Musk’s failed effort to take the company private again….

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MoviePass competitor Sinemia is introducing an unlimited plan of its own, but it’ll cost you.

Swiss photographer Matthieu Gafsou traveled the world documenting the transhumanist subculture.

The Folio Society has released a number of stunning illustrated editions of science fiction and fantasy novels in recent years, from Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? to Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. One of its latest offerings is a new edition of The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic sci-fi novel about a planet whose inhabitants have no fixed sex.

This isn’t the first time Le Guin — who died in January — has seen her work adapted in such a fashion. The Folio Society released a wonderful edition of her novel A Wizard of Earthsea a couple of years ago, and later this year, Saga Press will release an illustrated omnibus edition of the Earthsea saga. Artist…

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It can be difficult to find time to finish a video game, especially if you only have a few hours a week to play. In our biweekly column Short Play we suggest video games that can be started and finished in a weekend.

Sometimes you just need to play a game that’s relaxing and comfortable. For me, that’s usually 2D platformer games, a byproduct of spending untold numbers of hours playing Super Mario World when I was younger. Even when I’m playing a new platforming game, it still manages to tap into the muscle memory I’ve built up over time; a new experience can still feel very familiar. Semblance is a bit like looking at something familiar upside down.

In Semblance, you control an unnamed little blob creature who is trying to fight off a…

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An inspiring new documentary showcases high-achieving kids making their mark, one impressive science fair project at a time.

Streaming services and theatrical chains have a contentious relationship, as one is seen as an existential threat by the other. But according to IMAX CEO Richard Gelfo (via The Hollywood Reporter), all of the major streaming services have been chatting with his theater chain about screening their original content.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference on Wednesday, Gelfond explained that “we’re in active discussions with all of the streaming [services] about an IMAX release,” and that said streaming services understand the potential in serving up screenings in the chain’s theaters, noting that there’s a lot of money that goes into most of these films. “It’s inevitable that these big blockbusters that people are spending…

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Every year, the senior students of North Farmington High School dress up in elaborate costumes for their photo IDs, which they then post online. The identification cards are social media catnip: memes and references to pop culture abound, with some teens going to elaborate lengths to nail the look and expression of the character in question.

This isn’t a one-off stunt; it’s an ongoing tradition for the Detroit high schoolers who reportedly sometimes spend weeks, if not months, preparing for the big day. Many students become aware of the stunt as soon as freshman year, meaning that some teens have years to think about what they’ll do when their turn comes around. Every time, the school tries to get as much of the senior class involved in…

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