Last minute geek

1. Google parent Alphabet is pruning its 'other bets'
(English/engadget)

Alphabet is changing. The Silicon Valley super-company, which serves as an umbrella for Google and smaller, riskier subsidiaries known as "other bets," was established in August 2015. Executives ...

2. New machine learning algorithm produces "near-perfect" fake human faces
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

Face-synthesizing algorithms often struggle with facial details like eyes and teeth. These features sometimes get pinned to a fixed spot as a head turns, resulting in an uncanny valley dweller. A new ...

3. Interactive online tour of Antarctica's microworld from science hacker Ariel Waldman
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... discovered in the Southern Ocean’s McMurdo Sound near McMurdo Station and the Erebus Glacier Tongue. Microbes from glaciers and frozen lakes were discovered in the McMurdo Dry Valleys at Lake Bonney and ...

4. Why are pigeons in Las Vegas wearing cowboy hats?
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

In the Las Vegas Valley, some pigeons are wearing cowboy hats. While the chapeaus may seem cute on first glance, and pigeons are annoying anyway, it's unlikely they are purposely making a fashion statement. ...

5. Modern archaeology is entering a paywalled Lovecraftian forum to access a 1929 edition of an Egypt travel guide
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

I had hoped In the Valley of Gods, Campo Santo's follow up to Firewatch, was going to adapt some of the magic of the Indiana Jones and Brendan Fraser Mummy films, and add a modern sensibility. The trailer ...

6. Swastikas painted on cars and homes in San Bernardino mountains
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... area in Wrightwood, said the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday. From the Los Angeles Times: Deputies with the Victor Valley substation spotted the Nazi symbols spray-painted on three ...

7. 'Firewatch' team pauses its next game to work on Valve titles
(English/engadget)

Did you get nervous when multiple former Campo Santo developers pulled mentions of In the Valley of Gods from their Twitter profiles? Your trepidation might have been justified, although it's not ...

8. What it's like to take a vacation in Singapore's Changi Airport
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... around the waterfall have a corporate name: the Shiseido Forest Valley, after the Japanese beauty company. The waterfall is officially known as the HSBC Rain Vortex. And it’s surrounded by stores and restaurants, ...

9. Save over 30% on this massive online training library
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

It should be obvious to anyone who has ever opened up a web page that the route to a career in Silicon Valley does not necessarily travel through a traditional university. Even so, budding coders need ...

10. Rapidly spreading virus outbreak in Colorado leads to 40 school closures
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... is incredibly fast. The second version also causes fever in several cases," Mesa County Valley School District 51 said in a statement. From the article: It's the first time the Mesa County Valley School ...

11. Tech companies won’t become banks, but they’ll pretend to
(English/engadget)

Silicon Valley has already eaten plenty of industries, from camera and newspaper businesses to watches and even flashlights. Now, Big Tech appears to be turning its attention to banking. But don't ...

12. Feral hogs find and destroy cocaine stash in woods
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

A coke stash hidden in the woods by suspected drug dealers was destroyed by boars, report police in Tuscany. The drug stash was hidden in a forest area in the Valdichiana valley. The law enforcement ...

13. 'Westworld' season three teaser brings us to Silicon Valley
(English/engadget)

While the first two Westworld seasons were centered around the use of AI and robotics technology at a sort of vacation getaway, the teaser revealed tonight turns the lens back toward Silicon Valley tech ...

14. Phone call leads police to $800,000 in stolen art by an artist who believed Jesus was a space alien
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... stolen art discovery by a phone call, and they ended up finding nearly 1,300 prints in a San Fernando valley home. That caller, not identified, told LAPD the art work was found in a relative’s possessions ...

15. VW's self-driving car group will have offices in Silicon Valley and China
(English/engadget)

Volkswagen hasn't been as active or vocal about autonomous driving as some of its competitors. The company has focused much of its recent attention on electric vehicle offerings, but that seems to ...

16. The ‘Silicon Valley’ season six trailer skewers the past year in tech
(English/engadget)

HBO released the trailer for the 6th and final season of Silicon Valley, and it feels like a real-life recap of the past year or so. Richard Hendricks, CEO of Pied Piper, testifies in front of lawmakers, ...

17. Jane McGonigal and Institute for the Future: Free online course "How To Think Like a Futurist"
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... and applied for the past 50 years by the Institute for the Future, a Silicon-Valley-based research and learning group founded in 1968. In this course, you’ll build your understanding of what futures thinking ...

18. Andy Rubin quietly left the venture company he founded
(English/engadget)

Disgraced former Google exec Andy Rubin has lost another one of his ties to Silicon Valley earlier in 2019. BuzzFeed News has obtained documents indicating that Playground Global, the venture company ...

19. Warren trolls Facebook by running campaign ads that lie about Mark Zuckerberg
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... and public affairs at George Washington University, told CNN. "It's a smart tactical move." From CNN: Warren has become one of Facebook's key antagonists after first calling for it and other Silicon Valley ...

20. Mysterious rash of cattle mutilations in Oregon
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... Who or what did this and why remains a mystery. (Insert "I'm not saying it's aliens..." joke here.) Silvies Valley Ranch has offered a $25,000 reward for information that could lead to answers. From National ...

21. GOP-led Senate panel agrees Russia infowar campaign helped Trump
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... White House, and Silicon Valley to prevent the same thing from happening in 2020. The group of Democratic and Republican senators delivered a sobering assessment of weaknesses that Russian operatives ...

22. Via's on-demand van service comes to Apple's backyard
(English/engadget)

Via's on-demand vans have been available in a handful of cities, but now the company is aiming for a particularly obvious market: Silicon Valley commuters. The city of Cupertino and Via are launching ...

23. San Franciscans happily house Oregonian searching for his lost dog 'Yippy'
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... I have ever been with anybody,” Lopez said. In June, the Apple Valley native was only passing through San Francisco on his journey to begin a new life in Oregon. Then everything changed. “I’d take him ...

24. $5 million gold toilet stolen from Britain's Blenheim Palace
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... some time before 5 a.m. (0400 GMT), Thames Valley Police said. One 66-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the theft, say police, but the artwork is still missing. Blenheim Palace says it ...

25. Trump visits Silicon Valley for fundraiser, location a mystery even to donors
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

It's Donald's first time visiting Silicon Valley since 2016. Who's going? Read all  ...