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A new analysis from FutureSearch's wealth study of AI billionaires counts 57 AI billionaires worldwide, worth a combined $320 billion - and almost none of that fortune has anything to do with a PhD. Chip designer Chen Tianshi of Cambricon Technologies tops the list at $40 billion, followed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman ($28 billion) and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng ($27 billion). - Read the rest The post 57 AI billionaires are worth $320 billion combined appeared first on Boing Boing.

Mirror life - synthetic organisms built from molecules with reversed chirality, the opposite handedness of every natural protein and DNA strand on Earth - would be essentially invisible to the immune systems of humans, animals, and plants, according to Noema's look at the fight to ban mirror life before it exists. - Read the rest The post 38 scientists want to ban "mirror life" appeared first on Boing Boing.

The original Rattler (see video) at Six Flags Fiesta Texas opened in 1992 and was once one of the biggest wooden roller coasters in the country. In this wild old video, you can see the tracks bend and wobble as the coaster sped along. - Read the rest The post Rare footage shows how rough Six Flags' wooden Rattler coaster was appeared first on Boing Boing.

Twin Pines ice cream was one of many regional dairy brands that once filled American grocery store freezers in the mid-to-late 20th century. Like other small dairy companies of the era, it leaned heavily on simple, memorable packaging to stand out in a crowded local market. - Read the rest The post Twin Pines' vintage ice cream clown is deliciously unsettling appeared first on Boing Boing.

Time and time again, I count myself lucky that The Good Liars are willing to wade into the backwoods of MAGA country so I don't have to. They've made an extremely stable career out of showing up at Trump-centric events and documenting them in their attendees' own words, and it doesn't get much more Trump-centric than the Great American State Fair. - Read the rest The post The Good Liars find state fair MAGA fans who rank Trump over God appeared first on Boing Boing.

Escherllate is a fun browser sketchbook built around tessellation. You draw on a central tile, and your lines instantly repeat across surrounding copies. The result is a living pattern that updates in real time as you sketch.The system makes symmetry feel natural instead of technical. - Read the rest The post This interactive sketchbook turns your drawings into tessellating patterns appeared first on Boing Boing.

This video of a cat and his adorable favorite toy took me on an emotional rollercoaster (with a very happy ending). The video shows a cat named Milo who is deeply attached to a little green pom pom (the kind used for arts and crafts). - Read the rest The post Milo the cat lost his favorite pom pom, so he got 200 more appeared first on Boing Boing.

AI is coming for all our jobs, it seems, even those of phone scammers. What is the world coming to when we can't even get swindled by good, honest (well, not really) humans anymore?The advent of AI has massively improved the scalability of these kinds of scams, to the point where a human doesn't even need to be involved in the process. - Read the rest The post AI scam callers can be broken with a few simple commands appeared first on Boing Boing.

Andrew Judson has read every Caldecott Medal winner and honor book his local library owns, mostly out loud to his daughter, and ranked the worst ones by their words, not their art - since the Caldecott is awarded "based solely on the art," even the most troubling books look gorgeous. - Read the rest The post The worst Caldecott winning book - Rumpelstiltskin appeared first on Boing Boing.

Amber George, longtime spokeswoman of a store chain, saw an advertisement featuring her that she did not remember recording. If there was a moment of confusion, it was soon obvious what Fred's Appliance had done: run old ads through AI to generate new ones featuring her. - Read the rest The post Spokeswoman sues company after it uses AI to make new ads featuring her appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get alifetime subscription to Microsoft Project Professional 2024for $48.99 (reg. $1,129.99).If you're looking for reliable software that'll take care of all your management needs and requirements, Microsoft Project Professional 2024 is a sure bet. Not only does it come from an extremely reputable company, but this software alsohelps you plan, execute, and complete projects efficiently, all on one platform. - Read the rest The post Manage projects like a pro with Microsoft Project 2024 for just $49 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Starlog, the science fiction magazine that ended its 33 year run in 2009, will return this fall with a new print edition, a weekly podcast and a newsletter. And it will be edited by Annalee Newitz!

You've heard of graveyards, where we ceremonially store human remains. But did you know that Ben & Jerry's ice cream company has a Flavor Graveyard for discontinued lines of its popular dairy snacks?

After Apollo 11, Richard Nixon had NASA make 250 commemorative plaques, each holding about four rice-sized specks of moon dust mounted next to a flag that had flown to the moon and back. In 1970, one went to Cyprus, along with all 135 other countries, all 50 US states, and the UN. - Read the rest The post Nixon gave Cyprus a piece of the moon. Then a coup made it disappear. appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 1681, women walking alone through the alleys around London's Fleet Street began getting attacked by a man who moved so fast, and vanished so completely, that people believed he had supernatural powers. He'd grab a woman, bend her over his knee, lift her skirt, and spank her before disappearing. - Read the rest The post In 1681, a mystery attacker who vanished instantly terrorized London appeared first on Boing Boing.

Catherine the Great, who modernized Russia during her reign, took about 22 lovers over her lifetime - enough to fuel a legend that outlived her by centuries: that she died attempting intercourse with a horse, crushed when the harness suspending the animal above her snapped. - Read the rest The post The myth that Catherine the Great died having sex with a horse, debunked appeared first on Boing Boing.

On September 13, 2005, Blizzard added a raid to World of Warcraft with a boss, Hakkar the Soulflayer, who cast a debuff called Corrupted Blood that spread between nearby players. It was only meant to last inside that one dungeon. A programming oversight let it escape into the rest of the game world instead. - Read the rest The post A World of Warcraft bug accidentally created a virtual pandemic appeared first on Boing Boing.

On October 14, 1888, French inventor Louis Le Prince filmed his family walking in circles in a garden in Roundhay, Leeds - and the result, Roundhay Garden Scene, is believed to be the oldest surviving film. It runs about two seconds. - Read the rest The post The oldest surviving film is two seconds of a family walking in a garden appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: This bundle includeslifetime licenses for Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office Professional 2021for $39.19 (reg. $418.99) with code JULY30.A productive Windows computer usually starts with two things: Windows and Office. This bundle includeslifetime licenses for Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office Professional 2021, covering the software many people install before doing anything else. - Read the rest The post This Microsoft bundle gets your PC ready for work for $39 appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 1943, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles had lost so many players to World War II that the NFL forced the two teams to merge into one roster for a single season. Pittsburgh had only six men left under contract; Philadelphia had sixteen. - Read the rest The post In 1943, the NFL forced the Eagles and Steelers to merge into one team appeared first on Boing Boing.

Grandpa Pudding Brains is back on the "Y.M.C.A." beat, explaining that the Village People classic became a "monster" hit again "30 years after its original launch," which is adorable if you believe 1978 was in the Clinton administration."Y.M.C.A." came out in 1978, but Grandpa Pudding Brains says it was 30 years ago, because numbers are just little flags you wave while the band plays you off. - Read the rest The post The Village People wrote a disco anthem. Grandpa Pudding Brains found a mirror appeared first on Boing Boing.

Flabbergasted that even a major MAGA Supreme Court can't turn away children born on US soil, America's angriest white supremacist, Stephen Miller, is back on camera explaining that the country must end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants because he says so. - Read the rest The post Trump's immigration ghoul is back to explaining why some babies don't count appeared first on Boing Boing.

Thieves hit a Los Angeles Pokemon shop again, smashing their way in and stealing another pile of valuable cardboard with monsters on it, because capitalism eventually turns childhood into a smash-and-grab category.The funny-sad thing here is that Pokemon cards have completed the full American lifecycle: children's obsession, collector bubble, investment vehicle, insured retail asset, smash-and-grab loot. - Read the rest The post Gotta steal 'em all! Thieves rob Pokemon shop again appeared first on Boing Boing.

JD Vance tried to make a Biden joke in front of troops and got the kind of silence usually reserved for a smoke alarm chirping during a funeral.Remember, Vance proudly tells a story about yelling "shut the hell up" at his child so JD could kiss Trump's ass and get the job. - Read the rest The post Not a single laugh: JD Vance tells another joke appeared first on Boing Boing.

A Fresno County farmer says a legal dispute over his nectarines left 125,000 pounds of fruit sitting in the orchard, unsellable and waiting to rot. His solution was beautifully simple: if he can't sell them, people can eat them.The farmer grows the fruit. - Read the rest The post Farmer gives away 125,000 pounds of nectarines rather than let Big Ag rot them appeared first on Boing Boing.

Whoa! Time travel's just been invented! Quick question, though: are you a plucky teenager being mentored by an eccentric scientist? What about an ancient alien with a cool box? No?Then sorry, you're going to have to join the rest of the public in queuing for... dramatic sting... the Time Travel Department. - Read the rest The post The one thing scarier than getting stuck in ancient Mesopotamia appeared first on Boing Boing.

This "poop dog" firework is the only thing I'm interested in purchasing this year for the 4th. It says everything that needs to be said. It's also incredibly entertaining to watch.Before this version existed, when I was a child, there was the classic black snake firework. - Read the rest The post This poop dog firework puts a funny twist on the classic black snake appeared first on Boing Boing.

This tortoise has a passion for interior design, and nobody is going to stop her. In this funny video the tortoise begins moving heavy furniture around the house by simply wedging her shell underneath it and walking away. If you stumbled upon this scene in the dark and didn't see the tortoise, it would seem like a poltergeist was taking place, causing the furniture to drift around by itself. - Read the rest The post Tortoise rearranges furniture like a tiny interior designer appeared first on Boing Boing.

I must genuinely applaud investigative YouTuber Eddy Burback's willingness to get out there and find the hard truths himself, even if the lengths he goes to are at times genuinely concerning. Compared to his last long-form project, though, in which he deliberately gave himself AI psychosis to show how devastating it could be to the average, less-informed person, this one seems a little less dangerous. - Read the rest The post Turn's out RFK's carnivore diet is unhealthy. Who would have guessed? appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tom the Dancing Bug: Super-Fun-Pak Comix, feat. Lester the Jester, Actually-Man, The Truth About 1969, and MORE!-> Please join the team that makes it possible for your friendly neighborhood comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug to exist in this hostile Trumpverse! - Read the rest The post Tom the Dancing Bug: Super-Fun-Pak Comix, feat. Lester the Jester, The Truth About 1969 and MORE! appeared first on Boing Boing.

After years of T9 texting on a Motorola Star Tac, seeing a BlackBerry phone with its comparatively ample physical QWERTY keyboard felt like a revelation. Texting and email had been a part of my job since the late 1990s. Being able to do both? - Read the rest The post Clicks Communicator brings back the physical keyboard for $500 appeared first on Boing Boing.

You can find anything on the dark web if you know how to look. Ghost guns, suicide kits, leaked credit card credentials, malware for rent and, according to Apple Insider, schematics detailing the logic board design of Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 Pro. - Read the rest The post Hackers stole iPhone 18 Pro schematics from Apple supplier Tata appeared first on Boing Boing.

The journal Nature has posted a simplified but surprisingly entertaining and informative Mars terraforming simulation. For each of the five steps in the process: heat the planet, make a water plan, clean the dirt, start to farm, and make an atmosphere safe for people, you select an option from a list of choices. - Read the rest The post Nature's Mars simulator scores your terraforming skills appeared first on Boing Boing.

The AI Compass [via] is an online quiz that polls your thoughts on AI, then sorts you into one of thirty archetypes mapped across a chart like the ones libertarians use to audit people.There's something just perfect about the combination of AI, the Political Compass and Myers-Briggs style Jungian dichotomies. - Read the rest The post The AI Compass tells you what flavor Basilisk food you are appeared first on Boing Boing.

FloodMap shows maps depicting the outcome of raised (or lowered) sea levels on the world's coastlines. It uses OpenStreetMap data, has a box to enter how many meters of water you'd like added or removed, and has topical forecasts of flooding and a newfangled 3D visualizer. - Read the rest The post Floodmap shows the world without ice appeared first on Boing Boing.

A district attorney's office in Mississippi found a reliable way to get social media attention: post mugshots of suspects enhanced with AI and AI glow-ups of the DA himself. The postings reach at humor but come off as weird (or "depraved," as one critic puts it) and are nothing if not a sign of the times. - Read the rest The post Mississippi District Attorney's "depraved" AI slop posts a reminder that "everyone is 12 now" appeared first on Boing Boing.

A peculiarity of Sega's fondly-remembered Dreamcast game console was that it was compatible with Windows CE, a minimal version of Microsoft's desktop operating system. But that's nothing. Now you can have Linux on a Sega Genesis/Megadrive, thanks to Daniel Palmer. - Read the rest The post Linux for Sega Genesis appeared first on Boing Boing.

One Etsy seller's seed listings include a hosta that looks like a bunch of screaming demon shrimps, a plant shaped like a butterfly, and a red-white-blue patriotic shrub. The images are obviously AI-generated - and seeds for fake, AI-illustrated roses sold 37,271 times on eBay before the seller was finally banned. - Read the rest The post Scammers are selling seeds for AI-generated fake flowers appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR:Keep your cat happy and occupied with the interactive, self-rollingCheerble ballfor $26.90, normally $27.99.Your cat needs to play, but there's only so much time you can spend dangling a feather from a wand before you both get bored. - Read the rest The post Your cat loves to play, and so does the Cheerble ball for just $27 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Anyone who used a Windows PC in the late 1990s remembers 3D Pinball for Windows - Space Cadet, the spaceship-themed table that shipped with the operating system. Australian maker CNCDan is building a real, physical version of it from scratch: 3D-printed mechanisms, laser-cut acrylic, solenoids fired by code, and even working wormholes that grab the ball with magnets and spit it back out. - Read the rest The post Masking a physical replica of Space Cadet Pinball appeared first on Boing Boing.

A Mexican vigilante is chasing down suspected thieves in Lagos de Moreno and duct-taping them to lampposts. He has acquired the unimaginative nickname "Batman" in local media reports; police would like him to stop.

This morning, NPR published a long, detailed article about U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito retiring. Announced from the bench, wrote veteran court reporter Nina Totenberg. But he hasn't retired; he wasn't even there today. Oops!"Earlier today, we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. - Read the rest The post NPR retracts comically specific article about Supreme Court's Samuel Alito retiring, after he doesn't appeared first on Boing Boing.

Microsoft's gaming division is having a rough time of it, having sold fewer consoles this generation than Sony and the game industry's general troubles pinching its ambitions. New Xbox chief Asha Sharma, who took the role in February, published an internal memo acknowledging a roughly $500 million revenue decline over five years and profits far short of expectations. - Read the rest The post Mass layoffs expected at Xbox, as prices go up appeared first on Boing Boing.

Water is weird. Unlike any simple liquid, it becomes easier to compress as it cools, and it reaches its maximum density at 4C-not at its freezing point. This anomaly is why ice floats and lakes freeze from the top down. For decades, scientists have suspected that liquid water is actually a shifting mix of two distinct molecular arrangements: one dense and chaotic, the other loose and ordered. - Read the rest The post Liquid water may be two different structures constantly swapping back and forth appeared first on Boing Boing.

The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security is apparently doing soccer taunts now, telling a World Cup security briefing he was "so happy" when Iran was eliminated that he may have "sung a song or two" and done a "happy dance."

There's close to 14,000 man-made satellites bopping around in low-Earth orbit. Many of us willingly bring wiretaps into our lives: smartphone apps that constantly listen; smart speakers that do our bidding in exchange for access to our most intimate moments. Every day, your country, state, and neighbors install more cameras in public spaces and private homes. - Read the rest The post TED-stage futurist/longevity salesman says mass surveillance will make us behave appeared first on Boing Boing.

A dispute in Lower Manhattan resulted in the evacuation of a hotel when one of the participants responded with bear spray. The altercation spilled out into the hallway, and the bear spray entered the hotel's ventilation system, spreading throughout the building. - Read the rest The post Bear spray incident prompts evacuation of NYC hotel appeared first on Boing Boing.

For nearly 30 years, climbers on Everest's north side have passed a dead man and called him "Green Boots," turning a person into a landmark because the mountain is too high, too cold, and too cruel for ordinary grief.The climber long known as "Green Boots" has often been identified in popular accounts as Tsewang Paljor, one of three Indian climbers who died in a 1996 storm on Everest's north side. - Read the rest The post Everest's most famous body finally has a name appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Orange Menace responded to the Supreme Court allowing states to ban transgender girls and women from girls' and women's school sports with the emotional maturity of a playground bully by shouting "BIG WIN," because cruelty remains the one sport he can still play without a cart. - Read the rest The post Grandpa Pudding Brains celebrates Supreme Court permission to be mean appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tasmania's favorite suburban elephant seal has returned, bigger, weirder, and apparently still committed to the bit where he turns roads, lawns, and traffic cones into supporting characters in the Neil Cinematic Universe.Neil is funny because he looks like a sofa that learned to breathe, but the fandom gets dangerous when people forget the sofa weighs a ton, has opinions, and teeth. - Read the rest The post Tasmania's favorite 1,000-kilo chaos seal is back on land appeared first on Boing Boing.