There’s nothing worse than being trapped in a bad system when you can’t see the way out. And while the world loves its smartphones, many already feel like they’re stuck in a now repeating pattern.Smartphones tend to last only 2 to 3 years. We all realize they’re basically designed that way. Under those conditions, users are all but forced to remain part of the upgrade cycle, dropping several hundred dollars, even a grand or more to get a desperately needed new phone to replace their dying model every year or so.It’s a racket. We all know it. Worst of all, those smartphones get thrown away and contribute to the staggering amounts of e-waste generated worldwide.Teracube wants to smash that system, so they’re putting their money where their mouth is. Their new Teracube Smartphone is designed to last you four years. If your phone breaks down, that warranty covers all parts, performance, labor and two-way shipping with no out of pocket cost. And even if it was something you did? Repairs are only $39. Cracked screen? $39. Accidentally drop it in a lake? $39. That’s your all-in price to get the phone back in your pocket ASAP.With their revolutionary business model, it’s easy to assume Teracube might not measure up in the features department, but that's not true. Powered by a Mediatek P60 octa-core processor with AI accelerated technology, this Android phone has a 6.2-inch Full HD display, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 12-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, and even NFC. Read the rest

“The Silicon Valley engineer, who had no background in medical supplies but was recommended by the White House, never delivered the ventilators.”So much shadiness going on during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report by Rosalind Adams and Ken Bensinger of BuzzFeed News on what seems to be a massive coronavirus medical equipment scam is bananas. Excerpt:On March 27, as emergency rooms in New York and across the country began filling with coronavirus patients struggling to breathe, President Donald Trump posted on Twitter to urge Ford and General Motors to “START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!”One of the thousands of replies that the tweet attracted struck an equally urgent tone: “We can supply ICU Ventilators, invasive and noninvasive. Have someone call me URGENT.”Its author was Yaron Oren-Pines, an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley. A specialist in mobile phone technology, he currently has just 75 followers on Twitter and no apparent experience in government contracting or medical devices.Not a single ventilator ever arrived.A state official, speaking on background because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the terms of the deal, said New York entered into the contract with Oren-Pines at the direct recommendation of the White House coronavirus task force.Nearly a month later, New York has terminated the contract, and the state is now trying to recover all of the money it paid the Silicon Valley electrical engineer. Officials refused to say how much the state had been able to claw back. “We are in discussions on a few remaining issues,” said Heather Groll, a spokesperson for the New York Office of General Services, part of the interagency effort to help New York get supplies. Read the rest

Most of us would like to see our homes powered entirely by renewable energy. Most of us would like to reduce our carbon footprint. Most of us want to pay less for our electric bill each month. And most of us would like to see all those things happen without making each individual homeowner go through a ridiculous maze of bureaucracy, half-truths, and confusion to get it done.Arcadia is fighting that good fight. Their platform will help you make a difference in the global push for clean power while making your house a paragon of renewable resources. There’s also a good chance you can save a decent chunk of change each month in the process — and you don’t even have to change energy providers or jump through hoops to do it.By spending two minutes setting up an Arcadia account and linking it to your current energy company, you can get underway. Arcadia purchases renewable energy certificates on your behalf to match your power usage with renewable energy at no cost to you. And as a residential energy broker, Arcadia also leverages the might of their growing member base in states with open energy markets to negotiate better energy rates.There are no guarantees in the ever-volatile energy markets, but some Arcadia customers save about 20 percent over their previous contract rates. Since there are no cancellation fees with Arcadia, you can give it a try and check out the savings for yourself.And with the Arcadia dashboard, that's easy to do — users can track their savings as well as the direct impact they’re making in the fight for renewable energy in every household on Earth. Read the rest

IMAGE: A weird Elon Musk tweet earlier today.Cleanup on aisle Elon Musk!The Tesla CEO seems to be very anxious about something. I wonder what it is? He went way off-script during a Tesla earnings call today. Way, way, way off script. Meltdown time. Sounds like they cut his audio off to shut him up.Elon Musk called shelter-in-place orders to slow the spread of coronavirus “fascist.”"To say that they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic, this is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom."Here's a rough transcription:Ok here is the full rant from Elon Musk on today's earnings call as I could transcribe it pic.twitter.com/I6wCIbqaIV— Kari Paul (@kari_paul) April 29, 2020From Ryan Mac:Wow Elon just went off. Asked about the stay at home order he says "what the fuck"— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) April 29, 2020The quote was very long. He likened the counties' stay at home orders to forcible imprisonment and not the reason why people came to this country. This is definitely off script.— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) April 29, 2020Musk: "To say they cannot leave their house and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist.... Give people back their god damn freedom."(To be clear, this is not what Bay Area counties' stay at home orders say)— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) April 29, 2020There are some very long silent pauses after Musk says these things. Read the rest

My friend Rodney Orpheus (he of the legendary darkwave electronica band, The Cassandra Complex) has been doing a terrific weekly streaming show, called Desert Island Nerds. The premise is that we're all on our own little desert islands in isolation now, so we might as well play the Desert Island game.Each week, Rodney has on a "nerd hero" and asks them random questions from a list of 20 (chosen, natch, by rolling a d20). Questions are the typical (what album would you take to a desert island? what book? movie?), but also unusual things like companion animal? luxury item? Outfit?The show, done from Rodney's own little nerd island in the UK, is surprisingly well-produced and great fun to watch. He's done three episodes so far and each one has been tasty nerd candy. The first episode was with Brian Freisinger, visual FX guy who worked on The Matrix Reloaded, Constantine, and Serenity, Antony Johnston, the man behind the video game Dead Space and writer of the movie Atomic Blonde, and Christina Z, the most successful female comic book writer of all time, creator of Witchblade and Tigra and writer for the Powerpuff Girls comic. The Desert Island conceit is really just an excuse for two uber nerds to enthusiastically yammer on about the novels, comic books, RPGs, video games, music, movies, etc. that they adore.Next week, Rodney's guest is [reads cue card] Holy shit... ME! We'll be talking about some of my desert island picks and some of the high weirdness and nerd-worthy things I've gotten myself up to over the decades, including writing for this Directory of Wonderful Things. Read the rest

Late last night, an unidentified clip of some free-spirited dude in Birk's playing a pan flute cover of Snow's "Informer" popped into my feed. Well, I had to know where it came from, I mean, what was its story? After a short Internet dig, I discovered that it's actually an ad. An ad for a rolled Doritos chile limon-flavored product called Dinamita, "Flavor you can hear." The pan flute itself? As you'll see it's made OF these Dinamitas! This is really a work of art and I hope you appreciate it as much as I do.P.S. Someone looped the ad to play for an hour. Dying! Read the rest

• Amazon's new Chinese thermal spycam vendor was blacklisted by U.S. over allegations it helped China detain and monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minoritiesAt Reuters, reporting by Krystal Hu and Jeffrey Dastin found that Amazon and Jeff Bezos went to a Chinese technology company on the United States' national security blacklist for its thermal camera needs -- to monitor Amazon warehouse workers for fever, a sign of COVID-19.Amazon is buying thermal cameras and other surveillance equipment from a variety of vendors, and one of them is Zhejiang Dahua Technology.Dahua was blacklisted by U.S. over allegations it helped China detain and monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, “three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.” Excerpt:China’s Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd shipped 1,500 cameras to Amazon this month in a deal valued close to $10 million, one of the people said. At least 500 systems from Dahua - the blacklisted firm - are for Amazon’s use in the United States, another person said.The Amazon procurement, which has not been previously reported, is legal because the rules control U.S. government contract awards and exports to blacklisted firms, but they do not stop sales to the private sector.However, the United States "considers that transactions of any nature with listed entities carry a 'red flag' and recommends that U.S. companies proceed with caution," according to the Bureau of Industry and Security's here website. Dahua has disputed the designation, and Beijing has denied mistreatment of the minority groups.The deal comes as the U.S. Read the rest

The United States just passed 60,000 confirmed deaths from the novel coronavirus, a benchmark that previous projections said the country would not likely reach until August.Just two weeks after impeached and manifestly unfit President Donald Trump said the U.S. would “probably” suffer a total of 60 to 65 thousand coronavirus related deaths in total, the country has already exceeded 60,000 deaths, according to data from John Hopkins University.The outbreak is not over.Here are the daily United States COVID-19 numbers for the United States, from @The COVID Tracking Project:Newly reported deaths:Today: 2,700*Yesterday: 2,1981 week ago (4/22): 2,037Newly reported cases:Today: 28,000Yesterday: 24,0004/22: 28,000Newly reported tests:Today: 230,000Yesterday: 202,0004/22: 314,000Share of tests positive:Today: 12%Yesterday: 12%4/22: 9%* New highOur daily update is published. We’ve now tracked 6 million tests, up 230k from yesterday. A very strong testing day! Note that we can only track tests that a state reports. For details, see: https://t.co/PZrmH4bl5Y pic.twitter.com/unud8dTHIU— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) April 29, 2020However, the death toll also reached a new daily high of 2,700. The cumulative number of deaths in our dataset have reached over 55,000. That does not include 5,302 probable COVID-19 deaths reported by New York City but not New York State. pic.twitter.com/mhQucj2n7V— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) April 29, 2020 Read the rest

DeSantis announced Florida reopening same day as 350 new COVID-19 cases and 47 new deaths confirmed

This is good.Created by @KevinBhall.Otter Destruction ! Read the rest

My kid enjoys this controller with the Nintendo Switch she has confiscated.With the advent of Animal Crossing, the Nintendo Switch became sole property of my 13-year-old daughter. She immediately complained about the JoyCons and asked for this controller.The BebonCool has dual shock and 6-axis gyro support, so it can be used in place of the Nintendo Pro controller. It also comes with a built in rechargeable battery that should out-last the battery in the Nintendo several times over.She went with black and blue.BEBONCOOL Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite, Switch Controller for Nintendo with Dual Shock, Motion Control for Nintendo Switch Controller via Amazon Read the rest

The other day on Twitter, I asked people about their favorite weird 90s anthropomorphic animal-hero cartoons, for another project I'm working on. Someone skipped past the "animal" part of this question and shared this absolutely amazing gem of an opening credits sequence. Because this is a show about vans, that are also vampires, which live off of … gasoline, I guess?I have no recollection of Van-pires. I was a pretty vociferous consumer of kids CGI sci-fi stuff, but maybe I was too old by the time it came out. The Wikipedia page claims it was a runaway hit that won "Sci-Fi Awards," although these claims come with no citations.What is confirmable, however, is that the role of Tracula was played Jonathan Davis, the singer of the band Korn.Do what you will with that information. Read the rest

I've successfully talked myself out of buying a hollow-body telecaster to add to my already-too-large collection of stringed instruments. As difficult as it's been at times, I have still managed to stand firm against my desires.But I might have to give in and build myself a Legocaster. Read the rest

The US Patent and Trademark Office said an AI that invented a food container system and a warning light that flashes in a "hard to ignore rhythm" is in eligible to receive a patent, reports the BBC.The creator of the artificial intelligence system, a researcher name Steven Thaler, said he cannot be considered the inventor because he did not help with the inventions. But the patent office said it would cause unwanted legal complications if non-human entities were allowed to be granted patents.Photo by Rock'n Roll Monkey on Unsplash Read the rest

This Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish really works.The contractors installing my new stainless steel kitchen appliances left greasy black fingerprints all over them, but I can't complain too much because my own follies were worse. I tried several different stainless cleaning products and the first one to actually work was the Weiman.Spray it on! The fluid is oddly blue-ish, and it leaves the surfaces clean and new looking -- because they are! I mistakenly poured bong water down the front of my stove, which left a gross, sticky and smelly residue. The Weiman also cleaned that.Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish - Streak-Free Shine for Refrigerators, Dishwasher, Sinks, Range Hoods and BBQ grills - 22 fl. oz. via Amazon Read the rest

Last century, the Muzak company created custom mixes of soft music for locations ranging from doctor's office waiting rooms and restaurants to barber shops and, yes, elevators. Muzak were self-proclaimed "specialists in the physiological and psychological applications of music." Two decades before Brian Eno riffed on this environmental music concept with his phenomenal "Music for Airports" (below), Muzak provided music for airplanes in the form of reel-to-reel mix tapes played on United Airlines flights. Above is one such collection. Fly the friendly skies. Read the rest

My friend and Cool Tools parter, Kevin Kelly, just turned 68. Happy Birthday, Kevin! To celebrate, he posted 68 pieces of advice. Kevin is one of the wisest people I know, and when he gives advice, I never dismiss it lightly. Here are the first 10:Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even offend you. See if you can find the truth in what they believe.Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points.Always demand a deadline. A deadline weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. It prevents you from trying to make it perfect, so you have to make it different. Different is better.Don’t be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of the same question and is too embarrassed to ask it.Being able to listen well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love keep asking them “Is there more?”, until there is no more.A worthy goal for a year is to learn enough about a subject so that you can’t believe how ignorant you were a year earlier.Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at.Treating a person to a meal never fails, and is so easy to do. It’s powerful with old friends and a great way to make new friends.Don’t trust all-purpose glue.Reading to your children regularly will bond you together and kickstart their imaginations.Read the other 58 here. Read the rest

Bleach injections and tanning beds as treatments. The false link between 5G and COVID-19. This onslaught of bullshit claims and quackery around COVID-19 is an "infodemic," as the World Health Organization says. In the science journal Nature, University of Alberta law professor Timothy Caulfield, the Canada research chair in health law and policy, explains why "all scientists — not just a few of us — must stand up for quality information." From Nature:There is some evidence that alternative treatments and placebo effects can relieve distress — a common justification for tolerating unproven alternative treatments. But it’s inappropriate to deceive people (even for their benefit) with magical thinking, and it is inappropriate for scientists to let such misinformation go unremarked.Second, more researchers should become active participants in the public fight against misinformation. Those pushing unproven ideas use the language of real science — a phenomenon I call ‘scienceploitation’ — to legitimize their products. It is, alas, all too effective. Homeopathy and energy therapies, proponents argue, depend on quantum physics. Colonic hydrotherapy is justified using phrases borrowed from microbiome studies. And the language of stem-cell research is used to promote a spray claiming to have immune-boosting properties.We need physicists, microbiologists, immunologists, gastroenterologists and all scientists from relevant disciplines to provide simple and shareable content explaining why this hijacking of real research is inaccurate and scientifically dishonest."Pseudoscience and COVID-19 — we’ve had enough already" (Nature) Read the rest

Our brains are wired so that when a situation is framed as something bad, it's "stickier" in our minds than if it's presented in a positive light. If you see a glass as half empty, it's really really hard to start thinking about it as half-full. That was very beneficial to our evolutionary ancestors but not so much today, although politicians and marketers take advantage of this all the time to manipulate us. UC Davis behavioral scientist Alison Ledgerwood studies the power of framing, and how we can learn to see the bright side of things. Read the rest

It's almost impossible to understand how rich Jeff Bezos is. This mind-blowing visualization not only helps you grok his immense wealth, it also makes it clear that the country is owned by a tiny elite. Read the rest

35 years ago the band X released their final album with the original lineup. (They put out a couple of albums after that but they don't count because they didn't include guitarist Billy Zoom.)This month they released a new album called Alphabetland. The music is as good as ever. They just posted a video for one of my favorite songs on the album, "Water & Wine."Image: YouTube Read the rest

“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you," Andy Warhol said.A collection of Warhol's Polaroid photos and snapshots are up for auction at Christie's to benefit the Andy Warhol Foundation’s emergency relief fund for artists. The body of work is title "Better Days." Read the rest

The Tokyoite who creates videos for the Nippon Wandering TV YouTube channel took a bike ride around Shibuya and shot video of the streets, then spliced in pre-pandemic video of the same area.Image: YouTube Read the rest

PBS Nature's "Spy in the Wild" series employs spy cameras outfitted with animatronic animal disguises to capture intimate imagery of wildlife. In this clip, a drone wearing a bumblebee costume infiltrates a swarm of monarch butterflies in the mountains of Mexico. Read the rest

Trolls: World Tour is a new animated kids' movie from Universal Studios. Despite the theaters being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the film has somehow made more than $100m from streaming media views and other cash-ins such as fast food licensing deals. AMC Theaters, the market leader in the US, has banned Universal Studios from its screens in response. Universal is far from the only studio to move its blockbusters directly to TV during the pandemic, but it is the only one boasting about the results in public, hence AMC's public retaliation.AMC CEO Adam Aron announced the ban in a letter to Universal chairman Donna Langley on Tuesday, telling her that the decision was triggered by a quote NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell gave to the Wall Street Journal about the blockbuster digital success of "Trolls World Tour." ... Shell told the newspaper that the movie "exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the viability" of on-demand video. But it was Shell's next quote that really incensed AMC, which is controlled by China's Dalian Wanda Group and owns Odeon and UCI — Europe's biggest cinema operator. "As soon as theaters reopen," Shell added, "we expect to release movies on both formats."Sure looks like movie theaters are fucked. Read the rest

This is just too adorable for words. Kermit T. Frog, self-isolating in the swamp, sings his big hit, "The Rainbow Connection," while accompanying himself on banjo. Complete with him turning the camera on and off, a few sketchy chord and vocals moments. In other words: Star quarantine perfection.As one commenter put it: "Kermit isn't the hero we deserve, but he's the hero we need." Read the rest

Beloved Japanese fetish artist Namio Harukawa passed away last week. Harukawa’s gorgeously-rendered thick women were perpetually cast in positions of casual dominance, going about their day riding the subway or reading a book, la-dee-dah. Meanwhile, a helpless man was being smothered by their voluptuous buttocks or choking on a high heel. Whereas fellow big butt aficionado R. Crumb always positions himself at the center of his erotic narrative, the men in Harukawa's illustrations are inconsequential, their faces commonly obscured by ample butt cheeks.If there is a heaven, I have a pretty good idea of what Namio Harukawa’s looks like. Read the rest

A total rockstar in my Bay Area community has created an incredible program. A big shoutout to Sydney Gressel who started Frontline Foods, a nonprofit that raises funds for restaurants so they can feed the healthcare professionals on the COVID-19 frontlines. It allows struggling restaurants to stay afloat and gives the people tirelessly fighting COVID-19 healthy meals — a real win-win. In just a few short weeks, this fledgling organization has raised over $3M and is now serving food in 52 U.S. cities. Celebrities like Sting are endorsing Frontline, raising money for it on The Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon, no less. And on Tuesday, she got love from the Ellen show, appearing remotely as a guest along with Frontline celeb volunteers Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone. Here's Sydney (who has also been working 14-hour shifts as an emergency pediatric nurse, btw) talking about how it all began:Isn't that terrific? Bravo, Sydney! Hey, you can help! There are all kinds of volunteer opportunities, or you can simply make a donation to Frontline Foods.image via Frontline Foods Read the rest

Andy Beshear, the governer of Kentucky, apologized yesterday to Tupac Shakur, a resident of the state he had falsely suggested was a “bad apple” benefits claimant. Beshear assumed Shakur's name was a fabrication borrowed from the long-dead East Harlem rapper, and shamed him at a press conference where he complained about people exploiting the system. But Shakur is in fact a real person from Lexington, and he still hasn't gotten his unemployment check.Tupac Malik Shakur, 46, goes by Malik. He lives in Lexington and worked as a cook at Alfalfa’s and Lynagh’s in Lexington before they closed to help stop the spread of COVID-19.On March 13, the first day he could, he applied for unemployment insurance. On March 17, he got his monetary determination letter. He has been waiting on his unemployment money ever since.“I’ve been struggling for like the last month trying to figure out how to pay the bills,” Shakur said. Beshear says he phoned him to apologize in person, and will make sure Shakur gets his benefits. Read the rest