After all of the chaos that befell the tech sector in 2023—from Elon Musk’s militantly ignorant stewardship of the site formerly known as Twitter to the ongoing debate over whether AI poses a grave threat to humanity or just to humans’ jobs—2024 seems set to pick up right where we left off.
The AI theatrics aren’t going anywhere, nor are the crypto indictments or the erratic self-driving cars. And with the 2024 election looming, I don’t want
Imagine that you have low vision and you’re completing an online job application using screen reader software.
You get through half the form and then come to a question with drop-down options the screen reader cannot access because the online form doesn’t conform to accessibility standards. You’re stuck. You can’t submit the application, and your time has been wasted.
Assistive technologies like screen readers go a long way toward closing the ga
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for its newsletter here.
BORNHOLM, Denmark—On many maps of Denmark, the island of Bornholm appears as an inset box because it’s so far away from the rest of the country.
To get there from Copenhagen, travelers take a train to Malmö, Sweden, change to a smaller train, and then take a ferry. The island, known for granite cliffs and smoked fish, feels like a
Californians—including minors—are still able to buy flavored electronic cigarettes online, even after the state’s much-publicized ban went into effect. That’s the key finding of my team’s new study, published in JAMA Network Open.
On Dec. 21, 2022, California enacted Senate Bill 793, which prohibited the sale of most flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to people of all ages. Hookahs, premium cigars, and loose-leaf tobacco w
When it comes to holiday shopping, some people start squirreling gifts away mid-summer while others, well, others need the urgency of the deadline to embrace their inner elf. Honestly, there used to be one way that was inarguably the smarter option. However, the early shoppers aren’t the only ones holding the reindeers’ reins anymore.
In 2023, you’re less likely to find yourself cruising the grocery store aisle at midnight on Christmas Eve, hoping for a solid cr
Providers of critical infrastructure in the United States are doing a sloppy job of defending against cyber intrusions, the National Security Council tells Fast Company, pointing to recent Iran-linked attacks on U.S. water utilities that exploited basic security lapses.
The security council tells Fast Company it’s also aware of recent intrusions by hackers linked to China’s military at American infrastructure entities that include water and energy utilities in multiple
This past year has brought monumental change to the gig economy landscape. Lyft got a new CEO, Uber reached profitability, DoorDash proved to be a consumer staple, and Instacart finally went public. All the while, a flurry of bills popped up from states and cities seeking to ensure minimum wage and provide workers with new protections.
Investors went into this year with concerns that U.S. consumer spending would dip dramatically, putting stress on pandemic darlings that had several
The National Space Council met yesterday to discuss international partnerships in orbit, so today we’re taking a look back at how the Biden administration has worked with allies in space so far this year.
Wednesday’s meeting at the Mellon Auditorium was the third of the Biden administration, under the leadership of VP Kamala Harris. It’s the first since the council unveiled its proposal to split mission authorization duties between the FAA and Commerce Departmen
AI was a major focus for app development this year, but thankfully it wasn’t the only thing that mattered.
From useful productivity tools to breakthroughs in creativity and privacy, the best new apps found ways to innovate that didn’t involve just spewing out images and text. And even within the AI field, some apps found smarter ways to use it than others.
As is custom, this list celebrates apps, websites, and browser extensions that either didn’t exis
It’s been nearly two years since Russia first invaded Ukraine, and in that time, the country’s research community has been left utterly decimated.
That’s the conclusion of new research published this month in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. In 2020, Ukraine contributed one in every 20 of the top 10% most-cited academic research papers in the world. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said Ukraine’s scienti