Why Your Passport Is One of Four Colors

My passport is navy blue. My family members’ passports from other countries are a deep forest green, maroon, or navy blue also. Thinking about it now, I don’t think I’ve ever seen, say, a hot pink passport. It turns out there’s a good reason for that, but it’s not what you think. Read more…

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Why Your Passport Is One of Four Colors

Microsoft Reveals Xbox Scorpio’s Impressive Specs

Microsoft has promised that their next console, Scorpio, will be “the most powerful console ever, ” and today the company delivered on that promise, revealing a set of beefy specs that, in terms of raw power, surpass any video game console on the market today. Read more…

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Microsoft Reveals Xbox Scorpio’s Impressive Specs

The Blair Witch Project Almost Had a Far More Gruesome Ending

The final shot of The Blair Witch Project is haunting. It’s Michael standing in a corner, turned away so he won’t see the terrible thing about to happen to Heather, who is holding the camera. However, in a new interview, the filmmakers explained that was almost changed before release. Read more…

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The Blair Witch Project Almost Had a Far More Gruesome Ending

YouTube Launches ‘YouTube TV’ In Select Markets

In late February, YouTube unveiled its live TV service called YouTube TV, which offers live TV streaming over the internet for $35 per month with no long-term contract required. The company has officially launched the service today in five select markets: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, and Philadelphia. YouTube says that more markets are coming soon, however, details on when/where are scarce. PhoneDog reports: A membership to YouTube TV costs $35 per month and includes live streaming of channels like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and others. Subscribers also get an unlimited cloud DVR for recording shows that’ll last up to nine months, and six accounts that each get their own recommendations and cloud DVRs. YouTube is offering a free one-month trial of YouTube TV so that everyone can give it a try. After your first paid month, YouTube will give you a Google Chromecast to thank you for sticking with the service. Source: YouTube Official Blog Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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YouTube Launches ‘YouTube TV’ In Select Markets

Taser Debuts Orwellian New Name, Offers Free Body Cam to Every Cop in America 

On Wednesday, stun gun maker Taser announced that it’s offering free body cameras to every police department in the United States. That’s 700, 000 cops across 18, 000 departments. Rebranding itself as “Axon” (as in the nerve fibers that connect neurons throughout the human body), the company said in a press release that… Read more…

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Taser Debuts Orwellian New Name, Offers Free Body Cam to Every Cop in America 

Netflix Gets Offline Playback on Windows

Great news if you’re the sort of person who just wants to kick back and watch movies on your laptop when you’re flying. The Netflix app for Windows 10 now supports offline playback, meaning you can download shows and movies and save them for when you don’t have Wi-Fi. Read more…

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Netflix Gets Offline Playback on Windows

Streaming Services Generated More Than 50% of All US Music Industry Revenue in 2016

Janko Roettgers, reporting for Variety: Streaming music services were for the first time ever responsible for more than 50 percent of all U.S. music industry revenue in 2016, according to new numbers released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Thursday. Paid and ad-supported streaming together generated 51 percent of music revenue last year, to be precise, bringing in a total of $3.9 billion. In 2015, streaming music was responsible for 34 percent of the music industry’s annual revenue. Much of that increase can be attributed to a strong growth of paid subscriptions to services like Spotify and Apple Music. Revenue from paid subscription plans more than doubled in 2016, bringing in $2.5 billion, with an average of 22.6 million U.S. consumers subscribing to streaming services last year. The year before, subscription services had an average of 10.8 million paying subscribers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Streaming Services Generated More Than 50% of All US Music Industry Revenue in 2016

Watch SpaceX Launch a Re-Used Rocket into Space for the First Time Ever

Later this evening, SpaceX will attempt a historic feat when it launches a reused Falcon 9 rocket into orbital space. It’s an achievement Elon Musk and his team have been working toward since the company was founded in 2002, and tonight, it will hopefully— finally —come full circle. Literally. Read more…

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Watch SpaceX Launch a Re-Used Rocket into Space for the First Time Ever

Jeff Bezos Is Now the World’s Second Richest Person

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Jeff Bezos has leapt past Amancio Ortega and Warren Buffett to become the world’s second-richest person. Bezos, 53, added $1.5 billion to his fortune as Amazon.com Inc. rose $18.32 on Wednesday, the day after the e-commerce giant said it plans to buy Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com. Bezos has a net worth of $75.6 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, $700 million more than Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Buffett and $1.3 billion above Ortega, the founder of Inditex S.A. and Europe’s richest person. Amazon’s founder has added $10.2 billion this year to his wealth and $7 billion since the global equities rally began following the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president on Nov. 8. The rise is the third biggest on the Bloomberg index in 2017, after Chinese parcel-delivery billionaire Wang Wei’s $18.4 billion gain and an $11.4 billion rise for Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Jeff Bezos Is Now the World’s Second Richest Person

This Elusive Giant Octopus Snacks on Giant Jellies

The giant deep-sea octopus Haliphron is so rare that marine biologists have seen it just three times in 27 years. Using a robotic sub, scientists have finally caught video footage of this animal at mealtime—revealing its distinct preference for gelatinous sea creatures. Read more…

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This Elusive Giant Octopus Snacks on Giant Jellies