The startup selling proof that a human wrote your manuscript

Unpublished author Dylan Reed created a service that cryptographically seals manuscript drafts as evidence that a human wrote them. Vellumproof stamps each version with the time, then cryptographically links it to its predecessor. If you slip a draft in later or alter its date, it will break the chain of hashes. — Read the rest The post The startup selling proof that a human wrote your manuscript appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Baby monitors now want to predict who your kid will become

Nanit's flagship product is a camera bolted above a crib, logging the exact moment a baby's eyes open and close and scoring each night's sleep from zero to 100. The firm that built its brand identity described the job, per Sapna Maheshwari in The New York Times, as "transcending the negative connotations of 'surveillance.'" — Read the rest The post Baby monitors now want to predict who your kid will become appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

This AI writing tool humanizes your drafts before anyone notices a bot wrote them

**TL;DR:** UmanWrite is an AI writing platform that humanizes AI-generated content, checks it against AI detectors, and adapts to your voice, now $79 for the Unlimited Plan, down from $1,799. Anyone who has leaned on AI to draft an email, blog post, or school assignment knows the results can read a little stiff, a little robotic, and sometimes a little obvious. — Read the rest The post This AI writing tool humanizes your drafts before anyone notices a bot wrote them appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

China cut its oil imports in half. No one knows why.

When Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz five months ago, experts predicted oil could spike to $150 or $200 a barrel. It has barely topped $100. According to Rogé Karma, writing in The Atlantic, the reason may be China, which abruptly cut its oil imports by half. — Read the rest The post China cut its oil imports in half. No one knows why. appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

An Englishman ate his first pecan pie and fell for American diners

British writer Henry Oliver had his first slice of pecan pie in a Bethesda, Maryland diner, and came away amazed that Americans eat this well every day. In The Common Reader, he calls the pie part of "the ordinary sublime of American life," and says it "knocks English apple crumble into a cocked hat." — Read the rest The post An Englishman ate his first pecan pie and fell for American diners appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

National Guard troops entered a Purple Heart veteran's yard, zip-tied her, then charged her with assaulting them

Three Idaho National Guard troops entered Purple Heart veteran Anna King's Washington, D.C., front yard, wrestled her to the ground, and zip-tied her hands. She was later charged with assaulting them. King's lawyers believe the troops targeted her because she had spent months criticizing their deployment with signs reading "Occupation: Troops Out" and "National Guard Stop Being So Embarrassing." — Read the rest The post National Guard troops entered a Purple Heart veteran's yard, zip-tied her, then charged her with assaulting them appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Rocky Horror Show musical director sent threats to self to end production and avoid cast drama

You'd think someone involved in _The Rocky Horror Show_ couldn't get enough drama. But the musical director of a production in Vermont got so fed up with cast theatrics that he sent a series of threats to himself in a successful effort to shut the show down. — Read the rest The post Rocky Horror Show musical director sent threats to self to end production and avoid cast drama appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

"It was vandalism!" cried Grandpa Pudding Brains after his DOJ blamed his contractor's shoddy installation

The DOJ dropped its case against former Olympian David Hearn, citing the terrible work of Trump's handpicked contractor. Pirro's office said a Park Service engineer had documented peeling eight days before the accused vandal visited the pool, and a government witness could not connect him to the damage. — Read the rest The post "It was vandalism!" cried Grandpa Pudding Brains after his DOJ blamed his contractor's shoddy installation appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

A 50-year-old short story written for today

This just in from reader Theophrastvs: "here's a portentous calendricular note/post for today (only) Bradbury ~May 1950 wrote a short story about robotic assistants doing the daily choirs for an apparently extinct humanity and it's dated to occur August 4, 2026:" > In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! — Read the rest The post A 50-year-old short story written for today appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

A German strip mall hides a museum of Braun's design history

The BraunSammlung is a museum of Braun's industrial design in Kronberg im Taunus, up one flight in a building Atlas Obscura describes as a German strip mall. Braun's headquarters is around the corner, and a nonprofit association runs the museum in collaboration with the company. — Read the rest The post A German strip mall hides a museum of Braun's design history appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

This AI photo editor turns your blurry vacation pics into gallery material

**TL;DR:** This Luminar Neo lifetime bundle pairs a full AI-powered photo editor with a landscape editing video course in addition to a number of LUTs and presets, now $79.99, down from $332. Look, we have all done it. You take four hundred photos on a trip, come home excited to relive the memories, and then realize half of them are backlit, blurry, or have a stranger's elbow photobombing the frame. — Read the rest The post This AI photo editor turns your blurry vacation pics into gallery material appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

The world's largest goat tower was built by accident

The Tower of Baa-Goat is a 31-foot brick tower in Windsor, Illinois, with a ramp spiraling up the outside of it, and goats live in it. Dave and Marcia Johnson built it in the late 1990s, Marcia told the Atlas Obscura podcast, after Dave saw a photograph of the goat tower at South Africa's Fairview winery in a British wine magazine. — Read the rest The post The world's largest goat tower was built by accident appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

U.S. Central Command asks for ideas on beating Iran

With president Donald Trump's war with Iran quagmired (media lost count weeks ago of the number of times we've won or that a deal is near; he's called off "major" new strikes 7 times in as many weeks by one count), military brass are out of ideas for making progress. — Read the rest The post U.S. Central Command asks for ideas on beating Iran appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Congressional candidate arrested after Flock surveillance cameras shot at

A congressional candidate in Tennessee shot at four Flock cameras there, say authorities, and got four charges of felony vandalism in return. Adam Lee Heimerman, 37, of Lenoir City, shot out the cameras between in July and June while campaigning as an Independent in Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District. — Read the rest The post Congressional candidate arrested after Flock surveillance cameras shot at appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

16 felony charges for LAPD officer who recorded colleagues making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks

When Los Angeles Police Department officer Daniel Flores recorded his colleagues making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks, the only thing he used it for was an official complaint to LAPD's internal affairs department. For his trouble he now faces 16 felony charges of eavesdropping and recording confidential police communications. — Read the rest The post 16 felony charges for LAPD officer who recorded colleagues making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

These little dragons are dried rays, cut and folded by hand

A Jenny Haniver is a dried ray or skate reshaped by hand until it looks like a small dragon or a demon. They go back to the sixteenth century, when sailors and collectors bought them as curiosities. The name may come from _jeune d'Anvers_ , "youth of Antwerp" which British sailors turned into a woman's name. — Read the rest The post These little dragons are dried rays, cut and folded by hand appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

This $399 AutoCAD deal is suspiciously well drafted

**TL;DR:** Get a 1-year Autodesk AutoCAD subscription for $399 instead of $2,095, with professional 2D drafting, 3D modeling, automation tools, and access across desktop, web, and mobile. Precision typically comes with a precise and mildly terrifying price. AutoCAD, the professional design software used to draft everything from floor plans to mechanical components, normally costs $2,095 for a one-year subscription. — Read the rest The post This $399 AutoCAD deal is suspiciously well drafted appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Give your PC an upgrade that BitLocker, Hyper-V, and Copilot can all agree on

**TL;DR:** Windows 11 Pro comes with BitLocker, Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, Azure AD, and Copilot, and it is on sale for $11.23, down from $199. There is a certain kind of person who upgrades their operating system the way other people change their oil, only when absolutely necessary and with mild resentment the whole time. — Read the rest The post Give your PC an upgrade that BitLocker, Hyper-V, and Copilot can all agree on appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Type a word, get it back in 50 ASCII art fonts

Lokesh Dhakar's ASCII Today renders your text as big block letters made out of slashes, pipes, and underscores — the kind that head old README files and source-code comments. When you type a word at ascii.today, all 50 fonts appear at once in a grid, redrawing character by character. — Read the rest The post Type a word, get it back in 50 ASCII art fonts appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

This 1940 time capsule came with its own windmill

Thornwell Jacobs, the president of Oglethorpe University in Georgia, worked out that 6,177 years had passed since the start of the Egyptian calendar, and decided to aim the same distance forward. In 1940 he welded shut a converted swimming pool packed with 1930s objects, with instructions not to open it until noon on May 28, 8113. — Read the rest The post This 1940 time capsule came with its own windmill appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Get 8TB of secure cloud storage for life for $280

**TL;DR** : Enjoy 8TB of secure cloud storage with this Drime Secure Cloud Storage Advanced Plan Lifetime Subscription for just $279.97 (reg. $899). If you're tired of paying monthly fees to essentially rent cloud storage, Drime Secure Cloud Storage offers a solution. — Read the rest The post Get 8TB of secure cloud storage for life for $280 appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

America's health secretary borrows scientific credentials he does not have

Conspiracy theorist and roadkill enthusiast RFK Jr. told CNN's Dana Bash she probably could not understand his argument because she was not a scientist. "Well, you're not either," she replied. Kennedy had already accused Bash of talking nonsense, being fooled and repeating information "like a parrot." — Read the rest The post America's health secretary borrows scientific credentials he does not have appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

A man spent three days erasing himself on camera, then died on a beach

On June 12, 2009, a man checked into a hotel in Sligo, Ireland under the name Peter Bergmann and a nonexistent Austrian address. He paid cash every night. Over the next three days, cameras around town filmed him leaving the hotel with a purple plastic bag of belongings and coming back without it, using the blind spots between cameras to dispose of whatever was inside. — Read the rest The post A man spent three days erasing himself on camera, then died on a beach appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

The world's only psychedelic animal lives in a cartel zone

The Sonoran Desert toad is the only animal known to make a psychedelic. Its glands secrete 5-MeO-DMT, the compound users call the God molecule. The toad exists only in Sonora, Mexico — so every gram of "toad medicine" sold comes from there. — Read the rest The post The world's only psychedelic animal lives in a cartel zone appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Grandpa Pudding Brains says his "REAL Polling Numbers" are his best ever

Citing many imagined achievements, the Orange Menace insists he is the most loved, most worshipped person ever. The available numbers are less celebratory. AP-NORC found 33% approval, while CNN found 34%, matching his career low in CNN polling. Trump countered with claims about taxes, employment, the border and foreign policy as proof that better polling must exist. — Read the rest The post Grandpa Pudding Brains says his "REAL Polling Numbers" are his best ever appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

The world's most precise water costs $120,000 a gallon

A 5-milliliter ampoule of the world's most precise water sells for $159 — about $120,000 a gallon, Signore Galilei writes. It is Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW), and labs buy it because water's freezing point varies based on its elemental isotopes. — Read the rest The post The world's most precise water costs $120,000 a gallon appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

PC and console prices still going up

The computer component price crisis, driven by AI datacenters snapping it all up for the slop trade, has crushed few so hard as the gamers. The laptop I bought my son for $600 last year is currently $955 at the same shop. — Read the rest The post PC and console prices still going up appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Charmera too modern for you? Kodak's $35 film camera puts 1990 in your pocket

The renaissance of pocket point-and-shoot cameras proceeds apace with Kodak's EC35, inexpensive at $35 and good enough to take to the party. If the Charmera and its blind-box business model represents a digital extravagance, and the $100 Snapic was simply too cool for school, the EC35 is the real deal shoved back in your pocket. — Read the rest The post Charmera too modern for you? Kodak's $35 film camera puts 1990 in your pocket appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

A printable one-page Guide to Recording Law Enforcement

You may be aware that cops have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public, and that you have a constitutional right to record what they do. Cellphone video proved that police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes, and the right to record it is why the footage helped convict him of his murder. — Read the rest The post A printable one-page Guide to Recording Law Enforcement appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net

Gallery of anime user interfaces

Anime User Interfaces collects depictions of computer screens, keyboards, dashboards and other gadgets depicted in Japanese animation (and a few others, such as _Wargames_ ' NORAD big boards, as a treat.) Spotted via Hacker News, which links to an interesting article explaining why glowing lights in analog animation and film SFX have such a weird magic. — Read the rest The post Gallery of anime user interfaces appeared first on Boing Boing.

boingboing.net