TechStuff

The first vending machine in recorded history wasn't for soft drinks or snacks. It was for holy water. And how did an English radical think a vending machine was the loophole he was looking for? We look back on the weird history of vending machines. 

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How did the humble MP3 player get its start? When did the iPod take over as the dominant brand? And what's the MP3 Player business like today?

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The US Supreme Court declined a recent request from Epic regarding the company's ongoing legal battles with Apple. Disney is getting ready to hike subscription fees (again) on Disney+ and other streaming services. And some astronomers worry that slamming spacecraft into oncoming asteroids might not actually remove the risk of catastrophe.

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What is an API? Where did the term come from? What does an API do, and why are they important for developers? 

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Pope Francis has called for a day of global reflection on AI. Security researchers warn of technology that can decode keystrokes just from sound alone. Zoom changes its terms of use after customers bring up concerns about using call data to train AI models. And much more!

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In tech, a black box is any technology that hides the processes that take input and generate output. We see what goes in, we see what comes out but what's going on inside? We look at the black box problem in tech.

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Once the Wards Company, Circuit City really established its identity decades after it was founded. How did the company grow and ultimately die, and what comes next?

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A security company CEO has some harsh words for Microsoft and the security it relies on for its Azure cloud platform. Microsoft itself warns that Russian hackers are using Microsoft Teams to target a small number of organizations in an effort to get login credentials. And the FBI finds that the FBI was partly responsible for illegal activity.

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What does it mean for a material to be superconductive? Did a team of South Korean researchers create a revolutionary superconductive material? And what would that mean for the world? 

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Elon Musk's X company installed an enormous, illuminated "X" sign at the company HQ, and then took it down a couple of days later. Meta is preparing to launch some AI chatbots, including an AI Abe Lincoln. And a court in Europe is forcing Meta to reveal the identity of an anonymous user. Plus lots more!

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