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Flowers are hard to talk to. You tell them about your day, you read them poetry, you complain about the ineffectiveness of the political system, but all they do is just kinda stand there and do nothing. Well, no more Google Tulip is a new service that lets Google Home communicate directly with tulips.  SEE ALSO: Take control of your home with the Google Home Mini and Chromecast bundle for under £50 Google says advancements in AI have allowed Google Home to understand what tulips are saying as well as translate between Tulipish (what, you thought that all flowers speak the same language?) and "dozens" of human languages.  Read more... More about Google , April Fools , Google Tulip , Tech , and Big Tech Companies from Mashable https://ift.tt/2FMlsEI

It took four days, 400 volunteers, and around 2,000 pieces of paper to install, and within a day, the public had destroyed it all. But hey, it was always going to happen, according to the artist. Taking over the main courtyard of the Louvre Museum in Paris, the installation was the work of French street artist JR, as he is only known by. SEE ALSO: Every Louvre artwork featured in Beyoncé and Jay-Z's 'Apesh*t' video Commissioned as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Louvre Pyramid, the work is a giant paper collage surrounding the structure.  Although the museum itself dates back to the 12th century , the Louvre Pyramid, designed by Chinese-born U.S. architect I.M. Pei, was officially opened on Mar. 30, 1989. Read more... More about Art , Optical Illusion , Installation , Louvre , and Culture from Mashable https://ift.tt/2OETHAJ

Why Hasn't The Gig Economy Killed Traditional Work? Published on April 01, 2019 at 10:34AM An anonymous reader quotes NPR: In recent months, a slew of studies has debunked predictions that we're witnessing the dawn of a new "gig economy." The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that there was actually a decline in the categories of jobs associated with the gig economy between 2005 and 2017. Larry Katz and the late Alan Krueger then revised their influential study that had originally found gig work was exploding. Instead, they found it had only grown modestly. Other economists ended up finding the same -- and now writers are declaring the gig economy is "a big nothingburger." Arun Sundararajan, a professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and the author of The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism, remains a true believer in the gig revolution.... When asked about the onslaught of data contradicting his the

It's perhaps an unspoken rule that you're meant to look excited on the red carpet of an awards show. That doesn't apply to legendary gothic rock band The Cure, and especially its frontman Robert Smith, who were inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Friday. SEE ALSO: 'Derry Girls' is an ode to '90s music and my nostalgic soul loves every minute Smith has become of the talk of the internet, thanks to how utterly unexcited he was during an interview on the red carpet.  After interviewer Carrie Keagan enthusiastically greeted the band, asking "Are you as excited as I am?" Smith offered up a pretty blunt response.  Read more... More about Music , Culture , The Cure , Culture , and Music from Mashable https://ift.tt/2CN7May

Ask Slashdot: How Do You Feel About the End Of Google+ ? Published on April 01, 2019 at 08:19AM "On April 2nd, your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts," Google has been warning since January. Long-time Slashdot reader shanen writes "it's been grating on me for a while," asking "But is there any real harm here? Do you feel damaged?" On the one hand, my trust in the Google has certainly been damaged by profit-driven directional changes. On such grounds you could argue that the people who most trusted the Google may feel most victimized.... What is the value of IP? Do you feel you expressed or even created any interesting ideas through your use of Google+ as a discussion channel? If so, maybe you feel damaged because it's going away? (Yes, the Archive team wants to preserve it, but IP has to grow to be alive, and the archives aren't easy to search,

Facebook is adding a feature to its News Feed in an effort to be more transparent. The social media giant is introducing a tool to help you understand why posts from friends, pages, and groups appear in its News Feed — and to some extent, control their regularity. The tool will appear as a clickable question, reading "Why am I seeing this post?" It's similar to the "Why am I seeing this ad?" tool, launched in 2014 to address concerns related to targeted advertising. SEE ALSO: Facebook's News Feed changes were supposed to make us feel good. It's not working. According to Facebook's blog post , it's the first time the social network has included information about how ranking works on the platform. Read more... More about Facebook , Privacy , News Feed , Transparency , and Tech from Mashable https://ift.tt/2FLET0o

Amid all the lame April Fools' jokes, Google has added a cool easter egg to Maps. You can now play the classic game Snake in the Google Maps app, just by hitting the top left menu button in the app, and selecting the option to play. If the option doesn't show up for you, try closing and reopening the Maps app. SEE ALSO: Elon Musk drops first SoundCloud track, 'RIP Harambe.' Yes, you read that right Once you're inside the easter egg, you can select between different cities you'd like to play on, including Cairo, London, San Francisco, São Paulo, Sydney, and Tokyo. A neat touch is that each city features a snake which is coloured like the trains from that particular location (except San Francisco, which is a tram), and objectives which are shaped like famous tourist destinations. Read more... More about Tech , Google , Snake , Google Maps , and April Fools Day from Mashable https://ift.tt/2Ua3apI

Elon Musk Continues To Amuse Himself On Twitter, Sharing Song, Duck Emoji Published on April 01, 2019 at 05:04AM Yesterday Billboard magazine reported that Elon Musk had dropped a rap song on SoundCloud -- an auto-tuned song called "RIP Harambe." Posted under the handle Emo G Records, the two-minute track pays tribute to the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla who was killed in 2016 after a 3-year-old climbed into its living area. It's unclear if Musk stumbled upon the track, which has his name on it, or if he released the track himself... "RIP Harambe" had more than 200,000 plays as of Sunday afternoon. Some Twitter users left bemused replies, like "Dude, sober up by Thursday's contempt hearing." But the song appears to be part of a longer series of tweets. An anonymous reader writes: On Friday Musk had shared a blank tweet containing nothing but an emoji of a duck with his 25.5 million followers. It drew over 24,000 re-tweets, and 4,300 comments -- far more

Fox News Breaking News Alert Top-seeded Duke defeated by Michigan State as Spartans advance to NCAA Final Four 03/31/19 4:15 PM

Government regulation is coming for Facebook — and Mark Zuckerberg has some ideas about how it should all go down. Over the weekend, the Facebook CEO published an op-ed in the Washington Post outlining the kinds of regulation he thinks Facebook and other tech giants should face, likely with the hope it could guide lawmakers who are calling for new rules .  What he's proposing Zuck's suggestions, which aren't all that different from what Facebook execs have been saying over the last year, focus on four areas: harmful content, election security, privacy, and data portability. For harmful content, the CEO says there should be a  set of rules that govern what types of content companies like Facebook should consider harmful. Read more... More about Tech , Facebook , Mark Zuckerberg , Tech , and Mark Zuckerberg from Mashable https://ift.tt/2WyI7dh

Tenants Outraged Over New York Landlord's Plan To Install Facial Recognition Technology Published on April 01, 2019 at 03:34AM A Brooklyn landlord plans to install facial recognition technology at the entrance of a 700-unit building, according to Gothamist, "raising alarm among tenants and housing rights attorneys about what they say is a far-reaching and egregious form of digital surveillance." [Last] Sunday, several tenants told Gothamist that, unbeknownst to them, their landlord, Nelson Management, had sought state approval in July 2018 to install a facial recognition system known as StoneLock. Under state rules, landlords of rent-regulated apartments built before 1974 must seek permission from the state's Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) for any "modification in service." Tenants at the two buildings, located at 249 Thomas S. Boyland Street and 216 Rockaway Avenue, said they began receiving notices about the system in the fall. According to its websit

Fox News Breaking News Alert 2 Marine pilots killed in Arizona helicopter crash, officials say 03/31/19 2:12 PM

Devuan.org Now Points To 'Pwned' Page With Gopher URLs Published on April 01, 2019 at 02:34AM "DEVUAN.ORG HAS BEEN PWNED" reads a new message at the home page for Devuan (a fork of Debian without systemd) -- which re-redirects to a new page named pwned.html, reports Slashdot reader DevNull127: In all capital letters, its carefully-indented message (complete with an ascii-art logo) now informs visitors that "the web sucks -- JavaScript sucks -- browsers suck." Posting the URLs to several gopher sites, it adds that "Gopher is the way -- gopher is the future." "Kiss port 80 goodbye. Join the revolution on port 70." The attackers identify themselves as "Green Hat Hackers," a term generally understood to mean ambitious newbie hackers who want to improve their skills. "Stop the madness," continues their message, which appeared just hours before the first day of April. "Get yourself a gopher client." Read more

Facebook could impose new limits on who can live stream to Facebook Live following the Christchurch terror attack, which was broadcast live on the social network. In an open letter published in the New Zealand Herald , Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg laid out steps the company is taking to change its policies following criticism after the Christchurch terrorist attack. Among them: new rules on who is allowed to use Facebook Live. "We are exploring restrictions on who can go Live depending on factors such as prior Community Standard violations," Sandberg wrote.  The proposal was light on details. Sandberg didn't elaborate on exactly how Facebook might restrict the ability to live stream, other than suggesting that those who have broken the company's rules in the past may be affected.  Read more... More about Tech , Facebook , Sheryl Sandberg , Facebook Live , and Tech from Mashable https://ift.tt/2HPDecu

Prosecutors Were Already Investigating Whether Boeing Provided 'Incomplete or Misleading' 737 Information Published on April 01, 2019 at 02:04AM Fox Business News reports: - "Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Boeing provided incomplete or misleading information about its best-selling 737 Max aircraft to U.S. air safety regulators and customers, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal." - That investigation began five months ago -- after the first crash that killed 189 people, but before the second one. Nine days after that November 7 crash, America's Federal Aviation Administration had issued an international emergency order "warning that Boeing had discovered an 'unsafe condition' that is 'likely to exist or develop' in other planes," reports the Washington Post: The FAA directive said if erroneous data is received by the 737 Max jet's flight control system, the plane's nose could be pushed down repeatedl

US Lawmakers Propose Allowing Prisons To Jam Signals From Smuggled Cellphones Published on April 01, 2019 at 01:04AM An anonymous reader quotes the Associated Press: Federal legislation proposed Thursday would give state prison officials the ability they have long sought to jam the signals of cellphones smuggled to inmates within their walls... The legislation could help provide a solution to a problem prison officials have said represents the top security threat to their institutions. Corrections chiefs across the country have long argued for the ability to jam the signals, saying the phones -- smuggled into their institutions by the thousands, by visitors, errant employees, and even delivered by drone -- are dangerous because inmates use them to carry out crimes and plot violence both inside and outside prison. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

There's being bad at geography, an affliction from which many Americans suffer, and then there's being really bad at geography. Whoever writes the on-screen text for Fox & Friends Weekend appears to be in the latter category.  How else would the morning news show have wound up with a chyron that claims the existence of three distinct Mexicos?  SEE ALSO: Fox News host admits on air that he hasn't washed his hands in 10 years The chyron error, captured by CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter, reads "Trump cuts U.S. aid to 3 Mexican countries." The obvious issue being that there is only one Mexican country. It is called Mexico.   Read more... More about Fox And Friends , Entertainment , and Movies Tv Shows from Mashable https://ift.tt/2FMblzU