Ever wanted to design a city from scratch? All those years tinkering with SimCity and Legos are going to finally start paying dividends for a lucky few. YCombinator is looking for urban mavericks to address everything from the creation of affordable housing to the design of public spaces in its new research undertaking. The buzz-word smart-city is rapidly becoming platitudinous but YC will… Read More
The internet has become a lonely space, and consumers are hungry for something new. We don't talk much anymore about new processors, video cards and faster dialup modems - at least not like we used to. The technology industry, specifically the internet, continues to become further standardized and isolating, which makes it harder for new players to get an edge. Read More 
So it finally came down to this: an unbelievably epic battle between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton for Winterfell, the North, and maybe even all of Westeros. But which bastard reigned supreme?
In these earliest days of commercial viability, virtual reality is running up against the same wall as so many technologies before it: how does a company translate it for the majority of consumers who won't be able to demo it in the wild? 
Bluetooth 5.0, the latest version of the ubiquitous wireless standard, is set to be announced on June 16, according to an e-mail sent by Bluetooth SIG Executive Director Mark Powell.
The update will apparently be called "Bluetooth 5" without a point number in an effort to "[simplify] marketing." It's primarily of interest because the update promises to double the range and quadruple the speed of Bluetooth 4.2. It also adds "significantly more capacity to advertising transmissions," which is more exciting than it sounds because it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with what you normally think of when you think of "advertising."
In the Bluetooth spec, an "advertising packet" allows Bluetooth devices to send small snippets of information to other Bluetooth devices even if the two aren't actually paired or connected to one another. For instance, when you go to pair a Bluetooth keyboard or speaker with one of your devices, advertising packets can let you see the name of the device before you've paired it so you can distinguish it from all the other Bluetooth devices that are within range. The same technology is used by wireless beacons to transmit information about the location you're in and by Apple's AirDrop and Handoff features to let your Macs and iDevices know what your other Macs and iDevices are up to.
Video shot/edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)
It has been a couple of years since Samsung upgraded its Gear Fit activity tracker, and the new Gear Fit 2 is competing in a much more crowded market. While Fitbit still reigns as king, Apple unveiled its Watch and Microsoft came out with two versions of its own band. That's also not to mention that what people expect from their fitness trackers has changed rapidly: built-in heart rate monitors are now commonplace, and the basic step and distance tracking and calorie counting metrics just aren't enough to warrant a permanent spot on your wrist. Samsung clearly took all of that into account when making the Gear Fit 2 and, in turn, created a strong device that's made even stronger by its competitive $179 price.
The slightly redesigned Gear Fit 2 is a subtle improvement on the original. But more importantly, it's what the newest Microsoft Band should have been. The Gear Fit 2 is rounder and more seamless than the first, blurring the lines that separate the band from the display module. The band is your typical silicone wrap that we're used to seeing on fitness trackers now, and the closure is a simple snap-in design. The band comes in small and large sizes, so the Gear Fit 2 is easy to put on and even easier to wear, even if it's not the most fashionable piece.
Math is basically magic. So it's no surprise that a clever use of the Fibonacci numbers-a series of numbers (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.) where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers-and a super-slick shuffling method can combine for a card trick that makes it impossibly easy to guess the number and suit of the two cards you're holding.
