Tech News

Honorable Mentions Photograph: Simon Hill We have tested several other video doorbells. These are the ones that narrowly missed out on a place above. Doro Hemma Doorbell for £150: A simplified smart doorbell for seniors is a solid idea, and Swedish maker Doro gets plenty right with the Hemma. It is a battery-powered doorbell that’s … Read more

Open source might be the building blocks of the modern software stack, but companies building businesses off the back of open source software face a perennial struggle between keeping their community happy and ensuring that third parties don’t abuse the permissions afforded by the license. Many companies have launched with lofty open source ambitions, only … Read more

President-elect Donald Trump has surrounded himself with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs — including Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, and David Sacks — who are now advising him on technology and other issues. When it comes to AI, this crew of technologists is fairly aligned on the need for rapid development and adoption of AI throughout the U.S. … Read more

Sometimes in this wild life you stumble upon a rabbit hole that ends up being more like a vast chasm. Such is the state of interest and appreciation for the world of carbon steel pans. One might think this humble node of cookery might be overlooked in favor of heritage-credited cast iron, utilitarian nonstick, or … Read more

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. For thousands of years, if you wanted to send a secret message, there was basically one way to do it. You’d scramble the message using a special rule, known only to you and your intended audience. This rule acted like the key to a lock. … Read more