Technology

Gothamist reports: After reports of people using the LinkNYC kiosks to view porn — and masturbating in public — LinkNYC has decided to pull the plug on web browsing. The company said, “Starting today, we are removing web browsing on all Link tablets while we work with the City and community to explore potential solutions, like time limits.” The 400 …

The Hill reports: Dustin Moskovitz, a billionaire Facebook co-founder, is pledging $20 million to defeat Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. In a Thursday evening post on Medium, Moskovitz said he and his wife, Cari Tuna, are will be donating the money to super-PACs and Democratic committees dedicated to electing Hillary Clinton. “Like many Democratic voters, we don’t support every plank …

TMZ reports: Apple’s big reveal for iPhone 7 was upstaged thanks to its own Twitter account … where images of the new phone were leaked even before CEO Tim Cook could unveil it. Cook was right in the middle of the iPhone debut presentation from Apple HQ — but hadn’t actually shown the device … when a few tweets went …

The Verge reports: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, meant to launch a satellite this weekend, exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Reports suggest the explosion occurred during a static fire test of the rocket’s engines. The Falcon 9 was getting ready to launch the Amos 6 satellite, a communications probe for the Israeli satellite operator Spacecom. The mission …

“Leave Hillary Alone, Bullies. Aww, c’mon guys, give her a break. Anyone can be out of commission…. for weeks on end… whilst in the heat of battle for the highest office in the land. No press conferences for nearly a year? No scheduled campaign events for days upon days? No statements, no answers, no accountability, no problem. Layin’ low to …

Fortune calls it the “saddest $5B deal in tech history.” They write: Yahoo was once the king of the Internet, a $125 billion behemoth as big in its time as Facebook or Google are today. Now it’s being sold to Verizon for comparative chump change. On Monday morning, Yahoo is expected to announce the end of the long process to …

Via Reuters: Shares in Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd soared again on Monday, bringing market-value gains to $7.5 billion in just two days as investors cheered the runaway success of Pokemon GO – its first long-awaited venture in mobile gaming. The game, which marries a classic 20-year old franchise with augmented reality, allows players to walk around real-life neighborhoods while seeking …

CNN reports: NASA says it has received a signal from 540 million miles across the solar system, confirming its Juno spacecraft has successfully started orbiting Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. “Welcome to Jupiter!” flashed on screens at mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. The Juno team cheered and hugged. “This is phenomenal,” said …

The big moment starts around 10:30PM but I’m putting the feed up now so you can come back to it later. From the New York Times: The countdown for the Juno spacecraft to reach its destination at Jupiter is now a matter of hours. “Happy Fourth of July, everyone,” Scott Bolton, the principal investigator of the mission, said during a …

The Guardian reports: House Democrats were able to garner wall-to-wall media coverage of their sit-in by broadcasting live from a congressman’s smartphone on 23 June. Yet that may not be possible in the future if a new patent recently granted to Apple is an indication of technology restrictions to come. The patent shows that Apple may allow iPhone cameras to …

From Ad Age: “Evidence is mounting that [TV] will gain little headway for ‘the duration,'” Ad Age wrote in June 1941 following the FCC’s approval of commercial TV. The next month, on July 1, Bulova aired what’s considered the first TV commercial. The grainy, shaky, 10-second spot ran during an afternoon Dodgers-Phillies game on NBC-owned WNBT. There’s a simple outline …

Really cool stuff for science nerds! CNN reports: A spinning, solar-powered spacecraft as wide as a basketball court will arrive at Jupiter on July 4 to study the giant planet and to take the highest-resolution images of Jupiter in history. NASA’s robotic Juno probe is carrying seven science instruments designed to help scientists figure out how Jupiter formed and evolved. …

Clip recap: Pride is about celebrating who you are and who you love. But millions around the world don’t have the ability to take part. With this immersive 360° film, now anyone can experience parades from around the globe, from São Paulo to Sydney, on your computer, mobile device or with Google Cardboard. Join the celebration and share with friends—together …

Via TechCrunch: Boston Dynamics, the company behind some of the most impressively terrifying and terrifyingly impressive robots of the past decade, is demonstrating its softer side with a video showcasing the Alphabet-owned firm’s latest creation. The SpotMini is a sort of tiny robot giraffe capable of an impressive battery of skills, demonstrated in the video by jaunting up a flight …

Surprisingly lovely. Via Gizmodo: Musician Tony Ann recreated popular ringtones—like the iPhone’s Marimba and T-Mobile’s jingle—with a piano. Though hearing other people’s ringtones in real life is totally annoying, listening to their piano arrangements is quite nice (in a “hey, I know this tune but can’t quite figure out why I know it” sort of way). Now, to use Ann’s …

Bloomberg reports: Twitter Inc. will soon stop counting photos and links in their 140-character limit for tweets, according to a person familiar with the matter. The change could happen in the next two weeks, said the person who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. Links currently take up 23 characters, even after Twitter automatically shortens …

From People For The American Way: Outspoken “gun rights” activist Ted Nugent, a BOARD MEMBER of the NRA, just posted a SHOCKING edited video on Facebook of Hillary Clinton getting shot, with the caption, “I got your guncontrol [sic] right here bitch!” If this outrageously violent “spoof” video, in which Bernie Sanders draws a gun and shoots Hillary Clinton on …

New York City’s MTA has issued a fascinating and informative video which lays out the coming years-long closure of the L train, the busiest downtown link between Brooklyn and Manhattan. From the New York Times: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is asking riders of the L subway how they would like their nightmare: nasty, brutish and shortish, or somewhat less painful …

There’s a scene in the 1971 George Lucas film THX 1138 in which Robert Duvall visits a confessional where he reveals his shortcomings to a government computer who then grants him the “blessings of the state.” New York City is getting something similar next week, minus the blessings. The Verge reports: Have you ever wanted to confess your crimes, bear …

The Guardian reports: According to analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings by the Center for Responsive Politics, four of the top five employers of Sanders donors are tech companies. Google is number one, its employees having contributed more than $200,000. Microsoft, Apple and Amazon occupy the third, fourth and fifth spots respectively. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, has no tech …