The air above Earth—especially above California, United States, Earth—might have way more of one particular climate-changing gas in it than anyone thought. And that could actually be good news.The gas is methane, CH4, the main component of natural gas—also a frequent byproduct of oil drilling, agriculture, animal husbandry, garbage decomposition, and farts. It’s relatively short-lived…

It was a few weeks before the 2016 election, and I was putting together a report on the future of online political discourse. We had canvassed thousands of the world's leading experts in technology and culture, and had begun the long task of interpreting the more than 700 responses to the final question in our…

This June, as the news bristled with headlines about Facebook’s cryptocurrency-to-be and the price of bitcoin once again soared, the mood in the San Francisco offices of Coinbase was subdued. In 2017, the cryptocurrency exchange was close to the frenetic epicenter of the bitcoin boom. Millions of people used its app to dip their toes…

On the first world of The Outer Worlds, I meet a man whose job is collecting taxes for grave sites. See, here on Edgewater all the graves are owned by the company that also owns the settlement, the factory, the food, the electricity, and probably the air by some devious legal loophole or another. So…

Android has a bit of a malware problem. The open ecosystem's flexibility also makes it relatively easy for tainted apps to circulate on third-party app stores or malicious websites. Worse still, malware-ridden apps sneak into the official Play Store with disappointing frequency. After grappling with the issue for a decade, Google is calling in some…

It all started with a joke about tacos. TikTok user @tinymeatgang69699 posted a clip of someone wheeze-scream-laughing at an array of kitschy framed signs in what seems to be a home goods store, one of which reads “Thank goodness I don’t have to hunt my own food. I don’t even know where tacos live.” Commenters—who,…

Pour one out for the OG Google Pixel 1. This month's Android security patches are out, and while you'll find bulletins covering the Pixel 2, 3, and 4, the original Google Pixel didn't make the cut. Google is ending support this month.ARS TECHNICAThis story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news,…

Let’s be honest: A lot of new devices are meant to stoke desire for something that you never even knew you wanted. (A tiny keyboard? Yes, please! A DNA test for your cat? Purrrr-fect!) But if you’re shopping for the best robot vacuum cleaner, it’s usually because you really, really need one. Whether you’re drowning…

Alphabet’s board of directors has opened an investigation into how executives at the company have handled misconduct claims, CNBC reported earlier today after viewing materials that it says show an…

Saudi Arabian officials allegedly paid at least two employees of Twitter to access personal information on users the government there was interested in, according to recently unsealed court documents. Those…