A continuation from http://forums.techguy.org/random-discussion/79027-oddly-enough.html
After spending just 30,000 RMB ($4,370) on his new vehicle, a driver surnamed Liu decided to splurge on his license plate, spending 1 million RMB ($145,705) on one with 5 lucky number 8s, hoping it would keep him out of trouble on the road. It totally backfired on him.
On his first day behind the wheel, Liu was stopped no less than eight times by local police. You must be wondering what exactly Liu was doing to attract so much attention. Well, according to NetEase, it wasn't Liu's driving, but his "lucky" license plate that caused police to pull him over, with officers believing that it just had to be fake.
If you're anything like us, your technology is sort of like an extension of your physical person - so you feel an actual bodily lack if you are too far away from your phone or laptop. (Or did we just give away a pathological personal detail better kept to ourselves?)
That's why we were sort of shocked to see just how many people left their laptops behind at security checkpoints at Newark Liberty International Airport in just the last month or so:
Some ideas are ahead of their time, some might have to wait an eternity. We're not entirely sure which camp the following fearless forays into the realm of invention fit into, but they definitely get our nod for being among the quirkiest and in many cases, puzzling, gadgets to come to our attention in 2016.
SORRENTO, Fla. - Chuck Finley appears to be a voracious reader, having checked out 2,361 books at the East Lake County Library in a nine-month period this year.
But Finley didn't read a single one of the books, ranging from "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck to a kids book called "Why Do My Ears Pop?" by Ann Fullick. That's because Finley isn't real.
There have been a lot of strange twists and turns when it comes to ransomware this month. First, we had Popcorn Time that gave you the option of screwing over people by infecting them to possibly get a free decryption key. Now, we have a new in-development variant of the Koolova Ransomware that will decrypt your files for free if you educate yourself about ransomware by reading two articles.
If you ever wanted to watch two virtual assistants argue with each other for hours on end, well, you're in luck. Some maniac is live streaming two Google Homes arguing with each other, so of course thousands of people are watching it.
SAN DIEGO - Shh! you may want to turn down your television set because Alexa the internet-connected home assistant device may be listening.
The Amazon Echo system which does everything from getting your weather report to ordering more laundry detergent can also do some things you don't want it to.
When it comes to answering those tough questions or getting that extra help around the house, Alexa, the voice service that powers Amazon Echo is just a voice-command away.
Navigating the array of buttons on Japan's high-tech toilets can be a disconcerting experience for the uninitiated, who, expecting to hear a familiar flushing sound, are instead subjected to a sudden, and unwanted, cleansing of the nether regions.
Smartphones and GPS devices make it easy to get around, but they can also inhibit your natural sense of direction if you rely on them too much. If you want to be a master navigator of an area, you need to put the screens away.
WASHINGTON, DC-For years, the government and security experts have warned of the looming threat of "cyberwar" against critical infrastructure in the US and elsewhere. Predictions of cyber attacks wreaking havoc on power grids, financial systems, and other fundamental parts of nations' fabric have been foretold repeatedly over the past two decades, and each round has become more dire. The US Department of Energy declared in its Quadrennial Energy Review, just released this month, that the electrical grid in the US "faces imminent danger from a cyber attack."
So far, however, the damage done by cyber attacks, both real (Stuxnet's destruction of Iranian uranium enrichment centrifuges and a few brief power outages alleged to have been caused by Russian hackers using BlackEnergy malware) and imagined or exaggerated (the Iranian "attack" on a broken flood control dam in Rye, New York), cannot begin to measure up to an even more significant cyber-threat-squirrels.
We're taught a lot about proper social behavior growing up, from not chewing with our mouths open to excusing ourselves after a productive burp. But nothing is as important as knowing to call "shotgun" when you're about to enter a motor vehicle.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) may have lowered the prevalence of divorce in the U.S., according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Joey, the pet squirrel, defended his home from would-be burglars while his owner was away. Adam Pearl returned to find his house had been broken into and later learned Joey valiantly defended his belongings and left the burglars full of scratches.
Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The owner of a restaurant in Italy discounted a family's bill due to their children's polite behavior.
Antonio Ferrari shared a photo of the family's bill which included a five percent discount for "bimbi educati," or polite children.
Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The Washington State Patrol said a speeder was also ticketed for carpool cheating when the "young lady" riding shotgun was found to be a lifelike mannequin.
Trooper Todd Bartolac, the state patrol's public information officer, said on Twitter the man was pulled over Friday for speeding in the high-occupancy lane of Interstate 5, north of Tacoma, and the trooper soon realized there was something amiss about the "young lady" in the passenger seat.
But they shot each other, cops say
App development likened to the 'wild west' as researchers raise concerns over one-size-fits-all targets and absence of sound science
A self-confessed "grammar vigilante" has been secretly correcting bad punctuation on street signs and shop fronts in Bristol for more than a decade.
The anonymous crusader carries out his work in the dead of night using the "Apostrophiser" - a long-handled tool he created to reach the highest signs.