Internet

Packages of DVDs await shipment at the Netflix headquarters in San Jose, California, in 2002.

After 25 Years, Netflix Ends DVD Rentals

As users move to online streaming, the company will mail its last disc in September

The A.I.-generated image of Pope Francis in a puffer jacket.

The Ethics of Creating A.I.-Generated Images of Public Figures

Viral pictures of Pope Francis wearing a trendy white puffer coat were fabricated with A.I., but tricked internet users across the globe

Dictionary.com regularly adds new words with staying power to its online listings.

Dictionary.com Adds More Than 300 New Words

Additions like “digital nomad,” “anti-fat” and “liminal space” reflect the dynamic nature of the English language

Onlookers attending the touring exhibition Save Ukr(AI)ne, which featured A.I.-generated images based on stories of children displaced by the war in Ukraine, in September 2022

Art Meets Science

Are A.I. Image Generators Violating Copyright Laws?

Two new lawsuits argue that tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion are infringing on artists' rights

After scraping artists' work across the internet, the app can generate artistic renditions of users' selfies.

Art Meets Science

Is Popular A.I. Photo App Lensa Stealing From Artists?

The tool went viral first for generating flattering portraits—and then for igniting ethical concerns

Sotheby's will auction the first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution on December 13.

A Group of Crypto Investors Is Trying to Buy the Constitution—Again

For the second year in a row, a DAO is vying to bid on a rare first-edition copy

To select a winner, Oxford editors track trending words and phrases throughout the calendar year.

'Goblin Mode' Is Oxford's 2022 Word of the Year

The term describes behavior that's "unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy"

Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight, a film adaptation of the 1938 play Gas Light

'Gaslighting' Is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year

Searches for the term, defined as the "practice of grossly misleading someone," skyrocketed in 2022

Frida Kahlo allegedly drew Fantasmones Siniestros in her diary in 1944.

Did This Man Destroy a Frida Kahlo Drawing to Make an NFT?

Businessman Martin Mobarak's stunt is now under investigation by the Mexican government

The entrance to the CIA Museum in Langley, Virginia

See Inside the Rarely Seen and Newly Reimagined CIA Museum

Off-limits to all but a few in-person visitors, the museum is starting to welcome the public, online at least

Bear 747, the 2022 Fat Bear Week champion, in all his gargantuan glory. 

Alaska

Bear 747 Overcomes Scandal to Win Fat Bear Week

It’s the second title in three years for the 1,400-pound behemoth dubbed “Bear Force One”

Photographed on September 14, 2022, 480 Otis is the reigning 2021 Fat Bear Week champion.

Alaska

How the Bears at Alaska's Katmai National Park Became Celebrities

Park officials had no idea that the installation of live nature cameras at Brooks River ten years ago would lead to the wildly successful Fat Bear Week

A visitor at the Seattle NFT Museum in Washington, one of the first states to tax non-fungible tokens

Two States Start Taxing NFTs

Washington and Pennsylvania wade into a largely unregulated marketplace

One of the iterations of Loab

Who Is the Woman Haunting A.I.-Generated Art?

Now known as "Loab," she pops up repeatedly in a series of creepy images

Migrating waterbirds over South Dakota’s Huron Wetland Management District on North America’s Central Flyway.

Scientists Are Using These High-Tech Tools to Study Bird Migration

Tracking the journeys of different species is key to protecting them from habitat loss and other threats

Royal Caribbean tested SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service on its ship called Freedom of the Seas

SpaceX's Starlink Satellite Internet Is Coming to Cruise Ships

Royal Caribbean says it will begin installing Starlink terminals across its entire fleet immediately

A Jorō spider, which was the victim of sensationalized reporting in the U.S. earlier this year

Spider Slander Runs Rampant Online

Nearly half of news stories about spider bites contain misinformation, which experts say can hurt conservation efforts

Mount Kilimanjaro is the largest free-standing mountain in the world.

Wi-Fi Comes to Mount Kilimanjaro

Access to high-speed internet should make Africa's tallest mountain safer for adventurers and guides

Abigail Barlow (bottom left) and Emily Bear (bottom right) won a Grammy for their Unofficial Bridgerton Musical.

What the 'Unofficial Bridgerton Musical' Lawsuit Means for Fan-Created Content

Netflix has accused the songwriting duo behind the viral production of stealing copyrighted material for their own financial gain

Damien Hirst with pieces from “The Currency”

Artist Damien Hirst Will Burn Thousands of Paintings in NFT Experiment

A year-long project is pitting traditional paintings against non-fungible tokens

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