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American toddlers have shot 23 people this year—mostly themselves.

Last year, a Washington Post analysis found that toddlers were finding guns and shooting people at a rate of about one a week. This year, that pace has accelerated. There have been at least 23 toddler-involved shootings since Jan. 1, compared with 18 over the same period last year. In the vast majority of cases, the children accidentally shoot themselves. That's happened 18 times this year, and in nine of those cases the children died of their wounds.

Doubtlessly these toddlers will kill many more before they are stopped.

It correlates strongly to state-level gun storage laws, reports WaPo. States with lax ones see lots of toddler shootings; even states with high levels of gun violence in general see few toddler gun injuries when they enact such laws. The NRA claims gun storage laws are an attack on individual liberty, and it not only opposes them but sues city governments that enact them.

The Present, Jacob Frey's four-minute short about a young boy who's not sure about the three-legged puppy his mom gives him, won more than 50 awards and played more than 180 festivals -- it's got a sting in its tail (and its tale). (more…)

It’s been a month now since Facebook rolled-out a dramatically improved design for live video — a design that borrowed liberally from Twitter-owned Periscope. Facebook’s enormous audience, combined with its willingness to pay media companies to broadcast there, immediately threatened to derail Twitter’s video ambitions. But today Periscope is announcing features that begin to address some of the product’s shortcomings: permanent broadcasts, search, and an integration with DJI drones.

Starting with an app update in about three weeks, Periscope broadcasts will no longer disappear after 24 hours by default. Instead, broadcasts will be available permanently on a broadcaster’s profile — and inside the tweets where they are often shared....

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 Today, onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, Siri creator Dag Kittlaus showed off the first public demo of Viv, an AI virtual system that aims to be “the intelligent interface for everything.” In a live presentation that mentioned the word “paradigm” at least a dozen times, Kittlaus talked a bit about the next wave of computer interaction methods and how Viv would… Read More

Right now you can switch out straps and swap digital dials on Android Wear smartwatches, but what if you could change the entire look of your watch in seconds without having to buy another timepiece? Well you may have that option soon, thanks to an interchangeable smartwatch built by Henlen.

Running a skinned version of Android Wear, Henlen has built a smartwatch with a fully interchangeable casing and strap. The watch face snaps out of its casing and can be placed into a different body, giving the user options for distinct designs. It's a novel idea — instead of sport and standard smartwatch versions, there could just be sport bodies at a much cheaper price. But as with most hardware startups, it won't be an...

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 MTV gave us a blast from the past last month when it streamed nonstop Prince videos as a memorial to the musician’s untimely death. But as it turns out, we will start seeing a lot more music video programming on another platform very soon. Spotify — the music streaming startup with some 75 million users — today announced a line up of 12 new “concepts”… Read More

Cut flowers will wilt and die pretty quickly if you don’t take care of them properly. If you follow these six steps, however, you should be able to keep them looking fresh and beautiful for much longer.

As this video from the Reactions YouTube channel explains, a little basic chemistry can keep that bouquet looking like it’s straight out of the garden day after day. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Clean your vase: Some soap and water will remove any bacteria or fungi that might ruin your flowers.
   
2. Use warm water: It’s best to use water that is around 110 degrees Fahrenheit and has been degassed. Fill the clean vase with the warm water and let it sit for a few minutes so all the air bubbles can escape.
   
3. Feed your flowers: Add the packet of flower food that came with the flowers. It has bleach to fight off microbes, citric acid to promote water uptake, and sugar to keep your flowers looking fresh.
   
4. Cut the stems: Hold the stems under running water and cut them at a 45 degree angle. This creates a wide opening to the xylem (where the flowers drink up water) and keeps air bubbles to a minimum so they don’t block the water pathways.
   
5. Keep fruit away: Fruit produces ethylene, which tells a plant to ripen, and that will shorten the life span of your flowers.
   
6. Keep your flowers cool: Try to store your flowers somewhere that isn’t too warm. If you’re leaving the house for a day or two, stick your flowers in the fridge (away from fruit). The cold reduces microbial growth and the metabolic rate of your flowers, extending their life.
   

Flowers don’t last forever, but these tips will at least earn you a few extra days with them.

http://lifehacker.com/make-cut-flowe...

How to Make Flowers Last Longer | YouTube

Sometimes, it's the smallest part of a video game that ends up making the biggest impact on you. It could be an atmospheric side-quest, or an oddly enthralling mini-game. And sometimes, that smallest part is the whole game, as in the case of Viridi, a meditative, free-to-play title that's all about tending succulents.

The game is simple: you pick a pot, plant some plants, water them, weed them, and wait for them to grow, while a lovely ambient soundtrack plinks away in the background. Its creators have compared it to Tamagotchi, but another point of reference is obviously animator David OReilly's "relax 'em up" Mountain (where you just look after mountain, insomuch as a mountain needs looking after). Viridi came out on Mac and Windows...

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 Makers of an app called Eliza want to make it as easy for people to track their psychological well-being as it is to track their physical fitness. The Eliza app asks users to record a voice memo, say, venting about an issue they’re dealing with at work or simply reflecting on their day. The app turns the user’s speech into text that’s ready for sentiment analysis. Read More

On a road trip across Germany earlier this year, my wife and I made a four-hour detour to visit Miniatur Wunderland. It's Hamburg's most popular tourist attraction and it was, without question, worth the trip.

Miniatur Wunderland is the Guinness Book of World Records-certified largest model railroad in the world, with more than 150 staff. Its 9.5 miles of track covers 14,000 square feet of layout.

But it's not the trains that really take your breath away — it's all the scenery. Individual sections covering Germany, Austria, America, Scandinavia, Switzerland, the fictional German city of Knuffigen, as well as Wunderland's home city of Hamburg are spread across several floors. Work on an Italian section has been underway for three years....

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"John Doe," the mysterious whistleblower who released the largest-ever leak of confidential documents in world history -- papers from the Panamanian law firm Mossack-Fonseca, a key player in the offshore dark money industry -- has published their first-ever public statement. (more…)

After the public overwhelmingly voted to name a new British Natural Environment Research Council vessel "Boaty McBoatface," the UK government pulled a switcheroo, declaring the will of the people to be secondary to the judgment of humourless bureaucrats, and summarily named the ship the R.R.S. David Attenborough. (more…)

Chris writes, "After a recent Kobo software upgrade, a number of Kobo customers have reported losing e-books from their libraries--notably, e-books that had been transferred to Kobo from their Sony Reader libraries when Sony left the consumer e-book business. One customer reported missing 460 e-books, and the only way to get them back in her library would be to search and re-add them one at a time! Customers who downloaded their e-books and illegally broke the DRM don't have this problem, of course." (more…)

Dilbert readers - Please visit Dilbert.com to read this feature. Due to changes with our feeds, we are now making this RSS feed a link to Dilbert.com.

When it’s so hard to say no, it’s so easy to overcommit. Get around this issue by responding with a “Yes...if...” to requests for your time and energy that don’t have the highest value for you.

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-deal-wh...

The Strategy+Business blog recommends saying “yes” to the demands or requests that you are most skilled at meeting and that have the greatest value to your company. For everything else, add that “if” and find other ways to meet those requests without over-burdening you:

This discerning approach forces you to address your capacity problem head-on. It may mean delegating some tasks to others, negotiating a reduction in your specific contribution, or just saying no while making the business case for why your contributions will have a greater impact elsewhere. A secondary benefit of questioning the value and ownership of a task is that you confirm whether it needs to be done in the first place, and you challenge the assumption that it should be done the way it is being done.

So, for example, “yes, I can do that project—if the deadline can be moved two weeks back” or “yes, I can get you that TPS report if someone else can do the other TPS report on my plate.” You don’t have to say “no,” and you also protect yourself from taking on more than you can handle.

“Yes” vs. “Yes, If...”: Using Your Distinctive Contribution to Manage Priorities | Strategy+Business

Photo by PinkMoose.

A long time, and well loved, resident of Yellowstone National Park, Scarface the bear, has been found shot dead. Scarface has been entertaining photographers, non-threateningly, for decades. It seems unlikely he was killed in self-defense, as he was unlikely to disturb family pic-a-nics.

ICTMN shares:

In the ongoing research into the habits of the grizzlies in Yellowstone, Scarface had been captured, collared, and released 17 times.

Scarface did survive to a ripe old age for his species, 25. In his prime, he weighed 600 pounds. He was down to 338 pounds and biologists expected this last winter to be his last. They meant a death from old age, not from gunshots. Social media were full of outrage from biologists and wildlife photographers, for whom Scarface had become a symbol of the species struggling for survival against climate change and the invasion of bear habitat by humans.

Shooting a grizzly is unlawful except in self-defense, but Scarface had a long history with people that made him an unlikely candidate to attack a photographer or a hunter. Because of the Endangered Species Act violation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened an investigation into the circumstances of the shooting. Several photographers, decrying the shooting, declared that Scarface was the most photographed bear in Yellowstone.

For the last three years, YouTube has put on a series of increasingly extravagant parties meant to convince advertisers that the video platform is the best place to spend their marketing dollars. The fourth annual Brandcast took place last night at the Javits Center, and compared with previous versions, it was decidedly more self-assured. In the past, YouTube spent a lot of time assuring the brands in attendance that its content was safe, high-quality, and watched by more than just bored teenagers. This time YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki cut to the chase.

"Today, I’m happy to announce that on mobile alone YouTube now reaches more 18–49-year-olds than any network — broadcast or cable. In fact, we reach more 18–49-year-olds during primetime...

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Kids love a good puddle to splash in – photographers love them for a different reason – reflections.

In this collection of images have a look at how these photographers captured reflective surfaces in creative ways:

The post 24 Reflective Mirror Images to Make You Look Twice by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s9GCkK6oZs

A new documentary, "(In)Securus Technologies: An Assault on Prisoner Rights", tracks the rise of for-profit video "visitation" programs, which are being rolled out across America's unimaginably huge prison system, replacing the in-person visits that have been shown to be vital for prisoners' successful rehabilitation and reintegration into society. (more…)

Superhero movies may be hit or miss sometimes, but even mediocre movies often come with outstanding soundtracks. The best scores become ingrained in us. This playlist features some of the best superhero music of the last decade and a half.

Captain America: Civil War is coming out in the US this week, so I’ve taken every opportunity to write about superhero movies I can get away with. Now, I’m sneaking in one more with this genuinely epic playlist, worthy of the big screen. Compiled by Spotify user David Morillo Reyes, this playlist features selections from superhero soundtracks including Magneto’s haunting theme from X-Men: First Class, Danny Elfman’s iconic Spider-Man theme, and selections from Hans Zimmer’s epic-in-the-literal-sense score from the Dark Knight trilogy, and yes, even the theme from the 90s animated X-Men cartoon.

Welcome to our Featured Playlist series. Each week, we’ll share a new themed playlist, embedded for your convenience! You can copy the track list to your service of choice, or listen right here. Have a sweet playlist of your own? Share it with us in the comments below!

 SpaceX successfully launched the Japanese communications satellite, JCSAT-14 on their Falcon 9 rocket at 1:22am EST today from Cape Canaveral, Florida. After the launch, the company soft-landed the first stage of the rocket on their drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” – the second time this has ever been done. Landing confirmed. Second stage continuing to carry JCSAT-14… Read More

The UK government has dodged a public relations bullet, choosing to name its new polar research vessel the RSS Sir David Attenborough. The name of the £200 million ship was originally to be decided by a public poll, with the internet banding together to put forward the name Boaty McBoatface. Obviously, it won, collecting more than 124,000 votes in the process, and even beating out strong challenges from the likes of the RRS It's Bloody Cold Here.

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Scientists in China report that they've found the world's longest insect — a new species of stick insect of the genus Phryganistria that measures over half a meter. According to state media outlet Xinhua, the specimen was discovered during a field trip in the Guangxi Zhuang region in 2014, but has now been declared the world's longest. The 62.4-centimeter-long creature beats the previous record holder, another stick insect discovered in 2008 (and named Phobaeticus chani or Chan's megastick) by nearly six centimeters.

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If you own a Tesla Model S or Model X you've been able to summon your all-electric car for nearly six months now, but one developer has created an even cooler way with Amazon's Echo. Using an unofficial Tesla API and the Echo, Jason Goecke created code that runs in the cloud to respond to keyword triggers with Alexa. "Ask KITT" (because everyone wants a Knight Rider car) is the command to pull the car out of the garage, and the video demonstration shows it working effortlessly.

While Goecke's reverse engineering skills resulted in a "fun weekend project," he's really calling on Tesla to open up its developer tools to allow this type of function in a safe way. "Our friends at Tesla should work with the burgeoning developer community to...

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NCR reports in-the-wild sightings of "deep skimmers" (tiny, disposable card-skimmers that run on watch batteries and use crude radios to transmit to a nearby base-station) on ATMs around the world: "Greece, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Bulgaria, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States." (more…)

We all love podcasts, amirite? I'm currently listening to the latest 'No Such Thing As A Fish' episode. Audible, the audiobook company owned by Amazon, has officially put live 'Channels,' a way to listen to news shows and podcasts in the same app as you listen to books in.

Audible members get unlimited access to Channels, meaning they can listen to ad-free podcasts, news shows, and comedy at no extra charge.

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Audible Rolls Out Channels, A Source Of News Shows And Podcasts was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Netflix recently noted that it has been throttling data on carriers like AT&T that have overage charges, but that was just a temporary measure. The company had planned to roll its mobile data saver feature out to everyone in May, and here we are. The feature should be live for everyone right now, no update needed.

The mobile data saver made a brief appearance for some people a few weeks back, but the version now officially deployed is much more robust that a simple toggle.

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Netflix Rolls Mobile Data Saver Out Globally Right On Time was written by the awesome team at Android Police.