Lifestyle

The city of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania USA, will soon have driverless cars available via Uber. Making the ridesharing company Uber the first to test out the driverless vehicles in such a public market setting. However, the self-driving cars will still have human supervisors (and drivers if need be) with them as a precaution initially. Bloomberg reports that the driverless cars are modified Volvo XC90 sport utility vehicles. Uber’s plan is to rollout 100 of these driverless vehicles by the end of 2016. With Uber CEO Travis Kalanick outlining plans to partner with other automotive manufacturers in the future to produce more driverless vehicles to be used with the transportation service. However, Uber does not plan on manufacturing its own self-driving vehicles. As for those Uber users in Pittsburgh, they won’t be able to request a driverless car directly. Instead they’ll use the ridesharing app as normal, and may be randomly ...

Drivers in Moscow were subjected to more than a proverbial crap-storm when a sewage tanker burst. Traffic in Russia can be more than a little crazy. In fact Moscow often can be constipated with traffic, but this took things more to the level of a very bad case of diarrhoea. Fortunately, maybe, thanks to power of a dashboard cam, it was all caught on film. Not only did things really hit the fan, the explosion managed to spray the vehicles on either side of the tanker. And in what could be the worst of all kinds of toilet splash-back, while the white 4WD in the city may never really get off-road, that’s not spray-on mud to boost the owner’s ego.

As the tussle over NSW Premier Mike Baird banning greyhound racing in the state continues, something more proactive is occurring than the rhetoric of political posturing and legal challenges. This something, is to help the dogs find new homes. These greyhounds are unlikely to keep racing, and they may never had a hope of winning any greyhound races to begin with. But they can be given new hope, and can make great pet dogs for the right people. Greyhound Adoption Day will be held 10am-2pm this Saturday, 16 July 2016, at the Wentworth Park greyhound racing track in Sydney, NSW. At least 20 greyhounds will be there and available for adoption as pets. Giving people the opportunity to meet the dogs, other owners, and speak with greyhound experts to learn more about the breed. Admittedly it’s short notice for this first Greyhound Adoption Day. However, the event is being run ...

Clothing company UNIQLO and Nintendo have partnered together for the UTGP17 global t-shirt design competition. Unsurprisingly, the theme of the t-shirt must be Nintendo. For inspirational purposes, potential content ideas are conveniently shown in the format of a video: Entry to the competition closes 31 August 2016, based on the time in Japan. Full details of the competition can be read at UNIQLO’s Q&A and Regulation webpages. The prize-winning t-shirts are expected to start retailing in spring 2017. The Grand Prize is $10,000, plus an invitation to the awards ceremony complete with Shigeru Miyamoto attending, and the winner will also receive the still-codenamed NX – Nintendo’s newest video game console. What the NX exactly is, at this stage it’s all rumours and speculation. The cat’s still in the bag, but once let out it could be more exciting than a house full of cats. Even for non-cat ladies. And those ...

If rumours and reports are to be believed, the 2016 iPhone will be more of the familiar. Based upon sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal, WSJ reports that the 2016 models of the iPhone will keep their 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch sizes for the LCD screens. As has long been rumoured, the headphone jack is also expected to be replaced; with the lightning port to be used for both headphones and charging the phone. Making the rear camera flat with the back of the iPhone is another rumoured design tweak. However, it seems Apple have bigger plans for the iPhone in 2017. Which will mark the 10-year anniversary of the device, with the original iPhone having launched back in June 2007. Speculated changes include the 2017 iPhone featuring an OLED display, and doing away with the phone’s physical home button in favour of a fingerprint sensor on the screen. To ...

Resurrected from the depths and brought back to life, it has all the makings of a horror movie plot. But this is science, not fiction, and the subject is beer and yeast to be more specific. The story of what might be the world’s oldest beer originally set sail in the year 1796. Taking a fateful turn back in 1797, on 9 February, when en route from Calcutta to Port Jackson, one of the first trading ships to the new colony, the Sydney Cove, ran aground on Preservation Island in Bass Straight. Down with the beached and waterlogged ship went some cargo, beer amongst it. Head forward to 1990, when the shipwreck was salvaged by marine archaeologist Mike Nash for the purposes of historic shipwreck preservation. The maritime relics of yesteryear recovered from the Sydney Cove (Australia’s oldest merchant shipwreck) continue to be displayed at the Queen Victoria Museum and ...

The kelpie named Kasey has had a rough stint. What at first appeared to be an open wound from an infected tooth, turned out to be a gunshot upon vet examination. The results of which showed the dog had been shot in the head. Breaking her jaw. Shattering her teeth. Leaving behind shrapnel and a burst abscess. Kasey was initially found by a council ranger, after she was dumped near Tamworth, in regional NSW, Australia. Things have started to improve for Kasey the kelpie since then. She was taken in as a rescue dog by Australian Working Dog Rescue (AWDRI). An Australian non-profit charitable institution which aims to save working dog breeds from being euthanased in council pounds and shelters, and find new homes for them. As for the story of Kasey the shot kelpie, she weighed in at only 13kg upon rescue, and is now a more healthy 21kg. ...

It’s reported that the usernames and passwords of nearly 33 million Twitter accounts have been leaked and are being sold online. LeakedSource states that the Twitter credentials are being traded on the dark web, and that the dataset it has acquired consists of 32,888,300 records. Where each record may contain: an email address, username, and sometimes a second email and visible password. LeakedSource claims that your personal information may be searched for and removed from their repository of leaked databases for free. According to LeakedSource: “We have very strong evidence that Twitter was not hacked, rather the consumer was.” Explaining that malware present on users’ devices sent saved usernames and passwords from browsers such as Chrome and Firefox back to the hackers. The explanation offered by LeakedSource appears corroborated by Michael Coates, Twitter’s Trust and Info Security Officer, saying that “we’re confident that our systems have not been breached” and ...

The Force Awakens left many Star Wars fans wanting many things. Whether it was their own BB-8 droid or the fan solution to the real-life burning lightsaber. Others considered things of a more practical nature, like bread. Instant bread, Jakku-style. Suddenly, popcorn and Coke cinema-style seemed boring. Watching Rey make the instant bread on Jakku left many thinking: I want it, and I want it now. Seeing how fast it was put together in the movie seemed like the ideal meal for instant gratification, minus the whole part about it being in a galaxy far, far away. Fortunately, lifestyle and food writer Jenn Fujikawa has delivered a more attainable solution much closer to Earth. You probably don’t even need to trade salvaged starship scrap for it, because the recipe is below. Rey’s Portion Bread Ingredients 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil 4 tablespoons cake flour 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon matcha powder ...

When people think of someone playing video games, dogs don’t exactly come to mind. Dogs on occasion may watch television and have a chew on a controller, but play video games? The dog is probably more into chasing cats and napping. However, the CleverPet Hub wants to change all this. The video game console of sorts, it’s more of a device, for dogs aims to fulfil dogs’ needs for mental and physical stimulation. It’s not necessarily going to replace things such as companionship or walks with a dog’s owner. However, not every dog owner can be around their pet all the time. Being left alone can result in dogs behaving badly, including chewing, digging and destructive behaviour. Not to mention barking or howling, and other separation anxiety issues found amongst dogs. CleverPet Hub, which looks more like a dome and thankfully doesn’t rely on being connected to the television to ...