Devin Coldewey
Writer & Photographer
The Latest from Devin Coldewey
We’ve come full rectangle: Polaroid is reborn out of The Impossible Project
More than a decade after announcing that it would keep Polaroid's abandoned instant film alive, The Impossible Project has done the... improbable: It has officially become the brand it set out to save
Coronavirus pushes Folding@Home’s crowdsourced molecular science to exaflop levels
The long-running Folding@Home program to crowdsource the enormously complex task of solving molecular interactions has hit a major milestone as thousands of new users sign up to put their computers to
AI and big data won’t work miracles in the fight against coronavirus
To someone with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail — and as expected, the tech sector is hard at work hammering every nail it can find. But the analytical prowess of the modern data ecosystem
YouTube defaults to SD quality worldwide to tame bandwidth surge
YouTube has announced that videos on the site will default to standard definition (SD) quality for the next month in order to cope with demand from the bored, housebound masses. Similar measures were
Game downloads will be throttled to manage internet congestion
For the billions stuck at home during the global effort to flatten the curve, gaming is a welcome escape. But it’s also a bandwidth-heavy one, and Microsoft, Sony and others are working to make
Amazon warehouse workers organized to demand PTO, and coronavirus clinched it
Amazon never tires of explaining how great it is to work at one of its warehouses, but as usual the actual employees tell a different story. This particular group of Chicago workers was fed up with th
The best video chat apps to turn social distancing into distant socializing
The vicissitudes of social distancing have taken many people by surprise, making video calls a new necessity for distant socializing. But which of the two dozen apps out there should you and your (per
Stuart Russell on how to make AI ‘human-compatible’
In a career spanning several decades, artificial intelligence researcher and professor Stuart Russell has contributed extensive knowledge on the subject, including foundational textbooks. He joined us
Be on guard for coronavirus robocalls, warns FCC
Robocalls have been targeting the vulnerable and unsuspecting for years, so it’s no surprise that the scumbags would take advantage of the current global catastrophe to enhance their scams. The
FluSense system tracks sickness trends by autonomously monitoring public spaces
One of the obstacles to accurately estimating the prevalence of sickness in the general population is that most of our data comes from hospitals, not the 99.9 percent of the world that isn’t hos
Vaping additive blamed for outbreak produces ‘exceptionally toxic’ byproducts
The threat of vape lung seems to have receded to the distant past now that we are all facing the coronavirus, but new research has shed light on the nature of that much more limited epidemic. It turns
Bill Gates addresses coronavirus fears and hopes in AMA
Bill Gates, newly free from his role on the Microsoft board, has taken to Reddit to answer the community’s questions about the pandemic, the government response, and what the world can do to be
Lynk sends the first text message from space directly to a normal cell phone
Last year Lynk — then called Ubiquitilink — showed that, from now on, every phone can be a satellite phone. But they’ve spent the last year honing the product and have just demonstrated the
Pixar CG pioneers Pat Hanrahan and Edwin Catmull share $1M Turing Award
The 2019 Turing Award, one of the highest honors in computing, was today awarded to Pat Hanrahan and Ed Catmull, founding members of Pixar who helped shape the future of computer graphics. The two wil
Rocket Lab gets NASA certification for official smallsat launches
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has received Category 1 certification from NASA, meaning it is authorized for use on more important missions, opening up a whole new revenue stream for the g
ReMarkable’s redesigned e-paper tablet is more powerful and more papery
It's no secret I'm a fan of the reMarkable, a tablet with a paper-like display that's focused on text and sketching rather than rich media and games. The sequel to the original, announced today, looks
Lawmakers look to bridge ‘homework gap’ with subsidized Wi-Fi hotspots for students
Schools around the country are closing, and while some universities are able to switch to online classes, that’s not really an option for K-12 students, many of whom lack the necessary equipment
No mute necessary: Taiv replaces live TV ads at bars with custom content
Live TV is a staple of bars and restaurants, packing sports fans in during playoffs and convincing people to grab one more beer to finish off that late-night X-Files rerun before heading home. But the
Bill Gates leaves Microsoft’s board
Bill Gates has stepped down from the board of Microsoft to spend more time on his philanthropic endeavors, the company announced Friday afternoon. Though he will remain technology advisor to CEO Satya
Glisten uses computer vision to break down product photos to their most important parts
It's amazing that in this day and age, the best way to search for new clothes is to click a few check boxes and then scroll through endless pictures. Why can't you search for "green patterned scoop ne