40 years ago, Bill Gates and Paul Allen started a small software company that they named Microsoft.
Thanks to their creation of the Windows operating system and the Office suite of productivity tools, the company is now one of the largest corporations in the world, and Bill Gates is the wealthiest person in the world with an estimated $78 billion.
A decade ago, Gates began committing full time on philanthropy through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, looking to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, but Gates has always been a specter around Microsoft, even more so now as the company transitions to just its third-ever CEO – Satya Nadella.
The notion of getting all the video entertainment you want without paying a massive cable bill—a.k.a. cord cutting—has gone from a tech-world fantasy to a viable mainstream option in what seems like a matter of months.
The reason? The recent emergence of new streaming services like Dish Network’s Sling TV, which includes a sampling of the most popular “basic” cable channels, and HBO Now, the only streaming service to include HBO shows, has coincided with Amazon and Netflix coming into their own as producers of serious television. The result is that virtually every class of TV watcher can find most of what they need without paying a cable bill.
Search engines like Google or Yahoo make people think they are smarter than they actually are because they have the world’s knowledge at their fingertips, psychologists at Yale University have found.
Browsing the internet for information gives people a ‘widely inaccurate’ view of their own intelligence and could lead to over-confidence when making decisions, experts warn.
It seems like it’s in just about every product on store shelves: High fructose corn syrup. What is it and how is it different from regular old sugar? Reactions is here to answer those sweet questions.
A study published in Environmental Science and Technology earlier this year found that the waste from 1 million Americans might contain metal (including gold, silver, titanium, lead, and zinc) worth up to $13 million. With nearly 320 million people living in the United States, that’s a substantial goldmine–if scientists can figure out how sift the valuables from the sludge.
Next time you hit your finger with a ill-judged strike of the hammer, cross your fingers, scientists suggest. A study has found that crossing the fingers can confuse the way the brain processes feelings of hot, cold and pain – in some cases reducing painful sensations. Scientists believe the phenomenon could ultimately be harnessed to help treat chronic pain patients, who suffer from painful sensations, often long after a physical injury has healed.
