When Google released the Pixel last year, it was taking a stand. No longer would Google hardware be tainted with the brands and logos of other companies, even if behind the scenes, Google still needed help from those same companies to actually build its phones. And despite designs that were almost offensively ugly, a lack of standard flagship features such as water-resistance and expandable storage, and massive supply chain problems that made it hard to actually buy one months after its initial release, there were bright spots like the Pixel's excellent HDR photo mode and an untainted Android experience.

British spy agencies have collected and shared huge databases of personal and social media information on millions of individuals, and effectively circumvented the investigatory body tasked with surveillance oversight, according to documents newly obtained by Privacy International, a London-based consumer advocacy group.

A crane left parked in front of a sugar factory for months in Baltimore, Maryland, prevented photographer Paul Frederiksen from getting the exact shot he wanted. He had assumed that using Photoshop to erase the obtrusive crane was all but impossible, until Denyer, a UK-based photographer, performed a photo-editing miracle.

The trailer is so bonkers, I'm not sure if there are any other words necessary.

Regina Dugan, a tech exec with roots in the government sector as the former director of DARPA, is leaving Facebook -- and her departure calls into question the status of one of the craziest things Facebook has been working on.

It's the season of spooks and monsters, and no one loves a good spook or monster than Guillermo Del Toro. But the director recently shared some thoughts on what makes the monstrous so fascinating to people, and his answer was suitably chilling.

Donald Trump's appointment of former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as chief of the Environmental Protection Agency this year drew eyebrows, because Pruitt had made his career as a longstanding legal opponent of the EPA and a prominent climate change sceptic. Since he's been put in charge of the agency, Pruitt has allegedly made plans to water down federal scientific research on the climate, deflected from the issue during natural disasters, and cut loose hundreds of employees in a deregulation push.

We all do it. We text our partners when they're in the next room. We take an elevator for just one floor. And we FaceTime with the stovetop to make sure water isn't boiling over while we watch TV in the other room.

In the lead up to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this month -- a major changing of the guard which will see widespread retirements among senior leaders -- the country's censors have been cracking down on everything from an unnerving sex doll-sharing company to even milquetoast criticism of the government in the media. Now, popular Chinese social media app WeChat has begun restricting how its users can use the platform in an effort to offset its potential use in protests.

Vodafone is offering up to 35GB of bonus data to their prepaid mobile customers that opt in before 31 January 2018.

"Ticketed spectators watched anatomists slice into the distended bellies of decomposing corpses, parts gushing forth not only human blood but also fetid pus. The lilting but incongruous notes of a flute sometimes accompanied the macabre demonstration. Public dissections were theatrical performances," writes Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris in her new book The Butchering Art, available October 17th. The science and medical historian chronicles the gruesome horrors of an era before antisepsis -- when speed was prized over precision -- and the pioneering discoveries of Joseph Lister, known as the "father of modern surgery." Lister's antiseptic methods meant that injuries like a compound fracture no longer called for amputation.

Even though there have been brief moments of brightness scattered throughout The Gifted's first few episodes, there's been a distinct sense of hopelessness that feels central to the show. Despite its title, last night's episode "eXodus" made it clear that the Mutant Underground's running out of options for escape.

Looks like Mark Ruffalo isn't the biggest Thor: Ragnarok leaker anymore. During a recent Australian television appearance, both Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth were forced to play referee after the TV host repeatedly blurted out a pretty important plot twist for the upcoming film.

Volvo is generally a bit of a sedate, safe company, but its Polestar cars like the S60 are performance-oriented, refined road-going machines. Polestar is being spun off into a standalone brand, and its first car is a 450kW hybrid-electric monster with a boatload of torque.

If you, like me, are tired of this world -- these people -- tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives, Google now allows you explore 16 other planetary bodies that are more serene than this one.

Budget cuts, privatization, and drastically shrinking protected areas are just a few of the ways the current administration is threatening the country's national park system. If you're not convinced these are terrible ideas, filmmaker Taylor Grey's remarkable timelapse footage of Denali, and other parks, will make you realise these ares are truly national treasures.

Netflix and Marvel made the right decision a few weeks ago when the companies decided to cancel The Punisher panel at New York Comic Con in the wake of the October 1 shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead and 489 others wounded. The timing would have been beyond offensive, which raises the question: When can they release their show about a superhero who shoots people?

Astronomy has entered a new era, one where light and gravity both play a role in understanding the Universe's craziest phenomena. On August 17, 2017, over 70 observatories around (and above) the world, including ones like LIGO and the Hubble Space Telescope, all spotted a flash of energy. This light came in many different flavours, and was consistent with a pair of dense neutron stars colliding in a cataclysmic "kilonova" explosion.

Australians are paying even more for excess data charges according to finder.com.au’s 2017 Excess Data Charges Report.