Technology

German engineering group Siemens is working on a deal worth up to 9 billion euros ($10.6 billion) to supply energy generation technology to Iraq, business daily Handelsblatt reported, citing government and industry sources.

If you’re looking for a cross between the easy comfort of a bean bag chair and the support of desk chair, gaming “rocker” ch…

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The internet has changed how kids learn about sex, but sex ed in the classroom still sucks. In Sex Ed 2.0, Mashable explores the state of sex ed and imagines a future where digital innovations are used to teach consent, sex positivity, respect, and responsibility.

Have you ever had a weird question about sex? We want to know about it. Fill out this Google Form and your response may be included (anonymously) in a future story.

Relying on schools for quality sex education doesn't cut it, unfortunately. 

Sex ed in the U.S. hasn't traditionally been the most inclusive — or accurate. Only 24 states and D.C. require sex education, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization focused on reproductive health and rights. Abstinence-only education, preferred in many school districts, has been proven to be ineffective at reducing teen pregnancy and STDs, and LGBTQ youth rarely see themselves represented in health or sex ed classes.  Read more...

More about Sex And Relationships, Resources, Sex Education, Sex Ed, and Sex Ed 2.0

You may know Nyle DiMarco from America's Next Top Model, where he was crowned the victor of the show's 22nd season, in 2015. You may have seen DiMarco demonstrate perfect rhythm on Dancing With the Stars, where he went home with yet another grand prize. DiMarco, in short, is a winner. 

But DiMarco, who is deaf, believes he owes his good fortune in life to a childhood experience: learning language — both spoken and signed — at an early age. Language acquisition, he says, helped him understand and engage with the world, which led to life-changing educational opportunities. 

Now DiMarco is using his fame to try to help millions of deaf children around the world also gain access to language through his eponymous foundation. As part of that work, he will appear at the 2018 Social Good Summit in New York City on Sunday to recognize International Day of Sign Languages and International Week of the Deaf, annual events that highlight the importance of access to sign language as part of achieving full human rights for deaf people.  Read more...

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Verizon is about to launch home internet service using 5G. This new wireless standard isn’t just about faster data for your smartphone—it could finally offer competition for home internet, breaking the cable companies’ local monopolies and giving you a choice.

Let's face it: Technology makes life a lot easier, doesn't it? With a few swipes and taps, you can do just about anything from hailing a cab, to meeting romantic suitors, to ordering a heaping plate of lo mein straight to your doorstep.

SEE ALSO: Defy gravity at this interactive optical-illusion museum

However, one of the (very) few things technology can't simplify is art. Sure, there are a ton of apps that'll turn your ho-hum snapshot into an Insta-worthy, filtered-to-perfection masterpiece. But creating something from scratch? You'll need to learn a bunch of coding languages, programs, and shortcuts. Read more...

More about Apps And Software, Illustration And Painting, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Stackcommerce, and Tech

Convinced coloring and sketching is child's play? Think again.

It may come as no surprise that drawing, painting, and other creative pursuits can actually bolster creativity, improve memory, decrease stress, and make you a better communicator. Not just a kiddie activity anymore, huh?

SEE ALSO: The world's oldest human drawing is a hashtag-like doodle

Sure, you don't have to be the next Picasso in order to dabble in doodling, but it doesn't hurt to know the bare basics of art. That's where The Fundamentals of Drawing comes in. 

With seven online classes and 45 hours of content, this bundle is designed to make you a stronger artist. Looking to improve your shading skills? There's a class for that. Think you have what it takes to become the next Stan Lee? There are plenty of superhero and figure drawing classes to choose from. Want to kick it old school with a self-portrait? You'll want to check out Hien Nguyen's course.  Read more...

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Presidents didn't always down twelve Diet Cokes and multiple McDonald's sammies per day. Some even ate their vegetables.

Back in early 2010s, things were different. Better. More than a few of the country's leading political figures had decided to go vegan. In earlier eras, the stereotype (in America at least) was that only grating liberal arts college activists downed Tofurky dogs and seed-based salads.

Thanks to our leaders at the time, eating right — or, at the very least, just eating less shit — became cool.

SEE ALSO: 9 veggie burgers that don't taste like absolute trash

Even if you don't believe that veganism is a healthy diet (research shows that, like with all diets, it depends on how you manage it), vegan diets were preferable to what most of us were eating in the early 2010s. Remember, this was right before roasted Brussels sprouts started to go viral. Some of us didn't even know what kale was yet. Read more...

More about Watercooler, Al Gore, Cory Booker, President Clinton, and Culture

On Sept. 14, Wendy Dockray strolled down to Newcomb Hollow Beach, on the shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The waves were mighty that day, so she went to watch the surf pound the shore. 

The waves also attracted surfers. "I actually thought, 'Aren't they worried?'" Dockray, whose family has owned a house on the cape for 60 years, said in an interview.

The next afternoon, a shark — suspected to be a great white — sunk its teeth into 26-year old boogie-boarder Arthur Medici. The tragedy was first shark attack fatality in Cape Cod since 1936, and it came a month after a shark latched onto the thigh of a New York neurologist, who was fortunately dragged ashore by group of beachgoers, and lived to tell a lurid tale.  Read more...

More about Science, Science, Animals, and Climate Environment

A growing number of Asian manufacturers of products ranging from memory chips to machines tools are moving to shift production from China to other factories in the region in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports.

China has shut down more than 4,000 websites and online accounts in a three-month campaign against "harmful" online information, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday, citing the country's illegal publication watchdog.

Ghosts are everywhere — in haunted houses and on our most popular dating apps.

That's why Party City has developed an adult ghosting costume for women. Plenty of women have encountered someone who just won't stop bothering them on dating apps or over text.

Might as well "ghost" them in real life.

SEE ALSO: Here's a sexy 'Handmaid's Tale' Halloween costume that no one asked for

The costume is now available for $24.99 on the Party City website. As of now, there is only a women's costume.

"If someone's blowing up your phone, ghost them in a Ghosted Costume for women!" the Party City description reads. "The costume is a hooded white dress designed to look like a ghost with a series of unanswered texts on the front." Read more...

More about Watercooler, Ghosting, Halloween Costumes, Culture, and Web Culture

Apple has all the money in the world, but as the disastrous Planet of the Apps proved, money is no substitute for good taste. 

The 2017 reality show from the makers of your favorite $1,449 phone pitted app developers against each other for the approval of their celebrity ring masters, and in doing so kept clear of all the hallmarks of many of today's most popular shows: Sex, drugs, profanity, and violence. That appears to have been very much by CEO Tim Cook's design, who the Wall Street Journal reports has made it very clear that shows produced by Apple should be wholesome affairs. 

SEE ALSO: Apple's 'Planet of the Apps' totally gets kids are just a speed bump on the road to will.i.am Read more...

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Tesla likes to do things differently. 

So when Electrek reported last month that the electric car company was allegedly working on a new key fob for its Model 3, we should have known it wouldn't be just your standard blob of a BLE device. Thanks to newly released documents filed to the FCC, we now know that's exactly right. 

SEE ALSO: Your Tesla is probably vulnerable to hackers, but there's an easy fix

According to the filing, the as-of-yet-unreleased fob is actually shaped like a mini Model 3. Basically, it looks like the most expensive Hot Wheels car you never owned. 

Vroom.

Image: tesla / fcc Read more...

More about Tesla, Elon Musk, Model 3, Tech, and Other

The White House has drafted an executive order that would push federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to probe the business practices of social media and other internet companies, according to Bloomberg.

Sorry cats, but when it comes to climbing tall buildings, you've got nothing compared to raccoons.

In Ocean City, New Jersey Friday, a raccoon was spotted a jaw-dropping nine stories up a building. The raccoon proceeded to leap off the building, hit the soft sand with its little raccoon feet, and scamper away.

SEE ALSO: A carb-loving raccoon broke into a woman's home and ate all of her bread

Watch this little acrobat in action:

DAREDEVIL RACCOON: Incredible video shows a raccoon climbing roughly nine stories up a building off the Ocean City Boardwalk. It then appears to turn around and jump from the building, spiraling toward the ground. Then it gets up and walks away…

MORE: https://t.co/a7MU4FnFDT pic.twitter.com/njbzrFcWTF

— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) September 21, 2018 Read more...

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Google wants the world's information to be universally accessible, unless that information just so happens to relate to its reported efforts to build a censored Chinese search engine that tracks its users.

According to the Intercept, which first broke the story of the project codenamed Dragonfly in early August, the Mountain View-based search and advertising giant is going to great lengths to keep information about its plans secret — even from its own employees. 

SEE ALSO: Google's secret China censorship project shares a name with Sergey Brin's mega-yacht

The latest example of the company's attempt to squash even internal debate about the heavily criticized plans comes in the form of an internal memo. Specifically, the forced deletion of it. The memo, reportedly written by a Google engineer, detailed how the Chinese search engine would track users' locations, force them to login, and give "unilateral access" to a third-party Chinese partner. Read more...

More about Google, China, Dragonfly, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

Ted Cruz's social media team has reached a dark new low.

Right before Senate hopeful Beta O'Rourke's debate with Cruz last night, where the sitting Senator skirted the question about whether police violence against African-Americans was a problem, Cruz released a seemingly innocuous video on Twitter featuring O'Rourke.

In it, Beto denounces the murder of Botham Jean, who was mysteriously killed in his apartment by an off-duty police officer.

SEE ALSO: Internet roasts Texas GOP for allegedly sharing this 'edgy' photo of Ted Cruz

Botham Shem Jean, who is black, was unarmed at the time of his death. It's unclear why his neighbor, a white off-duty police officer, entered his apartment and proceeded to shoot himThe case is ongoing. Read more...

More about Watercooler, Ted Cruz, Beto O Rourke, Culture, and Web Culture

Do guys like Louis C.K. or Charlie Rose deserve a comeback? Does any disgraced sexual predator? What has to happen before such a comeback is even possible?

These questions have been rattling around online for some time, though C.K.'s recent attempted return to stand-up raised the volume. Now, Jane Fonda has some advice for all those disgraced men to consider before they start mulling a comeback.

SEE ALSO: The Louis C.K. apologists are missing the point

"Guys are trying to make a comeback and they haven’t done the work," Fonda said during an event for her upcoming HBO documentary, Jane Fonda in Five Acts. Read more...

More about Entertainment, Tv, Jane Fonda, Metoo, and Entertainment