Science and Technology

The More You Tweet, the Bigger the Narcissist You Are, Researchers Say

Young narcissists use Twitter as a megaphone. Older narcissists use Facebook to purge their insecurities and gain a sense of belonging. Now, researchers have concluded that the amount of time a person spends on a social media site speaks volumes about his or her personality. The more you tweet, th ... More >>

Here Are Some New Developments That'll Hopefully Halt Apple-Picking Crimes

Last week, we told you about the bi-coastal crime fighting duo, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who this week brought a much-needed initiative to protect people from those dumb smartphones thieves. The plan, called S.O.S. (secure our ... More >>

Behind the Tweets: The Secretive People Behind S.F.'s Fog, Seagulls, and Bridges

S.F. Joins NYC to Tackle "Apple-Picking" Crime

A new crime-fighting duo has emerged. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have announced they're joining forces to fight the nationwide rapid rise of mobile phone thefts, better known as "Apple-picking." The duo is hosting a smartphone sum ... More >>

Twitter Wins Settlement Against Creators of Spamming Software

There's a mild rush of dopamine when the blue dot pops up below the @connect icon. A feeling of pride and curiosity... and then disappointment upon seeing that the sender is offering you and seven other people a way to "Find out to see who's been stalking your Twitter!" Just click the link! But Twi ... More >>

Love Comes To Town

Power Play: San Francisco's Plan for Clean, Local Energy Lacks One Detail: Everything.

Fracking In Monterey County Blocked -- Temporarily

The land of Steinbeck has more to it than fertile soil from which the nation's spinach and strawberries sprout: The country's biggest supply of shale oil lies below the central California turf.The Monterey Shale extends through most of central California and has as much as 15.4 million barrels of oi ... More >>

Exalted Through Degradation: Nick Cave Talks About Push the Sky Away

Haute Links: When Blogs Become Ads

Clogging the Courts With Technological Nonsense

Let's take a quick romp through a few recent examples of tech jackassery in the legal system: First, the Supreme Court has declined to review the case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Brainerd, Minn., woman who is one of the more notable victims of the Recording Industry Association of America's insane ... More >>

Meet Your Neighborhood Drones

Last week, a video surfaced on YouTube of what appeared to be a drone hovering over a residential neighborhood in West Oakland. Filmed by videographer Jacob Crawford, the eerie unmanned aircraft was held aloft by several mini helicopter-like blades with blinking red-and-green lights. Drones have b ... More >>

GE Salmon is Close to Being Approved: Let the FDA Know Your Thoughts

Over the holidays, the U.S. Food and Drink Administration took one step closer to approving genetically engineered salmon for public sale. The agency released a report saying that the fish wasn't likely to pose a threat to the environment or to the people who eat it. These GE salmon, called AquAdvan ... More >>

America's Cup: Larry Ellison's Oracle Team Fined for Spying on Italian Team

Larry Ellison's Oracle team has taken another tumble after being slapped with charges of espionage on a rival team. While spying isn't unusual in the America's Cup, a international jury of sailing experts concluded that Ellison's sailing team went a little too far when they sailed a little too clo ... More >>

"Promised Land": The Message Is the Message

Napster-Hating Metallica Comes to Jesus, Er, Spotify

Nearly 13 years after suing Napster, the filesharing site that started it all, the grouchy old men of Metallica have had a come-to-Jesus of sorts with the power of the Interwebz: Today, drummer Lars Ulrich announced that Metallica's music will be coming to Spotify. He even gave Napster co-founder a ... More >>

GMO Labeling: Looking to the Future Post-Prop. 37

Three Things I Learned When I Forced Myself to Learn About Proposition 37

By now you've probably heard that a major food fight is going down on the state ballot on Tuesday. If passed, Proposition 37 would require a label on any genetically engineered foods and food products sold in California -- an unprecedented move that could end up shaping food policy on a national lev ... More >>

Dead Kennedys Say After 14M YouTube Streams, They've Seen Too Few Dollars

It's supposed to work like this: Artists put their music up for streaming on YouTube, the site sells (annoying) ads around the content, and then splits the revenue with the artist according to some predetermined formula. So how much does YouTube owe artists? The site says it pays tens of millions o ... More >>

Carbon Tax Funds: S.F. Monies Are Sitting Around Unused

Max Brain 3

The Hard Data Indicates Laffs

Occupy, Environmentalists Say No to Nukes

San Franciscans found yet another reason to protest PG&E.Yesterday, on the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, OccupySF Environmental Justice Working Group, No Nukes Action and Greenaction for Health as well as Environmental Justice gathered in front of the Japanese Consulate ... More >>

Public Power: Economic Report Says It'd Cost Millions, Lose City Jobs

On Friday afternoon, the city Controller's office released a report on the economic impact facing the city if it chooses to dabble in providing residents with public power. You couldn't time a release better -- if you were hoping no one would read it. And that's too bad. Because, per the controller' ... More >>

Planet B

Tech Theft: How to Return Lost Devices, Without Police Help

Good Stranger: DoD Records Citizens' Encounters with SFPD

Green Facade: New SFPUC Building Masks an Eco-Unfriendly Truth

Greenpeace Activists Call Apple's iCloud a "Dirty Cloud"

Giant walking iPhones greeted Apple employees as they entered the company's headquarters in Cupertino this morning where Greenpeace activists criticized Apple's iCloud for using "dirty power."Demonstrators stood outside demanding employees and executives stop powering its iCloud using coal-fired pow ... More >>

Happy Easter: New iPhone App Will Help You Find the Latest and Gayest Events in Town

We all know how colorful San Francisco is -- especially on Easter, when the much-anticipated Hunky Jesus contest takes over Dolores Park. Joining in the LGBT community's celebration of everything Easter and all things gay is Wsup Now, a local company offering a new iPhone app that will help queer Je ... More >>

Music Labels Make Life Tough for Spotify

​Patrick Carney of the Black Keys is not a fan of Sean Parker, to say the least. Parker is an "asshole," Carney told NME.com on Monday. It's hard to blame Carney, though his rage might seem a bit misdirected -- or maybe just too concentrated on one person. Parker of course was the guy who brought ... More >>

Adult Entertainment Virtual Convention: Inside the World of Wank-Craft

Proopsian Technology

The Universe in a Snowman

Is Zynga's 'Evil' Corporate Culture Now a Business Liability?

Doing evil?​In a business sector known for cutthroat, amoral maneuvering, social-game developer Zynga stands out as, well, particularly cutthroat and amoral. At least that's the view of many of its competitors and former employees, some of whom we interviewed for a September 2010 SF Weekly cover s ... More >>

Five Things Pete Townshend Got Wrong About iTunes and the Online Music Industry

Phyllis KeatingPete Townshend​Last night, Who guitarist Pete Townshend made a rousing speech at a British radio festival, blasting Apple's iTunes store for its treatment of musicians "whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire." His speech even included a list of things Townshend believes App ... More >>

Apple Unveils iPhone 5 iPhone 4S Today

​Unlike Apple CEO Tim Cook, we're going to cut to the chase and tell you what you really want to know from the Let's Talk iPhone event that kicked off at 10 a.m. today at Apple headquarters in Cupertino. For the tech journalists who sat through the three-hour conference, perhaps a more fitting nam ... More >>

Now You Need to Have Facebook to Sign Up For Spotify

​ Last week's Facebook f8 conference meant a windfall of new users for Spotify, after it teamed with Facebook to allow users to share their music listening. But the increased cooperation also comes at what some call a heavy cost: Starting today, newcomers to Spotify need have to have a Facebo ... More >>

Deli Radio Streams Music Based on Who's Playing in Town

​ Here's a sensible idea: What if there was an Internet radio station or streaming service that would play music only from bands who are performing soon in your city in the next week, two weeks, or month? Now there is: It's called Deli Radio, and a cool, basic version of the site is up and wo ... More >>

Top Five Reasons Spotify Kinda Sucks

​Yes, we know, everyone loves Spotify (even us). Yes, we know, free music is really sweet, and we feel pretty spoiled for even bringing this up. But Spotify has a ways to go before it's our favorite music app. Here are five things about the new-to-America streaming service that are kinda sucky ... More >>

California Asks Facebook to Close Down Prisoners' Accounts

Would you be his Facebook friend?​Prison is just that place where you have tons of time to kill (no pun intended) and not that many friends. So it makes sense that inmates in California prisons are finding creative ways to access Facebook and other social-networking sites. However, the state has c ... More >>

Apple Can't Stop Amazon from Using "App Store"

Weren't apples famous before Apple?​In another case of the Silicon Valley giants butting heads, a federal judge denied Apple's motion for a preliminary injunction against Amazon and its use of the term "App Store."Lawyers for Apple argued that the "Amazon Appstore for Android" name infringes on it ... More >>

Who Hates Smart Meters? Glen Park Residents

It's been a while since we've seen any good sparring over the contentious so-called smart meter, but apparently strong sentiments are circulating in parts of the city. A kind and anonymous reader passed along this photo that's being posted around homes in Noe Valley and Glen Park neighborhoods, wher ... More >>

Clean Energy Stimulus Cash Is Slow to Be Spent

E-mail Spammers Are Migrating to Social Media

Cramming your life​This morning, I had 12 e-mails in my spambox. That includes a few false positives, so really it's only nine. Older spams are deleted automatically -- every night. A few months ago, I was getting anywhere from a few dozen to a couple of hundred new spams a day -- the overwhelming ... More >>

iPhone 5 to be Released Next Month

Waiting for the next generation ​On Friday, we gave iPhone users some grim news -- customers were being overcharged by as much as 300 percent for data they never used. But now we are here to deliver some good -- if not curious -- news: The iPhone 5 will be out in June!At least that's the buzz amon ... More >>

Facebook Paying People to Watch Ads Won't Work

Caitlinator/Flickr​I'm frankly amazed that in all the coverage of Facebook's plan to pay users to watch ads, nobody -- as far as I can tell -- has mentioned the several companies that tried to do something similar during the (original) dot-com boom, and failed spectacularly. The most famous of th ... More >>

Who Do We Want to Be?

Online Bake Sale for Japan Now Enlisting Bloggers and Bidders

The Tomato Tart​Sabrina Modelle says she was face down on the acupuncture table last week when she heard about the devastating Japanese quake. Modelle's currently on leave from her job at a nonprofit. "I think I was going through do-good withdrawal," she says. And since Modelle is also a food ... More >>

R.I.P. Microsoft Zune, Redheaded Stepchild of MP3 Players

Zune 2​Word out of the Seattle area is that Microsoft is finally killing its Zune lineup of MP3 players, opting to fold the media player technology into their Windows Phone 7 devices. While most people shrugged the Zune off as an unworthy MP3 player, the truth is it deserved better. None of the de ... More >>