Monday Tech kickstart: Highlights from the weekend
SAN FRANCISCO — Weekends in Tech here at Paste BN bring a wealth of great reads about the latest tech products, news and tips to help you be more efficient, savvy and secure. Highlights for some of the great content you might have missed if you spent the weekend unplugged:
'SCIENCE GUY' EMBRACES THE INTERNET
Bill Nye, aka "The Science Guy," spent years teaching kids the wonders of science on TV. Now he has more than 700,000 followers on Twitter and 1.1 million likes on his Facebook page. Paste BN's Jefferson Graham met up with Nye to talk science and tech at his home in Los Angeles. ( We also got a peek at his bow-tie collection.)
SURF REPORT: BEST NEW BATHROOM GADGETS
Alice Truong's surf report weighs in with a new 'smart' bathroom scale from Withings that can track your heart rate and more. New data points in the latest model include indoor temperature and CO2 levels in your home, turning this bathroom scale into a comprehensive home monitor. Catch up on her column to find about a couple of other new gadgets that can make putting on makeup or flossing your teeth a new experience.
PURE GOLD OR FOOL'S GOLD?
Bitcoin, a "virtual currency" that isn't recognized by any nation or bank, was once dismissed as a goofy idea embraced by nerds and anti-government types. But right now it is a "scorching-hot commodity among speculators," writes Paste BN's Jon Swartz. Among them: The Winklevoss twins made famous in the Facebook movie, The Social Network -- who are trading the digital currency. Read Swartz's take on bitcoin and get a primer on the digital coins in an accompanying interactive.
More of our top stories from the weekend:
— Why you need a box for basic cable. Contributor Rob Pegoraro explains why your cable provider may now require that you have a cable box to get even the most basic tier of service.
— Microsoft and you. Microsoft's product "evangelists" have long preached the benefits of a Windows-centric universe. They still do, although the company's latest , coolest offerings work seamlessly on Apple and Google Android products – from its Bing search engine to the Xbox gaming system and cloud-based Office 365. Paste BN's Byron Acohido reports from Seattle.