For decades people have dreamed of a technology that would allow them to instantly be somewhere else. I’m taking a deep dive into teleportation tech and the ...

This is the fate of Professor Matthew Snape, an Oxford vaccine researcher who has the same surname and title as one of Harry Potter‘s most controversial antagonists. And right now, Professor Snape (the real one) is running a crucial COVID-19 vaccine trial in the UK. Harry Potter fans were quick to point out Snape’s name when British media began to cover the vaccine trial this week. This medical trial is testing the effectiveness of combining different COVID-19 vaccines in the same patient.

A Town Hall op-ed compared the very idea of electronically stored vaccination records to the Soviet Union’s internal passport system, while others against the idea brought up notions of vaccination status being examined by secret police demanding to see “your papers.” Republicans in office used their platforms to spread the conspiracy theories as well, such as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), who called them “un-American;” with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) calling the idea “something you’d see in Communist China;” and Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who as a former White House physician should have presumably known better, tweeting “I’ll NEVER use a government mandated ‘vaccine passport’ and neither should you!” House Republicans even sponsored a “No Vaccine Passport” act to prohibit the federal government from getting involved in tracking vaccination status. The theories get to be so hyperbolic that it starts to become hard to tell what exactly the people espousing them are upset about: the idea of COVID-19 vaccinations themselves, the federal government electronically storing them, or private companies requiring proof of vaccine status to partake of their services. Because a “vaccine passport” stored electronically is the same one every vaccine recipient already gets on paper.

Biden has faced increased pressure to nominate the fifth commissioner from advocacy groups and tech companies, but now, according to the advocacy groups, that pressure is also coming from more than 100,000 people online.“We urge the Biden administration to listen to these voices and quickly nominate a commissioner who will help restore Title II open internet protections and ensure affordable high-speed internet access for all.”New York will require internet service providers (ISPs) in the state to offer low-income residents a $15-a-month broadband plan. Greg Guice, the government affairs director at tech advocacy group Public Knowledge called it a “substantial step forward.” Guice said that while the $15 per month plan is “fairly limited in terms of speed,” he noted that New Yorkers could also get more robust service for $20.

It's far too easy to take for granted just how strangely spelled some of the words in the English language are. The weird spellings themselves can end up making for quite the hassle for when it comes time to actually say the words out loud. Seriously though, have we just accepted that desert and dessert are actually spelled wrong?

We unbox and look at the recently announced Surface Laptop 4 from Microsoft.New Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 goes big on battery life, adds free earbuds for pr...