Image: John M Lund Photography Inc / getty

Drones are coming to New York City, and that should worry you. 

So argues the New York Civil Liberties Union, which in a Dec. 7 statement blasts the forthcoming NYPD deployment of the flying surveillance bots as “a serious threat to privacy.” The 14 police drones, which the New York Times reports had been acquired by city police in June, are ostensibly to be used for tasks like keeping an eye on large crowds or hostage situations. However, critics see the deployment as the start of a very slippery, privacy-eroding slope. 

After all, large crowds of people often gather together to lawfully protest something like, say, police brutality. Or, as the NYPD specifically notes as a drone-appropriate example (according to the NYCLU), the Women’s March. 

“The NYPD’s drones are outfitted with cameras equipped with sophisticated technology and 4K resolution,” notes the NYCLU. “The mere presence of these police cameras can create a chilling effect on people exercising their rights to free speech, protest, and other lawful activities.”

Notably, the NYPD insists that the policy governing the use of its drones prohibits it from equipping the devices with facial recognition tech. However, as the NYCLU correctly points out, the carved out exception that allows police to use facial recognition tech on drone footage in the poorly defined case of a “public safety concern” is just begging to be abused.  

Image: LANCE ULANOFF / MASHBALE

“One of our biggest fears is that these devices could be used to spy on protesters legally exercising their constitutional rights,” notes the NYCLU. “The NYPD’s policy does little to quell our concerns.”

And it’s not like the NYPD has an unblemished record when it comes to surveilling those its members swore to protect and serve. 

According to the New York Times, the drones are a mix of Mavic Pro quadcopters, M210 RTK quadcopters, and a DJI Inspire quadcopter. And, if the NYCLU is right, you may soon need to get used to these things following you and your fellow citizens around. 

“[The] NYPD’s drone policy places no meaningful restrictions on police deployment of drones in New York City,” notes the group, adding “and opens the door to the police department building a permanent archive of drone footage of political activity and intimate private behavior visible only from the sky.”

Buzz buzz. Time to stock up on nice curtains. 

Before James Gunn brought into the world his entertaining vision of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy — and was unceremoniously dumped by Disney following a bad faith character assassination — he made horror movies. Good, messed up horror movies like Slither.

In the time since his Disney separation, noisy speculation has been building around Brightburn, a Sony Pictures release that reunites Gunn with Slither star Elizabeth Banks. But what is it? Many have guessed that Brightburn is just a codename, and Gunn has been working on a video game adaptation.

Those people were wrong. The first trailer for Brightburn is here, and it looks like Starman meets Species: creepy outer space kid found and raised by baby-obsessed husband-and-wife but he turns out to be some kind of death-dealing monster. Sign us the hell up.

Telltale Games the studio might be finished, but Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season is getting its final chapters.

Even after The Walking Dead comic publisher and former Telltale partner Skybound confirmed plans to finish out the series’ final season (and then confirmed them again), there was reason to be skeptical. Just because so many forces had already aligned to put a period on the Telltale Games story.

But it’s real. It’s happening. An appearance at the tail end of Saturday’s Kinda Funny Games Showcase confirmed that a team of around 40 former Telltale members — the Still Not Bitten team, as they’re appropriately called — is working to finish the game’s final two episodes now in their former Telltale offices.

This trailer is meant to be a teaser for Episode 3 of The Final Season, but it’s really more of a minute-long Clementine catch-up. So if you’ve fallen behind on the series but are curious about this much-talked-about close of the story, you can safely watch the trailer without fear of seeing too many recent spoilers.

Image: national park service / flickr

It’s hard out there for a smart cat in a dumb world. 

The National Park Service confirmed on Dec. 7 that a mountain lion, widely known for his ability to safely navigate the treacherous freeways of Southern California, was found dead following the Woolsey Fire. The “Culvert Cat,” as he was affectionately referred to, was discovered by a National Park Service biologist on Dec. 3 — after the fire had been contained — with burnt paws. 

While the exact cause of death remains unknown, the possible effects of it are not. P-64, as the four-year old cat was officially designated, had previously given researchers hope that his travels might help end a human environment-abetted problem of inbreeding among mountain lions in the region. As it stands, reports KPCC, researchers fear that the mountain lions could go extinct in the area within 50 years. 

Image: national park service / flickr

That’s partially because, as KPCC reported in March, at the time the Culvert Cat was only the second mountain lion in 15 years that had been observed moving into the Santa Monica Mountains from across Highway 101.

And now he is dead. Because in this cruel world, if the cars don’t get you then something else surely will. 

The Culvert Cat got his name when he was spotted on a motion-sensor camera exiting a — you guessed it — culvert that passed under Highway 101. He had figured out a way to bypass the busy road altogether. 

Image: national park service / flickr

But there is one possible bit of good news in this otherwise tragic story. The National Park Service tells us that, although DNA tests are still needed to be sure, researchers believe P-64 fathered four kittens that were born in May of this year. 

Here’s hoping the Culvert Cat passed on some of those street smarts. 

Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images

The music streaming war between Apple Music and Spotify is heating up.

As part of what appears to a be series of moves to grow Apple Music, Apple has acquired Platoon, a London-based company that discovers and develops artists by giving them the resources they need to create music and forge relationships with labels.

Music Business Worldwide first reported the acquisition. It’s not clear how much Apple paid for Platoon; the company makes many acquisitions during a year, but never discloses the amount exchanged.

Buying Platoon gives us possible insight on where Apple sees Apple Music is headed: original content that might be release music either exclusively or for a period of exclusivity on the music streaming service.

Platoon counts Billie Eilish as one of its notable musician discoveries back in 2017 before she signed with Interscope. 

Just like how Netflix is doubling down on original video content with shows like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Maniac, Apple seems interested in taking Apple Music in the same direction.

Having the same content as Spotify is fine short term, but won’t make Apple Music as addictive (or “sticky”) to the point where users will feel they’re seriously missing out if they don’t subscribe.

Despite a strong start, Apple Music still pales in comparison to Spotify in terms of paid subscribers. Spotify has over 83 million paid subscribers as of June. In comparison, Apple Music has over 40 million paid subscribers as of April (over 50 million of it you count free trials)

Making Apple Music a must-have service for Apple customers is especially important as iPhone sales have slowed. Even though reviewers across the board (including us) agree the iPhone XR is the best iPhone value Apple’s offered in years, it might not be selling as well as Apple had hoped.

Reaching beyond Apple users

So if iPhone hardware is flatlining, then where can Apple get growth from? Apple Music for sure, iCloud subscriptions, AppleCare, and of course accessories like AirPods and Beats.

Apple Music is going to be one service to pay closer attention to in 2019. Recently, Apple added support for Amazon Echo speakers. Previously, the only smart speaker that was compatible with Apple Music voice controls was Apple’s own pricey HomePod.

Apple also recently pushed out an Apple Music Android app update for beta users, which adds tablet support, further suggesting Apple’s looking beyond the iPhone, iPad, and Mac user for growth.

Apple’s walled garden still stands as high as ever for apps, but for streaming music — just like it was with iTunes — appealing to customers beyond the border is important.

These strategic changes come after Jimmy Iovine left Apple in August. Iovine was brought onboard  (along with Dr. Dre) when Apple acquired Beats for $3 billion, which gave them the Beats Music, which then eventually morphed into Apple Music.

Some people could interpret these moves as Apple opening up it services, but I don’t necessarily think that’s the case. Apple’s intent is always to push its own devices and services together. Expanding beyond its customers is all part of a strategy to eventually convert these non-Apple users into Apple ones. 

If you’re looking for more info on Avengers: Endgame, the Infinity War follow-up that go its first trailer on Friday, you might think that pointing your browser at AvengersEndgame.com is the answer.

Wrong. Typing “AvengersEndgame.com” into your address bar will take you to the official Fox Movies web portal for Once Upon a Deadpool, the family-friendly Deadpool 2 re-cut that uses the same “reading stories to a sick kid in bed” framing device as The Princess Bride (right down to Fred Savage!). 

There’s still some question as to whether or not this is an intentional marketing ploy, however. It’s definitely something you could see coming out of the Deadpool playbook. But the only figure to step forward and take credit so far is an anonymous Twitter user.

On Friday morning, @AGuyInChair claimed that they’d purchased the domains for two Endgame-related web addresses: AvengersEndgame.com and AvengersEndgameMovie.com. The unnamed user is willing to relinquish control of the URLs in exchange for tickets to the Endgame premiere.

The user’s “AGuyInChair” Twitter handle is itself a reference to another Marvel favorite, Spider-Man: Homecoming. 

In that movie, Peter Parker’s best friend Ned, played by Peter Batalon, discovered his friend’s superhero alter ego and quickly proclaimed his desire to be “the guy in the chair,” referring to the trope of a sidekick who assists by sitting at a computer and feeding information to the hero they work with via radio communications.

The domain’s owner isn’t listed in a WhoIs search of either URL, but the search does reveal one important detail: the two domains were registered on April 27, 2018 — the same day Avengers: Infinity War hit theaters.

In a direct message exchange with The Hollywood Reporter, the Twitter user said they knew the title of the Infinity War follow-up back in April. They also insisted this isn’t a Deadpool marketing prank sprung from the mind of Ryan Reynolds. The person didn’t offer any information about their identity, however, so treat all of this with an appropriate measure of doubt.

The other wrinkle here: while the deal isn’t finished yet, Disney is in the process of acquiring 21st Century Fox. It’s a business move that would bring Deadpool (and a large contingent of other Marvel characters) back into the Disney/Marvel Studios fold. So while Once Upon a Deadpool and Avengers: Endgame are technically from competing studios, there’s enough gray area here to support the theory that this is an entertaining marketing ploy.

For some people, the holidays really are “the most wonderful time of the year,” but for others they’re anything but. Stressors can include anxiety about travel or pressure to drink.  

Thankfully, it’s become more acceptable to talk about these challenges during the holidays and throughout the year. Activists, celebrities, and everyday people are increasingly sharing their struggles, which has reduced the stigma surrounding mental health. 

Whether you’re nervous about flying or staying sober at a holiday event, there are concrete ways to manage those emotions. Here are some techniques for dealing with stress and anxiety that stems from common holiday season scenarios:  

If you’re worried about traveling…

Taking public transportation during the holidays usually entails long lines, jam-packed spaces, and short tempers. The chaos can induce a lot of panic, or even panic attacks.

Jeff Baker, a therapist, educator, and mental health activist, says a technique called grounding can help reestablish your sense of reality. Coloring during a train ride, for example, shifts the focus to what’s in front of you. 

“That can help you remain present in places that are really busy and chaotic, like airports and train stations, where you can easily become overstimulated and therefore panicky,” he says. 

If coloring doesn’t sound soothing, use your own body to relax. Baker recommends using the emotional freedom technique, which involves tapping the meridian points on your body, such as the front of your eyebrow and under your nose. (While EFT performed in a clinical setting shows promise in a reducing anxiety, the technique is still viewed as an alternative approach to reducing stress.)

Another technique to consider is called progressive muscle relaxation. It can help relieve tension in your body, which in turn relaxes your mind. Tense and then relax muscle groups with each breath, starting from one end of the body, moving upward or downward. You can find audio recordings for this technique online, and learn more about how effective it is by visiting the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. 

If you’re staying sober…

Not everyone can drink in social settings, whether it’s because they prefer not to drink, are in recovery, or because they’re on medication. They may be pregnant but don’t want to announce that yet. 

“For folks who are striving to maintain sobriety, it’s important to remember that the holidays are just like any other day,” says Baker. “We, as a society, have given holidays special meaning and designated certain traditions on these days, but they come and go just like every other day. Your preference not to drink or your recovery routine shouldn’t change.” 

Prepare an explanation so that you’re not caught off guard, such as “I’m on medication, I’m a designated driver, or I don’t drink anymore.” 

“I think one of the biggest sources of anxiety for those not drinking or for those in recovery is the explanation that they have to give and possibly being dismissed. So anticipating possible peer pressure and preparing is key,” says Baker.

Make an escape plan before the event in case you want to leave earlier than expected. Say and do what’s necessary in order to feel comfortable, even if that means answering a pretend phone call outside. No matter what people say or think, sobriety is the number one priority. 

Baker says fake explanations aren’t necessarily lies because they’re not meant to cause harm or manipulate people. They’re meant to keep yourself safe. 

If you’re hosting a work event, remind employees it’s not OK to pry or peer pressure people who aren’t drinking. Whether it’s a professional or private party, offer non-alcoholic alternative drinks, as well as activities that don’t focus on drinking. 

When you’re home for the holidays, it may be a good idea to attend a recovery group meeting, start reading a book on recovery, or declare an abstinence plan, says Baker. 

If you’re dreading the dinner table…

Holiday traditions center around food, which can bring up anxious feelings for some people, whether they’ve experienced an eating disorder, try to maintain a diet, or have high expectations for what or how much they’ll eat. Julie Groveman, a clinical psychologist in New York City, says if someone is feeling anxious about food, they can practice a mindful exercise. That means using the senses by slowing down to chew, feeling the texture of the food, and smelling any aromas. 

“You want to be mindful of your experience so it grounds you into the moment.”

In general, using your senses is an effective way to relieve stress because they bring you out of your mind and into the present moment. 

“The whole idea is that [anxiety] is really sometimes like a false alarm system that’s overly sensitive to make you feel like the situation isn’t safe…,” says Groveman. “You want to be mindful of your experience so it grounds you into the moment.”

You might also dread the dinner table for family reasons. The holidays often bring up intense political conversations and other topics that stir conflict. At the very least, most people have one family member they can’t stand. Baker suggests setting a boundary by predetermining how long a family visit will last and, if possible, steering the conversation in a way that’s positive. 

If you’re feeling alone…

Not everyone can spend the holidays with family, and that can bring up feelings of loneliness or sadness. That’s understandable, but try not to wallow. 

“Just because it’s been a certain way in the past, or just because it looks a certain way on social media or in the movies, doesn’t mean it needs to be that way for you,” says Groveman.

If you’re away from family and friends, it can help to embrace that alone time and enjoy your own company. Try cooking a new recipe or volunteering. Groveman says helping others is a great way to get out of your mind and into the present moment. 

Groveman also recommends a technique called intention setting that helps refocus the mind. Write down what you want to get out of an experience, including what you want to feel, whether that’s comfort, relaxation, or connection. Jot down whatever words come to mind and use them as a guide to create an experience that’s meaningful for you.

A “gratitude” list helps as well. Groveman says focusing on what you have versus what you’re lacking can put your mind into perspective. She notes that nothing is too small to add to the list. 

If you’re anxious about an upcoming event…

Groveman recommends self-soothing behaviors that incorporate your senses, like meditating, taking a bath, listening to music, or putting lavender essential oil on your wrists. 

“I like to look at anxiety as an energy, and a lot of times, it’s just kind of stuck in your body,” says Groveman. “Something like exercise, even just taking a brisk walk, helps to move it through.” 

Groveman suggests carrying a small item that makes you feel calm or safe, like a crystal or a picture of a pet. The act of holding an object can help ground you in the moment as anxiety arises. 

You can also rehearse a mantra that you’ll tell yourself when you start to feel anxious, but it should be something you truly believe. Examples include “This feeling will pass” and “I’ve survived this feeling before.” Groveman says repeating some type of coping statement helps manage anxiety. 

“A lot of times with anxiety, it’s so much fear about having the anxiety, and it’s almost like a vicious cycle,” says Groveman. 

The important thing to remember is that with the right coping skills, you can handle these experiences. 

If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. If you’re based in the UK or the ROI, call the Samaritans on 116 123. For international resources, this list is a good place to start.

This is One Good Thing, a weekly column where we tell you about one of the few nice things that happened this week.

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There’s a long and glorious history of very good sports dogs, both fictional and real-ish. That exclusive club got an adorable new addition on Wednesday, thanks to the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. 

Meet Flambo, the Canadiens’ new foster puppy, an adorable floof of sweet majesty, the kind of dog fit for one the most storied franchises in all of professional sports. 

The team even gave insight into how they chose his name. Whether Flambo can lead the Canadiens any higher up the division standings remains to be seen, but it’s still early in the season. 

Just look at that face! It simultaneously says, “BLEP” but also whispers, “I know your troubles and just remember that time heals all wounds, but the scars are reminders of time gone by.” 

Flambo is more than an adorable face; he’ll be something of a mascot for the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation, one of the Canadiens’ charitable outreach organizations.

We don’t know exactly what Flambo will be doing (the Foundation did not respond to our requests for comment), but chances are it’ll be something to do with lifting the spirits of children in need. We can’t think of anyone better suited for that than this fuzzy face. 

Finally, we know Flambo is VERY HANDSOME. But is he, indeed, a VERY GOOD BOY?

That’ll do, Flambo, that’ll do. 

Imagine someone demonstrating a jet plane 15 years before Kitty Hawk. Imagine someone demonstrating a smartphone 15 years before the first cellular networks were even launched. Imagine someone demonstrating a controlled nuclear chain reaction 15 years before Einstein formulated e=mc2.

On a crisp, overcast, and breezy Monday afternoon in San Francisco on December 9, 1968, before an SRO audience of more than 2,000 slack-jawed computer engineers, a soft-spoken engineer named Douglas Engelbart held the first public demonstration of word processing, point-and-clicking, dragging-and-dropping, hypermedia and hyperlinking, cross-file editing, idea/outline processing, collaborative groupware, text messaging, onscreen real-time video teleconferencing, and a weird little device dubbed a “mouse” — the essentials of a graphical user interface (GUI) 15 years before the first personal computers went on sale.

But the presentation was more than seemingly disparate demonstrations of experimental computer operations. What Engelbart and his team had created from scratch was a holistic system designed to extend human communications capabilities, tools to augment human intellect — hence the presentation’s official prosaic academic title, “A Research Center for Augmenting Human Intellect.” Engelbart’s presentation would later be more appropriately dubbed “The Mother of All Demos.” 

What made Engelbart’s rather dry (in retrospect) presentation so jaw-dropping and vastly influential was that in 1968, computers were industrial and room-sized, could be operated by just one user at a time, were used primarily for number-crunching à la Hidden Figures, generally didn’t include CRT displays, and were rarely seen in the real world. The unified and collaborative concepts and functions Engelbart calmly demonstrated seemed as futuristic as Star Trek (at the time in the midst of its first run on NBC), except he and his team had brought them to real life. Computer scientist Alan Kay, who defied a case of the flu to fly in from L.A. to attend, said the Demo was “like Moses parting the Red Sea.”

The Demo wasn’t just a momentary flash of brilliance. It is the Magna Carta, the Rosetta Stone, the Declaration of Independence of personal computing.

The Demo wasn’t just a momentary flash of brilliance. It is the Magna Carta, the Rosetta Stone, the Declaration of Independence of personal computing. It has inspired, ignited, and influenced the development of every piece of personal-computing software and hardware since. The overarching philosophical functionality of everything we do on a PC, tablet, or smartphone dates back to Engelbart and the Demo.

This Sunday, the Demo’s 50th anniversary, Engelbart’s daughter Christina will lead a day-long TheDEMO@50, the Engelbart Symposium at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, “exploring the past, present, and future of Engelbart’s profound legacy.” Presenters will include web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, internet pioneer Vint Cerf, along with other computer and internet luminaries, as well as original members of Engelbart’s team. Next Wednesday, December 12, at 6 p.m., there’ll be a Solving Today’s Great Problems? Lessons from Engelbart’s Demo @50 conference, also at the CHM. Both events will be live-streamed. There are also commemorative scheduled in England and Japan.

Aside from the pure audacity of the concepts presented at The Demo, Engelbart’s entire conceptual development approach is unique in the history of innovation. Most engineers start with a technical challenge to solve, with functionality and consequences secondary, sometimes accidental, considerations. But Engelbart started from the opposite direction. He studied how we think, how we work, and how we collaborate, then envisioned and created the hardware, software and programming systems necessary to enhance the collective IQ. 

Many enormous achievements spring from the innocuous. For Engelbart, the spark for his life’s work was a magazine article he read on an isolated island in the South Pacific 23 years earlier. 

‘As We May Think’

Engelbart was the middle child of three, born in Portland, Oregon, on January 30, 1925. After the death of his father in the mid-1930s, the family moved to the small neighboring town of Johnson Creek. He graduated from Portland’s Franklin High School in 1942 and attended Oregon State University (then known as Oregon State College) in Corvallis for a year when he was drafted. He joined the Navy and became a radar technician.

In September 1945, Engelbart found himself sitting in a Red Cross library – actually, a hut built on stilts – on the Philippine island of Leyte. “It was quiet and cool and airy inside, with lots of polished bamboo and books,” Engelbart later recalled. Engelbart was entranced by an article in Atlantic Monthly by Vannevar Bush, the founder of what would become Raytheon, then science advisor to the President, the man who talked Franklin Roosevelt into initiating the Manhattan Project. The article was titled “As We May Think,” and it explored how machines had and would aid human intellect. In the article, Bush described an automated collective memory machine dubbed memex, “a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility… an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.” Bush’s combined human/technological concepts would haunt and then inspire Engelbart.

After the war, Engelbart returned to Oregon State and earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 1948. His first job out of college was at the Ames Research Center, run by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the precursor to NASA, in Mountain View, when what would become Silicon Valley was still filled with orchards.

In 1951, Engelbart got engaged, which ignited thoughts about his life’s direction and career goals. “He had an epiphany,” his daughter details. “He started measuring how many minutes he had left in his career, and figured he had five million minutes he would have to invest. He decided in that moment to maximize the effect of his career toward the betterment of mankind, and how tools could support that goal.”

Engelbart’s radar-screen-watching experience merged with Bush’s ideas of how tools could aid human intellect, and he envisioned people sitting in front of display workstations “flying around” in a computerized information space. 

To pursue his vision, Engelbart quit his job at NACA and returned to school, earning his master’s in 1953 and a Ph.D. in 1955, both in electrical engineering with a specialty in computers from the University of California at Berkeley. He stayed on at Berkeley as an acting assistant professor, but his ideas pushed him to a more suitable position at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI, now SRI International) in 1957.

“He spent two years studying a new field, ‘augmenting the human intellect’ — language, tools, methodology, organizational transformation, organizational strategy,” Christina explains. “He studied each thread to develop a common framework, regardless of the vertical discipline.” 

Engelbart’s studies resulted in a seminal October 1962 paper, “Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework,” that described “a new and systematic approach to improving the intellectual effectiveness of the individual human being. A detailed conceptual framework explores the nature of the system composed of the individual and the tools concepts and methods that match his basic capabilities to his problems.” 

Prominent among these tools was the computer.

At SRI, Engelbart established an Augmentation Research Center (ARC) lab, and built a team of young engineers that he guided, but didn’t command. “If someone had an idea and his idea wasn’t the best and he understood the difference, he’d jump on the other idea and apologize for not grasping it sooner,” his daughter says. “He didn’t have ego involvement — it was never ‘my way to the highway.’ He’d stick with the discussion until he could understand the disconnect. He was committed to find a win-win solution.” Employing this low-key collaborative style, Engelbart and his team began to develop computers, software, and programming to transform his visions into physical digital reality.

One of these technologies was hypermedia, the linking of one piece of digitized data to another, developed independently but simultaneously in 1964 with East Coast-based Ted Nelson, who actually coined the terms “hypertext” and “hypermedia.”

But hypermedia was just one part of a larger integrated system. The foundation of Engelbart’s system was the NLS (oN-Line System). Developed in 1963-64, the NLS was one of the first computers to offer what was called “two-dimensional editing,” direct editing of text, with human-first console and desk ergonomics developed by Jack Kelley of Herman Miller Research (yes, the chair people). Then, in late 1967, Engelbart acquired the first time-sharing computer, the Scientific Data System SDS940 mainframe that enabled his entire team to work on the systems they were building from separate workstations.

To help navigate the NLS, Engelbart started to experiment with “screen selection” devices — pointers to navigate information presented on the NLS display — including a light pen, a foot pedal, a knee apparatus, even a helmet-mounted device. Engelbart finally came up with a pointing device that would physically traverse a desktop on two small wheels, one turning horizontally, one vertically, each transmitting rotation coordinates to determine the location of a floating onscreen pointer he called a “bug.” In 1963, ARC lead engineer Bill English built one of these rolling pointers from Engelbart’s sketches. Encased in a carved-out wooden block with perpendicular wheels mounted in its underbelly, it had only one red-tipped button – that was all there was room for. Someone lost to history started calling it “the mouse.” Engelbart and his crew experimented with additional buttons, working all the way up to five, before settling on three by early 1968. 

The Demo 

Image: The HEnry Ford Museum

By March 1968, word about Engelbart’s work was becoming a topic of conversation around Stanford and the nascent and still small West Coast computer industry. “He was a real connector type of person,” his daughter says. “He was always meeting and calling up to meet people. People visiting the Institute would be brought by to see what was happening in the lab, and he had already been giving demos to explain what they were doing. He figured it was better to show what they were doing rather than write about it.”

The biannual Fall Joint Computer Conference posters for Engelbart’s presentation went up, and a buzz began. Engelbart’s reputation prompted show organizers to find a larger space for his presentation, settling on the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, now named for concert promoter Bill Graham, next door to Brooks Hall where the conference was being held. 

There was just one problem: the ARC lab at SRI was 30 miles away from San Francisco in Menlo Park. While his NLS console and workstation were sort of portable, the rest of the lab’s gear was not, especially the SDS940 mainframe. 

Image: ARC Bootstrapper 

In Adam Fisher’s new book “Valley of Genius,” English explained the unique long-distance communications he helped set up for the Demo: 

What we did was lease two video circuits from the phone company. They set up a microwave link: two transmitters on the top of the building at SRI, receiver/transmitters up on Skyline Boulevard [in Woodside] on a truck, and two receivers at the Civic Center. That was our video link. Going back we had two dedicated 1,200-baud lines: high-speed lines at the time. Homemade modems.

Engelbart had little clue as to the import of what he was about to present — as far as he was concerned, he was far from finished — and so made no provision to preserve it. But at the last minute, someone said, “We have these cameras,” which were then rigged to film the Demo for a thankful posterity. There are two minor cuts during the video; this is where the film cannisters were changed.

Looming above the stage was a 22 x 18-foot screen that would magnify what Engelbart was doing on his terminal. Engelbart was casually seated on the stage below the screen to the right of the audience. He was clad in the requisite white shirt and tie with a black boom mic dangling over the right side of his face and the thick NLS keyboard/mouse console draped across the arms of his chair. After some introductory remarks on the unique nature of the presentation, apologizing for his seated posture, and his hopes that all would proceed smoothly, Engelbart summarized his thesis.

“If in your office, you as an intellectual worker were supplied with a computer display backed up by a computer that was alive for you all day and was instantaneously responsible…” Engelbart nervously paused then corrected himself — “…responsive to every action you had, how much value could you derive from that?”

That sounds like a silly question now, but in 1968, the idea of a computer on every desk was absurd, something out of The Jetsons. Then things got weird.

Engelbart began by displaying a pedantic list of groceries and errand locations, using the mouse to move the “bug” cursor to click on words to reveal hyperlinked layers below. By pointing-and-clicking, he smoothly rearranged, reordered, recategorized, and restructured lists and sub-lists – demonstrating what Engelbart called “information structures,” sort of a combination of word processing and free-form spreadsheet editing and sorting.

To attendees, it looked as if whatever digital magic Engelbart was performing was accomplished right on stage. But every keystroke and mouse movement Engelbart made on the NLS console keyboard and mouse in San Francisco was instantly transmitted back to the lab’s SDS940 mainframe back in Menlo Park. Video cameras captured Engelbart’s manipulations on the system’s CRT, and everything was then again instantly beamed back to and projected on the Civic Auditorium screen — all with virtually no lag.

During the second half of the Demo, Engelbart established a videoconferencing connection with software engineer Jeff Rulifson back at the ARC Labs in Menlo Park. Engelbart and Rulifson provided a tour of the lab, showing and describing how the video conferencing was accomplished, and engaged in a video conversation while simultaneous editing documents. The pair engaged in a brief “bug fight” when both tried to edit the same document. The pair also demonstrated an early version of email, which was more like what we think of as text messaging.

Everything worked perfectly, with only a minor, quickly corrected audio glitch late in the demo — a stunning achievement in itself in this pre-internet age, and a marvel considering the technology available at the time. 

During the presentation, you could hear a pin drop, except when Engelbart made some wry observation. To those who thought the whole thing a hoax — and there were many skeptics — Engelbart invited anyone interested to come visit the lab. After thanking his 17-man team and apologizing to his wife and daughter for his monomaniacal dedication to his work, the crowd erupted into a lengthy standing ovation.

Legacy of the Demo

While an epochal event in computer and technological history, the Demo was just the beginning for both Engelbart and the acolytes he had inspired. 

Engelbart’s NLS was the first host attached to the decentralized interconnected computer network being developed by the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which was a co-sponsor of the Demo and with whom Engelbart had worked closely. On October 29, 1969, Engelbart’s lab was at the receiving end of the first message transmitted over ARPANET, which would eventually lead to the inception of the internet. SRI commercialized the NLS, which was used by hundreds of organizations.

Over the next few years, a half dozen or so of Engelbart’s SRI team members including English and Rulifson were recruited by the newly established Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). These ARC alumni, along with other engineers who attended or were inspired by the Demo and Engelbart, developed the Alto, the first personal computer equipped with a GUI and a mouse. In December 1979, Alto was seen by Steve Jobs and other Apple engineers, who adapted its GUI, WYSIWYG, and mouse ideas for the LISA and then the Macintosh. The Mac, of course, then inspired Bill Gates to develop Windows OS. Every OS since is imbued with Engelbart’s human augmentation concepts.

Image: Tom Munnecke/Getty Images

And unlike other innovators who experience one or two “Eureka!” moments before moving on to another project or challenge, the idea of how computerized tools aid how we think and collaborate became Engelbart’s lifelong pursuit. In 1989, Engelbart and his daughter formed the non-profit Bootstrap Institute, which was renamed the Doug Engelbart Institute in 2008, and is now run by his daughter.

Engelbart was awarded 20 patents and was the recipient of myriad awards and honors including the PC Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award (1987), the IEEE Computer Pioneer Award (1993), the Lemelson-MIT Prize (1997), induction into the Computer Hall of Fame and the U.S. National Medal of Technology, presented by President Bill Clinton (2000), the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition (2005), and induction into the Consumer Technology Hall of Fame in 2012. 

Engelbart may have died on July 2, 2013, but his work lives on in every point and click we make.

We’ve all been there before: You’re about to leave for work, and the family dog follows you to the door, watching through the window as you enter your car and leave. But what if you could keep a watchful eye on your dog the entire day — even from your office?

The Furbo Dog Camera enables just that. The device is roughly the size of a small flower vase, and lets you livestream audio and video directly from your home to anywhere in the world with an internet connection (and, of course, the right password).

It’s not cheap at $249.99, but it does come with the added bonus of letting you launch dog treats to your pup remotely. So, in short, you can keep tabs on your pooch and also reward them for good behavior from anywhere in the world. Pretty neat, right?

But is it enough to justify its hefty price tag? My family and I spent the last two weeks testing the Furbo Dog Camera thoroughly to see whether it was worth it. Here’s what we found:

Meet Georgia

Image: jake krol/mashable

Everyone, meet Georgia, my family’s toy poodle that lives in New Jersey. She’s a very good dog, and she’s been getting a firsthand account of how the Furbo works along with all of her owners: me, my mom, my dad, and my brother.

We’ve been using the Furbo Dog Camera to check on Georgia throughout the day for about two weeks, and when any of us are feeling inspired, we shoot treats to her from the machine.

I’ll admit: I typically send her the most treats because, first of all, it’s really fun, and secondly, she’s a very good dog (as I mentioned) and deserves the absolute best. I’ve been sending her about four treats per day, and I’m pretty sure she has no idea it’s me behind the launcher, but she certainly seems to enjoy the snacks.

A dog-friendly design

<img class="" data-credit-name="ZLATA IVLEVA/MASHABLE
” data-credit-provider=”custom type” data-caption=”Thanks to a simple design, you won’t have trouble finding a spot for the Furbo.” title=”Thanks to a simple design, you won’t have trouble finding a spot for the Furbo.” src=”https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/I1DXRLuTv4yWJtbn29R5uBVAtSI=/fit-in/1200×9600/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F877171%2Fe5cbea7a-82c0-4036-8065-9e0b7a4d467d.jpg&#8221; alt=”Thanks to a simple design, you won’t have trouble finding a spot for the Furbo.” data-fragment=”m!98cb” data-image=”https://ift.tt/2zPfoIb; data-micro=”1″>

Image: ZLATA IVLEVA/MASHABLE

The Furbo Dog Camera blends into almost any room. It’s about 9-inches tall and has a modern, sleek, hourglass shape — with a wide base at the bottom and a tiny pinch in the middle.

You’ll notice there’s a large bamboo lid at the top of the device, and that’s to cover up the small reservoir where the treats are stored. The plastic material that covers most of the machine is extremely durable — even if you have a skittish dog that attacks foreign objects. 

When we first introduced the Furbo to our dog Georgia, she quickly began pawing at the machine and scratching it. We were immediately surprised by the durability of the machine when it fell, and by how well the bamboo cap stayed attached.

Still, we know there are lots of crafty dogs out there, so if you own a very persistent puppy who loves treats and can sniff them out easily — you might want to consider how they would react to what is essentially a robotic cookie jar. If you’re confident that your dog wouldn’t gnaw on the lid for hours, you’re probably safe.

Setup is incredibly easy

<img class="" data-credit-name="ZLATA IVLEVA/MASHABLE
” data-credit-provider=”custom type” data-caption=”Furbo recommends round circular treats. Anything smaller and it might send out more than one.” title=”Furbo recommends round circular treats. Anything smaller and it might send out more than one.” src=”https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/tqeBD3VxeGmdZij7RkOki-snrRs=/fit-in/1200×9600/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F877167%2Fbf2c3b40-0a34-42b2-b36f-3b7030e1ae4d.jpg&#8221; alt=”Furbo recommends round circular treats. Anything smaller and it might send out more than one.” data-fragment=”m!1492″ data-image=”https://ift.tt/2PqCmKP; data-micro=”1″>

Image: ZLATA IVLEVA/MASHABLE

The Furbo Dog Camera couldn’t be much easier to setup. It’s practically plug-and-play. Once you plug in the device, you’ll need to use the companion app to get it connected to your WiFi.

The setup process takes about 15 minutes total. I had to restart the app a couple of times to get it connecting properly, but shortly thereafter it was working just fine. It’s comparable to any other smart home device that uses an app to function. The app will walk you through every step of the process.

Once the device is connected to the internet, the last thing you need to do is load the treat reservoir with tiny dog treats. Furbo recommends using round circular ones, and warns owners that other shapes can sometimes send out more than one. My family used Charlee Bear dog treats from Trader Joes, which worked really well. Furbo recommends using Nutro Mini Bites among others. 

After the treats are loaded into the machine, and it’s connected to the internet — that’s it! You’ll see live streaming video on the app’s home screen, and you can begin launching treats at your puppy.

Endless entertainment

<img class="" data-credit-name="ZLATA IVLEVA/MASHABLE
” data-credit-provider=”custom type” data-caption=”Refill times will vary depending on how frequently you shoot treats.” title=”Refill times will vary depending on how frequently you shoot treats.” src=”https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/ZmRFZ5NytHcQYkDNruuP-IbAgqI=/fit-in/1200×9600/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F877170%2F3fdb1225-7429-49c2-9eb2-3cec6b6ecdf1.jpg&#8221; alt=”Refill times will vary depending on how frequently you shoot treats.” data-fragment=”m!56b3″ data-image=”https://ift.tt/2zNmKfu; data-micro=”1″>

Image: ZLATA IVLEVA/MASHABLE

Some dogs may love the Furbo right away, but Georgia was not one of those dogs. She’s a little skittish at times, and was very skeptical of the Furbo when it first arrived.

I spent about an hour sitting with Georgia and getting her familiar with the device. This included launching treats from it, and getting her used to some of the small (but audible) noises it makes.

The device plays a sound every time it launches a treat, and one of the cooler things is that you can customize the sound. So, if you have a phrase that you always say to your dog, you can make the Furbo say that. Pretty cool!

Testing this product was ultimately a lot of fun, and something I really enjoyed messing around with. Most of that is because of the iOS and Android apps are so well-built. They’re extremely intuitive, and easy to use. My parents even commented on how fun it was to check on Georgia during the work day.

The companion app is super basic, and that works to the benefit of the user. When you first launch it, you’ll be asked to add details about your dog like name, birthday, breed, and gender and upload a photo. You’re not required to add any of this information, but it makes the app slightly to look at every time you launch it.

From that point on, every time you open the app, you’ll see a live video feed into your home. The viewing screen is incredibly clear and minimalistic. A camera and video button on the left-hand side allow you too easily snap a shot or quick video that saves to your phone. 

There is also a microphone button on the right side of the display that lets you talk to your dog in real-time with the speaker embedded on the device. Of course, being able to launch treats is the best part of using the app, and you do that by simply moving your finger across the screen with an upwards swipe.

For more dedicated users, there is Furbo Dog Nanny or a premium subscription service the company is piloting. The service detects things like when your dog is barking, when people enter the room, or when there’s other unusual activity happening in front of the camera.

Never worry again

<img class="" data-credit-name="ZLATA IVLEVA/MASHABLE
” data-credit-provider=”custom type” data-caption=”You won’t be disappointed with the Furbo Dog Camera.” title=”You won’t be disappointed with the Furbo Dog Camera.” src=”https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/FUNr1voKpDHQCtfmrw-pWMYR8QU=/fit-in/1200×9600/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F877166%2F80682ab4-cf68-4b6f-b88e-329460d68eb0.jpg&#8221; alt=”You won’t be disappointed with the Furbo Dog Camera.” data-fragment=”m!ab38″ data-image=”https://ift.tt/2PpzJZD; data-micro=”1″>

Image: ZLATA IVLEVA/MASHABLE

Listen, I know $249 is a lot on paper, but the Furbo Dog Camera is totally worth it. Throughout my two-week testing period, I’ve been able to check in on our family dog Georgia while I’m out on the town or at work. Same goes for my mom, dad, and brother. The app can handle multiple logins at once, and it’s extremely easy to use. It helps that it only has a couple of core functions.

I’ll admit, it took some time for our dog Georgia to get used to the treat launcher, and the light mechanical noises it makes as it prepares to launch a treat. And she was also a little rattled when we used the intercom feature to talk to her from the device. But over time, she’s become accustomed to the device — and seems to understand when the treat mechanism has been activated.

So even with the short learning curve taken into consideration, the Furbo Dog Camera is a great addition to any pet-owner’s home.