1. This is some next-level biohacking.

"For those who can bear the pain, biohacking, where computing devices are injected under the skin, provides a novel way to acquire real stealth to sneak through both physical and digital scans. That’s why US navy petty officer Seth Wahle, now an engineer at APA Wireless, implanted a chip in his hand, in between the thumb and the finger – the purlicue apparently – of his left hand. It has an NFC (Near Field Communications) antenna that pings Android phones, asking them to open a link. Once the user agrees to open that link and install a malicious file, their phone connects to a remote computer, the owner of which can carry out further exploits on that mobile device. Put simply, that Android device is compromised. In a demo for FORBES, Wahle used the Metasploit penetration testing software on his laptop to force an Android device to take a picture of his cheery visage."

2. There is a submarine livestreaming from under the ocean near Puerto Rico right now.

"ROV Deep Discoverer is in the water and diving on Exocet Seamount. Our first objective is to complete mid- water transects and then we will head to the bottom to investigate the geomorphology and benthic communities."

3. In on-demand economy, office comes to you! 

"Every now and then, IDEO designers take the opportunity to muse on an intriguing concept without a paying client. Such was the case with the driverless car. Without having to navigate city streets, people will be more productive during their commute. IDEO also envisions self-driving trucks—which the designers have dubbed 'mules'—delivering everything from new jeans to grilled cheese. Most radical of all: Your workplace could be set on wheels to travel to you, rather than you to it."

4. A history of the home hi-fi stereo, focusing on the home part.

"Perhaps as a result of such difficulties, the publishers of Stereo began, in the early ‘60s, to promote a new 'audio way of life' — the creation of domestic settings that were 'at once interesting, relaxing, artistic and utilitarian.' Although still recommending cabinetry that could contain or disguise equipment, they now also touted the aesthetic quality of the components, the 'beauty and function (of) a handsome turntable that spins silently atop a marble or richly grained wood surface; or the control of an amplifier or tuner, gleaming like an abstract sculpture under lamplight and suggesting the wondrous world of musical sound they control.'"

5. A gorgeous metaphor for life-extension.

"Vanitas Machine has been specifically developed to keep a candle 'alive' under controlled conditions. As the candle burns down, sensors and the air outlet port follow the position of the flame. The system protects it from environmental factors and by precisely regulating the oxygen supply the 'metabolism' of the candle and thus its 'lifespan' is extended."

On Fusion: Three of the world's most famous dissidents—artist Ai Weiwei, technologist Jacob Appelbaum, and filmmaker Laura Poitras—met up for 72 hours in Beijing to think about global surveillance. And we were there.

Today's 1957 American English Usage Tip:

durance, duress. Durance now means only the state of being in confinement, is a purely decorative word, & is rare except in the phrases in durance, in durance vile. Duress means the application of constraint, which may or may not take the form of confinement, to a person; it is chiefly in legal use, with reference to acts done under illegal compulsion, & is commonest in the phrase under duress.

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The Purlicue Apparently