Hasta La Gadget!

Ferguson, Missouri is waking up to a city that is still smoldering after a night of unrest following a grand jury’s decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.

At least a dozen buildings were torched and looted, many of them local businesses that police said were total losses. Dozens of cars — including two police cruisers and rows of vehicles at a car dealership — were also vandalized and left charred. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said he heard about 150 gunshots, none from police.

“What I’ve seen tonight is probably much worse than the worst night we had in August,” he said, referring to the summer protests after the shooting death of Brown, an unarmed black teenager who some witnesses say had his hands up when he was shot on Aug. 9.

Police said they made at least 29 arrests, and that there were only minor injuries.

Shortly after St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch made the rambling nighttime announcement, officer Wilson’s grand jury testimony was released, in which he claimed Brown looked like a “demon” during the deadly confrontation.

“I mean it was, he’s obviously bigger than I was and stronger and the, I’ve already taken two to the face and I didn’t think he would, the third one could be fatal if he hit me right …Or at least unconscious and then who knows what would happen to me after that,” Wilson said during his grand jury testimony.

The prosecutor’s office also released photos of Wilson taken after the incident that show his injuries from the confrontation, which appear to be a bruise on his face and a mark on his neck. The photos, which were used as evidence in the proceedings, had not been previously released to the public.

Other grand jury evidence released overnight reiterated witnesses’ firm beliefs that they saw Brown throw his hands up before he was shot.

As about 1,000 vocal protesters gathered on Ferguson’s main street to learn the grand jury’s decision, Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, cried out in anguish while standing on top of a car.

Brown’s family also released a statement, which read in part:

“We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions,” Brown’s family said in a statement. “While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen.”

As President Barack Obama spoke to the nation and appealed for calm, the tense demonstrations were already starting to boil over into violence.

On West Florissant Avenue, a focal point of summer protests, police ordered protesters off the streets. But once police left, some smashed the windows of a McDonald’s and others set fire to a beauty supply store and other businesses.

This map shows the location of many of the businesses that were burned:

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The unrest in the wake of this news wasn’t limited to Ferguson and the surrounding area. Protests also sprung up across the nation. In New York, demonstrators crowded into Times Square and someone sprayed fake blood on NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.

Manhattan: Large crowd protesting in Times square NYPD PC Bill Bratton Splattered with Fake blood, Perp arrested. pic.twitter.com/EQuAoqByPd

— NY Scanner (@NYScanner) November 25, 2014

Also in the city, protesters shut down at least three major bridges while decrying other police-involved shootings.

Politicians and community leaders and change-makers alike pleaded for peace. But fury had already spread across the United States.

In Seattle, protesters reportedly threw rocks at cars and eventually shut down I-5. Others linked arms at 12th and Pike:

Correction: #Ferguson protesters @ 12th/Pike are kneeling; everyone has linked arms. Police still watching. pic.twitter.com/99W7flB5HZ

— John de Leon (@DeLeon_Times) November 25, 2014

In Los Angeles, protesters took to the streets and at one point tried to take to the freeway:

Ferguson protesters try to walk up off-ramp to 10 Freeway at La Brea but are blocked by CHP http://t.co/S5I8A8NBPJ pic.twitter.com/5TXB3wqnTi

— KTLA (@KTLA) November 25, 2014

In downtown Los Angeles, police used foam projectiles to disperse a crowd.

However, it’s in Ferguson where by far the most devastating damage took place.

“We’re going to have to come together and be better,” Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol said during a news conference held at about 1:30 a.m. local time. “We’re going to have to come together to make some changes. But we have to understand that this community has to be whole, and right now this community is really fractured.”

With reporting from HuffPost’s Ryan Reilly, Matt Sledge and Mariah Stewart in Ferguson, Carly Schwartz and Christopher Mathias in New York and Jennifer Bendery in Washington.

The WitStar Concept car might look smart but one particular feature is particularly half-witted: a transparent “Fish Pod” separating the vehicle’s rear seats. While an in-car aquarium could be justified as luxury option, most would see it as at least frivolous; at worst outrageous… and one can just imagine what the fish think.

Controlling all the features of a smartphone can be difficult for someone new to smartphones. People who have had a smartphone for a long time sometimes wish for shortcuts that can perform a specific action with a single press. For either of those groups there is a new product called Flic. Flic is a smart button that can be mapped … Continue reading

So. Many. Passwords. With. So. Many. Stipulations. [Truth Facts]

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Travelling is fun as it lets us experience all sorts of new encounters, like a hike through a jungle, shopping at a foreign country’s supermarket, interacting with the locals, watching a cultural dance, and so on. Well if you’d like to experience all of that but don’t have the budget for it, fret not because an Indiegogo campaign is here to help you experience all of that from the comfort of your couch.

Dubbed Omnipresenz, the idea is basically where users to get “control” real-life avatars which are basically other people from other parts of the world wearing a camera-equipped helmet. For a small fee a month, users will get to spend a couple of hours a week with their avatar and instruct them to perform certain activities.

This can range from walking around the city, going to the beach, or even taking part in a treasure hunt designed by its creators. However if you’re willing to spend more money, users can have a virtual date with their avatars, and if you don’t mind dropping even more money, you can experience an intimate connection with them where users can “be a little kinky”, if you know what we mean.

Of course avatars are free to reject assignments that they deem are inappropriate or that they’re not comfortable with. All of this will depend on who you get and how open-minded they are. It’s an intriguing concept and we suppose in some way it could be looked at as your own personal virtual tour guide. If you’d like to learn more, check out the video above and you can also pledge your support by going to its Indiegogo page.

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