Tinder launched Group Hangouts today — groups of 3 to 15 friends create a shared profile, discover other groups, and if both groups like each other, get a shared chat to plan an in-person outing. Testing in Australia found a 40% acceptance rate and women were 2.2 times more likely to like a group profile than a one-on-one. Also: the Environmental Justice Foundation published "Poison Plastics," finding that 93% of known plastic chemicals in everyday products — water bottles, kitchenware, clothing, toys — are classified as high-risk to human health, and more than 50% of those chemicals aren't regulated by any major jurisdiction. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that beginning next year, Americans can apply for their first passport entirely online through America.gov — taking their own photo on a smartphone, uploading it, paying online, and tracking the application in real time. "No printing forms, no drugstore hostage photo, no appointment, no line, no middleman." Plus the shark in the New Jersey flood, the whale sinking the yacht, flesh-eating bacteria, and the TSA standing mandate.
","author_name":"Keith Conrad"}