Medical cannabis, recreational cannabis; it's getting hard to tell the two apart -- even in states where only the former is allowed. Just look at your local dispensary. If it's anything like my local weed shop, your cannabis choices are governed more by the brand name and relative THC content than they are the other active cannabinoids -- you know, the ones with the actual medical benefits. This is great for your average stoner recuperating from a backiatomy, but for patients who really do need these complementary cannabinoid effects, guessing whether Blue Dream or Vallejo Sour Diesel will best help alleviate the effects of their chemo simply won't do. That's why the Bay Area startup PotBotics is working to put some real science -- from a curation of existing scholarly articles and independent studies -- behind cannabis recommendations.

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Computers can sing. There's no Mariah Carey of machines just yet. But there is a fully automated machine that can sing like a diva. Martin Backes, a German visual and sound artist, has a new installation called „What Do Machines Sing Of?" He's programmed a machine with SuperCollider, an open-source algorithmic composition tool used by musicians and scientists who work with sound, to sing ballads from the heartbreak-music era of the '90s.

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Few things in life are better than videos and GIFs about cats -- they bring joy to people. If you feel that way, then you'll probably want to download this new iOS app called Cat Shake. As its name suggests, the application requires you to, well, shake your device to fulfill its purpose. Once you do so, your reward will be too-cute-to-handle cat videos, "classic" cat GIFs and, because why not, adorable cat sounds. For those of you who don't have an iPhone or iPad, don't worry -- you can always go to Tumblr TV, type in what cat you're in the mood for (we'd recommend "funny cat") and problem solved. Or, you know, there's YouTube too.

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Just a couple of days after the DoJ said the deal could go through and FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler recommend its approval, the FCC voted to make the $49 billion AT&T / DirecTV combo official -- with a few conditions. As we'd heard, the approval comes with strings (in place for four years) including a requirement AT&T expand its fiber network, hook up gigabit internet to eligible schools and libraries and provide affordable standalone internet for low-income customers in its service areas. Another requirement is aimed at AT&T's data usage caps, saying it can't use them to discriminate against other video services. The other net neutrality requirement says AT&T will have to disclose any interconnect agreements -- the ones Netflix is so concerned about -- to the FCC so it can monitor the terms. Are those requirements enough to make the deal worth it? Consumer advocate like the Free Press say no, but with the FCC's blessing the deal should be done soon.

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Engadget Live Boston 2015 was... sort of a blur. Sure, I remember the broad strokes -- our first live meetup of the year saw 1,500 people checking out great gadgets and downing drinks in the Royale once more, and the complimentary selfie sticks floating around kept us all from taking ourselves too seriously.

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Have a question for one of the smartest men on the planet? Mark your calendar: on Monday July 27th at 8am ET, Stephen Hawking will be taking questions from the public in his first ever Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). If you can't make it Monday, don't worry about it, he'll be answering questions for over a week -- a first for the forum's Q&A community.

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Adult Swim has added one more weird experience to its warehouse of silly yet generally entertaining video games based on its television shows: Rick and Morty Rickstaverse, a hidden-object game that takes place entirely on Instagram. This is a true point-and-click game -- In Ricktaverse, players click on photos of the literal Rick and Morty universe (the starting point is in space with a naked Santa) and tap the tags that pop up on each photo to be transported to a new area. There are secrets, collectibles and mini-games to find, each played out by tapping photos on Instagram. Find and follow the accounts of five Garblovian Bootleggers, for example, and they may post exclusive Rick and Morty clips in the future. Welcome to the golden age of user-driven advertising.

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Sometimes things are way harder than they should be. If you're a LinkedIn user, the networking site is now making it more difficult to download your contact list and other personal information. Instead of being an instant process, as is the case with Facebook or Google's products, LinkedIn (quietly) announced you'll have to wait up to three days to get that data from its service. The change, which took effect yesterday, also applies to additional account info -- like your LinkedIn updates, daily activity, IP records and searches. So plan ahead, folks, because you're going to be waiting and waiting.

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This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a list of the best technology to buy. Read the full article here.

If you're looking for the best in-ear headphones on a budget, get the Brainwavz Delta With In-Line Microphone. After 32 hours of research on hundreds of in-ear headphones priced at $40 or under, seriously considering 179 models, and testing 68 with our panel of audio experts, we found the Brainwavz Deltas are the best for the money. Our panel unanimously voted them the best-sounding of all those tested in this category, plus they fit comfortably in most ears and are a steal at $22. They sound better than the Apple EarPods, so if you're looking to upgrade or replace those or want something decent and inexpensive, these are your best bet.

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Turns out IBM's Watson can not only critique your writing, but use it to assess your personality, too. The supercomputer has a service called "Personality Insights" that can analyze your traits from written text. It needs at least 100 words of your own writing in either English or Spanish to generate a report, as well as guess your needs and values. For instance, I plugged in a diary entry into the service's demo website, and the service declared me "social, generous and imperturbable," assertive and with little regard for tradition. As you might have guessed, though, results change depending on the piece you use: Watson declared me as "inner-directed and skeptical" when I plugged in one of my Engadget pieces.

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) will patch 1.4 million US vehicles following the reveal of a hacking method by Wired. The "voluntary safety recall" -- which it seems will come in the form of a USB dongle -- applies to vehicles equipped with 8.4-inch touchscreen in-car-entertainment systems. Affected cars include Jeep Grand Cherokee and Cherokee SUVs, Dodge Ram pickups and many others. If you're concerned your vehicle may be affected, you can see the full list here.

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When the first trailer for Pixels hit I was worried that the movie was going to be a "steaming pile of cinematic garbage." Now that I've actually seen the Adam Sandler and Kevin James vehicle, I can say that was still far too generous a prediction; it's actually much, much worse. Pixels' real villains aren't the admittedly gorgeous renderings of giant-sized Pac-Man and Donkey Kong hell-bent on destroying Earth -- they're the toxic tropes that Hollywood keeps perpetuating.

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The smartphone arena is dominated by two operating systems. Gartner's latest figures show that during the first three months of 2015, iOS and Android devices accounted for almost 97 percent of global smartphone sales. With established alternatives from Microsoft and BlackBerry already fighting for the leftovers, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of opportunity for new players. Canonical, maker of the popular Linux distro Ubuntu, is taking on the challenge regardless. With a version of Ubuntu built specifically for mobile, it's hoping to shake up the current duopoly with a fresh approach to content consumption. That's the plan, anyway, but after spending some time getting to know the OS, it's clear Canonical has a lot of work to do if Ubuntu Phone is ever going to be a viable option for even casual smartphone users.

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We were getting a little tired of playing Doom on every household appliance known to man, office printers and even inside the game itself. That's why it's a nice change to see that it's now possible to play Half-Life on your Android smartwatch, thanks to software modder extraordinaire Dave Bennett. He's been able to squeeze SDLash3D, an open-source emulator for some of Valve's early titles, onto the LG's first generation G Watch. Unfortunately, playing the title from your wrist is problematic, since the frame rate can dip down pretty low and the small screen doesn't leave you a lot of room to use the soft controls. Still, anything's better than having to bum around Knee-Deep in the Dead for the millionth time when we're bored on a bus.

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General Electric and the National Football League have handed a firm $500,000 to continue research into a portable system that can detect traumatic brain injury. The league has been criticized for its cavalier attitude towards traumatic head injuries and it's thought that more than 25 percent of players will suffer brain problems. That's why BrainScope is working on Ahead 200, a smartphone-connected EEG that is hoped will instantly detect concussion in an athlete to ensure they get on the spot treatment. The company will use the cash to conduct further studies with high-school sports people to ensure that the technology's initial promise works in the field.

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Netflix has secured a deal with actor/director Angelina Jolie Pitt to produce and direct an Original film adaptation of First They Killed My Father. It's based on a memoir by author Loung Ung about her ordeal as a child soldier for the infamous Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia, when nearly 2 million people were killed. Jolie Pitt said that she was "deeply affected" by the book, and she and Ung spent several years adapting it for the screen. She noted that Netflix took on a project that would normally be a tough sell. "Films like this are hard to watch, but important to see."

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Today on In Case You Missed It: An electric car drag race showed some impressive stats for a standing start; FPV quadcopter races got official at the California State Fair and you can learn how to make a replica Back to the Future 2 hoverboard.

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Google's decision to 'graduate' Glass from Google X in January was coupled with the announcement that the team would start reporting to Nest co-founder Tony Fadell. Glass was never a roaring success -- privacy concerns and the "Glasshole" label scuppered public adoption -- so some wondered whether the iPod designer had been saddled with the project. Apparently not so. In a BBC interview, Fadell has clarified that he actively asked for the role. "It wasn't handed to me and said, 'Tony, clean it up,'" he explained. "I offered and said, 'this is important.' I remember what it was like when we did the iPod and the iPhone. I think this can be that important, but it's going to take time to get it right."

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