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US government wants you to grow weed for science
Citizens hoping the US government would smile upon recent requests for deregulation, today is not your day: it will remain an illegal, schedule 1 controlled substance. But all is not lost, as the DEA announced it's allowing more organizations to grow and distribute marijuana -- just so long as it's for research purposes.
Microsoft partners with a legal weed startup
Microsoft is going into the legal marijuana business by teaming with a weed financing startup called "Kind," according to the New York Times. The two companies will create Azure-powered cloud apps that track plants from "seed to sale," helping legal dealers comply with laws. The decision to enter the trade was probably not taken lightly by Microsoft, as most corporations still won't touch it with a ten-foot bong. However, the software giant is based in Washington state, where it's perfectly legal to sell pot, and sees the potential for profits.
The Internet of Things is coming to your hydroponic garden
It was only a matter of time. The Internet of Things has already come for our vaporizers; now it is back for our hydroponic grow ops. Behold the Gro.io, an all-inclusive hydro system that's nearly fully automated. The brains behind this system is the Gro.hub. This central computing tower runs an embedded Linux OS on a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Processor and processes signals from ten separate remote sensors. These monitor things like water temperature, level, pH and flow.
The best portable vaporizer for most people
By Mark Smirniotis This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. Read the full article here. After looking at 30 top models and testing eight, we chose the Grenco Science G Pen Elite as our favorite vaporizer for under $200. This pint-sized vaporizer produces vapor that will convert any smoker and is easy to use, thanks to high-end features like a combination of convection and conduction heating in a ceramic chamber, precision temperature control, a clear display, and Micro-USB charging.
The Firefly 2 proves that every vaporizer should have its own app
The first Firefly vaporizer was revolutionary when it debuted in late 2013. Along with the original Pax, it helped take portable vapes mainstream with Apple-esque minimalist design and convection heating. But in the modern Internet of Things era, the OG Firefly now feels laughably out of date -- especially compared to the Pax 2. Thankfully, Firefly has just released a second-generation model that's smaller, lighter and more functional than its predecessor. It's even got an app!
The EazeMD app lets you consult a weed doctor on your phone
San Francisco-based cannabis delivery service Eaze announced Monday that it is launching EazeMD, a mobile video conferencing service designed to directly connect medical marijuana patients and prescribing doctors. The app, available on both iOS and Android, works just like physically visiting a clinic. Users fill out the same standard forms required by the state of California, queue up to speak to the doctor, and then discuss their maladies and potential treatment options with a licensed physician. The service is active 11am to 7pm, 7 days a week.
The Leaf 'Plug 'n Plant' is an all-in-one hydroponic grow box
Growing weed is easy (it is a weed, after all), growing good weed is a lot harder. And growing top-shelf sticky-icky in the comfort of your own home has, until now, been an expensive and technical nightmare. But that's where the Plug 'n Plant system from Leaf comes in. This tableside grow box is completely self contained. It provides all the pumps, lights, fans and nutrients needed to raise a pair of cannabis plants and yield 4 to 5 ounces of high-test herb. What's more, it includes a host of environmental sensors and an HD camera that push data (and a timelapse view of your plants) to your smartphone for easy and continuous condition tracking. The system is even semi-autonomous, automatically dispensing additional nutrients as the plants absorb them from the growing medium.
NORML's 'My Canary' app knows if you're too stoned to drive
With cannabis legal in nearly half the US in some form or another, there are a lot more opportunities for people to drive while high. While a number of studies have suggested that driving stoned may not be as dangerous as driving drunk, you try explaining that to the officer who pulls you over. So after the last bong rip, but before you grab your car keys, give yourself a once-over with the My Canary app. It's been designed by NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) as a quick and personal means of roughly estimating your impairment. The $5 iOS app runs the user through a series of mental and physical tests designed to measure coordination, reasoning, reaction time and balance. Pass the test and you're probably ok for that Taco Bell run. Fail, and maybe you're going to want to call an Uber for that Taco Bell run. Because even if that "breathalyzer for weed" is bullshit, getting a DUI isn't. [Image Credit: Aaron Black - Getty]
PotBotics: better cannabis recommendations through science
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.
ICYMI: Pot breathalyzer, VR for pharaoh's tomb and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-979940{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-979940, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-979940{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-979940").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A prototype marijuana breathalyzer came out and oh lord, the glory days are over. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft got the best ever photos of Pluto and these scientists are adorably jacked up about it. And a Swiss motion capture company wants to put sensors and VR headsets together in museum settings to let people explore an ancient Egyptian tomb.
Canadian company is developing a 'breathalyzer for pot'
With cannabis now legal in some form or another in nearly half of the US, states and private companies alike are scrambling for a means of adapting DUI legislation to weed. To that end, Vancouver-based Cannabix Technologies Inc is developing what is expected to be the first "pot breathalyzer." It does exactly what it sounds like: providing law enforcement officials with an instant, handheld means of determining whether a driver is under the influence of cannabis. The device is currently in its prototyping stage and is undergoing in-house testing. However, it's unclear when the breathalyzer will actually get into the hands of cops or whether it will be accurate enough to be of use once that time comes.
Leafly: the web's ultimate cannabis resource
In July of 2014, New York State did what few thought possible at the time: Its legislature passed Assembly Bill 6357 (better known as the Compassionate Care Act of 2014), which effectively legalized medical cannabis; a bill Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law. Less than a week after he did so, Leafly, a cannabis information database, made headlines of its own by running an advertisement in The New York Times' -- the first of its kind in the venerable newspaper's 163-year history. Cannabis, both as an industry and as a subculture, is quickly coming out of the shadows and entering the mainstream. Nowhere is this more explicit than in the meteoric rise of Leafly. So to get some insight into the company's rapid growth and future plans, I recently spoke with co-founder Cy Scott and CEO Brendan Kennedy about where Leafly came from and what it's like to be an industry pioneer.
What Instagram did for brunch, MassRoots hopes to do for weed
Cannabis or "weed" is, in practical terms, going mainstream. It's no longer exclusively sold from basements and back alleys; in 23 states and Washington D.C., it's sold from licensed and bonded shops. The cannabis movement has done a lot of growing up over the past couple of years as its public acceptance has skyrocketed across the US. Cannabis itself has gone from a black market "gateway" drug that funded the atrocities of Mexican cartels to a potential super-medicine drawing the attention of Wall Street's most powerful investors and all seemingly overnight.
Sidecar is starting a weed delivery service in San Francisco
Your next Sidecar ride could be carrying more than passengers and parcels. The ride-sharing company announced that it is teaming with local cannabis service Meadow to bring same-day weed deliveries to medical marijuana patients in San Francisco. The new service will reportedly fulfill orders through the Apothecarium dispensary. Package deliveries already constitute about 10 percent of Sidecar's ride volume in San Francisco. However, carrying cannabis poses a number of unique challenges -- such as ensuring that the person taking delivery is the same person that placed the order.
The best portable vaporizer (so far)
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a list of the best technology to buy. Read the full article below at TheWirecutter.com. After testing ten portable vaporizers so far, we recommend the Crafty, a new portable model from Storz and Bickel. Out of all the models we tested, the Crafty was one of the few that could produce the kind of truly tasty, powerful vapor you get from a much bigger unit. At $400, it's an investment, but will make up its cost over time because it vaporizes cannabis more efficiently than its peers. The Crafty heats the herb at the optimal pre-combustion level and keeps temperature constant for the duration of a session, while its cooling unit and swiveling straw keep potent draws comfortable and tasty. As a result, it delivers cleaner, purer, better-tasting vape, and higher highs than the competition.
Apple decides marijuana app belongs in the App Store after all
MassRoots' social network for cannabis users contravened Apple's policy of banning apps that promote drug use, and had to go. Two weeks after that decision was made, an army of hemp-wearing advocates have managed to convince the iPhone maker to change its mind. The contentious issue, you see, was that it's now legal to enjoy jazz cigarettes for medicinal purposes in 23 states, making Apple one of those boring squares that just needed to stop being such a narc.
We made weed butter with a 'magical' machine
WARNING: This story contains references to the use of marijuana. Do not try this at home -- unless, of course, you're an adult living in a state or city where the use of such substances is legal or, you know, you like the way it feels.
Hide your stash, heat-seeking drones are helping thugs hijack UK weed crops
Criminals are dicks. That much we all know is true. But now these dicks are using heat-sensing drones to pull off "sophisticated" heists of weed farms (yes, that weed) in the United Kingdom, as local paper Halesowen News discovered. Consider this quote from one enterprising crop hijacker: It is not like I'm using my drone to see if people have nice televisions. I am just after drugs to steal and sell. If you break the law, then you enter me and my drone's world.
GPS-equipped turtle runs into reefer farm, gets high-fives from police
Though not quite as bad as toting the GPS module around with you, one particular marijuana farmer had to be mighty embarrassed / wondering what he ever did to deserve such bad luck when a GPS-equipped turtle meandered into his crop. As the story goes, a close friend of the police -- a box turtle with no fear of Big Brother -- just happened upon a pot stash on US park property. Clearly, Mr. Isiah Johnson (the culprit) was heavily stoned when choosing US land to farm his ganja, and now he's in custody until he's "extradited back DC to face drug charges." And you thought all you had to do was dodge those CCTV cameras...[Via TechDigest]
Oh man, I am so Wii Fit right now, I have no idea what's going on
There is no better way to celebrate your healthy and happy Wii Fit lifestyle than by embracing the power of a mind-altering drug. To cover up your dirty old Balance Board, AMR Racing (creators of the Hoochie Mama) has created a marijuana print, lovingly entitled Weed White. This isn't exactly the message Nintendo would want to send to the children of the world, but to all the Wii Fit moms out there? Smoking a joint might be totally fair game. You can pick up this cover from Amazon for around $20, which includes a bonus Wiimote skin. Might want to grab a bag of Doritos while you're at it.%Gallery-4745%[Via Balance Board Blog]
