Erotic imagery and curiosity often arise in intimate relationships, especially when there's safety, play, and mutual recognition. It doesn't mean you've done anything "wrong." On the contrary, it shows that your imagination is alive and searching for ways to bridge the gap between closeness and distance, fantasy and reality. You offer me something charged, even a bit embarrassing, and you're watching--will I crumble?

Late last month, a Tesla owner shared shocking dashcam footage of his Model 3 appearing to collide with and drive through a deer at high speeds. The car, which the driver says was engaged in Tesla's driver-assist Full-Self Driving (FSD) mode, never detected the deer standing in the middle of the road and didn't hit the brakes or maneuver to avoid it. That case came just a few months after a vehicle from Waymo, a leading self-driving company, reportedly ran over and killed a pet dog in a collision the company says was "unavoidable." Neither driverless cars, according to reports detailing the incidents, spotted the animals on the road fast enough to avoid them. Video is cut right before sensitive things appear on screen.

The robotaxi is recording me sitting in the backseat, and I am recording it. Someone in the neighboring car is recording us both. It's an unusually hot day in San Francisco, and I am in a self-driving car named Charcuterie, operated by Cruise. Next to me is William Riggs, a professor at the University of San Francisco who studies self-driving cars. The front seats are both empty, and the wheel silently shifts as the car maneuvers itself along a thoroughfare next to Golden Gate Park.

In his new book Slaying the Dragon, Ben Riggs takes a deep dive into the history of TSR, the company behind Dungeons & Dragons. The book, which draws on a wealth of insider accounts and leaked documents, presents a surprising new perspective on the downfall of TSR. "I thought the story was going to be, 'Wizards of the Coast made Magic: The Gathering … and it just sucked all the oxygen out of the room and killed TSR,'" Riggs says in Episode 521 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "That was the story I was expecting. It was not at all the story I was told. The story I was told was one of mismanagement and mistakes and errors, and a death by a thousand cuts, and a failure to expand, and a failure to find new people to play D&D." TSR products were lavishly illustrated, had great production values, and were affordably priced.

When a pair of California Highway Patrol officers pulled alongside a car cruising down Highway 101 in Redwood City before dawn Friday, they reported a shocking sight: a man fast asleep behind the wheel. The car was a Tesla, the man was a Los Altos planning commissioner, and the ensuing freeway stop turned into a complex, seven-minute operation in which the officers had to outsmart the vehicle's autopilot system because the driver was unresponsive, according to the CHP. The arrest of 45-year-old Alexander Samek on suspicion of drunken driving reignited questions about the uses, and potential abuses, of self-driving technology. Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Samek, a real estate developer who runs the Kor Group, said, "I can't talk right now," before hanging up. Officers observed Samek's gray Tesla Model S around 3:30 a.m. as it sped south at 70 mph on Highway 101 near Whipple Avenue, said Art Montiel, a CHP spokesman.

Text IQ chief executive Apoorv Agarwal says his software's job is to spot a needle in a haystack – but a costly one. Make a mistake in discovery during litigation, and a company can face sanctions of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, he says. Like other startups, Text IQ's raised funding to solve that problem. Unlike others, Text IQ is profitable. And for its first outside funding, it's taking only about $3 million from top investor Floodgate and a group of veteran legal counsels in a seed round its founders say could be the only money it ever needs.

Apoorv Agarwal says his software TextIQ's job is to spot a needle in a haystack – but a costly one. Make a mistake in discovery during litigation, and a company can face sanctions of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, he says. Like other startups, TextIQ's raised funding to solve that problem. Unlike others, TextIQ is profitable. And for its first outside funding, it's taking only about $3 million from top investor Floodgate and a group of veteran legal counsels in a seed round its founders say could be the only money it ever needs.

Soon, when restaurant-goers hear "May I take your order?" those words may be coming from a robot. Some restaurants have started experimenting with human-like robots instead of human cashiers, allowing consumers to pay for their meals without interacting with another person. Although many restaurants have allowed digital ordering, either online, by kiosk or on tablets at the table, the practice of using humanoid, or human-like robots, is still in its earliest stages, and it's primarily happening in Asia so far. Experts say the robots could benefit restaurants and lead to wider adoption -- if diners aren't too freaked out by them. Pizza Hut YUM, 1.74% is the latest company to try a robot cashier, in a partnership with robotics company SoftBank Robotics and MasterCard MA, 0.76%, which has created the payment app. The application works only with MasterCard's MasterPass, a digital wallet that allows payment by MasterCard cards, as well as credit, debit or prepaid cards from Maestro, American Express AXP, 2.84%, Diner's Club, Discover DFS, 3.36% and Visa V, 2.46% .