Facebook adds gender identity options

In this edition of the Worldwide Wrap, Facebook offers a 59th gender option where users are able to add their own gender identification; and three Austrians replace injured hands with bionic ones that they can control using nerves and muscles. Get the details on these stories and more below.

Facebook users who don't fit any of the 58 gender identity options offered by the social media giant, now have a rather big 59th option: fill in the blank.

Facebook software engineer Ari Chivukula, who identifies as transgender and was part of the team that made the free-form option, thinks the change will lead to more widespread acceptance of people who don't identify themselves as a man or woman.
Via: Daily Mail

Three Austrians have replaced injured hands with bionic ones that they can control using nerves and muscles transplanted from their legs into their arms.

The three men are the first to undergo what doctors refer to as "bionic reconstruction", which includes a voluntary amputation, the transplantation of nerves and muscles and learning to use faint signals from them to command the hand.
Via: Huffington Post

A Berlin-based start-up is taking London's farmers' markets online in a bid to make food shopping more local and sustainable.

Bonativo sells more than 500 products from local businesses based in London and the surrounding areas, with a focus on organic and free-range food.
Via: Wired

The number of people in the UK using BlackBerry's operating system will decline dramatically this year, analysts predict, dipping below one million users for the first time in many years.

eMarketer's latest forecast of mobile phone usage indicates that BlackBerry now has as few as 700 000 users in the UK, with this number expected to fall to 400 000 by 2017.
Via: Telegraph

A machine has taught itself how to play and win video games, scientists say.

The computer program, which is inspired by the human brain, learned how to play 49 classic Atari games. In more than half, it was as good as, or better than, a professional human player.
Via: BBC

Google is putting up $300 million as part of a $750 million SolarCity fund meant to encourage solar energy in homes in the US.

The fund covers the cost of solar panel creation and installation so homeowners will have no upfront costs to dissuade them from going green. SolarCity, America's largest solar power provider, claims it ultimately costs less than paying a typical utility company.
Via: Mashable