Twitter experimenting with highlights

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is experimenting with new features on the Web that highlight recent activity such as mentions from prominent people, part of an ongoing effort to make the social media service more user friendly and increase engagement.

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the changes are part of a new experiment.

"We’re experimenting with highlighting notable Tweets and activity in some verified users’ notifications timelines," Twitter spokesman Aly Pavela said in an emailed statement.

Twitter is now informing some verified users in notifications about their most popular tweets, "noteworthy" mentions and "top follow."

Twitter is trying to address a key challenge: how to surface the most interesting and relevant updates that users often miss in the crush of new ones.

"These are Tweets and activity they might otherwise miss due to the large volume of notifications these users tend to receive on a daily basis," Pavela said.

Twitter is searching for a new chief executive following the resignation of Dick Costolo. Twitter co-founderJack Dorsey is filling in on an interim basis and is also a frontrunner to fill the job on a permanent basis. One of his key initiatives is to reignite growth of the service.

So far the new feature seems to be a hit.

Read More

Envivio shares double after a deal to be bought by Ericsson

Shares of Envivio more than doubled Thursday after Ericsson agreed to buy the telecom software company for $125 million.

Envivio shareholders will receive $4.10 a share in cash.

Shares were up 114%, or $2.16, to $4.06 in Thursday afternoon trading.

The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.

Envivio, based in San Francisco, develops video processing and delivery software. And its products will be rolled into Ericsson’s TV and media business, a unit that develops “cloud” technology for TV-anywhere video providers.

Read More

What’s a Smart Fridge Worth? About $60

It makes sense that smart appliances aren't selling as well as retailers and manufacturers originally hoped. When you get down to it, who wants to spend a significant premium over a traditional product, only to end up with a technology that will soon be out of date?

Well, German refrigerator manufacturer Liebherr has a novel solution: a plug-and-play device that turns almost any of the company's fridges into a smart fridge.

The Liebherr SmartDevice is about twice the size of a large USB drive, and plugs directly into a port on most of the brand's newest fridges. When connected, it will provide the user with remote alerts if the fridge door is open or the temperature drops, let the user engage the "SuperCool" function from the grocery store to rapidly chill the freezer in preparation for storing frozen foods, and contact services if any diagnostic codes pop up due to product failure or user error.

The SmartDevice will come pre-installed in high-end fridges, but users will have the option of adding it to mid-range and entry-level models after the fact. A company representative told us it will cost between €50 and €60 when it debuts in Europe—the equivalent of roughly $55 to $67.

The device itself is proprietary, but because it connects via WiFi, Liebherr said it may be compatible with open smart home systems in the future.

What's especially brilliant about the SmartDevice isn't so much its capabilities, but Liebherr's overall approach to smart home technology.

What's especially brilliant about the SmartDevice isn't so much its capabilities, but Liebherr's overall approach to smart home technology. Unlike smart home setups that force users to buy pricey hardware that can't be upgraded and may not even be necessary, SmartDevice gives consumers the option of choosing nearly any Liebherr fridge and adding connectivity only if and when they feel comfortable doing so.

Read More

Code.org trains 15,000 teachers in computer science

SAN FRANCISCO — More kids than ever are going back to school this fall to learn something that just a few years ago they would never have been taught: computer science.

Code.org says it's gaining momentum in its mission to get every U.S. school to add computer science to its curriculum. Founder Hadi Partovi told USA TODAY that Code.org and its partners this year trained more than 15,000 teachers who will bring computer science instruction into their classrooms.

Code.org estimates those teachers will reach more than 600,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade, many of whom are frequently overlooked by the tech industry: 43% are female and 37% are either African American or Latino.

Code.org is part of a national movement in education. Coding classes are popping up in high schools and in lower grades across the country. And those classes may have the potential to address unequal access to computer science education in the USA.

The growing effort to teach the basics of coding is coming from many quarters — theNational Science Foundation, the College Board, Freada Kapor's SMASH Academy,Black Girls Code, Girls Who Code, educators and major tech companies such as Google and Intel — all of which are searching for  the best way to put computers in the hands of kids from all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Code.org, a relative newcomer, is a non-profit group backed by the tech industry including high-profile leaders Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. It's targeting large and diverse urban school districts to address the shortage of computer scientists in the USA especially from underrepresented groups.

If these early education efforts from Code.org and others are successful, Partovi says he expects more women and minorities will explore careers in computer science and bring much needed diversity to the white-and-Asian-male-dominated tech industry.

"By far the most meaningful thing we are doing is giving these kids a pathway to being technically fluent in the new 21st century society," Partovi said. "Kids that go to a school where they do not have the option to learn computer science are so much less likely to have a chance at accessing the best paying field in the country, let alone being prepared for the 21st century."

For years, introductory courses in computer science were typically offered only in private or elite institutions, contributing to a widening gender and racial gap.

As technology has flooded our daily lives and computer science jobs proliferate, more school districts are adding coding classes and policymakers in more states have begun awarding credits for computer science classes, rather than treating them as electives, encouraging more students to take them.

"Computing is the new literacy," says Dan Garcia, a Code.org partner and teaching professor at UC Berkeley who helped develop a course for students who are not majoring in computer science called "the Beauty and the Joy of Computing" and has created an online version of the course for high school students so they can discover what computer science is all about.

The majority of states still do not award credits for computer science courses and most school districts do not offer computer science.

But momentum has begun to shift, driven in large part by growing interest from parents and educators alike. An estimated 10% of U.S. schools offered computer science in 2012. Now 25% of schools offer it, according to a Gallup poll commissioned by Google.

"We believe that access is the first step to opportunity," said Trevor Packer, senior vice president of AP and instruction at the College Board, which is partnering with Code.org.

Code.org is aiming to increase that access through teachers. Partovi predicts that by this time next year, Code.org will have trained an additional 25,000 teachers in computer science instruction.

"Two years ago when we started pitching the idea, we encountered resistance," he says. "Now it's almost understood that it is coming. The only question is when and how, not if."

Despite initial concerns about heavy involvement from the tech industry, parents and teachers are by and large welcoming the help, eager to see their kids create technology rather than just consume it, says Christy Crawford, a New York elementary school technology teacher at the Bronx Community Charter School.

Elite schools in New York City routinely teach computer science to elementary school students, but most schools in the Bronx can't afford to do it and skills gaps can begin to widen as early as the second grade, Crawford says.

That can represent a huge barrier for underprivileged kids. Bronx Community Charter School is 64% Latino and 28% African American and African and where 84% of the kids qualify for free or reduced price lunch, 18% have special needs and 19% areEnglish language learners, meaning more than half speak a language other than English at home. The Code.org curriculum allows here teachers to give kids the equivalent of a private school technology education and kids have responded with "squeals of excitement," Crawford says.

"The socioeconomic playing field will never be level as long as kids of color are just consumers," she says. "They need to be leaders in this movement and that means they need to know how to code in a number of different languages and they need to be fearless enough to try to create something new."

Read More

You heard that right, John McAfee is running for president

John McAfee is running for president — he just said it on TV.

Earlier this week, Talking Points Memo said it had obtained an email from the sometimes-on-the-lam security-software pioneer, purportedly that he planned to make a bid for the White House.

Publicity stunt? Red herring?

At least in terms of the latter, nope.

McAfee told CNBC he filed the papers Tuesday, has “no idea” how much money his fledgling campaign has raised, and he’s “been working 22 hours a day talking to the press and trying to understand the chaos around me.”

It’s worth watching the interview.

But here are the highlights: What’s driving him to run? In essence, he’s a viral success.  “I have a very huge fan base. A funny video making fun of myself put out a year and a half ago got 6 million views. I don’t understand it myself.”

Plus, he’s an entrepreneur, quick witted (his words), and he’d make “an excellent president.” McAfee made his fortune for founding the Santa Clara-based anti-virus software maker that bears his name. After many detours, he landed in Tennessee, and founded  a start-up incubator on the Alabama-Georgia border.

On his politics: He’s worried about the erosion of American privacy and thanks Edward Snowden.

On his time in Belize, when reporters — including USA TODAY’s Nancy Trejos — spoke to him from a hidden retreat where he tried to dodge authorities’ questions about the death of his expatriate neighbor, he notes, “There were no murder allegations.”

Read: John McAfee breaks long silence in interview.

And on the other presidential candidates, such as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton: They’re “brilliant.” Plus, “Hillary is a very gracious woman for putting up with Bill all these years.”

Read More

Column: Who is winning the Apple presidential primary?

After Wednesday's letdown debut of new Apple products, attention turned right back to our fiasco of a presidential primary featuring a host of candidates as disappointing as the iPhone 6S.

While Bernie Sanders tries to convince America that if we just stuck with the iPhone 4, everybody could have Apple equality, Donald Trump promises a world where America is "Great Again" and we'll be able to skip iPhones 7 and 8 and go straight to the 9 from a time when Apple has "Great" new ideas "Again."

Like all political promises, neither is a likely scenario. But while politicians don't have much to say about the future of technology, technology firms do have a lot to say about the future of politicians.

In 2008, Sen. Barack Obama won the support of Apple employees in the unofficial "Apple primary," a race to get the most donations from the companies well-paid staff.Six-figure support helped power his victory over Hillary Clinton and then John McCain.

So with more than 20 presidential candidates in the hunt, who has backing fromCupertino, Calif.?

Nobody really.

Apple employees have barely given presidential candidates enough to buy a top of the line iWatch, according to the Federal Election Commission's database of donations.

Who comes out on top?

• Hillary Clinton: $14,450

• Bernie Sanders: $2,492

• Rand Paul: $500

• Ben Carson: $250

Read More

6 things Apple has yet to tell us

NEW YORK—Even following its two-hour plus press shindig Wednesday, there are several unknowns facing Apple in the weeks and months ahead.

In some areas Apple will be facing newly competitive pressures. In others, it needs to penetrate markets others have gotten to first. Here's what to keep an eye on:

*Smartwatches. The fact that Apple hasn't disclosed sales numbers for the Apple Watch has left many people people wondering just how well the company's prized wearable is faring. Of course, in announcing new watchbands and styles on Wednesday, and indicating that there are now some 10,000 apps, well ahead of what's available for Samsung's watches and for Android Wear devices, Apple remains firmly committed to the category.

Apple's new Watch OS2 software will be available for your wrist on Sept. 16, promising fresh watch faces, more native apps that don't require you to carry your phone, and other features with the potential to make wearing the watch more appealing. We'll see.

Competition is heating up. Samsung is about to release its own new Gear S2smartwatches based on the Tizen operating system. New Android Wear watches are also in the works, with refreshed entries from Asian competitors such as Lenovo-owned Motorola (the Moto 360), LG and Huawei. Meantime, the latest Android Wear watches get a boost from new Google software that will allow some models to work with the iPhone.

*Apple Pay. Expect the next few months to provide a further proving ground for Apple Pay, an area Apple will again face off against Samsung and Google. Apple Pay lets you use your phone, tablet or watch to pay for store in physical stores or and online.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that 1.5 million U.S. merchants will be Apple Pay-ready by year end. And Discover is joining American Express, MasterCard and Visa as credit companies that are compatible with Apple's system.

How big a threat Samsung will pose to Apple Pay in the U.S. is an unknown. But when Samsung Pay launches here at the end of this month on compatible Samsung flagship phones, it will claim one theoretical advantage against Apple Pay—it promises to work in more places. That's because Samsung Pay not only is compatible with the kind of NFC-type terminals where Apple Pay (and Android Pay) work, but also on most of the older older terminals that rely on so-called magnetic stripe technology.

Other competition will come from Google, which hadn't had much success with Google Wallet, but now has a renewed focus under what is now called Android Pay.

*Apple Music. It'll be three months at the end of September since Apple launchedApple Music. That means the free trial period for premium features on the streaming service will soon expire. You may like Apple Music but face a conundrum if you already pay for Spotify or another streaming competitor. Has Apple convinced you to switch and pay $9.99 for a monthly Apple Music membership or $14.99 for a family membership (of up to six)? How many people answer yes will help define the success of Apple Music.

Meantime, Apple has said that it will have a version of Apple Music for Android users too, but hasn't specified timing.

Read More

Cyber breach hits 10 million Excellus healthcare customers

Excellus, an upstate New York health care company, says information for as many as 10 million of its clients nationwide may have been exposed in an attack dating back to 2013.

The cyber breach was first discovered on August 5, Excellus spokesman Kevin Kane said.

Criminal attacks on healthcare computer systems are up 125% since 2010 and are now the leading cause of data breaches, a study by the Ponemon Institute found in March.

Health care companies are especially tempting targets for cyber attackers, as their files contain large amounts of personal information on users.

Because of the rise in attacks in the sector, earlier this year Excellus hired cyber security firm Mandiant to conduct a forensic review of its computer system, Kane said.

Mandiant found evidence of cyber break-ins dating back to Dec. 23, 2013. The FBI was called in and the company began working to notify customers.

Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield is part of a larger parent company called Lifetime Healthcare, based in Rochester, NY. It serves about 10 million clients, primarily in upstate New York but with clients across the United States, Kane said.

Members of other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans who sought treatment at one of Excellus' service area may also have been hit, he said.

The attackers may have gained access to Excellus clients' names, dates of birth,Social Security numbers, mailing addresses, telephone numbers, member identification numbers, financial account information and claim information, the company said.

The company so far has found no evidence of data leaving its computers or being used inappropriately, Kane said. However it is offering two years of free identity theft protection services to affected individuals.

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is the third major healthcare data company to be breached in the past year.

Premera, an Alaskan Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance company, had information about as many as 11 million of its clients breached in March.

"It is becoming clear that 2015 is the year of the Health Care Hack," said Nikki Parker, with Covata, a security firm based in Australia.

Healthcare breaches especially are often worse than they initially appear, said Arun Vishwanath, a professor at the University at Buffalo and an expert on cyber deception and information technology.

"In these kinds of cases, if you have access to the network, you won't stop, you will hit as much as you can. That means it won't just be BlueCross that is impacted, it will be their vendors, physician offices connecting to them, and accessible affiliates all over the country," he said.

Read More

Ellen Pao drops appeal in gender-discrimination suit

SAN FRANCISCO — Ellen Pao, the ex-Reddit chief executive who sued her former venture capital firm for gender discrimination, is dropping her appeal and will pay legal fees to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, ending a three-year battle that captured the attention of the nation and turned the spotlight on sexism in Silicon Valley.

"Over the past three and a half years, I have pursued a legal case against Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination and retaliation. Seeking justice in the courts has been painful for me personally and professionally, and for my family. I am now moving on, paying Kleiner Perkins’ legal costs and dropping my appeal," Pao wrote in an essay on Re/Code.

But Pao remains defiant.

"My experience shows how difficult it is to address discrimination through the court system," she wrote.

A jury found that Kleiner Perkins did not discriminate against Pao. Pao had been seeking $16 million in damages, claiming the venture capital firm discriminated against her because she was a woman, denying her promotions. She was ultimately fired.

In June, Pao appealed the jury’s verdict that she failed to show Kleiner Perkins discriminated against her and then retaliated against her for complaining about it. Pao was ordered to pay $275,966.63 in legal fees plus interest to her former employer, Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner Perkins had sought $1 million in legal fees.

"We are glad to put this trial behind us. There is no question diversity in the workplace is an important issue. KPCB remains committed to supporting women and minorities in venture capital and technology both inside our firm and within our industry," Kleiner Perkins said in an emailed statement.

Pao's case intensified attention being paid to the treatment of women in Silicon Valley and trained new attention on the secretive, mostly white-male, venture capital profession.

Women, blacks and Hispanics have been largely left out of one of the world's greatest wealth-creation machines in Silicon Valley. Nowhere is that lack of diversity more evident than in venture capital firms, which control the spigot of wealth in high-tech. The profession has begun to take steps to address the lack of diversity. The National Venture Capital Association has formed a diversity task force and the trade group has taken a diversity pledge.

Read More

Eyeing iPhone 6S or 6S Plus? Here's how to sell your old iPhone

IPhone update time is here again, and if you have a new iPhone 6S or 6S Plus on your wish list there’s a good chance you’re about to have an extra smartphone lying around. Assuming you don’t feel like letting that pricey little gadget sit around collecting dust, here’s how to get the most moola for your outdated handset.

• Gazelle: Gazelle is one of the biggest names in smartphone trade-ins thanks to its rock-solid reputation for a rapid turnaround and sizable payouts. Right now you can score hundreds of dollars for an iPhone 6, assuming it’s in unblemished condition. Here’s how the figures break down, with the ultimate payout amount varying depending on storage amount and carrier.

iPhone 6 Plus: $270 (16GB, Sprint) — $395 (128GB, Unlocked)

iPhone 6: $235 (16GB, Sprint) — $370 (128GB, Unlocked)

iPhone 5S: $115 (16GB, Sprint/T-Mobile) — $185 (128GB, Unlocked)

iPhone 5: $60 (16GB, Sprint/T-Mobile) — $125 (64GB, Unlocked)

Trading your phone in with Gazelle is as simple as heading to the website, selecting your phone and condition, and then waiting for the prepaid box to arrive at your door. Once you send in your old phone,  Gazelle emails a confirmation that your device was received and your check is on its way. Your price is locked in for 30 days from the time you request your trade-in, so you can secure the highest value today and send your old phone when the new iPhone launches on Sept. 25.

Read More

3 standout headphone designs

Ever since Beats headphones became a cultural icon, nearly every company on the planet has tried to capitalize on the trend by introducing their own headphones or earbuds. Consequently, distinguishing one brand from another can be nearly impossible.

Nevertheless, three recent models I've been auditioning from Torque, Plantronics, and Motorola have managed to stand out from the crowd by offering unique features and designs.

Torque t402v, $400

Music sources are more varied today than ever, from full-fledged high-res tracks to thin streaming music. Your headphones can significantly affect how these sources sound from too high-pitched to too much booming bass. To compensate — and appeal to different musical tastes — Torque's t402v headphones can be adjusted using built-in filters.

In the past, other headphones have tried the tuning technique, but Torque's design is simpler and subtler. The earpads are magnetic, so they can be removed and turned to four different positions representing different bass tunings. Inside the earpads, the filters are color coded. Yellow delivers the most punch, black the least. You also have the option of using smaller on-ear pads or larger over-the-ear pads.

Like most serious headphones, the Torque t402v's wrap the listener in sound. I preferred the over-the-ear pads and found the headphones delivered excellent separation of instruments, as well as plenty of tight bass, no matter which filter I chose. The difference is not as dramatic as you switch between settings, but it is noticeable. Yellow makes the bass notes the roundest bringing instruments like the bass guitar to the forefront. Drums are tighter with the black setting.

Some may find that the different filters are more appropriate for different music. Stan Getz is better with less bass, while Moon Martin is better with more. I also found that the mellow yellow setting tended to take some of the rough edges off of streaming music services like Pandora and Spotify.

Plantronics Backbeat Sense, $180

Whereas the Torque headphones felt heavy on my head at times, the Plantronics Backbeat Sense headphones are so light as to be almost effervescent. They also have some extra tricks of their own.

To begin with, the Backbeat Sense headphones can be used wired or wirelessly (via Bluetooth). Without a cable, they're rated for up to 18 hours of playing time. Music over the Plantronics headphones is spritely without ignoring the mid-range keyboards of pop tunes. The Backbeats couldn't match the total immersive sonic sensation of the Torque headphones, but they were certainly respectable. Moreover, even though I'm not a fan of on-ear pads, I quickly grew used to the Backbeats.

In addition to comfort, my favorite feature of the Backbeat Sense headphones is the automatic pause. If, say, a flight attendant should offer you coffee or tea, sliding the headphones down around your neck automatically pauses the music. After you've placed your order and pop the headphones back on, the music starts ups again. Not only is it polite, it helps preserve an already impressive battery life.

Read More

A Facebook insult lands Thai man 30 years in prison

The frequency with which we've already seen Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton insulted across various social media platforms in the United States makes it difficult to believe that in some countries, this disrespect is met with severe consequences. A Thai man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of "posting messages and pictures defaming the monarchy" on Facebook. The three decade sentence is actually half of the original punishment of 60 years, which the government benevolently reduced after the naysayer, 48-year-old Pongsak Sriboonpeng, admitted to his "crime." The nation's strict lse-majest law, which translates literally as the "injured majesty" rule, makes any insult of the king, queen, heir, or regent an offense punishable by up to 15 years per count.

Convictions under the stifling law have apparently increased significantly since the 2014 military coup, and both the Thai government and the media take the measures extremely seriously. In fact, even when reporting these offenses, media outlets carefully choose how to convey information, as merely repeating insults and perceived offenses could be seen as illegal. More horrifying still, now that the country is operating under martial law, Sriboonpeng and others found guilty of offending the monarchy cannot appeal their sentences.

Related: How do you laugh online? Facebook can tell you

The same principle has been used multiple times in the past to imprison dissenters, including non-Thai individuals. In 2007, a Swiss man was imprisoned for a decade for his lse-majest conviction, and an American citizen of Thai descent was also arrested when he visited the country, whereupon he was forced to "confess" his crimes. Lse-majest has also been used to qualify censorship and government surveillance -- YouTube was blocked in the nation several years ago after a video appeared that was considered insulting to the king, and in 2014, mass surveillance "specifically targeting those producing and reading lse majest content" was justified under the law.

While international organizations have long decried the practice as " preposterous," the Thai government has shown no signs of budging. So while you're in the U.S., say what you will about your political leaders. But don't expect to be able to speak so freely, especially on the Internet, in foreign countries.

Read More

Hatfields and McCoys help pinpoint key battle site in feud

LOUISVILLE, Ky.  — The Hatfield and McCoy descendants came armed — with digging tools. Side by side, they worked together to help archaeologists unearth artifacts from one of the bloodiest sites in America's most famous feud.

The leader of the dig says they have pinpointed the place where Randolph McCoy's home was set ablaze in the woods of eastern Kentucky during a murderous New Year's attack by the Hatfield clan.

Two McCoys were gunned down in the 1888 ambush on Randolph McCoy's homestead. It marked a turning point in their cross-border war waged in Kentucky and West Virginia, led by family patriarchs William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield and Randolph "Ole Ran'l" McCoy.

The 10-day excavation focused on a back corner of the homestead. Archaeologists and volunteers — including descendants from the two families — uncovered charred timber, shell casings, nails, a pulley and fragments of glass and ceramics.

Eddie McCoy had made earlier pilgrimages there, but he said sifting through his ancestral soil was especially poignant.

"When I was digging through the mud and big chunks of burned wood started coming out, it just made it so real," he said this week. "I had to actually pause for a moment. I just could not believe I was being able to literally dig into my family's past."

A 2012 dig had given excavators some understanding of the McCoy homestead.

The team decided the actual site wasn't quite where they thought it was, said Kim McBride, co-director of the Kentucky Archaeological Survey. She led the archaeological teams on both digs.

"We had some suspicions that we weren't quite in the right place at the first dig," McBride said. "With more work, we were able to confirm that suspicion. We think the house sat a little bit further back."

The back corner of the homestead was the area least disturbed by development, McBride said.

"Having this little area of materials from the original house in its burned state was very significant," she said.

In a region slammed by a slumping coal industry, better identifying the McCoy homestead could help lure visitors.

The property is owned by Hatfield descendant Bob Scott, who would like to build a replica cabin on the same spot.

"We're trying to preserve the heritage of the Hatfield-McCoy feud," he said. "People like to get off the beaten path sometimes."

A tour group from Georgia visited the site this week, he said. Visitors from Hawaii stopped by recently.

Pike County tourism officials promote tours of feud sites on their website.

The Hatfield and McCoy Heritage Days from Sept. 24-26 in Pikeville, Kentucky, will include a Hatfield-McCoy paintball tournament, music and local crafts. Across the border, West Virginia tourism officials also are trying to capitalize on interest in the feud.

A 2012 History Channel miniseries about the feud helped stir up new interest. And the National Geographic Channel series "Diggers" will focus on the feud and the most recent dig in an episode airing Monday night.

Many believe the feud was rooted in the Civil War, but the bitterness was perpetuated by disputes over timber rights and even a pig. The fighting claimed at least a dozen lives by 1888. The feud officially ended in 2003, when descendants of the families signed a truce.

The saga even included an ill-fated love affair between Johnse Hatfield and Roseanna McCoy.

"The characters are just so amazing and so complex and so human," said feud expert Bill Richardson, an extension associate professor for West Virginia University. "They have all those human faults — greed, jealousy and lust. Honestly, it's like a Shakespearean play but it's true."

The families now share a kinship, said Eddie McCoy, who lives in South Carolina. During the dig, he said, a Hatfield descendant apologized for what her family did to his ancestors.

His reply: "You can't be apologetic for what happened in the past and what your ancestor did, because my ancestor did bad things to their family, too."

Read More