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Just a few months ago, Razer refreshed its baby 13-inch Blade Stealth with a new design, updated specs, and a lovely pink colorway. Now, it’s the big boys’ turn for new improvements, including updated components for both Blade and Blade Pro, and an all-new chassis for its 17-inch flagship. Let’s start with the 15-inch Blade.…
On Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke at a company investor day focused on autonomy, relaying news that Tesla had switched to a self-driving computer designed by in-house engineers and dropping some big promises about what, exactly, the future of its Autopilot feature and autonomous driving will look like. And boy, it’s a doozy. This…
Airline seats are getting smaller, the wifi sucks, and you’re pissed to even get on a plane. But the airlines hear you. At least that’s what they’re saying. The CEO of United Airlines, Oscar Munoz, sat down with ABC News for an interview that aired this morning. It was at times more honest than usual…
Two Google employees who helped to organize a labor walkout estimated to involve 20,000 workers in protest of the company’s mishandling of sexual harassment and assault cases in November 2018 have claimed Google retaliated against them, according to Wired. Wired wrote that Meredith Whittaker of Google’s Open Research artificial intelligence project and YouTube marketing manager…
Facebook has picked up another government official—this time a legal adviser to Donald Trump’s State Department who once helped craft the much-maligned Patriot Act—to beef up its team, Bloomberg reported on Monday. According to that report, Facebook’s new general counsel Jennifer Newstead has worked at the State Department since 2017, when she came from law…
The European Parliament has voted by a significant margin to streamline its systems for managing everything from travel to border security by amassing an enormous information database that will include biometric data and facial images—an issue that has raised significant alarm among privacy advocates. This system, called the Common Identity Repository (CIR), streamlines a number…
Last week marked Bill Gates’ annual Mosquito Week, and it seems he celebrated the end of it by hitting the Miami club scene. For the last several years Gates has spent a week in April spreading awareness about the threat that disease-spreading mosquitos pose to humans. This effort largely consists of Gates posting articles about…
Up and down the state of California, lawmakers and activists have been pushing a local and state-level campaign to kill contracts with tech companies that work with Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Tuesday in Sacramento, the California assembly will look at a bill that would block the richest state in the country from…
Thousands of users of an app called WiFi Finder, the stated purpose of which is, obviously, to locate and provide credentials for public wifi hotspots, inadvertently submitted their own home wifi passwords to the app’s database, which has now leaked online. Le sigh. TechCrunch reported Monday that the app—which appears to be based in China,…
When it comes to subjects like mental health or addiction, one should be able to trust that an app designed to help you through such a difficult and personal problem would take your privacy seriously. But a new study suggests that not only is this not the case, but these apps are coughing over your…
For tech workers in China, a brutal work schedule of 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week (usually just called “996″) is not only commonplace, it’s been hailed as “a huge blessing” by the likes of Alibaba’s eccentric and fantastically wealthy taskmaster, Jack Ma. Workers themselves, as you might imagine, do not all share his…
A report from The Wall Street Journal suggests Samsung could be pumping the brakes on the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the bendable device that some people have found a little too flimsy. This isn’t the first rumor of a delay for the phone. Over the weekend, SamMobile reported a delay for the launch of the phone…
The Philippines was rocked with a 6.3 earthquake this morning that sent buildings swaying and people running for safety. But one of the most bizarre videos of the earthquake so far has to be this footage of water pouring out of a residential skyscraper in Manila’s Binondo district. According to local reports, that water is…
While you might be used to having to protect against malware and viruses on your computer, security tools are less common on phones. Should you be installing antivirus apps on your smartphone, or are the built-in protections that come as part of Android and iOS enough to keep you safe? It’s not the most straightforward…
Bowers & Wilkins got a new Silicon Valley-based parent company three years ago, and now, the classic British audio brand has a new line of premium wireless speakers. The new Formation Suite starts at $900 for a very alien-looking thing called the Wedge and tops out at $4,000 with the even more alien-looking Duo. Based…
This world is full of surprises, some of them involving anti-vaccine activists, sedated bears, and the small-scale production of literal fake news. A couple of weeks ago, I thought I was working on a quick, weird story about an anti-vaccine activist in Florida who was attempting to hold a rally in her hometown featuring a…
Chelsea Manning will stay in jail for refusing to testify to a federal grand jury about WikiLeaks, according to a new ruling from a panel of three judges at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Manning has been in an Alexandria, Virginia jail since March 8 and has at times been subjected to prolonged solitary…
An awful lot happened this week—some of it good, much of it bad, and a bit of it just plain weird. In the good news category, the Hubble Space Telescope turned 29, New York City passed a world-first law requiring owners of large buildings to reduce their climate impact, scientists used a modified 747 to…
Samsung is reported to have delayed launch events for its troubled, roughly $2,000 Galaxy Fold phone in Hong Kong and Shanghai, based on reporting by SamMobile and Engadget Chinese editor-in-chief Richard Lai. According to SamMobile, “someone claiming to be familiar with the matter” said that Samsung is blaming venues involved for the delays, which was…
After at least 207 people were killed and over four hundred more were reported wounded after a series of bombs went off at Easter services and hotels in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan government has moved to block access to Facebook, TechCrunch reported on Sunday. In a brief statement, presidential secretary Udaya Seneviratne said that…
