Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
There was plenty of Samsung buzz coming out of two individual events this week, not the least of which included the unveiling of its yet-unnamed foldable device. Another neat reveal coming out of the Android Dev Summit, however, is a feature that will allow users to continue using Android apps while they’re being updated. The…
Hot on the heels of a report that Amazon is planning to split its HQ2 between Arlington, Virginia and New York’s Long Island City, Google is reportedly looking to expand its own presence in New York City. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the company is nearing a…
Dutch police say they have “decrypted more than 258,000 messages” sent using an expensive chat service, Ars Technica reported on Wednesday, citing a National Police Corps statement that claimed authorities in the Netherlands have achieved a “breakthrough in the interception and decryption of encrypted communication between criminals.” The encrypted chat service in question is BlackBox…
In spite of some public bellyaching over perceived fairness on behalf of several high-profile, wealthy technology company heads prior to election day, the voters of San Francisco have cast their ballots in favor of Proposition C. Under the measure, businesses with over $50 million in gross receipts will be taxed 0.175 to 0.69 percent in…
The contentious and still unresolved Georgia gubernatorial election has led to a variety of claims of unfair play on the part of GOP candidate and current Secretary of State Brian Kemp, including a voter suppression lawsuit and reports of voting machine technical malfunctions. Today, a handful of social media pundits and news outlets discovered that, under…
President Trump just named Matthew Whitaker as acting U.S. attorney general, replacing now-former Attorney General Jeff Sessions who “resigned” on Wednesday. A dive into Whitaker’s business affairs show he was, as of at least late 2014, involved in a business saddled with serious ethical complaints. Back in 2014, a man named Scott J. Cooper started…
An experiment using intense laser pulses has allowed scientists to watch plants produce oxygen from water part of photosynthesis in real time, according to a groundbreaking new paper. Photosynthesis fixes carbon dioxide into sugars and creates oxygen out of water in the presence of sunlight—it turns the sun into usable energy. Scientists hope to understand…
Every couple of years, Gillette reveals the latest breakthrough in shaving technology. That has often involved adding more blades to its razors. More blades must equal a better shave, right?! One, two, three, four, five plus an extra one hidden on the back—the company has done it all. But now, after decades of famously adding…
People have been talking and dreaming about bendable screens for years, and while a handful of devices have experimented with the idea, there’s still a lot of hardware and software that needs to be refined before the tech is truly worth caring about. But at the 2018 Samsung Developer Conference, the world’s biggest smartphone maker…
The ability to put our clothes on each day is something most of us take for granted, but as computer scientists from Georgia Institute of Technology recently found out, it’s a surprisingly complicated task—even for artificial intelligence. As any toddler will gladly tell you, it’s not easy to dress oneself. It requires patience, physical dexterity,…
A Google employee, Emily Hong, was struck and killed by a vehicle in Mountain View, California, Monday evening, according to local authorities. As police released details about the incident on Tuesday, they revealed that the vehicle involved in the incident was one of Google’s own shuttle buses. According to a police press release, the incident…
A litany of screwups drove Facebook to be more transparent about political advertising. But now, a litany of screwups is halting those very same plans. The social network planned to require political advertisers in the UK to verify their identities starting on November 7, but those plans have been pushed back, after several reports found…
There are lots of annoying telltales of a blowhard, but none quite so insufferable as Hublot’s Big Bang Meca-10 P2P watch. It costs an absurd $25,000, but even if you have all those Benjamins in your bank account, you’re out of luck—this is a watch that can only be bought with cold, hard Bitcoin. For…
The U.S. House of Representatives will see an influx of scientists as a result of the 2018 midterm elections. The 2016 election, specifically Donald Trump’s utter disregard for facts, galvanized scientists nationwide. A hundred thousand scientists marched on the capitol in 2017, and advocacy groups formed to promote science and scientists in politics. Last night…
The notch is going to go down as one of the shortest-lived features in smartphone history, but that doesn’t mean we’re completely done with screen cutouts just yet. In a recent patent filing from South Korea, it seems LG is looking to evolve the notch by turning it into a hole. According to Let’s Go…
Lyft just sent out a push notification reminding people to vote. (The one I personally received is above.) This is sort of funny and also sad because it is Wednesday, November 7. Election Day was Tuesday, November 6, also known as yesterday. Way to go, guys. I’m not the only one that got this either.…
There is such a thing as spending too much time glued to a screen, whether it’s your TV, smartphone, or computer. But a study out of the University of Oxford in the UK suggests that the effects of screen time on kids’ sleeping habits aren’t as dramatic as often assumed. Every hour of screen time…
Kirby and I will fight anyone that dares suggest the Nintendo GameCube didn’t introduce one of the best controller designs of all time. Countless Super Smash Bros. devotees agree with that sentiment, which is why Nintendo has even re-released it. But it’s 8Bitdo that’s created the best way to actually use a classic GameCube controller…
Back in April, Facebook was buried in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and really didn’t need extra headaches. So, when it was revealed that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was able to delete his private messages from recipients’ inboxes, Facebook announced it would bring a delete feature to everyone. But Zuckerberg’s special delete button doesn’t appear to be…
For years Gmail has ruled the land of web-based email services, but slowly and surely Microsoft has been making Outlook.com a force to be reckoned with. We’re not yet at the stage where we can confidently declare Outlook.com is superior to Gmail for your online email checking—but what we can say is here are nine…