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Google’s laptop-tablet hybrid Pixelbook has been given high praise by critics and users for its functionality and design, but the device suffers from one critical flaw: It runs Chrome OS, Google’s own, underpowered operating system. New reports suggest that may change soon, as Google is supposedly exploring the possibility of getting the Pixelbook certified to…
Tech giant Apple is reportedly planning to prevent anyone who wants to gain access to a encrypted iOS device via techniques like Cellebrite’s GrayKey phone-hacking box by introducing an option to lock USB data access an hour after it’s locked, essentially turning iPhones, iPads, and iPods into sealed black boxes. Officials in the law enforcement…
The Chinese government, in its ongoing pursuit to create the dystopian police state dreamed up in many a science fiction tale, is reportedly readying a new vehicle identification system that will be capable of monitoring the movement of citizens. The Wall Street Journal reported on the system, which will begin rolling out on July 1st…
After being fired by the attorney general in March, a former top FBI official requested records from the bureau citing the federal freedom of information law. However, he was quick to discover that the agency he led for a brief period last year isn’t really that into transparency or the rule of law after all.…
If you were hoping to see all of your favorite Marvel characters under one roof, we have some bad news. If you didn’t like the idea of Disney owning the whole Marvel universe, well, it can always get worse. Comcast is backing a dump truck of cash up to 21st Century Fox’s doorstep, besting Disney’s…
Bitcoin now hovers around $6,300, but not long ago it had spiked to nearly $20,000 per coin. Skeptics have wondered how such a rise was even possible, and a paper authored at the University of Texas suggests a fairly reasonable answer: price manipulation! Specifically Amin Shams and Professor John Griffin’s 66-page paper looks at the…
An update to Microsoft’s well-received line of Surface devices is no doubt already in the works, but news from Thurrott’s Brad Sams suggests we may see more than a few additions to the lineup as a whole. And if the showcase from Microsoft’s competition is any indication, one of them, a second attempt at a…
Silicon Valley venture capitalist and bitcoin acapella singer Tim Draper successfully got his plan to split California into three states on the November ballot. Draper landed nearly double the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, getting 600,000 people to support dividing the state threefold. Draper’s plan—Cal 3—would divide the state into Northern…
It’s no secret that modern humans, with our fuel-burning cars, massive ranching and agriculture practices, and penchant for disposable goods, have had a huge impact on nearly every environment across the globe. But new research shows that even our ancestors in the Bronze Age changed the chemistry of the soils they farmed over 2,000 years…
The Microsoft Adaptive Controller might look like a drum machine, but it’s intended to be used by people with disabilities who cannot comfortably use the Xbox controllers currently available. However, the new controller could be a boon for cheaters, too. That’s because the enormous controller has 19 different 3.5mm ports on the back, each of…
At the beating heart of Amazon’s unstoppable ecommerce expansion is a very basic promise: jobs. When a Fulfillment Center opens, the expectation is that anywhere from 1,000 to 2,200 positions will become available overnight, each providing 40 hours of work per week at a minimum. In reality, the labor hours Amazon needs to power its…
Once again European lawmakers are set to vote on a bill that promises to change the internet as we know it. Experts say a misguided update to copyright laws poses a serious danger to how we share news, upload fair use content, make memes, and build startups. Now, some of the pioneers of the web…
Didi Chuxing, China’s ridesharing giant, announced on Wednesday that early in the morning and late in the evening its carpooling service will only pair passengers with drivers of the same sex. This safety measure follows a number of other changes after a 21-year-old woman was allegedly murdered by a driver who was using his father’s…
The information age has generated far more data than humanity can ever hope to manually process, but with the help of artificial intelligence, that avalanche of data is now revealing itself to be far more useful than we ever thought possible. The omnipresent wireless signals that keep us connected can now be used like X-rays…
Ever looked at a picture of the supercontinent Pangea and wondered where your current address would have been 250 million years ago? A new interactive map provides this very service, allowing you to see modern locations across 750 million years of our planet’s history. This awesome 3D map is the brainchild of Ian Webster, curator…
Cortana, like all digital assistants, is supposed to make life easier by organizing your data and presenting you with helpful information when you need it. Unfortunately, that inclination to be useful can also pose a security risk, as McAfee found when it discovered a bug in Windows 10 that let hackers use Cortana to gain…
The most beautiful game is about to take place, and thanks to the magic of streaming television we can all watch the 2018 FIFA World Cup without owning some insane cable package (if you own an insane cable package you’re almost certainly set to watch it already). The 2018 FIFA World Cup runs from June…
There are currently about 15,000 nuclear warheads on Earth—enough to blow our planet to kingdom come. It’s complete overkill, literally. But how many nukes is enough to deter an enemy? And how many nukes could an aggressor nation drop on an enemy before the effects of nuclear winter come back to haunt them? A new…
Dixons Carphone, one of Europe’s largest electronics retailers, disclosed a data breach on Wednesday involving 5.9 million payment cards and 1.2 million personal records. “As part of a review of our systems and data, we have determined that there has been unauthorised access to certain data held by the company,” the company said. The BBC…
The MPR Raccoon has safely made it to the roof. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you missed quite a day on Twitter yesterday. Twitter users were captivated yesterday while watching the perilous journey of a small raccoon as it scaled a 23-story office tower in St. Paul, Minnesota. Local reporters…
