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Apple’s latest move in its ongoing war of words with the FBI, National Security Agency, and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies over encryption is a feature that turns off USB data access on locked iOS devices. According to TechCrunch and MacRumors, Elcomsoft researchers recently discovered a feature called “USB Restricted Mode” hidden in the…
When Google changed the name of its smartwatch OS from Android Wear to Wear OS, I was pissed. Not because the name sucked, as Wear OS does do a better job of reflecting the platform’s support for both Android and iOS devices. The problem was that the rebranding didn’t come with any new features or…
We won’t really know what kind of consequences Facebook will face from the Cambridge Analytica scandal until its next earnings report, months from now. But Facebooks is taking a lesson from struggling iced tea and camera companies by throwing some love to the blockchain. Investors: Are you happy now? Recode first reported the formation of…
Today, Apple was awarded a patent for an “electronic device having display with curved edges” that brings the dream of a round Apple Watch a little closer to the realm of possibility. Noticed by 9to5Mac, the patent mostly discusses the technical challenges when it comes to creating curved and circular displays, but the fact that…
The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season was brutal, featuring strong weather systems that morphed into severe and treacherous hurricanes in a remarkably short period of time. This phenomenon, known as rapid intensification, is now happening with greater ferocity than it did three decades ago, according to new research. With the names Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria…
Google just wrapped up the keynote address at its annual I/O developer conference. It was kind of short compared to some of the marathons we’ve been subjected to in the past! But there’s still plenty for us to praise—and pan. We didn’t get a lot of totally new stuff at Google I/O this year, but…
The next big release of Android is available today in the form of a public beta release, and you can try it now—if you happen to own one of the 11 devices that are supporting the OS update right out of the box. Before you give it a try, a word of caution: You probably…
Lens is Google’s experimental, camera-powered search engine, but up until today, the service was buried inside Google’s Assistant and the Google Photos app. Lens still isn’t getting its own standalone app, but now Google is merging the feature into the default camera apps on a handful of Android devices, including the Pixel. With new prominence,…
Analysts with the Los Angeles Police Department are reportedly using Palantir software to direct officers to surveil “probable offenders” throughout the city, many of whom are not criminal suspects but have been spotlighted by the company’s predictive technology, according to LAPD documents. In Justice Today reviewed internal LAPD documents from October 2017 that point to…
Smartphones have fundamentally transformed our world but the downside of all of this is that your phone owns your ass. Remember the last time you left your phone at home? It sucked! In an effort to help improve what it calls your “Digital Wellbeing,” Google’s introducing a collection of features designed to make your phone…
Emails take too long. Well, at least according to Google, which is why on Tuesday at Google I/O, the company announced a new Gmail feature called Smart Compose. The feature allows for artificial intelligence to auto-fill information in the emails you compose in an effort to cut down on the time spent typing up mindless…
Google could soon have a feature that lets your phone impersonate people—because consumer-facing artificial intelligence isn’t terrifying enough. Called Duplex, it’s intended to make people’s lives easier by handling standard phone calls that are necessary, but not especially personal. In examples Google demonstrated on stage during the I/O keynote, Google Assistant called a hair stylist…
Is it going to be called Pumpkin Pie or Peppermint Patty? Or how about Popsicle? Well, whatever Google ends up deciding on, if history is any indication, we’re not going to know for sure until the fall. So to hold us over, why don’t we take a look at all the new updates and features…
Google Assistant is finally going to be easier to use, according to Google. Just a few days after the company announced that the virtual assistant now works with over 5,000 devices, Google says that Assistant will soon not only sound more natural, you’ll be able to have a conversation with it. Google announced a few…
Last year, Microsoft assured us that the death of the Windows phone didn’t mean the death of Windows on your phone. Today, the company teased a future where Android users will have the same cool phone-to-PC experience iOS users with a Mac currently enjoy. The Windows phone may be dead, but Windows really might be…
Uber unveiled a new design for its futuristic “aerial taxi” at the second annual Uber Elevate conference today. And judging by the concept art, Uber is still trying to figure out how to make electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) a practical reality. The company’s latest design looks like the Spruce Goose of flying…
National news outlets reported in early 2015 that ISIS had threatened spouses of United States services members over Twitter. A new report asserts that those attacks actually came from Russia. The Associated Press report includes five military spouses who were targeted on February 10, 2015, by a group purporting to be a hacking group tied…
Google will kick off its annual developer conference on Tuesday, showing off its latest and greatest to the people building things for its platforms. But a group of activists want to hold the tech giant accountable for how these very platforms are manipulating some of its most vulnerable users. On Tuesday morning, two advocacy organizations…
Top tech companies are launching a bidding war for a massive Pentagon cloud contract, even as their workforces are pressing them to refuse all military work. In addition to the protests from employees, the bidding process for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract is bogged down by infighting between traditional defense contractors and…
It’s almost been a year since the White House held its last big tech summit. On Thursday, it will reportedly host representatives from 38 of the biggest companies in the US to discuss the future of artificial intelligence and how the government can help us avoid disaster. The anti-science Trump administration has been slow to…
