Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
In a dark and grisly series of events Saturday night, police allege that Uber driver Jason Dalton shot 8 people in three different locations, killing six people. But the story gets even crazier, as Dalton allegedly not only picked up passengers between shootings, he continued to drive people around after his last shooting at 10:24pm…
Today was weird. Samsung’s events are not something that usually fall under the definition of normal, but today was particularly crazy. See, I sat in a gigantic dark room filled with 5,000 other people while we watched the new Galaxy S7 phone being revealed—through a VR headset. It was terrifying and cool, but mostly terrifying.…
Earlier this month, SpaceX said they were ready to move into mass production with its Falcon 9 rocket. Yeah, no kidding. This photo, posted on SpaceX’s Instagram, shows five first stage rockets in the works at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Previous reports have said NASA is hungry for reusable rockets, and SpaceX says…
When I went to a restaurant as a kid, I’d be lucky if it came with a placemat and some color crayons. But Skullmapping studio is completely changing the art of pre-dinner entertainment with projection-mapped tablets, and its biggest star is a tiny one-inch-tall chef. Skullmapping is looking to get this kind of table-side entertainment…
Samsung revealed its new flagship smartphone—the Galaxy S7—today at Mobile World Congress (MWC), and we were lucky enough to get our hands on the device for a short demo. After spending a few minutes testing the device, it became clear that Samsung can still make a great Android phone. The Galaxy S7 is all about…
It’s a common story in technology. Hardware always develops faster than the content enjoyed on it. Ultra-high definition (better known as 4K) televisions fought the problem, and virtual reality can’t escape a similar battle. So Samsung is taking the matter into its own hands, and yours, with the Gear 360. At its core, the Gear…
Most phones these days are basically the same. A little gimmick here, a pinch of innovation there—but essentially they’re all identical. That’s not the case with the Cat S60, which is the first smartphone to have FLIR thermal imaging built in. We tried the little beast at MWC and boy, this thing is insane. First…
Last night a man in Kalamazoo, Michigan shot eight people at random, killing at least six of them. The shootings took place in three different locations and terrifyingly, the suspect was an Uber driver who allegedly picked up at least one fare in the middle of his five-hour massacre. Police believe that the shooter was…
When Microsoft announced its goal of unifying Windows 10 software across PC, tablets, phones, game consoles, and even Pi-powered micro computers, the future seemed promising. But there was one big problem with that vision: no one really wants a Windows smartphone. It’s no secret that Windows phone has been in a downward spiral because of…
If you want to get Android up and running on a Windows laptop or desktop, there are several different ways to go about it—but few are as straightforward as Nox App Player. Once the emulator is up and running on your PC, you’ll have access to an Android 4.4.2 tablet right on your desktop screen.…
Here are the tantalizing final details about HTC’s virtual reality headset. The HTC Vive will be available for pre-order starting February 29th in advance of hitting shelves in early April. It’ll cost a whopping $799 (read: $800), far more than the Oculus Rift, which starts at $600. For $800, you’ll get the headset (duh), two…
Huawei is known for making smartphones. And some of them are actually pretty good. Now, the company is making convertible tablets too… with keyboards… and Windows 10. The result is the new Huawei Matebook, a device with a striking similarity to the Microsoft Surface but packed with a couple of quirks that make it unique.…
After weeks of speculation, the LG G5 is finally here. This is the fifth generation of LG’s flagship smartphone, and this time around, the phone has been completely reimagined: The G5 has an aluminum case, includes a crazy expansion slot that we’ve never seen on a phone before, and supports a handful of accessories that…
Let’s talk about balls for a second. They’re super handy. They’ve done a lot for humans. And because of spherical objects, we have sports and automobiles. Heck—even the Earth is a giant ball. But LG just took ball technology to the next level. It’s called the LG Rolling Bot, and it’s like Star Wars BB-8…
Late last night a Twitter account associated with San Bernardino County said that it worked under the direction of the FBI to reset Syed Farook’s iCloud password. Why does that matter? Because it would make the FBI liars. [Update, February 21st, 12:19pm: The FBI has now released a statement which we’ve published in full at…
Mobile World Congress (MWC) kicks off Sunday, and that means we’re about to get a shitload of smartphone news. Samsung, LG, and other popular smartphone-makers use the convention as a launching pad for all their new products. Gadget fiends that we are, we can’t wait. While there will definitely be major smartphone releases, there are…
The most powerful tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere has made landfall on Fiji. Tropical Cyclone Winston has been forming since February 7th, and earlier today, it hit Fiji with the intensity of a Category 5 hurricane. The storm slammed into the island of Viti Levu, home to a majority of the country’s…
Early Friday evening, Apple invited at least two batches of reporters to separate conference calls. (There were rules*.) This was just hours after the Justice Department filed a motion for a court order that would compel Apple to assist the FBI, framing the company’s refusal to cooperate as a PR stunt. During the call, a…
Buildings were evacuated in downtown Chicago this afternoon as 69-mph wind gusts whipped glass out of under-construction skyscrapers, smashing them into nearby buildings and shattering them onto streets below. According to DNA Info, glass and plywood from a pair of half-finished buildings were tossed onto streets and blown into neighboring buildings on Wacker Drive, one…
When new drugs are tested on humans, they can sometimes be ineffective, and sometimes deadly. Testing drugs on human tissues, without a whole human involved, can save money, time, and lives. A fast new system that makes ultra-tiny human blood vessels could change the way we test drugs. Someday it could even help us quickly…
