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On Monday, Roku announced a new “strategic alliance” with the market research giant Nielsen, that sees the connected TV giant swallow Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising business—and take on two major pieces of ad-targeting tech in the process. The first is Nielsen’s so-called automatic content recognition (ACR) tech, which is engineered to track the movies, shows,…
What’s the hardest video game you’ve ever played? If it wasn’t QWOP then let me tell you right know that you don’t know how truly difficult a game can be. The deceptively simple running game is so challenging to master that even an AI trained using machine learning still only mustered a top 10 score…
When my brother and I were kids, our family took a lot of road trips. We loved the end destinations, but getting there was a major drag. We had Game Boy Colors and other handhelds, but we had already played the games we owned way too many times. Consoles and desktop PCs aren’t exactly portable,…
The streaming video business is booming, and while that makes it easier to access tons of content, for some companies like Sony, it makes it less attractive to manage digital storefronts, so at the end of August, Sony is disabling the ability to buy on-demand videos in the PlayStation Store. In a new blog posted…
Apple introduced the ability to track your noise level exposure on the Apple Watch back in 2019. The company also launched three clinical research studies alongside that feature, including one to examine hearing health. Now, a little over a year later, Apple’s sharing some preliminary results in time for World Hearing Day. For the Apple…
As praises from celebrity investors and movie deals rained on the subreddit/memestock trading floor WallStreetBets, its two contingents of its moderators went to war, each accusing the other of profiteering off the community’s newfound fame. Now, those beaten in the squabble intend to start a competing community which will act like a “decentralized hedge fund.”…
Samsung’s consumer-friendly version of its larger-than-life The Wall display will eventually be available in a more reasonable 76-inch version—you know, for those of us whose homes can’t actually accommodate 110-inch televisions. Samsung announced the smaller version of the MicroLED TVs today during its big Unbox and Discover event. While the 76-inch MicroLED will be made…
The e-commerce industry spends a lot of time and energy trying to keep the public interested in its wares and traditionally this has involved spending cash on photography: taking nice pictures of your products has typically been the best way to keep users scrolling to your page on the likes of Amazon or Shopify. But…
Exhausted and disoriented, I arrive tempest-tossed on the shores of our dystopia to tell you the good news: Apps are birth control now. On Monday, the period-tracking app Clue announced that it had received clearance from the FDA to launch a digital birth control function that will use statistical modeling to closely track users’ menstrual…
Industrial 3D printing pioneer Markforged is gearing up to go public after a newly-announced merger deal with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) one. Per details of the deal, which is expected to be finalized sometime this summer, the combined valuation of the merged companies is expected to be $2.1 billion, with approximately $400 million…
Joe Biden has effectively endorsed ongoing unionization efforts at an Amazon facility in the state of Alabama and warned the e-commerce giant that its efforts to shut down the drive must involve “no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda.” Workers for Amazon have long complained of everything from grueling hours and quotas in…
It appears the smallest design from Apple’s 2020’s phones may stick around for the iPhone 13, after all. That’s just one of several predictions about the next generation of iPhones from noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. According to an investor note obtained and reported by 9to5Mac on Monday, Kuo stated that we may see “four…
As we watched NASA put a rover on Mars last month, it definitely seemed like the agency had to be using some sort of high-tech processor in its machine. Surely the rover is built on something much more powerful than the components in devices us civilians use, right? But while NASA is technically using a…
Instagram is expanding its livestreaming offerings with a new feature dubbed Live Rooms, which is just like Instagram Live but with up to three more people haphazardly broadcasting their thoughts into the world simultaneously. Instagram’s Live Rooms add to the increasingly crowded livestreaming space, which includes everything from Twitch to TikTok, to audio-only Clubhouse and…
For Netflix binge-watchers who may be concerned that a giant TV would overwhelm their living room’s vibe, fear not: The 165-inch C SEED M1 is a massive folding display that completely disappears into the floor when not in use. Unfortunately, installation looks like a giant pain—and that’s assuming you survive the sticker shock. Unlike companies…
The hacktivist collective Distributed Denial of Secrets—which recently came under fire for leaking one of the largest repositories of law enforcement documents ever recorded—is back with another high profile data-dump. This time, the group claims to have gotten its hands on a whopping 70-gigabyte dataset from Gab, the far-right social network that became one of…
Google’s regular software updates have become one of the best parts about its Pixel phones. I admit this month’s new feature drop isn’t a game-changer, but it does comes with some handy new additions for underwater shooting, the Recorder app, adaptability, and more. For people hoping to take their Pixel on bigger (deeper?) adventures, Google…
If you thought wearable devices were limited to smartwatches and AR glasses, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In a few years we could be all covered from head to toe in smart stickers, starting with a new patch from Gatorade that can let you know if you’re staying properly hydrated. Developed by a startup…
“I was impressed that it only took four years,” Danielle, self-identified ex-cult member, 34, said on a phone call. This was a few days after Joe Biden’s inauguration, and we were talking about the previous week of SOS social media posts from wide-eyed QAnon followers, like a TikToker propped up on a pillow, pleading, like…
The middle of a pandemic might not seem like a great time to expand a fleet of shared transportation gadgets, but Lime is pushing ahead anyway with a new e-bike that runs on the same battery packs used in its scooters. As part of a $50 million plan to build out its bike-sharing service, Lime…
