Technology news

In addition to being a worthy successor to 2003's Finding Nemo, Finding Dory managed to set a new record for highest domestic opening for an animated film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Pixar film has so far raked in $136.2 million since its debut last Thursday, shattering the previous record set by Shrek the Third, which took in $121.6 million back in 2007. Right now, it has the 18th highest opening weekend total, and is the first animated feature film to break into the top

Eli Roth has signed on to direct a remake of 1974 action film Death Wish, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project, which is currently set to star Bruce Willis, has been bouncing around for some time — its last set of directors, Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado of Rabies and Big Bad Wolves, left last month. Roger Birnbaum, who has previously worked on (among many other projects) Rush Hour and Unbreakable, is attached as the film’s producer.
The original Death Wish, based o

I wrote about a stress-detecting wearable last week, and now I’m writing about another. Could this be a trend? The Zenta was first covered last month as the world’s first "well-being wearable." The bracelet claims to do literally everything: stress, happiness, and mood tracking; activity and fitness tracking; mindfulness and breathing exercises; sleep tracking; cardless payments; fertility tracking; "city emotion tracking;" Internet of Things gesture controls; and touch control. Wow,

There are just 213 days before Barack Obama leaves the White House, and our 44th president is turning his thoughts to the future. "In seven months or so, I'll be on the job market," he said at an economic summit today in Washington, according to The Hill. "And I'm glad I'm going to be here. I'm going to get on LinkedIn and see what comes up." Everyone had a good laugh over that one, but what if Obama is serious? The ultimate thought leader on the ultimate professional network?
No one should

J.J. Abrams is helping Tavis Smiley turn his new book about Michael Jackson's last days and death into a limited TV series. Abrams and Smiley are coming together under the Warner Bros. Television banner to produce Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and Tragedy of Michael Jackson's Last Days, a "taut novelistic rendering" of Jackson's fight for privacy and complicated life before his death in 2009. (Smiley co-wrote the book with David Ritz; it's being released tomorrow, June 21st.) This isn't the f

Apple CEO Tim Cook is hosting a fundraiser breakfast for House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to an invite obtained by Politico. The event will take place on June 28th in Menlo Park, CA, and Cook is said to be courting Ryan of his own volition because Apple does not operate a political action committee like other Silicon Valley giants. The goal is to strengthen corporate ties with prominent Republican leaders, even as Apple publicly distances itself from the GOP over the imminent party nomina

If some part of your body itches or burns, you’ve probably searched for free medical advice on Google. But an overload of results can have you mistaking an allergic reaction for an STD — or vice versa. Either way, it’s no fun.
Over the next few days Google is rolling out a feature called symptom search, which is designed to show better results on the Google app for iOS or Android. A search that includes a description like "child with knee pain" will return a list of related con

Physicists at Temple University in Philadelphia have come up with a novel approach to manufacturing chocolate that could allow for a lower fat content. Current techniques rely on a relatively high fat percentage — as much as 40 percent — to keep chocolate in liquid form during production, but the new method detailed in a study published today suggests that can be circumvented with the clever application of an electric field.
Electrorheology, as this field of research is called, is co

Netflix unveiled a new icon on Monday that was confused as a completely revised logo for the popular streaming service. The folded "N" emblem appeared on the company's Facebook and Twitter accounts, and looks like something that would come from Google's Material Design team. It's a shift away from the flat, clean logo that Netflix switched to back in 2014, for sure. But the company's Twitter team was quick to clarify that the primary logo (seen below) isn't going anywhere. Continue rea

Across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal, alongside a two-story Duane Reade, and around a corner and up a staircase is the front door of the Elektra Theatre, where Katdashians: Break the Musical has just started a month-long residency. The complex the length of a city block was formerly home to peep shows, strippers, and adult video booths, or as Time Out New York refers to it, "a porn labyrinth," before it was gentrified into Times Scare, a haunted house tourist trap that closed last Decembe

A ‘sea monster’ has been caught on Google Maps, speculates a Facebook video with over a million views. The clip, which originally appeared on conspiracy theory-loving YouTube channel Wowforreeel, combines spooky music with photos a visual abnormality that on-screen text posits could be a sea monster, like the mythical Kraken. The Facebook page for television network RT takes things further, disingenuously proposing the frigid find could be an underwater UFO. Of course, the

Penny Dreadful ended its three-season run on Showtime last night with a surprise series finale, a move that's generated plenty of shock and dismay among the show's devoted fans. Showtime president David Nevins and creator John Logan confirmed the show's cancelation in a series of interviews published this morning, all of which frame the show's surprise ending as the final piece of a grand multi-season plan.
(Spoilers for Penny Dreadful's third season below.)
"I knew well before David d

Do you like tending succulents? Are you a fan of earthenware pots with geometric designs? Have you ever wanted to sing to a snail? If you answered "god yes please" to all three of these questions, then I have just the thing for you: Viridi, a zen gardening game that came out on desktop last year and launches today on iOS and Android.
Viridi combines botany with the gameplay mechanics of a very chill Tamogotchi. You pick a pot, put some seedlings in it, and then just check in every

Tumblr plans to compete in the fast-crowding live video space, according to a promotional webpage unearthed by Twitter user David Chartier over this past weekend. The page, livevideo.tumblr.com, features a programming schedule and a launch date of June 21st, though the date may not be set in stone. TechCrunch confirmed today the images are indeed Tumblr advertising material for the new platform. It's unclear how the company's live video ambitions will shape up, and wheth

It has been less than three weeks since Tribune, one of the world's most storied media companies and publisher of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, gloriously rebranded itself as Tronc. Tribune newspapers were responsible for some of the best journalism of the past century; Tronc, according to its leaders, would instead serve as a "content curation and monetization engine." Today, in a chilling new video warning issued to all employees, the leaders of the Tronc empire unveiled phas

Earlier this month, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote an impassioned plea to the New York state assembly, asking them to pass a bill that would criminalize the use of ticket-scalping bots. These bots — which bypass the security of primary ticket sale sites to snatch up sometimes hundreds of tickets at once and resell them at a virtually cap-less premium — were already illegal, but using them garnered only civil penalties that often didn't cut very deeply into profits.
On

Damien Monnier originally designed Gwent in secret. The competitive card game has long been a part of The Witcher's fiction — the RPG franchise is based on a series of Polish fantasy novels — and Monnier wanted to create a version of the game that would be playable as a side activity in the sprawling Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The problem was that he was already busy making the third installment of the video game.
So he created a prototype in his spare time, and then brought it to the CD

Fiat Chrysler is investigating the accident that resulted in the death of 27-year-old actor Anton Yelchin after reports surfaced that the vehicle involved was among the models it recalled earlier this year for a confusing electronic shift lever.
The accident occurred early Sunday after Yelchin’s 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which was in neutral, reportedly rolled down the driveway of his San Fernando Valley home, crushing him against a brick mailbox. Friends of Yelchin discovered him hours la

NASA’s planet-hunting spacecraft Kepler has spotted the youngest planet ever found outside our Solar System. Dubbed K2-33b, this exoplanet is about 5 to 10 million years old. That may seem pretty damn old for the likes of you and me, but in the timeline of the Universe, this world is a mere infant. The Universe is thought to be about 14 billion years old, while Earth has been around for the last 4.5 billion years. Finding an exoplanet this young is pretty rare, and astronomers hope it

Square Enix has continued to thrive as one of the few successful video game companies that can make titles that appeal to gamers in both the East and West. Last year, it generated $1.97 billion in revenues and profits of $183 million thanks to big hits like Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X.
Now it is coming out with heavy slate of titles for 2016, including Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Final Fantasy XV, and even an experiment with virtual reality, dubbed Final Fantasy XV VR. We talked abou

Huawei has announced that the MateBook 2-in-1 convertible tablet, first announced at MWC earlier this year, will be available in the US on July 11th. The MateBook features a 12-inch display, 6.9mm thick frame, and a fanless design with Intel’s 6th generation Core M processor. Pricing for the device starts at $699 for a Core M3 model with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and goes up to $1,199 for a Core M5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. A keyboard, stylus, and dock will be avai

Former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn ceded the throne pretty quickly after the company's diesel emissions cheating scandal broke last year, but that doesn't mean he's out of the woods. Just the opposite, in fact: prosecutors in Germany are now investigating Winterkorn at the request of BaFin, the nation's financial regulator.
The investigation isn't directly related to the cheating itself, which saw millions of diesel-equipped vehicles fitted with software designed to evade em

Spotify is the first music-streaming service to reach 100 million monthly active users, the company confirmed to The Telegraph today. The announcement comes three months after the service reached 30 million paid subscribers and raised $1 billion in debt financing for its fight against Apple Music.
The streaming service has also become the biggest European startup around, according to investment bank GP Bullhound, which values the company at $8.5 billion. But despite the lofty valuation

China Central Television recently reported on a robot that can play badminton, a technological development that must strike at least a little fear in the hearts of world-class players like Lee Chong Wei, Ratchanok Intanon, and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus. (Yes, I Googled those. But I am not ashamed because now I know that some of the world's best badminton players have incredibly cool names.)
We all think we're good at badminton
What I want to know is: how long do you think you could last against i

Alienware was founded 20 years ago to make gamer PCs. And at the most recent Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Alienware showed off a bunch of new products such as the Alienware Alpha desktop, the full-tower Area 51, the OLED-based Alienware 13, and a backpack and computer that allows players to wear a computer on their back while they play virtual reality games.
Those machines are meant to offer screaming performance to players who don’t compromise on graphics quality. But now the PC is

(Reuters) — Swedish music streaming service Spotify said on Monday its user base had grown to 100 million, up from 75 million previously, as it pushed into new markets and despite competition from the likes of Apple Music.
Spotify has the music streaming industry’s biggest paid subscriber base, with 30 million users paying to listen, but the vast majority still tune in for free with commercial breaks.
Competition is fierce with Apple Music launched just last year and already claiming

Twitter has bought a machine learning startup that can automatically sharpen low-resolution and blurred video in real time. The social network announced this morning that it had acquired London-based Magic Pony Technology for an undisclosed sum, with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeting that the move will help the the company reach its goal of "making Twitter the first and best place to see what's happening in the world."
The benefits of Magic Pony's tech are clear for Twitter. Earlie

Today Twitter announced it’s acquired Magic Pony, an 18-month-old machine learning startup with a funny name.
In a blog post, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey writes that the startup’s tech “will be used to enhance our strength in live and video and opens up a whole lot of exciting creative possibilities for Twitter.”
Dorsey says “Magic Pony’s team will be joining Twitter Cortex, a team of engineers, data scientists, and machine learning researchers dedicated

If you're a regular user of Google's Chrome browser then you're probably aware of the effect it has on your laptop battery life. Google has previously promised to improve battery life with Chrome, but most of the quick fixes haven't made a big difference yet. Microsoft has been busy conducting its own series of battery test experiments in the meantime, to prove what we already know: Chrome drains your battery.
Microsoft has created two tests to measure the power consumption by browsers

Microsoft is providing new information today about increases to the power efficiency of its Edge browser with the release of the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Users will automatically receive these improvements once they’ve installed the update; there’s no special power-saving mode that needs to be enabled.
Also today, Microsoft is releasing benchmarks showing that Edge (specifically a fully patched version of the November update, Build 1511) is already more power-efficient

The Cleveland Cavaliers won Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, 93-89 on Sunday, giving the city of Cleveland its first championship in 52 years
Fans were so elated at the Cavs' win, they climbed on top of a semi truck and started singing Queen's "We Are The Champions."
SEE ALSO: LeBron James' insane Game 7 blocks were him reclaiming the Iron Throne
Once the game ends, the party begins.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. Read more...
More abou

Earlier this month, Acura announced it was taking three versions of its NSX supercar to the 100th running of the Pikes Peak Hillclimb in Colorado.
In that same announcement, the Japanese luxury automaker revealed that one of the NSX model's in the infamous race is an all-electric, four-motor, all-wheel drive concept.
SEE ALSO: Make your old Tesla Model S look like the new one with this aftermarket fascia
This morning, however, Acura gave us a more detailed look under the hood of the sleek elect

Warning: Spoilers ahead.
LONDON — Poor old Iwan Rheon — not only did his character lose the Battle of the Bastards and get killed off in an entertainingly horrific manner on Sunday, but apparently he also got punched in the face twice during filming.
SEE ALSO: The one 'Game of Thrones' death we really wanted had a high price
The incident happened while Rheon and Kit Harington were shooting the scene in which Jon Snow tackles Ramsay to the ground in the Winterfell courtyard and begin

The mayor of Paris this week issued a stern warning to Amazon over its express delivery service, raising concerns over its impact on local businesses and criticizing the US company for informing authorities "only a few days" before it launched. In a press release published Sunday, the office of Mayor Anne Hidalgo called on Amazon to guarantee that its Prime Now delivery service will not add to the city's pollution problems and that it will preserve the "diversity" of Paris' economy.
Amazon&

Football fans often get a pretty poor rep — justifiably, a lot of the time — but they're not all bad.
Just have a watch of the clip above, which shows a large crowd of Ireland fans gently singing lullabies to a baby on a packed train in Bordeaux, France, if you don't believe us.
SEE ALSO: Rival football fans put differences aside for glorious ABBA sing-a-thon
The baby looks slightly baffled by the whole thing, but the parents seems to be having a good time.
The 'Game of Thrones' Seas

This week we’ll be coming down from the high of E3 and WWDC. There’s still lots to digest on the gaming front and you can expect a deeper dive into the macOS Sierra beta as well. We’ll also be checking in on the uneasy stalemate that’s developed between Apple and the FBI since the encryption battle stopped making headlines last month.Our week kicks off with a look at the Kardashian-themed Cats parody Katdashians: The Musical. Why? Be-claws cats, mostly, and because it pro

LONDON — Street harassment is no joke. In fact, recent figures suggest that 65% of all women in the U.S. have experienced it.
SEE ALSO: Why has it taken the UK so long to act on sexual coercion in schools?
But, women all over the world are tweeting their experiences of street harassment using the #NoWomanEver hashtag, with one surprising addition: humour. 
Sarcasm and comedy aren't two things you'd normally associate with stories of harassment, but CJ from Atlanta, Georgia, crea

Tesla CEO Elon Musk definitely has a thing about cars that turn into boats. In 2013, he bought James Bond's submarine car (a custom Lotus Esprit) and said he planned to upgrade it with one of his electric powertrains. Then, Last year, Tesla Model S owners discovered an easter egg in the car's software which turned its image into that same submersible Lotus. Now, Musk has said that the Model S does actually float "well enough to turn it into a boat," with the rotation of its wheels prov

Earlier this year, Apple was looking to open physical stores in India, but said three weeks ago that it would hold off on its plans unless it was exempted from having to locally source 30 percent of the goods it sold in the country. The company doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. Today, the Indian government decided to relax its foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, allowing foreign companies in select sectors to establish operations in the country, including single-brand retail. T