Technology news

Google has offered pretty generous trials for its Google Play Music / YouTube Red services in the past, including up to 90 days for just $1, but this 4th of July weekend the deal became even sweeter. First spotted by 9to5Google, the free trial for the $9.99 a month unlimited music streaming service and ad-free YouTube experience has expanded to four months for new subscribers.
Getting unlimited streaming music and no ads on YouTube for a third of a year without having to pay anything is really o

GUEST: News first hit media outlets on Monday, June 27, 2016 that a U.S. healthcare database had been breached and half a million patient records had been stolen and posted for sale on the Dark Web. Later reports suggested even more records had been stolen when the hacker advertised another 9.3 million files of patient information – bringing the total to a staggering 10 million personal health records of American citizens for sale from multiple organizations in the health industry.
A

GUEST: President Obama is expected to appoint the U.S. government’s first-ever federal CISO soon. It’s a long overdue, but welcome, move that means we’ll finally see Washington take real action on cybersecurity. But, in a lot of respects, it feels like too little, too late.
Over the last several years, we’ve seen cyberattacks and digital threats explode in volume and impact. Hackers used to be basement-dwelling nuisances; now, they’re globally-organized, sometimes s

In a world full of smartphone photography and digital cameras, shooting pictures on film has become a niche endeavor. Instant film, popularized by Polaroid in the mid-to-late 20th century, is an even deeper niche. But Fujifilm’s newest product, the Instax Share SP-2 printer, is a smart little bridge between the the digital and analog worlds.
Fujifilm’s first Instax Share printer — which, like this new version, prints on Fujifilm’s 2-inch-by-3-inch Instax "Mini" film

GUEST: Unwanted calls to mobile phones are by no means a new nuisance. But my company, Hiya, tracks call blocking, and we’ve noticed a meteoric rise in fraudulent activity — a 65% year-over-year growth in the number of spam calls our users receive. Just one example: Thieves have bilked some $36.5 million out of 6,400 victims this year with an IRS-based scam. Callers claim to be from the IRS and ask for money to be wired to make up for back taxes.
Above: Share of scam and fraud calls

Welcome back to The Verge’s weekly musical roundup. I’m Jamieson, I’m still your host, and I’m having trouble believing we’re only halfway through the year. The first six months of 2016 were crammed with blockbuster releases, surprise album hijinx, tragic deaths, and quality musical memes. We watched Lemonade and imagined Jay Z sweating his way through the first half-hour. We made Drake sit on things. We renewed, canceled, renewed, canceled, and renewed our Tidal su

In a panel talk last month with senior members of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, domestic policy advisor Sara Solow and chief digital officer Teddy Goff offered a glimpse inside how the campaign grapples with Twitter — and the genesis of “Delete your account.”
Here’s an excerpt from the discussion [emphasis ours], held at the headquarters of tech education startup General Assembly in New York and moderated by its CEO, Jake Schwartz. The ta

Here's an important public service announcement: Sharp has released a new Android phone that looks rather awesome. The Aquos mini SH-M03 is the latest mini version of the bezel-hating Sharp Aquos that made its way to Sprint a couple of years ago. As such, it has negligible bezels on three sides, which allows it to fit a regular iPhone’s screen size into a device only slightly taller than the iPhone SE.Measuring 4.7 inches, the Aquos mini display has 1080p resolution and features Sharp&rsqu

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, had an image attacking rival Hillary Clinton tweeted from his account today with overtly anti-semitic connotations. The tweet, which says "Crooked Hillary -- Makes History!", contains a Fox News poll depicting Clinton as corrupt, and above it, a pile of money and a six-pointed star (commonly known to resemble the Star of David) with the words "Most corrupt candidate ever!" over it.
Two hours after the original tweet, Trump's accou

Pretty much since the television set was able to leave the corner of the living room, companies were designing and marketing TVs to be portable. Some added a handle and a battery pack to be brought outdoors. Countless advertisements displayed consumers carrying them on a hike in the woods, in a fishing boat, on a train, and especially, my personal favorite, the beach. In 1958, when Philco introduced the world to the Safari, the self-proclaimed "world's first portable TV," one commercial sc

Frank Ocean knows he's a year late. Early this morning, Complex originally reported, Ocean updated the website for his mystery album, Boys Don't Cry, which now shows a library due date card with a year of postponements. As The Fader noted, Frank Ocean's brother also shared the image on Instagram with the words "BOYS DON'T CRY #JULY2016." The only thing we know right now is that we are in July of 2016, the 12th consecutive month of Boys Don't Cry being unavailable. Anything more wo

GUEST: Last week, Microsoft stunned the tech world with the largest ever software acquisition – the purchase of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. While early news coverage has addressed plans to keep LinkedIn independent, there’s been little discussion about what exactly the two companies will do together. As someone who’s entrenched in the LinkedIn and Microsoft ecosystems, I thought I’d share four exciting products this acquisition makes possible:
1. Redefined business email

Like many artists, Lily Nishita has been drawing for as long as she can remember. “The story my family told me is that I could hold a pencil before I could really talk,” she says. A steady diet of cartoons and animated movies led her to think about working in animation, but eventually she shifted gears and went on to study graphic design at school. “In retrospect I’d probably be really terrible doing anything else,” she says.Nishita went on to freelance for several

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is one of the largest film festivals globally. Unlike Cannes, Sundance, and Tribeca, all of which have incorporated virtual reality into the events, TIFF has been a bit of a holdout. At least until now. The first event of a VR-related series running through September is POP 01, and it took place this past weekend, June 24 to June 26. The theme of the show was “VR + art + music” and it featured VR content co-curated by Gamma Space Co

 It makes SILICON VALLEY look like C-SPAN–and yet it’s a documentary. Yes, it’s Cryptocurrency!, the show! You already know it’s been the hit of the last half-decade in extreme-nerd, get-rich-quick, and/or libertarian-conspiracist circles. But the story so far may seem incredibly… well… cryptic. So if you’re just tuning in, here’s a timeline to catch you… Read More

GUEST: Consumer interests have changed, and they will keep changing.
Social media switched the balance of power away from company-controlled communication and into the consumer camp — not just in-the-moment, but precisely at their moment, on their devices, on the channels they choose.
But with the advent of messaging and the recent injection of A.I. into messaging platforms in the form of chatbots, it’s more than just communication that is shifting &mdas

John Carmack, the cofounder of id Software and co-creator of the original Doom, once said, “Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It’s expected to be there, but it’s not that important.”
That’s not true anymore, and it’s certainly not the view of Hugo Martin, the creative director at id Software and one of the creators of Bethesda’s recent Doom remake. Martin knows that some action fans don’t want the story in a first-person shooter

(Reuters) – The fatal crash of a Tesla Model S in Autopilot mode has turned up pressure on auto industry executives and regulators to ensure that automated driving technology is deployed safely.
The first such known accident, which occurred in Florida in May, has highlighted tensions surrounding efforts to turn over responsibility for braking, steering and driving judgments to machines. It may delay the U.S. government’s plan to outline guidelines for self-driving cars this month.
Th

ANALYSIS: To date, Tesla Motors has never met one of its own deadlines for launching a new car.
The Roadster, Model S, and Model X were all delayed for a variety of reasons.
With its upcoming $35,000, 215-mile Model 3 sedan, though, Tesla can’t afford to be late.
The company already has almost 400,000 reservations for the new electric car, and must ramp up production quickly in order to meet the aggressive goal set by CEO Elon Musk.
The Model 3 isn’t scheduled to go into production u

"Spring Chief."Image: Harry Pollard/Provincial Archives of AlbertaShot by Harry Pollard, a prominent studio photographer in Calgary, these photos capture members of several First Nations around Alberta and western Canada.Among the groups represented are the Tsuu T’ina, whose population had dwindled to just a few hundred at the time of these photographs and has since rebounded to more than 2,000 individuals.Also included are portraits of the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani, the three “or

Imax has built its business on superhero blockbusters, frenetic action movies and visually stunning epics. 
So naturally, the film-format proprietor wants to capture the same visceral thrill people get from seeing those movies on the big screen in its latest advertising campaign.
SEE ALSO: Microsoft had no hand in making this tearjerking viral Xbox commercial
The campaign is kicking off with a minute-long tribute to popcorn flicks of all kinds — a montage of generic action and advent

Who out there is excited for a new Windows 10 Mobile phone? Did your eyes just light up and your heart skip a beat? You're in the very small minority that cares about Windows 10 Mobile then.
For some reason, the Japanese company NuAns is kickstarting a Windows 10 Mobile phone. It would be a great idea if Windows 10 Mobile was relevant at all, but it's not. With only 0.7% of the worldwide smartphone marketshare as of Q1 2016 (that's worse than the 1.7% ending Q3 2015), according to Gartner,

It’s Friday, but before I can wrap up my shift, power down the laptop (before inevitably powering it back up because I forgot something) and head away from the computer to enjoy a long weekend on the beach — I discover… this. If you need a good reason to get away from the computer, this is probably the best one I can find. Game streaming site Twitch says it will soon be launching a dedicated channel for watching people eat. The Amazon-owned company cu

Samsung's next Galaxy Note phone has yet to receive an official announcement, but the device has already accumulated its fair share of leaks and rumors. The latest news is a set of product images from reputable leaker Evan Blass showing off the phone in three different finishes, including Black Onyx, Silver Titanium, and Blue Cora. We're expecting Samsung to unveil the device some time next month, and these images are the clearest look yet at its appearance.
The device is expected to ship w

Through products like the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap, or Amazon Fire TV, you can now tell Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa to buy tens of millions of Amazon products. So Alexa owners can say “Alexa, order new Charmin toilet paper” or “Alexa, order me AAA batteries.”
To buy items, just say “yes.”
Before today, Alexa was only able to reorder previously ordered items or Amazon’s Choice products — and the little Echo Dot. At this

LOS ANGELES — The streaming service battle to attract younger viewers continues.
On Friday, Amazon announced PBS Kids programming — including Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and new-to-Prime series such as Nature Cat — are now available on the platform.
"We’re committed to making Prime Video the best destination for kids and family programming that will both educate and entertain," Brad Beale, vice president of Worldwide Television Acquisition for Amazon, said in a sta

1971"Speed Up Agriculture Using Modern Machinery."Image: David Pollack/Corbis via Getty ImagesLasting roughly from 1966 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution was a period of enormous societal upheaval in China, as Communist Party leader Mao Zedong sought to restore ideological purity and a revolutionary spirit to the country.The decade was marked by purges and power struggles at the upper echelons of government, and the mobilization of masses of young people to enforce Maoist thought.One of the prima

For all the glorious talk about the future, synergy, and joyous corporate harmony, Microsoft’s successful $26 billion bid for LinkedIn came down to the money and terms.
In a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, LinkedIn disclosed the history of the acquisition process that at one point involved a total of five players, but ultimately resulted in just two bids.
Originally, Microsoft offered $160 per share, which would have valued LinkedIn at $21.22 billion. The filin

No, Blizzard didn’t accidentally reveal a new game or expansion.
Blizzard fans grew excited recently when they noticed a job listing on the company’s site for a director for a new project in the Diablo series. However, Blizzard told GamesBeat that this listing is simply to replace current Diablo III lead director Josh Mosqueira.
“With Diablo III in a good place at this point, Josh [Mosqueira] felt that now was a good time to pursue other opportunities with minimal impact t

I’ll be honest, my gut reaction – when hearing the reports that Apple is in exploratory talks to acquire Tidal, was "well, that would be great for Tidal."
After all, the music service owned by Jay Z, has been besieged by issues in its first year. After a disastrously tone-deaf launch, the business side of the service has been plagued by executive changes. Then there are the lawsuits – both on the business side and even from some of its users.
Yes, the service has managed

Apple has fired back after Spotify took the company to task for rejecting an app update.
In a letter sent by Apple's top lawyer, the Cupertino company accuses the music streaming platform of asking for special treatment while blasting it for "rumors and half-truths."
SEE ALSO: Apple rejects Spotify's app update, Spotify calls approval process a 'weapon'
In the letter, first reported by BuzzFeed, Apple's General Counsel Bruce Sewell notes that Spotify has "benefited enormously" from Apple's App

Fans of Street Fighter V will be able to watch the final matches of the world championship televised live on ESPN, the sports network announced today. The addition of the Evolution Championship Series, a fighting game tournament held annually in Las Vegas, is yet another signal from traditional sports media that competitive gaming is a serious market with avid viewers. The event takes place from July 15th to July 17th, with the Street Fighter V finals portion occurring on the last day of th

BMW, Intel and MobilEye have teamed up to make fully autonomous cars a reality by 2021.
The companies are combining forces and know-how to build a 'future-proofed' platform for automated driving vehicles.
Although the first production creation from the trio won't be ready for five years, the companies have promised jointly created platform-based test cars by 2017.
SEE ALSO: What the fatal Tesla Autopilot crash means for driverless cars
We already know the flagship vehicle from BMW based upon th

VentureBeat’s Bots Channel tracks all the important and interesting news related to the exploding field of bots and messaging. And each week we select the top stories and present them in in our free weekly newsletter, BotBeat. We include news stories by VentureBeat staff, guest articles from leading figures in the bots community, and a good number of posts from a wide variety of outlets. You can subscribe to our BotBeat newsletter to receive this information in you

This week Yahoo held its annual shareholders meeting and, while the event appeared to be sparsely attended, there was much to talk about, such as the company’s sale. But in addition to that, several items were put up for a vote, including re-electing its board of directors. Normally that would seem rather straightforward, but shareholders clearly sent a message to chief executive Marissa Mayer: They’re not happy.
In a regulatory filing, Yahoo reported that while everyone it