Technology news

GUEST: It seems like the bifurcation between adtech and martech is finally getting the attention it deserves, and like so many complicated and nuanced topics, it is being grossly oversimplified in the press.
In the relatively (for this industry) mainstream Wall Street Journal, an article titled Why Venture Capitalists Are Betting on Marketing Tech Over Ad Tech has been getting significant attention. While the debate over what constitutes martech v. adtech is not new, the expanded audience for th

GUEST: Consumers want to interact with businesses on their own terms and in the channels they choose. Messenger‘s built-in audience makes it the ideal place to engage customers with new offerings and to leverage the investment that businesses have already made in building a Facebook following. With Facebook’s continuous improvements, it’s possible to run an entire loyalty and rewards program right in the Messenger Platform. Let’s look at an example of how a convenience st

The company formerly known as Snapchat surprised the world last night by unveiling Spectacles, its first hardware product. The sunglasses, which record videos in 10-second increments, are expected to be available for sale sometime "soon." Snap Inc., as the company is now called, says it will be producing the glasses in small quantities. There are still lots of questions about how Spectacles will work — but thanks to some new information from the company, we can now answer some ba

GUEST: This coming week, the largest big data conference, O’Reilly Strata event, will gather close to 10,000 attendees in one of NYC’s largest conference hall – the Javits Center.  I had the pleasure of presenting at the very first editions of this show, almost a decade ago, when the event was then launched by some of my big data friends and idols Mike Olson and Alistair Croll.
Boy, oh boy, how things have changed in the last 10 years … heck, even in the last six mo

Ever since I upgraded to iOS 10, it’s become a lot harder to unlock my phone. Before the upgrade, it was a simple swipe and passcode — a gesture I’ve done so many times that it’s burned into my muscle memory — but iOS 10 retakes that space for a new info panel. Now, I need to hit the home button and wait for a good half-second while my phone figures out i’m not submitting a fingerprint or calling up Siri. Then the keypad appears and I can tap in the code

In the Wild West of VR game development, designers are eager to get their projects into the hands of consumers as quickly as possible. The best way to get feedback on a piece of software is to put it into the hands of the people that will actually be using it, so the advent of Early Access on Steam and alpha or beta preview periods is one of the most efficient and effective ways to get early feedback on projects.
Using these new formats, developers are able to release games before they are finis

GUEST: Mass unemployment, social displacement, political upheaval, even the end of humanity – the doom and gloom of the AI future has gotten a lot of attention recently. The prospect of human slavery to robot overlords has long been a theme in science fiction, of course – but that was when the jobs threatened were blue-collar factory ones. It’s only now that artificially intelligent robots and computers are replacing middle class jobs that the AI threat has appeared on the rada

I’ve never seen a movie featuring either Brad Pitt or his soon-to-be ex-wife, Angelina Jolie And yet, I’m not immune to the draw of celebrity gossip. Though I have trouble telling Brad from Chris Hemsworth, I still want to know what happened with Brangelina.I’m not alone, and there is a scientific reason for the obsession. In fact, our brains adapted long ago to be deeply interested in the beautiful and famous among us, says Daniel Kruger, a psychologist at the University of Mi

Turtle Beach’s Elite Pro roster of products is all about serious gamers, and the company has packed the two marquee offerings in that range with features to make those gamers take notice.
The Elite Pro Tournament Gaming Headset and Tournament Audio Controller debuted earlier this year from Turtle Beach at $200 each, and they have everything you could ask for. The headset features elaborate adjustment options, 50mm audio drivers, and a relief system for people who wear glasses. The&nbs

Next week, Elon Musk is slated to make a big announcement about SpaceX’s most ambitious goal to date: the colonization of Mars. Musk has never shied away from the science fictional aspects of his ventures, and it’s a very safe assumption that genre works have played some role in his outlook on the world.
Colonization in particular has been a long-standing part of science fiction, whether it’s an explicit goal of the story or not. There’s countless stories about brave sett

GUEST: I recently consulted with the US Navy on all things “transhuman.” In those conversations about how science and technology can help the human race evolve beyond its natural limits, it was clear that military is keen on replacing human soldiers with both fighting and peacekeeping machines so American military lives never have to come under fire or be in harm’s way.
However, it’s the peacekeeping technology that is particularly interesting for many civilians. While yo

Our dearest Jake is off duty, so I will be taking over the trailer round-up this week. I’ve noticed that Jake usually kicks things off with a nice little anecdote about what he’s been watching in his free time, and it’s always such a pure delight, but I’ve been in a bit of a fugue state recently, so all I’ve been doing is rewatching random episodes of Trailer Park Boys. Like the saying goes: sometimes the best medicine is a Canadian accent and a lot of alcohol.I als

EXCLUSIVE: H2O.ai, a startup that offers commercial support for open-source machine learning software, last week laid off 10 percent of its employees, mainly in sales, VentureBeat has learned.
Cofounder and chief executive Sri Ambati confirmed the move — which affects nine people, including contractors, out of a total of roughly 90 — in an interview with VentureBeat. Ambati put the layoffs in the context of broad strategic changes at H20. The startup has stopped trying to generate re

There have been countless renditions on the Batman story over the years, from campy comics to grim feature films. You’d think that would make it a space that’s difficult to say anything new in — but it turns out that’s not the case. Telltale Games’ new Batman series started off strong by putting the focus on Bruce Wayne, helping to differentiate it from the many Batman games that preceded it. That’s still true in the second episode, “Children of Arkham,&

We’re just a few days away from October, and that means it’s time for Halloween. Scary movies. Spooky stories. Specters that crawl out of your television and have really long hair. Given that, it’s hard to not see this upcoming month as a streaming service contest: which player can out-Halloween the others?
Netflix starts off strong with I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. Osgood Perkins’ film was one of my favorites from the Toronto International Film Fes

LONDON — When she's not busy knocking the stuffing out of werewolves, British actress Kate Beckinsale is hard at work being awesome on Instagram.
Obviously she's got competition — there are a lot of celebrities with on-point social media games, after all — but between her cat selfies, lip syncing videos and incredibly strong captions, we're willing to bet she could give most stars out there a run for their money.
SEE ALSO: Kate Beckinsale dons leather, kicks ass in new 'Underwo

Snapchat's first hardware product is coming to the market sooner than anyone expected. The company said tonight that it will sell Spectacles, a set of connected sunglasses that record 10-second snippets of video, for $130 sometime this fall. It also rebranded itself as Snap, Inc. — a reflection of a fact that the company now makes more than its flagship app, co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel told the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading…

Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey has denied a report that he wrote posts associated with a pro-Donald Trump group called Nimble America, or that he supports Trump as a presidential candidate. "I am deeply sorry that my actions are negatively impacting the perception of Oculus and its partners," he wrote on Facebook. "The recent news stories about me do not accurately represent my views."
Yesterday, The Daily Beast reported that Luckey had helped fund a pro-Trump group called Nimble America, which

Great Scott! Dustin's back from the future with fashion finds and a hot smoking ... glue gun?
Check out our CineFix YouTube channel for more videos: http://bit.ly/2aeiCXJ5 awkward things that happen when you have a crush on your coworker
Say goodbye to summer 2016 with this video of a T-Rex doing sick jet ski stunts
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Anything is possible, even the end of Kevin Garnett's storied 21-year career.
Garnett — the 2004 MVP and a 15-time All-Star — announced Friday he will retire after 21 seasons in the NBA.
After multiple reports said Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves had reached a buyout agreement, both parties made the news official on social media. 
SEE ALSO: My high school teammate, Kobe BryantA video posted by Kevin Garnett (@tic_pix) on Sep 23, 2016 at 2:42pm PDT
Garnett spent the bulk o

Snapchat may be moving closer to launching its long-rumored wearable.
A video of what appears to be a commercial for the device — apparently called "Spectacles" — has surfaced, suggesting that the company may be getting ready for a launch.
The video was first spotted by Business Insider's Biz Carson, who managed to capture the video before Snapchat had it removed from YouTube. The 30-second spot is light on details but clearly shows the glasses capturing videos, which are then shared

Amazon is moving into another sector: photo printing. 
The e-commerce giant this week debuted a new service called Amazon Prints that allows customers to print their digital photos and order souvenirs like photo books, stationery and calendars. The new Amazon Prints.Image:screenshot/amazonSo far, that market has been dominated by companies like Shutterfly, which has offered similar options since its founding in 1999. Shutterfly's stock plunged 12 percent in one day after news broke of

A black woman has filmed herself painting her body white as a protest against the recent police shootings in the United States. 
Tashala Dangel Geyer, who's from Daytona Beach, Florida, according to reports, filmed the 40-minute Facebook Live segment in her home Wednesday. Snippets have since been uploaded to YouTube and Instagram.
SEE ALSO: New video by Keith Scott's wife shows his fatal encounter with police
During the clip, Geyer paints most of her body brilliant white using materials fr

There's yet more evidence that Snapchat might be working on a pair of sunglasses with a video camera built in. A promotional video for the unannounced-but-previously-rumored glasses was apparently just sitting on YouTube, and a tipster forwarded that clip to Business Insider. When questioned about the video, Snapchat immediately issued a copyright takedown and had it removed from YouTube. Thankfully Business Insider saved everything before it went offline.The glasses are apparently branded

GoPro kicked off the week with a huge event in Squaw Valley, Calif., to announces its new Hero 5 Black and Hero 5 Black action cameras, and its Karma drone, and they all look suh-weet.
On this week's MashTalk, Mashable Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff, Deputy Tech Editor Damon Beres and I chat about the new GoPro toys, the Yahoo accounts breach and the arrival of macOS Sierra.
SEE ALSO: Hands-on with GoPro's new voice-controlled Hero 5 action cameras
On the day of recording, Yahoo confirmed 50