Technology news

 How do you make things funny in virtual reality? That’s the question CollegeHumor is exploring with 1600 in 360°, a new video series depicting some of the, um, highlights of U.S. presidential history.
Apparently, Google approached IAC-owned CollegeHumor about creating 360-degree content for YouTube and for its DayDream VR platform. Sam Reich, president at CollegeHumor’s… Read More

(Reuters) — AT&T Inc is in advanced talks to acquire Time Warner Inc, sources said on Friday, a potential blockbuster deal analysts predicted could be worth almost $100 billion that would give the telecom company control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets.
The deal would be one of the largest in recent years in the sector as telecommunications companies look to combine content and distribution capabilities to capture customers

GUEST: Imagine this fairly typical scene of modern life. You are half-heartedly watching a recommended show on Netflix while casually checking sports recaps on your phone when you receive a potential fraud alert from your bank because, while making your routine Amazon purchases, you were tempted to treat yourself to a lavish suggested item. This is hardly the kind of scene that makes for a gripping sci-fi movie. However, in this moment, every aspect of your life is positively bathed in arti

GUEST: Microsoft just released its earnings, indicating it had a good quarter ($20.6 billion revenues with income of $3.1 billion) that exceeded expectations. Indeed, Microsoft seems to be making many right moves to take advantage of a changing marketplace. But what does an analysis of Microsoft’s earnings tell us about the larger marketplace?
Windows
Microsoft’s reliance on Windows sales still accounts for a major portion of its revenues (about one third), although a few years ago i

At some point this morning, one of the US’s critical internet infrastructure players was hit with a staggering distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that has taken out huge swaths of the web. Sites like Twitter, Netflix, Spotify, Reddit, and many others — all clients of a domain registration service provider called Dyn — have suffered crippling interruptions and, in some cases, blanket outages.
Details are now emerging about the nature of the attack. It appears the c

Modular phones aren't winning. Korea's Electronic Times reported today that LG will go back to a regular, integrated design for its upcoming G6 phone after a failed experiment with modularity.
LG seemed to have big plans for its G5 phone, with a nice collection of modules out of the gate and the promise of an ecosystem. We liked some things about the phone, but also found a lot of compromises thanks to the modular design. In June we learned that the phone wasn't doing very well, partly due to th

Much like last year, Apple made two versions of its iPhone. In last year’s 6s, Apple chose to utilize two separate processors — one marginally better than the other. In this year’s iPhone 7, Apple again chose different components, this time for the modem. One iPhone 7 has a Qualcomm modem, while the other uses hardware from Intel. Unlike last year, the improvement for the better of the two wasn’t exactly marginal. According to a report from Cellular Insights, the Qu

Some Facebook employees have argued that Donald Trump’s posts on the social network should be designated as hate speech and removed, according to a new report. The Wall Street Journal said today that Trump posts calling for a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States had triggered an emotional debate inside Facebook over enforcement of the company’s community standards. CEO Mark Zuckerberg ultimately ruled against deleting the posts, which he argued would amount to censorship of

The motivations behind today's massive denial-of-service attacks are still unknown, but the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are now looking into the incident.
As Politico reported earlier today, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that DHS was "monitoring this situation," as the agency said it was "investigating all potential causes." Reuters reports that the FBI is also investigating the attacks. The news service also reported earlier today that offici

FEATURE: It’s been a rollercoaster journey for London startup YPlan, a company that burst onto the scene back in 2012, went on to secure big VC bucks, and now just sold for a paltry $3 million in an all-stock deal to Time Out.
But how did it all start out?
For the uninitiated, YPlan is a super-slick mobile app that partners with artists and venues to sell tickets for near-future events. It’s all about removing the friction, with a two-tap approach guiding users from browsing to

Facebook has fleshed out the Windows 10 version of its standalone Messenger app with voice and video calling. Thankfully! I’ve been waiting for this for months — to be exact, I’ve been waiting ever since April 28, when Facebook launched Messenger for Windows 10.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the company started rolling out the feature last week.
Just like on Messenger for Android and iOS, the phone icon in the top right corner of the screen in the Windows 10 app during

After today’s massive DDoS attacks we’re left with a barely functioning web that’s basically hit-or-miss when it comes to visiting our favorite sites. Hell, even TNW is affected (you may notice a lack of images on some posts). The one solace we all had on days like today is that we can turn off our laptops and instead zone out to some chill time playing Thumper, Arkham VR, or Madden 17. Not today though, dear friend. The internet gods have seen fit to take

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law today a bill to make it illegal to advertise entire unoccupied apartments for less than 30 days on Airbnb, according to multiple reports. Cuomo had until October 29th to sign the bill, but until today the governor’s office had been mum on the legislation. Airbnb loudly opposed the measure, spending $10 million on a campaign to defeat its passage.
Airbnb spent $10 million to defeat the bill
Airbnb says it will sue to block the law from going in

PRESS RELEASE: BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–October 21, 2016– Warren Equity Partners, a middle market private equity firm, is pleased to announce its partnership with Jay Cashman, whereby Warren Equity has acquired a majority interest in IPC Lydon, LLC (“IPCL” or the “Company”). IPCL is a highly disciplined industrial services business specializing in maintenance, repair and upgrade services to the material handling, power generation, wastewater treatment and

GUEST: If chatbots are the future, then texting is what helps us stay present. Technologies aren’t mutually exclusive. Much like you can’t build a house with hammers alone, you can’t have your business thrive with just one form of communication.
Small businesses and entrepreneurs shouldn’t lose sight of the range of relevant messaging platforms that they can leverage. Chatbots are great for initiating a transaction, helping to address the more common asks, and handling fo

When the original Titanfall debuted in 2014 on the Xbox One and Xbox 360, everything was a rush job. Respawn Entertainment had to hire its team, fight off an Activision lawsuit (for allegedly stealing all the talent at Infinity Ward), and create a first-person shooter game in a sci-fi setting.
But it all turned out great, as the game’s fast and fluid multiplayer was extremely addictive, with new features such as mech-like Titans that fall from the sky, as well as wall-running and vertical

Facebook is moving forward with an updated policy when it comes to figuring out what to display users in their News Feed or what’s shared in general. After receiving feedback from users and partners over “recent weeks,” the social networking company will no longer put as great of emphasis on censorship than it had previously. Instead, it will show images and stories that are deemed “newsworthy, significant, or important to the public interest — even if they might ot

A few weeks ago Facebook faced widespread backlash over its decision to ban a historic Vietnam war photo often referred to as “Napalm girl.” The company apologized, and now it’s changing its policies. Facebook says that “in the weeks ahead” it will allow more images that are “newsworthy, significant, or important to the public interest” – even if they violate community standards.   The company is providing specifics on how it will vet im

Facebook will begin allowing more explicit posts if they are "newsworthy, significant, or important to the public interest," the company said today, following a series of controversies over deleted content. "Our intent is to allow more images and stories without posing safety risks or showing graphic images to minors and others who do not want to see them," said  Joel Kaplan, vice president of global public policy, and Justin Osofsky, vice president of global operations and media partnershi

Microsoft is giving Minecraft fans a way to remix the building game however they want.
Minecraft: Pocket Edition’s latest update is live, and it introduces two key features for iOS, Android, and other mobile operating systems. Microsoft and developer Mojang have finally brought boss fights into this version of the game. Now, players can take on the Elite Guardian and the Ocean Monuments in epic battles. This patch also introduces the Add-Ons feature that Mojang first announced earlier this

The Verge turns five on November 1st, and we’re in the process of refreshing our entire brand for the next five years. In Refreshing The Verge, we’ll be looking at how that refresh process works, and what it’s like to adapt a brand like The Verge to a world where media platforms have become dominant.
One of the biggest advantages The Verge has always had is Vox Media’s own proprietary publishing platform, Chorus. As we think about building The Verge for a future where oth

Peak Games has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Hasbro and its Backflip Games mobile division for allegedly cloning the Turkish studio’s Toy Blast and use the same basic game design in a new My Little Pony: Puzzle Party mobile app.
Peak Games filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, and the complaint shows multiple images side-by-side where the functions of certain game screens are almost identical.
Fenwick & West partner Je

The European Space Agency says that its Schiaparelli lander, the ExoMars spacecraft that attempted to land on Mars on Wednesday, may have exploded when it hit the surface. The ESA reached that conclusion after pictures taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show a black spot in the area where the probe should have landed.
Schiaparelli was meant to test ESA’s landing technology in view of a future rover the space agency wants to land on Mars in 2020. The probe was equipped

Welcome to another GamesBeat weekly roundup! It was a big week for the gaming world, with Nintendo revealing its new system, the portable/console hybrid Switch. Also, video game voice actors begin striking, we review Battlefield 1, and the Star Control series finally makes its return.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Pieces of flair and opinion
The DeanBeat: Nintendo aims for the gaps in the game business with the Switch
Nintendo Switch: Everything we know so far
Why I can’t

Google and Intuit have announced a collaboration today that will see deeper tie-ups between their respective software offerings for small businesses.
Founded out of Palo Alto, California in 1983, Intuit is among the most recognizable brands in the finance software sphere, developing tools that allow freelancers and small businesses to manage and prepare their finances and taxes. One of those tools is accountancy software QuickBooks, a flagship product with millions of users around the world. As

If you’re having trouble getting onto PlayStation Network or watching Luke Cage, that’s probably not Sony’s or Netflix’s fault.
A coordinated cyberattack has hit a large sector of the internet, and that has made services like PlayStation Network, Netflix, and Twitter inaccessible for a significant number of people. Earlier today, a distributed denial-of-service assault hit domain name system (DNS) service Dyn. That is preventing many heavily trafficked sites from loa

Microsoft's Surface deal with the NFL made the news for all the wrong reasons again earlier this week, after Patriots coach Bill Belichick revealed his thoughts on Microsoft's tablets. Belichick ranted that he was "done with the tablets" during a five-minute-long expression of pure frustration at the Surface tablets and the technology surrounding them. "I'm going to stick with pictures, which several of our other coaches do, as well, because there just isn't enough consistency in the performance

The fight against dinosaurs is about to get a lot more random.
The dino-themed Ark: Survival Evolved has received a new update that adds procedurally generated maps, meaning that new areas in the game will have randomized landscapes and features. Ark is currently playable via early access on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The game has been in that state for a long, originally releasing its early access version for PC in June 2015. Developer Studio Wildcard has even released an expans