Technology news

There comes a time in every alternative OS user's life when they decide they'd actually like to use a program that typically runs on Microsoft Windows. Typically, on Linux, it's around day one. It happens less often (in my experience) as a Mac user, but eventually some tantalizing gaming experience or obscure utility will call across the void, and there's no way your 128GB SSD has enough room for a Boot Camp copy of Windows.
And that's when Wine pops into memory: the 23-year project to run Windo

The hoverboard craze might be dead, but that’s not stopping the man who started the trend in the first place from trying again. Shane Chen, the man who runs Inventist — the company behind the Solowheel and the Hovertrax hoverboard — has returned to Kickstarter to crowdfund a new rideable called the Solowheel Iota.The $600 Iota ($395 on Kickstarter) is a cross between Chen’s two most recognizable products. You ride it by standing on pedals with the wheels and motors betwee

Microsoft just released its fiscal second quarter earnings report, posting revenue of $24.1 billion and net income of $5.2 billion, beating Wall Street estimates in both cases. The company’s huge acquisition of LinkedIn closed fairly late in the quarter, but still got plenty of attention in the earnings release.Microsoft says LinkedIn brought in revenue of $228 million and a net loss of $100 million for the period “beginning on December 8th, 2016.” LinkedIn is reported under th

FBI Director James Comey will be interviewed at the SXSW conference in Austin this year on March 13th. This would be the public’s first opportunity to really hear from Comey post-inauguration. The Washington, DC-based Newseum is hosting the talk, with the museum’s CEO Jeffrey Herbst interviewing the FBI director. The interview will focus on the “tensions between privacy and national security” and understanding the “challenges to our rights in the age of disruption.&

It was another solid quarter for the search giant. Analysts were expecting revenue to jump around 18 percent to more than $25 billion. Alphabet bested that with revenue of just over $26 billion, up 22 percent over the same period last year. Some analysts had predicted income of $9.64 per share, a new record for profit in a single quarter by the company. Alphabet fell a little short of that, notching $9.36 per share, which translates to a profit of $6.59 billion.
Alphabet’s “Other Bet

It was another solid quarter for the search giant. Analysts were expecting revenue to jump around 18 percent to more than $25 billion. Alphabet bested that with revenue of just over $26 billion, up 22 percent over the same period last year. Some analysts had predicted income of $9.64 per share, a new record for profit in a single quarter by the company. Alphabet fell a little short of that, notching $9.36 per share, which translates to a profit of $6.59 billion.
Alphabet’s “Other Bet

Former vice president Al Gore, the American Public Health Association, and other organizations announced today that they will hold the summit on climate change and health that was canceled by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week. The Climate & Health Meeting will take place on February 16th, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia.On Monday, news broke that the CDC had quietly canceled the Climate and Health Summit that was scheduled for next month in Atlanta, where the CDC i

Tesla is suing Sterling Anderson, the former program manager of its Autopilot team, and Chris Urmson, the former technical lead of Google’s self-driving car program, alleging that Anderson and Urmson worked together to poach Tesla employees to a new venture Urmson was starting called Aurora Innovation. Recode revealed in early September that Urmson was working on his own self-driving car company.
The complaint, filed in California Superior Court, County of Santa Clara, alleges that Anderso

Game developer Dong Nguyen made waves in 2014 with Flappy Bird, an ultra-difficult mobile title that briefly engulfed the entire smartphone-using populous. Since then, Nguyen has released a couple of follow-ups using his now-infamous formula that blends twitchy, erratic controls with standard obstacle-avoiding. His newest game, which has the peculiar name of Ninja Spinki Challenges, blends six different games types into one maddeningly difficult collection, with a few twists that make it his mos

Twitter quietly started an Instagram account this week, using the photo-sharing service to promote itself as a destination for breaking news and important conversations. The account, which launched Friday with little fanfare from Twitter, is the latest plank of a marketing campaign launched in October with billboards and digital ads. As noted by The Drum, Twitter used Instagram Stories on Wednesday to showcase tweets about the Oscars.
Twitter declined to comment about its Instagram account. But

Google Maps has been updated on Android with a new feature that estimates how much trouble you’ll have finding parking in certain cities. At launch, the “parking difficulty icon” will be displayed in 25 metro areas around the US.This information isn’t real-time; Google uses a similar method for parking as it does to estimate the busiest times at local businesses using historical data. But it should still be accurate enough to “give you a heads up on what kind of par

One of the best-selling games of all time is finally launching on Android. Starting today, the revamped version of iconic adventure Myst — known as realMyst — is available on Google Play for $6.99. The port is being handled by mobile studio Noodlecake, in partnership with original developer Cyan, and will feature several useful modern additions, including a bookmarking tool and built-in hint guide in case you get stuck. In addition to touchscreen controls, the Android version of real

For decades, readers repeated the same phrase when Hollywood adapted a beloved novel for the screen: “The book is better than the movie.”The line became a critical reflex in reaction to one mediocre screen version after the other. From old adaptations like Total Recall to more recent ones like I Am Legend, The Golden Compass, or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Hollywood kept making the same mistake. They trimmed locations to save money, cut characters to shave time, and often m

Tim Scully was 20 when he did LSD for the first time, and the experience “was like getting struck by lightning.” It was 1965. Scully had been studying math and physics — on track to do government research — but acid changed everything. Instantly, he decided that his purpose was to make as much LSD as he could and give it away to anyone who wanted it, in order to “turn on the world.”
This quickly became illegal — and so Scully went on to become an undergr

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 will be unveiled on March 29th, according to a new report from Venture Beat that also includes the first photo we’ve seen of the coming flagship. The back of the device is very similar to last year’s Galaxy S7 (with the exception being a relocated fingerprint sensor), but the front marks a fairly radical departure from Samsung’s typical design. Gone are the physical home button and touch-sensitive navigation buttons; instead, a large, curved display th

“He Will Not Divide Us,” the four-year live stream spearheaded by Shia LaBeouf, has encountered trouble within its first week. Neo-Nazis and Trump supporters have attempted to disrupt the participatory performance, located outside of New York’s Museum of the Moving Image, by shouting Nazi slogans into the always-on camera. LaBeouf himself was arrested and released following an altercation at the live stream. While it’s unclear which altercation that might be, multiple vid

KDE is one of the bigger Linux projects out there, and today the dev team behind it announced that it would be partnering with Slimbook (a Spanish PC company) to produce the KDE Slimbook, a laptop designed specifically for running KDE Neon.The driving idea behind the project was to help alleviate the biggest issue facing Linux distributions: hardware compatibility. Where a company like Apple simply can ensure that its hardware and software work in sync by controlling both of those aspects, and M

Exactly how tall is Mount Everest? That’s what scientists in India are trying to figure out.This week, India’s surveyor general announced that the government is going to remeasure Mount Everest, in a bid to determine whether the world’s tallest peak shrank (or grew) following a devastating earthquake in 2015. The expedition is the first Indian survey of the mountain in more than 60 years, but experts say obtaining an accurate measurement will be a tall order, and determining th

The Trump administration’s gag orders on federal employees at some government agencies appear to violate federal law. Reps. Elijah E. Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Frank Pallone, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, sent a letter to the White House today, asking the administration to “take immediate action” to remedy the orders that sought to limit federal employees’ external communi

For the past week, the official @POTUS Twitter account has been linked to a private email address, raising serious questions about the security of the closely watched account. The link was first discovered by a security researcher, WauchulaGhost, who reported similar weaknesses in the @FLOTUS and @VP accounts. Users can see the first letters and associated domain of the accounts by attempting to log in and choosing the Forgot Password option. The account was moved to Whitehouse.gov addresses at

Remember when tomatoes didn’t just taste like water? Well, scientists have mapped the entire genome of hundreds of varieties of tomatoes, and identified the genetic traits that make them yummy. Tomato breeders could use this genetic roadmap to create tomatoes that have the original, rich fruit flavor that many of today’s commercial varieties lack. The future for tomatoes is looking up.
Most grocery store tomatoes are flavorless because breeders haven’t been selecting for taste.

When American Airlines begins taking delivery of the new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft — the newest variant of the most popular commercial jet airliner in history — later this year, one thing will be missing when passengers climb on board: in-seat video screens.
Ninety percent of passengers on American flights bring a phone or tablet with them, according to an American Airlines statement sent to The Verge, and the airline says it wants to focus on providing high-speed data connections and

Whatever problems virtual reality had in 2016, the industry also laid important groundwork, and it’s starting to pay off — particularly at the experimental New Frontier showcase of this week’s Sundance Film Festival. Last year, VR took over a New Frontier that felt somewhat ill-prepared for it, leading to crowded rooms of people awkwardly crowding onto couches with mobile headsets. This year, New Frontier feels like a distinct part of the festival, and the pieces themselves are

EA has provided yet another look at the incoming Mass Effect: Andromeda, with the second cinematic trailer released for the game.
It doesn’t provide a whole lot in the way of specific details on what the game will be like, but it does show off some of the character and story elements, including a look at the enemy you’ll be facing and the squadmates who will be at your side while you do so. More importantly, it looks like some of those squadmates will double as love interests as well

I love all inventions. I mean, people have a lot of bad ideas, but I love the spirit of ingenuity, and I love that the internet gives inventors around the world a place to share their projects. Alright, with that out of the way, let’s talk about this disembodied robotic Alexa head:We’ve seen Amazon’s Alexa API used in all sorts of regular gadgets and in unconventional ones, too, like a singing fish and a coffee pot with googly eyes. Elvia is different, though. The robot, design

In William Gibson’s most recent novel, The Peripheral, there’s a pair of bodyguards who talk to one another using what sounds like birdsong. Everything they say is translated into this encrypted medium, and only they can decrypt it, giving them a secure way of communicating. It’s a typical Gibsonian device: imaginative, elegant, but also closer to technological reality than you might think. When I mention it to Daniel Jones, chief science officer of UK startup Chirp, he says it

BenQ has announced its latest monitor, and this one features a built-in USB-C docking station, a first for a monitor, according to the company. The PD2710QC is a 27-inch 2560 × 1440 IPS LED monitor that delivers 100 percent sRGB color accuracy and integrated speakers.
The most intriguing aspect of the monitor is undoubtedly the USB-C hub, which BenQ hasn’t fully detailed yet. The company says the docking station will allow for laptop charging, data transfers, broadband connections, a

It’s no secret that being on acid — also known as LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide — can make the mundane seem full of meaning, but now we may know why. And not only that, scientists may have figured out why trips last so long. Two studies on LSD provide glimpses of how the drug works in the brain.
In one study, published in Current Biology, researchers took brain scans from volunteers who listened to both personally meaningful songs and meaningless songs while either trippin

Twitter’s central Moments tab, which once terrorized obsessive-compulsive users with a blue dot that never went away, is going away. The company said today that the tab, which highlights collections of notable tweets curated by Twitter editors, would be replaced by a new tab called Explore. Moments will still be featured in the new tab, but they’ll be de-emphasized in favor of trending topics and search. Explore was first spotted in testing in October.
Explore brings together trends,

While Disney constructs its massive 14-acre Star Wars-themed addition to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, guests have turned to a modified version of Space Mountain for their Star Wars fix. Unlike Star Tours, the newly named Hyperspace Mountain is a classic ride retrofitted with projections of Star Destroyers and X-Wings. It’s neat, but this fan-made Planet Coaster creation puts Hyperspace Mountain to shame.Released by Frontier Developments last year, Planet Coaster is an amusement park

I like word games. A lot. When I immigrated to the United States, Boggle was a fun way to learn different words within small combinations of the English alphabet. In college when Words With Friends was all the rage, I spent many hours trying to beat peers and strangers. These days, I start the morning with a round of The New York Times’ mini crossword puzzle, then a few more rounds of online Scrabble before bed.
So I was pleasantly surprised when I woke this morning to the launch of a Luda

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has just moved the world’s Doomsday Clock to two and a half minutes to “midnight” (meaning the apocalypse), because world leaders failed to seriously address the urgent warnings about climate change and nuclear proliferation that the body laid out last year. The Doomsday Clock had been at 11:57PM since January 2015, and before that it had been at 11:55 since 2012. In the opinion of the Bulletin scientists, we are now only 30 seconds farther

This week, Walt’s column focuses on Mozilla Firefox, which is now refocusing on its desktop platform. On our beloved podcast Ctrl-Walt-Delete, Walt and Nilay go deep into the history of Mozilla’s browser, what tabs they currently have open, and the future projects that are still loading.We love your feedback on the topics of the show and suggestions on how to make our podcasts better and more fun for the new year — you can tweet at Walt at @waltmossberg and Nilay at @reckless.

After teasing an announcement yesterday, both Marvel and Square Enix have announced a new project: a joint venture for a new game based on the Avengers. The game is being developed by Square Enix studios Crystal Dynamics (Rise of the Tomb Raider) and Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex: Mankind Divided).
The initial teaser doesn’t showcase much of what the actual game will be like, but shows off a dark future that presumably will be put right once the Avengers reassemble. No platforms or release date

Verizon is considering an acquisition of Charter, the United States’ second largest cable company, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report says Verizon is “exploring” the idea, that the process is still early, and that a deal may not be reached — so this is all somewhat tentative for now.
But if Verizon decided to go through with it, and Charter agreed, it would create a telecom behemoth with a wide reach in both wired and wireless communications: Verizon is the

The Analogue Nt mini is a device designed to modernize the classic NES hardware, with a sleek design, support for modern televisions, and the ability to play more than 2,000 games including both NES and Famicom cartridges. But there’s more to it than that. Not long after the Nt mini was first announced, its creators began taking suggestions from fans for features to include in the device. Today, the company has released a video detailing many of those it decided to include.The list is as i

Today, Facebook announced support for security keys, giving users the chance secure their logins with a physical device. Alongside the standard setup, Facebook also built support for a more experimental NFC login system, the first major deployment of its kind.
“The APIs to do this are still pretty new.”
Security keys work as part of Facebook’s two-factor authentication system, which adds a second layer of defense in case a user’s password is compromised. Usually that seco