Technology news

As a social network dedicated to improving the economic and professional status of its members, LinkedIn constantly looks to help people land their dream job and move up in the world. This includes people no matter where they come from or background, namely refugees.
In February, the company launched a program called Welcome Talent with the aim of connecting refugees to internships in their host country. It quickly expanded from Sweden to Canada in a matter of months. And on Sunday, LinkedI

Elizabeth Nieves is looking for a job. And, so is her chatbot.
On Facebook, you can send a message to the Hire Eli bot and learn about Nieves’ skills and experience. There’s a photo, and the bot can tell a joke. You can click a button to find out where she has worked and learn about her education. At this point, the bot is not that advanced. You can’t engage in a discussion about Nieves’ previous positions or work experience. When I tested the bot, I asked “what hav

After his failure to denounce President Trump’s immigration ban was met with a scorching #DeleteUber campaign, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick today vowed to set up a $3 million legal defense fund for affected drivers, in addition to other promises. He also lightly criticized the ban, calling it “unjust.”
“At Uber we’ve always believed in standing up for what’s right,” Kalanick wrote on Facebook. “Today we need your help supporting drivers who may be impa

Yesterday, Elon Musk responded to President Donald Trump’s executive order regarding an immigration ban, saying that it was “not the best way to address the country’s challenges.” Following up with a Tweet today, he urged his followers to read the order, and asked for specific amendments, saying that he would “seek advisory council consensus” and would present the recommendations to the President.
Please read immigration order. Lmk specific amendments. Will se

GUEST: Computer vision and image recognition are integral parts of artificial intelligence (AI), which has quickly gone from niche to mainstream in the past few years. And nowhere was this more evident than at CES 2017 earlier this month. From a few days of wandering the floor, here are some of the coolest new uses of computer vision.
1. Self-driving cars
The biggest displays of computer vision are coming from the automotive industry, because computer vision, after all, is one of the central ena

On Saturday, Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick voiced his concern about the immigration ban imposed by the Trump administration and that he would bring this issue up to the president when meeting later this week. He also highlighted steps the on-demand ride sharing service would be taking to protect its drivers. The day after receiving criticism from the press and customers, Uber has revealed more details.
In an email being sent to drivers, Kalanick shared that beyond providing compensation t

We are cautiously optimistic for October’s Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to Ridley Scott’s classic science fiction film. While we wait, a trailer for a Blade Runner fanfilm from a group of Croatian filmmakers is just the thing to tide us over.Slice of Life will be a short science fiction film set in the world of Blade Runner. The film is a passion project directed by Luka Hrgović, along with a group of friends, Dino Julius (director of photography and producer), Anton Svetić

Thomas and John Knoll, two brothers, aren’t the best-known people in Silicon Valley. But they’re the inventors of software that is used by millions today. They created Photoshop in 1988, and sold the program to Adobe Systems in 1989.
Their story is told in one of the new exhibits at the Computer History Museum, a museum in Mountain View dedicated to the preservation of the artifacts of the computer age. On Saturday, the museum opened a new exhibition to the public: “M

GUEST: A number of technology businesses like Salesforce.com, Slack, and HubSpot have recently generated headlines for their efforts to foster employee equality and diversity. Salesforce.com has received kudos for trying to normalize its gender wage gap and instituting a rule requiring all internal company meetings to include at least one woman. HubSpot has instituted a diversity candidate interview quota for senior hires. And, Slack’s CEO, Stewart Butterfield, takes the aggressive approac

 Health tech investments have been red hot the last few years, but Rob Coppedge, the CEO of Echo Health Ventures says while the industry isn’t going to pop, it is a slowly deflating bubble. Echo Health is the recent creation of Cambia Health and Mosaic Health, the investment arm of Blue Cross Blue Shield and has a long-term strategy in the health investment space. Coppedge has been in… Read More

Lyft wants to do its part to help the world be more “diverse, inclusive, and safe,” which is why in the aftermath of an imposed immigration ban by the U.S. government, the on-demand ride service said it will donate $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) over the next four years.
“Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft’s and our nation’s core values,

GUEST: The game development industry has been going through a lot of change, and there is more to come. The dramatic growth in indie games and developers — including hits like Minecraft and Bastion — has cleaved the game industry in two. There are larger audiences than ever for smaller, more experimental games like Her Story, and gamers haven’t stopped desiring more polished triple-A experiences like Battlefield 1, but the middle market has largely dissipated. Unfortu

Last night, a Federal District court issued an emergency stay on deportations for passengers affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries. Since that first decision, three other courts have issued their own rulings, putting a halt to deportations for those detained at airports across the country.Despite the rulings, there appears to be some uncertainty surrounding the judicial orders. The New York Post reports that some c

Last night, a Federal District court issued an emergency stay on deportations for passengers affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries. Since that first decision, three other courts have issued their own rulings, putting a halt to deportations for those detained at airports across the country.Despite the rulings, there appears to be some uncertainty surrounding the judicial orders. The New York Post reports that some c

The Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed a heavily redacted report on its investigation into the #GamerGate controversy, where female game developers and critics received multiple death threats for being outspoken about diversity issues.
The FBI released the 173-page report under a Freedom of Information Act request, but most of the details, including the identity of people who were either victims or alleged online harassers, were redacted. But the report clearly shows that the FBI didn

NASA has yet to release the official result of its Twins study — a genetic experiment involving twin astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly to better understand the effects of long-term spaceflight on the human body. But early findings are already taking researchers by surprise, indicating that living in space drastically changes a person’s biology and even gene expression, Nature reports.
Between 2015 and 2016, Scott spent 340 consecutive days onboard the International Space Station, while

GUEST: Most investors would jump at the chance to go back in time and invest in a sure thing. Imagine having the opportunity to time travel to China in 2007 or 2008 to make an early-stage stake investment in a startup like Alibaba, now a publicly-traded online giant valued at more than $250 billion.
For venture capitalists seeking a similar opportunity, Indonesia could be the answer. That’s why I moved to Jakarta in 2014, after years working as a tech entrepreneur in China, to set up a VC

ANALYSIS: Perhaps the tech industry is at last finding its voice — or not.
President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on Friday halting travelers and immigrants from certain predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States prompted strong reactions from the ACLU and many groups across America. Yesterday a federal judge issued a stay, blocking the Executive Order. The judge concluded, “There is imminent danger that, absent the stay of removal, there wi

Have you heard rumors that your favorite actress Drew Barrymore is starring in a mysterious new television program called Santa Clarita Diet? Or have you heard a less complete rumor that your favorite actress Drew Barrymore is starring in a new television program and blood is somehow involved? Both are true! If you’re dedicated to Drew’s career, or even just dedicated to knowing as much as possible about every new blood-and-guts-related thing (okay, weirdo!), I have the explainer for

Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft has broken all the records in the history books for massively multiplayer online games. So it’s only fitting that the fantasy role-playing game has its own display at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.
On Saturday, the museum opened a new exhibition to the public: “Make Software: Change the World!” The exhibition’s goal is to show how software engineers, programmers, and other innovators have changed

When Carlos Mastrangelo hit his early 50s, he started suffering from a vision problem many people have as they age: he couldn’t focus up close anymore and so, his eye doctor told him, he needed to wear glasses whenever he wanted to read a book.“I kept asking myself why I am being treated with technology developed by Benjamin Franklin,” Mastrangelo wrote in an email to The Verge. “I don't live in the 18th century.”
But the most annoying thing was that he had to take

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively banning entry to the United States for citizens from certain Muslim-majority countries. The ban could have massive ramifications for science, and scientists — like computational biologist Samira Asgari, for example, who was stopped from boarding a flight in Frankfurt on Saturday morning. She was heading to Boston, and her new job at Harvard Medical School.The ban could have massive ramifications for science and scienti

Following wide-spread protests over President Donald Trump’s executive orders banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries on yesterday, a number of prominent tech CEOs have offered responses ranging from strong to tepid. The founders of ride-share company Lyft have offered their response in the form of a million dollar donation to the American Civil Liberties Union.In an e-mail from Lyft to users, the company noted that the executive orders are “antithetical to both Lyft

GUEST: My company, Forward – a human capital solutions company focused on talent acquisition and development for innovation leaders conducted a survey directed to founders of augmented reality and virtual reality technology companies. The purpose, to get a snapshot picture of talent attitudes and trends. The goal, the help give some visibility to the industry to move forward. Out of the hundreds of international VR and AR companies, 70 founders responded to the survey.
Here are the top tre

What Kal Penn calls turning bigotry into love is a powerful force indeed. 
The actor flipped a vile social media comment on its head Saturday, using the message of hate to rally support for Syrian refugees to the tune of $50,000. 
SEE ALSO: Hollywood rallies to support Iranian Asghar Farhadi, barred from Oscars by Muslim ban
Penn shared a screenshot of what appeared to be an Instagram comment in which someone said "you don't belong in this country you fucking joke." He linked to a crow

Links to President Donald Trump are shaping up to be a liability for Silicon Valley's golden boys. Case in point: Uber. 
The hashtag #DeleteUber has been spreading on social media amid protests against Trump's Muslim travel ban. The ride hailing service was accused of "strike breaking" in New York Saturday, while others condemned remarks made by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick indicating he would work with the president. 
In a statement, Kalanick said the "ban will impact many innocent people

Ann Crady Weiss, the niece of former Intel CEO Andy Grove, spoke out on behalf of immigrants in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel to the U.S. by immigrants from seven predominately Muslim countries.
Crady Weiss’ story on NewCo Shift is yet another sign that the tech community is at odds with Trump on immigration policy. It also shows what one generation can learn from the hardships of the previous generation. Crady Weiss is a venture partner at

Notorious hacker group OurMine is back at it, hacking social media profiles to let the world know just how easy it can be to get inside an account. 
This time, the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) group is at the receiving end. 
SEE ALSO: OurMine just combined hacking and debunking to dispel a fake Britney Spears death tweet
Several Twitter accounts affiliated with WWE, including those of WWE Universe, WWE NXT, wrestler and celebrity John Cena, WrestleMania, WWE Network and Summer S

Game developers around the world are protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s order banning refugees and barring citizens from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days.
Leaders, such as Google cofounder Sergey Brin, are protesting at American airports, where the bans are being enforced. And game developers are joining in the fray as well. And, in an emergency stay issued on Saturday night, a federal judge blocked part of Trum

Amazon has advised employees from countries affected by President Donald Trump’s temporary immigration ban from seven majority-Muslim nations to avoid traveling outside the United States, andis working on “contingency plans” for those who are currently abroad, according to an email provided to The Verge.
Unlike some other major tech companies, Amazon has not issued a high-level public condemnation of Trump’s recent executive order, which has been contested by judges in Ne

The Computer History Museum wanted to show the life and death impact software can have on the world and chose to illustrate that with a display dedicated to automobile crash testing.
On Saturday, the museum opened a new exhibition to the public: “Make Software: Change the World!” The $7 million exhibition’s goal is to show how software engineers, programmers, and other innovators have changed the world with software. It’s designed for ages 10 and up.
The whole exhibit was

Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and president of Alphabet, joined protesters at San Francisco International Airport tonight as demonstrators assembled at airports across the country in opposition to President Trump’s immigration order. When asked for comment by The Verge, Brin said he was attending “in a personal capacity” and would not be giving comment. But Forbes’s Ryan Mac did catch Brin elaborating slightly — reportedly saying “I’m here because I&rsq

Airbnb said it will help those affected by Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban on Saturday, but is yet to share the fine print.
The company's cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky wrote on Facebook that Airbnb will provide free housing to refugees and people not in their home city who are denied the ability to board flights.
"We have 3M homes, so we can definitely find people a place to stay," he wrote, asking people to reach out to him via his personal email.
SEE ALSO: Airport protests against Muslim ban

GUEST: If you’re not already paying close attention to the esports sector, then you most likely can’t appreciate how this industry is changing the shape of spectator sports.
A layperson will wonder who would want to stare at a digital screen, passively watching others play video games. But “passive” has nothing to do with it, and competitive gaming is likely the least passive spectator sport to ever exist.
Millennials, who are more or less half the esports population, are

Organising on social media under the hashtag #MuslimBan, Americans gathered at airports across the country Saturday to protest President Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslim immigrants.
Trump signed the executive order Friday, which included a 90-day travel ban for citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen, as well as a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee program.  The move threw lives immediately into chaos, cancelling the travel plans of approved refugees and seeing

GUEST: One of the biggest emerging technologies of 2016 was artificial intelligence (AI), with chatbots (or just ‘bots’) on the back of it. We saw the release of Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, quickly followed by Google Home, and Microsoft released its Bot Framework.
It felt like every day some tech giant or bootstrapped startup was announcing something new.
But did the hype of 2016 detract from a larger, more fundamental trend? A trend that started with SMS text messaging and

The federal court for the Eastern District of New York issued an emergency stay halting President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries tonight, following widespread protests at airports around the country.
Stay is granted— Dale Ho (@dale_e_ho) January 29, 2017The court ruled on a habeas corpus petition filed by the ACLU on behalf of Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, who were denied entry to the US upon landin

Airlines are perhaps the companies most directly affected by the order to ban citizens of seven countries from entry into the United States, even those with previously valid visas or US green cards.
The airlines have no choice but to cooperate with US Customs and Border Patrol instructions, even as they deal with passengers and, surely, employees who can no longer enter the United States.
The Verge has reached out to a number of airlines to get comment and we will be updating this post as we hea

Four Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams battled at the ELeague Major semifinals Saturday, with Astralis taking on Fnatic and Virtus.pro going up against SK Gaming in two intense fights for coveted spots in the finals.
To kick off the semis, Astralis closed out the best-of-three match against Fnatic with a 2-0 victory, handling Fnatic with ease on the second map, Nuke. Virtus.pro beat SK Gaming 2-0 as well, securing a spot against Astralis in Sunday's finals.
Throughout the four games, all fo

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has joined the tech chorus opposing President Donald Trump’s seven-country ban on immigration. In a two-part tweetstorm, Musk said the orders are “not the best way to address the country’s challenges” and that “many people” affected “don’t deserve to be rejected.”
The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges— Elon Musk (@elonmu

The Williams-on-Williams final at the Australian Open Saturday was quite the event. Not only did Serena Williams beat her sister Venus to secure an open-era record for Grand Slam singles titles, she also reminded us of the power of sisterly love. 
After her victory, she shared a sweet picture of her and Venus on Instagram: "The top is never lonely when [you're] best friend @venuswilliams is there. Here's to #23. What a night for our family."
Truly, we are too blessed.
SEE ALSO: Serena Willi

GUEST: The Internet of Things has created a new market in the automotive industry, one which is showing no signs of slowing down. Connected cars and their associated services are expected to grow from $13.6 to over $42 billion by 2022.
A glimpse of our collective future can be seen in Cadillac’s Book by Cadillac entrance — a service providing on-demand, luxury, lifestyle-driven vehicles by subscription. The $1,500 per month service will allow members to swap out different models

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance called for a temporary ban on pick-ups at John F. Kennedy Airport as a protest against President Trump’s ban on refugees from seven Muslim-dominated countries. The alliance, which represents a wide swath of yellow taxi drivers in New York City, called for a temporary stoppage of pick-ups and drop-offs at JFK between 6-7 PM on Saturday.No cabs in this line at JFK terminal 4. #NoBanNoWall #RefugeesWelcome pic.twitter.com/ZX5BycRTie— NY Taxi Workers (@

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance called for a temporary ban on pick-ups at John F. Kennedy Airport as a protest against President Trump’s ban on refugees from seven Muslim-dominated countries. The alliance, which represents a wide swath of yellow taxi drivers in New York City, called for a temporary stoppage of pick-ups and drop-offs at JFK between 6-7 PM on Saturday.No cabs in this line at JFK terminal 4. #NoBanNoWall #RefugeesWelcome pic.twitter.com/ZX5BycRTie— NY Taxi Workers (@

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance called for a temporary ban on pick-ups at John F. Kennedy Airport as a protest against President Trump’s ban on refugees from seven Muslim-dominated countries. The alliance, which represents a wide swath of yellow taxi drivers in New York City, called for a temporary stoppage of pick-ups and drop-offs at JFK between 6-7 PM on Saturday.No cabs in this line at JFK terminal 4. #NoBanNoWall #RefugeesWelcome pic.twitter.com/ZX5BycRTie— NY Taxi Workers (@