Technology news

Your weekend may get off to a bad start if you were hoping to play some Xbox games.
Microsoft’s online gaming service isn’t working for most people right now. Hundreds of Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners on social media sites like Twitter are complaining that they cannot get logged in on their systems. This is preventing people from booting up certain games that require an online connection for multiplayer or to authenticate with a third-party server. Many people are also having difficul

Media tycoon Sumner Redstone turned his ownership of theaters into an empire that controls MTV, Nickelodeon, and the movie studio that put out last year’s Arrival, Fences, and Zoolander 2. And he’s worth nearly $2.5 billion less than Evan Spiegel, the 26-year-old who founded Snapchat six years ago, when Redstone was 87.
On Thursday, investors bid up shares of Snapchat’s owner Snap Inc. from its IPO price of $17, to nearly $25. That gives Snap Inc a market value of $33 billion.

GUEST: The Washington fight over the future of Obamacare will have enormous repercussions for our health care system, which now accounts for nearly 18 percent of the U.S. economy. But that impact pales before the transformation already underway due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
AI and machine learning are forcing dramatic business model change for all the stakeholders in the health care system.
What does AI (and machine learning) mean in the health care contex

If Ross Miller’s review of the Nintendo Switch is any indication, this is a great device to take with you everywhere and anywhere.... except to an aquarium, evidently.
Addressing some known connectivity issues with the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers, Nintendo cautioned that nearby wireless devices may cause interference, preventing the Joy-Con from pairing to the main system properly or registering the correct controls. A list of locations where Nintendo suggests you shouldn’t pl

 Cape Cod fishing guide Eric Stapelfeld trusted me to look after his website the same way that I trust him to find fish. Until a few weeks ago, I believed I had the easier part of the bargain. After all, what’s hard about maintaining a simple WordPress site with a phone number and lots of striped bass pictures? As it turns out, everything is hard, really hard, when hackers go to work on… Read More

 With virtual reality, Hollywood and Silicon Valley have never been more closely aligned in their desire to push the boundaries of how people emotionally interact with technology. Video games may be drawing in a huge deal of interest but there are also an army of filmmakers and creatives looking at how they can use VR to draw viewers in and experience something breath-taking. Today, Tribeca… Read More

Today, the Federal Communications Commission issued an emergency order in response to a recent string of bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers, temporarily waiving a privacy restriction that prevents carriers from disclosing caller information to the receiving party when the caller has requested anonymity. Those protections will only be lifted for calls made to Jewish Community Centers, hopefully giving investigators further clues as to the source of the calls.
The move comes two days af

Bot machine maker PullString is now able to make actions for Google Assistant, the company announced today in a blog post.
PullString has made bots for customers as varied as Hello Barbie, The Grand Tour Alexa skill, and others. Last May the Lt. Reyes Facebook Messenger bot brought in six million interactions in its first 24 hours.
The addition of Google Assistant is the largest change to the PullString platform since its launch last fall.
Made both by storytellers and engineers, PullString

The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) showed its first self-driving car this week, a Lexus LS 600hL test vehicle equipped with LIDAR, radar, and camera arrays to enable self-driving without relying too heavily on high-definition maps.
The vehicle is the base for two of TRI’s self-driving research paths: Chauffeur and Guardian. Chauffeur is research into Level 4 self-driving, where the car is restricted to certain geographical areas like a city or interstates, as well as Level 5 autonomy, whi

Disney is considering booting The Grid back up. That’s the word from The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news that the company was considering resurrecting the franchise for another outing, with Suicide Squad star Jared Leto eyed for the lead role. This is at a very early stage, THR cautions. No writers or directors have been attached, although Tron: Legacy’s producer, Justin Springer, will reportedly produce the film along with Leto (if he ends up starring in the film).
The word

Before every episode of The Vergecast I sit down, read through a bunch of news, and take a bunch of notes. It’s one of the most enjoyable parts of my week, and I started thinking it might be fun to do every day on the site. So, every day this week I’m sitting down and writing some notes on the news as though I’ll be talking about it later. Are you into this? Am I into this? I don’t know. But it’s fun to do! Give me some feedback and we’ll keep mutating this in

Sony's Aim Controller was originally supposed to launch around the holidays alongside Farpoint, a showcase FPS title. Well, now it's March and there's still no Aim Controller or Farpoint on shelves. At GDC this week, Impulse Gear, the developer of Farpoint, confirmed to Road to VR that the game and controller will launch as a bundle on May 16th. Right now you can preorder the bundle at GameStop, which shows an end of June release date, but hopefully Impulse Gear has better info.
The controller i

 Uber is using a tool called “Greyball” to work identity requests made by certain users and deny them service, according to Mike Isaac reporting for the New York Times. The software, later renamed the “violation of terms of service” or VTOS program, is said to employ data analysis on info collected by the Uber app to identify individuals violating Uber’s terms… Read More

Lucasfilm announced that it was renewing its animated show Star Wars Rebels for a fourth season, continuing the adventures of the Ghost and its crew.Rebels is set in the period between the prequel and original trilogies, exploring the origins of the Rebel Alliance that would (spoilers) eventually lead to the downfall of the Galactic Empire. In the latest season, the show brought in Expanded Universe character Grand Admiral Thrawn for a major story arc, and tied in heavily with the first standalo

Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 preview for PCs with no new features. This is the latest build of the company’s upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update, which is slated for release in “early 2017.”
Windows 10 is a service, meaning it was built in a very different way than its predecessors so it can be regularly updated with not just fixes but new features too. While Microsoft has released many such updates to date, the Creative Update will be a major one and follows the W

Destiny is coming to an end to give way to the upcoming sequel, and Bungie is revealing how it’s planning to proceed.
Your Destiny character will survive the transition to Destiny 2, but Bungie revealed that none of your loot will make the jump. That’s right — you’ll leave your precious Gjallarhorn behind when you move on to the sequel. In a blog post today, Bungie explained that it understands that fans have an intense fondness for their Guardian characters, and so

We’ve seen plenty of aggressive requests from companies that want positive coverage, but perhaps none as absurd as what we just got from JetSmarter — a startup that’s been called the “Uber for private jets.” In exchange for a demonstration of the service (a round-trip flight in the US), JetSmarter sent us an agreement that demands an uncritical puff piece.The rub? JetSmarter wanted the credit card number of a Verge reporter, so that it could charge them $2,000 if th

On the morning of Feb. 15, Daniela Vargas hid in her Mississippi home. She figured government agents were coming for her.
That morning, her father and brother had been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their driveway before they could make their way to work. Vargas, originally from Argentina, waited. 
SEE ALSO: Peter Thiel's surveillance company reportedly ready to help Trump's deportation operation
Though agents didn't arrest Vargas that day, it happened hardly two

For years, companies like Facebook and Google have been touting plans to improve internet connectivity around the world, either through balloons, drones, or partnering with telecommunication companies. A country of particular interest has been India, with a variety of different efforts being made to improve access to the web. But as incumbent network providers battle among themselves and outside third-parties struggle to break in, the cost of the internet remains unreachable for many people. Wif

Arnold Schwarzenegger won't be back for a second season of The New Celebrity Apprentice, and it's because of Donald Trump.
In an interview with Empire magazine, Schwarzenegger said, "I learned a lot, I had a great time, it was a really great opportunity, but under the circumstances I don't want to do it again."
Trump's shadow has loomed large over the NBC reality franchise — especially since the POTUS is still an executive producer on the series — and Schwarzenegger claims that the p

Uber has a secret, worldwide program called “Greyball” to hide from government employees looking to catch Uber cars operating in violation of local regulations, reports The New York Times.
The Greyball program, which was reportedly approved by Uber’s legal team, remains in use today and is part of a global operation to stop people from, in Uber’s eyes, using its service improperly. That operation is called “violation of terms of service” or VTOS, which address

If you ask me, just about anywhere can be a dance floor.
And this woman clearly takes this mantra to heart as she shows off her large repertoire of dance moves, all while in the parking lot of a Waffle House. 
Why? Because she can, that's why!
The people inside the restaurant can't keep it together as they watch this queen jam out.
Dance like no one's watching (but almost always someone is). Read more...
More about Waffle, Woman, Dancing, Parking Lot, and Viral Videos

Bob’s Burgers, currently in its seventh season, is one of the finest animated series on TV. It’s smart, subversive, and consistently features some of the best comedians working today. And the show loves its fans — so much so that the creators now plan on animating next season’s premiere with fan art.
Remake ‘Bob’s Burgers’ however you see fit
Fox has set up a site, fittingly called Bob’s Fart, to allow fans to submit fan art to be used in the premi

The pieces of the Galaxy S8 puzzle are finally coming together. 
We're already pretty sure this is what Samsung's Galaxy S8 will look like when it's announced on March 29, and now we may know how fast it'll be.
SEE ALSO: New leaked photos show the full display of Samsung's Galaxy S8
Though it shouldn't be taken as representative of the final shipping version, the first benchmarks for the Galaxy S8+ (that's the one with the larger screen) have reportedly been logged into Geekbench, a popular

Who knows. 
You may have heard that many officials within President Donald Trump's circle have met with Russian officials over the past 12 months or so. Many of them seem to at first have difficulty recalling these meetings until they are asked about them again and again and are shown evidence of their own meetings, at which point they seem to vaguely recall maybe perhaps meeting someone who may or may not have been Russian-ish. 
SEE ALSO: The Russian Embassy tweeted about U.S. relatio

As any kind of educator or youth sports coach, your goal is to help make your kids better. More than anything, you want to help them grow into good people, to guide them in the right direction.
But sometimes, kids just don't go in the right direction no matter how many times you tell them to. In those situations, you have to dish out some tough love.
SEE ALSO: Student thanks teacher for pushing them to their goals maybe a little too hard
That's exactly what this youth basketball coach decided to

It feels like we've been waiting years for Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast, and maybe we have. With the movie's theatrical release on the horizon, critics have been to early screenings and tested that tale as old as time.
The film's reviews are neither negative nor positive — it's not a bad movie by objective standards, but falls short of the animated original's innovation because, well, it's not original. 
SEE ALSO: 'Gaston' clip from 'Beauty and the Beast' will make you w

1984Image: William Yang via National Library of AustraliaThe very first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras took place on June 24, 1978. Inspired by a global movement of LGBTQIA protest and expression, a few hundred Queer Australians and their allies marched up Oxford Street as a truck played celebratory music. 1981Image: William Yang via National Library of Australia1981Image: William Yang via National Library of Australia1982Image: William Yang via National Library of AustraliaThe

It’s all too easy for me to lose focus at work. One minute, I’m doing research for an article, the next I’m thinking about an episode of Black Mirror. I’ve tried most of the usual tricks to improve my attention: I used browser extensions to block Twitter, I chewed gum, and switched around my to-do lists. Tech companies feel my pain, and that of countless other Americans, and so entrepreneurs from Montreal have launched a new product with exciting promises: headphones that

Yelp is making it easier for users to find business with gender-neutral bathrooms, the company announced today. Starting today, a yes/no on gender-neutral restrooms will now show up as yet another attribute about a business you’re looking at.“What constitutes a gender neutral restroom, you ask? Gender neutral restrooms are accessible to persons of any gender and are a locking, single-stall bathroom,” said Rachel Williams, Yelp’s head of diversity and inclusion, in a blog

Lena Dunham's tattoos have always been in the public eye – along with the rest of her skin, as critics love to mention – so her recent Instagram post showing off a new chest piece comes as a not-huge surprise, really. Thank you @trinegrimm for my warrior's chest plate/tit chandelier. This is my first original piece by a female tattoo artist and it felt sacred and cool and she didn't chide me for copying @badgalriri's placement. If you're ever in Oslo, go meet this metal queen an

Travis Knight, who has directed quietly powerful indies like Kubo and the Two Strings, will helm the upcoming Transformers spinoff Bumblebee, Deadline reports. Knight is the founder and CEO of the relatively small Portland-based animation studio Laika, so his decision to get behind a big-budget film is a bit unusual.
What’s this mean for Laika
In an interview with The Verge last year, Knight seemed to take pride in his relatively bare-bones operation. Speaking about Kubo, Knight said, "The

Out of the mouths of babes, as it goes. On Friday, Nigel Farage, the British warm ale to Donald Trump's skunked American keg beer, ended up on the receiving end of a stone cold diss. By a young girl. Holding an inflatable sword. On live television. 
Farage was making an appearance on Russia Today on Friday. RT, as its better known, is widely considered to be a propaganda arm of the Kremlin. Farage was on a news segment where RT apparently invites guests to see what kind of inane setups they

Ryan Murphy, FX’s resident bad boy auteur, has sort of clarified a statement he made a few weeks ago about the upcoming season of American Horror Story. There will, in fact, be Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump characters on an election-themed season of the show. (Unless Murphy changes his mind again.)
He announced that the new season would tackle the 2016 election on Watch What Happens Live in mid-February, and initially said he didn’t know if the show would involve a Donald Trump ch

Another day, another unhinged-sounding plan to fly to the moon announced by an eccentric billionaire.
According to a report from the Washington Post, Blue Origin — the spaceflight company founded by Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos — is planning to set up an "Amazon-like" service to send cargo to the moon in the hopes that people will eventually settle there. 
The first "Blue Moon" mission — conducted with NASA's help — could launch as early as July 2020, according to the rep

Amazon reportedly has new tech in the works that could let you talk to anyone in any room in your house. Yes, Amazon just re-invented the intercom, only this time it's going to be built into the Echo.
Rumors surfaced last month that pointed to Amazon and Google's plans to bring home phone functionality to their smart hub assistants, the Echo and Home. It's a logical step for the household-based smart devices — but it might not end there.  
Multiple anonymous sources told Recode that A

 NextGen Venture Partners,  a young, Washington, D.C.-based venture firm that’s quarterbacked by a handful of investors but fueled financially by a network of hundreds of part-time investors who help with its portfolio, has raised $22 million for its debut fund. (This if you don’t count a $1 million pool of capital that it raised from its network in 2015.) We had a quick chat… Read More

Here's a fun reality in Donald Trump's America: the new crown jewel of our talk show circuit is painter, president and poncho enthusiast George W. Bush.
Yes, as Trump subjects the country to his vast, festering ego, some people are noticing that Bush, who's on the road promoting his new art book Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors, suddenly seems kind of ... endearing? Not because of anything he's done, necessarily, but because of good old contr

With Logan hitting theaters today, Hugh Jackman’s 17-year tenure as Wolverine has theoretically come to an end. James Mangold’s film is a brutal, bittersweet send-off for a character (and actor) who’s arguably the lynchpin for the superhero movie genre’s longest-running franchise. Save for 2016’s Deadpool, Jackman has appeared in every single X-Men film to date, plus two of the video games. And more often than not, he’s front and center in the action. Frankly,