Technology news

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

The future of net neutrality is in jeopardy again, so advocates are getting back to the fight. In a letter sent today to FCC chairman Ajit Pai, as well as Senators John Thune and Bill Nelson, over 170 groups ask Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to continue to support and protect the net neutrality rules put into place in 2015.
“[We] urge you and your colleagues to oppose legislation and regulatory actions that would threaten net neutrality and roll back the important prot

 Wrapify, the startup that will pay you to wrap your car with an advertisement, has raised $3M in seed funding. As a refresher, the startup provides a two-side marketplace that matches up drivers wanting to make some extra money with brands looking for a unique way to advertise. Eligible drivers will get their car wrap installed (and removed) for free, and on average are paid $450 a month for… Read More

A year ago, a pair of New York entrepreneurs released Anchor, an app for recording short-form audio snippets that they hoped would “democratize radio.” “As popular as this medium is we feel it’s really hard for regular people to contribute to it,” co-founder Nir Zicherman told TechCrunch. The initial version of Anchor let you record “waves” of up to two minutes, and anyone could add on with a minute of their own. I appreciated the democratic impulse, but

The Ferrari 812 Superfast is making it clear that speed is still a theme that’s paramount to the luxury Italian automaker’s DNA. Seeing Ferrari’s fastest production car up close at the Geneva Motor Show in alarm-red Rosso Settanta hue is believing. All those luscious curves created at the Ferrari Styling Centre are not for looks — the design is part of the aerodynamic sauce that propels this supercar to its superfast name that harkens back to the namesake 1964 500 Superfa

Taking yet another cue from the Snapchat playbook, Instagram now offers geostickers in its ephemeral Stories feature. It’s currently only live in two cities — Jakarta and New York City — and offers visual accessories that represent your present location, down to the neighborhood.
The stickers will also act as a location tag, so viewers can tap on them to be taken to location page for more photos in that area. Instagram says this is just an early version, so a wider rollout to o

BritBox — a new streaming service from the BBC and ITV announced late last year — has officially launched in the US, as noted by Engadget. The service costs $6.99 per month, and claims to offer the “biggest streaming collection of British TV... ever” of shows from two major British broadcasters for American viewers.You’re still out of luck if you’re hoping to watch ‘Doctor Who,’ ‘Top Gear,’ or ‘The Great British Bake Off’
Wh

The Sheikah Slate is not your run-of-the-mill gadget. Bestowed upon hero of light Link in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Slate is severely limited in its feature set and unable to do basic modern-day tasks, like browsing Netflix or accessing a global communications network linked together by satellites. It does, however, pack some pretty unique specs and comes capable of performing feats of alien magic.No Netflix, but infinite battery life
The Slate’s screen appears to smack

President Trump has nominated FCC chairman Ajit Pai for a second five-year term at the commission, according to Axios and Politico. Pai’s current term ended last June, though he’s been able to stick around through the end of the year even without reconfirmation.
While there’s nothing particularly surprising about this, it at least indicates that Trump is happy with Pai’s first month on the job. During that time, he’s made quick work on scaling back net neutrality &m

In a blog post today, SXSW has confirmed it will remove a controversial deportation clause in its artist contracts “for 2018 and beyond.” The clause in question reserved the right for SXSW to contact immigration authorities if international artists played unofficial showcases while in Austin. Organizers say they will “change the language” of the artist agreement and “remove the option of notifying immigration authorities.”
“Safety is a primary concern fo

The Verge‘s man in Geneva, Vlad Savov, just had a very close encounter with a very beautiful car. This is Lamborghini’s Huracán Performante, which looks exactly like the regular Huracán, which is to say it’s stunningly gorgeous. As we reported yesterday, the Performante is lighter and more powerful than the Huracán, making it one of the fastest production supercars in existence. This demon in Dreamsicle orange recently set a production car lap record of 6:5

Lyft launched a new developer program today that will allow people to arrange rides for someone who doesn’t have a Lyft account or even a smartphone. The new service, in which a developer can facilitate a Lyft ride for any passenger and handle billing, notifications, and the overall passenger experience themselves, is part of Lyft’s open application program interface (API) which launched last year.Lyft’s Dispatch Developer Program is being billed as ideal for software developer

WordPress is opening up some new editing options today with the release of a plugin for Google Docs.
The extension works in Chrome and allows anything written in Google Docs to be ported directly to WordPress.com, with “most” formatting and layout choices intact. Publishing can’t happen directly from Google Docs, though — you’ll still have to go into WordPress for a final preview and to click publish.
Pretend like Google Docs is your CMS
All sites hosted through Wor

Flickr today received a new update that will allow users to search for images based on visual similarity. Now, you’ll be able to pick an image from a search result and find more photos that share the same shape, composition, color, or content category.
In a blog post, Flickr says it uses deep neural networks to analyze the photos as they’re uploaded to the server. This helps to define the contents of the image, then flag whether or not it’s safe for work. It’s similar to

Doppler Labs, the startup behind the Here One earbuds, has filed a lawsuit against Bose, per a report from TechCrunch. The suit alleges that Bose’s Hearphones, which offer a similar augmented pass-through listening feature as the Here One’s, are based on Doppler’s own earbuds.
The suit notes that Bose’s senior manager of Idea & Portfolio Management, Chris Miller was an early backer on Doppler’s original Kickstarter of the Here Active earbuds as well as one of th

Microsoft is planning to make its Slack competitor, Microsoft Teams, available to Office 365 customers next week. The software giant is planning a launch event for March 14th to make Microsoft Teams live around the world.Microsoft Teams originally debuted in preview back in early November, built as an alternative to slack with tighter Office integration. Microsoft’s launch will include an online event at 8:30AM PT / 11:30AM ET on March 14th, and the company will likely detail all the final

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Mozilla today launched Firefox 52 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. The new version includes support for WebAssembly, a warning for non-secure HTTP pages with logins, and the removal of NPAPI plugin support.
Firefox 52 for the desktop is available for download now on Firefox.com, and all existing users should be able to upgrade to it automatically. As always, the Android version is trickling out slowly on Google Play.
Mozilla doesn’t break out the exact numbers for Firefox, though the

Get your suspenders and straw hats ready, handheld gamers.
Developer Giants Software announced today that Farming Simulator 18 is coming out for Vita and 3DS this June. The series has sold over four million games since launching in 2012.
Farming Simulator is exactly what it says it is. You simulate farming, like planting crops and driving tractors. That might sound boring, but the series has attracted a following thanks to its serene gameplay. OK, some of them might just think it’s fu

It’s time to put on your dancing shoes. Solid Pixels is launching a crowdfunding campaign for Rhythm Shoes, smart shoes that can help people learn how to dance.
This is one more example of the Internet of Things, or making everyday objects smart and connected. The shoes have sensors and vibrating feedback that help you move the right foot at the right time and then analyze your results.
The New York company is seeking to raise $40,000 on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform.
The smart shoes

Sansar is coming soon, and that means you may be able to live in virtual reality soon. Linden Lab‘s Sansar virtual reality world is debuting as an open beta test shortly, and the San Francisco company has released a video of what the place will look like.
Linden Lab recently invited hundreds of new creators into its early test of the world, which is more like a series of interconnected virtual places. The company also opened up a marketplace where users can sell virtual items for

Razer today announced the official launch of zVault, a new digital wallet system its been testing since January. The service is designed to work both as a way to pay for digital goods like full-game purchases and downloadable content and as a rewards system to earn free Razer products. This involves two components: zGold, a digital currency, and zSilver, a rewards currency. The purpose, for Razer at least, is to drive players to spend their money through its own service and those of the company&

Game hardware maker Razer is launching zVault, a virtual currency platform that will reward gamers who use it to make payments for purchases and in-game transactions.
Irvine, Calif.-based Razer sells both hardware and software. To build loyalty, the company has created a secure digital wallet in zVault for its 22 million existing Razer ID customers. The company is also creating its zGold currency, which can be used to acquire games or items in games. And it is creating zSilver, a rewards system

Pinterest, the company that makes an app for saving pins of images and other content on virtual boards, is announcing today that it’s incorporating the app’s visual search technology into its browser extensions. Pinterest’s browser button for Chrome is the first to get it.
This marks the first time Pinterest is letting people do more than save items to boards from its browser extensions.
“Just like on Pinterest, you can use visual search to pinpoint specific objects, prod

“Zelda machine” has become a flippant nickname for Nintendo’s latest handheld, the console / tablet hybrid known as Switch. The idea is that, aside from the excellent Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the console launched without many games to play. And in some ways, it’s true. The Switch’s launch lineup isn’t particularly huge, and with the exception of Zelda, it’s missing big-name titles to get new owners excited. Compared to systems like the Xbox O

Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) says that Americans would have an easier time with health care costs if they stopped buying iPhones.“Americans have choices, and they’ve gotta make a choice,” Chaffetz told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota this morning. “So maybe rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they wanna go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest it in their own health care. They’ve gotta make those decisions themselves

Our next speakers for our upcoming GamesBeat Summit event are Akshay Khanna, vice president of strategy at the Philadelphia 76ers and Greg Richardson, an investor and chairman of Team Dignitas, an esports team acquired by the 76ers.
They will talk about the blending of traditional sports and esports at our event entitled GamesBeat Summit 2017: How games, sci-fi, and tech create real-world magic. Richardson also serves as the chairman of Rumble Entertainment. He is an investor, advisor, and

In this week’s episode, recorded on the day of the Snap IPO, Stewart and Travis discuss the supposed exodus of influencers using Snapchat, and whether those with a huge following are that valuable to your business anyway. With great reward comes great risk, right PewDiePie? We also discuss the latest AI-powered marketing technology, and Travis throws down a challenge.
After the news, we interview the U.K.’s top podcaster, Mark Asquith, about creating amazing content and how to build

As promised, Microsoft today launched Visual Studio 2017, the latest version of the company’s integrated development environment (IDE) — you can download it now from visualstudio.com. At the same time, Microsoft also released Visual Studio for Mac Preview 4, Team Foundation Server 2017 Update 1, additions to its Visual Studio Enterprise subscription, and Visual Studio Mobile Center Preview updates.
Visual Studio 2017 went into public preview in March 2016 and hit Release Candidate st

Love’s a game and this year we’re playing. For the full rules and intellectual justification of The Verge Bachelor Fantasy League please see this explanatory post. For a little background on why this is poised to be the best-ever season of The Bachelor, see this essay by culture editor Chris Plante:
Lizzie Plaugic: Welcome back to Bachelor Fantasy League, for Fantasy Suite Night Round 2. And Round 3. Last week we left off with a nail-biter: will Raven, the first to experience Nick&rs

PRESS RELEASE: SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–March 7, 2017– Appinium, a leading provider of content distribution and tracking solutions on the Salesforce App Cloud, today announces a massive expansion of the capabilities of its award-winning app, ViewTrac. With these enhancements, ViewTrac has firmly entrenched itself as the most robust and dynamic native video solution available on Salesforce. “We’ve changed the game for companies that want to leverage video to rea

Airbus just announced a new conceptual car-and-drone project called Pop.Up. And I know. I know! This feels like the 100th car-drone concept we’ve shown you in the last few years. (Hell, it’s not even the first one announced at the Geneva Motor Show.) But this time, the car is the drone. The drone is the car. And, in Airbus’ fantastic future world, you can seamlessly transition from car to flying car to train all without lifting your butt off the seat. Okay, I’m listening.

Encrypted email service ProtonMail is expanding its privacy smarts into virtual private networks (VPNs), as the Swiss startup has quietly launched a new VPN app for some paid ProtonMail users.
ProtonVPN launched in beta a couple of weeks back, with a wider launch expected sometime later this spring.
Above: ProtonVPNImage Credit: ProtonVPN / Product Hunt
Founded out of CERN in 2013, ProtonMail officially launched globally last March with the promise of client-side email encryption.

This morning, Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos revealed some new details about his company’s future orbital rocket, the New Glenn — touting the vehicle’s reusability and how much it will be able to carry into space. He also showed off a shiny new animation of what the reusable rocket’s journey will look like during a typical mission, and it certainly looks familiar.
The main portion of the New Glenn will be powered by seven of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines and is designed to

FreedomPop is a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. It uses other carriers’ networks and offers free (but limited) mobile plans, making its money by charging for extra calls, texts, and data. It’s also just unveiled its first ever own-branded Android phone — the FreedomPop V7.The V7 is only available in the UK and Spain at the moment, but could launch in the US and other markets in the future (according to VentureBeat). It’s not much of a device spec-wise, but it&rs

Angry Birds maker Rovio grew its revenues 34 percent to €190 million ($203 million) in 2016, up 34 percent from $150 million a year earlier. You might have expected that, since the Finnish company’s The Angry Birds Movie generated nearly $350 million in revenue at the box office.
But Rovio actually hasn’t received that money yet. The Helsinki company generated a profit of €17.5 million ($18.5 million) in 2016 based on its comeback in games, said Kati Levoranta, CE

WikiLeaks has published a new set of documents that shed light on the CIA’s hacking capabilities. Dubbed “Vault7,” the publication contains 8,761 documents and files purportedly taken from a secure network within the CIA’s headquarters at Langley, Virginia. The documents describe a number of remote exploits and hacking tools, similar to the NSA’s ANT catalog published by Der Spiegel in 2013.The files contain numerous exploits for both iOS and Android devices, dating

In spite of all its glistening sheen and modern technology, the Mercedes-AMG GT Concept unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show today feels almost primal. Its exaggerated, dominant front end is like a neanderthal’s oversized jaw, grinning a toothy radiator smile. The designers aimed for and indeed accomplished "extremely muscular proportions," and they painted this show car in a most enigmatic warm color that’s never quite certain if it’s red, orange, pink, or yellow.Speaking with Me

Creators Media is launching Playsource to foster collaboration between indie game developers and fans.
Los Angeles-based Playsource wants indie game creators to be able to communicate directly with fans as they design their latest concepts.
With Playsource, developers in the digital download and board game space can showcase their latest ideas. Games that are a part of Playsource will have a page with the latest updates directly from its creators so that fans will be able to play the game a