Technology news

Humans are suckers when it comes to anthropomorphizing and, subsequently, caring for robots. Some of us want to love robots so badly that we wind up shedding tears over a hunk of metal that went hurtling through space millions of miles away. But love is messy and blind, and so often we look past a cold, rigid truth like “that robot is, in fact, just a broken water heater.”That’s the case in the radioactively adorable video seen above, which is titled “Rayna meets a "robot

Last week I wrote about a new toy called Thumb Chucks. As far as I can tell, they haven’t taken off. Today I come to you with another toy: the Disc Jock-e. It’s a Frisbee that doubles as a waterproof Bluetooth speaker. As much as I want to hate on this invention, I can’t deny it kind of makes sense? I’m not one for beach sports, I’m more of a lounger — but I understand that some people enjoy being active when outside. Those people likely want to listen to musi

Richard Kelly’s 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko is returning to theaters this weekend in 4K, in honor of the film’s 15th anniversary. If you weren’t already aware of that fact, I’m so pleased to be able to bring you a pleasant Monday afternoon surprise.As one of the top 10 Donnie Darko fans anywhere (but not in a scary way), I’ve been preparing for the event by trawling Reddit for photos of super hideous Donnie Darko tattoos, reading articles I don’t totally un

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is backing a brain-computer interface venture called Neuralink, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company, which is still in the earliest stages of existence and has no public presence whatsoever, is centered on creating devices that can be implanted in the human brain, with the eventual purpose of helping human beings merge with software and keep pace with advancements in artificial intelligence. These enhancements could improve memory or allow for more di

Uber will be resuming its self-driving car activities in Tempe and Pittsburgh, after an accident in Arizona led the company to temporarily suspend its autonomous driving pilots in those two cities, a spokesperson said.
By the end of the day, Uber’s fleet of self-driving Volvo SUVs will be picking up and dropping off passengers in both Tempe and Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, a handful of the company’s autonomous vehicles will be roaming the streets of San Francisco collecting mapping data an

Microsoft has significantly grown its user base of dedicated Windows testers in recent years. At the launch of Windows 10, nearly two years ago, the software giant had around 5 million testers through its Windows Insider program. Windows Insiders could be your neighbor down the street, your boss, or the barista that makes your coffee in the morning. Anyone can sign up to test Windows 10, and now 10 million people are helping Microsoft refine and improve its operating system.
It wasn’t alwa

Verizon has agreed to start testing out 4K channels on its Fios TV service as part of a trial with satellite operator SES, the companies announced today. SES will deliver nine 4K channels to Fios users in the trial: Fashion One 4K, Insight, Travelxp 4K, Nature Relaxation, C4K360, 4K Universe, UHD1, SES Demo Channel, and NASA TV UHD.
As you’ll notice, none of those channels are major networks, so you’re probably not missing much, but the trial should help Verizon get ready for a wider

Alicia Vikander’s version of Lara Croft looks identical to the character in the rebooted Tomb Raider video games. The film’s costume re-creates the grimy jeans and tank top combo, but also nails the little details: arrow quivers rise behind her shoulder, a bandage staunches a wound on her right arm, a second belt does whatever a second belt is supposed to do.
See for yourself:Graham BartholomewThe Tomb Raider video game reboot has been largely praised for retaining the series’s

Apple’s iOS 10.3 is rolling out today, with a new find my AirPods option and CarPlay improvements. Most of the features in iOS 10.3 aren’t major, but Apple is actually undertaking a pretty huge shift for all iPad and iPhone users today. Within iOS 10.3, Apple is moving supported devices to its new Apple File System (APFS). It’s a file system that was originally announced at WWDC last year, and it’s designed with the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and Apple TV in mind.
Ap

The latest trailer for Justice League came out this weekend, giving us our first good look at the upcoming DC Comics team-up. And like the first trailer, it looks pretty fun! But, despite a great showing from Jason Momoa living his Aquaman-by-way-of-Khal-Drogo life and a quip about how rich Batman is, something is noticeably missing: Henry Cavill’s Superman.
This isn’t the first time Superman has been absent from a Justice League promotion. That first look footage from San Diego Comi

Last week, Razer added the option for players using its Cortex game launcher to earn “zSilver” credits simply by playing games while using the app. zSilver — which can also be earned by buying Razer products — can then be exchanged at the zVault store for Razer products or discounts on the company’s online store.Which brings us to the Razer Chroma Mug Holder, which is not available for sale with real money and will exclusively be offered through the zVault for 100,0

Apple is currently in the process of rolling out iOS 10.3, with the biggest new feature reserved for AirPods owners. You can now track the location of Apple’s wireless earbuds in the Find My iPhone app, either by playing a sound from one or both misplaced AirPods, or seeing the location where the earbuds were last connected to your iOS device over Bluetooth.There’s some other user-facing stuff as well: developers can now publicly respond to reviews in the App Store, and you can label

Destiny 2, the sequel to Bungie’s MMO / first-person shooter hybrid, has been officially announced following rumors last week. Bungie is remaining quiet on further details as to what gameplay might look like in the sequel or when to expect Destiny 2 to release, but we’ll probably find out more about Destiny 2 at E3 in June. Like the final Rise of Iron expansion for Destiny released last year, Destiny 2 will only be available on current-generation consoles, but rumors of PC support ha

Andy Rubin (one of the co-founders of Android) announced in January that he was starting a new company, Essential, and would be working on a premium smartphone with an edge-to-edge display “that lacks a surrounding bezel.”Today, Rubin showed off the first glimpse of what Essential’s first smartphone will look like, and as promised, the bezel is almost nonexistent. Beyond that, we can see that the phone will feature a cutout on top for a speaker, along with a visible button on t

Last year, AMC’s The Walking Dead sparked an outrage. The gory season 7 premiere threw away beloved characters in the name of archvillain Negan, and audiences followed suit: by the time the midseason finale rolled around, ratings had dropped 40 percent.Now the show has returned for the second half of the season. It’s an opportunity to chart a new course, to correct the mistakes it’s made, and convince viewers that the story of Rick Grimes is still worth following. The only ques

Fake It To Make It wants you to sell lies. The browser-based game, first spotted by Kotaku, is an exploration of how fake news starts and spreads.Your initial goals in Fake It To Make It are hardly nefarious; you’re saving to either buy music equipment for your band, put down a deposit on your first apartment, or buy a used car. It’s an echo of real-life fake news creators — like the operation run out of Long Beach by two men who were previously unemployed. Creator Amanda Warne

Amazon’s first cashier-free convenience store was supposed to open to the public early this year, but apparently some big technology issues have the launch on hold.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon’s Go store currently only functions if there are fewer than 20 shoppers inside. Any more than that, and Amazon’s shopper-tracking technology breaks down, as people become too difficult to follow. Amazon is reportedly having trouble tracking products that are moved from th

The UK government wants to compromise WhatsApp’s encryption. It’s a familiar demand that we’ve seen before in the US and in the UK, but despite the technical ignorance of politicians and the myths used to push this policy, we need to take the debate seriously. Again.This weekend, UK home secretary Amber Rudd said it was “completely unacceptable” that intelligence services could not read WhatsApp messages sent and received by Khalid Masood, the perpetrator of last we

It amazes me to this day how many people complain about battery drain on their smartphones, but leave features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AirDrop on when they don’t need it. Which is why the AirDrop troll — sending totally random photos to nearby Apple devices with the feature turned on — is one of my favorite things to do to help those folks realize the perils of their behavior.Image: Lookman Mojeed / InstagramIf you have trouble coming up with the perfect troll image to share

Microsoft is reportedly planning to hold a special Surface hardware event in the spring. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft will be holding a Surface hardware event, despite the Surface Book 2 reportedly not ready to appear at the press event. Microsoft typically holds its Surface hardware events in New York, but the software giant has not yet officially announced plans for a spring hardware showcase.
DigiTimes claimed earlier this month that the next Surface Book would be a clam

Last week, on a party-line vote, the Senate voted to repeal the Federal Communications Commission’s 2016 broadband privacy rules giving consumers the power to choose how their ISPs use and share their personal data. Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote, and if the House also votes to repeal the rules, the bill will go to President Trump, who is expected to sign it.
The consequences of repeal are simple: ISPs like Comcast, AT&T, and Charter will be free to sell your personal

Does anyone use digital audio players? Anybody? Pioneer and Onkyo are both releasing new DAPs in the UK — the XDP-30R and the Rubato DP-S1, respectively — but who actually listens to music on the go on anything other than a smartphone?With the notable exception of an iPod Shuffle for those who work out, I haven’t seen anyone listening to music on any other device in at least five years, and I’m willing to bet you haven’t either, unless you live in a high-res audio c

As many as 21 different types of dinosaur tracks have been identified in a 16-mile stretch of remote coastline in Western Australia. The discovery is “unparalleled” in Australia and even the world, according to a study published as the 2016 Memoir of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.Scientists at the University of Queensland and James Cook University spent more than 400 hours analyzing thousands of dinosaur tracks from 2011 to 2016. These tracks are imprinted in rocks that are

Wilson’s Heart may be a bit derivative, but it is nothing short of daring when it comes to narrative virtual reality games. The black-and-white title, from developer Twisted Pixel, mashes up a diverse array of game styles and film genres. It uses these popular tropes from pulp horror and the psychological thriller and blends them with first-person shooter combat and old-school point-and-click exploration, all while relying on the perceptual sleights and hand-motion tricks that only VR allo

March has been a particularly fecund time for new Android Wear watch announcements, though unlike previous years, the brands behind these devices are almost all from the fashion and luxury spheres of business. Tag Heuer, Montblanc, Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, and Movado are just some of the well known names announcing Wear 2.0 smartwatches. This wave of new products is symptomatic of a broader trend in the tech industry: one where a high degree of component a

Smartphones have emerged as a critical tool for refugees fleeing war-torn countries in recent years, with many using their phones to navigate across Europe, keep in touch with their families, or even integrate in new societies. But a powerful new photo series explores how asylum seekers use their phones in far more personal ways, as well.
In February 2016, Alex John Beck traveled to Lebanon and Jordan to photograph Syrian refugees and their most treasured smartphone photos. Each entry in the ser

Samsung Unpacked is the headline event this week for gadget nerds. Wednesday, March 29th is the day we'll see Samsung make all the Galaxy S8 leaks official. Expect to hear more about that slick new bezel-less design, their homegrown Bixby virtual assistant, and the company’s new DeX dock that's supposed to convert the S8 into a desktop experience. We might also get an update to Gear VR and the company's 360-degree camera so stay tuned for that and any surprises.Fittingly, we're also planni

Following last week’s terrorist attack in London, the UK government has renewed a familiar campaign against digital encryption. Echoing criticisms made in 2015 by then prime minister David Cameron after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, UK home secretary Amber Rudd this weekend described the government’s inability to read messages on end-to-end encrypted messaging apps as “completely unacceptable.”“a secret place for terrorists to communicate.”
“We nee

On Friday, the Senate blocked the implementation of rules that would have restricted internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon’s ability to monetize users’ internet browsing history and other data. This doesn’t in itself mark a sea change—the rule in question wasn’t due to go into effect for nearly a year. But it does preempt what would have become a major obstacle to ISPs’ efforts to meld their network services with precisely-targeted advertising.
M

(Reuters) – Residents of Tel Aviv can start feeling a little less guilty about the amount of garbage they throw away.
Just a short drive from the city, a new waste collection plant has begun processing the trash from an endless stream of garbage trucks, turning much of it into fuel for a nearby factory.
The owners say it is the largest plant of its kind in the world.
The terminal creates what is known as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), handling about 1,500 tonnes of trash a day, or about half t

Donald Trump is creating a new government office that will apply lessons learned from American businesses such as Apple and Tesla in a bid to make speedy political reforms, The Washington Post reports. The White House Office of American Innovation — which will be led by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — is described as a “SWAT team,” using far-reaching powers to bypass the restrictive machinery of Washington and make sweeping changes.
Kushner has already met with

We know Disney hasn't made any Air Bud-related movies for at least four years now, but we're hoping this will give its executives the spark of inspiration they need to continue the series.
What we're presenting to you is a golden retriever playing fetch. On an ice rink. With a police officer before a game between the Washington Capitals and Arizona Coyotes on Sunday.
SEE ALSO: This creepy robot pup looks just like Zuckerberg's dog
Don't you dare tell us this is unenjoyable.Maybe the Capitals and

Augmented reality and virtual reality are still in their infancy in terms of non-gaming applications, but a new tip hints that Amazon may be about to change all that. 
We already know that Amazon is keen to go wide with brick-and-mortar bookstores and grocery stores, but a new report from the New York Times says the e-tailer is looking at doing the same with appliances and furniture.
SEE ALSO: Amazon launching physical bookstores in Chicago, San Diego, Portland, report says
Citing a "person

GUEST: Do you have car insurance? Health insurance? Homeowners insurance?
Chances are you are a customer of at least one insurance company and a policyholder on one or more types of insurance. If so, you should pay particular attention to the fact that the global insurance industry is seeking to harness artificial intelligence solutions. While the use of AI technologies in insurance has the potential to streamline company operations and reduce consumer prices, it also raises unprecedented new is