Technology news

Facebook rolled out its big totally-not-Snapchat feature, ‘Stories,’ to all mobile users today. And the filters are fucking amazing! When you take a Story photo, you have a number of masks, frames, and effects (we’ll just call them all ‘filters’) you can layer over your face, kinda like Snapchat. Unlike Snapchat, though, you can layer multiple filters over each other, like my new sloth friend and I did here. But which filters will bring the Snap-happy crowds t

Internet providers now just need a signature from President Trump before they’re free to take, share, and even sell your web browsing history without your permission.
The House of Representatives passed a resolution today overturning an Obama-era FCC rule that required internet providers to get customers’ permission before sharing their browsing history with other companies. The rules also required internet providers to protect that data from hackers and inform customers of any breac

A new feature in iOS 10.3 allows apps to request permission to change their icons after they’ve been installed, and the latest version of MLB.com At Bat and the NHL app are taking full advantage of it, according to 9to5Mac. Both apps will allow you to choose your favorite team and change the home screen icon to the logo of the corresponding team with a few clicks.
Once you open either app (and have downloaded iOS 10.3) click on More > Settings > Home Screen Icon, and select your pref

NBC announced today that it will be broadcasting all events live across all time zones in the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang County, South Korea.For recent Olympics, NBC broadcasted all events through official online streams, but stubbornly insisted on tape delays for televised broadcasts of the games. For example, NBC chose to save popular events, competitions with big-name athletes, and even the opening ceremonies (which were last seen live in the US in 1996!) for more lucra

The Apple rumor mill churns once again: A new report by iDrop News suggests the next iPhone will look an awful lot like what we’re expecting from the Galaxy S8 (not to mention a few other Android devices). The latest details were supposedly obtained by someone “who has spoken privately with a Foxconn employee,” so just like with your friend’s uncle who works for Nintendo, you should take the rumors with a grain of salt. First up, the site corroborates

Congress today approved a measure that allows internet service providers (ISPs) to sell your web browsing history to the highest bidder. Senate Joint Resolution 34 (S.J.Res.34) passed mostly along party lines. Not a single Democrat voted in favor, while 15 Republicans did vote against the resolution — unfortunately 215 voted in favor of it. The vote today was one in favor of rolling back Obama administration guidelines designed to protect consumers from ISPs that sought to collect, a

Just a day after officially announcing Destiny 2, Bungie is back with a cinematic trailer. And while the trailer doesn’t show off any new gameplay details for the upcoming shooter or any information at all regarding release date or platforms, it does hint that the sequel could finally be bringing something new to the franchise: a sense of humor.The teaser features Cayde-6 (voiced by everyone’s favorite ruggedly handsome rogue Nathan Fillion), regaling the audience of adventures that

When the Turkish Crime Family first broke into the news last week, they sounded like a crisis in the making. The group claimed to have stolen a massive trove of iCloud credentials — the first over 300 million, then as many as 559 million — and unless they got $75,000 from the company before April 7, they would start remotely wiping phones. Apple responded with a limited denial, stating that company servers hadn’t been breached, but allowing for the possibility that the credenti

I have a Tuesday suggestion for you: grab your pet, find some scissors, collect some fur from your pet, send it to the Analog Watch Co, wait three to four weeks, receive a custom watch band made of your pet’s fur, and wear this furry band on your wrist daily. Sound good?
Look how you’ll coordinate with your cat:Analog Watch Co.Yes, Analog Watch Co., a company I had never heard of until today, just announced its $199 Companion Collection. This watch collection is completely custom, as

President Donald Trump just signed an executive order to halt the federal government’s efforts to fight climate change. That means that, with the stroke of a pen, Trump is putting the health and well-being of the future generations in danger — in the US and around the world — for an executive order that won’t change energy markets much and probably won’t bring back many jobs.
The so-called Energy Independence executive order targets the Clean Power Plan, or CPP, a c

Facebook copied Snapchat Stories in its main “big blue app” today, after ripping it off in Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp and every other product Facebook has ever thought about. Oculus VR Stories have certainly been whiteboarded in an office somewhere.
The trend is so clear that there’s a delightful #storieseverywhere hashtag of insane mockups. I lol’d:
Introducing @1Password Stories! Show to the others your passwords! pic.twitter.com/FAfmaWmtns— Henrique Macedo (@

Today, This American Life released all seven episodes of its new spinoff podcast, S-Town. While the project shares some of the talent behind the public radio hit Serial, it’s significantly different from that true-crime mystery series, which turned into a meditation on truth and the difficulty of truly knowing anything. S-Town is more straightforward and intimate, but its real-life story of small-town drama is similarly intriguing.
S-Town starts off with a promising mystery of its own: an

Microsoft today announced that Excel on Windows will be getting one of the more useful tools from Office: co-authoring. This allows multiple users to edit a spreadsheet at the same time — much like what you might be used to with Google’s G Suite products. When a new person joins the document to edit it, you’ll see a profile avatar appear at the top. Click on that photo and you’ll get taken to where that user is currently editing.Real-time collaboration on Excel is availab

It’s been a rough week in Arizona for autonomous vehicles. Last week a Phoenix police motorcycle got a little tap from a Tesla while reportedly operating in autopilot, according to reports. The event happened days before Uber’s self-driving Lexus was involved in a rollover crash caused by another driver in Tempe, causing the company to put its self-driving efforts on hold in Arizona. In the first accident, a Phoenix officer reported that a Tesla driver struck him from behind while w

When news hit yesterday that serial entrepreneur and futurist Elon Musk was investing in a brain chip venture called Neuralink, the billionaire’s fan club went wild. Theories ranged from this being Musk’s bold plan to forestall an AI apocalypse to more measured responses about this being a promising contribution toward curing neurodegenerative diseases. Some also, only half-jokingly it seems, accused Musk of having played a little too much Mass Effect: Andromeda over the weekend.
But

To properly review the Chrysler Pacifica, one should really have children: kids require hauling a bunch of stuff around, they require constant entertainment, and you need a bunch of seats. I think that’s why Verge senior editor Dan Seifert, dad of two preschoolers, keeps asking if he can borrow one for a week — or the next 10–15 years.
But when I picked up a Pacifica to shuttle around The Verge staff at the Detroit Auto Show this year, I didn’t have a gang of four-year-ol

In April 2000, New Line Cinema released Love & Basketball, the debut film of writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood. It’s a refreshingly nuanced and original screen romance, a love story spanning more than a decade in the lives of two black basketball players, while encompassing details about gender, race, class, and culture that are clearly drawn from Prince-Bythewood’s personal experiences and observations. Two months later, in June, director John Singleton capped off a decade a

Google announced today that even more smart home devices would now be compatible with Assistant. The Assistant, accessible from the Google Home hub and Android phones, is integral to Google’s expansion into the Internet of Things: Today, we’re introducing new home automation integrations—in addition to the ones that already exist—that work with the Google Assistant. So you can now connect your Google Assistant to Best Buy Insignia, LIFX, TP-Link and Wink. The list of oth

Car companies are drunk on technology. Everywhere you turn, major automakers are hyping new advances in connected cars, self-driving cars, and app-driven mobility services like ride-sharing and car-sharing. These new technologies will save lives, improve our environment, and be an unabashedly cool way to get around town, these companies claim. But most people are probably a little skeptical about where all this new car tech is leading us.Enter Västtrafik, a Swedish public transit agency, wh

Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s heist drama and musical romance mash-up, is ditching its original August 11th release date. TriStar Pictures will now release the film in theaters June 28th, in order to build on “the momentum of its world premiere at South By Southwest.”
The bump to the start of summer — and the traditional blockbuster season for action movies — says that Sony subsidiary TriStar is banking on the film being a success; with Spider-Man: Homecoming out just

Rumors have abounded for months now, but today it became official: Square, the payments company founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, is coming to the UK. This will be the fifth market the company has entered, after Canada, Japan, Australia, and the United States. Square is an off-the-self tool that allows anyone to accept credit-card payments. All you need is a compatible smartphone or tablet, and the iconic Square reader. Square itself makes money from sales of the card readers – whi

Uber announced at a press conference this morning that the ride-sharing company will leave Denmark on April 18. The company cites new unfavorable taxi legislation, which has been presented in the Danish parliament, as the reason for the company’s sudden departure. Kristian Agerbo, spokesperson for Uber Nordic, made it clear during the press conference that Uber would stay if the proposed legislation changes. It should be said that this is not necessarily a farewell to Denmark. This i

Last night at CinemaCon, Sony Pictures Entertainment gave those in attendance a look at some new footage from director Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming film Blade Runner 2049.Let’s just say that I walked away really, really excited.
Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman introduced the film during the company’s presentation to theater owners (Sony is handling international distribution), recounting his first experience seeing Ridley Scott’s 1982 original. He then brought star Ryan

Way back in September 2016, a rumored device called the HTC Ocean leaked out in a video showing off a novel feature — sensors in the metal band around the phone that allowed for customizable functions. Back then it seemed like a nice concept device, but now VentureBeat is reporting that the Ocean is real, and it will be announced as the HTC U next month.
Remember the HTC Ocean? (https://t.co/q5ghm3vQ8Z) pic.twitter.com/GtpqowETjM— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 8, 2017The HTC U will r

Google Home is becoming a much more capable control center for smart home devices today, with the addition of support from several more products and systems.
August, Wink, LIFX, TP-Link, Rachio, Vivent, and Best Buy’s Insignia are all announcing integrations with Google Home, allowing owners of their products to issue voice controls through Google’s speaker. TechCrunch reports that First Alert, Frigidaire, Logitech, Geeni, and Anova are also adding integrations.
Here’s what som

Scientists have created a synthetic version of the female reproductive system that could be used to test drugs and help us better understand women’s health. The tiny system, which is shaped like a cube, is made up of a series of small tubes each containing cells from a different part of the female reproductive system: uterus, cervix, vagina, fallopian tubes, and liver.
The system, described in a study published today in Nature Communications, is called Evatar — like “avatar,&rd

Trump’s Twitter feed is about to find a second home in New York City. The Daily Show just announced its plan to build a “meticulously curated memorial library” of Trump tweets sometime in the near future.More tweets IRL
Details on the library are scarce, but a press release promises “a fully interactive and hands-on experience for hands of all sizes.” Maybe this will be another example of printed tweets making their way into the real world? Or maybe the tweets will

Samsung announced just yesterday that it would bring the Note 7 back to life through a refurbishing program. That might’ve elevated your spirits if you were one of the people who held onto their device for dear life, but unfortunately it will do you no good if you live in the US. In a short statement provided to Reuters, Samsung said it “will not be offering refurbished Galaxy Note 7 devices for rent or sale in the U.S.” And that’s all we get – no explana

Google is adding an “order ahead” feature to the Waze app, and the first announced partner is Dunkin’ Donuts. Launching today, members of the Dunkin’ Donuts rewards program will be able to program their favorite items in the Dunkin’ app, and then any time they head out onto the road, they can place an order with one tap in Waze.Requiring two apps for this integration feels a bit excessive, especially as smartphone storage can still be a struggle to manage. Waze also

A very important vote goes before the US House of Representatives today, and if you have any regard for your online privacy, then you need to contact your Rep now. Here’s the fastest way to do just that. You might have heard that the Republican-controlled Senate just voted to repeal the internet’s basic privacy rules. Without these rules, your Internet Service Provider can sell your information to the highest bidder without your knowledge or consent. And if you hadn&r

If you think sales is about feel and the art of the deal… well, you’re only partially right. If you want to sell, there are also some hard and fast rules you should learn, particularly if you’re looking to ply your trade online. With the Full-Stack Marketer training bundle (now just $19 from TNW Deals), you’ll be armed with all the knowledge you need to attack and succeed financially in the cyber marketplace. In all, you’ll get three courses featuring 22-plus hour

Tinder is going desktop. Today, the company announced plans to extend its mobile app to the web in order to accommodate prospective customers with less powerful mobile devices and slower internet connection. This means you will no longer have to depend on your smartphone to drop your awfully mawkish pick-up lines and indecent proposals – now you get to do it straight from your keyboard. While Tinder Online is currently solely available users in select countries, it’s

I just listed the many ways Spider-Man: Homecoming’s new trailer outlines the entirety of the film’s main plot; I won’t do the same with the trailer for A Ghost Story, another bit of marketing that spoils large chunks of its film. I’m sharing the teaser because I know I would have wanted to watch it before I saw the movie at Sundance. But a word of warning: the film’s twists — heck, part of its message — is condensed into these two minutes of footage.
A

After launching physical bookstores and attempting to launch a cashier-free convenience store, Amazon will be diving into another kind of physical retail venue: grocery stores.
With the beta launch of the AmazonFresh Pickup today, Amazon will give customers the ability to order groceries, drive up to an AmazonFresh location, and have the food delivered to their trunk. Orders can be filled in as little as 15 minutes, according to a video announcement from Amazon.The first two locations are in the

Samsung might be gearing up to leave the notorious Note 7 debacle behind with the release of its new Galaxy S8 flagship, but it seems the company is not quite done dealing with fire. Channel News Asia reports a Samsung Experience Store in Singapore has caught flames in the early hours of Tuesday morning on March 28. The incident occurred in a shopping mall in the North-East part of the country, causing surrounding shops to temporarily close doors for safety reasons. In a sta

Fujifilm announced another new mini instant camera today. This time, it’s the Instax mini 9. The new model is different from most of the other mini ones because it has a selfie mirror (like on the Instax mini 70), includes an attachable close-up lens, and a high-key mode, which lets you minimize shadows in a photo — all in one package. But perhaps more importantly, the camera comes in a bunch of funky colors. Aw yeah.There’s a lime green option that you can see above, as well a

During the development of Gnog, an upcoming 3D puzzle game, artist and creative lead Samuel Boucher couldn’t stop sketching ideas. The stages in Gnog are inspired by real-world objects, especially toys, but each also hides a tiny world inside, sort of like ‘90s fads like Polly Pocket or Mighty Max. Boucher had lots of ideas, so much so that a wall at developer Ko-Op’s Montreal studio was plastered with drawings of everything from pencil sharpeners to spaceships. Only a handful

Last week, OnePlus announced that it would be selling a new color of the 3T smartphone, dubbed midnight black. The new color is now available for purchase and now that I've put my hands on one, I must say it’s a very nice black.
See, black phones can be boring, or nondescript. But a good black phone can be stunning — Apple’s jet black iPhone 7 and Samsung’s black Note 7 (RIP) are great examples of black phones that are beautiful to look at.
The midnight black 3T is not li

A new, dual-camera Moto phone may be in the works from Motorola / Lenovo, according to some leaked images posted on Google+, as uncovered by Phandroid.
The post claims that the pictures are of a new 2017 Moto X model, but given the relatively weak specifications listed in the image of the boot loader — 3GB RAM, 32GB of storage, and a Snapdragon 625 processor — I’m a little skeptical that this is actually a new Motorola flagship device. (For reference, those are virtually identi

On Thursday, SpaceX is set to launch yet another satellite into orbit from the Florida coast — but this mission will be far from routine for the company. The Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX is using for the launch has already flown before. Around the same time last year, it sent cargo to the International Space Station for NASA, and then came back to Earth to land upright on a floating drone ship at sea. This is the first time that SpaceX will attempt to reuse one of its rockets.
It’s a