Technology news

InterContinental Hotels Group said earlier this year that about a dozen of its hotels had been infected with credit-card stealing malware — it turns out, the number was around 100 times that.
The hotel group, which operates Holiday Inn, Kimpton, and several other brands, has now released details on the broader scope of the security breach. “Approximately 1,200 IHG-branded franchise hotel locations in the Americas were affected,” a company spokesperson tells The Verge.
IHG says

Bluetooth’s the headphone trend this year, as are neckbuds, so of course Skullcandy is making affordable, wireless neckbuds. The Jib Wireless, which the company announced today, cost $34.99 and come in four colors: red, purple, blue, and black. They have a built-in mic and remote for calls and music controls. They’ll also last up to six hours on a single charge.
Skullcandy previously released Bluetooth neckbuds with physically larger batteries on both sides. The Jib version is both m

It seems as though Guillermo del Toro is constantly attached to a ton of projects, but his next film, The Shape of Water, now has a release date: December 8th, 2017, right in the middle the Hollywood’s award nomination season.Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, The Shape of Water is described as “an other-worldly fairy tale,” which follows Elisa (Sally Hawkins,) who works at a top-secret government laboratory. There, she and a co-worker (Octavia Spencer) discovers a class

Withings appears to have canceled the Home Plus, a Homekit enabled version of the company’s Home security camera, according to a report from 9to5Mac.The Home Plus was announced at CES earlier this year as a second generation successor to the original Home, adding an Android app, new video logging and time-lapse features, and the aforementioned Homekit support. In a statement to a 9to5Mac reader, Withings customer support commented on the decision, nothing that “Guided by our evolving

Before you hit send on that next email, imagine a future where you don’t have to. Something as simple as physically interacting with the send button will one day be a memory, a relic of a time in which people still needed to talk to their devices, or worse still, touch them. As we advance the conversation around brain-connected devices, it’s clear we’re moved past the theoretical and into practical application. But you have to wonder whether keeping our brains s

Tesla has withdrawn the scathing lawsuit it filed against Sterling Anderson, the former program manager of its Autopilot team, and the company he founded with former Google exec Chris Urmson, Aurora Innovation.
According to a settlement agreement, Aurora will pay Tesla $100,000 (a paltry sum for a billion-dollar company like Tesla) and allow Tesla to hire an independent auditor toscour Aurora’s systems for confidential Tesla information, which would then be destroyed or returned to Tesla.

Sharp knows how to do the no bezel look. Last year it showed off its Corner R display concept on a phone with a minimal bottom bezel, and now, the company is introducing its newest phone, the Aquos R, which incorporates the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 835 processor. The 835 is the same processor that’s in the Galaxy S8. But unlike the S8, the Aquos R still has prominent bezels. Sharp can make a phone without them, so why?SharpSome other specs:
5.3-inch WQHD display
Android 7.1
3,160 mAH bat

If you’ve opened the Google Play Store on your Android smartphone recently, you might have noticed something different: the “My Apps” section, which is where you go to update apps or reinstall past downloads, has been redesigned with a tighter, more condensed layout that makes way better use of space. It also shows you far more useful information at a glance without requiring extra taps or switching between screens. Google is finally figuring out how to help average people deal

Cinephiles, rejoice! Criterion Collection will be adding a major science-fiction classic to its roster this summer: a restored version of Stalker, directed by Solaris filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky.Based off the 1971 Russian science-fiction novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Stalker was originally released in 1979. The film follows a man known as “the Stalker” as he leads an expedition into a mysterious, forbidden area known as “The Zone.” In the book, the

Marvel’s upcoming teen drama Cloak & Dagger just got its first trailer, showing off the kind of angst and young romance Freeform is trying to corner the market on. For the first time, we see Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone “Ty” Johnson (Aubrey Joseph), two teens from very different walks of life who fall in love as they discover their superpowers. But things can only get more complicated from there.
Bringing superpowers to prom
Cloak & Dagger will be Marvel Televis

Spotify launched a discounted premium subscription program for students back in 2014, but since then it has only been available in the US, UK, and Germany. Today, it’s expanding that offering to 33 more countries across Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Oceania.
To take advantage of the discount, students can sign up at here for the $4.99 / month subscription that offers ad-free and offline listening. Spotify uses SheerID to verify a student’s eligibility status, and will co

If you’ve been following the technology around augmented reality in the past couple of years, it’s pretty obvious that lightweight glasses or contact lenses with embedded displays are the ultimate goal for the technology (well, except for maybe brain implants). But what will we actually do with AR once it’s been fully realized? Though Facebook didn’t have any actual AR tech to show off on Day 2 of F8, it at least had plenty of ideas, so we figured we’d just go ahea

Antarctica isn’t a huge, static block of ice where very little goes on. For the first time, scientists are getting a sense of just how active the continent’s extensive network of lakes, rivers, and streams is. These bodies of water have existed for decades on Antarctica, and their meltwater affects the stability of the ice shelf underneath. That, in turn, has important implications for sea level rise.Antarctica’s landmass is surrounded by hundreds of floating ice shelves that p

Facebook is banking on the smartphone camera being the most influential and ubiquitous augmented reality platform in the future, and it’s spent a healthy chunk of its F8 developer conference showing the world what this will look like. While virtual game boards and underwater effects are neat, the company is also developing AR features that are more subtle and way more useful.One involves using a mix of the same type of computer vision and artificial intelligence-powered algorithms that pla

Facebook’s advanced hardware group is working on technology to let you “hear with your skin.” The technology could be used to help deaf people communicate, but Facebook also envisions it as a way to advance communications for people who can already hear, allowing for such things as a conversation to be automatically translated into another language.
The technology is being developed by Facebook’s Building 8 research group, led by ex-DARPA director and former head of Googl

Ask anyone who frequents loud concerts, and you’ll probably learn why protecting your hearing is important. Knops are a new pair of adjustable ear plugs looking for funding on Kickstarter that claims to be “the volume button for your ears” to help you do just that.To clarify — unlike, say, the Here One wireless earbuds — the Knops aren’t some kind of high tech audio filter. Instead, they’re a pair of analog acoustic filters (i.e., earplugs), albeit ones

Facebook announced at its F8 developer conference that the Android version of Instagram is getting offline functionality. In fact, the features are already rolling out in certain parts of the world. (I was able to get some of it to work in New York on a phone running Android Nougat, for example.) Offline mode could eventually make it to iOS as well, according to TechCrunch.
The offline mode features go beyond just saving a draft or queueing up a photo at the top of the feed, which the app alread

V-Moda's Forza Metallo in-ear headphones are already out, to great reviews, but now the Bluetooth neckbud version is shipping. The Forza Metallo Wireless is a laundry list of features you'd want in a pair of neckbuds, including sweat resistance, detachable "sport fins" for keeping the earbuds in your ears when working out, and Qualcomm's aptX audio codec. V-Moda promises over ten hours of battery life, and there's quick charge functionality as well.Look at this woman curling a dumbell in the par

Last year, Facebook announced the Surround 360, an open-source VR camera that cost a massive $30,000 for what was basically a fancy 360-camera. One year later, Facebook has updated the Surround 360 with two models that offer something more powerful: the ability to move around a VR scene. Most 360 cameras essentially mount your head on a fixed point. You can look up, down, left and right, and, if you’re lucky, the image will be in 3D as well. But you can’t actually mov

Twitch announced today that it’s adding new subscription tiers for fans to support streamers. The new tiers are priced at $9.99 and $24.99 monthly subscriptions, in addition to the existing $4.99 a month tier.The new offerings are primarily designed to allow fans to support their favorite streamers on higher levels. It’s a move that feels more similar to Patreon, as it offers increased opportunities for fans to give money to streamers solely to support them instead actually receiving

Facebook is developing a small helicopter that can be deployed in emergencies to deliver internet access, the company said. Speaking at the F8 conference in San Jose today, the company said that the helicopter, dubbed “Tether-tenna,” would provide “instant infrastructure” during times of crisis. “When completed, this technology will be able to be deployed immediately and operate for months at a time to bring back connectivity in case of an emergency,” said Yae

Facebook today announced the second generation of its Surround 360 video camera design, and this time the company is serious about helping potential customers purchase it as an actual product. The Surround 360, which Facebook unveiled last year as an open-source spec guide for others to build off of, has been upgraded as both a larger, more capable unit and a smaller, more portable version.Facebook is calling the big model the x24, because it now has a 24-camera array arranged in an orb instead

When we think of augmented reality face filters, we tend to think of goofy novelties like Halloween masks, face swapping, or inadvertent racist caricatures. As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out yesterday, AR could go far beyond that, putting objects in real space with sophisticated tracking tech. But if Facebook thinks of augmented reality as an integral part of its platform, there’s one simple filter that’s about to become incredibly useful. It’s virtual makeup, and it&rsq

Emirates is reducing the number of scheduled flights between Dubai and the US cities of Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Seattle, Boston, and Los Angeles.
The airline said in a statement emailed to The Verge that the decision came “in response to weakened travel demand” to the United States, and that changes in US government policy related to visas, security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins from certain countries “have had a direct impact on consumer

The promise of young-blood injections to keep us sharp has captivated Silicon Valley, but the studies have all been with mice blood — until now. Researchers at Stanford University found that injecting mice with a protein found in human umbilical cord blood can improve their memory, though not everyone is as positive about the results.
Two years ago, the Stanford University lab of Tony Wyss-Coray, senior author of today’s study, showed that injecting young blood into old mice helped t

Scientists in Germany have 3D printed very intricate tiny objects using glass. And of course, one of these objects is a pretzel. In the future, the technique could be used to 3D print more useful things, like complex lenses, filters, and even ornaments that generally need highly skilled artisans to make.
The researchers used a type of “liquid glass” to make complex shapes that are smooth, transparent, and have a very high resolution, according to a study published today in Nature. Mo

In a rare find, a rocky “super-Earth” planet has been located orbiting around a cool dwarf star — and it’s just a mere 39 light years away. The world gets its “super” nickname because it’s a bit bigger and slightly more massive than our own planet. But just like Earth, this planet sits in the coveted habitable zone, the region around a star where temperatures are just right for liquid water to pool on a planet’s surface. That make this place an exc

Stack Overflow is an essential component to any developer’s toolkit, acting as a repository of all programming knowledge. If you’re puzzled by Python, or confused about Clojure, it has the answers you need. This ubiquity across languages has allowed Stack Overflow’s data scientists to observe some interesting trends about its users. As it turns out, the most popular language varies depending on what time it is. During the daytime, Microsoft’s C# programming language reig

Apple has long been rumored to be prepping a substantial design overhaul for the next-generation iPhone that will significantly diverge from previous models – and recently leaked schematics seem to suggest this might very well be the case. Serial Apple leaker Sonny Dickson is back with yet another scoop. The notorious hardware insider took to Twitter to share an intriguing image, showing what appears to be design schematics for the upcoming iPhone. Here is the full image: iPhone 8 lo

Toyota unveiled its plan today to build a fleet of heavy-duty, zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell trucks. The move is further evidence that automakers are continuing to place huge bets on the most abundant element in the universe, despite major fueling limitations.270 horsepower, 200 miles of range
Toyota introduced the fuel cell truck concept as part of a feasibility study by the Port of Los Angeles, which figures in to the port’s efforts to reduce harmful emissions. If Toyota does go forw

Kingsman: The Secret Service was an unexpected action-comedy success, so it’s only natural that we’re getting a sequel that looks to take all the best things about the first movie and go bigger and (hopefully) better than before.Or at least, we think that’s what this teaser is getting at? The teaser arrives in two form: a 15-second rapid-fire montage and a fan-made frame-by-frame breakdown of the same video, slowed to cover 55-seconds.
Our friends at Polygon think the teaser is

One of the hardest questions to answer, once you’ve decided to buy one of Samsung’s awesome new Galaxy S8 phones, is whether to go for the regular 5.8-inch variety or the Plus-sized 6.2-inch model. If I had to make that decision before seeing and using both phones, I’d have said the regular S8 is as much smartphone as anyone needs, offering great one-handed use and a price that’s at least $100 less dear. But I’ve just wrapped up a busy week with the Galaxy S8 Plus,

The Galaxy Note 8 could be getting a dual camera system similar to the iPhone 7 Plus or LG G6, per an investor note obtained by 9to5Google from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Kuo apparently says that the Note 8’s camera will be “the most important upgrade” in the upcoming smartphone, with 3x optical zoom, optical image stabilization on both lenses, and the ability to take both 12-megapixel wide angle and 13-megapixel telephoto shots. Kuo also claims the “Note 8&rsqu

In the cavernous hallways of the audiophile rabbit hole, electrostatic headphones are the ultimate, deepest, and dankest level. By the time you’ve started seriously contemplating (and abbreviating) electrostats for your next purchase, your friends will have long since written you off as a hopeless case. That’s because headphones of this type cost a ton, require dedicated amplification, and are usually enormous, ugly things. All performance and no pizzazz.Shure, the company that&rsqu

While you can get a great Chromebook for around $500, sub-$300 is where Chromebooks have always especially outshone their Windows brethren: better performance on cheaper, ARM hardware. Lenovo just made one of those sub-$300 things.
Lenovo's Flex 11 is 2-in-1 convertible laptop with a 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) touchscreen and a 2.1GHz quad core ARM processor. In addition to Chrome, Flex 11 was "designed with Android apps in mind," and it will offer the Google Play Store "soon." Specs-wise the Flex 1

Alphabet’s Google division is, fundamentally, in the business of selling data. That is a useful thing to keep in mind when Alphabet’s Verily comes calling for your medical data. But Google is also inarguably useful; this is why, despite knowing that my every move is being tracked by the company, I still make use of Google search, Gmail, and Google Docs, among its other myriad services. Verily’s Project Baseline is, in some sense, the health equivalent of those kinds of services

 In recent years, Microsoft, Facebook and Slack (and many more) have all built new productivity platforms for workers to integrate and communicate about dozens of other API-enabled enterprise apps, but what about productivity tools for those enterprises that have no appetite or budget to rip out and replace software that they’ve been using for years? Well, there’s an app for… Read More

As a follow-up to the wildly-popular miniature NES, Nintendo is reportedly planning to launch a miniature SNES before the end of the year. A report from Eurogamer citing “sources close to the company” says the microconsole is scheduled to launch in time for Christmas, and that Nintendo is sticking with the easy plug-and-play format of the micro NES.A re-launched SNES with built-in games would fly off the shelves as a Christmas gift,offering gamers young and old access to a range of c