Technology news

GUEST:To open source or not to open source? If you’re in the software business, this is a question you’re going to face at one point or another. The sooner you tackle it, the better.
The open-source movement is no underground phenomenon; it’s a fully mature and highly effective method of building software systems. You’re likely running open-source software right now. Every time you use Google you’re using one of the largest and most successful open-source operating

A recent security update for T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S8 devices will block users from using Bixby remapping apps, reports Android Police. Before the S8’s launch, it looked like the Bixby button could be customized into a different shortcut, but the phones ended up shipping without that capability. That meant users had to resort to third-party apps to add that functionality, and now it looks like Samsung is adamant on making sure the Bixby button stays dedicated to Bixby.
The June update, w

Have something you want to broadcast to the world? You’re in luck — there are now more streaming services than you can shake a microphone stand at, and more ways than ever to find an audience. If the idea of getting started is daunting (I know the feeling, trust me), don’t worry — as long as you know what’s out there and what tools you need, you can get into it in no time. Here are the basics for getting started on a livestreaming platform. Hardware Often, when you

Last week we learned that RED, a company best known for making high-quality digital cinema cameras, is going to dip into the smartphone market with something called the Hydrogen One. The company announced the phone with a screaming hot price tag of $1,195 and up, but revealed little else aside from a few things: it will offer 3D (and “4D”) visuals and audio that will “ASSAULT YOUR SENSES,” the phone will be carrier-unlocked and run Android, and it will be modular.Studying

GUEST: Let’s be honest. After jumping through hoops to get your crowdfunding campaign live, your video is many times an afterthought. We recently analyzed over 200 campaigns to gauge how important videos are in crowdfunding.
A quick bit of background: Crowdfunding campaigns are open on average 93 days. Issuers must meet their funding target to receive invested capital; otherwise, it goes back to the investors, and the campaign is considered closed and failed.
We analyzed 243 closed campaig

Chinese phone maker Vivo debuted two new smartphones in China this week: its X9s and its X9s Plus. Both phones are slightly upgraded versions of the earlier X9 devices. These new models include larger batteries, slightly wider bodies, and run Android Nougat. Like the older versions, they also have dual selfie cameras. The specs haven’t changed much, but here’s what you can expect from the X9s Plus, which costs 2,998 yuan, or about $440:
4,015mAh battery
Android Nougat
5.85-inch Full

President Trump met with President Putin at the G20 Summit, and the Great United States / Russia Beef of 2016 has been settled. Trump says he asked Putin if Russia interfered in the election, and Putin “vehemently” denied it — meaning Trump can now move forward with Russia to solve what he calls the “Ukrainian & Syrian problems.” (The Ukrainian problem should also be easy since Putin denies that there are any Russian troops in Ukraine. They’re just on vaca

GUEST: While Uber, Tesla, and Google are fighting over who will be first to deploy self-driving cars on a large scale, the Dutch underdogs at mobility startup Amber are planning a surprise move to overtake them all.
If all goes according to plan, Amber’s self-driving cars will hit the streets of Dutch cities by mid-2018. Amber CEO Steven Nelemans made the announcement at the Hannover Messe, one of the world’s biggest industrial fairs, in April. It’s a bold plan indeed, but the

On July 1st at 11:30 pm PT, two friends, Jordan Hart and Bradly D'Souza, left Redondo Beach, California, in a 2015 midnight silver Tesla Model S, and proceeded east. Fifty-one hours and 47 minutes later, they arrived at a garage on E. 31st Street in New York City, claiming to set a new record for the fastest transcontinental drive in an electric vehicle. They say they bested the previous record holder by a little more than four hours.
They tweeted and posted photos to Instagram throughout the tr

Dino Patti cofounded game studio Playdead in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2006. The indie team created an award-winning title, Limbo, in 2010. It won a number of awards, and then Playdead went dark for six years. They launched Inside in June 2016 and won even more acclaim.
Now Patti has left Playdead to start a new studio, Jumpship, in England with animator Chris Olsen. Olsen had been working on an interesting new concept, a sci-fi game called Somerville.
Patti liked the look of it, but he

For as relaxing as vacations are supposed to be, there tends to be an awful lot of stress involved. My girlfriend and I just got back from a trip a couple weeks ago, and the biggest problem we had was planning: sure, we had plane tickets, train tickets, and Airbnbs all set, but we still had to figure out what to actually do in the three different cities we were visiting. We weren’t entirely sure even once we’d arrived.
Fortunately, Google Maps has a feature that makes exploring a new

Setting up camp in Silicon Valley may seem like the obvious choice for tech startups, and one common way to get there is through an accelerator. Each year, these programs churn out hundreds of freshly-minted companies, dispersing seed money across a wide range of sectors.
Yet for alumni of the Y Combinator (YC) accelerator, a small number of these entrepreneurs have chosen to base their headquarters beyond the confines of Silicon Valley. VentureBeat spoke with them to better understand the impor

What does nearly every computer, device, operating system, program app or other digital creation have in common? They’re each represented by your own distinctive, highly identifiable icon. Finding just the right icon you want for your art or web design project can be tougher than you think. Thankfully, it’s now possible to grab the icon you need without scouring every corner of the web with an Icons8 unlimited plan. Right now, you can get a lifetime subscription to their handy

The head-spinning, mouth-drying, bone-crushing fatigue of jet lag is enough to make anyone think twice about changing time zones. But sometimes, traveling is worth the suffering — or, it’s just unavoidable. So we quizzed Stanford sleep expert Jamie Zeitzer about how to minimize the misery of jet lag.
The body operates on a biological schedule known as the circadian clock. Seeing daylight at specific times of day helps set this clock — but it’s slow to adjust when we rapid

VB WEBINAR: Push notifications, done right, can garner 2,400 percent higher conversion rates. Don’t be part of the 63 percent of marketers who stumble on the messaging, timing, and frequency of your notification strategy — join this interactive VB Live event.
Register here for free.
Colleen LeCount, SVP of global sales and marketing at Mobolize, can boil it all down to the one thing that always works to make push notifications as successful as possible: It’s all about context.

GUEST: In 2006, Fellowes, one of the world’s leading paper shredding companies, established a joint venture with a manufacturer in China. Fellowes would bring in its technology and IP while its partner would contribute land and labor. The relationship quickly soured when the Chinese partner seized the company’s proprietary assets and shut down the entire operation in a hostile takeover. By 2011, Fellowes had lost approximately $100 million — all because it had failed to properl

Web publishers are falling on hard times. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt recently announced plans to lay off hundreds of employees. International Data Group laid off more than 90 people in its tech-industry publishing division, less than two months after completing its sale to a Chinese conglomerate. Telegraph Media Group just completed a round of job cuts.  Yahoo, IBT Media and Mashable announced lay offs  last year.    There are several irreversible trends that a

So you want to try VR, but you’re not ready to thrown down $1,000+ on a headset and a PC to set it up? We can’t really blame you, but there are other ways to see the wonders of the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive without emptying your wallet. VR arcades are just one way to do that. But how do you find your closest center?
That’s a question that VRNISH is looking to answer. This new website is compiling a list of VR arcades, cinemas and other types of facilities across the glo

What’s a billionaire named Jim Jannard to do after founding and selling Oakley’s for $2.1 billion then creating a state-of-the-art Hollywood-caliber camera manufacturer in RED Digital Camera? Create a phone that can power holograms and doesn’t need a headset for AR or VR, that’s what, apparently.
Today RED announced the Hydrogen One smartphone. Reportedly this is being designed as “the world’s first holographic media machine&rdquo

GUEST: For many of us, the toughest decision of the day doesn’t happen at work, school, or at the nearest Starbucks (although that one often comes close). It happens in front of an overstuffed closet in the form of the age-old question “What should I wear today?” Each selected outfit represents an equation based on a multitude of fluctuating variables (What’s on my work calendar? What’s on my personal calendar? What impression do I need to make? What is clean? What

Elon Musk said that the first production unit of the ultra-anticipated Tesla Model 3 would be coming this week, and here it is. The Tesla CEO posted two photos of the vehicle to Twitter late on Saturday night.
Musk has said that the first 30 Model 3 customers will receive their cars at a party on the 28th. Production is expected to grow to 100 cars in August, more than 1,500 by September, and then 20,000 by December.
It looks like this car is heading straight to Musk's garage. Tesla board member

The Tesla Model 3 is finally here. 
After months of hype, a bonkers production plan, and multiple prototypes spotted zooming around California, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the first production Model 3. Production unit 1 of Model 3 is now built and going through final checkout. Pics soon.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2017
First Production Model 3 pic.twitter.com/TCa2NSUNI3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2017
pic.twitter.com/is6Hthjjoj
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July

Many of the great minds in the tech industry believe augmented reality could have an incredible impact on our lives, including Apple CEO Tim Cook who believes AR could develop an audience as large as mobile phones.
You can add the minds behind the U.S. military to that list now, as Next Reality News reports that the U.S. Army is now outfitting their soldiers with a new augmented display called Tactical Augmented Reality or T.A.R.
Through T.A.R., soldiers will have hands-free

GUEST: Among the many trending and debate-worthy topics within the world of artificial intelligence, a few with rather profound ramifications are finally being openly discussed. Namely, there’s a fundamental disconnect between the way the tech industry talks about innovations in AI and the actual value delivered to consumers and enterprises. Worse still, AI is not yet fully democratized and has remained largely the bastion of major tech companies. Fortunately, that is about to change.
As c

At the 2016 G-20 summit, in Hangzhou, China, world leaders united in a common determination to implement the Paris Climate Agreement before the end of the year. 
The U.S., led by then-President Barack Obama, was a key player in rounding up support for the agreement. It was difficult to imagine then that the U.S. would ever turn away from this agreement, widely regarded as the world's last, best chance to rein in global warming, that it had worked so hard to forge.
Then President Donald Trum

A couple in Nevada celebrated Nevada's marijuana legalization in an unusual way: by getting married in a growhouse.
The purple-tinged wedding took place last week, on the same day Nevada's marijuana legalization laws went into effect.
The venue was the groom's idea, the AP reports. Mark Balfe-Taylor said he chose the unusual location for their nuptials to show support for Nevada's new marijuana laws since his own father had once been in jail for using the substance.
The bride, apparently, "had