Technology news

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is once again the world’s second richest person, after a brief stint earlier today as the wealthiest individual on Earth. Amazon reported its second quarter earnings today, showing a profit of just $197 million on strong sales of $38 billion. The dip in profit, a drop of 77 percent from $857 million this time a year ago, is mainly due to Amazon’s aggressive investments in its own business.It does mean, however, that Bezos’ personal fortune, given his rough

Like the iPod Classic three years before it, the iPod nano’s death today was a long time coming. But years ago, before the product stalled out, lost its identity, and was made wholly unnecessary by the iPhone, it featured some of Apple’s finest design and arguably represented the iPod at its peak — tiny, fun, and focused.
1st generation, 2005
My favorite iPod nano iteration has always been the very first one (seen above). It came in black and white with a silver back, like a sh

Rolls-Royce is in a peculiar position when it comes to imagining the future of luxury transportation. The 112-year-old motor company is the very definition of a luxury car, but much of its auspicious reputation is based on its embodiment of classical luxury, in the tradition of Beethoven, foie gras, and delectable suicide doors.But Rolls-Royce customers expect the best, and as the brand focuses on wooing a younger customer base, tasteful, top-of-the-line technology is becoming paramount to those

I’m sorry to do this to you, but do you remember the fall of 2016?If not, here is a refresher. In October 2016, a month that took place approximately 900 million years ago, there was a rash of “killer clown” or “crazed clown” sightings across the United States. Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Alabama — the clowns were everywhere. If you actually stepped back and looked at the big picture, there were not so many clowns. 100 sightings across 50 states isn’t real

The Trump administration is known for its anti-science stances, except maybe when it comes to resurrecting the woolly mammoth. Newly appointed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci is apparently a fan of Woolly, a new book about the quest to use genetic engineering to bring back the extinct animal, and has promised to “do what he can to bring up” the book with the president.That's according to author Ben Mezrich, who's been DMing with Scaramucci on Twitter. Mezrich h

Android co-founder Andy Rubin’s Essential is poised to ship its flagship smartphone sometime in August, after a somewhat nebulous few weeks in which eager consumers and media organizations alike pestered the company about the unexplained shipping delay. Now, following Rubin’s confirmation last week that the Essential Phone is indeed coming soon, the company has penned a blog post detailing some of the more technical aspects of the phone’s dual-camera photography system.The post

Senators introduced new legislation today that would expand privacy protections and stop law enforcement from obtaining emails and location data without a warrant.
Legislation would update a 1986 law
The Electronic Communications Privacy Modernization Act, introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), would update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act by requiring police to obtain a warrant for remotely stored emails that are more than 180 days old, which law enforce

Apple’s automotive infotainment system CarPlay is coming to two new premium makes: Aston Martin and Mini. 9to5Mac noticed that the CarPlay page on Apple’s website was updated today with new models from the European manufacturers.For Mini, CarPlay will arrive a little later this year in the Tech Pack or Media Pack XL trims of the 2018 Countryman and 2018 Clubman. That means it still probably won’t be coming to the existing models, much to the chagrin of our own Thomas Ricker, wh

A new class of tissue glues can seal a punctured pig heart, new research says. Called Tough Adhesives, these new glues could one day help close up wounds in the hard-to-reach, slimy depths of our bodies. That’s still a ways away, however. So far, they’ve mainly been tested on the blood-covered skin and beating heart of a pig.
The research is part of a bigger push to develop tissue adhesives that can safely and effectively seal up internal cuts and holes left by trauma, surgery, or bi

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the latest sci-fi epic from Luc Besson, had far more humble beginnings than the silver screen. It started out as a series of French comics called Valérian and Laureline that launched in 1967 and wrapped in 2010.Besson has talked at length about his love for the series, especially its heroine Laureline, and it inspired some of his 1990s hit The Fifth Element. In the comics, Valerian and Laureline are “spatio-temporal” agents who trav

Earlier this month, The San Diego Union-Tribune launched an unusual experiment: asking readers to become small-scale philanthropists. Partnering with crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, the paper began adding a small widget to its online articles, providing a link to start a fundraising campaign. “Want to make a difference?” the note asks. “A great way to help people affected by Union-Tribune stories is to start a GoFundMe.” It’s the latest sign of crowdfunding’s

Last year, slimy green and foul-smelling algae took over Florida’s beaches, releasing toxins that killed fish and shellfish and sickened people. The algal bloom prompted the Florida governor to declare a state of emergency and likely caused widespread economic damage. If climate change goes unchecked, we could see more of these algal blooms along our coasts and in lakes, according to new research. That means that climate change won’t just affect the quantity of our water supply &mdas

Liron Damir, Pebble’s former VP of design and one of the leaders behind creating webOS for HP and LG, is heading to Google to serve as the new head of UX for Google Home, via Variety. Per Damir’s announcement on LinkedIn, he’ll be “lead[ing] the design of Google Home products,” in his new role at the company.Damir’s hire makes sense for Google
Damir leaves his position at Andy Rubin’s Essential, where he had served as head of UX for the startup’s u

Today, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced a change is coming to Airbnb that will allow users to leave an online review even if they haven’t completed their full stay. Previously, these types of reviews could only be left with the assistance of Airbnb’s customer services department.
There are numerous reasons why someone might leave a property early — if a listing is run down and doesn’t meet the expectations presented online, for example, or if a h

Microsoft is releasing Windows 10 S, a new Windows variant designed to only run Windows Store apps, to MSDN subscribers today. The new operating system will be available in an ISO file so developers can download and install it to test their apps on Windows 10 S. Specifically, Microsoft wants education-focused developers to properly test Windows 10 S to make sure it’s ready for that particular audience. This is also a first step towards making Windows 10 S more broadly available to schools,

 In VR, we’re all robots, but some experiences make that a bit more apparent than others. Today, Oculus is releasing a VR comedy called “Miyubi.” The experience, produced by Funny or Die and Felix & Paul Studios, is the longest VR narrative to be funded by Oculus to date, clocking in at around 40 minutes. “We looked at this like we were making half of a low-budget… Read More

A report released today by activist group Global Voices found that not only does Facebook’s Free Basics violate net neutrality principles, it’s not even very helpful to those who use it. Free Basics, an app that provides free access to specific services in parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, was already banned in India last year for violating net neutrality rules.Upon opening the app, users have to get by with a Bing search engine, a Johnson & Johnson-sponsored baby advice

Private spaceflight startup Astrobotic has secured a rocket to launch its lunar spacecraft for the first time. The company’s Peregrine Lunar Lander — designed to carry multiple payloads to the surface of the Moon — is slated to ride on top of an Atlas V rocket, made by the United Launch Alliance, sometime in 2019. The rocket will carry the lander into Earth orbit, and from there, the Peregrine will travel the rest of the way to the Moon.
The plan is for the Peregrine to actuall

Apple supplier Foxconn announced plans to open a new production facility for LCD displays in Wisconsin yesterday. The company and the state of Wisconsin pointed out that the facility's construction would support 10,000 jobs in each of the next four years, as well as 6,000 indirect jobs. Foxconn would eventually employ 13,000 people with an average salary of $54,000.Yesterday, we didn't know how exactly Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker convinced the world's largest contract electronics manufacture

 Get out the Kleenex and hit play on the Boyz II Men musical montages — it’s officially the end of an era. Three years after discontinuing the iPod classic, Apple is finally doing the same its lower-end brethren, the shuffle and nano. The company pulled both iconic MP3 players from its site earlier today and has since confirmed with TechCrunch that this is, indeed, the end. That… Read More

Apple has officially been granted FCC approval for an experimental license to test 5G data technology — specifically in the short-range millimeter wave spectrum in the 28GHz and 39GHz bands, as reported by DSLReports. The FCC portioned off those chunks of spectrum last summer for companies to begin testing 5G technology, so it makes sense that Apple would want to start exploring 5G, especially given that it’s a major player in the world of mobile data due to the sheer weight of the i

Google has been working on Tango, its AR platform for smartphones, since 2013. Since then, only one smartphone has shipped that supports Tango: the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, which I reviewed back in December. Now, the second Tango phone is here.Well, sort of.Asus still hasn’t said exactly when its Tango-equipped smartphone, the new ZenFone AR, will ship, nor has it said how much it will cost. But the company did host a press event in San Francisco yesterday afternoon, inviting people like myself

AMD’s Ryzen 3 processors — the budget, low-end of its resurgent Ryzen brand — are out today, and we’ve finally got pricing details. For now, AMD is offering two Ryzen 3 chips: the base Ryzen 3 1200 for $109, and the more powerful Ryzen 3 1300X for $129.
The specs on the two chips remain unchanged from AMD’s announcement earlier this month. Both offer four cores and four threads, with the 1300X clocking at 3.5GHz (that can boost to 3.7GHz), while the 1200 is slightly