Technology news

It’s been only three hours since Google’s Pixel 2 event wrapped up — but if you’re planning to buy one and haven’t gotten around to it yet, you’re already late enough to be on the waiting list.
Many models of the Pixel 2 and every model of the Pixel 2 XL have already seen their delivery dates slip past the phone’s October 19th launch date. Here’s the current situation in the Google Store:
Pixel 2:
Black 64GB: In stock.
Black 128GB: In stock.
White

It’s a tempting assertion for Uber to make: the easier it is to hail a ride home after a night out, the less likely people will be to drink and drive. Uber claims as such on it’s website. “Services like Uber—where passengers push a button and get a ride in minutes—are helping to curb drunk driving.” For the last three years, the ride-hail service has been partnering with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to promote efforts to curb drunk driving.Uber’s impact

Google’s new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones come with a 3.5mm to USB-C headphone adapter in the box since Google is sadly following in Apple’s footsteps and nixing the traditional audio jack on its newest smartphones.If you are planning to use your old headphones with your new Pixel 2, you probably shouldn’t lose the free adapter that comes in the box: Google is charging a hefty $20 each for replacement dongles.the pixel 2 comes with a dongle, but if you lose it, that&rsquo

Google has officially taken the wraps off the second generation of its Pixel smartphones — the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL. If the original Pixel was a chance for Google stop standing on the sidelines and show the rest of the world how to make a great smartphone, the Pixel 2 looks like what happens when you take an already great phone and put it through a year of refinement.
On the hardware front, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL look like they’ll stand up next to any of their contemporarie

Most experts agree that robot cars will first roll out as fleets of self-driving taxis in controlled environments — college campuses, business parks, dedicated freeway lanes, or downtowns of congested cities. And we’re already starting to see the first hints of those types of services. A new one called Voyage just launched in a retirement community in California today.Two self-driving Ford Fusions (with a third on the way) will offer trips to the 4,000 residents of the Villages, a ga

The Google Pixel event has wrapped and we got a good look at a bunch of new hardware lineup this year: the second generation of Pixel smartphones, new Google Homes, a Pixelbook, and a surprise new Google camera that uses artificial intelligence to snap pictures and videos of your family. Is it as weird as it sounds?
If you missed the keynote where Google presented everything, here’s a recap of everything Google announced in about two hours cut into a 19-minute video so you can see for your

Google has announced that Spotify voice commands will be fully supported on Google Assistant within the coming weeks. This means you can use your voice to control Spotify on any Google Assistant-supported device.
Before, Spotify voice commands were only available on Google Home, but now the same functions translate to Google Assistant on your phone. Both free and premium Spotify users will be able to use the voice commands, like, “OK Google, play some rock music on Spotify.” If you l

You’ll be able to use Google’s newest smartphones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, without needing to pop in a SIM card, the company announced today. As long as you’re a Project Fi subscriber, Google will use the devices’ built-in eSIMs to authenticate your cellular account. Prior to today, no smartphone has ever used the eSIM standard. The relatively new technology has typically been reserved for LTE-equipped tablets, smartwatches, and other cellular wearables.“This me

Tinder is rolling out a puzzling new feature to better help users who encounter aggressive, offensive, or annoying users on its platform. With “reactions,” users can send animated responses like applause, an eye-roll, or a thrown drink.In the dating world, online messages can be a way for people to communicate their discomfort or disgust clearly, without fear of the physical danger that women in particular face around strangers. Dating apps can be an easier way to weed out potential

Google’s Pixel event today confirmed a lot of leaks and rumors, but it also held some surprises and software upgrades developed with machine learning. Marking its second year making hardware, Google announced the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL; an interesting new camera called Google Clips; a new Google Home Mini and Max; a Pixelbook, and an updated Google Daydream.
If you missed any of it, we have the biggest announcements right here.
Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XLThe Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL both use

Not all meditation is created equal, according to a new study. And if you’re looking to meditate to improve something specific, you should pick a practice that focuses on the thing you’d like to improve.
Many studies have been done to show the benefits of meditation: it can make you calmer and happier and a better person. But “meditation” is actually a group of different techniques — different methods produce different results. And a lot of the studies are somewhat

Apple's new Apple Watch Series 3 had some serious LTE connectivity issues, and the company's now trying to address them with an OS update. The Verge's Lauren Goode wrote in her review of the wearable:"It’s reasonable to expect it might take a minute for the Apple Watch to 'find' LTE after you’ve walked away from your phone. It’s not reasonable for this to take many minutes or not work at all. This almost makes me wish there was a way to actively turn off Wi-Fi on the Watch, so

Newness, which debuted at Sundance in January and was picked up by Netflix in June, is about the early days of a relationship between 20-somethings Martin (Nicholas Hoult) and Gabi (Victoria’s Laia Costa). They take shots and sit outside at nighttime asking each other questions like “Have you ever been in love?” The typical stuff!But things are complicated because they met on a fake dating app called Winx, in which you select dates by swiping right for “no” and left

It ought to be at least a little bit easier to get a Pixel this year. Google says it’s updating its online store so that if the Pixels are out of stock, you’ll be able to reserve one and hold a place in line.
In the past, you had to put your name on a waiting list and then wait for Google to email you. These updates don’t sound like they change the situation dramatically, but it seems like they should make ordering the new Pixels a little bit easier.
Last year, Google had a tou

Google’s tech specs page for the Pixel 2 seems to indicate that buyers of the company’s latest smartphones can expect to receive Android software updates for three years from the time of release. Previous Nexus devices and the original Pixels were guaranteed updates for at least two years.
This extension went completely unmentioned during today’s keynote, so I’m really hoping it’s not a mistake. It’s written in the footnotes of the Pixel listing at Google&rsqu

Google announced a smaller companion to its Google Home smart speaker today, called the Home Mini. The device, which will cost $49, is very much like Amazon’s Echo Dot: it takes Google’s voice-controlled Alexa competitor, Google Assistant, and packs it into a smaller, quieter, and cheaper form factor.It’s not designed explicitly to play music. Rather, it’s meant to get the Google Assistant into more rooms of your home, making it better for getting news and schedule update

Last year, the company behind the Unity game engine released Adam, a proof-of-concept short film designed to show off its cinematic creation tools. It doesn’t have much of a story: it’s just a robot escaping a prison. But Unity Technologies earned enough of a response to justify developing the story into something bigger, and its representatives turned to Neill Blomkamp’s Oats Studios.Blomkamp, the writer-director of Elysium and District 9, launched Oats earlier this year as an

After a decade of Assassin’s Creed, players have more or less learned what to expect — there’s white robed assassins leaping down off rooftops, a giant city to explore, and a plot that barely makes sense. But the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Origins actually manages to change up the formula for the better, by moving the action to Ancient Egypt, a setting and time period that’s dramatically different from any other game in the series so far.
Assassin’s Creed Origi

Did you know Razer is planning to release a phone? Razer really wants you make sure you're aware. Bloomberg reported in July that the gaming accessory company was considering building a device following its acquisition of Nextbit earlier this year. CEO Min-Liang Tan further confirmed the news in an interview with CNBC last month. He said: "One of the most hotly rumored things about Razer is that we're coming up with a mobile device. And I can say that we are coming up with a mobile device specif

The New York Times Co. today announced that it will offer new digital subscribers a free Google Home device when they sign up for a new account in the All Access tier or higher. It’s similar to promotions the company has offered over the past few months, including a free year of Spotify Premium and a subscription to Scribd.
An All Access account starts at $16.99 a month, which includes access to other interactive tools like NYT Crosswords and Cooking recipe archives. The $16.99 / month is

Google has spoiled its own Pixel 2 announcement just minutes ahead of its official unveiling. In a move similar to Apple’s iPhone 7 mistake last year, Google has updated its official Google Home app with images of the Pixel 2 XL. Google’s new Pixel 2 XL smartphone has been heavily leaked multiple times ahead of its expected unveiling today, and this appears to be official confirmation of the reduced bezels reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S8.
Google’s Pixel 2 XL is expected to

A French automaker wants to break into the American market, but not by selling cars to individuals.
Groupe PSA launched its Free2Move “mobility aggregation platform” Tuesday in Seattle. The smartphone app lets users compare car sharing services such as Car2Go, Zipcar to determine which works best for them at a certain time. Free2Move says it will introduce bike sharing over the next 60 days for the Seattle app users from Ofo Bike, Lime Bike and Spin Bike.
Free2Move operates in seven

Sonos just announced that it’s opening a public beta for Alexa support for its connected speakers, and to go along with Amazon’s voice assistant, the company also announced that it’ll be adding support for Google Assistant to its newly announced, voice-controlled Sonos One speaker next year.According to Google, Assistant on Sonos One will be the same Google Assistant that it offers on all of its other devices, although Sonos hasn’t clarified exactly how Assistant and Alex

The time has come for Google to unveil its latest Pixel lineup, starting with a second generation of its Pixel smartphones and a refreshed laptop for the new season. It’s also been more than a year since the company released its Google Home speaker with Google Assistant built in, and we’re expecting to see some updates this year to the device as well. Follow along here for all the latest hardware news out of San Francisco today.Continue reading…

Sonos just announced that it’ll be adding support for Apple’s new AirPlay 2 standard to its speakers next year. In addition to making it easier to play music from iOS devices, AirPlay 2 means that — much like the recently announced Alexa support — users will be able to use Siri on iOS devices and eventually Apple’s HomePod to control their Sonos systems.Unlike the original AirPlay, AirPlay 2 doesn't require special hardware anymore, but is entirely software-based, w

Sonos announced today that its Alexa support, which has been in a limited private beta for months at this point, is finally rolling out to all current-model Sonos speakers in a public beta. As one could expect, Alexa integration is done through a connected Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or any other Alexa device. A Sonos firmware update will be available shortly to enable Alexa.
Alexa support has been in the works for a while, with Sonos CEO Patrick Spence noting earlier this year that digital assistant

If you just can’t wait for the nostalgia-fueled second season of Stranger Things, well, there’s a new nostalgia-fueled mobile game based on the first season of Stranger Things.
The game, which is available as a free download on both Android and iOS, looks like a long-lost SNES classic. (The icon is even an old-school cartridge.) It plays out like a top-down action-adventure, with a pixel art style reminiscent of games like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. You start out as Chi

We did a Circuit Breaker show! It was live, on Twitter, and we're going to do it again next week. Live! On Twitter. But, in case you missed it when it aired yesterday (Tuesdays at 4PM EDT, in case you want to mark it on your calendar), we have the whole show recorded and you can watch it right here, right now. Or whenever you'd like.
This week we played with the iPhone 8, Megan Farokhmanesh showed us the SNES Classic, and Ashley Carman had Sphero's latest robots to share. There was even a hashta

Today, three scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work developing a new method to image biomolecules, including viruses like Zika, in incredibly high resolution. “This method has moved biochemistry into a new era,” the prize committee said. The recipients are Jacques Dubochet of the University of Lausanne, Joachim Frank of Columbia University, and Richard Henderson of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK.
The technique, called cryo-e

Amazon has announced its Alexa assistant, along with the Echo, Echo Plus, and Echo Dot devices are available in India starting today. The company says Alexa will deliver a customized Indian experience, which includes a new English voice with local pronunciations and intonation. There’s also support for Indian music titles, names and places, local knowledge and local skills — Amazon’s voice-activated apps — from Indian developers. Amazon says there are already 10,000 skill