Technology news

N26, a mobile-first bank available in Europe, has announced plans to launch in the U.S. next year, representing the first non-EU market for the company.
Founded out of Berlin in 2013 originally as Number26, N26 offers online-only bank accounts through Android and iOS apps, with a focus on speed and efficiency — an account can be opened within eight minutes of applying. The service has slowly been expanding across the Eurozone since its initial rollout in Germany and Austria, and now claims

GUEST: Since the invention of mass media, the primary focus of marketing has arguably been to increase its level of personalization. Marketers constantly seek more targeted audiences and strive to deliver messages that speak more directly to them. So it’s no surprise that AI and machine learning — with their ability to predict consumer behavior and make personalized recommendations — have captured the attention of the marketing world. But the elephant in the room is that advanc

This week, Travis and Stewart discuss the perils of unlocking your phone with your face. Let’s just say that Stewart isn’t a fan. It’s a bit creepy. They then talk about Snapchat’s newfound usefulness, location-based marketing, and a big raise for a geographical data company.
Another topic of discussion is how certain sites are using your browser to mine for cryptocurrencies in the background.  How can you tell if it’s happening to you?  How can you stop i

Susan Fowler’s viral 2017 blog post about sexual harassment at Uber will be the inspiration for a potential film adaptation, Variety reports. The as-yet-unnamed project will be a joint effort from Fowler, a former Uber engineer, the production company Good Universe, and Hidden Figures screenwriter Allison Schroeder.
Fowler’s blog post “Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber” described a tense work environment where sexual harassment and professional undermining

Blizzard announced new features coming to its Battle.net game launcher. Notably, you’ll be able to use a new Shop tab to easily buy and gift your friends in-game items like packs of Hearthstone cards.
The Shop tab is available in Battle.net’s beta version, which anyone can download. It joins the also-in-beta Social tab, which makes it possible to create groups that help you organize your friends. But the gifting feature is a new addition, and it can make it easier to give your buddie

Esports organization Cloud9 announced today that it closed a $25 million round of Series A funding. Some of the investors from the seed round earlier this year have joined, such as Founders Fund and the tech investor Bill Lee, who put in a joint investment with tech investor David Sacks. The Series A has again attracted investors from the traditional sports world, such as Washington Capitals and Wizards co-owner Raul Fernandez; the Beverly Hills Sports Council; Michael Ovitz, the cofounder of ta

The Walking Dead is back, kicking off its eighth season with a bloodier, more political story arc that will likely track the comic’s “All Out War” saga. For us here at The Verge — forever critics of big bad guy Negan and his man-baby antics — it’s an opportunity to examine just how effective the show can be in creating a complex villain. As played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Negan has always been violent, but otherwise, he’s stubbornly remained a comic book

Bluehole is hard at work trying to get PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds out of Early Access on Steam and on Microsoft’s Xbox One console, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t juggling other ventures. The studio is actually one of the financial backers of upstart capital firm ESDF, which specializes in funding gaming projects. ESDF revealed its first project, the revival of the Rune series from developer Human Head Studios, in August.
For Bluehole, working with ESDF is a w

Hot on the heels of Sprint’s iPhone X deal, Verizon has unveiled its own discounts for the iPhone X. The carrier is offering up to $300 toward the new phone, assuming you meet a fairly specific set of conditions.To qualify, you’ll have to be either a current subscriber to Verizon’s “Go Unlimited” or “Beyond Unlimited” plans, be eligible for a device upgrade, or be a new subscriber to one of those plans.Next, you’ll need to purchase an iPhone X thro

GUEST: We are in a race for quantum supremacy. Google, IBM, and researchers across the globe are working on solving the most complex of computations, computations that could only be solved by the most advanced quantum computers.
Quantum computers are very similar to the computers in households today — only much more powerful. So powerful, in fact, that they can solve in milliseconds problems that would take a normal computer thousands of years to solve.
For several reasons, quantum co

Netflix’s Stranger Things is a science fiction horror series that blends the nostalgic feel of ‘80s synth with the Stephen King-style horror of movies from Carrie to Stand By Me. It doesn’t seem prone to musical stylings, but YouTuber Brian David Gilbert has married the two with surprising skill.
His YouTube video “Stranger Sings” is a backing track, synced up to the first episode, that turns the entire affair into a campy, narration-filled musical. The show’s

Anyone can download and read Stephen Hawking’s 1966 doctoral thesis “Properties of expanding universes” now that the scientist has given permission for it to be open access.Hawking is a theoretical physicist famous for his research in relativity and black holes. The 134-page dissertation, written when Hawking was only 24, is the most-requested item at the Cambridge library, according to the university. About 200 requests have been made for it since May 2016; the next most reque

When MegaBots’ Gui Cavalcanti describes the fight between his company’s giant robot and a Japanese counterpart as a “strange event,” it’s both accurate and a bit of an understatement. The bout in question, broadcast last week, was the culmination of a Kickstarter campaign, YouTube series, and more than two years of hype. But the fight was more BattleBots than Transformers: the two robots stood still and took slow swings at one other while commentators did their best

Amazon’s first Kindle e-reader was released 10 years ago this year, and while the actual anniversary isn’t for another month (the first device was released on November 19th) Amazon is marking the occasion by discounting several of its current Kindle devices by $30.The deal applies to the Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle Voyage, with discounts as follows:Kindle for $49.99 (usually $79.99)Kindle Paperwhite for $89.99 (usually $119.99)Kindle Voyage for $169.99 (usually $199.99)
Exc

At Chrome Dev Summit 2017 today in San Francisco, Google announced two new tools related to its browser: the Chrome User Experience Report and Trusted Web Activity. The former is meant to help developers improve their site’s user experience, and the latter is a new way to combine Android apps and the web in one experience.
Unlike existing tools that let developers understand how real-world users experience their own sites, Chrome User Experience Report offers comparisons with other sites a

Projection: First Light is a puzzle-platformer that explores different cultures in a world of shadow puppetry. It’s the debut game from Australian indie studio Shadowplay Studios, and it’s slated for release in Q2 2018 for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
“Projection came from one of those ideas when I was playing with a low hanging light in my house and wondered what it would be like to add physics to shadows,” said Shadowplay founder and designer M

It looks like Google is having an even harder time keeping the Pixel in stock than it expected. Some people who ordered a white Pixel 2 and received an estimated ship date of late October are receiving emails saying their order has been delayed by up to a month. Multiple people who received the emails have posted about their frustration on Reddit, as was first picked up by Android Police.
To make up for the delay, Google is offering these customers a free Live Case, which normally sell for $40.

Preorders for Apple’s iPhone X start this Friday at 3AM ET, and we’re starting to see the first carrier deals for the upcoming smartphone. First up is Sprint, which will be offering a deal through its Sprint Flex leasing for $22.22 per month for 18 months with a trade in of an older device.Like Sprint’s deals on the iPhone 8, though, it’s important to point out that the discounted price is only for the first 18 months. If you want to keep the phone outright, instead of tr

When The Force Awakens hit theaters in 2015, many moviegoers came away from the film disappointed by one character: Captain Phasma. The imposing stormtrooper captain was hyped as a formidable force on the battlefield, but ultimately ended up aiding the Resistance when threatened by one of her former soldiers, Finn.In Delilah S. Dawson’s new novel Phasma, readers are given new insight into where the character came from, and just what motivates her. As it turns out, Phasma isn’t a die-

Atlus already teased it was working on a Shin Megami Tensei role-plainyg game for the Switch. But now we know that it will be the next main installment in the series, Shin Megami Tensei V.
Atlus made the reveal with a Japanese trailer it released last night, which you can watch above. The Shin Megami Tensei series used to rarely venture outside of Japan, but the brand brought in a new wave of worldwide fans with the Persona spinoff games. Persona 5 released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 ea

Who wants to be home to Amazon’s new headquarters? It would appear just about every corner of the North American continent.
Amazon disclosed on Monday that it had received 238 proposals from cities and regions around the country, according to Reuters.
In early September, Amazon announced that it planned to build a new facility, dubbed Amazon HQ2. The company said it would spend more than $5 billion on construction and that it would be home to 50,000 new employees. Interested cities and reg

Spectacles were one of last winter’s hottest gifts, but apparently demand for them quickly died off and left Snap in a bad position. The Information reports that Snap expected demand for Spectacles to continue after the holidays and ordered “hundreds of thousands” of additional units. But after it opened sales to a wider audience, that didn’t happen, and those units are now reported to be sitting around in warehouses, unsold.
It’s not known exactly how many Spectacl

Nintendo announced today that its next Direct presentation will focus on Animal Crossing for mobile. The show will start streaming at 8 p.m. Pacific on October 24 and last about 15 minutes. We don’t know if it will be coming out for iOS and/or Android, but Nintendo’s previous mobile efforts have reached both platforms — although not always at the same time. Super Mario Run hit Apple’s devices first.
Don’t get your hopes up for a surprise announcement for a Switch ve

Nicotine in electronic cigarettes may be responsible for turning teens into regular smokers and vapers.Researchers surveyed 181 high school students from Los Angeles who vaped. Those who used e-cigs with higher nicotine concentrations were more likely to keep smoking e-cigs and regular tobacco cigarettes later on, according to a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics.
Studies have shown that young people who vape are more likely to pick up the smoking habit, but why this happens isn’t en

Martenero has been selling American-made customizable mechanical watches for under a $1,000 a few years now, and it’s back with a new design at its cheapest price yet.Its latest timepiece is the Kerrison, a 42mm watch powered by a Miyota 9015 movement. It features a 316L stainless steel casing, sapphire crystal on the front and back, 42-hour power reserve, and a leather strap. And for the first time, Martenero is using Kickstarter to fund its development.Photo: MarteneroThe Kerrison will a

Microsoft is extending its Xbox One X Enhanced program to existing Xbox 360 games. IGN reports that four Xbox 360 games will include enhancements specifically for the new Xbox One X console when it launches on November 7th. Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Fallout 3, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will all include tweaks that push the on-screen pixels to nine times more. Some games also have 10-bit color depth instead of 8-bit, and even HDR support.
Microsoft is using the Xbox One X Enhanced progra

The old jokes are often the best ones. “What do you call 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?” “A good start.”
One blockchain technology startup has its sights on sinking at least one category of legal advice: that which handles the small claims court.
Jury.online — which has announced presale of its Jury.online tokens (JOT) today — is using the blockchain to make it easier to settle smaller claims, because it intends to eradicate the hundreds, someti

Starting next year, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will begin installing electronic fare readers at hundreds of subway stations and bus stops across New York City, kicking off a laborious, multi-year effort to replace the iconic MetroCard with a more modern, high-tech way to use mass transit.A key committee at the MTA will vote to approve a $573 million contract for a new fare payment system, which is adapted from the one in use for several years in the London Underground, The New Yor

Influential games forum NeoGAF is in disarray after a woman accused owner Tyler Malka of sexual misconduct in 2015. In a Facebook post that’s preserved here, the woman — identified by Kotaku as a film director who has worked with Malka — said that he followed her naked into a shower against her wishes while the two were in New Orleans on a road trip. While she initially didn’t name Malka, she followed up with a comment reading “Google Evilore,” which is his Ne

Bandai Namco announced today that Dragon Ball Fighterz is coming out in all territories except Japan on January 26. The Japanese release follows on February 1. Dragon Ball Fighterz will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Dragon Ball Fighterz is a fighting game that uses cel-shaded 3D models to capture the look of the show. Dragon Ball is one of the most popular anime brands in the world. The series has spawned a lot of games, but Fighterz is its most anticipated in some time thanks

When Super Turrican launched on the SNES in 1993, it was hailed for its intense side-scrolling action. But the game that launched wasn’t the complete version — in order to make the experience fit on a SNES cartridge, the developers at Factor 5 had to trim the game. But 24 years later the full vision of the game is finally being released with Super Turrican: Director’s Cut.
You won’t be able to buy the game on its own; instead, it’s being bundled with the just-announ

Nintendo released Star Fox 2 in its Super NES Classic Edition console that launched earlier this month for $80, but it’s not the only unreleased 16-bit game rising from its grave decades later. Analogue, the company that makes high-quality updated versions of classic consoles, is revealing that it will include Super Turrican: Director’s Cut with every Super Nt system it sells.
Super Turrican is a run-‘n’-gun shooter from Factor 5. It debuted for the Super Nintendo in 1993

Lending startup Affirm, founded by PayPal and Yelp co-founder Max Levchin, is out to destroy the credit card, or at the very least make a noticeable dent in its utter ubiquity. The company, which began in 2012 by offering simple and transparent loans for web purchases, is today launching a mobile app to the public that acts as a virtual credit card, so it can be used as a line of credit with no strings attached for pretty much any online purchase. The app is available now for iOS and Android.The

GUEST: When launching a business, not all startup hubs are created equal. For those entering Silicon Valley, New York City, or other notable startup hubs, finding a location that fits your company’s specific needs can mean the difference between swimming and sinking. To succeed — particularly for those developing breakthrough technologies — entrepreneurs must have a keen eye for costs of doing business, entrepreneurial resources, talent availability, and network options. Withou

Networking giant Cisco has announced plans to pay out $1.9 billion to acquire Broadsoft, a Maryland-based cloud communications company that creates software for PBX systems, team collaboration, and other related enterprise products.
Though Cisco is better known for its data center and networking hardware, the company has long intimated its intentions to transition into a software company. For example, a few months back it bought hyperconvergence software company Springpath for $320 mil

HTC is rumored to announce the U11 Plus, an updated successor to the U11 at an event in November, but an early leak from TENAA (China's version of the FCC) has given us an early look at the new smartphone, as spotted by Droid Life.Moving the fingerprint sensor to the back
And as expected, the U11 Plus kind of looks like a larger version of the U11. It looks like HTC is making the screen larger and moving the fingerprint sensor to the back, which fits with rumors of a larger 6-inch, 18:9 aspect r

A new digital tool tracking how autonomous vehicles are being deployed and tested across the world went online today, and it’s an interesting — and honest — snapshot of where we are right now with this new technology. The Global Atlas of Autonomous Vehicles in Cities, a joint effort between Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute, shows which city governments are testing AVs, and more importantly, it shows how few cities are preparing for the onslaught of self-driving