Technology news

Warner Bros. has one of the deepest stables of popular brands in the world, and it now has big plans for one of them. Today, the publisher revealed Portkey Games, a new WB Interactive publishing label for making Harry Potter games.
WB has had the license to author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series since 1998, and it has used that to make films, games, and more. But now that the core book and film series have run their course many years ago now, WB is in a position where it

TripAdvisor will now warn users about hotels where cases of sexual assault have been reported. The New York Times reports today that the badges will identify "health, safety, and discrimination issues in all of the website’s travel categories." These badges are only temporary, however, and last for a three-month period. Company spokesman Kevin Carter noted that if users continue to report incidents, the badge may stay live longer. “These badges are intended to be informative, not pun

Ford has agreed to a $765 million joint venture with Chinese car manufacturer Zotye Auto to build electric vehicles in China, CNET reports. Each company has a 50 percent stake in the effort, though the Chinese government still needs to approve the deal. Once complete, they will build the cars in China’s Zhejiang Province.
The combination of these two companies is a result of a mandate from the Chinese government that requires foreign manufacturers to strike up partnerships with local ones

GUEST: One day, artificially intelligent robots will replace human beings as the Earth’s dominant form of life, or so says Stephen Hawking (and Elon Musk). However, for all the impressive progress AIs and robots have made in recent years, the most urgent and real danger they pose to society lies elsewhere.
More specifically, the threat lies not with the possibility of AIs transcending the specific purposes they now serve (such as managing hedge funds or recruiting new employees)

First of all, Keith Urban seems like a nice guy. I like and respect him insofar as I appreciate that he is making Nicole Kidman much happier than she was when she was married to a Scientologist. He was charming on American Idol, and “Tonight I Wanna Cry” is a beautiful tune that I typically agree with.Unfortunately, whether or not Keith Urban is a nice guy isn’t really useful information to me, a young woman who has listened to his new song “Female” — a respon

Royal Caribbean Cruises is turning its fleet of 37 cruise ships into high-tech playgrounds where technology is designed to help you enjoy your vacation. The company is showing off its concepts for the future at an event in New York on Wednesday evening. It’s all part of the evolution of technology, from smartphones to smart cruise ships.
The move is similar to announcements earlier this year by Carnival to roll out Ocean Medallion wearables on more than 100 cruise ships. Both companies sa

The first flight of NASA’s next big rocket, the Space Launch System, likely won’t launch until June 2020, though it’s now officially scheduled to get off the ground sometime in December 2019, according to the space agency. The new official date marks a one-year delay for the monster vehicle that’s meant to take astronauts into deep space.These new dates are the result of a “comprehensive review” by NASA looking into the rocket’s schedule. Ultimately, the

SPONSORED: Presented by Intel 
The roaming Intel Buzz workshop, the one-of-a-kind gaming event for indie developers, is coming to Los Angeles, California, at the new Technicolor Experience Center on November 9th. (It’s also being live streamed; see below.)Tickets are just $10 for the entire day, which is packed with talks, panels and networking with leading industry experts. You’ll see Raph Koster, widely known as the lead designer of Ultima Online and the creative director behi

Nikola Tesla is dead, and his murderer is somewhere in the house. But finding them isn’t going to be straightforward. In The Invisible Hours, a virtual reality mystery game, you’ll observe seven characters, eavesdrop on their conversations, and glean their secrets to unravel what happened to Tesla and why. It’s the latest title from Spain-based indie studio Tequila Works, and it’s available on the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR for $30.
Everything happens in re

T-Mobile announced today that it’ll be offering a new bundle for Nest’s Secure home security system with cellular backup (which is provided by T-Mobile, of course), and it looks like that might actually be a better deal than Nest’s own offering.
T-Mobile’s bundle costs $240 down and $10 per month for 24 months on T-Mobile’s Equipment Installment Plan (for a total of $480) for the hardware. In addition to including the same gear as Nest’s $499 bundle — wh

 Over the past 20 years there have been 11,459 accidents across the network of oil and gas pipelines that crisscross the U.S. The toll in human lives and financial damages is severe and something that can be avoided. Technology startup Enview has developed tools for geospatial analytics that oil and gas companies and utilities are beginning to use to monitor and manage their networks. Read More

Co-hosts Mike Minotti and Jeffrey Grubb reunite now that our reviews editor has returned from BlizzCon. We spend a portion of this week’s GamesBeat Decides podcast going over Mike’s time spent with Blizzard games and becoming best friends with important people at that company (like Jeff Kaplan).
Major BlizzCon topics include Overwatch’s new healer Moira and the new single-player mode coming to Hearthstone. Mike also spends some time digging into expectations for World of Warcra

Apple has just ordered its first two original scripted series, Variety reports. The first is the Steven Spielberg anthology series Amazing Stories, the existence of which was reported last month by The Wall Street Journal. The second is a currently untitled drama about a network morning show, which will star Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.
CNN reporter Brian Stelter's book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV will serve as research material and background for the

Microsoft is introducing its own version of Apple’s AirDrop feature in Windows 10. The software giant has started testing its “Near Share” feature of Windows 10 in the latest Insider build (17035) today, and it’s designed to make file sharing easier. Like AirDrop, Near Share will let Windows 10 PCs share documents or photos to PCs nearby via Bluetooth.A new Near Share option will be available in the notification center, and the feature can be accessed through the main sha

Doctors created enough skin to cover 80 percent of the body of a seven-year-old boy with a genetic disease — and it saved his life.
This isn’t the first time that doctors have used genetic engineering to grow new skin, but past attempts only grew a little bit. This time, doctors were able to cover nine square feet of the patient’s body. The boy, who has a genetic skin disease calledjunctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB), had been expected to die. Now, two years after the surger

GUEST: Platforms like Twitter and Facebook were created with the intention of bringing people together, and since their beginnings, they’ve facilitated connections that would otherwise be impossible. But the promise of these open communication platforms has become more complicated as bots enter the mix.
Bots built without good intentions, human assistance, and strategic planning can become, intentionally or not, lightning rods for drama. Look at the stories of racist chatbot

A new report from the Financial Times has pinpointed the precise nature of the holdup in the Department of Justice’s pushback on the AT&T-Time Warner deal: CNN, which sources claim the Justice Department is insisting that AT&T sell before it will allow the deal to take place.Earlier today, news broke that the US Justice Department was asking AT&T to divest some of its assets before it would allow AT&T and Time Warner’s massive $85 billion merger to go through, accordi

Apple is working on a redesigned iPad that would remove the device’s home button in favor of the new Face ID system introduced on the iPhone X. Bloomberg reports that the new iPad, which will feature a display size “similar” to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, is likely to be released “later next year.” An improved Apple Pencil is also under development and expected to launch alongside the updated tablet.Just as it did for the iPhone, getting rid of the Touch ID home button

Hearthstone is going on a treasure hunt in its next expansion, Kobolds & Catacombs, which is launching for the digital card game next month on PC and mobile.
This will be Hearthstone’s third expansion of the year, and the last set Blizzard will add to the game before starting a new Standard cycle in early 2018. This means that a lot of cards will be eligible in Hearthstone’s most popular mode. But Kobolds & Catacombs isn’t just 135 new cards. It’s also adding a ne

Whenever I approach the end of a really great story, I feel an impending sense of dread: I just don’t want it to end. If it’s a book, I’ll read slowly and savor each detail, while in games I stretch out the experience with some optional exploration. But it’s always prolonging the inevitable. That’s one of the reasons I love the concept of video game expansions, which offer a chance to jump back into a world weeks or months after I thought I was done.
That’s th

The US Justice Department is voicing new concerns over the approval of AT&T and Time Warner’s massive $85 billion merger deal first announced last year. According to a a report today from Reuters, regulators are now asking AT&T to put some of its assets up for sale or to offer comparable “structural remedies” that would make the unprecedented media consolidation less of an antitrust lightning rod. The DOJ remains the last barrier to the merger, as AT&T CFO John Step

 Amazon quietly launched its own private label diapers on its site last week, this time under the Mama Bear brand. The brand, which already sells other baby items like baby food and diaper pail refills, is now carrying size newborn through size 6 diapers. However, shoppers will have to request an invite to purchase the items, as they’re still being launched. The arrival of Amazon’s… Read More

On Sunday, one of SpaceX’s rocket engines exploded during a test at the company’s facility in McGregor, Texas — and now it’s investigating what happened, The Washington Post reported. The mishap occurred during a “qualification test” of a Merlin engine meant to be used during a Falcon 9 launch in late 2018. SpaceX says that no one was injured during the event and that it shouldn’t affect the company’s launches moving forward.
“We are now cond

Blockchain technologies are slowly seeping into every conceivable market. And if one Russian company succeeds, the health care industry will be the next to be feel the impact of this new technology.
Robomed Network, a Moscow-based startup founded by health care entrepreneur Philipp Mironovich, has launched an initial coin offering using Ethereum to raise $30 million from investors. The company is riding the astonishing wave of ICOs this year that are rewriting the rules for which companies can r

Netgear is adding a smart security light to its Arlo home security lineup: the Arlo Outdoor Smart Home Security Light. Like all of Arlo’s outdoor products, the security light is weather resistant and works wirelessly, thanks to a rechargeable battery.The Arlo Outdoor Smart Home Security Light comes with motion detection, which can also activate your Arlo cameras, and you can change the sensitivity of the detection to fit your security needs. You can also tweak the color of the light, chang

In September 2014, when astronomer Iair Arcavi found a new supernova in the night sky, he didn’t think much of it. It looked like any other star that had just died and violently burst apart. The object had brightened some time ago, and now it was fading — a sign that the explosive event was coming to an end. Since the juiciest part seemed to be over, Arcavi abandoned the star in search of supernovae that had exploded more recently.But robotic telescopes continued to monitor the star

The makers of the once immensely popular Pokémon Go are now making a Harry Potter AR game, Tech Crunch reported today. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is an AR mobile app set to launch next year, co-developed by Warner Bros. Interactive and its new brand, the aptly named Portkey Games.
Rumors of a Harry Potter AR game developed by Niantic had swirled last year, but were ruled a hoax by Snopes. Many had initially predicted that Pokémon Go would spawn a series of copycat AR games, and no

Tinder is getting new features that will “blur lines between the physical and digital world for dating.” Greg Blatt, the CEO of Tinder’s parent company, Match, says the new features will make the app less boring. Match, which also owns other dating platforms including OkCupid and PlentyofFish, posted its third quarter earnings yesterday, noting that overall revenue of $343 million was up 19 percent year over year.
In an earnings call, Blatt attributed the higher numbers to the