Technology news

Some genius Twitter users are already using the expanded 280 character limit on Twitter in the best way: by playing games using emoji. Bryan Menegus of Gizmodo and Jack Crosbie played what might be one of the first full games of chess entirely on Twitter (Menegus won with a checkmate). The grid and pieces were represented by Unicode characters roughly analogous to a grid board. check and mate. (also is the first full game of chess played entirely on twitter?)♝♞♞ϖ

Since 2013, the Xbox One has had some painful load times. While loading between different sections in games is usually fine, the initial boot-up of some larger triple-A blockbusters can take a minute or two (or longer in some cases). With the $500 upgraded Xbox One X, you might expect to see an improvement in this area. And Microsoft’s new console delivers. Load times are still around a minute or more, but in some of the worst offenders, the X is a huge upgrade over the original Xbox One.

The TicHome Mini is a welcome newcomer in the world of smart speakers. It brings some excellent features that currently aren’t available on other Google Home devices, such as IPX6 splash-resistance and a built-in battery. Pound-for-pound it’s the most feature-packed smart speaker I’ve tested. At first glance Mobvoi’s TicHome Mini looks like a baby Roomba, or slightly less like a hockey puck than an Echo Dot. It’s also slightly larger than the Echo Dot or Google Hom

A wise man (Naval Ravikant) once said: “It’s never been easier to start a company. It’s never been harder to build one.” While all you need is a computer, an internet connection and some server access to start a project, things get complicated when it comes to building something that can stand the test of time by growing and pleasing customers so much that they’re willing to pay. To make a great product into a successful one, your company needs superior marketing,

A few years ago, no one would have pointed to Norwegian director Joachim Trier as a likely candidate to make a lesbian coming-of-age superhero fairy tale. His previous films, including 2015’s Louder Than Bombs and 2011’s Oslo, August 31st, are serious dramas about people dealing with death and disappointment. They’re naturalistic films about lives gone wrong. But his latest, Thelma, takes similar themes in a different direction. It’s a dreamy, shocking fantasy about a you

Black Friday is around the corner and companies like HP are already releasing their deals. HP just announced several online deals that mostly go live on November 23rd.Deals on most of the products listed below will go live on Thanksgiving, but in rare cases, like the 15-inch HP Envy Laptop x360, the full discount is already available.
Of the 15-page Black Friday ad, there weren’t that many products that offered a good amount of RAM and processing power for their buck. But not to worry, we&

REVIEW: Cat Quest is an adorable romp through a fantasy world where you fight monsters, cast spells, and battle dragon bosses. Oh, and you’re a cat. It’s the second title from Singapore-based indie studio The Gentlebros, which specializes in cute isometric brawlers.
To get it out of the way — yes, I am a cat lady. Everything I own is covered in fur, and I’m okay with that. However, I don’t like this game just because it has kitties in it. It isn’t purrfect but

Nintendo is going to ramp up Switch console production even more next year, anonymous sources told the Wall Street Journal. The company reportedly plans to produce 25 to 30 million Nintendo Switch consoles starting in April, but the final number could be even higher depending on holiday sales. Incredibly strong reviews for Super Mario Odyssey have sparked another surge in demand for the take-anywhere console.The company said at the end of October that it was doubling production and would produce

Looks like the Google Pixel and LG V30 aren’t the only flagships in town having display issues. Multiple iPhone X owners have complained about a random green line appearing on their displays, as first reported by MacRumors. The defect has already started to take on the endearing ‘Green Line of Death’ moniker. Several users across Apple forums and social media have reported the error – I’ve counted over a dozen accounts, and MacRumors mentions it’s read &lsquo

Tomorrow morning, private spaceflight company Orbital ATK will get back to resupplying the International Space Station for NASA, sending up 7,400 pounds of supplies inside its Cygnus cargo capsule. And for this launch, the company is using its own rocket, the Antares, which hasn’t seen any action since last year. The Antares will be taking off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, and those living along the East Coast may be able to get a glimpse of the vehicle after takeo

Every week, a slew of new music videos hits the web. Watching them at your desk is not time theft because you deserve it; think of it as a nice reward for surviving another work week. But what if you don’t have time to watch every video — maybe you have a deadline, a hungry pet, or other grown-up concerns. In consideration of your schedule, Lizzie and Kaitlyn bring you a series called One Video. Each week we’ll tell you “one video” you need to watch, why, and for ho

Farming Simulator is one of the latest games to launch on the Switch that might cause you to pause and ask, “Really?” But yes, really, the PC sim that enables players to run a commercial farm is out on Nintendo’s hybrid handheld/home console, and it works.
With Farming Simulator: Nintendo Switch Edition, players should expect a lower-fidelity experience. It is similar to Bethesda’s port of Doom, which includes the entire game but at a lower resolution and framerate. But a

 The debate about the effects social networks like Facebook and Twitter have on us as human beings goes one. Indeed, just this week Facebook co-founder Sean Parker said “The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, … was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?… God only… Read More

I have some news: the Internet of Things is a mess. A hacked refrigerator sounds slightly scary, but a vibrator-controlling app that records all your sex sounds and stores them on your phone without your knowledge? That's way worse.
Today, a Reddit user pointed out that Hong Kong-based sex toy company Lovense's remote control vibrator app (Lovense Remote) recorded a use session without their knowledge. An audio file lasting six minutes was stored in the app's local folder. The users says he or s

Public perception of artificial intelligence technology, in 2017, seems to lie somewhere at the intersection of existential fear and cautious optimism. Yet there’s a growing movement of people who believe AI is crucial to the evolution of our species. These people aren’t outsiders or outliers — they’re actually directing research on the cutting edge at companies like Google. Ray Kurzweil, Google’s guru of AI and futurism, spoke last week at the Council for Foreign

Electronic Arts announced it will acquire Titanfall maker Respawn Entertainment for as much as $455 million on Thursday, in its biggest deal since it acquired PopCap Games for $750 million in 2011. The deal brings Respawn’s Titanfall property into EA’s fold of first-person shooter franchises.
The reaction of fans was mixed, as some worried that EA might eventually shut down Respawn, as it recently did with the 70-person Visceral Studios in Redwood City, Calif

Staying the right temperature may be less of a struggle now that scientists have created a reversible material that can either cool you down or help you get warm.There’s a lot of potential in clothing that regulates heat. Not only is it convenient, but it’s good for the environment. If you can heat up your own body effectively, you won’t need to spend a lot of energy to heat up, or cool down, the room. Scientists at Stanford University created a material that controls how much

Louis C.K. has responded to allegations of sexual misconduct brought by five women in the New York Times. Their accounts, C.K. confirms, are true.
In the lengthy statement, C.K. acknowledges misusing his power in the comedy community, saying he didn't think he did anything wrong at the time – but that he has since come to understand why what he did was abusive.
"The hardest regret to live with is what you've done to hurt someone else," C.K. wrote."And I can hardly wrap my head around the s

Eminem's new single "Walk On Water" came as a surprise on Friday—not because it means the Detroit rapper is officially back but because it featured the one and only Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter. 
Regardless of how you feel about Eminem, you have to admit—the Queen shined bright on this one. Her vocals are the first thing you hear and for a lot of people out there, it should have been the only one. Here are some of the funniest reactions to the unexpected collaboration.&

Pollution in India's capital is stuck at extremely dangerous levels, at a time of year when such events are becoming all too common. At times, just breathing in the outside air is equivalent to smoking 45 cigarettes per day. Smog from stubborn late fall weather patterns, agricultural fires, factories, power plants, and vehicles typically peaks in New Delhi at this time. But this year, it's back with a vengeance. The thick blanket of smog has been visible from space for days, smothering

You’d be hard-pressed to find a vehicle type today that isn’t in the process of being electrified by some major manufacturer. Sedans, SUVs, scooters, tractors, helicopters, airplanes... if it has wheels or rotors or wings, someone out there is trying replace the gas tank with a battery.Even some of our most iconic vehicles are slated for electric conversion. Today, Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, announced plans to manufacture an all-electric school bus with a range of

After completing his pledge to meet with people in all 50 states by the end of 2017, Mark Zuckerberg said that he no longer thinks of himself as primarily an engineer.
“Now I am wrapping it up thinking of myself more as a community builder too,” Zuckerberg said during a Facebook Live on Friday in Lawrence, Kansas.
In January, Zuckerberg revealed that his “personal challenge” was to visit every U.S. state he had never previously visited before the end of 2017 — appro

OPINION: I had the opportunity to attend Web Summit this year in Lisbon, Portugal, along with almost 60,000 people from over 170 countries. If you represent a startup, a big technology company, something in between, a group of investors, or a media publication, this is an event you shouldn’t skip. But be prepared, because Web Summit is the Twitter of tech conferences.
Like Twitter, Web Summit is full of noise. It’s hard to navigate and parse. There are way too many stages, rooms, sec

Tesla streamed out a new software update to its electric vehicles this week; included is a new acceleration mode called simply "Chill."
Earlier this week, the car reviewer DragTimes posted a video in which they stumbled upon the new mellow driving option while testing out the latest update in a Tesla Model S, the company's luxury-class electric vehicle. Here's how Tesla, in the settings on its touchscreen dashboard, describes Chill mode:While experimenting with Chill in the Model S 100D, DragTim

Nvidia reported a stellar quarter for the three months ended October 31. Nvidia had $2.6 billion in revenue in the quarter, and $1.5 billion of it came from graphics chips for gaming PCs. But the company’s investment in artificial intelligence chips is paying off, with data center growing beyond $500 million in revenue for the first time.
Jensen Huang, CEO of Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia, said his company started investing in AI seven years ago, and that its latest AI chips are the

Spotify’s curated playlists try to offer a little something for everyone. Are you looking for music that will help you sleep, run, or wallow in your own misery? There’s a Spotify-created playlist for that. So it’s not surprising that the service would suggest some music for people to turn on while they’re playing video games — but it is shocking just how bad those playlists are, and how hard they turn into the most boring, outdated cliches of what people who play vi

Bright blue eyebrows aren't just for Millhouse anymore.
Yes, "rainbow brows" are enjoying some time in the spotlight, thanks in large part to hype for an upcoming brow pomade from Kat Von D. The product, called Super Brow, will allow people with nearly any hair color (even bright, non-natural shades) to match their locks and brows — a win for anyone hoping to achieve a coordinating, monochromatic look.
SEE ALSO: These Weird Beauty Trends Must Be Stopped
To be clear, the bright brow trend i

Beloved science fiction magazine Omni is rebooting from its reboot. The new, quarterly edition of Omni has quietly launched, after being announced over the summer. It’s the first new print issue since the 1990s, and the second attempt to revive the Omni name, after a confusing legal fight over an unrelated predecessor called Omni Reboot. Like the original Omni, it publishes a mix of fiction and nonfiction futurism: the first issue includes coverage of a space ark project and stories from N

There’s a proud tradition in genre films of using the supernatural as a metaphor for the horrors of adolescence. Traversing that strange no-man’s-land between childhood and adulthood is a real-world horror show in its own right, full of strange discoveries, odd awakenings, and the slow, dawning realization that our childhood identities may not be our final identities. There’s an inevitable loss of control plus the terror of the unknown wrapped up together. This is an almost irr

The first reviews are in for the final superhero movie of the year.
Yep, the social-media embargo has lifted on Justice League, and the first wave of reactions is ... not bad, actually. Mostly.
SEE ALSO: Uh oh, looks like that 'Justice League' Rotten Tomatoes score could be bad
Your faithful reporters at Mashable had two very different opinions:#JusticeLeague is fine. It's more coherent & less idiosyncratic than Batman v Superman (which I loved, so make of that what you will), and tries very