Technology news

Fire TV owners might not be losing YouTube after all. This afternoon, a Google spokesperson told The Verge that the companies are engaged in “productive discussions” in hopes of reaching “an agreement for the benefit of our mutual customers.” Such an agreement would almost certainly result in the massively popular video app staying put on Amazon’s streaming devices.The new statement comes on the same day that Amazon announced it would resume sales of the Google Chro

A company called Beam Authentic is asking an important question: why wear a brooch that can only show one look, when you can wear a small AMOLED screen and display GIFs? That might not be a question many have considered or even a thing anyone needs, but Beam is promising a button that can play still and moving images, as well as custom messages, on its 400 x 400 AMOLED screen, as spotted by Android Police.
This smart wearable button has an ambient light, accelerator sensors, and a Micro USB port

If you care about net neutrality, it’s understandable that you’d be upset with Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai today. In a 3-2 vote, the FCC delivered a killing blow to remove the net neutrality rules put in place two years ago. It is your American-given right to voice your dissatisfaction with this decision! Let your social media channels be your metaphorical megaphone to the higher powers! Also make sure you’re sending your comments to the right Ajit Pai.

As expected, the FCC voted today to roll back net neutrality protections, a fateful decision that will shape the future of the internet.The vote passed the five-commissioner agency on a 3-2 party-line vote. But the two commissioners who dissented — Democrats Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, who helped pass net neutrality rules in 2015 — used their opportunity before the vote to deliver statements sharply critical of the FCC’s proposal.
Calling the repeal vote an abdicati

Apple hinted earlier this year at WWDC that it was planning its own podcast analytics service so show creators could see how their podcasts are performing. The company has finally launched a beta version of that free service today, reports Recode, which gives more information on who is listening on Apple’s Podcast app and their behaviors and preferences.The free analytics service can tell creators which episode a listener tuned out, the average completion rate of an episode, the total time

Apple has added indoor maps of some major airports around the world to its Maps app. Los Angeles International (LAX) airport, London’s Heathrow (LHR), as well as New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) and LaGuardia (LGA) are all now supported in Apple Maps.
This means that when Apple Maps users go to these airports they’ll now see accurate locations of gates, check-in counters, baggage claim, security checkpoints, shops, bathrooms, restaurants, and lounges, all as part of an interact

The Federal Communications Commission, led by Chairman Ajit Pai, has voted to dismantle net neutrality, removing the Title II classification and allowing internet providers free rein to block, throttle, or prioritize content online as they see fit.Although major tech companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have been keeping relatively low profiles when it comes to the fight for net neutrality so far, other companies have decided to speak out.
Netflix
We’re disappointed in the

You might one day be able to whisper to Siri and have the assistant whisper back. Apple is considering that possibility, as described in a patent application first spotted by Gizmodo. That’s great news for anyone who likes to pretend they’re on the phone but are really just talking to Siri. Oh wait, that’s probably just me.
Apple filed for the patent in 2016, but it was only made public today. It specifies “a digital assistant that is capable of detecting a whispered spee

It’s taken a while, but Apple is finally selling its own Thunderbolt 3 USB-C cables in the Apple Store. The company introduced MacBook Pro models that exclusively used USB-C over a year ago, with support for the faster Thunderbolt 3 data transfer standard. But when Apple released all of its USB-C dongles and accessories with the MacBooks, one thing was conspicuously missing: an actual Apple Thunderbolt 3 cable.
Apple makes USB-C to USB-C cables already, but those only transfer data at USB

 Y Combinator funds a lot of companies, but there’s always more it could be doing, said its president, Sam Altman. Altman added that YC is “always slightly broken, because we’re always trying to grow; we’re always trying to do new things.” Today, the outfit is taking the wraps off a new growth-stage program designed to help both YC companies and non-YC companies… Read More

The US Department of Justice confirmed that it is investigating Uber, according to a letter submitted to a judge overseeing Alphabet’s lawsuit against the ride-hail firm. It is the first official confirmation that federal prosecutors are probing Uber’s alleged theft of Alphabet’s trade secrets.“pending criminal investigation”
The letter, addressed to federal judge William Alsup, was from the office of Acting US Attorney Alex Tse from the Northern District of Califor

Lawmakers and public officials are responding to the FCC’s decision to gut net neutrality with promises of action. In the hours following the FCC hearing, officials from around the country announced lawsuits and bills intended to counter the FCC’s decision.Lawsuits
In New York, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that he’s leading a multi-state lawsuit to challenge the FCC’s vote, though he didn’t give further details on the suit or who would be joining him. Cal

It’s a red letter day for the media industry. Disney just took control of 21st Century Fox’s media empire, and the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal net neutrality regulations that prevent internet providers from discriminatory behavior. These two industry-shaking events will set media companies on a dramatic collision course with ISPs. This conflict threatens the internet.The death of net neutrality will not look like an apocalypse
This week you might have seen lots

NASA has discovered an eighth planet around a distant star, which means we’re no longer the largest solar system we know of. The discovery was made thanks to some artificial intelligence help from Google, which found the planet by scouring previously overlooked “weak” signals in data captured by the Kepler Space Telescope. The newly found planet is located in the solar system around Kepler-90, a star about 2,500 light-years away from Earth that was previously discovered in 2014

The year-end list-making urge is powerful. It’s like a nesting instinct — a drive to put things in order, to organize the world into something comfortable and manageable and orderly by assembling the best of everything in one place. For critics, it’s also a rare chance to remind themselves and their readers why they most likely got into this industry — to see amazing movies, to think about them in depth, and to try to call more attention to the industry’s most excep

Director Morgan Spurlock, best known for the 2004 documentary Super Size Me, preemptively detailed several instances of sexual abuse on Twitter last night.In a TwitLonger post, he wrote, “As I sit around watching hero after hero, man after man, fall at the realization of their past indiscretions, I don’t sit by and wonder ‘who will be next?’ I wonder, ‘when will they come for me?’”
I am Part of the ProblemRead: https://t.co/MfRAtm3fcv— Morgan Spurl

Satechi has a new USB-C hub, designed for the new iMac Pro and iMac, 9to5Mac reports. It can be mounted underneath the display and it provides more port options while being small enough that it’s not messy-looking.The Aluminum Type-C Clamp Hub Pro is compatible with the iMac Pro, 21.5-inch 4K iMac, and 27-inch 5K iMac models with Thunderbolt 3 ports.The clamp hub comes in silver and space gray, so it blends in with iMac devices. It has three USB 3.0 ports that go up to 5Gbps, one USB-C por

Months ago, DJ Koh, president of Samsung’s mobile division, confirmed that his company was working on a smart speaker. Today, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the speaker is targeted for release within the first half of 2018 and is expected to cost around $200.Bloomberg reports that the device will run Bixby, which Koh hadn't previously confirmed, and that it'll be focused on audio quality and managing connected home appliances. Essentially, it's designed to be the hub for Samsun

Welcome to a very special installment of the beloved Verge column One Video, with Kaitlyn and Lizzie. Every week of 2017 — or, technically, since February 3rd, when we had the idea — we’ve been sifting through the slew of music videos that hits the web and selecting the one (or occasionally two, or occasionally zero) that we absolutely need you to watch. Now the year is over, so we’re looking back at dozens of weeks of our own picks, and scraping the sides of the pan for

Net neutrality is dead — at least for now. In a 3-2 vote today, the Federal Communications Commission approved a measure to remove the tough net neutrality rules it put in place just two years ago. Those rules prevented internet providers from blocking and throttling traffic and offering paid fast lanes. They also classified internet providers as Title II common carriers in order to give the measure strong legal backing.
Today’s vote undoes all of that. It removes the Title II design

In a shocking moment right before its vote on a rollback of net neutrality rules, a security team abruptly evacuated the FCC’s high-profile hearing."On advice of security, we need to take a brief recess,” Chairman Ajit Pai told the room, as a live feed of the hearing cut out. Security told everyone in the room to exit, and to leave their belongings behind.A stream from The Washington Post showed the security team scanning the room, as dogs were brought in for a search.The Washington