Technology news

Some of the specs for a rumored Nokia 9 have been revealed in FCC documents today, reports Liliputing. The phone will be the latest under the revived Nokia brand lineup which includes a mid-range Nokia 6 and the flagship Nokia 8 among others.
The phone reportedly has a 5.5-inch OLED display manufactured by LG, whereas the Nokia 8 uses an IPS LCD display. The Nokia 9 will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 chip and a 3,250mAh battery. It has dual rear cameras (12MP and 13MP) and a 5-megapixel front-f

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced a bill in response to the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules, but supporters of net neutrality aren’t happy with it. The Open Internet Preservation Act would prevent blocking or degrading the quality of legal web traffic, but would also ban the FCC from making any rules that go beyond those two requirements. It would override any state net neutrality laws, like those recently proposed for California and Washington. And it firmly defines b

The U.S. weather pattern during Christmas week is going to be what forecasters call "highly amplified." This means that the jet stream, which separates air masses and steers weather systems, will be undulating sharply — with large northward bulges, or high pressure ridges, and deep dips, or low pressure troughs, toward the South. 
For Christmas week, this jet stream configuration will allow Alaskans to enjoy an unusually mild holiday, while residents of virtually the entire lower

Terrace House, the slow-paced, oddly addictive Japanese reality show that turned into a Netflix sleeper hit around the world, is back with a new season today — at least for some viewers. The first episode of Opening New Doors is available to watch on Netflix in Japan right now, though international audiences will have to wait until March.
The previous season, Aloha State, relocated the show to Hawaii, giving the show a more international, sun-kissed vibe — and earning criticisms from

Earlier this year, Google announced that it would be integrating an ad blocker into Chrome to cut down on spammy or intrusive advertisements. Now the company has said when to expect the blocker to go live: February 15th, 2018, via VentureBeat.As Google has previously announced, the blocker won’t be removing all ads — just ones that are considered bad using standards determined by the Coalition for Better Ads, which bans things like full page ads, ads with autoplaying sound and video,

Tarana Burke, the activist who created the "Me Too" campaign back in 2007, which recently inspired an online movement against sexual assault and harassment, is leading us all into 2018.
Burke will be participating in New York's traditional New Year's Eve ceremony, according to a Monday press release. In honor of her efforts and social impact, she was chosen as the evening's special guest and will push the Waterford crystal button that drops the ball in Times Square starting the countdown to the

This year will almost certainly rank as one of the planet's top five warmest years on record, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA. In fact, the top NASA climate scientist reported Monday that 2017 is likely to be the second-warmest year on record, behind 2016, which in turn displaced 2015 from the top spot. 
NOAA, on the other hand, predicts that, barring an unforeseen, large-scale cold snap, this year will rank as the third-warmest

The National Institutes of Health are lifting the funding ban on risky experiments that could make viruses like the flu, MERS, or SARS more harmful or contagious, STAT News reports. Grants that propose mutating viruses to make them more dangerous will go through an extra layer of review before the final funding decision.These controversial experiments are called “gain-of-function” experiments, and their risks and benefits are fiercely debated. On the one hand, tweaking a virus to mak

If you want to know whether your house has any worth in this world, check with the most powerful influencers in the home design game, the House Hunters community.
For over 100 seasons now, House Hunters couples have offered their mostly bad judgement on everything, from the necessity of having a double sink in a bathroom (lame) to the privilege of having an electric stove (wrong). Now that The Simpsons is a Disney property, and the entire world feels like its up for sale, it's worth wondering &m

Riding in a self-driving car involves a certain level of risk taking, especially in these very early days of the technology. Recognizing the need to build trust among normal people, Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google-parent Alphabet, announced it would be partnering with an insurance startup to cover riders in its soon-to-be-released driverless ride-hailing service.Trov, a five-year-old insurance tech startup based in Danville, Calif., said it would work with Waymo to insure passengers for l

Yesterday, interface designer Caryn Vainio wrote about the unexpected death of a friend she kept in touch with through Facebook. Before his death, the friend posted a status update about being in the hospital. But Vainio hadn’t seen the message, despite habitually reading every post on her feed in chronological order. Mutual friends didn’t remember seeing the post, either. “Not only have I lost a friend, a bunch of us are horrified that we never knew, and we don't know if he KN

Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi
It's time to talk about the ships of The Last Jedi, and we don't mean the vehicular kind.
We're talking about the bad romances and sweet flirtations, the canon relationships and the fanfic-only hookups. 
SEE ALSO: 'The Last Jedi' has a secret 'Game of Thrones' connection
Never mind that The Last Jedi only ever gets as explicit as a single quick kiss – this movie had enough romantic mojo to keep us rooting for our faves

It's the end ... but the moment has been prepared for.
Peter Capaldi's run as the Doctor will finish after this year's Christmas episode of Doctor Who. Capaldi passes the reins to Jodie Whittaker, the first woman cast in the role. Now, just days before the special airs, the folks at the BBC are helping fans get ready for the transition with a Facebook lens that gives a taste of what it's like for the titular Time Lord to regenerate.
SEE ALSO: The 13 best Doctor Who holiday gifts in the universe

Last week, while many of us were caught up by the internet getting ripped apart by the seams, FCC chairman Ajit Pai also announced a new national system of wireless emergency Blue Alerts, which will notify the public if police officers are threatened, “missing, seriously injured, or killed.”Pai began tearing up last Thursday as he talked about the families of slain NYPD cops Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, whose tragedy sparked the Blue Alert Act of 2015. Liu and Ramos were shot and ki

Strap in for a new political conspiracy theory involving Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and ... Disney World? 
The most magical place on Earth delivered a sneak peek of its newly refurbished Hall of Presidents exhibit Monday with a new addition: Donald Trump. Yes, there is a now a creepy, talking robot version of Donald Trump at Disney World.
While there were plenty of jokes to be had about how awful the Trump robot looked, a few people started to point out that it looked strikingly similar

Google published a Chrome app in the Windows Store earlier today, which just directed users to a download link to install the browser. Microsoft isn’t impressed with Google’s obvious snub of the Windows Store, and it’s taking action. “We have removed the Google Chrome Installer App from Microsoft Store, as it violates our Microsoft Store policies,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.
Citing the need to ensure apps “provide unique and dis

Warning: major spoilers ahead for The Last Jedi.
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi asks viewers to throw away a lot about what they thought they knew about Star Wars. Early in the film, during the First Order’s assault on the Resistance flagship, the bridge of the ship explodes, and almost all the senior leadership is killed, save for General Leia Organa, who survives with the aid of the Force. As we learn in a later throwaway line, everyone’s favorite Mon Calamari space captain,

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Fresh off the gutting of net neutrality rules by the Federal Communications Commission, Republicans in Congress are working on a bill that would allow internet providers to create fast lanes, according to a source that has seen a synopsis of the bill.
The FCC previously had strong net neutrality regulations put in place

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We first met Rey in The Force Awakens scavenging for ship parts on Planet Jakku, armed only with  whatever she could fit in her trusty bag. 
SEE ALSO: Make the season brighter than a lightsaber in Star Wars holiday sweaters
This faux leather backpack pays homage to the one we see our new favorite Jedi using in the 2015 movie. 
via GIPHYThe flap snaps closed with a magnet, and it'

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Gorogoa is one of the most inventive and beautiful puzzle games ever created, and it's here just in time to distract from the stresses of the holidays.
Gorogoa, available for iOS, PC, and Nintendo Switch, is captivating with its hand-drawn artwork and uniquely designed puzzles, and keeps you on your toes with it's unconv

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Your smartphone camera is about to reshape everything, but it has nothing to do with snapping photos. 
Sure, phone makers are getting really, really good at creating cameras. Between hardware improvements and advancements in computational photography, we've never had better optics in our pockets than we do with the

Any doubts about whether Netflix has effectively established itself as part of the Hollywood community vanish immediately upon stepping into the company’s Los Angeles offices. Two cases full of Emmys greet visitors just inside the lobby of the 14-story tower, situated near eight Netflix-controlled sound stages on the Sunset Bronson Studios lot. In one corner sits the Bluth family banana stand from Arrested Development, while an elaborate projection art piece takes up an entire wall, simula

Microsoft is releasing a big update to Windows 10 testers today, just before the new year begins. The software giant is rolling out Windows 10 build 17063 to Fast Ring testers, complete with the Timeline feature and the new window tabs the company revealed last month.
Timeline was originally supposed to ship with the Fall Creators Update, allowing Windows 10 machines to resume apps and activities across devices. Timeline will let you effectively pick up where you left off if you're switching bet

SPOILERS AHEAD. If you haven't seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi yet, turn back now or risk spoiling yourself on some big surprises.Love it or hate it, Star Wars: The Last Jedi feels distinctly like the work of its auteur filmmaker, Rian Johnson.
In one of the movie's last and most stirring shots, a dying Luke Skywalker gazes out at the twin sunset on Ahch-To. The visual, coupled with a familiar John Williams melody playing behind it, tugs us back to that defining moment from the Original Trilogy w

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Pull out your smartphone and scroll through your list of recently downloaded apps. What do you see — Snapchat, HQ Trivia, or maybe some random face-filtering nonsense? Is Signal in there? If not, you've messed up in a major way.
Despite all the cool games, video editing tools, and shopping-assistant applications re

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Almost 200 Apple suppliers are really, really bad for the environment. 
An app called Blue Map, created by environmentalist Ma Jun and backed by Chinese retailer Alibaba, found that the suppliers were violating Apple's environmental guidelines. The app aggregates pollution data from government websites to help compa

Facebook’s VR hangout app Spaces just got cross-platform functionality. Now, in addition to Facebook’s own Oculus Rift headset, you can use the HTC Vive to access all the same features in Spaces, from making Messenger video calls to creating your own avatar and playing games.
According to Facebook, there are plans to eventually make other platforms compatible with Spaces as well. “This is our first expansion onto a new platform,” the company says in the announcement, &ldq

On Dec. 8, LA Weekly had a funeral for itself.
Employees and supporters gathered outside the company's office in Culver City. Some held "Boycott LA Weekly" signs. A white coffin held old editions of the paper. It even streamed on Facebook. 
The beloved weekly alternative paper, however, isn't dead yet. Rather the group of former writers and editors joined together with supporters to call for its death. The paper had been purchased by a group of mysterious investors, who turned out to be mai