Technology news

A classic riddle asks, “What’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time?” At CES 2018, the answer is 5G, the hugely important, just-approved standard for upcoming cellular devices. Days before the show began, companies told us 5G was important enough to touch all of their product announcements, and we expected to hear from all the major U.S. carriers, not to mention the world’s hardware manufacturers. But apart from some small-scale demos, there’s little in the way o

Apple has been moving swiftly into the world of original television programming, and its latest project is a futuristic drama from the director of the Hunger Games franchise. Deadline reports that the company has placed a straight-to-series order for See, described as “an epic, world-building drama” that will be written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and directed by filmmaker Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2).
Last year, Apple re

Ford made a slew of announcements this week at CES for connected cities and cloud-based transportation services, but their partnership with Waze may have the most impact on drivers right now.The automaker said Wednesday that the traffic app will work with 2018 Ford and Lincoln models equipped with the SYNC 3 infotainment system and a smartphone. Crucially for most Waze users, Ford’s system retains the app’s key features such as navigation, traffic updates and warnings, HOV lane supp

If the Super Nintendo and then the PlayStation consoles were the best place for role-playing games from Japan years ago, the PC is a part of that lineage now. Publisher NIS America revealed today that is launching the Steam version of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana on January 30. Developer Falcom is also planning a final beta test before the launch date, and you can sign up for a chance to participate right here.
This is part of a long ongoing trend of Japanese developers and publishers bringing the

We all know Twitter is a platform filled with abuse, harassment, and other modern nightmares, but it seems the people at the top are finally listening to our desperate pleas for change. Behold, Twitter posted actual evidence of its commitment to change today as part of a safety rollout: known Mario antagonizer Waluigi has been Dealt With.
This update is now rolled out to everyone. Here’s an example of the in-app notifications you can expect: pic.twitter.com/q6l7F5050w— Twitter Safet

(Reuters) — Some of Intel’s data center customers, whose thousands of computers run cloud networks, are exploring using microchips from the market leader’s rivals to build new infrastructure after the discovery of security flaws affecting most chips.
Whether Intel sees a slew of defectors or is forced to offer discounts, the company could take a hit to one of its fastest growing business units. Intel chips back 98 percent of data center operations, according to industry consult

Pimax, a Chinese startup developing an 8K virtual reality headset, came to CES this year to show off its latest prototype, the fifth in just a year since the first version was unveiled at last year’s show. After a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, one in which Pimax raised more than $4.2 million and beat out even Oculus VR’s initial crowdfunding campaign, it’s working toward mass production of the consumer version that is slated to come out later this year after an in

Pimax, a Chinese startup developing an 8K virtual reality headset, came to CES this year to show off its latest prototype, the fifth in just a year since the first version was unveiled at last year’s show. After a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, one in which Pimax raised more than $4.2 million and beat out even Oculus VR’s initial crowdfunding campaign, it’s working toward mass production of the consumer version that is slated to come out later this year after an in

Dish announced today that it has been working on integrating Google Home and Google Assistant into its TV service, fleshing out the options for controlling a TV with your voice.
A press release says the integration will work in “multiple languages, including English and Spanish,” and that Dish customers can expect it to be available “starting in the first half of this year.” It will work with all generations of Dish’s Hopper DVR, all models of its Joey client, and

I find it hard to get on board with the idea of filling my home with smart security cameras for a number of reasons, not the least of which is privacy. But there’s one smart camera at CES this year that has a clever solution to the whole spying-on-you problem: just have the camera look away.
The smart camera Angee — which was crowdfunded in 2015 and is now beginning to ship to backers — is able to rotate a full 360-degrees. That allows the camera to spin around to face a wall

Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther is already set to have a huge debut at the box office in February. Fandango reports that the first 24 hours of ticket presales for the film were the largest it’s ever seen for a Marvel movie. The record was previously held by Captain America: Civil War, which was released in 2016.In a press release, Fandango also reported results from a user survey, saying Black Panther was 2018’s second most-anticipated movie (behind Avengers: Infinity War) and th

Boeing today unveiled a giant drone that’s capable of lifting a 500 pound payload. Calling it an “unmanned electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) cargo air vehicle (CAV) prototype,” the aerospace giant said it could serve as a precursor for future autonomous flying aircraft.The heavy-duty drone took Boeing’s engineers only three months to design and build, the company says. It successfully completed initial flight tests at Boeing’s research lab in Missouri.

Climate change is going to cost the US billions of dollars because of extreme weather, health problems, and more — and New York City wants fossil fuel companies to help pay for it. So the city is suing BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell, the Associated Press reports.Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the lawsuit today, pointing to dangers New Yorkers could face as climate change continues — like rising sea levels, hotter temperatures, more severe rain and sno

CES, the world’s biggest tech event, is treating attendees to a decidedly retro experience this year: there’s no electricity. The power went out around noon local time and there’s no telling when it’s coming back on. What is it? It’s either a fascinating piece of performance art depicting humankind’s over-dependence on technology, or there’s an issue with the grid in Las Vegas somewhere. Either way, our on-the-scene correspondant Bryan Clark reports the

Mercedes-Benz may have been one of the numerous automakers that showed up to CES to talk about voice assistants. A swath of companies came to say they’ve partnered with Amazon Alexa or added Google Assistant to their infotainment systems. But the German automaker came to Las Vegas this year to say it built its own voice assistant, along with a new user experience for drivers.Overdoing it? Probably. But the new Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX, which is less of a mouthful) is a signific

The first “this could change everything” AI story of the year comes to us in the form of (yet another) AI that’s supposed to read minds. This time however, there’s no parlor trick. We’re one step closer to being able to broadcast our thoughts to a screen, thanks to artificial intelligence. Japanese scientists have created AI capable of reading a person’s brainwaves and displaying an image based on what they’re looking at. If a person is staring at a pic

A self-driving car operated by Argo AI, a startup backed by Ford, was involved in an accident in Pittsburgh on Wednesday that sent two people to the hospital, according to The Incline. Early reports suggest the accident was the result of human error.According to The Incline:Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety spokesperson Alicia George said the crash occurred at about 10 a.m. at the intersection of 16th and Progress streets between North Shore and Troy Hill near the northern side of the 16th

In among the deluge of CES news releases this week, one stood out to me because it made little sense: Netflix was bringing its upcoming Altered Carbon series to the big Las Vegas exhibition. How do you bring a drama series to a hardware show?
It turns out, Netflix’s idea was to construct an elaborate faux-serious campaign, including a partnership with the drama’s fictional company Psychasec, and the collaborative booth they’re presenting at CES is a pretend exhibition area for

Power in the North and Central halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, which hosts CES annually, was out for nearly two hours on Wednesday. First reports of the power outage began hitting Twitter from convention goers starting around 11:14AM PT, and was slowly restored shortly after 1:00PM PT. Security evacuated most visitors from the affected halls during that time.
The outage impacted hundreds of companies, including giants like LG, Samsung, and Sony, as well as many small startups that pai

There are a lot of fantasy shows on TV these days, led by Game of Thrones, and while HBO’s epic of drama and dragons hogs the spotlight, Syfy’s The Magicians has quietly become one of the most consistently entertaining shows on TV. The Magicians returns for its third season on Wednesday, January 10th. Here’s why you should be watching the show.
In one sentence, what’s the show about?
Harry Potter meets The Chronicles of Narnia meets the cold, harsh realities of real life

With 125,000 residents, over 54,000 homes, 32 square miles, 750 miles of road, and three distinct downtowns, The Villages in Florida is one of the largest retirement communities in the US. It’s also been described as a raunchy, booze-filled boomtown for those who want to fill their twilight years line-dancing and no-strings-attached sex. And starting soon, it will have another distinction to brag about: a fleet of robot taxis.Voyage, a startup that has been operating a handful of self-dri

A few months ago, rumors were floating around that Samsung would unveil the Galaxy S9 – or at least tease it – during CES. Two days into the event, it’s clear that’s not the case; Samsung mobile chief DJ Koh confirmed the device would instead be revealed at Mobile World Congress late February, according to ZDNet. It’s a bit earlier than usual, but no big surprise; MWC has often been the venue for S-series announcements. The S8 launched in New York march of last yea

Silicon Valley, HBO’s comedy series about startup culture, has just received a new trailer for the show’s upcoming fifth season. The clip features Richard (Thomas Middleditch), the (mostly) lovable and bumbling founder of Pied Piper, giving his best rousing company speech: a series of stutters followed by nervous barfing. Been there, buddy.
Little has been released about the new season so far, though judging by the rest of the trailer, it will feature the combination of tech exec dr

Three members of the FCC yesterday gathered on stage at CES 2018 in Las Vegas to discuss the repeal of net neutrality. No matter what side of the debate you’re on: it was a waste of time and taxpayer money. Without their leader, former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai, the panel managed to discuss the issue for almost an hour without actually saying anything. The commissioners who could make it included Republicans Michael O’Reilly and Brendan Carr, who voted in support of repealing net neut

CES is still happening, and we're still doing Circuit Breaker Live on Twitter. Yesterday's episode was truly a gadget bonanza with talking robots, smart displays, and drum pads. You can watch the full episode above. But if you want to catch us live on Twitter, you still can! We'll be airing again today at 5PM ET / 2PM PT.
Today we'll have a second round of pod gadgets, an AR video game demo, and a coding robot for kids. I'm not going to promise a bonanza, but it'll probably be something like a

War’s main effect is killing people, sure — but it also kills wildlife. In Africa, the number of large animals like elephants, zebras, and buffalo can decline as much as 90 percent during wartime, according to new research. But the animals that do survive can rebuild their populations, so conservation efforts in war-torn areas are incredibly important.
Researchers looked at thousands of reports about wildlife populations in protected areas in Africa between 1946 and 2010. They found

After five years, scientists might have figured out what’s going on with blasts of mysterious radio waves coming from outside the Milky Way: they’re coming from a zombie star in an extreme environment. In a new study, astronomers suggest this might explain these bizarre intergalactic radio waves, known as fast radio bursts. And it may be the best explanation we have yet for what’s causing them.
Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, have been one of the biggest enigmas for astronomers si

HTC planted its flag in the premium virtual reality market this week at CES with its announcement of the Vive Pro, a higher-resolution version of the original Vive headset with built-in headphones and a wireless adapter for cordless play. The Vive Pro is a natural next step for HTC and its partner Valve, and the new features make perfect sense this many years into the product’s lifespan.None of those individual features will revolutionize the VR market. But together, they could notably im

Lyft isn’t just a ride-hail company nipping at the heels of its rival Uber. It also fancies itself a think tank with big ideas about the future of transportation. The company’s co-founders, John Zimmer and Logan Green, have released policy papers predicting the end of personal car ownership in major cities by 2025, and calling for more people to carpool by charging a fee to those who don’t.This evening, Zimmer is holding a “fireside chat” at CES where he plans to s

Health gadgets aren’t just for the young. The elderly population is a growing business opportunity, and the category of “aging tech” now includes everything from smart hearing aids to connected toolkits for relatives with dementia. It’s an important area with plenty of problems to solve, but some of the biggest problems with caretaking are social, and the highest-tech gadget won’t do a thing if your grandmother refuses to use it.Everyone grows old, but Americans ar

There’s a saying in business that you can have things good, fast, or cheap — pick two. CBS’s dedicated streaming service, All Access (the exclusive online home of Star Trek: Discovery) has often seemed like the answer to a different question: what if you had none of those three things?
Although All Access has been around since 2014, the subscription service made its biggest splash yet in September 2017, with Discovery’s debut. It was the first Star Trek show in more than

Apple is outsourcing its Chinese iCloud operations to a local firm in southern China starting on February 28th, as spotted by 9to5Mac. The move has been known since last year when Apple announced its partnership with the firm, but the exact date was confirmed today.
The firm is called Guizhou-Cloud Big Data (GCBD). It’s based in Guizhou Province and supervised by a board ran by government-owned businesses. In emails to mainland Chinese customers, Apple says that the move enables “us

Soul Electronics has debuted two new in-ear headphones at CES with gait analysis that are built specifically for runners. The Run Free Pro Bio and Blade both come with built-in sensors and an accompanying app that will tell you on the fly if your running form is off and how to correct it, says the company.
While you are running, the headphones’ sensors track a host of different parameters integral to good form and preventing injury: cadence (steps per minute), step length, step width, ver

Niantic is ending Pokémon Go support for Apple devices incapable of upgrading to iOS 11. Older iPhone models, like the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C, will be affected by the incoming update, coming February 28th.If you have a phone without iOS 11, you won’t be able to access your account, use your pokécoins, or use items in your bags. According to the developer, the reason for dropping support is simple: “This change is a result of improvements to Pokémon Go that push

In a letter sent this week to Apple, a US senator asked the company more questions about its controversial decision to quietly slow the performance of older phones.The letter requests a response by January 23rd
Sen. John Thune (R-SD), chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, said in the letter that Apple has failed to act with enough transparency. Among other questions, the letter asks whether the company will issue updates in the future that slow device performance, and

Huawei doesn’t just make smartphones and laptops; it’s also getting into mesh Wi-Fi. Yesterday at CES, the China-based company announced a hybrid whole-home Wi-Fi system.
Like other mesh Wi-Fi systems, Huawei’s Wi-Fi Q2 system aims to send a stable signal through a large home or an estate. There are two options: a base and two satellites, which would rely on G.hn PLC technology to deliver gigabit data over electrical, telephone, and coaxial wiring, or a hybrid three-pack, whic

Super Deluxe, the viral internet content and TV production studio owned by Turner, made a major sale today, Variety reports.Netflix has ordered 10 episodes of a supernatural drama called Chambers, executive produced by Syriana writer and director Stephen Gaghan. The series is set in Arizona and follows a young woman who receives a heart transplant and then sets out on a journey to learn about the donor. It was written by Leah Rachel, best known for the semi-gross food blogging web series Audrey

Jimmy Iovine says he isn’t going anywhere. During an interview at the Grammy Museum, the Apple Music executive said he has no plans to leave after the last of his shares from the sale of Beats Electronics to Apple will vest in August, as has been reported by multiple outlets.“The bottom line is I’m loyal to the guys at Apple. I love Apple, and I really love musicians. That’s why those articles annoyed me, because it had nothing to do with reality. It made it out to be al

After an extensive audit by UK tax body HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Apple Europe has agreed to pay over £137 million (around $185 million) in extra taxes, reports The Guardian. The payment includes interest on unpaid tax, covering several years until September 2015.
Apple operates two primary subsidiaries in the UK called Apple Europe Ltd and Apple Retail UK Ltd. Apple Europe Ltd provides marketing, financial and support services, while Apple Retail UK Ltd runs Apple’s online and