Technology news

Unlike many automakers that offer Apple CarPlay in their new cars, BMW makes you pay for it on all of their models. That’s unlikely to change, but it may soon cut a break to those who don’t use iOS or don’t like Apple’s smartphone integration system for the car.
The automaker next year will turn CarPlay into a subscription-based service rather than treating it as a one-time option, Don Smith, technology product manager for BMW North America, told The Verge at the 2018 De

"We are America's black women," Kerry Washington began. "Forces of nature," added Tracee Ellis Ross. "We have always been at the frontlines of change," continued Washington. "We show up," said Ellis Ross. "Everyone knows when we show up, we make a change," Jurnee Smollett-Bell said. 
"But we can't do it alone,"Angela Robinson cautioned. "Stand by us, stand for us, stand with us,"  Laverne Cox urged.
SEE ALSO: There's a must-watch documentary about Recy Taylor, the woman Oprah shouted o

The attorneys general of 22 states — including New York, California, Kentucky, and Mississippi — are suing over the repeal of net neutrality regulations. 
SEE ALSO: Internet pioneers call on Congress to save net neutrality
This comes the day after Democrats in the Senate announced they had 50 votes for legislation that would override the recent vote by the Federal Communications Commission. That's a step in the right direction, but with a Republican-controlled House and Donald T

Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable's commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
The fastest way to make your friends think you're a real adult is by putting extremely fancy candles in your house. But what if you're not adult enough for candles? What if the mere thought of an open flame unattended gives you the shivers — and not in a good way? 
SEE ALSO: These in-sync touch l

Today's collective LOL at the expense of lawmakers came courtesy of Senator Orrin Hatch, who just reached for his glasses and, upon finding there were none there, decided to take them off anyway.
SEE ALSO: This state senator wants to revive net neutrality in California
The 83-year-old was deep in the middle of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen when he made the gaffe. Of course Twitter pounced like a rabid fox on the nonsensical gesture.
Here

At some point in the young progressive's education, you realize that the word "normal" is code for "straight and white." Everything else — foreign cinema, LGBTQ romance, minority-led TV and films, etc. — must be explicitly labeled for its otherness. So it should come as no surprise that the CW's new drama Black Lightning is being marketed to television viewers for, well, it's blackness.
But for the CW and Black Lightning, the challenge to provide representation for a whole commu

Just ahead of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show, Pioneer DJ has unveiled its newest controller, the DDJ-1000. Meant for dedicated use with its rekordbox dj software, the DDJ-1000 is designed to look almost exactly like the standard setup a DJ would encounter in a club, while also incorporating added functionality found in the brand’s other controller models.
The problem with a lot of DJ controllers is that they don’t offer the same feedback as more expensive CD

Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable's commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
It's January, and for movie and TV show aficionados that means one thing: new Netflix content and new Hulu content. This month, we'll see new titles added to the streaming lineups, like Cars 3, Dallas Buyers Club, This Is Us, Bob's Burgers, and tons of other new movies and series. Save big on a smart TV, iP

There are just over four months left to go before the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story. And unusually for this stage in a movie's promotional cycle, we still don't even have a publicity shot of the movie's star Alden Ehrenreich as young Han Solo, much less a trailer. 
But we do at least have an official synopsis for the movie, which was unveiled by Lucasfilm Tuesday on StarWars.com. And again, for anyone wanting to learn anything new about the movie, this is worryingly slim pickings. 

Every product here is independently selected by Mashable journalists. If you buy something featured, we may earn an affiliate commission which helps support our work.
It's bird, it's a plane, it's a big flying... bear?
Hunter Clearly (@Cyranek_ ) found the best way to use his new DJI Mavic Pro drone by flying a plush bear (known as the Tiny Headed Kingdom Bear, but to Clearly, simply Bart) across the sky. 
Just imagine the horror and confusion on neighbors' faces. The perfect writing inspir

Curious if you and your neighbors have the same tastes in porn?
With millions of viewers flocking to its site each day, Pornhub has no shortage of data to mine for that very answer. The adult content platform has just released their 2017 State of the Union, which breaks down the trends that defined viewership in the US, from the most popular search terms in each state to the nation's average time spent per visit.
So, which search terms were biggest in your home state?
SEE ALSO: Surprise: Women w

China, rejoice: You're about to have an internet full of Lego. 
The Lego Group is hooking up with Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent; the pair of companies say they'll collaborate "across a broad range of digital content and digital platforms" to create Lego games for Chinese children. 
SEE ALSO: This Lego machine wants to ice your Christmas cookies for you
A few plans are in the works. The companies will produce a Lego "video zone" on Tencent's video platform. They will also deve

An Apple supplier in China has once again been flagged for having poor factory working conditions by a report today from non-profit China Labor Watch, which Bloomberg added original reporting to. The report details working conditions at a Catcher Technology factory, which manufactures products for Apple in Suqian, Jiangsu province, six hours north of Shanghai.
Workers at Catcher make iPhone frames and components for MacBooks. On a typical day, workers may stand for up to 10 hours to cut and bla

Not to be left out by rivals, BMW and Mercedes-Benz appear to be joining the world of automotive subscription models that cover all of the fees required with car ownership or leasing under one payment.Both BMW and Mercedes are expected to announce pilot programs for a subscription service that covers not only car payments, but maintenance and insurance, Automotive News reported on Tuesday. They would join the likes of Audi, Cadillac, and Porsche in offering customers a simplified payment struct

The Google Arts and Culture app (available on iOS and Android) has been around for two years, but this weekend, it shot to the top of both major app stores because of a small, quietly added update.
SEE ALSO: Google declares war against Alexa and Siri at CES 2018
The newest feature lets you take a selfie, then searches a database of well-known artworks from around the world to match your photo with a face from a museum piece. 
The software uses advanced artificial intelligence and facial rec

Facebook's News Feed is broken. No, that is't a comment on the current state of social media or Mark Zuckerberg's pledge to fix what's broken about Facebook. 
I mean, it's literally broken. Many users are reporting that they're opening the Facebook app and website only to see a big, blank space that says "there are no more posts to show right now."
SEE ALSO: I deleted Facebook off my phone and you should too
Though not affecting all users, the glitch appears to be fairly widespread, with a

In the first high-profile attempt to block the FCC’s rollback of net neutrality rules through the courts, 22 attorneys general have filed a lawsuit challenging the agency’s repeal plan.
The lawsuit is led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
Led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the petition asks a court to find that the FCC’s plan runs afoul of federal law.“An open internet — and the free exchange of ideas it allows — is critical to o

Bitcoin is complicated. From what, exactly, it's good for to who created it, there remains a host of unanswered questions about the world's foremost cryptocurrency. 
But when it comes to what drove the monumental price rise over the last 9 years, we now have at least a partial answer — and it's not what you'd think. You see, it turns out that one person or one coordinated group is likely responsible for a massive increase in Bitcoin's value back in 2013. Yup, just one. 
SEE ALSO:

An interactive booklet called Papier Machine is making beautiful STEM toys that are actually fun and accessible, by combining paper with electronic circuitry. The booklet contains pages silkscreened with conductive silver ink that can be assembled to create six electronic paper toys. It also comes with two button cells, two metallic marbles, two piezo elements, and two sound components that can be reused with each interactive toy.The first in a collection of thematic books, Papier Machine Vol.0

Nobody likes a bad user interface.
It makes video games — and really, any app or software — needlessly confusing and difficult to navigate. And as we now know, it's also the reason the state of Hawaii experienced a brief yet horrifying period of existential panic on Saturday.
SEE ALSO: Passengers on Hawaiian Airlines flight got to kiss 2017 goodbye twice
When an unnamed state official accidentally issued the alert about an incoming ballistic missile attack, this is the screen they we

Between his first published story in 1952 and his death in 1982, Philip K. Dick produced dozens of novels and more than a hundred short stories. Moving past famous works like A Scanner Darkly or The Man in the High Castle, Amazon Video’s anthology show Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams delves into the author’s extensive back catalog, adapting 10 of his lesser-known works for television — and collecting the original stories in a new book.
Electric Dreams is full of classic

Congress is starting to ask hard questions about the fallout from the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. Today, Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) sent a letter requesting a briefing from Intel, AMD, and ARM about the vulnerabilities’ impact on consumers. Embedded below, the letter indicates a newfound interest from Congress in the industry’s response to the bugs, and a potentially ominous sign if lawmakers aren’t satisfied with the companies’ answers.The two vulnerabilities

Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable's commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
If you're a glasses-wearer, you've probably heard of affordable designer eyewear company Warby Parker. If you haven't tried out their glasses yet and are still picking from the small selection at your optometrist's office, you're probably overpaying and you're definitely missing out on some pretty cool fram

TL;DR: Want to test out Warby Parker for yourself? Start here.If you're a glasses-wearer, you've probably heard of affordable designer eyewear company Warby Parker. If you haven't tried out their glasses yet and are still picking from the small selection at your optometrist's office, you're probably overpaying and you're definitely missing out on some pretty cool frames.
Warby Parker was founded in 2010 by Wharton School students who noticed that most of the "designer" glasses are simply license

Believe it or not, the world has changed for the better in a lot of ways over the past year. But we still have a long way to go.
In #MeToo, Now What?, a newly announced five-part PBS miniseries, host Zainab Salbi will take a closer at the ongoing conversation around sexual misconduct. It's not a recap of 2017 and beyond, but rather a forward-looking consideration of what happens next as the toxic level of gender inequity in our society continues to be rooted out.
SEE ALSO: 2017 was the year wome

In an attempt to curtail spammy content, WhatsApp seems to be testing out notifications that alert users if they receive a message that has been forwarded many times, or if they are about to forward one of these messages themselves, as reported by TechCrunch.
Several WhatsApp sites have provided screen caps of these messages, which don’t directly say the message is spam or fake news, but notify you that the content has been frequently shared. If you receive one of these messages, you&rsqu

Keira Knightley is voicing her concern over the way women are treated in films.
In an interview with Variety, the 32-year-old actress discussed how she tends to shy away from taking on modern-day films "because the female characters nearly always get raped."
"I always find something distasteful in the way women are portrayed, whereas I’ve always found very inspiring characters offered to me in historical pieces," Knightley said, noting there's been some improvement over the years but the i

Chrissy Teigen to the rescue. 
The model and cookbook author responded to a report from Daily Mail that revealed gymnast McKayla Maroney, the first to speak out about being sexually abused by USA Gymnastics ex-team doctor Larry Nassar, currently faces a $100,000 fine if she violates a non disclosure agreement with USA Gymnastics and address Nassar at his sentencing. 
Teigen spoke out on Tuesday morning against the principles behind the NDA and offered to pay Maroney's fine if the gymna

Intense footage has emerged of a car launching into the air, narrowly missing a bus, then crashing into the second floor of an office building in Santa Ana, California.
The video is from the dashcam of a Orange County Transportation Authority city bus, and shows the exact moment of the collision, which happened on SundayAccording to local reports, the car went airborne after the driver drove it into a center divider. Shortly after, the car caught fire.
SEE ALSO: Terrifying footage shows the crui

The Wreck-It Ralph sequel may be titled Ralph Breaks the Internet, but the latest image makes it look more like the internet is breaking Ralph.
SEE ALSO: All the Disney princesses are coming back for the 'Wreck-It Ralph' sequel
The Pixar sequel sees Ralph and his BFF Vanellope venturing outside the arcade and into the weird wide world of the internet. To find their way around, they enlist the help of some new friends, including an algorithm to be voiced by Taraji P. Henson and a clique of classi

Ferrari will build a battery-electric supercar in a bid to challenge Tesla for a piece of the high-end, eco-conscious luxury market. CEO Sergio Marchionne, who also heads Fiat Chrysler, said that the Italian racecar company would also make a Ferrari SUV — after previously dismissing the idea as ridiculous.Speaking at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Marchionne didn’t offer any specifics on the electric Ferrari, but indicated the company would release it before

Here's a thought exercise for you: What would Star Wars: The Last Jedi be without its female characters?
The answer is a slim and sloppy 46 minutes – and a reason for Mark Hamill and Rian Johnson to laugh their asses off.
SEE ALSO: What backlash? 'The Last Jedi' just crossed $1 billion at the box office
Over the weekend, a Pirate Bay user uploaded a "de-feminized fan edit" of the film that cuts out most of the women, including "Haldo" (sic) in her entirety; alters Luke Skywalker's storylin

A new Uber policy will mandate that drivers in the UK take at least a six-hour break after working a continuous shift of 10 hours, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. The limit on the amount of time that drivers can spend picking up and dropping off passengers will go into effect beginning next week. And these aren’t just friendly prompts to consider a breather; drivers will be unable to log into the app and accept rides during rest periods.“While drivers only spend an average of 30

The saga of ex-Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski continues to get stranger, with fresh accusations of stealing trade secrets. This time, they’re coming from the somewhat surprising source of Erika Wong, the former nanny for Levandowski’s two children from December 2016 to June 2017, via a report from Wired.Levandowski had previously worked at Google where he ran the self-driving program there (the program was later spun out into a standalone company, Waymo) before leaving to work at

Facebook has ordered a 10-episode drama series from Blumhouse Television and two of the team members behind HBO’s True Blood. Facebook’s director of development, Ricky Van Veen, made the announcement today at the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) conference, Deadline reports.The working title of the half-hour series is Sacred Lies. The story is based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Handless Maiden and the Stephanie Oaks novel The Sacred Lies of Minno

If your internet connection has been going down, your Google Home and Chromecast devices could be to blame. The issue initially seemed to be relegated only to those who owned the Google Home Max speaker and TP-Link Archer C7 router. New issues have been reported involving other devices by both companies, and with routers from other brands, like Asus, Linksys, Netgear, and Synology.
The issue, according to TP-Link, stemmed from the line of Google Cast products. The Cast feature normally sends pa

Selma Blair spoke candidly about her allegations against disgraced director and screenwriter James Toback on The Talk Monday, reiterating the threats he made against her and the hundreds of accusations of sexual assault and misconduct laid against him over the last several months.
Blair recounted on The Talk how Toback threatened to kill her and "gouge" her eyes out with a pen if she ever told anyone about an instance where he lured her to his hotel room and wasn't going to let her leave unless

Amazon is trying to make the Fire TV work better for watching live programming — but it’s starting in a very small way. Over the past few weeks, Amazon has rolled out channel guides and an accompanying feature called On Now, which shows what’s currently playing on supported networks. And as of today, Amazon is also adding the ability to pull up live channels through Alexa.
Unfortunately, at launch, the list of supported networks is really small: just channels from HBO, Showtim

Birth control apps may be convenient but they're not proven to be more effective than any other method of contraception.
Not convinced? Cut to Natural Cycles, a birth control app that's currently being blamed for 37 unwanted pregnancies, according to Swedish publication SVT. 
Natural Cycles — which once claimed to be "the only approved contraceptive app out there" — appealed to users through confident branding, touting the lack of side effects that pills and IUDs can cause. And

Heads up: All products featured here are selected by Mashable's commerce team and meet our rigorous standards for awesomeness. If you buy something, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
These Bluetooth headphones are an Amazon's Choice product and they're currently on sale for less than $15. Move quick — this deal won't last.
SEE ALSO: Join the wireless revolution with these MagicBeatz earbuds that are on sale
According to the product page, these headphones boast a fast connection to