Technology news

I can’t stress how much I despise these browser pop-ups. I see them all the time, and put simply, they’re ruining the Internet. Every site that uses them fundamentally undermines their readability, and makes me never want to go back. News sites don’t need to know my location. And nobody wants random, shrill notifications in their browser. Twitter and RSS are things, y’know? And they’re everywhere. Everywhere. No. Wrong. Stop. Why? Ew. Gross. This sucks. You’v

If you had the chance to ask your favorite vlogger what they want in a camera, you’ll probably get a laundry list of feature requests. It should have the ability to record 4K video in a variety of framerates. It should be small and unobtrusive, so it can be carried around at arms length for hours at a time. It needs a display that flips around so they can see their framing when they are asking for their audience to smash that like button. And importantly, it needs an external microphone i

Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded today to the firing of employee James Damore over his controversial memo on workplace diversity, stating that while he does not regret the decision, he regrets that people misunderstood it as a politically motivated event. Speaking in a live conversation with journalist and Recode co-founder Kara Swisher, MSNBC host Ari Melber, and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki in San Francisco, Pichai said that the decision to fire Damore was about ensuring women at Google felt

Speaking in the U.K. today about Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum, CEO Tim Cook briefly addressed the topic of iPhone addiction, seeming to cast blame on social media and the “overuse” of technology.
“I don’t have a kid,” said the 57-year-old Cook, “but I have a nephew that I put some boundaries on. There are some things that I won’t allow; I don’t want them on a social network.”
A debate has raged over whether smartphones, social m

Facebook today announced that its News Feed will soon give priority to trustworthy news outlets. The gauge for what Facebook considers high-quality news will come in part from a survey of Facebook users to determine which news outlets they find most trustworthy. Local news and news outlets that Facebook users deem informative will also be given priority.
Tests of a Trusted Sources program used to determine which the news outlets users deem most trustworthy will begin next week, first in the

An Irish hotel has banned bloggers and other influencers after a 22-year-old YouTuber broke down in tears when she was refused free accomodation. Elle Darby, a UK-based social media influencer first emailed Charleville Lodge in Dublin to seek a tit for tat arrangement seeking a free five night accommodation in exchange for bringing attention to the boutique hotel. She touted her 87,000 YouTube subscribers and 76,000 Instagram followers before continuing: My partner and I are planning to come to

Gboard, Google’s iOS and Android keyboard app, has quietly updated its design by moving its GIF-making button up next to the word suggestion bar. The GIF-making feature has been around since last September, but it was hidden behind the emoji button on the bottom.With its shiny new placement, the button allows for GIFs to be recorded from the front and back camera, and it lets you record in two modes: “Loop,” which is basically a Boomerang you can record for three seconds, and

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, speaking at a taped television event hosted by MSNBC and The Verge’s sister site Recode, said artificial intelligence is one of the most profound things that humanity is working on right now and compared it to basic utilities in terms of its importance.Speaking to Recode’s Kara Swisher and MSNBC’s Ari Melber, Pichai said AI is “one of the most important things that humanity is working on. It’s more profound than, I don’t know, electr

Last summer, Disney announced it was ending its licensing deal with Netflix, and it would be launching its own streaming service in 2019. Variety is now reporting that hired Apple veteran Kevin Swint will be building and running the new service.Swint will be joining BAMTech Media as the senior VP and general manager of the unnamed service, the report states. He’s no stranger to the world of content streaming: he was an early member of Walmart’s e-commerce team in the early 2000s, an

Today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the second part of the company’s plan to fix the News Feed, and it includes improving the quality and trustworthiness of news sources by surveying the social network’s community.The system will work through Facebook’s existing quality surveys, with users now getting asked about whether or not they’re familiar with the source and if they trust it. According to Zuckerberg, Facebook considered making the decision on news sources

With only a few hours left to pass a federal budget today, it’s becoming more likely that the US government is headed toward a shutdown at midnight. That means federal agencies like NASA will be forced to send some workers home without pay and alter daily operations. However, a shutdown won’t have a big impact on the space agency’s biggest projects, and commercial companies like SpaceX — which rely on NASA and other government hardware — probably won’t suffer

What does it mean to befriend a fictional character? How should you be able to interact with them, and how should they respond to you? And can virtual reality help the process, by immersing you in their world?
These are a few of the questions nascent VR studio Fable began asking when developing Wolves in the Walls, an experience premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Wolves in the Walls adapts Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s eponymous children’s book, where a girl named Lucy become

Deb Oh wants to make you a playlist — a very expensive and pretty good one, based on a winding questionnaire and her encyclopedic knowledge of the near-limitless options for songs you haven’t yet heard.For $125, she’ll pick out 10 songs you might like, and send them to you with notes explaining why her choices are right for your musical history, your personality, your frame of mind, and your phase of life. Her boutique service Debop launched last year, and she’s advertis

For all the buzzwords surrounding television, I’ve feel like TVs have been kind of boring for a while. I’ve attended CES four years in a row, and it seemed each event basically refreshed the same basic units with only mildly tangible improvements. Sure, I’d ogle at the bombastic displays setups and panels I could never afford, but most improvements of the past years seemed more iterative than groundbreaking – or even just interesting. And then CES 2018 came along. This t

A newly developed electronic skin lets the wearer manipulate virtual objects without touching them — like typing on a keypad, or adjusting a dimmer just by moving your wrist.Standard VR devices need to be able to see an object to track motion. This usually involves cameras, which is fine for detecting large movements, but the resolution is usually too low to work with finer detail like the movement of fingers. For a study published today in the journal Science Advances, scientists built a

On her very first dive into the frigid waters of Antarctica, Orla Doherty’s yellow submarine began taking on water. So she did what she was supposed to — she stuck a finger in the puddle at her feet and licked it. It was salty. That meant it wasn’t drinking water spilled by one of the crew members; it was saltwater leaking into the sub — at 1,476 feet (450 meters) below the surface. “That made my heart start beating quite fast,” says Doherty, a producer for B

The Jamboxx, a hands-free wind MIDI controller, has relaunched and opened its store again after a year and a half-long hiatus off the market. The new version of the Jamboxx is retooled to include a specially developed optical sensor that should last longer and provide a better playing experience.
The Jamboxx is pretty unusual for a musical instrument. It works by registering breath blown into the front of it via a mouthpiece, similar to a harmonica. How impactful the breath is changes the veloc

EXCLUSIVE: Gfycat has integrated its user-generated GIF platform across three different messaging platforms. It now supports Viber, Tango, and Facebook — all in the name of enabling us to share silly images with our friends.
The integrations have brought Gfycat’s content to millions of new users. The company sees the move as a way to turn consumers into creators. GIFs are those silly animated images associated with internet memes and recorded in graphics interchange format, or GIF. G

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has left the Early Access program for unfinished games on Steam, and now esports organizations want to see if they can make it into a major draw. Global Loot League is leading that charge with a PUBG season that comes with $50,000 in prize money. That is one of the larger prize pools from a third-party league running the last-player-standing shooter.
GLL’s PUBG league kicks off with qualifiers February 2. This event is open to anyone who wants to test th

Amazon is bringing its full Alexa voice assistant to any smartphone, with an updatethat adds Alexa to the existing Alexa app, via Android Police. Until now, it only let you manage Amazon’s assistant on other devices.
Amazon has partnered with companies to integrate its assistant onto smartphones before, but it was only a few devices, like the Huawei Mate 9 or Motorola Moto X4. Adding it to the Alexa app is the first time it’ll be freely available on almost any device.Rolling out ove

Alexa is already available in apps, smart speakers, toilets, and showers, but today Amazon announced its AI assistant will soon be available exactly where you’d expect to find it: inside the Alexa smartphone app.
Alexa voice control for the Alexa app will be made available for Android smartphone users in the coming days, while Alexa inside the Alexa app will be coming to iOS soon, an Amazon spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.
Alexa in the Alexa app will be able to do many of th

Delta is tightening its rules around service and emotional support animals due to “serious safety risks” according to the airline. Beginning on March 1st, passengers flying with a trained service animal will have to submit a veterinary health form and / or immunization records 48 hours before departure.In addition to the current requirement of a letter signed by a doctor or licensed mental health professional, passengers flying with a psychiatric or emotional support animal will nee

I’m trilingual, or at least that’s what I’ve been telling everyone for the past couple of decades. The truth is that ever since I graduated high school, my French has all but completely disappeared. My Polish is a bit better, but only because I still use it to communicate with my parents — it has also fallen by the wayside. Enter Gboard.
The poorly named Google app (which replaced Google Keyboard in December 2016) is a virtual keyboard for Android and iOS devices. It has

Star Wars Rebels is coming to an end with its fourth season, but there’s a new trailer for the final handful of episodes, which will resume on February 19th.
Set between Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One / A New Hope, Rebels has largely followed Ezra Bridger, a young man who can use the Force. He joins the growing rebellion against the Empire, where he’s trained by Caleb Dume, one of the last surviving Jedi knights.This trailer shows off how far he’s come since the show began

Tumblr user icantaffordadiary has been going through a difficult time. The Oregon-based teenager has a history of depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts spanning back to their elementary school days. “I’m going through a particularly rough patch right now, and I’ve been self-harming again,” the Tumblr user tells The Verge via DM. But they’ve found comfort in an unusual place: an app called Calm Harm that aims to help users work through their urges.Calm Harm i

More than 55 percent of all mobile apps may not comply with the new European privacy regulations and Google Play privacy policies that go into effect this spring, according to a report from SafeDK, a marketplace that monitors the use of software development kits (SDKs) in mobile apps.
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect in Europe on May 25, and it strengthens the rights of individuals to control the use of their personal data. SafeDK’s latest repo

GUEST: Entrepreneurs are the beating heart of the American economy. Yet despite an uptick in recent years, startup formation has been in a decades-long decline that has affected every state in the country.
That’s a problem because startups are responsible for nearly all net new job creation. Even if you aren’t an entrepreneur or don’t work at a startup, fewer entrepreneurs means a lower quality of life for all Americans. VentureBeat’s Heartland Tech channel invites you to

With new standards come new problems. Back when computers were starting to switch over to USB-C (including Apple going all in with the MacBook Pro update in 2016), tons of companies tried to figure out the best solution to bring back old ports with hubs and dongles. Now, with Qi finally succeeding as the winner of the wireless charging standard wars, we’re seeing the same rush to find the best solution for wireless chargers.The incredibly descriptive, but somewhat inelegantly named HyperD

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 h

The new Mutant Football League is now available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It costs $20 on their digital stores.
Mutant Football League received $138,092 in crowdfunding on Kickstarter in March 2017. It launched for PC via Steam in October 2017, but releasing console versions could introduce the game to a larger audience.
The original Mutant League Football came out for the Sega Genesis in 1993. It was a violent, over-the-top arcade style sports game at a time when most title

It was another momentous week for games as I traveled to Disneyland for the Casual Connect USA 2018 event, which drew 1,400 attendees to Anaheim, California. While I was listening to talks on subjects including diversity and blockchain, the game industry decided to play musical chairs with some of its most important leaders.
Above: Matt Booty is the corporate vice president in charge of games at Xbox at Microsoft.Image Credit: Dean Takahashi
Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of games, kicked

U2 has released an admittedly very Bono, but also actually pretty cool, animated video for their new single "Get Out Of Your Own Way." The track is off their "Songs of Experience" album, which is out on Spotify, iTunes, and other services.
With lyrics like "Fight back, don’t take it lying down you’ve got to bite back/ The face of liberty is starting to crack," the song is a rallying cry for social change across the world in the face of growing nationalism, fascism, and racism. The ly

The opening week of Overwatch League attracted more than 10 million viewers, which had the adverse effect of causing a noticeable hit on porn traffic, YouPorn data shows.
SEE ALSO: Nintendo Switch has cut deep into porn traffic
YouPorn, one of the biggest porn sites on the internet, revealed that traffic fell as much as 9% below average during the inaugural matches of Blizzard's ambitious Overwatch esports league last week. The biggest traffic hit came during the first match between the San Fran

At a panel during the Sundance Film Festival today, MoviePass announced a new subsidiary called MoviePass Ventures, Deadline reports. The new division will acquire and release movies with the help of a film distributor.“Given the successes we have demonstrated for our distributor partners in ensuring strong box office in the theatrical window, it’s only natural for us to double down and want to play alongside them — and share in the upside,” MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe said

Google is rolling out a patch today which will fix a bug that slows down Wi-Fi networks connected to both Android and Chromecast built-in devices. According to a blog post, Google said a bug in its Cast software on Android phones may incorrectly send a large amount of network traffic, which can slow down or temporarily impact Wi-Fi networks. The company notes that the impact to the network depends on which router you’re using. People with an Android phone and a Chromecast device, like Goo

OnePlus has announced that up to 40,000 customers were affected by the security breach that caused the company shut down credit card payments for its online store earlier this week. The information is the result of an ongoing investigation with a third-party security agency into the breach that caused customers’ credit card information to be stolen while they were purchasing OnePlus products.
Though reports of stolen credit card information and fraudulent purchases were only made in the p

Many people say cars are smartphones on wheels, but after a visit to the Detroit Auto Show, it’s clear that’s not the case.On the contrary, the newest in-car technology we saw shows that automakers are still playing catch-up with features already available in the iPhone X, and they haven’t reconciled how to keep pace. The result is more confusing infotainment systems for customers whose top priorities are the best, effortless-to-use tech features.One short-term solution that s

The Suicide Squad sequel may have just spoiled one of its only cliffhangers. The 2015 film ended with a self-sacrifice from Diablo (Jay Hernandez), but it looks like he's back on set and training for Suicide Squad 2.
SEE ALSO: Poor Will Smith! Critics tore apart Netflix's first hopeful blockbuster, 'Bright'
Joel Kinnaman, who will reprise his role as Rick Flagg in Suicide Squad 2, shared a photo from the gym where he is ostensibly working out to prepare for the sequel with costar Jai Courtney &n

Nilay, Dieter, and Paul have returned from CES 2018 and are all together in the New York City office for this week’s Vergecast. As I was typing out the timestamps on here, I realized there’s a lot of news this week. So check it out! We’ve got highlights from the Detroit Auto Show, the changing algorithm of your Facebook News Feed, and the most gadgety gadget we’ve seen in a while, Nintendo Labo.There’s a whole lot more discussed in between all of that — like

Amazon is raising the price on Prime memberships for customers who choose to pay monthly instead of the full year upfront. The cost is going up from $10.99 per month to $12.99, according to Recode.While the $2 extra per month may not sound like much, it’s an 18 percent increase that works out to an extra $24 per year. That raises the total annual cost for monthly membership to $156, instead of the previous $132.In other words, customers who subscribe to Prime on a monthly basis, either be

Plenty of people have stories about meeting celebrities. 
Maybe you spotted an actor wandering through the streets of LA or New York, or queued up behind a singer in Starbucks one time.
Not many people have stories about meeting a serial killer, though. 
SEE ALSO: 10 TV shows we can't wait to see in 2018
On Thursday, journalist Jamilah King took to Twitter to share a chilling story from her childhood.
Here's the thread, in full:Hi. I have a story to tell about meeting a serial killer.

Japan’s largest mobile operator, NTT Docomo, has chosen Nokia to supply key hardware for a 2020 rollout of 5G cellular services in the country, the companies announced in a joint press release today. Though the release correctly notes that Japan has “a long and proud history of technological achievements and early technology adoption,” it places the country’s largest carrier a year behind 5G deployment timelines in the United States.
5G cellular technology promises s

While tectonic shifts in the tech industry have seen CES and its ilk decrease in relevance over the past decade, some product categories have been less affected by the rise of all-encompassing platforms pushed by software titans. For these forms of consumer electronics, it remains entirely appropriate to be trotted out on a Las Vegas stage with incremental updates every year.
To put it another way, it’s never not going to be fun to go to CES and look at a bunch of awesome screens.TV manuf