Technology news

The city of Berkeley, California is considering launching an initial coin offering (ICO) in a stated effort to reduce its dependence on federal funding. The ICO would raise funds by selling digital coins that would be backed by government municipal bonds, according to Business Insider, which spoke to a Berkeley city council member who described the plan.
Governments ordinarily sell municipal bonds to finance new projects, and some in Berkeley’s government hope the addition of blockchain t

Nissan used the ProPILOT technology used in its semi-autonomous vehicles to build "self-driving" slippers. The slippers feature a motor and wheels  that sink into the sole once stepped into. The sandals are currently being used at the ProPILOT Park Ryokan, a hotel in Japan, for its guest. Guest are expected to take off their shoes in the lobby and put on the slippers, which can be returned at the touch of a button.  Read more...More about Watercooler, Mashable Video, Japan, Hotels, and

Tesla reported record revenue for 2017, floated by customer deposits of the recently announced Semi truck and Roadster sports car. Despite its optimistic sales numbers, Model 3 production issues and cash flow problems haunt the company, but Tesla insists its on track to meet its production goals of 5,000 cars a week by mid-2018.Tesla reported $3.3 billion in revenue, which was expected, but also posted a $771 million quarterly loss — its largest quarterly loss ever. The company reported a

The 2018 Winter Olympics officially get started tonight from Pyeongchang, South Korea with mixed doubles curling. This is a new event for the Olympics and comes in advance of Friday’s opening ceremony and the lighting of the Olympic torch. More competition is scheduled for tomorrow including figure skating and freestyle skiing.
If you’re like me and find the highs and lows of the Olympics irresistible, you’re probably wondering about the best way to watch the games. After all,

Tesla has missed another self-imposed deadline, but this one has nothing to do with the Model 3, or product deliveries in general, for that matter. Today, we’ve learned that the coast-to-coast autonomous drive that the company originally promised in 2016 did not happen in 2017 and that it’s still “upcoming.”Tesla built a new version of its semi-autonomous system, known as Autopilot, in 2016 after a public breakup with the original supplier of the technology. Shortly afte

If you use Android, you might have come across a Progressive Web App or two in your Chrome journeys. Progressive Web Apps (not to be confused with Android’s native “Instant Apps”) use relatively fresh new web technologies to make websites work better offline or with intermittent connections, and often mimic native features like push notifications. For instance, Twitter and Flipboard both have PWAs that you can put on your Android home screen, and which behave like lightweight

The cataclysmic asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs might have also triggered massive volcanic eruptions deep beneath the ocean, new research says. It’s yet another way the extraterrestrial impact could have killed off more than 70 percent of life on Earth — that is, if the timing isn’t just a coincidence.Roughly 66 millions years ago, a 6-mile-wide asteroid crashed into Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula — causing a massive, worldwide earthquake. That Earth-shaki

The city of Seattle, Washington, claims that Facebook has been violating its 1977 campaign finance law, which states that those who accept advertising dollars from political campaigns be transparent with the public about the “exact nature and extent of the advertising services,” as reported by Fast Company. If Facebook is found to be at fault, it could be liable for $5,000 per violation.
The issue began last December, when Seattle newspaper The Stranger attempted to request 2017 sta

In a live Facebook Q&A earlier today, The Cloverfield Paradox producer J.J. Abrams answered some questions about the film, which was abruptly released to Netflix immediately after the 2018 Super Bowl, to near-universal negative critical response. The tone of the live panel was positive and upbeat, but the responses may have inadvertently revealed why Cloverfield Paradox feels so fractured. Among other things, Abrams says the film was already shooting when he and the filmmakers figured out h

Drake's been on a major generosity kick while filming his music video for "God's Plan," and fans are loving him for it.
For the rapper's latest good deed, he dropped in on some unsuspecting shoppers at a Miami supermarket and, you know, casually spent over $50,000 paying for strangers' groceries. No big deal.
Drake reportedly visited the Sabor Tropical Supermarket at around 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, according to E! News, and announced via megaphone that he'd be covering the costs of everyone shoppin

 Tesla CEO Elon Musk managed to send his Tesla Roadster into space — because why not? — earlier this week, and it looks like his week (and Tesla’s) is still looking up for now following the company’s fourth-quarter results. The company slightly beat Wall Street’s expectations on the financial front, and said it’s still targeting producing 2,500 Model 3… Read More

Bad news, emoji lovers: Apple is making it much harder for developers to put emoji in apps.
Numerous developers are reporting App Store rejections as a result of using Apple's emoji designs in their apps — something which the company until recently allowed.
SEE ALSO: Apple may offer rebates on battery replacements
The company appears to be ramping up enforcement of a rule that prohibits app makers from using Apple's emoji in any part of an app, saying it violates Apple's copyright. 
A

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has built a career on insulting people for their questionable cooking, and now he has his own Amazon Alexa skill where you can get his feedback on your kitchen talents. By asking, “Alexa, ask Gordon Ramsay what he thinks about my food,” you can recreate the vibe from Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen, and Master Chef where Ramsay brought tears to many home cooks and restaurateurs. You can also say in the command what dish you’ve made, for in

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Let's face it. We've all left our hot beverages sitting around and forgot all about them only to come back to a nasty cup of coffee or tea. For moments like that, this fancy ceramic smart mug is here to help you avoid that situation altogether.
SEE ALSO: These are the best toaster ovens according to reviewe

Panasonic has announced an updated version of the company’s smaller 10.1-inch form factor Toughbook, the CF-20 Mark 2.Like the original CF-20, the Mark 2 features a 10.1-inch screen in a rugged, 2-in-1 convertible tablet form factor — think of it as a smaller, more portable version of the 12-inch Toughbook 33 that the company announced last year.New on the Mark 2 model are some more modern features, like a Windows Hello-enabled front camera (with both visual and IR sensors), keyboar

Why release an audit of your so-called stablecoin when you can just shut down your loudest critic's Twitter account?
The cryptocurrency world has been in a uproar with allegations that stablecoin Tether and exchange Bitfinex have artificially propped up the value of Bitcoin and are running an elaborate scam. One prominent voice making that claim could, until sometime early Feb. 7, be found on Twitter at @Bitfinexed. That changed for several hours today when the account was briefly suspended by T

Say hello to your new wallpaper. 
And then say thank you to SpaceX, and to Reddit. On Tuesday, Reddit user "AB-nebula" posted a gorgeous wallpaper of the space hero Starman — a spacesuit behind the wheel of the Tesla Roadster Elon Musk launched into space on board the Falcon Heavy rocket — with Earth in the background, to r/Wallpapers. 
SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's 'Starman' is our new space hero
The images were first shared to Twitter by Marques Brownlee. Starman Wallpaper.

When it comes to the nonconsensual stitching of women's faces into porn videos, it turns out Reddit has finally had enough. 
On Feb. 7, the company banned the subreddit known as r/deepfakes. The community, which had gathered over 80,000 subscribers in its short existence, promoted a form of face-swap technology that allowed people to realistically superimpose one face over another in a video clip, prompting many to depict celebrity women in hardcore pornography they hadn't consented to.&nbs

  
Finding a new job in tech is never a simple process — especially when you add happiness to the list of things you want. More than any other time in history, we’re looking for careers that not only financially support our busy lives, but also provide value and leave us feeling fulfilled. 
It’s not always easy to evaluate whether a potential tech job is right for you. Although it takes time to adjust to a new role and company, there are certain things you can lo

Gerber is making history with its 2018 spokesbaby.
On Wednesday the company announced that the winner of its annual Gerber Baby Photo Search is Lucas Warren, a one-year-old from Dalton, Georgia. 
Warren is the first baby with Down syndrome to join the Gerber Family since the Gerber Baby contest began in 2010, and his mother and father visited The Today Show to share just how important the milestone is.Congratulations to our 2018 Gerber Spokesbaby Lucas! Welcome to the family Lucas, send him

Instagram has confirmed it is testing an option that lets you “regram” public feed posts from other users to your Story, as reported by TechCrunch.
For those who have access to the new feature, it will appear as “Add post to your story” when you tap the share icon underneath a post. If you don’t want your public posts to be shared in this way, there is the option to change your privacy settings. Even if your account doesn’t have the ability to currently resha

According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix paid Paramount Pictures “north of $50 million” for release rights to The Cloverfield Paradox, the third movie in the extremely loose trilogy launched by Cloverfield in 2008 and continued with 10 Cloverfield Lane in 2016. The Cloverfield Paradox, initially written as a story unrelated to the franchise, was brought into the storyline with some script tweaks, and premiered on Netflix immediately after Super Bowl 2018, with no a

Smart home appliance maker Nest, which for three years has operated as an Alphabet subsidiary, is rejoining Google to work alongside the search giant’s hardware group. The decision, which back in November was rumored to be in the works, means that Nest CEO Marwan Fawaz will now report directly to Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh, who oversees the company’s Pixel, Chromecast, and Google Home efforts. The announcement came today in the form of a blog post from Osterloh in conjuncti

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You know what makes for better Valentine's Day gifts than flowers and chocolates? Drones and smart hubs and a backup battery charger. 
SEE ALSO: See all of Mashable's Valentine's Day gift ideas
There's nothing like greeting your boo on February 14th with a voice-activated gift that can order a pizza or

Turing Robotic Industries has filed for bankruptcy in Finland and all of the company’s movable property has been seized, according to local media reports earlier this week. It allegedly owes its creditors nearly two million Euros. The smartphone company was founded by former Nokia employees in 2015 and received backing by Chinese investors, but has experienced a really rough three years trying to deliver on its promises.In a Facebook post, Turing CEO Steve Y.L. Chao wrote that the recent

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Chow Crown by Hasbro is a new game on the market that will release in fall 2018. Simply place the crown on your head, clip in some snacks, and press start. The crown will move and you'll have to try to catch as much as you can before the music stops. You'll definitely look silly. It's also harder than it looks. Read more...More abo

We're not sure what we were doing last Friday, but now we know what we missed: the horrifying truth behind Donald Trump's hair.
As Trump boarded Air Force One after a week full of memos and the State of the Union, the president forgot to wear his typical "Make America Great Again" hat as the wind howled across the airport. This confluence of events gave us a devastating peek behind the tawny curtain that is the Commander in Chief's confusing pate. 
SEE ALSO: Watch Trump awkwardly attempt to

In the year 2018, some higher being (Kris Jenner) has looked out for us in the only way she knows how: by blessing us with three more humans to keep up with. 
Kim Kardashian and baby sister Kylie Jenner have already welcomed their daughters into the world, and any month now Khloé Kardashian will do the same. But unfortunately, none of their kids have carried on the "K" name tradition of their reality star family members. 
Instead, they've named their offspring everything from St

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.
Everyone's money saving habits are different. (We're looking at you, millennials.) 
Whether you rely on the help of an app, use an Excel spreadsheet, or balance your books the classic pencil and paper way, managing your cash flow is one of the most important ways to keep track of your spending habits.&

Animal friendships come in many forms. 
Callie Schnecker stumbled upon interspecies friendship gold when she spotted her "one-eyed wonder pony" Cricket giving the neighbor's dog a ride on his back. In Schnecker's clip, the animal duo gives the camera a brief glance before embarking on what we're sure was the most wholesome adventure ever.
"I can't make this stuff up!" Callie wrote on Facebook.
TBH, this dog and one-eyed pony duo does sound like something straight out of a children's book.&

Emoji are about to get a lot more expressive — with more (and less) hair. Yeah, that's right. There's curly haired, red haired, and bald emoji now.
SEE ALSO: This interactive emoji dance party is about as 'internet' as it gets
Emojipedia, the self-proclaimed emoji search engine that keeps the world up-to-date on all the latest emoji, made a nice 2-minute video showing off the more than 150 emoji that will be added to iPhones everywhere "in the second half of 2018."
If you're as obsessed wi

Sorry Beyoncé, a new celebrity baby on Instagram is taking over. 
Last year, Queen Bey announced that she was pregnant with twins/future world leaders Rumi and Sir Carter. The photograph accompanying the news completely shattered all Instagram records with more than 11 million likes at the time of this writing, and previously beat a Selena Gomez #ad on Instagram. 
This week, both of those numbers were obliterated by none other than Stormi Webster, the daughter of Kylie Jenner an

Suicides across the US increased by 10 percent after Robin Williams died by suicide in 2014 — particularly among middle-aged men and due to the same method that Williams used.It is well-known that a high-profile celebrity suicide can lead to copycat suicides. (The effect has been traced back to a spike after the publication of J.W. von Goethe’s 1774 novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, which featured a suicide.) Today’s study, however, is the first to examine this effect in the

Google is looking into developing a game streaming service that would allow it to stream software to a compatible Chromecast device or yet-to-be-released home console, according to a report today from The Information. The new service is codenamed “Yeti,” and it would be comparable to game streaming services like Sony’s PlayStation Now and Nvidia’s GeForce Now. That means users would not download software to a hard drive, but stream the game from a Google server instead.

Olympus has announced the Pen E-PL9, a new model in its Pen Lite series of pocket mirrorless cameras. It’s an updated version of the E-PL8 model released back in 2016 that looks to improve on some of the older camera’s shortcomings while updating some specs for the future.
The E-PL9 keeps the same retro styling that Olympus offered on the E-PL8, but the updated model offers a more substantial grip this time around (one of my colleague Vlad Savov’s complaints about the E-PL8).

Reddit has banned the r/deepfakes subreddit that’s devoted to making AI-powered porn using celebrities’ faces, classifying it as a form of “involuntary pornography.” In a post today, Reddit announced an update to its rules on posting sexual imagery of a person without their consent. The new rule extends a ban on posting photos or video of people who are nude or engaged in sexual acts without the subject’s permission, saying that this includes “depictions that

Citrus trees migrated from the Himalayas to the rest of the world after sudden changes in the climate 6 to 8 million years ago, according to new research. As citrus spread, it changed, eventually bringing sweet orange juice to our kitchen tables.
To get a better understanding of where citrus trees came from, scientists have mapped the genomes of over 50 varieties of citrus fruit, from the clementine mandarin to the Buddha’s hand citron. They found that today’s citrus trees derive fr

It’s a week for space junkies. Yesterday, SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon Heavy rocket, and today, the world’s first zero-gravity rave will be launching from Frankfurt, Germany. Thrown by events company BigCityBeats in conjunction with help from the European Space Agency, the flight will be DJed by Steve Aoki, Armin van Buuren, and W&W, and it will have only 20 attendees.
The event, called World Club Dome Zero Gravity, will use a specially converted A310 aircraft, a mode