Technology news

Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.One of the biggest complaints about J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens was how it hyped up the presence of a chrome-plated stormtrooper, Captain Phasma (played by Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie), whose actual appearance in the film turned out to be underwhelming. Fans hoped for a bit of redemption for the character in December’s The Last Jedi, but she only turned up for a brief appearance and a quick death at the hands of her former

Google is adding a new activity dashboard to Docs, Sheets, and Slides that lets users with the ability to edit files check to see who else viewed the file and when they viewed it, via Engadget.If you’re the kind of person who turns on read receipts to know when your friends and colleagues have seen your message but not responded, now you can get that same experience with the documents you share. With the new activity dashboard, you can find out if Jeff really read that memo last week. Or,

Faster than an F1 car and named after an F5 tornado, the newest Hennessey Venom is the kind of car that unquestionably belongs at the Geneva Motor Show. It is all about raw power and radical design. It’s also about as rare as they come, with just 24 being made — half of which the company says have already been bought for a cool $1.6 million each.Much of what we know about the Venom F5 are the stats that Hennessey Special Vehicles, the small company behind the car, has already shared

Universal Studios today announced Jurassic World Alive, an AR mobile game made in the style of Pokemon GO. When I say “in the style of Pokemon GO,” I mean identical to that game. The player uses their phone as a map to track dinosaurs by sound, capture them, and use them in battle against other players. The only difference is that the player can capture the dinos without having to leave home by sending out drones, because why not remove the one feature of GO 

Snap is about to undergo another round of layoffs, with this one seeing a cut of around 100 engineers, according to Cheddar and CNBC. While that’s a small portion of Snap’s total headcount — around 3,000 people — it reportedly represents about 10 percent of the company’s engineering team. The cuts are expected to come within a week and will be the first focused on engineering. Snap hasn’t commented on the report.
This is the fourth round of layoffs at Snap in

Microsoft today announced it will bring baked-in AI to its operating systems in the next Windows update. Soon, PCs will operate complex machine learning applications locally that normally run in the cloud. Unfortunately for gamers this will be accomplished by tapping the power of graphics processing units (GPUs). Thankfully, however, Intel has an alternative. When the slew of new machine-learning based apps, programs, and core processes begin to infiltrate the new Windows AI platform – an

The tablet market has no chill. The lineup is becoming overwhelmingly saturated with brands like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Samsung trying to prove that their tablet is the best — and more than just an oversized smartphone.
Most tablets have the same basic touchscreens, displays decent enough for streaming movies, etc., and it's seriously hard to tell at first glance what the differences are. Like anything else, which tablet you should get depends on, well, what you want it fo

Surprise! Google today released the first Android P preview, well ahead of its full unveiling at Google I/O in May. The build is strictly meant for developers, but it already contains an interesting glimpse of what’s to come. You can read Google’s full blog post here, but we’ve distilled some of the most interesting features coming in the next version of Android below: Notch support We knew it was coming, but now it’s official: Android P includes official support for cam

Developers looking to get a jump on upcoming Android features have a small set of blessed hardware to choose from with Android P: the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL.
Eventually, Android P will ship on new phones from other manufacturers, along with the handful of handsets that third-parties bother to update, but there are a couple Android mainstays that won’t get to enjoy this marvelous future: Google’s Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P phones, and the oft-forgotten Pixel C tablet. As

With the first developer preview of Android P out today, we’re getting our first look at the visual refresh that Google was rumored to be working on a few months ago. This is an extremely early build of the software, so it’s very likely that more changes are on the way — and some of what’s here might look different come the next preview. But even this barebones developer preview 1 makes clear that Google is taking things in a rounder, more colorful direction.
The next de

UnitedHealthcare has added the Apple Watch to its UnitedHealthcare Motion program, which incentivizes employees under UnitedHealthcare insurance with money rewards if they meet their daily step goals, via CNET.Previously, the company has supported a variety of other fitness trackers, including Fitbits, Garmin devices, and Samsung activity trackers. Users can get an Apple Watch Series 3 through the program — you’ll have to pay tax and shipping upfront — and can then apply the m

Amazon is now offering Prime discounts to Americans enrolled in Medicaid. American adults with Medicaid will now only have to pay $5.99 a month, down from the usual $12.99 monthly rate (or $8.25 a month if you choose the $99 annual option).
There are about 35 million American adults currently enrolled in the health insurance program for low-income individuals, according to 2017 data. As noted by CNET, the discount marks Amazon’s effort to reach lower-income consumers after already having

A new smartphone device allows people to easily measure their blood pressure without a cuff squeezing their arm. It’s still too early to tell if the tech works accurately, but if it does, it could enable more people, especially in developing countries, to check if they’re at risk for heart disease.
The device, described in a study published today in Science Translational Medicine, consists of a 3D-printed case attached to the back of a smartphone. When a person presses a finger on a

Google just dropped the developer preview of Android P, the next version of its mobile operating system. Google has traditionally hid an easter egg inside these previews as a hint to what the codename of the OS will be called, and Android P is no exception.
So far, some features on the Android P seem to emulate quite a bit from Apple, such as the bubble-like notifications look borrowed from iOS and notch support for all the newly announced Android devices that have been copying the look iPhone

Microsoft first unveiled its new tabs for every app in Windows 10 last year. While testers got an early look at them briefly, Microsoft is now letting every Windows 10 tester on the Skip Ahead ring get access to tabs today with build 17618. The biggest addition is tabs are now available in File Explorer, a highly-requested feature (more than 20,000 votes) and something Microsoft has resisted in Windows previously.
Alongside File Explorer, other built-in traditional Windows apps like Notepad, Co

Over the past few days, users with Alexa-enabled devices have reported hearing strange, unprompted laughter. Amazon responded to the creepiness in a statement to The Verge, saying, “We’re aware of this and working to fix it.”
As noted in media reports and a trending Twitter moment, Alexa laughs without being prompted to wake. People on Twitter and Reddit reported that they thought it was an actual person laughing near them, which can be scary when you’re home alone. Many

You’re all aware of the smartphone notch takeover. The Essential Phone launched with a notch, then the iPhone X made it mainstream, and now, nearly all phone manufacturers think the notch is the future of phones. Here’s the thing, though: these random Android phone makers haven’t been able to make their notch phones run seamlessly because the OS isn’t designed for that segmented screen — or at least it hasn’t been, until now.
The freshly announced Android P h

A few months ago, we heard rumlbing that Microsoft was considering replacing Windows 10 S with a less controversial ‘S Mode’ built into standard versions of Windows. Today, Windows Executive Joe Belfiore confirmed in a tweet that S Mode will arrive next year. We use Win10S as an option for schools or businesses that want the 'low-hassle'/ guaranteed performance version. Next year 10S will be a "mode" of existing versions, not a distinct version. SO … I think it's totally fine

Google has just announced the Android P developer preview, which is almost exclusively focused on back-end features that primarily concern, you know, developers. Most of the user-facing features won’t be announced until the Google I/O conference in May. But we’re on the lookout for things that look different, and the above screenshot of the Quick Settings panel and notifications drawer definitely drew our eye.
This part of the UI can look wildly different depending on which version

With its next major release of Android, Google will prevent apps from using your smartphone’s microphone or camera whenever they’re in the background and not actively being used on screen. The move is another attempt to lock down consumer privacy and eliminate any remaining paranoia over Facebook or other apps secretly listening to your conversations and serving up relevant advertisements. Sorry, conspiracy theorists.Android O already took steps to make it more apparent whenever app

Nestled on the banks of the Cumberland River, Nashville is a gritty, yet often picturesque representation of middle America. It’s got star power in droves and offers affordable living sure to attract refugees from either coast — or those fleeing parts of middle America for greener pastures. It’s vibrant, rich, and perfect for both savvy singles and young families. What it’s not is the next Silicon Valley. Neither is Columbus, Reno, or Denver. Seattle? Nope. D.C.? Not a c

A pair of independent researchers yesterday uncovered a particularly worrisome security vulnerability in Microsoft’s Windows 10. If your PC’s OS was installed with default settings this could affect you. The simple “hack” involves activating Cortana via voice command to open websites on a PC that’s been locked. In the above video, you’ll notice the researcher issues the voice command and then unlocks the PC with their password. The vulnerability doesn’t

Blackberry revealed this week it was suing Facebook over several common pieces of message tech, several of which you use every day. Reuters reported the smartphone company is taking Facebook to court, claiming it holds the patent to specific pieces of common message tech, which Facebook allegedly ripped off. It also says it has negotiated with Facebook over the tech for years. Paul Grewal, Facebook’s deputy general counsel, responded to the lawsuit in a statement: Blackberry’s suit

Duo, Google’s take on Apple’s FaceTime, is getting video messages today in an update. The feature allows users to leave voicemail-style selfie videos for any user who misses or declines a call on Duo. The messages can be 30 seconds in length, and they’ll also automatically disappear after a day, although recipients can download the videos to their camera rolls for posterity.Unlike Google’s Allo, which has struggled to find a purpose in the crowded text-based messaging ma

Meg Murry isn't cool. And she isn't uncool in a secretly-cool way, like how teen girl protagonists from Belle to Katniss to Lady Bird are just too clever, too rebellious, too idiosyncratic, too real for their oppressively humdrum towns. 
She is smart, and she can be brave and kind, but mostly she's just an ordinary sort of adolescent misfit – the kind that wishes more than almost anything that she could be someone else. Someone prettier, maybe, or sweeter or more popular or less angry

Microsoft is revamping Windows 10 S, its version of Windows 10 customized for students, from a standalone operating system to a version of Windows 10. Its new incarnation will be called "S Mode," and will roll out next year. 
SEE ALSO: Download this: Microsoft's new app makes photo transfers much easier
The mode will restrict Windows 10 to only run certain apps from the Microsoft store. These include Office 365, which has a version designed for students and teachers. 
While rumors of S

A new season of A Series of Unfortunate Events is on its way to ruin spring before it starts. Season 2 of the twisted Netflix original sees the Baudelaire orpha ns (Malina Wassman, Louis Hynes, Presley Smith) learning more about their parents and the mysterious organization that still haunts them, as well as fleeing – as ever – from the nefarious Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris).
SEE ALSO: What's coming to Netflix in March
Like Season 1, the new season will span eight episodes and fo