Technology news

Working in tech, it’s hard to avoid the many stories and congratulatory tweets about the latest company to close a funding round, and little wonder. It’s a milestone worth celebrating before getting back to work. Yet what’s happening in the trenches before those funding announcements roll out is often more instructive. How does one decide to make the leap in the first place? How do you mold a product or service into something that you can present to outsiders? How can you enlis

Food rocks. Whether we're eating it, Instagramming it, or just drooling over a recipe video, if it's yummy, we're into it.
SEE ALSO: Your ultimate guide to the Instant Pot
There are plenty of food-themed subscription boxes out there. Some are useful for planning out your meals, while others are great for trying new foods and snacks. 
These are the food-themed subscription boxes we're loving right now: Read more...
best for beginning chefs
Image: Home ChefThe Good
Choose your order from a we

The Red Magic is the new phone from Nubia (a ZTE sub-brand in China), and it’s built for gaming. But you probably didn’t need me to tell you that. The Red Magic is practically screaming “extreme gamer,” with its sharp, hexagonal cutouts for the camera and fingerprint sensor, aggressively red vents and details, and the glowing LED strip on the back, via Liliputing.Oddly, the specs on the Red Magic aren’t actually quite in line with what you’d expect from a mob

Avengers: Infinity Wars is nearly upon us, signaling both the death of a bunch of beloved superheroes, probably, and a marketing cycle that thirsts for the blood of every possible cash cow. Today’s sacrifice comes to us via Build-a-Bear, which has announced a new series of Marvel-themed nightmares. For the children, of course.Teenage Groot Bear features the curious combination of a Groot body, a bear’s face, and a man’s eyes. This cuddly cursed image, which definitely does not

Google’s in-house incubator Area 120 just released an app called Grasshopper, which teaches you how to code JavaScript through a series of fun mini-games, as reported by 9to5Google. The goal, according to the coders who worked on the app, is to make coding feel fun and approachable as it increasingly is becoming a necessary skill.
The app works with bite-sized puzzles and quizzes, so you can breeze through a couple lessons each day when you have some spare time. You log in with your Googl

Netflix is reportedly considering a more drastic plan to get its movies on the big screen: buying theaters. The streaming service was in talks to acquire Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theaters chain but backed out due to the cost, according to a new report from the Los Angeles Times. A source at Variety claims that Netflix isn’t interested in Landmark specifically, but has considered acquiring theatrical space.
Although the two sources who spoke to the Times say that Netflix ultimately kill

Facebook isn’t the only one in the hot seat over data privacy. A flaw in LinkedIn’sAutoFill plugin that websites use to let you quickly complete forms could have allowed hackers to steal your full name, phone number, email address, ZIP code, company and job title. Malicious sites have been able to invisibly render the plugin on their entire page so if users who are logged into LinkedIn click anywhere, they’d effectively be hitting a hidden “AutoFill with LinkedIn” b

Squarehas acquired elements of corporate catering startup Zesty . Square, which already owns on-demand food delivery service Caviar,plans to use Zesty’s assets to strengthen Caviar’s corporate ordering business, Caviar for Teams.
Neither company disclosed financial terms of the deal, but the plan is for Caviar and Zesty to operate independently in the short term.
“Restaurants turn to Caviar to reach more diners and grow their businesses,” Square Caviar Lead Gokul Rajaram

TechCrunch’s top goal at Disrupt SF (September 5-7) is to help early-stage founders get lots of attention, which is why every year we introduce more and better ways to make that happen. This year we’re adding TC Top Picks, a new program that will provide 60 top founders the opportunity to exhibit free of charge for one day in Startup Alley and three free Founder Passes for all three days of the show, including access to CrunchMatch, TechCrunch’s founder-investor matching s

Blockchain technology is set to have a profound impact on a wide variety of industries, ranging from capital markets to the music business. While some use cases may seem obvious, the technology is still surrounded by its fair share of hype and uncertainty. As a manager, how should you approach the subject, and when should you put your money where your mouth is and actively aim to implement blockchain technology?
According to Juniper Research, six of 10 large corporations are

To secure U.S. election systems from the very real threat of targeted cyberattacks, states might need to reframe their security practices to look more like they would in a tightly controlled corporate environment.
To that end, Centrify,an enterprise cloud-based identity management company, is extending its security offerings to help states cover their bases as part of a “Secure the Vote” initiative. The company is encouraging state and local election boards to employ its services for

As the messaging app Telegramcontinues to try to evade Russian authorities by switching up its IP addresses, Russia’s regulator Roskomnadzor (RKN) has continued its game of whack-a-mole to try to lock it down by knocking out complete swathes of IP address. The resulting chase how now ballooned to nearly 19 million IP addresses at the time of writing, as tracked by unofficial RKN observer RKNSHOWTIME (updated on a Telegram channel with stats accessible on the web via Phil Kulin’s site

In the most 2018 thing of the year so far, Reuters and The New York Times are both reporting that Cambridge Analytica was talking to crytpocurrency experts in preparation for the launch of its own initial coin offering. Of course, things may have gotten a bit off-track when the company was revealed to have obtained the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. Life, as they say, comes at you fast.According to Reuters sources, the embattled firm was looking to issue its own digital currency i

The AI-assisted face-swapping technology known as deepfakes has not gone unnoticed by Hollywood, and now union SAG-AFTRA is working to “fight back” by opening up new legislative avenues. A spokesperson told Deadline that the union “has undertaken an exhaustive review of our collective bargaining options and legislative options to combat any and all uses of digital re-creations.”
Deepfakes first gained notoriety last December. As the community rapidly expanded, so did the

Reddit,one of the internet’s largest hubs for both traffic and controversy, announced today that it has hired former Time Inc. President of Digital Jen Wong to take on the role of COO.
She will be tasked with managing Reddit’s business strategy, working out of the company’s New York office. Wong left Time Inc. earlier this year when the company was acquired by Meredith Corp for $1.84 billion.
In a blog post, the company detailed the scope of her role as COO. A major focus will

As marijuana goes mainstream, people are rethinking the term, claiming we should ditch “marijuana” because it’s racist, and instead, say “cannabis.” Individuals should say what they like, but this rule is too simplistic for such a complex drug. We should develop more, not fewer, words for what we need to say.
It makes sense that some want to avoid the “m-word.” Marijuana has always had a unique place in American history and politics, according to schola

If you’ve worked through the amazing selection of games provided by the NES and SNES Classic Editions, you may be in luck: SNK, the legendary arcade game creator behind the likes of Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown, is teasing what looks like its own tiny arcade cabinet.
Teased as part of the company’s 40th anniversary, the shrouded gadget definitely doesn’t look like a NEO-GEO, or even a NEO-GEO Pocket. Gizmodo notes that the description mentions a “new game machine,&rdquo

NASA has a full-time administrator at last. Today, the Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee, Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), for the job, voting 50 to 49 along party lines. The vote finally brings to an end the longest period the space agency has gone without a permanent leader.
It was a close call for Bridenstine on the Senate floor today. With Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) absent, the vote came down to Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who has been away from the Senate after recently hav

A class-action lawsuit led by a number of Lyftdrivers against Uber regarding the alleged “Hell” spying program is moving forward in an amended way. The lawsuit, brought by Lyft driver Michael Gonzales on behalf of other Lyft drivers, alleges Uberwrongfully intercepted the communications and whereabouts of Lyft drivers, and resulted in the loss of revenue.
Uber reportedly used Hell to track Lyft drivers to see how many were available to give rides and what their prices were.

Ahead of Earth Day, Apple has debuted a new robot named Daisy that can take apart iPhones in order to recover valuable materials inside, as reported by TechCrunch.
The robot is a successor to Liam, another recycling robot made by Apple that was revealed in 2016. In fact, Daisy was created with some of Liam’s old parts, making it a recycled robot that helps recycle iPhones. Daisy is capable of taking apart nine different versions of the iPhone, and it can disassemble up to 200 iPhones an h

The latest version of Google Chrome, version number 66, quietly added support for Oculus’ Rift headset, meaning you can now use the high-end VR device to browse the web in VR and make use of compatible WebVR applications. Rift support was first picked up by keen Reddit users on the Oculus subreddit this week, some of whom noticed the new feature in the hidden “Experiments” section of Chrome. Variety later reported on the existence of the feature, and The Verge can confirm that

Around 3PM ET on April 17th, Switter — a social media space for sex workers — went offline. Its disappearance, however temporary, indicated the FOSTA-driven loss of yet another haven for sex workers, this time in the form of content distribution network Cloudflare. According to Switter founder Assembly Four, the company received an email from Cloudflare’s legal department indicating that it would be terminating its service due to terms of service violations.Historically, Cloud

Google is in discussions with brands about creating how-to videos for Google Assistant, according to CNBC. The step-by-step videos will be a new feature showcased at I/O 2018 in May, the report claims, and will launch to consumers “several months later.” Several companies including Sony, JBL, and Lenovo have announced devices featuring displays that will allow visual answers from Google’s voice assistant; they look very similar to Amazon’s Echo Show and are meant to comp

Cheddarisn’t done making deals with the over-the-top streaming TV providers. Only yesterday, news came out that Cheddar was the first digital-only network to launch a channel on YouTube’s streaming TV service, YouTube TV. Today, the company is announcing a similar deal with Hulu, which will bring its programming to Hulu’s href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/09/hulu-17m-subscribers/"> more than 17 million subscribers.
The new distribution agreement will see Hulu adding

Meet Daisy. Apple’s latest recycling robot was revealed, not coincidentally, a few days before Earth Day, in a press announcement summing up the company’s recent environmental accomplishments. The new ‘bot is an update to Liam, the recycling robot the company announced back in 2016.Daisy was developed in-house by Apple engineers, using some of Liam’s parts — a recycling of sorts. The industrial robot is able to disassemble nine different versions of the iPhone, sort

Verizon has announced that, starting today, its parental controls product, FamilyBase, will be upgraded and renamed. The new parenting controls app, called Verizon Smart Family, will allow parents to manage aspects of their kids’ smartphones like content filters and screen time limits.
Up to 10 family members can use the app, which provides a variety of ways for parents to monitor how kids are using their phones. Content filters let you block objectionable websites and content in categori

Amazon is making it possible for almost anyone to make their own Alexa skills with its new Alexa Skill Blueprints program. That means it’s now easier than ever to get Alexa to say whatever you want.Sure, third-party Alexa skills have been around for years, but actually writing one still meant that you had to have a fairly good understanding of computer coding. And that’s a lot of effort to ask of people simply to get Alexa to roast their family members. I’m not saying it would

We're just gonna say it: Creating strong, complex passwords — and then actually remembering what those passwords are — has become a huge pain in the behind. The well-known advice is that you shouldn't use the same password for everything because it's not safe, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying as you’re mentally shifting through every password and password variation you’ve ever created as you try to log into a bank account or online shop.
This warning is de

If anything defines the Gothic genre, it’s the secrets. Dark, forbidding castles and bleak, windswept moors certainly have their place in the canon, and so do threats of death and hints of the supernatural. But it’s certainly possible to tell an effective, chilling Gothic story in broad daylight if there are enough secrets that suggest darkness and danger. Sergio G. Sánchez’s Gothic horror movie Marrowbone is perfect proof. The story, about four siblings trapped in a de

You might have noticed a problem when you try to use your smartphone to navigate a big city: your GPS location is usually super inaccurate. Sometimes it's only by a few feet, but if you’re in a particularly dense part of the city where satellite signals are blocked by high-rise buildings, the discrepancy can be orders of magnitude greater. For most people, it’s just one of the many modern-day nuisances of urban life. But for companies that rely on two people with smartphones finding

Zink is a printing technology that makes me worried about the future of our species.
My dad used to work at a print company. Truck-sized printing presses were a hassle to set up, maintain, and clean. To print a photo, you had to use multiple plates, one for each color. It was expensive and messy, but the prints were beautiful.
After high school, I moved to California, where I worked in digital printing — glorified photocopiers, basically. Digital printing made it possible to do shorter pr

Since the quaint, pastoral days of catfishing, intellectual property theft and profit-piggybacking on the internet has always been difficult to track, and it’s only getting harder. Online scams are a part of life now, not to mention excellent podcast fodder. Maybe you’ve swiped through some stolen profile pictures on Tinder, or maybe you follow a particular stolen-tweet Twitter account that just won an award for meme creation. It feels like it comes with the territory. But every now

What is the future of robotics and automation in the home? Over the last few years, the most obvious trend has been for virtual assistants like Alexa to link together smart devices through voice commands. But Colin Angle, the CEO and co-founder of Roomba creator iRobot, has other ideas.In an interview with The Verge, Angle says he believes the smart home of the future should itself be an “inside-out robot,” with sensors and mechanical controls for things like heating and lighting. A

Amazon Studios has picked up Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s adaptation of Utopia, an adaptation of the cult TV show from the UK’s Channel 4. Variety reports that the studio has ordered a nine-episode first season in a direct-to-series order, and it has signed Flynn to an overall deal for additional projects.
The two-season show, which originally aired from 2013–2014, garnered critical acclaim and a devoted fan base before its abrupt cancellation. It follows a group of people

Eventbritehas been shopping again in Europe — announcing today that it’s picked up Spanish ticketing firm, Ticketea. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
The Madrid-based events discovery and ticketing platform lets people find and book tickets for a variety of live experiences — including festivals, concerts and performing arts shows. It focuses on Spanish speaking countries and small and mid-sized event organizers.
Eventbrite said the acquisition will help expand i

If audiences think about sound design in films at all, it’s usually in the context of dramatic effects: the zruuuuum of a lightsaber, or the noises the dragons in Game of Thrones make. But sound serves an altogether different function in John Krasinski’s directorial debut A Quiet Place. A potent thriller about a family trying to survive an onslaught of monsters with hyper-sensitive hearing, the film deviates sharply from the bigger, better, louder formulas used in most movies, and i

eBay is updating its Android and iOS apps to streamline the listing process by letting sellers scan the barcode of an item, according to Engadget. While eBay has supported scanning barcodes for some time, it was aimed at buyers who wanted to comparison shop. This new function is now targeted to sellers to help autofill some listing information when a product’s barcode is scanned.
If you have the box for what you intend to sell, you’ll be able to scan the barcode and then mark the co

Nest announced the Power Project today, an initiative that the company says is meant to raise awareness about the burden that utilities like energy can place on low-income families. The average US household spends 3.5 percent of income on energy, but one in five families spends 20 percent or more on their bill, and that can lead to a real struggle and hard decisions when budgeting.“We’re committed to installing one million energy- and money-saving thermostats in homes that need them

Netflix is releasing a new feature today called mobile previews, which is essentially a version of stories on apps like Instagram and Snapchat that shows you previews of shows and movies on the subscription service.
The 30-second mobile videos are trailers, and they play vertically, so you don’t have to flip your phone to watch them.The previews are located at the top of the screen when you launch the app, and they appear as circles you tap on to start the preview. Netflix describes these

The final Deadpool 2 trailer dropped this morning, about a month ahead of the movie’s premiere. As with past trailers, this one shows off a decent amount of Josh Brolin’s Cable, who’s joining the series as the newest evil villain, and X-Force, Deadpool’s group of mutant superheroes.In classic Deadpool style, the sequel looks like it’ll feature a lot of slapstick violence, explosions, flying motorcycles, kicks to the face, and goofy one-liners, like Deadpool’s