Technology news

Apple’s iPhone replacement batteries won’t have any more extended delays due to limited supply, according to a leaked internal memo the company sent to Apple stores and service providers last month that was seen by MacRumors. Now all Apple stores and service providers can order the replacement batteries and get them without delays from supply constraints, though shipping could still take time.Apple previously said it would be low on supplies of replacement batteries until late March

Just over six months after President Trump announced the creation of a program meant to spur the development of drone trials around the country, the Department of Transportation has announced the first 10 winners. Among those selected, three state transportation agencies, two US cities, and two universities will work with private companies like FedEx and CNN on trials that will see drones used for tasks like package delivery, journalism, healthcare, and more.“This is such an exciting day

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Listening to music is so much more than a distraction when you're alone in public. It can have a profound effect on your state of mind, and it's the reason we're willin

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Listening to music can have a profound effect on your state of mind — which could be part of

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Listening to music is so muc

A couple months ago, some Spotify users noticed a new playlist called Friends Weekly, a curation of songs that your friends on Spotify recently played. It now appears that Spotify is rolling the feature out to a larger group today, although the company confirms to The Verge that it’s still in testing.Image: u/reCAPTCHAmePLZ via Reddit
Today, another user with Friends Weekly shared a different screencap with a separate group dedicated specifically to friends’ Discover Playlists. Alth

Apple will follow the path of Amazon this year and offer customers the ability to subscribe to popular streaming service from its TV app, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Normally, consumers must download and subscribe to services like Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Now, Showtime, and others on an individual basis. But just as Amazon has done with its Prime Video Channel subscriptions, Apple is aiming to centralize those options and have its TV app become the place that iOS and Apple TV own

California has become the first state to require that new homes be built with solar panels. The rules go into place in 2020 and are part of the state’s ambitious efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But these requirements also make it more expensive to build in a state where housing is already extremely expensive.The new building rules approved by the California Energy Commission apply to all residential buildings up to three stories high (including both single-family buildings and co

As someone who recently got a haircut, Google’s presentation yesterday at I/O really resonated with me. Finally, a service that can make phone calls on my behalf and negotiate appointment times with hair salons.
Google’s Duplex technology even uses the word “um” and sometimes misunderstands what people on the phone are talking about. Just like me!
It got me thinking: how close is Google to replacing me altogether?
For instance, Google can already write most of my text me

Ultimate Ears has announced that voice control on Spotify and Spotify Connect is now available on its Blast and Megablast wireless speakers.
The speakers, which have far-field microphones for Amazon Alexa built in, will respond to Spotify commands. Now, you can ask things like, “Alexa, play my Discover Weekly” or “Alexa, play Spotify” to then play anything available on the music service.
The Blast and Megablast speakers have also integrated Spotify Connect, which allows

ZTE is ending “major operating activities,” the company announced today, as its conditions worsen under a US ban on exports to the Chinese phone maker. ZTE says in a filing that it has enough cash to stay afloat while pausing operations for the time being. While the news doesn’t mean ZTE is completely dead, things aren’t looking good for the phone maker.
The company says it’s in talks with the US about how to reverse or modify the Department of Commerce’s Apr

Warning: spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War ahead.“Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe,” Thanos says in the first Avengers: Infinity War trailer. “But this does put a smile on my face.” He isn’t alone. When screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were plotting out the film, they certainly put a lot of thought into how to use humor to balance the story, and to shore up some of the most difficult plot obstacles Infinity W

Google announced today it was going to acquire Israeli cloud migration startup, Velostrata. The companies did not share the purchase price.
Velostratahelps companies migrate from on-premises datacenters to the cloud, a common requirement today as companies try to shift more workloads to the cloud. It’s not always a simple matter though to transfer those legacy applications, and that’s where Velostrata could help Google Cloud customers.
As I wrote in 2014 about their debut, the startu

Popular daily quiz game HQ Trivia is adding a new feature on Friday that might make winning a little bit easier. If you decide to upload your contact list into HQ following Friday’s update, you’ll be able to see which of your friends are playing the same match as you and even what answers they pick mid-game. This new feature builds on a previous social-focused update HQ made back in early April, when the company first launched an in-app friends list and let players compare high scor

Steam is bringing mobile game streaming to Android and iOS with a new Steam Link app which will let gamers stream games off their Mac or PC over the internet to their smartphones. The app is scheduled to launch at the end of the month during the week of May 21st, with Android support initially offered in beta.No LTE streaming (yet)
There are a few caveats — you’ll need to connect your phone to your PC through a 5GHz Wi-Fi network or wired Ethernet connection, so you won’t be a

Lyft is making moves to expand its monthly subscription plans nationwide, announcing a waitlist for riders who are interested in paying a flat monthly fee for discounted ride-hailing trips.Lyft will send out invites to select passengers to join a new waitlist for the next wave of “All-Access Plans” the company is testing, a spokesperson said. Those interested in joining the plan would pay $200 upfront for $15 off 30 rides. So any ride $15 or less is free, and for rides over $15, pas

DJI has a new version of its Phantom 4 Pro drone, fittingly called the Phantom 4 Pro V2.0. The updated model is essentially identical to the original 2016 version, with one big difference: it’s much quieter, with DJI claiming that propeller noise has been reduced by around 60 percent (via PetaPixel).
Also new is a switch to DJI’s OcuSync transmission technology (also used on the Mavic Pro) for live-streaming video, replacing the older Lightbridge system used on the previous model. O

Microsoft is testing a new build of Windows 10 today (17666) that includes some new features that will be available later this year. The biggest addition is a new cloud-powered clipboard that will let Windows 10 users roam their clipboard contents across devices, and presumably eventually to Android and iOS devices. The cloud clipboard includes a history of what has been copied, and it will sync in the same way Sets and Timeline do, so you can copy from one PC and paste on another.Windows 10 cl

Blizzard is currently running a charity event in its multiplayer game Overwatch, and it’s a surprisingly heartwarming effort from the company. The details: As part of the fundraiser, Blizzard is donating a minimum of $250,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). It’s also selling a limited edition skin for Mercy, in-game doctor and popular support character — in which she swaps out her usual angelic palette for the typical pink of the fundraiser and the u

Hulu’s live TV option has been around for a while, and today the company is finally rolling out one of the most requested features: a good, old-fashioned channel guide. The company has actually been testing the guide since last fall for beta users, but now it’s making it official, rolling it out to all Hulu live TV subscribers on the Xbox One, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Nintendo Switch apps, with more devices promised “soon.”
The new guide will let users easily flip b

It’s easy to become enamored with the demos and spectacle of big tech keynotes. Yesterday’s stunning reveal of Google Duplex is a prime example of that. It’s such a leap forward in what we’ve come to expect from consumer-facing AI that people are struggling to believe it’s real. CEO Sundar Pichai said Google is planning to test Duplex in experimental form beginning this summer.But sometimes the most impressive things shown onstage fail to become a product people ca

It’s easy to become enamored with the demos and spectacle of big tech keynotes. Yesterday’s stunning reveal of Google Duplex is a prime example of that. It’s such a leap forward in what we’ve come to expect from consumer-facing AI that people are struggling to believe it’s real. CEO Sundar Pichai said Google is planning to test Duplex in experimental form beginning this summer.But sometimes the most impressive things shown onstage fail to become a product people ca

The more technology advances, the clearer it becomes that our smartphones are no longer about conversing but more about transfers of information. This was evident at Google’s I/O keynote, where the company unveiled that its AI can now make phone calls on your behalf, booking salon appointments or restaurant reservations. The demo was stunning, both because of how human this next-level chatbot sounded and how dystopian the world would be with our robot imposters flooding the phone lines. B

YouTuber Philip DeFranco hasn’t been shy about voicing his problems with the often-changing platform. “I am tired of trying to work with the alcoholic, negligent stepfather that is YouTube,” he said in a video published in April. Now, he’s launched a new app that enables video-to-video communications between both community members and DeFranco himself. DeFranco Now, available for iOS and via desktop, will allow users to tune into DeFranco’s content, as well as answ

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and 32 other Democrats have submitted a new discharge petition under the Congressional Review Act, setting the stage for a full congressional vote to restore net neutrality. Because of the unique CRA process, the petition has the power to force a Senate vote on the resolution, which leaders say is expected next week.
The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to roll back regulations within 60 legislative days of introduction, a process that today’s resolution woul

As wireless phone charging becomes increasingly more ubiquitous, the tech accessories market is becoming flooded with Qi charging pads and stands. While we still haven’t heard anything about Apple’s AirPower charging mat that Tim Cook teased last year, companies like Samsung, Anker, and Mophie have jumped on board with wireless chargers of their own.
Last year, The Verge reviewed over a dozen wireless chargers and settled on the RavPower FastCharge as the best wireless charging pad

Here’s the most disgusting thing that has ever happened to me in New York: I was at a fancy bar in SoHo, wearing brand-new clothes when I sat on a puddle of white puke. I have no idea how a regurgitated white Russian ended up on that leather couch. What I do know is that the vomit seeped through all the layers of fancy clothing I had on — including my underwear. I ran to the restroom and almost threw up myself.
Now, any time I come across a pool of vomit, I stop breathing and run aw

Netgear has made a new mesh Wi-Fi router that can also replace your cable modem.If you’re sick of having extra devices around the house, Netgear’s latest Orbi router is a 2-in-1 device, with a built-in cable modem and a router that offers Wi-Fi coverage of up to 4,000 square feet. If you need bigger coverage for your property, you can also add additional Orbi routers to your setup, which will give you another 2,000 square feet per satellite.
Netgear says the new system’s cable

In February 2016, Kanye West released his album Life of Pablo exclusively for six weeks on the music streaming service, Tidal. 10 days after the album was released, Tidal announced it had been streamed more than 250 million times. Some months later, Beyoncé also exclusively released her album, Lemonade, on Tidal. 15 days after the release, Tidal announced the album had been streamed over 300 million times. However, at the time, Tidal had just approximately three million users, meaning if

It came as a total surprise: the most impressive demonstration at Google’s I/O conference yesterday was a phone call to book a haircut. Of course, this phone call was different. It wasn’t made by a human, but by the Google Assistant, which did an uncannily good job of asking the right questions, pausing in the right places, and even throwing in the odd “mmhmm” for realism.The crowd was shocked, but the most impressive thing about the call was that the person on the other

Google announced a bunch of updates for its Assistant yesterday at I/O, including new ways to interact with Assistant and new voices. The announcements will likely improve the experience of using Assistant, but how do the features stack up against Amazon’s Alexa? We break down each of Google’s Assistant-related announcements from yesterday and how they compare to what Alexa can already do.
Device count and availability
Google says that it’ll support more than 30 languages and