Technology news

Royole today announced the launch of its RoWrite Smart Writing Pad to North American consumers. The device, perhaps a bit of a solution looking for a problem, lets you combine the experience of using a pen on paper with the reality that all of our information is on our phones now. The RoWrite is a digital notepad that allows you to use a special ink pen to write on actual paper. Everything you write is transmitted, in real-time, to an app, available on iOS and Android. You can change brushes an

Microsoft and Google are jointly disclosing a new CPU security vulnerability that’s similar to the Meltdown and Spectre flaws that were revealed earlier this year. Labelled Speculative Store Bypass (variant 4), the latest vulnerability is a similar exploit to Spectre and exploits speculative execution that modern CPUs use. Browsers like Safari, Edge, and Chrome were all patched for Meltdown earlier this year, and Intel says “these mitigations are also applicable to variant 4 and ava

Adobeannounced today that it was acquiring Magento for $1.68 billion. The purchase gives Adobe a missing e-commerce platform piece that works in B2B and B2C contexts and should fit nicely in the company’s Experience Cloud.
It should also help Adobe compete with Salesforce, which offers its own marketing, sales and service offerings in the cloud and which bought Demandware for more than $2 billion in 2016 to provide a similar set of functionality.
Brent Leary, who owns CRM Essentials a

I know a lot of people love Google Photos, but sometimes you realize that the service is missing some elementary stuff. For example, there hasn’t been a Favorites feature until now. Google has announced that, over the next week, it’s rolling out that functionality. You’ll be able to tap a star at the upper right of any photo in your library, and it’ll automatically show up in Favorites.A Favorites album is created as soon as you begin starring images. And that’s pr

How bad is the situation with Android emoji, despite Google’s attempts at an overhaul? So bad, in fact, that Twitter is updating its Android app with custom emoji because most Android phones are never on the same (or latest) software release, so users often aren’t seeing the same icons.The problem gets even worse when iOS users publish tweets with emoji that Android users don’t have (resulting in those boxes seen in the “before and after” shot). It’s actually

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the final details of the dual-motor, all-wheel drive version of the Model 3 over the weekend, including a top-of-the-line variant that is more expensive than a base-level Model S or X. While we’ve known for a long time that these were coming, this is the most clarity Tesla’s offered yet about specs, pricing, and options.Taken one way, it’s a sign Tesla is working through the early production struggles of the Model 3 and is ready to start offering

If you can barely stop playing Epic Games’ ridiculously successful Fortnite long enough to read this sentence, you might be interested to know the company will soon offer the biggest prize pool in esports history. According to a company blog post: In the 2018 – 2019 season, Epic Games will provide $100,000,000 to fund prize pools for Fortnite competitions. We’re getting behind competitive play in a big way, but our approach will be different – we plan to be more inclusiv

A kid playing with the new Lego City set about Arctic exploration might think that scientists excavate mammoths and saber-toothed cats out of ice cubes using enormous saws, ice crawling machines with huge claws, and four propeller choppers. The reality, unfortunately, is not nearly as sci-fi, according to experts.
“The real version is a lot dirtier, murkier, a lot more kind of like a home-improvement kit you got out of the back door to get the job done,” says Victoria Herridge, a pa

If you use tape to hang up a drawing, it’s tricky to later get that tape off without ruining the image. When the drawing in question is centuries old, the stakes are far higher. But researchers have figured out how to fix this problem, and their tape-removal method has already revealed secrets from a 16th century drawing. This innovation is just one technological advance that’s helping us learn about the past, from confirming a cause of death to reading thousand-year-old manuscripts

Last year during SXSW, the CIA revealed it designs elaborate tabletop games to train and test its employees and analysts. After receiving a Freedom of Information Act request, the CIA sent out censored information on three different games it uses with trainees — and thanks to Diegetic Games, an adapted version of one of them will soon be available to the public.
CIA: Collect it All is based off a card game described in the documents as “Collection Deck,” which was designed by

Two new all wheel drive (AWD) versions of the Tesla Model 3 will go on sale next month. Both models are pricier by far than the current Model 3, but they have an extra motor. And, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the Performance edition will gobble up a BMW M3 on the track. Wasn’t Musk, just a few weeks ago, sleeping on the Tesla factory floor, replacing robots with humans, and contending with an angry board? Now the eccentric CEO is on Twitter announcing new models and tossing shade at

Sonos has just announced new speaker sets that offer a bit of a discount if you are looking to deck out your entire house with the company’s products. While Sonos has offered limited-time bundle discounts in the past, those were largely limited to its Play:1 and Sonos One speakers. These new sets include the entire product lineup.
There are 13 sets in total, with various combos of the Sonos One, Play:5, Playbase, Playbar, and Pro-Ject Essential III Phono turntable. Speaker sets start at $

Apple has dropped the price of its USB-C to Lightning cable by $6 to $19; it previously sold for $25. The price cut comes amid rumors that this year’s iPhones could include a USB-C to Lightning cable in the box and finally move on from the old USB-A cable. Currently, the USB-A to Lightning cable also costs $19. There’s also a rumor that Apple could introduce a new 18W USB-C Power Adapter that could fit into smaller areas compared to the current 29W adapter, as 9to5Mac reports.
Apple

Epic Games announced today that it will provide $100 million in prize pool money for Fortnite competitions in the first year of competitive play, an eye-popping figure that puts the game at the upper echelon of e-sports with regard to monetary prizes. Official Fortnite competitions are slated to start some time later this year, though little else is known about what shape these tournaments will take.“In the 2018 — 2019 season, Epic Games will provide $100,000,000 to fund prize pools

There’s nothing quite like opening a Reddit thread and finding yourself swept away in tale of international intrigue, government denials, and explosive cover-ups. But this window into the life of an average AC repair person in The Czech Republic has it all. Maybe. The mystery began when a person on Reddit posted the following image and accompanying text: Backstory: I am doing some air-condition maintenance in an small business office building. No one was in that server room for more than

There’s nothing quite like opening a Reddit thread and finding yourself swept away in tale of international intrigue, government denials, and explosive cover-ups. But this window into the life of an average AC repair person in The Czech Republic has it all. Maybe. The mystery began when a person on Reddit posted the following image and accompanying text: Backstory: I am doing some air-condition maintenance in an small business office building. No one was in that server room for more than

President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama will begin producing content for Netflix under their company Higher Ground Productions. According to Netflix, the two will create “a diverse mix of content, including the potential for scripted series, unscripted series, docuseries, documentaries, and features.”
Rumors about a possible Obama-Netflix partnership have been circulating since March. In a prepared statement, President Obama says he and Michelle are partnering wi

China’s biggest streaming service iQIYI announced today that it’s launched a physical movie theater. The theater will be called Yuke theater and will open in Zhongshan, Guangdong. It’s the first of a chain of brick-and-mortar theaters that iQIYI has planned in major Chinese cities. The theaters will have Dolby audio and show films from iQIYI’s online movie collection.
iQIYI’s senior vice president, Yang Xianghua, said in a statement sent to The Verge that the move

Microsoft overhauled its SharePoint software two years ago to better compete with Dropbox, Slack, and Box, and it’s going a step further today by bringing its business-focused software to its Mixed Reality headsets. SharePoint is primarily used by businesses to organize documents, build intranet sites, and manage content internally. 400,000 organizations use SharePoint, but it’s not the software you’d most expect to arrive on virtual reality headsets.
SharePoint spaces is desi

Fanta is my favorite soft drink. The original, I mean. I can’t get enough of that sweet, sweet orange nectar. It’s like crack to me — if crack was invented in Nazi Germany and chugged by the Wehrmacht like lager. I’m less keen on the weird not-orange flavors though. Peach Fanta tastes a bit like mouthwash, and I’m pretty sure that Fruit Punch Fanta is repurposed industrial slurry that would otherwise be pumped directly into the Hudson River. I’m not a fan. Th

The Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence now offers a free six-part online course, The Elements of AI, available to anyone. The course was developed through a collaboration between the University of Helsinki and Reaktor, a tech strategy company I like free stuff: Especially when there’s no catch. Sign up is quick and simple, and there’s no application process. Completion of the course will earn you a LinkedIn certificate and, if you’re enrolled in a Finnish universi

LG has been making a midrange Android phone lineup for some time now, but now it’s being refreshed with today’s announcement of the Q7 series.There are a few additions to the Q7 phones that are not only noteworthy but unusual on anything but a flagship phone, like its 5.5-inch FHD+ full-screen display with an 18:9 aspect ratio (2160 x 1080 / 442ppi).
The Q7 family consists of the Q7a, Q7, and Q7+, with a 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage standard on the first two. The latter is upgraded t

The music industry is at a turning point, with artists demanding more money and power. The problem? There are so many ways to accomplish these goals, to the point where no one quite knows which form it will take. This leaves us with questions about the future of the industry. How will we purchase, listen to, and support music made by artists? How do we give them the power they demand, while ensuring that consumers are also getting what they want? At TNW Conference this week, our Music Summit tr

Hopefully you’re a fan of Alexa because Acer is planning to roll out Amazon’s virtual assistant across its PC lineup. The first systems with built-in Alexa include the Aspire 5, Nitro 5 Spin, Spin 5 (both 13-inch and 15-inch versions), Spin 3, and the Switch 7 “Black Edition.”
With this first group of systems, Acer is essentially blanketing the feature across the types of PCs it makes, including gaming, tablet convertibles, ultrabooks, and thin-and-light models. Image: A

LG’s latest flagship, the G7 ThinQ, will be available for preorder at T-Mobile starting this Friday at 8AM ET. T-Mobile is also offering the phone in an exclusive raspberry rose color.
The G7 ThinQ will cost $750, or $30 down and $30 a month on an installment plan. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S9 only costs $720 at T-Mobile. The phone is coming to all brick-and-mortar T-Mobile stores on June 1st.
Sprint and Verizon don’t have pricing information available yet, and AT&T wil

After introducing Stories in 2013, Snapchat’s most prominent feature has really come into its own in the past two years. In 2016, Facebook poked the proverbial bear by making off with Snapchat’s signature feature. Drawing the ire of the internet in the process, it didn’t take long to expand into other Facebook-owned properties, like Instagram and Whatsapp. Now, some 14 months later, Stories has really become a force in the ever-shifting social media landscape. Unfortunately fo

Huawei’s Matebook Pro X is finally bringing its tiny bezels and wild, pop-up keyboard webcam to the US today, for either $1,199.99 for the base model or $1,499.99 for the more powerful configuration.On paper, those are some seriously good prices for the hardware Huawei is offering in the Matebook Pro X. Both models offer the same 13.9-inch, 3000 x 2000 touchscreen display that Huawei claims offers a 91 percent screen-to-body ratio. Port-wise, there’s a USB-C port, a Thunderbolt 3 po

The president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, has announced that his meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tomorrow is no longer behind closed doors and will be live-streamed. Tajani made the announcement in a tweet that Zuckerberg has accepted his new request for the public meeting, which is expected to also include the leaders of Parliament’s political groups and some parliament members (MEPs). The meeting was previously a private one, but according to Politico, criticis

UNICEF may be using cryptocurrencies to crowd-fund children in Bangladesh, but Roger Ver has found a better utility for them. Ver is asking his twitter followers to send Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to a HK stock exchange official in order to get him to promote the cryptocurrency to his nine million Weibo followers. Ver was meeting with Shusong Ba, Chief China Economist at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE), when he tweeted a picture of them together, along with Ba’s BCH address. “I’m

Each year, Brits buy 1.5 million puppies, with much of the trade happening online. For obvious reasons, this can be a difficult and risky process, not least for the dogs involved. While there are some reputable breeders, there are also far too many unscrupulous puppy farmers. These high-volume breeders care only about their bottom line, and not the health of the dog. It can often be difficult distinguishing between the two categories of rearers. One service trying to fix the online dog market i

Facebook has now enlisted Qualcomm to provide the tech for its gigabit Wi-Fi project that is meant to make sending data through routers more efficient and increase internet speeds. It’s called the Terragraph Project and it’s been in the works since Facebook first announced it at the company’s 2016 annual developer conference, describing the project as a “multi-node wireless system focused on bringing high-speed internet connectivity to dense urban areas.”
New Qualc

A lite version of the Samsung Galaxy S8 has been rumored for some time now, and the new device has officially been launched in China, as spotted by SamMobile. Instead of being known simply as the Galaxy S8 Lite, Samsung has opted for a mouthful of “Galaxy S Light Luxury.” The new phone is a trimmed down version of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S8 device specs wise, but still retains the same design, physical Bixby button, and awkwardly positioned fingerprint scanner.The 5.8-inch &

The Dutch police recently located and shut down the servers of Anon-IB, a message board notorious for revenge porn, i.e. nude photos that have been obtained and reshared without the owner’s consent. In 2011 nude photos of Emma Holten, a Danish feminist activist, were hacked from her email account and posted online, including on Anon-IB. She later received international attention for how she chose to handle the situation, by publishing a nude photoshoot of herself, in an effort to emphasiz

Over a year since its launch, Capcom’s horror FPS Resident Evil 7 is finally coming to the Nintendo Switch. The bad news is that it’ll only be available in Japan when it’s released this week – and that you’ll need a constant internet connection to play it. That’s because the game will be streamed to your device instead of being installed and run off the Switch. A 45MB installer will get you started, but after that, every pixel on your screen will be beamed fr

Thousands of parental and child accounts on TeenSafe, a teen device-monitoring app, have had their information compromised, according to a report by ZDNet. At least one of the app’s servers, which are hosted by Amazon’s cloud service, was accessible by anyone without a password, giving them entry to highly personal data including Apple IDs. The data, including passwords and user IDs, were reportedly stored in plaintext, even though TeenSafe claims on its website it uses encryption t

As many tech companies scramble to become more diverse and inclusive, unequal pay has been found to be the top factor impacting inequality in the workplace. To fix this problem, some companies have made the bold move of going transparent with employee salaries. However, this brings with it a whole new range of problems, and for many tech companies, it can seem like more trouble than it’s worth. Social media management company Buffer is leading the charge in this realm and believ

Microsoft is acquiring conversational AI startup Semantic Machines in an effort to make bots and intelligent assistants like Cortana sound and respond more like humans. Founded in 2014, Semantic Machines uses machine learning to make bots respond in a more natural way to queries. Semantic Machines is led by UC Berkeley professor Dan Klein and former Apple chief speech scientist Larry Gillick. Both are considered pioneers in conversational AI.
Microsoft’s acquisition will boost the company