Technology news

If you’ve read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — which I generally assume is most of the global population — you’re probably familiar with the Elder Wand, a powerful wand wielded by both Dumbledore and the dark wizard Voldemort over the course of the series.The CELLder Wand is not the Elder Wand. Where one is a fictional, legendary magical artifact of ultimate power, the CELLder wand is a Kickstarter campaign for a possibly fictional hunk of plastic that surrounds a

BitTorrent, an early mover (and currently the largest player) in decentralised computing architecture to distribute and store data, is being sold for $140 million in cash to Justin Sun and his blockchain media startup Tron, according to multiple sources close to the deal, who spoke to TechCrunch.
Variety earlier this week reported that a sale of the company to Sun closed last week, without naming a price, following rumors that circulated for at least a month that the two were in negotiation

Newspaper publisher and ostensible online media company Tronc has acknowledged how silly its name is and will be changing it back to Tribune Publishing, according to a report from the New York Post. The name change took place back in 2016 as part of a broad rebranding of the Chicago-based business, which at the time was grappling with its outdated business model, lackluster public image, and its inability to adapt to a media landscape increasingly less dependent on traditional newspaper publish

After facing criticism for working with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Microsoft said in a statement today that the company was “dismayed” by the Trump administration’s policy of separating families, but it did not address its work with the agency directly.Company did not address its work with ICE
Social media users recently turned up a January blog post, in which Microsoft discussed working with ICE on government cloud services. The company declined to answer q

“Asset flipping” is a contentious term for video game fans, who often use it to refer to bad games that are cobbled together using pre-made assets. On Steam, asset flipping has been a genuine problem in the past due to a lack of safety measures for preventing garbage from getting on the storefront. But the discussion around asset flipping has apparently given people the wrong idea of how games are made, judging by a recent controversy with the gritty battle royale game PlayerUnknown

Google plans to release a patch sometime in the next few weeks to fix a bug in its Home smart speaker and Chromecast TV streaming stick that lets a website collect precise user location data, according to a report from security reporter Brian Krebs. The bug, disclosed by researcher Craig Young at security firm Tripwire, works by exploiting a loophole in Google’s systems to cross-check a list of nearby wireless networks with Google’s precise geolocation look-up services.Essentially,

Over the weekend, the Carters — Jay Z and Beyoncé — released EVERYTHING IS LOVE, a joint album. It debuted with no warning, as is their custom, exclusively on Tidal, the artist-owned streaming service launched by Jay that has in recent months been accused of inflating its number of streams and subscribers. On “NICE,” a track featuring the rap auteur Pharrell Williams, Beyoncé takes a shot at Spotify: “Patiently waiting for my demise / ‘Cause my

Google is beginning to roll out desktop browser support for Android Messages, allowing people to use their PC for sending messages and viewing those that have been received on their Android smartphone. Google says the feature is starting to go out to users today and continuing for the rest of the week. Text, images, and stickers are all supported on the web version.To get started, the Android Messages website has you scan a QR code using the Android Messages mobile app, which creates a link bet

“Gaming disorder” should be considered a mental health disorder, according to the latest edition of the World Health Organization’s diagnostic handbook. But there’s reason to be skeptical: there’s no medical consensus and many researchers still aren’t convinced this disorder exists.The WHO added the disorder to the 11th edition of its International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD), which is used to classify health conditions. (It’s similar t

The Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) now accepts donations in multiple cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin, and zcash.
To mark its first major cryptocurrency gift, on Monday, the nonprofit accepted a 1,000-ether donation from Mainframe, a decentralized network for censorship resistance. Mainframe is known for its antics back in March, when it avoided regulatory scrutiny over initial coin offerings by giving away its new coin for free at a party.
The foundatio

Spoilers ahead for season 2 of Luke Cage.
Netflix’s MCU shows haven’t had much luck with second seasons. Jessica Jones season 2 never found its center, while Daredevil season 2 started strong, then devolved into nonsensical battles against endless streams of ninjas. Luke Cage seems to have finally broken the streak. While season 2 is far from perfect, it not only avoids the sophomore slump, it surpasses season 1 through a relentless focus on how both its heroes and villains are defi

Two of the co-founders of the art filter app Prisma have left to build a new social app.
Prisma,as you may recall, had a viral moment back in 2016 when selfie takers went crazy for the fine art spin the app’s AI put on photos — in just a few seconds of processing.
Downloads leapt, art selfies flooded Instagram, and similar arty effects soon found their way into all sorts of rival apps and platforms. Then, after dipping a toe into social waters with the launch of a feed of i

YouTube Music and YouTube Premium have officially launched today in 17 countries. As of today, both services are available to all in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Korea, Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. YouTube Music began a soft rollout to some users late last month, but now anyone can try it.YouTube Music is the company’s new, all-encompassing music streaming service, and it comes with both

President Donald Trump directed the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the Armed Forces in a meeting with the National Space Council today.“We are going to have the Air Force and we’re going to have the Space Force, separate but equal. It is going to be something, so important,” President Trump said.The announcement came as a surprise in a meeting where the newly revived National Space Council was set to unveil the first co

In today’s digital age, it can sometimes feel like hardware has taken a back seat to the software that drives devices. Button of the Month is a new column that will look at some of these buttons and switches on devices both old and new to appreciate how we interact with our devices on a physical, tactile level.
The Logitech Craft keyboard has many buttons — it’s a keyboard, so, duh — but what makes it special is the giant, oversized dial in the top left-hand corner. Logi

The Silk Road has been defunct for nearly five years after Ross Ulbricht, who founded the dark web staple, was apprehended, arrested, and given a life prison sentence without parole. Now, the US courts have caught up with Roger Clark, Ulbricht’s alleged mentor, adviser, and confidant in all things related to the dark web marketplace. This past Friday, the US Attorney’s office announced Clark’s extradition to the United States to face newly unsealed charges for his role in Silk

Fortnite’s defining feature is that it lets you build structures, but the creators have no control over what you do with that power. Players love to forge words, buildings, statues — just about everything under the sun. Recently, some Fortnite players were messing around with the building ability and were surprised to find the game displayed a swastika in the middle of their creation.
Making anything in Fortnite requires materials such as wood and stone. In a recent Fortnite squad m

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Apple’s appeal in an antitrust lawsuit over the App Store’s structure and fees. Reuters reported the news this morning, and it marks a major step for the case, which has been running since 2011. Bloomberg writes that the court will hear arguments within a nine-month window that starts in October.
The case, Apple vs. Pepper, argues that Apple’s App Store monopolizes the distribution of iOS apps — since the store is the only officially

Now that the dust has settled on the big news of Microsoft’s plans to acquire GitHub, developers have had a chance to react. Some are shocked, others are welcoming the move, and most seem to be waiting to see what will happen once the deal closes later this year. While Microsoft has attempted to calm some of those shocked reactions, there’s still a lot of nervous anticipation about what will happen to GitHub in the long run. Microsoft is buying developer love and a giant community w

The largest payment app in South Korea, Toss, has pulled in $40 million in fresh investment from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Sequoia China.
The deal for Viva Republica,Toss’s parent company, comes just over a year after it raised $48 million from payment giant PayPal and others. There’s no disclosed valuation for this newest round, but we do know that it is a ‘bridge’ intended to bring new investors in and help accelerate the business for a large raise fu

Google Maps can no longer be used to book an Uber on Android. It brings the app in line with the iOS version, which lost the feature last summer, as noted by Android Police.Google has had the ability to show price estimates and pickup wait times for ride-sharing apps for a while. Back in January 2017, Uber alone gained the ability to actually book rides in the Google Maps app by pulling up your account window and hailing your ride without ever leaving the app.But for whatever reason, Google has