Technology news

It should come as no surprise that California is burning. 
On Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that July was California's hottest month since record keeping began in 1895.
Those scorching temperatures withered the land, creating profoundly parched forests primed to catch fire with just a spark. 
SEE ALSO: Engineering Earth's climate might quell global warming, but it could come with a cost
Major wildfires are propelled by weather, notably s

With the school year just around the corner (or, in some places, fully here,) kids and parents across the U.S. are mentally preparing themselves for another year of homework, projects, and exams. But this little girl finishing up her first day of kindergarten is already over it.
Twitter user @PonyGinuwinemp3 recorded her daughter standing in line behind her classmates, waiting to get picked up from school. While the other kids seem cheery, her daughter doesn't seem to be feeling the school spiri

All signs point towards a Google Pixel 3 XL with a notch, but the latest leak shows us the box.
Thanks to a blogger from the Ukraine on Telegram, we now have photos of a pre-release Pixel 3 XL in packaging — and wired USB-C Pixel BudsAndroid Police was the first to spot the posting. While these aren't the first leaked photos of the device, they're the first to feature the device running Android and in its packaging.
SEE ALSO: Google may have just accidentally leaked the Pixel 3 release dat

Roku announced today that its free, ad-supported streaming service, The Roku Channel, is now available on the web for viewing on PCs, tablets, and smartphones. Prior to today, users only had access to the channel if they had a Roku TV or streaming device.
After creating a Roku account on TheRokuChannel.com, you can start streaming the movies, TV shows, and short videos that the service offers. The Roku Channel features free movies from studios including Paramount, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, and

There's more evidence debunking the conspiracy theory that your iPhone is secretly listening to you.
On Tuesday, Apple responded to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's requests for information on the data Apple products collect on customers. The letter mostly focused on location sharing as well as the inflammatory question of whether iPhones are listening in on users without their knowledge.
SEE ALSO: Facebook seeks patent on tech that turns on your smartphone microphone
Apple unequivocall

The New York City Council voted on Wednesday in favor of a cap on the number of for-hire delivery and transportation vehicles on the city’s streets, striking a stunning blow to tech companies like Uber and Lyft.The council voted to halt the issuance of new for-hire vehicle licenses for 12 months while it studies the booming industry. Under the cap, Uber and Lyft could still be granted licenses for wheelchair-accessible vehicles — which both companies sorely lack — but would be

Facebook was recently forced to apologize — yeah, I know, again — for inadvertently celebrating the deadly Indonesian earthquake on Sunday. It’s not the first time the company has shown how tasteless it can be in the face of a natural disaster. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the latest one to hit a country that has been in a state of emergency since last month, allegedly killed over 300 people. Aid workers are still struggling to reach some areas devastated by the quake, a

A transgender woman working as an Uber driver during her transition recently found herself locked out of her account. It wasn’t because of some bigot’s objections, and she’d done nothing to violate the company’s policies. It was because AI sucks at facial recognition – unless of course you’re white and cis-gendered. In this latest facial recognition SNAFU, originally reported by CNBC, Uber’s software (which runs on Microsoft’s Cognitive Services)

This post is part of Hard Refresh, a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter.
A few weeks ago, a friend and I were in line for some food. We had been together for a few hours so naturally we took a little break from chatting and our attention drifted to our phones. I caught up on missed texts from my mother but when I looked over at my friend's phone, I noticed she wasn't scrolling through Twitter or responding to group c

If you’re totally stumped on a page of Where’s Waldo and ready to file a missing persons report, you’re in luck. Now there’s a robot called There’s Waldo that’ll find him for you, complete with a silicone hand that points him out.
Built by creative agency Redpepper, There’s Waldo zeroes in and finds Waldo with a sniper-like accuracy. The metal robotic arm is a Raspberry Pi-controlled uArm Swift Pro which is equipped with a Vision Camera Kit that allows

Some say the best way to play Smash is with a GameCube controller. Well, purists will be in luck when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate comes out.
SEE ALSO: RIP Luigi, murdered to death by a grim reaper with a huge scythe
Nintendo of Europe announced that the special edition version of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will come with a Nintendo Switch-compatible GameCube controller. No word yet on pricing, but it will be launching on Dec. 7, the same day as the game comes out.Releasing alongside the regular e

It’s been over a year since Ajit Pai and the Federal Communications Commission claimed that the agency’s comment filing system was subjected to a cyberattack during the height of last year’s net neutrality debate. But after waves of speculation from both the public and Congress, the commission has finally come clean. According to a report published by the agency’s inspector general yesterday, there was no distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, and this relaying of

Google is updating Chrome for Windows this week to support the native notification center inside Windows 10. Google has been testing the new support for months, and it means Chrome notifications will now go directly to the Windows 10 Action Center (notification center) by default. Google is currently rolling this out to around 50 percent of Chrome 68 users (as spotted by Thurrott), and it will be the default for the majority of users in the coming days.
Chrome’s notifications will now adh

It’s unclear whether or not Castle Rock wants its audience to have sympathy for the devil. Rather, sympathy for emphatically Not The Devil, as its resident harbinger of doom clarified in its latest episode “Harvest” in a showdown at gunpoint with ex-sheriff Alan Pangborn. 
Though Bill Skarsgård’s still-nameless character claims to not be Satan himself, the question of what exactly he is remains one of the central questions of Castle Rock. 
SEE ALSO: Bill S

It's (probably) not the end of the world, but this tornado made of fire certainly makes it look that way.
While fighting a massive blaze on Tuesday, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue in England caught video of what it dubbed a "firenado." Per the video's caption, a firenado is created as cool air and hot air meet, forming an apocalyptic whirlwind as the swirling air brings flames into the sky.
According to the Guardian, the plume clocked in at more than 50 feet high. 
The fire originated in a

Amazon’s Fire HD 8 with 32GB of internal storage is discounted to $59 as part of today’s Gold Box deal. This is a great opportunity to snag one if you missed out on Prime Day, which saw the 16GB option going for $49.
Cheap tablets that come recommended are a rarity, but Amazon’s tablets impress for their price — even when they aren’t on sale. This Fire HD 8 won’t compete with the power or app selection of the latest iPad, or be as versatile as the Surface Go,

We now know more about how Google is developing its censored search engine for China. To comply with Chinese authorities, Google has been using search samples from a Beijing-based website it owns to make blacklists, according to The Intercept, which broke news of Google’s work on the censored search engine last week.
While most of Google’s services are blocked in China, its website 265.com remains open. The search engine on 265.com redirects to Baidu, China’s dominant search c

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics plans to introduce facial recognition software at security checkpoints — both to cut down on unauthorized people getting in and, probably more importantly, getting athletes out of the scorching heat as fast as possible. Japanese company NEC Corp, the ones providing the tech, will use its software on athletes, staff, and media representative, with everyone’s pictures being taken ahead of time and stored in a database to be used at check points. Unlik

Uber Eats is getting rid of its $4.99 flat rate delivery fee in favor of a varying fee based on distance, according to CNET. Fees will be cheaper the closer the customer is to the restaurant, and more expensive the farther away they are. Uber’s “booking” fees now range from $2 to $8, and a sliding “Max Booking Fee” filter lets customers decide how much they want to pay.Previously with the $4.99 flat fee, Uber Eats had been known to be slightly more expensive compar

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president John Bailey today sent out a missive to AMPAS members, announcing changes to the 2020 Academy Awards, intended to keep them “relevant in a changing world.” It’s the latest series of changes intended to battle dramatically dropping ratings for the annual Oscars telecast.
The planned updates include cutting the telecast to a maximum of three hours long, down from an average closer to four hours. To make the awards shorter, s

When your reach is global, it's perhaps difficult not to inadvertently stick your fingers in a few places they don't belong — especially if you happen to be rocking the blithe self-assurance of one Mark Zuckerberg.
When a natural disaster strikes, people often turn to Facebook to express sympathy and concern for those caught in Mother Nature's unforgiving wake. And, at least in the case of the Sunday earthquake in Indonesia that has so far claimed the lives of over 300 people, Facebook res

To beat a hacker, you must become a hacker.
That’s what ethical hacking is all about: you learn the tricks and tools that cyber-criminals use to infiltrate the networks of major institutions, use that knowledge to set up secure safeguards, and get paid handsome sums by those companies. Plus, you’ll be protecting the public from financial breaches and identity theft. 
Become the digital dark knight that the internet deserves by enrolling in this online course: The Complete Ethica

At first, everyone thought it was just a weed joke. “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420,” Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “Funding secured.” But it didn’t take long before that assumption went up in smoke.
The news sent shockwaves through the financial system, with Tesla’s shares finishing up 11 percent. Less than 24 hours later, experts are still scratching their heads, wondering how Musk could pull off what could be the largest management-led

When Mount Pinatubo violently erupted in 1991, the volcano blasted millions of tons of gas well over 20 miles into Earth's atmosphere. After condensing into little droplets, the particles reflected sunlight back into space and cooled the planet by about 1 degree Fahrenheit for over a year. 
Nearly three decades later, some scientists wonder if humans could effectively do the same thing — by using blimps, rockets, or planes — in the name of combating the increasingly ruinous cons

Bungie is hoping to lure players back to Destiny 2 with the upcoming “Forsaken” expansion, and today it revealed an exciting new area for players to explore.
Called the Dreaming City, the location is the homeland of the mysterious Awoken race, and it looks incredibly intricate, a showcase for the talented artists and designers at the studio. More important for players, it also appears to be packed with things to do; the trailer promises riddle-filled environments, lots of loot and l

It’s Viral Market Crash week on Mashable. Join us as we take stock of the viral economy and investigate how the internet morphed from a fun free-for-all to a bleak hellscape we just can’t quit.
Today's internet is an endless buffet of memes. Bountiful GIFs, viral videos, and an innumerable amount of tweets are bestowed upon us on a daily basis. But before that wide and glorious selection was available to us, there was really only one entree on the table: Advice Animals.
Remember Advi

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, a car-sized NASA spacecraft will embark on its journey to the center of our Solar System, where it will mingle with the scorching hot atmosphere of our Sun. The vehicle is the Parker Solar Probe, and it’s destined to get within 4 million miles of our parent star, which is closer than any other human-made artifact has reached before. From this vantage point, the probe is poised to solve mysteries about the Sun and its atmosphere that have plagued scien

Is Verizon misleading the government on just how much of rural America is covered by its 4G LTE network?
According to a group of rural carriers the answer is yes. And, according to these smaller carriers, Verizon’s deceptive claims are blocking their ability to serve these uncovered rural areas.
The Rural Wireless Association (RWA), a trade group, has sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission requesting an official investigation into whether Verizon’s LTE network covers

The right laptop for work can make all the difference. While small notebooks and Chromebooks provide a simple solution, you may find yourself in need of something a little stronger and well-rounded, especially with how much more work is being done online. 
SEE ALSO: Laptops on sale: Save on Dell, Microsoft, and more from Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy
The HP EliteBook 840-G4 14-inch Notebook is currently available on Amazon for $999.99, which is $400 off the listed $1399.99 price. This is th

Something out there is winning, according to President Donald Trump's Twitter account. But for a brief time Wednesday morning, we were just a bit confused as to what or whom.
On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted the following (refreshingly short) eight-character message to his followers: "5 for 5!"5 for 5!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2018But because he didn't provide any context in the tweet itself, Twitter users did what they do best and turned the simple message into a

Fingers crossed this is the last delay for the RED Hydrogen One.
The phone was made official last year, as the "world's first holographic media machine." Since then, there have been many delays, and while the plan was for an end of summer release date, RED is pushing it back again.
SEE ALSO: RED's Hydrogen One patent drawings reveal how it's really a camera pretending to be a phone
The good news: The Hydrogen ONE is coming to AT&T, Verizon, and Telcel, a carrier in Mexico, on Nov. 2. However

Google has officially released Android 9 Pie, the latest big update of the company’s mobile operating system. It’s got a new look, gesture navigation, more AI smarts, and, if you sign up for the beta, Digital Wellbeing tools to help you gain a better understanding of your smartphone usage. There’s other legitimately helpful stuff in there, too, like adaptive battery, which learns your usage patterns and restricts the amount of juice that rarely opened apps can use up.I’m

The GameCube controller nostalgia is real, and the tiny Switch controllers just aren’t going to cut it when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is released on December 7th. Nintendo Europe announced today that it’s releasing a limited edition box that contains a copy of the game, a Super Smash Bros. edition GameCube controller, and an adapter to coincide with the release. Pricing hasn’t yet been announced, and we don’t know if it’ll be available outside of Europe yet.
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