Technology news

Football season is almost here, and Bud Light has put together something special for the fans of the eternally suffering Cleveland Browns: Cleveland Browns Victory Fridges, a bunch of custom-made, internet-connected fridges that will only open when the Browns manage to snap their winless streak (currently at 17 games and counting).It’s a fun promotion with some impressive technical effort behind it, but there’s just one problem: those fridges will never need to open.Those fridges wi

A high school dropout, a Bitcoin millionaire, and a teenage tech entrepreneur walk into a restaurant. The host asks: “Table for one Sir?” Why? Because Erik Finman is just one person. Finman learned to walk in a motel room his parents lived in when he was a baby, they didn’t start off rich. He mentioned this a few moments after I’d interrupted him during an anecdote about hiring people with checkered backgrounds. I became intrigued, because before he said that, I thought

Here’s one way to get kids off the phones they won’t put down: hide them in a high-tech box.
TechDen, which is currently being funded through a Kickstarter campaign, claims to ”help kids develop healthy screen habits,” by combining an app to manage your child’s screen time with a literal white box that stores and charges up to two phones or tablets. It can also recognize each device, and send parents notifications about which devices are charging and which are curr

Starting today, you’ll be able to send polls through direct messages in Instagram. It works the same as adding the poll sticker to your stories, but now, you’ll be presented with the option to send the story to your own selection of users. Everyone in the group chat will be able to view the poll results as they vote in real time. It’s not as groundbreaking of an update as, say, the ability to mute your friends’ posts, but it’s still a useful tool for when you just

The saga of Sony and its policy on crossplay continues. The latest party to express an opinion about the company’s strict policy of no crossplay with other console makers is none other than gaming juggernaut Bethesda, who’ve issued a very soft, implied ultimatum to Sony — an ultimatum I can almost guarantee won’t work. The game serving as the carrot in this scenario is Elder Scrolls: Legends, the digital card game based on Bethesda’s unbelievably popular fanta

HQ Trivia might be waning in popularity, but it’s not dead yet. Now, it’s getting an Apple TV app so that you can more easily — but less efficiently — play with friends, via TechCrunch.Today we launched our Apple TV app where you can play HQ right on your
Download it from the App Store today! pic.twitter.com/ZwllXmxZAM— HQ Trivia (@hqtrivia) August 14, 2018It’s a move that makes a lot of sense, partly. HQ has always chased the classic game show presentation t

Apple is working on a dedicated custom health chip that would help it process biometric data from its suite of devices, according to job listings unearthed by CNBC today. The company currently designs custom chips for its iPhone and is rumored to switch to custom processors for its Mac line of computers as early as 2020. Currently, the Apple Watch is powered by the custom S3 chip.CNBC reports that these new job listings indicate Apple would like to go one step further with regard to health data

Square has expanded bitcoin support in its Cash App to all 50 US states, the company said in a tweet on Monday. The expansion comes after Square revealed in its earnings report that bitcoin had a profit margin of $420,000 in Q2, after the company spent $36.6 million to gain bitcoin support on the app but only made $37 million back.
The Cash App let users make purchases with bitcoin starting in January, but it didn’t offer support in New York, Georgia, Hawaii, and Wyoming because those sta

Earlier this summer, at 2018’s San Diego Comic-Con, Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman confirmed that Spock, the beloved half-Vulcan second-in-command of the original Star Trek’s U.S.S. Enterprise, would be appearing in the newest Trek series. After much searching, CBS has announced that the show has cast the role. Ethan Peck, whose previous credits include playing Patrick Verona (the Heath Ledger character) in the TV adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You — and w

Microsoft started testing its Your Phone app with Windows 10 Insiders last month, and now the company is making it available to all Windows 10 users. If you’re running Windows 10 with the latest April 2018 Update, Your Phone is available to install from the Microsoft Store. The app mirrors phone content to a PC, but currently only supports Android devices and the ability to drag and drop photos from a phone to a PC.
Microsoft is also planning to add support for text message sync and notif

Spotify first added the option to check out a track’s songwriter and producer credits back in February — and now, the feature is being rolled out onto iOS.
On the desktop application, where the feature was first available, listeners could right-click a track and hit “Show Credits” from the menu to read up on a song’s performers, songwriters, and producers. Now, as spotted by Music Business Worldwide, those listening on the go can access these same credits by hittin

Google parent Alphabet has invested $375 million in next-gen health insurance company, Oscar Health. Google has been a longtime supporter of the six-year-old New York company, having previously invested in Oscar through its Capital G investment wing and Verily health and life sciences research wing.
“Alphabethas invested in Oscar over many years and has seen the company and its team up close. We’re thrilled to invest further to help Oscar in its next phase of growth,” an Alphab

Evernote today rolled out a redesign, in which it swapped out its familiar colors for a refreshed look. It appears to be a relatively simple look, but when the Evernote team pulled back the curtain for us, it was anything but. Specifically, Mads — Evernote‘s elephant mascot — has morphed from a grey symbol on a green background to a green symbol on a white background. The company’s also upgraded its wordmark slightly. Life is busier than ever. So we’ve ev

Sprint has announced that it will work with LG to release a 5G smartphone for Sprint’s nascent next-gen network sometime in the first half of 2019.There are no concrete details for the device other than the vague release date and the fact that LG will be making it. But since the company plans to launch its 5G network (at least in part) in 2019, it makes sense that it would put deals in place for the devices that will support it when it rolls out.
Sprint’s press release highlights it

It is an indisputable fact that, online, there are Dads and there are Sons. Lesser known, however, is that there also exist two additional categories — Uncles and Nephews — that together explain the temperament of any man. These four categories are axes that can be used to plot the matrix that categorizes the energies of most male-identified persons online. They are, basically, alignments. Think of this as astrology, but specifically for men.
Let’s start with the basics. Sons

There’s an image of a flayed human wrist wearing a watch that’s been making the rounds online. Generated by a new 3D CT scanner, the image shows bones, blood, tissue, and a faint shadow of skin around the edges. The image is amazing and also really, really gross.It’s not unusual for CT scans — a type of X-ray imaging that produces detailed views of whole cross-sections of the body — to be in 3D. The big difference is the degree of detail: the device that produced t

Helena Elicerio wants to make Verizon the go-to spot for phone cases.As Verizon’s phone case product manager, she’s betting accessories will define the company’s brand and transform its retail future. And Verizon is betting they will, too: the carrier currently offers over 150 iPhone cases, and that number has risen above 200 in the past.Verizon has already overhauled 200 stores with a focus on cases and accessories. In these “Next Gen” stores, as they’re call

Microsoft has always had a knack for savvy design and top-notch aesthetics when it comes to video game controllers, and nowhere is that more apparent than the new Phantom Black special edition Xbox One game pad.The device features a translucent black design revealing the inner workings of the device with a sleek black-to-gold gradient. It comes with now-standard Bluetooth support and a 3.5mm jack for wired headsets, so it will work with any Windows 10-powered PC or tablet. The device is up for

The Beats Solo 3 wireless headphones are $150 off of their usual $299 price at Walmart. At their original price, the headphones’ glossy plastic construct paled in comparison to other, less expensive wireless on-ear models. But for a 50 percent discount, it’s less of a concern.As noted in our 2016 review, their sound profile is more ideal for bombastic electronic music than it is for, say, acoustic performances, but these headphones are nevertheless good at providing lasting comfort

Twitch’s biggest streamer, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, doesn’t stream with women. He’s spoken about his decision before, explaining that “it’s just not worth it” to face the potential drama and rumors that might occur as a result. Last week, he echoed that sentiment again to The Verge’s sister site Polygon. “If I have one conversation with one female streamer where we’re playing with one another, and even if there’s a hint of fl

Google is currently testing a software fix that will fully restore the fast-charge functionality of its 2016 Pixel smartphones after users reported slower charging speeds following the recent upgrade to Android 9 Pie. Some third-party charging plugs no longer rapidly charge the Pixel XL in the same way that they did prior to Pie’s release; Google says that its own bundled charger (and others certified for USB Power Delivery) should still be delivering rapid charging as normal. Assuming th

Tinder’s co-founders and several current senior executives are suing the platform’s parent company for $2 billion in damages, according to a complaint filed today. The lawsuit claims that Tinder’s owner, IAC and Match Group, robbed the employees by lowering Tinder’s valuation and taking away their stock options.The 10 plaintiffs include co-founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen, and Jonathan Badeen, three current executives, as well as former executives and directors.
Accordin

A sorcerer by the name of Hunter Irving recently found a discarded child’s toy in a shop of horrors. Its visage was so terrifying it inspired him to create a machine that uses popular music to hypnotize humans while their souls are devoured. Okay, if I’m being rational, Irving actually found a knockoff Thomas the Train toy at a thrift store and turned it into a singing robot using an Arduino board and some DIY know-how. It’s a ridiculously cool project that ended up producing

Pandora’s subscription music service, Pandora Premium, is now available on Google Home speakers and other audio devices with Google Assistant. It’s yet another source for on-demand, voice-controlled music playback that joins Google Play Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Deezer Premium. Pandora says it has seen a 50 percent uptick in usage on “voice-activated devices” in the last year.Once you’ve set Pandora Premium as your default music service in Google Home&rsqu

Judging from a recent post on social media, fandom’s favorite average, everyday Marvel Cinematic Universe character is still alive after the population-halving Thanos snap in Avengers: Infinity War. Everyone who had him on their concern list can officially stop worrying.
While Thor’s roommate Darryl isn’t featured in the actual movies, he became a Marvel fan-favorite, thanks to a series of hilarious shorts that explained what Thor was up to during Captain America: Civil War an

This is getting ugly. It appears the creators of the purportedly (but not really) “unhackable” cryptocurrency wallet Bitfi, endorsed by John McAfee, have sent veiled threats to the security researchers that hacked the device. In a now-deleted tweet, Bitfi warned the researchers (one of whom is only 15 years old) that there might be certain negative “consequences” for doing proper security work. “This is my last tweet as my shift is ending, but did you guys ever bot

MoviePass, the struggling theater subscription service, is rolling out a new plan on Wednesday, August 15th, that will limit users to three movies per month, in addition to existing restrictions on popular first-run films. It’s yet another cost-cutting measure in an attempt to combat severe revenue shortfalls to save the company. But ahead of this new plan, some fed-up users who decided to cancel their MoviePass subscriptions are receiving confusing emails that suggest the company has enr

New academic research has discovered that embedded cryptocurrecy miner CoinHive is generating $250,000 worth of Monero every month – most of it going to just 10 individuals. The research, released by RWTH Aachen University in Germany, provides an extensive overview of browser-mining activity across the internet. Among other things, it reveals that Monero accounts for 75 percent of all browser-based cryptocurrency mining. Typically, CoinHive is doing the mining. It’s a script that mi

The FBI has warned banks that ATMs will likely face a global attack by criminals in the “coming days.” The FBI was tipped off that these cybercriminals would hack payment card processors or banks and use ATMs all over the world to withdraw millions of dollars over the course of a few hours, as reported by cybersecurity blog Krebs on Security.Krebs on Security says that the FBI shared a confidential alert with banks last Friday, stating, “The FBI has obtained unspecified report