Technology news

YouTube this week revealed new tools that allow users to more easily raise money for charities. It’ll also help by paying the fees for donations up to a point. The primary tool, which I expect will be the most frequently used by followers, is Super Chats for Good. It takes YouTube‘s Super Chat donation service — in which users can pay to get their comments displayed more prominently in chat — and routs all funds made through it over a period of time directly to the

Google has quietly been providing select advertisers a “stockpile” of offline credit card transaction data. After a four year negotiation, Google and Mastercard reached a deal that would pay the latter millions in exchange for coughing up data on its card holders, according to a Bloomberg report. Google then packaged the data into a new tool, called Store Sales Measurement, that allowed its customers to track whether online ads turned into real world retail sales. Neither company in

The need to fill that niche, adult animated show hole in our lives right now is real. And we've got just the cure.
HBO's obscure comedy Animals, currently in its third season, is it's own very unique beast (pun intended). But it shares a lot of DNA with the more known and watched heavy hitters of the adult animated show genre. At the very least, it'll help scratch that itch while we wait until Sept. 14 for Bojack Horseman, and an indefinite amount of time for more Rick and Morty.
SEE ALSO: Why '

Sprint is introducing a new, top-tier unlimited data option that it’s calling Unlimited Premium. The plan costs $90 per month — if you set up autopay — and it includes subscriptions to Hulu (with commercials) and Tidal Premium. Customers also get 50GB of LTE hotspot data, 1080p video streaming, and Sprint’s usual international service perks like global roaming and free talk/text/LTE in Mexico and Canada.But the most interesting thing about Sprint’s latest “VI

Sara Haider, Twitter’s director of product management, tweeted a couple screenshots today showing off changes the platform is considering to make things more “conversational.”Their solution? Threaded conversations and status indicators. They make the app look a lot more like Facebook comment threads.
hey Twitter. we've been playing with some rough features to make it feel more conversational here. presence and reply threading. still early and iterating on these ideas. thoughts

Apple and seemingly every Android phone maker under the sun want us to embrace the smartphone notch, but things don't have to be this way.
There is a realistic path toward a phone with a true all-screen display without any ugly cutouts: cameras that slide up when you need them and retract when you don't.
SEE ALSO: The Xperia XZ3 is Sony's nicest phone in years, but it may not be enough
If there's any one thing that science fiction movies have taught me, it's that pocket communicators (or phones

On Thursday, NASA announced a new plan for attempting to recover Opportunity, the Mars rover that has been unresponsive since it was caught in a major dust storm earlier this summer. But some people who work on Opportunity believe that NASA is instead preparing to give up on the longest operational Mars spacecraft because it might be too expensive to rescue.The Opportunity rover landed on Mars in 2004 with just three months worth of planned work. Fourteen years later, the rover has traversed ab

Disrupt SF (Sept 5-7) approaches with just a few days until things kick off. We have an all-star lineup that only TechCrunch can assemble, and we’re expecting our largest number of attendees yet. Check out our star-packed agenda here, and keep reading to find out everything you need to make for a stellar conference experience.
Pre-Event Badge Pick Up
Disrupt is 3x the size as previous years! Skip the Wednesday rush by picking up your badge early on Tuesday, September 4th from 12pm –

Microsoft is extending parental leave benefits to contractors, mandating that many employees who work with the company be given 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. There are a number of caveats, but overall the policy starts to ensure that more people around the US have the privilege of recovering after birth and spending time with their newborn.
The policy applies to a wide range of companies whose employees perform work for Microsoft. “Examples could include p

Have you been dying to outfit your home office with a brand new desktop? Biting your nails, waiting for the moment your ancient laptop finally gives up the ghost?
Don’t let this situation get to death-rattle territory. Friends, it’s time to upgrade — and HP has you covered. From Labor Day through mid-September, the company is offering discounts on over 20 different laptops and desktops, with free shipping and returns, plus price matching.
The biggest deal of the bunch is on the

Storing your most sensitive files locally on a hard drive is still (and probably always will be) the logical thing to do. But it’s not always the most convenient, which is why most of us look to cloud storage as a secondary option. It has its own set of benefits: it’s reasonably affordable, it makes sharing files easier, it’s ubiquitous across most operating systems and devices, and it’s just really nice to have a backup when your hard drive dies.
There are several servi

It's make or break time for the longest-living rover on Mars. 
NASA's Opportunity rover has survived 15 years exploring the red planet thanks to solar power, but due to an extreme, planet-enveloping dust storm, the space agency hasn't been able to communicate with it since June 10. 
Now, however, the dust is clearing, and NASA is listening for the little rover to phone home once it powers up.
SEE ALSO: The Opportunity rover is caught in a huge dust storm on Mars, but NASA remains hopef

Rappi, the Colombian on-demand delivery startup, has brought in a new round of funding at a valuation north of $1 billion, as first reported by Axios and confirmed to TechCrunch by a source close to the company. DST Global has led the more than $200 million financing, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia — all of which were existing investors in the company.
Rappi kicked off its business delivering beverages and has since expanded into meals, groceries and even tech

We were invited to check out the first tennis match in space, which was broadcast on the Unisphere in Queens, New York, on August 21. The event included some free ice cream, fancy 3D projection, and zero-G fun. We were also able to talk to astronaut Andrew J. Feustel — one of the first people to play tennis in space — about the match and why physical activity in space is a must-do.  Read more...More about Sports, Space, Mashable Video, Tennis, and Us Open

The Village Voice is dead — at least, as a functioning journalistic organization.
Starting today, the legendary alternative newspaper will no longer publish new stories. Gothamist reports that at a staff meeting, owner Peter Barbey said that about half the team would be laid off, while the other half would remain on-board for now to “wind things down” and work on creating a digital Voice archive.
Barbey acquired the Voice in 2015 and took the paper online-only last year. In a s

Bugatti makes some of the fastest and most expensive cars in the world. You know what’s no as fast but probably as expensive? Building a full-size Buggati Chiron out of Lego pieces. That’s just exactly what Lego did, and it’s pretty amazing. It required over a million Lego Technic pieces, including 2,304 tiny motors. The top speed is only 18mph, but the fact that it moves it all – it weight 3,306 pounds, and again, is made out of Lego – still boggles my mind. It ev

Beyerdynamic announced a new line of earphones at IFA yesterday that are all coming soon. The Byrd line of earphones are notable for having a flat design so if you lay on your side, they supposedly won’t protrude into your ear.
First in the collection is the entry-level, in-ear, wired Beat Byrd earphones (pictured above). They have an orange cable, and they look pretty standard besides the flat casing. Beyerdynamic claims they’ll have solid bass. The Beat Byrd earphone will be sold

Beyerdynamic announced a new line of earphones at IFA yesterday that are all coming soon. The Byrd line of earphones are notable for having a flat design so if you lay on your side, they supposedly won’t protrude into your ear.
First in the collection is the entry-level, in-ear, wired Beat Byrd earphones (pictured above). They have an orange cable, and they look pretty standard besides the flat casing. Beyerdynamic claims they’ll have solid bass. The Beat Byrd earphone will be sold

At this point, it takes a lot to get critics raving over a remake (of several other remakes). 
But it looks like Bradley Cooper's directorial debut, in which he stars alongside Lady Gaga, achieved the impossible. It not only made reviewers go goo-goo for Gaga, but it also seems to have reminded them that unabashedly heartfelt melodramas still have a place in the world in 2018.
SEE ALSO: Fall movie preview: What to watch if you want to feel some feels
The movie, which releases in theaters on

It's been nearly a week since the mass shooting at a Madden NFL 19 esports tournament in Jacksonville, Florida claimed the lives of two people and injured 11 others. But in the face of tragedy, the gaming community refuses to give in to fear.
On Monday, professional gamer and shooting survivor Shay "Young Kiv" Kivlen, will play again publicly as part of an esports livestream put together by Cameron Kasky, the 17-year-old mass-shooting survivor and student activist who co-founded the March For Ou

In the past few years, IFA has become a laptop show. It may not be the place where companies like Apple or Microsoft show off their flashiest hardware, but when it comes to the midrange, workhorse laptops that dominate the shelves at Best Buy and desks at schools, IFA is where you’ll find them. That’s why it’s so interesting that there’s been what feels like an overnight revolution in laptop screens at this year’s show: bezels are dead, and IFA killed them.The beze

The GooglePixel 3 XL has had a truly comical amount of leaks to date, but for the most part its younger, smaller brother has been a bit a more camera-shy. Well, today we finally have some purported photos of the real-life baby Pixel 3 via an anonymous Reddit user who leaked the shots that were discovered by 9to5Google.
[gallery ids="1702474,1702475,1702476,1702478"]
The device seems to have a modest forehead and chin, certainly a bit larger than what we’ve seen on the screen-to-body ratio

Alpha Training Blue
$249.99View Product
The Good
Heavy •durable plastic • Looks exactly like the dinosaur from the movie • Total Control Mode lets you control the dino like a puppet
The Bad
Indoor only • Charging port hidden by screwed-on panel • Controller settings aren't as intuitive as we'd like
The Bottom Line
Mattel's Alpha Training Blue is a sure bet for anyone who loved the movie. Surprisingly expressive and fun to play with for hours.
Mashable Score4.0Cool Facto

Earlier this year, Amazon rolled out a new feature that allowed Alexa device owners to create their own custom skills using preconfigured templates. Today, Amazon is expanding Alexa Blueprints, as the service is called, to include a handful of new templates designed for families and roommates.
These include a chore chart template, a house rules template for roommates, and others.
The Chore Chart template allows families to schedule and track children’s weekly chores, and even lets multiple

A victim of the Jacksonville shooting last week that left three dead and 11 wounded has filed a negligent-security lawsuit that targets both EA, the makers of Madden, the game featured in the video game tournament where the shooting took place, and the locale that hosted the qualifier.According to Kotaku, Jacob Mitich was shot twice during the event, and now he’s seeking damages on the basis that EA and the venue “failed to provide a safe and secure environment.” After the sho

The Jabra Elite 65t are our favorite truly wireless earbuds, and you can get them for $40 off right now at Best Buy. Regularly priced at $170, both the copper black and titanium black color options are available for $129.
We found Jabra’s Elite 65t to be a good match for those who want more noise isolation than what the Apple AirPods provide. They rest deeper in the ear canal, and the swappable tips let you customize the fit. In terms of sound quality, you’ll get a more bass-heavy s

The Jabra Elite 65t are our favorite truly wireless earbuds, and you can get them for $40 off right now at Best Buy. Regularly priced at $170, both the copper black and titanium black color options are available for $129.
We found Jabra’s Elite 65t to be a good match for those who want more noise isolation than what the Apple AirPods provide. They rest deeper in the ear canal, and the swappable tips let you customize the fit. In terms of sound quality, you’ll get a more bass-heavy s

The industry is forever chasing the Apple Watch. After all, the smartwatch has been a rare bright spot in a plateauing wearables category. Even Fitbit recently found itself heading in that direction, finding a fair bit of success with the Versa.
Samsung’s approach, on the other hand, has always been very, well, Samsung. The company’s watches are big, hulking things, covering chrome with a kind of Swiss Army knife approach customary of its various other products.Announced alongside th

You created a super cool startup. You got a little seed money from your 3rd cousin twice removed. Now what? Coming up with an idea for a startup is a great beginning. Building a minimum viable product (MVP) is a wonderful next step. But how do you actually make people aware of your startup so you can attract paying customers? Afterall, getting into the startup world can be very lucrative. Valuations and fundraising are growing. But only if you don’t get users and customers, you won’

It was just a few years ago that Bluetooth headphones were utterly unacceptable among audiophiles, but now even classic hi-fi companies are making ‘truly wireless’ earbuds. Right after Audio Technica unveiled its first pair, Sennheiser is jumping into the fray as well. The company announced the Momentum True Wireless earbuds at IFA. The Momentum family is aimed at the tech enthusiast, and the $300 price tag should tell you Sennheiser means business. For your money you’re getti

Destination Wedding: It's basically Under the Tuscan Sun if Tuscany were filled with insufferable jerks and their mundane problems.
SEE ALSO: Inside the cult of Ann Dowd: 'The Handmaid's Tale' actress offers a masterclass in the art of antagonists
The new Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder rom-com has all of the bones of a gooey love story. Two talented actors, a beautiful backdrop, a decent meet cute, a wedding—it's all there. And yet, this quirky pair is just unequivocally awful.The film begi

At least 100 pink Cadillacs lined up to pay respect to Aretha Franklin on Friday in Detroit outside her funeral service — and the pictures are striking.
SEE ALSO: Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul, dead at 76
According to the Detroit Free Press, the pink cars are part of Franklin's funeral procession being held at the Greater Grace Temple.More than 100 Pink Cadillacs lined up outside of Greater Grace Temple in Detroit #ArethaHomegoing#ArethaFranklinFuneral #ArethaQueenForever pic.twitter.