Technology news

Amazon is planning to introduce as many as eight new Alexa-powered smart home devices later this year, according to a report from CNBC today. Those devices will be a wide-ranging offering of voice-controlled gadgets: a microwave oven, an in-car gadget of some sort, and a set of higher-end home audio gear, including an amplifier, receiver, and subwoofer. CNBC says Amazon is planning to detail at least some of these devices at an event some time later this month.Amazon’s expansion into even

Tenor, the GIF platform acquired by Google earlier this year, has launched an integration with the iOS 12 camera platform that allows you to search for and add stickers to photos and videos within the Messages app. It’s a lot like an Instagram story or AR stickers from Giphy.
The updated function allows for users to search stickers by keyword or within already-created “expression categories” like “kiss,” “mindblown,” or “hello.” Once found,

Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 12, was released to the public earlier today, and that means it’s a great time to get well acquainted with some of its more useful new features. One of those is Password Autofill, a password manager tool that lets you store login credentials for the dozens of apps and services you likely access more on mobile today than ever before.Even better: Apple will let you import password data from third-party providers so you don’t have to so

Apple officially released iOS 12 today and with it came the release of its Shortcuts app. These shortcuts let users perform certain tasks with their apps through Siri voice commands. The idea behind shortcuts is to automate multi-step tasks. While Apple offers a variety of premade shortcuts, third-party app makers are also offering their own. More are sure to come soon since iOS 12 only just came out today, but for now, I’ve rounded up some of the best examples at launch.CityMapper
This s

Ahead of the launch of a standalone shopping app, Instagram is bringing more commerce to the flagship. The company said today that it will add a shopping tab to the Explore page, allowing you to thumb through a dedicated feed of shoppable merchandise from various sellers. As part of the launch, Instagram will let sellers add stickers to their ephemeral Stories for the first time, letting buyers make purchases from the Stories feed by tapping on merchandise.
Shopping is an increasingly popular a

With the launch of tvOS 12, support for the Dolby Atmos surround sound format is finally coming to the Apple TV 4K. Apple’s streaming solution launched last year with support for the Dolby Vision HDR video format right out of the box, but in the ever-messy array of streaming devices, set-top devices, and competing formats, it couldn’t claim bragging rights as a solution for customers looking for a way to experience their favorite movies and TV shows with the absolute cutting edge in

Although Nintendo’s Labo kits come with pre-cut cardboard and step-by-step instructions showing you how to make every fold, at its core, it’s a platform that leaves room for other interpretations and open-ended possibilities. And if anyone can get the most out of a platform that was made to be tinkered with, it’s a Lego designer. Industrial designer Vimal Patel first made headlines with his Nintendo Switch accessories like his Lego kickstand and steering wheel controller mount

For months, tech companies have been worried about looming tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports, raising prices on crucial tech products by as much as 25 percent. Today, the industry finally got some good news: according to a Bloomberg report, the final tariff list won’t include devices that receive and transmit voice data, a category that includes the Apple Watch, Fitbits, Sonos Speakers, and a host of other fitness trackers and home assistants.
The White House recently backed down

It’s 2018, and you may be asking yourself, “Where are all the driverless cars?” Well, they’re already here, driving at extremely low speeds in tightly geofenced areas in over a dozen cities, in what is probably the most low-key, unassuming start to a global paradigm shift that we’ve ever seen.We can all be forgiven for assuming that completely unencumbered driverless cars were right around the corner. After all, the purveyors of such technology lead us to believe a

Soon, if you ask Alexa for the capital of Canada, it will show you a Getty Images stock photo of Ottawa. Getty Images and Amazon are partnering to bring stock images up as Alexa responses on Echo devices with screens.Sports, news, entertainment, creative photos, and archived pictures are supposed to make Alexa’s responses more visually descriptive. So instead of hearing words, you’ll be able to get answers in the form of photos, much like a web Google result.
Devices like Echo Show

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are onto the fact that young people are using e-cigarettes to vape cannabis. Now, thanks to a new study, the CDC has a better sense for just how common it is.The findings are from the 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey of more than 20,000 middle school and high school students. More than 5,200 students reported having tried e-cigarettes, the study reports today in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. But the researchers were especially interested in what e

Screen Time is easily one of the most significant new additions to iOS 12. This new section of the settings menu offers a wealth of data about your iPhone and iPad usage, breaking down the amount of time you spent in each individual app on your device. It also provides a by-the-numbers look at the amount of notifications you’re getting and the frequency with which you’re checking your phone.How to use Screen TimeGo to Settings and tap Screen Time. Enable the feature if it’s no

Apple is making Siri a lot more powerful in both iOS 12 and watchOS 5. Siri’s new Shortcuts feature is now available to download for iOS 12 users, and it allows iPhone and Apple Watch users to use Siri to step through multistep routines. Shortcuts replaces the previous Workflow app that Apple acquired last year, and is designed to allow you to create custom commands in Siri that launch apps or combine a number of actions in a similar way to IFTTT.
You can do things like tell Siri you&rsqu

The 70th annual Emmy Awards, where the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences gets together to give out the biggest awards in TV, will be televised tonight. Planning on tuning in? Here’s everything you need to know:
When are the Emmys?
The Emmys will take place on September 17th, on Monday rather than the usual Sunday night. (NBC’s Sunday Night Football took precedence last night.) The show starts at 8PM ET / 5PM PT on NBC at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Pre-show red car

iOS 12 — the latest edition of Apple’s software for its iPhone and iPad devices — is now available for all users to download, assuming you have a recent-enough device. (Check the list to see if you’re eligible for the update.) To install, go to the Settings app -> General -> Software Update, and you should see the prompt to update.Introduced at WWDC earlier this year, iOS 12 is first and foremost focused on improving performance to make iOS feel faster, especially

This evening, SpaceX will announce the identity of a mystery passenger who has signed on to travel around the Moon in the company’s Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR. This customer will be the first private astronaut in history to go to the Moon (if no one else beats SpaceX to it) and one of a few dozen individuals to have ever gone to lunar space.
While the announcement is intriguing, we’ve been down this road with SpaceX before. In February 2017, Musk announced that the company had signed

Pandora is taking on Spotify directly with a curated playlist called The Drop. It’s similar to Spotify’s Release Radar, focusing on introducing listeners to new releases from artists they already like.The two playlists have more than a bit in common. Both playlists from Pandora and Spotify are timed to the day that artists release songs on the platforms. (Fridays have been the industry standard since 2015.) They’re also both made by machines. Release Radar generates songs usin

In the battle for battery virility, Hyper just launched HyperJuice. The company says it’s “the world’s most powerful USB-C battery pack” and the first to support the 100W USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 Profile. The battery is capable of 130W of total combined output when using the 100W (max) USB-C input / output jack, the 60W (max) USB-C jack, and the trusty 18W (max) USB-A Quick Charge jack. And at 100Wh (27,000mAh), it’s the highest-capacity battery approved by the FAA

Discounts are rare for Microsoft’s Xbox One wireless controller for console and Windows 10, but it’s available today at Walmart and Amazon for $39.99, which is $20 off of its original price.
Enhanced over the version that first launched with the Xbox One, this revised controller features a 3.5mm headphone jack for private listening and chatting, as well as Bluetooth functionality for operability with Windows 10 computers. If your PC doesn’t have Bluetooth or if you just want a

Amazon is opening its first cashier-less grocery store outside of its hometown of Seattle. The new store is opening in Chicago today. Like the other stores before it, it’s open long hours (from 7AM to 8PM), and it doesn’t have any checkout lines.
Amazon has three other Amazon Go stores, all in Seattle, that it launched between 2016 and this year. They’re each the size of a small convenience store, which is far smaller than the average US supermarket. Similar to a 7-Eleven, Ama

Lucid Motors, the electric car startup that aims to compete with Tesla, will receive an eye-popping $1 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the kingdom announced on Monday. The investment will finance Lucid Motor’s 2020 commercial launch of its first electric vehicle, the Lucid Air. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock dipped by as much as 2 percent in early trading on news of the investment.The deal is a major win for Lucid, which has languished over the last yea