Technology news

Amazon reportedly plans to start selling software that can read medical records and make suggestions for improving treatment or saving money, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The program scans medical files to pick out relevant information such as the medical condition and patient’s procedures and prescriptions. While other algorithms that try to do the same thing have been stymied by doctors’ abbreviations, Amazon claims to have trained its system to recognize the idiosyncrasi

Apple just updated iCloud for Windows to version 7.8.1 today, which seems to fix compatibility issues users were reporting between iCloud and Windows 10’s October Update, as spotted by 9to5Mac. For the past few weeks, users had been reporting seeing an error message and failed installations if they tried to upgrade iCloud for Windows on a Windows 10 machine running the October patch. Many users who already had iCloud prior to the update have encountered bugs such as trouble with syncing p

Sprint is partnering with HTC to make a mobile “smart hub” that will run on 5G next year. It’s the second product Sprint has announced for its own nascent next-gen network, but we’re getting very little in the way of concrete details right now.The device is developed by Sprint, HTC, and Qualcomm in a joint effort. It will use a Qualcomm Snapdragon x50 5G modem with gigabit LTE and 5G capabilities. The device will come to US customers sometime in the first half of 2019. A

Spotify will be expanding into India, possibly within the next six months, according to Variety. Bloomberg confirmed the launch with unnamed sources who say the streaming service has recently cleared deals with many, but not all, of the major rights holders in India. This will bring the streaming service to one of the world’s biggest and fastest growing music markets — with a population of 1.3 billion — and raise the number of markets it’s available in to 78.
When Spotif

During the earliest moments of Red Dead Online, the multiplayer spinoff of Red Dead Redemption 2, you could almost mistake it for a traditional single-player experience. It has all of the series’ hallmarks: tense shootouts; long, quiet rides on horseback; lengthy, well-acted cutscenes; and an open-ended nature that gives a real sense of freedom out in the frontier. You can sit down by a fire and drink some coffee, or you can go hunting for deer in the woods. It’s up to you.
But that

One day after unveiling its first vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show — an electric pickup truck called the R1T — Michigan-based automotive startup Rivian is already following up with a second. Built on the same platform as the pickup, Rivian’s second vehicle will be a seven-passenger SUV in a style that sits somewhere between a Land Rover and Jeep’s more rugged offerings.
Due in late 2020, the R1S will be slightly more expensive than Rivian’s pickup truck when it

Apple skipped on offering much in the way of must-have discounts for Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but today it launched a significant boost to trade-in credit for older iPhones. The amount you’re getting probably still isn’t equal to what you’d make by selling on Craigslist or elsewhere, but Apple’s option is all about convenience.It’s worth noting that this promotion is only open for those who are upgrading to the 2018 iPhone lineup, meaning the XS, XS Max, or XR

Samsung just revealed its new solid state drive (SSD) lineup that has up to 4TB of storage capacity. The new Samsung 860 QVO SSDs are meant for PC users with large storage needs who don’t want to break the bank; the smallest option offers 1TB for $150. There’s also a 2TB version in the middle.The new line promises excellent performance for the price. The 860 QVO SSD is built on Samsung’s 4-bit multi-level cell flash architecture and has a 2.5-inch form factor to fit into most

Google is taking an extra step toward making Bluetooth headsets and speakers easier to pair on Android. Now your Google account can remember Fast Pair-compatible headphones you’ve used and automatically transfer the connection to another phone.Fast Pair isn’t a new Android feature: it originally launched in October of last year. However, adoption has been slow, even with JayBirds producing a few Fast Pair headsets. Today’s Google announcement also pledges more support from the

Game capture and streaming hardware company Elgato announced a new gadget today that can turn any existing DSLR camera, action cam, or standard video camcorder into a 4K webcam.The device, an upgraded USB dongle called Cam Link 4K, acts as an intermediary between Elgato’s software on your laptop or desktop and the camera itself. It’s a 4K version of its existing Cam Link dongle. For aspiring creators on Twitch and YouTube, this product promises to significantly upgrade live-streamin

Black Friday is a distant memory, and Cyber Monday has ended, but that doesn’t mean that you’re out of luck just yet if you’re looking for some deals: that’s right, some stores are still offering some great discounts on TVs, headphones, games, smart speakers, and more.As always, we’ve gone and rounded up some of the best deals still out there that you can buy. What’s currently available for less is a far cry from the abundance of stellar deals that Cyber Mond

Roald Dahl’s popular children’s books are about to get a new life on Netflix, with the streaming service announcing a “new slate of original animated event series” based on the author’s iconic novels, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, The Twits, and more.Many of Dahl’s books have been adapted to live-action before, ranging from the iconic 1971 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (along with the decidedly less iconic 2005 remak

On this week’s interview episode, Nilay is joined by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Verge policy reporter Makena Kelly to discuss Congress’ plans to regulate Big Tech in the new year. Earlier this month, Democrats were able to take back a majority in the House of Representatives, and after blockbuster events this year like Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, lawmakers are gearing up to rein in these Silicon Valley giants.
Khanna, who represents the California district that hous

At the heart of the discipline of artificial intelligence is the idea that one day we’ll be able to build a machine that’s as smart as a human. Such a system is often referred to as an artificial general intelligence, or AGI, which is a name that distinguishes the concept from the broader field of study. It also makes it clear that true AI possesses intelligence that is both broad and adaptable. To date, we’ve built countless systems that are superhuman at specific tasks, but

Google’s Project Fi mobile service will reportedly be boosted by a major expansion of compatible smartphones this week. Fi will add support for Samsung, OnePlus, and iPhones, according to Droid Life, which reported on a since-removed article at BGR. More handsets from existing Fi partners LG and Motorola will also gain Fi support. The iPhone experience isapparently “in beta,” which is a sign that users might run into bugs or be left without some of Fi’s features.Project

Architects have long drawn from the world of biology, but most of that inspiration has been metaphorical. David Benjamin’s architecture studio, The Living, uses actual living organisms as part of the design process.
Benjamin, a professor of architecture at Columbia University, is the author of Now We See Now (out now from Monacelli Press), a new book chronicling his work at the intersection of science and design. Integrating biology, he says, could lead to more sustainable buildings and a

Today, former Facebook partnerships manager Mark Luckie published an internal memo that was sent to his co-workers on his last day at Facebook earlier this month, calling out pervasive discrimination issues within the company. The note argues that Facebook has a “black people problem” that involves the mistreatment of black employees. He cites incidents where managers or colleagues called their co-workers “hostile” or “aggressive,” and others where campus sec

YouTube annotations, those annoying translucent boxes that you rush to disable the moment they appear, will finally disappear for good on January 15th, 2019. After this date, “all existing annotations will be removed,” according to a YouTube support page.The writing’s been on the wall about annotations for some time now. Back in March 2017, YouTube announced that it would be discontinuing the annotations editor, effectively halting their use for any new videos. At the time, th

Just before noon on Monday, every person in the Theodore von Kármán Auditorium at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California sat on the cusps of their seats. They stared straight ahead at a video screen showing a live view from inside JPL’s mission control center. On-screen, rows of engineers also sat entranced, transfixed by their computer consoles as a flight controller announced altitude measurements over an intercom.
“Altitude 400 meters. 300 meters

The mainstream will never adopt blockchain-powered decentralized apps (dApps) if it’s a struggle to log in. They’re either forced to manage complex security keys themselves, or rely on a clunky wallet-equipped browser like MetaMask. What users need is for signing in to blockchain apps to be as easy as Login with Facebook. So that’s what Bitski built. The startup emerges from stealth today with an exclusive on TechCrunch about the release of the developer beta of its single sign

Everyone knows making friends as an adult is just as nerve-wracking as it was in schoolAdultFriendFinder sounds like it should be the solution — but is it?
Moving to a new city or working at a new job where you don't know anybody can seriously be depressing. What are you supposed to do?
Online dating is now the most popular means of dating. There's more than a few sites where you can make adult friends in your area with similar interests, and AdultFriendFinder is one of the lengthy list.
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Fallout 76 has had a rough few weeks. Players are encountering a wide variety of annoying and game-breaking bugs and discovering that some features do not work as advertised. Tensions rose even further when, two weeks after launch, the game went on sale for up to half of its launch price — all while Bethesda largely gave unhelpful stock responses to player complaints. It’s gotten bad enough that players are advising each other to try refunding the game. Today, Bethesda broke its sil

Red Hatis in the process of being acquired by IBM for a massive $34 billion, but that deal hasn’t closed yet and, in the meantime, Red Hat is still running independently and making its own acquisitions, too. As the company today announced, it has acquired Tel Aviv-based NooBaa, an early-stage startup that helps enterprises manage their data more easily and access their various data providers through a single API.
NooBaa’s technology makes it a good fit for Red Hat, which has rec

Fortnite’s latest update gets in the holiday spirit by introducing the long-awaited gifting feature, which allows players to purchase items for one another. The current iteration is a test that only lasts a week, but it gives you a good sense of what you can expect once the feature is permanent.From now on, buying anything in the shop will give you two options: one to keep your purchase and another to give it away to a friend. Any gift can have a custom message attached to it and can only

YouTube is offering discounted prices for its Premium and Music services to students. YouTube Premium, which allows subscribers to watch ad-free videos and provides access to the platform’s lineup of prestige series, is $6.99 a month for students instead of $12.99, according to TechCrunch. YouTube Music, a streaming service similar to Spotify or Apple Music with an emphasis on music videos, is $4.99 a month instead of $9.99.Offering a discounted service to students isn’t out of the

President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, held multiple meetings with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange around the time that Manafort was brought on to run Trump’s campaign, according to The Guardian. Assange has vehemently opposed the integrity of the report, calling for the editor of paper’s head.
Allegedly, the meetings occurred in 2013, 2015, and March 2016 at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Assange has taken asylum for the past few years. The

The beloved and deeply disturbing anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion is heading to Netflix. All 26 episodes, as well as films The End of Evangelion & Evangelion: Death (True)2, will be available to stream come spring 2019.
Set 15 years after a cataclysmic event, Evangelion follows a mysterious organization called Nerv as they fight against alien invaders known as Angels. The only thing stopping another disaster is a group of teenagers who pilot giant mechs known as Evangelion units.
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Some consolidation is afoot in the world of business software. TechCrunch has learned from multiple sources that Parallels, the virtualization software specialist with millions of users, is getting acquired by Corel, the Canadian company behind design apps like CorelDraw and productivity apps like WordPerfect that once competed heavily with Microsoft.
Employees at Parallels were briefed on the acquisition Tuesday, one source said. Terms have not been disclosed, but we understand it is an all-cas

Facebook was apparently aware of Russian-linked data harvesting as early as 2014, according to an email from a Facebook engineer. The email was contained in internal documents that were seized by the UK Parliament and revealed at a hearing today by MP Damian Collins, via Bloomberg.
It’s the latest blow to Facebook’s inability to protect its users’ data, following breaches like the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the login data hack earlier this year. Facebook didn’t comm

Fortnite players who are equipped with Apple’s latest iPhones now have one distinct advantage over Nintendo Switch and Android players: Fortnite on the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR now includes the option to run at 60 fps.This means the game will run smoother and with a crisper image. That’s a higher frame rate than Nintendo Switch and Android players will get on their devices, which run Fortnite at just 30 fps. A screenshot from Fortnite on an iPhone XS with the latest patch installed

Twitter now prohibits misgendering or “deadnaming” transgender people, alongside other harassment and abuse tactics. The change appears to have happened in late October, but news of it began circulating late last week. It’s part of a more general rewording of the hateful conduct policy, which now emphasizes the fact that certain groups — including transgender people — are disproportionately targeted with abuse.
The hateful conduct policy previously banned “re

Google employees have renewed their public protests against “Project Dragonfly,” a censored and surveillance-enabling search app that Google is reportedly building for the Chinese market. An open letter, published on Medium today, says Dragonfly would make Google complicit in human rights abuses by the Chinese government. It urges Google leadership to cancel the project and accuses them of ignoring repeated employee complaints.
Over a thousand Google employees signed a letter protes

Generally, it’s accepted that internet access originating from a Wi-Fi hot spot will be faster than a mobile broadband connection. Many of the most popular smartphones, like iPhones, automatically join the nearest known Wi-Fi network because of this belief. But according to a new study, this assumption isn’t true in many places around the world.
Open Signal, a company that specializes in mapping wireless coverage, conducted a study of 80 countries that showed that mobile internet is

Significant spoilers ahead for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them had its issues: two years ago, I wrote that the first film in the Fantastic Beasts franchise was the Phantom Menace of Harry Potter films, with the same childish, pandering humor and inability to choose a tone. It seems like the people behind the series’s second film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, learned that lesson. But Crimes is still stuck in

Vietnam’s startup ecosystem is making forward progress. Just a week after 500 Startups’ local entity closed a $14 million fund for early-stage investments, one of the country’s elder statesmen of startups — educational service Topica — has closed its $50 million Series D.
The round — which is one of the highest to date for a Vietnamese tech company — comes from PE firm Northstar Group. Northstar, which manages some $2 billion in assets, is already l