Technology news

There’s quite a bit wrong with real estate in Brazil, according to QuintoAndar founder and CEO Gabriel Braga. Those seeking long term rentals in big Brazilian cities like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are throttled by bureaucratic policies that enforce outrageously expensive deposits, the requirement of local cosigners and sky-high insurance fees. On the supply side, amateur landlords are tunnel visioned on making money from transactions, creating a low quality of service and many wa

Buzzfeed News obtained a copy of the report that Facebook commissioned from consulting firm Definers Public Affairs, which attempts to link efforts by the “Freedom from Facebook” campaign to liberal philanthropist George Soros.The May 2018 report is one of at least two files that the consulting firm produced for Facebook. It attempts to make the case that Soros funded the coalition through three very broad points. First, it highlights a “coalition of progressive groups”

Four wheels good, two wheels better. 
According to a report in The Information, the ride-hailing company Uber is in secret talks to acquire an electric scooter company. And, if the story's sources are accurate, Uber isn't being too picky — the company is reportedly speaking with both Bird and Lime about a possible deal. 
SEE ALSO: Now any rich idiot can run their own Bird scooter empire
The move would make sense for Uber, as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has spoken about his company's de

When AJ from Chicago found himself face-to-face with homophobic Fallout 76 players who threatened to "eliminate all gays," he seized the only option that was available: he captured video of the incident and posted it online.
To its credit, Fallout 76 developer and publisher Bethesda Softworks responded swiftly. The homophobes and the leader of their group, a man playing under the username NathanTheHicc, were investigated and subsequently banned from ever returning.
SEE ALSO: 'Fallout 76' is good

Kid Rock will no longer serve as Grand Marshal for the Nashville Christmas parade. That honor now goes to James Shaw Jr., local hero of the Antioch Waffle House shooting.
SEE ALSO: Christmas ad pokes fun at Trump and kids on the naughty list
Organizers didn't cite Kid Rock's recent comments about Joy Behar, but chose instead to highlight Shaw's heroism and focus on the positives. According to WSMV, a local NBC News affiliate, Nashville's mayor expressed reservations about attending the para

A federal judge has set a trial date for Qualcomm’s lawsuit against Apple: April 15th, 2019. The San Diego Union-Tribune says that both sides have been unable to reach a settlement in the case in which Qualcomm accused Apple of sharing proprietary code with rival chipmaker Intel.According to the Union-Tribune, Apple’s lawyers have dismissed the possibility of a settlement between the two companies that would avert a trial. Qualcomm had hoped to go to court in February, but US Distri

Back in the 1990s, GM killed the electric car. But in 2011, it brought it back again with the Chevy Volt, selling more than 150,000 units over the past seven years, making it one of the best-selling plug-in hybrids on the market. The Volt perhaps doesn’t get enough credit for its political and technological significance.
Now, the Volt is sentenced to death in March 2019 as part of GM’s massive restructuring that will cut more than 14,000 salaried staff and factory workers and close

Joanna Glasner Contributor More posts by this contributorBots replacing office workers drive big valuations Getting personal: Funding rises for software-driven tastemakers
Much of the last couple of decades of innovation has centered around finding ways to get what we want without leaving the sofa.
So far, online ordering and on-demand delivery have allowed us to largely accomplish this goal. Just point, click and wait. But there’s one catch: Delivery people. We can never all lie around o

The chorus is growing. 
Jack Poulson, a former Google research scientist, has publicly called out executives at his previous place of employment after resigning in protest over the company's plans to build a censored Chinese search engine. The project, known internally as Dragonfly, has sparked outrage from human rights advocates who argue that it would put dissidents at risk and represent a fundamental compromise of Google's values.  
In a detailed examination of what led up to his re

Brett Moskowitz ContributorShare on Twitter Brett Moskowitz writes about cocktails and spirits for a variety of publications, including Food & Wine, Esquire, Saveur, Tasting Table, Liquor.com, Neatpour, and others. He lives in New York City.When Alexis Ohanian,co-founder of Reddit, approached the members-only spirits subscription club Flaviar about bringing an Armenian brandy to market, he saw it as a unique opportunity to honor his paternal heritage.
“My father’s side

Fox and Cosmos are investigating Neil deGrasse Tyson for allegedly engaging in sexually inappropriate behavior, Variety reports. This comes on the heels of a Nov. 29 story in which two women leveled accusations at the astrophysicist.
On Thursday, Patheos published interviews with Tyson's fellow astronomer Dr. Katelyn N. Allers and his former assistant Ashley Watson. Tyson has also been accused of sexual assault in the past.
“My experience with him is he’s not someone who has great re

Each day, there are millions of photos shared by Instagram users. You definitely don’t want your followers to miss your photos in the midst of all these other posts. So, what will attract users to your posts? A perfect picture. But what is a perfect picture? The perfect picture should have good composition, lighting, colors, and tones. You need to use the right intensity of filters and effects to get the desired picture. Not a professional photographers or photo editing expert? Feel like

Fox and National Geographic say that they have launched investigations into claims made against astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson after two women came forward with allegations that he made inappropriate sexual advances towards them.deGrasse Tyson hosts the Fox and National Geographic reboot of the classic Carl Sagan documentary series, which first premiered in 2014. Earlier this summer, Fox renewed the series for a second season, Possible Worlds, which will premiere in 2019.
In a statement to

It took California Highway Patrol seven minutes to pull over a Tesla driver. The driver appeared to be asleep at his wheel.
SEE ALSO: Tesla's Model X gets a rival as Americans flock to trucks and SUVs
Alexander Samek had allegedly dozed off while operating his Tesla Model S when an officer tried to pull him over. In the end, the police had to surround the car to slow it down and then arrested Samek on suspicion of driving under the influence.
The Model S is thought to have been in Autopilot, Tes

In order to have innovative smart city applications, cities first need to build out the connected infrastructure, which can be a costly, lengthy, and politicized process. Third-parties are helping build infrastructure at no cost to cities by paying for projects entirely through advertising placements on the new equipment. I try to dig into the economics of ad-funded smart city projects to better understand what types of infrastructure can be built under an ad-funded model, the benefits the

There are still at least a few more opportunities to save on tech gifts for loved ones (or yourself; we won’t tell) before the winter holidays arrive. Retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung are hosting daily deals on their online stores that could be your best opportunity to score a low price if you missed out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
As daily deals become available, we’ll compile them below. Keep in mind that these deals will only be active for the day that they a

It's been a weird year for Hollywood celebrity couples (R.I.P. Peteiana but long live "thank u, next"), but a great one in Bollywood. Now it's time for us to share the joy: Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are marrying their cultures, their industries, and two whole countries (to say nothing of massive global fan bases), and while we can't attend, we sure can celebrate.
Here are the best ways for you to celebrate the Jo-pra wedding on a budget.
SEE ALSO: Ariana Grande's 'thank you, next' just brok

Last week was the best time to find pretty much everything on your wishlist at a discount. But now that Black Friday is in the past and Cyber Week is coming to an end, finding a similar bounty of deals before the winter holidays arrive is unlikely to happen.Certain items, like the PS4 Slim bundle with Spider-Man, Nintendo Switch bundles, and Sony’s previous-gen 1000XM2 headphones proved to be popular enough to sell out everywhere, and you might have trouble finding them even at their regu

Starbucks doesn't want customers using each cafe's free WiFi to look at porn. Now, YouPorn has apparently responded with a blanket ban on Starbucks products in its offices.
The coffee company confirmed on Thursday that a plan is in motion to prevent customers from accessing online pornography over in-store WiFi. "We have identified a solution to prevent this content from being viewed within our stores and we will begin introducing it to our U.S. locations in 2019," a spokesperson said.
SEE ALSO:

This is One Good Thing, a weekly column where we tell you about one of the few nice things that happened this week.It's been a breakout week for Knickers, the enormous Australian cow — sorry, steer — that is over 6-feet-tall.
I'm so glad big cows are having their long overdue moment in the spotlight, after fat bears robbed the spotlight last summer. Thankfully, even more beautiful animals emerged this week on Twitter in a watershed moment for the big-animal-positivity movement.
SEE A

My background is in military history, and one of the things that I’ve been trying to do more of in recent months is to get a bit more up to speed on the current state of the field of modern military writing. There has been some interesting reads out this year that I’ve added to my to-read list: Ronan Farrow’s War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence, as well as Paul Scharre’s Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War that are

Uber, the premier name in ride-hailing apps, wants to be known as the go-to destination for all on-demand transportation needs, and so its latest efforts have naturally gravitated toward growing its share of the booming electric scooter rental business. The company seems to have decided that its best path for acquiring a leadership position in this market is to literally acquire the leaders. The Information reports that Uber has held talks with Bird on a possible “multibillion-dollar&rdqu

“GoDaddy cares about your privacy. For this reason, we collect and use personal data only as it might be needed for us to deliver to you our world-class products, services, websites, and mobile applications.” The above is a direct quote from GoDaddy’s privacy policy, and a fair statement to make in terms of the use of your personal data. That is, until you register a domain with the company. Wherever it is you’re situated, GoDaddy asks for users to pay for privacy protec

Lou Shipley Contributor More posts by this contributorWhy The Future Of Digital Security Is Open
Sirius XM’s recent all-stock $3.5-billion purchase of the music-streaming service Pandoraraised a lot of eyebrows. A big question was why Sirius paid so much. Is Pandora’s music library and customer base really worth that amount? The answer is that this was a strategic move by Sirius in a battle that is far bigger than radio. The real battle, which will become much more visible in the co

Microsoft Surface Pro 6
$899 (starting)View Product
The Good
Comes in matte black option! • Quad-core performance • Entry-level model doesn't stink anymore
The Bad
No USB-C port(s)
The Bottom Line
Microsoft's Surface Pro 6 is easily the best 2-in-1 computer of the year, with best-in-class performance at a great value.
Mashable Score4.5Cool Factor4.0Learning Curve5.0Performance5.0Bang for the Buck4.0
Microsoft had me at matte black.
After several generations, I can now definitively say

On Sunday afternoon, SpaceX will launch a crop of 64 small satellites from Southern California using a Falcon 9 rocket that the company has already flown twice before. It’s a groundbreaking launch for SpaceX in numerous ways. Not only is this the first time the company will fly a rocket for a third time, but this will be the largest batch of spacecraft that has ever taken off on a single flight from US soil.The massive ride-share was coordinated by Spaceflight Industries, a company that b

Welcome to Small Humans, an ongoing series at Mashable that looks at how to take care of – and deal with – the kids in your life. Because Dr. Spock is nice and all, but it’s 2018 and we have the entire internet to contend with.On the morning of September 18th, 2016, like many parents, I woke up to the voices of tiny people in my ear yelling, “Get up, Daddy!” I didn’t know what time it was, but there was no way in hell I was getting out of bed yet. It felt like

Earth is teeming with otherworldly creatures. But they often live in distant lands, far from our cities, roads, and homes.Photographers and scientists, traveling to rugged, windswept islands and into the dense rainforest, make this life visible — sometimes by using motion-detecting cameras.The British Ecological Society released the top images of its 2018 photography competition, entitled “Capturing Ecology.” One of the overall winners, bat researcher Adrià López

Pre-seed and seed, angels and VCs, A rounds and B rounds – it’s a tangled web for rookie entrepreneurs aiming to grow small startups. But unless you’re bootstrapping, you’ve got to keep your two feet in two different worlds every day: business and fundraising. Chances are you’re more at home leading your company than asking investors for money. True, there are plenty of traps scattered along the road to venture funding. But take heart. It is possible for founders t

Between your streaming service charges, monthly payments to the cloud, regular curated box deliveries, and that gym membership you rarely use, you and your wallet are probably tormented with way too many subscription services. According to a recent survey, one in ten millennials shells out over $200 or more on monthly subscriptions alone. That's way too much money spent on Netflix and Prime, don't you think?
SEE ALSO: 6 of the best password managers to keep your data secure online
But there are

The big gifting holidays come just once a year — unless you're a Loot Crate subscriber, that is.
Established in 2012, Loot Crate is a service for self-proclaimed geeks that aims to "unite the world through the shared celebration of fandom," according to its website. It does just that by shipping boxes filled with surprise assortments of merch and gear to the doorsteps of its subscribers, or "Looters," every month. With ever-changing themes about different universes and all sorts of officia

Black Friday has come and gone and so has Cyber Monday, but thankfully the deals haven't. And if you need a new laptop or are trying to find a tablet that will make a god holiday present, you can check out all the deals that Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy are still offering.
SEE ALSO: 6 tech gifts for the filthy rich
Apple products seem to be on sale all over the place this weekend. For anyone in the market for a new iPad, there's the Apple iPad (5th Generation) 128GB Wi-Fi Gold at Walmart for $3