Technology news

In the 2018 holiday season, luxury fashion brands appear to be competing with one another for worst case of tone deaf racism.
On the heels of Dolce & Gabbana's disastrous Chinese ad campaign, Prada found itself embroiled in its own controversy over monkey toys and keychains accused of evoking racist imagery. The company later apologized on Twitter, promising to recall the offensive figurines from its new "Pradamalia" line of collectibles.
SEE ALSO: Megyn Kelly's show reportedly ending soon
"

Years after becoming one of the go-to destinations for iOS jailbreaks, Cydia’s app store is disabling purchases. Users will be able to access existing downloads through the store and access purchases via third-parties, but beginning this week, they’ll no longer be able to buy apps through the store.Founder Jay “Saurik “ Freeman revealed the news via a Reddit post this week recommending users remove PayPal accounts from their profile. Freeman notes his initial plan to

Earlier this week, stock-trading app Robinhood announced that it would offer a new feature to users in early 2019: a checking and savings account that didn’t have any fees attached to it. But after the feature received intense criticism, the company appears to have backtracked, saying that it plans “to work closely with regulators as we prepare to launch our cash management program.”Launched in 2014, the company allowed users to trade stocks on companies listed on the US stock

Because 2018 continues to be a mad libs soup of WTF, HBO recently released a trailer for its upcoming Brexit movie with Benedict Cumberbatch starring as the controversial Leave campaign leader, Dominic Cummings.
It's two minutes of "lol wut?" and people are taking the premium cable channel to task for it on Twitter.
SEE ALSO: 'Game of Thrones' was 2018's most on-demand show, despite no new episodes
Understandably, most of the ire is coming from the folks who are actually still caught up in the c

Hundreds of Koroks, the child-sized forest spirits that can increase your storage capacity, are hidden throughout Hyrule in Breath of the Wild. Everyone knows that the map is full Koroks, but you don’t really get a sense of how flush the map is with these critters until you watch an expert Zelda player collect as many Koroks possible, as quickly as possible.
Known as speedrunners, these savant players compete in a variety of different formats that stipulate the rules for their play throug

It feels like there’s a WeWork on every street nowadays. Take a walk through midtown Manhattan (please don’t actually) and it might even seem like there are more WeWorksthan office buildings.
Consider this an ongoing discussion about Urban Tech, its intersection with regulation, issues of public service, and other complexities that people have full PHDs on. I’m just a bitter, born-and-bred New Yorker trying to figure out why I’ve been stuck in between subway stops for the

If you’re looking for a nature documentary to watch this weekend, and you’d like some expert company, you’re in luck. The first season of the BBC Natural History Unit’s stunning documentary Blue Planet II is now streaming on Netflix. And, starting this weekend, fans have the chance to sync up their favorite episodes with a live Twitter commentary from ocean experts.The documentary explores the oceans from the coasts to kelp to the creatures that live in the sea. The firs

On the heels of a dire government report published last month about climate change and its devastating impacts, many cities and states are scrambling to find ways to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that threaten their air quality, not to mention their economies.
As is often the case, California is leading the charge, yesterday becoming the first state to mandate that mass transit agencies purchase fully electric buses only beginning in 2029, and that public transit routes be populated by elect

Move over, Lil' Sebastian. There's a new viral horse in town: Tango.
Twitter user @mckellogs recently started sharing photos of her horse Tango. As someone who identifies as "not a horse girl," I was skeptical until this particular Tango thread pulled me in.
That's the Tango magic.
SEE ALSO: The best TV episodes of 2018
@mckellogs told Mashable that her family adopted Tango and his mother, Lulu, after their owners could no longer afford them. Tango has since grown up largely independently, rarel

Here I am, sitting at my work desk on a Saturday and sobbing uncontrollably.
The social media savvy among you might be noticing a lot of posts mentioning a story about former NBA star Charles Barkley and his friend, Lin Wang. I'm here to tell you that you should listen to all this unasked-for advice and read that story.
SEE ALSO: Steph Curry responds to 9-year-old's letter about offering his shoes in sizes for girls
It's from WBUR, a Boston public radio station. Wang's daughter, Shirley, sat dow

For three years, Tony Hawk has been conspicuously absent from the video store shelves. For most game developers, that’s little more than a blip between titles. When your name and face are attached to 16 titles in 15 years, however, everyone starts to notice when you’re gone.“It’s usually the first topic of discussion with me,” Hawk laughs. The first, that is, once the world’s most famous skateboarder’s identity has been firmly established.That question w

Lenovo Yoga C930
$1,399.99 (starting)View Product
The Good
Stylus lives in an always-accessible slot • Latest Intel processors • Sleek design • Robust sound
The Bad
A little on the heavy side • Limited ports • No dedicated graphics card
The Bottom Line
The Lenovo Yoga C930 is a 2-in-1 laptop with better-than-expected sound and the power to perform basic tasks, streaming, and web browsing.
Mashable Score3.5Cool Factor3.0Learning Curve4.0Performance4.0Bang for the Buck3.0

The holidays are just over a week away, though you still have time to buy gifts and have them delivered in time without gouging your wallet from expedited shipping charges. Best Buy is offering free shipping until December 25th, Target is shipping items for free until December 22nd, and Amazon will end its free two-day shipping for non-Prime members on December 18th.
What’s more, some retailers are pulling out the stops by lowering prices to what we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monda

Words still occasionally have consequences — even on Fox News.
After Tucker Carlson accused immigrants of making America "dirtier" on his show Thursday night, outrage quickly followed. On Friday, one of Carlson's most prominent advertisers, Pacific Life, announced that it would be pausing advertising on the show while the company "re-evaluated" its relationship with the program.
SEE ALSO: 12 times Fox News goofed in 2018
Here is Tucker's original comment in full:
"Nice people, no one doubt

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will step down from his post at the end of the year, according to President Donald Trump, who tweeted the announcement this morning.The announcement comes after several high-profile departures from the Trump administration this year, including White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt.Secretary of the Interior @RyanZinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the

Yesterday afternoon, Somali-American workers marched outside of Amazon’s Shakopee, Minnesota fulfillment center, chanting “hear our voice.” Estimates of the exact number of marches vary from source to source, but The Minneapolis Star Tribune puts it at around 100.It’s a fairly familiar refrain for the company, after years of reports about questionable working conditions. Some of that came to a head earlier this year when pressure from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders led th

You could fill an entire library with books about the production of Star Wars. There are extensive making-of compendiums, behind-the-scenes reference guides, volumes of concept art, official biographies, narrative nonfiction, and more that are full of every imaginable nugget of information about how George Lucas created his universe. The arrival of a new Star Wars book is hardly news, but The Star Wars Archives — a new, massive tome from art book publisher Taschen — is nonetheless w

This is One Good Thing, a weekly column where we tell you about one of the few nice things that happened this weekAs a perfect person, it's hard to imagine Michelle Obama having any doubts about herself. Hasn't she always assumed that she was brilliant, graceful, and exceptionally good at gardening? Didn't she always think that she would one day become one of the most powerful people in the world and achieve it by being ... nice?
According to Obama's new memoir, Becoming, she wasn't always so co

The end of 2018 is upon us and if you didn't download any new apps, then you're missing out. I know — it's sometimes surprising that 10 years into the App Store, there are still enough fresh ideas to make it worth downloading an unfamiliar name. 
But, from apps that gave us new ways to edit photos and video to games we just couldn't put down, developers still managed to find new ways to surprise and delight us in 2018.
SEE ALSO: The best tech of 2018
Here's a look back at some of our

Eight years ago, in the town of Van Buren, Missouri, newly retired resident John Pope walked six blocks and picked up 1,085 cigarette butts.
The unsightly, unpleasant litter problem — as we're all acutely aware — isn't confined to Pope's quiet community in southern Missouri. 
Cigarette butts have the proud distinction of being the most common form of litter on America's beaches. Some 6 trillion cigarettes are manufactured on Earth each year, and between 750 million to 1,500 mill

Just like that, 2018 has come to a close. I realize there are a few days left in the year, but the content industry is already well into its cycle of recaps and predictions, and readers can be forgiven if they would like to their attention to more festive matters to close out the year. Personally, I have a lot of shopping to do — but I’ll also be spending the time planning 2019. It’s going to be a big year for The Interface, and I need to spend some time away from Twitter to g

Forget fruitcake and distant relatives' awkward questions about your relationship status — the worst part of the holidays is traveling, hands down.
Unfortunately, we can't do anything about that pungent log of dried cherries and nuts on the dessert table, nor can we prevent your Aunt Ruby from asking why you're still single. (Why are you still single, anyway?) We can, however, offer you some sweet deals on items that'll make your trip home far more bearable.
Below, we've rounded up the dee

This holiday period, Plugged is running a very special advent calendar. Over the course of 12 days, we’ll be sharing a selection of sweet, sweet deals. You can thank us later. Want yesterday’s advent deals? You can find that post here. So, here we go! On the fourth day of TNW’s advent, the lovely team gave to me… $39 off the Backbeat Go 3 headphones from Plantronics If you’re on the hunt for a decent pair of wireless headphones for day-to-day use, the Plantronics

Not to be dramatic or anything, but with 57% of this year’s holiday spending expected to be done online, your business (literally) can't afford to have a "meh" web presence right now.
Take full advantage of this year's holiday shopping season by growing your site's traffic with the help of these online tools and services, all of which are on sale for a limited time. You can even take an extra 15% off your purchase if you enter the code MERRY15 at checkout. 1. Simvoly Site BuilderBuild

It’s embarrassing, but astrophysicists are the first to admit it. Our best theoretical model can only explain 5 percent of the universe. The remaining 95 percent is famously made up almost entirely of invisible, unknown material dubbed dark energy, and dark matter. So even though there are a billion trillion stars in the observable universe, they are actually extremely rare. The two mysterious dark substances can only be inferred from gravitational effects. Dark matter may be an invisible

Gamers and writers are alike in one important respect: they’re both extremely discerning about the keyboards they use. As someone who sits in the middle of that particular venn diagram, I was thrilled when Fnatic offered me the chance to review their miniSTREAK compact gaming keyboard. The Fnatic miniSTREAK is ideal for gamers who want an authentic mechanical keyboard experience, yet lack the desktop real-estate for something bigger, like Alienware’s chunky AW768 Pro Gaming Keyboard

Futuristic transportation startup Arrivo shut down its operations this week, The Verge has learned. All of the company’s 30 or so employees were furloughed in late November, with about half being completely laid off at the end of that month, according to two employees who were granted anonymity because they signed non-disclosure agreements. Now, the Los Angeles startup is shutting down because it hasn’t been able to secure new funding, these people say. Remaining employees were info

You would think that Amazon’s Ring home security system and Amazon’s Echo smart speakers would intelligently work together, right? You’d be mostly wrong — but today, the company is taking another small step towards tying them together by letting you arm, disarm, and check the status of some Ring, ADT, Honeywell, Abode, and Scout security systems just by asking Alexa to do so.
And since I recently bought a Ring Alarm for my own house — Dan convinced me with his revi

It should surprise no one that where we gets our news plays a significant part in determining what we believe to be true. But lying isn’t partisan. Democrat or Conservative, both parties lie with astonishing frequency. According to a recent Washington Post poll, a startling number of citizens still recognize facts solely along party lines, or those that advance long-held beliefs. The poll asked more than 1,000 Americans to identify true statements by picking from two options. Most of the

After gaming chat app startup Discord announced in August that they were building out a games store, today, they’ve detailed that they’ll be pursuing a very competitive 90/10 revenue split for self-published titles in 2019. In addition, the company revealed that they now have 200 million active users on their chat app, up from 130 million users in May.
The announcement follows a storefront launch from Epic Gameslast week with an 88/12 revenue split. Valve’s Steam store had typi

Applehas signed a deal with DHX Media that will see the Canadian broadcaster producing new shows, specials and short films about Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang. That includes exclusive short-form content for Apple starring astronaut Snoopy, aimed at getting kids excited about STEM.
Peanuts was created by Charles Schulz, who wrote and illustrated the popular comic strip for five decades, starting in 1950. The characters moved to television in the 1960s with “A Charli

Roughly a year and a half ago, Regina Dugan, a former director for the US government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, took the stage at Facebook’s F8 developer conference. There, she told the audience that Facebook was working on brain-computer interfaces that might one day let you type with your thoughts.It was a bold proclamation, and it helped at the time paint a picture of Facebook as a risk-taking, moonshot-hunting Silicon Valley juggernaut in the mold of Google and