Technology news

Apple just revealed it’s expecting a $9 billion loss in revenue due to weak iPhone demand that’s partly caused by more people replacing their batteries, according to a letter issued by CEO Tim Cook addressed to investors.
Last year, Apple admitted it was throttling older iPhone models to compensate for degrading batteries that caused the phones to sometimes shut down. It ended the practice shortly afterward and offered to cut its $79 battery replacement fee down to $29 as a way of a

There's still hope for Google's gesture-sensing radar tech, Project Soli.
The project, which Google first showed off in 2015, uses a combination of radar and sensors to create gesture controllers for everyday objects. So instead of controlling a smartwatch by tapping on a display, for instance, you could quickly rub or tap your fingers together.
The product of Google's secretive Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) lab, Google has teased a few prototypes over the years, but hasn't said much a

Apple CEO Tim Cook published a letter to investors today warning of weaker than expected first-quarter earnings, citing “fewer iPhone upgrades than we had anticipated.” The weakened demand came primarily from China, although Cook notes that “in some developed markets, iPhone upgrades also were not as strong as we thought they would be.”
People just aren’t buying as many new iPhones as Apple hoped
In his letter, Cook offers several explanations for the lower earning

As always, the first days of January are a time to look back on the previous year and wrap it up into a neat package, usually by thinking “Oh geez, did that actually happen last year? It feels like that was a decade ago.” That’s why it can be fun to look back on our favorite things of the year, the culture that endured with us past release weekend or the latest news cycle. Here’s what made a difference to us in 2018.Illustration: Renata Nolasco, via Twitter
The fan art p

This afternoon, scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission shared the first close-up images of the distant, frozen space rock their spacecraft whizzed by on New Year’s Day. The pictures bring the strange object into a clearer focus — and it looks like a lumpy snowman. In fact, it’s not really one object, but two lobes that are touching each other, what’s known as a contact binary.
The images were taken on January 1st around 12:33AM ET, when the New Horizons spacecra

Two hackers have teamed up to promote Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg by forcing TVs to display a message encouraging people to subscribe to his YouTube channel. The hack takes advantage of a router setting that makes smart devices, like Chromecasts and Google Homes, publicly viewable on the internet. The attackers are then able to gain control of the devices and broadcast videos on a connected TV.
The attack, which is being referred to as CastHack, is being conducted by two hackers, Ha

Volkswagen has an interesting solution to the dilemma of owning an electric vehicle without a permanent place to charge it: they’ll bring the charging station to you.The German automaker offered a glimpse of its new mobile charging strategy last week, which envisions mobile charging units that can be delivered directly to electric cars in need of power, rather than frazzled EV owners having to use their last bit of juice to find the closest charging station. These portable DC charging sta

August appears to be close to launching a redesigned doorbell camera as its first new hardware since being acquired by the giant lock conglomerate Assa Abloy in 2017. Dave Zatz uncovered images of the new doorbell, which looks like a big improvement from the company’s original model that didn’t look much like a doorbell at all.
The doorbell could be launched alongside a chime, according to Zatz. The chime accessory doesn’t appear to have a name yet, but it would be a smart add

Google just got one step closer to the possibility of controlling a smart device through hand gestures from afar. It won federal approval to continue its tiny radar project from 2015, “Project Soli,” at higher power levels for better accuracy.
Google has been working on this in its experimental division for years. Instead of tapping directly on a screen, the project proposed using gestures like rubbing your thumb and index finger together to control a smartwatch or smart speaker.Wit

A pair of outdoor security lights from Ring have leaked via two FCC filings. The documents, which were first spotted by Dave Zatz, indicate that Ring is preparing to launch two new outdoor lights — its first that won’t also include a security camera. One model, the Ring Beams Spotlight, is battery-powered and has a single LED light. The other, the Ring Beams Wired Floodlight, is a bigger, wired device that’s equipped with two lights.
The leaks come less than a week before CES

Tesla knocked $2,000 off of the prices of its cars in the US on Wednesday to help offset a recent reduction of the federal electric vehicle tax credit. The automaker also announced initial delivery and production numbers for the fourth quarter of 2018, showing that the frenzied pace it carried through most of the year — led by the big Model 3 push — helped Tesla set new company records, even though it cooled toward the end.
The cheapest Model 3 (a “midrange” rear-wheel d

Before we can send humans to Mars, we’ll need to select people who can live and work together in an extreme and distant environment. So how do we figure that out? One way is to re-create Mars here on Earth.
That’s where HI-SEAS comes in. It’s a fake interplanetary habitat located on an active volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island. From 2013 to 2018, the University of Hawaii operated simulated Martian missions inside the habitat. For months at a time, people would live inside HI

My Instagram followers want to know whether I like veggie chips and how many push-ups I can do in a row. The answer is no and one. On this week’s Why’d You Push That Button, Vox.com’s Kaitlyn Tiffany and I discuss anonymous question-and-answer apps — why do people use them, both to ask and receive questions?
First, I chat with my pal Vanessa about how they use Instagram’s question and answer feature to build community. Then, Kaitlyn chats with a minor Tumblr celebr

The Roku Channel, which offers free-to-watch, ad-supported movies, TV shows, and live news, is introducing premium subscriptions. Users will soon be able to get networks including Showtime, Starz, and Epix, and pay for everything on one bill — similar to Amazon Prime Video and its add-on channels. The Roku Channel isn't strictly limited to Roku hardware: it's available on an expanding list of devices and is a huge focus for the company.There are several differences between what Roku's doi

Some of the new games released this year truly pushed the boundaries of what we can expect from the gaming industry. Mind-blowing graphics, intense gameplay, and stunning soundtracks seem to be becoming the norm.
It's a great time to be a gamer, but sometimes you just need a quick hit of nostalgia. Sony has now released the PlayStation Classic console preloaded with 20 of the best PlayStation games, including Final Fantasy VII, Grand Theft Auto, Resident Evil, Tekken 3 and Tom Clancy's Rainbow S

Microsoft finished 2018 as the world’s most valuable company, but it also passed an important milestone for Windows. The latest Windows 10 operating system is now the most popular desktop OS in the world, finally beating Windows 7’s market share according to Net Applications. Windows 10 held 39.22 percent of desktop OS market share in December 2018, compared to 36.9 percent for Windows 7. It’s a statistic that’s taken Microsoft three and a half years to achieve, and it d

Sony, the global leader in imaging sensors — both for smartphones and professional DSLR and mirrorless cameras — is eager to establish itself as the go-to supplier for the next generation of visual-processing chips with a set of new 3D sensors. Speaking with Bloomberg last week, Sony’s sensor division boss Satoshi Yoshihara said Sony plans to ramp up production of chips to power front and rear 3D cameras in late summer, responding to demand from multiple smartphone manufacture

Another year has passed and humanity, for better or worse, remains in charge of the planet. Unfortunately for the robots, TNW has it on good authority they won’t take over next year either. There’s always 2020. In the meantime, here’s what the experts think will happen in 2019: Dialpad, an AI startup created by the original founders of Google Voice, tells TNW that all the hype over robot assistants that can make calls on your behalf may be a bit premature. Etienne Manderscheid

I’m lucky enough to be able to try out all the latest audio gear, so sometimes friends and family are surprised to see I’m not donning Bluetooth headphones. Why would someone who reviews tech for a living not be living the wireless life? While I certainly have access to more Bluetooth headphones than I need, more often than not, I’m reaching for my wired cans. Yup, that’s right – you’ve reached yet another article lamenting the extinction of the headphone jac

Lyme Regis is an almost obnoxiously gorgeous town in Dorset in the west of England, perched atop the cliffs of the world-heritage listed Jurassic Coast. Thanks to a campaign set off by a local 10-year-old girl and her mother, the people of this town is raising funds to erect a statue to their famous citizen Mary Anning. As an expert on paleontology, I think this is a brilliant idea. Mary Anning was born in 1799. Her family was poor – and somewhat tragic. She was named after an older siste

The Federal Communications Commission will wind down most of its operations on Thursday if the partial federal government shutdown isn’t resolved by then. Should its lapsed funding not be restored, the commission says “all FCC activities will cease” as of mid-day Thursday, January 4th, “other than those immediately necessary for the protection of life or property, performing other excepted activities, or those funded through a source other than lapsed appropriations.&rdq

Write clear emails Be flexible; briefs change Find problems before they occur Bring energy to the table Don’t take design critique as an insult Understand the impact of moving that button Make people around you feel comfortable Bring 3 solutions with every complaint Don’t give up too fast Mute your microphone when not speaking Be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses Bend, but not break Take notes; it shows respect Pay attention to details Get off your chair to point