Technology news

Everyone starts off as a beginner. Even someone great at what they do like Michael Jordan was a beginner at basketball at one time and look how far it took him. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the Michael Jordan of droning one day.
But for now, you have to start somewhere. We scoured the internet looking for the best and brightest drones for first-timers. No matter what your field of interest, like photography or racing, we found a drone that's perfect for you. 
We also didn't forget all the kid

At the end of last year, Grand Central Tech announced plans to work with the Milstein real estate family to transform a midtown Manhattan high-rise into a tech hub called Company. And startups remain an important part of the mix — in fact, Company is unveiling a list of 20 startups participating in this year’s GCT Startup-in-Residence program.
What does Startup-in-Residence mean? Well, Company CEO Matthew Harrigan said the program will continue to offer what it’s always offered

Brrrr.... It's cold in here. 
The winter months can be harsh since the days are shorter and the weather is, of course, much, much colder — especially if you live in the midwest and east coast. Temperatures can drop down to below zero Fahrenheit from day-to-day, while having a roof over your head doesn't guarantee instant warmth.
SEE ALSO: Polar vortex 2019: Combat the cold with these 50 products
So how can you turn up the heat in one part of the home without turning it up everywh

Yet another measles outbreak is endangering children — this one in Washington state. Of the 37 people already infected in this outbreak, at least 32 weren’t vaccinated against measles, and 35 were under 18 years old. Experts say this outbreak was easy enough to predict, and could have been prevented if more children in the area were vaccinated. The situation raises the question — how many more kids will get sick before vaccination rates increase?Measles has been flaring up aro

The fight to reform sexual assault policies on campus is facing a maddeningly bureaucratic hurdle. 
On the final day during which citizens could share comments with the Department of Education about its proposed changes to Title IX protections for sexual assault victims, the government website went down.
SEE ALSO: 20% of Colleges Flout Federal Law in Handling Sexual Assault, Report Finds
Starting at 10 am ET, comment submissions sections on regulations.gov and federalregister.gov were inope

Sorry, haters! Despite privacy scandal after privacy scandal, Facebook posted record profits last quarter. 
As one Facebook employee recently put it, "Fuck ethics. Money is everything." Revenue in Q4 hit $16.9 billion, up 30 percent from a year ago. Facebook also posted record profits of $6.9 billion. That's up more than 60 percent from the previous year. 
SEE ALSO: Surprise! Facebook's ad targeting makes people uncomfortable, study says
Facebook also gained users. Imagine Mark Zuckerb

Consolidation in the micromobility space has arrived — in Brazil, at least. A few months after Y Combinator-backed Grin merged its electric scooter business with Brazil-based Ride, it’s now merging with Yellow, the bike-share startup based in Brazil that has also expressed its ambitions to get into electric scooters.
If Yellowsounds familiar to you, it may be because, in September, the company raised $63 million in a funding round led by GGV Capital. That was the largest Series A rou

Google just disabled a private iOS app that monitored users’ iPhone usage, after it was revealed today that the app violated Apple’s distribution policies in the same way that Facebook’s usage-tracking Research app did.
Called Screenwise Meter, the iOS and Android app gave users who opted into Google’s Opinion Rewards program gift cards in exchange for tracking their internet usage data. The iOS version of the app relied on Apple’s enterprise program, which allows

Roughly half of Instagram’susers 1 billion users now use Instagram Stories every day. That 500 million daily user count is up from 400 million in June 2018. 2 million advertisers are now buying Stories ads across Facebook’s properties.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Stories the last big game-changing feature from Facebook,but after concentrating on security last year, it plans to ship more products that make “major improvements” in people’s lives.
During today’s Q

It’s no secret that Google planned to pull life support from the consumer version of Google+, its failure of a social network, in April. Until now, though, we didn’t know the exact date. That date, Google announced today, is April 2.
On that date, Google will start deleting all content, including Google+ pages, photos and videos, and everything else on the site. If you were one of the last few Google+ users — or you just feel nostalgic about the stuff you posted there — n

PayPal revenues missed, but strong growth from its recent iZettle and Hyperwallet acquisitions and booming business at Venmo point to a strong outlook for the payments giant.
In all, PayPalsaw revenues for the quarter of $4.23 billion against analysts’ estimates of $4.24 billion, according to data from Yahoo Finance. Earnings per share at the company were up to 69 cents versus analysts’ expectations of 62 cents on a non-GAAP basis.
For the full year, PayPal saw revenue hit $15.45 bil

Facebook’s past year has been filled with back-to-back privacy scandals and seemingly nonstop bad news, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the company’s earnings sheet. Facebook’s Q4 2018 earnings report is out, and the social media giant has both beaten revenue expectations and seen increased user growth.
There were more than 1.52 billion people using Facebook every day in December 2018, a 9 percent increase year over year. Monthly active users were also up 9 percent y

In November, AT&T opened up about its plans for its forthcoming WarnerMedia streaming service, which aims to leverage the entertainment properties AT&T gained by way of its Time Warner acquisition last year. The company said the service will have three tiers — an entry-level, movie-focused service; a premium tier with original programming and blockbusters; and a bundle that includes them both. Today, AT&T revealed another detail: Some of the service’s content will be

Tesla reported Wednesday a profit of $139 million, or $0.78 a share, and better-than-expected sales, yet failed to meet analysts’ expectations for earnings in the fourth quarter. Shares fell after the markets closed and are down 1.7 percent as of 2:30 pm PT.
Tesla has managed to string together two profitable periods in a row thanks to sales of the Model 3 and despite several headwinds in the fourth quarter, including a non-cash charge of $54 million attributable to non-controlling interes

Last October, Google announced plans to shut down Google+ for consumers after a security flaw exposed users’ profile data. Shortly after, Google+ had another data leak, prompting Google to fast-track the shutdown for its social network, moving the deadline up four months to April 2019. Now, Google has formally released the timeline for how and when Google+ will go away.
As early as February 4th, you will no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities, or events. Comm

Tesla made a $139 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2018, the first time the electric automaker has ever posted back-to-back profitable quarters in its 15-year history. It was also Tesla’s fourth profitable quarter ever, according to an investor letter published Wednesday. Tesla generated $7.2 billion in revenue in the quarter, a record for the company.
Total revenue for 2018 was $21.4 billion — another record for the company, though Tesla still posted a $1 billion loss across

If you've watched Netflix's Fyre Fest documentary, than you definitely know Andy King, the festival producer that Billy McFarland asked to perform oral sex with a customs agent in return for getting water to the festival site.
It's one of the most jaw-dropping scenes in a movie full of them, and it has inspired a legion of memes — memes it turns out that King is totally cool with. 
In a video released on Tuesday afternoon by Netflix, King says, in a fun bit of wordplay, "I'm completel

Do you miss your headphone jack on your expensive iPhone? Quit crying because at least it isn't the Meizu Zero phone, which has no buttons, no ports, and no speaker holes whatsoever.
Announced earlier this month, the Zero phone takes minimalism to the extreme, leapfrogging even Apple's seeming dislike for buttons and ports. The bragging rights won't come cheap: The hole-less phone is priced at $1,299.
SEE ALSO: Xiaomi’s flexible phone is real and puts Samsung and Royole to shame
Chinese ph

The next major event in Fortnite will be an in-game concert. Electronic music DJ Marshmello will perform in Epic’s battle royale game, with a concert set to take place on Saturday at Pleasant Park, a sleepy Fortnite suburb that features a big football field that should be a good fit for a virtual concert. In fact, the stage is being assembled in the game right now. While the concert hasn’t officially been announced by Epic just yet, Marshmello currently lists Pleasant Park on his up

New York state Attorney General Letitia James has launched an investigation into the circumstances of Apple’s recent FaceTime bug. The bug, which allowed callers to listen and watch through a phone’s camera before a call was picked up, became public on Monday, and Apple has since disabled the relevant feature. The AG’s office will be focusing on Apple’s slow response to the bug, which was reported to the company more than a week before it became public.
“This FaceT

Officials in New York have announced "an investigation into Apple's failure to warn consumers about the FaceTime bug and slow response to addressing the issue."  
SEE ALSO: Here's how to disable FaceTime on your iPhone, iPad or Mac
Apple pulled support for its group calling feature in FaceTime late Monday, after it was reported that the feature could be exploited to eavesdrop on people without their consent. A teenager reportedly discovered the bug a week earlier while playing Fortnite with

Microsoft posted the second quarter of its 2019 financial results today, reporting revenue of $32.5 billion and net income of $8.4 billion. Surface and gaming are both up, but revenue from Windows licenses has slipped.
While Surface revenue only grew 1 percent in the same quarter last year, it has jumped by a massive 39 percent this year to $1.86 billion. The big jump is not entirely surprising, as Microsoft released its Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 during the most recent quarter, alongsi

Criterion will launch its forthcoming streaming service, The Criterion Channel, on April 8th, 2019, and has opened signups for subscribers. The platform will showcase the company’s library of classic feature films, as well as short films, master classes with directors, and more.Subscriptions will run customers $10.99 a month or $99.99 a year, with Charter Subscribers getting a discounted rate of $9.99 a month / $89.99 a year for signing up before April 8th. The site says that subscribers

Tuesday night, a TechCrunch investigation revealed that Facebook had been secretly paying teenagers to install a VPN that let the company see nearly everything they did on their phones. Today, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are lashing out at the tech giant, raising new questions about how the company might fare in future privacy legislation.
“Wiretapping teens is not research, and it should never be permissible.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said in a statement, “Inst

Electric vehicle owners are discovering the harsh reality of driving a battery-powered vehicle in below-freezing temperatures like those sweeping across the Midwest.
Most drivers know in theory that cold weather adversely affects the car's and its battery's abilities, but it's another thing to see your range plummet on the dashboard next to the frigid outside and interior temperature. In these type of conditions the vehicles have a hard time warming up. Even charging is slowed down. So on Wednes

Apple could release at least two new iPads this year, including a cheaper version of the iPad mini, which hasn’t been updated since 2015, according to Bloomberg. The other upcoming iPad reportedly has a 10-inch screen with a faster processor and might be released as soon as this spring. That device would keep its Lightning port.
Bloomberg also reports that an upgraded iPad Pro is planned for spring 2020 and would introduce a laser-powered 3D camera to Apple devices. Apple also seems to be

Google is distributing a private app that monitors how people use their iPhones, in much the same way that Facebook did — and got in trouble for. Google’s app, reported today by TechCrunch, rewards users with gift cards for letting Google collect information on their internet usage.
The app appears to rely on Apple’s enterprise program, which allows for the distribution of internal apps within a company. That could be a problem: Apple says these apps should only be used by a c

Apple is reportedly planning to introduce a new dark mode in its iOS 13 update later this year. Bloomberg reports that iOS 13 will include a dark mode, which will presumably be system-wide, for “easier nighttime viewing.” Many apps have added dark modes in recent years, but many iPhone owners have been calling on Apple to introduce its own OS support, so this will be a welcome addition. It follows a dark mode that launched with macOS Mojave last year.
Dark mode won’t be the on

It's been a wild 24 hours at Facebook HQ, and employees are not handling it well. 
Following a blockbuster Jan. 29 report from TechCrunch detailing how Facebook paid teens to spy on their smartphones, and the subsequent backlash from Apple, employees of the social media giant have taken to the anonymous workplace discussion app Blind to vent. And oh boy, is it ugly. 
For those unfamiliar with Blind, the app is designed to allow employees of major companies to semi-anonymously discuss t

TikTok is on the rise two years after Vine's tragic demise, but don't expect it to fill the void that Vine left. That's OK! The absolute chaos that TikTok embodies is exactly what we need in 2019. 
If you've been spending time outside like a functional human and have no idea what TikTok is, here's a rundown: The app was formerly known as Musical.ly, a platform dominated by preteens lip-syncing to uncomfortably suggestive choreography. In August 2018, the app was bought by ByteDance and merg

Facebook isn't the only company side-stepping Apple's developer policies in order to conduct paid "research" on people's browsing habits.
Now, TechCrunch reports that Google has also been conducting paid research on people's internet habits through a VPN app called "Screenwise," which also appears to circumvent Apple's developer policies.
The story comes just one day after the publication reported on a shady program called Facebook Research, which used a rebranded version of the social network's

UPDATE: Jan. 30, 2019, 3:25 p.m. EST The official Xbox Support Twitter account announced that the problems are fixed, about three hours after they were first acknowledged.The issues surrounding Xbox One console startup, sign-in, title update errors, and our status page have now been resolved. Thank you for sticking with us while our teams addressed these issues and we appreciate the reports. As always, we're here and we're listening.
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) January 30, 2019The origin

This post is part of Hard Refresh, a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter.There's something about going through someone's old belongings that is at once fascinating and eerie. However, there's certainly a fine line between rummaging through postcards at a flea market in Brooklyn and stepping foot into a rotting mansion on Long Island. 
You can cross that line of invasion on YouTube. There, you'll find the corner o

Microsoft unveiled a new Outlook for iOS design back in December, complete with new animations and a move away from the traditional all-white design. While beta testers have had access for more than a month, the new design is rolling out to everyone using Outlook for iOS today. The most notable change will be the immediate blue bar at the top of the app, but most of the design work is very subtle.
You’ll now get prompted to set up custom swipe actions when you first use them, and there&rs

The tech world is probably sitting on the edge of a charger revolution, and most of us just haven’t realized it yet. No, I’m not talking about USB-C (sadly); I’m talking about GaN (gallium nitride) chargers, a material that’s started to replace silicon in chargers. I’ve had the chance to try out two of the first GaN chargers — RavPower’s 45W slimline design modeland Anker’s PowerPort Atom PD 1 — and it’s not just marketing hype: the ne