Technology news

The 5G future might be on its way. But for iPhone owners, it'll be delayed.
An Intel executive told members of the press that its 5G modems likely wouldn't appear in "products in market" until 2020, according to Reuters. Apple is Intel's primary mobile phone customer. So Intel's update certainly sounds like it's talking about iPhones.
SEE ALSO: Faster 5G phones are coming even though nobody has a 5G phone yet
The news from Intel follows two 2018 reports that made similar claims. Sources familiar

Software giant Microsoft is teaming up with Albertsons, America’s second-largest grocery chain, to implement a “frictionless” shopping experience for customers. The deal comes as Amazon has been increasingly turning its attention to the grocery business, which acquired Whole Foods in 2017 and has reportedly been planning to open thousands of Amazon Go stores across the country.The partnership will bring Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 to Albertsons stores, which Albertsons C

There's more evidence that just ignoring your eccentric boss' bad ideas is the best way to deal with them.
The co-creator of Google Maps and current Salesforce president Bret Taylor decided that Feb. 23, 2019 was a perfectly good time to blow all our damn minds.
SEE ALSO: Google's augmented reality Maps are live for some users
On Saturday morning, Taylor dropped what he innocently described as a "silly Google Maps origin story" in a Twitter thread. It included the tale of how one popular feature

Verizon just took a pro-tip from the fashion industry with Tech Pack, a subscription box that lets users try different tech products for up to two weeks before deciding if they want to keep them. 
The new service was announced Friday, in emails sent out to select Verizon customers. It's apparently still in the testing phase and has already filled up.
SEE ALSO: Samsung 5G Galaxy S10 is a monster phone you'll be able to buy this year
Similar to other subscription boxes like Stitch Fix or FabF

Tech optimism can be hard to come by these days. But the idea that tech will empower us to make the world a better place abounds at Magic Leap — it just all depends on 5G.
Magic Leap, the company best known for its augmented reality headsets, is unveiling some grand ideas about what it sees as the future of technology. Rony Abovitz, the company's CEO, first shared his vision for the future, called the "Magicverse," in Oct. 2018. 
Abovitz expanded on that idea in a company blog post an

Fans of Marvel Comics probably know a thing or two already about the Skrulls that apparently fill the role of villain in Captain Marvel. But not everyone knows about the green-skinned alien shapeshifters.
In this new "Intergalactic War" featurette from Marvel, we get a walkthrough of what the Skrulls are all about from Captain Marvel principals Brie Larsen, Gemma Chan, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, producer Jonathan Schwartz, and directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. There's some new footage in here,

When was the last time you got a data breach notification, a letter in the mail about a potential compromise, or an email triggering a password reset on one of your accounts? What about your kids? When it comes to data breaches, we almost exclusively focus on adults. It’s automatic, instinctual: compromised data impacts customers, consumers, employees, and executives. We immediately assume they must be adults. Unfortunately, that’s not the case — far from it. A concerning tren

There exist a lot of meme generators on the internet, but few are better organized or authentically made than the Death Generator. Created by programmer Foone Turing, the open-source tool first began as a generator for death screens from Sierra games, starting with Police Quest 2 in 2017. Turing gets most of his screenshots by actually playing through the games, and he’s now up to dozens of classic titles and newer games alike, from SimCity 2000 to Animal Crossing: Wild World.“The i

Last week, one of Toronto’s regional public transit services teased a radical, futuristic mode of transportation on Twitter. In a dramatic video full of lightning strikes and movie trailer music, GO Transit asked viewers to imagine this scenario: you hop in a vehicle, slide into a comfortable seat, and text or browse cat memes until you arrive at your destination. Best of all, you never even need to input where you’re going. The vehicle just gets you there.
And then pow! Another lig

YouTube said Friday that it would pull advertising from videos that espouse anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, according to BuzzFeed. The action contributes to a growing trend of social media companies taking action to combat the spread of vaccine misinformation online.
Social media companies, including Facebook and YouTube, have recently been facing pressure to get better at this, following inquiries from media and calls from lawmakers. The World Health Organization recently categorized "vac

PETA is facing negative backlash (again), this time for calling out Google and Steve Irwin on Friday.
The Google homepage featured an illustration of Irwin, the late Australian zookeeper and conservationist, holding a crocodile on what would have been his 57th birthday. It was an image that PETA referred to as "dangerous" and "fawning."
SEE ALSO: Steve Irwin gets his own Google Doodle to commemorate his birthday
PETA quote tweeted Google about 12 hours after the graphic went up, which still fell

The year is 1999. Microsoft, accused of using its market power to strangle web browser company Netscape, is still embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit. The first sections of the International Space Station have entered orbit. Companies and governments alike are working to fix the Year 2000 Bug, which threatens to crash computers across the world. And email is maybe ruining the English language. Welcome to a new year of This Week in Tech, 20 Years Ago.
This February, we’ll be following how th

Earlier this month, CNet and 9to5Mac reported that a number of Adobe Premiere CC users experienced a worrying problem with the program: a bug seemed to be blowing the speakers on their late-model MacBook Pros in some instances. This week, Adobe released a patch for the program that corrected the issue.
In a forum post, a user reported a “really loud screatching [sic] noise,” that wouldn’t let them turn it off. “After it stopped, the speakers were really quiet, and after

Anyone can play video games, right? If you’ve been following recent buzz in the gaming industry, you might be under the impression that video games are more accessible than they’ve ever been. Popular talking points include how video game audiences are increasingly large and diverse. This perception is due, in large part (as games researcher Jesper Juul identifies), to the rise of more user-friendly interfaces that bypass many of the roadblocks associated with controller “liter

U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein might be a little too curious about the crime he's overseeing. Gorenstein will preside over the case of Therese Okoumou, who climbed the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 2018 – only now Gorenstein basically wants to climb it as well.
According to NBC New York, Gorenstein wants "to better appreciate the risks or hazards created by defendant's conduct." He filed a court order requesting a ladder and access to the area where Okoumou was found.
SEE ALSO: Th

Some Microsoft employees feel the company's business entanglements with the U.S. military aren't OK, and they want the bosses to know about it.
An open letter to CEO Satya Nadella and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith from Microsoft Workers 4 Good makes the position of protesting employees clear: "We are a global coalition of Microsoft workers, and we refuse to create technology for warfare and oppression," the letter begins.
Specifically at issue is a $479 million "Integrated Visual Augmentation S

The week is wrapping up, and there were a whole lot of good deals that came to the surface. From discounted Ring doorbells and DJI drones to Samsung Galaxy S10 preorder bonuses, there’s a lot to cover.
Amazon’s weeklong sale of its Ring home security products is coming to an end tonight at 2:59AM ET / 11:59PM PT, so it’s your last chance to get in on some decent deals on the Ring Video Doorbell 2, the Ring Floodlight Camera, and more.Ring Video Doorbell 2 is $169.99 (usually $

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 2019 and we have the entire internet to contend with.If you’re pumping breast milk, what would you pay to not feel quite so much like a literal dairy cow? With the release of a new and improved breast pump, that’s no longer a hypothetical question. 
Despite a built-in customer base thanks t

Juul Labs is suing four more companies trying to ride Juul’s coattails to profit. Their suit, the latest case in a string of lawsuits filed by the vaping giant, alleges that four New Jersey-based companies — one of them called Juul Monster — infringed on Juul’s trademarks. Part of the suit revolves around the use of a cartoon logo, also called the Juul Monster.
Juul filed the suit Thursday against Juul Monster, K&R Products, Status Distribution, and Status Vapes, as

It wouldn't be awards season without Hollywood taking some healthy distance and noting the year's worst work in addition to its best. The 39th Golden Raspberry Awards honored identified (convicted?) some of the year's worst films and performances, including a not-so-fictional on-screen turn by the President himself.
Donald Trump got two Razzies: One for his "performance" in Death of a Nation and Fahrenheit 11/9, and one for constantly choosing to work with his "self-perpetuating pettiness" on an

Any day now, the US Supreme Court will issue a decision in a case called Apple Inc. v. Pepper, where a group of iPhone users have said that the Apple App Store, the only place they can get software (or apps) on their phones, is an unlawful monopoly. They’re right.  It’s no secret that Apple forces users of its mobile devices (iPhones and iPads) to download apps through its app store. Apple does this so it gets a cut of every software purchase on a mobile device running on iOS.

New photos sent back by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reveal mysterious light patches and dark divots on the strange, frozen space rock known as 2014 MU69. These photos are the clearest ones yet, giving scientists the chance to explore the distant object’s terrain from 4.1 billion miles away.Located in the Kuiper belt, a stretch of frozen objects at the edge of the Solar System, 2014 MU69 is the most distant object humanity’s gotten a close-up look at, according to a Johns Ho

This is One Good Thing, a weekly column where we tell you about one of the few nice things that happened this week.By now everyone should be well aware that we are incredibly blessed to live in a world where there are dogs. But you can never really have too many reminders, so here's another.
For your weekly dose of Dogs Are Absolute Angels, we invite you to turn your attention to a video that Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England recently shared on Twitter.Ever wondered what it would be like to be

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 2019 and we have the entire internet to contend with.Black History Month is often misunderstood as a time to exclusively address contributions made by Black Americans in the past. However, the potential of this month is so much richer than only revisiting historical events. It’s also a great time to e

Risk it all for A Star is Born, baby! 
For the first time in American history, betting on the grandest night in cinema will be 100% legal — at least for gamblers placing their wagers in New Jersey. 
In an unprecedented move, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement is allowing sportsbooks to accept wagers on the Academy Awards. 
For Jersey residents and those willing to travel for the big night, that means viewings in licensed gambling establishments with up-to-the-minu

News of data breaches and cybersecurity threats were a mainstay in the headlines in 2018. Even behemoths like Facebook, Amazon, Under Armour, and Macy's weren't immune. Grim. We know.
2019 is no differentForbes predicts that this trend will continue well into the year, with new plots to pop up here and there. In fact, the first data breach of 2019 happened less than 24 hours into the new year. *Sigh* 
Organizations are taking increased precautions to safeguard their networks and avoid futur

The ultra-trendy Paleo diet may claim to help you eat like your ancestors, but that feels a bit vague. Then there's the blood type diet, the elimination diet, and even the Beyoncé diet. It's all a lot. Especially when none of the above jives with your energy levels and love of vino. That's what makes Vitagene so interesting. It's basically your standard DNA test plus a nutritionist, and you can get a personal genetic report for under $70 during this special sale.
SEE ALSO: Which DNA test

Don't call it a comeback, but vinyl records are doing pretty well for a technology that's more than a century old. Nielsen Music's latest annual report found that vinyl sales increased 15% in 2018, their 13th consecutive year of growth, a surge in popularity that's been credited to their rich sound quality and the obvious nostalgia factor. 
Still, the industry's done little to address the issue that's been plaguing the medium ever since its inception: Listening to vinyl isn't exactly someth

Sex as we know it is about to change. We are already living through a new sexual revolution, thanks to technologies that have transformed the way we relate to each other in our intimate relationships. But we believe a second wave of sexual technologies is now starting to appear, and these are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity. People we refer to as “digisexuals” are turning to advanced technologies, such as robots, virtual reality (VR) environments, and fe

In my research on the platform economy, I’ve seen a trend of trade unions mainly attacking websites like Uber and Deliveroo. However, I’d like to argue that their focus on a hostile approach is a mistake and they need to consider another tactic. Let me explain why. We need to talk about the gig economy The time is ripe for a serious conversation about the gig economy. In recent years, classifieds on the back of a local newspaper and in call centers have widely been replaced by onlin

YouTubewill demonetize channels that promote anti-vaccination views, after a report by BuzzFeed News found ads, including from health companies, running before anti-vax videos. The platform will also place a new information panel that links to the Wikipedia entry on “vaccine hesitancy” before anti-vax videos. Information panels (part of YouTube’s efforts to combat misinformation) about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine had already appeared in front of anti-vaccinati