Technology news

Sony has confirmed that it will indeed prevent retailers like GameStop from selling digital download codes for PlayStation 4 games starting April 1st, 2019. The news, first circulated late last week via a leaked memo obtained by popular game deals watcher Wario64, means that players who do not want to input credit card information into Sony’s PSN platform will no longer be able to buy digital versions of games from physical brick-and-mortar stores. Sony confirmed that it isn’t just

If you thought it was a little weird that Apple would ship its first wirelessly-chargeable AirPods headphones without Apple’s wireless charging pad — the long-delayed AirPower mat — we’ve got some brand new ammo for the conspiracy theories swirling in your brain. MacRumors is receiving reader tips that the new AirPods wireless charging case comes with a picture of AirPower right on the back of the box.
Yes pic.twitter.com/nAQIWX3B5G— Chris J. Caine (@ChrisJCaine) M

NASA no longer plans to conduct the first all-female spacewalk this week, citing issues with spacesuit sizing. Originally, NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain were scheduled to swap out batteries on the outside of the International Space Station this Friday in what would have been an historic event. But now, NASA has decided that astronaut Nick Hague will take McClain’s place.
The space agency says the issue has to do with the types of spacesuits that are available on the ISS.

Here are some takeaways from today’s loaded, service-focused Apple event: Apple TV Plus is a subscription service with only Apple originals. Unlike Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, you don’t get access to a back catalog of licensed shows or movies.Apple TV Plus is not a separate, standalone app. Instead, you’ll get to it using Apple’s TV app, which is expanding to many more devices over the coming months.Starting in May, the Apple TV app will be able to stream some (but no

Just last week, rumors broke that Apple was working on a truly wireless version of its Powerbeats sports headphones, and today, the first images of the headphones — called the Powerbeats Pro — leaked out in the just released iOS 12.2 update, via 9to5Mac.The new headphones look similar to the existing Powerbeats, minus the wire that connects them together. Notably, the Powerbeats would bring a new form factor to Apple’s truly wireless headphone lineup, offering adjustable ear t

The most iconic scene of American Psycho features the lead character Patrick Bateman investigating the business card of rival investment banker Paul Allen and boiling in barely contained envy and rage. “Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it.” In Bateman’s world of tailored suits, brand-name eyeglasses, and meticulously trimmed haircuts, the infinitesimally small differences in design between his business card and Allen’s are crushingly deci

It’s finally happening: more than two years after launch, sci-fi exploration game No Man’s Sky is coming to virtual reality. It’ll be available as part of a free update this summer on PlayStation VR.
The new VR support is part of the recently announced Beyond update for the game, which features three key components. The first will offer a “radical” new online multiplayer experience for the game, while the second is VR. The third pillar of the update has yet to be r

Australia-based Airwallex is the latest tech startup to enter the billion-dollar “unicorn” club. The company announced today that it has closed a $100 million Series C round that values its business above $1 billion.
Started in Melbourne in 2015 by four Chinese founders, Airwallexprovides a service that lets companies manage cross-border revenue and financing in their business much like an alternative to consumer-focused service TransferWise.
Its customers can, for example, set up ov

Ikea has been teasing its new Sonos-powered Symfonisk speakers for months, but a new post from the company after celebrating its Red Dot design awards shows off the finished version of the upcoming speaker (which is set for an official April 9th reveal) a bit ahead of schedule.The final Symfonisk design looks pretty similar to the original prototype Ikea and Sonos showed off last year: it’ll feature a standing bookshelf-speaker design with the fittingly Ikea-style ability to also be mount

Apple announced its Apple News Plus subscription at its “show time” keynote, and it’s available now for iPhone, iPad, and macOS computers. The service includes “over 300” magazines, plus access to news content from the LA Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other sources.It’s $9.99 ($12.99 in Canada) per month to gain access to premium content, and signing up is easy. If you use Apple News, make sure that your app is updated, and that your device is runn

Tinder co-founder and former CEO Sean Rad has asked the New York Supreme Court to dismiss a $250 million lawsuit against him by Match Group and IAC, the owners of Tinder. Match claims that Rad copied internal files and proprietary information before he left the company, violating his employment contract. In his motion to dismiss, however, Rad says the contract gave him the right to back up internal emails and hold on to those correspondences even after his tenure at Tinder ended.
Match’s

Warning: ending spoilers for Jordan Peele’s Us. Read at your own risk.
Jordan Peele’s second directorial project, Us, was a stunning success in its opening weekend. The tremendous box-office response was likely buoyed by memories of Peele’s terrific writing and directing debut Get Out, by an eerie advance marketing campaign, and by strong word of mouth from early screenings. While that early conversation could focus on the film’s unsettling imagery, central metaphor, and

After a week of nearly daily hardware updates leading up to today, Apple finally unveiled its software news with an onslaught of new subscription services. Today brings Apple subscriptions across news, television, and video games just a week after Google unveiled the Google Stadia at the Game Developers Conference.
Today’s keynote also brought a new business venture for Apple with a new credit card service. All of the above services highlight privacy as Apple’s key differentiator, w

The iOS 12.2 software update is now rolling out to iPhones and iPads. The software release brings Apple News Plus, its news subscription that bundles magazines and other premium news articles, for $9.99 per month.Another big feature in iOS 12.2 is “the ability for Siri to play videos from your iOS device to Apple TV,” allowing you to control your Apple TV with Siri from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. In order to take advantage of this feature, you’ll need to update your App

At Apple’s “show time” event today, it offered an extremely brief look at a number of the shows it’s producing for its original programming lineup. Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Big Bird, and Oprah all came onstage to introduce a handful of the programs.The shows Apple revealed onstage are a range of science fiction, drama, and children’s programming. The company didn’t unveil individual trailers for each sh

Social investing and trading platform eToro announced that it has acquired Danish smart contract infrastructure provider Firmo for an undisclosed purchase price.Firmo’s platform enables exchanges to execute smart financial contracts across various assets, including crypto derivatives, and across all major blockchains. Firmo founder and CEO Dr. Omri Ross described the company’s mission as “…enabl[ing] our users to trade any asset globally with instant settlement by t

Apple closed out the announcement of its new Apple TV Plus service with a surprise appearance from Oprah, who’ll be working on two documentaries for the upcoming streaming service: one called Toxic Labor about workplace harassment, and a second multi-part series focusing on mental health. According to Oprah, she’s partnering with Apple because “the Apple platform allows me to do what I do in a new way.”
Additionally, Oprah announced that she would be using Apple TV Plus

Apple announced its new TV streaming service today, but it won’t just be available on the company’s own devices. The service will be coming to a range of smart TVs and streaming boxes via an updated Apple TV app. These include TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, and Vizio, and streaming services from Roku and Amazon. The app will be available on Macs, too.
This broad launch is notable and follows Apple’s wider pivot to focus on services instead of hardware. The company knows that if i

After years of speculation and on-again, off-again rumors, Apple has finally unveiled its biggest push into streaming video: Apple TV Plus. CEO Tim Cook just announced the service — featuring Apple’s original programming — alongside a redesigned, more advanced Apple TV app at the Steve Jobs Theater. “As you can tell, today is going to be a very different kind of event,” Cook said to kick things off.
The introduction of Apple TV Plus, which the company says will bec

Apple has a new version of its TV app called Apple TV Channels that will house original content and shows from Amazon, Hulu, HBO, Starz, and Showtime. It’s a big deal that Apple was able to get Amazon and Hulu on board with its new TV app, considering Apple’s new streaming service will showcase its own original content. Amazon and Hulu could have easily declined, as both have their own apps available on many TV devices.
“We designed a new TV experience where you can pay for on

Apple is unveiling a new Apple Arcade game subscription service today at the company’s “show time” event. Unlike cloud gaming services from competitors like Sony, Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia, Apple’s gaming subscription isn’t designed to stream games to iOS devices. Instead, it’s a subscription game service for titles that can be installed from the App Store.
More than 1 billion people have downloaded games from the App Store, and there are more than 300,00

YouTube has canceled two of its biggest original series, Origin and Overthinking with Kat & June, a spokesperson for the company has told The Verge. The announcement came in response to a report from Bloomberg, which said that the Google-owned company no longer plans to compete with the likes of Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, and is not accepting pitches for new expensive scripted shows. A YouTube spokesperson denied the report, and said that the service currently has several scripted shows

Between never-ending Facebook scandals and debates over fake news and polarization, the general public seems to be more aware than ever of the extent to which software governs our daily lives. “People are unsettled by it, but they still don’t know anything about how the software came to be and why these creators decided to tackle these problems and build these tools,” says Clive Thompson, a technology journalist and author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking

This month’s mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand exposed how social media companies are still struggling to moderate their platforms. Microsoft now says a united tech industry could work together on a better approach.“Ultimately, we need to develop an industrywide approach that will be principled, comprehensive and effective,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a blog post that was published on Sunday. “The best way to pursue this is to take new and concrete

Telegram just added a feature that makes it easier for users to delete any message they've ever sent — or any message they've ever received.
The service announced this weekend that users can now delete messages from both individual conversations and group chats; however, unlike other services, deleting a message will delete it from the record for every user in the chat, not just the person who deletes it.
SEE ALSO: Google brings its Assistant to your text messages
This is in stark contrast

For many Americans, it's easier to believe that Russia — not American voters — installed Trump as president.
On Sunday, Attorney General Barr released his summary of Mueller's report, writing that Mueller had found insufficient evidence to prove that Trump conspired with the Russians during the 2016 election. For folks who had hoped that the Mueller report would result in Trump's impeachment, it was heartbreaking.
For Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, however, the Mueller repor

You can’t make fried food completely healthy, but you can reduce the amount of added fat depending on your cooking method. Yes, we’re talking about air fryers, the magic appliances that help make us feel OK about eating fried food.
The Dash Deluxe air fryer reduces added fat by 70 to 80 percent by using air crisp technology, which lowers the amount of oil needed to create the fried exterior that you love. Today, you can pick up the Dash Deluxe air fryer for $69.99 at Amazon, a saving

Asus’ software update system was hacked and used to distribute malware to about 1 million Windows computers, according to the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab. The malware was disguised as a “critical” software update, distributed from Asus’ servers, and signed using a real Asus certificate that made it appear to be valid. Details of the hack were first revealed by Motherboard, and Kaspersky plans to release more details at an upcoming conference.
It’s not clear wh

Shopping for a laptop for your kid can be tricky — you don’t want to get something overwhelmingly expensive because accidents tend to happen, but you don’t want to be *so* cheap that you’re giving them a piece of junk. HP has a nice Chromebook model that may very well be the perfect choice. 
The HP Chromebook 11 G5 Education Edition is on sale for $100 off at Walmart. It’s a great starter laptop, and ideal for educating your child both in and out of the classro

Google Maps is being updated to let you create public events. The feature, which was first spotted by Android Police, works through the app’s existing Contribute section where you could previously rate businesses and add crowdsourced information. You can set an event’s name, location, date and time, and assign various other tags and images to describe what’s taking place.Google hasn’t officially announced the feature beyond creating a support page for it, but events tie

Nintendo released the Switch just over two years ago, in March 2017, and it's not going anywhere. But it may soon have some company.
There are reportedly two separate Switch hardware revisions in the works, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. They could be released as early as summer 2019, presumably following an announcement at the annual E3 trade show, which happens in June.
SEE ALSO: Nintendo is on to something with its simple and cheap Labo-powered VR
While this info defi

We've all been there: Stuck in the middle of a contract with a broken phone and no way to buy a new one — unless you want to pay full price, of course.
There are better ways to fix this than by perusing the Facebook Marketplace: Walmart wants to sell you the iPhone X for $155 off MSRP, and give you $45 of free Airtime with Straight Talk. That's cheaper than a refurbished one from Apple.
Just because the iPhone X was discontinued before its first birthday doesn't mean that it's any les

Just as Apple gets ready to announce its streaming service, complete with original programming, another tech giant is preparing to bow out.
According to Bloomberg, YouTube is cancelling many of its “Hollywood-quality" shows and plans to pull out of producing most of its original content for its YouTube Premium subscription service. Shows like sci-fi thriller Origin and comedy series Overthinking with Kat & June are said to be among those being cancelled by YouTube. 
YouTube is loo

The 2018 iPad Pro with reduced bezels, Face ID support, and a USB-C charging port is up to $200 off at Amazon and Best Buy. These deals (via MacRumors) apply to both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch Wi-Fi models, and they come at a perfect time if you’ve been looking for a good iPad deal.Apple recently updated its iPad mini and iPad Air devices, which start at $399 and $499, respectively, but the new iPad Pro is the fastest and arguably best-looking tablet that’s available.11-inch iPad Pro

Energy Ring is a customizable app that takes advantage of the Galaxy S10’s hole-punch camera to display your phone’s battery life. First spotted by Android Police, the app introduces a small ring around the lens, and you can customize the color, thickness, direction, and even 25 percent charging increments. It’s free, so I think you can definitely file this one under “fun and nifty” apps, as it’s both functional and visual.However, it might get annoying after