Technology news

SpaceX says it has figured out what caused one of its spacecraft to explode during a ground test in April. A valve accidentally leaked some of the vehicle’s propellant, starting a chain reaction that caused the spacecraft to burst apart. Now that the cause has been identified, SpaceX says it is replacing these parts in all future versions of the vehicle to make sure this explosive leak doesn’t happen again.
The spacecraft that SpaceX lost was a test version of the company’s Cre

As Buzzfeed reports, security researcher Karan Lyons published evidence of yet more video conferencing apps that could be maliciously opened with their cameras turned on due to a security flaw. The apps this time are RingCentral and a Chinese app called Zhumu. If you are a Mac user that has ever installed either app and then visited a malicious website, it would be possible for code embedded in an iframe to automatically open up a video conference that turns your webcam on. Both actually use Zoo

Microsoft is putting a compatibility hold on its Windows 10 May 2019 update for some of its Surface Book 2 laptops due to an issue where the discrete Nvidia GPU can vanish from the device manager on the OS, which in turn can cause apps or games that rely on that GPU to have issues, via ZDNet.
The problem affects a small subset of Surface Book 2 devices — only high-end models with discrete Nvidia GPUs — but it is all the more notable for occurring on Microsoft’s own in-house har

Twitter won’t be treating President Donald Trump’s recent tweets telling congresswomen to “go back” to their supposed home countries as a violation of its hateful conduct policy, the company confirmed to The Verge. That means the tweets won’t trigger a flagging system Twitter announced last month, intended to limit the reach of banned content by public officials.
On Sunday, Trump attacked a group of congresswomen — implicitly the Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashi

It’s not often you find a too-good-to-be-true deal on an 4K HDR OLED TV, but Google Express is coming through on Amazon Prime Day, per Android Central. The 55-inch LG C8 OLED is $948 right now, the lowest price that we’ve seen.
To get this discount price, simply click the “add to cart” button at Google Express. Doing so will knock $548 off of the total, then enter the code FOHTTK at checkout to save another $100 off of the original price. This deal ends tomorrow, or soone

Pandemonium at VidCon is generally a good signifier of what people actually care about. Last year, it was YouTuber Tana Mongeau, who threw a disastrous, off-venue mini convention after being snubbed by VidCon. Before that, controversial personality Logan Paul caused a stampede just months after becoming one of the most detested YouTubers for his suicide forest video.Ever since it began in 2009, VidCon — the premiere convention for online creators — has revolved around the who’s

Twitter is rolling out a new desktop design today that adds more customization options and a completely rearranged navigation experience. The redesign has been open to testers for the past few months, but it will be available to everyone over the next few days. Unlike previous redesigns, however, opting into the new experience will be mandatory, and there will be no legacy Twitter to fall back to, reports Mashable.
The biggest, most noticeable change is that the top navigation bar has been moved

Democrats in Congress are considering a new bill that would stop Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans in its tracks. Dubbed the Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act, the new bill would explicitly ban large platform companies from performing banking functions. The bill would be a direct rebuke to Facebook’s plans with the Libra cryptocurrency, which would likely have to be severed from the company if the bill were introduced and passed.The bill has not yet been introduced to Congress, and as a

Former Vine head Jason Toff is leaving Google to join Facebook, where he’ll be “starting up a new initiative under the recently formed NPE team.” Facebook just announced its new NPE (it stands for “new product experimentation”) team last week, as a brand that will bedeveloping experimental apps for consumers who are still slightly removed from the core Facebook brand.Now that we've moved to CA, I suppose it's a good time to share what I'm up to next! In two weeks, I

Microsoft is opening up Windows 10 even further to third-party digital assistants. In the next update to Windows 10, due in September, Microsoft will allow voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa to activate on the lock screen. This change will allow third-party assistants to activate from wake words when a PC is locked and someone is shouting “Alexa” from across the room.It’s a relatively minor change, but it does show Microsoft is willing to open up how it handles voice di

Private equity firm Blackstone just announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire mobile advertising company Vungle.
The companies aren’t disclosing the financial terms, but as part of the transaction, Vunglehas also reached a settlement with founder Zain Jaffer, who filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the company earlier this year.
(Update: Multiple sources with knowledge of the deal said that the acquisition price was around — or north of — $750 million. One

Frank Azor, the co-founder and public face of Alienware as well as the longtime overseer of Dell’s gaming and XPS divisions, revealed three weeks ago that he was departing Dell on July 3rd. Having been with Alienware from its inception 21 years ago, Azor announced he was taking on a new challenge with a message of thanks on the Alienware community board.
Wccftech caught wind of Azor’s likely destination, which AMD CEO Lisa Su has now effectively confirmed: he is becoming AMD’s

The Microsoft Surface Headphones marked an impressive debut for the company in a new product category, and today you can buy them for far, far below their usual cost. As part of Prime Day, Amazon has discounted the noise-canceling headphones all the way down to $189.99.The Surface Headphones originally sold for $350 — in line with competition from Sony and Bose. It’s been possible to find them for less in recent months, but this is a very appealing price. It was difficult to recommen

Sometimes, discovering a new fictional world is like forming a crush on a relative stranger. It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement for something fresh and unique. In fiction, that can mean discovering a new universe that feels revelatory. But often, the more you learn about that world, the less it holds up, and the less time you want to spend with it. Reading the next book in the series, or watching another episode, you become disappointed, because this shiny new world doesn’t

Facebook will not launch the cryptocurrency Libra until it has “fully addressed regulatory concerns,” according to David Marcus, the head of Facebook’s Calibra. The remarks are prepared testimony he plans to give tomorrow, in front of the US Senate Banking Committee.
The testimony outlines how Facebook believes Libra — the cryptocurrency it plans to launch next year, with an initial focus on transferring money — will be regulated across the globe. It comes in respon

Schools in the German state of Hesse will no longer be able to use Microsoft’s Office 365 thanks to the EU’s GDPR rules, the state’s data protection commissioner has ruled. The Next Web reports that the issue arose after Microsoft closed its German data center in August last year, creating the potential risk for its users’ data to be accessed by US authorities.Windows 10’s telemetry system collects a wide array of data about how you use its products and services, de

Myke Cole is best known for his fantasy work, including his military-focused urban fantasy Shadow Ops series and his more traditionally epic fantasy Sacred Throne trilogy. But with his next novel, Sixteenth Watch, he’s switching things up a bit, swapping out the swords and sorcery for spacecraft in his first novel-length science fiction work.
Like Cole’s other books, his next draws on his personal military experience. But instead of putting the spotlight on the usual branches of the

The United States Postal Service has introduced a new service that you may — or may not — find useful. Informed Delivery lets you preview the front exterior of incoming mail on your computer or phone; you can also track packages and leave delivery instructions for those packages.
This isn’t something that the USPS has developed just for its customers. According to an FAQ on the post office’s site, the USPS is already creating digital images of the front of your letter-siz

Twitch streamers are modern celebrities, ones that cater to diverse audiences through video games. But some have taken it upon themselves to innovate beyond the norm in an attempt to connect with their viewers in a meaningful and resonant way — and that can take rather odd forms. One of the more successful examples of this phenomenon happened back in February, when Daniel “RTGame” Condren gathered 200 viewers in a single Minecraft server to convert an entire biome into an islan

If you’re a shopping enthusiast or just in need of some new tech, then you’ll be glad to know that Amazon Prime Day 2019 is going strong. This annual event from one of the biggest online retailers is offering deals on computers, headphones, displays, games, and (as you might expect) a variety of Amazon-labeled devices. So if you want to save a little money (and who doesn’t these days?), then this is the place to be. We’re searching out some of the best deals so you don&rs

Amazon Prime Day 2019 runs on July 15th and 16th, but you don’t have to shop at Amazon to get some great deals. Several other retailers, including Target, B&H Photo, Best Buy, and more, are getting in on the savings, too. What’s better is that most retailers across the US don’t require a membership.
It’s still worth checking out the best Amazon Prime Day 2019 deals, if only because there’s a good chance that your preferred retailer will be able to price-match a

If you’re looking to buy a new 4K TV, Amazon Prime Day is a good opportunity to do just that. The online retailer is slashing prices for popular sets from LG, Sony, and many of its Fire TV Edition partners.Fire TV Edition TVs run Amazon’s Fire TV software; there’s no need to buy a separate streaming box or stick. They don’t match top-tier TVs in terms of picture quality, but still offer a 4K image that many will find perfectly acceptable (especially for the price).When sh

Waze’s latest update will give drivers more information about how much money they should expect to spend on tolls. While Waze has always known where the toll roads are, and allowed drivers to avoid them, the app will now list every toll’s actual price. The update, for both iOS and Android, will work in the US and Canada.Google, which owns Waze, isn’t tracking the costs itself; users have to report the prices within the app. But still, the idea is clearly to give drivers the opt

A whole host of startups have launched in recent years with the aim of making last-mile deliveries using robots. But a company from Michigan has a new spin on this familiar enterprise: it wants to put those bots in bike lanes, at least part of the time.
Refraction AI came out of stealth last week, unveiling its autonomous delivery robot REV-1 onstage at a TechCrunch event. The company’s co-founder and CEO Matthew Johnson-Roberson, a University of Michigan professor, described the three-whe

Qualcomm has announced a mid-year refresh of its flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset. The new Snapdragon 855 Plus is further optimized for gaming, VR, AI, and 5G connectivity. It sticks to the same overall design and chip layout as the 855, but Qualcomm says the Plus’ eight-core Kryo CPU runs at higher peak clock speeds of up to 2.96GHz.
But more important to gamers is a 15 percent performance improvement from the Adreno 640 GPU. That will likely result in the 855 Plus making its way into the

Alan Turing, whose work laid the groundwork for the invention of the modern computer, will be the face of the UK’s new £50 note when it goes into circulation by the end of 2021. Turing will replace Matthew Boulton and James Watt, the pioneers of the steam engine who share the current £50 note, and will join former prime minister Winston Churchill, writer Jane Austin, and artist JMW Turner who are the faces of the new £5, £10, and £20 notes.Turing has had a com

If you buy a Nintendo Switch at Amazon for $299 (its regular price), you’ll receive a $35 eShop credit, which you can use toward a new game on the eShop. It’s not technically a price cut, though it’s an Amazon Prime Day deal that brings a much better value than the standard console offering. It guarantees that you’ll have something to play shortly after unboxing the portable console.
Joy-Con controllers are an accessory that you’ll need if you want to play multiplay

The Instant Pot Duo Plus 60 6-quart pressure cooker is $55.99 for Amazon Prime Day 2019. This is $15 off of its usual price, and though it’s not the lowest price this model has ever been, it’s still a good price price to pay for such a handy kitchen tool. If you want a larger, or smaller size, those are discounted, too.
If you do all of your cooking on the stove top, the Instant Pot can handle most of those tasks without the worry of keeping the stove top element or flame on all day.

If you’re in the market for an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S10, today is the best day to pull the trigger, as the entire line of S10 phones is at their lowest price ever for Amazon Prime Day. Amazon is cutting $300 off of the S10 and S10 Plus, while the S10E is selling for $200 below its launch price. Since these are US unlocked models, they are compatible with all four major carriers (and their related subsidiaries), have full US warranties, and do not require signing up for any specific serv