Or, how Apple Podcasts went from 1.8 stars to 4.7 stars | Continue reading
On Friday, China’s version of Twitter, Sina Weibo, banned all content containing homosexuality from its platform. But after a weekend full of online protests, Weibo has reversed its decision, clarifying that it’s not targeting gay content anymore. Weibo wrote in a post on Monday, … | Continue reading
HMD Global is bringing the updated Nokia 6 to the US for $269.99, after launching it in China back in January, via Android Central. The original Nokia 6 marked the brand’s return to the US under the stewardship of HMD, albeit as a decidedly budget experience. The updated model lo … | Continue reading
Police in South Wales have arrested a drug dealer based on a WhatsApp message with a photograph of the dealer’s hand holding an assortment of pills, according to a report from the BBC. The first convictions in Wales based on fingerprints from a photo Despite that the photo only o … | Continue reading
Bourge Design, the company behind the Arc Hub — one of the best USB-C hubs around — is back with its next device, a wireless charger named Venus. Much like the Arc Hub, Venus is a simple idea combined with high-end materials. It’s made from glass and aluminum, and features simple … | Continue reading
Fitbit is making it easier to use its Coach training service, with a new version now available on the Windows Store for Xbox One consoles and Windows 10 PCs. Fitbit Coach is Fitbit’s $39.99 per year subscription service that gives users access to personalized training through an … | Continue reading
At CES this year, I saw the future of headphones and it was messy. Where we once had the solid reliability of a 3.5mm analog connector working with any jack shaped to receive it, there’s now a divergence of digital alternatives — Lightning or USB-C, depending on your choice of ja … | Continue reading
Jill Soloway’s I Love Dick has been canceled after one season, Variety reports. The show, an adaptation of Chris Kraus’ modern classic feminist novel and a long overdue star vehicle for Kathryn Hahn, was lauded for its boundary-pushing depiction of “the female loser” and female a … | Continue reading
Cryptocurrencies have had a rough week: the value of bitcoin plunged to a mere 50 percent of its 2017 peak, and other currencies, such as Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin have seen double-digit losses compared to their heights from last year. Tuesday also witnessed the collapse of … | Continue reading
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has revealed he asks his staff to print out Donald Trump’s tweets so he can read them, according to several reports. Tillerson made the comments at a Stanford University talk on Wednesday, saying that by the time his staff hand him the printed twe … | Continue reading
It seems like there may still be some room for the Nintendo 3DS after all. Today, Nintendo revealed some of its sales numbers in the US, and the 3DS — which many predicted would die out following the launch of the Switch — actually saw a jump in sales. According to Nintendo, the … | Continue reading
Lifeguards testing out new drone technology in Australia have saved two people stranded off the coast of New South Wales state, as spotted by Quartz. The drone footage shows a birds-eye view of the ocean before the drone ejects the yellow floatation device, which inflates when it … | Continue reading
Each and every year we see more and more laptops at the Consumer Electronics Show. We’ve seen insanely small and light ones, giant gaming machines, ones that flip and spin, and then just regular plain old laptops. At this year’s show the laptops haven’t been as insane, but a few … | Continue reading
Sophia the robot is a bit of a non-persona non grata in the AI community. Its creators, Hanson Robotics, consistently exaggerate the bot’s abilities, pretending that it’s “basically alive,” rather than just a particularly unnerving automaton. For AI researchers, this has long bee … | Continue reading
Anyone who’s ever heard the Grado name is probably also familiar with the old-school way this headphones manufacturer does business. The majority of Grado models are still made by hand at the company’s original home in Brooklyn, New York, and very little has changed about the mat … | Continue reading
Amazon’s Echo devices will be released in Australia and New Zealand in early February. Customers can preorder an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Plus online from today and the devices are expected to ship early next month. The devices will also be available to buy directly from ma … | Continue reading
A bug has been discovered in iOS that crashes the Messages app and can freeze or restart your phone when you’re sent a specially-engineered website link. The bug was discovered by software developer Abraham Masri, who gave it the catchy — if slightly alarmist — name of “chaiOS.” … | Continue reading
As we reported last week, Intel’s Meltdown and Spectre patch is causing reboot problems for older processors. Now Intel says the current firmware updates may be causing computers with newer chips to reboot more frequently as well. In a blog post, Intel VP Navin Shenoy said firmwa … | Continue reading
Apple CEO Tim Cook today shared that the next update to iOS 11 will allow users to disable battery performance throttling on their device. The move comes after Apple last month admitted it intentionally slows down iPhones as they get older to prevent issues that may arise as the … | Continue reading
In 2016, Tristan Harris, whose job title at Google was “design ethicist,” left the company to focus on a new nonprofit he called Time Well Spent. The goal of Time Well Spent is to reverse what it cals “the digital attention crisis” — the brilliants minds at Google, Apple, Faceboo … | Continue reading
Just ahead of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show, Pioneer DJ has unveiled its newest controller, the DDJ-1000. Meant for dedicated use with its rekordbox dj software, the DDJ-1000 is designed to look almost exactly like the standard setup a DJ would encounter … | Continue reading
An Apple supplier in China has once again been flagged for having poor factory working conditions by a report today from non-profit China Labor Watch, which Bloomberg added original reporting to. The report details working conditions at a Catcher Technology factory, which manufac … | Continue reading
Not to be left out by rivals, BMW and Mercedes-Benz appear to be joining the world of automotive subscription models that cover all of the fees required with car ownership or leasing under one payment. Both BMW and Mercedes are expected to announce pilot programs for a subscripti … | Continue reading
In the first high-profile attempt to block the FCC’s rollback of net neutrality rules through the courts, 22 state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit challenging the agency’s repeal plan. Led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the petition asks a court to find th … | Continue reading
An interactive booklet called Papier Machine is making beautiful STEM toys that are actually fun and accessible, by combining paper with electronic circuitry. The booklet contains pages silkscreened with conductive silver ink that can be assembled to create six electronic paper t … | Continue reading
Between his first published story in 1952 and his death in 1982, Philip K. Dick produced dozens of novels and more than a hundred short stories. Moving past famous works like A Scanner Darkly or The Man in the High Castle, Amazon Video’s anthology show Philip K. Dick’s Electric D … | Continue reading
Congress is starting to ask hard questions about the fallout from the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. Today, Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) sent a letter requesting a briefing from Intel, AMD, and ARM about the vulnerabilities’ impact on consumers. Embedded below, the letter in … | Continue reading
In an attempt to curtail spammy content, WhatsApp seems to be testing out notifications that alert users if they receive a message that has been forwarded many times, or if they are about to forward one of these messages themselves, as reported by TechCrunch. Several WhatsApp sit … | Continue reading
Ferrari will build a battery-electric supercar in a bid to challenge Tesla for a piece of the high-end, eco-conscious luxury market. CEO Sergio Marchionne, who also heads Fiat Chrysler, said that the Italian racecar company would also make a Ferrari SUV — after previously dismiss … | Continue reading
A new Uber policy will mandate that drivers in the UK take at least a six-hour break after working a continuous shift of 10 hours, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. The limit on the amount of time that drivers can spend picking up and dropping off passengers will go into effect … | Continue reading
The saga of ex-Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski continues to get stranger, with fresh accusations of stealing trade secrets. This time, they’re coming from the somewhat surprising source of Erika Wong, the former nanny for Levandowski’s two children from December 2016 to June 20 … | Continue reading
Facebook has ordered a 10-episode drama series from Blumhouse Television and two of the team members behind HBO’s True Blood. Facebook’s director of development, Ricky Van Veen, made the announcement today at the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) confe … | Continue reading
If your internet connection has been going down, your Google Home and Chromecast devices could be to blame. The issue initially seemed to be relegated only to those who owned the Google Home Max speaker and TP-Link Archer C7 router. New issues have been reported involving other d … | Continue reading
An ambitious bet from Blizzard Continue reading… | Continue reading
At the end of this month, NASA is launching a new mission to space to better understand how energetic particles mingle in the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere in what’s known as space weather. And for the first time, the mission won’t rely on a full satellite to gather data fr … | Continue reading
Airbnb is introducing a new way for users to pay for rentals, letting them reserve accommodation by paying 50 percent upfront and 50 percent before they arrive. The feature, called Pay Less Up Front, effectively lets customers stagger the cost of accommodation — perfect if you’re … | Continue reading
Last year, the company that arguably made the biggest splash at the North American International Auto Show wasn’t even a company that made cars. Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, came to Detroit with its autonomous minivan in tow with the unspoken intent of … | Continue reading
WeChat disabled its built-in tipping system last year, after Apple issued a new policy that recognized tips as in-app purchases. WeChat, which bundles services inside its app, is a popular messaging app used in China for group chats, streaming, and even accessing services like fo … | Continue reading
Natural Cycles, a contraceptive app that became certified in the EU as a form of birth control, has been hit with a complaint after being blamed for causing 37 unwanted pregnancies, reports Swedish publication SVT. Södersjukhuset hospital in Stockholm reported the app to Swedish … | Continue reading
Facebook’s ongoing experimentation with the content of the News Feed is boosting posts that promote fake news, reports The New York Times. The social networking site is currently testing a feature that separates users’ posts from content from professional news sites. News stories … | Continue reading
The prevailing design trend with smart speakers like the Amazon Echo has been to make them look as minimalist and unassuming as possible, presumably so they can be placed anywhere around the house. The Raven H, however, looks like it spilled out of a kid’s toy closet. I love it. … | Continue reading
OnePlus is investigating reports of customers’ credit card details being stolen after they bought goods from the smartphone maker online. The investigation began after a poll posted by users on OnePlus’ forums found that many customers had experienced the same problem. In the pol … | Continue reading
A mysterious epidemic that killed millions of people in 16th century Mexico may be linked to a rare strain of Salmonella, a new DNA analysis reveals. The discovery is the best clue yet to the cause of a devastating infection that killed up to 80 percent of Mexico’s native populat … | Continue reading
I was initially surprised at the reaction to the #MeToo movement, the social media continuation of the sexual-misconduct backlash that toppled prominent men like Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein. I wasn’t shocked to learn that sexual harassment and assault are so widespread — th … | Continue reading
You probably haven’t heard of GAC, the Chinese automaker with big designs on the US market. At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, GAC is seeking to up its profile in advance of its 2019 US launch with — what else? — an eye-catching, futuristic, mostly irration … | Continue reading
Emoji have become a language of their own, but until recently, the language made it hard to talk about climate change: There are no emoji about pollution, wildfires, or rising sea levels. So artists Marina Zurkow and Viniyata Pany launched a set of mobile stickers specifically ab … | Continue reading
Simple, rugged looks hide a beautifully detailed machine Continue reading… | Continue reading
Luxury watchmaker Ressence has a new prototype watch it’s showing off at the SIHH 2018 watch show (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, in case you were curious) called the Type 2 e-Crown Concept, as reported by Hodinkee. While it’s not quite a retail product just yet, it … | Continue reading