New, thinner Macbook Pros will reportedly have an OLED touch bar
Barring
a big change to the trackpad, Apple's high-powered MacBook Pro models
haven't seen many major differences in recent years. That may be until
now. According to 9to5Mac, which is citing both Apple analyst Ming-Chi
Kuo and its own sources, the n... Read More ...
'Ori and the Blind Forest' finally makes its way to retail
What
began on Xbox One as a digital title, then a definitive edition on the
same console, followed by one on PC is finally making its way to bricks
and mortar stores. On June 14th, you'll be able to walk into your
favorite fine purveyor of video game... Read More ...
DJI drones can start streaming live aerial videos on Facebook
DJI
has updated its Go app to add a feature it promised in April: the
capability to stream videos over Facebook Live using compatible drones,
including the latest Phantom and Inspire. Sure, you can already stream
aerial footage of sprawling landscape... Read More ...
Watch the most powerful x-ray laser zap droplets of water
Scientists
at Stanford University's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory wanted to
better understand explosions caused by x-rays, and we got a cool short
movie out of their efforts. They filmed droplets and jets of water being
vaporized by the lab's... Read More ...
Facebook auto-translates 200 million lines of text every day
Facebook
reaches more than 1.6 billion users in every corner of the Earth.
Making sure everybody understands one another, at least at the
linguistic level, has fallen to the company's machine learning
algorithms. According to Alan Packer, Facebook's... Read More ...
Geek Squad employee allegedly searched PCs for the FBI
An
astute PC technician is supposed to report any illegal content they see
while fixing a machine, but one employee of Best Buy's Geek Squad might
have gone too far. The defense in a child pornography case alleges
that the FBI paid Geek Squad agent... Read More ...
What's on your HDTV: 'Overwatch,' 'Chef's Table'
Blizzard
is finally ready with a fully new game. The servers just went live for
Overwatch, and players enjoying its all-multiplayer action. Beyond that,
Netflix is dropping season two of its critically acclaimed Chef's Table
series, as well as its se... Read More ...
'Romancing SaGa 2' is out for mobile devices this week
Square
Enix has been hard at work this year bringing titles we previously
thought may never see the light of day in the west to mobile devices.
The latest to join the ranks of mobile ports is Romancing SaGa 2, a port
of the cult classic Super Famicom... Read More ...
ATM hacking spree nets thieves $12.7 million in two hours
Normally
when your data is part of a haul from some security breach your most
immediate worry is about how it can be used to steal your identity
online. Well, sometimes that information is instrumental in physical
heists. On May 15th, a team of hacke... Read More ...
Facebook Live adds nonstop, 24-hour video
As
part of the social network's wider push into live video, Facebook is
expanding beyond on-the-ground journalism and in-car Star Wars toy
reviews. TechCrunch reports Facebook Live will now also allow for
24-hour, nonstop streaming broadcasts. Read More ...
Polaroid's first smart TVs pack 4K and Google Cast
When
Google unveiled a wider range of TVs with Google Cast support, you
might have done a double-take when you saw Polaroid's name -- what, the
reborn camera maker? Yes, it's true... and you may have a good reason
to take notice. Polaroid has unvei... Read More ...
Snapchat does something useful, lets you buy 'X-Men' tickets
Although
they're sitting out Comic-Con, 20th Century Fox is going big with their
Snapchat-based promotions for Friday's release of X-Men: Apocalypse.
While users will notice Snapchat's filter lenses are all mutant-themed
today, the movie studio has a... Read More ...
Amazon no longer offers refunds for after-the-sale price drops
Say
goodbye to the days when Amazon would cut you a break if the price of a
product dropped right after you ordered it. Customers are reporting
that Amazon has stopped offering partial refunds on orders if a price
drop happens within 7 days -- if you... Read More ...
NASA is building the next Mars rover in mixed reality
I
poked my head inside NASA's latest Mars rover. During a mixed reality
demonstration at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, as
soon as I strapped on a HoloLens, a vibrant holographic vehicle popped
up in front of me. Read More ...
ESPN and 'League of Legends' studio aren't making a broadcast deal
League
of Legends is one of the most popular esports titles in the world, but
it's not heading to ESPN any time soon. Spokespeople for Riot Games and
ESPN tell Engadget that the companies are not working on a broadcasting
deal, despite a report on PV... Read More ...
Facebook Live video replays will highlight the best moments
By
now, you've certainly heard about Facebook's live video push. As the
company continues to revise the live-streaming feature, new tools are
being added on the regular. TechCrunch reports that the social network
will soon let viewers skip straight t... Read More ...
Violent crime prediction algorithms are racially biased
When
a criminal defendant faces sentencing in the United States, a judge can
use several factors to determine a punishment that fits the crime.
Increasingly, one of those factors is what is known as a "risk
assessment score" -- a number meant to pred... Read More ...
Netflix's Disney streaming exclusives start in September
Netflix
is about to get a whole lot more magical. There's a whole cadre of
additional Disney films coming to the streaming service this September
as Netflix becomes the exclusive streaming service for movies from
Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar. Read More ...
Android will have password-free sign-ins by the end of 2016
Back
in 2015, Google teased the prospect of Project Abacus, a sign-in
approach for Android that ditches passwords in favor of a trust system
that uses patterns (such as location, typing speed and voice) to verify
your identity. But when is it coming... Read More ...
Facebook offers a free VR audio tool thanks to a buyout
Facebook
isn't merely content to make a virtual reality camera rig and call it a
day. The company has revealed that it acquired Two Big Ears, the
creator of the VR audio app Spatial Workstation, and has set the
software loose. As of now, Spatial Work... Read More ...
Chance the Rapper's streaming-only album hits Billboard chart
In
late 2014, the Billboard 200 chart began to take into account both
album sales and streaming plays for its rankings. When the list is
updated this week, the first streaming-only album will be included on
the chart. Chance the Rapper's Coloring Boo... Read More ...
Chicago turns to big data to predict gun and gang violence
Chicago
has been inundated with gun-related crimes over the past year -- nearly
3,000 people were shot in 2015, along with another 240 already in 2016.
However, in a city of 2.7 million, the CPD attributes much of this
violence to a small segment of... Read More ...
Waterstones is done selling e-books
Waterstones
is well and truly getting back to basics today, as it has dropped
e-books and audiobooks from its online store. The digital libraries of
Waterstones customers will remain accessible until June 13th, with Kobo
taking over the following day... Read More ...
AT&T streamlines its smartphone installment plans
AT&T's
current Next installment plans are a little bewildering, to put it
mildly. Do you want to trade in at 12, 18 or 24 months? How about a
downpayment and installments for 28 months? Mercifully, the carrier
knows what a mess it made. As of Jun... Read More ...
Dell's 43-inch, 4K monitor supports four clients on one screen
Dell's
latest monitor is a doozy. The Dell 43 Multi-Client Monitor (P4317Q) is
a 4K, 43-inch beast that acts as if it's four displays squished into
one. When shown on a single screen, the displays are borderless, but
users are able to swap any of the... Read More ...
Available Tags:Macbook , Facebook , Google , Amazon , NASA , Android , smartphone ,
After
months of delays and days of flying, Solar Impulse 2 has finished
crossing the Pacific. The sunlight-powered aircraft arrived in San
Francisco Bay on the night of April 23rd, with an expected touchdown at
Moffett Field (as of this writing) aro... 
NASA
is big on solar electric propulsion (the Dawn spacecraft uses it, for
instance) for a good reason: while the engines aren't powerful, they
supply thrust for a very long time before giving up the ghost. And it
now looks like the agency is ready t... 
Intel's
bid to promote company diversity is running into opposition... and some
of it is particularly vicious. CEO Brian Krzanich told guests at a
technology conference that it has received some hostility, including a
"bit of a backlash" from within... 
Birds
can navigate both urban and real jungles with ease even when they're
facing moderately turbulent winds. If they could speak, we'd have
already asked their secret. But since they can't, the Stanford School of
Engineering built one of the most ad... 
Thanks
in part to leaks, it's no secret that the National Security Agency's
foreign intelligence gathering also covers some Americans. But just
how many Americans are under watch, and how many are simply innocents
caught in the crossfire? Congress... 
When
Rust creator Garry Newman introduced female character models to the
open world survival game, he said the idea was rooted in a social
experiment: He wanted to see if lady characters would be attacked more
or less because players might perceive t... 
Even
a tech giant like Facebook isn't immune to significant security
breaches. Devcore's Orange Tsai recently discovered that someone had
installed a backdoor on one of Facebook's corporate servers (that is,
not the social network itself) in a bid t... 
Known
for chic, artisanal digital products like a $190 walnut keyboard,
French company Orée is going after the creative set with the Stylograph.
Fabricated from pure copper, the ink stylus lets you transcribe your
scribblings from paper over t... 
Roku
has seemingly done the impossible with its latest Streaming Stick. It's
smaller than the previous 2014-era version, it packs in a faster
quad-core CPU and it's still just $50. The speed improvements, in
particular, are a welcome change because t... 
By Cat DiStasio
Developer
Mojang might be best known for wildly popular and influential
Minecraft, but it's no one-trick pony. Which brings us to Crown
& Council, the studio's latest that, from the sounds of it, is a
fast-paced strategy game in the vein of Risk... 
CERN
will keep you researchers, students and dataphiles busy this weekend.
The institute has released 300 terabytes of Large Hadron Collider data
collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector back in 2011. You
know how scientists use the coll... 
Apple's
laying the law down: Watch apps must operate without an iPhone nearby.
In a blog post, the company mandates that anything submitted for App
Store approval from this June 1st forward has to be a native app running
watchOS 2. This should be a b... 
The
Department of Justice will no longer go after Apple in court in an
effort to compel the company to unlock an iPhone related to a Brooklyn
drug case. According to the court document US Attorney Robert Capers
submitted (and obtained by Apple Inside... 
People
who live in countries with a strict nationwide internet filter always
come up with ways to get around it. In Iran, according to Wired, people
are using satellite TV and a free anti-censorship system called Toosheh.
While Iranians do use VPN to... 
There's
a chance Tekken X Street Fighter will never see the light of day. Or it
could, but not anytime soon. In a recent interview with GameSpot,
Tekken's game director Katsuhiro Harada revealed that development for
the highly anticipated crossover i... 
Researchers
looking for a better way to secure their face computers have come up
with a novel solution for hands-free, head-mounted password entry. A
device could potentially identify its wearer by emitting an ultrasonic
hum through their skull and l... 
It's
a bad idea to text and drive. Beyond just being dangerous, it's now
illegal in most US states and in several countries around the world.
Yet, despite the many ad campaigns telling them it's wrong, people still
do it. In fact, some of them actual... 
Sure,
smartphone fingerprint scanners like Apple's Touch ID and Google's
Nexus Imprint help keep your phone more secure. But they also make it
easier to log into various apps or make purchases without having to type
an unwieldy password into your pho... 
Even
if you haven't played it yet, one thing is clear about No Man's Sky:
It's stunning. The entire game hinges on the idea of procedural
generation on a massive scale, meaning when artists at Hello Games
create a patch of grass or a fluffy animal ta... 
Most
of us know how we can be friendlier to the environment: We can drive
less, recycle more and bring tote bags to the grocery store. But what
most people don't realize is that we can make green choices when it
comes to consumer electronics too. Tha... 
On
Sunday, 60 Minutes took a year-old segment on phone hacking it shot and
aired in Australia, fluffed it up with other old hacks from last year's
Def Con and repackaged it for an American audience.