Last month, Google updated its search engine to quickly display information about the US presidential election, including delegate counts and the political stances of each presidential candidate. Now it's adding campaign finance information provided by the Center for Responsive P … | Continue reading
Harrison Ford will return once again as Indiana Jones. Disney announced this morning that he'll star in a new movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, slated for release on July 19th, 2019.That's basically all of the detail we have so far. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, who wor … | Continue reading
Director Mike Flanagan introduced his second feature film, Hush, at the Alamo Drafthouse screening I attended this weekend saying, "this screening that you're seeing, here in this theater, is the best one so far." Aside from the noxious combination of the Drafthouse's pizza, beer … | Continue reading
The new Fitbit Blaze is a good Fitbit. Like earlier Fitbit models, the $200 Blaze will track your daily activity, count your steps, monitor your heart rate, gauge how well you're sleeping, and put all of that data into an excellent, easy-to-use app on your phone. It will show you … | Continue reading
Android apps are going to start looking a bit more like iOS apps in the near future. Google updated its Android design guidelines yesterday telling developers that, in some cases, they should place a bar across the bottom of their app that can be used to navigate between differen … | Continue reading
Apple Music has partnered with Dubset Media Holdings to stream remixes, mash-ups, and DJ mixes that were previously unavailable due to copyright issues, according to a report from Billboard.For years, mixes and mash-ups have been kept off streaming services due to the complexitie … | Continue reading
Today, Google added a new section to its transparency report, giving users a running tally of how many Google requests use HTTPS encryption. Groups like EFF have long pushed for wider usage of HTTPS, but implementation can be demanding, particularly for services as complex as Goo … | Continue reading
"My programming skills suck," says Adrian Lazar as I play his video game, a retro sci-fi romp with an appropriately matinee-friendly title, Planet Alpha 31. Lazar, a professional game artist with experience at a AAA studio, began work on the indie side-project in 2013 using the U … | Continue reading
Pop quiz: If a college student creates the next Angry Birds as a class project, who owns that intellectual property? The student? The entire class? The university? IP ownership for the college projects may sound inconsequential, but in an environment where indie games can become … | Continue reading
In 2013, billionaire eccentric inventor Elon Musk announced an idea called the Hyperloop: a super-fast, low-friction transportation system that looked like the prom photo for a subway tunnel and a bullet-train. Musk made the Hyperloop an open-sourced project, inviting thinkers, s … | Continue reading
Reporting from South Korea on AlphaGo’s matches against Go genius Lee Se-dol over the past week and a half has been intense and fascinating. I’ve written about the results of each game, how Google subsidiary DeepMind achieved them, what they might mean for the future, and more. I … | Continue reading
Ten pigeons with tiny backpacks are flying over London for the next two days monitoring the city’s pollution levels. Pigeon Patrol, as they’re called by the companies behind the project, are live tweeting the pollution data at their account @PigeonAir. Meet the squad.Good day Lon … | Continue reading
After years of unofficial demos and fan projects, you can finally use an actual, Lucasfilm-approved lightsaber in virtual reality — just not for very long.Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine is billed as “a cinematic virtual reality experiment” from Lucasfilm’s ILMxLab, where members o … | Continue reading
"I'm here to tell you a story."George Hotz welcomed a packed room at SXSW yesterday for his panel "I Built a Better Self-Driving Car Than Tesla" with an intro as buzzy as the event's title. Hotz introduced his company, comma.ai, saying "We are a company! I did that whole song and … | Continue reading
Here maps has been a strong part of Microsoft's Windows Phone offering for years, but that's coming to an end later this month. Here is announcing today that it plans to pull its mapping apps for Windows 10 on March 29th, and "will limit the development of the apps for Windows Ph … | Continue reading
Every trailer for Daredevil's second season makes it look like Matt Murdock has stepped into The Matrix to fight off villains skilled in martial arts and sword fighting while bathed in darkness and yellow-green light, and this final trailer only helps to cement how fantastic all … | Continue reading
If you're a longtime reader of The Verge, Engadget, or any of a dozen other publications that have been following consumer tech for the past few years, you're likely familiar with Gene Munster, a research analyst with investment bank Piper Jaffray. Hoo boy, are you ever familiar … | Continue reading
Next month, Airbnb will unveil a new tool to allow neighbors of unruly renters to complain directly to the home-sharing company. Airbnb won't say whether the comments will be made public, nor how it will affect the status of those rentals that are subject to numerous complaints. … | Continue reading
Two years ago at GDC, Sony first unveiled its VR initiative, then called Project Morpheus. Today, the company is holding a press event all about PlayStation VR — and while it isn't entirely clear what will be announced, given Oculus and Vive's rapidly approaching launch dates, … | Continue reading
It can be easy to forget the human element behind robotic spaceflight. When we send complex, exploratory probes deep into space, much of the focus centers around the spacecraft themselves — that thing that travels through the Universe — and less on the spacecraft's makers at home … | Continue reading
After conquering the world of live-streamed video games, Twitch is obviously in need of a snack. The company is branching out with a new channel dedicated to cooking, launching today at 3PM ET. To celebrate, the channel will be streaming a four-day marathon of Julia Child's The F … | Continue reading
Today, Razer is announcing a new version of its Blade laptop that has upgraded components, a lighter design, and a lower price on its higher-end configurations. The 14-inch Blade, which sits in the middle of Razer's laptop lineup, is designed for gamers that want a portable machi … | Continue reading
UberEats, the rideshare company's standalone food delivery app, is rolling out in a dozen more cities over the next several weeks. Starting today, the app is live in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Houston. And in the coming weeks, it will be available in New York City, … | Continue reading
When Nokia’s cellphone star faded, it was Samsung that stepped into the role of the world’s biggest phone vendor while others took over the mantle of being design leaders. The most copied designs today still come from Apple, but now that Samsung has introduced the superb Galaxy S … | Continue reading
Microsoft came close to publicly testing its browser extensions support for Edge last year, before delaying it to early 2016. Now it appears Microsoft is close to offering an early look at the feature to Windows 10 testers. MSPowerUser spotted that Microsoft's official website fo … | Continue reading
It all started when I left my house without my wallet. I had ventured out to grab some lunch with no cash or cards to pay for it, only my iPhone or Apple Watch. I've used Apple Pay on my iPhone and Watch before, but this was the first time it was actually useful. I paid for a san … | Continue reading
Cartoon Network pulled out all the stops tonight for a party at Austin's Long Center Terrace in celebration of three very special ladies — Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. What's a party without pink, green, and blue cotton candy, blankets, glow sticks, t-shirts, popcorn, and... … | Continue reading
Artificial intelligence has beaten the ancient board game of Go, but can it master Minecraft? Researchers from Microsoft are opening up the game to computer scientists who want to train up AI programs.Using games to test an AI's ability to teach itself a set of rules is an establ … | Continue reading
Sometimes you just have to admit that, yes, you're not quite sure what a thing is, or what it does, but you know — just instinctively know — that you love how it looks. So it is with 2020, a Japanese beat machine app that's being funded on Kickstarter, and that has one of the mos … | Continue reading
Volkswagen is facing a €3.3 billion ($3.7 billion) lawsuit from investors who claim that the German automaker took too long to disclose information about its diesel emissions scandal. The lawsuit was filed Monday in Braunschweig Regional Court, Bloomberg reports, marking the stee … | Continue reading
After suffering its first defeat in the Google DeepMind Challenge Match on Sunday, the Go-playing AI AlphaGo has beaten world-class player Lee Se-dol for a fourth time to win the five-game series 4-1 overall. The final game proved to be a close one, with both sides fighting hard … | Continue reading
For the first time, a senior NFL official has acknowledged that there is a connection between football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease discovered in the brains of several former professional players. Jeff Miller, the NFL's senior vice president for he … | Continue reading
Finally there’s a use for dog drool: this spring, a new startup called Embark plans to launch a DNA testing kit for dogs that will tell owners about their canine’s ancestry, and disease risk. That’s not all the founders have in mind though; they may be aiming at human diseases by … | Continue reading
A beautiful friendship is blossoming between ex-Microsoft head Steve Ballmer and self-proclaimed greatest artist ever Kanye West. The two men are scheduled to meet this week, after they bonded yesterday over Chuck the Condor, the mascot for the Ballmer-owned LA Clippers. Chuck is … | Continue reading
Most people know iRobot for its line of Roomba vacuums, but the Massachusetts-based company offers a whole array of robotic cleaners, from gutter cleaners to pool cleaners to floor scrubbers. Today it's expanding its line of floor cleaners, to include a cheaper, simplified model. … | Continue reading
General Motors and Lyft are ready to take their two-month-old relationship to the next level, jointly announcing the launch of a short-term vehicle rental for people who want to drive for the ride-hail service but lack the wheels to do so. But this is not your typical car rental … | Continue reading
Twitch doesn't just want you watching games on its streaming service: it wants you interacting with them too. Building off of the success of internet sensations like "Twitch Plays Pokemon," today Twitch is announcing a new initiative called "stream first" that it hopes will encou … | Continue reading
Apple is adding sponsored posts to Apple News, allowing advertisers to place their own articles right alongside the editorial stories people open up the app to find. Sponsored stories will appear in the news feed like any other article, the only difference being a small label ben … | Continue reading
British Gas wants to text its customers the second it detects a problem with their heating system. To do that, it's starting a program called Boiler IQ. Customers who sign up will essentially have their boiler retrofitted with smart home tech that's capable of reporting many issu … | Continue reading
A Russian court seconded a prior decision today when it determined that Google violated anti-trust laws by forcing Android phone manufacturers to include its apps on devices by default. The suit claimed that the company broke Russian law by requiring the country's manufacturers t … | Continue reading
If you're building a new social network likely to get battered in the marketplace, you may as well call it Waffle. The latest entry in the ever-expanding category of Weird Samsung Things allows you to post a photo that your friends can annotate by adding their own photos or drawi … | Continue reading
Bitcoin was almost dealt a major blow today when it seemed Microsoft would stop accepting the cryptocurrency for digital purchases through customer accounts. But the company now says an update to a support page was posted erroneously and contained "inaccurate" information. Bitcoi … | Continue reading
Last year, Verizon began offering an annual upgrade option for customers who purchased an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus. Now it's expanding the offering to customers who pick up a Samsung Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge. Every Verizon customer who utilizes its device installment option to pic … | Continue reading
Kanye West made his first update to The Life of Pablo today, a change reflected only on Tidal, where Kanye says the album will live forever. As Reddit user JayElect points out, the album track "Famous" has gotten a few new lyrics and some minor production changes. It's not a big … | Continue reading
Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of the embattled blood-testing startup Theranos, has lost commercial partners, board members and a lot of credibility over the last few months. Prize-winning reporting from the Wall Street Journal indicates that her multibillion dollar startup’s highly publi … | Continue reading
I was beginning to have the itch, a low-level anxiety that occurs on the third or fourth day of a film festival when you haven't seen anything you feel terribly strongly about one way or another. SXSW, in addition to being a premiere showcase for brands, bands and media outlets, … | Continue reading
The sci-fi adventure set to follow up indie-hit Gone Home has been delayed until next year. Game studio Fullbright announced this morning that development on Tacoma has taken longer than expected, requiring it to push the game's release date from "mid-to-late 2016" to spring of 2 … | Continue reading
Since the dawn of music, mankind has wished to turn their laziest vocal expressions into song. And since roughly 2011, when Smule introduced the Songify app, that's been totally possible. But what if you just wanted to hum? That was the ambitious question that Samsung began to as … | Continue reading