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
On first mention, the 2019 Volkswagen Jetta may not sound like it’s worthy of making much of a splash. Yet Volkswagen used the 2018 Detroit Auto Show to launch a new version of the Jetta, its bread-and-butter sedan in the US. While the company promises a whole new range of EVs (s … | Continue reading
In December, Saudi Arabia lifted a 35-year ban on commercial theaters, and this past weekend the first movie screenings were opened to the public. One of the screenings was a double-feature of The Emoji Movie and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie in the city of Jeddah, Reu … | Continue reading
Ever look down at your $1,600 Tag Heuer smartwatch and think, “Gosh, this really could use $195,400 of diamonds on it?” Apparently someone at Tag Heuer did, because at this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Genève watch show (also known as SIHH 2018), the company … | Continue reading
These days, it’s almost impossible to talk about any kind of science-fiction TV anthology without comparing it to Charlie Brooker’s future-fears series Black Mirror. It’s the question most SF fans and telephiles will immediately ask. The new Amazon Prime Video anthology Philip K. … | Continue reading
Infiniti’s Q Inspiration midsize luxury sedan concept has all the design accents that scream “the future,” but the engine under the hood is rooted in the past. Nissan’s luxury vehicle division revealed the Q Inspiration Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detr … | Continue reading
The new 2019 Ram 1500 has many things you’d expect from a truck: vast towing capacity, a bountiful maximum payload, and loads of horsepower. But it also has something you might not expect: a massive 12-inch touchscreen display embedded in the dashboard that supports both Apple Ca … | Continue reading
Toyota’s new 2019 Avalon was just announced at the 2018 North American International Auto Show, and the new model includes a long-awaited and welcome addition: Apple’s CarPlay platform, a first for a Toyota car, according to AppleInsider. Toyota has famously abstained from adopti … | Continue reading
“It’s the world’s thinnest notebook,” said Steve Jobs as he introduced the MacBook Air 10 years ago today. Apple’s Macworld 2008 was a special one, taking place just days after the annual Consumer Electronics Show had ended and Bill Gates bid farewell to Microsoft. Jobs introduce … | Continue reading
The Nissan Xmotion may look like an SUV on the surface, but to take step inside is to enter a dense forest of technology. The concept car, revealed today at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, has a total of seven digital touchscreens inside, making it one of t … | Continue reading
Ford Motor Company said Sunday that it would more than double its investment in the production of electric vehicles, promising to spend $11 billion on the technology by 2022. The auto giant will roll out 16 fully electric cars within five years, the first of which would arrive in … | Continue reading
Tag Heuer’s latest Android Wear smartwatch, the $1,200 Connected Modular 41, is Swiss-made and a nice choice if you’re looking for something with a bit more weight and quality than most wearables. The Connected Modular 41 is water resistant up to 50 meters, and features GPS, an N … | Continue reading
Every January, the auto industry gathers in Detroit for the (terribly named) North American International Auto Show. It falls just after CES and reminds us that, for all the futuristic tech we saw in Las Vegas, car companies are mostly concerned about selling cars today. This yea … | Continue reading
The annual Consumer Electronics Show is always a good opportunity to get an early look at devices coming throughout the year. It’s also a reasonable gauge on the health of an ecosystem, or emerging platforms. At this year’s CES it was all about Alexa vs. Google Assistant. If you … | Continue reading