Latest Technology

Employees are walking out of Google offices worldwide in protest today as a storm around the company’s handling of sexual harassment cases continues to gather strength. Organizers of the Google Walkout for Real Change tell The New York Times that more than 1,500 employees, mostly women, are planning to walk out from more than 60 percent of Google’s offices at 11:10AM as timezones roll around the world. “We don’t want to feel that we’re unequal or we’re not respected anymore,” said Claire Stapleton, a YouTube product marketing manager, to the Times . “Google’s famous for its culture. But in reality we’re not even meeting the basics of respect, justice and fairness for every single person here.” The walkout is already taking place in Asian... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2EYoLKH

For people with a lively interest in cinema’s rapid technolgical and cultural evolution over the past few decades, few areas are as fascinating as the horror genre. Just a few decades ago, horror films were mostly considered disreputable and schlocky. The field was dominated by cookie-cutter sequels full of masked slashers and low-rent monsters, and while many actors of note started out in horror, few willingly stayed there if they could get more prestigious work. Directors were another thing entirely, with a handful of dedicated genre enthusiasts, from George Romero to David Cronenberg, reliably cranking out memorable work — but they were usually the exception to the rule. But rapid changes in digital effects, filmmaking, and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OiRUj0

Digital authoritarianism is on the rise, according to a new report from a group that monitors internet freedoms. Freedom House , a pro-democracy think tank, said today that governments are seeking more control over users’ data while also using laws nominally intended to address “fake news” to suppress dissent. It marked the eighth consecutive year that Freedom House found a decline in online freedoms around the world. “The clear emergent theme in this report is the growing recognition that the internet, once seen as a liberating technology, is increasingly being used to disrupt democracies as opposed to destabilizing dictatorships,” said Mike Abramowitz, president of Freedom House, in a call with reporters. “Propaganda and disinformation... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2SxxsP3

Trials for AI lie detection at border patrol checkpoints are set to begin soon in the EU. The program, called iBorderCtrl , will run for six months at four border crossing points in Hungary, Latvia and Greece with countries outside the European Union, as reported by Gizmodo . iBorderCtrl is an EU-funded project that uses AI in order to facilitate faster border crossings for travelers. The system has users fill out an online application and upload some documents, like their passport, before a virtual border guard takes over to ask questions. According to New Scientist , some of these questions include “What’s in your suitcase?” and “If you open the suitcase and show me what is inside, will it confirm that your answers were true?” Travelers... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Pwj9eU

CBS continues to embrace online video streaming, introducing a second standalone network today that will be dedicated entirely to entertainment news. According to TechCrunch , the new streaming network is called ET Live, and is a project from CBS Interactive and Entertainment Tonight , which is owned by CBS TV. The streaming service is free of charge, but supported by ads — meaning you’ll have to sit through ads just like traditional TV. Unlike the Entertainment Tonight television show, which runs for 30 minutes every weekday on CBS, ET Live will carry entertainment news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This will include “breaking news, celebrity interviews, features, behind-the-scenes and red carpet coverage, plus trends stories across... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2DfmoBy

As podcasting has matured as a medium, it’s grown to cover almost every genre and style imaginable, from old-school tech talk and true crime , to sci-fi and sobering historical deep dives . It’s also proven extraordinarily adept at horror, with both fictional podcasts and real-life tales offering a variety of scares, chills, and unsettling encounters. Much like traditional radio dramas, there’s a distinct intimacy to the format, one that allows talented storytellers to unnerve audiences with nothing more than sound. For Halloween, we’ve collected some of the best and scariest podcasts to grace our smartphones. They might be brand-new shows, or long-running classics, but like a great horror movie or novel, each and every one is practically... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2PubOwp

By now, filmmakers and game designers have jump-scares down to a science. All it takes to really startle an audience is a combination of unsettling music, a protagonist or avatar creeping up on something they probably shouldn’t approach, and a big blare of sound and something moving rapidly at the screen. The formula works just about every time, to the point where a painfully clunky horror movie like Rings can get away with startling audiences just by having an umbrella open up on-screen really, really loudly. But good horror — the kind that gets in under the skin and really sticks with you over time — usually has a psychological element, some kind of hook that plays to real, personal fears. The best horror is intelligently constructed,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ACH043

In the days leading up to the US midterm elections on November 6th, Amazon’s Alexa will be able to tell users information about voter registration deadlines, polling information, and give real-time election results. Following the election, Alexa will also be able to give more details on the outcome, including how many seats each party gained, and information on specific candidates. Alexa will be sourcing its replies from a couple of different partners Amazon’s teamed up with. In the days before the election, Alexa will be offering information on voter registration deadlines, polling places and times, and ballot information from Ballotpedia , a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital encyclopedia. On Election Day, Alexa will be getting its... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2qowwPP

Dag Reckhorn, Faraday Future’s senior vice president of global manufacturing — and the last of the company’s five “ founding executives ” — resigned Wednesday, according to an internal email obtained by The Verge . The news comes after investor trouble sparked two wild weeks of layoffs and salary cuts that quickly turned into furloughs and executive departures at the EV startup. Reckhorn said in his email to staff that he is working to establish an emergency fund for employees affected by the furlough. “I am heartbroken to have to let you know, that I will leave FF effective today,” Reckhorn wrote in the email, which was sent to the company’s remaining staff. “There are legalities that force me to do so. Please do not believe that I am... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Pve4U2

It's common for Linux users to hop between distributions and survey the field, and I recently reached a point where I had to seriously rethink the one I was using most of the time. Between hardware compatibility issues with my old standby and some discouraging missteps with other go-to choices, I felt the time had come to reassess my pool of preferred distributions and repopulate it from scratch. As my journey progressed, I realized that as often as I've discussed the field of Linux-based systems, I had not addressed how to pick one out. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2zkVeEO

Spotify is returning to Roku’s streaming players and Roku TVs beginning today after a fairly long absence from the platform. Devices running Roku OS 9 (which has also just started rolling out) and TVs on OS 8.2 can head to the channel store and download the Spotify app . Aside from simply launching it from the home screen with a remote, the new Spotify for Roku app can also play tunes through Spotify Connect, so you can control playback from other devices like your smartphone. Spotify removed its app from Roku products last December, citing a lack of satisfaction with that version of the software and promising to come back with something better. At the time, the company said “we expect the service to return as a much better overall... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2AD6gr8

Twitch streamers must be friendly, or else Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2zihaR9

Five projects in the US are piloting new BIM software that uses algorithms to automatically spot defects during construction. Avvir is an ‘Automated Construction Verification’ tool that compares as-built scan data, recorded progressively during the build phase, against the BIM model to automatically highlight any elements that deviate from the design. The software was developed to help building owners, developers or main contractors keep tabs on quality assurance and quality control issues and produce a highly accurate BIM for handover. It also functions as a BIM management tool able to automate progress monitoring to identify elements that have, or have not, been built to meet the construction schedule, and keep tabs on poorly performing trades by calculating the number of elements installed defectively or out of line with the programme. Avvir is currently being deployed on five active construction sites, which is expected rise to 10 by the end of the year. Company CEO Raffi Holze

Spoilers ahead for the American TV remake of Heathers . It should come as no surprise that the marathon release of Paramount Television’s Heathers fell apart. The embattled TV remake of the 1988 film comedy has been delayed repeatedly over the past year , as a wave of school shootings and terrible advance reviews made the show’s tongue-in-cheek look at high school violence seem like a public relations disaster. Paramount attempted to sell off the series, then heavily recut it , merging its 10 hourlong episodes into five two-hour segments, and removing large segments of the finale. But the plan for a weeklong Halloween marathon release of the recut edition, starting on October 25th, seemed to be coming together. Then on October 27th, an... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2AFanDb

Honor announced a pair of wireless earbuds today called the FlyPods and the FlyPods Pro, and they’re nearly a carbon copy of Apple’s AirPods, down to the charging case. Honor’s parent company Huawei released a pair of AirPods clones earlier this year, called the Huawei FreeBuds , and was supposed to release its successor alongside the Mate 20, but plans seem to have changed. According to Gizmochina , the FreeBuds Pro 2 have been rebranded as Honor’s FlyPods Pro. The FlyPods connect via Bluetooth 5.0, and have an IP54 waterproof rating, so it’s safe to work out with them. Earbuds can be used to answer calls, control media playback, and activate Honor’s YoYo voice assistant. The 420mAh battery should last three hours on a single charge, and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2qmZik2

In 1988, the summer A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master was released, New Line Cinema sued BMG, the music label of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. The rap duo’s second album He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper had been released earlier that year, and they made a video for “ Nightmare on My Street ,” a tribute, in the pair’s signature goofy style, to the Elm Street dream demon himself, Freddy Krueger. Originally, they’d been in talks to produce the video in conjunction with the studio, but the studio instead opted to commission “Are You Ready for Freddy?” from The Fat Boys . When BMG tried to release the video anyway, even managing to air it on MTV a few times, New Line sued and won, and the court ordered all copies of the video... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2EVnLqE

Leading e-cigarette companies have admitted in meetings with the Food and Drug Administration that vape flavorings appeal to kids, and suggested ways that the agency could regulate those products, according to an FDA statement today . But public health experts say not to expect the industry to come up with useful ways to police itself. After years of public health officials warning that young people were using e-cigarettes in alarming numbers , the FDA is crafting regulations to prevent kids and teens from vaping. And as part of the process, the FDA has asked the five leading e-cigarette brands to come up with plans to combat youth vaping. “Everyone involved in this market has a shared responsibility to address this public health crisis,”... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2RsCpqV

Twitter has updated a portion of its reporting process, specifically when you report a tweet that you think might be coming from a bot or a fake account masquerading as someone or something else. Now, when you tap the “it’s suspicious or spam” option under the report menu, you’ll be able to specify why you think that, including an option to say “the account tweeting this is fake.” Twitter announced the change through its official safety account today, and it’s now live on both the web version and mobile version of the service. You can see an example of the mobile report flow pertaining to this update below: Activity that attempts to manipulate or disrupt Twitter’s service is not allowed. We remove this when we see it. You can now... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2yG5RCQ

Twitter has updated a portion of its reporting process, specifically when you report a tweet that you think might be coming from a bot or a fake account masquerading as someone or something else. Now, when you tap the “it’s suspicious or spam” option under the report menu, you’ll be able to specify why you think that, including an option to say “the account tweeting this is fake.” Twitter announced the change through its official safety account today, and it’s now live on both the web version and mobile version of the service. You can see an example of the mobile report flow pertaining to this update below: Activity that attempts to manipulate or disrupt Twitter’s service is not allowed. We remove this when we see it. You can now... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2AF5Rod

Fortnite ’s monster-fuelled “Fortnitemares” event is coming to an end this weekend — and it looks like it will end with a bang. Developer Epic Games announced today that the Halloween event will be ending on Sunday, and that a one-time only occurence will be happening in-game that day at 1PM ET. “Login early and be in-match to witness the one-time event,” the developer tweeted . “Fortnitemares” kicked off last week , and represented a dramatic change for the game, filling the map with ominous crystals that produced hordes of zombie-like monsters. (They’re definitely not zombies , though.) It’s a great example of just how much the battle royale game can change in a short period of time . Fortnitemares in Battle Royale ends on Sunday,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2QdIVlj

“Genetic privacy” is a complicated concept, and a new study finds that decoding how people feel about the idea is equally complex. Genetic data can be collected for medical purposes, like genetic testing for hereditary diseases, by the government for identification purposes, or submitted to private companies that promise to tell you more about yourself and your ancestry. But increasingly, researchers are realizing that people’s expectations for how their data might be used aren’t lining up with reality. For a study published today in the journal PLOS One researchers analyzed 53 studies (covering over 47,000 participants) that looked at how the general public, professionals, and patients viewed genetic privacy. The results paint a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2qln7sk

In recent days, both Vice News and Business Insider have put Facebook’s political ad transparency efforts to the test ahead — and the results are not good. Yesterday, Vice was able to easily game the “Paid for by” disclosure on political ads, getting false disclosures approved in the name of all 100 sitting US senators. Facebook approved the ads after the purchaser was able to verify their own identity with a postcard showing that they were a US resident. From there, they could decide for themselves whose name would be listed under the “Paid for by” tag. Facebook’s ads have been a source of frustration for lawmakers for years, especially in the aftermath of the 2016 elections when it was discovered that Russian influence agents were able... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ADFmPJ

Electric scooter sharing company Lime has pulled a number of Segway Ninebot scooters from its fleet after learning that a manufacturing defect could result in batteries “smoldering or, in some cases, catching fire.” According to the company’s statement, it first learned of the issue in August. Working independently and with Segway, Lime created software to identify the scooters with these batteries, and deactivated them once identified. A Lime representative speaking to The Washington Post said that in an effort to be abundantly cautious, around 2,000 scooters were recalled in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Lake Tahoe. The company says that at no time were members of the public at risk, but The Washington Post does mention that the fire... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2P2xgcq

Well over a year into the Nintendo Switch’s life, it’s still exciting and surprising to see huge console games like Wolfenstein or Diablo make their way to the tablet. There’s something inherently captivating about having an experience of that scale in the palm of your hands, or to be able to jump back and forth between your TV and tablet while using the same device. But the Switch has also proven itself to be a great place for smaller games, particularly from indie developers. Lately, some of those games have originated from an unlikely source: smartphones. And they’re so good it’s making me want more of my favorite mobile games on the Switch. Today sees the launch of Hidden Folks on Nintendo’s tablet. The game first debuted on mobile... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Pw7Q6d

China isn’t typically known for its science fiction blockbusters, but a new trailer for an upcoming film called The Wandering Earth has all the hallmarks of a big, Hollywood-style genre movie: it features a dramatic story of the Earth in peril, complete with eye-popping scenes of spaceships escaping Earth. The Wandering Earth is based on a story by Cixin Liu, the author best known for The Three-Body Problem, and, more recently, Ball Lightning . In the original story, scientists discovered that the sun is on the verge of turning into a red giant, and when it does, it’ll expand beyond the orbit of Mars, incinerating all of the solar system’s potentially habitable planets. They concoct a desperate plan to move Earth out of the solar system... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Ruo7Gl

Apple wants to attract big-name game developers to create games with its computers and iPads, specifically the new iPad Pro , in mind. That means the company needs to pitch the device (a tablet that most wouldn’t list as a go-to portable gaming device) to a different crowd. Part of the way that Apple conveys that message is by dunking on consoles like Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox by using a specific phrase in its presentation, as it did yesterday: “It provides an experience that rivals consoles for the very first time.” 2K Games, the developer behind annual sports games like NBA 2K19 , appeared onstage at the event with its latest basketball installment to showcase the new iPad Pro’s capabilities . The iPad version of NBA 2K19 r... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2RoxMOz

Phones with foldable screens have felt like they’re on the cusp of arriving for years, but outside of a couple of concept designs and trailers, we have yet to properly see one in the flesh. However, a video has emerged from a trade show in China of a tablet-sized phone produced by a company called Rouyu Technology that appears to be able to bend into a shape the size of a small paperback book. Before you get your hopes up that the era of foldable smartphones is finally upon us, you should watch the below video featuring the device. It looks early, to say the very least. For one thing, the phone doesn’t appear to fold flat, so it ends up pretty bulky when packed away. The software also appears to get confused since the phone’s screen is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2DdJf0f

Chinese phone maker ZTE is launching the Blade Max 2S and the Blade Max View , two smartphones with lower-end specs for $180 and $200, respectively. Both phones have 2160 x 1080 LCD screens with 18:9 aspect ratios, 1.4GHz processors, 4,000mAh batteries, and 32GB of storage. The Blade Max 2S has 2GB of RAM, and the Blade Max View has 3GB. For $20 more, the Max View offers dual 16-megapixel and 2-megapixel rear cameras and Android Nougat, while the Max 2s has a single 13-megapixel rear camera and runs Android Oreo out of the box. On the ZTE website, the Blade Max View is listed as having a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor, but no brand is listed for the Max 2S processor with the same cores and clock speeds. For years, ZTE and Huawei have... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ql4Tat

Netflix has released the first look of Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia for its upcoming take on The Witcher . Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is adapting Andrzej Sapkowski’s beloved fantasy novels for the streaming service. Since their release, they’ve inspired graphic novels, board games, and, of course, the acclaimed video game series from CD Projekt Red . In The Witcher ’s world, monster hunters known as witchers fight supernatural beings with the help of special powers and body modifications. Cavill stars alongside Freya Allan as fellow iconic characters Ciri, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, and Anna Shaffer as Triss . On Twitter, Netflix also teased Cavill as the magical monster hunter. He doesn’t speak because he knows just what we’re thinking. ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/31/18048028/henry-cavill-geralt-rivia-netflix-the-witcher

The construction industry is failing to come to terms with advances in technology that can deliver truly smart buildings. So says Reinhold Wieland, business development manager of the smart buildings company Connecting Buildings, who believes a silo approach to increasingly advanced systems and IoT technologies is holding back their full potential. Wieland says: “Smart buildings are more than simply automatic lighting and CCTV. They provide continual feedback and support, they automate human processes and they increase efficiency. But to unlock the full potential of smart buildings, you need to seamlessly integrate in a single platform all elements, from design, procurement, and implementation, through to the commissioning, operation, and maintenance of smart services.” Wieland argues that “lifeless, static, design documents and BIMs must be drawn into a cohesive, living system that operates in real time – a digital twin”. To create the digital twin, Wieland’s company has devised t

Trump strategist Steve Bannon has resurfaced in an unlikely place: the tech conference circuit. He is currently scheduled as the keynote speaker at the 15th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (or ACE2018), to be hosted at the University of Montana in December. The conference is co-located with the Fourth International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots , although Bannon does not have any apparent connection to that gathering. The broader scientific community is already pushing back against the invitation. A number of associated academics have pulled out of the conference in the wake of the keynote, as reported by Motherboard . Springer, a leading scientific publisher, has declined to publish the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CW3sqL

Fortnite is almost as popular as Mario and Zelda amongst Switch owners, according to Nintendo. During the company’s most recent financial briefing , Nintendo revealed that Epic’s battle royale game has been installed on “nearly half” of all Switch systems. The company also notes that the game is popular globally, “not just in the US and Europe but also in Japan.” While Nintendo didn’t reveal a specific number of downloads, the Switch has currently sold just over 22 million units to date. That means that around 10 million of those tablets have Fortnite installed, a significant jump from the 2 million downloads Epic saw during the game’s first 24 hours of availability after it debuted on the Switch in June. To put that number in... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2SAvM7s

Not long ago, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the legendary game designer behind musical classics Rez and Lumines , was on vacation with his family in Hawaii. When he looked out the window of his Airbnb, his view was dominated by a lush, green golf course. As he stared outside, he couldn’t help but see very specific shapes in the grass. “I found a tetromino in the golf course,” he says. What Mizuguchi experienced is something known as “ the Tetris effect ,” a condition where people spend so much time doing a particular activity that it begins to invade their thoughts. It’s named after the classic puzzle game, where falling blocks have been to known to enter players’ dreams if they play too much. Tetris Effect also happens to be the name of Mizuguchi’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ADwv0l

Science fiction tends to be an expensive genre. Bringing the elaborate worlds of Star Wars , the futuristic dystopia of Blade Runner 2049 , or the exotic planets and creatures of the Alien franchise to life costs significant money, which naturally encourages studios to greenlight movies that feel like familiar safe bets. And that leads to different versions of the same story being told time and again. That’s why independent and low-budget science fiction movies are such a vital creative playground, particularly for up-and-coming filmmakers. Projects like Shane Carruth’s Primer and Duncan Jones’ Moon are able to take creative risks that their bigger-budget brethren can’t, resulting in films that rethink what the genre can do, while still... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2RwIPp9

More expensive than any Boosted but not better Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Jv87Rx

No SIM card required for the low-power Sigfox IoT network Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OYuqoA

Staying positive isn’t easy Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Rld4Pq

Starship Technologies, the maker of autonomous six-wheeled robots that carry groceries or even a hot meal straight to your home, is expanding into the world of package delivery. The company announced on Wednesday that, starting now, residents of Milton Keynes in the UK can have their packages delivered by Starship’s little robots. The program will also roll out to the San Francisco Bay Area by the end of the year. To do this, customers will have to direct their packages to a Starship sorting facility. Once there, customers can summon their package or schedule a delivery with a few taps in the company’s app. After that, one of Starship’s robots will trundle down the sidewalk with the package tucked away inside its frame. The robots can... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2yIjjGq

One of my favorite parts of Halloween is having an excuse to scare the pants off people. It’s the time of year for ghosts, for creeping dread, and peering into the void. And what could possibly be better for horror than the future? Seven of our reporters imagined the spookiest possible outcomes on their beats — the horrors of the future. Turn the lights off, and dial up the brightness of your screen. Maybe you’ll see it, just out of the corner of your eye: the fear that’s always lurking. The possibility that the bright future we’re trying to create will go dreadfully, immensely wrong, with very human consequences. Read these stories alone in the dark... if you dare. —Elizabeth Lopatto Table of Contents ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2AD15Yd

YouTube weirdo and mysterious musician Poppy and the artist formerly known as Grimes have been teasing a collaboration for months now, and finally the end result is here: a bubblegum pop-metal mashup called “Play Destroy.” It makes sense when you listen to it. In addition to threatening to burn down the local Walmart (very Grimes), the pair also sings about slicing up your face and breaking your toys. I have no idea why it took this duo so long to hook up. Poppy’s newest album, Am I a Girl? launches today. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OfYQ0v

Some of us love our group chats. Others of us hate them and would love nothing more than to leave them all. But why do we want to leave? Maybe you’ve had someone leave a group without giving you a reason as to why, and maybe it hurt a little bit. Vox.com ’s Kaitlyn Tiffany and I are here to help you work through that pain with this episode of Why’d You Push That Butto n. First, I chat with my friend Liz who tells us about her current and past group chat drama. She’s actually very undramatic and seems to tell it like it is. I like this about her. Then Kaitlyn interviews Maggie Lange, who has written for GQ about never leaving group chats, ever. She’s pro-mute. Kaitlyn and I then take all our concerns to Asha Sharma, director of product... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2qkGZMt

It’s been a few years since the release of Undertale , an endearing role-playing game that made waves online for its charming writing, and the option to defeat enemies by talking to them. Today, creator Toby Fox has released a free follow-up on Undertale named Deltarune — a name that many are noting is an anagram of Undertale. The premise of Deltarune is shrouded in mystery, but that seems intentional. The landing page for the game warns users that they are about to embark on something ominous, and similarly, the actual game talks about pain a whole lot near the start. While actual characters from Undertale immediately make an appearance, it seems that the whole thing has intentionally been released to celebrate Halloween. After its... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CUfC31

Honor’s Magic 2 phone is finally official. The handset, which features a bezel-less screen that slides down to reveal a front-facing camera, was previously teased with a short trailer that showed it being used to drum out a beat on a table. (Honor has yet to confirm whether drumming damage will be covered under warranty.) The main event here is the sliding design, which can be used to automatically open the camera app when the 16MP selfie camera is revealed. The design means that the 6.39-inch AMOLED display achieves a screen-to-body ratio of close to 100 percent, which is further helped by its use of an in-display fingerprint sensor. The selfie camera is joined by a 24MP triple-lens rear camera array. Internally, the phone has the same... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2RpUTIv

The testy relationship between Falcon and Winter Soldier is one of the most underrated aspects of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, and Disney is reportedly looking to continue working on that relationship with a new limited series. Both Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) will star in a limited series for Disney’s new streaming service, according to Variety . The limited series is expected to receive six to eight episodes, according to the report, but it’s unclear if Mackie and Stan will return to reprise their roles. It’s assumed they will, following an earlier Variety report suggesting that Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen would reprise their respective roles as Loki and Scarlet Witch for two limited series on... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2PtXYdm

Amazon’s latest streaming player supports all the important formats and costs just $50 Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CT9QyT

Lawmakers are getting ready to take on data privacy, but the details of the bill are still up for grabs Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2P4kFFL

Google and iRobot have announced they’re working together to improve smart home technology using mapping data collected by iRobot’s robot vacuums. The two companies say the aim is to make smart homes “more thoughtful” by leveraging the unique dataset collected by iRobot: maps of customers’ homes. iRobot’s latest Roomba, the i7+, creates maps using a combination of odometry data (measuring how far the robovac’s wheels move) and low-res camera imagery. The resulting maps can be used to create custom cleaning schedules or to let users ask their Roomba to vacuum specific rooms. An integration with Google Assistant lets customers give verbal commands like, “OK Google, tell Roomba to clean the kitchen.” Google and iRobot say this data will... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CSMJVa

For all of the dazzle of its rapidly evolving software portfolio, which includes a self-monitoring and self-patching database that also configures itself, as well as numerous cloud applications, Oracle has begun showing its credibility as a hardware vendor. Hardware has commoditized and will not return to the prominence it had in the early days of the tech era. However, commoditization brings new opportunities simply because price-performance numbers work better. Under Oracle's tutelage, hardware has found a disciplined and important niche. from TechNewsWorld https://ift.tt/2RoqwCg

At yesterday’s Apple event, I saw a company returning to its finest form. Apple paid overdue attention to its stalwart MacBook Air and Mac mini, introduced a much leaner and more powerful iPad Pro, and fixed the design disaster that was the Apple Pencil’s charging. You don’t have to be an expert analyst to forecast bumper holiday sales for the Cupertino team. In crafting its most compelling iPad and MacBook Air to date, Apple also created a major headache for people like me. I’m a member of that classic Intel ultrabook demographic whose computing needs are light, but constant. You won’t catch me doing 3D modeling or 4K video production on my laptop, but I do a litany of small tasks online, in a word processor, or in Adobe’s Lightroom.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Q5gK7T

If you’re the account owner on a Spotify Premium Family plan in the US, you can get a free Google Home Mini from the streaming service through the end of the year, Spotify announced today. Spotify has partnered with Google to give out the voice assistant to account owners on its family plan who sign up through the link here . On the surface, it may seem like a nice holiday giveaway for Family plan users (and it is in some respects). But with the growth of Amazon Music largely on the back of the Echo and the rise of smart speakers, which may be in 50 percent of US homes before the end of the year , it’s also a strategic move for Spotify. YouTube Music and Google Play Music are still far from serious competition for Spotify, but Amazon’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2qkxmxj

As if October wasn’t already packed full of new product announcements, China’s Nubia is today hosting a launch event for its new flagship called the Nubia X . Leaked ahead of the big unveil, this device takes a pretty extreme approach to solving the notch problem: it puts a second display on the back, removing the entire need for a front-facing camera. We’re not talking e-paper displays like you had on the YotaPhone , this is a full-sized color screen, albeit with some fat bezels around it. So you can simply flip the phone around to its back to take your selfie with the main camera. The most impressive thing about the Nubia X’s second display is the way it totally disappears when switched off. You can see a good demonstration of how that... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Dc1IKE

With iOS 12.1 , Apple has brought its controversial “performance management feature” (aka, throttling) to the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X. This functionality dynamically throttles the phone’s processor as its battery degrades over time to stop the handset from randomly shutting down — it can be turned off if desired. Previously Apple has told US senators that “hardware updates” meant that the feature isn’t as necessary on its newest phones. The company has always maintained that all of its products include “fundamental performance management” functionality to protect its components. A support page explaining the feature said the following about the iPhone 8 and later devices: iPhone 8 and later use a more advanced hardware and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2PzgMb0

The aftermath of a national emergency follows a now-familiar pattern. Various bad actors race to fill social platforms with misinformation and outright hate speech. Reporters perform simple searches for conspiracy theories and offensive keywords, and write up stories documenting what they find. Platforms belatedly issue contrite statements, saying there is no place for this kind of thing on their platforms, all evidence to the contrary. Lather, rinse, retweet. In the wake of last week’s domestic terror attacks, though, a new vector for bile has emerged. More than ever before, journalists are finding vast swaths of hate speech on Instagram. Yesterday, I mentioned this story from the New York Times that found nearly 12,000 posts with the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2P2OlTy

Apple released watchOS 5.1 earlier today, but has temporarily removed it from availability after users reported that their watches were rendered unusable by attempting to install the update. 9to5Mac ’s Guilherme Rambo experienced the issue, as well as several MacRumors readers . Serious issues with the Apple Watch can be more complicated to resolve than with iPhones or other devices, because there’s no way to plug the device into a computer and reinstall the software yourself. The only recourse tends to be contacting Apple for service. The issue seems limited to the brand new Apple Watch Series 4 , too, which is likely to compound frustration for affected users. watchOS 5.1 includes the 70-plus new emoji that came with iOS 12.1 today , as... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2yHzDal

Facebook has started banning both individual accounts and pages, as well as associated groups, that are affiliated with the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys. The news was first reported today by Business Insider , which noted that members of the Proud Boys and adjacent online communities had begun complaining about the takedowns on Twitter. The removals come in response to an act of violence in New York City earlier this month , in which members of the Proud Boys assaulted anti-fascist protestors outside a Republican club in Manhattan where Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, also an original co-founder of Vice Media, was speaking. Facebook confirmed to The Verge that it was banning Proud Boys members and affiliated groups and pages... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2CPst6O