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Affordable 5G Could Fundamentally Change How You Receive Internet Service5G service could collapse the distinction between cellular provider and ISP, fundamentally changing how consumers buy internet service -- but only if that service is kept affordable. The post Affordable 5G Could Fundamentally Change How You Receive Internet Service appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Astronomers Detect Iron and Titanium on Exoplanet for the First TimeScientists have taken a step toward better understanding the environment of exoplanets by studying a gas giant called KELT-9b. For the first time, scientists have detected iron and titanium on an exoplanet. The post Astronomers Detect Iron and Titanium on Exoplanet for the First Time appeared first on ExtremeTech.
New Horizons Detects Wall of Hydrogen Around the Solar SystemNASA redirected New Horizons deeper into the Kuiper Belt, and now it has detected something fascinating at the edge of the solar system. Out past the planets, asteroids, and even the comets of the Oort Cloud, there's a wall of hydrogen. The post New Horizons Detects Wall of Hydrogen Around the Solar System appeared first…
Fortnite Android Beta Roundup: Disappointing, Frustrating, Samsung-OnlyFortnite's long-awaited Android debut is anything but glorious. You're better off playing something else. The post Fortnite Android Beta Roundup: Disappointing, Frustrating, Samsung-Only appeared first on ExtremeTech.
SpaceX Says Manned Dragon Flight On Schedule for April 2019NASA has to pay big bucks for every seat on a Soyuz mission, but the long-delayed Commercial Crew Program is supposed to change that by giving NASA access to private launch vehicles. SpaceX is now promising that its schedule is locked in and there won't be any more delays. The post SpaceX Says Manned Dragon…
New Speculative Execution Security Flaw Cracks Intel’s Software Guard ExtensionsA new attack vector against Intel CPUs has been discovered -- based, once again, on speculative execution. The post New Speculative Execution Security Flaw Cracks Intel’s Software Guard Extensions appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Top 5 Features Still Missing From Chrome OSYou have to make compromises if you choose to live with Chrome OS, but you shouldn't have to make quite this many. The post Top 5 Features Still Missing From Chrome OS appeared first on ExtremeTech.
The Northeast Blackout Struck 15 Years Ago TodayFifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing power, crippling the northeast power grid. The post The Northeast Blackout Struck 15 Years Ago Today appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Likely Drops Next WeekNvidia is almost certainly dropping a new GPU next Monday -- and a new type of gaming solution as well. The post Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Likely Drops Next Week appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Report: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Screen Is ‘Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect’In what has become something of a yearly tradition, consulting firm DisplayMate has crowned the new Galaxy Note as the king of display quality. The post Report: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Screen Is ‘Visually Indistinguishable from Perfect’ appeared first on ExtremeTech.
The Martian Dust Storm Is Clearing, but Opportunity Remains SilentIt's looking increasingly likely that the planet's global dust storm has ended the improbable run of Opportunity. As the storm begins to clear, there's still no signal from the rover. The post The Martian Dust Storm Is Clearing, but Opportunity Remains Silent appeared first on ExtremeTech.
ET Deals: $500 off ThinkPad X1 Carbon, $160 off EVGA GTX 1080For a limited time, you can pick up a sixth generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultra-portable laptop from Lenovo at a $450 discount. And from the EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card to Nintendo Switch bundles to jaw-dropping 4K TVs, there's a deal in here for everyone. The post ET Deals: $500 off ThinkPad X1 Carbon,…
2019 Chevrolet Silverado Review: 8 Models Ready to Fight Ford, RamChevy makes big strides with the 2019 Silverado: Now anyone can hitch up a trailer, or splash through mud and over rock-strewn surfaces. The Ford F-150 has serious competition. The post 2019 Chevrolet Silverado Review: 8 Models Ready to Fight Ford, Ram appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Bethesda Declares War on Sony Over Cross-Play LimitationsBethesda is willing to go to the mat to get Elder Scrolls Legends cross-play enabled on all platforms, but will Sony budge? The post Bethesda Declares War on Sony Over Cross-Play Limitations appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Samsung May Shutter Chinese Phone Factory as Its Market Share CollapsesSamsung is considering closing down a factory in China due to the complete evaporation of its local market share. The post Samsung May Shutter Chinese Phone Factory as Its Market Share Collapses appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Nvidia Unveils Turing GPU Architecture, Claims Real-Time Ray Tracing Now PossibleWith Nvidia's new Turing GPUs, is the time finally right for real-time ray tracing to come into its own? The post Nvidia Unveils Turing GPU Architecture, Claims Real-Time Ray Tracing Now Possible appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Android Pie Update Breaks Fast Charging on 2016 Pixel XLThe 2016 Pixel XL shipped with speed 18W fast charging, but something appears to have gone wrong in the recent Android Pie update. This phone's maximum charging speed is now painfully slow. The post Android Pie Update Breaks Fast Charging on 2016 Pixel XL appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Bethesda Will Deal With Trolls in Fallout 76 by Making Them TargetsThis online post-apocalyptic survival game will encourage the community to clean up its own messes by turning trolls into targets. The post Bethesda Will Deal With Trolls in Fallout 76 by Making Them Targets appeared first on ExtremeTech.
AMD Launches New, Much Cheaper Radeon Pro WX 8200AMD has announced the Radeon Pro WX 8200 -- a Vega-based professional GPU less than half the price of the Radeon Pro WX 9100. The post AMD Launches New, Much Cheaper Radeon Pro WX 8200 appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Chrome OS ‘Campfire’ Mode Could Run Windows 10 on Multiple ChromebooksNew additions to the Chrome OS source code suggest this feature is nearing completion as "Campfire," and that it might come to a larger number of devices than previously believed. The post Chrome OS ‘Campfire’ Mode Could Run Windows 10 on Multiple Chromebooks appeared first on ExtremeTech.
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X Review: Pulverizing Intel’s Core i9-7900XAMD's new Threadripper 2950X has dropped. How much of a follow-up does it offer to last year's 1950X? The post AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X Review: Pulverizing Intel’s Core i9-7900X appeared first on ExtremeTech.
Astronomers May Finally Know Why Eta Carinae Erupted 170 Years AgoA team of international astronomers think they've worked out what caused the eruption: an almost unfathomable transfer of mass between stars. The post Astronomers May Finally Know Why Eta Carinae Erupted 170 Years Ago appeared first on ExtremeTech.
MIT Creates AI to Optimize Brain Cancer TreatmentThe software takes into account important metrics based on the clinical records of other patients before recommending a regiment designed to shrink brain tumors while lessening the side effects on patients. The post MIT Creates AI to Optimize Brain Cancer Treatment appeared first on ExtremeTech.
MIT Tech
Hackers are out to jeopardize your voteCyberattacks on the 2016 US election caused states to bolster the defenses of their voting systems. It hasn’t been enough, says the University of Michigan’s Alex Halderman.
The World Economic Forum warns that AI may destabilize the financial systemIncreased use of machine learning and cloud services could make the financial world more vulnerable.
How social media took us from Tahrir Square to Donald TrumpTo understand how digital technologies went from instruments for spreading democracy to weapons for attacking it, you have to look beyond the technologies themselves.
Tim Hwang’s FiscalNote is revolutionizing Washington lobbying with big dataFiscalNote takes the intuition out of politics. Does it take the democracy out, too?
AI for cybersecurity is a hot new thing—and a dangerous gambleMachine learning and artificial intelligence can help guard against cyberattacks, but hackers can foil security algorithms by targeting the data they train on and the warning flags they look for.
A small team of student AI coders beats Google’s machine-learning codeThe success shows that advances in artificial intelligence aren’t the sole domain of elite programmers.
Why security experts hate that “blockchain voting” will be used in the midterm electionsIt’s too dangerous to conduct elections over the internet, they say, and West Virginia’s new plan to put votes on a blockchain doesn’t fix that.
TechCrunch
Crypto firm Pantera Capital is looking to raise up to $175 million for a new venture fundPantera Capital, which has made its mark in recent years by investing early and often in a wide variety of digital assets, is looking to raise up to $175 million for its third venture fund — an enormous jump from the $25 million it deployed for its second venture fund and its $13 million debut…
Facebook says birthday fundraisers have raised more than $300 million over the past yearFacebook marked the first anniversary of its birthday fundraisers by revealing that more than $300 million in donations have been raised through the feature, which lets users mark their birthdays by creating a donation drive for an organization of their choice. About 750,000 non-profits currently have access to Facebook’s fundraising tools (but not every user,…
Tweetbot loses several key features ahead of Twitter’s API changeTwitter’s API changes won’t come out until tomorrow, but its ramifications are already being felt. Tapbots released an update today to Tweetbot for iOS that loses many of the Twitter client’s most popular or essential features. It also removed its Apple Watch app. In Tweetbot’s App Store release notes, Tapbots explained “on August 16th Twitter…
Powered by $25 million, Arcadia Power looks to expand its distributed renewable energy servicesAs renewable energy use surges in the U.S. and the effects of global climate change become more visible, companies like Arcadia Power are pitching a nationwide service to make renewable energy available to residential customers. While states like New York, California and regions across the upper Midwest have access to renewable energy through their utilities…
Shelf Engine uses machine learning to stop food waste from eating into store marginsWhile running Molly’s, the Seattle-based ready meal wholesaler he founded, Stefan Kalb was upset about its 28 percent food wastage rate. Feeling that the amount was “astronomical,” he began researching how to lower it — and was shocked to discovered Molly’s was actually outperforming the industry average. Confronted by the sheer amount of food wasted…
VR optics could help old folks keep the world in focusThe complex optics involved with putting a screen an inch away from the eye in VR headsets could make for smart glasses that correct for vision problems. These prototype "autofocals" from Stanford researchers use depth sensing and gaze tracking to bring the world into focus when someone lacks the ability to do it on their…
Making way for new levels of American innovationNew fifth-generation “5G” network technology will equip the United States with a superior wireless platform, unlocking transformative economic potential. However, 5G’s success is contingent on modernizing outdated policy frameworks that dictate infrastructure overhauls and establishing the proper balance of public-private partnerships to encourage investment and deployment.
Google releases a searchable database of US political adsIn an effort to provide more transparency and deliver on a promise to Congress, Google just published an archive of political ads that have run on its platform. Google’s new database, which it calls the Ad Library, is searchable through a dedicated launch page. Anyone can search for and filter ads, viewing them by candidate…
Coinbase acquires Distributed Systems to build ‘Login with Coinbase’Coinbase wants to be Facebook Connect for crypto. The blockchain giant plans to develop “Login with Coinbase” or a similar identity platform for decentralized app developers to make it much easier for users to sign up and connect their crypto wallets. To fuel that platform, today Coinbase announced it has acquired Distributed Systems, a startup…
Spotify is falling behind on lyrics and voiceSpotify’s lack of full lyrics support and its minimal attention to voice are beginning to become problems for the streaming service. The company has been so focused on the development of its personalization technology and programming its playlists, it has overlooked key features that its competitors – including Apple, Google, and Amazon – today offer…
Grabb-It wants to turn your car’s window into a trippy video billboardIt reminds me of something out of Blade Runner. Maybe it’s because it looks a bit futuristic — a bit unreal. Maybe it’s because I’m looking at an ad somewhere I never expected to see one, like the skyscraper-height ads of Ridley Scott’s future. Grabb-It turns a car’s side rear window into a full-color display,…
LinkedIn to relaunch Groups in the flagship app as it looks to reverse ‘ghost town’ imageLinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social networking platform for the working world with over 500 million users, is making a significant change as it continues to look for ways to make its platform more useful (and used). The company is relaunching Groups by rolling it into its main app by the end of the month after quietly…
SAP’s SAP.io Foundry debuts the graduates of its second women-focused acceleratorSAP, the German-based enterprise software giant, has unveiled the New York-based cohort from its SAP.io Foundry accelerator programs focused on women-led technology companies. The first program was launched in San Francisco in July 2017, and while the company has launched additional accelerator programs in Berlin and Tel Aviv (with plans for a Paris accelerator in…
Descartes Labs launches its geospatial analysis platformDescartes Labs, a New Mexico-based geospatial analytics startup, today announced that its platform is now out of beta. The well-funded company already allowed businesses to analyze satellite imagery it pulls in from NASA and ESA and build predictive models based on this data, but starting today, it is adding weather data to its library, as well…
Google One is now open to allA few months ago, Google announced Google One, its new subscription program for getting more Google Drive storage and other perks. Over the course of the last few weeks, Google slowly rolled existing Drive subscribers over to a Google One membership and starting today, new users (at least in the U.S., with other countries coming…
Twistlock snares $33 million Series C investment to secure cloud native environmentsAs the world shifts to a cloud native approach, the way you secure applications as they get deployed is changing too. Twistlock, a company built from the ground up to secure cloud native environments, announced a $33 million Series C round today led by Iconiq Capital. Previous investors YL Ventures, TenEleven, Rally Ventures, Polaris Partners…
To fight the scourge of open offices, ROOM sells roomsNoisy open offices don’t foster collaboration, they kill it, according to a Harvard study that found the less-private floor plan led to a 73 percent drop in face-to-face interaction between employees and a rise in emailing. The problem is plenty of young companies and big corporations have already bought into the open office fad. But…
Chinese internet giant Tencent suffers a rare profit dropTencent, Asia’s most valuable tech firm, delivered a surprise drop in profit on account of lower investment gains. The firm recorded strong growth with revenue up 30 percent year-on-year to reach 73.7 billion RMB ($10.7 billion) in Q2 2018. But net profit slipped by two percent annually to reach 17.9 billion RMB, or around $2.6 billion.…
With $40 million for AuditBoard’s risk and compliance toolkit, LA’s enterprise startups notch another winDaniel Kim and Jay Lee, the two founders of AuditBoard, a Los Angeles-based provider of a risk and compliance software service for large businesses, grew up middle school friends in Cerritos, Calif. It was from their hometown Los Angeles exurb, that Kim and Lee first began plotting how they would turn their experience working for…
Twitter puts Infowars’ Alex Jones in the ‘read-only’ sin bin for 7 daysTwitter has finally taken action against Infowars creator Alex Jones, but it isn’t what you might think. While Apple, Facebook, Google/YouTube, Spotify and many others have removed Jones and his conspiracy-peddling organization Infowars from their platforms, Twitter has remained unmoved with its claim that Jones hasn’t violated rules on its platform. That was helped in…
Y Combinator is launching a startup program in ChinaU.S. accelerator Y Combinator is expanding to China after it announced the hiring of former Microsoft and Baidu executive Qi Lu who will develop a standalone startup program that runs on Chinese soil. Shanghai-born Lu spent 11 years with Yahoo and eight years with Microsoft before a short spell with Baidu, where he was COO and…
This robot maintains tender, unnerving eye contactHumans already find it unnerving enough when extremely alien-looking robots are kicked and interfered with, so one can only imagine how much worse it will be when they make unbroken eye contact and mirror your expressions while you heap abuse on them. This is the future we have selected.
Finding the Goldilocks zone for applied AITo find the right opportunity around which to build an AI business, startups must apply the “Goldilocks” principle to find the sweet spot that is “just right.”
‘Unhackable’ BitFi crypto wallet has been hackedThe BitFi crypto wallet was supposed to be unhackable and none other than famous weirdo John McAfee claimed that the device – essentially an Android-based mini tablet – would withstand any attack. Spoiler alert: it couldn’t. First, a bit of background. The $120 device launched at the beginning of this month to much fanfare. It…
Bird and Lime are protesting Santa Monica’s electric scooter recommendationsLime and Bird are protesting recommendations in Santa Monica, Calif. that would prevent the electric scooter companies from operating in the Southern California city. We first saw the news over on Curbed LA, which reported both Lime and Bird are temporarily halting their services in Santa Monica. Last week, Santa Monica’s shared mobility device selection committee…
StarVR’s One headset flaunts eye-tracking and a double-wide field of viewWhile the field of VR headsets used to be more or less limited to Oculus and Vive, numerous competitors have sprung up as the technology has matured — and some are out to beat the market leaders at their own game. StarVR's latest headset brings eye-tracking and a seriously expanded field of view to the…
HQ Trivia downloads spiral downward as it hits Apple TVHQ Trivia’s app store ranking has continued to sink the past three months, but it’s hoping a new version on your television could revitalize growth. HQ today launched an Apple TV app that lets users play the twice-daily live quiz game alongside iOS Android players. “Everything about the game is still the same – same…
RideAlong is helping police officers de-escalate 911 calls with data designed for the fieldRideAlong keeps people in mind, and that’s a good thing. The company, founded by Meredith Hitchcock (COO) and Katherine Nammacher (CEO), aims to make streets safer, not with expansive surveillance systems or high-tech weaponry but with simple software focused on the people being policed. That distinction sounds small, but it’s surprisingly revelatory. Tech so often…
DC Entertainment’s new streaming and digital comics service pops up on Google PlayDC Universe’s digital subscription and streaming service has just appeared on Google Play, ahead of its planned fall 2018 release. Announced in late June, the service includes a streaming library of original programming like a live action version of “Teen Titans” and several other shows; plus a selection of DC animated movies, classic TV series…
Pandora Premium comes to Google Assistant-powered devicesPandora Premium is coming to Google Home, Mini, and Max devices, and other smart speakers and screens with Google Assistant built-in, the company announced this morning. The integration means listeners who pay for Pandora’s on-demand music service will be able to search and play any song, album, or playlist, just by asking Google, and can…
Owl raises $10 million for two-way car dashboard cameraOwl, the two-way dash cam founded by a team of ex-Apple and Dropcam executives, has secured a $10 million Series A1 round led by Canvas Ventures. This brings Owl’s total funding to $28 million. “We’ve seen a lot of pent-up demand for car security, and Owl is tapping into that demand with a product that’s…
Sonatype offers developers free security scan tool on GitHubSonatype helps enterprises identify and remediate vulnerabilities in open source library dependencies and release more secure code. Today, they announced a free tool called DepShield that offers a basic level of protection for GitHub developers. The product is actually two parts. For starters, Sonatype has a database of open source dependency vulnerabilities called OSS Index.…
AR startup Ubiquity6 lands $27M Series B to build a more user-friendly augmented realityWhile nearly every tech giant has publicly proclaimed augmented reality the next frontier to conquer, product movement has been relatively slow as the companies’ aim to nail very base issues in consumer-friendly ways has proven difficult. Ubiquity6 is one of a handful of startups aiming to tackle the backlog of backend features currently missing from…
Chinese Tesla rival Nio files to raise $1.8 billion in US IPOTesla may be looking to go private, but Chinese rival Nio is going the other way after it filed to raise $1.8 billion in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Nio was started in 2014, initially as NextCar, by Bin Li, an entrepreneur who founded online automotive services platform Bitauto. The company is backed by Chinese…
Singapore’s Openspace Ventures closes new $135M fund for Southeast AsiaIt seems like everyone is out there raising new funds in Southeast Asia. Weeks after we reported Golden Gate Ventures hit a first close on its third fund aimed at $100 million, so Openspace Ventures — the Singapore-based firm formerly known as NSI — has announced a final close of $135 million for its second…
VentureBeat
Uber narrows quarterly losses, still a long way from profit(Reuters) — Uber Technologies said on Wednesday it narrowed its quarterly losses from a year earlier, although the ride-hailing company is still a long way from proving it can be profitable as it gears up to go public in 2019. Under the leadership of Dara Khosrowshahi, who became chief executive in September, Uber has juggled […]
King launches Legend of Solgard, its first mobile role-playing game for iOS and AndroidKing knows it’s stuffed you with far too much candy. So it’s going to see how you like burning off those calories as you stop Ragnarok. Today, the game studio launched Legend of Solgard, its first role-playing game (and first midcore mobile offering). Like Candy Crush Saga and King’s other offerings, Solgard is a free-to-play […]
Heartland Tech Weekly: Searching for the Midwest’s overlooked startup citiesWe have a lot of ground to cover here in the Heartland Tech section. But despite spanning the South, the Midwest, and the Mountain West region, I sometimes feel like I’m covering startups in the same handful of cities. That’s why I was pleased to see a report out this week from Chicago-based VC firm M25 on the Best […]
GamesBeat Decides 92: Nintendo should respect Home Alone for the NESThe GamesBeat Decides podcast is here this week to present other people’s work as their own. On this week’s episode, hosts Mike Minotti and Jeffrey Grubb talk about new developments in the Filip Miucin plagiarism story at IGN, Ninja’s no-girls-allowed rule, and Discord’s new store. Mike and Jeff also gush more about Dead Cells, and […]
Xbox Live is down, so how will teens yell at me now?Xbox Live isn’t working for everyone at the moment. Microsoft has confirmed the issue on its Xbox Live status site, and players are complaining about the outage on social media. This is preventing people from signing into Xbox Live, which causes issues loading just about any digital purchase on the platform. If you are unable to […]
Esports summit’s pitch to brands: patience and flexibilityThe XLive Esports Summit featured a number of panels by industry professionals around the topic of esports, but a common thread ran through all the presentations: How can brands appeal to esports’ growing audience? Xlive specializes in hosting conferences that focus on live events and esports, and almost 200 people attended its fourth summit yesterday […]
China’s game-regulation mess is starting to hurt developersThe Chinese government has to approve every game that goes on sale in that country, which is a problem considering it hasn’t approved any new digital games since March 28 — that even includes games from domestic developers. This is going to cause a dearth of new releases in China later this year, but it […]
Donut County doesn’t glaze over gentrificationDonut County is an adorable game where you play a hole in the ground. Minimalistic though that may sound, it’s neither easy to make — nor does it have a simple message to convey. Developer Ben Esposito has teamed up with publisher Annapurna Interactive to launch the title on PC, PlayStation 4, and iOS on […]
Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars from tweeting for 7 days(Reuters) — Twitter has banned U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his website Infowars from tweeting for seven days, saying their tweets violated company’s rules against abusive behavior. The microblogging site said it had asked Jones late Tuesday to delete the tweet that contained a video, which according to a company spokesman had a segment […]
The IndieBeat: Saying good-bye after a year of exploring the indie sceneIt’s been a year and some change since I joined GamesBeat. Now that I’m leaving, I still don’t have a good definition for what indie is. If pressed, I would probably say that indie games take risks. They move you, and they make you think. They experiment with new art styles. They draw from myriad disciplines, […]
Samsung launches 2 new soundbars with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surroundOn August 20, Samsung is releasing its new HW-N950 and HW-N850 soundbars. These are its high-end audio devices that it built in collaboration with audio-engineering firm Harman Kardon. Both soundbars feature support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, which are next-gen positional audio standards that more games are beginning to support. Samsung hasn’t revealed a final […]
App Annie: Android users will download 170 billion apps in 2018 thanks to FortniteAndroid users will download 170 billion apps, spending over $50 billion in 2018. This is according to mobile insights company App Annie, which pegs the Android release of Fortnite as a driving factor for growth. Fortnite is in beta on Android, but it’s been available on iOS since April. According to App Annie, Fortnite has […]
Google is reportedly developing an AI assistant that recommends workouts and meal plansGoogle is reportedly developing an AI assistant that tracks not just your workouts and activity, but your nutrition.
Google will mandate review process to boost Wear OS app qualityGoogle is concerned that Wear OS apps aren't meeting their full potential under the Play Store's optional app review process, so it will make pre-release reviews mandatory starting in October.
Microsoft’s HoloLens mall demos bring early AR glasses to the massesMicrosoft recently added HoloLens AR headset demos to its retail stores, letting mall shoppers go hands-on with a potentially transformative technology. Underscore potentially.
Pinterest Labs created a graph convolutional network for better Pin recommendationsPinterest today shared details about how it created PinSage, a graph convolutional network that can learn about things like nearby Pins, or nodes, in massive web-scale graphs. Pinterest began to use PinSage for ad recommendations in February then used more broadly for things like shopping recommendations in June, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat in an […]
THQ Nordic acquires TimeSplitters, a blast from the early 2000sTHQ Nordic announced today that it has acquired the rights to the TimeSplitters series, a trilogy of first-person shooters that released in the early 2000s. TimeSplitters is a successor to the popular Nintendo 64 shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. Ex-Rare employees created TimeSplitters developer Free Radical Design. That studio eventually became Deep Silver Dambuster, which THQ […]
Square cuts chip card processing time by 44% to 2 secondsSquare has announced that it has has cut its chip reader processing time for card transactions down to just two seconds. The news comes a little more than a year after Jack Dorsey took to Twitter to boast that Square had trimmed its processing time down from 4.2 seconds to 3.6 seconds via a firmware […]
Why are Microsoft and Amazon ditching their smart bots? (VB Live)VB LIVE: Companies like Amazon are dumping the smart bots and going all-in on a new generation of rules-based chatbots that easy to implement, easy to use, and 99-percent effective. Learn how to leverage the simpler rules-based chatbots can solve customer service issues, fast, when you join this VB Live event!
Oracle open-sources Graphpipe to make it easier to deploy machine learning modelsOracle today open-sourced Graphpipe, a tool created to make it easy to serve machine learning models in the cloud. Graphpipe was designed to simplify the deployment of machine learning for use on mobile apps and IoT devices, as well as web services for end users or AI for internal use at companies.
Google One storage plans and benefits launch for everyone in the U.S.Google is finally making its revamped Google One storage plans available to everyone in the U.S. Up until now, those on an existing paid Google Drive plan have been upgraded to Google One over the past few months, but later today the company is opening these new subscriptions to anyone. The company also confirmed that it […]
Why Verizon needs Apple TV 4K for its 5G home internetANALYSIS: When cellular carriers made bets on what the earliest 5G networks would look like, AT&T said "mobile" and Verizon said "fixed," or home-tethered devices. Verizon turned out to be largely correct, but to get people to sign up for 5G service, it needs something tangible and exciting. Enter the Apple TV.
Descartes Labs adds Airbus’ OneAtlas catalog to its satellite maps platformDescartes Labs, a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based geospatial analytics startup, is teaming up with Airbus to bring high-resolution satellite imagery to its satellite imagery platform.
Kin nabs 40 consumer apps for crypto developer programKin Ecosystem Foundation, the nonprofit governance organization for the Kin cryptocurrency, today announced it has approved 40 developers as participants in its first Kin Developer Program. Those developers will make applications that take advantage of Kin, a cryptocurrency created by the Kik mobile messaging service. The developers who successfully launch Kin-integrated apps over the next […]
Destination: Primus Vita review — a twist on exploring the final frontierREVIEW: Destination: Primus Vita is an episodic narrative puzzle game that weaves together a number of elements into a fantastic sci-fi tale. It’s Epsilon Games’ debut title, a new studio that boasts Ubisoft veterans among its team members. In Destination: Primus Vita, it’s the year 3044, several centuries after an alien race called Shatters attacked…
Raw Fury snags a $5.5 million investment from Nordisk Film GamesIndie publisher Raw Fury wrapped up a Series A round of funding with a $5.5 million investment from Nordisk Film Games, which was the sole investor in the round. The publisher has a few titles cooking, like Shedworks’ Sable and Plausible Concept’s Bad North, and the money will go toward signing larger titles as well […]
This journalist’s Twitter dilemma: Does my participation condone a cesspool of hatred and racism?OPINION: Having just returned from vacation this week, I’m struggling with a decision I would hope all journalists and news organizations are confronting: whether to finally quit Twitter. Yes, yes, I know. The “Why I quit social media” is the most narcissistic, self-indulgent subject of our time. Every time I see a why-i-stopped-tweeting Medium post,…
Clobotics raises $11 million for retail and wind energy AIClobotics, an AI startup with dual headquarters in Seattle and Shanghai, has raised $1 million for its bespoke retail and wind energy solutions.
Microsoft and Amazon launch Alexa-Cortana public preview for Echo speakers and Windows 10 PCsMicrosoft and Amazon will bring Alexa and Cortana to all Echo speakers and Windows 10 users in the U.S. today. As part of a partnership between the Seattle-area tech giants, you can say “Hey Cortana, open Alexa” to Windows 10 PCs and “Alexa, open Cortana” to a range of Echo smart speakers. The public preview […]
Verses sets up blockchain-based property rights in augmented realityVerses has launched a protocol for virtual and augmented reality to help people establish ownership of virtual real estate, 3D space, and other goods in the virtual world. The company likes to refer to this idea of owning things within the virtual world as Web 3.0. Just as websites have a proprietary address, Verses is […]
Coffee Meets Bagel now lets you bypass Facebook by logging in with your phone numberDating app Coffee Meets Bagel announced today that it is giving users another way to sign in, as some remain wary about connecting to apps with their Facebook accounts following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Coffee Meets Bagel users will now have the option to sign in by providing a phone number instead of a Facebook […]
Samsung reveals 5G and 4G Exynos Modem 5100, a single chip for phonesBuilt on a 10-nanometer process, Samsung's new Exynos Modem 5100 includes comprehensive 5G and pre-5G standard support, enabling devices to use a single chip to connect with 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks.
Full Harvest raises $8.5 million to help farms sell their deformed produceFull Harvest, a B2B marketplace that helps farmers shift surplus and imperfect produce to food and beverage companies, has raised $8.5 million in a series A round of funding led by Spark Capital, with participation from Cultivian Sandbox Ventures and Wireframe Ventures, among others. The San Francisco-based startup works with food buyers and sellers to find a market […]
Tencent’s Q2 profit falls due to slower growth in mobile games, decline in PC games(Reuters) – Chinese technology giant Tencent on Wednesday reported a surprise 2 percent fall in second-quarter net profit, lagging analyst estimates, due to slower growth in mobile gaming and a decline in PC games. China’s largest social media and gaming firm said April-June profit fell to 17.87 billion yuan ($2.59 billion), compared with the 19.67 […]
Karma raises $12 million for marketplace that helps restaurants and supermarkets reduce food wasteKarma, a marketplace that's setting out to reduce food waste, has raised $12 million in a series A round of funding led by Swedish investment firm Kinnevik, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Electrolux, and E.ventures, among others. This takes the company's total funding to $18 million.
Tilting Point opens mobile game studio in BarcelonaMobile game publisher Tilting Point has opened a studio in Barcelona to tighten relations with Europe’s mobile game development community as part of its mission to help quality games reach their potential scale. The move builds on the company’s commitment to invest $132 million annually to help developers scale great games to success. The studio will […]
Glassdoor: 13 of the 25 highest-paying U.S. jobs for 2018 are in techCareer website Glassdoor today released its 2018 report on the “Highest Paying Jobs in America.” Out of the top 25 U.S. jobs listed, 13 were in tech — two more than last year, and as always, more than in any other industry (health care was next in line, with five jobs). Glassdoor’s list is ordered […]
Y Combinator will expand to China with Qi Lu as CEOY Combinator is planning to launch a startup accelerator in China. YC China will also have its own CEO: artificial intelligence champion Qi Lu. The former Baidu and Microsoft executive will also act as head of YC Research, which will open offices in Seattle. “One of the things that Qi and I really bonded over was […]
Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview with 16 bug fixes ahead of October 2018 UpdateMicrosoft has released Windows 10 build 17738 from the RS5 branch. The changes are only bug fixes: 16 of them, to be exact.
LG and Sprint plan 5G smartphone for first half of 2019(Reuters) — Sprint said Tuesday it has partnered with phone manufacturer LG Electronics to launch a 5G smartphone in the first half of next year, marking the first 5G device deal for the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier. Sprint is working to persuade antitrust regulators to approve its merger with larger rival T-Mobile US in […]
StarVR reveals its next-gen virtual reality headset with eye-trackingThe new StarVR head-mounted display debuted at the SIGGRAPH 2018 technology event in Vancouver today. The StarVR One, as it is called, adds a suite of new features and improves on some of the standout specs of the original device — although the company did not share details on the price. StarVR’s headsets have floated […]
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth wows with city of Mayan-inspired Trolls and dinosWorld of Warcraft’s newest expansion, Battle for Azeroth, is finally out. That means the race is on to reach the new level cap of 120! But the world Blizzard has me questing in is so beautiful that I feel more like taking my time and savoring the scenery. Battle for Azeroth introduces two new landmasses, […]
Instagram is investigating user reports of hacked accountsOver the past week, there’s been an uptick in users reporting on Reddit and Twitter that their Instagram accounts have been hacked and the contact information associated with the account changed. After Mashable first reported on the account takeovers Monday, Instagram now says it’s looking into the claims. “We are investigating claims of some hacked […]
Researchers use AI to match patients with primary care doctorsResearchers have developed an artificially intelligent system that matches patients with compatible primary care doctors.
Job ads hint Apple is bringing health analysis processor design in-houseApple is reportedly developing a custom chip for health data analysis, according to CNBC. It could feature prominently in an upcoming Apple Watch.
NASA announces the first winners of the crowdsourced contest to design its next robotNASA's crowdsourced robotics program is coming to a head. The agency has announced the first few winners who'll see their contributions launch into orbit in 2019.
Call of Duty’s Blackout battle royale mode gets a beta September 10We’ve known since May that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will have a battle royale mode similar to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite, and now developer Treyarch has confirmed when the prerelease beta test will go live for players to get a taste of that action. The mode, called Blackout, will enter a “private beta” […]
VentureBeat is looking for a Director of Events ContentVentureBeat is seeking a Director of Events Content to report directly to the CEO. The role will oversee speaker recruitment for VentureBeat’s portfolio of events (Transform, VB Summit, GamesBeat, and BLUEPRINT). You will help determine the overarching themes for each of VentureBeat’s events and liaise with internal VB stakeholders in sales, marketing, and editorial. You […]- Fortnite Android beta expands beyond Samsung phonesAfter launching for Samsung Galaxy phones with the debut of the Note 9, Epic Games is now bringing its popular last-player-standing shooter Fortnite to other Android devices. The developer is sending invites out to people who signed up on its website. If you’ve already done so, check your inbox for the link to get into […]
The Midwest’s best-kept secret is its vibrant cybersecurity communityGUEST: Cisco’s announcement this month that it intends to acquire Ann Arbor-based cybersecurity startup Duo Security for a whopping $2.35 billion shines a light on the Midwest’s increasing strength in the cybersecurity space. Given that Ann Arbor is relatively small compared to cities like Chicago and New York, such a large exit might come as…
What Alexa can and cannot do on a PCREVIEW: Among the many vectors for talking to Alexa today, there are differences both glaring and subtle. Alexa in personal computers comes with advantages and drawbacks. Here's a closer look at what Alexa can and cannot do on an Acer Spin 5, the first laptop with Alexa inside.
Apple patent suggests multiuser support for Siri in HomePodA new Apple patent hints at a multiuser, highly individualized Siri experience on iOS devices and the HomePod, the Cupertino company's smart home speaker.
Pandora Premium now plays ball with Google Assistant smart speakersPandora has announced that Premium subscribers can now access on-demand music through Google Home and other Google Assistant-powered smart speakers. It’s worth noting here that Pandora has in fact been available through Google’s smart speakers for the better part of two years already; however the integration didn’t extend beyond the standard automated stations, where users could […]
Spatial launches Kickstarter for holographic mixed reality gaming deviceEXCLUSIVE: Spatial is launching a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for a new kind of mixed reality device that uses holographic projection to overlay animations on top of tabletop gaming. The Spatial mobile device accessory is meant to create face-to-face entertainment between two people who compete by looking through the holographic screen to see what lies on…
Criptext‘s Mizrachi escapes from a Colombian prison to launch a secure email platformOf all the locations you would expect a secure, encrypted email service to emerge from, a Colombian prison is possibly the most bizarre. Today a startup called Criptext has announced the public beta launch of its secure email service, based on the open source Signal protocol. With the goal of giving users with a hyper-secure email service […]
Dark Souls: Remastered is coming to Switch on October 19Bandai Namco announced today that Dark Souls: Remastered will release for Nintendo Switch on October 19. Dark Souls: Remastered released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on May 25, but Bandai Namco delayed the Switch version. For many gamers, the prospect of having the difficult action role-playing game on the go thanks to the Switch’s […]
Sumo Group acquires Dear Esther studio The Chinese RoomThe U.K.-based Sumo Group announced today that it has acquired independent studio The Chinese Room from its founders, Dan Pinchbeck and Jessica Curry. The Chinese Room made made its reputation on narrative focused games like Dear Esther, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, and So Let Us Melt. Pinchbeck will become The Chinese Room’s creative director. Curry […]
Owl Cameras nabs $10 million for connected dashcam that captures everything 24/7Dash cam maker Owl Cameras announced a fresh $10 million in funding, taking its total financing to $28 million. While the companion app has hitherto only supported iPhones, the company launched an Android app. The app has also been given a design overhaul with a bunch of new features, including portrait mode.
Hi-Rez creates 3 studios to focus on Realm Royale, Paladins, and SmiteHi-Rez Studios announced today that it is forming three development studios. Each one will focus on a single Hi-Rez game. Titan Forge Games will work on the MOBA Smite, Evil Mojo Games covers the team-based shooter Paladins, and Heroic Leap Games will focus on the battle royale Realm Royale. “The establishment of Titan Forge, Heroic […]
Chief design officer Patrick Söderlund is leaving EAElectronic Arts announced today that Patrick Söderlund is leaving the company. Söderlund was EA’s chief design officer. Söderlund was once the chief executive officer of DICE, the studio that created the Battlefield series. EA acquired DICE in 2006. At EA, he oversaw the creation of Frostbite, the game engine that has become the publisher’s standard for triple-A […]
Visor analyzes your Overwatch game in real time for instantaneous adviceVisor has raised $4.7 million for its artificial intelligence system that analyzes Overwatch gameplay in real time and offers instant advice on how gamers can do better. Visor is unveiling an open beta version of the platform, which aims to sharpen the skills of everyday gamers so that they can have more fun, without ever […]
Outward proves you don’t need crunch to make a massive RPGSPONSORED: Outward is an ambitious, open-world RPG designed by a team that’s a third of the size you’d expect. It’s dynamic, systems-heavy, and you can play the whole thing cooperatively and in splitscreen. Only 10 people are designing it.
Cybersecurity startup Exabeam raises $50 million to be ‘the next Splunk’Exabeam, a cybersecurity startup that leverages big data, machine learning, and analytics to detect and respond to cyber threats, has raised $50 million in a series D round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Cisco Investments, Norwest Venture Partners, Aspect Ventures, Icon Ventures, and Shlomo Kramer. Founded in 2013, San Mateo-based Exabeam is one […]
Trulia Neighborhoods gives homebuyers a drone‘s eye view on their new neighborhoodTrulia Neighborhoods helps homebuyers find the community of their dreams by surfacing useful safety, public transit, and venue information -- plus aerial drone footage.
BioBeats raises $3 million to combat stress with meditation and breathing exercisesEXCLUSIVE: U.K-based health care startup BioBeats, which aims to combat stress with apps and physical devices, has raised $3 million from Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), White Cloud, and IQ Capital.
eBay opens access to new APIs for image search, machine translation, and marketplaceeBay made a handful of developer-focused announcements today, as the ecommerce giant looks to open up third-party access to its own back-end technology. Over the past year, eBay has added a bunch of new computer vision features to its shopping platform. Last October, for example, it rolled out new reverse image search tools to help users […]
Intel and Philips use Xeon chips to speed up AI medical scan analysisIntel published a Philips case study showing that its Xeon chips are well-suited to computer vision tasks in health care.
Turkey’s president urges citizens to buy local Vestel Venus smartphones over iPhones as part of U.S. gadget boycottWith Turkey’s currency collapsing and the country facing a trade war with the U.S., Turkish president Recep Erdoğan today responded by announcing a boycott of all U.S. electronic goods. In a speech, Erdoğan urged citizens to instead buy gadgets manufactured in Turkey. “If they have iPhone, there is Samsung on the other side. And we have […]
Elon Musk’s bid to take Tesla private triggers new round of WTF epicnessThere may not be enough popcorn on Planet Earth to get humanity through the soap opera that is Tesla. Elon Musk’s plan to take the company private, if there is a plan, has spiralled into an endless series of face-palming moments that show no signs of abating. The latest episode features an embittered rap star, […]
Former artist tells how Naughty Dog functions without middle managersNaughty Dog has been at the forefront of video game developing, making blockbuster games for Sony’s PlayStation platforms, from the Uncharted series to The Last of Us. But it has an unusual management structure with minimal use of middle management, such as dedicated managers or producers. That’s pretty unusual for a studio with hundreds of […]
Chinese Tesla rival NIO files for $1.8 billion IPO in the U.S.(Reuters) — Chinese electric vehicle start-up NIO on Monday filed for a $1.8 billion initial public offering of its American depositary shares, the biggest U.S. listing by a Chinese automaker. The company, backed by Chinese tech heavyweight Tencent, applied for a float of up to $1.8 billion, according to its filing with the Securities and […]
Nvidia will ship its first ray-tracing Quadro graphics chip in Q4Nvidia announced its first graphics chips that take advantage of its new Turing-based computer graphics architecture, the Quadro RTX series. The new chips for workstations enable real-time ray tracing, a rendering technique that traces the paths of rays of light to create highly realistic animations that can power games and other interactive animations. Jensen Huang, […]
Nvidia unveils real-time ray tracing Turing graphics architectureNvidia said it “reinvented computer graphics” with the unveiling of its Nvidia Turing graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture. The architecture will be the foundation for a whole family of future graphics chips that will focus on real-time ray tracing, or highly realistic, physically accurate graphics. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, said in a keynote speech at […]
Porsche concept car shows off real-time ray tracing in Unreal EnginePorsche has used Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and Nvidia’s graphics chips to design its own cars. The companies showed a demo, dubbed Speed of Light, of what they’ve done together at the Siggraph computer graphics show in Vancouver, Canada. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, showed off the demo during a keynote speech, as part of […]
Zendesk integrates Discord chat for better customer supportZendesk is partnering with Discord, the fast-growing free voice and text chat application used by more than 14 million gamers a day, to improve Zendesk’s customer support platform. Game publishers can use the Zendesk platform to offer customer support to gamers or community moderators directly from within the Discord interface. Gamers can get help from […]
Understanding the power of the avatar will be essential for VR’s futureGUEST: Digital self-expression has evolved rapidly throughout the past couple of decades, particularly thanks to the gaming industry and strange new social worlds like Second Life that have been key in accelerating the pace. Our conception of the “avatar” has transitioned from Ultima’s symbol of the player character to the digital doppelganger of the user.…
Uncle Death now has a PC, so Let It Die is coming to SteamGrasshopper Manufacture’s free-to-play hack-and-slash adventure Let It Die is coming to Steam this fall. Publisher GungHo Online Entertainment America released it for PlayStation 4 at the end of 2016, and Grasshopper has spent the last year updating it on that platform. It surpassed 4 million downloads on PlayStation 4, and now it is getting a […]
Facebook acqui-hires Utah startup Vidpresso for its interactive live video toolsAs Facebook is putting more resources behind its video content, the company announced today that it is 'acquihiring' a small Utah startup that specializes in adding social features to video. Vidpresso, headquartered in Ogden, Utah, is selling its technology to Facebook, and Facebook is taking on its seven-person team.
Dead Cells is making me embrace the cheeseI have a problem when I play Dead Cells, the excellent roguelike action adventure with Metroid-style exploration that is out now on PC and consoles. I often hold myself back from “playing it wrong,” and that has made the game more difficult for me. This self-imposed governor is unnecessary, and I’m trying to break the […]
Fortnite coaching is growing among kids — and parentsAs Fortnite‘s popularity continues to rise, some players are trying to get ahead by hiring coaches. Varsity Tutors, a service and platform that offers remote teaching, has seen a swell of demand for Epic Games’ battle royale shooter sensation. It’s not the first game on Varsity Tutor’s platform. CEO Chuck Cohn says that, prior to […]
Hey Siri on Mac barely registers as a feature — like Siri itselfOPINION: I don't expect every new feature of every new Apple device to be tentpole-quality, but since Siri on the Mac has been largely yawn-inducing, "Hey Siri" on the Mac is all but pointless. At least, for now.
AI software maker Syncron helps industrial suppliers figure out which parts to stockSyncron, an industrial analytics company, is using artificial intelligence to predict parts breakdowns before they occur.
Rainbow Six: Siege’s new defender has a shield that shoots lightningThe debut trailer for the latest defender character in Rainbow Six: Siege leaked over the weekend, and now Ubisoft has revealed some of the character’s history in a blog post. Her name is Morowa “Clash” Evans, and she was an officer with England’s Territorial Support Group. She carries the “crowd control electro shield, which is […]
World of Warcraft: Legion’s success could carry over to Battle for AzerothOPINION: World of Warcraft’s seventh expansion, Battle for Azeroth, launches later today. I’m excited, but I’m also feeling a bit retrospective and even sad. This marks the end of Legion, the previous expansion, which became one of my favorite times in the 14-year-old online multiplayer role-playing game’s history. Legion came out on August 30, 2016.…
Isabelle Riva: How the Unity game engine will democratize filmUnity Technologies has been known among developers as the maker of a “game engine” since the tool debuted in 2005. But these days, “creation engine” might be a better name for it. That’s because experiences created with Unity are more often than not films, interactive movies, advertisements, or augmented reality and virtual reality content. The […]
Amazon researchers develop complex voice recognition models that work offlineResearchers at Amazon have developed sophisticated voice recognition models that work offline, without the need for an internet connection.
Apple reportedly asked devs to adopt subscriptions and hike app pricesApple invited a group of app developers to a secret April 2017 meeting in New York's Tribeca district, asking them to move from selling apps at low prices to renting app access through subscriptions.
Intel AI and 2,500 Xeons bring ‘The Meg’ mega-shark to the big screenThe Meg, a sci-fi film about a giant prehistoric 75 foot-long shark, debuted last week from Warner Bros. and Gravity Pictures. And Intel said today that its artificial intelligence hardware — namely, about 2,500 Xeon Scalable processors — helped bring the creature to life on the big screen. Scanline VFX used Ziva VFX software and […]
Gris could become one of the Switch’s prettiest gamesDeveloper Nomada Studio and publisher Devolver Digital revealed Gris today, a new narrative-based side-scroller that could become one of the Switch‘s most gorgeous games. Gris is coming out in December, and it will also release for PC. But the Switch has become the exciting home for indies these days, with games like Celeste and Wizard […]
DeepMind’s AI can recommend treatment for more than 50 eye diseases with 94% accuracyAn AI system created by Google’s DeepMind Health, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and University College London (UCL) Institute of Ophthalmology can correctly determine how to refer optometry patients in 94 percent of cases, putting it on par with top human experts. The advances in AI-driven eye disease treatment were detailed in a study […]
Moto Z3 hands-on: Motorola’s half-priced iPhone X awaits its 5G backpackOn paper, Motorola's new Moto Z3 has one of the most compelling Android phone pitches I've yet heard: Pay a reasonable price now for a modern 4G phone, then use a bespoke accessory to add next-generation Verizon 5G support early next year. But the devil's in the details.
Elon Musk reveals Saudi fund will back his $72 billion plan to take Tesla privateTesla’s Elon Musk disclosed today that his plan to take the company private was being driven by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Facing growing controversy over his announcement of the plan last week via a series of tweets, Musk wrote a lengthier explanation in which he said the fund has been offering to back such a […]
KamaGames will sell cryptocurrency tokens for social casino gamesKamaGames, a big European operator of social casino games, said it is moving into blockchain and cryptocurrency with the launch of its own KamaGames Token. The whole idea is to make it easier for the company’s more than 100 million players to purchase in-game currency for the social casino games, said Andrey Kuznetsov, CEO of […]
Pix lets you put electronic images on your smart backpackBackpacks are joining the family of electronic wearables and accessories with Pix‘s announcement of a “smart backpack” that allows you to put electronic images on the fabric to show off your personal style. As you can see in the pictures, you can put pixelated electronic images of everything from video game characters to cartoons on the backpack’s…
Galaxy S10 won’t be first Samsung 5G phone, foldables will be a familySamsung now says that its first 5G phone won't be the Galaxy S10, and confirms that it's planning multiple foldable phones, not just one model.
Netflix CFO David Wells is leaving after 14 yearsNetflix has announced that chief financial officer (CFO) David Wells is stepping down. Wells joined Netflix in 2004 as vice president for finance planning and analysis, before taking over as CFO in 2010. He replaced longstanding CFO Barry McCarthy, who had guided Netflix as it transitioned into becoming a public company in 2002. McCarthy now serves […]
Niko Partners: China’s console and TV-based game market will hit $736 million in 2018Sony and Microsoft launched their video game consoles in China in 2014, but there wasn’t much to celebrate about the sales back then. But slowly, the console game software, console game hardware, and TV-based game software market has grown, with revenues in China expected to increase 14.6 percent to $736 million in 2018, according to […]
Samsung’s new SmartThings Wifi mesh system is powered by Plume’s AI network optimization techSamsung lifted the lid on an upgraded and rebranded Wi-Fi mesh network system today. By way of a quick recap, the Korean technology giant first debuted its Samsung Connect Home mesh router and smart home hub in March last year. A single unit promised to extend Wi-Fi through your home to around 1,500 square feet, while […]
AppZen’s Insights uses AI to automatically detect expense-reporting fraudAppZen uses AI to
SAP’s Concur launches Slack’s most advanced business travel bot to dateEXCLUSIVE: SAP’s Concur today released the most advanced Slack bot to date for booking flights, giving business travelers and teams the option to make travel arrangements without leaving their conversation. Made for business travelers, Concur Travel lets people quickly share travel itineraries or search available flights together in a Slack channel. Once an employee finds…
Samsung may suspend operations at China mobile phone plant(Reuters) — Samsung Electronics is considering suspending operations at one of its mobile phone manufacturing plants in China due to slumping sales and rising labor costs, the Electronic Times reported on Monday. Samsung might stop producing mobile phones this year at Tianjin Samsung Telecom Technology, located in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, the South […]
Vicon’s Origin hardware suite is designed for location-based VRMotion capture company Vicon unveiled its Origin line of location-based virtual reality hardware at the computer graphics conference SIGGRAPH in Vancouver. The product suite includes cameras, trackers, and a wireless relay transmitter along with software that is compatible with popular game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine. Vicon has partnered with Dreamscape Immersive, which specializes in […]
Check Point shows hackers can infiltrate networks via fax machinesCheck Point Research has shown that hackers can infiltrate any home or corporate network by exploiting weaknesses in all-in-one printer fax machines. Dubbed the Faxploit, the attack can be carried out using only a fax number, according to a paper Check Point presented at the Defcon hacker event in Las Vegas today. The team used […]
Check Point Research: How Android allows ‘man-in-the-disk’ cyberattacksCheck Point Research said it has found a design flaw in Android’s Sandbox that allows external storage to be used as an avenue for cyberattacks. Those attacks could result in outcomes such as silent installation of unrequested, potentially malicious, apps on the user’s phone. They could also be used for denial of service for legitimate apps […]
How blockchain can help advertisers combat ‘ad blindness’GUEST: As internet users, we are exposed to an ever-increasing number and density of advertisements every day. Out of preservation for our sanity, each of us has developed a type of natural defense, termed “ad blindness.” Basically, we disregard most ads that creep into our line of sight. Or we actively block them. In 2017,…
Pittsburgh VC firm introduces teens to the startup life with hardware accelerator StartableMany U.S. cities are wrestling with how to build a healthy “pipeline” of tech talent. But too often those solutions are limited to the addition of new STEM degrees at traditional higher education institutions or coding classes in local K-12 schools. In Pittsburgh, local seed stage investor Innovation Works is interested in another issue: how […]
Adshir enables real-time ray tracing on mobile devicesAdshir is announcing that it can demonstrate the holy grail of computer graphics: real-time ray tracing on mobile devices. That means that it can show physically accurate computer animations in real time on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones. Ray tracing has been possible in high-end computer-animated movies, such as Pixar films, but those […]
AMD unveils Radeon Pro workstation graphics cards for visualization marketAdvanced Micro Devices has unveiled its latest graphics cards for workstations: the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200. The Santa Clara, California-based company is targeting the machines at the visualization market, so it unveiled the new graphics cards at the Siggraph 2018 graphics conference in Vancouver, Canada this week. “We are inventing professional products for reliability, innovation, […]
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 beta — hands-on with the tense Heist multiplayer modeTreyarch unveiled a new Heist mode in its second beta test for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 multiplayer. I’ve played it a number of times on the PlayStation 4, and here’s my hands-on report. The Black Ops 4 multiplayer beta test continues until 10 a.m. Pacific time on Monday, August 13. With Heist mode, […]
McAfee researchers falsify a patient’s vital signs in real-timeMcAfee’s security researchers announced at the Defcon hacker event in Las Vegas this week that they were able to hack into a medical network and falsify a patient’s vital signs. Exposing this weakness is the first step in fixing security for the networking protocol used by medical devices, known as RWHAT. But it’s certainly scary […]
‘Sovereign’ cryptocurrencies serve governments, not peopleGUEST: Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies promise to enable economic, political and social freedom, if implemented properly. But the emergence of “sovereign” cryptocurrencies — backed by governments — contradicts everything that blockchain stands for and hoped to fix. Iran has now decided to develop its own national digital currency in response to reimposed US sanctions, according to Press…
Haptics don’t always pay offGUEST: The VR sphere is fascinated by haptics and the notion that “feeling” is the ultimate immersive experience. Take the recently funded kickstarter for the Holosuit that is promising a full body haptic experience as an example of just how fixated the VR world is with more haptics. As a result, the gaming industry and…
5 things VC firms wish entrepreneurs knew about that first meetingGUEST: Over the course of 30 years as a General Partner at Highland Capital Partners, I’ve had the privilege of attending more than 5,000 introductory meetings with startups. Based on that experience, here are five tips to help founding teams prepare for their first big meeting with venture capital firms. 1. Bring a starting line-up,…
Naveen Rao interview: How Intel aims to win the AI processor warThe battle to create the best artificial intelligence chips is underway. Intel is approaching this challenge from its position as a maker of central processing units (CPUs) or the Xeon microprocessors that dominate the datacenter market. Rival Nvidia is attacking from its position as a maker of graphics processing units (GPUs), and both companies are […]- These companies are shrinking the voice recognition ‘accent gap’Voice recognition algorithms treat different dialects differently -- they're discriminatory. But there may be hope on the horizon.
How Ray J made the leap from show business to consumer electronicsCelebrity sightings aren’t unusual at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the big tech industry trade show that takes place in Las Vegas each January. But Ray J, an R&B performer and TV personality, was there to do business. Hoping to capitalize on his fame (or, if you will, his infamy), Ray J started an electronics […]- Microsoft releases two new Windows 10 previews and almost aligns their featuresMicrosoft has released Windows 10 build 17735 from the RS5 branch and Windows 10 build 18214 from the 19H1 branch. These builds mainly fix bugs and align the latter branch with the former.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is borrowing from Counter-Strike, Overwatch, and SiegeCall of Duty: Black Ops 4’s beta has kicked back into action, and this time it is on PC and Xbox One as well. I jumped into the Battle.net version this afternoon to try out the new Heist mode, which is Treyarch’s twist on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive formula. But that’s not the only game Black […]
Doom Eternal gameplay reveals grappling hook action and moreQuakeCon is happening in Texas this weekend, and Bethesda kicked off the fan gathering by letting developer id Software show off its upcoming shooter Doom Eternal. This is the followup to 2016’s Doom reboot, and it continues that story by bringing the hell demons to Earth. Doom Eternal first debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo […]
ProBeat: Android adoption needs a bigger slice of PieOPINION: Android Pie has the potential to capture more adoption than past Android releases. If all goes well, Android Pie could be adopted faster than its predecessors Nougat and Oreo.
Microsoft funds AI that tracks elephants by their callsConservation Metrics, a Microsoft for Earth AI grantee, uses AI to track elephants from sound data supplied by Cornell University Lab of Ornithology's Elephant Listening Project.
San Diego Fire Department to test remotely piloted drones as part of FAA programThe San Diego Fire Department today began tests of camera-equipped drones to help fight fires. Firefighters on the ground will deploy the drones, but once they're in the air, the drones will be controlled by trained drone pilots using the Cape telepresence drone platform.
David Marcus leaves Coinbase board to focus on Facebook’s blockchain projectThree months after Facebook announced that it was starting a blockchain initiative, the executive in charge stepped down from his position as a board member at Coinbase, fueling speculation about the project's scope. David Marcus is leaving the digital currency exchange just nine months after joining its board.
Doom co-developer is now working on Starfield as Bethesda Game Studios DallasAt the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in Los Angeles in June, Fallout 4 developer Bethesda Game Studios revealed that it is working on four games. Now, to help ensure the studio has the resources it needs to complete these projects, publisher Bethesda Softworks has moved its Dallas-based Escalation under the Bethesda Game Studios banner. […]
Watch QuakeCon (and the first Doom Eternal gameplay) live right hereThe annual celebration of id Software and its publisher Bethesda Softworks is underway once again, and you can watch it live by clicking play on the video above. Bethesda is hosting esports events for games like The Elder Scrolls: Legends as well as the largest bring-your-own-computer gathering in the history of North America. But the […]
AI Weekly: Budget phones could signal the AI revolutionBudget smartphones have the potential to democratize AI. In fact, they're already doing just that.
The DeanBeat: Could the U.S. have a trade war with China over games?Donald Trump’s trade war with China over steel and aluminum seems like a battle from the last century. It begs the question: What would happen if we had a trade war over things that really mattered, like intellectual property? The counterfeiting of physical goods certainly amounts to billions of dollars in theft, but that doesn’t […]
LXDX expands its cryptocurrency exchange with backing from Dymon Asia VenturesEXCLUSIVE: The financial landscape continues to evolve as more blockchain startups enter the industry. Once again, alternative investments are a target for those wanting to disrupt the space with cryptocurrencies and distributed ledgers. In fact, this is the second major blockchain platform launch this week for alternative investments. Cryptocurrency trading platform LXDX today announced that it has…
Ericsson is increasing 5G and AI investments to speed U.S. rolloutsEricsson announced today that it is increasing its investments in the United States to speed deployments of 5G, AI, and automation technologies in North America.
Galaxy Home: Samsung’s smart speaker success depends on Bixby’s global aspirationsANALYSIS: Samsung made a slew of announcements at its Unpacked 2018 event in New York yesterday, including the Galaxy Note9 phablet and a new Galaxy smartwatch. But a new product line is often what garners the most interest, which is why the company‘s foray into smart speakers with its Bixby-powered Galaxy Home is of particular note. The Korean tech…
Academy Software Foundation will let filmmakers use open source creative softwareThe movies are going open source. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Linux Foundation today launched the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) to provide a neutral forum for open source software developers in the motion picture and broader media industries to share resources and collaborate on technologies for image creation, visual effects, animation, and sound. […]
Apple rehires top Tesla engineer Doug Field for Titan car projectAfter five years of working at Tesla, Apple’s former VP of Mac hardware engineering, Doug Field, has returned to Cupertino — but apparently to work on Apple’s autonomous car initiative Project Titan. Apple has officially acknowledged rehiring Field, but his specific involvement with Titan was confirmed to Daring Fireball by unnamed sources within the company. According to […]
Shadow of the Tomb Raider hands-on — 4 hours of gritty, epic jungle gameplayTomb Raider has tombs again. And that’s how Shadow of the Tomb Raider starts out, with the iconic Lara Croft crawling through a narrow rock tunnel that threatens to cave in on her. With mud caked on her face, she isn’t glamorous, and she isn’t a an innocent and vulnerable as she once was. Since […]
Andreesson Horowitz leads $20 million investment in Wonderschool to expand marketplace for in-home preschoolsWonderschool, an education technology (edtech) startup that enables any qualified person to launch their own in-home childcare services, has closed a $20 million series A round of funding led by Andreesson Horowitz, with participation from Omidyar Network, First Round, Gary Community Investments, Cross Culture Ventures, Uncork Capital, Rethink Education, Edelweiss, and Lerer Hippeau, along with a bunch of […]
Clash Royale League will kick off August 20 with a $1 million prize poolSupercell is on schedule to launch its fall season of its Clash Royale League on August 20, with a prize pool that will total $1 million. The Helsinki, Finland-based company hopes that mobile game esports will take off as awareness of the competitive play around Clash Royale grows, said Tim Ebner, head of esports at Supercell, […]
Tesla’s board is seeking more information on Elon Musk’s financing plan(Reuters) — Tesla’s board has not yet received a detailed financing plan from CEO Elon Musk, and is seeking more information about how he will take the U.S. electric car maker private in a proposed deal worth $72 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. While Tesla’s board has held multiple discussions about […]
Nintendo Switch Online service debuts in second half of SeptemberThe Nintendo Switch Online service debuts in the second half of September, and the Japanese company detailed what players will get for their subscriptions. The Switch Online membership will get players access to online play in games like Splatoon 2, Arms, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Mario Tennis Aces. Players can also get access to classic Nintendo…
AltspaceVR lets you build your own sharable space in virtual realityAltspaceVR has released tools to let users create their own sharable spaces in virtual reality. It uses a drag-and-drop interface, allowing you to place objects in a 3D space using AltspaceVR-compatible headsets — including Oculus Go and Gear VR. It’s one of the first major upgrades since Microsoft acquired the social VR platform If you save […]
Let’s talk about Red Dead Redemption 2 on PCIf you’re hanging on to the hope that Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to PC this year or early in 2019, please give that up. Rockstar Games is launching its Western sequel for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 26, but it hasn’t said anything about a version for Windows. That’s disappointing — […]
After misconduct allegations, MidBoss embraces new company culture and strives to promote queer gamesIndie studio MidBoss has quietly picked up the pieces after allegations of sexual harassment and wage theft emerged against its former CEO and founder Matt Conn. It’s now under the leadership of temporary CEO Cade Peterson, whose first order of business was to fix the studio’s internal problems. Recently, he has also spearheaded his first external […]
Path of Exile’s next Challenge League is Delve, an infinite dungeon launching August 31PREVIEW: Path of Exile‘s upcoming Challenge League is about to supersize the megadungeon. Delve launches on PC August 31 in an infinite dungeon, an adventuring complex without end. You roll up a new character and head into the Azurite Mine, and as you explore, you find that the darkness is full of dangers. But if…
Google explains how AI powers Android Pie’s Smart LinkifySmart Linkify, a feature in Android Pie that automatically converts phone numbers and addresses to clickable links, is powered by machine learning.
PlayStation lifetime hardware sales top 525.3 million, PS4 Pro limited edition comingSony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) said it has sold more than 525.3 million PlayStation hardware devices since 1994, and to celebrate it is launching the PlayStation 4 Pro 500 Million Limited Edition. Available on August 24, 2018, the new console will sell at retail price for 49,980 yen in Japan, $499 in North America and €499 […]- Amazon open-sources dataset for understanding names in different languagesAmazon has created and open-sourced a dataset used to train an AI model to identify names across language and script types so Alexa can, for example, understand the name of a Japanese artist or person when pronounced by an English speaker or vice versa. Called a transliteration multilingual named-entity transliteration system, the tool for recognizing a name […]
Galaxy Note9 specs: What Samsung changedOn the surface, the Samsung Note8 and Note9 look almost identical. You might have trouble distinguishing the two devices if you sat them side by side. As is becoming more common with smartphones nowadays, it's what is inside that counts.
Stop getting screwed: Using AI to prevent game fraud (VB Live)VB LIVE: There are 2.2 billion active gamers, and 100 percent of them are at risk from fraudsters. Also at risk: your game's reputation, customer retention, and your bottom line. Learn how machine learning and AI can keep your game and players safe online criminals, don’t miss this VB Live event.
Samsung unveils Galaxy Home smart speaker with BixbySamsung today debuted the Galaxy Home smart speaker alongside the Galaxy Note9 at the Samsung Unpacked event held in New York City.
Alto.io lets devs build blockchain items for games on Hedera HashgraphAlto.io wants to get consumers to start embracing cryptocurrency and blockchain in a bigger way. So the company announced it will support the Hedera Hashgraph platform with its own application that makes commerce possible. Alto.io has created a tool, the Alto Forge, that enables game and app developers to mint non-fungible, fully tradeable crypto items […]
Amazon counters Rekognition facial ID backlash by citing positive use casesAmazon, in a counterpoint to negative press about its Rekognition facial recognition technology, offered positive use cases in a blog post.
Facebook adds mentorship feature to select GroupsAs some users are souring on sharing aspects of their personal life on Facebook, the company wants more people to turn to the platform for professional development. Facebook announced today that it is bringing Mentorship, a networking tool it piloted last year, to Groups. The announcement comes as Facebook continues to push Groups as a […]
Samsung debuts Galaxy Watch with improved battery and health featuresSamsung is officially saying goodbye to the “Gear” smartwatch brand in favor of a new name — Galaxy Watch. And as it announced today at its Unpacked event in New York City, its latest wearable includes some noteworthy improvements to the two-year-old Gear S3 lineup, even though it’s a largely evolutionary update. The Galaxy Watch strongly […]
Quizizz raises $3 million and surpasses 10 million usersQuizizz has built a learning platform that helps teachers turn homework and tests into self-paced games. And the company has raised $3 million in funding and surpassed a big milestone with 10 million active users. Nexus Venture Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors. India-based Quizizz combines game-design elements with self-paced questions and […]
Samsung Galaxy Note9: Design, specs, features, and pricingThe Samsung Galaxy Note9 is finally official -- Samsung announced it an Unpacked event in New York City recently. Here's everything you need to know about its new S Pen and Bixby features, Fortnite exclusivity, and more, including the specifications, pricing, and availability.
Review: Fortnite on Android brings authentic battle royale to (most of) the rest of usREVIEW: Epic Games announced today that it is launching the beta for Fortnite battle royale on Android, starting with select Samsung devices. The Samsung devices will go live today with a wider Android beta beginning in the coming days. Epic timed the announcement with the reveal of the latest Samsung Galaxy Note 9 smartphone, giving…
The IndieBeat: Corona Black’s style comes from mech punches, space Westerns, and color blindnessCorona Black is relentlessly stylish. Indie studio Ota Imon has remixed and amped up the aesthetic of Japanese comic books (or manga). It stars larger-than-life characters — with names like Knife Leopard — who compete in mech battles in a world that shatters into comic book panels. It’s sleek and over-the-top, and it’s clear the […]
Amazon launches Auto SDK to bring Alexa to more carsAmazon today announced an open source release of the Alexa Automotive Core (AAC) SDK, or Auto SDK, to help automakers integrate Alexa voice control into cars and their infotainment systems, screens often used for navigation, media, or climate control. The software development kit is free for download on GitHub and is optimized for bringing Alexa to in-car […]
Hinge Health raises $26 million from Insight Venture Partners and Atomico to help employers tackle chronic conditionsHinge Health, a digital health startup that develops software, hardware, and services to help companies manage employees’ musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, has raised $26 million in a series B round of funding led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from series A lead Atomico. Founded in 2015, San Francisco-based Hinge Health is initially focused on getting […]
Apple engineers boost Siri’s recognition of local points of interestApple has made under-the-hood enhancements to Siri's recognition of local points of interest (POI), previously a "performance bottleneck" with high levels of inaccuracy due to "millions of smaller, local POIs."
Discord adds games to its Nitro subscription service and opens a storeDiscord joins the fight … for your money. The popular communication platform for gamers is revealing today that it is opening a game store and adding an instant library of games to its Nitro subscription program. This is part of Discord’s continued pattern of growth from a social tool to a fully independent platform where […]
Anchor now lets podcasters monetize by requesting donations of up to $10 per monthPodcasting platform Anchor has announced its first moves into monetization by allowing listeners to pay their favorite podcasters through a monthly subscription. The news comes six months after Anchor introduced a major overhaul, shifting from a short-form social audio platform to a full-fledged podcasting powerhouse. However, the Anchor reboot notably lacked money-making tools for creators. […]
How to watch Samsung Galaxy Unpacked livestreamToday’s the day Samsung will roll out its latest devices at Galaxy Unpacked, a summer event in New York City. Based on pre-event leaks, we’re expecting to see a few big announcements: the Galaxy Note9 (sequel to the Note8), the Galaxy Watch (sequel to the Gear S3), and a new smart speaker with the AI […]
McAfee and Intezer find links among North Korea’s malware familiesNorth Korea’s cyberattacks have been well documented over the years. But a collaboration between McAfee and Intezer security researchers has shown previously undiscovered links among the various North Korean malware families and some of the most successful cyberattacks to date. Jay Rosenberg of Intezer and Christiaan Beek of McAfee are talking about their discovery at […]
Despite Runic Games’ closure, the Torch is still LitThough developer Runic Games shut down in November, the Torchlight action role-playing series blazes on. The series is continuing with a third game, Torchlight Frontiers, which is set in a persistent world and launches on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on a to-be-announced date. Publisher Perfect World Entertainment’s newest studio, Echtra Games, will develop the […]
India rejects Apple letter on anti-spam app, suggests lawsuit(Reuters) — In India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, Apple’s normally deft management of government relations is being put to a fresh high-stakes test. For almost two years, Apple has battled India’s telecom regulator over a demand that it allow the use of the government’s anti-spam app. Non-compliance, the watchdog threatened last month, could result […]
IBM and Maersk launch blockchain to reduce shipping time and costsCargo shipping giant Maersk and IBM today announced TradeLens, a technology that applies blockchain to the global supply chain. TradeLens takes advantage of blockchain, the decentralized public ledger behind such tech as cryptocurrency — to enable global trade to be more efficient and secure. More than 94 companies and organizations are supporting the project in the […]- Amazon prepares to launch Echo and Alexa in Mexico, its first localized Latin American countryAmazon has announced that Alexa will soon speak Mexican Spanish as the company prepares to localize its smart virtual assistant for its first Latin American market. As of today, the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) — a set of self-service APIs and tools for adding skills to Alexa — is available for developers to begin building voice-enabled features […]
Nexon’s Dungeon Fighter and MapleStory keep growing after a decadeAsian free-to-play gaming giant Nexon reported second quarter revenues and earnings that underscore its proven business model, the company announced today. And the main firepower behind the company’s financials come from online games that are more than a decade old. Once again, it makes you wonder if free-to-play games, where you play the game for […]