Friday, May 11, 2018

Cyberattack shuts down Tennessee election website

On May 1st, a website in Tennessee tracking county election results suffered a cyberattack and subsequent incursions before it went down, a security firm concluded. According to its report, "a suspiciously large number of foreign countries" accessed...

Xioami's smart home devices now work with Google Assistant

Xiaomi has had a hard time gaining traction with US customers. To help sidestep that, the Chinese company is prepping the runway for (hopeful) domestic success by adding Google Assistant tech to its smart home devices, 9to5Google spotted. Meaning tha...

DNA is just another way we can’t opt out of data sharing

Growing up in California, serial killers are as much a fact of life as year-round citrus or having a bit of Spanish in your daily vocabulary. News of the Golden State Killer's arrest came as a surprise and a relief to most of us whose early lives wer...

Pandora stops promoting R. Kelly’s music

Yesterday, Spotify pulled R. Kelly from its curated playlists, which include RapCaviar, Discover Weekly and New Music Friday, saying the allegations of sexual assault that have followed R. Kelly for years go against its new policy on hateful conduct....

Lyft faces another class action lawsuit over driver pay

Lyft isn't done grappling with lawsuits over driver pay. A newly filed class action suit from California resident Fernando Villaseñor alleges that Lyft played tricks with fare distribution to misrepresent the drivers' share and unfairly pour...

Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini robot in 2019

After 26 years, Boston Dynamics is finally getting ready to start selling some robots. Founder Marc Raibert says that the company’s dog-like SpotMini robot is in pre-production and preparing for commercial availability in 2019. The announcement came onstage at TechCrunch’s TC Sessions: Robotics event today at UC Berkeley. “The SpotMini robot is one that was […]

'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' may live on with Hulu or Netflix

Don't pour one out for Brooklyn Nine-Nine just yet. The canceled sitcom might find a second life, with Hulu and Netflix among its potential new precincts. Soon after Fox tossed Brooklyn Nine-Nine to the curb -- plummeting what seemed like half of the...

Deep learning with synthetic data will democratize the tech industry

The visual data sets of images and videos amassed by the most powerful tech companies have been a competitive advantage, a moat that keeps the advances of machine learning out of reach from many. This advantage will be overturned by the advent of synthetic data.

Windows 10’s new clipboard takes the pain out of copy and pasting


We’ve all been there: you try to copy and paste a link or address, only to realize you’ve already overwritten your clipboard with something else. That’ll soon be a thing of the past on Windows. What’s changed: The latest Windows Insider build (17666) is out but despite several other updates – and all the changes announced at Build 2018 – my favorite upcoming feature might be the new clipboard. It keeps a history of things you’ve copied and pasted, including plain text, HTML, and images under 1MB. Better yet, you can pin the items you use frequently, such as a…

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Google Clips gets better at capturing candids of hugs and kisses (which is not creepy, right?)

Google Clips’ AI-powered “smart camera” just got even smarter, Google announced today, revealing improved functionality around Clips’ ability to automatically capture specific moments — like hugs and kisses. Or jumps and dance moves. You know, in case you want to document all your special, private moments in a totally non-creepy way. I kid, I kid! […]

Nintendo and Sony change warranties to be a little more repair-friendly


After being warned last week their warranty-voiding stickers might be on the wrong side of shady, Nintendo and Sony have changed their warranties. The details: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued warnings — which came to light last week — to the like of Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, HTC, and Asus, warning them about their problematic language in stating what would and wouldn’t violate their warranties. Now Nintendo and Sony have reworked their language. USGamer reported Nintendo’s change in language, which now states your warranty doesn’t apply if you use third-party equipment which damages your consoles in some way — whereas before…

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Hollywood producer plans to incentivize content viewers with tokens

With so much controversy swirling around the advertising-driven business models typified by Facebook and Google, and the increasing rigors of regulations like GDPR, it’s no wonder the blockchain world is starting to whet its appetite at the prospect of paying users for attention with crypto assets. Now a company involved in the production of Hollywood […]

YouTube rolls out new tools to help you stop watching

Google’s YouTube is the first streaming app that will actually tell users to stop watching. At its Google I/O conference this week, the company introduced a series of new controls for YouTube that will allow users to set limits on their viewing, and then receive reminders telling them to “take a break.” The feature is […]

I hope Google won’t nag me about my digital wellbeing

We all know someone who could benefit from a digital time-out. You know the type: phone attached to the hand, posture permanently hunched in a looking-down-at-the-screen slouch, plagued with ailments like phantom vibrations and sleep texting. Most of...

'Minecraft' update brings cross-platform play to Nintendo Switch June 21st

Minecraft players on Nintendo Switch will soon build massive forts and slay monsters with more of their friends. The sandbox phenomenon will get cross-platform support when the Bedrock update arrives on the console June 21 -- gamers can play with the...

Spirit is first budget airline in the US to offer WiFi

As a rule, traveling with a budget airline in the US means foregoing any kind of mid-flight WiFi access. Not so with Spirit, though. The no-frills air carrier is rolling out internet access to its aircraft this fall, with the entire fleet expected...

Three days in, life with the Android P beta has been mostly painless

The first public preview of Android P is finally here, and as you might have guessed from the jam-packed keynote, there's a lot going on in this new build. As Google tells it, Android P is centered around intelligence, simplicity and what the company...

Huawei puts giant ravens around the UK because that's not creepy at all

If an eight-foot tall raven suddenly appeared nearby, you'd probably be left wondering just how many minutes you have left until the end times arrive. But Huawei is hoping UK residents have a slightly more positive reaction. To promote its P20 Pro sm...

Facebook is reportedly considering its own cryptocurrency

Facebook is reportedly looking into creating its own cryptocurrency. According to Cheddar, it would be a way for the social network's billions of users to make electronic payments on the platform, as well as outside it. There are no real details abou...

The best portable power strips and surge protectors with USB charging

By Mark Smirniotis This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. After research...

Wes Blackwell joins Scout Ventures to invest in early-stage, veteran-led startups

We haven’t written much about Scout Ventures, but the New York City-based firm has built up a big portfolio over nearly a decade of investing, with exits like Olapic (acquired by Monotype for $130 million) and Kanvas (acquired by TechCrunch’s parent company AOL). And, it’s done all of this with just one full-time partner, Bradley […]

Murder case prompts China's biggest ridesharing company to halt service

When it comes to ridesharing companies, the safety of passengers is a universal concern. In China, Didi Chuxing, the country's biggest ridesharing company, is stopping service for one week following the death of a female passenger. The victim, a 21-y...

Facebook is reportedly thinking about launching its own cryptocurrency


It appears that social media giant Facebook might be contemplating rolling out its own cryptocurrency, reports suggest. The company is purportedly looking into using cryptocurrency to facilitate payments across its various services, according to a report from Cheddar. The publication further suggests the efforts will be led by David Marcus, who was heading the Facebook Messenger unit until recently. There are not many details as of yet, but Cheddar indicates that plans could take years to implement. Given that blockchain technologies are still in their infancy, it is unlikely Facebook will be willing to rely on decentralized solutions until they…

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