News

Facebook this evening announced that it’s shutting off access to its application programming interface, the developer platform that lets app makers access user data, for hundreds of thousands of inactive apps. The company had set an August 1st deadline back in May, during its F8 developer conference , for developers and businesses to re-submit apps to an internal review, a process that involves signing new contracts around user data collection and verifying one’s authenticity. The goal is to ensure third-party software on Facebook was in line with the company’s data privacy rules and new restrictions put in place in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal , in which a third-party developer siphoned user data and sold it to another firm in violation of Facebook’s terms of service. Now, after it identified numerous apps that were either inactive or from developers who had not submitted the software for review, Facebook is cutting off those apps’ access to its Platform API. “We’d

Apple Pay will be supported in CVS pharmacies and 7-Eleven stores nationwide, CEO Tim Cook announced on a call with investors this afternoon following the company’s positive third quarter earnings results . In addition to adding CVS and 7-Eleven as retail partners, Cook says Apple Pay handled more total transactions last quarter — more than 1 billion — than competitor Square and more mobile transactions than PayPal. The platform will also be launching in Germany later this year, Cook added. Apple Pay has had a steady rollout since its launch in October 2014, and it now supports most major credit cards and US banks. It’s also available in more than two dozen countries and regions and supports around 4,900 banks globally. Despite impressive growth, Apple’s mobile payments platform still lacks certain key brands, although it started with partners like McDonald’s and Walgreens and has since spread rapidly . So adding CVS and 7-Eleven is another big win for Apple Pay, further solidifyi

Google is working with publishers to make it easier to view data journalism in search results, as announced on its blog today . It’s one of the steps Google News Initiative is taking to make data journalism more visible, with the field quickly growing across media. Over half of all newsrooms now have dedicated data journalists, and this feature aims to pinpoint the most useful results from pages containing data tables. “Data journalism takes many forms, and it’s not always clear from the headline that there is potentially useful data within that document or story,” Google News Lab’s Simon Rogers wrote in today’s blog post. “It isn’t always easy for Google Search to detect and understand tables of data to surface the most relevant results.” News organizations have the option to add additional structured data to note which parts of their page will be the most relevant in search results. Adding this structured data to the existing HTML of their page, they’ll be able to control how the

When MoviePass was first founded in 2011, it had a relatively simple business model: a subscription service for theatrically released movies, where members would pay a monthly fee in exchange for a kind of all-you-can-eat buffet of movies. The idea was to bring theaters on board with a profit-sharing system that would benefit both the theaters and the service. But theater chains were immediately resistant, and MoviePass’ experiments with various pricing tiers — some as much as $50 a month — only drew small numbers of subscribers. But shortly after analytics firm Helios and Matheson acquired a majority stake in the company in August 2017, MoviePass dropped its monthly rate below $10 for a subscription that offered users one movie ticket per day. The gambit brought in millions of subscribers, which CEO Mitch Lowe openly hoped would force theaters to cooperate with the company. Since then, MoviePass has undergone a wide variety of public experiments in revenue generation, as it tries to

The US Food and Drug Administration has declared that it is cracking down on “vaginal rejuvenation” devices that use lasers to reshape the vagina. Though these have been approved for specific purposes, like treating cancer or removing genital warts, they are increasingly being used for purposes like dryness and menopause-related issues. There is no evidence that they work. The FDA has already sent warning letters to seven companies hawking the treatment for unapproved purposes. In one instance, the company Cynosure claims that its vaginal treatments stimulate a “healing response” with “virtually no side effects.” The FDA begs to differ, claiming that these treatments can cause burns, scarring, and chronic pain. Vagina rejuvenation isn’t the only ill-advised genital-related health advice that women are receiving. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop is notorious for suggesting vaginal steaming and jade eggs , despite no evidence. In The New York Times , the gynecologist Jen Gunter writes abo

Applying for an apartment rental is about to look a lot like submitting a job application online. As anyone who’s been through the hell of apartment hunting can attest, finding a home can be a grueling experience, and Zillow is looking to simplify it by centralizing the entire process. Starting today, Zillow is offering renters and landlords property management tools for apartment applications and rental payments online, as reported by MarketWatch. Renters can pay $29 to submit an application to as many apartments as they want within a month, which includes an Experian credit report and an eviction history and background check from Checkr. This is a lot less time-consuming than submitting individual applications, and it’s cheaper than credit checks that can range anywhere from $50 to $100. After renters move in, they’ll be able to pay rent online through Zillow, with a small processing fee if they pay by credit card. Landlords will be able to use the service for free through the ex

July has not been good for MoviePass, the embattled all-you-can-watch movie ticket subscription service. The company ran out of money and shut down for a night last week . It’s compensated by shutting people out of popular movies like Mission: Impossible — Fallout . The company has claimed lately that technical difficulties are keeping users from getting movie tickets, though it’s unclear whether this is also a behind-the-scenes gambit to limit how much of its remaining money users can spend. The MoviePass stock has plummeted . And now, MoviePass has announced a slew of changes that aim to “compress its timeline to reach profitability” — by making the service much more restrictive. According to a company press release , MoviePass will increase its price to $14.95 a month within the next 30 days. First-run movies will only be viewable on a limited basis during the first two weeks of release, unless the company has a promotional deal with a given film. This is in addition to the alrea

Rakuten is hosting a site-wide sale that ends later today at 11:59PM PT. The promotion knocks 15 percent off of any purchase with offer code SAVE15 , allowing up to $50 to be knocked off of your final shopping cart cost. We’ve successfully applied the coupon to expensive products, like the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, point-and-shoot cameras, video games, noise-canceling headphones, as well as some cheaper necessities, like printer cartridges. The coupon also appears to work with non-tech items, which is somewhat of a given since it’s a site-wide offer. Based out of Japan, Rakuten is an online shop that has recently gained broader visibility, thanks to sales like these. This is a good opportunity to stock up on some back to school items or to make up for missing out on previous site-wide deals from sites like eBay. But keep in mind that not all products shipped through Rakuten ship for free, so your mileage with this offer may vary.

Sony has released a fresh trailer for its upcoming Venom movie, a cautionary tale about what happens when you fail to treat your parasites. Venom stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, the anti-hero to Riz Ahmed’s Dr. Carlton Drake, a sort of mad genius-slash-corporate villain trying to cheat nature and achieve self-guided human evolution via biological upgrades rather than technological ones. This trailer is packed with footage of the curious relationship between Eddie and his new symbiote pal, a sort of slimy parasite that gives him superpowers — provided he succumb to the whims of the bloodthirsty, anarchic thing inside him. While Eddie seems at first reluctant to go around smashing things and threatening to bite people’s limbs off, the two eventually strike up a chummy relationship, as demonstrated when they stop / eat a robber at Brock’s local bodega. “ We are Venom,” they declare in what has already become the film’s catchphrase, Brock’s face now partially revealed inside the monst

Rumors of a dual-SIM iPhone first emerged earlier this year , and now Apple’s own iOS 12 is backing up the reports. A new “iPhone X Plus” is rumored to include a 6.5-inch OLED display and dual-SIM support in certain regions. 9to5Mac reports that iOS 12 developer beta 5, released yesterday, includes references to dual-SIM support. The operating system even mentions a second physical SIM tray, meaning an iPhone with dual-SIM support might not be restricted to a single SIM tray and eSIM support. Dual-SIM support for an iPhone would be If the iOS 12 beta software is accurate, it wouldn’t be the first time Apple has revealed future hardware or software support in a beta operating system. Apple’s HomePod firmware revealed the iPhone X screen design , and beta builds of iOS 11 included Face ID, Animoji, and updated AirPods before Apple even announced them. The latest iOS 12 beta has also revealed the new AirPods wireless charging case might be ready to be released. Apple is expected t

It may be time to start prewriting our Sony Mobile obituaries, as the latest earnings report from Sony indicates the company’s already tiny smartphone business has shrunk by almost half. In the quarter ending in July 2018, Sony managed to sell only 2 million mobile devices, down 1.4 million from the same period in the preceding year. Two million phones. I’m pretty sure Apple will have sold more in the time it takes me to write this note of Sony sorrow. In its 2017 accounting year, Sony sold 13.5 million phones, and back in April its modest estimate for 2018 was 10 million, but now that’s been revised down to 9 million. Anticipating it will make only ¥610 billion ($5.49 billion) of mobile sales for the entire fiscal 2018, Sony is now in a close contest with HTC for the title of being the least relevant global Android device vendor. At least BlackBerry has its promise of uniquely secure phones and keyboards with actual, physical buttons on them. Sony’s signature mobile feature in rec

Nintendo has released its earnings for the first three months of the current fiscal year alongside updated sales figures for the Switch. The company says it’s sold 19.67 million Switch consoles as of June 30th, meaning the actual figure is likely to have reached 20 million already. Nintendo is still predicting that it will sell 20 million units in the year starting April 2018 and ending March 2019. So far the company has only sold 1.88 million after three months, which is actually slightly down year on year, but the holiday season will be considerably busier for the company with major titles like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the two Pokémon: Let’s Go games set for release. Overall, Nintendo made an operating profit of 30.5 billion yen ($275 million) off revenue of 168 billion yen ($1.51 billion) this quarter, year-on-year improvements of 88.4 percent and 9.1 percent respectively. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has joined Super Mario Odyssey as the Switch’s second title to break 10 milli

Samsung Electronics’ quarterly earnings are in , and as ever they’re right in line with guidance , meaning that the company’s run of record profits is at an end. Samsung made an operating profit of 14.87 trillion won on sales of 58.4 trillion won; revenue was down 4 percent year on year. According to Samsung, the drop in revenue can be put down to “softer sales of smartphones and display panels.” The company’s most important phone of the year, the Galaxy S9 , went on sale at the end of the previous quarter, but Samsung describes its performance as “slow.” Earlier this month analysts predicted that it would be the worst-selling Galaxy S flagship phone since 2012’s Galaxy S3. Samsung’s display business also had a rough quarter, with “weak demand” for flexible OLED panels as seen in products like the iPhone X, and LCD shipments falling in both price and quantity. The company does expect OLED demand to pick up in the second half of the year, and Apple’s reported plan to launch two new O

Logitech is making a big purchase to secure a foothold in high-end audio recording. Tonight, the company announced that it’s acquiring Blue Microphones for $117 million. The all-cash transaction will result in Blue, known for USB condenser microphones including the Snowball and Yeti, joining Logitech’s existing portfolio of brands. Aside from Logitech and Logitech G, the company also owns Astro Gaming, Jaybird, and Ultimate Ears. Yeah, it’s putting together quite the roster. “For Logitech, this is a new space,” the company wrote in its blog post announcing the deal . “But, at the same time, it’s not at all. Gamers are already using our Logitech G webcams to stream. People are video calling with friends and family thanks to Logitech every day. And in business, our audio and video know-how is apparent every time a video meeting takes place at the office. Joining up with Blue and their microphone lines is a logical adjacent opportunity with great synergies.” Founded in 1995, Blue sells

In a New Yorker report last week, six women accused CBS Corporation CEO Les Moonves of sexual misconduct, with dozens more describing an environment of sexual harassment and intimidation at the company. Today, the broadcasting company has announced that it is in the process of hiring outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation of the allegations, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Moonves, one of the highest-paid executives in the world, is a highly influential figure who oversaw popular shows such as The Big Bang Theory at CBS . He is a Television Hall of Fame inductee whose career includes stints as the CEO of Warner Bros. Television and as a vice president at 20th Century Fox Television. While Moonves was vocal about supporting the #MeToo movement, allegations dating back decades accused Moonves of grabbing and groping women he was meeting with, in one case locking a woman in his office while they were meeting. Moonves was also accused of fostering a toxic environme

LG is continuing its quest to corner the market on ultra high-end handsets with a new entry its Signature Edition series, via 9to5Google . Started last year with a modified version of the V30 , Signature Edition phones are LG’s pricey ceramic devices that run in the ballpark of $1,800. The second version, unveiled today , is basically an LG V35 in a ceramic body. (The V35, announced back in May for $900, is pretty much a G7 ThinQ in the body of a V30.) The back of the phone is made out of zirconium ceramic, a material LG says makes it nearly scratch-proof. Like the first model, this one will run you KRW 1,999,800 (about $1,790 USD at current exchange rates). There will only be 300 units made, and it goes on sale on August 13th. This time around, you get a choice of black or white. You’ll also get a free pair of B&O’s Beoplay H9i over-the-ear headphones (retailing for around $500), which certainly softens the blow of a $1,800 smartphone. You can also have it engraved. As for

Ecobee is launching a “Peak Relief” pilot program for its smart thermostats that will automatically cut down on heating and air conditioning during the day’s peak hours to help curb the cost of temperature control. The company says that this program will be customized specifically for each individual’s home by taking electricity rates, comfort preferences, the local weather forecast, and the home’s energy efficiency into account. Peak Relief bundles this data and ramps up either heat or AC just before those peak times to regulate temperature inside your home. Ecobee says the goal is to help find ways to keep users comfortable while reducing their community’s energy usage and electricity bills. The company claims the feature can save customers an additional 10 percent on their heating or cooling bills. The Peak Relief pilot rolled out today in select markets in California, Ontario, and Arizona. However, it looks to be a pretty limited rollout overall since the program is only availa

Dropbox just doubled the amount of storage it provides to customers of its Professional tier, from 1TB to 2TB. The company notes in a blog post that the rise in collaboration around “ultra hi-def” files, like 4K video and interactive presentations, means the general conception of how much cloud storage is acceptable for pro work is changing. So Dropbox is deciding to gift its users a bit extra at no cost. The current Professional plan, which is a beefed up version of Dropbox’s standard consumer Plus plan, costs around $200 per year . If you’re a Dropbox Business user, meaning your company pays for your account, you’ll also be getting an extra 1TB of storage added to your plan. Only teams who pay for Business Standard, which is $12.50 per user per month for a shared pool of data, are getting the free storage increase from 2TB to 3TB. (If your company pays for Dropbox Business Advanced, you get unlimited storage.) Dropbox says the storage upgrades are now in effect for new customers w

DJI has a new version of the Mavic Pro on the way, and thanks to a mistakenly published advertisement, the company has now confirmed to CNET a few of the drone’s specs and features ahead of its official reveal. The big change with the new Mavic 2 Pro is that users will be able to swap lenses on the drone for a 2x optical zoom version (a configuration DJI is calling Mavic 2 Zoom) that can shoot as wide as 28mm and as tight as 48mm. Switching lenses is a feature that the company has typically reserved for its more expensive professional drones, though it’s been rumored to be coming to its smaller drones (like the Mavic) for a while. The camera system on the whole is getting an upgrade, too, with a big one-inch CMOS sensor — which is a huge bump over the 1/2.3-inch sensor in the original Mavic Pro. The advertisement also mentions that this is a “Hasselblad camera,” meaning the iconic Swedish photography company likely had some involvement in the development of the camera architecture.

Google is officially adding the Chrome browser to its Daydream virtual reality platform. As of today, people using the phone-based Daydream View headset or the standalone Lenovo Mirage Solo can access Chrome from their home screens. The VR version of Chrome mostly has the same feature set as its desktop counterpart, but there’s an added “cinema mode” that optimizes web video for VR viewing. Just as importantly, Chrome supports the WebVR standard, so users can access web-based VR experiences on their Daydream headsets. Daydream users (and users of other headsets ) have had access to VR Chrome and its WebVR components for a while, through test versions of the browser or through Chrome’s mobile Android app. But this announcement positions this version of Chrome as a stable, full-fledged browsing app, not an experiment or a conduit for WebVR. Daydream’s integration with existing Google products has been a selling point for the company, although Google VR apps have spread to lots of h

The Asus Zenfone 5Z phone is now available for preorder and will be available at retailers on August 6th. Asus’ latest flagship-level Android 8.0 Oreo smartphone sits at a competitive price point of $499, but it touts a high-end Snapdragon 845 chip, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a large 6.2-inch screen. A launch was originally pegged for June , so Asus has been tardy with releasing the 5Z. The Taiwanese tech company is employing two Sony IMX363 camera sensors for the Zeonfone 5Z’s imaging system. One of the sensors has a 120-degree wide-angle lens, while the primary camera sensor contains 12 megapixels, f/1.8 aperture, and an 83 degree field of view. There’s also support for 4K video recording at 60 fps or 1080p HD recording at 30 / 60 fps. Asus is taking a page out of the current smartphone market trend — fullscreen displays — and adapting it for the Zenfone 5Z. A 6.2-inch full HD+ IPS screen means you’re a getting a 19:9 screen ratio, which is a purported 90 percent screen-to-b

Eison Triple Thread thinks men will be drawn to their favorite artists’ styles https://www.racked.com/2018/7/30/17617664/eison-triple-threads-spotify-data

In May, Xiaomi wowed the internet with its upcoming “transparent” Mi 8 Explorer Edition smartphone that the company claimed showed off the internal components of the phone in a stylish manner, unlike any transparent or translucent gadget before. There was just one problem: there were reports that the exposed circuitboard wasn’t actually real . Turns out, those reports may have been spot on. Chengming Alpert — the Twitter user who first cast doubt on Xiaomi’s claims — posted leaked pictures of the alleged internal parts , which appear to be little more than a cosmetic plate to cover the actual (and likely less-photogenic) internal components. #XiaomiMi8Explore so-called "actual motherboard"...(source: https://t.co/Sd8i5FWUEm ) @richardlai @verge @AndroidPolice pic.twitter.com/CNOL41NwRF — Chengming Alpert (@ChengmingAlpert) July 30, 2018 Assuming the leaked parts are real, it would seem that Xiaomi is definitely working hard to create the optical illusion with ac

Last December, Stranger Things star David Harbour said in an interview that the show likely wouldn’t return for its third season until sometime in 2019, and a recent faux commercial for a new mall in Hawkins hinted at a summer 2019 release. During a presentation at this year’s Television Critics Association press tour, Netflix executives confirmed a delay , but that it’ll be “worth the wait.” During today’s TCA presentation, Netflix’s Vice President of Original Content, Cindy Holland noted that the the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer and Shawn Levy, were aware of the expectations for the next season of the supernatural show, and that “they want to deliver something bigger and better than what they did last year. And so, they really want to take the time to get it right.” Holland also indicated that the next season will have some more extensive special effects than the prior seasons. The streaming service didn’t reveal a release date for the season. Netflix renewed the show

In March, YouTube revealed that it was releasing a dark mode for its mobile apps, starting with its iOS version. Now, Android users are beginning to get the feature on their apps. YouTube added a dark mode to its desktop site last year , and the company says that it became one of the most requested features for its apps. 9to5Google reports that the feature began rolling out yesterday, notifying users with a prompt. It also says that it can be turned on and off in the app’s settings.

Amazon servers make up so much of the internet that it can be hard to separate the two. As of last year, Amazon Web Services controlled roughly 40 percent of the cloud market, running the backend for Netflix, Pinterest, Slack and dozens of other services with no visible connection to the company. Because the Amazon partnership is rarely explicit, AWS becomes a kind of invisible infrastructure, like water mains, submarine cables, or any of the other hidden pipes we rely on without seeing. When AWS starts to fail — like it did in March and again earlier this month — it can seem like the entire internet is collapsing. Unless you know which services in particular are running on AWS servers, you won’t know difference between an cloud failure and a submarine cable break. But that system doesn’t have to be invisible. Developer Dhruv Mehrotra has made a plug-in that will disconnect you from AWS entirely , using the system’s public IP list to block every connection to an Amazon server. Tec

I finally caught the first Deadpool earlier this week on a plane back from Florida. I was worried they’d end up censoring a bunch of the movie, but it seems like most of the film made it through, with just a couple of blurred butts. I’ve realized more and more lately that I think self-aware action films, which are able to play off the genre’s conventions, are often way more more fun and interesting than serious ones. Deadpool reminded me a lot of the two Kingsman films; they’re far from all-out comedies, but they know where to wink and nod in ways that move the story along and turn otherwise tired archetypes into entertaining roles. To a degree, that’s something Marvel has tapped into well, too. Its films are serious, but they’re never too serious. And many of them, like the latest Thor , are as concerned with having fun as they are with letting the hero take down another villain. In the end, that often works out, because it’s easier to connect with the characters and root for

At San Diego Comic-Con last week, Marvel announced that the second season of Iron Fist will begin streaming on Netflix on September 7th. Netflix released a new teaser for the season today, hinting that we’ll get to see a bit more of Danny Rand’s past — and the classic costume his character is known for. The teaser shows off Rand (Finn Jones) walking down a street in New York City with Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), which dredges up old memories of his time at K’un-L’un: a brutal fight. When Wing if everything’s okay, he replies that he just had a bad memory, to which she says that it’s in the past. “I hope so,” he tells her. The scene hints that Rand’s past will come back to haunt him in this upcoming season, and does something else: it shows Rand wearing a bit of the character’s classic costume — a yellow mask. While characters like Daredevil and The Punisher have been dressed up in the costumes that they’re best known for — often with a more realistic reinterpretation, Iron Fis

A new investigation from journalist Ronan Farrow tracks sexual misconduct accusations against Les Moonves, the influential 68-year-old chief executive officer of CBS, by six women. Farrow’s articles detailing extensive sexual assault and harassment from Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein won him a Pulitzer Price for public service , and kickstarted the backlash against sexual harassment and abuse that later spawned the #MeToo movement. The investigation was published in The New Yorker this evening , following a leak earlier today to The Hollywood Reporter , which published news of Farrow’s imminent report and immediately caused CBS stock to drop more than 5 percent. CBS released a statement earlier today saying it took the claims seriously and would be opening an internal investigation. CBS Corp. shares at fresh session low, down now 7%, amid report that CEO Leslie Moonves will be accused of sexual misconduct in an upcoming New Yorker article by Pulitzer Prize winner Ronan Far

Verizon introduced its own mobile VPN today called Safe Wi-Fi, which will hide your IP address when you use public networks. Safe Wi-Fi only works for Verizon customers on iOS and Android and it costs $3.99 monthly per account to cover up to 10 devices. Currently, Verizon is offering the first 30 days as a free trial. To get the VPN, just log into your My Verizon app and head to “Products and Devices.” Then scroll down to Safe Wi-Fi. As of this writing, the feature has not appeared yet on my iOS app that’s been updated to the latest version, so it’s not clear if it’s just hard to find or if the feature is still rolling out. Interestingly, the VPN also blocks targeted ads, so it’s worth asking whether the company’s many websites like Yahoo, AOL, and more might see ads blocked on their sites. We’ve reached out to Verizon to find out more. The deal for $3.99 per month seems pretty decent compared to what other VPNs charge, low enough that it might tempt whole families traveling to a d

Discovery is considering launching its own direct-to-consumer streaming service, according to statements made by the company’s CEO, David Zaslav, at an industry event yesterday. The bundle, which would charge customers between $5 to $8 dollars per month, would encompass all of Discovery’s networks — including the Food Network, HGTV, TLC, and more. It’s an idea that’s still in the earliest of stages, according to a report in Adweek . Whether the service will be based solely in the US, or would expand elsewhere still hasn’t been announced — and Zaslav didn’t hint at when the launch would happen. However, he did say that he was “encouraged” by other newcomers to the world of streaming, like AT&T’s WatchTV service . Today, WatchTV holds 30 different networks, and Discovery is one of them. Discovery may be a hard sell as a standalone service, especially when consumers have Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon already at their disposal. But for those who love home-makeover and cooking shows, th

New York is officially kicking internet and cable provider Spectrum, aka Charter, out of the state after the company failed to deliver on its fast internet promises. The state required Spectrum to roll out high-speed internet across underserved rural areas when it merged with Time Warner Cable in 2016. The company failed to do so after two years, and now the state is not only forcing the company to cease operations by revoking its approval of the 2016 merger (the approval was contingent on Charter expanding the Spectrum network), but is also seeking $3 million in penalties. Spectrum has to keep operating, uninterrupted, for 60 days while the state finds a new internet provider to service customers. It’s unclear what Spectrum is planning to do now, but the state is asking it to come up with a transition plan. The company issued a statement to The Verge and said it has “extended the reach of our advanced broadband network to more than 86,000 New York homes and businesses” since the

New York is officially kicking internet and cable provider Spectrum, aka Charter, out of the state after the company failed to deliver on its fast internet promises. The state required Spectrum to roll out high-speed internet across underserved rural areas when it merged with Time Warner Cable in 2016. The company failed to do so after two years, and now the state is not only forcing the company to cease operations by revoking its approval of the 2016 merger (the approval was contingent on Charter expanding the Spectrum network), but is also seeking $3 million in penalties. Spectrum has to keep operating, uninterrupted, for 60 days while the state finds a new internet provider to service customers. It’s unclear what Spectrum is planning to do now, but the state is asking it to come up with a transition plan. New York State Public Service Commission chair John B. Rhodes said in a statement: “Charter’s non-compliance and brazenly disrespectful behavior toward New York State and its c

In the latest big acquisition move by Netflix, the streaming platform has acquired the worldwide rights to Mowgli , Warner Bros.’ completed live-action movie about the young hero of the Jungle Book stories. Motion-capture star Andy Serkis (Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings ) directed the film, which is distinct from the 2016 live-action Disney Jungle Book remake . The film was slated for a theatrical release in October 2018 before Warner Bros. sold it to Netflix. This isn’t the first time Netflix has picked up a film from a major movie studio for streaming distribution. It previously acquired the rights to Paramount Pictures’ The Cloverfield Paradox , a space horror movie originally titled God Particle, and released it earlier this year immediately after the Super Bowl. As with The Cloverfield Paradox, which was poorly reviewed by many critics, the Mowgli acquisition appears to be a means of risk reduction for Warner Bros., and it suggests the studio lacks confidence

After a week of speculation on whether the new MacBook Pro was throttling performance under heat, Apple released a software fix to address the problem. Dieter’s review for the laptop (post software fix) published on Wednesday so Nilay, Paul, and Dieter discuss what happened with the product and how it performs. Dieter also reviewed the new Lenovo Smart Display , so there's a chunk of the show dedicated to that device, which exceeded expectations. And we’ve got another week of Elon Musk. Transportation reporter Andrew Hawkins gives us an update in what has been happening in the world of Tesla, SpaceX, and the various endeavors of the unpredictable billionaire. We’re going strong with our weekly interviews, and this week we have Brian Willard from Google to discuss the Data Transfer Project — Google’s initiative designed to transfer data from one service to another without downloading and re-uploading. We also can’t forget the segment Paul does every week called “ What is it

Apple will repair for free any iPhones, Macs, iPads and iPods damaged as a result of the devastating floods and mudflows that occurred in southwestern Japan earlier this month, the company announced in a support article , as spotted by 9to5Mac . Any resident who has a device that needs repair is instructed to call Apple Support directly at 0120-27753-5, and not to submit a request online. Proof of ownership may be required and Apple is offering the free repairs through the end of September 2018. The complimentary repairs are not being extended to accessories and Beats items. Apple cautions that some areas affected by the floods might have temporarily suspended courier pickup and delivery, leading to longer wait times for those who need repairs. You can read the entire statement on Apple’s Japanese blog .