News

The days of Google Hangouts for consumers may be coming to an end in 2020, according to a report from 9to5Google today. Hangouts has been suffering from an identity crisis since Google launched it as a replacement for Gchat in 2013 , and it’s actually been losing features in recent years as the company stopped updating the app and took away SMS messaging . That change was part of Google’s new focus for Hangouts, which will stay safe for now as a workplace communication tool in the form of G Suite’s Hangouts Chat, as well as video conferencing platform Hangouts Meet. Google hinted at “giving up on having its own consumer messaging app” back in April, when it announced a new RCS Chat feature within Android Messages . Chat hasn’t officially launched yet, as the timing is up to each carrier, but reports of support for RCS messaging coming in early 2019 fit the timing for Hangouts shutting down in 2020. Still, it doesn’t bode well for people who primarily use Hangouts within Gmail, or

Those of us who grew up online each have our internet albatross. For some, it’s goatse . For others, it’s those viral pre-YouTube jumpscare videos with a screaming face that flashes across the screen for a split second. Mine, regretfully, was Salad Fingers, the animated web series created by David Firth in 2004, about a disgusting, childlike, inexplicably vibrating zombie creature with piquerism and a penchant for rusty spoons. Thus with even more regret I must relay the news that the heinous abomination of my nightmares is getting a new episode sometime in December. Per The Daily Dot , Firth apparently confirmed back in 2017 that he would be resurrecting his green hellspawn. “Without giving too much away, I will say that Salad Fingers is obsessed with a handheld mirror and he wants Cumberdale to be a real boy,” he told the Dot about the forthcoming 11th episode, which presumably will, like its predecessors, be 10 minutes of pure hork-worthy evil. In case you missed Salad Fingers t

Fallout is a franchise defined by its lawlessness: in the wasteland, nothing can stop denizens from succumbing to their worst tendencies. Fallout 76 leans into the chaos by allowing fans to interact with one another, but recently, one group of players took things too far. Fallout 76 supports up to 24 players per server, and these participants can talk, trade, and group-up with one another. While the game does allow player-versus-player combat, the feature is opt-in. However, there’s nothing stopping players from following you around and bothering you even if you don’t actually want to engage with them, especially given that Fallout 76 tells you where everyone is at any given time. You can, however, turn off voice-chat for your team. As reported by Eurogamer , a day after Fallout 76’s launch, one player took to Twitter to share footage of a group harassing them. Through laughs, group members said they were targeting “gays” that they were setting out to “eliminate.” They continua

Over two dozen current and former black Tesla employees are describing racial discrimination in a New York Times investigation today that looks into the company’s Fremont factory. The complaints range from being barred from promotions, forced to scrub the factory floors, and allege that supervisors have directed racial slurs at employees. The allegations come from a variety of interviews, internal communications, and legal statements acquired by The New York Times . Tesla disagrees that the factory is a harbor for racial discrimination, and says that there isn’t “a pattern of discrimination and harassment,” at the Fremont factory. “Tesla opposes all forms of discrimination, harassment, and unfair treatment, and we strive to provide a respectful work environment for all employees and do our best to prevent bad conduct,” the company said in a statement to The Verge . Last year, three former Tesla employees filed a lawsuit claiming that they were frequently subjected to racial slur

Welcome to Fav’d For Later, a Friday roundup of our favorite memes, trends, and all-around good internet content. This week we’re back, baby. Welcome back from the holiday! Sometimes it’s great to take a break from the internet. I didn’t do that, but people always tell me how satisfying it feels to look into the eyes of their loved ones. Anyway! This has been the week of the big cow (it’s actually a steer) and Mark Ruffalo begging the internet to help him find his lost bag (he did), but the joke that truly proves we’ve all lost our damn minds is surgery on a grape . The 2017 line has, like so many online jokes, returned to be fruitful (lol) and multiply across the internet. they did surgery on a grape #Splatoon2 #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/7Yt2qtoIBm — Haley G (@HaleySplatoon) November 24, 2018 If you hate it, don’t worry. All media coverage means it will be dead soon anyway. Before we move on to what else is soon to be demolished, though, allow me to offer a little a

Nilay, Dieter, and Paul are back from Thanksgiving and ready to spill the beans on the tech news you may or may not have been paying attention to this week. Dieter’s got a review of the Pixel Slate, Nilay guest hosted the Interface newsletter, and Paul found a new gadget on the website to talk about. And, of course, we’ve got my favorite segment “ This week in Elon Musk ” with Liz Lopatto. There’s a whole lot more in between that, so listen here. 03:02 - Google Pixel Slate review 25:05 - “ This week in Elon Musk” with Liz Lopatto 29:34 - Project Fi is now Google Fi, and it will work with iPhones and most Android devices 36:54 - Republicans keep misunderstanding the law that protects internet platforms 55:04 - Paul’s weekly segment “ Smart yoga pants ” 57:13 - Apple claims the iPhone XR is its best-selling phone, without providing sales figures 59:12 - Roku made good-sounding TV speakers that are unbelievably easy to set up 1:01:52 - Motorola’s putting a huge battery in

The fight over who gets to have the most-subscribed channel on YouTube spilled into the real world months ago when Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg fans started campaigning to raise awareness of the Swedish star. The grassroots effort has, for the most part, been in good fun — but recently, people on social media have reported being hacked by someone who is urging them to subscribe to PewDiePie. Kjellberg has maintained his status as the top channel on YouTube for years now, but recently, his claim to the throne has been increasingly threatened by T-Series , a channel owned by an Indian music production company. T-Series’ growth rate in 2018 has been explosive: it currently has over 72 million subscribers, placing it behind Kjellberg by around 150,000 fans. Judging by T-Series’ subscriber trajectory, many onlookers estimate that the channel will eventually outgrow PewDiePie, but Kjellberg and his fans are putting up a fight. Kjellberg’s recent uploads often feature segments where he ask

It looks like one of the most anticipated Pokémon Go features is finally on its way. In a series of tweets , developer Niantic teased player-versus-player battles. It’s a feature the developer has promised for some time, and it’s an integral part of the traditional Pokémon experience. In fact, battles were part of the initial pitch when Pokémon Go was first announced back in 2015 . But, much like trading , battles took longer than anticipated to actually implement in the game. Unfortunately, right now, we don’t know anything about how the feature will work, but Niantic does say that trainer battles will be coming “soon.” Get prepared... Trainer Battles are coming soon to Pokémon GO❗ #GOBattle pic.twitter.com/AUWyhNGlT7 — Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) November 30, 2018

Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is branching out into other business ventures, partnering with some of the world’s biggest EDM artists for a standalone album called Ninjawerks , which is based on Epic’s popular game. Although the album was first announced a month ago at TwitchCon , Blevins premiered the first three tracks last night during a stream. Alesso, a popular European DJ, is contributing a song called “Tilted Towers,” which is based on the popular zone within the Battle Royale map. American DJ 3LAU collaborated with Blevins for his track “Game Time,” while Tycho, an artist known for his synth and downtempo work, contributed his own track, “Jetty.” All three tracks are available at the bottom of the page. Blevins’ collaborations on the album were made through Astralwerks, an EDM-specific label that exists under Universal Music Group. The partnership doesn’t begin and end with an album, either: Blevins and Astralwerks are set to release a series of additional mercha

Amazon’s Echo smart speakers already support a variety of music services, including Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. And starting on December 17th , Apple Music will join this little cohort. Apple Music users will be able to ask Alexa to play their favorite songs, artists, and albums, as well as any of the streaming service’s curated playlists and radio stations. Echo owners will simply need to enable the Apple Music skill in the Alexa app, link their account, and they’ll be good to go. Making Apple Music available on Echo devices might seem like it’s running counter to Apple’s usual strategy of using services as a lure for hardware (and vice versa), but the company can apparently see the sense of making its streaming service available on the most popular home speaker platform out there. It also seems to be happier about appearing on Amazon’s platform recently. Earlier this month, it struck a new deal with the e-commerce giant to sell iPhones, iPads, and other Apple produ

Officially, Google’s preferred description for Project Dragonfly is “exploratory.” “This is an exploratory project and no decision has been made about whether we could or would launch,” the company said today , in the wake of a significant new report on its plans for a censored search engine in China. ”Exploratory” is a word that conjures the earliest stages of development — of the conquistador, standing at the shore of a new land, surveying rough its shape and character. But according to Thursday’s report by The Intercept ’s ace Dragonfly chronicler Ryan Gallagher, Google’s explorations had already reached the final stages of development by the time word of the project leaked. And as Gallagher describes it, that was the result of a concerted effort by one of the project’s leaders designed to ensure that no word of the project leak — that the explorers would have already colonized the new land before anyone else had realized they had even set sail: Yonatan Zunger, then a 14-year

Netflix and Marvel TV’s Daredevil will officially end after the third season, according to a statement from the streaming service, which was first reported by Deadline . “We are tremendously proud of the show’s last and final season and although it’s painful for the fans, we feel it best to close this chapter on a high note,” the company said in a statement. “We’re thankful to showrunner Erik Oleson, the show’s writers, stellar crew and incredible cast including Charlie Cox as Daredevil himself, and we’re grateful to the fans who have supported the show over the years. Netflix’s statement also noted that although there won’t be any new Daredevil episodes, all three seasons will continue to live on the platform. Netflix also noted, “the Daredevil character will live on in future projects for Marvel.” Daredevil marks the third show that Netflix and Marvel have canceled; Iron Fist and Luke Cage also ended this year. Jessica Jones and The Punisher are the last two remaining ser

A prominent Google employee said today that workers had pledged more than $100,000 for a strike fund, following more news about the company’s controversial plans for China. Earlier today, The Intercept published a new report about Google’s plans to build a censored search engine in China. The report detailed executives’ response to internal dissent about the project, and included concerns from engineers who said they felt the security and privacy process had been sidelined. In response, Liz Fong-Jones, a Google worker and employee advocate, said on Twitter that Google employees should consider how workers would respond if executives overrode recommendations from the safety and privacy team. “Google’s S&P teams must have our backs,” she wrote. I firmly suggest that my current fellow colleagues think about what they'd do if the red line were crossed and an executive overrode a S&P launch bit, or members of the S&P team indicated that they were coerced into marking

DJ Khaled and pro boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. are facing charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission today after they failed to disclose that they were being paid promotional fees to tout fraudulent initial coin offerings. According to the SEC, this is the first time that individuals have faced charges involving ICOs. The Commission is accusing Mayweather of failing to disclose a $100,000 promotional payment and DJ Khaled with a $50,000 one. Both celebrities received these promotional fees from Centra Tech, Inc. earlier this year. Neither Mayweather nor Khaled have admitted to or denied the Commission’s findings, but both have agreed to pay back what they had received to promote the ICO and are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional penalties each. Centra's (CTR) ICO starts in a few hours. Get yours before they sell out, I got mine https://t.co/nSiCaZ274l pic.twitter.com/dB6wV0EROJ — Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) September 18, 2017 ”These cases

Pixar Animation Studios may be the most influential animation outfit in the world, but recently, it’s developed a serious reputation problem. Earlier this year, a detailed insider report from a former employee explored the studio’s rigid culture of sexism , which systematically kept women away from advancement or leadership positions while protecting men who harassed or abused them. Meanwhile, chief creative officer John Lasseter was ousted from Disney after it surfaced that he’d been known for “grabbing, kissing and making comments about physical attributes of women,” as The Hollywood Reporter wrote this year . The move to replace Lasseter with new leadership has come alongside a number of other moves toward more storytelling diversity at Pixar, some championed by Lasseter himself. In 2015, the studio released the short Sanjay’s Super Team , a heartwarming tale about a child connecting with his father’s faith. That short was made by Pixar’s first director of color, Sanjay Patel.

Back in August, it was revealed that Ikea was planning to release a $10 power outlet in October as part of the Trådfri smart home product line. It looks like the launch ran into some obstacles, as the plugs are now available to purchase in the US and UK a month late and without the Apple HomeKit support they were supposed to launch with, as reported by 9to5Mac . $10 is pretty affordable for a smart plug that can let you turn on and off household appliances like lamps and coffee makers from your phone or via a magnetic remote control that’s included in the $15 control outlet kit . If you’re not already set up in the Trådfri ecosystem, you’ll have to purchase the $30 Gateway , which lets you control the smart plug via the Trådfri app. The Gateway is also what lets you connect your other Trådfri smart devices like dimmers, lights, and motion sensors to Google Assistant, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit. According to a Reddit post made by a member of the Trådfri team, there’s no timeline ye

Dell has released a customer update on its website acknowledging that it warded off a possible hack that happened earlier this month on November 9th. In the update, Dell says it noticed and took action to intervene in “unauthorized activity” on its network. The hackers tried to extract customer names, email addresses, and hashed passwords, although it’s not clear how successful the effort was. (Credit card information was not impacted.) The customer update says it found no proof that any information was compromised, but a separate press release by Dell on its website about the incident words it a little differently, saying, “Though it is possible some of this information was removed from Dell’s network, our investigations found no conclusive evidence that any was extracted.” After noticing the activity, Dell hired a digital forensics firm, involved the authorities, and took the precautionary measure of resetting all Dell.com customer passwords. It is also recommending that if your

Android 9 Pie is arriving to the HTC U11 Life, according to Ubergizmo . It will be the first HTC device to get the latest big operating system update since Pie launched in August . The HTC U11 was released in the summer of 2017 running Android Nougat out of the box, later receiving the Oreo update soon after it launched. The HTC U11 Life is beating out the company’s 2018 flagship device, the HTC U12+, in getting Pie. It makes sense that the international U11 Life would be the first of HTC’s models to receive the update, however, as it’s an Android One device. Android One devices are required to receive timely software updates. The US model sold by T-Mobile runs regular HTC Sense and likely isn’t receiving this update just yet. Now that Android 9 is out for the Life, it could mean that it may not be too long until other HTC devices receive the update in the future. HTC has said the U12+, U11, and U11+ will also receive Pie at some point.

Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, and Alcon Entertainment are partnering to produce a new anime series based on Blade Runner 2049 called Blade Runner — Black Lotus . The 13-episode series is being directed by Shinji Aramaki, who directed the Appleseed films, and Kenji Kamiyama, who directed the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series. Additionally, Cowboy Bebop director Shinichirō Watanabe is acting as Black Lotus ’ creative producer. The creative companies aren’t yet releasing information on what the series will be about, but a press release says it will include some existing Blade Runner characters, and that it takes place in 2032. This sets it 17 years before Blade Runner 2049 , and 10 years after Blade Runner: Black Out 2022 , the 15-minute prequel anime episode to Blade Runner 2049 that Watanabe directed. Aramaki also worked on 2022 as the mechanical designer, as did Sola Digital Arts, which did the computer graphics for the prequel episode. That company will be animating

YouTube is gearing up to offer its prestige lineup of original series and films for free to all users, turning to its traditional ad-supported system in an attempt to bring in more viewers. The company is looking to pull back on its ad-supported programs by 2020, limiting the number of original series and films it orders, according to The Hollywood Reporter . Series that are ordered, which include a few with Hollywood star talent attached, will be available to all YouTube users for free, regardless of whether they’ve signed up for YouTube Premium. In the past, pilot episodes were free to watch, but users had to pay a monthly $12 fee to watch the entire series. Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s chief business officer, told The Hollywood Reporter that the company learned through experimentation that “a lot of the projects work incredibly well” when they’re made available for free through ad-supported networks. It’s a different approach than what YouTube’s team originally wanted to do. “If you