Category: Tech news

 Intel isn’t the only tech company with a political action committee funneling money into Congress. But some of Intel’s recent donations — including to politicians known for opposing marriage equality like North Carolina Senator Richard Burr and Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer — have alarmed shareholders, who are now proposing a resolution that would force the… Read More

 As huge tech companies continue to dump money into VR and AR technology looking to convince us digital objects in front of us are actually real, they’re still having a tough time figuring out how to make them feel real. Ultrahaptics is working on a technology that uses ultrasound waves to construct 3D objects in the air that users can feel. Read More

 FBI Director James Comey has hinted at growing consensus between technology companies and intelligence agencies over the controversial issue of how to access encrypted data. He also supported what appears to be a fresh push by Senator Dianne Feinstein to introduce legislation to enable courts to order access to encrypted devices. Read More

 Fitbit shares are up 10 percent on the news that the company beat Wall Street’s expectations. Fitbit today reported a loss of 15 cents per share rather than 18 cents per share. Reported revenue also came in above analysts expectations: $299 versus $280.8. This release shows Fitbit is keeping pace with the market and turning past customers into repeat customers. Read More

 Amazon’s AWS cloud computing division today once again dropped the prices for some of its reserved instances, as well as its M4 general purpose instances. For some of these reserved instances, prices are dropping by up to 17 percent and for convertible reserved instances with three-year commitments, prices are dropping by 21 percent. While Amazon’s pricing structure… Read More

 Tesla today re-affirmed that the production of its next car, the Model 3, would begin in July — and that the company had $4 billion in cash-on-hand heading into the second quarter this year. Both of those are going to be critical as Tesla, which reported its first-quarter earnings today, heads into the back half of the year. Read More

 Hulu officially announced the launch of its live TV streaming service this morning at its Upfront presentation in New York. The service has a robust channel lineup, cloud DVR and combines Hulu’s existing on-demand library, including its Originals, with streaming TV and on-demand content from its broadcast partners. However, a key part is the revamped, redesigned Hulu experience. Read More

 Facebook had another strong quarter, beating estimates to start 2017. It scored $8.03 billion in revenue and $1.04 GAAP actual EPS in Q1 compared to $0.87 EPS estimate. It earned that from 1.94 billion users, up from 1.86 billion last quarter, growing at a faster 4.3 percent compared to 3.91 perecent last quarter. Steady Growth, Strong Profits At this rate Facebook should hit 2 billion… Read More

 Square, the payments company founded and run by Jack Dorsey, released its quarterly financial results for the first quarter after the bell on Wednesday. The company beat expectations, bringing in $462 million in revenue, when investors were forecasting $451 million. This is a 22 percent increase from the same period last year. Read More

You probably spend more time in your desk chair than in your bed. Might as well make it comfortable. The post 5 Super-Fancy Desk Chairs to Upgrade Your Workday appeared first on WIRED.

 Silicon Valley is a bubble. Go into any SoMa coffee shop and you’ll hear founders and investors alike singing the praises of Hyperloop and flying cars — sci-fi tropes reincarnated by billionaires with a god complex. This isn’t to say these technologies shouldn’t be pursued, but sometimes it’s healthy to remember that we are effectively pulling a Facebook… Read More

 The following is an excerpt from The Way to Design, a guide to becoming a designer founder and to building design-centric businesses. Adapted and reprinted with the author’s permission. Until very recently, success in Silicon Valley required focusing almost single-mindedly on an organization’s technical prowess. It meant having an unimpeachable technical founder, 10X engineers,… Read More

 After announcing that it would shift some of its emphasis away from non-lethal weapons to police body cameras, for a fleeting moment it felt like the company synonymous with sticks that electrocute people was showing an interest in police accountability. Analysis from the Intercept and a 2017 “Law Enforcement Technology Report” by Taser suggest that the reality might be more… Read More

 After the NSA’s surprise announcement that it would pull back on a contentious surveillance tactic, privacy advocates found themselves in a strange place in 2017: They’d actually won a thing. With a mix of cautious optimism and rightfully cynical pragmatism, the organizations and figures so often quietly waging a thankless war to protect the online privacy of American citizens… Read More

 Hack Harassment, founded by Vox Media, Intel and Lady Gaga’s youth-focused Born This Way organization, will gear up to fight online harassment with the introduction of its first advisory board. Comprised of members from anti-bullying research groups, AAA game developers, and some things in between, the board will bring the collective experience of the multi-disciplinary leadership to… Read More