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The most popular chat platform for gamers, Discord, will now be selling early access games, adding to the growing catalog of titles on the Discord Store. Early access was popularized initially by Steam and allows gamers to buy games that are still in development. It gives players access to games months -- or even years -- before launch, while giving valuable feedback to developers.
Read MoreUber, according to its self-reported financials, said it lost (on a GAAP basis) $1.07 billion as it continues to invest in new areas, such as bicycles, scooters and freight shipments. The company is still growing however, as revenue rose 38 percent from a year ago to $2.95 billion. Albeit, those gains are down 51 percent from the previous quarter, meaning that overall the speed of growth is slightly down. Uber earned $12.7 billion from gross bookings, or the money it makes after paying commissions to drivers and delivery people, which is up 34 percent from the previous year.
Read MoreJason Blum's Blumhouse Television, the production house behind TV shows like Eye Candy and Cold Case Files, has struck a deal with Amazon Studios to create eight dark/thriller films that will all be thematically connected. If the name Jason Blum sound familiar, he's the man behind such horror films as Paranormal Activity, The Purge, and the recent Unfriended: Dark Web. He's also behind the highly successful Halloween reboot that premiered earlier this year.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have subpoenaed Snap Inc. requesting information about its March 2017 initial public offering. In a statement to Reuters, Snap said it has responded to a government subpoena and believes that the SEC is "investigating issues related to the previously disclosed allegations asserted in a class action about our IPO disclosures."
Read MoreIt's a bummer that Alita: Battle Angel was delayed from its planned holiday season launch, but there's good news for fans eager to see more of the film: a new trailer has arrived. Unlike the preview that dropped in July which focused more on Alita finding herself, this one shows a lot more action and sword-swinging. We see Alita fight in a more advanced body, sliding around on a concrete luge track and slicing up bad guys.
Read MoreAutodesk, the software company behind AutoCAD, has teamed up with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to look at news ways to create an interplanetary lander that could potentially touch down on the moons of Saturn or Jupiter. When Mark Davis, the senior director of industry research at Autodesk, first approached JPL about the collaboration, NASA wasn't too interested. But when Autodesk showed that it was possible to achieve a 30 percent or more performance improvement by way of new designs and materials, Davis' team had JPL's attention.
Read MorePrima Games, the company that's been creating physical video game strategy guides for the past 28 years, is shutting down according to Publisher's Lunch. Prima's publisher DK's CEO Ian Hudson sent out an internal memo saying it was an "extremely difficult decision" and one that was made due to a "significant decline" in the video game guide sector per reports by Publishers Weekly. No more guides will be coming out of Prima Games, and its doors will officially close this coming spring.
Read MoreVolkswagen, the German automaker that cheated diesel emissions tests, is aiming to release an all-electric car for $23,000 -- undercutting the Tesla Model 3 by nearly $12,000 -- sources have told Reuters. VW will convert three of its factories in Germany to produce the "MEB entry," with a production target of 200,000 vehicles. The MEB (modular electric drive matrix) platform is being used to develop VW's I.D. family of electric vehicles. And the company has high hopes for the new platform, with a goal of selling 10 million vehicles by the end of its "first wave." The I.D. Aero, a mid-size sedan, will also see a production target of 100,000 vehicles. A release date for the MEB entry was not disclosed, but the first I.D. vehicle should land in 2020. The German automaker will discuss all of this in a supervisory board meeting on November 16th.
Read MoreA Chinese surveillance company, Watrix, has developed a new system for "gait recognition" that can identify people up to 165 feet away based on how they walk. This means that if a person is wearing a mask or is at an awkward angle, the software can use existing footage to detect them. CEO of Watrix, Huang Yongzhen, told the Associated Press in an interview that the software can't be fooled by limping or other out-of-the-ordinary stances because it analyzes a person's entire body.
Read MoreAttorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice has filed charges against a Taiwanese company, a Chinese PRC-backed company, and three Taiwanese nationals of economic espionage against Idaho-based semiconductor manufacturer Micron over the production of F32nm DRAM. Sessions also announced the creation of the China Initiative, led by Assistant Attorney General John Demers, to identify Chinese trade theft and allocate the necessary resources to go after these cases.
Read MoreMicrosoft's game streaming service and Twitch competitor, Mixer, is entering its second season, and with it comes a slew of new features to help fans engage and allow streamers to make more money. The first addition is Skills, which will let viewers send animated stickers and GIFs, launch effects like fireworks and laser shows or keep digital beach balls bouncing. Skills can be bought, and using it will help streamers financially. But for users that don't want to drop cash, they can use Sparks (new, earnable tokens) instead. Sparks can be earned by watching streams, and those Sparks can then purchase Skills.
Read MoreFortnite really got into the Halloween spirit with its Fortnitemares special event. Sadly, it will come to an end Sunday evening. But developer Epic Games wants to give fans a final treat, with a one-time event that will occur inside the game at 1PM ET.
Read MoreThere's a new partnership in the autonomous vehicle game as Ford has announced it will be teaming up with Chinese internet company Baidu to work on autonomous vehicles, with testing set to begin in Beijing by the end of the year. The initiative hopes to achieve SAE L4 (a classification that measures level of human involvement) autonomous standards, meaning that vehicles can run autonomously within specific areas and under the correct weather conditions, within the next two years. And on the roads of Beijing, Ford will be joined by Mercedes-Benz, which too got approval to test cars in the capital city earlier this summer.
Read MoreThe Justice Department has charged ten Chinese nationals -- two of which are intelligence officers -- of hacking into and stealing intellectual property from a pair of unnamed US and French companies between January 2015 to at least May of 2015. The hackers were after a type of turbofan (portmanteau of turbine and fan), a large commercial airline engine, to either circumvent its own development costs or avoid having to buy it. According to the complaint by the Department of Justice, a Chinese aerospace manufacturer was simultaneously working on making a comparable engine. The hack afflicted unnamed aerospace companies located in Arizona, Massachusetts and Oregon.
Read MoreFacebook is still continuing its assault against Twitch, as the social media giant has expanded its Level Up Program to game streamers around the world, totalling 21 countries. The Level Up Program helps streamers build a community on Facebook. Streamers that are eligible can earn some extra cash through Facebook Stars -- similar to Twitch Bits -- which are virtual goods that fans can purchase to help their favorite streamers. Level Up streamers can also unlock 1080p/60fps streaming quality, customize their dashboard and get early access to beta products and features. And much like Twitch, Facebook has a partner program that can help streamers earn additional funds and have greater reach and visibility.
Read MoreIf you use Uber a lot in Los Angeles, Austin, Orlando, Denver or Miami, then a new Ride Pass can net you a flat rate on UberX and UberPool trips, offering savings of up to 15 percent. Ride Pass will run users $14.99 a month ($24.99 for Los Angeles residents). Rates will be based on historical data and will not increase due to weather, traffic, or surge pricing. Riders in LA will have to front a higher cost as they'll get additional benefits on e-bikes and scooters. And there's no limit to the number of rides Ride Pass users can take.
Read MoreThe Gmail app on iOS just got a major upgrade, allowing users to view multiple email accounts at the same time. This much-wanted feature has been available to Android users for years, but has finally made its over to Apple's operating system. The update has already started rolling out, and will hit all users over the next 15 days.
Read MoreFight Club meets Memento in Dontnod Entertainment's (Life is Strange, Vampyr, Remember Me) gameplay reveal for the episodic game Twin Mirror. In this game, players play as Sam, a man returning to his West Virginia hometown to attend his best friend's funeral. But his alter ego, a snarkier more annoying version of himself, will be following him throughout.
Read MoreAt TwitchCon 2018 in San Jose, the Amazon-owned game streaming site announced a flurry of new features, including two new additions that could change the viewing experience altogether.
Read MorePerfumers look out: IBM Research partnered up with one of the top producers of flavors and fragrances, Symrise, to create an perfume-concocting AI. Named Philyra, after the Greed goddess of fragrance, it uses machine learning to sift through thousands of ingredients, formulas and industry trends to derive what IBM considers to be unique combinations. IBM is leveraging the AI to help perfumers design the next great scent rather than a machine that will replace experts of the human nose.
Read MoreIt seems that General Motors' self-driving car unit, Cruise, is running into major difficulties, and will likely not be able to hit its late 2019 launch target. Sources close to the project have told Reuters that engineers have been hitting unexpected technical challenges, like being able to detect objects if objects are in motion. For example, vehicles would hesitate or stop when passing a row of parked bicycles, would mistakenly see "phantom bicycles" that caused jerky stops, and would even fail to recognize pedestrians. "Nothing is on schedule," one GM source told Reuters, as Cruise has already missed mileage targets and milestones.
Read MoreJaguar's I-Pace is just getting into consumer's hands, and now the EPA has officially released its range estimates for the all-electric SUV. The vehicle has a range of 234 miles from its 90kWh battery pack, according to the EPA's tests. And compared to its all-electric competition, this range-to-kilowatt ratio is not great. But most people don't compare the I-Pace to the tiny Nissan Leaf, rather its main rival is the Tesla Model X.
Read MoreMozilla is trying to do something about that eerie feeling you get when you think of cat food and all of a sudden start seeing targeted ads about cat food -- with the new Firefox update, anti-tracking measures are being implemented that will prevent websites from following you as you jump from site to site. This comes a year after Firefox's last major update, Quantum , which brought with it increased speed, as well as an earlier version of tracking protection.
Read MoreSorry kids, neither you nor robots can be trusted. The US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has told Transdev North America to stop hauling children around in its EZ10 Generation II autonomous shuttles in Babcock Ranch -- a community in Southwest Florida.
Read MoreIf you plan on dressing up as Dante for Halloween, this is the jacket to get. Capcom has announced a new Devil May Cry 5 "Ultra Limited Edition" bundle via its E-Capcom website. The bundle includes a copy of the game -- either for Xbox One or PS4 -- interchangeable box art, and a life-sized leather replica of Dante's jacket.
Read MoreMark Zuckerberg and Facebook have not had a great year. From being called in front of Congress to getting lashed by the media for its appalling handling of user data, the pressure has been on the social media site to get things right. Even calls for Zuckerberg to be kicked out as chairman are starting to percolate. But Zuckerberg might be able to breath a little easier today as three new independent studies show that fake news overall is going down on the website he launched from his dorm room.
Read MoreAs US senate majority leader Mitch McConnell debates making cuts to social security and medicare, Senator Dean Heller (R) of Nevada is hoping to keep electric car sales zipping forward with a new bill that would extend tax credits until 2022.
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