2018
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TCL's 2018 65-inch 6-Series 4K TV drops to $500
If you missed out on Black Friday discounts for massive TVs, you still have some time to pick up the TCL 65R615 at Best Buy. The 65-inch 6-Series Roku TV was consistently one of the best-reviewed models available last year at its starting $900 price, and $500 is the cheapest price we've seen for it since then. The sale price is valid through 1 AM ET tonight in-store or online, and while the platform does have some drawbacks, it's still a sharp, Dolby Vision HDR-ready 4K display that will impressively dominate your living room. Buy TCL 65R615 on Best Buy - $499.99 If you're willing to spend a big more, CNET editor David Katzmaier points out you can use the CNET600 code at Best Buy to grab this year's 65-inch TCL 8 Series TV -- that adds even more precise miniLED lighting -- for $600 off of the retail price, dropping it to just $1,000.
Warrantless searches of Americans’ data spiked 28 percent in 2018
An annual transparency report published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence shows warrantless searches of Americans' data jumped 28 percent in 2018. According to the report, the National Security Agency (NSA) conducted 9,637 warrantless search queries of Americans' calls, texts, and emails in 2018. That's up from 7,512 searches in 2017, and it's more than double the 4,672 warrantless searches the NSA made in 2015.
Twitter says abuse reports have fallen by 16 percent
Twitter's attempts to improve the "health" of its conversation are paying dividends, according to the company's latest financial figures. The company is reporting a 16 percent fall in the number of abuse reports year on year, and a commensurate surge in profitability. In the last three months, Twitter pulled in revenues of $909 million, coining a tidy $255 million net profit.
LG fails to turn a profit for the first time in two years
Both of South Korea's electronics giants have announced fourth quarter results that were less than ideal. Within hours of Samsung posting a double-digit reduction in quarterly profit, LG has revealed that it lost 80.7 billion Korean won ($72.5 million) in the last three months.
Google's 'Game of the Year' reminds you 2018 wasn't complete trash
It's safe to say that 2018 has been... a year, and while there's no end of untold horrors to reflect upon, Google has softened the blow with a look-back game that's altogether more pleasant. In its Game of the Year 2018 you can test your knowledge of the year's search trends in a simple click-to-choose format. Who appeared in search results more frequently, Justin Trudeau or Justin Bieber? Were craft cocktails searched more or less than last year? What do the people want more of, puppies or kittens? This is the first time Google's gamified its search results like this, and while it's not mind-blowing gaming, it's an interesting way to pass the time. You'll almost certainly come away with a few bits of curious trivia, and maybe even a deep-seated sense of vindication that "Laurel" was searched for more frequently than "Yanny." A reassuring reminder, then, that this year's not been all bad.
YouTube's Rewind 2018 becomes the site's most disliked video ever
YouTube's latest Rewind video, the annual recap touting "the videos, music and trends that defined YouTube in 2018," has become the most disliked video ever in the website's history. The previous holder of this dubious title was Justin Bieber's Baby, which over the course of eight years racked up an impressive 9.8 million dislikes. YouTube's 2018 Rewind, meanwhile, charged ahead of this figure in less than two weeks, passing 10 million dislikes (according to LikesCounter) early on December 13th.
Shocking deaths top Google's trending searches in 2018
As is the annual tradition, Google has released its list of top trending searches for the year. If 2018 was dominated by anything, it was untimely and unexpected celebrity deaths. The top 10 trending searches included DJ and musician Avicii, rapper Mac Miller, legendary comics creator Stan Lee, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, controversial rapper XXXTentacion, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, and fashion designer Kate Spade -- all of whom passed away during the year.
Drake and Ariana Grande conquered Spotify's 2018 streaming charts
After being Spotify's top-streamed artist in 2015 and 2016, Drake had an off-year in 2017, but he's back in force this year. He was the top-streamed artist with the top-streamed album (Scorpion) and song (God's Plan) in 2018. With 8.2 billion streams this year alone, Drake also became Spotify's most-played artist of all time. Rounding out the the top five were Post Malone, XXXTenacion, J Balvin and Ed Sheeran, who took the streaming crown in 2017.
New iPad Pros will reportedly get Face ID and lose the home button
Apple's iOS 12.1 release back in September hinted at a new iPad launch before the year is out, and now new details have emerged on exactly what the device might look like. According to 9to5mac, sources familiar with the development of the new 2018 iPad Pro have revealed there will be two WiFi and two LTE models in both size options.
Valve's pay-to-play 'Dota' card game will be released November 28th
Valve's next title Artifact, a trading-card game, will be released November 28th. Digital trading card games like Gwent from Witcher developer CDProjekt Red and Hearthstone from Blizzard have been doing surprisingly well lately. That's probably somewhat because they're free to play. Artifact, based on Valve's free-to-play MOBA, Dota 2 will not be. Instead, a pair of 54-card starter decks and ten 12-card booster packs will set you back $20, according to Ars Technica.
How to watch the Evo 2018 fighting games tournament
The biggest annual fighting game tournament is happening this weekend in Las Vegas, but you don't have to go to Sin City to watch players virtually pummel each other. You can watch Evo 2018 as it unfolds on the tournament's official Twitch channels -- more specifically, Evo will stream a different event on each of its seven official channels, though you'll catch all Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition games on Capcom Fighters. The tournament will feature Street Fighter 5, Super Smash Bros. and Tekken like it's been doing for years, along with new addition Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Speedrunners raised $2.12 million for Doctors Without Borders
Speedrunning charity event Summer Games Done Quick finished up this past Sunday. The recipient of the funds raised during the event, which saw players rushing as fast as possible through titles like Animaniacs, Pikimin 3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, went to benefit Doctors Without Borders. Gamers raised $2,122,529.20 for the medical charity that provides emergency aid to anyone afflicted by conflict, disasters, epidemics and more.
ASUS stuffed a screen into the ZenBook Pro 15's touchpad
Remember Razer's Switchblade UI? Remember Windows SideShow? If you ever dreamt of a computer with its own secondary display, then ASUS' New ZenBook Pro is the device for you. In place of a traditional touchpad, the company is adding the ScreenPad, a 5.5-inch touchscreen that can even run its own apps. That's the headline feature, at least, of the company's latest flagship laptop aimed at creative professionals.
Twitter posts another profit and adds 6 million users
Three months ago, Twitter was able to tell the world that, for the first time in its 12-year life, it had made a profit. The company can now say that those good numbers weren't a blip, since it has now notched a first quarter profit of $61 million. That's down a little from the $91 million it made in the previous three months, but the news is good enough to get the champagne corks popping in San Francisco.
This year's new emoji include redheads, legs and a salt shaker
There are 157 new emoji coming this year. What made the cut? Ginger-haired people, female superheroes, dark-skinned folks with curly hair, pirate flags and... soap. There are also skin-tone options and genders for superheroes and supervillains, a test tube, salt (finally), a leg, balding people and a male and female option for white hair. Unicode says that the set is finalized and that they should start appearing on your phones and other devices as soon as August. Sure, that's still six months away, but it gives you time make a request for the next emoji set before March's deadline. For a quick visual overview of what's coming, check the video below.
CES 2018: What to expect
It's January, which means that Las Vegas, or the bit that pretends not to be Las Vegas for tax reasons, will play host to CES. The Consumer Electronics Show is the event that kicks off the technology world's annual calendar, and 2018 will see thousands of companies descend upon Nevada to show off their wares. Many will claim to have the solution to whatever problem you may have, but we'll be on the ground to peer through their flashy promises. If last year's CES had a theme, then it was an attempt to broaden its horizons beyond smartphones, tablets and TVs. Technology companies have mined every last drop of good ideas from the traditional gadget world, which is why many chose to try something new. Our Best of CES winners from last year included a smart bra-style breast pump, a self-balancing motorcycle and smart tech that will help farmers. CES will set the tone for the next year in technology, so while we make our way there, here's a quick run-through of all the things we're likely to find in the desert.
Worlds collide: VR and AR in 2018
Oculus, the company responsible for kickstarting the $2 billion virtual reality marketplace, knows virtual reality is not the future. As its engineers pour millions of Facebook's dollars into the second generation of VR headsets, the company's head of research, Michael Abrash, is preparing for a world where augmented reality dominates our everyday lives. "No matter how good VR gets, few people would be comfortable socializing in person with someone whose eyes they can't see, and social acceptability is an absolute requirement for anything we wear in public," Abrash said at Facebook's F8 conference in April.
Samsung's 2018 Notebook 9 lineup includes MacBook, Surface challengers
Last year Samsung's Notebook 9 laptop kept it simple with a standard thin-and-light design that got the important things right, but didn't sport flashy features like a high-res display or hybrid design. Earlier this year the Pro edition added a folding hinge for 2-in-1 tablet use and a stylus, and next year the company will fully revamp its lineup with four new devices. The new Notebook 9 Pen is ready to take on Surface devices with its built-in battery-free S Pen stylus, to go with a "thoughtfully designed" 2-in-1 hybrid laptop/tablet. The 13-inch devices comes with an 8th generation Intel Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage, but weighs just 2.2 pounds thanks to its "Metal12" magnesium-aluminum alloy.
'Marvel Rising' superteam launches with four digital shorts
Marvel is combatting X-Men and Avengers fatigue some you probably already feel by launching a new ragtag band of superheroes in 2018. The new franchise called Marvel Rising will start with six, four-minute digital shorts that will be followed by Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, a feature-length animated film, later that year. It focuses on Gwen Stacy, who's more than just Spider-Man's lady love in this iteration: she's the one who got bitten by a radioactive arachnid and transformed into Ghost-Spider after gaining superpowers.
Nintendo's NES Classic Edition is coming back in 2018
Despite announcing it was game over for the NES Classic Edition earlier this year, Nintendo now says that due to demand, it plans to ship the product into 2018. Shipment timings are yet to be announced, but this is big news for fans who thought they were going to miss out after the console began disappearing from store shelves. And in responding to fan enthusiasm, more units of the Super NES Classic Edition will ship on its upcoming 29 September launch day in the US than were shipped of NES Classic Editions throughout the entirety of last year. The system will retail for $80/£80 and features 21 legendary Super NES games such as Super Mario World, Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
