breaking news
Latest
Apple finally reveals the new Mac Pro
Apple's been teasing a redesigned Mac Pro for years now -- in fact, it's been well over a year since the company said it would be shipping the computer at some point during 2019 after originally promising it would arrive in 2018. Well, today, we're finally getting a look at the successor to that beautifully-designed trash can that Apple introduced in 2013 and then basically failed to upgrade for years. And guess what? It looks a lot like the old, cheese-grater style tower that Apple sold for years.
iOS 13 focuses on speed and embraces the darkness
iOS is Apple's most important piece of software, and as such the company is kicking off WWDC 2019 with a first look at iOS 13. Apple's senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi is taking us through the new software -- and while last year's update focused largely on performance, it sounds like iOS 13 will include a ton of user-facing features and updates to Apple's own apps.
Apple reveals 'iPadOS' in developer info ahead of WWDC
There have been rumors that Apple would significantly revamp iOS on the iPad this year, and now we're getting a sense that the redesign could be bigger than anticipated. According to documentation found in Apple's developer portal, the iPad will get its own operating system, independent from iOS, called "iPadOS." Not the most exciting name, but it's definitely noteworthy that Apple is splitting the iPad and iPhone apart at a software level.
WSJ: Justice Department 'preparing' Google antitrust investigation
Late Friday, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post reported, based on it anonymous sources, that the Department of Justice is preparing an antitrust probe of Google. The company has faced several similar inquiries from EU officials with billions in fines as a result, and in one case it caused Google to separate Chrome and Search from Android in the region. There was also a major 2011 investigation in the US from the FTC -- that concluded in a settlement where the company promised to change its policies -- but this may be the first time the DoJ takes the lead. There aren't many details about what may be scrutinized, beyond search and other businesses. Late last year DoJ antitrust head Makan Delrahim said there needs to be "credible evidence" of anticompetitive practices before his department issues corrective measures. What's particularly notable now, however is that it comes amid growing calls from politicians like Senator Elizabeth Warren to break up big tech companies. We don't know if that could be on the table for giants like Google and Facebook (which is still in the middle of its own negotiations with the FTC), but this is only the beginning. Both the DoJ and Google have not commented publicly on the reports.
Facebook has taken down over 2 billion fake accounts in 2019
Facebook took down 2.19 billion fake accounts during the first quarter of 2019, the company has announced. In addition to that, Facebook said it disabled 1.2 billion fake accounts in Q4 2018. These numbers are quite staggering when you consider that Facebook has 2.38 billion monthly active users, as reported in its Q1 2019 earnings. "For fake accounts," Facebook said in a blog post, "the amount of accounts we took action on increased due to automated attacks by bad actors who attempt to create large volumes of accounts at one time."
'Avengers: Endgame' will stream on Disney+ starting December 11th
The Disney Corporation held its Q2 2019 earnings call on Wednesday, taking the opportunity to announce that Avengers: Endgame, which has passed $2 billion is ticket sales in just 11 days, will arrive as a streaming exclusive to Disney+ on December 11th.
Google turns Duplex into fancy autofill for Chrome
Duplex, Google's AI reservation feature, already knows how to dial a phone. Starting later this year, it will also be able to rent you a car or buy you some movie tickets online.
Next-gen Google Assistant is crazy fast
It's been a year since Google first introduced Duplex, its automated reservation-making feature for Assistant. The AI phone caller has rolled out to customers in 44 states, as well as non-Pixel handsets, and even spawned a corollary service for small businesses: Calljoy. At the I/O 2019 conference in Mountain View, California on Tuesday, Google announced that it will be expanding the service to web tasks as well, starting with vehicle rentals and movie ticket purchases. The new feature, Google CEO Sundar Pichai explained to the assembled crowd, will work very much like the current phone-based reservation system: users simply open Assistant and, in the case of renting a car from National, say "book me a car through National." The Assistant will then automatically open the National website and begin filling in the required fields on the user's behalf. The user will be prompted to confirm details like the rental dates and class of vehicle throughout the process, but Assistant will be doing the data-entry drudgery. Pichai also points out that this process requires no work or modification on the part of online businesses. Rather the new feature is an early example of Google's "Duplex on the web" program. Duplex's ability to understand your commands relies on a complex series of machine learning models. Typically, running these algorithms on a mobile device requires around 100GB of storage and an internet connection, Pichai explained. "Think of it as putting the power of a Google data center in your pocket," he said. However, he continued, Google has made a breakthrough in deep learning techniques and has managed to condense and combine that 100GB of models down to just half a gigabyte (0.5GB). That's small enough to fit onto mobile devices, allowing them to run the algorithms locally, thereby drastically reducing network latency. It's so fast, Pichai quipped, that it makes tapping your phone to activate Assistant seem slow. This "next generation Assistant" as Google VP of Engineering, Scott Huffman describes it, is so fast that it operates in real time. In the subsequent demo, a Google employee activated the Assistant and then rattled off a litany of commands and request, which the system handled without a hiccup. It also enabled the employee to quickly look up information and multitask between apps without having to flip back and forth between various screens. The next Assistant will also be far more personalized to the preferences of individual users thanks to the new Picks for You function. As Huffman demonstrated during the keynote, if the Assistant has previously helped you look for barbecue or Italian recipes in the past and you ask it what you should make for dinner tonight, it will likely recommend bbq and Italian recipes to make tonight. "What I love is that different people get completely different results," Huffman exclaimed. It will only be available on smart displays like the Home Hub when it launches later this summer. Recipes, podcasts, and events will be the first subjects available for personalization. As for the new Assistant, it's expected to roll out to Pixel phones later this year.
Firefox disabled all add-ons because a certificate expired (updated)
Many Firefox users around the world are browsing without their usual set of extensions after they suddenly stopped working earlier this evening. The event occurred as the clock rolled over on UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, aka GMT or Greenwich Mean Time), and impacted users quickly narrowed it down to "expiration of intermediate signing cert" -- as it's described on Mozilla's bug tracker. This same problem almost happened three years ago, but "armagadd-on" 2.0 has torn things up once again. In a statement provided to Engadget, Product Lead Kev Needham said: We're sorry that there is currently an issue where existing and new add-ons are failing to run or be installed on Firefox. We know what the issue is and are working hard to restore add-on functionality to Firefox as soon as possible. We'll continue to provide updates via our Twitter channels. Please bear with us while we get the problem fixed.
Tesla will begin selling its own in-house insurance 'in a month'
Tesla released its Q1 2019 earnings on Wednesday and despite having a significant slowdown from the previous quarter, the company remains confident that it will meet its ambitious production goals for the year.
Researchers partially revive pig brains four hours after 'death'
Used to be that once someone cut off your head, your life was over. That may no longer be the case. A study published in the journal Nature this week illustrates Yale researchers' successful efforts to restore and preserve the cellular function of pig brains up to four hours after their decapitation at a local slaughterhouse. Miracle Max, eat your heart out.
Disney+ will cost $6.99 per month, launches November 12th
After spending more than an hour laying out all of the content coming to Disney+ and showing off its apps, Disney revealed what we came to find out: the price. Disney+ will cost $6.99 per month, or on an annual basis for $69.99, and those interested can sign up for updates here. We also have a launch date, set for November 12th. Our other post runs down a lot of the content you can expect for that price, including many hours of high-profile selections across the Disney Signature, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, National Geographic and even Disney Channel libraries. That's before we get into the original content, all seasons of The Simpsons, and potentially discounted price for people bundling a subscription with ESPN+ and Hulu. At the investor conference where Disney revealed all of these details, it also mentioned the expectation that Disney+ would lose as much as a billion dollars in 2020, with losses peaking between 2020 and 2022, before expected profitability in 2024. From the sound of things, the company is willing to lose all of that money to fight Netflix (and all other competitors) for several years, so at the least it could be a while before there are any price hikes. Netflix, by comparison, has over 139 million customers right now, but it's spending billions every year to produce original content, and has already had to raise prices for the last few years in a row. Now, the real fight is on.
US charges Assange with conspiracy to commit computer hacking
The US Justice Department just officially charged Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange, shortly after he was removed from the Ecuador embassy in London and arrested by local police. The charge is "conspiracy to commit computer intrusion" for agreeing to break a password to a classified US government computer. The Justice department also said it was in relation to "Assange's alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States." It's the same allegation that was made in the Chelsea Manning trial in 2013, in which the former US Army private was found guilty of theft and espionage in relation to the release of classified government documents. But now that Assange has had his asylum revoked by the Ecuadorian government and has been arrested, he can finally be extradited to the US to face these charges.
Apple cancels AirPower after more than a year of delays
It's been well over a year since Apple first announced AirPower, a wireless charging mat that would power up an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods (with a wireless case) all at the same time. At the time, Apple said the device would be available sometime in 2018. But after its announcement in September of 2017, information was scarce, and it seemed Apple couldn't solve the heating and power challenges necessary to finalize the product. Now, Apple's pulling the plug for good.
Apple Arcade is a game subscription service for iOS, Mac and Apple TV
As part of its big push into subscription services today, Apple announced Apple Arcade. From the sound of things, it's going to be a "Netflix for games" that lets users pay a monthly rate to play as many different participating games as they want. And from the sound of things, it'll work on the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. For starters, more than 100 new and exclusive games will be included. It'll live inside the App Store as its own dedicated tab, rather than launching as its own app.
Apple News+ includes 'LA Times' and 'Wall Street Journal' subscriptions
At its streaming service event in Cupertino on Monday, Apple announced that in addition to more than 300 magazine titles (including TechCrunch's ExtraCrunch) on its newly revealed News+ app, the company will also include subscriptions to the LA Times and Wall Street Journal. What's more, users will get access to the entire digital newsstand for $9.99 a year. Given that users would have to shell out more than $8,000 annually to acquire these magazines individually, that's a pretty good deal.
Comcast launches Xfinity Flex internet streaming TV
Comcast's latest bundle isn't a cable TV service, exactly, since it's aimed at the increasing number of subscribers who only have internet. Xfinity Flex will tie together paid internet video services as well as free ad-supported options in what VP Matt Strauss called a "unified experience, similar to what we've done on X1." Xfinity Flex costs $5 per month (in addition to the internet service customers already have) for access and comes with a 4K and HDR-ready wireless set-top box with an X1 voice remote. It's scheduled to launch March 26th, and will be available to customers who have Comcast internet.
'Cuphead' hits Nintendo Switch on April 18th
The delightfully difficult game Cuphead is making its way to the Switch this Spring, Nintendo announced at GDC 2019 on Wednesday. The game will be ported with the same hand-drawn cell animation and jazzy soundtrack by Kristofer Maddigan that endeared fans to the original console version.
Tim Cook is in on the Tim Apple joke
President Trump knows words. He has the best words. And he showed some of those big beautiful words off yesterday during a press conference for the inaugural meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board with Apple CEO, Tim Cook. Or as Trump calls him, Tim Apple.
SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully launched
Ever since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian Soyuz missions to get astronauts back and forth from the International Space Station. In order to maintain control over its own missions, the Commercial Crew program has sought replacements, with SpaceX and Boeing in competition for the contract. After a number of delays, SpaceX will go first with a test launch of its Crew Dragon vehicle, scheduled to take off from Launch Complex 39A in Cape Canaveral at 2:49 AM ET. SpaceX will have a live webcast of the Crew Demo-1 launch, which you can watch here, along with coverage from NASA TV. The broadcasts should start at 2 AM. To synchronize with the ISS, it's an instantaneous window so there's no waiting for this one -- it either will or will not go tonight.
