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Sega is becoming its weird and wonderful self again
Sega is in an unexpectedly good place right now. The company was never on top of the industry; it's been beaten by Nintendo, by Sony, by the decline of the arcade. It spent years nursing the wounds from its fall from grace in the '90s, and through the '00s and early '10s could seemingly do little right.
The Morning After: The struggles of Formula 1's underdogs
Welcome to your weekend. Work email is off and it's time to enjoy the summer weekend. Maybe that'll include a new pair of wireless noise-canceling headphones from Bose, maybe it'll include applying for some free money from Google. You could also get the inside track on foiling those pesky robo-calls or dream of a future flight into space with Virgin Galactic -- it's just another Engadget week.
After Math: Things that shouldn't cost this much
Samsung unveiled the latest iterations its Galaxy Note line during which time the company showed off a plus-sized phone that costs more than a laptop -- specifically, the brand new Book S laptop debuting at the same dang press conference. That ain't right. And that ain't all. Take a look.
Here’s how AG Barr is going to get encryption 'backdoors'
If you heard the reverberation of a few thousand heads exploding last week, it was the sound of information security professionals reacting to US Attorney General Barr saying that Big Tech "can and must" put backdoors into encryption. In his speech for a cybersecurity conference at Fordham University, Barr warned tech companies that time was running out for them to develop ways for the government to break encryption. FBI Director Christopher Wray agreed with him.
After Math: Flipping the Switch
Nintendo wasn't the only company this week making headlines about switches. Facebook's poker playing AI turned the tables on some Texas Hold'em pros, Foxconn pulled the old switcheroo on the state of Wisconsin, and Luminar's new LiDAR is poised to turn the autonomous vehicle market on its ear.
Enjoy the silence: Twitter was down and we were free
I loved Twitter. I loved everything about it. It's where I met new friends. It's how I got most of my jobs. Like a new relationship, everything was sunshine, rainbows and the occasional fail whales. Hell, I even loved that damn whale. Then it got ugly. Very ugly and still I couldn't (I can't) walk away.
After Math: Jony Bye-ve
This has was a big week for mobility, especially the employment kind. Jony Ive is leaving Apple to start his own design studio next year, Latinx drama One Day at a Time is making the switch from "cancelled by Netflix" to "picked up on basic cable," and NASA is sending Titan a robopanion by the mid-2030s. Let's take a look.
How a trivial cell phone hack is ruining lives
On a Tuesday night in May, Sean Coonce was reading the news in bed when his phone dropped service. He chalked it up to tech being tech and went to sleep. When he woke up, his Gmail account had been stolen and by Wednesday evening he was out $100,000.
Tesla’s Superchargers: The company's killer app
Telsa wants to be Ford and Chevron. The company wants to build the cars and supply the fuel. In this case, that fuel is electricity and the delivery system is the company's robust Supercharger network. CEO and tweet-machine Elon Musk routinely talks about changing the world for a better place. To reduce pollution for bluer skies, greener grass and the ability to breathe without sucking in CO2. Tesla has already started that trend by forcing other automakers to accelerate their timeline with electric cars.
After Math: We're not playing around
E3 2019 is nearly upon us and the gaming news is already coming at a breakneck pace. Google divulged new details about its upcoming Stadia game streaming service and Razor announced the launch of a new lightweight headset while GameStop's downward spiral shows no sign of slowing down.
Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something's wrong with the war on sex trafficking
Silicon Valley's biggest companies have partnered with a single organization to fight sex trafficking -- one that maintains a data collection pipeline, is partnered with Palantir, and helps law enforcement profile and track sex workers without their consent. Major websites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and others are working with a nonprofit called Thorn ("digital defenders of children") and, perhaps predictably, its methods are dubious.
After Math: What's the holdup?
This week's theme is waiting. Sonic the Hedgehog fans will have to do three months of it after complaining about Sonic's oddly human teeth, while Julian Assange won't have to do any more to know what charges the Feds are leveling at him. Let's get started already.
After Math: Goodbye, Grumpy Cat, whoa oh oh
Terrible news, everyone! The internet's favorite maladjusted kitteh has gone to the Great Cat Tree in the sky after succumbing to a urinary tract infection earlier this week. She -- yes, Grumpy Cat was a girl -- will be missed. Likewise, Cray Supercomputers' independence, Japan's phone number system and China's access to Wikipedia have come to similar ends over the past seven days.
After Math: Break them up
It's been another week of gaffes from the tech industry's marquee companies -- but then again, when aren't firms living the "move fast, break stuff" credo not shooting themselves in the foot? Google is in antitrust trouble with Indian authorities, Amazon is in hot water with the FTC over child privacy, and even Facebook's co-founder thinks Zuckerberg has strayed too far into Elliot Carver territory.
The Morning After: Microsoft, Linux and Windows 10
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. The week started with Microsoft's big developer conference, and at 1 PM ET, we'll be coming to you live from Google I/O 2019. Until then, check out the big news about Linux, and the first new iPhone game we've seen from Apple in over a decade.
After Math: Liar, liar, pants on fire
Ladies and gentlemen, I come to you this week a broken man. My childhood dream of seeing a speedy video game rodent hero break the fourth wall and go on a road trip with a middling white male actor I only sort of recognize has been shattered. Not because he doesn't do exactly that, but because of those teeth. Those human, human teeth.
Facebook’s ‘privacy-focused’ plan is another diversion
When Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at F8 2019, he once again outlined the company's new "privacy-focused" vision. It's a message he's been spreading over the past few months, and it will focus on six key principles: encryption, interoperability, ephemerality, safety, secure data storage and private interactions. While Zuckerberg went all in on how Facebook-owned apps will soon work seamlessly together, and how private conversations will play a key role, he seemed unaware the new plan could create problems of its own.
Hey Alexa: How can we escape surveillance capitalism?
Where do you go when you want to escape surveillance? When you want to stop feeling like you might be being listened to by microphones, or watched through surveillance cameras, or tracked by invisible tech gremlins burrowed within devices. Certainly nowhere in public. Perhaps it's your car. Maybe it's your home. Or even your bedroom? For some readers, that perimeter of personal freedom likely shrunk in February when news broke that Google "forgot" to tell consumers its Nest Secure came with a built-in microphone.
After Math: No Spoilers!
As the moviegoing public anxiously awaited this weekend's release of Avengers: Endgame, the rest of the tech world moved ahead as if nobody had been snapped. Here are some of the week's top headlines you may have missed while scouring Fandango for open Endgame seats.
After Math: Move fast and break laws
While the world held its collective breath this week ahead of Special Counsel Mueller's damning report on the current administration's conduct, the tech industry went ahead and let out all the bad news it had been holding onto for just such a moment. Facebook had another data breach -- shocking, I know -- Car2Go got hit with a massive fraud scheme, the Galaxy Fold is just as janky as you thought it'd be and of course everybody was GoT pirating.
