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Apple's music exec connections may extend beyond the likes of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre . Variety sources have claimed that Sony Music chairman Doug Morris is leaving the publisher at the end of March to help run a new label, 12 Tone, that will have a "partnership" with Apple. What this involves isn't clear, but former Def Jam chief Steve Bartels would join the team. We've asked Apple if it can comment. As Variety noted, this would represent a reunion of sorts for Morris and Iovine. They technically worked together (if not closely) at Universal Music Group, where Morris was chairman and Iovine ran the Interscope label. That probably wasn't an influencing factor, but the two execs will certainly be familiar with each other. There is a chance this could involve exclusive music -- Apple is fond of exclusives , after all. Whatever it entails, Morris' involvement could represent a major victory. Morris is one of the music industry's biggest business...

Chrome on Chromebooks and Windows-2-in-1 devices is on its way to becoming more like its sibling on mobile. As lucasban has posted on Reddit, the pull-to-refresh gesture is now available on the browser's developer channel for those platforms. While the feature might not make that much of a difference as it does on mobile -- Chrome for those devices has a pretty accessible refresh button -- the iOS/Android version's touch control will still make a great addition for the touchscreen laptop-tablet hybrids. As we mentioned, though, the feature has only made its way as far as the developer channel. If you do have access to it for Chrome OS and Windows, you'll still have to activate the gesture via the hidden flag chrome://flags/#pull-to-refresh. Based on previous reports, Google's Chrome team has been working on bringing the gesture to Chromebooks since at least mid-2017. Hopefully, it won't take them too long to release the feature to the public. Pull-to-Refresh...

The surging price of bitcoin (among others) in 2017 led more than a few companies to hop on the cryptocurrency bandwagon with hopes of striking it rich almost overnight. Many of their initial coin offerings seemed dodgy from the outset... and it turns out they were. Bitcoin.com has conducted a study of ICOs tracked by Tokendata, and a whopping 46 percent of the 902 crowdsale-based virtual currencies have already failed. Of these, 142 never got enough funding; another 276 have either slowly faded away or were out and out scams . The number of casualties might be higher in practice. Another 113 ICOs have either stopped talking on social networks (a good sign interest has died) or have so few adopters that success is very unlikely. And the survivors aren't necessarily doing much better. Only a "handful" raised over $10 million, which left an uphill battle for the rest. It doesn't take much divination to understand why many of these virtual coins fell flat. Excludi...

LG is usually one of the big hitters of Mobile World Congress. In 2016, the company used this show to debut its radical LG G5 modular flagship. In 2017, we saw the LG G6, which was among the first phones with an almost bezel-free display. But in 2018, LG is giving us a rehash: the LG V30S ThinQ. Yes, I agree, that name is awful. The V30S retains the exact same design as the V30 , the same dual-camera system, the same 18:9 display, same 3,300mAh battery, and same Snapdragon 835 processor. The only upgrades are to memory, with the V30S stepping up from 4GB of RAM to 6GB, and from a choice between 64GB or 128GB of storage to a 128GB or 256GB selection. The colors on offer are called New Platinum Grey and New Moroccan Blue, in case they’re... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2EQZQbK"

Automakers testing their self-driving cars on California roads might be able to go fully autonomous as soon as April, according to the state's DMV. Instead of putting someone behind the wheel to take over in certain circumstances, such as when the self-driving system isn't working as well as it should, the companies will be required to link their cars to remote operators. Those remote drivers' job is to keep an eye on multiple cars and to take over their controls if and when needed. The automakers are allowed to hire third-party companies to handle remote operation. Some of them, though, including Waymo and Nissan, have already developed their own remote-driving technologies -- Nissan even built a monitoring center for its driverless taxi's tests, which will begin in March and take place in Tokyo. Even if they pass on developing their own remote-driving technology, the companies will still have to comply with quite a lengthy list of requirements to be able to ge...

In a new essay posted to his website, musician Neil Young called out major tech companies such as Google for linking to piracy websites and thus depriving musicians of income, and wondered how the next generation of musicians will survive. In his post , Young begins talking about his 1996 album Broken Arrows , and how the lyrics for the song “Music Arcade” made him reflect on his earlier successes, which he’s not sure can be attained by musicians nowadays. “Today, in the age of FaceBook [sic] GOOGLE and Amazon,” he writes, “it’s hard to tell how a new and growing musical artist could make it in the way we did.” He goes on to say that Google profited immensely from searches (including ones for piracy websites), but left artists out of the... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2ENGMuE"

After reports and studies revealed that browsers' private modes aren't that secure , MIT graduate student Frank Wang decided to take things into his own hands. He and his team from MIT CSAIL and Harvard have created a tool called Veil, which you could use on a public computer -- or on a private one on top of using incognito mode and Tor if you have big secrets to keep or if you've just become paranoid after years of hearing about hacks and cyberattacks. Wang said in a statement: "Veil was motivated by all this research that was done previously in the security community that said, 'Private-browsing modes are leaky -- Here are 10 different ways that they leak. We asked, 'What is the fundamental problem?' And the fundamental problem is that [the browser] collects this information, and then the browser does its best effort to fix it. But at the end of the day, no matter what the browser's best effort is, it still collects it. We might as well not co...

We already knew the vast majority of novelties and innovations set to debut at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked 2018 event tomorrow. The only thing we were missing was a well-produced video running us through the new Galaxy S9’s features, and Samsung has kindly obliged — courtesy of its launch video , which managed to sneak out in public a little bit early. “The Phone. Reimagined.” is the tagline for the new device, which is set to be the first smartphone with a dual-aperture camera while keeping most of the other specs relatively unchanged. The video shows a new built-in automatic translator in Samsung’s camera app, which looks to work very much like Google Translate’s option for live translation via the camera. The S9 is also IP68-rated for... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2ETM6ZL"

My family freaked out when electric toothbrushes came out. They’re passionate about oral health, and, finally, they could own a tool that’s more on par with a dentist’s. So everyone in my family now has an electric toothbrush. The excitement hasn’t continued with the announcement of smart toothbrushes. Do we need a Bluetooth-connected toothbrush? Will that really enhance the mundane brushing experience? I brought the Colgate E1 , the Sonicare DiamondClean Smart , and the Playbrush on Circuit Breaker Live to find out. Unlike the other two brushes, the Playbrush is just a Bluetooth dongle that fits any regular, non-electric toothbrush. I’ve been testing the Sonicare for a few months at home, and within a week, I had already given up on... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2sY5eUX"

Apple Pay Cash may not be limited to Americans for much longer. Users in Brazil , Ireland and Spain have all reported seeing the peer-to-peer payment service show up in iOS' Messages app, suggesting that launches in their countries (and potentially more) are just around the bend. Apple hasn't officially announced anything yet, but it's hard to imagine the company asking people to configure the feature and letting it sit unused for more than a short while. Despite the apparently imminent expansion, it's doubtful that Apple Pay Cash will allow money transfers between countries. As 9to5Mac observed , competing services typically limit you to paying others on your home turf -- the stiff fees alone would discourage across-the-border payments. An international rollout could be crucial to generating some momentum for Apple's fledgling offering. Rivals like Venmo might be US-only, but others have a broader reach -- Skype's PayPal-based Send Money feature is av...

For my work job, I was handed a Nebula Capsule to review. The portable projector is the size of a soda can, it runs Android TV, and it has a surprisingly loud built-in speaker. The 100 lumens of brightness isn’t a lot, and neither is the 480 x 854 resolution, but it works acceptably for watching YouTube or Netflix in a dark room on a white wall. It’s not nearly as powerful as its well-received larger sibling, the Nebula Mars , but it is much more portable. Unfortunately, this projector has a fatal flaw: a terrible IR remote that only picks up on about half of my click attempts, no matter where I aim it. This is absolutely the most painful when attempting to type in a Wi-Fi password using the remote’s D-pad, but it’s bad enough that just... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2EUVhc0"

There’s plenty more to see than just the Galaxy S9 Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2EQLqUL"

Why Apple is the world's most innovative company Robert Safian, Fast Company Apple may be one of the biggest companies in the world, but it still doesn't open up often about how it operates. A few times a year though, we catch a glimpse . Fast Company caught up with CEO Tim Cook back in January to chat Apple's recent run of new gear in an interview that published this week. Celebrating the Game Boy Camera, one of Nintendo's weirdest, most ingenious inventions Matt Gerardi, AV Club Following the success of Switch, AV Club takes a look back at one of Nintendo's weirdest projects . The tragedy of Erik Killmonger Adam Serwer, The Atlantic There have been a number of great reads on Black Panther already, but this piece examines the narrative through the lens of the antagonist. The workplace that Susan Fowler wrought Alyssa Bereznak, The Ringer A former Uber employee penned a memo about sexual harassment a year ago . So... where are we now?...

Last spring, Google said it was taking another shot at reworking Android to keep it running fast and smooth on lower-end devices. The initiative was called Android Go, and the very first phone running it — technically, “Android Oreo (Go Edition)” — is being announced today by Alcatel. It’s called the Alcatel 1X, and, well, it’s not all that much to get excited about. That’s partly because the 1X is a low-end phone, which means it has to impress on value rather than specs and flourishes. But it’s also because, in our initial hands on with the phone, the operating system didn’t run all that smoothly, despite Google’s optimizations. Stay tuned as we’ll have more impressions on Android Go throughout the week, but Alcatel hasn’t given us a... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2HJ7eUn"

Alcatel is kicking off this year’s Mobile World Congress with a whole lot of phones. It’s introducing three series of phones today, within which there are a total of five models. All of them are below €230 (about $283 USD); one is the very first Android Go phone; And on top of all that, Alcatel is announcing two tablets running Android Oreo. Just a quick primer on Alcatel: the company is known for making lower-end phones but has tried in recent years to make them stand out a bit more , so that people might actually seek them out. That’s not true of most of the models being introduced today, though there are some highlights that trickle down from higher-end phones, like dual cameras and 18:9 displays. Alcatel is also introducing a new... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2GJmoHP"

Today's Deal: Save 50% on Assetto Corsa !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "http://ift.tt/2CIgUuk"

The support shared between readers in the comments section is one of the things we love most about the Engadget community . Over the years, we've known you to offer sage advice on everything from Chromecasts and cameras to drones and smartphones. In fact, our community's knowledge and insights are a reason why many of you participate in the comments. We truly value the time and detail you all spend in responding to questions from your fellow tech-obsessed commenters, which is why we've decided to bring back the much-missed "Ask Engadget" column. This week's question comes from a reader who is interested in a 4K monitor purchase but unsure of where to start. Weigh in with your advice in the comments -- and feel free to send your own questions along to ask@engadget.com! I'm considering buying a budget (sub-$500) 4K monitor for desk work. I am not concerned about color quality, refresh rate or any flashy gaming features. I just want a 4K monitor betwe...

Last week, Microsoft announced that it would take $200 off of Intel i5 versions of the Surface Pro for the laptop’s five-year anniversary. The deal was only supposed to last through Presidents’ Day, but we’re well past the holiday and you can still get one of the popular touchscreen laptops starting at just $799 . We don’t know how long this deal will be around, and we’re pretty lucky we still have it right now, so act fast. Laptops aren’t the only hardware category being discounted this week. B&H is marking down Google Pixel XL phones for a limited time. For $579.99 , you can get an unlocked Pixel XL with 128 GB of storage. If you’re in the market for a new phone and you don’t want to pay the $1,000 that gets you into the iPhone X or... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2orUr0n"

Spring season is right around the corner, and that means it's time for Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world's biggest phone show . This year, you can expect to be introduced to Samsung's next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S9 , as well as a slew of other handsets from big-name companies like BlackBerry and Nokia. Yes, you know you love BlackBerry and Nokia . Of course, we'll likely also come across a bunch of other tech products, such as wearables and others things that could be revealed at the show -- Facebook has a press conference, for instance. We're on the ground for the next week, which means you need to keep your eyes peeled to the site so you won't miss a thing from MWC 2018. Catch up on the latest news from MWC 2018 right here . via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2HKOfsu"

Last year's gaming controversy has turned into this year's legislative battleground. Fans were outraged when Star Wars: Battlefront II launched with buyable loot boxes that unbalanced multiplayer combat, and other games like Need For Speed: Payback and Destiny 2 had their own pay-to-win controversies. Eventually, loot boxes unsettled enough constituents to rile their representatives. Legislators in Hawaii, Washington and Illinois have introduced bills to either study loot boxes or restrict access to young players, but how effective will they be? What else can lawmakers do? Hawaii state Rep. Chris Lee, a gamer himself (he favors the Battlefield series and Rockstar Games' oeuvre), believes there's plenty to do. The Democrat introduced four bills last month: Two (one introduced to state House and one to the Senate) would restrict loot boxes in Hawaii to those older than 21, while another pair would force companies to disclose the odds of winning potential game ite...

Film audiences who aren’t already claustrophobic might feel that way after watching The Chamber , a new thriller set almost entirely off the coast of North Korea in the cabin of an overturned submarine stuck at the bottom of the Yellow Sea. The plot — a looming conflict between the US and North Korea — is either poorly timed or extremely well-timed, given recent global events , but the real story is the classic moral quandary of how humans behave when trying to survive. Mats, a Swedish submarine ship captain for hire (played by Force Majeure star Johannes Bah Kuhnke), gets entangled in espionage when his boss orders him to pilot an American special ops team to an undisclosed location in a rickety Cold War-era submarine called the Aurora.... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2sTr3Vz"

DIY Get out the door faster. Your morning routine doesn't have to be chaotic and rushed. To regain some time in the morning—or sleep in a little longer—try out these apps and gadgets. via Popular Science "http://ift.tt/2GJ8d5B"

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Welcome to the weekend. We're hours away from Samsung's big Galaxy S9 event, so catch up on this week's news and get ready for the liveblog starting at noon ET on Sunday. Rumors, leaks and hopefully no lies. Samsung Galaxy S9: What to expect from Unpacked 2018 Samsung is primed to unveil its latest flagship. Fortunately for anyone desperate to hear what's coming on February 25th, there's been no shortage of leaks and renders before the big day. Take a look at everything we know going into tomorrow's big reveal. And now Google Lens can spot different dog breeds. Android's official augmented reality toolkit is available to the public Google just released ARCore 1.0, letting anyone publish Android apps that take advantage of the toolkit to meld virtual objects with the real world. The 13 devices that support ARCore right now are common devices like Google's Pixel phones, Samsung's Galaxy S7/S8/Note 8 lin...