Geek News

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop is one of the best laptops on the market, but until now, customers have only been able to pick it up with the more limited Windows 10 S operating system. Now, though, Microsoft is selling the Surface Laptop through its commercial store , and for the first time the company is giving users the option to buy a device with Windows 10 Pro already installed, via Neowin . Despite being sold through the commercial portal, much like the LTE-equipped Surface Pro, anyone can actually buy one . But unless you really want to avoid the upgrade process, it’s probably not worth actually taking Microsoft up on the offer, given that the company is charging an extra $100 for choosing Windows 10 Pro over 10 S, and Microsoft still... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2nadw6q"

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop is one of the best laptops on the market, but until now, customers have only been able to pick it up with the more limited Windows 10 S operating system. Now, though, Microsoft is selling the Surface Laptop through its commercial store , and for the first time the company is giving users the option to buy a device with Windows 10 Pro already installed, via Neowin . Despite being sold through the commercial portal, much like the LTE-equipped Surface Pro, anyone can actually buy one . But unless you really want to avoid the upgrade process, it’s probably not worth actually taking Microsoft up on the offer, given that the company is charging an extra $100 for choosing Windows 10 Pro over 10 S, and Microsoft still... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2nadw6q"

We've been massive fans of Teenage Engineering's affordable pocket-sized synthesizers since their debut . The company has added new, more capable models over the last couple of years, too, adding more sounds to individual units and import/export capabilities. They've always come in at an impulse-friendly $60, though, until now. The new additions to the metal series — the PO-33 K.O! sampler and the PO-35 vocal sampler — not only comes in silver and copper, but they now cost a less-budget conscious $90. The two new metal synths complement the existing gold-colored PO-32 drum machine for a trio of synthy goodness. The PO-35 speak voice synth and sequencer has a microphone for sampling anything you like, 120 seconds of memory for those samples, eight voice characters and the same number of effects, will let you transpose and change the scale of your sequences and includes replaceable drum sounds that you can buy separately. The PO-33 K.O! micro sampler has 40 seconds of m...

On a good day, my phone battery never drops below 35 percent. A dead phone is a useless one, and the spike of anxiety that accompanies that fear is enough to send me scurrying for the nearest outlet. But when my charger is home in bed, and I’m out at a bar, there’s nothing I can do but embrace the inevitable: my battery is on its way to its own funeral. At the very least, I’ve found a conversation app that turns that feeling of desperation into anticipation. Welcome to Die With Me , the chatroom app you can only use when your phone is about to die. If your battery has anything higher than a 5 percent charge, Die With Me won’t open up its doors; once you are in, if you charge up to higher than 5 percent, it will automatically kick you out... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2DOscSF"

The Democratic National Committee's (DNC) new chief security officer position has been filled, Wired reports. Bob Lord, who was previously Yahoo's chief information security officer prior to its acquisition by Verizon, will take over the position and will be working with both the national offices as well as smaller state offices. "I'll be working to protect my new colleagues at the DNC from the attackers who would prefer to keep us distracted from our mission of getting Democrats across the nation elected," Lord said in a statement. "And my job doesn't stop at the front door of the building -- my team and I will work with state parties to update their information security strategies and deployments to change the economics for the attackers." Very honored to be able to work with @raffi , @TomPerez , and the rest of the amazing team at the @DNC ! https://t.co/mG60iYio4t — Bob Lord ¬_¬ (@boblord) January 25, 2018 Lord has plenty of experience w...

Amazon just released an ad for the Echo Spot on YouTube . The ad called, “Be Together More,” is only a minute long, and it’s full of feels. The commercial tells a heartfelt story about a grandma who is left home alone with her cat after a visit from her family. She’s gifted an Amazon Echo Spot that comes with an instruction, “Just ask: ‘Alexa, Call Home.’” She studies the gadget curiously, which looks like a futuristic alarm clock, before realizing she can use it to video call her loved ones. To her awe, her family appears before her eyes in the video call, shouting, “Surprise!” The ad is coming out at the end of January, when most people have already finished out the last of their holiday shopping . Although Amazon won’t disclose exact... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2E5JqZ7"

Deceptively-simple automatic runner RunGunJumpGun is coming to Nintendo Switch on February 8th, according to a tweet by its developers, Good Shepherd. The game first hit iOS and Android in 2016, amassing an army of fans initially intrigued by its simple premise -- shoot, jump, survive -- and subsequently ensnared by its addictive intelligent level design and masterful difficulty curve. Under the slightly tweaked moniker ATOMIK: RunGunJumpGun, the game will offer Switch players the same twitchy platforming fun -- and for just $8/£8. Source: Good Shepherd via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2Gh4WuQ"

Apple gifted us with new Animoji , more insight into battery health , and an update for ARKit yesterday with its release of iOS 11.3. Buried in its update notes, the company also says it now supports Advanced Mobile Location, which automatically sends a user's location to emergency services when someone calls. AML isn't currently supported in the US, but iOS users in the UK, Belgium, New Zealand, Sweden, Lithuania, and some parts of Lower Austria can take advantage. The feature activates GPS and Wi-Fi services when someone calls any emergency number and then sends a text with caller's precise location to responders. This obviously helps figure out where people are, even if they can't accurately report it. All Android phones running... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2GjvMT8"

Snapchat has always prided itself on real-time sharing. That’s why the app opens to the camera: it’s designed to get you sharing whatever is happening in the moment. That’s why, until today, snaps posted from your camera roll got a white border around them. It was a subtle cue from the app that older photos and videos are considered second-class citizens inside Snapchat. But as of today, that’s going away. An update to Snapchat rolling out today removes the white border. Snaps posted from the camera roll will now appear however they appear when you first snapped them. The technology isn’t perfect, though — horizontal photos get rotated when you import them into Snapchat, and there’s no way to straighten them out. Instagram, which never... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2FejFFo"

Minecraft is pretty important to Microsoft. Not only did the company spend $2.5 billion in 2014 to own the world's most popular building-block game, but just last week it promoted Matt Booty, the head of Minecraft , to Corporate VP of Microsoft Studios. As far as Microsoft sees it, there's a direct line from Minecraft to Gears of War , Halo and all of the company's major first-party games. And now, with Booty's ascent, there's a new Minecraft boss. Helen Chiang has been with Microsoft for 13 years, and the past 11 of those were spent in the Xbox division, managing the Live team and working with developers in the Xbox Live Arcade program. She helped Minecraft get settled on Xbox long before Microsoft's acquisition, and now she's in charge of the entire game. "It's really important for the overall gaming strategy," she told Engadget. "What I like to think is that we're out in front thinking about a lot of different things....

Amazon is eliminating the frustration of having to constantly re-enter your cable credentials whenever you install certain apps on its Fire TV streaming gadgets. Like Apple before it, Amazon has now introduced a Single Sign-On feature that remembers your account information across TV Everywhere apps from the likes of A&E, AMC, HGTV, and more. Single Sign-On already supports most major cable and satellite providers with the glaring exception of Comcast Xfinity. But Spectrum, Charter, DirecTV, Dish, Optimum, Verizon FiOS, and many others are covered. Amazon says the feature will be rolling out over the next several hours for all of the below apps. Single Sign-On supports all existing Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Edition television... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2E94WMx"

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Last April, Apple was granted a permit to test its autonomous vehicle technology by the state of California and since then, the company has expanded its test fleet from three vehicles to 27, Bloomberg reports. The California Department of Motor Vehicles said that Apple had registered 24 Lexus RX450h SUVs between last July and this month. While initially aiming to develop its own autonomous vehicle , Apple later decided to switch gears and design a self-driving system that could be incorporated into other vehicles. And we've seen glimpses of that technology in recent months. A patent application , a presentation from Apple AI Research Director Ruslan Salakhutdinov and a research paper have all pulled back parts of the curtain Apple's technology development usually hides behind. And a closeup look from Voyage cofounder MacCallister Higgins gave us a bit of a visual. There are many players in the autonomous vehicle field and Apple has a lot of competition. Companies like...

Damien Chazelle, the filmmaker known for award-winning films La La Land and Whiplash , will be making a new TV series for none other than Apple. Variety reports that Chazelle will write and direct every episode of the new drama, with the plot and other details being kept secret for the time being. The currently untitled series will also be executive produced by Jordan Horowitz and Fred Berger — two more La La Land production alums. Chazelle is the latest big name to join Apple’s rapidly growing slate of original content, which includes a Steven Spielberg anthology series , a space drama from Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore, and a drama about a network morning show starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon . Earlier this... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2Fc8ZXV"

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The “eating Tide Pods” meme continues to be one of the more baffling parts of 2018 — which is impressive since we’re just four weeks into the year — but the ramifications of the meme continue to rise. Earlier this week, the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) released another alert warning consumers not to eat the pods . The number of reported cases of teenagers intentionally eating the laundry detergent-filled gel capsules this year has more than doubled, from 39 incidents on January 16th to 86 as of January 22nd. The AAPCC recorded 39 cases of teenagers intentionally eating the pods in the entirety 2016, and 53 cases in 2017. That number continues to rise despite efforts from companies like YouTube and Amazon, which... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "http://ift.tt/2Dysqtx"