Geek News

While we've been all over the outside of Apple's newest MacBook Pro lineup, iFixit has, as usual, decided to look underneath the hood and find out what's changed from previous models. While it has not published a full teardown report yet, the repair outfit said that the keyboard may have a bigger change than Apple let on. Users have reported problems with the "butterfly switch" keyboards in new Apple laptops for a while saying they're too sensitive to crumbs and dust and can't have individual keys repaired. Still, the company said this iteration only has changes that make them quieter to use. As some have suspected however, any re-engineering may have take the "why not both?" approach. As pictured above, iFixit has found a new silicone barrier around the switch that would help make it quieter -- and also keep potential contaminan...

Apple's new MacBook Pro keyboards are slightly quieter than the ones found in the previous iteration of the laptop. But the company's silence on the mechanism's widespread mechanical issues, which Apple first acknowledged with a repair program last month , has left many scratching their heads and wondering if the new laptop's largely unchanged keyboard is susceptible to dust and crumb contamination under the hood. Now, iFixit says it's uncovered something that indicates that the new MacBook Pro keyboards use a silicone membrane underneath each individual key to keep dirt and other unsavory particles from finding their way under the keyboard and locking it up. The repair organization dismantled a new 15-inch MacBook Pro keyboard to... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2JkkDBO ...

Officials in China have busted a World Cup gambling ring that took in over 10 billion yuan (nearly $1.5 billion) in cryptocurrency bets, reports the South China Morning Post . Six individuals allegedly connected to a dark web-based crime syndicate have been arrested and authorities have seized cryptocurrencies found in their possession worth over 10 million yuan. In a statement, police in the Guangdong province said that gambling platform they ran accepted bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin. The platform reportedly collected bets over the course of eight months, bringing in 330,000 users from around the world. Over 8,000 individuals were named as agents, earning commissions when they attracted new members. While this is apparently the first ring to be busted that used cryptocurrency, authorities in the country have been working to crack down on gambling, which is largely...

Google Fiber could get serious help from a new rule (PDF) the FCC is set to pass that would give individual companies access to poles across the US. Currently, independent bodies -- like, say, a new internet provider -- who want to add their lines to poles must request telecoms to do the work, but the federal agency is considering implementing a nationwide One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) arrangement that would allow companies to add their cables themselves. In short, this could seriously help Google speed up the rollout of its high-speed internet solution. In a blog post, the company admitted that it underestimated how much access and space on utility and phone poles to place communications equipment has slowed Google Fiber's expansion. This isn't a new: Access to and real estate on communications infrastructure was important to the rollout of high-speed inter...

Look, I don't know how much time you spend in the video game accessories aisle at your local Best Buy. I like games plenty, but I'm not one for browsing fancy surround sound headsets, silicone controller skins, console carrying bags, or any of the other non-critical stuff on those shelves. But charging the batteries in my Xbox One controller can be a hassle, so from time to time I'll take a look and see whether anyone has come up with a method that's superior to swapping out rechargeable AA batteries or using Microsoft's Play & Charge cable. There are plenty of stands that can hold and charge your gamepad controllers, but I find them to be an eyesore. So that's not an option. Plus, most of them have a cord running out the back and... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2Lfi6xT ...

The Nintendo Switch is the perfect travel companion, but it's desperately lacking in one key area: wireless headphone support. Nintendo added support for wireless headphones via USB dongles last November , but only if you a USB Type-A to USB-C adapter to plug your headphone's dongle into the Switch console's port. Right now, the Switch does not support Bluetooth accessories. But a Kickstarter campaign from a team named Human Things aims to remedy that with their new device Genki. Launched last month on the crowdfunding site , Genki is a simple dongle for the Switch that promises support for Bluetooth 5.0 and multi-user audio so two audio devices can connect at the same time. It plugs in via the Switch's USB-C port and doesn't require its... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2uxlY2O ...

Facebook has hired one of Google's lead chip developers, Shahriar Rabii, to help the social network in its ongoing effort to design its own silicon, according to a report from Bloomberg . Facebook hopped on the chip-developing bandwagon earlier this year , when they started to build a team that could design custom chips to power server and consumer hardware. Rabii's new role at Facebook will be as a vice president and head of silicon, according to an updated Linkedin bio . It's a move that's on trend with other tech giants, many of which are bringing chip design in-house rather than relying on big-name suppliers like Intel and Qualcomm. Apple has been creating its own custom processors for iOS devices for nearly a decade, and it has d... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2ujhldq ...

Joss Whedon's next show has been ordered by HBO, which reportedly beat out other bidders including Netflix, per The Hollywood Reporter . The Nevers is a science fiction drama about a group of Victorian women with unusual abilities who have to fight enemies and complete their world-changing mission -- in other words, typical Whedon fare. He will write, direct, executive produce and serve as showrunner. At this point, there's no release date. While he's executive produced Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside his brother, showrunner Jed Whedon, The Nevers will be Joss Whedon's first created series since 2009's Dollhouse . It's also the first project he's publicly been involved in since his ex-wife Kai Cole wrote an editorial last year alleging his infidelity and criticizing his well-publicized pro-feminist persona, resulting in online bac...

Animals Tail wags, rat giggles, and horse snorts. We assume animals are happy, sad, scared or upset based on their behavior. But how do we know if our pets are content? via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2JlqOWb"

GamerGate was a huge deal, mostly because the internet becomes incredibly volatile at perceived slights against white men. But, it turns out, that even the founder of one of the movement's most potent social channels has had enough. Business Insider reported on Friday that one of the primary subreddits temporarily shut off access to the page after its head moderator called it a "cancerous growth." KotakuinAction, named after the former Gawker-owned property Kotaku (which was founded in 2014), was temporarily nixed from the net after moderator David-me posted a lengthy diatribe railing against the "racism" and "sexism" that had infested the channel. He argued that the shutdown was taken in direct response to the ubiquitous levels of hate speech found there . This was supposed to be about ethics in gaming journalism after all? ...

As a person who covers day-to-day tech news, I often wonder how my writing might come off to someone in the future — and whether anyone will even be reading it. I can't answer those questions, but I can do the next best thing: look back at what other people were writing 20 years ago. Here are a collection of stories — big and small — that science and technology enthusiasts might have checked out two decades ago, and that can help inform the ways we think about the world today. Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2uF88eT If New feed item from http://www.theverge.com/tech/rss/index.xml , t ...