Technology

Many of the most magical pieces of consumer technology we have today are thanks to advances in neural networks and machine learning. We already have impressive object recognition in photos and speech synthesis, and in a few years cars may drive themselves. Machine learning has become so advanced that a …

If you stopped 10 people on the street and asked them the first thing they thought of when you mentioned Burger King, you’d probably hear about various types of Whoppers, with a potential mention of flame-broiled bovine or the odd reference to the company’s infinitely-inferior-to-the-Egg-McMuffin CROISSAN’WICH. Yes, it’s actually spelled …

Smartphone adoption in emerging markets just delivered the highest number of app downloads Google Play has ever seen in a quarter. According to today’s report from App Annie, Google Play app downloads topped 19 billion in Q4 2017, a new record. That also makes Google Play’s download lead over iOS …

An open Wi-Fi hotspot can be great when your mobile data connection isn’t cutting it, but not all public Wi-Fi is created equal. A new feature in Android 8.1 will tell you about a network before you go through the hassle of connecting to it. You won’t get exact speed …

Buying a new battery for a device can be a frustratingly opaque experience. It’s effectively impossible to tell whether more expensive batteries are actually better batteries. Capacity and even chemistry claims are just words printed on packaging, not something the buyer can evaluate prior to purchase. It’s why some people …

There’s a holiday coming up that doesn’t get a lot of attention, but it probably should. Data Privacy Day is on Saturday, January 28th. Microsoft has gotten plenty of heat over the years for being insufficiently focused on the privacy of its users, but it’s looking to change that image …

Firefox Quantum’s launch late last year gave the world an impressive look at what a major rewrite could do for the browser, and it remains an excellent piece of software several months later. The new Firefox 58, which dropped yesterday, introduces new features and capabilities of its own, setting the …

Qualcomm’s longstanding dominance in LTE chipsets for smartphones, and specifically with Apple’s iPhone, is getting a major hit today. The European Commission today announced that it would be fining the company €997 million, or $1.23 billion, for abusing its market position between 2011 and 2016, related to its relationship with …

For the past few years, one company has dominated single-thread performance in the ARM ecosystem: Apple. While companies like Qualcomm, Samsung, and MediaTek aggressively pursued higher core counts, Apple stuck to its guns, cranking out higher single-thread performance cores and sticking to a dual-core configuration for its high-end iPhone processors. …

BMW, the embattled budget car manufacturer that has no choice but to turn to less-savory methods of earning income as its market share fades thanks to stiff competition from the Kia Rio and Nissan Versa, has a new idea for earning revenue. Going forward, instead of charging a onetime fee …