Technology

Start Menu Without Live Tiles Microsoft is in the midst of a multi-year effort to modernize the Windows interface, and one of the most iconic parts of Windows is up next. Microsoft showed off its new vision for the Start Menu during a recent Windows Insiders webcast. Live Tiles are …

  Google’s approach to Android releases has changed a lot over the years. We used to get numerous “point” releases like 4.2 and 8.1 that added notable new features, but now we get a monolithic whole number update each fall and security updates throughout the year. Google does still add …

  Microsoft has announced new changes to Cortana coming in the next version of Windows 10, and you probably won’t like them if you use any of the service’s consumer-facing features. Those of you who dislike Cortana and prefer to rely on local accounts, however, are getting good news. After …

  A few weeks back, we discussed ongoing reports of a new black screen bug that was hitting AMD GPU owners. While there were scattered reports going back some time, the situation appeared to have gotten worse with the release of AMD’s 2020 Adrenaline drivers. We talked to AMD about …

  For those of us who grew up dreaming of jet packs, multi-rotor aircraft with electric motors and batteries are putting new life into the vision of personal flying machines. To spur innovation in this area, Boeing and others funded a $2 million “GoFly” competition for teams to develop prototypes …

In uncertain times, people go looking for answers in unusual places. And in 2019, many U.S. consumers found their answers in the stars — or, more specifically, in a group of increasingly popular astrology apps offering horoscopes, fortunes, palm-reading and mobile access to psychics, among other things. According to new …

  Samsung’s Galaxy S20 launched in South Korea recently, but early sales of the handset have been nowhere near what Samsung expected them to be. Coronavirus is one potential culprit, though the steep increase in smartphone prices could be another issue. The Galaxy S10 family was priced at $749, $899, …

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads in 2019 and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019, …

  Samsung is always at the forefront of OLED display technology — every flagship smartphone it launches sets new records in brightness, color accuracy, and more. Now, Samsung has announced a new generation of OLED panels that emit less blue light. Oh, they’re also optimized for 5G, whatever that means. …

  After recently tweaking its design to better showcast podcasts, Spotify today announced it’s giving its entire mobile experience a refreshed look-and-feel. Starting initially with the iOS app, both Spotify Free and Premium users will notice the app has a more consistent, streamlined look, new in-app icons, changes to how …