Tech Deals: Vizio, 23andMe, iPad Mini, Amazon Devices

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Tech Deals: Vizio, 23andMe, iPad Mini, Amazon Devices

Go shopping for DNA testing kits, fancy robot vacuums, gaming hardware and software, and more this weekend.

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Upcoming iOS Access Restrictions Could Stymie Law Enforcement

Apple plans to equip iOS 12 with USB Restricted Mode, a feature that requires users to unlock their iPhone with their passcode before USB accessories can connect if the phone last was unlocked more than an hour earlier. The company included this feature in the developer versions of iOS 11.4.1 and iOS 12. Apple will release USB Restricted Mode publicly in a future software update, it confirmed this week. USB Restricted Mode should work on iPads the same way as on iPhones because it's a software feature.

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BBC News - Technology

Tomorrow's Cities: Will the bike become an urban must-have?

Urban spaces are congested and polluted, so do we all need to get on our bikes?

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Hits, Misses and Drama at E3 2018

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Hits, Misses and Drama at E3 2018

E3 had the usual hits and misses this year, and more drama than most of the games on the screens. With a strong lineup of first-party titles plus better third-party support, Nintendo is the comeback king. However, the battle for hardcore gamer dollars continues to be fought between Microsoft and Sony. With no new hardware news from the companies, this was another year about the games, but for every hit there were apparently a few misses -- and no doubt many of the games shown this year won't be released by the time next year's show kicks off.

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Qualcomm and Huawei: More Partners Than Rivals

Because both Qualcomm and Huawei are technology leaders in the wireless segment and have invested heavily in 5G, they often are pitted against one another in political, financial and even industry discussions. However, the truth is that the two companies complement one another and work together more than they compete against each another. Coming from different ends of the wireless ecosystem, they have been working on 5G from different perspectives -- Qualcomm primarily from the mobile device side, and Huawei from the infrastructure side.

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Gadget Lab Podcast: Why Apple, Google, Microsoft Are Stirring the Software Pot

This week’s podcast is all about the software that points to the future of our how we'll use our gadgets – even if they infuriate us in the interim.

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Best E3 Game Deals: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (2018)

Another E3 has come and gone, but Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo still have great deals available.

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BBC News - Technology

Kaspersky Lab halts European cybercrime work

The security firm halted the work after questions were asked in the European Parliament about its software.

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Snap Kit Will Let Other Apps Use Snapchat's Features, But Not Your Data

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Snap Kit Will Let Other Apps Use Snapchat's Features, But Not Your Data

With the release of its new Snap Kit developer platform, Snap promises it will keep your data safe from prying third-party apps.

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Spider-Man: Why PlayStation is getting an older Peter Parker

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Spider-Man: Why PlayStation is getting an older Peter Parker

Makers of the PlayStation blockbuster explain why they wanted a more mature Peter Parker.

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Tetris gets psychedelic virtual reality revamp at E3

Classic game Tetris has been a hit for more than three decades, but it is now headed in a new direction.

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TechNewsWorld

Sony Trains Spotlight on a Few Good Games

Sony gave PlayStation fans a hefty sampling of what's coming to its gaming consoles this year at E3. It gave them a long look at a relatively few offerings. "Sony's E3 event was a break with tradition, an experiment to test the way it could present its first-party output to the media," said Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games at IHS Technology. "It aimed to underline the depth of Sony's IP, its highly skilled development teams, and its ability to craft engaging and immersive stories and characters."

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HP: Reimagining the Future

I got a view of the future when I visited HP's Innovation Center in Barcelona, Spain, last week. The company has made some aggressive moves to blend its printing and imaging technologies to create products that will redefine our near-term future. HP also showcased capabilities that are something just short of magic. I mean, when you can transform what you can imagine into physical products, what else would you call it? One of Arthur C. Clarke's famous laws is that technology that is advanced enough will appear to be magic.

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Best Amazon Device Deals: Sale on Echos, Kindles, Fires (June 2018)

Save up to 30 percent on Fire HD Tablets, Fire TVs, Kindles, Cloud Cams, and Echo speakers.

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Furbo Dog Camera Review: Remotely Amuse Your Pets

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Furbo Dog Camera Review: Remotely Amuse Your Pets

The Furbo helps you keep an eye on your dog and reward them, too.

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Uber applies for patent to spot drunk passengers

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Uber applies for patent to spot drunk passengers

The taxi app is considering using artificial intelligence to determine "uncharacteristic user activity".

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E3: Sony PlayStation 4's kiss kiss bang bang event

The PlayStation 4's showcase began with an embrace but soon switched to gun fights and swordplay.

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TechNewsWorld

Nvidia May Be Lone Rider on Next Big Technology Wave: Robotics

Dell's most forward-looking people spoke about the future at Dell World a few weeks ago. One of the sessions I attended dovetailed with something that appears to be glaringly obvious -- to me, anyway -- which is that is that robots likely will be the next big technology wave. I then wandered around to find out what Dell was doing in robotics, and I couldn't find anything. Dell is not alone, as I'm not aware of any of the current leading technology firms doing anything in robotics with one exception: Nvidia.

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Motorola Moto G6 Review: Affordable Excellence

The Moto G6 still reigns supreme as the best cheap Android phone for $250 or less. Our full WIRED review.

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Meater Wireless Meat Thermometer Review: A Recipe for Mediocrity

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Meater Wireless Meat Thermometer Review: A Recipe for Mediocrity

Monitoring your roasting and grilling with an app is neat, but the Meater has quirks and flaws that keep us from recommending it.

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BBC News - Technology

Foxconn broke Chinese labour laws-rights group

A Foxconn plant making products for Amazon underpaid staff according to a report from China Labor Watch.

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Londonderry's 21-year-old Minecraft mogul

Blockception's content has been downloaded more than two million times since it was founded in 2015.

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G2 Crowd VP Heather Reed: Go After the Prize

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G2 Crowd VP Heather Reed: Go After the Prize

"By using gender-neutral terms, we might change people's minds about what jobs they're qualified for and have a chance of getting. Getting rid of gender-biased terms helps level the playing field," said Heather Reed, VP of business development for G2 Crowd. "There are different phrases that we use and don't even think about it," she said, "like 'right-hand man,' or 'manning up,' or 'chatty Kathy.' We need to be cognizant of the subtle implications those terms have."

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Rhino-Saving Tech Also Could Protect Kids and Borders

Cisco has reduced the poaching of endangered rhinos in Africa by a whopping 96 percent. This success comes at a time when kids appear to be increasingly at risk from rogue school shooters and The United States government seems deadlocked on gun control. Guns kill rhinos as well, but the focus of Cisco's tech is on catching the poachers who kill around 1,000 endangered rhinos a year, rather than on taking away their weapons of choice. Where implemented, the solution has all but eliminated the problem.

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BBC News - Technology

Tomorrow's Cities: Dubai and China roll out urban robots

Drones and robocops are starting to find a home in cities, but will they become ubiquitous?

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4 Weekend Tech Deals for Father’s Day Gifts

Get a head start on your Father’s Day shopping.

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Sir Elton John urges social media boycott over hate speech

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Sir Elton John urges social media boycott over hate speech

Sir Elton John says social media giants should be boycotted if they do not tackle homophobic hate speech.

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At Festival of the Impossible, Artists Augment Reality to Tell Fresh Stories

Getting trippy with storytelling at Festival of the Impossible, an AR and VR showcase currently showing in San Francisco.

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Copyright law could put end to net memes

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Copyright law could put end to net memes

Digital rights group warns that proposed changes to copyright laws in Europe could signal "end of internet".

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Fortnite player first to reach elusive game island

A YouTuber has shown how a glitch in Fortnite let him return to the game's 'spawn island'.

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The 360 degree phone camera 'revolution'

BBC Click's Dan Simmons looks at some of the best technology news stories of the week.

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New Chips From AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm Make PCs Exciting Again

All-day battery. Universal connectivity. A 32-core monster CPU. PCs are about to transform, and it's about time.

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Amazon Fire TV Cube: Details, Price, Release Date

Alexa knows: it's hip to be square.

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Dark Screen Mode Among New macOS Mojave Highlights

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Dark Screen Mode Among New macOS Mojave Highlights

Apple on Monday gave the world a peek at macOS Mojave, the next version of its operating system for Macintosh laptop and desktop computers. The preview took place at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference held at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Mojave has a mix of new features that add to its good looks and utility as a productivity tool. Among its highlights is a new Dark Mode -- a darkened color scheme designed to make content pop on the desktop while controls blend into the background.

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WWDC 2018: Tech Addiction and the Paradox of Apple's 'Screen Time' Tools

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WWDC 2018: Tech Addiction and the Paradox of Apple's 'Screen Time' Tools

Apple, like much of Silicon Valley, wants to cure the disease it caused. But it could go further.

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TechNewsWorld

Apple Unveils New Siri Customization Tools at WWDC

The next version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 12, will include a new feature that allows you to customize the way Siri works with applications on phones and tablets. The announcement was one of the highlights at the kickoff of Apple's WWDC on Monday. Called "Siri Shortcuts," the feature lets a user define a phrase that will trigger a set of actions by the apps on a device. For example, you could say, "Game Time" to get a team schedule from TeamSnap, or "Groceries" to fulfill a standing grocery order from a grocery app.

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Dangerous waters

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Dangerous waters

In a warming world, extreme weather and natural disasters are on the rise. Can tech help us prepare?

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TechNewsWorld

Avoiding Career Death by Twitter

The most popular show on ABC was canceled last week because the star of the show, Roseanne Barr -- known for saying and writing stuff that would get most of us fired -- did exactly what she was known for doing and got fired. ABC now looks like it is run by idiots because, really, who didn't see this coming? The network now has to explain to its licensees why they no longer will be able to get the ad revenue that otherwise would have been coming to them. This outcome is one that could have been prevented relatively easily.

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WWDC 2018: The Best Part About Apple's Keynote Is What Wasn't There

Taking a pause to work on stability is exactly the right move for iOS 12 and macOS Mojave.

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WWDC 2018 Liveblog: News and Updates From Apple's Keynote

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WWDC 2018 Liveblog: News and Updates From Apple's Keynote

Join us for live coverage of Apple's WWDC 2018 keynote at 9 am PDT on Monday, June 4.

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Tomorrow's Cities: How Barcelona shushed noise-makers with sensors

BBC News - Technology

Tomorrow's Cities: How Barcelona shushed noise-makers with sensors

How citizens are taking control of their own cities with low-cost sensors.

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Apple's iOS Restrictions Aren't Helping Tech Addiction

Building "digital wellness" apps for iOS is a lot harder than it is on Android.

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Teens Falling Away From Facebook

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Teens Falling Away From Facebook

Ninety-five percent of teens have access to a smartphone, and 45 percent of teens are almost constantly online -- but younger Internet users do not connect on Facebook as much as their older peers do, suggests a new Pew Research Center study. Although Facebook dominated social media across all age groups over the past decade, it has taken a backseat to YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat among today's teens. Facebook is still used by more than half of all teens aged 13 to 17, the survey results indicate.

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Highly Sensitive Encrypted Email at Risk of Exposure

A newfound flaw in email clients that use PGP and S/MIME to encrypt messages can be exploited to expose the plain text of the missives, according to a new paper. By injecting malicious snippets of text into encrypted messages, attackers can use the flaw to make the email client exfiltrate decrypted copies of the emails, explained the authors, a team of researchers from three European universities. Malicious action is triggered as soon as a recipient opens a single crafted email from an attacker, they wrote.

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BBC News - Technology

Google 'to end' Pentagon Artificial Intelligence project

Employees have quit over Project Maven, aimed at improving the precision of US drone strikes.

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Gadget Lab Podcast: Trying to Get Pregnant? There's a Gadget for That

This week, Arielle Pardes charts Silicon Valley's growing fascination with technology for enabling women to track their fertility.

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Google explains 'weird' 1975 text message bug

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Google explains 'weird' 1975 text message bug

Typing specific search terms into the Google app displayed a list of recent text messages.

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The Moment: How your reaction changes this film’s plot

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The Moment: How your reaction changes this film’s plot

A headset monitors the viewer's brain activity and alters the story accordingly.

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How to Preorder the Nintendo NES Classic Mini (And Make Sure You Get One)

Nintendo's tiny console is coming back, and here's how to get one on lock early.

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TechNewsWorld

HomePod Gets Multi-Room Audio Chops With iOS 11.4

Apple has released iOS 11.4, the latest version of its mobile operating system, with some beefed-up features for its HomePod wireless smart speaker. The update allows users to create a stereo pair with two HomePods. It also supports multiroom streaming through AirPlay 2 connections. Music can be played in every room with a HomePod. It can be the same music in every room, or music can be tailored for each room. AirPlay can be controlled through iOS apps or the iOS Control Center, or through Apple's digital assistant, Siri.

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Pokemon reveals four new games for Nintendo Switch

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Pokemon reveals four new games for Nintendo Switch

A video games expert said that the releases are likely to "broaden the appeal" of the console.

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