Month: March 2018

 Not really the showiest of SXSW announcements, but Google’s got a nice little update for developers looking to differentiate Assistant integration on a product level. Custom Device Actions are way to add specific functions to products. In a blog post, the company gives the specific example of activating a specific color cycle on an Assistant-enabled washing machine machine. The new… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 A U.S. District Court judge has just handed some Uber drivers a win by concluding the ride-hailing company breached a contract pertaining to “Safe Rides” fees. In U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers’ opinion on damages, she wrote “there is no question that drivers were financially harmed by Uber’s breach of contract.” Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 How can you participate in a Nerf gun fight if you’re missing a hand? The ingenious Hackerloop collective of tinkerers solved that problem by putting together a prosthetic Nerf gun that you can control with your arm muscles. In other words, Nicolas Huchet became Barret Wallace from Final Fantasy VII or Mega Man for a day. And here’s what it looks like: Let’s look at the… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 LinkedIn used to have its own business card scanning app, CardMunch, which served a useful purpose in a world where paper cards simply refuse to die. But that app was shut down back in 2014, with LinkedIn suggesting users move to Evernote instead. Today, Microsoft is bringing back business card scanning – but this time, not with a dedicated card scanner app, but with its multipurpose… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 Apple’s Touch ID was a step change in convenience for securing its mobile devices, and now that same level of convenience is available in a padlock. The Tapplock One is now shipping, and features a fingerprint sensor for unlocking, as well as a companion app with a Bluetooth unlock backup. The Tapplock One began its existence on Indiegogo with a crowdfunding campaign back in 2016, but… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 If you stand in juuuust the right spot in Disneyland — or if you turn your head at certain times on certain rides — you can get fleeting glimpses into Disney’s upcoming Star Wars Land (or “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge”, as it’s more officially known) as it’s being built. You can’t see much, of course; it’s just enough to say… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 Want to know whether the Samsung Galaxy S9 is worth picking up when it arrives March 16? Good news: I’ve got 4,000 words on the matter that you can read over here. For those who don’t have the time to take all of that in, however, we’ve also put together this handy guide to the biggest new additions to the handset over last year’s S8.
The new features of mostly good… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 Over the last couple of years, Google has been slowly (very slowly!) opening up the ability for celebrities, politicians, sports teams, museums and local businesses to post social media-like updates directly to its search result pages. Today, after testing this in a few markets over the course of the last year, Google is also opening this feature up to musicians in the U.S. This means that… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 Streaming giant Netflix is expecting to get even bigger this year. Netflix, which has 117 million subscribers worldwide and brought in $11 billion in revenue last year, expects to hit $15 billion in revenue this year, USA Today reports. That’s based on a prediction Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made at an event this week. Earlier this week, Netflix announced a number of updates to make… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch

 Bixby is, by far, the most frustrating part of the S9. It’s true, of course, that no voice assistant is perfect, but a full year after Samsung’s smart assistant debuted on the Galaxy S8, it still feels unfinished. Of course, the company’s made some significant progress, and a slew of artificial intelligence startup acquisitions point to an offering that’s going to… Read More

Source: Tech Crunch