Author: Tech Support

    • A look at the internal backlash at Google over its handling of sexual harassment claims, with 1,500+ employees planning to walk out in protest on Thursday (New York Times)

    New York Times: A look at the internal backlash at Google over its handling of sexual harassment claims, with 1,500+ employees planning to walk out in protest on Thursday  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Google is struggling to contain a growing internal backlash over its handling of sexual harassment and its workplace culture. A look at

    Read More
    • Apple says its T2 security chip, found in the 2018 Mac laptops, disconnects the device's microphone from the rest of the hardware whenever the lid is closed (Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch)

    Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Apple says its T2 security chip, found in the 2018 Mac laptops, disconnects the device’s microphone from the rest of the hardware whenever the lid is closed  —  Apple’s newest MacBooks include a new feature that makes it virtually impossible for hackers or spies to eavesdrop on your microphone. Apple says

    Read More
    • Amazon launches the Music Skill API for Alexa, allowing developers to stream songs from online services to Alexa devices and Amazon Echo speakers in the US (Kyle Wiggers/VentureBeat)

    Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Amazon launches the Music Skill API for Alexa, allowing developers to stream songs from online services to Alexa devices and Amazon Echo speakers in the US  —  Spicing up voice apps on Amazon’s Alexa assistant with jammin’ tunes just got a whole lot easier. Amazon launches the Music Skill API for

    Read More
    • Twitter says it's testing a home screen toggle to switch between latest and top tweets timelines with a small number of iOS users; toggle previously in settings (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

    Josh Constine / TechCrunch: Twitter says it’s testing a home screen toggle to switch between latest and top tweets timelines with a small number of iOS users; toggle previously in settings  —  Twitter is digging one of its most important new features out of its settings and putting it within easy reach. Twitter says it's

    Read More
    • Profile of Gab co-founder Andrew Torba days after Gab went offline and its CTO and co-founder Ekrem Buyukkaya quit following "attacks from the American media" (Washington Post)

    Washington Post: Profile of Gab co-founder Andrew Torba days after Gab went offline and its CTO and co-founder Ekrem Buyukkaya quit following “attacks from the American media”  —  Like many young entrepreneurs drawn to California’s technological gold rush, Andrew Torba brought a familiar mix of smarts … Profile of Gab co-founder Andrew Torba days after

    Read More
    • Amazon says Alexa can now give information about federal and gubernatorial elections and that it is working with AP and Ballotpedia for poll times and results (Khari Johnson/VentureBeat)

    Khari Johnson / VentureBeat: Amazon says Alexa can now give information about federal and gubernatorial elections and that it is working with AP and Ballotpedia for poll times and results  —  Amazon today announced a series of updates to Alexa’s knowledge base so the intelligent assistant can deliver helpful information ahead of … Amazon says

    Read More
    • Smaller and more accurate drones are possible thanks to this gyroscope innovation

    Researchers from Caltech University have developed the world’s tiniest optical gyroscope – a component used in flying vehicles for directional stability. The new gyroscope is 500 times smaller than the best ones currently used, and this could make future drones cheaper and more powerful. A new optical gyroscope—developed by Caltech engineers led by Ali Hajimiri—is

    Read More
    • Sources: after canceling Rift 2, a "complete redesign", Oculus now pursuing a more modest Rift update, possibly called Rift S, to release as early as next year (Lucas Matney/TechCrunch)

    Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: Sources: after canceling Rift 2, a “complete redesign”, Oculus now pursuing a more modest Rift update, possibly called Rift S, to release as early as next year  —  Facebook’s virtual reality arm may soon find itself in the unfamiliar position of playing catch-up with hardware competitors. Sources: after canceling Rift 2,

    Read More
    Speak Your WiFi

    When you create a Thing for the Internet of Things, you’ve made a little computer that does a simple job and which probably has a minimal interface. But minimal interfaces leave little room for configuration, such as entering WiFi details. Perhaps if you made the Thing yourself you’ve hard-coded your WiFi credentials in your code,

    Read More
    • Facebook says it will move Workplace by Facebook, its Slack rival, to its own domain in 2019, Workplace.com, to appease businesses' fears about data security (Salvador Rodriguez/CNBC)

    Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: Facebook says it will move Workplace by Facebook, its Slack rival, to its own domain in 2019, Workplace.com, to appease businesses’ fears about data security  —  – Workplace by Facebook, the company’s enterprise business, is moving onto a website domain separate from Facebook.com in an effort … Facebook says it will

    Read More