This day in Engadget history: Blockbuster Video tanks in a big way
Engadget has been around for 14 years and counting, which means our archives contain a veritable treasure trove of technology history. From notable reviews and news to the more mundane or ridiculous finds from across the internet, there’s a lot to explore here. "This Day in Engadget History" will take you on a historical voyage […]
Google’s smart home mastermind talks security, A.I., the future of control
Smart speakers are showing up everywhere, even in hotel rooms. In many cases, using voice commands is more convenient than pulling out your phone, and the Google Home or Amazon Echo can make tasks like turning off lights easier for those with mobility issues. But anything with a microphone comes with privacy concerns. Digital Trends […]
Google Calendar gets an ‘Out of Office’ mode
Google Calendar is the latest Google app to get an update focused on improving users’ “digital wellbeing.” The company announced today it’s rolling out a new “Out of Office” feature in Google Calendar, alongside a setting for customizable working hours. The working hours signal to others when you’re unavailable, and allows Google Calendar to automatically […]
Elon Musk’s ‘Dota 2’ AI bots are taking on pro teams
The Dota 2 world championship, The International, is fast approaching, and a top team will have a different-looking squad to contend with: a group of artificial intelligence bots. OpenAI, which Elon Musk co-founded, has been taking on top Dota 2 players with the bots since last year, and now it’s gunning for a team of […]
Twitter acquires anti-abuse technology provider Smyte
Twitter this morning announced it has agreed to buy San Francisco-based technology company Smyte, which describes itself as “trust and safety as a service.” Founded in 2014 by former Google and Instagram engineers, Smyte offers tools to stop online abuse, harassment, and spam, and protect user accounts. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but this […]
Researchers Develop Tech That Lets Surveillance Cameras Text to Say Hello
Researchers at Purdue University have found a new way to get surveillance cameras to “talk” to the people they see. The system is called PHADE, which stands for “private human addressing,” and it enables cameras to send messages to people’s devices when they’ve entered a specific area without collecting their personal data.Instead of using an […]
AMD and Nvidia, the two biggest manufacturers of graphics chips, are getting a new competitor — Intel
Thomson Reuters Intel will release its own line of graphics chips in 2020. They’ll be designed for enterprise and consumer applications. Intel’s GPUs will compete with those from AMD and Nvidia, which could lead to more competition in the GPU business. Intel is getting more serious about the graphics chip business, where it currently […]
Net neutrality is dead — what now?
As of June 11th, the legal protections against content discrimination on the internet are gone. As far as the FCC is concerned, net neutrality is dead. The policy’s fate was sealed back in December 2017, when FCC chairman Ajit Pai’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order was approved in a 3-2 vote along party lines. Pai’s order, […]
Does Your Workplace Have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy?
We are in the business of making sure you are prepared for whatever today’s ever-changing technol-ogy environment will throw your way. One of the biggest current trends is Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD. BYOD is exactly what it sounds like — your employees using their own devices in the work-place. As this practice becomes […]
Everything You Need to Know About the Plan to Kill Internet Passwords
GIF Passwords just don’t work all that well for our modern-day websites and web apps: They’re insecure, they’re hard to remember, and they’re a lot of hassle to manage for only the basic account protection that they provide. Now Chrome and Firefox are leading the charge to kill off passwords on the web for good.This […]