Technology

Microsoft is launching a preview version of its antivirus software for Android today. The software giant revealed that Windows Defender was making its way to both iOS and Android earlier this year, but didn’t fully detail what to expect. We’re now getting a good idea of exactly why Microsoft thinks Android needs antivirus protection. The public preview for Android will include protection against phishing and go a step further than Google’s built-in malware protection to offer signature-based malware detection. “Scans are instantly performed detect malware and potentially unwanted applications (PUA),” explains Kanishka Srivastava, a senior program manager at Microsoft. “If a safe app is downloaded, the end user will see a lightweight notification letting them know the app is clean.” Microso...

For years, Apple has steadily revealed how the ARM-based chips in its mobile phones were catching up in performance to the beefier silicon you’d find inside a laptop or desktop — in 2018, the company claimed its new iPad Pro was faster than 92 percent of portable PCs. At some point, it seemed inevitable that Apple would turn the more efficient chips into the primary processors for its Mac computers, too. Now, it’s official: Apple is migrating the Mac to its own homegrown silicon, starting later this year. But are Apple’s ARM chips actually powerful enough now to replace the likes of Intel and AMD? That’s still an open question — because at Apple’s 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company shied away from giving us any definitive answers. a handful of canned demos and vague p...

In a major policy shift for NASA, the space agency is making it possible for its own personnel — including astronauts — to fly on commercial suborbital spacecraft. These rockets are designed to fly to the edge of space and back, giving passengers brief experiences of weightlessness. The agency is hoping to expand flight options for its astronauts and researchers, while investing in the commercial space industry. Today, NASA released a request for information on all the ways that NASA astronauts and employees could benefit from flying on these short trips to space. One possible advantage is enhancing astronaut training, by giving explorers extra experience on what it’s like to ascend to space in a rocket-powered vehicle and float in microgravity. That way they’re better prepared for flying ...

Mixer, the soon-to-be-shuttered streaming platform from Microsoft, always had a tough road ahead of it. In a space already dominated by Twitch, and with YouTube using its unparalleled audience scale to carve out its own slice of the market, Microsoft’s offering was a hard sell. But while Mixer was ultimately a failure, as evidenced by yesterday’s news that it was shutting down, that doesn’t mean it didn’t have an important place in the fledgling world of streaming. In fact, the sheer existence of Mixer, and Microsoft’s big-money push to make it relevant, showed some of the world’s biggest entertainers their true worth. And the platform kicked off a talent war that will likely continue even after Mixer no longer exists. Mixer launched in 2016, but its big impact didn’t happen until three ye...

Two of FX’s most anticipated shows, Y: The Last Man and American Horror Stories, are forgoing traditional TV airing to become FX on Hulu exclusives. Brian K. Vaughan’s popular comic book series being adapted by the network, Y: The Last Man, and Ryan Murphy’s spinoff of American Horror Story, American Horror Stories, will now premiere exclusively on Hulu, the company announced at its upfront presentation on Monday. The move signifies what many industry insiders speculated would likely happen as part of the new “FX on Hulu” deal — an emphasis on Disney’s streaming product. It makes sense. Moving shows away from traditional cable, where customers are dropping like flies, and building up Hulu’s library is completely in line with what Disney executive chairman Bob Iger envisioned as the future ...

Apple unveiled iOS 14 at its annual WWDC keynote yesterday, and among the small but important new features is sound recognition. First spotted by a Reddit user, this new accessibility tool could significantly benefit people who are hard of hearing or deaf. The iPhone can be set to constantly listen for 14 different sounds, including a door knock, doorbell, sirens, smoke detector alarm, dog barking, a crying baby, and more. The feature can be found in the accessibility section of iOS 14’s settings menu. Other tech companies, including Amazon and Google, have used AI-based sound recognition as a personal safety measure. You can set Echo speakers to detect the sound of alarms or broken glass as part of Amazon’s Alexa Guard home security system, and Google uses the microphone on Pixel phones a...

Acer debuted several new laptops, desktops, and monitors at its press conference today, but it took a break from those announcements to unveil something in an entirely new product category: energy drinks. As if it was destined to fulfill its own gamer stereotype, Acer now makes energy drinks. It’s called the Predator Shot, and given the name, it’s aimed at gamers who want some extra pep. Acer says that it’s full of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B and lutein, and presumably, tons of caffeine. No release date or price was given for the Predator Shot, but according to the live stream, it seems to be edible, which is a good start for a company mostly focused on things you cannot eat. Acer’s new Predator gaming chair with Osim can massage you while you game.Image: Acer Acer CEO Jason...

Happy Worldwide Developer Conference to those who celebrate. I spent the weekend watching three stories unfold at the intersection of social networks and politics. Let’s take them in turn. I. During the initial George Floyd protests earlier this month, a big question was whether the social networks would take action against President Trump for one of his bad posts. Twitter applied some warning labels, and Snapchat removed him from promotion in the Discover tab. But Facebook declined to take action, and a lot of people got mad: current employees, former employees, advertisers. There was even a virtual walkout. Facebook not acting in this case led some people to believe it would not act in any case, and it’s still dealing with the fallout. Around that time, I predicted that by July or August...

Over 1,650 Google employees have signed an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai demanding the company stop selling its technology to police forces across the US. The letter comes as protests against police brutality, spurred by the killing of George Floyd, continue to spread for the fifth straight week. “The past weeks have shown us that addressing racism is not merely an issue of words, but of actions taken to dismantle the actual structures that perpetuate it,” the letter, written by the employee group Googlers Against Racism, reads. “While we as individuals hold difficult but necessary conversations with our family, friends and peers, we are also incredibly disappointed by our company’s response.” “We should not be in the business of criminalizing Black existence while we chant that Black L...

A Japanese supercomputer has taken the top spot in the biannual Top500 supercomputer speed ranking. Fugaku, a computer in Kobe co-developed by Riken and Fujitsu, makes use of Fujitsu’s 48-core A64FX system-on-chip. It’s the first time a computer based on ARM processors has topped the list. Fugaku turned in a Top500 HPL result of 415.5 petaflops, 2.8 times as fast as IBM’s Summit, the nearest competitor. Fugaku also attained top spots in other rankings that test computers on different workloads, including Graph 500, HPL-AI, and HPCG. No previous supercomputer has ever led all four rankings at once. While fastest supercomputer rankings normally bounce between American- and Chinese-made systems, this is Japan’s first system to rank first on the Top500 in nine years since Fugaku’s predecessor,...

Apple today announced two major changes to how it handles App Store disputes with third-party developers. The first is that Apple will now allow developers to appeal a specific violation of an App Store guideline, and that there will also be a separate process for challenging the guideline itself. Additionally, Apple says it will no longer delay app updates intended to fix bugs and other core functions over App Store disputes. “Additionally, two changes are coming to the app review process and will be implemented this summer. First, developers will not only be able to appeal decisions about whether an app violates a given guideline of the App Store Review Guidelines, but will also have a mechanism to challenge the guideline itself,” reads a press release from Apple published this afternoon...

Mac OS X is finally finished, with Apple confirming that it’s officially moving to macOS 11 with the newly announced Big Sur update after almost 20 years of OS X (or macOS 10.) That means that this fall, users will finally be upgrading from the 10.X versions that Apple has been using for nearly two decades to version 11.0. Yes, macOS 11. The original version of Mac OS X (which Apple rebranded to macOS to better match its iOS, watchOS, and tvOS software brands with the release of macOS Sierra back in 2016) was released as a public beta for $29.99 back in September of 2000, as a successor to Mac OS 9, the last of the “classic” Apple operating systems that dated back to the original Macintosh in 1984. The release of Mac OS X was a dividing line in the sand between the original era of Apple’s ...