Facebook wants to take over your TV

Facebook may soon be making a big push into the TV market. 

The social network is working on a video app for set-top boxes, like the Apple TV, that would feature "TV-quality" shows licensed by the company, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal.

SEE ALSO: Facebook is giving longer videos a bump in your News Feed

Though Facebook has spent much of the last year pushing live video, the company is reportedly sees the new app as a place for longer, higher quality content. Facebook is currently trying to make deals with major studios to produce content for the yet-to-be released app, according to the report. Read more...

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Former 'I'm a Mac' actor Justin Long is now shilling for an Android phone

Huawei, the largest smartphone maker in the China and third largest in the world, is looking to invade the U.S. in a very big, splashy way.

The Chinese tech giant has enlisted actor Justin Long, who appeared in Apple's famous "Get a Mac" TV commercials between 2006 to 2009, to star in its new Android smartphone campaign. According to Campaign US, one reason Huawei hired Long was precisely because of his previous work for Apple.

SEE ALSO: 7 tech innovations coming to your next smartphone

In a new video called "The Interview," Long plays the role of a job candidate who is being interviewed by a Mate 9 Android phone to become the director of its own commercial. Read more...

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Facebook weeds out more fake news - CNET

Called out for a raft of fake news stories that allegedly affected the 2016 US election, Facebook is systematically adding steps to show what's real.

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Facebook weeds out more fake news - CNET

Called out for a raft of fake news stories that allegedly affected the 2016 US election, Facebook is systematically adding steps to show what's real.

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So many people decided to #DeleteUber the company had to automate the process

If you thought your weekend hangover was hard to deal with, be thankful you're not Uber. After the events of last weekend, the ride-hailing app experienced such a huge influx of deleted accounts, its makers had to institute an entirely new mechanism to process the requests.

After President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, aka the "Muslim ban," went into effect, massive groups of protesters assembled at airports where travelers caught up in the ban were being detained. 

New York's JFK International Airport was one of the epicenters of the protest movement — and in solidarity with the detainees, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance called for an hour-long work stoppage of pickups from the airport.      Read more...

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No, Twitter shouldn't ban Trump—here's why

We all know that guy. The flushed-faced loudmouth at the bar, five drinks in, leaning over our shoulder, breathing hot beer, attempting to regale us with tales of past glory. 

But when Twitter launched a decade ago, none of us could have imagined such a scenario playing out on the platform, with the most powerful person on the planet—the president of the United States—starring as "that guy." And more than a few people want to that guy to shut up.

SEE ALSO: Nearly 70% of Americans would like @realDonaldTrump to please stop tweeting

Just two weeks after the inauguration of the United States' 45th president, the calls that began nearly a year ago to ban Trump from Twitter are increasingly in volume. The unrelenting torrent from President Trump are driving some users into fits of anger, depression, and rolling shock. But banning Trump?  Read more...

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This website finds the perfect reaction GIF to express your selfies

Even with all the crap going on in the world, you can always count on the internet to come up with something stupidly wonderful to distract you from reality and cheer you up.

Alex Holachek's "Reaction GIF Generator" (via BoingBoing) isn't your typical GIF generator. In what must have been a clever napkin idea, Holachek decided it would be brilliant to combine the randomness of Giphy with Microsoft's Emotion API, which uses machine learning to detect between eight distinct, universal emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, neutral, sadness, and surprise).

The result of his mashup is this hilarious GIF generator that analyzes your selfie and then spits out a GIF to match your facial expression. Read more...

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So much for peak iPhone: Apple's smartphone just had its best quarter yet

Apple can sell iPhones and make a lot of money doing it. 

SEE ALSO: We might be saying goodbye to the iPhone's home button

Crazy thought, as you look at your iPhone or the iPhones around you, but it's been top of mind to investors as they judge the short-term viability of one of the world's most valuable companies. For the last three quarters, iPhone shipments were on a decline. 

This time around Apple proved that it's still a tech giant worth owning. The company set a new record for unit sales, which also helped them bring in a record amount of revenue for the product. 

"We're thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple's highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement Tuesday.  Read more...

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This new app is like Instagram for your Lego creations

Lego Life is a new Instagram-style photo-sharing network built with kids in mindLego calls it “An app full of cool stuff. An app full of your cool stuff," and it provides something for kids that didn't exist before: a social network to share photos of Lego creations.

The app (available on the App Store and Google Play) is built around having a safe experience for kids, starting with the on-boarding process. Kids can create an account in the app, but it asks for a parent's email address. The parent then gets a message that confirms the child's age and gender, activating the account.

SEE ALSO: Google launches Toontastic 3D, a new app for kids to animate with Read more...

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Snapchat update lets you create 'Snapcodes' for any website, including porn

A new Snapchat update rolled out to iOS users Tuesday makes it much easier to share online content within the app. It allows users to create so-called Snapcodes for any link, which is as simple as manually entering a URL into an entry field.  

This is good news for online content creators hungry to share their pages within the Snapverse, since Snappers won't be forced to exit the app to view them — they simply have to interact with the code. And it's a win for Snapchat, as users will be less likely to exit the app, pushing engagement and possibly even helping to collect more user data for targeted ad campaigns. Read more...

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Slack woos big business with new enterprise service

SAN FRANCISCO — Slack is finally launching the long-awaited enterprise version of its service. 

Called Slack Enterprise Grid, the service comes with a range of new features designed for organizations with 500  to 500,000 employees.

SEE ALSO: The office wars heat up as one of Slack's main competitors buys Trello

Previously, large companies that used Slack didn't have an efficient way to implement the service across their entire organization, which resulted in disparate versions of Slack being used by different teams at the same company. 

The new version of the service aims to solve this with unlimited workspaces, which allow multiple parts of an organization to have separate, but connected, areas of Slack. It also comes with shared channels (so those in different workspaces can collaborate) and universal search so employees can search Slack and find information from the entire organization Read more...

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These bikes are taking the clean commute to the next level

As the state of our climate becomes increasingly dire, more and more people are looking into adopting a cleaner commute.

Though carpooling does help, biking is a much better option. Not only are you decreasing your carbon footprint, but you're also getting some fresh air in the process. Seems like a win-win.

For those who are ready to make this change, Juicer Electric Motorbikes is helping to make the transition a little bit easier. 

They design and build energy-efficient electric bikes from the ground up, taking an idea from pencil to paper to metal. The bikes Juicer crafts are sure to please the eye, as well as the environmentally-conscious consumer.  Read more...

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These bikes are taking the clean commute to the next level

As the state of our climate becomes increasingly dire, more and more people are looking into adopting a cleaner commute.

Though carpooling does help, biking is a much better option. Not only are you decreasing your carbon footprint, but you're also getting some fresh air in the process. Seems like a win-win.

For those who are ready to make this change, Juicer Electric Motorbikes is helping to make the transition a little bit easier. 

They design and build energy-efficient electric bikes from the ground up, taking an idea from pencil to paper to metal. The bikes Juicer crafts are sure to please the eye, as well as the environmentally-conscious consumer.  Read more...

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Plex buys Watchup to expand in news videos - CNET

Watchup has partnered with over 150 publishers to offer local, national and international news.

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Plex buys Watchup to expand in news videos - CNET

Watchup has partnered with over 150 publishers to offer local, national and international news.

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Humans fold as AI comes up aces in poker competition

Now computers can bluff.

This should be a terrifying thought, but it’s a breakthrough moment, watched by thousands of people across 151 countries on the Twitch network, all of them witness to the first time a computer artificial intelligence (AI), Libratus, soundly beat four of the world’s best poker players at heads-up no-limit Texas Hold’Em.

SEE ALSO: This futuristic car is so intuitive it knows your needs — and even your emotions

“At a high level, this means now that we have proven the ability for an AI to do strategic reasoning in imperfect situations has surpassed that of humans,” said Carnegie Mellon University Professor of Computer Science Tuomas Sandholm on Tuesday during a press conference following the AI victory at Rivers Casino “Brains Vs. Artificial Intelligence: Upping the Ante” tournament in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Read more...

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Astralis crowned 'Counter-Strike' champions at the ELEAGUE Major

The ELEAGUE 'Counter-Strike: Global Offensive' Major concluded in front of a live audience over the weekend.

In the instant-classic Grand Final match, Astralis faced off against Virtus.Pro for the lion's share of $1,000,000 as more than one million viewers watching online. Read more...

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This tiny wearable can tell you when you need a drink

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed an ideal wearable to pair with a fitness tracker for those extra sweaty workouts: a tiny Bluetooth-sensor that tracks skin hydration.   

The sensors have much more potential than just reminding runners to drink up after a 5K — according to the research team, the hydration-tracking tech could be a valuable tool for monitoring vulnerable people working in stressful, hot conditions. 

"It’s difficult to measure a person’s hydration quantitatively, which is relevant for everyone from military personnel to athletes to firefighters, who are at risk of health problems related to heat stress when training or in the field,” John Muth, a co-author of a paper describing the work, said in a statement.  Read more...

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WhatsApp is testing a feature that lets you 'revoke' unread messages you sent prematurely

Soon, you may be able to take back your drunk or needlessly angry texts on WhatsApp.

The Facebook-owned messaging service is reportedly testing the ability to edit or recall messages that have already been sent. This means you can delete or revise a message even after your friend's phone has technically received it. 

The feature only works if the recipient has not read the message yet. On WhatsApp, this is signified by a blue tick mark. If the message has simply been received by a phone but not read — with grey tick marks, in other words — the feature still works. 

The feature was first spotted by Twitter account @WABetaInfo, which tracks features that WhatsApp is testing across platforms. Read more...

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Siri now predicts the winner of Super Bowl LI

Apple has turned Siri into a savvy football fan. 

If you want to brush up on the Super Bowl this week, Siri's got your back. From logistical questions about this Sunday's upcoming game to information about Tom Brady's college team, asking Siri Super Bowl-specific questions will now get you proper answers, as opposed to the usual list of search results. 

SEE ALSO: What this NFL player put on Facebook Live cost him $10,000 and now he's very sorry

The AI-assistant is even making predictions. If you ask Siri, "who's going to win the Super Bowl?" or a variation of that question, you'll get the following answer: "The odds favor the Patriots over the Falcons by 3 points."  Read more...

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MacBook Pro with Touch Bar banned from bar exam in multiple states

Some law students who plan to take the bar exam this year may not be able to use their favorite laptop. May states are banning the use of Apple's latest MacBook Pros because of the predictive nature of the Touch Bar, though some are still allowing it if the feature is disabled.

ExamSoft, which makes testing software for the Board of Law Examiners, says the Touch Bar's default setting, which displays "predictive text depending on what the student is typing" could compromise "exam integrity."

SEE ALSO: This ridiculous laptop is the portable Batman command center you've always dreamed of

Bar exam proctors have been instructed to look for the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro Touch Bar laptops and manually disable the Touch Bar's adaptive display so that it shows a standard row of function keys. Read more...

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