There may soon be a lot less pressure to rack up likes on Instagram.  The photo sharing site is testing a design change that would hide how many people have liked a post, tipster Jane Manchun Wong tweeted Thursday.  “We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts …

T-Mobile CEO John Legere denied reports Tuesday that staff in the US Department of Justice told T-Mobile and Sprint their merger likely won’t get approved as structured. The Justice Department’s antitrust division is determining whether a combination of the US’ third- and fourth-largest wireless service providers would pose a threat to competition, according to a Tuesday report by The Wall Street …

T-Mobile and Comcast are teaming up to fight robocalls. The companies said Wednesday they’re rolling out a feature that protects consumers from robocalls and spam across their networks. It uses the Stir/Shaken standards recommended by the Federal Communications Commission to spot authentic calls. The verification feature is already available for T-Mobile customers and will come later this year for Comcast Xfinity Voice …

It appears the flood of privacy and fake news scandals in recent years hasn’t deterred Americans from using social media. The percent of people who say they use social media platforms has remained relatively consistent compared with 2018, according to a Pew survey published Wednesday.  Facebook is still one of the most popular social media platforms among US adults, with …

One night a few years ago, Tony Marx was closing up a Bronx library when he noticed a kid sitting on the steps. The boy was pecking away on the oldest laptop Marx had ever seen. Puzzled, Marx asked him what he was doing. The boy told Marx he was doing his math homework. The assignment was online and the …

Democrats and Republicans in Congress are pushing to ban the Internal Revenue Service from creating a free system for filing taxes, according to a new report.  Last week, members of the House Ways and Means Committee passed bipartisan legislation called the Taxpayer First Act, which prevents the IRS from creating an online tax filing system. For years, companies like Intuit, …

Rachel Kinnon and Jeanie Austin, librarians at the San Francisco Public Library, receive about 60 questions a week from a dedicated group of fans: prison inmates. The inquiries, usually handwritten and sent by post, range from requests for information about transitioning to life outside of prison to explanations of technologies that may not have existed before a prisoner was put …

If the phone market already feels flooded with Samsung Galaxy phones, brace yourself for potentially two more.  Samsung will reportedly offer the Galaxy Note 10 with both a 6.28-inch and 6.75-inch screen, according to a Monday report from ETNews. The phones could come in LTE and 5G versions, the report says. Earlier this year, Samsung debuted four new Galaxy devices: …

Amazon is reportedly gearing up to take on Apple’s AirPods.  The e-commerce giant is working on wireless earbuds with built-in access to Alexa, according to a Thursday report by Bloomberg. The earbuds, which would resemble AirPods and include similar features, could reportedly come as soon as the second half of this year. Amazon’s team is working to create better sound …

Apple News Plus reportedly roped in more than 200,000 subscribers in its first two days. The iPhone maker unveiled Apple News Plus, its $9.99 per month subscription service, last week. Users can read articles from various publications, including more than 300 magazines. The service is free for the first month, which may have given users a nudge in signing up.  Apple News Plus …