Last year, Google stoked intense controversy when it announced Duplex, a technology that uses eerily human-sounding artificial intelligence software to book restaurant reservations and hair appointments. Immediately, the project spurred a debate over ethics in artificial intelligence and generated fear over a robot’s ability to deceive people. Now Google is unveiling its follow up — …

Congress wants answers from Google about a database that law enforcement has been using for location data to help with criminal investigations. The database, called Sensorvault, has detailed location records from hundreds of millions of phones around the world, according to a report earlier this month from the New York Times. It’s meant to collect information on the users of …

Apple said Thursday that its star witness in a patent trial against Qualcomm doesn’t intend to appear in court anymore, a striking twist in the long-running legal battle between the two tech giants.  The companies are fighting over three patents that Qualcomm says Apple infringed in the development of some versions of its iPhone. One of those patents allows a …

Samsung wants to make it easier to share your photos and videos to Instagram. The Korean electronics giant on Wednesday announced Instagram Mode, a feature for the new Galaxy S10‘s camera that has direct integration with the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app. The feature lets you use Instagram’s camera filters and access Instagram Stories and stickers. You can also upload your photo …

Mickey Mouse turned 90 years old in November, but the classic cartoon character has never had a theme park ride devoted to him in the empire he spawned. Until now. Mickey and Minnie Mouse’s Runaway Railway will debut at the Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, this fall. The entertainment giant is partnering with Panasonic for the projection technology that’ll …

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki on Monday spoke out against a proposed copyright law in Europe, and she appealed to content creators on the platform to take the lead in the protest. The legislation, Article 13 of the EU’s Directive on Copyright, would impose tougher regulations on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to make sure they aren’t in violation of …

When Google pushes a device like its new Pixel 3 phone, it’s not really about the phone. It’s about all the ways the hunk of metal and glass can get you to use Google’s software — and, as a result, help the company find out more information about you. But what if your faith in Google’s ability to protect your …

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, says it’s reached a new milestone in its ambitious plan to beam the internet to remote populations. The project, called Loon, would send giant, high-flying balloons into the stratosphere to deliver LTE signals to the ground. On Tuesday, Loon said it sent a signal farther than it has before: 1,000 kilometers, or more than 621 miles, …

Facebook wants more people to discover things they have in common with the other 2 billion people on its social network. The company on Friday said it’s testing out a new label, called “things in common,” that people will see in some comments. Here’s how it works: When you read through a public conversation — like on a brand or …

Google says it wants to help you keep active. The search giant on Tuesday announced new features for Google Fit — its platform for helping people set fitness goals and track their exercise — designed to encourage you to do little things throughout the day to burn calories. The features are called “Move Minutes” and “Heart Points.” Move Minutes is aimed …