Robotics company Anki will close its doors on Wednesday. The San Francisco-based maker of adorable mini-robots Vector and Cosmo will lay off its entire staff, according to Recode, which reported that CEO Boris Sofman made the announcement at an all-hands meeting on Monday. Nearly 200 employees will receive only a week of severance pay, the …

Last week, I befriended a fuzzy pink alien that my robot sidekick and I nicknamed Pork Bun. We played fetch around a bonfire and munched on virtual marshmallows. Pork Bun was so charming that, when I had to choose between protecting Pork Bun or saving the human race from extinction, I tacitly left planet Earth to fend for itself to …

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The Facebook app on your smartphone will start to look different. Now playing: Watch this: Zuckerberg gives a first look at redesigned Facebook… 3:23 On Tuesday, Facebook said it’s redesigning its app to make it easier for users to find and join groups on the world’s largest social network. A Facebook group is a place …

It’s that time of year in New York, when digital media companies put on “Newfronts,” splashy presentations for video advertisers. Usually, it’s a chance for services like Hulu and YouTube to impress marketers with their buzzy new shows and trot out their highest-wattage talent.  So for its Newfront, Verizon put its biggest star center stage: 5G. Verizon, which bought digital media …

After four consecutive last-place finishes, the Cincinnati Reds shook things up this past offseason by trading for Yasiel Puig and replacing three-fifths of their starting rotation with newcomers Sonny Gray, Tanner Roark and Alex Wood. With their revamped rotation along with young sluggers Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker and steady vet and on-base machine Joey Votto, the Reds hope to …

Recently, Facebook admitted that it “unintentionally” imported the email contact lists from 1.5 million people without their consent, starting from May 2016. Even if you don’t have a Facebook account, you might have been affected if one of your friends signed up for a new account. And if a friend of family member got a new account, either for the first …

An Apple representative is warning California lawmakers that they should reject legislation designed to make it easier for consumers to repair their own electronics, because the consumers might wind up hurting themselves, Motherboard reported Tuesday. California’s Right to Repair bill would require manufacturers of electronics to make repair information, diagnostic tools and service parts available to device owners and independent …

Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a new direction for his company. Yes, it will still sell iPhones, Macs and AirPods, but now it’ll also focus on the stuff you watch, listen to and play on those devices. Apple TV Plus, a video streaming service; Apple Arcade, a paid package of games; and Apple News Plus, a subscription service …

As if there weren’t enough virtual reality headsets already, game maker Valve is preparing to release its own take on the technology. It may see odd that Valve — whose Steam online game store and popular adventure titles like Half-Life and Portal have made it a household fixture among gamers — is choosing to release its first headset now. The device, called …

Samsung is defusing worries that its first 5G Galaxy has an exploding battery problem.  After a report circulated Tuesday that Samsung denied reimbursing a South Korean customer whose Galaxy S10 5G exploded, the company has explained why. In a statement provided to CNET, the company says that the cause of the damage wasn’t a malfunction but rather the result of …

If you’re worried somebody’s drone will get sucked into the engine of your jet as you take off, you’re not alone. Which is why Michael Huerta, former chief of the US Federal Aviation Administration, is helping lead a task force that aims to tackle the problems of drones at airports. Two groups, one for drones and one for airports, announced …

Bird scooters introduced a new service on Tuesday it’s calling “monthly personal rentals.” The idea is to sign people up for $25 monthly plans and they can scoot all they want during that time. The company will just drop off a scooter wherever you are and then pick it back up when you’re done. “Renting a Bird for an entire …

Let’s table, for a moment, the pacing and plotting problems from last Sunday’s Game of Thrones episode, The Long Night. The real problem was how dark the episode was — and I’m not talking about character deaths. Rather, many scenes were so dark, it was hard to tell what was happening. In fact, the effect was so pronounced that CNET …

Google’s Pixel 3 line of phones may be praised for its speedy performance and excellent cameras, but that hasn’t done much to help the company gain traction in the smartphone market.  Speaking on parent company Alphabet’s earnings call Monday, chief financial officer Ruth Porat acknowledged, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha, that the company’s phones haven’t been selling as strongly as …

Back in February during MWC 2019, French phone maker Avenir Telecom surprised everyone when it launched the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop, a massive phone with an 18,000mAh battery and a whole lot of junk in the trunk. Though it attracted show attendees and garnered news headlines, today it failed to secure $1.2 million in funding via its IndieGogo campaign.  …