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Twitter, Bloomberg teaming up to live

Twitter is already the place to go for reaction to the presidential debates. Now the social network will be broadcasting them too. The San Francisco-based company announced Wednesday it will live-stream Bloomberg TV’s coverage of the debates between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican challenger Donald Trump on its platform. It seems fitting since …

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Chinese heir buys his dog over $6,000 worth of iPhones

The “it’s a dog’s life” phrase is used to describe people that lead a miserably existence. Whoever coined it, though, has never met Coco, an Alaskan malamute whose owner showered her with not one, not two but eight brand new Apple iPhone 7 devices. The owner, Wang Sicong, is the son of Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man. The elder Wang …

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Apple’s ‘Portrait’ mode comes into focus

We’re just starting to get a clearer picture of Apple’s “Portrait” mode. A new beta version of iOS 10 released to developers on Wednesday includes software for taking portraits, according to MacRumors. Portraits is a feature the Cupertino, California-based tech giant touted when it introduced the enormous iPhone 7 Plus earlier this month and it’s just now getting tested out. …

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This VR headset is designed to let you find your zen

Virtual reality as of late has been closely linked with the phone and video game industries. However, a Japanese tech startup is using the platform for something different: stress management. Part VR headset, part brain monitor, DG Lab’s Brainwave VR headset comes equipped with built-in electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors, which measure the brain’s electrical activity. The headset monitors users’ mental states …

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Getting started with Google Allo

Google’s highly anticipated “smart” messaging app, Google Allo, is finally available for (most) of the masses. The app started rolling out last night, and should be available worldwide in the “next few days,” according to Google. Google Allo is your basic modern-day chat app, with a Google twist. Like its competitors — WhatsApp, Line, Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and so forth …

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Allo, privacy, are you there? Google keeps your messages forever

Google’s Allo gives users a messaging app with Google Assistant built in, offering automatically generated responses called Smart Replies and other computer-generated suggestions for your everyday life. To make those features as useful as possible, Google made a trade-off with your privacy, the company confirmed Wednesday. Instead of keeping your messages on company servers for a short period of time, …

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Coming soon to a theater near you: VR pods and Minecraft?

Beware if you tend to veer into dystopian paranoia: Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi offered a glimpse of moviegoing’s future Wednesday, and it includes windowless rooms where our children have replaced Little League baseball with Minecraft tourneys. The executive said Wednesday that Cinemark anticipates virtual reality and gaming as opportunities for “significant alternative content” to the traditional feature-length films in its …

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Governments keep DM’ing Twitter for information requests

Governments around the world are keeping Twitter busy. During the first half of the year, the micro-blogging service received a total 5,676 requests for information about accounts. That’s 2.1 percent more requests than in the previous six-month period. The US accounted for 2,520 requests, followed by Japan (732), the UK (631) and France (572). In 69 percent of the cases, …

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