VAIO launches its first laptops without Sony and they're very, very familiar

VAIO's back. It's no longer Sony's PC business, but it's own independent beast. Teasing its relaunch online, the company says that it's free and that things are going to change. The Japanese blurb says that's partly due to the fact that it's now a...



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Emojli is a social network composed entirely of emoji

Social networks love emoji. And those better-than-real-words icons love social networks right back. Emojli is possibly the next step in that blossoming relationship: a social network with "no words, no spam, just emoji." It hasn't launched yet, but...



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Twitter's 'Buy Now' shopping button shows up in tweets

It looks like Twitter''s leaked 'Buy Now' button is more than just a proposal, after all. Recode has spotted the button (since yanked) lurking in tweets seen from the mobile app, enticing people into making impulse purchases when browsing their...



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Engadget Daily: ditching social media, sharpshooting with HUD goggles and more!

Today, we review Garmin's new Forerunner 15 sports watch, learn how to escape social media, watch a sniper hit his target while looking in another direction and hear what our readers have to say about the new HTC One. Read on for Engadget's news...



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Unmanned Mars One mission to blast off with experiments (and ads) in tow

Mars One announced sometime ago that it plans to scope things out with an unmanned mission before it ships off humans to the red planet in 2025. Today, the non-profit org has finally revealed that mission's details, and by the looks of it, the...



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The Big Picture: Recovering NASA's flying saucer

Despite Independence Day being right around the corner, what you're seeing up above shouldn't get your hopes up about welcoming any aliens to Earth. Besides, everyone knows that the government would likely never release pictures of that sort of thing...



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'Reading Rainbow' is the most popular Kickstarter to date

As it turns out, there are a lot of people who want LeVar Burton teaching kids how to read. The Reading Rainbow remake has just become the most popular Kickstarter project, ever -- it broke the record with over 91,600 backers on June 30th. That puts...



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What's on your HDTV this week: World Cup, Drunk History, Under the Dome

The USA has survived Group Play and now it's knockout time at the World Cup in Brazil. A record number of people were streaming during the USMNT's last game, and we'll be watching to see if that number is broken tomorrow afternoon as the squad takes...



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Spying malware leaves countries' energy grids open to attack

Cyberwarfare campaigns against Western energy grids aren't just the stuff of action movies these days -- they're very, very real. Symantec has discovered a likely state-sponsored hacking group, nicknamed Dragonfly, that has been using phishing sites...



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'Community' revived for a sixth season on Yahoo Screen

Six seasons and a movie. That's what fans of Community want, and they're very close to getting it. NBC cancelled Dan Harmon's comedy after its fifth season on the network -- one that may have already owed its existence to streaming services -- but...



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​NASA's next satellite wants to know where all our carbon dioxide is going

Scientists have a pretty good idea what man-made greenhouse gasses are doing in our upper atmosphere, but not all of humanity's emissions stay up there. A good deal of that gas floats back down to Earth, seeping into the world's oceans and being...



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Windows 9 will morph to fit the device it's running on

Still holding onto your trusty copy of Windows 7 with a steely kung-fu grip? Well partner, it looks like Microsoft's next operating system, codenamed "Threshold," or, Windows 9 in the common tongue, is aimed right at you. The OS will apparently ship...



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The Associated Press welcomes its robot journalist overlords

Robots are cool and all, but they're just mere toys until they start doing things like reporting the news, right? (Okay, we may be looking at the prospect somewhat selfishly.) Fortunately, that's already starting to take place -- to a degree. In...



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Massachusetts Supreme Court says it can order you to decrypt your computer

Say you get arrested, your computer is seized and state wants to peek at the encrypted data hidden away on your machine's hard drive. Can it force you to decrypt your computer? Traditionally, the answer has been no: courts have previously ruled that...



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Public restrooms reduce waits by learning from parking garages

What's the worst part of attending a sporting event or concert in person? It's definitely the lines, right? There's the line to get in, another to nab snacks and a beer, then yet another to use the loo. Well, restroom wait times are getting...



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T-Mobile brings the LG G3 to the US on July 16th for $599 up front

Americans, your wait for LG's G3 is (nearly) over. T-Mobile has become the first big US carrier to take pre-orders for the 2K-capable Android smartphone, and now expects the device to hit retail shops on July 16th. Be prepared to fork over a lot of...



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Here's what our readers are saying about the new HTC One

The HTC One (M8) has been a hit with critics: Our own Brad Molen calls it "a great smartphone that does a lot of fantastic things," while Laptop Magazine goes so far as to say it's "the best Android phone on the market." But now that the M8 has hit...



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Lollapalooza gives attendees the option to leave their wallets at home

Festival goers across the US may soon have a cashless (and cardless) payment option when they road trip to catch their favorite acts. Lollapalooza, the annual music fest in Chicago's Grant Park, is the first big name event in the States to adopt the...



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US book publishers now make more money from online sales than physical stores

Brick-and-mortar book stores have clearly been on the decline for a while -- just look at Barnes & Noble's rocky finances. However, there's now some tangible evidence that the pendulum has swung in favor of internet-based sales. BookStats estimates...



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Garmin Forerunner 15 review: sports watch first, fitness tracker second

As the reviews editor for this tech blog, I often get asked which fitness tracker I own. And I tell people: I don't need one, silly; I run marathons. Maybe that sounds snotty, but it's true: During training season, at least, I'm probably more active...



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Samsung unveils a quartet of Android smartphones for the budget crowd

Not everyone can justify splurging on a powerhouse phone like the Galaxy S5, and Samsung clearly knows it -- the tech firm just unveiled four Android KitKat handsets for frugal types. The Galaxy Core II (shown here) is the standout of the bunch,...



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How to Disappear (almost) Completely: a practical guide

Maybe you've seen Into the Wild, or (gasp) have actually read it. It's the true story of an ordinary person who, one day, decided to abandon society, pack some rice and a rifle into a bag and head off into the wilderness never to return. It's the...



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iTunes U on iPad will let teachers create courses and take your questions

Right now, iTunes U on the iPad isn't a complete educational tool. You can read textbooks, but not much else -- you still need to use old-fashioned email to ask the teacher a question, for example. It's going to be much more useful on July 8th, when...



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LG's 77-inch curved OLED 4K TV is every bit as expensive as it sounds

How much would you fork out for a 77-inch, curved, 4K, OLED TV? Well, LG hopes you're hovering around a couple of grand per descriptor, having announced it's launching such a gogglebox in the UK for only £20,000. It won't actually be available until...



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Google kills Orkut to focus on YouTube, Blogger and Google+

Google's long suggested that Orkut, its other social network, was living on borrowed time, but today it's finally confirmed that the end is coming. The search giant said today that it'll shut down the service on September 30th in order to shift its...



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Therapists are turning to the web to help revolutionize mental health treatments

We all know how effective the talking cure can be, but for many people, carving the time out of their schedule to meet a psychotherapist can be impossible, not to mention daunting. Services like Pretty Padded Room have sprung up to provide a solution...



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Boston turns park benches into solar-powered charging points

Let it not be said that public parks are anti-technology. Over in Boston, city officials are more than happy to try new things in green spaces, including the use of solar-powered smart benches, aka "soofas." These look a lot like regular benches,...



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UK cinemas to ban Google Glass over piracy fears

The UK's data regulator may have clarified that Google Glass shouldn't be singled out for special measures over personal use, but that isn't stopping domestic companies from enforcing their own rules. The Independent reports that just a week after...



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Watch a sniper nail his target from 500 yards without even 'looking' at it

Smart-weapon company TrackingPoint seems pretty intent to make real-world guns act like the virtual firearms we use for offing video game villains. The latest demo of its ShotView targeting system showcases live video being transmitted from a rifle's...



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Record-breaking magnet crams three tons of force into the size of a golf ball

University of Cambridge scientists have broken a decade-old superconducting record by packing a 17.6 Tesla magnetic field into a golf ball-sized hunk of crystal -- equivalent to about three tons of force. The team used high temperature...



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Privacy-focused Blackphone starts shipping for $630

If you missed our coverage during Mobile World Congress, then here's what you need to know about Blackphone: it's a mid-spec Android smartphone that comes pre-subscribed to (and pre-installed with) a bunch of privacy and anti-surveillance services,...



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A piece about a smart pelvic floor exerciser, written by someone totally out of their depth

The quantified self movement is all about strapping gadgets to our bodies to tell us that we don't get enough exercise. The trend may have neglected certain parts of the body, which is something that adult toy manufacturer Minna Life wants to fix. At...



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LA school officials shift scheme from free iPads to laptops and hybrids

An iPad for every student was the plan. Then, some students were too smart for their own good, quickly enabling their for-learnin' iPads to access to anything on the web, including Twitter, Facebook and all that other fun stuff. LA's school district...



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Google drops Quickoffice now that its own apps can handle your work

Google bought Quickoffice to boost the productivity of its Apps suite, and it clearly accomplished that mission when it released a slew of mobile editing tools that merge Quickoffice's file tech with Google Drive. Accordingly, the search firm is...



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Engadget Japan's #egfes: drone races, robots, dry ice and a Dyson fan

Just north of Akihabara, Tokyo's tech epicenter, our Japanese colleagues took over an art gallery (and cafe and basement...) for its premier Engadget Fes. As well as the chance to play with Microsoft's newest console and Surface Pro 3 (both still not...



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Google Voice plans to make transcriptions better with your help

What's the silliest Google Voice transcription you've gotten? That question might have come up during a meet-up with tech-loving friends before -- after all, you're not the only user who's ever received garbled voicemail-to-text messages. In fact,...



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How would you change Sony's Xperia ZL?

At first blush, you'd be forgiven for asking what Sony's Xperia ZL was for, given that it was the less fancy version of the Z. The dowdy sibling turned out to be a lot better than expected, however, with nicer ergonomics, even at the expense of the...



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Microsoft hints that Windows Phone will soon let you put apps in folders

Windows Phone already lets you store apps in Start screen folders, but it's a bit of a hack -- you have to use Nokia App Folder to get the feature in the first place, and you're really just opening one app to launch another. Microsoft might be near...



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Facebook explains why it briefly toyed with users' emotions

Ever since word got out that Facebook had briefly manipulated some users' News Feeds to see how their feelings changed, a number of questions have popped up: just why did the company feel compelled to experiment in the first place? How noticeable was...



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Giving Samsung tablets another chance with the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4

Samsung's tablets haven't done much for me in the past; outside of the slick Galaxy Tab 7.7, they've rarely had exciting designs or brisk performance. However, the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 caught my eye. It has an iconic (if very Galaxy Note 3-like) look,...



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Weekends with Engadget: Google I/O 2014, Aereo loses and more!

This week, we went hands-on with Google's Android L developer preview and Android wear, watched the US Supreme Court rule against Aereo, learned how to escape the clutches of the internet and more! Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last...



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California makes it legal to pay with Bitcoin and other virtual currencies

If you've previously paid for goods with Bitcoin or other digital currency in California, you're technically a criminal -- the state has long had a law requiring US dollars, even if it hasn't been enforced. As of this weekend, though, you're...



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The ACLU and the NSA's ex-director will debate spying on June 30th

If you've wanted the NSA and anti-spying campaigners to sit down and hash things out, you're about to get your wish... well, sort of. MSNBC is holding a surveillance-themed debate between former NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander and ACLU Executive...



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Google will have sole control over the interfaces of Android Auto, Wear and TV

You'd better get used to the interfaces you saw for Android Auto, Wear and TV at the Google I/O conference this past week -- you're going to be seeing them a lot. Google tells Ars Technica that it will maintain sole (official) control over the...



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Gadget Rewind 2007: Flip Video Ultra

It was the mid-aughts and user-generated video was on the rise: Google had just purchased YouTube and consumers were starting to get their first camera-equipped cellphones. Despite all that, the quality of video captured by phones at the time was...



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Inhabitat's Week in Green: Terrapin Camper, glow-in-the-dark roads and the world's fastest bike

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. The world's first glow-in-the-dark roads were recently installed in the Netherlands as part of a...



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Future cars may give themselves dimples to reduce drag

Golf balls are dimpled for a reason -- they sail through the air just slowly enough that the uneven surface reduces drag, helping them fly further than they might otherwise. Wouldn't it be nice if your car could get that kind of aerodynamic boost? It...



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Estonia will hand out digital ID cards to non-residents

Digital ID cards are still a rarity in most countries, but they're a staple of everyday life in Estonia -- locals use them for everything from e-voting to buying mass transit tickets. You currently have to live in the country to take advantage of...



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Feedback Loop: It's Google all the way down!

This week's edition of Feedback Loop is nearly all Google. We dish on Android "L," debate whether smartwatches are even useful, wonder if Android TV will save smart televisions, fondly remember our friend Aereo and talk about the games we've picked...



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These wireless bone-conducting headphones let you listen while you listen

Kickstarter, it's a funny old place. A weird soup of real ingenuity and beermat ideas. Headbones might initially sound like it'll fall in the latter camp, but you'd be wrong. Once you know they're bone conducting headphones, the name reveals its...



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