Following new shows from CNN and NBC News debuting on Snapchat, ESPN will introduce its first episode of “SportsCenter” on the social platform at 5:00 pm Eastern today, hosted by Katie Nolan (formerly of Fox Sports). Starting tomorrow, three- to five-minute episodes of the popular ESPN show will air at 5:00 am and 5:00 pm on weekdays and 5:00 am on weekends. Additional episodes will be reserved for breaking news. The Snapchat version of the show will be hosted by Nolan, sports anchor Elle Duncan, NBA commentator Cassidy Hubbarth, ESPN Radio’s Jason Fitz, reporter Jac Collinsworth and comedian Cy Amundson. Continue reading ESPN Delivers Twice-Daily ‘SportsCenter’ Show on Snapchat

Disney, with Lenovo, just released a new augmented reality kit for “Star Wars: Jedi Challenges,” which retails for $200 and includes the Lenovo Mirage AR headset, AR-powered lightsaber controller and LED puck for motion tracking. The headset relies on a phone for graphics rendering and can work with the most recent Android and Apple iOS phones. The phone is placed above the user’s field of view, and the image then mirrored on a transparent plane, allowing her to see the environment combined with “Star Wars” games. Continue reading Disney, Lenovo Introduce AR Headset and ‘Star Wars’ Games

Messaging has become increasingly confusing, as users pick among Instagram, iMessage, Skype, Snapchat, Twitter and Google’s Hangouts and Allo — not to forget the basic but limited SMS. Notifications pile up and search becomes difficult if not impossible. According to Wired, all that confusion would disappear if users would simply pick a single app, Signal, which is free, has strong encryption and works on every mobile platform. Signal’s developers say they won’t add emojis, ads, stickers or web-tracking, to keep it simple to use and speedy. Continue reading Signal’s Encryption Features Make It a Choice Messaging App

Broadcom has made a move to acquire rival Qualcomm, the San Diego-based chipmaker making headlines this year due to its ongoing legal battle with its biggest customer, Apple. In January, Apple filed a federal lawsuit against Qualcomm, claiming the company unfairly blocks rivals and charges steep patent royalties. Qualcomm is now suing Apple for failing to abide by its software license. Broadcom’s unsolicited $103-billion offer marks the largest attempted takeover for the tech industry and is expected to face regulatory hurdles. Continue reading Broadcom Offers $103 Billion in Unsolicited Bid for Qualcomm

Intel will use the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea to showcase new wireless networking technologies and super-fast data transfer speeds based on the pending 5G standard. The new wireless standard is expected to mark a new era for Internet connectivity and disrupt wired services such as cable TV, modems and phone lines. “As mobility evolves beyond the smartphone, 5G is becoming one of the most impactful technology transformations we are likely to see in our lifetimes,” wrote Intel exec Sandra Rivera in a blog post. Continue reading Intel Selects 2018 Winter Olympics to Showcase 5G Network

In the midst of its legal battle with Qualcomm, Apple is designing next year’s products with modem chips from Intel or MediaTek. According to sources, Apple has taken this step because San Diego-based Qualcomm has not supplied the software necessary to test its chips in the Silicon Valley company’s iPhone and iPad prototypes. However, Qualcomm argues this point and is now suing Apple for failing to abide by the terms of its software license. Apple filed a federal suit against Qualcomm in January, claiming it unfairly blocks rivals and charges excessively steep patent royalties. Continue reading Apple Looks to Other Chip Suppliers Amid Qualcomm Dispute

Apple only gave reviewers 24 hours to test out the iPhone X, so the reviews aren’t in-depth — but most of them are thumbs-up for the Silicon Valley company’s most expensive iPhone ever. Apple has positioned the iPhone X (pronounced “ten”) as its most cutting edge phone, with an almost full edge-to-edge 5.8-inch screen, no physical home button and new Face ID facial recognition to unlock it. The phone, which will be in stores on November 3, is priced at $999 for 64 gigabytes of storage and $1,149 for 256 gigabytes. Continue reading The First Reviewers Laud Apple iPhone X’s Screen, Camera

Eight months after launching YouTube TV on smartphones, the company now has an app for smart TVs, set-top boxes, and game consoles, all of which will work with a remote. The idea, says YouTube, is that this TV service will successfully ape the traditional TV experience even as it has a native Internet feel. The focus on live TV will give the viewer something to watch immediately. Instead of icons, the user can browse through content until she finds something she wants to watch — and then start over again if she’s bored. Continue reading YouTube Aims to Deliver TV Everywhere With Smart TV App

Google exited China in 2010, but is now making another pitch to re-enter by promoting its TensorFlow software for building artificial intelligence solutions. Sources say that parent company Alphabet has added staff to look for potential AI investments among Chinese companies. The online Chinese market is the biggest in the world, but Google faces challenges there, not just with homegrown rivals such as Baidu, but the fact that China’s firewall keeps domestic developers from accessing Google’s cloud computing services. Continue reading Google Hopeful for Chinese Re-Entry With TensorFlow for AI

Demand appears to be outstripping supply for Apple’s new iPhone X, since early order estimated shipment dates have been pushed to December. Online preorders began at 3:00 am ET on Friday in 50+ countries. The phone officially goes on sale on November 3, but the shipping estimate for the U.S., China and Japan is now at five-to-six weeks, at least twice the wait for new models a year ago. For example, when the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus went on sale last year, Apple estimated deliveries in one-to-three weeks. Continue reading Apple iPhone X Shipping Delays: A Supply or Demand Issue?

A new live mobile game called “HQ” is giving away real money and adding something new to the genre. The iOS game is the brainchild of Vine creators Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll, and combines elements of current popular game shows, including “Jeopardy!” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” The game goes live daily at 3:00 pm and 9:00 pm ET, and lasts for 13 minutes as one of two hosts (either New York comedian Scott Rogowsky or British on-air personality Sharon Carpenter) shoots off 12 multiple choice questions that range in difficulty and topic. Continue reading Live Mobile Trivia Game ‘HQ’ Gives Away Money, Goes Viral

During Google’s Q3 earnings call yesterday, CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that YouTube is experiencing more than 100 million hours of watch time via living room devices daily, which represents a 70 percent jump in the last year and about 10 percent of total YouTube watch time. Earlier this year, Google announced more than 1 billion hours of watch time for YouTube across all devices, but this is the first time that smart TVs and living room devices were specified. More than half of YouTube’s viewing now takes place on mobile devices. Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat noted that YouTube has an impressive 90 percent ad viewability rate. Continue reading YouTube Viewing via Connected TVs Up 70 Percent This Year

Roku has taken an important step in its long-time efforts to evolve from a hardware-based to a services-based model. Although the company will not comment, sources say that Roku is preparing to begin streaming videos on third-party devices from rivals Apple and Google. Those same sources say that the initial efforts will likely focus on mobile devices. Most consumers still think of Roku as a hardware company, but Roku recently began licensing its operating system to TV manufacturers and making money on advertising. Continue reading Roku May Be Prepping to Stream Video on Third-Party Devices

At Sony’s Atsugi Technology Center outside Tokyo, engineers are developing a new kind of 3D sensor aimed for use first in smartphones and augmented reality devices. The sensors will be able to detect people and objects by relying on calculations on how long it takes for light to reflect off their surfaces. Sony, which will go into mass production next year, is betting that the new sensors could eventually be used in drones, self-driving vehicles, gaming consoles, and other machines that interact with their environments. Continue reading Sony to Introduce 3D ‘Time-of-Flight’ Sensors for AR Devices

Consumer confidence in the Internet of Things can be easily rattled by reports of compromised privacy, such as when researchers found that some baby monitors had been turned into surveillance devices. The SoftBank Group-owned U.K. chip manufacturer ARM, however, has introduced a potential solution: a security framework for IoT devices from home appliances and children’s toys to vehicles and streetlights. Up until now, the many IoT manufacturers haven’t agreed on a single security standard, something ARM hopes to remedy. Continue reading ARM Proposes Security Framework Standard for IoT Devices