Months after being hit with a record-setting $5 billion fine from the EU, Google is making major changes to its policies in Europe.

For the first time in its history, Google will charge Android phone makers that want to sell devices with the Google Play Store and other apps pre-installed. 

Under the new European rules, detailed by Google’s senior vice president of platforms Hiroshi Lockheimer, Android phone makers that want to sell devices with Google services pre-installed in Europe will need to pay a licensing fee to Google.  Read more…

More about Tech, Google, Android, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

Read more…More about Apple, Iphone, Iphone Xs, Iphone Xs Max, and Tech

Nick Hague is back on Earth, but he doesn’t want to be. 

Last week, the NASA astronaut was expected to fly to the International Space Station for a months-long stay in orbit that would be his first mission to space. 

But things didn’t go according to plan. 

On Thursday, not long after the launch of Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin’s Soyuz rocket to the station, something went wrong. 

While it’s still unclear exactly what happened, the Soyuz automatically aborted the mission, sending the capsule carrying the two crew members on an extreme ride back to Earth without ever making it to the station. Read more…

More about Space, Nasa, Science, Rockets, and Science

Looking up nearby gas stations on your Google Maps route is one of the easiest things to do on the navigation app.

But if you need some juice for your dying battery in your all-electric car, it’s not so simple.

That is, until now. Starting Tuesday, you can search for “EV charging” or “electric charging station” on the Google Maps app on iOS and Android. The nearest “fill-up” spots will show up on the map.

The listing will also show you information about the station, what type of plugs are available, charging speeds, and other business details crowdsourced from other users.  Read more…

More about Tech, Transportation, Google Maps, Electric Vehicles, and Tech

In the faraway realms at the bottom of the Earth, Antarctic scientists have unexpectedly recorded bizarre drone-like sounds.

After burying 34 seismic monitors in the snow atop the Ross Ice Shelf in 2014 — which is a massive Texas-sized slab of ice that floats over the Southern Ocean — the instruments picked up near-constant “buzzing” noises. 

While normally inaudible to the human ear, the researchers have made these ultra-low frequencies detectable to our limited hearing range. They posted the eerie sounds online, along with a Geophysical Research Letters report on their greater research.

“If this vibration were audible, it would be analogous to the buzz produced by thousands of cicada bugs when they overrun the tree canopy and grasses in late summer,” Douglas MacAyeal, a glaciologist at the University of Chicago who had no role in the research, wrote in a commentary. Read more…

More about Science, Antarctica, Ice Shelf, Science, and Climate Environment

Ugh. 

I regret to inform you that Piers Morgan is at it again. The TV personality, known for his terrible hot takes, blatant misogyny, and strange obsession with Donald Trump took to Twitter to rail against … good fathers? 

He posted a photo of Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond, holding his infant in an adorable spotted baby carrier. Implying that Craig was “emasculated” for caring being a good father, Morgan tweeted, “Oh 007.. not you as well?” 

More about Twitter, Roasted, Piers Morgan, Culture, and Web Culture

It just got a little harder for all the Trump-loving singles out there to find romance. 

It turns out that Donald Daters, a dating app targeted at those whose attempts at love have been stymied by their support for Donald Trump, has been leaking all kinds of user data. Security researcher Baptiste Robert discovered the vulnerability, tweeting his findings on Monday afternoon.  

And they don’t look good. Robert was able to find users’ names, photos, personal messages, and the tokens needed to “steal their session” — i.e. log in as them. 

Robert shared his finding with Motherboard, which was able to independently verify most of his claims. According to Motherboard, an “apparently misconfigured database” is likely at fault.  Read more…

More about Apps, Cybersecurity, Donald Trump, Tech, and Cybersecurity

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s death has prompted heartfelt tributes from tech luminaries, but he’s also been lauded for his work in sports and philanthropy.

Allen passed away on Monday, his family confirmed, after complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“My brother was a remarkable individual on every level. While most knew Paul Allen as a technologist and philanthropist, for us he was a much loved brother and uncle, and an exceptional friend,” Allen’s sister, Jody, said in a statement.

While Allen left Microsoft in 1983 following a protracted dispute with Bill Gates over his share of the company, Allen held onto his shares, resulting in him becoming a billionaire after the company went public three years later. Read more…

More about Sports, Microsoft, Nfl, Football, and Paul Allen

You know when you see two vastly different photos that just … give off the same energy?

It’s been a year for describing things by their vibes, from BDE to horse girl energy. The latest: comparing images that inexplicably give off the same energy. 

Whether comparing a K-Pop star with a deflated rubber chicken or putting Cara Delevingne’s royal wedding attire side-by-side with Pearl from Steven Universe, there are certain moods that are just, well, the same. 

Why does this make total sense? 

More about Twitter, Memes, Culture, and Web Culture

The world’s richest man is spending a billion dollars a year helping to launch the human race into space. Next to that goal, the threat of a government antitrust investigation into his trillion-dollar company is no big deal. 

That was the impression Jeff Bezos gave at the Wired 25 summit in San Francisco Monday. In an unscheduled interview, Bezos enthused about his space startup Blue Origin — but also insisted he was in favor of the government turning up the heat on Amazon, which some observers say is a monopoly that needs to be broken up.

More about Amazon, Jeff Bezos, Antitrust, Tech, and Big Tech Companies