It's not until I became cooped up inside my New York apartment (thanks, coronavirus) that I realized a smart display is not a terrible companion to have in the home. I've been talking to Google…

You know when you just want your gear to work so you never have to think about it, and can get on with your anxiety-inducing spiral of incessantly checking for updates on the coronavirus pandemic?…

With fewer moderators, the internet could change considerably for the millions of people now reliant on social media as their primary mode of communication with the outside world. The automated systems Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and…

The Covid-19 pandemic is producing economic, political, and social disruptions not seen in decades, and major industries, from finance to airlines, have already felt the impact. The latest casualty: the US auto industry, which announced…

Later this year, the world’s largest all-electric container ship is expected to take its maiden voyage, setting sail from a port in Norway and traveling down the Scandanavian coast. Known as the Yara Birkeland, the…

Microsoft will soon control more of the open source software development ecosystem. GitHub, which Microsoft bought in 2018, said Monday that it will acquire NPM, which offers a crucial service for JavaScript developers. Terms of…

By now, let’s hope you’re safely ensconced at home—going a little stir-crazy, perhaps, but doing your part to “flatten the curve.” But let’s say you’re one of those people who can’t stay in. Maybe you…

In 2018, the New York Foundling, a charity that offers child welfare, adoption, and mental health services, was stuck in cut-and-paste hell. Clinicians and admin staff were spending hours transferring text between different documents and…

“We’ve seen about a 30 percent increase compared with December,” said James Wantuck, physician and cofounder of Plushcare, a health care platform offering virtual visits and online screening. “So, the volume is increasing a lot,…

Fitness can be intensely tribal. I can spot the yogis congregating outside studios or the post-barre groups at the coffee shop, but mostly from a distance as I run past. For the past two weeks,…

On February 27, a teenager in the Seattle area was diagnosed with Covid-19. Shortly after, researchers at the Seattle Flu Study shared genomic data about his strain of the virus with other researchers on an…

Unfortunately, the two purported sources for the 2.5 percent fatality rate were published more than 40 years ago and their authors are no longer with us. I was able to reach public health expert Niall…

Tushy Classic Photograph: John Bedell Even the least handy homeowner can install this simple spritzer in minutes. The Tushy fits under any existing toilet seat and works with the most basic plumbing connection and no…

I’m writing this dispatch from Portland, Oregon, one of the first cities in the US to be hit by community spread of the coronavirus. This morning, my daughter sneezed and I froze. Should I send…

Deep learning software makes sense of data like images or audio by looking for statistical patterns it has extracted from past data. Apple’s Photos app can automatically create an album of your pets because it…

When actual VR took root in our minds as an all-encompassing simulacrum is a little fuzzier. As with most technological breakthroughs, the vision likely began with science fiction—specifically Stanley G. Weinbaum’s 1935 short story “Pygmalion’s…

Resetting your laptop is one of the most powerful munitions you've got in your troubleshooting armory. It puts your Windows, macOS, or Chrome OS computer back to the state it was in when you first…

The spread of Covid-19 has turned us into a nation of hand-washing obsessives, citizens who vigorously interlace our fingers and circle-scrub our thumbs with an exacting, anxiety-fueled intensity. But it’s not over when you flip…

The Twitter buy would have had an impact on Facebook’s News Feed also. In real life, after the rejected offer, Facebook tried to copy a number of Twitter’s features, including a real-time urgency and an…

TCL Communication, one of the fastest-growing TV brands in the US, now wants its own slice of the phone market—and it's not afraid to push the envelope to get it. The company took the wraps…

Since Russia’s stunning influence operations during the 2016 United States presidential race, state and federal officials, researchers, and tech companies have been on high alert for a repeat performance. With the 2020 election now just…

When a big flap pops, in other words, codified programs crop up. You can see this happening today, when in April 2019, the Navy confirmed that, given the number of unauthorized or unidentified craft that…