A few weeks back, Apple added “Give me the news” to Siri’s repertoire of tricks in the latest beta version of iOS. The feature comes as the company is readying its smart assistant for the imminent arrival of the HomePod, the company’s first smart assistant-driven device. The feature is now out of beta here in

Google today announced a significant change in how it ranks websites for mobile searches: it will now take page speed into consideration as one of its signals, the company says. The change, which Google is referring to as the “Speed Update,” will go into effect in July 2018, and will downrank very slow websites under certain conditions.

Google’s Project Fi cell service never played the “unlimited data” game that most carriers in the U.S. like to play (and which is never truly unlimited). Instead, Google simply offered data at $10/GB/month and would give you a refund for any data you paid for but didn’t use. Now, however, it’s taking its own stab

Global app downloads topped 175 billion and consumer spending exceeded $86 billion in 2017, thanks to growth in emerging markets including China, India, Brazil and Russia, according to a new report from App Annie out this morning. Notably, India has now become the number two country by downloads, passing the U.S., which is now third.

The app economy is continuing to grow, with the worldwide revenue from app stores expected to top $110 billion this year, according to recent estimates from App Annie. However, the time people spend using their apps is starting to stagnate, another report has found. In Flurry’s “State of Mobile 2017” annual wrap-up, the firm reported

The latest entry in Huawei’s ongoing struggles to come to the U.S. proved to be one of the more unexpected and engaging CES storylines last week. But there are still plenty of layers of this onion left to peel back. This morning, Reuters is confirming speculation that AT&T’s last-minute decision to pull out of a

BMW has acquired Parkmobile, an app that provides guidance and services for those looking for parking in North America, including on-street and garage parking payments and spot reservation. BMW Group had already held a minority investment in the company, and owned its Parkmobile Group Europe affiliate, but today it increased its holdings to reach majority

Apple is now facing questions about how it slows down older iPhones in China. The Xinhua state news agency reported yesterday that the Shanghai Consumer Council has written to Apple asking it to explain the performance hit and any remedies it is offering to consumers. The company has been asked to respond to the Council’s

Toyota has been a holdout from CarPlay, Apple’s in-dash infotainment system that works with your iPhone. The automaker and its luxury brand Lexus have yet to offer it in any models, despite most other car companies giving in on at least a few vehicles (which tends to later to broader rollout thereafter). The new 2019

The Yesojo Nintendo Switch projector dock got a lot of attention when we covered the launch of its crowdfunding campaign last year, but at CES, it was on display and working, with the company ready to ship to its early backers. We got to spend some time with the portable projector, which gives your Switch

Confusingly jamming Stories in between private messages has sparked backlash amongst the first users of Snapchat’s sweeping redesign. In the few countries including the U.K., Australia, and Canada where the redesign is widely available, 83 percent of App Store reviews (1,941) for the update are negative with one or two stars, according to data provided

I’ll be honest, Dell wasn’t at the top of our list of must-visit companies at this year’s CES, but the PC stalwart is actually showcasing a couple of interesting new products at the show. On the software front, mobile connect is a free offering that will be bundled with all new Dell computers. The application

YouTube may bring its set of social features, including the in-app messaging system and “Community” tab for creators, to its wider suite of apps. Specifically, the company is interested in porting those features to its YouTube TV app aimed at cord cutters, as well as its Music app. The company won’t confirm a timeline in terms

A top U.S. lawmaker, Republican Sen. John Thune, has penned a letter to Apple with further questions about slowing older models of the iPhone via Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS. Senator Thune, Chair of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, asked how Apple came to the conclusion to replace batteries for $29 or if the

You might be enjoying the benefits of a credit card with robust rewards today, but odds are when you were first getting started, it was hard to get even close to a card like that. That’s because, for those just getting started or who have a poor credit history, those cards are generally out of reach

In a betrayal of loyalty signaling poor morale, a massive dump of Snapchat’s usage stats has leaked. The most worrisome is that the number of users posting Stories has shown zero growth, an even worse performance than Snapchat’s total user growth that was sluggish this year. It appears Instagram’s Stories clone has stopped Snapchat’s most

It was the 800-pound gorilla for the duration of today’s Huawei CES keynote — a sort of will he, or won’t he? Richard Yu managed to keep his cool for the majority of the event, announcing the unlocked availability of the company’s latest flagship here in the States, talking up a new Wi-Fi router system

Richard Yu really tried to stick it to Apple at today’s CES keynote. The Huawei Consumer CEO favorably compared the company’s new flagship Mate 10 Pro to the iPhone X, discussing all the ways in which their device surpasses Apple’s. Thanks to a partnership with Porsche Design, the company can now add extravagance to that

As expected, today’s Huawei CES press conference was a strange affair. The company’s U.S. plans were recently thwarted, as per a report in The Wall Street Journal, leaving the company in a bit of a lurch. Consumer CEO Richard Yu went ahead as planned, officially launching the company’s new flagship here in the States, but

The wireless charging movement is getting one more boost today, this time from the world of gaming. Razer, the tech giant that has built a brand (and very loyal following) as a gaming-first hardware company, is announcing HyperFlux, a new wireless power technology that will be making its first appearance a new mouse, the Razer

Google is simplifying the way it presents its different payments tools to consumers, uniting them under a new brand called Google Pay. In a Google blog post, Vice President of Product Management for Payments Pali Bhat described this as more of a rebranding than a change to the underlying products or technology. He said the

A team of former Tinder employees, led by Tinder’s original CTO Ryan Ogle, are today launching a new app aimed at professional networking. The app, called Ripple, aims to be a sort of mobile-first alternative to LinkedIn that addresses some of the problems common to the aging, now Microsoft-owned business networking platform. LinkedIn today has

Analyst Gartner put out a 10-strong listicle this week identifying what it dubbed “high-impact” uses for AI-powered features on smartphones that it suggests will enable device vendors to provide “more value” to customers via the medium of “more advanced” user experiences. It’s also predicting that, by 2022, a full 80 per cent of smartphones shipped

Global app revenue climbed 35 percent in 2017 to reach nearly $60 billion, according to a new report today from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which measured paid apps, subscriptions, and in-app purchases across both Apple’s App Store and Google Play. However, Apple is the one pulling in the most revenue, the report found –

The week after Christmas is a lazy one, but the App Store was working overtime. Apple triumphantly announced today that the late holiday season brought in more than a billion dollars in purchases on its mobile marketplace. Indeed, $300 million came in on New Year’s Day alone, presumably as everyone made unwise in-app purchases to

The HomePod had a bit of a notable production setback, back in December, but Apple’s high-end smart speaker is still on track for an “early 2018” release. As it preps for the release of its first Siri-focused device, the company is making some tweaks to its voice assistant. As 9to5Mac first noted, the latest beta

Apple announced today it will begin allowing select publishers to waive the membership fees associated with its App Developer Program. Specifically, the new fee waivers will be offered to “nonprofit organizations, accredited educational institutions, and government entities,” says Apple. For starters, the waivers will be available in the U.S., but the company had said in December it

Apple continues to ramp up its efforts to court developers by making it easier to create and iterate their apps for its platforms. The iPhone giant has now acquired Buddybuild, a Vancouver-based app tools startup that describes itself as “mobile iteration platform” focused on continuous integration and debugging tools — essentially giving an app development team

It’s been pretty easy to point at Twitter and, with each quarterly moment when it discloses its financial guts, let out a long exasperated sigh. Twitter since going public at a now in retrospect astounding valuation has for much of its public life been quite the disappointment to Wall Street. But then something interesting happened

Those $29 battery out-of-warranty replacements Apple promised are now available for impacted users with an iPhone 6 or later. The company was initially aiming for a late-January timeframe in the States when it first offered up the discount, following blowback against its admission that it had slowed down older model phones to maximize performance. “We