Author: News Room

Today, I’m talking with Todd McKinnon, who is co-founder and CEO of Okta, a platform that lets big companies manage security and identity across all the apps and services their employees use. Think of it like login management — actually, that’s a great way to think about it because the way most people encounter Okta is that it’s the thing that makes you log in again right before joining a meeting several times a week, so then you’re late for the meeting… Can you tell we use Okta?Anyhow, all of that is a big business — Okta has a $14…

The launch of the Google Pixel 11 is still months away, but leaked renders shared by Android Headlines may give us an idea of what to expect. Based on the images, the Pixel 11 could come with slimmer bezels than its predecessor, along with a completely black rear camera bar.The Pixel 10, which launched in September, places its rear camera lenses against a black background, while surrounding its flash with the same color as the body of the phone. Other than these tweaks, it doesn’t look like much else has changed visually between the two phones.As noted by Android Headlines,…

There are so many great smart locks out there. But one of best models that iPhone owners should consider buying now is Aqara’s U400, which offers hands-free unlocking when you get close enough. It has Apple’s U1 ultra-wideband chip integrated to authenticate you and unlock the door hands-free, so all that you have to do is open the door when you get home. This smart lock is discounted for the first time during the Big Spring Sale, costing $229.49 (originally $269.99) at Amazon.As our reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy put it in her hands-on impressions with the U400, hands-free unlocking isn’t…

iPhone and Android users might be able to make interoperable video calls through their messaging apps — eventually. Last week, the GSM Association (GSMA) announced that the finalized RCS Universal Profile 4.0 standard will let users turn 1-to-1 or group RCS chats into video calls thanks to a feature called Messaging‑Initiated Video Calls (MIVC).“MIVC will ensure the continuity of the conversation by allowing group members to join an ongoing video call that they could not accept when it started, as well as synchronise MIVC logs within the chat timeline,” the GSMA says. “When implemented, MIVC paves the way for the…

For iPhone owners, the AirPods Pro 3 are a fantastic all-around set of wireless earbuds, even for working out. Their value is especially tough to beat at $199.99; however, even with five sizes of silicone tips, they aren’t the best fit for some people, or for some kinds of workouts. If earbuds tend to fall out of your ears, the Beats Powerbeats Fit are worth considering now that they’re on sale as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, which drops them to an all-time low of $169.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo.The Powerbeats Fit, which launched…

Robot vacuums are great for keeping floors clean on a regular basis, but they don’t catch everything. If you’re looking for a tool to handle the finer details your robovac might miss — room corners, edges, hard stairs, entryways, etc. — Dyson’s PencilVac Fluffycones is one of the lightest, most versatile stick vacuums you can buy. You can get one during Amazon’s Big Spring Sale for $449.99 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, marking a new low.The PencilVac is about as thin as Dyson’s Supersonic hair dryer and weighs under four pounds. Its slim design lets it reach…

Although paper is a more environmentally friendly packaging material than plastic, it’s often contaminated with additives, such as adhesives used to create a secure seal. That complicates the recycling process and reduces the quality of recycled paper. Now, German researchers at four Fraunhofer institutes have developed an alternative process that can seal paper packaging without glue or plastic using a process involving a carbon monoxide laser.The new system, currently called the Papure project, leverages the expertise of the Fraunhofer institutes, each of which focuses on areas such as polymer research, engineering and packaging, and laser beam technologies. The first step…

This is part of our package about Apple’s 50th anniversary, read more here.It’s 1989. To play a video, listen to a song, or show photos on a desktop computer requires bolting on expensive hardware, built by a different company, using different software. There are no standards, no portability, no sharing.Tyler Peppel, Apple product marketer: It should have been a natural area for Apple to be in, but we had nothing. Apple’s CEO John Sculley told me, “We need to get into this,” but of course, it wasn’t that easy.John Worthington, audio engineer: There were people inside the company who said,…

It was January 2008, and Steve Jobs had just pulled the MacBook Air out of a manila envelope onstage at Macworld.Within minutes, Windows PC executives everywhere lost their minds. They grabbed the nearest office envelope, tried to shove in their plastic laptops, and tore straight through the paper. Engineers were summoned. Assistants were dispatched for larger envelopes.Okay, I have no proof that happened. But we all know what did happen next: imitation. Years of it.Apple’s history books all hail the iPod. The iPhone. The iPad. And then, somewhere between a sidebar and a footnote, the MacBook Air. But without the…

In 2025, Patrick McGee published Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company, a deeply-reported look at the tech giant’s investment in — and growing reliance on — China. The following excerpt, pulled from Chapter 9 of Apple in China, examines the company’s relationship with Foxconn, today the infamous builder of iPhones. Foxconn wasn’t always a formidable company, though. As McGee’s reporting illustrates, its exponential growth was thanks in large part to founder Terry Gou’s cultivation of a relationship with Apple. That relationship played a huge role in taking the company from a supply outlet for affordable components…

If you want to feel truly invincible when driving in the snow, you need a set of studded snow tires. They’re illegal in some places, typically restricted to the frigid months of the year in others. Spring for a set, though, and they’ll see you through the worst, slipperiest, snowiest driving conditions you can imagine.They come at a pretty substantial cost, though, and I’m not just talking about a financial one. Yes, quality tires with embedded tungsten tips are generally far pricier than your average bargain rubber with snowflakes on the sidewall. The bigger issue, though, is that they can…

The latest app from the team behind Bluesky is Attie, an AI assistant that lets you build your own algorithm. At the Atmosphere conference, Bluesky’s former CEO, Jay Graber, and CTO Paul Frazee, unveiled Attie, which is powered by Anthropic’s Claude and built on top of Bluesky’s underlying AT Protocol (atproto).Attie allows users to create custom feeds using natural language. For example, you could ask for “posts about folklore, mythology, and traditional music, especially Celtic traditions.” To start these custom feeds will be confined to a standalone Attie app. But the plan is to make them available in Bluesky and…