Tech

Slammed on the brakes to save a life? Insurance just penalized you

To a consumer dealing with inflation, the pitch sounds great: download an app, let your insurer track your driving, and watch your premium drop. Major carriers present usage-based insurance as a fair system that lets safe drivers escape expensive, generalized risk pools. Yet a different reality is emerging for drivers using State Farm’s Drive Safe & Save, Progressive’s Snapshot, or Allstate’s Drivewise. These programs often function as aggressive tools for corporate surveillance.

Wildwood review

The makers of Coraline return with their distinctive animation style in a magical tale of a secret world of strange beasts, talking animals and evil governesses

I’ve seen what Amazon thinks about me – and it revealed a depressing truth

From ‘has flat buttocks’ to ‘likes brunettes with muscles’, the retailer’s About You pages offer some remarkable insights into customers’ lives and tastes. Naturally, I rushed to check out mine …

This Chinese memory chip maker has global potential and is poised to outperform

The stakes are rising for China's memory chip maker CXMT ahead of its earnings release, expected Oct. 31.

I need smart glasses. How else can I monetize every second of my life?

They’re the latest technological innovation no one asked for – now with added consent issues!

‘I didn’t want to write about this’: the man who first saw chimps waging civil war

John Mitani spent years studying a huge community of chimpanzees in Uganda. But then things took a dark turn – and his findings stunned the scientific world

AI’s quiet safety gatekeepers are stepping into the spotlight

The intensifying AI safety debate is bringing a small group of third-party evaluators into the center of a multitrillion-dollar industry.

'You have a meeting': the calendar phishing scam growing exponentially

Appointment or renewal reminder appears in victims’ calendar to lure them into logging in to fake Google, Microsoft or PayPal page

A dating app that lets random strangers match users? Sign me up!

On Rivet, volunteers get to choose who they think are the most suitable suitors. For an interfering busybody like me, this is a match made in heaven

Microsoft's Nadella says AI needs an ‘emergency brake’ that humans control

Nadella joined other tech moguls and researchers in calling for stronger safeguards and, in some cases, for the pacing of frontier development.

Parents fear YouTubers are bringing ‘brain rot’ to Netflix. But are kids wising up to ‘slop’?

As streamers poach viral creators to appeal to children, digital whack-a-mole has become a new kind of family challenge

Venta review: a humidifier that fixes the worst part of humidifiers

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