Mitchel Broussard

Instagram today announced the ability for you to mute accounts in your feed, so that you can hide posts from people or brands you may not want to see anymore without needing to unfollow them completely. Instagram says that the change is another update to make your feed "even more personalized to what matters to you." Account muting will be in the ellipsis menu at the top right of each post,...

By the end of 2018, an estimated 23.4 million users in the United States will be paying for their coffees and bakery items at Starbucks using the company's own in-store mobile payment system. The estimate comes from research firm eMarketer (via Recode), which also predicts that Apple Pay will hit 22 million users by the end of the year. Starbucks itself says that its mobile order-and-pay...

Podcast app "Castro" updated to version 3.0 this week, introducing a collection of notable additions like a rebuilt player engine, cleaner layout, Apple Watch app, and more. Developer Supertop Software says that Castro 3 is "much faster" when users start streaming a podcast and the app's controls are more responsive thanks to a simpler layout on the player screen. Users can now star the...

Yubico is a company that sells the "YubiKey," a small piece of hardware that protects access to computers and online accounts by providing strong two-factor authentication in lieu of receiving a text message code on a smartphone or other 2FA steps. With the NFC-equipped YubiKey NEO, Android users have been able to authenticate their log-ins with a tap, and this week Yubico announced that ability...

Our next exclusive partner sale is debuting this week, and it allows our readers the chance to save on nine Apple accessories from well-known company RavPower. The products on sale focus on power delivery for your Apple devices, with Qi mats, Lightning cables, portable battery packs, and more available at a discount. All of RavPower's products included in the sale are on Amazon, so if you're...

Note-taking app Evernote was updated over the weekend with a new feature that allows you to connect your Bluetooth headphones to the app and use them to record audio and transcribe voice-to-text notes. The company says that as long as the headphones have a microphone they will work, so if you own AirPods or BeatsX you'll be able to use the wireless earphones to quickly jot down notes and...

A questionable new report from Apple's supply chain claims that the company's rumored "low-priced" version of the HomePod will be placed under the Beats by Dre brand instead of the expected Apple branding. The report comes from Chinese news site Sina, which also says the $199 speaker will have MediaTek as the supplier, a change from Apple's decision to give Inventec sole supplier duties on the...

After retaining the #3 spot on the Fortune 500 list for the past two years, in 2018 Apple has dropped one place and now sits at #4 on the list of the top U.S. corporations based on gross revenue. Apple's displacement on the list came due to Exxon Mobil rising from #4 in 2017 to #2 in 2018. The full top five spots were Walmart at #1, Exxon Mobil at #2, Berkshire Hathaway at #3, Apple at #4, and ...

Illustration app Procreate today updated its Procreate Pocket iPhone app to version 2.0, which developer Savage describes as "reengineered from the ground up" and "an entirely new app." Procreate Pocket 2 is powered by Silica-M, the same graphics engine that powers Procreate for iPad, as well as Apple's own Metal technology. Savage says that with the upgraded technology boost in version 2.0, ...

A few days after Norwegian news site Dagens Næringsliv accused subscription music service Tidal of being months behind on royalty payments, as well as falsifying and inflating streaming numbers, Music Business Worldwide now reports that Tidal has learned of a "potential data breach" on its platform. Tidal CEO Richard Sanders said in a statement that when the company learned of the potential...

PayPal this week announced plans to acquire the Swedish-based payments hardware company iZettle for $2.2 billion, with a plan to expand its presence in brick and mortar stores thanks to iZettle's technology. The acquisition will also help PayPal bolster its business across iZettle's main markets of Europe and Latin America (via Bloomberg). Notably, the purchasing deal marks PayPal's biggest...

Next week, Valve is launching a "Steam Link" app for iOS and tvOS, allowing users in the Apple ecosystem to play Steam games streamed from a host Mac/PC (using either a 5GHz network or a wired Ethernet connection) onto an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. In advance of the app's launch, our sister site TouchArcade got the chance to go hands-on with Steam Link and came away entirely impressed by the...

At CES in January, Ford discussed a new partnership with crowdsource navigation app Waze that aimed to bring Waze onto the touch screen of SYNC 3 vehicles through Ford's AppLink. That partnership has been fully realized today with Waze users worldwide now able to connect their iPhones to AppLink via USB and mirror Waze on their infotainment system. This allows drivers to access their...

eBay today announced "Interests," a new feature that tailors the iOS and Android app's shopping experience to your own personal passions, hobbies, and style. The company says that the feature is aimed at making it easier for you to find unique, interesting items you care about among eBay's vast assortment of inventory. The backbone of Interests is a questionnaire eBay will begin asking...

The latest Apple Pay promotion grants you free delivery on groceries with Instacart as long as you use Apple's mobile wallet to checkout on the app through 11:59 p.m. PT on May 23, and your order runs for $35 or more. There is no specific promo code, so as long as you meet these requirements the discount should appear automatically during the checkout process in Instacart. Free delivery will...

Apple today updated the front page and accessibility section of Apple.com in celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The event is held on the third Thursday of May every year and was created to promote inclusion and usability of technology for anyone with a disability. This year, Apple is highlighting its own accessibility features right on the home page of Apple.com, stating that...

The United States Senate today voted to repeal the Federal Communication Commission's "Restoring Internet Freedom" order, which was enacted last December and reverses Obama-era Net Neutrality rules. Today's decision ended with a vote of 52-47 in favor of restoring Net Neutrality protections, with supporters totaling all 47 Democratic Senators, two independents, and three Republican Senators....

Accessory maker Speck today launched a notable sale that discounts products by 45 percent across its online storefront, ranging from smartphone cases to bags, screen protectors, cables, and more. To see the sale prices, find an item to add to your cart, click "View Cart" in the pop-up menu, then enter the discount code SUPER45 in the box at the bottom lefthand corner of the screen. Note:...

Facebook today announced three new mobile app features aimed at helping its users better "create and save memories," with a launch in India first and then rolling out to the global community "shortly thereafter" (via The Verge). The first feature allows photos and videos taken with Facebook's in-app camera to be saved directly to a user's Facebook account in the cloud, and not onto their...

Netgear's line of connected smart home cameras, called "Arlo," currently only support HomeKit for the Arlo Baby camera. However, this could be changing in the near future as release notes posted by an Arlo community manager on the company forums suggest that support for HomeKit will be part of a soon-to-launch firmware update for the Arlo Pro camera. There are a variety of wire-free and...