Mitchel Broussard

Mobile game developer Jam City this week launched the first trailer, as well as revealed a few new details, for its upcoming iOS and Android role-playing game set in the Harry Potter universe, called "Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery." The game shouldn't be confused with the other upcoming Harry Potter iOS game, "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite," which is the augmented reality title being created by...

Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and other technology companies have sent a message to the Trump administration through various Washington, D.C. lobbying groups, urging President Trump to keep protecting spouses of immigrants who work in the U.S. with H-1B visas. The companies reportedly fear a "looming end" to the program that protects these spouses and allows them to work in the U.S., as it...

A little over one week after Apple investors urged the company to do more to protect children from smartphone addiction, a new column by The New York Times writer Farhad Manjoo has looked into potential ideas that Apple could implement in a future iOS update to curb addiction for all users, including kids. Manjoo spoke with Tristan Harris, former design ethicist for Google and owner of Time...

HomePod supplier Inventec has begun shipping the smart speaker to Apple, with an initial shipment "of about 1 million units," according to industry sources speaking with the Taipei Times. Apple is said to have sent out a shipment notice to companies in the HomePod supply chain in early January, and now that the first supplier has answered the notice one source stated that HomePod should be...

Thomson Reuters today published its first "Top 100 Global Technology Leaders" list, designed to pinpoint and celebrate "the industry's most operationally sound and financially successful organizations." The list's top five companies are Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, IBM, and Alphabet. Apple sits in sixth place, followed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, SAP, Texas Instruments, and...

Facebook vice president of messaging products, David Marcus, posted an update on Messenger today, outlining the app's successes in 2017 and hinting at what the team has planned for 2018. In the post, Marcus mentioned that the Messenger team knows the app has become "too cluttered." Because of this, they have planned a big update for 2018, which will introduce a simplified and streamlined...

Vacation and apartment rental service Airbnb this week launched a new way for its customers to cut down the initial cost of expensive bookings for an Airbnb location. Called "Pay Less Up Front" and available on iOS, Android, and the web, the feature allows guests to choose to pay for part of their trip at the time of booking in the form of a 50 percent deposit "in most cases." When their...

Drone videographer Duncan Sinfield has shared the first new Apple Park drone footage of 2018 on YouTube today. The three minute video includes shots of Apple Park's large central courtyard, employee fitness center and basketball courts, the Steve Jobs Theater, and more. The first part of Sinfield's new video focuses on the landscaping within Apple Park's courtyard, which is still being...

Adorama has marked down a collection of MacBooks this week, with instant rebates that start at $150 off Apple's mid 2017 refresh of the 13-inch MacBook Pro and increase to $200 off the 15-inch model. Adorama's markdowns on the latest MacBook Pros provide some of the best sale prices for these custom configurations found online, and other retailers like B&H Photo and MacMall are matching discounts ...

Writer/director Rian Johnson did an interview with The Wall Street Journal this week, discussing his favorite tech essentials that he uses both casually and professionally, including for the creation of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In regards to the scripting process of The Last Jedi, Johnson said that he wrote the entire film on an air-gapped MacBook Air. Star Wars: The Last Jedi official title ...

Senior FBI forensic examiner Stephen R. Flatley spoke at the International Conference on Cyber Security yesterday, and during the talk he discussed Apple and the FBI's differing opinions on the topic of smartphone encryption. According to Motherboard, Flatley described the company as "jerks" and "evil geniuses" for creating iOS device encryption that is so powerful as to prevent Apple itself from ...

Apple's domination of the OLED supply chain is one of the reasons why three Chinese smartphone makers are seeking out alternative display technology in future handsets, according to a report today by DigiTimes. Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi are planning to adopt mini LED-backlit panels in smartphones launched later in 2018. The three companies believe that Apple "may extend use of AMOLED panels"...

This week at CES, Ford provided new details about a partnership with navigation app Waze, which will bring Waze's GPS directions onto the touch screen of SYNC 3 vehicles when connected via USB to an iPhone. Powered by Ford AppLink, the feature will let users operate Waze "completely through a vehicle's touch screen," as well as allow for voice control. As long as the Ford vehicle includes a...

T-Mobile today announced a few new offers that will be activated beginning this Friday, January 12, one of which is focused on Apple's latest iPhones, including the iPhone X. With the deal, new and existing T-Mobile customers can buy one iPhone and get up to $700 off another iPhone of equal or lesser value, offered in the form of a rebate received via prepaid card. The BOGO rebate applies to...

Kantar Worldpanel's newest smartphone OS data details the "stellar" performance of the iPhone X in multiple markets around the world during November, amid an overall "mixed performance" for iOS devices from September to November 2017. While Apple's piece of the smartphone ecosystem fell in Great Britain, the United States, Japan, and Australia, the company saw ongoing growth in urban China during ...

Philips Hue is back with a handful of new announcements at CES today, following Monday's news of a collaboration with Razer that allows your Hue lights to react to any game played on a device that features Razer Chroma. Philips continued that announcement by reiterating that even more partners across the gaming, movie, and music industries will debut in the future. Philips calls this "Hue...

The Apple retail store located on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, Switzerland was evacuated on Tuesday following a situation with an overheated iPhone battery and its injury of a repair worker (via Reuters and Swissinfo.ch). Zurich police said that the incident happened as the worker was removing the battery from the iPhone, subsequently overheating and "slightly" burning his hand. It wasn't...

Today at CES, smart lock maker August announced the expansion of its in-home delivery service "August Access," which will roll out in partnership with delivery company Deliv. Similar to Amazon Key, customers who use August's service will grant Deliv drivers one-time access into their home so that packages aren't left outside (via TechCrunch). August's service will expand upon its previous Augus...

Alpine Electronics at CES today unveiled a new aftermarket CarPlay system with a "hover" design that floats in front of the vehicle's dashboard instead of being embedded directly into it. The company said that the iLX-F309 "doesn't require custom installation," but professional help will still likely be needed to remove existing infotainment systems before installing the iLX-F309. Alpine's...

Colgate this week announced the launch of its first app-enabled electronic toothbrush, called the Colgate Smart Electronic Toothbrush E1 with Artificial Intelligence. Available exclusively beginning today on Apple.com and in some Apple retail locations, Colgate's new product provides a few pieces of real-time feedback to help users improve their brushing routine. The electronic toothbrush also ...