App Smart
A Beauty Makeover With One Tool: Your Phone
By KIT EATON
Apps let users see how they would look wearing specific cosmetics, without lifting a brush.
Featured
Minh Uong/The New York Times
From computers to coffee makers, choosing the right devices for students can be tough. Here’s a guide to make back-to-school shopping a little easier.
Tech Tips
Tech Tip
Snapping a Flurry of Photos
By J. D. BIERSDORFER
Many iPhones and other camera-equipped devices have a “burst mode” that takes a batch of pictures in a quick sequence so you can get that action shot.
Tech Tip
Sharing the Laptop’s Screen With the TV
By J. D. BIERSDORFER
You can watch the video from your laptop on your television, as long as you have the correct cable or other hardware to connect them.
Tech Tip
Personalized Traffic Alerts From Google
By J. D. BIERSDORFER
Google Maps pulls in data from several places, including crowd-sourced highway reports from its Waze service, to warn you what’s up the road.
Tech Tip
Taking the Windows 10 Express
By J. D. BIERSDORFER
Microsoft’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update has just landed, but even if you chose the Express Settings during setup, you can still make adjustments.
More App Smart
App Smart
Prisma Adds an Artist’s Touch to Photos
By KIT EATON
Released less than two months ago, the app has become popular with its ability to remake photos as abstracts, manga cartoons or other styles of art.
App Smart
Recipe for the Home Bartender: Scroll, Tap and Pour
By KIT EATON
Making a good cocktail can be tricky, but many apps can help you become an expert mixologist.
App Smart
Feed Your Olympic Addiction Without Jetting Off to Rio
By KIT EATON
Follow the Olympic torch, read the history of the Games and catch up on results on a number of apps, some official and some from sports outlets.
App Smart
Wanderlust by Design: Organizing Your Summer Travel
By KIT EATON
Sidekix, Clarice and Google Translate can help you discover and navigate new cities and sites, and make the most of your time there.
Tech Fix
Tech Fix
Alexa, What Else Can You Do? Getting More From Amazon Echo
By BRIAN X. CHEN
Making Amazon’s voice-activated speaker smarter is not intuitive, but with a little tinkering, consumers can expand its skills.
Tech Fix
What’s the Right Age for a Child to Get a Smartphone?
By BRIAN X. CHEN
As more children get phones at 10 and younger, parents face the question of when to allow unfettered access to the internet and all its benefits and perils.
Tech Fix
The Downside to Cord-Cutting
By BRIAN X. CHEN
A comparison of popular cable replacement services finds annoyances, like restrictions on content and missing channels.
Tech Fix
While Limited, Wi-Fi-First Phones Are a Good, Frugal Bet
By BRIAN X. CHEN
Only some phones work with the services, which seek out Wi-Fi networks to carry call and data before turning to cell towers.
State of the Art
State of the Art
How Companies Like Dollar Shave Club Are Reshaping the Retail Landscape
By FARHAD MANJOO
Dollar Shave Club, recently acquired for $1 billion, typifies online-only companies that have upended traditional models of stores and advertising.
State of the Art
Live Streaming Breaks Through, and Cable News Has Much to Fear
By FARHAD MANJOO
The Philando Castile shooting and its aftermath have catapulted services like Facebook Live and Periscope into the center of the news, challenging cable to adapt.
State of the Art
Facebook, a News Giant That Would Rather Show Us Baby Pictures
By FARHAD MANJOO
The most powerful force in the news industry just said something that should shock everyone in the media business: Its primary purpose isn’t informing users about the world.
State of the Art
Why We Need to Pick Up Alvin Toffler’s Torch
By FARHAD MANJOO
The author of “Future Shock” warned about the dangers of rapid change, and many have come to pass, but advance planning has fallen out of favor.
Gadgetwise
Gadgetwise
Fitness Trackers Move to Earphones, Socks and Basketballs
By GREGORY SCHMIDT
Devices collect more kinds of data from more places, and one stores the energy from your movements for use to power a device.
Gadgetwise
A Rookie Learns to Fly a Drone
By PRASHANT S. RAO
There are many steps before you can get airborne, including finding a safe area and learning the federal and local regulations.
More News and Reviews
State of the Art
Think Amazon’s Drone Delivery Idea Is a Gimmick? Think Again
By FARHAD MANJOO
Amazon doesn’t reveal much, but a little sleuthing suggests that drones may be central to the online retailer’s long-term strategy.
Facebook Blocks Ad Blockers, but It Strives to Make Ads More Relevant
By MIKE ISAAC
The programs that prevent websites from displaying ads will be rendered useless for those accessing the social network’s desktop site, but not on mobile browsers.
Facebook Helps Develop Software That Puts Students in Charge of Their Lesson Plans
By NATASHA SINGER and MIKE ISAAC
In collaboration with a charter school network, Facebook has developed a student-directed learning platform aimed at public schools.
Heads Up
London Bookstores Go Rogue as No Wi-Fi Zones
By GRACE BANKS
A crop of bookshops buck the trend of high-speed Wi-Fi and barista-made coffee in favor of the centuries-old tradition of disconnected browsing.
Self-Service Checkouts Can Turn Customers Into Shoplifters, Study Says
By CHRISTOPHER MELE
The study of purchases in countries like Britain and the United States suggested that shoppers may find it easy to justify not scanning merchandise and taking it without paying.
Disney Bets on Streaming, Joining With Major League Baseball
By BROOKS BARNES
BamTech, which handles streaming for baseball teams and Time Warner’s HBO, will help Disney introduce an ESPN-branded subscription service.
Video Games Where It’s About Batman’s Psyche, Not Whiz-Bang Action
By LAURA HUDSON
Telltale Games has wooed gamers, and Hollywood, by breathing new life into the genre of narrative video games that let players decide how a plot unfolds.
Shocker! Facebook Changes Its Algorithm to Avoid ‘Clickbait’
By MIKE ISAAC and SYDNEY EMBER
A change in the social network’s algorithm is meant to identify misleading headlines on news stories and rank them lower, to keep users coming back.
Confused by Chip Credit Cards? Get in Line
By KAREN WORKMAN
Swipe the card. Nope. Dip the card? Maybe. Feel like an idiot? Definitely.
Snapchat Used to Spook Advertisers. Not Anymore.
By KATIE BENNER and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED
When the company started offering ads, brands were wary of high prices and vanishing content. Then it let football fans drench themselves in virtual Gatorade.
Instagram Takes a Page From Snapchat, and Takes Aim at It, Too
By MIKE ISAAC
The new service from Facebook’s photo-sharing app will let people share photos and videos that have a life span of no more than 24 hours with friends who follow them.
On Fantasy Sports
Win for DraftKings and FanDuel Opens Door for Sports Betting in New York
By JOE DRAPE
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill classifying daily fantasy sports as a game of skill. It is a step toward legalized betting on games.
Do-It-Yourself Fashion Thrives at the McCall Pattern Company
By STEVEN KURUTZ
Far from the glitz of the runway, on a cluttered floor of an old Manhattan skyscraper, an iconic brand offers sewing for the Instagram generation.
Bitcoin Plunges After Hacking of Exchange in Hong Kong
By AMIE TSANG
Millions of dollars’ worth of the currency was taken from Bitfinex, causing a 20 percent decline in the price, which partially recovered later.
Bitcoin Basics
By NATHANIEL POPPER
Bitcoin is both a virtual currency and an online payment system, one that some people believe will transform the global financial system.
China, Not Silicon Valley, Is Cutting Edge in Mobile Tech
By PAUL MOZUR
American tech companies study Chinese users and apps as a smartphone revolution changes how people interact, buy products and manage their money.
State of the Art
Even Uber Couldn’t Bridge the China Divide
By FARHAD MANJOO
The ride-hailing company joins the top tech giants in failing to overcome the enormous and varied barriers to competing effectively in China.
Didi Chuxing and Uber, Popular in China, Are Now Legal, Too
By PAUL MOZUR
Although they have had huge success, and billions of dollars in investment, in the country, the ride-hailing services had operated in a legal gray area.
I Was Misinformed
Smile for the Phone, Creep
By JOYCE WADLER
That nonlethal weapon, the smartphone, can deliver justice. But only if you can unlock it.
Nations of the World Confront the Pokémon Menace
By KAREN ZRAICK
As the popular augmented-reality smartphone game expanded to 26 countries, authorities responded with alarm, bans, charges of espionage and at least one fatwa.
Can’t Catch ’Em All? Hire a Pokémon Trainer.
By ALEX WILLIAMS
For underemployed 20-somethings, training newbies in the finer points of Pokémon Go is a fresh career. Or at least, a quick buck.
How to Protect Privacy While Using Pokémon Go and Other Apps
By LAURA HUDSON
The game’s developer made expansive permission requests — in error, it says, and it uses only basic data — but many apps make similar requests.
Do-It-Yourself Transit Planning, by App
By AMY ZIPKIN
Apps and other technology could complement mass transit by offering passengers alternative ways to travel from home to a transit stop, then on to their final destination.
Critic's Notebook
A Cute Internet Star Flirts. All He Wants Is Your Password.
By AMANDA HESS
Jack Johnson asked his Twitter followers to send him their passwords. And tens of thousands did.
Being Batman at Comic-Con, Virtual Cape and Cowl Provided
By GREGORY SCHMIDT
At the annual convention, media companies are promoting their movies and television shows with virtual reality.
Twitter Bars Milo Yiannopoulos in Wake of Leslie Jones’s Reports of Abuse
By MIKE ISAAC
The action against Mr. Yiannopoulos, a Breitbart editor, followed a campaign of prolonged abuse against the “Ghostbusters” co-star.
Still Want to Get the News on Facebook? Read All About It
By MIKE ISAAC
Facebook’s change to its news feed algorithm could mean you’ll see fewer articles, videos or photos shared by the media. But there’s a way around that.
Frugal Traveler
10 Free (or Cheap) Travel Apps Worth Downloading
By LUCAS PETERSON
Let’s be honest: Most travel apps aren’t very good. These are worth your time (and, in a few cases, your money).
Should Your Driverless Car Hit a Pedestrian to Save Your Life?
By JOHN MARKOFF
Surveys show that people generally believe autonomous vehicles should make an emergency decision for the greatest good — except if it might kill them.
The Getaway
How to Survive Being an Airbnb Host
By JEANNIE RALSTON
As the writer learned in her stint as an Airbnb host, the hospitality business is one long, grinning, love-me-please tap dance, more easily disparaged than done.
Mark Zuckerberg Covers His Laptop Camera. You Should Consider It, Too.
By KATIE ROGERS
A photo of Mr. Zuckerberg’s laptop camera covered in tape had curious observers wondering if it was paranoia or just good practice.
Goodbye, Password. Banks Opt to Scan Fingers and Faces Instead.
By MICHAEL CORKERY
Frustrated by thieves stealing personal data from millions of customers, banks are investing in biometric technology to offer better security.
Bits Special Section
The Internet Can Be Mean. But Sometimes It Redeems Itself.
The internet has altered global culture almost beyond recognition and is reshaping issues from gender identity to military conflict.
Google Home: A Voice-Activated Device That Already Knows You
By DAVID STREITFELD
A virtual assistant designed to compete with the Echo from Amazon and other artificial intelligence devices coming from Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.
Tech Fix
Google Home vs. Amazon Echo. Let the Battle Begin.
By BRIAN X. CHEN
Here’s how Google’s voice-controlled, Internet-connected speaker compares with Amazon’s popular Echo device.
Video Feature: Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Set foot on an alien world, three billion miles from the warmth of the sun. Visit Pluto in virtual reality.
A Field Guide to Civilian Drones
By NICK WINGFIELD
As consumer and commercial drones increase in popularity, the government is taking more steps to address safety concerns and regulate the aerial vehicles.
Interactive Graphic: How Many Times Has Your Personal Information Been Exposed to Hackers?
By JOSH KELLER, K.K. REBECCA LAI and NICOLE PERLROTH
Find out which parts of your identity may have been stolen in major hacking attacks over the last two years.
For news and analysis, plus interesting links curated by our journalists. Staff Twitter List »
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