Alphabet's Project Loon has brought basic communications back to parts of Puerto Rico for individuals who have LTE phones. The communications are being made possible by Project Loon's balloons; they're currently giving people access to the Internet and text messaging in parts of the island hit hardest by Hurricane Maria. The team has been working with a variety of groups to make this possible, including the FAA and FCC.

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808 Audio has just launched its first smart home device, the 808 Audio XL-V. This smart speaker is cylindrical with a tower design and, most importantly, it has Alexa built-in. As with other Alexa devices, 808's new smart speaker allows users to ask for the weather, request that it play music, tell them the news, answer questions, and more.

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Adobe has detailed a research project in which it has developed an artificial intelligence capable of generating realistic colored images from a sketch. This isn't the first time we've seen an AI able to generate realistic images, but they generally lack an element of control that lets the user dictate the final results. Adobe's Scribbler is different.

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Around this time last year, Ford Smart Mobility announced the acquisition of Chariot, a transportation company based out of San Francisco. Chariot offers shuttle buses that give commuters another option for getting around while helping alleviate road congestion. News coming out of San Francisco reveals that Chariot operations have been temporarily suspended in the city due to inspection failures.

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Over the past few days a bit of controversy popped up over the display on the Pixel 2 XL. The most common issue seen in descriptions of the device seems to have to do with the device's coloring and/or texture. Our own review by Chris Davies said that the display on the Pixel 2 XL is "muted and blue-tinged off-axis."

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NASA has a new model that improves the space agency's odds of identifying habitable exoplanets. The model is based on new NASA research that determines conditions across three different dimensions instead of one, as previous models did. With this, NASA says, researchers will be better able to determine which exoplanets are worth exploring (from a habitability standpoint).

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Pay for something with a credit card or use a debit card that is run as credit rather than debit and the odds are you'll have to sign for it. Signatures have become increasingly uncommon in the modern world, but they still exist and MasterCard wants to change that. The company announced plans to get rid of signatures altogether for transactions involving its cards, and that could happen as soon as April 2018.

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2017 is a bit of an anomaly year for Apple. Though we've grown used to receiving two new iPhones each year - one standard-sized iPhone and one Plus model - this year we're getting three new iPhones. One of those, as you likely already know, is the iPhone X - a special release that, at least in part, celebrates the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone's release.

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Researchers have found hundreds of mysterious stone 'gates' scattered throughout the Saudi Arabian desert, a discovery made possible in part thanks to satellite footage published on Google Earth. These gates aren't exactly what you're probably imaging -- they're not tall structures that swing open, but instead are very large, shallow rectangles that aren't noticeable unless you're looking at them from high above.

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It's no secret that lithium-ion batteries can be dangerous if they overheat, and now the FAA is warning that they pose a serious risk for airplanes if checked into baggage. Aircraft cargo sections are equipped with a system designed to put out any fires that start. However, a series of 10 tests conducted by the FAA determined that if a fire happens next to an aerosol can, it could ignite an explosion that happens before the system puts out the fire.

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Razer today is announcing two new products aimed directly at gamers who stream on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. The company revealed its new Kiyo webcam and Seiren X standalone microphone today. Both were developed with input from Twitch and YouTube personalities, earning the label of "streamer certified broadcasting hardware" as a result.

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Foxconn chairman Terry Gou was tipped to host a visit from Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams in Taiwan later this week. Williams is reportedly visiting Taiwan for the 30th anniversary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), with an event taking place on October 23rd. It is likely Foxconn's assembly of the iPhone X and potential supply constraints will be on the table during the chat between the company executives.

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