Alligator Caught Lounging Near Gator Warning Sign in Florida

The Tampa Police Department is warning people about the potential presence of alligators after an alligator showed up near a "gator" sign in Florida. (Photo Credit: Tampa Police Department / Facebook) Authorities in Tampa, Florida are warning residents to watch out for alligators and pay attention to signs that hint at the possible presence of the reptiles. On Sunday, the Tampa Police Department uploaded photos on Facebook showing a “warning –...

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NASA’s Spitzer Spots Vibrant ‘Cosmic Bubble Bath’ in Milky Way

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted a "cosmic bubble bath" in the Milky Way. (Photo Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech) NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope recently observed a colorful starry region and it looks like a giant “cosmic bubble bath” in the Milky Way. Spitzer snapped the infrared image above, which shows a cloud of gas and dust filled with bubbles that are inflated by radiation and wind from young, enormous stars. Each of these bubbles contains...

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Daily Crunch: Facebook faces VR challenges

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Not all is predictable on Facebook’s social Horizon Last week, Facebook unveiled Horizon, a massively multiplayer VR world that’s scheduled to launch in 2020. This might seem to play to Facebook’s software strengths, but Lucas Matney argues that the social...

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Geek Pick: Kobo Libra H2O eReader Is an Excellent Amazon Alternative

The insidious thing about near monopolies is just how hard it is for consumers to quit them. No matter how bad Amazon gets as a company, countless readers are stuck inside the otherwise pleasant Kindle ecosystem contributing to Bezos’ hoarded wealth. But hard isn’t the same thing as impossible. And if you can cut Amazon out of your life, the $170 Kobo Libra H20 is an excellent and affordable ebook reader alternative. Compared to complicated media...

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Instagram launches a ‘creators’ account to encourage more… creation

Instagram deployed a new tool today that should help it continue to build a more viable alternative to YouTube for individual creators looking to try a different platform. It’s a dedicated account called @creators, which will deliver tips and tricks for people hoping to become more active on the platform. Based on the pinned FAQ story that Instagram has posted to the account, and a brief explainer with some testimonials from actual creators using...

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SmartNews’ head of product on how the news discovery app wants to free readers from filter bubbles

Since launching in the United States five years ago, SmartNews, the news aggregation app that recently hit unicorn status, has quietly built a reputation for presenting reliable information from a wide range of publishers. The company straddles two very different markets: the U.S. and its home country of Japan, where it is one of the leading news apps. SmartNews wants readers to see it as a way to break out of their filter bubbles, says Jeannie Yang,...

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Netflix Teases Mysterious ‘Stranger Things 4’ Announcement

'Stranger Things' Season 4 is in the works. (Photo Credit: Netflix) Stranger Things Season 4 is officially happening, according to a strange tweet from Netflix. The streaming service posted a Stranger Things Season 4 announcement on Twitter today. “We’re not in Hawkins anymore,” says the text, which is accompanied by a short video that shows an Upside Down-like setting. We’re not in Hawkins Anymore pic.twitter.com/HMIWzeF0iF — NX (@NXOnNetflix)...

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Kylo and Rey Take ‘Complicated Relationship’ to Next Level in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’

'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' co-writer Chris Terrio hinted that Kylo Ren and Rey will have intense interactions in the movie. (Photo Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is coming to theaters soon and some fans are curious about what will happen between Kylo Ren and Rey. Chris Terrio, one of the movie’s co-writers, recently discussed the “complicated relationship” between the two characters and what may go down in...

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‘Naughty’ Bear Steals Lobster Roll, Fries From Woman’s Car in New Hampshire

A bear recently stole a lobster roll and fries from a woman's parked car in New Hampshire. (Photo Credit: Lobin Frizzell / Facebook) Bears have big appetites and they will go the extra mile to steal takeout from your unattended vehicle. A woman in New Hampshire recently learned a “valuable lesson” after a hungry bear managed to sneak into her car and gobble up the lobster roll she was planning to eat for dinner, Fox News reported.   Lobin...

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New ‘Brain Age’ Blows Your Mind on Nintendo Switch

Considering its launch titles were Super Mario 64 without an analog stick and a Metroid demo, the original Nintendo DS didn’t launch like a rocket. What ultimately turned the bizarre, dual-screened, touch screen system around though were high-quality casual games that greatly expanded the market for the portable device. Of course a system that lets you pet virtual dogs in Nintendogs will sell over 150 million units. Brain Age was also one of those...

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Google Takes You On a Virtual Tour of Versailles

Palace of Versailles (via Google Arts & Culture) Flying off for a weekend to France is a luxury most people can’t afford. Thanks to a long-standing partnership between the Palace of Versailles and Google Arts & Culture, though, you don’t have to spend a penny to visit the Parisian royal residence. “Today, we’re launching a new online exhibition for everyone who can’t make it to Paris or who wants to explore this majestic place in a new...

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‘The King’s Man’ Trailer Turns Back the Clock

In 2011 director Matthew Vaughn successfully rebooted the X-Men film franchise with the awesome X-Men: First Class. But instead of sticking with that series, which just burned out with Dark Phoenix, he brought that same stylish 1960s spy movie energy to a new comic book adaptation, and another chance to rehabilitate Mark Millar after Kick-Ass, Kingsman. And he’s committed to this franchise, directing the first two entries and now preparing to make...

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NASA Telescope’s ‘Starglasses’ Make It Easier to Spot Exoplanets

JPL optical engineer Camilo Mejia Prada shines a light on the interior of a testbed for a coronagraph that will fly aboard the WFIRST space telescope (via NASA/JPL-Caltech/Matthew Luem) From Earth, distant stars look like mere pinpricks of light peeking through a black canvas. But from outer space, their glare is overwhelming, blotting out any chance of seeing planets orbiting other stars. With that in mind, NASA fit its new space telescope with...

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Artificial Skin With Haptic Feedback Could Let You Feel VR

Artificial skin adapts to any morphology (via EPFL) Haptic feedback helps elevate video games and smartphones by giving digital devices a heightened sense of touch. Now, researchers at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne hope the buzzy technology—which replicates humans’ tactility—can improve medical rehab and virtual reality. Two groups of EPFL scientists—led by Jamie Paik and Stéphanie Lacour—have teamed up to develop a soft,...

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Gaze Upon SpaceX’s Steely Starship Prototype

Starship Mk1 at SpaceX's launch facility in Texas (via SpaceX) SpaceX unveiled its new Starship rocket: A stainless steel torpedo designed to haul a crew and cargo into outer space and back again. On the 11th anniversary of the company’s first successful mission, CEO Elon Musk showed off the firm’s new project. The Mk1 prototype—a long-duration spacecraft capable of carrying humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond—is an impressive 164 feet high and...

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This Week in Apps: AltStore, acquisitions and Google Play Pass

The app industry shows no signs of slowing down, with 194 billion downloads in 2018 and over $100 billion in consumer spending. People spend 90% of their mobile time in apps and more time using their mobile devices than watching TV. In other words, apps aren’t just a way to spend idle hours — they’re a big business. And one that often seems to change overnight. In this new Extra Crunch series, we’ll help you keep up with the latest news from the...

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Top Movie and TV Trailers of the Week: ‘Watchmen,’ ‘El Camino,’ and More

Jesse Pinkman is back and on the run for 'El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.' (Photo Credit: Ben Rothstein / Netflix) TGIF. While you’re planning for the long weekend ahead, we’ve rounded up the top movie and TV trailers that you may have missed during the week. Adam Sandler takes on a serious role in A24’s Uncut Gems, while Netflix’s suspenseful film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie debuted its official trailer. From HBO’s chilling...

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What to Stream on Hulu This Weekend

'Emergence' (Photo Credit: Virginia Sherwood / ABC / 019 NBCUniversal Media, LLC) Hulu has a lot to offer, however, deciding what to watch on the platform isn’t always easy. If you need help putting together your binge-watching lineup, you’ve come to the right place: We’ve picked the top documentaries, TV series, and movies to stream on Hulu from September 27 to September 29. Natural disasters, psychic powers, and annoyed celebrities will probably...

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PlayStation State of Play Reveals ‘Last of Us II’ and More!

The biggest (and really only) news from the recent PlayStation State of Play show was another look at the Last of Us Part II. This coincided with games journalists finally getting a chance to play the hotly anticipated PlayStation 4 game for themselves before its release next February. However, sandwiched between all this good news was the disappointing fact that the sequel ditches the multiplayer mode of the original. Granted, considering how people...

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Not all is predictable on Facebook’s social Horizon

Most of the people I spoke with at Facebook’s Oculus Connect see the proliferation of virtual reality as a foregone conclusion, one that’s just a matter of timing at this point. For Facebook, the conference’s “The Time is Now” catchphrase showcased that they feel their hardware is ready for everyone. But despite the success, they feel like they’ve tapped into when it comes to hardware iterations, the company’s bread and butter social networking prowess...

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11-Foot Burmese Python Goes for Swim, Gets Caught By Florida Officials

An 11-foot, 31-pound Burmese python was caught swimming in Florida's Biscayne National Park. (Photo Credit: Biscayne National Park / Facebook) Florida officials made a shocking discovery when they spotted a giant Burmese python swimming in Biscayne National Park on Tuesday. The 11-foot Burmese python was “taking a dip” in the bay over a mile from the mainland, For The Win reported. Biscayne National Park is roughly 18 miles east of Everglades...

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Daily Crunch: Facebook hides Like counts

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Facebook tries hiding Like counts to fight envy It looks like Facebook wants to end the terrible game of chasing Likes, and then the equally terrible feeling of failing. The experiment starts today in Australia. A post’s author can still see the count, but...

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Kevin Feige, Make These ‘Star Wars’ Movies

Forget the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The biggest crossover in Hollywood is no longer those Disney movies but an executive shakeup happening within Disney itself. After years of Kevin Feige publicly stating his love for Star Wars, the Marvel Studios head honcho is officially producing a film in the sister series alongside his Lucasfilm counterpart Kathleen Kennedy. We have no idea what Kevin Feige’s Star Wars movie will even be yet. We doubt...

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