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Compact SUV confirmed as the first model in an all-new Volvo 40-series family by  Mark Tisshaw Volvo ’s crucial new  XC40 compact SUV  will be launched this autumn, R&D boss Henrik Green has confirmed. Speaking to Autocar at the  Detroit motor show , Green said the XC40 will be the first model to use Volvo’s CMA architecture and the base development work of the car has been completed. “There’s a big chance it’ll be one of the most successful cars in our line-up,” he said. The family of 40-series models, which is also set to be sold in the US, will represent “a significant part of growth in the next three to four years”, said Green. The XC40, which will rival the  BMW X1  and  Audi Q3  in the competitive and rapidly growing compact SUV segment, was previewed last year by the Concept 40.1, along with another potential 40-series model, the Concept 40.2 saloon. A V40 replacement will also be spun off the CMA platform, which Volvo has co-developed with Geely, its Chinese parent

SEMA concepts hit the streets in hopes of redlining sales Frank Markus   At the 2015 SEMA Show in Las Vegas,  Chevrolet dressed up five of its most popular vehicles in Red Line costumes —silver paint accented with various shades of black, charcoal, and graphite trim all set off with bright red details in the grille, wheels, brakes, and intakes. Some of the bits and pieces designed for the 2016 Camaro were made available as accessory parts upon launch of  Motor Trend ’s 2016 Car of the Year , but apparently the lineup so impressed the gathered aftermarketeers that  Chevy  will be moving the concept onto the factory order sheets for eight of its model lines between now and the end of 2017. The cars made their official debut at the 2017 Chicago Auto Show. For the production versions, all Red Line vehicles will come equipped with black wheels adorned with red hash marks, black nameplates with a red outline, blacked-out grilles, and the increasingly ubiquitous black  Chevrolet  Bow Tie

Instagram has become more prevalent on the web than Twitter, according to an analysis by website tool provider  SimilarTech  of the top 1 million sites based on their global traffic, including publishers, brands and e-commerce sites. At the start of 2016, Instagram trailed Twitter in the number of sites that embedded its users’ posts or featured its social widgets, like follow buttons. But from January through December, Instagram’s footprint expanded by 308 percent to overtake Twitter, whose footprint expanded by 36 percent over the same period. It’s unclear what pushed so many sites to begin embedding Instagram posts and widgets on their pages in 2016. Instagram introduced the ability to  embed people’s posts on sites back in July 2013  and rolled out  follow buttons, or “badges,” in November 2012 . Instagram’s monthly user base growing from  400 million people in September 2015  to  600 million people in December 2016  likely helped. But it doesn’t explain what spurred the adopti

Bloomicon  /  Shutterstock.com YouTube is opening its  mobile live-streaming  feature to creators with, at least, 10,000 subscribers and has added a “Super Chat” feature that monetizes the live-stream chat function. According to the announcement, live streams will include the same features as regular YouTube videos — they will be searchable; listed in video recommendations and playlists; and, protected from unauthorized use. YouTube’s live streams also come with the new “Super Chat” monetization tool, allowing viewers to pay for more prominent messaging: “It lets any fan watching a live stream stand out from the crowd and get a creator’s attention by purchasing chat messages that are highlighted in bright colors and stay pinned to the top of the chat window for up to five hours.” YouTube shared the following GIF, showing how to start live streaming using the “”Capture” button built into the YouTube app, and included an example of a “Super Chat” message (the chat highlighted with a

Tamar Weinberg tanuha2001  /  Shutterstock.com With Twitter’s  rampant  abuse problem, the company has been aggressively trying to find the right way to handle its crippling problem. An announcement  today  addresses Twitter’s overall improvements toward a safer, more pleasant tweeting experience, with the addition of three primary changes: abusive account creation prevention, safer search results and collapsing low-quality (or abusive) tweets. New Accounts Twitter says it’s being proactive about identifying users whose accounts have been suspended, primarily as a result of abuse and harassment, to ensure that they will not recreate new accounts. Safer Search A “safe search” will be implemented to remove tweets that contain sensitive content or tweets that have been made by blocked/muted accounts. The objective is for search to be less cluttered with more relevant (and possibly more interesting) results. Collapsing low quality tweets While Twitter advocates toward free speech,

Whether to improve relevancy with their content or to keep competitors from advertising on their pages, publishers want control over the types of ads that can run on their sites. Google  announced  Tuesday that it is expanding the capability for publishers to opt out of certain ad categories and has increased the number of categories and subcategories from 250 to 470. More detailed subcategories give publishers greater refinement in blocking ads on their sites. For example, instead of blocking the category “Apparel,” you can now pick any of the new subcategories, “Sunglasses,” “Handbags” or “Watches.” The feature is now available in all AdSense markets and supports Chinese (simplified), Dutch, Polish, Russian and Turkish, in addition to English.

Facebook's ad policies have been updated to increase opportunity and prohibit discrimination. Tamar Weinberg Late last year, Facebook committed to updating  its ad targeting  practices to prevent discrimination for housing, employment or credit-related ads. Today, the company is  putting  its ad discrimination policy into practice with policy updates, tools and further education. Policy updates Facebook is strengthening its stance with clearly defined prohibitions against ads with discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, disability or medical/genetic condition. Education Facebook has also updated its policy with a  section  about discriminatory practices. Advertisers are prohibited from wrongfully targeting or excluding audiences in their ads. This section expands to groups of individuals who are connected to the ACLU, Department of Justice — Civil Rights Division, Leadersh

WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU Never fear: Windows 10 Cloud might not be as locked down as we thought, and you might be able to install your desktop applications after all. Microsoft’s Windows 10 is a robust operating system that can do just about anything. Usually that’s a strength, but while Windows 10 competes well against Google’s Chrome OS platform on features and overall power, it’s at a disadvantage in terms of cost and manageability. That’s why Microsoft is releasing the Windows 10 Cloud edition, which essentially enables locking down the OS to allow apps to be installed only from the Windows 10 Store. At least, that’s how it works in theory and with the current preview build, but there’s a way to bypass that limitation for the technically astute, as  Windows Central reports . More:   An early build of Windows 10 Cloud has leaked, proving the new OS is no myth By limiting Windows 10 Cloud to only Windows Store apps, Microsoft could accomplish a few things. First, it would make non

A SWEET TIME FOR POKEMON GO Valentine's Day is sweeter than ever with extended lures, extra candy, and more frequent catches! Pokemon Go's  next event has just gone live, and this one is aiming to steal your heart. A special Valentine's Day event runs from 11 a.m. PST February 8th thru 11 a.m. PST February 15th. There is going to be plenty going on for the next week, from extra candies to help evolve your Pokemon to lures that'll last for hours. Don't worry, though, we have all the details for you here. Candies, candies everywhere As you're probably well aware, in order to evolve your Pokemon you need to collect enough candy. That's where the first perk in this event shows up. Each time you catch, hatch, or evolve a Pokemon you'll receive twice the normal amount of candy. That isn't all either. Your buddy Pokemon will also find candy to help them evolve twice as fast! Extended lures Lures are also receiving a special perk. Instead of their usu

A London museum is surveying five centuries of robotic developments to learn about the societies they come from. London’s Science Museum is exhibiting some 100 robot models, ranging from a 15th century automaton to cutting-edge humanoids that are capable of expressing emotions. Organizers of the show called “Robots” consider it a chance to both depict and tackle misconceptions and fears of robots while studying their evolution through time. The robots are either borrowed, purchased or donated from personal collections and only 16 of them are fully functional. But curators expect something beyond operational machines from their show. “Robots” will go on until September the 3rd. However, more sensitive items such as a 244 year-old working swan will be featured for a limited time to maintain their upkeep.

Ever have a hard time understanding a road sign in another country? Computer vision startup Mapillary thinks it has a solution. You know how Google hopes to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful?” Swedish startup Mapillary wants to do the same thing with the world’s road signs. As it turns out, from warnings about polar bears to alerts concerning “ invisible cows ,” there are some pretty darn unusual roadside messages you’ll come across as you travel the globe. But if you’re only used to the regular old boring signs found in your neighborhood, being expected to understand all of them from behind the wheel is a tall order. Throw self-driving cars — which need to understand this stuff to get you safely from point A to point B — into the mix and things become even more confusing. Computer vision company  Mapillary  has spent the past several years working on just this problem. “Mapillary is a collaborative street-level imagery platform power

A new feature makes it easier to make sure the page you're seeing from an AMP search result is legit and lets you share the "real" URL with others. AMP pages are great . They are designed to help us find what we're looking for when we're mobile and point us towards search results that are easy to read because they were designed for a smaller screen and touch-based navigation. So many people use their phones to get on the internet and get the information they need that anything that makes the experience better is welcomed. On the web, trust is important. You need to know you're seeing results from a place you trust. But there are a few drawbacks to using AMP URLs, too. One is that they require a separate (and sometimes frequently changed) URL to be cached by Google, and this breaks the traditional way the web works. When something goes on the internet, it should be there forever, in the same place. Moving the URL we use from a mobile device around can mak

WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU The Super Bowl ad for Google Home showed off the device's keen sense of hearing and attention to the "OK Google" wake word. Right around the time New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady orchestrated the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, Google officially introduced the world to its  Amazon Echo -competing home servant,  Google Home . A  one-minute advertisement  showing off the different ways in which people have the ability to interact with Home, the spot featured — over and over again, mind you — people uttering its popular wake word, “OK Google.” Due in part to the wake word’s prominent feature, Google Home users all over the country say their devices acted a bit erratic during the ad, responding to the commercial’s commands. At least it’s reassuring to know the Home as a keen ear for its wake word, right? Though the gaffe didn’t cause any serious harm to anyone — unless, of course, it accidentally turned off the lights while someone

WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU BT's public support could pave the way for other groups to chime in on the Android antitrust case, the result of which could have far-reaching implications for Google. BT, a telecommunications provider in the United Kingdom, has sent a letter to the European Commission announcing its support for Google in an  ongoing antitrust case  involving Android, the world’s largest mobile operating system. The European Commission alleges that Google is using Android’s dominant market share as a way to push its own apps and services, like Search, Drive, YouTube, and Google Maps. Anyone is free to use Android, but if a manufacturer wants access to the Google Play Store — where about  2.6 million apps reside  — they have to sign the Mobile Application Distribution Agreement and prioritize Google’s apps. More:   Microsoft’s unified user interface may be the namesake of Google’s hybrid OS Manufacturers can still preload their own apps or ones from competing services lik

1 of 4 BlackMagic Design WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU The live-streaming space has experienced the kind of growth that has even high-end gear companies like BlackMagic taking note. What’s the biggest thing to hit the broadcast industry since color TV? Live-streaming and live webcasting, at least according to high-end video tech company BlackMagic Design. Today, the company unveiled five new products designed to simplify online streaming — and at a price that makes them a bit more accessible for small productions. Two new cameras offer the same functions at a lower price by removing the built-in battery, while a slew of production equipment aims to do more with less. BlackMagic said during a press conference that live-streams won’t replace traditional broadcasts, but  are becoming a part of the bigger picture. The company is continuing its focus on high-end products, but upgrading with a feature set more in-tune to the needs of live-casting. The updates also slim down the product’s pr

Facebook Back in the '90s, before memes were really a thing, it was kind of a meme to pass around pictures of Bill Gates as a Borg — the cyborg baddies of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fame. If you're not a "Star Trek," fan, trust me, it's a sick own. Before the Borg attacked, they would issue their famous warning: "Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile." It was a warning that resonated with the tech industry of the day. Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft became known as a company that would win at any cost. From productivity apps to web browsers, any competitor Microsoft couldn't simply buy it would crush by making a new, competing product and win by selling to its huge existing customer base. Now we're starting to see history repeat itself, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stepped in to the role once occupied by Gates. Consider Facebook's reaction to Snapc

National flags of U.S. and China wave in front of an international hotel in Beijing February 4, 2010. (Photo by Reuters) China says it has protested to the US for putting Chinese companies and individuals on a new sanctions list targeting Iran.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday Beijing had "lodged representations" with Washington after Trump's administration imposed sanctions on 25 people and entities on Friday for trade with Iran. "We have consistently opposed any unilateral sanctions," Lu told a regular press briefing in Beijing. Unilateral US sanctions in the past have infuriated China. Last March, Beijing was outraged after the US government punished China’s largest telecom equipment maker ZTE Corps for alleged violations of sanctions on Iran. Read more:  China irate as US targets Iran trade China's Foreign Ministry expressed anger at the action, saying it is “opposed to the US citing domestic laws to place sanctions on Chinese

Over the past few years, a number of automakers have sought to create a mid-range offering that occupies a space between standard models and hardcore high performance counterparts – as evidenced by the BMW M Performance, Cadillac V-Sport, and Audi S lineups. These models seek to find a balance between civility, price and performance, delivering a driving experience that’s more performance-oriented than the garden-variety model, but not nearly as hard-edged as the full-bore performance variant. For Mercedes, that comes in the form of the Mercedes-AMG 43 lineup, which in turn results in the E43 for the E-Class sedan. It slots nicely between the E300 and the gorilla-in-a-suit that is the 603 horsepower E63, and while it might be a bit closer to the E300 than it is the E63 as a package overall, the combination does an excellent job of closing the rather sizable performance gap between those two. Although the stats sheet of the E43 certainly looks promising, numbers don’t always translate

There are standard TV setups, and then there are real entertainment centers — rooms that make you feel as immersed in what you’re watching as you do when you’re in a theater. If you’ve already spent a pretty penny on a killer TV, or even if you’re just looking to upgrade your existing entertainment room layout, the next logical step is to invest in a home theater system such as the  Monoprice 10565 Premium 5.1 Channel Home Theater System with Subwoofer , currently discounted by 25 percent, to only $171, on Amazon. More :  Best TV and Home Theater Products of 2016 This entertainment system consists of four satellite speakers, a single center speaker, and 8-inch down-firing subwoofer. The single center speaker features a 3-inch polypropylene midrange driver and a 3/4-inch aluminum dome tweeter, while the subwoofer boasts four large rubber feet to reduce floor vibrations. Together, these units deliver many of the same features as higher-end surround sound systems but are available at a