Forward-looking: Beginning February 17, officers across the force will put down their trusty memo pads and start taking digital notes on company-issued iPhones. It may not seem like a big deal but for a department with over 30,000 uniformed officers, it’ll be a major transition.

The New York City police department in 2017 replaced more than 36,000 dated Windows phones with iPhones and soon, those devices will take on additional responsibilities.

In addition

In brief: Few things are more frustrating in the software ecosystem than being forced to buy the same product across multiple platforms. This is an issue on gaming marketplaces, digital music shops, and -- of course -- mobile app stores. Fortunately, Apple is working on a feature for its Mac and iOS App Stores that could make this problem go away.

In short, the feature will enable "universal purchases" for macOS, iOS, tvOS, and iPadOS device owners. If you grab an app on,

In brief: Facebook has patched a critical security flaw in WhatsApp’s desktop platform that could have allowed an attacker to read files from the local file system on Windows and Mac and even pull off remote code execution.

The vulnerability, which carries a severity rating of 8.2 according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was discovered by security researcher Gal Weizman with PerimeterX.

Its origins date back to 2017 when he uncovered the ability to alter the text of someone else’s reply. From

In context: Despite their controversial nature, loot boxes in video games continue to be a thing. Companies make millions from transactions that do not guarantee anything of real value. Likewise, governments and individuals continue to fight game makers over the stained mechanic.

The battle over the ethics of using loot boxes in video games continues as two new lawsuits have been filed in France against EA. The separate cases both target the publisher’s FIFA franchise alleging that the microtransactional system in its Ultimate Team mode (FUT) is a form

Why it matters: LinkedIn on Wednesday announced that longtime CEO Jeff Weiner will be stepping down later this year to take on a new role within the company. His replacement is familiar with the firm as he has more than a decade of experience in various leadership roles at LinkedIn.

Effective June 1, 2020 , Weiner will become LinkedIn’s executive chairman. The social network for business professionals will promote Ryan Roslansky, currently the senior vice president of product, to fill the vacancy. Vice President of Linked Marketing

Why it matters: For several years now, we’ve seen evidence that suggest Apple is working on a foldable phone. Now, the company has been granted another patent for such a device, but this one comes with an innovative hinge that should prevent it from experiencing issues found in similar handsets.

Reports that Apple has been working on a foldable go back to 2016, and we’ve seen several patent applications hinting at what the final design might look like—including one that resembles the Motorola Razr

What just happened? Spotify in its fourth quarter earnings report on Wednesday revealed that it now has 271 million total monthly active users (MAUs), up from 248 million in the previous quarter and 207 million in the year-ago quarter.

Of those, 124 million are premium (paying) subscribers and 153 million are ad-supported (free tier) MAUs. Oddly enough, the sum of 124 million and 153 million is 277 million

A hot potato: Ask most people who are the biggest rivals to Microsoft, and they’ll probably say Sony and Nintendo. But one person who disagrees is head of Xbox Phil Spencer, who says that the company sees Amazon and Google as its main future competitors.

In an interview with tech site Protocol , Spencer said the two other main console players are unable to create a cloud infrastructure that could match Microsoft’s Azure.

“When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them

What just happened? Tesla has been on a roll recently, and it appears that its next project on the agenda could be a new gigafactory in Texas. Company CEO Elon Musk tweeted a poll asking his 31 million followers if building a plant in the state was a good idea.

Musk simply asked “Giga Texas?” in his tweet, which has received 181,445 votes so far. It seems people are in favor of the plan, with 79.2 percent voting “Hell