But how bad is the robocall epidemic, exactly? Well, researchers have crunched the numbers and the picture isn’t pretty. A study performed by a prominent background check company shows that not only have robocalls spiked in 2019, but the callers have only become more aggressive and dishonest. We have more details on the results of the study, as well as why you should think twice before answering the phone....

Apple appears to be planning to further expand its data center presence in Northern Nevada according to a newly surfaced building permit. An application that was filed and withdrawn on February 2 points to a $50 million data center codenamed Project Isabel with Apple listed as the client. According to the permit (via Buildzoom), Project Isabel is a 372,893 square foot data center with an administration building, parking garage, and generator yard valued at $50,720,906....

ALERT: Ignore previous records; ignore previous records – the iPhone this weekend achieved the new record of approving over 100,000 apps for sale through the App Store. That’s another 15,000 applications since Apple last confirmed how many software titles it is making available through the store, and confirms the velocity with which developers are throwing titles at the company’s next-gen mobile devices. As reported by AppShopper, there were 101,561 approved apps, though availability of these varies by territory and just 92,870 of them are currently available through the App Store....

With the recent success of Eddie Murphy’s brilliant Rudy Ray Moore biopic Dolemite is My Name, Netflix has confidently decided to announced another sequel to Murphy’s flagship franchise, Beverly Hills Cop. A fourth movie in the adventures of Detroit’s most charismatic detective, Axel Foley, has been in and out of development for years. Murphy has always remained committed to one day making another movie, and it seems that now, as he returns to standup and receives awards buzz for his recent turn in Dolemite, is the perfect time....

– Mobile usage is up approximately 20% worldwide – Facebook engagement is DOUBLE what it was this time last year, with over 14 billion posts engaged with – Engagement for Facebook pages is up more than 70% vs this time last year Who is Facebook Autoposting available to? Facebook Autoposting is available on the desktop to all of our paid Plann’rs right now. If you’re a paying member, we’ve automatically added the new social media platform to your Plann workspace at no extra cost....

Alongside the iOS 7 beta 4 and iTunes 11.1 with iTunes Radio betas, Apple has provided developers with a new Apple TV OS 5.4 seed. Below are the release notes. Thanks to everyone who sent this in. A tipster sent in the video below showing that iTunes music purchasing has returned in the latest beta, a feature that was only available on the first generation Apple TV: Fixed in Seed 3...

Earlier today Facebook unveiled a dedicated website for its Messenger service, accompanying dedicated apps for the iPhone and iPad. Now, however, a third-party developer has taken that newly unveiled web interface and put it into a dedicated OS X desktop app. The app is still in its early stages, but most of the base functionalities of Messenger are there. The interface is nearly identical to what you would find on Messenger....

As its relationship with Qualcomm continues to strain, Apple is looking to move away from the chipmaker entirely as an iPhone supplier. A new report from Fast Company today, however, says Apple won’t be able to ditch Qualcomm entirely this year… The report, citing “a source with knowledge of Apple’s plans,” says that Apple currently plans for Intel to supply 70 percent of modems for this year’s new iPhone models. Qualcomm is said to make up the remaining 30 percent....

A dedicated Store button has begun appearing in the Newsstand app to some iPad owners with iOS 5 GM installed. Clicking the button brings up a new iTunes section listing all digital magazines that have been updated for Newsstand. This is a built-in store in much the same way the iBookstore is integrated right within the app. You can filter the list by Featured or Release Date. The initial selection included about 120 digital publications optimized for Newsstand at press time....

Netflix’s Living With Yourself sees Paul Rudd playing a dual role in as, well, himself. The premise is that Miles Elliot (Rudd) is a depressed man who, desperate to improve his life and find happiness, undergoes a treatment at a spa that promises him a better life. Only he discovers that he has been replaced by a clone of himself. The originals are usually killed and buried, but due to some technical difficulties and malfunctioning equipment, the real Miles survives and digs himself out a grave, only to discover this weird predicament....

Netflix releases the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power season 4 trailer and posters ahead of its debut on November 5. The reboot of the ‘80s series sees teenage warrior Adora defect from the megalomaniacal Horde after discovering a magic sword that transforms her into the titular mythic hero, and subsequently joins the rebellion to save the world of Etheria from evil domination. Netflix’s She-Ra season 3 of the decidedly LGBT-oriented show ended with Queen Angella sacrificing herself to save everyone from being trapped in a collapsing alternate reality, and season 4 will show us Glimmer as Queen of Bright Moon and leader of the Rebellion....

Warning: Mild SPOILERS for The I-Land ahead. Netflix’s new sci-fi series The I-Land looks like a ripoff of ABC’s long-running series Lost… and that’s because it basically is. Written and directed by Neil LaBute (The Wicker Man), The I-Land is about a group of ten strangers who wake up on the beach of a deserted island, and must work together to try and figure out why they are there, and how to escape....

Warning: the following contains spoilers for Triple Frontier. On its surface a straightforward heist movie featuring some ex-special forces members on a quest for cash gone wrong, but Triple Frontier’s ending, it’s clear there’s more to the movie than just a classic daring crime. A simple job goes wrong and the characters are forced to make adjustments and cross lines as they fight to keep their lives and their stolen cash....

Ever wanted to get a better idea of what a place looks like from the air but you lack the money to charter a private helicopter? That’s no problem with Google Maps’ latest update, Earth view. Now you can see all of the data from the Google Earth application in your web browser. All it takes is a little plugin. To try it out you’ll need to install the Google Earth Plugin for your web browser....

There’s been talk this morning that Apple is “preparing [an] overhaul of its online store.” This is based off a banner that says a “new Apple Store is launching very soon.” The fact is that this new online store has nothing to do with the Apple Online Store that each of us run to whenever a new product is announced. This online store is more of an internal environment for educational institutions and Apple authorized resellers to buy more product for their students and store customers, respectively....

Mac security researchers have found two separate instances of new macOS malware making the rounds this week, although the Mac exploit scene still remains far behind the sophisticated worms and trojan horses seen on Windows as noted by ArsTechnica. One of the new malware exploits relies on an old Windows technique, exploiting code execution inside Word documents using macros. It is believed to be the first of its kind targeted at the Mac platform....

A new trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was shown during Sony’s State of Play event and it has some of the most impressive graphics of any recent title, to the point where it may have upstaged the new footage that was shown of The Last of Us Part II. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is an upcoming entry in the famous first-person shooter series, and it’s set to launch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in October....

A new poster for the upcoming New Mutants film, featuring the main cast, has been released and it shows Disney’s new marketing designs are darker and much improved from Fox’s. The film, originally a Fox production, is now being released by Disney after the big acquisition. It’s well on its way to its premiere and wide release, and reports say that both Marvel and the cast and team behind the movie are proud of the final product....

Philips seems to be aiming to move on from just selling bulbs to go into other people’s lights to selling you entire light fixtures. Two of the new Hue products were already leaked – a bathroom mirror and an outdoor lightstrip – but the company kept the rest under wraps until today … The Verge got an early look at the range, which comprises: Being pendant light: $250 Enchant pendant light: $100 Ascend pendant light: $150 Ascend wall light: $100 Ascend table light: $130 Ascend floor lamp: $180 Adore vanity mirror: $250 Adore bathroom ceiling light: $180 Outdoor lightstrip: $90 for 7 feet, $160 for 16 feet Philips doesn’t quite seem to be ready for their launch – at the time of writing, several images were broken on the company’s website – but from a mix of these and Verge shots, you can see a slideshow below....

The iPhone X goes up for pre-order this week with its all-new bezel and notch design, and now a fresh set of renders imagines if Apple brought that same design to its other products. From Curved.de, the renders showcase what the iMac, MacBook Pro, iPad, and Apple Watch could all look like in the future… We’d previously seen renders of the iPhone SE adopting the notch design, but these take it a step farther....