The Verge - Inside the first Code Conference: tech's heavyweights go off-scripthttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52801/VER_Logomark_32x32..png2014-05-29T11:00:13-04:00http://www.theverge.com/rss/stream/55233512014-05-29T11:00:13-04:002014-05-29T11:00:13-04:00I love America, and I want to buy T-Mobile
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7AMq649H-WHqKpJcGJOvHKLoxuk=/0x0:1019x679/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33644995/DSC02154.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>"The American dream, the entrepreneurship, the passion, all those things, the hope that I got, I’d like to pay back. It is a bet in my heart that I have to pay back," Masayoshi Son said before an audience gathered at the US Chamber of Commerce in March. "I think America deserves the No. 1 position… because America is the best role model."</p>
<p>You could almost hear <em>America the Beautiful</em> playing in the background while bald eagles majestically landed on Son’s shoulders, tears of patriotic pride running down their feathered faces.</p>
<p>Just months into his ownership of America’s third-largest wireless company, Sprint, Son had to be feeling good about the stake he’d claimed. But his stirring words weren’t really about his own American success story...</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/29/5761020/i-love-america-and-i-want-to-buy-t-mobile">Continue reading…</a>
</p>
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/29/5761020/i-love-america-and-i-want-to-buy-t-mobileChris Ziegler2014-05-29T00:22:51-04:002014-05-29T00:22:51-04:00Apple's Eddy Cue touts 'best product pipeline' in 25 years coming this year
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iczbmnI6HUiG4NuZLfrpjvSLS84=/4x0:1095x727/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33633053/DSC_0133.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>Apple's iCloud and iTunes chief Eddy Cue says the products the company plans to show off later this year are the best he's seen in 25 years.</p>
<p>"Later this year, we've got the best product pipeline that I've seen in my 25 years at Apple," Cue said at the Code Conference, which is taking place this week in California. Cue appeared on stage with Jimmy Iovine, who cofounded Beats and <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/28/5759018/dr-dre-and-jimmy-iovines-titles-at-apple-will-simply-be-jimmy-and-dre">is joining Apple</a> as part of its purchase of the music software and hardware company.</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/29/5759262/apples-cue-weve-got-the-best-product-pipeline-in-25-years">Continue reading…</a>
</p>
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/29/5759262/apples-cue-weve-got-the-best-product-pipeline-in-25-yearsJosh Lowensohn2014-05-29T00:07:55-04:002014-05-29T00:07:55-04:00Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine thinks Apple's earbuds are bad
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LentR0y_iwhF6kj50L710QkHA0k=/4x0:1095x727/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33632253/DSC_0161.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine isn't a fan of Apple's iconic white earbuds. <a target="_blank" href="http://live.theverge.com/apple-beats-eddy-cue-jimmy-iovine-codecon/">On stage at Code Conference</a> minutes ago, Iovine had harsh words for the pack-ins, saying that Apple — the company he will soon work for — makes them simply "to make sure the machine [iPhone] works." But he wasn't done there. "You listen to <i>Apocalypse Now</i>, and the helicopter sounds like a mosquito," he added. Iovine thinks Beats has done better than Apple (and every other headphone manufacturer) in this department. "We turned an entire generation on to audio," he proudly proclaimed. Putting sound quality aside, Beats' sales numbers and the prevalence of red headphone cables on every street corner both suggest he's not wrong.</p>
<p>Apple SVP Eddy Cue, who also appeared...</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/29/5760158/beats-jimmy-iovine-thinks-apple-earbuds-are-bad">Continue reading…</a>
</p>
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/29/5760158/beats-jimmy-iovine-thinks-apple-earbuds-are-badChris Welch2014-05-28T15:52:52-04:002014-05-28T15:52:52-04:00Uber will eventually replace all its drivers with self-driving cars
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/n2k0Syf80pfyquTjzu0xozriYAw=/0x17:560x390/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33613753/uber_iphones_560.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>Uber will eventually replace the people who drive its cars with cars that drive themselves, CEO Travis Kalanick said today at the Code Conference. A day after <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/27/5756436/this-is-googles-own-self-driving-car">Google unveiled the prototype</a> for its own driverless vehicle, Kalanick was visibly excited at the prospect of developing a fleet of driverless vehicles, which he said would make car ownership rare. "The reason Uber could be expensive is because you're not just paying for the car — you're paying for the other dude in the car," Kalanick said. "When there's no other dude in the car, the cost of taking an Uber anywhere becomes cheaper than owning a vehicle. So the magic there is, you basically bring the cost below the cost of ownership for everybody, and then car ownership goes away."</p>
...
<p>
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/28/5758734/uber-will-eventually-replace-all-its-drivers-with-self-driving-cars">Continue reading…</a>
</p>
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/28/5758734/uber-will-eventually-replace-all-its-drivers-with-self-driving-carsCasey Newton2014-05-28T00:21:59-04:002014-05-28T00:21:59-04:00Sergey Brin says he's 'kind of a weirdo' and shouldn't have worked on Google+
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/V130N9rt6s0wro9ROCYVFsT_Z9M=/0x0:640x427/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33583733/googleglassbrin.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>Google co-founder Sergey Brin said today that it was <a href="http://live.theverge.com/sergey-brin-live-code-conference/">"probably a mistake" for him to have worked on Google+ because he's "not a very social person." </a>Speaking at <i>Recode</i>'s Code Conference, Brin — who also called himself "kind of a weirdo" — acknowledged that he used Google+ to post pictures of his kids to his family, but suggested that any previous professional focus on the social network was misguided. "It was probably a mistake," he said, "for me to be working on anything tangentially related to social to begin with."</p>
<p>Brin, who co-founded Google with Larry Page in 1998, said his attention is now on his company's semi-secret skunkworks group, Google X. Google X is working on a range of projects, including a contact lens that <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/16/5317210/google-x-building-smart-contact-lens-to-measure-glucose-levels-for">measures...</a></p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/28/5756680/google-founder-sergey-brin-says-he-shouldnt-have-worked-on-google-plus">Continue reading…</a>
</p>
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/28/5756680/google-founder-sergey-brin-says-he-shouldnt-have-worked-on-google-plusRich McCormick2014-05-27T22:04:09-04:002014-05-27T22:04:09-04:00Google made a self-driving car, and it doesn't have a steering wheel
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/c17URgii-I0rROt8ZJLWflvjSN0=/0x0:2039x1359/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33580983/Google_Self-Driving_Prototype__1_.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>Google today <a target="_blank" href="http://live.theverge.com/sergey-brin-live-code-conference/">announced its own design for self-driving cars,</a> which will drive people around without a steering wheel or pedals. It's the latest project from Google X, the company's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_Works" target="_blank">skunkworks group</a> headed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/27/5756436/this-is-googles-own-self-driving-car">Continue reading…</a>
</p>
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/27/5756436/this-is-googles-own-self-driving-carJosh Lowensohn2014-05-27T21:05:56-04:002014-05-27T21:05:56-04:00Skype shown automatically translating multilingual voice calls
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JtvmUtG38vlaatYn9k9vLg-vA-E=/0x0:1019x679/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33578425/DSC00961.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>Microsoft's Skype will eventually be able to translate voice calls between people. In an on-stage demo at the Code conference today, Microsoft's CEO <a target="_blank" href="http://live.theverge.com/satya-nadella-live-code-conference/">Satya Nadella showed off Skype Translator,</a> an upcoming version of the service that is capable of translating voice conversation in "near real-time" using technology developed by the company's Skype and Translator teams. <span>With it, you can talk in your native language to another user who speaks a different language, and Microsoft will translate it to the other person.</span></p>
<p>"Ever since we started to speak, we wanted to cross the language boundary," Nadella said before showing off a development version of the software, which will be out in beta later this year and possibly as a commercial product...</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/27/5756166/microsofts-skype-translator-will-translate-voice-calls-on-the-fly">Continue reading…</a>
</p>
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/27/5756166/microsofts-skype-translator-will-translate-voice-calls-on-the-flyJosh Lowensohn2014-05-27T20:57:11-04:002014-05-27T20:57:11-04:00Microsoft's Nadella: Xbox isn't going anywhere
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PajrBFDGWEJxUIS2QcXZeZoJBGc=/0x0:1019x679/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33577295/DSC00951.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella says he has no plans to sell off the company's Xbox business, despite longtime urging from investors. Speaking at the Code Conference, taking place this week in Rancho Palos Verdes in California, Nadella said flat out that Xbox would be sticking around.</p>
<p>"I have no intent to do anything different with Xbox than we are doing today," Nadella told interviewers Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg.</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/27/5756062/microsofts-nadella-xbox-isnt-going-anywhere">Continue reading…</a>
</p>
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/27/5756062/microsofts-nadella-xbox-isnt-going-anywhereJosh Lowensohn