The U.S. and its territories have been ravaged by storms in the past month.
Maria, which destroyed Puerto Rico, has left 1.5 million American citizens without access to drinking water, while in Houston, the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey is still being felt. And Florida residents are breathing a sigh of relief that the damage from Hurricane Irma wasn’t worse.
Tech companies, quick to… Read More
So Amazon announced a smart alarm clock today, the $130 Echo Spot. It works like a smaller Echo Show, allowing you to make calls, including video calls, listen to music, and much more. It’s basically like a modern-day Chumby, said one TechCrunch reporter who has clearly been writing about gadgets for far too long to remember such a thing. Well, I would very much like an Echo Spot, but… Read More
Malicious hackers and security breaches that have exposed personal information of millions of people have pushed the issue of online security into the spotlight, not just for individuals but for organizations that do business with them. Now a company called Onfido, which has built a way to help websites verify people’s identities using a photo-based identity document, a selfie and… Read More
Tech companies — and the nation — have been slow to mobilize in response to the devastation wrought by last week’s catastrophic Hurricane Maria that decimated Puerto Rico, but today Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg detailed the company’s response. Read More
The message of today’s big Amazon event was pretty clear: Echos for everyone, for every need in every room of every home. The company clearly has no desire to create one device to rule them all. Instead, it’s building out micro functionality, with every product designed to target different needs for different users. Read More
At this year’s International Astronautical Congress, NASA and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, signed a joint statement expressing their intent to work collaboratively toward the development of a space station further out from Earth, orbiting the Moon, as a staging point for both lunar surface exploration and deeper space science. Read More
What a country some of us live in. Earlier this morning, President Donald Trump said Facebook “was always anti-Trump.” Now, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has responded, posting on Facebook that the point of Facebook is to “give all people a voice and create a platform for all ideas.” Read More
Amazon launched so much new stuff today that I can’t even remember what they all are (there might’ve been a fish in there, even), but there was a glaring omission in the slate of reveals: The Kindle. Amazon’s e-reader has a long and successful track record, with each successive model and iteration bringing some nice changes to the table, but the last big change came out in June. Read More
Along with Amazon’s numerous Echo-related announcements today regarding new devices, the company also said it would soon be extending and improving its hands-free TV viewing experience to a range of video partners, including big names in streaming services like Hulu, PlayStation Vue, CBS All Access, Showtime and others. Prior to now, Amazon had been working on making Alexa a… Read More
Equifax is not only in deep for a class-action lawsuit over a breach exposing 143 million U.S. citizen’s Social Security numbers and a subpoena in New York, it’s now being sued by the city of San Francisco. S.F. City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed the lawsuit against the credit reporting agency in San Francisco Superior Court. Read More
In a day full of Echo announcements, the Echo Button was a clear standout. Not because it was a better or more useful product than the rest, but because it’s just damn weird. Where most of what the company announced today was some iteration of an existing product line (be it the Echo or Fire TV), the Button is a strange, left field offering with a limited case use. Read More
Today, Amazon threw a lot of darts at the smart speaker board with new product offerings that are seeking to explore what smart speakers can even do. A report also emerged today from 9to5Google that Google is seeking to build a high-end “max” version of its Home speaker, news that comes just a week before the company is likely to show off a cheaper “mini” version of… Read More
Whether you call it fragmentation or flexibility, there are now seven Amazon Echo devices from which to choose. Today Amazon launched a slew of new smart home devices, so there’s one for every conceivable use case. That leaves competitor Google Home looking like a one-size-fits-none solution. Read More
Tesla talks a lot about safety, and rightfully so. They have beaten even the safest cars at their own game and thus have created a family brand in the process. In the spirit of safety and family, one of the major success stories that Tesla hasn’t brought to the forefront is that it could very well be the greatest family car since the modern-day station wagon. Read More
In the year of the $1000 iPhone Amazon just announced a scattering of new gadgets and none cost more than $150. Essentially, Amazon said “screws the margins” and are selling everything as cheap as possible. This race to the bottom is Amazon’s standard operating procedure. The company did it with Kindles e-readers and again with Kindle Fire tablets. The company releases a proof… Read More
Yesterday, Twitter announced it would for the first time expand the character count on its service from 140 characters to 280 – double the usual length. However, the functionality is still being tested with a small, randomized group of Twitter users at this time. That’s led some intrepid Twitter users and developers to figure out workarounds in order to tweet with 280 characters now. Read More
Amazon went above and beyond today in terms of launching stuff – it debuted not one, not two, but six brand new devices at an event held at its HQ. One of the most interesting things it did today was not any particular piece of hardware it designed or built – but the way it’s selling the Echo Plus, the version of its Echo smart speaker with an integrated smart home hub. The… Read More
Which Amazon Echo is right for you? The new Echo 2, Plus, Spot, Connect and Buttons, or the existing Dot, Show or Look? This handy chart lets you compare the functionality and pricing of Amazon’s entire Echo line that got several new additions today at a big launch event.
Though Amazon has traded simplicity for flexibility, the Amazon Echo sh*tshow makes Google Home look like… Read More
As part of its iPhone unveil earlier this month, Apple also announced a new 4K Apple TV and topped it all off with $20 price tags for 4K HDR titles. In fact, Apple promised to automatically upgrade previously purchased films to 4K for no extra charge. Now, it’s looking like Google may be following Apple’s lead, with some new UHD films on Play Movies priced at $19.99. Android Police… Read More
Amazon held an event in Seattle today, and the announcements were non-stop. From a new high-end Echo to talking fish, they had all sorts of stuff to show.
Don’t have time to catch up on all of it? That’s okay. We’ve put it all in one quick, easy-to-digest place. For you. Because we care. Read More
