Apple introduces watchOS 5

Kevin Lynch from the watchOS team introduced the next version of watchOS at Apple’s WWDC keynote. It’s been a slow and steady rise for the Apple Watch. It’s by far the most popular smart watch, and it’s becoming slightly more useful every year.

This year is no different. There’s a new workout type for yoga, another one for hiking. You can now challenge your friends for a 7-day competition.

But I’m even more excited about automatic workout detection. If you grab your bike and your heart start beating more rapidly, your Apple Watch will track your workout automatically. You’ll also get notifications to end a workout.

As rumored, Apple is introducing a new Walkie-Talkie app for Apple Watch users. You press to record a message, release to send it. Your friend will receive a notification. That could open up interesting professional use cases. Cellular Apple Watches make this feature more useful too.

The Siri watch face is getting more integrations thanks to Siri shortcuts. You can receive a Citymapper suggestion for instance.

When it comes to the actual voice assistant, you won’t need to say “Hey Siri” anymore. You can just raise your wrist and start talking.

Apple has ported WebKit to watchOS, which opens up a lot of possibilities. You can view web content from your watch. Apple is adding native podcast support and background audio on the Apple Watch too.

Overall, Apple tackled a lot of low hanging fruits. But it’s a compelling pitch and makes the Apple Watch more essential than ever.

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Apple is adding group FaceTime video calls to iOS 12

Apple is adding the ability to FaceTime more people onto a video call, allowing more than a dozen people to be on the call — and tapping an increasing interest in group video calling stemming from apps like Houseparty

The app spreads out each stream as a series of tiles that will move around based on who is engaging on the call at the time. When someone speaks, the tile automatically gets larger automatically as a way to try to highlight whoever is talking to create a more robust experience. The whole goal is to try to make it easier to video call with a lot of different people all at once in a way that still feels pretty social.

As far as features go, this was a pretty natural addition to the FaceTime App. Houseparty exposed a lot of interest in this area, allowing multiple friends to spin up a video chat. But it’s also a technically strenuous proposition, and Apple does seem uniquely positioned to absorb the technical overhead (and costs) of running multiple FaceTime streams all at once.

Houseparty, for example, sits at around #10 on the App Store for the social category and still a top-200 app, according to App Annie. It has a 4.4-star rating in the App Store and was last updated at the beginning of June, according to the App Store. So it’s still chugging along, though it does seem like Apple may nullify an app like Houseparty if it hasn’t locked in a huge and engaged fan base.

The next version of iOS tends to come out around the time of the next Apple event, which usually happens around September. Apple announced a stream of updates to iOS in its next version, iOS 12, including FaceTime group chats.

 

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With iOS 12, Apple focuses on performance

Apple’s Craig Federighi announced that Apple was doubling down on performance with the upcoming release of iOS 12 at the WWDC event in San Jose, Calif. today.

What’s more, he said, the company would be making these changes to the full range of iOS devices going back to 2013. “And so for iOS 12, we are doubling down on performance from top to bottom making improvements to make your device faster and more responsive. And because we want these changes to be available the full range of our customers, iOS 12 will be available on all the same devices as iOS 11,” Federighi told the WWDC audience.

Perhaps because customers were unhappy to learn about the battery issues with older iOS devices Federighi stressed that Apple has focussed these performance increases on older devices, giving people with older iPhones, the maximum lift. Using the iPhone 6 as an example, he gave some figures about performance increase, stressing that it was still early days. (As an iPhone 6 user, I was listening carefully.)

“Now on that device, iOS delivers a number of improvements. Across common operations you’ll see that apps launch up to 40% faster, the keyboard can come up to 50% faster and you can slide to take a photo at up to 70% faster,” he said.

But he said, the biggest focus, and one all iPhone users can appreciate, is that they are working to optimize performance when it’s under load. As Federighi said that’s when you need performance the most and where iOS 12 really shines.

“We put iOS 12 through our stress tests and we saw in those conditions share sheet coming up twice as fast, and apps launching twice as fast. These are big, big improvements,” he stressed.

Lastly, Apple also optimized iOS 12 at the chip level working with the chip team to optimize performance, while taking battery life into account. If you keep the power pedal to the metal for too long, you suck battery, but Apple is trying to find that perfect balance of power and battery life in iOS 12.

“CPUs traditionally respond to an increased demand for performance by slowly ramping up their clock speed. Well, now in iOS 12, we’re much smarter. When we detect that you need a performance lift when you’re scrolling and launching an app, we ramped up processor performance instantly to its highest state delivering high performance and a ramp it down just as fast to preserve battery life,” he said.

All of this will be available when iOS 12 is released later this year.

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Facebook’s latest privacy blunder has already attracted congressional ire

The news that Facebook offered to partners until just recently a form of the friend-scraping capability it claimed to have discontinued back in 2014 has, within hours, brought rebuke and a call to action from the House of Representatives.

“It’s deeply concerning that Facebook continues to withhold critical details about the information it has and shares with others. This is just the latest example of Facebook only coming forward when forced to do so by a media outlet,” reads a statement from Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ).

Indeed, the question of whether and how a user’s friends’ data was being shared with third parties was brought up during Zuckerberg’s testimony. It is, after all, likely that this is the vector by which millions of users’ data was exfiltrated by agents both malicious and benign.

Facebook says it “disagrees” with the New York Times’ criticisms of its device-integrated APIs

In the same line of thinking as “don’t talk to the cops,” the CEO was almost certainly instructed not to volunteer any disadvantageous information unless directly asked. Therefore, it should surprise no one that he failed to mention that there existed until quite recently a similar program allowing third parties to collect data on unsuspecting friends.

It’s telling of Facebook’s current predicament that before they can adequately answer some questions, even more arise.

“Our Committee is also still waiting for a lot of answers from Facebook to questions Mr. Zuckerberg could not or would not answer at our hearing,” Pallone said.

He also called for the FTC to get involved: “The Federal Trade Commission must conduct a full review to determine if the consent decree was violated.” I’ve asked if the Representative will be appealing to the FTC directly, and/or whether any existing investigation (the FTC is quiet about these) will be affected.

Pallone is just one among hundreds of senators and representatives, but he is one of the crew responsible for the pending Congressional Review Act rollback of the FCC’s new, weaker net neutrality rules. So it’s not a surprise to see him weigh in quickly on another tech issue. Here’s hoping it helps keep Facebook accountable.

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Apple introduces iOS 12

Apple announced the next version of iOS at its WWDC developer conference. While iOS 12 won’t be available before the fall, it’s always interesting to get a sneak peek at the next version of iOS.

Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi first talked about some numbers. 81 percent of iOS users are currently running iOS 11. 6 percent of Android users are currently on the last version.

“For iOS 12, we’re doubling down on performance,” Federighi said. iOS 12 is going to be available on all devices that currently support iOS 11.

It’s interesting the Federighi talked about iOS 12 on the iPhone 6 Plus. Apps launch 40 percent faster, the keyboard comes up 50 percent faster and opening the camera is 70 percent faster.

You get the idea, the big new feature of iOS 12 is performance and optimization.

But it doesn’t mean that Apple didn’t think about new features. Apple has created a new file format for augmented reality called USDZ. Adobe CTO Abhay Parasnis talked for a couple of minutes to announce that Adobe apps are going to support USDZ.

Apple is launching a new app to educate people about augmented reality. This app is called Measure and works pretty much like popular third-party app MeasureKit. While Apple says USDZ is a file format for augmented reality, Federighi also showed a USDZ 3D file in the middle of an Apple News article.

And the company is also updating ARKit with multiplayer augmented reality. You can get the same augmented reality experience with multiple devices.

This is a developing post, please refresh for updates.

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Apple introduces iOS 12

Apple announced the next version of iOS at its WWDC developer conference. While iOS 12 won’t be available before the fall, it’s always interesting to get a sneak peek at the next version of iOS.

Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi first talked about some numbers. 81 percent of iOS users are currently running iOS 11. 6 percent of Android users are currently on the last version.

“For iOS 12, we’re doubling down on performance,” Federighi said. iOS 12 is going to be available on all devices that currently support iOS 11.

It’s interesting the Federighi talked about iOS 12 on the iPhone 6 Plus. Apps launch 40 percent faster, the keyboard comes up 50 percent faster and opening the camera is 70 percent faster.

You get the idea, the big new feature of iOS 12 is performance and optimization.

But it doesn’t mean that Apple didn’t think about new features. Apple has created a new file format for augmented reality called USDZ. Adobe CTO Abhay Parasnis talked for a couple of minutes to announce that Adobe apps are going to support USDZ.

This is a developing post, please refresh for updates.

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Google’s Hangouts Meet will soon be compatible with hardware from Polycom and Cisco

G Suite is about to get a slew of new integrations.

Hangouts Meet, for example, is Google’s designated video conferencing solution for businesses but while it’s easy enough to use, most businesses have already invested in similar solutions from the likes of Polycom and Cisco — or they have opted for Microsoft’s Skype for Business as their go-to service. Soon, however, businesses will get more options as Google today announced that anyone on those systems will now be able to join a Hangouts Meet video call as well. These integrations will go live in the coming weeks.

“Nothing’s more frustrating than hosting a meeting and having trouble getting people to join because of issues with technology—it can interrupt workflows and slow down productivity,” Rany Ng, Google’s director of product management for G Suite, writes in today’s announcement. “We want to make it easier for businesses to use meeting solutions, like Hangouts Meet, without worrying about compatibility with existing equipment.”

Google built this project in partnership with Pexip, a company that specialized in making meeting platform interoperable. Pexip’s specialty is Skype for Business but for this product, the company is clearly branching out and adding support for Hangouts Meet, too.

In addition to allowing users from more hardware platforms to join Meet calls, Google also today announced that it is making it easier for third-party conferencing services to integrate their services deeper into Google Calendar. So if you are using Webex, for example, you’ll be able to join a Webex call right from Calendar with just a single click. Google says Arkadin, GoToMeeting, LogMeIn, Dialpad, RingCentral, Vidyo and Vonage are currently building similar calendar plugins for their users.

And if you need a room to take those calls, Google also today announced that it is making it easier to view and book rooms that are stored in Exchange and Office 365 in Google Calendar. This integration will only go live in a few months, though.

That’s not all of the integration news today, though. Google is also making it easier to import data from SAP’s enterprise resource planning tools into Google Sheets and analyze it there.

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Live from Apple’s WWDC 2018 keynote

It’s that time again. This morning kicks off Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference. It’s a week of programming focused on developers, but this morning’s big event has a little something for everyone. Here’s a quick break down of what we can likely expect when Tim Cook takes the stage this morning.

The keynote will most likely be focused on announcements surrounding iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 — in fact, we got a bit of a preview of the latter over the weekend. WatchOS and HomeKit will probably get some love, as well, along with ARKit, which took center stage at the event, this time last year.

As for hardware — expect Apple to throw us a couple of bones on that front, as well — though the really big announcements around iPhone, iPad and the like, are probably being saved for another day. Beyond that, the sky — or the San Jose Convention Center ceiling, at least — is the limit.

We’ll see you right here at 10AM PT/1PM ET/5PM GMT

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How to watch the live stream for today’s Apple WWDC keynote

Apple is holding a keynote today at the San Jose Convention Center, and the company is expected to unveil new updates for iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS and maybe also some new hardware. At 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris), you’ll be able to watch the event as the company is streaming it live.

Apple is likely to talk about some new features for all its software platforms — WWDC is a developer conference after all. Rumor has it that Apple could also unveil some MacBook Pro update with new Intel processors.

If you have the most recent Apple TV, you can download the Apple Events app in the App Store. It lets you stream today’s event and rewatch old events. Users with old Apple TVs can simply turn on their devices. Apple is pushing out the “Apple Events” channel so that you can watch the event.

And if you don’t have an Apple TV, the company also lets you live-stream the event from the Apple Events section on its website. This video feed works in Safari and Microsoft Edge. And for the first time, Apple says that the video should also work in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

So to recap, here’s how you can watch today’s Apple event:

• Safari on the Mac or iOS.
• Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
• Maybe Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
• An Apple TV gen 4 with the Apple Events app in the App Store.
• An Apple TV gen 2 or 3, with the Apple Events channel that arrives automatically right before the event.

Of course, you also can read TechCrunch’s live blog if you’re stuck at work and really need our entertaining commentary track to help you get through your day. We have a big team in the room this year.

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How to watch the live stream for today’s Apple WWDC keynote

Apple is holding a keynote today at the San Jose Convention Center, and the company is expected to unveil new updates for iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS and maybe also some new hardware. At 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris), you’ll be able to watch the event as the company is streaming it live.

Apple is likely to talk about some new features for all its software platforms — WWDC is a developer conference after all. Rumor has it that Apple could also unveil some MacBook Pro update with new Intel processors.

If you have the most recent Apple TV, you can download the Apple Events app in the App Store. It lets you stream today’s event and rewatch old events. Users with old Apple TVs can simply turn on their devices. Apple is pushing out the “Apple Events” channel so that you can watch the event.

And if you don’t have an Apple TV, the company also lets you live-stream the event from the Apple Events section on its website. This video feed works in Safari and Microsoft Edge. And for the first time, Apple says that the video should also work in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

So to recap, here’s how you can watch today’s Apple event:

• Safari on the Mac or iOS.
• Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
• Maybe Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
• An Apple TV gen 4 with the Apple Events app in the App Store.
• An Apple TV gen 2 or 3, with the Apple Events channel that arrives automatically right before the event.

Of course, you also can read TechCrunch’s live blog if you’re stuck at work and really need our entertaining commentary track to help you get through your day. We have a big team in the room this year.

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The 101 Most Useful Websites on the Internet

Here are the most useful websites on the Internet that will make you smarter, increase productivity and help you learn new skills. These incredibly useful websites solve at least one problem really well. And they all have cool URLs that are easy to memorize thus saving you a trip to Google.  

The Most Useful Websites and Web Apps

1. archive.is — take a snapshot of any web page and it will be exist forever even if the original page is gone.
2. autodraw.com — create freehand doodles and watch them magically transform into beautiful drawings powered by maching learning.
3. fast.com — check the current speed of your Internet connection.
4. slides.com — create pixel-perfect slide decks and broadcast your presentations to an audience of any size from anywhere.
5. screenshot.guru — take high-resolution screenshots of web pages on mobile and desktops.
6. dictation.io – accurate and quick voice recognition in your browser itself.
7. reverse.photos — upload an image and find similar pictures on the web.
8. copychar.cc – copy special characters and emojis that aren’t on your keyboard.
9. codeacademy.com – the best place to learn coding online.
10. noisli.com — ambient noises to help you improve focus and boost productivity.
11. iconfinder.com – millions of icons for all kinds of projects. Also try icons8.com and flaticon.com.
12. jotti.org – scan any suspicious file or email attachment for viruses.
13. wolframalpha.com – gets answers directly without searching   – see more wolfram tips.
14. flightstats.com – track flight status at airports worldwide.
15. unsplash.com – the best place to download images absolutely free.
16. videos.pexels.com — an online library of free HD videos you can use everywhere. Also see videvo.net.

    Also see: The Best Android Apps

17. everytimezone.com – a less confusing view of the world time zones.
18. e.ggtimer.com – a simple online timer for your daily needs.
19. random.org – pick random numbers, flip coins, and more.
20. earn.com — replace your email with a mailbox that pays when you reply to someone’s email.
21. myfonts.com/WhatTheFont – upload an image of any text and quickly determine the font family.
22. fonts.google.com – the best collection of open source fonts that you can use anywhere without restrictions.
23. fontstruct.com — draw and build your own fonts and use them in any application.
24. calligraphr.com — transform your handwriting into a real font.
25. regex.info – find data hidden in your photographs – see more EXIF tools.
26. youtube.com/webcam — broadcast yourself live over the Internet without any complicated setup.
27. remotedesktop.google.com — access other computers or allow others to remote access your computer over the Internet.
28. homestyler.com – design from scratch or re-model your home in 3D.
29. pdfescape.com – lets you quickly edit PDF in the browser without Acrobat.
30. draw.io – create diagrams, wireframe and flowcharts in the browser.
31. web.skype.com — make voice and video calls in your browser with Skype.
32. onlineocr.net – recognize text from scanned PDFs – see other OCR tools.
33. wetransfer.com – for sharing really big files online.
34. file.pizza — peer to peer file transfer over WebRTC without any middleman.
35. snapdrop.com — like Apple AirDrop but for the web. Share files directly between devices in the same network without having to upload them to any server first.
36. hundredzeros.com – the site lets you download free Kindle books.
37. app.grammarly.com — check your writing for spelling, style, andgrammatical errors.
38. noteflight.com – print music sheets, write your own music online ( review).
39. translate.google.com – translate web pages, PDFs and Office documents.
40. kleki.com – create paintings and sketches with a wide variety of brushes.
41. similarsites.com – discover new sites that are similar to what you like already.
42. bubbl.us – create mind-maps, brainstorm ideas in the browser.
43. color.adobe.com – get color ideas, also extract colors from photographs.
44. canva.com — make beautiful graphics, presentations, resumes and more with readymade template designs.
45. lmgtfy.com – when your friends are too lazy to use Google on their own.
46. midomi.com – when you need to find the name of a song.
47. history.google.com —  see all your past Google searches, also among most important Google URLs
48. faxzero.com – send an online fax for free – see more fax services.
49. tinychat.com – setup your own private chat room in micro-seconds.
50. privnote.com – create text notes that will self-destruct after being read.
51. domains.google.com – quickly search domain names for your next big idea!
52. downforeveryoneorjustme.com – find if your favorite website is offline or not?
53. gtmetrix.com – the perfect tool for measuring your site performance online.
54. builtwith.com — find the web hosting company, email provider and everything else about a website.
55. urbandictionary.com – find definitions of slangs and informal words.

    Also see: The Best Mac Apps and Utilities

56. seatguru.com – consult this site before choosing a seat for your next flight.
57. flightstats.com – Track flight status at airports worldwide.
58. mymaps.google.com – create custom Google Maps with scribbles, pins and custom shapes.
59. snopes.com – find if that email offer you received is real or just another scam.
60. typingweb.com – master touch-typing with these practice sessions.
61. todo.microsoft.com — a beautiful todo app and task manager. Also see Trello.
62. minutes.io – quickly capture effective notes during meetings.
63. talltweets.com — Turn Google Slides in animated GIF presentations.
64. ifttt.com – create a connection between all your online accounts.
65. namechk.com — search for your desired username across hundreds of social networks and domain names.
66. gist.github.com — create anonymous and secret text notes and much more.
67. flipanim.com — create flipbook animations, includes an onion skin tool to let you see the previous frame as you draw the next one.
68. powtoon.com — create engaging whiteboard videos and presentations with your own voiceovers. Also see videoscribe.co.
69. clyp.it — Record your own voice or upload an audio file without creating any account. Also see soundcloud.com.
70. carrd.co — build one-page fully responsive websites that look good on every screen.
71. spark.adobe.com — make stunning video presentations with voice narration and wow everyone.
72. anchor.fm — the easiest way to record a podcast that you can distribute on iTunes without have to pay for hosting.
73. duolingo.com — learn to speak Chinese, French, Spanish or any other language of your choice.
74. webmakerapp.com — an offline playground for building web projects in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
75. pixton.com — create your own comic strips with your own characters and move them into any pose.
76. designer.io — a full-featured vector drawing tool that works everywhere.
77. sumopaint.com – an excellent layer-based online image editor.
78. vectr.com — create vector graphics and export them as SVG or PNG files.
79. twitterbots — create your own Twitter bots that can auto-reply, DM, follow people and more.
80. headspace.com —  learn the art of meditation and reduct stress, focus more and even sleep better.
81. class-central.com — a directory of free online courses offered by universities worldwide.
82. googleartproject.com — discover museums, famous paintings and art treasure from all around the world.
83. instructables.com — step-by-step guides on how to build anything and everything.
84. flowgram.com — make data-driven graphics, charts and infographics. Also see adioma.com and eas.ly.
85. marvelapp.com — create interactive wireframes and product mockups.
86. slide.ly — make marketing videos and branded stories for Instagram, Facebook and YouTube trailers. Also see animoto.com and biteable.com.
87. gohighbrow.com — Take bite-sized courses on a variety of topics, chapters are delivered by email every monning.
88. htmlmail.pro – send rich-text emails with gmail mail merge.
89. wirecutter.com — whether you need a vacuum cleaner or an SD card, this is the best product recommendation website on the Internet.
90. camelcamelcamel.com — Create Amazon price watches and get email alerts when the prices drop.
91. mockaroo.com — download mock data to fill the rows in your Excel spreadsheet.
92. asciiflow.com — a WYSIWYG editor to draw ASCII diagrams that you can embed in emails and tweets.

    Also see: The Best Add-ons for Gmail, Docs and Sheets

93. buffer.com — the easily way to post and schedule updates on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook.
94. 10minutemail.com — create disposable email addresses for putting inside sign-up forms.
95. whereami — find the postal address of your current location on Google maps.
96. sway.com — create and share interactive reports, newsletters, presentations, and for storytelling.

    Also see: The Best Websites to Learn Coding

97. apify.com — the perfect web scraping tool that lets you extract data from nearly any website.
98. thunkable.com — build your own apps for Android and iOS by dragging blocks instead of writing code. Also see: glitch.com.
99. zerodollarmovies.com — a huge collection of free movies curated from YouTube.
100. upwork.com — find freelancers and subject experts to work on any kind of project.
101. duckduckgo.com – a clean alternative to google search that doesn’t track you on the Internet.

Know any useful website that is missing in the list? Please let me know via @twitter or send an email.

The post The 101 Most Useful Websites on the Internet appeared first on Digital Inspiration.

This DIY smart mirror is small, stunning and full of features

Several years ago Google X engineer Max Braun published a medium post on a smart mirror he made and now he’s back with a new version that’s smaller and smarter. This is a smart mirror I can get behind though I still find smart mirrors completely frivolous.

He published his project on Medium where he explains the process and the parts a person would need to build their own. This isn’t a project for everyone, but Max gives enough instructions that most enterprising builders should be able to hack something similar together.

I recently reviewed a smart mirror and found it a bit silly but still useful. Ideally, like in Max’s smart mirrors, the software is passive and always available. Users shouldn’t have to think about interacting with the devices; the right information should be displayed automatically. It’s a balancing act.

At this point, smart mirrors are little more than Android tablets placed behind a two-way mirror. Retail models are expensive to be buy and hardly worth it since a person’s phone or voice assistant can probably provide the same information. After all, how many devices does a person really need to tell them the weather forecast?

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This DIY smart mirror is small, stunning and full of features

Several years ago Google X engineer Max Braun published a medium post on a smart mirror he made and now he’s back with a new version that’s smaller and smarter. This is a smart mirror I can get behind though I still find smart mirrors completely frivolous.

He published his project on Medium where he explains the process and the parts a person would need to build their own. This isn’t a project for everyone, but Max gives enough instructions that most enterprising builders should be able to hack something similar together.

I recently reviewed a smart mirror and found it a bit silly but still useful. Ideally, like in Max’s smart mirrors, the software is passive and always available. Users shouldn’t have to think about interacting with the devices; the right information should be displayed automatically. It’s a balancing act.

At this point, smart mirrors are little more than Android tablets placed behind a two-way mirror. Retail models are expensive to be buy and hardly worth it since a person’s phone or voice assistant can probably provide the same information. After all, how many devices does a person really need to tell them the weather forecast?

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LeBron James and Stephen Curry

LeBron James and Stephen Curry