Alexa-controlled toilets are a thing in 2018 but cost thousands. An enterprising person can make their own by following these instructions. It takes a bit of work, multiple components and about $750 (plus the cost of the toilet) but the end result is a voice controlled toilet and everyone needs that in their life. The trick is buying a bidet that has an IR remote and then using a Adafruit… Read More
Thanks to online ratings, it’s easier than ever to know whether or not a movie is worth watching. A quick Google search brings up plenty of websites offering their opinions on the latest films. The three most popular are IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic. But how do these three sites differ, and which should you trust to get the skinny on movies? Here’s everything you need to know. IMDb The Internet Movie Database is a gigantic compendium of movies, TV shows, and video games. Its primary use is to find detailed information about any actor, producer, or piece of content....
Read the full article: IMDb vs. Rotten Tomatoes vs. Metacritic: Which Is Best?
Facebook Messenger now lets you add more people to a voice or video call without hanging up first. The new feature is available with the latest Android and iOS Messenger update. Read More
Do you have trouble staying focused? If the problem isn’t social media, it might be distracting noise. We’re going to show you various colors of noise that can help you improve your focus and productivity, plus a few tools you can use to create these supportive noises. What Is “Noise”? Our ears detect sounds when a change in pressure moves our eardrums. The sound also must fall within a certain frequency range. A tone has only one frequency or several related ones. In contrast, noise features hundreds or thousands of random frequencies in it. White noise may already be familiar:...
Read the full article: How to Stay Focused by Controlling the Noise Around You
Google is today unveiling a new ad unit for AdSense that taps into the company’s big push to add more artificial intelligence into its business, and to potentially bring on more publishers who might consider ramping up their advertising efforts but don’t have the time or other resources to manage them. Google is debuting “Auto Ads” — not commercials for cars, but… Read More
Facebook today took its latest step towards making good on paying out royalties to music rightsholders around tracks that are used across its multiple platforms and networks. The company has signed a deal with ICE Services — a licensing group and copyright database of some 31 million works that represents PRS in the UK, STIM in Sweden and GEMA in Germany — to provide music… Read More
Amazon Prime members get a few more goodies than others, and one of them is a perk you might not have come across yet: Amazon Prime Samples is a program that allows Prime members to try samples of products. It isn’t a way to get free stuff from Amazon, but the money-saving benefits are nice. What Are Amazon Prime Samples? Amazon Prime Samples is a risk-free way to try a new product without wasting too much money on it. You can buy a sample from anywhere between $2 and $4. These dollars work like a discount when you buy the full-sized product....
Read the full article: How to Try Samples of Amazon Items Before You Buy
If you’re writing up a long report in Microsoft Word and want to use simple dividers to split up the various sections for readability, all you have to do is type three hyphens and hit Enter for a long horizontal line to magically appear. But once it’s there, getting rid of it can prove challenging. You’d think using the Delete or Backspace keys would work, but that only works if you delete right after hitting Enter. Otherwise, you’re stuck with that line. How to Delete Horizontal Lines in Microsoft Word While you can’t use the Backspace key to get rid of...
Read the full article: How to Delete Horizontal Lines in Microsoft Word That Won’t Go Away
Twitter, which is constantly criticized for not doing enough to prevent harassment, has updated its guidelines with more information on how it handles tweets or accounts that encourage other people to hurt themselves or commit suicide. Read More
Snapchat is a funny beast. Some of its features remain hugely addictive, but the company is under pressure to innovate as services like Instagram and Facebook continue to pilfer its ideas. Furthermore, the user base isn’t happy. A recent redesign of the app disappointed many, with people demanding the company bring back the old layout. But based on what Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel said, it seems unlikely: “There is a strong likelihood that the redesign of our application will be disruptive to our business in the short term, and we don’t yet know how the behavior of our community will...
Read the full article: How to Delete Your Snapchat Account
You may remember last week that Boston Dynamics’ latest robot, a trim and yellow Spot Mini, has learned to open doors. Seems like at this point you don’t want to anger them. They will find you. Or rather, they’ll find the company’s designated robot abuser and punish him for stopping poor robots from doing what they have been told to do. Soon Spot Mini will not be the one… Read More
The FCC may be hard at work at “bridging the digital divide,” as Chairman Pai so frequently puts it, and the Connect America Fund II will help. But while the big players are setting up, people all over the U.S. are going without reliable internet. Mozilla and the National Science Foundation are awarding cash to projects that aim to connect those still waiting on the bandwidth we… Read More
The FCC may be hard at work at “bridging the digital divide,” as Chairman Pai so frequently puts it, and the Connect America Fund II will help. But while the big players are setting up, people all over the U.S. are going without reliable internet. Mozilla and the National Science Foundation are awarding cash to projects that aim to connect those still waiting on the bandwidth we… Read More
Google has quietly added a new feature to Chrome for Android. From v64 onwards, Chrome for Android has the ability to shorten the URLs you share with your friends. So you can now share a clean link without any of that unnecessary tracking information included. There are countless messaging apps available these days, and all of them offer ample opportunity for us to share URLs with our friends and family. Unfortunately, these links to websites and webpages often have extraneous information tacked onto the end. Removing the Fluff From URLs Starting with Chrome 64 on Android, Google is trying to...
Read the full article: Chrome Now Shortens Links You Share With Friends
There’s a vast amount of open-source software in the world. Likewise, there are a ton of games. But open source games? When it comes to developing interactive entertainment, people don’t seem so quick to want to share their code. That’s not to say there aren’t any open source games floating around the web. You’ll find quite a few. But there’s a drawback: many are clearly designed with multiplayer in mind. That’s understandable. Multiplayer games don’t require as much content in terms of characters, levels, cutscenes, and everything else that goes into making a single-player experience. For teams that are strapped...
Read the full article: 6 Free Open-Source Games for Great Single-Player Experiences
Live streaming is a popular trend in this age of social media, but not everyone can be a YouTube star, nor do they want to be. Still, live streaming can be fun to share what you’re doing right now to family and friends. But how do you live stream your life to those who matter? Fortunately, there are two apps that are already integrated with two major social networks that you’re probably already on: Periscope and Facebook Live. How do they compare to each other? Let’s find out. Periscope While Periscope originally launched with the requirement of a Twitter account...
Read the full article: Periscope vs. Facebook Live: Which One Is Better?
2017 was the year of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and other altcoins finally broke into the mainstream. Now, it’s quite easy to buy bitcoin, convert to altcoins and even invest in ICOs, all from your phone. You might prefer to do all of your trading when you’re in front of your computer but you’ll want to monitor your portfolio when you’re out and about. And of course, you’ll want to set up multiple notifications so you don’t miss out on the next “correction”. Here are the best iPhone cryptocurrency apps that let you do all that and more. 1. Coinbase While this...
Read the full article: Top 10 Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Apps for iPhone
What if you could digitally sculpt a 3D object and share it on Facebook, play with it in virtual reality, or insert it into your world with augmented reality? Facebook is polishing up stages one and two today after first debuting posts of interactive 3D models in News Feed in October that you can move and spin around. Now Facebook 3D posts support the industry standard glTF 2.0 file… Read More
Apple has released updates for its operating systems in an effort to beat the text bomb bug. So if you own an Apple device you should update it to the latest version of the OS before someone decides to prank you. And someone, somewhere will try to prank you. If you’re anything like me you’ll hate pranks. Unfortunately, thanks to YouTubers and TV shows, pranksters seem to be on the rise. It doesn’t even take weeks of planning to pull off a prank either, as sending a text to an iPhone user can be all it takes. The Text Bomb...
Read the full article: Update iOS and macOS to Beat the Text Bomb Bug
What if you could digitally sculpt a 3D object and share it on Facebook, play with it in virtual reality, or insert it into your world with augmented reality? Facebook is polishing up stages one and two today after first debuting posts of interactive 3D models in News Feed in October that you can move and spin around. Now Facebook 3D posts support the industry standard glTF 2.0 file… Read More
