Netflix offers some of the best content available anywhere, but a shoddy Internet connection is a surefire way to put a damper on the entire viewing experience. So in an effort to keep users more informed about how fast their Internet connection is — or isn’t, Netflix on Wednesday launched Fast.com, a bare bones website that does one thing and one thing only — precisely tells users how fast their download speed actually is.
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Walk by any Starbucks within 100 miles of your house and chances are that you’ll see several people sitting at a table, drinking coffee and enjoying the free Wi-Fi.
Starbucks and free Wi-Fi have become synonymous with one another over the past few years — one unable to exists without the other — but the next time you log on to a public coffee shop hotspot, you might want to consider the risks you’re taking.
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Maybe check those privacy settings next time
A Facebook Live stream made headlines on Monday, as father-in-the-making Kali Kanongata’a livestreamed his baby’s birth on Facebook Live. Only, Kanongata’a didn’t realize he was livestreaming to 120,000 people — he thought it was just going out to friends and family.
As People reports, Kanongata’a just “intended to share the video on Facebook so that his family on the Polynesian island of Tonga could share in his joy.” They did — but they were joined in their joy by 120,000 other random strangers off the internet. But the video at least has a happy ending for him:
“We just see it as a positive. I know some people are mad that it’s not private, but I’m from the island [of Tonga], and years ago, we would have water births in public. I wasn’t too worried about hiding anything because our culture has done this for thousands of years.”
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Raise your hand if you hate dealing with airports. As soon as you’re done waiting in line to drop off your luggage, you’re off to a second line to go through the security check and then a third line to wait to board the plane. Add to that restaurant lines and even bathroom lines, and you’re in for an awful experience. Leo the robot might not fix all our problems at the airport, but it might help us avoid at least one of the lines we’ve all grown to hate.
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Last year I wrote about how I lost 50 lbs in just three months. It certainly wasn’t easy, but I discussed the tools and methods I used to make it happen. Beyond everything else though, the most important realization for me personally was this: weight loss is a game of numbers. Barring certain physical conditions, you will lose weight if you consistently burn more calories than you consume. It’s a wonderfully simple concept but it can be incredibly difficult to maintain, and I discussed several ways I managed to do it.
As the saying goes, “every little bit helps,” and a reader just emailed me a note about a nifty calorie-cutting invention that couldn’t be simpler.
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Uber is rolling out a new feature to its mobile app that can be quite helpful but also somewhat creepy: it will now let you track friends and family in real time as they’re taking Uber rides.
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The Sifteo Cubes Intelligent Game System is easily one of the coolest things we’ve come across in a long time. It’s literally a game-changer, providing users with an entertaining gaming experience unlike anything you’ve seen in the past. The system includes a base and three “cubes,” each of which has a color LCD screen that displays the game you’re playing. Load up a game and then use gestures to play, including tilt, shake, neighbor, press, scootch, wiggle, slide, flip and stack.
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The Fort McMurray wildfire has captured devastation on a scale most of us can’t comprehend. Images from the ground and satellites have helped quantify the destruction, but this shot from the International Space Station somehow ties the scale of the destruction together much more clearly.
The photo was taken by an Expedition 67 crew member on May 14th, from 240 miles away. (Yes, the astronauts have some pretty sweet cameras.) The lower-angle shot shows a huge plume of smoke engulfing Fort McMurray — the town isn’t really visible, the smoke is so dense.
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In a world of Bluetooth-connected fart trackers and hipster-friendly tinfoil hats, I am aware that describing a Kickstarter as “the worst” is a bold claim. But hear me out: from idea to execution to the innumerable GIFs littering the crowdfunding campaign, this particular wearable smartphone accessory ticks all of the boxes.
At heart, the SOSPENDO combines two of the very worst things: selfie sticks and wearable smartphone holders. The SOSPENDO is, according to the press release, an “innovative, ergonomic hands-free device that will hold smartphones, tablets and GoPro cameras.”
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We’ve known for a while now that Apple might bring Siri to the Mac. It certainly feels like the next logical step, considering that Siri is already available on iPhone, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. The update is rumored to arrive later this year, and will be one of the main features of the upcoming OS X 10.12 update.
Even though we’ll have to wait for WWDC to see the full details, the first user interface elements for Siri for Mac have leaked, including the dock and menu bar icons.
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