Tech

Nephew spends 20 years tracking down his uncle, a World War II hero

For the longest time, Uncle Dave existed only as a picture on the mantle. Wry smile, thick eyebrows, Dave “Rosie” Rosenkrantz was a paratrooper in World War II in the 82nd Airborne Division, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, H Company. In the last picture anyone took of him, Dave was sitting happily next to a rifle with grenades dangling from his shoulder and across his belly in some unknown European city. “I could see his picture and a few medals,” said Phil Rosenkrantz, Dave’s nephew, who was...
Tags: Google, Amazon, News, Los Angeles, Sport, Ted, People, Dave, Soccer, Netherlands, Army, World War Ii, Associated Press, US Army, Steven Spielberg, Southern California

Include An Electric Standing Desk While Committing to Better Health in 2021

New year, new you! A healthier lifestyle in 2021 is SO doable — nutritious food, more physical activity, and an electric standing desk at work. As the New Year rolls around most of us make plans to improve our lifestyles — our health and wellness — to make the coming year better than the last. This has probably never been truer after the year we’ve had! Now more than ever, health has been at the forefront of our consciousness. And, as we look forward to a new year – one that hopefully poses fa...
Tags: Health, Technology, Jazz, 2021, Electric Standing Desk

Samsung vice chairman Jay Y. Lee faces nine-year sentence in bribery case

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee faces a nine-year prison term in the bribery case that contributed to the downfall of former president Park Guen-hye. Prosecutors argued that the length of the sentence is warranted because of Samsung’s power as the largest chaebol, or family-owned conglomerate, in South Korea. “Samsung is a group with such overwhelming power that it is said Korean companies are divided into Samsung and non-Samsung,” they said during a final hearing on Wednesday, repo...
Tags: TC, Asia, South Korea, Supreme Court, Samsung, Tech, Park, Bribery, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Group, Seoul, Lee, Jay Y. Lee, Lee Kun, Korea Herald, Park Guen

Spotify's Podcasting Problem: Loophole Allows Remixes and Unreleased Songs To Hide in Plain Sight

Spotify has joined the ranks of streaming services like SoundCloud and YouTube as a hub for bootlegs of popular songs. From a report: With obscured titles like "Jocelyn Flores but you're in the bathroom at a party" by eraylandin, a new take on XXXTentacion's popular "Jocelyn Flores," and "Dead To Me -- Kali Uchis (slowed + bass boosted)" by user Unreal sounds, a rework of Uchis' popular track from her 2018 album "Isolation," these underground remixers have chosen to upload their creations as pod...
Tags: Spotify, Instagram, Youtube, Tech, Soundcloud, Kali Uchis, Juice WRLD, Jocelyn Flores

SpaceX Will Attempt To Recover Super Heavy Rocket by Catching it With Launch Tower

SpaceX will try a significantly different approach to landing its future reusable rocket boosters, according to CEO and founder Elon Musk. It will attempt to 'catch' the heavy booster, which is currently in development, using the launch tower arm used to stabilize the vehicle during its pre-takeoff preparations. From a report: Current Falcon 9 boosters return to Earth and land propulsively on their own built-in legs -- but the goal with Super Heavy is for the larger rocket not to have legs at al...
Tags: Spacex, Elon Musk, Tech, Earth, Musk, Falcon Heavy, Falcon, Starship, Super Heavy

Apple negotiating settlement with Prepear after opposing its pear-shaped logo

Back in August, Apple decided to take legal action against a company called Prepear. Although the company has nothing to do with...
Tags: Apple

Daily Crunch: Amazon acquires Wondery

Amazon makes a big podcast acquisition, a Chinese robot maker raises $100 million and we review a robotic cat pillow. This is your Daily Crunch for December 30, 2020. The big story: Amazon acquires Wondery Amazon is the latest company to make a big acquisition in the podcast market — it’s buying Wondery, the podcast network behind shows like “Dirty John” and “Doctor Death.” Although Wondery is becoming part of Amazon Music (which added podcast support in September), the company also says...
Tags: Amazon, Media, Stanford, China, Tech, John, Amazon Music, Sophie, NSO, Wondery, Daily Crunch, Extra Crunch, Sophie Alcorn, Flexiv, Wang Shiquan, Wondery Amazon

The best accessories and MagSafe gear for your new iPhone 12 (ars technica)

Enlarge / Belkin's 3-in-1 MagSafe charging stand is elegant, and capable, charging three Apple devices at once. (credit: Corey Gaskin) The new iPhone 12 lineup has more options than ever, with three new models at a variety of sizes. All of these are equipped with the new MagSafe technology, which means faster-than-usual wireless charging and some unique iPhone 12 accessories coming down the pike. We spent the past few weeks testing some of this new MagSafe gear and can confirm that it is indee...
Tags: Apple, News, Belkin, Corey Gaskin

Alex Lange leaves Upstream to head up Forbes Global Properties

The CEO talks about what he would have done differently with NAR and the network of elite brokerages he's building.
Tags: Technology, Radio, Forbes, Upstream, NAR, Select, Dan Elsea, Alex Lange, WAV Group, Mike Federle, Craig Cheatham, David Gumpper, Jeff Hyland, Bonnie Sellers, Forbes Global Properties

New Tech Developments We're Actually Excited About in 2021

2021 will be the year of being thankful that the world hasn’t completely ended. I don’t want to hear any “we were promised flying cars”-style whining. The new year will be all about rethinking how far we’ve come, where we’re already going, and how much we’ve been getting wrong along the way. Read more...
Tags: Gadgets, Science, Remote Work, Lidar, Ilm, 2021, Future Tech, Neuralink, Mandalorian, Brain Tech

The AirPods Max Are Annoyingly Incredible

I’ve been using a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 II headphones for years. They’ve accompanied me on long flights to Europe and Japan, canceled out noise on a plethora of trade show floors, and helped me block out my neighbor’s weed wacker to get work done at home. But there are a slew of new premium Bluetooth headphones…Read more...
Tags: Apple, Europe, Japan, Science, Headphones, Commerce, Consumer Tech, Active Noise Cancelling, AirPods Max, Airpods Max Review

Texts, tweets and posts have replaced letters. Is our history becoming transitory?

In this remarkable year, our stories are at risk of being locked away on phones and floating, forgotten, in the digital etherIn the process of removing the final vestiges of my things from my parents’ house this year I find a letter from my nana – Big Nana (because she was tall), not Little Nana (who wasn’t) – written in her familiar curly script.“Last Sunday I went to D’s 80th birthday luncheon – an exciting collection of old has-beens! One old lady said how dreadful she looked these days stand...
Tags: Technology, Social Media, Culture, Digital Media, Nana, Coronavirus, Little Nana

An earnest review of a robotic cat pillow

You don’t need Qoobo in your life. Nobody needs Qoobo, exactly. In fact, first reactions tend to range from befuddlement to bemusement. The robotic cat pillow doesn’t make a ton of sense on the face of it – in part because Qoobo has no face. The handful of time I’ve interacted with the original Qoobo in person, reactions have been pretty uniform. The initial confusion gives way to the question of why such a thing needs to exist. And then, inevitably, someone ask how they can buy one of their ...
Tags: Hardware, US, Tech, States, Robotics, Robot, Pillow, Qoobo, Petit Qoobo, Yukai Engineering

New Train Hall Opens at Penn Station, Echoing Building's Former Glory

The Moynihan Train Hall, with glass skylights and 92-foot-high ceilings, will open Jan. 1 as an area for Amtrak and Long Island Railroad riders. The New York Times: For more than half a century, New Yorkers have trudged through the crammed platforms, dark hallways and oppressively low ceilings of Pennsylvania Station, the busiest and perhaps most miserable train hub in North America. Entombed beneath Madison Square Garden, the station served 650,000 riders each weekday before the pandemic, or th...
Tags: New York, Tech, Pennsylvania, New York Times, North America, Amtrak, Penn, Cuomo, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, Andrew M Cuomo, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Eighth Avenue, Long Island Railroad, Long Island Rail Road, Midtown Manhattan

Hands-On With the AirPods Max Shield Case From WaterField Designs

Earlier this week, we highlighted a couple of third-party accessories that seek to address some of the shortcomings of Apple's AirPods Max Smart Case, including a new zippered case from WaterField Designs that does a much better job of protecting the headphones while not in use. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Our videographer Dan has had a chance to try out the new $99 leather Shield Case from WaterField, and he's come away impressed with its quality and usef...
Tags: Apple, Dan, MacRumors YouTube, WaterField Designs, WaterField, AirPods Max, AirPods Max zwnj, Ballistic Nylon Blue Leather

Mach-E Delivers Everything but the Mustang

The first Mach-E delivery took place yesterday, according to macheclub.com. Sam Pack’s Five Star Ford in Dallas, Texas was the dealership, and the vehicle was a California Route 1 Mach-E in white. Alongside the Mach-E was a Wimbledon white ’65 Mustang convertible, and a 2015 California Special GT, all belonging to Stephen Engro. As noted […] The post Mach-E Delivers Everything but the Mustang appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
Tags: Technology, California, Marketing, Green, Ford, Electric Vehicles, Autos, EVs, Mustang, Mach, Dallas Texas, Sam Pack, News Blog, Mach E, Ford Death Watch, Five Star Ford

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold review: A foldable PC that isn't quite ready

As the world's first foldable PC, the ThinkPad X1 Fold is for early adopters and those who are OK using an imperfect machine. Lenovo got the design right, and as it's a ThinkPad, we don't have many durability concerns. Windows 10 isn't optimized for foldables, and it shows on the X1 Fold.
Tags: Cnn, Lenovo

Amazon To Buy Podcast Maker Wondery

Amazon announced Wednesday that it's acquiring podcasting company Wondery, expanding its catalog of original audio content. From a report: As part of the deal, Wondery will join Amazon Music, the e-commerce giant's music streaming business. Amazon Music in September added podcasts to its platform, looking to carve out a share of the increasingly competitive podcasting market, in which Spotify, Apple and others have gained ground. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Wondery, founded in 2016, has...
Tags: Amazon, Tech, WSJ, Amazon Music, Spotify Apple, Wondery

VP and Head Scientist of Alexa at Amazon: 'The Turing Test is Obsolete. It's Time To Build a New Barometer For AI'

Rohit Prasad, Vice President and Head Scientist of Alexa at Amazon, writes: While Turing's original vision continues to be inspiring, interpreting his test as the ultimate mark of AI's progress is limited by the era when it was introduced. For one, the Turing Test all but discounts AI's machine-like attributes of fast computation and information lookup, features that are some of modern AI's most effective. The emphasis on tricking humans means that for an AI to pass Turing's test, it has to inje...
Tags: Amazon, Boston, Tech, Turing, Seattle, Alexa, Rohit Prasad

Tesla Full-Self Driving Option Comes Up Empty

Elon Musk said in a tweet, “All Tesla cars delivered in the final three days of the year will get three months of the Full Self-Driving option for free. Delivery & docs must be fully complete by midnight Dec 31st.” Tesla touts its vehicles as the safest cars in the world with passive and active […] The post Tesla Full-Self Driving Option Comes Up Empty appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
Tags: Elon Musk, Technology, Safety, Tesla, Green, Electric Vehicles, Autos, Autonomous Vehicles, EVs, Autonomous Driving, News Blog, Tesla Death Watch, Avoidable Contact

2020 will change the way we look at robotics

Earlier this month, Hyundai acquired a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics that valued the company at $1.1 billion. What’s most interesting about the news isn’t the acquisition itself (it does, after all, find Boston Dynamics switching hands for the third time in seven years), but rather what the company’s evolution tells us about the state of robotics in 2020. When the Waltham, Massachusetts-based startup was acquired by Google in 2013, it was still a carefully cultivated mystery. That the ...
Tags: Google, Ecommerce, Tech, Department Of Defense, Mit, Robotics, Hyundai, Telemedicine, Boston Dynamics, Mobile Robot, Waltham Massachusetts, Cainiao, Bot Dolly, Medical Robot, Playter, Robert Playter

What to Do If You Can't Make Android Auto Calls

Earlier this year, a bug broke Google Assistant phone calls in Android Auto after users updated to Android 11. Google fixed the issue shortly after with a system update, but the bug still shows up for some users even after installing the patch. Luckily, there appears to finally be a solution. According to a post on…Read more...
Tags: Google, Bug Fixes, Lifehacks, Android Auto, Google Assistant

Beloved Nebraska agent found dead after showing, homicide suspected

Mickey Sodoro, a 70-year-old agent with NP Dodge, had not been heard from by his team since entering a home in Omaha's Bellbrook neighborhood for a showing on Monday night.
Tags: Facebook, Technology, Lifestyle, Radio, Agent, Nebraska, Omaha, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Bill Black, Keller Williams Realty, News Brief, Bellbrook, NP Dodge, Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Beverly Carter Foundation, Lenora Farrington

Elon Musk says SpaceX will attempt to recover Super Heavy rocket by catching it with launch tower

SpaceX will try a significantly different approach to landing its future reusable rocket boosters, according to CEO and founder Elon Musk. It will attempt to ‘catch’ the heavy booster, which is currently in development, using the launch tower arm used to stabilize the vehicle during its pre-takeoff preparations. Current Falcon 9 boosters return to Earth and land propulsively on their own built-in legs – but the goal with Super Heavy is for the larger rocket not to have legs at all, says Musk....
Tags: TC, Space, Spacex, Elon Musk, Science, Tech, Ceo, Earth, Mars, Falcon 9, Spaceflight, Aerospace, Hyperloop, Musk, Falcon Heavy, Falcon

Fluence, the energy storage systems developer, is now worth over $1 billion after QIA investment

The Qatar Investment Authority is investing $125 million into energy storage systems integrator and power management tech developer, Fluence, in a deal that will value the company at over $1 billion. The joint venture between the American independent power producer, AES Corp. and the German industrial conglomerate Siemens, was already worth $900 million prior to the transaction, according to Marek Wolek, the vice president of strategy and partnerships at Fluence. With the new cash, Fluence...
Tags: TC, Elon Musk, Chief executive officer, Tech, Tesla, Companies, Qatar Investment Authority, Siemens, Energy Storage, AES, Industries, AES Corp, Electrical Engineering, QuantumScape, Marek Wolek, Wolek

Imagine being blind and trying to attend a virtual event. Try that next time you stage one.

How do you make a virtual event accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired? When I started work on Sight Tech Global back in June this year, I was confident that we would find the answer to that question pretty quickly. With so many virtual event platforms and online ticketing options available to virtual event organizers, we were sure at least one would meet a reasonable standard of accessibility for people who use screen readers or other devices to navigate the Web. Sadly, I was ...
Tags: Apple, Google, TC, Facebook, Microsoft, Youtube, Tech, Accessibility, Ada, Dmitry, Matt King, Occam, NVDA, Fable, Google Form, Techcrunch Include

Amazon acquires podcast network Wondery

Amazon just announced that it’s acquiring Wondery, the network behind podcasts including “Dirty John” and “Dr. Death.” Wondery will become part of Amazon Music, which added support for podcasts (including its own original shows) in September. At the same time, the announcement claims that “nothing will change for listeners” and that the network’s podcasts will continue to be available from “a variety of providers.” Media companies and streaming audio platforms are all making big bets on...
Tags: Amazon, Tech, Fox, New York Times, John, Wall Street Journal, Amazon Music, Hernan Lopez, Wondery, Podtrac, Greycroft Lerer Hippeau, Death Wondery, Serial Productions Amazon, Amazon Music Wondery, Fox Numbers, Advancit Capital BDMI

Amazon Still Hasn't Fixed Its Problem With Bait-and-Switch Reviews

Some sellers on Amazon are tricking the ecommerce platform into displaying thousands of reviews for unrelated products to boost their ranking and mislead customers, ArsTechnica writer Timothy Lee reports. Lee discovered the issue, which has been documented by the media in recent years, after he went to check the review of a drone he had purchased for his children. The product page of drone had glowing reviews for honey. Lee reached out to Amazon, which confirmed that this practice is in violatio...
Tags: Amazon, Tech, Lee, Arstechnica, Timothy Lee

Apple and Prepear Negotiating a Settlement Over Disputed Pear Logo Trademark

Back in August, Apple made headlines for its efforts to oppose a trademark application by the creators of the recipe and meal-planning app Prepear, with Apple objecting to the proposed Prepear logo trademark based on claimed similarity to Apple's own logo. Despite the fact that Prepear's logo depicts an outline of a pear, Apple claimed in its filing that Prepear's logo "consists of a minimalistic fruit design with a right-angled leaf, which readily calls to mind Apple's famous Apple Logo and ...
Tags: Apple, Trademark, Prepear