When you ask a little kid to smile on command for a photo, you’ll usually get something that resembles either a frightened prairie dog, someone who just smelled a fart, or the Joker. There’s nothing wrong with awkward kid-smiles—for parents, they’re hilarious, and for kids, they’ll make for excellent…
<Blows into bugle> Attention, everyone. The best Instant Pot you can buy is on sale, if you hurry. You should buy one.
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Every year since the vastly underrated LG G2 in 2013, I’ve been going through the same emotional cycle with LG flagship phones: anticipation in the buildup, excitement during the launch, and ultimate disappointment with the final product. This was the case with the LG G3, G4, G5, and G6 — but not the latest G7 ThinQ. After my first encounter with the LG G7, I’m already over it. This is the least inspiring, least daring G-series phone that LG has released in a long time, maybe ever.
A quick recap of the G7, for those who haven’t yet come across the comprehensive leaks or today’s announcement: it’s a 6.1-inch phone with a notch at the top of its LCD, powered by a Snapdragon 845 processor and a comparatively mean 4GB of RAM and 64GB of...
After months of leaks, LG’s new G7 ThinQ phone is officially here. The company debuted the device at an event today in New York City, and the rumors are true. Yes, the phone features a dedicated button for the Google Assistant. Yes, there’s a notch, and yes, it has that ThinQ branding with AI camera features.
All of the phone’s cameras take advantage of LG’s AI technology, which it says should allow the cameras to recognize objects and then optimize the image through automatic contrast, saturation, and color adjustments. The device will vibrate a bit when it picks up on an item, like flowers, people, pets, or a sunset. The phone detected flowers when I tried taking a photo of them, but I didn’t notice much of a difference in the image...
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Slate’s podcast Slow Burn, an engrossing dive into the Watergate scandal that eventually prompted President Richard Nixon to resign. The series prompted me to pick up a book that has been on my to-read list for nearly four years: Crooked, by Austin Grossman. It’s a book that depicts Nixon’s many flaws against the backdrop of Lovecraftian horror.
Grossman’s novels are compelling in general: Soon I Will Be Invincible is an incredible take on the superhero genre, while You is a much better take on geek nostalgia than Ready Player One ever was. His books deconstruct genre tropes by reexamining them in a new light, and Crooked is no different. It’s a fun, pulpy adventure that you’ll regret procrastinating...
Stop the presses. One of the main reasons why I don’t organize my iPhone’s apps is because it takes too much time to long-press on an app, wait for it to wiggle, move it to a folder, and repeat the process for its 60 other friends. But thanks to geniuses over at Finer Tech, there’s a much, much easier way to shuffle…
Hovhannes Avoyan started PicsArt, an app suite and social network for making and sharing art and pictures, after his daughter got bullied to tears for putting her art online. Now the network has over 100 million monthly active users. We talked to Hovhannes about his inspiration and his development process, and how he…
Hulu announced this morning that it is renewing its dystopian television show The Handmaid’s Tale for a third season.
The show is based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel by the same name, which depicts a totalitarian theocracy called the Republic of Gilead, in which women are stripped of their rights and turned into sexual slaves called Handmaids. The show’s first season largely followed the events of the novel, but the second season has started introducing new storylines and locations not seen in the original text.
The show just kicked off its second season last week, and season 3 will likely air sometime in 2019. Its first season was particularly critically acclaimed: it earned a series of Emmy awards, including Outstanding Drama, and...
Hulu today announced that it now has over 20 million subscribers in the United States. That's up from the 17 million that the company reported back in January. So between the start of the year and now, Hulu has brought on 3 million more paying customers. The company says “total engagement: is up by 60 percent. That 20 million total is spread across Hulu's various service tiers including its core ad-supported service, Hulu with No Commercials, and Hulu with Live TV. Hulu still trails Netflix in subscriber count by a wide margin. In its Q1 2018 earnings, Netflix tallied 55 million US streaming customers.
A new combo subscription with Spotify is certain to help boost Hulu’s momentum, but most people aren’t streaming Hulu on their...
Sling TV is expanding its Cloud DVR service to a ton of new devices, including the Google Chrome browser, Chromecasts, Xbox One consoles, LG smart TVs, and Samsung’s 2016 and 2017 model smart TVs, via TechRadar.
The feature was previously available on other platforms where Sling TV is offered, like the Fire TV, Apple TV, and Sling’s Android and iOS apps. With the new expansion, you’ll be able to watch your recorded content from almost any device that works with Sling TV.
Sling TV’s DVR service costs $5 per month on top of whatever channel package you pay for, and it lets users store up to 50 hours of recordings indefinitely (although there are some channels that are ineligible for recording, including all Disney and ESPN channels)....
Starting today, travel app Hopper is offering Secret Fares on international flights, a new feature exclusive to the site that will allegedly provide airfares 35 percent cheaper than what you can find on other sites, including other ticket discounters.
Nokia has announced plans to sell its struggling health tech business back to Éric Carreel, co-founder of Withings, the French startup Nokia bought in 2016.
Terms for the deal have not been announced, but the Finnish tech giant is surely taking a substantial loss on the sale. Nokia bought Withings two years ago for $191 million, before rebranding the startup’s products (including a smart scale and various well-recieved fitness tracker watches) as part of its new “Digital Health” business in 2017.
However, the rebadged Withings products clearly weren’t making enough money for Nokia, and in October 2017 the company announced a write-down of €141 million ($164 million) on the assets. This was followed by the launch of a “strategic...
We’ve seen some good deals on Google’s Pixel and Pixel 2 handsets over the years, but Verizon and Best Buy’s latest offering might be the best yet. Right now, you can buy a 64GB Pixel 2 XL from the pair for effectively $350 — yes, that’s $500 off the retail price.
Of course, there are some caveats, provisos, a couple of quid pro quos. First, you have to purchase the phone from Best Buy; second, you have to use it on Verizon; and third, you have to spread payments over a 24 month period. Best Buy’s “instant discount” takes $200 off the asking price, and on top of that you get $12.50 carrier bill credit from Verizon every month. Tot all that up and you’re only paying $350 for the actual phone. (Hat tip to Droid Life for spotting this.)
I...
Thank god, as the weather turns warmer, party season approaches as well. You probably have your usual standbys on hand that your pals have come to expect from one of your get-togethers, so that they would be disappointed without your classic seven-layer dip and your spinach concoction in a hollowed-out loaf of bread.
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Hello there. My name is Paul Maroon, and I’m a professional musician who’s played in bands for the past 30 years, most recently in a group called The Walkmen. In that time, I’ve picked up a fair amount of information, some of which is actually pretty useful: How to kill a week at a Toronto airport hotel. How to solve…
We see a lot of deals around the web over on Kinja Deals, but these were our ten favorites today.
This week we have a pair of sad dogs that aren’t treated very well and a non-owner living in the same household who’s concerned for their well-being. Is there a way to save the pooches from abuse and neglect?
We’re all familiar with the power of compound interest when it comes to saving for retirement: The earlier you start, the less you have to put away each month, thanks to interest earned. But a recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds there’s hope for people on the tail end of their careers as…
If you’re still using a computer that doesn’t run off an SSD, fix that today with an all-time low price on this 500GB drive from Crucial. It carries a stellar 4.6 star rating, and you could even turn it into a DIY portable SSD, if you felt so inclined.
Flavored e-liquids already attract teens and young adults to vaping. But some e-liquids are even packaged to look like candy—an especially bold choice for a product that could cause poisoning or death if a young child were to drink it.
If you play video games, you are an ideal target to get wrecked by hackers.
I have nothing against food that comes in cans, especially when it comes to beans, but refried beans are something that I absolutely prefer making myself. Beyond just tasting “better,” you can manipulate them to suit your specific palate palate, as you adjust the seasonings, aromatics, and—most importantly—the fat.
iOS: Cryptocurrency-tracker CoinMarketCap is one of the most popular websites around—both for Blockchain enthusiasts and financially minded folk. Today, the site is celebrating its fifth birthday by launching a (long overdue) iPhoneapp to help you check the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the go.
The heart of the family road trip is the never-ending potential for spontaneous adventures. Along your drive, you might spot a cool adventure playground or a lake with a rope swing or an Instagram-famous spot. When you stop, you’ll need the right clothing and gear—a sun hat, your hiking boots, a pair of board shorts, …
The best way to ensure that nobody tries to open, log into, or otherwise screw around with your MacBook is to make sure that they don’t have physical access to your laptop. This isn’t always possible.
Summer travel can be very expensive since more people are taking to the roads and skies, but your vacation doesn’t have to cost a small fortune. The number one rule of budget travel is planning ahead and booking at the right time. It makes all the difference, so start organizing your summer itinerary now.
Print books are not dead—with kids, they’re thriving. As a parent, this makes me happy. It is a joy to sink into a bed with a tornado of a child, open a book, and read about a little girl who rescues a duckling or a porcupine who can’t make friends.
In the fallout of comedian Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem With Apu, and the weirdly defensive response from The Simpsons, producer Adi Shankar wants to make a woke Simpsons episode about Apu. To get the script, he’s running a screenwriting contest. If you agree with Shankar and Kondabolu that Apu is a gross…
Anker’s newest bluetooth speaker, a whole bunch of Yost vises, a Mother’s Day watch sale, and more launch today’s best deals.
Nikola Motor Company has filed a lawsuit in Arizona alleging that Tesla’s all-electric semi infringes on the hydrogen truck startup’s patents. The lawsuit claims Tesla willfully copied these patents in creating its electric truck, and Nikola is seeking $2 billion in damages in return.
“It’s patently obvious there is no merit to this lawsuit,” a spokesperson for Tesla told The Verge. A representative for Nikola Motors said in a statement to The Verge that “[w]e are not commenting because it is in the courts. The lawsuit speaks for itself.”
Nikola was founded in 2014, and the company showed off its first two products — an electric four-wheel offroad vehicle and a hydrogen-electric semi truck — in May of 2016. It has since added a second...
Among the products that were called out by US regulators in a flurry of warning letters was something called Whip’d Strawberry, packaged in such a way that it looks like Reddi-wip topping. But it’s liquid nicotine — and if a hungry kid mistakenly squirted it into their mouth, they could face vomiting, seizures, and even death.
Elite Vaporworks and Cosmic Fog Vapors, two companies that sell the product, are among the recipients of 13 warning letters the US Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission sent today. The charge? The e-cig liquids look too appetizing, and it’s putting kids’ lives at risk.
Nicotine is poisonous because it mimics one of the chemical messengers that nerves use to communicate. Too much, and it can...
Facebook is partnering with camera maker RED to develop a professional-grade virtual reality camera system that can capture high-resolution imagery in so-called 6DoF, or six degrees of freedom, which allows it to be viewed and explored in real time within virtual reality. The rig, which doesn’t yet have pricing or release date info available, is a culmination of Facebook’s internal efforts on its Surround 360 platform. RED’s upcoming VR camera will now be the one Facebook suggests to filmmakers and other creators who want to make the most high-fidelity, immersive entertainment and art. The news was announced today at Facebook’s F8 developer conference.
“A year ago we set out to find a hardware partner to help us deliver this...
Snap’s stock price plummeted during after hours trading today following its first quarter earnings report. The stock dropped by more than 15 percent, or roughly a sixth of its worth. Although the app grew its global users by four million or so since the last quarter, it made less money per user.
During the prior quarter, the company made $1.53 per user globally, or $286 million in total revenue. This quarter, that dropped to $1.21 per user and $231 million in revenue. Still, that’s a major growth from just over a year ago when its quarterly revenue was $150 million. The company’s CFO, Drew Vollero, says to expect an even further drop in the second quarter of this year.
He said: “As we think about our year-over-year revenue growth rates,...
This week, the South China Morning Post reported that Chinese companies are “mining data directly from workers’ brains” using wireless sensors in hats. The article is full of exciting quotes about employers using technology to monitor their workers’ emotions, but the reality is that these hats probably don’t work very well.
The report is low on details, so the claims should be taken with a grain of salt. Allegedly, workers wear safety hats or uniform hats that have wireless sensors inside. These sensors pick up brain activity to send to an algorithm. The algorithm then interprets the data into various emotional states — for example, depression, anxiety, and rage — so managers can use the information to better plan break times and help...
Facebook announced its idea for a dating app today. There’s still a ton we don’t know about how it’ll work, though we know that the platform will live inside its official app and that users will be able to “unlock” individual events or groups that they’re members of to see potential matches. The company says in promotional material: “Just like in real life, the more active you are in the communities around you, the more opportunities you’ll have to meet awesome people.”
This will be essential to the dating app’s success and could potentially position it to usurp Tinder as the go-to dating app for young people. One of the biggest complaints I hear from friends about dating apps is that they never seem to get over the...
If you haven’t heard, Facebook is getting into the dating app scene. It will soon let users opt into an experience resembling Tinder that lets them browse other profiles with photos and first names. Dating app executives took the opportunity to chide Facebook for its tattered history of data privacy practices and for allowing Russia to meddle in US elections.
Joey Levin is the CEO of IAC, the company that owns a majority stake in Match Group (which in turn owns Tinder, OkCupid, Match, and PlentyofFish). He responded to the news with a very direct taunt: “Come on in. The water’s warm. Their product could be great for US / Russia relationships.”
Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg gave a more measured response, though it was laced with a direct...
Millions of beauty enthusiasts have learned how to copy the makeup of their favorite stars, give themselves complex nail art, and yes, master the elusive and sultry smoky eye look through the vanguard of YouTube: makeup tutorials. Yet, a quick glance at social media over the past few days would suggest that political commentators have watched few, if any, of them.
Over the weekend, comedian Michelle Wolf hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with a scathing routine that targeted Trump and his administration, with copious barbs reserved for other conservatives, Congress at large, and the media itself. In one of her jokes, Wolf compared White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Aunt Lydia, a brutal enabler of the...
Westworld’s second season only kicked off two weeks ago, but HBO appears to be happy with what it’s seen from the show so far. The network has just announced it’s picked up the series for a third season.
Created by showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy — and inspired by the 1973 Michael Crichton film of the same name — Westworld tells the story of a futuristic theme park populated by intelligent robots called “hosts.” The park allows visiting guests to act out their Wild West fantasies, usually by embracing the baser aspects of human nature. Over the course of the show’s first season, certain hosts began to develop self-awareness, causing numerous problems with the park’s operations, until things finally spun out of control just as the...
And you thought hoodies made Mark Zuckerberg sweat. Though Facebook’s overlord did a good job answering questions at two different congressional hearings last month, you can expect the Zuck to have a few things to say about data privacy at the opening keynote for this year’s F8 developer conference.
More than half of credit-card holders don’t know if their credit card charges a foreign transaction fee, according to a survey performed by personal finance website WalletHub. And that can be one costly mistake.
