TicHome Mini review: Smart speakers go portable… at a cost

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TicHome Mini
$99.99
View Product
The Good

Easy setup • Decent sound • Splashproof • Easy Bluetooth connectivity • Light and easy to carry

The Bad

No battery or on/off indicator • Hard-to-press buttons • Lacks some Google Assistant features • Sometimes unresponsive

The Bottom Line

The TicHome beats the Google Home Mini in some ways, but not enough to warrant paying double.

Mashable Score2.5
Cool Factor2.0
Learning Curve3.0
Performance3.0
Bang for the Buck2.0

Not every smart speaker can be Google Home, but that doesn’t mean they’re not trying. 

From the Panasonic GA-10 to the Sonos One and even (recently) the Nest Cam IQ, third-party Google Assistant speakers are a diverse and fast-growing growing crowd. Read more…

More about Reviews, Google Assistant, Google Home, Smart Speaker, and Google Home Mini

Smash Mouth calls out DJ Khaled and wants you to go down on your girlfriend

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Iconic American alt-rock band Smash Mouth, has somehow maintained internet popularity since their 1999 hit, “All-Star.” They can probably thank Shrek or, like, every meme.

Smash Mouth leads a pretty normal internet life on social media, making slightly-odd graphics to celebrate various holidays and promoting their upcoming appearances.

Oh yeah, they’re also passionate champions of cunnilingus.

SEE ALSO: Smash Mouth totally nailed International Women’s Day with this very mediocre art

Snapchat superstar, and meme in his own right, DJ Khaled announced Friday morning on The Breakfast Club radio show that he does not go down on his wife. However, he expects her to go down on him, since he says is the, ahem, “the king.”  Read more…

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SureFly’s hybrid electric octocopter drone achieves first manned flight

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The hybrid two-seat helicopter SureFly from the electric truck company Workhorse made it off the ground this week.

While a few feet of hover might seem insignificant, the passenger drone startup is hailing the untethered lift-off with a pilot outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, as a huge success. For the hybrid gas- and battery-powered vertical take-off and landing vehicle (known as VTOL), this means the copter is on its way to flying with passengers inside. Once airborne, the craft will have a 75-mile range.

“People want to have something in their garage to take out and fly,” SureFly CEO Steve Burns said in a call Friday afternoon. “We’re trying to make it safer than driving your car to the same destination.” Read more…

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Here’s what the apartments from ‘Friends’ might look like today

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The apartments from Friends — especially Monica’s purple habitat — are among the most iconic in television history. This is partially because everyone loves to talk about how expensive they’d be in real life. (The answer? So expensive that I no longer want to think about it!)

But people also love the Friends apartments because, frankly, nostalgia is a powerful beast. No doubt aware of this, the interior design startup Modsy has reimagined Monica’s, Rachel’s, and Joey’s apartments in their hypothetical 2018 forms.

SEE ALSO: Here are 5 celebrities you probably forgot guest-starred on ‘Friends’

Here’s Joey’s apartment, to which Modsy has assigned an “Atomic Industrial” style. Hey, if you can pull off the Hugsy-on-an-Eames-chair look, more power to you. Read more…

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10 great 3D printers for beginners

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There’s never been a better time to get into 3D printing. There are tons of models to choose from, countless 3D designs available online, and (most importantly) prices that keep dropping.

SEE ALSO: It took around 45 hours of 3D printing to build this 1,076 square-foot house

Buying your first 3D printer can be a little intimidating. There’s a lot to consider, from price to compatibility to safety concerns. To help you make the leap, we looked into which 3D printers have are best suited for those just starting out. Here are 10 great 3D printers for beginners, in order from cheapest to most expensive. Read more…

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FBI agents swarmed with drones during a hostage rescue operation

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It’s the kind of thing that’s surely only cooked up in Hollywood.

A gang of suspects hiding out in the outskirts of a U.S. city used a swarm of drones to flush out FBI agents during a hostage rescue, as reported by Defense One.

SEE ALSO: We’re just a few years away from flying Ubers and this tower is already prepping

The revelation comes from the FBI’s head of operational technology, Joe Mazel. He told attendees at an unmanned tech conference, Xponential, that agents had set up an elevated observation post to keep tabs on a situation, when they heard the buzz of drones ahead.

The drones made a series of “high-speed low passes at the agents,” resulting in authorities losing track of the target. Read more…

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Toyota’s autonomous driving program returns as new test track announced

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After a woman was struck and killed by a self-driving Uber vehicle in Tempe, Arizona earlier this year, Toyota paused its autonomous driving program.

Now, more than a month later, the car company is resuming its testing in California and Michigan within the next few weeks, a company spokesperson said — and they’re rolling out brand new facilities.

SEE ALSO: Lyft tests self-driving cars in massive new training facility

As its vehicles ease back onto the roads, Toyota is building a massive autonomous driving test facility in Michigan. The closed-course track was announced Thursday and is set to open in October, located in Ottawa Lake at the Michigan Technical Resource Park. Read more…

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Facebook’s assistant could be different from the competition in one important way

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Siri, Alexa, Cortana, by now you’ve probably noticed that nearly all digital assistants are portrayed as female. Even Google’s more gender neutral Assistant has a female voice by default.

Interestingly, Facebook may be the tech company to buck this trend. 

SEE ALSO: While you weren’t looking, Facebook hit Snap where it hurts most

CNBC reported this week that Facebook’s planned smart speaker, which was originally slated to launch this week at F8, will include a version of the company’s M digital assistant feature. And, according to the report, we may now know what “M” is short for: Marvin. 

A quick recap: M is Facebook’s assistant feature that was first launched in 2015 as a kind of human and AI hybrid. The goal at the time was to use a combination of artificial intelligence and humans to create an assistant that could help you do everything from order food to buy plane tickets. Read more…

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Sandra Bullock on ‘Ocean’s 8’ all-female cast: it was ‘a long time coming’

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Male actors probably don’t even take note of being part of an all-male cast. For actresses, though, its still a rare privilege — and Ocean’s 8 star Sandra Bullock thinks that’s a whole lotta bullshit.

In an interview with People, Bullock was asked about getting to work with the all-female cast of a lifetimeOcean’s 8 stars a true smorgasbord of the baddest ladies in entertainment: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Awkwafina, and none other than Rihanna herself.

SEE ALSO: Summer movie preview: What to watch if you only have time for five films this summer Read more…

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Dude lives out everyone’s dream and jumps his motorcycle off a parked trailer

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We’ve all thought about driving our vehicles off a makeshift jump in the street  — YouTuber Jossa 252 actually did it.

In a real life rendition of Grand Theft Auto, the biker spots a small trailer parked on the side of the road. He approaches, stands, and effortlessly jumps his bike off the empty trailer landing on the street. The whole moment captured by his buddy’s helmet cam, thankfully. 

“Yes!” his friend can be heard saying after landing the jump. 

At least the rest of us can dream, remain unhurt, and live our daredevil lives vicariously through Jossa 252.

[h/t:Reddit]  Read more…

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