Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Amazon has big plans to make Alexa a much more useful assistant.

Among them: The company plans to add a “memory” feature that will allow its assistant to store information on demand. 

The upcoming feature will enable Alexa to “store arbitrary information you want and retrieve it later,” according to Amazon. It’s a bit like reminders, but the information can be stored for an indefinite amount of time.

For example, you could ask Alexa to remember family members’ birthdays or where you parked your car. 

This type of feature, which the company says will start to roll out “soon,” opens up some interesting possibilities for the future as well. If Alexa can remember random bits of information you tell it, then perhaps one day it could proactively act on the details by setting up reminders or other helpful tasks. Read more…

More about Tech, Gadgets, Amazon, Amazon Echo, and Alexa

Amazon Prime, the online shopping site’s membership program, is going up in price.

In its quarterly earnings call Thursday, Amazon announced it was increasing the annual price from $99 per year to $119 starting May 11 for new members. The renewal rate will also jump $20 bucks starting June 16.

Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said the company hadn’t increased the price of membership since March 2014 (it jumped from $79 to $99 then), and in the time since “we continue to increase the value of Prime.” Membership offers, among many digital and video services, free two-day shipping. The quick shipping is available for 100 million items.  Read more…

More about Amazon, Amazon Prime, Online Shopping, Shipping, and Tech

Warning: this article contains photos that some people might find disturbing.

Good waterproof eyeliner is hard to find. Makeup lovers are always on the search for products that won’t budge, even after crying jags or a day at the beach. 

Or in one eyeliner loyalist’s case, surviving a car crash. 

Twitter user @guadalahari was on the hunt for a new eyeliner brand when she came across this review raving about Kat Von D’s waterproof Tattoo Liner. 

“I was in a car accident and my eyeliner didn’t budge,” a review from eight months ago said. Read more…

More about Makeup, Twitter Reactions, Culture, and Web Culture

A beautiful new photo shows off Mars in a dramatic new light. 

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter just beamed home the amazing new image from April 15. 

The photo was taken by the satellite’s Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) right after the satellite moved into a new orbit about 400 kilometers above the world’s surface. The lighting is what makes it really special. 

“We were really pleased to see how good this picture was, given the lighting conditions,” Antoine Pommerol, a member of the science team, said in a statement. You can see the Korolev Crater covered with ice in the planet’s northern hemisphere, according to the ESA.  Read more…

More about Space, Science, Mars, Space Photos, and European Space Agency

From Marvel to Nike, graphic designer Jeff Cole creates epic mashups of pop culture and sneakers. 

Cole also has his own artwork company IKONICK which produces high quality pop art for sale. Read more…

More about Instagram, Art, Comics, Disney, and Mashable Video

Read more…More about Mashable Reels, Culture, Web Culture, and Sex Relationships

Among the glistening dunes of New Mexico’s White Sands National Monument, scientists have been taken aback by the discovery of footprints.

The footprints belong to the extinct giant ground sloth, measuring seven to eight feet tall when on its hind legs, and sporting razor-like claws — vastly different to the lazy looking sloths you’re familiar with today. 

But it’s what’s inside these sloth footprints that’s captivated researchers: human footprints. This suggests hunters were possibly following the ground sloth step-for-step, despite the animal’s ability to strike and kill. Read more…

More about Science, Archaeology, Sloth, Anthropology, and Sloths

It may be playing catch-up, but Pinterest is finally making its platform more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision.

On Wednesday, Pinterest announced a handful of updates across the company’s app and website, particularly aimed at being more inclusive. 

Steered by lead designer Long Cheng, Pinterest partnered with San Francisco non-profit Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired to develop the updates.

“After talking to Pinners and finding out how Pinterest was (and wasn’t) working for them, we did an accessibility audit and created a list of areas to improve,” says Pinterest’s press statement. Read more…

More about Pinterest, Accessibility, Apps And Software, Low Vision, and Blind

This time, it will be different. This time, and I know you’ve heard this before, but this time Facebook’s really going to change. 

Yes, I know the company allowed third-party apps to scrape your data, and yes it allowed Russian trolls to foment race-based violence on its platform, but that’s not who Facebook really is. Don’t believe me? Well then take a look at this genuine and authentic and not-at-all-focus-grouped 60-second ad spot that the company released today. 

“We came here for the friends,” begins the advertisement. “But then something happened, we had to deal with spam, clickbait, fake news, and data misuse. That’s going to change.” Read more…

More about Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Media, Tech, and Social Media Companies

Electric car maker Tesla has pushed the car market to develop more sedans, SUVs, and even luxury sports cars with batteries. In China, any headway Tesla’s made for electric is overshadowed by an expanding list of homegrown electric carmakers.

At the Beijing Auto Show this week everything from electrical concept cars to new models of efficient battery-powered vehicles were on display and showed China’s bullish position on electric. Even Tesla brought its Model 3 to the show ahead of its official launch in the country expected for next year. Other non-Chinese automakers were all about electric at the show, as well: Volkswagen, Nissan, GM, and Ford were just some of the companies showing off electric vehicles made for Chinese riders. Read more…

More about China, Tesla, Electric Vehicles, Beijing Auto Show, and Tech