Category Archives: Blog

Why settle for just one Roku remote control, when you could have two?

That is the bold question posed by the latest addition to the Apple Watch ecosystem: the brand new Roku app. The app, which Roku writes became available for Apple’s wrist computer on Nov. 8, does all kinds of neat things — like, as we already mentioned, acting as a remote control. 

“Control your Roku device directly from Apple Watch,” explains the above-linked Roku blog post. “It’s the same easy to use remote from the mobile app – just sized for your wrist!”  

How fun! 

To get the app on your Apple Watch, all you need to do is download the Roku app on your iPhone (or, if you already have it, update to version 6.1.3) and you should be good to go.  Read more…

More about Apple, Roku, Apple Watch, Streaming Services, and Tech

Nine months till blast-off.

NASA’s latest car-sized, six-wheeled Mars rover, currently dubbed the 2020 Rover, is in the final stages of testing before launching to the red desert planet. 

On Thursday, NASA released footage showing researchers transferring the rover into a vacuum testing chamber at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. There, NASA subjected the rover to a simulation of Mars’ frigid atmospheric conditions to ensure the rover’s antennas, ground-penetrating radar, cameras, and equipment work under such extreme, extraterrestrial environs. 

More about Space, Science, Mars, Science, and Space

Technological obsolescence isn’t any less annoying when it’s unplanned. 

Scores of smart TVs owner are about to find that out the hard way come Dec. 2, when Netflix will stop supporting their devicesAccording to Samsung, the streaming service will no longer work on “select” 2010 and 2011 smart TVs sold by the manufacturer in the U.S. and Canada. 

The stated reason, notes Samsung, is “due to technical limitations.” However, the company is quick to point out that “there are many other devices that can be connected to a Smart TV to continue enjoying the streaming service.”

You just, you know, have to buy some compatible stuff.  Read more…

More about Samsung, Netflix, Roku, Smart Tvs, and Tech

Westworld‘s third season is slated to premiere sometime in 2020, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait until the new year to be fully creeped out. 

HBO dropped its latest teaser for the new season on Nov. 8 in the form of a video advertising a fictitious company, Incite, that presumably plays a large role in show. There’s even an accompanying website that promises “to make ‘impossible’ a thing of the past.”

“Here at Incite,” the website reads, “your data doesn’t work for us — we work for you.”

Which, having watched the first two seasons of Westworld, we’re going to reserve judgment on the veracity of that claim.  Read more…

More about Hbo, Westworld, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

In a cavernous Los Angeles County cleanroom, Northrop Grumman and NASA engineers have pieced together the space agency’s prized next-generation telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope.

It’s big. 

How big? NASA tweeted a picture of a human standing on a crane beside the behemoth cosmic-sleuthing satellite, for reference. 

More about Space, James Webb Space Telescope, Science, and Space

What’s more disconcerting than watching MIT’s dog-like Mini Cheetah robot cavort around? Nine of them doing it in unison.

We’ve had concerns about MIT’s robots for some time now, but a new video from the school’s biomimetic robotics lab opens into new levels of terror. After a playful bit of robot soccer, the nine Mini Cheetahs gather together like a military unit and start playing a dystopian version of “Simon Says.”

The synchronized stretches and backflips are creepy enough, but the leaf piles will really mess up your day. This is what the eventual, clearly inevitable robot uprising will look like right in the moment it happens. Read more…

More about Robot, Mit, Cheetah Robot, Tech, and Innovations

Collins Dictionary, publishing dictionaries now for two centuries, announced its 2019 “word of the year” on Thursday.

It’s a term whose usage increased by a whopping 100-fold between 2018 and 2019, according to Collins’ lexicographers, and since 2013 has been employed four times as much. 

In mid-September 2019, Google Trends shows searches for the term skyrocketed to their highest levels ever. The word, or term, is “climate strike.”

And it’s quite relevant. Earth’s climate has experienced 18 of the 19 warmest years on record since 2000, and in 2019 scientists recorded the hottest month in 140 years of reliable record-keeping. Read more…

More about Science, Global Warming, Climate Change, Greta Thunberg, and Climate Strike

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has finally named a culprit behind the mysterious lung illness tied to vape use that’s been making headlines since the summer.

A new report identifies vitamin E acetate as a cause of the illness that has come to be identified as EVALI. The CDC reached that determination after 29 EVALI patients from 10 different states were tested, and the offending substance showed up in every result.

“Vitamin E acetate is used as an additive in the production of e-cigarette, or vaping, products,” the report notes. “This is the first time that we have detected a potential chemical of concern in biologic samples from patients with these lung injuries.” Read more…

More about Vaping, Vape, Thc, Vape Disease, and Science

‘Flygskam’ is a compound of the Swedish words ‘flyg’, which means flight, and ‘skam’ – shame. There, the movement is already changing people’s flying habits. More and more travelers are replacing planes with trains. 

Now, ‘flygskam’ is making ripples around the world. So here are some ways you can reduce your carbon footprint if you truly have to fly.  Read more…

More about Travel, Mashable Video, Airlines, Air Travel, and Climate Change

TL;DR: Experience the sheer joy of sleeping in ultra cozy bamboo sheets — this 4-piece queen sheet set is just $32.99, a 69% savings. 

Sadly, you can’t wave a magic wand to improve your sleeping habits. But something as straightforward as changing your bedding could be a step in the right direction. It makes sense: if you’re uncomfortable, you’re probably not getting the best sleep. And what better time to make the move than Black Friday month? (Yes, it has an entire month now.)

Sleeping soundly all starts with laying on cozy, breathable materials, and these Bamboo Comfort 4-Piece Luxury Sheet Sets deliver exactly that. Read more…

More about Home, Sleep, Sheets, Mashable Shopping, and Culture