When my mother recently came over from Denmark to visit me in London, she had with her 24 numbered, individually wrapped presents. 

They’re just small things and trinkets, I can tell from squeezing the parcels. And I know, because she’s given me a set of 24 presents like these every year for many years. She took over the task  from the nisse, a goblin-like creature from Danish folklore. Until I reached my teenage years and lost my ability to suspend disbelief, it was the nisse who laid out a present for me each morning in December (so nice of my mother to relieve the poor creature of his duty.) These little gifts are called kalendergaver, or calendar presents. Read more…

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Doing a decent impression of Siri is a high-flying goal for some, but a Maryland rapper has nailed it.

Baltimore-based artist and producer Caz, a.k.a. HAZMATCAZ, has mastered the voice of Apple’s digital smart assistant, demonstrated in two viral clips posted to Twitter on Saturday.

First spotted by PAPER, the clip was posted by Twitter user @Erinie_DaBest, and shows Caz giving her best Siri rendition:

After reportedly receiving comments suggesting the video was fake or lip-synced, Caz responded to critics on Twitter. 

“For everyone saying that i’m faking the siri you hear in the background is me being previously recorded on someone else’s phone and my friend asked me to do it again,” she tweeted. “I’ve always has a good speaking voice it just came naturally to me one day and i’ve been doing it ever since.” Read more…

More about Siri, Rapper, Impressions, Digital Assistants, and Culture

Even though the U.S. government’s shutdown has forced agencies to run with a skeleton staff, it won’t be affecting a long-running holiday tradition.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed that it’ll still be tracking Santa’s journey on Christmas Eve, which it has done so for the last 63 years.

Every year, around 1,500 volunteers take calls and answer emails from kids around the world about the whereabouts of Santa Claus with the help of satellite systems, high-powered radars and jet fighters.

In 2018, NORAD will also be publishing Santa’s location on social media, however, an estimated 140,000 calls are still expected to be made to the hotline, with volunteers taking two-hour shifts to answer enquiries. Read more…

More about Politics, Christmas, Culture, Santa, and Santa Tracker

Ariana Grande is well-known for her superb Celine Dion impression, but she’s been perfecting it, Carpool Karaoke-style, from an early age.

The “thank u, next” pop star posted a clip on Instagram of her tiny toddler self singing along to the Canadian icon’s single “The Reason” in the car — and it’s almost pitch perfect.

As E! News pointed out, Dion’s track dropped in 1997, when Grande was but four years old, so she could be around this age in the clip.

More about Ariana Grande, Celine Dion, Entertainment, Music, and Celebrities

File this one under deeply ironic — yet sadly necessary.

On Wednesday, the elusive street artist Banksy claimed responsibility on Instagram for a new mural that appeared on the wall of a garage in the south Wales town of Port Talbot. 

Then, days after the work appeared, the town erected a transparent plastic sheet wall to protect the latest work from the artist who made a name for himself by vandalizing public property. 

The irony is difficult to ignore, but the town’s actions are wholly understandable. 

More about Art, Graffiti, Street Art, Banksy, and Tech

There’s trouble in iOS paradise.

Apple’s 12.1.2 iOS update, rolled out Tuesday, appears to be causing more problems than the fix was intended to solve.

Multiple users on Twitter are complaining that the iOS update is bricking their phones by cutting off cellular data. First reported by Forbes, there are now multiple user complaints on Twitter about their iPhones’ inability to connect to cellular data after updating to the latest version of iOS.

More about Cellular Data, Ios 12, Ios 12.1, Tech, and Iphone

The banned Slack accounts are coming back.

On Friday evening, Slack issued a mea culpa for what some were calling “discriminatory” account bans, made in an effort to comply with U.S. economic sanctions.

“We acknowledge that we made several mistakes here,” Slack wrote in a blog post. “Our attempts to comply with these regulations were not well-implemented. In our communications, we did not treat our customers and other users with the respect they deserve.”

More about Iran, Slack, Bans, Tech, and Identities

Most Star Wars fans know John Boyega as Finn, hero of the Resistance. But among First Order Stormtroopers, he’ll always be the traitorous FN-2187.

Boyega got a sharp reminder of his status among the rank-and-file of the First Order during a recent visit to Disneyland. The actor was just wandering around, minding his own business, when he was accosted — and eventually arrested! — by the white-armored troops.

The clip first surfaced in one of Boyega’s Instagram Stories, and was just so perfect that it was quickly captured and reposted in a more shareable format. Read more…

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Call it the Christmas Spirit: 2018 Edition.

Writer Candice Marie Benbow chose to handle what could have been a sticky situation with a neighbor with kindness, and, also, cake.

On Dec. 15, Benbow shared an unusual (and hilarious) letter she wrote to her downstairs neighbor on Twitter. The neighbor had an unfortunate habit of blasting music at 3:00 a.m. This was something Benbow had somewhat resigned herself to: “to be fair, you’ve helped me catch a vibe.”

But soon, the neighbor took it too far. Or, in Benbow’s words, “But last night… fam, you tried it. You really, really did.” Read more…

More about Holidays, Cake, Ava Duvernay, Kindness, and Culture

In 2011, Louis CK, Ricky Gervais, and Chris Rock all sat together in a room and tossed around the N-word while a visibly uncomfortable Jerry Seinfeld watched.

It was a moment from HBO’s unscripted comedy special, Talking Funny, in which the four comics sat together and pondered their work in stand-up. It’s not a new video. But it’s newly resurfaced, and its rediscovered existence has raised quite a ruckus.

On the one hand, you have two white men dropping the N-word repeatedly as they discuss the word’s use, or lack thereof, in their work. And on the other, you have Rock sitting right there, laughing along with and encouraging the tangential exploration of a horrible slur’s comedic value while two of the white men sitting beside him say it again and again. Read more…

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