Best Black Friday 2018 smart home deals: Amazon Echo, Roomba, Google Home, Apple HomePod

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Smart home devices were the hot, gift-worthy items during last year’s holiday season and 2018 is shaping up to be no different. A big part of the reason for this is because these smart home devices tend to see great discounts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, making now the ideal time to shop for loved ones — or snag a gift for yourself. Trust us, we won’t tell anyone. We promise.  

SEE ALSO: All the best Black Friday 2018 sales, right in one place

Although some of the deals are not official yet, a large number of them are active right now, so you can take advantage of these fantastic sales from Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target before the Black Friday shopping holiday even begins.  Read more…

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‘Shrek Retold’ is a bizarre fan-made remake of the classic animated film

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Nearly 20 years on and several disappointing sequels later, Shrek is still on our minds.

As it has been for over 200 people, who have contributed to a huge and very weird project called Shrek Retold, a scene-by-scene remake of the 1999 film.

Behind it all is 3GI, the team responsible for the annual festival dedicated to the cantankerous ogre, Shrekfest. A mix of animation, bizarre 3D renderings, and live action scenes, the film’s trailer really speaks for itself.

Shrek Retold is set to be released on 3GI’s YouTube channel on Nov. 29. Read more…

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Facebook’s former security chief stands up for the social network, calls for change

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Facebook’s former chief security officer is defending the social network amid the fallout from the New York Times’ bombshell report on the company this past week.

Alex Stamos, who was the company’s CSO from 2015 up until the summer of 2018, wrote a piece published in the Washington Post on Saturday responding to the New York Times report. Stamos attempted to dispel the Times’ report claiming that Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, fearing blowback, delayed taking action following his team’s discovery of Russian interference in the 2016 election via a misinformation campaign on the platform. Read more…

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Donald Trump dropped a big ‘Schitt’ after dismissing a U.S. hero’s military service

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It’s the afternoon of a day ending with “y,” so you know Donald Trump has offended someone already.

Look no further than Trump’s Fox News interview with Chris Wallace. A clip from that interview went viral earlier on Sunday when Wallace asked the president to respond to comments by Bill McRaven, the former Navy SEAL who oversaw the operation the ended in the death of Osama Bin Laden.

SEE ALSO: Jimmy Kimmel has a better version of that wild ‘Trumpy Bear’ ad

McRaven had previously criticized Trump’s frequent attacks against the media — specifically, his characterization of the press as “the enemy of the people” — as “the greatest threat to democracy” he’s ever witnessed. The former SEAL spoke up again in August after Trump’s apparently punitive revocation of former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance. Read more…

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Trump administration changes EPA website to be kinder to fracking

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At the beginning of the year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made changes to its website pages on fracking. 

A watchdog group known as the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative tracked those changes across the EPA’s site and just released a report documenting the group’s findings. The result of the changes has left an official U.S. government website looking more like an extension of the fossil fuel industry than a federal agency with a mission to protect the environment.

The most obvious EPA website change from the report is the very title of the fracking page. Previously called “Natural Gas Extraction – Hydraulic Fracturing,” the EPA webpage on fracking is now titled “Unconventional Oil and Natural Gas Development.”  Read more…

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Darts and farts: A tale of two grown men acting very immature

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Just in case you had any doubts, darts and farts do not mix well.

In fact, when the two become involved, things can get pretty ugly. Just ask Gary Anderson (Grown Man #1) and Wesley Harms (Grown Man #2,) professional dart players who recently accused each other of farting at the Grand Slam of Darts in England.

As The Guardian reported on Friday, after Anderson of Scotland beat Harms, a Dutch player, 10-2 in a match that earned him a spot in the quarter-finals, some foul-smelling accusations came out.

In a post-match interview, Harms said he wasn’t playing up to his normal caliber because Anderson straight up farted on the stage before him, leaving him to endure a “fragrant smell.” Read more…

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YouTube now offers free, ad-supported streaming Hollywood movies

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YouTube has just rolled out dozens of free-to-watch full-length feature films on its platform. The only catch is that the content is ad-supported.

First noticed by AdAge, YouTube began launching ad-supported Hollywood films under a “Free to watch” section on its Movies & Shows vertical. Films like Legally Blonde, The Terminator, Rocky, Hackers, and All Dogs Go to Heaven are listed on the page with a “Free with Ads” tag displayed under the title. Users can watch these films at no cost with commercial interruptions and pop-up banner ads like the ones displayed on other YouTube videos.

(The ads appear to go away for YouTube Premium subscribers, based on our testing so far.) Read more…

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‘Fantastic Beasts’ sequel is a series-low box office opening for the Harry Potter universe

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J.K. Rowling’s big screen Wizarding World is hardly on death’s door, but Warner Bros. can’t be happy about Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald‘s opening weekend.

Sunday estimates point to a $62.2 million start for the newly released sequel, which hit theaters on Nov. 16. That’s low. Low for a Wizarding World movie (and one that introduces a young and hot Albus Dumbledore, no less), and low for a November tentpole.

SEE ALSO: Critics agree ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ spells trouble for the franchise

The Crimes of Grindelwald is shaping up to deliver the Wizarding World’s weakest box office opening to date. Its 2016 predecessor, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is the previous owner of that dubious honor.  Read more…

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The best T-shirt gifts for the true tech geek in your life

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Shopping for the tech geek in your life can feel like a major challenge — but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Instead of trying to find yet another gadgets for the tech geek in your life who seems to have everything, why not buy them one of these very low-tech tees? 

SEE ALSO: Next-level tech gift ideas for the techie who has it all

Whether you’re shopping for the engineer in your life, or just looking to pick up something fun for the office exchange, even the geekiest among us will appreciate these shirts.

16 Stages of Debugging

Because debugging is a journey.

Because debugging is a journey.

Image: Amazon

Ah, debugging. This “6 Stages of Debugging” tee is both too real and instantly relatable to anyone who spends their days writing code. Get them this shirt and maybe the next debugging cycle will be a little less painful. Read more…

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Watch Barack Obama surprise Michelle with flowers and tell his version of their love story

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Michelle Obama’s Becoming book tour has been quite the hit so far, but at Saturday night’s Washington, D.C. stop a special guest brought the event to a whole other level.

Michelle’s husband, former president Barack Obama, strolled onstage with flowers in-hand to surprise his wife and the entire Capital One Arena audience.

And since his former White House advisor Valerie Jarrett was moderating the conversation, he decided to stay and chat for a bit about the book and his love for his wife.

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Look who dropped by tonight! ❤️ #IAmBecoming

A post shared by Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) on Read more…

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