Sunday, 31 May 2020

Mark Zuckerberg 'expressed concerns' in Trump phone call, so that should fix everything

Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly suggested to President Donald Trump, in a roundabout fashion, that perhaps the poster-in-chief could tone it down a little. For him? Pretty please? Axios reports that two sources familiar with a phone call Trump made to the Facebook CEO on Friday said that Zuckerberg did not make any specific requests of the president, but conveyed "concerns" about his "tone and rhetoric," expressed disagreement with recent sentiments, and told the president that his choice of words "put Facebook in a difficult position." The latter is likely a reference to the fact that Facebook...

YouTube pledges $1 million toward police reform

YouTube has its faults, but it's also one of the few brands that stepped up swiftly with a tangible response to widespread protests against police brutality. On Friday, the company tweeted a pledge to donate $1 million "in support of efforts to address social injustice." It was a vague promise at the time, motivated by what the company described as a desire to "stand in solidarity against racism and violence." We stand in solidarity against racism and violence. When members of our community hurt, we all hurt. We’re pledging $1M in support of efforts to address social injustice. — YouTube...

Remote learning got you down? Here are the best educational sites for kids.

We are living in a new age of widespread remote, online learning.  Whether it’s homeschool parents turning to online resources to help plan lessons, new families looking for activities for their housebound kids over the summer, or high schoolers looking for additional test prep help, the internet is becoming a virtual classroom for a growing number of kids. And the good news is, the quality of online learning platforms has only grown to meet this demand.  Some offer games that teach young children in a fun, engaging way that barely feels like school, while others offer in-depth curriculums...

Hulu Watch Party review: Limited accessibility hinders otherwise great ideas

The last couple of months have seen group streaming explode in popularity, and Hulu joined the party this week. The Disney-owned streaming service launched Watch Party on Thursday, giving users a way to watch Hulu programming together while chatting about it. The good news is Watch Party works. The bad news is it needs a little more time to grow. What you need At launch, Hulu Watch Party limits its audience right away by being exclusive to people with an ad-free Hulu account. That costs $11.99 per month, which is twice as much as the ad-supported $5.99 option that we can pretty safely assume...

This wearable smart device could help your workouts, and it's on sale

TL;DR: Workout smarter with the FIT RELIEF Wearable Smart Device for $74.99, a 62% savings as of May 31. The worst part about getting in shape is not knowing how hard to push yourself. If you go too hard, you end up sore and uncomfortable the next day, likely resulting in a lousy workout (or a skipped one altogether). If you don't push yourself hard enough, you won't see results. So what's the trick? Sadly, there's no magic wand you can wave to give you perfectly-intense workouts every single time. But there is the FIT RELIEF Wearable Smart Device, which is on sale at the time of this writing....

Best rowing machines for your home gym

As the weather gets warmer, you may be thinking about getting in shape. Or maybe you’re spending more time at home and thinking of investing in a high-quality piece of exercise equipment.  Whether you’re looking to add a piece of equipment to your home gym or are in search of a single machine that will provide a full-body workout without taking up too much space, a rower is a solid choice. Rowing has long been favored by people looking for a full-body workout that’s cardio-heavy yet low impact. This means that you’re not putting large amounts of stress on your joints, giving you less of...

Best drones for kids: Find a toy drone that's safe, sturdy, and easy to fly

So your kid wants a drone. That's not surprising: They've been a hot holiday gift for a few years running, and more options than ever are explicitly marketed toward the younger set. Still, there are a lot of drones out there, and it can be hard to tell not only which are actually good, but also which are safe, sturdy, and beginner-friendly enough for children. Your young pilot will probably crash this thing a few times, after all — in a lot of cases (though not all!), a low-cost toy drone is your best bet. (While we appreciate the feature-laden $1500 drones of the world, they're probably not...

NHS track and trace app: how will it work and when can you download it? 

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J from Technology Intelligence https://ift.tt/2XfWzdn via IFT...

Saturday, 30 May 2020

These bears work quietly to protect your online privacy

TL;DR: A two-year subscription to TunnelBear VPN is on sale for £3.38 per month, saving you 58% on list price. We like to imagine that TunnelBear VPN is run by lots of hardworking bears, all doing everything they can to ensure your online security and data privacy. It's probably not the case, but they do feature heavily on TunnelBear's site and interface, so that's something. TunnelBear is one of the most popular VPN providers, and that's probably partly down to the cute bears that pop up everywhere. It's also due to the range of advanced security features offered by the service, including...

This VPN is on sale for less than £1 per month

TL;DR: A five-year subscription to Ivacy VPN is on sale for £0.94 per month, saving you 88% on list price. The thing about VPNs is that the best deals are generally reserved for the longest contracts. To access the lowest monthly rates, you tend to have to sign up for years. That's not always a problem though, because some services are so good that you're probably happy to commit. Ivacy VPN is a good example of this, with a long list of impressive features that should keep you content for the duration of your subscription. SEE ALSO: 5 of the best VPNs for streaming in the UK A five-year subscription...

Waymo's self-driving minivans will return to California streets in June

Waymo is ready to get back to the business of being on the streets of California. The Alphabet-owned company shut down a public testing program for its self-driving minivans in early March, as the global pandemic started to reshape society in the United States. Now that fleet will reportedly return to the streets of San Francisco on June 8. That revelation comes from a company email obtained by The Verge, which reported the news on Saturday. The self-driving fleet will apparently be running deliveries for a pair of non-profits: Wendy McNaughton's #DrawTogether, which sets local kids up with...

SpaceX becomes first private company to launch NASA astronauts into space

For the first time in nearly a decade, NASA launched astronauts into space from U.S. territory. And for the first time ever, it was on a spacecraft built by a private company, Elon Musk's SpaceX. The company's reusable Falcon 9 rocket took off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Saturday after the first attempt was aborted Wednesday. The Crew Dragon spacecraft carries two NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, who are expected to reach the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday.  Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon will lift off from Launch Complex 39A – the same place Saturn...

Android 11 reveal delayed, Google says 'now is not the time'

The Android 11 reveal is no longer happening on June 3. The delay was confirmed in an overnight Friday-Saturday tweet from the mobile operating system's official account. There's no specific reason given for the change in plans, beyond a general sense of acceptance that "now is not the time to celebrate." We are excited to tell you more about Android 11, but now is not the time to celebrate. We are postponing the June 3rd event and beta release. We'll be back with more on Android 11, soon. — Android Developers (@AndroidDev) May 30, 2020 Don't expect anyone to argue. Between the ongoing...

Need website hosting for your business? Here are 6 great choices.

Your small business needs a website. Nowadays, it's as essential as any other kind of presence like a physical shop or your business phone line. A business website doesn't necessarily need to be expansive, complicated, or even expensive to launch, but you do need some kind of web presence. After all, many users flock to Google first when trying to find a new product or service they require.  Web hosting is, as the name suggests, where your website is hosted. It's the home of your site, which means the speed of your site and its reliability depend upon the web hosting service you choose....

9 great reads from CNET this week - CNET

Why it's so hard to trace the source of COVID-19, what you need to know about Trump's free speech showdown with Twitter and who was defining tech 25 years ago. https://ift.tt/eA8V8J from CNET News https://ift.tt/2M9EoQe via IFT...

9 great reads from CNET this week - CNET

Why it's so hard to trace the source of COVID-19, what you need to know about Trump's free speech showdown with Twitter and who was defining tech 25 years ago. https://ift.tt/eA8V8J from CNET https://ift.tt/2Xf3Sly via IFT...

Tempo Studio review: The answer to all your weight training needs during lockdown

Work(out) From Home is a weekly column where we review smart fitness machines and apps in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Thanks to technology, there are still plenty of ways to exercise if your gym is closed. Read more... Tempo Studio $1,995 View Product The Good Sleek and compact • Large touchscreen display • High-quality equipment • Hundreds of live and on-demand workouts • Built-in 3D sensor tracks form and progress The Bad Expensive • Monthly subscription fee The Bottom Line Tempo's high-end equipment coupled with its large catalog of on-demand classes makes it an excellent...

If your kid isn't ready for a phone, a smartwatch might be a better fit

The percentage of kids who have a smartphone grows by the year: As of Oct. 2019, over half of kids have their own phones by age 11 (compared to ages 13 and 14 over the past few years). Kids seem to start begging for their own phone as soon as they can talk (or at least it probably feels that way to parents who are always handing their phone over to keep a kid busy). In some ways, your child having a phone on them at all times can alleviate some serious worries about location and communication, and educational TV shows on a tablet are a handy distraction when parents need some peace and quiet....

Improve flexibly and reduce pain with this massage gun that's 71% off

TL;DR: Get the muscle relief you've been needing with the VBX Pro handheld massage therapy gun for $139.99, a 71% savings as of May 30. Personal, at-home massagers can get a bad rap. Think massagers with vibrations so intense that you're left in even more pain than you started with. The terminology for these machines can also be falsely appealing, with names like the "G-Force," which sounds more like a Gatorade flavor than a relaxation device. It's understandable that people are really skeptical, but you don't have to swear them all off. The VBX Pro distributes oscillating vibration technology...