The call came in less than an hour before the 8 a.m. shift was scheduled to start: A family emergency meant the regular caregiver for an elderly Dana Point, California, client couldn’t make her shift that day, so a replacement caregiver was needed ASAP. Homewatch CareGivers of San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) had to quickly find […]
By John P. Mello Jr. Aug 8, 2018 5:00 AM PT Artificial Intelligence plays a big role in Android 9, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, released Monday. Called “Android Pie,” the OS is designed to learn from its users’ behavior, and apply those lessons to simplify and customize their phone experiences. “From […]
Early reviews of the Microsoft Surface Go two-in-one, which hit shelves on Thursday, mainly have been positive. “It’s a tiny wonder of a computer — with a few flaws — that can do more than I would have given it credit for before I tried it,” wrote Dieter Bohn for The Verge. The Surface Go […]
We’ve all been there: scrolling through a seemingly never-ending carousel of shows and movies available on Netflix, trying to find the one thing we might want to sit down and enjoy. Except we often end up spending more time looking for something to kick back and view than actually watching the thing itself. But fear […]
The autonomous car has thrown the automotive industry — an industry that is notoriously slow to change — into the forefront of technology. The autonomous car has become a technology catalyst because it requires innovation in many areas, ranging from processor and sensor technology to artificial intelligence. As with all new technologies, the industry rushes […]
Welcome, friends, neighbors and distant strangers to the latest edition of Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, in which your trusty columnist highly recommends a trip to your regional wine producers when not perusing the latest gadget announcements. In our tasting flight this time around are a pair of earphones that double as earrings (or is that […]
For pretty much my entire career, CEOs have been almost invulnerable. Even when Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder and lead spokesperson, tried to get then-CEO John Scully fired from Apple, he lost and got fired himself. I’ve watched CEOs at companies with zero-tolerance employee dating policies have affairs with subordinates and get a pass. (At Intel […]
Photo-hosting service Photobucket in May quietly restored third-party hosting of photos, reversing its unpopular year-old policy that required users to pay nearly US$400 in subscription fees for hosting privileges. Many irate users had reacted to the policy by claiming their photos were “taken hostage.” Hosted photos on blogs, forums and other sites were replaced by […]
By John P. Mello Jr. Jul 17, 2018 9:57 AM PT Roku has earned a reputation for making streaming TV products that are easy to set up and use, and that deliver above-average quality at affordable prices — and that’s the approach it has taken with its new Roku TV Wireless Speakers. The company unveiled […]
Apple on Thursday announced updated MacBook Pro 13- and 15-inch notebooks with a Touch Bar, 8th-generation Intel Core processors, support for up to 32 GB of DDR memory in the larger notebook, a True Tone display, and an improved third-generation keyboard for quiet typing. The 15-inch model comes with 6-core Intel Core i7 and i9 […]