Tech Boys

The New York Police department has been using drones in a limited capacity for years — deploying unmanned aircraft systems for search and rescue missions , to document crime scenes, or to monitor large public events like New Years Eve in Times Square . Soon, you might see one in your backyard as well: NYPD officials have announced plans to use drones to follow up on noise complaints during the long Labor Day weekend. "If a caller states there is a large crowd, a large party in a backyard, we're going to be utilizing our assets to go up and check on the party," Assistant NYPD Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said during a press conference Thursday. Privacy advocates have been quick to respond, with a representative from the New York Civil Liberties Union telling the Associated Press that the announcement "flies in the face of the POST Act" that requires police to publish its use policies for surveillance technology . And indeed, the plan could represent a stark depa...

A strategy guide for the September 1 'Quordle,' a puzzle game similar to 'Wordle,' but which gives the user nine guesses to figure out four different words. from Mashable https://ift.tt/Ws8xgYM via IFTTT

We take a look at KiwiCo, which provides fun learning activities for Australian kids with its monthly subscription boxes. from Mashable https://ift.tt/aSPHUtR via IFTTT

Google has just made it easier than ever to capture video stills while using its Chrome web browser . The company highlighted the struggle faced by users when attempting to capture video frames — noting that screenshots often produced lower-quality images with the video’s progress bar shown across it. If you’re using Chrome (or another Chromium-based browser, like Microsoft’s own Edge), that’s now a thing of the past. Starting today, users can hit pause at any time during a video, right-click, and select the new "Copy Video Frame" option from the pop-up menu. We went ahead and tried the feature but noticed it didn't work as intended. On YouTube , evoking the new option required two right clicks instead of one. The first right-click brought up the native YouTube menu but after a second try, the menu with the new feature was available. When you click the "Copy Video Frame," Chrome will capture what's currently being shown and you'll have the option to pa...

A complaint in Poland has been filed against OpenAI for alleged violation of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. from Mashable https://ift.tt/NvmCicX via IFTTT

Google has been working to marry its new-found focus on generative AI with its existing expertise in search since mid-May, as part of Search Lab's Google Search Generative Experience ( SGE ) project. On Wednesday, the company announced that the SGE program is expanding beyond America's digital borders and into both the Japanese and Indian marketplaces. SGE is Google's answer to Microsoft's Bing AI and is designed to provide summarized and curated answers to input prompts rather than a list of webpages. Google's system differs from Microsoft's in that it incorporates its AI directly into the existing search bar rather than run it as a separate chatbot assistant. The company began expanding access to the SGE program in late May for US users and, this week, rolled out Search Labs to users in India and Japan. The AI-enhanced search feature will be available in Japanese in Japan and in both English and Hindi for users in India, reads a Wednesday Google Search ...

Clearblue has launched a new product that can determine what stage of menopause a person is in. The "Menopause Stage Indicator" is a urine testing device and it's the company's first for this underserved market in women's health. The Menopause Stage Indicator looks like a standard pregnancy test stick but instead of measuring urine for pregnancy hormones, it will look for follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels, which are measured to confirm menopause. To get accurate test results, you’ll have to conduct five urine tests over ten days, and Clearblue recommends they be taken every other day. Using FSH levels, menstrual cycle history, and a person’s age, the company will be able to determine and confirm the menopause stage. The app will calculate if a person is in premenopause, early perimenopause, late perimenopause, or postmenopause. In its press release, Clearblue acknowledges that only a healthcare professional can confirm someone’s menopause stage. Howev...

A strategy guide for the August 31 'Quordle,' a puzzle game similar to 'Wordle,' but which gives the user nine guesses to figure out four different words. from Mashable https://ift.tt/d5aflb4 via IFTTT

YouTube star KSI hasn't made very much off the hundreds of millions impressions his X posts receive. from Mashable https://ift.tt/NTxVpOD via IFTTT

When Sennheiser debuted the original Ambeo Soundbar in 2019, it was the company's only living room speaker to carry its immersive audio tech. It was also very expensive at $2,500. That model, now dubbed the Ambeo Soundbar Max, is still $2,000 and its big sonic chops come in a massively large package. Last year, Sennheiser revealed the Ambeo Soundbar Plus : a $1,500 option that carried much of what makes Max such an acoustic marvel in a smaller design and a lower price (which is now $1,200 ). Today, the company announced the most affordable Ambeo model yet, the Ambeo Soundbar Mini, which packs that immersive audio tech in a much smaller speaker. It's a bid to take on the likes of Sonos Beam , but this Mini is still comparatively pricey at $800.  Sennheiser says the Ambeo Soundbar Mini is less than half the size of the Ambeo Soundbar Plus. The smaller stature alleviates potential obstruction when you place it in front of your TV and the company says it's compact enough to ...

Check out the latest and best mattress deals from Casper, Nectar, and other bed-in-a-box brands as of Aug 30. from Mashable https://ift.tt/mBpDEfz via IFTTT

Google's next batch of flagship phones will make its grand debut in early October. from Mashable https://ift.tt/zykNR7O via IFTTT

Meta is reportedly rolling out its VR legs for beta testers. from Mashable https://ift.tt/bk1uMq8 via IFTTT

Browse the best early Labor Day deals on appliances, tech products, bedding, and more. from Mashable https://ift.tt/j7iGeF2 via IFTTT

Mercedes-Benz is launching its high-power charging hub network in the fourth quarter of 2023 with speeds as high as 400kW — more than any EV on the market can handle, the company announced . The stations will launch in Atlanta, Georgia (the company's US home base), Chengdu, China and Mannheim, Germany. The automaker plans to build 400 hub locations with 2,000 chargers in the US, and 2,000 around the world by the end of 2024. Earlier this year, Mercedes-Benz announced plans to team with ChargePoint to build the "Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging Network." The first installations were to include both CCS and Tesla's NACS (North American Charging Standard) connectors and be open to non-Mercedes EVs.  Now, the company has said that "depending on region, the charging stations offer a charging rate of currently up to 400kW, provided via the respective standard charging systems CCS1 (North America), CCS2 [Europe], NACS [Tesla] and GB/T [China]." It promised tha...

Max, formerly known as HBO Max , will give subscribers access to several AMC shows, at least for a limited time. The streaming service has struck a deal with AMC to feature some of its more recent programming from September 1st to October 31st. According to CNBC and Variety , their deal encompasses over 200 episodes from titles that include Fear the Walking Dead , Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire and Killing Eve . AMC will even make more of its shows available through Max this fall.  While the network has its own streaming service called AMC+, it's been struggling to make money off it and to keep up with rival providers. When company chairman James Dolan sent a memo to staff members in the midst of layoffs last year, he wrote: "It was our belief that cord cutting losses would be offset by gains in streaming. This has not been the case." AMC's programs will be marked as such on the Max app and will be listed in a tab labeled as "AMC+ Picks on Max....

TL;DR: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro is on sale for £31.51, saving you 79% on list price. If you have an older PC lying around that needs an upgrade, an easy and budget-friendly solution might be to upgrade the operating system. Here’s your chance to get Windows 11 Pro for a low price of just £31.51. This operating system upgrade could do a lot to make your refurbished computer feel like it’s new. Compatible devices can take advantage of refined security features including BitLocker Encryption, advanced antivirus, Microsoft Information Protection, and support for biometrics login if your computer has the hardware for it.  This license lets you put Windows 11 Pro on three devices for life. That means you can upgrade an old PC and still have room to bring your work computer to the modern era. And with Windows Hello for Business, you might even be able to boost your professional productivity with tools for remote deployment, multi-factor authentication, and support for certificate-...

Way back in 2015, Google launched Project Sunroof , an ingenious Maps layer that combined location, sunlight and navigation data to show how much energy solar panels installed on a home’s roof might generate — it could be your house, could be your neighbor's, didn’t matter because Google mapped it out for virtually every house on the planet. This was a clever way to both help advance the company’s environmental sustainability efforts and show off the platform’s technical capabilities. On Tuesday at the Google Cloud Next event, the company will officially unveil a suite of new sustainability APIs that leverage the company’s AI ambitions to provide developers with real-time solar potential, air quality and pollen level information. With these tools, “we can work toward our ambition to help individuals, cities, and partners collectively reduce 1 gigaton of their carbon equivalent emissions annually by 2030,” Yael Maguire, VP of Geo Sustainability at Google writes in a forthcoming Map...

Americans have grown more worried about AI in the last nine months. A new survey from the Pew Research Center indicates 52 percent of respondents are more concerned than excited about rising artificial intelligence use, up 14 points since December. Meanwhile, only 10 percent say they’re more excited than worried, while another 36 percent described their views as equally balanced. “Concern about AI outweighs excitement across all major demographic groups,” the Pew Research Center wrote in a blog post today. It’s been an eventful nine months since the Pew Center last surveyed people about AI. OpenAI’s ChatGPT went from a buzzed-about homework cheating tool to a household name , and the corporate world — including tech’s most prominent companies — raced to prove who was the most invested in generative AI. Microsoft plugged GPT-4 into Office and Windows , and Google launched its Bard chatbot while adding AI components to search . AI writing and generative art have made controversial...

UPDATE: Aug. 28, 2023, 1:30 p.m. EDT This story has been updated with the latest and greatest promo codes from Doordash that are currently available to new and returning users. End-of-summer temps are still soaring in many places, which means this might be prime time for you to stay home, watch a new show on Netflix , and order in. To help you do just that and save money while you're at it, we've rounded up the best active Doordash promo codes that you can apply to your order today. Pay close attention to the directions for using these and their terms/conditions. We'll be updating this page every week, so stay tuned for the latest and greatest from the holy grail of food delivery apps. Also, a little pointer: Most of these codes are available for new users only. If you have an existing Doordash account, consider making a new one under a completely different email/phone number. Psst... you didn't hear it from us. Here are this week's best Doordash discount ...

Apple is working on a new generation of iPad Pro devices, and it might be one of the biggest updates the company's tablet has received in years. According to Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman , the new iPad Pro devices, which are likely to be launched in the spring or summer of 2024, will have OLED displays. Currently, the 11-inch iPad Pro has an LCD display, while the larger, 12.9-inch model has a mini-LED display; switching to OLED displays should provide deeper blacks, more accurate colors, higher brightness, and (perhaps) improved battery life. Gurman also says that the larger iPad Pro will measure 13 inches, a small but noticeable upgrade. Notably, the report doesn't mention the previously rumored, extra-large iPad Pro . It also echoes a 2022 report from analyst Ross Young, who claimed that Apple will launch slightly larger iPad Pro devices with OLED displays in 2024. The new iPad Pro models will reportedly have Apple's new M3 chip, as well as the optional Magic Keyboa...

Last year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of political bias over its Gmail spam filters. Now, a federal judge has dismissed that lawsuit, noting that Google was effectively protected by Section 230 of US law, and that the RNC had not "sufficiently pled that Google acted in bad faith" by filtering out campaign emails, The Washington Post has reported.  According to the lawsuit, Google intentionally marked " millions " of RNC emails as spam, so the group sought reimbursement for "donations it allegedly lost as a result" of that. As evidence, it cited a study finding that Gmail was more likely than Yahoo and other mail systems to mark Republican emails as spam. (One of the study's authors told the Post last year that its findings were cherry-picked.) Calling the lawsuit a "close case," US District Court judge Daniel Calabretta said the RNC had "failed to plausibly allege its claims...

New day, new wek, new Wordle puzzle to solve — and would you look at that? It's the 800th one. Where did the days go? It seems like only yesterday we were being confused by those green and yellow squares popping up on what used to be Twitter . Sigh. We're still here for you, as we are every day, with some tips and tricks to help you figure out the solution. If you just want to be told today's answer, you can jump to the end of this article for August 28's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. Where did Wordle come from? Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble , music identification game Heardle , and variations like Dordle an...