Streaming music service Pandora is arming to do battle with Alexa and Google Assistant in the one area it already knows well: music recommendations. Pandora on Tuesday introduced “voice mode,” a function that lets people ask Pandora’s mobile app to play something for them. “People are getting more conversational [with their voice commands], and in getting more conversational, …

Hit hard by the longest government shutdown in history? Verizon says it “has your back.”  The carrier on Monday said it’s “waiving late fees and agent assist fees for federal government employees directly impacted for the duration of the shutdown.  “We appreciate everything you do and we’ll continue to do what we can to help you stay connected,” Nancy Clark, …

Add these new Nike sneakers to the growing list of household items that’ll need software updates.  The Adapt BB sneaks, unveiled Tuesday and Nike’s newest self-lacing shoes, sound a lot like a fitness tracker. Apart from letting you tie your shoes Back to the Future-style, they can pair with your phone to collect data on your activity and personalize how …

Swiping has become ingrained in our collective muscle memory for touchscreen navigation, and now YouTube’s adding it as the mechanism for getting to the previous or next video in the Up Next list. Swipe left and it returns you to the video you were just watching; swipe right and it sends you to the first video in the Up Next …

Amazon is aiming to unseat Roku as the most popular streamer, and by one count at least it has already succeeded. And now its cheapest, most popular Fire TV device is getting a major feature bump for 2019. The updated version of the $40 (£40) Amazon Fire TV Stick goes on sale today, and the main difference between it and …

Yesterday I shared a deal on a desk and a desk chair. Today, let’s talk about how to improve your posture while you’re sitting there. I’ll preface this by saying that I’m a pretty typical desk-bound worker (because writer, duh). And I’ve definitely experienced my share of neck and shoulder pain — some of it severe. I know my chair …

Watch out Sonos: Polk said Tuesday that its Command Bar will be the first third-party sound bar to support Amazon’s multiroom music (MRM) ecosystem.  Amazon announced at a press event back in September that third-party speakers, such as Polk, would soon get MRM capability. As far as we can tell, the Command Bar is the first such non-Amazon speaker, period …

Get ready to see more drones overhead, even after hours. The US Department of Transportation on Monday released proposed regulation that would, for the first time, allow routine drone flights above crowds and at night. It’s all part of an effort to “further integrate drones safely into the national airspace system,” according to a webpage for the Federal Aviation Administration, …

What if online ads weren’t the distracting, privacy-invading, malware-laced, battery-gobbling mess they’ve become? What if they could even fund worthy websites? That’s what startup Brave hopes to accomplish with a major new phase of its browser business. Brave began its existence three years ago by blocking all ads by default. On Tuesday, it’ll start offering anyone using the developer version …

Like pizza? If you’re a Sprint customer, there’s a free one coming your way. Today. Right now. My Sprint Rewards is a brand-new perks program that appears to compete directly with the popular T-Mobile Tuesdays — or perhaps to dovetail, given the planned merger of the two carriers (which is still on hold for now). See it at Sprint To …

When Sony announced the A6500 APS-C mirrorless in 2016, I took it as the successor to the A6300, despite the fact that that camera had only launched about six months earlier. Why? Because the A6300 lacked one incredibly important feature — in-body image stabilization — and I figured Sony was moving quickly to rectify that.  But it turns out the new …

Netflix plans to increase its subscription prices starting this month for all tiers in the US, the company said Tuesday, with its most popular plan rising from $11 a month to $13.  “We change pricing from time to time as we continue investing in great entertainment and improving the overall Netflix experience for the benefit of our members,” a company’s …

YouTube wants users to know that dangerous viral challenges or pranks like the Tide Pod challenge have no place on the video platform. The Google-owned video-sharing site said Tuesday it had updated its community guidelines to clarify that content containing pranks with a perceived danger of serious physical injury violate YouTube policy prohibiting content that encourages violence or dangerous activities. …

Apple released iOS 12 in Sept., and along with it came a new feature called Screen Time. The feature keeps track of your usage habits and lets you lock yourself out of certain apps after an assigned amount of time has passed. Now playing: Watch this: How to use iOS 12 Screen Time and parental controls 2:07 For example, you …

A Star is Born is now streaming. On Tuesday, the movie was made available for digital purchase in the US and Australia. If you have yet to catch the box-office smash hit and awards favorite starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (or want to watch it again and again), you can now watch the fourth iteration of this classic tearjerker …