December, 2019

• 4 December

  Reddit: Bill Gates’ AMA was the most upvoted in 2019

  

  Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ Reddit AMA (ask me anything) post was the most upvoted in 2019, the massive forum site said in its year in review blog post on Wednesday.  In 2019, Reddit saw more than 430 million monthly active users (a 30% increase from the year before), 199 million posts, 1.7 billion comments and …

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• 4 December

  Get lifetime access to a nonfiction microbook library for $20

  

  Admit it: You’ve always wanted to read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, but you don’t have time to pore through its 300 pages just to extract the key lessons. And, let’s face it, many such nonfiction books can be boiled down to a few important takeaways — the big ideas, the main points. Enter 12min, a library of nonfiction books …

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• 4 December

  Macro photos (close

  

  “Macro photography” is taking a photo of a subject in extreme close-up so it appears life-size or larger in the resulting image. Close-up photos are popular especially for nature photography, because they can capture details of insects, flowers and more with incredible clarity. And you can achieve this effect even with your phone camera. Using a macro lens with almost …

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• 4 December

  Illegal robocallers could be punished under a new House bill

  

  A bipartisan bill passed in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday would require phone carriers to offer free robocall blocking services to customers and give the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice permission to punish illegal robocallers. The Pallone-Thune TRACED Act passed by a vote of 417-3, and will now move on to the Senate.  Americans received …

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• 4 December

  Instagram now asks for your age when you create a new account

  

  Instagram on Wednesday said it’ll now ask for a date of birth when someone creates a new account on the photo-sharing app. The Facebook-owned company said this’ll help prevent underage people from joining Instagram and let the app enable more “age-appropriate experiences.” Instagram’s terms of service already said users must be at least 13 years old to have an account. …

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• 4 December

  FCC to create $9 billion 5G subsidy program for rural America

  

  The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it plans to ditch a $4.5 billion subsidy program for 4G LTE in rural areas and instead launch a $9 billion fund to bring 5G wireless to hard to reach parts of the country. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the new fund will help carriers pay for 5G deployments in sparsely populated, hard-to-reach areas …

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• 4 December

  How to watch Cleveland Cavaliers games in 2019 without cable

  

  The Cleveland Cavaliers are still finding their way after LeBron James left town for the second time a year ago. The team will not win many games this season but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching. The backcourt of the future is in place, with second-year shooting guard Collin Sexton and rookie point guard Darius Garland. And the Cavs have …

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• 4 December

  Snag a year of Office 365 and a $50 Amazon gift card for $100 with this rare deal

  

  Does anyone really need Microsoft Office anymore? That’s a really contentious question — a lot of people get by just fine on little more than a set of free web apps like Google Docs, but it’s hard to deny the power and versatility of Office. If you fall into the second camp and rely on Office to get your work …

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• 4 December

  Google is rolling out Focus mode to Android to help you take a break

  

  Google’s way of helping slow down our relationship with our phones is finally ready for primetime. After first announcing the feature at IO in May, Google is taking Focus mode out of beta and rolling it out to Android 9 and 10 devices.  The new mode is part of Google’s Digital Wellbeing tool on Android and designed to help you …

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• 4 December

  Google Photos adds chat feature to make it easier to send and like pictures

  

  Google Photos added a new chat feature just in time to share all those holiday pictures. Instead of opening up another app to share photos, users can now send photos and videos via a a chat within the app. The conversation option is rolling out over the next week to Google Photos on Android, iOS and the web. Once available, …

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