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, …
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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 …
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Privacy-minded recommendations startup Canopy is adding to its ranks of Silicon Valley vets with two hires Tuesday: Matthew Ogle from Facebook’s Instagram and Bassey Etim from the New York Times. The company is being built by people who’ve worked at Spotify, Instagram, Google and The New York Times, many of whom became disillusioned with how most digital personalization exploits consumers’ data. Canopy’s concept …
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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 …
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The iPhone XR has pretty great battery life, but the iPhone XS, not so much. Apple on Tuesday released smart battery cases for the iPhone XS, iPhone XR and iPhone XS Max. They’re available now for $129 (£129, AU$199). The new battery cases come in black or white, are wireless Qi charging compatible, have Lightning-out ports and, according to Apple, they’ll …
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A German court on Tuesday dismissed Qualcomm’s latest patent suit against Apple, calling the claims “unfounded.” Separately, the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Tuesday said it will review three Qualcomm patents at issue in its International Trade Commission cases against Apple. The German case is related to something called “bulk tension” or voltage in …
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Search engine DuckDuckGo now displays location information from Apple Maps in its search results, a new example of business partners trying to profit from people’s concerns about online privacy. DuckDuckGo now uses Apple Maps both for small maps in location-related search results and for larger, interactive search results that appear in a separate maps tab, DuckDuckGo said in a blog …
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The US Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday presented its last witnesses and evidence in its case against Qualcomm. Now it’s up to Qualcomm to defend itself in the coming days against claims it’s a monopoly in wireless chips. The FTC, aided by chipmaker Intel and iPhone vendor Apple, filed suit two years ago, accusing Qualcomm of forcing customers like Apple to work with it exclusively …
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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 …
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Apple’s $29 battery replacement program may have seriously dinged sales of its 2018 iPhone models. The company replaced 11 million iPhone batteries under the program, John Gruber of tech-focused blog Daring Fireball reported Monday, citing Apple CEO Tim Cook at an all-hands meeting. Typically, the company replaces 1 million to 2 million batteries each year, Daring Fireball noted. Cook cited the program’s …
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