Category: Tutorials

Amazon is joining Alphabet's Verily and Apple's Siri in offering a COVID-19 screening tool. If you're in the US, you can now ask your Alexa devices to assess your risk level for the disease, as well as what to do if you think you have COVID-19. Alexa…

The Powerbeats Pro are some of the best true wireless earbuds I tested last year. They sound much better than any previous Beats in-ear option before and they're loaded with handy features. However, the sound isn't perfect and the over-ear hook desig…

As millions of us adapt to new lives in relative isolation, we're being forced to find increasingly creative ways to keep ourselves entertained. Luckily, social distancing doesn't mean we have to be lonely. And hanging out with friends doesn't have t…

It’s a strange time for the world right now. Dystopian fiction has become reality, and the future has suddenly become a lot more hazy. The very best coping mechanism I’ve ever found is to distract myself with a story. It works for TV, movies, video games, and books; they’re all absolutely valid narrative forms. We need our imaginations to get us through difficult times, and I think that bite-sized chunks of make-believe can sometimes be even more effective than entire novels. They’re like breathing exercises for the mind.

Accordingly, I’m delighted to announce the release of Once Upon A Time, an anthology of flash fiction: standalone tales of 1,000–3,000 words, in genres including science fiction, horror, and the supernatural! You might call them scenes, vignettes, fragments, flash fiction… there are lots of terms to choose from. The important thing is that there are more than fifteen ultra-brief stories to spark the imagination, and provide respite from the world when you need it. The anthology also includes author’s notes on each tale, describing inspiration and background.

Continue reading “Once Upon A Time Volume 1”

When we spoke to Royole CEO Bill Liu back at CES 2019, we were told that his company's — and the world's — first foldable phone wouldn't be just a one-off. Today, the manufacturer finally unveiled the FlexPai 2, which is equipped with a tougher and…

Now that people — who have the proper VR-ready gaming setup — can actually play Half-Life: Alyx, it's inevitably time to ask for more features and tweaks. While our reviewer Devindra Hardawar preferred using teleportation-style movement through the…

Apple's latest flurry of software updates included an important step forward for web privacy. The latest version of Safari for iOS, iPadOS and macOS now blocks all third-party cookies by default — it's the first mainstream browser to do so, the Web…

Bandsintown wants to help musicians pull in money during the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to promoting their shows. The discovery service is giving artists free, "fast-tracked" access to Twitch's monetization systems to help them generate money fro…

If it seems like your Facebook feed is more active than usual these days, it's not just you: The company really is seeing a massive surge in use as millions of people around the world are forced to stay home.

In Italy alone, Facebook has seen time s…

Because everyone, including IT people and Microsoft developers, already has enough to worry about right now, Microsoft is pausing all optional non-security releases for supported versions of Windows and server products. This will allow Microsoft to f…