How to Build Custom Alexa Skills for the Amazon Echo
When Amazon first introduced developer tools that let people build stuff for Alexa, the company made a conscious decision to call these functions “skills” rather than apps. It was a subtle way of making Alexa seem capable, and also, suggesting to developers that building these skills would be a low lift. With just a “few …
50 Underrated Xbox Games | Den of Geek
The console wars may have turned into a two-horse race in the last few years, with Nintendo playing catch up, but wind back a few years to a time when Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo were all hard at it, competing for your money and loyalty. The PlayStation 2 would go on to win the war …
Facebook’s 2017 Privacy Audit Didn’t Catch Cambridge Analytica
Two years after Facebook learned that a university researcher had given political consultancy Cambridge Analytica personal information on millions of Facebook users, a government-mandated outside audit of Facebook’s privacy practices found nothing wrong. The April 2017 audit, by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), had been required as part of a 2011 consent decree between Facebook and the Federal …
Essential Phone (PH-1) Deal: Now $350 Unlocked
The smartphone market can be cruel to newcomers, especially in the United States. It’s a place where big names matter most, and four major wireless carriers still hold all the keys to the kingdom. Devices that should change the market often fall flat or gain only niche followings. Andy Rubin’s high-end Essential Phone still has …
Ghost Recon Mod Turns the Original Game Even More Hardcore
After 16 years in development, Heroes Unleashed, a realism mod for Ghost Recon, is finally – mostly – finished. Video of Ghost Recon: Heroes Unleashed – Trailer Check out the Logitech G513, the Perfect Next-Gen Keyboard for PC Gamers In what has to be one of the most impressive cases of insanity…err…dedication that we’ve ever …
Velodyne invented modern lidar—it’s about to face real competition
Enlarge / Velodyne’s lidars aren’t the only game in town any more. Velodyne David Hall invented modern three-dimensional lidar more than a decade ago for use in the DARPA Grand Challenge competitions. His company, Velodyne, has dominated the market for self-driving car lidar ever since. Last year, Velodyne opened a factory that it said had …
Browser Standard WebAuthn Could Usher in a Password-Free Future
Password-free logins have long been the stuff of dreams for security researchers and privacy advocates—not to mention regular people who fat-finger their account passwords into a browser every day. Industry efforts to end our reliance on the multi-character password have resulted in the proposal of numerous alternative login methods, including biometric verification and the use …
Minds Is the Anti-Facebook That Pays You For Your Time
During Mark Zuckerberg’s over 10 hours of Congressional testimony last week, lawmakers repeatedly asked how Facebook makes money. The simple answer, which Zuckerberg dodged, is the contributions and online activities of its over two billion users, which allow marketers to target ads with razor precision. In which case, asked representative Paul Tonko (D – New …
Watch Dogs 3 Could Be on the Way
Ubisoft seems to be hinting that it’s getting ready to announce Watch Dogs 3. Fans have been following a series of clues that seem to point towards an impending Watch Dogs 3 announcement. It began with an April Fool’s joke on the Ubisoft website that allowed users to “hack” into an admin section of the website …
Chef Erling Wu-Bower Pursues Wood-Fired Perfection, From Roast Fish to Pizza
The James Beard Awards are often referred to as the “Oscars of the food world,” and while Chicago chef Erling Wu-Bower has been nominated for three of them, he’s lost all three. “I’m like Susan Lucci!” he jokes, referring to the soap opera star who didn’t pick up her first Emmy until she’d earned her …
