The Amazon Echo and the Nest Learning Thermostat are two of the biggest hit products of the smart home. They’ve also worked together for years. You can ask Alexa, the voice assistant built into the Echo smart speaker, to change the temperature on your Nest thermostat. After Google I/O, this important smart home connection […]
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He may not have a house full of people, but John Stamos’ house is certainly full of character, lovely memorabilia of a life well spent and, well, a lot of seemingly random stuff. From the signature Elvis Presley jumpsuit hanging on a dummy in his studio/party room (waiting patiently for Uncle Jesse to reprise his […]
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The Central Valley’s heavy wintertime tule fog – known for snarling traffic and closing schools — has been on the decline over the past 30 years, and falling levels of air pollution are the cause, says a new study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley. Tule fog, named for a sedge grass that […]
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Industrial fishing fleets dump nearly 10 million tonnes of good fish back into the ocean every year, according to new research. The study by researchers with Sea Around Us, an initiative at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the University of Western Australia, reveals that almost 10 per cent […]
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Ready to score a sweet discount on the Amazon Echo smart speaker this Black Friday? Alexa, hold your horses. Sure, Amazon will offer its flagship Alexa speaker for $69 next week — but QVC already has that deal beat, with an offer that’ll net you two Echo speakers for $100. That means you’re essentially getting […]
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More than 5,500 exposed smart TVs, Chromecast streamers and Google Home devices have been commandeered in the name of YouTube mega-star PewDiePie. Hacker Giraffe, the same pseudonymous person who forced thousands of exposed printers last year to churn out pages saying ‘Subscribe to PewDiePie,’ has his set sight on smart devices to promote the […]
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Google introduced a countertop display called the Home Hub at an event in October. The Home Hub is powered by Google Assistant, the company’s digital helper. A month earlier, Amazon unveiled roughly 70 new products and features at a similar presentation. Almost all of them revolved around its Alexa voice assistant. Apple held not one, but two […]
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Google Assistant is upping its security credentials. Starting today, you can use Google’s digital helper to control your Nest Secure system. Even better, you can talk to your Google Assistant through the Nest Guard that acts as the system’s centerpiece. You’ll be able to arm your system with a voice command. You can also talk […]
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Harmful algal blooms pose a unique toxic threat in Lake Erie’s central basin, new research has found. Not only do blooms routinely occur in this area, they can also produce types of cyanobacterial toxins that aren’t typically detected through routine water-safety monitoring, according to a study published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. “The cyanobacteria we […]
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Efforts to create an environmentally friendly catalyst that will lower the cost and increase the efficiency in producing bio-based jet fuels has netted Washington State University researchers a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Institute of Food and Agriculture. WSU Tri-Cities associate professor Hanwu Lei and his research team aim to develop […]
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