NEW YORK / AP Snapchat has managed to build something lasting out of photos that vanished almost instantly. The fast-growing social network for millennials has come a long way since its founder Evan Spiegel dropped out of Stanford University in 2012, three classes shy of graduation. His goal at the time was to create a snappy way for people ...
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Website charts Santa’s journey around the globe
Relaxnews An online Santa tracker run by a Canadian and American defense agency mapped the jolly old gift-giver’s path around the globe Saturday, in what has become a Yuletide tradition. An online Santa tracker run by a Canadian and American defense agency mapped the jolly old gift-giver’s path around the globe Saturday, in what has become a Yuletide tradition. ...
Read More »Finnish phone application finds reindeer, helps to avoid roadkill
ROVANIEMI / AP There’s good news for Rudolph and his friends — an app is helping officials reduce the number of reindeer killed in traffic accidents in Finland. Some 300,000 reindeer freely wander the wilds of Lapland in Arctic Finland. An estimated 4,000 are killed every year through road accidents, officials say, and compensation to reindeer herders can be ...
Read More »Fitness trackers of 2016
Relaxnews The fitness tracker trend has shown no signs of slowing down throughout 2016, with this year seeing a variety of new brands and products launching with innnovative new ways to improve our well-being. Here is the round up of some of the most interesting launches to come out of 2016 that will help you have a healthier and ...
Read More »Facebook: The biggest drain on phone battery
Relaxnews The world’s most popular social network is also the app that is still eating away most at your Android handset’s performance. According to Avast Software’s latest study into app use and performance drain, Facebook still tops the charts. What’s more, thanks to the impact of Instagram (6th place), Pages Manager (9th) and Facebook Messenger (10th), the company actually ...
Read More »Hefty price, connectivity missteps mar Super Mario
NEW YORK / AP Super Mario might be running, but a hefty price tag for a mobile game just won’t fly with the masses. The world so far is underwhelmed by “Super Mario Run,†which Nintendo released for the iPhone last week. This is no “Pokemon Go,†which captivated millions of players in their quest to collect digital monsters ...
Read More »Amazon aims to blur lines between game, real life
AFP On Amazon’s streaming game platform Twitch, the world of gaming is being intermingled with real life. A feature unveiled by Amazon called IRL — the acronym for “in real life†— lets people broadcast moments from their lives as part of game play. Amazon called this feature “a new content category designed to both enable and encourage Twitch’s ...
Read More »Parents binging on media, claim they’re good role models for kids
LOS ANGELES / AP Parents spend more than nine hours a day with TVs, computers and other screen devices while also giving themselves high marks as role models for their children’s media use, according to a survey. Among all those surveyed — nearly 1,800 parents in the US — daily screen time averaged nine hours and 22 minutes, with ...
Read More »Czech firm launches batteries based on nanotechnology
Relaxnews A Czech company opened a production line for batteries based on nanotechnology, which uses tiny parts invisible to human eyes. The batteries are touted as potentially more efficient, longer-lasting, cheaper, lighter and above all safer. The automatic line will operate for several months to get all necessary certifications. Then, Prague-based company HE3DA said Monday it is ready to ...
Read More »Honda in talks with Google’s Waymo on self-drive tech
Bloomberg Honda Motor Co. said it is talking to Waymo, the autonomous driving unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., to try to strike a deal that would put its self-driving technology into some of the Japanese automaker’s cars. Both companies stressed that the talks are about research, rather than full production vehicles, at this point. If all goes well, ...
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