Digiwonk News

News: Google's New Home Assistant Is an Amazon Echo Killer

Google first introduced Google Home, its latest smart product in the works, at the company's I/O conference in May 2016. It will directly compete against Amazon's Echo, which has so far been a success with over 3 million devices sold, and it was even featured as FBI Agent Dom's only real friend in the second season of Mr. Robot. Google may have their work cut out for them, but we're betting Home will knock Echo out of the water. Google Home is a personal assistant with a built-in speaker and ...

News: Apple Is Using a Sneaky Gimmick to Get You to Share Their Mother's Day Ad—Don't Fall for It

Celebrating Mother's Day just got more exploitative with Apple's Mother's Day ad. Their original Mother's Day ad shows photos and videos of mothers shot on an iPhone and uses the “Shot on iPhone” marketing line:

News: The Pitfalls of Kickstarter Projects

"It just ticked me off," he said. In March 2011, Neil Singh paid $50 to back the Hanfree iPad stand on Kickstarter. The project was funded at $35,000, but production stalled, and the delivery estimates kept getting pushed back.

News: Signal, Snowden's Favorite Secure-Messenger App, Is Now on Your Desktop

Encryption is on everyone's mind these days, from the FBI's battles in court with Apple to WhatsApp's recent announcement of end-to-end encryption for their one billion users. Now you can add Signal, whistleblower Edward Snowden's favorite messaging app, back to that whirlwind discussion. Created by Open Whisper Systems, Signal is an encrypted messenger app that allows you to send text, images, video, and audio messages without the fear of prying eyes. They already have an Android and iOS app...

News: 'Nutrition Labels' Will Make Picking the Right Internet Provider Painless

Shopping around for a good broadband company or mobile carrier may soon be as easy as shopping for cereal, thanks to the introduction of broadband consumer labels by the FCC for both fixed and mobile broadband.

News: Snapchat Adds a Ton of New Features, Including Chat 2.0, Video Calling, Stickers, & More

Snapchat began rolling out a massive update on March 29th, dubbed Chat 2.0, that gives users a plethora of new features, basically transforming Snapchat into an all-purpose messaging app.

News: Google Has Outed the Location of the Batcave, & You Can Tour It Right Now

Nobody's supposed to know where the Batcave is, but as most everyone thought, Batman's underground lair lied below the estate of his secret identity, Bruce Wayne, in Gotham City.

News: It Only Took Twitter 16 Hours to Make This Chatbot Racist

On Wednesday, Microsoft launched a chatbot on social media that learns from conversation, and trolls quickly taught it how to be a shameless, Nazi-loving bigot. Oh Internet, an opportunity for a Hitler joke never slips past you, does it? This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Watch Out Facebook & Twitter: Google's Stepping Up Their Live-Streaming Game

Live streaming has emerged as a major part of the way people share information. With celebrities and news/media personalities utilizing mobile live streaming effectively to reach thousands, the appeal has bolstered the fortunes of Twitter's Periscope and Facebook's Live. Now, Google is ready to join the fray, and it's backed by its enormous YouTube property. According to initial reports, Google is at work on a brand new application for YouTube simply called "Connect," which will take its curr...

News: Whoops! Google Maps Error Ruins Woman's Life

Google Maps, once considered superior to Apple Maps, has contributed to a terrible mistake for one woman. A group of demolition workers in Texas were using the service to find a worksite, and to the dismay of homeowner Lindsay Diaz, Google was entirely inaccurate.

Deal Alert: Google's Giving 75% Off Any Movie Rental

If you've been looking to catch up on some of the Academy Award winners or nominees, or just feel like kicking back and watching a flick but can't find anything good on Netflix or Amazon Prime, then head over to the Google Play Store. Google is offering a single rental for 75% off the listed price, and the bargain is valid for the Play Store's entire collection of rentals. That means you won't be able to use the deal on newer buy-only releases like The Revenant and the Point Break remake. Als...

News: Whoops! Feds Accidentally Reveal Snowden as Their Email Spy Target

Anyone who paid attention to the Lavabit shutdown had a feeling it was connected to Edward Snowden, the high-profile NSA whistleblower. Ever since the government's case against Lavabit went public in late-2013, people have put two and two together.

News: Zelda's Link Comes to Google Maps

An HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess arrived today for Nintendo's Wii U, and Google is celebrating the occasion by swapping in Link—the protagonist of the Legend of Zelda series—for the regular yellow Pegman on Google Maps.

Today Only: Linkin Park's 'Hybrid Theory' Album Free on Google Play

Here's some good news if you were hankering for a little early-2000s electronic-scream-rap-metal to get you through the day. Linkin Park's debut release, Hybrid Theory, the 48th best-selling album of all time, is available for free on the Google Play Store. Hate to break it to everybody abroad, but it looks like the album is free only to users in the U.S.

News: How to Use Speech-to-Text & Other Voice Commands in Google Docs

Google launched voice typing for Google Docs last Fall, and followed that up about six months later with voice commands that let you format and edit text as well. You can do things like select text, apply format settings like alignment and headings, and add and edit tables—all with your voice.

News: Facebook Reactions Are Live & Now You Can Die Happy

Have you ever run across a Facebook post that you don't necessarily want to "Like," but you're not really passionate enough about to bother stringing together a couple words for a comment? Well, you're in luck, as Facebook added five new "Reactions" that let you do more than just like a post, and they're now live for everyone.

News: Why Social Media Is for Women (& the Men Who Want to Date Them)

Gender standards are entirely pervasive. We raise our sons to be masculine and our daughters to be feminine, which perpetuates the gender role formula when they grow up to be parents and raise their own children. Part of this whole equation is that boys are supposed to remain stoic and project an air of strength, and girls are expected to be amiable while being held to unrealistic standards of outward beauty.

Behold the Glory: Watch 500 Episodes of the Simpsons at the Same Time

The Simpsons has used lots and lots and lots and lots of references to Stanley Kubrick's films. Seriously. So many. Alright, I'll stop.

Deal Alert: Get Google Play Music & YouTube Red for Only $5 a Month (Up to 5 Years!)

A couple days back we told you about the 30-day free trial for people interested in YouTube Red, and now Google is running a concurrent promotion that really sweetens the deal, especially if you're a first-time subscriber and own or plan to buy a Chromecast.

News: YouTube Red's First Originals Are Now Streaming

YouTube announced last October some of the original programming it was producing for its YouTube Red subscription service, and the first four originals went live on Wednesday, February 10th.

News: How to Access Facebook's Hidden Messenger Website

Facebook's Messenger apps for Android and iOS make it easy to navigate between conversations, helps you keep in touch with your friends or heckle your enemies, and even lets you tag yourself or others in the conversation with hilarious nicknames to keep things interesting.

News: Follow These 20 YouTube Channels for the Best Videos on the Web

YouTube's massive user base comprises almost one third of all people on the internet, and collectively, users spend well over 100 million hours on the site watching billions of videos each day. Add it all up, and this means that YouTube is viewed by more people than any U.S. cable network—making it by far the favorite "TV station" of the internet generation.

News: Relive Your Childhood with 100 Classic Games from Atari's Vault

Get ready for a blast from the past.

News: The 25 Worst Passwords That People Used in 2015

Some things never change. You'd think that with all the focus on web security, people might take the slightest precaution to keep their online activity private. Maybe there are more people suffering from Paula Poundstone's password troubles than we'd like to believe.

News: Netflix to Block VPN & Proxy Users from Streaming Content in Other Territories

Netflix subscribers (or friends of subscribers) have been able to utilize a virtual private network (VPN) or proxy service to gain access to content in other countries. Unfortunately, the movie and TV streaming service announced today that it will soon block those services so that viewers will only have access to movies and shows that are licensed for the country they're currently in.

News: You Can Already Preorder 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

Have you already lost the thrilling feeling of waiting for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens to come out? Now you can do it all over again, as Google Play, the iTunes Store, the Windows Store, and Best Buy are already accepting pre-orders for the digital and Blu-ray release.

News: The Best Cyber Monday Tech Deals on TVs, Phones, Laptops, & More

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are becoming almost synonymous these days, but there are still plenty of awesome deals that you can only get starting on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Amazon, for instance, will be hosting a week-long Cyber Monday sale, and of course, most big-box retailers will follow suit with their online stores.

News: These Apps Know Your Age, Gender, Emotions, & More

I think it was 1986 when I first discovered my love for making computers say stupid things out loud. My older brother got a Commodore 64 for his birthday, which came bundled with software that would speak out any term you typed in—and boy, that computer sure made a fool of itself after my five-year-old imagination got a hold of the keyboard.

News: Twitter Announces Polls & New Publishing Tools for Users

Twitter, the global social networking site, announced on October 21st that it would be launching a new feature that allows all users to create polls. The company stated that the goal is to allow people to "weigh in on all the topics they care about."

News: Ad-Free Videos, Offline Playback, & More: YouTube Red Goes Live on October 28th

YouTube, the popular video streaming website owned by Google, announced on October 21st that it will be launching a new subscription service titled "YouTube Red" for $9.99 a month. Under the membership, subscribers will be able to watch videos without ads. Yup, all videos—from music to trailers to gaming and everything in-between—completely ad-free. Additionally, individuals can save videos to watch offline on their mobile devices as well as play videos in the background.

News: Microsoft's HowOldRobot Analyzes Photos to Guess Your Age—Is It Accurate?

In a study attempting to observe virality in real time, two Microsoft engineers, Corom Thompson and Santosh Balasubramanian, used Microsoft's recently released Face detection API to create How-Old.net and track its usage in real time.

News: Use Google Search to Locate Your Android Phone or Tablet, Send Directions to It & More

A set of cool new Android-related Google Search functions made their debut this week, which will allow you to locate your phone, send directions to your mobile device, set alarms and reminders, and send notes from any web browser.

News: Play Pac-Man Around the World in Google Maps

It's that time of year again. Each spring, Google likes to have a bit of fun with April Fool's Day. Pranks have ranged from a fake email printing service called Gmail Paper to a search engine for smells. It's all fun and games, but this year, they've taken that mantra rather seriously with a Pac-Man game baked right into Google Maps.

News: Can Google Flights Really Get You the Best Price Possible?

I hate flying for two reasons. Firstly, I'm afraid of heights and turbulence is absolutely hellish. Secondly, I hate overspending on airfare. Flying can be unnecessarily expensive, especially if you don't plan ahead or must deal with inclement weather. Nevertheless, the travel season is almost here and we're always looking for the cheapest, most convenient flight. But what service actually provides you with exactly that?

Act Fast: Get 2 GB Google Drive Storage for Free (Limited Time Only)

Yes, "Safer Internet Day" is a real thing, and it's actually been around for 12 years. This year, Google again will be commemorating the event by giving away a 2-gigabyte storage bump for their Google Drive cloud service if you simply run through a security checkup.

News: Google Earth's $399/Year Pro Features Now Free for Everyone

Google Earth has long served as a great tool to explore the furthest regions of our beautiful planet from the comfort of our own homes, but for those with more than just a recreational interest, a bundle of pro features had always cost $399... a year.

NFL Comes to YouTube: Game Highlights, Analysis, & More

YouTube and the National Football League have announced a partnership that should greatly improve the online experience for gridiron fans. In a posting on their official blog, YouTube outlines a deal that will bring NFL video clips to their immensely popular site while bumping official NFL pages up to the top of relevant Google search results.

News: Get Amazon Prime for Only $72 or Just Binge-Watch “Transparent”—This Saturday Only

An Amazon Prime subscription offers free two-day shipping and discounted rates on many Amazon products, while at the same time granting users access to Amazon's Instant Video library. While this service normally runs $100 per year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced today that the company will be offering a $28 discount on this price for one day only.

News: WhatsApp Makes Its Web Debut; Kills Off Popular Third-Party App

In a long-awaited move, the popular messaging platform WhatsApp has finally made its official web debut. Desktop and laptop owners will be happy to know that they can now message their favorite contacts directly from their computers, without the need to install additional apps.

Facebook Photo Privacy: Are You Safe?

Almost everyone uploads their very personal photos in facebook trusting facebook's privacy settings. But question is - is facebook's privacy settings really that trustworthy? Few months ago, while browsing facebook, I found that one can easily access your private photos using the same browser you used to browse facebook.