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You can now keep up with your book club more easily without dropping cash every month, thanks to Google. The company just added a new search feature that lets you look up book titles in your local library's e-book system straight from your phone. SEE ALSO: The interactive 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' e-book is pure magic In a tweet this week, Google shared the hot tip that searching for e-books is as simple as typing in a book in the search bar on the mobile app or in your desktop web browser. The book name will bring up the "Get book" tab, which offers options of where to buy or borrow the e-book version. Calling all U.S. bookworms! Now you can take a look at what e-books are available to borrow at your local library, right in Search. 📚 pic.twitter.com/jxiripTUMh — Google (@Google) September 18, 2017 Instead of buying e-books, you can scroll down to just borrow the book from your local library system. Head to that section of the search results before getting … [Read more...]

Nikola, the other automotive company that pays homage to famed inventor Nikola Tesla, just announced plans to team with automotive supplier Bosch to develop next-gen powertrains for two hydrogen-electric semi trucks. The development partnership aims to produce a line of semis that would blow current trucks off the highway, with double the horsepower of anything currently on the road, while cutting emissions entirely. Rather than depending on batteries alone, like we expect to see when Tesla finally unveils its semi truck next month, Nikola's design will harness hydrogen fuel cells for an estimated range of up to 1,200 miles. The class 8 semi trucks, dubbed the Nikola One and Two, are slated to hit the market by 2021. Nikola credits Bosch's work on its modular eAxle drive system, which was designed to make electrification easier for automakers in smaller vehicles, as a major reason the collaboration will be able to shoot for wide scale production in just four years.  SEE ALSO: … [Read more...]

While a few prominent tech and government leaders spark fear over an Artifical Intelligence-led war against humans, I believe the real AI issues that need to be addressed today are more nuanced, technical and ethical.  People building AI should view creating the technology as an opportunity to authentically inject diversity, ethics and inclusion into the world. In the short-term, it’s important that AI creators, businesses and consumers already employing AI educate people about the real world applications of AI and how to best secure the data AI pulls from to learn new tasks and respond to human inquiries. Putting AI to Work It’s true that AI will replace some human jobs. But, the technology will also create brand new job opportunities for people. To prepare, companies need to define how they’ll deploy new AI technologies across the business to reflect the diversity of users it serves, support the shifting (from analog-first to digital-first) workforce, close … [Read more...]

Ask a little kid "let me see what you have" when you notice an object in their hand and you never know what you may get.  Just pray it's not a knife. SEE ALSO: 'Game of Thrones' actor Alfie Allen hilariously busts a fan for lying in her Instagram comments i just laughed for 15 minutes straight pic.twitter.com/zAMgWglksE — madison meyers (@madmeyers) September 17, 2017 Ah, the joys of being a parent. … [Read more...]

Sunday night's Emmy awards displayed a surprising amount of tone deafness when the White House’s hilariously unqualified former Press Secretary Sean Spicer made a cameo appearance.  While some found the bit to be funny and "in good fun," many were disturbed by Hollywood giving a free pass to the man who rose to fame lying to the American public and acting as the face of the Trump administration.  But, if you've been following Hollywood like I have, you'll know that this isn’t the first time an award show made a really big flub with a presenter.  SEE ALSO: You're not gonna believe this, but we somehow got Sean Spicer’s resignation letter Let’s take a deeper look at this alarming trend. Image: mashable composite; shutterstock,  BAFTA/REX Srælüükeø the Plague Demon presents the award for Best Cinematography and is met with polite applause despite the fact that it has spent the past one thousand eternities cursing … [Read more...]

The theme of the 2017 hurricane season — dire, destructive, and deadly storms bordering on hyperbolically intensity — continues with Hurricane Maria.  The powerful storm is taking aim at the U.S. Virgin Islands, particularly St. Croix, as well as Puerto Rico.  It's difficult to overstate the danger that Hurricane Maria poses to Puerto Rico, an American territory home to 3.4 million. This storm is unlike any other that the island has experienced since the 1920s or 1930s.  SEE ALSO: Prime minister posts harrowing account of hurricane on Facebook The storm is likely to act like a buzzsaw wherever its tightly wrapped eyewall touches. This part of the storm, which encircles the calm eye, contains the strongest winds, which may gust above 200 miles per hour. This wind will mow down trees and strip them of vegetation, drive branches and street signs into power lines, tearing apart homes and businesses roof first.  Along the coast of Puerto Rico and the U.S. … [Read more...]

We're celebrating another 30th anniversary this week, with The Princess Bride (although, technically, we are a little bit early on this one!) Prepare to hear some lesser known facts about this '80s classic, and leave a thumbs up if you want us to do a part 2! Visit CineFix for more episodes and movie-related content. Trump calls Kim Jong-un 'rocket man' and says the U.S. could 'totally destroy North Korea' Kate Middleton explains in simple terms what mental health means in candid video Watch this parody trailer fuse 'Thor: Ragnarok' with '80s nostalgia 'Metal Gear' creator's classic mech game is coming to PSVR … [Read more...]

Apple's newest mobile operating system, iOS 11, comes out today, and Steve Jobs probably would've been super pissed if he were still alive. HackerNoon's Ryan Lau has posted a comprehensive breakdown that calls attention to all the ways iOS 11's design is flawed. From misaligned titles and margins to inconsistent design elements, it would appear Apple's slipped up on the details. SEE ALSO: 8 reasons why buying an iPhone 8 makes more sense than the iPhone X For almost everybody (including myself), you probably wouldn't notice the tiny things Lau highlights in his story. He points out things like how the titles aren't perfectly aligned with the search bar in apps like Mail and Notes, and how the Watch app's dark color scheme isn't consistent with any of Apple's other apps. He also points out other small details like the search bar bumping up against the status bar. iOS 11 is still a hodgepodge of default interfaces all broken in subtle but infuriating ways. What a great article. … [Read more...]

There could be yet another smart speaker to choose from. The popular streaming device maker Roku may be building its own competitor to the Amazon Echo. Roku already has some voice-command tech, and some publicly available information suggests its leveraging it to branch out into new projects with advanced audio features.  SEE ALSO: Roku rolls out its own TV channel, pitting it against the very apps that call its box home First noticed by Variety, Roku has listed open positions that are specific to tying audio with software. For example, Sr. Software Engineer, New Products, Audio (Expert) requires candidates with experience taking "new hardware platforms from prototype to mass production." Other listings were for applicants with experience with "voice user interface design." In addition, some current Roku employees have exactly the kind experience the company would want if it were developing a smart speaker. The most notable resumé belongs to Jim Cortez, a Senior Software … [Read more...]

Google may have accidentally let us in on some details about the Pixel 2 a little early. Code buried within the Google app has revealed what appears to be a series of features slated for the Pixel 2, including the so-called "squeezable frame" and new ways to use the company's Assistant feature.  SEE ALSO: Your Google Home will now help you find dates Some of the new details, which were first reported by 9to5Google, aren't entirely new to those who have been paying attention to the Pixel 2 rumor mill, but the fact that signs of them were found in Google's own app makes the features much more likely to appear in the phone. Among the most intriguing is a reference to a new gesture called “Squeeze for your Assistant.” Similar to HTC's U11, prior leaks have suggested the Pixel 2 will have a new shortcut triggered by squeezing the sides of the handset. This latest leak seems to confirm that gesture will be for invoking Google's Assistant. Speaking of the Assistant, … [Read more...]