Denver

Meet the real Alexa: voice actor reportedly responsible for Amazon’s AI assistant revealed

Amazon’s Alexa has a voice familiar to millions: calm, warm, and measured. But like most synthetic speech, its tones have a human origin. There was someone whose voice had to be recorded, analyzed, and algorithmically reproduced to create Alexa as we know it now. Amazon has never revealed who this “original Alexa” is, but journalist… Read more

Nvidia is building new Arm CPUs again: Nvidia Grace, for the data center

We’ve barely heard a peep out of Nvidia on the CPU front for years, after the lackluster arrival of its Project Denver CPU and its associated Tegra K1 mobile processors in 2014. But now, the company’s getting back into CPUs in a big way with the new Nvidia Grace, an Arm-based processing chip specifically designed… Read more

DoorDash will let you order at-home COVID-19 testing kits delivered to your door

DoorDash has partnered with two US-based digital health companies, Vault Health and Everlywell, to help distribute at-home COVID-19 test kits across the country, the company announced on Monday. The partnerships will allow DoorDash customers to order the testing kits directly from the company’s app in 12 markets or, conversely, to order the kits from Vault… Read more

A Silicon Valley school is using virtual escape rooms to evaluate prospective students

Applying to an elite middle school sounds like a stressful experience, and I’m sure COVID-19 doesn’t help. With things like open houses, campus tours, and in-person interviews off the table, applicants have fewer chances to experience their prospective schools — and admissions offices have fewer chances to meet their prospective students. One San Jose private… Read more

Dozens of Boeing 777 planes grounded in US and Japan after engine failure

Airlines in Japan and the US have grounded dozens of Boeing 777 aircraft after the dramatic engine failure that United Airlines flight 328 experienced over Denver this weekend. According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation, two fan blades on the plane’s number 2 engine had developed fractures. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an… Read more

United Airlines flight safely lands after dramatic engine failure caught on camera

A United Airlines flight experienced a dramatic-looking engine failure just after takeoff from Denver International Airport on Saturday afternoon. UA328, originally headed to Honolulu, quickly circled back to the airport and made a safe landing after the pilots calmly made a “mayday” call to air traffic control. There were no injuries among the 231 passengers… Read more

Google Maps will now let you pay for public transportation and parking through its app

Google Maps is adding a couple of new useful features: the ability to pay for parking or buy a train ticket right from the app. Google Maps is integrating two mobile parking payment services into its app, Passport and ParkMobile. Both offer the ability to find, pay for, and replenish parking meters or parking lot… Read more

Keyboards Go Open Source With System76’s ‘Launch Configurable Keyboard’

Home News (Image credit: System76) System76 currently offers pre-built desktops, laptops, and servers meant to complement its Pop!_OS open source operating system. The company said in March 2020 that it would expand its lineup with a keyboard. On Wednesday, it offered more details about that peripheral in a public Git repository spotted by Phoronix. We… Read more

Sen. Ron Wyden proposes $500 million to fix US unemployment systems

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) put out a new bill Wednesday that would overhaul the US’s crumbling unemployment benefits systems. Over the last year, outdated state unemployment systems have kept jobless Americans from accessing the increased benefits approved by the federal government to curb the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Wyden’s new $500 million plan… Read more

Liberty Global: Takeover of Swiss Sunrise almost complete

The British-American communications and broadband giant Liberty Global has practically completed its takeover of the second-largest Swiss telecommunications provider Sunrise. He now owned more than 98 percent of Sunrise shares, the company announced on Thursday night in Denver, USA. It had submitted its offer to buy in August. Sunrise shareholders will receive five billion Swiss… Read more