Adobe has today announced the acquisition of Sayspring, a New York-based startup that aims to make it easier for everyone to build voice-based apps that integrate with virtual assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant. Adobe made the announcement in a blog post, calling the acquisition of Sayspring the “next step forward” for its voice interface efforts. The company isn’t sharing financial details of the deal, but says that the full Sayspring team will join Adobe, working to integrate the technology into the Adobe suite of products....

Live-action Aladdin star Will Smith paid tribute to the original animated Aladdin genie, the late Robin Williams, with a touching social media posting. Released in 1992, the original Aladdin was part of Disney’s animated renaissance, going on to gross $504 million worldwide largely on the strength of Robin Williams’ verbal acrobatics as the voice of the genie. With Disney now revisiting its animated catalog in live-action form, and scoring blockbuster hits while doing so, Smith is taking over the genie role originated by Williams in a new version of Aladdin....

Did you know that Will Smith was originally picked to portray Neo in The Matrix? Or that Emma Watson and Miles Teller were previously attached to play the couple in the critically-acclaimed La La Land? While these few A-list actors ultimately decided to pass up on these massively successful movies, they still seem like they’re doing just fine. But what about the actors who haven’t been so lucky? Of course, predicting the success of the next blockbuster movie or hit TV series is far from an exact science....

If you want to be a good scripter/programmer, it is highly suggested that you seriously consider adding comments within your code. For one, having comments will make it much easier for you or someone else to re-read your code. The more time that passes from when you wrote the original code to the time you come back to revisit it, the more valuable those comments become. The HTML and JavaScript comments are used in the same block but serve different purposes....

You can now download Adobe Lightroom 5 from Adobe for $149.99/$79 upgrade as an individual license and via Adobe Creative Cloud. The upgrade to the professional photo organization and editing tool is significant: Press release follows: NEW Advanced Healing Brush Don’t let dust spots, splotches, or other distractions and flaws get in the way of a great shot. With the Advanced Healing Brush in Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 5, you can not only change the brush size but also move it in precise paths....

If you are in the market for a professionally installed and monitored home security system with big home automation potential, either ADT or CPI Security is a great pick. But while ADT is a national company with instant name recognition, CPI Security is a regional, Southeastern operation with the neighborly perks – free installation, a cash guarantee against false alarms – of a local company. ADT vs. CPI Security overview Shopping experience In keeping with their traditional ethos, both ADT and CPI Security conduct business exclusively over the phone....

[This is a review of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4, episode 13. There will be SPOILERS.] – Although the first part of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 was largely focused on the introduction and development of Robbie Reyes aka Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna), the episodes additionally planted seeds that the show has capitalized on since returning from its midseason hiatus. Senator Ellen Nadeer (Parminder Nagra) has been an anti-Inhuman opponent to S....

The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 6 first look photo reveals Mack (Henry Simmons) will step up to be the new S.H.I.E.L.D. director, filling the hole left by the departure of Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) at the end of season 5. It doesn’t look like Coulson will return any time soon (unless you count Gregg as an episode director) - the last we saw of the former director, he was vacationing in Tahiti with Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) to relax while waiting for his impending doom....

Lightning Calendar for Thunderbird Lighting brings two new tabs to Thunderbird. A Calendar tab and a Tasks tab. The two are interchangeable, especially since any task can be converted to an event and vice versa. The calendar view also shows events, dates, and multiple different views of as many calendars as you need to add. Adding events to the calendar is easy. The New Event window offers empty spaces for all of the details, times, reminders, invitations, and any other info you might need to attach to it....

Adobe today updated its Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements for Mac and PC. Adobe is touting ‘magic’ in this upgrade saying: Content Aware Fill is a pretty awesome technology. Abobe is offering a $20 rebate on each bring the price down to $80 each or buy both together for $150-$30 rebate = $120. For an additional $50 Adobe offers a plus package which gives users 20GB of online space to share their media....

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQcIRDUfmqQ] CBS copters, captured by CNET, caught some of the Celebrate Steve program today put on by Apple. As we’d been tweeting live, Tim Cook, Bill Campbell and Al Gore spoke and Norah Jones and ColdPlay played music (ending with “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”). Apple retail employees shut down Store operations from 12-3 ET to view a private screening of the event. One of the touching moments was said to have been when they played Jobs’ rendition of “The Crazy Ones”, below:...

Apple has backtracked on threats to remove the popular utility app “Amphetamine” from the Mac App Store. According to the developer, Apple had threatened to remove the app over its name, saying that it violated guideline 1.4.3 related to “consumption of tobacco and vape products, illegal drugs, or excessive amounts of alcohol.” For those unfamiliar, Amphetamine is a free application on the Mac App Store designed to prevent your Mac from going to sleep....

[This post contains SPOILERS for Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3 midseason finale.] - The Fall 2015 finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3 delivered a dramatic clash between the team and their enemy, the reformed Hydra. The battle effectively switched between action in an ancient British castle and the alien planet Maveth. The episode drew together and resolved several of the various storylines covered in the first half of season 3 and brought a deadly conclusion to a key character....

Rumors about AirPods Max 2 are sparse, but a new patent granted to Apple could indicate where the company is going with a second-generation of its premium over-ear headphone. According to Patently Apple, the Cupertino company just got another patent application from the US Patent & Trademark Office about processing gestures on a touch-sensitive surface. The publication says this is not the first time Apple has been granted a patent regarding touch controls on AirPods Max, as it has at least three other documents about this technology....

Starting off another week, all of today’s best deals are headlined by the new AirPods Pro with MagSafe charging case at $69 off. That’s alongside the best price in months on M1 MacBook Air at $850 and Anker’s latest batch of discounted iPhone accessories from $14. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break. AirPods Pro with MagSafe case at $69 off is as nice as it gets Delivering everything the original pair of Apple’s flagship earbuds did, the recently-refreshed AirPods Pro pack ANC alongside a companion transparency mode, Spatial Audio support, and Hey Siri....

When Apple’s AirPods originally debuted, the possibility of losing one or both of the wireless earbuds was a major concern. Apple later added a Find My AirPods feature that helps you locate lost earbuds by playing a loud sound from the speaker, but that’s not as useful when your AirPods are lost in their charging case. Twelve South wants to make keeping up with your AirPods and charging case easier with its new AirSnap carrying case....

Adobe announced CS6 a few weeks ago and as of midnight Eastern Time, the Adobe CS6 suite is now available online. In addition, Adobe’s previously-announced Creative Cloud service will launch on May 11th. Below find the product matrix and press release. Much more here. SAN JOSE, Calif. — May 7, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 software. The CS6 product line includes powerful new releases of Photoshop®, InDesign®, lllustrator®, Dreamweaver®, Adobe Premiere® Pro, After Effects®, Flash® Professional and other products as well as four suite versions – Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium; Creative Suite 6 Design Standard; Creative Suite 6 Production Premium; and Creative Suite 6 Master Collection....

Adobe’s Chief Security Officer Brad Arkin announced today on the company’s blog that “sophisticated attacks” on its network have been discovered and that some customer information was compromised in the process: Arkin says Adobe’s ongoing investigation has found that the attackers have accessed Adobe IDs and encrypted passwords for approximately 2.9 million customers, but that it does “not believe the attackers removed decrypted credit or debit card numbers.” They were, however, able to get their hands on names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and customer order information....

Healthcare company Aetna shared today that it is partnering with Apple on a new health and fitness initiative for its employees and customers using the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch starting in 2017. Aetna will be providing its 50,000 employees with Apple Watches at no cost and subsidizing the cost for large employers and individual customers through a new healthy living initiative. Aetna also says it is developing software for its initiative with the help of Apple that will work across the Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad to encourage and reward healthy living for its workforce....

After unexpectedly receiving my AirPods two days earlier than the scheduled delivery date, I’ve been enjoying them for the last few hours. The AirPods, which were first unveiled back at Apple’s iPhone 7 event in early September, endured a delay, but still managed to ship before the end of the 2016. Our own Benjamin Mayo has already written a hands-on AirPods first impressios post, so I thought I’d put together a post that highlights some of the top features for Apple’s groundbreaking wireless earbuds....