Category: Technology

Akin Adebowale knows the power of Black artists. After all, he spent several years working on advertising campaigns for such stars as Drake and Kanye West. But he noticed something was missing — a platform that connected advertisers who want to reach Black audiences with Black creators, including-up-and-coming filmmakers, influencers, musicians and other aspiring artists.… Continue reading What’s behind a new streaming service for Black creators

For months, Amazon has been signaling that it planned to open an Amazon-branded online pharmacy to compete with the likes of CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid. This week, it did. For many consumers, this represents greater convenience and the possibility of paying less for prescription drugs. It also means what little privacy you have left… Continue reading Should Amazon’s drugstore know your medical condition?

The United States of America: Boy, we sure are exhausting. This was the conclusion I reached after finishing the single-player campaign in the latest “Call of Duty,” a realization that I don’t believe was entirely unintentional. These are games designed by global teams of hundreds of people, crafted largely as multiplayer powerhouses that generate money… Continue reading ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’ review: Patriot games

Five times a day, tens of millions of phones buzz with notifications from an app called Muslim Pro, reminding users it’s time to pray. While Muslims in Los Angeles woke Thursday to a dawn notification that read, “Fajr at 5:17 AM,” users in Sri Lanka were minutes away from getting a ping telling them it… Continue reading Data sales by Muslim Pro app are ‘a betrayal,’ users say

Like many of us, Agneta Yilmaz has turned to Instacart to handle her shopping during the pandemic. She’s trusted the company to deliver fresh groceries from a nearby Ralphs supermarket and, generally speaking, she’s been pleased with the service. So when the Beverly Hills resident recently opened a box of Celeste frozen pepperoni pizza for… Continue reading How did a three-year-old pizza get delivered by Instacart?

Today’s games provide many wonders, including complex stories with multiple quests and missions that provide the illusion of letting us stitch together a linear story. But they are also big, and sometimes overwhelming to start. I enjoyed my first hour with “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” a massive Viking-themed addition to the long-running open-world franchise, but stopped… Continue reading Holiday shopping: The family video games to give this year

You already know that businesses buy and sell people’s personal information, padding their own pockets but never giving consumers — the rightful owners of the data — a piece of the action. Until now. A start-up called Killi, based in Toronto with offices in Los Angeles and New York, says it will pay people every… Continue reading Column: Killi pays you to share your data. Is it worth it?

Part video game, part reality show and part animated series, a new project airing on Facebook wants to shift the thinking on interactive television. “Rival Peak,” which will run daily for 12 weeks, allows for different levels of user engagement, unfolding as a scripted series that will shift based upon audience input. At first glance,… Continue reading ‘Rival Peak’: Reality TV meets video games … on Facebook?

For more than three decades the video game industry has promoted technological leaps as the reason to be an early adapter of new consoles, creating a marketplace and a fandom that idolizes boxes and their components. Yet after spending a few weeks with the new video game consoles from Sony and Microsoft — and even… Continue reading How the PS5 and Xbox Series X just ushered in a new game era

Beginning Thursday, Californians will have the option to receive smartphone notifications if they’ve been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. California on Monday announced the public rollout of an app to support the state’s COVID-19 contact tracing efforts. Called CA Notify, the app relies on a tech framework created by… Continue reading California’s new contact-tracing app: What you need to know