Ted Cruz Vs. Beto O’Rourke

The Texas Senate race between incumbent Republican Ted Cruz and his challenger, Democrat Beto O’Rourke, has become a high-profile contest with implications for both the state and on the national stage. The Onion breaks down the differences between the candidates.

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Google Translate now knows the difference between US and UK English and other dialects

Google Translate’s iPhone app now includes several regional options for speech input and output. This means that someone using the app to speak English, for example, isn’t stuck listening to someone in Standard American English.

As spotted by All Things How, these new regional speech inputs and outputs for Google Translate now include US, UK, Australia, and India for English; Bangladesh and India for Bengali; France and Canada for French; and Mexico and Spain for Spanish. Having the app recognize and speak in these regional pronunciations could prove to be incredibly helpful for travelers trying to be understood as not all languages are spoken the same in various parts of the world.

Google Translate is a free download from the Apple App…

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The clock is ticking on Google’s smartwatch platform

Last week, I wrote about the new software update for Wear OS, Google’s smartwatch platform. I thought (and think) that it’s a good update for existing users and potentially a foundation that the company could build on to make something that’s actually competitive with both the Apple Watch or even Samsung’s Galaxy Watch.

The update “breathes new life into Wear OS smartwatches,” but the emphasis is very much on existing smartwatches. You see, I also wrote that this update does not mean that you should go out and buy a new Wear OS watch — and therein lies the problem for Google. There’s a “life support” metaphor in “breathing new life” if you want to reach for it.

Android users have perennially been waiting for the next thing to save the…

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Even light drinking increases risk of death

Analyzing data from more than 400,000 people, researchers have found that consuming one to two drinks four or more times per week — an amount deemed healthy by current guidelines — increases the risk of premature death by 20 percent.