It was only a matter of time before Amazon found its way in to a smart thermostat with Alexa. The time is now, and the product is branded by ecobee. A set of product marketing materials has turned up with both a microphone and Amazon’s blue light bar – which indicates the presence of Alexa in all her voice assistant … Continue reading
While many people still use their phone plan’s voice minutes and texts, an increasing number of people are leaving behind these two seemingly archaic communication options in favor of Internet-based communications. Most of the major messaging apps support free voice and video calls between users, for example, and those times you have to call someone you’re not connected to via … Continue reading
A 17-year-old girl died Monday after she was attacked by a shark while surfing off the coast of Western Australia.
The girl, whose identity has not been made public, was with her parents and two sisters in the popular surfing area of Wylie Bay, near the town of Esperance. The shark bit her on the leg around 4 p.m., Australia’s 7 News reports.
She was rushed in critical condition to a hospital, where she died. Authorities have not said what kind of shark may be responsible.
Esperance police expressed their condolences to the girl’s family and friends on Twitter.
According to Shark Smart WA, a shark-tracking site maintained by the Australian government, a medium-sized great white shark had been spotted in the area twice in the past week. Wylie Bay has been closed until further notice, the website says.
Since 1580, only one country ― the United States ― has seen more confirmed instances of unprovoked shark attacks than Australia, according to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File.
Last year there were four fatal shark attacks worldwide, two of which occurred in Western Australia, according to the university’s records. The other two fatalities were in the South Pacific islands of New Caledonia.
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Uber drivers in New York City may soon be getting a lot more tips from passengers.
The city’s taxi and limousine commission agreed Monday to pursue a rule that would require ride-hailing companies to offer tipping as an in-app option for users. Unlike competitor Lyft, Uber does not currently enable passengers to tip through its app.
People who support the rule hope it can make gratuities as common for New York’s Uber drivers as they are for the city’s taxi drivers. Cabbies regularly receive tips through their credit card readers ― a feature also mandated by the city’s taxi commission.
The Independent Drivers Guild, a union-backed association that advocates for New York’s Uber drivers, petitioned the commission to pursue the tip rule. The group says it collected 11,000 signatures backing the proposal, including many from riders who would like to have the convenience of a tipping option.
Regulators will now hold a public hearing on the proposal. It would then have to be approved by the commission before being implemented.
Jim Conigliaro Jr., founder of the drivers guild, told The Huffington Post that surveys indicate in-app tipping is a “top issue” for drivers. He said he hopes the tipping option could spread to other cities or states through similar regulations if it takes hold in New York.
“It’s just not possible to make it on straight UberX rates,” Conigliaro said. “They really need tips to make ends meet.”
Conigliaro said drivers can’t pay their bills “with stars” ― a reference to the ratings that customers give their drivers.
An Uber spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal.
Uber passengers always have the option to leave a cash tip, but many choose not to because they don’t have cash on them or simply because they aren’t encouraged to. Drivers hope that creating the in-app option will make tips more customary, potentially significantly raising their take-home pay.
Last month, Lyft announced that its in-app tipping option had hit the “milestone” of $200 million in driver gratuities.
Luis Tavares, a member of the guild who’s been driving for Uber for five years, said his fares have dropped over time and that he finds himself having to drive more to bring home the same pay.
“Allowing riders to tip is an important first step to helping drivers increase their earning potential,” Tavares said.
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Greg Gianforte, the tech millionaire running for the Montana congressional seat vacated by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, doubled down on his stance rejecting the theory of evolution in a radio interview aired Monday.
Asked three times by a Montana Public Radio host if he believes biological species developed through natural selection over time, the Republican repeated a straightforward, if vague, response.
“I personally believe, as many Montanans do, that God created the Earth,” Gianforte, who made a failed bid in November for the Montana governor’s mansion, said in the 15-minute interview. “I believe that God created the Earth. I wasn’t there, I don’t know how long it took, I don’t know how he did it exactly. But I look around me at the grandeur in this state and I believe God created the Earth.”
“And, so, evolution is not something you believe in,” the host, Sally Mauk, asked to clarify.
“Um,” Gianforte replied, “I think I’ve answered your question.”
Shane Scanlon, a campaign spokesman, did not immediately respond to questions from The Huffington Post about whether Gianforte was open to theistic evolution, the belief among some Christians that God catalyzed the scientific processes that lead to evolution.
Rob Quist, the legendary folk singer and populist Democrat running against Gianforte, believes in evolution, his campaign manager told HuffPost. Quist’s campaign hopes Gianforte’s hard-line stances can become a wedge-issue for voters in a state that Trump handily won in November. During his gubernatorial run last year, Gianforte distanced himself from an Idaho pastor, Douglas Wilson, who once wrote that “one could argue that the black family has never been stronger than it was under slavery,” and maintains that women are “created to be responsive and dependent to a man.” Gianforte served on the board of the pastor’s education nonprofit.
The race has been largely ignored on the national stage even as Democratic voters urge the party to focus efforts on flipping traditionally red congressional seats. The Democratic Party plans to step up its support for Quist’s grassroots-driven campaign ahead of the May 25 special election, with campaign trail appearances by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the party.
“Rob Quist believes in evolution and science,” a Quist spokesperson said in a statement to HuffPost. “As a product of public schools, Rob supports evolution being taught in schools as part of the science curriculum.”
In 2006, Gianforte launched the Gianforte Family Foundation with his wife “in response to God’s great goodness to them.” The foundation focuses on “improving education, lifting people out of poverty, protecting the unborn, and Christian outreach,” according to text on the foundation website cited by HuffPost in 2015. The website appears to have since changed. The foundation now describes itself as a “faith-based organization engaged in outreach work, strengthening families, and helping the needy,” doling out $51.7 million over the past 11 years.
The foundation donated the T. rex, Acrocanthosaurus and mastodon exhibits to the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum, an institution that cost $1.5 million to build and was opened in 2009. The Billings Gazette noted at the time that it was “the largest donation for a specific exhibit.”
Robert Canen, the museum’s director, told HuffPost on Monday that Gianforte donated the dinosaurs in 2008 and the hairy elephantine mammal in 2009. The donations were valued at about $295,000, he said.
We believe the Bible is an accurate history, so we look at it from that perspective.
Robert Canen, Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum director
The museum rejects Darwin’s theory of evolution and promotes the idea, contrary to scientific consensus, that the planet is about 6,000 years old and dinosaurs and people walked the Earth around at the same time. The museum has its own dig site and performs what Canen called the “science of paleontology” in a biblical context.
“We believe the Bible is an accurate history, so we look at it from that perspective,” Canen said. “We think the Earth is thousands of years old, not millions of years.”
Just 11 percent of evangelical Protestants believe humans evolved due to natural processes, according to the Pew Research Center’s most recent poll on religious beliefs. That number inched slightly higher to 16 percent among historically black Protestants. About 31 percent of Catholics shared that belief. Slightly more believe humans evolved due to God’s design: 25 percent of evangelical Protestants, 31 percent of historically black Protestants and 31 percent of Catholics.
By comparison, 67 percent of Buddhists, 62 percent of Hindus and 58 percent of Jews believe humans evolved through natural selection, making them the three most likely religious groups in the study to accept the scientific consensus.
Dana Liebelson contributed reporting.
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Jennifer Garner is a bonafide movie star, but she’s also leaned all the way into her role as a devoted parent to three kids.
And while Garner fought—and won!—a fierce battle to keep the paparazzi from basically stalking her little ones, she has also been refreshingly candid about what it is like to raise them. Like that time she geeked out over meeting George Clooney…with a lice treatment in her hair.
Here are 10 times Jennifer Garner offered up parenting real-talk, proving she’s definitely one of the funniest, most insightful moms in Hollywood.
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There is perhaps no worse parenting nightmare than having to watch your child suffer. For parents of children with serious illnesses, this nightmare is a daily reality.
In honor of Mother’s Day, the SickKids Foundation released an ad that highlights the anguish moms of children battling illness experience. It also shows the incredible strength they display in the midst of this pain.
Featuring both actors and real moms of sick kids, the powerful video has been viewed over 100,000 times on YouTube. The comments section is filled with responses from parents who have been there and those who continue to fight.
“This is my life captured on video,” wrote one commenter. “Dear God help us caretakers of sick kids keep going.”
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The first photograph of Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, and Bradley Cooper in the fourth remake of “A Star Is Born” is making the rounds on social media.
Lady Gaga shared the image herself, writing below it, “I am so excited to star in my first movie alongside someone I’m so lucky to call my friend.”
In the still, Gaga’s Ally — a departure from the film’s traditional leading lady’s name, Esther— sings passionately into the mic, while Cooper’s Jackson Maine jams on the guitar beside her. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cooper and the “Million Reasons” songstress filmed scenes at the Coachella musical festival, where Lady Gaga was headlining.
Ally and Jackson Maine play lovers looking for fame while also coming to grips as one finds more success than the other.
Previous iterations of the film came out in 1937, 1954, and 1976. The 1937 film had Janet Gaynor playing Gaga’s role in the first version, followed by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in the 1954 and 1976 versions.
The film marks Cooper’s directorial debut and the first leading role for Gaga.
Maybe this version of “A Star Is Born” will garner as much acclaim as the recent musical hit, “La La Land.” We’ll just have to wait until Sept. 28, 2018, to find out.
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The moving new documentary “Last Men in Aleppo” offers one of the most unflinching portraits of the Syrian Civil War committed to film. Chronicling the White Helmets, a volunteer defense group in the rebel-controlled capital of Syria, Feras Fayyad’s film finds humanity in the rubble. After each bombing, the movie’s two central figures scurry through the ruins to rescue survivors. All around them, their homeland becomes plagued by more and more wreckage.
Above, The Huffington Post has the exclusive trailer for “Last Men in Aleppo.” Winner of the Sundance Film Festival grand jury prize, the doc is a must-see record of lifesaving heroes.
It opens in New York on May 3, with a nationwide rollout to follow.
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As “promposals” go, this one was a bust ― literally.
A police dash cam video posted on Facebook Friday shows a Georgia police officer stopping two teens in a white pickup truck in Peachtree City.
The video shows the officer explaining that he pulled the truck over because a decal was obstructing the tag. He also mentions the department has had “a little history on the truck” after a previous stop.
“Have you ever been stopped before in this truck,” the officer asks. “Do you have any siblings? Do you ever let friends drive the truck?”
The officer asks the people in the truck to get out. The driver is a teenage boy and his passenger is a girl around the same age.
The officer asks and is given permission to search the vehicle. He returns and seems very angry.
“If you lie to me, I run out of options, all right,” the officer says. “You work with me, I’ve done this a thousand times, I can normally work with folks but the thing I can’t work with is dishonesty.”
When the male driver refuses to provide any further information, the officer places him in handcuffs.
At that point, the girl starts to look worried. Very worried.
Then the officer comes back with bags of what he claims appears to be marijuana.
Both teens deny the drugs are theirs so the officer then hands a bag containing a small slip of paper to the girl and asks, “Does that look like weed to you?”
After looking at the note, a large smile crosses her face.
“Oh my God, this is not funny,” she says laughing, the driver still in handcuffs.
The boy then brings out a sign that says, “Prom? Say yes or you’re under arrest!”
Spoiler alert: She did say yes, though she still seemed freaked out by the elaborate charade.
Although this video seems to be a perfect example of how not to do a promposal, the Peachtree City Police Department said the parents of the teens gave the department permission to post it on its Facebook page.
As the video below shows, other teens have enlisted the police for promposal help, but the results weren’t as visually arresting.
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