Technology

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 long after the initial … [Read more...] about Review: ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’: 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 was time for Isha, or the night prayer. The app’s Qibla compass quickly … [Read more...] about Muslims reel over a prayer app that sold user data: ‘A betrayal from within our own community’

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 her 4-year-old granddaughter, she was … [Read more...] about Column: How did a 3-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 the … [Read more...] about Family video games are better than ever. These are the ones 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 month to share their info with the company’s clients.“All of your … [Read more...] about Column: This company will pay 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, “Rival Peak,” which started Wednesday, … [Read more...] about Reality TV meets video games … on Facebook? A new social experiment

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 dropping $1,000 on a new 4K TV to supposedly take advantage of … [Read more...] about The PS5 and Xbox Series X just ushered in a new game era. But not for the reasons you think

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 Apple and Google that … [Read more...] about California’s new contact-tracing app: What you need to know