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Jim Rossman/Jim Rossman/TNS

Jim Rossman: Simplify your Alexa smart home commands

I’ve got Amazon Echo devices in a few of my rooms at home as the gateway to my smart home system.

I started with one Echo Dot in the living room, but added a new Dot with a clock to the bedroom and the bathroom.

Once I learned what I could do with some additional equipment, I added some smart bulbs and smart plugs to a few of my lamps and ...Read more

Handout/Kepler/TNS

Six intriguing games from Day of the Devs showcase

With so many projects vying for attention, it’s difficult for indie developers to break through the noise. That’s where Day of the Devs comes in. The nonprofit pores over hundreds of submissions and highlights some of the best.

Even with that filter, the number of games shown during the presentation can be overwhelming. Here are the ...Read more

TNS

Gadgets: Last-minute gift ideas

Just like that, we're in the homestretch for holiday shopping, which can lead to stress and impulse buys. To help out — and hopefully cut down your time in return lines — here's a simple list to spark ideas for fun tech gadgets, including popular and practical picks. Choose a few favorites and you'll be wrapped up in no time.

Divoom's ...Read more

Ubisoft/Ubisoft/TNS

Review: For disappointed ‘Civ’ fans, ‘Anno 117’ will scratch that strategy itch

With “Sid Meier’s Civilization VII” a disappointment, “Anno” has an opportunity to snag the strategy game spotlight. The Ubisoft franchise has been in the shadow of Firaxis’ long-running classic, though it takes a different approach when it comes to mixing history and video games.

Whereas “Civilization” focuses on nation-...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California wildlife officials quietly shift on killing a high-profile predator

In a move that reverses nearly a decade of practice, California wildlife officials have quietly begun to allow killing mountain lions in order to protect another iconic native — bighorn sheep.

Though limited to the Eastern Sierra — the steep, rugged home of a rare type of the wild sheep — it marks a sea change for California, where ...Read more

Alan Halaly/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

California on track for lowest Lake Mead use in 75 years

Lake Mead may be facing historic shortages, but officials from the Colorado River state that uses the most water are celebrating unprecedented water savings.

At a briefing for reporters at Tuesday’s Colorado River Water Users Association conference at Caesars Palace, leaders from California’s biggest water districts said the state is on ...Read more

RENÉE C. BYER/rbyer@sacbee.com/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California curtails effort to find young wolves whose parents were euthanized

Wildlife managers have significantly pared back their efforts to find three juvenile gray wolves who are the last remaining members of a pack that had established itself in the Sierra Valley ranch lands north of Truckee, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday.

Three adult wolves and one juvenile from the same group, the ...Read more

Sharks and torpedo rays wash up dead along Cape Cod: 'Very sad'

It’s been a busy time for marine wildlife rescuers and researchers, as more sharks were recently found dead along the Cape shoreline.

The sharks this time of year are trying to navigate out of Cape Cod Bay to warmer southern waters, but sometimes they take a wrong turn and get stuck.

One of those recently stranded sharks was a female ...Read more

Major deal completed to protect endangered forest near Alabama-Georgia border

ATLANTA — Conservation groups and their state and federal partners cheered the completion of a deal Monday they say will protect more than 10,000 acres of ecologically valuable and endangered forests straddling the Alabama-Georgia border.

The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit specializing in acquiring at-risk lands, announced it has finalized a ...Read more

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump's plan to pump more water in California is ill-conceived and harmful, lawmakers say

A Trump administration plan to pump more water to Central Valley farmlands is facing vehement opposition from Democratic members of Congress who represent the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and the Bay Area.

A group of seven legislators led by Rep. John Garamendi said pumping more water will threaten the availability of water for many ...Read more

Handout/Quinnipiac University/TNS

Professors and students create software that helps people communicate and move. It reads your face

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Observing a young man in a wheelchair with motor impairment struggle to communicate with his parents profoundly affected Chetan Jaiswal.

Jaiswal is an associate professor of computer science at Quinnipiac University.

After meeting the boy at an occupational therapy conference in 2022, Jaiswal decided that more could be done...Read more

Joshua Conti/Us Space/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

SpaceX squeezes in 100th Space Coast launch, but weather delays ULA, 2nd SpaceX mission

SpaceX managed to find a lull in the winds early Monday, but a second SpaceX launch as well as one from United Launch Alliance opted to wait at least a day before trying to add to the Space Coast’s rocket mission total.

The one that did go up though was SpaceX’s 100th launch from Florida this year.

A Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-82 mission ...Read more

Jon Cherry/Getty Images North America/TNS

UPS buys hundreds of robots to unload trucks in automation push

United Parcel Service Inc. will invest $120 million in 400 robots used to unload trucks, according to people familiar with the matter, revealing new details on the logistics giant’s $9 billion automation plan that aims to boost profits by decreasing labor costs.

Unloading trucks and shipping containers at warehouse docks is mostly done by ...Read more

Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

California leaders celebrate salmon 'comeback' but climate risks loom

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted the “comeback” of coho salmon after state officials spotted juvenile fish in the Russian River’s upper basin — the first such sighting in more than 30 years.

As the state celebrated the news, however, federal fisheries officials announced that they would not designate Chinook ...Read more

Sam Morris/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Amid Colorado River 'impasse,' tense meeting comes to Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — It’s down to the wire for officials to deliver a seven-state agreement to stabilize Lake Mead over the next 20 years. That’s why water managers are eager to attend this year’s annual policy gathering in Las Vegas.

Federal and state officials, professors, nonprofit leaders and environmentalists will gather on the Strip this ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Earthquake swarm resumes to rattle Northern California city, seismologists say

A swarm of at least six earthquakes reaching up to magnitude 2.9 rattled San Ramon near San Francisco, the U.S. Geological Survey reports.

The other quakes in the Saturday, Dec. 13, swarm ranged from magnitude 1.3 to 2.3, according to the USGS.

San Ramon earlier was hit by a swarm of more than 90 quakes starting Nov. 9, The Sacramento Bee ...Read more

SpaceX/TNS/TNS

Weather might cause issues, but ULA, SpaceX could fly 3 launches within 12 hours

Dicey weather could cause issues, but three rockets from SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are lined up to launch from the Space Coast beginning Sunday night that could set a record with three Florida-based missions launched within 12 hours.

Up first is a SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-82 mission with 29 Starlink satellites from Cape ...Read more

David Joles/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Scientists warn federal funding cuts could undermine walleye recovery in Minnesota

Christopher Rounds is a scientist who studies walleye in Minnesota, but he doesn’t use a boat or a net or even a laboratory.

“I probably go outside like five times a year and sit behind a computer the rest of the time,” says the University of Minnesota graduate student and researcher at the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (MW ...Read more

SpaceX/TNS/TNS

Weather pushes ULA launch, but SpaceX still has Sunday, Monday launches on tap

Dicey weather already pushed United Launch Alliance to delay a planned early Monday launch of an Atlas V, but SpaceX has a pair of Falcon 9 rockets that could fly Sunday night and Monday morning.

Up first is a SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-82 mission with 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Ancient lake from ice age comes back to life in Death Valley after record rainfall

Between 128,000 and 186,000 years ago, when ice covered the Sierra Nevada, a lake 100 miles long and 600 feet deep sat in eastern California in what is now the Mojave Desert.

As the climate warmed and the ice retreated, the lake dried up, leaving a white salt pan in its place.

But a November of record rainfall has brought the ancient lake, ...Read more