Items tagged with Christmas
When I moved into a new apartment four years ago, one of the selling points was the fireplace. Who does not like a crackling fire, especially during the winter months when there is a chill in the air? Alas, the apartment complex recently came under new ownership, and they decided to close up all the fireplaces for the time being, because apparently the insurance is too costly. Bah, humbug! That is okay, though, because one thing I have been doing for my Christmas Eve dinners for several years now is to stream crackling fires on my big screen TV. You can too (on your TV, PC monitor, tablet, or phone). There are a plethora of options. Some play holiday music in the background, others focus solely...
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Are you ready to crack some nuts and sleigh some enemies in Fornite this holiday season? What was rumored to be Fortnite’s Winterfest is actually “Operation Snowdown,” with free loot, planes, and much more. You can drop into the fun today through January 5th to “complete Snowmando’s Quests for free Outfits and more, fly planes through the chilly skies, play fan-favorite LTMs, and enjoy the snowy scenery.” Snowmando’s Quests During Operation Snowdown, players will have the opportunity to pick up free rewards for completing different quests for Snowmando. Some of the prizes, shown up above, showcase “the perfectly-wrapped Shield Surprise Back Bling,...
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It is that time of the year to start celebrating the holidays, and Epic Games should be getting into the spirit soon with its annual Fortnite Winterfest. Last year, Winterfest began on December 18th, and we are just six days out from then. And of course, some leaks and information have started to crop up already, so let’s dive into what we know so far about Winterfest 2020. Our first big leak comes from Twitter users @HYPEX and @Mang0e, who found a Christmas teaser trailer via a Russian Fortnite streamer. It shows the possibility of planes returning to the game and brand-new skins. Even though the quality isn’t the best, in the background is what looks like a candy cane cowboy or...
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We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, from our little family here at Hot Hardware, to you and your family, which we consider our larger extended family here on the web. We hope whatever you had on your wish-list, naughty or nice, that your yuletide dreams came true. And if you still need some geek inspiration, of course, check out our various holiday gift guides, recent deals alerts and even our storage shopping guide. But most of all, we wish you all, health, happiness and good times with loved ones and friends this holiday season. 2018 has been a wild ride to be sure. Here's to a healthy, happy, peaceful and prosperous new year in 2019...
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Christmas is nearly here, and if you haven't finished your holiday shopping yet, your time is almost up. It's too late to shop online from most retailers, but if you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, you still have a few days left to place orders and receive your loot before Christmas If you want to take advantage of Amazon's free two-day shipping, you will need to place your order either today or tomorrow in order to get your purchased items before Christmas. You can order items on Sunday, December 23rd and still get your items before Christmas, but you will need to pay for the more expensive one-day shipping service. If you wait until the very last minute, you will be able to order on Christmas...
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Christmas means a lot of things to a lot of people, and for many, large family gatherings are a bit part of the holidays. Inevitably, large gatherings do have one caveat, though: finding a crowd-please song list for all to enjoy. Leave it to Amazon to give us another option - as long as you've added Alexa as a member to your family, that is. With any one of its supported Echo devices, Alexa can be taught a couple of new skills to make this Christmas a little more hands-off, and perhaps a little more enjoyable at the same time. We'd recommend you begin coming up with an excuse now to tell that one person who swears they're an undiscovered DJ. After all, who could compete with the mighty Alexa?...
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Way back in 2015 (remember it?), Parks and Recreation's Nick Offerman sat in front of a fireplace for a solid 45 minutes, sipping Lagavulin scotch. At the time, opinions differed on whether the pseudo advertisement was creative, effective, or just outright dull. It left a mark, regardless, and it seems Blizzard is more than happy to try to replicate that magic. Out of nowhere, Blizzard's Overwatch Twitch stream started up yesterday, presenting a simple fireplace scene. Many began to wonder what was going on, but before long, the game's lead director, Jeff Kaplan, took a seat. You can see where this was going. Sitting next to a plate of cookies, a bottle of milk, and an Overwatch mug, Kaplan sat...
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It may be time for Christmas and other December holidays, but Tesla has decided to inject some Easter into the current season. Just days ago, the company released yet another Easter egg; and in this holiday season, it couldn't be more appropriate. Once the latest Easter egg is activated, your Tesla infotainment system on the in-dash display will switch into Santa Mode with the jolly old elf on his sled. And when using autopilot, it changes all of the surrounding traffic into reindeer. You could say that Tesla really sleighed this one! To access the hidden treat, you need to have your vehicle updated to the 2017.50.2 firmware. At that point, you must tap and hold the T in "Tesla" on the main...
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Any parent of younger kids who are big Santa fans know that a great tech friend on Christmas Eve is the Santa Tracker app from Google. This app will keep you from having to constantly answering the all important "Where is Santa?" question, all night and generally make your life easier. The Santa Tracker app from Google has officially opened since we are only a few weeks away from Christmas. The Santa Tracker apps looks much like it did in years past and has a countdown clock so little ones (and big ones, no judging) can see how far away Santa's big night is. You can visit the website for the Santa Tracker and get the same data you get ton the app version. Santa's Village is open every day through...
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Amazon is gearing up for the holiday shopping season and it is doing something new that might save Christmas shoppers some money this season. Amazon has been spied cutting the prices of third-party seller items in its online catalog. The products that are discounted are clearly listed as "Discount provided by Amazon." The discounts are very small (10 percent or less) and appear to only be for the sellers who are using Amazon's fulfillment service. Amazon does state that the discount is a for a limited time. It's not clear how exactly Amazon is choosing what products it applies discounts on. The first time the discounts were spied appears to have come about a month ago and so far, Amazon hasn’t...
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We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, from our rather large, extended family here to you and yours. We hope whatever you had on your wish-list, naughty or nice, that your Yuletide dreams come true. But most of all, we wish you all, health, happiness and good times with loved ones and friends. ...
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There have been two steady constants in the mobile space over the past several years. The first is that Android dominates the competition in terms of overall mobile market share, and the second is that Apple sells more tablets and smartphones than other single manufacturer. Christmas Day didn't change any of that -- Android is still the top dog in mobile, and Apple won the day in terms of the total number of device activations. Yahoo's mobile analytic arm Flurry did what it does every year -- it examined device activations and related data. And just like last year, Santa Claus delivered more Apple gadgets to homes, with the Cupertino company accounting for more than 51 percent of device activations....
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The hustle and bustle of the holiday shopping season can be overwhelming, especially when there are so many other things on the never-ending to-do list. You know, like shop for an ugly sweater, print up a recipe book for the relatives, prepare the guest room for the holidays, and stock up on booze (you're going to need it). Before you know it, the deadline to shop online has passed, meaning you have to head to a crowded mall and shove your way through rude shoppers. Well, luckily for you, Amazon saw this coming and decided to extend its free shipping cutoff date. Now you have until December 19 (11:59 p.m. EST) to place an order that qualifies for Free Shipping and have it arrive before...
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The good folks at Google have made it easy for you and your kids to track the jolly bearded guy in a red suit as he travels around the world delivering gifts. Google is getting a bit of help from the North Pole air traffic control elves, who are finished making toys for the year and have now turned their attention to relaying Santa's location information to Google. "For the next day, you can visit the Google Santa Tracker to see where Santa’s headed next and keep tabs on how many presents he’s delivered," Google announced in a blog post. "You can also keep up with him on your smartphone and tablet with the Android app, in your browser with the the Chrome extension, and even in 3D...
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It's Christmas. Actually, it's the day before the fake Mayan apocalypse, Winter Solstice Eve, two days before Festivus, and five days before Christmas. Regardless of your chosen holiday, it's the magical time of year when the kinfolk you've spent 51 weeks successfully avoiding manage to squirm their way into your home like particularly determined tapeworms. Having attached themselves to the intestines of your dogged Christmas cheer, they'll regale you with stories of their vacations, promotions, life accomplishments. If they have children, you'll be treated to lengthy treatises on how Spawn Jr has managed potty training and written his first symphony in the same year. At some point, you'll be...
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If you managed to survive Christmas, give yourself a pat on the back. And if you survived the holiday while spending time with the in-laws, figure out a way to reward yourself. One way you can do that is by grabbing some free tunes and other content from Apple as part of its annual "12 Days of Christmas" promotion, which starts today. From now until January 6, 2012, Apple is giving away free songs, music videos, and eBooks to residents of Canada and parts of Europe. Unfortunately the promotion doesn't apply to U.S. residents (bummer), but for those who live in applicable regions, there's an app available via iTunes to help make sure you don't miss out on the freebies, starting with a live EP...
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Oh, Google. You and your doodles. This holiday season, Google is giving us a noisy, festive, colorful doodle in the form of “Jingle Bells”. If you click each colored square, they make a musical note in turn. Once you’ve clicked them all, the page breaks into song...and dance. When the song is finished, Google automatically searches for “Happy Holidays”. It’s a charming doodle to say the least, and it’s one your kids will get a kick out of when they wake up this Christmas--er, Christmas Eve morn....
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It's almost Christmas, haven't you heard? And if you aren't quite ready for the holidays, there's really no better way to get there than by picking up a new Kindle Fire and a set of iGloLEDset lights. Basically, these wireless Christmas tree lights can be wirelessly controlled through Amazon's white-hot new e-reader / tablet hybrid, enabling you to pause after Chapter 14 and adjust the tree mood. It's better shown in video, and thankfully, we have one of those just below. The lights are $299, but if that sounds a little pricey, just wait until the 26th to see what happens on the MSRP....
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A bustling shopping mall in Canada is ending a more than century old tradition of having kids line up for hours to sit on Santa's knee to tell the bearded gift giver what they want for Christmas. This year they'll need to sign up in advance for a one-hour story time session on Saturday morning, in which they'll also have a chance to sit on his knee and have their photo taken; the rest of the time he'll be on Skype. "Santa has gone digital! This year, only at the Toronto Eaton Centre, your child can have a one on one Skype with Santa!," the mall states on its website. Parents can register their child for a 10-minute Skype session with Santa Monday through Friday from 6PM to 8PM and never have...
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We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, from our rather large, extended family here to you and yours. We hope whatever you had on your wish-list, naughty or nice, that your Yuletide dreams come true. But most of all, we wish you all, health, happiness and good times with loved ones and friends. And for our friends that celebrate Chanukah, we give you Adam Sandler in this timeless classic - The Chanukah Song. Happy Holidays!...
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As you wait in the checkout line just before Christmas, your observation is correct. That other line is moving faster than yours. That's what Bill Hammack (the Engineer Guy), from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois - Urbana "proves" in this YouTube video. The video was released just in time for the final days of the holiday shopping season, as a lesson in queueing theory for the holiday season. Using the work of Agner Erlang, a Danish engineer who helped the Copenhagen Telephone Company determine the best level of service with the minimum number of operators, Hammack shows stores can determine the best number of cashiers in a store. Ironically,...
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As the holiday season rapidly approaches, there’s one question that gets asked rather frequently: Have you been naughty or nice? Of course, we all know that a lot hinges on this seemingly simple question. If you’ve been nice, then perhaps Santa will bring you an awesome gift; that one piece of hardware you've been jonesing for. On the other hand, if you’ve been naughty and have cursed your computer (hey, who hasn’t?) or ignored your significant other because Left 4 Dead 2 or Modern Warfare 2 beckoned, then you’d better shape up before it's too late. Otherwise, the only thing you’ll have to look forward to is a lump of coal, or worse. Believe us--we've been...
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