My first computer was a Macintosh Plus, which was an all-in-one computer with a built-in black and white monitor.

Then I moved up to an actual desktop PC, with a separate color monitor.

Back then, laptops were expensive and not very small, and they used slower components and were not very expandable.

In the last decade, laptops pulled even ...Read more

At the Target store on Riverside Boulevard on Friday, stacks of plastic bags sat prominently at checkout counters — the only visible option available for shoppers at both self-checkout kiosks and traditional lanes.

Under Senate Bill 1053 that passed in 2024, those plastic bags are set to disappear from checkout counters by the end of 2025.

...Read more

LOS ANGELES — California milk cartons may lose their coveted recycling symbol, the one with the chasing arrows, potentially threatening the existence of the ubiquitous beverage containers.

In a letter Dec. 15, Waste Management, one of the nation’s largest waste companies, told the state the company would no longer sort cartons out of the ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — With plans to launch the massive Starship from Florida next year, SpaceX defended its commitment to airspace safety after a Wall Street Journal article claimed an explosive mission in early 2025 was a greater danger to some flights than previously reported.

The article published Saturday cited Federal Aviation Administration ...Read more

Who doesn’t have a soft spot for the smells of the holidays? The aromatic cinnamon stick flavoring a cup of eggnog or the hint of vanilla in grandma’s baked goods can trigger wonderful memories of the Christmas season.

Leave it to progressive climate Grinches to warn that global warming represents a threat to some of these cherished ...Read more

Digit the humanoid robot is 5 feet 9 inches tall and lives in warehouses, helping its human coworkers move and stack boxes up to 35 pounds. It also "smiles" and waves.

Robots like Digit are a growing pursuit among robotics companies that are trying to bring humanoids into everyday life, and specifically into the home as helpers. A crucial part ...Read more

The 20th century was horrible for the Everglades. The broad shallow river, one of the most unique ecosystems on the planet, was labeled wasteland and ruthlessly dammed, carved into parcels, dried out and diverted into near oblivion.

But at the end of the century, 25 years ago this month, Democrats and Republicans from Florida and Washington, D....Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia blasted several line items in Orlando’s budget as “wasteful” spending, but by far the largest was $450,000 to count its trees.

“Maybe they’re trying to find the money tree? Oh, they already found it – it’s you the taxpayers,” Ingoglia said in October, a criticism ...Read more

Vince Zampella, the video game developer who helped launch the wildly lucrative and enduring "Call of Duty" franchise and "Apex Legends" studio Respawn Entertainment, has died.

A representative for Electronic Arts, which owns Respawn, confirmed Zampella's death Monday in a statement shared with The Times. He was 55.

"This is an unimaginable ...Read more

Waymo is taking the city of Santa Monica to court after the city ordered the company to cease charging its autonomous vehicles at two facilities overnight, claiming the lights and beeping at the lots were a nuisance to residents.

The two charging stations at the intersection of Euclid Street and Broadway have been a sour point for neighbors ...Read more

Instacart will stop using artificial intelligence to experiment with product pricing after a report showed that customers on the platform were paying different prices for the same items.

The report, published this month by Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative, found that Instacart sometimes offered as many as five different prices for ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Recent temperature swings in the Bluegrass State underscore why Kentucky lawmakers are still clinging to coal, according to Senate Republicans who responded to new research by environmental groups calling for an end to the state’s alleged overreliance on fossil fuels.

Mid-December’s subfreezing temperatures proved why ...Read more

For more than a month, the San Francisco Bay Area has been subjected to a seemingly ceaseless stampede of earthquakes — the latest in a series of seismic swarms that have rattled windows and raised fears across California.

The latest swarm has been centered in the East Bay suburb of San Ramon, where a magnitude 4 earthquake struck Friday ...Read more

Inspiration for video games can sprout from anywhere. A slice of pizza turned into “Pac-Man.” Trouble driving up a hill in the snow inspired a key mechanic in director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s “Souls” series. When it comes to “Keeper,” the latest game from Double Fine Productions, creative director Lee Petty took inspiration from the ...Read more

I often refer to my gadget columns at this point of the year as "this, that and the others." It's a bunch of great products I just haven't gotten to this year. Nevertheless, they are great last-minute gifts or perfect for using a gift card on yourself.

The BotsLab G980H 4-channel dashcam covers 560 degrees of angles. It's designed to see in ...Read more

I was recently talking to a friend who asked me if she should change her cell phone provider. She was happy enough with the service except for a few places in her house that never seem to get more than one bar of service.

Before changing service, it’s a good idea to know which network you are using. In this country, there are only three –...Read more

Florida’s first statewide black bear hunt in a decade is more than halfway over but state wildlife leaders have offered no information on its progress, not even a death count.

“Are we overkilling like in 2015?” asked Joe Humphrey, a Seminole County resident who described himself as a hunter at odds with the Fish & Wildlife Conservation ...Read more

A swarm of at least a dozen earthquakes reaching up to magnitude 3.9 rattled San Ramon near San Francisco, the U.S. Geological Survey reports.

The other quakes in the Saturday, Dec. 21, swarm ranged from magnitude 1.3 to 3.0, 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

LOS ANGELES — A 400-mile blanket of fog has socked in California’s Central Valley for weeks. Scientists and meteorologists say the conditions for such persistent cloud cover are ripe: an early wet season, cold temperatures and a stable, unmoving high pressure system.

But take a stroll through X, Instagram or TikTok, and you’ll see not ...Read more