Google Nest is bringing back seasonal ringtones for its video doorbells, which now include the Nest Doorbell (wired) - previously known as Nest Hello - and the new Nest Doorbell (battery). First up are Halloween-inspired tones, which will stick around through October, then the winter holiday-themed options arrive.

For the past three years Nest has offered them, the ringtones have disappeared following the holidays, leaving you with the standard ding dong. But this year, the new Nest Doorbell will also get six "evergreen" ringtones that are usable year-round. They will arrive with the Halloween options, but Google tells me they aren't coming …

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For people with a lively interest in cinema's rapid technolgical and cultural evolution over the past few decades, few areas are as fascinating as the horror genre. Just a few decades ago, horror films were mostly considered disreputable and schlocky. The field was dominated by cookie-cutter sequels full of masked slashers and low-rent monsters, and while many actors of note started out in horror, few willingly stayed there if they could get more prestigious work. Directors were another thing entirely, with a handful of dedicated genre enthusiasts, from George Romero to David Cronenberg, reliably cranking out memorable work - but they were u …

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Halloween is a dangerous time to be a pedestrian. Here in the United States, more people die from getting hit by a car on Halloween than on, say, your average Wednesday in October, new research says.

How many more pedestrians die on Halloween? About 43 percent more than on other, random, autumn nights, according to a study published today in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. That adds up to about four additional pedestrian deaths on October 31st every year. The increase is a tragedy, and signals to experts that we need better traffic infrastructure to keep pedestrians safe.

Sadly, some of the things that make the holiday delightful also make it …

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Halloween is just a couple of days away, and if you're celebrating the evening, you're probably throwing together some sort of costume for a party, or getting something squared away for your child.

Over the years I've been building costumes, I've found one thing that really makes or breaks a costume: attention to detail. Costuming is a hobby into which, in the pursuit of perfection, you can dump endless time and money, but for something like Halloween, not as much effort is required for something like a party or trick-or-treating. But even for those casual costumes, a detail piece can turn an outfit that you clearly threw together at the la …

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It's that time of year again when NASA scientists compete to make the most creative, the most technologically challenging, and the most impressive pumpkin display of them all. This year, pumpkins spun, floated, and sailed like ships in the seventh annual (unofficial) pumpkin carving contest at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The rules of the pumpkin carving contest are simple, says Pete Waydo, deputy section manager of spacecraft mechanical engineering at JPL and a judge of the contest. Contestants can pick up their pumpkins a week before the competition and start assembling their displays, but only on the day of the contest can they actu …

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