2020 Gift Guide: The Best Gadget Gift Deals for Less Than $50
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Whether you want to give a gift that your loved one has wanted all year or one that they never even knew existed, there's something awesome for everyone in these gifts. Just as exciting as their innovative features is their price.
How To: There's a Hidden Undo & Redo Gesture for Samsung Galaxy Phones
Everyone raves about Gboard and SwiftKey, but the stock Samsung keyboard on Galaxy devices is awesome in its own right. It's preloaded, so you don't have to do anything to get it, but at the same time, it's packed with features — even some you might not know about.
How To: The Best Way to Bypass Website Paywalls & Unlock Full Articles on Your iPhone
One of the most aggravating things that can happen on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media apps is when a friend shares an exciting story, and a paywall prevents you from reading any of it. You could pay for a subscription to unlock it, but there are so many news sites that it can be both confusing and expensive to spend money on all of them.
News: iOS 14.4 Developer Beta Released on iPhone with More App Clip Experiences
The next big phase of iOS 14 has started with the release of the iOS 14.4 beta. Right now, the developer-only beta features only one known item. Apple introduced the ability to scan App Clip Codes in iOS 14.3 with the Code Scanner control, and now in iOS 14.4, you can launch a local App Clip experience via Camera, NFC, Safari Smart App Banner, or iMessage.
How To: Wirelessly Charge Other Devices with Your Pixel 5
Google dropped several of the Pixel 4's more gimmicky features in favor of perfecting the basics on the Pixel 5. While you probably won't miss Motion Sense or the Assistant squeeze gesture, you'll definitely like the extra battery they packed into the space those features once occupied. Almost 50% more battery, actually.
How To: Stop Amber & Emergency Alerts from Driving Your Crazy on Your iPhone
Amber, emergency, and public safety alerts on an iPhone are loud — startle-you-to-death loud even. They can happen at any time, day or night, and sometimes back to back when you're in a big city. Those blaring sirens can wake you from sleep, interrupt an important meeting, or disrupt an entire movie theater mid-movie, but you can turn most of them off if you're tired of hearing them.
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How To: Install Apps on Chromecast with Google TV
The new Chromecast represents an evolution of Google's smart TV dongle as well as the Android TV platform. In addition to a remote control and the ability to install apps, Chromecast with Google TV hosts the debut of Google's innovative Google TV interface, which will eventually make its way to Android TV.
News: Spatial Now Lets You Add Apple iPhone, iPad & Android Devices to Its Virtual Collaboration Experience in AR
The virtual collaboration tool known as Spatial has consistently been one of our favorites due to its ability to leverage high-end augmented reality headsets to more easily facilitate remote meetings.
How To: What Are Those Orange & Green Dots for in Your iPhone's Status Bar? To Protect You from Malware & Hackers
After updating to iOS 14 or getting a new iPhone with iOS 14 preinstalled, you'll notice orange and green dots that occasionally appear at the top of your iPhone. These dots appear on all supported iOS 14 devices, from the iPhone 6S to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and are there to protect you, but how?
How To: Unlock & Shoot in Apple ProRAW on Your iPhone 12 Pro or 12 Pro Max
Apple ProRAW, the new RAW shooting format available on the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, is now available in iOS 14.3. But you won't find a switch for it in the Camera app after updating your iPhone, and that's because it's an opt-in feature you have to unlock.
How To: iOS 14.3's Out for iPhone & You Should Definitely Install It ASAP
Just as expected, Apple pushed out iOS 14.3 to the masses on Monday, Dec. 14, which coincided with the pumped-up release of Fitness+, Apple's subscription workout service for Apple Watch users. It also came one day before the new AirPods Max hit buyers, and the iPhone needs iOS 14.3 to use all of its features.
NR30: Next Reality's 30 People to Watch in Augmented Reality for 2020
The year 2020 was a pivotal span of time during which the word "virtual" took on a brand new meaning. Instead of referring to VR or augmented reality, the term was hijacked to describe meeting across long distances through a variety of software tools, most often through video.
How To: Dream of a White (Hat Hacker) Christmas with This Bundle
2020 has been a rollercoaster of a year for all of us, the type of year that makes you feel like you're not sure if you're upside down or right side up. But as the holidays arrive, it's time to get your bearings back and find the good in the world — the type of good that we could use more of right about now.
How To: Use Upip to Load MicroPython Libraries onto a Microcontroller Over Wi-Fi
MicroPython is an exciting language to use on ESP8266 boards and ESP32-based microcontrollers, but it doesn't always include all of the libraries you'll need for a specific project. This issue is less of a problem, thanks to the upip package manager.
How To: Check Your Android Phone's DPI Value to See the Screen Density
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There are at least 24,000 different Android devices, and they all have varying hardware components. This is why many developers publish several unique variants of their apps, which, among other things, helps accommodate all of the different display sizes and resolutions on Android phones and tablets.
How To: Hide the Content of Notifications on Your Lock Screen Unless the Device Is Unlocked
The iPhone has a setting that will obfuscate the content of notifications on its lock screen until you're recognized by Face ID. Google implemented this same feature in its Pixel phones, but many Android devices have no such option. At least, not by default.
How To: Separate Vocals & Instrument Tracks from Your Favorite Songs — Right from Your Phone
Adobe Audition, Audacity, and other audio editing software have tools to isolate vocals and instruments in regular songs so that you can get an instrumental track for karaoke, vocals for an a capella version, or solo drums, bass, keys, etc. that you can use to learn the song yourself. The software is mostly for desktop computers, and it doesn't always do a good job, but that's where Moises comes in.
How To: This Smart App to Upgrade Your Home Wi-Fi Speeds Is 41% Off Right Now
Did you know that you can improve the Wi-Fi in your home without the stress of changing providers or using a costly professional? The answer lies in a simple app you can use yourself at home, and right now, the NetSpot Home Wi-Fi Analyzer With Lifetime Upgrades is on sale for just $39.99. That's 41% off the regular price of $68.
How To: The Easiest Way to Resize Photos on Your iPhone in Bulk or Individually
The rear cameras on iPhones have remained at 12 megapixels since the iPhone 6s, but with each new iPhone model, more data is going into photos. That means larger file sizes. If you're running into issues with your pictures being too large, whether you're sharing or uploading them, there's an easy way to resize an image or group of images using a shortcut.
How To: Stop Control Center from Interrupting You in Apps & Games
You're in the middle of the fight for your life in your favorite iPhone game when all of a sudden, that critical move you tried to make activates Control Center inadvertently, throwing you completely off track. Instead of fuming, do something about it — block Control Center when you're in apps.
News: Google & Red Bull TV Premier 'The Last Ascent' with Synced AR Experience That Puts Nature in Your Home
In recent weeks, Google managed to capitalize on the hype surrounding the Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian with an AR app that was not only exclusive to Android but also available only for 5G-equipped devices.
News: Apple's iOS 14.3 Release Candidate 2 Available for iPhone, Adds Support for App Clips, AirPods Max & Apple Fitness+
Apple's first release candidate for the iOS 14.3 beta came out on Dec. 8, but there must have been a serious bug in the system because iOS 14.3 RC 2 followed it just two days later on Dec. 10. These builds highlight everything that you should expect to see on the stable version very soon.
How To: How Autoplay Works for Apple Music on iOS & Android
No matter how expertly crafted a playlist is or how long your favorite album runs, they all come to an end eventually. And nothing quite kills the vibe like your DJ suddenly running out of steam. But a feature in Apple Music for iOS and Android will continue playing songs after an album or playlist is over, choosing tracks that fit perfectly with what you were just listening to.
How To: Add Custom Toggles to Android 11's New Power Menu
Android 11 made a pretty significant UI change to the menu that appears when you press and hold your power button. Google created an entirely new system that apps can use to populate quick toggles in this menu, but the trouble is, not many apps are using this system yet.
How To: Check This Setting if You Don't Want Your Friends to See What You're Listening to on Apple Music
You shouldn't care what other people think, but sometimes, it's unavoidable. Take your music tastes, for instance. Sure, you might want your friends to think you only listen to the coolest songs, but we all have our guilty pleasures. If you're uncomfortable with your peers seeing your listening history in Apple Music, know there's something you can do about it — on iOS or Android.
How To: The Easiest Way to Blur Faces in Videos on Your Android Phone
Video editing is no small task. Computationally, it requires some pretty hefty processing power, perhaps more so than any other task you might want to perform on your phone. But with the right software, doing something like blurring the faces of people in your videos doesn't have to be such a burden.
News: Next Reality Snap Spectacles 3 Holiday Giveaway!
Next Reality is where we help you literally 'see' into the future of augmented reality, and to help with that mission we're offering three free pairs of Snap Spectacles 3 to three lucky readers who sign up for the Next Reality daily AR email newsletter.
How To: 27 Features in iOS 14.3 That'll Make Your iPhone Experience Way Better
Apple's latest big update to iOS 14 has a lot to be excited about. While iOS 14.2 had some fun new features, such as new emoji and wallpapers, People Detection in Magnifier, and a Shazam control, iOS 14.3 brings on the heat. There are new Apple services and products that are supported, ApplePro RAW is ready to go, the TV app makes searching better, and custom home screen app icons work even better now.
How To: Music Playlist + Shortcut = Cool New iPhone Wallpaper
The music you listen to is often a reflection of your personality, which is why people tend to use the artwork from their favorite albums as device wallpapers. But one lonely album cover may not look right on your iPhone's lock screen, and it's not indicative of your broader music interests. To combine cover art into one lock screen background, there's a shortcut that makes it easy to do for any playlist.
News: Snap Simplifies Lens Studio with 'No-Code AR' Tools & New Templates, Invests $3.5 Million in AR Development
At the opening of its virtual Lens Fest, taking place Dec. 8-10 and open to the public, Snap is furthering its facilitation of AR development with new tools for Lens Studio version 3.3 and a planned investment into its AR creator community.
How To: Create a 'My Year in Music' Cover Art Collage from Your iPhone's Music Library to Share on Social Media
Apple Music's Replay feature sucks. Aside from not being very accessible, it offers a fraction of your history compared to Spotify Wrapped, which does a deep dive into what you listened to over the last year. Not only that but Spotify packages data into visuals you can share on social media. While you could share Replay screenshots, there are better options out there for Apple Music users.
News: Next Reality's 2020 Holiday Gift Guide: Augmented Reality Hardware, Gaming, Wearables & More
We're still awaiting the arrival of consumer-grade AR smartglasses from the likes of Apple and Facebook. But that doesn't mean there aren't AR products out there to try this holiday season.
How To: The Fastest Way to Clear Apps from Your iPhone's App Switcher
If you like to keep your iPhone's app switcher clean, you don't want to hear what Android phones have. Pixel, OnePlus, Galaxy — these phones let you quit all running apps at once. Apple omits the option on iOS because apps are optimized to stay there and only be force-closed when acting up. But if you like a slim app switcher profile, there's a faster way to force-quit them than one by one.
How To: Learn to Create Your Own Apple Apps for the App Store with This SwiftUI Course Bundle
If you want to quickly pick up a new skill over the holidays, learning to build your own Apple apps is one of the most impressive ones you can work on. This complete course bundle on SwiftUI and iOS 14 will have you submitting your own iOS apps to the App Store in just two weeks. Right now, The iOS 14 & SwiftUI Bootcamp Bundle is on sale at 95% off, for just $24.99 (regular price $600).
How To: 5 Little Tricks to Make Typing Easier on Android
The act of typing on a smartphone has come a long way since the days of tiny physical keys at the bottom of a BlackBerry, but there are still quirks that can make it frustrating. Luckily, if you know a few hidden tricks, things do get easier.
How To: Get the iPhone's System Font on Android
For the first time in twenty years, Apple created its own custom font in late 2014. Dubbed "San Francisco," it combined elements from Helvetica and FF DIN to create a crisp, elegant, and highly legible font that is now used in iOS, macOS, and tvOS.
How To: Blank Squares Filling Up Control Center? Here's How to Remove Them or Fill Them Up on Your iPhone
Your iPhone's Control Center is your main hub for quick access to controls like brightness, volume, Wi-Fi, and Do Not Disturb, but if you're using iOS 14, there may be a bunch of screen real estate taken up by blank squares. If that wasted space is bothering you every time you just want to use your flashlight, there's a quick way to get rid of those empty tiles for good.
News: Snap Showcases Storytelling Power of Spectacles 3 Wearable with Film by LA Artist Lauren Halsey
The latest generation of Spectacles aren't AR smartglasses per se, but Snap is intent on demonstrating that the wearables are capable of storytelling powered by augmented reality.
How To: The Trick to Taking Night Mode Time-Lapses on Your iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max
Good time-lapse videos capture cities, nature, and other long-running events in a way normal photos and videos simply can't. Your iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max can make time-lapses look even better, thanks to Night mode. But it isn't exactly intuitive or even clear on how to enable the feature since, unlike with Video mode, you won't find a Night mode icon to use.
How To: Control Focus & Exposure Separately in Your iPhone's Camera for Pro-Level Photos
While iPhone cameras these days are downright impressive, the same can't be said for the Camera app. In true Apple form, Camera is as simple as possible, forcing you to go third-party for pro-level features. With iOS 14, however, Apple adds a little extra professionalism, allowing you to lock focus and exposure separately.