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How To: Enter Text from the Real World into Any Search Field in iOS 15

When you need to share large bodies of text from the real world to the digital one, the traditional method has been to take a picture. That's fine for viewing the text, but what about when you need it typed out? That usually means tapping out each letter of each word, which can get monotonous fast. But that's no longer the case, as you can enter text in any field on your iPhone with iOS 15.

How To: Set Unique Alert Tones for Different Types of Sounds with iOS 15's Sound Recognition

Your iPhone's Sound Recognition feature is a powerful tool to help keep you alert to the world around you. With it, iOS will inform you if it hears a fire alarm, a door bell, glass breaking, among many other kinds of sounds. In iOS 15, Apple is updating the feature, allowing you to choose the alert tone that plays when iOS recognizes a specific sound.

News: Looking Glass Portrait — Unboxing the First Mainstream Holographic Display

Not all Kickstarters are created equal. Some take forever to get their products to supporters, and when the product does arrive (usually much later than promised) it's often very rough around the edges.

How To: Restore the Original Location & Date/Time to Spoofed Photos & Videos on iOS 15

Apple introduces several new privacy settings with iOS 15, including the ability to better manage the metadata in your photos. With just a few taps, you can effectively spoof a photo's geolocation and change its creation date and time, providing a sort of disguise over your personal information. If you constantly take and share photos, it's a welcomed feature, but its results are not permanent and can be reversed.

AR Snapshots: Snapchat Lens Shows Us What Our Fav Live-Action Movies Would Look Like from Pixar Animation

For its latest augmented reality trick, Snapchat has brought the world an AR Lens that has become a bit of a viral hit on Twitter as users turn themselves and their favorite movie stars into characters out of a Pixar movie.

News: Apple Releases iOS 14.7 Beta 3 for iPhone

Apple released the third iOS 14.7 public beta for iPhone Tuesday, June 15. The update comes one day after Apple released the third 14.7 developer beta, and twelve days after the second iOS 14.7 beta, which was only released to registered developers.

Market Reality: Apple's New AR Tools, Snap Spectacles Apps, Magic Leap Exec Shake-Up, & Microsoft's Military HoloLens

Over the past few weeks, Google, Snap, and Facebook have all taken their turns to show off their new augmented reality technologies. This week, it was Apple's turn, with new AR features for iOS 15 along with new capabilities for developers.

News: 'The Matrix' Movie Effects Pioneer & Former Magic Leap Exec Reveals 'Tragic Story' of Startup's Recent Struggles

Magic Leap has had a rough couple of years, highlighted by high-profile executive departures, lawsuits, troublesome patent shuffles, and massive layoffs.

News: Niantic Primes Its Lightship AR Engine for Transformers Game, Global Launch Slated for 2021

With the tagline "More Than Meets the Eye," the Transformers franchise was pretty much preordained to have its own augmented reality game, and AR gaming pioneer Niantic has stepped up to fulfill that destiny.

News: Google Extends AR Search Lead Over Apple with Landmark Recognition for Google Lens

This week, Apple unveiled its own version of Google Lens in the form of Live Text. In response, Google just hit back with a new feature for its visual search tool called Places, a new search category that can recognize landmarks and return information on them within the camera view, which Apple touted as a capability of Live Text during its WWDC keynote.

How To: iOS 15 Makes It Really Easy to Change the Location & Date/Time for Any Photo or Video

Metadata might be a bigger concern than you might realize. In its continuous push to be a privacy-first company, Apple has released several new features with iOS 15 that allow you to adjust and permanently change the metadata stored within the photos and videos you take on your iPhone. But why would you want to do this?

How To: These Ergonomic Earbuds Will Fit Your Ears Comfortably for Truly Immersive Listening

Having earbuds that don't work for you is kind of like having shoes that don't fit. They're never where they're supposed to be, and every second you're using them, you're acutely aware of how much they aren't working for you. And if they fall off, you'll probably step on them. ComfoBuds Pro True Wireless Headphones are the right fit, the right sound, and the right choice if you want to listen to music instead of being distracted by the place your music is supposed to come from.

How To: Sound Recognition on iPhone Gets 2 New Detectable Sounds in iOS 15

Sound Recognition was introduced with iOS 14, and the accessibility feature uses on-device intelligence to detect 13 different sounds and then notify you whenever it hears one. Apple increases that number to 15 with the addition of two more detectable sounds in iOS 15 that it should have included from the get-go.

News: Snap's Spectacles Turned into Immersive AR Dance Teacher via Lens Studio

The debut of the augmented reality version of Snap's Spectacles came with several examples of how the wearable can allow creators to transform the world around them.

How To: iOS 15's Safari Changes the Way You Access Tabs

When you first open Safari after updating your iPhone to iOS 15, you might be a bit surprised by the design change. Apple attempted to make browsing the web on its smartphones more natural and cohesive, but it may leave you wondering just how to actually navigate your tabs.

News: Magic Leap Experiencing Yet Another Major Executive Shake-Up, Report Says

Just when everything seemed settled over at Magic Leap, it turns out that the internal tumult is still in play.

How To: This Mini Drone Is the Perfect Gift for Father's Day!

Drones give you the joy of experiencing the sky without any of the downsides of gravity. Copernicus was the astronomer who put the sun at the center of the solar system. This little drone is aptly named after him because it similarly gives you a true look at the sky through a crystal clear camera and agile, intuitive controls.

News: Facebook's Smartwatch Will Eventually Include CTRL-Labs Tech for Smartglasses Control, Report Says

If you were to summarize the path Snap has taken towards augmented reality smartglasses with a meme template, how it started would be the first-generation Spectacles camera glasses and how it's going would be the next-generation Spectacles with AR capabilities.

How To: The New Way to Start a FaceTime Audio Call from Messages in iOS 15

FaceTime audio calling is a great alternative to regular phone calls on your iPhone because it usually has better audio quality and fewer dropped calls than regular calls over cellular or Wi-Fi calling. Plus, it's easier to start group chats, and you have the choice to turn on your camera. If you frequently use the "audio" button in Messages to start FaceTime audio calls, know that things work differently in iOS 15.

How To: iOS 15 Lets You View All Actions for Shortcuts in One List

One thing you couldn't do in the Shortcuts app when building a shortcut was browsing the entire list of available actions for all of the apps and services on your iPhone. That all changes in iOS 15.

News: Join Loki on His Time-Traveling Adventures with This Snapchat Lens

Like its predecessors WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Marvel's latest series for Disney Plus, Loki, has its own augmented reality experience.

How To: Add Android, Linux & Windows Users to FaceTime Calls in iOS 15

Apple's exclusive chat services, iMessage and FaceTime, force many of us to stay locked into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS to communicate with other Apple users, so chatting with Android-using friends means SMS texts, third-party messaging apps, and third-party video chat services. However, Apple is breaking boundaries with iOS 15 so that we can FaceTime with Android, Linux, and Windows users.

News: Apple Pushes ARKit Closer to the AR Cloud with Location Anchors, Expands Face Tracking Support

While Apple introduced new AR features for iOS 15 and Object Capture for Reality Kit 2 during the WWDC 2021 keynote, updates for ARKit were curiously absent in the official presentation.

News: Apple's Object Capture Puts 3D Scanning Market on Notice, but Unity MARS Benefits via New Integration

One of the more exciting augmented reality announcements Apple made during its WWDC keynote on Monday came in the form of Object Capture, a new 3D scanning feature coming to macOS Monterey.

How To: Learn Python Today with This Discount Bundle

If you've ever wanted to start learning to code but haven't known where to start, then one of the best places is with Python. It's great for introductory programmers, and it's also a must-have addition to the repertoire of anyone experienced in the industry. As of 2019, over eight million programmers have used Python, and the industry has only grown since then, so the best time to start practicing is today!

How To: Open a New Private Tab in iOS 15's Updated Safari App

When you open Safari for the first time after updating to iOS 15, you'll instantly notice its new look. The search bar is now at the bottom, and the View menu has moved with it, now situated next to the tabs button. For tabs, moving between them is as easy as swiping left and right or selecting one from the new grid view, but you may get confused whenever it's time to open a private window.

How To: iOS 15 Makes Searching Your iPhone from the Lock Screen Even Easier

Your iPhone's search bar has so many great uses. For example, you can quickly find apps on your device, browse different Safari results to find the site that's right for your question, and even search across different iOS apps like Messages, Mail, Notes, and Photos. With iOS 15, Apple has introduced the fastest way yet to start searching with Spotlight on iPhone.

How To: These High-Quality Courses Are Only $49.99

Project managers — and those hoping to become one — should rejoice at this killer deal. The Project Manager's Essential Certification Bundle Ft. Scrum, Agile & PMP usually runs for $1,990 but is only $49.99 for a limited time.

How To: Perform Advanced Man-in-the-Middle Attacks with Xerosploit

A man-in-the-middle attack, or MitM attack, is when a hacker gets on a network and forces all nearby devices to connect to their machine directly. This lets them spy on traffic and even modify certain things. Bettercap is one tool that can be used for these types of MitM attacks, but Xerosploit can automate high-level functions that would normally take more configuration work in Bettercap.

News: Microsoft Emerges from the Trenches with More Details Behind the Army Edition of HoloLens 2

When we got our first look at US Army soldiers testing Microsoft's modified HoloLens 2 last year, it still looked very much like the commercial edition, with some additional sensors attached.

News: Apple Brings 3D Scanning to macOS Monterey with Object Capture

As brands and content makers create more augmented reality experiences, the demand for tools to create 3D content grows in kind.

News: The First Beta for iOS 15 Is Now Available to Download on iPhone

Apple officially announced iOS 15 at WWDC Monday, June 7. With that announcement, we got our first look at brand new features like redesigned notifications, FaceTime screen and music sharing, and Focus modes in Do Not Disturb. All of these new iPhone features are available to test out today, thanks to the iOS 15 beta.

How To: Stop Your iPhone from Making Irrelevant Suggestions

Siri Suggestions is one way Apple makes your iPhone work better for you. These recommendations offer helpful actions and shortcuts based on how you use iOS. Still, they can frequently get things wrong, suggesting irrelevant shortcuts to apps, contacts, and other items repeatedly. Here's how to stop them.

News: Apple Delivers Competitor to Google Lens & Google Maps AR Features in iOS 15

Mobile augmented reality for iOS typically comes through apps via ARKit, but Apple is borrowing a few pages from Google's playbook and bringing AR directly to iOS 15.

Market Reality: Facebook Debuts Shared AR for Video Chat, Magic Leap Teams with AMD, & Lego Takes AR to the Theme Park

It's (virtual) developer conference season, and this week was Facebook's turn with F8 Refresh. Like Google and Snap, Facebook had some new AR capabilities to show off.

News: Facebook Chief Mark Zuckerberg Talks Immersive Remote Video & AR Smartglasses Following Major Reveals from Snap & Google

The last few weeks were fairly busy in the realm of augmented reality and remote meetings developments. Most of that activity was generated by some mammoth announcements from Snap and its Spectacles AR smartglasses, and Google, with its Project Starline experimental holographic video conferencing system.

How To: See All the People Who Tapbacked on an iMessage

Apple's Tapback is a great way to react to iMessages you find funny, surprising, confusing, and anything in between. However, in group chats, keeping track of who reacted with which Tapback can be difficult; iOS often just shows you how many people reacted but excludes many of the names. Luckily, there is a way around this — it's just a bit hidden.

How To: This App Gives You Thousands of Free Custom Fonts for Your iPhone's Stock Keyboard

Since iOS 13, your iPhone's come equipped with a fonts manager that lets you install custom fonts for use in Apple apps and supported third-party apps. To add fonts, you need to use a font provider app that'll load them on your device and register them system-wide, and one of these apps shines above all else.

How To: Start Making Your Own Apps Today with This $20 Bundle

Apps went from a novelty to the main way we control the functionality of our phones and tablets in what felt like an instant. Apps are ubiquitous, and you can find one for virtually every need. However, what's right for someone else isn't always right for you, and what's right for you might be right for more people.

How To: 15 Features Low Power Mode Disables or Reduces on Your iPhone

When you enable Low Power Mode on your iPhone, it's not always clear what measures it's taking to reduce battery drain and conserve power. Energy-hungry features you use daily may be noticeable right away, but some things you use frequently may be disabled or reduced without any obvious indicators.