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News: Magic Leap Hosting LEAP Developer Days at Magic Leap HQ in May
Despite the cancellation of Mobile World Congress and several high-profile companies pulling out of the upcoming Game Developers Conference, Magic Leap is pushing forward with hosting its own developer conference.
Market Reality: HTC Vive Concept Smartglasses, Coronavirus Hits Apple, Holographic Celebs, & Snapchat Ground Effects
The coronavirus continues to disrupt the tech industry, including the augmented reality segment, with Apple and the iPhone the latest to feel the impact.
News: Bank of England Teams with Snapchat to Embed AR Animation in New 20-Pound Banknotes
The UK has officially exited the European Union, completing the long and tumultuous Brexit story and putting the storied nation once again on its own on the international stage.
How To: Move Chrome's Menu Bar to the Bottom of Your Screen
Google has always experimented with Chrome's UI, but when they make more drastic changes, they start by hiding them in the feature flags menu. One of the latest designs makes Chrome more accessible in a world of big and tall phones.
News: Print Custom Labels Right from Your Smartphone or Computer & Organize All the Things
Life is too chaotic to be organized all the time, but little steps in the right direction make things easier overall. File folders keep paperwork from spiraling out of control. Spice jars take the clutter out of cabinets. Storage totes keep basements neat and tidy. But to find what you're looking for faster, you need a label maker.
How To: Samsung's High Contrast Keyboard Will Actually Help You Type Faster
The monochrome layout on Samsung's default keyboard can make it a little hard to view keys. Fortunately, there's a setting you can enable that makes your keyboard significantly easier to view and type on.
How To: Android 10 Drastically Updated Location Permissions — Check Your Settings ASAP
With Android 10, there are now three options when an app asks to access your location: Allow, Deny, and Allow While In Use. That last one prevents apps from seeing your location unless you're actively using them, and it's the default now. But when you first update, most of your apps will still be allowed to access your location in the background — at least, until you do something about it.
News: Snapchat Evolves the Foundation of Its AR Capabilities with Ground Transformation Lenses
The sky is the limit when it comes to augmented reality, but Snapchat's latest innovation is keeping its AR platform grounded.
How To: There's a Super Easy Way to Select Multiple Pictures in Google Photos
Selecting multiple pictures or videos in Google Photos can be tedious. Usually, you'd long press on the first image to select it, then tap on other pictures one by one to select them as well. But there is a much easier and faster way to do this.
News: Wilder vs. Fury Boxing Rematch Will Feature an AR Experience & Sponsorship via a UFC Legend
As augmented reality continues its collision course with mainstream adoption, the technology will now have a role in one of the most anticipated boxing matches of the year.
News: Apple Releases iOS 13.4 Public Beta 2 for iPhone with New TV Settings & Mail Shortcuts
When it comes to iOS beta updates, developers get their updates first, and once they do, public testers play the waiting game. Sometimes Apple releases the public version three hours later. Other times it waits 24 hours. It's a roll of the dice almost every time. As for iOS 13.4 public beta 2, it's the latter case, coming exactly one after developer beta 2.
News: HTC Vive Project Proton Concept Devices Offer Potential Future High-End & Mobile AR Wearable Options
Part of the fallout from the canceled Mobile World Congress is that a range of products, ideas, and designs slated for reveal in Barcelona are now being showcased without the framing and context of the massive tech gathering.
How To: Install the Android 11 Developer Preview on Your Google Pixel — The Beginner's Guide
Google just released the first version of the next major Android update. Early Android 11 builds will only available as developer previews, so you can't just sign up for the beta program and install the update as an OTA for the first couple months. That said, it's still pretty easy to get.
News: How Whitney Houston's New Hologram Tour Is Proof That Virtual Beings & Volumetric Performances Are Going Mainstream
We've been so worried about volumetric scans possibly robbing celebrities and performers of their agency and right to control their image that, somewhere along the way, we forgot that scans may not always be necessary to produce passable holographic performances.
How To: Find Exploits & Get Root with Linux Exploit Suggester
Privilege escalation is one of the essential skills a hacker can have and often separates the newbies from the pros. With a continually changing landscape and a plethora of exploits out there, it can be a problematic aspect of any attack. Luckily, some tools can help expedite the process. Linux Exploit Suggester is just one of many to help you get root.
How To: Block Apps from Accessing Your iPhone's Camera to Prevent Privacy Invasions
The camera system on the iPhone has never been better. Apple's iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max sport some of the best shooters on the market. But no level of quality makes up for the fact that shady apps can access your cameras for nefarious reasons. You can take control of the situation, however, and block any app you want from using your rear and front-facing cameras.
News: Apple Releases iOS 13.4 Developer Beta 2 for iPhone, Has New TV Options & Updated Mail Toolbar
Last week, Apple released the first iOS 13.4 beta with fun and useful new features, such as new Memoji, an upgrade Mail toolbar, and the ability to control your NFC-compatible car via CarKey. To add to that, Apple just released iOS 13.4 developer beta 2, but does the update have any more new changes to be excited about?
How To: Chrome's Menu Has a Quick Gesture You Should Know About
Many new phones are moving to navigation gestures from the physical buttons of the past. The idea is to maximize screen space as much as possible while still being intuitive. Something cool you should know about, Chrome for iPhone and Android has a neat little trick that pairs quite nicely with these new gestures.
How To: Can't Send Photo Messages on Google Fi? Fix This Setting on Your iPhone
There's a serious issue with Google Fi's service for iPhone that prevents sending any MMS pictures via the Messages app. The problem doesn't affect all iPhone users on Google Fi, but if you're like me and keep getting that frustrating "Not Delivered" alert, there's a fix.
How To: Stop Your iPhone from Turning on Every Time You Pick It Up
When you pick up your iPhone, the display turns on. Often, that's convenient since you want to use your iPhone anyway. But think about those times you're simply picking it up to take it with you somewhere. The display turns on anyway, and now you're accidentally responding to messages, turning on your flashlight, opening your camera — you get the gist.
How To: Fix the Wizards Unite 'Device Incompatible' Error for Rooted Android Phones
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has gained quite the fan base since its launch, but not without a few bumps along the way. Niantic, the game's developer, has a long-running history with trying to block all root users on Android. The methods will vary for each game, but this time around with Wizards Unite, they appear to have a new detection feature at play from the recent 2.9.0 update. Let's find out what's going on.
How To: Open Instagram Straight to the Story Camera to Bypass Your Feed & Start Capturing Right Away
When it comes to shooting a great Instagram story, spontaneity is often key. Who doesn't love seeing something unexpected pop up on their feed? That said, to catch those moments, you need to be quick, and the standard method for opening Instagram's Story camera isn't that. Instead, try this method the next time you need to document something in a flash.
News: Apple Reveals Upcoming iPhone Shortage in Wake of Coronavirus Issues
If you thought the news coming from China about the coronavirus might not affect your daily life in Europe and in the Americas, think again.
How To: Enable Dark Mode on Your OnePlus with Android 10
OnePlus often introduces unique features that receive praise from the smartphone community. But they can sometimes change things up and confuse their users as well. Take dark mode, for example, which became a huge hit thanks to Android 10. Both Google and Samsung offer their dark mode settings in the same general location, but OnePlus took a slightly different approach here.
How To: There's a Fun Way to Switch Apps with Samsung's Gesture Controls
While Samsung's three-tabbed gesture controls are pretty intuitive, there's still a learning curve. By removing the buttons, you seemingly lose the ability to jump between apps with the quick switch gesture. I say seemingly since there's still a way, it's just not very obvious.
News: Sea Shepherd's Web-Based Augmented Reality Experience Spotlights the Damage Done by the Fishing Industry
Augmented reality's status as a new storytelling medium has already led to the reinvention of filmmaking and journalism.
News: Best Winter Flu Kit Essentials — All You Need to Feel Better, Faster
Congratulations, you've made it deep into the middle of flu season! If you're reading this, you're either a very smart preemptive sick day prepper, or already in the throes of fighting off a cold or flu situation.
How To: There's a Faster Way to Open Recent Files on Your iPhone
With the updated Files app in iOS 13, iPhone users finally have decent file browser. But, as with any file browser, it can easily become crowded, making it hard to find the files you want.
How To: Catch USB Rubber Duckies on Your Computer with USBRip
If left unattended, a hacker with a USB Rubber Ducky and physical access to the computer can infiltrate even the most secure computer. Such attacks often go undetected without the use of a tool like USBRip, which can provide you with assurance that your device hasn't been compromised.
How To: Samsung's New Lock Screen Shortcut Makes Your Galaxy's Flashlight Ridiculously Fast
Your Galaxy's built-in flashlight is handy, but if it takes you more than a split second to turn it on, it's not as useful as it could be. Thanks to One UI 2, you're now just a swipe away from instantly lighting up the room.
Market Reality: Nreal Light Goes Hollywood, Coronavirus Disrupts AR Industry, & Apple Takes on Snapchat
Smartglasses startup Nreal enjoyed some highs and endured some lows this week, as the company landed a product placement with Kevin Bacon but then faced production issues related to the coronavirus outbreak.
How To: The Fastest Way to Select Multiple Photos on Your iPhone
Whether it's to delete a few photos or share a bunch with another app, there are times when you need to select several pictures at once. This would usually be annoying since you'd have to tap every picture you wanted to select, but there's a much faster way to batch select.
News: Galaxy S20 Ultra Starter Pack — First 4 Accessories to Buy When You Preorder
Starting February 21, you can preorder your Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra. Samsung includes everything you need to get started in the box, but probably not everything you'll want. Let's go ahead and bridge that gap.
How To: Save Both a Home & Work Address on Google Maps When You Work from Home
Google Maps lets you set home and work locations for quick access to navigation. In fact, these two locations are so central to the Maps experience that if you don't have both saved, the app can be a little naggy about it. But if you work from home, there's just one address to use, so what are you supposed to do?
News: Google Prepares to Ship Web-Based AR Support in Chrome 81
Web-based mobile augmented reality technology continues to gain momentum as Google is set to expand the standard for immersive web content to AR.
How To: Add a Dark Mode Toggle to Android 10's Quick Settings on Your OnePlus
The biggest new feature in Android 10 is the system-wide dark mode. Both Samsung and Google phones have it, so third-party support is everywhere. The only problem is OnePlus forgot to include a way to quickly toggle dark mode on and off.
How To: Record Video with Two Cameras at the Same Time on Your iPhone
The iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max introduced a new rear camera system to the iOS ecosystem. Each model has a new ultra-wide lens in addition to the wide one, and the Pros have a telephoto lens. Both have improved selfie cams too. With so many lenses, it can be challenging to choose which to film with, but why pick when you could shoot with two at once?
News: Apple Attacks Snapchat's Shoppable AR with Apple Pay Button & Other Custom Actions for AR Quick Look Content
Snapchat is probably used to Facebook copying its features by now, but Apple borrowing a page out of its playbook is likely a bit more surprising.
News: Hulu Follows Instagram's Viral Sensation with Branded 'What Should I Watch' Lens on Snapchat
The "what (blank) are you" augmented reality filters on Instagram have become so popular that more and more Hollywood giants are following the augmented reality-powered social media meme train, with the latest example coming via Snapchat.
How To: Become a Better Reader Using Apple Books' Reading Goals
Whether you've made a resolution to try and read more books this year or are just looking to set time aside to listen to an audiobook a little bit each day, building good reading habits can be tough with a busy life. However, with iOS 13, Apple Books includes reading goals, which might give you that little extra bit of encouragement and accountability to help you reach your goals.