Almost 20% of the US population (about 60 million Americans) live in rural areas where mobile reception is weak or nonexistent. In times of crisis, these Americans can't rely on the internet to communicate with loved ones or receive new information. This is why being able to interact offline is so important.
It is a scary time to be alive. As states start to ease back shelter-in-place restrictions, the new world you're entering is still unsafe. With a vaccine months away, your best bet is to follow CDC guidelines and use the tools at your disposal.
Snapchat popularized personalized stickers for social media and messaging with Bitmoji, followed by walled-garden versions from Apple with Memojis and Samsung with AR Emojis. Even Google has gotten into the game, integrating an emoji generator for Gboard.
A QR code is a fun and convenient way to link people to a website or app. On iOS, you have a few ways to scan these codes. You can download a QR scanner to get the job done, but Apple has one built into iOS. Or you can add the QR Code Reader tile in Control Center, but that's not even necessary. There's a better way, one that requires basically no effort to pull off.
Google's G Suite collection of premium cloud services and apps have become popular with business customers, with more than six million subscribers now.
It's finally here. After years of rumors and speculation, Apple unveiled the new iPhone SE on April 15. While it doesn't have a 4-inch display like the original SE, it's the smallest new iPhone you can buy today, with the chipset of the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max. So, when can you get your hands on it?
For the most part, Google Wifi and Nest Wifi systems take care of themselves. But there are still a few manual features that might come in handy, like being able to check on network activity to see which devices are using the most bandwidth when your connection gets bogged down.
For those not used to it, working from home can be a difficult transition. Everything around you can be a distraction, and distance from your boss and coworkers means less pressure and incentive to get things done. So it's not surprising to see a major drop in productivity during a period of self-quarantine, but your phone can help you stay on track instead of sidetracking you.
It feels like just yesterday Apple unveiled iOS 13 to the world, introducing game-changing features like system-wide dark mode and enhanced editing tools in Photos. But WWDC 2020 is rapidly approaching, which means iOS 14 is as well. As it turns out, we don't need to wait for an official announcement to get an idea of what new features and changes are coming to iPhone this year.
When you're stuck working or learning from home, video meetings can help you stay connected to employers, coworkers, schools, students, and more. And Zoom is the hottest video conferencing service at the moment. While Zoom is easy to use, it does have a fair share of sketchy features you should know about, such as attendee attention tracking.
LineageOS is great and all, but custom ROMs were at their peak when CyanogenMod reigned supreme. It had all sorts of innovative features that have since been copied by Google and Samsung and the like. But one thing that still hasn't been adopted into stock Android or One UI is CM13's easy way to adjust screen brightness.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus has practically guaranteed that the virus, along with the phrases "social distancing" and "flattening the curve," will rank among the top search terms of 2020. USA Today combined the phrases in its latest augmented reality experience, which quizzes your knowledge in the best practices of social distancing.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a frenzy for news and information that is nearly unprecedented in the smartphone era, with a major side effect of misinformation. Now, major tech companies are making it easier to ask for advice about novel coronavirus from their respective digital assistants. Results may vary, but Apple and Google are the most useful at the moment.
Since Stadia is an early access game streaming platform, Google is still working on bringing big things to the table. You can expect wireless Stadia controller support for many more devices, high-quality 4K gaming on all Chrome web browsers, and more Google Assistant features. They also managed to silently sneak in a way to keep track of your Stadia gaming sessions too, which is pretty handy.
Up until Android 5.0 Lollipop, the actual text of incoming notifications would scroll by in your status bar. These ticker style alerts didn't pop on screen or interfere with what you were currently working on, but you could still read the message. They were replaced by the new "heads up" alerts, but you can still bring them back.
Both Pokémon GO & Harry Potter Wizards Unite are augmented reality games developed by Niantic, and neither needs much introduction. Pokémon GO, all by itself, created a worldwide phenomenon that still carries a strong fan base years later — Wizards Unite is working on doing the same. However, things are not all fun and games, as you might think in the world of monsters and magical creatures.
With the Galaxy S20, Samsung has officially removed the Bixby button from its flagships. While it was a controversial key, in its later days, it did give us the ability to launch an app or custom action at the press of a button. There's still a way to do something like that, but now, you'll have to use the power button instead.
If you use Google Chrome on your computer, you've undoubtedly saved a ton of passwords since the browser always prompts you to. But Samsung uses their own password service on their phones by default, so you'll have to change a setting if you want to use your Chrome passwords to log into apps and sites on your Galaxy.
When left unmaintained, lock screen notifications can be an overwhelming, chaotic mess. Alerts coming in at a rapid pace can be hard to see because there are just too many of them, and your iPhone's screen sometimes can't even take it, falling asleep before you can read only a few notifications. If that sounds like you, there's an easy way to take back control of alerts — and your sanity.
While holographic Whitney Houston is hitting the road, a new mobile app is bringing volumetric captures of up and coming performers directly to the iPhones and iPads of fans.
The business world is currently figuring out how to deal with the coronavirus crisis, with many offices opting to work remotely for at least the next few weeks as a safety precaution. Predictably, this has thrown remote meeting software back into the spotlight, especially augmented reality solutions.
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.
Following someone on Twitter is an investment. You virtually agree to have their opinions, tirades, and hot takes spewed across your timeline. It can get annoying real quick if they're known to post controversial comments periodically. However, there are other ways to stay updated on someone's tweets without you having to hit the follow button and go all in.
If you don't want to be found on Twitter, there are several ways to do that without making your account private. For instance, you can choose an obscure username, omit your real name, or pick a random avatar. But there are lesser-known features deep in your settings that can also protect your privacy online, including preventing photo tags.
OnePlus has always pushed the boundaries with specs. They give their phones the premium treatment, which, yes, includes the camera nowadays as well. But even though they have become pretty solid in the photography department, it could always be better.
When you place your iPhone over a card reader for Apple Pay, it'll always pull up your default card. That might work fine for you, but perhaps that isn't the card you want to use. The problem is, you don't have time to switch cards before the payment goes through. That might result in using your rewardless debit card to buy groceries when you could've snagged 2% back by using your Apple Card.
When trying to get fit, something that can easily be overlooked is your overall sleep quality. Your body needs sleep to recharge and it helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle, there's no denying it. Luckily, Google Fit can help you track your sleeping habits without having to jump through any hoops along the way.
Sending Christmas cards via snail mail is so passé. Why spend the time and money for a bougie photoshoot, saccharine card design, and postage when you can use augmented reality to instantly dress up photos and videos to send to friends and family instead?
This week's Magic Leap Lumin OS update contained a number of goodies, including iris authentication, and a way to stream to Twitch from the device.
After stealing the show at the HoloLens 2 launch and starring in Qualcomm's unveiling the Snapdragon XR2, holographic video conferencing app Spatial has landed a leading role in Magic Leap's second act with the enterprise segment.
While Apple's Live Photos feature was introduced back on the iPhone 6S, the rest of the world hasn't entirely caught up. Many apps don't accept the feature, making it difficult to share your fun memories with friends, family, or followers. You can strike Twitter off that list, though, as the app now completely supports Live Photo sharing.
While Apple, Facebook, and Snapchat are still working on their first-generation AR wearables, startup North is already preparing to bring its second-generation smartglasses to the world in 2020.
In iOS 13, Apple introduced HomeKit Secure Video, which allows smart home devices with cameras to give iPhone users a private and secure way to store recorded videos. Plus, it has benefits such as object detection and activity notifications. Logitech is the first to add support for HomeKit Secure Video with its Circle 2 cameras, and all it takes is a quick firmware update to get started.
After leveraging the well-known intellectual property of Rovio's Angry Birds for its first game for the Magic Leap One, Resolution Games is singing a new song with a familiar refrain for its next game for the augmented reality headset.
Apple's upcoming iPhone update, iOS 13.3, doesn't add as many new features as iOS 13.1 or 13.2, but there's one under-the-radar change you'll love if you use Apple News on a daily basis.
In iOS 13, Apple finally took the built in Files app from an extremely rudimentary file browser to a full featured app that can serve the needs of most any user. Among the new features is the ability to compress a file or series of files into a standard ZIP archive right from your iPhone.
If you're a beta tester, you know Apple released iOS 13.3 this week, bringing with it stability for multitasking as well as minor changes throughout the OS. It seems Apple doesn't want the rest of us to go without this critical patch, as the company releases iOS 13.2.2 today, Thursday, Nov. 7.
Who's ready for another beta season? We beta testers have had quite the break: Apple released the fourth public beta for 13.2 on Oct. 23, and since then, two full weeks have gone by without a shred of beta news. It seems this Wednesday, Nov. 6 is our lucky day, as Apple just released the first public beta for iOS 13.3.
The latest official update for iPhone, iOS 13.2, introduced 22 new features and changes to the iOS 13 era, building off the improvements brought by iOS 13.1 and iOS 13 proper before it. It's time to take our first peek into what's next for iPhone and iOS, as Apple releases iOS 13.3 developer beta 1 today, Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Cases and stickers are always great, but they aren't the only way to customize an iPhone. The software on your device is full of customization options, from a better-looking home screen and cooler lock screen wallpapers to app icon changes and a system-wide dark mode. There's literally over 100 ways to make iOS on your iPhone genuinely unique, some of which are hiding in plain sight.
