With the holidays over, a lot of people with shiny new Google Homes are getting their first chance to explore the new Google Assistant. Before the Google Home's release, the Assistant was only available for the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, or in a text-based form with Google Allo—but now it's gone mainstream.
Google makes Android, but now, Google makes its own phones, too. Until this point, they've always stayed on the software side of things and let Samsung and friends handle the hardware, but their new Pixel phones are changing all of that.
You can now access Google's slick Weather app without having to first open the Google or News & Weather apps. However, you will have to use Google to access the weather the old-fashioned way one more time, but you'll have the option to place a shortcut on your home screen to access the weather directly going forth.
Ever been in an argument, only to have the other person cop out by saying "I never said that," when you know full well they did? Or how about one of those times when you're sitting in the lecture hall, half dozing off to your professor's monotone ramblings, when your ears perk up because they somehow know you missed something important that was just said?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are becoming almost synonymous these days, but there are still plenty of awesome deals that you can only get starting on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Amazon, for instance, will be hosting a week-long Cyber Monday sale, and of course, most big-box retailers will follow suit with their online stores.
There are going to be tons of great Black Friday deals on electronics in stores like Best Buy, Target, Walmart, etc. But if you can't endure another holiday of standing in lines and running over people to get what you want, shopping on Amazon from the comfort of your own home is the way to go.
BlackBerry has yet to find a home amongst the iPhone and popular Android phones, with sales plummeting over the last couple years, but this might be a thing of the past thanks to their latest device, the BlackBerry Priv. It has decent numbers so far and was even sold out on Amazon shortly after its initial release.
You're at your friend's house. All you've heard about all day is his new laptop. He's got a brand new top-specced MacBook Pro, and he won't stop going on about it. It particularly annoys you as all you've got is a 4 year old cheap laptop, even if it is running Linux.
There are rules that cooking in general always follows: cakes should be fluffy. Steaks should be heavily seasoned, and nowhere near a bottle of steak sauce. Every stock should start with aromatics (onions, carrots, & celery). And, until very recently, meringues should always be made with egg whites.
There are many apps and features on your iPhone that you may never use, and therefore don't need. A great illustration of this is the Apple Watch app. You might have no interest in ever getting an expensive smartwatch, yet you're stuck with the Apple Watch app on your home screen.
I have a confession: I hoard glass jars. I buy mason jars whenever I get the chance. When I finish a jar of pickles or mayonnaise, there's no way that glass jar is going in the recycling (thankfully, they're easy to de-stink). And when my sister gives me a basket of her homemade jams, she can forget about ever seeing those jars again.
Most new Android devices come with at least one feature that helps control navigation, music, and more through voice-controlled, hands-free communication. While they usually don't end up being completely "hands-free," these apps do stop people from using both hands to perform tasks on their smartphones while driving, therefore distracting them less overall.
You can capture some pretty amazing videos using the slo-mo and time-lapse capabilities in the stock Camera app for iPhone 5s, 6, 6 Plus, or iPad Air 2, but there's no way to really combine them unless you shoot different videos and splice them together with a separate video editing app.
What type of person are you in group settings? Are you the social butterfly, eager to get to know everyone and interested in the people more than the setting? Or are you a wallflower, afraid to catch anyone's eye out of fear?
As far as wallets go, mine is as full as they come; think something like George Castanza's overstuffed wallet on Seinfeld. I've got receipts, pictures, and tickets jammed inside, but what takes up the bulk of the space are all of the cards—credit, debit, gift, rewards, customer loyalty... I've got pretty much any card you can think of squeezed in. While it is a strain on my rear end, there's nothing I can do besides keep some of the cards elsewhere. However, looking for them when I need them ...
The lack of Xposed support on Android Lollipop has left modules like GEL Settings incompatible with my Google Play Edition HTC One, so I've had to find a new launcher to meet all of my needs. While I can safely say I will never find the perfect launcher for me, Blinq comes pretty damn close.
Starting with the original HTC One and now present on the new Nexus 6, dual speakers allow for smartphones to pump out true stereo sound. OnePlus, however, kept their speakers on the bottom of the device and use different sound drivers for each to produce great sound quality, although it's still mono. While there are mods out there that can further increase the volume of the OnePlus One, none of them can produce true stereo sound.
AT&T Code Scanner, DriveMode, and Samsung Hub make up just a sliver of the sea of apps on my Galaxy Note 3 that I'll probably never use in my lifetime. Additionally, there aren't any built-in methods for uninstalling these pre-loaded Android apps (aka bloatware) from carriers and manufacturers.
We've previously shown you how to get your Samsung Galaxy S4 looking more like its successor by installing the revamped S Voice app and the new Quick Settings. Now, we're taking it a step further by giving you the Galaxy S5's stock Settings app. After this mod, it'll be pretty hard for others to distinguish your GS4 from a GS5.
In today's world of ordering food from your PC or hailing a cab with an app, it almost seems archaic when we have to actually use our vocal cords to contact a local business. It sure would be nice if we didn't have to use our smartphones as, well, you know...phones.
On most Android devices, the various volume levels are comprised of either 7 or 15 steps between minimum and maximum. For voice-call volume, alarms, and notifications alike, 7 presses of a volume button will bring you all the way from silent to full-blast. With media controls, you get 15 steps between mute and max.
Whenever you need to record a quick message to yourself or someone else, the stock Voice Recorder app on the Galaxy Note 2 does a fine job. However, the situations when you need it the most are when you forget or don't care to actually use it, like during a heated argument or a random police stop where your words can be misconstrued or altogether unheard.
I am not a morning person. This is a fact that has been proven with science. I need every bit of help to get me out of bed in the morning—multiple alarms, extremely loud tones, Pandora—I've tried everything.
Windows XP will always have a special place in my heart—it's the operating system I grew up on. It guided me through the glory days of AIM, Napster, and MySpace, but now it's dead. The OS that had been supported by Microsoft for twelve years officially lost its support on April 8th, 2014. Just like that, Microsoft has killed the beast, but for those of you who stubbornly refuse to cooperate, you can resurrect the dead. If you have Windows XP, this little known hack will get you further suppor...
How many times have you heard someone utter the phrase, "Now, let's break into groups"? From classroom discussions to workplace think tanks, gathering into groups to generate ideas is common practice. These forced get-togethers are intended to encourage creativity and unique thought, but they can actually do the opposite. More often than not, group brainstorming is annoying rather than encouraging, and these group sessions can actually be detrimental to your productivity. Getting together har...
After lots of waiting and anticipation, the OnePlus One Android smartphone has been unveiled, and it's ready to take down the Nexus.
Your new HTC One M8 has a ton of really cool features, some of which relate to waking the device up. A swipe up to unlock to your last active screen, a swipe down to access the voice dialer, and a double-tap (or knock) to wake the device and bypass the lock screen.
The Google Now Launcher that was introduced with the Nexus 5 seems to have a lot of folks torn. On the one hand, having a home screen page dedicated to Google Now, as well as the always-listening voice search, are killer features. On the other hand, its lack of customization options like home screen gestures and variable grid sizes has some people considering switching to third-party launchers.
My friends were extremely excited when BlackBerry made their Messenger available to iOS and Android users. "Neil, get BBM. It's back!" I didn't understand why when there are so many alternatives out there, like Kik and WhatsApp.
If you've never played with a Nexus 10 tablet, then you probably have no idea that your Nexus 7 actually has a different user interface. For some reason, Google decided it was better for the Nexus 7 to use a phone UI instead of a tablet one, but luckily for us, we don't have to accept that.
The sound I get when receiving a new text message is the camel from that Geico commercial yelling "Hump Day!" Sure, I could find a less obnoxious notification sound, but it makes me laugh every time, and that's important.
We've all been there. Your phone's either dead or barely hanging on with a few minutes of life left, and you only have a small window of time to charge it before you need to head out. Sure, you can charge it for the few minutes you have, but what's the point if your device is going to die again in several minutes?
Samsung unveiled their new flagship device, the Galaxy S4, at a live event in New York City today. Here's a quick rundown of the specs and all of the new features that you can expect when you finally get your hands on one (whenever that will be). The GS4's Specs
You may know the traditional way to take a screenshot on your iPhone, but it may not be the best action for your needs. There are faster ways to capture an image of your iPhone's screen, methods for capturing overlays and other elements that won't show in regular screenshots, and even options for blocking screenshot thumbnail previews from appearing.
Using an iPhone isn't difficult, but it can be if you're using it for the first time, especially if you switched from an Android phone. That's primarily because of the massive difference in the user interface between the two operating systems. And when it comes to taking screenshots, you have more options than just using the hardware buttons.
Saving a chat's history is useful for finding valuable information later on or just reliving a favorite conversation from the past. Sometimes, however, it's good to delete chat threads, and it's even better to have them auto-delete right after you see new messages. While some apps have had disappearing messages for some time (e.g. Snapchat), Facebook Messenger now has it too with "Vanish Mode."
When compared to last year's model, the Pixel 4a has upgrades that go beyond the spec sheet. But since it's one generation old, 2019's Pixel 3a can be had for one hell of a discount right now, and it's still got two full years of software updates coming its way. So which one really is the better buy?
Smartphones are more like computers than actual telephones. Unfortunately, thieves, hackers, and other bad actors know this and are always looking to make money off your personal data. Thankfully, your Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra has tools to combat these threats — as long as you know where to look.
In the last couple of days there's been a lot of speculation about the powers of Microsoft's HoloLens 2, but few have had a chance to get their hands on one to see if the company's claims live up to what HoloLens inventor Alex Kipman showed off on stage.
Apple's latest mobile operating system for iPhones, iOS 12, was released to everyone Monday, Sept. 17, and it's the same exact build that developers and public beta testers received as the "golden master" on Sept. 12, the day of Apple's 2018 special event. Install it to start taking advantage of the 100+ features iOS 12 has to offer right now.
