Anyone remember Google Goggles? Well, it's back with a new name: Google Lens. But this time, there's more machine learning and it's integrated into many different Google apps and services. The latest is the Google app for iPhones.
Your iPhone comes packed with a long list of excellent text tones to choose from. Bamboo anyone? Of course, for some of us, stock sounds from 2013 don't cut it anymore. We want customizability, something that's found more on Android than iOS. However, you can add your very own text tones to your iPhone right now, so long as you have a sound file in mind and a computer running iTunes.
Following in the iPhone X's footsteps, the iPhone XS and XS Max, as well as the iPhone XR, have all ditched the iconic Home button last seen on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which is one giant leap toward Jony Ive's ultimate vision of an iPhone that's a clean slab of glass. However, without the Home button, a lot of tasks have changed, most notably, entering and exiting DFU mode in iTunes.
Despite a very vocal distaste for Bixby, Samsung continues to push their voice assistant on customers. For many, the button is not only a waste, but placed perfectly for accidental presses. While it appears Samsung has no intention of giving up on Bixby, with the help of an excellent app, you can get rid of it yourself.
Incoming phone calls and FaceTimes, whether you want to answer them or not, will take over your entire iPhone's screen — no matter what you're in the middle of doing on the device at the moment. You could be browsing the web, playing a game, or chatting on social media. It doesn't matter, you'll get interrupted. But you don't have to put up with it anymore.
Starting Nov. 1, 2018, Google got a lot tougher with Android app developers. New apps being uploaded to the Play Store already had to target Android 8.0 Oreo or higher as of August, but now, every update to existing apps has to do the same. It may seem like a simple rule, but it will have some serious repercussions.
Instagram has long-resisted easily resharing content. While it's been testing a "regram" feature for a long time, it still lags behind apps such as Twitter and Facebook when it comes to resharing content. But while Instagram is a bastion of original material, there is a feature in place for you to reshare stories from those you follow. Your friends can reshare your stories too.
Despite years of user complaints, OEMs are still preinstalling third-party apps on brand new devices. Even in 2019, you'll still find plenty of phones with Facebook preinstalled. What's worse, it's installed as a system app, so it can't normally be uninstalled without root access. However, there are a few workarounds.
Android lets you sync your contacts across devices. The OS will use not only contacts saved on your phone, but also your Gmail. This choice can lead to a contacts list populated with entries that don't have a phone number, which can quickly add up. To mitigate this problem, there are a few methods.
Apple first included a dual-lens camera onto its iPhone 7 Plus back in late-2016, yet not many developers besides Apple have harnessed the depth data that "Portrait" mode photos provide. A relatively new app is changing that, though, by using that depth information to let you add realistic-looking light sources to your photos.
Great ideas often strike at random times, but messaging friends and loved ones at an inopportune hour not only risks their wrath, but also increases the chances of your message not being paid proper attention to. Thankfully, there's an app that lets you create and post WhatsApp messages at the time you wish for maximum effect.
Since starting as a simple messenger with self-destructing pictures, Snapchat has grown into a full-fledged social media platform. As features were added, new permissions were requested, and we're all probably guilty of just tapping "OK" to try out the latest and greatest. But at some point, it's a good idea to review your settings to see what personal data you're putting out there for all to see.
The first question people ask me when they come to my apartment is usually "What's your Wi-Fi password?" While I'm happy to give my friends free access to the internet, it's hard to walk each person through my secure password. Luckily, there's a way to create a QR code that will let people easily connect to a Wi-Fi network.
Since its introduction, the Bixby button has been a big point of contention among Galaxy fans. Many view the dedicated button as a wasted opportunity, which they argue could be put to better use if Samsung would let them use it for other commands. Thanks to an awesome app, you'll be able to remap the Bixby button on your Galaxy S9 to perform almost any function.
After the success of the Snapdragon 835, Qualcomm now has its eyes set towards the future with the arrival of its next-generation SoC, the Snapdragon 845. Debuting alongside the Samsung Galaxy S9, the 845 is now set to take over the market for flagship Android phones in 2018.
The latest and greatest in Qualcomm's long line of mobile processors, the Snapdragon 845, is now set to touch down along with the Galaxy S9 and S9+. And as gorgeous as Samsung's newest flagships are, the processor that powers them under the hood is just as highly anticipated.
Thanks to iCloud and AirDrop, it's really easy to sync photos between an iPhone and a Mac. But if you have an Apple phone and a Windows computer, this process isn't quite as simple. Thankfully, Microsoft has just released a new iPhone app that makes it a breeze to move photos and videos from your iPhone to your PC.
IFTTT is an application that allows you to automate certain tasks on your iPhone or Android. It can communicate with a myriad of apps and services on your phone by creating applets that perform actions automatically — actions you'd normally have to do manually. Finding those applets, however, can be a little difficult.
In 2018, there are more ways than ever to watch your favorite sporting events. You can stream them with a number of services, or you can simply watch it on a TV. Many fans will even watch it at a sports bar. The problem with a sports bar is that you won't be able to hear the game over the sound of dozens of loud bargoers.
Android used to have a notification ticker, but those days are long gone. Now, important new messages pop up on the top half of your screen with what's known as a "heads up notification." If you're in the middle of something, these popup notifications can be pretty annoying — luckily, it's pretty easy to turn them off.
The greatest pain in owning a high-powered gaming PC is the simple fact that you can't play it all the time. Sometimes you have work or school, and other times, you may just want to go mobile. When something like this impedes your ability to play PC games, you may end up settling for mobile games. What if, instead of doing that, you were able to play your PC games from your iPhone?
Market boxes are an integral part of the player experience in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, but using them effectively can be a tricky task. The item-trading tool between human friends is the locale for both junk and diamond-in-the-rough deals, and it can greatly increase the number of bells you earn if you play your cards right.
While Animal Crossing's emphasis has always been on making friends with the animals that populate your world, each subsequent game following its initial release has stressed relationships with human players more and more. In Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, making human friends is a crucial part of the process with the inclusion of market boxes, Shovelstrike Quarry, and giving "kudos."
Android's Quick Settings menu gives you easy access to certain actions from any screen, but the tiles available are largely dependent on your phone's OEM skin. For instance, the Google Cast button that can cast your entire screen has been exclusive to Nexus and Pixel devices, even though other phones have the requisite software to use it. Fortunately, there's a way to add it on any device running Nougat or higher.
If you're like me, then you're rarely just watching TV. You're probably also simultaneously following reactions on Twitter during a live airing of The Walking Dead. Or perhaps you're checking your fantasy football scores while a real game is in progress. Or you might just have the TV on in the background while you're writing an article about a new augmented reality app.
Due to the overnight success of smartphones, millions of people are connecting with others. Currently, over 15 million text messages are sent every minute worldwide. Most of this communication is happening in the open where any hacker can intercept and share in the discussion unbeknownst to the participants. However, we don't need to communicate insecurely.
When it comes to Hi-Fi music streaming services, Jay-Z's Tidal is one of your only choices. But as you can imagine, true High Fidelity audio requires faster download speeds than your average music service. So the question becomes, how do you listen to Hi-Fi tracks on Tidal when a speedy internet connection isn't available? Offline music is the answer.
I don't know about you, but I love options. Personally, I think Android's notification system is easy to use — providing access to new notification with a swipe down from the top of the screen. But, as Android users, we like the ability to do things differently whenever we see fit, so what if you wanted a different way? Well, with Action Launcher, this is possible.
With the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and the exclusive iPhone X, Apple has come full circle in transitioning its users away from the home button present since the first iPhone a decade ago. This gives us a window into Apple's design philosophy moving forward, but it also presents some new problems, especially when it comes to entering and exiting DFU mode in iTunes.
When it comes to modding Android, root gets all the glory, but a good custom recovery is really the only thing you need. Not only does it allow you to back up your entire phone, install flashable ZIPs, and load custom ROMs like LineageOS, but a custom recovery will even let you root your device. For years now, the only custom recovery worth mentioning has been Team Win's TWRP.
On the surface, iOS 10.2 might look the same as iOS 10.3, but there's one big difference between the two versions: iOS 10.2 can now be jailbroken! Jailbreaking your iPhone means gaining access to thousands of tweaks and mods which greatly enhance the iOS experience, so this is great news for the power users out there.
One thing that makes Signal Private Messenger better on Android over iOS is that you can better secure the app with a password or passphrase. Best of all, you don't need to install an app locker to get this working — you can do it right from inside Signal.
So, Nintendo's never really been good at the whole online thing. Most of the time, we forgive them, because they are masters at creating games meant for solo play or local multiplayer. Sometimes, though, that doesn't fly. Take a game like Splatoon, for instance. Although it redefines the genre, it is still, at its core, a shooter. Shooters are meant to be played online, with your friends, yelling at each other over voice chat.
Microsoft recently released "Seeing AI," an app aimed to help the blind understand their surroundings. As Microsoft puts it, "the app narrates the world around you by turning the visual world into an audible experience."
The Raspberry Pi loads an operating system from whatever SD card you insert, allowing you to keep different operating systems on separate SD cards depending on which OS you wish to run. A tool called BerryBoot cuts down on the number of SD cards needed by providing the ability to boot multiple operating systems from a single SD card, similar to Boot Camp for Mac computers.
There's lots of new stuff in iOS 11, but just because things have changed doesn't mean they're better. So if you've updated to Apple's latest OS and decided it wasn't for you, you'll be happy to know that you can still go back to iOS 10.3.3.
Maybe you thought sitting behind a Mac gives you special protection when it comes to getting hacked. Thanks to a a new report from Check Point, you can kiss that theory goodbye. The cyber security company just uncovered the latest strain of malware — OSX/Dok — infecting all versions of macOS (previously Mac OS X).
Bitcoin, the decentralized cryptocurrency notorious for its status as the currency of the dark web, seems to be shedding its shady past and is now enjoying soaring highs not seen since 2014. The highly volatile online commodity reached parity with an ounce of gold back in March amid speculation of a pending ETF approval from the Federal Trade Commission. Since then, Bitcoin has doubled in value and analysts predict a bitcoin could reach $100,000 in value in 10 years.
Now that Android Nougat lets you add your own custom Quick Settings tiles, your pull-down menu is probably getting a lot more crowded than it used to be, with all sorts of new and useful toggles. But the trouble is, you can only add up to nine entries before your Quick Settings tiles spill over into a second pane that you have to access by swiping, and that's not exactly "quick."
The Snapdragon 820 and 821 were met with praise last year, receiving almost no complaints compared to their overheating predecessor, the Snapdragon 810. But now, all eyes are on Qualcomm to see what goodies they have in store for us this year, as their new SoC, the Snapdragon 835, will be revealed this week at CES 2017.
