News: Texas Okays Driverless Tests After Google Backlash
Texas has become the 18th state to pass a bill into law regarding autonomous vehicles, the third this month to do so.
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How To: Change Your Galaxy S8's Navigation Bar Height Without Root
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ have enough screen real estate to accommodate almost all use cases, whether that's watching movies, playing games, or browsing through photos. That said, the massive navigation bar is nothing short of ugly and a screen hog — but there is a way to fix that.
How To: Get the New Clock & Camera Apps from Android O on Your Nexus or Pixel
Android O doesn't have an official code name yet, but it's certainly got plenty of cool new features. The OS won't officially debut until Q3 2017, but we've gotten our hands on some of the updated stock apps thanks to the Android beta program.
News: New Snapchat Group Features Swipe Back at Facebook's Story Stealing
Snapchat hit back at its arch-rival Facebook this week with a number of new Group features, including custom stories. Facebook and Instagram both rolled out clone Story options this year, but Snapchat is obviously trying to up the ante in this arena.
News: Microbial Conversations Lead Trees Uphill to Escape Warming Climates
The future of forests looks dreary in the face of a warming climate, but scientists are exploring the relationship between soil microbes and the ability of trees to move to higher altitudes, a key component of their survival.
News: Forget Paris Hilton, All Hail Ducreux the OG King of the Selfie
Paris, girl, you are awesome, but you did not invent the selfie. If you want to spread this #newmarketingterm to the media masses, then go right ahead. It's your brand, your career, and you got the opportunity. People will listen. No one really cares about who invented the silly thing anyway. Though I got to say, the original king of the selfie did seem like one pretty chill dude ...
News: Verizon's Galaxy S8 Is Missing a Key Bixby Feature
The Galaxy S8's Bixby Vision feature isn't working up to its full potential for Verizon customers, according to a recent CNET report.
News: Yo! Flash Back to the '90s with Pasted's New Collage App
Here's another workday distraction for all you social media lovers out there: Pasted, launching out of beta today on iOS, is a simple collage and photo editing app mixing iconic '90s imagery with a love of the The Shins.
News: Samsung Galaxy S8 Preorder Links & Pricing for Major US Carriers & Retailers
The new Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are two of most head-turning phones we've ever seen, thanks to gorgeous build quality and a seemingly bezel-less Infinity Display. Combine that with flagship-grade internals for top notch performance, and you can almost guarantee that Samsung has a hit on its hands—which means it's probably not going to be easy to get your hands on one of these beauties.
How To: Change Your App Store Country to Download Region-Locked Apps & Games on Your iPhone
Before many games make it to the US-based iOS App Store, they get "soft launched" in a smaller country to get real-world testing for bugs. It's a pilot program, so to speak, as countries like Vietnam or the Philippines have far fewer iPhone users than the US, thus offer a more controlled environment for developers to get feedback and zero-in on issues that may occur in a game's early development phases.
News: Apple Granted Patent to Make Augmented Reality Maps—Hinting at a Cool, Futuristic Version of Our Well-Worn Maps App
Apple recently scored a patent (number 9,488,488) to create augmented reality maps, hinting at possible AR integration into the iOS Maps application for iPhone. Does this mean we'll be seeing super visionary projections of places in the app in the near future? Maybe.
News: The Washington Post to Start Using Augmented Reality to Tell Better Stories
The Washington Post believes augmented reality adds an extra layer to stories, and they're doubling down on that belief by adding in new AR features into their already popular "rainbow" news (iOS and Android) and Classic (iOS and Android) news apps.
News: Google Assistant Updates Add Screen Search Button & Tweaks the Search Interface
Google Assistant has introduced tappable shortcuts on the Google app for Android, iOS, and Google.com this week.
News: Full-Body Motion Controller HoloSuit Coming Soon to Kickstarter
A few days before Christmas last year, we saw the first glimpse of HoloSuit, a new motion controller by startup Kaaya Tech. This full-body motion controller is designed as a tracksuit with sensors that can be used to control devices such as a computer or Microsoft HoloLens, and now it's getting ready to start production, with an upcoming Kickstarter campaign planned to go live soon.
News: Wikitude SDK 6 Embarks into Mixed Reality with Instant Tracking
While most people have only begun hearing the term augmented reality in the last year or so, AR has been around in some form since the early '90s. It all started with heads-up displays (HUDs) for pilots to see instant information in their visors, but has graduated to a far more useful and widespread technology thanks to the advancement of computers and, more recently, smartphones.
News: Use ProtonMail More Securely Through the Tor Network
ProtonMail has long been the favorite of journalists and security-conscious professionals, with Edward Snowden the most famous example. But these days, everyone cares about anonymity, so it's no surprise that ProtonMail currently has over 2 million users. And now the service is even better.
News: How Your Diet & Gut Bacteria Work Together to Reduce Risk of Colon Cancer
We all know you are what you eat—or so the expression goes—but it's good to remember that what you are (at least intestinally) is mainly bacteria. A new study has shown that what you eat, and how your gut microbiome reacts to that food, might be a key player in your risk of developing a certain type of colon cancer—and changing your diet can help decrease your risk.
News: New Uber Update Lets You Travel to a Friend & Use Custom Snapchat Filters
Uber has recently been updating their app on a weekly basis to ensure that users have the smoothest travel experience possible. The entire UI was recently redesigned to increase user-friendliness, the total app size was reduced to improve performance, and an intelligent shortcuts feature was added which tries to guess your next destination.
How To: 40 Damn Cool Things You Can Do with Eggs
All day I dream of eggs: scrambled, poached, over easy, hard-boiled, fried, baked, raw... Okay, the last one is a joke (unless you're Gaston, which means that you eat five dozen of them and you're roughly the size of a barge). But eggs are freaking good in just about any cooking prep, and more often than not are the foundation of your favorite baked goods.
News: Unity 5.5 Is Out Now & Officially Supports HoloLens Development
Microsoft and Unity have been working closely to make sure that HoloLens and Windows Holographic are supported closely with the popular game engine. Unity released a special HoloLens Technical Preview version earlier this year based off of Unity 5.4, but the update today of the main Unity app, version 5.5, has all those Holographic enhancements built right in.
How To: Brighten Your Google Pixel's Display by Up to 20%
The Pixel XL reportedly uses the same exact display panel as the Galaxy S7 Edge, but according to third-party testing, Samsung's flagship gets at least ten percent brighter than Google's. The same can be said of the regular Pixel, which tops out just shy of its bigger brother's brightness rating.
How To: Yes, You Can Roast Ginger—It's Simple & Gives Any Dish an Intense, Smoky Flavor
Ah, ginger. From stir fry to smoothies, ginger is a reliably sharp and refreshing flavor that adds zing to everything it touches. It may be a pain in the ass to remove the skin from ginger (or not), but the zest it brings to food is well worth the trouble. Don't Miss: How to Brew Your Own Ginger Beer Like a Boss
How To: Download YouTube Audio or Video from Your Android
YouTube won't let you play videos in the background on Android without paying for YouTube Red, so if it's your primary source for streaming music, and you don't want to shell out $9.99/month, you'll just have to take matters into your own hands. The simplest solution to this problem would be to download MP3s straight from YouTube for offline playback, but in the past, this hasn't exactly been easy on a mobile device.
It's Official: Pixel Phones from the Google Store Will Be Rootable with Unlockable Bootloaders
The one big question remaining about Google's upcoming Pixel phones has finally been answered: Yes, the Pixel and Pixel XL have unlockable bootloaders—at least, if you buy directly from Google.
News: The iPhone 7 Comes in an All-New 'Jet Black' Glossy Finish with a Matte 'Black' Counterpart
Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, and now, Black and Jet Black—these are the available colors for Apple's all-new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Or, if you prefer regular colors instead of marketing terms, then your options are gray, yellow, pink, black, and shiny black, respectively.
News: Snapchat Continues to Find Fun New Ways to Turn Ads into Enjoyable Experiences
Snapchat has already found a compelling way to create advertisements in augmented reality with their branded filters, but they continue to experiment with new ways to monetize the bridging of the real and digital worlds. Their latest idea, which requires users to "snap" an image to unlock content, could succeed where QR codes haven't.
How To: This Android App Lets You Cast Unsupported Web Videos to Chromecast
The Google Chrome browser for Android allows you to cast quite a few different videos from the web to your TV, but some sites actively disable this functionality, and others have outdated video players that won't allow for it. For example, Instagram's mobile website won't let you cast any videos, and the official app doesn't support Google Cast.
How To: You Deserve Taco Shells Made of Cheese
We're all for heaping piles of shredded cheese on our tacos, but what if all that cheese could actually be the taco shell instead? Since this was perhaps one of the more profound food questions we've had in a while, we wasted no time getting to the kitchen and tackling this cheesy challenge.
How To: Add a Special Swipe to Access Your Favorite Android Widgets from Anywhere
The widget selection on Android is one of the main things that set it apart from other mobile operating systems. You can get quick, at-a-glance information for topics like weather, news, music, and much more, all without ever leaving your home screen.
How To: Grill a Whole Pineapple for Dessert, Cocktails, Burgers & More
A whole grilled pineapple is the perfect party dessert. It's beautiful, provides a natural centerpiece before you eat it, and can be sliced right on the spot and served with a dollop of ice cream. (Fresh mint leaves and a splash of liqueur on top taste pretty good, too.)
How To: Caramelized Sugar—Your New Secret Baking Weapon
Caramel is delicious, but it can be a tricky flavor to incorporate into baking. Traditionally, caramel is a liquid, and that doesn't always suit dessert preparation since adding extra liquid to baked goods can ruin them. So how do you get that buttery, toffee-like flavor?
Messages 101: How to Turn iMessage Read Receipts On/Off Per Person
With iOS 9.3.5, as well as all of the versions prior to that, you had two choices when it came to "Read Receipts" for iMessage — either on for everybody or off for everybody. So if you weren't comfortable with one or two of your contacts knowing whether or not you've read their messages, you had to keep the feature disabled and miss out on Read Receipts for people you're a bit closer to.
How To: De-Gunk Your Dirty Grill Grates with Aluminum Foil
As you get barbecuing this summer, you're likely to encounter a few grills that aren't exactly the cleanest. At parks or campgrounds and even on your friends' grills (or, um, your own), no one wants to place food on gunked-up grill grates.
How To: 10 Jammin' Tricks to Making the Best Fruit Preserves Ever
The sweet aroma of cooked fruit filling your kitchen is one of the trademark scents of summer. Yet attaining the perfect consistency for homemade jam can be difficult to master. Often it ends up a watery mess or over-solidifies into thick mystery goo that is destined for the trash, not topping your toast.
How To: Get Your Master Griller's License with These BBQ Tips
We love standing around a barbecue with an icy cold beverage in hand, enjoying the delicious smell of smoky food and chit-chatting with pals. Grilling season — it's our favorite time of the year.
How To: Don't Have Self-Rising Flour? You Don't Need It!
Many recipes call for self-rising flour as a staple ingredient. Oftentimes, we find ourselves passing these recipes by because we don't have it on hand, or because we don't use it enough to actually want to buy it.
How To: Get Circular Folders on Your iPhone's Home Screen
Aside from changing your wallpaper, there's not much you can do to customize the home screen on your iPhone besides nesting folders, hiding folder names, and hiding apps—and those aren't even actual features. They're simply glitches that Apple never took care of, and now there's another, even cooler one to add to that list.
How To: See Only Emails with Attachments Using This Secret iPhone Mail Trick
If you get a ton of emails each day, your mailbox probably has thousands of unread messages, and that annoying badge icon will keep reminding you of it. Fortunately, iOS comes with some tools to help you bring some sense of order to that chaotic mailbox of yours.
How To: 15 Mind-Blowing Ways to Use Leftover Pickle Juice
Pickles come in all shapes, sizes, and names (gherkins in the UK, cornichons in France). There are even crazy flavors such as koolickles—dill pickles soaked in a mixture of Kool-Aid and brine, an American South favorite. Whatever sort of pickle tickles your fancy, you can count on one thing: there's always leftover juice once they've been eaten and enjoyed.
How To: These 5 Recipes Prove That Tea Is a Delicious Addition to Anything
A cup of ginger tea with lemon first thing in the morning, a pick-me-up cup of green tea (or matcha) to fight off the afternoon slump and a soothing cup of chamomile tea to help me unwind before bed—I would be lying if I said I weren't a major tea enthusiast.