If you've been looking for an alternative to Google Maps, look no further than Waze. In addition to benefits like crowd-sourced traffic data, police trap locations, and road work avoidance, the app even lets you personalize the voices used for navigation and directions.
Overall, Plex is a great service. You just install the server on your computer, then you can stream your media library to wireless devices with the Plex app for iPhone or Android. But it does have one annoying feature that's enabled by default: Theme music plays automatically when you're viewing the details page for a TV show.
We've all been there. Lost in the supermarket for what feels like hours trying to figure out where the hell the macaroni and cheese is and why it isn't with the rest of the pasta items. The labels at the top of the aisles aren't always helpful or accurate, and items often get misplaced or lost in the masses of food on each shelf. Thankfully, the augmented reality gods have answered our prayers as a new demo shows the future of finding the items you need using Apple's ARKit.
When you're playing videos, the actual content should be the focus, not the media app's interface. But with VLC's default theme on Android, the bright orange-and-white motif shocks your eyes in a dimly-lit setting and draws your attention away from what really matters. Let's change that.
HoloLens developers have created some useful solutions for visualizing building models and viewing construction plans overlaid on the job environment.
To celebrate the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming and to advertise Dell's newest gaming laptop, Dell and Sony Pictures teamed up to create a live game in Times Square. Simply walk through the tourist hotspot to unlock the game and help Peter Parker save the day.
Whether you're hard of hearing, watching a foreign movie, or just like reading along when you're watching a TV show or film on your smartphone, Netflix includes captions and subtitles that you can use. Best of all, if you don't like the way the default captions and subtitles look (color, background, font, or size), Netflix has your back.
Waymo's hardware development team for self-driving vehicles will now be led by Satish Jeyachandran, previously director of hardware engineering at Tesla.
Are you looking for a get-rich-quick scheme? Need a way to buy that Tesla you lied about having? Well, I don't know how to get you that. But what I can tell you is there is an emerging market that pays pretty darn well, for work that's more than interesting. I'm talking, of course, about iPhone repairs.
Firefox Focus is Mozilla's effort to make your internet experience a little more secure. Originally released in November 2016 for iOS, Focus blocks internet trackers, search history, anything that gets in the way of a clean, private browsing experience.
Geotagging your location on Instagram is one of the most undervalued ways to generate traffic to your profile. The beauty about adding your location to your IG posts is that it allows you to be seen by other users than the ones that already follow you.
With Instagram's archive feature, we have the pleasure of hiding all our stupid photos of #gettingcrunk from back in the day. This wonderful new IG feature will still allow us all to cherish those embarrassing moments in our life, yet hide them from those people we hope would never scroll so far down.
New updates to the journaling app Day One include more security for journal writers' data. For example, users can now enable end-to-end encryption. The encryption does not happen automatically; however, users must go to Settings — within Journals — then select each journal they want encrypted.
In an effort to make its services more accessible to users who live in developing countries, Facebook has released a streamlined version of its messenger app. Messenger Lite, at less than 5 MB, is much smaller than its regular 25 MB counterpart and was developed for use on older and lower-end phones. Finally, the app is now available for download in the US.
Instagram Direct is fast becoming the end-all-be-all messaging app, and it just added some incredibly convenient features that should make it a bit more practical. These new additions have a clear purpose: To help Instagram Direct grow its base and take on more feature-rich messengers like Snapchat or WhatsApp.
The Augmented World Expo or AWE — if you are a big fan of AR/MR technology, that is a very fitting acronym — is the world's largest conferences dedicated to all things augmented, mixed and virtual reality. AWE is in its 8th year, and with the massive growth we have seen in the space over the last year, promises to be its biggest year yet.
Online lives could be made easier now that Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger are testing merged app notifications. 'Could' being the operative word!
It really is a pain getting an Apple device fixed ... What's a gal to do when there's jelly stuck in your Macbook Pro fan and no Apple Store in sight? (Yes, this actually happened to me. Stop laughing.)
Samsung devices have two pre-boot menus that every Galaxy owner should know about: recovery mode and download mode. The recovery screen allows users to wipe cache files or perform a factory reset, which can help save the phone from a soft brick. Download mode, on the other hand, allows you to flash firmware files using utilities like Odin and Smart Switch, which can truly be a lifesaver.
WinFuture, a German tech-news site, has leaked a spec sheet for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. We previously covered all speculation and leaks in our rumor roundup, but thanks to Roland Quandt, we now have a very clear look at what to expect from Samsung's latest flagship release.
The Google Play Store is known for some pretty random promotions and offers, most of the time it's a free book or a discounted movie. But this time, an entire season for Game of Thrones is up for grabs. Yes, that's right, all of Season 5 of Game of Thrones is free to download, watch, or just stash in your library for later.
Independent game developer PlayFusion announced today a partnership with NEXON Korea Corporation, resulting in a Series A preferred share round to fund development of their entertainment platform. PlayFusion's platform applies augmented reality, Internet of Things (IoT), and audio recognition to Lightseekers, an original property that combines mobile gaming with smart action figures, trading card games, and other media.
Kazendi, a London-based HoloLens development and rapid prototyping studio, just released a new iOS app in Apple's App Store that lets developers stream HoloLens applications live from the headset to an iPad or iPhone. It's called HoloStream, and is the first iOS/HoloLens crossover app we've seen so far.
This year, there's no need to waste time and energy stringing colorful Christmas lights all over your home and yard. All you need is the Circuit Marker from AgIC, a Japanese technology company, and you're ready to deck the halls.
Now that we've got all of our software installed, we're going to proceed with the next step in our HoloLens Dev 101 series—starting a fresh project and building it into a Holographic application. Then we will output the application to the HoloLens Emulator so we can see it in action.
Today, Microsoft announced its Windows 10 Creators Update, adding the ability to scan objects in your world and bring them into the computer. With newly-announced inexpensive VR headsets and the HoloLens, you can enjoy those transplanted 3D objects in mixed and virtual reality.
If you have an iPhone with 3D Touch or Haptic Touch, some lock screen notifications will let you respond to a message without even unlocking the screen. This is definitely a handy feature, and it should save a lot of time in some cases, but there are some obvious security concerns.
Codenamed "Nougat" after the sugary stuff that fills your Snickers bar, Android 7.0 is living up to its name with tons of sweet features. There's almost too many changes over Marshmallow to cover in one go, with new functionality ranging from a revamped Doze Mode for battery saving, to split-screen apps, and even an easier update process. All told, the Nougat update has a lot in store for your phone or tablet.
Creating a dress, or any other clothes for that matter, takes quite a bit of design, planning, and manufacturing to get it just right. Fashion designer Jim Reichert put on a HoloLens and saved himself a bunch of time designing a dress through the use of a life-sized holographic woman.
While flying isn't easy, once an airplane gets into the clouds there isn't a whole lot to worry about—most of the work happens during takeoff and landing. Helicopter pilots, on the other hand, have a lot of dangerous obstacles (like power lines and buildings) to contend with. But, once again, augmented reality can save the day.
It just got a whole lot easier to decide whether or not saving $50 on Amazon's new ad- and bloatware-subsidized smartphones is worth the headache of having to see an advertisement on the lock screen every time you wake the device.
Microsoft released a robust version of the HoloLens when shipping the developer kits, but there's still lots of room left to grow. Today, they've released the first update to Windows Holographic, the operating system of the HoloLens, with a whole bunch of cool new features like voice commands and app multitasking.
According to sources, Google has been working on a travel app for some time, and now it has a name: Google Trips. Google Trips aims to be the all-in-one place to go for travel information about your trip. It hasn't been officially announced, but from the leaks that have come out so far, think of it like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and your itinerary in one.
Launcher shortcuts, which let you skip directly to a specific function on an app when you open it, first appeared in a recent Android N preview build, and now we're getting a look at how the feature might look in action.
Samsung's Galaxy S7 is an incredible piece of technology, but the Skype app that's preinstalled on some models may have some nasty issues, such as video and audio that freezes. Luckily, the fix for these problems is a simple one, although somewhat buried in the phone's Settings app.
Night Shift is arguably the biggest feature found in iOS 9.3, but if your phone is in Low Power Mode, you can't use it. Some users have also reported that Night Shift causes battery drain, so using Low Power mode when you don't have access to a charger could be necessary when you're nearly out of juice. Turns out, however, that both can be enabled at the same time using a simple process discovered by 9to5Mac.
If we go by the timeline set forth in Back to the Future Part II, Nike's new HyperAdapt 1.0 with adaptable lacing is at least a year late. But HyperAdapt will do more than just automatically tighten your laces—sensors in the sole of the shoe will provide a "tailored-to-the-moment" custom fit to maximize comfort and function while you jog, play sports, or navigate through hordes of aloof morons clogging the lanes at your local Trader Joe's.
This Video is about my Trying a New Braid pattern for a Crochet Weave.
LG is set to launch its G5 handset on February 21st at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but images of the G5 have now been leaked ahead of the event by Evan Blass (@evleaks). This image shows that the handset will indeed have two lenses on its rear-facing camera so that you can shoot wide-angle 135º photos.
Chrome's download bar has looked pretty much exactly the same for years now—a simple horizontal menu that spans the entire bottom of the browser and displays buttons for each of your recent downloads. It's not exactly pretty, and when it comes to functionality, the space it occupies could certainly be put to better use.