Last year's augmented reality investments roundup was impressive. And in 2018, the dollars flowing toward AR haven't decreased, as venture capitalists and strategic investors continue to aggressively fund AR startups at a rapid pace.
Apple's next big developer event happened on June 4, and it was the first glimpse of iOS 12 that anyone's seen. While there were lots of rumored features to be unveiled at WWDC 2018, Apple concentrated mostly on squashing bugs and making iOS work as seamless as it did years ago. Still, we had hoped that Apple would have added these features in iOS 12, but only a few made the cut.
According to Google at their 2018 I/O conference, Google Assistant is now available on over 500 million devices. Now that the assistant is available on iPhones as well, Google has to give iOS users a reason to switch to its assistant over the built-in Siri. Today, Google has eight more reasons for users to do so.
When it's all said and done, it doesn't really matter who did it first — the more important question is who did it best. Still, it's nice to know who's really responsible for groundbreaking innovations in the smartphone space.
Recently, many manufacturers have started offering phones with a clean, stock Android UI. Motorola, Essential, Nokia, and OnePlus are probably the biggest names that have listened to user feedback and shifted more towards AOSP. But if your phone still has a bloated OEM skin, there are a few things you can do about it.
Whether you're new to Android or you just haven't kept up on the app scene lately, we hand-picked over one hundred essential apps that are all designed to improve your experience. From custom launchers and icon packs to weather apps and file explorers, there's something for everyone in this list.
The holidays are stressful. Between traveling, family, and dinner, Thanksgiving weekend can feel like weeks. Many families have traditions that make the days long, but some of us would rather curl up somewhere and watch our favorite shows. But all is not lost — our phones do so much for us now that they can help make the long stressful weekend much more bearable.
Karen Gillan must have had an absolute blast chewing the scenery as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, seeing as how Nebula is a ball of pure, seething fury pretty much 24/7. Combine that larger-than-life personality with her iconic blue and silver cyborg look, and you have a guaranteed hit for cosplay or Halloween.
Word games fit perfectly with the on-the-go nature of mobile gaming. They're easy to pick up whenever you feel like exercising your brain, but they're also fairly easy to put down when you need to get back to the real world.
Apple's been hard at work adding new features and finishing touches to iOS 11, and there's evidence of it everywhere. But there's one place where these changes are more noticeable than perhaps anywhere else — Safari.
Pot, weed, bud, herb – whatever you want to call it, the green earthy treat makes everything way more fun. Now that marijuana is legal to some extent in more than half of all US states, we thought it was high time to showcase some apps that enhance your experience with the controversial pastime known as rolling up.
Long before Apple and Android became household names, Nokia dominated the mobile industry. The Finnish company was one of the first to develop smartphones, and their classic N95 with 2G "high-speed" internet connectivity was declared the "best smartphone ever" by some in 2007. Outside of the US, before the iPhone became all the rage, owning a Nokia phone was a status symbol akin to wearing a Rolex or Omega watch.
Kodi, formerly known as XBMC, is one of the most versatile media players available. With it, you can play virtually any internet and media file in a large variety of formats, and it can be used on practically every single operating system out there, including iOS 10. Kodi, an open-source software, was originally designed to connect to your TV so you could control your media from up to ten feet away, and the core functionality still shines today. All of this is what makes Kodi so popular today...
The big night is less than a week away, so how do you not have a costume yet?! In my world, Halloween is the night of all nights. It's the only day of the year when it's socially acceptable to dress and walk around like an insane person, eat too much sugar, and scare the hell out of total strangers. What's not to love?
With the release of the Mirai source code, botnets are back in a big way. In the early days of botnets, zombies (infected hosts) would report to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels for CNC (command and control) instructions. Modern botnets have evolved, but they continue to use the same concepts as their predecessors.
An average user's smartphone tinkering doesn't go much further than taking their phones out of the box, signing into their account, and installing apps. But some of us want more functionality and customizability than the basic experience provided by Android and iOS.
These days, there are Android apps for every budget—forgive me if that sounds like a car commercial, but that's just the way things are in the age of the smartphone and tablet. You've got apps that require monthly subscriptions, paid apps that will run you a $30 one-time installation fee, and even games that start at 99 cents, but quickly skyrocket in price with in-app purchases.
The big day is nearly here... Super Bowl 50 kicks off this Sunday, February 7, at 3:30 p.m. PST (6:30 p.m. EST). And whether you're having a giant party or watching the game on your big-screen TV by yourself, there's one thing you probably won't be doing: cooking food in your kitchen.
Yes, screen savers are fun to look at for a few seconds, but those animations actually used to serve a purpose beyond simple entertainment.
In general, smartphones and cars don't mix—but this is mainly because you have to take your eyes off the road to poke around on your handheld gadget. In reality, the only difference between your smartphone and your car's FHWA-approved infotainment system is that the latter is mounted in a fixed position and has an oversized interface that makes it easy to use without looking away from the road.
Sangria... the elixir of summer. When properly prepared, there are few things more refreshing and magical. If you're looking for a way to mix things up and "get out of the bottle," try one of these lovely libations before the warm weather ends: peach-mango sangria, pineapple-basil sangria, watermelon-raspberry sangria, or blueberry-plum sangria.
Downloading YouTube videos for offline use to watch later has always been a problematic endeavor. Dedicated third-party apps don't last long in the App Store, web-based converters aren't very functional on mobile, and rogue apps outside the App Store are tricky to sideload and open up the possibility of vulnerabilities. But that doesn't mean you still don't have a few good options.
Windows 10 is officially here, and frankly, there's a ton of new features in Microsoft's latest operating system. From the return of the Start menu to the new Edge browser, Windows 10 can take some getting used to.
Texting has become the king of communication—gone are the days where everyone called each other. These days, it's down-right weird when someone calls first. Whether it be on a phone or on a computer, SMS and MMS messages are the most common way people keep in contact, so why not make sure your app of choice is the best possible one out there?
I am very new to Null Byte but I find much of its content and community incredibly interesting. I spent quite a bit of time just chronologically going through the posts and I noticed a common theme in many of the beginner posts. Many people seem to want to know the 'secret' or a paragraph on "How to Hack" and become a hacker in a few minutes. I started off this post as a reply to a question from a beginner but thought it might be beneficial to have for those stumbling across this site.
Alcohol is a marvelous thing. It might even be responsible for saving civilization. And we're always fans of hacking our booze intake, whether it's learning how to drink all night long without getting drunk or how to discreetly get your drink on without anyone knowing.
At a closed-door presentation on September 30th, 2014, Microsoft unveiled the latest iteration of its industry-leading operating system. Dubbed Windows 10 (seems as if Redmond isn't too fond of the "9" moniker), this new version brings along with it many UI optimizations and under-the-hood tweaks. With a particular focus on optimizing the interface for traditional mouse and keyboard computers, one of the most noticeable changes is the return of the Start Menu. While touch-optimized devices wi...
It was the star of the show, but now that Android L has been released for preview to Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 owners, there's a lot that Google didn't tell us about their latest mobile operating system, rumored to be called Lollipop.
The holiday season is almost over, bringing the year to an end, and what better way to end it than with some tonsil hockey from the dime across the room on New Year's Eve?
One of the many perks of being a Nexus user is that Google bakes in all sorts of goodies for use on its dessert-themed OS. From an easily unlocked bootloader, to a smooth and well-crafted "stock" UI experience, to being one of the first devices to receive updates straight from Mountain View—team Nexus is the team to beat.
The absence of a physical keyboard is both a gift and a curse. When it was announced in 2007 that the first iPhone would have a touchscreen only, people literally lost their shit. Now, almost 7 years later, you'd be hard-pressed to find a smartphone that still has a physical keyboard.
Does executing a perfectly timed, no-scoped headshot, followed by a well-choreographed teabagging ever get old? No, no it doesn't, and neither do custom emblems for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. How else are we going to kill time until Black Ops 3 arrives?
Someday, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, you'll find yourself on the road in your car, maybe on the highway, and you'll hear something.
In this video series, our expert will demonstrate how to make gourd art. She will give instructions on how to create several gourd crafts. She offer tips on how to cut into a gourd, how to clean out the inside of the gourd, and shows you how to decorate gourds through several methods. You'll learn how to draw, paint, and scorch your own unique designs into gourds. Gourds add to the harvest time theme in the Fall.
There's not much you can customize on your iPhone's status bar beyond showing or hiding the battery percentage icon. You can't choose different icons or pick a vibrant color, but there's a secret trick that lets you bold all the text.
Some phone lines make it nearly impossible to get past the busy tone, whether it's a viral call-in giveaway, your state's unemployment office, your local post office during the holidays, or the repair office for a broken warrantied product you have. Thankfully, there are apps you can use to help break through the noise.
Amazon really wants to make itself at home in your home. Like, everywhere in your home, from your doorstep to your kitchen, your kids' rooms, and everywhere in between.
With the arrival of Facebook Ray-Ban Stories smartglasses commanding the recent spotlight, the tech world acted like it forgot about Facebook's first foray in consumer hardware — the Portal line of video calling devices.
The practice of using sound to trigger augmented reality interactions hasn't been widely used, but a new experience is so impressive that it could kick off more use of the dynamic.
Shark Week, which debuted in 1988 as a week of programming on the Discovery Channel dedicated to the titular predatory fish, has grown into a cultural beast of its own.