Over the years, Kodi (formerly XBMC) has become one of the most popular media players. It provides all the essential functionality needed for any home theater setup while remaining open source and free. However, Kodi is not limited to just your living room. With the Kodi app f ...more
Kali Linux is the obvious first choice of an operating system for most new hackers, coming bundled with a curated collection of tools organized into easy-to-navigate menus and a live boot option that is very newbie-friendly. But Kali isn't the only distribution targeted at pen ...more
When customizing your Android home screen, it's always a challenge to balance aesthetics with functionality. Do you crowd your home screen with icons and widgets so they are easier to reach, or do you spread the icons over many home screens? Each option has its downsides, and ...more
This morning Google announced ARCore, an SDK for Android devices that will allow augmented reality developers to add new functionality to Android 7.0 and up, all without any special hardware other than the camera of a phone. While Apple released ARKit into beta at WDCC a few ...more
By default, iMovie for iPhone adds a dissolve (also called a crossfade) in between all of the video clips in your movie project's timeline, which is an effect that transitions gradually from the end of one clip to the beginning of another. However, iMovie does not add any begi ...more
Developers in the augmented reality space are sitting on the bleeding edge of a hot technology. With the intense interest, especially in the tech circles, there are a large number of people working on potential solutions and uses for the technology. There is also a lot of time ...more
Back in 2009, largely due to the sheer number of users demanding it, Spotify added an amazing little feature — the ability to disable volume normalization. While the feature is nothing more than a toggle on the visual front, the audible difference is far superior and moons apa ...more
The Google Assistant is great about understanding what you actually mean, so you don't have to issue exact commands like you do with Amazon Alexa, for instance. But even though it's a master of colloquial speech, it could still be better, and that's where shortcuts come into p ...more
The Google Assistant comes in several different flavors. There's the baked-in Google app on Android, the dedicated Google Assistant app on iOS, and the Assistant-powered Google Home smart speaker. But no matter how you access it, your Assistant will only get better if you take ...more
More often than not, road trips will include unforeseen pit stops that have to be made, no matter how well prepared you are. In the past, making an unscheduled stop may have led to headaches and delays when your navigation app got off track, but thanks to a feature in Google M ...more
A new study shows the Zika virus is present in saliva — but it may not be enough to make you sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes there is "no evidence that Zika can be transmitted through saliva during deep kissing." Given the results of research publis ...more
If you want to find out the linear distance between your hotel and a landmark or restaurant you want to visit, Google Maps has a great feature that lets you quickly measure the distance between two or more points. It's perfect for getting an idea of how far places are in relat ...more
HBO Max's watchlist, dubbed "My List," is a great tool that lets you collect and sort the video content you're interested in. That way, you don't need to sift through HBO Max's enormous catalog every time you open the app — just open your personal list of saved titles and star ...more
If you are an NYC commuter like me, then I'm sure you know how bad the city's transportation has gotten. Subways are getting derailed or delayed, the traffic is crazy, and don't even get me started about the trains. Even with so many modes of transportation, we still seem to ...more
What's better than having access to Hulu's entire catalog on any device you wish? Having HBO's as well, obviously. Hulu recently began offering subscribers the option to either subscribe to HBO through their Hulu account, or to link a prior HBO subscription to their Hulu accou ...more
Update: HBO discontinued this service. Your best bet for transferring your data from one account to another is to save a record of your watch list. That way, you can add your titles back manually with your new account. Now that you can add an HBO Now subscription to your Hulu ...more
YouTube's mobile live streaming feature is great for connecting with your audience in a more personal way than traditional videos provide. Audiences can view and respond to content in real time, and creators can do the same. While unfortunately not available to everyone — you ...more
YouTube is a giant platform — over 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute. It can be difficult to keep track of your favorite videos in such a chaotic sea of content. Difficult, but certainly not impossible. Let's say you want to start a collection of the funniest video ...more
More platforms and more tools to make content for those platforms. It seems like the Dev Report —Next Reality's breakdown on the latest information on tools and processes to make augmented reality experiences — is going to be coming out on a much shorter cycle. Microsoft and ...more
In case Google Photos didn't recognize your face enough, they're now rolling out a new AI feature who uses facial recognition for easy photo sharing. The feature is available as of today, but was announced in May at the company's I/O developer conference. It involves the addi ...more
Snapchat announced today that you can now design geofilters in-app, making it easier than ever to customize your snaps. This new feature incorporates a mobile creative studio, so you no longer have to use your computer to create your custom masterpiece. Don't Miss: How to Tur ...more
One of the biggest features of Android Oreo is a picture-in-picture mode that lets you watch videos in a floating window while you're using other apps. Honestly, it's fantastic and intuitive, but there are a few ground rules you'll need to learn to master the new feature. Cur ...more
Music has always been able to connect us. Spotify is now offering an innovative new way to do just that. The company announced today that they have launched a new feature in collaboration with the Messenger app that allows you to share and make playlists with friends. The fea ...more
Yogurt is more than an excellent source of protein, calcium, and gut-healthy probiotic bacteria. A protein isolated from probiotic lactobacillus bacteria in yogurt is capable of inhibiting drug-resistant bacteria. Rachelle Allen-McFarlane, a doctoral candidate at Howard Unive ...more
At Apple's yearly event, the World Wide Developers Conference, the tech giant finally announced their decision to enter the augmented reality space. Through adding basic AR functionality to the beta release of Xcode 9, the development environment for Mac computers, as well as ...more
The driverless competition is heating up as Detroit automakers attempt to woo tech talent away from some of Silicon Valley's biggest players. Bloomberg reports that there here are currently 5,000 job openings in software and electronics product development in the Motor City a ...more
WhatsApp sneakily made some security changes to iCloud backups without your knowledge, ladies and gents. Not that strengthening security is a bad thing, but still! The messaging giant added an encryption to iCloud backups to prevent a data privacy breaches loophole. This coul ...more
The keynote at this week's Vision Summit 2017, a two-day event put together by the Unity team in beautiful Hollywood, California, revealed a few new features coming to the Unity platform. They also previewed some of the beta features that are currently available for those less ...more
Augmented reality software developer Edgybees has launched Drone Prix. The new mobile app immerses DJI drones and their pilots in more than 30 augmented reality obstacle courses. Available in the App Store and Play Store, Drone Prix enable pilots to hone their flight skills n ...more
We know your time is valuable to you, so starting this week — and continuing every Wednesday — we are going to release weekly Dev Reports that quickly highlight important news and updates that augmented and mixed reality developers should know about. The goal here is to creat ...more
The latest Google Photos update for Android has added a number of cool new features, like video stabilization and a rumored Google+ integration. The latest update started rolling out to devices on April 11, 2017, and includes the video stabilizing feature we've been waiting fo ...more
It's always nice getting paid to do something you love. That's why Nintendo is offering all Nintendo Switch owners a chance to find vulnerabilities before another hacker beats them to it first. Depending on the vulnerability you find, Nintendo is willing to shell out rewards s ...more
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ might not have made it into the hands of the public yet, but we sure have come across a lot of the stock apps from Samsung's latest flagship phones. First, there was the new launcher, then Hello Bixby, and now, the extremely elusive Record Screen feature ...more
Download a popular, legit app from the Google Play Store. Decompile it. Add malicious code. Repackage the app. Distribute the now trojan-ized app through third-party Android app sites. This is how advertising malware Ewind, what Palo Alto Networks calls "adware in applications ...more
When Google added new security measures to Android Marshmallow, it had a lasting impact on the entire process of rooting. These measures prevent the the Superuser daemon (the process that handles requests for root access) from getting the permissions it needs to do its job at ...more
Osterhout Design Group just announced the upcoming release of the newest addition to their smartglasses lineup, the R-7HL, short for R-7 Hazardous Location. ODG worked directly with customers who work in extreme environments to come up with a durable solution that fits their n ...more
The first public beta of Android O, (most likely to be called "Android 8.0 Oreo") was released on May 17, bringing tons of new features and goodies for Android enthusiasts with supported devices. However, not all of Android O's features were available to try out right off the ...more
Pottery Barn has teamed up with Google to create 3D Room View, a new mobile app to allow all wannabe interior designers (like me) to pick out the perfect couch, table, or whatever, and then overlay it onto a spot in his or her house. I used to obsess over the Pottery Barn Tee ...more
Listen up ladies, there's no need to go to Sephora and model a hundred different shades of lipstick anymore. Now with Virtual Artist, Sephora's award-winning app, for iOS and Android, you can virtually test thousands of shades of single and palette eyeshadows, lip colors, and ...more
The Raspberry Pi is a credit card-sized computer that can crack Wi-Fi, clone key cards, break into laptops, and even clone an existing Wi-Fi network to trick users into connecting to the Pi instead. It can jam Wi-Fi for blocks, track cell phones, listen in on police scanners, ...more
Some bacteria can already do it—generate electric current, that is—and those microbes are called "electrogenic." Now, thanks to the work of a research group from the University of California, Santa Barbara, we know how to easily turn non-electrogenic bacteria into electricity ...more
The widget system on iOS leaves a lot to be desired when compared to Android's offering, but that's not really Apple's fault. The system is there, we just need some good widgets to really get the most out of it, so it's up to developers to create some awesome apps that work wi ...more
Sometimes it's the smallest feature in your smartphone that makes the biggest difference in user experience. Take screen timeout, for instance. You can probably think of plenty of times when your handset's display blacked out while you were in the middle of something. You coul ...more
In this first part of our tutorial series on making physical objects come to life on HoloLens, we are going to set up Vuforia in Unity. I would plan to keep a Vuforia tab open in your web browser throughout most of this tutorial, and when developing in general, since Vuforia ...more
Any developer working with the HoloLens knows that the fight for polygons is a very real conflict. For all of the magic it creates, the HoloLens is a high-powered mobile device that has all the typical processing limitations of a mobile device. For a computer or a gaming cons ...more
Samsung began offering Android 7.0 Nougat to users in its beta program on November 10, 2016. The beta came to a close last month after the fifth and final version was pushed out to users under the build number ending in 1ZPLN. This update was released a couple of days after Ch ...more
If your phone has an unlocked bootloader, you can use Fastboot commands to flash factory images. That may sound like a bunch of technical jargon, but when it comes down to it, this is the best method for updating a rooted device, fixing a bricked phone, reverting to stock, or ...more
If you've ever been inspired to try out 3D modeling after enjoying computer-generated imagery in video games and movies, chances are you've checked out an paid applications like 3ds Max (previously called 3D Studio Max), or even free ones like Blender, then just went "No Way! ...more
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 All ...more
Google's Material Design guidelines have finally brought some consistency to the look and feel of Android apps, bringing most of the user experience on par with what you would see on iOS. However, some developers are still using non-compliant home screen icons, even though Mat ...more
If you spend weekend mornings sadly turning your omelet attempts into scrambled eggs rather than enjoying a perfectly flipped omelet, reach for a resealable plastic bag. Using a ziplock bag to make an omelet is not only foolproof, it's the perfect solution to cooking for a cro ...more
Augmented reality began on smartphones but technical limitations have prevented further development. Google's Tango (formerly Project Tango) aimed to change all that, and with Lenovo's help, they now have their first device. Check out the features in this video from Lenovo: V ...more
If you're a tech geek who cares about the environment, you probably concerned with your personal carbon footprint. You may feel like your love for gadgets is slowly contributing to the degradation of our planet, but tech is your life. And in this scenario, small changes matter ...more
Starting with version 6.0 Marshmallow, Android now supports fingerprint scanners natively. This change has effectively opened the floodgates, and now almost every flagship Android device includes a fingerprint scanner out of the box. But if you passed up on the opportunity to ...more
You may have caught our prior list of excellent egg hacks. Well, we've rounded up 10 more awesome tips and tricks to perfect your egg game. Check 'em out below. 1. Make a Flawless Sunny Side Up Egg If you struggle with either an undercooked or overly-browned sunny side up eg ...more
Samsung's latest flagship devices—the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge—both sport an interesting new feature called Always On Display, or simply AOD. When enabled, this feature keeps the clock, date, and other bits of information visible at all times—even when the screen is off. Samsung ...more
Amazon has completely changed the way we purchase household items, to the point where many of us haven't visited a big box, brick-and-mortar store like Walmart or Best Buy in years. And when you think about it, all of this success comes down to two main factors—convenience and ...more
A sphere of clear gelatinous goo may not sound all that appetizing. But to food fad fans on social media, the raindrop cake—a soft and lightly flavored edible blob—has gone insanely viral. The 'cake' finally made its first appearance in the U.S. this weekend, thanks to Darren ...more
Google has added some fun Easter eggs to Hangouts that'll give you a few more ways to procrastinate throughout your day. All of them (except for one) work on the web browser version, the Chrome app, and the mobile apps for Android and iOS, and are activated by sending a specif ...more
How much you've actually spent and how much you think you've spent are usually two completely different results, and is especially true on Amazon when it's so easy to click and buy. You might think you've given Amazon a couple thousand over your lifetime, when the fact is that ...more