Apple has finally given Control Center the love that it needs with an updated interface design and more customizations than ever before. Taking the more customizable overhaul one step further, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 have elevated controls beyond Control Center, so you can use co ...more
Apple previewed new cognitive, speech, and vision accessibility tools for the iPhone back in May, and they've finally been realized with the iOS 17 release. But there are more accessibility features than that hiding in Apple's latest software update — and they're not just for ...more
Apple made significant improvements to its Shortcuts app in the latest iOS update, so you can do even more with your custom-made macros for iPhone. The big story is "App Shortcuts," which takes all the work out of building shortcuts, giving you immediate access to premade one ...more
Apple finally gave the Books app for iPhone the attention it deserves, making the experience even better for reading e-books and listening to audiobooks on the go. You can even do more with Books in custom shortcuts you develop. We've had Apple's convenient book reader and bo ...more
Beta software can be exciting because you get to experience cool new features before most other people. But it can have unwanted consequences such as bugs, UI glitches, and horrible battery life that'll make you wish you never installed it. If that sounds like you with iOS 16 ...more
We love our set of Apple AirPods. The battery could last a little longer, but overall, there's only one gripe we really have: the dirt that builds up inside the case. Whether you stick it in your pocket, a backpack, or your purse, the inside of the case's lid and main base wil ...more
Christmas is just one week before Jan. 1. That means a lot of New Year's resolutions filled with promises to better ourselves with increased productivity, focus, and work ethics — but getting started can be challenging. Give the people in your life a leg up this holiday season ...more
The wearables space experienced its "big bang" moment back in 2015 when Apple released its first wearable device, the Apple Watch. Although the device was initially dismissed by some as an unnecessary charm bracelet packed with frivolous tech, in very short order, the public l ...more
There's something seriously wrong with Apple's new Shortcuts app, and it's severely limiting the number of shortcuts users can install on their iPhones. In version 2.0 of Shortcuts, when you open up the "Gallery" tab, you can browse all of Apple's recommended shortcuts that y ...more
Since the San Bernardino shooting in 2014, Apple's been engaged in a game of cat and mouse with law enforcement. Authorities want access to evidence on criminals' iPhones, but Apple wants to protect all of its customers' personal data equally. The latest installment in this sa ...more
The iOS 12.0 beta earned admiration for its superior performance to last year's controversially buggy iOS 11. That doesn't mean it was free from problems before the stable release went live. During the initial iOS 12.0 beta testing phase, there were plenty of bugs and glitches ...more
Just when you thought Google Glass was dead, it turns out there may be a second life for the often ridiculed device that won't relegate it to the staid confines of factories and repair jobs. In a patent application surfaced last week by Patently Apple, we now see that Google ...more
The only official way to record your iPhone's screen before iOS 11 was to hook it up to a Mac and use QuickTime Player to do the recording for you. If you wanted to record your iPhone's screen without an external device, there were unofficial apps you could use, like AirShou, ...more
Sometimes it's impossible to concentrate — let alone direct your personal assistant Siri — when someone is blasting music on their phone or talking to thin air. I mean I'm loud, but not that loud. So, it's a relief to hear that this could be changing for the better. According ...more
Although iOS 8.4 was just released, the team behind the iOS 8.3 jailbreak have updated their tool for the latest operating system, and will work on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. So if you've been wanting to get all your tweaks back, or want to start exploring all of Cydia's ...more
I hate to break it to you, but you're probably here because you were trolled. Thanks to a Photoshopped image making rounds across Twitter, Apple fans were tricked into believing that iOS 8 allowed them to lock individual apps, accessible only through a passcode or fingerprint ...more
After a two-month delay, Apple has finally released iTunes 11, which was initially slated to be released alongside iOS 6. Video: . The new highly revamped music player is a substantial upgrade from the old version, but that isn't really saying much; iTunes has never really had ...more
Since iOS 9, the iPad has had Picture in Picture mode, which lets you minimize a video that you're watching into a floating overlay so that you can multitask in other apps while it plays. For iPhones, it came a little later, first appearing in iOS 14. It's not just for the Plu ...more
In a world full of augmented reality camera effects apps, one app is going in a more social direction. On Tuesday, a rebooted version of Octi (which first debuted in 2018) dropped on the Apple App Store. Now, instead of merely adding AR effects to photos and videos, the app u ...more
Two years ago, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the F8 Developers Conference keynote with augmented reality and the introduction of Facebook's AR camera platform, now known as Spark AR. Since then, Facebook has faced an avalanche of controversy on its appro ...more
Magic Leap continues to launch new AR apps on its fledging app store before the door closes on 2018, and this time the app is a sequel from a veteran VR developer and early Magic Leap development partner. On Tuesday, Magic Leap announced via blog post that Luna: Moondust Gard ...more
In iOS 13 and later, Spotify supports Siri commands, something we've wanted ever since Siri and Spotify were things. But if you're on iOS 12 still, you're missing out. All you can do is open the Spotify app, then pause and skip tracks with Siri after you start playing a song m ...more
Stop me if you've heard this one before: scan an image with your iPhone's camera and augmented reality content shows up. This idea probably has you thinking about Snapchat and its Snapcodes. Or maybe you're thinking of Blippar, Zappar, or countless other marker-based AR exper ...more
With the big reveal of the Magic Leap One: Creator Edition in December 2017, and now the update on Feb. 13, 2018, we no longer have to speculate as to what the augmented reality headset will look like or when (in general) it will be available. However, because Magic Leap left ...more
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
Aspiring engineers, your challenge, should you choose to accept it, has been issued by Jaguar Land Rover. Prove yourself and you can be the next in line for greatness. — Jaguar That is the challenge posed by Jaguar as they attempt to find the next generation of the best and ...more
The "Discover" tab in the latest version of the Google Home app has a new tip that says multiple users are now supported. Google Home uses a built-in speaker and microphone combo to give users access to smart search, a personal assistant, and smart home controls. This addition ...more
If you're a fan of sleek, powerful computers and highly-customizable smartphones, then you probably own a Mac and an Android device. But the downside to this glorious hardware pairing is that it can be hard to get the software on the two devices to play nice together. Previou ...more
I'm an Android user. Over the course of the past seven years, I've owned ten different smartphones—all of them powered by Android. This isn't due to some blind trust in Google or some unfounded hate for Apple, either, because I've always made sure to get my hands on each iPhon ...more
Cellular carriers like to nickel-and-dime us out of every bit of money they can feasibly justify, so as consumers, we owe it to ourselves to make sure that we're getting our money's worth. There are several under-advertised freebies and discounts that come included with a con ...more
Audibly, from iOS developer Nick Frey, allows you create playlists and sync your music across other iOS devices. Like the Samsung-exclusive Group Play or the older Seedio app, you can connect a slew of compatible devices to create a surround-sound stereo of sorts when playing ...more
Seriously?! That's what a lot of people are saying when they found out that their Xbox One doesn't have a native streaming media player. When a new system is introduced and lacks features that the previous system had, it really pisses people off. The Xbox 360 allowed people to ...more
When choosing a phone or tablet, I always take in to consideration what my music experience will be. Unfortunately, the Nexus 7 doesn't have Beats by Dre technology, which some may view as overrated, though it's definitely one of the better ways to get perfect-sounding tunes w ...more
I spend practically all day surfing the web and writing on my laptop, and just as much time texting and checking emails on my smartphone. So, it's only natural for me to charge my iPhone using the USB port on my MacBook Pro. Since that USB port is located on the left side of ...more
As a former English major, I have a love/hate relationship with many books. And when I saw that this NFC-enabled charging dock project included a little book mutilation, I was suddenly more interested. Now, for those of you who have nothing against books, this is still a great ...more
There is nothing more irritating than having a nice jam session interrupted by an ad selling B vitamins, and that's exactly what Spotify does to you if you don't pay up. Spotify is a digital music service that gives users access to millions of new and old songs, and unlike Pa ...more
There's a world of hidden features on your iPhone just waiting to be explored, and one of them is hiding in plain sight right in front of you. You likely see it multiple times a day after performing a routine action without ever thinking twice about what else it can do, and yo ...more
We always know roughly when Apple events are coming, but when their new product events pop up, they're always a pleasant tech refresher from the Cupertino tech giant. This time, the Apple event news comes with a special treat, another beautiful augmented reality invitation. ...more
Sound Recognition was introduced with iOS 14, and the accessibility feature uses on-device intelligence to detect 13 different sounds and then notify you whenever it hears one. Apple increases that number to 15 with the addition of two more detectable sounds in iOS 15 that it ...more
Apple always finds a way to sneak in tiny, inconspicuous features that improve the iPhone experience. And with iOS 14, there's a hidden, unannounced gesture that makes it possible to navigate apps and menus faster than ever before. When you go deep into an app's pages and men ...more
AirPods are not only a great way to listen to audio on your iPhone, but they're also a great way to activate Siri and control your music using simple gestures. If the default actions aren't quite what you're looking for, you can easily change them, and each AirPod can perform ...more
With stay-at-home orders for most of us in the US because of the new coronavirus, many of you are likely struggling to be productive and efficient when working from home. Unless you've worked from home before, it can be challenging to separate work from personal life throughou ...more
What could Apple be planning here? Are we going to see some revolutionary new features for the iPhone? Will we see mostly bug fixes and security patches? It's time to find out, as Apple just released the first developer beta for iOS 13.4. Apple seeded developers 13.4 dev beta ...more
New year, new me. You finally committed to working on the best physical you by going to the gym multiple days a week. Except about an hour in, you start getting really tired of it all. Before you run to the exit, pick up your phone. If you're not careful, your phone can be a ...more
By far the most significant development for AR in the coming months and years — the development that will drive AR adoption — will be our reliance upon the AR cloud. Soon, you will see companies attempt to brand this technology with some moniker they've created (for example, ...more
If you ask Siri to check the weather on your iPhone right now, you'll get information from the stock Weather app in iOS — even if you have and prefer other weather apps installed. But that doesn't have to be the case. Thanks to Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12 and later, you can set s ...more
The dream of Google Glass lives on via North's stylish and normal-looking smartglasses that bring text messages and navigation prompts into the user's field of view and Amazon Alexa integration for voice-activated assistance. After the company formerly known as Thalmic Labs t ...more
One of the primary marketing tactics used by Magic Leap in promoting the Magic Leap One was selling early adopters on the "magic" contained within the device. On Thursday, some of that magic was uncovered as the Magic Leap One was completely disassembled by repair engineers, r ...more
Now that the augmented reality cat is out of the bag, Magic Leap is beginning to open up a bit more about how of some of its work came together in the years and months leading up to the Magic Leap One's release earlier this month. On Wednesday, the company unveiled a behind th ...more
On Wednesday, the tech world woke up to fairly shocking news with the announcement that AT&T would be the exclusive wireless carrier for the forthcoming Magic Leap One, as well as an investor in Magic Leap. The deal harkens back to the introduction of Apple's iPhone, the devi ...more
If you're currently running macOS 10.11 or higher on your Mac and connect your iPhone to sync with iTunes, you may get an alert saying that "a software update is required to connect to your iPhone." Here's everything you need to know about what that means, how to update your s ...more
A clean slate may be just what your Apple Watch needs. Whether you want to start fresh, wipe all your personal data, fix buggy issues, let someone borrow it, sell it, or get back in after you forgot your passcode, resetting the Watch back to factory settings is pretty simple, ...more
Before starting any drive where you're using Google Maps for directions, it's vital to make sure the app is functioning correctly, specifically, navigation prompts. After initiating turn-by-turn directions on your Android or iPhone, the last thing you want to worry about is Go ...more
Realizing there's no voice to guide you while using your iPhone to navigate can be problematic, causing serious headaches from getting lost to unscheduled pit stops or worse. And while this problem can hit Apple Maps like other navigation apps out there, there are a number of ...more
If you recently received your new Galaxy S9 or S9+, you're probably excited to try out all of the features the flagship offers. While many of the features are self-explanatory and easy to access, there are a handful of very useful items that Samsung has buried in the settings ...more
The year is 2018. You just received your own Magic Leap One: Creator Edition. What now? Rewinding back to today, we know of one specific app that will be available for Magic Leap's device, along with two others that could be tagged as highly likely. Paired with Magic Leap's o ...more
Our smartphones have outlived the Walkman, iPod, and even stereo systems, to some degree. So it makes sense to treat your iPhone or Android device to a quality pair of headphones, whether you're a hardcore audiophile or just an everyday music lover. This doesn't come cheap, of ...more
There's a good chance that an iPhone is on one of your Christmas shopping lists, but these things are uber-expensive now, making it hard to justify as a holiday gift — even for yourself. That's what Black Friday is for, though, which can help you save a little bit of cash on a ...more
Who doesn't love listening to music or playlists when driving? The open road and an awesome playlist make for a perfect pairing, but it can become quite the challenge if you're trying to navigate at the same time. That's why Waze's built-in audio controls for compatible apps l ...more
After poor sales of last year's HTC 10 and the terrible reviews their first 2017 flagship received, HTC really needs the HTC U11 to succeed. But they're not taking things lying down, as they've come up with some interesting tech for their latest handset. The biggest new featu ...more