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
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
Android version 5.0 Lollipop introduced a ton of changes to the OS—and of course with new features, there's always a new set of bugs. One of the biggest bugs of all was a massive memory leak caused by the new screen-off animation, which loaded its assets into memory but never ...more
As highlighted in our article on how to enable Google Now in Action Launcher, doing so takes away the Quickdrawer. This effectively ruins one of the more beneficial features of Action Launcher, making it a tough choice between the two options. So I looked for a solution and fo ...more
Alongside Sesame Street, the Dr. Seuss universe has been a constant presence in the formative years of several generations of children in the US. Now, Dr. Seuss's creations are continuing to maintain relevance with today's youth via augmented reality, just as the Sesame Stree ...more
If you were around when the Nintendo Wii first launched, you remember how revolutionary the device was at the time. When I first encountered one, I was amazed at the simplicity of its controls, namely the fact that the Wii Remote (aka Wiimote) just felt like such a natural way ...more
Reigns recently went on sale on the Google Play Store (sorry, iPhone users), and that inspired me to give it a go. I've wanted to try this one out for a while now, but the steep price tag kept me away. ($2.99 is a lot for me, okay?) Now that I've had some time with Reigns, I ...more
Google's new camera, aptly named Google Camera, has been all the rage since it was released onto Google Play last Friday. The main reason is the amazing Lens Blur feature that adds depth-of-field Lytro effects to photos, without the use of any expensive accessories or extra ha ...more
Ingress, the godfather of location based-AR games developed by Pokémon GO creator Niantic Labs, is getting a new lease on life via Ingress Prime, a reboot of the game built on the Niantic Real World Platform. After teasing the reboot late last year, Niantic launched the new g ...more
For those who thought the action in Pokémon Go was a bit too pedestrian, Father.io wants to recruit you for a multi-player, first-person shooter that unfolds on the streets of your own city. Through a mobile app, available now on the App Store and Google Play, and a pocket-si ...more
So, it's Halloween time, and you feel like playing around with some augmented reality apps? Well, you've come to the right place — if you have an iOS device. Sure, you could load up some Halloween-themed filters on Snapchat (like the new lens sponsored by Stranger Things 2) a ...more
Everyone's a music aficionado these days. Whether you're having a party or on a road trip with friends, someone is always complaining about the music. There's no possible way to satisfy everyone, so instead of having your music drowned out by persistent nagging, turn Spotify i ...more
If you have a custom recovery installed on your Nexus 5, you're able to flash custom ROMs and lots of other cool Gadget Hacks. But when it comes time to receive and Over-the-Air (OTA) update directly from Google, having a custom recovery installed can be a fairly big hindrance ...more
In recent months, HTC has decided to start breaking its proprietary apps out of its own ecosystem and into the Google Play Store. Along with the benefit of allowing its users to update their system apps more easily, this move also means that other folks can get a glimpse of wh ...more
YouTube may have started out as a video-sharing site, but these days a lot of people use it as a source for music. When I'm browsing the internet on my desktop, I usually have a YouTube tab open in the background playing some music. Unfortunately this isn't something you can ...more
One of the best-selling video game consoles of all time is the Nintendo Entertainment System, better known by its acronym, NES. However, cartridge-based gaming consoles are a pain now when compared to the newer download-and-play alternatives. If you miss the days of old schoo ...more
For a while, Gmail only had one swipe gesture, and it could only perform one of two actions: Archive or Delete. Not that it wasn't useful — you could eliminate most spam emails in a matter of seconds by swiping left or right on any email in your inbox. But now, Google has fina ...more
Cinemagraphs are basically artistic photos that have been turned into a GIF to showcase a bit of subtle motion and give them life. Unlike regular GIFs, which can sometimes loop with a jarring cut at the end, cinemagraphs give the illusion of perpetual motion, like water drops ...more
If you have a long commute, it only makes sense to catch a bit of shuteye while you're headed to work on the train or bus. The only problem with this is that, if you're napping a little too hard, you might end up oversleeping and missing your stop when the subway pulls into yo ...more
If you need to do some hardcore multitasking on your Windows PC, a second monitor can go a long way towards getting things done. If you opt to "extend" your Windows desktop across a dual monitor setup, it's as if you have two computers side by side, with each display getting i ...more
One of Android's biggest strengths relative to iOS is the fact that you can use any app to open compatible links, not just the stock ones that come preloaded on your device. When you tap a link that two or more of your apps are capable of opening, you'll see a message asking w ...more
The Nexus 6 is one of the few devices on the market that sports a 1440p "QHD" display. This means that the amount of pixels displayed is higher than almost any other smartphone, which sounds great on the surface, but is not without its drawbacks. For one, most apps and games ...more
If you're the de facto tech support person in your family or circle of friends, you know how frustrating it can be to have to hold someone's hand and walk them through every troubleshooting step. Luckily, several options now exist for you to remotely access a Mac or Windows PC ...more
If you've ever attempted to report a bug to a developer, no doubt you've heard the response, "Get a logcat." This is infinitely important to a developer because of the fact that a logcat captures a full report of every command that was recently executed on your Android device, ...more
If you've been using Google's hidden App Ops to lock down and prevent some of your Android applications from exposing your privacy, then think twice before updating to the new Android 4.4.2 software. What Is App Ops? App Ops was Google's hidden gem that was built into the An ...more
If I were a math major, I'd probably be rolling in dough somewhere in Silicon Valley right now, but since multiplying numbers and figuring out tangents gives me panic attacks, I went the English route... pays much better. Still, I never would have graduated if I didn't pass a ...more
If you've never played with a Nexus 10 tablet, then you probably have no idea that your Nexus 7 actually has a different user interface. For some reason, Google decided it was better for the Nexus 7 to use a phone UI instead of a tablet one, but luckily for us, we don't have t ...more
On the new Moto X smartphone, the only thing you have to do to activate the virtual assistant is say "Okay, Google Now." That's it. You don't have to press a button or tap on the display at all. It's always ready for your voice commands via its "Active Listening" feature, maki ...more
It took nearly six months, but Google has finally made its wildly popular iOS keyboard available to Android users. Technically, it's just an update to the existing Google Keyboard app for Android, but it renames the app to "Gboard" and includes all of the features from iOS, so ...more
As of May 27, HBO Max is taking over your HBO Now or HBO Go account. If you have your devices set up to auto-install new app updates, you should pause it right now if your HBO app hasn't been updated yet. There's one thing you'll want to do before you make the leap. However, y ...more
The Unity 3D engine is not only responsible for facilitating the creation of 60% of AR and VR content but it also plays a significant role in producing the immersive stories that increasingly push the boundaries of cinema. Some of these daring new immersive works will now be ...more
Magic Leap is making it easier for developers to share their spatial computing experiments with other Magic Leap One users. On Thursday, Magic Leap has opened up Magic Leap World for developers to publish concepts, which as defined by Magic Leap, are "free apps with limited f ...more
At long last, the magical world of Harry Potter has received a mobile game worthy of its name. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is the game in question, and is set to touch down worldwide on June 21, 2019. For the longest time, however, the game has been available as a soft launche ...more
Bloatware remains one of the biggest problems with Android, especially when tied to a carrier. Removing bloatware usually requires you to take extreme measures like rooting. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S10 falls under this annoying umbrella, but there's an easy workaround. Pack ...more
With Pokémon GO as its cash cow and the forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Niantic Real World Platform promising future revenue streams, Niantic has convinced investors to bet on its flavor of augmented reality After reports surfaced in December that the developer wa ...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
This year's holiday shopping season is shaping up to be fertile ground for augmented reality to show its worth, as both Walmart and Target have crafted immersive experiences designed to engage shoppers in the coming weeks. But the marketing similarities end there, because the ...more
Escape rooms, those real world puzzle games that challenge teams to solve a mystery and gain their freedom from a locked room, are all the rage right now. But augmented reality games such as The Lockdown could make them obsolete. Available now via the App Store and Google Pla ...more
Every dollar that comes your way is a blessing, especially when it comes to trading in the volatile world of bitcoins. Thankfully, Coinbase rewards you for sending much valued customers their way, giving you more money to feed your cryptocurrency trading needs. Coinbase has a ...more
Stock Android is a great experience, and it's probably one of the biggest reasons that people purchase a Nexus device over other Android phones. Without carrier or manufacturer modifications to the core software, the entire user interface feels a lot more clean and snappy, and ...more
Many game developers have finally realized that in order for their games to be successful, they have to support Android. To really win Android users over, they should also accommodate us hardcore gamers who have OTG cables with the ability to hook up controllers to our devices ...more
The Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013 edition) boast beautiful 1080p screens that are capable of displaying images and videos in ultra-sharp high definition. But for some strange reason, the YouTube app only allows for streaming of 720p content on these devices. It's not a limitation ...more
One of Android's strengths when compared to other mobile operating systems is its ability to set third-party apps as the default handler of certain file types. Instead of being stuck with pre-installed system apps when it comes to opening files and links, you're free to choose ...more
Geohot's Towelroot exploit made rooting the Galaxy S5 so easy that it was almost unreasonable not to try it out—even for the first-timers out there. This, of course, meant that folks who didn't truly need root for their usage went ahead and got Superuser privileges anyway. Ma ...more
Aside from the newer HTC One M8 and Samsung Galaxy S5, the Nexus 5 still has one of the fastest processors on the market today. However, despite its superpowers, some graphically intensive games can still have a bit of lag to them during gameplay. This lag is mostly due to in ...more
One of the most common complaints about the Nexus line of devices is that they don't have expandable memory. Phones like the Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8 have a microSD card slot that allows you to easily add extra storage space for movies, music, and photos. The Nexus 5 has ...more
Your status bar is a hub of essential information, displaying things like battery life, signal strength, and missed calls and texts. Many of you have probably had your Samsung Galaxy S3 for almost two years now, so I'm sure looking at this same old status bar layout can get p ...more
There's a known issue affecting some Nexus 5 users where the speaker volume is fairly low. This could be attributed to a manufacturing defect, which you could possibly fix with a hot needle, but if your built-in speakers and headphones seem muted, don't take your Nexus apart j ...more
I regularly listen to music on my Nexus 7 while working or playing my Xbox. It's light and easy to carry around, and has basically become an extension of my body. The only thing that bugs me is having to constantly turn the screen on to pause or change music tracks. Even if I ...more
There are plenty of ways to customize your stock HTC One (or any Android device), from playing retro games to adding rotating live wallpapers. But to get the most out of your device, you need root access. After rooting, the floodgates open and you have free reign over the dev ...more
Whenever a new version of a phone comes out, there's always that one cool feature you wish you had on yours. For me, that's Group Play. On the Samsung Galaxy S4, you can easily share music, games, photos, and files to multiple devices using Group Play. While my older Galaxy S ...more
Flappy Bird is immensely popular, we already know that, but it's even more so now that the developer removed it from Google Play and the iOS App Store. Android users can still get the game fairly easy, but it's nearly impossible to install a safe version on the iPhone now, so ...more
One of the most frustrating things about full touchscreen phones, especially for those coming from one with a physical keyboard, is typing and editing text. Whether it's a quick text message, or Swyping out a full e-mail, it sucks realizing you've messed up a few words and hav ...more
The Nexus 7 is a huge jump in screen size when coming from a phone, but obviously this tablet is still smaller than some of the major players such as the Nexus 10, Galaxy Tab, etc. One way to squeeze out a little more space is to eliminate the navigation and status bars. Nels ...more
Customization is one of Android's popular selling points, and going hand-in-hand with that is being able to set default apps for different actions. Whether you want to play a song, navigate somewhere, or send a text, you can set a go-to app for each of those tasks. Upon setti ...more
Sometimes, it's very useful to be able to use more than one app on Android phone or tablet. For example, if you want to watch a movie while surfing or if you need calculator, find some contact, write a note, search web or wikipedia for some facts, etc. Fortunately, this is pe ...more
Controlling the screen rotation on your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is one of the easiest things you can do. Just slide down the Notification tray and you have instant access to the Screen Rotation toggle in the Quick Settings menu. If you want your screen orientation to automatical ...more
For me, YouTube on my Samsung Galaxy S3 is more of a music player, not a video player. I have tons of YouTube playlists for music, but since I'm mostly only interested in listening, it'd be nice if YouTube would continue to play in the background while I use other apps. There ...more
There's no shortage of cool customizations for my Samsung Galaxy S3, except when it comes to the launcher. Sure, there a ton of Android launchers out there, like Nova Launcher or Apex Launcher, that allow you to customize app placement, app grouping, infinite scrolling, etc. T ...more
A blue hedgehog runs at high-speed through fantasy environments collecting rings. Sounds a bit loony, but I’m of course taking about the Sonic adventure series that was made popular on the Sega Genesis. The days of cartridge 16-bit gaming has long been eclipsed, but nostalgia ...more