If you've never heard of geocaching, it's kind of a grown-up treasure hunt you play everywhere in the world. GPS coordinates are given as clues and the players must find the cache box. There is usually a log book to write your name and a small toy or present to collect. The l ...more
ESP8266-based microcontrollers can be used to create exciting and legal Wi-Fi hacking games to test your or your friends' Wi-Fi hacking skills. When you first start learning how to hack Wi-Fi, it can be tempting to use your powers on Wi-Fi networks you don't have permission t ...more
You should feel relatively safe to watch and post videos on TikTok, but like with any online service, you're always at the mercy of hackers. It's unfortunate, but anyone can become a target for arbitrary reasons. Maybe your TikTok videos are controversial. Maybe someone has a ...more
Apple's iOS 14 is here. With it, you'll see over 200 new features and changes hit your iPhone, including home screen widgets, inline replies in Messages, and cycling routes in Maps. Here's how you can get your hands on the brand new update. Apple released iOS 14 to compatible ...more
Working from home has its perks. You don't need to commute, you can work in your pajamas, and you don't even need to clean your house, especially if you're using Zoom for video meetings on your smartphone. Instead of clearing toys from the floor or moving that pile of clothes ...more
Every year, Apple releases a new version of iOS. Each iteration promises new features to make using your iPhone that much better. This year, iOS 13 introduces over 200 new features and changes, including system-wide Dark Mode for the first time on iPhone. That said, you might ...more
With Android 10 hitting the streets (at least for those mobile devices that get quick updates) and the public release of iOS 13 dropping on Sept. 19, Google is releasing an update on Thursday to ARCore that adds some fantastic new benefits to its cross-platform capabilities. ...more
Now that some of the best-known beauty brands are leveraging augmented reality to market and sell products, the rest of the market is beginning to catch up — fast. The latest competitor to add AR to its arsenal is direct sales makeup company Younique. This month, the company ...more
Thanks to improvements in technology, AR has become more prominent on our phones. With all the power of the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, Samsung decided to add some pretty nifty AR features. One of these is the new AR Doodle mode, a feature that will make your videos pop. AR ...more
An iPhone's display can get seriously bright, whether LCD or OLED. When you're in bed at night or in a dark room where you don't want to disturb others visually, the brightness is even more noticeable. But there are a few built-in ways in iOS to reduce brightness below the def ...more
Over the years, TV has become more of a solo activity than ever before. It is exponentially more difficult to discuss the latest shows with friends since platforms like Netflix just release all episodes at once. Luckily, Snapchat makes it easy to keep your pals in the loop on ...more
Because of the way Android is laid out, you automatically lose a portion of the top and bottom of your screen thanks to the status and navigation bars. The thing is, you don't always need the navigation buttons. By hiding them, you can enjoy more of your Galaxy S10's big, beau ...more
The camera punch hole on the S10 has gotten our creative juices flowing more than any notch ever could. First, we saw wallpapers that served to camouflage the cutout or even accentuate it. Now, if you want to go the opposite direction and highlight your S10's camera hole, ther ...more
You see them all over your Instagram Stories feed — post after post, video after video of dramatic, silly, or otherwise fun zooms. Your friends are showing off their lives through the lens of a Hollywood blockbuster, and you can do the same. Luckily, it's quite easy to accompl ...more
Tapping on your iPhone's display to pick up an incoming call can be annoying when your hands are wet or dirty. It might even fail to register and cause you to miss your call. If you have a jailbroken iPhone, however, you can get rid of this problem entirely, thanks to a free t ...more
Auditing websites and discovering vulnerabilities can be a challenge. With RapidScan and UserLAnd combined, anyone with an unrooted Android phone can start hacking websites with a few simple commands. RapidScan does an excellent job of automating the deployment of vulnerabili ...more
Browsing the web can be dangerous. With all of the various threats out there, it isn't enough to just avoid bad links and visit only HTTPS websites. You need to take advantage of the tools available to you so you don't end up the victim of some scam. Fortunately, Opera is maki ...more
CarPlay is no doubt the best way to use your iPhone when behind the wheel since you can safely drive without too many distractions. It gets even better with all the music and podcasting apps available, as well as third-party navigation apps such as Google Maps and Waze. With m ...more
Back in 2018, Spotify began testing a new mobile feature that has grown very tiresome: three to eight-second looping videos that take over the entire screen. Known as Canvases, they effectively hide the cover art and lyrics of the current song — and they're still very much aro ...more
One day after the official release of iOS 12.1.3, Apple released the first beta for iOS 12.2 to developers. The software appears to be the first in some time to be a major update. Apple's last beta cycles included 12.1.2 and 12.1.3, incremental updates to iOS 12.1. Now, we've ...more
On Instagram, you can write text over any picture or video in your Story, but it may be hard to get your message across with a distracting background. Although there is a "Type" option for Stories, which allows you to write text over colorful gradient backgrounds, the selectio ...more
While the technology companies continue to drive forward with autonomous vehicles, Nissan's vision of the future of self-driving automobiles lies in a cooperative experience between human and machine, facilitated by augmented reality. At CES 2019, which officially kicks off t ...more
Although next week will mark the late David Bowie's 72nd birthday, his fans and admirers are the ones receiving a gift in the form of an augmented reality app that explores the artist's career Available for $7.99 on the App Store and Google Play on January 8, "David Bowie Is" ...more
By default, there aren't many customization options for the notification badges on iPhones — you can either leave the numbered red bubbles there, or turn them off. But thanks to a new jailbreak tweak, you can now give your badges a unique look with new functionality. Aptly na ...more
When you're trying to get fit, friendly competition can go a long way towards keeping you motivated. Samsung Health has a great feature for just that, letting you challenge your friends or even complete strangers to bring some excitement to an otherwise routine workout experie ...more
Snapchat is joining the ranks of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, YouTube, and Apple in the trend toward streaming original programming, but with a twist that rings true to its roots. Three of the company's new shows debuted Wednesday in the Stories section of the Snapchat app for iOS ...more
I hate folder names, especially the one Apple shoves down our digital throats. On a computer, they make total sense, but on my iPhone, it's just more clutter on the home screen. You can tell what folder is what just by looking at the app icons within it, so why are we forced t ...more
Apple's new iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max are sure to be hits this year. Of course, that means plenty of hungry customers are looking to sign up for a model once preorders begin on Friday, Sept. 14, for the XS models, and Oct. 19 for the XR. Luckily, there are preemptive actions y ...more
While they don't do augmented reality just yet, the latest styles of Snapchat's Spectacles 2 camera glasses serve as a peek into the future of how mainstream AR wearables may look. On Wednesday, the company unveiled two new styles, Nico and Veronica, that expand its Spectacle ...more
With summer in full swing, these Snapchat lenses are as hot as ever. With people celebrating the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Snapchat contests that earn could earn you a free ride to Comic Con, and the everyday innovation that comes out of Lens Studio, there's something for ever ...more
Ever since 2009, you could send a photo or video that you've already taken right from the Messages app on your iPhone. You would just tap on the camera icon next to the new message box, then choose either to take a new one or select one from your library. If you're running iOS ...more
As summer is upon us, new musical Snapchat lenses are as well. This week has entries from Maroon 5, Simon and Garfunkel, and Snow Tha Product with entertaining visuals to match. As kids start to leave school for the summer, expect the lens scene to be kicked up a notch with an ...more
Apple is putting their Workflow acquisition to use with the new Shortcuts feature, integrated right into Siri. It allows you to connect commonly-used actions to a phrase that you activate with Siri. In addition to some of the other speed improvements in iOS 12, Shortcuts helps ...more
Among iOS 11's many criticisms, one of the more surprising complaints came from parents worried that Apple wasn't doing enough to monitor and control their children's iPhone usage. Apple seems to have taken these issues to heart, as iOS 12 introduces new and improved parental ...more
If you're looking for your gaming fix and nothing on the App Store is piquing your interest, you should give soft-launched games a try. These are games that haven't been released in the US yet because they're getting tested in smaller markets first. Using a simple workaround, ...more
This week's crop of Snapchat lenses is jam packed with pop culture, and spot-on examples at that. Post Malone and Famous Dex are super hot right now, and there's a ton of buzz surrounding Arrested Development's latest season. If you just stumbled here and don't know what to d ...more
Samsung Experience (better known as TouchWiz) can take some time to get used to when you switch to a Galaxy from another Android device. It's a bit heavy-handed with the features, and many consider the UI theme to be a little over the top. Thankfully, there are several stock s ...more
Consumers are chomping at the bit for augmented reality smartglasses from Cupertino's finest, but one market analyst is saying not so fast, Apple fans. Meanwhile, automotive AR is gaining speed, with the latest milestone coming courtesy of a major investment in waveguides by C ...more
In this week of Snapchat lenses, there was a significant increase in ones that involve Marvel superheroes (the Infinity War effect), as well as ones with YouTubers. Classic sitcoms will also always do well, as evidenced by some of my previous roundups. Overall, lenses are doin ...more
In the wild world of Snapchat lenses, this week was an especially good one for cool effects. Lens-crafters (really hoping I can get that name to stick) have gotten a lot better at making non-gimmicky lenses that allow you to interact with them in new and unique ways. New to t ...more
Screen pinning is a fairly unknown feature despite the fact that it's been around since 2014. It's a helpful security tool that limits access to your device to only one app — perfect for those times when someone asks to borrow your phone. While previous versions kept this feat ...more
Cosmetics maker Coty is hanging an augmented reality Magic Mirror on the wall of its Bourjois boutique in Paris that will tell customers which shade of makeup will make them the fairest of them all. And while the concept of AR-powered cosmetics marketing isn't new, Coty's ver ...more
Even if your default mobile browser is Google Chrome, you may not want Google to also be your search engine. Maybe you're not impressed with Google's search results all the time, maybe you want a more private search experience, or maybe you just don't want Google's hands over ...more
Spring is finally here (in earnest now), and a new batch of great augmented reality Snapchat lenses have come along with it. New life has been breathed into meme culture with the spring lineup of TV shows, Mark Zuckerberg's ongoing investigation, and college kids with too much ...more
While you were slaving away at work or school or whatever you were so busy doing over the last seven days, people have been hard at work creating a variety of new Snapchat lenses for your enjoyment. These lenses are hot off the presses, and I'm honestly really impressed with t ...more
Business cards are a great way to keep tabs on the contacts we network with. So why shouldn't our smartphones make them even more useful? Enter Google Lens, which will help you save, search, and expand on the contact information found on all of the business cards you've collec ...more
Another year, another Oscars. This year's red carpet coverage kicks off Sunday, March 4, at 6:30 p.m. EST, while the ceremony itself starts at 8:00 p.m. EST. Finding a stream online isn't always the most straightforward endeavor, especially if you want it to be free. To avoid ...more
Apple's Animojis took the world by storm with their ease of use and fluidity. They added new life to your emojis by mapping your face with the technology that lives inside the iPhone X. Now, Samsung is also adding new life to emjojis with the introduction of AR Emojis in the G ...more
When Google first announced Android Oreo (Go edition), many believed these devices would be focused more on developing countries. However, thanks to ZTE, we'll be getting Android Go stateside, so US customers on even the tightest of budgets can still enjoy the convenience of a ...more
When the Nintendo 3DS XL came out, I traded in my regular sized Nintendo 3DS for one — but I ended up hating it. The XL just felt big and unwieldy, and because the screens were larger (with the same resolution), it ended up looking blurrier than the regular 3DS. This, to a les ...more
We regret to inform you the former king of third-party keyboards, Swype, has officially retired on both Android and iOS. A few weeks ago, we noticed Swype's mysterious disappearance from the iOS App Store but had hoped it was just pulled temporarily, not gone forever. Unfortun ...more
Among consumer brands, cosmetics companies rival furniture retailers as the quickest to adopt augmented reality as a means to help customers visualize how products will look before they buy them. One cosmetics brand called Benefit has moved beyond lipstick and rouge to let cu ...more
It's long past time to face the facts: farts are funny. The first fart joke dates back nearly 4,000 years to the ancient Sumerian people. References to flatulence were also found in ancient Greece within the works of Aristophanes. (More like Aristo-fannies, am I right?) A sta ...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
Now that the holiday season has officially kicked off, Office Depot has updated its popular Elf Yourself app with a few new augmented reality options. But you'd be excused if you weren't overly thrilled with the implementation. For those who are unfamiliar with the app, Elf ...more
It looks like there is a fatal flaw in the current macOS High Sierra 10.13.1, even straight from the login menu when you first start up the computer. This severe vulnerability lets hackers — or anyone with malicious intentions — do anything they want as root users as long as t ...more
Have you ever wanted the perfect radio station for an artist, genre, or even one to match your mood? Luckily, Google Play Music has an extensive radio feature that takes you exactly where you and your friends want to go for a quiet brunch, or a neighbors-banging-on-the-walls d ...more
If you've running iOS 11.1 through iOS 11.1.2, whether you have an iPhone X or an iPhone 5S, you'll notice that Apple's Calculator app can't keep up with your calculations. That's a because a bug has seriously slowed it down so that operation buttons won't always trigger when ...more
Any sufficiently cool new technology will be immediately repurposed to do something even cooler. Such is the case with Apple's iPhone X and its Animoji feature, which has led to something completely unanticipated: Animoji karaoke. The best example of this new pastime being en ...more
With the release of the Pixel 2 XL and the iPhone X, smartphones have hit a new high not just in price, but also raw processing power. These new flagships not only cost more than twice as much as an Xbox One or PlayStation 4, they have also become almost as powerful as far as ...more