New Years Tradition

One of my favorite perks of this job is the opportunity to try out all the big flagship phones each year. Whether it's rating their suitability for a particular use-case or just entering their specs into our comparison tool, we have to get our hands on all major phones release ...more

One core theme with each new iteration of iOS is the introduction of at least one or two features that fans have been hoping to see for years. With iOS 13, that feature is swipe typing, a first for the native iOS keyboard. While some of us have been getting our glide-typing fi ...more

If preorder delays are any indication, the iPhone X certainly has some buzz. But does the X have the quality to support that buzz in the long run? After all, a $1,000 (or more) iPhone feels more like an investment than a smartphone purchase. The question on any prospective buy ...more

If you've been following NextReality, you've surely seen me around, or at least have seen my articles. My name is Jason Odom, aka Subere23, and it's about time for a formal introduction. My background primarily falls in the computer game industry, and I have co-owned a small ...more

Significant strides have been in the race to find antibiotics to treat superbug infections — those caused by bacteria resistant to the antibiotics used to treat them. Now, an international team of scientists has discovered a new antibiotic produced by a microbe found in Italia ...more

Samsung's Note series is directly responsible for some of the biggest innovations in smartphones. As the first "phablet," it sparked the current craze for bigger screens, and the S Pen stylus has been mimicked numerous times. Even the curved display made famous by the Galaxy S ...more

The once blurry and mysterious vision of Magic Leap's future is slowly coming into focus in the present, despite the company's obsessive attempts to keep any and all information under wraps until the next reveal is absolutely necessary. A new tidbit of information hints at an ...more

Although the HoloLens is still primarily the domain of developers and researchers, the device is nevertheless on the cutting edge of showing us what will be possible with augmented reality in the coming years. The latest example comes via Microsoft Japan and a new concept vide ...more

Since its debut 9 years ago, the iOS App Store has always had roughly the same functionality: Featured apps, categories, top charts, a search function, and a place to update your apps. But starting with iOS 11, that's all changing — drastically. A new Today section full of cu ...more

On October 17, 1943, a story in the New York Herald Tribune read "Many laymen — husbands, wives, parents, brothers, sisters, friends — beg Dr. Keefer for penicillin," according to the American Chemical Society. Dr. Chester Keefer of Boston was responsible for rationing the new ...more

The beauty of Nexus devices is they receive firmware updates faster than any other Android phone, and keep getting updates for years longer than most of the competition. This means that you can always use the great new features that come along with an Android update, and even ...more

You can almost detect the collective breath-holding of the augmented reality industry as it waits for Apple's inevitable entry. A new Apple wearable built with augmented reality technology is likely the device that will finally make the smartphone take a backseat. Apple's for ...more

Google just announced that it will be bringing the Google Assistant—previously an exclusive feature on Pixel phones—to many more devices in the coming days. The only requirement they're giving is that the phone must be running either Android Marshmallow or Android Nougat, so a ...more

Hello my anxious hackers, the week has started and here we begin a new series that I think will help many here and not only, for those that have the opportunity to follow our tutorials but they are not yet part of the community. Don't be a script-kid? what do you mean? In pro ...more

The iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max's new Scene Detection mode automatically adjusts Camera's settings to best suit your subject. That means it won't use the same shooting options for a close-up shot of your friend as it would a wide-angle landscape picture. If you ...more

For the past five years, Apple has been hosting live media events in September to reveal new Apple products and the stable release for its latest operating systems. This year is no different, and it has a Sept. 15 date, but it may not be the only event coming up before the end ...more

The leading platforms enabling augmented reality technology lead our headlines in Market Reality this week. Unity Technologies received a sizable investment and PTC striking another development partnership as its annual LiveWorx conference wraps up. Fittingly, both companies ...more

A new study confirms that antibiotics can prevent surgical intervention if your child's appendix becomes inflamed, potentially saving his or her life. Attached to the large intestine, the appendix is a finger-shaped organ about three to four inches in length. When inflamed by ...more

Although styluses and smartphones have existed together for years, the iPhone has always ignored the pairing. After all, "Who wants a stylus?" But ever since the Apple Pencil made its debut on iPad, the rumor mill has churned out the idea that an iPhone could one day see stylu ...more

Like gas on an open flame, rumors and whispers have flared up in recent months around hopes of augmented reality smartglasses from Apple. But among all the false leads and unsubstantiated chatter, we finally have a credible report that some sort of Apple AR smartglasses are ac ...more

Two companies behind a number of augmented reality devices have joined forces to develop a 3D depth-sensing camera system that will facilitate computer vision capabilities for augmented/virtual reality experiences and more. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., whose processors power ...more

Welcome back, my rookie hackers! For some time now, I have been contemplating this issue, can we hack back the hackers? As someone who plays on both sides of the cyber security ping pong match, I've wondered whether I can use my hacking skills in self-defense of my clients. A ...more

What Is Graphene? Graphene is a very thin layer of graphite. Graphite is made out of carbon (the mother of all elements), and is normally used in pencils. Graphite is also used for brake padding in larger vehicles, the batteries in laptops or portable gaming systems, and in t ...more

Google's been using their "Material Design" look in Android for years now, but a change is coming up with "Material Design 2," their updated version focusing on new colors, icons, and spacing. Whether it'll be called "Material Design 2" or not remains to be seen, but you can t ...more

Now that the cutting-edge iPhone X is up for preorder, everyone is excited to see how the new device will compare to offerings from Apple's competitors. Namely the Galaxy Note 8, which is a beast of a phone in its own right. The reasoning behind wanting to see how the iPhone ...more

A few years ago, the Hilton hotel group unrolled the Digital Key, a feature of the Hilton Honors app that allows you to unlock your hotel room with your smartphone. While there may be concern that this technology could be hacked and thus give others access to your room, Hilto ...more

Despite what you may have heard, sleep is NOT for the weak. It's essential, not to mention it makes us feel a hell of a lot better in general. But for some, getting to sleep is easier said than done. In fact, about 50 million to 70 million people in the US have a sleep or wake ...more

Now that its first developer conference is in the rearview mirror, Magic Leap continues to nurture its content development community, this time with an assist from strategic investor and retail partner AT&T. After accepting submissions through Oct. 26, Magic Leap held its fir ...more

It's about time people acknowledged that judging drug users would do nothing productive to help them. In the US this week, two new programs are launching that should help addicts be a little safer: Walgreens Healthcare Clinic will begin offering to test for HIV and hepatitis C ...more

Unless you like paying exorbitant prices for out-of-contract phones, most of us are stuck with the one we already have for two or more years. The tech industry moves fast, and as new phones are released seemingly every month, your Samsung Galaxy S4 might start looking older by ...more

Whether you've made a resolution to try and read more books this year or are just looking to set time aside to listen to an audiobook a little bit each day, building good reading habits can be tough with a busy life. However, with iOS 13, Apple Books includes reading goals, wh ...more

During the Google I/O 2019 keynote, the latest Android Q Beta was released to the public for Pixel smartphones along with 15 other non-Pixel devices. It's the third Developer Preview for Android 10, but it's the first official public beta outside of Google's Pixel smartphones. ...more

Update (February 2019): The methods below will help on older Android versions, but we've recently revisited this topic. So if you have a newer Android phone and you want to get rid of Google, head here. It seems like every week there is a new exposé revealing all of the backr ...more

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me!" That iconic quote from the 1987 movie RoboCop was repeated by kids like me for years. The 2014 reboot introduced the baddest robot-cop on the planet to new audiences worldwide. While it didn't live up to the amazingly high expectations s ...more

For years, astronomers have been trying to figure out how our galaxy came to be. Even with the help of high-performance computers, no model of a spiral galaxy has ever been able to recreate the Milky Way, until now. An international team of researchers has created the first su ...more

Two years ago, the 50th anniversary of the moon landing gave flight to a handful of Apollo 11 augmented reality apps and experiences, including one from the Smithsonian Channel. Now, as NASA's latest unmanned mission to Mars is scheduled to land on Thursday, the Smithsonian C ...more

How frustrating is it to watch YouTube in 4K on your computer, Roku, or Amazon Fire Stick, only to settle for measly 1080p on your brand-new iPhone? For years, those of us on iOS had no option for streaming YouTube videos in full resolution, but these days, things are finally ...more

After testing a series of Android 8.0 builds, Essential hit the reset button and jumped to Android 8.1 Oreo. The beta program didn't last long, as Essential has now released the official 8.1 update to the masses. The features from the 8.0 betas are all still there, plus a few ...more

As you may have already heard, the worst bug in OpenSSL history went public yesterday, dubbed Heartbleed. While we can go deeper into the technical details of it later, the short version is that OpenSSL, the library used to encrypt much of the web running on Linux and Apache h ...more

There are more than a few exciting new Home Screen customization options available in the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 software updates, including some we've been waiting years for. Apple never mentioned a few of these new features and changes in the release notes, but you can see the ...more

Aside from the addition of bedtime sleep schedules five years ago, Apple's Clock app has largely been ignored with each new iOS software update. But that just changed with Apple's iOS 17 software update. With the updated Clock app, you can finally set more than one timer to ru ...more

Indoor electric grills are nothing new; George Foreman grills have been around for over 20 years now, providing healthy, smokeless grilling options for indoor use. Yet as nifty and fun as George Foreman grills are, indoor grills have never been considered a hot item for passio ...more

With how quickly technology evolves in this day and age, it's only natural that people replace their computers every couple years—even sooner. It seems that right when you get a new desktop, there's always a faster model with more features released the following week. What do ...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

For years, PuTTy has reigned supreme as the way to establish a Secure Shell (SSH) connection. However, those days are numbered with the addition of the OpenSSH server and client in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, which brings Windows up to par with macOS and Linux's abili ...more

OnePlus will be releasing a new phone in the second half of 2018, specifically, an upgrade to their T-series. Over the past two years, #T versions have come out about five months after their predecessors and have included small updates that fix any problems from the previous O ...more

Apple isn't the only retailer that can boast futuristic-looking storefronts. Microsoft has been opening stores for more than five years, flaunting a contemporary vibe that consumers know all too well. Now, the computer giant has officially opened its first-ever flagship store ...more

After two years of poor sales, LG decided to shake up its mobile division. New executives are at the helm, and changes to their flagship lineups are already underway. Specifically, the V series is expanding, as LG announced the second new device in the series, the LG V35 ThinQ ...more

According to Alex Kipman, HoloLens inventor and futurist at Microsoft, the smartphone is already obsolete. In an interview with Bloomberg, Kipman boldly stated that the HoloLens will eventually replace the smartphone and drive society right into a new augmented normal. Kipman ...more

Ever since JamCity dropped the first trailer for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, fans have been eager to get their hands on the game. What Harry Potter fanatic wouldn't want to live out their own Hogwarts adventure on their iPhone or Android device? Well, we now know when the ...more

Young girls, especially those who live in areas where HIV is epidemic, like sub-Saharan Africa, are particularly vulnerable to becoming infected with HIV. A vaginal ring containing the antiviral agent dapivirine has been shown to decrease the chance of developing HIV-1 in adul ...more

The new Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ phones were announced on March 29 at the Samsung UNPACKED 2017 event. Preorders start on March 30 for the Korean tech giant's latest flagships, and sales officially begin in the US on April 21. Samsung will need a smooth release to win ...more

Though many students spend four years of high school learning a foreign language, most of us probably retained very little. Chalk it up to the carelessness of youth, but chances are you've since been in situations or places that left you wishing you paid more attention in clas ...more

RIP Touch ID. Apple's fingerprint sensor on iPhone and iPad models with Home buttons is about to become phased out on Wednesday, Sept. 12. While Touch ID will remain an integral part of models from the iPhone 5S to the iPhone 8 Plus, as well as the iPad Air 2 through the sixth ...more

A new Sony patent shows the company doubling down on mobile gaming, and it could mean more advanced controller features for your iPhone or Android phone, similar to those in PlayStation's DualSense and DualShock controllers. Mobile gaming is one of the most lucrative parts of ...more

We're a few weeks away from the fireworks associated with New Year's celebrations, but that doesn't mean you can't start a little early — in augmented reality. The team at Weta Workshop, recently released a small immersive game called Boosters that they created for a little o ...more

MoviePass was once the best subscription service on the market for getting cheap movie tickets. For the price and the number of films you could see and save money on, it was unbeatable, but recent changes to the service have made it less enticing. While it still works well for ...more

When Facebook launched its first hardware products last year, the Portal and Portal+ smart displays, the company mostly touted its video-calling features as it faced off against Amazon and its Echo Show. But Facebook also had an interesting feature that mostly flew under the ...more

Most of today's mobile augmented reality apps focus on individual experiences, but a new entrant into the space wants to make things a bit more social. Battle tested for years in the realm of virtual reality, vTime is finally bringing its immersive social chat experience into ...more

It looks like Samsung is stronger than ever, as evidenced by their quarterly forecast, which suggests a global profit of $8.8 billion, the company's highest mark in three years. Impressive, considering the spectacular failure of the Note7, Samsung's last flagship prior to the ...more