Remote Control Lock

The old school staple of many US homes with children, the remote control race track, has been given new life in augmented reality thanks to the Room Racer app for iPhones and iPads. Using ARKit, the app places a miniature race track on a floor or tabletop. The game includes n ...more

Samsung's Gear VR headset is a thing of beauty; unfortunately, it only works with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. That's where ImmersiON-VRelia's Head-Mounted Displays come in to play. With four different HMD models, we got a hands-on look at "The Go," which is not only affordable ...more

Personally, I know life would be a lot easier if the people in it could just read my mind. Since that technology is currently unavailable, it's comforting to know that your air conditioner can be your personal telepathist with Sensibo. Sensibo works with any A/C unit that has ...more

While the Play Store has a plethora of apps available for finding lost Android phones, Google came out with its own web-based application, Google Device Manager, earlier this year to help you keep track of all your Android devices and remote lock, erase, ring, and track if nee ...more

YouTube and Vimeo are two of the most well known video websites, and each receive millions of views a month, with YouTube being one of the most visited sites in the world. Well, for folks who have mobile phones, but like watching videos on a TV or other large display, now ther ...more

With hordes of games populating the Google Play Store, it's grown increasingly difficult to find trending, non-gaming apps that you might find useful on your Android device. There are a few in the Top Charts pages, peppered in among the various games you'll never play, but oth ...more

Google's Android TV-powered set-top box normally sells for about $100, but for the next 4 days, the Nexus Player can be purchased for roughly half that price when you consider credits. When purchased through this page on Amazon, you'll get a list price of $69.27, but that wil ...more

So, you want to cause a little mischief, do you? Here are six super-easy pranks to help you make the most out of April Fool's Day (or pretty much any other day of the year). There's something here for everyone—TV fiends, magic trick lovers, fruitoholics, and even spam companie ...more

The NVIDIA Shield is essentially a game controller with a screen attached so you can take your music, movies and games wherever you go. It lets you stream the PC games you already have over Wi-Fi so you don't have to be in front of the computer to play them. LinusTechTips was ...more

You may already know that you can build a functional circuit on a sheet of paper with the graphite from a pencil, but you'd probably never think of using it to fix an electronic device. This same principle can be used to bring back a bricked phone, but can also repair a damage ...more

If you ride your bike or motorcycle a lot, especially in a large city, you've probably had a few close calls. No matter how safely you're driving, you never know what other people are going to do, and being on a smaller vehicle makes you difficult to see. Most bicyclists rely ...more

Want to secure your home? There are plenty of ways to go about it. You can make your doorbell send you a text if someone rings it while you're not home, or build a motion-triggered security camera. Even better, you can beat potential crooks at their own game by installing a do ...more

There are plenty of ways to create time-lapse photos and videos, but most of them are taken over the course of several hours. If you want to do a longer term shoot over several weeks or months, you'll need a battery that can last that long, and you probably don't want to leave ...more

It's tough out there on the battlefield, especially when your stuck in the trenches and your comrades are dropping like flies. There's no hope. At least, until the next airsoft battle. So, enlist the help of a little unmanned airsoft artillery with this DIY motion-activated a ...more

An influx of creative photography apps has struck iOS 6 since its release, and developer Daniel Amitay has now added to the stream of cool photo applications with WiFi Camera, a new remote-photography tool. The app works by linking up two iOS devices (iPhone or iPad) through ...more

If you've grown bored of day-to-day hacking and need a new toy to experiment with, we've compiled a list of gadgets to help you take password cracking and wireless hacking to the next level. If you're not a white hat or pentester yourself but have one to shop for, whether for ...more

While Google Stadia currently needs to be sideloaded on Chromecast with Google TV, there are a handful of games that are compatible with the streaming device and require a gamepad. But you don't need to buy a specific controller just for your Chromecast, you can use one you al ...more

The reveal of Magic Leap One: Creator Edition brought with it some insight into the path the device took from prototype to "final" design. By comparing notes with the Rolling Stone article on Magic Leap with other reports on comparable milestones, we get a clearer picture of ...more

Like insurance, it's always better to have a computer mouse and not need it than to need it and not have it. Honestly, I don't want to carry around a clunky mouse with my laptop, so I don't. I do something else, something more convenient. I use my Nexus 7. If you want to give ...more

While the new Google TV interface and its ability to run apps are the scene-stealers of the new Chromecast, Google's new hardware has many of the same hallmarks of its predecessors. That includes Ambient Mode, the screensaver (formerly known as Backdrop) that turns your TV in ...more

I've used the flashlight feature on my iPhone more times than I can count. It's an invaluable tool that's super easy to activate; just pull up the Control Center and hit the flashlight icon. However, turning it off isn't always as easy, especially when you're on the lock scree ...more

It's pretty clear with all of the annoying "Get YouTube Premium" pop-ups that litter the YouTube app that Google really wants you to pay for its Premium membership tier. That's why you'll see that "Get background play with YouTube Premium" ad after closing YouTube with a video ...more

Your phone's volume panel is one part of the user interface that usually goes unnoticed to themers and developers. With themes capable of changing the look and feel of the fingerprint scanner, keyboard, and other system apps, this central aspect of the UI seems to get lost in ...more

If you've sideloaded apps on your Nexus Player, you're surely aware that not very many are optimized for use with a remote control. This can make navigating such apps a pretty big hassle, since they were designed with touchscreen input in mind. But the Nexus Player can actual ...more

On Friday, game developer PreviewLabs released the first online multiplayer game for the Microsoft HoloLens. Available for free on the Microsoft Store, Buggy Blasters is a real-time strategy game in which players place and navigate armies of virtual remote control cars. Using ...more

There's nothing worse than losing your phone—except losing your phone when the ringer is silent. If you're alone, it can be excruciatingly hard to find your lost device even if the ringer is on, considering most of us don't have landlines anymore. So, the next time you find yo ...more

The mystery surrounding Overture, an app that showed up in the Magic Leap World app store along with the latest Lumin software release, has been cleared up. When I first discovered Overture earlier this week, before the official update announcement, I tried using it. And whil ...more

Vuzix Corporation has lifted the preorder status on its M300 Smart Glasses, making the augmented reality device available for purchase by resellers, registered developers, enterprises, and consumers. The M300 is targeted for business use-cases, particularly industrial, constr ...more

Amazon has launched its Chromecast competitor, the Amazon Fire TV Stick, which is available for pre-order today. This little dongle has four times the storage and twice the memory of Google's Chromecast, plus many of the features found in Amazon's Fire TV set-top box. Pricing ...more

Samsung just concluded their live unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S4! A more in-depth look can be found here. Today's special live "Unpacked" event from Samsung Mobile is underway in New York City, where the much anticipated unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is happening. Yo ...more

Remember the 1960's American television series Batman, with Adam West as Bruce Wayne? It was waaaaay before my time. The caped crusader that I'm more familiar with is actually this one... When I first heard of Adam West, it was him doing the Batusi on The Simpsons. I had no id ...more

As Hummer puts it, it's "The Ultimate Gadget for Grown-Ups." Dr. James Brighton from Britain's Cranfield University has converted a full-size Hummer H3 into a working remote control vehicle. According to U.K.'s The Sun: It works exactly like a normal vehicle - but is driven ...more

Over the past decade, Marvel Studios has been a dominant force at the box office, raking in more than $21 billion dollars. Averaged out over that span of time, the yearly earnings of those movies outweigh the gross domestic product of some countries. And while those films hav ...more

The long and slow road toward the actual release of the Magic Leap One appears to be accelerating, with a couple of new demonstrations of how the system works revealed in this week's creator's portal updates along with the company's developer documentation. Following the much ...more

The future of smartglasses for consumers seems ever dependent on Apple's entry into the market. Coincidentally, the exit of Apple's long-time design chief Jony Ive has shed some light on that eventual entrance. Meanwhile, as the enterprise sector of AR continues to expand, on ...more

Norway-based production tools company Vizrt is putting the real into augmented reality with its broadcast AR solution that's designed to keep sports fans (and other audiences) watching. A couple of weeks ago, Chris Black, the head of content and communications at Vizrt, demoe ...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

Spotify is how I listen to almost all of my music; I use it on my way to work, while I workout, and even while I'm in the shower. And more often than not, I use my Spotify account on various devices including my MacBook, iPhone, and LG G3. In order to make listening to music a ...more

You're at your friend's house. All you've heard about all day is his new laptop. He's got a brand new top-specced MacBook Pro, and he won't stop going on about it. It particularly annoys you as all you've got is a 4 year old cheap laptop, even if it is running Linux. If only ...more

With so many Chromecast-powered devices available, chances are, you're near something with casting abilities right now. Whether it's Android TV, Google Home, or any one of the various gadgets with Chromecast built-in, you can use a more powerful speaker to play media from your ...more

It's here! Apple just released the latest version of iOS today, Monday, March 25. Version 12.2 has seen six beta releases, spanning the course of fewer than three months. The new update sports 30+ awesome features, including new Animoji, air quality reports in Apple Maps, and ...more

When it comes to media players, few are more capable than VLC. With its extensive codec support, VLC is able to play almost any video file. Partly due to its open-source nature, features are constantly added. This trend has continued with a new update that added native Chromec ...more

When it comes to added features, no manufacturer out there can hold a candle to Samsung. Whether it's a remote control for all of your electronics, a heart rate and stress level monitor, or a seemingly-magical stylus, Galaxy devices always have as much functionality as possibl ...more

Screen mirroring was a long-awaited feature for the Chromecast, now available for select devices (and even more with root). While great news for those who couldn't wait to play games, watch movies, and browse pictures on a big screen, it did mean that you had to keep your devi ...more

There's always an iPhone in our list of top phones for privacy and security, due in large part to advanced security measures like Face ID, consistent iOS updates, and easy ways to prevent unwanted access and excessive data sharing. However, some of those options actually do th ...more

iPhones aren't immune to occasional bugs. But starting with the iPhone X, performing a reboot to fix minor issues has gotten a little more tedious. Thankfully, iOS 13 has a hidden option that makes the process a whole lot simpler. The old ways to restart a "notched" iPhone re ...more

There are two types of tablet users in the world—those who like their quick settings up top, and those who want them on the bottom. I fall into the latter category, and there are a couple of reasons for it. The first is because the Nexus 7 has both notification and quick sett ...more

Why unlock your Samsung Galaxy S3 to use with a different SIM card? One possible reason is that you love your phone, but not your cellular provider because of the poor service or an unreliable connection. If you purchased a Samsung GS3 with AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. on a contract, ...more

Unlocking your Samsung Galaxy S4 so you can use a different SIM card isn't the easiest thing in the world. In the states, unlocking cell phones was actually illegal, despite the White House's disapproval, though, a recent bill has making its way to the House floor and has made ...more

You can easily lock any folder on your Windows computer with a simple Notepad hack. By creating a batch file, you can hide a folder and require a password be entered before it becomes visible and accessible. This is a great tool for locking sensitive information, like pictures ...more

Have the sniffles? Yes. Does your head hurt? Yes. Coughing? Yes. Could you have influenza? Yes. How do you know the difference? With these symptoms, you could also have a cold. In the US right now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that flu season is ...more

Not many people use their phone exclusively for making calls or sending messages today. If you're an Android user, the chances are high that you're using your phone or tablet for work-related activities. However, the basic set of apps and services your device was shipped with ...more

Your iPhone has a lot of personal information contained within it, so of course you want your device to be secure. You don't want that information getting into the wrong hands — or any hands other than your own, for that matter. This guide breaks down the new privacy settings ...more

Here at Next Reality, our typical approach to all things augmented reality involves vision combined with remote control, either via a handheld device, gaze control, or hand/finger tracking. But a new dynamic takes the notion of interaction with virtual content into a new real ...more

The physical Camera Control button on the side of the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, or 16 Pro Max is great for launching Apple's Camera app and adjusting settings like exposure, depth, and zoom with press and swipe gestures. But it's not just for the Camera app. Camera Control a ...more

Privacy and security go hand in hand, especially for smartphones. When it comes to privacy, you decide what personal information about yourself is out there to discover. Security, on the other hand, is all about enforcing those privacy decisions. Sometimes privacy and securit ...more

When it comes to your security, you want the best of the best. Why settle for mediocre service with something as valuable as your protection? Malware continues to make its way onto the Play Store, leaving millions of devices vulnerable. You need an app that will shield your de ...more

The Ring/Silent switch on the side of the iPhone has always had one purpose—to toggle ring mode/silent mode. But in iOS 9, Apple gave us another choice, and that's locking the orientation of the screen. This could be a great new feature for some of you. Personally, I usually ...more

Starting in iOS 11, Apple introduced a QR code scanner for iPhone that's baked right into the Camera app, reducing the need for a third-party scanner. However, not everyone knew it existed, so a lot of users were still using third-party QR code scanners. In iOS 12 and later, A ...more

I've already showed you how to magically unlock your Samsung Galaxy S3 with the simple wave of a hand, but why stop there? Sure, you could go out and purchase a Samsung Galaxy S4 so you have Air Gestures that let you control the lock screen, SMS, sound, wireless, and more. We ...more