The fourth and final beta version of Android O just made its debut, and the biggest change is what appears to be a new code name. When you access Android 8.0's version number Easter egg, you'll be greeted by ... a cartoon octopus. Octopus starts with the letter "O," and Googl ...more
With mobile developers near and far primed to implement augmented reality into their iOS apps with Apple's ARKit, uSens offers them a new tool for markerless location tracking. The tracking solutions provider announced today that they have developed an inside-out positional t ...more
The Washington Post believes augmented reality adds an extra layer to stories, and they're doubling down on that belief by adding in new AR features into their already popular "rainbow" news (iOS and Android) and Classic (iOS and Android) news apps. Last year the media compan ...more
The Pixel and Pixel XL come with an awesome data-saving feature called Wi-Fi Assistant that automatically connects to open internet hotspots, then creates a secure VPN on your device to keep your data safe. When you're connected to a Wi-Fi network, internet speeds are general ...more
As the first phones to be made by Google, the new Pixel and Pixel XL have several slick customizations that you won't find on any other Android device. There's tons of functional stuff like the new Google Assistant and a much-improved camera app, but also a few aesthetic tweak ...more
Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, and now, Black and Jet Black—these are the available colors for Apple's all-new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Or, if you prefer regular colors instead of marketing terms, then your options are gray, yellow, pink, black, and shiny black, respectively. The ...more
While there are tools online that let you turn photos into interesting emoji art, and mobile apps that let you create emoji mosaics, none do it better than an iPhone app by second verse, which makes it a super easy, highly customizable process. Fotomoji, introduced last Febru ...more
With every version bump, Android gets a new Easter egg that can be accessed by tapping the "Android version" entry in Settings. For the most part, these have generally been little animations or live wallpapers that depict the Android code name, but starting with version 5.0 Lo ...more
It's official: The next version of Android will be code-named "Marshmallow," and we're getting a whole number bump to version 6.0. Lots of exciting new changes are coming to the world's most popular operating system, including a "Now on Tap" feature that will give you relevant ...more
The Galaxy S6 Edge comes with a very nice pair of earbuds, which might possibly be the best set I've ever owned. They're quite comfortable, and they provide clear and robust sound, but they could still use just a little boost in volume. If you've found that your Galaxy S6 Edg ...more
It feels like just yesterday Apple unveiled iOS 13 to the world, introducing game-changing features like system-wide dark mode and enhanced editing tools in Photos. But WWDC 2020 is rapidly approaching, which means iOS 14 is as well. As it turns out, we don't need to wait for ...more
On Monday, with just days left before Christmas, Lowe's dropped a surprise augmented reality treat in everyone's lap: a brand new Magic Leap One app. With little fanfare or warning, the Lowe's Showroom app popped up in the Magic Leap World section on the Magic Leap One as a f ...more
When the announcement of the Cheddar app for Magic Leap first went out on Tuesday morning, the app was not available on my updated Magic Leap One (located in New York City). However, after checking throughout the day, I can confirm that the app is now live. The free app downl ...more
We've seen all the Magic Leap One glamour shots, and we've even shown you a bit of what it looks like to view augmented reality on the device. But there's something else us super geeks appreciate more than anyone else: the grand unboxing! I met Magic Leap's Enjoy representati ...more
After Apple's recent fiasco, it's now common knowledge that smartphone batteries degrade over time. But aside from causing terrible battery life, a degraded battery can also trick your phone's software into thinking the device has more juice left than it actually does. I'll e ...more
Two brands with affinities for augmented reality, Marvel and the NBA, joined forces to inject some AR superpowers into Monday night's matchup of the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans. While ESPN carried the traditional broadcast of the game, ESPN2 delivered a spe ...more
Now that MLB has finally begun to play ball without fans, the NBA is gearing up to restart its season with 22 out of teams qualifying to play in isolation in Orlando and advance to the playoffs. While baseball teams are piping in crowd noise from MLB The Show and propping up ...more
One Instagram creator's augmented reality homage to Disney's deep bench of animated characters has earned him fifteen minutes of fame. Taking a page from the enchanted book attraction at the Sorcerer's Workshop of Disney California Adventure, content creator Arno Partissimo p ...more
While augmented reality industry continues to grow, analog board games are also making a comeback. So, why not join the two together? That's the gist behind Tilt Five, an augmented reality headset that projects 3D content onto a game board. Players interact with the games via ...more
Because of its ability to place digital content into the real world, augmented reality lends itself well to artists and creatives. Two new mobile apps, one from Google and another from an indie developer with ties to Magic Leap, invert the creative conceit by taking the real ...more
The long guarded veil of mystery surrounding Magic Leap for years was finally lifted last year when the company revealed its Magic Leap One device. But even now, as the company releases new apps and high profile partnerships, the company itself remains something of a cipher. ...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
Gboard has come a long way from its roots as the "Google Keyboard" in the earlier days of Android. It's now the most popular, feature-rich, and useful keyboard app on the market. Google even includes quite a few themes right out of the box for Gboard — but what if you could ha ...more
If you've blocked out your calendar to watch the NHL All-Star Game this weekend, then you might be excited to know that USA Today has given its readers the opportunity to meet Washington Capital's John Carlson in augmented reality. And if you didn't know that the NHL All-Star ...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
Anyone remember Google Goggles? Well, it's back with a new name: Google Lens. But this time, there's more machine learning and it's integrated into many different Google apps and services. The latest is the Google app for iPhones. Adding Google Lens visual search to the Googl ...more
With the iPhone X, Apple introduced a brand new way for iOS users to interact with their iPhones. Gestures took the spotlight, as they very apparently replaced functions you would normally execute on the Home button. But swipes aren't everything for the new iPhone XS, XS Max, ...more
When you accidentally close out of an important tab on your iPhone, Safari's "Recently Closed Tabs" list really comes in handy. However, when it comes time to clear the list, things get a bit complicated. There's no "Delete" or "Erase" button on this page, but don't let that f ...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
Since the iPhone X has no Home button, the Side button has some heavy lifting to do. So not only is the Side button responsible for all of its usual duties, like sleeping and waking the device, it has to do everything the Home button did too. That's a lot of work for one butto ...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
To revise a line from the Blues Brothers, when it comes to ARKit apps, we've got both kinds — home utilities and games. As such, two more candidates for each category have made their way to the app store. In addition, one by one, NFL teams are taking a pass at augmented reali ...more
The Pixel 2 has finally arrived. Google unveiled their newest flagship phones on October 4th, and there's quite a few changes in store. For one thing, most of Google's official renders have already showed us something new: The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will have a Google Search b ...more
There's lots of new stuff in iOS 11, but just because things have changed doesn't mean they're better. So if you've updated to Apple's latest OS and decided it wasn't for you, you'll be happy to know that you can still go back to iOS 10.3.3. But this window of opportunity for ...more
It's Monday, and what's a Monday at Gadget Hacks without a new leak to ponder over? Thanks to known leaker Benjamin Geskin, we have a dummy iPhone 8 without one of its most-anticipated features. That's right. This dummy ain't got no Touch ID! So ... What does that mean for A ...more
The Huawei Nexus 6P was released a little over a year ago, but despite doing moderately well in sales, the device has had more than its fair share of issues. When first released, there were numerous reception and memory management difficulties that left users extremely frustra ...more
This morning, Google opened a pop-up showroom where anybody can visit to get a hands-on look at the new Made by Google hardware lineup. At 10 am the line at 96 Spring st, in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, was growing but still manageable. As we waited to be ushered in ...more
Reddit announced this morning, April 7th, that it has finally released an official mobile app. You can get it on Android and iOS. Here's what Reddit looks like with "card view.". And this is "compact view.". There are already plenty of third-party Reddit apps, and this offici ...more
There's a good chance that your iOS device has become unresponsive at least once. It's usually at this point that you start thinking your device can no longer pass muster. You could upgrade to a newer model, but that's not always feasible, and often times, unnecessary. You se ...more
If your iPhone is rebooting or your Messages app is constantly crashing, you might be the victim of an iOS exploit or just a buggy software update. While one problem sounds worse than the other, they both can get annoying real quick when you can't send any messages or even rea ...more
There are much better things that can go in your iPhone's status bar besides an always-on indicator displaying what carrier you're shelling out money to every month. While it would be nice to get rid of the carrier name altogether at the top of the screen, an even better optio ...more
Now that Microsoft has squarely focused on the enterprise market with the HoloLens 2, it appears Lenovo is content to play follow-the-leader with its new augmented reality headset. On May 13 at its Accelerate conference in Orlando, Florida, Lenovo unveiled the ThinkReality pl ...more
In a world of seemingly endless streaming services, podcasts continue to offer free, unlimited entertainment for all. When you find a podcast that's just too good to keep to yourself, sharing it with family and friends is inevitable, but how you share may determine whether or ...more
Finland-based Rovio, one of the pioneers of mobile gaming, is now ready to break new ground in augmented reality with its Angry Birds franchise. Along with its AR development partner, Sweden-based Resolution Games, the publisher is following up Angry Birds FPS: First Person S ...more
Apple just released the third iOS 12.2 developer beta Tuesday, Feb. 19, fifteen days after the release of iOS 12.2 developer beta 2. Beta 3 fixes an issue with the lock screen, and reintroduces Group FaceTime to beta testers. Overall, iOS 12.2 hosts a wealth of new features as ...more
There has never been a better time to be a movie enthusiast, with more options now than ever to buy high-quality digital titles to watch on almost any device you own. That said, all those choices can lead to your movie collection scattered across different apps and services. W ...more
A week after the L.E.A.P. Conference, our cup of Magic Leap news continues to floweth over, with the company's content chief giving us some insight into the company's strategy, and Twilio sharing what its virtual chat app looks like. Elsewhere, the demand for AR among busines ...more
Late last year, we got a little surprise from Razer. The gaming company released its first smartphone, and as expected, it targeted gamers. Branded as a gaming phone, it started a trend which several other companies followed soon after, including ASUS, Xiaomi, and even Samsung ...more
Although the Magic Leap One: Creators Edition is currently officially available in only six US cities, those living outside of Magic Leap's designed US cities now have a roundabout way to order the device. Residents in over 110 countries can now place an order for a Magic Lea ...more
By now, you already know that the Magic Leap One ships with an array of apps to immediately get you accustomed to operating in your new spatial computing reality. The first one we're going to focus on is Screens, an app we told you about previously, but only now have managed t ...more
If you're anything like me, when you first find a good song, album, or playlist on Spotify, your initial reaction may be to share it with your family and friends. While there are the usual share methods available in Spotify that are available in other streaming music services ...more
Earlier this year, Nokia released the Nokia 8 Sirrocco overseas. The new device served as an upgrade to the 2017 model with a minor specs bump and a more modern design. However, HMD isn't done with the 8 series. A rumored Pro version is coming later this year that brings innov ...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
In 2018, there are more ways than ever to watch your favorite sporting events. You can stream them with a number of services, or you can simply watch it on a TV. Many fans will even watch it at a sports bar. The problem with a sports bar is that you won't be able to hear the g ...more
It's been nearly two months since Samsung kicked off the official Galaxy S8 beta program for Android Oreo. The Korean manufacturer recently announced that the beta is ending on January 15, so it's time to move on to the official build. Today, an official (non-beta) build of Or ...more
You might be proficient at sending your family and friends money using Apple Pay Cash on your iPhone, but what about when you need some digital currency in your wallet to buy in-app purchases or to get back the money you spent on someone's lunch? Requesting some Apple Pay Cash ...more
Over the past month, we've spent significant time covering Samsung's Oreo Beta program, and the detailed list of features in Oreo is extensive for the Galaxy S8 and S8+. Many of you were upset when the Galaxy Note 8 was left out of the official Oreo beta program entirely, but ...more
Google just rolled out a revolutionary feature to its Pixel devices — Google Lens. Previously, Lens had only been available in the Photos app, but now, whenever you want to learn about something in the real world, you can just bring up Google Assistant, turn on the camera, the ...more
Android's Quick Settings menu gives you easy access to certain actions from any screen, but the tiles available are largely dependent on your phone's OEM skin. For instance, the Google Cast button that can cast your entire screen has been exclusive to Nexus and Pixel devices, ...more
A group of researchers from Stanford University and Princeton University has put together the largest RGB-D video dataset to date with over 1,500 scans of over 700 different locations across the world, for a total of 2.5 million views. This dataset, called ScanNet, has been s ...more