Using Tablets

If you've ever rooted an Android device in the past or installed a custom recovery, you're surely familiar with the term "unlocked bootloader." But if all of this sounds like gibberish to you, some major changes in Android have made it to where you should definitely get famili ...more

Apple just sent out a new update to their iPhones, and while that normally wouldn't have any impact on Android users, the fact that they included 184 new emojis means that the text messages you receive from friends and family members with iOS devices might come across with bla ...more

ADB and Fastboot are probably the most essential tools for any Android aficionado. They can do everything from backing up your device to unlocking your bootloader with a few simple steps. This paves the way for many new tweaks and customizations that weren't possible before. T ...more

Video: . Being one of the most popular DIY/maker projects around, Musical Floppy Drives are nothing new. However, myFloppyDriveOrchestra includes a few unique features, which separate it from the crowd. FPGA - by implementing the drive control on an FPGA, I have effectively c ...more

Heads up! We've done a new, more thorough review of the best Android file-sharing apps. You can check that out here. Our old file-sharing app roundup can still be viewed below for posterity. Update: The 4 Best File-Sharing Apps for Android (2018) We've come to a point where ...more

Due to the way Android works, you normally need to be rooted to uninstall the pre-loaded system apps, aka bloatware, that came with your device. This is because the underlying files for these apps are stored on your system partition, which can only be modified with root-level ...more

The smartphone has become one of the basic reasons for sore eyes. If you are addicted to your beloved smartphone, there is a fair possibility that your eyes will be paying off its expensive price. If you use your smartphone, tablet, laptop or any other similar gadget consisten ...more

Given how much use it gets on a daily basis, the power button is always one of the first hardware features to call it quits on an Android phone or tablet. So if your power button is acting up, or you don't want it to, you can extend its lifetime by simply finding ways to use i ...more

Whether you drive a new or used car, discovering a new dent, scratch, or scuff mark can send you into a frustration spiral. While there are many DIY ways to deal with dents, scratches and scuff marks are trickier because using the wrong stuff could make your car's paint job lo ...more

You can find a plethora of tennis games on the Google Play Store, but if you're a true tennis fan and gaming enthusiast, you should check out Tennis Racketeering by Core Aplikacije. The game lets you use an additional Android device as a racket, giving you Wii-like abilities w ...more

Welcome back, my aspiring hackers! As I mentioned in earlier posts, the best hackers (or at least those not behind bars) have a keen understanding of digital forensics. If I am tasked to intrude upon an enemy's file server to retrieve war plans, such as in this tutorial, it i ...more

When you're expecting an important call or text, it's pretty annoying to hear or feel your phone go off just to find out it was your reminders app telling you that you need to buy more contact lenses. Not quite as annoying as phantom phone vibrations, but it's up there. Remin ...more

Samsung phones have a pretty nifty little feature called Smart Stay that will prevent your screen from turning off while you're actively using your device. Trouble with this is that it's exclusive to Galaxy devices and it uses a ton of battery since it monitors the front-facin ...more

I may not be a parent just yet, but I've dealt with enough worrisome mothers to know that keeping a watchful eye over your child is of the top-most importance. Since most people cannot afford to stay right by their child's side 24/7, developers are always looking for ways to m ...more

Having someone send you flowers will almost always lift your spirits. Wilting, dying flowers, on the other hand, aren't so great to look at and smell even worse. While there are time-honored tricks to keep flowers alive longer (change the water regularly, put a penny in the bo ...more

You're in the middle of cooking and a car alarm, cute kitten, or neighborhood brawl made you step away from the stove for a few minutes longer that you should have. It happens to almost every home cook. Most of the time, nothing dramatic happens, but every now and then, you en ...more

One of the best things about the Nexus line of devices is the ease with which one can achieve root. Plug your phone into your PC, download a couple files, type a few commands, and you can be rooted within 30 minutes. No muss, no fuss, no carrier-locked bootloaders. But it too ...more

Google's new camera app has a highly innovative and unique feature dubbed Lens Blur, and the most interesting thing about it is not necessarily what it does, so much as how it does it. You take a picture, then slide your phone in an upward motion, and the app creates 2 new pi ...more

You can do many things on your Nexus 7 to make life easier, like auto-categorize photos and perform on-the-fly calculations, but one thing that you should really have is more swipe gestures. By adding custom swipe gestures, you'll be able to navigate your device better, skip m ...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

The Academy Awards, commonly referred to as The Oscars, are airing this weekend. If you're a movie buff or just want to watch the dimes walking on the red carpet, The Oscars is not to be missed. The 86th annual Academy Awards, hosted this year by Ellen Degeneres, will air Sun ...more

Pretty soon, every restaurant and store you walk into will know exactly what you're doing. Retail analytics companies like Euclid, ShopperTrak, RetailNext, and Prism Skylabs have penetrated hundreds of food shops and retail stores across the country, installing sensors that tr ...more

Considering that the average movie ticket these days is $8.38, it's not much of a surprise that Netflix is kicking ass. The same amount will get you a full month of unlimited streaming, and you don't even have to leave your couch. While no one's arguing that it isn't a great d ...more

My standard text greeting to friends is something along the lines of "Wazzup biznitch?"—but apparently the auto-correct function on my Samsung Galaxy S3 has a problem with that. Time after time I have to retype it or just add all my made-up words to the word list—and I use a l ...more

Recently, I wanted to share a large video file from my Nexus 7 to my friend's Samsung Galaxy S3, and even though he was standing right next to me, it was an extremely difficult and frustrating thing to do. Every single Nexus 7 tablet comes NFC equipped, so it can share files w ...more

International, T-Mobile, and Verizon customers all share something in common—their carriers provide unlocked Wi-Fi tethering for free. Of course, you still pay for the data used, but they don't charge you extra simply for using your Samsung Galaxy S4 as a wireless hotspot. Ho ...more

These days, we increasingly have more and more devices in our everyday possession. While a notebook computer, a tablet, and a smartphone may seem like overkill, they do work to make our lives easier and even help reduce clutter in certain ways. A single one of these devices c ...more

Smartphones are great. They help you keep in touch with your loved ones and stay up to date on what's going on in the world. The problem is that like everything else that's useful, they cost money to use, and between calling, texting, and data plans, it can get really expensiv ...more

If you grew up dying eggs for Easter, you've no doubt used or at least seen those boxed kits that turn your eggs neon colors. Admittedly, they're easy—just plop a dye tablet into some water, dunk the eggs, and wait for them to dry. But the one thing a lot of people don't thin ...more

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that augmented reality (or, AR for short) will "change everything." But what, exactly, is augmented reality? Generally, augmented reality refers to the process of presenting virtual objects and imagery — usually through a wearable lens or external ...more

So you finally decided to make the switch from iOS to Android, huh? Well first off: welcome to the world of tomorrow. And secondly: good call, mate. In all seriousness, switching between mobile ecosystems can be quite the hassle. Even after you've grown accustomed to the new ...more

Facebook recently implemented "Vanish Mode" into Messenger and Instagram, which lets you have an end-to-end encrypted conversation in a chat that will disappear as soon as you leave the thread. As cool as it sounds, it's easy to enable accidentally, and a friend could force yo ...more

Snapchat doesn't prevent you from taking screenshots of snaps received, but the other user will get an alert either as a prominent push notification or a subtle note in the app. Snapchat has improved its screenshot detection abilities over the years, so it's much harder to cir ...more

For all the benefits 5G brings to cellular data, it isn't without weaknesses, the biggest being privacy. Yes, the latest standard comes with breakneck downloads speeds up to 4.3 Gbps, but at what cost? Like with all things on the internet, 5G devices open opportunities for bot ...more

You can block artists no matter where you are in Spotify's mobile app for Android or iOS, but it's not as easy when you want to hide songs from playing. Disliking tracks is possible here and there, but not everywhere, and that's a serious problem if you keep hearing songs you ...more

Drone mishaps, such as the collision that scratched a military helicopter in New York, are becoming something of an everyday hazard. And professional drone operators sweat bullets when their drones hover too close to their clients' things — especially their expensive things. ...more

Apple's latest updates to its operating systems add another security feature to its Find My service, so you have an even better chance at locating your lost iPhone, iPad, or Mac should it ever happen. As long as you have the option enabled, you can leverage other Apple users' ...more

Apple had its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 3, 2019, which showcased big software announcements for all of Apple's hardware, and anyone can watch the keynote as it happened. WWDC 2019's biggest attraction is iOS 13, which was rumored to include a real dark mode, an ...more

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has cleared a path for Google to move forward with hand-tracking technology that could pose a major threat to Leap Motion. In an order issued on Monday, the FCC granted Google permission to run its Project Soli, a sensor that can de ...more

Departing from the long string of entertainment-focused partnerships released in recent weeks and months, a new, enterprise-focused Magic Leap app has finally emerged in the form of Onshape. On Wednesday, the Massachusetts-based company officially unveiled its partnership wit ...more

Continuing our NR30 series this week, we focused on the leaders of the software development industry that make augmented reality experiences possible. In other news, two of the current leaders in making AR headsets, Microsoft and Magic Leap, are pursuing multiple verticals wit ...more

If you want the best two-factor authentication app out there, our pick is Authy. A close second is LastPass Authenticator. If neither of those is to your liking, try Duo Mobile or Microsoft Authenticator. But if you're fine with missing out on great features, then and only the ...more

When it comes to mass adoption, augmented reality is still primarily a mobile world, so Google is pitching its own ARCore flavor of mobile AR to the education and marketing segments. On Tuesday, at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in Chi ...more

There are a couple swipe gestures in ProtonMail for Android and iOS that let you swipe right on an email to mark it as spam or swipe left to trash it. If you don't get a lot of spam or don't delete a lot of messages, it's easy enough to changes these gestures to perform anothe ...more

Who said brushing your teeth can't be fun? It certainly isn't Kolibree, a company that's introducing the world to the first augmented reality toothbrush for kids at this week's CES tech conference in Las Vegas. Not to be confused with the Marvel Comics character of the same n ...more

For some, going to the dentist can be a terrifying experience, but a new use of augmented reality could go a long way toward making the trip feel more like it's worth the orthodontic angst. A new app called Janus Health AR uses the camera of a tablet to capture a patient's sm ...more

If you need a little inspiration for tonight's Halloween festivities, this augmented reality magazine cover featuring the Dark Knight himself, Batman, may do the trick. The cover is a collaboration between DC Comics and GQ Magazine France and is part of the magazine's new "ge ...more

After learning that you'll need to spend at least $74 on a special charger and a USB Type-C Lightning cable to enable fast charging on the new iPhone X and iPhone 8 models, you may be wondering why you can't just use the standard Lightning cable. While we can't answer why Appl ...more

One of the best new features in Android Oreo is the new Adaptive Icons system. Starting now, developers can create a single icon for their apps, then your launcher can stylize those icons in a broad range of shapes to match your system theme. Most home screen apps haven't adde ...more

Influenced by the growth of augmented and virtual reality technology as well as 3D computer vision, Ericcson Ventures invested in Matterport, whose hardware and software help companies create AR/VR experiences. In other AR market news, HoloLens supplier Himax Technologies is ...more

If you've ever wanted to see a selfie stick in centuries old works of art, now's your chance. The Art Gallery of Ontario is launching an exhibit called "ReBlink." The exhibit uses augmented reality to give modern updates to their paintings which visitors can see through their ...more

Today in Santa Clara, California, at the Augmented World Expo, Scope AR revealed a major new update that will add markerless tracking for their remote assistance application, Remote AR, on standard devices. This update, powered by real-time image tracking solution Wikitude, p ...more

The hunt for the mixed reality use-case that wins over consumers' hearts and creates a critical mass is a problem every developer would love to solve. Not only would they find themselves rich and famous seemingly overnight, but they would also end up making one of the various ...more

Three variants of the Pixel 2 have appeared in Google's Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code, confirming various suspicions about which processor will power the Pixel 2. The AOSP code mentions that the devices will use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which makes sense, as Goo ...more

One of the biggest features to come out with Android O was the addition of a new System UI Tuner submenu that lets you customize the navigation bar at the bottom of your phone's screen. But as it turns out, this same feature can be enabled on devices running Android Nougat, ev ...more

The Autobots and Decepticons are back as Transformers: Forged to Fight has soft-launched for both iOS and Android. Help Optimus Prime fight corrupted Transformers one on one to save them from their ruthless overlords, and have them join your cause, regardless of which side the ...more

It's March once again, and while that might signify the beginning of spring for some, basketball fans have this month marked on their calendars for one good reason: NCAA March Madness. Though the tournament is already underway, the Sweet Sixteen leg begins Thursday, March 23, ...more

Android O has finally arrived—well, it's technically a beta version, but that isn't stopping Android enthusiasts from going crazy about it. The first Developer Preview was released earlier today and is available right now to install on Nexus and Pixel devices. While Android O ...more

User interfaces for computers have evolved over the years, from the introduction of the keyboard and mouse on the personal computer, to touchscreens on mobile devices, to natural voice recognition. However, the same cannot be said for robots or drones—until now. There are two ...more

The largest and arguably most widely known event of its type, especially in the US, the Sundance Film Festival is an annual celebration of independent film—ones made outside the Hollywood system. This year, a new type of experience appeared at the Sundance Film Festival in an ...more