Hot Gadget Hacks Posts
News: Try These 5 Hot New Snapchat Lenses — Westworld Host, Trumpet Boy & More
There was a huge Marvel movie that opened a week ago, and a popular TV show just finished its second episode of the current season. Both of these facts translate to more cool Snapchat lenses to try out on your iPhone or Android phone, thanks to Snapchat's Lens Studio — where anyone can make a sweet lens.
News: Netflix Film 'Anon' Paints Dystopian View of Augmented Reality That Obliterates Privacy
Augmented reality is expected to eventually change everything, and the prevailing view is that those changes will be for the better. The converse view, however, is that the technology will further erode privacy.
Apple Music 101: How to Download Songs & Other Media from Your iCloud Music Library for Offline Playback
For most carriers, "unlimited" data plans aren't really unlimited, and they still cost more than data limited plans. So while subscribing to music streaming services and storing your own music library in the cloud may be more convenient, it may eat your data up like candy. To keep that from happening, try downloading tracks from Apple Music for offline playback.
News: Lenovo's Star Wars — Jedi Challenges Now Lets You Battle Other Lightsaber Users in Augmented Reality
On this, the most cherished day for Star Wars fans, May the fourth, Lenovo has released a significant new update to its Star Wars: Jedi Challenges app: real person versus person lightsaber battles.
News: Follow in the Footsteps of Forensic Detectives & Solve Crimes with Oxygen's Augmented Reality App
The crime procedural show is the perhaps the most direct path to the average TV viewer's heart. Could the same hold true for augmented reality games?
News: Nova Launcher Receives Updated Google Now Page
One of the better additions in the stock Android launcher is the Google Now page. Residing to the left of the home screen, this page presents a host of information based on the user's interests, which Google bases on analyzed data. Recently, the Google Now page design received a makeover which Nova Launcher users can now enjoy.
News: 6 Cool New Features in iOS 11.4 for iPhone
A few long-awaited iOS 11 features that Apple had promised way back in June 2017 have finally made their way to iPhones with the iOS 11.4 update. Aside from finally delivering on those, there's not a whole lot new in iOS 11.4 as a whole, though, there are a few things you'll definitely want to know about.
Is It Worth It?: Should You Pay to Browse Reddit on Your iPhone?
If you're looking for a new Reddit client on your iPhone, look no further than Apollo. Launched with iOS in mind, Apollo is a free app that offers an exceptional Reddit experience, but some of its excellent features — as well as some necessary ones — are hidden behind its "Pro" paywall. Are these extras worth your money?
Facebook 101: How to View, Delete & Disable Location History Data That's Been Collected on You
Facebook's shadiness when it comes to user privacy has never been much of a secret. The Cambridge Analytica scandal, however, has thrown the company and its practices into the limelight, with users taking their data more seriously than ever. If you're one of those users, you might want to check your "Location History" to see if and how Facebook's kept tabs on your whereabouts.
News: Marvel's 'Avengers — Infinity War' Gets a Full Range of New AR Treats on Facebook
Like Marvel's Avengers, Facebook's Camera AR platform now has a number of new AR superpowers at its disposal, so it is fitting that Earth's Mightiest Heroes have the distinction of displaying them.
News: Facebook's F8 Badge Shows Developers It's Serious About Augmented Reality
Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges! That is, unless they have augmented reality content embedded in them and give us full access to Facebook's annual F8 developers conference — in that case, yes, we'll take all the badges.
News: Magic Leap's First Twitch Video Show Had Toys, Philosophy, but No New Peeks at the Headset
We watched the first piece of public-facing content Magic Leap has released so you don't have to, and, well, you didn't miss much.
News: LG G7 ThinQ Comes Packed with Notch, Super Bright Display, Impressive Sound & More
After delaying its launch by four months, LG revealed its 2018 entry to the flagship market on Wednesday, May 2. After years of an underperforming mobile division, the LG G7 ThinQ is the first product since a shakeup within the division to get things back on track, and it brings a number of upgrades over its G6 predecessor.
Spotify 101: How to Easily Share Music to Friends from Android & iPhone
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 such as Apple Music and Google Play Music, Spotify goes one step further with QR-like codes users can easily scan.
News: Facebook Adds Sketchfab, Body & Hand Tracking, Background Segmentation, & More to AR Studio
At its F8 developers conference on Tuesday, Facebook announced new tools and features coming in a new version of AR Studio, including the integration of 3D content aggregator Sketchfab's Download API.
Messages 101: How to Send a Friend a Map to Your Current Location or Let Them Track You While Moving
You're at the bar, but your friend can't find you. You could call them, but that wouldn't feel very 2018. Instead, let your iPhone do the talking. Right in the Messages app, you can easily send your friend your current location — all without interrupting the friends you're hanging out with.
Google Chrome 101: How to Save Webpages & PWAs to Your Home Screen for Instant Access
Bookmarks and favorites are handy options for saving interesting websites you come across while surfing the web on Android but are far from ideal when it comes to instant access. Thankfully, Google Chrome gives you the added ability to save webpages and progressive web apps directly to your home screen for added convenience.
News: Snapchat Rides AR Ads to Boost in Revenue Despite Redesign Hiccups
During Snap Inc.'s quarterly earnings report, released on Tuesday, the company disclosed that it snagged a revenue total of $230.8 million for the first quarter of 2018, an increase of 54% compared to last year, largely fueled by its augmented reality offerings and other advertising products.
News: New York Times Hitchhikes on NASA's Mission to Mars via Augmented Reality
In the latest installment in its burgeoning augmented reality journalism practice, The New York Times is bringing its readers closer to Mars and NASA's latest spacecraft set to travel to the red planet.
News: Facebook Brings Its AR Camera Effects to Instagram & Messenger Apps
On Tuesday, on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of its AR Camera platform, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg revealed at the company's F8 developers conference that the platform will be extended to the company's Instagram and Messenger apps.
News: PayPal Patents Point to Big Plans for Augmented Reality E-Commerce on Smartphones & Smartglasses
With all the recent activity around augmented reality, the possibilities involving immersive computing and commerce are quickly becoming obvious, and digital payments giant PayPal has no plans to sit on the sidelines
News: iOS 11.4 Beta 3 Released for iPhone, Fixes 3D Touch Issues & Other Bugs
Apple released the third beta for iOS 11.4 on Tuesday, May 1. This update comes exactly two weeks after the release of the second beta, which, in addition to adding a new wallpaper, fixed issues with AirPlay, Music, and Keychain. The only noticeable change in beta 3 is a fix for unresponsive 3D Touch.
Apple Music 101: How to Automatically Download Tracks for Offline Playback That You Save to Your Library
When you've exhausted your data plan, streaming isn't an option unless you want overcharges. While Apple Music makes it easy to download songs for offline listening, you need to add the music to your library first. This creates an extra step in downloading music, but it doesn't have to — Apple Music lets you automatically download any song, album, or playlist that you add to your library.
News: We May Finally Know How Many HoloLens Devices Microsoft Sold, & It's a Revealing Peek at the Future of AR
Last week, we told you about Microsoft's Alex Kipman and his nomination for the annual European Inventor Award, presented by the European Patent Office (EPO). And while that's big news in and of itself, it turns out we overlooked a very important detail buried in the EPO's video presentation. What was it? Only one of the most sought-after data points related to the HoloLens since its launch: how many have been sold.
Instagram 101: Turn Off Stories from Brands & Followed Hashtags
Instagram integrated Stories back in 2016, and it flew right by Snapchat as a whole, becoming a bigger success itself than the whole entire Snapchat app. Still, the constant bombardment of information can be tiring in Instagram, so much so that you may want to mediate what Stories are shown to you. Fortunately, there's a way to do just that — without unfollowing accounts or hashtags.
News: 14 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Try Out iOS 11.4 Beta on Your iPhone Just Yet
While there are at least five cool things coming in iOS 11.4, they may not be enough to get you to install the iOS 11.4 beta on your iPhone. Since its initial beta release at the start of April, there have been plenty of known issues and user-reported bugs to deal with. While bugs are to be expected with a beta, you may want to read these before installing this one on your iPhone.
News: Marvel's 'Avengers — Infinity War' Leads Debut Issue of Moviebill's AR Magazine at Regal Movie Theaters
Riding the coattails of one of the biggest movies this year, the first edition of the new Moviebill augmented reality magazine will be available at Regal Cinema theaters nationwide this weekend alongside the release Avengers: Infinity War.
News: Apple's Rumored Augmented Reality Smartglasses May Include VR Capabilities, Report Says
While Apple has generally been more bullish on augmented reality as opposed to virtual reality, the latest whispers about its purported AR headset suggests that it may be giving VR another look.
Market Reality: Microsoft & Lenovo See Differing Results from AR Headsets, WaveOptics Preps Next-Gen Smartglasses
The price tag for the Microsoft HoloLens might be out of range for the average consumer's budget, but for enterprises, like BAE Systems, adopting the AR headset is yielding a return on the investment. And for those with even slimmer wallets, Best Buy just made the Lenovo Mirage, part of the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges package, more affordable.
News: Try These 5 Hot New Snapchat Lenses — Fortnite Victory, Apyr & More
With April coming to a close, there's a fresh group of augmented reality Snapchat lenses you should try out while they're still hot. We've got a prank lens, gamer-oriented ones for Fortnite and Fallout, and ones for the memesters out there.
Dev Report: Occipital Brings Apple Metal Support to Bridge Engine as It Leaves Beta
Following San Francisco-based Occipital's successful Structure Sensor Kickstarter campaign, the release of its Bridge AR/VR headset, as well as a string of technology and company acquisitions, the company has built a rather strong name for itself in the AR community. And now, with the first public release of its Bridge Engine on Thursday, the company continues to expand the features its platform has to offer, with hopes of bringing in more developers to utilize it.
News: WaveOptics Enlists Waveguide Manufacturing Partner to Help Produce Lower-Cost, Mainstream AR Smartglasses
On Thursday, waveguide maker WaveOptics announced that semiconductor and microelectromechanical systems supplier EV Group (EVG) will provide the manufacturing infrastructure for the production of its waveguide displays designed to support lower-cost, third-party augmented reality wearables.
How To: Enable 3D Touch to Stop Accidental Discharges While Playing PUBG on Your iPhone
PUBG is continually getting better and more intuitive with each update, and version 0.4.0 is no exception. Besides a new training map to help you practice and a faster-paced arcade mode for on-the-go gaming, the newest version of PUBG now includes a feature that exclusively caters to iPhones from the 6S on up.
News: Saatchi Art Adds the Power of AR to Its Mobile App, Letting You See High-Priced Art in Your Home Before You Buy It
It appears we're in the midst of an augmented reality art boom, because in the same month that the famed Christie's auction house launched its mobile AR app, leading art gallery and art seller Saatchi Art has also announced its entry into the AR space.
News: You Don't Need a Gaming Phone to Game Like a Pro on Android
As manufacturers try to differentiate their smartphones from the sea of Android devices, a new genre of smartphone has emerged: gaming phones. Razer Phone was the first to gain traction, but the likes of Xiaomi, Asus, and ZTE have all announced gaming-first phones coming soon. Still, you don't really need to buy a "gaming phone" to play games like a pro on your smartphone.
How To: All of the Ways You Can Use 3D Touch on Your iPhone
One feature in iOS you're likely underutilizing is 3D Touch, a highly useful, unique tool for iPhones ever since it first appeared on the iPhone 6S. Apple's pressure-sensitive interactivity gives iOS an extra layer of functionality, which can be clearly seen across the entirety of your device. From the lock screen to the home screen to the apps in between, there are plenty of ways to use 3D Touch.
News: Snapchat Unveils Updated Spectacles with Improved Audio, New Colors & Faster Data Transfer
Despite the fact that Snap Inc.'s Spectacles weren't the hit some were expecting, the company is nevertheless taking another swing at it by releasing an updated version.
Google Photos 101: How to Make Your Own GIFs Out of Pictures You've Taken
You really can't beat Google Photos. Not only does it give you free unlimited cloud storage and let you search for almost any object in one of your pictures, but it also packs a few powerful editing tools. Among these is a dead-simple way to create your own animated GIFs out of any set of pictures.
Chrome 101: How to Block Popups & Intrusive Ads on Android
Ads can detract from your mobile browsing experience, especially if they appear out of nowhere as popups or large annoying banners that take up almost all of your screen. If those weren't bad enough, some ads appear as extremely loud videos that can even disrupt others around you. In fact, ads have gotten so obnoxious that even Google itself was forced to act.
News: Coty's Magic Mirror Detects Makeup Products & Then Applies Them to Your Face in Augmented Reality
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.