Hot Gadget Hacks Posts
News: Layar AR Creators Want Their Company Back, Believing Blippar Is Ruining It
With augmented reality making its way into the mainstream, consumers have been expecting a company bloodbath for a while now, one that will have a ton of casualties. Blippar has been expected to be one of those casualties due to the reported loss of millions of dollars earlier this year. Now, their situation might be made worse as the creators of the Layar app, Raimo van der Klein and Martin Lens-Fitzgerald, are rumored to be asking for their company back.
News: Nokia & Xiaomi Agree to Explore AR Collaborations in New Partnership
A new cross-licensing patent deal signed by Nokia and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi will bring increased collaboration between the two companies. One area of focus in which both Nokia and Xiaomi have already agreed to work together is augmented reality.
Brief Reality: Home Audio Speakers Could Soon Project Holograms
One inventor wants to bring augmented reality to internet radio and home audio speakers. Meanwhile, a leading consumer electronics company has opened up access its deep learning tools for building augmented reality apps. In addition, analysts examine how augmented reality will impact the design and construction and profile the top developers in augmented and virtual reality.
News: Get into Concerts with Ultrasonic Sounds from Your Smartphone, No Ticket Necessary
Imagine walking up to enter a live event — but instead of pulling out a physical or mobile ticket to get admitted — you pull out your smartphone which lets out an ultrasonic sound tailored for you that lets you into the event.
Fyre Starters: Meet the 15 Stars Whose (Undisclosed) #Spon Brought the FTC's Wrath on Instagram
Now that Fyre Festival co-founder Billy McFarland is charged with fraud, this is the perfect time to list off those top 15 influencers who promoted tickets to the disastrous event to their loyal followers, right?
News: DownToDash Helps You Hang Out with Other College Students
DownToDash, an app from an NYC-based startup, connects students to other students who want to hang out the same way they do. The social networking app has gained increasing popularity since its launch in October 2016 and looks ready to become even more available. The app was founded by Sama Jashnani and Anuja Shah, both recent students themselves.
News: Samsung Could Lose Grip on OLED Monopoly Thanks to Google & Apple
The race is on to break Samsung's near-OLED Monopoly. Google joined the race back in April, reducing their reliance on Samsung's OLED's by supposedly investing about $880 million into using LG's OLED's for their Pixel phone screens. Now, Apple's stepping up with a rumored $2.5 billion investment into LG's OLED Display initiative for their phones too.
News: Curve's Newest Feature Lets You Go Back in Time
Mobile wallet Curve just released a new feature that lets you correct past mistakes. Sounds incredible, right? Unfortunately, the mistakes you can erase aren't things like forgetting to do an assignment in school, screwing up a job interview, or, well, your ex. However, you can switch the card you want to use to pay even after you've paid with Curve, and that's still pretty cool.
Instagram 101: How to Upload Live Photos as Instagram Videos & Stories
I wanted to post a Live Photo to Instagram of me in front of that donut that got eaten next to the CVS on Houston St. in New York, between Mott and Mulberry. The only problem is that Live Photos aren't supported on Instagram, so I couldn't just tap and post it to my feed without it becoming a regular still image. Luckily, there is an awesome workaround.
News: Use Facebook Messenger to Interrogate This Chatbot for Game of Thrones Spoilers
Winter is here, which means we have a lot of questions about the coming season of Game of Thrones. It's hard finding someone who cares enough to listen to you rant about why Jon Snow is the rightful ruler of Westeros. It's also hard to figure out who exactly everyone is and is related to since there are over 150 major characters on the show. We're all getting a little antsy waiting for the new season, so to hold us over a new bot has rolled out 'G0TB0t' on Facebook Messenger. Specifically, it...
News: Ubisoft Proves They're Serious About AR Gaming at United Europe 2017
Though the Microsoft HoloLens' release to the consumer market is still a distant thought at the moment, Ubisoft is preparing for the future with the unveiling of AR video game prototypes.
News: July 4th Sales Mean Big Savings on iPhone SE
This Fourth of July, stock up on hot dogs, ice cream, and smartphones. Yep, this Independence Day is a surprisingly good time to get your hands on the iPhone SE. If you're interested, head to your nearest Best Buy to check out this major deal. (Or wait for the iPhone 8 to come out ...whenever that will be.)
How To: Root Your HTC 10 & Install TWRP
There are many great reasons to root your phone, but if you're not experienced with tools like ADB and Fastboot, it can seem like a daunting task. Fret not, because if you want to root your HTC 10, we're here to walk you through the process.
How To: Unlock Your HTC 10's Bootloader
To really personalize your HTC 10, you'll need to be rooted — but that can't happen unless you unlock your bootloader. Thankfully, HTC has made it relatively easy to unlock the bootloader on their 2016 flagship.
News: Can't Make It to San Diego Comic-Con? Twitter Has Your Back
Comic-Con International: San Diego, better known to you and I as "San Diego Comic-Con", is coming very soon; and if you're like me and live far, far away from San Diego (sigh), Twitter is now offering a helpful alternative to keep you in the loop at this year's event.
News: What Is Social Media Day?
If you haven't been on any sort of social media all day — which I seriously doubt — then you might not have heard that today, June 30, is Social Media Day. It's been trending on Twitter, but has also been making appearances on Instagram and Facebook. While major influencers are talking up a storm about this, most people are simply asking "what is social media day?"
News: You Can Now Support Our National Parks by Using Apple Pay
These past few days have brought more bad news for our national parks. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke confirmed that there will definitely be big cuts to national park budgets. This comes after Donald Trump's budget request revealed a call for $300 million cuts to national parks.
Review: Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow Is ... Fun?
I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow has charm. The original writers are attached to this project, and that shows in the humorous dialogue between characters.
News: Motive.io Opens Early Access to Location-Based AR Development Tool
About a year ago, a certain watershed mobile augmented reality game based on a familiar video game franchise was released into the wild. Today, a number of imitators and emulators have introduced their own location-based games with hopes of similar success.
News: Google Play Store Lets You Know What's New About Your App Updates
If you haven't heard yet, Google is revamping the Play Store with version 8.0. While it so far doesn't seem to have any life changing features, there are ones that certainly will make your life easier, like their new updates feature.
Market Reality: Augmented Reality Companies Strike Deals for Funding, Manufacturing & Retailing
Four augmented reality companies made deals this week to grow their businesses. Two companies, TechSee and Car360, completed funding rounds, while DAQRI signed with a production partner and Decalomania landed a prime spot with a top retailer.
Building Next Reality: The Terms You Need to Know to Work in ARKit
In the first part of this series, we looked at the surface detection that is provided by the ARKit. We looked at how it worked and covered some of the tools that could help us determine what is not working; when it doesn't. Now let's take this to the next step.
Instagram 101: How to Access & Manage Hidden Filters
I've possibly been really out of it for a long time not to have realized that Instagram has a bunch of hidden filters. Clarendon seems to be by number one filter for pics and videos, but maybe that's exactly what I've been doing wrong.
Review: Reigns — Game of Thrones Meets Tinder
Reigns recently went on sale on the Google Play Store (sorry, iPhone users), and that inspired me to give it a go. I've wanted to try this one out for a while now, but the steep price tag kept me away. ($2.99 is a lot for me, okay?)
News: Win Part of $225,000 Making a Mixed Reality Game with the Return of Dream.Build.Play
Microsoft is bringing its developer incentive challenge Dream.Build.Play. After a five-year hiatus, Microsoft has announced the 2017 edition of the game development contest with the largest prize pool yet of $225,000.
News: Finally! These 5 MLB Stadiums Now Accept Apple Pay
Baseball fans can now leave their wallets behind at specific stadiums throughout the country. A new upgrade by Appetize to the foodservice and retail technology used at ballparks means you can now use Apple Pay to make purchases at 5 Major League Baseball stadiums.
News: Apple Pay Makes Children's Debit Card App Safer & Easier
Parents rejoice, Apple Pay is making it much simpler for your kid to use Greenlight, the MasterCard for kids app.
Instagram 101: How to Track & Manage Your Hashtags
Hashtags are one of the most important marketing tools available to you on Instagram. Although, it's hard to know which hashtags are working for you or not. You may think #fun is a good one to use but is it really? Okay, yeah, it's a popular one. But that doesn't mean it's the right one for you to use.
News: Get the Dog of Your Dreams with Rumored ARKit App
Dogmented reality might be coming to Apple's ARKit, so get ready to play with your new (AR) pups! Don't Miss: A Breakdown of the What Apple's New ARKit Can Do for iPhones & iPads
News: Anchor Helps You Easily Record and Post Podcasts Right from Your Phone
Anchor has been called the audio equivalent of Snapchat. The app lets you record audio and broadcast it to whomever you follow. If you haven't heard of the app, get familiar with it because it has announced an easy way for you to record and publish podcasts from your smartphone.
Instagram 101: Here's How to Turn Off Instagram's New Comment Filter
One of my favorite things about Instagram, and the reason why it's still my go-to app, is the fact that it's not like Facebook or YouTube. After our last presidential election, well, I think we've all been scarred from going anywhere near Facebook. And YouTube, I'm not sure why comments on that platform are some of the worst, but they are.
News: Play This Mobile Game & Win an All-Inclusive Vacation
The latest video game developer to hit the scene is a hotel chain, and they're offering big prizes for high-scorers.
News: The Perfect Emoji Will Be Just a Keyword Away in WhatsApp
Most messaging apps have it, so it's about time WhatsApp did too. The WhatsApp beta now has a search bar for emojis.
News: Twitch Will Soon Allow Mobile Gamers to Live Stream
There is a seemingly endless supply of games on mobile. While many of these games are fantastic, many are also, well ... garbage. And unfortunately, the platform as a whole has been dismissed because of those garbage games. This situation leaves gamers like myself wondering what can be done to develop a deeper public respect for gaming on smartphones.
News: It's Not Quite Free, but You Should Get 'Reigns' While It's Discounted
If there's one thing I know, it's that people hate buying mobile games. I'm the same way — no matter how good a game looks, if I have to pay for it, I have to fight the urge to immediately walk away. That's why it's such a big deal when a great game goes on sale. Right now, that game is 'Reigns.'
News: NYU Gets Coveted Job to Host the First Publicly Funded VR/AR Facility
The de Blasio Administration of New York City has announced that the NYU Tandon School of Engineering will be hosting the country's first publicly funded VR/AR facility.
News: Google Photos Gets Smart with New AI & Sharing Features
In case Google Photos didn't recognize your face enough, they're now rolling out a new AI feature who uses facial recognition for easy photo sharing.
Instagram 101: Get Notifications When Your Favorite Influencers Post
If you are obsessed with anyone on Instagram to the point where you never want to miss another post again, then Instagram has got you covered. Built within the app, there's a neat little trick to turn on notifications everytime someone you like posts.
News: Harry Potter Might Be Flying at You Soon with Universal's AR Goggles
A patent from Universal was filed today looking to improve the visual experience at Universal Studios Parks.
News: Snapchat Adds Mobile Creative Studio So You Can Design Geofilters in-App
Snapchat announced today that you can now design geofilters in-app, making it easier than ever to customize your snaps. This new feature incorporates a mobile creative studio, so you no longer have to use your computer to create your custom masterpiece.