Gadget Hacks Features
How To: Update your BlackBerry's software over a wireless network
Learn how to update the software on your BlackBerry device over a WiFi or Wi-Fi network. This clip will show you how it's done. Whether you're the proud owner of a BlackBerry smartphone or are merely considering picking one up, you're sure to be well served by this video guide. For detailed information, including step-by-step instructions, take a look.
News: Rony Abovitz Responds—Says 2017 Is Going to Be 'An Exciting Year' for Magic Leap
In response to the flurry of doubtful headlines about Magic Leap today, set off by an unflattering article from The Information, Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz released a short blog post quickly detailing what to expect from the company over the next year. The gist comes down to this: big things are happening in 2017.
News: iPad Jailbroken Within 24 Hours of Release
Congrats to MuscleNerd, the first to jailbreak the almighty iPad. Via DVICE:
News: Are You on the iOS 11 Developer Beta? Version 4 Is Available Now
There's good news for iOS 11 beta testers — Apple just dropped the fourth version of the iOS 11 developer beta today. That means the newest iOS 11 public beta 3 will be released in a day or two.
News: Bandito iPhone App Delivers Music News Based on Your iTunes Library
Public Radio Exchange (PRX) has teamed up with music intelligence company The Echo Nest to bring us music lovers Bandito, an easy way to find out what's going on with our favorite artists. Their new mobile app uses the existing iTunes library on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to find your most-played bands and singers, serving up the latest news from around the web on them.
How To: Breathe New Life into an Older Nexus Device (Without Rooting)
Remember the feeling you had the moment you removed your shiny new Nexus device from its packaging and booted it up for the first time? You swiped through the app drawer at lightning speed and thought to yourself, "This is the last Android phone I will ever need, they just aren't going to get any better than this."
Market Reality: Facebook Confirms Smartglasses & AR Cloud Platform as Unity Expands Its AR Capabilities
Facebook had a pretty big week in terms of augmented reality, with much of its news coming from the Oculus 6 keynote presentation. But Mark Zuckerberg's social media company found other areas of impact outside of Oculus 6 as well.
How To: View high quality videos on YouTube
Bill Myers explains how to set your YouTube player to play high quality videos by default. Go to Account link (top right of page) after you login to your YouTube account,
News: Honor View 10 Is Coming — Get Oreo & a Bigger Battery for Just $20 More Than the OnePlus 5T
Huawei's sub-brand, Honor, just announced a pair of new smartphones to help close out the year. We knew the midrange Honor 7X was on its way, but what came as a surprise was the announcement of the Honor View 10 and its impending release in the US. Thanks to Honor, US customers will have even more choices in the flagship market with this new device.
News: The Best Black Friday 2017 Speaker Deals for Your Smartphone
Speakers today are a marvel for their portability and sound quality. No longer do we need giant boxes to bring down the house — a speaker that can fit in your hand can fill a room with your favorite music. This is even more important when you pair it with your smartphone, and there are lots of smartphone-friendly speakers on sale this Black Friday.
How To: Keep on top of important emails with Gmail's Priority Inbox tool
In this clip, you'll learn how to use the Gmail Priority Inbox tool to set up a second inbox within your Gmail account to catch all of your most important messages (and none of the others). For all of the details, and to learn how to enable and use Gmail Priority Inbox, take a look.
News: Magic Leap Takes Nreal to Court Over Trade Secrets Theft
In a legal brief entered on Monday, Florida-based startup Magic Leap has filed suit against the founder of Nreal, a former employee of Magic Leap, claiming that the company's Nreal Light smartglasses were built using Magic Leap's intellectual property.
Apple AR: Scope AR Updates Remote AR for ARKit
Ahead of the highly-anticipated iPhone unveiling and iOS 11 launch, augmented reality developer Scope AR has confirmed that the iOS version of Remote AR, their live support video calling app, will support iOS 11 and ARKit immediately.
How To: Download & Run the Latest Developer Build of Mac OS X for Free
Apple has announced the release of their OS X Beta Seed Program today, which allows anyone with an Apple ID and a Mac to download and run the latest developer build of Mac OS X 10.9.3—the most updated beta version of Mavericks. The OS X Beta Seed Program allows us to run software that was once only available to limited test audiences or registered Apple developers—with the latter costing $99 a year for a membership. With this program, not only do we get our hands on extremely new software, bu...
News: Bentley Concept Car Gets Its Own Augmented Reality App, but the Price of Admission Is Steep, Sort Of
When it comes to building luxury cars, Bentley certainly knows what it's doing. However, when it comes to building an AR app, Bentley is looking less Continental GT and more Geo Metro.
News: How to Get a Free $20 Best Buy Gift Card from Google (Limited Time Offer)
Nexus owners in the United States are eligible to grab an easy $20 e-gift card from Best Buy this holiday season. All you have to do is install the Android Pay app and use it to make a purchase at one of the million-plus participating merchants through December 31st, 2015.
How To: Read a binary clock
Check out this video on how to read a binary clock, courtesy of glassgiant. The current binary clock comes in both java and flash. So, check out this tutorial on how to actually tell time with a binary clock, because we all know it is quite confusing. Some people even have trouble with analog clocks, yikes!
How To: Upload Facebook pictures
To upload pictures to your Facebook account, this video instructs, you'll want to start by knowing where the exact picture or pictures you're wanting to upload are located on your computer. Then, from your main Facebook account page, click on "photos". From here, you decide how private to make the photo. Then, remembering the location of the photo you wish to upload, you must go there and click on it. That done, you can choose a caption for the photo, and click confirm. The biggest social sit...
Market Reality: Boeing HorizonX Takes Flight with AR Investment
Welcome to the maiden voyage of our new Market Reality column. Each Friday, NextReality will give you a roundup of news briefs from the financial end of the augmented and mixed reality industry. We'll cover funding news, market analysis, and more.
News: After Months of Waiting, Android Users Can Now Add Video Facebook Profile Pics
A few months back, Facebook gave iOS users the option to record or upload a video to use as a live profile picture. It's taken a little longer than we'd like, but the feature is finally now available for Android users as well.
Apple AR: Developer Shows Us the Possible Future of Map Apps
Map apps, while incredibly helpful in our technology-centric world, can often be a source of frustration. No maps app is perfect, and things can get confusing fairly quickly when trying to navigate GPS mapping. iOS developer Andrew Hart has experimented with a new way of mobile mapping using Apple's ARKit that could make finding your way so much easier.
How To: Move back a web page with a keyboard shortcut for a Mac
Moving away from a webpage you were looking at accidentally is always frustrating. Get back to what you were doing as quickly as possible by using these keyboard shortcuts for Mac browsers to move back a page quickly and easily.
News: The New Nokia 6.1 Is a Solid Upgrade to One of Last Year's Most Durable Budget Phones
HMD (the company currently making Nokia-branded phones) only released one flagship device last year, with the rest of the phones falling in the mid-range and entry-level tiers. However, at Mobile World Congress 2018, HMD announced their ambition to become a top five smartphone maker in 3–5 years. Meeting this goal will require penetration in all markets — especially the United States — and it looks like Nokia will get the ball rolling early this year.
How To: Use Telegram's Polls to Settle Arguments in Group Chats
With group chats, arguments tend to devolve from a dispute between two people to a giant debate amongst all members. But before things get out of control, Telegram has a feature that can help.
News: Wilder vs. Fury Boxing Rematch Will Feature an AR Experience & Sponsorship via a UFC Legend
As augmented reality continues its collision course with mainstream adoption, the technology will now have a role in one of the most anticipated boxing matches of the year.
How To: Order Food Directly from Google Search on Android & iOS
Google constantly adds useful little features to stay on top of the search engine heap. Recently, we've seen them add "Find my phone" functionality, as well as the ability to set alarms and send directions to your Android phone or tablet.
How To: Create a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) with 74hc4060 and EPROM
For most synth players the goal is to acquire legendary pieces of 1980's gear with great amounts of money or luck. Why bother when you can make your own direct digital synthesizer (DDS) at home? Watch this video to learn how to make a DDS out of common electrical parts that will make a phat Theramin sound.
How To: Track your Internet bandwidth use for free
Looking for an easy way to meter of your Internet bandwidth usage? This free video tutorial from the folks at CNET TV has got you covered. It details two freeware applications — one for Microsoft Windows, one for Mac OS X — that will help you keep track of your bandwidth usage. For the specifics, and to get started monitoring your own Internet usage, watch this helpful how-to.
More Proof Emerges: iPhone 7 Will Not Have a Headphone Jack
It's looking more and more likely that rumors stating that the iPhone 7 will not include a 3.5 mm headphone jack are true. Chinese websites Wei Feng and Anzhuo.cn reported that anonymous sources on the supply chain confirmed that the controversial design choice is a reality.
How To: Change how the slide switch works on an iPad
Try this trick to customize the functionality of the side switch on the iPad. With it, you'll be able to make the side switch do other things, such as lock the orientation of the screen in one direction so that it doesn't change when you move it into landscape or portrait mode.
News: Sportscasters Can Bring the Game into the Studio with Vizrt's Viz Engine 4
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.
News: Edgybees Extend Drone Prix AR Game to Epson Moverio Smartglasses
Earlier this month, Edgybees was the first game developer out of the gate with an augmented reality racing game for DJI drones called Drone Prix AR. Now, as the month closes, they are crossing the finish line with the first gaming app for Epson Moverio BT-300 Drone Edition smartglasses.
How To: Log in to the Webmin server interface
In this video you'll learn how to log in to Webmin, a web-based Unix administration interface, which will allow you to manage your serve with a web browser. Watch this video tutorial to learn how to control your server with a web browser and the Webmin interface.
How To: Replace the screen lense on a Motorola V3 cell phone
Watch this video to learn how to change the lense (the glass/plastic bit on the top screen) on a Motorola V3 series cell phone.
News: Consumer Smartglasses Powered by Intel Could Arrive This Year, Report Says
Intel Corp.'s augmented reality division could ship consumer-focused smartglasses before the end of the year, according to reports.
Brief Reality: Acura, L'Oréal Latest Brands to Buy into Augmented Reality
When it comes to differentiating from the competition, brands are continuing to leverage augmented reality to give consumers to the point that there are few "firsts" left to achieve in the marketplace. While L'Oreal jumps on the augmented reality bandwagon for cosmetics, Acura finds a new way to make augmented reality a spectacle in the automotive industry.
News: University of Maryland Demonstrates the Future of Medical Procedures with Augmented Reality
Could the technology that powers games like Pokémon GO be used for surgery in the near future? Researchers at the University of Maryland think so.
News: AT&T to Launch DirectTV App for Magic Leap One in 2019, Sets Up 5G Test Area at Magic Leap Headquarters
Magic Leap and AT&T have lifted the lid on multiple parts of their mysterious relationship today. According to AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan, the company is planning to launch a beta version of DirectTV Now for the Magic Leap One in 2019.
News: Lenovo's New Tango-Powered Phab2 Pro Marks the Rise of a New Wave of Mixed Reality
Augmented reality began on smartphones but technical limitations have prevented further development. Google's Tango (formerly Project Tango) aimed to change all that, and with Lenovo's help, they now have their first device.
How To: Explore the Kennedy Space Center Online with Google Street View
With all the excitement over the Mars rover landing this weekend, you might also want to know that Google has gotten their cameras into the Kennedy Space Center for their largest collection of Street View imagery to date. In total, the explorable facility totals 6,000 panoramic views. The views include the space shuttle launch pad, the towering Vehicle Assembly Building, and a up-close and personal view of a space shuttle's main engine.