Posts

A new WhatsApp feature called View Once, which was released on Android in June, is now making its way to iOS devices with a test run currently being rolled out in the most recent beta. You can sign up for the WhatsApp beta, which is available through Testflight, to gain access to the new feature. If you have the latest beta downloaded (version 2.21.140.9) but don’t see the View Once option, WABetaInfo suggests waiting for a bit as WhatsApp is steadily expanding access to testers....

Which company is the cheapest? With retail prices set by the studios, they are all about the same in terms of price. However, you can still find some movies on sale, so it’s possible to shop the deals. Unfortunately, this splits your library, which means you’ll need to use multiple apps and even multiple devices to view your collection. So which provider should you choose for your digital movie library?...

The artificial intelligence-powered Deep Nostalgia software is winning fans who are trying out historical photos. It’s meant to bring old family photos to life. But the software also is causing a lot of uneasiness as dead people seemingly twitch back to life. “Having seen the photo for a very long time as a still, and then it’s suddenly able to move can come as a bit of a shock to a person,” Carla Diaz, co-founder of Broadband Search, said in an email interview....

Newsletters were the OG form of internet publishing. After all, everyone has email. Recently, though, newsletters have gotten big again, and people are paying to read them. What’s the appeal? It all starts with a direct connection. “I think newsletters are popular now in part for what they are, and for what they are not,” Ryan Singel, Stanford fellow and founder and CEO of Contextly and Outpost, told Lifewire via email....

According to a new paper, the key to making the metaverse a more realistic experience may be controlling how users perceive time. The authors claim that visual clues about time and fatigue are essential to making virtual reality experiences more engaging. It’s part of an ongoing effort to use time perception to make virtual reality more realistic and exciting. “When a VR app keeps the user busy, they perceive time as passing quickly,” Roderick Kennedy, founder of Simul, a virtual reality software company, told Lifewire in an email interview....

Exhibit A: The Louis Vuitton Horizon Light Up Speaker. It’s like a $30 novelty from that dodgy no-name electronics store near downtown, but it goes for a cool $2,890. Is it a spinning top? Is it a Goth-friendly version of that classic ’80s electronic memory game Simon? Or is it a glass, steel, and leather AirPlay 2/Bluetooth speaker “inspired by the Toupie handbag” ($3,120)? Why can’t luxury fashion brands make anything other than overpriced novelties?...

Details are scarce, but a new report claims that Apple could make the AirPods 3 a surprise part of an April hardware event. Weibo user UnclePan said that the new AirPods would debut, along with a boosted version of the iPad Pro. Some previous leaks indicated that the next generation of Apple’s regular AirPods would share some features with the $249 AirPods Pro, like spatial audio support. They also could have a shorter stem, interchangeable tips, and a smaller charging case than the AirPods Pro....

Causes of a Printer Not Printing When you need to know why your printer isn’t printing, the possible causes fall into six categories: Basic problems. Wired and wireless network printing issues. USB printing problems. Software upgrades and printer driver problems. Paper jams. Ink and toner issues. Check the Basics First Before jumping into the other causes of printer problems, answer these questions: Is the printer turned on?Is it connected to the computer?...

When Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum reiterated his company’s commitment to privacy. Six years later, Facebook is about to suck in all your private data, showing the world exactly why it spent $19 billion to buy WhatsApp. The big question might be, why did Facebook wait so long? But the effect has been immediate, and huge. “In the past 72 hours alone, more than 25 million new users from around the world joined Telegram,” Telegram informed Lifewire and others on January 14 via—what else—Telegram....

Apple unveiled its new iPhones, Apple Watch, and iPad mini with great fanfare, but they’re far from revolutionary. Most people will do just fine without upgrading this time around. Tuesday’s unveiling might have been one of the most underwhelming Apple events in years. The iPhone 13, Apple Watch 7, the new iPad mini, and the latest iPad offer very little in the way of new features. iPhone 13 Won’t Change Your Life The latest iPhone model is unlikely to make most owners of recent Apple phones run for their credit cards....

Documents created by word processors such as Microsoft Word can take up space on your computer or handheld device. It takes just seconds to compress, stuff, or zip them. Compress Files Before Sending Them as Attachments You can prevent large files from using up network resources with a compression utility such as: WinZip (Windows, Mac) 7-Zip (Unix, Mac, Windows) StuffIt (Mac, Windows) bzip2 (Unix, Mac, Windows) Many word processing documents can be compressed to 10 percent of their original size....

Apple settled a case with a 21-year-old woman after sending her iPhone to a repair facility in 2016, only to find that employees had uploaded personal explicit images and videos to her Facebook account from the phone during the repair process. The company reportedly paid the woman millions of dollars to settle the suit. It’s a risk many people run when having their phones repaired. “When you hand over your phone for repairs, it is not merely a device but also your entire personal data trove that goes with it,” privacy expert Pankaj Srivastava, the CEO and founder of management consulting firm PracticalSpeak, said in an email interview....

The Mi 11 smartphone, available for the first time outside China, seems designed only to show off some absurdly over-provisioned specifications, including the camera. But what’s the point? You can make big prints from such a sensor, but who prints photos any more anyway? And aren’t there downsides to using such a dense sensor in a phone? “There is no actual reason for a phone to have a 108MP camera,” real-estate photographer Matthew Digati told Lifewire via email....

We already knew that Microsoft had plans to bring the application programming interface (API) that next-gen Xbox consoles use to speed up how they load games to Windows. However, XDA Developers notes that it was unclear if support would be available outside of Windows 11. Now, the launch of the first developer preview for that API on Windows also has revealed that Windows 10 will offer its own version of support for the tech....

Inkscape Layers Palette Adobe Illustrator users may consider it a little underpowered in so far as it doesn’t apply every single element to a layer. The ​counter-argument, though, is that the greater simplicity of the Layers palette in Inkscape actually makes it more user-friendly and easier to manage. As with many popular image editing applications, the Layers palette also offers the power to combine and blend layers in creative ways....

The Wotancraft Pilot comes in 7- ($159) and 10-liter ($199) sizes, is fashioned from a waxed Cordura nylon, has a configurable, padded interior, and just enough pockets to hold all your extras. Bonuses include a secret pocket and external straps, so you can expand capacity as needed. I looked at the smaller bag in black. It also comes in khaki. Problem Solved There are several recurring problems with camera shoulder bags....

Overall Findings When WPA replaced the older WEP technology, which used easy-to-crack radio waves, it improved WEP security by scrambling the encryption key and verifying that it wasn’t altered during data transfer. WPA2 further improves the security of a network with its use of stronger encryption called AES. Although WPA is more secure than WEP, WPA2 is more secure than WPA and the right choice for router owners. WPA2 is designed to improve the security of Wi-Fi connections by requiring the use of stronger wireless encryption than WPA requires....

Habib is the CEO and co-founder of Writer, a writing assistant that uses artificial intelligence built for workplace professionals. The San Francisco-based company uses machine learning technology to help people sound smarter, kinder, and more confident. Habib understands the power of words, not only in her company, but also as part of in-person interactions where the real magic happens. “I really like the idea that by writing and typing, we can learn communication strategies that serve us offline, as well, where really the strongest personal connections are formed,” she told Lifewire over the phone....

While it is not a feature hardwired into the system that forces you to be online to play games, game developers will have the option to create online-only games if they choose (Titanfall, Destiny, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare are just some of them so far). Will Xbox One Play Blu-Ray Movies? Yep! You need to download an app for this feature, though. Does the Xbox One Block Used Games?...

What Is an XLSM File? A file with the XLSM file extension is an Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook file created in Excel 2007 or newer. These files are identical to Microsoft Excel Open XML Format Spreadsheet (XLSX) files, with the only difference being that XLSM files will execute embedded macros that are programmed in the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) language. Just like with XLSX files, this format uses XML and ZIP to store things like text and formulas into cells that are organized into rows and columns....