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What Is Sibilance? Sibilance is a sound characterized by pronouncing consonants, syllables, or words with the letter S (and sometimes a T or Z). It often refers to vocals rather than other aspects of music, but it may also stem from pitchy instruments like high-hat cymbals. In audio reproduction, the letter S should sound clear and distinct, not smeared, exaggerated, or distorted as in sh or ch. If the letter S sounds like it’s being hissed instead of sung, then sibilance is most likely the culprit....

What Is Sppextcomobjpatcher.exe? Sppextcomobjpatcher in Windows 10 is a part of the Key Management Service (KMS) that’s involved in the licensing of Microsoft products. Its most typical usage is in managing your license for Windows 10–unless you use a lot of other Microsoft products that require a key. That said, sppextcomobhpatcher.exe is most commonly used by cracked or pirated versions of Windows to get around Microsoft’s licensing system. There is a chance that if you’ve come across it, it means your version of Windows is pirated....

Uber Ride Pass is available for a monthly fee of $24.99 in select cities. Here’s a look at how Uber Ride Pass works and its benefits so you can decide if it’s right for you. How Uber Ride Pass Works Uber Ride Pass is a monthly subscription that gives users a variety of discounts on Uber rides as well as flat-rate pricing without surges or surprises. Each pass is valid for a month and will renew automatically, but you can cancel anytime....

It was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, a former Cisco executive. Cisco offered the WebEx web conferencing platform, which remains a competitor in the conferencing space today. Yuan’s competitor, Zoom, evolved quickly; the service launched in 2013 and had a million users by the end of the year. By 2017, the company had a billion-dollar valuation. It became a publicly-traded company in 2019 and has grown into one of the biggest video conferencing solutions in use today....

Serial Apple rumor whisperer Mark Gurman says that Apple is working on a dedicated home-hub device and a dock accessory that lets you use the iPad as a hub for home automation. The iPad can already act as a home hub all by itself, but in the coming iPadOS 16 update, Apple will remove this ability. Add this to the new Matter home automation standard, which Apple helped to create, and things are getting pretty exciting for anyone who hates to get up to turn off their lights....

If that’s you, don’t fret. While malware and other issues can make it so Chromium won’t uninstall in Windows 10, it’s not impossible to remove. With a few tips, tricks, and tools, you can remove Chromium for good. Do You Need to Uninstall Chromium? If Chromium is behaving normally or not causing you any problems, you don’t need to uninstall it. It can exist alongside other Chromium browsers, like Chrome, perfectly fine and if you don’t use it, it won’t do much....

Since car audio power amplifiers typically don’t come with any of the wires or cables that you’ll need, you’ll either have to piece everything together yourself or buy a car amp wiring kit. There are a few ways to wire in an amp, but in general, you’ll need to make five basic connections: Battery powerGroundRemote turn-onAudio inputAudio output The first three connections are necessary in order to provide power to your car amplifier....

What Is the Mailer-Daemon? Email works like a virtual postal system. When you send a message, it first goes to a server called the mailer-daemon. That server passes the message on to other servers until the message is delivered to the recipient’s inbox. When delivery fails, a mailer-daemon error message is generated and sent back to the original sender. What Is Mailer-Daemon Spam? Mailer-daemons do not use the address in the From line to determine an email’s sender....

Back in 2013, Facebook unveiled its first phone in collaboration with HTC to decidedly mixed reviews. The phone was a flop thanks to lackluster specifications and a less-than-ideal user interface. “Facebook phones lacked the hype to gain momentum,” Yaniv Masjedi, CMO of Nextiva, said in an email interview. “Consumers saw alternatives that offered either better specs or had more affordable options.” Skinning Android Facebook must have figured that social media mavens craved a way to commune at all times with the service....

Haptic (touch) feedback has a lot of uses on smartphones. It adds immersion to mobile games, and also can provide a physical response when you press buttons or interact with your smartphone’s screen. This opens a lot of space for accessibility functions, especially for those who may need tactile feedback to get the most out of their device. Now, thanks to a new haptic framework from Lofelt, Android phones finally could see some significant advancements in how these systems work on those devices, something experts say is greatly needed....

The iOS 14.5 beta, along with the watchOS 7.4 beta, tweaks FaceID to make your phone easier to use while wearing a mask. If you wake your iPhone and it detects that you’re wearing a mask, it will check your watch, and if you’re wearing that, it will unlock the iPhone. Simple as that. There are some limits to improve security, but the unlocking is almost as fast as regular FaceID....

iPhone owners in Arizona and Georgia will be the first to be able to add their IDs to the Wallet app, with those in Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah to follow. It can then be used in place of your physical ID, although not by holding up your iPhone and showing it. Whoever is checking your ID needs to use an identity reader, and you tap your iPhone onto the machine, just like you do when paying with Apple Pay....

A federal appeals court heard oral arguments on January 5 in a case in which 10 U.S. citizens and a permanent resident who regularly travels sued the Department of Homeland Security. They claimed their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure were violated when their devices were searched upon reentering the country. “I believe the ACLU will be successful using the Fourth Amendment argument,” Chris Hauk, consumer privacy champion at Pixel Privacy, said in an email interview....

OSS is software for which the source code is viewable and changeable by the public or otherwise open. Microsoft’s shift from initially opposing OSS back in 2001 to actively promoting the model shows just where the software industry is going, and that open source will be a huge part of it. “I think that [open source] is a very good trend, and I think companies are more and more recognizing the importance and usefulness of open source,” Heikki Nousiainen, chief technology officer at Aiven, told Lifewire in a phone interview....

I am someone who primarily uses cable over streaming services because I hate deciding what to watch. I like how cable shows me what is available to watch, and I can pick from that—it’s less of a commitment from me. So, I was excited to hear that Netflix came out with a “shuffle” feature, so subscribers don’t have the daunting task of deciding what to watch—Netflix chooses for you. After trying it out, I could see the Play Something feature making me choose Netflix over cable more often....

I’ve been using the iMac daily, and it’s hard to use other computers because it makes them seem sluggish. The beautiful screen on the iMac makes my MacBook Pro look dim and washed out. The incredible speed of the iMac helps me zip through work, and it’s a wonderful machine for watching movies and videos. The slim design of the iMac fits perfectly into my tiny apartment. I still haven’t gotten used to the finicky keyboard....

These are odd times for Apple to be going big in VR. Although the headset is only a few hints at this point, the sky-high price tag puts it about 10 times the price of my very nice Oculus Quest 2. Surely, the company must be aware there’s a global recession going on? Yet, I’m ashamed to admit that the thought of Apple’s headset makes me salivate like a robot dog taunted by electronic biscuits....

While most Windows laptops are tacky and ugly, the Surface Laptop 4 is a shape even a Mac fan could love. It looks like something Apple would have designed if the company was feeling particularly Brutalist. The Laptop 4 has the same elegant, thin, and light design shared by the entire line of Surface devices. I’m a big fan of the Surface design, and I enjoy using the Windows Surface Pro 7 tablet....

Games and other programs that work with video require significant bandwidth. When they are running, they limit the bandwidth that’s available for other apps. Check your computer for background network activity as you troubleshoot the slow network. Other network activity could be affecting overall bandwidth. A smart TV streaming movies, a camera constantly relaying HD video, and smart speakers playing music can make everything on the network slow. Household appliances and your neighbors’ wireless networks can interfere with your computers....

With the reveal of two PS5 editions back in September, Sony gave PlayStation fans two ways to buy into the next generation of gaming. For just $399, gamers could pick up an all digital version of the PS5 or they could pick up the $499 option, which includes an Ultra HD Blu-Ray disc drive. While the $100 savings might seem appealing, ultimately the regular PS5 is the better buy thanks to its inclusion of the disc drive....