Smartphones News

News: Netflix Introduces 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Television — We're Just Waiting for Interactive House of Cards

Have you ever been on a Netflix binge and thought to yourself "man, these characters are so dumb. Why would you go back to the haunted house, Jenny? You know what's in there, and now you're going to die. This whole situation was so easily avoidable, JENNY." If you've ever thought you'd make better decisions than the characters in your favorite TV shows, Netflix has your back.

News: Create a Fire Mixtape with Your Friends Using Spotify's Group Playlists

Music has always been able to connect us. Spotify is now offering an innovative new way to do just that. The company announced today that they have launched a new feature in collaboration with the Messenger app that allows you to share and make playlists with friends.

News: Read Classic Ebooks for Free — With Formatting You Would Actually Pay For

Volunteer project Standard Ebooks strives to enhance some of the work available from Project Gutenberg and other public domain text sources, making them easier on the eyes.

News: Ready or Not, Augmented Reality Is Coming to Fantasy Sports & Dating Apps

It seems that mobile app developers are constantly coming up with new ideas to apply augmented reality, with Apple's ARKit promising to increase adoption in apps exponentially.

Brief Reality: Meta, Penrose Named Technology Pioneers for Work with Augmented Reality

While two augmented reality companies were recently recognized for their innovative technologies, other companies have turned to augmented reality to innovate in their respective fields. Over the past week, use cases have ranged from selling snacks and video games to raising awareness for public health issues.

News: What Is All This Stuff About Augmented Reality? A Primer for the New Enthusiast

We are in a pretty major technology boom at the moment. One that will likely make the industrial revolution look tiny. And one of these technologies that are building up to lead the way is something called augmented reality.

News: HoloLens Used to Improve Plastic Surgery

There is now another way for doctors to use augmented reality in operations. This time, it's for plastic surgery — Specifically facial surgery.

News: PayPal & Venmo Are Finally Offering Instant Pay Transfers, Within Minutes

For $0.25 per transaction, PayPal will soon be allowing you to transfer money through their app that will get delivered within seconds rather than days.

News: Jaguar Land Rover & Gorillaz Send Potential Employees on a Mixed Reality Mission

Aspiring engineers, your challenge, should you choose to accept it, has been issued by Jaguar Land Rover.

News: Snap & Time Warner to Create 10 Original 5 Minute Shows a Year

Thanks to a $100 million deal, you could be seeing more original shows on your Snapchat soon. Already, Snap has been producing super short shows in order to compete with social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook who have also been attempting to create their own content. While musical.ly has so far had the biggest success in this area, this deal with Time Warner is certainly promising for the beleaguered platform.

News: Pokémon GO Fans — Niantic Is Updating the Game in a Big Way

Pokémon GO has been making the news since it was released last summer. But throughout the past year, the core gameplay has remained mostly the same. We're learning today that is about to change, as Niantic is gearing up to release a major update for the popular AR game.

News: This Dad Wants to Make Selling Pre-Teens Smartphones Illegal

While restaurants and classrooms have enacted policies banning cell phones, one father has had enough of his kids' obsessive phone habits. Dr. Tim Farnum is now seeking to ban the sale of smartphones to children under 13.

News: Ikea & Apple Are Partnering to Let You Virtually Rearrange Your Home

Furniture shopping is about to get a whole lot easier thanks to Apple's AR Kit and Ikea. In an exclusive with Bloomberg Businessweek, Tim Cook, Apple CEO said:

Insta Slang Explained: What's the Meaning of Finsta?

Combine the word "fake" with the word "Instagram" and you get what's called a "Finsta." If you are concerned about posting pictures on social media that you wouldn't want your family or boss to see, then a finsta account might be the thing that you need.

News: Tidal Is Still a Thing That Exists, Now Has Jay Z Exclusive

We talk a lot about Spotify and Apple Music on the topic of music streaming. So much so that it's easy to forget that other streaming platforms exist. Tidal, Jay Z's streaming service, is often one of these forgotten platforms.

Market Reality: Augmented & Virtual Reality Represent Leading Growth Segment in Entertainment & Media

A report by PwC highlights that immersive experiences in augmented and virtual reality represent the fastest growing segment of the entertainment and media industry over the next six years. News from two companies working in the industry, Fox and NetDragon, underscore the growth forecast.

Limited Time Only: Verizon Opens Enrollment to Insurance Platform for Your Current Phone

Ok, I have to admit, I drop my phone around 2–4 times a week. I'm horrible at protecting it and I've gone through my fair share of cracked phones. Most of the time, once the phone is cracked it's just easier to get an entirely new phone, rather than have to fight your phone provider for a fix.

News: Magic Leap Founder Says Launch 'Not Far Away'

At the eMerge Americas investors conference in Miami, Florida, Magic Leap founder and CEO Rony Abovitz previewed details of the launch of their highly-anticipated device.

News: Google's MobileNets Bring New Visual Recognition Models to Smartphones

Google might be taking the lead on artificial intelligence in smartphones with their latest announcement, MobileNets. MobileNets is a series of TensorFlow vision models built for mobile devices, described by Google as "mobile-first."

Video Roundup: Look at These Great Examples of What the ARKit Can Do on Your iPhone

Since its release into the arms of waiting developers, Apple's new ARKit is already making waves in the augmented reality scene. Only a week out and there are already a hefty number of videos appearing on the web showing off various demos with iPhones and iPads.

News: Niantic Promises More AR in Pokémon GO on the iPhone with ARKit

Pokémon GO's augmented reality journey is continuing with Apple's newly announced ARKit. It's no surprise considering Pokémon GO is the largest mainstream augmented reality game, with 500 million downloads.

News: As FTC Cracks Down, Instagram Will Start Letting You Know Who's Getting Paid to Post

Get ready IG influencers, the Instagram promotional world as you know it is about to change. Instagram is one of the top places for influencers to make money with product promotion. So, of course, it is to be expected that these IG dominators would run into their fair share of disasters. Especially since over 90% of celebrities and influencers on Instagram don't follow FTC guidelines.

News: Now Anyone Can Order Vuzix M300 Smart Glasses

Vuzix Corporation has lifted the preorder status on its M300 Smart Glasses, making the augmented reality device available for purchase by resellers, registered developers, enterprises, and consumers.

News: Facebook Expands 'Safety Check' Features with More Status Details & Fundraiser Options

Facebook's 'Safety Check' is a useful social media function — it provides users a comfort that in the event of an emergency, they can let friends and family know they are safe. While certainly not perfect, the service is now essential during disasters and tragedies. That service is finally getting some improvements, as Facebook rolls out new features and updates.

PSA: Netflix Limits How Many Times You Can Download a Single Movie or Episode

Update 6/15: Netflix responded to our request for comment: This [download limit] may vary depending on the title and licensing agreement. There may be limits to the number of titles from the same licensing agreement that you can download at the same time. We will only enforce these limits in cases where our licensing agreements require us to do so.

Brief Reality: New Game Underverse Takes a Stab at the Pokémon GO Gaming Model

This week, augmented reality spawns in the world of online role-playing games with a soft launch down under from an indie game developer. Meanwhile, in Asia, another startup wins a coveted award for its AR headset. Finally, an established player in the mobile AR touches up its feature set with an app update.

News: Sprint's New Deal Could Save You a Lot of Money

You can pinch yourself, but you're not dreaming. Sprint is actually offering a year of (mostly) free, unlimited service for anyone who switches to the carrier. The only stipulation is that you must bring your phone with you, and it has to be one of the 27 eligible devices.

News: Journaling App Day One Updates Will Keep Your Secrets Better

New updates to the journaling app Day One include more security for journal writers' data. For example, users can now enable end-to-end encryption. The encryption does not happen automatically; however, users must go to Settings — within Journals — then select each journal they want encrypted.

News: There Are Now 5 More Levels to Unlock in Google's Local Guides

Get ready to step up your game, explorers! Google Maps is releasing an update for its gamified program to encourage reviewing of businesses and other locations within the Google Maps app.

News: Tech Companies Are Struggling to Get the Metals for Your Gadgets

Do you know what your smartphone is made of? I've had smartphones for years, but if you asked me that question I'd probably respond with "Wi-Fi." For uninformed consumers like myself, it may shock you to know just how much goes into creating a smartphone.

This Week on Instagram: Babadook Dresses Up for Pride

If you're on Instagram, you may start to see Babadook all dressed up this month. This beautiful monster is taking Instagram by storm by #babashooking it's way all around the world in its brand new Pride attire.

News: Tired of Long, Pointless Conversations on Dating Apps? 'First' Can Help

We're all looking to meet someone, and in this day and age the easiest way to do that is through one of the various dating apps out there. But we can all admit it can get disheartening swiping through all of those people for the frustration of someone not answering your messages after matching. The fact is, we could be missing out on great people just because they don't have time in their busy lives to answer their dating apps every day. Not to mention the fact that we as a society are becomi...

News: This Video Might Resonate with Anyone Addicted to Candy Crush

You've got some free time, so you decide to try out that new puzzle game on the App Store. After a half hour of fun, the game stops. It seems you've run out of lives, and have to wait until tomorrow to play ... unless you drop $0.99 on extra lives. What are you going to do, wait until tomorrow? Some of us might, but others ... not so much. If you dropped some cash to keep playing for the day, you, I'm sorry to say, were played. And this video shows you why.

News: As It Turns Out, Seniors Love Getting News on Their Smartphones

Amidst reports of the newspaper industry struggling to survive, it's becoming more and more clear that people are increasingly turning to their smartphones for the news. In fact, a new study by the Pew Research Center has found that 85% of US adults check the news on mobile devices. Surprisingly, seniors constitute a sizable portion of this.

News: PornHub Knows if You Watch Elf-Themed Porn

To celebrate its tenth anniversary, PornHub has just exposed all of our porn habits. All. Of. Them. Before you panic, no individual information has been released. Instead, PornHub has exposed the adult video trends and preferences of a variety of demographics.

Market Reality: Who Are the Most Active Investors in AR/VR?

While many analysts predict that the market for augmented and virtual reality will continue to grow over the next five years, now is the time for investors to get in on the ground floor.

News: Use of HoloLens Brings Rémy Martin's Story to Life

The way we tell stories is about to change. Imagine you're hearing a story when suddenly characters and images from the tale start to appear in your world. This immersive way of storytelling is in the not-so-distant future thanks to the Microsoft HoloLens and Rémy Martin.

News: Snap Could Be Including Augmented Reality Features in New Spectacles

According to a source at TechCrunch, a new version of Snap's 'Spectacles' could include augmented reality.

The Clone Wars: The Russians Flirt with Instagram & Fake Follower Vending Machines

From Instagram bot farms in China all the way to vending machines in Moscow that promise to sell you fake followers — the Facebook-owned empire is attracting the attention of the world around. When it comes to Russia especially, the country seems to be developing a little crush on the glorious IG queen.

News: Pokémon GO Gyms to Be Shut Down Temporarily for Anniversary & Updates

Niantic announced today that all gyms in Pokémon GO will be closed while the company prepares to celebrate two major anniversaries for the game. There will be updates, in-game celebration, and the first ever real-world Pokémon Go event.