I still remember my walks to work last July, scanning my neighborhood’s streets for Caterpies and Pidgies. Looking around, phone in hand like a pocket tricorder. Last July, of course, everyone else joined in, too: at Starbucks, in Central Park, at zoos. It was a fad. It’s also a foreshadowing of what’s probably going to …

Most people ditch trying to play a guitar after the first year, according to Fender CEO Andy Mooney. That’s the inspiration behind Fender Play, a subscription-based app and teaching platform that’s launching today, July 6. At $20 a month, it’s trying to gamify the art of rock, and also beat YouTube’s free offerings. I’m not a guitar player. When I …

I’ve been using iOS 11 public beta for a week and I never knew that it had a secret little bit of 3D magic hidden inside. Apple’s augmented reality in ARKit isn’t available to try out in the public beta of iOS 11, but there is something that’s close: Apple Maps. Walkthrough 3D flyovers in major cities come close to …

Someday, someone was going to use the title “VR The Champions.” At least Queen got there first. The veteran British rock group and Adam Lambert, their current singer, have a 360-degree concert experience app that’s now available via Universal Music Group’s VR platform, VRTGO. It’s not free: at $9.99, however, it’s less than some albums. The 360-degree concert video was shot …

The future of sex could be pretty interactive, but it’s starting with men. Top porn streaming company Pornhub announced a new channel of interactive videos that will work with the latest generation of connected male sex toys. The videos, according Pornhub, will work with the Fleshlight Launch and Kiiroo Onyx, featuring “an eclectic mix of content, offering an assortment of …

Now playing: Watch this: It’s real: Vivo phone scans fingerprints under the screen 1:07 First came fingerprint-enabled buttons. Next, expect screens with fingerprint sensors included. Qualcomm unveiled its own under-screen fingerprint-sensing technology at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Shanghai, and Chinese phone maker Vivo is the first to use the technology in a phone. A video, released by Vivo, shows …

The idea of tracking kids or older loved ones with a wearable band isn’t new, but the devices out there don’t have great battery life. Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear 1200 chips aim to fix some of these problems by riding a middle ground between high-end smartwatch and regular fitness band. The new chip, announced at Mobile World Congress Shanghai, uses …

Editors’ note: The story below was first published on January 9, 2017, to mark the 10th anniversary of Steve Jobs announcing the original iPhone. We’re republishing it to mark the June 29 anniversary of that first iPhone going on sale. It’s so small. When you think of a phone, you’re probably imagining something wide, larger-screened, beefy. This thing I’m holding …

Now playing: Watch this: iOS 11 transforms the iPad 2:12 The iPad has slowly been growing up, both through seriously fast hardware and more versatile software. On the surface, iOS 11 promises some features that sound almost Mac-like. I’ve been holding out hope that these will transform the iPad into the touchscreen MacBook replacement I’ve long been seeking. After using …

Now playing: Watch this: The best parts of iOS 11 on iPhone 2:33 The iPhone 8 could end up being an amazing, transformative 10th-anniversary iPhone. At first glance, iOS 11 doesn’t seem quite so ambitious. It’s more of a series of targeted upgrades, with some of them being downright fantastic.  Apple‘s newest version of its operating system for iPhones and …