Google has simplified the process for iOS defectors to switch to Android without forfeiting the most important data on a device: contacts, calendars, and photos. Instead of connecting your iOS device to computer and going through a series of steps, as the process used to require, you only need the Google Drive account installed on …
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WhatsApp, Uber, Pokemon Go privacy flaps: Does outrage work?
Ever just skip the reading part and hit the Accept button after one of your favorite apps changed its terms and conditions? Yeah, you’re not alone. But you should know these updates do more than revise the apps’ software. They may also let the app grab more of your personal information, including your location, personal contacts, the device you’re using …
Read More »Will Apple blow you away in 2017? (The 3:59, Ep. 153)
Apple’s iPhone design hasn’t changed in two years. Will 2017 be different? Looking at what the new year could bring from the tech giant, we consider what the next iPhone and Apple Watch could look like. We also chat about new iris-scanning tech from Qualcomm that could help kill off passwords and about Google’s parent company reportedly axing plans to …
Read More »Ivory Coast adopts unconventional digital address system
With a digital mapping service called What3words, residents of even the smallest, most rural village in the African nation of Ivory Coast now have an official address. The country’s postal system just adopted the startup’s technology, which assigns a three-word phrase to each 3-meter square on the map. For example, heaven.mallard.houseguests is a structure on the outskirts of Mberie. The …
Read More »In 2017, your phone’s camera will have superpowers
Virtual reality is a somewhat understandable concept in 2016. You put on a headset, you find yourself in 3D worlds. But augmented reality — AR — is still a bit less understood. You could engage with augmented reality with a headset, and see 3D objects “projected” into your real world — something that’s usually called “mixed reality.” Augmented reality doesn’t …
Read More »Google partners with Cuba for faster YouTube, Gmail
Google‘s YouTube will now be able to load a lot faster in Cuba. Google on Monday signed an agreement with Cuba’s national telecom provider, ETECSA, to store data for Google services on the Caribbean island. Previously, signals had to travel from Cuba through Venezuela, which hurt the quality of the data. Google sites like YouTube and Gmail should be able …
Read More »Google’s Android Pay mobile wallet arrives in Japan
Android Pay, Google’s mobile payments service for phones running the OS, is up and running in Japan, two months after Apple’s rival service went live on the island nation. The launch will allow Android handset owners to use their devices to complete transactions at more than 470,000 locations that already accept Rakuten Edy, a prepaid e-money service, Google said in …
Read More »How to enable lift to wake, tap to wake on the Pixel
Google‘s Pixel phone ($695 at Amazon) launched without any sort of feature to make notifications quickly viewable on a locked device. In order to view an alert, you had to pick up the phone and press the power button or touch the fingerprint sensor. In early December, Google released a software update for the Pixel that adds two important, and …
Read More »The best free tech gifts you can give
Recently a friend asked for help setting up her new cable modem and router. I was only too happy to help, and she was as grateful as if I’d given her an expensive gift. Which, come to think of it, I sort of had. Help with technology is worth a lot to people who aren’t especially tech-savvy. Lightbulb! If you’re …
Read More »Occipital Bridge turns an iPhone into a mixed
Now playing: Watch this: This VR/AR headset uses your iPhone to make mixed reality 1:00 Odds are, you might have tried VR. But maybe you’re not as familiar with “augmented reality” or “mixed reality” headsets that blend virtual things into actual reality, like Microsoft’s HoloLens does. That could change once more affordable phone accessories start to arrive. Occipital Bridge is …
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