Garrett Bridges
Contributing since December, 2019
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Latest Articles
Bluetooth speakers are a dime-a-dozen these days, but a true audio system that happens to include Bluetooth connectivity is something you don't see on the cheap very often. Today, Target put this SOLIS Stereo Vacuum Tube Audio System on mega sale, and it's an incredibly tempting offer.
Itty bitty 30W Aukey USB-C charger is just $17 ($7.50 off) with coupon
The teensy weensy plug supports PD 3.0
Fast chargers are becoming more and more necessary thanks to larger battery capacities and power-hungry apps, so finding a reliable and space-efficient plug is important for a heavy device user. Fortunately, Aukey's 30W USB-C is on sale at Amazon right now and fits those criteria.The compact wall charger supports Power Delivery 3.0 and will charge your devices with up to 30W of power; that's enough to keep your laptop, Switch, or any other PD-supported device charged while you use it.
Nab Anker's Soudcore Flare 2 Bluetooth speaker for $68 ($12 off)
The lowest price we've seen for this colorful party speaker
Anker has a great reputation with its products and customer service, and its Bluetooth speakers are always pretty impressive. That includes its new Soundcore Flare 2, which happens to be on sale from Amazon right now for $67.99, $12 off the standard price.The last Bluetooth speaker from Anker I purchased has lasted through the last several years with no discernible degradation in sound quality or battery life, so I can vouch for the quality of the company's products.
Google Contacts for web adds back the ability to create multiple contacts
The feature had disappeared with the website redesign
Last year, Google finished its slow rollout of the newly Material-themed web interface for Contacts. While the visual upgrade was inarguably prettier, it ended up losing a pretty handy feature: the ability to add multiple names and/or email addresses at once. Fortunately, the feature recently reappeared, and you're now able to create multiple contacts, choose a label for them, or import them from a CSV or vCard file.
OnePlus Gallery update adds scene recognition and face detection (APK Download)
It also adds auto-generated albums to curate your photos
OnePlus regularly updates its gallery app to introduce new features and improvements, even if some of those features have been around in other photo apps for quite a while. The latest release has added facial recognition to group your photos, scene recognition to combine pics from the same locations, and auto-generated albums that will give you a collage when a barrage of photos is taken.
Wyze detailed the timeline of its upcoming smart home products last week, including the Wyze Band—a wearable that functions as a fitness tracker as well as allowing you to control your Wyze products from your wrist in the form-factor of the Fitbit Charge 3. Now, additional details have come to light thanks to some information in the public beta app.
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Gboard has been steadily increasing its features and support with each update, and the latest beta continues that trend by introducing word prediction and spelling correction for handwriting input, as well as a layout for handwriting in Tibetan.
Whether you're keeping an eye on your property or spying on your devious baby, Anker has you covered. The company's Eufy home security set comes in a wide variety of camera types and bundles, and today five of them are on sale for Amazon's Deal of the Day.
OnePlus 7, 7 Pro, and 7T Pro get optimized RAM management, January security in latest OxygenOS updates (Update: 7T too)
After being left in the dark, unamused, 7T users finally join the light
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OnePlus has had a difficult time keeping up with system updates and security patches recently, having just updated its 7 Pro with the Open Beta 9 January security patch. Today, OnePlus began rolling out patches to the 7, 7 Pro, and 7T Pro; 7T Pro users have been waiting over 2 months (!) for an update, and while this latest patch is rolling out incrementally to its users, it's expected to be widely available in the coming days.
Socratic, the homework-helper app picked up by Google, gets an AI-enhanced Android release
Google AI is now being used to improve the app's ability to help students
Back in 2017, Socratic was launched on Android, offering students assistance with their homework. The app was pretty interesting, and managed to catch Google's eye, leading to an acquisition. Last year we got word that an updated version of the app was about to debut, with a heavy emphasis on tapping into Google's AI algorithms to improve performance. Now that new Android edition is finally available to download.
In a week of notable OnePlus updates, T-Mobile is bringing up the rear by updating the OnePlus 6T to Android 10. The new build (A6013_34_191228) also brings the security patch level up to December 2019, which is two months behind. It's better than nothing, though.
Mesh WiFi networks offer a great way to blanket your home in strong wireless coverage, keeping all your devices connected. But as our needs grow, occasionally it becomes time to augment that network with some additional access points. If you've got an existing Orbi Whole Home Mesh WiFi network, now's your chance to upgrade, as Amazon has the Netgear Orbi WiFi Satellite Extender for $50 off, blowing past even Black Friday deals.The Orbi satellite claims to add an additional 2,000 square feet of coverage to your Orbi network, and is capable of providing gigabit wireless speeds.
Samsung and Spotify have been partnered for almost two years now, and tucked into the bevy of announcements during today's Samsung Unpacked was an expansion of that partnership. The Galaxy S20, Galaxy Z Flip, and Galaxy Buds+ will include several new, quick ways to listen to and share your favorite Spotify tunes.
Each year, the Unicode Consortium receives innumerable suggestions of new emoji to add to the already exhaustive library of designs. Emoji 12.1 was released this past winter and included such hits as "farmer with pitchfork" and "person with probing cane." By the end of this most recent proposal cycle for Emoji 13.0, Unicode had picked roughly 60 designs that now go on to be officially designed and distributed by each emoji-using platform.
Anker has been doing well for itself in the wireless earbud market, and Rita was impressed with its most recent products' quality and affordability. While she didn't review this particular model, thousands of others did, and the praise is almost unanimous, which makes this deal all the sweeter. The Soundcore Life P2 is on sale on Newegg for just $43 dollars this week, $17 off the standard price.
Amazon is a tangled web of third-party chargers and no-name accessories, and finding reliable ones can be an irritating chore. Anker has always clawed their way to the top of the pile in terms of quality and in the instances where they haven't, their customer service is fantastic. Today, Amazon's offering up to 35% off cables, battery packs, car chargers, and wireless chargers if you're in the market.Our review for the 2-port wall adapter found a few flaws, but Ryne also recommended it at the $44 price point. At an extra $10 off that, you'll find it hard to go wrong.
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- We didn't have to wait long for that update to land, with the app's Play Store listing now advertising the arrival of Pocket Casts v7.7, complete with this new Discover section. Of course we knew that all the functionality wouldn't be available right out of the gate, and the developer confirms that podcast curation is right now "a little bit of a tease because you won't immediately get new ones but when you do we think you'll like them."
Pocket Casts had a full year of controversy in 2019, first releasing a massively divisive material redesign, then following it up a few months later by going freemium. After the dust settled, the app started making slow improvements, introducing easier ways to check show notes and edit your playlist queue, and now releasing a total redesign of the Discover tab.
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Almost a decade ago (!) in 2011, EA released Tetris for mobile devices, following it with Tetris Blitz in 2013. Being the only way to play "official" Tetris on your phone, the two apps have been extremely popular for fans of the classic brick-stacker game. Unfortunately, EA is ending its run with Tetris and will be abandoning the games in April.
Google has been on a roll recently with its digital wellbeing initiatives, releasing Family Link for parental controls, various apps to view and manage your usage, and a Focus Mode for pausing apps you find distracting. Now it's continuing the trend by releasing 3 new apps, the most notable of which asks that you literally put your phone in an envelope so you can't use it.
According to a report by Reuters, the European Union Commission is considering a ban on facial recognition technology in public areas for up to five years. The measure is intended to curb privacy violations, give lawmakers time to protect citizens from being cataloged illegally, and oppose the recent push by companies to enhance and improve-upon recognition tech.