Saturday 31 March 2018

Apple iPhone 5s doesn't receive the iOS 11.3 battery health features

Late last year, Apple admitted that it had throttled the CPU on some older iPhone models. These units contained worn out batteries that were not up to providing the handset with enough power to perform certain complex tasks. When that happened, the iPhone in question would shut down, forcing the user to reboot the phone. Apple included the software required to throttle these older models through the update to iOS 10.2.1, and never told the public what was going on until last December.

Besides offering $29 battery replacements until the end of the year (reduced from $79) the company added ...

Google says that the Pixel 2/2 XL MMS issues have been fixed, but users are still complaining

The Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL have had numerous problems. There was the burn-in issue with the screen, clicking sounds that came from the phones' speakers, microphones that were cutting out during phone calls, and the inability to receive or download an MMS message on both models. Google claims to have fixed the latter problem, although several owners of the 2017 Pixel handsets disagree.

In the Google Product Forums for the Pixel 2 XL, a Google employee named Pankaj Kanwar (who was representing the Pixel team) put up a post that said, "Thanks everyone for reporting this issue. It should ...

Nvidia GeForce 20-Series GPUs with GDDR6 to launch in July, Hints SK Hynix

Rumors regarding the launch of new GeForce 20-series GPUs have been making rounds for a while. Recently, another report has hit the web

The post Nvidia GeForce 20-Series GPUs with GDDR6 to launch in July, Hints SK Hynix appeared first on DigiWorthy.


Apple iPad (2018) unboxing & first impressions



The 6th generation Apple iPad is finally here! Even though the line has been extended to accommodate a wide demographic, this new model is specifically geared towards the education environment, as it supports the Apple Pencil, but more importantly, schools can order them at the discounted price of $299.

If you've ever owned an iPad, there's nothing out of the ordinary with the packaging. On the front, we have a scaled profile view of the new iPad's svelte 7.4mm frame, which is undeniably skinny, but not as razor thin as the iPad Air 2 or iPad Pro 9.7-inch. Flip it around the back, ...

Where's Waldo? Open up Google Maps and find out

Remember Waldo? The bespectacled, hat wearing children's book character with the red and white striped sweater is about to show up on your smartphone. For Google Maps' April Fools' Day prank, you can play "Where's Waldo" on your handset. First, make sure you have the latest version of Maps on your phone, and open up the app. You'll find Waldo waving to you from the left side of the screen. Click on the image of Waldo and you'll be prompted to start the game.

Waldo will first tell you where he is; for example, he might tell you that he is visiting the Andes Mountains in Chile. You will then ...

Apple seeks engineers to increase Siri's capabilities and IQ

Apple's virtual assistant Siri has fallen behind Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa. Earlier this month, some former Apple employees said that the company's vision for Siri died along with Steve Jobs. Ironically, Jobs passed away on October 5th, 2011, which was the day after the first iPhone with Siri was unveiled. That, of course, was the Apple iPhone 4s. While Siri has been improved over the years, the virtual helper is not as reliable on Apple's HomePod smart speaker as Google Assistant and Alexa are anchoring the Google Home and Amazon Echo smart speakers, respectively.

According to ...

Former Microsoft executive blames carriers and manufacturers for Windows Phone's failure

With a buttery smooth UI, many former Windows Phone users will tell you that the so-called "app gap" was responsible for the failure of the platform to be competitive. Now, Brandon Watson is rejecting that argument through a series of tweets. And Mr. Watson should know since he was Senior Director for Windows Phone between March 2010 and February 2012, and was the person in charge of "developer platform product management."

Watson is known as the individual who was able to somewhat close the "app gap" with Android and iOS, and helped to get several popular apps on board including Angry Birds. ...

Community Picks: Favorite In-Game Easter Eggs

The Tom's Hardware community shares its favorite in-game surprises of all time. Did your favorite make the list?

Keepvid Online Video Converter: Convert Videos Online at 30X Faster Speeds

Keepvid Online Video Converter

I often download a number of videos online and borrow a few from my friends. Though most of the videos work fine on my laptop, but there are few which do not play because my laptop doesn’t support their format.

While looking for a solution to this problem on the internet, I found Keepvid Online Video Converter tool. It is a powerful online video converter tool that can convert the videos into desired output formats at 30X faster speeds.

This online video converter tool is available for free and can convert almost all video and audio files. It is totally compatible with modern day browsers and operating systems. The only limitation in the online video converter tool offered by Keepvid is that a user can upload not more than 100MB file. If you try uploading a file over 100MB in size, it will alert you to download the desktop version of the tool.

Why I Liked Keepvid Online Video Converter Tool?

It is a powerful, easy-to-use, and professional video converter tool that is capable of delivering ultimate user experience to its users. Some of the features that I liked about this tool are as follows:

  • It can convert over 1000 video/audio formats to desired output formats.
  • It delivers 30X faster converting speed as compared to other video converter solutions.
  • It is highly compatible with hi-tech video types like 3D, VR, and more.
  • It has full support for HD Video formats such as 1080P, 4K, and 8K videos etc.

How to Convert Videos to Desired Format using Keepvid Online Video Converter?

To convert the video into your desired format, you should first visit the official website at https://keepvid.cc/. Now follow the steps mentioned alongside.

  • You can find ‘Add a File’ option.

Keepvid Online Video Editor - Add File

  • Click on ‘Choose File’ and upload the video you wish to convert from your laptop/PC.
  • After the video has been uploaded, you need to select a file type.

Keepvid Online Video Editor - Select File Type

  • After selecting the file type, choose the output format.

Keepvid Online Video Editor - Choose Output Format

  • After selecting the output format, you should click on ‘Convert Now’ option.

Keepvid Online Video Convert

  • The conversion will take few moments depending upon the file size.
  • You can download the file after the conversion has been completed.

Keepvid Online Editor - Download Converted File

  • You are provided with ‘Scan QR Code’ option to scan the code and share the video link with your friends. Moreover, you can save the downloaded video directly to your Dropbox as well.

This is how the online video converter by Keepvid works flawlessly.

It’s Free!

Keepvid Online Video Converter is a free tool that can be used to convert the videos online. You can even download the desktop apps for Mac and Windows version to convert the videos more than 100MB in size.

Final Verdict

Overall, Keepvid is a powerful online video converter that is capable of converting the videos into 1000+ video/audio formats depending on the user needs. Moreover, it is faster than most of the tools available in the market.

You should try it for once and get rid of all the troubles you generally have while converting the videos to other formats.


Buy a Samsung Gear Sport watch, get any wrist band for half the price

If you're in the market for a new smartwatch, and you think the Tizen-based Samsung Gear Sport is worth its $299 price, you should know that Samsung currently has what we'd call a semi-deal involving this particular wearable device. More exactly, when purchasing a Gear Sport in the US, for a limited time, you can get any wrist band for it at 50% off (by any, we mean any band from those specifically made for the Gear Sport).

Samsung is currently selling various Gear Sport bands, in multiple colors, including leather ($29) and sweat-resistant textile ($24.99) models. ...

Friday 30 March 2018

Motorola readies "amazing deals" to celebrate 45 years since the first cell phone call

On April 3 (this Tuesday), Motorola will celebrate 45 years since the very first cellular phone call made on our tiny, blue planet. The call was made on April 3, 1973, in New York City, on the world's first handheld phone - a prototype built by Motorola and called DynaTAC (pictured below). 

Motorola wants to celebrate this anniversary with "amazing deals" for US customers, and, starting April 3, the company will sell select smartphones at up to $150 off. For now, it's not clear what handsets will be included here. 

Since Motorola ...

More evidence suggests LG Q7 may be launched alongside the G7 flagship

LG is still undecided on whether or not to implement the notch to its next flagship, but it looks like it's determined to bring not one, but two high-end phones to the market.

Alongside LG G7, the South Korean company showcased two other phones behind closed doors at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, the Q7 and the V35. The G7 prototype that may have been demoed at the trade fair has already been caught on camera, but we had no evidence that the other two phones exist.

Today, the smartphone maker trademarked the LG Q7 name, which proves the company plans to launch the phone at some ...

Nvidia GTC 2018 Highlights: AI Trucks, Mega-Video Cards & Ray Tracing

Take a visual tour through Nvidia's bustling tech showcase at GTC 2018. We saw new Teslas and Quadros, Warp Drives, and "the world's largest GPU."

Nvidia GTC 2018 Highlights: AI Trucks, Mega-Video Cards & Ray Tracing

Take a visual tour through Nvidia's bustling tech showcase at GTC 2018. We saw new Teslas and Quadros, Warp Drives, and "the world's largest GPU."

Deal: Get 4 months of free Google Play Music and YouTube Red service

Google is back with yet another awesome deal on its streaming services – YouTube Red and Google Play Music. If you're an Android user then you've probably noticed that these deals are very common and don't last too long.

So, for a limited time, Google offers four months of free YouTube Red and Google Play Music service. However, there are some limitations that will probably not be to your liking. First off, you can take the deal if you're already a subscriber of either of the two services.

Secondly, if you've previously redeemed this deal before, then you won't be able to do it again ...

Samsung is the first company to release the April security patch

Google is usually the first to release a new security patch each month, but sometimes it happens that another smartphone maker gets to launch it first. While this might seem unusual, it's 100% possible since Google sends these monthly security patches one month early so that smartphone makers can add their own changes.

It happens that the April security patch is now rolling out to a particular Samsung smartphone that's that's been released less than a year ago, the Galaxy J3 (2017). For whatever reasons, Samsung picked this entry-level smartphone to be the first device to receive the April ...

China shuts down Apple iPhone smuggling ring

Chinese authorities have busted a smuggling ring that used drones to whisk $80 million worth of Apple iPhone handsets from Hong Kong to China. It is the first time in the country that drones were discovered to have played a role in a cross-border operation. The drones were used to fly bags, each containing more than ten refurbished iPhone units. Using the cover of darkness, the 26-person ring flew the drones after midnight on "missions" that took only seconds to accomplish. The smugglers were able to fly as many as 15,000 iPhone handsets over the border on a given night. One of the actual drones ...

DisplayLink Reveals New Details About Wireless VR Solution

In an interview with Tested.com at GDC, Andy Davis, DisplayLink Marketing Director revealed several details about the wireless system that we didn’t know, including details about a new Intel-developed antenna system.

Deal: Buy the Samsung Level Active wireless earbuds for just $29.99


Looking to buy a new pair of wireless earbuds in the US? If you don't have a lot of money to spend, you should consider getting the Samsung Level Active earbuds, which are currently sold for $29.99 - instead of the original $79.99 price (that's 63% off).

As their name suggests, the Samsung Level Active earphones are designed for people leading active lives. They're sweat and splash-resistant, featuring flexible ear hooks and a behind-the-neck cable for easy wearing. The earbuds will work with a wide variety of smartphones, regardless of OS, ...

Sprint starts rolling out Android 8.0 Oreo to the Galaxy Note 8

It looks like good things happen to consumers who bought the Galaxy Note 8 in the United States. After Samsung announced earlier this week that it will upgrade the smartphone to Android 8.0 Oreo in 2-3 weeks, local carriers started to deploy the update.

AT&T was the first US carrier to offer the update, followed soon by Verizon. Now, we've received word that Sprint is rolling out Android 8.0 Oreo to the Galaxy Note 8, too. The update weighs in at 1.3GB and brings the March security patch, as well as Samsung Experience 9.0.

Besides the new features and improvements that come with ...

Apple's Computers Now Officially Support External GPUs

Apple announced support for Thunderbolt 3-based external GPUs with macOS High Sierra 10.13.4.

U.S. Visitors, Immigrants Could Be Required To Reveal Social Media Identities

The U.S. government issued a proposal that would require visitors and immigrants to submit their social media identities into their visa application forms. The public will have 60 days to comment on it, before the OMB approves or rejects the proposal.

All Moto G6 phones get listed on an online retailer with images and full specs

Motorola somewhat confirmed plans to unveil new smartphones next month, but it didn't say how many devices will be introduced in April. Well, it doesn't even need to since the company's entire Moto G6 lineup leaked out months ago.

The Moto G6, Moto G6 Play, and Moto G6 Plus are expected to arrive in the first half of the year, and we know pretty much everything there is to know. The only things that remain to find out are when exactly they will be available for purchase and how much they'll cost.

We might be very close to learning these details as well, but, sadly, the Hungarian retailer ...

Best Virtual Reality Headsets

Here are the best Virtual Reality Headsets currently available for the PC. Ranging from $400 to over $1000, these are truly the ultimate gaming peripherals.

Thermaltake Announces Pure Plus 12 Digital RGB Fans For Radiators

Thermaltake launched a new RGB fan to add to its recently upgraded RGB Plus lighting ecosystem.

Huawei: Rumors of spying are "groundless speculation"; company shipped 153 million phones in 2017

Huawei CEO Richard Yu has said that the company's goal is to leap frog over Apple and Samsung to become the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. To help it achieve that goal, the company hoped to partner with the two largest U.S. wireless operators. Verizon and AT&T were prepared to add the Huawei Mate 10 Pro to their lineups earlier this year, but those deals fell through after the U.S. government became vocal about Huawei's close ties to the Chinese government. Last month, U.S. lawmakers warned Americans not to buy or use Huawei products. In the back of their minds was a report from ...

Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ and Note 8 updated with GIF support for Always On Display

Samsung is reportedly deploying yet another update for some of its top-tier smartphones, such as the Galaxy S8/S8+ and Galaxy Note 8. The new firmware updates the Always On Display (AOD) feature on all three smartphones and introduces support for GIF files.

Although GIF support for AOD was present inside these phones since their launch, the GIF files displayed were static. The latest update is meant to correct that issue and animate all GIF files that you now set to show up on your display when Always On Display is enabled.

However, it appears that the GIF animations will only run ...

The first Android Go smartphone launched in the US goes on sale for $80

Unveiled back in February at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, ZTE's first Android Go smartphone, the Tempo Go is now available for purchase in the United States. Apparently, this is also the first Android Go smartphone to be released in the US.

Customers can grab this affordable handset for just $80, which quite a steal considering it comes with Android Oreo. Well, a lighter version that's been specifically optimized to work on smartphones with 1GB RAM or lower.

Specs-wise, ZTE Tempo Go is far from being impressive. The phone is equipped with a 1.1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, ...

Huawei's folding phone patent shows how a phone turns into a tablet and vice versa

Last October, Huawei CEO Richard Yu revealed that the company has a working foldable phone that could be released in 2018. The timing of that comment is important, because just one month prior to Yu's statement Huawei filed a patent application with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The patent was published today by that organization, and includes images of what Huawei has in mind.

In the open position, the foldable Huawei device is a full-sized tablet. It appears to fold in the middle to become a smartphone. Back in October, when he discussed the foldable phone that Huawei ...

How To Set Up RAID In Windows 10

Windows 10 has made it simple to set up RAID by building on the good work of Windows 8 and Storage Spaces.

The Best GPUs For Ethereum Mining, Tested and Compared

Let's take a look at the energy requirements of cryptocurrency mining rigs: Which current-generation GPUs are the most suitable for Ethereum mining?

Data Breach Exposes 150 Million MyFitnessPal Accounts

Under Armour, the company that now owns MyFitnessPal, announced that approximately 150 million accounts were exposed in a data breach that was discovered on March 25, 2018.

Samsung HMD Odyssey Windows Mixed Reality Headset Review: MR Goes Premium

Samsung’s Odyssey HMD is the Cadillac of Windows Mixed Reality headsets. If you’re looking for a high-end MR option, this option is our favorite--even at its high price.

OnePlus co-founder deletes "Learn to love the notch" patronizing tweet

OnePlus has officially revealed the first picture of its upcoming OnePlus 6 phone and lo and behold, it will have a notch quite similar to that of the iPhone X.

And while we have nothing against notches, it seems that OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei went a bit overboard with his attempts to justify a new-found love for the notch and has now deleted a somewhat patronizing tweet from two days ago:

Learn to love the notch ;) https://t.co/Rd9lkcksJV

— Carl Pei (@getpeid) March 28, 2018


Pei tweeted a provocative "learn ...

Best smartphones to buy from Verizon

When it comes to buying a smartphone, there's a huge list of devices to choose from. Today's market is flooded with handsets spread across different price tiers and niche sectors. Then, we have mobile carriers offering various discounts, deals, or monthly payment plans to make the purchase of that one expensive handset that much easier for the customer.

One of these carriers Verizon Wireless... you know — only the largest wireless telecommunications provider in the US currently. Chances are, you may be looking to sign a new contract with Verizon and may be wondering which of their ...

T-Mobile's April Fools' day joke pays homage to an iconic smartphone


T-Mobile has revealed it's April Fools' Day joke in advance, and it's a great giggle.

After it almost had us last year with the T-Mobile ONEsie – the full-body costume that was supposed to enhance your tech life – the company is trying to catch us off-guard once again by launching it's April Fools' Joke two days prior. What is it this time, you may ask. Well, it's another wearable with smart capabilities called the T-Mobile Sidekicks – the successor of the T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone. Best described as "smartshoephone", the Sidekicks ...

Fossil Q Jacqueline hybrid smartwatch Review


There are smartwatches, then there are hybrid smartwatches. While gadget fanatics have no qualms about wearing a techy-looking smartwatch on their wrist, others may prefer something a bit more discrete, yet that doesn't skimp on features – something like the hybrid Fossil Q Jacqueline, which has the looks of a traditional watch, but has a variety of smart functions built into it as well. Hybrid smartwatches aren't new. There have been quite a handful from various manufacturers, so what makes this particular one any different or better than the competition?

Design

The Fossil Q ...

What Is Fixed Foveated Rendering, And Why Does It Matter?

Last week at GDC, Oculus introduced a new rendering technique called Fixed Foveated Rendering (FFR), which reduces the GPU load in VR scenes. FFR is somewhat of a gamechanger for mobile VR headsets, especially standalone units like the Oculus Go.

Valve Introduces Per-Application SteamVR Settings

Late last night, Valve introduced a new SteamVR feature that enables per-application video settings so you can better utilize your graphics card’s resources in less demanding titles and not overload the GPU in graphics-heavy titles.

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming Laptop: Meet the GTX 1060 Max-Q

The first GTX 1060 Max-Q gaming laptop we have tested, this version of Dell's budget gamer delivers good value if you have a strict $1,000 budget.

iOS 11.3 Battery Health and Performance Throttling: what is it exactly?

One of the biggest new features in iOS 11.3 is a more advanced long-term battery health monitoring and the option to disable performance throttling, but how do you use these features and what do the numbers there mean?

It all started with an issue that affected iPhone SE, 6, 6s and 7 series of devices with older batteries. Those devices would unexpectedly start shutting down when an intensive app runs and to fix that issue Apple decided to quietly slow down the performance of these phones to avoid those peaks in power usage. This, however, resulted in phones running much slower ...

Apple iOS 11.4: here is all we know so far

iOS 11.3 is already out and Apple has now officially confirmed that there will be at least one more point iOS 11 update and that would be iOS 11.4.

This is the first point-four update for iOS software in years, as the last one actually happened with iOS 8 way back in 2014. Then, Apple introduced Apple Music to iOS, which was quite a big announcement, so don't rule out major features for this upcoming update either. Usually, Apple limits itself to less than five point updates, so iOS 11.4 is also expected to be the last major iOS 11 update before the big announcement of iOS ...

Google Play Books gets a slew of audiobook features


After the recent introduction of audiobooks to Google Play, Google is now expanding the available features to improve user experience and better match offerings from Audiable and iBooks. The update is out for the Android, iOS, and Google Assistant-enabled devices.

Users can now add bookmarks to their audiobooks, allowing them to revisit favorite portions of the books at any time. Just tap the bookmark icon while you're listening, and this will create a marker that you can always come back to. Another neat new feature comes in the form of more granular ...

Under Armour MyFitnessPall app hacked, exposing data of 150 million user accounts

Sports apparel company Under Armour has gained quite the popularity in the past few years and you've probably noticed that. It now competes with the top dogs of the industry, including Nike, Adidas, and Puma. Under Armour also offers a fitness app and service called MyFitnessPal. It tracks your calorie income, has info about numerous diets and fitness programs, you get the idea. Now, before you call us SportsArena (actually, that sounds somewhat compelling) let's go straight to the topic – it turns out MyFitnessPal has been hacked, resulting in the breach of 150 million accounts. Yikes. 

The ...

iOS 11.3 leaves AirPlay 2 out

The new iOS 11.3 update is here and it brings new battery health info, ARKit with support for vertical surfaces, business chat and health records in the US, and other improvements, but one important feature that was expected to come with this update, did not make it: we are talking about AirPlay 2.

AirPlay 2 appears prominently on Apple's official iOS page, but the feature has been removed from iOS 11.3 beta 3 and has not made it in the final software either.

With AirPlay 2, you will be able to wirelessly stream audio from an iPhone or iPad to multiple ...

iOS 11.3: here is a full changelog and all compatible devices

Starting today, you can download iOS 11.3 for your iOS devices and get all the new features that come with it: the new battery health info, ARKit with support for vertical surfaces, business chat and health records in the US, and other improvements.

We have already told you about the major new iOS 11.3 features here, but if you want to know all the features including the smaller ones, you need to look at the full changelog for this update.

Right below, you will find just that: everything that is new with a very short explanation by Apple itself. This information ...

Verizon rolls out Android 8.0 Oreo to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Although Samsung promised to bring Android 8.0 Oreo to Galaxy Note 8 smartphones in the United States in 2-3 weeks, it appears that some carriers have already decided to push out the update.

AT&T was the first US carrier to roll out Android 8.0 Oreo for the Galaxy Note 8, and now it looks like Verizon is next. Reports coming from Verizon Galaxy Note owners suggest the Big Red has just started the Android 8.0 Oreo roll-out.

The carrier hasn't yet updated the phone's support page, but the size of the update (1GB+) somewhat confirms that this is indeed the highly-anticipated Android ...