How To

The Complete Guide to Using External Storage on iOS and iPadOS

Apple pushed out a host of new features in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, and one of the most significant is native support for external storage—it means you can plug in thumb drives, external disk drives, and digital cameras and bring up the contents of those devices in the iOS and iPadOS Files app. Here’s … Continued

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How Google’s Pixel 4 Is Trying to Stay Ahead in the Smartphone Camera Race

There was only one stand-out feature on the Pixel 3 phones: That fantastic (single-lens!) camera, which got better over time and made the Pixel 3a the best mid-ranger on the market too. Now Google has revealed the follow-ups, the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4 XL—so can they keep the Pixels on top of the … Continued

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How to Put Limits on Your Binge-Watching and Get Your Life Back

Having more movies and TV shows than you’re ever going to be able to watch in your lifetime all available at the click of a button is quite a treat, you might think. But if you’re starting to regularly see your evenings and weekends get sucked into binge-watching black holes, perhaps it’s time to pull … Continued

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Everything You Can Do With Google Assistant on a Chromebook

Google Assistant is spreading into more and more devices—you might be familiar with it from your smartphone, or your smart speaker, or your smart display, but it’s also arriving on more and more chromebooks, too. As of last month, Google Assistant is coming to more chromebooks that aren’t made by Google, thanks to the roll-out … Continued

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12 Things You Can Do in macOS Catalina That You Couldn’t Before

We’ve seen the Apple on-stage demos, and the beta versions, and now macOS Catalina (technically macOS 10.15) is here for everyone… well, everyone with a Mac made in the last six or seven years, anyway. These are the new features that you’re going to want to start playing around with straight away. 1) Manage music, … Continued

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How to Avoid Backing Bad Crowdfunding Projects

Kickstarter and Indiegogo are home to some of the most innovative tech ideas around, and there’s plenty of choices if you’re looking to invest in something cool, useful, or cutting-edge. Just before you part with your hard-earned cash, though, we’ve got some warning signs and red flags to help you tell the difference between a … Continued

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All the Best iPadOS Features That You Don’t Get in iOS

The big iPad-exclusive features (like the Dock) first started appearing in iOS 11, and now Apple’s tablets have a whole separate mobile operating system to call their own. To mark the debut of iPadOS, which starts on version 13 for continuity’s sake, here are the best features you can use on an iPad but not … Continued

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What Windows 10X Is—and Why It’s the Future of Microsoft Software

We’ve got another variation of Microsoft’s operating system to keep track of: Windows 10X. It’s coming first to the dual-screen Surface Neo due in 2020, but behind the scenes it tells us much more about the future of Windows across multiple devices and form factors—and we’ve got everything you need to know about this new … Continued

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11 Clever Uses for Smart Plugs That Make Them Worth Buying

The humble smart plug might not be the most eye-catching or featured-packed smart home device out there, but the ability to turn electrical sockets on and off with a tap on your phone (or a preset schedule) is more useful than you might think—and we’ve got the examples to prove it. At least buying a … Continued

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10 Tips and Tricks to Make You a Sonos Master

Sonos speakers have been providing high-fidelity wireless audio streaming hardware for several years now, but in recent times its tech has been evolving fast: We’ve seen portable versions of its speakers, the addition of on-board digital assistants, new support for audio protocols, and more besides. Here are ten tips to help you get the most … Continued

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How Firefox and Chrome’s New Tech Will Better Protect Your Browsing History

Firefox has announced it’s making encrypted DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) the default way of connecting to sites on the web. And this browser tech is coming soon to Google’s Chrome, too. If you’ve got no idea what any of that means, here’s what you need to know about the technology and the future of your browsing. When … Continued

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The Clever Tech Powering the New Apple Watch’s Always-On Display

The Apple Watch Series 5 is the first of Apple’s smartwatches to come with an always-on display, so you no longer need to lift your wrist to see what the time is—one of the few features that Google’s Wear OS got first. This upgrade is made possible by a change in the screen tech on … Continued

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All the Ways You Can Try and Fix a Sticky MacBook Keyboard

Since Apple introduced its butterfly keyboard design in 2015, the problems with it have been very well documented—and they’re problems that I’ve experienced as well, with a 2018 MacBook Pro (the one with the third revision of butterfly keyboard, if you’re keeping count). If yours is also acting up, here’s what you can do. You’ll … Continued

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19 Things You Can Do in iOS 13 That You Couldn’t Before

Happy iOS 13 day! If you’ve got an iPhone 6s or something newer, get ready for your iOS 13 update, which will roll out today. We’ve seen beta releases and on-stage demos, but here’s the definitive list of all the new features and settings you can now play around with on your phone. This year … Continued

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9 Uses for Google Maps Street View Besides Checking Out Your Old Neighborhood

Street View has been with us since 2007, allowing us to spy on our old neighborhoods, see our front door on the internet, and generally travel the globe without getting up from the sofa. This ever-expanding digital library of locations has more uses than you might realize—and here we’ve listed some of our favorites. 1) … Continued

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The Best Apps for Spending Less Time on Your Phone

Are you, maybe, perhaps, spending too much time staring at your phone? Those minutes spent scrolling through social media feeds and beating your latest high scores can really add up, and before you know it, you’re losing hours a week you could be spending more productively. These apps will help you strike a balance. Flipd … Continued

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What Is Ultra-Wideband—and What Does It Do in the iPhone 11

There’s a new (ish) technology in town, one that’s made it to the consumer smartphone market with the arrival of the iPhone 11: ultra-wideband (UWB). What is this tech, which now lurks on the Apple U1 chip? And how is it going to change how you use your phone in the future? Here’s what you … Continued

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9 Useful Spotify Features You Might Not Have Started Using Yet

The Spotify apps are constantly updated, tweaked and refined, and that means a steady flow of new features for you to try out. In case you’ve been buried in your playlists to such an extent that you haven’t noticed what’s changed in Spotify since you first signed up, here are nine really useful features to … Continued

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How to Upgrade to an iPhone 11 Without Getting Ripped Off

Pre-orders for the iPhone 11 and its Pro siblings start on Friday at 5am PDT/8am EDT. While Apple didn’t announce a ton of new features for the devices this year, there are some subtle but important changes happening around trade-ins and upgrades. So we made you a little guide to make sure you don’t get … Continued

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All the Phone Companies You’ve Never Heard of That You Should Care About

The market might be dominated by Apple and Samsung—with an occasional ripple of interest every time a new Pixel arrives—but there are more companies out there making phones than you might have realized. Not only that, they’re often doing more in terms of innovation and experimentation than the big names. At the last count, between … Continued