Posts Tagged: them

The most common Spotify problems and how to fix them

Is Spotify or one of its latest features giving you trouble? These are the common Spotify problems we’ve encountered and the best fixes to get your music back.
Digital Trends

Don’t watch ‘Star Trek: Picard’ season three, it’ll only encourage them

The following article contains spoilers for earlier Star Trek properties but doesn’t reveal specific spoilers about Star Trek: Picard season three, not that you should be watching it anyway.

It’s 2034 and Warner Bros. decides it needs to wring more cash out of Friends, the decade defining cultural juggernaut and sitcom behemoth. Imagine what that show would be like; A warm and cozy three-decades-later check-in on characters you know intimately well. After all, you probably spent your formative years watching them mature from young single New Yorkers to a series of families. Maybe it’ll tickle those nostalgia glands, reminding you of when you watched the show with your own family as a kid.

Unfortunately, the hotshot creator of the age decided they want to go in a different direction this time. This needs to be a dark and gritty miserycore grief orgy that better reflects our more rough-and-tumble times. After all, TV these days can’t be gentle or comforting, offer escapism or posit a better world, not since Trump, Brexit, Bolonosaro, January 6th and Ukraine. The creative team have got that quote on a poster in their office, the one about thetriumph of evil, and they’re not going to sit idly by, they’re taking a stand.

In the sequel, Rachel’s famous for her wellness TikTok that often makes allusions to “reclaiming” the US as a white ethnostate. Joey lost an arm while filming a movie and is now in prison after a failed heist to pay off his life-ruining medical debt. Monica’s got a crippling adderall addiction and slips away most nights to murder the neighborhood cats and dogs. Everything’s shot in ultra gloomy vision, and there’s no laugh track, jokes or a studio audience, just unrelenting misery.

This revival is dense with references to the Friends backstory as well as the broader Friends universe. Remember that Lisa Kudrow played Phoebe’s twin sister Ursula on Mad About You, right? If not, you better get yourself to Wikipedia to study up. I mean, it won’t be relevant to the plot, but it’s something you remember, so clap, go on, clap.

You might be wondering why such a project would be allowed to happen, given that it wouldn’t be fun for fans of the original series. Times change, characters age, but you can’t turn a cozy sitcom into Breaking Bad overnight and expect that to be satisfying. You’d hardly think it’d be a big pull for newbie viewers either, who’d probably steer clear if they weren’t already familiar with 236 episodes of intricate backstory. Nostalgia revivals don’t need to be slavish to their source material, but it’s hard to see the appeal for something so grim and unpleasant.

Apropos of nothing, let’s talk about the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard.

Image of Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn from 'Star Trek: Picard' in the USS Titan transporter room.
Trae Patton / Paramount+

Season three was sold as something of a course correction for Picard after its first two deeply unpopular runs. It ditched all but Raffi from the roster of original characters created for it, and instead pulled in the stars from Star Trek: The Next Generation. As well as the returning Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner, we’ll see LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden and Michael Dorn back in action. And, in the six of ten episodes I’ve been permitted to watch under strict embargo, I’d say only one of them feels like the character we know and love.

Unfortunately, while we have the other TNG stars, the creative team of Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman and showrunner Terry Matalas didn’t bother to grab any of that show’s lightness of tone. Picard remains a grimdark slog, shot on perpetually underlit sets and featuring a succession of increasingly-bleak setpieces. The plot is stretched so thin that the first four episodes turn out to be little more than an extended prologue for the rest. A prologue that could, I should add, have been an efficient, and possibly more enjoyable, hour. The story is so obvious, too, that you’ll be ahead of the characters pretty much non-stop as they stumble from one idiot plot to the next.

It’s maddening that we can see how much of the plot is blocking itself to ensure things can’t move forward too quickly. There’s a whole episode of gosh-isn’t-this-tense tension that could have been eliminated if anyone in Starfleet pulled out a tricorder and used it as God intended. In this utopian future, where science and technology really are advanced enough to look like magic, why does nobody employ the tools hanging from their waistband? Mostly because Paramount ordered ten episodes, and ten episodes is what we’re going to give them. Another episode has a time-filling punch fight runaround because it’s now somehow impossible for a serving officer to use a Federation ship’s intercom system to call the bridge and warn them of impending danger.

Picard is one of those series where you often find yourself shouting at the screen as the next stupid moment unfolds in front of you. Even worse is that the show’s creative team seem to think that it’s us, the audience, who are deficient in the thinking department. There is scene after scene in which characters repeat the same lines back to each other because the crew assume we’re not paying attention. Because of the limits on spoilers, I’ve re-written a scene to match the sentiment, if not the words verbatim, so you can get a sense of what to expect:

CREW 1: The ship is being pulled closer to the black hole’s gravity well.

CREW 2: We do not have enough power to pull ourselves away, sir.

RIKER: Are you saying that we’re dead in the water?

CREW 1: We will be passing the black hole’s event horizon in 17 minutes.

RIKER: We’re dead in the water and we’re sinking.

PICARD: We’re going to be dead in 17 minutes, Will, unless we can find a way to solve this.

RIKER: We’re sinking into quicksand, and there’s no time to grab a helping hand.

The irony is that this run is so thicket-dense with references that the show basically assumes that you’ve already seen pretty much everything produced during Trek’s gold, silver and bronze ages. But, to make sure nobody’s left behind, everyone has to speak in exposition so hamfisted that, now that this is over, I think Michelle Hurd deserves personal injury compensation. Raffi gets saddled with so many cringe-inducing lines where she states, and restates and re-restates the obvious that I started grasping fistfuls of my own hair to relieve some of my discomfort.

And as for the storyline, what can I say? It’s clear that Alex Kurtzman is only comfortable writing in a single register. His go-to is usually a militaristic, testosterone-fuelled paranoid Reaganite fantasy in which the real villain was our own government all along. He did it in Into Darkness, Discovery season two and even the first season of Picard – to the point where Starfleet is now so lousy with double agents that all of their schemes fail because the saboteurs are all too busy sabotaging each other’s plans instead of that of the wider Federation.

If Picard is nothing else, it’s nearly pornographic in its use and misuse of franchise iconography. I always felt that Jeff Russo’s Picard theme sounded more like the library music for a corporate advert than the makes-your-heart-soar theme a Star Trek deserves. And here, it’s been ditched in favor of Jerry Goldsmith’s sumptuous, nectar-for-the-ears score for First Contact. The first title card is a direct pull from Wrath of Khan, and pretty much every element therein is an elbow to the ribs, reminding you of older, better Star Trek movies and TV series.

An early scene has a character “hijacking a starship” under false pretenses while it’s in spacedock. You know, the mushroom-shaped megastation orbiting Earth from The Search for Spock onwards. And because we’re already going beat-for-beat for a sequence xeroxed from 1984, said starship even jumps to warp as soon as it’s past the exit doors. Despite the fact that the sort of hardcore Trek fans who would spot the reference would also note that you’re not meant to jump to warp while inside a solar system when there’s no urgent need to do so.

I’ll admit, this is postgraduate degree-level Star Trek nerdery, but you can’t have it both ways: If you’re trying to placate hostile viewers with the excessive fan service, you can’t then complain when they point out that you’re doing it all wrong.

The show’s teaser trailer already revealed we’re getting an overstuffed roster of villains to round out the run. Amanda Plummer’s captain of an enemy ship that shares a design with the Narada from Star Trek ‘09. Then there’s Daniel Davis’ holographic Professor Moriarty, as well as Data’s evil twin brother Lore. Both of these sorta make sense in the context, but there’s a hell of a lot of narrative scaffolding to explain away the fact that Brent Spiner is now 74 years old. (The dude looks good for it, but it’s hard to play an ageless android when time marches on and the de-aging CGI budget is spent on smoothing out Patrick Stewart’s face for a single flashback and the pointless needle-drops that open every episode.)

Now, before you scurry off to Memory Alpha to confirm that Moriartywas locked away in a holobox at the end of “Ship in a Bottle,” and Lorewas disassembled at the end of “Descent Part 2,” yes, they were. Try to remember that showrunner Terry Matalas and executive producer Alex Kurtzman treat Star Trek’s continuity less as something which informs storytelling and more as a series of shiny objects to keep us all amused when the plot sags or anyone has any time to think about what’s going on.

I’ll also add that the trailers and promotional material have very intentionally kept a lot of material back. There are more classic-era heroes and villains crowbarring their way into the story in the way that, if it were fanfiction, would seem excessive. But, if I’m honest, the second or third time someone, or something, familiar popped up, I wasn’t whooping and cheering, I was sighing. The Star Trek universe is vast and broad and deep, but Picard makes it feel like a puddle where everyone knows each other, and everyone under the age of 30 has grown up watching The Next Generation. If you’re serving in the US Navy, for instance, how likely is it that you’d know the ins and outs of every exploit of even the most well-traveled combat vessel?

Now, I don’t have the language or experience to discuss this properly, and I’m aware of others who do feel differently. This is just my opinion, but I think the depiction of drug and alcohol use in Picard has always felt off. And since I can’t talk about the third season, I’ll talk about the first, where something very similar happened and is just as vexing here as it was back then. Raffi deals with her son’s rejection by relapsing, but then mere hours later, she’s back at her station and advancing the plot. I don’t recall a sense that her use clouded her judgment and I don’t think it was discussed subsequently – so despite the portentiousness in the build-up, it was depicted almost like someone just having a bad day and knocking back some drinks. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, because there are plenty of people who use drugs and it doesn’t impact their professional lives at all. (Read any Making-Of book about The Original Series and you’ll notice how more than a few references to the production team’s drug use.) But if you’re going to write a plot where scenes hang on the will-she-or-won’t-she tension of relapse, but it all turns out to be hunky dory straight after, what was the point of depicting any of this in the first place?

Then there’s the violence, and the casual way that it’s doled out, especially in the show’s numerous interrogation scenes. I’m not advocating for forced confessions, but given Starfleet’s advanced science, and the Federation has a planet of literal telepaths at its disposal, why are we always punching people in the nose with a butt of a phaser pistol? I mean, I know why: It’s a nerdy sci-fi show play acting as a muscular basic-cable drama, but that doesn’t mean it works. I’ve often theorized that many modern-day Star Trek creators would much rather be over the hall making their own Star War instead. Maybe I’m wrong, and the Picard crew is really nostalgic for the hamfisted Bush-era politics of 24.

Image of Amanda Plummer and some aliens in a dark corridor in an unnamed location during 'Star Trek: Picard's third season
Trae Patton / Paramount+

It was always going to be hard to pull Picard out of its creative slump that started back when the show was greenlit. If there was ever a character who we’d seen grow, change, mature and treat his own life with more kindness, it was Jean-Luc Picard. Some of TNG’s best episodes forced Picard to consider his own life, his history, his mortality, his motives, including the series’ grand finale. “All Good Things” isn’t just good Star Trek, it’s one of the best series finales ever made, encompassing the entire breadth and depth of The Next Generation in one glorious sweep. And between seven years of TV and four less essential but still important movies, he was done.

I wrote somewhere, I forget where, that a smarter idea would have been to center the action on a less-well served member of the Enterprise D crew. I’d have been second in line to watch a Geordi LaForge spin-off (behind uber fan Rihanna, of course), and there’s plenty to explore there. Or a Beverley Crusher spin-off, as she solves people’s problems as a simple country space doctor back on Earth or on some far-flung planet. Maybe a sci-fi version of In Treatment fronted by Marina Sirtis could have worked, and would have certainly cost less than this.

All of which would be preferable to what we got, which despite initially having a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist at the helm, was two years of go-nowhere, do-nothing bore-a-thons. Its brief moments of cleverness drowned out by the baffling character decisions, tin-eared dialog and ligneous acting. And both had plots which would have struggled to fill a movie stretched out across a painfully slow ten hour runtime.

And that’s before we get to the moralizing, which had characters pointing at a bad thing and saying “thing bad.” I don’t think the second season’s 26 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes is because the (inexplicably) conservative wing of Trek fandom was outraged that a show about happy space communists solving problems while remaining friends suddenly “got woke.” Good, old-fashioned Star Trek at least had the good grace to cloak its progressivism in allegory that could slide past the otherwise closed minds of some of its viewers. By comparison, Picard felt like the first draft of a high school theater production made the term after the teacher had explained agitprop.

Maybe that’s why I feel so annoyed by Picard, because all of the things that are wrong with the show, and its kin, are examples of amateurishness. Amateurish plotting, amateurish dialogue, a lack of thoughtfulness about the material, what it says, or what it’s doing. Just an endless parade of big, dumb, brash, po-faced melodrama used in place of some sort of maturity or integrity. I don’t expect Star Trek to be brilliant all the damn time, but I do expect a minimum standard of something to be upheld. And this falls so far below it, it’s hard to call it Star Trek. Some people will call that gatekeeping, but Star Trek can be anything it damn well wants to be, so long as it’s competently made and halfway entertaining. 

The constant callbacks got me thinking about the period when Nicholas Meyer was, directly or indirectly, the major creative force behind Star Trek. It’s been 32 years since his 1991 swansong, The Undiscovered Country, and it remains a high-water mark of cinematic Trek. Drawing to a close the story of The Original Series crew, Meyer didn’t go for nostalgia, but savaged his characters, exposing their flaws, their bigotries, their failings. There was redemption, and heart, and it never needed Meyer to stage endless close-quarters phaser-fu fights in unlight rooms.

But that was a filmmaker with a clear vision, and the good graces to really drag his characters in the dirt before washing them clean. Imagine what would happen if Picard encountered any of the same level of subtext – they’d probably spend an hour running from it before beating it over the head with the butt of a phaser rifle and then spend the next hour feeling glum about it. If nothing else, I’d say don’t even watch Picard for ironic kicks, lest Paramount think it’s somehow a runaway hit and continue to produce crap like this.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

‘Destiny 2’ cheat maker AimJunkies claims Bungie hacked them

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has been on a legal spree recently: It sued one user over cheating and threats against its employees, as well as a YouTuber who issued nearly 100 false DMCA claims against other creators. But after suing the cheat developer AimJunkies last year, Bungie is now facing a countersuit. AimJunkies claims the developer illegally hacked an associate's computer, reports TorrentFreak (via Kotaku). Additionally, they allege Bungie also violated the DMCA by breaking through that machine's security.  

Bungie's current Limited Software License Agreement (LSLA) gives the company's BattleEye software permission to scan computers for anti-cheat tools, but that wasn't true back in 2019, when the alleged hack began. According to AimJunkie's counter-suit, Bungie accessed a computer owned by its associate James May several times throughout 2019 and 2021. It goes on to allege that Bungie used information from those hacks to gather information about other potential suspects. 

Phoenix Digital, the company behind AimJunkies, didn't stop there. It also claims the Bungie violated its Terms of Service by buying AimJunkies' software and reverse-engineering its source code. If this all sounds a bit ironic, that's because Bungie accused the company of similar tactics in its original suit. James May and Phoenix Digital are demanding damages, as well as an end to any future hacks and DMCA breaches. We've asked Bungie for comment, and will update if we hear back.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Common Google Pixel Buds Pro problems and how to solve them

Having issues with your Pixel Buds Pro? From glitchy sound to unresponsive Bluetooth, here’s a list of the most common Buds Pro problems and how to solve them.
Android | Digital Trends

The most common Wi-Fi problems and how to fix them

If your Wi-Fi is running slow or just drops out altogether in certain rooms, there are solutions you can try to fix the problem without buying a new router.
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Common Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 problems and how to fix them

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Common Android 12 problems and how to fix them

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Google says they’re finally optimizing Android tablet apps. Do you believe them?

At Google I/O this year, Google said they were working with developers and manufacturers to finally give Android apps the tablet-optimized versions they deserve. No more upscaled, wonky UI that leaves a ton of wasted space, blown up phone apps, or things that are just straight up broken and unpleasant to use on an Android […]

Come comment on this article: Google says they’re finally optimizing Android tablet apps. Do you believe them?

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OnePlus 10 Pro’s 10-bit photos are great, but you can’t see them

The OnePlus 10 Pro has a 10-bit color mode on its cameras, and it’s an unusual feature that can take great photos. Except we can’t show them to you.
Mobile | Digital Trends

Common Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra problems and how to solve them

Has your Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra got issues? We present some of the most common problems and provide you with solutions and tips.
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The most common Google Wear OS problems and how to fix them

Got a Wear OS smartwatch? We’ve rounded up some of the more common Google Wear OS problems, along with some workarounds and solutions for solving them.
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The most common iPhone X problems, and how to fix them

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The most common Apple Watch problems and how to fix them

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Wearables | Digital Trends

Grell Audio’s TWS/1 earbuds sound as good as you want them to

A new entrant to the true wireless headphone space you say? Sure, that might be a fairly common occurrence these days, but this one – Grell Audio – comes with some pretty strong heritage. Its founder, Axel Grell, is well known in the headphone industry for his extensive work at Sennheiser on some of the company’s most prestigious products. The TWS/1 is his first solo product under the Grell brand. Accordingly, we’re interested to see what the $ 200 wireless buds can do.

The TWS/1 has a modern look. The mostly circular design is only interrupted by a small, AirPod-like protuberance on each bud. Originally the plan was to have the outer casing entirely metal but physics and radio waves meant that some concessions (plastic parts) were needed. Overall, they maintain a premium feel that stands above that often found at this pricepoint. They visually remind me slightly of the Jabra Elite 75t, but a little lower profile.

In terms of fit, that slightly more streamlined design means you don’t feel like something is balancing in your ear which can sometimes happen with more rotund models. As per usual they come with a charging case that promises four full charges of the TWS/1. The buds themselves offer around 6 hours per charge which holds true in my experience with ANC activated. Curiously, the buds are placed in the case with the right one to the left and vice versa. I’m not sure why this would be, but it does take some remembering (you’ll soon be reminded as the buds don’t fit the other way around).

In a world of me-too products, it’s hard to stand out. The easiest differentiator is price, then sound quality and or additional/premium features. It seems Grell Audio has tried to tackle all three of these, and with general success, I would say.

The price point puts the TWS/1 in an unusual category. Many premium brands are landing in the $ 250+ zone while more affordable options, like Google’s second-gen Pixel Buds or the aforementioned Jabra’s live in the $ 150 area. Budget options, south of $ 100, are also increasingly more common. This, then, pitches the TWS/1 at the overlap between high-mid and low-premium. I would wager this is entirely intentional as feature set and build quality skew higher end, but the barebones packaging and more accessible price indicate a more mainstream audience.

Grell Audio TWS/1.
James Trew / Engadget

As for sound quality, this is where things are a little more clear. In my testing, I was generally pleased with the default sound. It was perhaps a little on the thinner side for my personal preference with a slight weight on the lower end for a typically commercial sound. But Grell has partnered with SoundID – a third-party app that tunes select brands of headphones to your personal preference/hearing.

We’ve seen things like this before, most notably with Nura which takes this to a whole new level. SoundID is a little more understated in its approach. It still uses some form of hearing test, but rather than asking if you can hear certain tones, it simply plays you some music and asks “which do you prefer, A or B.” Once I completed this short test, the difference was night and day. With my own personal profile activated (it uploads to the headphones so it applies no matter what you are listening on), my usual mix of mid ‘10s indie and rave nonsense came alive.

I have a slight preference for dynamic range and beefier low and mid-high frequencies. At least, I presume I do because that was the biggest change in sound after completing the test and I instantly found them much more enjoyable. In the SoundID app, you can toggle between the default sound and your own profile and it really does make a huge difference. You don’t need the app to get good sound, but I’m going to guess that you’ll be happier with what it gives you.

Coincidentally, SoundID is also where you’ll get software updates for the TWS/1. I had one during my testing and it improved a few things including the slightly unresponsive touch controls. They’re still not reading my taps 1:1 but its about on par with most other touch-control buds I have used. Before the update, it was much more frustrating (or, maybe I just learned the technique?).

Those controls aren’t user-configurable, so you’re stuck with what Grell gives you. But, fortunately, that’s pretty much everything you’d want and without too many complicated tap or gesture combinations. Swiping forward or back on the left ear skips tracks, up or down on the right for volume, and so on. It was the single taps that I was having issues with which control play/pause on the right and transparency mode on the left – both of which are more annoying if not activated immediately.

This brings us on to smart(er) features. As mentioned, the TWS/1 has Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode – both of which are becoming increasingly standard. But there’s also a Noise Annoyance Reduction (NAR) mode. Grell explained to me during their initial announcement briefing that ANC is great for lower-frequency sustained noises, but doesn’t work as well for higher-frequency annoyances (think, crying baby on a plane). NAR is Grell’s own attempt at offering some reduction of these types of sound.

Grell Audio TWS/1.
James Trew / Engadget

In practice, I found it hard to pinpoint the difference that NAR makes. With ANC, it’s easy to hear the low rumble of the road outside my apartment decrease in volume. It’s maybe not the most powerful ANC I have heard but it does the job. With NAR, whatever the ear equivalent of squinting is, proved to be a little more indeterminate. It does seem to slightly improve the listening experience in combination with ANC, but it’s also hard to tell how much of that was me willing it to do so. It’s an interesting concept though and one that I hope Grell can continue to improve over time.

Other small perks include a “mono” mode (listening with just one bud). This isn’t as common as it should be in my opinion and it adds more flexibility for those that want to maintain some spatial awareness without having to wear both buds. It’s also, obviously, how some people prefer to handle their calls, too (reliving the Bluetooth headset days).

Another small added bonus is wireless charging “compatibility.” It’s not something I was able to test, but the more things that support it the better? Or, at the very least, it’s a nice perk for those already invested in the wireless charging world.

All in, Grell has given price, features and sound quality enough consideration that the result is a promising first product from an emerging brand. The price point, in particular, strikes a good balance between signaling premium ambitions without putting it too far out of reach for mainstream casuals. I’d love to see some further advances on the NAR technology and the controls could still be more responsive, but if you’re looking for a fresh set of true wireless headphones that are customizable to your taste, these are a great place to start.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

The most common Apple Watch problems and how to fix them

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Common Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro problems and how to fix them

Technical bugs and glitches getting in the way of you enjoying your new phone? Here’s a roundup of common Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro problems and how to fix them.
Android | Digital Trends

Report claims not many people are buying $1000 smartphones; are you one of them?

Smartphone prices have ballooned in the last few years, with $ 1000 being the “standard” price for a flagship phone, and many devices going well over that. 5G and folding phones inflate that cost even more, making phones much more expensive than they’ve ever been. But according to an NPD report, not many consumers are buying […]

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Instagram tests Group Stories after Facebook ditched them

Facebook might not be giving up on Group Stories just because it's cutting them from its main app. App sleuther Jane Manchun Wong has found test code for a Group Story feature in Instagram. There's no mystery to how it works — you'd just choose to…
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MIT scientists ‘work out’ synthetic hydrogels to make them stronger

Your muscles are soft, pliable, and can resist fatigue after thousands of repetitive movements. Researchers at MIT have found a way to make synthetic hydrogels act like muscles by putting them through a vigorous workout. After being mechanically trai…
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Liam Neeson has a special set of skills and voicing your commute is one of them

Living in Los Angeles is basically living with an endless traffic headache. Whether trying to get somewhere on a congested highway or through Coldwater Canyon, you’ll never outthink the unpredictable gridlock machine. That’s where a lifesaving service like Waze comes in, providing real time traffic information and alternate routes to quickly navigate your way through […]

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5 annoying LG G6 problems, and what to do about them

If you’re not having a great time with your new G6, then you need to do something about it. We’ve collected some common LG G6 problems here along with possible fixes or workarounds.

The post 5 annoying LG G6 problems, and what to do about them appeared first on Digital Trends.

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Tiny liquid battery cools chips while powering them

Scientists from IBM and ETH Zurich university have built a tiny "flow" battery that has the dual benefit of supplying power to chips and cooling them at the same time. Even taking pumping into account, it produces enough energy to power a chip while…
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6 Huawei P9 problems and the solutions to deal with them

The Huawei P9 is a quality phone, but some owners have faced a multitude of issues since the smartphone’s launch. Luckily, we’ve prowled the internet to find the most common problems users are facing, along with a few workarounds.

The post 6 Huawei P9 problems and the solutions to deal with them appeared first on Digital Trends.

Android Army–Digital Trends

Which gadgets to buy refurbished, how to buy them, and where

Electronics can be expensive — after all, cutting-edge specs come at a price. Here, we take a look at what refurbished means, what devices you should buy refurbished, and which outlets offer the deepest discounts.

The post Which gadgets to buy refurbished, how to buy them, and where appeared first on Digital Trends.

Android Army–Digital Trends

Future Apple AirPods could use magnetic ear hooks to keep them off the ground

One of the biggest issues with the Apple AirPods is that they can fall out of your ear and you could lose them. An Apple patent, however, suggests that could change in a future version thanks to magnetic ear hooks.

The post Future Apple AirPods could use magnetic ear hooks to keep them off the ground appeared first on Digital Trends.

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Problems with your OnePlus 3 or 3T? Here’s how to fix them

The OnePlus 3 and 3T offer a good deal of functionality for the money, but people are already running into a variety of issues with their new devices. Here are 21 of the most common problems people have reported, and a few potential remedies.

The post Problems with your OnePlus 3 or 3T? Here’s how to fix them appeared first on Digital Trends.

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You could soon pair touchscreen devices just by pressing them together

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have developed a smart new system called CapCam, which lets users pair mobile devices with other touchscreens simply by pressing them together.

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Common ZTE Axon 7 problems and how to fix them

The ZTE Axon 7 is a great device, but it’s not without its problems. Kuckily, we’ve compiled a list of some of the more common problems that can occur, as well as a few solutions for dealing with them.

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Android Army–Digital Trends

Got 200 friends? Video chat with them all at the same time using Line

Messaging app Line has launched a group video chat feature, where you and up to 200 of your friends can all chat together. Obviously, there won’t be 200 tiny windows on the screen though, and the view is restricted to four. And yes, there are face filters.

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Mobile–Digital Trends

Common Google Pixel problems and the solutions to deal with them

Google’s latest smartphone — the Pixel — may be running new hardware, but it still has its fair share of problems. Thankfully, we’ve rounded up some of the more common issues, along with a few solutions for addressing them.

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Android Army–Digital Trends

Startup gives the Apple Watch two cameras by hiding them inside the band

Apple may not have had room to fit a camera inside its smartwatch, but why not put it inside the band? The CMRA band packs in a front- and rear-facing camera along with 8GB of storage inside of a connected wristband.

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Wearables–Digital Trends

Your face is familiar — to the FBI. Its facial recognition database holds 117 million of them

In the years since it established a new identification system, a new report from published by Georgetown Law shows the FBI has apparently compiled a facial recognition database of roughly 117 million American adults.

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Cool Tech–Digital Trends

RIP Chrome apps: Google is killing them off for Windows and Mac

Looks like Chrome apps weren’t as popular as Google may have liked them to be, which is why the company will be phasing them out over the next few years. By early 2018, Chrome apps won’t be available on Windows or Mac.

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Android Army–Digital Trends

Sweaty pits? Keep them dry and cool with these wearable pit-fans

Do you get sweaty armpits easily? Maybe you need to cool things down with these wearable fans that blast beautiful fresh air into your pits, keeping them as cool as possible at all points during the day.

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Wearables–Digital Trends

Waze will put drivers at ease by letting them avoid difficult intersections

Waze unveiled its “difficult intersections” feature, which will let drivers avoid annoying, and potentially dangerous, intersections. The new feature will roll out as an update sometime soon for drivers in Los Angeles.

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Android Army–Digital Trends

13 major Kindle Fire problems, and how to fix them

Is your Amazon tablet giving you grief? Is it refusing to behave the way you expect? Take a deep breath — everything will be fine. Here are some widely-reported Kindle Fire HDX problems and a few possible solutions to go with them.

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Android Army–Digital Trends

6 jaw-dropping gadgets we loved at CES Asia (and your chances of buying them)

With hundreds of companies exhibiting thousands of products to hundreds of thousands of attendees, there’s a lot to see at Shanghai’s CES Asia. Here’s the real gems of the show — technology we’re dying to get our hands on, or in some cases, praying it makes it into a purchasable form.

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Wearables–Digital Trends

10 annoying LG G5 problems, and how to fix them

The LG G5 is an admirable smartphone, but it’s not without its flaws. Thankfully, we’ve discovered some of the most common LG G5 problems, along with potential workarounds and fixes.

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Android Army–Digital Trends

5 pesky LG V10 problems, and what to do about them

Is your new phone misbehaving? We’ve rounded up the most common issues reportedly plaguing the LG V10 , along with a few suggestions for working around or fixing them entirely. We cover everything from battery troubles to Wi-Fi issues.

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5 annoying Nexus 6P problems, and how to fix them

The Nexus 6P is by far the best Google Nexus phone we have ever used, but unfortunately it has a few issues. We have compiled the top problems that Nexus 6P owners are facing and how to workaround or fix them.

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Android Army»Digital Trends

It’s not too late! These last-minute gifts will still thrill them

Gift giving can be a delicate process, especially when you’ve left it up to the last minute. Check out our picks for the best last-minute gifts, whether your recipient is an audio aficionado or a soon-to-be world traveler.

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Cool Tech»Digital Trends

This giant quadcopter drone launches fixed-wing UAVs, then retrieves them with a skyhook

Boeing subsidiary Insitu recently unveiled its Flying Launch and Recovery System which allows a quadcopter drone to successfully launch and retrieve fixed-wing UAVs by utilizing a pulley system.

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Cool Tech»Digital Trends

Study: People want Apple Watches, aren’t sure why, refuse to pay for them

In a Juniper Research survey of over 2,000 smartphone owners in the U.S. and the UK, only one in five respondents said they were willing to spend more than $ 175 on any kind of wearable.

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Wearables»Digital Trends

6 Moto X Style Pure Edition problems, and how to fix them

Smartphone bugs, glitches, and issues can be frustrating, but there’s usually an answer. These are the most commonly reported Moto X Style Pure Edition problems, with advice on workarounds or fixes.

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7 troublesome Galaxy Note 5 problems and how to fix them

There’s plenty to recommend Samsung’s latest release in the Note series, but some owners have run into issues. Here are the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 problems being commonly reported online, with advice on how to fix them.

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