How-To Geek

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New tech products are usually expensive, semi-useless, and buggy. When describing the feeling of first-generation tech, a certain phrase comes to mind. No, it isn’t “buyers remorse,” it’s “early adopter pain.”

Early adopter pain is difficult to describe, but it’s necessary for technological and social progress. It’s like the pain that comes after a long run mixed with the rush of gambling. And like gambling, early adopter pain is expensive.

But what makes someone an early adopter, and how is early adopter pain necessary for progress?

The Five Stages of Technology Adoption

A simple Google search for “early adopters” shows that, as a concept, early adopters are very important to businesses. In fact, they’re practically the deciding factor for a product’s success. According to Everett Rogers, professor of communication studies at the University of New Mexico, there are five stages to technology adoption that form a marketing bell curve. In his book Diffusions of Innovations, Rogers describes how early adopters are practically the first and most crucial stage of a product’s life-cycle, even though early adopters make up a very small market share.

According to Rogers’ 5 stages to technology adoption, innovators are the absolute first investors in a new product, even though they make up the smallest market share. These innovators tend to have a lot of financial resources, so they can drop a lot of money on new products, even if they’re half-baked or doomed to fail. But innovators don’t have a lot of influence on the public; they’re just the rich people that invest in new ideas at the drop of a hat.

Groups of Consumers Adopting New Tech (Blue), Market Share (Yellow) Rogers Everett – Diffusion of innovations (1962)

Early adopters are the second phase of Rogers’ adoption curve, and they’re the people in whom we’re most interested. According to Rogers, early adopters tend to be young, trendy, and well-to-do. Early adopters (in the field of tech) are usually journalists or YouTubers that have a lot of influence over average consumers, and they’re often the first place where consumers find new information.

As you can imagine, early adopters need to be critical of new products to maintain credibility. If your favorite nerdy YouTuber started waving around some stupid new product and claimed that it’s the future of technology, you’d hopefully hold less trust in their opinions. As a result, manufacturers tend to cater to early adopters by making new products look luxurious, vocalizing the product’s potential, or by adapting to early adopter opinions at the beginning of a product’s life-cycle.

Once a product reaches Early Majority or Late Majority, it’s considered successful. These categories indicate that average consumers have started to adopt the product and that it’s probably permeated through most of society. When a product starts to reach early or late majority adoption, manufacturers start to market it as “easy to use” or “universal.” Desktop computers are a good example of this. Once average people started buying desktops, businesses started developing tools like the computer mouse and clean GUI’s to make things more appealing.

Laggards are the last people to adopt a product, and they represent a small market share. People that are out of date or elderly usually fall in this category, and businesses (smartphone manufacturers, for example) usually aim products toward laggards as an afterthought.

We’ve All Experienced Early Adopter Pain

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What Distinctly Non-Food Item Do Photographers Use In Cereal Ads?

1. Glass Dust
2. White Paint
3. Elmer's Glue
4. Polyurethane Spray

Think you know the answer?

Inserting a hyperlink in a PowerPoint presentation is great for quick access to external resources relevant to your content. However, the underline that comes with it may distract the audience from the message of the slide. Here’s how to remove it.

Removing the Underline From Hyperlink Text

While PowerPoint doesn’t have a specific option for removing the underline from hyperlink text, there’s a very simple workaround. What we’re going to do is remove the link from the text, place an invisible shape over that text, and then add the link to that shape.

Go ahead and open your presentation, move to the slide that contains the underlined hyperlink text, and locate that text.

Right-click the text and select “Remove Link” from the list of options.

Next, head over to the “Insert” tab and click the “Shapes” button.

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The Nintendo Switch has a built-in kickstand, but it’s a little… bad. Thankfully, Target is selling an adjustable metal stand for just $10.

If your brave soul has tried to use the Nintendo Switch’s built-in kickstand, then you know just how wonky it can be. It tilts the screen at an unpleasant angle, and it doesn’t seem to provide a lot of support for the $300 console.

But PowerA’s adjustable kickstands manage to solve this problem. They’re made from a strong metal with rubber grips, so your Switch stays nice and safe. These kickstands are also compact and can be folded up for on-the-go gaming. Right now, Target is selling them for just $10—that’s a neat $5 discount. It even has Mario on i

Like all good deals, this one won’t last long. If you’re in need of a high-quality kickstand for your Nintendo Switch, then now’s the time to take the plunge.

Buy From Target

 

Apple

A music service is only as good as the places you can use it. And smart speakers live by the music they can provide. With that in mind, Apple and Google are teaming up to bring your music Home.

It wasn’t long ago that Apple Music arrived on Amazon Echo speakers, and music subscription services are best when you can use them on all your devices. But Google Home devices have been without an Apple Music option; you’d have to settle for Spotify, Pandora, or Deezer if you wanted to use something other than Google’s music offerings. But that’s going to change sometime soon.

While Apple and Google haven’t formally announced a collaboration, an eagle-eyed reader at MacRumors spotted that the iOS Google Home app listed Apple Music as an option. Take a look at the Android app, and you’ll see the option there as well.

If you tap on the Apple Music option, the app prompts you to link your account. But tapping on the Link Account option does nothing yet, so this is a work in progress. Hopefully, Google and Apple turn this on soon. Until then, you’ll have to settle for Apple Music on your Echo or, if you spent extra, your Homepod.

via MacRumors

iMessage is one of the biggest lock-ins for owners of iPhones and iPads, and Apple knows it. That’s because it’s pretty great, but there are features you may not be using to their fullest. Tapbacks are one–here’s how to use them.

In fact, you may have never heard of a Tapback, partly because Apple hasn’t done a great job of surfacing the feature. It’s almost invisible to anyone who doesn’t know where to find it, and that’s not conducive to organic feature discovery.

That’s a real shame, too, because much like similar features that allow the “liking” of messages and such on social networks, you can use a Tapback to offer a quick response to a message without having to type one our, or even send a message at all. If all you want to do is send one of six quick responses, a Tapback is right up your street.

Those six responses include a heart, a thumbs-up, a thumbs-down, a pair of exclamation marks, a questions mark, and a “HaHa” for when something amuses you.

So now that you know what the options are, and what a Tapback is, here’s how to use them.

How to Use a Tapback on iPhone and iPad

To use a Tapback, open the Messages app and locate the message that you want to reply to. Once located, tap and hold the blue bubble itself.

You will now see a new bubble appear with the six options we just mentioned. Tap the one you want to use, and iMessage sends it to the sender of the original message. Rather than appearing as a new message in the thread, it will instead appear on one corner of the message to which the Tapback is related.

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Lenovo

We’re big fans of portable, USB-driven monitors here at Review Geek: they make it easy to bring the productivity-boosting power of a multi-screen setup on the road. At Mobile World Congress, Lenovo has introduced a new one that’s worth a look.

The ThinkVision M14—“ThinkVision” being the brand attached to the more button-down ThinkPad line—is a USB-C powered, 14-inch, 1080p design that will come with a price of €229 (about $260). It’s equipped with a USB-C port on both sides, allowing the user to easily plug it into a laptop or tablet to the left or right, the better to make use of small workspaces.

There’s another neat trick if you’re all-in on USB-C: while the screen can run entirely off the battery in your laptop or tablet, it can also deliver power. So if your laptop uses a USB-C power port, you can pack just the screen’s power adapter and it will deliver power to the laptop while receiving video over the same USB-C cable. It’s not clear whether the open USB-C port can be used as a pass-through hub, but that would be nice.

Lenovo

This thing is built to travel. At just 600 grams (1.3 pounds) and less than a centimeter thick when folded up with its protective cover, it should be able to squeeze into most laptop bags without weighing you down on long treks through the airport or conference hall. The 300-nit matte screen is also made with the idea of using it in a variety of challenging lighting conditions, and the unique kickstand base can easily shift from 10 to 90 degrees to match the tilt of your primary screen.

The ThinkVisionM14 will arrive in June for at least some markets. The $260 package includes a cover/case, the aforementioned power adapter, and a riser for the base if you want a little extra height.

Source: Lenovo

If your phone keeps dying while you’re away from home, then you might want to invest in a mobile power bank. Luckily, some of RAVPower’s best products are discounted on Amazon right now.

In the world of mobile power banks, RAVPower is a confident leader. The company sells high capacity batteries at an extremely affordable price. Of course, a hefty discount makes those prices even more affordable. It’s like icing on the cake.

• 22,000 mAh Mobile Power Bank – $29 $50
• 16,750 mAh Mobile Power Bank -$27 $40
• 10,000 mAh Mobile Power Bank – $24 $32
• 26,800 mAh Mobile Power Bank – $40 $62
• 4 Port USB Wall Charger – $12 $20

Even when a good deal like this falls into your lap, it can be difficult to spend almost $30 on a battery. But trust me, keeping your phone alive all day makes this well worth the investment. You’ll wonder why you didn’t buy one sooner.

Buy on Amazon

Darren Millar/Twitter

The most stunning reveal at MWC 2019 isn’t a foldable phone or a phone with five cameras; it’s an Energizer phone with an 18,000 mAh battery. Good luck folding this thing.

Clearly, Energizer’s head is in the right place. The people of Earth have no need for a phone that folds, or clamps to another phone, or whatever. They need a phone that can last for weeks without a charge, a phone that can hold the door open while you bring in your groceries, a phone that can charge other phones.

That’s why Energizer revealed the beautiful, star-studded Power Max P18K Pop. It’s a bludgeonous 18mm thick phone with an 18,000 mAh battery, a pop-up selfie camera, and three rear cameras. That may sound impressive, but the phone’s technical specs are a bit underwhelming. It has a weak Mediatek Helio P70 SoC processor, 128 GB of storage, 6 GB of RAM, and an outdated 1080p 6.2″ LCD screen. It also has two SIM card trays, and one of them doubles as an SD card slot.

Of course, there’s one big problem with the Power Max P18K Pop: despite its hefty stature, it doesn’t have a headphone jack. I hope you’re not too disappointed.

Energizer claims that the Power Max P18K Pop will come out in June of 2019. It might be the most revolutionary phone of all time, so get ready to see an 18,000 mAh bulge in every pocket.

Source: Androidpolice

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is integral to networks and controls what IP addresses devices receive so they can communicate with the internet. Usually, IP assignment is automated, but if you need static IPs, familiarity with DHCP is essential.

DHCP Can Handle IP Assignments

Every device that connects to a network needs an IP address. In the early days of networking, users manually assigned themselves an IP address, but that’s a cumbersome task, especially for places with many devices, such as a corporate office. DHCP, in part, automates this process, which makes connecting devices to the network far easier. DHCP servers or routers handle this process based on a set of defined rules. Most routers are set to use a 192.168.0.x range, for instance, so you’ll commonly see IP addresses like this in home networks.

The process is pretty straight forward. When a client (a computer, IOT device, tablet, cell phone, etc.) connects to the network, it sends out a signal (called DHCPDISCOVER) to the DHCP server (or router). The server responds with all the rules and settings for the network and an IP address for use (a DHCPOFFER). The client acknowledges the information and asks permission to use the assigned address (a DHCPREQUEST message). Finally, the DHCP server acknowledges the request, and the client is free to connect to the network.

DHCP Controls the Range of IP Addresses

You can configure DHCP to control the range of IP addresses available for use. If you state that range as starting at 192.168.0.1 and the end as 192.168.0.100, then all available addresses will fall somewhere within that range. You’ll never see a device assigned to 192.168.0.101. Also, bear in mind that the start IP (192.168.0.1 in this example) is reserved for the router. Some routers only list a starting address and then include an option for a maximum number of users (which determines the end address).

The upside to this is you can control how many devices connect to your network simultaneously (no more than 100 in this example). But the downside is if you set the range too small you can unintentionally prevent connection of new devices. To allow for a lower range of IP addresses, DHCP servers only lease out IP addresses to devices.

Dynamically Assigned Addresses are Temporary

When a DHCP server assigns an IP Address, it does so under a lease system. The machine retains this IP address for a set number of days, after which it can try to renew the IP address. If no renewal signal is sent (such as a decommissioned machine), then the DHCP server reclaims the IP address to assign to another device. When the renewal signal is detected, the device retains its IP address for another set of days. This is why your IP address may appear to change from time to time if you use the ipconfig option often.

It’s possible for two devices to end up with the same IP, such as a VM machine that spends most of its time offline. The VM machine won’t be able to send the renew signal, so its IP address will be handed out to another machine. When the VM is brought back up, it still has a record of the old IP address (especially if restored from a snapshot), but it won’t be able to use that IP address since it is taken. Without that permission, it can’t connect to the network until a new IP is assigned. But using dynamic IP addresses should prevent this type of scenario.

Static IP Addresses are Necessary For Some Devices

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Logitech

If you’re looking for a very stylish wireless iPhone charger and you don’t mind paying a bit of a premium, the Logitech Powered wireless charger not only looks good but functions as a handy landscape-friendly cradle.

The biggest inertia the Powered wireless charger has to overcome is resistance to the price tag. The design is sharp, but at $70—sold exclusively through Logitech’s website and Apple—you definitely want to be sure you’re getting your monies worth out of it. Let’s breakdown what we loved and didn’t love about the stand.

Designed for the iPhone

The Powered wireless charger is a Qi charger offering from Logitech that is styled, clearly, to pair with the iPhone platform. The stand features a pure white design with gentle curves that make it look like it was birthed directly out of a piece of Apple packaging.

In addition, the curvature of the cradle bottom is designed to make it easy to drop your phone in without fussing over placement (to that end it’s very useful).  It features a lightly rubberized surface to keep your iPhone seated in place, a cradle notch so you can place your iPhone vertically or horizontally (more on that in a moment), and 7.5w of charing power to hit the maximum charging capacity of your wireless-charge capable iPhone (which is any phone iPhone 8 and above including the X, XS, XR, and large variants.)

We’ve said iPhone a lot so far and that’s because unless you’re buying the Powered for anything but an iPhone you’re making a mistake. While you can put any Qi-capable phone on the cradle so long as its charging coils line up roughly with the center of the pad it only charges at 7.5w when paired with an iPhone and maxes out at 5w when paired with any other Qi-capable phone. If you’re looking for a wireless charging cradle that will work well for a multi-platform household the Powered is a poor choice because it’ll leave your Samsung, or similar, phone wanting for power.

Logitech

For an iPhone-centric household, however, the cradle is undeniable sharp looking and a compelling pick for anybody looking to get away from the black-on-black industrial look of many charging stands. Further, if strict adherence to Apple’s design standards is important to you the Powered is one of the few charging stands on the market, outside of some other premium options like the Belkin Boostup, designed with Apple oversight to ensure the charging coil design doesn’t interfere with the iPhone’s radios. Among other design considerations, the cradles leans back at not just a pleasant viewing angle but a great angle for smooth FaceID unlocks.

Landscape Is Surprisingly Practical

Speaking of viewing angles: I use the iPhone wireless charging almost exclusively for my iPhone by placing it flat on my nightstand at the end of the day and sitting in a cradle on my desk during working hours. While landscape mode charging isn’t high on my list of must-have features, the stand is designed very well for that end and I certainly appreciated how well it worked as a landscape-oriented cradle.

A lot of stands on the market offer landscape mode by placing two coils in the stand back (so that whether the phone is horizontal or vertical the internal coil in the phone lines up roughly with one or the other). The end result is that your phone is landscape but it’s sitting very lower to surface it is on, almost as if it’s propped up using a kickstand.

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SD Association

SD cards are about to get bigger and faster. The new SD Express standard will increase the maximum capacity and speed significantly. SD Express cards are backward compatible with your current hardware, but you’ll need new hardware for maximum speeds.

SD Cards Are Reaching Their Current Limits

Since we use SD and microSD cards in 3D cameras, action cameras, ever more powerful smartphones, DSLR cameras, tablets, video game consoles, and even cars, there are ever-increasing demands for storage space, as well as faster read and write speeds.

SanDisk recently announced what it called the world’s fastest 1 TB microSD card, touting read speeds of 160 MB/s, which is enough to “transfer 1000 high-resolution photos and 30 minutes of 4K video (24GB) in less than 3 minutes.” Some cards have lower storage capacity, but higher write speeds, such as the Delkin 128 GB microSD card that boasts right speeds at 300 MB/s. But manufacturers are already pushing the limit of the current standards. The theoretical limit for SDXC, for instance, is 2 TB.

SD Cards Are Getting SSD Protocols For Faster Speeds SD Association

Through the incorporation of PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Expres) and NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) protocols, SD cards will have a new theoretical limit of 985 MB/s, more than six times as fast as the 1 TB SanDisk cards. If PCIe and NVMe sound familiar to you, that’s because they’ve been used for SSDs for a while now, and SD Express cards will be able to serve as removable solid state drives.

The SD Association says these new speeds will allow for super slow motion, 8K video and add support for raw continuous burst mode, which will be a boon to digital photographers. Additionally, by incorporating PCIe 3.1, SD Express cards can consume less power than the cards came before it. In theory, this should contribute to better battery life on mobile products, how much though is unclear.

Overall, the idea is that leveraging existing technologies will speed adoption, as new testing equipment and development processes shouldn’t be needed. Manufacturers can use what they already know from creating solid state drives.

Storage Capacities Are Increasing, Too SD Association

As part of the transition, SD and microSD cards are seeing a size increase, pushing the upper limit from 2 TBs to 128 TBs. Cards capable of greater than 2 TBs will be marked as SDUC, adding to the SDHC and SDXC categories.

As always, read and write speeds are separate from storage capacity, so you will see SDHC and SDXC cards marked as SD Express and capable of faster write speeds. And all these benefits are coming to both SD and microSD cards, and SD Express cards are backward compatible with previous devices.

They’re Backwards Compatible, But You Lose the Speed

All of this amazing speed is due in part to a new row of pins found on SD Express (And SD UHS-ii) cards. Unfortunately, that means your current devices can’t make use of those pins, they lack the necessary hardware. But, according to the SD Association, you’ll still get the extra storage.

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Chrome 73 is set to hit the stable channel on March 12, 2019. Google’s new browser update features the beginnings of a built-in dark mode, tab grouping, media key support, and more picture-in-picture powers.

Before we get into the details here, it’s worth noting that none of this is guaranteed. While these features are expected (and even planned) to be part of Chrome 73, there’s always a chance something gets pulled before it hits the stable channel and may not make its way out of the beta (or even dev) channel until Chrome 74 or beyond.

Dark Mode (on Mac, For Now)

Dark mode is the new hotness on pretty much everything now, and Google should be bringing it to Chrome 73. This feature is available on macOS Mojave but will be making its way to Windows as well—perhaps in Chrome 74.

The biggest issue here? It looks an awful lot like Incognito Mode, which is probably not a good thing.

To use dark mode on a Mac, you’ll have to launch Chrome with the --force-dark-mode option, like so:

/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --force-dark-mode

If you can’t wait to get a dark mode fix, however, you can always install one of Google’s new Chrome themes to add a little darkness to your browser in the meantime.

RELATED: Get Your Dark Mode Fix with Google’s New Chrome Theme(s)

Tab Grouping

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What Was The Most Expensive Computer Of All Time?

1. Deep Thought
2. Watson
3. SAGE
4. Earth Simulator

Think you know the answer?

Browsing the web on an iPhone is a great way to kill a few minutes, and it’s still the best mobile browsing experience around. If you’ve collected a bunch of open tabs, here’s an easy way to close just the ones you want.

There are, in fact, a couple of different ways to close tabs in Safari on iPhone. Whether you want to close all of the open tabs or just a select few, we’ve got your back. If you’re anything like us you have tabs upon tabs open right now and swiping across them all one by one is crazy making. Thankfully, the folks at Apple thought up a couple of ways to save our sanity.

How to Close Several Similar Tabs at Once

To close specific tabs at once, first, open Safari and then tap the Tabs button.

Next, scroll to the top of your collection of open tabs and search for the tabs you want to close. An example may be all tabs that have Twitter open, or maybe all tabs from the Apple Store.

When the tabs are selected, press and hold “Cancel.” You’ll be shown an option to close tabs matching the search you just entered. Tap it.

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Folding phone screens are the next big thing…maybe. They’re certainly thick on the ground at Mobile World Congress, the yearly phone extravaganza in Barcelona. We’re rounding up all of the designs with folding screens we’ve seen so far.

Note that all of the folding screen designs, even the ones currently destined for a full release, were shown in strictly hands-off capacity, either behind glass or only accessible to a presenter. How these phones will handle in the real world is, at least for the moment, very much in the air.

Samsung Galaxy Fold Samsung

This is the big one, introduced at a pre-MWC press event last week. Samsung’s design actually uses two screens: a smaller 4.6-inch one on the front of the device and a 7.3-inch screen with a polymer cover that unfolds from the inside, book-style. The camera setup is disjointed: one on the “front,” two on the inside in a notch where the larger screen sits, and three on the back. The Galaxy Fold will be available in April with a price of $1980 to start, and there’s a 5G variant in the works as well.

Huawei Mate X Huawei

This design from Chinese giant Huawei takes more or less the opposite approach from Samsung, using a single screen that wraps around the front and back of the folding body. That one is 8 inches when open, with a relatively small 2480×2000 resolution. When folded, its primary screen is 6.6 inches, while the “rear” screen is 6.4. The phone looks more elegant, and the camera setup makes more sense with the form factor: three sensors hang out in the thick “lip” where the fold rests in its smaller configuration. This allows all three cameras to be either rear-facing or front-facing “selfie” cams, depending on how you’re holding it.

Huawei

Huawei says that the phone packs a 5G radio, its own Kirin 980 processor design, and a combined 4500 mAh battery. It will cost an astounding €2300 ($2600 USD, not that it’s likely to come to the US at all) when it launches in mid-2019.

Oppo Concept Oppo/Weibo

Another competitor from a big Chinese brand, this Oppo design looks a lot like Huawei’s Mate X but hasn’t been confirmed for a retail release at the moment. The hardware is only being shown on Weibo by an Oppo executive. It uses the same exterior folding screen with a single panel, a large grip that the phone folds into when closed, and holds the camera and external ports. Oppo says it may develop the design into a full release if it sees enough demand from the market.

TCL Concepts The Verge

TCL, the current owners and marketers of the Blackberry brand, is also working on folding designs. These concepts have no clear path to retail release—they’re the earliest in development of the bunch. But they’re worth checking out. One of them uses the interior, book-style fold of the Galaxy Fold, essentially trying to shrink a tablet into a phone size. Another has the larger interior screen plus a small external screen.

The Verge

The other design uses the fold to crunch a conventional smartphone-style device into a clamshell, folding over a vertical screen into something that looks like the hinged “dumb” phone designs of the late 90s and 2000s. Another concept shown to the press is a fold that goes in a circular motion, allowing a phone to be worn like a “slap” bracelet when not in use. It’s worth noting that TCL is a huge OEM seller of screen technology, so these designs may show up connected to other brands.

LG V50 ThinkQ LG

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This year’s Mobile World Conference is flooded with foldable phones and weird connectible phones. Sony wants to give you extra screen real estate too, but in a more practical manner.

Today, Sony announced the Xperia 1, the Xperia 10, and the Xperia 10 Plus. There are a few differences between these phones, but they share one key quality: they all have a 21:9 aspect ratio. For reference, most phones and home TV’s have a 16:9 aspect ratio.

What does this mean? Well, Sony’s new Xperia line is ultra-wide (or ultra-tall, depending on how you look at it). A 21:9 aspect ratio is perfect for watching films, and Sony suggests that the Xperia can even be used to record and edit films.

The Xperia 1 is the flagship of the new Xperia line. As you can imagine, it’s built for movie lovers. It has a 6.5″ 4K OLED display, a USB-C charging slot, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Inside of the Xperia 1 sits 6 GB of RAM, a new Snapdragon 855 processor, and 128 GB of storage with an expansion slot.

It also has three 12 MP cameras (telephoto, wide, and super wide) that are capable of filming 4K video at 24 FPS. Sony suggests that it’s the perfect device for watching movies, shooting and editing video, or taking high-resolution photos.

The Xperia 10 (6.0-inches) and the Xperia 10 Plus (6.5-inches) are only slightly less impressive than the Xperia 1. They don’t have 4K OLED screens, but they can still record 4K video, even though their cameras are more in the 8 MP range. They have less RAM at 3 GB and 4 GB respectively, slightly slower processors with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 and 636, and only 64 GB of internal storage, but they still have MicroSD expansion slots.

The Xperia 10 and 10 Plus will be released on March 18th, and they cost $380 and $480 respectively. But the Xperia 1 will come out sometime this Spring, and Sony hasn’t announced a price point yet.

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You’ve long been able to log in to mobile apps like banking and credit institutions using biometric verifications, but with FIDO2 certifications, this same convenience is coming to the web on over half of all Android devices.

You know the scenario: once you log in to a specific app—like your bank, for example—it gives you the option to log in using your fingerprint in future instances. If you enable it, you only need to touch your phone’s fingerprint reader to log in from that point forward, which is great.

This isn’t just nice for convenience—it’s also a lot more secure. Since the fingerprint information is stored locally on your device and not in the cloud, there’s virtually zero chance of it ever being compromised. Now, this same functionality is coming to the web on Android devices running Android 7.0 and above.

It will require a Google Play Service update on all supported devices, which will roll out through the Play Store. On top of that, web developers will need to also enable the feature, so don’t expect it to work out of the gate on all sites that you log into. Baby steps, you know?

If your device doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner, this will also work with other forms of secure logins—like PIN or pattern inputs. And because it’s all on the web, users will be able to set up password-less logins from an app and have it also work on the web (and vice versa).

We’re getting closer and closer to a true password-less future every day. I can’t wait.

Globalnewsire

The Xiaomi Wireless Quick Charge Pad

Qualcomm Quick Charge is the standard fast charging method for thousands of Android phones. But Qualcomm hasn’t made an effort to bring Quick Charge to wireless chargers—until today.

Wireless charging is becoming extremely popular, and some people think that it will eventually eliminate the need for wired chargers. But there’s one big problem. Manufactures build wireless chargers to inconsistent standards, and some wireless chargers work poorly or produce a lot of unnecessary heat.

There are also a lot of manufacturers that sell wireless chargers that “support” Quick Charge (if you know what I mean). These products aren’t vetted by Qualcomm, and they don’t always comply with Quick Charge standards for safety and efficiency.

Qualcomm is pursuing the most obvious solution to this problem. This morning, the company announced that Wireless Quick Charge will be added to the Quick Charge compliance standards. If manufacturers want to sell wireless chargers that support Quick Charge, then their products need to be tested for safety, efficiency, and universal Quick Charge compatibility.

Wireless Qi charging has been around for a while, and manufacturers are required to get “Qi-Certified” before they roll out any Wireless Qi products. Clearly, Qualcomm noticed this too, and the company announced that they want “interoperability” between Wireless Quick Charge and Wireless Qi. Basically, they want all wireless chargers to work with all cellphones.

The first official Wireless Quick Charge product will be released by Xiaomi later this year. Xiaomi is one of the biggest supporters of wireless charging technology, so it’s no surprise that the phone company is leading the way for Wireless Quick Charge.

Sources: Qualcomm, Xiaomitoday

Sarah Tew/CNET

All this talk about foldable phones can get a little overwhelming. Speaking of overwhelming, HMD just announced a Nokia phone that has five cameras.

Meet the Nokia PureView 9. HMD has been showing it off at Mobile World Congress, and it’s created a little buzz. The Nokia PureView 9 has five cameras on the back to produce brilliant photos that rival the Google Pixel and the iPhone. But these cameras work in tandem, they’re sort of like the eyes on an insect.

Essentially, the Nokia PureView 9 uses all five of its 12 MP cameras for every photo that you take. The images from these photos are pressed together in a process called “image stacking,” and a super high quality 60 MP photo is made. The Nokia PureView 9 also has GDepth capabilities, so it’s able to use those five cameras to create photos with depth (the subject is sharp, the background is blurred).

Once you get past the five cameras, the Nokia PureView 9 is relatively simple. It contains a Snapdragon 845, which is a year old processor that most new phones have already superseded. It only has one selfie camera, but it has a 6.41″ OLED display with a built-in fingerprint reader, 128 GB of storage, and 6GB of RAM. No, it doesn’t have a headphone jack.

This year’s Mobile World Congress has been exciting, strange, and excessive already. We’ve got foldable phones, phones that clip together (weird), and 1 TB SD cards. So HMD’s presentation at the MWC comes as a breath of fresh air, I guess.

While the Nokia PureView 9 may sound like an exciting technical advance, it might just be a weird gimmick. It’s going to cost more than $700, so consumers are faced with a funny choice: should you buy a powerful phone with good cameras, like the Google Pixel 3, or should you sacrifice processing power for the Nokia PureView 9’s five cameras?

Source: Arstechnica, Nokia/HMD