Thursday, August 13

Life Style

This Google Pixelsnap Qi2 Wireless Charger Is 50% Off Right Now
Life Style

This Google Pixelsnap Qi2 Wireless Charger Is 50% Off Right Now

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’ve been wanting to get a wireless charger for your Google Pixel Phone, this Google Pixelsnap Qi2 Wireless charger with stand is now $34.99, down from $69.99, making it the lowest price ever, according to price-tracking tools. With its perfect angle and versatility, the stand allows you to dock your phone upright either vertically or horizontally, so you can continue to use it while it charges, including controlling your home devices. The magnetic backing holds the phone in place no matter if you’re using the dock or the charger on its own. It also reaches 25W, meaning you can get 50% of your phone’s power back in roughly 30 mi...
Five New Changes in iOS 27 Beta 5
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Five New Changes in iOS 27 Beta 5

Apple released the fifth beta for iOS 27 on Monday, Aug. 10. As we get closer to the update's official fall release, the number of features and changes Apple will introduce with each beta is certainly diminishing, and no one would call beta 5 a feature-filled update. However, there are some new features and changes worth noting, especially as they are things Apple didn't previously announce at WWDC. Before I get into what's new, a reminder: iOS 27 is not yet finished. As such, while anyone with a compatible iPhone can install it, know there are risks to running beta software on your device. Make sure to make a proper backup of your data, as you could lose everything on your iPhone in the event you need to downgrade back to iOS 26. Apple just updated five app icons with iOS 27 beta 5 ...
Current Trends Explained: The Matcha Filter? ‘UK Poo,’ and More
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Current Trends Explained: The Matcha Filter? ‘UK Poo,’ and More

This week's dispatch has it all: the indomitable spirit of internet perverts, a genre of music named for its awfulness, slang that didn't come from African-American vernacular English, and a couple of YouTubers who out-earned Star Wars. As always, I've done the deeply undignified work of digging into it so you don't have to. You're welcome.What is the matcha filter?TikTok is serious about keeping people from using its service to expose their parts, but the ingenuity of perverts should not be underestimated. Enter the matcha filter. Officially named "wild hearts whisper," unofficially named for the thick, hazy green wash it throws over videos, the matcha filter showed up on the 'Tok a few weeks ago and user quickly discovered it defeats the platform's nudity filters. Here's a non-nudie vide...
How to Run Meta’s Latest AI Model Locally on Your Computer
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How to Run Meta’s Latest AI Model Locally on Your Computer

On Monday, Meta announced its latest AI model: Muse Glimmer. The company isn't necessarily advertising this model as its biggest and best, however. While Meta has plenty to say about Muse Glimmer's performance potential, there are two key selling points for the model in the company's eyes: The fact that it's open-weight, and that it's designed to run locally on "consumer" Macs and PCs—though perhaps not on your computer.What is Muse Glimmer?According ot Meta, Muse Glimmer is a 30-billion-parameter AI model optimized for "always-on local agent workflows." What that means is Glimmer is designed to run autonomously directly on your machine, rather than outsourcing that processing to the cloud. Local AI is much more secure than cloud-based, as your data stays within your system. When you tap i...
The JBL Charge 6 Speaker Is $65 Off Right Now
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The JBL Charge 6 Speaker Is $65 Off Right Now

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. While there are plenty of new speaker releases to get excited about this summer, there’s nothing like a tried-and-true, well-rounded option from a reliable brand. The JBL Charge 6 is exactly that. Designed to survive everything from pool parties to camping trips and beach adventures, a brand-new unit is currently 35% off on Woot, bringing it to an all-time low of $129.95 (originally $199.95), according to price trackers. With an IP68 rating, it’s fully waterproof, dust-proof, and drop-proof (surviving up to three feet), making it nearly invincible for all kinds of shenanigans. The 34-watt-hour battery lasts up to 24 hours, and you ge...
DuckDuckGo Just Made It Easier to Share Links Without Getting Tracked
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DuckDuckGo Just Made It Easier to Share Links Without Getting Tracked

It's tough to stay private on the internet. It's hardly an even playing field: If you use apps and websites as they're designed, your every move is almost guaranteed to be tracked so that companies can compile a profile to target you with ads. That even extends to simple tasks like sharing links with friends: You might think you're simply communicating in private, but as soon as you click "copy" on that link, trackers attach themselves to the URL and come along for the ride. It doesn't have to be this way. There are many steps you can take to prevent trackers from stalking you across the internet—some more intense than others. And while stripping tracking URLs from links isn't new, it isn't exactly common knowledge, either. That's why whenever a company makes it a bit easier, I'm all for ...
Five Ways to Make Gemini Behave More Like Google Assistant
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Five Ways to Make Gemini Behave More Like Google Assistant

Google Assistant is about to get one heck of a headstone in the Google Graveyard. The voice assistant has been a handy tool for years, but the company has finally decided to replace it with Gemini entirely. If you’re not exactly thrilled about the AI-ification of every app you use, there are a few ways to make Gemini behave a bit more like the Assistant of yore.The switch from Assistant has been coming for a while; it’s a seismic shift for a lot of devices. On top of deprecating Assistant on Android phones and tablets, it’s also disappearing for Wear OS devices and some Android Auto cars. Some smart home devices and TVs will still support Assistant, but you can switch to Gemini (and you might want to since the choice is likely to be made for you eventually).Regardless of how you feel about...
Apple Just Added These New Android Devices to Its Trade-In List
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Apple Just Added These New Android Devices to Its Trade-In List

It's a weird time to be shopping for new tech. On the one hand, "RAMageddon" is making devices more expensive and harder to find; on the other, companies are trying new tactics to get you to buy new stuff more frequently. Take Apple: While it might be more difficult than ever to buy a MacBook Air from the company, Apple will now let you "lease" new products for one-, two-, or three-year agreements. Sure, Macs and iPads might cost more than ever, but you might find it easier to pay those prices over 24 or 36 months, interest-free.Each device's payment plan is presented without a trade-in in mind, but you can apply a trade-in if you choose to lease. Apple will lower your payments based on the value of the device you hand over at the time of signing. The better the value of your device, the l...
10 Screenshot Hacks Every Mac User Should Know
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10 Screenshot Hacks Every Mac User Should Know

While third-party screenshot apps are excellent on the Mac, Apple has steadily improved its default tools. Today, the Mac's built-in screenshot utility is good enough for most people. You can, of course, use it to take screenshots, but you can do so much more, such as record a video of your screen, or even create professional screencasts. If you find yourself taking screenshots on your Mac, these are the 10 best hacks you need to know.Clean up the clutter by saving screenshots to the clipboardI find I only need to save around 10% of the screenshots I take. Left to its default settings, my Mac would save the other 90%, adding to an endless clutter I'd never take care of. As such, I always save screenshots to my Mac's clipboard, so I can paste it in the app of my choice without saving the im...
The LG UltraGear Evo Gaming Monitor Is $200 Off Right Now
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The LG UltraGear Evo Gaming Monitor Is $200 Off Right Now

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The LG 39GX950B-B UltraGear Evo is down to $1,599 from $1,799.99 on Amazon, saving you $200, or about 11%. It's still an expensive gaming monitor, but this is also a fairly unusual display—its 39-inch OLED has a 5K2K resolution, a 21:9 aspect ratio, and a 1500R curve. LG says it is the first 39-inch 5K2K OLED gaming monitor, and its 143 pixels per inch give it noticeably higher pixel density than LG's larger 45-inch 45GX950A-B. That should make text and smaller interface elements look sharper, so the screen makes more sense for someone splitting time between gaming and desktop work. You also get some flexibility depending on what you...