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Geek Trivia: A Military Strike On A Korean Airliner Prompted Public Access To What?

How-To Geek - Sun, 02/24/2019 - 09:02

A Military Strike On A Korean Airliner Prompted Public Access To What?
  1. North Korean Prisons
  2. American Embassies
  3. ARPANet
  4. GPS

Think you know the answer?

Categories: IT General, Technology

Your New Smartphone Doesn’t Have A Headphone Jack? Here’s What You Need

How-To Geek - Sat, 02/23/2019 - 15:00

Headphone jack-less phones are old news—it was a little over two years ago that Apple announced the iPhone wouldn’t have one anymore. But if you’re new to the experience, here are some handy products to help you survive without.

Bluetooth Headphones

If you use headphones a lot, Bluetooth is the way to go when you don’t have a headphone jack (but if you absolutely need wired headphones, read further down).

There are a ton of great Bluetooth headphones to choose from as well, so even if you’re limited to only Bluetooth, you’ll still most likely find a pair that you like. We have a buying guide that discusses the best picks for all types of styles, including over-the-ear and “truly wireless” models.

Personally, my favorite Bluetooth headphones are Anker’s Soundcore Liberty Air ($79), which sort of resemble AirPods, but are half the price and create a tight seal in your ear canal, which is a necessity for me.

Buy on Amazon Lightning or USB-C Headphone Adapter

If you absolutely must keep your beloved wired headphones, you’re not completely out of luck—you can get a headphone jack adapter that plugs into your phone’s charging port.

Apple makes a Lightning to headphone jack adapter that works with iPhones, and Google makes a USB-C to headphone adapter for their Pixel devices (or any other device without a headphone jack that uses USB-C). Simply just plug them into the charging port and you’ve got your headphone jack.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

See All Your PC Games in One Place With Playnite

How-To Geek - Sat, 02/23/2019 - 15:00
Playnite

If you’re a PC gamer, you probably use too many game stores. Steam, Epic, Origin, Uplay, Twitch, GOG, Battle.net, Bethesda—it goes on and on. Playnite is a universal library for all your PC games, and it’s open source.

Using Playnite is simple: Just download and install the free Playnite application for Windows, go through the quick setup process. It will automatically scan your PC for installed games and show them in the Playnite application window. Playnite supports Battle.net, Bethesda, Epic, GOG, itch.io, Origin, Steam, Twitch, and Uplay.

Here’s why this is awesome: Playnite does all of this automatically. Whenever you launch the application, it scans for new games, and you can also manually trigger a scan. Just press F5 or click menu>Update Game Library>Update All. You can even have Playnite connect to your accounts so it can show you games you own but don’t have installed right now, although this feature is optional.

You can also manually add games to the library just by dragging and dropping them into the window, which means you can add Minecraft, any games you purchased from the Windows Store, and anything else you like. Playnite supports emulators, too.

When you want to play a game, click the “Play” button and Playnite will automatically launch the appropriate launcher and start the game. You can also open the full-screen interface (press F11) and use a game controller to launch your games.

Rather than pinning a huge number of game launchers to your taskbar and then trying to remember which games are where, you can see them in a single application. Games like Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Overwatch will be in the same launcher as all the games you own on Steam. Free games you get from Twitch Prime or the Epic Game Store will be right there along with your other games, too.

We keep seeing Playnite recommended in comments on websites, forum threads, and posts on Reddit. That strong word of mouth inspired us to try it, and it’s great.

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Connect Any Console Game Controller to a Windows PC or Mac

How-To Geek - Sat, 02/23/2019 - 13:40

Console controllers don’t always work as soon as you plug them into a Windows PC or Mac. We’ve compiled a list of guides so you can learn how to make your favorite controller work with your computer.

Most controllers intended to be used on PCs, like USB Logitech controllers, will be HID-compliant devices and support the XInput or DirectInput protocol, which you can use in most games. Some may work out of the box and others may need a custom driver. For console controllers, especially older ones, you may need a hardware adapter if it doesn’t plug into USB, as Bluetooth support is hit or miss.

This guide covers Windows and macOS, but most HID controllers will work on Linux, too. It’ll just take a little configuration, with which Linux users are probably familiar.

PlayStation 4 (DualShock 4)

Windows supports Sony PS4 controllers without additional software as long as you plug them in via USB. You’ll need a hardware adapter to use the controller wirelessly.

Macs also support Sony’s latest controllers by default, even with a wireless connection. Unfortunately, these controllers show up as a generic input device, which may not work in all games.

PlayStation 3 (DualShock 3)

Windows needs a custom driver for PS3 controllers, and it’s a bit complicated to set up.

Macs support these controllers without any extra software. Just wirelessly connect via Bluetooth or plug it in with a USB cable.

PlayStation 1 and 2 (DualShock 1 and 2)

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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Convert an Image to PNG Format

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 22:00

PNG files are a great way to store images (like logos) that require transparency and fading. They do this all the while maintaining their original appearance on any color background. We’re going to go over a couple ways you can convert your images into PNG format.

What Is a PNG File?

PNG, or Portable Network Graphics, is a popular image format used in internet graphics for its ability to support transparency in browsers. It was first developed in the 1990s as an open alternative to GIF, which uses a proprietary compression algorithm. PNG is royalty-free.

PNG supports both 8-bit and 24-bit color, just like GIF and JPG, respectively. They also are considered a lossless file, which means that they will not degrade in quality, regardless of how many times you open and save the file.

RELATED: What’s the Difference Between JPG, PNG, and GIF?

How to Convert an Image to PNG

One of the main benefits of PNG over formats like JPG or GIF is that PNG is a lossless format with 24-bit color support. If you’re converting from JPG, take into consideration that JPGs are lossy files and may lose some quality from their initial compression. However, because PNG is lossless, your file won’t lose further quality any time you open or save the image again.

RELATED: What Lossless File Formats Are & Why You Shouldn’t Convert Lossy to Lossless

There are two main ways you’re able to convert an image into PNG format. You can either use an image viewing program on your computer or use one of the many file conversion sites available on the web.

Converting an Image With Windows

I know we say it a lot, and you may be getting tired of hearing about it, but IrfanView is one of the best, free image viewing programs on Windows. Period. You can do the same kind of conversion we’re about to show you in most editors (including Paint), but we’re going to use IrfanView for our example here.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Facebook Is Killing Onavo, Its Spyware VPN App

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 18:24
Seasontime/Shutterstock

Facebook is shutting down Onavo, the controversial data collecting app. But the company plans to continue spy-like research in the future.

For those of you who are out of the loop, here’s a quick rundown. Facebook offered a free VPN app called Onavo on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Unsurprisingly, Facebook spied on everyone who used that app. This has been going on for a few years, and it’s had real-world implications. According to Buzzfeed, data obtained by Onovo is the primary reason why Facebook bought WhatsApp.

About a year ago, Facebook was forced to remove Onavo from the Apple App Store, as it conflicted with the Apple privacy policy. But until today, the app remained on the Google Play store. Right now, it’s impossible to download the Onavo app on an iPhone or Android phone. But Facebook will continue supporting the app on phones that downloaded the app before it was taken down, supposedly to spy on any uninformed kids.

Facebook’s (reluctant) decision to discontinue Onavo is a good sign for privacy… Maybe? Facebook says that it will focus on an app called Facebook Research in the future. Facebook Research, which was violently removed from the Apple App Store last month, is an app that pays users $20 a month to be spied on. As you can imagine, most Facebook Research users are kids that haven’t realized the value of their privacy.

Facebook Research is still available on Google Play, but it isn’t accepting new users right now. Since Facebook is continuing support for existing Onavo users, it’s fair to assume that the company is also supporting remaining Facebook Research users.

RELATED: How to Choose the Best VPN Service for Your Needs

via The Verge

Categories: IT General, Technology

Samsung: All Galaxy S10 and S10+ Phones Have 8 GB of RAM or More

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 18:21
Samsung

As smartphones get more powerful and run more and more complex applications, phone memory gets more important. To that end, Samsung wants it known that if you buy a Galaxy S10 or S10+, you’ll get at least 8 GB of RAM.

The company said as much to Android Police when asked about the RAM situation on the new models. Apparently, some of the pre-release demonstration hardware showed “just” 6 GB when its specifications were checked in the Settings menu, causing confusion among the enthusiast community.

Samsung’s own website is feeding some of that misinformation, with its specs page not making it clear which versions of the phone get 6 GB, 8 GB, or a massive 12 GB of memory. At the moment it looks like only the cheapest version of the less expensive Galaxy S10e (the “e” stands for “essential”) will be equipped with 6 GB of memory—all the “regular” S10 and S10 Plus models get at least 8 GB. Some versions of the most expensive 1 TB storage Galaxy S10+ will have up to 12 GB, matching the bombastic specification of the Galaxy Fold.

8 GB might seem like overkill for a phone, especially considering that some new laptops are still being sold with just 4. But mobile memory is a big deal, especially among those phone buyers most likely to pre-order new devices. One of the most common complaints about Google’s own Pixel 3 phones is that they have “just” 4 GB at their high price level.

Source: Android Police

Categories: IT General, Technology

Deal Alert: Get Four LIFX Smart Bulbs for $120

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 17:28
LIFX

If you’re interested in bright color-changing smart bulbs that don’t require a separate hub, then LIFX has a deal for you. Using the code B2G2, you can get four bulbs for a little more than the price of two.

We’ve highly recommended LIFX bulbs in the past, and that’s because they’re great. They’re Wi-Fi capable smart bulbs, which means they don’t require a hub to work. Instead, they can talk directly to your other devices, whether that be IFTTT, Alexa, Google Home, or even HomeKit.

Unfortunately, LIFX bulbs usually cost a premium for color-changing capabilities. You can expect to pay $45 for the A19 size bulbs on any given today. Today though, if you go to their sale site, add four bulbs to the cart and use the code B2G2, you’ll pay $120.

LIFX is calling this buy two get two free, but technically this costs a little bit more than two bulbs do. Even still, it’s a great deal and worth jumping on if you’re in the market for Wi-FI color-changing bulbs.

BUY FROM LIFX

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Use Logical Functions in Excel: IF, AND, OR, XOR, NOT

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 17:24

Logical functions are some of the most popular and useful in Excel. They can test values in other cells and perform actions dependent upon the result of the test. This helps us to automate tasks in our spreadsheets.

How to Use the IF Function

The IF function is the main logical function in Excel and is, therefore, the one to understand first. It will appear numerous times throughout this article.

Let’s have a look at the structure of the IF function, and then see some examples of its use.

The IF function accepts 3 bits of information:

=IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])
  • logical_test: This is the condition for the function to check.
  • value_if_true: The action to perform if the condition is met, or is true.
  • value_if_false: The action to perform if the condition is not met, or is false.
Comparison Operators to Use with Logical Functions

When performing the logical test with cell values, you need to be familiar with the comparison operators. You can see a breakdown of these in the table below.

Now let’s look at some examples of it in action.

IF Function Example 1: Text Values

In this example, we want to test if a cell is equal to a specific phrase. The IF function is not case-sensitive so does not take upper and lower case letters into account.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Deal Alert: Grab a Pair of Eufy Smart Plugs for Just $26

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 17:18

Smart plugs are a really easy and cheap way to start up a smarthome and turn dumb appliances into smart devices, and today you can grab two Eufy smart plugs for just $26.

This is a really solid deal if you’ve been in the market for some smart plugs, and these Anker-owned Eufy models are some of our favorite.

Normally, a two-pack of these sells for around $40, and even just one sells for $23, so it’s like you’re buying one for $23 and getting the second for just $3. Or buying two for just $13 each. Or buying one for $26 and getting the second for free. Or buying one for $25 and getting the second for just $1. Or buying one for $24 and getting the second for just $2. Or buying one for $22 and getting the second for just $4. Or buying one for $21 and getting the second for just $5. Or buying one for $20 and getting the second for just $6. Or buying one for $19 and getting the second for just $7. Or buying one for $18 and getting the second for just $8. Or buying one for $17 and getting the second for just $9. Or buying one for $16 and getting the second for just $10. Or buying one for $15 and getting the second for just $11. Or buying one for $14 and getting the second for just $12—you get the idea. There are a lot of different ways to look at it.

In any case, this is one of the best deals we’ve seen on smart plugs, so we recommend snatching up a pair of these as soon as you can.

Buy on Amazon

Categories: IT General, Technology

Deal Alert: Grab an Apple HomePod Speaker for $235 ($115 off)

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 17:14

Not interested in Amazon or Google’s smart speakers? Maybe you should check out the HomePod, a premium smart speaker by Apple. Right now, Woot is selling it at a hefty discount.

What’s the Apple HomePod? It’s like the Amazon Echo or the Google Home, but with a built-in Siri assistant and a super high-quality speaker. You can use voice commands to tell the HomePod to play music, make calls, or control other smart devices. Really, it’s a smart speaker for Apple fans.

But the most exciting thing about the HomePod isn’t Siri integration, it’s the sound quality. These speakers are made for music. They produce a crisp, high-fidelity sound with deep bass. Not to mention, the HomePod uses spatial awareness to analyze a room’s acoustics and adjusts volume and equalization to fit the room. Neat.

If you forgot that Apple had smart speakers, then you’re not alone. Although the Siri-powered smart speakers have great sound quality and style, they also have a pretty hefty retail price tag, and a lot of would-be buyers have chickened out. But hey, that’s what makes this deal so good. Apple fans can finally buy a HomePod smart speaker for a reasonable price.

Right now, Woot is selling refurbished Apple HomePod speakers for $235 each—that’s a hefty $115 discount. Keep in mind that these HomePods are refurbished, but they have a 90 day warranty through Woot.

Buy From Woot

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to See Windows 10 Sticky Notes on the Web and Android

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 16:00

The Sticky Notes app is part of Windows 10, but it’s also linked to your Microsoft account. You can access your Sticky Notes anywhere you have a web browser or on an Android phone. iPhone and iPad support is coming soon.

RELATED: How to Use Sticky Notes on Windows 10

How to See Sticky Notes on the Web

Windows 10 Sticky Notes syncs all your notes to the cloud and lets you create, view, and manage notes on the web from any computer. Getting there isn’t as straightforward as you might think, though. Searching the internet doesn’t provide a direct link to any Microsoft site. Instead, you have to know where exactly to go.

To access Sticky Notes via the web, you’ll need to be signed into the Sticky Notes app with your Microsoft account. To check, click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the Sticky Notes app on your desktop. If you’re not signed in, click the “Sign In” button at the top of the window. The Sticky Notes app will synchronize your notes with your Microsoft account, so you can access them on the web, on your other Windows 10 PCs, and Android phones.

Fire up your favorite browser, head on over to onenote.com/stickynotes, and sign in to your Microsoft account.

After you’ve signed in, a simple sticky notes homepage loads and a list of synced notes appears along the left side panel. Clicking a note displays the full contents of it in the pane to the right.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Baby Swaddles For Every Little One

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 15:00

Dmitry Naumov/Shutterstock

Swaddling isn’t just some old fashioned practice or a cute way to bundle a baby up for adorable portraits. It’s a time-tested trick to help babies sleep more soundly. Here are some great swaddles to help you get started.

Why do babies sleep better when they’re swaddled? After months in the womb with little room to stretch out, babies aren’t quite used to all that freedom of movement and if you watch an unswaddled baby sleep they’ll often shoot their arms and legs out, frequently startling themselves awake in the process.

Wrapped up snug in a swaddle they feel more secure with familiar pressure around their bodies and they won’t wake themselves up through their startle-reflex. The reflex can last up to around 4-5 months of age, but the general consensus is that you should swaddle your baby from birth until around 3-4 months of age—4 months is around the age babies are getting strong enough to roll themselves over and it’s important to let them move more freely. But with all things, it depends on your baby and consult your pediatrician if you have any questions.

Now, you can use any small blanket to swaddle a baby but not everybody feels comfortable wrapping a swaddle the old fashioned way with a swaddle blanket. Think of it as like wrapping a really secure and very important burrito, but you’re sleep deprived and the burrito is fighting back (and possibly crying too). It’s far easier to buy a ready-made swaddle that’s designed for you to slip your baby into with minimal effort. To save you the effort, here’s a look at the best baby swaddles out there.

Best Overall: Halo SleepSack Swaddle ($23) Halo

The Halo SleepSack Swaddle is the best general baby swaddle out there. It’s a 3-way adjustable swaddle so it adjusts easily to your baby’s sleep style. You can swaddle them so one or both arms are tucked in, or you can position them so their hands and face are together. Whatever your baby prefers, you can adjust things accordingly.

The material used is made of 100% cotton so it won’t irritate your baby’s skin. Also, there’s an inverted zipper so you can easily change their diaper without needing to unswaddle. It’s a great time saver as well as an effective way to help your child feel comforted and supported.

Buy on Amazon Most Versatile: Aden & Anais Classic Swaddle ($50) Aden & Anais

Ok, so the Aden & Anais Classic Swaddle is a blanket that requires a little input from you. However, it’s incredibly cute and great for multiple different purposes. Made from 100% cotton, it has cute pictures and designs on it that you and your child will love. For $50, you get 4 different swaddles measuring 47″ by 47″. The fabric used is breathable and comfortable muslin, so it’s gentle on your child’s skin as well as cool too.

You can use the blankets for swaddling, tummy time, as well as for burping on, or simply covering the changing table with. It’s a delightful way of swaddling the old fashioned way.

Buy on Amazon Best For ‘Arms Up’: Love to Dream Swaddle UP Original ($30)

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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Get Your System’s Geographic Location From a Bash Script

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 15:00

Toria/Shutterstock.com

You can find the geographic location of a remote Linux system using open APIs and a simple bash script. Geolocating a server could help you track it in the physical world, ensuring servers are located in regional hotspots.

Each server on the internet has a public-facing IP address. This is either directly assigned to the server, or assigned to a router that sends traffic to that server. IP addresses give us a clue about where that server is located in the world. We can get this geolocation data through two open APIs, provided by ipinfo.co and IP Vigilante and use it to see the city, state, and country associated with a server or other remote system. This doesn’t give you a precise GPS location; it just lets you see the general area of the IP address.

Connect to a Remote System

You’ll be running the following commands on the Linux server or other remote systems you want to geolocate, so you must connect to the server and access a shell on it first. For example, you might connect via SSH. You could run the commands on your local system to find its location, but you probably already know where you are!

Install curl and jq

We need two tools to access the geolocation API: curl to make HTTP requests and  jq to process the JSON data that we get back. Open a terminal and use  apt-get to install these tools on Ubuntu or Debian-based systems. On other Linux distributions, use your Linux distribution’s package installation tool instead.

sudo apt-get install curl jq Find the Server’s Public IP Address

We also need the server’s public IP address before we can get the geolocation data. Use curl to make an API call to ipinfo.io in your terminal window.

curl https://ipinfo.io/ip Get Location Data From The API

Now that we have the public IP of the server, we can make a call to ipvigilante.com’s API to get the geolocation data. Replace <your ip address> with the address that came back in the previous command.

curl https://ipvigilante.com/<your ip address>

Let’s take a closer look at what data we get back from this call:

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Google and Amazon Are Killing the Smarthome Hub, and That’s Great

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/22/2019 - 13:40

Since the dawn of the smart home, the smart hub has been the brains at the center of the operation. But, thanks to Google and Amazon, hubs are less necessary and may soon become a thing of the past.

Hubs Were the Brains of the Smarthome

For a long time, if you wanted control of all your smarthome devices in one place from one app, a smarthome hub was the way to go. Smarthome hubs did the best job of connecting everything from Wi-Fi outlets to Z-wave smart locks. They introduced routines, automation, and a handy dashboard to control everything in one dedicated place. Devices made by different manufacturers could work in tandem when connected to a hub. You weren’t limited to a single brand, or out of luck if your favorite brand didn’t make a particular type of device.

Smarthome hubs also made Z-wave and Zigbee devices truly smart. Without one, you couldn’t control a smart lock remotely, and managing codes was far more difficult. You could monitor a Z-wave or Zigbee device and managed it locally from a dedicated app from the manufacturer, but you needed a hub to extend capability further.

Hubs Do Have Downsides

Unfortunately, the smarthome hub business hasn’t been particularly stable. Lowe’s has abandoned its Iris platform entirely, and there are plenty of other hubs you probably shouldn’t use. The two biggest players in the smarthome hub business, Wink and SmartThings, have gone through buyouts that haven’t been a resounding success.

SmartThings currently requires two different apps to get to all its features and knowing which app to use when is often confusing, which defeats the ‘one app to control them all’ line of thinking entirely.

Wink’s history may even be more fraught, Quirky formerly owned the business but went bankrupt and sold Wink to Flex. Flex, in turn, sold Wink to i.am+, which was founded by Will.iam.

Wink hasn’t announced any new third-party product integrations since September 2017, and the last new product Wink announced (Lookout) came in October 2017. To make matters worse, low stock of the hubs is a frequent issue, as seen in multiple Reddit threads.

Google and Amazon Have Negated the Necessity of Hubs

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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to See All the Apps You’ve Purchased From the Mac App Store

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/21/2019 - 22:00

The Mac App Store is in the midst of a revival, with Apple focusing on both it and the apps within it much more since the release of macOS Mojave in 2018. Want to use it more? Here’s how to find all your apps.

It’s easy to forget that the Mac App Store has been around for a good while now, as few people took advantage of it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was just an awful app to use, and secondly, developers either never sold their apps via the Mac App Store, or removed them after concluding that either the financial or technological issues it posed were just not worth the effort.

With macOS Mojave, Apple has sought to change all that by helping big-name apps join the Mac App Store and simultaneously giving it a sizeable lick of paint. It also gets much more editorial attention from within Apple now, too, with apps regularly featured to help boost sales. That’s all great for developers, and eventually, it’ll be great for customers, too. That means you might want to venture back into the Mac App Store for the first time in a while, and if that’s the case, you’re going to need to download your old apps, too.

So where exactly do you do that? It’s funny you should ask…

Where to Find All of Your Apps, Including Free Apps

Anything you have previously downloaded from the Mac App Store, whether that was something you bought or was free, can be found in the same place within the newly redesigned Mac App Store. It’s a treasure trove of all you probably forgot all about, but it’s easy enough to find when you know where to go spelunking.

To get started, open the App Store on your Mac and then click the icon that represents your Apple ID. You may need to enter your Apple ID password to progress.

Here you’ll see a list of all of the apps you have downloaded. If you want to re-download one, click the cloud icon beside it. If it’s already installed, you can open it from here, too.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Samsung Wants You to Love the Galaxy Fold… But Not to Buy It

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/21/2019 - 19:45

Samsung

It’s finally here! Samsung’s folding-screen phone, the Next Big Thing that will ignite the imaginations and empty wallets all over the smartphone world! Or, more probably, not.

The Galaxy Fold is an aspirational device, like a flagship supercar or an ultra-rare luxury watch. It’s the phone you drool over, but not the one you buy. Samsung knows this—it’s hard to imagine that they don’t, with a price tag that makes even Apple’s most expensive iPhone look cheap by comparison. And they’re fine with it. Because the Galaxy Fold is a massive gamble from one of the only phone manufacturers that can make it. And however this product cycle plays out, Samsung wins.

Buying the Mustang

Samsung gave the Galaxy Fold pride of place in its pre-Mobile World Congress press event, with both the event’s tagline and the lead position secured for the daring new design. But it isn’t the one that Samsung is actually invested in: that is, obviously, the Galaxy S10. Look no further than the presenters if you need evidence.

The Galaxy Fold was introduced by a vice president of the marketing department. But when Samsung CEO DJ Koh came out, brandishing a brief demo of the Galaxy Fold hardware, it was the Galaxy S10+ that he personally introduced.

Samsung’s CEO personally introduced the Galaxy S10+, not the Galaxy Fold. Samsung

That’s because, this year as every year, Samsung’s going to sell a hell of a lot of Galaxy S phones. Even with the alarming price increases (roughly in step with Samsung’s only major competitor, Apple), carrier promotions and financing options will ease the financial pain of that cool new model. But even someone who might be able to justify a $1000 hit to their budget would be reticent to double it for the Fold.

Want more evidence? The Fold uses a tiny (by modern standards) 4.6-inch front screen, presumably so small on such a large device because Samsung needed every cubic millimeter to cram in other hardware around that interior hinge and massive screen. And even so, the Galaxy Fold isn’t getting the best of Samsung’s newest doohickeys, aside from its massive interior screen.

Ultrasonic fingerprint reader integrated into the screen? Nope, it has a side-mounted reader, like a phone from eight years ago. Reverse wireless charging that can give your Galaxy Buds a boost? Nope, not mentioned at all. While the S10 has a maximum of a terabyte of onboard storage, the Galaxy Fold is limited to 512GB, despite a massive 12GB of RAM. The phone doesn’t even get the Galaxy S10’s signature new feature, the “hole punch” for the camera—the interior screen just uses a massive cutout for its dual cameras.

Samsung

So what does all of this mean? It means that Samsung isn’t concerned with making the Galaxy Fold the be-all, end-all smartphone in every possible measure. Because it doesn’t need to be. The S10+ plus is the phone they’re marketing to enthusiasts, to people who want something on par with (or better than) the latest iPhone or Pixel. By contrast, the Galaxy Fold is a classic aspirational product: the one you want on everyone’s mind, even if no one can afford it. Or even justify it.

Think about this in terms of cars. If you’re a car buff, you know about the Ford GT, the Dodge Viper, the Nissan “Skyline” GT-R. Those are the cars you drool over, maybe even take a test drive of the dealership’s loaner if you’re feeling daring. But even if you could scrape together the monthly payments, you know you’d regret it the first time you tried to actually put a full load of groceries in the trunk, or the third time you filled up the gas tank in a week.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Deal Alert: Get 20% Off All dbrand Skins

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/21/2019 - 18:41
dbrand

That nagging voice in your head is right. Your phone case is bulky and annoying, and that gaming laptop that you bought is uglier than sin. But don’t worry, now’s the perfect time to try a dbrand skin.

Right now, dbrand is selling all of their skins at a 20% discount, including their cool new Swarm skin. If you’ve never heard of dbrand, then you should probably catch up to speed before this sale ends.

dbrand is the leader in customizable adhesive skins. The company sells skins for cellphones, tablets, laptops, game consoles, and even headphones. If you have any electronics around the house (don’t lie to me), then there’s a chance that dbrand sells a skin for it.

We aren’t talking about the gross decals that you put on your Nokia phone a decade ago, we’re talking about great products that are clean, stylish, and strong. dbrand’s adhesive skins can provide an alternative to bulky phone cases, and they can turn your boring looking game console into something cool or sophisticated.

Buy From dbrand

Categories: IT General, Technology
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