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How to improve your smartphone photography
In this article, you'll learn how to take great smartphone photos with the optimal settings and simple but effective composition tips.
How to use Apple Invites to plan your next event
You can create an event invitation in Apple Invites on an iPhone running iOS 18 or the iCloud website if you pay for iCloud+.
Peloton fitness gear will soon be available at Dick's Sporting Goods
You'll be able to buy Bike, Tread and Guide at more than 100 of the chain's brick-and-mortar stores.
The Peloton Guide wouldn’t let me skip a single push-up
We had an early workout with Peloton's latest hardware addition: a connected camera that monitors your form, aimed at strength training.
Roku's live guide will help you navigate its free movie and TV channel
Roku's free movie and TV channel is now getting a traditional grid Guide.
How to get the most out of Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services
A Netflix or Hulu subscription alone won't cut it anymore. The streaming landscape is fracturing as bastions of old media rise up with their own services, offering a blend of originals and library material. Over the coming months, the streaming video options will multiply like Gremlins, as the likes of Disney, Apple, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and mobile platform Quibi hop into the game.
Apple News debuts a guide to the 2020 Democrat hopefuls
Apple wants you to take its news service seriously. To demonstrate its potential beyond a simple headline aggregation platform, it's launched its own candidate guide ahead of the 2020 Democratic debates. The guide contains facts, biographies and candidate positions on key issues, and will be supplied with what Apple says is "timely, trusted and comprehensive" information about those taking part, via providers such as CNN, Axios and The New York Times.
Use the camera in your brain to master street photography
Like many camera buffs, I've done a fair amount of street photography, stalking subjects in markets, parks and tourist areas. Unfortunately, I often come away with little to show for it. That's particularly frustrating, because I live in Paris on a beautiful street with endlessly interesting subjects and settings. My challenges with the genre -- poor ideas, a fear of confrontation and technical challenges -- certainly apply to other types of photography. However, they're magnified on the streets, due to the improvisational nature and factors out of my control, like subjects, lighting conditions and weather.
A guide to watching March Madness
Conference tournaments are over. The 68-team field is set. It's officially time for March Madness. While technically the first game is on Tuesday, we all know the real action begins later in the week. This Thursday and Friday are arguably the two biggest days of the year in sports (and likely the two least-productive days at your job). However, the 2019 NCAA Tournament officially begins Tuesday and Wednesday (March 19th and 20th) with two First Four matchups -- or as the purists call them, play-in games. Both of those games will air on truTV, but if you have a cable log-in, you can stream them through the March Madness Live app.
What you need to know before going with a smaller wireless carrier
Let's face it: picking a carrier worth pledging your smartphone allegiance to can be a hassle, and plans offered by massive companies aren't right for everyone. These days, you can get cheap, reliable and surprisingly feature-rich wireless service without worrying about a bill from Verizon or AT&T every 30 days. You'll just have to start looking more closely at MVNOs, short for mobile virtual network operators.
Plex's grid guide gives cord cutters a traditional TV look
Plex has offered DVR features and live TV viewing in its app for a few years, but now it's making it easier to surf through channels with a traditional-style grid guide. Over the years I've noticed that every "new TV" platform makes a show of using box art and personalized filtering as a better way to navigate video options, but for scheduled live television and audiences that grew up before streaming, things always come back to the old grid.
The best wireless headphones
Music is a necessity while I'm working. If it's not tunes from Spotify, there's at least a podcast chattering on in my ear. Of course, if you don't want to bother those around you with what you're listening to, you need a good set of headphones. The best options will also do a good job of blocking out the outside world. We've already offered some suggestions on the best wireless earbuds, so now it's time to examine the best over-ear wireless headphones. Each was selected for its mix of comfort, sound quality and effective noise cancellation. Because let's be honest: Audio is just one part of the equation when it comes to long listening sessions.
The best cameras under $1,000
Enthusiast cameras like Sony's A7R III, the Nikon D850 and Fujifilm's X-H1 get a lot of attention. The good news is that nowadays, you can spend less than $1,000 for a camera body and get almost as much as you would with a model with three times the price. Cameras like Nikon's D5600, the Sony A6300 and Fujifilm's X-T20 handle both photos and video superbly. As you'd expect, though, each model has a different combination of strengths and weaknesses. This guide is meant to help you figure out which best fits your needs.
Hulu makes it easier to find what’s on its live TV service
Hulu keeps refining its live TV service, introducing new changes to the interface and programming aimed at helping its customers find things they want to watch, whether live or on-demand. The streaming service is available on a ton of devices, including Roku, Xbox 360, Fire TV and your Mac or PC via the web. The company is adding features to its refreshed interface, too. Today, head of experience at Hulu, Ben Smith, announced a new channel guide that's been added to the web version of Hulu to help you find what's on live TV more easily than before.
What’s the deal with Google and HTC?
Rumors out of Taiwan suggest that Google is preparing to purchase some or all of HTC's smartphone division. If true, it would mark a sad end for the company that built the first Android phone. What's not clear, however, is why Google wants to buy HTC, and what it's looking to get out of the deal.
Leaked Apple warranty guide shows what it will and won't repair
It's pretty tough for individuals and even third-party shops to repair Apple products, and often hard to predict whether Apple itself will repair, decline to fix or replace a busted iPhone. However, Business Insider has unearthed a 22-page "Visual/Mechanical Inspection Guide," or VMI, that shows what qualifies as an "eligible repair." It's reportedly used to conduct a physical damage inspection and assess cost, "basically half the training for iPhone techs," an anonymous Genius told BI.
Apple demonstrates how the iPad Pro was made for iOS 11
Apple's iPad sales were surprisingly good last quarter, but a lot of critics (including us) thought there was still no way the iPad Pro could replace a proper PC. The release of iOS 11 next month will change some minds, however. A new series of Apple videos shows how to use the new features, including the Dock, Files app, multitasking, Apple Pencil and more. Suffice to say, it drastically improves productivity on the tablets, making it much easier to do multiple jobs concurrently.
Xbox One's faster, simpler interface is available to everyone
After no small amount of hype, the Xbox One's big spring software refresh is finally rolling out to everyone. The March update centers around a redesigned interface that's designed for speed above all else. It's quicker to perform more than a few tasks, such as finding a group to join. The revamped Guide should be much quicker, too -- it promises faster access to recent apps, background music controls and game recording. A few tweaks are designed with multitasking in mind, such as a brand new achievement tracker and a Cortana rework that puts the voice assistant into an overlay that won't disrupt what you're doing.
UK apps and websites that'll save you time this Christmas
With so much to do around Christmas time, any app or website that can save you time and help you plough through that 'to do' list is always welcomed. Fancy outsourcing some of those projects? Here's a few suggestions. An app that writes your Christmas cards Inkly lets you write and send real cards from your smartphone or tablet. Choose your Christmas card design; add a photo, if you choose; and take a photo of your handwritten message or write it straight on to your tablet with a stylus. Then choose the envelope, decide who you're sending you cards to and Inkly prints it all out and sends it off. The app is free, but there is a charge for the cards and delivery. Still, it'll save you a trip to the shops to buy the cards and the stamps. Christmas gift lists The Christmas Gift List Android app enables you to create gift lists, set a budget for each person you are buying for and mark the gifts as purchased as they are bought. So that you don't repeat a gift the next year, it archives your gift lists once the new year rolls around. Santa's Bag does a similar job on iOS devices. Tree deliveries No time to pick out your own Norwegian Spruce? Don't worry, with Pines and Needles you can specify the height and type of tree and have it delivered to your living room. If you're London-based they will even decorate it for you too. If you're outside London, you can ask TaskRabbit to dress it for you. Deck the halls... and the rest of the house Do you fancy a Christmas light display to rival London's Regent Street this year? Or, would you just like the interior of your home to look like a magazine Christmas at home spread. It's time to bring in the professionals. The Christmas Decorators offer a nationwide decorating service and will cover everything from the wreath on the door, to the garland on the stairs. They will create a pretty amazing illuminated display outside your home too. The Christmas food shop sorted Don't fancy negotiating a trolley through the aisles of a heaving supermarket to the piped out tune of Jingle Bells? Not a problem. At Riverford Organic you can order a full Christmas Dinner box for delivery. Their Christmas Dinner Box with Turkey and Trimmings includes festive veg, an organic turkey, pork and cranberry stuffing balls, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce, mince pies, a Christmas pudding, clementines, oatcakes and a Cropwell Bishop stilton. Christmas Dinner Under Control Do you get in a tizz just thinking about all the preparation you need to do for Christmas dinner? The Perfect Christmas Dinner app for iOS provides expert guidance from the professional chefs at the renowned Ashburton Cookery School. There are over 25 video recipes that you can tap into, covering everything from creating canapes to preparing the turkey, delicious desserts and even drinks. Plus, there is a shopping list maker and menu list too.
Uber uses trip data to recommend popular restaurants
As you might expect, a lot of Uber riders use the service to get to and from restaurants and bars. Thanks to its customer base, the ride-sharing company has a lot of info on which spots are popular in the cities where it operates. Uber announced this week that its putting all of those trip details to use with a new restaurant guide.