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One thing every iPhone owner should do to stretch battery life Owners of iPhones have long been doing things to make the battery last as long as possible. While it's not as big an issue with recent models of Apple devices, it can still be a concern, especially for business travelers trying to get through long days. One setting in iOS can help provide peace of mind by preventing the iPhone from doing things in the background. Some applications, quite a few actually, regularly poll the device's location data in the background to keep the information up-to-date. This is done so the information is updated when you first open the app, and to send notifications when the app detects a reason to do so. When you first run an app that uses location data, iOS asks if you want to allow the app to access location services (see image below) when you're using the app. This is OK for most apps unless you have a reason to deny it. Even though the dialog box displayed ...

Facebook set to upgrade all apps to Graph API by April 30 Summary: ​Facebook is giving developers until April 30 to update their apps to use the new login and Graph API the company introduced in April last year, before apps are updated automatically. Facebook app developers have until April 30 to switch their apps to the social network's second version of its Graph API before being automatically switched. Facebook product manager Simon Cross said in a blog post on Tuesday that the company would begin upgrading all apps to Graph API version 2.0 on April 30. The company first announced the new version of the Graph API, along with its new login with lightweight review process, at its F8 summit in April 2014. Facebook claimed that the new version of the Graph API would help developers build, grow, and monetise their apps, while the new Facebook login would give people more control over the information they share with apps. While the new API a...

Ottobox smart plug turns devices on and off based on usage patterns  Smart plugs can render an otherwise dumb device or appliance “smart,” allowing you to control a plugged-in appliance wirelessly via a smartphone app. You can even configure them to turn your appliances on or off based on certain rules or a pre-set schedule. But Washington, D.C.-based startup Ottomate’s smart plug, the Ottobox, is a bit different. The Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-enabled Ottobox automates the whole process of turning devices and appliances on and off based on your schedule and usage patterns, while also helping you cut down on energy costs.   For instance, it can turn on the coffee maker and pre-heat your curling iron just before you typically use them each day. The company says the device needs around two weeks to fully familiarize itself with your schedule. It also has something called Cense that, well, senses when you’re around and automatically turns things on or off. For goo...

Oomi is a sensor-packed connected-home system looking to break the mold There’s no shortage of connected-home systems on the market, but most of them have two things in common: They over-rely on your smartphone to be the master controller, and pairing all the devices you wish to control is usually a painfully tedious process. The folks at Fantem think they have a better idea, and they’ve turned to Indiegogo to raise funds to bring their Oomi connected-home system to market. The heart of the Oomi system is the Oomi Cube and the Oomi Touch. The Cube is a combination hub, night-vision IP camera, environmental sensor (motion, vibration, sound, temperature, humidity, glass break, and ambient light), and infrared emitter (for controlling a home-theater system). The Touch is a dedicated 7.0-inch touchscreen tablet for controlling the system. There’s no need to rely on your smartphone’s too-small display, and the Touch has purpose-built hardware buttons that don’t exist on...

Sony's Android TV-powered 4K televisions are ridiculously thin   Four models from Sony’s 2015 Android TV-powered 4K television range are now available for pre-order, with shipping to begin in May. The Japanese electronics giant unveiled its 4K TV lineup for 2015 at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but kept pricing and release information to itself, only saying the new sets would be available sometime in the spring. Those details are finally here and the TVs themselves aren’t far off. According to the company, all models in the X830C, X850C, X930C and X940C series are now available for pre-order and will begin shipping to customers in May, while the super-svelte X900C—slimmer than three U.S. quarters, pictured at top—and the X910 series models will be available in the summer. The entry-level X830C is available in 43- and 49-inch sizes, priced at $1,300 and $1600, respectively. Move a little further up and you’ll find the X850C series with 55- 65-...

Emoji are about to take over Instagram Instagram just made emoji posted within the app a lot more powerful. The company updated its iOS and Android apps Monday with the ability to add emoji hashtags to posts along with three brand-new filters. Previously, Instagram's hashtag feature did not support emoji, so comments or captions with the hashtag symbol and emoji were not searchable. Now, users can add emoji (or a string of emoji) to hashtags and posts that have been previously tagged with the characters will also show up in searches. "Over the past few years, emoji have become part of a universal visual language," the company wrote in a blog post. "With emoji hashtags, you can discover even more by adding them to your own photos and videos, searching them on the Explore page and tapping on them when you see them in captions." Monday's update also added three new filters to Instagram's toolkit: Reyes, Juno and Lark. Reyes is a ...

How to Clean Your Smartwatch the Right Way Smartwatches get dirty. Filthy, even. Like anything else you wear day in and day out, a smartwatch gets sweaty, clogged up with lint, and caked with grime. Gross. Cleaning a smartwatch, or a fitness tracker, for that matter, is actually a fairly simple project, as long as you know a little bit about the device. For example, if you have an Apple Watch, you need to know what kind of wristband you have, such as silicone, stainless steel, leather, or gold. Once you know your materials, you just have to pick the right cleaning supplies, and in many cases, you don't have to buy anything special. Many common household items will do. So let's talk about supplies first.   Supplies Depending on what kind of smartwatch you have and the material of the band, you'll need a few different things to clean them. Here's a list of possible supplies, and note that a lot of them are common household items: water mild li...

Intel Compute Stick review  ntel's Compute Stick, an entire PC crammed into an HDMI stick that fits in the palm of your hand, is nothing short of a landmark in computing. Fifty years of Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors that can be crammed onto an integrated circuit doubles every two years, has resulted in a little plastic stick that plugs into any HDMI-equipped TV or computer display, transforming it into a full-fledged Windows 8.1 PC. Just don't get any crazy ideas about gaming on it — or, indeed, doing any intensive amount of multitasking — and the Compute Stick isn't half bad. I tested out the $150 Windows 8.1 version with a 1.3GHz Intel Atom quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There's a microSD card slot on one side for additional storage expansion, and a full-sized USB 2.0 port and Micro USB port on the other for power. The Ubuntu 14.04 LTS OS model is physically identical — a black stick w...

How this startup helped the 'New York Times' create a virtual New York City Technology-powered visual storytelling is the new frontier in journalism. But that doesn't just refer to video-streaming apps such as Snapchat and Periscope; there are also ways you can report in virtual reality. For example, The New York Times recently collaborated with virtual reality production company Vrse to plunge readers into a stunning VR version of New York City. See also: Virtual reality app puts you at the scene of Trayvon Martin's shooting The film, "Walking New York," directed by Chris Milk, JR and Zach Richter, takes viewers into the creation of, ironically, a paper product: the latest New York Times Magazine cover. The cover features a work by artist JR plastered in the center of the Flat Iron District (or as local tech types know it, Silicon Alley), and was later photographed from an aerial position. The VR film swings viewers into vertigo-inducing aeri...

Dropbox just got a little more like Google Drive Dropbox rolled out an update Tuesday that makes it easier for users to collaborate on shared files with a new commenting feature that allows people to have conversations within individual documents. Users can now start new conversations on any shared file from within Dropbox. When others make comments within a document you own, you'll receive notifications via email (these notifications can also be turned off with the unsubscribe feature). Comments are enabled on shared files by default — so anyone with access to a file can make a comment — but Dropbox notes the feature can be disabled from a file's option menu. The feature also uses @-mentions to let you flag specific people in comments, even if they aren't Dropbox users. When you type @ with an email address, that person will get an email notification, along with a link to the file.  The new feature is the latest in a series of productivity-focused u...

Hands on with the LG G4: Hot leather, sweet camera We’ve seen plenty of new Android phones since the start of the year, and now comes time for LG’s big move: the launch of its much-leaked new flagship, the LG G4 . Samsung grabbed big headlines when it released the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge — its best smartphones ever — so LG has its work cut out for it if the company wants to stand out. After a first look at the LG G4, though, the company's designers did a good job of finding ways to offer things you can’t get from other phones, Android or otherwise. The G4 is LG’s top of the line, and it shows. The G4 is LG’s top of the line, and it shows. Not only does it have killer specs, but LG has also gone out of is way to deliver a three-years-in-the-making feature: LG is decorating the back of the phone in leather. Real leather. It’s not unheard of. Samsung has use leather-textured plastic on its phones for years, and Motorola offered a version of its Moto X ...