Apple iPhone Apps

New York Times Games Leaderboard

News

The New York Times Games App Just Got a Social Makeover—and If You’re as Competitive as I Am, You’re Gonna Love It

The New York Times Games app just added something that’s bound to fire up your group chats and put your puzzle prowess to the test: a shiny new in-app multi-game leaderboard. As of today, you can now see how your daily scores stack up across Threads, Spelling Bee, Connections, and more—so get ready for some friendly competition (or full-blown bragging rights) with friends, family, and that one coworker who swears they’re the fastest at Wordle.

Aura Aspen

News

Aura Aspen Wants to Hang Out in Your Home, and It’s Bringing All Your Favorite Photos with It

If you wish your phone’s camera roll could magically decorate your home, say hello to the Aura Aspen digital frame. It’s sleek, slim, seriously stylish, and ready to rescue your best memories from digital purgatory. At just 0.5″ thick, Aspen might be thin, but it’s definitely not shy. It’s designed to be the kind of home accessory that quietly turns heads without trying too hard, kind of like that one friend who always looks effortlessly put-together.

Isaac by PreEvnt

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness

Isaac by PreEvnt Wants to Make Diabetes Management As Easy As Breathing!

There are 830 million people in the world with some form of diabetes. Unfortunately, that means it’s almost guaranteed that someone you know needs to deal with the hassle of tracking blood sugar. Usually, this is done by testing their blood periodically throughout the day, which means lots of poking of fingertips. Isaac by PreEvnt has a better, less messy plan by harnessing the power of your breath!

HOZO Design M-Cube 02 Anti-Gravity Laser Level

Gear Bits, Crowdfunding

HOZO Design Launches M-Cube 02 Anti-Gravity Laser Level: Revolutionizing DIY and Professional Alignment

HOZO Design is making waves again with the launch of its M-Cube 02 Anti-Gravity Laser Level, now live on Kickstarter. If you’ve ever juggled a laser level in one hand while trying to measure distance with the other or wrestled with unreliable tripods, this might be the tool you didn’t know you needed. Designed for pros and DIY enthusiasts alike, the M-Cube 02 isn’t your average leveling device—this one uses vacuum adhesion, so you can stick it right on the wall and keep your hands free for the real work (or even that well-deserved coffee break).

Smartphone Calculator

News

The Easy Way to Make Your Dumb Smartphone Calculator a Little Smarter

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember that PEMDAS was a mnemonic that many of us learned in Math class that stood for doing equations in a certain order, namely parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and then subtraction. We’ve all seen those posts on social media showing how the calculators on smartphones don’t understand the order of operations; apparently, they were absent from class on the day that PEMDAS was explained.

BLUETTI AC300+B300 in the portable trolley cart

Reviews

BLUETTI AC300+B300 Modular Power System Review: A Home Battery Backup Solution That Can Expands to Meet Your Needs

With unpredictable weather and electricity outages becoming commonplace, the BLUETTI AC300+B300 is a compelling 3,072Wh zero emissions and eco-friendly LiFePO4 home backup power solution with a modular design so you can start small and add to it as money allows. You can pair as many as two AC300 units and eight B300 expansion batteries for a total of 24,576 Watt Hwatt-hours (Wh); you can even tie the system into your home’s grid. How big and powerful your backup system ultimately becomes is up to you, but it all starts with the BLUETTI AC300+B300.

Home lit up with Jasco Eternity Lights

Gear Bits

Hang Enbrighten Eternity Lights Once, and You’ll Enjoy Permanent Outdoor Accent and Holiday Lighting Year-Round

There’s something magical about lighted neighborhoods during the holidays. Whether the lights are a minimalistic white or an over-the-top cha-cha display, I love looking at their festive effect. Even so, I’ve never strung lights on my own home; I’ve always thought that doing so would be a hassle, especially since you have to remove them a month or so later and have a safe place to store them. But the new  Enbrighten Eternity Lights are making me rethink my stance; they are permanent outdoor LED lights that, once installed, remain in place year-round, providing many outside lighting options.

Beyerdynamic Blue BYRD ANC (2nd-Gen) Review: Neckband Earbuds with Robust Sound but Average ANC

Reviews

Beyerdynamic Blue BYRD ANC (2nd-Gen) Review: Neckband Earbuds with Robust Sound but Average ANC

Beyerdynamic’s second-generation Blue BYRD in-ear headset is a bit of an odd bird these days (if you forgive the pun). Their styling is a bit retro, yet they offer several advanced features. The neckband design is the first thing you notice about the Beyerdynamic Blue BYRD ANC headset. Although not nearly as common today as in-ear earbuds, the Blue BYRD’s band offers a few advantages. For example, moving the battery to the band allows for the use of 10mm dynamic drivers.

UPDATED: Audigo Wireless Microphone Review: Remote Recording Made Easy

Reviews

UPDATED: Audigo Wireless Microphone Review: Remote Recording Made Easy

Audigo Labs is a San Fransico-based company founded in 2019 by drummer and former Tesla engineer Armen Nazarian “after being frustrated by the lack of simple to use, high-quality sound recording solutions available to content creators.” The Audigo wireless microphone works as an extension of your iPhone to greatly improve the quality of your recordings, be they in your studio or backyard.

Pivo Max + Essential Kit accessories unboxed

Reviews

Pivo Max + Essential Kit Review: An Elegantly Simple Content Creation Tool

Pivo is a California-based company that makes a line of content creation tools, including camera tracking pods and related accessories such as lights, microphones, and tripods. They offer three versions of their main product, the AI-powered Pivo Pod: Pivo Pod Lite, Pivo Pod, and Pivo Max. In this review, we’ll be looking at the Pivo Max + Essential Kit.

Baliston by STARCK Review: Quantify and Analyze Your Steps, Gait, and More with a $249.99 Eco-Friendly Shoe Subscription

Reviews, Health and Fitness

Baliston by STARCK Review: Quantify and Analyze Your Steps, Gait, and More with a $249.99 Eco-Friendly Shoe Subscription

It’s kind of a minor miracle of physics and evolution that we can walk as efficiently as we do; our feet coordinate with our knees, hips, back, and shoulders to keep us upright and moving, but that doesn’t mean we can’t improve along the way. Baliston by STARCK is all about figuring out how to quantify and improve your stride while also improving your style! How do they do? Let’s find out!

InfiRay P2 Pro Thermal Camera (for IOS) Review: Tiny but Powerful

Reviews

InfiRay P2 Pro Thermal Camera (for IOS) Review: Tiny but Powerful

The InfiRay P2 Pro thermal camera is a tiny but powerful device that connects to your smartphone and lets you see the heat signatures of objects and creatures around you. At 9g and 18mm x 27mm x 9.8mm, it is the world’s smallest thermal camera and, despite this, boasts some impressive stats. Its 256×192 pixel resolution is excellent at this price range and beats some competitors at higher prices.

Privacy and Security in Mobile Health Apps

Editorials, Health and Fitness

We Need to Talk About Protecting Your Privacy When Using Health Apps

Privacy has become a big discussion point these days since it feels like every app wants permission to use your camera, access your microphone, and track you all over the place. Ensuring that your private information is securely kept becomes especially relevant when considering apps that track your health, particularly those that track your reproductive health. Do you really need to be concerned about your privacy when using health apps? For many reasons, the answer is yes.

Brickit Aims to Bring High Tech Creativity to That Mess of Lego Bricks!

Gear Bits

Brickit Aims to Bring High Tech Creativity to That Mess of Lego Bricks!

When my brother outgrew his LEGO bricks back in the early 90s, my mom had the foresight to pack them away for future generations. It’s quite amusing to see my son build things out of the same LEGO his uncle used (and see him occasionally texting my brother to ask why he drew his initials in all the roof pieces). Everyone has that big LEGO bin from years of accumulated bricks, and Brickit thinks they’ve cracked the way to inspire you to see potential in every mismatched choice.

Roku OS 10.5

News

Roku Rolls Out Big Software Updates and New Hardware Just in Time for Fall TV

Roku is an incredible company in many ways. They’re not Amazon, Apple, or Google, yet they’re the heavyweight in the streaming world because they’re a neutral party. They don’t care what you watch, but they do care deeply that your experience finding and enjoying what you watch is the best one possible. And they want to keep that exacting standard with new OS updates and hardware for your fall viewing enjoyment!