The new feature—only available on select Android devices and currently limited to adult profiles—lets you choose between four settings: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or the end of the show. The app will stop at the end of the timer; observers say a viewing break will extend battery life on devices and give your brain a rest. “If people want to limit the time they stream, timers are very valuable,” Paul Levinson, a professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University, said in an email interview....

There is a good reason for it, however. Reeling It In Instagram’s new Reels feature is Facebook’s attempt to head off TikTok. Reels adds a new section to the Instagram app, where you can see a stream of videos created by other Instagrammers. The twist is these videos come from strangers, rather than people you’ve chosen to follow. TikTok is a massive success, so Facebook is doing the same thing it did to bury Snapchat: clone it and add it to Instagram....

In iOS 15.4, Siri gets a new gender-neutral voice, which—like that blue/gray dress—sounds different depending on your point of view. This is the latest installment in Apple’s plan to remove gender bias from its voice assistant, making it more inclusive and removing preconceptions about general roles in service roles. “Removing gender from computer interactions is the next step for inclusivity, especially regarding something that should be universally acceptable to everyone,” Samuel Dwyer, CEO of the HR sexual harassment training platform EasyLlama, told Lifewire via email....

Ai-Da was built in 2019 and now has an improved robotic arm that allows it to use a regular color palette and brush. Its cameras take a picture of the subject as a reference for painting. But is robot art something humans want? “A hotel corporation that needs to cheaply install thousands of art pieces across its rooms, to add visual flair for its guests, may actually prefer and benefit from AI-generated art if it is easier to procure and costs less,” Rozina Vavetsi, associate professor and department chair of Digital Art and Design at New York Institute of Technology told Lifewire in an email interview....

Social media Stories let you post a video or a photo to your followers for a short amount of time to give a real-time glimpse into your day-to-day life, truly adding to the “social” aspect of social media. Now, more and more platforms outside of social media are integrating this type of ephemeral content, further solidifying the feature in the future of the internet. “What was once a permanent post on Facebook or Instagram like a meal or a fun night out became a Snap,” wrote Andrew Selepak, a social media professor at the University of Florida, to Lifewire in an email....

The retail giant wants to sell you the top-end model, the Kindle Oasis, for $279.99. But I’m a longtime Kindle owner and recently purchased the bargain basement model, the basic Kindle that retails for $89.99 because I wanted something cheaper that I could throw in my luggage when I was going on a trip. I was expecting to be longing for the bigger screen and warm backlight of the Kindle Oasis when I got home....

Both of Apple’s computer platforms—iOS and macOS—now run on the same Apple Silicon chips. M1 Macs can run iPhone and iPad apps, right there next to Mac apps, so shouldn’t the reverse also be true? In theory, you should be able to install macOS onto the new M1 iPads and boot it as a Mac tablet. But, in reality, it would be a terrible experience. “The [Mac] UI is not legacy-built for touch screens,” technology journalist Andrea Nepori told Lifewire via Twitter....

How to Stop iPhone Icons From Shaking Getting icons to stop moving is easy. Just press the Home button on the front of your phone and everything will stop moving. If you deleted or moved apps, or created folders, pressing the Home button will save the changes you’ve made. Stopping your icons shaking is a little different on the iPhone X, XS, XR, 11, and 12, since those models don’t have a Home button....

What Is a WLMP File? A file with the WLMP file extension is a project file created by Microsoft’s Windows Movie Maker program (older versions are called Windows Live Movie Maker). WLMP files store all the project related material that Windows Movie Maker might need to store, but it doesn’t store all the actual media files. It might contain effects, music, and transitions that pertain to the slideshow or movie, but it only references the videos and photos....

What Is Xbox 360 Games on Demand? Games on Demand is a service on the Xbox Network Marketplace where you can buy full Xbox 360 and Xbox games. They are full versions of the games, and with only a couple of exceptions (Halo 3, for example, loads multiplayer maps much more slowly so it isn’t a recommended download) they perform exactly like the retail version. The games are stored on your hard drive or another storage device (such as a USB flash drive) and can take up to 7GB of space, so make sure you have enough room before you download....

When Microsoft unveiled the Xbox Series S and the more expensive Series X, lots of comparisons started to jump around. Where the Series X promised 4K gaming at high refresh rates and cost $500 to pick up, the Series S was much more affordable at just $299. Of course, there were some sacrifices made to hit that lower price point. Even with those compromises, though, the Xbox Series S is one of—if not the—best next-gen console for the everyday person....

Ylife’s under-the-radar TWS Bluetooth 5.0 earbuds are far from the flashiest true wireless earbuds on the market, but they might just offer the best value. To be perfectly honest, I don’t much about Ylife as a company, and even after a little research, it’s clear that their name is basically only associated with these earbuds. This leads me to believe they’re a mass-produced, brandless device you might find on a site like AliExpress....

Tsang is the founder and CEO of ChurnZero, developer of a customer success platform designed to help subscription-based businesses retain and more effectively serve clients through a variety of customer analytics and tools. The software aims to help customer success teams understand how clients are using products, predict subscription renewal likelihood, and share expansion opportunities. “We saw a lot of great technology being built for sales and marketing teams, but the technology that you would bring to sell a customer was not brought to service the customer,” Tsang told Lifewire in a phone interview....

Although modern tailgating started out as a pre-game activity where football fans congregated in parking lots outside stadiums, the activity is really just one part of a social tapestry that includes everything from old fashioned block parties to pot lucks and everything in between. Today, you don’t have to be a football fan—or even wait for football season—to tailgate. Whether you choose to pre-game at your non-football sport of choice, or just get together with your friends at a park, beach, or anywhere else, tailgating is the perfect excuse to get outside, grill up some great food, maybe have a drink or two, and enjoy yourself....

The DeLorean follows the footsteps (err tire treads) of the reintroduced Hummer EV. The gas guzzler of the early part of this century gets a second chance as a watts guzzler. But let’s not stop there. There are a whole host of wonderful cars automakers could bring back. I even once proposed Honda give us an electric S2000 roadster. So along that vein, here are the vehicles that need to be resurrected as EVs....

Either way, you may be surprised to hear that the internet isn’t just for funny cat memes anymore. Plug your car into the internet, and the options for entertainment and edification are nearly endless. In fact, we’ll stick to just seven of the great ways to use the Internet in your car, just to try and keep things under control. And here they are: The radio industry had pinned its hopes on HD Radio, and is clinging onto OEM head units for dear life, but by now you’ve probably moved on to using your phone as an in-car music player or even signed up for a satellite radio subscription....

Microtuner lets musicians use custom scales with any musical interval between the notes. Thus instead of having the 12 half-step intervals used between notes in almost all western music, you can define any number of steps, with any size gap between them. This not only lets you load in scales from other parts of the world and other times in history, but it also lets you get experimental and create your own scales....

Nintendo DSi Differences Compared to the Nintendo DS The Nintendo DSi has some unique functions that set it apart from the Nintendo DS Lite and the original style Nintendo DS (often referred to by owners as the “Nintendo DS Phat”). It has two cameras that can snap pictures, and it can support an SD card for storage purposes. Additionally, the device could access the Nintendo DSi Shop to download games referred to as DSiWare, and it has a downloadable internet browser....

The new release promises to make messaging more versatile and brings a bunch of privacy enhancements. Meanwhile, a separate lightweight Go edition with some of the same features is aimed at speeding up inexpensive and older phones. As usual for Android, the latest OS will roll out gradually across device manufacturers, though one expert says that’s a security risk. “Sometimes you might not get updates for a long, long time because a vendor has customized the crap out of the software and it will take Android a while to work around that,” said cybersecurity analyst Dave Hatter in a phone interview....

What Is Apple Fitness+? Apple Fitness+ is a subscription workout service available on iOS 14.3 and watchOS 7.2 and later. You don’t need any special exercise equipment to take advantage of the fitness routines. Use what you have at home while tracking your statistics and comparing your performance with others who have taken the same class. Many workouts don’t require any equipment, while some call for minimal gear, such as a set of dumbbells....