Over some recent summer nights, I tried out the Pixel astrography feature, and after a few false starts, I got it working. Once I saw my handiwork, I was excited by the quality of the videos and to discover a whole new way to use the Pixel. Google’s Pixel astrography feature allows you to record videos in which the stars appear to be moving in the sky. Of course, you aren’t actually capturing the motion of stars, but the rotation of the Earth....

Joystick drift—a defect in which the joystick or analog stick on your controller registers movements that you aren’t making—is one of the most annoying problems that a gaming console’s controller can suffer from, often requiring hefty repairs or even a complete replacement. A recent breakdown of the PS5’s DualSense controller revealed a number of reasons PS5 owners might see joystick drift, especially when playing games that require heavy controller use to move around and power the camera....

The US Department of Energy recently announced that scientists have, for the first time, produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain. Fusion power could eventually make clean, cheap energy and even help save the environment; however, there are still major significant challenges before that happens. “For the last 60 years, when experts were asked about when fusion will become possible, the typical answer was within 20-30 years,” Yaron Danon, the director of the nuclear engineering program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, told Lifewire in an email interview....

Over the past several decades, different light source technologies have been employed, with laser being the latest to enter the arena. Let’s take a look at the evolution of light source technology used in laser video projectors, and how lasers are changing the game. The Evolution from CRTs to Lamps In the beginning, video projectors and projection TVs employed CRT technology, which you can think of as very small TV picture tubes....

Illustrator is a vector drawing app, meaning you can grab your lines any time after drawing, then bend, move, resize, and recolor them. It’s the pro’s tool of choice for illustration work, and now it’s on the iPad with Apple Pencil support. And even though Illustrator is way better than Photoshop for iPad, some designers see it as a half-baked attempt that’s far from useful. “Stuff like option-click is missing with Apple Pencil, which makes it very inferior,” graphic designer Graham Bower told Lifewire via email....

If you’ve ever found yourself on an unmarked road on Maps and wondered why it doesn’t show up, this update is for you. While it may seem a bit sketchy to allow virtually anyone to draw a road, the collaborative feature will improve Maps, overall. “Collaborative systems with millions of users and any of them able to share feedback on the accuracy of the information make for a self-improving service with the best possible real-time data,” wrote Herve Andrieu, creator of GoogleMaps....

According to a Check Point Software Technologies survey released in November 2020, 71% of security professionals reported an increase in cyber threats since the coronavirus lockdowns started in early 2020. Experts say not enough importance has been placed on cybersecurity in the past, and they’re urging the Biden administration to take it seriously. “The transition and the decisions the administration will make about cybersecurity matter, and it can be very consequential,” said Ed Amoroso, CEO of TAG Cyber, in a phone interview....

Most of us listen to music using an app on our phones. We have an almost unlimited supply of music, along with all kinds of clever features to help us find new music. But these apps are too complicated, and they exist in a morass of other apps, all of which are controlled by a touch screen, the very definition of a moving target. The iPod was the opposite. Offline, finite, totally focussed, and designed to do one thing really well....

The new 4-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charger went on sale this week, and it’s designed to work with Apple’s latest iPhone 12 models. The sleek, minimalist-looking charger can juice a MagSafe-equipped iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, and a fourth device simultaneously. Untangling the Cords The Zens is made from aluminum and comes in a black finish. For the iPhone 12 range, the left-hand side has a stand with a MagSafe holder that can charge devices in landscape and portrait orientations at up to 15 watts....

Involve XR is an “immersive learning platform” that provides medical students with an AI-driven virtual patient, as well as a flexible lesson creation program. An instructor and several students can enter the same virtual space to practice skills such as airway management, patient assessment, and mental health de-escalation, which can be difficult to train on the job. Built in Unreal Engine by Toronto-based company Lumeto, Involve XR is device-agnostic, though it was built and tested via the Oculus Quest....

The platform’s new feature allows you to choose “allow,” “limit,” or tighten controls even further so you see even less “harmful or sensitive” content on your feed. All social media sites have some content policy in place, but experts say these policies ultimately won’t shelter everyone from everything, and shouldn’t. “As far as the social media sites themselves, how ‘well’ they police that fringe content boils down to their own business goals and what metrics they see—in other words, who makes up the bulk of their community members,” Mary Brown, the marketing and social media director at Merchant Maverick, told Lifewire in an email....

Spotify Mixes mix your already-liked songs with new tracks the algorithm thinks you’ll like. These are just more targeted versions of Spotify’s Daily Mix and may help folks discover new music. But can algorithms ever even hope to compete with personally picked playlists and human-curated mixtapes? “Will AI music curation ever be as good as human-made playlists?” musician and recording artist the Rav asked Lifewire via email. “I honestly think that one will force the other to focus on its core competencies....

Apple pushes the video capabilities of its top-end iPhones, and they’re indeed impressive, capable of capturing great-looking 4K videos at high frame rates. But if you want to transfer that video to a Mac, PC, or iPad for editing, then you’ll be doing it over a legacy USB 2.0 connection. According to reports from supply-chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, next year’s iPhone Pro will finally fix this. The kicker? The regular iPhone 15 will stay just as it is....

This is the Kobowriter. As you can see, it’s a DIY e-ink typewriter, a USB keyboard hooked up to a modified Kobo Glo HD e-book reader to create a modern-day, single-purpose writing machine. It’s simple, offers zero built-in distractions, and will always be waiting where you left off. In short, it’s the perfect comment on all that’s wrong with your tablet or smartphone. Kobowriter You can make your own Kobowriter....

The iPhone 13 will be able to make emergency satellite calls and send messages in areas without cellular coverage, according to a recent report by Bloomberg. The iPhone would join the rapidly growing field of personal satellite communications. “Reliability and coverage are satellite communication’s biggest advantages over terrestrial networks like cellular,” James Kubik, CEO of Somewear Labs, which sells a satellite hotspot, told Lifewire in an email interview. “While terrestrial networks are well suited for everyday use in urban environments, they are vulnerable to forces of nature—hurricanes, tornados, and other natural disasters—and extremely limited in remote environments....

Experts say this upcycling route is more beneficial to smartphone users and the environment. The average American upgrades to a new smartphone every two years, so experts say we all have plenty of old devices at our disposal with almost never-ending uses. “Finding alternative uses for our old devices helps to reduce the growing electronic waste crisis and, in the process, can also provide a really great use for your phone,” Sarah McConomy, the chief operating officer of SellCell, wrote in an email to Lifewire....

AMD and Samsung have partnered to bring RDNA 2, AMD’s latest graphics tech, to smartphone graphics processors. Mobile games could take advantage of next-gen visuals like ray tracing and variable refresh rates with RDNA 2 enabled, and experts say the new tech could elevate mobile gaming. It could also bring benefits for all types of mobile users. “AMD’s partnership and the RDNA2 graphics tech, in particular, gives phones a lot more processing power for graphics,” Rex Freiberger, a tech expert and CEO of GadgetReview, told Lifewire in an email....

The PS5’s November 12 launch date and price was confirmed at Wednesday’s Sony event as $500 for the Blu-ray equipped version or $400 for the digital-only edition. The new console will compete with Microsoft’s soon-to-be released Xbox Series X. However, some Sony gamers may pause before clicking the pre-order button after it was reported that some games for the PS5 will also be released for the PS4. “With the economy the way it is, people are very price conscious and so there will be a bunch of people that will delay the purchase of upgraded hardware,” said Joost van Dreuenen, author of the book One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games, in a phone interview....

MusicCast Core Features MusicCast’s central pitch is its wireless control. Through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, you can send, receive, and share music and audio through compatible Yamaha products. These products include home theater receivers, stereo receivers, wireless speakers, soundbars, and powered wireless speakers. The downside is that it’s a closed system, meaning its products and features are only designed to work with other Yamaha MusicCast devices. It’s also not backward-compatible with the older versions of Yamaha MusicCast....

It’s the modern era, with some people making contactless payments from their phones, while the really intrepid are getting payment implants. Surprisingly, most of us are still swiping cards and authenticating transactions using insecure means such as pins and passwords. Samsung says it has created the industry’s first, all-in-one fingerprint security integrated circuit (IC) for payment cards. The chip reads biometric information using a fingerprint sensor, stores and authenticates data with a tamper-proof secure element (SE), and analyzes it with a secure processor....