Streaming transmits data—usually audio and video but, increasingly, other kinds as well—as a continuous flow, which allows the recipients to watch or listen almost immediately without having to wait for a download to complete. Overall, streaming is the quickest means of accessing internet-based content. When you stream something, you can start using the content before the entire file downloads. Play a song on Apple Music or Spotify, for instance, and you can click Play to start listening almost immediately....

The number of new iPhone models to choose from has been increasing each year. During its September 2021 event, Apple released four handsets within its iPhone 13 range. This included the entry-level iPhone 13 mini, the iPhone 13, the iPhone 13 Pro, and the flagship iPhone 13 Pro Max. Each phone has been designed to appeal to a different type of user, and they come in a range of sizes and prices....

According to Bloomberg’s Apple-whisperer Mark Gurman, these direct payments will also allow people to take contactless payments from regular credit cards, too, just by tapping or waving them near an iPhone. Imagine shopping at a flea market and being able to pay by card. In theory, anyone with an iPhone might accept credit card payments, from food trucks to homeless magazine vendors. But unlike the now almost-universal Apple Pay, this new scheme already has some competition....

HDMI cables have evolved over the generations, but today even the most capable of them are backward compatible and barely more expensive than their predecessors. That means there’s little point in restricting yourself, especially if you’re looking to connect mainstream consumer devices to a consumer display, like a TV. There are some different HDMI cables out there, though, which can affect your setup. HDMI Cable Types In the past, there were multiple categories of HDMI cables....

What Makes a PC ‘VR-Ready’? Two popular VR headset makers, Oculus and HTC/Valve, have provided recommended minimum-required PC specifications (Oculus) that provide a decent VR experience. Going below these specs might result in dropped frames, motion tracking lag, and other unpleasantries that might cause VR sickness in some people, and might end up ruining your overall VR experience. Minimum VR Baseline Specifications The main reason published VR minimum specs are important is because they give VR developers something to target as a benchmark to test against their apps and games....

As they take apart the M2 MacBook Air, iFixit notes that, just like its predecessor, the laptop doesn’t include a cooling fan, which isn’t surprising. What’s alarming, though, is a very minimal passive cooling system. Apple has decided to scrap the heat spreader as well, which was part of the M1 MacBook Air, and instead only relies on thermal paste and graphite tape to cool the laptop. Experts are concerned but not overly worried....

There are lots of ways to save a web page to read later, from Safari’s reading list, which takes the whole page and saves it offline, to Instapaper or Pocket, which turn pages into beautifully laid-out articles. Matter somehow manages to be better than all of these while remaining simple. And now it has scored the winning goal, with its web-highlighting extension. “Matter struck me for a few reasons: the app’s reader mode is gorgeous; the ability to annotate articles with highlights is great; and, more importantly, it has the best, most human-sounding text-to-audio conversion engine I’ve ever tested,” Apple watcher Federico Viticci writes on his MacStories blog....

Where to Find the Mushroom Biome You need some sturdy sea legs to get to a Mushroom biome. It takes a lot of sailing (or swimming if you’re Minecraft’s Michael Phelps). ​The Mushroom biome is primarily found far out in the ocean, not connected to any other landmasses. There are some rare occurrences of Mushroom biomes being found connected to the main plot of land players spawn in. You can immediately tell the difference between a Mushroom biome and a normal biome by the distinct color of Mycelium (the grass found in the Mushroom biome)....

4G, which has become the standard for wireless communication, has many loyal customers around the world. 3G is fast. However, 4G is three to four times faster and 5G will likely replace both of these soon. Like everything, 3G and 4G networks have advantages and disadvantages. Here’s a detailed analysis of 3G vs. 4G. 3G Networks Pros and Cons Generally, 3G is fast enough for most things you do on your phone....

What Is an MOGG File? A file with the MOGG file extension is a Multitrack Ogg formatted file used by Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and possibly some other video games. These files contain OGG audio files that are stored in such a way that each one can play separately or together with all the others. Each OGG file is stored in a separate track so they’re not bound to the same playback stream....

The Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna is a fairly barebones unpowered antenna that utilizes the same paper-thin rectangular design that can be found on some of the best TV antennas on the market. This design comes with its share of pros (easy setup, not too much clutter) and cons (limited performance, can’t stand on its own). Mohu might not be breaking new ground with this antenna, but it’s more than sufficient for most city dwellers and perhaps even a few buyers in the suburbs with a relatively unobstructed path to the broadcast source....

Monster Hunter Rise is the newest installment in a series of challenging action role-playing games. Developed for the Nintendo Switch, the game nonetheless includes ambitious new features like multi-level open maps and new transportation options. I tested everything from controls to most creative monster murders for 30 hours. Plot and Setting: Hunt or be hunted The serene village of Kamura is under constant threat of attack by monsters. The villagers can’t venture out into the dangerous forest....

Laetitia Baloula didn’t know she’d become a musician performer to an audience of over 1,000 concurrent viewers on the world’s largest live streaming platform. Yet, she welcomes the newfound freedom and joy she’s discovered from relentlessly following her passions wherever they might lead her. As the performer, WhoIsFelyce—an entertainer, a musician, a singer, and livestreamer planning to take her music career to the next level with the aid of a growing community—she’s been working toward this very moment....

However, the Buds are entering a crowded marketplace for noise-canceling earbuds, with seemingly every audio company constantly releasing new models. I recently tested the Studio Buds against Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Pro. While the Buds offer a stylish alternative, they can’t quite match the generally high sound quality of the Airpods. At $149.99, the Buds fall between the cost of the lower-end Airpods and the Airpods Pro. But the Buds offer noise-canceling that’s nearly equal to those of the Airpods Pro....

Overall Findings The DSi and the original model of the 3DS are no longer in production. However, other variations of the 3DS are still made, including the New 3DS and New 2DS XL. New games are also being released for the 3DS while the original DS family has been officially retired by Nintendo. Hardware: The Nintendo 3DS Is More Powerful The top screen of the 3DS displays game environments in 3D, which gives the player a better sense of depth....

Why is the miniature camera in your phone capable of taking incredible shots in the dark, but your webcam struggles to show you as anything more than a grainy, blown-out mess? And it’s not just webcams. Most peripherals you plug into your computer are similarly vintage in terms of technology. What’s going on? Most of us are still using peripherals designed in the last century, but it doesn’t have to be that way....

Overall Findings Smartphones are everywhere, and many users rely on these devices for more than voice and text communication. However, the PDA is still around, and some users enjoy its digital day planner-type of functionality. Since the earliest PDA adopters were business users, good business software is available for PDAs. Still, the range and compatibility of apps available for smartphones are astounding, and the PDA’s best days appear to be behind it....

How Hashtags Work to Boost Your Presence If you post a photo of your sleeping dog and add the hashtag “#dog” in your caption, other users who search #dog may come across your photo and post, like it and comment on it, or even start following you. If you consistently add relevant and popular hashtags, you can keep your content at the top of search results, boost your chances of gaining likes and followers, and even land on Instagram’s Explore page....

It’s a common troubleshooting step to reseat peripheral cards, power and interface cables, memory modules, and other devices that plug into a computer. How to Know When Something Needs to Be Reseated The most obvious sign that you need to reseat something is if a problem shows up just after you move your computer, knock it over, or do some other physical thing with it. For example, if you’ve moved your computer from one room to another, and then the monitor doesn’t show anything, one of the first things you should consider is that something related to the video card, video cable, or monitor has been disconnected during the move....

As technology has improved, the price and size of 360-degree action cameras have dropped steadily over the years. So much so that companies such as Nikon and GoPro have even jumped onto the trend in an effort to help consumers capture more immersive photo and video content. One company that’s been at the forefront of this niche is Ricoh with its growing Theta lineup. For this review, we’ve taken the consumer-friendly Theta SC2 for a spin over the course of a few weeks to see what the experience and image quality looks like when using it on the day-to-day....