I’ve owned succeeding generations of iPads since Apple launched the line, and this is the first Apple tablet I can wholeheartedly recommend for anything beyond media consumption. It’s fast enough to work on multiple documents while watching videos, and it’s the best Apple device I’ve ever used. As Apple’s mid-range tablet, the iPad Air (starting at $599) is positioned price- and feature-wise between the basic iPad (starting at $329) and the iPad Pro (starting at $799)....

The iPad Air and iPad Pro are many things, but what they most definitely are not is expandable. The solution is a dongle, but you have to pick the right one. If you’re traveling, this is even more important. The Kingston Nucleum is an almost perfect travel hub for your iPad (or MacBook, or PC laptop). It has almost everything you need, almost nothing you don’t, and it’s well-built, reliable, and pretty good looking....

Twitter users have been begging for an edit button for a while now. Every new feature that the social media giant releases brings a slew of new tweets about how the company isn’t listening to its community. While an edit button sounds like a good idea on paper, experts caution that giving users a way to change content after it has been live for a while could come with bigger implications....

Windows 11 is looking to shake up Microsoft’s operating system when it launches later this year, and last week the company showed off a slew of new features and changes coming with the OS. Chief among them were more improvements to make the experience between laptop and tablet mode on 2-in-1s more seamless. Updates to the touch targets and the removal of Windows tablet mode are all critical parts of the new system....

Google is tightening up its Titan Security Key offerings, adding NFC support to all of the physical authenticators it offers and completely removing one of the options it used to offer. Bringing NFC support to each of its security keys means users can log into their accounts using their smartphone and other smart devices. Experts say the move has made it even easier for everyday consumers to take advantage of the highest level of security Google offers for their accounts....

WhatsApp now will let you send private and disappearing photos and videos. After the recipient opens the image for the first time, “View Once” deletes it, without saving it to a phone. WhatsApp said the feature is aimed at “giving users, even more, control over their privacy.” Experts urge caution, however, with your private pics. “It’s important that users understand that there are workarounds to WhatsApp View Once feature,” Lynette Owens, the global director of internet safety for kids and families at cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, told Lifewire in an email interview....

Considerations First of all, we’d like to start with a brief caution about actually wiring your new deep cycle battery into the electrical system. There are two major issues to consider: deep cycle batteries aren’t designed to operate on a “shallow cycle” like starting batteries are, and your electronics won’t differentiate between the deep cycle and starting batteries if both are hooked up. Why Cutoff Switches Are Best With that in mind, you may want to hook up both of your batteries with cutoff switches....

What Is an XVID File? An XVID file uses the Xvid codec. It’s not a video format like MP4, but instead a program that’s used to compress and decompress video to MPEG-4 ASP, a compression standard, to save on disk space and file transfer speeds. Because of the compression supported in Xvid content, a full-length movie can usually be compressed sufficiently to retain DVD quality while still fitting on a CD....

Some estimates forecast that by 2025, we’ll reach 3.6 billion 5G connections, a number expected to grow to 4.4 billion by 2027. North America 5G North Americans have been seeing 5G networks pop up in sporadic places for a few years now, limited in scope mostly due to the elemental challenges of 5G networks. Estimates say that by 2023, up to 32 percent of North American mobile connections will be on a 5G network....

What Is a Desktop PC? A desktop PC is a computer that’s designed to stay in one place. Desktops usually require an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Before you buy a new desktop computer, it’s essential to understand how factors such as the CPU and RAM affect system performance. 8 Factors to Consider Before Buying a Desktop PC Here are the main things to look at when purchasing a desktop computer:...

Design: Slim and space-saving You probably don’t think of desktops as portable, but the Aspire C27 is surprisingly easy to move around at will since it weighs less than 9 pounds. Despite being so lightweight, this all-in-one doesn’t give the impression of fragility. The single-piece base matches the slim profile of the main body and offers enough stability without overwhelming your desk. The accompanying fully wireless keyboard and mouse are relatively small as well and get the job done if you’d rather not shop around for these accessories....

MIT researchers have developed a technique that teaches AI to capture actions shared between video and audio. For example, their method can understand that the act of a baby crying in a video is related to the spoken word “crying” in a sound clip. It’s part of an effort to teach AI how to understand concepts that humans have no trouble learning, but that computers find hard to grasp. “The prevalent learning paradigm, supervised learning, works well when you have datasets that are well described and complete,” AI expert Phil Winder told Lifewire in an email interview....

Toyota is developing a system called Guardian that uses a dashboard camera to check to see if a driver falls asleep. It’s part of a growing movement to increase automation in vehicles, but some experts say we’re a long way off from cars that are safe enough to fully drive themselves. “I’ve been a bit of a skeptic of full automation in terms of the timelines,” MIT professor John Leonard, who is working on Guardian, said at a recent MIT Mobility Forum, according to the news release....

In an effort to shield our conversations from snoopers, Columbia University researchers have developed a Neural Voice Camouflage method that disrupts automatic speech recognition systems in real-time without inconveniencing people. “With the invasion of [smart voice-activated devices] into our lives, the idea of privacy starts to evaporate as these listening devices are always on and monitoring what’s being said,” Charles Everette, Director of Cyber Advocacy, Deep Instinct, told Lifewire via email....

Tethering isn’t iPhone-only; it’s available on many smartphones. As long as users have the right software and a data plan from a cellphone company that includes it, users can wirelessly connect their devices to a smartphone and use the phone’s cellular internet connection. How iPhone Tethering Works Tethering works by creating a short-range wireless network using the iPhone as its hub. In this case, the iPhone functions like a traditional Wi-Fi router....

I’ve had an APC Back-UPS BGE90M powering the modem and router in my office for years, so I was able to slot the more powerful BE600M1 in its place for testing purposes. Over the course of a couple weeks, I tested how well it handles daily use, simulated brownouts and power outages, and stress-tested the unit by plugging in my powerful desktop computer. Design: Compact vertical design doesn’t get in the way The APC Back-UPS BE600M1 has the same toaster-like form factor as the older BGE90M that I’ve been using for years and a matte black finish unlike the semi-gloss white finish of the older unit....

What Is An ASPX File? A file with the ASPX file extension is an Active Server Page Extended file that’s designed for Microsoft’s ASP.NET framework. It’s also called a .NET web form. Although they look fairly similar, ASPX files aren’t the same as Web Handler files that end in ASHX. A web server generates these files, and they and contain scripts and source codes that help communicate to a browser how a web page should be opened and displayed....

The most important thing to remember is that your car stereo probably doesn’t sound as good as you might think it does, and that isn’t a judgmental statement. The sound system is one of the places that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) almost universally neglect in the name of higher profits. Most people don’t even realize what they’re missing. Evaluating Your Car Audio System If a car stereo sounds OK to enough people, that’s all the OEMs are looking for....

Type of Protection: Broad & Deep BullGuard Antivirus might be entry-level in BullGuard’s lineup, but it takes its anti-malware protection seriously. It covers traditional threats and much more recent ones, including web-based man-in-the-middle attacks, emailed viral attachments, and nefarious links. You can also utilize deep customization options in the scan settings, letting you tweak what’s being looked for, where, and how it’s responded too if and when anything is found....

Digital and Optical Zoom Digital camcorders use both an optical and digital zoom. In digital video, your picture is made up of thousands of tiny squares called pixels. While the optical zoom on your camcorder will use your camcorder’s lens to get closer to the picture, the digital zoom on your camcorder just takes those individual pixels and makes them larger to give you the impression you’re getting closer to an object....