How Screen Mirroring Works Perhaps the least expensive way to connect your device to your TV is by using Apple’s Digital AV Adapter, which is an HDMI adapter for your iPhone or iPad. The other option is to use an Apple TV to connect your device to your TV without the wires. Apple TV provides many of the features for connecting your iPhone or iPad to your TV without using your mobile device....

How Does Spotify Work? Spotify is a legal way to stream music online and listen to podcasts. The company licenses tracks from major and minor record labels for its extensive music library. It pays the rights holders an undisclosed amount based on the number of times people listen to each track. Listening to music on Spotify is entirely free, but you see banner ads within the official apps and hear the occasional audio ad between songs as a trade-off....

What Is Total Harmonic Distortion? The specification for Total Harmonic Distortion compares the input and output of audio signals, with the difference in stages measured as a percentage. So you might see a THD listed as 0.02 percent with specified conditions of frequency and equivalent voltage in parenthesis (for example, 1 kHz 1 Vrms). There is a bit of math involved to calculate Total Harmonic Distortion. Still, all you need to understand is that the percentage represents the harmonic distortion or deviation of the output signal....

Knowing when’s the best time to buy new MacBooks is a valuable skill before you hit the buy button and commit yourself to a new purchase. There are some key factors to bear in mind, so you know when’s best. Here’s a look at what to do. Do You Need a New MacBook? As with any new purchase, it’s worth considering if you need a new MacBook. If your current desktop or laptop has failed, then regardless of where the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are in their product cycle, you almost certainly need to make a purchase immediately....

When to Use Spot Colors (Such as PMS Colors) If your project meets one or more of the criteria below, spot colors may make the most sense: The publication has no full-color photographs and uses only one or two colors (including one spot color plus black).The publication needs a color that cannot be accurately reproduced with CMYK inks, such as precise color matching of a corporate typeface or logo color.To print a specific color over multiple pages that require page-to-page consistency....

Since its debut in 2006, MLB The Show has been available exclusively on PlayStation consoles. But a recent announcement from Sony that MLB The Show 21 would arrive on Xbox at the same time as its PlayStation release has left gamers wondering if the “console wars” of past generations are finally going away. “I’ve enjoyed the plethora of PS-exclusives Sony has released over the years such as God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, and Marvel’s Spiderman to name a few,” Yasir Nawaz, a digital content producer at PureVPN and an avid PlayStation fan, told Lifewire in an email....

In a recent Twitter post, Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon said he expects phones with the technology to start as low as $125, with the first models to be announced in early 2021. While it’s easy to get caught up on the faster speeds that 5G brings, the latest data network service is about more than just increasing how fast you can download content. With a firm foundation in place, 5G’s true strength lies in growing the connections that we have in our lives, something that experts believe a more budget-friendly 5G-capable chipset like the Snapdragon 480 will make possible....

Thanks to the pandemic, overall cash use dropped 10% worldwide during 2020, and in Canada, the U.K., France, Norway, Sweden, and Australia, in-store cash payments dropped by more than half. According to a new FIS study, mobile payments are growing faster than even credit card payments. Is this the end for cash? “Today, faced with a global pandemic, digital payments are more pervasive than ever,” Laura Nadler, CFO of Afterpay, told Lifewire via email....

It’s not the vacuum that’s the problem. Having owned a Dyson before, I know it will be a good quality product. I’m worried about what I’ll find out about the state of my floors. The V15 shoots a laser in front of it that makes grime more visible to the human eye. Know Thy Dirt The $700 V15 makes the case that ignorance isn’t bliss. The company says the V15 counts the dirt it captures in real-time by using a sensor to log the particles’ amount and size, then sucks it up....

There are three new versions of Safari—one for the Mac, one for the iPhone, and one for the iPad—but the controversy is centered around one common aspect of the three: tabs. Apple has completely redesigned the tab bar so it takes up less space at the top of a window on the Mac and iPad versions. That sounds great, but wait until you hear what you have to give up in return....

The latest Windows 11 Insider build lets you have the revamped Start Menu show more pinned recommended apps. It’s part of a long-running struggle to make a start menu that makes everyone happy. “Microsoft always was a whipping boy when it comes to Windows design despite the fact that they made a huge leap and invested a lot in their design and brand improvements,” Robert Mayer, a software designer at Netflix, told Lifewire in an email interview....

A movie is just a series of still pictures, and while movie editing is a whole different game, when it comes to color-grading or manipulating those moving images, it’s all the same thing. Adobe’s photo editing suite now lets photographers grade their videos using many of the same tools they already know and—presumably—love. “Not all of Lightroom’s color controls are working for video, but it’s enough to be useful,” says movie FX professional Stu Maschwitz on his Prolost blog....

Consumer privacy has been making big strides, and users running an Android phone are about to get access to another key privacy feature thanks to Google’s Android Messages app. The company revealed in mid-June that it plans to bring end-to-end encryption to its Messages app, something experts say every smartphone user should be taking advantage of. “Among other things, end-to-end encryption facilitates actual data protection and privacy. People can rest assured that no one else can read their messages except for the intended recipient,” Amir Ish-Shalom, vice president platform at Viber, told Lifewire in an email....

At the end of June, T-Mobile announced the launch of its Network Test Drive app on iOS devices, including the iPhone XS or newer. When downloaded, the app allows users to test out the network’s coverage in their area without replacing the SIM card in their phone. Instead, it uses the eSIM built into the iPhone, and while there are some limitations, many users, including myself, have used it to give the network a try in their area....

“Most people have a connected home whether they like it or not,” tech journalist and Internet of Things specialist Cate Lawrence told Lifewire via email. At the same time, she says, “most homes are connected rather than smart,” because these gadgets don’t work together in any useful way. The study also put to bed the old trope where we use our grandfather or grandmother as a stand-in to mean “inexperienced user....

The battery is an important part of your smartphone, and while many devices boast higher power capacities—like the new Moto G20 and its 5,000mAh battery—it can often be a struggle to make your phone’s battery last an entire day without charging it. While smartphones have become more efficient in recent years, the technology used to create batteries hasn’t evolved as much, making it more difficult for users to get longer battery life....

Nintendo’s Switch game console can be handheld, like a Game Boy, or hooked up to a TV and used like a regular home console. This, along with a huge range of excellent games, makes it just about the most flexible and family-friendly console around. Because of this, the Switch is the perfect way to while away these pandemic-stilted days. Nintendo = Fun The Switch doesn’t have the graphical power to run the latest high-concept first-person shooter games, nor does it output a 4K signal to your TV....

Spaces, Twitter’s new audio feature, is live for anyone with enough followers, and it might change the way live events work. Musicians can perform impromptu concerts, brands can carry out press events or public product launches, and more. The same is true of Clubhouse, but Twitter integration makes this much easier, and gives users access to 100% of their Twitter followers—not just the ones who managed to sign up to Clubhouse....

Fake Lightning cables aren’t built to the same exacting standards, so they are more likely to fail, and they can even damage your devices. Thanks to the devious work of some hackers, it’s even possible to hijack your device with the right non-MFI Lightning cable. According to Apple, you may notice the following issues if you use a counterfeit Lightning cable: Your iOS device could suffer damageThe cable may become damaged more easily than you expectThe cable connector could fall or break off, get hot, or not fit correctlyYou may find that you cannot charge or sync your device...

Rumors are that Apple will release the iPhone 13 in September, featuring processor and camera upgrades. There’s also likely going to be a bigger battery inside the latest model and many new color options. “I’m hoping Apple finally introduces a touch fingerprint reader ‘under the screen’ or ‘built into the screen,’” Alan Elterman, an Apple sales manager from electronics retailer Abt, told Lifewire in an email interview. “This will help most users who have issues with Face ID....