Ever since OnePlus opened up a beta program for the OnePlus Gallery app, the app has received a ton of new features with each new update. Most recently, OnePlus released update 3.12.33 of the app which introduced a new Google Cast button to help users easily beam their photos to TVs or smart displays. Now, the company is rolling out another major update, which brings 4K60fps video editing support to the app.
Over the last couple of years, OnePlus has released several devices that support 4K60fps video capture. However, the devices don’t offer native editing capabilities for the high-resolution footage, and users have to rely on third-party apps to edit their videos. With the latest update for the OnePlus Gallery app, users will now be able to edit their 4K 60fps footage within the app.
As you can see in the attached screenshot, the OnePlus Gallery app now lets you trim 4K60fps video, and add filters and music to the video. Along with the new 4K60fps video editing support, the latest update for the gallery app brings support for photo projecting to OnePlus TVs and a few bug fixes. Here’s the full changelog for the latest OnePlus Gallery update:
Fix issues including sharing photos from gallery, red color, and photo missing
Fix slow-motion video editor
Add photo projecting to OnePlus TV
Add 4K60fps video editing
The update has started rolling out to supported devices via the Google Play Store. In case you haven’t received the update yet, you can head over to the OnePlus Gallery Play Store listing from the link below and tap on the update button.
At the Surface event in October last year, Microsoft first unveiled the Surface Duo — a dual-screen Android smartphone. The company had originally planned on launching the device during the Holiday season later this year, but the launch timeline was sped up and the device was officially announced earlier this week. The device features flagship hardware from early 2019, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 chip, 6GB of RAM, up to 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage, and two 5.6-inch AMOLED displays, which have the chunkiest bezels that I’ve seen in quite a while.
On the surface, Microsoft’s first foldable Android device looks a bit dated and might turn away a lot of potential buyers. This is why Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer, Panos Panay, has released a new video making a case for the unique software experience offered with the Surface Duo and how it may change the way you use your smartphone.
In the video, Panay highlights all of the unique features that set the Surface Duo apart and how the software experience seamlessly adapts to your needs. The video addresses some of the major customizations Microsoft has made on its Android skin for the Surface Duo, like a gesture which lets you span an app across the two screens, the device’s ability to open links/other apps on the second screen to maintain the flow, app groups that let you open two apps simultaneously, keyboard customizations for different orientations, and much more. Check out the full video linked above to see how the Surface Duo aims to change the game, despite the older hardware.
In case the video manages to convince you to purchase the Microsoft Surface Duo, you can go ahead and pre-order it from the Microsoft Store, Best Buy or AT&T in the US. The device will set you back $1,399 for the 6GB/128GB base variant, and it will go on open sale starting September 10th.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is a very popular turn-based strategy game that is available on a wide variety of platforms, starting off with Microsoft Windows and macOS back in 2016, and then carrying over to Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and even iOS later on. The game has now finally made its official entry onto Android through the Google Play Store. But there’s a catch — the game is not cheap if you ignore the free demo.
Civilization VI, as the name might hint, requires the player to develop a civilization from an early settlement. Winning the game can be done by achieving one of the several victory criteria, such as military domination, technological superiority, or cultural influence. Players explore for resources, establish cities, build up improvements, deploy military, research new technologies, and engage in negotiation with other AI-based leaders. At least on other platforms, the game is praised for its depth and the ability to force players to strategize on their feet.
Civilization VI’s arrival on Android comes about three years after it arrived on iOS. The iOS port was a decent touch conversion of the desktop experience, and the Android port is similar to what you can experience on iOS.
On Android, Civilization VI is adopting a free-to-start model. Players can try out the game for free for 60 turns, after which they can purchase the game for $19.99. Play Store suggests that the game is about 4.22GB in size, so keep that in mind if you want to experience the demo. Further, expansions and scenario packs are sold separately in-game:
Rise and Fall expansion – $29.99
Gathering Storm expansion – $39.99
Civilization and Scenario packs – $4.99-$8.99
If you’re keeping track of the math, the core game and two of its expansions will set you back by $90, and you’d still lack the scenario packs. That is an expensive purchase, but if you have experienced Civilization VI on other platforms, you might not find it all that unreasonable, especially since the core game is pretty fun by itself and does not necessarily need the expansions. You can easily pour in hours with just the core game. If you’re looking for something beyond the usual PUBGM, CODM, and Fortnite, this could be a decent option.
Performing a Google search can provide you with answers to almost any question, from “who was the first man on the moon?” to “when is Tenet coming out in theaters?”. Now, Google Search results for users in the U.S. can also show you what TV channel is playing NBA and MLB games, as well as where to find live TV shows or movies.
When you search for something like, “Where to watch the Lakers game,” Google Search will display live TV options. The GIF embedded below sums up the new feature pretty well.
If your search is simpler — “Lakers game,” for example — Google Search will show the usual game day features, including live scores, top stories, and standings. You’ll also see a new “Live on” button, which will show you which TV station is playing the game. As of now, Google Search will only display live TV options for NBA and MLB games, but Google said it plans to integrate more leagues in the future. Similarly, only some cable and network channels will be featured in search, but Google said it plans to expand to more digital streaming options soon.
In addition to displaying where to watch live sports, Google is also expanding TV shows and movie recommendations in Search. This week, search results will add carousels of live content from cable and broadcast providers. When you search for something like “what to watch” or “good shows to watch” on your mobile device, you’ll be able to see shows that are streaming and live on certain networks. Google’s “On TV now” carousel shows programs from multiple channels while the “On TV later” carousel shows recommendations for future programs to watch.
The new Search features are available now for users in the U.S., according to a blog post published by the company.
Phone screens are fragile, and no matter what, one hard and unlucky fall will smash the screen easily, no matter how drop proof a company claims their glass is. Glass is glass, and glass breaks when impacted. Even if you’re incredibly careful with your smartphone screens, glass can also scratch really easily. Even micro scratches will easily catch your eye if the sun hits them right.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series has just launched, and you wouldn’t want your fancy new phone’s screen to break or be scratched, would you? These are some of our picks of screen protectors for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series that you can get at the moment. There’s a nice mix of tempered glass and plastic so that you can get exactly what you want.
Venoro are a reputable brand, and this tempered glass screen protector should protect your Galaxy Note 20 Ultra nicely. It has an oleophobic coating too, so it won't feel different to your normal screen.
It may seem pricey, but Whitestone Dome is a premium brand. It's built with the fingerprint sensor in mind, and it comes with a special applicator to prevent bubbles too, as we all know how difficult they can be to apply.
Spigen are one of the biggest names in smartphone protection. The Spigen NeoFlex Protector comes with two protectors so that you can swap them if one breaks. $9.99 is a steal!
Tempered glass screen protectors are the best protection that you'll get. They're an extra sheet of glass for your phone screen. You even get two of them, just in case one breaks.
The ZAGG InvisibleShield GlassFusion+ may be a little pricey, but it offers an anti-microbial coating to kill the majority of phone-related germs that you get on your screen. Zagg is known for great protection too!
Olixar is another reputable brand in screen protectors, and you can pick up one of their tempered glass protectors for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra now!
Tempered glass screen protectors are the best protection that you'll get. They're an extra sheet of glass for your phone screen. You even get two of them, just in case one breaks.
It may seem pricey, but Whitestone Dome is a premium brand. It's built with the fingerprint sensor in mind, and it comes with a special applicator to prevent bubbles too.
Both the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and the Note 20 Ultra are powerful phones, though they’re also expensive. You’ll want to protect their screens with a tempered glass screen protector for sure.
While $70 may seem costly at first in the case of the Whitestone Dome screen protectors, it’s not a lot when you consider that a screen replacement may cost so much more. Spend $70 to protect your screen now, or potentially spend hundreds of dollars down the line to replace the screen itself.
If you want to go really cheap, the Spigen NeoFlex for the Note 20 Ultra is a steal. The ESR package of 2 is also great for the regular Note 20, as you get 2 for the price of 1. If it breaks, just swap it out for another one!
For a lot of messaging platforms, it can be difficult to screen messages from people not in your contacts list. Signal is making that process safer by allowing users to have more control over who can message you and how a conversation starts.
Signal is a popular messaging app for those who value security and privacy. It’s cross-platform, supports end-to-end encryption for messaging, and retains little information about its users. While it may not be as feature-filled as other messaging platforms like Telegram or WhatsApp, its emphasis on security and privacy has attracted a dedicated base of users who spread the word about the platform to friends and colleagues. Its adherence to maintaining user privacy has also led to backlash when the platform adds new features like Signal PIN, which backs up certain data to the company’s servers and protects it behind a user’s PIN.
Signal’s new message request feature builds off of the private profiles feature they added over 2 and a half years ago. The team says that profiles are end-to-end encrypted and shared “via the same secure Signal Protocol messaging channel that already protects your conversations and calls.” The feature is designed to allow users to see more information about a person before they engage in the conversation.
Incoming message requests are displayed using the sender’s Signal profile. Support for private profiles was added to Signal over two and a half years ago, but now we’ve cleaned up and simplified how they appear. Signal profiles are end-to-end encrypted and shared via the same secure Signal Protocol messaging channel that already protects your conversations and calls. This means that none of your profile information is ever accessible to the service.
If you’re included in a group conversation, rather than seeing a list of phone numbers, you’ll see the profiles of participants. If you’re chatting with someone already in your system contacts, a new icon in the header of conversations will be displayed. For voice and video chat, users will be required to approve message requests before their phone rings.
To support message requests, users will need to create a new Signal profile. The new features are available in Signal beginning today.
Update 1 (08/13/2020 @ 03:20 PM ET): Twitter initially delayed the public launch of its new API because of the optics of launching it so soon after a big scandal, but the company has now launched the API nearly a month later. Scroll to the bottom for more information. The article as published on July 16, 2020, is preserved below.
Twitter is having an interesting week, to say the least. A day after numerous high-profile accounts were hijacked to promote cryptocurrency scams, leading to Twitter temporarily halting new tweets from many verified accounts, the social media company is announcing some big changes to its API. Twitter API v2, as they are calling it, is a new foundation that has been rebuilt for the first time since 2012. Some important changes will affect 3rd-party apps that we know and love.
As you may know, Twitter’s API has caused a lot of friction for 3rd-party app developers. Numerous popular Twitter clients have been pulled from the Play Store in the past due to reaching the controversial 100,000 token limit. Back in 2018, Twitter made changes that removed key features from 3rd-party developers. Those changes went into effect later that year despite a campaign from the developers of popular apps. Some of those key features will finally be made available to developers again with API v2.
Here’s Twitter’s brief explanation of what’s new in API v2:
A cleaner API that’s easier to use, with new developer features like the ability to specify which fields get returned, or retrieve more Tweets from a conversation within the same response
Some of the most requested features that were missing from the API, including conversation threading, poll results in Tweets, pinned Tweets on profiles, spam filtering, and a more powerful stream filtering and search query language
The last bullet point is what fans of 3rd-party Twitter apps should be most excited about. It’s pretty crazy to think that a 3rd-party client wasn’t allowed to show polls, thread conversations, or show pinned tweets. These are basic features of the social media platform that anyone would expect to see in a Twitter client, and it only harmed the Twitter experience for users who weren’t using the official app. We’re glad to see Twitter has opened these features up.
Previously, the Twitter API was separated into three tiers: Standard (free), Premium (self-serve paid), and Enterprise. API v2 will replace all three tiers with product tracks designed to fit different groups of developers. Twitter says the new tracks will hopefully have something for everyone. Here’s how the company describes the three product tracks:
Standard: Available first, this will be the default product track for most developers, including those just getting started, building something for fun, for a good cause, and to learn or teach. We plan to add Elevated access to this track in the future.
AcademicResearch: Academic researchers use the Twitter API to understand what’s happening in the public conversation. In the future, qualified academic researchers will have a way to get Elevated or Custom access to relevant endpoints. We’re also providing tools and guides to make it easier to conduct academic research with the Twitter API.
Business: Developers build businesses on the Twitter API, including our Twitter Official Partners and enterprise data customers. We love that their products help other people and businesses better understand and engage with the conversation on Twitter. In the future, this track will include Elevated or Custom access to relevant endpoints.
Twitter realized the older pricing and rate limits were limiting developers, especially those who were just building stuff for fun. With these changes, we could see a resurgence of fun little Twitter tools and bots with the Standard track. Speaking of which, the Standard track is launching today, while the Business and Academic/Research tracks will arrive “soon.” Each track also contains Basic, Elevated, or Custom access levels. Pricing for the tracks has not been announced at this time.
Early access to the initial set of new endpoints will be available to all developers with the free, Basic access level. Developers interested in trying these features can sign up for a developer account and apply here to get started. The public roadmap is available on this Trello board for developers to track the progression of API v2.
Twitter publicly detailed its new API for third-parties last month, but they delayed the release because the company was just recently the victim of a big social engineering attack. Yesterday, though, Twitter updated its official blog post to note that the new API has been launched. Interested developers can visit the new Twitter Developer Portal to get started.
