Here’s how to stream the 89th Academy Awards online

The Academy Awards are a time of year when movie stars are celebrated and internet-breaking selfies are taken. Late-night personality Jimmy Kimmel will host this year’s gala, which promises to be a must-watch affair. There is an epic Best Picture showdown between La La Land, Moonlight, and Hidden Figures. Lin-Mauel Miranda, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, and Sting will also perform their Best Original Song nominees. And who knows if the award show will produce another viral moment that shatters the internet the way Ellen Degeneres’ star-studded selfie did in 2014.

More: Academy Award nominees: La La Land ties all-time record for Oscar nominations

If for whatever reason you’re not planning on watching the 89th Academy Awards on television, not to worry, Digital Trends has you covered. We’ve compiled the best ways to watch Hollywood’s biggest night when it kicks off Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, both on and off your living room TV.

TV

ABC has broadcast the Academy Awards for the last 40 years, and will do so until at least 2028. Once the awards ceremony is underway, ABC will be the only TV channel showing the Oscars. Where ABC falls on your channel list, however, is determinant on your cable or satellite package, as well as your location.

If you’re not a cable customer, or just want a new way to watch the Academy Awards, then you should look into picking up an HD antenna. There are numerous digital antennas that will allow you to pick up ABC, and we’ve recently rounded up the best of them. After you get your antenna set up, enter your address here to find out which channel ABC is being currently being broadcast over in your local area. An antenna might not be as stable as cable, but often times, the broadcast signal might offer higher quality video than what your satellite or cable provider serves up.

New to Snapchat? Follow our guide and go from newbie to pro

Snapchat is a popular photo-messaging app that allows you to take photos, record videos, add drawings, and send them to your friends. When a friend receives a photo or video message, known as a “snap,” it appears for a few seconds — 10 at most — and then it’s permanently deleted. Whether you’re a Snapchat veteran or a complete newbie, our guide will you get started with the platform and run you through some of the app’s more integral features, whether you’re looking to create a story or quickly reimburse a friend for that Naked Chicken Chalupa.

More: 21 Instagram tips and tricks you can’t afford to miss

Getting started with Snapchat

To get started with Snapchat, you’ll need to download the app from the App Store or Google Play. Once the app is installed, tap the Snapchat icon to open it. Tap Sign Up, enter your email address, and then tap password and enter a secure password. Next, you’ll need to choose your username, which will be your identity on Snapchat. Make sure it’s something that you’ll be able to remember, because you won’t be able to change your username after you set it.

Keep in mind: In order to use Snapchat, you need to be at least 13 years old. If you aren’t, you’ll be re-directed to a restricted version of Snapchat called Snapkidz.

From there, you’ll need to do a few more things before you start snapping.

Adjust your settings

Before you start using Snapchat, make sure you take a look at your settings by tapping on the red square that is located at the bottom right-hand corner of your camera screen. Then, tap the gear icon in the top-right hand corner. This is where you can also update your personal information, including who can send you snaps and view your Stories.

Find and add friends

To add friends on Snapchat, tap “My Contacts” on your Profile screen. All of your contacts with Snapchat accounts will then be displayed, along with friends who don’t have Snapchat. If one of your friends doesn’t have Snapchat, you can send them an invite via SMS. When a friend adds you, the ghost icon at the top of your Camera screen will turn yellow. To add a friend who has added you, tap “Added Me” on your Profile screen.

Create your first snap

When you open up Snapchat, it automatically activates your phone’s camera, and it’s pretty easy to use. You can easily adjust the focus of the camera, by tapping anywhere on the screen. To switch from rear camera to front camera, tap the camera icon in the upper-right corner. To turn on the flash, tap the lightning symbol at the top-left hand corner. To snap a photo, tap the circle at the bottom of the screen. To take a video, tap and hold the circle at the bottom of the screen. With Snapchat, you can only record videos up to 10 seconds long.

Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom’s high-end cameras are fueled by a beastly battery

Why it matters to you

The Asus ZenFone Zoom 2 was a stunner of a midrange smartphone. Asus will follow it up with the ZenFone Zoom 3, a smartphone with a top-of-the-line camera, massive battery, and shooting modes out the wazoo.

The Asus ZenFone Zoom 2 was a stunner of a midrange smartphone. It featured 3x optical zoom, great low-light camera performance, and an excellent battery life to boot. The latest addition to the Taipei, Taiwan-based company’s Zoom series continues in the original’s tradition. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Asus took the wraps off the ZenFone Zoom 3, a smartphone with a top-of-the-line camera, massive battery, and shooting modes out the wazoo. Unfortunately, it’s now being delayed until the second quarter of 2017.

Impressive cameras

The ZenFone 3 Zoom, true to its namesake, features a dual-camera system capable of high degrees of optical zoom. It comprises a 12-megapixel camera with a f/1.7 aperture, a 25mm wide-angle lens, and a secondary 12-megapixel, 56mm camera that handles macro shots as close as 3.94 inches. The rig’s capable of up to 2.3x optical zoom, Asus says, and a new shooting mode called Portrait similar to the iPhone 7s’s “bokeh” mode: backgrounds of photos are softly blurred as subjects are brought to the fore.

A manual shooting mode exposes most of ZenFone’s toggles to intrepid photographers. Settings like white balance, exposure values, focus, ISO, and shutter speed are adjustable. And a Full Manual mode allows the user to override the phone’s automatic camera selection and chose from either the 25mm, f/1.7 lens of the main camera or the 56mm lens of the zoom camera.

More: Asus unveils the ZenFone AR, the world’s slimmest Tango smartphone

Autofocus is drastically improved on the ZenFone 3 Zoom too, thanks to a new solution that Asus calls TriTech+. Two phase-detection sensors on the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s camera pixels analyze the variations in light rays hitting the sensors and, in tandem with the other 12 million pixels on the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s sensor, focus continuously on subjects. The trifecta’s final bit, a second-generation laser focus technology with three times the range of comparable implementations on the market, helps the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s achieve a focus time of just 0.03 seconds.

The ZenFone 3 Zoom’s other photographic innovation is what Asus calls the SuperPixel, a technology that increases light sensitivity “dramatically” compared to the average smartphone. A 1.4-micron pixel size augments the camera’s dim-environment performance and reduces graininess, and a Sony IMX362 image sensor lets in more light.

The ZenFone 3 Zoom’s other camera touches are no less impressive. Four-axis optical image stabilization and three-axis electronic image stabilization minimizes shakiness and blurriness. A color-correction sensor automatically adjusts the photo pallets to look “natural” and “accurate.” And the phones’s front camera, not to be outdone by the dual-camera tech, sports a 13-megapixel lens and “screenflash,” a mode that uses the ZenFone’s display as a flash.

More: Asus goes compact with powerful VivoPC X gaming system

Finally, the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s shooters features three new modes: Super Resolution, 3MP Enhanced Low Light; and HDR. Super Resolution stitches four 12-megapixel photos to create a single image. Low Light mode combines four adjacent pixels to work as a single pixel that shoots better in low-light conditions and prevents blurring. And HDR mode layers an overexposed image atop an underexposed image to enhance details.

Hardware

The ZenFone 3 Zoom’s innovations don’t end with high-tech cameras. The handset boasts a sandblasted aluminum-alloy body that measures 0.31-inches thin and 0.37 lbs in weight, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and 5.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display shielded by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5.

If there’s an undisputed hardware highlight, though, it’s the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s battery. The 5,000mAh cell has “one of the highest capacities of any smartphone,” Asus contends, and the largest in a smartphone of the Zoom’s thinness and lightness. And it features a unique reverse-charging capability that automatically juices plugged-in devices.

An Asus representative initially said the ZenFone 3 Zoom would be available in February 2017, but according to the company’s Facebook page, the phone was delayed until the second quarter. Asus will improve the phone’s specifications for its U.S. launch but did not say what would be changed. Either way, expect the ZenFone 3 Zoom to sell for $400 when it becomes available.

Updated on 02-24-2017 by Williams Pelegrin: Added information regarding the ZenFone 3 Zoom’s delay and pricing information.

Android 7.1.2 beta now rolling out to the Nexus 6P

Android 7.1.2 is out for the Nexus 6P. Here’s how to get it.

The Nexus 6P: Great phone, but occasionally left out of some of the recent Android beta fun.

Last month, when Google announced Android 7.1.2 for a bevy of Nexus devices, along with the Pixels, the Nexus 6P was conspicuously absent from the list, without explanation from Google. Even its cheaper, slower counterpart, then Nexus 5X, was invited.

It’s been a long month for those Nexus 6P owners waiting for their near-1.3GB update, but it’s here, along with the requisite bug fixes and performance improvements that came with it. The build is NPG05F.

I’ve been running it on my Pixel XL since day one and have yet to experience any problems — and I sidestepped the soon-to-be-resolved Bluetooth dropout issues at the same time, thank goodness — so I’d say if you’re itching to try it, go right ahead.

How to sign up for the Nexus 7.1.2 beta

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Nexus 6P

• Nexus 6P review
• 5 things to know about the Nexus 6P
• Read the latest Nexus 6P news
• Learn about Project Fi
• Join our Nexus 6P forums
• Nexus 6P specs

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Uber’s credibility crisis is getting harder to avoid

The latest ripple effect from recent reports of ingrained sexism within Uber is that the engineer who originally wrote about them now says someone is trying to dig up dirt on her. Susan Fowler tweeted that “Research for the smear campaign has begun,” and many eyes have turned towards her former employer, which has said it is investigating the claims. A spokesperson for Uber told Recode’s Johana Bhuiyan that the company “is in no way involved” and that “this is wrong.” The only problem there is a lack of credibility rooted in Uber’s history.

It’s the same company where an exec improperly tracked Bhuiyan’s Uber on the way to a meeting in 2014, before employee access to the “God View” was restricted. It’s also the same company with an exec that openly discussed hiring investigators to dig up dirt on journalists like Pando founder Sarah Lacy — and was not fired. Last year, court documents revealed how the company hired a corporate research firm to actually investigate a Portland attorney and his client.

Over the last few years, there have been many stories gradually chipping away at Uber’s reputation — I haven’t mentioned its disputes with local governments over access, drivers over pay and benefits, and rider safety — but few have stuck. Now, the company is facing a storm of negative attention that keeps bringing people back to the theme “Delete Uber,” and those documented previous actions are the reason why it’s not getting much benefit of the doubt.

Before I could even finish this post, the latest charge already arrived. As part of a New York Times report on the lawsuit recently filed by Google’s Waymo self-driving unit, there’s a claim about that incident where one of its self-driving cars was recorded running a red light in San Francisco. At the time, Uber said the incident was “due to human error,” but the NYT cites two unnamed employees who claim the car was driving itself, and internal company documents said the mapping program failed to recognize six traffic lights.

Source: Susan Fowler (Twitter), Recode, Pando, New York Times

FCC head puts the brakes on new ISP privacy rules

In the latest chip at net neutrality, Federal Communications Commission has Chairman Ajit Pai has moved to put a halt to a set of privacy rules designed to shield customers’ personal data from internet service providers.

The rules were approved by the FCC under former Chairman Tom Wheeler back in October and would have required an ISP to ask for a user’s explicit permission before collecting data on browsing habits, app usage and location or financial information. They were set to take effect on March 2nd, but Chairman Pai has effectively put a stop to them by until another vote can be held. In a statement, an FCC spokesperson justified Pai’s move claiming that they favored “one set of companies over another” and were “not consistent” with the Federal Trade Commission’s own privacy standards. “Therefore,” the statement reads, “[Chairman Pai] has advocated returning to a technology-neutral privacy framework for the online world and harmonizing the FCC’s privacy rules for broadband providers with the FTC’s standards for others in the digital economy.”

On the other hand, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny released their own joint statement, rebutting Pai’s decision, claiming it puts consumers at risk and will allow broadband companies to misuse their personal information. “Chairman Pai is determined to take action that leaves consumers without a cop on the beat protecting their personal information from misuse by their broadband service provider,” Clyburn and McSweeny wrote. “This means no federal data security requirements whatsoever for broadband providers. This is the antithesis of putting #ConsumersFirst.”

Source: FCC

Elon Musk thinks unions are bad for Tesla

Last night, tunneling fan CEO Elon Musk sent an email to Tesla employees firing back against allegations of poor working conditions and low pay. He rebutted claims made by Jose Moran, a production worker at the company’s Fremont factory, that mandatory overtime pushed the workforce there to suffer preventable injuries. Musk’s message to the Tesla troops alleged that an internal investigation disproved the conditions claim and criticized the United Auto Workers (UAW) for inciting Tesla workers to unionize.

Most of the email was a point-by-point takedown of the claims Moran made in his original Medium post, according to Buzzfeed, which posted the message’s full text. To wit, he said that overtime had decreased by 50 percent in the past year and that equity granted to Tesla employees earned them $70,000 to $100,000 more in total compensation than workers at other American auto companies. Musk had previously rejected Moran’s claims in correspondence with Gizmodo and even alleged that he was a plant from the union agitating workers to join.

Musk also criticized the UAW, claiming the union’s true allegiance is to the “giant car companies, where the money they take from employees in dues is vastly more than they could ever make from Tesla.” He went on to portray Tesla as a small company beset by larger influences: “The forces arrayed against us are many and incredibly powerful. This is David vs Goliath if David were six inches tall!”

But to sweeten over his workers, Musk assured his workforce that creature comforts were coming to the Fremont factory. Aside from a “really amazing party” he plans to throw once the Model 3 reaches volume production, the facility will also get things like free frozen yogurt stands and a Tesla electric pod car roller coaster for fun and cross-campus travel. Take that, boring parking shuttles.

Source: Buzzfeed

Apple extends program to fix damaged displays on 12-inch Retina MacBooks

Why it matters to you

If the screen on your 12-inch MacBook or MacBook Pro is peeling away, don’t fret — Apple might very well replace it for free.

Apple devices have had their fair share of problems lately, with the 2016 MacBook Pro eliciting a few complaints of its own. The company isn’t alone, of course — computer problems are a constant theme among users and those who support them.

Apple does, though, have a well-earned reputation for fixing problems that crop up with its machines and its customer service is arguably one of the most important reasons why it remains a dominant technology company. Its recent decision to extend a program to fix problems with 12-inch Retina MacBook and MacBook Pro displays is a demonstration of why Apple’s reputation is so strong, MacRumors reports.

More: Apple’s new MacBook Pro has an ultrathin keyboard that’s giving some users fits

The specific problem involves the anti-glare coating on the displays of certain MacBook and MacBook Pro machines. Apparently, numerous customer machines have seen the coating wear away or delaminate, sometimes with spectacularly bad results. The problem is so widespread that a related Facebook group boasts over 9,000 members and anyone who wants to see what the issue looks like can visit a website hosting an extensive gallery.

Apple isn’t publicizing this particular program and MacRumors had to go straight to Apple to confirm that the program is still underway. Affected machines go all the way back to those purchased in June 2012 and Apple will replace screens through October 16, 2017, or for three years after purchase, whichever is longer.

Apple is replacing the screens at no cost on machines suffering from the problem. To get your machine evaluated, you will need to contact Apple support or, better yet, set up an appointment with the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store or other authorized Apple repair center. Apple may not be going out of its way to let you know that your machine might be covered by the program, but they’re apparently more than willing to take care of you once you take that initial step.

Light up your house for less with our illuminating guide to LED bulbs

Spend some time in the lightbulb aisle of your local hardware store, and you’ll become familiar with the Federal Trade Commission’s lighting facts label. It sort of resembles a nutrition label and is meant to help you compare bulbs. All lightbulbs should have information on their brightness (measured in lumens), cost per year, life span (in years), color temperature (measured in Kelvins), and energy use (measured in watts).

More: Light up your life with the best LED lighting solutions on the market

As LEDs (light-emitting diodes) replace incandescents on store shelves, these labels and other information on bulb packaging are supposed to help you find the right light to replace the familiar glow from your favorite lamp. But because LEDs are so different from their earlier counterparts, some things may get lost in translation. This guide will help walk you through some of the big questions.

Watt the heck?

If this was five years ago, and you were buying an incandescent light bulb in the grocery store, you would probably know that a 60-watt bulb wouldn’t be as bright as a 100-watt bulb. A lot of LED makers put phrases like “60-watt equivalent” on the packaging to help consumers, but what watts actually tell you is that when a 60-watt bulb is on for an hour, it’s using 60 watts of energy. But LED packages also give you another unit, lumens, to tell you the amount of visible light produced. More lumens means brighter bulbs, but because saying one bulb is 850 lumens and another is 1,100 might not tell you much, Energy Star made a handy chart for replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs.

Old incandescent bulbs

(Watts)

Energy Star bulb brightness

(Minimum lumens)

40
450
60
800
75
1,100
100
1,600
150
2,600

You’ll notice some manufacturers say their 850-lumen bulb is a 75-watt equivalent, but you may be disappointed in the brightness when you get home, so mind the lumens instead.

Weekly Rewind: Insane stunt pilot lady, life beyond Earth, $700 self-driving car

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top 10 tech stories, from the discovery of seven Earth-sized exoplanets to a chair that helps you work out — it’s all here.

College student turns his Honda Civic into a self-driving car for $700

College students are permanently broke, constantly having to sacrifice the finer things in life (meals) in favor of the bare essentials (beer). By facing those hardships, few students are likely to be able to afford a self-driving car anytime soon. Can those college smarts be put to better use? That was the case for Brevan Jorgenson. A senior at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, Jorgenson is the proud owner of a self-driving Honda Civic — and all it cost him was $700 (plus the cost of the car itself).

Read the full story here.

NASA just discovered 7 Earth-sized exoplanets, 3 in the habitable zone of a dwarf star

Seven Earth-sized planets have been discovered around a star that’s roughy 39 light-years from our solar system. The find comes from the team behind NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Three of these exoplanets are believed to orbit the star’s “Goldilocks zone,” the single largest haul of potentially habitable planets around a single star. The agency made the announcement today in a news conference and published the findings in the journal Nature.

Read the full story here.

Holographic 3D printer uses lasers to print thousands of times faster than its rivals

Fed up with the world-weary, jaded expressions of your additive manufacturing friends, who think they’ve seen it all when it comes to 3D printers? If so, you may be interested in Daqri, an augmented reality startup, which has developed a cutting-edge hologram-powered 3D printer. If you’ve felt that what was missing from 3D printing was green lasers and tubs of goo, this could be the technology you’ve been waiting for!

Read the full story here.

Steve Jobs’ spaceship-like ‘Apple Park’ is finally finished, and it opens in April

For months, we’ve come to call Apple’s next campus “spaceship” because of its UFO-like shape, but Apple had another name in mind. The new 175-acre headquarters in Cupertino will officially be called “Apple Park.” The move-in process from the company’s current facility will begin in April, and it’s expected to take more than six months as it involves moving more than 12,000 people. During this process, construction is scheduled to continue on park lands and various buildings.

Read the full story here.

Sprint will demonstrate gigabit connectivity at the Mobile World Congress

Don’t look now, but Sprint’s joining the gigabit club. On Wednesday, the Now Network announced a collaboration with electronics company Ericsson that will have data transferred at 1Gbps over a 4G LTE connection — fast enough to download an HD movie in about eight seconds. It is scheduled to take place at the upcoming Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona and Sprint says it is an industry first.

Read the full story here.