What texting app are you using?

When it comes to SMS messaging on Android, you’ve got options.

There’s no denying the popularity of messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, but sometimes, it’s hard to beat old-fashioned texting.

The Google Play Store is filled with options upon options of SMS apps that you can use, and with so many to choose from, finding the one that’s best for you can sometimes be a challenge. We already have a full guide outlining our favorites, but here’s what some of our forum users are most happy with at the moment.

chanchan05
11-26-2017 07:06 PM

“

Android messenger has too few customization options for me. I hate the white interface especially since I’m using black themes. It’s just off.

I usually jump around between Textra and Yaata.

Reply

henryfool3
11-26-2017 08:02 PM

“

Textra has been my go to for years now. No matter what I try, I always come back to it. It’s fast, bug free, customizable, and just plain works really well.

Reply

joeldf
11-26-2017 10:01 PM

“

I had been using the Samsung massaging app until a week ago when I tried Textra. Then I tried Yaata and the Android Messaging app. Yaata has a lot of customizations too, but I just like Textra better. Google’s app is just too plain, plus it can’t flash the notification LED on the S8 (of course, neither can Samsung’s own app, for that matter), so Textra for me it is.

Reply

bobobo12
11-27-2017 08:59 PM

“

I use Textra and AA every day. It works great. On the phone, I use the Textra app. In the car, AA simply shows them as text messages–you don’t see the Textra app itself on the screen in the car. But messages, contacts, etc are perfectly synced between Textra on the phone and AA in the car. It works beautifully–I can’t imagine how this would be better.

Reply

We’d now like to pass the question on to you – What SMS app are you using right now?

Join the conversation in the forums!

Plex DVR can now remove commercials

Plex DVR now allows users to remove commercials from recorded shows.

Plex is one of the best ways to access all your TV shows, movies and music on all your devices, and the DVR and Live TV functionality introduced earlier this year made it even better. One of the problems I had with recording TV shows was the struggle to remove commercials. Tools like MCEBuddy exist to get rid of commercials but — at least in my experience — those tools were a bit of a time suck and didn’t work well.

Engadget reports that Plex has quietly introduced its own commercial cutting feature for Plex DVR users that will allow them to have their commercials automatically removed from recordings. Users will need to have a Plex Pass, a monthly or one-time fee that unlocks extra features. Plex also notes the feature will require more processing time and power, so make sure your desktop can rip plenty of threads.

Are you going to try Plex’s new commercial removal feature? Let us know down below!

Latest Plex update adds Google Assistant support on Android TV

Felix Gray blue light glasses review: The hype is (kinda?) real

We all know (or do we?) that blue light is bad, m’kay. But do blue light-filtering glasses work?

I (Mike Tanasychuk) had been suffering from some solid eye fatigue for months. Every day around 3 p.m., I’d get this feeling like I was dehydrated or had slept for 12 hours straight (but not in a good way). I was considering picking up a pair of blue light-filtering glasses, since I had heard about blue light’s follies and figured it might be a good way to go.

When I was offered the chance to review a pair by Felix Gray, I jumped. After all, they don’t exactly come cheap.

Here’s my review of Felix Gray’s Faraday glasses.

Do they work?

Right off the bat, let’s just get the question on everyone’s mind out of the way: Do these things actually work?

The answer is complicated.

There’s a lot of speculation and poo-pooing when it comes to blue light glasses, and even the American Academy of Opthamology calls B.S. That being said, I experienced real results. Whether it’s a placebo effect or not, I’m noticing a change.

Within three days of wearing them, the 3 p.m. fatigue and headaches were gone.

I’ve been wearing these glasses for about two weeks now, and within three days of wearing them, the 3 p.m. fatigue and headache were gone. This is where the complication comes in: I work first thing every morning, walk my dog, then get to work, having breakfast about an hour later. I then force myself to wait to eat until after 12 p.m., and then I try not to eat until dinner. Or at least, I did, until I started just eating when I got really hungry, no matter the time of day. So I’ve been better fed over the last three weeks. That likely plays into my lack of afternoon fatigue, but I can’t say for sure.

As for helping with sleeplessness and all that, I can’t really attest. I can’t sleep at the best of times, and these glasses certainly haven’t changed things. So I’m sorry to say that I have no definitive answer as to whether or not these glasses work. It’s going to be incredibly subjective and there is no solid medical proof that they work anyway.

That being said, every little bit helps, right?

Get the look

Felix Gray has five frames to choose from and there’s definitely a particular motif at work. All frames are horn-rimmed, with slight variations in shape and in the bridge. I received the Faraday frames in “Burnt Amber”, and, despite them not being my style or my first color choice, they actually look half-decent on me (or so my wife says).

Each frame has three color options to choose from and they’re not the same three colors for each style. Chances are you’ll be able to find something that suits you nicely. If you grab a pair and don’t love it, you have up to 30 days after delivery to return it for another option.

Comfort included

These are entirely plastic frames, so I was worried that after prolonged wear they’d start to hurt the tops of my ears. Not the case at all. In fact, these glasses are even comfortable when I’ve got my big over-ear headphones on. The bridge sits comfortably on my nose, and aside from a small red mark when I take them off at the end of the day, you’d never know I was wearing them.

These glasses are even comfortable when I’ve got my over-ear headphones on.

What does it for these frames is how light they are. Once you get used to the frame in your periphery, it feels like you’re wearing nothin’ at all.

Presentation

Starting at $95 a pair, these glasses aren’t cheap, and presentation means a lot to value. I’m pleased to say that I was quite enamored with the packaging. Felix Gray glasses come in a forest green box with a cream-colored pleather case that’s lined with microfiber and comes with a microfiber cleaning cloth. It’s a legit glasses case and is all-around elegantly presented.

An eye-opener

So these don’t work entirely as advertised. I was skeptical from the get-go given all the research I had done. That being said, I have noticed a change, and whether that’s based on my eating and hydrating habits or not, I’ll likely keep wearing these daily, even if medicine doesn’t agree.

You can get Felix Gray glasses in regular or with +0.25 magnification. You can also get them in a reading prescription from +1.0 to +2.5.

See at Felix Gray

Honor V10 announced with Android Oreo, 5.99-inch display, and more

Available in China starting December 5 with expanded availability coming soon.

Huawei’s Honor sub-brand has been consistently kicking out powerful phones with affordable price tags, and the latest in this series is the newly announced Honor V10. The V10 was recently announced at an event in China, and although worldwide availability has yet to be disclosed, there’s a lot to like here.

For starters, the V10 follows suit with a lot of 2017 flagships by slimming down its bezels and adopting an 18:9 “FullView” display. That display comes with a resolution of 1080 x 2160, and it still retains enough of a bottom chin to squeeze in a front-facing fingerprint scanner.

Powering Honor’s latest is the Kirin 970 processor, and you’ll have the option to get the phone with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM (as well as the option to expand storage up to as much as 256GB). Android 8.0 Oreo is running on the V10 out of the box, and as you’d expect with an Honor phone, EMUI 8.0 is layered on top of it.

Other specifications include a dual 16MP and 20MP rear camera setup with Huawei’s AI tech that was recently introduced in the Mate 10 Pro, 13MP front-facing shooter, a 3,750 mAh battery, and Honor also keeps the fan-favorite 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Honor V10 will be available for purchase in China starting December 5 in gold, blue, black, and red for just CNY 2,699 (about $409 USD).

See at Honor

Echo Spot sold out until 2018, and other Amazon turkey tidbits

You knew Amazon would sell a lot of Echo and Fire TV devices, right? But did you expect this many?

Amazon sold a boatload of things over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, which should come as no surprise to anyone. It especially sold a ton of its own products. And while the company (per usual) didn’t give any real specifics in terms of numbers, it did announce a few interesting tidbits in a morning press release.

To wit:

• The Echo Spot — the tiny, bedside clock-radio-looking version of the Echo, with a small display — is sold out. And new orders won’t be delivered until 2018. (The Echo Spot is set for release on Dec. 19.)

• Amazon sold 2.7 times as many Fire TV Sticks this year as it did during the same period last year. It’s not the one I’d recommend — that’d be the Fire TV Dongle — but it’s also just $39. Hard to blame folks for that.

• Along with Fire TV Stick, Echo Dot (which is bundled with the Fire TV Stick for just $60) sold more than any other product in any category.

• The most popular named timer for Alexa on Thanksgiving Day was “turkey,” followed by “stuffing,” “potato,” “pie,” and “start a timer to see how long it takes Uncle Steve to get hammered and start talking crazy conspiracy politics.”

I might have made that last part up.

Amazon Echo

• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• All about Alexa Skills
• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

See at Amazon

OnePlus is launching a red 5T in China that looks fantastic

The OnePlus 5T is an awesome phone, but it’s even better with a sleek red paint job.

There’s a lot to like about the OnePlus 5T. It’s got a great design, is more than powerful for just about anything you throw at it, and has one of the fastest face unlock systems we’ve ever seen in a smartphone. The 5T’s one color in most of the world is Midnight Black, and while it looks perfectly fine, the recently announced Lava Red option is much more attractive.

The Lava Red OnePlus 5T colors the back, frame, fingerprint sensor, and camera housing in a stark red that’s a joy to look at. The small front bezels keep the black paint job unlike the red iPhone 7 that was released earlier this year, and all-in-all, it’s a really great look for an already attractive handset.

Unfortunately, there are a couple caveats. For starters, the Lava Red 5T is only available with the more expensive model that comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. However, what’s even more disappointing is the fact that this version of the phone is currently only available in China.

OnePlus has yet to announce any plans for releasing the Lava Red 5T in any other markets, but we certainly hope this changes soon. OnePlus prides itself on being a company that actively listens to its fans, so if enough people start nagging for a Lava Red 5T in other areas, our chances of bringing this beauty outside of China might not be too shabby.

See at OnePlus

OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5

• OnePlus 5T review: Come for the value, not the excitement
• OnePlus 5T specs
• Should you upgrade from the OnePlus 3T?
• OnePlus 5T vs. Galaxy S8: Beast mode
• All of the latest OnePlus 5T news
• Join the discussion in the forums

OnePlus
Amazon

Samsung purchases AI company to hopefully make Bixby better

The company’s name is Fluently, and it’s been dabbling with AI tech since 2015.

Samsung’s been aggressively pushing its Bixby virtual assistant since the announcement of the Galaxy S8 at the beginning of the year, and while Bixby has made sizable progress over the past few months, it’s still far from perfect. In an attempt to hopefully progress its AI even further, Samsung recently confirmed that it has purchased a startup by the name of Fluently.

Fluently is small setup with only about 10 employees, and it’s officially the first Korean AI startup that Samsung has ever purchased. Fluently launched the smartphone app “AI-based Recommendation Service” in 2015, allowing users to interact with artificial intelligence that kicked out responses using machine learning.

AI-based Recommendation Service can suggest restaurant menus and offer to adjust your schedule when asking about lunch for the day along with other assistant-like commands, and it supports messaging services like Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Line, and others (think Google Assistant integration with Allo).

Bixby’s strong suits currently lie with performing local actions on your phone and within certain apps, but there’s still a struggle when it comes to contextual conversations. This is something that will hopefully be improved with the acquisition of Fluently, but it remains to be seen how quickly the impact of this purchase will be noticed by consumers.

Samsung Bixby: Everything you need to know!

Senators introduce bill to criminalize revenge porn

Senators have introduced a bill today which, if passed, would establish federal criminal liability for those sharing revenge porn. The bill, Ending Nonconsensual Online User Graphic Harassment (ENOUGH) Act of 2017, will address what Congressperson Jackie Speier calls a “gaping hole in our legal system”.

The issue of revenge porn has gained increasing prominence in recent times, thanks largely to the number of high-profile cases on social media. Earlier this year, for example, Rob Kardashian posted explicit photos of his ex-girlfriend Blac Chyna on Twitter. While Twitter removed the offending tweets, it chose to leave his account active, blithely noting that it doesn’t “comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons.”

The ENOUGH Act follows a number of unsuccessful attempts to take a hard stance against revenge porn. Rep. Speier introduced a version of the bill, the Intimate Privacy Protection Act of 2016, in the 114th Congress, but it only made it as far as the House of Representatives. More recently, a number of representatives tried to criminalize revenge porn, along with swatting and doxxing, with the Online Safety Modernization Act of 2017.

The newly-proposed bill, which has bi-partisan support, has been backed by tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter, which updated its policy last month to state users can’t share “intimate photos or videos” of someone without their consent. Facebook has also taken a proactive stance on the matter, testing a set of tools designed to stop the spread of images once they’ve been reported.

However, it does seem that the ENOUGH Act places a degree of burden of proof on the victim. In order for a prosecution to take place, there would need to be proof that the offender knew the victim expected the image to remain private, and that sharing the image would harm the victim. Nonetheless, considering the UK criminalized the sharing of revenge porn two years ago, the ENOUGH Act represents long overdue action on a distressing matter that affects one in 25 people in the US. Providing, of course, that it passes.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Senate

VR at the Tate Modern’s Modigliani exhibition is no gimmick

In recent years, HTC has partnered with several museums to cultivate VR as a tool for art and learning. New projects are always in the works, and recently the company launched the Vive Arts program, reaffirming its commitment to working with developers and cultural institutions to further explore VR as an artistic and educational medium. The first installation under the Vive Arts banner has now opened at London’s Tate Modern gallery as part of a new exhibition celebrating late-19th/early-20th-century Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani. And to its credit, the VR portion of this retrospective is no gimmick.

As Nancy Ireson, curator of international art at Tate Modern, led the press tour around the exhibition, she explained that it was fitting for Modigliani to be the focus of the gallery’s first VR installation. Modigliani was an early proponent of African art as more than just a curiosity after all, and was interested in film, which itself was a fledgling medium at the time. As you walk the many rooms, you come across sketches, paintings, nudes and sculptures of ever-changing style and influence. Eventually you come to a small, sparsely decorated room with rows of wooden chairs and an HTC Vive headset next to each.

There are no room-scale sensors or controllers, because The Ochre Atelier, as the experience is called, is designed to be accessible to everyone regardless of computing expertise. And at roughly 6-7 minutes long, it’s also bite-size enough that hopefully every visitor to the exhibition can take a turn. Its length and complexity don’t make it any less immersive though. The experience itself is, superficially, a tour of Modigliani’s last studio space in Paris: a small, thin rectangular room a few floors above street level.

In all, it took five months to digitally re-create the space. A wealth of research went into The Ochre Atelier, from 3D mapping the actual room — the building is now a bed-and-breakfast — to looking at pictures and combing through first-person accounts of Modigliani’s friends and colleagues at the time. The developers at Preloaded took all this and built a historically accurate re-creation of what the studio would’ve looked like. You teleport around this space a few times, seeing it from different angles and getting more insight into the artist at each stop. Look at a few obvious “more info” icons from each perspective and you’ll hear narrated the words of those closest to Modigliani at the time, alongside some analyses from experts at the Tate.

At the tail end of the experience, you learn about why this space was so important. It was where Modigliani created his final pieces and enjoyed the last of his troubled relationship with alcohol and drugs before dying, aged 35, from tubercular meningitis. In this way, the experience concludes on a somewhat morbid, emotive note. Dotted around his virtual studio are some of his final works. You notice, once the experience is over and you leave the VR area, these very works greet you again back in the exhibition proper. It creates an impactful sense of continuity between the VR part of the exhibition and the real one. The Ochre Atelier isn’t a gimmick or a quirky piece of new media for the sake of it, but a genuine complement to the static paintings and sculptures in the halls beyond. Walking back through the exhibition and scanning the walls, I felt I’d learned a little bit more about Modigliani, his personality and his motivations, and looked upon everything in a more intimate light.

Given the reputation of the Tate Modern, anything other than a well-researched, thoughtful VR experience wouldn’t have made the cut. And it wouldn’t have really fit the Vive Arts brief, either. As Vive Arts’ director, Victoria Chang, told me at the event, it’s an “initiative that is designed to advance creation and appreciation of art through the latest technology.” The goal of the program is to challenge the idea that VR is mere entertainment and “to bring more high-quality, educational, artistic content to more of our consumers and to the general public around the world.”

The Modigliani exhibition is now open at the Tate Modern until April 2nd, 2018, and for anyone who can’t make it in person, a more comprehensive VR experience focusing on the artist will be released to Viveport in the coming weeks.

UK watchdog threatens ticket resale sites with court action

The UK’s competition watchdog has fired another warning shot against secondary ticketing websites. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is partway through an investigation and says it has “widespread concerns” about the information sites are providing customers before they press purchase. All of them should provide details about their seats, the person they are buying the tickets from, and any restrictions that could deny them access to the event. Some websites are complying, however the regulator has also “gathered evidence which it considers reveal breaches of the law.” It’s now asking websites to clean up their act or face legal action.

“We will use the full range of our powers to get the right outcome for these sites’ customers – including taking action through the courts if needed,” Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA said in a statement.

The regulator opened its current investigation in December 2016. It then expanded the scope to include additional issues about pressure selling — whether sites mislead customers about the popularity and availability of tickets — reported difficulties in obtaining refunds, and speculative selling, where sites and scalpers advertise tickets that they don’t already own.

The work is an extension of a prior investigation launched by the Office of Fair Trading in July 2012. That was also concerned with secondary ticketing sites and forced four of the largest companies — Get Me In, Seatwave, StubHub and Viagogo — to make significant changes for the CMA. These included information about entry restrictions, whether seats listed together were actually located together, hidden charges, and contact details should customers have any problems getting in. The CMA then opened a “compliance review” in March 2015 to ensure the companies had delivered on their promises. It found that all but one had followed through.

The review, however, revealed some “wider concerns” that triggered another, still ongoing investigation. In August, the CMA reportedly raided the offices of StubHub and Viagogo. Today, the regulator said it will be acting on one website’s failure “to comply fully with formal commitments it had previously given.” It didn’t name the company, however, or confirm that it was the same one highlighted during the compliance review.

Ticket scalping isn’t new. The advent of the internet and the popularity of secondary ticketing sites have escalated the problem, however. Scalpers buy tickets to concerts, stand-up comedy and sporting events knowing they can be resold easily online. Sometimes these tickets are sold more than once, boosting the scalper’s profits and denying unsuspecting customers entry. Legislators have tried to take action — the Digital Economy Bill, for instance, made ticket-buying bots illegal in the UK.

Still, the problem persists. That’s why the CMA is threatening legal action today; it might be required for ticket resale websites to finally take the issue seriously and crack down on scalpers abusing their platforms.

Source: GOV.UK