IKEA Place uses Google ARCore to let you virtually shop for furniture

Furniture shopping just got a lot more fun.

Since the launch of Google’s ARCore, we’ve been seeing a lot of ingenious implementations for it. On one hand, you can get up close and personal with tanks from WWII. On the other hand, you can see how IKEA furniture will look in your home before buying it.

This week, IKEA announced that it’s bringing its IKEA Place app to Android. The app was first available on iOS, but now that ARCore is in place, it can finally get the Android debut we’ve been waiting for.

Similar to what we’ve seen on apps from Amazon and Wayfair, IKEA Place allows you to use your camera’s viewfinder to place virtual pieces of furniture in your home so you can see what it’ll look like in real life. The furniture is scaled as closely to its real-life size as possible, and the amount of detail each virtual object has is pretty remarkable.

After going through the initial setup, you can tap the “+” icon to add whatever furniture you’d like. You can see highlights from IKEA’s various series, or you can use the built-in search to browse through the 3200+ items. Along with this, you can tap the frame icon near the bottom left of IKEA Place to take a picture of an item and see if it’s available in IKEA’s catalog or if it has something similar-looking.

IKEA Place is available on the Play Store now, and it works with any Android phone that’s ARCore compatible.

Download: IKEA Place (free)

Verizon is offering a stellar BOGO deal on the Galaxy S9 and S9+

The Samsung Galaxy S9 has arrived, and not wanting to be left out of the fun, Verizon is offering one of the best deals on Samsung’s latest flagship.

For a limited time, when you buy a Galaxy S9 or S9+ on an installment plan from Verizon, you’ll get an S9 FREE via bill credits worth the device price of $799. This deal doesn’t require a device trade-in, but you will need to stay with Verizon for the full 24 months to get the total value of this offer.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Purchase of new phone must be on an installment plan
• Credit for the second phone is applied via 24 monthly bill credits and starts within 2 bills.To get the full value, you will need to stay on your installment payment plan for the full 24 months.
• Activation fee of $25/line applies
• Requires a new line of service to qualify
• If you cancel service, the full balance is due
• This deal excludes device’s sales taxes

Here’s an estimate of what you would pay each month on Verizon’s Go Unlimited Freedom plan which costs $75/month with autopay. This does not include monthly taxes and surcharges.

Verizon Galaxy S9 with Unlimited data plan

The Netgear R6700 wireless router and CM500 cable modem are bundled together for $90

Free yourself from your ISP and save money, too.

Amazon is offering Netgear’s Nighthawk R7600 router and CM500 modem bundled together for just $89.78 right now. Considering, the Nighthawk R6700 router is $80 on its own, and the CM500 modem is $46, you’re saving a lot of money with this bundle. This price is right near the lowest we’ve ever seen for this bundle.

The Nighthawk R6700 is an awesome router with more than 20,000 user reviews giving it 4.2 stars. It has high-powered antennas and has technology that boosts range, speed, and performance. It works well in homes with a lot of Wi-Fi devices, which most homes are these days.

We always recommend buying your own cable modem to avoid the rental fees major ISPs charge. And the CM500 is a great machine to do that with because it’s a modern device capable of handling some of the fastest plans available.

With DOCSIS 3.0 and 16×4 channel bonding, the CM500 is capable of speeds up to 680Mbps. It’s compatible with Windows and Mac and works with every major browser. It works with every major ISP, too, including Comcast, Spectrum, Cox, Charter, and others.

See at Amazon

BlackBerry Smartphone Fan League launches to reward loyal customers

Share stuff on Twitter, take surveys, and win free smartphones.

Thanks to the guidance of TCL, the BlackBerry brand once again has its place in the smartphone market. Following the release of the KEYone and Motion, BlackBerry and TCL are now taking time to focus their efforts on building up brand awareness with the launch of the BlackBerry Smartphone Fan League.

To join the Fan League, simply head to its website, log in with either Facebook or Twitter, and you’ll then be able to participate in various challenges. These challenges include things like re-sharing social posts from BlackBerry Mobile, creating your own BlackBerry-related content, taking surveys, and recruiting other people to join the League.

As you complete these challenges, you’ll earn points. As these points build up, you can redeem them for things like BlackBerry hats, mugs, laptop bags, and even brand-new phones. There’s a weekly prize bundle giveaway where you can win one of two prize bundles, as well as a monthly sweepstake where you can be entered to win a new BlackBerry KEYone or Motion.

Per the Global General Manager of TCL’s BlackBerry Mobile Division, Alain Lejeune –

Launching the BlackBerry Smartphone Fan League is our way of better engaging with our customers, rewarding their loyalty and passion for BlackBerry smartphones, but also giving them a voice that will shape the future of BlackBerry smartphones from TCL Communication.

If you’re interested, you can sign up for the BlackBerry Smartphone Fan League right here.

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Where to buy the Honor View 10

Your options are limited, but there are some great deals right now.

The Honor View 10 is one of our favorite smartphones in the $500 price range, and it finally starts shipping on March 23. If you’ve already pre-ordered it, then good news! You don’t have to do anything other than wait for your new phone to arrive.

For the rest of us, there are a few places you can still get in an early order — and some even come with a discounted price already. We’ve rounded up the best places to buy the View 10, depending on your region.

Honor (U.S.)

If you’re in the U.S., Honor’s own site is currently the only place with View 10 inventory in stock. It’s available in black or blue, and comes with a free silicone case and Huawei’s AM116 headphones, but that’s not all. At the moment, Honor is throwing in a $30 gift card with View 10 orders, along with a “free 3 months [of] screen protection.”

Honor is also running an online raffle for anyone who shares the link to the pre-order, including the chance to win a View 10 or Honor 7X for $1. While you’re not guaranteed a discount, it never hurts to try!

See at Honor

Amazon (U.K.)

For U.K. shoppers, the Honor View 10 is already available with a discount through Amazon as part of an early Easter sale. Down 17% from its normal £449.99, you can order a View 10 for just £374.99 — and the best part is that it’ll ship right away, no need to wait until March 23!

Don’t worry, the U.K. variant still includes a case and headphones just like the U.S. model — though it’s unclear whether or not Honor will uphold the same three months of screen protection.

See at Amazon

More about the View 10

Still unsure of whether or not you even want the View 10? Maybe these other articles will help.

Honor View 10 review

Moto X4 vs. Honor View 10

Huawei Mate 10 Pro vs. Honor View 10

Honor View 10 vs. OnePlus 5T

Is the Honor View 10 still worth buying?

T-Mobile giving away a year of MLB.TV and free trip to MLB All-Star Week

Both offers will be available starting March 27.

Baseball season is right around the corner, and just like last year, T-Mobile is giving its customers a year of MLB.TV for free – something that usually costs $115.99.

You’ll be able to redeem your free year of MLB.TV starting March 27 from the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, and once you get set up with it, you’ll be able to watch home/away games, have full DVR controls for pausing and rewinding the best moments, and have access to all the premium features found in the MLB At Bat app (a value of $19.99).

However, that’s not all T-Mobile customers/baseball fans have to look forward to. Also on March 27 as part of T-Mobile Tuesdays, you can enter to win an all-expense-paid trip for two to the 2018 MLB All-Star Week between July 15th and the 18th in Washington, D.C.

Rounding all this out, T-Mobile customers will also get a 25% discount at MLBShop.com and a 10 cents off per gallon coupon at Shell gas stations (up to 20 gallons).

These offers will be available from March 27 through April 2 at 11:59 PM ET.

Download: T-Mobile Tuesdays (free)

Rachio introduces its third-gen Smart Sprinkler and wireless flow meter

Staying in the know.

Nearly two years after releasing its second-generation hardware, Rachio is back with the Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler and an all-new wireless flow meter. From an easier installation process thanks to the addition of 5 GHz wireless support, to enhanced weather data with Weather Intelligence Plus and a new long-range radio, there is a bunch of new stuff under the hood here.

Alongside the new controller, the company has also announced a wireless flow meter which will give you highly accurate readings of the water that is flowing through your system so you can keep an even better eye on your usage. The Rachio app will now detect homeowners of leaks, and the system will automatically shut down to prevent damage and flooding.

Pre-orders for the Rachio 3 and wireless flow meter are now live with a promotional pricing of $279.

See at Rachio

RACHIO INTRODUCES RACHIO 3 SMART SPRINKLER CONTROLLER AND WIRELESS FLOW METER AFTER CLOSING $10M SERIES B ROUND; BRINGING CLOUD CONNECTIVITY TO YARDS NATIONWIDE

Smart sprinkler company takes convenience of smart home tech outdoors to save time and money

DENVER, COLORADO, March 20, 2018 – Rachio, the smart sprinkler company delivering easy-to-use technology to improve residential irrigation efficiency, announced the release of the Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller and Rachio 3 Wireless Flow Meter to its water management product lineup. As the leading developer of smart home irrigation systems and creator of the nation’s first and best-selling smart sprinkler controller, Rachio designed these new products to help homeowners take complete control of outdoor water use from their smartphone for as little as $249.99.

The Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller, unveiled today, raises the bar on smart watering with even easier installation, 5ghz wireless compatibility and a new long-range radio to connect with the first-ever residential wireless flow meter. The Rachio Wireless Flow Meter uses patented Vortex technology to get highly accurate readings of water flow. The Rachio app alerts homeowners when leaks are detected, and the Flow Meter automatically shuts down water supply, protecting against landscape damage and flooding.

“Rachio is not only saving homeowners frustration, water, and money, we are helping communities conserve water on a much larger scale,” says Chris Klein, CEO and Co-Founder of Rachio. “Sixty percent of residential water waste in the United States happens outdoors. Our new products empower consumers to be smarter with water, so they don’t have to choose between conservation and easily maintaining a beautiful landscape.”

The Rachio 3 Sprinkler Controller harnesses cloud-connected software that allows consumers to run their sprinkler system anywhere, anytime, right from their smartphone. The Rachio app takes the guesswork out of watering by recommending days and times for watering based on location, vegetation and soil type. Rachio Weather Intelligence™ automatically adjusts watering schedules to reflect hyperlocal weather forecasts that skip watering based on rain, wind and freezing temperatures, helping to save water and money. Rachio is also the most connected smart sprinkler controller on the market, working with everyone’s favorite smart home platforms, including Amazon Alexa.

After raising the recent $10M Series B round with Eastside Partners and Bonaventure Capital, in which the Amazon Alexa Fund also participated, Rachio continues to lead innovation in the smart irrigation category and beyond. Benjamin Cobb, Partner at Eastside Partners notes, “Rachio is so much more than a smart sprinkler company. While they clearly lead this exciting segment of the smart home market, they are also rewriting the book on water conservation. Their innovation mentality extends to all aspects of their business.”

Rachio has saved homeowners and their communities over 22.7 billion gallons of water since it released its first smart sprinkler controller in 2014. The new Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller and the leak detection abilities of the Wireless Flow Meter will continue to conserve water and help Rachio fulfill its mission to make saving water effortless and personally rewarding for the consumer.

The Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller and Wireless Flow Meter will be available for pre-order with special promotional pricing starting March 20 on Rachio.com.

These Nest Outdoor Camera Skins Could Extend Life of your Investment

Keep your Nest cams safe from the elements with a silicone skin!

Nest may be best known for its smart thermostats, but the Google-owned company also makes an outstanding line of outdoor cameras for adding a touch of security to your home.

The Nest Cam Outdoor features IP65 weatherproofing, which means it’ll keep out dust and protect the internals from low-pressure water jets. But depending on where you’re installing in your home, the last thing you’d want is your $200 outdoor camera to break because of a spot of heavy rain.

A skin will also protect the camera case itself from UV deterioration, and let you camouflage your Nest cam into the exterior of your home. Just know that you can’t put on the skins if your camera is already installed.

• Wasserstein Silicone Skins for Next Outdoor Camera
• Meffort Silicone Case for Nest Outdoor Camera
• Sully Silicone Skins for Next Camera [2-pack]

Wasserstein Silicone Skins for Next Outdoor Camera

Wasserstein is the first company we’ll highlight. They offer eight styles of silicone skins for your outdoor Nest Cam, allowing you to find the right color to match the exterior of your home. The skins included will cover the camera body itself along with the magnetic mount to add an extra bit of protection from the elements. These are easy enough to slip onto your Nest Cam, as long as you haven’t already mounted the Nest Cam to the side of your home. You can get a single skin for one camera for just $9.99, or double down with a two-pack starting as low as $11.99.

Wasserstein also makes other accessories for Next Cam Outdoors, including a suction cup mounting bracket, or a twisty gooseneck mount to help open up options for installing your Nest Cams around your home.

See at Amazon

Meffort Silicone Case for Nest Outdoor Camera

If you’re planning to install a Nest Cam along a wall of your home that isn’t protected by your roof, you might be very interested in this offering from Meffort. Unlike the other skins on this list, Meffort has included a bit of an overhang on its skin to better protect the camera from sun glare and rain. It may confuse would-be intruders into mistaking it for an outdoor light.

These covers are available in either black or brown for just $9 each, and are a great option for your Outdoor Nest Cam.

See at Amazon

Sully Silicone Skins for Next Camera [2-pack]

If you’ve got more than one Nest Cameras and want to keep them all protected and matching, Sully offers two-packs of silicone skins for keeping your cameras protected. Available in black, brown, or grey, you can get a set that matches the exterior of your home for just $12.

Again, you’ll need to install these before you mount the cameras around your home. For a slim and precise fit for your multiple outdoor Nest Cams, you’ll want to consider a two-pack from Sully.

See at Amazon

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Understand your vehicle’s lights with this $11 Wi-Fi OBD2 scanner

Stay in the know.

Right now you can save nearly 50% on Tacklife’s Wi-Fi OBD2 scanner when you use the coupon code HMBJIMTF. It allows you to quickly read and clear engine fault codes and capture real-time data from your vehicle.

It can be used on nearly any gas-powered vehicle that was made in 1996 or later, and it works with both iOS and Android devices.

Tacklife backs this with a 24-month warranty.

See at Amazon

Become an ethical hacker for only $45!

Hackers get their jollies from hacking into company databases, stealing information, and either holding it for ransom or releasing it to the public. These targeted companies clearly have holes in their security, but how can they find them and fix them? They call in ethical hackers. Don’t let the name fool you; there’s no malintent – these experts come in, break the company’s security, and tell it how to fix the problems. There’s good money to be made in a career like that.

Of course, you need to learn the ins and outs of ethical hacking before you can jump right in. And if you’re just starting out, you’ll need to learn the basics and work your way all the way up to some of the most advanced techniques, so that you can ethically hack just as well as the baddies who do it with malice. They don’t necessarily teach this stuff in college, so you’ll need an online course that you can work at on your own time, especially if you already have a full-time job.

The Ethical Hacker Bonus Bundle is designed to take your right from the fundamentals of ethical hacking all the way to the most advanced penetration techniques so that you can effectively and reliably seek out holes in companies’ security networks and provide the best solutions and advice possible. Through nine courses, you’ll learn the theory behind ethical hacking, the different types of web attacks and how to stop them, penetration testing, and much more. With the bonus 5.5 hours of content, you’ll even learn how to build a six-figure career for yourself, centered on ethical hacking.

If you were to look anywhere else, these courses would run you upwards of $2000, but right now through Android Central Digital Offers, you can save 97% and become an ethical hacker for only $45. With 45 hours of content spread over 144 lectures, you’ll learn how you can truly help fortify a company’s security network and potential businesses and customers some massive trouble.

When companies call on ethical hackers for help, it’s because they really need it, which means you can carve yourself out a nice big slice of the pie – you just need the tools and experience to get there. Don’t go spending thousands of dollars on expensive courses. Get the Ethical Hacking Bootcamp for only $45 right now at Android Central Offers, and use coupon code MADMARCH10 at checkout to save an additional 10%!

See at Android Central Digital Offers