13 February 2020

How to Play Myst on Your Smartphone


You can now play Myst, the classic puzzle game beloved by a generation of gamers, on your smartphone. This means that anyone over a certain age can play Myst again for a hit of nostalgia, while younger gamers can finally see what all of the fuss is about.

What Is Myst?

Myst is a graphic adventure game which requires you to solve puzzles to progress. It was originally released on CD-ROM in 1993, helping to increase the popularity of that technology. Myst became the biggest selling PC game until The Sims usurped it in 2002.

There have been a number of sequels and spin-offs released since, but the original Myst is an absolute classic of the genre which remains eminently playable to this day. Which is why we’re recommending you check out Myst on your smartphone.

How to Play Myst on Android and iOS

Myst is available as realMyst on Android and iOS. This port of the original Myst is the result of a partnership between Cyan, the original developer of the game, and Noodlecake, the mobile studio responsible for Alto’s Adventure and Pumped: BMX, amongst others.

RealMyst is the original game everyone knows and loves, just with some modern features added to bring it up to date. These include touchscreen controls, a bookmarking tool, a built-in guide in case you get stuck, and support for Bluetooth controllers.

RealMyst has been available on iOS since 2009. However, realMyst was only released on Android in 2017. Regardless of timing, the upshot is that you can now play Myst on your smartphone. And while it isn’t free, what’s a few dollars for a slice of gaming history?

Download: RealMyst on Android | iOS

Other Classic PC Games to Play on Mobile

Myst has been ported to numerous platforms over the years, including the original PlayStation and the Nintendo DS. However, it’s pretty much the perfect game to play on your mobile phone, so it’s well worth checking out realMyst for Android and iOS.

Whether or not you opt to play Myst on your smartphone, it’s far from the only classic game now available on mobile. In fact, it’s becoming the standard to port old games to mobile, so here’s a list of classic PC games you can play on Android.

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The Galaxy Z Flip Foldable Phone: 5 Important Facts to Know


Samsung Z Flip Featured

When Samsung unveiled its S20 lineup of flagship devices, it also announced its 2020 foldable smartphone: the Galaxy Z Flip.

The device is significantly different from its foldable predecessor, the Galaxy Fold. From the specs to its unique form factor, features, and price, here’s what you should know about Samsung’s Z Flip smartphone.

1. Galaxy Z Flip: How the Fold Works

The Galaxy Z Flip folds like a clamshell or compact mirror, offering a different form factor than the Galaxy Fold (which folded like a book). This design is similar to the 2020 Motorola Razr foldable smartphone, which launched just a few days before Samsung’s announcement.

However, what makes it different from other foldable smartphones is the material used for the display. The Z Flip’s foldable screen is made from glass, not plastic. According to Samsung, the phone’s display includes bendable ultra-thin glass “that has never been seen with a foldable device before.”

The company has also improved its hinge technology to prevent some of the issues seen with the Galaxy Fold. The hinge includes “sweeper technology” that uses nylon fibers to prevent dirt and debris from entering the device via the hinge mechanism.

Rather than unfolding to become a tablet or phablet, the Z Flip has similar dimensions to a regular smartphone. When folded, it measures 2.9 x 3.4 x 0.68 inches.

Fully unfolded, you can still easily use the phone with one hand, as the length of the phone measures 6.59 inches. For context, this is just 0.16 inches longer than the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

2. Galaxy Z Flip Specifications and Features

Besides the unique form factor of the device, what else can you expect from the Galaxy Z Flip? It’s not packed with the same hardware or features of the Galaxy S20 series, despite Samsung announcing the devices at the same event.

While the Z Flip doesn’t have the battery or camera power of the S20 series, the smartphone still has some solid specifications. Below is a summary of the main Galaxy Z Flip specs:

  • Display: 6.7-inch 2636 x 1080 Full HD display with dynamic AMOLED
  • Battery: 3300mAh
  • RAM: 8GB
  • Storage: 256GB
  • Main camera: Dual-lens camera (12MP ultra-wide + 12MP wide-angle lens)
  • Front-facing camera: 10MP selfie camera

The Z Flip also includes some of the general features seen across Samsung’s premium devices. For instance, the device supports the Wireless PowerShare function. This allows you to charge other devices by placing them on your Samsung device, so long as they have wireless Qi charging support.

Other features include 4K video recording and optical image stabilization software, a side fingerprint sensor, and Samsung Pay integration. You can also expect to find Samsung’s AI assistant, Bixby, on the device.

3. Unique Features Enabled by Z Flip’s Design

galaxy z flip smartphone bent and semi folded
Image credit: Megan Ellis

The Galaxy Z Flip’s form factor is not simply a gimmick. Rather, there are specific features and functions of the smartphone that stem directly from its folding capability.

The phone doesn’t need to be fully open or fully closed to use. Much like a laptop, you can use it with the hinge at various angles.

Samsung calls this the phone’s “flex mode.” When the screen is open at an angle (rather than fully open or fully closed), the OS splits the device into two four-inch screens. This allows you to view content on the top screen and use the lower screen for navigation and touch controls. You can also opt for a multi-tasking window that lets you open a different app on each half of the device.

The Z Flip is also able to stand up on its lower half when in flex mode. This has a few uses: you can prop the phone on its lower half when taking photos and videos, or place it on a flat surface while watching videos.

In particular, this will become especially useful for night photography, which requires a stable surface due to long exposure times. Samsung has also enabled gesture triggers for selfies—a wave of the hand will act as a shutter button when the Z Flip is taking a photo in flex mode.

galaxy z flip smartphone folded
Image credit: Megan Ellis

The Galaxy Z Flip also has a small 1.1-inch display on its cover that lets you check notifications and lock screen info—essentially acting as a tiny always-on display. You can use this screen as a viewfinder or preview window when taking selfies.

4. Galaxy Z Flip Does Not Come With 5G Compatibility

Samsung is pushing 5G support in its Galaxy S20 range, with all phones in that series featuring 5G support. But the same is not true for the Galaxy Z Flip. At its launch, the Z Flip is only available in a 4G-compatible option.

It’s possible that a 5G variant will release at a later date. However, this depends on a variety of factors, such as the Z Flip’s overall success and reception.

Samsung has played it safe with the smartphone’s launch, choosing limited markets and variants for the device over a widespread release. If 5G compatibility is essential for you, you’re better off looking at Samsung’s S20 range or other smartphones that support 5G connectivity.

5. Galaxy Z Flip Price and Availability

galaxy z flip foldable phone in purple

The Galaxy Z Flip will see a limited release in the United States and South Korea on February 14, 2020. Other markets, such as South Africa, will also see a small quantity released in February, followed by a larger release in March 2020.

Initially, only the Mirror Black and Mirror Purple options will be available. However, Samsung plans to introduce the Mirror Gold option in select markets at a later date. A Thom Browne limited edition of the smartphone will also be available, alongside Thom Browne editions of other Galaxy accessories.

The launch price for the Galaxy Z Flip is $1,300. Pre-orders for the device opened after the announcement. You can order your device via the Samsung store, as well as selected mobile carriers.

More Foldable Smartphones to Consider

Now you know what to expect with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip. We’ll see how this phone performs and if it marks the widespread adoption of foldable phones. As it turns out, since 2019, there’s been a boom in companies attempting their own takes on dual-screen and foldable smartphones.

To find out more about the concepts and devices in this sphere, check out our explainer on foldable smartphones.

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The 5 Best Wireless Gaming Headsets for the PC


best-gaming-wireless

Playing a video game is more than a visual experience. It’s a complete audio-visual package that the game developer has spent hours perfecting. To experience the best of the game, you need an outstanding PC gaming headset. The quality of your headset can make all the difference.

Selecting a wireless PC gaming headset from the myriad options isn’t an easy task. Do you opt for surround sound? How about Bluetooth, or spatial sound?

Well, wonder no more; here are five of the best wireless PC gaming headsets.

PC Gaming Headset vs. Console Gaming Headset

You’re probably wondering what the difference between a wireless PC gaming headset and a wireless console gaming headset is. When it comes down to it, there are few differences. As video gaming evolves, so does the understanding of gaming headset manufacturers. And for the most part, PC gamers and console gamers want very similar qualities from their gaming headset.

Audio quality is incredibly important. Some wireless PC gaming headsets have a slight audio quality edge over a gaming console headset. But that is no hard and fast rule. The wireless gaming headsets with exceptional teammates quality are usually easy to spot, as they carry excellent reviews.

It is a similar situation with integrated microphones. Almost all wireless headsets for PC gaming come with a microphone of some type, be that flexible, retractable, detachable, and so on. Microphone quality is important. You are using your microphone to communicate with your teammates to smash your opposition, so clear communication is key.

Furthermore, becoming a professional gamer is a valid career option in this day and age. If you’re considering video game content creation, you need to know your wireless PC gaming headset microphone is up to scratch.

The Best Wireless PC Gaming Headsets

For many PC gamers, cables are the devil. Why use something with an ugly wire sticking out when you could be wireless, floating free from physical connection? Here are the best wireless PC gaming headsets.

1. Astro A50 Wireless

Astro A50 Wireless Astro A50 Wireless Buy Now On Amazon $290.65

Kicking the wireless PC gaming headsets off is a certified winner: the Astro A50 Wireless. This headset constantly features on PC gaming lists. When you look over the specs, it is easy to see why.

The Astro A50 Wireless PC gaming headset comes with a 15-hour battery, long enough to cover most epic gaming marathons. Alongside the substantial battery life are soft, all-ear-covering earphones and a soft-padded headband which are both Astro Mod Kit ready (meaning you can switch them out for alternatives).

Sound quality and immersion are important for PC gamers, and the Astro A50 don’t disappoint in that department. They come equipped with Astro Audio V2: Immersive Audio, along with Dolby Audio, too. Combining two top-tier sound packages provides PC gamers with one of the best all-round audio packages of all.

For further customization, the Astro A50 Wireless headset has several built-in EQ modes, which you can also boost using the base-stations built-in mix amp.

2. SteelSeries Arctis 7

SteelSeries Arctis 7 SteelSeries Arctis 7 Buy Now On Amazon $125.00

If you want excellent manufacturing and fantastic audio quality, look no further than the award-winning wireless SteelSeries Arctis 7. The device promises up to 24-hours of battery life. Theoretically, it will always outlast your gaming session, so long as you remember to charge the headset up.

It uses a 2.4G wireless connection to provide excellent connection speed, but also low latency. That means your audio won’t interrupt mid-game, and your microphone won’t falter at a critical moment.

The SteelSeries Arctis 7 headphones are equipped with DTS Headphone: X v2 spatial surround sound technology. So, when you’re in-game, all of the sounds you hear will come from their actual location, making you positionally aware of your surroundings. You can further customize your audio experience using the SteelSeries Engine, PC software that allows custom EQs and integration with apps such as Discord.

In a nod to PC gamers, the SteelSeries Arctis 7 has one of the best-integrated microphones of any PC gaming headset. It is a retractable bidirectional ClearCast microphone which not only sounds incredible; it looks the part, too. Overall, the SteelSeries Arctis 7 is an exceptional wireless PC gaming headset.

3. ASUS ROG Strix Fusion 700

ASUS ROG Strix Fusion 700 ASUS ROG Strix Fusion 700 Buy Now On Amazon $189.99

The ASUS ROG Strix Fusion 700 is an eye-catching wireless headset for PC gamers, offering a combination of RGB lighting, leather, metal, and sweeping angles to push the PC gaming headset design boundaries.

Powering the ROG Strix Fusion 700 is an array of audio hardware. The Fusion 700 use a tailor-made 7.1 virtual surround sound that ASUS developed with Bongiovi Acoustic. The result is a distinct audio quality that gives PC gamers the edge in FPS games through exceptional positional audio awareness.

The ASUS ROG Strix Fusion 700 also comes with a built-in DAC and amplifier. Using the integrated DAC and amp allow PC gamers to experience a vast audio frequency range through the 50mm drivers, all with ultra-low distortion.

Oh, and you can sync the RGB colors of your headset with the rest of your RGB ASUS products using ASUS Aura Sync.

The one let down for the ASUS ROG Strix Fusion 700 is the use of Bluetooth 4.2 rather than Bluetooth 5. As the latest Bluetooth version, Bluetooth 5 offers lower latency and higher power than Bluetooth 4.2. It is far from a deal-breaker, however!

4. Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless

Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless Buy Now On Amazon $64.99

I really like the Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless PC gaming headset. It is sleek, carries the legendary Corsair name, and, most importantly, offers great audio quality. The headset boasts an impressive 16-hour battery life, perfect for any PC gaming session. Corsair also includes 50mm drivers with a wide frequency range, as well as Dolby Headphone 7.1 surround sound for the immersion and positional awareness all PC gamers require.

However, you should note that some users report positional awareness issues with the Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless headset, likening the sound to stereo that the headphones attempt to make positional, rather than genuinely spatial audio. Still, the overall sound quality of the Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless makes this PC gaming headset well worth your consideration.

Also, the unidirectional microphone clarity is great, working well to keep external sound input out of your gaming conversations. For those into RGB, you can sync your color scheme across your Corsair devices using Corsair iCUE, ensuring your gaming experience is never the wrong tone.

5. Razer Nari Ultimate

Razer Nari Ultimate Razer Nari Ultimate Buy Now On Amazon $199.89

Razer brings a lot to the world of gaming, and the Razer Nari Ultimate is no different. Available in several eye-catching color schemes (I’m quite partial to the yellow and green Overwatch Lucio Edition), the Razer Nari Ultimate is a fantastic wireless PC gaming headset.

The Razer Nari Ultimate squeezes a lot of tech into a tight package. The 50mm drivers work extremely well with the THX Spatial 7.1 surround sound. Extensive EQ customization options allow you to tailor the headset to your PC game, as well as the welcome bonus of 360-degree spatial sound for the ultimate immersive experience.

Now, something a little different about the Razer Nari Ultimate lives in the earphones themselves. First up, the earphone padding contains a cooling gel to stop your ears overheating during lengthy PC gaming sessions, which, in itself, is brilliant. However, the Razer Nari Ultimate also features Razer HyperSense haptic feedback, meaning your headset also rumbles when you take a hit, start an engine, and so on.

The use of haptic feedback and other extras makes a difference to the battery life of the Nari Ultimate. With haptic feedback and RBG colors and syncing off, Razer expects the headset to run for around 20 hours. With everything on, you can expect around 12 hours. Which, considering the impact haptic feedback can have, is still impressive. Razer also includes a 3.5mm standard connector, too, in case your battery runs dry.

Like many of the other top-tier wireless PC gaming headsets, the Razer Nari Ultimate’s RGB lighting will sync with any other Razer RGB hardware you have.

The Best Wireless Gaming Headset for PC Gamers

The array of wireless headsets for PC gaming can feel overwhelming. There are so many models and styles, with many coming from legendary PC hardware manufacturers. You’ll find the choices above fit every budget, every style, and offer an exceptional range of wireless audio quality.

Are you looking for a new wireless PC gaming headset because your old ones keep breaking? Here’s why your headphones keep breaking—and how you can put a stop to that!

Read the full article: The 5 Best Wireless Gaming Headsets for the PC


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How to Organize Your PS4 Games, Apps, and Friends


organize-ps4

Do you feel overwhelmed by the amount of content on your PS4? It’s easy to let games, apps, friends, notifications, and other content pile up until you’re left with a jumbled mess.

So, in this article, we’ll show you how to organize your PS4 content so that it’s easier to navigate. After all, less time spent navigating the menus means more time playing.

1. Prune Your Games Library

If you scroll to the far-right of the games list on your PS4 home screen, you’ll find your Library. This holds all of the games and apps on your PlayStation 4.

PS4 Library

If you’ve had a PS4 for some time, this is probably bogged down by betas and demos from years ago. Even a library full of the best PS4 exclusives will become unruly if you don’t play them any more.

Delete Old Games

You should start by deleting any games that you don’t play. There’s no reason for them to waste storage space and throw off your organization.

Open the All tab on the left to display everything installed on your system. Highlight a game and hit the Options button on your controller, then choose Delete to erase it.

PS4 Delete Game

If you’re not sure whether you’ve played something recently, use the dropdown box at the top (press Triangle as a shortcut) to change the sorting type from Name: A-Z to Recently Used or Install Date. Then you can scroll to the bottom to find the games you haven’t launched in months.

Hide Betas and Demos

The above will clean up the tabs under This PS4, which only holds content currently installed on your system. Under [Your Name], you’ll see two more sections.

Purchased contains every game you’ve ever bought from the PlayStation Store or installed via disc, while PlayStation Plus shows games that you’ve obtained for free through a PS Plus membership. Both show titles that are not currently installed first.

To hide demos and other content you don’t want from the Purchased tab, highlight an item and hit Options. Then select Do Not Show Content Item in [Purchased] to completely hide it from this list. You can see everything you’ve hidden by hitting Options and choosing Check Hidden Content Items.

PS4 Hide Content

2. Organize Games Into Folders

Now that you’ve cleaned the detritus from your system, you can organize the games you DO play into folders. To start, go back to your Library and select Folders on the left side.

Here you’ll see any existing folders and can select Create New to create another. Give it a name, then hit the Select button next to Content to pick what goes inside the folder.

PS4 Folders

The grouping is totally up to you, though you should note that a game can only live in one folder at a time. A few organization ideas include:

  • Put all PS VR-compatible games into a folder.
  • Organize games by genre.
  • Place games you want to play soon into a backlog folder.
  • Add games you’ve completed into a folder so you can easily delete them all when you need to create free space.

Once you’ve created folders, they will appear on your home screen alongside everything else. Return to this screen (or hit the Options button with one highlighted) to edit a folder’s contents, delete it, or erase both the folder and its contents.

You can also hit Options on a game and choose Add to Folder to easily move it.

PS4 Folder Edit

3. Add Friends Into Groups

Do you have so many PS4 friends that you’ve forgotten who some of them are? You can use groups to keep better track of them. Visit Friends on the home screen to start.

Here, use the Custom Lists tab to make groups of friends that only you can see. Hit Create List, then give it a name and select the friends that should go inside. Unlike games, you can put one friend into multiple lists.

PS4 Custom Friends

Once your lists are set up, you can easily see which of your close friends are online. You can also set up lists for friends that you play certain multiplayer games with.

Get Notified When Friends Go Online

There’s another useful friend organization feature on the Friends page. Press Triangle to open the Notifications when friends go online page.

PS4 Friends Go Online Notification

Select your close friends here, and you’ll get a ping each time they come online. That way, you won’t have to guess whether your friend is ready to party up.

4. Adjust Your PS4 Notifications

Speaking of notifications, the PS4 sends a lot of them by default that you probably don’t care about. You can clean these up pretty easily by opening the Notifications tab on the home screen. Once there, press Triangle and you can delete any old notifications you’d like. Next, press Options and choose Notification Settings.

Here, you can change the notification color, disable them when watching videos, and choose to hide the message content. However, the most valuable tool is Pop-Up Notifications, which lets you stop notifications that you don’t want from arriving in the first place.

On this page, uncheck any notification types you don’t want to see. We recommend removing When Friends Join a Party, as these can be frequent and not that useful.

PS4 Notification Options

5. Customize the PS4 Quick Menu

You can press and hold the PS Button on your controller anytime to open the Quick Menu, which contains shortcuts to several handy utilities. But did you know that you can organize this per your preferences, too? Scroll down to the bottom and choose Customize to change its setup.

PS4 Quick Menu Customize

Use the Menu Items section to choose which panels show on the Quick Menu, then Sort them in the order you like. You can use the Reset to Default option if you want to put everything back to the way it was.

6. Control Your Privacy

Now that you’ve organized the content on your own system, why not lock down how others can interact with your account? The PS4 has several privacy functions that keep you in control.

To access these, visit Settings > Account Management > Privacy Settings. As a security measure, you may have to confirm your PSN credentials to proceed.

Once inside, you’ll see three categories of options: Gaming | Media, Friends | Connections, and Personal Info | Messaging. There are too many settings to explain individually, so we encourage you to check them all.

PS4 Privacy Options

We’ll highlight a few to get you started, but please refer to the PS4 User Guide to Privacy Settings for more help.

Hide Certain Games

You can keep other players from seeing your data about certain games. Head to Gaming | Media > Hidden Games; any games you select here will not show up in your activities, profile, or trophy list.

Message Privacy

PS4 Message Privacy

If you don’t want to receive messages from everyone, choose Personal Info | Messaging > Messages. Here, you can choose to receive messages from Anyone, Friends Only, or No One.

7. Install a New Theme

Finally, since you’re making your PS4 more personal by organizing it, why not change your theme for a new look? Visit Settings > Themes to pick from the default options or any that you’ve previously installed. Most themes change just the background, but some include custom icons and even different system music, too.

PS4 Theme Change

If you don’t like any of the default options, visit the PlayStation Store and head to the Add-Ons > Themes tab to find more. Many of them are paid, but you’ll find some free options, too.

Enjoy a More Personal PS4 Experience

Now you should know how to organize what’s on your PS4.

With your games tidied up and in folders, notifications set to how you want them, and friends sorted into neat groups, you don’t have to search through a mess to find what you want. Leaving you free to enjoy a streamlined experience!

And if these PS4 tips piqued your interest, we have additional tips for getting more out of your PS4.

Read the full article: How to Organize Your PS4 Games, Apps, and Friends


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Fake AirPods vs. Real AirPods: 5 Ways to Spot a Fake


airpods-real-fake

Apple’s hefty price tag on a set of AirPods might send you in search of cheaper deals elsewhere. There are lots of lower prices to be found, but you need to be careful you don’t wind up with a pair of fake AirPods instead.

Fake AirPods range from obvious knock-offs to almost exact replicas, but if you look close enough you can always tell the difference. Before buying any AirPods, use the five steps below to find out if they’re real or not.

If you can’t check the AirPods in person, ask the seller to send you detailed photos instead.

1. Inspect the Packaging for Mistakes

Are these AirPods real or fake?
Image Credit: samsonovs/Depositphotos

It’s often possible to spot fake AirPods before you even open the packaging. In fact, it’s good to check first because you stand the best chance of getting a refund if you never open the box.

What to Look for on the Box

Apple occasionally changes the packaging design for its products, so your AirPods packaging may look different from photos you find online. That said, real AirPods will never have typos or pixelated images, whereas many fakes do.

Carefully read all the text and inspect each of the images on your AirPods box looking for mistakes. Any typos, double spaces, or low-quality pictures suggest you’ve got a fake.

What to Look for in the Box

The best knock-off AirPods get the outside of the packaging exactly right—they might even be plastic wrapped as well. But don’t judge a book by its cover; just because the outside of the box looks right doesn’t mean the AirPods inside are real.

Open the box and look for similar typos or mistakes in the accompanying documents.

You should also make sure your AirPods come with all the accessories listed on Apple’s website: go to the Tech Specs page for your particular AirPods. You might expect a Lightning cable or spare silicone ear tips for the AirPods Pro.

2. Inspect the AirPods and Case for Design Flaws

Real AirPods graphic from Apple's website without text

Second-hand AirPods often don’t come with any packaging for you to inspect, but you can still spot a fake set by inspecting the AirPods themselves.

How to Spot Fake AirPods

Go on Apple’s website and compare the 360-degree AirPod animations to the AirPods you want to buy. If you find any differences, like additional vents or misaligned holes, then you’re looking at a set of fakes.

Whether you’re buying original AirPods, AirPods (2nd generation), or AirPods Pro you can immediately spot a knock-off if it comes in any color other than white or if there are buttons or status lights on the AirPods themselves.

Another good tip for spotting fake vs. real AirPods is to look at the bottom of the stems. Real AirPods feature an oval-shaped grill, whereas most knock-offs make it circular.

Similarly, real AirPods Pro don’t have a grill at all, but a lot of the fakes still put it on there.

How to Spot a Fake Charging Case

Fake AirPods often come with an oversized charging case that looks nothing like the real deal. The real cases close magnetically with a satisfying snap, and the back of the lid has a metallic hinge while the rest of the case is white plastic.

You should see a Setup button on the back and a single status light on the front (or under the lid for the original charging case).

Take a look at the bottom of the case and make sure it uses a Lightning port to charge. If possible, plug it in to check the status light turns green while charging.

Fake AirPods Weigh Less Than Real Ones

Most knock-off AirPods use cheaper materials than the official Apple ones. That means they’re often much lighter. If possible, use a set of scales to weigh both AirPods and the charging case; compare the results to the weight listed on Apple’s Tech Specs page for those AirPods.

3. Test the Connection to Your iPhone

Real AirPods Pro connecting with iPhone

Real AirPods use Apple’s proprietary W1 or H1 chip to connect to your iPhone without needing to go into the Bluetooth settings. Although some fake AirPods copy this, none of them get the Bluetooth connection exactly right.

Connect the AirPods to Your iPhone

All you need to do to connect AirPods to your iPhone is return them to the case, then open it next to your device. A connection animation should appear on your iPhone. If it doesn’t, charge the AirPods and try again.

A lot of fake AirPods require you to connect to them through the Bluetooth settings. For some of them, you even need to connect to each AirPod individually. This is never the case for real AirPods.

Check the Bluetooth Settings for Your AirPods

Even if your AirPods connect using Apple’s setup animation, open the Bluetooth settings for your AirPods to make sure everything else looks right.

On your iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth. Tap the i button next to your AirPods.

Real AirPods give you the options to rename them, change the controls, and turn Automatic Ear Detection on or off. Most replica AirPods only give you the options to Disconnect or Forget This Device.

4. Try Out All the Different Features

AirPod Pro Noice Cancellation graphic

One of the reasons AirPods are so popular—and so expensive—is that they come with features that knock-off AirPods struggle to replicate. Test each of the features below to make sure your AirPods are real.

If any don’t work, try to fix common AirPod problems before deciding they’re fake.

Original AirPods and AirPods (2nd generation) Features

While listening to music, double-tap the stem on your AirPods to carry out one of the following actions, based on your Bluetooth settings:

  • Activate Siri
  • Pause/Play music
  • Skip to the next track
  • Go back to the previous track

If Automatic Ear Detection is enabled, you should also be able to pause music by taking a single AirPod out of your ear.

With AirPods (2nd generation), you can use “Hey Siri” as well, as long as you turn it on from Settings > Siri & Search on your iPhone.

AirPods Pro Features

Unlike standard AirPods, press the force sensor on the stem of your AirPods Pro to carry out a range of different actions:

  • Press once to pause/play music
  • Press twice to skip to the next track
  • Press three times to go back to the previous track
  • Press and hold to switch between Active Noise Cancellation or Transparency mode.

AirPods Pro also work with “Hey Siri”, provided it’s turned on for your iPhone. Go to Settings > Siri & Search to check.

5. Check the Serial Number on Apple’s Website

Apple's Check Coverage website showing valid AirPods serial number

Apple uses serial numbers to identify each set of AirPods and the charging case they came with. Find the serial number for your AirPods and enter it on Apple’s Check Coverage website to see if they’re real or not.

Where to Find the Serial Number for Your AirPods

There are a few different places to find the serial number for your AirPods:

  • Printed on a sticker on the outside of the box
  • Printed inside the lid of the charging case
  • On the About page from your iPhone settings

It’s entirely possible for fake AirPods manufacturers to print stolen serial numbers on the box or on the inside of the charging case. In fact, you might even find your charging case is genuine but the AirPods inside are fake.

The only reliable way to get the serial number for your AirPods is from the About page on your iPhone.

Connect the AirPods to your iPhone, then go to Settings > General > About. You should see your AirPods at the bottom of the page, tap them to reveal the serial number.

Cheap Alternatives Are Better Than Fake AirPods

Most of the time, it’s not worth taking the risk on an unbelievably cheap set of AirPods. If they end up being fake, they could stop working with nothing you can do to fix or return them. As the saying goes: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to spend a lot of money to get some decent wireless earbuds. In fact, there are plenty of cheap alternatives to AirPods that are likely to be far better than the fake AirPods you could end up with otherwise.

Read the full article: Fake AirPods vs. Real AirPods: 5 Ways to Spot a Fake


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Daily Crunch: Mobile World Congress is canceled


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1. GSMA cancels Mobile World Congress due to coronavirus concerns

“The GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event,” CEO John Hoffman said in a statement.

Over the past few days, dozens of big name exhibitors announced they would skip this year’s show. MWC usually attracts more than 100,000 attendees from 200 countries to Barcelona.

2. Andy Rubin’s Essential shuts down

Essential was supposed to disrupt the smartphone industry, but it struggled with bad timing, broader industry issues and a founder embroiled in troubling allegations of sexual misconduct, ultimately failing to make it far beyond the launch of its first handset.

3. Astranis raises $90 million for its next-gen satellite broadband internet service

The funding will be used to help the company launch its first commercial satellites, which will be the bedrock of its future internet service offering, aimed at connecting the massive market of underserved populations around the world. The company’s focus on geostationary satellites — rather than satellites that hand off their connection through a kind of relay system — makes it different from many of the other entrants in the satellite internet race.

4. A new senate bill would create a US data protection agency

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has published a bill which, if passed, would create a U.S. federal data protection agency designed to protect the privacy of Americans, with the authority to enforce data practices across the country.

5. Will Apple, Facebook or Microsoft be the future of augmented reality?

While there are more AR platforms than the big three mentioned in the headline, Digi-Capital’s Tim Merel argues that they represent the top of the pyramid for three different types of AR roadmap. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

6. Facebook Dating launch blocked in Europe after it fails to show privacy workings

Facebook has been left red-faced after being forced to call off the launch date of its dating service in Europe because it failed to give its lead EU data regulator enough advanced warning, and it failed to demonstrate it had performed a legally required assessment of privacy risks.

7. Intuition Robotics raises $36M for its empathetic digital companion

The company, best known for its ElliQ home robot for the elderly, also disclosed that it’s working with the Toyota Research Institute to bring its technology to the automaker’s LQ concept. Intuition’s goal is to build digital assistants that can create emotional bonds between humans and machines.


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Netflix fends off new streaming rivals by way of Samsung partnership


As the streaming battles heat up, Netflix is hoping a new partnership with Samsung will help it fend off rivals. At Samsung’s Unpacked event this week, the mobile device maker announced a deal with Netflix that will bring exclusive bonus content associated with several Netflix original shows to its Galaxy smartphones in the months ahead. The partnership also allows Netflix to more deeply integrate its streaming service with Samsung devices.

The latter part of the partnership involving device integration is fairly standard. In Netflix’s case, Samsung will allow users to launch Netflix content by way of its voice assistant Bixby. Netflix will also deliver recommendations to Samsung users, and will be better integrated into specific Samsung mobile features, like search and its discovery platform, Samsung Daily.

It’s not unusual for Samsung to work with tech companies to offer tighter integration and distribution for their app. For example, Samsung and Spotify announced a formal partnership in 2018, which has since resulted in consumer-facing features like Spotify’s deep integration with the new Galaxy Buds+, Galaxy S20, and Galaxy Z Flip.

The new Netflix content partnership, on the other hand, is unique.

Though Netflix didn’t go so far as to announce original series or movies only available to Samsung users, it will offer bonus content to Samsung device owners that won’t be found elsewhere. This includes behind-the-scenes footage, companion stories, and other bonus content — much of it filmed by the Samsung Galaxy S20’s new camera, of course.

Initially, bonus content will be available for shows including “Narcos: Mexico,” “Sintonia,” “Elite,” and “Netflix is a Joke.” Netflix says more bonus content will become available in the future.

The two companies have a decade-long history relationship which has seen them working together on joint marketing campaigns and other advertising. However, they’ve not before done a content deal like this.

“The mission of this partnership [is] to make the Netflix viewing experience on Samsung mobile the absolute best it can be,” said Netflix CMO Jackie Lee-Joe, announcing the company’s plans at Samsung’s event. “This means that even more users can enjoy our best-in-class stories across all genres through even better product integration with Galaxy mobile devices,” she noted.

The partnership comes at a critical time for Netflix. Its subscriber growth in the U.S. has gone flat, even as its international growth is booming. More importantly, perhaps, is how Netflix is coming up against a whole host of new streaming competitors with money to burn — including Disney+, Apple TV+, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, NBCU’s Peacock, and Quibi.

What’s worse is that these new streaming services already have ways to tightly integrate with mobile devices or have partnerships allowing them to distribute their service to millions.

For example, [TechCrunch parent] Verizon is offering its mobile subscribers a free year of Disney+. Jeffrey Katzenberg’s mobile streaming service Quibi is partnering with T-Mobile. NBCU owner Comcast has its own mobile network, Xfinity Mobile, and HBO Max hails from AT&T’s WarnerMedia. And Apple, for now, is just giving away Apple TV+ for free to anyone who buys a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac.

That leaves Netflix without a competitive distribution strategy. And its only viable option to get similar global scale is Samsung, which had an 18.8% worldwide market share in Q4 2019 (in terms of shipments), compared with Apple’s 20%. Samsung also has solid distribution in key international markets where Netflix is seeing its strongest growth.

“We believe this significant partnership will provide millions of Samsung Mobile users across the globe the best mobile entertainment experience, and make discovering new stories around the world easier than ever,” said Lee-Joe.


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Google closes $2.6B Looker acquisition


When Google announced that it was acquiring data analytics startup Looker for $2.6 billion last June, it was a big deal on a couple of levels. It was a lot of money and it represented the first large deal under the leadership of Thomas Kurian. Today, the company announced that deal has officially closed and Looker is part of the Google Cloud Platform.

While Kurian was happy to announce that Looker was officially part of the Google family, he made it clear in a blog post that the analytics arm would continue to support multiple cloud vendors beyond Google.

“Google Cloud and Looker share a common philosophy around delivering open solutions and supporting customers wherever they are—be it on Google Cloud, in other public clouds, or on premises. As more organizations adopt a multi-cloud strategy, Looker customers and partners can expect continued support of all cloud data management systems like Amazon Redshift, Azure SQL, Snowflake, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and Teradata,” Kurian wrote.

As is typical in a deal like this, Looker CEO Frank Bien sees the much larger Google giving his company the resources to grow much faster than it could have on its own. “Joining Google Cloud provides us better reach, strengthens our resources, and brings together some of the best minds in both analytics and cloud infrastructure to build an exciting path forward for our customers and partners. The mission that we undertook seven years ago as Looker takes a significant step forward beginning today,” Bien wrote in his post.

At the time of the deal in June, the company shared a slide, which showed where Looker fits in what they call their “Smart Analytics Platform,” which provides ways to process, understand, analyze and visualize data. Looker fills in a spot in the visualization stack while continuing to support other clouds.

Slide: Google

Looker was founded in 2011 and raised over $280 million, according to Crunchbase. Investors included Redpoint, Meritech Capital Partners, First Round Capital, Kleiner Perkins, CapitalG and PremjiInvest. The last deal before the acquisition was a $103 million Series E investment on a $1.6 billion valuation in December 2018.


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I was a target of revenge porn. Here's how I fought back | Noelle Martin

I was a target of revenge porn. Here's how I fought back | Noelle Martin

A casual reverse-image search unleashed a nightmarish reality on Noelle Martin when she discovered her face edited into pornographic materials across the internet. Join Martin as she recounts years battling shadowy online figures to reclaim her identity, narrative and peace of mind -- and learn how she helped change Australian law. (This talk contains mature content.)

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

GameSnacks, from Google’s Area 120, brings fast, casual online games to developing markets


A new project called GameSnacks is launching today from Google’s in-house incubator, Area 120, with the goal of bringing fast-loading, casual online games to users in developing markets. Billions of people are coming online through mobile devices. But they’re often on low memory devices with expensive data plans and struggle with unreliable network connections. That makes web gaming inaccessible to millions, as the games aren’t optimized for these sorts of constraints.

Today, over half of mobile website visitors leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, but on low memory devices and 2G or 3G networks, a typical web game will load much more slowly — even triple or quadruple that load time, or worse.

The idea with GameSnacks is to speed up load time and performance of web games by reducing the size of the initially-loaded HTML page, compressing additional assets like scripts, images, and sounds, then waiting to load them until necessary.

GameSnacks says this allows its games to load in a few seconds even on network connections as slow as 500 Kbps.

For instance, A GameSnacks title called Tower is ready to play on a 1 GB RAM device over 3G within just a few seconds. A typical web game on that same device took as long as 12 seconds, the company claims.

In addition, GameSnacks’ games are simple, casual games that only last a few minutes. They’re meant to fill those idle moments you have when waiting line, waiting at the bus stop, or waiting for a doctor’s appointment to start, for example. The games are also designed to have straightforward rules so they can be learned without instructions.

While mobile may be a primary platform, GameSnacks’ games are also accessible on any web-capable device, including desktop computers with a keyboard and mouse. On mobile, both iOS and Android are supported.

At launch, GameSnacks is partnering with a leading technology platform in Southeast Asia, Gojek, which is bringing the new games to their ecosystem through the GoGames service. Initially, this partnership is focused on delivering games to users in Indonesia before expanding elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Currently, GameSnacks is working with developers including Famobi, Inlogic Games, Black Moon Design, Geek Games, and Enclave Games. Other HTML5 game developers who think their title may make sense in the GameSnacks catalog are encouraged to reach out.

GameSnacks’ business model will ultimately involve other partnerships that allow other developers to embed GameSnacks games into their own apps, even customized to feel native to that app’s experience.

Founded by Ani Mohan and Neel Rao, GameSnacks is a team of six working within Area 120 at Google, which is home to a variety of experimental ideas, including those in social networking, video, advertising, education, transit, business and more.


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GameSnacks, from Google’s Area 120, brings fast, casual online games to developing markets


A new project called GameSnacks is launching today from Google’s in-house incubator, Area 120, with the goal of bringing fast-loading, casual online games to users in developing markets. Billions of people are coming online through mobile devices. But they’re often on low memory devices with expensive data plans, and struggle with unreliable network connections. That makes web gaming inaccessible to millions, as the games aren’t optimized for these sorts of constraints.

Today, over half of mobile website visitors leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, but on low memory devices and 2G or 3G networks, a typical web game will load much more slowly — even triple or quadruple that load time, or worse.

The idea with GameSnacks is to speed up load time and performance of web games by reducing the size of the initially-loaded HTML page, compressing additional assets like scripts, images, and sounds, then waiting to load them until necessary.

GameSnacks says this allows its games to load in a few seconds even on network connections as slow as 500 Kbps.

For instance, A GameSnacks title called Tower is ready to play on a 1 GB RAM device over 3G within just a few seconds. A typical web game on that same device took as long as 12 seconds, the company claims.

In addition, GameSnacks’ games aren’t complicated — they’re simple, casual games that only last a few minutes. They’re meant to fill those idle moments you have when waiting line, waiting at the bus stop, or waiting for a doctor’s appointment to start, for example. The games are also designed to have straightforward rules so they can be learned without instructions.

While mobile may be a primary platform, GameSnacks’ games are also accessible on any web-capable device, including desktop computers with a keyboard and mouse. On mobile, both iOS and Android are supported.

At launch, GameSnacks is partnering with a leading technology platform in Southeast Asia, Gojek, which is bringing the new games to their ecosystem through the GoGames service. Initially, this partnership is focused on delivering games to users in Indonesia before expanding elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Currently, GameSnacks is working with developers including Famobi, Inlogic Games, Black Moon Design, Geek Games, and Enclave Games. Other HTML5 game developers who think their title may make sense in the GameSnacks catalog are encouraged to reach out.

GameSnacks’ business model will ultimately involve other partnerships that allow other developers to embed GameSnacks games into their own apps, even customized to feel native to that app’s experience.

Founded by Ani Mohan and Neel Rao, GameSnacks is a team of six working within Area 120 at Google, which is home to a variety of experimental ideas, including those in social networking, video, advertising, education, transit, business and more.

 


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Facebook Dating launch blocked in Europe after it fails to show privacy workings


Facebook has been left red-faced after being forced to call off the launch date of its dating service in Europe because it failed to give its lead EU data regulator enough advanced warning — including failing to demonstrate it had performed a legally required assessment of privacy risks.

Late yesterday Ireland’s Independent.ie newspaper reported that the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) had sent agents to Facebook’s Dublin office seeking documentation that Facebook had failed to provide — using inspection and document seizure powers set out in Section 130 of the country’s Data Protection Act.

In a statement on its website the DPC said Facebook first contacted it about the rollout of the dating feature in the EU on February 3.

“We were very concerned that this was the first that we’d heard from Facebook Ireland about this new feature, considering that it was their intention to roll it out tomorrow, 13 February,” the regulator writes. “Our concerns were further compounded by the fact that no information/documentation was provided to us on 3 February in relation to the Data Protection Impact Assessment [DPIA] or the decision-making processes that were undertaken by Facebook Ireland.”

Facebook announced its plan to get into the dating game all the way back in May 2018, trailing its Tinder-encroaching idea to bake a dating feature for non-friends into its social network at its F8 developer conference.

It went on to test launch the product in Colombia a few months later. And since then it’s been gradually adding more countries in South American and Asia. It also launched in the US last fall — soon after it was fined $5BN by the FTC for historical privacy lapses.

At the time of its US launch Facebook said dating would arrive in Europe by early 2020. It just didn’t think to keep its lead EU privacy regulator in the loop — despite the DPC having multiple (ongoing) investigations into other Facebook-owned products at this stage.

Which is either extremely careless or, well, an intentional fuck you to privacy oversight of its data-mining activities. (Among multiple probes being carried out under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, the DPC is looking into Facebook’s claimed legal basis for processing people’s data under the Facebook T&Cs, for example.)

The DPC’s statement confirms that its agents visited Facebook’s Dublin office on February 10 to carry out an inspection — in order to “expedite the procurement of the relevant documentation”.

Which is a nice way of the DPC saying Facebook spent a whole week still not sending it the required information.

“Facebook Ireland informed us last night that they have postponed the roll-out of this feature,” the DPC’s statement goes on.

Which is a nice way of saying Facebook fucked up and is being made to put a product rollout it’s been planning for at least half a year on ice.

The DPC’s head of communications, Graham Doyle, confirmed the enforcement action, telling us: “We’re currently reviewing all the documentation that we gathered as part of the inspection on Monday and we have posed further questions to Facebook and are awaiting the reply.”

“Contained in the documentation we gathered on Monday was a DPIA,” he added.

This begs the question why Facebook didn’t send the DPIA to the DPC on February 3 — unless of course this document did not actually exist on that date…

We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment — and to ask when it carried out the DPIA. Update: A Facebook spokesperson has now sent this statement:

It’s really important that we get the launch of Facebook Dating right so we are taking a bit more time to make sure the product is ready for the European market. We worked carefully to create strong privacy safeguards, and complete the data processing impact assessment ahead of the proposed launch in Europe, which we shared with the IDPC when it was requested.

We’ve asked the company why, if it’s “really important” to get the launch “right” it did not provide the DPC with the required documentation in advance — instead of the regulator having to send agents to Facebook’s offices to get it themselves. We’ll update this report with any response.

We’ve also asked the DPC to confirm its next steps. The regulator could ask Facebook to make changes to how the product functions in Europe if it’s not satisfied it complies with EU laws. So a delay may mean many things.

Under GDPR there’s a requirement for data controllers to bake privacy by design and default into products which are handling people’s information. (And a dating product clearly would be.)

While a DPIA — which is a process whereby planned processing of personal data is assessed to consider the impact on the rights and freedoms of individuals — is a requirement under the GDPR when, for example, individual profiling is taking place or there’s processing of sensitive data on a large scale.

Again, the launch of a dating product on a platform such as Facebook — which has hundreds of millions of regional users — would be a clear-cut case for such an assessment to be carried out ahead of any launch.


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Get Unlimited Access to Royalty-Free Stock Photos for $29 With Scopio


Eye-catching photos are an essential part of any design project. However, you can end up paying a small fortune just to download a few images. Scopio offers a much more affordable option. This extensive online library features authentic stock photography from contributors around the world, and members get unlimited access. Right now, you can get a lifetime subscription for just $29 at MakeUseOf Deals.

Unlimited Downloads

Many professional designers pay good money every month for access to stock images. But for entrepreneurs and freelancers, it’s difficult to justify this kind of outlay.

With Scopio, you can get creative without worrying about the bill. This stock library covers a vast range of subjects and styles, although the focus is on authentic storytelling. With contributors in 160 countries, the site also provides photography from around the globe.

As a member, you can download as many photos as you like on a royalty-free basis. The extended license includes emails, web pages, social media pages, decks, mobile apps, print media, advertisements, and templates. In other words, you can use these images just about anywhere.

Lifetime Access for $29

Lifetime access is worth $1,740, but you can grab your Scopio membership now for just $29 with this deal.

Read the full article: Get Unlimited Access to Royalty-Free Stock Photos for $29 With Scopio


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Google Adds 1,000 Wallpapers to Earth View


Google has added more than 1,000 new wallpapers to Earth View. The addition of 1,000 new images brings the total number available on Earth View to more than 2,500. Which, between them, offer a mindblowing bird’s-eye view of the planet on which we live.

What Is Google Earth View?

Google Earth View is “a collection of thousands of the planet’s most beautiful landscapes, seen from space”. Earth View has been around for more than a decade, and its images have been used as wallpapers and screensavers on a number of Google products.

The simplest way to check out the images is to visit the Earth View website. Here, you can view a map of the world, with each dot representing a satellite image. Click on a dot to view the image, and you can then download it (in resolutions up to 4K) or share it with others.

Google Adds 1,000 New Images to Earth View

As detailed in a post on The Keyword, Google has now added 1,000 new images to Earth View. This, the biggest update to Earth View so far, adds upgraded imagery from “more locations around the globe,” all “optimized for today’s high-resolution screens”.

Google has also upgraded Earth View by adding a color map. This is designed to “help you visualize the thousands of Earth View locations, and find a landscape featuring your favorite color.” So, you can find the perfect wallpaper to match your color scheme.

Gopal Shah, Product Manager of Google Earth, states that he hopes “this funny, little project […] moves us to care more deeply about this strange but kaleidoscopically beautiful planet.” And one look at Earth View will definitely leave an impression on you.

How to Download Wallpapers From Google Earth View

To be honest, it’s an eye-opener just to browse the Earth View gallery. However, we suspect most of you will want to download the images as wallpapers. Which is as easy as clicking the Download Wallpaper option which appears in the top-right of each image.

Once you have download a few wallpapers from Earth View, you can use Google Earth to create a virtual tour. While woefully underused, Google Earth’s creation tools allow you to tell a story using locations, with a skilled storyteller able to produce great results.

Read the full article: Google Adds 1,000 Wallpapers to Earth View


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Will Apple, Facebook or Microsoft be the future of augmented reality?


Apple is seen by some as critical to the future of augmented reality, despite limited traction for ARKit so far and its absence from smartglasses (again, so far). Yet Facebook, Microsoft and others are arguably more important to where the market is today.

While there are more AR platforms than just these companies, they represent the top of the pyramid for three different types of AR roadmap. And while startup insurgents could make a huge difference, big platforms can exert disproportionate influence on the future of tech markets. Let’s see what this could mean for the future of AR.

 

Facebook: The messaging play

Facebook has talked about its long-term potential to launch smartglasses, but in 2020, its primary presence in the AR market is as a mobile AR platform (note: Facebook is also a VR market leader with Oculus). Although there are other ways to define them, mobile AR platforms can be thought of as three broad types:

  1. messaging-based (e.g. Facebook Messenger, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Line)
  2. OS-based (e.g. Apple ARKit, Google ARCore)
  3. web-based (e.g. 8th Wall, Torch, others)

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