Patent open source

That led us to notice something else. Assuming the antenna has a signal booster powered through USB, you may run into an issue where there’s not enough slack. For instance, the USB port on the Dual HDMI is purely for external storage and is not a power source, so we had to use the one on the TV itself. The cable for our Mohu antenna forks into the coaxial and USB extensions, but each of them has to be plugged into separate devices — coaxial into the Tablo unit, USB into the TV. For a wall-mounted TV, this made for an awkward setup because of how short the cable was. We tried using a USB extender cable to make up the difference, only to then lose the booster’s power. … [Read more...] about Nuvyyo Tablo Dual HDMI OTA DVR review: Simple and direct

Things are a bit different at this year’s all-virtual CES. However, German startup SmartNanotubes Technologies is on hand (at least, via cyberspace) to make sure that olfactory senses are well represented. The innovative startup has created what it calls the Small Inspector, a multichannel smell-detection chip that could be used to give your home’s smart devices a sensitive schnozz. … [Read more...] about This artificial ‘nose on a chip’ can sniff out wine, coffee, and noxious gas

The Continental GT is as comfortable as your living room, but it still goes like a sports car. Base models get a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 making 542 hp and 568 pound-feet of torque, but Bentley also offers a 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 with 626 hp and 664 pound-feet. The W12 version will do zero to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and has a top speed of 207 mph, according to Bentley. That’s pretty good for a two-door convertible that weighs as much as most SUVs. … [Read more...] about The best convertibles

One of the best things about owning an Android phone is being able to choose your default apps. If you’ve ever opened a file or an internet link with a certain app, and you chose Always when prompted, then that type of file will be opened with that app every time, saving you from tapping that app every time, and reclaiming some precious time. But what happens if you’re the indecisive type or if you suddenly find a better app you’d like to use as your default? … [Read more...] about How to reset default apps in Android

Take a look in Settings > Network & Internet > Data Usage and tap any app to view its Background Data. From there, you can prevent apps from using mobile data to sync in the background, though they will still use Wi-Fi when it’s available. If you have Android 6.0 Marshmallow or above, you can go to Settings > Privacy > Permission Manager. Take a look at permissions like Location and decide whether all those apps really need that permission. Revoking some permissions can reduce background activity for some apps, but in other cases it might stop the app from working or lead to crashes. For apps designed for older versions of Android you may get a warning about denying permissions, but you can always come back and grant them again if you encounter a problem. Do not use task manager apps. They can cause more problems than they solve and rarely deliver the promised performance boosts. You’re essentially installing and running yet another app to temporarily stop … [Read more...] about How to stop apps from running in the background in Android