Get the iMac-inspired Elago W4 Apple Watch Stand for just $11

There’s no shortage of chargers for the Apple Watch, but the Elago W4 is a bit different. It pairs your existing Apple Watch charger with a retro-inspired shell, to add a bit of fun to your desk or bedstand. Now you can pick one up for $10.99, a discount of $14 from the original price and $2 below the previous cost.

The Elago W4 wraps around an existing Apple Watch charging pad, and is modeled after the iconic Apple iMac G3. Your Apple Watch screen appears where the iMac’s screen is, and two colors are available that vaguely match some of the transparent plastic styles of the iMac G3 — Aqua Pink and Aqua Blue. It works with all Apple Watch models, and looks great when paired with the Apple Watch’s Nightstand Mode.

Elago W4 Apple Watch Stand

This stand is designed like the classic iMac G3 computer, and uses an existing Apple Watch charging pad.

Buy at Amazon

There are no actual electronics in the stand, and it’s made from scratch-free silicone, so it won’t scratch your Apple Watch or move around on a surface. In short, the Elago W4 is a fun way to decorate anywhere you keep your Apple Watch plugged in. However, it will not add Mac OS 9 compatibility to your Apple Watch, which is a shame.

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YouTube TV completes deal to keep NBC channels with no price hike

The past few days in the TV industry have been a whirlwind, as Google and NBCUniversal fought over terms to renew YouTube TV’s access to NBC channels. Thankfully, after the public finger-pointing that usually comes from carriage disputes, both companies have come to an agreement that will keep NBC channels on YouTube TV with no added cost to subscribers.

“We’re thrilled to share that we have now reached an agreement with NBCUniversal,” YouTube TV said in a series of tweets. “You’ll continue to have access to 85+ channels, including all NBCU channels, their Regional Sports Networks, and your local NBC station, with no change to our current monthly price. We know how important NBCUniversal’s content is to you, and we’ve valued your patience while negotiating to keep their channels on our platform. Thank you for your ongoing membership while we work to build you the best possible streaming experience.”

Earlier reports claimed that NBCUniversal asked YouTube TV to bundle Peacock, the company’s streaming service, with YouTube TV subscriptions as part of its renewal deal with NBC. However, Peacock access wouldn’t be free — it would have increased the already-high cost of a YouTube TV subscription. NBC eventually gave up on that demand, but negotiations were ongoing, and YouTube TV said it would lower its monthly cost from $65 to $55 if it permanently lost access to NBC channels.

Now that a deal has been reached, and there’s no price increase, this seems to be a happy ending for YouTube TV subscribers. You should probably still get a TV antenna, though.

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This Week in Tech: Buggy iPhones, Windows 11, Amazon announcements, and more

The past week has been a bit quiet in the world of tech, though that’s because it was the calm before the storm of next week’s Android 12 and Windows 11 launches. Ahead of those OS launches, we’ve seen both Google and Microsoft continue to build up to the launches with new software updates. On top of that, we’ve seen some problematic iPhones, a plethora of Amazon hardware announcements, and, the biggest news, a hands-on of Android 12.1 — before Android 12 is even here. If you missed any of our coverage, here’s a brief recap of all the significant developments in the tech world this week.

Hands-on with Android 12.1

We got our first hands-on with Android 12.1 this week, and it has a lot of features exclusive to large screen devices like foldable phones. Given that Android 12 isn’t even out yet, this is a pretty big deal. It’s possible that Google plans to release its upcoming Pixel Fold device soon with this new OS version and all the new foldable features therein, but we don’t know when Google plans to launch the Pixel Fold nor do we know when Google plans to release Android 12.1.

New iPhone bugs and problems

The iPhone 13 series has been plagued with issues since its release, though most of them will likely be fixed soon. While there have been smaller issues where users couldn’t use the “unlock with Apple Watch” feature, for example, that’s not all there was. Some iPhone 13 users had trouble connecting to Verizon’s 5G UW network, and third-party apps couldn’t properly make use of the 120Hz display rate on the iPhone 13 Pro series out-of-the-box. The most troubling of all, though, was the discovery that, even when replacing the display with official hardware, a third-party screen replacement completely disables face ID on the iPhone 13.

Windows 11 updates

Microsoft is preparing for the full release of Windows 11, which will also arrive next week. In preparation, Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 build 22468 with VPN setting improvements. As well, you can now remove recent searches when hovering over the search icon. The rest of the changelog was pretty much just comprised of fixes.

The company also recently showed off the new Windows 11 media player… albeit accidentally, so they attempted to hide it. Since this is the Internet, that was obviously never going to work. The new app was simply titled “Media Player” and had the option to shuffle the current playlist or skip tracks. These aren’t common features to see in a video player, so it’s possible that Microsoft is unifying the video and music player experiences in Windows 11. We’ll find out next week, though.

Source: Windows Latest

We also saw the company roll out a new Paint app for Windows 11 Insiders. Microsoft is calling this a “modern spin on the classic app”, and that basically sums it up. With Windows 11, Paint is getting its first proper visual overhaul in a long, long time. It’s adding things like rounded corners and Mica. There’s also a new toolbar, new icons, and dropdown menus for brushes. Sure, it’s mostly a visual refresh, but it’s an app that a lot of people have used over the years.

In a surprising move that might have been influenced by the Epic Games v. Apple/Google kerfuffle, Microsoft has announced that third-party web browsers and app stores can be served in the Microsoft store. You read that right; third-party app stores (so, the likes of the Epic Games Store) can be distributed through the Microsoft Store. In other craziness too, the company announced a lot of new Skype features, which is surprising as I’m sure many people thought that the company had abandoned the video calling platform in favor of Microsoft Teams. Speaking of Teams, Teams Phone also got a handful of new features for more modernized calling.

A bunch of Amazon product announcements

Amazon announced a ton of new products, the craziest of which is the Amazon Astro robot that follows you around your house. It costs $999 right now but will be priced at $1,449.99 in the future. Yeah, yikes. Apparently, it might not even be worth the price as rumors suggest it likes to throw itself down the stairs at any given opportunity.

The company launched a few other products, too, including:

• Amazon’s Echo Show 15 is a giant smart display you can hang on the wall
• Amazon’s new smart thermostat and video doorbell are cheap options for smart home beginners
• Amazon’s Ring Alarm Pro is a hub for Ring cameras and an Eero Wi-Fi 6 all-in-one

Google app and feature updates

Google has been working on many things recently. From new Personal Safety app features to a brand-new search widget for Google Maps, there’s been quite a lot. The company also held its annual Search On conference, where it announced AI improvements for both Google Lens and Google Search. You can check out some of the other Google-related announcements below.

• Google Chrome gets Drive suggestions on its new tab page
• You can now use animated backgrounds on Google Meet for Android
• Use the new Google Illustrations tool to create a custom Gmail profile picture
• Overcome language barriers with Live translated captions in Google Meet
• You can now add image watermarks in Google Docs

Other stories you should read

Along with these noteworthy announcements, we shared the following stories that you might have missed:

• Nintendo basically denies that it’s making a 4K Switch Pro
• Some Samsung phones can now be used as a car key, but support is limited
• iPad Mini 6 owners report experiencing the infamous jelly scrolling effect
• NBC’s fight with YouTube TV is why everyone should have a TV antenna
• Found a lost AirTag? Be careful when you scan it
• Samsung removes ads from Samsung Pay & Samsung Health, more to follow
• Here’s how much the Google Pixel 6 could cost
• The FCC is finally stepping in to fight SIM swapping scams
• USB-C cables and devices will soon show how fast they can charge

XDA’s thoughts on the latest hardware and software

Additionally, we published our hands-on of the Vivo X70 Pro Plus, a hands-on with Android 12 Developer Preview 2 on the OnePlus 9 Pro, and more.

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: Camera Shootout and Comparison
• Hands-on with Android 12 DP 2 on the OnePlus 9 Pro: OxygenOS makes way for ColorOS
• Vivo X70 Pro+ First Impressions: Flagship Cameras to watch out for
• Flexispot Kana Pro Bamboo Standing Desk review: Standing desks are the new staple in my life

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This app brings back the more useful power menu from Android 11 on Android 12 devices

Android’s power menu has seen a fair few design changes over the years. Unless you follow a tech blog like XDA, the changes are a bit hard to keep track of — at least before the Android 11 update — mainly because this is one area that OEMs customize to suit their own design aesthetic.

In Android 11, Google decided to add smart home automation shortcuts to the power menu through the Device Controls API in a bid to make the smartphone the hub for your smart home. The upcoming Android 12 update, however, replaces that nifty power menu with a more minimal one to make way for the “Hold for (Google) Assistant” feature. If you’re looking for a way to reinstate Android 11’s feature-rich power menu on Android 12, check out Classic Power Menu, an app that not only lets you restore Device Controls and Quick Access Wallet but also customize the power menu to your liking.

Created by Kieron Quinn, also known on our forums as XDA Recognized Developer Quinny899, Classic Power Menu is a versatile power menu replacement for devices running Android 11 and up. The app lets you customize the stock power menu of your device in several different ways. For example, you can add buttons for taking a screenshot, rebooting to recovery, and rebooting to the bootloader interface alongside the Device Controls module or the Quick Access Wallet feature. It is also possible to theme the power menu using Material You‘s wallpaper-based theming system (codenamed “monet“) and background blur.

Keep in mind that Classic Power Menu requires root access to run. The regular version of the app uses Android’s Accessibility Service to intercept the power button pressing event, which means you may face a slight delay or even briefly see the stock power menu before the custom power menu shows up. In order to avoid these shortcomings, the developer has come up with an optional Xposed module that can react quicker than the Accessibility Service.

If you are interested in changing the look of your power menu, check out the app thread below. Classic Power Menu itself is open source, and the source code is available on the developer’s GitHub profile.

Classic Power Menu: Download ||| XDA Discussion Thread

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Google shuts down its Plex banking service before it even launches

Google has walked away from Plex, its program that aimed to pitch bank accounts to users of Google Pay. Announced two years ago, the idea of the service was that users of Google Pay could sign up for advanced checking accounts and debit cards at a number of partnered financial institutions. These were called Plex accounts and were pitched on the basis of not charging monthly or overdraft fees, while also offering a combined Google and bank dashboard. To put it simply: Google provided the tech, banks provided the financial services.

In the report from The Wall Street Journal, a Google spokeswoman said the company would now focus primarily on “delivering digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services.”

Plex was announced in 2020, alongside the new Google Pay app. It would have pitched Google Pay as a direct competitor to other digital-first banks like Curve, Revolut, and N26. It was said to partner with nine partner banks, and they would be free to open. They even opened their waiting list, which had swelled to around 400,000 people. It was particularly a big deal to smaller banks that didn’t have a strong digital presence, and Plex would have helped to level the playing field. Citigroup was one such smaller bank, and a Citigroup spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal that the bank would look for other ways to work with Google in the future.

It’s been clear for a while now that not everything is okay in the Google Pay camp. The team has reportedly been seeing an exodus of talent in recent months, with payments lead Caesar Sengupta departing in April. Sengupta was also the architect of the Plex project, though he was later replaced by Bill Ready, previously Chief Operating Officer at PayPal. Ready was concerned Plex would make other banks think Google was attempting to compete with them. People familiar with the matter also told The Wall Street Journal that banking regulators supported Plex and had no part to play in its demise.

Many banks were still under the impression that the project was moving ahead. As recently as last Monday, BM Technologies said its Plex accounts would arrive in late 2021 or 2022. “Google and BMTX are excited about this opportunity and are committed to this partnership,” the banking platform said in an email to The Wall Street Journal at the time.

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With the iPhone 13 here, here’s what we want to see from Apple’s Mac event

Apple revealed the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max in September, during its California Streaming event. The new iPhones, which run iOS 15, were announced along with the iPad Mini 6th Gen and the affordable iPad 9th Gen. We had higher hopes for Apple’s annual iPhone event as we also wanted to see a redesigned Apple Watch 7, but that didn’t pan out exactly how we wanted it to. So here’s what we want to see from the Mac event later this year.

AirPods 3rd Gen

The rumored AirPods 3rd Gen was what I was looking forward to the most during the earlier iPhone event. I won’t be upgrading my iPhone this year, and I had a dying pair of old wireless earphones. I desperately needed to replace those with the latest redesigned AirPods. So they were the highlight I was waiting for the whole time, only to be disappointed by the end of the event — the AirPods 3rd Gen didn’t make it through.

I couldn’t wait any longer. So I ended up buying a pair of AirPods Pro, mostly because I wanted ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) support. While I personally no longer have my eyes set on the yet-to-be-released AirPods 3rd Gen, we still want to see them announced during the upcoming Mac event. The current AirPods 2nd Gen were released back in March 2019 — that’s over two and a half years ago. A refresh is long overdue at this point.

The good news is that the eventual release will be worth it. According to previous leaks from reliable sources, the redesign will bring a fresh appearance to the table, inspired by the AirPods Pro design. The AirPods 3rd Gen will feature shorter stems but still won’t have silicone tips or ANC.

macOS 12 Monterey

Apple released iOS 15 to the public almost a week after the California Streaming event. This stable release comes after around three months of beta testing. iOS 15 was first announced in the opening WWDC21 keynote in June, alongside macOS 12 Monterey, tvOS 15, watchOS 8, and iPadOS 15. All of the mentioned Apple operating system versions have been released to the public by now, except for one — macOS 12 Monterey.

At this point in time, it’s not unusual for Apple to release the latest major macOS version months after other OS versions. After all, macOS is the most complex operating system across the company’s devices. And almost all Apple users agree that a delayed, stable release is preferred over a rushed, buggy one. After all, impatient — or enthusiastic — users could always get their hands on the latest software through Apple’s developer or public beta programs.

Last year, Apple released macOS 11 Big Sur in November, two months after the release of iOS 14. It came with a design overhaul, the biggest macOS has seen in a very long time. So we can safely assume that Apple is going to at least announce a specific release date for the next big stable release — macOS 12 Monterey — during the Mac event.

MacBook Pro

We’re almost certain that Apple will be revealing an all-new MacBook Pro 2021 during the Mac event sometime in October. This latest model is expected to have more ports, a MagSafe charging port, colorful finishes, a white keyboard, and more. The upgraded MacBook Pro will most likely be powered by the Apple M1X chip, a mightier and more energy-efficient System-on-Chip (SoC).

What we’re excited about the most is the refreshed external body that has been almost identical for the past few years. While I’m not a big fan of the rumored white keyboard, it’s going to be interesting to see how Apple executes this one. Coupled with the new colorful finishes, it might look decent after all. We’ll find out sooner rather than later!

Mac Mini

We’ve been hearing rumors about a redesigned Mac Mini for a while now. This latest compact desktop computer is expected to have more ports and run on the Apple M1X chip, too. This comes in addition to a general outer redesign. We don’t know a lot of details regarding this upcoming model in particular, but we really want Apple to announce it during the Mac event.

Just like the MacBook’s Pro and Air, the Mac Mini hasn’t received a significant external refresh in many years. It will be intriguing seeing what Apple has in store for us and whether those changes are going to be as significant as we want them to be.

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The last Mac event was held back in November 2020. So we can expect the upcoming one to be around late October or November this year. It’s still unclear whether we will be seeing everything on our wishlist announced, but we can hope. We also don’t know if Apple has any other potential upgrades or announcements in store. We’ll have to wait until the event officially streams.

What are you excited to hear about most during the Mac event? Is there a potential product or service upgrade you have in mind that we haven’t mentioned? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Here’s how to unlock the OnePlus Factory mode and access it without root

Android power users often find some odd system APKs pre-installed on their phone that, at first glance, seem to be OEM bloatware. However, some of these apps could be pretty handy as they provide you a set of diagnostic tests to run on your phone. After all, when you send a phone to the manufacturer for servicing, the technicians need testing tools to properly assess the state of the device in order to find out the faulty component(s). The average user can also access a handful of these diagnostic apps by typing the appropriate secret code from the stock dialer app. OnePlus is one brand that comes to mind in this context, as the OEM even offered a downloadable battery health check tool to its users.

OnePlus is famous among tinkerers for having a rich collection of diagnostic tools beyond the battery health checker. As a matter of fact, earlier builds of OxygenOS on devices like the OnePlus 3, 3T, and OnePlus 5 shipped with an extremely low-level diagnostic testing application called “EngineerMode,” which could be exploited to grant root access without unlocking the bootloader. Later on, OnePlus removed the exploitable debugging code, renamed the app to “FactoryMode” (package name: com.oneplus.factorymode), and subsequently blocked its usual execution routine. As a result, you can’t simply launch it by dialing *#808# anymore.

Interface of the “FactoryMode” app

XDA’s modding community has come to the rescue, though. XDA Senior Member jamal2367 created a Magisk module that enables users to bypass the restriction on the fly and access the powerful Factory Mode app using the *#808# secret code. XDA Senior Member antnyhills, on the other hand, came up with a rather straightforward bypass method that involves editing the config file of the app. There’s just one tiny problem: Both methods require root access. Users without root access could try sideloading an older build of the Engineering Mode app on top of the factory-installed one, but those don’t always play nice with newer OxygenOS releases.

Fortunately, XDA Senior Member AndroPlus has finally been able to solve the final piece of the puzzle. According to them, OnePlus hides the “FactoryMode” app behind a unique unlock code for every smartphone they produce. The unlock code is derived from the primary IMEI of a OnePlus device. After deciphering how it’s generated, AndroPlus wrote an unlock code generator that can unlock access to the Factory Mode app.

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How to unlock OnePlus Factory Mode (also known as Engineering Mode)

Warning: Be careful using OnePlus Factory Mode/Engineering Mode. There are many low-level tools and tests here that users aren’t meant to access, so you should only do this if you are aware of the risks and know what you’re doing.

Note: Keep in mind that the web-based unlocker doesn’t store your device’s IMEI. That being said, the IMEI of your device is a pretty sensitive piece of information, so don’t blindly share it with anyone.

1. Dial *#06# to open up the IMEI information screen on your OnePlus device. Then, long press on the IMEI 1 field to copy it.
2. Open the unlock code generator by clicking on this link and paste the IMEI in the blank field.
3. Press “CONVERT” to get the unlock code.
4. Dial *#*#5646#*#* on your phone. You should see a screen that prompts you to scan a QR code. Press the back button so that you can access the code input field.
5. Enter the unlock code in the field and press the “OK” button.
   
6. If everything goes right, you should see the following screen:
   
7. Voila! Now you can access Factory Mode by dialing *#808# or *#36446337#.

Some older devices (e.g. the OnePlus 7 series) can’t take a permanent unlock code. For them, the unlocker offers a special mode named “Unlock for 10 minutes.” The resulting code can unlock access to the Factory Mode app for a period of 10 minutes. After that, you have to regenerate the code.

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How often do you use the Factory Mode diagnostic suite on your OnePlus smartphone? Let us know in the comments below!

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