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Are Dark Themes Really Better for Your Eyes and Battery?

The dark side isn’t just popular with megalomaniacal Jedi knights – it also has quite a following among everyday Internet users. Some people just like the vibe, while others use dark themes, specifically because they’re supposed to reduce eye strain and save battery. It makes intuitive sense: brighter lights seem to be a little rougher on the eyes, and white is a higher-energy color, so it probably uses more battery, right? As usual, though, reality is a little more complicated. While it’s true that darker colors use less energy to generate, not every type of screen is set up to take advantage of this. And… Read more

Dolby Atmos vs DTS:X – Which Is Better?

Just like video, sound comes in many flavors. Just like video, sound files can have different resolutions, bit-rates, and codecs. For high-end surround-sound configurations beyond 5.1, audio codec matters significantly. That determines how many speakers can be used and how those speakers are oriented towards the listener. Different codecs, like Dobly Atmos and DTS:X, have different surround-sound capabilities, supporting different types of hardware used in higher-end home theater systems. Related: DTS vs. Dolby Digital: What You Need to Know What Is Dolby Atmos? Dolby Atmos is a surround-sound standard that provides a three-dimensional surround-sound stage. Sounds come not just from the front, back and sides,… Read more

How an Accelerometer in a Smartphone Works to Track Your Movement

Out of all the components of a smartphone, the accelerometer probably holds the title for the most technologically fascinating, yet also underappreciated, gadget on the device. When you want a picture to be landscape or portrait on your phone, all you have to do is turn the phone in the direction you want, and the screen follows you. Have you ever wondered how the phone recognized that you had tilted the phone in that direction? Related: What You Need to Know About 360 Degree Photography In order to respond to the phone being rotated, it has to detect which way you’re moving it. An accelerometer… Read more

What Is Bluetooth 5.1 and How Is It Different?

There is always room for improvement when it comes to technology. Bluetooth is one of the many technologies that needs to improve. With the latest version it looks like it’s taking a step in the right direction. Bluetooth 5.1 is here, and even though the improvements it brings are not monumental, they will come in handy. Bluetooth 5.1 does have improvements you can be happy about, but it may be a while before you see it on the majority of the devices out there. While you wait, you can imagine all the things you can do with the new features. Related: How Does Bluetooth Work,… Read more

How Secure Is Your Stolen Encrypted Data?

Chances are that some of your data has been stolen. Ever use Yahoo? 3 billion Yahoo accounts were nabbed in 2013. Visit a Marriott hotel? 500 million Marriott accounts were stolen over four years, 2014 – 2018. Did you manage to somehow hang on to your old Hotmail address and edgy teenage spirit? 360 million MySpace accounts, hacked. Use MyFitnessPal? 150 million accounts. So what exactly did the hackers get? Every hack is different, but they almost definitely got your email address, user information, records of your activity on the site, and possibly much more damaging things. Good news, though: a lot of the most… Read more