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Uber's oft-criticized location tracking has been reined in with the arrival iOS 11, with Apple forcing app-makers to give more granular controls over privacy to users. The ride-sharing app always made use of location services on the iPhone to allow drivers to navigate to their pickup, of course, but that proved insufficient for Uber's appetites. In an update in 2016, Uber decided to restrict an existing location privacy option that iPhone users had previously been enjoying.

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It’s expected that Apple has no love for Android. Its very first Android app was, in fact, a tool to help Android users switch to iOS. It was almost a miracle that it would bring Apple Music to Android, and an even bigger miracle that it would implement big new features. And yet that’s exactly what happened in the latest update to Apple Music’s Android app which brings social features to the app and, again shocking, “OK Google” integration.

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Virtual reality is fun and entertaining but hardly useful when it comes to getting real-world things done, it isn’t of much help. At least with the current state of technology. In the meantime, however, users can have an approximation of productivity in virtual reality by having their non-gaming software brought before their eyes. That is exactly what the Samsung PhoneCast VR app is trying to do by making some “2D”, a.k.a. flat, regular, and boring apps, available on the Gear VR headset.

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There are some things that seem to be fated to go together, like cookies and cream, peanut butter and jelly, and driving and music. Driving and fiddling with your smartphone to play your favorite traveling tunes, however, isn’t one of those and, in some places, might even be illegal. That is why Waze and Spotify have teamed up earlier this year to give you both experiences in one app. Now that tag team is arriving on iOS so you can keep your eyes on the road and your ears on the music.

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With anything and everything becoming “smart” or, at the very least, getting connected to the Internet, there is no shortage of jokes about which thing will get smart next. Yes, that includes underwear. Don’t worry, this new “connected jersey” collab between the NBA and Nike isn’t yet at that level of absurdity. Because at the end of the day, the Nike NBA Jersey with NikeConnect is nothing but a fancy, and perhaps unnecessary, gimmick to quickly take you to your favorite team’s stats.

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There is now even less reason for Android users to root their device. That is, if their device already runs on Android 8.0 Oreo. As promised and hyped a few weeks ago, the folks behind the Substratum theme engine have come out with a new Andromeda add-on to take advantage of Oreo's newest hidden feature. And while the add-on does cost you more than a dollar, it might well be worth the price considering it lets you nearly completely theme your Oreo phone without rooting it first.

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Technology has made somethings so magical and so easy that we often take for granted how difficult they are to actually do. Like speeding up or slowing down a video. We have apps that let us do that anyway, so why can’t YouTube? The good news is that the engineers over at YouTube have finally solved the puzzle. The even better news is that this variable speed playback feature is finally available on mobile as well.

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Once upon a time, Outlook was the king of the desktop productivity hill. But in a predominantly mobile world, it was just one of the boys, and not a very big one at that. Making up for lost time, Microsoft has been aggressively pushing Outlook to once again become the be all and end all of e-mail clients, including on mobile. It started with what it calls “Add-ins” on iOS earlier this year, which is reaching Android shores at long last.

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You know those jokes about how people first go online and on social media in times of emergencies before they actually do something about said emergency? Well it’s time to turn that new habit on its head and actually make it useful. Florida governor Rick Scott urged residents to take advantage of apps like Gas Buddy, Google Maps, and Expedia to get the latest information on gas availability and road closures in preparing for hurricane Irma’s landfall. Of course, only before and after the storm, not during and especially not inside it.

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In the age of technology, health is fast becoming a priority. Devices like the Apple Watch lean into it as a means to encourage sales, and both Google and Apple have apps designed to quantify your well-being. They work, too; not only do you get a glimpse of your raw data points, you often get insight on how that looks over the course of weeks and months, and what trends your data is returning. The question I had was wether or not connected weight lifting equipment like the Bowflex SelectTech 560 can help me achieve goals.

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As open as the Pixel phones may be, Google has included a few features that, sometimes temporarily, remain exclusive to the device. One of those is the app launcher. Fortunately, thanks in part to Android’s open nature, there have been ways to use the Pixel Launcher, as it is commonly called, on other devices. Unfortunately, most of those ways require rooting a device, which may seem to much to ask just for an app launcher. That is where AmirZ’s Rootless Pixel Launcher comes in. And in version 2.0, actually now 2.1, users can get a foretaste of what it’s like to live in Android 8.0 Oreo.

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While Android is significantly more customizable than iOS in terms of appearance, for the most part, especially as far as stock Android is concerned, it’s still pretty limited. Users who love to tweak every icon, button, color, or font on their device have to hope their OEM allows for some sort of theming, use a ROM that does, or, worst case scenario, root their device to let third-party apps do their magic. Starting Android 8.0 Oreo, however, that might no longer be necessary, as Google seems to have included just enough hooks for the Substratum theming engine to work without rooting your device. With some caveats, of course.

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