Author: Press Room

A USB-C dongle unlocked audio quality my phone was hiding all along

Lossless audio is more accessible than ever, with streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music Unlimited offering access with low-cost monthly subscription services. Reaping the benefits of high-fidelity recordings is still tricky. Play lossless files through lossy means and introduce compression or resampling, and you’d miss out on their added detail. A cheap USB-C digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is all you need to get the best possible audio quality from your smartphone. To be clear, your phone already has a DAC. Depending on your smartphone model, that DAC might already support high-resolution lossless music playback. The issue lies…

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Everyone’s watching Netflix’s new Little House — but this adaptation is better

At the moment, one of the biggest new shows on Netflix is Little House on the Prairie, an adaptation of the popular children’s books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The show has gotten a mostly warm reception from both critics and audiences, but it’s not the only family-friendly literary adaptation on Netflix, nor is it the best. Little House on the Prairie and Anne With An ‘E’ have a lot in common But they’re different enough to both be worth your time The Little House on the Prairie books are a fictionalized account of author Laura Ingalls Wilder’s actual childhood growing…

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ChatGPT can now listen and talk at the same time, and that changes everything

Whenever I’m brainstorming ideas, I never stay on track. I start to branch out and often get sidetracked onto topics that have nothing to do with what I started off with. I used its search to find information faster and ChatGPT’s voice mode to expand on those ideas, but I couldn’t always interrupt it when I really needed to. It was a deal-breaker for me because I would need to ask it about what it had just said, and having to wait for it to finish made me forget my original question. However, on July 8, 2026, OpenAI released GPT-Live-1,…

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7 Plex apps everyone should try once

I’m always on the lookout for apps that enhance Plex, whether it’s fetching accurate metadata or organizing my library. In my search, these Plex apps won me over after just one interaction and have already become part of my go-to for each Plex installation. Amazon Alexa Photo by Josh Dollaghan — No attribution requiredCredit: Josh Dolloghan / MakeUseOf Controlling gadgets with your voice is good fun, especially if you have an army of smart home devices, so why not add Plex to that list? I know I lose the remote at least every other day, and having a hands-free backup to…

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This tiny iPhone browser is fighting back against AI – and I wish it was on every Apple device

I was a latecomer to the web compared to many tech nerds, having first encountered it at university. A tutor brought in his Mac, to which he connected a modem. It spent a short time making terrifying screeching noises, channeling ZX Spectrum games being loaded from tape while suggesting the very act of dialling in was tantamount to gadget torture. Then we were online. Things were simpler back then. Websites were basic. Many search engines were hand-crafted directories. I searched for my favourite band, Wire. That generic word returned a mere few dozen results. There was no AI rubbish – which brings me neatly to Quiche.…

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Plex, Jellyfin, and Kodi all fix the same TV problem, but I’d only recommend one

Growing up at the end of the last century, I had acquired a healthy DVD collection before streaming services came along, and all my favorite movies and TV shows were scattered across countless platforms. Media servers let me bring everything together in one place, so Plex, Jellyfin, and Kodi all solved that problem, but after using each of them, there’s one I think gets the balance of features, convenience, and aesthetics just right. What problem are Plex, Jellyfin, and Kodi actually solving? Local media libraries still have a place alongside streaming services Credit: Jack Mitchell/MakeUseOf Whether your movie collection is ripped…

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The saddest, funniest spy show ever made is buried on Prime Video

Between shows like The Night Agent, Jack Ryan, and the excellent Slow Horses, TV doesn’t lack for spy dramas. But there’s practically nothing out there like Patriot, a wildly underappreciated two-season drama that is sitting and waiting on Prime Video to be rediscovered. It’s a comedy, it’s a drama, it’s a James Bond movie if James Bond were a lot more easily distracted. You’ve gotta see it to believe it. Patriot is a different kind of spy show With a very different kind of spy Patriot is about John Tavner (Michael Dorman), a spy working for the U.S. government. He’s…

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How can this lightweight outdoor jacket fabric still keep you warm?  

A lot of outdoor jackets and other apparel uses technology, insulation, and coatings from other companies – think Gore-Tex’s waterproofing, Vibram’s outsoles or PrimaLoft’s insulation. Now US and China-based PrimaLoft is back with a brand new synthetic fabric technology – PrimaLoft Active Evolve – designed to be used for various garments used for outdoor physical activity, whether skiing, hiking or climbing. The fabric – mostly developed from post-consumer recycled material –  is now appearing in products from names such as Rab, Quiksilver and Sprayway. Crucially, the fabric is designed to be as lightweight as possible yet still keep you warm…

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How to use Action mode on your iPhone to capture ultra-smooth video without a gimbal

If you have a newer Apple phone in your pocket, you’ve got a bunch of excellent cameras in easy reach. They’re superb for stills, but also take fantastic video footage, and iPhone Action Mode is a big reason why. Action Mode was introduced in the iPhone 14 series, and is meant to prevent your vids from being ruined by shaky hands. The digital image stabilisation tech helps keep those otherwise blurry frames from Saturday night looking clean and crisp – which may not be a good thing, depending on what you got up to. To get smoother shots, follow our…

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How to watch the World Cup final, wherever you are

The biggest game in global football is almost here: Spain versus Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final. Whether you’re hosting a viewing party, hunting for the best streaming service showing the match or – let’s be honest – desperately skimming this article 10 minutes before kick-off as you look for a way to watch it, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, wherever you happen to be. Sponsored: Get a great deal with Proton VPN Proton VPN is a fast, secure and private VPN service that lets…

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