Apps

What apps are popular among today’s always-on and always-scrutinized youths?

Summer’s out, fall’s in — time to start knuckling down again. Just do it in a smart, mindful way.

Is Scout Alarm the home security solution for the next generation?

Spend a month with Automatic tracking your driving, and the app will tell you a lot.

Despite overflowing Twitter feeds, unending notification pings, busier schedules, and a lust for just getting to the point, there’s an opportunity for the podcast to tell stories worth paying attention to.

With this month’s introduction of iOS 8, SwiftKey — along with other alternative keyboards — have made their way over to the iPhone demographic. Suddenly, taking the words right out of one’s mouth is all the rage, but what’s it to you?

The next frontier for mobile devices and connected technology is all about the physical domain. Phrases like “smart home” and “the internet of things” are creeping into our collective vocabulary; can those lofty ideas really change your life?

Tracking your health and fitness with the help of smartphone apps and wearables is fun and motivating; auto insurers are now allowing drivers tracking options to prove their safety and save money.

Wearable tech is a growing and increasingly diverse market; they all track distance and calories, and most tell time. They all have their pitfalls — battery life, compatibility, reliability, size, price — but what determines the best device is your individual needs.

The ostensible benefit of smart watches and health trackers, as far as health goes, is that they allow you to monitor your calories, heart rate, and step count with previously unmatched accuracy.

With the debut of the iPhone 6 (and 6 Plus) came a nugget so substantial that it deserved its own introduction: Apple Pay.

Brent Stiefel and Mikael Mossberg didn’t know much about whiskey when they met up for drinks in May of 2011. Like many people navigating an ocean of Scotch and bourbon, they “were intimidated by folks with mustaches”, Stiefel says, but didn’t want to drain their bank accounts by buying every bottle to learn more about what they liked and what they didn’t.

Today in Gear: Oliberté’s new Gymano bag, a Box of American Awesome, Manis’s back armor, Oakley’s first foldable sunglasses, high-quality dog shampoo, and a sweet new photo doctoring app.

Your physical health is your smartphone’s next frontier.

Google just released a new “Material Design” standard for Android, which aims to decrease design fragmentation.

Consoles don’t provide much in the way of portability (anyone else ever own this masterpiece of engineering?), and grown men carrying Gameboys often attract the wrong kind of attention, but mobile games offer interactive experiences on the devices that most of us carry every day. They allow us a bit of serenity when we need it most — in the airport, on the subway, at a questionable mid-life Bris.

Gear Patrol’s guide to 16 great gadget gifts under $100.

Trash Krusher A few basic truths: you cannot change the past; the sun will rise tomorrow; trash is icky. Instead of using your foot to mash down your garbage — or worse, your hand — this manual trash compactor, integrated into the lid of a waste bin, does the dirty work for you.

The internet cognoscenti’s response to Google Reader’s shut-down announcement has been incredible. Yet the fact remains: as of July 1st, the longstanding browser-based RSS compiler with a social streak will be shuttered.

Qvivo is a new cloud media service startup that claims to succeed where most others have failed in offering a dream streaming solution for video and music fans with large digital libraries. Starting at $1.99 a month, Qvivo offers unlimited cloud storage for movies, tv shows and music that can then be streamed through any modern web browser.