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Conventional Positional Tracking There have been many different approaches to positional tracking for VR, but when we refer to “conventional” positional tracking, it’s in reference to the modern VR revolution, starting around the mid-2010s, rather than the early virtual reality days of the late 80s or early 90s. The original Oculus Rift was at the vanguard of this new generation of VR headsets. Built on technologies developed for smartphones, the Rift contained sensors that allow for finely grained detection of rotation and lateral movement....

Microsoft has released Windows 11 Build 22449 to the Dev channel, and it brings the usual slew of tweaks and changes. One that stands out is a change to the SMB compression behavior that’ll speed up local network file transfers. Windows 11 Build 22449 Tweaks SMB Compression There are many small changes and bug fixes introduced with this update (and probably some new bugs that’ll be introduced), but what causes our attention is the Server Message Block (SMB) compression behavior change....

Microsoft is taking the browser wars to the extreme. First, the company said that it would block all default browser workarounds in Windows, and now it has done it in the latest Windows update. We knew this day would come, but we weren’t sure exactly when Microsoft would drop the update that blocks workarounds like those used by Mozilla, Brave, and EdgeDeflector. As it turns out, Microsoft slipped the update into the final patch Tuesday of 2021 for both Windows 10 and Windows 11....

Instagram has added the ability for users to share stories with only a specific subset of people, rather than just anyone who follows them. Users simply create a “Close Friends” list and then choose to only share certain stories with that group of people. To access the feature, go to your profile in the Instagram app and select “Close Friends List” in the side menu. From there, you can add your closest friends to the list....

RELATED: How to Watch the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Play Video This beloved Peanuts special has been a staple of broadcast and cable TV since it premiered on CBS in 1973, and as of 2021, it’s streaming on Apple TV+ exclusively. It features some classic “good grief!” moments for hapless kid Charlie Brown, including once again having a football snatched away by his friend Lucy just as he’s about to kick it....

Apple used a wallpaper image of two clownfish in green anemone in many promotional materials for the original iPhone, and it was the wallpaper when Steve Jobs first showed off the iPhone on stage at MacWorld 2007. Of course, the wallpaper was only on the lock screen — the iPhone didn’t get home screen wallpapers for another few years. Even though the wallpaper was already iconic, it wasn’t actually included as an option on the iPhone....

The iPhone SE is a mesh of both current and past iPhones. Basically, you get the form factor (which includes a Touch ID fingerprint sensor) of the iPhone SE (2020) and the brains and processing power of the top-of-the-line iPhone 13. It’s the best of both worlds if you’re not looking for the cutting edge. Unfortunately, Apple had to cut corners to keep the phone’s price below $500. This means you’ll miss out on camera performance, a high-definition display, and other features found on other mid-tier and budget smartphones....

Energy companies, such as CPS Energy, have started programs to help incentivize cutting down on A/C usage for brief periods. This follows the devastating 2021 winter storm that left Texas with several fatalities, days of freezing temperatures, and a major power grid outage. Today we’ll take a look at what these energy companies are doing and why. Wifi Thermostat Rewards CPS Energy has initiated a “Wifi Thermostat Rewards” program that pays consumers an $85 flat rate when they register their eligible smart thermostats....

When asked to confirm with a pop-up, click “Archive Order.” In the pop-up menu that appears, click “Account.” In “Your Account,” click “Archived orders.” In Archived Orders, scroll through and locate the archived order that you’d like to reveal. Click the “Unarchive Order” link located just below it. After that, the formerly archived order will appear at its proper place in your chronological order history again. Good luck, and happy shopping!...

Who says Microsoft Outlook and Google Chrome can’t play nice? With the new Outlook extension for Google Chrome, you can get all kinds of convenient Outlook features without switching tabs. You can even get notifications when a new email arrives. Desktop email clients aren’t for everyone, but the nice thing you get with them is notifications as soon as a new email arrives. Now, if you’re an Outlook user, you can get notifications and many other features with a free official Chrome extension that Windows Central first spotted....

Google Drive is getting a nice new update that’ll make it so you can get access to all different types of files when you’re offline. No longer are you limited to accessing just Google Drive files in your browser, as now you can access just about anything you put in your Drive. In a blog post, Google said, “Google Drive stores your most important files, whether they are Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDFs, images or the hundreds of other file types we support today....

Hackers aren’t inherently bad — the word “hacker” doesn’t mean “criminal” or “bad guy.” Geeks and tech writers often refer to “black hat,” “white hat,” and “gray hat” hackers. These terms define different groups of hackers based on their behavior. The definition of the word “hacker” is controversial, and could mean either someone who compromises computer security or a skilled developer in the free software or open-source movements. Black Hats Black-hat hackers, or simply “black hats,” are the type of hacker the popular media seems to focus on....

If you live in a really congested network area like an apartment complex, you might want to change your Wi-Fi channel to something different than the default to try and get a better signal. Here’s how to do that for Verizon FIOS. To login to your Wi-Fi router, open up a browser and go to 192.168.1.1 and then login with the password located on the sticker on the router itself....

RELATED: How to Clean Your Dirty Smartphone (Without Breaking Something) How to Clean a Rubber and Plastic Mousepad If you have a basic rubber or plastic coated mousepad, cleaning is surprisingly easy. Most of the time a damp cloth will be enough to dislodge any grime and oil, though you can use a small amount of dish soap to help things along if need be. You can then dry the surface with a clean, soft cloth and get back to playing....

The Outlook client comes with several different panes that you can show and hide. Each of these panes is designed to make it easier to find, see, and manage things in Outlook. We’re going to take a look at how you access them, and how you can customize them to your way of working, starting with the Navigation pane. Customize the Favorites Section The Navigation pane—also known as the Folder pane—is the one on the left-hand side that shows folders like Inbox and Sent Items, as well as any shared mailboxes or groups....

Uninstall a Game on PS4 When it comes to deleting games on PS4, you have two methods to choose from. If you want to quickly delete a game, you can do so from your console’s main screen. The other method lets you view your games’ sizes and also allows you to delete multiple games at once. In either situation, your game saves and progress will not be deleted. We’ll show you both methods....

Booting Windows 10 in safe mode is a good idea if you can’t start Windows 10 normally, and you need to do some troubleshooting. Here’s how to get out of safe mode when you’re finished and want to use your PC normally. What Is Safe Mode? Safe mode is essentially a troubleshooting service. If you’re using unstable hardware drivers that cause you to see the blue screen of death or if you’ve been infected with malware, launching Windows 10 in safe mode allows you to boot up your PC to get to the root cause of the problem....

If you’re wanting to diagnose a problem you’re having with your Windows 11 PC, or if you need your administrator’s help, a good place to start is by exporting a list of currently-running processes for investigation. You can use Task Manager to view a list of currently running processes. The problem is that there is no way to export that list directly from Task Manager. To do that, you’ll need to use Command Prompt....

How to Find the Xbox Series X|S Serial Number Using the Console If you have the Xbox Series X|S with you, there are two easy methods to check the serial number. The simplest way is through the software. So, go ahead and boot up your Xbox Series X|S and open “Settings” on the console. In case you’re not sure how to find Settings on your console, press the Xbox button on the controller to open the sidebar....

RELATED: LibreOffice vs. Microsoft Office: How Does It Measure Up? Get the Microsoft Office Tabbed Ribbon on LibreOffice First, let’s get that classic ribbon at the top of the screen with tabs you can switch between like Home, Insert, Layout, etc. Open any LibreOffice app (we’ll be using Writer in our example), and from the top menu click View > User Interface. Here you’ll see several options. You probably want to choose “Tabbed” to get the tabbed view with large icons....