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Some of us have been problems with verizon-locked phones (some, not all). Well, here is the solution, posted so many yrs ago by someone's who had this issue and solved it. All the credit is for "spire" user in Verizon Communities You may have experienced something similar to an issue that is a problem for some U.S. SIM Free iPhone 6/6s owners wanting to use their phones internationally. This problem is still going on and relatively unknown until people experience it. It appears to be an issue with iPhone 6/6s models that were offered as "Service Replacement" phones by Apple and assigned an "incorrect policy" from Apple's servers. (See below.) The error occurs when the Apple Server tries to validate the iPhone's IMEI number, there is a lack of synchronization between the databases of Verizon Wireless and Apple servers. The phones will work with U.S. domestic carriers but not with international SIMs when the user receives a "SIM Not V...

we’ve shown you how to unlock hidden functionality within applications on numerous occasions, such as with Facebook Messenger internals or Google Allo secret features. Today we’re here to share how to access more hidden features— including Twitter’s upcoming “Tweetstorm” feature! A tweetstorm is a series of tweets posted in rapid succession by the same user. Rather than planning how to separate your thoughts into different tweets, you can just post a very long tweet and the Twitter application will split the message and link them together in one thread for you. What’s more, you can also send 280 character Tweets! 280 character tweets are exactly as they sound, simply giving you the ability to send a twice as long message at one time, and no, the tweet doesn’t split into two messages! For tweetstorms, this makes things easier for the end user and allows you to write as long of a message as you want, having them all linked together and easily read. Last month, Twitter began quietly te...

This is a NICE and COMPLETE review of Audi's A8 2019 upcoming model. ENJOY Thanks ENGADGET for such a detailed review! The 2019 Audi A8 is one of the most, if not the most technically advanced cars in the world, so when the company offered a test drive, how could we resist? While we didn't get to see the vaunted Level 3 self-driving, there were still a lot of cutting-edge features on display. If anything, the sheer quantity of technology was a little disconcerting when we drove the A8 through the hills of Valencia, Spain. There's so much tech on the A8, it's hard to know where to start. Three screens cover the dashboard: one for the instrument cluster in front of the driver, a touchscreen for the Audi MMI infotainment system at center and another touchscreen for climate control that also acts as a writing pad for your finger. Oh, and there's a heads-up display (HUD), of course. SENSE EVERYWHERE Around the vehicle are a dazzling number of sensors, ...

Sleep apnea (where your brain doesn't properly send breathing signals while resting) is horrible enough by itself, but the solutions to it can be scary: you may have to take medication, rely on ungainly breathing machines or opt for invasive surgery. You might have a gentler treatment going forward, though. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved an implantable device, Respicardia's Remede System, that fights more serious cases of sleep apnea. The hardware amounts to a battery pack (slipped under your skin in the upper chest) and wires that enter the blood vessels near the nerve that stimulates your breathing. If you stop breathing normally in mid-sleep, Remede stimulates that nerve to move your diaphragm and keep you breathing. Think of it as an on-demand jumpstart for your respiratory system. This isn't a surefire fix. While there's evidence that Remede works, only about half of study subjects saw the hoped-for dramatic reduction in breathing problems. A...

It's no secret that automakers believe the US' recently-instituted fuel efficiency requirements are too stringent, but now they've made those views official. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes companies like GM, Toyota and VW, has made official comments to both the EPA and NHTSA asking the regulators to loosen Obama-era rules intended to raise a fleet's average fuel economy to 51.4MPG by 2025. They don't object to the targets as such -- rather, they don't like the projected costs of reaching those targets. The brands contend that the previous administration made mistakes forecasting the cost of hitting that fuel economy target. There's a "misalignment" between the ever-tougher requirements and a car market that's skewing toward less fuel-efficient vehicles, the Alliance claims in its comments to the EPA. Companies contend that previous officials overestimated the ability to hit goals using "conventional technolo...

Officials at the MLB are definitely keen to remind teams that they aren't allowed to use wearable tech during games. The league has fined Arizona Diamondbacks coach Ariel Prieto for wearing his Apple Watch in the dugout during an October 4th game against the Colorado Rockies. The team is facing a collective fine, too. Investigators looking at Prieto's watch and phone were quick to stress that there was "no evidence" of cheating, but the mere presence of the wristwear was enough. The Diamondbacks maintain that Prieto simply made a mistake when he wore his smartwatch during the game. MLB isn't revealing the size of the fines, which will be donated to Hurricane Maria relief in Puerto Rico. In practice, though, the penalty is more about the message it sends. The league wants to make it patently clear that the Apple Watch and other connected wearables don't belong on the field, even if their owners are only interested in checking the time. SOURCE

There might come a time when you can order prescription meds with household items and groceries from Amazon. According to CNBC, the e-retail giant is thinking of breaking into the pharmacy business, and it will have to decide if it wants to push through with it before Thanksgiving. Eric French, Amazon's grocery and Pantry chief, reportedly ramped up hiring for the project dubbed "healthcare" this past year and consulted with "dozens of people." CNBC reported a few months ago that the company even hired Mark Lyons from nonprofit health insurance company Premera Blue Cross to create an internal pharmacy benefit manager to serve its employees. It's apparently possible for that project's success to determine whether Amazon will launch its pharmacy business. While the retail titan is in the final stages of conjuring up a viable strategy for the new business, it won't be delivering meds to your home anytime soon. In case it does decide to push thro...

Closing up wounds typically calls for sutures or staples, but neither are able to create a complete seal. And when it comes to internal injuries that are harder to get to and wounds on organs that move a significant amount, such as lungs, treatment becomes even more difficult. Sealants offer a solution to those problems, but none of those available meet all of the requirements of an effective surgical tool. However, researchers have just developed a new type of sealant that may actually check all of the boxes. Their work was published this week in Science Translational Medicine. "A good surgical sealant needs to have a combination of characteristics: it needs to be elastic, adhesive, non-toxic and biocompatible," Nasim Annabi, an author of the study and a researcher at Northeastern University, said in a statement. "Most sealants on the market possess one or two of these characteristics, but not all of them. We set out to engineer a material that could have all of t...

Blockchain can be tough to explain. The game-changing distributed network and immutable ledger technology has the potential to change the foundation of the internet, and underpins everything from cryptocurrencies to smart contracts. So, for all of you who would rather not read thousands upon thousands of words to wrap your head around the subject, watching this five-minute video will get you up to speed. In it, IBM (one of the leading blockchain-as-a-service tech giants), decentralized application startup Blockstack, and some Lego helpers break down how a blockhain works, why it's important, and how it's being used to revolutionize everything from global food supply chains and conflict diamond tracking to re-defining the internet as we know it. SOURCE

The disaster response team of the future could be made up of an army of cheery orange robots, according to Honda. The company has unveiled a working prototype of its E2-DR disaster response robot -- first revealed in an R&D paper in 2015 -- and it can do a lot. At 1.68 meters high and weighing in at 85 kilograms, E2-DR can walk, step over objects, climb stairs and ladders, slink through narrow spaces and traverse piles of debris. It can even tolerate rain for 20 straight minutes, which is more than a lot of actual people can. To keep E2-DR's size and weight to a minimum, Honda swapped out traditional cables for rigorously-tested optical fibers. It's powered by a 1000-Wh lithium-ion battery which provides 90 minutes of juice, plus an Intel Core-i7 CPU, and is kept cool by air ducts and internal fans within its torso. All of its joints are fashioned in a labyrinth structure, keeping contaminants at bay. Its hands are equipped with cameras and 3D sensors, but they're...