Articles by Ara Wagoner

With a nice bright screen and two kickstands, the ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3000 could be quite a flexible product.

What you need to know

The unreleased new ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3000 has a live listing on German retailer Saturn.
The tablet’s full specs are listed, including a MediaTek 8183 processor and 128GB of storage.
The delivery dates listed aren’t until July, so we’re still months from being able to get the physical device.
One oddity in the listing: there are product renders with two different magnetic kickstands: one landscape and one vertical.

As I’ve mentioned several times in the last year, the state of Chrome OS tablets right now is pretty sparse. You have the compact, affordable Lenovo Chromebook Duet, which has won not only a spot on Best Chromebooks but mine and my coworkers’ hearts as well, or you have a smattering of three-year-old Chrome OS tablets that are either discontinued, underpowered, or both.

We’d heard rumors of another Chrome OS tablet on the horizo…

What you need to know

Fleksy is launching an in-keyboard theme marketplace powered by artists.
Users will be able to choose from hundreds of free and paid keyboard themes in a wide variety of styles and palettes.
Paid themes are nothing new for keyboards, and I’m all for paying artists when you’ll see their work 250 times a day.

Fleksy is one of the best keyboard apps on the market, but it’s still easy to overlook when titans like Gboard and SwiftKey have the power of Google and Microsoft behind them. Fleksy long eschewed gestures and swipe typing, which wasn’t added until recently. It’s the perfect keyboard for hunt-and-peck typers who like having a lot of add-ons to choose from. After years of Fleksy’s keyboard themes being average at best — though I will always adore teal with the fireworks add-on — Fleksy is partnering up with a collection of artists to jazz things up.

FleksyArt is the keyboard’s new theme store, which will showcase professionally designed themes fro…

With hundreds of films from the most popular franchises on the planet — not to mention thousands of TV episodes from our childhood — it’s little wonder that Disney+ is popular. However, when errors invade your movie marathon, things are anything but magical. There’s a few different errors Disney+ can spit out when things go awry, but Error 83 is by far the most prevalent Disney+ error you come across. Here’s a few of the reasons you may be seeing it, and what you can do about it.

Reason #1 — Server timeout

Error 83 is one of the most common errors. When the servers are overloaded and your Disney+ session can’t connect to the servers fast enough to pass a DRM/account check — or can’t connect at all — Error 83 is what Disney+ displays when it can’t play your video as requested.

This is far and away the most common reason to see Error 83, and dealing with it can take a few forms:

Try again. Server issues are usually intermittent, so if at first you don’t succeed, try, try…

A good fight draws a good crowd. A great fight can crash multiple servers, it seems.

What you need to know

If you’re on the west coast, you may be experiencing issues with Disney+, ESPN+, and UFC’s services going down.
UFC 257 is tonight with the rematch for McGregor vs. Poirier, a fight that was bound to draw a crowd.
Chances are things will resolve in the next two to four hours, not that it helps anyone trying to catch the fight.

No, it’s not you. Disney+ and ESPN+ are out for much of the U.S. west coast right now, right in the middle of UFC 257. UFC and ESPN are also experiencing difficulties right now according to Downdetector and a flood of outraged tweets from fans unable to get into tonight’s fight.

Because tonight was a bigger UFC fight night than usual, ESPN+ has been experiencing a higher load on its payment and login servers, and that culminated with server crashes and thousands getting locked out of tonight’s fight after paying for the stream. Tonight was UFC 257, t…

We use our phones anywhere and everywhere, exposing them to filth, germs, bacteria, and even viruses. We take them from place to place, holding them in our hands, to our ears, and putting them in our bags or pockets. It’s a good idea to properly clean and disinfect your device frequently to keep the grime and nastiness under control so those germs don’t migrate from the phone to you. Fortunately, here are some of the best phone cleaning kits that include everything from phone sanitizers, screen wipes and sprays, and also cleaning solutions that will help you and yours remain healthy.

Clean screen on the go

ZEISS Mobile Screen Wipes (60ct Box)

Staff Pick

If you need your screen clean when you’re not home with your spritzer bottles, I absolutely adore these single-serve wipes. I keep a few of them in my bag for wiping my screen after it gets all sweaty and grimy when I’m out and about.

$11 at Amazon

Let there be light

Phonesoap Smartphone UV Sanitizer

This phone-sized tanni…

The best OnePlus 8 cases keep your phone protected without covering up the beautiful design and delicate glass body. There are some great cases available for the OnePlus 8 — including some of my favorite case series on the market — so skip the basic in-box case and get you one of these!

Clearly durable

Ringke Fusion X

Staff pick

$12 at Amazon
$13 at Walmart

If you want to show off that Glacial Green or Interstellar Glow without leaving your phone exposed, the Fusion X combines a clear back with a robust bumper with air-cushioned corners. This is a divisive design, but I like it, especially that Green variant.

Colorful grip

OnePlus 8 Sandstone Bumper Case

Sandstone is the original OnePlus case and still the favorite of many. However, this year they’ve branched out into a bright, bold Cyan to match the Glacial Green 8 and a softer, prettier purple that should mesh with the Interstellar Glow.

$25 at OnePlus

Hybrid protection

Tudia Merge Series

There aren’t many h…

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is one of the biggest and most powerful Galaxies ever, as well as being the first to work with the S Pen, traditionally reserved for the Note line. The camera module on the Ultra is just as big as it was on the S20 Ultra, but the design’s been improved so that it looks more cohesive and meshes with the phone’s metal frame, but that design also means that you’re more prone to damage the cameras with a side-impact, so a case is more important than ever. The best cases for the Galaxy S21 Ultra are right here, whether you’re after a clear case to show off the Ultra’s design or a durable tank to keep it safe and secure.

Colorful and durable

Caseology Nano Pop

Staff pick

After two years of the Nano Pop being exclusive to iPhones, it’s finally coming to Samsung phones with the S21 series. The Blueberry Navy with its yellow accents is striking and classic, and the impact-absorbing pattern embedded in the back gives you slim protection.

$15 at Amazon

Ready to work…

Best answer: The base 128GB of storage on all three Galaxy S21 models should be great for most users. Unless you shoot tons of 4K video or download every movie and show you watch, skip the extra $150 and spend that money on a wireless charger and a better pair of headphones.

128GB is easily enough: Samsung Galaxy S21 (From $800 at Samsung)
Supersized 512GB storage: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra ($1,379 at Samsung)

No microSD card? No problem!

This isn’t a popular opinion, but I’m actually a glad that the Samsung Galaxy S21 doesn’t have a microSD slot. Don’t get me wrong, having the option for expandable storage is always a plus and it means that you don’t have to worry as much about storage upfront because you can always add more later. It sounds useful, so why would Samsung ever take that option away from one of the best Android phones on the market?

The answer: Because even the best microSD cards are slower than the internal storage on a Galaxy flagship. They can cause five kinds …

Pay attention, kids, there will be a test!

What you need to know

Acer expands its education collection with four new classroom-ready Chromebooks.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 511 and Spin 512 offer processor and durability upgrades over their predecessors.
The Acer Chromebook 511 is a Snapdragon 7c-powered Chromebook with LTE and — somehow — up to 20 hours of battery life.
The Acer Chromebook 311 is a rugged clamshell version of the Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (3H) we saw last summer, this time with battery claims of up to 20 hours.

Acer’s been cranking out the Chromebooks recently, including the Ryzen-powered Acer Chromebook Spin 514 that debuted just last week at CES 2021, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Bringing four new Chromebooks to BETT — a huge education conference in London — Acer is offering tailored solutions for students in different situations and districts working with different budgets. There’s two 2-in-1 Chromebooks and two clamshells, and each has a…

The best cases for the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra need to balance protection and profile, style and substance, and do it all without breaking the bank. The Note 20 Ultra is one of the most cutting-edge phones on the market, but it’s also one of the largest and heaviest phones in 2020. Combine that with the luxury price tag that Samsung demands, and you have a recipe for disaster if you dare take your new phone out into the world naked. Skip the public smartphone indecency and get yourself a great case. Here are the best Galaxy Note 20 Ultra cases to keep it like new for years to come.

Slim and sublime

Ringke Air-S

Staff Pick

If you don’t want to bulk up your Note 20 Ultra but need to add some grip, the Air-S is a minimalist case that will give your fingers more purchase than expected while also guarding against scratches.

$9 at Amazon
$9 at Walmart

Rough and tumble

ArmadilloTek Vanguard Series

I have loved the Vanguard Series for the last couple of generations of Galaxy phones …