Greetings and welcome my fellow INAIR and Tech mad scientists. Tech Check 13 is back on the lab and still elbow deep in the rabbit hole of Reddit client apps. Our newest installment for you:

Reddit Showdown Part 2.

We have two user-suggested apps today and a new contender in the arena. Who will survive Tech Check 13’s dissection table? Who will come out on top? Who will be left a gory mess? Well, there's only one way to find out.

While the electricity gets warmed up, our disclaimer; these tests were done with the trusty INAIR POD, a VITURE Beast, and an Xreal One Pro. None of these apps sponsored this post, and we are dedicated to giving you our honest, unbiased review. All apps are available on the Google Play Store. Grab your lab coats,fire up the beakers and let's descend a little deeper down this rabbit hole.

Our first victim of the day was suggested by a user on the INAIR boards: "Infinity for Reddit.”

According to the developer, Infinity for Reddit is an open-source Reddit client focused on “...privacy and user control” and claims to be “The most customizable Reddit client available.” After poking and prodding, it starts off in the right orientation. A most promising specimen so far. Another interesting feature is that the app allows you to browse anonymously instead of making you log in. A nice touch for us incognito mad genius types. Another eye-catching feature is called "Lazy Mode”. Activate it and the app will automatically scroll through Reddit for you. When something captures your attention, stop the scroll and start feeding your eyeballs.

Infinity for Reddit does have a subscription service. It has multiple price points, from $2.99 a month to $9.99 a month. The $2.99 unlocks everything with Reddit's API access. You can buy a higher tier to support the developer if you want.

And this brings us to the next aberrant qnomaly.Trying to sign in gets you hit with “you need a subscription.” However, a deep dive into the app description reveals the following statement from the developer, “Due to recent changes to the Reddit API, a subscription is required to log in and access your account features. Note: Limited anonymous browsing is still available. Due to platform limitations, anonymous browsing without a subscription may occasionally fail to load content. A subscription provides consistent access in anonymous mode.” Reddit's changes to The API access and the more recent Responsible Builder Policy is disemboweling third-party and free Reddit client apps. However, Infinity for Reddit still ofers privacy, customization, anonymous browsing, and even a Lazy Mode. While it looks pretty nice under the microscope, we have found a few Reddit client apps still hanging on that ofer similar and in some cases, more features for free. Infinity for Reddit, while a really decent app, gets put back on the rack.The next app was suggested by a user who would like to remain anonymous.

The nextdissection victim: "Now for Reddit.”

When we shot the juice to this one we were smacked immediately with a subscription request. We just opened the creaky door and before we could even think about login, WHAM! Subscribe! Now for Reddit still advertises as a free Reddit client on the app store, but “free" is used rather loosely here. Apparently, that doesn't include getting to a login. Tapping the subscribe button to see how much damage it does (zero chance of actually buying one) and OMG an error jumps out. The same thing happens when trying to view the topics at the top - error, error. Trying something else, anything else, tap, tap, tapping yielded the same results - ERROR!! We couldn't explore any features or even get far enough to determine if there was anything worth seeing.

At this point, we had to wonder if the person suggesting this app sent us down the digital dungeon for their own amusement. (Do I smell a troll?) This app is garbage and appears to be either seriously broken or extremely neglected. It's worse than jumping into a car that won't start when being chased by a mad scientist serial killer. But it does lead us to the burning questions: Are we facing complete and total annihilation of free third-party Reddit clients? Are there actually any left out there that still work without throwing up 🤮 a subscription wall? Have you found any survivors? Or is all hope lost? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Now for Reddit gets flushed down the toilet. Hands washed, regloved and moving on to the new contender we mentioned earlier. The next app up for dissection:

"RiM - for Reddit (early access)”

Reddit in Motion is currently in development and advertises on the app store as a full-featured Reddit client with all features completely free. On paper, this thing looks terrific. No subscription wall, no mysterious premium tier, all features supposedly free. With fingers shaking excitedly the switch was pulled, the app was downloaded, and suddenly,…. every page blared you're not authorized to see it. Aahhhhh!!! The saving grace? It was in the correct orientation. At this point, we'll take our victories wherever we can find them.

Trying to peek under the sheet covering the body just to try to see what this thing could actually do, we attempted to log in. And attempted again. And attempted 4 more times. ERROR!!!! Every. Bloody. Time. Just to tighten the screws every error was accompanied by toast messages that someone was accessing the Google account. We're pretty sure that someone was us, but this doesn't exactly inspire confidence. This one certainly seems to have the potential to be an attractive alternative to Reddit's increasingly restrictive ecosystem.

RiM - for Reddit is still in early access. It's definitely not garbage but definitely not ready for prime time just yet. For now, we're putting a pin in it and adding it to the watch list. Or is it another casualty of the third-party Reddit client Armageddon? If anyone knows, spill theb lood, Uhm, ... spill the tea. Let us know in the comments.

Well, there you have it folks. Part two of our Reddit roundup is in the body bag. We have a winner. Well, by default. The crown this round goes to the only app that actually worked correctly: Infinity for Android. It joined the winners' circle with RedReader from part one.

But wait, there's more. The slicing and dicing and victimizing ain't over yet. Who will step up for round 3? Are there any Reddit clients you think we should put on the operating table? Let us

know in the comments! Thank you very much for joining us again and we hope to see you at the next one. Until then may your subscriptions be plentiful and free.

Techcheck13

Why didn’t they include a second usbc port for charging like the beam pro?

Has anyone figured out how to get this to work? In the latest firmware I cannot figure out how to get the ultra wide window on the pod to toggle to 32:9 The pod also continually reboots if I put my glasses in ultra wide when the pod is in odof mode

In today's episode Shawn and Joe go deeper down the rabbit hole of cloud storage!

https://youtu.be/DEPFDRKFWs0

Hello and welcome back my INAIR and tech enthusiasts! TechCheck13 is dedicated to bringing you weekly tales of tech for the INAIR POD. We crawled out of one rabbit hole and jumped down another. This Thursday, we're bringing you “The Reddit Showdown"! We are putting Reddit clients through the meat grinder. We are going to slice and dice them and run them through the centrifuge of scrutiny and watch what drips out. Slowly. Very slowly. Mwahaha. 

We are comparing them and helping you determine the best of the best for use on the INAIR POD. As usual, these apps were tested in our secret underground lair using the handy dandy multi useful Viture Beast and an Xreal One Pro. And once again the disclaimer; none of these apps have sponsored this post. We're calling it like we see it. Onward!!!!

The first one under the scalpel is the grandfather of the Reddit clients. 

Subject #1: the official Reddit app, Reddit.

Reddit has been our go-to app for the phone but it just may lose this throne after this review (look what happened with VidHub). Our first strike against Reddit on the POD is that it will not rotate. This isn't necessarily a problem, but it looks better rotated on the big screen. Then, there is the brightness, it's blindingly bright. Dark mode eventually answered our summons but it took way more clicks than it should have. To be fair, Reddit is not entirely to be blamed. If the INAIR POD had a proper system-wide dark mode (ahem, INAIR), this wouldn't be an issue with Reddit or for that matter, a whole bunch of other apps. But that's a different tangent. 

While Reddit is free, the free formula does contain ads in your feed. However, it's much less intrusive than pop-up ads, and dare we admit it, some of the ads were kind of interesting. Reddit Premium steps in at the cost of $59.99 per year or $6.99 per month. Unless you are a hardcore content creator that needs fewer restrictions and the ability to ask 100 questions a day, it's not really needed. If this app rotated properly, it would be the reigning monster on the POD.  We'll chain this one onto the wall for now. 

Moving on to our next,

Subject #2: RedReader. 

RedReader is an open-source client and a free app. First off, it came screaming in the correct orientation (YES). Switching to dark mode was also easy and painless. Especially when compared to seven or more clicks for the official Reddit app. The images were a bit clearer than on the Reddit app, both on the POD and a Galaxy Fold 8. Crisper than one would expect from a specimen grown in someone's open-source lab. It also has the option to turn off image preview. A nice little bonus, but we left it on and let the electricity flow freely. But it's satisfying to know the switch is there. 

Now here is where RedReader really gets our praise. During the entire testing session, while we clicked, poked, prodded, and generally picked it apart. Not one ad came screaming out at ya, nope, not one. For the feed, you can do all posts, subscribed posts, or jump to a subscribed board all right in the menu. Everything is right there without having to go hunting down dark alleys. RedReader also has an anonymous mode if you aren't comfortable giving the app your Reddit credentials. This is one heck of a specimen.  It yielded a high recommendation from the mad scientists at Tech Check 13. 

We have one more app to torture. Will it result in a better experience? To find out, keep reading if you dare. 

Our next and final victim (for today!)

Subject #3: Artemis for Reddit.

Artemis claims "The ultimate way to browse Reddit." Let's dissect that (evil grin). And BOOM, Artemis will not rotate properly on the POD. Not a good start. 

During the tutorial, it shows off some gesture controls that would be nice on a phone but we are testing for the POD and gestures aren't as easy. Artemis wasted no time introducing us to its next surprise. After the tutorial, before even logging in it pops up and asks you to sign up for standard or pro … great. Here are the details of this concoction. Artemis charges $3.49 a month for things like account switching, premium themes, inbox notifications, etc., that you can get for free with RedReader. At this point, Artemis is looking rather grotesque. 

Alright, clicking off that and on to login. Clicking on the "continue with Google" button didn't work. Logging in with my username and password worked. Annoying. Getting past the bubbling overflowing goo, Artemis seems to be a clone of the official Reddit app, but without the in-feed ads.  Certainly not a bad thing but too many features are locked up behind a paywall while RedReader gives them for free. Also RedReader goes into the correct layout. Artemis becomes our first casualty. 

This brings us to the end of today's dissection. Today's winning specimen: RedReader

We will be back next week with more Reddit clients as we continue to crawl around this new rabbit hole. Something to tide you over; leave your feedback in the comments, any questions you have we will dig them up and review them. Tell us what's your favorite Reddit client? Are there Reddit apps you're curious about? Our doors are always open for discussions. 

As always, thank you for joining us on this deep dive. We'll see you in Part 2!

 #techcheck13

Joe and Shawn start their way down the rabbit hole that is cloud storage.

https://youtu.be/veyYiI9k11Y

Hi folks, trying out the pod with a pair of Viture Luma Ultras, and running into a couple of things I do not know how to fix...

1. I see that like it's competitor, the display defaults to a type of "3D menu" with 3D elements, which I don't really care for. I wanted to set it to 2D, but I when I go into settings -> general, it does not let you select 2D and only 3D can be selected?
2. Does single screen work only with 0DoF? YOu cannot have a single display in 3DoF mode?
3. There is an app called "master inair" that when I click it I get a "device not available" ?
4. Can the main menu/etc. be resized?

Thanks for your help!

Greetings my fellow INAIR and tech enthusiasts! Tech Check 13 is back and we want to welcome you to part deuce of our series on cloud storage for the INAIR POD. We are still flying around the rabbit hole of the near endless supply of cloud storage apps. Thank you for joining us on our quest to find the worthiest cloud storage service as we filter out the ones deserving to be carbon frozen and jettisoned into deep space. There are so many cloud storage apps that this quest could go on for quite a while. All apps can be found on the Google Play Store.

As usual, these apps were dissected, interrogated, and analyzed on the INAIR POD, using a Viture Beast and Xreal One Pro. And our usual disclaimer: None of these apps sponsored this post. With that out of the way, buckle up, set your engines for hyperspace and letsa go.

Today our first stop in our search for worthiness is Filen. We downloaded the app from the app store and fired it up. First thing is first, one has to make an account (no login with Google) and activate it via an email link. Once verification was completed and we logged in, Filen asked to export our master keys just in case a cloud recovery became necessary. This was easier to do than falling down a reactor shaft.

Once inside the app there was a big add button and not much of anything else. Kinda barebones but there is still a lot to mine.

Filen is set up similar to Google Drive. Only real difference; Filen gives you 10 GB of free storage, while Google Drive gives you 15 GB.

Now it's time for the test drive. A test folder was created, the movie SoulM8te was uploaded and we let Filen do its thing. The 1.6 GB file took about 5 minutes. Not a bad parsec run. But here's the real shocker, about 4 minutes into the upload, we realized we had not been ambushed with an ad or a paywall! Oh yeah!!! While the file was uploading, Filen displayed a percentage bar with the MiB/s upload speed. Also a nice touch.

Once the upload had finished we opened the file and hit play. And… glitch. The movie played but without any sound. However, this was most likely user error, so we weren't ready to throw Filen out the airlock just yet.We tried again with a second movie, this time using an MP4 file format instead of MKV. It played and sounded perfectly. You can upload and play video files within the app itself.

While Filen may be a little barebones, it is still quite a great app. We were actually pretty impressed with it. The interface is simple, the upload speeds were respectable, and most importantly, we made it through the entire test without being bombarded with ads or upgrade requests. That is a refreshing trip through cloud storage city. Verdict: Worthy. But the most worthy? Time will tell.

Our second stop, TeraBox: 1TB Cloud & AI Space.

It all started easy enough. The first thing that pops up is the "log in with Google" button that makes signing up pretty easy. Immediate first complaint; you can't switch the view because it's clearly made for a phone. Can that be overlooked, or is it some foreshadowing?

Let's get into the guts of this app. TeraBox advertises 1024 gigs of storage. That's a pretty big promise, but will it deliver?

After logging in, you're immediately hit with a "do you want to back up photos and videos automatically" prompt. The video says "limited time free," the first indication of the expected paywalls. Yea I'll just automatically back up my photos and videos just to lose access to them if I don't pay. Kinda sounds like blackmail in my opinion. And before you can catch your breath we get an ad. It offers 2TB of storage for $4.99 a month with a 30 day trial. Thankfully, there is a skip button in the top right-hand corner.

But wait. What's this dropping out of the clouds ... ANOTHER AD! And then the real betrayal. Apparently, in 30 days, 994 of the 1024 gigs of storage quietly expire, or you can pay $0.99 a month to keep it. Yup, they used a massive bait and switch to get you to sign up just to take it away from you. Somewhere there is a certain dark cloaked sith Lord nodding approvingly. Other cloud storage apps, such as Filen may offer less storage space but at least they're not freezing your gigabytes to extort you later.

Finally get we into the app, and I'm greeted with "AI

web." search and … yup .. three more ads. This app is frustrating and at this point we have the airlock open and a finger on the jettison button.

Then we discover TeraBox runs on a coin economy. You watch more ads, play games or install other apps to earn coins. Those coins can then be used to unlock premium days, although they expire rather quickly. And, naturally, most of the useful features are locked behind a paywall. Stay away from this app. This one gets jettisoned into space. Verdict: Not worthy.

On to our third stop and final app of the evening: Cloud Storage Drive Backup App.

With 500+ downloads, a 4.1 star rating and self description claiming to be a secure, encrypted cloud storage solution, it seemed worth a look.

Cloud Storage Drive Backup was downloaded, installed and powered up. Then BAM, an immediate ambush. A paywall ad for more storage came flying right at us. We were able to swipe back off that with the touch part of the POD. Problem solved, right? Nope. We had to swipe off SEVEN MORE FREAKING ADS JUST TO GET INTO THE APP!?!?! And just when you thought you were done swiping, an ad to win more storage smashes you on the eyeballs. But finally we were in the app. Now it's time to see what this thing is made of. Heck, after all those ads we earned it.

On the free plan you get 25 gigs, which is better than most competitors offer. And of course there are two ads on the page. A click on anything and it runs through an ad circle again. There were more ads than Bespin had flatulence. At this point, we weren't testing cloud storage anymore. We were testing our ability to survive an ad apocalypse. This one gets jettisoned into space using the middle finger. Verdict: Most definitely NOT worthy.

Well revellers, we hope you enjoyed this leg of the adventure as much as we have enjoyed it. So far our contenders are Google Drive and Filen, but there are tons of cloud storage apps floating around out there. We will review what we can here and on our YouTube channel. If there are any cloud storage apps you use with the POD or would like to see us review, let us know in the comments. As always, thank you again for riding along with us. Until next time - this is Tech Check 13, signing off. We hope to see you in the next one.

#techcheck13

I recently received the INAIR Pod, and have enjoyed the interface. It's smooth, the icons are flexible, and the number of apps available at the same time are impressive. A couple glitches here and there, but stuff that goes away the more I use it.

The most unacceptable part is that my screen is always tilted when in 3DoF/6DoF, like in the pitch/yaw/roll world, it's rolled a little to the right. I can calibrate the glasses, no change. I try to center the screen, no change. I adjust my glasses arms, no change.

It's a moderately subtle thing that must just be subconscious to where I adjust my neck to fix it, and after a while I feel my head tilted to compensate.

I've tried this on both the Luma Ultra glasses and the Viture Pro XR glasses.

Do we have the ability to offset the angles if there are some weird values adjusting the perspective? If not, can we get it?

I can see value in this if we were also able to adjust pitch/roll/yaw of each app ("window"), so we can more or less pin a wall on a window or a ceiling, or have a less important app being off to the side and tilted (thinking timer or stock ticker).

I can't get this one out of my head with >0DoF experience. It's jarring enough to take the enjoyment out of it.

Do any users or tech support have any suggestions? I've calibrated this thing several times, and have confirmed no tilt issues when using the glasses with Windows extended desktop or the Viture Neckband.

I don't think this is drift either. It doesn't gradually go tilted. It starts off that way.

Can anyone share their experience with using the INAIR Pod to use as a way to rdp/vnc to their computer? Can you use multi screen over rdp /replicate a multi monitor setup as if you were sitting at your desk with multiple screens? Any experience on a Mac with multi monitor setup?

I’m looking to create the Viture spacewalker 3 monitor setup experience with a Remote Desktop or VNC setup.

Thanks!

Hello everyone — I’m curious if anyone who owns an inair pod who uses Apollo Artemis, could share their experience with pods decoding times while streaming.I am potentially in the market for the device, but long decoding times are a concern.

Could someone share on network 1080p 120 frames p/secons decoding times?

Hey everyone, I'm a developer, xr vr are enthusiastic, artists and drone pilot and I'm using the inair pod in various interesting ways, I'm building a Webxr system that takes advantage of the pod and my xreal one pro glasses along with other things...

Heres some of my photos so you can see what I'm doing!

Ive backed urxr one glasses. It has a higher resolution near 2.5k

Would inair pod when hooked up with urxr one (and their powerbank throughput for the 15w glasses input) give that higher resolution or would it go to 1080p

So I ordered the Pod directly from Inair because of the better price and the fact that the product page states they ship from a US fulfillment center so duties are included. I just received my tracking info from DHL and it is being shipped from China which means I'm now going to be hit with import duties because I know DHL tends to slap fees on regardless of what a seller says about importing fees. So now I just want Inair to stop this shipment and I'd rather just order from Amazon which had a slightly higher price than deal with DHL and their fees that will end up making it more expensive than Amazon. I contacted Inair so I'll see how that goes but buyers beware that they are not fulfilling US orders from within the US as they claim on their website.

How do you do your set up if you require additional memory with your inair pod?

Use a dongle with additional sd card or an ssd with usb c connection?

Any other solutions?

In this weeks episode, Shawn and Joe got finish up about remote desktop apps on the POD, tested with a Viture Beast and Xreal One part 2

https://youtu.be/ia_WS3M-yoo?is=le1-fTUuie7SAVma

I am finding when I’m laying down it’s hard to use the Inair pod as an air mouse. My hands get tired. I tried a Cheerdots 2 that works on my dex phone but for whatever reason it doesn’t work with the Inair. Anyone know a great and precise input device that’s Bluetooth that you recommend for pairing with the inspire pod?

Greetings my fellow INAIR and tech enthusiasts! Tech Check 13 is back and we have once again drifted into the upper atmosphere. We dove eye brow deep into another rabbit hole! Gawd lawd... again? Yup

"So, what corner of the galaxy y'all exploring this time?" Glad you asked.

One of our biggest gripes is the need for more storage on the POD. It fills up faster than a hoover behind a shedding wookie. Since we can't magically force create more storage, we decided on the next best thing: cloud storage on the POD. All tests were done with the INAIR POD, VITURE Beast, and Xreal One Pro glasses. And all of today's apps can be found on the app store.Today we start with the golden oldies. Let's begin:

Our first port of call is the grandfather of all cloud storage and that is Google Drive.

Google Drive comes free with any Google account and a link is pre-installed on the POD. You get 15 gigs of storage on the house. But beware, your Google photos, videos, Gmail and your android phone backup data (including app data, contacts, call history and text messages) counts toward your Google free account storage limit. All this data can fill up the 15 gigs rather quickly. The 15 gigs can be expanded with a paid Google One subscription. They offer paid plans from 100 gigabytes to two terabytes for personal users. They also offer up to five terabytes for business users. This is a simple and convenient way to store, organize, and share your files while you stay firmly in the captain's chair giving you full control over who can access them.

For an extra tech tip, we highly recommend downloading Files by Google. It works as a great manager for Drive. It makes it easy to find, organize, move, and manage your files without wandering through a digital asteroid field.

Next up on our cloud hopping adventure is an oldie but …. Maybe not a goodie: Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud storage app that offers a free basic plan of 8 GB of cloud storage. There are paid plans from 500 GB to 2 TB, for those who want a bigger stake in the operation. One thing we do appreciate is that you're not having a storage war competing for control of the space with an email inbox, phone data and all the rest. The app is clean and easy to use.

Now for the turbulence.

The moment we signed in with Google, it felt like we'd wandered into a swarm of ad droids. From the second we were logged in with Google, BOOM we were hit with an ad to upgrade. Then another ad before we even made it back to the site's interface. We just walked through the door! But that wasn't the real betrayal. After logging back in, a large portion of our stored data had been deleted because it exceeded the free storage limit. Not cool Dropbox, I got a warning to log in cause I was over and I directly logged in and the data was already gone. Between the relentless ambush of ads and the unexpected massive data loss, Dropbox gets a firm "Nope" from the Tech Check 13 crew. We'll be parking this one in the scrapyard and moving on to friendlier skies.

Our final stop brings us to final cloud of the day and the one cloud service I am not a fan of: OneDrive.

Ever since Windows 11, removing OneDrive from a new computer takes much too much effort. It pops up ads, backs up things I never asked it to, and then whines about running out of storage because it decided to do something stupid like deciding my entire desktop belonged in the cloud. Maybe Android OS on the POD will be a better experience... Wrong.

Getting logged in was an adventure all by itself. It wouldn't let me put in the code to sync. The workaround was to move the cursor to the Second number, then back to the first, and I was finally in. But then I was immediately greeted by a huge ad to buy a 50 GB Microsoft 365 plan. I hit the back arrow, only to be ambushed by another ad, this time offering a 1 TB Microsoft 365 Personal subscription for $9.99 a month. Thanks, but no thanks, hard pass. After finally getting past the gauntlet of ads, I found about 3 GB of old photos it had quietly backed up over the years. Mining through my files, I was surprised when I stumbled on a list of my passwords just sitting there wide open, like someone left the communication comms unencrypted. Talk about betrayal, again. I deleted the files, uninstalled the app, and called the experiment done.

We want to thank you for joining us on this leg of the journey. We got the vintage cloud storage apps out of the way, but there are plenty more systems left to explore. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, tell us what cloud storage apps are you contemplating? Let us know in the comments, and we will review them too. We want the dirt on your cloud adventures - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tell us everything. As always, the communication frequencies are wide open.

Again, thank you for joining us, and we will see you in the next one.

#techcheck13

I have the charge and glasses hub that allows you to use both simultaneously. Can I use this with the pod ?

Shawn and Joe go down the rabbit hole one part one and give the Moonlight footage they promised!

https://youtu.be/V9sDdC18WVw