Hot Gadget Hacks Posts — Page 241 of 464

How To: 8 Fun (& Annoying) Easter Eggs in Google Hangouts

Google has added some fun Easter eggs to Hangouts that'll give you a few more ways to procrastinate throughout your day. All of them (except for one) work on the web browser version, the Chrome app, and the mobile apps for Android and iOS, and are activated by sending a specific message.

iOS 9.3 Now Available: Locked Notes, Night Shift, & More

At Apple's highly anticipated special event held today at their headquarters in Cupertino, California, it was announced that their latest software update, iOS 9.3, would be available to the public complete with several new additions. The most notable element of this announcement was two-fold, in the form of new modifications to the Night Shift mode and the Notes app. With regards to Night Shift, the feature is designed to prevent your iPhone from giving you restless nights by adjusting settin...

Return of the 4-Inch iPhone: Apple Announces iPhone SE

While it's been rumored for a few months, Apple finally unveiled its new 4-inch iPhone SE at the Apple Special Event on March 21st.

News: Apple TV Update Arrives Today with Major Features in Tow

Apple will release tvOS 9.2 for the latest Apple TV today, bringing some major features to the streaming device. The software update, announced at today's Apple event, comes with Siri voice dictation, full iCloud photo viewing, and support for Bluetooth keyboards. Since Apple has already been beta-testing tvOS 9.2 for months, it's ready for a public rollout.

How To: Fit More on Your Galaxy's Screen with This Hidden Samsung Feature

Smartphone displays are getting bigger every year, and Samsung devices are at the forefront of that trend. But, from a software standpoint, the icons, buttons, and other on-screen elements seem to stay at the same scale. So while phones are getting bigger, their interfaces are getting bigger as well.

News: Whoops! Feds Accidentally Reveal Snowden as Their Email Spy Target

Anyone who paid attention to the Lavabit shutdown had a feeling it was connected to Edward Snowden, the high-profile NSA whistleblower. Ever since the government's case against Lavabit went public in late-2013, people have put two and two together.

How To: See All the Newest Features of Your Apps in One Convenient Place

By default, the Play Store app on Android is set to automatically update your apps in the background. This definitely makes it easy to ensure that you're always running the latest versions, but it does come with some downsides.

How To: Turn Your Phone's Notifications Tray into the Ultimate To-Do App

There are plenty of Android apps for creating reminders, to-do lists, and taking notes—but the vast majority of these are all-in-one apps that may actually have too many features. When a thought randomly crosses your mind and you'd like to remember it for later, the most important thing is to be able to jot it down quick, fast, and in a hurry.

News: Label Your Favorite Places on Google Maps with Stickers

If you're using an up-to-date version of Google Maps on your Android device, there's a little-known feature you can use to apply stickers to saved places, making them visually easier to find while you're looking at the map.

News: Domino's Creates a Robot to Completely Derail Your Diet

There may be worse feelings than sitting around waiting for food delivery, but I don't want to know what those are. Especially when your local delivery guy misses your address for the eighth time. But soon, Domino's Pizza will take that stupid human error right out of the equation in the form of a robot that's only 3 feet high.

News: How to Get Unlimited YouTube & Google Play Movies on T-Mobile

Google dropped its opposition to T-Mobile's Binge On service due to some favorable policy changes at the magenta carrier. From now on, YouTube and Google Play Movies will happily work with the feature. Binge On rolled out late last year, allowing many customers to receive unlimited video streaming at 480p. That's not a great offer if you care about video quality, but it's nice if you want to save money.

News: 'Metaphor' Exploit Threatens Millions of Android Devices—Here's How to Stay Safe

The Stagefright exploit, which allowed for malicious code to be embedded in files on your device, is now very real in the form of Metaphor. Developed by software research company NorthBit, Metaphor is their implementation of exploits to the Stagefright library, and when executed, can access and control data on your device.

How To: Play the Secret Basketball Game in Facebook Messenger

If you're sick of playing chess in Facebook Messenger, there's another little-known game you can play with your friends directly in the app—basketball. This hidden game was originally added to Messenger before March Madness 2016, and still works perfectly to this day.

News: How to Watch March Madness 2016 Live Online for Free

Watching the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament without cable used to be easy. As long as you had an internet connection, CBS and Turner (TBS, TNT, and TruTV), which co-broadcast March Madness, let you watch all 67 games online free of charge.

News: Nike Finally Made the Self-Lacing Shoes We've Wanted Since Back to the Future

If we go by the timeline set forth in Back to the Future Part II, Nike's new HyperAdapt 1.0 with adaptable lacing is at least a year late. But HyperAdapt will do more than just automatically tighten your laces—sensors in the sole of the shoe will provide a "tailored-to-the-moment" custom fit to maximize comfort and function while you jog, play sports, or navigate through hordes of aloof morons clogging the lanes at your local Trader Joe's.

How To: Save Battery by Navigating Your Walk Without GPS

Modern smartphones are packed to the brim with low-power sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes, which means they're capable of precisely measuring almost any type of movement. So why is it that when you just want to get walking directions somewhere, your device still uses its battery-sucking GPS connection to track your progress?

News: Instagram's About to Become as Annoying as Facebook

We're so used to seeing things in particular ways that anything different just doesn't make sense to our brains. Culturally, we like to read things from left to right, and from top to bottom. Change that and our brains struggle to adjust.

Name Game: These Are My Best Guesses at What Android N Will Be Called

It's about that time again. Spring weather is here, a new season of Game of Thrones is upon us, and we're getting ready for the next version of Android.

How To: Get Android Nougat Features on Your Phone Right Now

The Android Nougat preview build for Nexus devices comes packed to the brim with new functionality: multi-window mode, a dark theme, and a data-saver toggle, just to name a few. However, unless you have a Nexus device, it will be a while before you get these exciting new features by default.

Android Basics: How to Set Up Google Now

Android's personal assistant is more than just a sassy backtalker—it's a full-on suite of all the information you could need at a given time. Google Now, as it's called, uses data from various sources to predict what you'll want to know before you even search for it, and it's an amazing experience once you've got everything set up.

News: After Weeks of Controversy, President Obama Finally Speaks Out About Smartphone Privacy

With the DOJ attempting to rip Apple a new one and an Apple attorney firing back, the President offered his opinion on the recent encryption debacle between the FBI and Apple at SXSW, amidst some talk about the direction of today's tech industry.

How To: Google Just Slashed Its New Nexus Phones to the Cheapest Price We've Ever Seen

This year's Nexus devices are already two of the best bang-for-your-buck smartphones on the market, but with a new sale price from several retailers across the net, they might just be an unbeatable deal.

How To: This App Makes Finding Material Design Apps on Google Play Super Easy

More often than not, when you find an app that offers a particular functionality, there are ten other apps on the Google Play Store that offer virtually the same features. But the reason we choose one app over the alternatives is mainly due to one thing—a preference for the user interface of the app we ultimately install.

How To: The Easiest Way to Get Android N on Your Nexus Before Anyone Else

Out of nowhere, Google released a preview build of the upcoming Android N release back in March—a full two months early. As if that weren't enough excitement for one day, they topped themselves by following up that announcement with the debut of a new "Android Beta" program that allows users with eligible devices receive preview builds as a regular OTA update, meaning no losing data or manual installation.

Breaking: Google Releases 'Android N' Preview Build with Lots of Major Changes

We knew it was coming eventually, but this is a bit out of left field—early builds of the next version of Android have been released almost two months ahead of schedule. Android N, as it's being called for now, is already available for the last two generations of Nexus devices, though it's just an early preview build for now.

How To: Add Life to Wallpapers with Filters & Effects

Live wallpapers have dipped in popularity lately, with many users favoring a single, static image as their home screen background. But this is generally due to still photos offering a more sophisticated look, while traditional live wallpapers can sometimes seem a little less avant-garde.

News: Latest Yahoo Mail App Update Adds Colorful Themes & Features

Yahoo is giving its Mail app for Android a new look with its 5.3 version, giving you eleven color themes you can use to customize its look. In addition to changing the color scheme, there are a few new options rolled in as well:

News: Your Smartphone's Fingerprint Scanner Can Easily Be 'Hacked' with a Printer

Using a fingerprint scanner to keep intruders out of your phone might not be as secure as you think. Two researchers from Michigan State University, Kai Cao and Anil K. Jain, developed a relatively cheap and effective way to beat fingerprint readers, and successfully tested their method on a Samsung Galaxy S6 and Huawei Honor 7.

How To: Get YouTube Red for Free

Google's YouTube Red is an awesome service, particularly in the United States where it comes bundled with a subscription to Google Play Music. You don't have to worry about ever seeing ads again on any videos, you can continue playback after you exit the YouTube app or even when you turn your screen off, you can download videos for offline playback, and you'll have access to YouTube Music.

News: Facebook Messenger App Now Has Material Design

Facebook is finally pushing out the latest version of its Messenger app for Android, complete with a new Material Design user interface.

Limited Time Only: Google Play Apps & Games on Sale for a Dollar

Now is the time to act if you've been in the market for some must-have Android apps but felt like the price was a little out of your range. The Google Play Store is running a sale so you can pick up some high-quality paid apps—including the popular Nova Launcher Prime and Poweramp Music Player, among many others—for just $0.99 each. While there are quite a few solid apps here you should try—and with a two-hour refund window, why not try them all—here are our favorites you should seriously con...

How To: There's an Easy Way to Make Sure Your Earphones Are Always Tangle-Free

Headphones cables, USB cables, and other cords have a nasty habit of getting tangled up in-between uses. These tangles are almost always a result of us just mashing and twisting the cord up for "storage," which ends up taking several minutes to carefully untangle.

HoloLens Feature: Voice Input

Like Gesture Input, Voice Input allows you to act on the focus of your Gaze. However, the commands you can use with Voice Input are only limited by your imagination.

News: How to Use a Roku, Fire Stick, or Chromecast on Hotel TVs

Although lots of the bigger hotel chains are lessening the restrictions they put on their room TVs, some smaller ones are still taking measures to prevent you from plugging in computers or streaming devices into an HDMI port. However, there are a few steps you can take to bypass these restrictions and watch your own media in a hotel that has restricted TVs.

How To: There's One Setting You Need to Turn On to Charge Your Phone's Battery Faster

New technologies in current-generations smartphones allow for much faster charging—Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, VOOC Flash Charge, and USB Type-C, for instance, can charge a phone up to 4 times faster than traditional methods. However, the majority of phones on the market still don't support these standards. So for the rest of us, I'll go over an easy tip that can charge any smartphone as much as 25% faster.