Gadget Hacks How-Tos
How To: Minimize Incoming Calls When Playing Games or Using Apps on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
Phone interruptions are commonplace, as is evident by my historically epic missed phone call list, ranging from annoying sales people to my mom checking in every five minutes to see if I'm still alive.
How To: Create a Bootable Install USB Drive of Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks
Apple may have made Mavericks more accessible to Mac users everywhere at the fair price of zero dollars, but unfortunately, they made it trickier to create a bootable install drive of the Mac OS X 10.9 operating system.
How To: Scan Your Samsung Galaxy S3 for Malware, Infected Apps, & Unauthorized Surveillance
Former Vice President Dick Cheney was so fearful of attacks, he had his heart defibrillator re-calibrated to block incoming wireless signals so that highly skilled hackers couldn't send him into cardiac arrest.
How To: Save Battery & Data When Streaming YouTube Videos in the Background on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
YouTube may have started out as a video-sharing site, but these days a lot of people use it as a source for music. When I'm browsing the internet on my desktop, I usually have a YouTube tab open in the background playing some music.
How To: Install the Xposed Framework on Your Nexus 7 for Insane Customization
Customization of our Android devices, outside of what Google and mobile carriers allow us to do, used to mandate that our devices were rooted and running a custom ROM.
How To: Install & Play Candy Crush Saga (& Other Games) on Your Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch
With the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch only several weeks old, the extent as to what you can do with it is limited since there are only about 70 apps in the Gear Store right now, and a lot of those need the full app installed on your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in order to function properly.
How To: Install the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) Utility on a Windows PC
While still extremely awesome, the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch is limited as to what you can download on to it, especially apps. It also doesn't have its own internet access (only Bluetooth), so apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Vine have yet to make their way to the Gear Store.
How To: Reverse the Scrolling Direction on Your Microsoft Surface's Trackpad in Windows 8.1
If you had the original Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 and a Type or Touch cover, you know how big a pain in the ass it was to change the scrolling direction of the trackpad.
How To: Customize the Quick Settings Toggles on Your Samsung Galaxy S4 with Color Themes
Samsung's quick settings toggles are insanely useful for accessing settings that you would normally need to dig into menus for. Definitely a case of function over form, though. TouchWiz's bright green on dark blue has to be one of the fugliest color combinations I have ever seen.
How To: Keep Your Samsung Galaxy S3's Screen Awake Whenever You Want (Or Just for Certain Apps)
When we're dead tired but need to stay awake, we humans can do many things to make the drowsiness go away, from taking a cold shower to downing energy drinks or coffee to acupressure.
How To: Make the Huge Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Easier to Use with Your One Tiny Little Hand
One of the more challenging things about using the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the ability to use it with one hand, due to its enormously large (but wonderful) screen size.
How To: Bring Your iPhone 4 Back Up to Speed with These 6 Easy Tweaks for iOS 7
Old people are usually perceived as wise and enduring, whereas an old smartphone, like my iPhone 4, becomes the butt of a joke every time I take it out of my pocket. I mean, come on, it's not like I'm still rocking one of these... And if I was, I guarantee you wouldn't beat my score on Snake.
How To: Whip Your Tunes into Shape with CyanogenMod's Apollo Music Player for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2
With over 8 million active users, CyanogenMod is definitely the most popular ROM for Android devices, which explains why venture capitalists invested $7 million last month for future development.
How To: Give Your iPhone 5C a Brand New Look Every Day with Personalized Case Collages
Apple is no newbie when it comes to color.
How To: Turn Your HTC One into a Portable Super Nintendo Gaming System
The 8-bit NES may have ruled the late-eighties, but the SNES took over the early-nineties with its 16-bit graphics and 3D-like gameplay on titles like Star Fox and Dirt Racer. When 32- and 64-bit consoles came out in the mid-nineties, the Super Nintendo took a hit, but with the rise of the Internet, created a huge emulation community in the aftermath.
How To: Give Your Samsung Galaxy S4 a Facelift with a New Home Screen Theme of Your Choice
Unless you like paying exorbitant prices for out-of-contract phones, most of us are stuck with the one we already have for two or more years. The tech industry moves fast, and as new phones are released seemingly every month, your Samsung Galaxy S4 might start looking older by the week.
How To: Get Fast & Customizable Access to Apps & System Settings from Anywhere on Your Samsung Galaxy S3
I read, walk, and do lunges all at once. Time is money, and I'm all for multitasking whenever I can. Thankfully, my Samsung Galaxy S3 is extremely good at it, but extremely good could still be extremely better.
How To: Never Lose a Stylus Again by Setting "Missing S Pen" Alerts on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Note 3
When you lose an S Pen, it creates an unwelcome void in your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that collects dirt and dust like a vacuum cleaner would—not to mention you don't have a freaking S Pen anymore. Thankfully, Samsung incorporated an alert to keep you from losing that precious S Pen, and they brought it back for the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
How To: Turn Your Smartphone into a 175X Digital Microscope for Incredible Macro Photos
If you're into photography, you're probably no stranger to the myriad of ways you can take macros with your smartphone. Your phone's built-in camera may not take great pictures up close, but you can modify it to do so with anything from a magnifying glass to a drop of water. However, those types of DIY macro lenses can only get so close.
How To: Switch Between Running Apps on Your Samsung Galaxy S3 Without Ever Lifting a Finger
I've covered a few multitasking app switchers before, but none of them are as sleek and smooth as the aptly titled Switchr, a new app developed by Mohammad Adib that lets you move from one app to another quickly and smoothly—just like how I switch between my women. Well, not really, but I would.
How To: Keep Your Pocket Belongings Safe with Help from OtterBox (Sponsored)
When you're on the go, it's important to keep your belongings organized and at an arm's distance so you're not fumbling in public for your keys, cards, or phone.
How To: Download & Save Any Instagram Photo or Video You Want to Your Nexus 7 Tablet
These days, everyone's snapping selfies, taking pics of their latest meals, or sharing pet trick videos on Instagram for the whole world to see. It's not only fun to shoot photos and videos for Instagram, it's inspiring to look at everyone else's creativeness in your feed.
How To: Prevent Google from Using Your Profile Picture in Ads
Every time you Google something or click on an ad in a YouTube video, Google gets paid. They are estimated to make well over $100 million a day, and I honestly think that's low-balling it.
How To: Quick Launch Google Now on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Using Just Your Voice
While Siri came up on the scene with hardly any competition back in 2011, Google Now has not only caught up to Apple's intelligent personal assistant, but also excelled in certain areas—with its ability to quickly answer questions, give recommendation, and even deliver information that it predicts a user will want.
How To: Get Your Free iLife & iWork iOS Apps After Restoring from a Backup
The day I picked up my iPhone 5S was a very exciting day. I had taken all the correct steps in backing up my old device so that after a quick restore-from-backup (which turned into half an hour), I was right at home on the new hardware.
How To: Viral HD Is YouTube on Steroids for Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Other Android Device
Let's face it, the stock YouTube app for Android kinda sucks. It has limited capabilities, at-time wavering connectivity, and the pop-up player it comes with is just not very good. If you want to enhance your mobile YouTube experience to how it should be, the answer lies within a third-party app called Viral HD YouTube Popup Player by Android dev Mata.
How To: Never Miss Another Call or Text After Class by Setting Timed Silence Periods on Your Galaxy S4
We've all been in a similar situation before—you set your phone's ringer to silent before heading into class, and when you check your phone hours later, you find that your silenced phone didn't alert you to 8 missed calls and 17 text messages.
How To: Cool Down Your Apple Mac Laptop
Mac laptops, especially the older PowerBooks, often can become very hot when doing processor intensive tasks like movie rendering, YouTube videos streaming, database lookups, or just gaming. Often just lifting the machine from the surface is enough to cool it down without the need of expensive hardware or software tuning.
How To: Hide All the Dirty & Potentially Embarrassing Photos & Videos Lingering in Your Android Gallery
Regardless of how great your friends and family are, they'll more than likely go through your photographs if they had the chance. Hell, if my friend were to leave his/her phone lying around, I'd go through it—no doubt.
How To: Root Your Samsung Galaxy S4 (Or Almost Any Other Android Phone) In One Easy Click
For new Android users, rooting an Android phone can often be an intimidating process, especially since there are so many different ways to gain root access, depending on your model and firmware version.
How To: Add a Folder to a Folder in iOS 7 to Save Massive Amounts of Space on Your Home Screen
With over a million apps available in the App Store, you'd think that Apple would have come up with a better way to organize them on your iPhone.
How To: Tint the Status Bar to Blend in with Different App Colors on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
With the Android 4.4 KitKat update slated for release sometime in October (according to Nestle), I'm sure you're excited to get your hands on and test out all of the new features of Google's latest mobile operating system.
How To: The Trick to Emailing More Than Five Photos at Once in iOS 7 (Plus, a Better Way to Do It)
I know it's a very first-world problem, but I really can't stand it. Email was invented to speed up communications between people across the world, even just across the office, yet when I'm on my super awesome iPhone running iOS 7, I have to go back and forth between my gallery and my email to send more than five photos at one time.
How To: Enable Multi-Window View for Every Single App on Your Samsung Galaxy S4
If you're a self-described multitasker, Samsung has a feature that's perfect for you called Multi-Window, which lets you display two apps on your Galaxy S4's screen simultaneously.
How To: Bring iOS 7-Style Notifications to Your Samsung Galaxy S3 or Other Android Device
The design of iOS 7 has its lovers and haters, and if you're an Android user who just happens to love it, there are plenty of ways to make your device feel more Apple-y.
How To: Add Bluetooth Capability to Corded Over-Ear Headphones for Wireless Listening
Headphone cords are one of those things we all deal with because it beats the alternative (no music). But they can be so obnoxious—they're always getting caught on things, and they seem to be perpetually tangled. If you have ear buds, you can make a simple a cord container to keep them organized, but over-ear headphones are a little more tricky.
How To: Upgrade Your Galaxy S3's Lock Screen to a Galaxy S4's for More Swipe Effects
#FOMO. If it bugs the living hell out of you that you don't know what that means, you're presently FOMO, as in you've got a Fear of Missing Out.
Quick Tip: iOS 7 Calendar
With the recent release of iOS 7 there is a world of easter eggs to discover within the new operating system.
How To: Turn Your Samsung Galaxy S3 into a Powerful TI-89 Titanium Graphing Calculator
If I were a math major, I'd probably be rolling in dough somewhere in Silicon Valley right now, but since multiplying numbers and figuring out tangents gives me panic attacks, I went the English route... pays much better.
How To: Keep Your Android, iPhone, or Other Smartphone's Cracked Screen from Splintering with Sugru
Just about everyone I know has broken a phone at least once in their life. It's almost inevitable considering we carry them everywhere we go, but that doesn't make it any less irritating. A cracked screen is difficult to read and can actually be a little dangerous if there are loose pieces of glass. Simon, a designer and producer over at Sugru, came up with a quick fix that'll help hold your screen together in the meantime until you can get it fixed properly. He figured out that a paper-thin ...