Gadget Hacks How-Tos
How To: This DIY Can of Pepper Spray Shoots a Photo of Your Attacker While You Spray Them
Unfortunately, there are plenty of situations where having a can of pepper spray could come in handy. Even worse, in most of those situations your state of mind isn't really conducive to remembering important details like the facial features of the person who's trying to mug you, which means the police will have a harder time catching the culprit.
How To: Find Out Where (And When) You Can Watch Movies and TV Shows Online Using CanIStream.It?
Streaming video has definitely changed how we watch movies and television shows, but with the constantly growing number of services out there, it can be hard to keep track of who's got what. Who's got Disney now? Starz? Netflix? Who knows. And when you add sites that let you rent or purchase titles, you could spend all evening trying to find something to watch. Here to simplify the process is a service called Can I Stream It?, which lets you search for your favorite movies and TV shows to fin...
Spraffl: A New Location-Based Social Network That's Completely Anonymous
The long standing popularity of 4chan has been due to the entirely anonymous setup. The site's anonymous community and culture has provoked media attention, in turn inciting larger audiences. On the other side of the spectrum is Facebook—popular for its connectivity and easily identifiable names. With the brush of keyboard stroke, you can be connected with your entire high school class in a matter of seconds.
How To: Find Out If Facebook Owes You Ten Bucks
For the most part, nobody makes money off of Facebook. Sure, some people make a living by updating pages for businesses and celebrities, but hardly anyone gets a dime from the site itself.
How To: Watch the 2013 Super Bowl XLVII Game Live Online and on Your Phone
It's finally here. After months of amazing games and one of the best playoffs I've seen in years, two teams have finally made it to the top of the mountain. The Baltimore Ravens and the San Fransisco 49ers are set to square off February 3rd at the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana for Super Bowl 47. Historically, the most watched event on television is the Super Bowl, but that's exactly where the problem lies—television.
How To: Keep Your Android Device's Screen Wide Awake with Wakey
Google Play continues to grow faster than the iOS App Store and may even hit the million app mark before Apple does. In the Android market, you'll find apps for everything, ranging from augmented reality multiplayer games like Ingress to wireless computer mouse apps like WiFi Mouse.
How To: Share Your Links More Securely Using These Temporary, Self-Destructing Short URLs
We share links on an almost daily basis, usually not even thinking twice about it. Whether you're sending a funny cat video to your sister, or letting your coworker know where to go to download relevant files, there are plenty of reasons you might be giving someone a URL.
How To: Pin Reminders to Your iPhone's Lock Screen (So You Stop Forgetting Things)
On the iPhone, the Reminder app is a great way to keep track of your to-do list. I use it for a bunch of crap I forget, like picking up a must-have item at the store or calling or emailing my friends back.
How To: Turn Old Books into an Incognito NFC-Enabled Phone Charging Dock
As a former English major, I have a love/hate relationship with many books. And when I saw that this NFC-enabled charging dock project included a little book mutilation, I was suddenly more interested. Now, for those of you who have nothing against books, this is still a great project to add some style to your tech devices.
How To: Control YouTube and Vimeo Videos in Chrome from Your Smartphone
YouTube and Vimeo are two of the most well known video websites, and each receive millions of views a month, with YouTube being one of the most visited sites in the world. Well, for folks who have mobile phones, but like watching videos on a TV or other large display, now there is a cool way to view them in Google Chrome using your smartphone as a remote control.
How To: Make the Music on Your Smartphone Automatically Turn Off When You Fall Asleep
Tons of people listen to music while going to sleep, but some don't like to leave it playing all night. If you hate waking up in the middle of the night and having to turn off your music, why not make your smartphone do it for you?
How To: Easily Remove Unwanted Objects from Photos on Your Windows Phone
Photobombing, the act of covert sabotage on a photographer and unsuspecting subject, can be a terror. This malicious and disingenuous art form has steadily grown since it first received significant coverage in 2009.
How To: This DIY WiFi-Detecting 'Sting' Blade Is Perfect for Any Hobbit Looking for a Hotspot
There are very, very few things better than a solid Hobbit songI mean, I was almost brought to tears when Pippin busted out this one in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
How To: Short Attention Span? Use These Browser Plugins and Mobile Apps to Summarize Long News Articles
Our attention spans have vastly shortened thanks to the Internet and our subsequent procurement of information from it at a rapid pace. It's tough to pay attention to something for a good amount of time, unless it's ridiculously interesting and stimulating. It's gotten so bad for me that I keep checking my phone every ten minutes—I even did it during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.
How To: Twitter's New Vine App Lets You Embed GIF-Style Videos into Your Tweets
I can't say that I'm a huge Tweeter, but I'm definitely a good follower. Having the ability to follow comedians, brands, and athletes helps me stay up to date on the things I'm interested in, and I appreciate being thrown a good joke every now and then.
How To: Keep Apps from Stealing Data on Your Samsung Galaxy S3 or Other Android Device
When downloading any application on an Android device, you will always be prompted by the following... Whether it's Angry Birds, Shazaam, or Chrome, every application will ask for permissions. If you try and deny these permissions, it won't install, leaving you with no other option but to accept. So what can you do?
How To: Sync Your Android Text Messages and Phone Calls with Your Web Browser
A lot of people text nonstop, but there are situations where it's either not allowed or considered rude to use your phone. Let's say you're in class or in a meeting at work, band you're expecting an important message or phone call. Rather than trying to check your phone discreetly, wouldn't it be better if you could just see your calls and messages on your computer?
How To: Hunt Down and Eradicate Post Profanity for a Squeaky Clean Facebook Profile
Being politically correct on social media sites is super boring. I've had my fair share of rage tweets and angry Facebook posts with some colorful wording, but sometimes using and F-bomb just gets the point across better. Now that Facebook is pushing out their new Graph Search, it might be time to clean up your profile. FaceWash is a web app that searches your Facebook profile for common bad words. You will need to give the app permission to access all of your wall posts (or course). Once acc...
How To: Track the Location of Your Family and Friends on Any Mobile Device
Being lost sucks. There really is nothing worse than going to a huge event with a bunch of friends or family and then getting separated. Instead of partying with the bros, you get stuck next to this lame couple who keeps seriously making out every ten seconds. SMH.
How To: Use a Flatbed Scanner and Raspberry Pi to Take Super Sharp Macro Photos
You can take macro photos on a huge variety of devices, whether you're using a DSLR with expensive lenses or just your iPhone (or any smartphone, for that matter). One common issue, though, is that it can be hard to get the image as crisp as you want because the depth of field is so small.
How To: Watch This Sunday's 2013 Pro Bowl Football Game Online
The Pro Bowl has definitely had its ups and downs. It's probably the most glorified exhibition game on earth. I mean, even the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, wanted to cancel it this year.
How To: Silence Your Mac's Annoying Start-Up Chime
I love my Mac to pieces, but there have been times, so many times, that I wanted to silence that classic Apple start-up chime. I mean, the only thing the sound does is notify everyone around you that you have a Mac, and that you have turned said Mac on, right? Well it's not so vain.
How To: Play SNES Games on the Windows Surface RT and Windows 8 with This Free Emulator
In a huge win for Windows 8 and Surface owners everywhere, a free SNES emulator appeared in the Windows Store last month called Snes8x—and it's awesome.
How To: Block Your Phone Number from Appearing on Any Caller ID
Caller ID is great to have, but there are certain situations where you don't want the person you're calling to have your number. People who sometimes use their personal phones for work may not want clients knowing where to reach them outside of work, and anytime you're dealing with Craigslist, it's better to be safe than sorry.
Open Sesame: Make Siri Open Your Garage Door via Raspberry Pi
You can make Siri do all kinds of things it was never designed to do. From installing it on older jailbroken iDevices to using it to bypass an iPhone's lock screen, people have managed to come up with some interesting hacks—and that's only the beginning.
How To: Make a Dandelion Lamp Using LEDs, Optical Fibers, and Straws
Albert Einstein once said, "We know less than one thousandth of one percent of what nature has to reveal to us."
How To: Download Your Twitter Archive for Every Single Tweet You've Ever Sent
A few weeks ago, Twitter announced that they would be creating an archive feature for its members, which they've been slowly rolling out to select users. After signing in today, I noticed the feature was finally available for my account, so I went to test it out.
How To: This DIY Deathly Hallows LED Clock Is Perfect for Any Harry Potter Loving Muggle
In the Harry Potter world, there was a character by the name of Beedle the Bard, who told a story about witnessing the three Peverell brothers building a bridge out of magic and successfully crossing a very dangerous river that had claimed many lives.
Deal Alert: StackSocial's Freebie Bundle Sale Gives You 8 Totally Free Mac Apps
I love my Mac just the way it is. Well, minus the fact that I accidentally deleted iPhoto and would now have to pay $14.99 to get it back. Other than that, my Mac is pretty sweet.
How To: Disable the Face Tag Feature on Your Samsung Galaxy S3 and Note 2
If you've got a Samsung Galaxy S3 or Galaxy Note 2, you probably either love or hate the Social Tag feature. Using facial recognition, much like Facebook does, it scans your photos and lets you tag a name to a face. If your device recognizes the face by itself, it will automatically tag it for you. If the person is in your contacts, it will give you the option of calling, texting, or emailing them. While it's a great feature for some, it doesn't always work perfectly. If the flash from the ca...
How To: Resize the Browser Windows on Your Samsung Galaxy Tab 2
Since the release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, many of its features have been replicated by Android developers for other devices. The most popular feature, aside from Smart Rotation, on the Note 2 has been the multitasking multi-screen/multi-window feature, which allows you to run several apps at the same time.
How To: Sick of Your Cell Phone Provider? Go Prepaid with Ting and Skip the ETF for Breaking Your Contract
Prepaid phones are becoming more and more popular, and tons of people can see the benefits of switching now that some companies are offering prepaid services that are on par with the big players. For a lot of folks, the only thing keeping them from switching is the huge early termination fees that service providers charge to break a contract early.
How To: Add Tabs (And Other Cool Things) to Finder in Mac OS X
Your Mac's Finder is an essential tool to doing all kinds of useful things, but as all the other functions on OS X get more and more complex, it seems like the Finder pretty much stays the same. It does have a simple, intuitive interface, but many users wish it could do more.
How To: Still Using Notes? Here Are 3 Better Word Processing Apps for Writing on Your iPhone
As someone who writes an extreme amount, it's a necessity for me to have an organized and multifunctional text editor. The stock iPhone Notes application is useful to an extent, but it sorely lacks in features and design. Writing and text editing applications are nothing new to the iPhone, but many of them are overloaded on features, making it even harder to keep organized. Here are just a few alternatives that I find helpful in my day-to-day writing.
How To: Know If Someone Is Blocking You on Google Talk
I can certainly say that I don't like be ignored, and you're probably right there with me on that. Also, if you're like me, you don't like being blocked on an instant messenger, either. There's something about being shafted like that that can really cramp your style.
How To: 15 Minutes? Right... Tell Your Friends How Late You're Actually Going to Be with Twist
Every group of friends has that one person who's always late. Luckily, I've never had to deal with that issue because all of my friends are always late. Never fashionably, either. I'm talking hours late. Oh, we're having lunch at noon? Nah, it's at 3 p.m. now.
How To: Facebook's Messenger App Now Lets U.S. iPhone Users Make Free Phone Calls
If you use Facebook's Messenger app on your iPhone, your cell phone bill might just get a little cheaper. After recently adding voice chats to Messenger, the company just rolled out its new Free Call feature on the latest version of the iOS app, which allows users to make calls over Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection. The feature only works between two people who are both using the latest version of Messenger and is not yet available on the Android app. Facebook says it "will be rolling out ...
How To: Automatically Delete Stored Site Cookies When You Close a Webpage in Firefox
As with most things on the Internet, browser cookies can be either helpful or harmful, depending on how they're used. On one hand, they make your experience more convenient by storing information about sites you use frequently. On the other, they can help companies track you across the web or cause your computer to be more vulnerable to attacks on public networks.
How To: Switch Internal and External Memory on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Note 2
There's a lot going for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2—smart screen rotation, huge HD display, great rear camera—which makes it an awesome device for reading, watching videos, and taking pics. But all of those luxuries will end up hogging up your internal memory, which is one of the few things the Note 2 could use some help in. The device comes with 16 to 64 GB of internal storage, depending on your model, with the option of adding a microSD card for more space. Only problem is, everything automat...
How To: Change Your Android Screen's Orientation Using Your Face Instead of the Device's Angle
One of the coolest things for readers using the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is the stock Smart Rotation feature. While most smartphones use the accelerometer to adjust the screen orientation, Smart Rotation actually uses the camera to detect your face-to-screen angle and adjusts accordingly. Now, if only there was a way that all Android users can continue reading an article or text without sporadic and unexpected 90-degree turns of their screen. Wait, there is!