Gadget Hacks Shop Apple Guides Android Guides iPhone Guides Mac Guides Pixel Guides Samsung Guides Tweaks & Hacks Privacy & Security Productivity Hacks Movies & TV Smartphone Gaming Music & Audio Travel Tips Videography Tips Chat Apps

Gadget Hacks How-Tos

iOS 18 Tips, Tricks, How-Tos, News

How To: Trick Verizon into Thinking You Never Modded Your Samsung Galaxy S III

One of the main reasons why the Samsung Galaxy S III has dethroned Apple's iPhone 4S as the best-selling smartphone in the world is due to Android's open-source operating system. The vast spectrum of customization that comes with Android has become one of its focal points, allowing n00bs and programmers alike to build and destroy. The open-source OS has allowed rooting and modified ROMs to flourish within Android community. The only problem with this is that rooting and installing your own RO...

How To: Ingress, Google's Awesome New Mind-Hacking AR Game for Android Phones Now in Beta!

Google has just launched a new revolutionary augmented reality game for Android called Ingress. Their new mobile game centers around the fight for control of the minds of everyone here on Earth. It's a freaking worldwide fight—from your smartphone! While augmented reality in is nothing new in the smartphone gaming world, it has never seen the likes of this. With an almost Halo-like storytelling, Ingress seeks to bring out gamers all across the globe to perform physical activities by transform...

How To: Unlock Your Front Door Without Keys Using This DIY Keyfob Entry System

Keys are on the way out. They're clunky, take up precious space, and slow you down when you have tons of identical-looking gold ones on your keyring. Everything we can open with keys can now also be opened with wireless technology in just a click—so why use keys anymore? Sure, you can pay hundreds of dollars for an automated lock system on your house—but why do that when you can build it yourself!

How To: Who's Unfollowing Your Twitter Account? Find Out with These Tracker Apps (And Get Revenge!)

Feelings can get hurt on Twitter as fast as an update. Everything is fine and dandy because two people are mutually following each other, then out of nowhere, one person has unfollowed the other out for seemingly no reason. Twitter doesn't notify users when someone has unfollowed them, so there are millions of people out there who get used for their follow! Well, now you can find out who unfollows you on Twitter with these mobile apps.

How To: Stream Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora from Anywhere in the World with Media Hint

Having the ability to stream music or video from practically any internet-capable device is a thing of wonder—especially at the airport. I don't know how many times Netflix has saved me from watching something like CNN for 5 hours straight at the gate during long layovers. But streaming video sites like Netflix only work in North American and few other regions. So, if you're a U.S. subscriber currently in Australia or France or any other international location, Au Revoir to your streaming cap...

How To: Listen to Text Messages and Other Notifications While Driving—Without Touching Your Phone

The car is arguably one of the worst places to receive a text message. You know you can't resist looking, and when you do, your attention is no longer on driving, it's on reading the latest gossip or whatever. You take your eyes of the road for just a few seconds and you could get an expensive ticket, or even worse—an accident. But you can't just ignore that notification sound or vibration, can you? So, if you just have to know what it says right then and there, why not at least do it in a sa...

How To: Remove Stock iOS App, Without Jailbreak (iOS 6)

At first glance, the iOS home screen looks nearly identical to the original release back in 2007. Though those experienced with the evolving iterations of iOS will tell you that the features have changed. Furthermore, with the App Store continuing to explode with (lets face it) better options than the stock software, these included applications are only causing clutter across the springboard.

How To: Turn Your iPad Mini's Box into a Free Stand and Charging Dock

You can make a dock for an Apple device out of almost anything, even the box it comes in. People have been turning Apple's product packaging into DIY docks for a few years now, including the iPod nano, iPod touch, and iPhone 4. So, it's no surprise that the newly released iPad mini already has one, too. Obviously, if you ever anticipate selling yours, modifying the box probably isn't a good idea since you get more money for used devices with original packaging. But, if you plan on keeping it ...

How To: Beautify Your Twitter Account with Profile, Header, and Background Images

This goes out to all of the Tweeters out there looking to get a little more creative with their Twitter accounts. My page has always been extremely basic, because I just never bothered to pretty it up. I just had one of the stock backgrounds and the good ole Sacramento Kings logo for my profile pic. So, if you want to add your own cool photos and backgrounds to your account, the folks over at Twitter made this funny cartoon video just for you. It's not the most complicated of tasks, and every...

How To: Replace Your Kindle's Broken E Ink Display Yourself

The reason Amazon's Kindle has become so popular over the past several years is due to the amount of digital books one can fit inside—over 1,000 for the smallest Kindle. Gone are the days of lugging around heavy books to school and the airport. Instead we can fit our e-readers snugly inside our bags and never worry about forgetting a book.

How To: Convert Your Old Apple iMac G4 into a Cable-Ready HDTV

Most of us have traded our desktop systems for laptops, tablets, and mobile devices, meaning there's a lot of outdated hardware sitting in attics. Want to give your old computer a new purpose? Matthew Chappee turned his iMac G4 into an HDTV using the guide by Dremel Junkie. One thing to note before you take on this project yourself is that if you want to use it to watch cable, you'll need a converter box to get around the MPAA's HDCP restriction. But, a converter box is considerably less expe...

How To: Change Facebook's Boring Blue Theme to Any Color You Want

Facebook has always been notoriously difficult to customize. Personally, I think this is an improvement over MySpace's totally open platform (some people should not use code), but users should still have the option to change a few things if they want. While you'll never be able to choose your own background image or add an obnoxious number of aWeSoMe quiz results to your profile, there are a few browser plugins that let you at least change the color scheme.

How To: Turn Your Old NES into an All-In-One Retro Gaming Console

While the PlayStation and Xbox models may rule the current world of gaming, there are still those who love to keep it old school. The grittiness, toughness and nostalgia that is laced throughout old gaming consoles appeals to many people. Every time I play Donkey Kong 64 (with the expansion pack of course!), I revert back to the days of Sunday morning cartoons and only worrying about homework.

How To: Turn the Multi-Window Menu Transparent on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2

One of the features on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that has created quite a bit of buzz is Multi Window, which adds split-screen functionality and allows you to simultaneously task through two applications. This feature can be toggled through a menu that appears on one side of the screen and only works with a few selected applications (unless you mod your Note 2). Thanks to a new hack from XDA Developers, you can now turn the Multi Window task menu transparent, so you can still see what's under...

How To: Add Extra Storage Space to Your Microsoft Surface That Your Apps Can Actually Use

Microsoft's first venture into the tablet market, the Surface RT, combines many of the capabilities of a normal Windows 8 laptop into a super compact tablet, whose super-thin touch cover and kickstand can transform it into a functional mini-laptop, small and light enough to go anywhere you want. But like most tablets, the Surface comes with a rather limited amount of storage space. The tablet comes in either 32 GB or 64 GB, but we all know that's not the actual amount of storage space you can...

How To: Send Self-Destructing Spy Messages via Google Docs, Texts, and Private Links

There's really nothing safe about transmitting sensitive information electronically, but even if it gets there safely without being seen by prying eyes, there's no guarantee what happens to it once it reaches its destination. And let's face it, there are some things that you just don't want floating out there forever. So what can you do? Whether you want to send an email, a text, or a link, there are ways to send messages that self-destruct so that once they're read, they immediately vanish. ...

How To: Keep Tabs on Today's Voting Results for the 2012 Presidential Election

Believe it or not, the 2012 Presidential Election is (finally) almost over. While most of us are breathing a collective sigh of relief (no more political ads!), it still seems like it hasn't been that long since the last election results were announced. This time, though, one of the biggest differences is how people will watch. Since traditional cable is on its way out, and mobile devices are getting more popular every day, a lot of people will be watching this year's election results online ...