Gadget Hacks How-Tos
Photo Forensics: How to Check If a Picture Has Been Photoshopped or Not
Considering how easy and convenient Photoshop has become, even for the average computer user, it's nearly impossible to tell whether a photo is authentic, or if it's had some "improvements."
How To: Hack Your Old Computer Mouse into Retro Wireless Bluetooth Mouse!
Since most devices these days are mobile and wireless, a lot of people have a bunch of old hardware from a decade or two ago sitting around unused, just wasting away in dusty boxes. Look familiar?
How To: Build Night Vision Goggles with a Car Backup Camera and Monitor
Night vision goggles are awesome, but the price? Not so much. Luckily, you can make your own pair that will have you sneaking up on your friends in just a few simple steps.
How To: Turn Your Smartphone Pics into Extra Cash with These Android and iPhone Apps
Everything is documented these days, thanks to the Internet and mobile devices. Most people who own a smartphone use it to take lots of pictures. If you're one of those people, an app called Scoopshot can help you turn some of those photos into extra cash. Scoopshots lets you post your pics so that news organizations can pay you to use them. Companies can also post tasks, so if someone is looking for a particular photo in your area, you can accept the task, go take the photo, and earn money f...
How To: Make Your Own Propane-Fueled Cotton Candy Machine at Home
Cotton candy is a treat generally reserved for carnivals, fairs, and other events that don't come around often enough. Through some clever construction and about $45 in materials though, you can have all the sugary substance you could ever want with this awesome DIY cotton candy machine. All you'll need to construct your own are two dollar store stainless steel bowls, a fan motor, a few odd screws and bolts, a drill, and a propane torch. Check out the tutorial video below. As an added bonus, ...
How To: Get Your Free 90-Day Trial of Windows 8 Enterprise Edition Today
Yesterday, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 RTM is available to its MSDN subscribers and TechNet Professionals. But they've also included a free 90-day trial for developers that anyone can download, no subscription needed. The download is actually for the Enterprise version, so after the 90 days are over you won't be able to upgrade, you'll have to do it from your original operating system when the non-Enterprise version is released in October.
How To: Build Your Own Kinect-Like 3D Tracking Interface with Cardboard, Foil, and Arduino
Back in 2008, media artist Kyle McDonald created a 3D interface that could track movement, which he turned into a virtual Tic-tac-toe game.
How To: Make EXTREME LED Throwies
LED throwies are cheery glow-dots you can make in seconds from simple components and stick to any ferro-magnetic surface. But that's just the beginning — here's how to hack and modify them.
How To: Cloak Your Private Email Address into an Anonymous, Disposable One with Gliph
Want the convenience of a throwaway email address without all the hassle? How about anonymous text messaging so you can get to know someone before giving them your real information? Gliph has you covered. Gliph is a service that lets you create an identity around a set of three to five symbols called "artifacts" instead of your name, phone number, or email address. You choose how much information you reveal, and anytime you communicate with someone else who has Gliph, the data is protected us...
How To: Copy and Paste Text from Images and PDFs with This Free, Easy-to-Use Tool
We've all needed to copy text from an image at some point or another. If it's only a few words, it's no big deal to just type it out, but if you need to capture a whole block of text, that could take a while. Luckily, there's a free app you can download to do all the hard work for you.
How To: DIY Pulsating Light Rod Speakers That Dance to Your Music
If you've found your speakers to be lacking in the visuals department, this is just the mod for you. Using 3" PVC, you can turn your speakers into light-up glow rods that pulse to the beat of your music. You'll need some electrical skills and experience soldering to get this one together, but otherwise it's not all that complicated. The main components you are going to need are speaker drivers, PVC pipes, LEDs, and the necessary cabling for those devices. The device works best with higher vol...
How To: Create a Portable, Fully Functional USB Version of Windows 8
If you've got more than one computer, it can be a huge pain to switch form one to the other. Between files, settings and apps, it can take a while to transfer everything—and if you're running different operating systems, it's even worse. Image by Onion
How To: Too Many Open Windows? Make Windows Explorer More Efficient by Adding Tabs
Tabs are a beautiful thing. Without them, web browsing can be an incredibly tedious task. Tabs help organize all of your open pages in one window, saving you the time of constantly switching back and forth. And honestly, who wants to look at this? Want to add the convenience of tabs to Windows Explorer? The aptly named TabExplorer can help.
How To: Block RFID Signals, Build an RFID Reader Detector, and Make Custom RFID Tags
RFID chips are everywhere. They're in passports, credit cards, and tons of items you've bought in the last 5 years or so. Big retailers like Walmart started using tracking products with RFID as early as 2004, and today, they're used in everything from mobile payments to hospital record systems. Chances are, unless you're a hermit (in which case you wouldn't be reading this anyway), there's an RFID tag within a few feet of you. Photo by sridgway
How To: Always Know When Someone's Talking About You Online with IFTTT
Too many accounts, too little time. If this sounds like the story of your life, you're not alone. That's where If This, Then That (IFTTT) comes in. It's a site that lets you automate tasks in 50 different channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Craigslist, WordPress, YouTube, and even your own phone and email accounts. It works by using "recipes," an infinitely customizable list of tasks that you can set up to do almost anything you want. Want to know when someone mentions you on Twi...
How To: Play Music Simultaneously on Your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch with the Seedio Loudspeaker App
It seems like Apple is always releasing something new, so there must be a lot of lonely iDevices out there going unused, right? With Seedio, you can make the most of your Apple products by connecting them to make one synchronized loudspeaker. As long as all the devices have the Seedio app installed, you can connect as many iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches as you want. All you need is a wireless connection. You can play music from anywhere: your library, YouTube, or the Web. It also works as a...
How To: Customize Your USB Keyboard with a DIY Illuminated Base with Built-In Phone Stand
I've never really liked to type on a flat or low keyboard. Even the small flip-up stands underneath most keyboards were not good enough for me, as those little legs aren't usually more than 2 or 3 centimeters high. I'd like a minimum of 5 cm, so I decided to make this keyboard base for myself. Aside from giving me the right height and angle, this DIY keyboard base also features LEDs that light up my monitor, the table, and gives a nice background to my desktop. It's even got a built-in stand ...
How To: Download TED Talks Videos onto Your Computer with the TEDinator
The TED website offers hours and hours of amazing streaming videos, with subjects including why videos go viral and sixth sense technology. With so much great content, it make sense that you'd want to save some of it to your computer, perhaps for a long plane flight or bus ride home. Unfortunately, because TED uses a proprietary video player, you can't use the normal stream downloading sites that you would for, say, YouTube. Luckily, there's a way around that.
How To: Attach Large 100MB Files in Gmail with Attachments.me
Attaching files to an email is way more convenient than trying to link people to third-party file transfers. Unfortunately, the standard 25MB limit is far too small to send some files, like large videos or multiple audio files.
How To: The 5 Best Places to Download or Design Fonts Online for Free
Whether you're making a poster, drawing a logo or designing a website, the font you use can make a huge difference in any visual design, and the ones available in most word processors can get pretty boring. There are thousands of sites online where you can download free fonts, and even a few that let you design your own. Here are some of the best.
How To: Fix the Uneven Screen Lifting Issue on Your Google Nexus 7 Tablet
Those new Nexus 7's sure are nice. Unfortunately, a number of those shiny new tablets have a manufacturing issue that makes the screen uneven with the bezel. Google's solution is to have you send it back in, but why waste your time considering the problem can be fixed by simply adjusting a single screw. All you need to perform the adjustment is a guitar pick or coin, and a very small Phillips screwdriver. Also note, opening up your tablet will most likely void your warranty, so consider that ...
How To: Add Your Gmail Inbox to Your Google Search Results
Google is rolling out a new feature that will integrate your Gmail account with Google searches. The feature will add results pulled from your email correspondences to create more "personalized" Google search results. Google is currently doing a test run of the service. To activate it for your account, head on over to this page to sign up. It's currently restricted to the English version of the site, and for those with @gmail.com email addresses (not available on Google Apps accounts). And be...
How To: Is the "Save As" Option Really Back in OS X Mountain Lion?
When OS X Lion (10.7) debuted last year, a lot of Apple users were dismayed that the "Save As" option had disappeared, replaced by the "Duplicate" function. Most felt that it just wasn't the same, so when Mountain Lion was released, the "Save As" option was brought back… sort of.
How To: Burner Protects Your Real Phone Number with Disposable Aliases on Your iPhone
There are tons of situations that require you to give out your phone number, and I think just about everyone has regretted doing so at some point. It can be incredibly convenient to have a secondary or temporary number on hand, so if you don't want to provide your real digits, you can still get the call without revealing your true numbers. And that's where Burner comes in. Burner is a mobile app for iPhone and Android that lets you create alias phone numbers that you can take out of service a...
Beat Box Office Prices: How to Save Money on Movie Tickets
The cost of movie tickets in North America are currently at an all-time high, but with so many great films coming out, just not going doesn't seem like a probable option. Luckily, there's more than a few resources on the Internet to help you mitigate some of those costs.
How To: Save on Data Costs with Verizon Wireless's "Secret" High-Tier Data Plans
Verizon Wireless advertises that their highest data plan caps at 10GB, which unfortunately isn't enough for a lot of users (especially if you're fond of tethering your phone). Go over their limit, and they'll slap you with seriously unwelcome charges—$15 per 1GB over. It's funny then that a Computer World writer discovered that Verizon actually does offer plans over 10GB, they just aren't too eager to advertise them.
How To: Place Your Electrical Socket Safely in the Wall If It Was Pulled Out
Hello! This post is about the electrical socket. Imagine that somebody pulled the cable out of the possible protection outlet too fast? The result can be seen on the following photo. What to do next? Step 1: Preparation
How To: Research Your Family Tree Online
Are you interested in beginning research of your family's history? I began this journey about 3 or 4 years ago and here is what I found. I've done almost ALL of my research online, and gotten farther, faster and more comprehensively than anyone else who has researched my family the old fashioned ways. This is the kind of thing that technology is made for. Here's how to use it.
How To: Spend Less on Textbooks This Semester, More on Dorm Room Pranks
It's already August, which means school will be back in just a few short weeks. If you're getting ready to start or go back to college, that means you'll probably be dropping a few hundred bucks on textbooks. Here are some of the best places online to buy, sell and rent textbooks so that you can get back to more important things, like making your papers look longer than they really are and getting around your school's website blockers. Plus you can spend your money on more exciting things, li...
How To: Take a Screenshot on Any Smartphone or Tablet
Taking screen captures is a standard feature on iPhones and newer Android smartphones, but for some reason it's not very intuitive. Screenshots allow you to share your phone's screen with your friends, document technical problems for customer support, and even make how-to guides easier to follow. So, it's definitely worth remembering. Here's how you do it.
How To: Create a Fake Online Identity for Website Registrations in Just One Click
When you really think about it, registering for any website is a little scary. Not only do they now have your name, email address, and a username/password combination you might've used elsewhere, but certain sites and services ask for quite a bit more private information. From phone numbers to addresses to birth dates and more, that company now has all of your information stored.
Stop Skype Spam in Its Tracks: Keep Your Account Safe with These Simple Tips
If you've read anything in the news about Skype recently, it probably hasn't been good. First, there was the controversy over the company listening to and recording users' conversations. Now, there's a new spam tool for Skype that can harvest usernames, see whether or not you're online, and even parse your log files. Image by Lloyd Dewolf
How To: Get Free Internet on Your Laptop from Your Phone
Tethering your Android phone basically turns it into a mobile hotspot, allowing you to funnel a 3G or 4G internet connection from your phone into your PC or laptop via USB. As you might expect, phone carriers brought the hammer down in an effort to stop users from getting around the fees they charge to normally allow you to do this.
How To: Eradicate Annoying Baby Pictures from Your Facebook News Feed with UNBABY.ME
We all have that friend. You know, the one who can't resist posting pictures on Facebook of every single thing their newborn does. Babies are cute and all, but new parents don't seem to get that not everyone wants to see a play-by-play of every moment of their child's existence. For the rest of us, Unbaby.me is here to help. Unbaby.me is a Chrome extension that replaces baby photos in your News Feed with pictures of "awesome stuff." It's super easy to use. Just go to the homepage, click Add t...
How To: Explore the Kennedy Space Center Online with Google Street View
With all the excitement over the Mars rover landing this weekend, you might also want to know that Google has gotten their cameras into the Kennedy Space Center for their largest collection of Street View imagery to date. In total, the explorable facility totals 6,000 panoramic views. The views include the space shuttle launch pad, the towering Vehicle Assembly Building, and a up-close and personal view of a space shuttle's main engine.
How To: See If Anyone's Hacked into Your Dropbox, Facebook, or Gmail Accounts
Dropbox announced Tuesday that a recent security breach compromised a list that included the email addresses of certain Dropbox users. To avoid future complications, the service announced that it would be implementing two-factor authentication, and even more useful, a security page that lets you monitor all activity on your account. In light of this and other recent web security threats, you might also want to know that services like Gmail, Facebook, and Yahoo! Mail have similar pages where y...
How To: Unlock and Root Your Google Nexus 7 Tablet
Google's Nexus 7 tablet has just been released, and for only $199, it seems like a great deal. Now, some of you are probably immediately thinking that you're going to want to root this thing as soon as possible to install all of your tweaks. Luckily, some clever hackers have already developed a fairly automated solution to rooting the device. Here's how it works. A word of caution however, rooting your tablet will very much void the warranty and there's no 100% guarantee that this procedure w...
How To: Make LEDs Dance to Techno Music
You must have seen some expensive mp3 players and CD players which have LEDs fixed on them and they dance to the tune looking really pretty.
How To: Add and Use Outlook.com E-Mail Aliases
Microsoft just revealed the preview of its latest incarnation of Webmail, Outlook.com. One particular Outlook.com feature worth noting, is its support of multiple e-mail aliases. They're a great way to protect your primary e-mail address. And because you can't log in to your Outlook.com account with an alias, it adds another level of security. How To Add an alias
How To: Privacy? What Privacy? Quora Now Publicly Shows the Posts You View: Here's How to Disable It
In an effort to help posters see the various ways that people discover their posts, Q&A site, Quora has decided to make who views each post, public, along with information on how each viewer came to see the question (ex: through an email, a followed tag, or other public stream). This would probably be an interesting, helpful, and universally liked feature, except for one thing...