Gadget Hacks How-Tos
How To: Learn Everything You Need to Know About AWS for Under $30
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the premier on-demand cloud computing platform. Offering a wide range of APIs to companies, governments, and individuals on a pay-as-you-go basis, this Amazon subsidiary pulled in over $35 billion in revenue in 2019 alone.
How To: These 5 Things Will Help You Get the Most Out of Your NordVPN Experience
VPNs add a protective layer between your data and your internet service provider (ISP) or bad actors (hackers), so it makes sense they've become so popular lately. Probably the most common one of these is NordVPN, so we explored its mobile app to find all the options worth checking out.
How To: Skip Intros, End Screens & Other Annoying in-Video YouTube Distractions on Android
Even if you pay for YouTube Premium, you are not exempt from ads. YouTube will stop adding pre-roll and interstitial ads, but content creators still have their own advertisements baked into videos. These product placements can be even worse than ads, and they're not the only annoyance embedded into videos. To put it nicely, YouTube is starting to have a problem with distractions.
How To: Netflix Caps Video Quality Based on Your Phone's Widevine DRM Level — Here's How to Check for HDR & FHD Support
Just because your phone has a high-resolution screen doesn't mean it will play videos at their highest resolution. Most streaming services, including Netflix, use a DRM system known as Widevine for media in their Android apps. But even if your phone has Widevine support, content will be limited to non-HD if your specific model hasn't been whitelisted by Netflix.
How To: KeePass Gets Full Biometrics Support in the Latest Keepass2Android Update
KeePass, the free, open-source password manager, has an excellent Android client in Keepass2Android. Its UI is slicker than many of the other ports, it's packing most of the features you'd find in the official Windows version, and it's completely free. Now, it's even adding native biometrics support.
How To: How & Why You Should Change Your iPhone's Name
You might be giving out your name to every stranger you see, and you don't even know it. That iPhone of yours has a name — generally a combination of your first name and device model — and it broadcasts it to others via AirDrop, Personal Hotspot, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and other connections. Sure, it's useful to keep your device name simple and to the point, but there are upsides to changing it.
How To: 7 Apps That'll Pick Up TikTok's Slack if It Gets Banned in the US
The future of TikTok in the U.S. is all but certain. Microsoft, Walmart, or Oracle could save the day by buying the company, TikTok may win its lawsuit, or China's new restrictions could halt everything — but all could fail. Just like Vine before it, TikTok could be on its way out, only for opposite reasons. But will it matter if TikTok gets banned in the States? With the competition heating up, likely not.
How To: Stop iPhone Calls from Ringing Simultaneously on Your iPad, MacBook & Other Apple Devices
You might be using Zoom on your iMac, playing a Steam game on your MacBook, or completing a work assignment on your iPad, when suddenly you get a phone call on your iPhone. If the same Apple ID is used on all of your Apple devices, the call won't ring on your iPhone only — it'll ring on every damned device.
How To: Make Your iPhone Tell You When It's Done Charging
Battery management is a never-ending struggle. To be on the safe side, you likely won't want to leave your home with less than 100% battery, but continually checking your charging iPhone is a hassle. Instead of continuously monitoring your battery's power level, have your iPhone tell you when it's reached a full charge.
How To: Easily Reveal Obfuscated Passwords Hidden Behind Asterisks & Dots for Login Pages in Safari
Enter a password into a password field, and it's a sure bet that black dots or asterisks will obscure the characters. Nearly every website you visit in Safari on your iPhone will do it, but sometimes it helps to see what you're typing or what was auto-filled with iCloud Keychain, LastPass, or a different password manager.
How To: It's Surprisingly Simple to Stop YouTube from Saving Your Search History
Sure, your search history can be useful, but more often than not, it's a paper trail of privacy infringement. It's perfectly reasonable not to want to see a complete list of your YouTube queries every single time you search for a new video. Luckily, blocking YouTube from saving your search history takes only a few taps.
How To: Change Your iPhone's Default Text Responses for Incoming Phone Calls to Quick Reply in Style
Since iOS 6, "Respond with Text" has allowed us to quickly respond to a call we can't (or don't want to) answer. But Apple only gives you three options to choose from, and if you don't have time to type out your own response, those three might not cut it. Luckily, you can customize these three replies to whatever you want.
How To: Quickly Extract the Audio Track from Any Video on Your iPhone — Right from the Share Sheet
You can easily remove audio from videos in the Photos app on your iPhone, but the same cannot be said about removing video and just keeping the audio track. However, another stock Apple app can help extract the sound clip, and it barely takes any work to set it up.
How To: Audio Messages Keep Disappearing in iMessages? Do This to Stop Them from Self-Destructing
Introduced in the Messages app back in iOS 8, audio messages are a fun way to spice up an iMessage thread when you're bored with text, emoji, and GIFs. However, it can be frustrating to lose an important, funny, or otherwise-interesting sound clip because iOS auto-deletes it two minutes after you send or listen to it. Thankfully, there is a way to stop this from happening.
How To: The Fastest Way to Connect AirPods from Another Device to Your iPhone
Apple's AirPods are convenient because you can easily switch which Apple device is connected to your AirPods with just a few taps. But unless you're using Shortcuts to make the connection, you aren't using the fastest method possible.
How To: Every New Feature iOS 14 Brings to the Home App on Your iPhone
Using your iPhone for a smart home remote just keeps getting better and better. Apple has consistently improved its HomeKit platform since the Home app came out, adding new features, tweaks, and refinements to the system with each update. And iOS 14 continues this trend with a few changes to help make your home even smarter and easier to use.
How To: Stop Deleting iPhone Notifications One by One — Clear All Alerts at Once by Doing This
If you're like me, no matter how hard you try, your iPhone's notifications are a mess. There's just too many of them. That's when it becomes helpful just to get rid of the whole bunch and start fresh. However, deleting alerts one at a time is as tedious as it is unnecessary since you can clear all of your notifications at once.
How To: The Best Way for Any Guest to Connect to Your Wi-Fi Network Automatically
"What's your Wi-Fi password?" That's usually the first thing guests ask for when you have them over. You tell them the network name, then try to explain your complicated hacker-resistant password, which becomes a whole ordeal. But there's a better way to do it, which doesn't rely on using the same mobile OS as your guests.
How To: This Shortcut Automates Sending Birthday Wishes to Your Contacts So You Never Have to Remember Again
You should know the birthday for a parent, sibling, child, or significant other, but there are just too many people in your family and contacts to remember everybody's yearly birth anniversary. Still, everyone expects you to remember their birthday. To stop looking like a jerk, go a step further than putting birthdays in your calendar and make your iPhone help you send birthday wishes when their big day pops up.
How To: Make Sure Videos Are Playing at the Highest Resolution Possible on YouTube, YouTube Music & YouTube TV
Most streaming platforms have seen a huge viewership increase in the past few months. As a result, wireless carriers and ISPs are struggling to provide the necessary bandwidth for everyone, resulting in some customers being limited to DVD quality. The same applies to YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV, but you can see the resolution being used and change it to something better.
How To: Force Dark Mode for News Stories in Apple News
It's almost impossible to use Apple News at night without having to mess with the white point and zoom filters. That might sound a bit dramatic, but it's really not when you consider that iOS 13 has a perfectly good Dark Mode that should work for News. So why are we stuck reading most news stories in Light Mode? We're not, but you have to put a little work into it going dark in News.
How To: 29 New Features in Samsung's One UI 2.5 You Won't Want to Miss
Samsung's One UI has slowly become the model for Android skins. The old iOS-like TouchWiz already feels like a relic, thanks in part to the newer user interface's exceptional design and fast but meaningful updates. One UI is so good, other OEM skins have copied elements of it. The latest release is One UI 2.5, which has over 20 new features that make the skin even better.
How To: Sick of Your iPhone Keyboard's Annoying Click Sounds? Try One of These Solutions
If you're in an active Messages chat, writing a large email, or have a lot of notes to jot down, you might be acutely aware of just how loud your iPhone's keyboard can sound — especially with AirPods or other headphones on. "Click, click, click, click, click, click." If the fake keyboard sounds are driving your crazy as you type, there's something you can do about it.
How To: iOS 14 Makes Biking City Roads Better & Safer with Cycling Routes in Apple Maps
It's been a long time coming, but Apple Maps finally has cycling directions for your iPhone. Google Maps has had cycling support for ten years now, though, many of its more useful features had been incorporated within the last few years. Well, with iOS 14, Apple has caught up, and it's done a fantastic job.
YSK: You Can Manage App Downloads & Updates Right from Your iPhone's Home Screen
Everyone knows that app updates on iOS are found in the App Store. What you might not have known, however, is that you don't need to manually open the App Store app to manage your updates and downloads. In fact, that work can be started or completed directly from the first place you interact with on your iPhone — the home screen.
How To: Finally, You Can Hide the 'Hidden' Album from the Photos App on Your iPhone
The "Hidden" album on your iPhone has always had one problem — it was never truly hidden. Since iOS 10, when the feature was introduced in the Photos app, any image or video that you conceal in the private folder could be seen by anyone with access to your unlocked device. Finally, that has changed.
How To: Unlock the Hidden Developer Options on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 or Note 20 Ultra
Even if you're new to Android phones, chances are you've heard of the power of Android's customization, and that applies to the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series as well. Your brand new Galaxy Note 20 or Note 20 Ultra's operating system is capable of modification beyond what's available in the basic Settings app — and it all starts with the hidden "Developer options" menu.
How To: The Hidden Way to Delete Numbers on Your iPhone's Calculator
Let's say you're using your iPhone's Calculator app, and you're knee-deep into a complicated calculation with many steps. You type in a large number, for example, "123,466,789," but mess up. You meant to type "5" midway through but accidentally typed "6" instead. The only thing to do now is start over, no matter how far along you are, right? Wrong.
How To: You Can Block Any App from Using Up Your iPhone's Precious Mobile Data by Doing This
If you have a limited mobile data plan on your iPhone, you know how tricky it can be to stay within your given allotment. Large app installs and updates, 4K resolution videos, and photo backups can waste precious data resources in no time. And apps like Apple News, Facebook, Mail, and Netflix eat data like it's candy. But you can nip the problem in the bud by restricting data hogs from your cellular network.
How To: Read YouTube Videos as Articles on Your Phone Instead of Watching Them
Millions of people use YouTube every day, whether it's for trailers, new music, or gameplay walkthroughs. But according to Pew Research Center, over half of U.S. adults use YouTube to figure out how to do things. If you fall into that crowd, adult or not, sometimes it's good to have written instructions to follow along with the video or in lieu of it completely.
How To: Use Your iPhone to Control Your Mac — Lock, Restart, Shut Down, Mute, Sleep, Browse Files, Play Audio & More
Your iPhone and Mac can speak to each other in many ways, allowing you to start work on one device and seamlessly switch to the other, share clipboards between the two, and pick up phone calls and answer text messages on both. The compatibility is incredible, but there's even more you can do by incorporating third-party software into the mix.
How To: See Nearby Recommendations from Brands via Curated City Guides in iOS 14's Apple Maps
When you're in a new city or even your own neighborhood, you might not know where the best places to visit are. The number of parks, restaurants, shopping centers, and other attractions could be overwhelming, so how do you narrow down your choices? The new iOS 14 update has introduced curated city "Guides" in Apple Maps, created by trusted brands to help you find excellent places to explore.
How To: Learn How to Build an Online Audience with This 6-Course Bundle
The gold standard in any business is reaching the front page of Google. You need to get your brand in front of audiences. While it can seem daunting, it's not impossible when you master SEO best practices.
How To: Disable This Wi-Fi Option on Your iPhone to Increase Security & Prevent Unresponsive Apps & Webpages
You're out and about, and nothing on your iPhone will load. A glance at the settings shows a saved Wi-Fi network with full bars that your iPhone had connected to automatically, but you're not getting any internet. If you've experienced this, you're not alone, and there's something you can do about it. You'll even increase privacy and security on your iPhone in the process.
How To: 11 Unique Effects to Make Your iPhone Photos & Videos Less Boring on Social Media
Social media apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok have plenty of editing tools that go beyond the basics, but there are still a lot of things they can't do. So if you want to apply interesting, unique effects to your photos and videos for social media, you'll need to add some other apps to your iPhone's arsenal of tools.
How To: Time Management Will Never Be an Issue Again with This 7-Course Work from Home Bundle
While there are many advantages to working from home, properly managing your time can be a real issue. Working remotely requires a particular skill set, including an ability to focus, self-motivate, and communicate from a distance. Thankfully, all of these skills are teachable.
How To: Binge Netflix Shows Faster by Increasing Playback Speed
Not including playback speed controls in a video app is a design flaw. These controls are useful tools that let you speed up or slow it down a video. Want to catch all the Easter eggs in Avengers: Infinity Wars? Slow it down. Want to rewatch the last season of Strangers Things before the new season arrives? Speed it up.
How To: Deep Fake Yourself into Movie & TV Scenes & Viral GIFs with the Reface App
Deep fakes, the art of leveraging artificial intelligence to insert the likeness and/or voice of people into videos they don't otherwise appear in, typically focus on celebrity parodies or political subterfuge.
How To: Get a Free 4K Flick Through Movies Anywhere That You Can Watch on Prime Video, iTunes, YouTube & More (Ends Sept. 9)
Why pay for a movie when you can get it for free? Thanks to Movies Anywhere, you can claim and download a video for your digital film collection right now at no cost. And getting your freebie flick couldn't be any easier.
How To: Become Fluent in This Dynamic Programming Language for $30
Since its release in 1991, Python has become one of the world's most popular general-purpose programming languages. From data mining and web programming to cybersecurity and game design, Python can be used for virtually everything online.