Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos

How To: Unlock Android Lollipop's Hidden Battery Percentage Icon in the Status Bar

When a big company (Google) concentrates on big things (Auto, TV, Wear), some of the smaller aspects of their design can be overlooked. Just as we saw in Android KitKat, battery percentage information is absent from the status bar. While we were able to enable a hidden setting to show that all-important number in KitKat, you could see why it was never enabled—the white text on the white battery icon made it nearly impossible to read.

How To: Get the Most Out of Your Nexus 5's Camera

Google recently updated the camera software for the Nexus 5, and in doing so, made the app available to all devices running Android KitKat. This means that not only do we get a nice new camera interface on our phones, but we also get the benefit of an expanded development community.

How To: Build Your Own Internet Radio Player, AKA Pandora's Box

Growing up, my family would get together in the living room every Saturday night and gather around my mom's old boombox radio and listen to Disco Saturday Night on 104.3 FM from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. (the show ended in 2008 after 14 years of consecutive shows). The old ladies in the picture below are the best representation of these nights that I could find. Now, the radio is all but dead (just like the old ladies above) in this world of music streaming services and torrenting. All of our music is...

How To: Cut and Sand Your Micro-SIM into a Nano-SIM Card for Your New iPhone 5

Planning on getting the iPhone 5, but want to keep your SIM card? The new nano-SIMs that manufacturers are adopting will be even smaller than the micro-SIMs that most of us currently use. It's fairly easy to cut a regular SIM down to a micro-SIM, but because the nano-SIM will be thinner as well as smaller than the micro, cutting it down to size will require a little more work. Photo by Tech Digest

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: Delete your Facebook account

In this tutorial, we learn how to delete a Facebook account. First, log onto the internet and log into your Facebook account. Once you are logged in, you will be presented with your home page. Now, click on the account settings on the right hand side and find the button that says you want to cancel your account. Once you have confirmed you want to cancel your account, Facebook will send you an e-mail that asks you to confirm it one last time. After you are done with this, your account will be...

How To: Delete your YouTube account

This video teaches us to delete our YouTube account and permanently disable it. Click on the account name and choose 'Account' from the menu. Click on 'Manage Account' at the left bottom of the screen. Click on 'Delete Account' from the options present there. Type anything in the space provided for the reason for deleting the account. Click on 'Delete Account' button. Click the button again in the window that appears. Now the message appears that 'Account deleted. You will now be logged out'....

How To: Hide games on your Facebook news feed

Facebook is overrun with all sorts of meaningless applications these days. It seems like there's no end to the amount of games people create for Facebook. Keep these games off of your news feed so you can see what really matters to you on Facebook. This video will show how to hide games on your Facebook news feed.

How To: Downgrade from Windows 7 or Vista to Windows XP

Learn how to downgrade and install Windows XP from Vista. You will need a Windows XP disc, a computer, and CD/DVD drive, backup of all files. Be sure to backup all the data before doing this Windows XP will not save your files. Insert your Windows Up disc. Then in the screenGo to devices->CD/DVD devices->Host drive D.Make sure your computer sees the disc. From start menuGo to computer->CD drive D from devices with removable storage. And select run setup.exeThen vista will die and restart your...

How To: Silence the ring on your iPhone

This quick video shows you how to silence the ring on your iPhone in a few simple steps. When a call comes in, all you have to do is just push the sleep button once to silence the ring. If you want to send the call to voicemail, push it twice. You can turn off all sounds with the silent ringer switch.

How To: Build a simple Van de Graaff generator

Want to build a Van de Graaf electrostatic generator? Who doesn't! This video tutorial will show you how. To follow along at home, you'll need the following items: a rubber band–the longer the better–, a small motor, a small glass object like a Christmas tree light, and some type of plastic roller. For simple, step-by-step instructions, watch this Van de Graaf-buildin' how-to.