Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos — Page 54 of 336

How To: View Battery Levels for All of Your Devices in One App

It's hard enough to keep tabs on the battery life of one device, let alone all of the different gadgets that a typical consumer owns in this day and age. Say your smartphone is running low on juice, so you switch to your tablet only to find out that it's almost dead as well. Better hope your laptop is fully charged, right?

How To: Play Sega Master System Games on Your iPad and iPhone

The Master System, more popularly referred to as the Sega Master System, or SMS for short, is a video game console that was released in the mid-1980's as a direct competitor to the original Nintendo (NES).

How To: Get a Standard Android Home Screen on Your Kindle Fire

Stocked with a 7-inch LCD display and 323 PPI (pixels per inch), the Kindle Fire HDX is one of the best tablets on the market for enjoying some great literature or entertaining streaming services—and I take full advantage of what this device offers.

How To: Boot Linux from Your Android onto Any Mac or PC

Linux may not be the most popular consumer operating system out there, but what it lacks in consumer app variety, it definitely makes up for in flexibility and security. And if you've ever tinkered with a Linux distro, you know how easy they are to install—most of the time, I skip standard installation and boot directly from a CD.

How To: Stop Notifications from Pausing Your Music on Android

A musical hiccup during a DJ's set can completely ruin the mood, and that same feeling can definitely translate to mobile listening as well.

How To: Get Total Control Over Android's Volume Slider Precision

On most Android devices, the various volume levels are comprised of either 7 or 15 steps between minimum and maximum. For voice-call volume, alarms, and notifications alike, 7 presses of a volume button will bring you all the way from silent to full-blast. With media controls, you get 15 steps between mute and max.

How To: Set Up Multiple User Profiles on Your Galaxy S5—Or Any Other Android Phone

When Google released Android 4.2, a new feature was introduced for tablets that allowed for multiple accounts to be used on a single device. In order to create a unique experience for each user, apps and personal data were kept separate, and switching between users became as simple as tapping your profile photo from the lock screen.

How To: Turn Any iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch into an AirPlay Receiver—Without Jailbreaking!

Officially, in order to use AirPlay to stream music from your iOS device, you would need either an Apple TV, AirPort Express, or an AirPlay-enabled receiver or set of speakers. Despite what Apple wants you to think, there is another way to stream music without any of those AirPlay-capable devices—you just need to have two iOS devices (or just one iOS device and a Mac).

How To: Boost Performance & Battery Life on Your Galaxy S5 with These "Build.prop" Hacks

The build.prop file in an Android device is home to many system-level values and settings. Everything from screen density to video recording quality is covered in this file, and people have been editing these entries to get new functionality and better performance since Android has existed.

How To: Use HTC's Zoe to Create & Share Pro-Quality Videos on Any Android KitKat Phone

In recent months, HTC has decided to start breaking its proprietary apps out of its own ecosystem and into the Google Play Store. Along with the benefit of allowing its users to update their system apps more easily, this move also means that other folks can get a glimpse of what it's like to use an HTC device.

How To: Find Your Missing Android Phone, Wipe It Clean, Disable USB, Capture Thief Selfies, & More

When you misplace your Android device, finding it with the Android Device Manager, or even better, Whistle Me, can help you find it no problem. But what about when your phone is not just hiding under the couch cushions? Your worst nightmare just came true. It's officially gone.

How To: Install a Custom Recovery on Your Bootloader-Locked Galaxy Note 3 (AT&T or Verizon)

The bootloaders on the AT&T and Verizon Wireless variants of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 still cannot be unlocked, despite the $1,400+ bounty that arose late last year. Nine months later and still nothing. But just because we can't "unlock" the bootloader doesn't mean we can't get around it.

How To: Revamp the “Complete Action Using” Dialog for a Better Way to Open Files on Android

One of Android's strengths when compared to other mobile operating systems is its ability to set third-party apps as the default handler of certain file types. Instead of being stuck with pre-installed system apps when it comes to opening files and links, you're free to choose a better-fitting alternative.

How To: Rotate Your Favorite Wallpapers on Set Schedule for Any Android Device

When it comes to wallpapers, I'm no monogamist. I have a lot of wallpapers that I'm committed to, but they don't always get their fair share of time with me—and that's where the problem lies. I'm too lazy to go out of my way to make sure they all feel loved. I'd rather them to come to me when it's their turn, and thanks to Wallpaper Changer, they can do just that.

How To: Take Control Over Your MacBook's Fans for a Cooler, Smoother-Running Laptop

MacBooks are built for creation and creativity. They're built to withstand our careers, our hobbies, and our everyday use. I use mine every day, and there's nothing I'd recommend more for computing needs.

How To: Use Your Chromecast as a Karaoke Machine

You suck at karaoke. Most of us do, but that doesn't stop any of us from hitting up the karaoke bar. It's not about who sounds best; there's American Idol for that. It's about having a great time without incurring negative judgement; the worse you are the better time I'm having.

How To: Cast Facebook & Twitter Feeds to Your HDTV with Chromecast

Is social media ready to make the jump to the big screen? The developers behind the Android app Stevie think so.

How To: Disable the Annoying Red Badge Alerts for Apps on Your iPhone's Home Screen

I don't read all of my emails, and even though it may sound a little bit odd, I don't listen to all of my voicemails either. For me, the problem isn't reading or listening to them, it's how it affects my iPhone's home screen.

How To: Get Your HTC One M7 Ready for a Different Mobile Carrier

Whether it's spotty data coverage, bad customer service, or a high monthly bill, at some point many of us consider changing carriers. The problem is, we often don't want or need to change our devices. Since it's now legal to unlock devices to bring to new carriers, getting devices switched over is doable, but it's pain going into carrier stores and dealing with their constant upselling.

How To: Get S-Off on Your HTC One M8 to Install Custom Firmware & Mods

Once you unlock your bootloader and root, you're left with one more hurdle to overcome, and that's getting S-Off.

How To: Fix a Soft-Bricked HTC One by Flashing a New ROM via ADB

Flashing ROMs can be a tricky process, and sometimes you can end up leaving yourself without a ROM at all, often referred to as a soft brick. If you accidentally wiped your internal memory before a flash or forgot to download the ROM before wiping your system partition, don't worry, there is always a way to get your phone back up and running.

How To: Convert a Micro SIM Card to Fit the Nano Slot on Your HTC One M8

The new HTC One (M8) is a large phone, no doubt about it. Still, with those BoomSound speakers, 5-inch display, and 2600mAh battery, it's a wonder they managed to cram everything in that gorgeous, unibody metal shell. By that logic, it makes sense that the M8 makes the switch from a micro-SIM card to nano-SIM to save as much space as possible.

How To: Activate Modules After Installation in Xposed Installer

Created by by XDA developer rovo89, the Xposed Framework allows you to quickly search for, download, and install new modules that allow various forms of customization for your Android device.

How To: Set the Volume Buttons to Instantly Control the Flashlight on Your HTC One

Since the introduction of LED flash to smartphones, there have been hundreds of flashlight apps flooding Google Play, since most Android phones do not have built-in flashlight apps, including the HTC One.

How To: Sort Your iPhone's Camera Roll into Automatically Created Photo Albums by Topic

I have over 400 photos on my iPhone, and I don't even know where half of them came from. Scrolling through all of those pictures is a pain in the ass, but it's not nearly as bad as trying to actually find an old image. Organization is not my strong suit, so I'm definitely not the type to create new albums to sort through my 400+ photos.

How To: Install Firefox OS (& Other Experimental ROMs) On Your Nexus 5 Without Any Risk

You probably already know by now that a custom Android ROM can change your user experience and give you what feels like a new OS on your device, and there's no shortage of them out there to try out.

How To: Beef Up Your iPhone's Passcode Security with a Blank Keypad on Your iOS 7 Lock Screen

Are you tired of your snoopy coworkers and friends lingering over your shoulder as you type in your security passcode? Unless you have the newer iPhone 5S with Touch ID that scans your fingerprint, you've only got a couple of security options—either a 4-digit numeric passcode or a cumbersome password.

How To: Trick Apps That Won't Run if Your Phone Is Rooted into Thinking Its Not on the Galaxy Note 3

As a preventative measure against exploitation, certain Android applications won't work if your device is rooted. Opening one of these apps that detects root will typically end up with a warning and an inability to access its features, like in the picture below. AS IF!

How To: Extract & Back Up All Your Text Messages & Picture Messages from Your iPhone to Your Mac

NSA aside, Apple makes it difficult for users to extract and download text messages from their iPhones onto a computer. For whatever reason (legal, devious, neurotic, etc), we've all found a time where we'd like to save backups of certain meaningful, important, or perhaps incriminating conversations (including all MMS or iMessage pictures and videos). While there are a handful of third-party applications that can help with this process, the majority of them cost money and implement certain te...

How To: Transform Gift Card Balances into Cash from Any ATM with Google Wallet

Most people don't ask for gift cards, but they're always a popular gift choice for notoriously hard-to-shop-for people—or the time-constrained gift-giver. While most gift cards are attached to certain stores, many folks will get a prepaid Visa or MasterCard card that allows them to make purchases wherever those companies are accepted.

How To: Get Rid of the Annoying Low Battery Alert for Good on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2

If you use your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 consistently throughout the day, you're more than likely to encounter the low battery warning on occasion—anytime you dip below 15 percent remaining. While the low battery warning may be a convenience for some, it can also be a nuisance for others (like me), as it continues to appear intermittently after dropping from that 15 percent. In this softModder tutorial, I'm going to show you how to get rid of that annoying low battery alert for good.

How To: Get the Android 4.4 KitKat Launcher & Google Now on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2

For now, the redesigned and fresh-faced Android 4.4 KitKat is exclusive to the new Nexus 5, though it will be rolling out to other Google (Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10) and Google Play Editions (Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One) devices in the next week or two.

How To: Create a Bootable Install USB Drive of Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks

Apple may have made Mavericks more accessible to Mac users everywhere at the fair price of zero dollars, but unfortunately, they made it trickier to create a bootable install drive of the Mac OS X 10.9 operating system.

How To: Root Your Samsung Galaxy S4 (Or Almost Any Other Android Phone) In One Easy Click

For new Android users, rooting an Android phone can often be an intimidating process, especially since there are so many different ways to gain root access, depending on your model and firmware version.

How To: Fix Delayed iMessages & Text Messages After Upgrading to iOS 7

If you're an iPhone user, iMessage is great for cutting down on SMS costs from your carrier, but it doesn't always work right away.

How To: Get the iOS 7 Home & Lock Screen on Your Samsung Galaxy S3 or Other Android Device

Big bad Apple recently announced its next iterations of iPhones and the world went crazy—as usual. Displaying an array of cool colors and futuristic features, the new iPhone 5S and 5C will both be rocking iOS 7, a sleek, modern operating system that gets rid of the old icons and glossy finish for a more flat and contemporary design.

How To: Be Just Like Tony Stark with the JARVIS Personal Assistant for iPad & iPhone

Tony Stark is a smooth talking, genius billionaire playboy that occasionally saves the world... what's not to like? The Marvel films starring Robert Downey, Jr. have grossed well over a billion dollars in the U.S. alone, so it's needless to say that Iron Man is a very popular superhero.