Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos
How To: Use Your Android Device as a Wiimote-Style Controller to Play Tennis on Your Chromecast
If you were around when the Nintendo Wii first launched, you remember how revolutionary the device was at the time. When I first encountered one, I was amazed at the simplicity of its controls, namely the fact that the Wii Remote (aka Wiimote) just felt like such a natural way to play a game.
How To: Remove Your Location History from Apple Maps, Google Maps, & Waze
Applications like Apple Maps, Google Maps, and Waze save every location you visit or search for as a way to speed up future searches and to find commonly-frequented places. But what if you go somewhere unsavory and don't want anyone knowing?
How To: We Tested Out Magic, the Service That Lets You Order Whatever You Want via Text (& It's Awesome)
With the brand new SMS-based ordering service called Magic, anyone with a mobile phone can order whatever they want—really, anything—by sending causal text messages. Who says magic isn't real?
How To: Get 'Edge Notifications' Like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Has on Any Android
Samsung's got a pair of beautiful new flagship devices coming out this spring that will surely top the sales charts. The Galaxy S5's successor is truly worthy of that title, but a second variant with a curved display turned heads at Mobile World Congress this weekend.
How To: Stop iPhoto from Automatically Launching When You Plug in Your iPhone
By default, whenever you plug your iPhone into your Mac computer, iPhoto automatically launches alongside iTunes. While this can be useful for those who like syncing their photos with iPhoto, it's annoying to those who don't. Even if you do sync with iPhoto, chances are you don't want it popping up every time you want to charge your iPhone or sync with iTunes.
How To: The Easiest Way to Free Up Storage on Your Android Device
The more we use our smartphones, the more storage space becomes occupied—it's an inescapable fact. But as the data accumulates and chokes off our storage, it can become difficult to identify exactly which files are occupying the most space.
How To: Create Shortcuts for Your Favorite iPhone Emojis to Switch Keyboards Less
If I told you that people who use emojis in their conversations have more sex than plain-text users, would you believe me? According to a recent study launched by Match.com, men and women that use emojis have more sex than those who do not. If you were looking for an excuse to increase your emoji output, you may not find a better one than that. To make your emoji typing as smooth and seamless as possible, I'm going to show you how to create shortcuts in iOS 8 for all your favorite use cases. ...
How To: Make a Secret Car Compartment
Nowadays, protecting your valuables can be challenging especially when you're on the go. That's why I decided to make a little secret compartment inside my car. Only you'll know it's there because nobody will be able to find it. Not only that, but you'll have easy access to it. It's fairly cheap and the total cost was under $5.00. Let me show you how to make it. You can watch the video or scroll down below for the written guide.
How To: Remove the Orange Bars in Battery Saver Mode on Android Lollipop
Android Lollipop has an awesome feature called "Battery saver" mode that reduces power consumption through various tweaks in order to squeeze in an extra hour or two of standby time when your battery is running low. It does this by disabling background processes as well as location services and transition animations, so the phone is essentially running at half-throttle.
How To: Our Top 5 Chrome Extensions for YouTube
Google's Chrome Web Store is packed to the brim with extensions that do everything from letting you customize Facebook to improving your Google+ experience. While there are thousands of extensions for basically anything you can think of, the problem is sifting through them all.
How To: Sideload Apps on the Nexus Player
The Nexus Player is one of the most robust set-top streaming devices on the market. This is mainly due to the fact that the base software it runs is a direct fork of Android, which is a very powerful operating system itself.
How To: Send ADB Commands Over Wi-Fi on Android
Android Debug Bridge, or ADB for short, is a very powerful utility that can remotely execute commands on your Android device. This remote terminal interface, however, is not very "remote" at all. You have to be tied down to your computer to use it, since a USB cable is normally required.
How To: Root the Nexus Player
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2015: The root process has changed for the Nexus Player now that the device is running Android 6.0 Marhsmallow. I've updated this article with detailed instructions on the new root process, but the video below still depicts the old process for Android Lollipop.
How To: Get a Working Phone Number from Almost Anywhere in the World
With all of the productivity tweaks and usability enhancements that we cover here at Gadget Hacks, it's nice when we come across a unique and noteworthy app that's simply about having fun.
How To: Install the Xposed Framework on Android Lollipop Devices
UPDATE 11/17/15 The Xposed Framework now officially supports Android 5.1 through 5.1.1 Lollipop devices as well. Everything will still work the way it has with Android 5.0 through 5.0.2, but there are a separate set of files for the newer Android version. I'll cover both below, but make sure to download the proper file for your particular version of Android.
How To: Create Your Own CyanogenMod Theme in Just a Few Easy Taps
Finding the right theme can be a pain. Some are too gaudy or simple, while others look like they were thrown together as a joke. So why not try your hand at making your own?
How To: Clear All Items from Your Nexus 5's Overview Screen in Just One Tap
Android 5.0 brought a lot of changes to the world's most popular mobile OS, but few were more central to the user experience than tweaks made to the "Overview" menu (more commonly known as the "Recent Apps" menu). Aside from a visual overhaul, Chrome tabs now exist as separate entries in this list, as do Google searches and a few other activities.
How To: Are Your Chargers Faulty or Slow? Here's How to Test Them on Android
Not all smartphone chargers put out the same amount of current. The adapter in your car probably charges your phone a lot slower than the one plugged in at your bedside, and if you use wireless charging, it may be a bit slower still.
How To: Save Locations in Google Maps for Offline Use
Before heading out on a hike, or any excursion for that matter, it would be wise to take a map with you just in case you get lost while on your quest.
How To: Jump to the Bottom or Middle of a Page on Your iPhone, Not Just the Top
When surfing the web in Safari, you can double-tap the status bar to quickly scroll back up to the top any webpage. In other iOS apps that have the shortcut enabled, you can get the job done even faster by tapping the status bar only once. The only bad thing about this feature is that there's no shortcut for scrolling all of the way back down or to the middle.
How To: Turn Your Smartphone into a Wireless Mouse & Keyboard for Your Computer
While you can do a lot of things on your smartphone that were once only done on a computer, having a laptop is still necessary and critical for many tasks. Often times, the two devices work very well together.
How To: No LED Flash on Your Android Device? Use Your Screen as a Flashlight Instead
Using my Nexus 7 tablet as a flashlight to light my path on the way to my room late at night is difficult, and honestly, useless. It doesn't have an LED flash for pictures, so using it as a flashlight is essentially just me brightening the display as high as it can go.
How To: When in Distress, Shake Your Android to Send a Quick SOS Alert with Your Location
I've been lucky enough to never be a victim of street crime, but I have read and seen too many articles and videos to completely rule it out as a possibility. You can do some things to prevent it, but if your life suddenly turns into a scene from Friday the 13th, you'll want to be prepared with some sort of way to let others know you need help. This is where Shake2Safety comes in, a free Android app from Phontonapps.
How To: New Google Now Launcher Makes Your Old Android Feel Like It’s Running Lollipop
These last few months have been a Lollipop lovefest, and I'm not talking about the candy. Android's latest OS has been exalted for its embrace of Material Design, and we've certainly given Lollipop its fair share of coverage as well; check out all its new features and ways to make older devices get some of the new look and feel of Android 5.0.
How To: Get Back Avatars in Chrome to Switch User Profiles More Easily
A recent update to Google Chrome replaced the colored avatar menu in the top-left (Windows) or top-right (Mac) corner of the browser that let you easily switch from profile to profile with a plain gray button that simply names what profile you're in.
How To: Use Any Gallery App as the Camera Roll on Your Samsung Galaxy Device
Android's biggest selling point over alternatives like iOS or Windows Phone is the level of customization that it offers. If you don't like something about the UI, you can change it, whether it's as small as an icon set or as big as the entire home screen.
How To: Create the Ultimate Injustice Team by Unlocking Only the Characters You Want
Injustice: Gods Among Us is one of the most popular games to come out over the last couple of years. It was a hit on video game consoles, and it's got a solid 4.5 rating on both Google Play and the iOS App Store, with almost 2 million people rating the game combined.
How To: Speed Up the Stock TouchWiz Launcher on Your Galaxy Note 3
Does your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 feel slower than it used to? Background processes, cached files, malicious applications, and buggy updates can all lead to a sluggish smartphone. It's just what happens over time.
How To: Keep Your Android's Screen from Turning Off While You Use It
Samsung phones have a pretty nifty little feature called Smart Stay that will prevent your screen from turning off while you're actively using your device. Trouble with this is that it's exclusive to Galaxy devices and it uses a ton of battery since it monitors the front-facing camera to detect when you're facing the screen.
How To: Install the Leaked Lollipop Firmware on Your Galaxy Note 3 (Update: Now for AT&T)
Android 5.0 "Lollipop" has only existed for a few months, but a leaked version of Samsung's take on the firmware has already been spotted in the wild. This update came straight from Samsung, and brings with it a plethora of new features, including greatly improved performance and a revamped TouchWiz UI.
How To: Peel Potatoes the Fast Way
Today we show you how to peel potatoes with a drill! It's So Easy a Guy Could Do It!
How To: Disable the "High Volume" Warning on Your OnePlus One
Maybe it was the years of concerts with deafening speakers blasting music into my ears, but I always listen to my tunes as loud as the volume allows me. So, it's pretty annoying when I get a "high volume" warning every time I listen to music on my OnePlus One with my headphones on. We've previously shown you how to remove this same warning by using the NoSafeVolumeWarning, an Xposed module that required root access. Thankfully, the very liberal OnePlus One has a built-in feature that lets you...
How To: Add Locations to Un-Geotagged Photos Before Posting to Your Instagram Photo Map
Instagram introduced Photo Maps back in 2012, a feature allowing users to showcase where they've taken photos and explore where others have been, all through an interactive map.
How To: Feeling Smart? Test Your IQ with Your Android Device
Whether it's heated competition during trivia night at the bar, board game night with the family, or just another weekday in front of the TV watching Jeopardy, it seems like a natural human condition to want to test our intelligence.
How To: Take Quick Notes on Android Without Leaving Your Current App
So you just bought a fancy new Nexus 6 complete with its gorgeous and gigantic display—now what? Unlike Samsung's TouchWiz, stock Android doesn't sport any cool split-screen features, so how do you really take advantage of all that screen real estate?
How To: Use One App to Listen to Spotify, SoundCloud, & YouTube Music on Your iPhone
There are a lot of music apps on my iPhone's home screen, and the reason I have so many is because I can't get all of the songs I want from just one service. I use Spotify to listen to new releases, SoundCloud for remixes and unreleased tracks, and YouTube for just about anything else that isn't available through the rest. If you're thinking that it's a pain in the ass to jump from app to app, you're right—but not anymore.
How To: Remove the Audio Recording Button in iOS 8's Messages App
Ever accidentally sent an audio message to someone through the Messages app? It happens to me all the time. My finger slips towards the right side of the keyboard and all of a sudden a one-second audio recording is being made and sent. Personally, I don't even send audio messages to anyone, but the feature is baked into the Messages app with no way to disable it. That is, unless you're jailbroken.
How To: 1-Click Root Many Android Devices with Kingo Android Root
To Android users, especially advanced ones, rooting their phones or tablets is becoming a necessity. Rooting Android could be complicated, if you do it all by yourself, even with a step-by-step tutorial. However, what Kingo Android Root offers you is a true one-click experience when rooting your Android.
How To: Use Touch ID to Log into Apps & Websites More Easily on Your iPhone
Apple introduced Touch ID on the iPhone 5S back in 2013, which let you unlock the device with your fingerprint. While it was an impressive feature, it could only do that one thing—unlock the device.
How To: Back Up Your Android Apps (& Their Data) Without Root
One of the few areas where Android lags behind iOS is a comprehensive backup solution for apps. Root tools, such as the popular Titanium Backup, are capable of backing up all of your apps and their data, but not everyone wants to root their device and potentially run into issues with voided warranties.