Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos
How To: View the Exact Battery Percentage on Your iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max
Whether you have or are getting an iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max, the default way to check the current battery life is via the tiny battery icon in the top right of the status bar. But that does not accurately depict how much juice is left, not as a specific percentage indicator would. If you want the exact number, there are some not-so-obvious ways to find it.
How To: Use Portrait Lighting in Google Photos to Add an Adjustable Key Light to Pictures You've Already Taken
Google's Pixel smartphones have earned a reputation for taking great photos without relying on top-of-the-line camera sensors. Instead, Google leans on the software side to squeeze super images out of its camera. This also enables them to roll out new features out to previous-generation devices.
How To: Curb Your Daily Instagram Usage with Daily Reminders on iPhone or Android
Instagram is addicting — and that's done on purpose. To stop your Instagram habits, your smartphone likely has a built-in feature to curb the daily usage of a particular app, like Apple's Screen Time for iOS and Google's Digital Wellbeing for Android. But you don't need to mess with those complicated settings when Instagram itself can help you get some of your life back.
How To: The Best Power Adapters & Chargers for Your iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max
The iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max all have positive coverage surrounding their refreshed design, camera upgrades, and 5G connectivity. One piece of negative press you might've seen, however, is about the charger. Specifically, that there's a Lightning to USB-C cable in the box but no power adapter. That means you'll need a charger, and we've got some good recommendations for you.
How To: 13 Protective Cases That'll Safeguard Your New iPhone 12 or 12 Pro & Still Make It Look Cool
Apple announced four different iPhone models during its Oct. 13 web-only event, but only two of them can be purchased this month: the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. Preorders have already started for the two smartphones, and you could have one in your hands as early as Oct. 23, if you're lucky. To help keep your shiny new iPhone protected from scratches and cracks, try one of these cases.
How To: The New 2020 iPhones Have Hollywood-Quality Video Recording — Here's What That Means
It's common knowledge these days that Apple puts great cameras into their iPhones. So, it probably comes as no surprise to learn that the iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max sport some excellent shooters. What you might not know, however, is that these cameras are quite literally capable of Hollywood-quality video. So don't be surprised to see one of these filming a Netflix series.
How To: Get Stock Android's Volume Panel on Your Samsung Galaxy
Like with many aspects of One UI, Samsung's changes to Android's volume panel are controversial. Between the different orientation and alternative design, it isn't for everyone. Fortunately for Android purists, there's an app to solve this problem.
How To: The 10 Most Annoying Features in iOS 14 & How You Can Fix Them
Not everything about iOS 14 is great or even good. Some of its new features and settings are disappointing, inconvenient, bothersome, missing, or just don't belong. While you may think that you're forced to adapt, there might be a way to fix some of the biggest annoyances you're having on Apple's latest mobile operating system.
How To: Add 2020's Most Popular Songs to Your Snaps & Stories in Snapchat
Snaps are a great way to share the best moments of your day. So, don't those moments deserve a sick soundtrack? If you wanted to add music to your snaps in the past, you'd need to find a way to play the tunes in the background before recording a snap. That's no longer the case since you can now add songs to your snaps directly in Snapchat itself.
How To: Not All New iPhones Are $1,000+ — Save Your Cash on These 2020 Models
It's not just iPhones. The entire smartphone market these days has a reputation for being expensive. Many flagship smartphones are advertised at $1,000 minimum. Looking for more storage space, or an extra camera or two? That price continues to rise. However, you don't need to take out a mortgage to buy a quality iPhone. In fact, when it comes to reasonable prices, you have more options than ever.
How To: Become a Video & Audio Production Guru for Under $40
Many people get into audio and video production out of a passion for making music, films, or documentaries. Yet once they're locked in, they realize the endless possibilities at their fingertips. With more digital content being created every hour, reliable engineers are needed.
How To: iPhone 12 Preorder & Release Dates — When & Where You Can Buy the iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro & 12 Pro Max
For the first time, Apple has announced four new iPhone models at the same time. At the Oct. 13 web-only event, Apple revealed the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. This year, it made a phone for everyone. But when can you get your hands on one of these 2020 models?
How To: Resize Picture-in-Picture Mode Videos in One UI 3.0
With Samsung's beautiful, large displays, the Galaxy S and Note series are great tools for multitasking. This goes beyond the hardware with tools like split-screen mode, floating windows, bubbles, and picture-in-picture mode. And in One UI 3.0, that last one is becoming even more useful.
How To: Here's Everything You Need for Your Next Design Project at a Steal of a Price
Eye-catching graphics are a must for any design project. Sure, there are tons of stock illustration sites, but you want something original. In order to stand out, you need to capture attention.
How To: This Seamless Meeting Scheduler & Task Organizer Is on Sale Now
The modern remote workforce faces many challenges, but perhaps none is greater than organizing calls and syncing tasks. Many platforms are convoluted and difficult to manage. Team members get bogged down by administrative tasks instead of staying productive.
How To: Reminders Lets You Assign Tasks to Users You Shared the List with — Here's How It Works in iOS 14
If you have a group of iPhone users to manage, whether for work assignments, planning a trip, or organizing an event, Reminders might just be your new best friend. With iOS 14, the app now lets you assign reminders to contacts, so everyone knows what they're supposed to be working on.
How To: Play Stadia Games on the New Chromecast with Google TV Right Now
The 2020 Chromecast is full of new features, but one glaring omission is Stadia, Google's cloud gaming platform. The search giant confirmed Stadia wouldn't officially arrive on the new streaming dongle until the first half of 2021 — but there's an unofficial way to get it now.
How To: The One Engineering Certification You Don't Want to Miss
MATLAB, an acronym for "matrix laboratory," was created over 40 years ago to service the applied mathematics community. The powerful programming language now has over four million users worldwide and is of particular import to engineers, scientists, and economists.
How To: Edit Multiple iOS Reminders at Once
With each iteration of iOS, Apple makes the Reminders app more and more of a true task manager. That doesn't change with iOS 14 — the big update adds a powerful productivity tool to the app, allowing you to edit multiple reminders at the same time.
Deal Alert: Kickstart Your Career in Software Development for Under $16
The job market has bounced back slightly in recent months, yet it appears that working remotely will be a way of life for many of us moving forward. With many industries disappearing, app development looks like it's here to stay.
How To: 15 New Safari Features in iOS 14 That Will Change the Way You Surf the Web
Nearly every native app on the iPhone received an upgrade or new features in iOS 14 — and Safari is no exception. The web browser now has better password protection, faster performance, privacy reports, and built-in translations, just to name a few. Some of the Safari updates went unnoticed by many, but they're there and ready to use in iOS 14.
How To: Turn Your Galaxy Note 20 into a Google Pixel in 11 Steps
You can't beat Samsung's hardware, but their software still isn't for everyone. That's the thing, though — software can be replaced. So if you're more a fan of Google's vision for Android, but you can't get enough of Samsung's beautiful screens and build quality, you're just 11 steps away from getting the best of both worlds.
How To: Become Amazingly Efficient with the Power of Google Sheets
Google Drive has been a gamechanger in the business world. First launched in 2006, Google Sheets has become much more than an alternative to Microsoft Excel. The powerful spreadsheet program is a boon for efficiency that's accessible wherever you have an internet connection—or when you have time edit offline.
How To: Use Instagram's Secret App Icon Menu to Choose Light, Dark, Retro & Other Official Icon Variations
Yes, that's right: Instagram has a sneaky, inconspicuous, cryptic, hush-hush way to change its iconic, colorful icon on your Android's or iPhone's home screen and anywhere else it shows up throughout iOS. The app really outdid itself too, with 12 alternative icon designs from its classic look to new themes, all located in an impossible-to-find preferences menu — unless you know the trick.
How To: Your iPhone Can Detect & Alert You to Sounds Around You in iOS 14, Like Alarms, Knocking, Cats, Crying & More
For those that have deafness or are hard of hearing, the iPhone can be a powerful tool to communicate with others. It works with many hearing aids and Bluetooth headphones, Live Listen makes it easier to hear nearby people and sounds, and the Messages app makes it easy to chat with anyone. But iOS 14 takes it to a new level, one that even users with perfect hearing can benefit from.
How To: Use Notification Bubbles in One UI 3.0 to Turn Any Conversation into a Popup Chat
From browsing social media to creating films, your smartphone can do it all. But even with all that power, for many, it is primarily used to communicate with others, particularly via text. In One UI 3.0, Samsung and Google drastically changed this core functionality with a new-ish feature called notification bubbles.
How To: These 11 New Reminders Features in iOS 14 Give You Way More Power Over Your Tasks
The iPhone's built-in Reminders app got an overhaul last year with iOS 13, giving us a more modern design and plenty of new features, and iOS 14 doesn't mess with a good thing. Instead, iOS 14 brings lots of small tweaks all over the app to smooth out the experience and make Reminders more powerful and more customizable than ever.
How To: Reduce Background Noise & Echoes for Higher Quality Voice Memos in iOS 14
Your iPhone's Voice Memos app is an easy tool for quickly recording lectures at school, jam sessions at the studio, or just verbal notes to yourself. While it's a straightforward app, there are several hidden features you might not know about that can improve the quality of your recordings.
How To: Learn to Write Code from Scratch for Under $30
Coders are accustomed to working remotely. The beauty of coding is that all you need is a laptop and a WiFi connection, which makes working anywhere a fairly simple transition. If you're looking for a career change, now might be the perfect time to give coding a try.
How To: This iOS 14 Trick Lets You Navigate Apps More Easily & Faster Than Ever Before
Apple always finds a way to sneak in tiny, inconspicuous features that improve the iPhone experience. And with iOS 14, there's a hidden, unannounced gesture that makes it possible to navigate apps and menus faster than ever before.
How To: The Most Comprehensive Way to Protect Yourself Online
Using a virtual private network (VPN) is one of the safest ways to ensure your identity and data remain secure. Choosing one from the hundreds of services that now exist is another story. How do you tell which VPN truly provides the best protection at a great price?
How To: This Hidden Twitter Feature Makes It So Much Easier to Share Tweets from Your iPhone
If you're someone who shares a lot of tweets outside of Twitter, you know the struggle. Twitter's share button, like YouTube's, is proprietary, which means you need to wade through Twitter's own sharing options to find your iPhone's regular Share sheet instead. However, there's a hidden trick that lets you open the stock iOS sharing options right away.
How To: Use Your iPhone's Volume Buttons to Shoot Photo Bursts & QuickTake Videos
When you can't touch the shutter button on the screen in the Camera app, your iPhone has another way to snap a picture or take a video — just press the Volume Up or Volume Down button. But when it comes to bursts and QuickTakes, however, things are a little bit trickier in iOS 13, iOS 14, and iOS 15.
How To: Stop Picture in Picture from Starting Automatically in iOS 14 When You Exit Video Playing in Apps
For some, one of the coolest new features in iOS 14 is the Picture in Picture mode, which had previously only been available on the iPad. With it, you can continue watching a video from an app in an interactive floating overlay window on the home screen or within other apps. But for others, it can be annoying when it appears unexpectedly all of the time, and there's a way to stop it.
How To: Master the Google Cloud Platform for Under $30
Twelve years ago Google launched its Cloud Platform, and the world has never been the same. This suite of cloud computing services has changed how modern businesses operate. Whether you use it for data storage, management tools, computing, or machine learning, the Google Cloud Platform is essential.
How To: This Software Helps You Manage Your 'My Business' Page on Google
Google My Business lets you connect with customers across Google Search and Maps through a unique business profile. The web app allows you to connect and chat with customers in real-time and provides rich analytics to help you manage and grow your company.
How To: Choose the Perfect Hue, Shade, or Tint in Apps with iOS 14's Powerful New Color Picker Tool
Whether you're using your iPhone to add graphics to a document, edit a photo, or sketch an idea, color plays a vital role in making your work look great. Apple's iOS 14 update introduces a system-wide color picker that lets you pick the exact color you want, save it to your favorite colors, and use it across a variety of apps to add that special touch to your work.
How To: Everything You Wanted to Learn About Adobe for Under $50
Anyone looking to have a complete set of design tools at their fingertips needs to look no further than Adobe's Creative Cloud. This suite of applications is the go-to platform for creative software and is, in many ways, a must-know in fields like graphic design, video editing, and photography.
How To: iOS 14 Monitors Your Passwords to Protect You Against Data Breaches — Here's How It Works
Everything lives online these days, so it's not uncommon to have hundreds of credentials for different accounts on apps and websites. That's why a password manager is a must, and your iPhone has one built right into iOS that you can start using today. In iOS 14, it's gotten even more useful since it can now monitor your passwords regularly to see if any match leaked password lists online.
How To: Become a Django Developer & Build Better Websites in 3 Powerful Courses
Django is a powerful Python-based framework that makes creating complex, database-driven websites easy to build and maintain. The free, open-source platform emphasizes reusability, the "pluggability" of components through APIs, rapid development, and less coding.