Gadget Hacks Features
How To: 11 Hidden Features in iOS 8's New Messages App for iPhone & iPad
Safari has some cool new features in iOS 8, but the app that seems to have gotten the biggest update so far is Messages. A lot of the new Messages features were discussed during Apple's developers conference, but we found many others and picked out our favorite hidden ones below.
How To: 3 Music Player Apps That Put Your iPhone's Built-in Music App to Shame
The stock music player on the iPhone hasn't changed much since its inception. Sure, with the recent iOS 6 update the design became sleeker, but it's not really what you'd expect from a top of the line smartphone. And when I say "MEH," it isn't directed towards the Kendrick Lamar album (which is awesome). It's the layout of the application, the lack of gesture control, and the sometimes tedious job of shuffling through certain albums and artists.
How To: Install Adobe Flash Player on Your HTC One to Play Flash Games, Stream Amazon Instant Videos, & More
Chrome has some built-in Flash support, which is great, but sometimes it just doesn't work—and it doesn't work for everything. Unfortunately, the Flash Player plugin was discontinued by Adobe back in the days of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), and you can't get it on Google Play.
How To: Recharge non-rechargeable batteries in seconds
This how-to video will show you how to zap charge a non-rechargeable battery with only two wires and a car. Sounds cool, and fun, unless of course you zap yourself. Watch this video circuitry tutorial for more information on this simple, money-saving hack.
How To: Make Your Android Look & Feel Like Lollipop Right Now
The new Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 models will be shipping with Android 5.0 Lollipop preinstalled, and the Nexus 4, 5, 7, and 10 will be getting the new OS update from Google very soon. But where does that leave the rest of us?
How To: Share Any Photo on Instagram Without Cropping It (Using #NoCrop)
Even though I am not cool enough to use Instagram on a daily basis, I still try to stay in the loop. I did take photography in high school, so I know a thing or two about picture taking. I just can't seem to find the motivation to take a picture of random crap during my daily routine, but I guess that's why I'm Instalame.
How To: Block Yourself from Being 'Seen' by Facebook's New Read Receipts Feature
Facebook recently added some features to its Messages, Chat and Groups that a lot of people have found to be somewhat sketchy. Facebook's "read receipts" tell people exactly who has viewed posts and messages, so you can no longer get away with the old, trusted excuse of "What message?"
How To: Block Unwanted Ads on an iPad/iPhone—No Jailbreak Required
Hi all, in this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to block and delete unwanted adds (even those in apps, videos or music stream) without having to install an application or jailbreaking your iOS device.
How To: Take Ultra-Slow Motion Video with Your Galaxy S5
The Galaxy S5's camera is amongst the most capable smartphone shooters on the market. With a 16-megapixel sensor that is capable of recording 1080p video at 120 frames per second, the stat sheet was officially stuffed when Samsung brought this device to market.
How To: Send & Share Your iPhone's Current Location in iOS 8
In certain situations, it can be a little difficult to get a handle on my exact location when others ask where I am or how to get to me. Now, thanks to one of the newly introduced features on iOS 8, I can easily share my exact location with friends, right from within the Messages app on my iPhone.
How To: iOS 6 Broke Your Wi-Fi? Here's How to Fix Connection Problems on Your iPhone or iPad
Several people have been reporting Wi-Fi problems after updating to iOS 6 on both iPads and iPhones. The connection might work sometimes, but it usually cuts out or takes forever to connect to anything, only to time out shortly after.
How To: Find someone's IP address
In this tutorial, we learn how to find someone's IP address. First, log into What's their IP. Once you open this, enter your email and click the links that can be sent to your friends. Once they click on these links, the website will email you that person's IP address. You can now look this IP up to see the exact location of that person. There are several different options of pages that can be sent to your friends if you want to track their IP addresses. There is also a page that can be sent ...
How To: Set Up WhatsApp on Your Nexus 7 Tablet—Without Rooting
WhatsApp is one of the most well-known and most utilized cross-platform chat applications available today. It's free for one year, and only $0.99 a year after, which is chump change when you realize there are no hidden costs like international charges. Basically, it creates an easy to use forum for you and your friends to chat, regardless if they're an Android or iPhone user.
How To: Turn Your HTC One into a Real HTC One Google Play Edition
In a previous softModder tutorial, we installed CyanogenMod on our HTC Ones to approximate the look and feel of the Google Edition HTC One. Unfortunately, this rendered Beats and HTC's ImageChip (among other things) useless.
How To: Enable YouTube Background Playback for Free on Android Nougat
YouTube is a great place for all your mainstream audio and video needs. But you can't simply plug in your headphones, choose a playlist, and put your phone back in your pocket without subscribing to YouTube Red, which costs $9.99/month for ad-free and background playback. If you can't afford that for just background playback, there are other ways.
How To: The 9 Most Annoying Changes in iOS 11 & How to Fix Them
Now that iOS 11 is official, everyone can enjoy all of the great new features available, but there are certainly a few bad seeds in there that you'll probably find annoying. Luckily, a lot of these disagreeable quirks can be changed for the better.
How To: Hack a cell phone with a magnet
Check out this hacking video tutorial to learn how to hack a cell phone with a magnet. You can easily hack Verizon's Motorola RAZR mobile phone to bypass the user password.
How To: Build a Mini Hovercraft
Create a miniature hover craft from the fan, polystrene or Styrofoam plate, batteries and double-sided scotch tape. It really works. Powered by two 9 volt batteries you can use paper plates for the body of the hovercraft if need be. This is a cool cat toy or just a household hack.
How To: Set Flash Alerts for Phone Calls & Texts on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Vibrate is not as inconspicuous as one might think, which means silent mode is usually the option that many stick to when in class, at work, or anywhere that forbids loud noise.
How To: Recover deleted photos from an iPhone
This is kind of scary! This video demonstrates just how easy it is to hack into an iPhone to access the data on it - including recovering deleted photos. You only think you've deleted those naughty photos you sent to your girlfriend.... Fortunately, there is a way... However, this particular process requires software available only to law enforcement. But that's never stopped a hacker - or a jilted ex - before!
How To: View All Messages at Once on Facebook, Without Scrolling Up Forever!
You want to find a message that you've sent two years ago, but scrolling is taking too long? I have a solution for this! :)
News: 11 Hidden Features You Need to Know on Your HTC One M8
HTC's Sense 6 has been out for over a month now with the One M8, and most of you have probably played around with its better known features, like the new Camera app and Harman Kardon audio.
How To: Reveal Saved Website Passwords in Chrome and Firefox with This Simple Browser Hack
The number of passwords I have for different websites and emails is easily in the triple digits. And if I had to actually remember all of those individual passwords, I would be locked out of accounts on a daily basis.
How To: Lock Apps Using Your Samsung Galaxy S6’s Fingerprint Scanner
Like its predecessor—and probably every device in the future—the Samsung Galaxy S6 comes with a fingerprint scanner that allows for a more secure lock screen, web sign-ins, and account verification. But unlike its brethren, the sensor on the S6 has been vastly improved. No longer does it require a clumsy swipe—all you have to do is place your finger on it for less than a second, much like Touch ID on iPhones.
How To: Upgrade Your Old iPhone or iPod touch to iOS 5
Believe it or not, there are some older iPhones still in use out there, and they're not going away anytime soon. Sure, Apple would prefer you to upgrade your device to the latest and greatest models, which are compatible with iOS 5. Those models include all of the following:
How To: Downgrade your iPhone from iOS 4 back to 3.1.3
Everyone is excited about the new iOS 4 update for the iPhone and iPod Touch, right? Well, if you have installed it and decided you liked the 3G version better, check out this clip. In this tutorial, learn how to get back to your familiar 3.1.3 version of iPhone firmware and back into your comfort zone.
How To: Fix the Missing FaceTime Video Call Feature on iPhone 4
Some people (including myself) are seeing a "Hold" button instead of the "FaceTime" button when calling people on our new iPhone 4. It turns out this problem comes from a bug where Apple disables FaceTime on the iPhone 4 if you restored from an iPhone 3G.
Split Screen Multitasking: How to Run 2 Apps in Separate Windows on Your Nexus 7 Simultaneously
Efficiency is one integral attribute that I need from my Android device. I want to be able to multitask like a maniac and do things on the fly. While multitasking itself is nothing new, actually being able to watch Netflix while scrolling through IMDB at the same damn time was reserved mainly for newer Samsung-ier devices.
How To: Install the New GS4 Version of S-Voice on Your Samsung Galaxy S3
With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 right around the corner, us Galaxy S3 users also have reason for excitement. We already know that many of the S4 features will make their way to our devices, but who knew it would be this soon!
Warning: Your Nexus 7 Tablet Is Not Actually a "Tablet" (But Here's How You Make It One)
If the Nexus 7 wasn't your first Android tablet, you may have noticed something different with the user interface when compared to other Jelly Bean tablets. You may not know exactly what it is off the top of your head, but it's there.
How To: Samsung Galaxy Camera Tips & Tricks for Getting the Best Shots
The software released in the 2015 iterations of the Samsung Galaxy line of devices—the S6, S6 Active, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, and Note 5—have some pretty neat camera features that give these devices arguably the best smartphone camera on the market today.
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: Make a USB mini fridge
With a little circuitry, you can find exactly what you need to make a very "cool" USB powered Mini Fridge. Just check out this how-to video. This cooler is perfect for keeping your drinks cool while gaming or at the office. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to build a USB mini fridge. Make a USB mini fridge.
How To: Build a burning blue/violet laser
There's probably a reason that laser pointers are banned from most schools: They're just to fun to put down! Whether you're using them as a pointer, to distract your classmates, or to very wickedly point them in people's eyes, they are toys that are quite addicting.
How To: Secretly Save Pics & Videos on the Newest Snapchat with Your Galaxy Note 3
While Snapchat's latest update brought messaging and video chatting, it also ruined something for us softModders—KeepChat. With KeepChat, we were able to save pictures and videos sent to us without the other person being notified. It was pretty slick, and I was beginning to miss it.
How To: Make a homemade anti-gravity toy (FAKE?)
F for FAKE. This video has been labeled a "Faux-To". Commonly contested as bogus science, we believe this video to be a hoax. What's your opinion? Comment below.
How To: Get iOS 12.1's New Emojis on Any Android Phone
There's been a lot of fanfare as iOS 12 rolls out, and as an Android owner, you might be feeling left out. There's no need to feel that way, though. You don't have to choose between running out to get a new iPhone or being stuck with only your Android's features — at least when it comes to emojis. This is one of those rare times in life when you can have it all.
How To: Watch YouTube Videos Offline on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
With over a billion videos uploaded to YouTube, passing your time browsing through the immense library can be an emotional roller coaster ride. One second you're bawling your eyes out over this devastatingly sad clip of Oden the dog's last minutes with his owner, and the next you're laughing hysterically at Spider-Man falling on his face.
How To: Get the Pixel 2's Portrait Mode on Your Galaxy S8 or Note 8
The Pixel 2's camera is one of the best you'll find on an Android phone. Among its standout features is the incredible Portrait Mode, which Google accomplished with some impressive software processing. Thanks to a few clever developers, you can now enjoy the Pixel 2's Portrait Mode on your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy Note 8.
How To: Cast Amazon Instant Video to Your HDTV
Amazon just signed a deal with HBO to host the cable channel's original content on its Instant Video service. For those of us with Amazon Prime accounts, this is great news—but there aren't any readily apparent options for playing it on Chromecast.