Gadget Hacks Features
How To: 10 Handy, but Hidden Features in iOS 6
There's definitely a lot of new things to get used to in iOS 6, with over 200 added features, but which ones stand out about the rest? Well, it all depends on what device you're using. Some features will only work on newer models, but most of the hidden features are accessible to all.
How To: Save Snapchats on Android Undetected (No Root Needed)
Some of the best images I've seen were shared via Snapchat, but once they're expired, they're gone forever, with no way to view them again unless I want to take a screenshot. But that will, of course, alert the sender.
How To: Turn Your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 into a Galaxy S5
When the Samsung Galaxy S5 launched a few months ago, I was pretty envious of the new UI elements Samsung included on it, as I'm sure you were. The flatter interface provided for a more polished and less cartoony feel, bringing the device more in line with Google's design elements.
How To: View Battery Usage Stats for Individual Apps on Your iPhone (iOS 8)
If rapid battery drain is something that's been an issue for you in the past, Apple is now making it easier to monitor what might be the problem. In the new iOS 8, you can now check battery usage for every app on your device.
How To: Use Portrait Lighting Mode on the iPhone X & iPhone 8 Plus
Apple introduced Portrait Mode with the iPhone 7 Plus, a feature which utilized the iPhone's dual cameras to create a shallow depth of field around a subject. This effect replicates the look of DSLR cameras, making your photos look more professional. Apple, of course, carries Portrait Mode to the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus in iOS 11, however, with it comes a twist — Portrait Lighting.
ARKit 101: Get Started Building an Augmented Reality Application on an iPhone or iPad Quickly
The reveal of Apple's new ARKit extensions for iPhones and iPads, while not much of a shock, did bring with it one big surprise. By finding a solution to surface detection without the use of additional external sensors, Apple just took a big step over many — though not all — solutions and platforms currently available for mobile AR.
How To: Two Simple Tricks to Taking Clearer, Sharper Photos on Your HTC One
Despite having the UltraPixel branding, the M7's camera can leave you feeling a little let down. The picture quality is clear and the low-light shots are decent, but when looking at the same shots taken on a friend's iPhone, you may feel a little inadequate.
How To: Control Music Playback from the Side of Your Galaxy S6 Edge’s Screen
The Galaxy S6 Edge comes with a useful feature called Information stream that allows you to view quick tidbits of info with a quick back-and-forth swipe on the edge of your display while the screen is off. Apparently, Samsung left the door open for third-party plugins to use this feature, and now we're starting to see an influx of useful additions.
How To: Make a Cheap iPod Projector and Screen
This article will teach you how to make an iPod video projector for about $6 (depending on what materials you have) that works pretty well. First off, you need to gather your materials. I had everything except the magnifying glass, which I bought for $3.
How To: Jailbreak your Sprint HTC Hero
The Unlockr shows you how to root your Sprint HTC Hero. This quick jailbreak tutorial enables you to fully customize and optimize your phone. It also bypasses the phone carrier's restrictions.
How To: Download & Use YouTube TV Right Now—Even if You're Not in an Official Launch City
As you may have heard by now, YouTube has launched its own live streaming TV bundle available for users in the select markets of New York, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Chicago, and Philadelphia. A subscription to the new streaming YouTube TV bundle costs $35 a month, but the service is drawing in users by offering a free 30-day trial.
How To: Remove Moving Objects & Unwanted People from Photos on Your Galaxy S5
Fast moving cars, strangers in the background, and even birds flying by can all ruin a great shot. Thankfully, TouchWiz provides the tools to remove unwanted objects, right in the stock camera application.
How To: Move Chrome's Menu Bar to the Bottom of Your Screen
Google has always experimented with Chrome's UI, but when they make more drastic changes, they start by hiding them in the feature flags menu. One of the latest designs makes Chrome more accessible in a world of big and tall phones.
How To: Hack LG Rumor/Rumour LG260 Virgin Mobile
In this four part video series, learn how to "hack" the LG Rumor/Rumour. In part one, learn the codes you can do, without using the USB cable. Part two and three goes over hooking the phone up to bitpim. Lastly, part four sums up what you will have learned. Again, by hacking your phone there is a chance you can damage your phone, so proceed with caution!
How To: Type More Efficiently on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Using This Intelligent Keyboard with Speedy Gestures
With all of the new features and third-party apps out there making Android better and faster every day, it's quite frustrating to me that keyboard advancements remain relatively static.
How To: iOS 13 Made It Really Easy to Restart Your iPhone
iPhones aren't immune to occasional bugs. But starting with the iPhone X, performing a reboot to fix minor issues has gotten a little more tedious. Thankfully, iOS 13 has a hidden option that makes the process a whole lot simpler.
How To: Get the HTC One's New Wallpapers on Any of Your Android Devices Now
The HTC One has been officially released in Taiwan! The new wallpapers preloaded on the phone have been ripped and put up for download. Grab them for your phone now!
How To: Stop Advertising Companies from Tracking Your Online Activity for Targeted Web Ads
Back in the eighties, I used to hate television commercials, but I eventually got used to them. Had to, in order to enjoy my favorite shows. Then, the increasing number of billboard ads annoyed me in the nineties. They followed me everywhere I went—no escape—persuading me to buy the newest whatever. It seemed like Big Brotherism—like They Live. But, I got used to it. When I finally entered the digital age and became a web addict, I was peeved at the constant sight of online ads everywhere I v...
How To: Track visitors to your Facebook page and set up a custom profile
Want a way to monitor who is coming onto your Facebook profile? You can use a third party app, the FBspace Tracker, to enable your profile to secretly log who is viewing you. Even better, FBspace Tracker lets you set up your profile with custom HTML code. This video shows you where you can download the app, then how to install it and set up your Facebook profile through the app. Make your profile not only unique, but secure as well!
How To: Remove the Grassy Background on Your Galaxy S5’s Stock Weather Widget to See More Wallpaper
The weather widget on the main home screen of a fresh-out-of-the-box Galaxy S5 is meant to show off the screen. Super-high contrast and crisp definition on the individual blades of grass in the background let you know that the phone you're holding has one helluva display.
How To: Turn a webcam into a security camera
You have a webcam, right? Nowadays, who doesn't? But just because you all have webcams doesn't mean you're using them the same way. And a great way to take full advantage of your peripheral or built-in webcam is by turning it into a security camera. This video will show you how to turn it into a security cam by accessing the video feed remotely over the internet. And it's a really simple solution—you just need to sign up for a USTREAM account, which allows you to stream webcam footage live!
How To: Enable the Hidden Notification LED on Your Nexus 6
The Nexus 6 uses an Ambient Display notification system that was heavily inspired by the Active Display feature on the Moto X. Essentially, the device shows a black-and-white version of the lock screen whenever you receive a new notification or pick the phone up. This is all made possible by the N6's AMOLED display that doesn't have to waste any battery to power black pixels on the screen.
How To: The Trick to Emailing More Than Five Photos at Once in iOS 7 (Plus, a Better Way to Do It)
I know it's a very first-world problem, but I really can't stand it. Email was invented to speed up communications between people across the world, even just across the office, yet when I'm on my super awesome iPhone running iOS 7, I have to go back and forth between my gallery and my email to send more than five photos at one time.
How To: Root Your AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 (MF3 Firmware)
Rooting is usually the first thing on the to-do list whenever one of us softModders gets a new Android device. Unfortunately our efforts are sometimes hindered by certain obstacles; a common one is a locked bootloader.
How To: You Should Know How to Turn Off Built-in Apps on Your Galaxy S9
The Galaxy S9 is a great phone powered by the Android ecosystem. This includes Google's family of apps — many of which overlap with Samsung's in functionality. This can lead to redundant apps that siphon resources from your phone, but fortunately, there's a way to dull some of the noise and disable built-in apps.
How To: Freeze accounts on Facebook with Facebook Freezer
"Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, to share links, to share photos and videos of themselves and their friends, and to learn more about the people they meet." -- Facebook
How To: Identify Missed Alerts by Notification Type Just by Looking at Your Samsung Galaxy S4
Previously, if you missed a call or text on your old Samsung Galaxy S3, there was a white LED notification to let you know. It's a nice feature that most smartphones have, but wouldn't it have be nice to know what kind of notification it was before picking up the phone?
Editor's Choice: 11 Camera Apps to Put Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 on Steroids
There are many impressive features on a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, but just like any other smartphone on the market, the most used one is the camera. How many times did you take a picture today? Or admire all the selfies in your gallery? Or upload a video to Instagram, Vine, or Snapchat?
How To: Open the Air Command Menu Without Using the S Pen on Your Galaxy Note 3
Improved S Pen functionality materialized in the form of Air Command controls on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, allowing users to access shortcuts for their stylus features from anywhere on the screen. While the pie-interface controls are extremely useful, the only way to access them is when the S Pen is removed—making it impossible to use otherwise.
How To: Update Your Rooted Google Play Edition HTC One to 4.4.3 Without Losing Any Data
The beauty of having a Google Play Edition HTC One is the ability to get as close to stock Android as possible while still getting some extra non-Google, proprietary HTC features. The newest version of Android, 4.4.3, has just hit the Nexus and Google Play Edition line of phones, but if you are rooted with a custom recovery, you will not be able to apply the OTA.
How To: Clone Yourself Multiple Times in One Photo on Android
With platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat available for anyone to take advantage of, I'm all about differentiating from the mundane and repetitive images we see on social media everyday.
How To: Turn the Multi-Window Menu Transparent on Your Samsung Galaxy Note 2
One of the features on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that has created quite a bit of buzz is Multi Window, which adds split-screen functionality and allows you to simultaneously task through two applications. This feature can be toggled through a menu that appears on one side of the screen and only works with a few selected applications (unless you mod your Note 2). Thanks to a new hack from XDA Developers, you can now turn the Multi Window task menu transparent, so you can still see what's under...
How To: Connect your iPhone to a TV three different ways
This little how-to shows you three ways to connect your iPhone to a TV. Also, you can add Cydia which allows you to download non-Apple certified apps. Follow the steps to help your iPhone get out of jail for free!
How To: Make Google Assistant Control Almost Anything with IFTTT
Google Assistant just got a lot more powerful thanks to IFTTT. The automation platform, whose name stands for If This, Then That, connects your favorite online services and smart devices to one another, allowing for a seamless experience with many different gadgets—and Google Assistant is officially supported.
News: 20 Things That Suck About iOS 11 for iPhone
There's no denying that there are some seriously useful new features in iOS 11 for iPhone. But there's also no denying that Apple got a few things wrong with the latest iOS update, as well as left a few important features out.
News: Build a Tiny Living Room (In Your PC)
Incredibly odd (not to mention anal retentive) PC casemod: a teeny, tiny living room constructed with dollhouse furniture. From Russian casemod site, unknown origin. Bizarre!
News: The Full Original DOOM Video Game Is Now Available for Free on Google Play
In the wake of its 20th anniversary, the folks over at Eltechs have released Original DOOM, a full shareware version of the revolutionary first-person shooter DOOM for Android, available for free on the Google Play Store. It's unmodded and unaltered from the original FPS classic.
How To: Get the Galaxy S8's Rounded Display Corners on Any Android
For years now, Xiaomi's smartphones, as well as any phone running Xiaomi's MIUI ROM, have had a subtle feature that makes the interface look all the more refined: Rounded display corners. But now, other manufacturers are getting in on the rounded corners craze, as the new LG G6 is using them, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ models, whose curve is more subtle.
Google Photos: How to Transfer Pictures from Facebook, Dropbox, Instagram, Flickr, & More
Google made a huge splash this year in their annual Google I/O with an awesome announcement regarding their Photos app. Although I was primarily interested in the details surrounding Android M, my ears instantly perked up when Google announced that their Photos app will now offer free, unlimited, high-quality storage.
How To: Change your carrier name on an iPhone
Sick of seeing that little AT&T logo in the corner of your iPhone screen? Looking for a way to personlize your device even further? Well, you're in luck!