Gadget Hacks Features

Dev Report: uSensAR Aims to Fill the Gap for Android Users Left by ARCore's Limits

In 2017, major breakthroughs in smartphone-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) opened up new doorways for developers and users of both Apple and Android phones. Unfortunately for Android users, the solution that Google is previewing, ARCore, currently only works on three Android smartphones. But Silicon Valley start-up uSens is stepping in to fix that with its new engine called uSensAR.

How To: Maximize the battery life of your Apple iPhone

Your iPhone may be great, but like any other mobile device, it might be wasting more battery power than it needs to. If you want to learn how to conserve your battery life, there's plenty of precautions you can perform. So what all can you do? Best Buy has answers. The Best Buy Mobile team explains how simple it is to maximize the battery life of your Apple iPhone. You can put it in standby mode, reduce screen brightness, and turn off Location Services when you're not using them.

How To: Quickly find the PIN and phone number of a BlackBerry phone

This clip demonstrates a pair of handy shortcuts for discovering the PIN and phone number of a BlackBerry phone. Whether you're the proud owner of a BlackBerry smartphone or are merely considering picking one up, you're sure to be well served by this official video guide from the folks at Blackberry. For detailed information, including step-by-step instructions, take a look.

How To: Make iPhone ringtones using iTunes on the PC

In this video, we learn how to make iPhone ringtones using iTunes on the PC. First, open iTunes and open the song you like. After this, right click and click "create aac". Then, right click and click "get info", then change the start and stop time of the song. Once this is done, right click on the new version and create another aac version. Now, delete the second song and move to recycle bin. After this, right click on the 30 second song and click "show in windows explorer", then press "alt",...

How To: Create a portfolio website for videos using WordPress

If you're a filmmaker or graphic designer, you need a good way to present your work, and in today's age, you need a website portfolio. But really, anyone in the visual arts could benefit form a web portfolio, and the easiest way to make on is in WordPress. This video series will guide you through setting up a WordPress site using pages to create a portfolio website.

How To: Long press on Android cell phones (1.5/1.6)

One of the greatest things about Google's Android operating system is the ability to "long press" on your cell phone. The android platform is full of many surprises and features, and this is just one of them. Long press (or 'touch and hold') is a nifty feature that reveals additional functionality on your Android-powered phone, like long pressing a picture to edit or share it, and download pictures from webpages, and get more options on your email.

How To: Activate the junk mail filter in Hotmail

For anyone who has a Hotmail account, this video tutorial from GetNetWise shows you the steps involved in activating the junk mail filter. The first step you need to do to activate this feature, is to click on the Junk Mail Folder button at the top of the mail screen. You will then be taken to a settings area that shows you what sensitivity your junk mail filter is currently at. The higher the sensitivity, the more aggressive Hotmail is at moving a possibly piece of spam to the junk mail fold...

How To: A Smartphone User's Guide to Surviving Thanksgiving

The holidays are stressful. Between traveling, family, and dinner, Thanksgiving weekend can feel like weeks. Many families have traditions that make the days long, but some of us would rather curl up somewhere and watch our favorite shows. But all is not lost — our phones do so much for us now that they can help make the long stressful weekend much more bearable.

News: How Would the Pixel 2 XL Look if HTC Built It? Now We Know

The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL were built by different manufacturers. This is pretty common knowledge among Android fans at this point — Google's smaller Pixel 2 was built by HTC, while the larger Pixel 2 XL was built by LG. What would the Pixel 2 XL look like if HTC had followed through and delivered on the larger phone for Google? Today we have some answers.

How To: Create a lightbox effect for images on your WordPress blog or website

In this clip, learn how to create lightbox galleries for images posted to your WordPress blog. Every version of WordPress brings with it new features, new functions and new ways of doing things. Fortunately, the very same technology that allows an open-source blog publishing application like WordPress to exist in the first place also makes it easy for its users to share information about the abovesaid things through videos like this one. Take a look.

How To: Disassemble an HP iPAQ h3870 series PDA

Accidents will happen. This brief how-to will guide you through the process of disassembling your Hewlett Packard iPAQ h3870, h3875, h3835, h3860 or h3830 series pocket PC quickly and efficiently without damaging any of the components, the first necessary step of any successful repair. This tutorial will also be of use to those who wish to learn more about the guts of their iPAQs without actually disassembling their units.

How To: Program Geolocation on the iPhone

In this video, we learn how to program Geolocation on the iPhone. First, start up Xcode and start a new project. Name this "where am I" and then expand out your groups. Now, type in "corelocation/corelocation.h" and "mapkit/mapkit.h" in the view controller and space file. Type in the rest of the code to the program, then open up the program on your computer. Drag and drop the tabs into the viewing window, then grab buttons and other tabs to go onto the screen for the phone. Once finished, sav...