With the new year just around the corner, it's a time we all reminisce about the year that was. In the midst of families fighting over white elephant presents and the financial stress that comes with holiday gifting, you may also be dealing with the stress of hosting parties and get-togethers as well as the decorating that goes with it.
There are few sounds that actually make me cringe whenever I hear them: silverware scraping on a plate, nails scratching on a chalkboard, and piercing high-frequency tones. While the former two terrors require some physical hardware, sending out high-frequency sounds is as easy as downloading an app.
Brought to you by Tomcat. Falling snow, warm fireplace, delicious hot cocoa, quiet reading time, mouse. Quick quiz - which one is not like the other? Nothing can ruin a perfectly cozy afternoon in your home like a pest on the loose. With dropping temperatures, you may have some unwelcome residents, like mice, looking for shelter from the cold.
At one point, Netflix did have trailers for movies online, but they have long since abandoned the practice for a number of reasons. Firstly, trailers have to be licensed in addition to films themselves. Secondly, previews apparently did not increase the number of titles added to user queues.
The Google Calendar app hasn't really changed much over the years. As a pre-installed staple on most Android devices, the interface is definitely lacking in some areas. Google knows this, and has plans in the pipeline to completely revamp Calendar's UI alongside Android 5.0's official release.
While it's not too hard to remember to watch your favorite TV show every week, it's almost impossible to remember to watch all of your favorite shows. Add on to that sports games, live music events, and new film releases and you'll find yourself in a disorganized mess with a lot of missing out.
While the new Google Inbox is currently invite-only, if you were able to snag one, you'll want to learn the best ways to navigate it. Google Inbox coins itself as "The inbox that works for you," and after a brief run through of it, we think it's definitely living up to that slogan.
Chances are that you're living in a city and/or state that's banned using your phone while driving, and because of that, many manufactures have added a "car mode" to their devices. In most instances, this mode is simply an app that simplifies your phone to its basic parts so you can navigate, make calls, and play music, limiting the amount of smartphone distractions.
Restoring data is not always the easiest thing to do when you flash a new ROM on Android. Google can back up your contacts and Wi-Fi passwords, and various tools can back up your apps and data, but the rest is usually lost in-between ROM flashes. This leads to a lot of wasted time getting everything back into place, and it'll take a long time before your new ROM feels like "home" again.
Even with the highest-tiered data plan available, there are times that your phone or your carrier might downgrade your connection to 3G or even lower. This usually occurs when you've made a phone call, or you've switched cell towers while traveling.
Your heart is constantly work for you, yet you think nothing of it—and Samsung wants to change that. They stuck a dedicated heart-rate monitor on the Galaxy S5, they're putting one in the upcoming Note 4, and they're bound to slap one in every Galaxy device thereafter.
Ever use an open hotspot on your Note 3, only to find out that it's severely restricted to what sites you can access? While getting online with free Wi-Fi is great for those who have a limited data plan, when that one site you absolutely need to visit is blocked, you're left frustrated and sent back into the Wi-Fi menu for another access point.
Get ready to stop using the stock Contacts app on your Samsung Galaxy S4, because there's something better out there for keeping track of your family and friends—and it looks better too.
I love finding new artists on SoundCloud and listening to the tracks they put up. While some artists allow fans to download their tracks, others don't, leaving you to constantly load up their webpage to have a listen.
If you're breaking a sweat in the summer heat, but not trying to break the bank, this dead simple trick will show you how to make your own air conditioner for under ten bucks.
Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to a $31.6 billion deal that, if it gets through federal regulators—which is far from a sure bet—would create a formidable carrier to really compete against AT&T and Verizon. The deal comes packaged with a $1 billion "breakup" fee that Sprint would have to pay T-Mobile in the event the deal does not go through. After the deal, Deutsche Telekom, which owns about 67% of T-Mobile, would maintain a 20% ownership stake.
A boring work meeting. A conversation with someone you don't like. A date that's going horribly. A run-in with an aggressive and intimidating stranger. These are all situations where you want to flee—and fast.
Popcorn Time is an app that streams movies directly from torrents on to your computer, and it's seen its fair share of publicity, being lauded as a free Netflix alternative and chastised as an illegal file-sharing network.
I've already shown you an easy last-minute prank involving toothpaste-filled Oreos, now here's a great joke involving an integral part of the cookie-eating experience—milk.
If you have a limited or restricted data plan, monitoring your usage can be the difference between escaping the month without overage fees or emptying out your wallet.
I can be pretty forgetful. If there's something important to remember, I need to jot it down right away or risk losing it forever.
Presentational video for our DIY Camera Crane project. Video: .
Streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video have been available on game consoles for a while, but if you're in a country where they're blocked, it can be hard to find a way around. There are apps and extensions like Hola Unblocker and Media Hint and that to bypass location restrictions on your computer, but what about your Xbox?
In the midst of furious finger typing on a small non-tactile screen, you're sure to make mistakes—so the majority of keyboards have autocorrect. Generally it works pretty well and is a welcomed feature.
There are several ways to get around location restrictions on subscription sites like Netflix and Hulu using apps, extensions and proxies, but they tend to only work on laptops and computers. Users who want to access content from mobile devices and gaming consoles are usually out of luck.
Peaches—to peel, or not to peel? For some, it's not a question at all. The fuzz on the outside of the fruit is enough to turn some off to it completely, even though the peel doesn't have a bitter taste. Others may not mind the peel, but don't want it in their pie or cobbler. Regardless, getting rid of it is a gigantic pain.
Once when I was a kid, my dad used a glue trap to catch a mouse in our basement. The result was so awful for the mouse that my mom and I made him promise to never use that kind of trap again. Call me a softy, but I'm a firm believer that you don't have to kill pests to get rid of them.
When you have to take four different freeways to go twelve miles, Google Maps becomes a very close and dear friend—especially in Los Angeles. Without my trusty Samsung Galaxy S3, I seriously don't know if I could make it back home half of the time. Of course, you'd probably get better directions using a Garmin, TomTom, or other GPS device, but when you already have a smartphone like the GS3, dedicated GPS units become nothing more than a luxury item.
One of the very first Photoshop skills we learned in my tenth grade photojournalism class was cropping the background out of images. I hated it. It was extremely time consuming, and the magnetic lasso tool never seemed to want to cooperate with me.
As we all know, our attention spans are much shorter now that we're accustomed to getting information and news in tiny snippets via text messages, tweets, instagrams, and other constant updates.
Sometimes, figuring out what to cook for dinner takes longer than actually cooking it. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten excited about a recipe, then realized that it requires marinating for twelve hours. When it's already 6 p.m., that just isn't going to work.
When it comes to Easter, I usually dig plastic eggs with money or chocolate inside but hard-boiled eggs shouldn't be missing from the party. And simple hard-boiled eggs won't do. You need to decorate them because we all know bunny eggs are extravagant. What's even better than bunny eggs, though? Spider-bunny eggs.
Not having internet sucks! We do a ton online these days, from working, shopping, studying, and collaborating, to watching fail videos and endlessly clicking through memes.
Streaming video has definitely changed how we watch movies and television shows, but with the constantly growing number of services out there, it can be hard to keep track of who's got what. Who's got Disney now? Starz? Netflix? Who knows. And when you add sites that let you rent or purchase titles, you could spend all evening trying to find something to watch. Here to simplify the process is a service called Can I Stream It?, which lets you search for your favorite movies and TV shows to fin...
Dianne Tice and Roy Baumeister gave a bunch of college students a questionnaire in which the students answered questions about their work habits. In a class which she taught, Tice also assigned a paper with a deadline which she said could be extended and observed which students availed themselves of the option to extend.
One of the main reasons why the Samsung Galaxy S III has dethroned Apple's iPhone 4S as the best-selling smartphone in the world is due to Android's open-source operating system. The vast spectrum of customization that comes with Android has become one of its focal points, allowing n00bs and programmers alike to build and destroy. The open-source OS has allowed rooting and modified ROMs to flourish within Android community. The only problem with this is that rooting and installing your own RO...
With the ever-evolving technology that imbues photography, we are never short of fantastic awe-inspiring shots. Digital cameras can capture things that the naked eye only wishes it could see, like streaking lights, rapid movements, and faraway objects, and it's fairly easy to capture these things if you know the basics.
If you're tired of your roommate stealing your Cheetos out of the pantry or simply want to indulge in something creepy, then keep reading. With the iPhone 5 finally released, many people will soon be selling or giving away their older iPhones. But should they? Instead of ditching your old iPhone, why not use it to engage in some Big Brother type espionage? There are some really awesome ways to use your old iPhone, but spying on people is definitely the most bang for your buck. First, you'll w...
Apple announced earlier this week that the official release date for iOS 6 will be September 19, but why wait when you can get it now? The Gold Master developer version was made available on Wednesday, and it's the same file as the final version that's going to be released to users on the 19th. Anyone can download it, so if you want to avoid being part of the frenzy on Wednesday when everyone else is trying to get it too, it may not be a bad idea to get a head start. A quick note: If you inst...
With the release of Windows 8 right around the corner, if you plan on buying it (or just want to see what it's all about), it's a good idea to take advantage of the free trial before you shell out any money. If you're an Apple user who doesn't have a deep-seated disdain for Microsoft products, this tutorial will show you how to install the Windows 8 preview to try it out on your MacBook. First things first, you'll want to download the Release Preview on Microsoft's website (make sure to save ...
