How To: Test Your Chromecast's Network Connection
At its core, the Chromecast is essentially a web browser on a stick. When you cast content from your computer or smartphone, all you're really doing is telling the Chromecast which website to load.
At its core, the Chromecast is essentially a web browser on a stick. When you cast content from your computer or smartphone, all you're really doing is telling the Chromecast which website to load.
My college days are long behind me, and while I don't necessary miss them, I am jealous of all the countless resources available to students these days. Apps like PhotoMath are something I wish I had access to in my student days, making assignments less strenuous and easier to complete.
Converting files from one format to another can be a pain. Sometimes you have to download software that you'll only end up using once. Other times you have to use a shady third-party conversion site that's riddled with ads. Not to mention that after a while, unless you're extremely organized, your converted files will be scattered all across your hard drive.
When you're on a limited data plan, bumping up against your monthly cap is a major concern. Overage fees are incredibly high these days, and being throttled down to 2G coverage almost renders a smartphone completely useless.
Surely you're aware of the Sony hacking scandal by now (here's a quick primer if you're not), as well as the multi-billion dollar company initially bowing to threats by canceling the Christmas release of the The Interview, the film at the center of the whole debacle.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a working Super Nintendo in someone's house nowadays, but back in my adolescence it was gaming heaven. But now there's no reason to have an SNES console at home, because there are so many ways to play those retro games without one. All it takes is a good emulator.
We're a little butter-obsessed here, and that includes topics on why butter should always be browned, the rationale behind clarifying butter, and even how to make a DIY butter candle. And while some may consider the problem strictly one for the first world, we're always very interested in ways to spread cold butter on toast without ripping the bread to shreds. If you read that post, you know the ingenious solutions are many and range from grating your butter to buying a heated butter knife.
Most diehard Mac users have used TinkerTool at some time or another, and if you haven't, it's time to start. Whether it's to change your system's font or to disable UI animations, it seems like anything you could ever think about tweaking in Mac OS X is doable through TinkerTool. And now, developer Marcel Bresink has updated his app to work with Yosemite, so let's see what it can do now.
In places like underground bars or national parks, your phone's Internet service is sure to slow down to a very sluggish pace, making it difficult to surf the web. Or worst case, data will be non-existent, leaving you with only low-level network support for calls and SMS text messages.
In late 2012, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom made a sudden and controversial change to his social media service when he removed Twitter Card support.
I love my MacBook Air, but the fact that it runs on only 128 GB of flash storage causes me to move most of my files to the cloud. I don't mind having to be connected to the internet in order to access my files, but it's definitely a hassle trying to figure out which files I should move in order to save the most space. Usually, I don't even bother even trying until I see the dreaded "Your startup disk if almost full" warning. Currently, the only real way to find your biggest files in Mac OS X ...
Anytime you surf the web on your iPad or iPhone, Safari saves which webpages you visit, the information you enter into them, and other types of data. This not only make your internet experience quicker, but it'll also keep track of everything you're doing.
The Play Store is loaded with just about any app you can imagine. While many are free or have a "lite" version of a paid app for download, often enough, these freebies have intrusive ads cluttering up your screen.
Trying to explain something difficult over the phone can be pretty frustrating if the other person doesn't understand you. Using text messages can be useless for auditory learners, and a phone call won't do much good for a reading or visual learner.
Google may have decided to back HTML5 for YouTube, but much of the internet still relies heavily on Adobe Flash content. While the Chrome browser for Android is unable to play Flash-based content like Amazon Instant Video streams, some third-party browsers will.
Copy and paste keyboard shortcuts are beautiful gifts from the gods, and any website that blocks such an offering can burn in hell. But really, Cmd+C and Cmd+V (Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V for Windows folks) are second nature to most of us, so it's very frustrating when sites like PayPal don't let us use them.
Samsung devices may dominate the Android market, but that doesn't mean everybody loves TouchWiz, the user interface on all of their smartphones and tablets. It's difficult to modify, comes with lots of bloatware, and isn't much to look at, to say the least.
There are over one million apps in the Google Play Store, and many of them are restricted to certain device types, brands, and Android systems.
When browsing the web, you may not be quite as anonymous as you think, especially if you are using public WiFi. The easiest way to stay as anonymous and safe as you are going to get, is to use a VPN (there are a number of great free ones). In this tutorial, we will show you how to set up a VPN on Android, and how this protects you.
It's been over three months since iOS 7.1 came out, but your wait for jailbreak is now over. If you're still running iOS 7.0 iterations to maintain your jailbreak, you can now finally update to the latest and greatest thanks to a Chinese team of developers, who recently released their untethered jailbreak for Apple devices running iOS 7.1, 7.1.1, and even 7.1.2.
T-Mobile continues to make waves in the U.S. wireless market behind CEO John Legere's UnCarrier program. At the latest installment in a series of industry-challenging announcements, Uncarrier 5.0 unveiled Test Drive. The new program is set to allow would-be customers to try out the "latest generation" iPhone for seven days on T-Mobile's network without any financial commitments.
Rooting an Android device used to be a nightmarish labyrinth of .zip files and command prompts, confusing seasoned modding veterans and newbies alike. Thankfully, the process has gotten simpler over the years, with various "one-click" rooting tool kits surfacing and working for nearly every major Android flagship on the market.
While AT&T and Verizon may not have had a chance to screw Note 2 owners with unrootbale devices—mainly because they've screwed us over by not issuing KitKat updates—it's safe to say that they can in the future. And while Sprint and T-Mobile subscribers have been able to root, the various methods can make the process somewhat confusing, especially for first-timers.
In a era where cyber security is becoming increasingly important, Comcast has decided to use its customers' routers to provide hotspot access to the public. A new program, outlined by Dwight Silverman over on the Houston Chronicle website, seeks to provide Xfinity customers with city-wide Wi-Fi hotspots by using, well...other customers' wireless routers.
A recent security risk exposed by software engineer Szymon Sidor has raised a few eyebrows amongst the Android community.
The folks behind StumbleUpon have created a video service that is just as awesome at introducing you to new content as their website service is.
Netflix has received a lot of publicity lately, and not because of its impressive worldwide library. From blog wars with Comcast to streaming deals with Verizon, it's easy to forget that the company exists for our entertainment, but sometimes that entertainment has drawbacks.
Facebook today has unleashed a new way to creep...er...keep in touch with "friends" using the official Facebook apps on Android and iOS.
One of the hardest tradeoffs when installing a non-Sense-based custom ROM on an HTC One is the loss of Beats Audio. Due to a patent restrictions from Beats and compatibility issues, it's currently impossible to port it to a non-Sense ROM, but with ViPER4Android you can get almost identical results, bringing life back to the BoomSound speakers on your device.
Ever wonder why when you defrost meat, there's all that pink liquid at the bottom of the plastic bag? That liquid is called "purge," and it's not good.
If you're spending hours on your phone playing games like Angry Birds and Candy Crush Saga, or posting online to Google+ and Pinterest, you're probably being spied on. The latest releases from NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden reveal that the National Security Agency, and its UK counterpart, GCHQ, are mining the ad networks utilized in these apps to collect a trove of information on you.
Most people have a few different knives in their kitchen drawers, but not everyone knows which one does what. Sometimes it seems easier to just grab whatever's clean, but choosing the right knife for what you're trying to do can actually make a pretty big difference.
I know that after seeing 8 Mile for the first time, you and your friends tried a few freestyles yourself. Nothing to be embarrassed about. As one person dropped the beat, you started your stuttering flow, and everyone else nodded their head. And for a second you probably thought you sounded pretty good, until the beat maker started coughing and threw you off.
We have shown you how to get CyanogenMod on your HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S3 in only a matter of minutes. But when modding your phone by installing custom ROMs, you'll often lose your access to Google Apps. Since Google's Apps are very useful (Gmail, Chrome, and Maps to name a few) most people will prefer to have these apps on their custom ROMs. While you can scour the internet searching for individual .APKs, it's hard to find the correct versions to work with your particular system (and do...
Initially introduced as an Easter egg deep within Android's operating system, the Daydream screensaver feature turned official in the release of 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Now, it's been out for a few months, which means developers have already figured out how to take advantage of it in their own ways.
The next generation gaming systems are so close to release I can almost taste the plastic. The new PlayStation 4 is set to be released in just a couple days on Friday, November 15th, but if you're like me, there's only one thing preventing you from upgrading in a second.
For someone used to the old-style HTC Sense, upgrading to an HTC One with Sense 5 is a pretty intuitive experience, but there's one thing that some users find obtrusively different. Blinkfeed, an app which aggregates newsworthy articles from various sources and pins them in a scrolling feed on your home screen. If you don't like staying current on news, or don't like how much RAM it eats up, you probably want to get rid of it. There's been some questions about removing Blinkfeed in our forum,...
How much privacy are you getting as an AT&T customer? With the recent leaks confirming the National Security Agency's surveillance on AT&T users, and the ongoing trial of Jewel v. NSA, it seems not much at all.
If you want the latest in breaking news, a heavy dose of humor, and all things kittens, look no further than reddit. But no matter how great the content and community is, reddit has yet to fully catch up to the mobile world.
With so many cloud storage services out there, many people are starting to keep their important documents online, especially when they know they'll need to view them when they're away from their computer.