Functionality Search Results

How To: 8 Menu Bar Apps Every Mac Power User Needs

The menu bar is a great place to perform quick searches, track battery life, and switch Wi-Fi networks on your Mac, but it can do way more than that if you let it. I've rounded up some menu apps below that not only have features that will boost your productivity, but are lightweight enough to run entirely from the menu bar.

How To: Get Android Lollipop's New "Smart Lock" Feature on KitKat

Android 5.0 has a killer new feature that should make securing your device easier than ever. It's called Smart Lock, and it essentially lets you bypass your secure lock screen when you're in a "trusted environment." This means that if you're connected to a known Bluetooth device or near a pre-programmed NFC card, you don't have to bother entering your pattern, PIN, or password.

How To: App Ops Is Alive! Add It to Your Nexus 5's Settings Menu for Per-App Permissions Control

Android's permissions system is simple, transparent, and straightforward. When installing an app, you get a chance to review all of the permissions that the app has requested. These can range from accessing your location data to holding a "wakelock" in order to prevent your phone from entering sleep mode. But your only choice in this matter is to accept all requested permissions, or not install the app.

How To: Build a Radio Controlled Watermelon Air Boat

There are tons of remote controlled cars and boats out there that you can buy or build, and you can add remote control functionality to almost anything. But if you really want to stand out, there are few things more attention-grabbing than this radio-controlled watermelon boat by the folks over at Starting Electronics. The body, obviously, is made from a hollowed out watermelon with a propeller and the parts from a remote controlled airplane mounted on a wooden block. A servo allows the prope...

How To: Manage Your Live Tiles in Windows 8

The new Windows 8 is only days away from its mass public release on Friday, October 26th. And there's a ton of new features you'll need to get used to, either on your computer or your tablet. One of them is the Live Tiles, which provide users with live information and is way more aesthetically pleasing than the traditional Windows layout. The new Tiles system adds another level of functionality and information for the user, but it definitely takes some getting used to. The video below by Pure...

How To: Replace the Boring Stock Tiles in Windows 8 with Your Own Custom Designs

The new Windows 8 is set to launch on October 26th, and developers and early adopters are still getting used to the new interface. Windows 8 borrows a lot of its functionality and look from the touchscreen-friendly Windows phones. As with Windows phones, Windows 8 uses the now ubiquitous tiles as part of the new Metro Desktop. These tiles, much like the vintage iPhone icons, can get a little stale. But unlike the iPhone, Windows 8 users can in fact create custom tiles in their own without any...

How To: Make Toast Cooler by Modding a VHS Player into a Working Toaster

Toasters can do so much more than toast bread. A toaster oven can make your Halloween jack-o'-lanterns look pretty creepy, and you can even mod one into a reflow oven. But what about a regular ol' toaster? Well, you can turn one into a working NES console—or you can keep its bread-toasting functionality by just making it look cooler, like Instructables user lemonie did with his VHS player toaster mod.

News: Apple's iOS 13.1 Developer Beta 1 for iPhone Now Available — Before iOS 13's Stable Release

Apple's upcoming update for the iPhone, iOS 13, is introducing over 200 new features. Many of those were never formally announced, instead silently released in new updates to the beta. After eight developer beta cycles, we were anxiously awaiting the release of developer beta 9. What we got instead, however, was the first iOS 13.1 developer beta.

News: Apple Just Released iOS 13 Public Beta 6 for iPhone, Includes New Options for Blocking in Mail & Bug Fixes

Apple dropped the sixth public beta for iOS 13 today, Aug. 15. This public update comes just hours after the release of developer beta 7, an interesting move for Apple. The company has recently stuck to a schedule of seeding the public beta at least one day after the developer beta, presumably to weed out any debilitating bugs that might have gone unnoticed.

News: Apple Releases iOS 13 Public Beta 5 for iPhone with New Dark Mode Shortcut, Hide Link Previews Feature & More

Life's pretty good for iOS public testers — we get to check out new iPhone features months before the general public even knows they exist. That said, we aren't first to the party. Developers get priority during beta testing, as evidenced by yesterday's iOS 13 dev beta 6 release. It's not all bad though since Apple just released the public version of that software, public beta 5, this afternoon.

News: Apple's iOS 13 Developer Beta 6 Available for iPhone with New Dark Mode Control, Hidden Link Previews & More

If tradition holds, we're roughly one month away from Apple's big iPhone announcement. While we're excited to see what will mainly be a significant camera upgrade, it's not all about the hardware. Apple will also release the official version of iOS 13 to coincide with the iPhone XI. Before then, however, iOS 13 needs beta testing, and developer beta 6 just hit on August 7.

How To: You're Using Lidar on Your iPhone and iPad — And You Don't Even Know It

Lidar, a technology first used by meteorologists and aerospace engineers and then adopted in self-driving vehicles, has slowly crept into consumer electronics over the last five years. If you have a Pro model iPhone or iPad, there's a good chance it has a lidar sensor, and you're likely using it whether you know it or not.

How To: Make Siri Open Specific Apple Pages Documents on Your iPhone So You Don't Have to Hunt Them Down Yourself

Let's say you have an important report to submit, but you want to check it over for any last-minute edits or changes. Times running out, and you simply can't find this Pages document anywhere. Wouldn't it be great if you could just ask your iPhone to open the report for you, so you could stop wasting time searching and finish the paper? Well, thankfully, Siri can help you out with that.