While it may be impolite to play around on a smartphone at dinner, having it consume my attention while I'm on a deadline or trying to study can prove disastrous. With Netflix and social media just a tap away, it's a dangerous game of wills, one that the phone usually wins.
I never want to bump into my ex-girlfriend while out in the city (talk about a buzz kill), so if I could get an alert telling me that she's at Shortstops down the street, I'll avoid that area completely. This is where the new, interesting app Cloak - Incognito Mode for Real Life from dev Brian Moore comes in.
I never really cared much for the clock widget on my Nexus 7, mainly because it only gave me two styles—analog and digital. There are many different styles of clock widgets available on Google Play, but the majority of them just don't look good enough for me.
Snapchat is great for sharing and receiving pictures that we don't want "living" for too long, but sometimes we'd like to hold onto those memories, whether the other party wants us to or not.
My friends can be pretty shitty sometimes, but they're my friends nonetheless. On various occasions, they've secretly taken my device and made me look foolish by posting crude and embarrassing posts to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. With friends like these, who needs enemies, right? And it's because of these types of friends that we need to substantially upgrade the app security on our devices.
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...
As precious as we like to think that all of the photographs on our smartphones are, they're really not. Every time I rummage through my extensive index of pictures, I quickly realize how many one-off pictures I have, which served their purpose a long time ago and are no longer important.
Rooting your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 grants you access to system files, giving you the ability to change things on the device that you normally wouldn't be able to. Sounds great, right? There's just one problem. How in the hell do you manually change those system files?
With over 8 million active users, CyanogenMod is definitely the most popular ROM for Android devices, which explains why venture capitalists invested $7 million last month for future development.
While the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has an integrated LED for notifications, it only works for a few things, like charging and low battery, and it only flashes two main colors (red and blue) when the screen's off. As someone that usually has their phone on silent or vibrate, it's hard to tell when I receive important messages or notifications. Sure, I could set a specific vibration or ringtone for individual apps, but that can quickly get annoying and distracting, especially at work or school.
Everyone enjoys summers more than I do. At least, that's how it seems. While I take pleasure in the decline of clothing covering up my lady friends, I could definitely pass on the heat and absurd air conditioning costs. However, one summer staple that balls above all else is cooking on the grill.
If you're constantly going from dark to brightly lit areas, you've probably noticed that the stock auto brightness feature on your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 doesn't work that well. Either the screen is really dim and unreadable, or it's just way too damn bright. Sure, you can disable auto brightness, but then you have to manually adjust the brightness all of the time for that perfect comfort level. This isn't really all that bad of an option, but don't be surprised when you see this: However, the...
Since The Guardian published leaked documents exposing the depth of the NSA's spying powers, many people who've never put much effort into protecting their privacy are finally starting to pay attention. Evidence of public opinion concerning PRISM can be seen from the rise in traffic for pro-privacy sites like DuckDuckGo to the petitions demanding that the program be scaled back or done away with altogether. Some would argue that you waive your right to privacy by signing the terms of agreemen...
The new Samsung Galaxy S4 may be the only phone to include temperature and humidity sensors, but your Galaxy Note 2 has a few weather-detecting features of its own.
There are a ton of streaming services available at your disposal in the Google Play Store—Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, Last.fm, and the list goes on and on. These apps help satisfy my day-to-day cravings for good beats, but I tend to do a little too much hopping around from music app to music app (and music widget to music widget) in the process.
As a kid, there was nothing more fulfilling than sinking my teeth deep into the succulent flesh of an orange, savoring every drop of juice that wasn't busy sliding down your chin and onto your clothes. While my adulation for oranges never ceased as I grew older, the way I consumed the precious fruit did evolve with my maturity. Gone were the days of messy eating, and here I was now, peeling my oranges as a teenager, taking my precious time in separating each individual slice for a clean and t...
If you're the type of person who constantly uses multiple tabs in your browser, you know how annoying it is when one of them starts playing unwanted music or video.
Advancements to Android's open source OS come in the form of ROMs and mods, available all over the web for anyone to find. Installing any of these modifications tends to wipe your phone clean, causing you to lose all of the precious data on your device.
Social media is where we post our thoughts for the world to see, but sometimes a little more exclusivity is needed. And that's where Scrambls comes in.
Humans clearly demonstrate altruistic tendencies towards other members of groups with which they identify.
Needing to use your device in bright or low lighting can require an adjustment in the phone's built-in brightness settings. However, there are times when those default settings just don't do the trick.
Here's a technique I used to whip up a batch of super cheap and easy to make smoke flares! WARNING: Ignition of an incendiary or explosive material may not be legal in your area, so check local laws before attempting. Use of this video content is at your own risk.
The convenience of storing things on the cloud can definitely make life easier, but if you're storing sensitive files, it could be a total disaster if anyone hacked your account. Some encryption services can be expensive, but if you just need it for personal use, there are some really great ones that don't cost anything. Here are three programs that let you encrypt your cloud storage for free. BoxCryptor
Firstly, I'd like to say that I have nothing against iPhoto; it's a great application that works wonderfully in Mac OS X. Unfortunately, when you no longer have iPhoto on your MacBook—and you don't want to pay for it—looking for an alternative is a necessary endeavor. I could sit here and try to explain to you how I updated to Lion and then inexplicably dragged the iPhoto application into the trash—and proceeded to empty said trash. I could tell you guys that story, but I fear you might judge...
In an effort to appease iPhone fans eager for an NFC-equipped device, an option that is available on many other smartphones, Apple created Passbook, their version of a digital wallet.
The Internet has had a huge influence on many areas of our lives, but, in particular, has resulted in nothing short of a revolution in the way we work. The web has offered the sort of flexibility to the individual that few people would have dreamed of just a couple of decades ago. And where once a global marketplace was available only to a handful of multinational corporations, today thanks to the Internet, we can all access it.
It's already August, which means school will be back in just a few short weeks. If you're getting ready to start or go back to college, that means you'll probably be dropping a few hundred bucks on textbooks. Here are some of the best places online to buy, sell and rent textbooks so that you can get back to more important things, like making your papers look longer than they really are and getting around your school's website blockers. Plus you can spend your money on more exciting things, li...
Custom ring and text tones are great for knowing who's attempting to contact you without having to actually look at your iPhone. However, this feature is useless when your device is in silent/vibrate-only mode.
I'm sure a lot of people have been following the news and depending on your position on the issue, you might have been happy or dissappointed about the fact that Obamacare has been OK'd by Congress. Let's see what this really means to us.
Apple's Calculator app received a massive redesign, making it so much more than a simple calculator with built-in scientific functions. There's a new Math Notes feature that ties in with the Notes app, it can keep a history of your calculations, and you can even convert over 200 currency and measurement units.
Apple has a new way to tidy up your favorite bookmarks in Safari, making them easier to access than ever before. This new feature saves space, allowing you to quickly see more of your favorites at the same time.
Your iPhone keeps track of every single place you go, especially those you frequent most often, and syncs those locations across all your iCloud-connected devices. People who gain access or already have access to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac may be able to view all of these locations to see where you've been and where you might be. If this worries you, there are things you can do.
With the list of available mobile apps for moviegoers constantly expanding and improving, seeing a film at your local theater has never been better. With the right apps for your iPhone or Android phone, you can research movies, find out if showings are sold out, reserve seats, save money on tickets and concessions, preorder popcorn and soda, and even find dull bathroom-worthy scenes.
Apple has tools built into iOS to help parents monitor the iPhone habits of their children. However, those same tools can be used by everyday iPhone owners to both hide apps they don't care about, as well as restrict features they don't need or that infringe on privacy. Whether you fit into one category or the other, all iPhone users can benefit from the "Restrictions" feature.
In case you missed it, Apple has added a lot of new features and enhancements to the Music app on your iPhone, changes that benefit both Apple Music subscribers and non-subscribers. Chances are, you haven't seen all the changes yet, especially since many of them weren't released when iOS 17 first came out, but we'll go over them all with you.
ESP8266-based microcontrollers can be used to create exciting and legal Wi-Fi hacking games to test your or your friends' Wi-Fi hacking skills.
During a meeting in real life, you could ask non-essentials to exit the room temporarily so that you can speak to just a few privately, but now that conferences exist online, it requires a bit more finesse. You could start a new video call on Zoom or remove individual participants, but that makes it hard for those who left to join again. But there is a feature where you can just put some users on hold.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a frenzy for news and information that is nearly unprecedented in the smartphone era, with a major side effect of misinformation. Now, major tech companies are making it easier to ask for advice about novel coronavirus from their respective digital assistants. Results may vary, but Apple and Google are the most useful at the moment.
Using a strong password is critical to the security of your online accounts. However, according to Dashlane, US users hold an average of 130 different accounts. Memorizing strong passwords for that many accounts is impractical. Fortunately, password managers solve the problem.
While tweetstorms were a part of Twitter since the beginning, threads, which makes tweetstorms more viable, didn't show up until late-2017. Still, threading multiple tweets at once to create long-form stories, opinions, tirades, and other lengthy Twitter posts, can be hard to digest. However, you can make reading them easier with just a single message.
