By default, the Play Store app on Android is set to automatically update your apps in the background. This definitely makes it easy to ensure that you're always running the latest versions, but it does come with some downsides.
Near Field Communication, or NFC for short, is a feature that allows our smartphones to wirelessly communicate with other devices over a short distance while using almost no power at all. Think of it like a slimmed-down version of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth that can send a small burst of data two inches away without having any measurable impact on your battery life.
If you've ever prematurely dismissed all of your push notifications before you got a chance to read each one, you know how annoying it can be to dig through all of your apps to try and find the one with the missed notification.
Android's main UI is looking so good these days that you hardly ever see developers spend time creating themes anymore. But even with the beauty of Material Design working in our favor now, there's always room for improvement, right?
Hello fellow Nullbytiens, I'm Washu, a long time commenter but first time poster. Today we'll be making an IRC bot, if you haven't seen OTW's post about the new IRC channel I would encourage you to go check it out. He does a good job at explaining what IRC is and how to get set up.
Hello friends! This tutorial will teach you how to build a local pentesting lab on your Linux machine which will enable you to easily install common web applications so you can practice locating and exploiting their known vulnerabilities (or discover new ones!). In particular, this is an excellent way to learn how to hack Wordpress, Joomla, and Dupral plus many more!
Android's copy/paste menu and text selection options have traditionally been downright terrible, but things are starting to get better with some recent improvements made in Marshmallow. That being said, there's still a lot left to be desired, and there's always plenty of room for more useful functionality.
Starting a few months back, you might have noticed that some text messages you received from certain friends or family members had blank or missing characters. This was because Apple included all of the new Unicode 8.0 emojis in an update to their iPhones, but Android devices didn't have some of these just yet, so they weren't capable of displaying them.
When anyone brings up Tasker, the first topic that always gets discussed is how powerful the Android automation app can be. But all of that power can be overwhelming for some people, so even if you're a Tasker pro, it's hard to share your awesome creations with friends that don't quite understand what's going on.
You need a good microphone on your computer in order to make audio recordings, voice chat, or use speech recognition. However, not every computer comes with a built-in mic, and not every built-in mic works great.
If you use Google Chrome as your default desktop/laptop browser, then Chrome OS will be pretty easy to get up and running if transitioning from Windows or macOS. Google has created an operating system that is fast, lightweight, and versatile enough to be adopted by pros and novices alike.
After a few months, I get so fed up with hearing the same ringtone go off alongside each new notification that I'm forced to switch things up—only to end up repeating this whole process when the new one gets played out. And I'm sure people around me are equally sick of listening to that tired old tone towards the end as well. I mean, a decade later, I'm convinced that Nokia tone is permanently implanted in my brain.
Let's say you're flush with Google Opinion Rewards credits, or you just got a Google Play gift card for your birthday. This is a perfect opportunity to remove ads and unlock new features by upgrading some of your free apps to their paid counterparts, or to finally purchase that app you've been lusting after that doesn't offer a free version.
Instead of wasting time asking where your friends and family are at a given moment, then having them waste time by describing their location, there are several Android apps you can use that will automate this whole process. To top it off, it doesn't have to be about invading privacy or spying on someone, since most of these apps are offer two-way location sharing, or at least let you share locations only when you feel comfortable with it.
Windows has always been pretty customizable, and there are a ton of ways to change up the way your PC looks—though, it hasn't always been easy. In the past, changing anything other than wallpapers, titlebars, and fonts involved long hours of switching out system files with modified versions and changing icons to no end, but that's not the case with SkinPacks.
Cortana, Microsoft's personal assistant for its Windows Phones and Windows 10, will soon be released for Android. That is, officially released. It's hard to keep a good thing locked away, and to that end, Cortana for Android has been leaked, thanks to APK Mirror.
I've been a diehard Chrome user since its inception, and even more so since Android was released. The ability to sync bookmarks, passwords, and web history across all of my devices made the switch a no-brainer, but what really made me fall in love was the amount of extensions available for it.
AMOLED display panels like the one found in most Samsung Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy S6 models, are known for their deep blacks and vivid colors. The downside here is that the colors tend to be over-saturated and not very realistic.
In 2014, Snapchat introduced a special type of Filter called Geofilters. Geofilters only appear when you're in a specific location. For example, a Disney Land Geofilter will only appear if you're actually there. Rather, your phone needs to think that you're at Disney Land. By spoofing your GPS location, you can effectively travel all across the globe — at least in the eyes of Snapchat.
bObi has four floor detection sensors on her underside that warn her not to drive over ledges and stop her from falling down stairs.
It's hard to not to like the look of iOS emojis. Sure, Samsung and other Android phones have emojis, but they're all kind of goofy-looking. And since iPhone emojis continue to be viewed as the standard, it comes as no surprise that you can actually get them on Android—and without root!
The Google Play Store may have fewer restrictions that its iOS counterpart, but that doesn't mean that all apps make the cut. Ad blockers and Xposed modules that bypass paywalls have never had a place on the Google Play Store, which makes tracking their app-updates a painful process.
With the high rate of obesity in the United States, it's fantastic to see the massive wave of fitness tools available, even if it's just a trend. And with the companionship of your Apple Watch, keeping track of your progress or fitness goals has never been easier. As my LA Fitness intercom repeatedly announces, "What gets measured gets improved." (Corny, but very true.)
With our internet-connected devices growing in number by the year, it would be nice if they could somehow all be interconnected. This is becoming commonplace for our tablets, smartphones, and laptops, but our media streaming boxes still seem to be isolated in their own little worlds.
The Galaxy S6 Edge comes with a useful feature called Information stream that allows you to view quick tidbits of info with a quick back-and-forth swipe on the edge of your display while the screen is off. Apparently, Samsung left the door open for third-party plugins to use this feature, and now we're starting to see an influx of useful additions.
With smartphone screens getting bigger by the generation, one-handed mode mods are becoming rather prevalent. Most of these function by shrinking the screen to a more manageable size, but this is actually kind of boring when you think about it.
With the release of the Nexus 5 back in 2013 came the Google Now Launcher, which has become the go-to choice for many Android users, especially those who prefer the Nexus line. With its integration of the Google Now page and the always-listening hotword detection, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more complete and useful launcher.
Carriers really suck, don't they? We constantly have to monitor our data usage, even though many of us are on "unlimited" plans, which, in reality, will just be throttled to a slower 2G or 3G connection when we hit a certain download threshold.
We've previously covered an app called YouTube Floating Popup Player which let you watch YouTube videos anywhere on your Android device, but it has since been removed from the Google Play Store due to infringement of certain policies.
In general, we never really put much thought into fonts, but they comprise a huge portion of our online experience. A whimsical mood can easily be set by using something like Segoe Script, but switch it up to Sentinel and you've got a more sophisticated feel all of a sudden.
The Nexus Player is one of the most robust set-top streaming devices on the market. This is mainly due to the fact that the base software it runs is a direct fork of Android, which is a very powerful operating system itself.
Mac keyboards are great when listening to music or watching a movie, since you can control what's playing without going back into iTunes or QuickTime Player. However, when you're using an app like Photoshop that uses the F7, F8, and F9 as shortcuts, it gets pretty annoying to have to hold down the Fn key. Why can't you just hit the back, play/pause, and skip buttons alone?
There's no such thing as a perfect Android keyboard. Some, like Swype, have gesture typing down to a science, but lack in predictive technology. SwiftKey, on the other hand, boasts awesome next-word prediction, but less than stellar gesture typing. Many others are optimized for multiple languages, space saving, or emojis, but none are without their flaws.
Android 5.0 brought a lot of changes to the world's most popular mobile OS, but few were more central to the user experience than tweaks made to the "Overview" menu (more commonly known as the "Recent Apps" menu). Aside from a visual overhaul, Chrome tabs now exist as separate entries in this list, as do Google searches and a few other activities.
In today's world, we're constantly switching back and forth between all of our internet-connected devices. A PC may be great while you're at your desk, but the living room couch is tablet territory, and nothing beats the portability of a pocket-sized smartphone while you're on the go.
If you've ever flashed a custom ROM on any of your devices, one of your main motivations for doing so was likely the set of neat tweaks and extra options that come with something like CyanogenMod. Another deciding factor was probably the fact that most custom ROMs offer a much cleaner interface than manufacturer skins.
Finding the right mix of custom ROM, kernel, and tweaks for my OnePlus One has left me flashing every new release I come across. This has led to many hours going through thread after thread trying to find the latest and best software out there for my phone. While I do enjoy the hunt, I would rather have a centralized location that covers all my bases, so that's why I have started using OnePlus One, an app by Alex Inthiaano.
Android's biggest selling point over alternatives like iOS or Windows Phone is the level of customization that it offers. If you don't like something about the UI, you can change it, whether it's as small as an icon set or as big as the entire home screen.
OnePlus changed the way we think about high-end phones. Their "Never Settle" motto led me to ditch my high-cost smartphone for their flagship One, which not only packs some pretty impressive hardware, but won't break the bank. Now that OnePlus has made a name for themselves with the One, they're trying their hands at ROMs, too.
Installing tweaks or themes onto your jailbroken iOS device is a pretty fun and exciting experience, but if you do it for long enough, you're bound to come across a bug that will cause your operating system to crash.
