If you've been using Windows 10 for a while, you already know that Microsoft incorporated lots of new features into it. So you're probably familiar with Cortana (the new voice assistant), the Edge browser (their replacement for Internet Explorer), the newly resurrected Start menu, and all of the other big changes.
Newer gaming systems like the PlayStation 4 have a nice, subtle feature that goes a long way towards helping create a more immersive experience. Any time you're on the main menu or home screen, an ambient background music track is playing, which adds an aural appeal to an experience that would otherwise be all about the visuals.
Depending on your child's age, their first smartphone may be a little too open for them, or you, to handle. With essentially a world of information—both good and bad—available at their fingertips, it can seem like a huge hurdle to instill parental controls on their device.
You can beef up the security on your Mac all you want, but all the firewalls and antivirus apps in the world mean nothing when that can of soda tips over on your Macbook, destroying your laptop and all its data forever.
When I was younger, my best friend's dad would always give us a lollipop on long car rides. I remember three things about those lollipops: they were bright green, tasted delicious, and had a cricket in the center. You know, like a Tootsie Roll Pop... only instead of a Tootsie Roll, a cricket.
Most mobile games have moved to an online-only format, meaning you need to be connected to the Internet in order to get any kind of multiplayer action going. This is great when you're at home on Wi-Fi, but when you're out and about, slow and inconsistent data speeds can cause serious lag. Or worse yet, you may be nearing your monthly data cap!
We are visual animals. So when it comes to food, presentation is everything. In deciding what to eat, certain colors and textures instantly turn us off or on. Think of runny sautéed spinach versus a salad of fresh vibrant spinach. Which one would you reach for first?
Cheese might be one of the most satisfying snacks around, whether you prefer a slice of snappy Irish cheddar or a creamy, rich portion of Brie. It's been called "dairy crack" by a respected physician and for good reason: eating cheese produces casomorphins, which effect the human body like opiates. It also contains trace amounts of actual morphine.
Welcome back, my aspiring hackers! As I mentioned in earlier posts, the best hackers (or at least those not behind bars) have a keen understanding of digital forensics. If I am tasked to intrude upon an enemy's file server to retrieve war plans, such as in this tutorial, it is essential to my country's (and my own) well-being that it not be traced back to me. Understanding digital forensics helps us to leave without a trace and never have a trail back to us or our employer.
UPDATE 11/17/15 The Xposed Framework now officially supports Android 5.1 through 5.1.1 Lollipop devices as well. Everything will still work the way it has with Android 5.0 through 5.0.2, but there are a separate set of files for the newer Android version. I'll cover both below, but make sure to download the proper file for your particular version of Android.
A landmark bill finally went into action this week that will allow American cellular customers to unlock their smartphones for free. The process of unlocking may vary between mobile service providers, but you can rest assured that you are now entitled, by law, to carrier-unlock your smartphone.
Welcome back, my novice hackers! This is the third installment of my Python scripting series. If you haven't read the previous two articles, take some time now to go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 before you proceed here.
If you're a fan of Thai food, I'm sure you're familiar with sticky rice. There is something so special about its chewy texture and sweet flavor. If you have a desire to make it in your own kitchen but don't have the proper tools such as a traditional bamboo basket or stackable steamer, there are several other methods that work just as well. Once you try these alternative methods, I'm sure you'll be "sticking" to them for a while. What Makes Sticky Rice So Sticky?
Many modern Android devices use a display technology called AMOLED. These screens differ from traditional LCD displays in that each pixel emits its own light, so a backlight is not required. Even better, when rendering a black element on the screen, AMOLED displays simply don't light up the associated pixels, meaning virtually no power is used. Since black pixels use little to no power on an AMOLED screen, more black pixels means lower battery consumption.
Welcome back, my hacker novitiates! As you know by now, the Metasploit Framework is one of my favorite hacking tools. It is capable of embedding code into a remote system and controlling it, scanning systems for recon, and fuzzing systems to find buffer overflows. Plus, all of this can be integrated into Rapid7's excellent vulnerability scanner Nexpose.
Believe it or not, you can put your money to use very efficiently in a new way: your credit or debit card can serve as a blade in desperate situations. (It might even be handier than dental floss as a brilliant substitution for specialized kitchen tools.) While I wouldn't take bets on it slicing a New York strip steak, there are definitely many other foods it will easily slice through. What Is It Made Of?
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! Those of you who have been reading my posts here for awhile know how much I emphasize good reconnaissance. Novice hackers often jump into a hack/exploit without doing proper recon and either fail or get caught. Experienced and expert hackers know that 70-80 percent of a good and successful hack is dependent upon successful and accurate reconnaissance.
Google has already started to roll out the over-the-air update of Android 5.0 Lollipop to older Nexus series phones and tablets, but chances are it will take a long time for the OTA to hit your device.
When you're actively using your phone, a certain amount of battery drain is to be expected. But, if your device is just sitting in your pocket draining its battery, that's when you need to take action.
Look, I'm no food snob. I once dedicated an entire day to eating only deep-fried things (butter, Twinkies, Oreos, pickles) at the Minnesota State Fair. But even I draw the line at instant mashed potatoes. I mean, why bother? It's not that hard to make perfectly delicious and fluffy mashers yourself.
Third-party keyboards have been available for iPhone ever since iOS 8, but which ones are worth checking out? There have been many options over the years, and if you want keyboard features like swipe-typing and themes, you're going to have to put Apple's stock QuickType keyboard on the backburner and try out these top hits.
Apple definitely wasn't first to the widget game, but any iPhone running iOS 8 or higher can add widgets to their Today View found via a swipe down from the top of the screen when on the home screen or in any app. There's even access to widgets on the lock screen via the same swipe down on iOS 8 and iOS 9 (on iOS 10, iOS 11, and iOS 12, all you have to do is swipe right on the lock screen).
Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 6 on September 9th, and shortly thereafter carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless will begin selling them online and in stores. So, if it's time in your contract for a device upgrade, it's time to start thinking about trading your current iPhone in for up to $400 in value.
The Galaxy S5's fingerprint scanner feels like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Giving you the ability to lock your device without having to fuss with a PIN or password every time you go to use it, the feature is definitely one of the device's main selling points, especially now that you can use it to unlock individual apps.
Because of Android's massive array of supported smartphones that carry vastly different display sizes and resolutions, the operating system uses a value known as DPI to determine the size of icons and visual assets that will best suit a given screen.
We've had the pleasure of test driving the ASUS Transformer Book T100T for the last couple of weeks, and for a $400 Windows 8 machine, it's impressive to say the least.
Welcome back, my rookie hackers! I recently began a series on using Metasploit, and my goal with it is to teach you the very basics the incredibly powerful hacking tool has to offer while progressively moving on to the more advanced features.
HTC has made it their mission to get updates out to its devices as quickly as possible, with new builds slated for release 90-days after Google finalizes a build—this is dubbed HTC Advantage.
With all of the personal data that's stored on our smartphones, it's of vital importance that we have some sort of lock screen security enabled. One of the Galaxy S5's killer features is obviously the fingerprint scanner. It makes the process of dealing with a secure lock screen a bit easier than typing in a password or PIN.
I'm all about saving time. If there's a quicker way to do something, I'm going to find it. For this reason, whenever I need to search through old emails or compose new ones in Gmail, I do it directly from Chrome's address bar, or as Google likes to call it, the omnibox—and you can, too.
Airports are terrible germ-infested purgatories where people sit around for hours without Wi-Fi while they anxiously await to get wherever they really want to go. Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about waiting, but this little Wi-Fi hack could help make the waiting a little less boring.
If you're like me, you spend a lot of time on your computer, which can be damaging to your eyes in the long run. Studies have shown that staring at a computer screen or television up close for extended periods of time can have harmful effects on your vision.
Just what are probiotics and why are they so good for you? Probiotics are "viable microorganisms" that can confer lots and lots of health benefits if they reach your intestine while they're alive. You may have heard them described as "friendly bacteria."
Fish is delicious, and as the Harvard School of Public Health points out, incredibly good for you. There are many studies that show regularly consuming a couple of servings of fish per week can help prevent heart disease and may well reduce your chances of stroke, depression, and getting Alzheimer's. After all, there's a reason why fish is called "brain food."
If hearing the names of classic PC games like Commander Keen, Fallout, Master of Orion, and Wolfenstein 3D send you into a fit of nostalgia, then DosBox Turbo is the perfect app for your Android device.
The newer Graph Search in Facebook can help you find friends in specific cities, photos of a particular subject, restaurants that your friends liked, and a whole lot more. One thing it can't help you with just yet is searching public posts on Facebook, which you could do in the previous search version. Actually, some users do have the option to search public posts with Graph Search, but it's very limited and doesn't include me. If you're like me and don't have access yet, there is a workaroun...
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! Not too long ago, I showed how to find various online devices using Shodan. As you remember, Shodan is a different type of search engine. Instead of indexing the content of websites, it pulls the banner of web servers on all types of online devices and then indexes the content of those banners.
The beauty of having a Google Play Edition HTC One is the ability to get as close to stock Android as possible while still getting some extra non-Google, proprietary HTC features. The newest version of Android, 4.4.3, has just hit the Nexus and Google Play Edition line of phones, but if you are rooted with a custom recovery, you will not be able to apply the OTA.