For $35, there's hardly a better value in the online media player market than the Chromecast. Taking that sentiment a step further, if you factor in the promotions Google likes to offer with it, Chromecast practically pays for itself.
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.
TWRP is hands-down the best custom recovery out there. Its interface, on the other hand, is... well, let's just call it utilitarian. The guys over at Team Win made sure that their product was robust, functional, and easy-to-use, but they didn't put a tremendous amount of effort into polishing the looks.
By default, any app that requests a certain permission can run automatically as soon as you start your device. Since Android doesn't offer a granular permission control system like iOS, this gets lumped in with all of the other permissions that you have to accept when you're installing an app from the Google Play Store, and you effectively have no choice in the matter.
OnePlus One's CyanogenMod firmware comes packed with personalization options that standard Android devices could only achieve with root-level access. By simply entering the Settings app, OPO owners can make changes to their lock screen, status bar, and notification drawer, as well as apply themes and gestures to make their device a little more customized.
You can find hundreds, if not thousands, of complaints about Wi-Fi performance issues with iOS 8 across all Apple devices. Even I had the issue on my iPhone 5S. The Wi-Fi connection on my router was strong, but I was getting extremely slow speeds. So slow, that I would resort to using LTE instead of Wi-Fi, which in turn led to going over my monthly data allotment.
There were over 1.2 million changes made to Android when the OS got updated from KitKat to Lollipop, but a minor front-facing modification has many users in an uproar.
Spotify is how I listen to almost all of my music; I use it on my way to work, while I workout, and even while I'm in the shower. And more often than not, I use my Spotify account on various devices including my MacBook, iPhone, and LG G3. In order to make listening to music across multiple devices even more convenient, Spotify released “Spotify Connect” earlier this month.
Social media is constantly evolving, and as a result, we're now capable of sharing much more than we were even just a few years ago. Television, on the other hand, continues to hold strong as one of America's favorite pastimes.
We recently showed you YouTube's new music streaming service, YouTube Music Key, with it's promise of ad-free music complete with background listening and offline play. Well, if you check your YouTube app, there's a good chance that Google flipped on the service for you. Activate the Service
Snapchat is definitely not known for its stellar privacy or security features, but that hasn't stopped them from gaining millions of users. Now, those millions of users can do more than just share pictures and videos—they can share money.
While chatting in Hangouts on Android, inserting an emoji or animated sticker can instantly make the conversation more fun, but they'll eventually lose their charm, as most things do. Even if you add GIFs to your texting arsenal, things could get stale. That is, unless they're personalize GIFs you actually make yourself (the process is really simple).
iTunes 12 was released alongside Yosemite this year, but it didn't pack quite the punch that the operating system did. Instead, iTunes received a minor facelift, with few new features and somehow lacking the intuitive feel of its predecessor. If you're not thrilled with iTunes 12, we've got a few tips to help you feel like you've got iTunes 11 back on your computer!
If you're struggling with freeing up space on your iPhone thanks to your massive collection of photos and videos, there's a feature in iOS 8 that could help you get some of that much-needed internal storage back while giving you more room in the future.
If you struggle with deciding which wine you should buy for an intimate dinner, or the type of beer with the highest alcohol content that doesn't taste like tree bark, then check out some of these great alcohol-friendly apps to make better booze decisions.
This year's biggest film certainly didn't come as a surprise: with another incredible comic book creation, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy wowed audiences more than any other movie. With its unique team of heroes, Guardians provided a set of ready-made Halloween costumes.
Getting things done isn't easy when you're bombarded with alert sounds and notifications all day long on your Mac. Here's how you can quickly remove those distractions with just a single click.
Automator takes the work out of common repetitive tasks. I don't enjoy compressing videos for quick sharing or uploading to the web, so I created an Automator action to handle the process for me.
Most of us know how to make a sandwich, but how many of us know how to make a sandwich correctly—i.e., so that the slippery ingredients like tomatoes and cucumber don't come gushing out the other end when we take a bite?
In late 2012, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom made a sudden and controversial change to his social media service when he removed Twitter Card support.
An uncapitalized proper noun in a message or email is a serious no-go for those skilled in the art of grammar. But trying to make a lowercase letter uppercase (and vice versa) is not a fun task if you're using an iPhone. You've got to point the cursor is just the right spot to change a letter, and that's a skilled art in and of itself.
Amid rumors of a 6-inch phablet Nexus and the impending release of Android "L", Google posted—then quickly removed—a trio of ads for their industry-leading mobile OS.
For the most part, Finder has had the same basic functionality through the various releases of OS X. But Apple's lack of interest in adding new bells and whistles to the backbone of their operating system simply means that 3rd-party developers get to shine, and Tran Ky Nam is one such developer. He created his own extension for Finder that adds tabbed browsing, dual pane mode, cut & paste functionality, and much, much more.
At the end of an all-day affair with friends or family, I'll unwind and go through all the pictures I took that day as a sort of recap. All too often, though, I'll come across a few that are almost perfect, except I didn't quite position my phone well enough, leaving someone's face cutoff or too much space to one side of the image. It's a fail of a basic and crucial tenet of photography—framing.
Eating healthy poses a challenge nowadays with so many options that taste great but aren't really good for you. Nutritionists have made it their life's work to understand what actually does a body good. Here's how you can follow their example.
Like a car, your Mac needs to be monitored and cared for to keep it running as smoothly as possible. While your vehicle comes with a ton of gauges to keep track of your oil, temperature, and in some cases, even tire pressure, your Mac has no easy way to watch for low memory or high disk usage. Normally you would have to open up Activity Monitor to take a look at your usage stats, but now there is something better.
Thanks to Apple's new extensibility features in iOS 8, developers are now able to create extensions for their apps that let you perform actions in notifications, widgets, and in stock Apple apps without having to open up the specific app itself.
HTC is one of the few OEMs that make it easy to unlock the bootloader on their devices. And while they do warn you that doing so voids your warranty, they don't tell you that it also prevents you from collecting promotions that come with their devices.
The noodle is a noble thing. And while I love ramen and pasta, I have a real soft spot in my heart for macaroni salad (especially the kind that comes with Hawaiian plate lunch) and the type of pasta salad that's dished up during picnics and barbecues.
The most anticipated of the Android Wear devices—the Mote 360—was not only officially unveiled, it's also available to buy right now, for the low price of $249.99.
Rooting is a great way to unleash your device's full potential, but not everyone's comfortable with it. Rooting can void a warranty, cause issues with certain apps, and the process itself can be tricky for older devices. Alas, most of the great apps or mods out there require root access, like the ability to utilize a built-in KitKat feature known as Immersive Mode.
Everyone has that one friend who just can't help but send multiple texts in rapid-fire succession, when they just as easily could have been consolidated into one easy-to-read message. Alert after alert, this becomes extremely annoying as your phone shoots notification sounds and vibrations at you like it was possessed.
Yellow buses are beginning to trickle into traffic. Retailers are pushing pens, pencils, and notebooks. Grumbling Facebook statuses run rampant through your feed. Surely you recognize the signs—school is starting. For some, it already has.
Normally, it's good to automatically update your apps to the latest version, but sometimes those updates take away features that you've grown to love.
The latest software update to the Amazon Fire Phone packed a lot of new and enhanced features, one of which makes the Carousel (a favorite feature of mine) much more useful.
Last week, I showed off a deeply buried accessibility feature built into iOS 7 and 8 that lets you disable screen touches in certain apps. While useful for many reasons, I found it most helpful for preventing nosy family and friends from swiping through the Camera Roll when showing them a photo.
Transition animations are an essential element of any mobile operating system. They give the user a sense of what's happening on the screen, where the apps are coming from, and where they're going.
Taking pictures, sharing your location, and making calls are easy enough to do with an Android device, but for the most part, they all require your screen to be on with some sort of swiping and pressing actions. Dedicated shortcut keys are virtually non-existent on any modern day phone, but their utility is something that can be very useful.
Using Facebook and Twitter as a news source can be frustrating at times, mainly because opening links will divert you away from your current application. Instead of a smooth process, you find yourself going back and forth from app to browser, over and over again.
Update: After playing around with our new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus over the last couple weeks, it occurred to me to see if my DIY stylus would work with these new devices. I'm happy to report that it does, just as expected.
