If you've had your Gmail account for awhile, it's probably a cluttered mess thanks to unread messages, out-of-control newsletters, and never-ending email threads. This is one of the main reasons for the creation of Google's streamlined Inbox service, but the adoption rate for it hasn't indicated a huge shift over for most of us yet (partly because it's invite-only still).
Google Earth has long served as a great tool to explore the furthest regions of our beautiful planet from the comfort of our own homes, but for those with more than just a recreational interest, a bundle of pro features had always cost $399... a year.
Apple is offering free full episodes of popular TV shows and free songs from artists with its most recent update to the iTunes Store. In the Music section, "Free on iTunes" seems to have replaced "Single of the Week," which used to give lesser-known independent artists a chance to give their music away in hopes that it would increase their popularity.
Purchasing an actual book from a brick-and-mortar store is becoming increasingly less common for people to do, but it hasn't completely gone out of style just yet. There's something about entering a bookstore and viewing all the potential great stories and epic tales just sitting on the shelves, waiting to be discovered.
Widget toggles, or "power toggles" as they're often called, have been around for quite a while. They serve their purpose nicely as an easy way to add switches to your home screen or notification area for functions that don't come with the stock software on your device.
Technology allows us to communicate with others like never before, providing us with the ability to stay connected with past and current coworkers, classmates from high school, and even relatives in far-away countries.
Wearables were everywhere at CES 2015... you literally couldn't walk 10 feet without seeing some new and innovative device. Among the sleep, fitness, dog, and baby wearables, we came across one with a different, more important purpose—the Linx IAS injury prevention headband.
Being fixated on all of the great additions to Android 5.0 Lollipop, it can be a little difficult to take notice in the features that went missing. For instance, lock screen widgets. It's speculated that the lack of practical use for lock screen widgets and the implementation of the revamped Lollipop lock screen may have lead to their departure, but some of us want them back!
Finger limes are one of those foods that bring out the little kid in even the most staid grown-up. I dare you not to squeal when you cut one open, squeeze, and see all that bubbly goodness emerge.
Android has plenty of features that provide multitasking support, which are especially useful on smartphones with larger screens. One such feature that I loved on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was the popup browser, which brought up a floating window whenever I opened a link inside of third-party apps like Facebook and Twitter.
If you've ever taken apart an electronic device that uses physical buttons, you already know why these types of input methods are destined to fail. The rubberized contacts used in physical press-and-release buttons like those of a gamepad or keyboard are incredibly frail and can easily wear out over time.
Located at the bottom of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 lies the speaker from which music, notifications, and most other audio comes from, which provides warm and clear sound when needed.
Adjusting the brightness on your Android device is a simple but highly utilized action. For the most part, aside from the Sprint LG G3 variant, the brightness slider can be conveniently found nestled in your notification panel. And though it is easy to access, there is a small drawback to this feature.
I love the holidays, but man am I sick of receiving oversized sweaters as Christmas presents. As well as people think they know us, their gifts often say otherwise. Instead of stocking up on useless items and articles of clothing you'll never wear, it's high time to create a wish list that's easily sharable amongst family and friends, and it's incredibly easy to do on Android.
When playing a game or using an app, incoming call alerts can be extremely irritating on my Galaxy S4 because they insist on taking over the entire screen. The alert is a little different on other Android phones, depending on the manufacturer's skin, but all are fairly intrusive in one way or another.
As competition for Spotify and Pandora, Samsung released Milk Music earlier in 2014, a free music streaming service for their Android devices. While Milk was unique to Galaxy owners only, it was popular enough that we showed you ways to get it on non-Galaxy devices as well.
Now that Apple has added support for third-party keyboards in iOS 8, the ways we can communicate with our "peeps" has expanded beyond emojis and standard text messages to GIFs and even rap lyrics now. RapKey takes some of the best and most popular rap lyrics, then lets you choose and send them straight from their easy-to-use keyboard.
When I get weather information, I prefer to receive it in a straight-forward, minimalistic fashion. Living in California, I could care less about wind speeds, humidity, or any other calculations that I can't analyze in a second. I essentially use the information to help decide whether I'll be wearing shorts or pants on a given day, so give it to me bluntly.
We've already seen the visual changes that Android 5.0 Lollipop has brought to the table, but Google spent just as much time altering things under the hood. Awesome new functionality and hardware capabilities have been added left and right, and with the OS already out now, it's high time we had a look at some of these tweaks.
One of the best times to get creative during the year is Halloween, and if you're one of those people that like to make your own costumes and decorations, then here's a little something you can do for that scary night... A GHOST!!!
The Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5S was one of the phone's biggest selling points. Now, the Touch ID system can do more than just unlock your phone, like pay for stuff, and is even present on the new iPads (as well as iPhone 6 models, of course).
One of the biggest improvements in Mac OS X Yosemite came to the Spotlight search feature, allowing users to not only search through their applications, but also their emails, text messages, iCloud, and the web.
While stickers have long existed in the messages section of Facebook, they've only just recently rolled out sticker capability in comments for events, groups, and timeline posts. That means you can now reply with a cute sticker of a cat eating a slice of pizza on someone's status instead or writing something more thoughtful. While an animated sticker can show off enthusiasm and excitement that words or a too-simple emoji may not be able to convey, you can bet that your comment section will qu...
Investing is like exercise—we all know we should be doing more of it, but we often just can't find the time. I mean, really, who's got the hours, inclination, and skill to pour through volumes of data and put together a balanced yet sophisticated portfolio of investment vehicles tailored specifically to optimize their returns while mitigating potential risks. Not me, that's for sure.
Allowing the use of third-party keyboards on iOS 8 was a great move on Apple's part, providing iPhone users with choices when it came to an often-used and important aspect of their operating system. Unfortunately, as cool as all these keyboards are, they all use the same boring, stock font.
Star-Lord may not have been a household name prior to the release of Guardians of the Galaxy, but you can sure count on a flood of kids and adults alike wanting to dress up as Chris Pratt's character this year for Halloween.
Ah, the age-old problem of sharing pictures with friends and family. Ten years ago, the best method available to us was passing around duplicate photos printed out at the local drug store. As easy as smartphones have made this act, you'd think we'd be satisfied by now.
I am an English major physically allergic to all algebraic formulas, so you're unlikely to get any help from me when it comes to solving any expressions. But in the glorious technological age we live in, there are plenty of apps that actually make math and problem solving fun, even a little bit addictive.
While it can be argued that Google Chrome is generally a better browser, iPhone users tend to remain loyal to Safari. But one feature that gives Chrome the upper hand is its ability to recognize the language on any given page and offer you an option to translate it to your native language.
In certain situations, it can be a little difficult to get a handle on my exact location when others ask where I am or how to get to me. Now, thanks to one of the newly introduced features on iOS 8, I can easily share my exact location with friends, right from within the Messages app on my iPhone.
Apple's newest mobile operating system, iOS 8, is out for the general public, and we've got a rundown on the best new features you can use on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. While there's not a huge visual change as there was from iOS 6 to iOS 7, there's still plenty of cool new features in iOS 8 to be excited about.
We're a little citrus-obsessed, and with good reason: lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit: Mother Nature really packed those babies with flavor, from peel (which you can zest without special tools) to juice. Now executive chef Amanda Freitag of Empire Diner has come up with a way to make those lemons and limes give up even more flavor by applying a lot of heat.
Spotlight is awesome for finding items in the stock Apple apps, but what if you want to search through the rest of the apps on your iPhone?
In 2012, VideoLan published a beta release of their wildly popular desktop media player, VLC, for the Android platform. However, because the non-profit development team did not have access to popular North American Android devices, they opted to exclude the USA and Canada from their initial release. That is, until now.
Personality is something we're constantly attempting to inject into our lives, whether it be the car we drive or clothing we wear—and our mobile devices are no exception.
Whether you are just starting or returning to college, or have already been out in the real world for some time, it's always a good idea to stay on top of your game by keeping your intellect sharp. While it may be easy to just sit in front of your TV, watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory, why not use that time to brush up on some chemistry, calculus, or general learning strategies?
Finding a unique wallpaper can be extremely difficult, and even the most dynamic wallpapers become exhausted and boring to look at after a while. Searching for new, interesting wallpapers can become a tedious task, so instead, let's just make our own instead.
Apple has Siri, Google has its Now service, and Microsoft has Cortana. All of these voice-activated services can bring you information quickly and easily without having to type anything into your smartphone. Speak and within seconds you're provided with either an answer or somewhere you can find it.
Google Now is a quick and intuitive way to tailor your device to work for you and, unlike other personal assistants, provide you with up-to-date information based on search habits, emails, and the general all-knowingness of Google.
There will always be a time when you're not entirely sure what you're doing with a certain subject. But the days of weighing the pros and cons yourself are coming to an end. Whether it's a common quandary like "Where should we eat?", or a more specific question along the lines of "Should I buy this shirt or not?", you can now simply AskInternets.
