Get ready to stop using the stock Contacts app on your Samsung Galaxy S4, because there's something better out there for keeping track of your family and friends—and it looks better too.
Android has had predictive text for a while now, both with stock and third-party keyboards such as Fleksy, SwiftKey, TouchPal, et al. Apple is even getting on board, with stock predictive text and third-party keyboards for iOS 8, slated for public release later this year.
Netflix releases monthly reports on major ISPs relating to how well their service works on each provider. The purpose is to educate the public on their choice of service provider, but since many of us hardly have any choice at all when is comes to an ISP, it backhandedly works to shame them (if they're even capable of feeling shame under all those millions of dollars).
Have you ever fallen victim to a clever Jedi mind trick? Don't worry. It happens. There are evolutionary reasons as to why our brains sometimes give into the oldest tricks in the book. Fortunately, the more you understand the tricks of a salesman, the easier it is to avoid their gripping psychological influence. Clue #1: Too Much Specificity
Welcome back, my budding hackers! Recently, I showed you how you could exploit the widely disseminated OpenSSL vulnerability that has to become known as "Heartbleed". Although the world has known about this vulnerability for over a month now, it will likely take many more months—or even years—for everyone to close this vulnerability.
The ability to see the world around you and instantly share that "vision" is something that makes Google Glass great for everyday use. No reason to pull out your phone to show off the amazing sushi plate you were just served—look at it, give a couple of quick taps and voice commands, and boom, your social network is salivating in jealousy.
Though nobody's going to hide the fact that they're getting sloshed on major holidays, you might want to be more discreet when it comes to your morning pick-me-up or lunchtime tipple during the rest of the year. It used to be that having four martinis at lunch was acceptable and even desirable, but that's really not the case anymore.
Imagine that Tinder fornicated with Facebook and had a baby. The product of that union would be the hideous, yet overwhelmingly interesting SocialRadar, an app dedicated to stalkers and stalkees.
After many beta builds, Apple has finally released iOS 7.1 to the public. It includes bug fixes for the old iOS 7.0.6, along with UI enhancements and even some new features.
Leaving your Wi-Fi radio "on" allows your smartphone to auto-connect to trusted wireless networks in lieu of using cellular data, but it also consumes battery power while it's constantly network hunting.
As of this week, Gmail is going to start letting Google+ users email each other using a new option called "Email via Google+." There's nothing wrong with making it easier to get in touch with people you want to hear from, but the default setting allows anyone with a Google+ account to send a message to your Gmail inbox. After the feature is in use, Gmail will start to suggest Google+ connections along with your other contacts as recipients. Email addresses will not be displayed for Google+ co...
Apple has released the third beta of its iOS 7.1 software to developers, just a few weeks after their second beta introduced us to button shapes, a new calendar list view toggle, a hidden Car Display control and several other tweaks and performance improvements.
The newest update for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch is near, and I've got a firsthand look of what's to come in the new iOS 7.1, the first major update since iOS 7 was released.
We've all been in a similar situation before—you set your phone's ringer to silent before heading into class, and when you check your phone hours later, you find that your silenced phone didn't alert you to 8 missed calls and 17 text messages.
If any gamer knows their gaming history, one name is synonymous with starting the gaming revolution—Atari. Founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell, Bushnell helped kickstart the home video game market with their line of Video Computer Systems, or what we would call video game consoles. Old time favorites like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Pitfall made the system a success among the public and cemented itself as a worldwide cultural phenomenon. Despite two updated consoles released (Atari 5200 and 78...
Welcome, my neophyte hackers!
If you're a frequent Snapchatter like myself, you're probably well aware that Snapchat can't stop you or anyone else from taking a screenshot of a photo received. Instead, they notify the sender that a screenshot was taken—a greatly appreciated fair warning when impetuous photographs are involved. However, there is a loophole to this.
Have a load of games you want to play, but don't want to be seen in public playing on your old school Nintendo DS system? Play them on your Samsung Galaxy Note 2!
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...
When you have to take four different freeways to go twelve miles, Google Maps becomes a very close and dear friend—especially in Los Angeles. Without my trusty Samsung Galaxy S3, I seriously don't know if I could make it back home half of the time. Of course, you'd probably get better directions using a Garmin, TomTom, or other GPS device, but when you already have a smartphone like the GS3, dedicated GPS units become nothing more than a luxury item.
Written news was first delivered by an elaborate courier service used by the Pharaohs nearly 4,500 years ago. About 2,300 years later, Romans would post public announcements via bulletins carved in metal or stone. Fast forward 1,600 years to the first monthly handwritten gazette published in Venice, the forefather of modern newspapers, which didn't become commonplace until the early 17th century.
There are some really talented graffiti artists out there. Some of them are good enough that businesses hire them to paint advertisements, rather than hiring someone to scrub their work off the side of the building.
Google Reader is soon to be no more. Yesterday, the company announced that the service will be shutting down as of July 1, 2013, as part of Google's second "Spring Cleaning."
We share links on an almost daily basis, usually not even thinking twice about it. Whether you're sending a funny cat video to your sister, or letting your coworker know where to go to download relevant files, there are plenty of reasons you might be giving someone a URL.
Prepaid phones are becoming more and more popular, and tons of people can see the benefits of switching now that some companies are offering prepaid services that are on par with the big players. For a lot of folks, the only thing keeping them from switching is the huge early termination fees that service providers charge to break a contract early.
As practically the entire Steampunk world knows by now, IBM has predicted that Steampunk will be the big new trend from 2013 to 2015. They based this prediction on their computers, which sift through broad swathes of the internet in order to see patterns that may help commercial industries. According to them, Steampunk has been on the rise for the last few years, and they predict that it will explode into peak popularity within the next two years. But what does that mean and how will it impac...
Facebook has been looking to launch a new product for a while now, and it seems they've finally realized what they're best at—being as creepy as possible. If you thought your boss checking out your girlfriend's beach photos was weird, Facebook's new Graph Search has only upped the ante. Now, I don't want to be an alarmist, because I'm sure there are a bunch of great things a Facebook search would find. If you're single, perhaps you could search "Girls that are single that like Goodfellas." Th...
Do you ever wonder how all these celebrities continue to have their private photos spread all over the internet? While celebrities' phones and computers are forever vulnerable to attacks, the common folk must also be wary. No matter how careful you think you were went you sent those "candid" photos to your ex, with a little effort and access to public information, your pictures can be snagged, too. Here's how.
As Hurricane Sandy barrels towards the East Coast, 50 million people are expected to be affected in the nation's most populated corridor. The behemoth super storm is a cause for concern, evident by the massive evacuations. The picture above is an eerie snap of the mostly crowded Times Square subway station in New York. Government officials have warned over half a million people to evacuate their homes and head to higher grounds. To help prepare for this storm, the internet has provided severa...
What's your Twitter handle worth? If it's considered "desirable" (aka short and simple), it'll get you around 100 bucks, or, if you prefer, the affections of a teenage girl.
It's no secret that most people who got an iPhone 5 (or upgraded their old iPhone to iOS 6) have been sorely disappointed with Apple Maps. We may all miss Google Maps, but the Google says they aren't even working on an app for iOS 6 yet. Even worse, Google exec Eric Schmidt says they're waiting on an invitation from Apple, and if we know Apple, that could be a while. Users who didn't get an iPhone 5 have had an even worse time of things—Apple disabled 3D maps and turn-by-turn directions on ol...
If you've ever logged on to the popular music application Pandora, your password is saved onto that computer in the local storage...for good.
For those of you still waiting for the new iPhone 5, you may be a little annoyed when you start using the new Maps application. If you're one of the many Apple users that has already updated your current iPhone to iOS 6, then you're probably already missing Google Maps. While the new Maps does have turn-by-turn directions and sweet 3D imaging for a few large cities, it misses out on everything that made Google Maps legit. Public transit routes—gone. Street-view—missing. High-res imaging of sm...
Apple announced earlier this week that the official release date for iOS 6 will be September 19, but why wait when you can get it now? The Gold Master developer version was made available on Wednesday, and it's the same file as the final version that's going to be released to users on the 19th. Anyone can download it, so if you want to avoid being part of the frenzy on Wednesday when everyone else is trying to get it too, it may not be a bad idea to get a head start. A quick note: If you inst...
Creative Commons is awesome—really. If an image, video, or audio file is tagged with a CC license, that means you can use it as long as you give appropriate credit to the owner. For bloggers with no money for pricey stock media, it's a godsend. When you license your own media under CC, you can choose how you want it to be used by others and whether or not it can be used commercially.
I'm not admitting to anything, but let's be honest, most of us download content on the Web from time to time. With copyright holders laying down the law more and more often, it can't hurt to do so with caution. And even if you aren't downloading copyrighted material, you still don't want companies snooping in on your online activities. So just how do you protect yourself when torrenting? Avoid "Open Communities"
Considering how often many of us fly on commercial airlines, the idea that a hacker could somehow interfere with the plane is a very scary thought. It doesn't help to learn that at Defcon, a researcher found that the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), transmissions that planes use to communicate with airport towers are both unencrypted and unauthenticated.
RFID cards are becoming a fairly common way to purchase goods, but they're already widely used to pay fares on buses, trains, subways, and trolleys across various cities. TAP cards are quick and reliable, but it can be a real pain to remember to bring them with you, especially if you weren't planning on using public transportation that day. Luckily, an intrepid tinkerer at Adafruit has managed to find a way to embed an RFID card into her phone, something you're far less likely to leave at home.
Let's face it, pretty much everyone has an automatic dishwasher. They are super convenient and are becoming cheaper to allow the general public better access to them. With that being said, though, dishwashers are also becoming a lot smaller.
Flavored oils are amazing. They add a new flavor and depth to dishes not possible with plain oil. Most unfortunately, however, flavored oils almost always come with a hefty price tag to reflect their deliciousness and to capitalize on the general cluelessness of the public.
