After months of waiting, Google has released the SDK (Software Development Kit) for their Gadget of the Year, the Chromecast. As announced on their blog, the release of the SDK means that any app developer, whether for Android, Chrome, or iOS, can now add Chromecast functionality to their app. And though only a few apps have been released with Chromecast support, that's all about to change.
Starbucks' app is the most used mobile payment app in the U.S. because it's well-designed and convenient. But if you use the iOS version on your iPhone, your username, email address, password and location data could be compromised because the app stores them in plain text.
Air New Zealand is looking for a spokesperson for the Antarctica: No Ordinary Place, No Ordinary Assignment project, a two-week adventure in Antarctica, where the chosen candidate will join National Geographic photographer Jason Edwards to document environmental issues and important research being conducted by research teams sponsored by Air New Zealand and Antarctica New Zealand.
Concrete decor has been popular as of late, and the newest trend is dinnerware. At the London Design Festival last week, designer Vidó Nóri debuted a gorgeous new collection of geometric serving trays and bowls. There's no arguing that they look incredible, but this particular set will run you $20-80 per piece, which adds up quite a bit. If you don't want to spend that much cash, it's really simple to make your own elegant-looking concrete cheeseboard. Rebecca on A Daily Something made this b...
Electronic devices seem to have an uncanny ability to make noise at the worst possible times. It's always during an important meeting, a quiet study session at the library, or a biology final that your laptop or smartphone decides to play some obnoxious or embarrassing sound.
Ethylene is an invisible, odorless, naturally occurring gas that aids in the ripening process of fruit. As a fruit produces more ethylene, it begins to create enzymes which help break down cell walls and starches, making the fruit softer and sweeter over time. If it weren't for this small hydrocarbon gas, the shelf lives of most fruits could last well over a year.
I learned the hard way that boxed dyes just don't work well for me. A few months ago, I tried one that had a pretty name like "soft violet black." Sounds nice, right? What I ended up with was brown hair and hot pink roots. Trust me, it wasn't cute.
Separating an egg yolk from the white is one of the most universally hated kitchen tasks out there. Most cooks prefer using their hands or the egg's own shell to separate them. For those who don't like getting messy, there are countless devices designed solely for this purpose, and a lot of shortcuts that use household items to make it easier. Remember this water bottle trick?
Hair products can work wonders, but the good stuff is usually super expensive. Plus, most of the major brands use a ton of ingredients you can't even pronounce, so it's safe to say a lot of us have no idea what we're putting in our hair. The good side is that most products can be made at home using basic ingredients for a fraction of the cost of commercial brands. Hairspray is no exception, and actually one of the easier ones to make.
There are tons of different versions of maze games. First, there were paper mazes that you had to draw your way out of. Then, there were computer and video games, and later, smartphone apps.
This is such a fun manicure that when I saw for it for the first time on blogs, I just knew I had to try it out. What made me all the sure of the fact was that not only was it eye catchy but also incredibly easy to do .
We've all had that awful, sinking feeling when something you've been typing away at is suddenly gone. Maybe you accidentally hit the Back button, lost your internet connection, or your computer crashed, but whatever the reason, losing your work totally sucks. A lot of word processing programs have a built-in auto-save feature to prevent you from losing everything, but most websites and blogs haven't gotten there yet. An extension for Chrome and Firefox called Lazarus: Form Recovery can help y...
The cell phone has come a long way. The very first "mobile devices" were made and used by the military in the late 1930s, with the first commercial mobile telephone service introduced by Bell in 1946. These devices were hardly what we'd call mobile today—some took up the whole trunk of a car, and others had to be carried on your back in a heavy bag.
If you've never heard of cookie butter, it must be because you live in a town where there's no Trader Joe's. It was their most popular item in 2012, and when it started to become popular, the Internet promptly went nuts, posting recipe after recipe using it as an ingredient. For those of you who don't live near a Trader Joe's but still want to see what all the fuss is about, there's good news—you can make it at home—and you don't need spiced Speculoos shortcrust biscuits either!
If you don't have a car, or just prefer to take public transit to work, you know that an unexpected change in the weather can quickly...er, dampen your day. If you're not expecting it, rain or snow can turn your trip into a long, hellish ordeal—especially if you bike.
There are plenty of times when it would be nice to be able to give other drivers a piece of your mind, or let them know you're having car trouble so they go around instead of riding your bumper.
Minesweeper is one of those games that everyone plays, but hardly anyone actually knows how to play. Most people just click random squares and see how far they can get.
Even though it seems like forever, the phenomenon of "rickrolling" has only been around since 2007. It was started as an inside joke by a 19-year-old who just wanted to troll his buddies, but ended up becoming one of the Internet's most popular memes with over 66 million views (as of this writing).
If you take your camera equipment with you on a pretty frequent basis, having a camera bag can help protect it and makes it much easier to keep everything in one place. A good camera bag can be pretty expensive, but with this tutorial by photographer Allen Mowery, you can turn a cheap canvas messenger bag into a nice looking DIY waxed camera bag for half the price. For this project, you'll need a canvas messenger bag, a camera insert, and some paraffin wax, which can be found in the canning a...
When it comes to the quality of a photo, lighting can make or break it. Too much light, and your subject looks washed out. Too little, and you can't even tell what your subject is.
You can use Twitter to print Instagram photos, track news and weather events, or even remotely shut down your computer, and if you're familiar with IFTTT, there's no shortage of ways your account can help automate your life.
Greeting cards. Everyone hates buying them, they're way overpriced, and the majority of them go right in the trash after they're opened. So why do we still buy them?
You can add Bluetooth capability to an old stereo, a retro mouse, or even your car's cassette deck. If you can think of a device, someone has probably found a way to control it with Bluetooth.
There are plenty of ways to mount your camera on your bike, but there's not much you can do about uneven surfaces on the road that cause your videos to end up looking shaky. If you're on a motorcycle, it's even worse because turns force you to lean, which makes your video tilt.
Most of us have traded our desktop systems for laptops, tablets, and mobile devices, meaning there's a lot of outdated hardware sitting in attics. Want to give your old computer a new purpose? Matthew Chappee turned his iMac G4 into an HDTV using the guide by Dremel Junkie. One thing to note before you take on this project yourself is that if you want to use it to watch cable, you'll need a converter box to get around the MPAA's HDCP restriction. But, a converter box is considerably less expe...
At the most recent Apple event, the company announced its new Fusion Drive, a hybrid hard drive designed to increase performance and speed by combining traditional and flash storage. It's composed of a small solid-state disk and a larger spinning hard disk drive, and files and applications are moved back and forth between the two based on how often you use them. A chunk of memory is reserved for whatever task you're currently doing, which means that multitasking doesn't slow down your compute...
For over three years, Facebook users have been able to clog up their Facebook chats with little pictures of smiley faces and red hearts, but now it has finally gone a step further...
Harnessing the power of the sun is something that Captain Planet made cool before it was the go-to for renewable energy. Solar-powered energy is quick and cheap, and can make for some really cool DIY projects. And for those of you wondering what you should do with your old satellite, look no further. Aaron from Sharealikelicence offers up a way to create a DIY outdoor satellite cooker. He started with an old Ku Band dish and covered it with aluminum tape, for better reflection of the sunlight...
Portal, the popular game from Valve, has been critically acclaimed since its release in 2007. Its unique gameplay and humorous storyline is the reason for its popularity amongst nerds everywhere. This has also spawned a large community in cosplay and prop design. The most popular aspect of the game has to be the awesome portal gun. The gun creates companion portals on almost any surface that allow the player to jump form place to place with ease and also allows you to move heavy objects with ...
The newest update of the Firefox web browser was released yesterday, and whether you were upgraded automatically or manually, Mozilla is advising that you downgrade to Firefox 15.0.1 as soon as possible. Firefox 16 is Mozilla's latest release, and is apparently extremely susceptible to malicious sites hacking their users complete browsing history.
Michael Faraday was awesome. He discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis, and he invented the Bunsen burner (before it was the Bunsen burner). Because of his work, we can make suits that can withstand 1,000,000 volts of electricity and cases to protect our gadgets from nuclear attacks.
Earlier this week, we learned that you can get people to put more money in a tip jar simply by drawing eyes on it. But what if you want to keep them away from something? Eyes can do that, too, especially when they're Putin's.
An isomorphic (or self-transposing) keyboard is "a musical device where a grid of notes is displayed to the user and the interval change between notes in constant for any given direction." For those of you who didn't grow up playing the piano like I did, that basically means that it lets you move between keys easily without having to learn new patterns because the keys are laid out so that a chord is the same pattern in every musical key.
Want to know when you have a visitor, even if you're not home? You could always set up a security system and live-stream it with your iPhone. But if you don't have a spare iPhone, or just don't want to go to the trouble, this simple hack will add text message alerts to your doorbell so that it lets you know when someone's there.
To say that I am disappointed with the new Maps application in iOS 6 is an understatement. And it seems like the rest of the world is with me, so I needed to find a solution—and quick. Installing the Google Maps web application is a nice quick-fix, but those looking for a beefier navigation solution should check out one of these free map apps.
Want to take advantage of your neighbor's super fast Wi-Fi connection? If they're smart, they probably have it password protected (otherwise you wouldn't be reading this, would you?). But if you have an Android phone, you can get back at them for always parking in your spot and slamming the door when they get home at 2 a.m.—by stealing...er, borrowing, their connection.
Whether you want to use it to keep your guests safe or just to see who's the most drunk, it's always fun to have your own breathalyzer at a party. We've seen DIY breathalyzers before, like this one by Craig Smith, but how about an Arduino breathalyzer?
Apple is notoriously cryptic when it comes to the reveals of its new products, and as usual, they've kept us guessing about the release of the iPhone 5 (or "New iPhone?"). It's expected to be officially revealed on September 12, and rumor has it that sales will begin on the 21st. Though the whole world seems to be anxiously awaiting the announcement, there has also been some controversy surrounding the iPhone 5's production. With the high number of suicides and poor working conditions at Foxc...
Most of us have given up our big, bulky stereos in favor of smaller, sleeker models, but how many of us actually get rid of the old ones? If you don't like the idea of throwing out or giving away electronics you spent good money on, you can always upgrade them instead!
So you've made a somersaulting robot, one that delivers your beer, and even a robot you can ride, but you want to try out something really different. Why not add a steam engine?
