I never really cared much for the clock widget on my Nexus 7, mainly because it only gave me two styles—analog and digital. There are many different styles of clock widgets available on Google Play, but the majority of them just don't look good enough for me.
Created by by XDA developer rovo89, the Xposed Framework allows you to quickly search for, download, and install new modules that allow various forms of customization for your Android device.
When you're wearing EarPods or another set of headphones with built-in remote controls, pausing and playing music is as convenient as it gets. However, some of the better sounding headphones out there do not have remotes built in, so pausing a song when you need to is at least a few steps, which is a few steps more than I want.
Whenever I hand my tablet over to someone, my heart always races for a second at the thought that they may stumble across my private pictures, texts, and videos. I trust them, and they may not be the snooping type, but it can be easy enough to come across private stuff by accidentally opening a gallery or messaging app.
Muzei Live Wallpaper is a popular Android app that refreshes your home screen background at set intervals, turning it into blurred pieces of artwork or photography while keeping your icons and widgets in the spotlight.
Accessing notifications and quick settings from the lock screen just makes things move quicker and more efficiently, unless of course we're using a secure lock screen. It makes sense that if we have face, pattern, or pin security enabled, we may not want notifications accessible, but really, that should be something we decide for ourselves—and now we can.
With the introduction of the Control Center in iOS 7, we finally had a way to access common system toggles like Wi-Fi, Airplane Mode, and best of all, Flashlight. Of course, there were plenty of adequate flashlight apps in the iOS App Store, but none that made it available straight from the lock screen.
If you have a limited or restricted data plan, monitoring your usage can be the difference between escaping the month without overage fees or emptying out your wallet.
Update (March 18, 2014): Skype has issued an update to their Android app, and among other things, has "fixed" the runaway camera process issue by creating a workaround...and that's about all we know. No details were provided, but with the considerable uproar over the bug, let's hope it's been squashed for good.
Normal wear and tear, combined with unfortunate accidents, can take a toll on any smartphone leading to scratches, cracks, and breaks that can leave physical buttons useless. One of the first buttons to usually go is the power button, since it's the main way to turn your phone (and screen) off and on.
Privacy features have become quite the hot commodity, emerging from the aftermath of the NSA scandals that rocked the United States this past year. While the NSA has the means to gather information on all of us (regardless of any security software we implement), it doesn't mean that they're the only ones looking.
Efficiency is one integral attribute that I need from my Android device. I want to be able to multitask like a maniac and do things on the fly. While multitasking itself is nothing new, actually being able to watch Netflix while scrolling through IMDB at the same damn time was reserved mainly for newer Samsung-ier devices.
Americans consume over 1.2 billion pounds of potato chips each year, making it one of the most popular snack foods in the United States.
If somebody really wants to gain access to your iPhone, they'll get in. Phone thieves (and mischievous friends) can easily figure out your passcode just from looking over your shoulder or tracing over the oily smudges on the screen. And if you're using popular passcodes, birthdays, and addresses on your iPhone, you might as well disable lock screen security entirely.
Having instant access to monitoring your battery level is critical, especially when you're traveling or forget your charger at home. You need to know how much juice you have so you can adapt accordingly.
It was just released a few days, but Facebook Paper has already taken the world by storm. CNET said it was a better way to use Facebook. TIME said it's the future of Facebook. The Verge called it the best Facebook app ever. There's one problem, though...
Apple's just released a new beta of iOS 7.1 for developers, Beta 5, which fixes some small bugs and adds some minor feature enhancements. With previous reports stating that the final version of 7.1 was slated for a public release in March, these early leaks are indications that the final will be released in the following weeks, shortly after the Golden Master version hits developers.
Whether you're on the john or sitting quietly on the bus to work, there's always time for a little video. And thanks to my favorite high school procrastination site, I'm going to be turning that little into a lot.
If you ever find yourself in a car that's submerged under water, your first instinct should be to try and open either the window or the door in the first few seconds of touching water. Unfortunately, if you wait any longer than that, the lopsided ambient water pressure subjected to the car will make it impossible to open the car door, and the now ubiquitous power windows will likely short out. Sure, you could wait until the pressure has equalized on both sides of the car, but this usually hap...
There are several ways to get around location restrictions on subscription sites like Netflix and Hulu using apps, extensions and proxies, but they tend to only work on laptops and computers. Users who want to access content from mobile devices and gaming consoles are usually out of luck.
Introducing a unique way to share photos and videos among friends and family, Snapchat was the big hit of 2013 (despite its many flaws). Thanks to its ephemeral nature and lack of third-party sign-in integration, it quickly grew into a multibillion-dollar company in the span of just 12 months.
Maybe you are on your phone a little too much sometimes. But when you are rocking some of the best mobile games being offered it can be hard to pull yourself away. If you get a new phone or a App Store gift card you are going to want to load yourself with the hottest app available. And once you're done playing, take a little time out to enjoy the family too.
I miss the days where my hardest assignment was drawing a Thanksgiving turkey using the outline of my hand and trying to stay in between the lines. It seems that there is some unwritten rule that adults shouldn't feel the need to draw. Well, not anymore.
I've said it before, but there are few things quite as annoying (or embarrassing) as having your smartphone go off at a time where it just shouldn't happen. Imagine a nice, intimate evening with your significant other; you dim the lights, snuggle up, and "this classic" comes on. Or, your phone goes off in a meeting, and your boss gives you that look.
Like insurance, it's always better to have a computer mouse and not need it than to need it and not have it. Honestly, I don't want to carry around a clunky mouse with my laptop, so I don't. I do something else, something more convenient. I use my Nexus 7. If you want to give it a try, I'll show you how it's done right now. All you need to is a Wi-Fi network and a specific Android app to control your computer with your Android tablet.
"Enter your email address. Confirm your email address." I absolutely hate seeing those two sentences when I'm signing up for something online, especially on my Samsung Galaxy S3. The less keyboard work I have to do on my mobile the better. Luckily, there is a way to enter your email address without having to type it all out, and I'm going to show you how it's done.
The Xbox One is the quintessential jack of all trades. It can be your browser, music player, gaming system, and cable box, but in order to benefit from all of these goodies, you're going to have to set it all up.
Don't be greedy, sharing is caring. If you have a brand new Xbox One, let some friends and family in on the action by getting a few extra controllers. You can connect up to eight controllers on one Xbox One console. Now that's a gamer party waiting to happen.
Communication is the key to any healthy relationship, and when I say any, I mean human and non-human. Previously, one of the biggest culprits for not understanding what you meant was Siri, but now it looks like it has some competition with the new Kinect system, which can control practically everything on your Xbox One—if it can understand you.
Hey guy's, hope everything's going well! Here's a snippet of a few cool things and the latest news on Minecraft.
A great aspect of using Android is having the ability to change and tweak aspects of the user experience to your liking. You can easily change things like home screens, widgets, and icons on your Nexus 7 tablet, but also core system settings if you want, like volume settings. Most stock systems come standard with a "15 step" volume control. That means simply that you have 15 levels from mute to the loudest volume settings. Whether your an audiophile or just someone who wants a little more con...
You don't need to be a robot to be overly concerned with battery life, especially if we're talking about Terminators, which have nuclear or hydrogen fuel cells that keep them running for years straight. It will be a long time before smartphones get that upgrade, so in the meantime, we have to figure out how to make them last more than a couple hours in a single charge.
Android gets a lot of love for its immeasurable amount of customization, and for the most part, you don't even have to do any heinous hacking to swag out your Samsung Galaxy S3 or other Android device.
The new Moto X may not have a lot going for it when it comes to hardware, but there are some pretty cool software features that makes it a tempting device. One of these cool features is its Active Display notifications that appear on the lock screen.
Usain Bolt ran 100 meters in 9.58 seconds, an insane record-breaking time that might not ever get beat. As fast as that is, wouldn't it feel like a travesty if your Samsung Galaxy S3 took that long to open up Wikipedia?
In a previous softModder guide, I detailed how to get the Jelly Bean 4.2 Photo Sphere Camera and Gallery on your HTC One running Sense 5, but that was quickly outdated with the release of the new Google Play Edition HTC One, which has a newer Camera that works great with our hardware.
Plastic bags may be banned from retail stores in some cities, like Santa Monica, Seattle, and San Fransisco, and will be banned in Los Angeles shortly, but we still use billions of them every year. What else are we going to use for throwing away cat litter or picking up dog poop?
With iOS 7, Apple is finally fighting back against spam, offering the option to block certain phone numbers from sending you text messages or iMessages (plus, phone calls and FaceTime too).
As you may have noticed, many of our tutorials cover topics that require you to have root access. When your phone is rooted, backing up apps doesn't require you to connect to your computer, and installing custom ROMs lets you get more useful settings. Rooting also lets you get rid of the Sense-style menus and status bar, and even upgrade to a newer version of Android.
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.
