It's a breeze to send videos and music from your phone straight to your TV with an Apple TV or Chromecast, but these devices don't support all file types. While MP4 videos and MP3 music files are the norm these days, I still have a ton of AVI and FLV files that I'd like to watch on a big screen.
Since the release of Windows 8, Microsoft has been heavily encouraging users to use Windows with a Microsoft account. According to Microsoft, the main benefit of using a Microsoft account is the ability to sign in and sync your information across various Microsoft devices and services. Furthermore, you have access to a singular cloud storage solution which can contain documents, pictures, settings, and more on whatever system you're using with the Microsoft account.
Keeping your online data and identity private is an uphill battle, but with the anonymity network Tor, you have a pretty decent line of defense from prying eyes.
Make no bones about it—having an "undo" option is a freaking godsend. Whether you accidentally deleted an entire essay, screwed up the shading on a Photoshop job, or sent an email that wasn't quite ready, having the option to undo a click or button-press can definitely be a lifesaver.
Since the new Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan is brand new, I recommend installing it on a separate partition on your hard drive. This will keep your current Yosemite system safe from harm, and will let you easily switch back to it should El Capitan become unusable for any reason.
Smartphones don't generally play nice with tripods, so videos taken with our handheld devices make terrible source material for time-lapse photography.
UPDATE 5/21/15
Sony has a gorgeous line of smartphones using the moniker "Xperia," and the latest and greatest model is the Z3. The firmware for the Xperia Z3 was just updated to Android Lollipop, and many system apps of course got tweaked and refreshed with this latest version.
When it comes to added features, no manufacturer out there can hold a candle to Samsung. Whether it's a remote control for all of your electronics, a heart rate and stress level monitor, or a seemingly-magical stylus, Galaxy devices always have as much functionality as possible packed in.
As technology continues to advance, we as consumers are privileged enough to be able to take higher quality photos and videos and listen to clearer and better-sounding music on our mobile devices. But sometimes we forget that there's a price to pay for that awesome content—enormous file sizes.
If you're a fan of double-tap to wake gestures, you're going to love the newest app from ElementalX developer Aaron Segaert. On supported kernels, it allows you to associate custom apps and activities with each of the wake gestures you've set up, which will immediately be launched even with the screen off.
If you're the de facto tech support person in your family or circle of friends, you know how frustrating it can be to have to hold someone's hand and walk them through every troubleshooting step. Luckily, several options now exist for you to remotely access a Mac or Windows PC, which effectively skips the middle man and lets you get straight to fixing the issue yourself.
Whenever a new Android device is realized, the first thing I figure out how to do is to get it root access. Generally speaking, rooting has never been easier, with many one-touch methods like Stump and Towelroot available. But as manufacturers and carriers increase security with each new product, there is one tried-and-true root method that continues to work on most Samsung devices—Chainfire's CF Auto Root.
These days, phone calls aren't always the best way to communicate with others. Maybe you need to reach people out of the country, or you simply want to have a more visual conversation. Either way, there's a reason why video calling has become so popular.
The future of game night is digital. Your Chromecast is great for watching Netflix or YouTube, but get more use out of it by making it the centerpiece for your next fun get-together.
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.
In my quest to find the perfect OS for my HTC One, I try any and every ROM I can get my hands on. This leads to countless repetitions of the wipe, install, and boot routine when I flash a ROM in recovery, especially when the newest ROM I try is a buggy piece of junk.
Continuity is a new feature for iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite which allows users to connect their Apple devices to their Mac in order to access applications, send text messages, receive phone calls, and more while seamlessly switching between devices. Inside Continuity exists a feature called Handoff, which deals specifically with the back and forth use of apps between your device and computer. Draft up an email on your iPad and finish it off on your MacBook Pro. Stare a document in Pages and c...
With so much Flash content still available on the web, it's unfortunate that Google no longer supports mobile Flash Player on Android. Loading a webpage only to be met with a "Plug-in Error" is never fun, and it can inhibit your mobile browsing experience as you attempt to watch a video or play an addicting Flash game.
Losing important data is the modern-day equivalent of misplacing your wallet or keys. We have tons of vital information stored in our digital worlds, and losing any of it can be devastating. But if you've accidentally deleted something important from your Android device, there's still hope.
In recent months, HTC has decided to start breaking its proprietary apps out of its own ecosystem and into the Google Play Store. Along with the benefit of allowing its users to update their system apps more easily, this move also means that other folks can get a glimpse of what it's like to use an HTC device.
How many times do you misplace your phone? Once a day? Twice? As much as you may hate losing your phone, it always seems to happen, and finding it isn't very easy if you left it on silent mode.
Most times when you take your smartphone out of your bag, pocket, or purse, you probably know exactly what you're going to do with it. Make a call, send a text, take a selfie, browse viral videos on YouTube, or one of the other many things a smartphone can do nowadays.
When it comes to squeezing as much battery life as possible out of our smartphones, most people aim for software solutions, or ones that can otherwise be easily managed right from the touchscreen.
Notice anything different about your Google searches lately? Your favorite businesses are becoming even more reachable online. Now, you can simply Google a business and click on its highlighted phone number to give them a call immediately from your computer.
Windows XP will always have a special place in my heart—it's the operating system I grew up on. It guided me through the glory days of AIM, Napster, and MySpace, but now it's dead. The OS that had been supported by Microsoft for twelve years officially lost its support on April 8th, 2014. Just like that, Microsoft has killed the beast, but for those of you who stubbornly refuse to cooperate, you can resurrect the dead. If you have Windows XP, this little known hack will get you further suppor...
Aside from the newer HTC One M8 and Samsung Galaxy S5, the Nexus 5 still has one of the fastest processors on the market today. However, despite its superpowers, some graphically intensive games can still have a bit of lag to them during gameplay.
Silence can therapeutic at times, but unsettling at others. When I'm in bed at night, I need some sort of background or white noise to help me fall asleep. Pure silence just does not do it for me. Whether it's a fan oscillating left to right, or the TV playing, I need background noise to soothe me to sleep.
The all new HTC One M8 is the latest Android flagship making the rounds through major carriers hoping to beckon your purchase. Coming in at about $200 for most carriers with a contract, it makes a good case for itself with its advanced features and solid price point—but, there's another way to buy the One, and it's not from your carrier.
The Academy Awards, commonly referred to as The Oscars, are airing this weekend. If you're a movie buff or just want to watch the dimes walking on the red carpet, The Oscars is not to be missed.
WhatsApp may be one of the most popular mobile messaging services around since it's multi-platform, but if most of your family and friends use iPads and iPhones, there's no need to go beyond the stock Messages app.
Parlez-vous français? While we all wish we were fluent in multiple languages like Jason Bourne, most of us are probably one-trick ponies. When traveling abroad, or even when taking language courses, having a translator handy is extremely important.
This is about how to make a rabbit become less wary of you and more trustful with you also. I myself have a Dutch that was released by its previous owner, then I rescued it. She never wants to be took out of her cage, but now she doesn't mind as long as I'm gentle and nice.
If you want to play games that aren't in the iOS App Store, Apple makes it pretty tough for you. Usually, the only solution is to jailbreak your iPad or iPhone, but that's something most avoid because it will void the warranty and may cause potential bricking issues.
A blue hedgehog runs at high-speed through fantasy environments collecting rings. Sounds a bit loony, but I’m of course taking about the Sonic adventure series that was made popular on the Sega Genesis. The days of cartridge 16-bit gaming has long been eclipsed, but nostalgia can get the better of the old generation of gamers. Many of you probably don’t even own a working Genesis anymore, but don’t hop on eBay for a used console just yet!
The majority of our documents and music are digital, which is great for convenience, but it presents a problem for those with a lot of stuff—where do you store it all? There are tons of sites that offer cloud storage, like Dropbox, SkyDrive, and even Flickr, but most of them have limits unless you want to pay, and no way to connect them all.
Nearly two years ago, Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, confirmed that the company would no longer be locking bootloaders. Whether or not they've actually lived up to this claim is debatable. Any phone bought from a wireless carrier comes locked. Only the new HTC One Developer Edition ships with an unlocked bootloader, and it does not have any carrier add-on software installed.
As a kid, I was always interested in what was beyond our world. I remember lying down on the top of my dad's car and watching the stars for hour, gleefully excited whenever a shooting star streaked across the night sky.
The beauty of free apps is that, well, they're free. But as we all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Sometimes these "free" applications are only feature-limited mini versions, or they're so littered with ads that opting to pay for it is the only way to actually enjoy it.
Apple's Messages app already has a ton of great features, from audio message transcriptions to message editing and screen effect triggers. But some important new features and changes are included in the latest software updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that make Messages even better.
