Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! As hackers, we often take for granted that nearly all of our hacking tools and operating system are free and open source. I think it's important to examine a bit of background on how we arrived at this intriguing juncture in the history of computer software. After all, we pay for nearly all of our other software (Microsoft, Adobe, etc.) and nearly everything else we use in life, so how is it that Linux and all our hacking tools are free?
If you've ever attended school or held a job, you're probably well familiar with Microsoft Office, whether you used it or not. It's the most popular office suite available, and has been for some time. Apple does have its own suite of productivity apps (iWork), but Microsoft Office has always been the industry leader for word documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Google inconspicuously announced an Android update yesterday, and while it's not quite the overhaul that the initial Lollipop release was, version 5.1 brings plenty of bug fixes and new features.
If you took a big step back and really looked at the world, you'd see how downright silly our nations look when they put up fences to separate themselves from one another. Creatures big and small roam free while respecting each other's space, but humans create borders and physical barriers to delineate their cultures.
Apple prides itself on simplicity, but the company makes downloading video and music files onto your iPad or iPhone an overly complicated process, requiring iTunes and/or iCloud.
There are a lot of people out there who don't like vegetables, but I would contend that that's because they haven't eaten any really good vegetables. I thought I hated tomatoes (okay, technically a fruit, but used mostly as a vegetable) until I ate some fresh from a garden. One bite of a juicy, ripe heirloom tomato made me realize that I love tomatoes—it's those bland, mealy supermarket tomatoes that I hate.
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! I have written many tutorials on hacking using Metasploit, including leaving no evidence behind and exploring the inner architecture. Also, there are my Metasploit cheat sheets for commands and hacking scripts.
If you've ever seen one of those Samsung commercials from about a year back, you know that the Galaxy S series of phones come with a feature that allows you to do certain things by making gestures in front of your screen. They call this feature Air Gesture, and it enables you to perform certain functions without even touching your phone.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and depending on what you're taking a picture of, it could be worth a lot more. Our phone's camera can easily capture high quality photos, scan barcodes, and make us Instagram famous. You can compare prices of items and download applications just by scanning a QR code. Of course, we can always do this stuff a little bit better on our iPhones.
Normally, you'd have to jailbreak your iPad or iPhone to play any games that aren't available in the iOS App Store, like the now-extinct Flappy Bird game. But this isn't the case if you want to play some of your favorite old school Nintendo classics.
When I see the words "free trial," I know I'm probably going to have to whip out my credit card and enter in the number to "not get charged." Then I end up forgetting about the trial and want to kick myself in the ass when I see my statement at the end of the month.
Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! In the first part of my series on Wi-Fi hacking, we discussed the basic terms and technologies associated with Wi-Fi. Now that you have a firm grip on what Wi-Fi is exactly and how it works, we can start diving into more advance topics on how to hack Wi-Fi.
Theming and modding are a big part of the softModder community, but there are endless ways to customize our Android devices. Which ones should you download? Which ones should you avoid? It's extremely frustrating to find them all—and pick and choose.
As we all use our smartphones for more and more things, we constantly want to share and view those items on a larger screen, especially when it comes to media. While phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and tablets like the iPad do make watching Netflix on a portable device pretty legit, bigger is always better. Newer iPhones may have Retina displays, but watching Avatar on your phone is like being forced to drink a delicious mango tango smoothie with a coffee straw. Plus, if you want to sho...
Facebook just released its new "home on Android" last Friday, appropriately called Facebook Home. Taking a cue from Amazon's Kindle, Home serves as an "operating system" that runs over Android.
UPDATE (February 26, 2014) Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1123 with a 295-114 vote decision. The ruling repeals the 2012 Library of Congress (LOC) decision that limited the ability to legally "unlock" your smartphone (see below).
Living in Los Angeles has taught me one thing—parking is a luxury. If you are lucky enough to find street parking anywhere near your desired location, do not pass it up thinking you will get an even closer one. It does not exist. Looking for free parking? Get real. You can't even park at a busted meter in Los Angeles, despite state law saying otherwise. Now, finding a good parking spot is not just relevant for Los Angeles, but for other large cities and any other crowded areas, be it a shoppi...
TouchDevelop is a browser-based programming tool that allows anyone to build your own Windows 8 apps directly from any touchscreen device, including iPad, iPhone, Windows Phone, Android, PC and Macs. Once the script is created and the app proves to work, it can be placed in the Windows Store for free or purchase.
Apple Notes keeps on getting better and better on the iPhone and iPad. Since last year's big update, we have been able to add hyperlinks to text, link notes together, and add block quotes, and this year, we have another excellent way to customize notes even more — collapsible sections.
There are a few significant improvements for your iPhone with the iOS 17.5 software update, released May 13, but my favorite is Apple's enhancements to the Apple News app, which is making its Puzzles section even more fun with Game Center integration and even a new type of word puzzle.
While most iOS updates will only improve the experience on your iPhone, some can cause more havoc than good. If an update unexpectedly breaks or degrades certain functions on your iPhone, you may be able to roll it back to the previous software.
If you've ever wanted or needed to use an app in a different language than your phone's primary language, your Android phone now makes it a simple process.
Android 12 was released to the Google Pixel devices on Oct. 19, 2021, so anyone with a Pixel 3 or newer model can install the new operating system with an over-the-air update. The AOSP version of Android 12 was released a few weeks earlier on Oct. 4, so OEMs could use or modify the source code on their smartphones. So, what devices have or will have Android 12 then?
After updating to iOS 15 or iPadOS 15, you'll notice a new "Shared with You" section in certain Apple apps that contains recent shares from conversations in Messages. If you don't like seeing shared content from specific contacts or groups, there's a way to block them from Shared with You on your iPhone or iPad.
A good smart TV can be your one-stop shop for entertainment. Netflix, HBO Max, Apple AirPlay — all the major players have apps or services for most TV operating systems. But for those of you who have or have been wanting to upgrade to a Samsung Smart TV, one big service was missing: Movies Anywhere.
Despite the unfortunate social media-driven association of Corona beer with the virus behind a global pandemic, beverage maker Constellation Brands has pushed its marketing forward like a lime through the mouth of a beer bottle.
After updating to iOS 14 or getting a new iPhone with iOS 14 preinstalled, you'll notice orange and green dots that occasionally appear at the top of your iPhone. These dots appear on all supported iOS 14 devices, from the iPhone 6S to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and are there to protect you, but how?
Android 11 made a pretty significant UI change to the menu that appears when you press and hold your power button. Google created an entirely new system that apps can use to populate quick toggles in this menu, but the trouble is, not many apps are using this system yet.
One of the best reasons to enter Apple's ecosystem is iMessage, where you can communicate more securely with other Apple users and send and receive chats across all of your connected iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac devices. While those blue bubble conversations sync across devices, the green bubbles — SMS and MMS texts — remain on your iPhone alone unless you change a setting manually.
Apple just released the fourth public beta for iOS 14.2 today, Wednesday, Oct. 21. The new update adds eight new dynamic wallpapers to iOS, including four real-life landscapes, and four digital landscapes. When counting each wallpaper's light and dark mode, there are 16 possible variations to use.
Apple just released the fourth developer beta for iOS 14.2 today, Tuesday, Oct. 20. The new update introduces eight new dynamic wallpapers, including four real-life landscapes, and four digital landscapes.
Alongside the launch of Android 11, Google added a new feature to Live View, the augmented reality mode for walking navigation in Google Maps, that helps you find friends in AR. But even if you're not trying to meet up with somebody, you can easily access the AR mode and orient yourself to any location.
Just because your phone has a high-resolution screen doesn't mean it will play videos at their highest resolution. Most streaming services, including Netflix, use a DRM system known as Widevine for media in their Android apps. But even if your phone has Widevine support, content will be limited to non-HD if your specific model hasn't been whitelisted by Netflix.
Google Maps Live View is already one of the more useful examples of augmented reality on smartphones that is available to the average consumer today.
The camera on models in the iPhone 11 series includes an ultra-wide lens to take wider images, Night mode for taking better-looking photos in low-light environments, and a 16:9 frame for shooting. With these new features comes a slightly redesigned interface in the Camera app, one that even the second-generation iPhone SE received despite only having one of those three features.
For a hacker, there are a lot of advantages to creating a fake network. One advantage forces nearby devices to use their real MAC address if you happen upon a network that's stored in their preferred network list.
If you're using the default Samsung Keyboard on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or Gboard on a Google Pixel or any other Android device, here's a cool trick you should know about.
One of the benefits of Blu-ray and DVD is the ability to share discs with friends and family without any hassle. Want to show off your favorite movie? Just lend them your copy. A digital movie isn't so kind, as it's typically locked to the account that purchased it. But now there is a way to share your digitally purchased movies with friends and family — and it won't cost you or them a dime.
A macOS computer can reveal a lot of information about the owner, including which Wi-Fi network they have permission to access. With an Arduino-based attack, we'll use a five-dollar setup to inject a rogue Wi-Fi network and steal the list of trusted Wi-Fi networks, allowing us to see where the computer has been.
Anything from work or a missed flight to a worldwide pandemic (COVID-19, anyone?) can make it difficult or nearly impossible to see your loved ones. You can make phone calls or send iMessage, text, or email messages, but nothing compares to seeing family and friends right in front of you. That's where FaceTime comes in.
