You can create a lot of impressive effects by stacking or layering photos, whether you do it in a darkroom or with Photoshop. The Harris shutter effect makes your photos super colorful, and double exposing or stacking negatives makes for some crazy looking portraits. But, if ...more
In case you missed it, you don't have to chat one-on-one anymore in Snapchat. The company added group chats back in 2016, and they are increasingly gaining new features such as video and audio chats, so communicating Snapchat-style with all your friends at once is better than ...more
My favorite color is blue, but if everyone I knew said the same thing, I'd probably switch to red—there's nothing cool about uniformity. One place I'm guaranteed to see plenty of my favorite hue is on Facebook. The social network has gone through many redesigns, but its signat ...more
If you've ever received an email from a sketchy address purporting to be Uber, asking you to sign in with your credentials, you might be a phishing target. Hackers use a fake login page from real-looking domains to trick you into giving up your account information, and while i ...more
Your Nexus 7 may be a tablet, but it can also be used as a phone, thanks to the continued upswing of VoIP applications, which send voice and media messages over the Internet—not over a cellular network. There are many VoIP apps on Google Play that let you make free phone call ...more
When you can't reach your iPhone or don't have it on you, how do you get help from emergency services? Unless you have one of those life-alert mobile triggers, someone nearby, or some amazing telepathy skills, hope might be the only answer — unless you wear an Apple Watch, tha ...more
Giving up your Wi-Fi password can be giving up more control than you think. Because of the way Chromecast and other IoT devices communicate, anyone on the same Wi-Fi network as your device can often make it do whatever they want. With a script called "Cast All the Things," we ...more
Web application vulnerabilities are one of the most crucial points of consideration in any penetration test or security evaluation. While some security areas require a home network or computer for testing, creating a test website to learn web app security requires a slightly d ...more
OnePlus is on track to deliver Android 8.0 Oreo to its flagship users by Q1 2018. Open Beta 1 was released for the 5T in late December, and we just received Open Beta 2. But this update isn't just tweaks and bug fixes, OnePlus has included a few new features to enhance the And ...more
Android has a single text file named build.prop that determines tons of various system-wide settings on your device. You need root access to edit this file, since it's stored on the system partition—but the various lines of codes it contains are actually fairly easy to interpr ...more
The build.prop file in an Android device is home to many system-level values and settings. Everything from screen density to video recording quality is covered in this file, and people have been editing these entries to get new functionality and better performance since Androi ...more
Who needs a pen when you've got an iPhone? If you have a form, agreement, or contract that you need to quickly sign, you do it directly from iOS without the use of a third-party app. Using Markup, which is available in several native Apple apps, you can sign and send important ...more
JavaScript is one of the most common languages used on the web. It can automate and animate website components, manage website content, and carry out many other useful functions from within a webpage. The scripting language also has many functions which can be used for malicio ...more
Some iOS and iPadOS apps give you an option to lock them behind Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode, but there aren't many. While there's no setting on iOS and iPadOS to lock any app behind Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode, some third-party developers incorporate the feature the ...more
Your Instagram feed is jam-packed with interesting and lively photos, videos, and stories that largely offset the iOS app's comparatively bland user interface. If the interface's dull colors have always bothered you, you can splash on some much-needed color to better reflect y ...more
With new messaging services being pushed out constantly, it can be a pain trying to keep track of them all on your Android device. We had previously shown how to stay on top of them all with a unified "inbox" app, but that still requires you to have each individual app install ...more
Apple's latest big software update includes an entirely new Apple app, a controversial change in the TV app, better Siri control, an improved Shortcuts app, interesting Safari upgrades, Apple Music Sing, and more. Keep reading to see what iOS 16.2 has to offer your iPhone. Th ...more
With Virtual Network Computing, you don't need to carry a spare keyboard, mouse, or monitor to use your headless computer's full graphical user interface (GUI). Instead, you can connect remotely to it through any available computer or smartphone. Virtual Network Computing, be ...more
Whether you subscribe to Apple TV+ or not, the TV app on your iPhone is a great place to watch movies and TV shows. On the surface, it looks like a pretty straightforward app, but hidden features are lurking in the shadows that can enhance how you use it. First, there are the ...more
Text messaging is a core component of the mobile experience, and Google has added several AI-fueled features to help you text better, such as Smart Reply for quick response suggestions. But Messages by Google's newest AI-powered tool is possibly the best one yet, giving you im ...more
IFTTT is a fantastic tool that lets you trigger actions on your smartphone that normally require more advanced hacking. With the help of its friendly user interface, turning your phone into a more personal device has never been easier. However, the app has some more intricate ...more
Google has a habit of starting on new projects for Android, then hiding them away if they didn't quite complete them in time for a major release. We saw this with multi-window mode last year (which is now an official Nougat feature), and this year, there was the hidden night m ...more
The menu bar is a great place to perform quick searches, track battery life, and switch Wi-Fi networks on your Mac, but it can do way more than that if you let it. I've rounded up some menu apps below that not only have features that will boost your productivity, but are light ...more
The macOS 10.14 security update tried to make parts of the operating system difficult for hackers to access. Let's take a closer look at how its new feature works and what we can do to spoof the origin of an application attempting to access protected data. Apple introduced so ...more
I've been a diehard Chrome user since its inception, and even more so since Android was released. The ability to sync bookmarks, passwords, and web history across all of my devices made the switch a no-brainer, but what really made me fall in love was the amount of extensions ...more
Think of all the times you've ever copied and pasted a string of text on your device. At least once, I bet you've wanted to see your copy history. Mac OS X and Windows has had this built-in since forever, so why not Android? I'm constantly going back to re-copy something in A ...more
Welcome back, my hacker apprentices! To enter the upper echelons of hackerdom, you MUST develop scripting skills. It's all great and well to use other hacker's tools, but to get and maintain the upper hand, you must develop your own unique tools, and you can only do that by d ...more
I know that after seeing 8 Mile for the first time, you and your friends tried a few freestyles yourself. Nothing to be embarrassed about. As one person dropped the beat, you started your stuttering flow, and everyone else nodded their head. And for a second you probably thoug ...more
#FOMO. If it bugs the living hell out of you that you don't know what that means, you're presently FOMO, as in you've got a Fear of Missing Out. In the world of mobile devices and everyday gadgetry, FOMO is ubiquitous, which means that GS3 you have is looking pretty lame when ...more
You can view and hide iCloud contact groups on your iPhone, but Apple won't let you create or delete groups or add or delete contacts from any groups unless you're on a tablet or computer. Why Apple refuses to add a group management tool to Contacts on iOS is anybody's guess, ...more
Although the Clock app in iOS has undergone some design changes over the years, you still can't set more than one timer on your iPhone. Oddly enough, Apple's own HomePod speaker added this feature, mimicking the timer on Amazon's popular Echo smart speakers. Fortunately, throu ...more
Terminal is powerful tool that every Mac OS X user should explore. With it, we've shown you how to save iPhone voicemails, extract and back up text messages, and even check for vulnerabilities in your system, all using commands issued from within Terminal. Now, thanks to Redd ...more
Thanks to Apple's new extensibility features in iOS 8, developers are now able to create extensions for their apps that let you perform actions in notifications, widgets, and in stock Apple apps without having to open up the specific app itself. Check out: The Coolest 33 Feat ...more
The iOS 7 lock screen was made to be just that, a lock screen, so it's pretty limited in terms of functionality. We're able to add wallpapers and easily access the Control Center or Notification Center (unless we disable that access through our settings), but other than that, ...more
Designing for mixed reality, especially for the HoloLens, can present unique challenges. Dong Yoon Park, a Principal UX Designer at Microsoft with a passion for typography, recently gave a talk to the Windows Holographic Users Group Redmond (WinHUGR) about the pitfalls he ran ...more
This tutorial follows the same idea as my original tutorial for windows, but I've redone it to work with Mac OS X. Here's how to get a meterpreter session from your victim opening a malicious word document: Step 1: Creating the Payload For this tutorial, I'll be using a pyth ...more
Emojis, smilies, emoticons—whatever you prefer to call them, these fun little guys can bring a text-based conversation to life. If you're worried that someone's sarcasm meter might be broken, just toss in a wink at the end of your message. Or perhaps you can't quite put your s ...more
The "Smart Keyboard" on the LG G3 has received a lot of praise for its ability to adequately analyze user keystrokes, provide adjustable sizes, and customize key placements, among other things. These features, combined with predictive text, swipe gestures, and autocorrect make ...more
Emoji characters make messaging more fun, and Google has continuously added convenient and fun ways to insert playful symbols into your conversations using Gboard. After getting Emoji Kitchen in early 2020, we now have Emojify, a tool that automatically adds emoji to your mess ...more
Apple finally gave the Books app for iPhone the attention it deserves, making the experience even better for reading e-books and listening to audiobooks on the go. You can even do more with Books in custom shortcuts you develop. We've had Apple's convenient book reader and bo ...more
Right on the heels of the iOS 11.4.1 beta 3 release, Apple pushed out iOS 12 beta 2 to registered developers on Tuesday, June 19. Public beta testers received the same version, labeled as iOS 12 public beta 1, six days later on Monday, June 25. Last year, the iOS 11 public bet ...more
One of the coolest things about Android is the ability to tweak things to your liking. When it comes to Galaxy phones, Samsung is no stranger to adding extra customizations. Want to add an equalizer to your volume panel? Samsung has an app specifically for that — no joke. Ope ...more
The coronavirus pandemic has ushered in an unprecedented time in modern history where terms like "social distancing" and "self-quarantine" have pushed their way into the zeitgeist. One of the most popular (and likely most effective) ways that employers have done their part in ...more
Your Instagram bio could always be used to link to other websites or profiles or just to show off your witty personality. Now, you also have the ability to use this section to tag other Instagram accounts as well as add tappable hashtags. Whether you want to link out to your b ...more
Starting in Android 4.3, Google added some code to AOSP that tagged your internet traffic when you were running a mobile hotspot, which made it incredibly easy for carriers to block tethering if you didn't have it included in your plan. But as of Android 6.0, this "tether_dun_ ...more
The Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P have identical camera hardware—in fact, both use one of the highest-end camera sensors ever put into a smartphone. The only real difference between the cameras on Google's latest flagship devices is that the 6P natively supports electronic image stabi ...more
In the midst of furious finger typing on a small non-tactile screen, you're sure to make mistakes—so the majority of keyboards have autocorrect. Generally it works pretty well and is a welcomed feature. Until autocorrect decides to screw you over. Example: My mom asks what I ...more
When you make an awesome song or beat that you're proud of in GarageBand for iOS, one way to show it off is to turn it into a ringtone or alert tone for your iPhone. That way, anytime you get a phone call or a notification, your musical creation will sound off, and everyone ar ...more
You probably know of Apple's Text Replacement feature for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but you're probably not using it as much as you should. With it, you can create your own keyboard triggers for almost anything you can think of, whether it's an email address or an entire email. ...more
Apple just released iOS 13.5 for iPhone developers today, Monday, May 18. This GM (golden master) update comes 12 days after the release of iOS 13.5 dev beta 4, which introduced updated COVID-19 exposure notification logging settings and the ability to share your Medical ID wi ...more
Snapchat announced today that you can now design geofilters in-app, making it easier than ever to customize your snaps. This new feature incorporates a mobile creative studio, so you no longer have to use your computer to create your custom masterpiece. Don't Miss: How to Tur ...more
You wouldn't send your GPS coordinates to a completely random stranger just because he or she asked you for it, right? So why are you constantly sharing your location (and other data) to apps on a daily basis? While there are many apps that need your location in order to func ...more
If you haven't noticed yet, there are a lot of new features hiding in your iPhone's Messages app, and some of them are things users have been requesting for a long time. While iMessage is getting a lot of attention by letting us edit and unsend messages, it's only just the sta ...more
Now that the transfer tool for migrating your Google Play Music library to YouTube Music is rolling out, more fans of the former, which will meet its end in 2020, are giving its replacement a try. New converts will find three newer features front and center. Your Mix, Discove ...more
Dark themes are all the rage these days, and both Android and iOS have system-wide versions. Many big-name apps and device manufacturers have already jumped on board the night train, and Google Chrome is no different. But the Chrome mobile browser offers various ways to enable ...more
Reading the augmented reality news lately has felt a bit like reading a John Grisham novel, as the business side of things has dripped with legal drama. This week alone, a patent infringement case involving Meta Company (or what's left of it) approached its climax. Meanwhile, ...more
The idea of augmented reality isn't new, but the world of smartphones is looking to push it forward in a big way. As with any platform, both product demand and technological advancements have to catch up to the industry before it can become a viable solution for daily consumer ...more
OpenBSD implements security in its development in a way that no other operating system on the planet does. Learning to use the Unix-like operating system can help a hacker understand secure development, create better servers, and improve their understanding of the BSD operatin ...more
The pictures we upload online are something we tend to think of as self-expression, but these very images can carry code to steal our passwords and data. Profile pictures, avatars, and image galleries are used all over the internet. While all images carry digital picture data ...more
One of the most exciting features in iOS 11 was the fully revamped Control Center, which improved the overall interface visually, made it one page only, and finally made it possible to customize what controls actually appear within it. Customizable controls was previously only ...more