Now that Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have finally arrived, the days of clunky in-dash infotainment systems are coming to an end. Instead of using software created by an automotive company to get directions, stream music, or take calls, we can now get the best user experienc ...more
Using a technology we like to call "Hive Computing," several Android apps allow you to contribute idle processing power to help further scientific research. This basically means that when you're not using your phone or tablet, it can join forces with other idle devices to form ...more
By now, you've likely used or have seen friends and family use Face Swap Live on their phones. It's a fun little app for iOS (and soon to be Android) that harnesses current tech to—you guessed it—swap faces. Maybe you've seen the dad creepily swap faces with his kid video tha ...more
Just about a year ago, Google launched an update to the Gmail app for Android that let you link accounts from other email services to Gmail, allowing you to read and respond to everything in one place. Now, Google is adding the ability to "Gmailify" those accounts, giving you ...more
Researchers have discovered a "severe vulnerability" that allows attackers to use eBay to distribute malware, and the online auction company has no plans to fix the problem. eBay users are not permitted to insert JavaScript code in their listings, to prevent scammers from ins ...more
According to the American Osteopathic Association, "1 in 5 teens has some form of hearing loss," and some experts believe it's because of an increase in headphones use. While I understand that music, movies, and video games help keep children preoccupied, there's no reason why ...more
Many websites are crowded with ads, pictures, and other irrelevant content that make it harder than necessary to read a simple article on your iPhone. In many cases, you have to zoom in just to get a better view of the text you're attempting to read—unless the webpage blocks z ...more
If you own an iPad 2, a 3rd or 4th generation model, or original iPad mini, then you won't be able to utilize the new multitasking elements introduced in iOS 9. Although many iPads can use the Slide Over and Picture-in-Picture features, only the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4, and iP ...more
Since Live Photos are nothing more than a glorified, built-in GIF generator on the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to get this "exclusive" feature on an older iPhone. While taking a Live Photo does eat up a lot of processing power, which the ...more
You would think that with each major iOS update, there'd be fewer ways to bypass the lock screen. Unfortunately, Apple's developers have consistently failed every year since 2013 in this department, leaving open lock screen exploits for iOS 7, iOS 8, and now the latest iOS ver ...more
It's bad enough that we have to deal with autoplaying video advertisements all over the Web, so why do we have to be subjected to autoplaying videos on Twitter, too? Autoplay video are muted by default, but that doesn't make them any less annoying, especially if you have a sma ...more
Snapchat provides a handful of filters and overlays which allow you to show off your location, make your pictures more colorful, or even display how fast you're moving. But unlike Instagram, Snapchat only allowed you to use a single filter per photo or video... or at least tha ...more
You know what's in your folders, so it's not always necessary to label them and ruin that clean look you're going for on your iPhone's home screen. I mean, how many folders am I going to have to title "Stuff" or "Junk"? Don't Miss: How to Place Folders Within Folders on Your ...more
In an attempt to get more people to subscribe to Apple Music, the Music app was completely revamped in the iOS 8.4 update for iPad and iPhone to include new tabs for New, For You, and Connect. But if you don't plan to use Apple's streaming music service, and don't care to fol ...more
Snapchat has built upon the photo-sharing service it once was to become a money-sending, commercial-shelling, video-messaging giant. They improved their user experience by adding Stories, Geofilters, and even the rarely-used Snapcash feature, but why isn't there something as s ...more
Out of all the new features in iOS 9, the two most important ones specific to iPads are split screen multitasking and floating video windows. The latter is truly great, since you can watch movies or use FaceTime while you use different apps. The feature is called Picture in Pi ...more
Previously, the only way to see files in iCloud Drive on an iPad or iPhone in iOS 8 was to view them in Safari, which was pretty messy overall. To make iCloud Drive a little less confusing for the average consumer, Apple has included a dedicated app in iOS 9, allowing you to c ...more
Mac OS X 10.11 and iOS 9 won't be officially released until later this year, but that doesn't mean you can't get a taste of it today. And the easiest way to do that is to download the new El Capitan and iOS 9 wallpapers. Don't Miss: The Coolest New iOS 9 Features You Didn't K ...more
One thing Apple users universally complain about is battery life, whether it's on an iPad, iPhone, or Apple Watch. Apple did include a Battery Usage feature in iOS 8 to help us monitor which apps suck up the most energy, but it's too big a pain to deal with. Now, in iOS 9, the ...more
For those unwilling to wait until the Fall for the official release of Apple's latest Mac OS X, El Capitan, you can sign up for the public beta today and get it sometime this summer. If that's still not soon enough for you, there is a way to get it on your Mac right now. Don' ...more
Apple announced the release of their newest Mac OS X version at this year's Worldwide Developer's Conference, and it's called "El Capitan." Like the majestic rock formation it's named after (located within Yosemite National Park), El Capitan promises to emphasize and expand on ...more
SoundHound, the Shazam-like song-matching service, recently announced a new mobile app called Hound, which wants to be your one and only intelligent personal assistant. It's already a pretty crowded space with Google Now and Apple's Siri leading the pack. Plus, there's Micros ...more
Android Lollipop, introduced an array of new features and aesthetics that pleased many loyal users. One of those additions being the new heads-up notifications. Taking subtle inspiration from iOS, these notifications are visually appealing and can be easily dismissed or expand ...more
Monitoring your Mac with widgets can be the first step in identifying bandwidth issues, but finding the root of the problem can be a completely different story. Usually you will have to open up Activity Monitor in Mac OS X to look for apps hogging your bandwidth, but with Load ...more
Considering how the Apple Watch works as an extension to your iPhone, it would've seemed like a no-brainer to include the ability to view your iPhone's battery life from the Watch, but in true Apple fashion, they did not. Thankfully, developer Kelly Pangburn did Apple's job f ...more
While the Spotify interface isn't overly complicated or confusing, it's not exactly safe to use when behind the wheel. Thankfully, a new app from Navideck is here to make driving with a Spotify premium membership easier and safer for your daily commutes. With the app, premium ...more
Group chats can get annoying real quick if the people in them are sending rapid-fire texts without hesitation, especially if none of them are any interest to you specifically. Luckily, it's easy to mute notifications for specific message threads. You can even leave a group cha ...more
Continuity, introduced back when iOS 8 and Mac OS X 10.10 were released, lets users seamlessly connect all of their Apple devices together. With it came a feature known as Handoff that "hands off" an app or task from one Apple device to another, like starting an email on your ...more
It probably doesn't happen much, but occasionally you'll run into a frozen or bugged-out app on your iPhone or other iOS device. That's where force-closing comes in, allowing you to close any app manually through a few clicks and swipes. While the process of force-closing an ...more
If you have an Apple Watch, it's easier than ever to ask Siri for directions, send a quick text, or locate the nearest Chipotle—because you don't need to pull out your iPhone anymore. Luckily, Apple made it fairly painless to get Siri up and running on the Watch, so let's go o ...more
Aside from the fact that it was the only game available on my cell phone at the time, I was really good at Snake. I still occasionally play it on my smartphone, but I've never been able to duplicate the same level of achievement as I once did. What made Snake so awesome was i ...more
With the sheer number of pictures stored on my iPhone, using the tap gesture on the status bar is extremely convenient and time-saving when I want to reach the beginning of my Camera Roll album in the Photos app. With just a quick tap, you can have your iOS device automatical ...more
If you're a Trekkie, you might be surprised to find that Spock's popular Vulcan salute can actually be used as an emoji on your iPhone. With the public release of iOS 8.3, you'll now have updated unicode for more diverse emojis. Strangely, Apple added support for the Spock em ...more
With platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat available for anyone to take advantage of, I'm all about differentiating from the mundane and repetitive images we see on social media everyday. Admittedly, even I can fall victim to the occasional selfie or food porn, but ...more
Just a few days after unveiling the Apple Watch and pushing iOS 8.2 to their current products, Apple has, for the first time ever, made a beta version of their mobile OS available for the public to test out. iOS 8.3, the update with the diverse emojis you've all been waiting ...more
Your iPhone's home screen is a tricky thing. You can sort your collection of apps in any order you'd like, but where you place those apps is a totally different story. App and folder placement follows a strict grid on iOS from left to right, top to bottom. No exceptions, and t ...more
If I told you that people who use emojis in their conversations have more sex than plain-text users, would you believe me? According to a recent study launched by Match.com, men and women that use emojis have more sex than those who do not. If you were looking for an excuse to ...more
Some elements of iOS's design, like its minimal color palette, are what make Apple products unique, helping to produce a clean, sleek user experience. But after you jailbreak, that all goes out the window. Once you've tried things like theming your status bar, changing your ic ...more
There is no built-in way, or any options in the iOS App Store, to customize the vacant top half of the screen that appears when the newer Reachability feature is triggered in iOS 8. However, there are many Reachability tweaks for jailbroken iPhones, one of which lets you use t ...more
At certain times of the day, like when I finally get home after sitting through aggravating traffic, the last thing I need is the sound of my phone irritating me any further. So, I toggle on the "Do Not Disturb" feature (introduced in iOS 6) on my iPhone and get to enjoy a lit ...more
The next time you plan on going on an adventurous road trip, get paid for it! With the the new mobile app called Roadie, from developer Marc Gorlin, you can get paid to go where you're already going. Essentially working as a Lyft- or Uber-like service for people's possessions ...more
Apple is offering free full episodes of popular TV shows and free songs from artists with its most recent update to the iTunes Store. In the Music section, "Free on iTunes" seems to have replaced "Single of the Week," which used to give lesser-known independent artists a chanc ...more
When surfing the web in Safari, you can double-tap the status bar to quickly scroll back up to the top any webpage. In other iOS apps that have the shortcut enabled, you can get the job done even faster by tapping the status bar only once. The only bad thing about this feature ...more
When you've gotta go, you've gotta go. No matter how hard you try and hold your pee (or the dreaded number two), it's going to find a way to leave your body one way or another. That's why it's always good to know where all of the nearest bathrooms are at all times, no matter w ...more
In the wake of a horrific attack on its Paris headquarters, satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo has responded by upping its print run from a typical 60,000 to upwards of 3 million. This commemorative issue, Tout est pardonné ("All is forgiven"), has been met by such demand that ...more
Since Apple released iOS 8, many third-party apps have taken advantage of one of its more resourceful features: Notification Center widgets. These widgets have made it easier to interact with features and settings that would otherwise require launching an app itself, instead o ...more
Just in time for the holiday festivities, iOS developer Tristan Kennedy has created a snowy HTML widget for your jailbroken iPhone's home screen called SnowScreen. Simply apply the widget and you'll have a falling snow animation layered over whatever wallpaper you already have ...more
The prevalence of smartphones has had profound effects on how we communicate, view media, and preserve memories, among other things. But all of these new forms of doing things are snatched away from us as soon as our phones lose power. While work is constantly being done to st ...more
Ever accidentally sent an audio message to someone through the Messages app? It happens to me all the time. My finger slips towards the right side of the keyboard and all of a sudden a one-second audio recording is being made and sent. Personally, I don't even send audio messa ...more
Chromecasts can make for some fun nights. Whether you're setting up a collaborative YouTube watch list, letting everyone add to a giant party playlist, or playing games like Cardcast and Big Web Quiz, Google's streaming media stick is a hit by all accounts. The only bummer of ...more
While the new Lollipop wallpapers are great, they'll eventually get stale like all of the others. I've covered a bunch of cool Android wallpaper apps previously, including ones that give you psychedelic and shake-to-change options, but this time I was on the hunt for some geom ...more
Google continues to be the most commonly-used search engine for a reason. While continuing to stay ahead of the pack with advanced semantic search functions, Google even introduced Knowledge Graph results that offer key information without ever having to click a search result. ...more
Whether you are just starting or returning to college, or have already been out in the real world for some time, it's always a good idea to stay on top of your game by keeping your intellect sharp. While it may be easy to just sit in front of your TV, watching reruns of The Bi ...more
Microsoft finally unveiled dedicated iPad apps for their Office suite earlier this year, but it seems that that was just a preview of things to come. Once a must-have for students and businesses alike, Office has lost a good bit of its dominance to Google and its Docs apps. I ...more
Hangouts and WhatsApp might be the preferred messaging apps for Android, but it's only a matter of time before Facebook Messenger surpasses them. Messenger already dominates iOS devices, and thanks to its ubiquitous platform, messages are easily synced across all of your devi ...more
Rooting an Android device used to be a nightmarish labyrinth of .zip files and command prompts, confusing seasoned modding veterans and newbies alike. Thankfully, the process has gotten simpler over the years, with various "one-click" rooting tool kits surfacing and working fo ...more
Amazon just signed a deal with HBO to host the cable channel's original content on its Instant Video service. For those of us with Amazon Prime accounts, this is great news—but there aren't any readily apparent options for playing it on Chromecast. The iOS app lacks Chromecas ...more
Samsung and Microsoft do it out of the box, Google does it with a little tweaking, and they all do it well—multitasking. While we can hope for better (or simply any) multitasking integration for the next iteration of the iPad and iPad mini, a new jailbreak tweak eliminates the ...more
Now that Hangouts is Android's default messaging app, it's given us a lot of cool new features. A bouncing ellipsis lets you see when the other party is typing, and an indicator shows you whether they've read your message or not. You can even answer the age-old question of "Wh ...more
The little black status bar at the top of your screen is great for at-a-glance info, but let's face it—it's pretty ugly. If you want to hide it completely, only showing it when you need it, check out our guide on using Immersive Mode in KitKat. However, if you want to keep the ...more