Hack Someone on Gaia

Every recipe on the face of this planet (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration there) ends with the same six words: "Add salt and pepper to taste." And so, we've dutifully followed those asinine words: at the end of everything cooked, we add a bit of salt, we add a few cracks of ...more

Google's new Pixel phones are shaking things up in the world of Android, as the Nexus line is no more, and the Mountain View tech giant has now become a smartphone OEM. The long-term impact of these moves remains to be seen, but we already know that Google, the manufacturer, w ...more

Verizon Wireless executives recently cooked up a plan so devious that it could have only come from one of the four major US carriers. Apparently, they aren't satisfied with simply loading every Android device they sell with their own bloatware, so now they're reaching out to b ...more

For the most part, when you take a screenshot, it's because you intend on sharing it with someone. And, of course, we all take pride in our smartphones, so we want to show them off as much as possible. But the downside here is that regular screenshots are pretty boring, so the ...more

When Google released the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, they added official support for fingerprint scanning to Android's main code base. On the surface, this was done to ensure that the fingerprint scanner in their own devices could be used to its full extent, but because it was adde ...more

Samsung has been on a tear with its flagship devices since the release of the Galaxy S6; The S6 edge, the Note 5, and this year's Galaxy S7 models have all been met with universal acclaim, and even the staunchest of critics have almost nothing negative to say. Almost. Critics ...more

For generations, parents have been struggling to come up with innovative ways to get their kids to eat their vegetables. They'll cut them into fun shapes, bake them in cheese, batter, and deep-fry them. Don't Miss: 5 Ways to Make Your Vegetables Taste Better Japanese food st ...more

Logan's Run is one of my favorite movies of all time. The dialog is cheesy, the set design and special effects are wonky, and the main villain looks like he was conceived and built by an eighth grader in shop class—oh, and his name is Box. But there are plenty of things to li ...more

Ever been in an argument, only to have the other person cop out by saying "I never said that," when you know full well they did? Or how about one of those times when you're sitting in the lecture hall, half dozing off to your professor's monotone ramblings, when your ears perk ...more

Every phone has its issues and quirks, and the Nexus 5 is no exception to this rule. One of the most common troubleshooting questions asked by its owners is "Why does my Nexus 5 keep shutting off or restarting?" where the device suddenly decides to reboot or power off randomly ...more

If you've ever rooted an Android device in the past or installed a custom recovery, you're surely familiar with the term "unlocked bootloader." But if all of this sounds like gibberish to you, some major changes in Android have made it to where you should definitely get famili ...more

If you want to keep your online world secure, your best bet is to have a different password for every site and service that you use, and to make sure each of the passwords are comprised of random characters instead of familiar words or numbers. But this obviously creates a pro ...more

Past video recording apps we've covered made it easy to turn your Android device into a hidden spy camera, even allowing you to inconspicuously record videos using your volume buttons. While both are viable options that can secretly capture video, today we're going over an add ...more

Step 1: What Exploit Development Is and Why Should I Be Interested on About This Topic An exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur ...more

When someone asks me why they should root their phone, one of the top reasons I always give is that it enables you to install the Xposed Framework. Created by developer Rovo89, Xposed basically hooks into the Android system, then allows users to simply install mini-apps called ...more

So, how does someone keep their hacking life completely secret? What This Is: I'd like to know how hackers keep their hacking life secret. So with a bit of experience and knowledge obtained from elsewhere I want to share what I know, and also ask a few questions to become ev ...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

Convenience in the kitchen can be a very, very good thing. As fun as it can be to spend hours toiling over Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon, there's a reason that we have canned soup, microwave dinners, bouillon cubes, and, of course, boxed mixes. Boxed mixes get a bad rap, bu ...more

Unless you've been living under a rock or ignoring recent news headlines, Ashley Madison, the dating site for married people (or individuals in a committed relationship) has recently been hacked. Millions of their users are shitting their pants, and for good reason, as all of ...more

When I was a little kid, I was obsessed with shells. And while most of my shell collection came from combing the beach for treasure, some of it came from a different source: dinner. Whenever my parents had fresh clams or mussels, I would take the leftover shells, soak them ove ...more

The increased sophistication of smartphones and apps have allowed us the luxury to never leave our homes. Everything from coffee to food to dry cleaning can be delivered straight to your door without ever leaving your couch, which can can be a godsend during the winter months ...more

Apple has once again improved functionality of Siri, their personal voice assistant for iPad and iPhone, in iOS 9—and this update is a big one. You can now use Siri to find photos based on location and date, set up contextual reminders, find your friends and family, and more. ...more

Hi, my name is Alan, and I am not a script kiddy brat from Xbox Live asking you how to boot someone offline for being mean to me. I am an amateur white hat hacker hoping to learn and teach and this is my first tutorial. THC Hydra is very prominent online brute-force tool and ...more

Not to be outdone by the announcements of Mac OS X El Capitan and iOS 9, the Apple Watch is also getting a much needed software update. Some of the notable new features we can look forward to on watchOS 2 are Nightstand mode, additional screens for friends, email replies, and ...more

Relentless in its fury, the iOS text messaging exploit that exploded onto the scene late last week seems to do more damage than initially reported. Used to reboot devices and crash the Messages app, the string of text can also be used to crash third-party apps such as Instagr ...more

These days, there is no shortage of ways to exchange files to and from friends and family: text messages, email, Bluetooth transfer, and cloud services are just a tiny sliver of what you can use to share music, photos, videos, and more. But just because there are lots of opti ...more

On the internet, everything is possible, even if it's not grounded in reality (check no further than anything The Onion publishes). Witty headlines combined with clever photo edits make even the most absurd topic seem like a serious news story. Some of these stories are so con ...more

Given how much use it gets on a daily basis, the power button is always one of the first hardware features to call it quits on an Android phone or tablet. So if your power button is acting up, or you don't want it to, you can extend its lifetime by simply finding ways to use i ...more

As a kid, my favorite part of Easter were the days leading up to the holiday, when my family would dye eggs. This became an enormous event in my household, as dozens and dozens of perfectly white eggs would become little oval canvases for arts and crafts. We generally eschewe ...more

If you are anything like me, you have a knack for taking silly selfies of yourself, i.e., taking scotch tape and wrapping it around your face to make yourself look like the blob, or perhaps you like taking selfies of yourself in weird or unusual situations doing weird and unus ...more

We've all received those impersonal mass text messages, whether we're getting invited out to a birthday party, graduation celebration, or just a group dinner or outing. Usually when I see those sort of text messages, I delete them, mostly because they're not personal. If some ...more

When going out to eat with friends, it's inevitable that one person takes charge at the end of the meal to split the bill. They whip out a pen and begin asking everyone what they ordered, carefully dividing, adding, and subtracting on the back of the receipt for everyone to us ...more

With all of the productivity tweaks and usability enhancements that we cover here at Gadget Hacks, it's nice when we come across a unique and noteworthy app that's simply about having fun. This is the case with the latest offering from the development team at Privax. Their ap ...more

Icebox cakes are some of the most satisfying, easy desserts to put together. This version made out of ice cream sandwiches takes the cake, literally, because the layers are almost pre-made for you. Simple and pretty when cut and served, it will be love at your first creamy bit ...more

In the weeks before Apple officially released iOS 8, consumers were abuzz over rumors that a new feature would password-protect your photos and text messages from prying eyes. Unfortunately, this ended up being untrue, though we did cover some alternatives to protecting your i ...more

Are you stranded in a hotel room with no kitchen, but craving the comfort of a home-cooked meal? Fear not, I have found some interesting ways to cook food without the luxury of an oven, stove, microwave, or even a toaster!—also known as "hotel room cooking." This information ...more

Back in iOS 7, Apple decided that it was actually a good thing to make the volume controls HUD translucent. This, of course, means that whatever you're watching on your screen will be obstructed temporarily whenever you adjust the volume. Apple never fixed this issue in iOS 8 ...more

Waking up to hundreds of text messages in the morning usually points to one thing—group messages. Whether it's your fantasy football league, your work buddies, or just a bunch of bored friends, group messages can leave your iPhone vibrating off the hook. If the group message ...more

Texting just got a whole lot better for your iPhone. In iOS 8, you can send an in-the-moment picture or video without exiting the conversation you're in, and you can also send voice messages! Plus, they'll self-destruct, similar to Snapchat. Video: . Audio Recordings Text mes ...more

It started in Australia, and now seems to have made its way statewide—hackers are remotely locking iOS and Mac devices, holding them for a $100 ransom. Users awoke to the loud "lost iPhone" ringtone, with a message on their lock screen stating that "Oleg Pliss" has hacked thei ...more

Instagram is not only a great platform to easily share some of your favorite moments with friends and family, it's a useful service for peering outside of your physical location. While you share a picture of your dog in Los Angeles, you can almost instantly view and like a pic ...more

You've probably seen someone in your family truss the turkey on Thanksgiving before roasting it, even if you don't recognize the word. To truss a bird or roast just means to wrap it up as compactly as possible before placing it in the oven, and it's usually done by tying it wi ...more

Let's be honest for a second; we all have sensitive material on our phones that we wouldn't want anyone else to ever see. Maybe it's to protect ourselves or someone else, or maybe it's none of your business why I don't want you to see pictures of my bachelor party. Regardless, ...more

Craigslist is probably the greatest site ever created, and I'm just talking about it's classified section, both awesome and amazingly creepy. Seriously, spend 20 minutes scrolling through the personals and you'll never want to take your eyes off the screen. But I digress—Craig ...more

Until recently, brainwave-reading devices have pretty much only existed in science fiction. Sure, electroencephalography (EEG), the technology that powers these devices, has been used in medicine and psychiatry since the late 1800s, but diagnosing people's brains and reading t ...more

If you've read anything in the news about Skype recently, it probably hasn't been good. First, there was the controversy over the company listening to and recording users' conversations. Now, there's a new spam tool for Skype that can harvest usernames, see whether or not you' ...more

If you don't want to be found on Twitter, there are several ways to do that without making your account private. For instance, you can choose an obscure username, omit your real name, or pick a random avatar. But there are lesser-known features deep in your settings that can a ...more

It's new phone season — new handsets are releasing every few weeks, we're seeing endless software updates, and the holidays are right around the corner. We asked our tech-obsessed writers and editors to give us the lowdown on their must-have accessories when they splurge on a ...more

There's no doubt that Microsoft Word is the go-to for businesses worldwide. As such, you might receive Word documents to open on your iPhone, whether or not you actually have Word for iOS installed. If you prefer editing text documents with Pages, Apple's own word processor, y ...more

Apple has several ways for you to communicate in the Messages app aside from texting — and that includes audio messages. You can send a voice recording via iMessage by long-pressing the microphone icon just right of the input field and speaking. However, by default, these audi ...more

With any password manager, the only password you need to remember is the master password that locks the vault from both hackers and the company. This makes the master password very important. But what happens if you forget this password? Well, LastPass has you covered. It isn ...more

When you're riding in an Uber, on your way to meet family or friends, they may want to know where you are exactly to see how long until your arrival. On the other side of the coin, there may be times when you want to tell family or friends where you and your Uber car are witho ...more

In the past, if you stumbled upon a Yelp listing you liked, you could bookmark it and check it out later on your profile. You can still take advantage of this feature in the mobile apps, but it's more refined now than it ever was thanks to Collections, a feature Yelp first add ...more

While iPhones may be more expensive than ever, it won't stop us from losing them or having them stolen. Whether you have an iPhone 5S or an iPhone XS Max, there's a good chance it'll go missing at some time during your ownership. It could end up in a couch cushion or in the ha ...more

In about 27% of all car crashes, someone was using their cell phone. You may think texting is the big problem here, but many fail to realize that even the smallest smartphone interaction could spell disaster. Thankfully, Google Maps has rolled out an overdue feature that'll he ...more

When driving, you can get directions hands-free by asking Siri. You can also make general map searches, show a location's details, call a query's phone number, and view traffic details. However, Siri defaults to Apple Maps for all those. If you prefer Google Maps, Waze, or ano ...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

It's only normal to snack on a few french fries every once in a while when you're on a diet, but it's still important to hold yourself accountable, even when you cheat just a little bit. MyFitnessPal, for both Android and iOS devices, has a database of nutritional information ...more

Need a unique gift idea for the techy person in your life? Look no further than that phone they always have in their hand. There are plenty of great accessories, apps, subscriptions, and other smartphone-related goodies that will improve their quality of life, and thoughtful g ...more

If you or someone you're shopping for has a newer iPhone model or an Android smartphone like the Galaxy Note 9 or Pixel 3, they come with wireless charging capabilities. Problem is, they don't come with wireless chargers. But there's no better time to snag one than on Black Fr ...more