Make a Box

If you're a long-time Spark user, you'll know that one of the only drawbacks to the app used to be its lack of rich text-editing tools such as hyperlinking. If you needed to link out to a site in an email, your best bet was to grab a computer to get the job done. Well, close t ...more

No matter how far technology advances, battery life continues to be an issue. Powerful new hardware is introduced each year, but smartphone batteries only get a few extra milliamp-hours to compensate. There are several power-saving Android apps that aim to help with this issu ...more

Apps that have no business accessing the internet can share your location, device ID, and other personal information with potentially malicious data snatchers. If you're connected to the internet on your Nexus 7 tablet, you're a potential target for cyber threats. For instanc ...more

At first glance, the iOS home screen looks nearly identical to the original release back in 2007. Though those experienced with the evolving iterations of iOS will tell you that the features have changed. Furthermore, with the App Store continuing to explode with (lets face it ...more

A core concept that has resonated through societies of the world over the course the last few hundred years is "knowledge is power." And understanding that concept gives us the drive to push further forward and learn as much as we can on a subject. At the moment, that subject ...more

You can bet Thor costumes will be prominent among the superheroes seen this Oct. 31. Since the summer, there has been no shortage of coverage for Thor: Ragnarok, and the timing of its November release couldn't be better as a tie-in with the cosplaying holiday known as Hallowee ...more

Movies like to show hackers breaking passwords with fancy software and ludicrous gadgets. The reality of busting passwords open is much more mundane. Simple as it may sound, most passwords are broken purely by guesswork. Check out this infographic from ZoneAlarm, as well as th ...more

Pranks are fun, but finding a way to maximize the affect of a prank can be tricky. Toilet papering the whole campus or repainting all of the parking spaces slightly smaller can take a long time and a lot of resources. A better plan of attack is to booby trap the choke points w ...more

Google's text-to-speech engine is getting pretty good these days. In a recent update, the computerized voice that reads on screen text (like Google Now search results) got an audio quality bump that brought its clarity up to its highest level yet. And with each update, that ro ...more

It's September 1st, 1859, and the Earth looks more or less like something out of an apocalyptic movie or Sci-Fi novel. All communications have failed, it's so bright outside at midnight that people are getting up and making breakfast, and people all over the world are seeing a ...more

Want to take vibrant photographs like this one? You won't find this filter in Instagram, and that's because it's a little more difficult than just slapping a digital filter on a solo photo. The extra RGB colors are created using a special strip device called the Harris shutter ...more

Zynga games has released their ZLotto feature that you can use to get exclusive prizes for FarmVille, Mafia Wars, YoVille, PetVille, and FrontierVille! In this guide I will discuss all the aspects of this feature, how to use it, and some tips for success. Game Prizes FarmVi ...more

The option to auto-fill passwords on your iPhone has been around a while now, but iOS 12 improves on it by suggesting strong passwords when first creating an account online in Safari or within apps. Apple has also added "password reuse auditing" for your iCloud Keychain, where ...more

This week seems to have gone by in a flash. Maybe it was the three day weekend, but I don't think it accounts for the flurry of activity I've been seeing on Google+. Updates, debates, and new initiatives are unfolding every day, and the best part is that most of them are comin ...more

I have an absolutely wonderful time making projects and writing articles for all of you mad scientists! Today, I will bring you behind the scenes for a look at the workbench, tools, and software that make the Mad Science World possible. Above is my beautiful workbench! My who ...more

The Motorola XOOM was just released last week to Android-hungry fans waiting the next best thing to Apple's iPad. But should it have been released, considering Verizon's switching to the 4G LTE network soon? From what I saw across Android forums, yes—because most could not wa ...more

If you have an Apple Watch, you might know that the activity awards you earn can be shared with your friends as iMessage stickers on your iPhone. However, you first have to earn achievements in order to use them as stickers. That changes somewhat with iOS 12, as Apple added an ...more

Windows 8's interface was met with criticism when it was released, mainly directed at the tiled Start screen, a departure from Windows versions of old. Many felt that this new home screen style was better suited for mobile devices like Microsoft's Surface tablets and Windows P ...more

I assume at this point you have already completed your control panel using Part 1 of this How To guide. Now, if you are anything like me, you couldn't fight the urge to play, and you have your panel sitting on saw horses in the living room. Depending on your situation, your s ...more

If you've ever logged on to the popular music application Pandora, your password is saved onto that computer in the local storage...for good. So for everyone reading this article, you should change your password to a throwaway one that's only used for Pandora, because if you ...more

The problem with a lot of DIY projects is that they can require a lot of materials. You still end up with the satisfaction of something you built with your own hands, but the shopping trips can get pricey. This cardboard cube lamp by Instructables user lindarose92 is awesome ...more

SCRABBLE. I miss it. That idiosyncratic smell of cardboard, cheap wood and plastic that rushes out when I remove the box's cover. The instant gratification of unfolding the board into the sweet spot of the table, smoothing it out into the perfect receptacle for a heated battl ...more

Who doesn't love Star Wars? No one, that's who. And if you love Stars Wars, logic would follow that you like lightsabers, so central are they to the tale's mythology. It's part sword, part laser, and makes a sound like a humming motor have multigasms. If I saw one in real life ...more

*Updates* March 6, 2013 A new leak of screenshots from the US variant of the S4 have leaked, as well as new information. I've discussed it here, but the basics are: 1.8GHz Qad Core Processor (not the Octa) 13 MP Camera Smart Pause and Smart Scroll FullHD Display March 4, 2 ...more

For minor adjustments and color-correction, the Photos app is extremely useful, but its capabilities are limited to just the basics. Now, with Mac OS X El Capitan, Apple is opening the door for third-party extensions, meaning we can utilize additional, unique tools when editin ...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

Typography is an important aspect of the video editing process. You deal with it when adding captions to news clips, giving on-screen recipes in food videos, creating burned-in subtitles for short films, making no-sound-needed videos for social media, and so much more. Enlight ...more

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. Before you start frantically flipping over you couch cushions, you might want to h ...more

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic means that social distancing has become the new normal. It also means that more Americans are using video conferencing to connect with colleagues working from home or friends and family in quarantine because of the new coronavirus. In gen ...more

Tor is an excellent obfuscation network for web traffic, and while instant messaging over the network is very useful, it can be relatively difficult to configure. In this guide, we'll look at two synchronous communications platforms (instant messengers) which can be routed ove ...more

A few weeks ago, Bluebox Security uncovered a bug that could potentially effect 99% of Android devices. Bug 8219321, dubbed the Master Key bug, works by allowing applications with modified code to pass Android's signature verification system, thereby bypassing security measure ...more

Motorola is a shell of its former self. In 2010, it had just released the Motorola Droid, a phone so popular it led to all Android phones being called "Droids" by non-techies. But there have been some rough years between then and now, and Motorola's latest "flagship" doesn't l ...more

In our media-enriched world, past and present, SCRABBLE has made a name for itself, whether deliberately, subconsciously, or influentially. You may have a read a book that had the popular word game within a chapter, watched a movie that showed your favorite characters bringing ...more

Without an available browser, it is challenging to enjoy media on your Nvidia Shield outside of the apps on the Play Store. It is because of this limitation that file transferring is vital, as only then can you enjoy your movies and music. Initially, we set out to showcase al ...more

Some of my favorites hacks are the ones that speed up the process of accessing my favorite and most-used apps. So, in this softModder guide, I'll be showing you a super fast way to open those apps straight from your Samsung Galaxy Note 3's lock screen. In order to bypass the ...more

Are you the kind of person to never close tabs in your browser? With so many tabs, the overview menu becomes congested, making it difficult to go back. But it doesn't have to be that way. If you're using Samsung Internet, you can switch the tab overview menu to "List mode." I ...more

Wish you had $1000 to throw down for a projector? Well, if you have an old laptop lying around instead, here is a simple way to cheaply build your own digital projector. Lifehacker posts a HowTo excerpted from DIYer Randy Sarafan's 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer: (An ...more

Archive files are great for portability and saving space, but a lot of people don't know they can also be encrypted. There are a lot of archiver programs out there, but most of them can open a file that's been encrypted using other software, as long as you're using a recent ve ...more

Pumpkin pie is a symbol of autumn, and it's the traditional dessert to whip up for your fam when Thanksgiving Day arrives. But year after year of the same old thing can be a total bore if you're not a strict traditionalist. So, we found 8 unique ways to make that pie a little ...more

Getting used to your new Firefox 4 web browser? If so, you might have seen some improvements in the Location Bar. The updated features make browsing the web a cinch, so it's no wonder why more and more Internet junkies are calling it the Awesome Bar. It's faster and easier to ...more

Most variants of the Galaxy S5 come with the gesture-based Swype keyboard preinstalled. If you're into gesture typing, you probably already switched to this input method from the default Samsung keyboard (whose gesture service is nice, but it's no Swype). A couple of features ...more

Apple just announced the iPhone 6, and no matter whether you've been with Android for a few months or few years, there's a good chance you're enticed by the idea of switching over to the other side. As a diehard Android user, I can't blame you. A bigger screen, better camera, ...more