Today we pay homage to a phenomenon. One as diffuse and amusing as the internet itself, and as pointless as dog Halloween costumes. I'm speaking, of course, of giant games. Not Supergiant Games, makers of the forthcoming and awesome-looking indie RPG Bastion, but giant games ...more
Creating a haunted house for Halloween was a big deal when I was growing up, and the neighborhood kids were always coming up with ways to try and out-do each other when it came to this frightful night. One beloved game was to blindfold the participants and play the Withered Co ...more
Blizzard's Hearthstone was a rousing success with more than 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Not taking things lying down, Bethesda, the creator of The Elder Scrolls, has come up with a card game based off its popular fantasy franchise. The Elder Scrolls: Legends ...more
A growing trend for many artists (most recently Kanye West) is to offer exclusive or experimental tracks on music streaming sites like SoundCloud or YouTube before releasing them anywhere else. On rare occasions, some of these great songs never make their way onto an official ...more
Whether if it's to play games or watch Netflix or YouTube, children love using our smartphones and tablets. As an uncle of many, I don't mind my nieces and nephews using my gear, but I do mind them opening apps they have no business being in, like my photo gallery or messaging ...more
Google loves to play games. That's just what they did when they went ahead and teased us with a few Android O hints after Reddit user Zitroney unlocked an Easter egg in a Google Creative Lab developer's app ShortStories. At the moment Android O, Google's upcoming version of A ...more
There are songs that we love, songs that make us sad, and songs that change the way we view the world—and that's something that Steve Jobs knew all too well. "I was very lucky to grow up in a time when music really mattered. It wasn't just something in the background; it real ...more
MLB.TV is a great service that lets you watch most Major League Baseball games in North America, as long as you're a subscriber, of course. While I personally love it, blackouts can ruin the ability to watch my favorite teams. Fortunately, MLB At Bat Android users have an easy ...more
Stop me if you've heard this one before. You plop a marshmallow down in front of a kid and propose the following: You can eat this marshmallow now, or you can wait twenty minutes and eat two marshmallows. What do you think the kid is going to do? Better still, what do you thin ...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
One of the best parts of Pandora is its personalized stations that auto-generate songs within the specific style or genre you've chosen. Not only does this play your favorite tracks with regularity, but it also opens your ears to previously unknown songs or artists — ones you ...more
If you have an Android device, you most definitely have the Google Play Store. It's the main hub for finding and downloading apps, games, music, movies, and more, as well as updating them. It's where all the magic happens, but you're not getting the full effect unless you're r ...more
At any moment, you can open up Meerkat and start live-streaming a video from your smartphone, available for anyone to watch. Thanks to its popularity at SXSW and the backing of several big Hollywood players, the app just announced that it's receiving $14 million in funding. A ...more
Your childhood "social networking" may have been to go outdoors to the neighbor's — and outdoors is a great place for kids to be. But these days, the terms educational, digital media, entertainment, and toddlers don't have to be mutually exclusive. Like most things in life, it ...more
Say you're on a train to work, but you forgot your headphones. You'd normally listen to music to pass the time, but given the circumstances, your choices are to sit silently like a considerate adult, or to blare songs out of your phone's main speaker like a jerk. Thankfully, t ...more
For most of us regular folk, the only opportunity to relish in the conveniences of a maid is during hotel stays. Personally, I would love to have a maid around to help fold my clothes and sweep up those crumbs that accumulate in the corners of my kitchen, but sadly, I currentl ...more
It's been done for ages, but for most of us, "regift" entered our vocabulary after the 98th episode of Seinfeld—"The Label Maker." In this episode, Elaine calls Dr. Whatley (played by Bryan Cranston) a "regifter" after he gives Jerry a label maker—the same label maker that Ela ...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
Final Fantasy 14 the MMO is now live. The special edition priced at $75 enables people to play eight days earlier than people getting the regular edition, which comes out on September 30th. Mine arrived yesterday and here are some pictures of what's inside the special edition ...more
There are a lot of cool new features in iOS 8 that weren't available in previous iOS versions, but it's still lacking overall in terms of customization. I'm not asking for Apple to reinvent the wheel, just to give me preferences on the type of wheel I want. Things like the ab ...more
Niantic's Harry Potter: Wizards Unite offers players an augmented reality look into the world of witchcraft and wizardry. The Wizarding World and Harry Potter novel series is full of unique and interesting characters, which is why it makes sense that Wizards Unite offers you t ...more
I'm often reluctant to use a home screen launcher other than the stock one on my Android. Once you're well acclimated with something, complacency sets in, welcoming change with much resistance. Well, my friends, I have seen the error of my ways... After using various differen ...more
When it comes to traveling from one location to another with the aide of your iPhone, ensuring your navigation app works as it should keeps you one step ahead of potential hassles. One feature often overlooked is audio settings, and while having no voice prompts is easy enough ...more
Having to read a bunch of articles and tweets everyday can be tiresome, but if you can have a sweet-ass personal assistant read them for you, you're pretty golden. While Siri gets a lot of love for her virtual assistance, she doesn't have the power to read social feeds or art ...more
We know our Null Byte readers would like to see some iPhone-hacking scenarios on the site soon, but until we get some of those up, we understand that some of you actually use an iPhone as your primary phone. If that's you, and you would like an easier way to get information fr ...more
If there's one thing I know, it's that people hate buying mobile games. I'm the same way — no matter how good a game looks, if I have to pay for it, I have to fight the urge to immediately walk away. That's why it's such a big deal when a great game goes on sale. Right now, th ...more
Japanese game shows are legendary for being more extreme (and absurd) than their American counterparts. Chris Farley immortalized the concept in a classic SNL sketch, and MXC and Ninja Warrior have both achieved great success dubbed and subtitled on American television. A big ...more
As much as I love Scrabble, the iPhone and Android versions of the game are just not as much fun or as fast paced as Words with Friends. I play both, but I'm most active on Zynga's version of the mobile word game because it's quicker to make moves, doesn't take as long to upda ...more
Posted with permission via HereComeTheYanks.com Have you recovered from that heart attack inducing, hell of a game?? I am still riding high and, as such, may ramble a bit on here. But stay with me...I'm a die-hard fan!! What else do you expect?? Another goal taken away?! Real ...more
Can't figure out how to give songs star ratings anymore in your iPhone's Music app? That's because Apple removed the ability to do so from the new iOS 10 update, just as I expected they would. It's still possible to rate songs, it's just very irritating. Don't Miss: The 10 M ...more
There are so many great apps in the Google Play Store that it's become the number one app marketplace in the world. Here at Gadget Hacks we love apps and were excited to hear that the Google Play Store held an awards ceremony to celebrate some of the best apps of the year. Bu ...more
Jam City's Panda Pop was a great success that helped millions of users waste vast amounts of precious time with its bubble-popping panda cuddliness. Not wanting to mess with success, Jam City has now simply re-skinned the game to feature all the beloved characters from Charles ...more
Let's say you gave your Wi-Fi password to your neighbor a while back, under the assumption that they'd only use it while they were at your house sharing stuff via Chromecast. But now, your connection is slower than it normally should be, and you have this sneaking suspicion th ...more
While you were busy browsing Instagram, composing tweets, or chasing Snapchat updates, an eight-year-old ARKit developer was hard at work on her first step toward taking over the tech world via augmented reality. A new app called A.R.tist, created by Nova Fleming, allows user ...more
Tired of playing old-school Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, Nintendo, and Nintendo DS games on your iPhone? We've got another retro video game system for you to add to your arsenal of emulators—Super Nintendo. Yep, that's right. Thanks to Lucas Menge, you can now play Super ...more
The guitar is a double-edged sword. I've played all my life, and though I love the act of guitar playing, there are quite a few people I could live with never hearing play again—ever. Paradoxically, it seems that the less dexterous and committed to practicing are the more lik ...more
There are a few key ingredients that you always need on hand when baking cookies and other desserts, but when you run out, you run out. You either have to stop what you're doing and go to the grocery store, find a good substitute, or scrap the project entirely. Chances are, yo ...more
GreenYou can tell a lot about a person's thought process by MTG color they favor: Red: aggressive, unsubtle, will surpass an obstacle by blowing it to bits with the largest explosives available (or Fireballs, as the case may be Black: vindictive, mean-spirited, will tie the o ...more
There are two types of Scrabble players in the world—those who enjoy it and those who love it. I definitely fall into the latter category. Unfortunately, most of my friends don't. I'm lucky to have a few who simply enjoy it from time to time—some are even standing on the edge ...more
I can't say it's absolutely true, but when it comes to mobile word gaming, there's Scrabble people and then there's Words with Friends people. It feels segregational. Rarely does one play both. At least, that's what I see when it comes to my family and friends. Everyone who l ...more
Learn how to choose the rabbit that's best for children. There’s probably not a kid out there who wouldn’t love a pet bunny, but rabbits and children can be a tough combination. To make the match a happy one, follow these steps. You Will Need * A rabbit rescuer or breeder * ...more
Let's face it, not every logophile is addicted to Scrabble. Without the use of a timer, Scrabble can be a pretty slow game. Even in clubs and tournaments where the standard time limit is 25 minutes per person for a two-player game. Now, take away time restrictions and add two ...more
When Apple released the iOS 10.2 update to the public on December 12, 2016, iPhone users got a slew of new features, including new emojis, a brand new TV app, the ability to save camera settings, and more. But out of all of these new features, the one that interests me the mos ...more
In today's dog-eat-dog world, every minute matters. Whether you're in school or working for the Man, a huge amount of your day is consumed by tasks, assignments, and other kinds of work. Then there's the time you spend playing video games, watching TV, or screwing around on yo ...more
We covered how to upload your library to Google Play Music, but now it's time to delve deeper into the platform. In this article, we'll discuss how to discover new music through a myriad of methods, by using your existing library as a foundation. However, to do so, you'll nee ...more
Whether you love Motion Sense or think it's a gimmick, one thing we can agree on is that its functionality is limited. It's currently limited to switching tracks on a playlist, snoozing alarms, silencing calls, lowering the volume of alerts, and checking notifications. But a n ...more
After spending a good portion of 2017 teasing us with images and bits of news, Lenovo, in a partnership with Disney and Lucasfilm, has finally released its Mirage AR headset along with the Star Wars: Jedi Challenge game collection. Let me preface this hands-on experience by l ...more
Nintendo set the internet ablaze Wednesday night with two big announcements. First, Nintendo revealed that the Switch's paid online service will begin in September (boo), but it was the other report that really got fans excited — Mario Kart is coming to your iPhone. The news ...more
Nothing signals the end of fall and the start of winter like hot, seasonal drinks. And while pumpkin spice lattes may be the flavor of the day, and eggnog the Christmas favorite, one seasonal drink stands apart in my eyes: mulled cider. Homemade mulled cider is perfect: sweet ...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
HTC is working on another flagship device that's expected to be released in mid-April. After the disastrous reception of the recently released HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play, this new model could be the true HTC 10 successor we've all been waiting for. VentureBeat reports that, a ...more
If you follow tech, you're probably familiar with Siri, Apple's personal voice assistant, which has been integrated heavily into iOS ever since iOS 5. But you might not have known that Siri is capable of performing some tasks when the iPhone is in a locked state. The default s ...more
When I first received my HTC One M8, I was in love with the 5-inch screen size, but the icons and font just seemed too big, wasting valuable screen real estate. Phablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, have only slightly larger screens, but don't seem to have this problem sin ...more
Hello! My name is Nicole Valentine and on behalf of Expert Village, I'm here to talk to you about how to coordinate birthday games for a birthday party. Its time to party. Now we're going to discuss the appropriate games for the birthday party. For example, if you're having a ...more
A game labeled as 'educational' usually spells its death among hardcore gamers. The educational game genre is mostly intended for children, and games that appeal to children often lack the sort of widespread appeal that makes them commercially successful. Many people play gam ...more
I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but it's awesome that you can now download music from the iTunes Store that's free of DRM (digital rights management) limitations. That was always my biggest problem with buying music from iTunes. Paying a buck for a song that I can only ...more
In this week of Snapchat lenses, there was a significant increase in ones that involve Marvel superheroes (the Infinity War effect), as well as ones with YouTubers. Classic sitcoms will also always do well, as evidenced by some of my previous roundups. Overall, lenses are doin ...more
Most people keep their ungodly sexual desires deep inside, only to be indulged in private on their computers. It makes you wonder... what secrets do your neighbors have? What kind of porn are they watching? And how much and for how long? Thanks to some public (and anonymous) d ...more
It's a controversial headline, I know, but bear with me and I'll explain in due course. Disclaimer: I was once a child, and I played lots of video games. I didn't look anything like this child. Are Video Games Good or Bad? Ah, video games: that perennial time-waster that chi ...more
Magic Leap has always been intensely secretive about its work on its augmented reality headset, so it's interesting that they're now publicly recruiting developers to build software for the device before its launch. The Florida-based startup is working on the AR headset, whic ...more