Tune Back the Guitar

Smartphones are now indispensable when traveling. Domestic and overseas travel alike require food, navigation, translation, and so much more to make work or vacation successful. Gone are the days of lugging multiple tourist books around with you everywhere you go — you need to ...more

So after being teased last Christmas with an email promising that the Meta 2 was shipping, nearly a year later, we finally have one of the units that we ordered. Without a moment's hesitation, I tore the package open, set the device up, and started working with it. To me, the ...more

When it comes to paying with Apple Pay, showing your rewards number or coupon at a store, or paying for your coffee with a digital gift card, Apple Wallet is as convenient as it gets. But one issue you'll probably experience at least once on your iPhone is a persistent notific ...more

In this first part of my series on getting started with Windows Holographic, we are going to cover everything you need to get set up for developing HoloLens apps. There are many pieces coming together to make one single application, but once you get used to them all, you won't ...more

Let's say you're with friends at a sporting event, music festival, lounge, or some other fun venue, and you want to create a fun split-screen compilation from all the videos you took independently. It's not an easy task, because someone has to get all the video footage and the ...more

Greetings, fellow NBers! Welcome to my sixth iteration of my sorting series. Today, we'll be discussing a personal favorite: Quicksort, or Quick Sort. Quick Sort: The Algorithm Under the Hood Quick Sort is what's called a "divide and conquer" sorting algorithm. It takes a p ...more

Hello there! This will probably be the final tutorial on functions where we will be looking over a method called pass by reference. This technique allows us to modify large amounts of data without the overhead and return multiple values. Let's go! Passing by Value Until now, ...more

Hello again, reader! In this post, we are going to cover some data types and how to declare variables. It shouldn't be too hard so just sit back, relax, grab some popcorn and enjoy the ride (while you still can!). What Is a Variable? For those who do not know, a variable is ...more

So, you want to become anonymous? well let me give you everything I know (or at least most of it) to you. Introduction Part: So this is a serious only about being anonymous on the internet and while hacking. This series will cover: (further steps might be added if I decide ...more

I record close-cropped videos and take macro still shots with my smartphones on a daily basis, so as you would expect, I spend a lot of time cleaning these devices. Over the course of a couple years, I've fine-tuned my cleaning regimen, and at this point, it's down to a near-s ...more

Every time Windows gets a significant update, the vast majority of existing tweaking utilities become obsolete. For every option that you fine-tuned with one of these tools on Windows 7 or 8, there's a change in the registry or system settings that cause your tweaks to now poi ...more

Complete silence or a non-stop Pandora playlist? People are often divided on what type of work environment they prefer. Whether you're a frequent loud music listener or you can't stand any kind of background noise, chances are you're pretty set in your ways. No matter your st ...more

Arcades have long faded away from popularity, but their legacy is being kept alive thanks to emulators and the avid fans who grew up loading quarters into all of those coin-op games. Although nothing beats an actual arcade environment, my favorite emulator from the early 2000s ...more

If you're like me, you spend a lot of time on your computer, which can be damaging to your eyes in the long run. Studies have shown that staring at a computer screen or television up close for extended periods of time can have harmful effects on your vision. An application ca ...more

Boozing it up at work might have been okay back in the days of Mad Men, but today, employers prefer that their workers stay sober. What you and your bosses probably don't know is that a little drinking on the job can actually increase your creative capacity and problem-solving ...more

After years of making do with a cheap knife, I finally bought a really good 8" chef's knife—a Henckels, although I was also eyeing a Global santoku. It quietly but literally changed my life. I don't have amazing knife skills, but having a great piece of equipment in my hands ...more

With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S5 right around the corner, the first full system dump has been released by Sammobile. As the inevitable ports of functioning apps slowly begin to leak, today we've got a non-app aspect of the system and the one that tends to leak first—r ...more

Welcome back, my aspiring hackers! Domain Name System (DNS) is one of those things we seldom think about unless it doesn't work. Then, it can be very frustrating when we attempt to navigate to a website and we get that frustrating error message. DNS enables us to type in a d ...more

Welcome back, my budding hackers! In my continuing series on Linux basics for aspiring hackers, I now want to address Loadable kernel modules (LKMs), which are key to the Linux administrator because they provide us the capability to add functionality to the kernel without hav ...more

Welcome, my hacker novitiates! As part of my series on hacking Wi-Fi, I want to demonstrate another excellent piece of hacking software for cracking WPA2-PSK passwords. In my last post, we cracked WPA2 using aircrack-ng. In this tutorial, we'll use a piece of software develop ...more

Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! One of the first issues any hacker has to address is reconnaissance. Before we even begin to hack, we need to know quite a bit about the target systems. We should know their IP address, what ports are open, what services are running, and wh ...more

A deck of cards may be a magician's best way to demonstrate his or her's sleight of hand, but for the prankster, it's the perfect way to deliver a shocking 300 volts of electricity! And that's exactly what I'm going to show you how to do today. Stuart Edge used it in his "Elec ...more

Everyone listens to music. I've got over 3,000 songs in my iTunes library, but am always looking for more, and I'm sure you are too. You can never have enough tunes to rock out to, right? If you're using Windows 8 like I currently am, these are some of the best apps in the Win ...more

Welcome back , my fledgling hackers! Lately, I've been focusing more on client-side hacks. While web servers, database servers, and file servers have garnered increased protection, the client-side remains extremely vulnerable, and there is much to teach. This time, we'll look ...more

When I left off on our last hack, we had hacked into the ubiquitous Windows Server 2003 server by adding ourselves as a user to that system so that we can return undetected at any time. The problem with this approach is that a sysadmin who is on their toes will note that a new ...more

Google has a few hidden tools you might not have discovered yet, and they work in Google Search, in the Google app, and with Google Assistant — on both iPhone and Android phones. We all know smartphones do much more than make phone calls. They serve as cameras, GPS navigators ...more

The remake of the Warner Bros. classic animation meets live-action movie Space Jam, this time starring LeBron James instead of Michael Jordan, hits theaters today. And while bringing Bugs Bunny into your real world surroundings is still Hollywood fantasy, thanks to augmented ...more

We're glued to the news now more than ever, but our "free press" isn't necessarily free of charge. Cable news outlets like CNN and MSNBC are locked behind expensive cable TV packages and cord-cutting streaming subscriptions such as Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV. Luckily, there a ...more

Sometimes you might find that a certain app keeps sending you notifications. What are you to do? There are plenty of useful apps that might send one too many push notifications, but that doesn't mean you should dump them. Luckily, Android gives you complete control over how ea ...more

Action games encompass a wide array of categories, ranging from racing games that pit you against players the world over for track domination, to endless runners that push you to set ever higher scores, and RPGs that let you embark on adventures in fantasy worlds. With such a ...more

Information gathering is one of the most important steps in pentesting or hacking, and it can often be more rewarding to run things on the target itself as opposed to just running scripts against it remotely. With an SQL injection, a hacker can compromise a server and, ultimat ...more

While Microsoft dominated the augmented reality news at this year's Mobile World Congress, a small AR startup we've covered in the past arrived in Barcelona, Spain, to unveil the next phase of its mission. This week, China-based Nreal made the potential mass adoption of its N ...more

If you want to use your iPhone with another carrier, all you have to do is contact the original carrier to request an unlock, which is usually granted in a few days. Unfortunately, you need to meet specific criteria to officially carrier-unlock your iPhone, like paying off the ...more

Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz doesn't engage in tweetstorms often, but when he does, those tweets are bold, exceedingly confident, and there's usually a strong takeaway regarding what the company is or isn't doing. But on Thursday, Abovitz's latest tweetstorm sent an unusually f ...more

There are currently 27 available Animoji to choose from in iOS 13, but you're not limited to Apple's animated emoji characters — you can make your own. They're called Memoji, an available feature since iOS 12, and they're highly customizable. Think of Memoji avatars as person ...more

Google, Amazon, and Facebook are always listening. But what's worse? Hackers are listening, too. Windows PCs are particularly vulnerable, but with a few simple commands, a remote attacker can even take over the microphone on someone's Mac computer, streaming audio and listenin ...more

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of programming languages and variations of those languages that exist. Currently, in the augmented reality space, it seems the Microsoft-created C# has won out as the overall top language of choice. While there are other options like JavaS ...more

The iPhone vs. Android debate is almost as old as smartphones themselves. While there are a number of reasons to skew towards one operating system or the other, the Samsung Galaxy S9 models have a ton of great features that help set them apart from Apple's iPhones. The coolest ...more

Update 10/23: The hits just keep on coming. We're now seeing reports of a "smearing" effect when scrolling through apps on the Pixel XL 2. We'll expand on that at the bottom of this article, but it's still worth reading the background information on issues with LG's new POLED ...more

Recently, I ran across SecGen, a project which allows a user to create random vulnerable machines. I absolutely love vulnerable machines, since a vulnerable VM is a safe and legal way to practice hacking tactics, test out new tools, and exercise your puzzle-solving skills. Wh ...more

Cross-compilation allows you to develop for one platform (like Kali) and compile to run on a different platform (such as Windows). For developers, it means that they can work on their platform of choice and compile their code for their target platform. For hackers, it means we ...more

The USB Rubber Ducky comes with two software components, the payload script to be deployed and the firmware which controls how the Ducky behaves and what kind of device it pretends to be. This firmware can be reflashed to allow for custom Ducky behaviors, such as mounting USB ...more

Those of us who are actively developing for the HoloLens, and for the other augmented and mixed reality devices and platforms that currently exist, are constantly looking for the next bit of news or press conference about the space. Our one hope is to find any information abou ...more

If you've been following NextReality, you've surely seen me around, or at least have seen my articles. My name is Jason Odom, aka Subere23, and it's about time for a formal introduction. My background primarily falls in the computer game industry, and I have co-owned a small ...more

This is the very first article in my series on setting up a Mac for hacking. In this series, I will be operating under the assumption that you have a clean install of macOS (previously OS X). If you aren't starting with a clean installation, there may be a few differences, but ...more

If you took a big step back and really looked at the world, you'd see how downright silly our nations look when they put up fences to separate themselves from one another. Creatures big and small roam free while respecting each other's space, but humans create borders and phys ...more

No one wants to appear stupid. Whether you rely on lengthy, complicated vocabulary to show your smarts, or enjoy highlighting your speedy mental math skills, everyone prefers emphasizing intelligence over hiding it. Yet even the smallest, most normal behaviors in our day-to-d ...more

Though many students spend four years of high school learning a foreign language, most of us probably retained very little. Chalk it up to the carelessness of youth, but chances are you've since been in situations or places that left you wishing you paid more attention in clas ...more

Welcome back, my budding hackers. So many of you are interested in hacking Wi-Fi that I have decided to revisit my Wi-Fi Hacking series with some updated and more in-depth material. I strongly suggest that you look at some of my earlier posts, such as "Getting Started with Te ...more

Welcome back, my apprentice hackers! In this series on password cracking, I have been attempting to develop your skills in the age-old art of password cracking. Although it might seem like a simple and straightforward exercise, those of you who have attempted password crackin ...more

Welcome back, my novice hackers! My recent tutorials have been focused upon ways to NOT get caught. Some people call this anti-forensics—the ability to not leave evidence that can be tracked to you or your hack by the system administrator or law enforcement. One the most com ...more

Welcome back, my novice hackers! In my continuing effort to develop your Linux skills, I now offer you this eighth in my series for Linux Basics for the Aspiring Hacker. In this tutorial, we'll look at system processes and how to manage them. In Linux, a process is a program ...more

Unwanted advertising is everywhere. Annoying pop-up ads, overly loud late night commercials, spam...it never ends. And before spam, there was junk mail. Junk mail is even worse because unlike TV commercials and internet ads, it's physical. You can't just delete or ignore it—an ...more

Apple has a new flashlight feature for iPhone models with Dynamic Island on iOS 18. This feature lets you adjust not only the brightness level but also the beam pattern, giving you control over how wide or narrow the light shines. Since the new flashlight beam control feature ...more

Apple released the second beta for iOS 15 on Thursday, June 24. The update includes FaceTime's "SharePlay" feature for the first time, a new Maps icon, updates to Focus mode, in addition to many other changes and bug fixes. SharePlay, one of iOS 15's most ambitious new featur ...more

You're watching a YouTube video on your Mac, then go to check something on your iPhone. Of course, because you had a video queued on iOS, your AirPods automatically switch from your Mac to your iPhone. Now, your Mac's YouTube video is playing out loud, and you have to reroute ...more

Adobe Audition, Audacity, and other audio editing software have tools to isolate vocals and instruments in regular songs so that you can get an instrumental track for karaoke, vocals for an a capella version, or solo drums, bass, keys, etc. that you can use to learn the song y ...more

The act of typing on a smartphone has come a long way since the days of tiny physical keys at the bottom of a BlackBerry, but there are still quirks that can make it frustrating. Luckily, if you know a few hidden tricks, things do get easier. All of these tricks will work on ...more

If you're getting or already have a new iPhone 12 or 12 Pro, its big-ticket feature is MagSafe, something you'll definitely want to explore. While the technology is new to iPhone, Apple used the MagSafe name for its magnetic charging connectors on older MacBook models until US ...more

It's not so difficult to stay at home during the coronavirus lockdown when there's so much free entertainment to take advantage of. That seems to be the M.O. for many studios and streaming services, as they've made so many shows and movies available to the public for free. Tha ...more