Z Stop

Our first stop at CES this year was at iLuv, a company well known for their long line of smartphone accessories (portable chargers, speakers, headphones, etc). While their products are geared towards everyday use, their Selfy phone case, which is a bit more situational, caught ...more

So you just bought a fancy new Nexus 6 complete with its gorgeous and gigantic display—now what? Unlike Samsung's TouchWiz, stock Android doesn't sport any cool split-screen features, so how do you really take advantage of all that screen real estate? A useful multitasking to ...more

The ability to make a meal for yourself used to be one of those life skills you had to learn or otherwise you would starve, but the rise of convenience foods, takeout, and other aspects of modern living have made it entirely possible to be a grown person and not know what to d ...more

Google has updated its Search application for iOS with their new Material Design aesthetic, taking cues from Android's redesigned look with refreshed colors, depth effects, and new animations. But the update doesn't stop there; there are several new and useful features added t ...more

On earlier Android versions, you were able to hold down on an app's icon in the recent apps menu (aka app switcher) and jump straight to the app's info page. From there, you could easily uninstall the app, force-stop its activity, or clear its cache and data. If this was some ...more

Unless you're sporting an LG G3 or a mod that allows tap-to-sleep and/or tap-to-wake functionality, you're probably hitting the power button to sleep and wake your device. But that button may be awkward to hit, may be worn down, or may just stop working due to a manufacturer's ...more

Minor mishaps occur all the time in the kitchen, whether you cut your finger while dicing an onion, scorched your hand in a grease fire, or burned the roof of your mouth because you were to eager to taste-test your killer pasta sauce. While the old standbys of ibuprofen, band ...more

Probably SSH is not as clean and fast as other useful tools like netcat, but it has some features which are very useful, and when you'll need them, here's how to behave with that huge amount of computers all over your house. Probably, you already know what SSH means, but for ...more

Contrary to what you may think, clearing or swiping away apps in the Recent Apps view on your Android device does not necessarily stop app activity or running tasks—and these running processes can actually be eating away at your battery life. Depending on the app or process, i ...more

Keeping data private is vital in the days of smartphones and the free-floating information they carry. Justin wrote a guide on many of the deeply hidden and sometimes concerning privacy settings in iOS 7. Now we're back to cover some of the new (and old) privacy settings in iO ...more

Spotlight is awesome for finding items in the stock Apple apps, but what if you want to search through the rest of the apps on your iPhone? Let's say you want to check out all of the latest ALS Ice Bucket Challenges, but you don't want to go through each one of your apps (Ins ...more

While texting and driving may get you a ticket, there are still a ton of uses for your phone in your car, music and navigation just to name a couple. Every Android device comes with access to GPS and traffic updates, but none of those apps really have your back in real-time. ...more

As much as it pains me to say it, without my phone, I would pretty much be useless. I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday, let alone all of the hundreds of numbers in my contact list. That's why whenever I forget my phone at home, I am pretty much stuck having t ...more

Don't throw away your dead light bulbs, they may come in handy one day. This video will show you how to start a fire using a dead lightbulb. And no electricity. The tricky part is emptying out the insides, but this can be done with sticks and stones, assuming you're in a surv ...more

Included among the many new features in Android L is the new "Heads Up" notification system, showing notifications as interactive floating windows anywhere on your device. Floating windows are nothing new, though, as we've already showed you how to get floating widgets, floati ...more

You suck at karaoke. Most of us do, but that doesn't stop any of us from hitting up the karaoke bar. It's not about who sounds best; there's American Idol for that. It's about having a great time without incurring negative judgement; the worse you are the better time I'm havin ...more

Anyone who has rooted their Android device has likely used a tool called Android Debug Bridge, better known as ADB, at some point during the process. For most, that is their only interaction with the ADB, but to be a true Android power user, you need to really know the tools a ...more

They say that behind every joke is a half-truth. If that adage itself contains a grain of verity, the Daily Show's satirical Glass piece should raise a few eyebrows amongst the Glass Explorer community. As with everything Comedy Central's comedic news show produces, yesterday ...more

Using Shazam has quite literally spared me hours of searching the internet for the name of a song I briefly heard for a few seconds. At WWDC, it was announced that iOS 8 now has Shazam technology integrated into Siri. What makes it even cooler is that you don't even need the S ...more

I don’t buy socks—I get a pack from my parents on Christmas Day, so I’ve got to make sure they last all year. Other than losing them mysteriously in the dryer, the biggest threat to my limited sock collection is a stretched out cuff. Nothing's more frustrating than a loose soc ...more

Android 4.4 KitKat has begun rolling out for the Galaxy Note 3 in India, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, and several other countries, and an unofficial build for AT&T customers has been leaked for all of us stateside. If you're not willing to risk installing a leaked build, you' ...more

Modern smartphones can easily handle anything you throw at them, but it's always good to keep a tight grasp of what your phone is actually doing and how well it's doing it. System information can be viewed by looking through your Application Manager, but this process makes it ...more

When the first version of iOS 7 was released, there was a wealth of awesome new features, but there was also a lot to complain about. The biggest issue by far was, and still is, how custom home and lock screen wallpapers work on iPads and iPhones. Previously, when you set a c ...more

Wouldn't it be cool to know exactly who is calling or messaging you without ever looking at your phone? It'd be a great way to keep you from reaching into your pocket or purse every time you get a message, and an efficient method to ignore people you'd rather not deal with. C ...more

If you want to succeed at your New Year's resolution, stop thinking of it as a resolution. Instead, frame your resolution as a daily, manageable habit you want to develop into you day-to-day life. Don't think in vague terms like "I want to lose weight" or "I want to become fl ...more

It seems like most of the really cool and interesting modifications you can make to your Android device always require special root access, so when a fun mod comes along that doesn't require root—I feel it's my duty to alert you. The softMod I'll be showing you today is an ap ...more

Staples may be an office staple when it comes to joining sheets of paper together, but they're a pain in the ass if you ask me. They're annoying to take out, you can't shred 'em, and they eventually loosen up. Plus, staplers tend to stop working right when you need them the mo ...more

Instructions to make 3D origami of airplane similar to Airbus A380. It's self standing, made only with a folded paper (triangles). In video I tried to give instructions for every detail. Detailed instructions are in the video, but it's suggested to follow some simple steps fo ...more

If you had the original Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 and a Type or Touch cover, you know how big a pain in the ass it was to change the scrolling direction of the trackpad. For some reason, there was no built-in setting to reverse the scrolling direction from natural to n ...more

You saw our post on the 18 coolest new features of iOS 7, but now that you've had a chance to play around with your updated iPhone, it's time to lock it down. There are a surprising number of new privacy and security-related issues in iOS 7's default settings, from allowing A ...more

There have been those times in everyone's life when we have kept our phones on silent mode and forgotten where we kept it. Well, if you have an Android powered phone there is a way by which to find your phone by ringing, just when you want it, even when it is kept on silent mo ...more

There are a lot of apps in Google Play for your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that let you create, edit, and view Microsoft Office files on the go, but none match up to the power of an app called Polaris Office for Samsung Galaxy devices. However, the newest version, Polaris Office 5 ...more

Samsung introduced a wave of seriously unique and innovative features on the Galaxy S4, including air gestures and weather sensors, but a lot of the features are actually just updated ones from the Galaxy S3. Unfortunately, one of those that returned was the dreaded increasing ...more

My grandfather's brother won this car in a lottery during 1957. He had no driver's license, but his brothers used to give him a lift in it. From 1975 to 1996, the car was parked in my grandfather's brother's garage. My grandfather moved the car on a trailer in 1996 to his gara ...more

Smartphones are almost completely controlled through touchscreens now, but most of them still rely on physical buttons to turn it on or adjust volume. When those buttons stop working, you've got trouble (especially if it's your Home button). Dujo, a user on Sugru's website, h ...more

Apple's power adapters have had their fair share of criticism. Some users complain that the magnets aren't strong enough, others say the adapters overheat and just stop working, and there was even a class action lawsuit over fraying issues. However, regardless of its problems ...more

I love to cook. There are few things more relaxing for me than spending an afternoon in the kitchen, and one ingredient that I throw into just about everything (seriously, everything) is garlic. It can instantly add a whole new level of flavor to a dish, and there's not much t ...more

Tons of people listen to music while going to sleep, but some don't like to leave it playing all night. If you hate waking up in the middle of the night and having to turn off your music, why not make your smartphone do it for you? For Android users, there's a free app called ...more

In photography, bokeh refers to the blurry or out-of-focus parts of a shot. Bokeh can be good or bad—it all depends on how you use it. There are tons of ways to create a bokeh effect, whether you go the traditional route with lens filters, digital with Photoshop, or even from ...more

There's nothing worse than that feeling when you realize you've forgotten something important. Maybe you left an assignment sitting on your desk at home, or forgot to log out of your accounts on the shared family computer. A new app called B4iGo wants to make sure you never l ...more

Playlists are a great way to organize and share groups of videos on YouTube. Playlists can consist of your videos, someone else's videos, or a combination of the two. By using playlists you can help people find videos on your YouTube channel & potentially have your playlist r ...more

If the number of apps designed to make getting out of bed easier tells us one thing, it's that people hate waking up. Whether it's because you're dreading going to work or school, or just stayed out a little too late the night before, it's almost never fun. The team behind th ...more

The first album I ever bought with my own money was Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York. It featured mainly lesser-known songs and covers, but was on constant repeat on my Walkman. While the whole album was fantastic, there was one song that stood out the most to me—"The Man W ...more

As dedicated bicyclists are well aware, riding can be very dangerous. Now that daylights savings time has ended in the United States, darkness appears quicker, and the night is especially dangerous for cyclists because of the low visibility that drivers have. Not only is darkn ...more

Doorbells are useful and all, but most of them are boring as hell. They use the same old generic sounds to let you know when guests have arrived, as demonstrated below. Video: . To liven things up a bit, you could spend money on buying customized doorbells. But why do that whe ...more

While graffiti may never be fully accepted by the masses, it has already become a very large medium for creative artists across the globe, who make mundane and austere cityscapes a little more interesting for the rest of us. Walking past this Banksy stencil on my way to class ...more

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that motivates us to engage in rewarding activities such as eating and sex. Animals without dopamine stop eating and starve to death. Certain drugs are able to activate dopamine receptors, and, as revealed by brain scans, meth heads, cocaine add ...more

Getting pulled over sucks, even when you're in a normal car. Just imagine how these teenagers felt when they were pulled over for driving their wooden car without a license! They also got a citation for not having a speedometer or side indicator lights, but if that's all that' ...more

If you want to make clothes for your cat, you're on your own. As I recently said in this article, cats will just totally flip out if you make them wear things. Your dog may also flip out, but I've found them to be more tolerant, personally. Anyway, here are the pictures of th ...more

Most cars made in the last ten or fifteen years can be unlocked with a keyless remote, and once you get used to them, unlocking your car with a traditional key feels like a pain. The most common reason they stop working is just because the battery needs replacing, but when the ...more

In our society, multitasking is an obsession. Whether it's driving while using your phone (DON'T DO IT) or drinking a cup of coffee while typing up some work, we multitask at every turn of the day. People that work all day in front of a computer are especially prone to multita ...more

From dynamite to lasers to LEDs, you can make graffiti with a lot of different things. Parisian artist Antonin Fourneau has added water to that list. He created this incredible LED wall that lights up wherever it's touched by water to create what he's dubbed "Water Light Graff ...more

Stop me if you've heard this one before. A man walks into a bicycle shop, hears about a canoe made of cardboard and is inspired to make an awesome, fully-functional cardboard bicycle. Sound far-fetched? Wait until you hear how his guy actually did it. Israeli entrepreneur Izha ...more

WARNING VM uses the hard disk as ram. So it repeatedly writes and reads of the hard disk. Since the iPod has flash memory usage of this tweak will lower your device lifespan to 5-7 years. So i recommend this tweak on a old device you want to speed UP!!! Step 1: Skip This Whol ...more

The big question this week would be the controversial Obamacare mandate. And heres the answer: Yes. Obamacare passes Congress' filters and is now an official OK. Texas college hacks drone in front of DHS — RT. There are a lot of cool things you can do with $1,000, but scientis ...more

In most cases, gravity may as well not exist in Minecraft. The blocks all stick together in unreal ways, and you can even make things that just float in the sky. However, there are four exceptions to that rule: sand, gravel, water, and lava. All four of them obey the laws of ...more

Incredible. A company called Berry Plastics (in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) has developed a working bomb proof wallpaper. The technology has the ability to protect against both natural disasters and warfare. From Popsci: "X-Flex...is designed for use a ...more

LIGHTFAKTOR is a Cologne artists collective experimenting with the "possibilities yielded by bulb (long-term) exposure and painting." The technique employed has been coined "light writing" - Wikipedia's definition: "Light writing is an emerging form of stop motion animation ...more

If you haven't noticed yet, there are a lot of new features hiding in your iPhone's Messages app, and some of them are things users have been requesting for a long time. While iMessage is getting a lot of attention by letting us edit and unsend messages, it's only just the sta ...more

Individually addressable LEDs, also commonly called "NeoPixels" after the popular Adafruit product, are a bright and colorful way to get started with basic Python programming. With an inexpensive ESP8266 or ESP32 microcontroller, it's easy to get started programming your own h ...more