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News: Some Shiny New Pixel 3s Aren't Registering SIM Cards & Google Is Dragging Their Feet on a Fix

You just brought a brand new Pixel 3 from the Google Store, and you insert your SIM card only to find the phone won't recognize it at all. No matter what you do, the SIM card won't register and your Pixel won't connect to your carrier network. That's what happened to me and several other Pixel 3 owners. The good news is a fix is coming, the bad news is Google doesn't have a date for that fix.

How To: Fix Laggy Touchscreen Responsiveness on the OnePlus 3 & 3T

The OnePlus 3 and 3T are a pair of phones which allow you to do practically anything you want, because OnePlus is such a developer-friendly company. They almost always release kernel sources, and their phones sport an unlockable bootloader that doesn't void the warranty. But while their software is certainly solid (miles ahead of Samsung's TouchWiz), it still has room for improvement.

How To: Make Your Android's Screen Stay On in Certain Apps

The default screen timeout on most Android devices is 30 seconds. This usually offers a good balance of usability and battery savings, but sometimes, you need the screen to stay on longer. For instance, practically every time I try to show something on my phone to someone else, the screen locks before they get a chance to see it. But increasing the system-wide screen timeout isn't a great solution either, because this can lead to unnecessary battery drain and even screen burn-in.

News: Microsoft Beat Google to the Punch with a "Now on Tap" Clone for Android

One of the biggest new features in the soon-to-be-released Android 6.0 Marshmallow is something Google is calling "Now on Tap." Essentially, this service will be able to scan the contents of any screen on your Android device, then after you long-press the home button, it will provide you with relevant information about anything—from movie times to directions or dinner reservations.

How To: Unleash the Beast with These Wild Animal Masks for Halloween

Animal masks are always a popular option for Halloween, not just because you can pair them with practically any outfit, but because they never go out of date. They've been a staple of Halloween costumes starting from the 1900's, but possibly even prior to that. George Takei, of Star Trek popularity, even left a hilarious comment on Accoutrements' Horse Head Mask Amazon page, making puns left and right about the animal mask—a testament to how trendy these faux mammalian skins really are.

How To: Make Your Nexus 7's Brightness Auto Adjust to Your Preferred Levels in Different Environments

When it comes to our smartphones and tablets, we're always on the lookout for ways to beat the oh so common rapid battery depletion problem that affects practically every mobile device. We'll do anything and everything to keep our battery life at an optimum, from turning off certain features (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) to removing widgets and applications that use an exorbitant amount of CPU. One of the most popular and efficient ways of saving battery is to lower the screen brightness. Usually, we...

How To: Repurpose Your Old LEGO Bricks into a Functional Hanging Key Holder

LEGO may no longer be in its heyday, but those colored building blocks of joy can still make some really cool and creative things. I mean, take a look at these pieces from LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya. While making something like that is undoubtedly impressive, it could be just a little too difficult for the common LEGO enthusiast—and expensive (LEGOs aren't cheap these days). So, for the regular LEGO-builders, usefulness is more important that extravagance.

How To: Hide All of the Social Numbers on Your Facebook Page with the Demetricator

The reason that Facebook is so popular is because it connects us to people that we could have never been connected to before. When people log on, they look for messages, comments, likes, and any other notifications that connect us to those people. These same notifications, though, distort our view of Facebook. We tend to appreciate statuses (I prefer stati) that have more likes. We're geared towards people that have more friends, so we tend to like pages that already have hundred of thousands...

How To: See Who's Clogging Up Your Wi-Fi Network with These Free Mobile Apps

Android has released a new application called ezNetScan, which is a free app that scans the wireless network you're connected to and gives you a full log of all of the devices connected to that network. This isn't new for smartphone users, let alone Android users. Fing has been around for a while and does practically the same thing that exNetScan does. It gathers information such as the IP and MAC addresses, device vendors, and ISP location. But while Fing is a great program, it does lack a f...

How To: Temporarily Disable Your Instagram Account When You Need to Take an #InstaBreak

When you don't want certain friends viewing your account or just need to take a break from social media, Instagram lets you do so. While you can completely delete your Instagram account, then start over when you're ready again, it makes much more sense to just disable your account temporarily. Doing so will hide your profile, photos, comments, and likes from everyone, including your friends.