There's only three weeks left until the spookiest holiday of the year, which means stores and costume shops everywhere are bringing out their Halloween inventory full force. So now's a good time to start prepping your Halloween costume—because you really don't want to do it last-minute again, do you?
While iOS 11 is ready to take over your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, let's take a step back and check out all of the new features that iOS 10 brought to the public when it was released to everyone in Sept. 2016.
I got my first Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance bulbs because they're the consensus best of the best for colored lighting. But after spending 90 bucks on two light bulbs, when it came to all the accessories like switches and buttons, I went with cheaper third party options. Little did I know, I was overlooking a great first-party accessory with a surprisingly reasonable price.
When watching stories in your Instagram feed, there's a high probability that you'll come across an AR filter that you'll want to try out for yourself. A quick browse and search in the Effect Gallery will bring up nothing in most cases. But all of that unproductive work isn't necessary because there's a faster and simpler way to get the AR effect in Instagram Stories, and it works all of the time.
In iOS 11, Apple made it easier for you to share passwords with friends. Back then, it was just Wi-Fi passwords, which made sense. "What's the Wi-Fi?" gets old after a while. But now, whether you're running iOS 12 or 13, you can share any password you want with any iPhone around, all with one of iOS' best features: AirDrop.
iPhones aren't immune to occasional bugs. But starting with the iPhone X, performing a reboot to fix minor issues has gotten a little more tedious. Thankfully, iOS 13 has a hidden option that makes the process a whole lot simpler.
It hasn't been a great year for Facebook. Recently, Android users had to discover on their own that the company was logging their calls and texts in Messenger. However, according to Facebook, all users did approve of the data collection, and as such, all affected users can disable logging as well.
Beer pong is a classic game created by college kids to drink and have a good time. However, the process of setting it up is messy and takes a while. Luckily, a demo has introduced an app coming soon where you can play an augmented reality version of beer pong using Apple's ARKit.
New updates to the journaling app Day One include more security for journal writers' data. For example, users can now enable end-to-end encryption. The encryption does not happen automatically; however, users must go to Settings — within Journals — then select each journal they want encrypted.
The headsets of tomorrow offer some amazing possibilities in both gaming and work, but what we've seen so far only begins to scratch the surface. The US Navy saw the potential to use augmented reality in a helmet to provide divers with an incredible amount of information we have so far only seen in Hollywood movies.
It's déjà vu all over again for HTC. A day before they were set to announce their latest flagship smartphone, the HTC 10, a leaked video has surfaced, showcasing the new phone's design and specs. This compounds an earlier leak concerning the name and design of the device.
To help keep sleepy binge-watchers from sleep-"watching," Netflix asks if you're still watching after a semi-short period of time. This means that it could be anywhere from 1 to 5 episodes that you slept through, which is better than 2 seasons, I guess—but it doesn't make it any easier to find out where you left off.
In an attempt to remain a mobile-exclusive app, Instagram doesn't let users upload photos or videos from their computer. On the Instagram web app, you can pretty much only like and comment on items in your feed, but what about all of those photos on your computer that scream #tbt?
Serving as the primary tool of distribution for many websites, social media is how most of us catch up what's going on around the world. While there is a bunch of clickbait going around on Facebook and Twitter, there are plenty of genuinely interesting articles being shared.
Bow down, peasants: your gingerbread house just got owned. By whom? Martha Stewart, of course. The lifestyle guru has constructed elaborate gingerbread buildings in the past, but this year PBS asked her to build a gingerbread reproduction of Downton Abbey, in honor of the show's fifth season coming to PBS starting Jan. 4th, 2015. (PS: For those of you in the UK, the fifth season's Christmas special will be airing on Dec. 25th, 2014.) The materials included 11 batches of gingerbread, 16 cups o...
Looking for a costume that breaks the mold of skimpy and clinging fabrics? Stay warm on Halloween and impress at any spooky event by turning yourself into a perfect recreation of the apes in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Cooking spray is super convenient to have around, but it can be expensive compared to regular old oil, and sometimes comes with some nasty sounding additives like dimethylpolysiloxane and dimethyl silicone.
The cord on your headphones is usually more enemy than friend. While they obviously need it to function, a tangled or unnecessarily long cord can wreak havoc on your sanity. Personally, I've broken at least two pairs of headphones by tripping over the cord and yanking the jack right off of the wiring. There is a fix for that, but you can prevent the problem altogether by organizing your cords. There are plenty of ways to wrap a cord so it won't get tangled, but you still have to unwrap it if ...
I've been a Sprint customer for a long time. Normally, Sprint (flagship) phones come with some useful apps, such as Sprint TV, Sprint Zone (for payments, updating PRLs, and account information), and NBA Game Time. In other words, relatively free of bloat.
Most of us have a designated spot where we like to charge our devices, but no one likes to look at a giant, tangled mess of cords. That's why inductive chargers are so awesome. They allow for wireless charging, and are a lot easier on the eyes. But what if you don't even want to leave the charging module sitting out? This relatively simple hack by YouTube user lobbamobba lets you hide the charging module inside a nightstand or other piece of furniture so that you can juice up your device with...
There are some things that are just plain difficult to do for those of us with small hands. I started playing the piano when I was a little kid, and I learned the hard way that there were some chords that were just out of my reach.
There are a million things you can do with a few sheets of paper, from classics like an origami crane to a paper version of PSY that dances Gangnam Style, or even an M16 assault rifle. There's not much you can't make with paper.
Who wouldn't want to know if someone was trying to log onto their personal computer without their permission? Be it your annoying co-worker or your girlfriend, there are many cases where people may try to gain access to your desktop or laptop.
Sound waves are a lot more versatile than you'd think. For starters, you can use them to project images onto a bubble and liquefy gummy bears. And now, YouTube scientist and optical illusionist extraordinaire Brusspup shows how sound waves can also be used to manipulate a stream of water into a zigzag shape.
There are many ways you can protect your computer from unwarranted access. For instance, you can use Lockscreen Pro to lock your Windows 8 computer and then have the program snap a photo of the culprit using your webcam.
Most people need their morning pick-me-up to get the day started right. There's a Starbucks on every corner and caffeine "shots" are sold in convenience stores everywhere. Even Mountain Dew is getting in on the action with its new KickStart "breakfast" drink (whatever that means). With a whopping 5% real fruit juice!
Minesweeper is one of those games that everyone plays, but hardly anyone actually knows how to play. Most people just click random squares and see how far they can get.
Remember how the bad guys in Scooby Doo would always use cut-out portraits to spy on people through walls? Well, unless your landlord is super cool, you probably shouldn't start cutting holes in your wall just yet, but you can make a higher tech version, thanks to NASA employee Mark Rober. Mark used a cheap picture frame and a portrait with the eyes cut out to make the "Scoob Cam," which also doubles as a surveillance device. He used an iPhone and an iPad to start a FaceTime chat, then taped ...
As a technology writer, phone screenshots can pile up on your computer in no time. Testing out different apps, showing buggy software, and doing step-by-steps can lead to a plethora of mobile screenshots piling up on your computer's desktop. The problem with my screenshots is that they save as photo.png or photo.jpeg, as do many of my other photos. If I haven't finished a project or article, I tend to move them to different folders to save them for later. After a while, the screenshots begin ...
It's tough out there on the battlefield, especially when your stuck in the trenches and your comrades are dropping like flies. There's no hope. At least, until the next airsoft battle.
Yesterday, Bryan Clark pointed out a new option on Verizon's privacy settings that gives new customers 30 days to opt out of a data sharing program that gives advertisers information on basically everything you're doing on your new iPhone (or any other smartphone).
A few weeks ago, we saw a simple 128 inch DIY Projector Screen that looked like a pro built it—and it only cost $200. But this one is even cheaper, and looks just as good. It's also simpler because it's painted right onto the wall. In the video below, How To Lou shows us how to make it with just some white or silverscreen paint, a few pieces of casement molding, and some black velvet for the trim.
A spectrometer is a device that splits light into all of the different colors it's composed of that can't be seen with the naked eye. It does this by using a prism to refract or bend the light. Jeffrey Warren over at Public Labs created a tutorial showing how you can make your own video spectrometer and create spectra like the one pictured below. Any guesses as to what the subject is? Believe it or not, that's what whipped cream looks like when viewed through a spectrometer. You can do this w...
Looking for a way to make your bike stand out? You could light it up with LED rim lights or turn signals. Or if you're looking for something a little less flashy, you could make your own set of custom wooden handlebars like these by furniture designer David Moore. To actually make these wooden handlebars, you will need some woodworking tools, not to mention some actual woodworking skill, or at least the tools and some knowledge on bending and forming wood. In his video below, David shows exac...
In 1958, Patrick Flanagan invented the Neurophone, a device patented in 1962 that allows radio signals to be picked up by the human nervous system. The skin is the organ that receives the signal, converting it into a modulated molecular vibration, which the brain interprets into sound. Basically, it gives one the ability to 'hear' through the skin, making it sound like the audio you're hearing is actually in your head. It's kind of like having headphones in your brain. The only problem was th...
Technology is awesome. You can use your iPad to record music or even turn your tunes into a solar system, but sometimes being plugged in all of the time can leave you nostalgic for simpler times. This new concept by Joelle Aeschlimann brings together the best of both worlds by turning your iPad into an old-fashioned, hand-cranked music box. The artist created three different music boxes, each one with its own unique song and visualization. The music boxes were made using wooden cylinders with...
Google has started to release a Go line of Android apps. These apps offer a minimalistic version of their major app counterpart. So far, we have Go versions of Maps, Photos, Gmail, and more. Who are these apps for and why would you want to use them? Here's a quick overview of Google Photos and Gallery Go.
Germany-based Augmented reality software maker Re'flekt has added a new tool to its enterprise app development platform that makes it simpler to link AR content to physical objects.
Adding Stickers to your Instagram Stories is a great way to spice up your story, giving it another dimension that bare pictures don't have. Those who use Snapchat know that platform features stickers as well, and you can even pin them to your Snaps. Fortunately, Instagram lets you do the same.
When I'm with my friends on the weekend, we always end up Snapping shots of one another, adding in whatever stickers and lenses we've accumulated over the last week. But these filters are fleeting, so it's always a challenge to keep up with the best new ones. If you want to get a leg up on the competition, this is your one-stop-shop.
