Hot Smartphones How-Tos
Meltdown & Spectre: Here's How to Keep Your iPhone or Android Phone Secure
You may have seen news reports over the last two days detailing a major security flaw in virtually all smartphones. The devices that are at risk are not limited to either iPhone or Android — all of us are affected. If you want to make sure your smartphone and its data stay secure, there are a few steps you can take.
IFTTT 101: How to Create Custom Applets
IFTTT is a fantastic tool that lets you trigger actions on your smartphone that normally require more advanced hacking. With the help of its friendly user interface, turning your phone into a more personal device has never been easier. However, the app has some more intricate options under the surface, making advanced implementations of applets difficult for beginners.
Coinbase 101: How to Send & Receive Bitcoins & Other Cryptocurrencies
With all the hype surrounding meteoric rise of Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), it's easy to overlook the fact that you can send and receive cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. And thanks to Coinbase, sending and receiving digital coins couldn't be any easier.
Coinbase 101: How to Add a PayPal Account to Get Your Cash Faster
Coinbase sets itself apart from other wallet apps by making cryptocurrency transactions incredibly convenient. You can easily withdraw cash from the app and deposit it into your bank account within days — and now, if you want to cut the time from days to mere minutes, Coinbase has you covered as well.
Coinbase 101: How to Buy & Sell Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum & Litecoin
Coinbase has become the most popular mobile wallet app due in large part to its user-friendliness. The app takes the hassle out of buying and selling Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC), letting Android and iPhone users alike trade their favorite cryptocurrency in a few easy steps.
Pocket Camp 101: Making the Most of Other Players in Animal Crossing
As the first Animal Crossing game on mobile devices, it's clear that Nintendo had a more social experience in mind for Pocket Camp, and I'm not talking about all the animal friends you can make. You can add other players to your list of human friends, and they're incredibly useful for a wide array of tasks.
Pocket Camp 101: How to Make Human Friends in Animal Crossing
While Animal Crossing's emphasis has always been on making friends with the animals that populate your world, each subsequent game following its initial release has stressed relationships with human players more and more. In Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, making human friends is a crucial part of the process with the inclusion of market boxes, Shovelstrike Quarry, and giving "kudos."
Firefox Mobile 101: How to Change Your Search Engine in One Tap
Besides its extensive collections of add-ons for Android, Firefox's mobile browser apps have many built-in features that you won't see in other mobile browsers. One feature in particular, available for both Android and iOS versions, makes it easy to switch back and forth between search engines for any query.
Instagram 101: How to Follow Hashtags & Curate Your Feed
Hashtags are the backbone of Instagram. They connect photos from users all around the world and give visibility to users who don't have many followers. Now, Instagram has added more functionality to this indispensable tool, and this new feature lets you follow hashtags in your main feed right alongside all the pics and videos you see already from people or companies you follow.
Instagram 101: How to Stop Stories from Being Archived Automatically
A new stories archive feature appeared in the version 25 update for Instagram on both Android and iOS. This means you no longer need to save stories to your phone for later viewing, if you like doing that, but it also means all those stories are saved to your Instagram account whether you want them to be or not.
How To: Add Your Instagram Stories to Profile Highlights to Keep Them Public Forever
Instagram stories are a great way to share your day-to-day experiences with your followers. However, it can be disappointing to see them go after 24 hours, especially if you shared something really special. Now, Instagram has a way for you and your followers to relive those great stories you've created with a new feature called Story Highlights.
Instagram 101: How to Share Directly to WhatsApp on Android or iPhone
WhatsApp is a great app to keep in touch with friends and family across phone brands and countries, but sharing a post on Instagram hasn't always been as easy as it should have been considering Facebook owns both companies. Now, whether you have Android or iOS, all it takes is a few taps.
Pocket Camp 101: Grab Yourself a Full Santa Suit & Other Holiday Items in Animal Crossing
Just over a week after debuting, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp received its first-ever event geared toward the winter holiday season. With the ability to craft Christmas-themed goodies and own a full Santa suit, it's the perfect time to jump into Nintendo's latest hot mobile game.
Gmail 101: How to Mute Conversations to Reduce Inbox Clutter
Whether inappropriate or unimportant, some emails don't need to be viewed at a certain times of the day. For example, you might not want to see any personal emails during work hours. By default, Gmail will notify you of all emails that hit your inbox, but fortunately, there's a feature that can automatically hide certain emails and prevent distracting notifications.
Instagram 101: How to Share Posts & Stories to All Your Close Friends' Feeds Only
Instagram is a great platform to share photos and videos with the world, but sharing with smaller groups is near impossible. You can directly message pictures, stories, or post links to friends, but that only works for one person at a time or in group chats you create. To share your content with a small group of people you care about the most, you'll want to use the "Close Friends" list.
Instagram 101: How to Archive All Your Stories Automatically for Easy Access Later
If you're familiar with Instagram Stories, you know that you can download your story to your iPhone or Android device for offline viewing. Those downloaded stories can easily get lost, and Instagram is finally doing something to keep that from happening with a new archive option for stories, similar to the regular posts archive.
Instagram 101: How to Add Animated GIFs to Your Stories
If you've ever made an Instagram story, you probably know you can add stickers to your stories. These stickers are interactive but, like real stickers, they don't move ... until now. In a Jan. 23 update to the app, more action can be added to your stories with animated GIF stickers.
How To: Get Hands Free for Directions & Traffic Info from Waze to Avoid a Crash (Or Ticket)
Drivers the world over are painfully aware of the inherent danger of taking their eyes off the road even for a second. In fact, according to the National Safety Council, 27% of all car crashes result from distracted driving due to attempted cell phone use. Fortunately, Waze comes with a feature that can help keep you from being a part of this grim statistic.
Instagram 101: How to Natively Regram Other Posts on Your Feed Without Leaving the App
You can retweet on Twitter, and you can reblog on Tumblr, but you cannot regram on Instagram. Until now, that is. For years, third-party apps have made it their business to help Instagram users share content from other users. With some new developments, Instagram looks to render those apps obsolete by adding a native regram button to the official Instagram application.
How To: Make Your Own Animoji Karaoke Video
Introduced along with the iPhone X, Animoji are animated characters, mostly animals, that are rendered from the user's facial expressions using the device's TrueDepth camera system to track the user's facial movements.
Gmail 101: How to Use Priority Inbox to Automatically Filter Out Clutter
For many of us, getting to inbox zero is the highlight of our day. But if you used your email address to sign up for various sites and services, your inbox is probably cluttered with all sorts of spam, news letters, and unimportant emails. Thankfully, Gmail has a feature that can solve this by using machine learning.
Pocket Camp 101: Everything You Need to Know About Crafting in Animal Crossing
Crafting is an important aspect of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, as it helps you get animals to come to your campsite. However, it's also one of the best ways to get ahead in the game, and there are a number of reasons for this.
How To: A Smartphone User's Guide to Surviving Thanksgiving
The holidays are stressful. Between traveling, family, and dinner, Thanksgiving weekend can feel like weeks. Many families have traditions that make the days long, but some of us would rather curl up somewhere and watch our favorite shows. But all is not lost — our phones do so much for us now that they can help make the long stressful weekend much more bearable.
HoloLens Dev 101: Building a Dynamic User Interface, Part 9 (Moving Objects)
So after setting everything up, creating the system, working with focus and gaze, creating our bounding box and UI elements, unlocking the menu movement, as well as jumping through hoops refactoring a few parts of the system itself, we have finally made it to the point in our series on dynamic user interfaces for HoloLens where we get some real interaction.
Gaming: The 7 Best Paid Trivia Games for Android & iPhone
Trivia games are among the most entertaining ways to learn factoids and interesting info you may have never known about before. They're also the perfect genre to enjoy with friends and family, as they're particularly great at breaking the ice to make for a more memorable time together.
Google Play Music 101: How to Use Radio Stations to Make the Perfect Party Mix
Have you ever wanted the perfect radio station for an artist, genre, or even one to match your mood? Luckily, Google Play Music has an extensive radio feature that takes you exactly where you and your friends want to go for a quiet brunch, or a neighbors-banging-on-the-walls dance party.
Pocket Camp 101: How to Build Up Supplies in Animal Crossing
For a friendly mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has an overwhelming number of items and collectibles — from fruit to fish to friends. Even though it can be difficult to keep up, this guide will be a great stepping stone to creating the campsite of your dreams without spending a dime.
How To: Set Up Windows Mixed Reality Motion Controllers
This is a very exciting time for mixed reality developers and fans alike. In 2017, we have seen a constant stream of new hardware and software releases hitting the virtual shelves. And while most of them have been in the form of developer kits, they bring with them hope and the potential promise of amazing things in the future.
Google Play Music 101: Finding & Adding New Music to Your Library
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.
Ranked: The 9 Best Paid Puzzle Games for iPhone & Android
Puzzle games are great at giving your brain a workout while keeping things fun and killing time. They stimulate your noggin as you strategize and plan your next move, whether it's to keep your character from getting killed, or to get that special item to finally complete your collection and unlock a new feature within the game.
Google Play Music 101: How to Upload Your Library & Stream Songs from Any Device
When it comes to streaming services, Google Play Music is one of the best options for both Android and iOS. Perhaps its single greatest feature is the fact that you can upload as many as 50,000 of your own songs to Google's servers, then stream your library to any device without ever paying a dime.
How To: Get the iPhone X's New 'Reflection' Ringtone on Any iPhone
The new iPhone X sets itself apart from its predecessors not only as the first Apple smartphone to use an AMOLED screen, but also as the first iPhone to cost over $1,000. True to form as an exclusive device, Apple's latest flagship also features a distinct ringtone. With a little tinkering, however, you can make the new "Reflection" ringtone your very own, regardless of which iPhone you may have.
How To: Why the LG V30 Is the Only Phone You Should Buy if You Have T-Mobile
If you're in the market for a new smartphone, you'll likely scan spec sheets and read reviews of the top phones, compare display size and technology, RAM amount, and processors. But one factor that is often overlooked is cell reception — and for T-Mobile subscribers, there's only one device that has flagship specs and an exclusive antenna that will actually improve your signal.
WhatsApp 101: How to Delete Sent Messages on iPhone or Android
We've all been guilty of sending messages that we instantly regret — be it a moment of anger or plain old drunk texting. More often than not, these silly texts result in unnecessary headaches for both you and your contact. Thankfully, WhatsApp has finally tackled this age-old problem by giving us the ability to prevent drama before it even gets started.
Instagram 101: How to Add Guests to Live Video Streams
Going live on Instagram is a fun way to interact with your followers. It lets you forgo the usual meticulous editing and framing in exchange for giving your friends and fans a glimpse into your real, unfiltered life. Now, your followers don't need to be separate from that experience, with a new update that will let you invite viewers to join in on your live videos.
Gaming: The 7 Best Paid Shooting Games for Android & iPhone
With the release of the Pixel 2 XL and the iPhone X, smartphones have hit a new high not just in price, but also raw processing power. These new flagships not only cost more than twice as much as an Xbox One or PlayStation 4, they have also become almost as powerful as far as gaming goes. Because of this, a lot of games once reserved for consoles and PCs have made their way to our smartphones.
VSCO 101: How to Publish Photos to All Your Social Media Accounts
In this day and age, publishing content to one social media account just doesn't cut it. VSCO, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram ... you need to be active on all. And if you prefer editing and posting all of your photos on VSCO, you need a way to share those images with your other accounts.
VSCO 101: How to Use Presets (or Filters) on Your Photos
One of the best features VSCO has to offer is its presets, also known as filters — they reduce the labor it takes to make your images look better by applying unique preset edits to each. Presets can make your photo look like it came from a professional studio or a black and white camera from the '70s. Sounds great, right? So, how do you get started?
WhatsApp 101: How to Use WhatsApp Web to Send & Receive Messages from Any Computer
Typos are a constant annoyance that we all deal with thanks to the cramped touchscreen keyboards on smartphones. For many, nothing beats the feel of a good old physical keyboard when it comes to typing fast with minimal errors. Fortunately, WhatsApp has an awesome feature which lets you use their messaging service right on your computer.
VSCO 101: How to Save Photos to Your iPhone or Android Phone's Camera Roll or Gallery
Whether you use VSCO to take all of your photos or you use it primarily to edit photos you take with others apps on your iOS or Android phone, you're at some point going to want your VSCO pics to end up in your Camera Roll or Gallery. VSCO doesn't add them there by default, but there's a couple of ways to get them there.