How-To Guides from Gadget Hacks: Page 121

Whenever a friend borrows my Samsung Galaxy S3 to browse the web or make a quick call, I always pause to make sure there's nothing incriminating on it. I'm no superfreak, but some of my friends are, so I have more than a few photos on my device that I wouldn't wish upon anyone.

Paper clips and any kind of power adapter that gives 5 volts will do the job for charging your phone battery.

I like being fast at everything (well, almost everything), and I expect no less from my smartphone. So when I'm using an app on my Samsung Galaxy S3 that takes up the full display, I don't want to swipe down twice to get to my notifications—I want to swipe down once.

There are a ton of cool features available on your Samsung Galaxy Note 2, but if you're a softModder, you can make your phone do just about anything.

Uploading certain pictures to Instagram can be problematic, especially when the dimensions of your picture exceed the dimensions of the square crop that's forced upon you.

Thanks to its dedicated ImageChip, the HTC One has one of the best cameras out of all the smartphones currently on the market. Their branded UltraPixel Camera can take full resolution photos while shooting video, has superior auto-focusing, and provides great overall quality for everything from low-light to action shots.

What is your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 running? More than likely, you're still rocking Jelly Bean 4.1.2, which is already pretty outdated.

This is about dancing LEDs following the rhythm of music or speech picked-up by a small microphone. The projects is very cool, and for building it, you will need a light bulb,10 LEDs, project box, electronic board with IC CD4017 and LM358 and power adapter.

With millions of options to choose from in Google Play's expansive library of songs and albums, it can most definitely take a toll on the wallet after a while. As (slight) consolation, Google offers one free song a day, available for download straight from Google Play onto your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or other Android device.

Here's a video tutorial showing you how to replace Galaxy S4 screen glass if you broke your screen. This will allow you to easily fix your broken glass for under $20.

This summer's going to be a hot one, so skip the water pistol this year and break out the big guns! In this project, I'll be showing you how to build a water balloon shotgun—a high-powered water balloon launcher that's capable of firing 17 water balloons at the same time!

Want to show a friend something on your iPhone but don't want them messing up your Angry Birds game or peeking at your private emails? Enter Locktopus, the perfect solution to locking your iOS apps from prying eyes. The only catch—you need to jailbreak your iPhone.

Microsoft released a preview version of Windows 8.1 today, notably adding an updated Start screen, the ability to run several Windows 8 apps side by side in a number of configurations, fully integrated search, better HiDPI support for multiple monitors, and for those who miss it, options to bring back the Start button or boot straight to the desktop.

While the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has an integrated LED for notifications, it only works for a few things, like charging and low battery, and it only flashes two main colors (red and blue) when the screen's off.

With so many cloud storage services out there, many people are starting to keep their important documents online, especially when they know they'll need to view them when they're away from their computer.

If you have a smartphone with a good camera, chances are you don't think it's good enough. There's always something that can better with your mobile pics, and for me, that something is closeup shots.

Don't always believe the marketing hype. "PlayStation Certified" does not mean anything to a softModder. All this indicates is that a smartphone or tablet labeled as "PlayStation Certified" has met the guidelines and hardware requirements issued by Sony to display PlayStation Mobile (PSM) content from the PlayStation Mobile Store correctly.

I use a lighter as a case for my USB drive and it came out pretty cool. Watch to see how I made it.

Why can't I see who is stalking my Facebook profile?

If you're constantly going from dark to brightly lit areas, you've probably noticed that the stock auto brightness feature on your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 doesn't work that well. Either the screen is really dim and unreadable, or it's just way too damn bright.

Apple is set to release its latest operating system for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch this fall, and if you haven't noticed yet from our iOS 7 softModder guides, it's going to be pretty slick.

Facebook and HTC's First was a complete disaster. Soon after its release, carriers were literally giving them away with a two-year contract—or just trying to send them back. It was supposed to be the flagship device for Facebook Home, an Android launcher for Facebook fiends.

Microsoft's first venture into the tablet market, the Surface RT, combines many of the capabilities of a normal Windows 8 laptop into a super compact tablet, whose super-thin touch cover and kickstand can transform it into a functional mini-laptop, small and light enough to go anywhere you want. But like most tablets, the Surface comes with a rather limited amount of storage space.

Apple is widely known for keeping a tight grip on iOS, disallowing open-source and third-party downloads. While there are many reasons for this, the three most frequently referenced are quality control, malware prevention, and of course—money.

Watch this video to resolve a common problem of Google Chrome which is - Adobe flash crashes

With its awesomely enormous size, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 can at times be difficult to navigate when you only have one hand free—especially if you have really small hands.

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.

A blue hedgehog runs at high-speed through fantasy environments collecting rings. Sounds a bit loony, but I'm of course taking about the Sonic adventure series that was made popular on the Sega Genesis.

If you have a load of dusty Game Boy Advance games you've been itching to play, load them onto your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for instant gaming anywhere—anytime!

Ditching Sense (HTC's stock Android Launcher) is a great way to breathe new stock-like life into your HTC One smartphone without rooting, but even that has its limitations. If you really want the full Google experience, albeit with some extras, CyanogenMod has always been the go-to ROM. In effect, this will give you an experience similar to the Google Nexus or the new HTC One Google Edition.

About a year ago, Abode decided to discontinue support for Flash on the Android platform. With its security concerns, it's understandable why some people would want to disable Flash on their devices, but there are still some things you can't do without it. Amazon Instant Videos is one thing you can't do, giving you nothing but a "Flash Player is not installed" warning.

As you may have noticed, many of our tutorials cover topics that require you to have root access. When your phone is rooted, backing up apps doesn't require you to connect to your computer, and installing custom ROMs lets you get more useful settings. Rooting also lets you get rid of the Sense-style menus and status bar, and even upgrade to a newer version of Android.

In this video I show you how to repair the cable of your badly damaged headphones and basically give them another chance.

I know I can't be the only person whose socks go missing in a shroud of mystery, but I'm determined to catch the sock-thieving gnomes in the act.

If your facebook account was hacked by someone and you really want it back this tutorial would help you get it back.

For this project, I was inspired by the as-yet-to-be-released movie called The Prototype when making this mask. Paper strips and a mix of water and flour is the main things you'll need to make this Prototype-like mask. For the eyes, I used old halogen bulbs and inside them I put LEDs connected to a battery with switch.

During a contest in 2010 regarding which country Justin Bieber should visit next on his tour, North Korea won by a landslide. Unfortunately, he never went, and that's partly because nobody in the internet-less dictatorship probably voted. Instead, the contest was rigged by 4chan members and a few playful bots that voted for NK hundreds of thousands of times.

Some of my favorite games include Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Super Punch Out, and Super Metroid. If you still haven't caught on, I'm a big Super Nintendo fan. Growing up in the '90s meant spending Saturday mornings engulfed in front on my TV with the good old SNES running hard.

Whether you're pressed against your bedroom window, hidden deep inside your linen closet, or lounging on the rooftop, finding that area of maximum Internet speed around your house is usually just trial and error.

It starts innocently enough, with a nosy friend hovering over your shoulder to see what you're texting. Somehow, that doesn't satiate their inexplicable thirst for curiosity, so the first chance they get, they're rummaging through all of your super private photos—even though you told them not to.