Gadget Hacks: Page 254

Angry Birds may have lost its first place grip in the iTunes App Store, but it still reigns supreme on the NOOK. And starting today, for a limited time, Angry Birds addicts with a NOOK Color can visit any Barnes & Noble retail location to unlock the free playable character, Mighty Eagle.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Atomic Web as the best web browser for iOS devices, and while I believe it is a superior option, Atomic Web is not the only alternative web browser you can use on your iOS device. There are three more—Dual Browser, iCabMobile, and iSwifter—that are all great options because of their unique features. Let's check them out.

Six months ago, 1.3 million registered users of Gawker Media had their passwords compromised when the site was hacked by Gnosis. The passwords were encrypted, but 188,279 of them were decoded and made publicly available for all to see. Just three weeks ago, Sony Pictures was hacked by LulzSec, with 1 million passwords taken and 40,000 made publicly available. Comparing the two data sets, Troy Hunt found 88 accounts on both sites that used the same email address, and of those accounts, 67% used...

This is a short video showing you how to create a DIY solar powered cell phone. All materials are easily accessible and the process should be quite simple for most people.

No matter if you've used one or not, you've got to admit that 3D printers are pretty darn awesome, especially the self-replicating ones that extrude molten plastic and the shoebox-sized versions that use mesmerizing stereolithography to build tiny objects layer by layer. But what's even cooler? A solar-powered printer that uses the sun's energy to melt sand and make 3D objects out of glass.

Smartphones are impressive devices, to say the least. A smartphone user can consume TV, music & movies; communicate via streaming video; check the weather; record audio; take professional quality video footage; snap high quality photos… The list just continues to grow and grow. With all of these incredible capabilities, why not add surveillance?

Always falling asleep behind the wheel? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that there are over 56,000 sleep-related accidents each year, resulting in 40,000 injuries and 1,550 deaths annually in the United States. Don't want to be a statistic? Then you may want to try out ASP Technology's mobile application which aims to keep you awake when you're fatigued on the road.

When the New York Times paywall first went up, there was a whole lot of balking. The idea seemed egregious to most, and the digerati's overwhelming conclusion was that the system would fail. But interestingly enough, there is speculation that the NYT is actually experiencing an increase in their print subscriptions, which according to Business Insider founder Henry Blodgett, is due to users feeling less guilt over buying the print media if, after all, the digital version is no longer free.

I have been wanting to share this great menubar app for a long time now (2+ years), but I really didn't know where. Just looking at Mac How-To World made me think to post it here.

Meet DareDroid: sexy nurse, geek couture and mobile bartender, engineered into an all-in-one technologically advanced garment. Created by fashion designer Anouk Wipprecht, hacker Marius Kintel, and sculptor Jane Tingley, the team calls themselves the Modern Nomads (MoNo), and their series of garments fall into Wipprecht's invented family of "Pseudomorphs". Pseudomorphs are  tech-couture pieces that transform into fluid displays—which is exactly what DareDroid does.

As a follow up to my article 10 Time Saving Menu Bar Applications for the Mac, this video covers Butler, one of my favorite menu bar applications. Produced by ManyTricks.com, Butler can help you quickly launch applications, websites, and other items on your Mac. It also includes a web search feature, a clipboard manager, a hot key launcher, and much more.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about why I think streaming music services like Rdio.com are better than Apple's iTunes Music Store. This week, I follow up with a how-to about Rdio for Mac, a desktop music player that streams music from your Rdio.com account. Even though Apple is introducing new iTunes features, I think you will find Rdio for Mac a much more affordable option—especially if you like to listen to new music on a weekly, or even daily basis.

Trying to install an app on your Android smartphone that you got somewhere other than the Android market? You'll need to side load it. Watch this video to learn how to side load third party Android apps downloaded on your mobile device.

Getting a phone call should be music to your ears- no matter who is on the other end. This video will show you how to change the ringtone and notification sound on your Android device. Make your phone your own.

Concerned about unwanted eyes setting upon the information in your Android phone? This video will show you how to turn on the screen lock feature of your Android smartphone. Keep the information on your Android device to yourself with a lock screen.

Check out this video if you are interested in learning about improving your jailbroken iPhone's wireless signal reception. This video explains Wifi booster, an app available in Cydia, which removes Apple's barrier against weak wireless signals, giving you more range.

You're sitting in your favorite café enjoying a hot cup of joe, then you open up your laptop or turn on your tablet computer to get to work, but as always you get sidetracked and head straight for Facebook. Someone just tagged you in a photo, so you check it out, then you see it out of the corner of your eye—your Facebook picture digitally displayed on the wall in a nice, neat digital photo frame.

You're in a new city and you want to explore—what mobile app is best? If you want to know what club is hopping that night, use SceneTap. If you want to know if any friends are at a nearby get-together, use Foursquare. If you want to know what restaurant is best, try Yelp. But if you're looking to get a real feel for the city, skip the more touristy destinations and take to the streets—discover where some great graffiti is located or where the best view of the city is with the Trover iPhone...

Watch this video to learn how to use Tweetbot and Flipboard. Tweetbot is great for organizing lists in Twitter. Then, you can use Flipboard to create a virtual magazine of your interests. Follow your passions on twitter with these two excellent apps, Tweetbot and Flipboard.

If you want to restore your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, watch this video to learn how to downgrade your iOS 5 beta iDevice to iOS 4.3.3. You've seen what you wanted to see from the iOS 5 beta, now it's time to get back to a real OS.

Liked out? It is possible to "Like" too much. If you've gone too far expressing your enthusiasm for Facebook fan pages, watch this video to learn how to delete, or unlike, Facebook pages. Manage your Facebook profile like a pro.

Don't like the idea that Facebook could recognize your face in a friend's photo and suggest they tag you? Take control of your privacy and learn how to disable Facebook's facial recognition feature for photos. You should know when you're going to be tagged in a photo.

Annoyed by being taken to theater mode when viewing photos on Facebook? There's a way to get out of that lightbox that keeps you from interacting with photos. Watch this video to learn 4 techniques for avoiding Facebook theater mode.

You need an app to be competitive, but you don't know any code. Don't let that stop you. Watch this video and learn about buzztouch a website that will make your app for you. Expand your presence with an app in the App Store or Android Market.

Using Android apps like N64oid, Wiimote Controller, and Bluetooth OnOff, you can configure your Dropad A8 to play N64 games using a Wiimote at the controller. Watch this video to see how it works. Hook up your Android version 2.3.1 Dropad A8 tablet with a bluetooth dongle and start gaming.

You can use your iPhone as a Wi-Fi hotspot to tether your Asus Transformer to it. Watch this video to learn how to set up wireless tethering on your jailbroken iPhone, and then surf the web with your Asus Transformer tablet.

Take your Motorola Xoom Android gaming experience to the next level. Watch this video and follow these instructions to learn how to set up an Xbox 360 controller to work with your tablet wirelessly. Play all of your favorite emulator games.

Get more out of your Motorola Xoom Android tablet. Hook up a PS3 controller and enjoy all the games you can play with emulators on your tablet. Follow these instructions to make your Motorola Xoom Android a superior gaming machine by hooking up a PS3 controller.

Speech recognition software made it easy to search Google on your smartphone, and Google Goggles made it easy to find answers from camera snapshots on your device. But now Google's bringing similar technology straight to your desktop, and with faster results—faster than Google Instant.

Check out this video to learn how to jailbreak iOS 5 beta on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. This is a tethered jailbreak using Redsn0w. Get access to Cydia on your Apple iDevice. You can download IPSWs here.

Do you know how you are perceived by your peers? In real life and online?

Even with Apple's forthcoming iOS 5 updates to its default camera application, those upcoming features can't match what already exists in Global Delight's Camera Plus Pro. For $1.99, Camera Plus Pro provides users with over 100 tools for every part of the picture taking process, including video recording. It works with all versions of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad 2 with iOS 4.1 or the later update. Let's examine what it can do, and why you will want to replace Apple's default camera with...

Check out this video guide to WiFiFoFum, an app available through Cydia that will extend the WiFi range of your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. If you have a jailbroken iDevice and you want to be able to use it in more places, watch this video.

Watch this video to learn how to use a hack to make your iPad capable of making and receiving phone calls. With a jailbroken iPad you can have the biggest iPhone on the planet. Check out this guide to some really cool Cydia apps.

As I was listening to Apple's WWDC conference today, what ran through my mind the most is if there were ever a time to switch to the world of Apple computing now is it. Today's WWDC keynote presentation was chock-full of new and updated iOS mobile software—too much to cover in this one article. But the most "new thing" coming from Apple this Fall is iCloud, a file sharing and streaming service that requires no wired connections.

It's not listed as one of the features on the updated Nook e-reader, but there is a web browser hidden inside Barnes & Noble's newest device, you just need to know how to access it. The eBook Reader shows the clandestine web browser on the Simple Touch Reader in the video below, and it's fairly easy to access. Just open up the Nook's search function, type a URL into the search bar and hit the go button. It's that simple.

It seems like nowadays, whenever Facebook rolls out a new feature, it's immediately controversial. Social Ads put your name and face in the spotlight, Instant Personalization shared your information with partner sites, third-party apps were allowed to access your home address and phone number, and now Tag Suggestions implement facial recognition software to automatically identify your friends in uploaded photos. Most are calling it problematic or creepy, some insinuate CIA involvement, and it...

How do you fare in a phone conversation? Are you a motormouth or are you constantly dominated by the other person? Or are you both eager to get it all out? If you have an iPhone, there's an application that will reveal just who is the better chatter and which of you is more soft spoken.

Whenever I listen to music on my iPhone while walking, the song skips to the next track from the movement. Little did I know, there's a quick fix in settings. Check it out.

Firesheep caused quite a stir when it was released last October, giving both hackers and non-hackers instant access to people's account information when on a public Wi-Fi connection. When logged into an insecure website on the same network as someone with Firesheep, you're giving them access to the cookies that keep you logged in. This is called session hijacking, and grants them easy access to your accounts, like Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. Now, there's an even easier way to do this—a mobile...