Gadget Hacks: Page 272

There are so many different devices today that have Wi-Fi capabilities--notebooks, handheld gaming devices, tablets, and more. Why not share some of the 3G and 4G internet that streams into your Motorola Droid 3 with the other electronics you carry with you? You can turn your Verizon Wireless Droid 3 smartphone into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot using the mobile hotspot menu on the android phone.

QR codes allow you to quickly and easily store and retrieve data within a single image. Much like barcodes at grocery stores, QR codes are images that can be scanned to discover data, such as an online website URL. Additionally, they can also be created by inputting text data into a QR code generator. Try scanning some of the QR codes in this video with an app on your phone or tablet to see how they work!

In this two part segment, we learn how to properly overclock the HP TouchPad. One of the few complaints about the tablet was the occasional slow reaction time of the processor, but now you can speed up your TouchPad for a faster webOS. This guide walks you through everything from downloading Novacom drivers to inputting the Konami code.

The HP App Catalog features thousands of apps ripe for downloading and installation on HP's webOS tablet--the TouchPad. Take a look at this guide to find out how to search for apps using HP's version of the app store. The walkthrough will even teach you how to install them, so get ready for a few rounds of Angry Birds!

You may not know him by name, but Eric Leebow is the man we can all thank for inventing social networking. At least, that's what he thinks.

The Nokia N900 smartphone comes with a wide variety of apps including e-mail, a browser, and more. Browsing, opening, and switching between these apps is an easy task when you know the right gestures and taps to make on phone's screen.

Power the clocks at your home with the sun! With a solar cell that costs around $5, you can convert a clock to solar power and avoid buying batteries or running up the electric bill. Instead, connect a rechargable battery to the solar panel with a few wires and some adhesive and soon you'll have enough energy to power your clock for as long as it lasts.

Greasemonkey scripts allow Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome to be augmented in powerful ways. Take these two Greasemonkey scripts will help add information to your favicons when using Google Calendar and Gmail - now you can see the current date and unread message counts on their respective favicons.

Make a bionic hearing spy device by hacking a megaphone! Kipkay brings you this hack video on how to use a megaphone to spy on people. You can pull in conversations up to 100 feet away! Check out Kipkay hiding in a tree, spying on people. It also works through walls. That's how to make a bionic hearing spy device!

Build your very own Trek-style Blu-Ray laser phaser with this hacker's how-to video from Kip Kay of Make Magazine. To replicate this hack at home, you'll need the following materials: (1) a PS3 Blu-Ray laser assembly (which can be had on eBay for roughly $45), (2) an original series-style Star Trek phaser gun (a good quality replica of which can be found for roughly $30), (3) a 9-volt battery, (4) a 9-volt battery snap, (5) a 150 Ohm resistor, and (5) a new switch to replace the phaser trigger....

Make a cool confetti cannon that's great for concerts, parties and special events! Kipkay demonstrates how to hack together this high powered cannon. Confetti bombs are super fun, pay attention to learn how to make your own confetti cannon.

If you own or have access to an auto-ranging or manual-ranging multimeter you can measure several different aspects of circuits, resistors, and the like. For example, you can determine the resistance, voltage, continuity, and current with the multimeter to help you determine the precision of a resistor. This guide will help you learn how to use a multimeter to perform these tasks.

BlackBerry makes research in motion is planning for its newer model of smart phones expected next year to run application design for Google Inc's Android operating system,a Bloomberg report said,citing people familiar with the plan.

In a recent announcement, Hewlett-Packard announced that they're considering spinning off their PC hardware business, but even more recent was the decision to completely off webOS devices. Though they aren't eradicating the once popular Palm platform altogether, they are liquidating all of their HP branded smartphones and tablets in a fire sale, including the Pixi, Pre and Veer phones and TouchPad tablet, which is less than two months old.

Mozilla is scheduled to release their updated Firefox browser on Tuesday, bringing the popular web browser up to version 6. Lately, the Mozilla team has been releasing newer versions of Firefox without a slew of new features, focusing on fixing bugs and getting the improved product out as quickly as possible, in order to compete more rapidly with other browsers like Google Chrome.

If you're the proud owner of a Canon EOS DSLR, then you'll be glad to know that you no longer have to use EOS Utility on your computer to enable remote live view shooting with your camera. Now, all you need is your Android equipped smartphone (sorry iPhone users) and a new mobile app called DSLR Controller from Chainfire.

Sometimes an iDevice is best used for idle, pointless fun. Today's segment of Making Art on Your iOS Deviceis a mixed bag of time-wasting cool effects and random, but useful art-making tools. Below, 10 apps for creating anything from erratic hand-shaken digital effects to your very own DIY Andy Warhol prints.

From the onset of the popularization of apps for the iDevice, users have experimented with creating original artwork on their iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch. And when famed British artist David Hockney christened the iDevice with his painterly digital drawings, the trend exploded even more.

If you liked the idea of cutting duplicate keys from a personal 3D printer, then you might be interested to know that researchers at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria have successfully designed the smallest 3D printer to date. The prototype device is smaller than a shoebox and weighs only 3.3 pounds.

More than a year ago, Twitter rolled out the first phase of its Promoted Tweets ad service, which consisted of selected tweets from advertising partners like Best Buy and Sony Pictures receiving "promoted" exposure in the search results pages on Twitter and in the trends lists. These ads were clearly labeled as such, so it was never any real bother to Twitter users.