How To

How to display the Galaxy S3 desk home screen sans dock

The Samsung Galaxy S3 (and Note 2) has a neat feature when docked to a Samsung multimedia dock; it can automatically display the desk home screen. The desk home screen is a useful display with a clock, calendar, local weather and multimedia shortcuts. It's a nice companion display when you're charging your S3 at your desk. However, you don't necessarily need a dock to use the desk home screen.

If you're using a third-party smartphone stand with a separate charger, you can still make use of the desk home screen.

To use the desk home screen, … Read more

Shipoopi adds any app to your lock screen on Android 4.2

With lock screen widgets having been introduced in Android 4.2, developers have been looking for ways to take advantage of the new feature in creative ways. Earlier this week a developer e-mailed me with an introduction to his app, Shipoopi, which allows Android users to add a shortcut to any app to the lock screen of a device.

Admittedly, the name of his app, Shipoopi, has nothing to do with what the app actual does, according to Jonathan Dharmaraj, the developer. The simple app, with a name inspired by a "Family Guy" episode (where Peter sings the … Read more

Get started with Mailbox for iOS

Mailbox, a new e-mail client for the iPhone, has launched and it takes a new approach to managing your Inbox. Mailbox wants you to ditch the traditional labels method implemented by Gmail users everywhere. Instead, according to Mailbox, you should be able to snooze and postpone e-mails in your Inbox to take action on them at a later time. The new approach takes some reprogramming of your brain, but it's one some users will find better suited for them. 

Get in line!

To accommodate the huge demand and make sure the system will stay running smoothly for all … Read more

Five usability tips for Microsoft's Surface RT

Most of the time, if something tries to be good at two things it ends up being not-so-good at either one.

Microsoft's Surface can be used like a laptop or like a touch-screen tablet. You can also switch between the Metro touch interface and the conventional Windows desktop, which was designed with a hardware keyboard in mind.

One of the downsides of the Surface as a tablet is Metro's learning curve. Pinching, swiping, and tapping are all part of opening apps, files, and settings in Metro. Unfortunately, it isn't always clear where an application's settings are … Read more

Trick your lazy brain into being more productive

Be honest with yourself. How often do you do only one thing at a time?

Do you check e-mail on your phone during meetings? Do you suddenly find yourself checking Facebook and Twitter instead of catching up on work?

Even now, while I try my hardest to write this piece by giving the task my full attention, my brain begs me to check Facebook, refresh my inbox, check my Twitter @mentions, and reply to the text message I don't really want to answer anyhow.

How your brain works against you

Though some are confident they are perfectly good multitaskers, … Read more

Tweak these settings to boost the battery life on your Windows phone

It doesn't take much searching on Google to find out that the battery life on a couple of the top-of-the-line Windows Phones -- the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X -- are less than spectacular. Forums are rampant with angry user complaints about how quickly their phones are draining, turning their phones into useless bricks by each day's end.

But WP8 isn't alone -- mediocre battery life is an issue that plagues many phones. Remember when users freaked out about the iPhone 4S' battery life? (We had a fix for that, too.)

Decreasing brightness … Read more

How to screen unwanted calls on iPhones and Android phones

Robocalling telemarketers ignored the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call Registry in record numbers in fiscal year 2012. According to the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for FY 2012 (PDF), the agency received 3,840,502 consumer complaints about unwanted telemarketing calls in the period, up substantially from the 2,273,516 complaints it fielded in fiscal year 2011.

Telemarketing robocalls are reaching epidemic proportions: complaints to the FTC about robocalls increased from just under 150,000 in October 2011 to 216,338 in March 2012 and remain near that level: 201,699 robocall complaints … Read more

How to print a page from a magazine app

I'm a magazine junkie. And these days I tend to read a lot of mags on my iPad, especially now that I can get most of my favorite periodicals (Men's Health, Entertainment Weekly, Wired, etc.) in tablet form.

Just one problem: Few, if any, magazine apps let you print. What's the big deal about that? Well, suppose you're perusing the digital pages of Bon Appetit and want a hard copy of one of the recipes? Or you've found a cool project in Family Handyman and need a shopping list to take to the hardware store? … Read more

This easy hack adds wireless charging to Samsung Galaxy S3

Although wireless charging is creeping into the market (and already evolving), the technology is still absent in some of the most popular phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Initially, Samsung did mention a wireless charging kit that would be released following the launch of its flagship phone. But promises, promises -- Samsung's aftermarket kit never came to fruition.

Alas, the Internet has moved on, tech blogs are abuzz with rumors of wireless charging coming for the much-anticipated Galaxy S4.

Well, if you have an S3, and you're tired of waiting for the unicorn charging kit, there is a … Read more