Highlight Text And Dim Other Page Elements To Read Better [Extension]

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Today’s modern webpages are full of clutter; obtrusive elements such as ads, pop ups, social media plugins, images etc., make it difficult to concentrate on the actual content. This often happens when reading online articles on blogs and browsing social media sites that often carry banner advertisements and the like (Facebook, anyone?). Previously, we’ve highlighted different ways to steer-clear of distracting webpage elements such as InstRead or Print-Friendly, but Fokus is a handy extension and add-on for Chrome and Firefox that makes it simpler that ever. It does this by dimming the whole webpage sans the highlighted portion specified by the user. Read More

Password Recovery: When Did I Create My Google Account?

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I’m not going to boast about how I think of great complicated passwords for my email account, Facebook, Twitter, and the entrance to my secret lab. I am able to remember them easilt but the same can’t be said for everyone and every time I change my password (which I do regularly because security) I do struggle to recall it the first few days. But remembering passwords isn’t easy for everyone and recovering a Google Account password involves a question that one is highly unlikely to remember the answer to; when did you create your Google account? I found this out a few weeks ago when my dad who is aging well but with a poor memory forgot the password to his Gmail account. I had helped him set it up but Gmail wouldn’t let me recover it using the secondary email address. If you’ve had the unfortunate luck of forgetting your Gmail password and you need to know when you created your account, here’s two quick ways to find it. Read More

Here’s How You Can Get Facebook’s Flat UI Version For Android

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Back in October 2013, Facebook announced it would be offering a new ‘Facebook Alpha program’ for Android users who want to test out fresh features before they hit the stable release. Facebook has been testing a redesigned version of the Android app that looks similar to its iOS variant, offers a completely new flat UI and many changes under the hood, and brings new tabbed navigation to the table. The flat UI variant hasn’t hit the stable channel yet, and although the social network giant will begin rolling it out in the coming days, you can test it on your device right now by joining the Facebook Alpha program. In this guide, we’ll show you how. Read on! Read More

Hide/Unhide Desktop Icons On OS X With Terminal Command

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I usually keep critical files on my desktop, as many of us do, because it reminds me of what work I need to finish as soon as I boot my system up. However,  I would take all my files and either put them on my desktop or create a random folder and drag it away from view when I wanted some clean space for taking a screenshot. It was an inelegant solution, but I didn't know that I had a problem on my hands. Along comes a solution for a problem I didn't know I had. Sure there are auto organization tools like Hazel or hotkey solutions like Clean Slate but you have to admit, nothing beats the comfort of the terminal; bringing the entire process down to a single line of code. Read More

Google Keep Update: Read Text In Images, List Settings, Trash Can For Notes

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Google Keep received an update and brought three noteworthy features to the note taking app and a UI tweak. The first and possibly our personal favorite of the new feature is the transcribe text option. When your note consists of only a picture, such as that of a book, you can have Google Keep transcribe the text for you. This is standard OCR but it is very useful for those of us who take pictures of written instructions. Second; Google Keep has introduced a trash bin for notes and lists that you delete, Once a note is deleted, it stays in the trash bin for 7 days before being deleted permanently. You can manually empty the trash any time you want. Third we have list settings that let you decide where the next item in a list goes (relative to the last one you just added) and where checked items should be shown. These features are available on both the web and the Android app. The update is being rolled out slowly but here’s how each of the features work. Read More

HoverChat Is A Messaging App For Android With Facebook Like Floating Bubbles

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Chat bubbles introduced by Facebook have become quite popular and not because they look nice, which they do, but because they are incredibly functional as far as on-screen notifications go. Because of their popularity, lots of messaging and chat apps have incorporated similar floating bubbles. HoverChat is one such messaging app that does chat bubbles extremely well. When you receive a new message, a bubble appears on your home screen. You can tap it and view the message in a small floating window without having to switch to the app itself and reply to the message. The floating window can be moved to any one of the screen edges. Read More

Swipe Left, Right, Or From The Bottom To Access Apps & Contacts – Snype

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One of the best things I like about Android is how awesome it is at handling multiple tasks. Naturally when it comes to multitasking, it is important to have instant access to apps and  Snype – App & Contact Launcher is an extremely powerful tool for multitasking.  Snype does for Android what apps like Sidebar Plus have been doing for so long for Google’s mobile OS. Using Snype, you can simply access any app or contact on your phone any time over any other task you might be doing. Its integrated, super fast search feature allows you to quickly find contact and apps by simply typing a few letters of the word. But more than that is interesting is the fact that you can activate Snype in a multitude of ways. Read More

Add A Middle-Click Context Menu For Accessing Folders On Windows

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The middle mouse click in your browser performs two very useful functions; it lets you open a link in a new tab and it closes tabs when you click on them. Unfortunately, the middle click button does nothing on the desktop. FoldersPopUp is a little Windows utility that not only puts the middle mouse button to excellent use but also makes it very easy to open folders. This utility brings up a context menu when you middle click with your mouse. The menu has options for quickly accessing the Desktop, Documents, Pictures, My Computer, Network Neighborhood, Control Panel, and Recycle bin folders and your C drive, Windows folder, and Program files.  You can add any folder you like if the presets aren't enough. If you rely solely on a touchpad, you can use FoldersPopUp’s customizable shortcut keys instead. Read More

Disable And Manage Photo Tagging On Twitter

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Twitter is slowly, and steadily adding Facebook-like features and the latest feature the micro blogging site announced was the ability to tag photos. At the same time, Twitter announced that users could now send up to four photos in a single tweet. While the increased number of photos that can be tweeted at a time are a reason to rejoice, anyone who has been tagged in a photo on Facebook will have natural concerns on what this new feature means for their privacy and if it can be turned off. The good news is that the new feature comes with privacy options to control who can tag you. The feature can be disabled altogether to prevent spammers and users you do not know from tagging you, or it can be limited to just the people who you follow. Read More

Create Facebook Chat Groups And Forward Messages On Your iPhone

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Facebook is a social network, an all-consuming hole, the cause for a lot of drama, and possibly an excellent tool in helping you make poor relationship decisions when you are drunk. It is also one of the best ways to keep in touch with what happens in the lives of friends and family members. Despite the negativity that some would associate it with it, Facebook is a great communication tool because everyone is on Facebook, everyone. One very popular Facebook feature is chat and such is its popularity that Facebook has a dedicated Messenger app for your smartphone. Facebook released a new version of its Messenger app a few days ago and it greatly improves the chatting experience for  iPhone users. Users can now create groups and forward messages as well as pictures received from one friend to the other. Read More

Preview Images And Change EXIF Data With Photo Data Explorer

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Ever since cameras went digital we've been freed from almost all limitations to how many pictures we can take. The restrictions that came with the camera reel and the cost of having it developed are all gone leaving us free to take amazing pictures or lots of bathroom selfies. One can capture a ton of pictures and save them in a tiny memory card or thumb drive that can easily slip into their pocket. But removing the cap on the number of pictures we can take wasn't all that digital photography did; it gave users the ability to  embed different types of information into the images, such as the date and time when the photos were taken, GPS coordinates for Geo tagging, camera make and model info, shutter settings, exposure time and whatnot. This information is called EXIF data and can be viewed using various image viewers. Photo Data Explorer is one such Windows tool that lets you access the EXIF data stored inside of photos.

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Limit Open Tabs In Chrome & Kill Additional Ones With xTab

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Google Chrome is widely regarded as the best web browser in the world but tab management is often deemed as a troublesome area of Chrome because the more tabs you open the smaller the tab at the top gets until it comes to a point where you cannot see so much as the first letter of the page title. Firefox deals with this be restricting how small the size of the tab can get. Unfortunately you have to click through to see all your tabs and that can be inconvenient. Now one way to deal with this is to consciously manage tabs better so that you don't end up with clutter but if you've tried and failed with this old self-restraint route, you can instead use an extension to help you manage browsing.  xTab is a Chrome extension that lets you put a maximum limit on the number of open tabs, and automatically starts closing them when you hit that number. Read More

7 Lesser Known But Remarkable Muzei Live Wallpaper Extensions

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Not too long ago, we brought to you a different and remarkable wallpaper app for Android called Muzei. Essentially, the app is a live wallpaper that picks images from various configurable sources with customizable options that make it a charm to use, refreshing backgrounds on your smartphone or tablet at regular intervals, all packaged in a polished, elegant interface. The uniqueness of Muzei stems from the fact that it employs an open source library whereby allowing third-party developers to create “extensions” for Muzei that add many more sources to pick wallpapers from. The Google Play Store is quite riddled with them right now, and hence, what follows is a collection of some of the relatively-unknown yet wonderful extensions for Muzei Live Wallpaper for Android. Read More

15 Great Mac OS X Terminal Commands That You Might Not Know

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The DOS prompt is the last remnant of the primordial era of computing, existing mostly for nostalgia’s sake. Unless you have been computing since the 90’s (or earlier) you have almost no reason to understand the Command Prompt, because why would anyone? It is a dreary spectacle. I like beginning my posts with a little Windows bashing; it helps illustrate how OS X's Terminal is still relevant and grows in power with each iteration. We have already discussed how you can disable the dashboard and notification center and how to remove drop shadows from screenshots, but that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If you learn how to wield this power, you can unlock abilities you didn't know existed. Read More

Coursera & Its Library Of Free Online Video Classes Come To Android

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Whether you’re headed to school, college or university, you will probably be looking for the most effective ways to get ready for your new schedules and courses. If you have an Android device, then you already own an efficient tool to learn with ease and without spending a dime, because Coursera, the world’s most popular online education provider, has released their Android app on the Google Play Store. Coursera for Android has come to Google’s mobile OS three months after it debuted on iOS, and just like its iOS counterpart, the Android variant will let you access and stream course videos anywhere and anytime. Read More

Hands-On With Microsoft Office For iPad [Review]

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Microsoft took its sweet time with getting up to speed with technology from its competitors, and especially, for the Redmond company to admit that a vast majority of Microsoft product users also enjoy Apple’s highly successful iPad. In fact, Microsoft seems to have taken so long to embrace this small little reality that a lot of well-built alternatives to Microsoft’s products are available over at the iTunes App Store that function perhaps better than their original inspirations. Microsoft Office has been one such classic example for quite some time. There are several high-quality alternatives available for the iPad that perhaps let you do more than the original office suite, and even Apple’s iWork suite can handle all such tasks just fine. Now, just yesterday, Microsoft has finally unveiled Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iPad, but with a catch. Nevertheless, we go hands on, just after the jump. Read More

Timehop Brings Its Social Media & Photo Time Machine App To Android

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The great thing about social media services like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is that you can always go back in time and see what you posted about something on a particular day. It may not sound useful or productive at all, but it feels pretty cool to have instant access to past memories at any time. Of course, you can't possibly remember everything. Timehop aims to ensure you'd never need to. A year ago, the company released an iOS app that lets people ‘go back in the past’ to view their posts on popular social networks for the current day. The far-famed Timehop app has now finally landed on the Google Play Store for Android devices. Read More

How To Root The International Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F)

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Samsung’s latest flagship in its Galaxy S line, the S5, is one of the hottest smartphones announced this year. If you’re all set to buy the phone as soon as it hits shelves in many markets within weeks, but aren’t sure about whether to make the jump or not due to concerns about having root access on the device, worry no more! XDA Senior Recognized Developer Chainfire has done it again, rooting the international variant of the Galaxy S5 before even its release, just has he has done multiple times in the past with the previous flagships phones. In what follows, we’ll guide you through the process of rooting the S5 (SM-G900F) using his tried and tested CF-Auto-Root method. Read More

Link Bubble For Android Opens In-App Links In The Background Within Floating Pop-ups

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A 2012 study conducted by Google cited that more and more people are beginning to browse the web on their mobile devices. Smartphone and tablet usage has escalated significantly in the past few years, and mobile web browsers have become one of the most frequently used software. Though, they aren't they only way users interact with the web on mobile devices. The new and innovative app Link Bubble from Australian developer Chris Lacy aims to streamline your entire mobile web browsing experience by making it easier to handle web links that you come across in any app. Read More