consumer electronics

Tutorials

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  How to change the voice on your Android phone

  Changing the voice used for navigation on an Android phone from robotic to something more natural is easy, but buried in the menus.

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  How to jailbreak your iPhone

  Jailbreaking--the process that enables you to install unauthorized-by-Apple third-party apps and additional features on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad--has been in a largely dormant state since the release of iOS 6. But it's back again.

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  Bugs & Fixes: iPhone fails to pair to Bluetooth device

  Last September, a new thread in Apple Support Communities briefly noted that a user was unable to get his iPhone 5 to pair with other Bluetooth devices. As it turned out, he was not alone. Cut to the present: this thread is now 29 pages long, with se...

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  iPhone speaker not working? How to fix glitch in iOS 6.1

  The iOS 6.1 update fixes some bugs, but also introduces brand new ones, like potentially crippling your iPhone’s built-in speaker.

• Control your TV with your smartphone, tablet

  Using your smartphone or tablet to control your Tivo box is easy and offers a lot of flexibility in recording shows and channel surfing.

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  Digitize your music

  In my lifetime, music has been delivered on vinyl, cassettes, eight-track tapes, CDs, and audio DVDs. How do I listen to it now? Usually with a PC or a smartphone, and occasionally with an MP3 or other media player. I downloaded much of that music or...

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  iPhone 4 newbies: 10 essential tips and tricks

  You soon-to-be Verizon iPhone 4 customers can learn from the experiences of others. Take it from iPhone old-timers, you're about to enter a magical world of awesome apps running on the most simplistic, addictive device on the planet.

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  Keeping track of your iPhone data usage

  When users had unlimited data there was no reason to be concerned with how or where that data was being consumed. Since AT&T dropped unlimited data in favor of tiered data caps, though, users have struggled to understand data usage, and now AT&T is f...

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  Smartphone security: Keep your handset safe

  Once upon a time, a phone was just a phone: It simply made and received calls. The only security you worried about was if someone had picked up in the other room to listen in.

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  Overclock your smartphone, if you dare

  WARNING: Overclocking is not for the faint of heart. Do not attempt to hack your phone unless you understand and accept the risks of turning it into a useless "brick."

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  BlackBerry 6: Wipe Your Smartphone, Restore Factory Settings

  Many reasons exist for why you might want or need to "security wipe" a BlackBerry, or completely erase all personal data stored on your handheld: You got a new smartphone and plan to retire the older device; you're trading in your existing BlackBerry...

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  Root Google Android the easy way

  Google's Android operating system is riding a wave of popularity that has rapidly eclipsed Apple's iOS, and by the end of 2010 it's expected to overtake RIM's BlackBerry as the world's leading smartphone platform. However, despite the relative openne...

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  Build a kickass home theater for under $1000: a guide for students and gamers

  There's no way around it: Home theater gear is expensive; and while "The Ultimate Home Theater" sounds great, most people don't have enough spare cash to splurge on it; especially gamers (have you seen the price of games these days?) That's why we've...

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  Viral video: A DIY guide

  Now that YouTube officially supports 15-minute videos, Andy Warhol's dictum that we'd all be famous for 15 minutes has proven more than a little prescient. Viral video is nothing to scoff at. There's more than just page-view bragging rights at stake-...

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  How to restore an iPhone

  QUESTION I've bought a number of apps for my Apple iPhone via iTunes and the App Store. To avoid draining the battery by downloading apps directly to the handset, I'd like to connect my iPhone to my Windows XP PC using USB and transfer them over. How...