How-To Geek Feature Articles

Welcome to Android: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started With Android

Chris Hoffman — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:40:47 +0000

So you’ve just picked up your first Android phone, or perhaps you have an Android phone that you don’t take full advantage of because that’s the only type of low-end phone your carrier is offering these days. This guide will help you understand and adapt to life with an Android.

Note that some parts of your phone will probably look different from the screenshots we took here, which were taken on a Nexus 4 running Google’s default stock Android environment. Devices like the Samsung Galaxy S series have a variety of interface changes made by the phone’s manufacturer.

How Carriers and Manufacturers Make Your Android Phone’s Software Worse

Chris Hoffman — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:40:29 +0000

Android’s openness is a big reason for its success, but cellular carriers and phone manufacturers often use this openness to make the experience worse for its users. Android’s openness gives carriers and device manufacturers the freedom to do bad things.

The Android platform is successful because carriers and manufacturers are free to produce a wide variety of different devices and customize their software. However, this is also the cause of Android’s biggest problems.

How to Migrate Your Google Account to a New One

Jason Fitzpatrick — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:04 +0000

Whether you’ve outgrown your college era email address and you want a professional one, or you want to change your firstname.maiden account to firstname.marriedname one, we’ve got you covered with a start-to-finish Google migration guide.

Bill Shock: How to Avoid $22,000 or More in International Roaming Fees

Chris Hoffman — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:40:27 +0000

Roaming data can cost as much as 300 times the price of domestic data, leading to bill shock. Some of the more extreme examples of roaming bills have been for tens of thousands of dollars.

Carriers have to negotiate roaming contrasts amongst each other, and they’re generally free to add as much markup as they like when negotiating roaming rates. If you’re travelling with a smartphone, beware of roaming fees.

Build a $35 Media Center with Raspbmc and Raspberry Pi, Redux

Jason Fitzpatrick — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:34:11 +0000

Last year we showed you how to turn the Raspberry Pi into a silent, snappy, and all around awesome media center. A lot has changed since then; we’re back with an updated guide packed with more tips, tricks, and goodies than you can shake a stick at.

Everything You Need To Know About the Blue Screen of Death

Chris Hoffman — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:40:14 +0000

The blue screen of death — or BSOD — is always an unwelcome sight. BSODs appear when Microsoft Windows encounters a critical error it can’t recover from, requiring a reboot and possibly resulting in lost work.

A blue screen of death is the worst type of error a computer can experience, unlike an application crash, which doesn’t bring down the whole system. A BSOD is the result of low-level software crashing — or faulty hardware.

How to Add Film Grain to Your Digital Photos

Jason Fitzpatrick — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:34:09 +0000

One of the elements of film-based photography lost with the transition to digital photography is the presence of film grain. If you want to recapture the effect with your modern digital rig, read on as we show you how.

How to Get Rid of the Modern Environment on a Windows 8 PC

Chris Hoffman — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:40:31 +0000

So you’re using Windows 8 on a desktop or laptop. Microsoft goes out of their way to make this more awkward, scattering the tweaks you need to turn Windows 8 into a serviceable desktop operating system all over the OS.

We’re gathering together all the tips you’ll need to reduce the annoyances of Windows 8 when you’re using it on a traditional desktop or laptop without touch, making this conversion as easy as possible.

How Firefox Is Integrating With Facebook and Other Social Networks

Chris Hoffman — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:04:27 +0000

You may not have noticed, but Firefox now includes a “Social API” that allows Facebook and other social networks to integrate with your browser. Firefox is providing Facebook a way to integrate with your browser and stay with you everywhere on the web.

These features are a bit reminiscent of Flock, a Firefox-derived “social browser” that failed to gain traction a few years ago. This time, the features are baked into Firefox and are optional — you won’t see them unless you install a social provider.

Forget Windows Media Center: Use a Free Linux-Based Media Center System

Chris Hoffman — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:40:57 +0000

Windows 8 no longer comes with Windows Media Center. To get it, you’ll need to purchase both the Pro Pack and Media Center Pack upgrades from Microsoft for a total of $110. Consider using a free, Linux-based media center system instead.

Once you have paid all this money, you’ll just have the old version of Windows Media Center without any improvements. Microsoft will probably discontinue Windows Media Center eventually, anyway, as they’re no longer focused on it.