How-Tos

There's not much you can do in the way of customizing your iPhone's hardware. Unless you bedazzle it with Swarovski crystals, apply a GelaSkin, or give it a funky case, your iPhone will continue to stand undistinguished among its cookie-cutter siblings.

iFixit, a Web site that offers tools and parts to allow owners to repair, mod, and upgrade their iPhones, has another option for customizing your iPhone: unique rear panels.

After seeing iFixit's mirrored rear panel, I knew I had to have it. No, it's not a vanity thing -- I'm just tired of firing up the front-facing camera or squinting into the black rear-panel just to see if there's something stuck in my teeth.… Read more

Now that the Apple iPad finally includes a great camera, I suspect that many of you have taken beautiful photographs that you'd like to transfer back to your computer.

In this CNET How To, I'll walk you through Apple's prescribed methods for moving iPad photos over to your computer, including Photo Stream syncing via iCloud and syncing over USB.

If you're looking for other, more-advanced methods for transferring your iPad's photos, check out CNET's How To guides on apps such as Photo Transfer, Scotty, and Bump.

Otherwise, enjoy the above video and take a … Read more

After Apple's iOS 5.1.1 update was released last week, several users began reporting that their iOS devices had taken a significant battery life hit.

While the issues are not common to most users, it appears as though some iPhone and iPad owners found that the battery life they had come to expect was not apparent after updating to iOS 5.1.1 using Apple's over-the-air updating.

If you find your device is not getting the battery life it once was, a few troubleshooting tips provided by Apple Support Communities user sbaily4 could be of help.

First, … Read more

Still making time to catch your favorite shows on TV? Well, why not get rewarded for doing just that? Viggle is an Android app that lets you check in to the shows you're watching at that moment. It works sort of like Shazam does for music (and TV on iOS): the app listens to the TV and then compares character voices or other sounds within their database to get the show's name.

After checking in, you'll be rewarded with points. The point values differ from show to show, with featured shows granting more. … Read more

Whether it's for quick notes or lengthier conversations, at least one-third of smartphone owners (and many more teens) turn to SMS for day-to-day communication.

Less personal than a phone call, but more intimate than a Facebook post, a text message allows us to skip past any pleasantries and get our points across quickly.

If you find yourself launching the Messages app more often than the dialer, grab these tricks to make your (texting) life a little easier.

1. Enable character count. As Business Insider points out, every time you exceed 160 characters in a text message, your service provider … Read more

There are moments when an extra object in a picture can really throw off the balance. Maybe you're on vacation and taking a picture of a building, but street sign shadows or people stopping in front of you for their photo opportunities tend to ruin the shot. Instead of worrying about getting the perfect picture every single time, why not use an app that will help fix any flaws?

TouchRetouch is an app for Android and iOS that will allow you to remove unwanted objects from your photos. Those shadows on the ground? Gone. Poor … Read more

This is one of the quick and easy tips that makes iOS so remarkable. Yes, it's simple, but that small attention to detail makes all the difference in terms of user experiences.

Due to the iPhone's small screen real estate, compromises in how some information is displayed had to be made. A specific amount of characters are viewable when scrolling through the track listings on albums (in both landscape and portrait mode). When song titles are longer than the space available, an ellipses appears, indicating there is more to the title.

In a world where nearly every song … Read more

Podcasts are awesome-sauce. When I'm in the car or out for a run, there's nothing I like better than an episode of "This American Life," "Wiretap," or the amazing new radio-drama "The Truth."

Seriously, what's not to like? iTunes is home to zillions of podcasts -- there's literally something for everyone -- and they're all free.

There is, of course, one downside: podcasts consume space. Not a ton (the average episode of "This American Life" is about 27MB, the equivalent of three or four MP3 song files), … Read more

There are some very interesting wallpaper options and apps in the Google Play Store. However, this doesn't mean you'll find one that you never get tired of. Instead of settling for one wallpaper choice, why not check out Wallpaper Changer for Android.

With this app you can choose from a handful of your photos or even complete albums to show in the background of your Android's Home screen. If you're trying to think of which collection of photos to use, here are some ideas and how to get started:

You can … Read more