Google likes to give away free things to people who use its products—free books, free movies, free music, and a lot more. While you can find these offers in the Google Home app, once you’ve accepted a freebie, it’s attached to your Google account and easy to forget about if you don’t use it immediately. RELATED: How to Get Free Movie Rentals and Other Rewards from Your Chromecast or Google Home...

The battery life of cell phones just doesn’t seem to be as long as it used to be. If your Android device is dying faster than you would like, Wakelock Detector can help you to home in on apps you have installed that might be killing your battery or preventing the screen from switching off. You will, unfortunately, need to be rooted in order to use this app—there is no easy way to see this information without root access....

We’re five months into 2017 now, and we’ve already seen a lot of Android phones hit the scene. With seven(ish) months left in the year, however, we’re far from done seeing what manufacturers have been working on. I have plenty of thoughts on where we are and where we should be going with modern smartphones, but I want to keep the focus plain and simple: let’s talk about the top five features I think every flagship-level smartphone should have in 2017 (and beyond)....

Taking photos in the falling snow is hard. It’s cold, your gear gets wet, and everyone ends up grumpy. Why bother going outside at all when you can fake it in Photoshop? Here’s how. Step One: Pick a Suitable Image Adding falling snow to a sunny beach photo where everyone’s in a bikini is never going to look realistic. The bright sunlight is pretty much a dead giveaway that it’s not actually snowing....

You’ve spent a lot of time configuring your Synology NAS to be just perfect. So take the time to periodically backup your configuration file to keep all your settings safe and sound. Much like you can back up the configuration settings of other devices in your home (like the configuration of many routers, including those running the popular open source DD-WRT), you can also back up the configuration of your Synology NAS, so in the event of a restoration or upgrade, you can easily import most of the old settings....

If you’ve been holding off on setting up a Kodi-based media center computer because they’re loud, expensive, don’t fit in your media rack, the Raspberry Pi is your savior. For only $35 (plus a few accessories you may have lying around), you can get a small, efficient computer that can play all your media from one beautiful, couch-friendly interface. This guide assumes you’re at least somewhat familiar with the Raspberry Pi and Kodi, so if you aren’t, be sure to check out our complete guide to the Raspberry Pi and read up on Kodi before continuing....

Safari uses Google as its default search engine out of the box, but it’s not the only option. You can choose other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo if you prefer them. While most modern search engines can find the websites you’re looking for, there are often ramifications to consider when making your selection. Google is the big player here, but you might want to select something else depending on your privacy stance....

In Microsoft Outlook for Windows, Mac, and the web, you can change the font and font size for specific emails as well as for all your emails. It’s easy to make this change, and we’ll show you how. RELATED: How to Customize the Theme and Formatting for Outlook Mail Change the Font and Font Size in Outlook for Windows and Mac If you’d like to change the font and font size for a specific email, then first, launch that email in Outlook on your Windows or Mac machine....

Microsoft OneDrive is a popular cloud storage service that boasts deep integration with Windows 10. If you’re a OneDrive user, you probably want to keep tabs on how much storage you’re using. We’ll show you how to check. Like the cloud storage offerings from Google and Dropbox, OneDrive includes free storage (5GB) and paid plans for additional storage. Regardless of which tier you’re on, it’s important to make sure that you don’t run out of storage....

Picture this: You’re sitting in a restaurant or coffee shop, just casually surfing the web on your phone. Being the savvy user you are, you’re connected to the public Wi-Fi to save data. Suddenly, the public Wi-Fi stops working. But you don’t have to fret, because the “Smart Network Switch” feature on Samsung phones automatically switches to a mobile connection when Wi-Fi is too weak. Basically, when the phone detects an issue with the Wi-Fi, it’ll stay connected but use mobile data instead—at least until the Wi-Fi connection is stable again....

The SkyBell HD keeps all of your most-recent recorded videos stored in the cloud for up to 20 videos at a time. This can go fast if your doorbell is used a lot, so here’s how to download videos from your SkyBell HD to store them locally forever. RELATED: How to Change the Video Quality of the SkyBell HD Doorbell Unlike most other video doorbells and Wi-Fi security cams, which keep any and all recorded videos for a specific amount of time, the SkyBell HD does things differently....

If a friend or family member comes over to your house and wants to hop on your Wi-Fi network, iOS 11 has made it way easier to share your Wi-Fi password with very little friction. Here’s how to do it. RELATED: What’s New in iOS 11 for iPhone and iPad, Available Now Normally, when a friend wants to access your home Wi-Fi, you tell them the password and they type it in on their device....

Scroll down in the menu and tap Settings, then tap Notifications. Tap to enable the toggle that says Your Watched & Waitlisted Deals.

YouTube is great, but only if you have a consistent data connection and unlimited bandwidth. That’s the norm for city dwellers in rich countries, but not for most people on planet earth. Which is why Google now offers YouTube Go, a stripped down version of the YouTube Android app that lets you choose your own video quality and even download videos to watch later. It’s perfect for anyone dealing with bandwidth limitations, or even just people looking for a simpler YouTube application than the default....

With iCloud Photos, photos from all your Apple devices will be visible in your Mac’s Photos app. But, if you have an Android phone, digital camera, or have simply run out of space in iCloud, you must import them manually. The process is pretty simple for any device you have. First, plug the device in and open the Photos app. You’ll find it on your Mac’s dock, or you can press Command+Space to open Spotlight and search for “Photos....

Using a feature called Back Tap on iPhone 8 or newer running iOS 14 or later, you can configure your iPhone to play or pause your music just by tapping two or three times on the back of your phone. Here’s how to set it up. Part 1: Create the Play/Pause Shortcut To play or pause music with taps, we’ll need help from an Apple shortcut, which is a type of automated procedure that you can set up on your iPhone to perform a task....

So you’ve decided you need to record a phone call. Maybe you’re performing a delicate sting operation…or maybe you just want to make sure you’re getting the best customer service possible. Whatever your reasons, things are a little difficult on an iPhone. Is Recording Calls Legal? Before you start recording phone calls, it’s important to know that—depending on where you live—recording phone calls without consent can be illegal. In the US, different states have different laws regarding this....

Have you ever tried to login to your Verizon FIOS router, only to find out that you’ve got no idea what the password is? Here’s how to reset the password to the factory defaults and get access to your router again. If you’re still looking for a good reason to login to the router, be sure to read our guide to changing your Wi-Fi router channel to optimize your signal, or our explanation on why hiding your wireless SSID is really not a security feature....

There are an increasing number of ways to try out Android applications on your Windows desktop or laptop. But of the various methods I’ve sampled, none combined complete access to Android’s basic functions with ease-of-access quite like American Megatrends’ AMIDuOS. RELATED: How to Run Android Apps and Games on Your Windows Desktop with BlueStacks Unlike a program like Bluestacks, which is all about getting specific app functionality on the desktop, AMIDuOS is a complete virtual machine of (mostly) stock Android, recreating the interface and experience of a full Android tablet....

Around a month from now, North Americans will be treated to a spectacular solar eclipse. But you can’t just run outside on your lunch break and take a peek without proper precautions. Let us help you prepare now to enjoy the solar eclipse safely. What Solar Eclipse? In case you haven’t heard, on August 21, 2017, all of North America will be treated to solar eclipse with the “path of totality”, where the sun is totally covered by the moon, stretching from Oregon all the way across the continent down to South Carolina....