How To

Charge your iPad from any USB port for $5

At CES last month I encountered Digital Innovations' ChargeDr, a small USB dongle that promised to do the seemingly impossible: boost the power output of a typical USB port, thus allowing it to charge an iPad (or other tablet).

I got it home, tested it, and discovered that, hey, it actually works! Technically speaking, there's no actual power boosting going on, but who am I to argue with this weird science? Without the dongle, my iPad says "not charging." With it: "charging."

And my tests bear out the claim. My iPad 3 went from 30 percent to 75 percent in about 2.5 hours. Not bad for a lowly USB port.… Read more

Five usability tips for Microsoft's Surface RT

Most of the time, if something tries to be good at two things it ends up being not-so-good at either one.

Microsoft's Surface can be used like a laptop or like a touch-screen tablet. You can also switch between the Metro touch interface and the conventional Windows desktop, which was designed with a hardware keyboard in mind.

One of the downsides of the Surface as a tablet is Metro's learning curve. Pinching, swiping, and tapping are all part of opening apps, files, and settings in Metro. Unfortunately, it isn't always clear where an application's settings are … Read more

Vine Flow lets you browse Vine videos on Android

If you're an Android user who has been wondering what all the hype over Twitter's Vine app is about, you're in luck. A new Android app called Vine Flow allows Android users to browse Vine videos on their device. But there are some pretty big drawbacks to the app. Currently you can only browse the latest videos uploaded to the service, or search for a specific hash tag. You can't upload a video yourself, log in and view a timeline, or even navigate to a specific Vine feed.

The video above gives you a brief rundown … Read more

Set Tweetbot to open links in Chrome, 1Password

Apple's Safari browser on iOS isn't for everyone. If you prefer to use 1Password's built-in browser, or Google's Chrome browser on your iOS device and you just happen to also use Tweetbot, you'll be happy with the recent update.

The latest update to Tweetbot, version 2.7, now allows you to set your default browser when opening links in your timeline. You can select to open a link in Chrome, Safari, or 1Password.

To set your default browser, navigate to the Tweetbot settings page. Under the General section you'll see a Browser option; tap … Read more

How to jailbreak any iOS 6 device, including iPhone 5

If you've been waiting to jailbreak your iPhone 5, or any device running iOS 6 and higher, today is your lucky day. A new tool called evasi0n was released just this morning.

The new tool is very simple to use -- in fact, it's easier to use than the iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak tool I covered last year. Taking far less time, and only a few steps, if you're comfortable clicking a few buttons on your computer and tapping an icon on your iOS device, you're more than prepared to use evasi0n.

A required warning, … Read more

Use Find My Friends to alert anyone of your location

Find My Friends is a handy app for families who want to keep tabs on each other. Of course it has a downside for couples who aren't always honest with each other, but that's to be expected.

Previously, I had shown you how to set up alerts for your Find My Friends contacts. Once set up, you'd receive an alert on your iOS device when they either arrived or left a location. But I neglected to show you how to send alerts to a Find My Friends contact, or to anyone else, regardless of if they have … Read more

Stream media to your iPhone or iPad with Skifta

Perhaps Skifta works better on Android. A universal iOS version of the app was released earlier this month, and I found it to be buggy and prone to crashing. It's worth keeping an eye on, however, because if done right, it could be a useful app for the iPhone and particularly the iPad. Skifta is a free app that lets you stream video, music, and photos from your PC or another networked device in your home. There are also a number of Internet services you can connect to in order to stream media on your iOS device.

If you'… Read more

How to purchase movie tickets using Siri

Apple has released iOS 6.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users. Among other fixes and new additions is the ability to purchase movie tickets using Siri, as originally reported back in November.

Siri's new capability requires iOS 6.1, the Fandango app to be installed on the iOS device, and you'll also need to be in the U.S. to purchase tickets.

Once you have updated your device and have Fandango installed, buying tickets is as simple as launching Siri and asking for tickets to a specific movie time, or asking for a list of movies … Read more

Get rid of the recent recipients list in Mail on iOS

When I started using the first iPhone, one of the biggest annoyances I can remember was the inability to delete the recently e-mailed list in the Mail app. If I had e-mailed someone on Craigslist, or replied to a newsletter to unsubscribe, the e-mail address was then stored on my iPhone indefinitely. Every time I began to compose an e-mail by entering a recipient, I would have to look at the recent list, full of e-mail addresses I'd never need again.

The only way to reset the recent list at that time was to restore your iPhone and set … Read more