tips

The Top Essential Hotkeys for Windows 8

Whether you're new to Windows 8 or a seasoned veteran, it's always good to have a few tricks up your sleeve. Let's face it: without a touch screen, Windows 8 can get a tad tedious to use. Here are the most essential Windows 8 shortcuts for accessing and working with the Charms menu, and system-wide. You can thank us later.

Useful keys to access Charms in a touchless world

Windows Key + C: Opens Charms Bar Windows Key + I: Access the settings or control panel for active app Windows Key + Q: Search your applications Windows Key + Z: Open … Read more

How to get started with freelensing

Freelensing is a technique where you remove the lens from the front of your SLR or interchangeable lens camera, and hold it in position rather than locking it in place in the lens mount.

Tilting the lens back and forth gives you an effect that looks somewhat similar to that of a tilt-shift lens or a selective focus lens like a Lensbaby. Expect light leaks and lots of bokeh, or blur, thanks to the shift in the plane of focus.

A word of warning, freelensing is not for the faint-hearted, as you could drop your lens or get dust and … Read more

CNET on Cars 12: BMW 750Li vs. Lexus LS 460

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An embarrassment of riches this time as the 2013 BMW 750Li and Lexus LS 460 hit our garage on the same day. Some assignments are just more comfortable than others! But while both cars are luxurious, one felt much readier to cut it up on the road to my hands, and you might be surprised which.

A great Car Tech 101 in this episode, explaining the rather tricky relationship between horsepower and torque. We're conditioned to think about horsepower, but … Read more

How to unsend Twitter direct messages

The best thing about old AOL -- which is to say, the best thing about the mid-1990s -- was unsend. If you sent an e-mail to another AOL user, up until the moment that person actually opened it, you had the option of taking it all back. It was like it never happened! Gmail has a lot of optional features that let you create impediments to hasty e-mailing, but in the end, it won't retrieve your message from the recipient's inbox.

Fun fact: Twitter will.

Maybe you were angry, maybe you were love sick, maybe you were drunk. … Read more

Nano Nails turns long fingernails into touch-screen stylii

LAS VEGAS--Long nails and touch screens don't get along very well. It can take some nimble finger acrobatics to get in touch with the display. Sri Vellanki of Tech Tips had already created an over-the-fingertip stylus. It was a natural step to then figure out how to integrate it into wearable fashion nails.

Nano Nails takes pretty much the same tip design as the Tech Tips and places it under the index fingernail. They will be available in either a full press-on nail or a nail tip. Vellanki expects them to sell for in packages of four or six for around $10. They could be put on by the wearer or applied at a salon.… Read more

First day tips and tweaks for new MacBook owners

As much as new MacBook owners love to rave about their systems, no laptop -- even one with an Apple logo -- comes right out of the box ready to perform optimally.

And while it's certainly exciting to unwrap a new holiday MacBook, there are a handful of tweaks, tips, and fixes you should check out on day one that will make your MacBook easier to use. I've put together some of my personal favorites here.

There are many more I could list, and I'm sure I've left out some of your favorites, so feel free … Read more

Four app tips from a developer with 20 millions downloads

These days, lots of folks are talking about apps and how they might join what looks like the app gold rush. Unfortunately, like the gold rush of yore, most people will come away deeply disappointed.

A recent New York Times article by David Streitfeld, "As Boom Lures App Creators, Tough Part Is Making a Living," showed the reality of trying to make it in the app-making world. In the piece, one unscientific survey of developers showed these stats: "A quarter of the respondents said they had made less than $200 in lifetime revenue from Apple. A quarter … Read more

Five least intuitive things about Windows 8

Windows 8 is neither a completely foreign experience, as some have said, nor is it a smooth continuation of the Windows you've known for the past 11 years, since the start of the modern XP era.

From a hardware point of view, using Windows 8 and its not-Metro interface is eventually navigable after some trial and error, and memorizing a few new commands and gestures -- at least if you have one of the many new touch-screen laptops or all-in-one desktops.

Having tried it on a couple of new Windows 8 laptops that do not have touch screens (and … Read more

How to get an iPhone 5 in less than 24 hours

My Verizon contract was finally up, and it was time to upgrade my slowly dying iPhone 4 to the long-awaited iPhone 5. October 26 was the day, and I was ready.

I had heard I'd face some delays getting a new iPhone, but after calling a few nearby Apple and Verizon stores, I learned that "delays" meant three to four weeks. I've been waiting for months to be able to upgrade to a new phone, so three to four weeks seemed like a lifetime.

My co-worker Sharon Vaknin mentioned that I could do an in-store pickup if I timed it just right, and pointed me to this NBC News GadgetBox story on a possible trick to getting the new iPhone within 24 hours. What the heck, right? … Read more