How-To Geek

The following gift guide includes gifts for the geeks in your life and gifts for geeks to give those that appreciate their geeky nature. Our methodology for picking Valentine’s-related gifts focused on gifts that were either traditional Valentine’s day gifts with a geek-slant or a nod to an aspect of geek culture. Read on to check out the geektacular pickings we mined the internet to unearth.

Although Gmail for Android received Priority Inbox last year, the basic mobile version of Gmail lacked for it until yesterday. You can now see and interact with your Priority Inbox on any HTML5 compliant mobile browser.

Brushing your laptop’s touchpad and jumping the cursor around, highlighting text, and even accidentally deleting text, are some of the hassles that comes with sensitive laptop touchpads. Touchpad Blocker toggles the tou...

These days kids young and old are introduced to the Transformers via the flashy CGI-packed movies. Back in the day, it was all 20th century animation at its finest. Check out this infographic of all the first generation Autobots.

This week we take a look at tweaking the Window’s start menu search for fast and focused searching, locking down a hyperactive Android screen, and fueling your torrenting habit through Dropbox.

In the wake of Google’s web-based update to the Android Market, popular app cataloging web site AppBrain has turned direct-to-phone file installation back on. Bulk uninstall, install, and manage all in one place.

If you’re looking for a fun electronics project to hone your tinkering skills with, this fun project guide shows you how to build a Clapper to control gear around your house.

If you’ve got a little one around the house (or little ones that frequently visit) and you don’t want to move your PC tower to keep them away from the buttons, this clever hack kid proofs them–no moving necessary.

Cross-platform application Android Notifier links your Android phone to your desktop via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or cellular connection and pushes notifications for incoming calls, text messages, and more right to your desktop.

If you’re a fan of HTC’s slick Sense UI interface, HTC Home brings a little bit of that interface to your desktop as a combination clock and weather widget.

You’ve had fun trying out all sorts of apps but now it’s time to uninstall them to free up space on your phone; take the easy way out with Apps Uninstall, a bulk uninstall application for Android devices.

This week in Geek History saw the beginning of the Cthulhu horror mythos, the Columbia space shuttle disaster, and the birth of Facebook. Also, check out our new addition “Other Notable Moments” at the end for more facts and trivia from this week in Geek History.

If you’re in the market for a tablet or just want to get a feel for the specs of current offerings, this extremely detailed infographic lays out the specs for four popular current generation tablets: the BlackBerry Play...

If you’d like to keep your searches between you and Google (and not between you and anyone in between snooping) a secure search is just a simple URL change away.

For an interesting peek in the history of innovation over the last century take a gander at this collection of vintage advertisements hawking everything from plastic pipes to weather control to color television.

If you’ve ever wished you could see your Android phone’s screen on your desktop or remote control it using your mouse and keyboard we’ll show you how in this simple guide to gaining remote access to your Android device.

If you’re looking for a bright flashlight without paying an arm and a leg this simple hack modifies a cheap $10 flashlight to be as bright as a $95 one.

For those of you that love to customize your browsing experience, Firefox Personas–the all-in-one bundled themes for Firefox–are now available on Firefox mobile.

If you’re looking for an unobtrusive timer that melts into the background but still helps you focus and slice up your work into manageable chunks of time, Adobe Air-based Focus Booster is the lightweight tool for you.

Last year Google rolled out desktop notifications for Google Calendar, now you can get Gmail and Gchat notifications on your desktop too. Read on as we walk you through configuring them both.

If you’re not squeamish about mucking about with your Nook and voiding your warranty, there’s a hack floating around that allows you to install Android 3.0 on it and supercharge the ebook reader into a full-fledged tablet.

If you’ve ever wanted to wander the halls of distant museums while still in your cubicle, Google Art Project is an ambitious project that takes you inside dozens of art museums around the world and gives you intensely d...

If you frequently find yourself at an internet café or other location that provides free internet but restricts the amount of time or bandwidth you use, changing your MAC address can often be enough to circumvent restrictions.

This week we’re taking a look at how to tile application windows in Windows 7, remote controlling your desktop from iOS devices, and understanding exactly what Windows 7 libraries are.

IntoNow is clever social networking application for iOS that makes it super simple to share what TV show you’re watching with your friends as it identifies any TV (right down to the episode number) just by hearing 4-12 seconds of the show.