Flappy Bird + Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor = The Most Sadistic Game on the Internet

Do you love Flappy Bird, but wish it was more sadistic and demoralizing? Or are you searching for a program that will improve your typing skills and also make you want to throw your keyboard out the window?

Well, here’s your game. The developer Mister Speaker has created a version of the now-defunct hit game Flappy Bird called “Flappy Bird Typing Tutor.” The game, which you play in your Internet browser rather than your smartphone, resembles the original Flappy Bird with one key strategic difference: In order to control the bird’s flight, you must type out words correctly on your laptop’s keyboard. Each keystroke in Flappy Bird Typing Tutor equals one tap on your smartphone’s display, so you have to time your keystrokes to match the flight path you want your bird to take.

So, as if maneuvering your avian hero through a set of tubes wasn’t hard enough, “Flappy Bird Typing Tutor” also requires you to peer up at the words you must type, coordinate your brain to type those words and also keep track of where your bird is on the screen.

“Flappy Bird Typing Tutor” is not for players prone to rage-destroying their machines. Though if you managed to play Flappy Bird without smashing your phone, you should be fine to try “Flappy Bird Typing Tutor.” The question is: Can your high score top your WPM?

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Easy Way to Post Instagram Photos in Your Twitter Feed

 

Twitter and Instagram have long been frenemies—in constant competition, but forever bound by their social circles. I love them both, so when Twitter went all 15-year-old girl on Instagram and blocked users’ photos from being displayed in Twitter feeds, I just sighed, accepted it, and moved on.

Now, however, a cool new service has cut through the drama to unite these two frenemies and let you post your precious Instagrams on Twitter.

The unifying service is called IFTTT. IFTTT — which stands for “If This Then That” — allows you to program personal “recipes” to provide workarounds and simplify your tangled tech life. In this case, S.F. Chronicle reporter Caleb Garling used the service to create a recipe that allows Instagram users to post photos directly in their Twitter feeds.

Previously, Twitter translated all Instagram posts into links, which required users to click a link to a separate page to view the photo. (I know, the horror! But still, annoying for the Twitter power user.) Now, however, you can automatically trade that outbound link for an inline Twitpic photo.
Here’s how you do it:

1. Create an IFTTT (pronounced like “gift” without the “g”) account here. It takes, like, three seconds.

2. Once you’ve signed up, go here, which is where Garling’s special Twitstagram recipe lives on the site.

3. Click the “Use Recipe” button at the bottom of the page. 

4. Sync both your Twitter and Instagram accounts with your new IFTTT account. Click the “Activate” button to the right of the Instagram icon to start the process.


5. A window will pop up. Log into your Instagram account and allow IFTTT to access your information.



6. Repeat that step with your Twitter account.



7. Click “Use Recipe” again. IFTTT will then bring you to a confirmation page. It takes about 15 minutes to activate. Go meditate, make a sandwich, or stare at the wall. The choice, and the way you spend your time on earth, is yours.

8. Now post a photo to Instagram. Ignore the option to share it on Twitter, just skip that part. IFTTT has taken care of that for you.


Check back on Twitter. Voila, you’ve tweeted your Instagram photo!

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How To Set Up your iPhone 5s

Here’s our guide to how to set up your phone, for iVeterans and iRookies alike.


It’s Alive!
Make sure to give your iPhone gifter one last affectionate hug and then turn on your phone. You’ll encounter the Setup Assistant, which will start you out with the basics required to personalize your device. Here, you’ll choose your Wi-Fi network and set up iCloud. You’ll also be given the option to activate Location Services, and Find My iPhone, which I highly recommend if you have a penchant for leaving valuable electronics in taxis, like I do.

Fill ‘Er Up
Next up you’ll get to load your phone with every contact, email account, and app that your little heart desires. Here are your options:

If you are an iVeteran—AKA you’ve owned an Apple device in the past or have an iCloud account—your settings, contacts, apps, and other content have been waiting patiently in your computer’s iTunes for this very moment. Before you transfer them to your new device, be sure to back that data up via iTunes or iCloud.

To sync via the Lightning cable, make sure you’ve downloaded the latest version of iTunes, choose the option “Restore from iTunes Backup,” then connect your phone. It should start syncing.
Or, to sync wirelessly, you’ll need to connect to Wi-Fi during setup and choose “Restore from iCloud Backup.”

If you’re an iRookie, you should select “Set Up as New iPhone.” Maybe you’ve never used iTunes before either. If that’s the case, download it here, and drag and drop all your songs and movies into the program, or add entire folders by going to File > Add to Library.

Depending on the memory of your device, you probably won’t be able to load every last piece of media. Don’t panic! There are a lot of services to offset your phone’s limited memory. You can listen to most music via a Spotify or Rdio subscription, and store videos and documents in iCloud or Dropbox.

You should try to keep some space free for apps and photos, so maybe uncheck all those hundreds of Pearl Jam Live tracks you downloaded in your Teva phase.

On Lockdown
Considering this iPhone will contain all your most private life communications and logins, you should make sure to enable every security feature possible.

If you got a 5s, you should set up your Touch ID. The screen will instruct you to place a finger on the home button and will then take photos of your fingerprint, displaying the collection process in real time. If your wife/child/best friend/dog would also like to have touch access to your phone, you can add them any time by going to General > Touch ID & Passcode > Touch ID > Add a Fingerprint.

Every iPhone offers the ability to lock your homescreen with a four-digit passcode. If you elect to do only one thing in this entire guide, for the love of god, make it this one. Set up a password. Siri-ously.

Stay In Touch
Transferring your contacts from your old phone to your new phone will be a different process, depending on your specific previous phone; this might be a process you can ask your mobile carrier for help with. You can also load your contacts into your computer’s address book and then select “Sync Address Book Contacts” in iTunes.
If you have a compatible SIM card, you can save your contacts to that, slip it into your iPhone, restart it, then go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Tap “Import SIM contacts” and voila! Your mother/sister/brother/father/dentist’s phone numbers will be magically transferred to your new contacts list.

Apps of Your Eye
Once you’ve finished the initial setup process, you can download apps directly from your iPhone via the App Store or in iTunes. Apple has already been kind (and savvy) enough to pre-load a starter kit for you, but many of Apple’s pre-loaded apps have superior alternatives. They are:

Camera → Camera+: This app offers far more editing capability than the basic iPhone camera app, allowing you to adjust lighting according to scene, rotate, crop, add borders and effects. Totally worth the $1.99. Download it here.

Maps → Google Maps: You may remember the Great Apple Maps Flub of 2012, during which the world decried the app’s horrible navigation features and melty graphics. Google promptly came out with a fantastic (and free!) alternative, which still reigns supreme in all matters public and private transit. Download it here.

iBooks → Kindle: Amazon’s Kindle app, despite being less aesthetically pleasing, offers a cheaper and more extensive selection of books. If you already own a Kindle, your progress in each book will sync across devices, too. Download it here.

Spotify → iTunes: The streaming music service Spotify is free to download, but costs $10/month for a subscription that allows you access to an extensive collection of music. You can save songs directly on your phone and listen to them without any Wi-Fi connection or service. Similar alternatives, depending on your aesthetic preferences, include Rdio and Moog. Learn more about Spotify here.

Mail → Mailbox: Though Apple’s mailbox allows you to consolidate multiple email accounts into one big stream of messages, there are still colorful alternatives to it. I like Mailbox, which works with Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, and which allows you to save items for later, add them to lists, and trash emails by swiping left or right. Download Mailbox here.

That Extra Mile
Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS7, is chock full of awesome features—some of which suck up battery life like a Roomba in a room full of Cheerios. One such feature is “parallax,” the sometimes dizzying technology that creates a foreground and background motion as your line of sight changes. Turn it off by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion.



Nesting
Now that you’ve set up the basics, your final order of business is to fancy up the place!
To ensure the iPhone’s autocorrect features don’t kill your vibe, go to Settings > General > Keyboard. There, you can also add another language to your keyboard by going to Keyboards > Add New Keyboard. Every patriotic American should have at least two keyboards: English and Emoji. Whenever you’d like to switch, click the globe icon at the bottom left corner of your keyboard, and you should be given a choice of which to use.

Years of staring at the glowing screens of computers have permanently ruined our collective eyesight. In other words: You might have trouble reading the default size text on your phone. You can change that by going to Settings > General > Text Size. There, you can drag a slider left or right to minimize or maximize the text on your iPhone’s screen.

Control your phone’s noise situation in Settings > Sounds. Here you can customize every single notification under the sun, from text messages to tweets. If you’re more of a visual person, you can make a bright light blink every time you get a new notification by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > LED Flash for Alerts. And remember, you can always turn your phone to vibrate by flipping the switch located on the upper left of the phone itself.


 Lastly, add a background photo by going to Settings > Wallpaper & Brightness. You can transfer images straight from your camera roll. May we suggest this ridiculously adorable kitty photo?

There you have it! iVeteran or iRookie, you’re all set. Take your fully-stocked iPhone with its cool new cat background and go forth in the world. You’ve got gear to flaunt.

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You Can Now Tag Other Users in Your Tumblr Posts?

Tumblr just added a new little feature: Now you’re able to easily mention and link to a fellow member with a quick @ sign.

This is how you do it:

When you’re writing a post, simply type in an @ sign when you’d like to mention a blog you follow. As you continue to type, names of people you follow will populate. Either select the name or type it in.

When you roll your mouse over the name you mentioned, a little bubble will come up to show some of the most recent things that have been posted from that user.

There you have it! You’ve tagged a fellow Tumblr-er in your post.

On the flip side, any mention of your username should theoretically appear in your Activity feed, so you can see who’s talking about you. But so far it seems that feature isn’t fully functional yet.

With this little addition, Tumblr joins the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in embracing the @-sign mention. Welcome to the club, neighbors!

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So Your iPhone Just Got Really Wet. What Do You Do Now?

Splish splash, it’s your worst technological nightmare: You’ve got a wet iPhone, Android or Windows Phone that you have likely spent hundreds of dollars on, and that carries your life in it; and now, there it is, sitting in a puddle of orange soda, its guts corroding in delicious artificial flavors.

So, you spilled water (or another liquid, we’re not judging) on your smartphone. There may still be some hope! Quickly follow these instructions below and you might be able to save your phone from dying a slow and painful death.

1. Turn It Off
It may be your first instinct to test whether your gadget actually works, but just a few seconds could make a difference in whether it survives. As soon as it plunges into that toilet, fish it out and turn it off.

2. Make It Naked
Take off those covers, remove the SD Cards and SIM Cards—any possible thing that can be removed to dry on its own. The more areas of the phone that can air out, the better.

3. Suck Out the Liquid
This is when things get Bear Gryllsy. Unless you are in the direct vicinity of a vacuum cleaner with small nozzle attachments, you’re going to have to perform reverse CPR on your gadget’s orifices. Get an empty bowl and set it down next to you. If we’re talking about an iPhone, you’re going to want to focus on the earphone port, the earpiece, the microphone port, and the charger area. Every time you suck in some liquid, spit it into the bowl to avoid swallowing any sort of weird mechanical chemicals.

4. Let It Be
Submerge your drenched gadget in a bowl of rice. Or, per the recommendation of Gizmodo’s Brent Rose, Rice Krispies. Hell, I bet packing peanuts even work. Using heat powered devices to dry it, or chemicals will not. So put down the hair-dryer and let it sit there for about 48 hours. Rotate it every once in a while.

5. Awake It from Its Deep Slumber

Remove your gadget from its drying bowl and inspect its body. If you see condensation anywhere, dry it with a towel. Bending a pipe cleaner to brush against the edges of your gadget ports is also helpful to gauge the amount of moisture remaining. If it still looks wet, put it back in the bowl and wait another day. If it’s totally dry, turn it on and see how it works. Even if only parts of it are functional, you may be able to have it repaired for less than what a new phone would cost you. 

And if not — well, the next drink’s on us. Metaphorically, at least.

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How To Keep Your Smartphone's Battery Healthy

Smartphones are magical, loyal little companions, there to give you your bank account balance, directions to the movies, and a recommendation for a killer Chinese restaurant all in a few swipes.
But, with a little neglect, they can die on you in the worst moments. Avoid this nightmare scenario and treat your little friend right, with these quick tips to maintaining your battery's health.

Less is More
Back when nickel-based batteries were a thing, people were encouraged to “train” their batteries by completely draining them and then completely recharging them. (The Yoda-esque idea being that they wouldn’t properly function without knowing their full potential.) Forget what you’ve heard.
Pretty much every modern smartphone contains a lithium-ion battery, which are entirely different beasts.

In general, you should keep your smartphone’s battery charged above 50 percent. If you want to take it one step further, you should try to do one full drain a month, for calibration purposes. But any more of this and you’ll be shortening your battery’s lifespan.

Overnight phone-chargers take note! Technically you should not be charging your phone for extended spans of time. Though most chargers are designed to curb charging once your phone is all full, you should avoid juicing it to 100 percent and then leaving it connected to a charger. Overall, short starts and fits of juice are much better than constant zero to 100 charging. If you’re totally neurotic, the real sweet spot oscillates between 80 and 40 percent at all times.

Zero Is Bad
Lithium-ion batteries sometimes get volatile at zero percent. Like good little robots, however, they are usually equipped with self-destruct circuits that will kill your battery in order to prevent an explosion or something. This obviously doesn’t happen every day, but better to be safe than sorry.

Chill Out
Your smartphone is not invincible. Do not leave it on your car’s dashboard in 90 degree weather. Do not set it next to your bronzed body as you sunbathe. Do not bring it to your Bikram yoga class. It doesn’t matter if your phone is off, the heat will fry your battery.
That’s because—good news for readers who live in miserably cold climates—your phone is most comfortable at about 32-degrees fahrenheit (and even then, it will lose a small percentage of its maximum capacity per year). Once you get to up to more tropical temperatures, you risk losing anything from 20 to 35 percent per year. Not like you should forgo a trip to Hawaii just to preserve precious battery life, but just be mindful about where you leave it.

Plug ‘Er In

Though wireless charging devices are convenient and chic, most inductive wireless chargers tend to waste energy by generating heat. Remember what we said about heat? (HEAT = BAD) The best method to charge a smartphone is by directly hooking it into a wall (as opposed to connecting it to your computer). It charges faster and safer that way.

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How to Organize Your Android Apps in Folders?

Unlike Apple’s iOS, apps in Android are not all placed on the home screen by default; rather, they’re tucked away in the App Drawer below.

But not only can you drag your most-used apps to the home screen for easy access in Google’s OS, it’s also possible to organize them in custom app folders. Here’s how.

Tap the App Drawer icon at the bottom of your home screen to load your list of apps. To select your first app to drag over to the home screen, long-press its icon until it pops out of the drawer and the home screen slides in beneath it. You can drag the app icon to your position of preference on the home screen and then release your finger. It’ll align itself on the home screen. Now you’ll want to go back to the app drawer to choose your next app.

Grabbing each additional app is about the same (long-press and drag), but the app folder is created when you place the second app right on top of the first one. It’ll snap right behind the first app with an opaque circle serving as background for the folder icon.

After the folder is created, it can be expanded by tapping it. This is how you’ll see and access all the apps it contains. The folder name will default to “Unnamed Folder,” but you can tap the folder’s name to edit it. In my example below, I’ve put some sports apps and games all into one folder, so I named it “Sports/Games” (genius).

This concludes your crash course in Android app folders. Don’t just sit there: Try making some yourself.

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How to Forward a Text Message on an iPhone

Technology has made me lazy. Case in point: I loathe being forced to type out information that already exists somewhere on my phone.

That’s why I’m thankful for the little-known iOS feature that allows you to forward text messages.
Here’s how you do it:

1. Find the text message conversation you want to forward.
2. Tap twice on your speech bubble of interest until a black bubble comes up that says “Copy | More…” Click on More. (Note: if you're tapping on a message with an email, phone number, or link in it, make sure you don't tap directly on that)
3. A bunch of circles will pop up on the left side of the screen, next to the speech bubbles. By default, your phone will add a check-mark to the circle next to the most recent text message. if you'd like to forward more than one, tap the empty circles next to the messages. Then tap the curved arrow at the lower-right corner of the screen.
4. You will be taken to a new screen with a new text message conversation. The recipient section will be blank. Fill it in, silly! Your text of interest is waiting to be sent.

And that’s how you save yourself from a lot of annoying copying and pasting. You’re welcome!

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How to Log Out of Facebook From Afar When You Leave Yourself Signed In at the Apple Store Again

Your phone was dead and you couldn’t go half an hour without checking your Facebook page. So you signed in at a friend’s house, or maybe even an Apple Store or a Best Buy, and then left without logging out. Now your Facebook page is open for any random passerby to post whatever they please. Smooth move.

Fortunately for you (and every other person in the world who’s pulled this one), Facebook has a built-in way for users to remotely log themselves out of any device they’re currently signed into. We’d like to impart this information to you now so you can avoid friends and strangers embarrassing you with posts like this one:

So here’s how to log out of your Facebook from afar.

Log into your Facebook account from any desktop computer. From the home page, you’ll see a gray settings gear icon in the top-right corner. Click that and choose Account Settings from the drop-down menu that pops up. Next click the Security tab on the left side of the screen (it has a police badge icon), and you’ll see the Active Sessions label last on the list. Click this, and you’ll see all your recent account activity, as well as the devices it happened on and the rough location where it took place.

To the right of each activity session description, there is an End Activity option that will log your account off the device listed, remotely putting the kibosh on any unauthorized Facebook mischief-makers.

Now, we don’t recommend using this feature as an excuse to just go logging yourself into every computer you touch willy-nilly. Even with this “Mayday” option to log yourself out remotely, and the ability to delete posts that you didn’t authorize, you still don’t want to leave yourself open, even if it’s for a little while.

Because if you’re depending on strangers not to post something embarrassing to your Facebook page  well, it might not go too well.

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How to Video Chat with Google Hangouts, Android’s Answer to FaceTime

If you’re a true-blue Android user who happens to covet thy neighbor’s iPhone FaceTime video chat, we’re here to tell you that there’s actually no reason to be green with envy.

We’re going to teach you all about Google’s own video chat service, Hangouts. The Hangouts app for either Android or iOS is more than capable of providing everything these iPhone folks get, including video chatting with iPhones. Here’s how to get started.

As with most everything Google makes these days, you’ll need to have an account with Google+ — Google’s social network service — activated, as well as the Hangouts app. If you have an Android phone, then you’re likely already signed up with Google+, and your phone probably came with Hangouts installed. To enable Google+, download the app from the Play store, open it and sign in with your Google account.

If your smartphone wasn’t preloaded with the Hangouts app, then you can grab that from the Play store as well. After you have it installed, it’s pretty simple to begin video chatting.

Upon launching the app, you’ll see a list of your contacts. You can either scroll down and select someone to begin a chat or video chat with, or you can search in the text input field above. The results shown will prioritize your phone’s contacts at the top, but it is possible to search throughout Google+ for chatmates.

With Hangouts, you can also select up to 10 people to video chat with in a session, a feature that FaceTime is notably missing (SadfaceTime).

Once you select a buddy or buddies, you’re taken into the chat screen. To begin a video chat, just tap the video camera button at the top of the screen. Then say “cheese.”

Much like FaceTime, Hangouts is also accessible from the desktop. But, unlike FaceTime, Hangouts’ computer access is provided via either the Gmail or Google+ websites, meaning that the service is available on Android and iOS, as well as any desktop format like Windows, Mac, Chrome OS or Linux. You just have to persuade your friend to download the app for her phone, or to create a Google+ account.

So, FaceTime ShmaceTime, right? Be a proud Android user and get your video chat on all the same. Though, for best results, you might want to run a comb through your hair first (as you can see above, I clearly did not).

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You Can Fold Up This Ultra-Light Camping Stove and Slip It in Your Backpack

The lighter your backpack, the more camping cred you carry. Which is why this Vertex Backpacking Stove might be ideal for any serious outdoorswoman. The stainless-steel contraption weighs just 1.8 ounces and folds down flat (as shown below) so you can slip it in your bag like a map. It requires no tools or screws to put together, and its creators allege that it can be assembled in seconds. (Full disclosure: We haven’t tried it just yet.)

This stove is designed to work with two main fuel types: tablets and alcohol burners. For the uninitiated, fuel tablets are a favorite among survivalists because you can count them to know exactly how much energy (read: warmth) you have left; they leave no damaging trace on your camping site; and they burn in low temperatures and at high altitudes. Each tablet burns for about 12 minutes.

Vertex is also designed to fit the Trangia Spirit Burner, which we hear is popular among no-fuss backpackers. Though the burner securely locks into side slots placed on the Vertex (as shown below), it’s not included with the stove. You’ll have to pick one up at your local hardware store.

Keep in mind, however, that this little gizmo is not designed to burn wood. Plus, as someone who has trouble with even the simplest IKEA projects, the claims of easy assembly are worrisome.

Still, it’s a handy design, and its light weight is very promising. If you back it on Kickstarter — it’s already surpassed its $8,000 goal — you can expect one in your mailbox by March, along with a lifetime warranty, for $50.

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