Many manufacturers add a custom skin on top of their Android builds, but none are more widely praised than HTC’s Sense UI. The general consensus among Android users says that HTC’s visual tweaks are done in good taste, and the features they add are both functional and warranted.

While it would be nice to experience some of these apps and elements on non-HTC devices, the underlying Sense Framework has always been required in the past. Since this is not present on phones from other manufacturers, we’ve never been able to test drive HTC’s UI without actually having an HTC device.

But this fact… more

What type of person are you in group settings? Are you the social butterfly, eager to get to know everyone and interested in the people more than the setting? Or are you a wallflower, afraid to catch anyone’s eye out of fear?

No matter what type of group you’re in—a project at work, a dinner party, or even a bar full of strangers—you can make a better impression if you keep quiet. Shut your mouth, and you’ll find that what you don’t say offers more of an impression than what you do.

It’s a Good Idea to Keep Things to Yourself

Although we tend to assume the biggest talker in a group setting… more

There is no built-in way, or any options in the iOS App Store, to customize the vacant top half of the screen that appears when the newer Reachability feature is triggered in iOS 8. However, there are many Reachability tweaks for jailbroken iPhones, one of which lets you use the feature on devices other than an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

Now, thanks to developer s1ris (aka Andy), creator of the Spin music tweak, there’s another great Reachability tweak to add to the growing list.

With his new project, MusicReachability, you’ll be able to place your music player’s controls and album art in the top… more

Look on any bistro or pub menu in America and you’ll likely find the term caramelized onions as an option for your burger. The word “caramel” may conjure up images of candy, which is somewhat correct.

When high temperatures are applied to certain foods, the sugars within them turn brown and release a delicious, sweet, nutty flavor. In other words, they turn to caramel. While this is readily apparent in the crunchy brown surface of crème brûlée (literally “burnt cream” in French) and Bananas Foster, caramelization is an important process that can take fruits and vegetables to another level… more

Google Earth has long served as a great tool to explore the furthest regions of our beautiful planet from the comfort of our own homes, but for those with more than just a recreational interest, a bundle of pro features had always cost $399… a year.

Generally intended for professionals in the architectural and science fields, these pro features included an ability to measure buildings, record virtual tours, and grab high-resolution screenshots of Google Earth’s satellite imagery.

Starting this weekend, however, all pro features have been made available for free. Unlocking these features is… more

I misplaced my iPhone 6 just a few weeks ago, so I know firsthand that losing an iPhone sucks. Luckily, my tale didn’t have a bad ending.

While at a bar, I went to use the restroom and mistakenly left my iPhone on an unguarded chair. When I returned, it was gone. Admittedly, there was no one to blame except myself, but that didn’t make it any easier.

I checked Find My iPhone over the next few days but nothing showed up, and I soon lost hope. A few days later, my dad told me that some guy called him about my missing iPhone. Ecstatic, I grabbed the guy’s info from my dad, met up with him, and… more

Finding the right theme can be a pain. Some are too gaudy or simple, while others look like they were thrown together as a joke. So why not try your hand at making your own?

It used to be that you had to decompile apps, theme and repackage them, then hope and pray that everything turned out okay. But now there is Theme DIY by developer Darkion Avey. With his app, you’ll be able to create a theme without ever needing to mess with your system files.

Note that this app will only create themes for CyanogenMod 12’s Theme Engine, so you’ll need to be running a ROM with that feature already… more

Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers.

I had promised new series on hacking web applications, mobile devices, and even Facebook here on Null Byte, and I intend to deliver you those sometime this year. In each of those topics, I will introduce you to new hacking tools and techniques, though, one tool that we will be using in all of those areas is called the Browser Exploitation Framework, or BeEF (don’t ask me what the lowercase “e” stands for).

Similar to Metasploit, BeEF is a framework for launching attacks. Unlike Metasploit, it is specific to launching attacks against web browsers. In some… more

Android 5.0 brought a lot of changes to the world’s most popular mobile OS, but few were more central to the user experience than tweaks made to the “Overview” menu (more commonly known as the “Recent Apps” menu). Aside from a visual overhaul, Chrome tabs now exist as separate entries in this list, as do Google searches and a few other activities.

This was all done in the name of productivity, but in reality, another change has made Android multitasking into a cumbersome experience for many users. All of these new entries, as well as the traditional elements, get carried over through a… more

Need a quick and dirt-cheap way to make your running shoes smell less? Fill old nylon tights with baking soda, enough so that they would fit inside the shoes. Then, tie the open ends and stuff them into your offending shoes overnight. Or, if you have fabric softener dryer sheets, you can simply make a point of placing them inside your shoes every night.

Check out the illustration below to discover more easy DIY ways to deodorize other things that can get stinky in your life, such as your garbage disposal, kitchen trash can, microwave, and bath towel.

For more ways to make smelly things smell… more