tricks

How to hide the Newsstand icon on iOS 5

That pesky Newsstand icon is sure to drive those who have OCD about placement of app icons on their iOS device crazy.

Technically the Newsstand icon isn't an app icon, it is actually a folder, and as we already knew, iOS doesn't allow users to nest folders. Thanks to TUAW blogger Dave Caolo, there is a workaround that allows you to place the Newsstand icon in a folder. … Read more

Monster truck racing

Monster Trucks Nitro 2 is the sequel to popular game Monster Trucks Nitro, both with the object of racing through courses littered with obstacles to compete for the best time. In Monster Trucks Nitro 2, you're challenged to work your way up through the ranks by completing early novice courses on up to championship races using different types of vehicles depending on the race. The control system gives you a throttle control across the bottom of the screen (which you'll rarely change from full power) and the accelerometer to control flips while in the air. Though MTN2 is … Read more

Eleven awesome Gmail Labs features

Gmail isn't just cool because it's part of the Google family of services, it also has many extra features created by independent developers. These features are available to you at no additional cost by enabling them in the Labs area of the Mail settings menu. Here's a collection of 11 of the most awesome Gmail Labs features to get you started with a personalized Gmail experience:

Canned responses

While the name sounds like a vacation responder, it's more of a template insertion tool than anything else. You can add custom signatures or even a collection of … Read more

Less than perfect dune racing

Dune Rider is a freemium (as well as ad-supported) stunt-driving game that starts you out with just one vehicle, one level ("Zone 1"), and a clumsy steering interface.

Not only do you start the game with limited choices, but you're also strongly encouraged each time to buy more fuel, nitro boosts, and bonus multipliers in order to have any hope of getting the kind of score you need to earn coins, which you must then use to buy more fuel, nitro boosts, and bonus multipliers. Hopefully, you can save enough coins over time to buy new cars … Read more

7 Google+ essentials

Adopting a new social network like Google+ is taxing enough--re-adding friends, creating "Circles", adjusting privacy settings, etc.--so learning to navigate can be a bit overwhelming. 

Luckily, we did the heavy lifting for you. Here are seven Google+ basics you should learn:

1. Bold, italics, and strikethough. Do you miss the funky fonts and formatting you had in MySpace? Neither do we. Google+, however, gifts you with three simple formatting tricks: *bold*, _italics_, and -strikethough-.

2. Tag friends in posts. Get a friend's attention in a post by tagging them. Type "+" or "@&… Read more

Welcome to CNET How To

For more than a decade, people like you have flocked to How To stories and videos we've produced on CNET. (iPod your car, anyone? Wow, that's a blast from the past.) Whenever we write a roundup of iPhone tips or a collection of Chrome shortcuts, you click like crazy, discover inspiring new tricks, and share your newfound tech knowledge with your friends.

We're finally putting all these hacks, tips, tricks, and ideas into one home: CNET How To. We're launching with more than 700 How To posts, and we'll give you a steady stream of … Read more

Five awesome, useless MacBook tricks

MacBooks are well-known for doing awesome, useful things--they don't (usually) get viruses, the battery life is great, and the user interface is simple. 

What they didn't tell you is that your MacBook can do a lot of awesome useless things. Take a moment and indulge in the (mostly) unnecessary features available:

5. Invert desktop colors. Tired of the same look and feel of your display? Press CMD-OPT-CTRL-8 and the colors on your screen will be inverted--white pixels turn black, blue turns orange, etc. This seemingly useless trick is actually an accessibility feature, and can be helpful in bright-light situations, but we all know it was really implemented to let geeks prank their unknowing friends. 

4. Talk to me, Terminal. Most Mac users will likely never touch the Terminal, a built-in program that allows users to run commands for the OS to perform. It does do a couple awesome things, though. In Spotlight, type "Terminal" and hit enter. Here, type "say" followed by a word or phrase. Useful? No. Awesome? Yes.… Read more

iWeb quick tip: Offline editing and 'Under Construction' pages

For any Mac users who take advantage of iWeb for their Web site publishing needs, editing offline and keeping your Web site active online can be a bit tricky. A couple Apple Support Community members have combined to come up with some good practices of doing just that.

Support Communities user "mharts" writes:

"I would like to over-haul my website look on iWeb and put up "under construction". But I don't want to loose the photos and some of the writing I've done."

This is a common issue with iWeb users, and … Read more

Pull off big air tricks

Snowboard Hero is a 3D snowboarding game that might be the best yet for iPhone--once you get the settings squared away. Start by choosing between Career and Record Chaser modes. In Career mode you'll start by playing as the default character, "Dude," but after racing and beating specific challenges, you'll be able to choose from six different characters with varied skills. Start by going through the tutorial, which gives you the basics for jumping, grinding rails, and performing tricks. From there you'll need to complete challenges that vary from going down the hill as fast … Read more