Internet How-Tos

How To: Is Facebook's New Graph Search Creepy or Cool?

Facebook has been looking to launch a new product for a while now, and it seems they've finally realized what they're best at—being as creepy as possible. If you thought your boss checking out your girlfriend's beach photos was weird, Facebook's new Graph Search has only upped the ante. Now, I don't want to be an alarmist, because I'm sure there are a bunch of great things a Facebook search would find. If you're single, perhaps you could search "Girls that are single that like Goodfellas." Th...

How To: Merge Your Windows Live Messenger Contacts with Skype

The time is near—Messenger will finally kick the bucket come March 15th. So, if you're still using Windows Live Messenger for all of your IMing needs, it's time to finally make the move over to Skype, which Microsoft bought back in 2011 for a cool $8.5 billion. If you've been using Messenger, you probably already received the mass email that Microsoft sent out warning of the end date. Microsoft is looking to make the transition as smooth as possible. All you have to do is download the latest ...

How To: Donate to Charity by Just Surfing the Web as Usual with Tab for a Cause

When we surf the web, we tend to do it for selfish reasons. Whether it's on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, or Wikipedia—we're trying to connect with people, voice our opinions, watch funny videos, or do research for that 12-page paper due tomorrow. Whatever it is, it's usually to benefit ourselves. Well, what if you could not only benefit yourself while surfing the web, but benefit others in need, without even having to alter your habits?

How To: Get Free Wi-Fi Through Facebook's New Hotspot Check-In Program

In an effort to get more folks to use the company's check-in service, Facebook is now offering access to free Wi-Fi hotspots in local businesses. It's only in beta right now, but they are looking to expand if they decide to continue the program. Users who check-in on Facebook while at one of the partnered businesses will be automatically directed to the business's Facebook page. Some of the businesses give deals or special offers to customers who check-in. Facebook provides these businesses w...

How To: Disable Every Single App from Accessing Your Facebook Profile

Apps are now very much integrated with social media, especially with your Facebook profile. Pretty much every app these days lets you log in using Facebook, while some actually force you to, giving you no other option. But, the most annoying part is that these apps leave notifications all over your Facebook timeline, cluttering the hell out of it. So, how can you completely banish all of these apps from being able to access your Facebook?

How To: Revert the New YouTube Layout Back to How It Was

Last week, Google updated the YouTube layout to be more in tune with other Google properties. One thing that's different is the new, more Google+ look of your YouTube homepage. Though some may like the change, some definitely do not. Also new is the "Guide" on the left side when you're watching a YouTube video. for you folks looking to get back to the normal YouTube layout, it's as easy as copying and pasting some code into your browser.

How To: What You Need to Know Before Voting on Facebook's Proposed Policy Changes This Week

A few weeks ago, Facebook published a blog post called "Proposed Updates to our Governing Documents," which outlines a few changes in their policies and user voting system. These changes would essentially take away users' right to vote on future changes to Facebook's data use policy while also taking away Facebook's responsibility to alert users of those changes. If the new policy is enacted, the vote will be replaced with "a system that leads to more meaningful feedback and engagement," what...

How To: Get All of Your YouTube Videos Back from Google Using Takeout

While putting content and information online gets easier every day, it seems like getting it back is only getting harder. In a lot of cases (we're looking at you, Facebook), once you upload something, it's forever in the hands of someone else. That's where The Data Liberation Front comes in. Believe it or not, The Data Liberation Front is a team of Google engineers who work to make it easier for users to take their stuff back whenever they feel like it.

How To: Put Google's Search Tools Back on the Left Sidebar

Last month, Google changed the placement of search options from the left side of the page to the top, right above the first result. In theory, this shouldn't be such a bad thing—it's just looks, right? Well, not quite. Turns out, it actually got rid of a few of the options as well, and a lot of people were not too happy about it. The problem is that the change gives you less functionality, and makes the options that are still there harder to get to. One of the most frustrating changes was how...

How To: Make Yourself the Star of PSY's Gangnam Style Music Video

So you've learned all of the dance moves to Gangnam Style and made your very own papercraft version of PSY that dances whenever you want him to. Now it's time to take your obsession a step further—by making yourself the star of the Gangnam Style music video. JibJab, the custom e-card site, has created a free tool that lets you use any photo to replace PSY's face with yours (or whoever you choose), then share the video with your friends.

How To: Make Your Favorite Song Last Forever with Infinite Jukebox

The first album I ever bought with my own money was Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York. It featured mainly lesser-known songs and covers, but was on constant repeat on my Walkman. While the whole album was fantastic, there was one song that stood out the most to me—"The Man Who Sold The World." The song (originally written by David Bowie) kept me under a spell, which had me replaying the song over and over and over and over. As I got older, I found myself sharing this relationship with a han...

How To: Enable the Hidden Facebook Chat and Notifications Feature in Firefox 17's Toolbar

As enjoyable as Facebook can be at times, it can also be a great distraction and even better deterrent of getting work done. A quick "Oh, let me check my notifications" can turn into hours and hours of Facebooking, and before you know it, you're already on your 7th Wikipedia page, all thanks to that status your friend posted. The reason I mention this is because Firefox's new 17.0 update includes many features, but the one that's been making the rounds online is the integration of Facebook Me...

How To: Beautify Your Twitter Account with Profile, Header, and Background Images

This goes out to all of the Tweeters out there looking to get a little more creative with their Twitter accounts. My page has always been extremely basic, because I just never bothered to pretty it up. I just had one of the stock backgrounds and the good ole Sacramento Kings logo for my profile pic. So, if you want to add your own cool photos and backgrounds to your account, the folks over at Twitter made this funny cartoon video just for you. It's not the most complicated of tasks, and every...

How To: Keep Tabs on Today's Voting Results for the 2012 Presidential Election

Believe it or not, the 2012 Presidential Election is (finally) almost over. While most of us are breathing a collective sigh of relief (no more political ads!), it still seems like it hasn't been that long since the last election results were announced. This time, though, one of the biggest differences is how people will watch. Since traditional cable is on its way out, and mobile devices are getting more popular every day, a lot of people will be watching this year's election results online ...

How To: Change the Number of Search Results Displayed Per Page in Google, Bing, and Yahoo!

People use search engines for a wide variety of subjects (just look at some of the results that pop up in autofill). The results you get with each different search engine are usually different, but almost all of them display the same number of results per page by default—ten. If you find what you're looking for at the top of the first page, great. But if you have to do a lot of digging, it can be a pain to load so many different pages to find it, especially if your connection is slow.

How To: Track the Super Storm Hurricane Sandy Live

As Hurricane Sandy barrels towards the East Coast, 50 million people are expected to be affected in the nation's most populated corridor. The behemoth super storm is a cause for concern, evident by the massive evacuations. The picture above is an eerie snap of the mostly crowded Times Square subway station in New York. Government officials have warned over half a million people to evacuate their homes and head to higher grounds. To help prepare for this storm, the internet has provided severa...

How To: Hide All of the Social Numbers on Your Facebook Page with the Demetricator

The reason that Facebook is so popular is because it connects us to people that we could have never been connected to before. When people log on, they look for messages, comments, likes, and any other notifications that connect us to those people. These same notifications, though, distort our view of Facebook. We tend to appreciate statuses (I prefer stati) that have more likes. We're geared towards people that have more friends, so we tend to like pages that already have hundred of thousands...

How To: Add Sticky Notes to Your Email Threads in Gmail

Notes for Gmail now allows you to insert sticky notes directly onto your email threads in Chrome. The browser extension, currently in beta, allows you to annotate your emails as a whole (thread)—or individually. You can add as many sticky notes as you would like and they all appear at the top of the webpage for easy accessibility. To download the application, go to this page and request an invitation. They add users everyday—I was added almost instantly after I applied. Once you've downloaded...

How To: Automatically Delete Spam Messages in Gmail

Most of the spam messages are commercial advertisements, phishing websites and get rich quickly messages that asks users to provide personal details and other confidential information.Spam filters in Gmail prevent its users from these spam messages and restrict them to enter in user’s Gmail inbox.Generally, it acts like a firewall between spam messages and Gmail Inbox.Gmail filters detect the sender’s email address and accordingly send the received messages in Inbox or Spam folder.