How to

We've all seen Facebook posts that say things like, "Finally! Facebook got a dislike button! Click here!" or "See who is viewing your profile OMG I cannot believe it!!!!!!" or something else equally enticing.

Some of us, overwhelmed by desire, have fallen for these posts and learned an important lesson the hard way: Facebook is full of spam.

Many of us fled MySpace in hopes of a cleaner, spam-free, and polished platform, but it was only a matter of time before hackers figured out how to attack us on Facebook, too.

On Facebook, there are … Read more

In word processing, there are three beasts: Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, and Google Docs. Most users are likely tied to Word, but its offline, collaboration-free nature makes it look a little boring next to Google Docs. 

Whether you use Docs as your primary word processor, as a place to keep your files in the cloud, or just as a notepad for your online finds, these tips will help you get the most out of Google Docs.

1. Easy uploading. To quickly upload files of almost any format to Google Docs, drag and drop files from your hard drive to the Docs home page. To upload an entire folder (like My Documents), go to Upload > Folder. Subfolders will also be added. 

2. Better photo inserting. Easily insert a photo into your doc by dragging and dropping files from your hard drive into the doc. To wrap text around the photo (pictures are put in-line with text by default), click it and select "Fixed." If you plan to grab a photo from the Web, go to Insert > Image > Google Image Search. This tool is far better than searching, saving a photo to the desktop, and reuploading it to Google. … Read more

It's possible that you've been so consumed by L.A. Noire or MLB 11: The Show that you haven't realize that your PS3 can do more than just play games. With a few tweaks to your settings, and some software set up on your computer, you can stream music, videos, and photos from your computer(s) to your PS3 over your home network. Here's how:

Set up your PS3 Step 1: Make sure your PS3 is connected to the same network (via Ethernet or wireless) as your computer. You can check your connection by going to … Read more

Tires, oil, brakes, and gas are just about the only common service items left on modern cars, and of those the tires are the ones most people understand the least. The sides of a modern tire are covered in tech specs that tell you exactly what you're buying--if you know how to read them. Brian Cooley shows you how.

There's no denying that Amazon's new Cloud Drive is pretty awesome--especially if you routinely buy music from Amazon's MP3 store. Among other things, you can get 20GB of online storage (for a year) for the price of one dirt-cheap album.

Alas, until now, only Android users could listen to their Cloud Drive tunes on the go. The iOS camp has yet to see an Amazon MP3 app.

But as reported by Lifehacker today, Amazon just updated the service to support streaming over Safari. In other words, iOS users can now use the Amazon Cloud Player. They just … Read more

It always seems like the best concerts are the ones you hear about too late. But who has time to scour the show listings in the local paper or habitually check a band's Web site for tour dates?

There's a better way. In fact, there are so many sites out there promising personalized concert recommendations, I figured a roundup was in order. So here you are, five sites that will put you in tune with the best live music in your area, using data from your favorite music sites and services:

… Read more

Get in real time. At the top of your News Feed, click "Most Recent." Now you're viewing a real-time view of your friends' activities--however, Facebook is still only showing posts from people who it thinks you interact with most. To change that, click Most Recent > Edit Options > Show posts from all of your friends and pages.

Now you're viewing activities as they happen, which can get a little hectic. Here's how to refine this view:

Hide friends from the feed. Instead of unfriending someone because of his bothersome updates (like, "This chicken … Read more

Sure, you can watch movies and TV shows on your iPhone or iPad, but there's always a catch--usually a monetary one. Hulu and Netflix cost money. PlayOn costs money and requires you to leave your PC on. The ABC Player is iPad-only and, well, ABC-only.

Enter Crackle, a new app that lets you watch dozens of TV shows and a couple hundred movies, all free of charge (but with ads, natch).

Available for iPhone, iPod, and iPad (the app is universal), Crackle delivers much of (but not all) the same content as its eponymous Web service. On the TV … Read more

Android doesn't offer a native backup service, so it's easy to ignore the need to do so. But don't wait until it's too late to start thinking about backing up your phone. Many of us rely on our phone cameras to snap day-to-day photos of our lives and save text messages to have some of the most important conversations. So before a thief swipes that phone, or a spilled cup of coffee bricks it, follow these tips:

Google has your back. Go to Settings > Privacy, and make sure that "Back up my settings" … Read more