How to

I'm a bit of a Craigslist junkie. I've used it to buy everything from a piano to a loft bed to a go-kart, and to sell or give away a host of unwanted items.

But despite its spartan interface--or perhaps because of it--the service isn't particularly user-friendly. For one thing, it doesn't let me save individual listings. And adding photos to my own listing means copying them over from my camera, resizing them, and on and on. Hassle city.

That's why I'm jazzed about apps like Lifelike Craig HD, which can turn an iPhone, … Read more

Before you purchase e-books from vendors like Amazon or from the iBookstore, see what your local library has to offer. With a library card and a free application, Overdrive Media Console, you can download free e-books and audiobooks to your iPhone (and any other iOS device), BlackBerry, Android device, or computer.

Remember, though, that most libraries might only carry a few copies of each title, so be ready to wait your turn. Additionally, most books have a loaning period of 7 to 14 days, so there's no room for procrastinating here.

Some users have been experiencing issues when attempting to back up their iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, especially when installing iOS updates like 4.3.1. Mac OS X Hints user renaultssoftware describes the issue:

"It was giving me 2 errors: 'Couldn't retrieve profile from Sync Services--unplug and replug iPhone' and 'Couldn't backup iPhone.' Having restarted, and unplugged/replugged the iPhone, it still wouldn't back up, or even update to iOS 4.3.1. The situation was very vexing."

Users on Apple's Support Discussions forums are finding other backup issues with their iOS device. … Read more

With the arrival of Amazon's App Store, Android users have a new way to get their app and game fix. But while it is--overnight--the best known alternative app store, it's by no means the first. Third-party Android app stores such as AndAppStore, SlideMe, Handango, and GetJar and game developers such as Gameloft have been peddling their wares outside of the Android Market for some time now.

Additionally, smaller developers often offer alpha or beta versions of upcoming apps, while hackers and enthusiasts will sometimes make useful applets available to the Android community on forums and blogs. There are … Read more

Amid rumors of Google and Apple launching their own cloud music service, Amazon.com quickly released the Amazon Cloud Player. The service lets you upload up to 5GB of music to the cloud for free, which can be accessed from any other computer or Android device.

Sadly, iOS and other mobile platforms were left out--Amazon did not release an app or Web compatibility for them.

With the Amazon MP3 app for Android, you can play, edit, or download music stored in the cloud. Music you purchase from the in-app store can be automatically backed-up onto your cloud and won't … Read more

Google recently updated its algorithm to take down Web sites that use SEO to game search results and up their ranking, but spam still dominates results. Search for something like "how to lose weight" and a flurry of content farms will appear.

Content farms simply hire low-paid freelancers to write articles about every topic in existence, allowing their Web sites to rank high in Google search results. The result? Unqualified, haphazardly written posts that can bury more reputable sources and delay the time it takes to get the answers you're looking for.

In response to these content farms, you can now permanently block Web sites from search results. Make use of this tip (in the video below)--Google is likely noting users' blocks to identify Web sites it should manually lower the ranking of.

… Read more

A $1,400 iTunes bill racked up by an 8-year-old buying Smurfberries in Smurfs' Village might be enough for parents to forbid their kids from using mobile technology. Since this case--and several others like it--resulted in people receiving ridiculous bills, the Federal Trade Commission announced it will be reviewing Apple's in-app purchasing policies.

With the newly released iOS 4.3, Apple swiftly updated its policy, prompting users to enter a password each time something like a level-up, Tap Tap Revenge song, or $20 barrel of stars in Tap Zoo is purchased. Previously, Apple gave users a 15-minute window for … Read more

Zachery Bir, on his Urbanape blog, explains how he used an iPhone 4 with the new Personal Hotspot feature in iOS 4.3 to add GPS to his Wi-Fi-only iPad. A tweet from Bir earlier in the day caused some skepticism when he posted:

From a technological standpoint, I must admit I was a bit skeptical as well. When deciding on which iPad 2 to get, I debated many of the same pros and cons as other customers wondering if the $130 upgrade to enable 3G on an iPad was worth the money.

Ultimately, I decided to put the extra money toward more storage and I settled on a black, 32Gb, Wi-Fi-only iPad 2. Upon seeing a post from Daring Fireball's John Gruber about Bir's findings, I feel as though my decision may well be completely justified. … Read more

Your iOS device is good for accessing media on the go, but there may be times when you want to share your movies, photos, and music, or play games on a TV. Connecting your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch to your TV is simple, but you have to select the right cables first. 

HDMI adapterApple's Digital AV Adapter is the highest-quality video transfer, and is the only cable that will do mirroring with the iPad 2. It's also compatible with the iPad, iPhone 4, and iPod Touch (fourth generation). When you've connected your television with the … Read more