Turn a cracked Nexus 7 into an e-book reader

The Google Nexus 7 is one of our favorite budget Android tablets for many reasons, but durability isn't one of them. As our Always On torture test has demonstrated, the touch screen on the Nexus 7 is a rather delicate flower.

If you've experienced the fragility of this screen first-hand, chances are you've got the tablet gathering dust somewhere with a partially or completely unrespons

ive screen.

The good news is that you might be able to give your broken tablet new life, so long as it still powers up. Inspired by this tutorial found on Imgur (tipped to me by CNET's Xiomara Blanco) I endeavored to see if one could set up a Nexus 7 without using the touch screen, for use as a dedicated e-book reader.

A USB OTG adapter connected to a smartphone.

To make this happen, your first step is to get your tablet working using an alternative input method (assuming your touch screen is hosed). The easiest way to do this is to invest in an inexpensive USB OTG adapter. You can read all about this wondrous accessory on Sharon Vaknin's extensive tutorial.

Connect the adapter between your tablet and a USB mouse, and you should be able to navigate around Android with a standard mouse pointer. Your first task on your now-functioning tablet is to disable the tablet's screen lock. We don't want to rely on the USB mouse as a long-term solution, so disabling the screen lock will allow you to jump in and out of your tablet with nothing more than the sleep/wake button.

Jump into your Android settings, select Security, and at the top you should see a field for Screen Lock. Tap it, and select None from the list. Realize, though, that this will leave any private information and accounts on this tablet accessible to anyone who picks it up. If that's a concern to you, now would be a good time time to delete any sensitive information and disassociate any accounts from the tablet you don't want meddled with.

Next up, decide on what e-book reader you prefer to use for this. The key is that you'll need one that supports the ability to use the tablet's volume buttons as a means to advance book pages. I didn't do an exhaustive search for apps that include this feature, but I found that Google's own Play Books app (included on the Nexus 7) offers this, as well as Amazon's Kindle app. The B&N Nook app didn't seem to include this feature, but for those looking for an alternative e-reader with great open-format support, give Cool Reader a try.

The settings panel in Google's Play Books app.

Once you've settled on your reader software, locate the app's settings and check the box that enables the page-turn function using the volume keys. After that, back out, open a book, and give the volume key page control a try.

If it works, then it's nearly time to jettison the USB mouse and adapter and fly this thing using only button controls (sleep/wake, up/down). But first, decide on a book that you're set on spending some time with for a while. A task as seemingly simple as changing books will require you to fish out that mouse and adapter again, so open up a worthy digital tome before you unplug.

Use custom fonts with Over for iOS

With Over you can place text over a photo. The app has several free fonts, but it also allows you to import your own font to the app.

Over was recently one of the apps offered by Apple for free as part of its celebration of the App Store's fifth anniversary.

The simple app helps add some creativity to photos by overlaying text or artwork onto your personal photos. You're able to customize your artwork by changing the color and fonts used. Built into the app is a long list of free fonts,

along with many more fonts you can purchase in-app.

Recently added to the app was the ability to import any font you currently own in. All you'll need is the TTF or OTF file for the font (the app can't open a ZIP file).

Once you have the file and are sure you have the rights to use it as you see fit, you can get it to your device by e-mailing it to yourself, or via Dropbox.

I downloaded Google's Roboto font, which is coincidentally available as a purchased font from Over for 99 cents, and placed it in a Dropbox folder. 

Don't give up when you see this image. Just tap on the download button to add your font to Over.

Using Dropbox to access the font files, you'll receive an error message stating Dropbox can't view the file. That's OK, just tap on the download icon in the lower-right corner of the screen and you'll be presented with the option to open it in Over.

When e-mailing a font file to yourself, you simply need to wait for it to download and then tap on the attachment. From there you'll be able to open the font in Over.

Once the import process is complete, Over will alert you and you'll then see the font listed at the top of the font list. You can now use it as you would any other font within the app.

Currently there's no method to delete installed fonts, but the Over team has indicated it's in the works and will be coming in a future updated.

How to clear browsing history on the new Chrome for Android

The latest version of Chrome for Android makes it much easier to clear your browsing history than before.

Clearing the browsing history on Chrome for Android has always been a bit of a chore. You either had to memorize chrome://history, or bookmark it. Chrome 28 for Android has changed that by adding a menu item for quick and easy access to your browsing history.

Once the history data comes up, you can click on the "X" next to the individual sites you want to clear. You can also click on the "Clear browsing data" button to clear your entire browsing history, cache, cookies and site data, saved passwords, and autofill data.To get to Chrome's browsing history on Android, hit the menu key, then select "History."

How to embed Instagram photos, videos

Instagram has finally made it possible to easily embed photos and videos. Here's how it works.

In the past the only way to post an Instagram photo on a Web page was to upload and post the photo directly. This wasn't a huge deal, so long as the photo was properly attributed. Then Instagram rolled out its video feature and there was no easy way to embed a video on a Web page.

The need to embed Instagram content was now front and center.

Today Instagram announced that users can now embed content into any Web page using a short embed code for each photo or video. Not only does this new feature allow videos to be embedded, but it also ensures that all content used from Instagram is properly attributed.

To embed content from Instagram on a Web page you'll need to visit the photo or video using your favorite browser. While viewing the page, you'll notice a new Share button under the usual Comment and Like buttons.

Currently clicking on the Share button will only provide you with the embed code. From there you simply copy and paste it into a blog post, a personal Web site, or on any Web page you can use HTML with.

The end results look like this:

Notice that when you click on the username located at the top, it takes you directly to the Instagram page for the photo. From there you can like or comment on it as you normally would through the app or site. When viewing an embedded video, you can click on the image to start playback.

Put iOS 7's Control Center on your Android device

If you're an Android user and have a bit of iOS 7 envy, you can get iOS 7's Control Center on your device.

One of the things Apple discussed and demoed during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June was a new feature, Control Center, coming in iOS 7. This feature is the first time Apple has brought quick access to frequently used device settings. Once iOS 7 is released this fall, users will be able to swipe up from the bottom of any screen to activate Control Center and then toggle Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and screen rotation, plus plenty more settings and features.

Android has no shortage of methods of accessing device settings from any screen, but that doesn't stop developers from getting creative. One such developer, Hi Tools Studio, has decided to take iOS 7's Control Center and bring it to Android (click here to download). As covered by Addictive Tips, you're just a few minutes away from having a bit of iOS 7 on your device before iOS users have it.

The free app looks and acts exactly like iOS 7's Control Center, with the addition of a few additional features. After installing the app, toggle the service on and then adjust where you'd like the arrow (the icon you touch to activate the service) to be placed. If you're having trouble seeing the arrow, be sure to adjust the height. I wasn't able to see the arrow -- let alone activate it -- at the baseline 5dp setting.

Once it's pulled up you can tap to toggle Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile data, and rotation lock. Also present is a brightness control, complete with auto brightness toggle and volume and profile settings. Along the bottom of the display you'll find quick access to a flashlight toggle, a clock app, a calculator, the camera, and a Mailbox-like icon. The last icon doesn't actually take you to your inbox, but instead to a page that mimics Apple's Game Center and presents you with games to download.Any time you want to access Control Center you simply tap and press the arrow until your device vibrates (assuming you left vibrate on in the settings) and then slide your finger up. You can access Control Center from any screen on your Android device, including the lock screen.

Should you run into issues with the shortcuts on the bottom not launching an app, tap and hold on the icon to select the app you want it to launch. I had to set the Clock app on my Nexus 4, with all other shortcuts working without any further tinkering.

To close the control panel, drag the arrow at the top of the window down to the bottom of your screen. Using the back or home buttons won't hide it.

Five tips for the new Google Maps on Android

Checking out the new version of Google Maps and noticing some new features, but also some missing ones? Here's five quick tips

to help you navigate the new interface.

After promising that Maps would receive a face lift and some new features at Google I/O, the app is finally delivering the goods. Google Maps v7.0.0 tidies up the interface and brings some shortcuts for the features you use the most.

The new version is rolling out via Google Play to Android devices running 4.0.3 and higher (with an iOS coming sometime in the future). If you haven't received an update yet, sit tight. You do have the option of downloading it from a third-party file hosting service, but this is not recommended.

Now, let's get into the five things you should know how to do in the new Google Maps on Android:

Location information in the new Google Maps on Android, old vs. new.

Tip 1: When you look up a destination, you can slide the information card up from the bottom of the screen to reveal the call, save, and share buttons (borrows the Google Now card appearance). You'll also see the street view of the location, ratings, and reviews. No more trying to tap on the tiny map pin to open the information page!

Personal map data and recent searches in the new Google Maps on Android, old vs. new.

Tip 2: Tap the silhouette icon at the far right-hand side of the search bar to gain quick access to your map data. This data includes reviews, saved addresses for home and work, nearby offers, saved places, and even recent searches.

Google Maps old vs. new layer selection.

Tip 3: Traffic and satellite layers have been relocated to a general menu. Simply tap on the gray tab along the bottom left-hand side of the app and the menu will slide open, allowing you to enable your desired layers.

Google Maps Local (old) vs. Google Maps Explore (new).

Tip 4: The Local feature has been replaced by Explore. Press the search box at the top and then scroll down the page to find the Explore banner, where you can choose from eat, drink, shop, play, and sleep. There's even a menu with categories so you can find places around you without knowing the business names.

Confirmation that a map is saved for offline use in the new Google Maps on Android.

Tip 5: If you want to save Google Maps so you can access them while offline, just say or type "OK Maps" (Google Glass, anyone?) in the search box. You'll see a message that says the onscreen map area has been cached.

Update: In lieu of feedback about the method used for saving maps offline, Google has added a new "Make this Map area available offline" link under the search box for faster access. 

You may have noticed that Latitude is nowhere to be found in this version of Google Maps. If you want to see locations of friends, you'll have to open the Google+ app and choose Locations from the left-hand menu.

Have you noticed an important difference or awesome shortcut for the new Google Maps on Android? Share your tip or general thoughts on the new version in the comments!

Use Pebble with an Android device? Install this app

The official Pebble app on Android doesn't send every alert to your watch. Pebble Notifier, on the other hand, does.

(Credit: Jason Tech Digital News)

Now that the masses have the chance to walk into Best Buy and pick up a Pebble watch, the weaknesses of the watch and apps will naturally be front and center. One of the weaknesses of the current official Pebble Android app is lack of support for notifications from third-party apps.

Pebble Notifier, a free app available in the Play Store, will send notifications from any app installed on your device to your Pebble watch. Setup takes little time, and is very straightforward.

To use the app, you're required to grant it accessibility access (the same is required by the official Pebble app), which allows it to interact with notifications on your device. As such, it can then push notifications to your Pebble watch for any and all apps installed on your device.

You can set the app to send notifications for only the apps you've selected, or to exclude certain apps. After you've curated your list of apps, make sure to tap on the menu button and select save.The first time you launch Pebble Notifier you'll be asked to enable its accessibility. After it's enabled you can then decide how you want it to handle notifications. You can either have the app send notifications for every app -- all the time -- or you can customize the settings.

Once it's all set up you can expect any notification that comes to your device (so long as it's for an app you have activated in Pebble Notifier) to show up on your watch.

How to move your Astrid data to Wunderlist

Now that the end of Astrid is official, it's time to find a new home for your lists and notes. Here's how to migrate your data to

Wunderlist, one of the best alternatives to Astrid.

Wunderlist, a replacement task management app for Astrid.

Although Wunderlist doesn't look much like Astrid, it does offer a lot of similar features. You can make notes on tasks, create lists with check boxes, and even set reminders. And to save you time updating your list from only one device, Wunderlist is available for Android, iPhone, iPad,Mac, Windows, and the Web. Here's the quick steps for relocating your Astrid data:Astrid sent out an e-mail newsletter stating that its service will come to a close on August 5, 2013. Whether it's to-do lists, movies you want to see, or the details of a project, you'll probably want to save them before the service shuts down. Luckily, Astrid has teamed up with several other project management companies to make the transition simple. One such company is 6Wunderkinder, the creators of Wunderlist.

Open Astrid.Wunderlist.com in your Web browser and click the Let's Get Started button.

Unfortunately, most of the services that Astrid suggests in its farewell e-mail do not import directly through their respective apps (at the time of this post). Any.Do is an exception, allowing you to import through the settings menu.

You can log in to Astrid with Facebook if you connected it to your account, or with a standard e-mail and password.

Wunderlist will then display the number of lists and to-dos that are still on your Astrid account. Click Next step.

You will need to either sign up for a Wunderlist account, or enter the credentials for an existing one. After logging in, click the Import my Lists Now button. When the import to Wunderlist is complete, you'll receive a notification e-mail.

Falcon Pro updated with workaround for Twitter tokens

A hidden feature in a recent update to Falcon Pro lets anyone use the app. Here's what you'll need to do.

Falcon Pro is a popular Twitter client for Android users. So popular, in fact, it's reached the 100,000-user (or token) limit implemented by Twitter on two separate occasions. The first time the developer, Joaquim Verges, reset the tokens, thus disabling the pirated copies that were a large part of the reason the limit was hit.

The second attempt at resetting the key resulted in Twitter disabling any new users from using the app. Not everyone was able to reauthorize the app after the second token reset before Twitter took action. It wasn't (still isn't) a good situation.

Eventually Falcon Pro was removed from the Play store, leaving plenty of paid users (and users who were willing to pay) without access to the app.

Today Verges posted an update regarding Falcon Pro and its future. In short, the app is now free and available as a direct download from http://getfalcon.pro. You'll need to side load the app if you decide to download it from the site. You can enable side loading of apps by launching your Settings app and going to Security, then checking the box next to "Unknown sources."

Simply making the app free and releasing it for all to download outside of the Play store doesn't solve the token issue, though. In order to get around the limit, you'll need to find a hidden custom log-in screen.

The workaround is brilliant. By allowing users to create their own Twitter application keys and in the process their own tokens, anyone can log in to Falcon Pro and use the app to its full potential. Visit this page on Twitter's developer portal and create your own application. The app name you use will show on every tweet you send through the app, so make sure you pick something that shows off your personality. Before we go on to the next step, e-mail yourself the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.Start by tapping the falcon on the main page, then tap and shake your way to the custom log-in notification. If you're not patient enough to try and figure it out, or you just want to use the app without jumping through hoops, you can find instructions here.

Once you create your app, you'll need to visit the Settings tab to change the application type. Twitter defaults all apps to read-only permissions, which won't allow you to even send a tweet. As such, change the application type to "Read, Write and Access direct messages" before adding your keys to Falcon Pro.

By now you've unlocked the custom log-in screen, created a Twitter application, and e-mailed yourself the Consumer Key and Secret. The next step is to copy and paste the Key and Secret from the e-mail you sent yourself into the respective fields under the custom log-in screen.

After doing that, log in to Falcon Pro as you normally would and start tweeting away. Pretty sweet, eh?

It's nice to see the developer come up with a selfless way for users to take advantage of a lot of hard work put into such a great Twitter app.

How to access your 'other' inbox on Facebook for Android

The initial Facebook for Android beta includes access to a hidden messages folder for your account. Here's how to access it.

You know you have a hidden inbox on Facebook, right? The "other" message folder is reserved for those people who message you and aren't one of your Facebook friends.

There's a chance some messages from non friends will go to your main inbox (depending on your settings), but most of the time these messages make their way to your other messages, without you ever being notified of a waiting message. Unless the sender decides to pay $1 to guarantee the message ends up in your main folder.

Up until recently, the only way to access your other inbox was to log on to Facebook.com and navigate to it on the Messages screen. It appears Facebook is finally ramping up plans to bring it to your Android device, as the feature is included in the latest Facebook for Android beta build.

To be able to view your other inbox, you'll need to sign up to participate in the Facebook for Android beta, which is free and requires a Google account. Once you've signed up and downloaded the beta from the Play store, you can begin digging around and finding new features.

One of those new features, of course, is a gear icon next to Messages in the navigation window. Tapping on the icon lets you navigate to your archived messages or your other inbox. Here you'll find any missed connections, or random messages from complete strangers wanting to chat it up; if you find anything at all.

Never miss the free App of the Week from the App Store again

Last summer I covered an easy-to-create recipe on IFTTT that would send an e-mail or alert of your choosing once the App Store Twitter account posted a tweet announcing the latest freebie. Since that time there have been some changes to Twitter 's API policy, and IFTTT (name based on "If this, then that") has had to change how it uses Twitter within its service.

So, if you've been looking for a way to start receiving notifications for the free App of the Week again, you're in luck. Before we begin, make sure you've signed up for a free IFTTT account if you don't already have one.As such, the recipe demonstrated in my post last June no longer works. While browsing through public IFTTT Recipes today I found a solution that uses posts on the App Store's official Facebook page to trigger alerts.

1. Visit IFTTT.com and log in to your account.
2. You can add this public recipe from IFTTT user "jtshea" (who also happens to have some recipes for CNET's very own Cheapskate deals in his profile), or you can create your own recipe if you'd rather not receive the alert via e-mail as the above recipe is set to do.
3. To create a different alert method, copy the following RSS URLhttp://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?format=atom10&id=286893159420. Then create a new Recipe using the Feed channel, with the "Feed item matches" criteria.
4. Paste the feed address you copied from the previous step in the feed URL field, and add "App of the Week" to the keyword or simple phrase field.
5. Once you've created the trigger you can then select the action or alert method you'd like to use to get notified of the new post.

You'll be alerted via the method of your choosing when the App Store posts the free App of the Week on its Facebook page, complete with the body of the post and a direct link to the app in the App Store.

Hide and unhide apps from your iPhone's purchased list in iOS 6

In the past, you could pull off this maneuver right on your phone. Now, it requires a trip to iTunes. Find out where in iTunes you need to go to hide and unhide apps from your purchased list.

Turns out, I've been giving you bad advice. Or at least outdated advice. In my post on this topic from last year (in the heady days of iOS 5), I showed you how you could simply swipe on an app on your purchased list right on your iPhone to hide it. For no good reason at all (at least any that I can see), iOS 6 did away with this functionality. Perhaps iOS 7 will bring back the ability to cull your purchased list from your phone, but for now, it requires a trip to iTunes. *sad trombone*

Open up iTunes and click on the iTunes Store button. Next, click on the home button if the Store didn't open to this view. In the right column, under the Quick Links header, click on the Purchased link. Click on Apps from the top of this view, and you'll see a grid of your purchased app. Hover over an icon and a small X button appears in the upper-left corner. Click the X to hide the app. The app will be hidden from the purchased list on your phone the next time you take a look at your purchased list; no sync is necessary.

To reverse course and unhide an app, click on the button with your username in iTunes and select Account. Next, in the iTunes in the Cloud section, click the Manage button that sits to the right of the Hidden Purchases. Select Apps and you'll a grid of icons for all of your hidden apps, each with an Unhide button. Click the button and the app is returned to your purchased list.

Change privacy settings for shared posts in Facebook for Android

Forgot to set the correct privacy settings on a post before you shared? Here's a quick tip about today's update that lets you fix sharing settings on any post.

When sharing a post from the previous version of Facebook for Android, you may have forgotten to tap the itsy-bitsy people-sharing icon before you sent it off to the Interwebs. This icon controls the settings for who can see your post, be it Public, Friends, or other groups you're part of on Facebook. Fortunately, this icon hasn't gone anywhere, but in case you forget to use it, there's a fix -- and it doesn't involve logging in on the desktop Web site.

First, make sure you have the most recent version of Facebook for Android. Just because you've done all updates from the Google Play Store doesn't necessarily mean that you're using the latest version. Many mobile app updates are done with a staged rollout, which can be quite annoying if you're not in the first group. The easiest way to check your current version is to go into the Application Manager (Settings > Applications) and find Facebook in the list. When you tap it, the version number will be displayed in the top area of the screen.

If you don't have version 3.3 you will need to wait for the update to reach your Android device, or install it from a third party (at your own risk). Once you're on version 3.3, follow these quick steps to adjust privacy settings for shared posts:

After a post is finished updating to Facebook, just tap on the three dots in the top-right corner and select Edit Privacy. Next, select the audience you want to share the post with. Now the post will be available only to the people you selected.

If you're like me, you probably think this feature is extremely overdue. What other changes would you like to see in the mobile app? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

How to clear all your Android app caches with App Cache Cleaner

The apps on your Android device typically use a cache to improve performance. Over time, the cache for certain apps can grow quite large. Clearing the app cache can free up precious space and sometimes resolve problems you might be having with the app.

App Cache Cleaner lists the apps on your Android device by the apps with the largest cache. You can tap on the individual apps to clear their cache, or tap on the green "Clear All" button at the bottom to clear all the caches at the same time.To clear the cache, you normally go to the Android app manager, click on the app from the list, then tap on "Clear cache." If you want to clear the cache for all your apps, you have to repeat this procedure for every single app, unless you use a cache cleaner like App Cache Cleaner.

If you prefer a hands-off approach to managing the cache for your apps, you can configure App Cache Cleaner to clear them at regular intervals.

App Cache Cleaner is relatively small in size and focuses on just managing the cache. If you want to try an advanced cache management app, take a look at Clean Master, which also erases Snapchat files.