Readers offer their best tips for securing your Android phone with CyanogenMod's gestures, searching for books on the Google eBook store, and watching blocked networks on Google TV.
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About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, share it here, or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.
How to Best Use CyanogenMod 6.1's New Lock Screen Gestures
Aaron shares his experience with one of Cyanogenmod's newest features:
I was playing around with the new update. Through CyanogenMod settings >> Input Settings, you can select lock screen gestures. From here, you can develop a gesture for many things, but most useful may be unlocking the phone. I chose a star with the default sensitivity to 3, then I disabled the lock screen swipe through the previous screen. DO NOT DO THIS UNTIL YOU KNOW YOU CAN UNLOCK IT. I had to try 20 times at least, thought I was screwed.
I think its rather useful on a setting of 2. For maximum security, I would recommend a horizontal swipe going back and forth a few times. Then people looking at your screen with smudges can't tell what exactly the pattern is.
Some great tips for the new feature, which allows for a bit more than the built-in pattern unlock feature.
Use the author: Search Operator in Google's eBook Store
Salviati lets us know a good way to filter Google eBook search results:
I've been exploring Google's new ebook store, and found a nice trick for narrowing down a book by it's author. If, for example, you're looking for books by Albert Einstein rather than books about him, you can type the phrases:
author:einsteinorauthor:'albert einstein'This is especially useful for popular authors who may have several biographies or are often referenced in book titles. It appears that the same trick doesn't work for searching by title, but there may be others.
Watch Blocked Networks on Google TV
Photo by Dailylifeofmojo.
Antonio shows us how to watch networks like NBC and CBS on the new Google TV:
Google TV is being blocked by major television networks like NBC, CBS and ABC with lack of support for Google's Internet TV idea. Luckily it's really easy to watch blocked networks like NBC and CBS on Google TV. There's a more involved partial workaround with PlayOn to get virtually all networks with online content including Hulu, but we're giving you the quick and dirty…
Launch Google Chrome
Press "Menu" and open Incognito Window
Press "Menu" select More » Advanced » Settings
Select "Mode" and change to "Custom"
Select "Custom value" and type in "Desktop"
Now you can check out the wealth of content you can watch on Google TV!
Combine a Clothes Rack and Radiator for Super Clothes Drying
Photo by Jeremy Noble.
Brodiemac shows us an easy way to dry clothes without a dryer:
This a bit of a limited lifehack but it works well. I live in a much older house with the old cast iron radiators. In the winter, not only does it get really cold but the air gets really dry as well. This hack takes advantage of all of these things, directly or indirectly.
Everyone is familiar with the cheap wooden drying racks usually reserved for drying sensitive clothing like sweaters. I have bought several of these and placed them on top of my radiators. The spacing is perfect so the rack nestle in between the cells and keeps the rack from falling over. Every time the heat kicks on, it drys all my clothes relatively quickly, humidifies the air at the same time, and saves me a ton of money in electric bills by not running the dryer. It also helps my clothes last longer.