All posts tagged: Tricks

How to Master iOS 26 Wallpapers: 5 Hidden Tricks (2026)

How to Master iOS 26 Wallpapers: 5 Hidden Tricks (2026)

Published by skeptic

Customizing your iPhone wallpaper is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to make your device feel personal and unique. With the release of iOS 26, Apple has introduced a range of advanced features and tools that allow you to create visually stunning and functional lock and home screens. Below are five creative wallpaper tricks that can help you enhance your iPhone’s aesthetic and functionality in a great new video from iReviews. 1. Add Drama with a Black-and-White Lock Screen A black-and-white lock screen can create a bold and sophisticated contrast when paired with a colorful home screen. This technique not only enhances the overall aesthetic of your device but also adds a sense of elegance and modernity. Steps to achieve this effect: Select the same image for both your lock and home screens during the wallpaper setup process. Apply a monochrome filter exclusively to the lock screen while keeping the home screen in full color. This simple trick results in a visually striking transition between screens, offering a clean and polished look that …

Why sugar may be the reason your skin is ageing – and 6 tricks to stop it without giving up treats

Why sugar may be the reason your skin is ageing – and 6 tricks to stop it without giving up treats

Published by Daniella Wilson

Diet does so much more than simply satisfy our hunger; today, we have a far deeper understanding of how the food we eat actually shapes and impacts our bodies.  This ranges from the importance of Vitamin K after the age of 40 to protect against osteoporosis and premature ageing, to the vital role of probiotics in supporting gut health and lifting our mood.  While nutrition is highly personal and there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach, there is one thing every nutritionist seems to agree on: we should all be cutting down on sugar as much as possible. Why does sugar cause ageing? Sugar does far more than just affect our waistlines; it is also a primary culprit behind premature ageing. This is largely due to glycation, a natural chemical reaction where sugars in the bloodstream attach to proteins like collagen and elastin.  This process causes stiffness and dryness, which eventually leads to a dull complexion and the appearance of wrinkles. The importance of reversing the sugar cycle “Collagen and elastin are the main proteins responsible for …

The invisibility cloak inventor now has better tricks up his sleeve

The invisibility cloak inventor now has better tricks up his sleeve

Published by skeptic

Mike Finn-Kelcey/Imperial College London John Pendry’s kitchen is dominated by a huge photograph of what looks like the view through a kaleidoscope: dizzying shards of purple, green, yellow and white. Given that Pendry is famous above all else for inventing an invisibility cloak – a device that can bend light around objects – I wonder if I am looking at something related to that. But no, he tells me, the image simply shows crystals of vitamin C magnified many times. All that invisibility-cloak stuff is in the past, he says, and he has moved on to “more exciting things”. It is a throwaway remark, but it reveals something of why I have always found Pendry, who is based at Imperial College London, so interesting. This is someone who invented a device 20 years ago that sounds like magic, but his true legacy is barely appreciated. If engineers get their way, Pendry’s ideas will soon shape everything from earthquake protection to self-driving cars. Yet he seems to give the applications of his famous breakthrough barely a thought, …

High IQ People Use These 14 Sly Psychological Tricks To Change Minds & Win Almost Any Argument | Sidhharrth S Kumaar

High IQ People Use These 14 Sly Psychological Tricks To Change Minds & Win Almost Any Argument | Sidhharrth S Kumaar

Published by Jenni Sidey

Everyone likes to win an argument, but only a few high IQ people know to use the psychological tricks that actually change someone’s mind. The key is to keep yourself steady and provide reasons, winning them over with facts rather than big feelings.  These sly psychological skills are helpful in life, well beyond debates or arguments. They support your career, financial negotiations, relationships, and even your friendships. Knowing how to win any argument is the first step towards success, but only if you are able to keep that relationship intact afterward.  High IQ people use these 14 sly psychological tricks to change minds & win almost any argument 1. They keep themselves calm George Milton | Pexels High IQ people know that, in order to change minds and win arguments, they need to keep themselves calm. If they get rattled, cry or shout, they will lose focus and drive people away.  It’s great to be enthusiastic about your opinion, but it’s important to maintain your composure. Stay in control of your emotions, as you lose …

This hidden Windows menu has all the tricks you need to fix battery drain

This hidden Windows menu has all the tricks you need to fix battery drain

Published by skeptic

A few extra hours of battery can make all the difference when you’re away from a charger. And there’s a lot you can do to get there, from changing the power mode and lowering the screen refresh rate to disabling the screen saver and turning off USB ports when the screen is off. The problem is, these options are scattered across different parts of Windows, so changing them takes time and effort. Thankfully, Windows has a dedicated menu called Energy Recommendations. It brings all the impactful settings into one place, so you don’t have to hunt them down. It’s been there all along Screenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution required It’s not just about what you’re doing on your PC that impacts power consumption. Streaming, gaming, and browsing with a dozen tabs open obviously chews through the battery. But what most people don’t realize is that how your PC is set up also makes a huge difference. Windows’ Energy Recommendations is a dedicated section inside the Settings app that highlights all the options that …

Unprecedented insight into memory champion’s brain reveals his tricks

Unprecedented insight into memory champion’s brain reveals his tricks

Published by skeptic

Nelson Dellis holds his trophy after winning the annual USA Memory Championships in New York in 2011 DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images Nelson Dellis is a six-time US memory champion who once memorised the order of a shuffled deck of cards in 40.7 seconds and knows the first 10,000 digits of pi. Now, scientists have studied his brain in unprecedented detail, revealing how he achieved such feats and how we can acquire some of the same skills. Dellis claims he had an average memory until around 25 years old, when his grandmother’s decline from Alzheimer’s disease inspired him to start memory training for hours every day, including memorising numbers, names and words. “I still train my memory regularly,” he says. “It’s like a muscle; if you don’t use it, it fades.” While memory impairment – like that which occurs with dementia – has been widely studied, less is known about people with extraordinary memory. To address this gap, researchers – including scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri – have turned to Dellis. Dellis …

How Apple taught its flagship AirPods Max headphones new acoustic tricks

How Apple taught its flagship AirPods Max headphones new acoustic tricks

Published by Jenni Sidey

Sign Up For Goods 🛍️ Product news, reviews, and must-have deals. It’s a murky March evening, and I’m walking to a metronomic throb wrapped in neon fog. I’m also walking underneath a flight path. I’m heading north along Long Bridge Park, planes taking off from Ronald Regan Washington National Airport to my right, and the deliberate pulse of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” precisely outlined around me. Intimate but uncluttered, the kick-synth interplay is uninterrupted because I’m wearing an appropriately spring-colored pair of purple AirPods Max 2 headphones, though the jogger passing me by in a similarly colorful orange pair wouldn’t know these are an upgraded edition from the outside.  The AirPods Max 2’s ability to keep my synth-pop groove’s lateral focus amid ambient intrusions comes down to several invisible yet highly perceptible factors. While not physically redesigned, the AirPods Max 2 adopts new silicon in the form of its updated H2 chip, bringing with it experience upgrades. I recently got the chance to talk with Eric Treski, director of Apple’s Audio Product Marketing, and …

How many blue dots do you see? New optical illusion tricks the brain.

How many blue dots do you see? New optical illusion tricks the brain.

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. A new optical illusion excellently illustrates just how finicky our eyes are when it comes to perceiving colors. Unfortunately, staring at it too long with a friend may kick off an argument much like The Dress did in 2015. How many purple dots are in this image, really? The illusion is an example of simultaneous contrast. Credit: Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt Spoiler: It’s a trick question. They look kind of purple, but they’re all technically the same blue. An object’s actual color and our perception of its color are two very different things. The wavelengths of light absorbed or reflected by a surface may determine its hue. However, your brain only interprets it through information collected by cells in your eye’s retinas called cones. There are three types of cones, each named after the type of wavelength they are capable of detecting. L-cones detect long wavelengths of light for reds). S-cones pick up short wavelengths for blues. And lastly, M-cones sense …

5 clever iPhone tricks you might not know

5 clever iPhone tricks you might not know

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. If you’ve invested in an iPhone, what do you use it for most? Maybe it’s taking photos, or messaging friends and family, or just endlessly doomscrolling through whatever feeds you happen to have open. Even with a device as ubiquitous as the iPhone though, there are features that not everyone is aware of. If you dig beneath the surface of the apps and menus that you use daily, there’s more and more functionality to explore. We’ve rounded up five lesser-known iPhone features–and if you already knew about all of them, you have an impressively thorough knowledge of your device. You can run a lot of different conversions on your iPhone. Screenshot: Apple It’s likely that you’ve used the Calculator app that comes as part of iOS, but did you know the app has a conversion tool hidden away in it as well? It means you can convert between temperatures, weights, distances, currencies, and more without having to load up …

I was glued to my phone all day – these 7 tricks helped me break the habit

I was glued to my phone all day – these 7 tricks helped me break the habit

Published by skeptic

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Small changes can slash your screen time, dramatically. Make it harder to grab your phone and mindlessly scroll. Deleting apps works better than relying on app limits and timers. A few months ago, I noticed screen time on my iPhone was around 13 hours a day, with work on my Mac included. Some days it was more. I’ve never really been one to care about screen time because I love using tech, test apps and new features often, and genuinely enjoy being online. I’ve always been this way. But as I get older, I’ve started doing the math. With work excluded, I’m spending over 100 days every year staring at my phone. That’s more than three months out of the year, 24 hours a day, not doing other activities I love and not spending time with my husband and daughter. I’m glued to a screen, mindlessly scrolling through apps.  That realization made me uncomfortable. Also: I bricked my …