Featured Story

7 Great Guitar Hero and Rock Band Hacks, With Video

The familiar hardware for Guitar Hero and Rock Band cries out to be tinkered with, and do-it-yourselfers answered the call: playing real guitars, rigging up double bass drums and just plain cheating.

Previous Tech How-To Central Stories

How to Calibrate Your HDTV: Digital Clinic Most new TV sets are tuned to catch eyes from the showroom floor, not to accurately reproduce colors and images. Properly calibrating your TV will give you a better picture, and, as a bonus, could also save electricity and extend the life of your set. (Published in the December 2008 issue)
Don't Panic! How to Recover Data From a Dead Hard Drive If the components in your drive are still functioning, you can recover the data yourself. If there's mechanical damage, send it to the pros. PM's complete guide to getting your files back. (Published in the December 2008 issue)
Dust in Your iPhone? It's Time for a New One The problem with gadgets that "don't have any parts" is that you can't fix even very minor problems. PM's Senior Technology Editor Glenn Derene buys a new iPhone and destroys his old one—all in the name of a little pocket lint.
Digital Clinic: Is Your Laptop Dangerously Hot? Our reader wonders whether a hot battery signals danger for his laptop, but tech expert Joel Johnson warns that the reader should be worried more about scalding his lap than damaging his computer. (Published in the November 2008 issue)
Keep Your Data Safe Online: Complete Guide to Online Privacy Though we can't promise that these tips will keep you 100 percent safe from hackers, they'll certainly make it a lot harder for interlopers to read your e-mail and IMs, fill your computer with spyware and track your Web-surfing habits.
The 3 Biggest Vista Headaches, and How to Fix Them Our reader thought he was doing everything right by installing Windows Vista's Service Pack 1, but problems remained. Our tech guru Joel Johnson suggests fixes for lingering Vista performance and security issues. (Published in the November 2008 issue)
Install Your Own Home Surveillance System: DIY Tech Home protection systems can consist of a simple streaming webcam or a high-tech network of intelligent cameras. But even the most sophisticated system can be Wired in a weekend project.
How to Pump up the Volume on Your MacBook's Quiet Speakers While very few laptops have high-quality speakers, the ones on the MacBook are notoriously quiet. Some simple solutions offered up by PM's tech guru will let you watch movies on your Mac from a comfortable distance. (Published in the October 2008 issue)
Take High-Quality Pics With Your Phone's Low-Quality Camera The key to taking decent camera-phone shots: follow the same basic photographic principles as for a stand-alone camera, but with an eye to the camera phone’s particular weaknesses. (Published in the October 2008 issue)
Everything You Need to Know About the Digital TV Transition The digital transition is just around the corner—mark February 17, 2009 down on your calendar—and analog bunny ears are rampant and digital TV know-how is still pretty rare. Fear not: We have everything you need to know about the digital TV transition right here. (Published in the October 2008 issue)
View Full Technology: Tech How-To Central Archive

Digital Hollywood

Geeked-Out Movies '09

The holiday movie season has come and gone without so much as a certified blockbuster. Thank goodness for 2009!

PLUS: The Top 10 F/X Scenes of 2008

Solar Thermal Power May Make Sun-Powered Grid a Reality
It's solar's new dawn. Now new innovations are exiting the lab and plugging into the grid - turning sunlight into serious energy.

Automotive

Detroit's Wild Ride in '08

There's never been a wilder year for the automotive world than 2008. Here are the most important events of the year.

PLUS: 5 Reasons GM Teeters on the Edge

Current Issue

Out Now: Snoop Tech

For January, PM explores how gadgets are leaving our personal info vulnerable to hackers. With features on hi-def epics, full-size pickups, welding and more!

Mythbusters

Mythbusters Central
Jamie and Adam break down today's tech conundrums, from the moon landing to the state of science in the classroom and more!

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myMod: Sign Up for Hacker Community!

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