How To Create A Recovery Flash Drive For Windows 8

Whenever Windows 7 had problems, you could just insert your Windows 7 installation CD and run its recovery tools. Most Windows 8 users, however, don’t have an installation CD. Here’s how to make a recovery flash drive, and, if you bought a Windows 8 PC, delete the space-hogging recovery partition that came with it.
If you have a regular hard drive, the recovery partition probably isn’t a big deal, but if you have a smaller SSD, for example, the recovery partition can waste a lot of space—sometimes up to 15GB or higher. If you built your own computer, you won’t have a recovery partition, but having a recovery flash drive can still be very handy to have around. Luckily, it’s easy to make:

1.) Grab a flash drive that’s at least 256MB, or at least as large as your recovery partition if you have one. Plug it in and make sure it’s empty, since you’ll need all that space for your recovery files.

2.) Head to the Start screen and type create a recovery drive. Click the “Settings” option in the right sidebar, then choose the recovery drive option in the search results.

3.) Go through the recovery drive wizard. If your computer came with Windows 8 preinstalled from the manufacturer, you’ll have an option to “Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive.” This will include the data on your manufacturer’s recovery partition.

4.) Choose your flash drive from the list and click Create. If you’re prompted to delete your recovery partition (if you have one), delete it. You can free up a lot of space if you do.

Now, if you ever have problems with your computer, just plug the flash drive in and boot from it. You’ll be able to run Windows’ recovery tools, as well as your manufacturers’ when applicable. Plus you’ll have freed up quite a bit of space!

Dapper Desktops – With RainMeter

Amazing Rainmeter Desktop

Take a look at the amazing widget/theme based desktop created with Rainmeter and a select amount of external extensions:

The Harvest Wallpaper
The Rainmeter system configuration and monitoring utility for Windows
The Encoded skin for Rainmeter for the time, date, and day of the week displays
The Enigma suite for Rainmeter to create the center-screen taskbar, sunrise/sunset info, and shut down shortcut
The Omnimo suite for Rainmeter to create the multi-shaded background
The All-In-One Player for Rainmeter for the “Now Playing” widget under the center taskbar
The OrganiC2 skin for Rainmeter to create the system monitors at the upper left
The Drop theme for Windows to customize the window displays

Once you download and acquire the various elements, be sure to install them all before getting into customizing as a few of them will load their own theme upon installation which could cause you to have to start fresh if you have been doing any customizing prior to installing everything. This application is very easy to use once you understand it, but you will need to play around with its functions and features for a while before you will understand how everything works.

The whole thing looks really sharp when it’s put together, but it’s also worth noting that you could lift any specific part of this desktop that you like and apply it to yours with minimal effort. The Drop theme for Windows is specifically good looking.

If you’re tweaking with Rainmeter and need a little help, please check out a few of these helpful videos:

Download and Install iOS Apps From Your PC

How to Use a Gamepad for Any iOS Game

The iPhone and iPad are fantastic gaming devices, but unfortunately a lot of games still try to emulate gamepads with onscreen buttons on the touch screen and it just doesn’t work that well. Thankfully, a jailbreak app called Blutrol lets you turn a handful of different gamepads into controllers for any game with touchscreen buttons. Here’s how to set it up.

We’ve talked about turning your Android or iOS device into a portable retro game arcade before, and while you can still use those tricks, this method makes it so you can use a bunch of different controllers for any game on iOS, not just emulators and the handful of games that support controllers. While it might sound a little fishy, it works incredibly well and isn’t that hard to set up.

What You’ll Need

You don’t need much to make this work, just a single app, some games, and little patience:

– jailbroken iPad, iPhone, or iPad Touch.
– Blutrol ($6.99) from the BigBoss Repository on Cydia.
– A PS3 Dualshock controller (note: you also need the SixPair tool for Mac or the SixaxisPairTool for Windows to pair the PS3 controller with your iOS device), Bluetooth Keyboard, Wiimote, Phonejoy, iCade, iControlPad, or iMpulse controller.
That’s it. Now we just need to get your controller paired up with your device and working with your games.

Pair You Gamepad with Your iOS Device

First things first, we need to get the gamepad paired with your iOS device. We’ll be using a PS3 controller, which takes an extra step. So, if you’re using a different gamepad, skip this part.

How To Setup A PS3 Controller

The PS3 controller takes one additional step to get it working with your iOS device, but it’s not complicated, and you only have to do it once. When you’re done, your controller is paired with your iOS device every time.

On Windows

Download and run SixaxisPairTool.
Connect your iOS device to your computer with the lightning cable or 30-pin cable.
Connect your PS3 controller to your computer with a USB cable and wait for the Bluetooth address to come up.
Once it’s paired with your computer, get your iOS device’s Bluetooth address by heading into Settings > About > Bluetooth. Enter that address into SixaxisPairTool and click update. Now your iOS device should be linked to your PS3 controller.

On Mac

Download SixPair Tool and run the app.
Connect your iOS device to your computer with the lightning cable or 30-pin cable.
Connect your PS3 controller to your Mac with a USB cable.
Click the “Pair Controller to iPad” button.
When it’s successful, open Blutrol on your iOS device, tap the controller tab, select the PS3 controller, and tap “Connect.” When it’s connected, you can disconnect the PS3 controller from your Mac.

Now you can select your PS3 controller inside Blutrol as a Bluetooth device (if it doesn’t appear right away, head into Settings > BTStack and select “BTStack” as the active Bluetooth system).

Pair Other Controller to Your iOS Device

Thankfully, other controllers don’t take the extra step that a PS3 controller does. For the rest of the supported devices, just follow the directions for pairing that are included with the device (or just head into Settings > General > Bluetooth and make sure they’re already recognized). Then open the Blutrol app, tap “Controller” and select your gamepad.

Set Up Blutrol for Any Game

Now that your iOS and gamepad are paired up together it’s time to start playing games. Thankfully, this part’s easy too, and you only have to do this once for each game.

1.) Open up the game you want to use the controller for (obviously it makes the most sense to pick a game with onscreen buttons. We’ll be using Sonic CD).

2.) Take a screenshot of the game when the controls are displayed (tap the home button and power button at the same time).

3.) Exit the game and open up Blutrol.

4.) Tap the “Games” tab, and then the “+” sign.

5.) Select the game you just took a screenshot of.

6.) Tap either portrait or landscape (depending on how you took the screenshot), and

7.) select the screenshot you just took.

8.) Tap “Add,” select the controller of your choice, and then tap either landscape or portrait.
You’ll now see your screenshot with your gamepad’s buttons laid over it. Here, you’re essentially assigning a button combination, so when you push a button on the controller, it “taps” the screen for you. Move the gamepad buttons to cover up the on-screen controls however you like (you can also resize the analog stick or d-pad with pinch and zoom). When you’re happy with the setup, tap “done.”

9.) Now open up the game again, and start playing the game with the controller (if it has trouble, just force-quit the game and start over).

That’s it! From now on you’ll be able to easily pair your controller with your iOS device and start playing games. Just don’t tell any of your friends on the leaderboards why you’re doing so well. It also works with any app you want (not just games), so you might be able to come up with some other creative uses.

Top 10 Must Have Cydia Repos of 2013

If you are someone who considers himself a true jailbreak user, then you should know the importance of Cydia repos or sources. We are now in the final quarter of the year, so we thought you will need to know the Top Cydia sources to tide you over for the coming year. Whether you are currently a jailbreaker on iOS 6 or iOS 5.1.1 (with the latest and most stable untethered jailbreak), you should eventually need to have the best Cydia sources. If you wish to have an easier time finding jailbreak tweaks, apps, themes, and all sorts of contents in Cydia, then adding the Top Cydia repos is necessary. Today, we will be counting down the Top 10 Must Have Cydia Repos of 2013.

10 Cool iPhone & Android Apps You Should Know

10 Apps You Should Know

Since new apps get released at an incredible rate, we figured it only fair to keep you abreast of the best. Stop sifting through all the terrible games and little life helpers to find some gems and break out your iPhone or Android device and get to downloading some of these guys.

1. KICKSTARTER

Well this was a long time coming. The app isn’t perfect, but it is the best way to browse projects you want to back while on the go. Ideally, we’d like an easier way to browse the just launched projects, but overall, the app is clean and useful and will probably cost you a lot of money backing tons of campaigns you kinda like. iOS

2. YEAR WALK

We’ll admit that we don’t play a ton of games on our phones. We know a lot of people do, and while we hopped on the Words With Friends and Angry Birds bandwagons, we’ve played few others. Year Walk is not like other games, however. It’s beautiful, strange, and unlike anything you’ve ever played on your phone. It’s also the only game we know of that has a companion guide you can download as well. iOS

3. MOVIEPASS

For a few months this was a buggy iPhone-only app. Now it’s fixed up and also available for Android. The basic idea is to save you money on going to see movies at the movie theater. You sign up, pay a fee, and get to see an unlimited number of movies. There are issues (not all theaters are available and you have to see about four movies a month to make it worthwhile), but if you’re a hardcore film buff, it’s a pretty sweet deal. iOS Android

4. PHOTOSHOP TOUCH

Photoshop Express didn’t exactly set the world on fire. The app was okay, but it wasn’t really like having Photoshop on your phone. Photoshop Touch is a big step forward. Sure you have a lot of photo editing apps to choose from, but the leader in picture manipulation sure makes a worthy case for having the best app now. iOS Android

5. HAZE

It’s not like it’s difficult to find a decent weather app, but few work well and look as nice as Haze. Based on the different directions you swipe, Haze will display different bits of weather related info in a colorful, minimilist way. iOS

6. DRAWQUEST

This iPad app, which was developed by the founder of 4Chan, is simple and addicting. It challenges you to a different drawing challenge everyday. Go ahead and assume it’s for children, then download it and get sucked in. iOS

7. CARBON

We turn to Twitter for everything from breaking news to random comedic thoughts, and a good Twitter client is always something we’re on the hunt for. Carbon might just be our favorite one yet. It sports a very simple but stylish interface and it works nice and quick. Android

8. T3 PLAYER

Where would we be without Dieter Rams? Well, there’s a good chance the iPhone you’re holding wouldn’t look nearly as cool (unless Steve Jobs really didn’t need someone to turn to for inspiration). The T3 Player is a beautifully designed music app that was inspired by the Braun genius. It’s got a clean interface, easy to use functions, and is a nice step up from your standard iPhone music player. iOS

9. TIMBRE

Timbre is an awesome way to discover new music. Instead of the endless browsing, Timbre simply plays music from bands performing in your area (or a location you set). Don’t like a song? Swipe to the next one. Find one you love? Go get tickets to the band’s upcoming show. iOS Android

10. MOVES

Fitness tracking wristbands and clip-on gadgets are exploding right now. If you haven’t already invested in Nike FuelBand or a Fitbit, consider saving a bunch of money by just downloading Moves to your iPhone. The free app will keep track of your daily walking, cycling, and running. The downside is it will probably do some damage to your battery life, but if you’re cool with that, it will save you some cash. iOS

JOOL

I Have No Idea What’s Happening In This iOS Game, But I Like It

Jool, a new iOS game by a German developer named ROSTLAUB, makes the least sense of any mobile game I’ve played. But it’s somehow still kind of awesome.

Let me do my best to describe this game to you. Jool is an endless runner/platformer in which you play as a two-sided bird that is part good, part evil. Kind of like CatDog except 100% avian.

Year Walk

A Game So Weird, It Needs to Come With Its Own Encyclopedia

The developers at Simogo have made some of my favorite mobile games, the musical platformer Bumpy Road and rhythm stealth hybrid Beat Sneak Bandit. Those games were cute and easy to grasp. But their latest one Year Walk looks like a weird, first-person exploration head-trip. Thankfully they appear to know this and are offering up a compendium of all the bizarre creatures and symbols you’ll be encountering in the game. Year Walk looks like it’s going to be moody exploration into the nature of superstition. It comes out on February 21st.

How to jailbreak any iOS 6 device, including iPhone 5

At long last, a jailbreak method has been released for iOS 6 and higher, which makes this the first jailbreak for the iPhone 5.


If you’ve been waiting to jailbreak your iPhone 5, or any device running iOS 6 and higher, today is your lucky day. A new tool called evasi0n was released just this morning.

The new tool is very simple to use — in fact, it’s easier to use than the iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak tool I covered last year. Taking far less time, and only a few steps, if you’re comfortable clicking a few buttons on your computer and tapping an icon on your iOS device, you’re more than prepared to use evasi0n.

A required warning, however: At times things go wrong while jailbreaking a device. Apple never intended for this kind of stuff to happen. As such you should be comfortable troubleshooting any issues you run into, including completely restoring your <a href="http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20024612-285/how-to-wipe-and-reinstall-your-iphone-os/"device through DFU mode.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s start the jailbreak process.

Before you start, make sure you have a current backup of your iOS device. You can back up through iTunes or use iCloud. The choice is yours. This is a crucial step to ensure you don’t lose important data should something go wrong and you have to restore.

If you use a passcode on your iOS device, the evasi0n team suggests disabling it before you being the jailbreak process; apparently it can cause issues. You can disable your passcode in Settings > General > Passcode Lock.

Now that you have backed up your device and disabled your passcode, download evasi0n on your computer. There are versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux users.

Run the program. OS X users may have to bypass the Gatekeeper feature in OS X 10.8 by right-clicking the app icon and selecting “Open.”

Connect your iOS device to your computer, and click the Jailbreak button. Your device will light up, restart, and do all sorts of random things during the process. Just leave it plugged in and wait for the next instruction in the app window.

After a few minutes and a reboot or two, you’ll be asked to unlock it and tap the “Jailbreak” icon. As the instructions say, only tap it once. Your iOS device screen will flash and then the evasi0n app on your computer will continue.

A few seconds later, you’ll see a notification that the jailbreak has finished. While that may be true for the app, your iOS device will reboot a few times while the process finishes. You’ll know it’s truly finished when you see your lock screen and wallpaper. You should then have a Cydia icon on your home screen, confirming that the jailbreak was successful.

In total, the process took roughly 10 minutes to complete on my iPhone 5. If you run into any issues along the way, evasi0n states that it’s safe to reboot your phone or the app and start the process over. Or you can view the support page here. Again, the worst-case scenario is that you restore your iDevice and try again.

Will you be jailbreaking your iOS device? If so, what tweak are you looking forward to using the most? Let us know in the comments below!

iPrison