You could always install CyanogenMod on it, if that's something you're comfortable doing. If not, you can disable some of HTC's apps but you likely won't be able to really turn off everything.

Haha, my favorite part is that phones are 21 months, and yet were all over 24 month contracts. How wonderful!

As soon as I have all the appropriate forms from my employer, bank, etc, I open up turbotax.com and file electronically. I get it all done on one afternoon. I got my federal return a while ago, still waiting on my state return though.

Yeah one thing I learned in statistics classes is that you have to be really careful because they can so easily be manipulated. Technically their claim that 50% of the respondents were favorable is true, but once you give the real numbers there it doesn't take any knowledge of statistics to know how meaningless that…

A friend shared Spritz on Facebook the other day and I read through the demo on their site. It's astounding how easily it works, I was able to read at 600wpm after only being there for like 5 minutes. However, throw in some acronyms or unfamiliar words and reading that way falls apart. When I got tripped up on one…

It says that "for stats nerds" the r-sqaured is 0.2, and they use this as evidence that it's a strong correlation. However, an r-sqaured of 0.2 is actually very low, so low in fact that I would say this study is pretty useless. There may be a correlation between work hours and premature death, I would bet there is,…

I've been using an "Archive" quick step for a while now, just like the one in the screenshot. Gmail got me on the habit of just archiving things and then using search, instead of keeping everything going organized in folders, though Outlooks search doesn't always work super well.

For the Android battery issue, you guys mentioned a Tasker plug-in to do it just based on location, but there's actually something that he could do with just Tasker itself. Tasker has a variable for cell signal strength, utilizing that he could make his phone turn on airplane mode whenever the signal got weak, and…

I've seen a few people in the comments bringing up the age old argument against Hulu Plus, "I have to pay for it AND there are still ads?"

Things like this are why I think it's important that everyone take at least one basic economics class at some point. I took a couple, and actually ended up adding economics as a second major in college. There's so much valuable information there that, unlike a lot of other courses, is quite applicable to almost…

If you have ASMR, then watching some ASMR videos on YouTube can be insanely helpful in relaxing and falling asleep. I throw on a video on my tablet and listen to it as I drift off all the time, it does wonders when I'm stressed.

Mobile apps are also kind of awesome for services like Netflix and Hulu. Yes you have access to stuff faster on cable, but with many shows being available the next day or the next week online, it's just not worth the ridiculously high cable prices to see my shows slightly sooner. In my opinion, it still just boils…

Although you're completely right in theory, in practice it's not that simple. Yes, cars are over-priced and depreciate massively the moment you drive it off the lot. But the used car market is just as much of a mess. There's no good way to know exactly what kind of quality you're getting with a used car. Maybe the…

I'm not a car person, but I still think this rule is pretty badly flawed. If you spend only $4,200 on a car, as in the example above for someone who makes $42,000 a year, then you'll also be paying much higher maintenance much faster, and replacing the car much sooner. I couldn't imagine driving around in a cheap, sub…

I love my 3DS, particularly the game Bravely Default right now. I just wish there was a smaller device (like the Pokewalker that came with Heartgold/Soulsilver) that you could keep on you to count the steps and trade street pass information. It's just a little too big to carry around with me all day (especially since…

I don't ever print anything anymore. I don't even own a printer. When I occasionally have no choice, I'll print it at work, or at my parents place or something. It's almost never an issue.

"...all the solutions offered online seemed to require some kind of carpentry or metal bending."

Turning off paper statements could also help. There's no reason in this day and age to wait for the slow physical mail to bring you your statements, and it wastes paper and money. It's hard to know for sure since I've always gotten stuff electronically, but for people getting things physically that dread opening it, I…

I have been floored with how fantastic this game is so far. I've only just finished the Intro and gotten to Chapter 1, but the story and the game play both look like they're going to be phenomenal. And I love that they took a classic turn based combat system and actually added some new aspects to it so that it's…

I don't think Google is evil, but actually judging the morality of a company is difficult, and almost silly. However, I do think that Google has had a massively positive effect on the world. Even if you don't personally like any of Google's services, their existence has likely had a positive effect on things that you…