If you had a Sony Walkman when you were younger, then there’s a good chance there’s a box of old cassette tapes in a box because you just couldn’t bear to throw them away. These might be mixtapes, bootlegs of long-forgotten concerts, demo tapes from your old band, or just albums that never quite made the transition to the likes of Spotify . But what can you do if you want to listen to them on your phone, tablet, or PC?...
In this tutorial, New York-based illustrator Kervin Brisseaux shares his techniques to create a super-powered athlete within an atmosphere that draws on the traditions of sci-fi art, as well as religious iconography such as stained glass windows. Some of the key techniques we will be using include adjustment layers, blending modes, and even Illustrator to create some key elements (though it’s possible to follow this without using Illustrator). Feel free to be experimental with your colour values and hues to amplify the overall mood and depth of the piece....
It doesn’t take long for your inbox to fill up with huge numbers of emails, so much so that it can become hard to find things. An overflowing inbox can even use up all your storage capacity. Gmail has a few different ways to quickly delete whole inboxes, or select content by labels or from a specific sender. We show you how to use these tools to delete all messages in Gmail....
Update: iOS 16 is now available to download worldwide. Simply head to Settings > General > Software Update and install the iOS 16 update to get access now. The original article follows below. There are some great new features in iOS 16, including new lock screen customisation, an improved notifications feed including Live Activities and better parental controls. It has been available as part of a public beta until now, but Apple has confirmed that the full release of iOS 16 is coming on 12 September....
Quite similar to the online Kindle store , it enables you to buy thousands of audiobooks and to listen to them on diverse devices. There are a few ways you can get the service for cheap or absolutely free. Here’s how. You can use this method to read Prince Harry’s bestselling novel, Spare . Once the 30-day trial period has passed, you will be charged £7.99/ US$14.95 a month, or you can simply cancel the trial before the end date....
Google Nest smart speakers have a great many uses, whether they are used to control smart home kit or for answering questions on the kids’ homework. The one activity most users will enjoy, however, is playing their favourite music on-demand. If you pay a monthly subscription for YouTube Music , Deezer or Spotify then achieving this is easy. Having connected the service in the Google Home app you simply say, “Okay Google, play [whatever song you like]....
These days most of us are used to getting Wi-Fi access just about everywhere we go, from coffee shops and bars to trains and even the London Underground. Still, there’s one area that’s lagged behind: planes. While you can get Wi-Fi on planes more and more often these days, it’s still not supported by every airline, and when it is it’s often slow, unreliable, and expensive. We’re going to run down the basics of how in-flight Wi-Fi works, how to connect to it, and how to get in-flight Wi-Fi cheaper or even for free....
Contactless cards have probably been in your wallet for a few years now and they’re mighty convenient for paying for stuff up to the £30 limit. Recently, though, that safety net has been shown to be less than perfect, so although the chance of your cards being exploited is relatively low, it’s still worth protecting them and watching out for strange-looking payment terminals. Can contactless cards be hacked? As you might have seen in the news , researchers have proven that it’s possible to bypass the £30 limit for contactless payments and make transactions of over £100....
Recording the screen of your iPad is now much simpler than it used to be, thanks to the introduction of Screen Recording technology within iPadOS. While you once had to use a separate device and paid software to be able to record your iPad screen, you can now record it from the iPad itself, and you can add a voiceover if needed too. We show you how to record your iPad screen right here....
Ringtones are very much a personal preference, but more importantly it’s crucial to have one that sounds different from everyone else’s so you know when it’s your phone ringing and not theirs. Fortunately, setting a ringtone on Android is easy as takes but seconds. Here’s how to do it. Note: Android phones differ from manufacturer to manufacturer as each tweaks the Android interface and menus. Your phone might not look exactly like our Google Pixel 2 here, but the process is very similar for most phones....
Netflix has always allowed you to create user profiles, which is a boon not simply so you can stop your kids watching content aimed at adults, but because it also means that it keeps what you watch separate from what they watch. So, Peppa Pig and PAW Patrol don’t end up on your ‘Continue watching’ list when you were expecting to find The Expanse or GLOW. To compliment this, there is also a more granular way to control what your children are allowed to watch if you dig about in the Netflix account settings....
Putting your PC to sleep is an extremely effective way of finishing a session while keeping all your active windows open. It means you can instantly pick back up where you left of, without your device using unnecessary power and generating heat when it’s not needed. Unfortunately, some Windows devices have an annoying recent habit of automatically turning off sleep mode, negating many of the benefits listed above. Here’s how to find out what’s causing the issue, and hopefully fix it....
Snapchat’s Snap Map lets you track your Snapchat buddies on a map wherever they are in the world. For some it’s a great social feature; for others – especially those parents concerned about the privacy of their young children using the platform – it’s borderline creepy. Parents and schools have warned that it could be used to “build up a picture of home addresses, travel routes, schools and workplaces” and that location information could be shared with people you don’t know, such as friends met on other apps and websites....
GoPro released its webcam utility, GoPro Webcam for Mac back in July 2020 but only recently released a beta version of it for Windows. And here’s the bad news, that utility only works if you have a Hero 8 Black or Hero 9 Black. If you have a Black version of the Hero 7, 6, 5 or 4 then you can still use it as a webcam if you buy an HDMI-to-USB dongle which converts the HDMI output to USB and allows your Windows laptop or PC to see it as a webcam, which you can then select as normal in Zoom, Skype, Teams and other video calling apps....
Android 11 brings with it a new way of dealing with notifications. They’re called Chat Bubbles and work just like the Chat Heads you might well be familiar with from Facebook Messenger. Upgrading to Android 11 appears to have ‘broken’ Chat Heads for Messenger users so here’s how to fix it. It’s not broken as such, but switches off this functionality by default with no warning. This simple guide will get you back up and running and as a bonus, you can switch it on for other apps too like WhatsApp and Slack to get the same experience....
Cortana has been on Windows Phones for a while now, but the personal digital assistant is in Windows 10. Here’s how to set up Cortana and get stuff done quicker. Cortana, meet Alexa How to enable Cortana in Windows 10 Step 1 Click the search box next to the Start button (the Windows symbol) and a window similar to the Start menu will appear. Cortana should offer up her services: just tap or click ‘I’m in’ to start the setup process....
Saving money can be difficult at the best of times, but it’s an excellent habit to adopt if you want the proverbial ‘something for a rainy day’. While willpower alone isn’t often enough, there are now apps that can not only encourage you to put a little away when you can, but in some cases automatically do it for you. We take a look at the growing area of smart financial assistants that can help you save money....
A staggering 7 billion messages are sent on WhatsApp every day, making it one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, but typing every message on your phone isn’t as convenient as on your laptop or PC keyboard. The good news is that while WhatsApp is designed for phones first and foremost, there are ways to use WhatsApp on almost any device – including tablets, Windows PCs, and Macs....
Windows 10 is the most popular operating system in the world and for good reason. If you’re buying a new laptop or PC it will almost certainly come installed, but luckily it’s nice and intuitive. Those upgrading from Windows 7 should feel quite at home as not a great deal has changed in the way everything works. The Start menu is bit different , Cortana is likely bugging you to try her out and there are a few new apps which effectively replace old one (but those are – on the whole – still there if you look for them)....
If you’re looking for TV shows for kids aged 7 and under, then CBeebies is a perfect choice. It features series such as Blue Peter and Fireman Sam. However, as it’s a BBC channel, its only available to viewers in the UK. This is obviously a problem if you’re abroad or on holiday. However, there is a workaround to watching CBeebies from outside of the UK – we also used this method for watching EastEnders abroad and The Great British Bake Off in the US ....
