As you’re reading this, you’ve heard about the plan to incentivise people not to use power-hungry appliances at peak times. It’ll go live for the first time today, from 5pm-7pm GMT. People who have already signed up will get money off their bills for using less power during this period. The National Grid plans to run the scheme again from 4.30pm-6pm GMT tomorrow. Thanks to a number of international factors – not least the war in Ukraine – gas prices, as well as electricity prices, have soared....

Making your own personalised Christmas cards is simple and fast thanks to online greeting card services such as Moonpig , Funky Pigeon , and Snapfish . Nowadays, there’s no need to rely on standard designs when you can create something truly unique in a matter of minutes. If you’d like an overview of the services to help you decide which one to use, have a look at our article explaining where to buy personalised Christmas cards ....

A researcher at the University of Cambridge, Theo Markettos, has revealed a security flaw within Thunderbolt’s data transfer method, referred to as ‘Thunderclap’. It has the potential to allow hackers to access computers and either steal data or insert malicious code via their Thunderbolt ports. Devices that connect to a computer using Thunderbolt are given greater access than are devices that connect via USB. This is thanks to Thunderbolt’s “very privileged, low-level, direct memory access,” according to Markettos....

Keeping in touch with relatives and friends around the globe is easy – and free – with Skype . Now, you can also record conversations from within the app, so you can relive those precious moments when you share exciting news, or make sure you don’t forget those important details shared on a conference call. We show you the simple steps to take if you want to record calls on Skype for desktop or mobile....

If you’re having trouble copying a file to a drive in Windows, can’t delete files or are facing an action camera or dash cam that’s refusing to work with a microSD card, it could be that the storage is write protected. Some USB drives and SD cards (but not microSD) have physical switches which let you ‘lock’ the drive to stop any files being accidentally overwritten or wiped. Sometimes these switches get moved to the locked position by accident, so have a look for a switch on your drive / card and make sure it isn’t in the lock position....

Running a small business can be done effectively even when you’re on the go. All you need is your phone. Research from online smartphone retailer e2save found that 38% of businesses use mobile apps to improve customer service and 24% use apps to increase revenue. There’s an app for just about everything, and some prove especially effective for businesses. These can be anything from finance to email marketing, but phones can be the best tool for the job in some cases....

Parting with your old phone doesn’t have to be an emotional affair. In fact, selling your old phone is one of the best ways to recoup some of your investment, especially if you’ve upgraded to one of the best phones available right now . Rather than letting your device gather dust in a drawer, selling it online or through a trade-in scheme can help you make some extra cash. Thankfully, the internet offers plenty of safe and easy ways to sell your phone....

So, you’ve got a new phone. Exciting times! I hope you have a great time with it. If you’ve bought one of the devices in our best budget phones , best mid-range phones or best phones overall guides, you won’t be disappointed. However, once the initial excitement has worn off, you’ll have to prepare yourself for the setup process. All phones make it very easy these days, but it’s still worth going through the steps one by one....

One of the many new features available in iOS 15 is notification summary, designed to make it easier to manage an ever-increasing number of incoming notifications. In essence, the feature is designed to collect notifications that aren’t time-sensitive and deliver them to you all at once at a time of your choosing. Here’s how to set up a notification summary in iOS 15. How to enable notification summaries in iOS 15 Despite what you might think, notification summaries aren’t enabled by default in iOS 15, so you’ll have to delve into the Settings app to get the functionality set up....

Click the Create Your Wedding List option then enter the details of yourself and your partner, the address you want gifts sent to, plus various other options including the date of your wedding and any special messages you’d like your guests to see. When you’re happy with everything on this page, click the Create my wedding list button. Now you’re ready to start adding items to the list. At the top of the page you’ll see your names, how many days until the big day, plus a tally of the gifts on the list that have been bought so far and how many are remaining....

Apple’s latest iPhones may rely on facial recognition technology (Face ID) instead of a fingerprint sensor, but most Android smartphones also have similar capabilities. We show you how to find the face unlock settings and get the feature up and running. Does Android have Face ID? Not quite. Face ID is Apple’s trademark for its implementation of facial recognition. It’s used to unlock a phone simply by looking into the front-facing cameras....

If you’re anything like me, you probably spend a fair amount of time reading articles on your phone. But a lot of times, the point you’re trying to get to can be buried paragraphs down. What if you just want to skip straight to it? Luckily, your Android phone can now do that for you thanks to AI. There’s a new AI-powered feature on some Samsung smartphones that can summarise articles on your behalf....

Despite some initial throttling to manage demand, most devices should now be eligible for Windows 10’s May 2020 update. There are plenty of reasons to get the May update , so it’s no surprise if you’ve already updated the software on your device. However, while it was meant to iron out many of the bugs that have plagued Windows 10 in recent months, the May update has caused plenty more....

What you’ll need Before we go any further, we thought we’d better outline everything you’ll need before you begin upgrading the storage of your PS4. First of all, you’ll need an adjustable screwdriver (Philips bit, but two sizes), two USB flash drives and, of course, an SSD no thicker than 9.5mm. We’d like to say thanks to Crucial for providing us with a 1TB SSD for use in our how-to, which can be picked up from Crucial for £129....

While the Nintendo Switch is a hugely popular console, the lack of support for Bluetooth headphones has irked many fans through the years. Though there is a 3.5mm headphone jack on the console, many people use wireless headphones in their day-to-day lives and the idea of buying a wired headset just for the Switch isn’t appealing. Thankfully, Nintendo has been listening and it has finally added the ability to connect Bluetooth headphones to the Nintendo Switch!...

So you’ve decided to take the plunge into the exciting waters of cryptocurrency. Coinbase is a great place to start your journey, as it’s a simple way to get yourself some of the most famous currencies in an easy, straight-forward manner. What is Coinbase? Coinbase is a global digital asset exchange (GDAX) which provides the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies . The interface that Coinbase provides gives the user an easy, efficient way to interact with the blockchain , the technology that tracks the movement of each cryptocurrency coin and asset....

Nvidia has offered extra capture functionality for users of Nvidia GPUs for some time, thanks to GeForce Experience. It allows you to easily capture screenshots and gameplay with the touch of a button – and now it’s easier than ever, thanks to the introduction of ShadowPlay Highlights. ShadowPlay Highlights will automatically capture anything worthy of sharing with friends, from killstreaks to achievements and more. So, how do you use Nvidia ShadowPlay Highlights?...

We’ve all done it. At a busy moment in life we’ve seen a notification appear on our phone then swiped it away without a thought and carried on with our hurried activities. It’s only later when we want to see what it was that things get complicated. Was it WhatsApp , Facebook Messenger , Signal , or some other app? Here’s how you can find the log of all your notifications on Android phones, either by using the built-in feature or a third-party app....

After a successful summer against the best cricket team in the world – winning two out of three series against India , including the Tests – England face a fresh challenge for the autumn: winning in Asia. During October and November 2018, England are visiting Sri Lanka to play a full schedule of international cricket: five ODIs, a single T20I and three Test matches. And you can watch all of it live if you follow the advice in this article....

While HBO Max is now live in the US, those trying to access the streaming service in the UK will find it’s not available. Like with Disney+, Netflix and most other streaming services, HBO Max has launched exclusively in the US, but unlike the other streaming giants, there’s a big question mark around whether it’ll ever leave US shores and become available worldwide. So, what does that mean to us in the UK?...