XBMC is open source software, so it’s a bit like the Wild West in terms of the content it streams. It acts as more of a media gateway or player to 100s of internet sources, rather than being all-inclusive media player such as Netflix or BBC iPlayer. Getting the app onto your Android smartphone and / or tablet is a little tricky since it is not readily available to download via the Google Play store....

There are numerous resources online for you to learn a language. However if you are looking to learn sign language, the process can seem harder as all learning aids must be visual. It can often be a daunting task to decide which resource is the right one for you. Lucky for you, we have collated what we think are the best available, both free and premium sign language learning tools available online....

Making extra money online could be a great way to afford that new iPad Air 2 or Samsung Galaxy Note 4 without bringing financial ruin upon yourself. Surprisingly, earning a little bit of cash on your PC isn’t as difficult as it sounds, with plenty of websites offering opportunities without you needing to leave your sofa. If you’ve ever fancied being a music reviewer, don’t mind filling out the occasional questionnaire, or have a few spare items taking up room in your home, we’ll show you how you can turn these things into a tidy profit....

In the current cost of living crisis, many of us are trying to save money wherever we can. Energy bills are getting a lot of attention, with tips such as avoiding the tumble dryer, turning down the heating and reducing time in the shower among the most popular. But what about your computer? In the UK, Heatable estimates it costs an average of 56p per eight hours on a desktop PC or 24p on a laptop, meaning significant savings could be available....

If you’re moving between an iPhone and Android smartphone then you’ll probably want to bring all of your conversations, photos and videos from WhatsApp as well. While both operating systems offer the facility to backup your chats from within the app, there’s no easy way of transferring these easily between iOS and Android. For this you’re going to need help from outside sources. We show you how to use third-party software to move Whatsapp from iPhone to Android....

Since iOS 11 was released in 2017, all iPhones and iPads have saved photos in the HEIC standard by default. The move from JPG might seem like a strange one, but it has significant benefits. File sizes are typically much smaller without sacrificing quality, while multiple photos (from a burst sequence of something similar) can be stored in a single file. Android has stuck with JPG, but you can save in HEIC if you’d prefer....

When Pokémon GO burst onto the scene in 2016, millions upon millions of people started walking around their local areas catching Pokemon and spinning PokéStops and battling at Gyms. As crazy as it is, in many countries, going out isn’t something you can do right now as the world battles the coronavirus. Whether you’re in lockdown or are severely restricted on your movements, there are still some ways to play Pokemon GO....

After a couple of quiet years, the handheld games console market has sprung into life in 2021. First up was One XPlayer , a brand-new premium device that launched via a crowdfunding campaign in May. If its US$1,159 RRP put a lot of people off, the new Nintendo Switch (OLED model) will be available for around a third of that. It’s not the Pro model many were hoping for, but the upgraded display comes with only a modest price increase....

Have you run out of stamps? As long as your items will fit through a letterbox, there’s no need for a time-consuming trip to the Post Office. Here’s how to print out postage stamps and address labels at home. All you need is a PC and a printer . You don’t even need special A4 sheets of sticky labels, as you can print onto plain paper and use sticky tape to attach it to your package....

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have all your DVD movies and TV box sets on a hard drive so you can watch anything at a moment’s notice? You could go one step further than a laptop or PC and store the videos on a NAS drive and watch them on your TV via a media streamer such as a WD TV Live Hub. It makes a lot of sense to rip the contents of your DVDs onto a NAS or hard drive and stick the bulky cases in a box in the attic – or clear them out for good....

With many of us spending more time at home again, we’re using more electricity. We’re cooking most of our meals at home, working on computers during the day and streaming films and TV in the evenings. Plus, there’s the ever-growing army of devices we’re charging. And with energy prices rising, we have more incentive than ever to keep costs down. According to research released during the first lockdown by Compare the Market , energy bills were forecast to rise by over £32 a month per household during our time indoors....

Like it or not, what you do online isn’t private. The things you search for, the websites you visit and the products you look at or buy can be seen by your internet service provider (ISP), your IT administrator at work or college, Google, the websites themselves or your government. It’s a scary thought if you’ve not considered this before. The good news is that there’s something you can do about it....

It’s highly likely that you’ve changed your phone’s ringtone at some point. It’s particularly easy on Android devices – just head to Settings – Sound and you’ll find the option (where this is may very depending on manufacturer). There might be 15 or more different generic tones to choose from, but what if you want to customise your own? Android has added the option the option to add another sound to your library, but it will simply begin playing from the start of the song when you receive a call....

Thanks to the streamlined nature of ChromeOS, Chromebooks are usually very responsive – swifter than you might expect from inexpensive hardware. Sometimes you may experience slow-downs, though. If you have lots of web pages open in multiple tabs, extensions installed or if you’re running older versions of the OS, it could go slower than you’d like it to. Here are a few tips on how to get a sluggish Chromebook back up to full speed....

The PS5 offers an upgraded gameplay experience with more detailed textures, higher frame rates and even ray-tracing capabilities, but as games grow in size to accommodate the new features, downloads can take even longer – let’s not get started on the whopping 133GB download for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The good news is that there are easy ways to speed up your PS5 download speeds, from investing in an Ethernet cable to tweaking your wireless settings....

We all like a good binge when enjoying our favourite shows, but when episodes automatically play one after another it can be too much of a temptation to watch too much. And if you get annoyed by previews of shows and movies that start playing automatically as you browse to find what to watch, we can also help to stop those as well. How to stop Prime video autoplaying Turning off the auto-play feature can be a little tricky at first, because the setting is in different places depending on the device you’re using, and in some cases not there at all....

For most people, the horror associated with your phone falling into the sink or a swimming pool is a thing of the past. The vast majority of all Android phones – plus all recent iPhones – offer some form of water resistance. Many have an IP68 rating , meaning they can survive submersion in up to 1.5m of water for up to 30 minutes. It begs the question: how far can you take it?...

Facebook Messenger doesn’t explicitly tell you if you’ve been blocked by someone. In fact, you can still search for the contact that has blocked you in the app and send them messages – they simply won’t receive them. Instead, you’ll need to do a little bit of detective work to find out if the person in question has decided they’ve had enough contact with you. Here are the steps you need to take to tell whether you’ve been blocked on Facebook Messenger....

If your videos are buffering or games are lagging, you probably want to check test your internet speed of Wi-Fi connection to find out what the problem is. You might also just want to make sure you’re getting the broadband speed that your provider claims to offer. Often it can be hard to know if it’s your home Wi-Fi or your broadband that’s slow – it’s normally one or the other....

If you’ve made it here, you might be feeling quite sheepish, but don’t worry, it’s surprisingly difficult to turn off the PS5, and I’d bet just about everyone with the console has confused themselves trying to do it first time. The problem is twofold. First, the PlayStation 5 takes about the PlayStation 4 a little too much, and its physical power button is small and well hidden. Second, it simultaneously differs too much from the PS4, as the software power controls are in a completely different place....