Rooting is the Android equivalent of jailbreaking, a means of unlocking the operating system so you can install unapproved apps, deleted unwanted bloatware, update the OS, replace the firmware, overclock (or underclock) the processor, customize anything and so on. Of course, for the average user, this sounds like — and can be — a scary …

Computers crash for a number of reasons — anything from simple software incompatibilities to hardware issues — and computers running Windows 10 are no different. While Windows 10’s Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) is considerably less terrifying than the BSoD in previous versions of Windows, it’s still a frustrating sight. There’s no easy way to fix all computer crashes, but …

TiVo has announced that Bolt DVR users now can stream content iOS and Android devices outside of their homes. Bolt users can now stream programming on-the-go as well as download to devices boasting either iOS 7 or later or Android 4.1 and up. TiVo originally announced the capability at the launch of the Bolt last year, and it’s something that …

One of my favourite moments of Computex 2016 here in Taiwan actually occurred off the show floor. Having just finished up on the Birdly VR (hands down the best virtual reality experience I’ve tried), my colleague Seamus Byrne and I found ourselves hungry for a late lunch. We were close to a place where we’d eaten previously, but with one …

One reason I switched from Windows to OS X years ago was to avoid the constant barrage of Windows alerts and warnings. OS X is less of a pest than Windows in this regard, since it lets you control when and how you receive notifications. Here are three ways to control when and how your Mac and its apps alert …

Since the infamous white/gold blue/black dress, the Internet has been buried in optical illusions — the cigar in the brick wall and the cat with the hole in its side, just to name a couple. Here’s today’s look-twice, then look-again, then share-on-Facebook adventure. Is that boat floating on the water, or flying through the air? It brings up memories of …

Samsung Pay has arrived in Spain, marking the service’s European debut. Like rival services Apple Pay and Android Pay — the latter recently arrived in the UK — Samsung Pay sees customers adding credit or debit cards to their phone, which can then be tapped on tills to make a contactless payment. Unlike those services, it can be used with …

Jedi Anakin: Hayden Christensen/Sebastian Shaw morph Star Wars fans were always given weird little glimpses into Anakin Skywalker’s life under the Darth Vader mask. We didn’t see him unmasked until 77-year-old Sebastian Shaw portrayed him briefly in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.” Of course, Anakin was given a fuller life story in the prequel trilogy, when Jake Lloyd played him …

The tools the United States men’s national soccer team uses to improve its game are stitched into its jerseys. For nearly two and a half years, Jürgen Klinsmann and his coaching staff have measured the fatigue and physical preparation of the team’s players with two high-tech devices: heart monitors from Polar Team 2 and GPS sensors made by Stats Sports. …

If you live in the US, you might not know the name Huawei. So, the idea that the Chinese company could become the No. 1 phone maker in the world in 5 years seems far fetched. But that’s just what the company is aiming for, according to The Wall Street Journal. Speaking at the Converge technology conference in Hong Kong, …

On June 6, 2013, Edward Snowden — holed up in a Hong Kong hotel room with two Guardian reporters and a filmmaker — told the world about a secret surveillance program that let the US National Security Agency grab people’s emails, video chats, photos and documents through some of the world’s biggest tech companies. That program was called Prism, and …

If you want your food that much faster, you can now use Apple Pay to order takeout via the Grubhub and Seamless apps. Equipped with an iOS device with Apple’s mobile payment system, you can simply select the Apple Pay option at checkout to automatically use whatever credit card you’ve loaded in your settings. Apple Pay is the NFC payment …

Remember those Sprint ads where customers would take chainsaws and swords to their cell phone bills? You won’t be seeing those anymore. Sprint’s ads enticed you to switch from your current cell phone carrier with the promise of a similar plan for half the cost. T-Mobile, the nation’s third-largest wireless carrier, challenged Sprint’s claim to cut your phone bill in …

Apple’s services are functioning as normal, after an outage that saw the App Store, Game Centre and plenty of iCloud features knocked for six. Apple’s status page says that all its services are running as normal after the glitches that appear to have taken hold across the globe yesterday evening UK time. The App Store, Photos and iTunes in the …

Consumers have had their fill of tablets. The lack of urgency to buy new ones means that in 2016 global sales of tablets will fall for the second straight year, market researcher IDC said Thursday. Tablet shipments are likely to sag by 9.6 percent this year from 2015, a near perfect echo of the 10 percent drop registered in 2015 …