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A new feature in Internet Explorer and Windows 8.1 allows you to see password characters as you type them in. It is a symbol that looks like an eye. Here’s what it is and how to use it. (For more see How to remove Microsoft account from Windows 8 PC, laptop or tablet.) QUESTION When I’m using my web browser and start to type the password for an email account, for example, a symbol appears at the end of the password field that I can only describe as an eye....

Techworld looks at what can happen when robots go wrong. Nagasaki, Japan, : Hundreds of robot staff laid off by hotel after complaints by guests The world’s first hotel staffed by robots laid off half its 243 droid workers after complaints from guests about their poor level of service. The Wall Street Journal reported that their human colleagues had to work overtime to compensate for their failings, which included waking up guests whose snores were mistaken for voice commands and getting stuck in corridors....

The four exceptions, ‘Experience Centers’ in London, New York, Sydney and its native Redmond, will no longer sell products. While Oxford Circus is the company’s only physical presence in the UK, the news means 104 stores across the US will close. All this means it’s not always obvious where you can try Surface hardware. Microsoft’s own range of computers are among the most popular devices on the market, but without a brick-and-mortar presence there’s no go-to place for trying the company’s products....

John Lewis is offering this 49” Sony Bravia XE90 4K HDR TV with a £150 saving, dropping the overall price to just £949. Sony’s Bravia 49XE9005BU has a stunning design, a large screen, insane picture quality and more than a billion colours: it will open your eyes to studio-quality streaming and a home-entertainment experience quite unlike anything you’ve previously enjoyed. Buy the Sony Bravia from John Lewis and not only will you save £150, but you’ll get a free five-year guarantee on this 4....

According to industry analyst Michael Inouye, “Although nearly 30 percent of the 1,007 respondents to the survey (which was conducted April 15-16, 2009 in the US) reported some initial difficulties in setting up their equipment, only 11 percent actually returned products as being “too hard” – a figure at the low end of the typical range of consumer electronics returns reported recently by the Wall Street Journal. Most of the problems occurred with wireless setup, suggesting that vendors have an opportunity to make wireless network setup and security a much easier process through software and hardware solutions....

That sounds dramatic, but in reality, the plan was for Windows 10 to be updated gradually over time, similarly to the way new features are added to its Office 365 subscription service (now Microsoft 365). In addition to monthly security patches, for the last five years, Microsoft has released major ‘feature’ updates twice a year. These are usually rolled out each May and November, although the most recent update has arrived slightly earlier....

The concept of app stores started with smartphones. Before app stores came along getting hold of apps for your phone was a complex matter. You could either use specific websites dedicated to collecting and organising third party apps, or simply trawl around to find the apps you needed. Just as with phones, a dedicated app store sitting on your computer makes it easy for you to browse, search and make choices between different applications....

This puts it into direct competition with the nVidia GTX 750 Ti cards. We’ve reviewed one of those, but weren’t totally impressed with the performance. The card itself was very revolutionary, and conserved power beautifully. But it offered nothing new at the price point regarding performance. AMD’s Radeon R7-265 is rather more conventional, caring less about energy saving – chips at this level of speed tend not to demand prodigious amounts of power in any case – and concentrating instead on hammering out the very best frame rates for the money....

(You may also be interested in the Mi Gaming Laptop, also announced this morning.) When is the Mi Mix 2S release date? In China the Mi Mix 2S goes up for pre-order today at 6pm, and will officially go on sale on 3 April. In the UK you’ll be able to buy the Mi Mix 2S through the likes of GearBest, and we’ll detail pricing and shipping info here as soon as we have it....

Xiaomi Mi Note Pro vs iPhone 6 Plus comparison: UK price and availability The iPhone 6 Plus is easily available direct from Apple from £619 inc VAT with 16GB of storage, while the 64- and 128GB models will cost you £699 and £789 respectively. If you can’t afford to buy the iPhone 6 Plus straight out then you will likely be tempted to pay a smaller amount upfront and get it on a contract....

With the new 11S 5G, the Redmi Note 11 range has no less than six models to choose from. The Pro+ 5G on test here is now the top-spec option and adds headline features such as 120W HyperCharge meaning you can fully charge the phone in just 15 minutes, according to Xiaomi. All still without breaking the bank thanks to a starting price of £369 and you’ll be able to get it in May....

There’s nothing inherently wrong with using a touchscreen for gaming on an Android phone or tablet, and in most games the onscreen controls will be placed so as not to obscure the action. But when it comes to driving-, shooting- and action games, a proper controller makes it much easier to get stuck in. Wireless controllers for Android are nothing new, but they recently caught our eye when Xiaomi decided to join the party....

Y-Cam reckons it’s the best smart alarm you can get in the UK. As well as connecting to your router, it also has a built-in SIM and battery, so the alarm will sound and can phone you even if your broadband goes down or there’s a power cut. Recently extra components have been launched including a solar-powered outdoor siren, a dummy siren and a pet-friendly motion sensor which won’t be triggered when your cat or dog walks around....

Research by the marketing and web development agency revealed 65 percent admitted using sites like Facebook and Twitter takes up most of their spare time each day, while 54 percent claimed it was watching TV. For older age groups, TV remained as popular with half of 25 to 34 year olds saying they prefer watching TV and the same amount spend most of their time on social media sites, while just under a third (32 percent) of over 55s spend most of their spare time using Facebook and Twitter....

Videos are picked by a combination of automated algorithms as well as humans at YouTube and also based on parent feedback. No filtering system is 100 percent accurate, so this isn’t an excuse to leave your kids unsupervised but it’s a lot safer than letting them loose with the full-blown version of YouTube. The app has profiles, so if you have more than one child they can log into their own profile for recommendations and settings....

Zamtel, the country’s only total telecom solution service provider, said it is now able to deliver 600Mbps of Internet capacity to the Zambian customers, making access to fast Internet broadband even more affordable for all. The Zamtel fiber network runs from Solwezi, Ndola, Lusaka, Livingstone and Sesheke in Namibia and eventually to the Western seaboard international undersea cables. Zamtel’s capacity is being used by mobile operators MTN and Airtel, as well as corporate organizations....

Por ejemplo, si vives en España o América Latina y quieres acceder a contenido de Reino Unido, como la plataforma de BBC iPlayer, verás que no puedes acceder porque solo funciona si el sistema cree que estás en el Reino Unido. Sin embargo, si enciendes tu aplicación VPN y te conectas a un servidor del Reino Unido, podrás ver iPlayer dondequiera que estés. Recuerda que necesitas una licencia de televisión para ver iPlayer....

With smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3 costing hundreds of pounds pickpockets and muggers should see the Olympics as a potential goldmine. The risk isn’t just the cost of the smartphone. Security analysts at Venafi warn that an estimated 214.4 terabytes of potentially sensitive data likely will be lost or stolen – the equivalent of 200 million books’ worth of data. See also: Smartphone reviews A staggering 50,000 mobile phones are lost or stolen in the London area over any two-week period, says Venafi....

Also see: Best Black Friday Laptop Deals The Aspire Switch 10 is still essentially the same product as last year – a small laptop and tablet in one devices thanks to a detachable keyboard dock. However, a few changes have been made to improve it for this year. It will be priced from £279 in the UK. For starters, the Switch 10 is available in various colours, six to be precise....

Along with some new smartphones, the Liquid M220 and Liquid Jade Z, Acer’s refreshed its wearable. The Liquid Leap+ will arrive this month and cost the small amount of 79 Euro. We’re waiting for a UK price but even if translates directly into pounds, it’s pretty cheap. The device looks very similar to the original, in fact, you’d struggle to tell them apart. This means it uses a rubber wristband but this time the main body is separate so you can quickly and easily change the band if you want....