Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Apple : Apple's iPhone sales down 17% as it shifts to more services

Apple : Apple's iPhone sales down 17% as it shifts to more services


Apple's iPhone sales down 17% as it shifts to more services

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 02:12 PM PDT

iPhone sales continue to sharply decline, according to Apple's earnings statement for its fiscal second quarter, though its stock and services business are up today.

Apple's iPhone revenue was down another 17% for the quarter ending on March 30, amounting to $31.05 billion. A year ago we saw iPhone revenue at $37.56 billion.

You can chalk this up to consumers' resistance to upgrade to newer, more expensive iPhones. The iPhone XS Max is Apple's most expensive phone ever, while the budget-focused iPhone XR is still quite pricey.

Current iPhone 11 rumors point to a triple-lens camera upgrade and the chance to wirelessly charge other devices, but Apple's isn't expected to offer a groundbreaking redesign.

How it's stemming iPhone bloodletting

Apple noted that price drops in certain countries did help it see some recovery, so its declines were "significantly smaller later in the quarter," according to CEO Tim Cook during today's Apple earnings call. 

Sadly, Apple no longer releases number for how many iPhone units it sells anymore. Its Mac sales saw a minor dip, while iPhone sales were up and its catch-all Wearables, Home and Accessories category saw a nice bump.

Service is what Apple is touting the most. It's up to $11.45 billion from $9.85, which Apple touts as breaking new records for Apple Music and the Apple Store.

Developing...

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Here's how Facebook is changing completely in 2019

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:38 AM PDT

After a brutal 2018, Mark Zuckerberg has big plans for the Facebook platform in 2019. Facebook is being redesigned with a focus on community and privacy.

Zuckerberg made the announcements during Facebook's F8 event that was held today near the company's home turf in San Jose, California, where he addressed the past year of issues with privacy, security and decreasing trust in the platform.

The new version of Facebook, codenamed 'FB5', will be the biggest change the social network has experienced in years: nearly every single aspect is changing in some way. There was a lot of information, but luckily we went ahead and gathered all the biggest bits of information right here. 

Facebook F8 2019

New web and mobile designs

The fifth major redesign of the Facebook app is incoming, codenamed 'FB5', and it will make communities – known as Groups – the focus, featuring a sleek redesign that should make it faster and more reliable, not to mention more visually appealing.

The new Facebook mobile app will be going live today, too, and it should be much faster and more immersive. Facebook has made finding what you're looking for more convenient, and more importantly claims to have made it safer and more secure. This is the biggest change to the Facebook app in five years: even the Facebook logo is being updated for 2019.

There's a new Facebook desktop website, too, and it should be much lighter on system resources, with the same design language as the mobile app. It will be coming in the next few months, with some updates showing up right away. 

Facebook F8 2019


All about building community

Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that Facebook's focus is shifting to communities both public and private. This means that Groups are going to be the core focus: there are already tens of millions of active Groups on Facebook.

Groups will be easier to find, and easier to participate in, thanks to a new, redesigned Groups tab. This will show you a personalized feed of all of your groups, so you can focus on your communities in a single place, rather than parsing them out from the rest of your News Feed. 

Users will also notice that Group recommendations will crop up in more places, but they'll be more relevant to what you're doing in the app. For instance, you may see more "buy and sell" groups show up in the Marketplace, and Today in Gaming may suggest a new gaming group for you to join. The News Feed will also be redesigned so that you can more easily share content directly to your Groups. 

But, this new community approach goes beyond Groups.

Facebook F8 2019

Facebook is launching Facebook Dating in more countries, along with a new feature called "Secret Crush." The idea here is that you can opt-in to this program, and name up to nine of your friends that you have interest in. If they opt-in to the program and name you as one of their secret crushes, then you will be matched. However, if the secret crush isn't mutual, no one will know the names you entered.

Facebook Dating is already live in five countries, and will expand to 14 more today. The service will launch in the US at the end of the year. 

There will also be some new ways to meet friends, through the new "Meet New Friends" feature. This is also an opt-in feature, so that you will only be exposed to people who are open to meeting new people. This feature will also work with your Groups, so you can easily add new friends from your favorite community. 

Facebook F8 2019

Everything else

Facebook's Marketplace is also getting some improvements. Namely, you'll be able to both ship products across the continental US, and you'll have the ability to pay for stuff safely and securely through the Facebook app. This should make shopping on the Facebook platform more secure for both sellers and buyers.

The Events tab is also getting a makeover, and it will be easier to explore your city. You can coordinate with your friends, find local businesses and find a new favorite restaurant based on your own personal preferences. 

There are so many Facebook changes coming in the next few months, and it could change the way people use the platform day-in and day-out. At the very least, the hope is for these changes to make the social network grow more secure and less divisive.

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Here are the Instagram changes coming your way

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:21 AM PDT

Instagram looks like it will keep its spot as one of the top photo-sharing social networks in the world thanks to a slew of new updates announced today at Facebook's F8 Conference.

The biggest update is for creators who want to share their fashion choices with followers. No more dropping product URLs in a post's comments or personal bio: starting next week, creators will be able to directly link to products through their post images by tagging specific items. Only participating brands will be linkable, which are listed in a company post

Instagram is getting in on fundraising, too. Today, US users (more countries later) will be able to raise money for causes they care about by using a specific sticker that links to a donation campaign. Instagram claims 100% of the funds will go to the chosen nonprofit; check out all the details on the Instagram post here.

New Camera, fewer followers

Finally, Instagram users will get a new camera design in the coming weeks, which rearranges all modes, new and old, into a radial dial around the shutter button. 

Users will also be able to share content that isn't a photo or a video. With Create Mode, they can share "popular creative tools like effects and interactive stickers" – so users can post things without needing to take a picture or shoot a video, though the details are a bit vague.

There's another feature Instagram is toying with – or rather, an omission. The company is exploring hiding post 'likes' and video views while users scroll through their feed, starting with a trial in Canada, per TechCrunch. It's not hard to see why: perhaps hiding interaction numbers will nudge users to appreciate posts on their merit, not how Insta-popular they are.

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Best premium WordPress themes of 2019

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:20 AM PDT

While there are thousands of free WordPress themes available, these are mostly suitable for hobbyists and small-time websites. 

Whether you are a food lover looking to monetize your passion or a business owner who wants to raise your company's profile, WordPress can help.

In this guide, you’ll discover five premium WordPress themes suitable for a wide range of professional users. By paying a few dollars, you’ll benefit from extra features such as displaying pictures in a slideshow or ecommerce compatibility.

X

X is a paid WordPress theme suitable for all types of websites. 

The theme comes with four categories of built-in demos. Each of these themes cover a wide variety of potential projects. This means that no matter what you have in mind, X more than likely has a design suited to your needs.

X comes with Cornerstone, one of the most popular WordPress web page builders. The drag and drop feature is easy to use. Users are able to see exactly what their page will look like live as they are building. This enables users to change and edit while building their site.

There are a huge number of customization options, with which users can build a unique webpage.

X comes with a feature called ‘the customizer’. This is a handy tool as many premium themes come with their own theme options page that are not entirely compatible with WordPress. ‘The Customizer’ is highly intuitive. It integrates seamlessly with WordPress. It will help you to customize the look and feel of your website. There is also Dynamic Content, which comes in handy when building out content throughout your site.

The regular license for X is $59 (£44.4) which includes future updates and 6 months customer support. Users can opt to extend support to 12-months for an additional $17.63 (£13.3).

Divi

Divi is a multi-purpose theme. It has website options for most users and is highly customizable.

The theme comes with WooCommerce functionality. The drag and drop feature allows users to include pricing tables, video sliders, tabs and videos. A rating module is also available.

Users can access a variety of pre-built layouts. These range from creating a sales page, multiple blog layouts and a variety of portfolio types.

Divi is one of the few WordPress themes to include a front-end page builder tool with point and click editing. This gives users instant feedback on any editing that takes place.

Users can upload logos, choose a new color palette, decide how many posts are displayed on a page and setup social media integrations amongst others.

Newer users will find Divi particularly simple to use as you don’t need any coding skill or any former experience building websites. The user-friendly interface makes this process seamless. You can also optimize any page element to your liking with various CSS options.

Divi allows you to use multiple rows, columns and content elements. All layouts are fully responsive.

The theme comes with an impressive array of content elements which include audio player, bar counter, blog, number counter, shop, testimonial and contact form amongst others.

Divi can also be translated into more than 30 languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Czech, Russian and Spanish.

Users can try a demo version of Divi for free. Users can also purchase a one-year subscription to all of Elegant Themes’ products for $89 (£67.69). There is also a Lifetime option for $249 (£187.4).

Uncode

Uncode is a multi-purpose theme suitable for most users. 

The theme offers users a huge variety of website demos. These include classic, portfolio, blog and ecommerce layouts.

Uncode’s images are fully adaptive so that they adjust automatically to whatever screen size they are being viewed on.

Users can edit their demos through the WPBakery Page Builder Plugin. They can also access to the handy drag and drop content editor. Uncode is compatible with most third-party plugins.

The themes large media library makes it easier for users to embed any type of media to your WordPress site.

Uncode has over 6 different menu types with advanced options. These include top right, justify, left, center, overlay, offcanvas and lateral.

The theme is WPML certified and offers RTL (Right to Left) support. The premium themes included are VC Page Builder, VC Clipboard, VC Particles, LayerSlider, Slider Revolution and iLightBox. In the recent update, new features are available like animated headlines and highlighting effects, among other things.

You can purchase for $59 (£44.87) and includes future updates and 6 months support. If you want to extend support to 12 months, an additional $17.63 (£13.3) is needed. 

Some online commentators have expressed frustration over difficulties with customization.

The Core

The Core is a multi-purpose theme which requires no coding skills.

The theme has been built on the Unyson network to aid with customization. Users have access to the fully featured page builder. This allows you to edit the demos that are included or create new layouts to suit your needs. 

The Core theme includes demo content install. Users can choose from three different sliders: Slider Revolution, Layers Slider and its own custom-built slider. 

The theme is retina ready and fully responsive. Users can edit the colors of their theme using simple color pickers. The Core is also fully compatible with the WooCommerce plugin.

Users have access to Google’s free collection of fonts. You can also choose to use the sticky header to ensure your menu bar always remains visible no matter how far down you scroll.

The Core is translation ready and is compatible with WPML. Support is available through live chat 24/7 or email. There are also over 100 support articles.

Users can purchase the theme for $49 (£37.26). 

Online commentators have lamented the lack of a front-end page builder.

Foodie Pro

Foodie Pro helps users to create a beautiful blog based around all sorts of culinary delights.

It is created by the Genesis Framework. This means your website will have a solid combination of this Framework along with WordPress. The theme comes with a huge amount of typography and color options.

Users can build their site using up to 3 homepage and 5 site wide widget areas. These can be customized to fit around your brand.

The theme allows users to upload their own logo with one click. There is also full support for text-based logos.

Foodie Pro’s ‘Theme Customizer’ allows users to customize the theme’s settings, colors and backgrounds images.

The ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ can be purchased for $129.95 (£98.85) for one year. This includes the Genesis Framework, Foodie Pro Theme, instant access, unlimited updates, supports, sites and access to detailed tutorials.

If this is not enough, users can avail of the ‘Pro Plus Membership’ for $499.95 (£380.22). This includes all the ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ has to offer plus access to every theme the company makes including future themes.

Top Image Credit: The Core

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Facebook makes major changes to Messenger for speed and privacy

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:16 AM PDT

Facebook has announced major changes to its products this week at it's annual F8 keynote, and chief among them are updates to the Facebook Messenger app and WhatsApp. Facebook aims to overhaul Messenger while also enhancing WhatsApp.

Last year, Facebook showed off Messenger 4, and since then it's added dark mode, the ability to unsend messages, augmented reality features and more. Now, Facebook is aiming for considerable changes to the platform.

After considerable backlash within the past two years over Facebook's handling of sensitive personal data, the company is making a large push toward privacy. Many of the announcements at F8 this year have emphasized this push.

For Messenger, this comes in the form of end-to-end encryption by default for communications, including not just text but also shared locations, video communications and more. This is a long-awaited feature for the popular platform, and will ensure the communications between users are protected from outside eyes, whether they be hackers, governments or Facebook itself.

Big improvements

Beyond the enhancement to security, Facebook is planning to make the app dramatically better over the course of the year. The company is completely rewriting the app's codebase to reduce the app size below 30MB in size and offer extra fast launching of the app, all without reducing the features offered by the app. These improvements can also reduce the app's battery usage on smartphones.

Facebook has further plans to make Messenger the fastest communication app on the entire planet, and wants to improve reliability. So, more people will be able to use the app with high-end and low-end devices alike.

Another effort to simplify use for everyone is a push toward interoperability. So, going forward, Messenger users will be able to communicate with WhatsApp and Instagram users directly within the Messenger app.

And, Facebook's Messenger platform is getting a dedicated app for Windows and Mac computers with all the features of the mobile versions, including dark mode.

WhatsApp is also getting some changes. Facebook is introducing the ability to share stories and locations similar to Messenger, and they'll keep the same end-to-end encryption that has been a key aspect of WhatsApp. 

WhatsApp is also coming to Portal, Facebook's smart display, so both Messenger and WhatsApp will be available on the device with end-to-end encryption for video chats.

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Dell bolsters SMB offerings with expanded Vostro portfolio

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:12 AM PDT

At its recent Dell Technologies World event, Dell announced the launch of the latest additions to its Vostro portfolio, the Vostro 15 5000 and Vostro 15 7000, designed with needs of small businesses in mind.

The Vostro 15 5000 is the thinnest and lightest device in the product line, designed for on-the-go business professionals. The portable 13” notebook is 14.9mm thin and weighs just 1.18kg (2.16lb). 

The new 13-inch Vostro notebook is encased in an aluminum cover for added durability and the FHD display is surrounded by a 3-sided narrow border thanks to the new 2.7mm HD webcam. 

While the HD camera provides a clear viewing experience, Waves MaxxAudio Pro boost volume and SmartByte software ensures video conferencing applications receive network bandwidth priority to reduce buffering, allowing business professionals to attend meetings from anywhere.

Vostro portfolio

If a 13-inch notebook is too small for your needs, the Vostro 15 7000 is Dell's newest 15” laptop designed to cater to professionals who need a high-performance computer that can fit their budget.

The new laptop is encased in aluminum and features a narrow border FHD display which is both durable and sleek. The Vostro 15 7000 can be outfitted with up to a Core i7 Intel Coffee Lake-H 6-core processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics, a 97 week hour battery and an optional triple drive expand ability storage option.

Vostro laptops include security features that are easy to use for any business users. An optional single-sign on fingerprint reader and built-in hardware-based Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0) security chip allow users to instantly authenticate their systems and rest easy knowing their data is well protected against cyber threats.

Dell is also offering the option of Dell Pro Support with its latest Vostro laptops which provides customers with 24/7 direct telephone access to advanced-level technicians who are locally based relative to a business' location.

The Vostro 15 5000 will be available on Dell's website next month starting at $849 and the Vostro 15 7000 starts at $1,149.

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Samsung Galaxy A80 vs Oppo Reno vs Honor View 20: which is the best smartphone for your kid?

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:00 AM PDT

If you’re looking for the best smartphone for your child, you’ve got to juggle a few factors: is it durable enough to survive all the knocks it’ll take, with a battery life to facilitate non-stop Snapchat? Will it have all the bells and whistles they’ll need for daily use? And is it affordable enough that you can easily replace it if they leave it somewhere?

Several companies now are targeting their smartphones to the ‘youth’, and interpreting that demand in different ways to try and be the face of smartphones to the younger generation.

Samsung threw its hat into the ring with the Samsung Galaxy A80, a smartphone with a slide-up back section that lets you flip its three rear cameras into three selfie cameras at the press of a button.

The most recent company to take a shot at a young audience is Oppo, and the upcoming Oppo Reno phone sells itself as a phone designed for those who are “young at heart” – whatever that means. Its unique feature is a ‘shark-fin’ pop-up front camera, like a normal pop-up camera but smaller.

You can’t talk about phones aimed at young people without mentioning Honor, as it aims its phones predominantly at a younger audience who still want all the features of more expensive flagships. Its most recent offering, the Honor View 20, is its newest attempt to win over younger hearts.

But which one should you actually spend your money on, to ensure you’re getting the best phone for your kid? We’ve brought together the latest offerings from three leading smartphone makers to compare.

Design and display 

All three of the Samsung Galaxy A80, Oppo Reno and Honor View 20 have unbroken screens the size of the phone, which means the screen has no notches or front cameras dipping down from the top or the sides and getting in the way, and they have different techniques of achieving this.

The Samsung Galaxy A80 has a large rear panel that pops up when you want to use the camera on the front, with a rotating bar housing the phone’s three rear cameras that spins around – it’s an elaborate contraption, but it does mean there’s no camera on the front to break up the screen.

Meanwhile the Oppo Reno also has a mechanical component, but it’s a lot less complex. When you want to take a picture, a small ‘shark-fin’ pops up to point the front snapper at you.

The Opp Reno series 'shark-fin'. Gif credit: TechRadar

The most simple front-facing camera comes from the Honor View 20 – it doesn’t have any moving parts, and instead its front camera sits in a ‘punch-hole’ in the screen itself. Technically this means the screen isn’t totally unbroken, but it looks like a full-screen device anyway, and there’s no delicate moving parts to fall apart if the phone is dropped.

Speaking of screens, the Samsung Galaxy A80 has the biggest, with its 6.7-inch display, compared to 6.4 inches on the Oppo Reno and Honor View 20. Each phone uses different screen tech too, as the Galaxy A80 has a super-AMOLED display, while the Oppo Reno has AMOLED and the Honor View 20 has LCD. 

From our experience of displays we’d say AMOLED generally is better looking, but you’re not likely to notice a huge difference if you’re not comparing the phones directly.

The sizeable Samsung Galaxy A80. Image credit: TechRadar

As fitting its bigger screen, the Samsung Galaxy A80 has a larger body size too – it’s the most sizeable of the trio, with dimensions of 165.2 x 76.5 x 9.3mm compared to the Oppo Reno at 156.6 x 74.3 x 9mm and the Honor View 20, the smallest phone, at 156.9 x 75.4 x 8.1mm.

Something worth bearing in mind is that the Honor View 20 is the only phone of the three to have a 3.5mm headphone jack, so if you’ve got a beloved pair of earphones, that phone would be your best bet.


Battery life and camera 

A long-lasting battery life is one of the most important features in a phone for your kid, especially if they’ll be using it to text 25 hours a day and will habitually forget to charge it.

In terms of raw battery capacity the Honor View 20 is the best phone, with a 4,000mAh power pack, but it’s not far ahead of the competition as the Oppo Reno’s battery has 3,765mAh and the Samsung Galaxy A80 is 3,700mAh – those capacities are all above average, so the “my phone died” excuse for not replying to texts will never work again.

The Honor View 20. Image credit: TechRadar

Battery capacity doesn’t necessarily translate to battery life, and some phones with lots of power storage don’t make the most of it, but each of these phones offers a whole-day battery life.

Camera specs are one of the most fiercely competitive points of comparison between phones nowadays, and for many young people, who value a great picture, it might be the deciding factor between a great phone and an average one.

The real photography powerhouse of the trio is the Samsung Galaxy A80 – because of its rotating bar it has a three-camera rear and front loadout. This consists of a 48MP main snapper, joined by an 8MP sensor boasting an ultra-wide lens, and an extra 3D depth sensor to take great selfies, by recognising the background of a picture in order to blur it.

What a flipping novel design. Gif credit: TechRadar

Taking a step down, the Oppo Reno has a 48MP main camera joined by 5MP depth sensing camera, which is used for portrait shots. Housed on the ‘shark-fin’, the front camera has a 16MP sensor and uses a wide lens, for wider group selfies.

The Honor View 20 only has one rear camera, which is again a 48MP snapper, but it’s joined by a 3D time-of-flight camera which produces results not dissimilar to the Oppo Reno’s depth sensing camera, using time-of-flight (ToF) tech to accurately gauge short distances.

Since only one of the handsets is available to the public at this point, we haven’t been able to directly compare them head-to-head to see how well they take pictures, but we’ll be sure to do that when we get our hands on the phones.

Features 

While the Samsung Galaxy A80, Oppo Reno and Honor View 20 all run Android 9 Pie, they all run different user interfaces – The Galaxy A80 runs on Samsung’s One UI, whereas the Oppo Reno is on ColorOS 6 and the Honor View 20 has Magic UI 2. The difference between these is largely aesthetic, although there are a few quirks and differences between them regarding navigation.

Honor View 20 on Magic UI 2. Image credit: TechRadar


You’d need to use the phones quite a bit to have any strong opinions on the UI navigation, so it won’t be a deal-breaker by any means, but aesthetically some of them could be considered a little garish.

In terms of chipset, the Samsung Galaxy A80 and Oppo Reno run on Snapdragon 730 and 710 respectively – they’re fine mid-range processors, although the phones certainly won’t run big games or complete functions as quickly as high-end devices. The Honor View 20 boasts Huawei’s Kirin 980 processor – that’s a cutting-edge piece of tech, more so than the Snapdragons, and will be much better at tasks like gaming.

There’s less distinction in terms of RAM between the phones though – each has 8GB RAM, although for the Oppo Reno and Honor View 20 there are 6GB RAM versions available too, if you think 8GB RAM is more than your kid will need. A higher RAM means a phone can do more processes at once, and 8GB is quite a top-end spec compared to the general smartphone market.

Verdict 


Since the phones haven’t all been released, it’s hard to judge them within the context of their prices – saying that we’re expecting the Samsung Galaxy A80 price to be quite a bit higher than the Oppo Reno’s or Honor View 20’s.

To buy or not to buy. Image credit: TechRadar


This higher price point reflects the Galaxy A80’s status as, disregarding price, probably the best phone of the trio – it has the biggest screen, most capable camera array, and certainly the best ‘novelty’ factor.

However, whether it’s worth a higher price is another story – the other phones have important distinctions too. The Honor View 20 has a cutting-edge processor and impressive battery capacity, so if your kid loves to game on the go it’s probably the best option (although maybe not the best option if you don’t want your kid to game on the go too much...)

The Oppo Reno is a worthwhile phone too – it packs some of the most middling specs of the trio, but it’ll likely end up being the most affordable if you want your kid to have a perfectly competent phone without breaking the bank.

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Best WordPress themes for portfolios in 2019

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:00 AM PDT

The days of printing your business portfolio and placing it in a cardboard folder are long since past.

By placing your portfolio online you can advertise your brand by search engines, which will hugely raise your profile. It's also much easier to update your portfolio as you introduce new products or services. 

One of the easiest ways to get started with your online portfolio is to use a bespoke theme for WordPress. In this guide, you’ll explore five such themes which have been created with portfolios in mind.

Grand Portfolio

Grand Portfolio is designed to cater for those users involved in most areas of visual design. It works best for photographers, fashion designers and architects.

The theme has a variety of gallery and portfolio modules. There are also choices for those interested in blogs and creating magazines. It’s useful for musicians as it has support for biographies along with event reservation support.

Grand Portfolio themes can be viewed in split screen along with a full screen option for users who want to show off all their designs in their full glory. Users can utilize the infinite scroll option so that designs keep loading as you come to the end of each page.

Users can customize elements color, background and typography with the built-in live customizer. Revolution Slider and iLightbox are included with the theme. These two premium themes usually cost around $34 (£25.87) each.

Users gain access to the built-in ‘Content Builder’. This comes with a handy drag and drop feature. 

Grand Portfolio is fully responsive. It has also passed Google’s mobile compatibility check meaning that it is SEO optimized.

Users can purchase the regular license for $59 (£44.89) which includes future updates and 6-months support. An additional 12-months of support can be added for $17.63 (£13.41).

Some online commentators have noted there is not a huge variety in demo layouts.

Kalium

Kalium is designed specifically for portfolios.

There are multiple styles available. Each of which can be edited with the Visual Composer, Revolution Slider and LayerSlider plugins. These are all premium plugins and usually cost around $25 (£18.8). Users can customize fonts, colors, footer styles and opt to integrate with social media.

Kalium is compatible with WPML and Multilingual Plugin. It has been translated into over 16 languages. It includes support for RTL languages such as Arabic, Hebrew and Persian. 

Users can customize their portfolio on the ‘Theme Option’s area. They can also choose some of the premade layouts. Users can select from over 100 portfolio types with options to align images, spacing and text options.

Kalium is straight forward and easy to use. Newer users need not worry as no coding knowledge or experience is needed to start working on this theme.

The theme is fully responsive and retina ready. It also comes fully documented making it simple to find the information you need to build your website.

Users can purchase Kalium for $60 (£45.65). This includes future updates and 6-months support. This can be extended to 12-months for an additional $18 (£13.69).

Portfolio

Portfolio is designed by ‘MyThemeShop’. It is a multipurpose portfolio theme. 

Users can use the options panel to customize their theme, make their own code edits, or design edits using the Photoshop PSD files.  These are included in the extended plan.

Users can utilize the advanced portfolio filters to organize their work the way they see fit.  Users can also show as little or as much of their work as they want by controlling how many columns of images are displayed. You can also edit image sizes.

Portfolio comes with more than 600 Google Fonts. Social media integration is also included. There are unlimited color, background and sidebars options. Users can also customize widgets for their page. 

The theme is translation ready and supports RTL. The main source of support is through the theme’s forum. If an answer can’t be found, email support is also available.

Portfolio can be purchased for $45 (£34.23) ($35 at the time of writing, due to a sale) and is SEO ready, speed optimized and responsive. The company also offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

Furion

Furion is a portfolio theme which will display your work with a stylish twist.

The theme includes several different portfolio layouts. These include grid and masonry with different column choices along with six hover animation styles.

Each item on your chosen page includes 6 layouts, options to display gallery images in a slider, a media gallery and sticky information.

Furion uses over 600 icons in Font Awesome along with the latest Google Fonts. The theme is also fully compatible with plugins such as Yoast which will help boost your SEO

Support is available through a ticket system along with full documentation. Furion is also fully responsive so it will look just as good on your tablet or smartphone as it does on your desktop.

Users can build responsive pages with no need for coding with Visual Composer. Furion is fully integrated with Slider Revolution. This means users with no experience will be able to create beautiful presentations.

Users can purchase a regular license for $33 (£24.8) which includes future updates and 6-months support. This can be extended to 12-months support for a further $7.88 (£5.9).

Online commentators have noted that support can be slow to respond to tickets.

Collective

Collective is best suited for graphic designers, architects, photographers, interior designers and web designers.

There are many homepage designs available. Most of these can be viewed in fullscreen and include descriptive overlay and vertical sliders. 

Users can customize their forms with Contact Form 7. There is a collection of four sets of icons with over 2000 available to users. 

Collective is fully responsive and translation ready. It is also fully compatible with WooCommerce. Widgets can be used on sidebars, footers and through WooCommerce.

Users can customize their page with the page builder included with the theme. There are four demos and over 12 layouts available. Users can access page templates and a huge variety of portfolio layouts. 

Users can purchase Collective for $49 (£37.28) which includes future updates and 6 months support. Support can be extended to 12-months for a further $13.88 (£10.4). There’s also a live demo.

Top Image Credit: Collective

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Best e-commerce WordPress themes of 2019

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:52 AM PDT

WordPress is far more than a simple platform for blogging enthusiasts. Many WordPress themes are devoted to e-commerce, meaning that if you want to monetize your skills and/or start a small business, you can set up a payment processing site with little or no coding knowledge.

Not all e-commerce platforms are created equal, though. Some may require advanced technical skills, or they might not display well on tablets and smartphones.

In this guide, we’ve rounded up five of the very best e-commerce WordPress themes. These all represent a good balance between value for money and useful features such as being able to display product slideshows.

Each of these themes also has a free demo, so feel free to test drive them before you buy.

Shopkeeper

Shopkeeper is a user-friendly WordPress e-commerce platform. The homepage consists mainly of one large slider, designed to catch the eye of any potential clients. This is part of the Slider Revolution plugin which is included. Various optional plugins like "Shopkeeper Portfolio Addon" can also be installed.

The theme integrates completely with WooCommerce, and translation is supported with the WPML plugin. Shopkeeper is Retina-ready and fully responsive, making it perfect to view on both tablets and smartphones as well as your desktop computer.

The theme is easily customizable. Users do not need knowledge of complex codes in order to use it.  There are a huge array of pre-built layouts to suit your needs, but failing this, users can create their own layout from scratch.

Users can also upload their own logo, change fonts and colors. Visual Slider and Revolution Slider plugins are included with the Shopkeeper theme; these cost around $26 (£19.5) each. Shopkeeper itself sells at $69 (£52) for a regular license. Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $21.38 (£16).

Some online commentators have noted that the huge amount of customizable settings contained within Shopkeeper can be overwhelming for newer users.

Bazar Shop

Bazar Shop is a slightly more complex e-commerce platform. To be precise, it’s a multi-purpose theme which offers a variety of ways in which to build your website.

The theme is fully responsive making it perfect to view on platforms other than a desktop PC. Users can choose from several different sliders and there are no restrictions to the number of sliders you can have on your page.

There are two custom checkout pages to choose from. The ‘zoom’ effect is included in these so there is no need to bother with a third-party plugin. Users can also add multiple images of a product, similar to what you see on eBay and Amazon.

The homepage includes social media sharing, email subscription forms, featured products and contact information.

Bazar Shop has over 300 ready-to-use shortcodes, which are perfect for users who do not have any coding knowledge.

Users can utilize the option panel to change layouts, edit headers and footers, create a sitemap, change the colors, turn on responsive, and customize blog pages.

Bazar Shop costs $64 (£49) for a regular license and includes 6-months of support.  Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $19.5 (£14.65). 

Online commentators have noted that it is inconvenient to be forced to pay for support after the initial half-year period.

Divi

Divi is a multi-purpose theme featuring website options to cater for most users, plus it’s highly customizable.

The theme comes with WooCommerce functionality. The drag and drop feature allows users to include pricing tables, video sliders, tabs and videos. A rating module is also available.

Users can access a variety of pre-built layouts. These include creating a sales page, multiple blog layouts and a variety of portfolio types.

Divi is one of the few WordPress themes to include a frontend page builder tool with point and click editing. This gives users instant feedback on any editing that takes place.

Users can upload logos, choose a new color palette, decide how many posts are displayed on a page, set up social media integrations and more.

Newer users will find Divi particularly handy as you don’t need any coding skills or any former experience building websites. The user-friendly interface makes the whole process seamless. Furthermore, with various CSS transform options, users can offset the position of any page element with ease.

Divi allows you to use multiple rows, columns and content elements. All layouts are fully responsive.

The theme comes with an impressive array of content elements which include an audio player, bar counter, blog, number counter, shop, testimonial and contact form amongst others.

Divi can also be translated into more than 30 languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Czech, Russian and Spanish to name but a few.

Users can try a demo version of Divi for free, and there’s the option to purchase a one-year subscription to all of Elegant Themes’ products for $89 (£68) or $249(£187) for a Lifetime access. 

Halena

Halena is the perfect choice for users with a minimalist philosophy, as its design is clean and simple, meaning that any web page you build will load almost immediately.

Users can employ the custom-built product quick view mode to get a better view of their items, and the AJAX filtering tool makes inventory searches simple.

Halena comes with a large variety of pre-built layouts. These include options for product display, shopping cart, checkout and customer accounts.

The theme also includes WPBakery Page Builder, a drag and drop content editor. This can be used to customize templates as well as creating unique web pages. The Builder also come with its own selection of templates.

Halena costs $49 (£36.8) for a regular license which includes 6-months of support, future updates and quality checks. Users can extend support for a further 12-months for $13.88 (£10.4).

Artemis

Artemis is aimed at those wanting a stylish and classy look for their website. It’s a multi-purpose WordPress WooCommerce theme which includes a variety of online shop demos. All the demos are laid out on the Artemis homepage, making it easier for users to find the right one for them.

Designs are easily imported onto your WordPress site. Artemis comes with Visual Composer included – a drag and drop page builder plugin which will save you time when building your site.

Slider Revolution is also part of Artemis. Users have a large variety of number options to choose from, and even novice users will have no trouble creating their perfect website.

The whole theme is built around WooCommerce. Users can choose to have a full width shop or add left or right sidebars to their web page. Artemis is fully responsive, making it perfect for viewing on tablets and smartphones.

A regular license costs $59 (£45) with 6-months support and future updates included. Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $17.63 (£13.32). Many online commentators have praised the customer support provided.

Top image credit: Donald Trung (Wikimedia Commons)

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Official release date for Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift S is May 21

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:51 AM PDT

Oculus has finally told us the release date for the new Oculus Rift S and standalone Oculus Quest headset that will be available starting on May 21. 

Both headsets will be available for $399 / £399 (around AU$730) and are available for pre-order starting today.   

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement of the Rift S's arrival during Facebook's' F8 2019 event that was held today in San Jose, Calif. right outside the company's main headquarters in Menlo Park. 

Previously, Oculus has announced that the Quest will arrive with more than 50 titles available on day one, while the Rift S will have access to every title in the Oculus store that can be played with the previous-gen Rift headset. 

Speaking of, the Rift S and Quest will launch at the same price as the Rift and will actually replace the headset in the lineup moving forward.

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The best cheap printers 2019 deals: top budget picks

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:39 AM PDT

In this guide to the best cheap printers of 2019, we list the top budget printers that manage to walk that fine line between affordability and print quality.

That means, in this best cheap printers guide, we only feature printers that offer fantastic value for money, while also providing excellent printouts, as well as a good selection of features.

The sheer amount of budget printers available can be daunting, as it's an extremely competitive market, and that means it can sometimes be confusing when looking to buy the best cheap printer for your needs.

It does mean, however, that no matter what kind of cheap printer you're looking for – be it a color or monochrome printer, or whether you're looking at ink jet and even laser printers, there should be a budget printer for you.

Not only have we listed the very best cheap printers, our very own price comparison tool will scour the internet to make sure you get the very lowest prices for these already cheap printers.

One important thing to keep in mind when buying a cheap printer is that some manufacturers lower the price of the printer to entice people to buy, but keep the price of its consumables (such as ink cartridges) high, making their money back that way. This means some apparently cheap printers end up being quite expensive over the course of their lifetimes. We've kept this in mind while compiling this list of the best cheap printers of 2019.

Best cheap printer: HP Deskjet 3630

The Deskjet 3630 is a fantastic printer that shows how the best cheap printers can offer print quality that can rival more expensive devices. Like some budget printers, the standard ink cartridges can be quite expensive, but if you use it a lot, HP's Instant Ink subscription service ends up being much better value for money, meaning this is a brilliant cheap printer that actually remains cheap throughout its life.

Read the full review: HP Deskjet 3630

Best cheap printer: HP Envy 5540 All-in-One printer

The HP Envy 5540 All-in-One printer is a cheap all-in-one printer that offers printing, scanning and photo printing, supports not just USB but Wi-Fi, Wireless Direct and AirPrint wireless printing, and it even offers automatic double-sided printing. Basically, it comes with an over abundance of features that you'd expect to find on much more expensive printers. Sure, it's a bit pricier than the other cheap printers in this list, but the features and print quality of the HP Envy 5540 more than justify this slightly higher price. It's certainly a cheaper option to buying a printer, scanner and photocopier separately.

Best cheap printer: HP Deskjet 2130 All-in-One printer

The HP Deskjet 2130 All-in-One printer is another great example of a cheap all-in-one printer. It's cheaper than the HP Envy 5540 (above), but the lower price does mean you don't get quite as good a print quality as HP's other printer. It's also a bit slower, and feels a little cheap at times. However, if you only want a cheap printer for occasional use (rather than heavy-duty printing), and also need a scanner and photocopier, then the HP Deskjet 2130 All-in-One printer is probably the best cheap printer for you.

Best cheap printer: Samsung Xpress M2070W


The M2070W is our pick for the best cheap printer for business users. It offers some brilliant features considering its low price, such as NFC printing from compatible smartphones, online document sharing, and a clever Eco system that supplements the usual toner saving mode with a feature to remove images from documents by replacing bitmaps with sketches. It has print speeds of 20ppm, a clever scan to mobile feature and an effective print resolution of up to 1200dpi. It only prints in monochrome, but for most businesses that will be fine, and the low price makes this a brilliant budget choice for the office.

Best cheap printer: Brother HL-3140CW

The Brother HL-3140CW is another brilliant cheap laser printer, and in fact is one of Amazon's best-selling laser printers, and with good reason – for very little cash you're getting a superb wireless color laser. Sure, some compromises have been made to keep the price of this printer as low as possible, so it doesn't have automatic duplexing or an Ethernet port, but the HL-3140CW delivers superb print quality, reasonable mono running costs and good wireless features for a very low price. If you're looking for a business printer and you're on a tight budget, then the Brother HL-3140CW will prove to be a worthwhile addition to your office.

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Best 3D printers of 2019

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:31 AM PDT

If you're looking for the best 3D printers of 2019, then you've come to the right place, as we've listed the top devices for 3D printing, no matter what you need them for.

So, in this list of the best 3D printers, we've got the best home 3D printers that can sit on a table or desk, and are ideal for hobbyists and beginners who are just getting started, as well as professional 3D printers that can produce large-volume 3D printouts.

We also have the best 3D printers for a wide range of budgets, from affordable 3D printers, to high-end 3D printers that may have high price tags, but offer unrivalled quality.

It's important to note that because the devices in our best 3D printers list are all so diverse - and are aimed at different use cases - we've not listed them in any particular order.

So, read our roundup carefully to see which 3D printer is best for your needs. No one wants to spend all their time researching all the best 3D printers – not to mention spending a ton of cash – so our list of the best 3D printers contains clear and concise information on all kinds of 3D printers, so you can find the best 3D printer no matter what your needs are.

MakerBot Replicator+

MakerBot Replicator+

The MakerBot Replicator+ is the successor to the popular MakerBot Replicator 3D printer, and the new version has brought improvements to nearly every part of the Replicator. This means the Replicator+ is faster and quieter than the previous version, while maintaining its excellent design and safety features. This desktop 3D printer is expensive, but it offers excellent print quality, and uses 1.75mm polylactic acid (PLA) filament. It's also user-friendly enough for home users and hobbyists to use - as long as your budget can stretch to the high asking price. 

XYZprinting da Vinci Mini

XYZprinting da Vinci Mini

If you're looking for a budget 3D printer, then there really is no better option than the XYZprinting da Vinci Mini. It remains one of the most affordable ways to get into 3D printing, and also the easiest, thanks to an easy-to-use interface. Just because it's a budget model, doesn't mean it doesn't produce good results, and the 3D printed objects it creates are very impressive considering the price - and size - of this 3D printer. Speaking of size, the XYZprinting da Vinci Mini is an impressively compact printer that makes it easy to store in an office or on a desk.

Ultimaker 2+

Ultimaker 2+

The Ultimaker 2+ is a 3D printer that offers amazing print quality, making it one of the best 3D printers for professional use. It is incredibly reliable when it comes to producing 3D models, and the accuracy of the 3D replications is incredibly impressive. If you need a 3D printer that can reliably reproduce many 3D objects accurately, this is a fantastic choice. However, it is expensive, and the fact that it is aimed at professional environments means it's less beginner-friendly than some of the other 3D printers here. Home users are better off looking elsewhere.

FlashForge Creator Pro 2017

FlashForge Creator Pro 2017

The FlashForge Creator Pro 2017 is the best 3D printer that sits between budget 3D printers and expensive professional models. It's a lot cheaper than pro models, though it maintains the build quality and reliability that you'd come to expect from a professional 3D printer. It's not quite as cheap as the budget and beginner models in this list, but it offers greater accuracy when printing 3D models. It is a tad noisy in use, however.

LulzBot Mini

LulzBot Mini

If you're looking for a first 3D printer to learn the ropes with, then the LulzBot Mini is another excellent choice. It's got a decent price, and is easy to use, though the print speed is quite slow. The hardware is open source, which means it has a flexibility that propitiatory hardware lacks, as a committed community of makers can work together to create add-ons for the printer.  

CubePro Trio

CubePro Trio

The bulk of home 3D printers are limited to one- or two-colour printing, but the CubePro Trio has the capability to print three different materials in one session. This can be especially useful if you want to create an enclosed mechanism: nylon can be used for the gears, ABS for the surround and PLA for the support structure that can then be dissolved with caustic soda. The CubePro is an ideal solution for modellers and engineers who need to create 3D prints with moving parts.

BEEVERYCREATIVE – BEETHEFIRST+

BEEVERYCREATIVE – BEETHEFIRST+

In general terms 3D printers are designed as boxes with purpose, however BeeTheFirst has created a printer with both quality of print and actual design in mind – this is a machine that really wouldn't look out of place in a modern living room. BeeTheFirst has also thought about how and where people will be wanting to use their printers – at work, home or both – and has incorporated a thin design with a handle that enables the printer to be easily transported. 

Lulzbot Taz 6

Lulzbot Taz 6

Initially you might be hard pressed to see the differences between the Taz 5 and 6; both feature a solid open frame build, large print base and ease of use.

However take a closer look at the refinements in design and improvements in usability and the upgrades quickly stand out. Features such as the auto leveling base has evolved from the one featured on the Luzbot Mini and works just as well on this larger scale, and the slight changes to frame layout and control panel are all welcome.

The Taz 6 is a big machine with an impressive print area of 280mm x 280mm x 250mm, with a 0.5mm nozzle capable of a minimum layer height of 75 microns and takes 2.85mm filament.

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Over half of businesses have suffered a data breach

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:25 AM PDT

IT professionals are still struggling to secure their organizations according to new research from McAfee which revealed that 61 percent have experienced a data breach at their current employer.

The firm's new Grand Theft Data II – The Drivers and Shifting State of Data Breaches report surveyed IT professionals from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Singapore, the US and the UK across a wide range of industries to learn more about today's security landscape.

The report found that data breaches are also becoming more serious as cybercriminals continue to target intellectual property putting the reputation of company's brands at risk and increasing their financial liability.

McAfee's study shows the need for a cybersecurity strategy that includes implementing security solutions combined with employee training and an overall culture of security throughout the organization to reduce future breaches.

Severity of data breaches

The report also revealed that data is now being stolen using a wider range of methods with no single technique dominating the industry. Database leaks, cloud applications and removable USB drivers were the top vectors used to exfiltrate data.

McAfee found that personally identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property (IP) are now tied as the data categories with the highest potential impact to 43 percent of respondents. PII is of greater concern in Europe (49%) due to the recent enforcement date of GDPR.

When it came to taking responsibility for a breach, 55 percent of IT professionals believe that c-level executives should lose their job if a breach is serious enough though 61 percent also said that the c-level executives they work with expect more lenient security policies for themselves.

Vice president and chief technical strategist at McAfee, Candace Worley offered advice on how organizations can better protect themselves from data breaches, saying:

“Threats have evolved and will continue to become even more sophisticated. Organisations need to augment security measures by implementing a culture of security and emphasising that all employees are part of an organisation’s security posture, not just the IT team. To stay ahead of threats, it is critical companies provide a holistic approach to improving security process by not only utilising an integrated security solution but also practicing good security hygiene.” 

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Pokémon Go updates: all the news and rumors for what's coming next

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:16 AM PDT

Pokémon Go: the world's first augmented reality app to become a household name. Niantic's mobile AR game is still going strong two years after it first released, with a constant drip of events and updates keeping budding trainers glued to their phones and pounding the streets.

And while it hasn't managed to top the peak of its popularity in 2016, it's still going strong and finding plenty of new ways to improve its player experience.

So what's the latest news for Pokémon Go? As you'd expect, brand new features are being added all the time and community events are still going strong.

So without further ado, here's our guide to all the latest Pokémon Go news and updates.

Pokémon Go news and Pokémon Go updates

  • What's new? Pokémon Go has released three legendary Pokémon into the game

Niantic has released the rare Legendary Lake Guardian Trio of Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie into Pokémon Go.

To date Legendaries have only appeared in Pokémon Go as special research or in Tier 5 raids

As far as we know, players have only reported one of the illusive trio per region with Azelf residing in the Americas, Uxie in Asia-Pacific and Mesprit in Europe. So unless you fancy traveling the globe, you are unlikely to catch all three.

Check out Niantic's tweet below:

When's the next Pokémon Go event?

There currently isn't an in-game event active in Pokémon Go. However, Niantic are gearing up for Pokémon Go Fest Chicago which will run from June 13 to 19, 2019. 

Check out the official Pokémon Go events page for more details.

When's the next Pokémon Go Community Day?

Pokémon Go's next Community Day takes place on May 19. The featured Pokémon for the event will be Torchic, while the bonuses for the event will be three times catch Stardust and three-hour-long lures. However, we don't know what exclusive move will be available. 

Pokémon Go update: what's next?

Niantic hasn't revealed what updates they have planned next, but we expect a summer/winter event in the coming months.

If the Spring event is anything to go by, we will be seeing seasonal content for the summer and winter events - potentially including limited time prizes?

For summer, we imagine there will be a Fire-type event (because it's warm, right?) while winter is likely to see a Ice-type event. 

Pokémon Go Plus deals

Want to buy yourself a Pokémon Go Plus wearable? Check some of today's best deals down below.

(Image credits: Niantic/Pokémon Company)

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Best WordPress themes for blogs in 2019

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:00 AM PDT

If you have a passion for travel, food, gadgets, or simply enjoy ranting, you may already have discovered the benefits of blogging. Recording your forays into food or experimentation with radical communists allows you to share your news and views with the internet community.

WordPress has thousands of templates to help you get started. In this guide, you’ll explore five of the very best themes specifically for hobbyists and bloggers. Some of these such as ‘Writing’ also incorporate SEO features meaning people searching online will be more likely to stumble across your blog.

If you’re starting on a shoe-string budget, consider using one of the free themes we’ve listed here, such as Morning Time Lite.

TheBlogger

TheBlogger is a WordPress theme suitable for storytelling and writing. It comes with a responsive design and multiple gallery features. TheBlogger also comes with a live customizer which helps you to tweak every part of your theme.

It is Retina-ready and can be optimized for tablets and smartphones. Users can try the theme before buying. They can test drive the customizer to see if it meets their needs.

There are a wide variety of widgets and sliders available to showcase your posts in image or video format.

TheBlogger comes with helpful documentation that is straightforward and easy to follow. MailChimp for WordPress is also included. This allows you to send out newletters to blog subscribers.

The theme integrates with Ninja Forms. Users can easily create and add forms with the drag and drop feature.

A regular licence costs $59 (£44.58) which includes future updates and 6-months support. Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $17.63 (£13.32).

Foodie Pro

Foodie Pro helps users to create a beautiful blog based around all sorts of culinary delights.

It is created by the Genesis Framework. This means your website will have a solid combination of this Framework along with WordPress. The theme comes with a huge amount of typography and color options.

Users can build their site using up to 3 homepage and 5 site wide widget areas. These can be customized to fit around your brand.

The theme allows users to upload their own logo with one click. There is also full support for text-based logos.

Foodie Pro’s ‘Theme Customizer’ allows users to customize the theme’s settings, colours and backgrounds images.

The ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ can be purchased for $129.95 (£98.23) for one year. This includes the Genesis Framework, Foodie Pro Theme, instant access, unlimited updates, supports, sites and access to detailed tutorials.

If this is not enough, users can avail of the ‘Pro Plus Membership’ for $499.95 (£377.81). This includes all the ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ has to offer plus access to every theme the company makes including future themes.

Soledad

Soledad was created as a website builder for all skill types. It is geared towards users who want to run blogs or create magazines.

The theme is highly customizable with multiple homepage layout models available. Users can also change the appearance of the ‘Category’, ‘Tag’, ‘Search’ and ‘Archive Layout’. 

Soledad is an SEO responsive WordPress multipurpose blog and magazine theme. It’s compatible with BBPress and BuddyPress. The theme is fully responsive and displays well on all screens.

Soledad has over 4000 real homepage demos which can be installed with just one click. There are also a number of single post templates for different stories.

The theme can be purchased for $59 (£44.58) which includes future updates and 6 months support which can be upgraded to 12-months for an extra $17.63 (£13.32).

Some online commentators have lamented the lack of a search feature when it comes to support documentation.

Morning Time

Morning Time is a highly functional WordPress theme suitable for journalists, family blogs or personal blogs.

Users can purchase the theme directly or they can test the demo the site offers. The theme is highly responsive so adapts well to tablets and smartphones.

Morning Time is fully compatible with Gutenberg. Users can create blocks to insert, rearrange and style multimedia content without needing to have a lot of technical knowledge.

Users can create and customize different aspects of their site including portfolio and Google maps amongst others.

Morning Time is compatible with WooCommerce allowing you to turn your blog into an online store if needed.

Users can make their older posts available with the ‘Blog Archive Feature’. Older posts will not disappear as you create new blogs.

Users can also download ‘Morning Time Lite’ for free or subscribe to their premium tiers.

Morning Time has two paid packages available. Users can avail of the ‘Yearly Access’ package for $87 (£65.4) per year. This includes access to all themes, child themes, PSD, HTML files, Support, updates, theme documentation and multiple site usage.

Alternatively, users can purchase the ‘Lifetime’ package for $247 (£185.6) which includes all the ‘Yearly Access’ has to offer but with a one-off payment.

Writing

Writing is the perfect theme for those trying to create a minimalist effect.

The theme uses 24 Social Share Icons along with Facebook Open Graph Tags and multiple Social Icon Widgets. It is WPML compatible. Writing can be translated into any language. RTL support is also available for Hebrew, Arabic and Japanese.

Writing is retina ready and is fully responsive making it adaptable to screens of all size and resolution.

The whole setup is easy and geared towards users of any skill level. The theme is built according to the most recent rules of Search Engines. This means using this theme will help boost your SEO results maximizing traffic to your blog.

Users can purchase Writing for $39 (£29.47) which includes future updates and 6-months support. 12-months support can be bought for a further $10.13 (£7.65).

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Uber wants to gain more users by getting people to stop using Uber

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 10:00 AM PDT

Starting April 30, Londoners will be able to view public transport information alongside fares and wait times on the Uber app, to see if taking the tube is quicker or cheaper than waiting.

The first, and perhaps only, think you’d think after hearing that news is 'Wouldn’t that result in fewer people getting Uber rides?' Public transport is often a lot cheaper than hailing an Uber, even in an expensive city like London, and if the Uber app presents its users with a choice, they’ll likely choose the cheaper option.

Uber’s pitching the function as a way to reduce car ownership, as well as clean up London’s air, but as with any corporate attempt at philanthropy, you have to take those claims with a massive pinch of salt. Instead, Uber could be playing the long game to assert its ride-hailing dominance for good.

What’s changed with Uber? 

When the London Public Transport update rolls out to Uber users across London, a new option will be available once you select a destination, which will use information from Transport for London (TfL) to tell you the best public transport route to get to where you want to be.

The app will aggregate information from buses, trains, trams, shuttles, the London underground, rail lines and even boats on the river Thames to tell you the quickest, or cheapest, way of getting to your destination. The app will also provide walking directions between stations if you need to transfer at any point.

Cars aren't the only way to get around London, and the congested roads mean they may be slow (Image credit: Uber)

The purpose of this all is to replace your car with your phone – if Uber can’t get you hailing cabs, it at least wants you to use its app for however you will travel. The company is also presenting it as an ‘eco-initiative’, so prospective Uber customers could get the bus or tube instead of getting a driver to ferry them about the city.

Of course, getting your customers to use a competing service isn’t a great business strategy, but the London Public Transport feature is likely just the first step in a longer plan by Uber.

This kind of service is already offered by Uber in Denver, in the US, but London has a population over 11 times higher, so it’s a whole new ball game when it comes to the amount of information the app is required to process.

Patching up a rocky relationship 

Over the past few years, Uber has been fighting hard to continue operations in London. It’s had to defend itself against a wave of accusations of unlawful behavior in the way it pays and manages its staff, unsafe environments for passengers in vehicles, and tough working environments for its drivers.

At times it’s looked like Uber drivers wouldn’t be able to operate in London, and while the company has managed to overturn any ban presented so far, it’s still on rocky grounds with the Mayor of London’s office and TfL.

However by encouraging users to take public transport when possible, Uber is extending an olive branch to those parties, and showing them that it’s happy to work with the city’s entities to do what’s best for the customers.

Taking the Tube might sometimes be a cheaper or faster option (Image credit: TfL)

If TfL and the Mayor’s office accept this olive branch, and tensions between the parties relax, it could be hugely beneficial for Uber – an end to, or relaxing of, the hostilities and legal proceedings could save it a lot of money and hassle.

Uber is using TfL’s live travel information as part of the update, but over 675 other apps do too, so that doesn’t point to a special relationship in any way.

In addition, while it’s certainly a valuable gesture on Uber’s part, it’s not necessarily one that could cause the ride-hailing firm much difficulty. If you’re visiting the app it’s because you already know you want to get a lift to your destination, and you’d visit others like Google Maps or CityMapper if you wanted to know which tube line to get. The potential number of lost customers is probably, in reality, pretty small.

Becoming the go-to travel app 

As well as relaxing hostilities, Uber’s addition of public transport information to its app could be part of a long game the company has begun – one to transform the Uber app from a simple ride-hailing app, into the go-to service for intra-city travel.

If Uber can get people to use its app as a way to find any kind of transport, and draw users away from Google Maps and CityMapper for these functions, it can slowly start to increase its market share, and open itself to a new audience, who typically wouldn’t hail an Uber. 

Goodbye Google Maps? (Image credit: Google)

This would increase Uber’s user base significantly, and a fair chunk of that audience would likely start using the ride-sharing part of the app if the various taxi options were presented alongside public transport choices, especially for journeys with many transfers or for customers in a rush.

Other apps work similar – Google Maps, for example, lets you explore different modes of transport for a journey including walking, driving, public transport, or hailing a cab using an app. Presumably Uber’s app will work similarly in the future, but unlike Google, Uber will make money off customers who decide to catch a cab. 

Of course, this is all speculation and guesswork – but it makes no business sense for Uber to intentionally try to cut down its user base, so the update is likely part of a larger plan the company has.

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US presidential candidates aren't using basic email security

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 09:59 AM PDT

New research has revealed that almost all of the upcoming 2020 presidential candidates in the US are falling behind when it comes to email security despite the fact that Hillary Clinton's email accounts were targeted and breached by Russian hackers just three years ago.

The email security company Agari confirmed that only the Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren is using domain-based message authentication, reporting and conformance policy or DMARC to protect her email accounts.

This email security features resides on top of the Sender Policy Framework (SKF) and the DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) security protocols which use cryptography to verify a sender's email  and can mark emails as spam or reject them if an email fails to be properly validated.

According to Agari, the other 11 candidates whose email security it investigated, including Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and presidential incumbent Donald Trump, do not use DMARC to security their campaign domains.

DMARC

By not using DMARC to secure their email accounts, Agari warned that the 2020 presidential candidates risk having their campaigns impersonated in spam campaigns and phishing attacks.

The company's Armen Najarian explained why using DMARC to secure one's email accounts has become increasingly important, saying:

“DMARC is more important than ever because if it had been implemented with the correct policy on the domain used to spearphish John Podesta, then he would have never received the targeted email attack from Russian operatives.”

There has been a slight rise in DMARC adoption by Fortune 500 companies since the beginning of this year. However, while most of the companies use DMARC, Agari said that only 16 percent of the 500 world's richest companies reject or quarantine unvalidated email. 

Via TechCrunch

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Sea of Thieves update news, DLC, patch notes and more

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 09:35 AM PDT

Swashbuckling has come back in a big way with Rare's sandbox multiplayer pirate adventure, Sea of Thieves. Since first hitting Xbox One and PC in March 2018, the developer has been working on a host of post-launch patches and free DLC – with more staff working on the title now than in the run-up to its original release – and the seafaring title continues to attract more players by offering continual improvements and additional content to the game's community.

According to Rare, within the game's first year, Sea of Thieves players collected and cashed in almost 750 million chests, skulls and items of cargo to amass a collective fortune of 642 billion gold. 

As an open-ended online service game, there's plenty more to come. To help you keep on top of what's new and what's coming up, we've put together this handy page which will be updated with all the latest announcements.

As we said in our full Sea of Thieves review:

"Sea of Thieves is still in its early days, but I think it’s off to an extremely strong start. It’s clear that the developers are willing to listen to the players, and I expect we’ll see a great many interesting additions to the game in the coming months. 

"It’s worth saying, though, that the game will need these additions – your friends can only add so much variety to a Gold Hoarders' quest before everyone grows weary. As long as Rare is willing to add to this playground, I expect players will be happy to play in it. "

Sea of Thieves update news and patch notes

  • What's new? The Sea of Thieves Anniversary Update is out now

To celebrate Sea of Thieves' one year anniversary, Rare has rolled out the game's biggest content update to date.

The Sea of Thieves Anniversary Update adds three key new features: The Arena, The Hunter's Call and Tall Tales.

The Arena is a new PvP competitive game mode that sees crews going head-to-head to collect the most loot. Meanwhile, the Hunter's Call is a new Trading Company that gives you more ways to play and progress towards Pirate Legend. 

However, arguably the most exciting new feature is Tall Tales - a collection of story-rich quests that are played out in Sea of Thieves' shared world and can be fully experienced by yourself or with your crew. The first collection of Tall Tales will be the Shores of Gold.

In addition, the latest update squashes some bugs and makes a handful of performance improvements.

Check out the Sea of Thieves Anniversary Update release notes.

In addition, Rare is treating players to a host of celebratory rewards such as new Mercenary Voyages, a new Reaper's Run Voyage, Commendations and cosmetics. There's also a special Gilded Mercenary Voyage of Legends for Pirate Legends.

Not enough for you? There's a bunch of special rewards for those who played during the first year such as Captain Bones' Original Pirate Cutlass. While any player who attained Pirate Legend status during the first year will receive a Golden Legendary Tankard, a Golden Legendary Hurdy-Gurdy, a Golden Legendary Blunderbuss and Golden Legendary ship customisations including a Sail, Hull and Figurehead.

How to play Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves is now available on PC and Xbox One. It's possible to purchase the game outright, but you can also pick up an Xbox Game Pass subscription where the entire game is included. 

If you're not sure whether Sea of Thieves is for you, picking up a Game Pass trial for free and playing the game for a short time through it is a good way to find out.

The game is not a port for PC or Xbox, it works equally on both and supports cross-play. While the console version has locked frame rates of 30fps, the PC version's are unlocked. Mouse, keyboard and controllers are all supported across console and PC. 

(Image credits: Rare Ltd.)

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PS5 games: all the games confirmed and expected on the PlayStation 5

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 09:31 AM PDT

Once upon a time the PlayStation 5 merely seemed like a gamer's dream but, now Sony has dropped the first solid details of its next generation console, things are starting to get very real.  

Despite knowing we won't be seeing a PS5 release date before mid-2020, we can't help but stargaze and speculate about what PS5 games Sony has in the works - and what these next generation titles could look like. 

While Sony has confirmed some of the games coming to the PS5, we can assume that a lot of the developer's upcoming exclusive titles will be coming to both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. 

So without further ado, we've gathered together this handy guide to all the PS5 games Sony has confirmed - and some that we expect to see...

Cyberpunk 2077

Image credit: CD Projekt Red

CD Projekt Red has already confirmed that its dystopian cyberpunk title is being developed with next generation consoles in mind. 

In an interview with VG247 last year, CD Projekt Red revealed that Cyberpunk 2077 will be able to work with future gaming technology.

“Next gen hasn’t been announced yet, so we can only speculate,” CD Projekt Red president Adam Kiciński explained. “Technology-wise, Cyberpunk is very advanced. Our technology is ready to interface with future generations.

“The game is developed in such a way that it can use very powerful future equipment."

Whether Cyberpunk 2077 will just release as a PS5 game, or be accessible on both current and next generation consoles as a cross-generation title, is still open to speculation. But we think it's safe to say it seems like Cyberpunk 2077 will be a PS5 game.

Death Stranding

Image credit: Kojima Productions

Hideo Kojima and Sony have been pretty tight-lipped about whether we will be seeing Death Stranding as a PS5 game. But in an interview with Wired, Sony's Mark Cerny hinted that we could be seeing the allusive title on both PS5 and PS4. 

When asked by Wired about the transition from PS4 to next generation, and how Death Stranding will fit into this process, Cerny gave a "pregnant pause" and a glib smile before a spokesperson interjected that game would be released for PS4. 

It's not exactly a confirmation but Cerny's response has definitely fueled speculation that Death Stranding will be a cross-generation release.

Ghost of Tsushima

Image credit: SuckerPunch

Perhaps more wishful thinking on our part, but we haven't heard much in the way of Ghost of Tsushima news since the new IP was revealed at Paris Games Week 2017. 

We do know that SuckerPunch's historical open world adventure will take players back to Feudal Japan and that development is well underway, but we have little information about when Ghost of Tsushima will release - or what consoles we will see it on.

Given the high-quality graphics we've seen in the trailers to date, we wouldn't be surprised if the title releases on both PS4 and PS5. However, Sony and SuckerPunch have remained tight-lipped about whether Ghost of Tsushima will be a PS5 game. 

The Last of Us: Part 2

Image credit: Naughty Dog

Much like Ghost of Tsushima, we know little in the way of when we will see The Last of Us: Part 2 - or whether it will release for PS5. However we think it's a safe assumption that any Sony exclusives that haven't got a solid release date yet are likely to be cross-generation releases. That's our hope for The Last of Us: Part 2 anyway.

It would seem slightly odd for Sony to release one of its most eagerly anticipated sequels for just the PS4 at the end of the console's life cycle. So we think it's a safe bet to assume Joel and Ellie will make their way to the PS5, instantly becoming one of the best PS5 games.

Starfield

Image credit: Bethesda

Bethesda has quite a lot of projects in the works, but the one we seem to know the least about is Starfield. All we know so far is that Starfield is the gaming behemoth's first new IP for 25 years and will be a single player RPG set in outer space.

Having only seen an announcement trailer, we don't expect Starfield to release until at least 2020 which means it will land in the prime window to become a PS5 game. Bethesda hasn't let slip if this will be the case but it seems likely we will be venturing into Bethesda's galaxy on next generation consoles.

The Elder Scrolls 6

Image credit: Bethesda

As we said, Bethesda has been pretty busy behind the scenes since E3 2018. Not only is Starfield on the cards, but the long-awaited Elder Scrolls 6 has also been confirmed to be in the works. 

Bethesda's Todd Howard has already stated that The Elder Scrolls 6 won't be coming out until after Starfield. So it'll be a while before we venture into Tamriel again, likely on next generation consoles. 

Grand Theft Auto 6

Image credit: Rockstar Games

Ok, yes, we are being a bit hopeful here - mainly because Grand Theft Auto 6 has not been announced by Rockstar Games. But it's almost guaranteed that we will see a new instalation in the Grand Theft Auto series, and it's not going to be for a while. 

Therefore, it is likely that a release date will fall into the next generation, making GTA 6 a PS5 game.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake

Image credit: Square Enix

Again, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake has not been confirmed to be a PS5 game but Square Enix has confirmed the title will come to PS4 first - with an Xbox One and PC release likely in the future .

Given the age of the PS4, and the ambitious nature of the game, a cross-generation title with next-gen platforms isn't out of the question. So we're definitely hoping to see the Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PS5.

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Dell XPS 17 may be in the works alongside a dual screen model

Posted: 30 Apr 2019 09:20 AM PDT

Dell is apparently bringing back the bigger-screened XPS 17, as spotted in a leaked product roadmap reportedly found by Tweakers.

Dell's XPS lineup of laptops has stood out for years as a high bar for other laptops to aim at, with the XPS 13 and XPS 15 series consistently among the best laptops on the market.

Today, it's been the better part of a decade since we've seen a Dell XPS 17 laptop. Dell's focus with the XPS line has seemed to be on a blend of portability, performance and design. Of course, 17-inch laptops in the past have been among the least portable laptops, with huge screens flanked by large bezels and considerable weight.

That formula for laptop design has been changing, though, and a future Dell XPS 17 laptop could likely use Dell's InfinityEdge display style to fit a 17-inch display into the form factor of past 15-inch laptops.

More details from the leak

For the XPS 17, the product roadmap leak shows a launch in July of 2020. So, it'll be a long time before we see whether that pans out.

However the XPS 17 isn't alone in the leak. Alongside it, there's a new XPS 15 2019 model slated for a July 2019 launch, which could give us some indication of the validity of this leak. That model also appears to be listed with an 8-core Intel Coffee Lake processor (CPU). 

Two new XPS 13 models are also listed, with what seems to be a Intel Comet Lake CPU in the earlier model slated for a September launch and an Intel Ice Lake CPU in the model with a February 2019 launch.

While basic updates to the XPS 15 and XPS 13 line are reasonable to expect, including updates for the XPS 13 2-in-1, one interesting extra in the leak is mention of an XPS Dual Screen lined up for October 2020.

There are no details on what processor will power it, and there's only room for speculation at this point on what it could look like. With the productivity focus of XPS machines, a typical laptop design paired with some kind of slide-out secondary display is feasible, though a design we've really only seen in prototypes like the Razer Project Valkyrie.

The design could also be something like the Lenovo Yoga Book C930, but the idea of offering only a digital keyboard on a productivity-minded machine seems implausible. With any luck, future leaks will give us some more hints.

Via Liliputing

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