Apple : Best scanners of 2019: flatbed, document, sheet fed and photos |
- Best scanners of 2019: flatbed, document, sheet fed and photos
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: gameplay, release date, trailers and news
- Microsoft improves One Drive security with new Personal Vault feature
- Amazon launches 'Off-to-College' store ahead of Prime Day
- Best business laptops 2019: top laptops for work
- Best business tablets of 2019: top picks for productivity slates
- Best mobile workstations 2019: the most powerful laptops for businesses
- Co-founder of Alienware rumored to be joining AMD
- NordVPN adds password manager to security suite
- What Is Amazon Prime Student, and Is It Worth It?
- Security firms losing out on top tech talent
- New Zealand vs Pakistan live stream: how to watch Cricket World Cup 2019 from anywhere
- Best rugged tablets of 2019: the best drop-proof tablets you can buy
- Brexit the biggest concern for UK tech workforce
- Could Avengers be its own Marvel Game Universe?
- Best business headphones and earphones in 2019
- Xbox Project Scarlett release date, specs and games confirmed for Xbox Two
- Best home printer 2019: the top printers for home use
- Best photo printer 2019: the best printers for your digital photos
- Best free iPad apps 2019: the top titles we've tried
| Best scanners of 2019: flatbed, document, sheet fed and photos Posted: 25 Jun 2019 01:03 PM PDT Welcome to our guide to the best scanners of 2019. There are plenty of reasons why you'd want to buy a standalone scanner, rather than an all-in-one printer that offers scanning features. For a start, while all-in-ones are good scanner alternatives for home users and small businesses, they just can't compete with the best scanners for busy offices and large businesses. If you need fast, high quality scanning, then you're still going to want to buy one of the best standalone scanners on this page. However, scanners do sometimes feel slightly old fashioned, which means you may be a bit lost when it comes to buying a new one. The good news is we're here to help, and have Collected together five of the best scanners you can buy in 2019. Each device on this list is ideal for both personal and business use. You'll also find our price comparison tool on this page, and it will automatically compare prices from a number of online retailers to make sure you get the very best deals when buying a new scanner. If you’re in the market for one of the best scanners for your office or home, any of the scanners we’ve gathered up in this list will make sure you have a dependable and great-performing device.
Document scanners are all about being able to process large amounts of documents in a trustworthy, seamless and intuitive fashion, and being able to integrate the information collected in existing document management systems. You're almost certainly looking at a sheet-fed scanner rather than a flatbed one, and there are plenty of models on the market to fit most needs including, at the very high-end, devices that can scan A3 sheets and perform 30,000 scans per day. The Panasonic KV-S1027C represents an ideal middle ground in that it's fairly affordable but delivers the sort of performance you'd expect from a more expensive model. It scans up to 45 pages per minute, has a USB 3.0 port and can scan anything from embossed ID cards to passports. Add in a 100-sheet ADF, integrated ISIS/WIA/TWAIN drivers and a three-year warranty as standard and you have a pretty compelling offering.
Flatbed scanners are the only way to go should you want a versatile unit to scan photos at high resolution, and the Canoscan 9000F Mark II ticks all the right boxes. It might be three-years-old but like the scanner market in general, there hasn't been a lot of meaningful innovation in this particular arena. The 9000F offers a scanning resolution of up to 9600x9600 dpi for film/slides and a quarter of that for photo and documents, all at 48-bit. It can handle negatives and filmstrips thanks to a built-in adaptor. It doesn't require warm-up time and can also scan straight to a number of cloud-based services. It might be a tad bigger than its cousins (many of which would be using CMOS rather than CCD technology) but features like FARE (Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement) will more than make up for that.
The most important feature in a network scanner is the presence of an Ethernet port. Many high-end document scanners will have one by default since they're expected to service more than one person. The better models will offer a fast scanning speed coupled with integrated drivers, high daily duty cycles, the ability to scan to multiple destinations and a decent size document sheet feeder. The Epson Workforce DS-860N offers all this and more – there's a five-year warranty as default, and the ability to scan oversized folded documents (e.g. A3). It can scan at up to 65 pages per minute at a resolution of up to 600 dpi, with a daily duty cycle of 6,000 sheets. Two other smart features include colour enhance or colour dropout which either highlights or removes a particular colour from the scanned document.
SMBs must be flexible, and the same is true for the office equipment they use, which is why the ideal scanner for a small business may well be one that combines scanning, printing and, more often than not, faxing. Purists might not agree, but a single unit that can handle all these essential business functions is often a better option than having dedicated devices, especially if you are a one-man-band or a small team. The HP Officejet 7612 is near that sweet spot: it copies, scans and faxes, has an Ethernet port and offers Wi-Fi, scans up to A3 size (and to several destinations) and doesn't cost the Earth. Users will love the fact that it supports both Mac and Linux, and that it sports a large touchscreen control panel.
A portable scanner is all about compromises – you swap the convenience of having a large flatbed area for mobility. The best models will do duplex scanning (the ability to scan both sides of a sheet), scan more than one page at a time, offer macOS and Windows compatibility and a decent software package. Optionally, they can be battery-powered, offer Wi-Fi and the ability to scan to the cloud. The ADW-1600W from Brother fits the bill in terms of cramming features in – despite its diminutive size, this device sports an LCD touchscreen, a 20-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF), and can scan up to 18 pages per minute. It also comes with built-in TWAIN and ISIS drivers, a USB port and Wi-Fi connectivity. Surprisingly, it even supports Linux and has a clever slot allowing you to scan plastic IDs.
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| Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: gameplay, release date, trailers and news Posted: 25 Jun 2019 01:01 PM PDT Hold on to your lightsabers: there's a new Star Wars game on the way, and it's called Jedi: Fallen Order. And we've now got the first concrete details about it, thanks to E3 2019 and an extended gameplay trailer that dropped in June. In development by Respawn Entertainment (the studio behind Apex Legends and Titanfall), Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was announced during E3 2018 but we didn't get a proper look at the game until early in 2019, during a special panel at the annual Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, before EA lifted the covers completely at E3 2019. While the official reveal only gave us a glimpse at a story trailer, it was more than enough to get us hyped for the upcoming game. E3 2019 gave us a far more meaty look at the game - including some lightsaber-fueled gameplay - before the developer dropped an extended demo at the end of the month. While fans of the galactic franchise have seen official tie-ins in the form of Star Wars Battlefront I and II, the new entry takes on a different tack, focusing on a single-player experience more in line with 2008's The Force Unleashed – and we have all the concrete news and wild speculation you could want below. Cut to the chase
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order release dateEA has now confirmed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will release on November 15, 2019, just in time for Christmas and the long-awaited release of Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker. If you pre-order the Deluxe Edition ahead of the game's launch, you'll get two exclusive in-game lightsaber colors plus an exclusive hilt, in addition to skins for your droid and star ship. EA and Respawn will also include a digital art book in the Deluxe Edition and a few behind-the-scenes videos. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order trailers and storyYou'll take the role of Cal Kestis, a former Jedi padawan (AKA, a student of the Force). The game is set in the period following Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – the fateful time when the evil Emperor Palpatine executed Order 66, which saw the Jedi ambushed and killed by their own supporting Clone Trooper soldiers. Few survived and were forced into hiding. And that seems to include Cal! A youngster only partially through his training, Cal has been forced into hiding, working construction sites and trying to keep a low-profile as the Jedi-hunting Imperial Inquisition continues to track down any remaining survivors. The story trailer shows Cal having to use his Force powers to defend himself against rogue troopers, and to save a friend from falling from an accident. The trailer suggests the game will have some lavish set-pieces and environments, and hinted at a very-story-driven experience to enjoy. Check it out below: You can also watch the EA Play 2019 gameplay reveal for the game below, but note that you're going to have to jump into around the 30 minute mark to skip the build up portion, that's basically just 30 minutes of an EA logo! If you just want to see the game in-action, there's a brand-new official gameplay trailer that should provide everything you need to know about the game - including a few surprises. (Spoiler warning!) This is the same demo that journalists and attendees saw at the EA Play event. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gameplayEA Play 2019 showed us a 15 minute slice of gameplay from the game, roughly 3 hours into the game. We were shown Chewbacca's homeland Kashyyyk, where Jedi Cal is trying to kickstart the rebirth of the Jedi order. But the poor Wookies are enslaved by the Empire! So Cal has to try to help them out.
Walking through a tech-filled jungle corridor, gameplay at first doesn't look unlike Uncharted 4, with a tool that lets you swing from beams, and some wall-running ala Respawn's other game, Titanfall. Cal's pretty nimble, able to clamber up walls and climb as if he was Assassin's Creed's Ezio. He moves weightily. After meeting up with some resistance fighters, he carves his way through a door and comes across a burning refinery, using his lightsaber as a torch in the darkness. A battle ensues below and Cal needs to reach a troop of Stormtroopers , so force-pushes a tree below to make a path to them.
Here we see our first glimpse of lightsaber action. Cal can force pull and push troops, as well as throwing his lightsaber at them for a ranged attack. Combat is lock-on focussed, not unlike Dark Souls for one-on-one combat, but seems massively more forgiving. There also seems to be finishing animations that trigger when you've took a baddie to low health. Lightsaber combat, thankfully, looks weighty and measured – this will be a tactical fighting game, rather than a hack and slash, with the classic ability to slash blaster bolts back at an enemy.
Cal also seems to have the ability to focus the force and slow time, letting him take on dangerous foes, like flamethrower stormtroopers with a little more ease, as well as avoiding environmental hazards like spinning blades. One cool moment had him slow time, and force pull a stormtrooper towards him in time to use it as a human-shield against the very same blaster bolt it had fired at Cal moments earlier. The same technique can be used to halt a foe momentarily in its tracks – very Kylo Ren. So far, levels, though expansive, seem fairly linear – you're very much set along a path from one action scene to another, although the densely-designed levels prevent it from appearing too much like a series of corridors, back to back. Each scene has lots of AI interactions between NPCs, too – you'll see stormtroopers battling the native, giant-beetle-like creatures of Kashyyyk, and timing your attack against them could help to swing the odds in your favor.
Cal acquires upgrade points as he defeats enemies, and also seems to be able to complete side missions if he goes off the beaten path and explores levels in detail. C The timing of the story, set after Revenge of the Sith, also means there was a familiar face or two turning up. Rogue One's Saw Gerrera, aka actor Forest Whitaker, was present, as was a bot that looked like K2SO. You'll have to fight this one, though.
Skill points will go into your force abilities, letting you upgrade force pulls and push, double jumps and force slowing tricks. You'll get a droid, too, BD1, to help you on your way, offering the ability to hack terminals, heal your player and manage your hologram map, as well as being your buddy. You won't be able to turn to the Dark Side though – Cal's good to the core.
So far then, so good. This is a classic-era Star Wars game, giving you a taste of the most-loved period in Star Wars history. Rather than the original reveal's suggestion that Cal will be a weak newbie Jedi, he's going to be fairly advanced in his training. And, it's all cannon – these characters are going to turn up in the wider Star Wars universe. It looks visually impressive... except for the Wookies. They looked like the plastic figures from the 70s. A bit more free-flowing, walking-carpet Wookie hair please, EA! Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order news and rumorsRetail box art Here's what the Standard edition look like:
Standard Edition (Image credit: EA) And the Deluxe edition:
Deluxe Edition (Image credit: EA) EA doesn't plan to release Fallen Order on Switch You can check out Ingram's reply to a fan tweet below: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was livestreamed – check it out But luckily for fans that couldn't make the trek to the event, EA livestreamed it. Check out EA's announcement tweet below for a chance to replay it: The galaxy-wide premiere saw the head of Respawn Entertainment, Vince Zampella, and game director, Stig Asmussen (whose previous work includes God of War 3), revealing the much-anticipated details of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order toys -confirmed Development is well underway A Padawan called Cal? Confirmed It's set after Revenge of the Sith This places it after the Galactic Empire hunted the 10,000-strong Jedi Order practically to extinction, leaving only a small fraction of Jedi alive (aka Order 66). With the promise that the game will be set 'in the dark times', it sounds like our Jedi protagonist may be more the hunted than the hunter.
Star Wars: Battlefront II. (Image credit: EA) Could famous Jedi appear? The single-player mode comes first – and there will be no microtransactions It looks like a multiplayer component won't be available at all in the game – surprising given EA's focus in recent years on games that extend beyond a single play session. Even more surprising is the fact that there will be no microtransactions at all, ever, in Fallen Jedi. It's great news considering the industry falls over itself to offer chunks of games piecemeal these days – but don't be surprised if that means there will be an aggressive DLC system instead. I find your lack of faith disturbing Jedi: Fallen Order has been handed to a different studio, albeit one that's still a subsidiary of EA. But Respawn has garnered a lot of respect as the studio behind Titanfall and Titanfall 2, two critically acclaimed sci-fi action games that pit players against each other in giant mechanized suits, and which both came with strong single-player and multiplayer offerings. (Image credits: Respawn Entertainment) Keep checking back here for all the latest Jedi: Fallen Order news This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Microsoft improves One Drive security with new Personal Vault feature Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:54 PM PDT In an effort to help users protect their most important and sensitive files, Microsoft is adding a new secure storage area to OneDrive called Personal Vault. Personal Vault is a new protected area in OneDrive that users can only access with a strong authentication method or by using a second step of identity verification such as their fingerprint, face, PIN or a code sent via email or SMS. Files locked in your Personal Vault have an extra layer of security which can hep protect them if your device falls into the wrong hands or someone gains access to your account. However, this added security doesn't mean added inconvenience as all of your files stored in Personal Valut can be easily accessed via the web, on your PC or on updated iOS and Android devices (iOS 11.3 and above, Android 6.0 and above).
Personal Vault adds to OneDrive's existing security features which include file encryption at rest and in transit, suspicious activity monitoring, ransomware detection and recovery, mass file deletion notification and recovery, virus scanning on download for known threats and version history for all file types. Personal VaultMicrosoft designed Personal Vault to be easy to use and users will just have to enter a PIN or use their fingerprint, face or an email or SMS code to unlock and access their files. The new secure storage area can also be unlocked with the Microsoft Authenticator app. Users will also be able to use the OneDrive mobile app to scan documents, take pictures or shoot video directly into their Personal Vault. This can be particularly useful when you want to capture something too sensitive to remain accessible in your device's camera roll. Personal Vault even automatically relocks on your PC, smartphone or online after a short period of inactivity. Once it has locked, any files you were using will also be locked and will require reauthentication to access. The new feature will begin rolling out soon to users in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, though Microsoft expects Personal Vault to be available to all OneDrive users by the end of the year.
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| Amazon launches 'Off-to-College' store ahead of Prime Day Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:53 PM PDT
June is turning out to be a busy month for Amazon. Not only are we weeks away from the start of Amazon Prime Day 2019, but we're also in the early stages of back-to-school season. Yes, even though many students are still in school, back-to-school season usually kicks off mid-to-late June. For that reason, Amazon today launched an Off to College store with deals on all things dorm- and college-related. Naturally, it helps if you have a Prime Student account. A Prime Student account gives you many of the same perks that a traditional Prime membership includes, but at half the cost. Moreover, students get a free 6-month trial membership instead of just 30 days. After your 6-month trial is up, students just pay $59/year for Prime Student. Amazon regularly offers exclusive deals for its Prime Student members. In the past, they've taken $15 off orders of $40 or more and even offered its current-gen Echo Dot for as little as $5. So far, the best deal we see in Amazon's Off to College store is 60% off on Logitech devices. (This sale is actually available to everyone and not just Prime Student members). However, Amazon has teased some upcoming deals for the summer. They include: We expect the hub to offer better deals as the summer progresses and as back-to-school sales take off. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best business laptops 2019: top laptops for work Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:48 PM PDT This list of the best business laptops of can help you find your next work laptop. The best business laptops on this page all combine the latest hardware with productivity features – while also offering slimline designs and long battery lives. The best business laptops need those long battery lives to keep you productive while out and about. No matter how powerful a laptop is, it's no good as a business device if the battery runs out after a few measly hours. You don't want to be in the middle of a meeting and have your laptop die on you. Day-long battery lives provide mobility and productivity - essential functions for the modern workplace. While compiling this list of the best business laptops, we've taken into consideration a number of key factors including power, battery life, feature set and sheer value for money. This means that we've selected a wider range of laptops to suit most (if not all) budgets and hopefully all tastes; there's a mix of cutting-edge products and old favourites here. Almost all of them come with the professional version of Windows 10 to enhance their business credentials. We also have our very own price comparison tool that will compare prices and make sure you're buying the very best business laptop for the very best price. If you're looking for a bit more power, then check out our list of the best mobile workstations, as well as our pick for the best business desktop PC.
Where to buy business laptops
Previous versions of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon have been the absolute best-in-class when it comes to business laptops, and this year's model is no exception, with Lenovo delivering a thinner and smaller design with practically no trade-offs. Despite its small size, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon comes with pretty much every feature you need in a productivity machine, making it the best business laptop money can buy. Thanks to a battery life of up to 15.5 hours, and a rapid charging feature that brings the battery back up to 80% capacity in only an hours, the X1 Carbon is an ultrabook that lets you keep on working while you're on the move.
Huawei may not be the first name you think of when looking to buy a new business laptop - whereas Dell and Lenovo are two names you'd more likely associate with notebooks for work, but the Chinese company has proved to be an excellent laptop manufacturer with its new MateBook X Pro. It has a beautiful design that will get appreciative looks in the boardroom, it's light enough to carry around with you, and it has powerful components and excellent battery life. It's also one of the cheaper ultrabooks on the market.
Believe it or not, Dell classifies the XPS 13 as a business laptop, albeit one that is geared towards a home office environment but businessmen (and women) will love the design. This ultraportable laptop – as Dell puts it – punches above its weight with Windows 10 Pro across the entire range as well as rather attractive pricing. This award winning laptop (it won best laptop of the year from us and many others) manages to pack a 13.3-inch display into the chassis of an average 11.6-inch model. It was also refreshed in 2018 with even better components, for a much improved business laptop experience. The laptop can be upgraded to 16GB of RAM and a 1TB M2 SSD drive. Battery life is exceptional as well with almost 22 hours of continual use when using productivity applications. In 2019, Dell has once again given the Dell XPS 13 a boost when it comes to components, and the webcam is now placed above the screen for better video calls, which helps make the Dell XPS 13 2019 once again one of the best business laptops money can buy.
The 2018 model of the 13-inch Macbook Pro with Touch Bar is a brilliant upgrade to Apple's formidable laptop range, and it's one of the best business laptops money can buy. While Microsoft had the performance edge over last year's MacBook Pro, with the Surface Book 2, Apple has come out swinging with some seriously beefed up specs for the 13-inch MacBook Pro 2018. The 13-inch model can be configured with the latest Intel Core processors, all USB-C ports are not Thunderbolt 3, and you can have up to 16GB of RAM. If you want even more performance, the 15-inch version is worth considering, as it bumps the specs up even more.
The Lenovo Yoga C630 is hands-down the best Snapdragon-powered laptop ever made. Unlike other Windows laptops that run on Intel or AMD hardware, the Lenovo Yoga C630 runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 850 SoC. This is usually found in flagship smartphones, and it allows the Lenovo Yoga C630 to have some of the best smartphone features – but in a laptop. So, you get instant-on startup times and 4G connectivity. This makes it one of the best business laptops because it means you don't have to rely on Wi-Fi. You can be out almost anywhere, and as long as you have a 4G SIM installed, you can access the internet quickly and securely. The Lenovo Yoga C630 is also always connected, which means even when it is not being used, it's still connected to the internet. So, when you next turn it on, all your emails, messages and notifications will be there waiting for you. Best of all, it's got a phenomenal battery life of almost 24 hours. That means it can go several work days on a single charge. The only problem is that because it doesn't run on traditional hardware, not all applications are compatible. Hopefully that will change in the future, but if your business relies on a certain program, make sure it runs on Snapdragon or ARM hardware before you buy.
Lenovo took an existing form factor and refined it to deliver the new 2016-2017 ThinkPad E470. Powered by the 7th generation Intel Core processors, this particular SKU has a 14-inch FHD anti-glare display, powered by a discrete Nvidia Geforce 940MX 2GB GPU. Equipped with a spill resistant keyboard, a TrackPoint and a 3+2 buttons click pad, the E470 has more than enough ports and expansion capabilities to keep the average user happy. Shame that it doesn't do DisplayPort, so no 4K output.
We’ve been waiting years for a new MacBook Air, and it’s finally here. Now thinner, lighter and with a Retina display for the first time, it’s easily the best MacBook Air we’ve ever used, and it makes it one of the best business laptops in the world as well, thanks to its thin and light design, improved hardware for better performance (including 8th-generation processors, more RAM and faster SSDs) and affordable price. We just wish that these were full-fat U-series quad core chips, rather than the Y-series dual-core fanless processors. Still, this means that you’re going to easily get all-day battery out of this thing, which makes it one of the best Macs for travel. Read the full review: MacBook Air 2018
Last year’s Dell XPS 15 was already one of the best laptops you could buy, but now that Dell has taken the beautiful redesign of the Dell XPS 13 and applied it here – while also making it a convertible. This makes it easily one of the best business laptops money can buy in 2018. It looks fantastic, feels great to use and it packs one of those new Intel Kaby Lake G-series CPUs featuring ‘discrete-class’ Radeon graphics. This means that this laptop packs serious power – even if it can get a little loud. Read the full review: Dell XPS 15 2-in-1
The Surface Book 2 (13.5-inch) is another entry from Microsoft in our best business laptop list, and it's worthy of its spot, as Microsoft has crafted one of the most powerful 2-in-1 laptops in the world. The Surface Book 2 has some powerful enough components to handle most day-to-day tasks, and even some light gaming and video editing if you go for a model with a dedicated graphics card. If you want a bigger screen, then there is also a 15-inch version of the Surface Book 2, which comes with more powerful components. Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Book 2 (13.5-inch)
Chromebooks might not be the most obvious devices for business laptops, but the Asus Chromebook Flip proves that they can be excellent work tools. It comes with a full-fat Intel Core processor, full HD 1080p display and backlit keyboard. ChromeOS is now a more robust operating system with plenty of tools, and if you rely on web-based CMS or Google Docs to do your work, then the Asus Chromebook Flip is an affordable, well built and handy business laptop. Check out our laptop buying guide video below.
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| Best business tablets of 2019: top picks for productivity slates Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:31 PM PDT Welcome to our best business tablet roundup for 2019. We're well into the new year, and there's plenty of brilliant tablets that will help keep you productive on the go, without having to lug around one of the best laptops. While you might not think of tablets as an essential tool for your business needs, the best Android and Apple tablets for business use have a huge range of productivity apps that can be installed on them. Plus, let's not forget about the best Windows tablets either, as they’ll let you run any app or program you’d typically find on a traditional laptop. Add a Bluetooth keyboard, and you’ll be able to work comfortably on the best business tablets for hours on end. For the sake of clarity, we’ll only look at pure tablets, and detachables when it comes to convertibles. The best 2-in-1 laptops are too close to traditional laptops, as their keyboard can’t be totally detached.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro lineup is often found at the top of our list for best business tablets, and the latest version – the Surface Pro 6 – is no different. This takes what we've loved from previous versions and refined it. So, it's not a revolutionary new tablet that does everything new, but a solid business tablet that does everything right. So, it's got that gorgeous design and build quality, plus a new black color option, plus some of the latest mobile tech crammed into its body. However, once again it doesn't include the Type Cover for turning it into a laptop-like device, nor the Surface Pen stylus, which is a bit mean considering the price. Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Pro 6
The iPad Pro 12.9 (2018) is the best business tablet if you want a large, vibrant screen, thanks to its huge 12.9-inch display and 2048 x 2732 resolution. It's a simply stunning tablet to look at and use, and it's ideal for creatives, as its large touchscreen makes for a fantastic canvas. It's got the power to back it up as well, with some of Apple's most powerful hardware inside. With its unrivaled processing power, massive display, snappy operating system, and the fact you can use it with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, it's definitely a tablet you should consider for your business. The only issue is that it's expensive. Very expensive. Read our full review: iPad Pro 12.9 (2018)
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet is probably one of the best designed convertible devices on the market, and one where engineers clearly had a great time building a slate that crams in so many features that it's hard to believe that the X1 is so thin and portable. It bears all the hallmarks of a signature ThinkPad device: the finish, the red colour scheme, the Trackpoint, the shape of the Accutype keys, everything down to the ThinkPad logo at the back. Aficionados will love it while others might balk at the price – this is vintage ThinkPad at its finest. Read the full review: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet
A higher resolution screen, a thinner design and a move to Intel's more powerful Skylake processors all help to make this portable tablet a capable replacement for your laptop. Sadly, the Type Cover keyboard is still optional, but in reality it's a necessity for this laptop replacement; come on Microsoft, bundle it already. The good news with the Type Cover in this fourth iteration of the Surface Pro is that it’s much improved this time around. Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Pro 4
Lenovo shows it is just as good at making 2-in-1 devices that are excellent business tablets with the Lenovo Miix 510, a follow up to the Miix 700 (yes, we know, confusing) with a new latest-gen Kaby Lake version of the Core i5 and a strong central pairing of 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. It comes with a detachable keyboard and costs a lot less than Microsoft's Surface Pro line of business tablets, and for the most part it offers similar functionality. This is definitely a business tablet worth considering if your budget doesn't stretch to a Microsoft (or Apple) device. Read the full review: Lenovo Miix 510
If you're looking for the best budget business tablet, then the Microsoft Surface Go should definitely be considered. It's thin, light, portable and elegant without sacrificing the ability to get some work done, and Microsoft has packed in everything they could in a device at a low price point. If you're often working while travelling, then it's a brilliant choice, thanks to its slimline design and reliable build quality that we've come to expect from Microsoft's Surface products. Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Go
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 is one of the best Android tablets you can buy right now, and it proves that you don't need a tablet that runs Windows to be one of the best business tablets money can buy. It's stuffed full of power, has an excellent display and features an iPad-Pro rivaling S-Pen stylus and optional keyboard. The price tag could be a stumbling block, but if you're looking for the best Android has to offer in tablet form the Galaxy Tab S3 is the slate for you. Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy Tab S3
If you want the versatility that the Surface Pro offers, but don’t want to pay the exorbitant price that a competent model asks, you might want to check out the Acer Switch 5. You’ll lose a bit in screen resolution and sound quality, but you’re saving hundreds of dollars. The Acer Switch 5 is one of the best business tablets for any professional who need to get work done on the go, and save some cash at the same time. Read the full review: Acer Switch 5
Asus threw down the gauntlet to Microsoft with the launch of the Transformer 3 Pro. The device, which is the only tablet we know of that comes with 16GB of RAM as standard, easily surpasses the Surface Pro 4 in terms of sheer value for money although Microsoft's flagship tablet remains the better known (and probably more trusted) of the two. Other than the standard keyboard, the Transformer also has a docking station, a stylus and even a trusted platform module (TPM) for improved security within an enterprise setting. Read the full review: Asus Transformer 3 Pro
Just like the rest of the competition, HP took inspiration from Microsoft's playbook when building the Elite x2 1012, which clearly targets the business market. Like Fujitsu, HP made sure that its product was designed with enterprise users in mind. It is sturdy, undergoing a 12-point stress test, is very easy to upgrade and comes with a number of security features. There's an active pen and a keyboard, and our reviewer said that typing on the latter was "as comfortable as it is on a real notebook". Not everything about the design is perfect - such as the hinge - but overall this is a tempter with a great keyboard and screen. Read the full review: HP Elite x2 1012 G1 Chuong Nguyen, John McCann, Matt Hanson and Henry Casey also contributed to this article This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best mobile workstations 2019: the most powerful laptops for businesses Posted: 25 Jun 2019 12:17 PM PDT If you're looking for the best mobile workstations of 2019, then you've come to the right place. In this article, we've picked the best, most powerful, business laptops in the world. Before we begin, though, what is a mobile workstation? Basically, the best mobile workstations combine the portability of a laptop with the raw power of a desktop PC. These aren't just the best business laptops, however, as they are capable of handling intensive tasks, such as video editing and rendering, while away from the office. Modern technology has allowed laptops to become ever more powerful, while keeping the same thin and portable designs. In fact, many of the best mobile workstations of 2019 are thinner and lighter than many standard laptops. This level of performance in a mobile workstation does come at a cost, however, as the parts they use, build quality and the level of after-sales services mean that these are an investment that can be expensive. That's why it's so important to choose the best mobile workstation for your needs. You need to have something that's not only a solid and dependable workhorse today, but something that's futureproof and can help you with your work for years to come. Thanks to our price comparison tool, we can help take the sting out of the price tag by helping you find the very best prices for these excellent mobile workstations. So, read on for our list of the best mobile workstations money can buy in 2019.
If you'd prefer a Best Desktop Workstation roundup or, if you're interested in a business laptop that isn't necessarily a workstation, we've got you covered. Because mobile workstations are so specialist - and come with such a high price tag - finding one that suits your business needs is important, and we're here to help with this list of the best mobile workstations in 2018.
Apple's most powerful laptop ever is also the best workstation laptop in 2018. It comes with the innovative Touch Bar that makes certain tasks much easier, but it's the powerful innards that really impress us with this mobile workstation. It features up to 32GB of RAM and a super-fast solid state hard drive, and comes with Intel's latest and most powerful processors. You can configure the MacBook Pro 2018 to match your needs and budget, and it all comes in Apple's trademark gorgeous design. If you're looking for the best mobile workstation that combines design and power, then this is a brilliant choice. As long as you have the budget. Read the full review: MacBook Pro (15-inch, mid-2018) review
Not only is the Razer Blade one of the best gaming laptops money can buy, it is also an excellent desktop replacement and mobile workstation for non-gamers, thanks to its excellent array of features and powerful components. It’s thin, powerful and includes some of the latest hardware money can buy. Read the full review: Razer Blade review
HP's mobile workstation Ultrabook has already reached its third generation but the last one is still very much a best-in-class especially when it comes to sheer value for money. It is one of the cheapest workstations on the market to offer a professional dedicated graphics card, and the most affordable business laptop to come with a whopping half-decade warranty. HP opted for a 14-inch diagonal which may well hit a sweet spot for some. Read the full review: HP ZBook 14 G2
HP calls it the perfect combination of brains and beauty and it is kind of hard to disagree. The G3 is essentially a mobile workstation that has been squeezed in an Ultrabook form factor. A 4K monitor adorns it and there's plenty of oomph under the hood. It is actually the only device known to us that comes with a Xeon CPU. Add in extensive ISV certification, a super-long warranty and MLD-STD 810G certification and you have a very attractive candidate. Read the full review: HP ZBook Studio G3
Despite being just over 10mm thick and weighing just over 1.16Kg, the HP Spectre Pro 13 G1 manages to pack a proper Core i7 CPU with a full HD 13.3-inch display, a massive 4-cell 38Whr battery and three USB Type C connectors. This makes it a formidable mobile workstation that offers plenty of power for even the most demanding of tasks. If you want a laptop that offers similar performance to your work desktop PC, then this brilliant machine is definitely worth considering. Its 3 Year Next Business Day onsite warranty also means if something goes wrong with the device, you can quickly get it fixed without missing out on work.
Lenovo hails this model as the world's first multi-mode workstation, one that manages to combine power and creativity thanks to a 360-degree hinge that has, to some extent, set the standard when it comes to convertible or 2-in-1 designs. What's more, it is one of the very rare laptops to come with built-in Wacom Active ES pen technology, capable of delivering 2048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition.
As with most of Dell's laptops you can configure the Precision 7720 to meet your needs, which makes it one of the best workstation laptops in the world. By boosting the processor, screen and GPU of this laptop (compared to its base model) you'll get an excellent laptop for heavy-duty work. The 17-inch screen (which can be upgraded to 4K), is brilliant for photo and video editing, but it does mean that it's a bit larger and heavier than other machines in this list. It's also pricey, especially if you configure it with the latest components, but it remains a brilliant
The ThinkPad T-series is a no-nonsense design with a focus on robustness over style. Even so, the T460s' 18.8mm thickness is within 1mm of the MacBook, and it's actually lighter at 1.4kg. It's not as powerful as some of the workstation laptops in this list, but it's not as expensive either, which makes it a great choice if you're looking for an accomplished workstation laptop for less hardcore workloads, while also keeping to a budget. Read the full review: Lenovo ThinkPad T460s
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| Co-founder of Alienware rumored to be joining AMD Posted: 25 Jun 2019 11:48 AM PDT The co-founder of Alienware has left the the gaming PC company, and rumors suggest he’s taking charge of gaming at one of the biggest chip makers, AMD. After nearly 22 years with Alienware, Frank Azor said his goodbyes in an AlienwareArena post, reminiscing on the memories of helping to create the tentpole gaming PC manufacturer. Later, on Twitter, Azor said he’d be “taking a new opportunity to grow the gaming industry”.
But, where is Frank Azor going? Well, he might end up at AMD as Chief Gaming Officer, according to a rumor from Wccftech. Now, we don't know what that title means – or even if it's real – but because Frank Azor helped create one the brand behind some of the most iconic gaming PCs in the world, it doesn't seem unfeasible. We're not sure what to believe, but it would be yet another step in AMD's continued focus on gaming – as its chips are being used in both Xbox Project Scarlett and the PS5, not to mention streaming services like Google Stadia. Either way, if Frank Azor does indeed join AMD, we're interested to see what he does from within Team Red. Who knows, maybe he'll work on the next generation of AMD Navi?
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| NordVPN adds password manager to security suite Posted: 25 Jun 2019 11:44 AM PDT As part of its ongoing efforts to protect its users security, NordVPN has announced that it is creating a new generation password manager called NordPass. NordPass will boast a full range of features to help ensure that passwords are as secure as possible alongside an easy-to-use interface that makes staying secure effortless. CMO at NordVPN, Marty P. Kamden explained why the company decided to create its own password manager, saying: “We can secure your connections with NordVPN and we can secure your files with NordLocker, but you still need a strong password for both. Passwords are the front line for your online account security. That’s why we’re introducing NordPass. It all started when we were looking for a safer and more productive way to deal with passwords within our company. In the end, this initiative has grown into something pretty exciting, which we decided to expand beyond the bounds of our company.”
NordPassNordPass will be able to remember and autosave all passwords, autofill online forms and the new password manager also allows users to save private notes. The new tool will even generate strong passwords on the spot to help eliminate credential reuse. NordVPN's password manager will support all major operating systems through native mobile and desktop apps as well as through browser extensions. NordPass uses powerful Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256-GCM) encryption with the virtually unbreakable Argon2 for key derivation. The new tool will also have zero-knowledge encryption process to ensure ultimate security according to Kamden, who added: “Zero-knowledge encryption means you own the key to your passwords. By the time your data reaches our servers, it's already encrypted on your device, which means we have zero knowledge about the items saved in your vault. We couldn’t see your passwords even if we wanted to. And these are only the essential features that come with the first version of NordPass. We’re very eager to expand its capabilities in the near future.” NordPass is currently undergoing internal stress-tests but NordVPN expects the first beta version to be released this fall.
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| What Is Amazon Prime Student, and Is It Worth It? Posted: 25 Jun 2019 11:04 AM PDT
Amazon Student gives college students access to free 2-day shipping and a variety of other Amazon-specific services at half the price of the company's traditional Prime membership. It also gives students access to exclusive deals on Amazon Prime Day and access to Amazon's just launched Off-to-College store. It's handy if you frequently buy from Amazon and use, or are interested in using, its other online services.
Even though Amazon raised the annual cost to $59 last year (monthly membership also jumped to $6.49), the service is still indispensable. Plus, students get a free six-month trial, which is substantially longer than the 30-day trial standard Prime members receive. Here's a break down of Amazon Student's main features. Q.: What is Amazon Prime? A.: Amazon Prime is an annual subscription program that provides several benefits for members. Subscribers are eligible for free two-day (and, in some cases, one-day) shipping on most items and other delivery perks. Members also get unlimited streaming video and music, as well as special offers on other digital media. (For all of the details on Prime, see our complete Amazon Prime FAQ.) Prime benefits include the following:
Q.: What is Amazon Student? A.: Amazon Student offers the same benefits as regular Amazon Prime ($99 per year), at a discount. It is available to students enrolled in at least one class in a college or university in the United States (including Puerto Rico as well as online universities). A.: Amazon Student costs $59 per year or $6.49 per month, after a free (limited) six-month trial period. Verified students (you have to have an .edu email address) are eligible for four years or until graduation — whichever comes first. After that, the membership will auto-renew itself at $119 per year. Students must pay tax on the membership if they live in Arizona, California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia or Wisconsin. A.: Amazon Student has a referral program that pays $5 to both the student being referred and the student who refers them. Amazon has requirements for how you deliver the invite to a fellow student, by sharing a link on social media or by using Amazon's email form to send the invite. A.: Amazon Households allows two adults to share membership benefits. So it could be an option for student roommates, but it saves only one extra dollar over Amazon Student. Alternatively, you can opt for the $6.49/month plan and cancel it the months you don't plan to use it. A.: Most items that Amazon sells directly or through "qualified sellers" are eligible for free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime. Some of those products are also eligible for free one-day shipping. Oversize items, such as heavy furniture or larger TVs, get free standard shipping. Items sold through third parties (via Amazon Marketplace) are ineligible for Prime shipping discounts. A.: You can't share your membership with others in your household, as you can with a standard Prime subscription. Though Prime Photos and discounts on new video game releases are included in the six-month free trial period, students do not have access to Amazon's Prime Music, Prime Instant Video or Kindle Lending Library. A.: You can sign up for a full Prime paid subscription at any time; you don't have to wait for the six-month trial to end. A.: You may not need Amazon Prime for the free shipping benefits. Purchases that exceed $35 already get free delivery. As far as the additional benefit of streaming services goes, if you are happy with other streaming video or music services you already subscribe to (such as Hulu, Netflix, Apple Music or Spotify), Amazon's media offerings may not provide you with anything new. (Check Amazon Prime's video and music listings to see.) The same is true if you don't read e-books, or if you use another reader, such as Apple iBooks or Google Play Books. A.: If you don't have an Amazon account, start by setting one up here. It's free, but you will have to register a credit card so that Amazon has a way to charge you for purchases. You'll also have to verify that you are a student. A college-issued email address ending in .edu qualifies you. (It's just for receiving a confirmation email from Amazon and doesn't have to be the address you use for your Amazon account.) Otherwise, you'll have to email Amazon a scan of a document proving you are a student, such as a transcript or a student ID. Amazon.com explains the details. If, during the trial period, you decide that Amazon Student isn't worth paying for, go to your account (before the trial period ends), select Manage Prime Membership and click Do Not Continue. In the meantime, here are some current Student coupons you can take advantage of via membership. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Security firms losing out on top tech talent Posted: 25 Jun 2019 10:39 AM PDT Just as businesses fight to attract and retain top talent, so to do cybercriminals and new research from Symantec has revealed that almost half (48%) of cybersecurity leaders in France, Germany and the UK believe their teams are falling behind in the skills race against would-be cybercriminals. The cybersecurity firm surveyed 3,045 decision makers across all three countries to compile its High Alert Tackling Cyber Security Overload in 2019 report which was conducted by Dr. Chris Brauer and his team at Goldsmiths, University of London. The findings reveal that the skills gap is putting increased pressure on an already overloaded profession with nearly two thirds of cybersecurity professionals considering quitting their jobs (64%) or leaving the industry entirely (63%).
EMEA CTO at Symantec, Darren Thomson provided further insight on how the growing skills gap is leaving businesses at risk, saying: “It is disturbing enough to know the barbarians are at the gate, without knowing the people attempting to defend you are outgunned and burned out. Yet, this is exactly what this new data reveals. It is hard to overstate the threat posed by an enemy that is learning faster than you are. If organisations value the security of their data and their finances, they must heed this warning and make strategic investments to address this emerging skills gap.” Skills gapOf those surveyed, just under half (44% total, 38% in the UK) of cybersecurity professionals say their teams lack the necessary skills to combat the threats faced by their organizations with over a third (37% total, 23% in the UK) reporting that their teams are simply not able to manage the sheer scale of their current workloads. DR. Steve Purser, head of core operations for ENISA and a former financial sector CISO highlighted the risk of burnout in the cybersecurity industry, saying: “I see a huge risk of burnout in today’s industry. Many people are operating at their limit. When you look at the hours on top of the day job, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that it’s going to take its toll.” As cybersecurity teams struggle to keep pace with cybercriminals and the speed of technological change continues to accelerate, the cybersecurity talent gap will only grow larger as organizations' defenses grow weaker. According to Symantec's study, 46 percent (39%in the UK) of cybersecurity professionals report their teams are too busy to keep up with necessary skill development, 45 percent (37% in the UK) say technological change is happening too quickly for them and their teams to adapt and almost half (48% total, 46% in the UK) say attackers now have 'unprecedented' resources and support from bad actors such as organized crime and state-sponsored hackers.
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| New Zealand vs Pakistan live stream: how to watch Cricket World Cup 2019 from anywhere Posted: 25 Jun 2019 10:29 AM PDT While a win today would just about seal a semi-final spot for Kane Williamson's table-topping New Zealand, anything less than victory for Pakistan today will end their 2019 Cricket World Cup journey. It's all up fro grabs and you can get a New Zealand vs Pakistan live stream from anywhere on Earth by following this handy guide. Pakistan have really lived up to their completely unpredictable reputation, flitting between glorious victories against England and South Africa, to humbling defeats against Australia and historic rivals India. They lead New Zealand in World Cup head-to-heads, having won six out of the eight games played, however New Zealand have won the last two showdowns. Pakistan handled the pressure well in their last 'must-win' game against South Africa, and genuinely look rejuvenated coming in to today's game. The moist pitch pitch should also suit Pakistan's bowlers, so expect their four spinners to have. big say in today's outcome. New Zealand have an unwanted reputation of falling away after making great starts at Cricket World Cups, and will be hoping not to repeat their infamous 1992 capitulation against Pakistan. You’ll be able to watch all the action with ease from anywhere in the world if you follow our New Zealand vs Pakistan live stream guide below. Sorry New Zealand fans, but Pakistan have the early advantage by having this one free to watch at home.
Watch a Cricket World Cup 2019 live stream from outside your countryIf you're in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, US or India and looking to find out how to watch the match, we've got all the details about the broadcaster in your region below. If you're away from home country and looking to tune in you'll likely to find you won't be able to thanks to geo-blocking. Thankfully there's a way to alleviate that frustration. By using a VPN you'll be able to watch the game safely without having to take a chance on an illegal feed from a website that's likely infested with malware.
How to watch the cricket in Pakistan for FREE
How to live stream today's Cricket World Cup game in New Zealand
How to watch a live stream of New Zealand vs Pakistan in Australia
How to stream 2019 Cricket World Cup online in India
How to stream New Zealand vs Pakistan live in the UK
How to watch New Zealand vs Pakistan: US live stream
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| Best rugged tablets of 2019: the best drop-proof tablets you can buy Posted: 25 Jun 2019 09:45 AM PDT Welcome to our pick of the best rugged tablets money can buy in 2019. If you often work outside or in busy environments, a rugged tablet is the ideal tool. These powerful handheld devices are built to withstand knocks and drops, as well as extreme temperatures. The best rugged tablets have been built to withstand the elements, with the latest shock-absorbing technology built in. They have also been put through rigorous testing to make sure that they will endure all sorts of punishment. This does mean that they come with a slightly higher initial outlay compared to standard tablets, but it's worth remembering that they can save money in the long one, as you don't need to repair or replace damaged rugged tablets as often – if at all. While you won't get a rugged tablet that's as slim and light as the iPad Air 2, it doesn't mean you should have to lug around a chunky and unwieldy tablet either. So, to help you find the best rugged tablet, we've put together this list, which gather the top shock and drop-proof tablets on the market today.
If you're working outside, then the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 is easily one of the best rugged tablets on the market today. This is thanks not only to its tough design that is shock resistant to to drops of up ton 180cm, but also because the display has been designed to be used outdoors in bright sunlight - so you'll still be able to use the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 no matter how bright your surroundings are. The screen supports 10-finger multi-touch, it runs on Windows 10 Pro, it's water and dust resistant and comes with a configuration port for a variety of expansions (serial, LAN, 2D Barcode Reader, NFC).
If you're looking for a rugged Windows tablet that can withstand an impressive amount of punishment, then the Getac F110 is an excellent choice. Its durable body can withstand moisture, extreme temperatures and drops, without it being bulky or heavy. It is certified to MIL-STD 810G, 1P65 and MIL-STD-461F standards. The most recent version of this tablet comes with 6th generation Intel Core processors, so there's plenty of power here, and a dual battery system means you can easily swap them out without having to pause.
Dell is another well-known brand that produces rugged tablets. The Dell Latitude 7212 Rugged Extreme Tablet is one such device, and Dell has recently updated the model with more up-to-date components,including 7th generation Intel Core processors (though we'd like to see 8th generation chips included soon). For your money you get an excellently-built tablet that has IP65, MIL-STD-810G and IP-810G certifications (rather than merely meeting the standards in laboratory tests). Dell's customary high build quality is evident here, and while it isn't the most glamorous looking tablet, it does the job of withstanding harsh conditions, and accidental drops. It's quite an expensive tablet, but with improved components, and a range of specifications that you configure to better suit your needs, the Dell Latitude 7212 Rugged Extreme Tablet is well worth the price.
The HP ElitePad 1000 is a fantastic business laptop, and it can be configured to come in a rugged design that is IP65 and MIL-STD 810G tested. It can withstand a 6ft drop onto linoleum-covered concrete. It features an Intel Atom processor, which isn't the most powerful CPU, but it's still capable of handling most business applications. Biometric security keeps your important data safe, and HP also offers a range of accessories, such as docking stations and additional batteries.
The Panasonic Toughbook CF-33 is a 2-in-1 rugged device, which means it has an attachable keyboard that allow it to work as either a laptop or as a tablet. When in tablet mode, the Toughbook CF-33 is an excellent durable machine , with MIL-STD-461F, MIL-STD-810G and IP65 certification, which means it can survive shocks, drops liquids and dust. The battery life is a bit on the short side compared to other rugged tablets on this list, but you can quickly swap out the battery when you need extra time. You can also buy extended batteries that double the run time from 10 hours to 20. This is an additional cost, however.
Unlike other rugged tablets on this list, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 2 isn't designed for industrial-grade protection. However, what it does provide is IP67 certification for dust and water ingress, and a battery that lasts between eight to 10 hours. Plus, it supports replaceable batteries, so you can keep on working even if you're away from a power supply, and it's drop-tested to 1.2 metres. A decent camera and NFC technology are included, and it's rounded off with Samsung's customary excellent build quality. The newer Galaxy Tab Active 2 improves on a lot of the features of the first Tab Active, with more RAM, better CPU and much more.
This 10.1-inch Android tablet can withstand drops up to five feet, as well as being water and dust resistant. While it's bulkier and heavier than non-rugged tablets, it's still portable enough to be easily carried around worksites. Its screen isn't the highest resolution, but with a 500 Nit backlight, it is excellent for use in direct sunlight. It's not the most powerful tablet on this list, but it's a more affordable alternative for people who want to use an Android device outside and on the road.
The Getac Z710 is a handy rugged tablet that does pretty much everything you'd want from an Android tablet, while coming in a rugged body. Design-wise the Getac Z710 is one of the better looking rugged tablets we've seen, and it comes with a number of business-orientated features that make it an excellent choice for enterprise use. The 7-inch screen is crisp and responsive to touch, but it does have a habit of showing off glare in direct lights. It has been tested for drops up to six foot, and is MIL-STD-810G certified, while Corning Gorilla glass protects the screen from shattering. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Brexit the biggest concern for UK tech workforce Posted: 25 Jun 2019 09:43 AM PDT As the UK tech industry continues to flourish, new research from CWJobs has revealed that the impact of Brexit is the biggest concern for IT professionals. In its new CWJobs Confidence Index report, the company behind the UK tech job board looked into the current state of the industry to find that despite 89 percent of respondents having a positive outlook, over a third (38%) list today's political landscape as their biggest concern for the industry, ahead of the economy (27%) and losing talent abroad (26%). Despite these concerns, IT professionals in the UK are currently in a strong position as a result of the skill set the industry has on hand (35%), the technology being produced (34%) and the country's status as an IT leader (29%).
Confidence in the UK's tech industry among respondents was also reflected in their salary expectations with 74 percent expecting an increase in pay during the next five years. Brexit concernsConfidence in the development of the tech industry going forward is a bit lower with one in five respondents (18%) revealing they are not confident about the years ahead, compared to just over one in 10 (11%) who have reservations about the current state of the tech industry in the UK. Director at CWJobs, Dominic Harvey explained that organizations need to do more to attract and retain talent amid growing political uncertainty, saying: “The UK’s tech workforce is clearly in a good place, with confidence high in the skills it has at its disposal and the technology it’s producing. However, that confidence is at risk from external factors, be that political or economic. While some things are out of the industry’s control, losing talent isn’t. This should act as a wake-up call for businesses to make themselves an attractive proposition that retains talent and keeps them competitive in the future.” When it came to the skills needed to succeed in the tech industry today, CWJobs found that cyber security (42%), general IT (33%) and cloud skills (31%) were seen as the most useful. Looking forward though, IT professionals believe that cybersecurity (44%) and AI (42%) will be necessary to succeed in the future.
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| Could Avengers be its own Marvel Game Universe? Posted: 25 Jun 2019 09:36 AM PDT With great power comes great responsibility and being handed the reigns to adapt 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' for a videogame is certainly something which brings with it a lot of power. Therefore it's no surprise that, when it comes to Marvel's Avengers game, developer Crystal Dynamics is taking its responsibility very seriously. After all, the studio is taking on a comic book series with almost 60 years worth of history including a successful film franchise, several animated TV series' and a variety of spin-offs. It's no small feat and the developers are under no illusion of the torch they've been passed. Following a behind-closed-doors demo of Marvel's Avengers at E3 2019, we sat down with creative director Shaun Escayg and lead combat designer Vincent Napoli to talk about the superhuman task they've undertaken. Holding out for a hero
Image credit: Crystal Dyamics Marvel's Avengers game is a total original story in collaboration with Marvel itself which blends cinematic visuals with single and co-operative gameplay. The story begins on A-Day in San Francisco, a holiday to celebrate the Avengers which, in this iteration, is made up of Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and Black Widow. The Avengers have recently harnessed a new technology that sees them merging with S.H.I.E.L.D., the special law enforcement and counter-terrorism agency that tends to deal with superhuman threats - tensions are high. However, the celebration is interrupted by Mr Motivator's overly-eager brother Taskmaster and his goons who have stolen the new technology and are using it to wreak havoc on San Francisco and the Avengers themselves.
In an effort to stop Taskmaster, the Avengers fall right into his trap and ultimately end up being held responsible for the destruction of the entire city and, to boot, Captain America lost his life in the incident. The story picks up an unspecified amount of time after and follows the former Avengers as they each deal with survivor's guilt and the question "are the Avengers a force for good or destruction?" With papa Cap not around to referee, tensions are at an all time high among the group.
Image credit: Crystal Dynamics But this isn't simply going to be a case of rooting for the 'good guys'. Crystal Dynamics is choosing to explore all aspects of the fallout from the A-Day incident - allowing players to see things from both the casualty and hero perspective so you can "have that debate" for yourself. To do that, the game will see players stepping into the shoes of each individual Avenger, to see how they coped following the incident. This overarching, strong narrative applies to the single-player campaign but serves as the "set-up" for Avenger's co-operative mode. "It's almost like a TV series," Napoli explains. "You have one major plotline happening and then all these mini threads start to be created and that's where you get the freedom to have up to four players so you can delve into each of the side plotlines." The hero you're born to be
Image credit: Crystal Dynamics Arguably the biggest obstacle when converting a franchise with a loyal following into a game is the expectation. Fans will always have in their head a picture of how they think an Avenger would move, speak, look and, more importantly, play. Capturing that superhero feeling is almost always going to be a losing battle because you will never please everyone. Since the Avengers game trailer was revealed there have already been critiques of the voices and looks of the heroes. While the faces are sometimes a bit janky, there's little denying that many of the cinematics are stunning. But it's still difficult to accept veteran voice-actor Nolan North (aka Nathan Drake from Uncharted) as Tony Stark, because he's not Robert Downey Jr. Crystal Dynamics knows this obstacle all too well and have therefore opted to create combat specific to each hero. A lot of this was due to the insistence of Marvel that each character's mechanics felt like it could "be their own game".
"There's a lot of expectations coming off of the movies where people think these characters are who they are and how they look. We drew from the 80 year history of Marvel: guided by them, challenged by them and it's a great collaborative to have because they give us the freedom but they're also the gatekeepers. For us, it was about how do we keep our narrative, put our spin on it but also really have the player partake in being an Avenger." There are many iterations of the individual Avengers, alternative versions with varying abilities, backstories and looks. That's something the developers want you to be able to explore, allowing players to unlock and customize the abilities of each Avenger for the play style that suits you. "It's about you playing that hero they way you want and playing that fantasy out," Escagy explains. "That is the goal." "We want to be like 'here's our Thor' but also let you customize him and create your Thor," Napoli adds. Marvel Game Universe
Image credit: Crystal Dynamics With the Avengers films officially done and dusted, at least for a while, Marvel fans are eager for some more superhero goodness. The Marvel Cinematic Universe proves that the intertwining of individual superhero's stories is something which fans love, having invested over a decade watching each individual MCU film before the epic conclusion in Avengers: Endgame earlier this year. During the official reveal of Marvel's Avengers game, it was revealed that all the game's future hero DLC will be completely free. "The important thing is to assemble," Escagy explains when we ask about the motivation behind this decision. "To play with your friends as the Avengers, it is the DNA of what we're making. We don't want players to play-to-win or play with their friends or to play their favorite character, this is about you experiencing an Avengers dream." "The characters we're introducing, they're very much picked by the narrative and driven by that," Napoli adds. "We want people to continue with that narrative, we don't want to be excluding anyone." This focus on narrative and intertwining character stories has us thinking a Marvel Game Universe could be on the cards. "We didn't say it," Napoli laughs when we ask whether this could be the case. "This is the continuation of Marvel's Avengers," Escagy says. "It's going to expand, there will be new threats to assemble against, there will be new stories shooting off of it." Excelsior
Image credit: Crystal Dynamics But what about the man behind the franchise? What did he have to say about all this? Stan Lee passed away in 2018, when development on Avengers had already started. Escagy and Napoli were unsure whether Lee had ever seen or played the game before his death but do not fail to recognise Lee's importance. "This entire game is a tribute to Stan," Escagy tells us. But does that mean we'll be seeing him making a famous cameo? "You'll just have to play the game to find out," Escagy smirks. Marvel's Avengers will release on May 15, 2020.
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| Best business headphones and earphones in 2019 Posted: 25 Jun 2019 09:20 AM PDT If you're looking for the best business headphones and earphones for making and receiving business calls, then you've come to the right place. No matter how loud the office you're working in is, these headphones can ensure you're heard loud and clear. All the best business headphones and earphones you see on this page have been picked because they include features that ensure voice and video calls can be made with the highest quality audio and recording quality. So, they come with top-of-the-range microphones, along with noise cancelling, which means the people you're speaking to won't hear any background noise. We've left out brands like Beats headphones that maybe don't look smart enough. The best business headphones on this page also offer high-end audio quality as well, but without costing the earth. They are also compact enough to carry around with you, and look smart and professional as well. There's a huge amount of choice out there, which can make choosing the best business headphones and earphones for your needs difficult. This is where our guide to the best business headphones and earphones can help. Read on to find out what our picks are, and don't forget to use our price comparison tool to help you get the best deals for these amazing business headphones and earphones.
The Philips Fidelio X2s are a superb pair of headphones offering premium comfort and build quality with a sound that rivals even the most vaunted audiophile cans. Their comfortable design means they can be worn for long periods of time while working thanks to the memory foam construction of the earpads. Read the full review: Philips Fidelio X2
Bose has finally brought its fantastic noise-cancelling technology to a pair of wireless headphones, and it's done so without any of the traditional drawbacks of wireless headphones – they sound great, and their battery life is long enough for even the longest video meeting. Going wireless with your business headphones means you have less clutter on your desk, freeing you up for more important things when on an important call. At $349.95 (£289.95) the QC35s sit firmly at the premium end of the spectrum, but if you want the best noise-cancelling headphones available right now then you can't get any better. Read the full review: Bose QuietComfort 35
The Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2 offer insane battery life, great sound quality and good active noise cancellation for the business man or woman in your life. They may not offer the best noise cancellation – especially compared to the Bose QuietComfort 35s or the Fidelio NC1 – but at only $200 (£230, AU$250) it’s hard to think of a better travel headphone for the price. Ultimately, with the BackBeat Pro 2, you’re getting a travel headphone with incredible battery life, supreme comfort, the ability to pair two device as one and, most importantly, good sound quality for the cost. Read our full review: Plantronics BackBeat Pro 2
These no-holds-barred wireless headphones are oozing with positive qualities, but for many, they're almost prohibitively expensive. However, if you're an audio lover that can spare the expense, do not hesitate on this comfortable, hard-working set of headphones that will likely last for years. Read the full review: Sennheiser Momentum Wireless
If you'd rather some in-ear earphones for your business dealings, then the RHA T10i is the first set you should consider for one simple reason: the sound quality is incredible, thanks to the snug seal created when the headphones are stuck in your ear. Plus the bass is also robust for such small earphones. The RHA T10i look slick with a metal finish around the drivers and around the cable as well. They also come with several replacement tips if the defaults don't fit your ear canal. They're more expensive than other earbuds on the list, but there's good reason they feautre at the top of our business earphones selection. Read the full review: RHA T10i
If you're in the market for the best in-ear headphones, you should really be looking at Shure's entire catalog of truly excellent in-ear options. Of them all, however, our current favorites are the Shure SE215s – they're not the top-tier performers from the audio company, but we think they offer the best performance-to-price ratio of any of Shure's headsets. Sure, the headphones look great in their futuristic-looking translucent, space grey color, but the best bit is that you can snag the Shure SE215s for ~$100. Read the full review: Shure SE215
Life is full of trade-offs, and it's the same with the Bose QuietControl 30s. On the plus side you get a level of noise cancellation that’s on a par with the brand's over-ear headphones, but the compromise here is on sound quality, which is simply not as good as that of other in-ear or over-ear headphones we’ve tried. However, if you're going to be using these on video or voice calls in a noisy office, then these are definitely worth considering. Read the full review: Bose QuietControl 30
The V-Moda Forza offer a lot – they sound good, are built to last, and have an innovative modular design that we really like is like nothing we’ve seen before on an earbud. The Forza, therefore, are perfect for anyone who wants headphones that can do it all, from working out to taking these with you on the morning commute to the office. Sure, they're not the most balanced sounding or highest resolution, but the water resistance and modular design of the Forza make them a pretty compelling option. Read the full review: V-Moda Forza This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Xbox Project Scarlett release date, specs and games confirmed for Xbox Two Posted: 25 Jun 2019 09:07 AM PDT The Xbox family is about to get a bit bigger. While we'd heard rumors of a next-gen Xbox console circulating for years, Microsoft finally announced the Xbox Project Scarlett at during its big E3 2019 keynote conference in June of this year. While there's only so much we know so far – even the Project Scarlett moniker is just a codename for now – we know it's coming, when it's coming, and a handful of the features and specs we can expect when it lands. Faster and more graphically advanced than its predecessors, Xbox Scarlett promises to be the most powerful games console in the world by the time it launches late in 2020 – even more so than the PS5, which is due to hit shelves around the same time. For comparison, if the Xbox One X is now the most advanced console on the market, Xbox Scarlett is meant to be four times as powerful (according to the reveal trailer below). “For us, the console is vital and central to our experience. A console should be designed, and built and optimized for one thing, and one thing only – gaming,” said Xbox boss Phil Spencer, showing the company's renewed commitment to making the very best games console it can first and foremost, after the mixed messaging of its flawed Xbox One launch. “This decisive moment of discovery is etched in your gaming history." “We on Team Xbox will always be dedicated to delivering the best new games for you to discover. This right now is the single most creative and energizing time in gaming history. Games and gamers can be a significant unifying force for the world.” Xbox Project Scarlett is looking to be an incredibly powerful home gaming machine, with custom built components from AMD, and an SSD drive at its heart allowing for innovative game development techniques. Here's what we know so far about what we anticipate will later be known as the 'Xbox Two'. Xbox Project Scarlett: key facts
Xbox Project Scarlett internal hardware. (Image credit: Microsoft) Xbox Scarlett specsWith only a sizzle reel to go by, we don't yet know what the Xbox Project Scarlett will look like, let alone if it'll eventually be named the Xbox Two. But we do have a good idea of its internal hardware, and the Xbox Project Scarlett specs are already sounding quite special. Using custom-designed processor from AMD making use of Zen 2 and Navi architecture, Xbox Project Scarlett will be 4x more powerful than the Xbox One X. It'll be possible of running games at 120Hz frame rates, at potential 8K resolutions, while also showcasing fancy real-time ray-tracing tech. It's the works. An SSD will come as standard, as with the PS5, which will give it the option of using its storage system as virtual RAM, as well as lifting load time performance by a factor of 40x. That'll let developers stream in far more detailed worlds around a player. In terms of 'standard' RAM, the console will pack in a meaty GDDR6.
Xbox Project Scarlett components. (Image credit: Microsoft) Though gamers are increasingly shifting their purchase preferences towards the convenience of digital downloads, Xbox Project Scarlett will also have a physical disk drive. Speaking to Eurogamer, Xbox's Head of Microsoft Games Studios Matt Booty said: "Yes, Scarlett will have an optical disc drive. I still have films at home on physical media - not many, but a few of my favourites. We know people have an attachment to buying games on disc, to building a collection." It's also likely that the new Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 that is available for pre-order right now and launching November 4 of this year will be the controller for this upcoming console. That could just be wishful thinking, but with the hyperbolic language surrounding this announcement, we would expect nothing less. Indeed, Microsoft has confirmed that all your current Xbox One accessories will work with Xbox Project Scarlett, including existing controllers and headsets. But we'd doubt that also includes the ill-fated Kinect motion tracker...
Halo Infinite will be a Project Scarlett exclusive. (Image Credit: Microsoft) Xbox Scarlett gamesHalo Infinite will has been confirmed to be an Xbox Project Scarlett launch title, bringing back the Master Chief for the franchises' first outing since 2015. It will have been five years at that point since a new mainline Halo game, so fans will be chomping at the bit for fresh Halo action. The Halo franchise is widely regarded as the original Xbox’s first must-play games, so the move to launch a next-gen with a Halo game is both symbolic and quite business-savvy on Microsoft’s part. To coincide with the announcement, Microsoft and the game's developer 343 Industries unveiled a new Halo Infinite trailer, available below: If Halo is not your thing you wont be wanting for games to play at launch though – especially if you're an existing Xbox player. Xbox Project Scarlett will be capable of three generations of backwards compatibility. So, as well as Scarlett-era games, it'll also play games from the Xbox One, the Xbox 360, and the very first generation of the Xbox. Xbox Scarlett priceMicrosoft won't be pinned down on a price point quite yet – unsurprisingly, given what a sore spot the price of the Xbox One was for fans. At launch the original Xbox One cost a whopping $499 / £429 / AU$599, which was quickly reduced when Microsoft realised people weren't forking out. Price will inevitably be determined by the cost of the components going into the console: Xbox Scarlett is going to be a lot more powerful than either the Xbox One S or Xbox One X, and that could mean we're looking at an even higher price tag. The move towards streaming, however, may lead to smaller hard drives – or maybe even the option to buy without a hard drive at all – which would certainly cut down costs. Jason Ronald, director of the Xbox platform, gave only a vague reassurance when speaking to Windows Central, saying that Microsoft knew "what reasonable price points are for a console and kind of what customers expect about that". Xbox Scarlett release dateExpect to see the Xbox Project Scarlett console launch in the 'holiday' window of 2020. That's between October and December of 2020, and just in time for Christmas. It's exactly the same sort of launch period we're expecting Sony to have for its PS5, too. Santa's going to be a busy guy next year. We'll have more soon – hopefully including a specific release date rather than a launch window, and a real name for the console. Keep in mind that all the rumors pointed to there being two new Xbox consoles on the way, codenamed Anaconda and Lockhart, the former being high end (likely what we've seen here) and the latter being a cheaper, streaming-focused solution. Time will tell if that's still Microsoft's plan, but one thing's for certain – it's throwing down the gauntlet for Sony's PlayStation 5 to take on.
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| Best home printer 2019: the top printers for home use Posted: 25 Jun 2019 08:49 AM PDT Welcome to our guide on the best home printers of 2019. If you're looking for the best printer for your household – something that can handle documents, homework and photos – then you've come to the right place. The best home printers need to be more versatile than regular printers. The modern household needs to print out a wide range of documents. There's the kids homework, of course, but you'll often find you need to print out forms and documents in your day to day life. Plus, if you take lots of holiday snaps, then a home printer that can do an excellent job printing them out will save you having to leave the house – as you'll be able to print them out right then and there! The best home printers can rival the print quality, speed and features of almost any printer you'd find in an office or classroom, and getting the best one for your needs can prove to be an excellent investment. When you're looking for the best home printer for your needs there are a number of things you need to take into account. First of all, there's size. Unlike business printers, you don't want a big, bulky, printer taking up huge amounts of room. For example, there are all-in-one printers that are geared towards the home, and they are a good choice if you need a photo copier and a scanner as well as a printer in your house, without taking up loads of space. Here you'll find the very best home printers, no matter what size of household and family demands you have. In this guide you'll find one that's perfect for you, and our price comparison tool makes sure you get the best deals on the printer of your choice as well.
Image Credit: Canon It’s rather large, but if you can fit this multifunction device in your home office, your printing, scanning and faxing needs will be well taken care of. Between its two paper trays, the MB2750 can accommodate a whole 500-sheet ream of A4 paper and churn out duplex pages at a remarkable rate, for an inkjet. Mono and colour documents look consistently clean and crisp. The 50-sheet automatic document feed is great for large photocopying jobs and we found it fairly easy to access the many features via the logical touchscreen interface. Read the full review: Canon Maxify MB2750
Image Credit: TechRadar Assuming you don’t need a fax facility, this compact 3-in-1 strikes the perfect balance between performance and functionality on a budget. It feels well made and though it prints quite slowly, our sample turned out crisp mono pages and vivid colour documents with reassuring consistency. The interface is intuitive and for mobile printing the Brother iOS/Android app is particularly helpful. Read the full review: Brother DCP-J774DW
Image Credit: Kyocera This stout laser printer takes up relatively little space, given its high capacity for paper and toner. It means you can keep printing quickly and efficiently and with lower running costs than an equivalent inkjet. The display is rather fiddly, but in all other respects, this colour printer is easy to use and can be relied upon for immaculate mono and colour documents time after time. Read the full review: Kyocera Ecosys P5026cdw
Image Credit: Canon Canon’s compact 4-in-one looks good enough to sit astride your desk at home, while offering all of the features that a small business might need. In addition, the five-ink system gives great photo quality prints and the large touchscreen makes it especially easy to use. The print speed is perhaps a little slow, even for an inkjet, but it is well featured with both Bluetooth and Wi-fi connectivity and there’s a handy SD-Card slot at the front. Read the full review: Canon Pixma TR8550
Image Credit: Ricoh If you need to churn out pages of text from your home office, then a mono laser printer is the practical and economic answer. This relatively small and affordable model from Ricoh requires little room and it can be relied on to deliver consistently polished monochrome pages while going easy on the consumables. It’s a solid low-profile machine with simple top-mounted controls for easy operation.
Image Credit: Samsung Samsung’s smart-looking laser printer is equipped with both Wi-Fi and NFC for easy mobile printing and is supported by a sophisticated mobile app. It’s an easy size to accommodate at home, but you can fit a useful amount of paper and toner inside, making it good for a monthly cycle of 40,000 pages. It won’t automatically print both sides of the page, but it does have a manual duplex mode.
Image Credit: TechRadar When we tested it, this was the smallest laser printer around and likely to remain so. Being as small and inexpensive as an inkjet, yet with all the speed, economy and consistency of a laser, the LaserJet Pro M15w is in many ways the ideal home printer. It manages to hold one hundred sheets of paper and print on them at the respectable rate of 19ppm. There’s no duplex mode, sadly, and no display, but at this price it’s hard to argue. Read the full review: HP LaserJet Pro M15w
Image Credit: TechRadar This big Brother blurs the line between home and office printer by combining the fast print speed and high capacity of a laser machine with the superior photo finish of an inkjet. We would recommend it for both applications because although it is smaller than the laser equivalent MFC-L8690CDW, the inkjet MFC-J5945DW can handle A3 paper. There’s really nothing that this fully featured 4-in-1 can’t do and it carries out all tasks satisfactorily. Read the full review: Brother MFC-J5945DW
Image Credit: HP This humble all-in-one can scan and copy, but its real strength is in printing photos. Frustratingly, there’s no Ethernet port, nor a USB port for printing from a flash drive and it churns very slowly, but the results are surprisingly good for such an affordable inkjet. The supplied starter cartridges are rather light on ink, but if you replace them with high-capacity carts, then the running cost is competitive too.
Image Credit: Epson Printers aimed at the home office that can handle A3 paper are not common, but ones that can automatically print on both sides of an A3 page are downright rare. The WorkForce WF-7210DTW is one such beast and it does so quite successfully. Print quality is impressive, be that monochrome text, or a glossy photo. The long list of features includes both Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity and the two paper trays can hold 500 sheets combined. Read the full review: Epson WorkForce WF-7210DTW
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| Best photo printer 2019: the best printers for your digital photos Posted: 25 Jun 2019 08:43 AM PDT In this guide to the best photo printers of 2019, we look at the top devices for ensuring your photos look their best when you make physical copies of them. No matter if you're a professional photographer, or merely a keen amateur that likes to take holiday photos, you'll want the very best photo printer your budget can stretch to – and we're here to help. These days, there's a huge range of photo printers to choose from, so our best photo printers guide is here to make things more simple. We've picked the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to photo printers – from affordable desktop photo printers for everyday use, to expensive studio-quality professional photo printers and even wireless printers that can be used with a smartphone. The best photo printers come in every shape and size, from budget photo printers that are easy to use, portable devices and even professional-level photo printers. Fortunately, this means that no matter what you’re looking for, you should be able to find the best photo printer for your needs. Not only have we collected the very best photo printers for a huge range of budgets and use cases, our very own price comparison tool will also scour the internet for you and deliver the best prices.
Image Credit: Epson This smooth and compact 3-in-1 device has the welcome ability to print on A3 paper and uses not four, but six inkjet cartridges to achieve superior colour accuracy. It means your ink costs are rather high, but it’s worth it for the resulting photo prints. The scanner is A4-size, there’s no fax and print speeds are slow, but for the scanner is high resolution and for sheer print quality, the Epson Expression Photo XP-960 is hard to beat. Read the full review: Epson Expression Photo XP-960
Image Credit: Canon This low profile printer looks as though it should have a scanner, but it is a print only device and what it does, it does well. It can take up to A3 size paper and turn out crisp colour documents and vivid photos all for a very reasonable initial cost. It uses six inkjet cartridges for more natural colour shading, so this adds a little to the ongoing per-page cost, but if you’re looking for a print-only device, this is money well spent.
Image Credit: Epson This A2-size print-only device will suit any business that needs to turn out professional quality large format colour documents. It uses Epson’s nine-colour UltraChrome HD inkset for lifelike colour shading, which come in high capacity 80ml cartridges. Add the paper roll option and this machine can handle high print runs, or turn out impressive panoramic posters. Unsurprisingly, it takes up quite a bit of room and the cost is high, although considerably lower that outsourcing your prints. Read the full review: Epson SureColor SC-P800
Image Credit: Canon Canon’s entry-level A3 photo printer is aimed at anyone who needs to print A3+ size posters and brochures to a professional standard. To achieve this the Pixma Pro-100S uses eight individual dye-based inkjet cartridges and has the ability to recognise a wide range of paper stock in sizes up to A3. Unlike its predecessor, the almost identical Canon Pixma Pro-100, this model now has Wi-Fi built in.
Image Credit: TechRadar It looks a little ungainly with the refillable ink tanks ruining the symmetry of this otherwise compact all-in-one, but it’s the refined EcoTank system that sets this model apart from the competition. If you can swallow the high price tag, your ongoing ink costs will be very low and Epson’s five-colour printing guarantees excellent image quality, especially with photos on photo paper. Read the full review: Epson EcoTank ET-7750
Image Credit: HP This humble all-in-one can scan and copy, but its real strength is in printing photos. Frustratingly, there’s no Ethernet port, or USB port for printing from a flash drive and it churns very slowly, but the results are surprisingly good for such an affordable inkjet. The supplied starter cartridges are rather light on ink, but if you replace them with high-capacity carts, then the running cost is competitive too.
Image Credit: Canon Sitting at the top of Canon’s Pixma range, the TS9150 looks like a premium product as you might expect, with a giant touchscreen display nestling up-front. It also boasts a high-resolution printing and scanning and Canon’s excellent six-ink system. By using black pigment ink alongside dye-based colours, photographic prints look especially realistic.
Image Credit: TechRadar Canon’s most affordable printer to include ink tanks instead of cartridges is a modest 4-in-1 that could work well in a small office that needs to run out lots of colour documents. It prints very slowly and cannot print on both sides of the page, but in all other respects, it holds up well. The cartridge-less system is very economical and the box includes enough ink for 6,000 mono and 7,000 colour pages. Read the full review: Canon Pixma G4510
Image Credit: Canon Canon has done well to bundle so much functionality into this discrete, desk-friendly design. It looks smart and the price point only makes it more tempting. It’s a little slower and the print resolution is a little lower than its more expensive sibling, the Canon Pixma TS8050, but the print quality is strong for the money and it’s a pleasure to use thanks to the touchscreen control panel.
Image Credit: HP HP’s oddly shaped all-in-one includes every feature from a fax facility, to an SD card slot, while giving you easy access to them via a colourful touchscreen interface. The coloured inks are combined in one cartridge and if you subscribe to HP’s Instant Ink service, it will be automatically replaced just before you run out. It feels a little flimsy, but photos prints in particular, look vibrant.
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| Best free iPad apps 2019: the top titles we've tried Posted: 25 Jun 2019 08:41 AM PDT Free apps sometimes have a bad reputation, but many are gems that are so good you won’t believe they’re free. We’ve scoured the App Store to find the very best, and sorted them into handy categories, which you can find on the following pages. On this page you'll find the app of the week - our top new selection to try out, and check back every seven days where you'll find a new option to test. After that, it's the best entertainment apps (surely the best reason to own an iPad...) and a variety of categories on the following pages to tickle your fancy. Free app of the week: Tonebridge
Image credit: Ultimate Guitar Tonebridge Guitar Effects has a different spin on the whole ‘turning your iPad into an amp’ thing. Rather than you painstakingly setting up a set of stomp-boxes, and pairing your creation with an amp, Tonebridge offers thousands of presets. Moreover, each one mimics the guitar sounds from an existing song. This means whether you fancy being Clapton, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, or Led Zeppelin, all you need to do is prod a recommended option, or have a quick search of the catalog. About half of the presets let you preview the sound using some of the original song’s melody or chords. All can be tweaked to suit, if you know better than the preset when it comes to the precise level of echo a pedal should be emitting – or how much the chosen amp has been cranked up! The best free entertainment apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for having fun with your iPad, whether shopping, coloring, reading, watching TV or using Twitter.
Image credit: The Iconfactory TwitterrificTwitterrific is a client for Twitter that wants you to use the social network on your own terms. This means you get a slew of customization options – and a much richer user experience – compared to when using the official Twitter app. On iPad, this is very apparent on exploring the tabs at the top of the screen. You get five. Home returns you to your main feed, but the other four can be set to open anything from mentions to lists – it’s up to you. As is how the app looks, given its range of built-in themes. Twitterrific excels elsewhere, too. Next to the search field is a Center Stage button, which you press to browse through media tweets. Muting and sync are fully supported. All of this is free, in return for a single unobtrusive always-on ad banner.
Infuse 6Infuse 6 enables you to watch your video collection – without first loading any of it on to your iPad. Instead, the app streams footage from files stored on local PCs, Macs, or network drives. Should you want to store some content on your iPad, though, Files integration makes that a cinch. In fact, the interface throughout is superb – usable and sleek. It serves up not only your videos, but also cover art and background information – assuming you’ve named your files reasonably sensibly. Subtitles can be downloaded with a tap. The free version doesn’t offer all the bells and whistles. Library/progress sync, streaming from cloud sources, AirPlay, and HD audio require a pro account, or the purchase of the standalone Infuse Pro 6. But even without these, you won’t find a better or more feature-packed free video player on your iPad.
Ground: Local Breaking NewsGround: Local Breaking News is on a mission to widen news consumption, by way of quick access to varied takes on events. After outlining your news interests (which can later be tweaked), you’ll get a list of headlines. The app doesn’t do any editorializing, and instead offers the bare basics, alongside source lists. The concept doesn’t always work. Some stories have only a single source, and Ground: Local Breaking News’s citizen journalism from ‘people on the ground’ is mostly a wall of silence. But when it clicks, Ground: Local Breaking News is a boon, enabling you to zip between The Guardian, Fox News, and everything in between. It’s perhaps unlikely to become your main newsreader – Ground News is a bit clunky for that. But as another option, to get alternate takes on a story, it’s a solid download.
FeedlyFeedly bills itself as a smart news reader. However, rather than attempting to second-guess what you’d like to read, based on you having tapped a few vague category buttons, Feedly takes a more old-fashioned approach: subscriptions. In short, using the magic of RSS, you (for free) subscribe to the newsfeeds of your favorite websites – anything from news corporations down to the most niche of blogs. New articles are then sent to Feedly, and can be read in-app. If you fancy discovering content beyond what you usually read, there’s an Explore tab; but Feedly’s best when you’re curating what you end up checking out, through focusing primarily on sources you trust. As an added bonus, if you like the idea but not the interface, a Feedly account can be used to power other RSS readers such as TechRadar favorite Reeder.
Pocket is a read-later app. What this means is that rather than ending the day staring at dozens of unread browser tabs, you fling items of interest in Pocket’s direction. It then converts them into a streamlined personalized magazine you can peruse at your leisure. The default iPad interface is an appealing grid, and individual articles are stripped back to words and images. This can be a major improvement over the original websites, letting you delve into content without distractions. A night mode flips colors late in the day, to ensure you don’t get eye strain, but Pocket also allows you to ‘read with your ears’. This turns your reading list into an on-the-fly podcast. It’s an odd experience, but it can be nice to work through your reading list while cooking, walking or driving.
Infuse 5Infuse 5 is a video player that lets you get at video from pretty much anywhere. This means if you have a massive video collection, you needn’t load it all on to your iPad. Instead, you can quickly copy across items as and when you want to play them – or just stream from local network storage. This app isn’t unique in the field, but it’s friendly and sleek. Set-up is a breeze, and even when streaming from your local network, metadata (cover art; item information) is automatically downloaded. It’s also possible to download subtitles on the fly. The free version has restrictions that require an annual subscription to unlock: some video/audio formats; AirPlay and Google Cast support; background playback; library sync. But as a freebie for anyone who wants to stream videos to their iPad, Infuse 5 really can’t be beaten.
Fiery FeedsFiery Feeds is a full-featured RSS reader. If you’re unfamiliar with RSS, it enables you to subscribe to almost any website’s content. You’ll then in Fiery Feeds get a list of headlines whenever you open the app, ensuring you don’t miss articles from sources you trust. Most free RSS readers are clunky, but Fiery Feeds bucks the trend with a sleek two-pane interface, and a slew of customization options. It feels modern, but gives you very direct control over what you read, unlike the likes of News or Flipboard. There’s a paid tier, too – US$9.99/£9.99/AU$14.99 per year – which unlocks additional features, including a ‘must read’ folder, a text view mode (which loads full articles for sites that otherwise only send you synopses), and custom actions. Whichever flavor you plump for, Fiery Feeds is well worth installing on your iPad.
VLC for MobileVLC for Mobile is an iPad take on the popular open source media player. On iPad, it has two main uses. The first is offline playback. You can load up VLC with videos, and – broadly speaking – be secure in the knowledge it’s actually going to be capable of playing them. During said playback, you can fiddle with the picture and audio, and use gestures to skip through boring sections – or backwards if you missed a bit. VLC is also good for streaming. You can stream movies from a PC or Mac right to your iPad, rather than having to sit in front of a computer like it’s 2005. The interface throughout is sleek and minimal (irritating zooming to the options sidebar aside), and impressive for a video streaming app that’s entirely free.
JustWatchJustWatch solves one of the biggest problems with the way we consume television and movies. With streaming services and on-demand increasingly rendering traditional schedules redundant, the key is usually finding out where and how to watch something, not when. JustWatch asks you to confirm your location and the services that interest you. If you’re still into the big screen, there’s a tab for currently showing movies, which makes it a cinch to access local showtimes. But this app’s mostly about TV, providing filterable feeds that list popular shows and bargains – and where to find them. Select a show, tap on an icon, and you’re whisked away to the relevant app. Whatever you want to see, JustWatch makes reaching it a whole lot easier.
LetterboxdLetterboxd is an iPad take on a social network for film lovers. Sign up, and you can do all the usual following friends and bellyaching, only here you’re complaining about whether Blade Runner 2049 is 2049 times worse than the original, and who’s the best James Bond. If that sounds awful but you’re a film lover, Letterboxd has another use: the ability to log everything you’ve ever watched. You can quickly assign ratings and ‘likes’ to your personal favorites, which are subsequently displayed as a grid of artwork that can be sorted and filtered. Beyond that, you can add tags, a review, and the date when you last watched the film. On the iPad’s large display, the entire app looks great – not least when you start checking out trailers of those films you’re keen to see.
Attenborough Story of lifeIf you’ve any interest in wildlife films, Attenborough Story of Life is a must-have. It features over a thousand clips picked from Attenborough’s decades-long journey through what he refers to as the “greatest story of all…how animals and plants came to fill our Earth”. The app is split into three sections. You’re initially urged to delve into some featured collections, but can also explore by habitat or species, unearthing everything from big-toothed sharks to tiny penguins skittering about. Clips can be saved as favorites, or grouped into custom collections to later peruse or share with friends. Some of the footage is noticeably low-res on an iPad – there’s nothing here to concern your Blu-Rays, and that’s a pity. Still, for instant access to such a wealth of amazing programming, this one’s not to be missed.
Chunky Comic ReaderThe majority of comic-book readers on the App Store are tied to online stores, and any emphasis on quality in the actual apps isn't always placed on the reading part. But with many more publishers embracing DRM-free downloads, having a really great reading app is essential if you're into digital comics. Chunky Comic Reader is the best available on iOS. The interface is smart, simple and boasts plenty of settings, including the means to eradicate animation entirely when flipping pages. Rendering is top-notch, even for relatively low-res fare. And you get the option of one- or two-up page views. For free, you can access web storage to upload comics. A single $3.99/£3.99/AU$5.99 pro upgrade adds support for shared Mac/PC/NAS drives.
MelodistPart meditative relaxation tool, part sleep aid, Melodist is all about creating melodies from imagery. All you have to do is load something from your Camera Roll, and the app does the rest. On analyzing your photo or screen grab for changes in hues, saturation and brightness, a music loop is generated. You can adjust the playback speed, instrument and visual effect (which starts off as a lazily scrolling piano roll), along with setting a timer. Although occasionally discordant, the app mostly creates very pleasing sounds. And while it’s perhaps missing a trick in not displaying your photo as-is underneath the notes being played (your image is instead heavily blurred as a background), you can export each tune as audio or a video that shows the picture alongside the animation. These free exports are a pretty generous gesture by the developer; if you want to return the favor, there’s affordable IAP for extra sounds, animation and MIDI export.
PigmentAdult colouring books are all the rage, proponents claiming bringing colour to intricate abstract shapes helps reduce stress - at least until you realise you've got pen on your shirt and ground oil pastels into the sofa. You'd think the process of colouring would be ideal for iPad, but most relevant apps are awful, some even forcing tap-to-fill. That is to colouring what using a motorbike is to running a marathon - a big cheat. Pigment is an exception, marrying a love for colouring with serious digital smarts. On selecting an illustration, there's a range of palettes and tools to explore. You can use pencils and markers, adjusting opacity and brush sizes, and work with subtle gradients. Colouring can be 'freestyle', or you can tap to select an area and ensure you don't go over the lines while furiously scribbling. With a finger, Pigment works well, but it's better with a stylus; with an iPad Pro and a Pencil, you'll lob your real books in the bin. The one niggle: printing and accessing the larger library requires a subscription in-app purchase. It's a pity there's no one-off payment for individual books, but you do get plenty of free illustrations, and so it's hard to grumble.
WWF TogetherWith a noodly soundtrack playing in the background, WWF Together invites you to spin a papercraft world and tap points of interest to learn more about endangered species. 16 creatures get fuller treatment - a navigable presentation of sorts that hangs on a key characteristic, such as a panda's charisma, or an elephant's intelligence. These sections are arranged as a three-by-three grid, each screen of which gives you something different, be it statistics, gorgeous photography, or a 'facetime' movie that gives you a chance to get up close and personal. Apps that mix charity and education can often come across as dry and worthy, but WWF Together is neither. It's informative but charming, and emotive but fun. Rather neatly, stories can be shared by email, and this screen further rewards you with origami instructions to make your own paper animal; once constructed, it can sit on the desk next to all your technology, reminding you of the more fragile things that exist in our world. Can't figure out which iPad to buy? Watch our guide video below!
The best free art and design apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for painting, sketching, drawing, graphic design and animation.
Universe – Website BuilderUniverse – Website Builder suggests you should be able to create a website in 60 seconds. That time scale’s a bit of a stretch, but Universe’s building-blocks system does make getting something online dead easy. Each page is a grid. You drag out a section, and then decide what should fill it – a photo, text, social media buttons or video. You can start from scratch, or work with a theme. When you’re done, prod a button and your efforts are uploaded. Should you want more pro-oriented features – analytics; a store; a proper domain – you’ll need to pay $9.99/£8.99/AU$14.49 per month. But for free, Universe is a usable, smart, simple way to get a personal website online, with little effort, and in a manner that feels entirely suited to the touchscreen.
Autodesk SketchBookAutodesk SketchBook is a drawing and sketching app. Toolbars sit at the screen edges, providing quick access to a slew of editable brushes, a comprehensive layers system, and tools for drawing shapes, adding text and manipulating selections. Flow and size sliders sit on the brushes palette, so you can easily adjust your brush’s properties. Tap the full-screen button and most of the interface falls away, leaving you with your canvas, but brushes, color pickers and layers always remain within easy reach, accessed by pressing a small on-screen switch. This means that with a little time spent getting used to the interface, SketchBook provides as much power as you need – and for no outlay whatsoever. That makes it a good bet whether you’re an occasional doodler, or a jobbing artist wanting something powerful yet usable for working on their iPad.
VectornatorVectornator is a professional-quality vector illustration app, which bafflingly lacks a price tag. We say bafflingly because this is no half-hearted freebie. Vectornator is packed with tools and polish, whether you want to sketch a vector doodle whose lines can always be tweaked and adjusted, or work on a new app design using a built-in template. On iPad, the app feels almost effortless in use. Tools sit at the screen’s edges, enabling fast access, and a settings pane can be opened as needed. Buttons and sliders are finger-friendly, rather than aping the fiddly setups you’d find in desktop fare. With a bunch of built-in examples to help you find your way, a range of export options, and stylus support, Vectornator would be a bargain at a tenner. As a freebie, it’s a must.
Atlas WallpaperAtlas Wallpaper does pretty much what you’d expect: turns maps into background wallpapers for your iPad. That might sound like an odd idea, but abstract imagery based on road systems and waterways can work really well on your Lock or Home screen. The app includes a modicum of customization. You can select a location, zoom in, and choose a color scheme from a range of options. The resulting image can then be exported to Photos, ready for applying as a background. For a one-off $3.99/£3.99/AU$5.99, you can unlock the app’s premium features, including custom styles (useful if you want some really subtle grey-on-black), and desktop/Apple Watch export sizes. But even for free, this is a great option for having something a bit different behind all your app icons.
UnsplashUnsplash is an app that gives you fast access to many thousands of images generously gifted to the Unsplash website by the photographic community. These photographs can be used entirely for free, for any purposes you wish, and can be modified as you see fit. The app and available photographs are both rather good. You can search for something specific, browse new photos, or explore by themes. The large iPad display is the perfect lean-back way to look through dozens of images, flicking between them in full-screen mode. It’s a pity there’s no download option, nor a means to follow specific photographers. But then this one’s all about effortlessness and immediacy, and knowing that whenever you do find something that inspires you, it can be downloaded to your iPad’s Photos app with a single tap.
Artomaton - The Motion PainterArtomaton - The Motion Painter is a little like Prisma, in that it uses AI to transform photos into something that looks like it was painted or sketched. However, this isn’t a single-tap filter app; Artomaton wants to afford you at least some control over your creations. To start with, you paint in the natural media effects to the degree you’re happy with. Do so lightly and you get the subtlest of sketches; cover every inch of the canvas and you end up with a more complete piece of art. Beyond that, there are plenty of settings to fiddle with. The resulting images aren’t always entirely convincing in terms of realism, but they always look good. And although many materials are locked behind IAP, you get plenty for free.
Autodesk SketchBookWe tend to quickly shift children from finger-painting to using much finer tools, but the iPad shows there's plenty of power in your digits — if you're using the right app. Autodesk SketchBook provides all the tools you need for digital sketching, from basic doodles through to intricate and painterly masterpieces; and if you're wanting to share your technique, you can even time-lapse record to save drawing sessions to your camera roll. The core app is free, but it will cost you $4.99/£4.99/AU$7.99 to unlock the pro features.
Brushes ReduxThe original Brushes app was one of the most important in the iPhone's early days. With Jorge Colombo using it to paint a New Yorker cover, it showcased the potential of the technology, and that an iPhone could be used for production, rather than merely consumption. Brushes eventually stopped being updated, but fortunately went open source beforehand. Brushes Redux is the result. On the iPad, you can take advantage of the much larger screen. But the main benefit of the app is its approachable nature. It's extremely easy to use, but also has plenty of power for those who need it, not least in the layering system and the superb brush designer.
CanvaThe idea behind Canva is to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to creating great-looking layouts based on your photos. Select a layout type (presentation, blog graphic, invitation, and so on) and the app serves up templates to work with. These are mostly very smart indeed, but the smartest thing about Canva is that these starting points can all be edited: swap out images for your own photos, adjust text boxes, and add new elements or even entire pages. Because of its scope, Canva isn't as immediate as one-click automated apps in this space, but the interface is intuitive enough to quickly grasp. Our only niggle is the lack of multi-item selection, but with Canva being an online service, you can always fine-tune your iPad creations in a browser on the desktop.
Pixel art editor - DottableDespite being lumbered with an awkward name, Pixel art editor - Dottable is a usable and nicely-conceived app. Choose a canvas size and then the interface is split between your drawing area, layers, and tools. The basics are all there for creating old-school pixel art, but beyond brushes and fills, Dottable adds some fairly sophisticated shapes and transform tools. If you want to trace an image, it can be imported, and optionally converted to pixel art form. Exports are also dealt with nicely, either exporting your image as a PNG, or converting each layer into a single frame of an animated GIF. None of this is enough to trouble the pro-oriented Pixaki, but as a freebie for pixel artists, Dottable is mightily impressive.
FolioscopeOne of the great things about the app revolution is how these bits of software can help you experience creative fare that would have previously been inaccessible, unless you were armed with tons of cash and loads of time. Folioscope is a case in point, providing the basics for crafting your own animations. We should note you’re not going to be the next Disney with Folioscope – the tools are fairly basic, and the output veers towards ‘wobbling stickmen’. But you do get a range of brushes (of differing size and texture), several drawing tools (pen, eraser, flood fill, and marquee), and onion-skinning, which enables you to see faint impressions of adjacent frames, in order to line everything up. The friendly nature of the app makes it accessible to anyone, and there’s no limit on export – projects can be shared as GIFs or movies, or uploaded to the Folioscope community, should you create an account.
MediBang PaintMediBang Paint feels like one of those apps where you’re always waiting for the catch to arrive. Create a new canvas and you end up staring at what can only be described as a simplified Photoshop on your iPad. There are loads of drawing tools, a layers system (including photo import), and configurable brushes. Opening up menus reveals yet more features – rotation; shapes; grids – but palettes can also be hidden, so you can get on with just drawing. Judging by the in-app gallery of uploaded art, MediBang is popular with manga artists, but its tools are capable enough to support a much wider range of digital painting and drawing styles – all without costing you a penny.
PicsArt Animated Gif & Video AnimatorYou won’t trouble Hollywood with PicsArt (or PicsArt Animated Gif & Video Animator to use its unwieldy full name). However, it is a great introduction to animation and also a handy sketchpad for those already immersed in the field. A beginner can start with a blank slate, paper texture, or photo background, on to which an animation frame is drawn. Add further frames and previous ones faintly show through, to aid you in making smooth transitions. Delve further into the app to discover more advanced fare, including brush options and a hugely useful layers system. When done, export to GIF or video – or save projects to refine later. That this all comes for free (and free from ads) is astonishing. The best free education apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for learning new things – from coding to astronomy.
Big Bang ARBig Bang AR is an AR experience that blazes through 13.8 billion years of history in a matter of minutes. It begins with your outstretched hand, which you turn into a fist, and then open up, only for the Big Bang to explode out of it – a neat trick, if a bit awkward when you’re holding an iPad in the other hand. After that point, though, it’s all rather wondrous as you find yourself surrounded by the earliest components of the universe, which eventually form into our solar system. With narration by Tilda Swinton, the odd bit of interactivity, further reading sections, and a nice ‘we are all made of stars’ selfie at the end, Big Bang AR is a rather lovely example of an immersive, immediate educational experience for iPad.
Night SkyNight Sky puts the planets and stars inside your iPad. More importantly, it goes above and beyond in the ways you can explore them. Like many other astronomy apps, you can drag to adjust the view or explore the heavens by holding your iPad in front of your face and physically moving around. Chill-out music burbles away in the background, and there’s visual bling in the form of illustrated constellation overlays. But here, constellations and celestial bodies can be pulled from the main view. They can then be moved with a finger or walked around in AR. With constellations in particular, this provides a great understanding of depths and distances. Beyond that, you get Siri support, a moon map, advice on local planetariums, and many more features – and that’s before there’s even a hint of monthly IAP to access the Grand Orrery and live sky tours.
Civilisations ARCivilisations AR is an augmented reality app that puts over 30 historical artifacts in front of your face, ranging from an ancient Egyptian mummy to iconic modern art. It feels like a thoroughly modern way of exploring the past, enabling you to check out every nook and cranny of these famous objects. Spin a globe to see where the items are from, then tap to select one and it will appear before you, ready to be resized and spun around. Discoverable hot-spots offer up more information by way of voiceovers. Surprisingly, even paintings work really nicely in this app, enabling you to put your nose right up to the virtual canvas and inspect individual paint marks. An iPad display is big enough for you to truly appreciate these works of wonder.
JigSpaceJigSpace uses augmented reality (AR) to educate, by way of 3D models you can fiddle about with before your very eyes. Although the range isn’t exactly in Wikipedia territory, you get quite the variety of ‘jigs’ for free. There’s the anatomy of a trebuchet, a floating eye to fiddle around with, a manual car’s transmission, and many more. JigSpace rapidly finds a flat surface onto which your object is projected. You can then pinch to resize it, or spin it with a swipe. Objects aren’t static either – many animate, and are gradually disassembled across a series of slides. For example, an alarm clock opens to show its gears and mechanisms – and because this is AR, you can check everything out from any angle.
Khan AcademyMaybe it's just our tech-addled brains, but often we find it a lot easier to focus on an app than a book, which can make learning things the old fashioned way tricky. That's where Khan Academy comes in. This free app contains lessons and guidance on dozens of subjects, from algebra, to cosmology, to computer science and beyond. As it's an app rather than a book it benefits from videos and even a few interactive elements, alongside words and pictures and it contains over 10,000 videos and explanations in all. Everything is broken in to bite-sized chunks, so whether you've got a few minutes to spare or a whole afternoon there's always time to learn something new and if you make an account it will keep track of your progress and award achievements.
PyPy wants to teach you to communicate with computers. You provide some information about the kind of coding you fancy doing, and it recommends a course – anything from basic HTML through to delving into Python. Lessons are very reminiscent of those in language-learning freebie Duolingo. A colorful, cartoonish interface provides questions, and you type out your answer or select from multiple choice options. Py could be more helpful when you get something wrong, but its breezy, pacy nature gives it a real energy and game-like feel that boosts focus and longevity. Unlike Duolingo, Py doesn’t have any interest in being free forever. A premium tier locks a chunk of content behind a monthly fee (along with access to mentors, who can help you through tough spots via an integrated chat). But for no outlay, there’s still plenty here for budding website - and app - creators to get stuck into.
Swift PlaygroundsSwift Playgrounds is an app about coding, although you’d initially be forgiven for thinking it a weird game. Early lessons involve guiding oddball cartoon cyclops Byte about an isometric landscape by way of typed commands, having him trigger switches and grab gems along the way. This is, of course, sneakily teaching you the fundamentals of logic and programming, and the lessons do then gradually become more involved. However, at no point does Swift Playgrounds become overwhelming. And the split-screen set-up – instructions and code on the left; interactive world based on your work on the right – feels friendly and intuitive. It’s not Xcode for iPad, then, but perhaps a first step in that direction. More importantly, Swift Playgrounds can act as a first step for people who want to start coding their own apps, but for whom the very idea has, to date, simply been too daunting.
WikipediaOften, third-party apps improve on bare-bones equivalents provided as the ‘official’ take on a product, but Wikipedia is an exception. This freebie app for browsing the online encyclopedia is excellent on iPad – and probably the best option on the platform. The Explore page lists a bunch of nearby and topical articles; after a few uses, it’ll also recommend things it reckons you’d like to read. Tap an article and the screen splits in two – (collapsible) table of contents to the left and your chosen article to the right. Articles can be searched and saved, the latter option storing them for offline perusal. It’s a pity Wikipedia doesn’t rework the Peek/Pop previews from the iPhone version (by way of a long-tap), but otherwise this is an excellent, usable encyclopedia for the modern age.
YousicianLearning a musical instrument isn't easy, which is probably why a bunch of people don't bother, instead pretending to be rock stars by way of tiny plastic instruments and their parent videogames. Yousician bridges the divide, flipping a kind of Guitar Hero interface 90 degrees and using its visual and timing devices to get you playing chords and notes. This proves remarkably effective, and your iPad merrily keeps track of your skills (or lack thereof) through its internal mic. The difficulty curve is slight, but the app enables you to skip ahead if you're bored, through periodic 'test' rounds. Most surprisingly, for free you get access to everything, only your daily lesson time is limited.
TEDTED is a video app designed to feed your curiosity, by watching smart people talk about all kinds of subjects. Although the organization’s name stands for ‘Technology, Entertainment, Design’, it’s fundamentally interested in ideas. Example talks we watched during testing included a piece about screen time for kids (and why related fears are not true), not suffering in silence from depression, and mind-blowing magnified portraits of insects. What we’re saying is: this app has range. It also has smarts. Along with a standard search, you can have the app ‘surprise you’ with something courageous, beautiful, or fascinating, and revisit favorites by delving into your watch history and liked talks, which sync across devices. TED’s perhaps not an app you’ll open daily, but it’s a breath of fresh air when you desire brain food rather than typical telly. The best free health, food and exercise apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for cooking, relaxing and keeping fit.
Oak - Meditation & BreathingOak - Meditation & Breathing is an app that wants you to relax. It’s split into sections for meditation, breathing, and sleeping. A stats area provides the means to track progress, with you gaining streaks and winning badges through regular use. Meditations can be guided or unguided, catering for all skill levels, and although you don’t get the wealth of options available in some apps, you can adjust instructor gender, session duration, and background noise. The three breathing exercises cover relaxation, focus, and invigoration. And the Sleep section offers guided breath exercises designed to help you unwind. On iPad, the interface betrays the app’s iPhone origins and could do with optimization for the larger display. Other than that, Oak’s pleasing and effective – and won’t surprise you a few weeks in with a stressful demand for IAP.
TastyTasty is a cookery app that wisely reasons modern-day cookbooks need to move beyond being digital equivalents of paper-based tomes. It achieves this by way of fast, filterable searches, and judicious use of video. Rather than opening with a photo, your selected recipe instead initially shows the dish being made by way of a tightly edited video. Below that, you get an ingredients list (which can be exported), tips and step-by-step instructions. Tap a button below the last of those and each step’s text and video loop is isolated – a great way, when cooking, to sanity-check you’re doing the right thing, and aren’t on the road to a culinary disaster.
Breathe+Many of us are caught in high-stress environments for much of our lives, and electronic gadgets often do little to help. Apple has recognized this on Apple Watch, which offers a breathing visualization tool. But Breathe+ brings similar functionality to your iPad. You define how long breaths in and out should take, and whether you want to hold your breath at any point during the cycle. You then let Breathe+ guide your breathing for a user-defined session length. The visualization is reminiscent of a minimalist illustrator's take on a wave rising and falling on the screen, but you can also close your eyes and have the iPad vibrate for cues. For free, there are some ads, which aren't pretty, but don't distract too much. For $1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99, you can be rid of them, along with adding themes and usage history stats.
Kitchen StoriesAs you launch Kitchen Stories, you catch a glimpse of the app's mantra: "Anyone can cook". The problem is, most cooking apps (and indeed, traditional cookery books) make assumptions regarding people's abilities. Faced with a list of steps on a stark white page, it's easy to get halfway through a recipe, look at the stodge in front of you, reason something must have gone terribly wrong, and order a takeaway. Kitchen Stories offers firmer footing. You're first met with a wall of gorgeous photography. More importantly, the photographs don't stop. Every step in a recipe is accompanied by a picture that shows how things should be at that point. Additionally, some recipes provide tutorial videos for potentially tricky skills and techniques. Fancy some Vietnamese pho, but not sure how to peel ginger, prepare a chilli or thinly slice meat? Kitchen Stories has you covered. Beyond this, there's a shopping list, handy essentials guide, and some magazine-style articles to peruse. And while you don't get the sheer range of recipes found in some rival apps, the presentation more than makes up for that — especially on the iPad, which will likely find a new home in your own kitchen soon after Kitchen Stories is installed.
TaoMix 2There's a tendency for relaxation aids to be noodly and dull, but TaoMix 2 bucks the trend. You get the usual sounds to aid relaxation (wind, rain, birds, water), but also an interface that nudges the app towards being a tool for creating a kind of ambient personal soundtrack. The basics are dead simple: tap the + button, select a sound pack, and drag a sound to the canvas. You then manually position the circular cursor within the soundscape, or slowly flick so it lazily bounces around the screen, your various sounds then ebbing and flowing into the mix. This makes TaoMix 2 more fun to play with than its many rivals. Of course, if you just want to shut the world out, that option exists too: load a soundscape you've previously created, set a timer, and use TaoMix 2 to help you nod off. Should you want something other than what's found within the generous selection of built-in noises, packs are available for purchase (including whale sounds, 'Japanese garden' and orchestral strings); and if you fancy something entirely more custom, you can even import sounds of your own.
White Noise+There are quite a few apps for creating ambient background noise, helping you to focus, relax, and even sleep. White Noise+ is perhaps the best we’ve seen – a really smartly designed mix of sound and interface design that is extremely intuitive yet thoroughly modern. It works through you adding sounds to an on-screen grid. Those placed towards the right become more complex, and those towards the top are louder. Personalized mixes can be saved, or you can play several that are pre-loaded. For free, you do get an ad across the bottom of the screen, only five sounds, and no access to timers and alarms. But even with such restrictions, White Noise+ is pretty great. Throw $2.99/£2.99/AU$4.49 at it for the extra features and noises, and it borders on exceptional.
7 Minute Workout7 Minute Workout is designed to give you a complete fitness workout in just seven minutes. It’s far from alone on the App Store, but we like this take because it’s straightforward – and also properly free (rather than being riddled with IAP). The exercise screens are basic, but bold. It’s always obvious where you are in a routine, and if you’re unsure about the next step, you can tap a video playback button to view a demonstration. Beyond the exercises, the app enables you to track your weight and set the gap between exercises, which are regularly switched during the routine. The only downside is not being able to block specific exercises if, for example, you don’t have access to a chair, or cannot perform them due to accessibility reasons.
EpicuriousEpicurious is a massive recipe book for iPad. It provides access to over 35,000 recipes, and offers a magazine-like presentation. The entry screen is awash with new recipes with vibrant photography; you can quickly flick between that and dedicated pages for themed recipes and new videos. The app’s search is excellent. You can select by meal type, and filter available recipes by selecting specific ingredients, cuisine types, and dietary issues (such as low-fat and wheat-free). Flicking back and forth between filters and results can irk, but the app at least does so quickly and efficiently. The actual recipe pages are a touch basic – there’s no hand-holding like the step-by-step photos you get in Kitchen Stories. Still, if confident in your abilities, it’s a great app to broaden your culinary horizons. The best free kids apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps, learning tools, and games for toddlers and children.
Noah’s Ark AnimalibriumNoah’s Ark Animalibrium might have the famous tale in its name, but this take on the story breaks with convention, to say the least. There’s no ark here – merely what appears to be a large wooden bowl. And rather than the animals heading in two-by-two, the colorful critters must all balance atop the wobbling craft. It’s an amusing slice of interactive entertainment, and should help young players to improve their coordination and (virtual) stacking powers. Beyond the balancing act, there are buttons to prod to change the weather, and snap a photo. And for those kids who fancy a trip back in time, a one-off IAP ($1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99) unlocks a pack of dinosaurs to save from a prehistoric flood.
TankeeTankee lets kids watch other people playing and talking about video games. If you’re of a certain age, that might seem baffling, but it’s something kids really like to do. Where Tankee differentiates itself is in curation: every video on the system has been watched by an actual human.This avoids issues found in certain other online video networks, where kids may suddenly find themselves viewing unsuitable fare. Tankee also deals with another big concern: comments. It achieves this by omitting such functionality entirely, although some barebones ‘networking’ remains. Create an account and your kid can stash favorite videos for later and follow specific creators. If they particularly enjoy a show, they can madly hammer smiley stickers in real time to let everyone know.
Wonderbly Story Time BooksWonderbly Story Time Books is an iPad take on personalized illustrated story books for children. The premise is the protagonist has forgotten their name, and must go on an adventure to collect it, one letter at a time. The story is nicely presented, and the app deftly deals with multiple instances of the same letter by providing variations for each one. (In fact, this works to an entertaining degree – we tried using the name ‘Aaaaa’ and were presented with five non-repeating vignettes!) Part of the point of the app is you’ll get to the end, and then buy a real copy of the actual book. But even if you resist those papery, spendy charms, the app’s a blast – and it even lets you store previous adventures, so none are ever lost.
Lego Creator IslandsLego Creator Islands is for fans of the popular construction toy when there are no plastic bricks close at hand. It starts you off with a little island, on which you build a house. Construction is simple: tap piles of bricks and they magically combine into pieces of a finished Lego set, which you drag into place. Rinse and repeat a few times and your kid will beam as they watch their island increasingly come alive, populated with Lego minifigs and bounding Lego animals, and dotted with buildings, trees and vehicles. The experience is, admittedly, not that deep, and you can see most of what it has to offer in an hour or so. But it’s always fun to return to, and certainly beats treading on a Lego brick while barefoot.
Sago Mini FriendsSago Mini Friends is a sweet-natured collection of adorable mini-games, ideal for young children. After selecting a character to play, you visit a neighborhood of colorful houses. Knock on a door and you’ll be invited inside for a playdate. The activities are varied and smartly designed. There’s a birthday party, where gifts are gleefully unwrapped, and a birdhouse to fix by hammering in nails. Our favorite, though, is a cleverly conceived snack time that finds two friends sitting side-by-side. Feed one and the other looks a bit glum, which encourages the young player to learn to share. Entirely lacking IAP and advertising, Sago Mini Friends is a no-brainer for any parent who wants a safe, free, fun, educational app for their youngster to spend a bit of quality time with.
LEGO AR-StudioLEGO AR-Studio is the app we first thought of when Apple started banging on about augmented reality. After all, who wouldn’t want a bunch of virtual Lego bricks to play with, which could magically integrate with the real world? Well, it turns out Lego wouldn’t, because that’s not what this app offers. Instead, you get a small selection of AR Lego kits, which you can mess about with, take videos of, and thereby try to trick your friends into wondering why their own Lego doesn’t zoom about the place on remote control. It’s admittedly a bit shallow, and feels a touch proof-of-concept. But here’s hoping this is just the app equivalent of a Lego baseplate on which to build, rather than a completed set.
Zen StudioAccording to the developer's blurb, Zen Studio is all about helping children to relax and focus, by providing a kind of finger-painting that can only exist in the digital realm. Frankly, we take issue with the 'children' bit, because Zen Studio has a welcoming and pleasing nature that should ensure it's a hit with every iPad user. You start off with a grid of triangles and a column of colored paints. Tap a paint to choose your color and then tap individual triangles or drag across the grid to start drawing. Every gesture you make is accompanied by musical notes that play over an ambient background soundtrack. Bar the atmosphere being knocked a touch by a loud squelch noise whenever a new paint tube is selected, the mix of drawing tool and musical instrument is intoxicating. When you're done, your picture can be squirted to the Photos app, ready for sharing with the world. This is, however, a limited freebie in some ways. You get eight canvases, which can be blank or based on templates. If you want more, you can buy an IAP to unlock the premium version of the app. Still, for no outlay at all, you get a good few hours of chill-out noodly fun — more, if you're happy drawing over the same canvases again and again.
Doctor Who: Comic CreatorDoctor Who: Comic Creator does what you’d expect from its name. When you’re between seasons of the hit sci-fi show, you can satisfy yourself by fashioning custom adventures about everyone’s favorite regenerating time traveler, who goes everywhere and everywhen in a beaten-up old time machine. Creating comics is akin to slapping down stickers – only you can move things around later. And you get a pleasingly diverse range of page layouts, along with a monster maker, so you can combine parts of the Doctor’s enemies into something suitably horrific. The main downside is most foes lurk behind various IAPs – would it have killed the BBC to throw in a Cyberman for free? Sadly, there’s no way to use the app to get all timey-wimey and change people’s minds when the app was being made.
Lego LifeLego Life is a social network for kids whose lives revolve around plastic bricks. Once you’re signed up, you explore feeds and follow themes, to become a better builder, or just see what’s current in the world of Lego. Unsurprisingly, there’s a nod towards advertising of a kind, in new product videos being liberally sprinkled about. But mostly, this is an app about inspiration. You’re regularly offered building challenges and knowledge tests; during lazy days, you can slap stickers all over a virtual Lego kit, or build a mini-figure for your profile. Given that it’ll mostly be kids using the app, it’s worth noting usernames are anonymized. You can’t type your own, and instead select from semi-random word lists. EmpressSensibleMotorbike, meet ElderSupersonicJelly!
Laugh & Learn Shapes & Colors Music Show for BabyLaugh & Learn Shapes & Colors Music Show for Baby is a two-part game designed for children as young as six months old. In Level 1, your youngling – now armed with a worryingly expensive piece of technology – can tilt and tap the screen to make shapes appear and bounce around. But Level 2 ramps things up considerably. “Let’s put on a show,” chirps the app as the five shapes wiggle and jig about on the screen, lurking above a colorful keyboard. And you know what’s next: maddeningly jaunty earworms, augmented by a deliriously happy baby smacking the huge piano keys. Your slow descent into madness will be worth it for the smile on their little face.
Toca Tailor Fairy TalesToca Tailor Fairy Tales is a dressing up app. You choose from a male or female customer, and then set about giving them a new and exciting outfit. As with other Toca Boca fare, this is a tactile, immediate app. Tap a garment to adjust its type; drag and you’ll change its length. Accessories can be added from an expanding box, if you decide your appreciative on-screen ‘manakin’ needs a trendy hat. The best bit, though, is the materials section. For each part of the garment, you can drag and drop materials onto it. This isn’t a question of merely recoloring either – you can pinch/rotate to make all kinds of crazy patterns, and even import photos or snap a texture using the iPad’s camera. Great stuff for tiny wannabe fashion designers. The best free music and audio apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for listening to podcasts, making music or being a virtual DJ.
djaydjay once existed in various forms on iOS, but is now a free, universal app that invites budding DJs to pay for the level of features that they want. If you’re not willing to splash out, there’s still plenty to enjoy. You get the full two-deck classic mode, featuring a pair of virtual record decks to spin, a crossfade mixer, scrolling audio waveforms, and a bunch of effects. The interface is intuitive and tactile, although you can delve into AI-driven auto-mixing when manual control seems like too much effort. Paying subscription IAP unlocks a slew of extra features, including a four-deck pro view, video, MIDI, and high-end mixing. For jobbing DJs, that’s perhaps the only option; for bedroom deck-spinners, the free app’s more than enough – and rather generous, given its high quality.
BeatwaveBeatwave makes it easy to create music. You select a voice and tap out notes on a grid. The grid can be set to various scales, ensuring the notes you use always sound good. Go deeper into the app and you can layer/arrange multiple loops, each of which can have a unique sound assigned. The app looks great, with an explosion of color bursting from each note as the playhead hits it. This is a welcome hangover from the app’s previous incarnation as a simplified digital take on the Yamaha Tenori-on. The more conventional redesign elsewhere robs Beatwave of some immediacy and playfulness regarding the play surface, although accessing all of its features is now a lot more coherent. Overall, it’s a good bet for beginners but also musicians looking for a fun sketchpad.
AudioKit Synth One SynthesizerAudioKit Synth One Synthesizer is an iPad synth bursting at the seams with dials to twiddle, buttons to push, and all kinds of exciting noises that blast forth from your speakers. Even if you’re not overly musically inclined, there’s fun to be had here by selecting presets - many of which use a built-in user-friendly sequencer, so you can fire off a melody by holding down a single key. There’s loads for musicians to delve into, including Audiobus and IAA support, customizable filters, and touchpad play surfaces. It’s hugely impressive and the sort of thing you’d usually expect to set you back north of 30 bucks, so it’s all the more surprising that Synth One is entirely free from ads and IAP - and that will always be the case, given that it’s also an open-source project.
Novation LaunchpadNovation Launchpad is about remixing electronic music using a grid of loops. For the beginner, it’s a friendly, intuitive introduction to music-making. You load a genre and just tap away, safe in the knowledge everything will always sound great. You can even record live mixes and share them with friends. There’s depth to Novation Launchpad as well – effects to apply, filters to experiment with, and the option to mix and match pad sounds. If you’re prepared to dip into your wallet, you can take things much further, importing your own audio files and working with a larger range of effects. On iPad, you can buy all of these things – and a MIDI sync feature – for a one-off $14.99/£14.99/$AU22.99 IAP. But even if you stick to the free version, Novation Launchpad proves to be suitably noisy fun.
Auxy Music StudioThe thinking behind Auxy Music Studio is that music-making - both in the real world and software - has become too complicated. This app therefore strives to combine the immediacy of something like Novation Launchpad's loop triggers with a basic piano roll editor. For each instrument, you choose between drums and decidedly electronic synths. You then compose loops of between one and four bars, tapping out notes on the piano roll's grid. Subsequent playback occurs on the overview screen by tapping loops to cue them up. For those who want to go a bit further, the app includes arrangement functionality (for composing entire songs), along with Ableton Link and MIDI export support. Auxy's therefore worth a look for relative newcomers to making music and also pros after a no-nonsense scratchpad.
GaragebandOn an iPhone, music-making app GarageBand is mightily impressive, but on iPad, the extra space proves transformative. In being able to see more at any given time, your experience is more efficient and enjoyable, whether you’re a beginner tapping the grid view to trigger loops, a live musician tweaking a synth on stage, or a recording artist delving into audio waveforms and MIDI data. Apple’s app also cleverly appeals to all. Newcomers can work with loops, automated drummers, and piano strips for always staying in key. Pros get seriously impressive track controls with configurable effects, multi-take recording, and Audio Unit support for bringing favorite synths directly into GarageBand. If you don’t feel terribly creative sitting in front of a PC, GarageBand’s the perfect way to unleash your Grammy-winning songwriter in waiting.
OvercastPodcasts are mostly associated with small portable devices - after all, the very name is a mash-up of 'iPod' and 'broadcast'. But that doesn't mean you should ignore your favourite shows when armed with an iPad rather than an iPhone. We're big fans of Overcast on Apple's smaller devices, but the app makes good use of the iPad's extra screen space, with a smart two-column display. On the left, episodes are listed, and the current podcast loads into the larger space on the right. The big plusses with Overcast, though, remain playback and podcast management. It's the one podcast app we've used that retains plenty of clarity when playback is sped up; and there are clever effects for removing dead air and boosting vocals in podcasts with lower production values. Playlists can be straightforward in nature, or quite intricate, automatically boosting favourites to the top of the list, and excluding specific episodes. And if you do mostly use an iPhone for listening, Overcast automatically syncs your podcasts and progress, so you can always pick up where you left off.
SeaquenceThere are two ways to approach Seaquence, where the first is as a really bizarre interactive album. Select a track and a bunch of little creatures swim about on the screen, which results in spatialized sound mixes. (Stick some headphones on to hear how their movements affect the placement of sounds being played.) You can manually fling the creatures about, or tap-hold to remove them. But Seaquence also enables you to edit. Add a new creature and it’ll instantly change the track. Tap a creature and you can delve into a scale editor, sound designer, and a sequencer for adjusting the notes of the current loop. A $6.99/£6.99/AU$10.99 IAP opens up a bunch of pro features; but for free, Seaquence is entertaining whether you’re just listening and occasionally bothering the digital sea life, or figuring out how to construct your own tunes.
BeatwaveBeatwave is a grid synthesizer/sound toy, loosely based on Yamaha’s Tenori-on. This means you tap notes by turning on the grid’s lights. When the endlessly looping playhead collides with one, you get an explosion of color, and a sound plays. Notes towards the top of the grid are higher, and those at the bottom are lower. Some instruments use the bottom two rows for drum sounds. Most importantly, though, Beatwave is designed to always make output listenable. It’s actually quite difficult to create anything horribly discordant, short of filling every square on the grid. For those who fancy more depth, the app offers plenty of alternate sounds, automated morphing, and the ability to save patterns to the sidebar, which you switch between with a tap. So it’s fun whether writing songs or just playing with sound and color. The best free office and writing apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for writing, email, spreadsheets, presentations and calculations.
FE File ExplorerFE File Explorer deals with a big shortcoming of Apple’s Files app: an inability to browse and grab files from local computers. It’s inexplicable you can’t use an iPad to browse a local Mac (outside of synced iCloud folders), but FE File Explorer makes doing so a cinch. It will also enable you to connect to a PC, networked local storage, and remote FTP servers. The snag is you can only do one of these things at a time. This is effectively a demo for the paid pro version, and so you must delete a connection and enter details for a new one each time you switch. The app also lacks Files integration. The former issue in particular might be a deal-breaker. But if you mostly need to get at files stored in one location, this app makes it very easy to do so.
Paper by WeTransferPaper by WeTransfer is the latest version of a much-loved iPad sketching app. It now echoes its earlier incarnation, in giving you a set of virtual journals that you then scribble pictures inside of. The tools are straightforward, and designed for getting ideas down quickly. But although you’re not deluged with options, the look of pen strokes and dabs of watercolor is spot-on. When you’re done, you can export a page to share with others. It all feels rather sleek and elegant. It’s worth noting that quite a few features are locked behind IAP: multiple image import; freeform cut; paste between pages; iCloud sync; multiple brush sizes. But the free take – despite its limitations – feels really nice to use, not least when you’re doodling with an Apple Pencil.
Otter Voice NotesOtter is a voice memos app with a fine line in automatic transcription. Talk to your iPad, and the app should do an excellent job of getting your words down (punctuation and all), so you don’t have to bother typing them out later. You get 600 free minutes per month – 6000 if you move to a paid tier. Notes can have imagery added inline, and you can highlight words or entire lines. Usefully, the app attempts to extract meaning from longer passages, giving you summary keywords to scan. Should you need to edit transcribed text, that’s possible, too. Ultimately, the app’s perhaps less useful for recording on iPad – although it works well enough. But with cloud sync, and features for working in teams, it’s an excellent option for getting at and using content you've recorded on your iPhone.
DuckDuckGo Privacy BrowserDuckDuckGo Privacy Browser wants the internet to leave you alone. Specifically, it doesn’t want you being tracked. It comes across like a stripped-back alternative to Safari that’s determined to have you leave no trace. Third-party trackers won’t follow you as you browse, meaning no relentless and suspiciously targeted adverts because you several days back happened to check out a nice new TV online. Sites are forced to use encrypted connections where available, and your searches are not tracked. The app grades sites you visit, too; and so even if you usually use Safari, DuckDuckGo gives you insight into any site’s underlying privacy measures. Also, if all of that doesn’t go quite far enough, and you want your DuckDuckGo browsing history to be nuked from orbit, a tap is all that takes!
Documents by ReaddleDocuments by Readdle has quite a lot of overlap with Apple’s Files, in the sense it’s designed as a place to stash, organize, and preview documents. However, it’s worth grabbing for its wealth of features. The app can import from a range of cloud services, but also local shared network drives, so if you want to get at documents on a Mac or PC, this is the cheapest way to do so. Imports can be arranged and archived as ZIP files, media can be previewed, and PDFs can be annotated. Documents also integrates with Files, thereby providing widespread system-level access to whatever you’ve stored. This and the app itself can sit behind Face ID/Touch ID, thereby turning it into an off-limits space for more secure files. In all, for free, it’s a no-brainer install.
LastPassLastPass in some ways echoes iCloud Keychain, in giving you a central repository for storing passwords and payment details. You might therefore wonder what the point is in using such a system. First and foremost, LastPass is fully cross-platform, so if you also work with Windows and Android, it means you can take your passwords with you everywhere, securely. But there are other advantages, such as secure notes and form fill options, all of which seamlessly integrate with devices running iOS 12 or later. There is a premium tier; US$24/£23/AU$38 per year adds sharing options, 1GB of encrypted file storage, and premium multi-factor authentication. For most users, though, the extremely generous free version should be enough.
Drafts 5Drafts 5 describes itself as the place where text starts. That might be a lofty claim on the iPad, given that Apple’s tablet has plenty of top-notch text editors, but Drafts has some pretty amazing tools to help you capture ideas faster and work on lengthy texts. The main writing view gives you a live word count, and a custom keyboard row for quickly getting at useful formatting options and actions. Texts can be tagged for grouping and retrieval purposes, and the app includes a large range of actions for processing and exporting missives. If you want to make your own custom actions you’re into subscription IAP territory, which also gives you custom workspaces, superior share extension options, URL automation, and themes. But even in its free incarnation, Drafts is extremely generous and a first-rate install.
ScanbotScanbot is a scanner with a sense of humor. No, you read that right – it starts off urging you to try a tutorial ‘challenge mode’. In AR, you chase documents around the floor, trying to scan them as quickly as possible. All this has a point: teaching you how to best to position your iPad when scanning, and to showcase how streamlined Scanbot makes the process. Once the scan’s been done, you can adjust crop and contrast levels, append more pages, and upload the end result to a cloud service of your choice. The app includes page size settings and integrates with iOS’s Shortcuts app. And if you upgrade to the pro version, you gain OCR text recognition, one-tap actions extraction for things like triggering phone calls, and robust document editing. But even if you stick with the free version, Scanbot’s an excellent choice.
BearA halfway house between full-fledged writing tool and capable note-taker, Bear provides a beautiful environment for tapping out words on an iPad. The sidebar links to notes you’ve grouped by hashtag. Next to that, a notes list enables you to scroll through (or search) everything you’ve written, or notes matching a specific tag. The main workspace – which can be made full-screen – marries sleek minimalism with additional smarts: subtle Markdown syntax next to headings; automated to-do checkboxes when using certain characters; image integration. There’s not enough here for pro writers – they’d need on-screen word counts, customizable note column ordering, and flexibility regarding notes nesting. Also, for iCloud sync, you must buy a $1.49/£1.49/AU$1.99 monthly subscription. But as a free, minimal note-taker for a single device, Bear more than fits the bill.
NumbersWith Numbers, Apple managed to do something with spreadsheets that had eluded Microsoft in decades of Excel development: they became pleasant (even fun) to work with. Instead of forcing workmanlike grids of data on you, Numbers has you think in a more presentation-oriented fashion. Although you can still create tables for totting up figures, you’re also encouraged to be creative and reader-friendly regarding layout, incorporating graphs, imagery, and text. On iPad, it’s all tap - and finger - friendly, too. With broad feature-parity with the Mac version, iCloud sync, and export to Excel format, Numbers should also fit neatly into most people’s workflow. And although updates robbed the app of some friendliness (whoever removed the date picker needs a stern talking to), it still excels in that department, from nicely designed templates through to the handy action menu, ensuring common tasks are only ever a tap away.
PCalc LitePCalc Lite's existence means the lack of a built-in iPad calculator doesn't bother us. For anyone who wants a traditional calculator, it's pretty much ideal. The big buttons beg to be tapped, and the interface can be tweaked to your liking, by way of bolder and larger key text, alternate display digits, and stilling animation. Beyond basic sums, PCalc Lite adds some conversions, which are categorised but also searchable. If you're hankering for more, IAP lets you bolt on a number of extras from the paid version of PCalc, such as additional themes, dozens more conversions, alternate calculator layouts, a virtual paper tape, and options for programmers and power users. The best free photo and video editing apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for editing photos, working with filters, adding text to photos and editing video.
sok-editsok-edit is a collage app with a decidedly old-school and scrappy outlook. Whereas the likes of (the admittedly excellent) Pic Collage are all about clean lines and grids, sok-edit invites you to roughly cut out bits of photos and stick them to other photos. It’s a fun app, with a gleefully tactile interface packed full of chunky buttons. Items can quickly be cut, flipped, and cloned, sound effects playing as you do so. Individual elements can be further reworked, rotated, and resized, and you can then slap text all over everything. The free version limits you to three images/text layers, although you can view an ad for more. Alternatively, the pro IAP is a mere $0.99/99p/AU$1.49 – ideal if you go a bit collage crazy.
VisionistVisionist echoes Prisma in having you load a photo that’s then transformed into something resembling a painting. However, you get more control in this app. There are 10 free styles to choose from (a one-off $1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99 IAP unlocks 60 more), but Visionist doesn’t stop the second you select one. Along with adjusting the effect’s strength, you can define how abstract it is, adjust the manner in which it interacts with the original image, and mix styles together. Some labels on the styles would be useful, not least those based on real-world artists; also, the end results do look rather digital in nature, rather than like they’ve appeared from the hands of an actual painter. But the important thing is they’re arresting, adding interest to even the most mundane of snaps.
InfltrInfltr stands for ‘infinite filters’. The app isn’t quite packed with endless options (there are ‘only’ around seven million), but feels limitless as you drag a finger across a photo and watch it change. But this is only one tool packed into a versatile, usable editor. You can crop, make adjustments to temperature and hue, fix perspective, mess around with blurs, and more. Edits are non-destructive, so you can always update or remove a setting. You can save up to three favorites for one-tap application as well. That limitation goes away if you pay for the subscription IAP - which also gives you HD export and additional tools, including color shift and selective HSL - but as a freebie, Infltr ably does the business. A no-brainer download for iPad users keen on fixing their snaps.
Enlight PixaloopEnlight Pixaloop wants photographs to get animated – in a literal sense. Load one up and you can draw paths to denote the direction of your flowing, looping animation, and use anchors and masks to make everything else stay put. The effect is like a cinemagraph, but you only need a single still, rather than a sequence of shots or a video. On iPad, Pixaloop benefits from the larger screen, and the accuracy an Apple Pencil affords. You can create some seriously intricate and eye-dazzling effects, even from fairly mundane source material. If you’re short on snaps, the app enables you to grab something from Pixabay. And when you’re done, you can export your work to video (although, alas, not animated GIF). It’s smart, sleek, and even though optional IAPs lurk, offers plenty of functionality for zero outlay.
Pic CollagePic Collage is a powerful app for creating photo collages. You can start with a freeform canvas or a card template, but the pre-defined grids are better. Select some photos and a grid, and the app will automatically arrange everything. Many apps stop there, but Pic Collage goes much further. You can tweak the frames, and perform adjustments on individual images. Movement can be added through importing up to three videos and later exporting your creation as a GIF. And if you’re feeling arty, you can scribble all over your grid-based masterpiece. Pic Collage hits that sweet spot of unlocking creativity in an immediate, usable manner. You get results fast. The only real negative is exports have a watermark, but if that bugs you, they can be gone forever with a one-off US$1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99 IAP.
PlotaversePlotaverse is an image editor and social network very much of the opinion that photographs are a bit rubbish unless they move. The meat of the app is Plotagraph+, which provides tools for animating your pics. The process is simple: mask parts you want to remain static, and then drag arrows to denote movement. Plotagraph+ then does its thing, resulting in an endlessly looping animation. Naturally, there are limitations. The system tends to work well with flowing subjects (such as water or clouds) and geometric patterns. Still, you can create amazing videos with a minimum of effort. The social networking bit is less impressive, as are cheesy effects overlays (free and paid) that are available for download. But in bringing a touch of Harry Potter to even the most mundane of snaps, Plotaverse feels like a little piece of magic on your iPad.
PrismaPrisma invites you to be an artist – albeit an incredibly lazy artist who’s not against a touch of stylistic plagiarism. There’s no actual drawing or painting here – you instead load a photo (or take one using the app) and tap an effect to apply it. This effect can be strengthened or weakened by swiping across the canvas. Rather than aping cameras and film types, Prisma is interested in traditional art – everything from classical to manga is fair game. You’ll need an internet connection to download and apply effects, but it doesn’t take long and you can remove any duds if your library starts to become cluttered. You’re not going to turn that shot of your lunch into a forgotten Kandinsky with Prisma, but the app is capable of gorgeous painterly results. High-res output is locked behind an $1.99/£1.79/AU$2.99 monthly subscription, but SD output is fine for posting online.
ClipsClips is a video editor designed for people who don’t want to spend a great deal of time editing – or even shooting. Unlike Apple’s iMovie, Clips is intended for impulsive shoots, and super-fast clip arrangement – a video editor for the social media generation. On iPad, you might question its relevance. After all, you’re not going to whip out an iPad Pro to quickly shoot someone larking about on a skateboard. But the iPad’s larger screen is superb for editing, making it easy to rearrange clips on the timeline and get a proper eye for the many included filters. There’s more lurking here too, including automatic animated subtitles, posters with customizable text and iCloud sync. Clips won’t make you a Hollywood legend, but it might just propel you towards Instagram stardom.
Photoshop FixIt's become apparent that Adobe - creators of photography and graphic design powerhouses Photoshop and Illustrator - don't see mobile devices as suitable for full projects. However, the company's been hard at work on a range of satellite apps, of which Photoshop Fix is perhaps the most impressive. Built on Photoshop technology, this retouching tool boasts a number of high-end features for making considered edits to photographs. The Liquify tool in particular is terrific, enabling you to mangle images like clay, or more subtly adjust facial features using bespoke tools for manipulating mouths and eyes. Elsewhere, you can smooth, heal, color and defocus a photo to your heart's content, before sending it to Photoshop on the desktop for further work, or flattening it for export to your Camera Roll. It's particularly good when used with the Apple Pencil (still a funny name) and the iPad Pro, such is the power and speed of that device and input method.
Adobe Photoshop LightroomMaking apps approachable is a good thing on mobile, but sometimes photo editors go a bit far, flinging all kinds of detritus into the mix (stickers; gaudy frames; a million indistinguishable filters). With Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, you instead get a more sedate and distinctly professional offering – although one that nonetheless retains plenty of immediacy. The basic toolset includes cropping, rotation, a bunch of measured and genuinely useful presets, and an editor for adjusting tones, vignettes, colors and lens issues. Edits aren’t burned in and so you can experiment and revert as you wish. When you’re done, you can send the result to your Camera Roll. If you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, you also get DNG support, and selective adjustments. But even as a pure freebie, Lightroom’s a must-have for any iPad owner interested in improving their photographs.
MuseCamThe App Store's awash with alternate cameras with editing smarts, but MuseCam warrants a place on your iPad's home screen nonetheless. As a camera, it's fine, with an on-screen grid and plenty of manual settings. But on Apple's tablet, it's in editing that MuseCam excels. Load a photo and you can apply a film-inspired filter preset (based on insight from pro photographers), or fiddle around with tone curves, color tools, and other adjustment settings. The interface is bold, efficient, and usable, making it accessible to relative newcomers; but there's also enough depth here to please those wanting a bit more control, including the option to save tweaks as custom presets. IAP comes in the form of additional filters, but what you get for free is generous and of a very high quality, making MuseCam a no-brainer download.
PhotofyAlthough Photofy includes a decent range of tools for performing typical edits on photos - including adjustments, cropping, saturation, and the like - this app is more interested in helping you get properly creative. Within the photo editing tools are options for adding in-vogue blurs and producing collages; and in 'Text & Overlays', you'll find a wealth of options for slapping all kinds of artwork and text on top of your photographic masterpieces. The interface works well through bold, tappable buttons and chunky sliders (although it takes a while to realise the pane containing the latter can be scrolled). And although some filters and stickers require IAP to unlock, there's loads available here entirely for free. (Also, Photofy rather pleasingly gives you alternatives for its watermark, if you don't want to pay to remove it, but aren't too keen on the default. Nice.)
QuikFormerly known as Replay, Quik is a video editor primarily designed for people who can't be bothered doing the editing bit. You select photos and videos, pick a theme, and sit back as Quik pieces together a masterpiece that can subsequently be saved and shared. For tinkerers, there are styles and settings to tweak. Post-Replay, the app offers its 28 varied styles for free, and you can delve into the edit itself, trimming clips, reordering media, adjusting focal points, and adding titles. Alternatively, the really lazy can do nothing at all and still get results - every week, Quik will serve up highlights videos, enabling you to relive favorite moments. These videos are quite random in nature, but are nonetheless often a nice surprise. Still, anyone willing to put in the slightest additional effort will find Quik rewards any minutes invested many times over.
SnapseedApple's Photos app has editing capabilities, but they're not terribly exciting — especially when compared to Snapseed. Here, you select from a number of from a number of tools and filters, and proceed to pinch and swipe your way to a transformed image. You get all the basics — cropping, rotation, healing brushes, and the like — but the filters are where you can get really creative. There are blurs, photographic effects, and more extreme options like 'grunge' and 'grainy film', which can add plenty of atmosphere to your photographs. The vast majority of effects are tweakable, mostly by dragging up and down on the canvas to select a parameter and then horizontally to adjust its strength. Brilliantly, the app also records applied effects as separate layers, each of which remains fully editable until you decide to save your image and work on something else.
The best free productivity apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for being more productive with cloud storage, timers, iPad keyboards, automation and more.
AuthyAuthy is a system designed to house two-step verification tokens. If you’re not already using two-factor authentication, you should be. It helps protect accounts from hackers by adding an additional layer of security – a regularly updating token linked to a specific device. A major benefit of Authy is how easy it is to synchronize tokens across multiple devices, rather than having to set things up on each one. This speeds things along when you, say, buy a new iPad or iPhone. The app can also generate tokens offline, rather than you having to wait for an SMS. On iPad, the app makes good use of screen real estate, with tappable buttons for accounts in a sidebar, and token text you could probably see from across the street, meaning you’re definitely going to locate it when you need to.
Launch Center ProLaunch Center Pro is similar in concept to your home screen, but with a greater degree of flexibility and customization. This makes it a good bet if you often work with the same apps, websites, or contacts. Setting things up is simple, and there’s a wide range of apps and actions to work through. Although you’ll need paid IAP to unlock location-based actions and scheduling – along with removing the actions limit – there’s still plenty you can do for free. Even if you don’t use the app that much, Launch Center Pro’s widget makes getting at commonly used items a lot easier. But the app is really where it’s at, bringing to your iPad a speed dial for your favorite things to launch, which you can easily rework whenever you feel the need.
CopiedCopied is a ‘shelf’ app – a means of saving snippets so you can use them later. This is advantageous over the iOS clipboard, which only offers a single slot. Text, images, and web page links can be sent to Copied from the clipboard or Share sheet, and the app is also drag-and-drop aware. In Split View or Slide Over, Copied can be used alongside other apps while researching and writing. Items within Copied can be formatted prior to pasting them elsewhere, too (to extract a web page photo’s source URL rather than the image itself, for example). Some features sit behind a $2.99/£2.99/AU$4.49 IAP, notably clip organization (lists/rearrangement) and sync, but even in its free version, Copied is worth a download if you spend time copying words and images between iPad apps.
Speed Test SpeedSmart InternetSpeed Test SpeedSmart Internet might have a name that appears to have sprung forth from an annual meeting of search-engine optimization experts, but the utility itself proves a useful install on your iPad. Prod a button and it checks your internet speed, providing readings on latency (response time), download speed, and upload speed. These tests don’t necessarily show the full speed your router is getting, but if you’re having connectivity issues over a period of time, SpeedSmart can be a useful way of logging results. Not only do you get a full history, but also a handy details pane that shows your location, offers extended information about each test, and lets you add notes. All good stuff to send your internet service provider’s way.
ShortcutsShortcuts is Apple’s revamp of automation utility Workflow. Its main goal is to save you time by performing complex tasks with simple interactions (such as a button tap), rather than going through a list of steps manually in multiple apps and websites. There are two ways to approach Shortcuts. The first is to delve into the gallery’s dozens of premade actions. These include everything from calculating tips to saving documents as PDFs. Everything you download can be experimented with, or you can start from scratch and construct your own workflows in the user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. This proves particularly effective on the iPad’s larger display, which gives you plenty of room to work. And this latest revamp makes workflows even easier to access, because you can trigger them using Siri voice commands.
Cheatsheet WidgetCheatsheet Widget is a notes app for all those little things that you need to remember – but never do. Its items are designed to be quick, glanceable fare (like phone numbers, codes and combinations and a few words) and are made easier to spot by twinning them with icons. Your list is created in the Cheatsheet Widget app, but the list can also be displayed as a Today view widget. Items within the widget can be deleted, or their content copied to the clipboard – ideal for things like open network passwords. For free, the widget will display four items from your list, and you can opt to always place new ones at the top. As of iOS 12, there’s a dark mode; and if you splash out on the one-off IAP, you also get iCloud cross-device sync, a Cheatsheet Widget keyboard, and no ads.
BundlerBundler is a boon to anyone who regularly finds themselves having to collect a selection of files that then need to be sent elsewhere – a common task in many kinds of workplace. Documents are added to ‘bundles’ using the Share sheet. In any compatible app, you share selected documents (or the current one) to Bundler and choose which bundle to place them in (or make a new one). On returning to Bundler, these documents can then be previewed and renamed. (In the latter case, ensuring your files have suffixes – JPG, TXT, and so on – is a good bet, or they aren’t always included on export.) Sharing a bundle sends it to a location or app of your choosing as a ZIP archive. The process is sleek and simple, and the dual-pane view on iPad makes things even easier when you’re juggling a large number of files and bundles.
DuckDuckGo Privacy BrowserDuckDuckGo Privacy Browser is a browser designed to make the internet less creepy, preventing websites following you around the web. It blocks every hidden tracker it can find, uses the privacy-oriented DuckDuckGo for search, and rates websites you visit in terms of how much they care about your privacy. It’s a combination of educational aid and web browser, and the latter bit isn’t half bad. It’’s a bit stripped-back compared to Safari, but you can still bookmark sites, open pages in tabs, and share content with other people. When you’re done, you can nuke your session’s search history with two taps. Even if it doesn’t become your primary browser, DuckDuckGo is worth installing. It’s ideal for browsing sensitive data such as financial and medical records, safe in the knowledge you’re not being tracked by nefarious scripts.
Firefox FocusThe web’s pretty great, apart from the bits that aren’t. And those bits are the manner in which your journey online is monitored by countless trackers. They look into what you’re viewing and where you’re going, aiming to serve up targeted ads. Beyond privacy issues, these trackers can slow down web pages and even crash browsers. Enter: Firefox Focus. The app itself is a brutally stripped-back, privacy-oriented browser. You go online, tracker-free, do whatever you want, and then stab Erase to delete your session. Which probably sounds ideal for nefarious purposes, but this is mostly great for basic efficiency, and also handy if someone wants to quickly get online using your iPad but not leave their accounts live when handing your device back. Beyond this, Firefox Focus can also integrate with Safari, blocking trackers and web fonts from that browser and, potentially, increasing its performance.
MultiTimerGiven the acres of space you get on an iPad display, it’s a bit odd that Apple’s own clock only provides a single timer. Fortunately, MultiTimer – as its name suggests – goes somewhat further by offering multiple options. In fact, depending on the layout you choose, you can have twelve timers all ticking away at once. Each one of them can have its own icon, color and default time assigned, for those people who need to simultaneously exercise, boil eggs, and cook a turkey. Smartly, the app works in portrait or landscape, and if you want a timer you can see clearly across the room, a single button press zooms it to fill almost the entire screen. Should you want a bit more flexibility by way of multiple or custom workspaces, there’s a single IAP to unlock those features.
SlackWe're not sure whether Slack is an amazing aid to productivity or some kind of time vampire. Probably a bit of both. What we do know is that the real-time messaging system is excellent in a work environment for chatting with colleagues (publicly and privately), sharing and previewing files, and organising discussions by topic. There's smart integration with online services, and support for both the iPad Pro and the iPad's Split View function. Note that although Slack is clearly designed with businesses in mind, it also works perfectly well as a means of communicating with friends if you don't fancy lobbing all your worldly wisdom into Facebook's maw.
ThoughtsThere are plenty of apps for doodling on your iPad, but Thoughts differentiates itself by going for a kind of razor-sharp minimalism that’s vanishingly rare these days. On creating a new document, you can draw with a finger, and resize the canvas with a pinch. There’s also an eraser, a small palette to change colors, an interesting night mode (which flips black to white) and that’s pretty much it. It sounds reductive, but in reality frees you up. You’re not thinking about line thicknesses and the like – you’re just drawing. Export is a little disappointing – it would be good if you could have a vector format rather than a fairly low-res bitmap – but otherwise Thoughts is a nicely simple sketching tool for iPad.
TunnelBearVPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are becoming very popular, due to issues people increasingly face when browsing the web. A VPN can be used to circumvent region-blocking/censorship and security issues on public Wi-Fi. Such services can baffle people who aren't technically adept, but TunnelBear is all about the friendlier side of VPNs. With bears. After installing the app and profile, you'll have 500 MB of data per month to play with. That said, TunnelBear’s exclusive TechRadar plan offers a far more generous 5GB, 10 times the amount you get if you sign elsewhere. Tunnelling to a specific location is simply a case of tapping it on the map and waiting a few seconds for the bear to pop out of the ground. Tweet about the product and you'll get an extra free GB. Alternatively, monthly and annual paid plans exist for heavier data users. The best free travel and weather apps for iPadOur favorite free iPad apps for planning a holiday, currency conversion, weather forecasts and mapping.
Saildrone Forecast - WeatherSaildrone Forecast - Weather wants to be an app you gawp at because it’s so stunning. Even as the app delivers the news that your afternoon’s going to be ruined by freak torrential rain, it will do so in a way that at least bathes your eyes in visual bliss. The dark UI is stylish, and looks very smart as bright clouds billow across the landscape, chased by snaking animated lines on an optional wind layer. It’s good at the forecasting bit, too. There’s unfortunately no next-hour’s rainfall graph, but you can delve into graphs for the next two days’ temperatures, rainfall, and wind speeds. Given the polish and elegance here, Saildrone feels premium. It’s therefore quite the surprise to discover not only that it’s free, but also that there aren’t even any ads.
Today WeatherToday Weather is weather forecasting aimed at iPad owners with an eye for style. Launch the app and it displays a photo to represent the current weather in your location. Below that, you’ll see a brief overview of current conditions. Scroll and you get an extended forecast and further details (including rainfall, air quality and wind speed), all rendered in almost painfully cool neon tones atop a dark background. If the photo’s a bit much, you can get rid of it. Either way, this is a great weather app for a docked iPad, and even the sole ad can easily enough be scrolled off-screen. Neatly, there’s also something for when forecasts don’t quite gel with your own observations: if you don’t get on with Today Weather’s data source, you can switch it for Dark Sky, Accuweather.com, or YR.no.
Google EarthGoogle Earth is about exploring our planet. Search for somewhere specific and the app swoops and dives to its target. Important landmarks are rendered in 3D that’s surprisingly effective – if you don’t zoom in too far. This is an entertaining, tactile app that encourages investigation. You can drag and spin the screen, and flick through cards that point towards local landmarks. Fancy looking at something new? Hit the random button, or tap on the Voyager icon for stories based around anything from UNESCO World Heritage Sights to trekking about Kennedy Space Center. The app is effortless to use, and the iPad’s large screen enables you to more fully breathe in the sights; the result is armchair tourism that’s far more effective than what you’d get even on the largest of iPhones.
Google MapsGoogle Maps is an app that might seem an odd fit for an iPad, but we’d argue it’s an essential install. First and foremost, it’s much better than Apple’s Maps for figuring out journeys: Google Maps can more easily find points of interest, and ably deals with public transport information. Local areas can be explored in terms of amenities (food, drink, and sometimes entertainment), and in a more direct sense, with the road-level Street View. The latter is a great way to familiarize yourself with a place before you visit. If you always have your iPad on you, Google Maps can save maps for offline use as well, so you don’t even need an internet connection to use it. Alternatively, sign up for a Google account, and the searches you make will be synced with the app on your iPhone.
MomondoThere are two things a good flight comparison apps needs to be: easy to use, and useful results. Broadly speaking, Momondo ably does the job in both cases. Looking for flights is simple; the app allows a pleasing amount of vagueness regarding locations (including regions with multiple airports, such as ‘London’, or even entire countries, such as ‘New Zealand’), and it’ll happily enable you to search for singles, returns, or multi-city jaunts. As search results gradually load in, the app points you to the cheapest and quickest options, along with what it considers ‘best’ when taking into account price, time and convenience. For some routes, a calendar graph lets you check nearby dates to see if you can snag a bargain. Additional filters are available to further refine your results, and you can create an account to save favorites and receive fare alerts - plus hotel listing can be added in too, should you want a more comprehensive.
TownskeTownske seems to bill itself as an app akin to Foursquare – a place to find the best local cafes, restaurants, and sights in major cities. But really it’s more of a place where photo-bloggers can publish their unique take on amazing locations, thereby providing you with gorgeous photos and succinct chunks of writing to devour. You can jump right into the main feed, or focus on a specific city. You then tap on a photo to open an individual story. Every one we tried was rich in superb imagery, with just enough text to add meaningful context without interrupting the flow of the visuals. Neatly, you can tap a map icon to see where the various photos were all taken; and if you sign up for an account, favorite stories or individual images can be bookmarked for later. But even if you simply treat Townske as a regularly-updated lean-back digital take on a newspaper travel supplement, you can’t really go wrong.
Weather UndergroundWith a native weather app bafflingly absent from iPad, you need to venture to the App Store to get anything beyond the basic daily overview Notification Center provides. Weather Underground is the best freebie on the platform, offering a customizable view to satisfy even the most ardent weather geeks. Current conditions are shown at the top, outlining the temperature, precipitation likelihood, and a local map. But scroll and you can delve into detailed forecasts, dew point readings, sunrise and sunset times, videos, webcams, health data and web links. The bulk of the tiles can be disabled if there are some you don't use, and most can be reordered to suit. Although not making the best use of iPad in landscape, the extra screen space afforded by Apple's tablet makes the Weather Underground experience a little more usable than on iPhone, enabling faster access to tiles. And for free, it's a top-notch app, although you can also fling $1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99 at it annually if you want rid of the unobtrusive ads.
XE CurrencyXE Currency is a currency converter that’s far from the prettiest of its kind – but it is useful and has all the right features. Initially, it lists a few currencies, with the base one at the top. Tap an item in the list to select it as the new base currency; you can also adjust the base figure – tap on the number, and then enter something new in the calculator. The list of currencies can be changed at any point, and an item’s position adjusted by tap-holding and dragging it. Beyond that, you can analyze rates, by punching in an alternate exchange rate, view graphs that outline rates for a pair of currencies over the past decade, and sign up to free rate alerts, which notify you when specific points are hit. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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