Apple : 5G Samsung Galaxy S10 won't be ready at launch, source claims |
- 5G Samsung Galaxy S10 won't be ready at launch, source claims
- Does anyone actually want to buy an 8K TV?
- Super Bowl 2019 TV deals: The best deals this week from Sony, LG, Samsung and more
- Internet Explorer 10 set for termination in January 2020
- AMD's latest earnings should have Intel and Nvidia shaking
- Best ergonomic office chairs 2019: top seats for comfort when working
- The best portable laptop battery chargers and power banks in 2019
- Galaxy S10 Plus-bound? Samsung officially reveals 1TB storage chip for smartphones
- Best security camera system for your business in 2019
- Best portable SSD of 2019: top external solid state drives
- Best NAS devices of 2019: top Network Attached Storage for the home and office
- Best free web hosting of 2019
- UK businesses will have to cancel .eu websites after Brexit
- YouTube Music rolls out to Sonos speakers
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – release date, trailers and news
- Best laptops for photographers in 2019: Photo editing in Photoshop
- Tubi: Everything you need to know about the free movie and TV streaming service
- The best rugged laptops of 2019: we test drop-proof laptops for working outside
- AI and ethics: looking inside the black box
- Best business smartphone of 2019: top mobiles for work
| 5G Samsung Galaxy S10 won't be ready at launch, source claims Posted: 30 Jan 2019 01:16 PM PST Samsung’s next flagship phone, the Galaxy S10, has entered production, a source told The Investor. But reportedly, the first wave of these phones won’t include 5G-capable devices. The source claimed that Samsung started mass production of Galaxy S10 phones at its manufacturing lines in Korea on January 25 – but these are models running on 4G. That flips the previously-understood arrangement wherein those factories would produce the 5G variants, while facilities outside Korea would handle the 4G editions. “The 5G Galaxy S10 is still in the pipeline and will start being produced later during the first half,” the source told The Investor (presumably, the first half of 2019). A previous rumors alleged, Samsung’s 5G S10 would be released on March 29, but without any more concrete info on launch dates, it’s impossible to tell whether this represents a slipped delivery date or if it was the plan all along to roll the 5G model out later in the year. Anything else?The source affirmed a few other details we’ve heard so far, like in-screen fingerprint sensors across all three Galaxy S10 models, a triple-lens camera and a pre-installed screen protector. “All three S10 smartphones will house a fingerprint sensor beneath the screen allowing users to identify themselves in a more convenient manner than before,” the source told The Investor, countering a rumor we heard before that the cheapest model will have a side-mounted sensor. We’d heard rumors that two higher-end models, the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus, are expected to have an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor to map prints in three dimensions, while the less-expensive third version will have an optical sensor to create 2D print images. We’ll have to wait for further Samsung S10 leaks to get a clearer picture of what’s coming in the new S10 phones – but we’ll see who was ultimately right when Samsung officially unveils the devices at its Unpacked launch event on February 20.
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| Does anyone actually want to buy an 8K TV? Posted: 30 Jan 2019 01:12 PM PST Once upon a time, 4K TVs were just a pipe dream. Pie in the sky. A beautiful, but unrealistic dream for consumers, and a nightmare for content providers. However, for a small portion of us - those who binge on Netflix and Amazon Prime like it's our day job - it's a dream that's slowly becoming reality. Sure, we might not see massive adoption numbers (even newly formed 8K Association says global adoption of 4K is only sitting at 15%) but it's happening. Why then, if we've just barely adopted 4K, are TV manufacturers pushing for 8K? Does anyone actually want them? We spoke to industry analysts to find out. The case against 8K TVsNo one out there is doubting TV manufacturers' ability to produce 8K screens. Samsung and Sharp may have been the first major brands to launch 8K TVs last summer, but CES 2019 saw LG, Sony and Panasonic follow suit with screens of their own, and Chinese brands such as ChangHong, Skyworth and TCL hot on their tails. The impetus for TV manufacturers to create bigger and better screens is clear: higher-powered screens cost more money to make and fetch a higher price. But is 8K any more than merely the latest attempt to persuade us all to buy a new TV we don't need? "8K to my mind will make less of an impact than the migration from 1080p to 4K made," says Werner Goertz, research director at analyst firm Gartner. "Samsung and LG has shown prototypes of 8K displays for a few years, and though they always have truly brilliant pictures when it comes to still images, it's lacking content, as was the case with 4K when it was originally launched." Without content – of which there is virtually no sign aside from an 8K satellite TV service called 8K A-PAB in Japan – are we really expected to buy an 8K screen? "The step from 4K to 8K in terms of content is an even bigger one than from 1080p to 4K," says Goertz. "In the absence of truly compelling content and use-cases for 8K, I think adoption will take longer ... Let's see if we can saturate 4K TVs first, then we'll talk." It would seem, according to some analysts, that 8K is a solution looking for a problem. AI upscaling and trickle-down techTV manufacturers and industry groups like the 8K Association are well aware of the lack of content. They're certainly not blind to the problem at hand. That's why almost every brand showing an 8K TV is talking about upscaling technology, which is being promoted as a way to resolve the lack of 8K content - and, also, a great way of pushing the flagship picture processing tech, too. For an example of an 8K TV with all the latest conveniences look no further than the Samsung Q900 8K TV with Bixby AI, a combination of picture processing and Samsung’s own home-baked (and usually overlooked) voice control. Adding AI upscaling was a wise move - most of us watch a lot of content in less-than-HD quality on 4K TVs, so any premium 8K TV that upscales with ease will have a head-start on a rival 4K TV without the same tech onboard. Of course, consumers are only one small section of the TV consumption pie. Sharp’s 70-inch 8M-B70AU, unveiled at CES 2019, was talked-up for use in broadcast, sporting venues, surveillance, video post-production, medical training, museums, galleries and for graphic arts. That last point may be surprising, but 8K as a technology is not for TVs as we know them. 8K is about two things; virtual reality headsets and video walls. When VR headsets get 8K chipsets, they will at last offer the kind of immersive experience required to make them worthy of their name. So what about video walls? It's now possible to make display panels – even flexible and bendable displays – just a few millimetres thick, and the advent of 8K panel fabrication in factories means that even most 4K TVs are cut from 8K panels. We're all already multitaskers when it comes to content, and if economies of scale can be met, an 8K video wall in a living room could find a use as a place to watch up to four streams of 4K – perhaps live TV, gaming, and a smart home hub screen or two. The case for 8K TVsVideo walls might sound like the world of science fiction but, according to analysts, that's probably where TVs are heading. IHS Markit reported recently that global shipments of 60-inch+ TVs increased more than 40 percent in the third quarter of 2018. Analysts predict that trend to continue in the next few years and according to IHS data presented at the 8K Association's inaugural press conference at CES, 60-inch+ TVs could make up around 20% of the total TV sales by 2025 - a fair number of which will be 8K. As a result of this demand for bigger TVs, IHS Markit predicts that 430,000 8K TVs will be sold in 2019 and 3.6 million in 2020. That's a far cry from the number of 4K TVs that are expected to be sold in the next two years - but 3.6 million screens is nothing to sneeze at. So, does anyone want an 8K TV? Apparently yeah, we do.
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| Super Bowl 2019 TV deals: The best deals this week from Sony, LG, Samsung and more Posted: 30 Jan 2019 12:23 PM PST Super Bowl 2019 is now less than one week away, but that doesn't mean you don't have time to take advantage of all the fantastic TV sales that are going on right now. You can find Black Friday like prices on a variety of best-selling TVs from brands such as Sony, LG, Samsung and more. Shop more of our Super Bowl 2019 TV deals below and make sure to check back as we will be updating and adding more deals as we get closer to the big game. Super Bowl TV deals:If you've missed your chance to check out the Super Bowl TV sales and prices have gone back up, there's no need to worry, we cover the latest cheap TV deals throughout the year. You can find more offers with these direct to retailer links below if you want to browse their full range. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Internet Explorer 10 set for termination in January 2020 Posted: 30 Jan 2019 11:12 AM PST Microsoft has warned users that in addition to ending support for Windows 7 in 2020, Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) will be phased out as well. IE10 was released back in 2012 and in 2016 the tech giant shifted its focus to supporting IE11 and Microsoft Edge letting users know that the previous version of its browser would no longer be supported. However, not every operating system was capable of running IE11 and its Edge browser only worked on Windows 10 as it was one of the key selling points of its new OS. Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 Embedded continued to run IE10 but that is set to change when Microsoft makes IE11 available for both operating systems later this year. End of supportWindows Embedded 8 Standard and Windows Server 2012 will remain supported until 2023 and enterprises will have to update their version of Internet Explorer before the company ends support for IE10 in 2020. In a post on its IT Pro blog, Microsoft explained its timeline for ending IE10 support to businesses, saying: “You will have until January 2020 to complete the transition from Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) to IE11. After this, we will not release any security or non-security updates, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content changes for IE10.” Enterprise users will be able to download IE11 through the Microsoft Update Catalog and the company highlighted the fact that upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer will make it easier to migrate to Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 or 2019 or Windows 10 IoT. Via The Register
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| AMD's latest earnings should have Intel and Nvidia shaking Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:44 AM PST AMD is one of the few tech companies surging on Wall Street this past week, besting the likes of Intel and Apple with favorable earnings. The chipmaker's revenue of $1.42 billion (about £1.09bn, AU$1.97bn) for its fourth quarter means that it was up 6% year-over-year. Yes, it narrowly missed Wall Streets’ $1.44 billion (about £1.10bn, AU$2bn) estimates, its stock price is currently up more than $15 at the time of writing. It's more than just the latest quarter that's gone well for AMD. As for its annual 2018 financial results, it reported $6.48 billion (about £4.96bn, AU$9.01bn) in revenue and a net income of $337 million (about £258m, AU$468m). That's dramatically better than the total $5.3 billion (about £4.05bn, AU$7.37bn) in revenue and $33 million (about £25m, AU$46m) net income the company made last year. What's behind AMD's growth?AMD attributes its growth to a 50% increase in Ryzen desktop processor shipments and doubling enterprise-grade Epyc CPU shipments since the previous quarter. Looking toward 2019, AMD CEO Lisa Su shared her hopes to see a 30% increase in Ryzen desktop processor sales and a 50% increase in notebook processor sales – the latter of which seems to be a major focus with the introduction of 2nd Gen Ryzen Mobile processors. The golden childAnnual financial results time hasn’t been particularly kind to tech companies in 2018. Apple announced it was seeing a continuing slump with iPhone sales, with revenue for the smartphone falling 15%. Before Nvidia even announces its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018 financial results on February 14, it lowered its fourth-quarter predictions by $500 million (about £382m, AU$695m). Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang cautioned “Q4 was an extraordinary, unusually turbulent and disappointing quarter.” So far, AMD seems like the only company not to cry wolf about “deteriorating macroeconomic conditions” and the slowing economy in China impacting its business.
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| Best ergonomic office chairs 2019: top seats for comfort when working Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:40 AM PST We’re quite prepared to spend perhaps thousands of pounds on PCs, tablets or phones, and maybe a good chunk of money on a huge 4K eye-friendly monitor. But we may well be sat in front of all this expensive equipment in a £30/$30 desk chair. And while our eyes are being treated nicely by that monitor’s flicker-free or low blue light tech, our back probably won’t thank us in the long run for being hunched in a rickety old seat that would probably be more at home in the nearest skip than in our study or office. You’ve doubtless heard it before, but it’s definitely true that if you spend long hours at a desk in front of a computer, it’s well worth spending some money on a proper ergonomic office chair that ensures you maintain good posture while working (or indeed watching videos, online gaming, or whatever your PC poison happens to be). Some of the fancier chairs may be expensive, but they provide all manner of clever tricks and tweaks to make sure the seat is properly adjusted to your needs – such as a sliding seat pan, or movable armrests. A pricey chair will also generally be covered by the likes of a 12 or 15-year guarantee, so these manufacturers put their money where their mouths are in that respect. Although if you can’t afford one of the more expensive names, we have of course covered some cheaper yet still ergonomically solid options in this article. And rather than buying new, you could always get your Herman Miller or Humanscale chair much cheaper second-hand. In theory, there’s nothing wrong with buying a used chair and potentially saving yourself a packet, but the possible danger with second-hand is the product could be old and might be so well-worn that it no longer provides the same level of support for your back (and limbs). So we’d advise those in the market for a second-hand seat to actually check out the chair in person, if at all possible. Or at least buy from a trusted seller with some kind of solid return policy, otherwise you could be taking a substantial leap in the dark. Even with new chairs, if you can possibly get to a store where you can try them out and give them a ‘test sit’, that’s probably a good idea…
Humanscale Freedom Humanscale makes some seriously nifty seats, and the Freedom is, for us, the pinnacle of that niftiness. It not only looks fabulous – particularly in the leather option – but the really clever bit is that the Freedom is designed to do away with any complex knobs or levers, adjusting itself automatically to fit the ideal ergonomics for your body. For example, when reclining the chair, it automatically adjusts the backrest resistance to the optimal level. The headrest (which is optional) also dynamically adjusts itself to the user, and the end result is a whole lot of comfortable sitting, without having to do any thinking about tension settings and so forth. There are, of course, some adjustable parameters, including the armrests which move in tandem (so they’re always at the same height as each other). This is not a chair for the faint of wallet, but bear in mind that the pricier models are the leather and polished aluminum offerings. Remember that there are versions with plain fabric and a graphite frame – they might not look as high-end, but they still provide the same superb sitting experience, often for a few hundred pounds less. Also note that this chair is backed by a 15-year warranty, which exceeds even Herman Miller’s confidence levels.
Herman Miller Aeron Herman Miller is one the biggest name when it comes to ergonomic seating, and the Aeron is our favorite from the many chairs this vendor offers. It uses a mesh material for the back and seat, and has benefited from a redesign since the initial model, in which the chair kept its essential aesthetic but was improved in a number of ways. These enhancements included the overall frame being shifted forward to encourage what the designers describe as a more natural sitting posture, along with a new more streamlined tilt mechanism. The overall idea is the chair is more ‘lively’ and responsive to the user’s body, and it also offers more intuitive controls than the older Aeron. The mesh material allows for good airflow and also helps with keeping the body cool, or that’s certainly the design intention, although we have heard some folks moaning about the comfort level of the mesh. Ergonomic chairs aren’t supposed to be big padded things, though, as in fact great wads of cushioning aren’t conducive to correct posture. This is an expensive offering that comes fully assembled and offers a lengthy warranty at 12-years.
IKEA Markus For those whose wallets are cowering at the price of some of the more expensive ergonomic chairs out there, IKEA’s Markus is doubtless a welcome spot of fiscal relief. Unsurprisingly, you don’t get much in the way of fancy adjustments, but this is a sturdy chair which is well liked by many people, and offers a comfortable upright sitting position, with a long back and integrated headrest. The back is made of a mesh material to let the air through and provide better breathability. There are some adjustments available to the user: you can adjust the seat for height, tilt, and the back can be locked in place, or it can be reclined. Other than that, this is a fairly basic chair, but well-made for the money – it costs a fraction of some of the higher-end seating options. An unexpected bonus in this price bracket (around the £150 mark – that’s about $190) is that the Markus comes with an impressive 10-year guarantee.
Steelcase Gesture Steelcase is another well-known name in the ergonomic chair world, and our recommended pick from this manufacturer is the Gesture. This is a smartly designed seat replete with a load of adjustments, including highly mobile armrests which you can position wherever they’re needed (so you can adjust them for width, pivot and so forth). That’s a major plus point when it comes to getting a chair that feels just right for you. The Gesture can be equipped with a headrest, too, although note that the base chair doesn’t come with an adjustment for lumbar support – if you require this, you’ll need to specify it as an option. The reason this feature is omitted by default is that Steelcase has designed the seat to automatically adjust its lumbar support to the user’s body and weight. However, you might want to test out the chair yourself and see if you might require the manual lumbar adjustment, as we have seen a few complaints online regarding the lack of this ability. Note that stock of these chairs is plentiful enough in the US, but can be thin on the ground in the UK, so you might have to look at second-hand options, bearing our aforementioned caveats in mind. Indeed, at the time of writing, we couldn’t spot any new stock for sale online, although Amazon has had the chairs available in the past, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the retail giant’s site.
Herman Miller SAYL If you want a more affordable option in the Herman Miller range – bearing in mind that affordable is a relative term here – then check out the SAYL, a lightweight and compact chair with a very novel design. Again, this has a mesh back, and not only does it use this material to help with breathability and keeping your body cool, but it’s actually frameless, and designed to adapt to the specific contours of your back. Essentially, the design of the back was inspired by the suspension bridge, and the idea is to allow you to move with freedom, while still supporting the spine. This is a chair you might well want to test out before you buy considering its rather unique aspects, but those who fall in love with the SAYL give it truly glowing reports. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s coming on for half the price of the likes of Herman Miller’s Aeron.
Also consider6. Herman Miller Embody The Embody chair is a firm favorite with many, although it’s a pricey piece of equipment. Its narrow backrest and ‘pixelated support’ system is unique, and supposed to give the user the sense that they are ‘floating’ and perfectly balanced. Both the seat and backrest automatically adjust to all the micro-movements made by the person sitting in it. 7. Humanscale Diffrient World Another one from Humanscale, this is a lightweight and minimalist task chair which is designed to use the laws of physics and user’s bodyweight to adapt itself to the correct position for good posture. Diffrient World is a more affordable option than the Freedom chair which we covered above. 8. Kloeber Mera Klimastuhl This is a novel product which boasts something that no other ergonomic chair on the market offers: climate control. The Mera Klimastuhl has built-in heating pads (in the seat and backrest) to warm the occupant up if it’s cold in the office, and it also has a ventilation function to keep the user cool on a hot summer day. It’s also a well-designed ergonomic chair to boot. 9. ONGO Seat Here’s something a little different – this is a simple stool which is designed to promote core strength and good posture by sitting on it for short periods at a time. Note that ONGO isn’t supposed to be used as an all-day seat, but rather it’s something you can swap in for your normal desk chair for a little while, to help build those core muscles. It’s kind of like sitting on a Swiss ball (aka exercise ball) with the same strengthening effect, except it’s safer! Although you could try a Swiss ball if you’re very careful – it’s certainly cheaper (we draw the line at dragging your Space Hopper out of the attic, though). 10. HAG Capisco Puls 8010 The rather novel and minimalist looking HAG Capisco Puls chair is inspired by the posture of a horse rider, with an adjustable saddle seat that can be easily moved between low and high working positions. The seat depth and backrest height can be adjusted, as can the tilt resistance. Also note that the Puls variant is lighter than the base HAG Capisco chair. Top Image Credit: Humanscale
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| The best portable laptop battery chargers and power banks in 2019 Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:38 AM PST If you’re looking for an easy, portable way to charge your laptop, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve sorted through dozens of chargers and gathered up the best portable laptop battery chargers on the market. Because, if you’re trying to get some work done on one of the best laptops while traveling, then one of the top portable laptop battery chargers is extremely important – and finding the right one for your own specific needs is even more important. You won’t have to worry about getting stranded in the middle of nowhere when you buy one of the best portable laptop chargers. With these convenient devices, you can make sure you can always get your work done – no matter where you are. With the Mophie Powerstation AC, high power output is the name of the game. This portable laptop battery charger is able to power a 15-inch MacBook Pro. Meanwhile, the USB-C port is rated at 30W with a USB-PD label, meaning its one of the few batteries capable of fast charging an iPhone X or iPhone 8. If you have a newer laptop, and find yourself running out of juice throughout the day, the Omni 20 USB-C might be for you. Not only does it have an insanely high capacity, but it also allows charging of multiple USB-C devices simultaneously. So, if you’re working and you need to charge your Nintendo Switch and a mobile device, you go for it. Plus, the Omni 20 also serves as a USB hub, clearing out some extra storage space in your bag.
The PowerAdd Pilot Pro2 doesn’t just come with 10 connectors that cover most of the laptops on the market today, but it’s backed by a two-year warranty. That means you can use the 23MAh/85Wh capacity without worry. The Pilot Pro2 is also light enough to carry around wherever you go, coming in under 560g. The only thing that holds it back is that it doesn’t have any USB-C connectors, so if you have a modern Ultrabook or MacBook, you may want to go elsewhere, otherwise you’ll have to carry a separate power supply to keep the battery charger backed up. As technology marches forward, new laptops need less power to function. This is especially ture for high-end laptops like the MacBook Pro, HP Elite x2, Huawei Matebook Pro X or the Dell XPS 13. For all of these devices, and more, USB-C is king – the RAVPower uses this revolutionary connector to deliver up to 30W of power, which should be plenty for the best Ultrabooks. You can recharge it using a 30W wall charger that can also be used to power compatible laptops – very handy, indeed. The MaxOak MacBook Charger is a perfect example of a laptop battery charger that goes the extra mile to make sure that it matches the expectations of its audience. This portable laptop charger has all the hallmarks of an Apple device, without the logo – but that’s what those Apple stickers are for – with a matching brushed aluminum finish. It’s the second most capacious portable laptop battery charger on this list, but its huge amount of juice comes with a catch – it carries so much power that at least one airline has outright banned it, so bear that in mind if you plan to use this charger while traveling. It’s also pretty heavy at almost 1kg and will cater to most MacBooks, but nothing else. This is the only charger in this list that targets Microsoft’s popular Surface range by offering the appropriate DC output voltage (12V and 15V). It comes with a generous five ports, four of which allow you to charge other 5V devices (that includes anything from other power banks to tablets and smartphones). What’s especially interesting about the Qi-infinity Upgraded Powerbank is the addition of fast-charging through Qualcomm’s Qi tech. You’ll be able to charge the new MacBook as well, but no traditional laptops that rely on a 19V DC output. Just keep in mind that its capacity of 35Ah may not be allowed on some airlines, similar to the MaxOak devices above and below.
The K2 is the world’s second highest mountain and it is fitting – to some extent – that MaxOak named this battery after that lofty peak. After all, at 50Ah, this is the biggest battery on our list and one that is also the heaviest of the lot. It supports laptops up to 60W (3A, 20V) as well as fast-charging. Note that it takes up to eight hours to charge the battery and that can only be achieved via a proprietary charger. Sadly, it doesn’t carry a USB Type-C connector – which makes it useless for newer laptops – and you won’t be able to lug it around on the plane (as with the previous two peripherals, the massive capacity here may mean it’s banned on some flights). Sandberg's Powerbank is neither the cheapest nor the most powerful around. However, it does come with a couple of features that make it a rather enticing option. It outputs to a number of voltages (12V, 16V, 19V and 20V), automatically choosing the right one depending on the device which is connected. There are also two USB ports, and they’re hardwired to output 5V. You’ll also get 12 different charge tips, but if you have one of the best Ultrabooks that need a USB Type-C port for charging, you’ll be out of luck. It also features a premium brushed aluminum finish, with bright blue LED status lights that clearly indicate the amount of juice left, or how close the battery is to being charged.
If you are looking for a versatile laptop charger, then do consider this RavPower offering. It is by far the most expensive model on our list, but this Reddot award winner carries a feature that no one has replicated till now. It has an AC output that can deliver up to 100W of power – yes, this could even power a TV if needed. Note that you will probably need an adaptor (there’s one bundled) because the power bank can only accommodate two-prong plugs. You will be able to take it on a commercial flight, but you will not be able to recharge it via USB. Dell sells the Power Companion with various battery capacities. It is more compact than the RAVPower models, and the unit looks like a Dell power brick that charges your laptop. When you're at your desk, you can daisy-chain to recharge the Power Companion and your Dell laptop by connecting your Dell charging brick to the Power Companion, and then connecting it to your notebook. Dell's Power Companion is a far sleeker battery pack if your office relies on Dell Inspiron, Latitude, XPS or Venue laptops and tablets, with the added benefit that it has extra USB ports should you need them. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Galaxy S10 Plus-bound? Samsung officially reveals 1TB storage chip for smartphones Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:34 AM PST Samsung has officially introduced a 1TB embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) – in other words, the first terabyte-sized native storage solution that’ll likely make its way to mainstream phones. Presumably, this will include the company’s upcoming Galaxy S10 flagship device, which will be unveiled in less than a month. More storage is obviously a good thing in consumer devices, and they’re often march-of-progress upgrades that top device makers tout when comparing new products to those from competitors. In phones, native storage is one of these spec flashpoints alongside processor speed and RAM. This new 1TB eUFS is the same package size (11.5mm x 13.0mm) as the previous 512GB version produced by Samsung, per a press release. It’s made of 16 stacked layers of Samsung’s 512-gigabit V-NAND flash memory and a new proprietary controller. “The 1TB eUFS is expected to play a critical role in bringing a more notebook-like user experience to the next generation of mobile devices,” said Cheol Choi, executive vice president of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics in the release. In other words, expect this to come to more than just Galaxy phones. More space is always betterObviously, more local storage is better for consumers. And Samsung’s new 1TB eUFS boasts 38% faster random read speed over its 512GB predecessor, while large files (like, say, a 5GB HD video) can be offloaded to an SSD 10 times faster than a microSD card. Faster speeds are better for transferring data and taking/storing new data, like from still photos or videos. With that kind of space, you could store 260 10-minute videos in 4K UHD – a lot more than the 13 4K UHD videos you could store on a phone packing a more basic 64GB of space, Samsung claimed in its press release. Lower-end phones routinely cut costs by minimizing storage space (64GB is the typical bottom, but the cheapest can go as low as 32GB). They typically offer the option to expand via microSD slot. Even the mighty iPhone XS starts at 64GB, yet it doesn’t have expandable storage. Instead, Apple offers its cloud service with a comically-small 5GB free tier and more storage for monthly subscriptions. So what phones will have a 1TB version?The 1TB Samsung eUFS is great...for higher-end phones. You probably won’t see this trickle down to mid range devices for a couple years. Given how few phones had a 512GB storage option, the 1TB will be, at least for 2019, the top-end storage choice for flagships from Samsung and other Android-powered phones. But just how many phones is up for speculation. Rumors suggest the Galaxy S10 will get a 1TB storage option, but only in the larger Galaxy S10 Plus – and only coupled with a staggering 12GB of RAM. That seems like a high-price prestige tier option, which we’ve previously seen in limited-run special editions of phones like last year’s Porsche Design Mate 20 RS (8GB RAM) and OnePlus 6T McLaren (10GB RAM). In other words, perhaps Samsung is working on its own elite version of its next smartphone. (Lamborghini Edition, anyone?) But we certainly haven’t heard that any other Android phones slated for this year will pack that much storage space. Yet. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best security camera system for your business in 2019 Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:33 AM PST Buying the best security camera for your business is one of the most important purchases you can make. Getting the best security camera to keep an eye on your business or office gives you peace of mind, and can keep potential thieves at bay. Plus, if the worst does happen and your business is broken into, you will have evidence that will help you claim on your insurance, and even hopefully get your stolen items back. The best business security cameras are now extremely versatile and easy to set up. The best office security cameras for your business will include smart, connected, cameras that can simply join your Wi-Fi network in your building in order to relay footage right to your phone, no matter where you are in the world, with no need for a networked video recorder, while any motion-triggered recordings can be saved in the cloud, or locally on a microSD card. By using a smartphone as your interface, many new features are made possible. For instance, you can draw areas of active motion sensitivity within the camera’s field of view to limit the number of alerts that arrive on your phone, and some of these cameras have object recognition and can tell the difference between a person and an animal, or a car. The most significant thing that these new IP cameras have in common is their accessibility. None of our top 10 selection require a professional installation and they all come with slick companion apps that make protecting your property easy and, if we’re honest, kind of fun. Netatmo’s sophisticated outdoor camera cum security light is expensive, but it has a lot to offer. As well as carrying out 24-hour surveillance in Full HD, it also acts as a security light whenever motion is detected. What’s more, it can differentiate between the movement of a car, a person, or an animal, so that your alerts are more specific. The distinctive design will either look stylish or incongruous depending on your property and exactly where it’s installed, but regardless of any issues with aesthetics, the Presence will certainly make itself felt, and hopefully make potential burglars think twice. Read the full review: Netatmo Presence Nest’s stylish camera is backed up by the slickest companion app we’ve come across, while its Nest Aware service, which stores up to 30-days of footage in the cloud, is the most reliable and accessible around. The only problem is that it’s also the most expensive and without paying for a subscription, you cannot access all of the camera’s features. The camera itself is very well specified, and for some folks, its integration with other Nest products, like the brand’s smart thermostat, is what will give this device an extra edge over the competition. Read the full review: Nest Cam Outdoor If you’re looking for a quick and easy option for surveying your office, then this all-seeing eyeball is an appealing solution. It’s not the cheapest option, especially as it works best with a paid monthly subscription, but Circle’s intuitive companion app makes it very simple to set up and stay secure. The compact, swivelling form factor makes sense, especially with its magnetic base and built-in battery for truly wireless installation. For larger businesses, however, we’d recommend a camera that can integrate more readily with existing systems like HomeKit, or SmartThings, or at least other Logitech cameras, as the Circle works best on its own. Read the full review: Logi Circle With its smart, solid and compact design, the Arlo Q has instant appeal as a discrete security camera. And it’s backed up by the user-friendly Arlo app that enables you to access key features, like the push notification settings, with a minimum of fuss. Our experience with getting the camera online didn’t go well and our Wi-Fi network struggled to stream its 1080p live view, but your mileage may well vary, and you might not find any such stumbling blocks. In which case, the overall usability of this product, combined with its relatively robust build quality and the generous seven-day free cloud storage plan, make this a good way to start protecting your property. Read the full review: Netgear Arlo Q The Ezviz Mini Plus is a discrete and diminutive IP camera that’s simple to install and easy-to-use. And while it looks like an entry-level model, it’s actually the model up from the Ezviz Mini and offers 1080p resolution, adjustable motion sensitivity and a microSD card slot. It’s really only missing motion zone adjustment and object recognition. The picture quality has poor contrast, but high detail with reasonable night vision. However, it’s a pity there’s no internal battery and no integration with Nest, SmartThings, or HomeKit. Read the full review: Hikvision Ezviz Mini Plus For outdoor, around-the-clock sentry duty, a tough dome camera like this is a safe bet, especially when it’s supplied by one of the big hitters of the security industry. You won’t find any of the fancy features you get with the new IP camera crowd – things like object recognition and motion zone detection – and the app looks downright basic compared to that of Nest or Netatmo. But this camera is built to last and it hits a remarkably competitive price point too. Read the full review: Foscam F19853EP We found this logical fusion of smart light and IP camera to be an exceedingly convenient solution to a basic security problem. Simply screwing it in place of the pendant light in our reception area gave us not just a controllable energy-efficient smart light, but 24-hour surveillance with an all-around view. The price is realistic too, but we cannot fully recommend this version with so many obvious omissions and design flaws. The lack of an IFTTT channel is trivial, but the omission of motion activation for the LED is more serious, and will be a deal-breaker for many. We’ll be very surprised if there isn’t a revised model in the pipeline that addresses all of these issues. Read the full review: Sengled Snap With its appealing design, microSD storage slot and the surprise bonus of an audio out jack, this little camera is a cut above the most basic IP cameras. The 1080p video quality is up to scratch too, capturing video clips that show fairly crisp images. While it is easy to set up, it’s not the most user-friendly design we’ve tested, but it does offer enough flexibility to suit many commercial and domestic situations. The fact that it’s backed by a major brand, and boasts good integration with products like SmartThings, Google alerts, and Picasa is also reassuring. For a fairly modest outlay, this security camera delivers a reliable performance – provided you use the Ethernet cable, because Wi-Fi connectivity can be flaky – and a good set of features. Read the full review: Samsung SmartCam SNH-P6410NB This little IP camera offers a simple and cost-effective springboard into the surveillance game, as it comes complete with local storage on a microSD card and a free app that makes it easy to monitor your property remotely. And by recording a wide 180-degree view whenever its motion sensor or mic are triggered, the DCS-2530L does its job quite well. The plastic construction does feel a little vulnerable, however, and app support is decidedly less sophisticated than the competition, so we would advise spending just a little more if you’re serious about surveillance. Read the full review: D-Link DCS-2530L As a holistic smart home solution, Panasonic’s system has lots of appeal for homes and businesses. The far-reaching DECT system has advantages over less secure Wi-Fi IP cameras, and the growing family of sensors Panasonic is offering gives you some confidence about buying into its smart home dream. However, the cameras themselves are too limited in their picture and sound quality to compare well with the current competition, while the app doesn’t offer the same slick features of the latest IP cameras from Nest, Netatmo and others towards the top of this list. We’d recommend waiting for the inevitable mark II models. Read the full review: Panasonic KX-HN6002EW This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best portable SSD of 2019: top external solid state drives Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:24 AM PST Welcome to our pick of the best portable SSDs of 2019. In this guide we look at the most dependable portable SSDs that combine speed, storage space and portability to ensure that you can safely keep all of your important files with you on your travels. The best portable SSD for your needs will come with bags of capacity, so you won't run out when storing your important files, such as photographs, while also making use of the inherent speed benefits of using solid state disks. So, when looking to buy the best portable SSD, you'll want to consider how much storage space it has. Around 500GB should be enough for many people, but if you want to store lots of large files, such as uncompressed videos, photos or music, then you should consider 1TB or higher of storage space. You'll also want to consider what type of connection the portable SSD has. Older connections, such as USB 2.0, will cause a bottleneck, as the connection cannot transfer files as fast as the SSD can read and write. The best portable SSDs, then, will come with a more modern connection for faster SSDs. At least USB 3.1, or the newer USB Type-C connection. Of course, you'll need to make sure that your laptop or computer also supports these connections. So, read on to find out what our picks are of the best portable SSDs money can buy in 2019. Samsung is a company that has made some brilliant portable SSDs, and you'll see a number of its devices on this list, however the Samsung Portable SSD T5 is our pick of the best portable SSD of 2018. It builds on the brilliant design and performance of its predecessor, the Samsung T3 SSD (also on this best portable SSD list), but brings it up to date with an incredibly fast USB Type-C connection that ekes out every last drop of performance from the solid state drive inside. Of course, it's also backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 if your PC doesn't have USB Type-C. It's expensive, but it's well worth the cash. Read the full review: Samsung Portable SSD T5 Seagate is a well-known brand when it comes to storage, and it's brought its impressive experience to the portable SSD market with the brilliant Seagate Fast SSD. This is an impressively slim external SSD, at only 9mm thick with a footprint of 94 x 79mm. Best of all, it's affordable – with prices likely to drop – and it’s an excellent performer, relatively small, plus it has a nice design and a three-year warranty. Well worth considering if you're looking for a the best portable SSD for a low price. Read the full review: Seagate Fast SSD 500GB If you want speed above all else, and money is (almost) no object, than the Samsung X5 Portable SSD is the best portable SSD for you. It comes with a Thunderbolt 3 connection that takes full advantage of the super-fast speeds of the brilliant Samsung 970 Evo NVMe SSD that comes inside. However, that pure dedication to speed comes at some expense. First, there's the financial expense, as this is a pricey external SSD. It's also larger and bulkier than the Samsung T3 or Samsung T5, which are also on this list. The device is fairly heavy at 150g, triple the weight of the Samsung T5, and at 116 x 60 x 18mm, it can best be described as portable rather than miniature. However, when it comes to performance, the Samsung X5 Portable SSD is definitely the portable SSD to go for. Read the full review: Samsung X5 Portable SSD The Samsung Portable SSD T5 is one of the best performing portable SSDs money can buy, capable of reaching speeds up to 550 MB/sec, making the most of the USB 3.1 specification. It plugs directly into PCs and Macs with either a newer USB-C port or USB-A, is roughly the size of a matchbox and being a flash storage device, contains no moving parts, so can survive being dropped. Samsung has made some of our favorite external hard drives over the years, and the Samsung Portable SSD T5 continues its proud tradition of making brilliantly-designed external drives that perform brilliantly. It's got loads of storage space – up to 2TB – but it is a bit on the expensive side. Storage giant Western Digital is no stranger when it comes to storage gear aimed specifically at pro photographers, and with the WD My Passport Wireless SSD it has created another brilliant device that photographers (or even regular users) will love. It joins WD's growing stable of wireless hard drives, which allow you to view and move files via a Wi-Fi connection, rather than with a cable, which is handy. However, over Wi-Fi, you're not utilising the full speed of the SSD. It also connects via USB 3.0, which offers very good speeds, but not quite as fast as USB Type-C or Thunderbolt. But the flexibility and durability of the WD My Passport Wireless SSD is certainly tempting, plus it comes with a built-in SD card reader, making it one of the best portable SSDs for photographers. Read the full review: WD My Passport Wireless SSD The Adata SD700 will suit those looking for a rugged storage device that can provide ample capacity without costing too much. It offers good speeds, and it's IP68 rated, which means you can carry it around with you without worrying about it getting damaged. It comes in capacities up to 1TB, so you don't have to worry about missing out on storage space just because it uses an SSD. However, it doesn't come with the new USB Type-C connection, which means speeds aren't quite as fast as they could be.
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| Best NAS devices of 2019: top Network Attached Storage for the home and office Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:13 AM PST Buying the best NAS device for your needs doesn't need to be complicated and confusing, and in this guide we'll show you the very best network attached storage devices money can buy, as well as detail everything you need to consider when looking to buy a new NAS device. But first, we need to explain what a NAS is. The best NAS devices are network attached storage – these devices are basically external hard drives that connect to your network, rather than your PC. This lets you access the NAS through basically any device you feel like. The best NAS setups will also allow you remote access, so you can access your files from the other side of the globe if you feel so inclined. The best NAS devices will also be platform-agnostic, so you can access them from every device, regardless of OS. So, now you don’t have an excuse – read on to find the best NAS devices for both the home and office. If you’re looking to increase the storage capacity of your NAS, you can check out our list of the best hard drives. When buying the best NAS device for your needs, you need to consider a few things. First of all is storage space. Many of the best NAS devices on this page come with hard drives already installed. This makes getting them up and running quick and easy, but you'll need to think carefully about how much space you need. Remember you'll want enough space to hold all of your important files, and sometimes even duplicates. There are some NAS devices that come without hard drives, which you'll need to buy yourself. This gives you a bit more flexibility when it comes to the size – and speed – of the NAS device, and if you shop around you could save yourself some money. You should also consider backup and data redundancy measures for the NAS drive. Some of the best NAS drives can hold multiple hard drives. These can be used to mirror the data held on each drive, which means if one drive fails, you've not lost your data. The best NAS drives will also allow you to easily backup the data onto an external hard drive for extra protection. WD has achieved quite considerable success with its unashamedly consumer-friendly My Cloud products, which can stream to any DLNA-compliant device and can be accessed via mobile apps for iOS and Android. Labeled as a 'personal cloud,' it's a NAS box by any other measure and starts at 2TB of storage (you can also get it in 3 or 4TB). As it's a one-bay unit, it can't back itself up to a drive inside the unit, but it can back up to an external hard drive via a USB port on the back.
Picking up on the 'personal cloud' theme, this unit from Seagate takes its lead from My Cloud, but it offers far larger capacities, along with dual bays for two hard drives. This allows the Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay NAS device to mirror the files on one hard drive to a second one, giving you protection in case one of those drives fails. We also like the no-fuss appearance of this unit, meaning it can sit nicely under a router or on a shelf. It works with cloud accounts, including Dropbox and Google Drive, and you can also use an app to share content to streamers, including Chromecast and Roku. The QNAP TS-251A is a fantastic NAS device that has more features than you can shake a stick – or the included remote control – at. It offers dual Ethernet ports, a HDMI out for connecting it up to a TV and respectable hardware including a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Celeron CPU and 4GB of RAM for hardware transcoding media files. The QTS OS lets you easily install a variety of apps, from Plex Media Server, file sharing apps and even a karaoke app, as well as run Ubuntu Linux for even more flexibility. In short - this is a fantastic NAS device, though you'll need to buy the hard drives separately, so factor that in to the overall cost. This 2TB dual-bay NAS (it's also available in 4, 6, and 8TB capacities) comes from Buffalo, the company that also makes the TeraStation line of advanced NAS units. The key selling point of this model is that it can integrate directly with BitTorrent, meaning it can download stuff for you even when your PC is turned off. Like many of the other devices here, you can also stream to it via various devices, it's platform agnostic and you can use it as an iTunes server.
Once in a while, a product comes around that challenges the conventions of their product category. The DS1817 is one such product. Most NAS devices that occupy the ‘value’ space tend to be underpowered and have little to no room for expansion. The DS1817 flies in the face of those conventions, and allows users to fill the included eight drive bays with whatever they choose, so that you can get as much (or as little) storage as you’d like. Plus, on top of this heaping expandability, the 10GbE LAN and Quad-Core CPU mean that you’ll never be left wanting for performance. Read the full review: Synology DiskStation DS181 This two-bay unit can create a mirrored backup of your stuff (duplicating your data on both drives), using RAID configuration. That's quite an advanced feature for a consumer box and you do pay quite a lot for that capability and WD's user-friendly presentation, including an easy-to-master, browser-based control screen. This is a 4TB unit (6, 8, and 16TB units are also available). For extra peace of mind, you can also back the contents up to Dropbox. Anyone looking at purely technical aspects will instantly fall in love with the Synology DiskStation DS1517. Thanks to its quad-core CPU and up to 8GB of RAM, this NAS can reach sequential speeds of 111.4 MB/s write and 110.3 MB/s read without even breaking a sweat. When you combine that raw performance with the DS1517’s expandability, you have a recipe for a NAS that can stack up against the best NAS devices on the market. However, be aware that the DS1517 isn’t cheap, and unless you’re a creative professional, or you’re looking for a NAS for a small business, it might be overkill. Read the full review: Synology DiskStation DS1517 As well as the RAID capabilities found in more expensive and complex NAS devices, this box is meant for small business use and supports Microsoft Active Directory. It can also act as a file server, FTP server, backup server and P2P download server. WD's EX series are also available in diskless variants, though this price is for the 4TB version. 8TB, 12TB and 16TB are also available. If you don't need any of this extra stuff, then get the My Cloud Mirror. If you're looking for a NAS device to help manage your backup needs, the DL4100 might be worth. taking a look at. One of the coolest features of this device is its web dashboard that offers users options for backing up to cloud services such as Dropbox and Box. Additionally, we really liked the ability to set up SMS and email alerts in case the system failed for whatever reason. As far as storage options are concerned, the DL4100 comes with four drive bays in your choice of four configurations. Aside from some annoying issues with wireless transfers, we found that the DL4100's 1.7GHz dual-core Atom processor and 2GB of RAM (configurable up to 6GB) performed admirably. Combine this with an easy setup and cloud connected web apps, and you have an interesting backup offering on your hands.
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| Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:05 AM PST The costs of setting up and maintaining a website can add up quickly, so picking the best free website hosting provider for your needs can help cut costs, and this list of the top-rated service providers out there will hopefully help you make the right choice. Designing, developing and maintaining a website all need an outlay of one sort, so it's important to minimise expenditure where they can; which is one reason why website builders have grown in popularity over the past few years. Web hosting is one area where costs can easily grow, as hosting packages are generally sold with monthly billing. There are a (dwindling) number of providers that offer free web hosting, however, and whilst such packages will not be suitable for most businesses, others have a great opportunity to try new things before scaling website projects. Below is a selection of the best free web hosting available to everyone and since they are all free, nothing prevents you from trying all of them. Infinityfree is one of the few providers that offer unlimited bandwidth and storage In the world of free website hosting, Infinityfree stands out for good reasons. It has a well designed website that makes a positive impression and ticks the right boxes for us. Its homepage gets a C performance grade in our load time test but other than that, it looks pretty solid. It has been in the business for over six years, claims to have 200,000 users and offers unlimited disk space and bandwidth (albeit with a very generous 50,000 daily hits). You can host as many domains as you want but you will only get 10 e-email accounts and one FTP to upload your content. There is no hidden fees and despite its free status, you will get a 99.9% uptime guarantee (although you are more or less on your own if your site goes down) and the popular Softaculous Script installer. (with more than 400 applications. We were surprised to see that its features list include 400 MySQL databases (where others give only a handful, if at all), a free DNS service, free SSL and free Cloudflare CDN. As expected Infinityfree offers a cheap paid for hosting (Infinityfree Ultimate Premium) that offers unlimited everything for $5.90 per month, worth an upgrade as you will also get access to CloudFlare Railgun, which cuts load times significantly. Freehostia offers a number of different hosting tariffs with outlandish names like Lovebeat, Wildhoney and Supernatural. Its free plan, Chocolate, gives users 250MB disk space, 6GB bandwidth each month, PHP & MySQL compatibility and 3 POP3/IMAP email accounts. Server uptime is guaranteed at 99.9% and 24/7 user support is provided should any problems arise. It even offers a surprisingly good 1-hour ticket/email response promise. Joomla, WordPress, phpBB and other PHP scripts can be installed with one-click using Freehostia's Elefante Installer and upgrading to any of the paid premium packages can also be done in one-click, should users outgrow the free plan. As you would expect, 5GBfree provides 5GB of free hosting space to users along with 20GB of monthly bandwidth, 3 MySQL Databases and PHP scripting. There's no email included in the package, but the company is proud of the technology it offers, claiming, "At any other hosting company, you could be paying between $15 and $20 a month for the same cutting edge software (including the revolutionary CloudLinux operating system!), hardware, and security certifications." Support is provided in forums via the 5GBfree community and users who require expert phone support can upgrade to the Pro version, which costs $2.95 per month and offers both unlimited disc space and bandwidth. Of the free hosting providers convered in this article, Freehosting.com is the biggest hitter in terms of bandwidth since it's unlimited, and you just need to make sure you follow their Fair Use Policy. The service also includes 10GB of server space and one email account. For users without a domain name, free subdomains are also offered, such as freesubdomain.freehosting.com. Paid package is also available, offering unlimited disk space and monthly transfer as well as unlimited email accounts. Freehosting is also one of the few to actively encourage using the hosting service to backup your important files (e.g one 10GB ZIP file), great as it doesn't have a limit for file sizes. Byethost is part of Byet Internet, a US-based provider of hosting, domain name and reseller services. With more than one million websites hosted, It claims that its free hosting service is, "one of the most powerful networks dedicated solely to free hosting in the world." Users are given 1GB of server space (although, as of late, it looks like this has been changed to unlimited), 50GB of monthly bandwidth and MySQL / PHP compatibility. They also benefit from 24/7 tech support and access to Byethost's community and knowledge base. And if you are ever interested in becoming a free web hosting provider yourself, Byethost operates a separate entity, myownfreehost, that allows you to do just that. For businesses that want free hosting with green credentials, Awardspace provides a solution. It offers CO2-neutral hosting with all of its servers running on wind-generated electricity. Its free plan provides 1GB of storage (a 15MB upload file size limit), 5GB of bandwidth per month and up to five MySQL databases. One associated email account is also included. Users have access to online documentation and 24/7 support should any issues arise. Live chat is also available for pre-sales queries. Worth noting that the servers of Awardspace are located in Kiel, Germany, rather than in the US and house more than one million websites. There's a nifty test hosting speed service that allows you to check the transfer speed in a live environment. FreeHostingEU is a joint project set up and run by FreeDomain.co.nr and AttractSoft GmbH. Yes, Germans are at the forefront of free web hosting in Europe. Three hosting tariffs are offered - two paid and one free. The free package provides 200MB of space, 4GB of bandwidth per month and one associated email account. Five free domains at .eu5.net are also included but they are likely to be of little use for most UK businesses. Also, you get three free web site builders. For users of Wordpress and Joomla, one-click installation is provided and languages supported are PHP, MySQL, CGI, Perl, Flash. Worryingly though, the user forums have been closed until further notice. For businesses that are looking for hosting that is quick and simple to setup, U Host Full promises the ability to setup a site within five minutes.It also provides a host on one-click installers for platforms including Wordpress, Joomla, phpBB, Mambo, osCommerce and Zen Cart. Uptime is guaranteed at 99% with unlimited server space provided and unlimited bandwidth per month. Email is also included. Now we don't know what the catch is but it is definitely one of the better deals out there especially since it doesn't have any adverts. Note that there doesn't seem to be any limit to the size of the files uploaded which is a pleasant surprise. All of the free hosting options included in this article are ad-free, with revenue generated by other means. Free Hosting No Ads celebrates this more than others, but still offers a solid free hosting deal with 1GB of disk space. The deal also includes 5GB of monthly bandwidth and three POP email accounts. Three PHP versions are supported (5.2-5.4) and three MySQL databases are also included. As expected, the free service is subsidised by the paid-for service. Just note this though... "FreeHostingNoAds.net reserves a right to send 1 promotional email message every 6 months that can promote our affiliate products." You may however unsubscribe from the marketing marketing list. Free Virtual Servers is another free web hosting platform with an impressively straight-talking name. Signing up to the free web hosting service will get you a decent amount of server space - 100MB - which should be enough unless you have a very image-heavy site, and most of the usual features we've come to expect from free web hosting services. Bandwidth is a bit on the tight side, however, with just 200MB, which is enough for small, simple websites, but if your site starts getting popular, you may have to think about upgrading. Also worth looking atYou might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides:
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| UK businesses will have to cancel .eu websites after Brexit Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:00 AM PST UK businesses with websites that contain the top-level domain '.eu' will have two months to transfer ownership to sister companies in the EU after Brexit. The policy, which has been set following discussions with the European Commission, was confirmed by the domain name registry EURid that operates the '.eu' top-level domain. Businesses that fail to take action in the two month time period following Brexit are at risk of having their rights to use '.eu' domain names withdrawn and eventually cancelled. The right to register web addresses with the '.eu' domain is restricted under EU law and the UK government issued a warning late last year, saying: “If your current .eu registration is due to expire after 29 March 2019, you may wish to discuss transferring your registration to another top level domain. Examples of other top level domains include .com, .co.uk, .net or .org.” Domain namesThe deadline for UK businesses with '.eu' domain names is fast approaching and EURid issued a warning to users, saying: "As of 30 May 2019, 00:00:00 CEST, all registrants who did not demonstrate their eligibility will be deemed ineligible and their domain names will be withdrawn. A withdrawn domain name no longer functions, as the domain name is removed from the zone file and can no longer support any active services (such as websites or email) but the record will remain in the .eu registry database, and may be reactivated if the eligibility criteria are satisfied." Additionally, twelve months after the UK leaves the EU, all affected domain names will be revoked and will become available for general registration. This means that businesses that fail to change their domain name risk someone else snatching it up which could be quite problematic. UK-based owners of '.eu' domain names will also no longer be able to renew them if they expire after Brexit. Via Out-Law.com
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| YouTube Music rolls out to Sonos speakers Posted: 30 Jan 2019 10:00 AM PST Your Sonos speakers just got a bigger music library. YouTube Music, the spin-off music-streaming service from the YouTube video platform, has now landed on Sonos speakers around the world. Sonos is known for its high-end, premium audio speakers like the Sonos One, Sonos Beam, or Sonos Play:5 (pictured above). The addition of YouTube Music only adds to the wide range of songs, albums, and podcasts available – with a particular focus on live performances, cover tracks, and remixes you won't always get through competing streaming services. Using the Sonos app, you'll now be able to play YouTube Music's 'recommended' listening suggestions, new releases, top YouTube charts, personalized playlists, and the whole of your YouTube Music library. You'll also get the benefit of YouTube Music's impressive search results system – it is owned by Google, after all – meaning you should be able to find tracks by typing in lyrics (even misheard lyrics) rather than needing the exact track name. As with Spotify, you'll be able to listen to YouTube Music for free, although a premium subscription – for $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$11.99 – will net you ad-free listening. You can sign up for a three-month free trial if you're not sure, too.
Loud and crowdedThere's no shortage of music streaming services out there, and YouTube Music launched into a market already saturated with Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Google Play is technically a competitor to the Google-owned YouTube Music, although they each have their own respective libraries – and it's possible we'll see the services merge more in the future. For now though, the addition of YouTube Music gives Sonos customers more options than ever.
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| Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – release date, trailers and news Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:57 AM PST Hold on to your lightsabers: there's a new Star Wars game in development, and it's called Jedi: Fallen Order. The reveal came in a surprisingly low-key fashion during EA's conference at E3 2018, during an off-the-cuff interview with Vince Zambella, co-founder of Respawn Entertainment (of Titanfall fame). While fans of the galactic franchise have seen official tie-ins in the form of Star Wars Battlefront I and II, the new entry seems to be taking a different tack, possibly focusing on a single-player experience more in line with 2008's The Force Unleashed – but we have all the concrete news and wild speculation you could want below. Cut to the chase
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order release dateJedi: Fallen Order has been confirmed for release in time for the 2019 holiday season in the US, so we expect to see it some time around the end of this year, in time for Christmas. Star Wars Battlefront I and II were both released on November 17, in 2015 and 2017 respectively, so it's likely Fallen Order will fall on the same date (or in November anyway). Given the two-year windows between each game, though, this may mean a third Battlefront game is a long way off. Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017) Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order trailersAt the time of writing, there's no trailer, or even any concept art to go on. When there is one, it's likely to be at EA's official Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order webpage – but feel free to stare at the site and drool in the meantime. There is, however, this video from EA on its future Star Wars titles: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order news and rumorsA Padawan called Cal? According to rumored information from a Star Wars marketing day (which obviously made its way to Reddit) the story will take place roughly five years after Revenge of the Sith and will follow surviving Padawan Cal (via GamesRadar). This rumor also states that one of the game's main plot points will revolve around Cal's mentor figure - a woman named Ceres. It's set after Revenge of the Sith We don't know the specific time in which the game is set, but we've heard that it will take place at some point between Episodes 3 and 4, after the end of Revenge of the Sith but before Luke Skywalker's appearance in A New Hope. 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. You'll play as a young padawan EA's official webpage for Fallen Order specifies you'll play "a surviving Padawan", technically meaning a Jedi apprentice rather than a fully-fledged master of the Force. Given the dearth of living mentors left to train you, it's possible Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda – or some less high-profile Jedi, like Quinlan Vos – will appear in a supporting role. The single-player mode comes first Respawn co-founder Vince Zambella tweeted about the upcoming game, describing it as an 'SP' (single-player) story. While a multiplayer component seems likely, given both Respawn's strengths in the area and EA's focus on online play, it sounds like the primary focus this time could be on a well-delivered single-player experience. Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017) I find your lack of faith disturbing It's been a bit of a fallow year for Star Wars, with Star Wars: A Solo Story struggling in cinemas and the negative player response to EA Dice's Star Wars: Battlefront 2 – largely in reaction to its prevalent use of microtransactions – still in recent memory. 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. So, while we haven't heard much about Fallen Order so far, it looks like the game is in safe hands. Keep checking back here for all the latest Jedi: Fallen Order news This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best laptops for photographers in 2019: Photo editing in Photoshop Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:50 AM PST Welcome to our list of the best laptops for photographers and photo editing. In this guide we look at the best laptops that can help photographers using applications such as Photoshop or GIMP! to edit photos on. Photo editing software can be pretty intensive, especially if you're working on high resolution raw files and getting stuck in with advanced effects, so you'll want to make sure you get a laptop for photo editing that is powerful enough. So, dedicated graphics are worth investing in for the best Photoshop laptop, as the graphics card can do a lot of the heavy lifting. You also need to consider how portable you need your laptop to be. The best laptops for photo editing can rival traditional desktop hardware in the speed stakes, and unlike laptops of old, many boast pixel-perfect displays with stunning color, as well as wide contrast to keep highlight and shadow detail consistently visible. To make things as easy as possible, we've rounded up the best laptops for Photoshop that take all of that into consideration, so you can find the best Photoshop laptop for your needs. At the bottom of this guide you'll also see our list of key things photographers need to look out for when buying the best laptop for photo editing. If you're after the latest and greatest laptop from Apple, then this year's 13-inch Macbook Pro with touchbar is a brilliant choice if you're looking for a laptop to edit photos on. It's the best laptop Apple has ever made, and builds new features into the classic design. Of course the headline feature is the touchbar - it's a thin OLED display at the top of the keyboard which can be used for any number of things, whether that be auto-suggesting words as you type or offering Touch ID so you can log in with just your fingerprint. This makes it an excellent laptop for photographers using Photoshop, as it has a number of Photoshop shortcuts, such as being able to quickly select a color or change the opacity of a layer by swiping your finger, features that all the other laptops on this list lack. Read the full review: Apple Macbook with touchbar (13-inch 2018) Apple's Retina display revolutionised laptop screen quality – and while the competition now sports Retina-rivalling panels, the MacBook still offers the best viewing experience. Its brightness, contrast, saturation and detail are all sublime, and Apple's factory colour calibration is the most accurate. Although its 2.7GHz processor is technically faster than the dual-core chips in the Dell and Microsoft laptops on test here, real-world performance is almost identical, and nothing very special. Our MacBook configuration lasted a mighty 12 hours 12 minutes in our video loop test, thrashing all but the Surface Book. It may be an obvious choice, but this is still a brilliant all-rounder. Read the full review: Apple MacBook Pro 13" Retina If you're looking for a larger and more powerful laptop for photo editing, then the Dell XPS 15 could be for you. Packing the same InfinityEdge technology as the smaller XPS 13, the screen extends right to the edge of the machine which means it's as small as it's possible to make a 15-inch laptop. It's quite pricey though, depending on which version you get. The very top end version has a 4K color-accurate display, which makes it one of the best laptops for photo editing. You'll be able to see your photos in crisp detail as you edit them, and the impressive specifications means it will keep up with edits you make to the largest photos in your collection. A new version of the Dell XPS 15 is coming out in 2018, which looks set to further improve this already excellent laptop. Read the full review: Dell XPS 15 The Huawei MateBook X Pro has proved to be a truly brilliant challenger to more established brands like Apple and Dell. This is a gorgeously-designed laptop with a stunning screen (albeit with a rather odd aspect ratio), and it comes packed with cutting edge components that allows it to perform brilliantly, and a battery life that runs rings around many of its rivals. It also has a very competitive price, giving you features, design and performance for quite a bit less money. The combination of brilliant screen, powerful components and (relatively) affordable price makes this one of the best laptops for photographers in 2019. Read the full review: Huawei MateBook X Pro The Surface Book 2 is Microsoft's followup to its popular 2-in-1 device, and it remains an excellent laptop for photo editing, and with a full version of Windows 10 installed, it can run Photoshop with any issues. It comes with boosted components, and its screen remains gorgeous. Only Apple's marginally better colour calibration gives the MacBook's image quality the edge, but Microsoft fights back with a superior 3,000 x 2,000 resolution and an ideal aspect ratio for viewing APS-C and full-frame images. The screen's touch-sensitive, but its real party trick is its ability to detach from the rest of the laptop to become a tablet. It's a shame that the Surface Pen stylus doesn't come included, as we'd definitely recommend buying that to accompany this excellent photo editing laptop. Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Book 2 (13.5-inch) As with most of Dell's laptops you can configure the Precision 7720 to meet your needs, and we recommend that, as the base spec is a bit under-powered for Photoshop. However, by boosting the processor, screen and GPU of this laptop you'll get an excellent laptop for Photoshop. The 17-inch screen (which can be upgraded to 4K), is brilliant for photo editing, but it does mean that it's a bit larger and heavier than other machines on our best laptop for Photoshop list. This laptop's claim to fame is being the smallest 13.3-inch laptop on the market. It's slim screen bezel helps contribute to a svelte 304mm x 200mm x 15mm form that needs to be held to be truly appreciated. The XPS 13's screen is touch-sensitive, and it boasts a similar resolution and pixel density to the MacBook and Surface Book. Image quality is more in line with the ZenBook though, falling slightly short on colour and contrast intensity compared to Apple and Microsoft's displays. A highly portable package with little compromise other than battery life. Read the full review: Dell XPS 13 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. But despite packing an identical processor to the Surface Book, the T460s' Cinebench score was 30% slower, making it the slowest on test. While the Full HD screen looks good in isolation, colour saturation and contrast are noticeably more muted than the competition, and it's less crisp. On the up side, it's got the rare addition of an anti-reflective coating. Good, but the same money can buy you a better screen and more power. Read the full review: Lenovo ThinkPad T460s Key things to look out forWatch the video above for the top 7 things to consider when buying a laptop. It's easy to get bogged down in the tech and spec soup of computer terminology, but there are a couple of key areas photographers need to think about. The first is the quality of the screen. This used to be more eye-sore than eye-candy, with appalling contrast and viewing angles, but thankfully IPS display tech fixes this and you shouldn't settle for anything less. An SSD (solid state drive) is a must as your primary storage in any new laptop. A conventional hard disk drive will bottleneck performance like flat tires on a Ferrari, and while dedicated graphics cards are great for gaming, they're not a necessity here. Today's processors can fill in for them, and they pack enough pixel-pushing punch for photo editing. The MacBook is favoured by many photographers, and for good reason. But don't rule out comparably priced laptop PCs, which can offer more bang per buck with better upgradability.
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| Tubi: Everything you need to know about the free movie and TV streaming service Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:45 AM PST Update: Tubi is going to drop a massive amount of cash in 2019 on licensed content - somewhere in the ballpark of $100 million. That's more than double what Tubi spent in 2018, according to the company's CEO Farhad Massoudi. In an interview with Variety, Massoudi said that while the company has no plans to create original content in the same vein as Netflix, “We want to bring our customers as much of the other 99% of the content that’s available in the market.” Are you tired of paying monthly for Netflix or Hulu, or just want a wider set of options for your streaming video needs? If so, then you might want to give Tubi a shot – like Sony's Crackle, it's a totally free, ad-supported streaming video service that you can access on loads of devices. Tubi (a.k.a. Tubi TV) is stocked with an array of licensed movies and television shows from across the years, and much like Crackle, the selection is decidedly hit-or-miss. But Tubi really does have a lot of compelling movies on offer, and there's no premium element in play: you'll never have to reach for a credit card. There's no original content and little in the way of recent releases, but the selection is large and seems to be updated on a regular basis. Ready to give it a shot? Here's how to drop the monthly fee and get started with Tubi TV. How much does Tubi cost?Truly, it's nothing: you won't hit a paywall at any point, nor can you toss in a credit card to eliminate ads or access premium content or perks. Tubi is 100% ad-supported, which means you'll see commercials before and also during content. Luckily, the ads are usually pretty short and innocuous, and pop up inconsistently within and around the content. When watching an episode of a TV show, you'll probably see a short (30-second) commercial beforehand, and maybe a 15-second or 30-second ad in the middle. It varies, though: We watched Cowboy Bebop and didn't see any ads beforehand, but then it had two commercials for a total of 45 seconds at the middle point. With movies, we've encountered different results, as well. A viewing of Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Running Man via the PlayStation 4 app began with a single short ad, but then continued uninterrupted for the next 45 minutes or so. There would also be an ad any time that I resumed the film after stopping, though. On the other hand, Oldboy on the iPad app began without an ad, but then it played one every 12-15 minutes over the course of the flick. That's a little awkward, since the ad break won't always come at an opportune pause in the action, but overall the ads seem less prevalent than with Crackle. How can I access Tubi?Luckily, Tubi is pretty much everywhere in terms of platforms and devices. You can watch it via the website on your computer or elsewhere, while native apps are available on smartphones and tablets, not to mention set-top boxes and game consoles. You'll find iOS and Android apps, for example, as well as apps for Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV boxes. The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 have native Tubi apps, too, and they're all pretty easy to use and navigate through. Tubi doesn't require a login to watch some videos on the service, but anything that's rated R or otherwise has a Mature designation will require a free account. There's other value to using an account, however, such as queuing up interesting movies and shows, getting smart recommendations based on your viewing habits, and resuming something you started on any device. What are Tubi's key features?As mentioned before, Tubi is totally free and accessible from nearly any modern device you're likely to wield – so it has both of those things going for it. More importantly, Tubi has a lot of free content available – quite a bit more than Crackle, based on browsing the extensive listings. According to the company, Tubi has more than 50,000 titles in its library, with key partnerships with Lionsgate, Paramount, MGM, and Starz helping to keep its content coffers full. Granted, you might not be compelled to watch everything on Tubi, and that's about more than just preference. Tubi has a fair amount of random junk filling up its listings, with straight-to-DVD movies and a lot of other generic-looking fare that you've never heard of before. It's not anywhere near as curated for quality as premium services tend to be, and you'll have to dig around to find the good stuff. But it does have a lot of stuff, and there are some solid gems in the mix. In terms of feature films, the selection as of this writing includes picks like Young Adult, Oldboy, True Grit (2010), School of Rock, Mulholland Drive, and Glengarry Glen Ross. Tubi doesn't have a lot of high-profile TV shows, unfortunately, unless you're into Alf ... and why wouldn't you be? It has some cult favorites, too, like The IT Crowd and Spaced, plus Tubi's anime selection is pretty stellar, with series like Cowboy Bebop, Naruto, and Revolutionary Girl Utena available as of this posting. Tubi seems to add new movies and shows gradually throughout the month, as well, so it's worth checking back and having a browse from time to time. Why choose Tubi over Netflix?It's all about the money, really, or the lack thereof. Netflix's monthly subscription fee has gradually risen over the years, particularly as the company pours billions into original shows and movies, and you're paying for exclusive content and a strong selection of newish movies and TV shows from elsewhere. Tubi TV offers no high-profile exclusives, and the vast majority of the noteworthy content is at least several years old at this point. But Tubi TV has a surprisingly large library on offer, and it's all completely free – with a totally reasonable amount of video ads along the way. Not finding what you're looking for on Netflix? Have a look on Tubi: it won't cost you anything, and maybe you'll stumble upon an old favorite flick or something appealing that you haven't seen before. Tubi probably won't replace Netflix for the average paying customer, but if you're not keen on spending for streaming video, then it's a strong ad-supported alternative. Watch these showsThe IT Crowd: The cult-favorite British show nearly came here in an Americanized version, but thank goodness it didn't. Luckily, you can watch the entire hilarious original series – about the goofballs running a company's IT department – for free on Tubi. Cowboy Bebop: One of the most beloved anime series around, Cowboy Bebop follows a ragtag bunch of space bounty hunters. It has wonderful characters, brilliant animation and music, and a potent blend of action, drama, wry humor, and emotional punch. Spaced: Do you like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz? If so, then don't miss Spaced, another UK cult favorite from director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg. Like their flicks, this sitcom is endlessly quotable and packed with pop culture adoration. Watch these moviesBattle Royale: Haven't seen the original Japanese film that inspired everything from The Hunger Games to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds? Well, this tale of a class of students all trying to kill each other is delightfully ultra-violent, and it's free on Tubi. True Grit: The Coen Brothers' 2010 remake of the classic Western was a critical smash, paying loving tribute to the genre with a star-studded cast featuring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and a young Hailee Steinfeld. Oldboy: Speaking of super-twisted Japanese flicks: Oldboy is an incredibly intense film about a man secretly imprisoned for 15 years, and then set loose to find and destroy his unknown captor. It's a revenge film that you won't soon forget, assuming you can stomach it all. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The best rugged laptops of 2019: we test drop-proof laptops for working outside Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:39 AM PST If you work in a field where you need to use a computer in a busy or dangerous environment, or where it will be subject to extreme temperatures and weather, then our list of the best rugged laptops is here to help. We've scoured the web for the best laptops that can withstand the toughest places on Earth – the top rugged laptops can handle basically everything that can happen on the planet. The best rugged laptops will have rigid, durable chassis that can withstand high pressure, extreme drops and even exposure to water without a care in the world. You shouldn’t have to worry even if you drop it off a building into a lake – as long as you retrieve it quickly enough. Still, the top rugged laptops need to be good, well, laptops. They need enough power to get your work done – what good is a rugged laptop if you can’t actually use it, right? So, whether you work on a busy work site, spend a lot of time in the most dangerous places on Earth, or if you’re just kind of clumsy, we’ll help you find the best rugged laptops on the market. We’ve even included our exclusive price comparison tool, so that you can spend less time shopping for the best rugged laptop, and more time saving.
If you want an extremely rugged laptop, you’re going to want the Dell Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme – it’s in the name. And, while it’s a bit old right now, it’s still a well-designed rugged laptop that meets military standard requirements. It features a rigid magnesium alloy build, shock absorbent case, is IP65 certified against dust, sand and water – it can even handle extreme temperatures. Like the rest of Dell’s catalog, you can configure the dell Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme however you like.
Dell may be a mainstream laptop manufacturer, but it still makes the best rugged laptops around. The Dell Latitude 14 Rugged is a fantastic machine that combines a tough outer shell with components that are pretty powerful for the category – including an Intel Core i5 processor and dedicated AMD Radeon graphics. The display looks decent, with a matte finish that makes it comfortable to use outdoors – which is probably where you’ll use it. It’s the less ‘extreme’ version of the Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme which sits at the top of our list of the best rugged laptops.
If you want one of the best 2-in-1 laptops, but you don’t want something that feels like it’s going to snap in half the first chance it gets – the Panasonic Toughbook CF-33 is for you. This 2-in-1 has a flexibility that most rugged laptops just don’t. If you need something that’s easy to carry while you do stock takes and jot down notes, then tablet mode will work wonders. Then, if you need to type up some documents, you can attach the keyboard and comfortably type away. It may be expensive, but it’s one of the only 2-in-1 laptops that can actually take a beating. You might think the HP ProBook x360 11 G1 EE is a normal laptop at first glance. However, once you dive deeper, you’ll see there’s more than meets the eye. While it isn’t designed for big drops and dangerous environments, it's still one of the best rugged laptops for most everyday users – it’s built to withstand more knocks, drops and liquids than the everyday laptop. This is due to an industrial rubberised body, spill resistant keyboard and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 display. It’s not going to be as robust as some of the other rugged laptops on this list, but it’s easily portable and the screen can be flipped – making it a rugged 2-in-1 laptop. Similar to the HP ProBook x360 we mentioned earlier, the Lenovo ThinkPad 11e is more like a standard laptop that just so happens to be a bit rugged. Still, you can just tell that Lenovo has put effort into the construction of this device, as it includes more robust inputs, and can survive drops of up to 90cm. It also features military specifications, that make this a laptop that can survive the harshest conditions. What’s more, it’s affordable, while still offering enough processing power for everyday tasks.
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| AI and ethics: looking inside the black box Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:31 AM PST AI systems have huge potential for good, but they’re only as good as the data they’re trained with. As machine learning expands into all areas of our lives, finding uses in healthcare, autonomous driving and law enforcement (to name just a few), any bias could be not just inconvenient, but could mean it does more harm than good. Biased data, biased resultsThe problem of AI bias isn’t just theoretical; after personal experience with systems recognizing her lighter –skinned colleagues’ faces more readily than her own, MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini began a project to find out whether the software had trouble with her particular features, or if there was a wider issue. Picture credit: MIT CSAIL. If facial recognition systems are trained using a non-representative dataset, their results will be biased Buolamwini tested systems from IBM, Microsoft and Chinese company Face++, showing them 1,000 faces and asking them to identify the subjects as either male or female. She found that all the systems were significantly better at identifying male faces than female ones, and perform better on lighter faces than darker faces. As facial recognition becomes more integrated into daily life (for security, medical diagnostic applications and finding missing people, for example), darker skinned people and women are at a real disadvantage. Image credit: MIT SAIL. MIT's 'de-biasing' algorithm re-samples data sets to remove hidden biases In response to those findings, researchers at MIT are working on an algorithm that can automatically ‘de-bias’ data sets by finding hidden biases and re-sampling the data. In tests, the algorithm effectively made AI facial recognition less racist, reducing ‘categorical bias’ but over 60% without reducing overall accuracy. Taking responsibilityAt Intel AI DevCon (AIDC) in Munich, companies from around the world demonstrated how they use Intel machine learning platforms to benefit society, in areas including healthcare and physics research. Although Intel mostly supplies the platforms for machine learning rather than developing applications it’s well aware of the ethical implications of its work and is the Partnership on AI – an organization that aims to develop and share best practices on AI. Its goal is for AI to be safe, trustworthy, fair, transparent and accountable, and should serve society. We spoke to Stephan Gillich, director of technical computing, analytics and AI, and GTM for the Intel EMEA Datacenter Group in between the presentations at AIDC. “For the functionality of a learning algorithm, you need to have accurate representation of the data,” said Gillich. “And if you have not a broad representation of that data then your mechanism will not work. So from that end, we see that problem, and from our point of view, whatever we can do, we tell people that they should have as much unbiased data as they can have.” “Once you have the data and everything, [there’s the question of] how can you look inside the box, which sometimes people see with an AI mechanism that is trained by data. […] How can you actually make sure that an AI algorithm performs, and have a certain level of understanding why it does what it does. So we are in general behind using AI in a way that really helps humanity, and one part of that is also the ethical part.” AI for goodIntel is also working with partners on some to show just how beneficial machine learning can be when trained using good quality data, and carefully targeted. For one of these projects, it has partnered with environmental organization Parley for the Oceans to develop a drone-based system for assessing the health of whales without disturbing them. “[Whales] can be identified by the fluke,” explained Gillich. “It’s like a fingerprint – you can take pictures and then you don’t need to tag these whales any more. They have their own tag – you just have to recognize it. “What they used to do is take a probe of the whale – so they had to basically shoot something into it. It doesn’t hurt it, but it’s difficult and it’s a bit disturbing for the whale as well. So they found a method to fly on top of the whale, and when the whale blows, they take samples of that, and then they analyze it using AI methods. Like for the image analysis for the flukes, you can use AI to do the image recognition.” The resulting system – Parley SnotBot – gives real-time data on the creatures’ health, without alarming them. Another special project involves protecting African elephants from poachers. The population of African forest elephants is currently on track to be entirely wiped out by poaching for ivory and bushmeat within the next decade, but the sheer scale of their habitat means it’s impossible for park rangers to protect them all. Serengeti National Park, for example, has just 150 rangers to patrol an area roughly the size of Belgium. “[These are] remote areas, and you can’t have people everywhere because that would disturb the wildlife as well,” says Gillich. “It’s simply not possible, so one thing we have worked with is […] cameras that can operate for a long time on their own, but still send signals to the people who can take care of this problem.” To help solve the problem, Intel worked with conservation organization Resolve to develop a system called TrailGuard, which uses a low-power smart camera small enough to be hidden in a bush. Picture credit: Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation. Intel's Anna Bethke holds the inside of the TrailGuard AI anti-poaching camera system When the camera is activated by motion, the AI analyses the footage to identify animals, people and vehicles. If a person is in an area that’s normally only populated by animals, there’s a good chance that they’re a poacher, so park keepers are alerted to the presence of unexpected people and vehicles. The amount of bandwidth necessary to send every frame captured by the TrailGuard cameras to park headquarters or a cloud server would be prohibitive, and it would be impractical for rangers to trawl through so much footage. Instead, a neural network running on the cameras analyzes each frame in real time, discards those with no activity (or just animals), and sends those with humans to the park keepers. Power to do goodTrailGuard project has been particularly successful, with park keepers able to intervene and catch poachers before animals are harmed, making the most of their limited resources – and applications like this are some of the things Gillich finds most exciting. "You can do things right now that enable applications that are fascinating, revolutionizing the way things are done," he said, "because now I have the capability to have a lot of data, and store a lot of data, and process a lot of data and collect a lot of data [...] and then I can process it because I have the compute power. "So that enables the capability that not only programmers are doing functional programming, but the data is actually doing some of the programming, and this is what we call artificial intelligence. So this is the fascinating part, that we can actually do this now […] and I can do things that help humanity in a much more efficient way than I could do before." This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best business smartphone of 2019: top mobiles for work Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:27 AM PST For many of us, having the best business smartphone is absolutely essential, as we’re more and more reliant on these little computers in our pockets to get our work done. With many manufacturers offering smartphones that are perfect for workers of all levels, we’ve updated this guide to give you the very latest buying advice to help you choose the best smartphones for business use. If you want the very best business smartphone, no matter what the cost, then the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is the one to go for. It's got a spec list to die for, including a huge screen, bags of RAM, a huge 4,000mAh battery and up to 1TB of storage. It's also got a microSD slot and a headphone jack – something that many modern smartphones lack. It's also got some great business-specific features, such as an improved Bluetooth stylus (known as the S Pen), and if you plug it into a USB-C dock or USB-C to HDMI, it can be used in DeX mode, replicating a desktop-environment that can replace your desktop PC. Seriously impressive. Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 review You'll be in good hands if you opt to give your employees the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus. It improves on almost every aspect of the phones that have come before it, with supremely powerful components, a dazzling 6.2-inch QHD Super AMOLED display and a top notch camera - but it's not all fun. The Galaxy S9 Plus also comes with Samsung's Knox security, which the firm says is just as secure - if not more - as BlackBerry's DTEK50 and Priv devices. You'll need deep pockets, but you won't regret it. Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus The OnePlus 6 is our newest phone on this list, and like its predecessor, it is an affordable flagship handset, and offers one of the best Android phone experiences on the market, especially when using it for work. You have the choice of either 6GB or 8GB of RAM depending on your needs - for most people 6GB will be more than enough. The battery life could be better, so make sure you have easy access to a charger if your work depends on you always being connected, and there's still no microSD support on the OnePlus 6, much like previous OnePlus phones, but you do have the choice of either 64GB or 128GB of internal storage. The true highlight of the OnePlus 6 is the price, though, and this may will be one of the best devices for you on this list if you're looking to spend as little as possible on a top-of-the-range phone for your business needs. Read the full review: OnePlus 6 If you're looking for the best Apple business smartphone, then the iPhone XS is the one to get. It's the pinnacle of Apple's smartphone design, offering a gorgeous 5.8-inch OLED screen, improved battery life and an amazing camera that's arguably the best you'll find on a smartphone. It's very expensive though, but if you want a business smartphone that can do almost everything, and with a gorgeous design, then this is the one to get. If you're on more of a budget, but still want an Apple device, consider the iPhone 8, which is also on this list. Read the full review: iPhone XS review Samsung has produced another excellent productivity-focused device with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, making it one of the best smartphones for business. Thanks to the large Infinity Display you get loads of screen space to work on, without the body being too bulky to carry around, and the S Pen stylus is something not a lot of other phones can offer and the all-round speed is almost breathtaking at times. It's certainly worth looking at if you want a brilliant business smartphone, especially now that its price has dropped. Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Huawei is a Chinese manufacturer which has been steadily releasing some excellent smartphones that offer specs and features that rival its more established (and expensive) Western rivals. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the firm's best phone yet, and it's one of our picks for the best business smartphone you can buy in 2019. It comes with a huge 6.39-inch display with a QHD resolution and HDR10 support, plus a large battery that lasted a day and a half in our tests! Read the full review: Huawei Mate 20 Pro Google's flagship phones are brilliant performers, and the fact they come with stock Android without any annoying bloatware or complex user interfaces means they are great choices for business phones. The Google Pixel 3 is the latest entry and it comes with a decent 5.5-inch full HD screen, a battery that's capable of about a day's worth of use and one of the best cameras we've seen on a smartphone. If you want a pure-Android experience, the Pixel 3 is one of the best business smartphones you can buy right now. Read the full review: Google Pixel 3 Apple's iPhones are always popular options with great build quality, a simple user interface and a wealth of quality business apps at your fingertips. The iPhone 8 is one of the latest offerings from Apple, and it's faster, smarter and boasts a water resistant body for the first time. While Apple has also released the more premium iPhone X, its high price tag makes that a difficult smartphone to recommend for businesses. That's not to say the iPhone 8 is cheap - it's not - but if you're kitting out your team with these phones, you're going to get more for your money. If your firm is currently rocking iPhone 7 and 7 Plus handsets there's no need to upgrade, but for those using older devices - especially the 5 variants and below the iPhone 8 offers a far superior experience. Read the full review: iPhone 8 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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