Apple : Amazon fires open-source shot with DocumentDB launch |
- Amazon fires open-source shot with DocumentDB launch
- Google can limit "right to be forgotten" in EU
- CES 2019 was absolutely buried in laptops and PCs – why?
- US government shutdown leaves websites down
- The top 5 fitness trackers on sale in January 2019
- Ultra-ultra settings: how 8K TVs are going to transform gaming
- PC sales struggle again
- Best speakers from CES 2019: the best wireless, floor, and bookshelf speakers from Las Vegas
- How voice assistants have doomed the remote control
- This wallet-friendly Raspberry Pi case comes with a built-in touchscreen
- Best mesh Wi-Fi routers 2019: the best wireless mesh systems for large homes
- Philips TV lineup 2018: the past year in Philips TVs
- Google Fuchsia release date, news and rumors
- Nokia 9 release date, price, news and leaks
- Facebook employs UK fact-checkers to flag fake news
- The best cheap laptop deals in the January sales: prices start at £159
- Nokia 9 PureView could be announced in late January
- Get a free year of Amazon Prime and BT Reward Cards with these new BT fibre broadband deals
- New turntables 2019: the best record players at CES 2019
| Amazon fires open-source shot with DocumentDB launch Posted: 11 Jan 2019 11:27 AM PST In a move that will surely upset the open-source community, AWS has launched a new database offering compatible with the MongoDB API called DocumentDB. The cloud giant describes its new product as a “fast, scalable, and highly available document database that is designed to be compatible with your existing MongoDB applications and tools.” However, it is essentially a replacement for MongoDB that uses its API but none of its code. According to AWS, its customers have found it difficult to build fast and highly available applications that are able to scale to multiple terabytes with hundreds of thousands of reads and writes per second. So instead, the company built its own document database that is compatible with Apace 2.0 open source MongoDB 3.6 API. This has led to further accusations that AWS is taking the best open-source projects and re-branding them without giving back to the communities responsible for their creation. Sincerest form of flatteryMongoDB took efforts to stop AWS and others from copying its product by re-licensing its open-source tools under a new license that clearly states that companies trying to use its code to create similar products have to buy a commercial license. MongoDB's CEO and President Dev Ittycheria responded to the news in a statement to TechCrunch, saying: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so it’s not surprising that Amazon would try to capitalize on the popularity and momentum of MongoDB’s document model. However, developers are technically savvy enough to distinguish between the real thing and a poor imitation. MongoDB will continue to outperform any impersonations in the market.” The company's Co-Founder and CTO Eliot Horowitz also weighed in on the matter, saying: “In order to give developers what they want, AWS has been pushed to offer an imitation MongoDB service that is based on the MongoDB code from two years ago. Our entire company is focused on one thing — giving developers the best way to work with data with the freedom to run anywhere. Our commitment to that single mission will continue to differentiate the real MongoDB from any imitation products that come along.” Time will tell if developers embrace AWS' DocumentDB but the damage to the open-source community has already been done. Via TechCrunch
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| Google can limit "right to be forgotten" in EU Posted: 11 Jan 2019 10:48 AM PST A top court adviser for the EU has said that Google can limit the “right to be forgotten” to internet searches made within the European Union. Back in 2016, Google was fined by France's privacy watchdog CNIL for failing to delist sensitive information beyond the borders of the EU. Maciej Szpunar's opinion on the case will likely help the search giant as the European Court of Justices judges generally follow the advice of the advocate general though they are not bound to do so. Google's senior privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer explained how the company has worked to protect European's right to be forgotten, saying: “We’ve worked hard to ensure that the right to be forgotten is effective for Europeans, including using geolocation to ensure 99 percent effectiveness.” Right to be forgottenA landmark ruling five years ago gave Europeans the right to ask search engines to delist certain information about them. According to Szpunar, searches made from outside the EU should not be affected by the right to be forgotten. He explained how the right to be forgotten should not interfere with other fundamental rights, saying: “The fundamental right to be forgotten must be balanced against other fundamental rights, such as the right to data protection and the right to privacy, as well as the legitimate public interest in accessing the information sought.” Google has appealed a $115,000 fine from CNIL in March 2016 for failing to delist information across national borders which sent the case to the European Court of Justice. Via Reuters
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| CES 2019 was absolutely buried in laptops and PCs – why? Posted: 11 Jan 2019 10:34 AM PST At CES 2019, we've experienced an absolute deluge of laptops and other computers that made this year’s show feel more like Computex than the Consumer Electronics Show. That’s not even on account of Nvidia’s big push into RTX graphics on laptops. Not counting the 40-some new gaming laptops on display at the show, we easily saw another 40 general use laptops this year – and almost all of them would have been worth deeper coverage had we not forgotten to clone ourselves before landing in Las Vegas. Just three years ago, the popular opinion was that laptops and PCs were dead in the water, that you should sell your stock or just pick up a tablet. So, what’s up with this explosion in laptop production for 2019? Mark Linton, GM of OEM Portfolio and Product Management for Microsoft, gave us a few of his ideas at the company’s media showcase in Las Vegas. Who better to ask than someone who’s working with all of these laptop makers every day? Huawei's MateBook 13: an example of PCs' steady uptick in power and design quality. Upgrade time is up for a lot of users“There are a few factors here,” Linton tells us, “innovation in silicon, innovation in graphics [and] Windows 10 momentum in terms of the install base. Windows 7 is going end of support in a year, and so customers are looking to move to make sure they get updated and so on.” Ding, ding, ding – we have a winner. Yes, the advancements in processing and a steady rise in Windows 10 adoption are contributors. However, Microsoft stopped pushing feature updates to its almost 10-year-old operating system (OS) back in 2015, and support for Windows 7 security updates will end on January 14, 2020. This is a much more plausible explanation for the explosion in new laptops for 2019. “Each silicon generation, things get thinner and better battery life,” Linton adds. “Again, I often compare it to that Windows 7 machine [that] is six or seven years old, compared to what you’re getting now, it blows your mind. Windows 7 support is a big one that we see customers thinking about, you know, ‘I want to upgrade to Windows 10, so I can get updates.’ And, just overall, excitement is back in the PC.” You might be thinking, “Wait, why didn’t all these people just upgrade to Windows 10 when it was free?” Well, then you’re not the average computer user. The vast majority of computer users don’t pay much attention to such things as OS updates. (The only reason Apple’s iOS updates have such wide adoption is because of their insistence and simplicity – notice how Apple doesn’t publicly share macOS install base figures much?) Samsung certainly seems ready for this with the gorgeous, budget-friendly Notebook Flash. It appears that hardware manufacturers the world over are preparing to be there for the time when users finally notice that their aged Windows 7 device isn’t receiving updates at all. How Microsoft will ultimately communicate this to users is unknown, but surely the company will do everything in its power to ensure its warnings are heeded. Microsoft clearly has been preparing for this moment, working more closely than ever with laptop makers to produce more attractive options at all ends of the budget spectrum. “There’s a PC for everyone. They start at sub $200 and go all the way up to the very high end,” Linton says in conclusion. “We’ve done a lot of work with our partners on the engineering side to get things like 32GB storage, to get updates working great, to get the driver model really smooth. So, no matter what you spend, you’re going to have a great, reliable Windows 10 experience.” If you know someone in your life that’s still rocking a Windows 7 laptop or PC from a few years back, give them a gentle nudge and tell them it’s time to upgrade. Even at the budget level, comparatively, they’re in for a massive boost. Check out all of TechRadar's CES 2019 coverage. We're live in Las Vegas to bring you all the breaking tech news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| US government shutdown leaves websites down Posted: 11 Jan 2019 10:10 AM PST A number of government websites are now inaccessible after 80 TLS certificates used by the US government have expired and with no staff on hand to renew them as a result of the government shutdown. According to Netfcraft, NASA, the US Department of Justice and the Court of Appeals are just some of the US government agencies whose websites have been affected by the shutdown. Hundreds of thousands of government workers have been furloughed including the staff responsible for handling IT support and cybersecurity. With no one to service them or update their TLS certificates, government websites are going down in droves which is raising concerns in the IT and cybersecurity industries. Expired TLS certificatesWebsites with expired certificates where admins followed proper procedures and implemented HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) policies are completely down with users unable to even browse the sites. On the other hand, government websites with expired TLS certificates that failed to implement HSTS now show and HTTPS error in user's browsers. The error can be bypassed by accessing these sites using HTTP but visitors have been warned against logging in or carrying out any sensitive operations as traffic and credentials are no longer encrypted and could be intercepted by malicious third parties. The government shutdown has affected the country as a whole but it has really hit hard on the cybersecurity front. Experts have warned that the situation presents the perfect opportunity for hostile countries and hackers to launch cyberattacks on the US government. Via ZDNet
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| The top 5 fitness trackers on sale in January 2019 Posted: 11 Jan 2019 09:45 AM PST New Year's has arrived, and for many people, that means an annual resolution to get in shape. If you'd like to get more active, buying an activity tracker in 2019 can be very helpful in your new fitness journey. By recording and tracking your activity, as well as monitoring your progress, a fitness tracker is a great tool to motivate yourself when you're doing well or to keep you in check when falling behind on your goals. We've rounded up our top five fitness trackers that will not only meet a variety of needs but are also currently on sale. Whether you're looking for a basic activity tracker under $100 or a top-of-the-line smartwatch that can do it all, we've got you covered.
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| Ultra-ultra settings: how 8K TVs are going to transform gaming Posted: 11 Jan 2019 09:32 AM PST There's no better place to see the future of technology than at CES in Las Vegas, and from smartphones to smart homes the tech on show at CES 2019 was every bit as impressive as we expected – but it was the 8K TVs showcased by the likes of Sony, LG and Samsung that really blew us away. So what is 8K TV? 8K refers to the screen resolution – in other words, the number of pixels in the screen area. The more pixels there are, the better the image clarity. 8K TV has four times more pixels than 4K images, with a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels, which equates to a total of 33,177,600 pixels. That means it's quite simply the clearest picture you've ever seen. But why should gamers care about 8K? Well, if you're a fan of stunning graphics and crystal-clear images then you most certainly should; if you think Assassin's Creed Odyssey looks pretty in 4K, wait until you see it running on 8K. Even better, these new 8K TVs are coming with built-in HDMI 2.1, which means they'll be able to support 8K content at 60fps. However, currently the Xbox One X is the only console to implement HDMI 2.1 (as it's a new standard). In addition, both it and the PS4 Pro are well into their life cycles, so Sony and Microsoft probably won't prioritize 8K first-party games for them. In other words, we may not actually see games harnessing the potential of 8K TV for a while. While it's possible for next-generation consoles such as the Xbox Two or PS5 to make use of 8K, it's unlikely they will for a multitude of reasons – it's far more likely that PC will nail 8K gaming first, followed by the Xbox Two X or PS5 Pro, or whatever those consoles will be called. While 8K TVs may not be beneficial for gamers right this second, investing in an 8K TV will set you up for future console generations such as the (again we're guessing at the names) PS6 or Xbox Three. So, if you have some cash to splash, or simply want to swoon over the latest 8K offerings, here we present the best 8K TVs from CES 2019 for your perusal. Sony Master Series Z9G 8K HDR TVKicking us off is the massive Sony Master Series Z9G 8K HDR TV, measuring in at 85 or 98 inches (depending on your preference). The 8K monolith is powered by Sony's X1 Ultimate processor, and sees the return of the Backlight Master Drive from Sony's 2016 Z Series TVs. But What does that mean? More enhanced contrast and precision-controlled brightness, that's what. The problem with Sony's offering is that it's absolutely huge, and the average person couldn't feasibly fit it in their home. But if you can fit it in, then you'll enjoy a gaming experience unlike any other – you'll almost be able to see the pores on Geralt of Rivia's sweaty brow. We don't know the price tag yet (expect it to be huge) but we do know that it'll be available in the second half of 2019. Samsung Q900R QLED TVNext up is the Samsung Q900R QLED. Like Sony, Samsung's 8K offering is an absolute monster, available in 65, 75, 85 or 98 inches, if you have the room. The Q900R uses artificial intelligence to upscale SD content to 8K HDR. The Samsung Q900R is already available; however certain sizes are only available in the UK, while others are only available in the US. Either way, it'll cost you a pretty penny, with the 85-inch model setting you back $14,999 in the US, which converts to around £11,600 or AU$21,000; the price for the 98-inch model hasn't even been announced yet. Check out our review for the full list of available sizes and prices. LG 8K OLED Z9 TVIf you can't fit 98 inches into your home, then how about 88 inches? Still no? Well, that's the only size LG's 8K OLED Z9 TV is available in, complete with 8K upscaling and 'improved noise reduction' for clean, smooth images. The Z9's incredible detail levels and the extra resolution give the picture a greatly enhanced sense of depth, making for a more immersive gaming experience. LG Nano Cell 8K LED TV (75SM99)If you're looking for something slightly more feasible space-wise (and probably price-wise as well) then LG's SM99 75-inch LCD TV with 8K resolution may be the television for you. The LG Nano Cell 8K LED TV (aka the 75SM99) has a high-end a9 Gen 2 processor and High Frame Rate to deliver that 8K magic, although the image clarity isn't quite as stunning as from the other TVs on this list, with oversaturated images and poor black level performance. But if you're not super-fussy then the Nano Cell could be right up your 8K street.
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| Posted: 11 Jan 2019 09:26 AM PST New data from IDC and Gartner has revealed that the US trade war with China and processor shortages have had a significant impact of PC sales at a time when the PC market appeared to be recovering. According to IDC, shipments of traditional PCs came in at 68.1m units during the fourth quarter which is down by 3.7 per cent from the same time last year. The decline during Q4 is the largest since Q3 2016 and for the year PC sales were down by 0.4 per cent. IDC's data also revealed that vendors built up their inventories during the third quarter before processor shortages and the trade war began. Consumer demand drove the PC industry during the fourth quarter but multiple retailers reported a slowdown in sales after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Processor shortageGartner pointed out the fact that PC makers were affected by the processor shortage as they were unable to meet the demands of companies looking to upgrade their business PCs. The firm expects demand to pick up again in 2019 once CPUs become more readily available. The top three vendors were able to boost their market share and Lenovo claimed the number one spot followed by HP and Dell. Apple's global market share fell during the fourth quarter when compared to the same period a year ago while its US market share increased. The end of the processor shortage will likely help boost PC sales but any further escalation of the US trade war against China could be devastating for the PC market. Via ZDNet
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| Best speakers from CES 2019: the best wireless, floor, and bookshelf speakers from Las Vegas Posted: 11 Jan 2019 09:06 AM PST Although TVs stole the show at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, there was still plenty for music lovers to sink their teeth into at the consumer tech show this year. From glass speakers that look like lamps, to bookshelf speakers that combine old skool vinyl with modern Bluetooth wizardry, manufacturers were showing off high-spec speakers to suit all tastes. So, whether you're a hardcore audiophile or a casual listener, read on for our pick of the best speakers from CES 2019, and you're bound to find something that ticks all your boxes: Sony LSPX-S2 Glass Sound speakerPerhaps the most unusual and stylish speaker to come out of CES 2019 was the Sony Glass Sound – the second generation of Sony's speaker that doubles as an ambient light, designed to look like a flickering candle. The main body of the speaker is made up of a glass tube, which houses the inbuilt lighting feature. Thanks to its cylindrical shape, the Glass Sound can distribute 360 degree sound for a room-filling listening experience, and it can be connected to up to 10 compatible Sony speakers over WiFi. With 35mm drivers and an internal radiator, the Glass Sound should provide a well balanced sound. Sony says the speaker will be available from May for £550 ( (around $700 / AU$975). House of Marley Get Together Mini with Google AssistantHouse of Marley (which specializes in high-end audio kit made from sustainable materials, and was founded by the son of Bob Marley), announced its first smart speaker at CES 2019. The Get Together Mini with Google Assistant is the latest addition to House of Marley's line of Bluetooth speakers, and is crafted from bamboo, aluminum (easily recycled), and the company's signature Rewind fabric (a combination of organic cotton, hemp and recycled plastics). The speaker is equipped with Chromecast for multi-room playback, and even serves as a USB power bank for charging your phone. It'll go on sale in August 2019, priced at $199.99 (about £150 / AU$280). Klipsch The Three with Google AssistantKlipsch is has expanded its lineup of Heritage Wireless speakers, having recently announced the integration of Google Assistant into The Three speaker. The Three with Google Assistant now has a number of new styles to choose from, including smaller, more portable options. Pricing and availability information are vague, but we should see the new speaker styles launch later this year. JBL Partybox 300JBL released three new speakers in its PartyBox range at CES this year, including the PartyBox 300, which doubles up as a guitar or microphone amp. With Bluetooth streaming and up to 18 hours of battery life, the PartyBox 300 could be a great portable solution for your next gathering. It also comes with three built in light shows for every occasion, called Meter, Pulse, and Party, and you can even preprogram a party or event by plugging in a USB thumb drive. You can connect two PartyBox speakers using Bluetooth, or a wired RCA connection if you prefer. The JBL PartyBox 300 are available for purchase now for $449.95 / £399.99. This works out at around AU$710, but there's so far no word on when it will be available in Australia. Harman Kardon Citation rangeWe first saw Harman Kardon's new smart multi-room speakers at IFA 2018 in Berlin, but the Citation range was also being shown off at this year's CES show. Coming in a multitude of shapes, sizes and colors, the Google Assistant powered speakers, the range starts with the $199 / £179.99 Citation One – pitched perfectly as an alternative to Sonos One, boasting Google Assistant and Chromecast support and able to handle 24bit/96kHz sources. Home cinema options include the $1,000 / £899.99 Harman Kardon Bar – a three channel soundbar system that boasts 4K HDR support from its three HDMI inputs. It can also act as a single centre channel when paired with the Harman Kardon Citation Tower speakers, which come as a pair for $2,500 / £2199.99, each with a dedicated subwoofer and one with a touchscreen panel. Prices and availability are still to be confirmed for other territories. Kanto TUKKanto Audio debuted its new high-spec wireless TUK speaker at this year's CES. Featuring Kanto's newly-designed Air Motion Transformer tweeter for resolution and clarity, the TUK has an aluminum concave-cone woofer and a powerful 65W amplifier. It supports high resolution Bluetooth streaming with Qualcomm AptX HD, and it can connect to your turntable thanks to a phono preamp connection. Available in matte black and matte white, the Kanto TUK will begin shipping in early 2019 for US$799, with UK and Australian pricing still to be confirmed.
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| How voice assistants have doomed the remote control Posted: 11 Jan 2019 08:32 AM PST If there's one common theme at this year's CES 2019 – the Las Vegas tech expo we've been covering all week – it's talking. Not just chatting on the show floor (though there's been plenty of that too). By talking we mean the sheer avalanche of devices arriving with support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and so many other competing voice assistants. In fact, everything from motorcycle helmets, water bottles and phone chargers to doorbells, pianos and toilets at least now has the option of being controlled by voice. So is the remote control being killed-off?In the long-term, absolutely. It’s gone. “Getting rid of the remote control is one of the strongest use cases for voice technologies,” says Mark Lippett, CEO at XMOS, whose farfield voice tech is used in soundbars, Freebox and Skyworth TVs to allow them connect to Alexa. “Some companies are going straight to the far-field voice technology while others are using the near-field ‘push to talk’,” he adds. Ah yes, push to talk – AKA ‘the remote that refuses to die’. ‘Push to talk’ is when you have a remote in your hand and you hold it up to your mouth and speak into it while pressing a button. On Samsung’s QLED TVs for 2019, Bixby is accessed via a push-to-talk nunchuk-style remote, while Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant work only when used via an Amazon Echo or Google Home device. It’s a similar story for LG’s OLED TVs. It already feels quaint, and slightly confusing to use. “Push-to-talk shares a lot of the user experience and it’s an interesting middle step, but it misses the point,” says Lippet. “The A-game here is obviously to get rid of the remote control altogether.” LG offers Google Assistant for TVs, but Alexa for home appliances. Credit: Jamie Carter Are there too many voice assistants?If we accept that voice assistants are the future, we’re still left with a situation where in the same room room you may be using Alexa on an Echo to play hands-free music, using Google Assistant, Alexa or Bixby to communicate with a TV, Cortana on an Xbox… and with more and more home-baked AIs appearing, the list is now endless. Will the tech industry need to coalesce around one voice platform? “There’s a question marks over whether or not that kind of situation can deliver a really good user experience,” says Lippet. ”Two artificial assistants in one box is just a stepping stone towards three and four and eight ten and at that point it’s a very confusing user experience to be talking to something that has that many personalities.” One voice to rule them allThere’s no way the tech industry can continue forever with multiple voice assistants. “Our view is that they'll be a broker, which you might regard as a kind of ‘digital twin’, ‘digital demon’ or Avatar that will provide your entry point to tens of thousands of different AIs that offer different services,” says Lippet, stressing that the broker would also protect the user’s privacy. “Ultimately that broker is going to be something that's much more personal to you rather than belong to a brand – there will be something that sits on the edge of the network looking after you that you trust, similar to the relationship that you might have with your mobile phone.” However, tech announced at CES 2019 promises to make voice control – and many other kinds of control – far simpler. XMOS and Holosonics unveiled at CES tech to make voice control truly personal. Credit: Jamie Carter The first truly personal voice assistantSome TVs and other appliances may now have far-field microphones that can detect a voice from across a large room, but in a world of multiple voice-controlled device, how can you talk to only one – or none – of them? Cue a radical new technology unveiled by XMOS and Holosonics at CES that can pinpoint the exact direction of an audio reply, then apply a narrow laser-like beam of sound in reply. The world's first voice-activated personal assistant technology that creates sound with the same precision as light. Expect devices to use ‘multi-modal sensing’ in future, too. “A more intelligent device would be able to tell you were on the phone, and whether you’re trying to engage in a conversation with an appliance by using cue such as whether you’re looking at it or not – things that humans use in conversation, but these devices can’t,” says Lippet. Being able to separate different people’s voices will also become an important ability of future devices. Proximity sensors, haptic-feedback and gesture controlOver in a suite at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino, a completely different kind of hands-free technology is being showcased from Norway's Elliptic Labs, and looks ready to wipe-out the remote control entirely – using proximity sensors. The theory is that instead of pressing buttons or telling the TV what to do, it takes actions depending on your movements. For example, pausing a movie; in Elliptic Labs' demo, video streaming from Netflix pauses when the proximity sensors detect you leaving the room to get another beer, and resumes when you return to the room. In another demo, you double-tap in the air to control the volume coming from a smart speaker. Elliptic Labs' tech pauses Netflix when you leave the room. Credit: Netflix How ultrasound could replace the remoteThe tech is called 'Inner Reflection', and combines gesture recognition and presence detection using ultrasound. Used in a TV, it emits ultrasonic waves, which radiate from behind the screen to echo from the body of the user, essentially creating a 180-degree interaction space. Since it's using audio, not the optical infrared beam typical of TV remote controls, the signal is less likely to be blocked. “If you're listening to a show and you leave the room, you can have the volume automatically increased a bit so that you can keep following the show while you pick something up in another room,” says Guenael Strutt, VP of product development at Elliptic Labs. “Then, as you come back closer to the TV, you can have the volume adjusted lower again.” The same tech can also be used to shut-off the TV and lights if no-one is in the room for a period of time, and even detect if someone has a fall. A similar version of the tech is already used on the Xiaomi Mi MIX it’s all just a software update for any device with a speaker and microphone. “I don’t imagine that it will replace remotes completely, but it certainly provides the ability to control usage, volume and such – actions that today are associated with remote controls,” says Strutt. Elliptic Labs' 'Inner Reflection' tech uses proximity sensors to detect where the viewer is. Credit: Elliptic Labs The conversation continues...For now, it’s all about voice. “Voice interfaces will find their way into everything that requires human interaction from time to time – and that's the majority of categories,” says Lippet. The XMOS/Holosonics tech promises to make the likes of Alexa much more personal and focused, with incoming AI set to make smart devices more aware of context. Then comes gestures and haptic feedback, though whether the remote will actively disappear remains to be seen. “There is a shift in the way we're going to be expecting our devices to behave, which is that we want them aware of where we are and whether we're willing to interact with them or not,” says Strutt. “Our devices are going to be aware of our presence. They will respond.” So instead of you looking around the room for the remote control, in future your TV is going to be looking for you.
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| This wallet-friendly Raspberry Pi case comes with a built-in touchscreen Posted: 11 Jan 2019 07:34 AM PST Raspberry Pi accessories are plentiful enough, but here’s a new one which might pique your interest – a case for the compact computer board which comes with a touchscreen display. The unnamed product is sold by Chinese retailer Banggood, billed as a protective case (for the Raspberry Pi 3B+/3B/2B) with a cooling fan and 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen. You also get a plastic white stylus into the bargain. Note that if you use the case with the 3.5-inch display, you can’t install the cooling fan. It’s a choice of either one or the other. The screen is obviously quite small, and has a relatively low resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. The good news on the price front is that the case is reduced with a 27% discount at the time of writing, meaning you can snag it for £12.71 (or $15.99, which is around AU$22). Bear in mind, as ever, when buying from online Chinese retail outlets that shipping will take a while (up to 20 business days), and if there’s a problem with the product, returns or aftersales support could be problematic. Although you won’t exactly be losing a ton of cash in this case (so to speak), anyway… Sluggish screenThe admittedly small number of user reviews on the Banggood site paint a fairly positive picture of this accessory, and the build quality of the case is supposedly impressive. However, the screen is apparently pretty slow to refresh, so it won’t be much use for the likes of watching videos, for example. In other words, it’s a very basic, functional display, but obviously at the asking price, you can’t really expect anything more. If you’re after inspiration for what to do with your Raspberry Pi, then check out our extensive feature devoted to exploring various projects that revolve around the diminutive computer.
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| Best mesh Wi-Fi routers 2019: the best wireless mesh systems for large homes Posted: 11 Jan 2019 07:26 AM PST Welcome to our pick of the best mesh Wi-Fi routers of 2019. Unlike traditional wireless routers which are usually single units that sit in one room and broadcast Wi-Fi to the rest of your house, the best wireless mesh routers comprise of a number of units that you can dot around your home, ensuring that there's strong Wi-Fi signal throughout the building. With the best wireless mesh routers, you just place several nodes in key areas of your home, and you’ll get a strong, unified Wi-Fi network no matter where you are. This is different from the way range extenders work, which just take the Wi-Fi signal from the best wireless routers and repeats it, extending its range. The problem with this approach it requires a separate SSID for the extender, as it’s essentially creating a second network. This is annoying, as your device won't automatically switch to the different network. Also, filling your home up with different Wi-Fi networks can have a negative impact on network performance. The best mesh Wi-Fi routers are easy to setup. Simply plug in the main unit to your internet connection, then with a few button presses you can pair up the other units, for one large – and fast – Wi-Fi network. However, the best wireless mesh routers can get expensive, and can require some technical know-how in order to figure out what’s best for your home. Luckily, we’ve got you covered. We went ahead and picked out the five best wireless mesh routers we’ve been fortunate enough to test and review. Let’s dive in, shall we? We’re not exaggerating when we say the Google Wifi isn’t just the best Wi-Fi mesh router we’ve ever used, but also the best wireless router period. Not only does it have the power to push fast Wi-Fi throughout your home – despite how small it is – but it’s also affordable and easy to set-up at the same time. Seriously, all you have to do to setup Google Wifi is download an app to your smartphone, scan some QR codes and just place the nodes where you want them to go. It couldn’t be easier – Google has mastered the router game, it’s almost unfair. Read the full review: Google Wifi If you’ve got the cash for it, the Netgear Orbi might be one of the best Wi-Fi mesh routers on the market today. Instead of something like the Google Wifi, which uses three identical nodes to setup your network, you’ll get one main router, then a collection of nodes to plug into power outlets around your house. And, because of the sheer number of Ethernet ports found on the Orbi, it’s a great choice for anyone who has a lot of devices that need a hardwired connection – making it the best option for anyone who uses their network primarily for gaming. Read the full review: Netgear Orbi If you’re just looking for a way to spread Wi-Fi throughout your home and want to save a few bucks while you’re at it, you might want to take a look at the TP-Link Deco M5. It may not be as fast as some of the other Wi-Fi mesh routers on this list, but if you’re not necessarily worried about getting the maximum theoretical throughput – which you likely wouldn’t be able to take advantage of anyway – it shouldn’t be much of an issue. Setup, much like the other devices here, is a breeze and is approachable even if you don’t know anything about tech. The TP-Link Deco M5 might be one of the best Wi-Fi mesh routers for anyone intimidated by technology. Read the full review: TP-Link Deco M5 If you’re the kind of person that gets into Apple’s design philosophy and you like having chic gadgets set up throughout your home, without paying much attention to the price – the Ubiquiti Amplifi HD will be right up your alley. If you live in a large home, and can take advantage of the full power that this mesh Wi-Fi setup offers, you’ll find a lot to love, as it’s capable of a huge amount of throughput. However, you might find that the value diminishes quite a bit when you live in a small to medium space, as there are more cost-effective methods available, but they don’t look quite as good. The Ubiquiti Amplifi HD may be expensive, but you’re paying for a piece of tech that has both style and substance – we think it’s worth it. Read the full review: Ubiquiti Amplifi HD While it’s expensive and not as powerful as the rest of the Wi-Fi mesh routers, there’s something to be said about the simplicity that the Linksys Velop affords. It may be more expensive than the competition, but the Velop will appeal to people who need to set up a Wi-Fi network without the headache of, well, setting it up. More tech-savvy users probably won’t be interested – why spend the money when you can do all the work yourself, right? For most people, though, the Linksys Velop is going to be an excellent choice. It’s also fully modular, so you only have to pick up as many nodes as you actually need – one node will cover up to 2,000 square feet. Read the full review: Linksys Velop This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Philips TV lineup 2018: the past year in Philips TVs Posted: 11 Jan 2019 07:25 AM PST Update: For all the New Year fanfare around new TVs, we're yet to hear much regarding Philips plans for 2019. For now, read on below for the full 2018 lineup and what makes a Philips TV a different proposition from the rest... It’s impossible to look at one of Philips’ TVs over the past few years without noticing the eye-catching Ambilight technology. For the unaware, Ambilight is a system where a series of RGB LEDs placed on the rear of the TV are used to illuminate the wall behind. The thinking goes that the images displayed on your TV’s screen are only half the quality battle (well, the majority, but hear us out). What’s also important is the ambient light surrounding your TV. Some might put a lamp behind their TVs to try and create a similar effect to reduce eye strain - all Ambilight is doing is building that into the set itself. But Philips hasn’t just been focussing on putting a pretty light show behind your TV, it’s also making sure the images on the set itself are just as impressive. Philips 2018 TV technologyTwo years ago Philips debuted its new P5 Perfect Picture Processing engine in its high-end sets, and the big news in 2019 is that the engine is coming to more TVs throughout the range. Philips announced that the P5 would come to 23 sets in total, meaning all of these TVs will benefit from the five-pronged picture processing technology that includes enhancements to contrast, colour, sharpness, source quality and motion. Every set from the 7 Series and above now features the P5 chip. We’ve been impressed with the effects that the P5 has been able to create in the past, and no doubt the fact that it’s coming to more sets is nothing but a good thing for fans of Philips’ televisions. Beyond the P5 chip coming to more sets, Philips didn’t make any sweeping claims about picture quality having improved over 2017’s models. As mentioned above, Ambilight still features on a large portion of the sets released this year. Certain, more budget-focussed, models (from the lower 6503 downwards) across the range will not be equipped with the rear-positioned LEDs if you’d rather not bring the lightshow into your home. Of course, as with previous Philips sets, it’s possible to disable Ambilight on the TVs that are equipped with it. All the ranges from the 8 Series up will support HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG, but Dolby Vision continues to be absent from Philips' sets. Increasingly, it looks like your next TV purchase is going to involve you picking a side between the two, despite what Dolby is claiming about the two standards co-existing. In terms of Smart OS, Android TV is the operating system of choice for the more premium TVs, but as we move down the ranges this switches to Philips' own-brand Saphi OS, while the low-end TVs dispense with Smart TV functionality entirely. We'll detail exactly which OS is supported by each TV further down. In terms of naming convention, each of the LCD TV's names are made up of its screen-size, the letters 'PUS' and then the four digit series number. For example, the 49-inch version of the 8503 will be called the Philips 49PUS8503. Meanwhile the OLEDs use the letters 'OLED' rather than 'PUS'. First seen at IFA last year, the 973 is defined by its chunky attached soundbar Philips 2018 OLED TV ModelsPhilips OLED 973 (65-inch): Philips has followed LGs lead with its OLED range, as the primary point of differentiation between them is their sound solution. The 973 (previously announced at IFA 2017 as the 9 Series / 9603) has the best sound of the bunch with a chunky built-in soundbar that contains a whopping 8 drivers powered by a single 60W amp. Like the LG W7 this soundbar also receives all the TV’s inputs, and hence can’t be detached. Philips OLED 803 (55- or 65-inch): The new announcement for 2018 is the 803 (full model name Philips 65OLED803), which has a strikingly minimalist design with just a pair of thin sticks acting as its stand. Sound is handled by a trio of rear-mounted subwoofers, which should provide more heft at the lower end of the sound spectrum. Philips OLED 873 (55- or 65-inch): The 873 is, broadly speaking, the same set that we reviewed in 2017 when it was released as the Philips 9002. The new development here is a larger 65-inch model (the Philips 65OLED873) which is unlikely to change too much about the TV other than its size. Philips 2018 LCD TV ModelsPhilips 8 Series: The 8 Series so far consists of two models, the 8503 and the 8303. The 8503 will be available in sizes ranging from 49 to 65-inch, while the 8303 has a much broader 43- to 75-inch spread. Both feature a Nano ELED panel with a maximum brightness of 400 nits, although they do support both the HDR10 and HLG HDR standards. At the core of each set is Philips’ P5 picture processing engine, which continues down the lineup. From the information we’ve received it appears that the difference between the two is in the speakers, with the 8503 having the slightly beefier setup. Philips 7 Series: Within the 7 Series there are two main groups of TVs. There’s the 7503 (which can be had at either 49- or 55-inch), and the 7803 (which ranges from 43- to 75-inch models). These two sets feature edge lit panels rather than the Nano ELED of the 8 series, but peak light output is still 400 nits. Further down the range the 7303 (available from 43- to 65-inch), drops the peak light output to 350 nits and features a Direct LED backlight. From this point on, the range loses HDR10+ support. If you want compatibility with the new HDR standard you'll have to pick from the 8 Series and above. Philips 6 Series: The main thing you’re giving up when you drop into the 6 Series are the P5 picture processing engine and Android TV. Instead, these TVs are equipped with the last generation Pixel Precise Ultra HD chip, which offers less picture processing power than the current-gen P5, and Philips’ own-brand Saphi OS. There are just two ranges within the 6 Series, the 6503 (available from 43- to 65-inch) and the 6703 (45- to 65-inch). The 6503 loses the Ambilight technology found in every other TV above it in the range. Philips 5 Series: Hop down into the 5 Series and resolution drops down to Full HD, you lose HDR, picture processing is handled by the even older Pixel Plus HD engine, and there are no Smart TV capabilities on anything other than the 5803. Light output is even lower at 250 nits (although without HDR the benefits of a brighter panel would be slim), and there’s no Ambilight to speak of. Depending on the exact range, these TVs get mighty small. The 5303 is either 22- or 24-inch in size, the 5403 is only 22-inch, the 5503 is slightly bigger at 43- or 50-inch, the 5603 is 24- or 32-inch, the 5703 is just 22-inch, and the 5803 (the only set in the range to feature a smart TV functionality) is available between 32- and 50-inch. Philips 4 Series: Down at the bottom of the range is the lowly 4 Series. There’s just one range here, the HD Ready 4503, and it’s only available in a 32-inch size. However, aside from resolution the 4503 is similar in functionality to the 5 Series.
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| Google Fuchsia release date, news and rumors Posted: 11 Jan 2019 07:05 AM PST We were expecting to see Google announce Google Fuchsia, or Google Andromeda – a fusion of its Chrome and Android operating systems (OS) – back in October 2017. That announcement never happened. What will Google Fuchsia look like, though? Well, the Google Pixelbook and some of the other best Chromebooks, are able to run both an early version of Fuchsia itself, and Android Apps from the Google Play Store – which Fuchsia itself is rumored to do. We think that Google Fuchsia – if and when it gets finished – will end up being the penultimate Google operating system across all different kinds of devices. Basically, we don’t know what Google Fuchsia will ultimately be. Google Fuchsia is both thin on the ground and arcane. However, we do know that Google Fuchsia centers on the idea of being able to do whatever you want on whatever device you have handy. We can see this approach in some recent moves by Google – like bringing Android Messages and a VR video editor to a broad range of devices. In fact, the Google Pixel Slate may give us a glimpse into what the future may hold for Google Fuchsia – even if we’re no closer to an actual release of the fledgling OS. With this new tablet, Google has changed up the UI of Chrome OS to be more palatable on a tablet – bringing it closer to a unified OS across different families of devices. Whether or not it relates to Fuchsia remains to be seen, but it could be a step in the right direction. So, regardless of what the final product is, or whether or not Google Fuchsia ever makes it to the public, be sure to keep this page bookmarked, as we’ll update it with any new information comes our way. Cut to the chase
A Google Pixelbook running an early version of Fuchsia OS (Image Credit: Ars Technica) What is Google Fuchsia?Right now, there appears to be a divide within Google regarding what Fuchsia actually is. While the team working on it says they want Fuchsia to be the penultimate Google OS, running on all phones, tablets, laptops and smart home devices – Google’s leadership is still referring to it as an experiment. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, and what materializes out of all this experimentation. Google Fuchsia, then, is a hybrid OS that is still very much in development. The entirety of Fuchsia OS is comprised of two distinct but connected user interfaces (UI): a phone-centric one codenamed ‘Armadillo’ and a traditional desktop UI known as ‘Capybara’ internally, according to 9to5Google. So far, more is known about the mobile version of Fuchsia than the laptop one, but ArsTechnica was recently able to get Fuchsia running on a Google Pixelbook in an awfully early state. And, it looks like both versions should be able to run Android apps, much like many Chromebooks in 2019. So, backwards compatibility looks to be something that early Fuchsia adopters can look forward to.
Dividing the OS up into two separate UI based on the hardware it’s being used with is a classically Microsoft-inspired move. Windows 10 already scales depending on whether it’s being used with a desktop computer, phone, tablet or game console. In fact, Windows 10’s only unifier is its kernel, the root code that controls the bulk of the operating system. In the case of Fuchsia, that kernel is known as ‘Zircon’, and it’s designed to be consistently upgradeable in addition to being safe from applications accessing it constantly, adding an extra layer of security and eliminating situations in which apps are rendered incompatible with OS updates. Whether it’s in the mobile or desktop orientation, Fuchsia is laden with Google’s Material design found all over its Android and Chrome OS products. Shadows are a big focus on the design aesthetic, using a new Vulkan-based graphics renderer known as ‘Escher’ to do the job. The result is an interface with more depth to its look than traditionally flat OS products. Google Fuchsia as it appears on a smartphone device. Fuchsia is also heavily focused on a cards-based interface, in which every app you open appears inside one of these cards – plus, you can place multiple apps into a single card. This orients the user around tasks at hand rather than apps. Those apps are expected to look the same across different devices because of a new cross-platform mobile app development framework, developed by Google, known as Flutter. Beyond that, Google Fuchsia revolves around Google Assistant more deeply accessing and working with your apps and information to provide even more actions and insights. Google has referred to these apps and pieces of information as ‘entities’, according to a GitHub developer page, and they’re all accessible by Google Assistant on Fuchsia. We’ve even seen a recent demo that further illustrates how deeply ingrained Google Assistant is on Fuchsia. And, it looks like Google will also be changing how it collects analytic data within Fuchsia, according to a report from 9to5 Google. Fuchsia will see the implementation of a new analytic program called ‘Cobalt’ which will collect information on how you use apps within the OS. Cobalt is supposedly a part of Google’s security-minded approach to the OS, but encryption hasn’t been worked in yet – but, we’re sure Google will work better security into Cobalt eventually. Google Chrome, or at least an early build of Chromium is up and running on early builds of Google Fuchsia, according to a report from 9to5 Google. And, while it’s not ready for the spotlight, this does mean that the fledgling OS is getting closer to being usable without days of preparation. Finally, Fuchsia wants to be the best cross-device OS to date. To achieve this, Fuchsia uses a new tool known as ‘Ledger’ by the GitHub community. Ledger, once you’re signed into a Google Account on a Fuchsia device, will automatically save your place in all installed apps across all Fuchsia devices. All in all, Fuchsia is Google’s attempt to get the best of Chrome and Android into a single operating system that’s more efficient both while you’re using it and when you’re away – not to mention in between those states or between devices. This is likely where Fuchsia will make its debut. Google Fuchsia release dateEver since August 2016, we’ve seen a ton of rumors about Google Fuchsia’s release date – and each turned out to be false. These rumors usually come up before Google’s big Google IO developer event in California, or when we know a big hardware release is around the corner. Back in February, it was revealed that Google’s former head of Android platform security, Nick Kralevich, had left the Android team to ‘define security’ over in the Fuchsia department. Describing it as a “new, experimental operating system,” Kralevich doesn’t hint at any specific launch window, however it does show where Google chooses to put its most crucial resources. Right now, the speculation points to Fuchsia running within the next three years just on smart home devices, with a full public release coming within the next five years. However, even that seems to be an extremely shaky rumor – we’d be surprised if we saw it release before 2024 (or actual androids), if it ever actually comes out. However, recent developer messages through the Android Open Source Project suggest some movement. One of the commits mentions two repos, that the folks at 9to5Google take to be the “incorporation of the official Fuchsia SDK”. Another commit mentions the Huawei Honor Play smartphone, so we could see Fuchsia tested on actual devices soon. At any rate, keep it locked to this page as we draw closer to a possible release date and therefore might have some new information for you. Is Fuchsia the end of Android as we know it? What could Fuchsia mean for Android and Chrome – and Windows and macOS?Word on the street is that Google Fuchsia is Google’s answer to Microsoft and Apple’s united platforms. In turning Android into one of the two biggest smartphone platforms and later popularizing Chrome OS – not to mention G-Suite, Google’s web-based productivity programs. Google has already kind of become a major player on all platforms. From the sound of it, Google is setting out to accomplish much of what Microsoft and Apple already have in place with Windows 10, iOS and macOS High Sierra. Continuity, respectively, but in a very Google way. It’s easy to expect access to Google’s inimitable search and data-tracking at your fingertips – Google Assistant and ‘entities’, anyone? – which it could boast as better than Microsoft and Apple’s, and an interface that evolves to meet the needs of the device from which it’s accessed. Will this eventually mean the end of Android and Chrome? In name, most likely, but their principles will almost certainly live on – there's too much solid foundation not to build on top of them. Just look at the Material design language found throughout these early builds of either version of Fuchsia. The end result, likely to be seen in a preview form later this year and in purchasable devices in 2019, will be just one platform for Google to worry about. With Fuchsia, Google will be able to push new updates and features to all versions at once, simplifying support as well as user understanding. With that, Google will become that much more formidable a foe to Microsoft and Apple, and that much appealing an option to Android and Chromebook users all over. Who knows, perhaps it will be enough to bring people over from the other side of Microsoft and Apple’s fences.
Gabe Carey has also contributed to this report This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Nokia 9 release date, price, news and leaks Posted: 11 Jan 2019 07:00 AM PST Update: The Nokia 9 PureView could be announced this month. Plus, a leaked promotional video may have revealed lots of information about the phone. Prior to the launch of the Nokia 8 it had been a long time since we'd had a Nokia flagship, but we've now had the Nokia 8 Sirocco and yet another - currently known as the Nokia 9 or Nokia 9 PureView - is rumored to be on the way. HMD Global - the company that’s revived the Nokia name on smartphones – has so far otherwise unleashed a handful of entry-level and mid-range phones, like the Nokia 5 and more recently the Nokia 7.1. But the top-end Nokia 9 might launch in early 2019, and it could be positioned to truly compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S9 or even the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10, which the Nokia 8 Sirocco arguably doesn't quite thanks to its older chipset. You'll find all the current Nokia 9 rumors below, along with our expert analysis, and as soon as we hear anything new we’ll add it to this article. Cut to the chase
Nokia 9 release dateThe latest Nokia 9 PureView release date rumor points to a late January announcement, with the phone then hitting stores in February. That would be slightly earlier than expected, a previously we'd heard that it could land at MWC 2019 in late February, according to Twitter leaker Nokia anew. Other than that all we have to go on is a claim from another leaker that it's "coming soon", and a comment from a representative for HMD Global, who has hinted that the phone is on the way, and that it will have a larger screen "to meet the needs of absolutely all users" - though they may have been talking about the Sirocco. TechRadar’s take: The Nokia 9 will probably land soon but exactly when remains unclear. Nokia 9 screenHottest leaks:
The latest screen rumor comes from what seems to be a leaked promotional video (which you can watch below), which says the phone has a 5.99-inch 2K HDR10 display. Another screen rumor puts the display at 5.9 inches, adding that it will have an 18:9 aspect ratio. However, a much earlier screen rumor states that the Nokia 9 will have a 5.7-inch screen, while a Nokia 8 Pro will apparently land with a 5.5-inch one. It's likely that the Nokia 9 would match or exceed the size and resolution of the Nokia 8 Sirocco, so expect at least that from it. It's also likely to use OLED, since the Nokia 8 Sirocco does and it's generally considered superior to LCD. We've also heard OLED specifically rumored. The screen may be curved too, since the display on the Nokia 8 Sirocco is, though leaked images (below under the design heading) show a flat screen. Other than that, a handful of leaks (including the video above) are saying that the Nokia 9 will have an in-screen scanner, and indeed the latest images of the phone show no visible scanner, suggesting that's the case. It's a claim that we've heard again more recently, and now that some big name phones like the OnePlus 6T have launched with one it wouldn't be surprising. TechRadar’s take: A 5.99-inch screen would make sense in order to help the Nokia 9 stand out from the 5.5-inch Nokia 8 Sirocco, and an in-screen scanner is a distinct possibility too. Nokia 9 designHottest leaks:
The clearest design leaks take the form of high-quality renders, pictured below. You can see from them that the Nokia 9 seemingly has a metal frame and a glass back, while the dimensions are apparently 155 x 75 x 7.9mm. There's also a penta-lens camera (more on this below), bezels above and below the screen, no notch and no 3.5mm headphone port. This design isn't confirmed yet, but it's the most convincing look we've yet had at the phone. We've also seen another recent leak, this time showing a case render for the Nokia 9 which matches up with the images above, complete with cut-outs for a five-lens camera, a microphone on the top edge, speakers and a USB-C port on the bottom edge, and power and volume buttons on the right. However, one (much older) source claims the Nokia 9 will have an all-metal body, while another says to expect it to be IP68 certified, which would make it dust proof and water resistant to 1.5 meters deep for up to 30 minutes. Another (again, much older) leaked image of the phone only shows the front, but you can see that the bezels are tiny and it has a dual-lens front-facing camera. There's no fingerprint scanner, so this is likely on the back or in the screen. This could be the shape of the Nokia 9. Credit: 91mobiles / Weibo However this doesn't match up with an even earlier leaked image giving us a close look at the front and back of a phone that was believed to be the Nokia 9, where it looks a lot like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, with a curved screen, bezels above and below and what appears to be a glass back. The image also shows a dual-lens camera and a rear-facing fingerprint scanner. However, it looks a lot like the now-announced Nokia 8 Sirocco, so that could actually be what we're seeing here - or it could be that the Nokia 9 will look very similar to the Sirocco. In any case, leaked renders match up with the curvy image above, while adding dimensions to the mix, revealing that the Nokia 9 will apparently be 140.9 x 72.9 x 7.5mm. You can also see from these images that there's no 3.5mm headphone port. This too sounds a lot like the Nokia 8 Sirocco though, as the dimensions are almost exactly the same, so that's probably what we're looking at here. We've also seen an image of what might be Nokia 9 in the flesh, or at least its backplate, and it matches the renders above, complete with a glossy finish, a dual-lens camera and a rear-facing fingerprint scanner. Again though, it now seems very likely that this is actually the Nokia 8 Sirocco. This could be our first look at part of the Nokia 9 in the flesh. Or it could be the Nokia 8 Sirocco. Credit: Baidu One other leak we've seen supposedly shows an early prototype of the phone, but it's encased in a plastic case to stop us seeing the full design, and the camera layout doesn't match the images above. TechRadar’s take: The latest, penta-lens-packed images of the Nokia 9 are the most likely to be accurate. Nokia 9 cameraHottest leaks:
The latest leaks show the Nokia 9 packing a penta-lens camera. You can see this in some of the images and the video above, with additional holes for a dual-LED flash and what might be a proximity sensor of some kind. The same source suggests just a single-lens camera on the front. According to the leaked promotional video above, the camera has Zeiss optics, the ability to take 5 shots at once, capturing 10x more light. You can also apparently refocus shots after you've taken them. This isn't the first time we've heard talk of five lenses, and another rumor claims Nokia is working on a 'high risk' camera for the phone, and five lenses would certainly seem risky. But some earlier leaks disagree with these five-lens claims. The earliest Nokia 9 rumors pointed to a dual-lens camera, and a more recent leak backs that up, with a tipster claiming it will have a 22MP dual-lens Carl Zeiss snapper on the back and a 12MP camera on the front. Both of those cameras have more megapixels than most phones, though they’re not quite a match for the 41MP Nokia Lumia 1020. However, other leaks suggest that there will be a pair of 12MP and 13MP lenses on the back (though this could be talking about the Nokia 8 Sirocco) and a 5MP dual-lens camera on the front. As for what the second lens will be used for, it's likely to be similar to the Sirocco, which uses them for 2x optical zoom and to create bokeh effects, blurring the background of shots. Though in the standard Nokia 8's case there's a monochrome lens and an RGB one, which are combined for better shots, especially in low light, so that's another possibility. TechRadar’s take: The latest rumors point to a penta-lens camera, so unlikely as it might sound this is quite possibly what we'll get. Nokia 9 batteryHottest leaks:
There’s only one battery size rumor so far, and it points to a 3,800mAh juice pack with Qualcomm Quick Charge 4. That would make it far bigger than most smartphone batteries, with even something like the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus having just a 3,500mAh battery. The leaked promotional video above also points to wireless charging being included. TechRadar’s take: A 3,800mAh battery seems about right for a 5.99-inch phone. Fast and wireless charging are also likely, as these have become fairly standard features. Nokia 9 OS and powerHottest leaks:
The latest rumor claims that the Nokia 9 will have a Snapdragon 845 chipset, which is the top-end Qualcomm one for 2018, found in phones like the US version of the Galaxy S9. However, we're in 2019 now and the Snapdragon 855 has been announced, so this would a bit disappointing. There's plenty of evidence for the 845 though. Another leak says the same, as does the leaked video above. We've also previously heard that an upcoming Nokia phone might have a Snapdragon 845 chipset. The Nokia 9 isn't named, but it would be the obvious candidate. We've also seen two benchmarks seemingly for the phone, both of which also list a Snapdragon 835 chipset, but one of which lists 4GB of RAM, while the other claims it comes with 8GB. Given that the Nokia 8 Sirocco comes with 6GB though that's the least we'd expect from the Nokia 9, and there's no chance it will have a Snapdragon 835 chipset. We wouldn’t expect to see any kind of overlay, as HMD Global has stuck with stock Android on its current crop of handsets. Indeed, the leaked promotional video above points to near stock Android 9. TechRadar’s take: The rumored specs would put the Nokia 9 near the top-end, but we're hopeful that it might have something newer than the Snapdragon 845. Nokia 9 other featuresHottest leaks:
More than one rumor suggests that the Nokia 9 will have a fingerprint scanner built into the screen, and as this is now becoming a common feature it wouldn't be a surprise. Elsewhere, according to one source the Nokia 9 will have both an iris scanner and a fingerprint scanner, much like the Galaxy S9. The same – anonymous and unproven – source claims that it will have OZO audio enhancements. This is a Nokia tech which creates a surround sound effect when you’re recording audio. It lets smartphones with four microphones record 3D audio, those with three capture spatial 360 audio, and those with two capture spatial audio. However, the source doesn’t mention how many mics the Nokia 9 has, so even if this is true we don’t know how heavily it will be able to take advantage of the tech. The Nokia 8 Sirocco already has three microphones though, so the Nokia 9 will probably have at least that. TechRadar’s take: None of these rumors are unbelievable, though as they mostly come from the same unproven source we wouldn’t read too much into them. Nokia 9 priceHottest leaks:
The latest pricing rumor puts the 64GB model of the Nokia 9 at 3,699 yuan (roughly $560/£415/AU$735), while a 128GB version could apparently come in at 4,199 yuan (around $635/£470/AU$835). That's a lower price than a previous rumor we'd heard, with a tipster reckoning it’s going to be fairly expensive at $699 in the US (around £565/AU$935) and 749 euros (roughly £640/AU$1,060). Like the rumor above, they added that there will be both 64GB and 128GB models, but didn't specify which price this is for. Direct conversions are rarely accurate, so we wouldn't rely on any of these prices being right, and in fact both of them might be talking about the Nokia 8 Sirocco, which hadn't been announced at the time. That phone costs €749 / AU$1,199 (around £660, $900), so we'd expect the Nokia 9 to be at least that much and probably more. TechRadar’s take: We're not sold on any of the current pricing rumors but the Nokia 9 is sure to be an expensive phone.
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| Facebook employs UK fact-checkers to flag fake news Posted: 11 Jan 2019 06:45 AM PST If you see a suspicious post on Facebook in the UK, you can now report it for assessment by a team of full-time fact-checkers. The site has teamed up with independent charity Full Fact to assess posts that have been reported manually, as well as ones flagged by Facebook's in-house software as potentially fake. This isn't Facebook's first team-up with a third-party fact-checking organization; it began forging such partnerships in 2016, joining forces with Snopes and Politico in the wake of the US presidential elections. How it worksFact-checkers will look at public posts with photos, videos or articles that are deemed newsworthy. After reviewing the content, fact-checkers can give nine ratings: false, mixture, false headline, true, not eligible (something that was true at the time of writing, for example), satire, opinion, prank generator (for auto-created memes), and not rated (the default state for unchecked posts and broken links). Misleading posts won't be deleted, but they'll be marked as untrue and will appear lower in news feeds. Users will still be able to share them, but will be warned about their dodgy nature beforehand. This is just one of the measures Facebook is taking to tackle fake news on its platform. Last year, it was revealed that the site assigns users a reputation score between one and zero, which is adjusted when one of their posts is flagged as untrue (and the claim can be verified). It also began experimenting with users' news feeds, putting more emphasis on local news in an attempt to present more relevant stories and drown out false stories engineered to cause outrage. Via The Guardian This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The best cheap laptop deals in the January sales: prices start at £159 Posted: 11 Jan 2019 06:33 AM PST If you're looking for the best cheap laptop deals, then you've come to the right place, especially as the January sales bargain season is in full swing. Many retailers are slashing prices in their laptop sales at numerous points of the year and our dedicated team of deal hunters are on the lookout to find the best laptop deals from the most reliable stores. So, for the best value cheap laptops, with genuine discounts over the trumped up fake 'deals' take a look below. If you're after a cheap laptop for web browsing and other simple tasks, or you need a new laptop for school or work, or you simply need a really powerful laptop for as little money as possible, we've got you covered. At the top of the page you'll find our selection of the latest and best cheap laptop deals of the week followed by a selection of popular quality laptops that retailers like to discount on a regular basis. Underneath those laptop deals you'll find our pick of the latest best laptops and the best available prices. If you're an Apple fan, be sure to take a look at our cheap MacBook deals page too. If you're from the States or Down Under, be sure to check out our selection of the top laptop deals in the US or in Australia in our always-updated guides. The best cheap laptop deal of the weekOther brilliant laptop deals this week
We'll continue adding the best laptop deals in the latest sales as we find them. Up next, you'll find the latest prices on some of the most popular laptops around, followed by the best deals on TechRadar's favourite laptops. Where to find more cheap laptop sales:
Popular cheap laptop dealsThere have been some generous offers lately for this popular Lenovo laptop series. Any choice between the 4GB and 12GB RAM options should run multiple applications at once. Hard drive sizes vary from 256GB SSD to 1TB in regular form. Some options also include dedicated Nvidia GeForce GTX 940MX graphics. At around £200, the HP Stream 14 is decent value if you're after something to cover the basics like web browsing or document editing. It's competitively priced again the cheaper Chromebooks out there despite the 14-inch screen and Windows 10 operating system. As one of the cheapest gaming laptops that will still run games at decent settings, the Acer Nitro 5 is well worth a look if you're wanting to get into PC gaming and play modern games too (just don't expect to be running Battlefield V on ultra settings ok?). The design is a bit plasticy and there's no SSD on the cheapest models, but given the low price and the power of the internal spec inside we're more than willing to look past that to get our gaming fix on the go. A sturdy choice for a study laptop for school/college/uni. The HP Pavilion 15 has more power that the average pupil needs while keeping the costs sensible. If you're not needing extra power of an expensive laptop for video/photo editing, this is more than enough for web browsing, playing some tunes on Spotify and editing coursework. From afar, this laptop might be mistaken for a MacBook Pro which tells you a lot about its level of quality. Don't expect a full metal chassis at this price, but this is probably one of the best looking plastic bodies in its category. There are plenty of ports (old and new), 4GB of RAM and a massive 1TB hard drive. The cheapest models have a respectable i3 processor, but you can get the more powerful i5 versions for not much more if you need that extra kick. Asus saw it fit to include a DVD writer as well as a 15.6-inch full HD screen. Despite this large display and the presence of a numeric keypad, it's just a tad thicker and heavier than an Ultrabook. Why not upgrade your storage with a cheap hard drive or SSD? See the best hard drive and SSD deals. This is the newer version of the Asus Transformer Mini series. This upgrade includes a fingerprint sensor and double the RAM at 4GB for speedier performance. For your money, this is one of the most impressive two-in-one transformer models out there. This is one of the larger Chromebook experience out there for someone looking for a full-sized laptop with an excellent screen at a super low cost. The 4GB of RAM running the Chrome OS is super fast and will allow you to really pile up tabs and apps without slowing down. The battery will easily last the best part of a day for most users too. The best deals on our favourite laptopsWe've reviewed loads of laptops over the years: we've seen the good ones, the great ones and the ones to avoid. Sometimes the best laptops pop up online at some truly deal-tastic prices. So in this section, we list the very best laptops out there and the best deals on each one. The Dell XPS 13 is, bar none, the best laptop you can buy today. It features a revolutionary design that's astonishingly thin and light. Fitting a 13.3-inch screen into such a small frame means Dell has created a nearly borderless Infinity display. It's a powerful and long lasting machine even by today's Ultrabook standards. The XPS 13 comes outfitted with Intel's latest Skylake processors plus lighting, quick storage and memory, all while coming in at a very affordable starting price. For these reasons, it easily takes the top slot as the best Ultrabook, the best Windows laptop and the best overall laptop. Looking for a quality gaming laptop but want to keep things under that unappealing £1000 mark? Then Dell has you covered with the Inspiron 15 Gaming range. The Asus Chromebook Flip isn't perfect, but it's an impressive little piece of kit. Plus, it's so affordable that you might want to pick one up just to have a Chromebook on hand – even if you already own a MacBook or Windows laptop. Aside from the budget price tag, the Flip is one of the best-built Chromebooks to blaze the trail onward for more convertibles. Touchscreen functionality feels more logical, with a screen that actually rotates. The Flip meets all the core tenants of an ideal Chrome OS device. This 10-inch hybrid comes packing a surprising amount of goods considering its small size. It's outfitted with an HD screen and more than enough power to get you through a simple day of web browsing and even image editing. When you're ready kick back with some media streaming, you can pop off the 10-inch tablet. The Asus Strix GL502 is undoubtedly one of the best gaming laptops around for gaming in 1080p. It'll run with the settings cranked with games like Overwatch not dipping below 60fps. The battery life isn't the best, but the display, performance and built-in sound system more than make up for it. Lenovo has crafted a brilliant, forward-thinking device that could very well create a subcategory in computing all of its own. The modest specs hold it back from taking on the big boys in terms of raw power, but the innovative digital touchpad keyboard and drawing surface look like trendsetters to us. The Android version is currently about £100 cheaper than the Windows one. Can a tablet really replace your laptop or home PC? That's still up for debate, but the best tablet trying to make that happen is the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 - and it does a fine job with the full blown version of Windows 10, an integrated kickstand and optional keyboard attachment. Great for for creative professionals, students and everyday folks alike - it's only the premium price that push it down the list, but if you're willing to pay for it, you're getting a lot of power. A LOT. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Nokia 9 PureView could be announced in late January Posted: 11 Jan 2019 06:32 AM PST The Nokia 9 PureView has been rumored for a long time but it finally looks to be close, with the latest rumors saying it could be announced before the end of January. That’s according to sources apparently in “Nokia’s distribution channel” who spoke to 91mobiles. The sources say that the Nokia 9 PureView will be announced at an event in Dubai in late January and that it will be launched globally. A separate source apparently also confirmed the same thing to the site. They add that the phone will be hitting shelves in India (and presumably also elsewhere) in February, and that a couple of other Nokia-branded phones will also arrive that month. Sooner than we thoughtIf this is true then the launch would be slightly earlier than expected, with a previous rumor putting the announcement at MWC 2019 in late February. With Samsung also opting not to announce its new flagship at the show, this year’s MWC could prove quieter than some. As for the Nokia 9 PureView, whenever it lands it should be worth the wait. It’s rumored to have five camera lenses on the back, a dual-lens front-facing camera, an in-screen fingerprint scanner and flagship power. Nothing is known for sure and as ever we’d take this release date rumor with a pinch of salt, but with most rumors pointing to a launch soon we probably don’t have long to wait. Via PhoneArena This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Get a free year of Amazon Prime and BT Reward Cards with these new BT fibre broadband deals Posted: 11 Jan 2019 06:14 AM PST We are only two weeks into 2019 and yet it has already been a great year for broadband deals. We've seen cheap offers and big price cuts but now get ready for BT's deals - a tonne of freebies with your broadband. BT has always been great at offering more for your money with its broadband, often pairing it with a reward card or a freebie to sweeten the deal. But now they are offering BT Reward cards, Amazon Prime subscriptions and free activation, all together with fibre speeds - that's a lot of bang for your buck. Along with these deals, BT has also announced its optional 'Complete Wifi' scheme. BT has said this will guarantee a strong signal in every room in your house through Wi-Fi discs and a boost of 25% in your Wi-Fi speed. It does cost an extra £10 a month though so its probably best suited to big households. You can see all of the available BT deals below with all of the freebies available or if none of the options were what you were looking for then check out our best broadband deals page to see all of your options. Note: If you already have Amazon Prime the subscription will stack on top meaning your next year is free BT's fibre broadband deals:What do you get with Amazon Prime?Amazon Prime offers a lot of features but there are a few key points that stand out about the service. Unlimited one-day delivery, instant streaming of movies and TV shows, unlimited access to two million songs and thousands of books with Amazon Kindle. If you already have an Amazon Prime subscription then don't worry, if you sign up to any of these deals then you get your next 12 months of Amazon Prime free, it will simply stack on after your current subscription. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| New turntables 2019: the best record players at CES 2019 Posted: 11 Jan 2019 05:59 AM PST Whether you’re a diehard vinyl enthusiast, a pro DJ or dusting off your parents’ records for the first time, CES 2019 had a turntable for you. Record players were out in force in Las Vegas, with models that both revived old-school favorites, and added bang-up-to-date analog to digital converters to allow for hi-res wireless playback without undermining that vinyl charm. Streaming and digital sales may now be the staple of music consumption, but there’s a growing amount of people that long for the days of ownership over their record collections, and the joy of a physical disc and beautiful artwork sleeve that goes with it. The vinyl revival shows no signs of slowing then, with RIAA (Recoring Industry Association of America) seeing figures trending upwards from the 16 million new records sold in the US in 2017 – and that’s not including the booming second hand market, which is estimated to more than double that total figure sold to over 30 million. So, with that record collection growing, here’s what you should be playing your vinyl on in the next year. Cambridge Audio Alva TTLove your vinyl, but don’t want to miss out on the modern convenience of wireless playback? The Cambridge Audio Alva TT could be for you. A brand new deck from the company, it’s the world’s first to include aptX HD Bluetooth support, giving you hi-res playback at 24-bit-48kHz. Crafted in-house at Cambridge Audio’s London, UK headquarters, it’s a direct drive model built from solid aluminum and making use of a hefty polyoxymethylene platter, taking the edge off of unwanted vibrations that can otherwise distort pristine playback. With a built-in phono stage and single piece tonearm, the Alva TT also comes with a high-output moving coil cartridge fitted out of the box. Expect to see it on sale in April 2019, priced at $1700 (£1500 / around AU$2,400). Technics SL-1200 / SL-1210 MK7The return of a much-loved line, the Technics SL-1200 MK7 (AKA the SL-1210 MK7 in the UK and Europe) looks to deliver what earlier models managed, but at a more palatable price point of $1200 / £899. This works out at around AU$1600, although Australian prices are yet to be confirmed. A favorite among DJs, the design retains the S-shaped aluminum tone arm of earlier builds and an aluminum die-cast chassis. According to our friends at What Hi-Fi, that’s likely one of the cost cutting areas, with the deck using a "special material consisting of ABS mixed with glass fibre" rather than the aluminum and BMC of Technics earlier high-end models. Not that the ABS/glass fibre mix should turn you off, with a new core-less direct drive inside designed to prevent fluctuations in rotation speed and a new Reverse Play feature for those looking to mess around with 78rpm. Audio-Technica AT-LPWWant a turntable that’ll slip in seamlessly with your living room furniture? The wood-finish AT-LPW range from Audio-Technica could be what you’re after. Two separate models have been on show at CES 2019 – the dark walnut finish AT-LPW40WN and the teak AT-LPW30TK. Both feature a built-in phono pre-amp, but there are a couple of notable differences between the two. Though both will offer “a natural, high-fidelity sound” according to Audio-Technica, the AT-LPW40WN uses a carbon fibre tonearm and VM95E cartridge, while the AT-LPW30TK has a straight aluminum tonearm and VM95C cartridge. You’ll find the AT-LPW40WN in shops from January, priced at $299 / £299 , while the AT-LPW30TK lands a little later in the spring, priced at $259 / £259, with pricing in other territories to be confirmed. Sony LX310BTThose not adverse to mixing the analog and digital worlds together will find another turntable to enjoy in the shape of the Sony LX310BT. An update to the PS LX310 model, it’s packing an aluminum tonearm, a built-in phono stage and an aluminum platter for stable rotation. Bluetooth connectivity is the highlight here, but the tonearm has a nifty trick that will see it automatically hunt down the start of a record and raise when it finishes. It’ll hit shops in Spring priced at a very reasonable £200 / $255 (pricing and availability in other territories is yet to be confirmed), making this a great entry point for beginners. Technics SL-1500CIf you’re after a premium cordless direct drive deck, Technics gave another of its classic turntables a slight makeover at CES 2019. A more accessible offering than the pro-focussed MK7 line, the SL-1500C offers an integrated MM phono amp and is equipped with an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge. Reducing interference by isolating the phono EQ power supply from that of the motor (which uses parent company Panasonic’s Blu-Ray tech), it keeps rotations stable and evenly paced thanks to a two-layer platter – a mix of rubber and die cast aluminum. Pricing and availability are yet to be announced for this one. Audio Technica LP-60 rangeNot one, not two, not three, but four new models enter Audio-Technica’s budget-friendly LP60 line-up ticking boxes for those looking for a digitized record collection and headphone listening. All four turntables allow you unbox and get on to playing records in seconds and have two speeds: 33 1/3 for long play albums and 45 RPM for singles and 12-inch records. They also all boast a preamplifier with switchable phono/line output, which allows you to easily connect to active-powered speakers or a phono-enabled amp. There's also an AC adapter, which handles AC/DC conversion and reduces noise in the signal chain for a crisper sound. Head here for a brief run down on each.
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