Apple : Apple Pay at more US stores, including Target and Taco Bell |
- Apple Pay at more US stores, including Target and Taco Bell
- Best wireless routers 2019: the best routers for your home network
- 40 best PC games 2019: the must-play titles you don’t want to miss
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- The best cheap phones in the US 2019
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- Get a free PlayStation Classic with these already affordable iPhone XR deals
- Honor Watch Magic officially announced for Europe
- Best Cheap VPS hosting deals of 2019
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| Apple Pay at more US stores, including Target and Taco Bell Posted: 22 Jan 2019 02:36 PM PST Apple Pay is coming to more US retailers in the coming weeks and months, as Apple announced today that Target, Taco Bell, and other stores will soon support its digital payment service. In fact, waving your iPhone or Apple Watch over credit card terminals will initiate Apple Pay at 74 of the top 100 US retailers, according to Apple's press release this morning. The wider adoption of Apple Pay nationwide makes it easier – and safer – to pay for goods, with authenticating done via Touch ID or, on newer iPhones, Face ID. The last four digits of your credit card number are also masked via Apple Pay. Of course, this new rollout doesn't necessarily mean retailers won't support Google Pay, too. Often we see impartiality when it comes to accepting various NFC payment system. Technically, even more retailers accept Samsung Pay due to its more universal MST technology. Update: Sure enough, just as we were writing up this Apple Pay news, Google Pay has been announced for Target stores too. Also, Samsung Pay via NFC (without having to rely on the MST technology) is also coming to Target. Like we had predicted, the retailer's use of NFC sounds fairly universal. Apple Pay 2019 timetable in the USApple Pay is going to blanket Target at all 1,850 locations across the US, says Apple, and its expansion is estimated to be complete "in the coming weeks." Taco Bell's more than 7,000 stores and Jack in the Box's 2,200+ locations will get Apple Pay "in the next few months." For the record, fast-food rivals McDonald's and Burger King are already on the official Apple Pay list. New convenience stores will also get Apple Pay starting today. Namely, Speedway’s 3,000 locations and Hy-Vee's 245 stores will join existing partners including 7-Eleven, Duane Reade, Wallgreens, and late 2018 addition, CVS Pharmacy.
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| Best wireless routers 2019: the best routers for your home network Posted: 22 Jan 2019 02:35 PM PST In 2019, more of our lives are lived online than ever before, so the best wireless routers are more important than ever. You don’t want to watch your favorite show on Netflix, only to have it start buffering because your roommate started downloading something. So, you should keep an eye out for the best wireless routers. Many people might just want to call their ISP to combat slow wireless speeds, instead of picking up the best router they can muster. However, whether you need a gaming router or a wireless mesh router, the best wireless routers are extremely important – even the fastest internet connection won’t do much good if your router isn’t up to the task. When you’re looking for a new wireless router, there are a couple things you’re going to want to keep an eye out for. MU-MIMO and Quality of Service (QoS) will make sure that your online activities aren’t interrupted by other devices in your home. You should also look for a wireless router that can keep up with your internet speeds, an AC1900 router should be more than enough for most broadband service. There are so many wireless routers out there these days, so finding the perfect one for your home is harder than it sounds. Fortunately, we here at TechRadar have tested all the best wireless routers ourselves, so you can be confident you’re getting your money’s worth. We’ve even included our exclusive price comparison tool, so you can find the best deal every time. The days of traditional wireless routers are over – 2019 is the year of the best wireless mesh routers. Google Wifi is the best proof we can think of for this mesh revolution – you can finally say goodbye to the days when the only way to achieve wireless freedom was to install a bunch of wireless extenders. The premise of Google Wifi is simple – buy a set of points and place them in key locations around your home. Then, just scan a QR code and you’re good to go – it’s not just the best wireless router you can buy, it’s also the easiest to set up. Read the full review: Google Wifi If you’re familiar with Asus, and specifically its more gamer-centric products, you’ll know what to expect from the Asus RT-AC86U. This wireless router looks like what would happen if you poured Mountain Dew and Doritos into a wireless router-manufacturing machine – it’ll definitely stand out wherever you put it. Beneath its ‘unique’ design is hardware that, for its price, defiantly stands against the competition. You’re not paying a premium here for a ‘gaming’ wireless router, and if you’re looking for a fast connection at a good price, the Asus RT-AC86U is a great choice. Read the full review: Asus RT-AC86U When the Netgear Orbi first hit the streets, it completely changed the wireless router game. And, in 2019, Netgear is offering the Netgear Orbi AC2200 RBK23, a more affordable router for casual users that don’t need to cover a stately mansion. It features less antennae and ethernet ports than the original, but it’s still enough to offer very solid network coverage. Plus, the smaller size means that it can more easily blend in – you won’t feel the need to obscure it. Read the full review: Netgear Orbi AC2200 RBK23 These days, we’re living in a time when many everyday appliances are being controlled by a smart home hub. Now, while this does wonders for convenience, having all those wireless routers, modems and hubs can start to clutter up your home. Luckily, the Samsung Connect Home does away with the need to have 20 different devices. It’s not the most feature rich wireless router on the market, but it’s competitive enough with the Google Wifi, while still packing in the SmartThings hub that it’s still one of the best routers – especially if you have a ton of smart devices. Read the full review: Samsung Connect Home
If you’re in the market for a high-end wireless router that looks like it was a prop in some 90s Sci-Fi flick, you may want to look at the TP-Link Archer C5400 v2. Sure, it’s not a trendy mesh wireless router, but it’s unique in its ability to bridge consumer and enterprise users by featuring high-end functionality at an affordable price point – with easy setup to boot. It might look weird, but if you’re looking for a wireless router that’ll cover a large home, you can’t go wrong here. Read the full review: TP-Link Archer C5400 v2 If you’re ready to bring your office’s networking into the modern age with one of the best wireless routers, you need to take a look at the Netgear Orbi Pro. It’s a modular Wi-Fi mesh router, but it takes some design and performance cues from business-grade products. It’s not cheap, but if you run a business where you can’t afford anyone slowing down due to poor Wi-Fi, it’s worth every penny. Read the full review: Netgear Orbi Pro In 2019, the best wireless routers need to be mesh devices – the level of coverage they offer is beyond what traditional routers can handle. And, with devices like the TP-Link Deco M9, we can see how the best wireless routers keep evolving. By integrating support for IoT smart-home devices, on top of industry standard speeds and coverage, the TP-Link Deco M9 is easily one of the best routers for smart-home fanatics. It’s a little expensive, but it has plenty of features that make it worthwhile, like built-in parental controls and anti-virus. Read the full review: TP-Link Deco M9 If you’re looking to jump on the mesh wireless router trend, but you’re trying to save a few bucks, and don’t really care about some advanced tech mumbo-jumbo – the D-Link Covr-C1203 might just be the best wireless router for you. It offers the same type of coverage as something like the Google Wifi at a lower cost, but with slightly slower speeds – it’ll still be fast enough for most users, though. It also features an attractive triangular design, which should fit in nicely with your decor – you won’t need to hide it in shame. Read the full review: D-Link Covr-C1203 If you’ve been looking at wireless mesh systems, but wanted to keep the control over your network that the best wireless routers allow, you’re in luck. While it’s more expensive than the competition, the Eero Home Wi-Fi system allows its users complete control over their network, while also providing an extremely secure connection thanks to its use of AI. To sweeten the pot and make the price more approachable, Eero includes subscriptions to 1Password, MalwareBytes and Encrypt.me VPN – which should help keep everyone on your network safe. The only downfall here is it doesn’t cover quite as much area as something like the Google Wifi or Netgear Orbi, but if you’re looking for sheer horsepower, look no further. Read the full review: Eero Home Wi-Fi System It might be even more expensive than the Google Wifi for similar performance, but the Amplifi HD has a modern, clean look to it. Aesthetic doesn’t matter to everyone, obviously, but it does help prevent users from installing this wireless router behind objects that will obscure its signal. This is a wireless router that features excellent performance with stylistic flair to match – as long as you have the cash. Read the full review: Amplifi HD Joe Osborne, Bill Thomas and Gabe Carey have also contributed to this article
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| 40 best PC games 2019: the must-play titles you don’t want to miss Posted: 22 Jan 2019 02:35 PM PST Now that we have the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and Intel has launched its Coffee Lake Refresh lineup that promises to hold the best processors for gaming, 2019 is the best time to dive into the best PC games. So, if you want to get in on the action of the top PC games 2019 has to offer, like Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey or Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we’ll show you the best PC games of 2019. We found 40 of the best PC games available today. And, trust us, you won’t want to miss out on this action. You don’t even need to be proficient with a mouse and keyboard – many of the best PC games in 2019 can be played with a controller. And, if you’re yet to invest in one of the best gaming PCs, you can play a lot of these games on other platforms, like Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4. If you’re new to PC gaming, there’s never been a better time to jump in on the action. We’d love to extend you a warm welcome. While some PC gamers are elitist gatekeepers, we here at TechRadar believe in inclusivity. So, with that in mind, let’s dive into the best PC games you can play in 2019. Gabe Carey and Bill Thomas have also contributed to this article If you ask someone who’s been playing the best PC games for years, they’ll likely tell you the premier game to benchmark your new gaming rig with was either Metro 2033 or Metro: Last Light. And, if you missed out on those exciting times, you’re in luck. This PC-centric shooter series will be pushing another generation of PCs to their limits when Metro Exodus launches later this year – and if Nvidia’s RTX demo showed us anything, it’s that you’re going to want a beefy rig to play this game. Forgoing the cramped metro tunnels of the first two titles, Metro Exodus will instead focus on the surface, offering players large areas to explore – without sacrificing the tension that the previous games’ linearity allowed. Metro Exodus is going to be one of the best looking PC games when it launches next month. And, if the latest story trailer is anything to go by, we’re going to see much more varied locales this time around. Expected: February 15, 2019 Look, we know that this game is starting to get old, but it is aging like fine wine. Even three years after its release it’s one of the most ambitious open world games that’s ever existed – combining Skyrim’s unabashed scale with Grand Theft Auto V’s insane depth. It’s such a jam-packed games, that it’s still one of the best PC games in 2018. Huge, beautiful and an absolute time sink – in a good way – The Witcher 3: Wild hunt isn’t just the best PC game in 2018, but it may be one of the best video games of all time. Dragon Age: Inquisition, while not perfect, puts you in the midst of a huge, vibrant world on a much larger scale than past Dragon Age titles. Packed with hours of engrossing story and a wealth of side content, Dragon Age: Inquisition brings the series to an open world setting in a smart and compelling way. It might not be a new game, but for this excellent blend of Elder Scrolls and Baldur’s Gate, it’s still one of the best PC games available in 2018. Assassin’s Creed is basically a household name among the best PC games in 2018. And, starting with last year’s Origins, Ubisoft has been making huge efforts to revitalize the aging franchise. Well, we’re happy to report that they’ve succeeded. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey feels like an improvement in every sense of the word over last years entry, feeling like a completely different game than older games in Ubisoft’s flagship series. This time around, despite the drama about microtransactions, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey places you in the shoes of Kassandra or Alexios, in the middle of the Peloponnesian War, as you look for your lost mother and father. And, while the main story – which will have you switching alliances between the Spartans and the Athenians – will likely get lost in the mix along the way, the world that Ubisoft has created is as rich and beautiful as ever before. Just make sure you have one of the best graphics cards before you even try to run Assassin’s Creed Odyssey at a higher resolution. If you’re looking for one of the best open world games on PC, you can’t go wrong here. So, join us in exploring ancient Greece in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Although it's arguably not as difficult as previous entries in the series, From Software's Dark Souls 3 takes everything you like about the Souls series and combines it with elements found in Bloodborne, the developer's more recent game for PS4. We’re not going to lie – Dark Souls 3 isn’t easy. It still takes skill and, more importantly, patience to master its complex combat system, but it plays fair too, inviting more casual gamers to take part in its bleak, fantastical world. Plus, on the bright side, it brings remarkably better PC optimization than that of the first game. And, now that you can pick up Dark Souls: Remastered and see where this apocalyptic series got its start – there’s never been a better time to link the first flame. Pillars of Eternity made a huge splash in the PC gaming scene when it launched a few years ago – Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire follows faithfully in its footsteps. Not only is this one of the best RPGs you can play today, but it’s also one of the best PC games 2018 has to offer. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire puts players in the middle of the Deadfire Archipelago in pursuit of an ancient god. Along the way you’ll find yourself immersed in a rich, dense and long story crafted by Obsidian Entertainment – arguably the masters of RPGs. If you enjoy old school RPGs like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and long for a return to those storied days – do yourself a favor and don’t miss out on Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. It’s one of the best RPGs we’ve ever played. Do yourself a favor, though, and check out Pillars of Eternity first – it still holds up as one of the best PC games and your story will carry over to the sequel. Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most anticipated console ports to ever hit the PC. You probably didn't need telling twice to head back into Los Santos's hugely detailed and interactive world, but it's 10 times more fun with the PC's richer graphics and smooth 60 frames per second gameplay. After you’ve completed its 30-hour campaign, there’s an overflow of post-game content to enjoy here. Most recently that includes The Doomsday Heist in GTA Online and even a radio station hosted by Frank Ocean. BioShock is a first-person shooter that takes concepts from Ayn Rand's Atlast Shrugged and tosses them underseas. To be exact, BioShock takes place in an underwater city called Rapture, free from government regulation, designed for artists and entrepreneurs to thrive. Of course, not all goes well in a city where the residents have all the power and, well, stop what you're doing and play it right now if you haven't already. You're in for one of the great games if you play BioShock, one that balances story elements with horror nigh-perfectly. There's a remastered version out there now, too, which is free of charge if you own the original. Set 15 years after the events of the first Alien film from 1979, Alien: Isolation is the suspense-packed game that fans of the franchise have been crying out for. Playing the role of Amanda Ripley, daughter of Alien protagonist Ellen Ripley, your mission is to track down and recover the flight recorder of the Nostromo spacecraft from the first Alien film which has been located aboard the Sevastopol space station. First and foremost a stealth game, Isolation ramps up the tension by providing you with minimal weaponry. Its excellent graphics shine on high-end PCs and clever AI helps ramp up the dread, leaving you to quiver when turning every corner. Overwatch, if nothing else, completely changed the landscape away from the norm of gray-ish cover shooters in the realm of competitive gaming. Its bright, vibrant colors are complemented by likeable characters, each decorated with their own interesting backstories which, though not present in game, make for a collection of awesome webcomics and cinematics. Overwatch is also one of the best PC games, because of how well it runs on all kinds of different hardware. Sure, it’s a bit old now, but even in 2018, it’s the best PC game for anyone looking for some competitive action. If somehow you’ve missed out on this game, do yourself a favor – sign in to your Battle.net account and take Overwatch, and its colorful cast of characters, for a spin today. Even if it came out almost 6 years ago, Counter-Strike Global Offensive is still a fantastic update to a timeless classic that continues to thrive thanks to its vast online communities – it’s truly one of the best PC games. Global Offensive is a well-rounded tactical shooter that builds on the simple Terrorists vs Counter-Terrorists gameplay of Counter-Strike 1.6, by updating classic maps such as Italy and Dust – while also adding new modes in Arms Race and Demolition. Simpler than Battlefield, but more complex than Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a shooter for those who like to think – if only just a little bit. In a lot of ways, Far Cry 5 is the ultimate Far Cry game – combining all of the elements that has made the series successful, while cutting a lot of the fat (including the towers, thank god). And while on its own it doesn't do anything entirely new, it perfects the Far Cry formula to a point where Far Cry 5 is one of the best open world First Person Shooters you can play in 2018. After a very heavy and intense intro, you’re dumped in the middle of rural Montana and given the task of dismantling the local cult. But, that quickly fades into the background as a myriad of activities – from hunting down aliens to taking out outposts – ultimately become your focus. But it’s precisely this focus on playing your own way that makes Far Cry 5 so special. Monster Hunter has been one of the biggest gaming franchises you’ve never heard of for years now. However, with Monster Hunter: World, the series broke into the mainstream, and it’s also come to the PC (finally). And, well, it’s one of the best PC games you can play today. Monster Hunter: World places you in the shoes of a, well, monster hunter, and you’ll hunt progressively bigger and nastier monsters, strip them for parts and craft bigger and badder armor. It’s a deceptively simple gameplay loop, that ends up being one of the most enthralling and rewarding PC games you can play today. There’s a never-ending onslaught of content in this game, and Capcom, the developers of this monster hunting hit, are dedicated to bringing a wealth of free DLC to the game. Not to mention a new frosty expansion in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. So, if you’re looking for an addictive, engaging and most importantly, fun game to play by yourself or with all your best friends cooperatively, check out Monster Hunter: World – it really is one of the best PC games you can buy today. A 90s classic brought back to life (unlike its main protagonist), Grim Fandango Remastered is a successful attempt at reviving one of the PC's best adventure games of all time. Combining writing that matches the funniest dark comedies with clever puzzles and a still-impressive art style, Grim Fandango was the most entertaining work of art to take place in a Mexican setting for years until Breaking Bad came along. Now with updated graphics, sound and better controls, Manna Calavera's adventure has never looked so good. Six years after its initial release, Skyrim is going as strong as ever thanks to a vast selection of mods and high-resolution texture packs. Even if you're only interested in playing the vanilla version of the RPG, it offers more than 100 hours of gameplay. Throw in three action packs DLC expansion packs (Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn), and it lasts even longer. That Skyrim has been compared to graphically superior but similar RPG blockbuster The Witcher 3 is testament to its enduring popularity. Step into Skyrim and you too can be an adventurer - just try not to take an arrow in the knee. And, if you’re looking for a more, well, special version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bethesda has you covered – it can’t seem to stop releasing and re-releasing Skyrim for every platform. You can even play it in VR. If you’re anything like us, and you secretly pine for the days of ultra-fast arena shooters, you’re going to absolutely love Quake Champions. Unlike many 90’s series, Quake Champions completely retains that classic Quake style. You’re dumped into a relatively small map with a ton of verticality and armed with the craziest weaponry you could imagine. And, there’s no battle royale or any other trendy game modes here – it’s deathmatch all the way, baby. Much in the same way that Id Software mastered the reboot of Doom and brought it to a modern audience, Quake Champions is a nostalgic shooter that still manages to feel fresh in 2018. The kicker? If you act fast, you can score it for free on Steam ahead of its full release. The phrase "build it, and they will come" literally rings true when it comes to Minecraft, the survival-based sandbox RPG that has now been purchased more than 100 million times since its conception in 2009. In it, you can create your own worlds using resources you find in the wild or explore worlds created by other players online. In Minecraft, you can either limit yourself to the numerous tools and blocks provided by the developer, Mojang, or you can install mods to truly capitalize on your investment. What’s more, come 2018, you’ll be able to take part in the Super Duper Graphics Pack, an optional piece of DLC that adds more realistic lighting effects and textures to an already fantastic product. The Orange Box may be showing its age, but it remains a must-play collection of games - particularly for FPS fans. Half-Life 2, technically still the most recent game in Valve's franchise (excluding its Episode 1 and 2 add-ons), remains a modern masterpiece and is famed for being the first game to intelligently apply physics to its puzzles and combat set-pieces. The collection's other titles aren't too shabby either: Portal takes gravity-based puzzles to the extreme by equipping the player with the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (also known as the Portal Gun), which places two portals for objects to pass through, while Team Fortress 2 continues to go from strength-to-strength thanks to the introduction of custom gear and well-balanced team combat. Sometimes a game that’s been out for 10 years becomes temporarily free on Origin and you just have to play it. Dead Space is one of those games. A survival horror game by definition, this acclaimed piece of science fiction stars a fittingly named Isaac Clarke, whose name itself is a combination of the famous sci-fi authors Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. Told from an over-the-shoulder third-person perspective, Dead Space is a rescue mission story, wherein you (as Isaac) are tasked with investigating a mining ship mysteriously full of alien virus-infected dead bodies. All the while, you’ll have to stay on top of upgrading your futuristic ‘RIG’ suit too. Id Software's Doom was a phenomena for PC gamers in the 90s. The crudely rendered first-person shooter series was as controversial as it was beloved, largely thanks to its cutting-edge depictions of gore and violence that only a computer could deliver. Parents be damned, the franchise has made a comeback in 2016 with a fresh restart, appropriately titled Doom. Although the multiplayer might not appeal to shooter fans regardless of age, the single player campaign will pit you against demons in Hell for a lengthy experience that's as bloody as it is satisfying. If Forza Horizon 3 is the racing game for newcomers to racing games, Asetto Corsa is the game for the grizzled experts. Its obtuse handling and insane difficulty straight from the get go makes it a toss up for one of the most realistic racing simulators of all time. And, even if you can get it on consoles, unlike Project Cars, this is a game that was developed for PC first. Everything about this game, from its demanding career mode to its deep seated driving mechanics – which basically require a racing wheel accessory – make it a joy for die-hard petrolheads, even if its difficulty curve is often just backbreaking. Modelled after the 1984 game Elite, Elite: Dangerous is one of the most ambitious space sims around. Featuring an in-game galaxy based on the real Milky Way (how's 400 billion stars for depth?), the ultimate goal is to advance your rankings to Elite status by levelling up combat, trading and exploration. Starting out with a rickety ship and 1,000 credits in your space suit's back pocket, you'll need to turn to piracy, trading, exploring, mining or bounty hunting to rise through the intergalactic ranks. Doing so takes time and requires serious graft, but the experience provides a level of satisfaction that few other titles can match. And then there's the Oculus Rift... Sometimes, you just want to jump into a virtual world and blow stuff up. Luckily, that’s exactly what Just Cause 4 allows you to do. This open world sandbox of destruction lets you loose on a completely made up island, where you’re tasked with overthrowing an oppressive regime – by causing as much mayhem as possible. Why? Well, just ‘cause. You’ll have access to a ton of different gadgets, weapons and vehicles that’ll see you soaring through the air, sailing across the waves and crashing into the ground when you screw up that epic stunt. You knew it wasn’t going to work, but you had to try it anyway. If all you want is unbridled chaos, Just Cause 4 is easily one of the best PC games of 2018. Described as "achingly beautiful" by Unity Engine boss John Riccitiello, Ori and the Blind Forest borrows its game mechanics from old-school 2D games such as Metroid and Castlevania while adding a modern twist. If any word can describe Ori's atmospheric world, it's alive. You'll have to think fast and use new abilities gained along the way to bash, stop and manoeuvre your way through its gorgeous locations, and with no automatic saving system or easy difficulty level, it's no walk in the park. As satisfying to master as it is to look at, Ori and the Blind Forest will re-open your eyes to what 2D games still have to offer. Grow Home is an experimental PC platformer that looks like an "indie" game but is in fact the latest release from Rayman developer Ubisoft. Similarly charming thanks to its distinctive 3D art style, you play as BUD, the game's robot protagonist, whose main job is harvest seeds and grow a beanstalk-like 'Star Plant' by grabbing its branches and connecting them to nearby floating islands in the sky. There's a fair bit of trial-and-error involved, and while having to climb all the way back up again after a fall is frustrating, grabbing a passing vine at the last minute by the tips of your fingers can be equally as exhilarating. The ability to move BUD's arms and legs independently helps put you in control - just try not to get them tangled up. Because you will - a lot. Besides Final Fantasy, there isn’t a franchise that carries as much weight in the Japanese RPG genre as Dragon Quest. For decades, these have been the penultimate JRPGs for many – even inspiring many modern classics like Pokemon. And, for the first time in 14 years, Dragon Quest has made its way to home consoles, and more importantly to PC for the first time ever. Dragon Quest XI is a beautiful, colorful JRPG that’ll put you in the shoes of a young prince that’s set out to – save the world, obviously. You’ll get about 80-100 hours out of the game, and every moment will be memorable and magical. It even features art from Akira Toriyama, best known for his work on Dragonball – it’s easy to see why it’s one of the best PC games of 2018. Already familiar to millions before they've played a played a second of it, Rocket League turns the age old game of football (or soccer, depending) on its head. Played with rocket-propelled cars in futuristic low-gravity environments, the aim is simple: knock the ball into the opposing team's goal. Doing so is harder said than done because there could be up to three cars on the opposing team trying to steal the ball off you - or ram you into submission - at any one time. Gorgeous to look, simple to learn but difficult to master, Rocket League is the surprise smash hit of 2015 - and a wonderfully addictive one at that. Read: 8 real-life footballers in Rocket League: which one are you? When Insurgency first launched way back in 2014, it was a breath of fresh air – a shooter that completely opposed the arcade-like approach of games like Call of Duty. And, Insurgency: Sandstorm takes this formula and goes all-in. Insurgency: Sandstorm is a brutally difficult and visceral online shooter, meant to give Counter Strike: Global Offensive a run for its money. This is a game where you won’t get respawns, you won’t be able to absorb bullets, you will die easily – it’s awesome. If you’re looking for a game that rewards patience and tactics, Insurgency: Sandstorm is one of the best PC games for you. Metal Gear Solid V, the last Metal Game which will be helmed by Hideo Kojima after his forceful ejection from Konami, is a hugely ambitious title. Its massive open world setting allows you to tackle missions using stealth, but you’re still able to go in guns blazing if you prefer – though you won’t get as good a score. Taking place nine years after the events of Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain’s story unravels through its main missions and more than 100 Side Ops tasks. The action is interspersed with beautiful cutscenes, and while you sometimes have to decode annoying pseudo-military babble to figure out what’s happening, TPP’s fast pacing and beautiful Afghanistan and African settings make sure the game never feels like a chore. You can ask basically any veteran PC gamer, and they’ll tell you that Battlefield games have always been among the best PC games. And, with Battlefield V, the trend continues – it’s one of the best PC games 2018 has to offer, period. The core mechanics remain the same, drive, fly, or run to capture points on a map and defend them against the enemy team. However, this year’s offering refines the Operations mode from 2016’s Battlefield 1, and transforms it into, well, Grand Operations. This epic game mode takes place across up to 4 maps, and is meant to portray crucial battles of World War II. It’s an absolute blast, just make sure you have an hour to spare. Battlefield V is also one of the best PC games when it comes to visuals. Never before has war looks so terrifyingly real in a virtual space. The environments are more realistic than ever before, and if you’re rocking an Nvidia Turing card, like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, you can turn on ray tracing and experience out-of-this-world reflections. We’re not exaggerating when we say it’s the best PC game in 2018 for FPS fans. The 2016 revival of Hitman was a revelation, a rebirth of a classic series that showed what Hitman could be. So, we went into Hitman 2 with high expectations – expectations that paid off. Hitman 2 puts players in even bigger environments, with more complicated missions that will test your creativity in deadly ways. What’s especially notable here though, is the new game modes on offer. You’ll have access to a new Sniper Assassin mode, and most importantly, a co-op game mode – a first for the Hitman series. If you’re looking for an engaging stealth experience, you really can’t go wrong with Hitman 2 – it’s one of the best PC games of 2018, easy. Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide was one of the best PC games for anyone who loves playing the best PC games with friends. And, we’re delighted to say that Warhammer: Vermintide 2 takes the deep co-operative gameplay of the original and improves on it in every conceivable way. Although it technically allows you to form complex strategies with your teammates, the action often turns into chaos, where the only way you can survive is mindlessly bashing at enemies until you, and your teammates (preferably), are the only things left standing. And, because Vermintide 2 adds a wide range of Orc enemies on top of the familiar Skaven enemies, you’ll never run out of things to hack to pieces. It's official: Fallout 4 has lived up to the hype. Despite feeling a little bit like Fallout 3 but with nicer graphics at times, its tighter shooting, in-depth crafting system and well-thought out story make it a wholly more enticing affair. As the Sole Survivor (the first fully-voiced protagonist in the Fallout series) in Boston's post-apocalypse wasteland, you'll take on Feral Ghouls, Raiders, Syths and Bloodbugs and more with high-powered weaponry that includes the Fat Man mini nuke cannon and the fusion cell-powered Laser Musket. If the Call of Duty series is the poison that dumbed down the FPS genre with its run-and-gun gameplay, then Rainbow Six: Siege is the antidote. Working as a team to out-wit the enemy, Siege plays out like a thinking man (or woman's) Counter-Strike that doesn't simply encourage cooperation if you want to win - it requires it. When you're not peering down your gun's iron sights, you'll be laying traps, scouting ahead using drones, strategising with your teammates and building walls that could keep a herd of demented bulls at bay. While Siege's heavy reliance on tactical team-based gameplay can prove its biggest weakness if you're hoisted into a server with a particularly uncooperative bunch, when it does click, it provides a level of satisfaction rarely found in online multiplayer games. After the rebooted Tomb Raider and its sublime sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, the seminal series has won its place among the best PC games with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Instead of simply porting over a console version and calling it good, Crystal Dynamics has created a technical masterpiece with Lara Croft’s latest adventure. Shadow of the Tomb Raider finds Lara heading down to South America to thwart a Mayan apocalypse. While the scenery isn’t as diverse as in previous titles, it’s still just as arrestingly beautiful throughout. And, with Nvidia’s RTX technology coming later this year, it’s going to be a great way to put the best graphics cards to the test while having some fun at the same time. Imagine a survival-based shooter where every match starts with your avatar being ejected from a cargo plane alongside 99 other players with no weapons or items. That’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or at least the solo, free for all mode. After spending the early minutes of the game digging for resources, you’ll soon be forced to reckon with your own mortality as the body count ticker at the top of the screen descends into desolation. Abbreviated PUBG, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is based on another “last man standing” game released back in 2013: PlayerUnknown’s Battle Royale. It doesn’t require a copy of Arma III or H1Z1 to run, but you’ll need to keep your wits about you. There’s no respawning in PUBG, so it’s less about the precision of your aim as it is about your ability to scavenge quickly for weapons, first aid kits and clothing. Picking up immediately after the events of Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus will inevitably be heralded as a classic. For some, it’s the punishing old-school gunplay that’s to thank for this. Even on the default difficulty, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus will have you fretting for your life. Yet, for others, story reigns supreme. And, if The New Colossus serves as an interactive showcase for anything, it’s story, the most interesting parts of which are told through flashbacks. We won’t go as far as to spoil the plot, but what we will say is that B.J. Blazkowicz’s motives become a lot clearer in this iteration of Wolfenstein, not that he needs to justify killing Nazis. From the developer behind Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, Catherine takes unique puzzle gameplay and shoves it in the middle of a complex story of romance and inner struggle. You’ll take over the role of Vincent, and you’ll have to decide whether to take your relationship with your girlfriend, Katherine, to the next level. A decision that’s complicated after Catherine – with a C – comes into your life. The ensuing drama takes place in a series of cutscenes each day, and when you go to bed at night, you’ll have to deal with nightmares – in the form of puzzle gameplay. It’s an extraordinarily unique game, and now that it’s finally made its way to PC, there’s no reason to not check it out. Even after 7 years, it’s still one of the most unique and best PC games 2019 has to offer. X-Com 2 is one addictive game, and we still can't put it down. Following up from 2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which reimagined the 1994 cult classic UFO: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2 has delivered everything we wanted in a sequel. Bigger, deeper, faster and even easier on the eyes, the turn-based tactics game takes place 20 years after its predecessor. It pits you in control of the Avenger, a converted alien ship that serves as your mobile base of operations used to devise strategy and execute fight plans against otherworldly enemies. With a greater focus of stealth, more intelligent alien AI and deeper customization options, XCOM 2 is bound to end up one of our games of the year. Anyone familiar with World of Warcraft knows that it's among the most successful and influential massively multiplayer online role-playing games (or MMORPGs) of all-time. Comprising nearly 14 years of content, with over thousands of hours just waiting to be invested, there are few better games to spend your money on than World of Warcraft. In the new expansion, Battle For Azeroth, players explore two new continents – Kul Tiras for Alliance players and Zandalar for the Horde – though there’s something much more sinister hiding beneath the surface. Blizzard has kept the leveling system from Legion, too, meaning you can tackle the new zones in whatever order you want. This will of course come with the all-new raids and dungeons we’ve grown accustomed to over the years and a storyline that will see the two playable factions at each other’s throats in a major way. You’ll get hours upon hours of content to play through here, as is custom with World of Warcraft throughout its 14-year history. And, you can count on updates throughout the expansion, like the recently released Tides of Vengeance that add even more stuff to do. From PlatinumGames and Square Enix, Nier: Automata is a sequel to the 2010 cult classic Nier, which itself is a spin-off of the Drakengard series. Technically an action role-playing game, Nier: Automata’s most gripping quality is that it never truly adheres to one particular genre. At times, it’s a 2.5D platformer and, at others, it’s a twin-stick shooter. It’s unpredictable and a breath of fresh air when compared to other PC games out on the market. The story centers around a femme android by the name of 2B who is aided by a survey android called 9S, or Nines. With many questions being asked along the way, both of these characters are tasked with extricating Earth from alien machines that have engulfed the planet. Just be conscious of how you play because not only does Nier: Automata feature different endings, but with each new path comes vastly different gameplay. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 22 Jan 2019 02:10 PM PST In 2019, Dell is one of the most successful PC manufacturers on the planet, and it’s not hard to see why – the best dell laptops aren’t just high quality, but they’re built to last. The best Dell laptops come in two main lines for general work and home use. The mid-range Inspiron range is available with a wide range of specifications and includes some amazing budget laptops, while the XPS lineup are some of the best laptops and ultrabooks today, with quick performance and powerful graphics – all within a chassis that’s light and stylish enough to make Apple weep. Just take a look at the latest Dell XPS 13 and you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. However, if you’re looking for the best Dell laptop for gaming, Dell’s Alienware is leading the gaming laptop charge in 2019 with devices like the Alienware Area 51m. These are some of the best gaming laptops around if you need all the power you can get for silky smooth frame rates. They even look the part – with backlit keyboards and customizable lighting profiles. No matter what your budget looks like, if you’re in the market for a notebook, you’re going to want to check out the best Dell laptops 2019 has to offer. The Dell XPS 13 has been one of our favorite Dell laptops for a few years now, with one of our chief complaints being the webcam that looks up your nose. Luckily, the Dell XPS 13 2019 changes our only major problem with the laptop, and now it’s easily one of the best laptops on the market right now. Beyond the new webcam and a new Frost color option, though, not much has changed this time around. There are new Intel Whiskey Lake processors, but they’re not that much faster than the Kaby Lake Refresh chips in last year’s model. It’s still faster, though. If you’re looking for a premium Ultrabook that doesn’t make any compromises, the Dell XPS 13 2019 is definitely one of the best Dell laptops around today. Read the full review: Dell XPS 13 The Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 cuts no corners, delivering serious power within a thin, light package that flits easily between laptop and tablet configurations. It's a truly stunning device, and although it doesn't have the XPS 13's discrete graphics card, it still has ample grunt for gaming. The XPS 15 2-in-1 weighs a shade under 2kg and is just 16mm thick, making it easy to hold, carry and use on the move. Despite those sleek lines, it also offers an impressive array of ports: two Thunderbolt 3 and two USB-C, plus a headphone jack and MicroSD card reader. The XPS 15 2-in-1 has come down in price considerably since launch, and is amazingly well priced considering the specification. Easily one of the best Dell laptops you can buy. The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 strikes a comfortable balance of power and price. Even its starting specification will prove ample for most everyday use, and it's surprisingly affordable. As part of Dell's mid-range Inspiron line, this convertible is designed with practicality in mind. It weighs a mere 1.45kg, and is just 15.5mm at its thickest point, making it one of the slimmest laptops of its type. Its hinge is robust - as you'd expect from Dell - and its screen is particularly impressive, The battery life is a little on the low side, and it's a pity the Dell Active Pen is sold separately, but this is still a great convertible for the price. The Dell Alienware 17 R5 is a mighty gaming laptop in more ways than one. Not only is it incredibly powerful, equipped with an Intel Core i9 processor and overclocked GTX 1080 GPU, it tips the scales at 4.4kg. This certainly isn't a laptop you'll be tossing into a work bag, but for serious gaming you'll be hard pressed to find a better machine. It's a sound investment, too - that top-end processor ensures it'll serve you well for several years, running the latest AAA titles with ease. It's certainly at the higher end of the price scale, but factor in the trademark Dell build quality and it's definitely worth the outlay. The Dell Alienware 15 R3 is the Alienware 17 R5's little brother, cramming similar punch into a more compact package. Its 15-inch display is still large enough to show off games at their best, but its slightly more modest size specs make it a more affordable alternative if you don't need that much sheer horsepower. The Alienware 15 R3 is still a weighty laptop - just a fraction lighter than its larger sibling at 3.5kg, not including its power brick - but it looks stunning, with coloured LEDs beneath practically every surface. Its gaming performance is brilliant, and it's VR-ready if you fancy getting immersive. Dell will be launching a new version of the Alienware 15 before too long, so if you're not quite ready to invest now, keep an eye out for the update soon.
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| Posted: 22 Jan 2019 02:10 PM PST The best Lenovo laptops cater to pretty much every need in 2019. Whether you’re looking for one of the best Ultrabooks, one of the best 2-in-1 laptops, a dedicated gaming laptop or even if you’re looking for a laptop for college students, Lenovo has your back. On top of the business-first ThinkBook range, Lenovo’s Yoga laptop lineup, like the beloved Yoga 920, is probably its best known. These Lenovo laptops convert easily between notebook, tablet and tent modes via a cunningly designed 360 degree hinge that’s often copied but never bettered. Lenovo’s Thinkpad lineup tends to focus on more conventionally designed hardware, and covers a wide range of specifications – from high-end multimedia powerhouses to cheap laptops under £500. Then, there’s legion, the best Lenovo laptops for gaming, which put respectable frame rates within reach of players without stacks of cash lying around. No matter whether you need something for work, or even one of the best gaming laptops, you’re likely to find a device that’s the perfect fit – for much less than you may expect. The Yoga 920 is one of our favorite laptops - and for good reason. This premium laptop looks stunning, has power to spare, and is slender enough to be your full-time travelling companion. It features Lenovo's signature 360-degree hinge, which lets you switch between laptop, tablet and tent modes in seconds. It's well designed and robust, but adds no unnecessary bulk to the laptop's clean lines. There are also various small, thoughtful touches that make the Yoga 920 a joy to use. Unlike many 2-in-1 device manufacturers (we're looking at you, Microsoft), Lenovo has bundled a stylus in with the Yoga 920 to help you get the most from its tablet mode, the hard drive doesn't come pre-cluttered with unnecessary software, and the keyboard offers a satisfying amount of travel. Where this laptop really shines, though, its raw performance. It's not a gaming device, but it can tackle media editing with ease, with superb image and sound quality. This lovely looking laptop is a superb all-rounder, offering discrete graphics and a powerful Intel Kaby Lake processor in a particularly smart package. The IdeaPad 720S is beautifully designed, with super-thin bezels around its 14-inch screen, a cleverly compacted keyboard (complete with backlighting) a good-sized trackpad, and a fingerprint sensor. It's also amazingly slim - just 1.98cm - though all those high-end components mean it's a little weightier than other laptops with similar dimensions. like the Yoga 920 above, the IdeaPad 720S isn't intended for games, but the 720S can handle a spot of playtime here and there, and its discrete graphics card is ideal for heavy multimedia work. You don't have to spend thousands of pounds to get your hands on a great quality gaming laptop. The Lenovo Legion Y520 will do justice to the latest titles while making a surprisingly small dent in your budget. It has the aggressive LED-studded stylings you'd expect from a gaming device, but isn't quite as over-the-top as some rival devices. Turn it over and you'll find an impressive set of vents that, together with a serious fan system, keep the Legion Y520 cool even under heavy loads. The keyboard is a pleasure to use too, with an impressive amount of travel (a real boon for those occasions when you have to close Steam and tackle some work). It's a shame the screen isn't brighter, but this is still one of the best mid-range gaming laptops around. The powerful Yoga 920 is great for heavy media editing, but for all other everyday computing tasks, the Yoga 730 is a perfect partner. It has the same super-flexible hinge, letting you use it in various different configurations, is built just as solidly, and is far more reasonably priced than most other laptops in its category. Its aluminium chassis is compact and slim, making it ideal for working on the move, and its trackpad is smooth and lag-free. It also supports Windows-specific gestures, helping you get more done on the plane or train. Its battery life is decent, not remarkable, but the Yoga 730 is otherwise hard to fault. If you're looking for a new laptop for the daily commute, it'll serve you very well indeed. Need a great laptop for working on the move, but have a tight budget? The IdeaPad 320S has seen several price cuts since its launch, and is now a real bargain. It's not Lenovo's more powerful portable, but if (like many of us) most of your daily work involves a web browser, word processor and spreadsheets, this little laptop has everything you need. It's also a great choice for kids who need a laptop that's light and compact enough to carry to class, and won't break the bank. It doesn't offer very much in the way of storage, but you can easily supplement its 128GB SSD with cloud storage to keep your files safe and synced.
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| The best cheap phones in the US 2019 Posted: 22 Jan 2019 12:30 PM PST The best cheap phone to buy in the US is constantly shifting, and picking out the top-performing models is getting more and more important as smartphone prices keep climbing. Nobody wants to pay $1,000 for a nice phone. But here's the good news: finding an affordable model below $400, $300 or even $200 is definitely possible in 2019, whether you want an iPhone or an Android. It's not easy to find quality devices at such low prices with hundreds of duds out there. But not all low-priced smartphones can or should be automatically dismissed. There are cheap phones at almost every price level, as OnePlus, Huawei, Alcatel, and ZTE have all shown over the last few years. We've assembled a ranked list of the best phones under $500, $400, $300, $200 and $100. No matter your budget, we're recommending a smartphone for you based on these price categories. These value phones are frequently unlocked, contract-free, and SIM-free, making them even easier to pick up and try out. Just know that mobile devices on this list definitely won’t be the very best phones in the US. Don't expect the high-end iPhone XS or Samsung Galaxy Note 9 here. A lot of these are a step below in performance and quality, but in line with their low prices. In fact, every cheap phone here should be just fine for anyone looking to save several hundred dollars on a discounted iOS 12 or Android Pie device. Here are our top recommendations. Best phones under $500OnePlus 6 The newly-released OnePlus 6T is a cheap phone for some people, yet still really expensive for others. But we have to start somewhere, and a finding phone under (okay, maybe just a bit over) $500 is where we begin. We'll immediately jump into phones under $300 after this section. The OnePlus 6T still deserves a spot on this list simply because it features flagship-level specs (specs that are even better than some flagship phones, if you look at the 6GB and 8GB of RAM options provided by OnePlus) and a big screen north of six inches, with a price that falls south of every major flagship out there. Plus, the 6T offers something other $1,000 smartphones don't: an in-screen fingerprint sensor. Innovation isn't reserved for the most expensive tier of the smartphone market. But if the $549 starting price of the OnePlus 6T is still a bit much, track down a OnePlus 6 (released earlier this year), which has the same top-tier specs for perhaps even lower prices. Read the full review: OnePlus 6T The Moto Z3 Play isn't an especially impressive smartphone, especially compared to the OnePlus 6T. With 4GB RAM, a less-powerful Snapdragon 636 chip, smaller battery and slightly smaller screen, it's outdone by OnePlus' phone in almost every way. Almost - because the ace up Moto's sleeve are its signature MotoMods which snap to the back of its phones to add functionality. While some are far less useful (like the projector), others act as big speakers or tack-on a lot more battery life, which can be clutch. Still, the Moto Z3 Play starts at $499 and you can likely find it for cheaper online. Read the full review: Moto Z3 Play Best phones under $300Moto G6 The Moto G6 in 2018 has had a tough act to follow: itself, really, with last year's Moto G5 Plus as our former top pick. Thankfully, the latest budget smartphone from Motorola fully delivers on the hype and thensome. When it comes to the flagship-level specs and features to be found here, this model touts an all-glass design, dual-lens rear cameras, an 18:9 aspect ratio display, headphone jack, USB-C charging and the very latest Android Oreo update. Launching at $249 unlocked with support for every US carrier, this phone is an unbeatable value. It provides decent specs with clean Android software, making this the best choice out there if you're looking for a new phone, but don't have loads of cash on-hand. You might even find it on sale for Amazon Prime Day if we're all lucky. Read the full review: Moto G6 iPhone SE Apple's last hurrah for the four-inch form factor is still a favorite of ours even if the company doesn't sell it directly anymore. It brings specs that put in on par with the iPhone 6S. The fact that you can usually get this smartphone for under $300 makes it an absolute steal if you're a loyal iOS user. Sure, it doesn't come with all of the bells and whistles of a brand new iPhone 8 or iPhone X, but complete with iOS 11, it still holds up well. The best part is that Apple is delivered the iOS 12 update to this (and many other) older iPhone models to make them even faster than before. Read the full review: iPhone SE Nokia 6.1 Available for just a bit more than what the top-ranked Moto G6 costs, the Nokia 6.1 is a phenomenal choice if you're looking for a phone with solid specs and a high-quality build. There are certain elements where the Nokia 6.1 falls below the Moto G6, particularly its single rear camera to Moto's two, as well as its support for only GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. The latter certainly won't be an issue for those using said carriers, but Verizon and Sprint users will want to opt for something else. In a lot of other ways, the Nokia 6.1 handily bests the Moto G6. It's more powerful, with a faster chipset, more RAM and internal storage space, and if you enjoy stock Android, this is the choice to make. Read the full review: Nokia 6.1 Asus ZenFone V The Asus ZenFone V is a budget beast that deserves to fly but is chained down by Verizon exclusivity. Even so, this phone would still feel like a reasonable deal at $400, but it’s only $240. There’s some much going right for this phone, making it easy to forget about some of the nitpicky detractors. The screen, the camera, the powerful internals and the simple but classy design pull this phone together in a great way, and tacking a $240 price tag on the box makes it a no-brainer. Unfortunately, tacking Verizon on the box limits who can buy this phone, but for Verizon customers or those looking for a great budget phone worth switching carriers for, the Asus ZenFone V is worthy. Read the full review: Asus ZenFone V LG Q6 The LG Q6 is the midrange take on the company’s 2017 flagship smartphone, the LG G6. As you can see for yourself, much of the G6’s visual pizazz has made the transition to the more budget-friendly class intact. It features the familiar tall aspect ratio, a nearly bezel-free design, and commendable build quality that yields a smooth feeling in the hand. However, given its lower asking price, not every single one of the G6’s finer qualities makes an appearance. The plastic back, for example, is prone to scratching. You won't find a fingerprint sensor here – a feature served up by the sub-$100 Moto E4. Predictably, the Q6’s internal specs are decidedly ho-hum and don’t pack adequate muscle to hustle through some of the more demanding 3D games available on the Google Play Store. The budget smartphone arena is competitive as ever and the Q6's downsides are hard to forgive. But, as it's available for as low as $239 in the US with Amazon supported ads, you're still getting a whole lot of phone for the cash. Read the full review: LG Q6 Best phone under $200Honor 7X The Honor 7X gets the title for offering a flagship level of design quality for such a low price. For $199, you'll nab a phone with a large 18:9 aspect ratio display, enough power to run pretty much anything on the Google Play Store, and dual rear lens cameras to take photos with greater depth of field. We typically don't expect much from phones below the $200 price mark, but 2018 and now in 2019 has really made us rethink this. While options higher up on this list represent a better value, as well as a blending of hardware and software that will simply appeal to more people, the Honor 7X is the company's best stab yet at a device that will captivate the mainstream. Read the full review: Honor 7X Moto G6 Play Compared the Moto G6, the Play variant keeps the good looks, microSD support and the low price, but compromises a bit in terms of speed. It’s not quite fair to call the Moto G6 Play a “dumbed-down” version, as it’s actually enhanced in a few ways. First off, Moto fit a 4,000mAh battery inside, which should provide more than a day of life for many users. The Play is for those who typically put their phone through some abuse. To fit in line with that lifestyle, it’s got a plastic build instead of glass. Moto skipped the Play series last year, but compared to the Moto G4 Play, this one is on a whole new level of quality and value. Read the full review: Moto G6 Play ZTE Blade V8 Pro At its core, the Blade V8 Pro offers a lot for the money. It doesn’t wow when compared to flagship but if all you want is a phone to do the basics, you’ll be happy with the Blade. ZTE did a great job balancing price, performance and features. After using the ZTE Blade V8 Pro for a month, we were impressed at just how little we missed from a flagship phone. Sure, you don’t get the multitasking performance of more powerful smartphones but for a majority of tasks, the Blade V8 Pro is perfectly adequate. The ZTE Blade V8 Pro is an excellent smartphone for the price. Its bargain bin price gets you good battery life, decent dual-rear cameras and a near-stock Android experience. If you’re okay with having an older version of Android, the Blade V8 Pro is among the smartest choices if you're in need of a budget smartphone. Read the full review: ZTE Blade V8 Pro Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom I’m surprised by the Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom. While I was fairly impressed with its specs and the much-improved design over the original Asus Zenfone Zoom, its direct predecessor, I wasn’t completely sold. That’s mostly because I didn’t know how much it would cost. Not only is it cheaper and far better than the Zenfone Zoom, it’s one of the best mid-tier options available. Asus’ ZenUI has improved to the point where it’s no longer a red flag for most users and the value here in terms of spec and design is tough to beat. While not perfect in its execution, it’s full of crowd-pleasing features and rocks a pleasing design that defies its price point, coming together as a smart buy for just about anyone. Read the full review: Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom Xiaomi Mi A1 Only crippled by Xiaomi's lack of official presence in the US, the Mi A1 is an incredibly solid Android phone, backed by Google's Android One program that ensures it the latest in both security and software updates. The Xiaomi Mi A1 wears its inspiration on its sleeve. As such, it looks a lot like an iPhone, but for what it lacks in originality, it makes up for with a super low price tag of $199. We've seen it available on Amazon, however through unofficial avenues, so be cautious of who you purchase from. That being said, if you're looking for a phone that will work with GSM networks like AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket and MetroPCS, it's hard to beat this phone's specs for the price. We wanted to place this device higher on the list, but given that it's tough to find, perhaps its successor will find its way higher on this list should Xiaomi ever branch out its phones division to the States in an official manner. Read the full review: Xiaomi Mi A1
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| Best phone for gaming 2019: the top 10 mobile game performers Posted: 22 Jan 2019 11:44 AM PST The best phones for gaming on the go don't specifically need to be designated "gaming phones"; in fact, some of the highest-rated on our top 10 list are simply the best devices on the market with top-tier specs, sharp displays and long battery life. Console-quality 3D games are now the norm on phones, like Fortnite and PUBG Mobile, and you'll need a high-quality device for the best gaming experience. The top gaming phones don't just play the best smartphone games without a hitch, they’ll also maintain the best visuals and performance for games coming over the next few years. Think about the phones below as future-proofing your next device into the year 2020. Our recommendations consider processor and GPU speeds, RAM size and other odds and ends. It also considers the app ecosystem, which is the lead reason Apple's iPhones frequently top the list. They generally have access to more games than Android. and often get multi-platform titles them first. But there are newer "gaming phones" that have come out in the past year which are...actually pretty good, and we've inserted them into our list accordingly. If you want high specs AND 'gamer'-appealing perks like RGB lights, you no longer have to choose. We've examined all the options and chosen the best phones for gaming based on the factors above. Here's our top ten list: The iPhone XS Max is the bigger, better brother of Apple's new flagship smartphone in a few key ways, but if you're picking either model for gaming, you might as well go with the best. The 6.5-inch screen on the iPhone XS Max is bigger than the one on its 5.8-inch sibling and its larger battery manages to stay working nearly a full hour longer than the standard iPhone XS. Those perks will give you more of an edge than with the iPhone XS, but both benefit from this Apple phone generation's true advantage: the A12 Bionic processor. We have high hopes that this chip will outperform the A11 Bionic found on last year's iPhone X since Apple claimed it is 40% more efficient and 50% more powerful than the older processor. In our tests, it loaded up Clash Royale and PUBG even faster, and speed is crucial in online gaming. All this in a Apple's sleek, modern look – though it's the most expensive mainstream phone on the market, even before including all the bells and whistles. Read the full reviews: iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is a very iterative device, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it isn’t the best Android gaming phone on the market. Not only does this have one of the biggest, brightest and highest res displays on the market – it’s all backed up by the latest Snapdragon and Exynos CPUs on the market today. You’ll have an advantage over the competition in games like Fortnite, as you’ll be able to see more clearly, and with more frames per second. Even when you’re done playing your games, you won’t be ashamed to carry the Note 9 in public, unlike some more gamer-y devices, as it has a smooth and modern aesthetic. While the Note 9 doesn't have the fancy toys or RGB lighting that the next couple gamer-designed phones have, it has a serious advantage: availability. You can pick up a Note 9 in most physical or online gadget outlets. Sorry, Asus ROG and Razer phones. Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 The Asus ROG Phone may "look like an irate Decepticon" as our reviewer put it, but outside its appearance, the device is a powerful phone with plenty of extras to entice gamers. It's also a decent phone in its own right, and it has notable advantages over the comparable Razer Phone 2. Its specs are solidly advanced for phone released at the tail end of 2018: an 'overclocked' Snapdragon 845, 8GB of RAM and a 4,000mAh battery, as well as a 90hz refresh rate screen that pales only to the Razer Phone 2's 120hz. As for gaming, the phone's "AirTrigger" touch-sensitive buttons on the top-right and top-left of the phone (when held in landscape) are cool, customizable ways to play that your typical smartphone just doesn't have. True to Asus' Republic of Gamers brand, you can buy a selection of accessories to augment your mobile game experience. These include a clamshell case with a bonus screen, a pair of controller halves that clip to either side and a docking platform that extends your phone to a big display, Nintendo Switch-style. There's even a simple clip-on fan to reduce device heat during games. The ROG Phone's appeal lives or dies on its external design, and we wouldn't blame you for skipping it for something a bit more conservative. But its advances, especially the AirTriggers, shouldn't be overlooked when considering phones for serious gaming. Read our full review: Asus ROG Phone The first Razer Phone was a solid first effort to bring the gamer-specific brand to a mobile device, but it had a few shortcomings that dropped it further down our list. The second version has addressed some and come out with a stronger device for it, though it's still aimed primarily at gamers. What does that mean? The camera and display aren't nearly as impressive as other phones that cost this much, so casual gamers might want to look elsewhere. But if you're more serious about mobile gaming and can afford it, this is a solid choice. Outwardly, the Razer Phone 2 hasn't changed much from its predecessor, though it's upgraded to the Snapdragon 845 chip and switched to a glass back for Qi wireless charging. It's also added a slick vapor chamber to cool the device as you game. At the end of the day, the phone's beefy chipset, 8GB RAM, great speakers, 120hz refresh rate screen and 4,000mAh battery, as well as extensive settings to tweak battery life and performance, make this a great choice for gaming. Read the full review: Razer Phone 2 While the iPhone XS has dethroned the year-old iPhone X as the top Apple smartphone, the latter is still a great choice with high-performing hardware. If you can find it for sale (it's no longer available on Apple's website), the iPhone X’s 5.8-inch OLED display will offer plenty of screen space for games along with incredible contrast ratios, making visuals pop when a scene has a dark and light contrast. While other phones may slightly outperform the iPhone X, the biggest advantage of Apple phones for gaming is the App Store. Part of this is due to the love developers show it: iPhones almost always get the best games first, like Fortnite, which launched exclusively on iOS for some time. Apple is also on the forefront of delivering the first meaningful and mainstream AR experiences, including AR multiplayer gaming as one of the many iOS 12 features. Check out our iPhone X review video below. There’s no getting around it: Apple has two amazing phones with big, sharp displays powered by top-of-the-line specs. The same internals and App Store that earned the iPhone X the top spot on this list earn the iPhone 8 Plus the second spot. The iPhone 8 Plus has a less-showy Full HD display, but in our experience is still great for gaming. The 5.5-inch screen is plenty spacious. Apple’s A11 Bionic CPU and graphics make for a mean gaming experience, and ARkit offers up augmented reality games that give Apple’s iPhones more to offer gamers. This is the one to buy if you want a gaming phone with a home button and don't want to spend top dollar on the iPhone X. We’ve lumped the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus into one spot, because they both offer nearly the same incredible smartphone gaming experience with only a minor difference in screen size. The Snapdragon 845, Adreno 630 graphics, and 4GB of RAM (6GB in the S9 Plus) make both of these phones incredible performers both in game and out. And, since the market of other Android phones boasting the new Snapdragon 845 hasn’t caught up, Samsung easily snags this seat. But, a powerful chipset isn’t all that earns the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus its ranking. The S9 has a plenty large and plenty sharp 1440 X 2960, 5.8-inch display, and the S9 Plus has an even larger 6.2-inch display with the same resolution. Both are Super AMOLED and support HDR10 for stunning visuals. The new Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus also feature Samsung’s Game Tools, which can help with taking screenshots, recording gameplay, and keeping notifications out of the way. Let’s not forget that Samsung also has the impressive Gear VR headsets that offer super sharp virtual reality experiences with the Galaxy S9’s and S9 Plus’s pixel-dense displays. Aided by a 5.7-inch 1080 x 2160 HDR display and the same Snapdragon 845 chipset powering the latest Galaxy smartphones, Sony’s Xperia XZ2 jumps ahead of much of the competition. This new offering from Sony is simply a great phone, and having the latest Qualcomm system-on-a-chip gives it stunning video game performance. The Xperia XZ2 won’t just offering great gaming visuals though. It has dual front-facing speakers, for a quality stereo experience. The 3,180mAh battery offers decent gaming battery life as well. And, for mobile gamers that have a big library, microSD support provides up to 400GB of extra storage. A unique feature that can make mobile gaming on the Xperia XZ2 feel just a little bit more like console gaming is Sony’s “Dynamic Vibration System”. A little haptic feedback can enhance your game experience, even if it’s just a minor touch to an already solid offering from Sony. The Moto Z2 Force is a curious case. It has the quality 5.5-inch Quad HD display and the powerful Snapdragon 835 chipset for gaming, but on its own it’s not the most amazing gaming smartphone. A somewhat small 2,730mAh battery doesn’t give it the long life we’d like to see in a gaming phone. But, it has a trick that others don’t. The Moto Z2 Force can snap onto the Moto GamePad mod, which it two analog stick, a D-pad, and a host of other gamer-friendly buttons. Having physical controls for smartphone games is a double bonus, since they will easier to use while making the screen easier to see (you thumbs won’t be covering up your enemies). The Moto GamePad even has a 3.5mm headphone jack. When it comes to virtual reality, the Moto Z2 Force is ready. It’s certified Google Daydream-ready. Next to Samsung’s Gear VR, the Daydream View delivers some of the best mobile VR available, and the Moto Z2 Force can power that experience. Google’s biggest and best smartphone, the Pixel 2 XL, also has what it takes to be a great gaming smartphone. It’s 6-inch display offers plenty of real estate for gaming without having your thumbs cover everything up. That display is also a 1440 x 2880 pOLED panel, so the visuals will be crisp with excellent contrast. Like many of the other phones on this list, the Pixel 2 XL is running a Snapdragon 835 chipset, which will deliver smooth gaming performance in most mobile games. Of course, the Pixel 2 XL is also capable of delivering VR content with the Daydream View headset. An added bonus is that the large 3,520mAh battery will make it easy to game on the go, while Google’s Project Fi network (which Pixel owners can subscribe to) offers impressive coverage that can help eliminate concerns of losing connection to online games. 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| Super Bowl 2019 TV deals: save on Samsung, LG, Vizio and more Posted: 22 Jan 2019 11:40 AM PST Super Bowl 2019 is just around the corner, and that means retailers are slashing the prices on some of their best-selling big-screen TVs. We've gone through the top retailers to find the best Super Bowl discounts on brands such as Vizio, Samsung, LG and more. Shop more of our Super Bowl 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:This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Majority of companies still aren't GDPR-compliant Posted: 22 Jan 2019 10:20 AM PST Tech giants including Google, Amazon and Apple have been publicly accused of breaching GDPR after failing to respond to 10 private citizens with basic information but no research from Talend has revealed that they aren't the only ones violating the EU's data protection rules. The firm's latest research, based on personal data requests made to 23 companies based or operating in the UK across multiple industries, shows that 74 per cent of UK organisations failed to address requests from individuals seeking to obtain a copy of their personal data within the one-month time limit required by GDPR. Talend's data also revealed that there was only a 17 per cent compliance rate among the companies it polled with the last nine per cent of companies split with either delayed or incomplete responses. GDPR went into effect on May 25th 2018 and experts are predicting a growing emphasis on compliance with the regulation in 2018 particularly regarding improving data processes within organisations. Under pressure to complyAccording to Talend's Senior Director of Data Governance Jean Michel Franco, companies that give users a delayed or complete lack of a response to their requests for information risk damaging consumer trust in how they store and organise their data. Franco explained how consumers are becoming more empowered when dealing with the companies that have their data and how business must work to regain consumer trust, saying: “What’s more, the world is on tenterhooks waiting for the first major fine to be enforced for a breach of the GDPR. After all, consumers are now feeling more empowered to put companies and regulators under pressure to ensure that their rights are respected, whether through individual complaints or group action, as we’ve seen recently with a huge spike in reports to the ICO (up by 160%) and class action by 45,000 European citizens driven by three associations including Privacy International. “As 2019 gets into full swing, businesses must ask themselves if they are complying with the full extent of the GDPR provisions. The added pressures of Brexit and data sovereignty issues add additional elements of concern to an already complex data landscape. Businesses must do more to regain the trust of their data subjects and be aware that they risk very significant fines and further reputational damage in the event of non-compliance – both of which could prove potentially fatal to businesses.”
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| The best cheap TV deals and sale prices - 4K TVs for less Posted: 22 Jan 2019 10:05 AM PST We're into prime shopping territory now and that means this is a great time to get a cheap 4K TV deal! So if you're ready for the world of Ultra HD take a look at the highlights of the best TV sale prices below. We've thoroughly searched through the early sales to bring you the best offers on the net. So whether you're looking for an XL 4K TV to serve as the focal point of your home theater system, a modestly sized set for the bedroom or kitchen, or an entry level TV for the kids, you're sure to find something that meets your specifications and budget. You will find all of our carefully curated deals below. We've divided them into three different size categories immediately after our pick for the best cheap TV deal of the week. These days you really don't have to pay much more to get a Ultra HD 4K set instead of an older-style HD one. If you're after the hottest tech in TV though, you may want to take a look at the cheapest OLED TV prices. Whether you want a small TV with a price tag to match or something to show all the colours of the rainbow (and a few million more) with HDR, we've found plenty of options. Read on to find the TV you want at a great price! TechRadar's cheap TV deal of the weekCheap TV deals (40-49 inch)Cheap TV deals (50-59 inch):Cheap TV deals (60-85 inch):More cheap TV sales:Not found the right cheap TV for you today? Or maybe you'd prefer to directly browse the TVs at your favourite retailers instead of our highlights of the best cheap TV deals? We're updating this page on a regular basis, so you may have better look another day. If you want to take a look for yourself now though, here are the direct links to a the full collection of TV deals at multiple stores. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Half of PC applications are out of date Posted: 22 Jan 2019 09:47 AM PST New research from Avast has revealed that more than half (55%) of PC applications installed worldwide are out-of-date, leaving users and their personal data vulnerable to security risks. The firm's PC Trends Report 2019 found that users are making themselves more vulnerable to hackers by not implementing security patches and keeping outdated versions of popular applications on their PCs with Adobe Shockwave (96%), VLC Media Player (94%) and Skype (94%) being the applications where updates are most frequently neglected. To compile its report, Avast used anonymised and aggregated data from 163m devices across the globe and the firm also discovered that Windows 10 is now installed on 40 per cent of all PCs globally as Microsoft's latest OS is fast approaching the 43 per cent share held by Windows 7. However, almost one in six (15%) of all Windows 7 users and one in ten (9%) of all Windows 10 users worldwide are running older versions which are no longer supported by Microsoft. Shift to mobile computingAvast's President Ondrej Vlcek explained how users regularly update to new smartphones but are keeping their PCs longer, saying: “Most of us replace our smartphone regularly, but the same cannot be said for our PCs. With the average age of a PC now reaching six years old, we need to be doing more to ensure our devices are not putting us at unnecessary risk. With the right amount of care, such as cleaning our hardware’s insides using cleaners, optimization and security products, PCs will be safe and reliable for even longer.” Laptops, tablets and 2-in-1 PCs running Windows have grown in popularity as PC users now favour mobility over raw power with 67 per cent choosing laptops and tablets over desktops. The shift to mobile PCs has also impacted the most installed applications and Google Chrome jumped to the top of the list in 2018 increasing its share of installs from 79 per cent to 91 per cent in the last 12 months. The other most popular PC applications were Adobe Acrobat Reader (60%), WinRar (48%), Microsoft Office (45%) and Mozilla Firefox (42%). Despite the fact that Microsoft Office was the fourth most used application worldwide, it is also one of the most out-of-date apps and 15 per cent of users still have the Enterprise 2007 version installed even though it is no longer officially supported.
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| LCD-you-later: All of Apple’s 2020 iPhones may have OLED screens Posted: 22 Jan 2019 09:45 AM PST Apple’s flagship phones have all adopted OLED screens since the iPhone X – except for the budget iPhone XR, which had an LCD screen to save costs. But the company may finally abandon LCD in favor of OLED displays with its 2020 line of phones, per a Wall Street Journal report. This follows last year’s rumor that all of Apple’s phones would be OLED by 2019; it’s unclear if that will end up being the case. Apple’s iPhone X was its first to sport an OLED display, but for years the company trailed Samsung, Google, LG and OnePlus in releasing phones that had already sported the brighter, higher-resolution screens. But there might be other reasons for Apple to switch. LCD screens need a standalone backlight while each pixel in an OLED display is individually lit, as 9to5Mac points out. This would open up design space for screens that aren’t just the same rectangles we’ve grown accustomed to. Another rumor hinted Apple might use a touch-integrated OLED screen to make its 2019 iPhones thinner, though the company is also thinking about curved phones, per 9to5Mac. One reason Apple hasn’t abandoned LCD: SamsungApple’s slow shift to adopt OLED could be due to supply and demand: Samsung remains the biggest OLED display provider. Apple expected the budget iPhone XR to be the best-selling model of its last round of phones, but quarterly phone sales were lower than expected – especially in China – which dropped the company’s expected revenues from $93 billion down to $84 billion. The region might hold the key, where phone makers are releasing powerful, cheap devices for far lower prices than Apple. So, Apple begrudgingly adopting OLED screens could be a necessary modernization it needs to keep up with the competition. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Get a free PlayStation Classic with these already affordable iPhone XR deals Posted: 22 Jan 2019 09:25 AM PST Love retro gaming? Love high-end flagship phones? Well Mobiles.co.uk has a deal that will work perfectly for you, offering not just the iPhone XR but also a free PlayStation Classic to go with it. You would assume there's a catch here but there really isn't one. In fact, the XR deals you can get this freebie with are some of the best around even before you add in the free console. Our standout choice is the iPhone XR with 15GB of data for £34 a month. You do have to pay £165 upfront but you can drop it down by a tenner using our exclusive 10OFF and, in the grand scheme of iPhone deals, that is pretty cheap. Read more: We've listed the best XR deals featuring that PlayStation Classic freebie below so you can see what the top options are. If you're not so interested in the freebie but want the XR at its cheapest price then maybe these iPhone XR cashback deals would be more what you're looking for - you can save £90 from the overall price. Mobiles.co.uk is offering this deal with a range of devices and we've listed the key other offers at the bottom of the page but the XR deals are definitely the standout option offering the best prices to get both the phone and console. Our fave iPhone XR freebie deals in fullOur pick of the other best free PS Classic offersAlthough the iPhone XR holds the most attractive offer with the free PlayStation Classic, Mobiles.co.uk has released this free console offer on a whole host of devices. The key deals are: This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Honor Watch Magic officially announced for Europe Posted: 22 Jan 2019 09:09 AM PST The Honor Watch Magic has been officially announced for Europe in Paris, France, during the Honor View 20 launch event. The smartwatch was released in China back in October 2018, but it's now finally launching outside of Honor's homeland. It will be available in black, moonlight silver and dark blue, and sports the same interface as the Huawei Watch GT - although the Watch Magic has a smaller, 1.2-inch HD AMOLED display. The Watch Magic is 9.8mm thick, making it thinner than the Apple Watch, and it's water resistant up to 50m as well as being swim-proof. GPS is built-in, allowing you to track your runs without having to take your phone with you, plus there's a heart rate monitor on the rear. A week of battery lifeHonor claims the Watch Magic can last seven days on a single charge with 24 hour heart-rate monitoring turned on - which would be seriously impressive if true. It also launched the Honor Watch Dream, which appears to be a similar smartwatch aimed at females. The Honor Watch Magic price is set at €179 (around £155) and will be available to buy from January 23 in a number of countries including the UK.
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| Best Cheap VPS hosting deals of 2019 Posted: 22 Jan 2019 09:00 AM PST VPS (Virtual Private Servers), as a hosting option, sit between shared hosting and dedicated servers in the overall hierarchy of website hosting. However, while they share a lot of features with dedicated servers, their prices tend to be much lower, almost in line with shared hosting. So it isn’t surprising that they are the preferred option for those who are not afraid to get dirty with code and OS updates. VPS, as you might guess, is not for novices, but will provide a far more scalable platform if you want to develop a website or a service that will gain significant traction or attract significant traffic quickly. We’ve listed the best cheap VPS deals on the market in this article with something for everyone, whether you need unmanaged or not. If you’ve found something better and worthy of inclusion, please do get in touch with us. The best cheap VPS hosting deals are:Hostwinds VPS Starting from only $5.17 per month with no gimmicks, you will be very hard pressed to find a cheaper VPS deal with managed hosting. Hostwinds doesn't do half measures when it comes to VPS and while you will be able to get more cores elsewhere, Hostwinds' offer feels more balance. You get one core, 1GB of RAM, 30GB SSD storage space, 1TB bandwidth with a 1Gbps port (which allow for burstable traffic) plus 99.9999% uptime guarantee, the highest we've ever seen at this price, which translates into a maximum downtime of 31.56 seconds. You do get root access and a huge choice of Linux distros (and versions). Unlike some cheaper competitors, you do not have to pay for a few essential things (WordPress daily backups and cPanel) and you still can enjoy free website transfers, and a long 60-day money back warranty.
1&1 Ionos vServer VPS M Ionos brings a European flavor to the lower-end of the VPS market with its Virtual Server Cloud M offering. At $5, it is one of the cheapest on the market, although note that the price increases by 100% after the first 12 months. You get one virtual Intel Xeon E5 core, 1GB of RAM, 50GB of SSD grade storage and unlimited traffic over a 100Mbit connection (that’s 30TB per month). You can choose the location of your data center (US, Spain or Germany) and you have a choice of Linux distro (albeit more limited than VPSCheap); Windows is also available as an option. As expected you get full root access, snapshot backup as an option, an SSL Wildcard certificate, Plesk Onyx control panel and the web host guarantees a ‘four-nines’ uptime (99.99%), not bad for such a cheap hosting package. You get one IPv4 (but not IPv6) address and 500GB storage spread across 250 email boxes. Alibaba Cloud ECS Starter Package As the designated data center partner for the Olympics committee, Alibaba Cloud happens to be the biggest cloud provider in China and its ECS (Elastic Compute Service) – which is its take on the VPS concept – is being aggressively marketed online as a compelling alternative to Amazon’s more expensive Lightsail VPS. With 19 data center regions located worldwide and a starting price of only $4.50 per month, it is one of the cheapest VPS deals around. You get one vCore CPU, 1GB memory, 40GB of SSD storage, 1TB of data transfer plus a free anti-DDoS Basic service, automatic snapshots, and triplicated backups. The data is far lower than the competition which means that the ECS starter pack is ideal for non-bandwidth hungry applications. As with other rivals, it uses Intel Xeon E5 processors and SSDs, paired with Linux. It is also the only provider that serves the billion-plus Chinese audience directly (although you will need to apply for an ICP license to deploy your website). Hertzner CX11 Hetzner might not be a well-known brand outside its home country (Germany) but this internet web hosting company punches above its weight despite having only 200 employees. It uses Skylake Xeon processors rather than the older Broadwell models and bundles 20TB of data with all its tiers. You pay by the month and there’s no minimum contract period. Even the cheapest tier (CX11 for €2.49, about $2.82) comes with 2GB of RAM, 20GB of drive space (NVMe SSD), and one vCPU, with data centers located in Germany and Finland, which is great if you like strict European data protection regulations. Hertzner manages to keep prices low by offering only core features with its own proprietary cloud console. You have to pay for everything else including backup snapshots (€0.01 per GB per month) and IP address (€1 per month). OVH OVH is the third European company in our list and the only one of that trio from outside Germany. At $6.87 per month (for the annual plan) for the VPS SSD 2 package, it includes local RAID-1, 40GB SSD space, one vCore and uniquely for this price, 4GB RAM, which is four times what Alibaba Cloud or Ionos provides. Five European data center locations are available plus one North American. Uptime guarantee is 99.95%, slight worse than, say, the Ionos package, and OVH is good at communicating what is available in its bundles. Unlimited traffic over a 100Mbps port is included, as is anti-DDoS protection, KVM, root access, IPv4/IPv6 IP and free ready-to-go packages like WordPress, PrestaShop or CozyCloud. You might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides:
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| Only a quarter of players completed the Resident Evil 2 remake demo Posted: 22 Jan 2019 08:53 AM PST Capcom released a free one-shot demo for the Resident Evil 2 remake in the run up to the game's January 25 release. However, despite being downloaded over three million times, only a quarter of tracked players actually completed the demo (via PCGamer). According to ResidentEvil.Net, nearly two and a half million demo players globally allowed their Resident Evil 2 remake stats and progress to be tracked, but only 26% finished the 30-minute demo. The stats also reveal that over half a million demo players were based in North America, making up the majority, while East Asia came a close second with nearly half a million. Don't make them like they used toSo why aren't players finishing the demo? The most likely answer is because Resident Evil 2 is notoriously hard. Whether it's because of the extremely challenging puzzles, the super resilient zombies, the infamous Tyrant, or a mixture of all these factors, the Resident Evil 2 remake is not for the faint-hearted. If you're still not sure if Resident Evil 2 is for you, then download the demo now or check out our Resident Evil 2 remake review. The Resident Evil 2 remake is out on January 25 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| End of Windows 10 Mobile is natural conclusion of Microsoft's shift in strategy Posted: 22 Jan 2019 08:50 AM PST The news that Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 Mobile should come as no great surprise to anyone who has followed the company’s mobile efforts over the past few decades. Microsoft dominated smartphones in the early 2000s with Windows Mobile, but this first mover advantage was limited by the fact the market for such devices was so small. When the first modern smartphones arrived later in the decade, it was BlackBerry, Google and Apple that benefited. It was widely acknowledged that Microsoft has missed the boat when it came to smartphones but this didn’t stop it trying. When Windows 10 arrived back in 2015, it was positioned as ‘one operating system to rule them all’, capable of running just about any system you could think of. Naturally, this included desktop and laptop PCs, but also tablets, connected devices and smartphones. Microsoft had set itself an ambitious target of reaching one billion devices – a goal that was rendered achievable the fact Windows 10 was available as a free upgrade to most users – as it sought to create the widest possible install base to push its services and attract developers. Windows 10 MobileFor a brief period, the much-loved Windows Phone was a genuine alternative to Android and iOS. Innovative hardware from the likes of Nokia, integration with Microsoft applications, and the live-tile interface set itself apart from the competition. But Windows Phone never snared more than 10 per cent of the market and despite a series of critically-acclaimed Nokia flagships, the main successes were in the mid-range segments in Western Europe. Among other things, a lack of applications cited as one of the reasons for poor uptake. It was hoped that cross-platform apps for Windows 10 would address this drought and drive adoption, but this critical mass never occurred. It wasn’t until March 2016 that smartphone owners could get their hands on Windows 10 Mobile, with a number of select Nokia Lumia devices able to upgrade. But precious little new hardware was released, and Microsoft’s efforts were focused on getting its services on any as many devices as possible. It had been speculated that Microsoft would gear up for one last assault on the market with the oft-rumoured Surface phone, but such a device never materialised. In late 2017, Microsoft confirmed what many had long suspected – there would be no new features or hardware. The company promised that it would continue to fix bugs and issue security updates, but ongoing development had all but ceased. Now those security updates will end in December 2019, giving users less than a year to migrate to iOS and Android – that’s if they haven’t done so already. Why did it fail?Experts believe that despite critical acclaim and some brief success, Microsoft’s efforts to become a major player with Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile were doomed to failure. “Windows 10 Mobile failed for numerous reasons,” Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight tells TechRadar Pro. “Arguably the single biggest blow was that Microsoft was late to the smartphone party. It only started putting significant effort into its mobile operating system many years after Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android were already well established. This meant that it struggled to get traction with app developers leaving it lagging rival platforms in terms of the experience it could offer. “Despite securing Nokia as its lead licensee, the products were never truly competitive and only having one large phone maker committed to Windows 10 Mobile was not enough to build broad platform support. “Ultimately it always felt as though Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile were second class citizens to PC based Windows OS which meant features did not come quickly enough and ultimately it was not a strategic enough platform to justify the on-going investment. What next for Microsoft?Microsoft’s philosophy has shifted significantly since the launch of Windows Phone. It no longer wants to own the mobile platform, but instead wants to get its cloud-based services on as many devices as possible – increasing revenues from subscription fees and advertising. Microsoft Office, once considered a key differentiator for Windows mobile platforms, has been available on Android and iOS for some time, while cross-platform versions of Cortana have been made available. A Windows Launcher for Android was also released and efforts to increase the install base of the Bing search engine have been a priority. While former CEO Steve Ballmer seemed committed to catching the last boat when it came to mobile – most notably through the acquisition of Nokia – current chief executive Satya Nadella is comfortable with having missed the boat entirely. His tenure has been characterised the introduction of a cloud-first, mobile-first mentality across the entire company. “Microsoft has pivoted to becoming a provider of cross-platform software and services for mobile devices rather than providing the operating system itself,” explains Wood. “This is little surprise given that Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS platforms account for over 98 per cent of smartphones sold.
“The decision to offer Microsoft’s core products such as the Word, PowerPoint and Excel on these platforms has been an inspired move which has further bolstered Microsoft’s transformation to an ‘as-a-service’ software provider under the stewardship of Nadella.” Microsoft’s bid to become a “third way” has seemingly failed and the reality is that relatively few consumers and organisations will be affected by the end of support for Windows 10 Mobile. The company appears to have made peace with the fact that Apple and Google’s duopoly will continue. “With the Windows 10 Mobile OS end of support, we recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device,” says Microsoft. “Microsoft’s mission statement to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, compels us to support our Mobile apps on those platforms and devices.” Its likely that fans of Microsoft’s mobile platforms will be more sentimental and affectionate in their own epitaphs than the company has been. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Google bans dodgy diet pills and snake oil salesmen from the Play Store Posted: 22 Jan 2019 08:47 AM PST As part of its continuing mission to clean up the Play Store, Google has announced a blanket ban on apps that "sell or promote unapproved substances". These include drugs that are regulated or banned in the US, as well as potentially harmful herbal supplements. The new rules, which were spotted by Android Police, specifically mention products containing ephedra, which is sometimes used to boost short-term weight-loss, but can have life-threatening side-effects including heart attacks and strokes. Google is also cracking down on apps that claim an untested product is as safe and effective as a legitimate prescription drug, or can prevent or treat an illness. Trouble in storeGoogle has its work cut out trying to block apps that are shady, if not outright illegal. Last year it announced a ban on cryptocurrency mining apps, as well as apps that use children's cartoon characters to promote adult themes (like deeply creepy Disney princess childbirth simulators). In addition to banning sketchy pills, the latest expansion of the Play Store's rules clarifies what is meant by bullying and harassment and exploiting sensitive events. For example, hounding the families of victims after a tragedy and appearing to profit from a terrible event without helping anyone involved are now strictly forbidden. Cleaning up the store this way is a herculean task, but with new types of dodgy content appearing regularly, a highly specific, piecemeal approach seems to be the only option without resorting to an Apple-style 'walled garden' approach. That rulebook will just keep growing. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Security flaws found in top free VPN Android apps Posted: 22 Jan 2019 08:46 AM PST Android users looking for free VPN apps in the Google Play Store may want to think twice after new research from Metrics Lab has revealed that one in five of the top 150 free VPN apps could be a potential source of malware while a quarter of the apps contain privacy breaking bugs such as DNS leaks. The company's Head of Research Simon Migliano made the discovery and found that these Android VPN apps have already been installed 260m times according to Google. Metrics Lab, which is behind the Top10VPN service, has organised and published its findings in the form of a risk index with the aim of helping Android users understand the privacy risks they are exposing themselves to when installing a free VPN. Of the top 150 free VPNs, 27 apps were flagged as a potential source of malware after being tested using the utility VirusTotal. DNS leakAdditionally 25 per cent of the top 150 free VPNs on the Google Play Store were affected by a DNS leak security issue which Migliano explained further in a blog post, saying: “This security flaw occurs when a VPN fails to force DNS requests through its encrypted tunnel to its own DNS servers and instead permits the DNS requests to be made directly to the default ISP DNS servers. Even though the rest of a user’s traffic is concealed, such a leak exposes a user’s browsing history to their ISP and any third-party DNS server operator that it may use.” The firm also discovered that some free VPNs were asking users for highly intrusive permissions with 25 per cent of apps asking to access a user's location, 38 per cent tried to access device status information and 57 per cent included code to retrieve a user's last known location. While a free VPN may sound enticing at first, there will always be some kind of tradeoff and we highly recommend researching any VPN extensively before installing it on your devices.
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