Apple : Windows 10 S Mode release date, news and features

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• Windows 10 S Mode release date, news and features
• The best Sprint plans in February 2019
• iOS 13 release date, news and rumors
• Xbox One S Anthem bundle is the cheapest (and worst) way to play the game
• Over 59,000 data breaches reported in EU since GDPR
• Apex Legends: release date, trailers and news
• iPad Mini 5 release date, news and leaks
• Insecure apps put half of IoT devices at risk
• Apple is selling refurbished iPhone X models nearly at iPhone XR price
• Best cloud storage 2019 for photos and pictures
• Moto G7 Plus release date, price, news and leaks
• Logitech’s new gaming headsets drive bigger and better 7.1 surround sound
• Google boosts password security with Password Checkup Chrome extension
• PlayStation Plus February 2019: all the free PS4 games you can get this month
• The best free blogging site of 2019
• Epic Games Store: exclusives, early access, and how it could take on Steam
• Sonos' new outdoor speaker lets you take the party outside
• The best free iPhone apps of 2019
• iOS 12.2 release date and all iOS 12 features explained
• A Groundhog Day game is coming to PSVR

Windows 10 S Mode release date, news and features Posted: 05 Feb 2019 01:15 PM PST Windows 10 S Mode was first unveiled as a standalone operating system back in May 2017. However, after some mixed reception, the slim OS has been evolving ever since. Most of this criticism came down to the restrictions it places on anyone trying to install any programs not found on the Windows Store. With Windows 10 S Mode, you’ll be limited to apps found on the Microsoft Store, rather than being able to install whatever your heart desires. Luckily, these days you can shift out of Windows 10 S Mode whenever you feel like it for free, so you don’t have to use it. But, Windows 10 S Mode makes a lot of sense for the right kind of user and device – something like the Microsoft Surface Go. Windows 10 S Mode will also be able to take advantage of all the latest Windows 10 updates, like the October 2018 Update and the upcoming Windows 10 April 2019 Update, packed with neat features like a brand new “Light Mode” that’ll offset the gloomy look of Windows 10. This update will also help you manage storage space, so you’ll always have free space for fresh Windows 10 S updates. Windows 10 S will also take advantage of the next big version of Windows 10, which is already being sent out to testers. We’re not quite sure what’s going to be included in this version of Windows, but we have our fingers crossed that it’ll include the Sets feature. Windows 10 S Mode is a core part of the Windows ecosystem these days, so we’re going to dive in and explore everything you need to know about the lightweight OS. Be sure to keep this page bookmarked, as we’ll keep it updated with all the latest Windows 10 S Mode news. Cut to the chase What is it? Windows 10 without x86 and x64 apps When is it out? Available now What will it cost? Free to all schools using Windows 10 Pro Windows 10 S release date Windows 10 S first launched on May 2, 2017, with devices using the OS trickling out over the following months. And, now, Windows 10 S is bigger than ever, a fact that we expect Microsoft to celebrate with new Surface devices at Tuesday’s press event – these lower-spec Windows 10 devices are more versatile than ever before.2 Microsoft has plans to allow users to switch out of S Mode through a simple UI switch, but that’s not quite ready yet. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way out of S Mode, just head to the Windows Store on your device and search for ‘switch out of S Mode’. As for when the switch will get implemented, no one knows, but Microsoft may sneak it in at a later date – we don’t think it’ll be in the October 2018 Update, though. Now, as for the reveal of Windows 10 S itself – Microsoft’s event invitation was titled ‘#MicrosoftEDU’, making no misgivings about its aims with the new OS. While Windows 10 S is not for individual sale, it is issued to IT administrators in education as well as laptops found in stores and online. It’s no coincidence that Windows 10 S is focused on the education sector, where Google’s Chromebooks are experiencing outlandish success. Windows 10 S price Windows 10 S essentially doesn’t cost a dime. The cost of the lightweight OS is more than likely subsidized by hardware makers, assuming they’re not getting it for free. Basically, you don’t really pay for Windows 10 S Mode, instead you’re paying for the hardware running it (with, again, whatever Microsoft is charging its partners to license the software). Save for premium devices like the original Surface Laptop, you can find devices running Windows 10 S Mode starting at just $189 (about £146, AU$251) and cap out around $299 (about £239, AU$396). PC makers across the board, including Dell, HP, Asus, Acer and Lenovo all have Windows 10 S Mode-powered devices in their stables. But, now that Windows 10 S Mode is a thing, it’s a toggle that doesn’t cost anything extra. Both Windows 10 Home and Pro S Mode users are able to go to the Windows Store and opt out of S Mode, though the conversion only works one way – out of S Mode – right now. Though, there will be a switch in the settings app of a future build, that will let users go back and forth.   What is Windows 10 S? Microsoft intends Windows 10 S to serve as a lightweight, more secure version of Windows 10 for lower-end devices. While in “S Mode,” Windows 10 will only support apps that are downloaded from the Windows Store. This talk of a version of Windows that can only download Microsoft-approved apps is familiar, isn’t it? Microsoft believes it has mastered this approach since the turbulent days of Windows 8 RT and Windows 8 with Bing – both of which tried to position Microsoft as the sole provider of apps through curation. The good news is that this allows for a startup time of under 5 seconds as opposed to the 30 - 40 second startup time of Windows 10 Pro. Not only that, but configuring settings (such as Wi-Fi, webcam, etc.) across an entire classroom of students is as easy as inserting a USB stick in each of their laptops. Being in competition with Google’s Chrome OS, Microsoft has, of course, also positioned Windows 10 S as a more secure PC operating system. However, its resilience to viruses is mostly a side-effect of the inability to install apps not approved by Microsoft. Historically, Windows viruses have tended to erupt from untrustworthy internet downloads. Should you find a must-have app that isn't available in the Microsoft Store in Windows 10 S you can switch from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Home or Pro by just going to the Windows Store and searching for “switch out of S Mode”. Microsoft used to charge a fee for this service, but now it’s free for everyone. Microsoft will also allow users that upgrade to Windows 10 Pro to move back down to Windows 10 S. And, now that Microsoft is rumored to be working on a Windows 10 Lean Mode, which will be even more lightweight and locked down.  Oddly enough, the shiny new Surface Laptop 2 now ships with Windows 10 Home, not in S Mode like the previous. That said, what can you expect to see included in devices running Windows 10 S? Well, the Edge browser, OneNote and Windows Ink are all givens. The standard Movies and Groove Music apps, as well as Maps and Mail and Calendar are shoo-ins, too.  Of course, we won’t see x86/x64 program support on a Windows 10 cloud operating system until 2019 when the aforementioned Polaris is expected to touch down and implement a ‘virtualization container’ for each of your favorite legacy applications. That means that, yes, should everything work out perfectly, there will be a Windows 10 cloud OS that can emulate the .exe’s of the past. Despite its constraints, Windows 10 S still features File Explorer, and although many of the laptops that come with the lightweight OS pre-installed may ship with smaller capacity SSDs, Microsoft’s forthcoming introduction of OneDrive Files On-Demand will make it so files can be stored in the cloud, but still viewed the same way as locally stored content. All things considered, there are still questions looming around in regard to the viability of Windows 10 S. Fortunately, as new developments emerge to (hopefully) address those criticisms, you can count on us to cover them right here on this page. Images Credit: Microsoft Bill Thomas and Gabe Carey have also contributed to this article This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The best Sprint plans in February 2019 Posted: 05 Feb 2019 12:44 PM PST Sprint's best plans have received a major overhaul, as the mobile carrier steered away from various plans, including the old Unlimited Freedom plan. The focus is now all on its three new tiers of unlimited data. If you're looking for prepaid plans, you'll probably want to see T-Mobile's plans, or any from the other carriers. But, if you're looking for the best unlimited data plan, you might just find that Sprint's new offerings have some sweet perks to entice you. Sprint now offers a basic unlimited data plan with a few limitations, and then it has two upgrade tiers that dial back those limitations while adding in extra services. If you just want unlimited data, your option will be straightforward, but if you want to max out everything, there's still an option for you. Whether you're set on Sprint or just curious what the carrier has to offer, we'll go over each plan in detail so you know exactly what you're getting. This way, you can make the best decision and get the best plan. Go straight to the plan: View at Sprint.com Sprint unlimited plans: Explained Sprint's unlimited plans start at the base tier, Unlimited Basic. This gives you the unlimited calling, texting, and data you'd expect. Mobile hotspot is also allowed on the plan, but with some speed limitations. The plan also comes with a Hulu subscription, service in Canada and Mexico, and international texting.  For an extra $10 a month per line, you can upgrade to Unlimited Plus, which offers more perks, higher bandwidths for things like streaming and gaming, and more LTE hotspot data. For another $30 per line on top of the Unlimited Basic Plan's price, you get the Unlimited Premium plan, which offers even more.  What's more, all of the plans offer 50GB of data at full speed, so you should only experience throttling during periods of network congestion after you've used 50GB of data. We'll explain each in greater detail in our plan breakdown below. But first, here's what you can expect to pay for the Unlimited Basic Plan: 1st line: $60/month 2nd line: $40/month 3rd-5th lines: $20/month Limited time discount: 5 lines for $20/line/month Sprint plans: access charges Sprint used to list access charges when you go through the process of selecting a plan and a device on its website. These used to be an easy way to turn an attractive plan price sour quickly, as it could tack on over $10 to the price.  Now, Sprint doesn't mention it anywhere that we could find so, so the days of access fees may be on their way out. Sprint's plans will include other taxes and fees though, and they vary by region, so don't expect the price you see first to be the price you pay. The right Sprint plan for you While the focus from Sprint is largely on unlimited data, there is also an option for you if you don't need much. Here, we'll go through the finer details of each plan, so you'll know what you get. This way you can make an informed decision. Sprint Unlimited Basic plan | Unlimited calls, texts and data | $60/month As we've mentioned, this plan comes with all the service you need. It may not all be the fastest, as there are bandwidth limitations for music and gaming, and video streaming is limited to 480p, but it's unlimited in quantity and you get a free Hulu subscription.  The plan also includes 500MB of mobile hotspot at LTE speeds, with unlimited hotspot at 3G speeds after that. On top of that, you get full service and 5GB of LTE data in Mexico and Canada, as well as free texting and basic data in over 200 countries. See the Unlimited Basic plan at Sprint.com Sprint Unlimited Plus plan | Unlimited calls, texts and data | $70/month The Unlimited Plus plan from Sprint offers everything the Unlimited Basic plan does and more. Video streaming is allowed at 1080p, and you get 50GB of mobile hotspot at LTE speeds before being knocked down to 3G. In addition to the Hulu subscription, you also get Tidal Premium. And, for use in Mexico and Canada, you get 10GB of LTE data instead of the 5GB included in the basic plan. On top of those upgrades, music streaming is allowed at 1.5Mbps and gaming is allowed at 8Mbps. And, for a limited time, if you bring your own device when switching to Sprint, you can save $10 per month on this plan. See the Unlimited Plus plan at Sprint.com Sprint Unlimited Premium plan | Unlimited calls, texts and data | $90/month The Unlimited Premium plan takes everything that much further. You still get the unlimited calls, texts, and LTE data, but with this plan, you also keep them while in Canada and Mexico. The mobile hotspot LTE cap is raised even further to 100GB, and 1080p streaming is allowed. The perks are increased as well. You get Hulu, Tidal Premium, Lookout Premium Plus, and an Amazon Prime subscription. And, if you like to use ride hailing services, the plan also includes two $10 credits each month toward Uber rides. The plan is a fair bit pricier, but you can get $10/month off if you bring your own device when switching to Sprint. See the Unlimited Premium plan at Sprint.com Sprint 2GB plan| Unlimited calls and texts | $40/month If you don't use much data and just want to have all the calling and texting with a sprinkle of the web and YouTube on top, this may be the plan for you. Unfortunately, if you think you'll need more than this, your only other option is to go up to an Unlimited plan. See the 2GB plan at Sprint.com Sprint plans: Other options If you're looking to get more than just a mobile phone plan, Sprint also offers plans for tablets, smartwatches, and mobile broadband hotspot devices. These start from $10 for unlimited data on a smartwatch, $15 for unlimited data on a tablet, and $30 for 10GB on a mobile hotspot. See Sprint's connected device plans here Sprint phones Don't forget that with a great smartphone plan, you'll also want to have a great smartphone. Check out the best smartphones for Sprint. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

iOS 13 release date, news and rumors Posted: 05 Feb 2019 12:16 PM PST The forthcoming iOS 13 release date promises big changes for your iPhone and iPad, and it may be enough to scare up some good news for Apple's sluggish iPhone sales. What new iOS 13 feature can you expect? Basically everything that didn't make it into iOS 12 and iOS 12.2, which has mostly focused on stability. The time has come for major UI and app redesigns. iOS 13 rumors are still in their early stages. Most of the features we've heard about are ones left on the cutting room floor from a year ago. We've outlined those. Update: New iOS 13 rumors shed light on what to expect from the 2019 software update, so get ready for a dark mode, tabs to view multiple versions of a single app and a brand new home screen. All are included below. We've also listed our own iOS 13 feature predictions. These are new ideas that Apple could include in future software updates, and really should. Most are long overdue. Here's everything you need to know about iOS 13 in the lead up to Apple WWDC 2019 in early June. Apple CEO Tim Cook at the latest iPad Pro event in November (Photo credit: Matt Swider / TechRadar) iOS 13 release date Monday, June 3: Estimated WWDC 2019 date (based on historical timing)  Early June: iOS 13 developer beta meant for paid Apple Developers   Late June: iOS 13 public beta may launch for adventurous testers September 2019: iOS 13 likely to launch with new 2019 iPhones iOS 13 reveal date could be Monday, June 3, as Apple has historically unveiled its new software at WWDC in San Jose. Actually, we don't even know that June 3 will be the official WWDC 2019 date. It's just that last year it was Monday, June 4, 2018, and the year before it was Monday, June 5, 2017. We see a trend here. iOS 13 developer beta: The first iOS 13 beta will likely arrive at or a few days after WWDC, but it's going to be restricted to paid Apple developers. You should probably wait for the public beta, which is always more stable. iOS 13 public public beta: This is Apple's way of testing features on a larger scale, and that may happen toward the end of June. It's typically a more refined version of the iOS developer beta, although it can still be rough and never includes all of the features implemented in the final version of the software. The official iOS 13 release date: We'll get the new iOS 13 software in its final, stable form at the iPhone launch event, what we're calling the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Max and iPhone 11 XR at the moment. The date? Probably mid-September. We'll know for sure at the iPhone launch event. iOS 13 compatibility Apple has continued to support the iPhone 5S, the first phone with a 64-bit chipset inside of it. It's seen six versions of iOS, as have the iPad Air and iPad mini 2. iOS 13 could revert to shedding the oldest devices from Apple's compatibility list, like it used to do before 2018. That means iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, and iPod Touch 6th generation might be the oldest devices on the iOS 13 compatibility list. Apple would essentially require devices to have the A8 chipset or newer to upgrade to iOS 13. This also happens to be the chip in the HomePod and Apple TV 4th generation, so it brings everything into line. In reality, it's in Apple's best interest that you upgrade your hardware, too. We saw what happened when the company price-dropped its battery replacement service in 2018. Don't expect it to go too far with the iOS 13 compatibility list cuts . There's a rumor that iOS 13 will also axe support for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, iPad Air 2, and even the iPhone SE. However, you shouldn't buy into this early speculation. Some publications like guessing in hopes of getting it right rather vs reporting factual information. One thing's for sure: Whatever happens, don't expect Apple to make an official announcement at WWDC 2019 if the iPhone 5S isn't compatible with iOS 13. The phone will just show up on a slide, or it won't. Also, remember that not every iOS 13 feature will come to all devices on that list. Some new ideas may require the TrueDepth camera, a rear dual-lens system, or 3D Touch. Big iPad changes needed Every two years, the iPad seems to get a flurry of meaningful changes. We saw this with iOS 11 nearly two years ago and iOS 9 two years before that. That means – in our minds at least – the iOS 13 update is destined to change up the iPad software, and it may be in an effort to make the iPad a better 'computer.' That was our chief complaint of the iPad 11 and iPad 12.9 in 2019. Even if iOS 12 is great on phones, it feels limiting on a tablet when we wanted to do real work. We'd love to see a 'Desktop Mode' to improve our workflow, with a menu and taskbar across the top and bottom. Going along with this is our wish to see Bluetooth mouse support. iOS 13 would, of course, need to include support for a cursor.  The Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 added all of these features in 2018, but with terrible touchscreen execution. Apple could do what it does best and refine an existing Android idea until 'it just works.' Interestingly, the latest home screen rumor (more on that below) mentions that it's an iPad-specific change. Apple could be building its new home screen UI revamp for the iPad before it changing anything on the iPhone.  Expanding on the Apple Files app and supporting external storage would also make the iPad Pro a much more productivity-friendly device, as would the long-rumored multi-user support. iPads, after all, are often shared among family members. Home screen redesign iOS 13 may bring the first-ever major changes to the iOS home screen, and it's overdue. We've had this app tile layout since the first iPhone launched in 2007. It works, sure, but it's also a bit stale. While last year's rumors mentioned a home screen refresh, it didn't go into detail about the potential changes. We'd, however, envision parts of the current Today screen (that leftmost widget-like screen) making its way onto the home screen. Being able to peek at snippets of information – the 5-day weather forecast, your next calendar appointment, and the latest Apple News headlines – would be a welcome addition to the unchanged iOS app grid.  When talking up Apple Watch face complications, the team behind it used the words 'glanceable information' a lot. That would be a natural fit for the iOS 13 home screen. However, the newest iOS 13 rumors suggest that this is an iPad-specific change. We'll have to wait to see if the iPhone can get in on the home screen UI changes, too. iOS 13 dark mode seems very likely iOS 13 may in fact be the update in which Apple finally comes through with the long-rumored 'dark mode.' We've been hearing about it for a number of years. Apple introduced a dark mode for macOS Mojave at WWWC last year, so it's fitting to hear Bloomberg report that iOS 13 is going to do the same for the iPhone and iPad in 2019. If the rumor is accurate, this will make it easier to look at apps at nighttime. There's a lot of white and bright hues among current app color schemes, so toning them down would be a great way to compliment the blue-light-reducing Night Shift mode. Camera app revamp Apple's camera app is extremely basic. It's been a blessing and a curse. It's easy for less tech-savvy iPhone owners to use, but more advanced users are missing out on features that would let them fine-tine their photos and videos. A revamp to the camera app was also among last year's leaks, and that's the change that piqued our interest the most. The Samsung Galaxy S9 has the ability to snap a photo with gestures, while the LG V40's video tools allow you to fluidly zoom into anywhere on the screen, not just the dead center. The Google Pixel 3 has added a Night Sight mode that aims to end the need for a frequently-photo-ruining flash. Expect Apple to keep the camera app streamlined, but sprinkle in more advanced tools. And if all we get is the ability to change resolutions and frame rates from within the camera app (and not in the settings menu), that'd be good enough. Health and Activity apps on the iPad Your health and fitness data deserves to be seen at 9.7 inches and 12.9 inches, and that's what we're hoping for from the iOS 13 update in the coming months. Both the Apple Health app and Activity app (the one with the rings) present a lot of data to comb over, and seeing bars, graphs, running maps, and various numbers stretched out on the big screen would be ideal. Right now, both apps are limited to the Apple Watch and the iPhone. We think Apple will do this eventually. Doctors could review health data with patients more easily, for example, and senior citizens have complained to us that their iPhone is too small to read all of the health data. We'd also like to see both apps on macOS, but one tracked step at a time.  Clipboard manager Clipboard manager apps do exist, allowing for multi-copy and paste and copy and paste history, but they're all rather limiting because they're not built into the UI. Apple could change this in iOS 13, and it's another way in which productivity on the iPad could be enhanced. Having a full clipboard manager work at the system level would also help prevent copying over what's in our clipboard currently. SPAM call blocking iOS 13 needs better SPAM call blocking. Absolutely needs it in 2019. It's one of the best features of the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, yet the increasing nuisance of telemarketers persists on the iPhone. Okay, last year's iOS update did at least add a call blocking and identification option. But users have to invest in an app (that often costs money annually) to get good SPAM call blocking protection. Apps like Hiya cost $2.99/month or $14.99/year for premium service. The good news is that we see a big shift happening. Verizon is making its SPAM and robocall feature free starting in March, and Apple was recently issued a patent for this sort of feature.   Change WiFi and Bluetooth via Control Central Connecting to new WiFi networks or Bluetooth devices without exiting the app you're using is impossible. Sure, Control Center allows you to toggle WiFi and Bluetooth on and off via this drop down menu, but switching between connections requires you to dive into the Settings menu and submenus. That's rather annoying. iOS 13 could easily change this, with another frosted overlay menu that lets you pick your connections without kicking you out of your current app. This would be especially handy when traveling and constantly cycling through multiple open WiFi networks. It'd be a shortcut within a Control Center shortcut, and we'd be okay with that. More iOS 13 news to come iOS 13 is still several months away, even in beta form. However, as we get closer to Apple's WWDC 2019 keynote in June, we expect more leaks to emerge about what the company is working on. If they do pop into the news, we'll report on them here. We'll have to wait for the final version of UI, likely in September with an iPhone 11 launch event. However, the potential iOS 13 features above give you an idea of where the iPhone and iPad software could head in 2019. Need a quick fix? Our iOS 12 problems guide has you covered  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Xbox One S Anthem bundle is the cheapest (and worst) way to play the game Posted: 05 Feb 2019 12:03 PM PST Microsoft has just unveiled the Xbox One S Anthem bundle that pairs Microsoft’s entry-level 1TB console with the game, a controller and one-month trials to EA Access, Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. Unfortunately, it’s also the worst way to play the game. According to console benchmark testing done by the experts at Digital Foundry, the Xbox One S offers the worst performance of all platforms tested, putting out a 900p resolution and between 25 and 30 frames per second (fps) in most scenes. The Xbox One X wasn’t able to do much better in terms of frame rate, also staying between 25 and 30 fps in most scenes, but at least was able to display the game in 4K. For comparison, the base PS4 was able to achieve 1080p/30 fps, while the PS4 Pro could either get up to 1800p/30 or 1080p/35. The silver lining to all this is that this bundle is by far one of the cheapest ways to score a new console and a copy of Anthem, as the whole package – which includes the special Legion of Dawn pre-order bonus – will sell for $299 (around £230, AU$400). Apex Legends: release date, trailers and news A Groundhog Day game is coming to PSVR Apex Legends hits a million players seemingly much faster than Fortnite The Xbox One S Anthem bundle within the box. | Image Credit: EA But at least it doesn't have PC controls... Admittedly, the Xbox One S version only has the worst visual performance. Digital Foundry didn't take the game's flight controls on PC into consideration, which some have cited as a major disappointment during the demo. What's the reward for putting up with awful control schemes? Well, PC gamers might have the last laugh, as the game can be played in 4K/45 fps using a high-end graphics card, like the RTX 2080 Ti, outpacing all of the consoles. But, if frame rates are just numbers on a screen to you, you can save yourself some cash by grabbing the Xbox One S bundle when it arrives on February 22. Read more: These are the best Xbox One games This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Over 59,000 data breaches reported in EU since GDPR Posted: 05 Feb 2019 10:37 AM PST New research from DLA Piper has revealed that over 59,000 data breach notifications have been reported across the EU since GDPR went into effect on 25th May 2018. According to the firm's new GDPR Data Breach survey, the UK is in the top three countries with the highest number of data breaches reported. In the UK there were 10,600 breaches reported though the Netherlands came in first with 15,400 breaches followed by Germany with 12,600. Liechtenstein, Iceland and Cyprus experienced the lowest number of reported breaches with 15, 25, and 35 breaches respectively. Cisco backs US GDPR calls Six months on from GDPR GDPR and the case for ethical data handling When the number of breach notifications was weighted against country populations, the Netherlands still came in first, with 89.8 reported breaches per 100,000 people, followed by Ireland and Denmark. GDPR fines DLA Piper's Ross McKean provided further insight on the findings of the survey, saying: "The GDPR completely changes the compliance risk for organizations which suffer a personal data breach due to revenue based fines and the potential for US style group litigation claims for compensation. As we saw in the US when mandatory breach notification laws came into force, backed up by tough sanctions for not notifying, the GDPR is driving personal data breach out into the open.  Our report confirms this with more than 59,000 data breaches notified across Europe in the first 8 months since the GDPR came into force."  Since GDPR went into effect, 91 fines have been reported but not all of these relate to personal data breaches as several regard other infringements of the EU's data protection laws. Of the companies fined under GDPR, Google was fined the most heavily when the French regulator CNIL fined the search giant 50m Euros over how it personalised the ads shown on its site. This is everything you need to know about GDPR This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Apex Legends: release date, trailers and news Posted: 05 Feb 2019 10:16 AM PST EA has surprised many with the sudden announcement of Apex Legends, a new free-to-play battle royale shooter that sees the publisher going toe-to-toe with genre mammoths PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite Battle Royale. Developed by Respawn Entertainment and set in the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends is a squad-based battle royale shooter where teams of three go up against 57 other players to try to gather loot and be the last person (or squad) standing. However, unlike the likes of Fortnite and PUBG, Apex Legends sees players take on one of eight classes, each represented by a unique character. (Imagine Fortnite mixed with Overwatch and you’ll be on the right track.)  So, without further ado, let's take a look at everything we know about Apex Legends. Best free games: the top free games to download on PC Cut to the chase What is it? A free-to-play battle royale shooter set in the Titanfall universe When can I play it? Available to play for free now What can I play it on? Xbox One, PS4 and PC Apex Legends release date Image credit: Electronic Arts/Respawn Entertainment Apex Legends is free and available to play now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The title can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Origin Store or Apex Legends website. Apex Legends trailers Apex Legends' announcement came quite suddenly, with Respawn Entertainment dropping a collection of trailers alongside the game's launch.  Below is the official Apex Legends launch trailer: If you want a closer look at the game in action then check out the Apex Legends gameplay trailer below: To give players a better idea of what Apex Legends has in store mechanically, the developer also released a gameplay deep dive video which goes into detail about the game's characters (or 'Legends'), weapons and maps.  Check it out below: If you want a closer look at how Respawn Entertainment went about developing Apex Legends, then check out the developer diary below which sees the team discussing why they entered the battle royale genre, how the game differs from its competitors and the importance of squad-play. Apex Legends news and features Strategy and communication Apex Legends puts a huge amount of emphasis on strategy and communication among squads, which isn't surprising considering it's an online multiplayer game with a reliance on character classes.  Titanfall  Apex Legends is set in the Titanfall universe, however reports have begun to pop up that the battle royale title has completely replaced a third Titanfall game – according to Kotaku, Titanfall 3 isn't currently in development and Apex Legends is what we're getting instead. No mechs Players won’t be able to get into any mechs – news that likely ruffle a few feathers of franchise fans. Ditto with other signatures of the series, like wallrunning. Playable characters are called 'Legends' Each has their own play-styles and special abilities, so working out which Legends complement each other in a team is key. Supply ships Apparently these contain the best loot (essentially acting as a supply drop), so naturally they pose the biggest risk. Customization Unlocked as you rank up. Customizations are available for your apparel, weapons and legend banner. Battle Pass Apex Legends Season 1 is due to kick off in March and will give players the opportunity to purchase a Battle Pass to gain access to exclusive cosmetic items earned through gameplay. According to EA, Apex Legends will follow a seasonal model with each themed season bringing new content to the game in the form of new weapons, new Legends, new skins and more. How to download Apex Legends Image credit: Electronic Arts/Respawn Entertainment Apex Legends can be downloaded for free from the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Origin Store or Apex Legends website. Simply search for the title, download the game and enjoy!  But do keep in mind that a good internet connect and subscription to either PS Plus, Xbox Live or Origin Access is required to play. Read more: These are the best PC games in 2019 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

iPad Mini 5 release date, news and leaks Posted: 05 Feb 2019 10:03 AM PST The iPad mini 5 release date is expected in 2019, and Apple may launch it in the next month or two, according to the latest leaks regarding the long-awaited tablet. It couldn't come sooner for those clamoring for an upgrade to the 7.9-inch iPad mini – it launched back in 2015. It's really been that long since we got the old iPad Mini 4. We're also anticipating an entry-level iPad 9.7 in March or April, so Apple could unveil both new iPads at the same time. How Apple prices them is a big mystery today. The iPad mini 5 will have to come cheap due to its smaller screen size, but it's said to be new features, including Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil support. Intrigued? Here are all of the major iPad mini 5 rumors so far. Cut to the chase What is it? Apple's next mini tablet When is it out? March or April 2019 expected What will it cost? Probably under $329 / £319 / AU$469 iPad Mini 5 release date Hottest leaks: March or April anticipated All of the recent iPad mini 5 leaks point to a first-half 2019 iPad mini 5 release date, with T3 suggesting that the new tablet could launch in early 2019. Our prediction is for a March or April release date. Why? Well, Apple introduced new iPads in March over the course of the last two years. It could happen again in 2019. Mid-April is when we expect Apple's video streaming service to go live. The company could tie the iPad Mini 5 and video service into one big launch event. Even if the video platform goes live in April, the all-in-one iPad event can still happen in March because Apple doesn't have a video streaming service it's replacing. It can afford a longer lead time vs products in which people will stop buying the old one. Simply knowing that the iPad mini 5 is coming, according to respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is good enough for most people who have been waiting for four years. iPad Mini 5 price Hottest leaks: A starting price of under $329 / £319 / AU$469 The iPad mini 5 price leaves Apple is an interesting quandary. The iPad 9.7 (2018) is already exceptionally cheap (for an iPad) and has a fairly big screen to boot.  In fact, the iPad 9.7 is cheaper right now, starting at $329 / £319 / AU$469, while the iPad mini 4 starts at a premium $399 / £399 / AU$579 (albeit that's for a hefty 128GB of storage, which is the only size it's currently sold in). We're left wondering if the iPad mini 5 will cost more than the iPad 2018 (and maybe the iPad 2019), despite the fact that it has a smaller screen size. iPad Mini 5 design Hottest leaks: A similar design to the iPad Mini 4 A redesigned antenna There aren’t many iPad Mini 5 design rumors, but we have now seen photos that might show it from the rear. Pictured below, you can see that the main difference to the iPad Mini 4 is that rather than having a big antenna block on the cellular model, there's just a slim line. That improves the look, but might be the only change on the back. Everything else looks similar, including a headphone port on the top edge, speakers on the bottom, and volume buttons on the right. The images also suggest you'll be able to buy it in gold. We would however take these images with a pinch of salt, as this is our first sighting of the slate. Beyond that, there’s a good chance that it will have a lot in common with the iPad Mini 4, which basically means you can expect a slim metal shell. Apple may aim to make it even slimmer and lighter than the 6.1mm thick and 299g iPad Mini 4 though, based on past form. There’s been some suggestion that Apple could even slim it down to just 5mm thick – though the source of this rumor is unclear, and the rumor itself is old, so we’d take it with a huge helping of salt. The iPad Mini 5 is also likely to retain the home button, large bezels and Touch ID, even though the iPad Pro 11 ditched those things. That's because reports suggest this will be positioned as a fairly affordable option, so we'd expect it to have more in line with the iPad 9.7 (2018) and indeed the iPad Mini 4. Having said that, there has been some talk of a 7.9-inch iPad Pro model, perhaps set to be called the iPad Pro Mini, in which case it might get a redesign, but this rumor is very old, so we doubt it. iPad Mini 5 screen Hottest leaks: A lower-cost 7.9-inch panel The only screen rumor so far comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says the slate will have a "lower-cost panel." That likely means an LCD one rather than the OLED panels found on the likes of the iPhone XS, and it also probably won't have fancy features like the 120Hz refresh rate found on Apple's latest iPad Pro slates. One thing we can be fairly confident of is that the iPad Mini 5 will have a 7.9-inch screen. Apple’s stuck with that size on all its mini slates and there’s no room for it to change much without encroaching on either the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max or the 9.7-inch iPad 9.7 (2018). It’s also likely to stay at a 1536 x 2048 resolution, given that this amounts to a pixel density roughly the same as the iPhone XR and higher than Apple's other slates. Some things might change though, with True Tone for example being a likely addition. This automatically adjusts the color temperature of the screen depending on the ambient light and it’s a feature we’ve seen on other Apple devices. iPad Mini 5 camera and battery A single lens rear camera It may or may not have a flash The main camera rumor so far comes from the photos above, which show a single lens camera with no flash. However, a case supposedly for the slate has also been photographed and shared by SlashLeaks and ITHome. You can see this below, and note that the case has a cut-out big enough for a flash. We wouldn't count on a flash, as the iPad 9.7 (2018) doesn't have one, but the iPad Pro 11 does, so it's possible. Credit: SlashLeaks / ITHome Our best guess is that it will have the same cameras as Apple's latest budget 9.7-inch iPad, which itself has the same ones as the iPad Mini 4, namely an 8MP f/2.4 rear camera and a 1.2MP f/2.2 front-facing camera. However, there's an outside chance that it will instead get the same cameras as the iPad Pro 11 (a 12MP f/1.8 rear camera with a flash and a 7MP f/2.2 front-facing one), or something even better. There’s no news on what size the battery will be. There’s a 5,124mAh one in the iPad Mini 4 and there’s a good chance Apple will stick with something similar, though if it further slims the slate down some battery size may be sacrificed. iPad Mini 5 OS and power Hottest leaks: An upgraded processor Apple’s iPad Mini range doesn’t always have the most cutting edge chipsets, so while the iPad Pro 11 is using Apple's brand-new A12X Bionic chipset, the iPad Mini 5 may well stick with something slightly older, like the A10 Fusion from the iPhone 7 and new iPad (2018), or the A11 Bionic from the iPhone X. The only news on that front comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says the iPad Mini 5 will have "an upgraded processor", which doesn't tell us much, since we'd be very surprised if it didn't. And it may not get any improvement in RAM at all, as the iPad Mini 4 already has 2GB of the stuff – the same amount as the iPad 9.7 (2018). That's less than some Apple devices, but this isn't likely to be a top-end device. Assuming the iPad Mini 5 launches fairly soon it's also sure to run iOS 12. iPad Mini 5 other features We're not expecting many new features from the iPad Mini 5, but it might support the Apple Pencil, given that the iPad 9.7 (2018) does, despite not being a top-end slate. Of course, that's if Apple doesn't decide the Mini 5 is too small to work well with a stylus. There's also a chance that we could get more and better speakers for improved sound, much like the Pro range has, and a Smart Connector for attaching a keyboard, though these additions are probably less likely than Apple Pencil support. It's a real long shot but there's also an outside chance that the iPad Mini 5 will get Face ID. This has been included on the iPad Pro 11, but we expect Apple will keep the feature for its more expensive range of slates. Can't wait for a new iPad? These are the best tablets you can buy today This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Insecure apps put half of IoT devices at risk Posted: 05 Feb 2019 09:44 AM PST As the Internet of Things (IoT) has grown in popularity with consumers adding more devices to build out their smart homes, new research has revealed that vulnerable apps are putting users at risk. To better gauge the security of IoT devices, researchers from Brazil's Federal University of Pernambuco and the University of Michigan examined 32 apps used to configure and control the 96 best selling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled devices from Amazon. IoT app developers need to secure the apps themselves, their connection to cloud proxies which are used during their initial setup and the wireless connection and authentication to and from each IoT device. For this reason, the study's researchers started by inferring potential weaknesses using heuristic analysis of each app. Japanese government will hack citizens' IoT devices Open source may be the key to securing IoT IoT devices now a top priority for cybercriminals The researchers found that 31 percent of the apps (corresponding to 37 devices out of 96) had no encryption at all while another 19 percent had hard-coded encryption keys that could be reverse engineered by potential attackers. Insecure apps The researchers even developed proof-of-concept attacks for TP-Link's Kasa app, LIFX's smart light app, Belkin's WeMo for IoT and Broadlink's e-Control app to back up their findings further. Three of the four apps used no encryption whatsoever and three communicated using broadcast messages that could provide an attacker with a way of monitoring the app-device communication to find vulnerabilites. The researchers explained their findings in a report, saying: “Based on our in-depth analysis of four of the apps, we found that leveraging these weaknesses to create actual exploits is not challenging. A remote attacker simply has to find a way of getting the exploit either on the user’s smartphone in the form of an unprivileged app or a script on the local network.” While many IoT apps have a ways to go when it comes to securing their devices, the researchers highlighted Google's Nest thermostat app as an example of how IoT security should be done with its entire configuration process secured with SSL/TLS to the cloud or via Wi-Fi with WPA. Via Naked Security This is everything you need to know about the IoT This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Apple is selling refurbished iPhone X models nearly at iPhone XR price Posted: 05 Feb 2019 09:38 AM PST Apple is once again selling the iPhone X, the older flagship it launched in late 2017, but there’s a twist: you can only buy refurbished units starting at $769 (or £769). While that’s a serious discount compared to the slightly-more-powerful and newer iPhone XS, it’s directly competing with the pared-down $750 (£578, AU$1,036) iPhone XR. The day Apple unveiled the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max back in fall, it pulled the iPhone X from its online store, sending a clear message: buy the new models or find the old one elsewhere.  There are several possible reasons Apple is again selling the iPhone X (though not wholly new units) some months later. New Animoji incoming! Apple's iOS 12.2 beta 2 update is here WhatsApp adds biometric ID for more secure messaging on iOS Apple AirPods 2 release date, news and rumors The most plausible: plenty of users traded in their year-old smartphones to get money off a new handset once the iPhone XS and XS Max hit shelves, and now there’s inventory to get rid of. But at the same time, Apple could intentionally be adding another midrange option (well, midrange for Apple) to boost sales. The iPhone XR was the best-selling iPhone in December 2018 by a wide margin, according to a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report (for the first time, Apple didn’t release a breakdown of iPhone sales numbers). So if you’ve held off from buying a new iPhone, you’ve now got another choice – and it’s tough to make. Refurbished iPhone X or new iPhone XR? The iPhone XR is marginally cheaper in this matchup and packs Apple’s latest A12 mobile chip. Its 6.1-inch LCD screen is bigger than its competitor, but the iPhone X’s 5.8-inch screen has a sharper AMOLED display. You can only get the iPhone X refurbished, but given Apple’s high cleaning and testing standards, that’s far less of a drawback than picking a used model up elsewhere. The iPhone X also packs two rear cameras, which tops the iPhone XR’s single lens.  This might come down to personal preference for you budget iPhone hunters. Keep in mind that the $769 price is for a 64GB iPhone X, but if you want to up the storage, you can shell out $899 for a 256GB version on Apple’s online store. But which iPhone is actually best? Check out list of top iOS smartphone Via GSM Arena This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Best cloud storage 2019 for photos and pictures Posted: 05 Feb 2019 09:30 AM PST Don't risk your images; whisk them up into the safety of the cloud. Here we test six leading options to find the best cloud storage for photos. Backing up your photos is hardly a blast, and that was especially the case back when that meant spending time burning them to CDs. Fortunately, keeping your photos safe is now much easier thanks to the cloud. Put simply, 'the cloud' is just techno-jargon for online storage. You can choose from numerous websites offering anywhere between 1GB and 1TB of free remote hard drive space. Backing up like this doesn't just eliminate the hassle of dealing with discs or hard drives, it also enables you to access your photos from anywhere with an internet connection. The ability to share photos is another bonus, while websites like Flickr let you exhibit your images to the world, with scope for other users to leave feedback. Of course, if you'd rather keep your photos private, most cloud storage providers make it easy to set restrictions to make images accessible only to your password-protected account, or to anyone with a private web link. We've compared six of the best cloud storage websites; three aimed at photographers and three suited to general storage. Dropbox is great for storing pretty much any digital file type. Organising files is a cinch thanks to the intuitive folder system, plus you can access your files on the go with apps for iOS and Android. All this and 2GB of storage is free with a Dropbox Basic account (you can get an extra 500MB of space for referring a friend up to 16GB). A Dropbox Plus account offers 1TB for $9.99 (£7.50) a month or $99 (£74) a year, and you can get 1GB per referral (up to 32GB) . You do get remote desktop wipe, 30-day version history and priority email upload. For its versatility and simplicity, Dropbox is superb, but ultimately Flickr's more attractive interface, social interaction and sheer value make it the better option. Get Dropbox Plus here Drive (a paid plan is also called Google One) isn't just another cloud storage provider, it's also home to several free business-grade office apps (heck, we even use it in the office here). Like Dropbox, Drive is geared towards file sharing, with multiple users able to modify shared files. You can store photos on Drive, but it doesn't offer the same stylish setting as more photography-focused online storage. Instead, use Google Photos which offers unlimited storage for high resolution photos which are up to 16-megapixel in size. 15GB of free storage comes with Drive, although this is shared by other Google apps like Gmail. Google uses AI and Machine Learning to automatically label people within pictures and uses metadata (date and place) to make searching easier. You can increase the allocated space to 100GB for $1.99 (£1.5) per month, 200GB for $2.99 (£2.3) per month, 2TB costs $9.99 (£7.5) per month, while 10TB  costs $99.99 (£75.5) per month. Additionally, new plans were added, 20TB for $199.99 (£151) per month and 30TB for $299.99 (£226.5) per month. Get Google Drive with Photos "Cloud storage is important for photographers as localized back-ups of images are never totally safe, even if you have mirrored copies on two separate drives. Using a cloud storage solution means your images are kept safe, while you can access them from any device." Phil Hall, Photography Editor, TechRadar Microsoft's cloud storage offers a very similar set-up to its arch-rival, Google Drive. Anyone familiar with the Microsoft Office suite will feel right at home with OneDrive's integrated office apps. OneDrive adopts the same look and feel as Windows 10, so it's easy to navigate. However, it isn't designed solely for photographers, so don't expect the same viewing experience as you get from Flickr. Pricing is close to Google's, with 5GB for free and an extra 50GB costing $1.99 per month. However, Microsoft's 1TB option is better value at $6.99 per month (or $69.99 paid yearly), and includes the Office 365 package. Add another $3 per month and you get six licenses to use, more storage and bonus features like one hour Skype for free. Since October 2nd, subscribers can install Office (both plans) on an unlimited number of devices. Get Microsoft Onedrive Where most cloud storage providers make you cough up for more than a few gigabytes of storage, Flickr - now owned by Verizon - offers the storage of 1000 photos and videos for free, with unobtrusive adverts covering the cost. If you'd rather go ad-free and with unlimited storage, you can for a $7 monthly fee or $50 annual fee for Flickr Pro+. What makes Flickr stand out is its ability to display your photos in an attractive photostream. Other users can follow your activity and comment on your shots, or you can make images private, making it a real social network for amateur and professional photographers alike. Flickr is designed for presenting your shots rather than just storing them, so it'll only display JPEG, GIF and PNG images. Dropbox is better if you need to upload RAW files but you won't get stats on your photo views or 15% savings off Adobe's Creative Cloud (with the annual plan, you also get discounts for Blurb, SmugMug, and Priime). Get Flickr for free Adobe Creative Cloud offers a number of different cloud-based storage solutions specifically for photographers. It provides photography-orientated storage with attractive image galleries. Group Libraries enable friends to add photos to one shared folder, and you're free to make any photo private. There's integration with Lightroom and Elements, and you can make quick edits when needed. Uploading is easy, with apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. There's also support for RAW file formats. The cheapest tier is expensive though at $119.88 per year for 1TB of storage. That's twice what Microsoft OneDrive provides but you do get Lightroom CC. Opt for a lower storage capacity (20GB) and you can get Photoshop CC thrown in for free. Get Adobe Creative Cloud Irista is designed to rival the likes of Flickr and Adobe Creative Cloud, giving you a gallery-driven interface that's for displaying your shots in style. It accepts JPEG and common RAW file formats and is easy to use, with options to filter images by camera or lens type and arrange shots by year, tags and EXIF data. Social media is heavily integrated, so you can upload images to Irista, share them to Facebook or Flickr and track any Likes or comments. Six subscription plans allow you to increase Irista's free 15GB of storage to either 100GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 5TB or 10TB. You can get the cheapest 100GB plan for $2.25 a month, the most common 1TB plan for $12.99 a month or if you want the 10TB plan for the biggest storage, you'll have to pay $129.99 on a monthly basis. Get Canon Irista cloud storage 5 things to look for in cloud storage for photos Freemium: Most storage providers give you some free space, with extra capacity available for a monthly or annual fee. Prices vary considerably, though, so make sure you get a good deal. File formats: If you just want to back up or share JPEGs, then pretty much any provider will fit the bill. However, you'll need to choose more carefully if you'll be storing TIFFs or RAW files. Internet speed: Don't fork out on a premium cloud storage subscription if your internet connection runs at a snail's pace. Consider spending the same cash on a fast external hard drive instead. Show off: Not all online storage websites will display your photos in attractive galleries for the world to see them at their best. Keep moving: Cloud storage is great for keeping your photos accessible on the go, so make sure your preferred provider has apps to help view and upload images from your mobile devices. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Moto G7 Plus release date, price, news and leaks Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:59 AM PST The Motorola Moto G7 Plus is rumored to be the highest-performing of a rumored four new G7 handsets coming out this year. Rumors suggest the Moto G7 Plus launch date will be February 7, and news keeps surfacing in the days leading up to the phone's unveiling. Extensive Moto G7 Plus leaks have revealed nearly all you need to know about the upcoming affordable Android phone, and we've got all the details right here. Update: Leaked images appearing to show a box-ready Moto G7 Plus have revealed additional features. When Lenovo acquired Motorola in 2014, it shook the Moto G line up a little. Gone was the single phone in each G-generation in favor of multiple models at different price points. Of these, the 'G Plus' model was arguably the most important addition. With impressive specs for budget price points, the G line moved up into the bourgeoisie of the smartphone world. This trend continued into 2018 as the Moto G6 Plus balanced a refined design, plenty of power and a quality experience. The Moto G7 Plus is almost here, promising more goodness at the point where budget meets mid-range, and expectations are running high. You’ll also find information about the price and release date below, as well as all the Moto G7 Plus rumors, leaks and analysis. Cut to the chase What is it? Moto's next big-screen budget phone When is it out? Launch date rumored to be February 7 What will it cost? Up to around £300/$400/AU$500 Moto G7 Plus release date and price The Moto G7 Plus launch date could be as early as February 7, as Motorola is holding an event in Brazil - the location for the launch of the G6 series in 2018. If February 7 is the launch date for the Moto G7 Plus, it would be much earlier than the previous year when the G6 range were announced in April 2018. There’s no word on the Moto G7 Plus price just yet, but seeing as Moto G6 Plus launched for £269 / AU$499 (about $380), we expect the G7 Plus to cost around the same. Moto G7 Plus design and display We got a good look at the Moto G7 Plus quite early on, courtesy of the leaked render below.  This particular render suggests the G7 Plus will feature a teardrop notch, a bezel below the screen and a dual-lens camera along with what looks to be a fingerprint scanner on the back. Could this be the Moto G7 Plus? (credit: MySmartPrice) According to the same source, the Moto G7 Plus will come in red (pictured above) and blue. More recently, however, we've seen what appears to be a box-ready Moto G7 Plus photographed, again showing a small water-drop notch, dual rear cameras and a fingerprint scanner. The Moto G7 Plus could look like this (credit: TuboCelular) According to the image leak, and a comprehensive spec leak, the Moto G7 Plus will pack a 6.2-inch (or 6.24-inch to be exact) Full HD+ display, which considering this is set to be a budget handset is quite simply huge. This goes against an earlier rumor which suggested the G7 Plus will have a 6.4-inch display, but this is now looking unlikely with a number of more recent Moto G7 Plus leaks sticking with 6.2 inches. Moto G7 Plus power and perfomance Early Moto G7 Plus rumors predicted the handset would pack a Snapdragon 660 chipset, although more recently it appears it may actually come with the mid-range Snapdragon 636 chip instead. That should give you enough power, and paired with a rumored 4GB of RAM, Android should run smoothly. The same leaks also point towards the Moto G7 Plus running Android 9 Pie (the latest version of the operating system) and packing at least 64GB of storage, although a 128GB variant may be available in some regions. There are conflicting reports when it comes to the battery and front facing camera, with one source saying the G7 Plus will have a 3,500mAh power pack, while another claims 3,000mAh. What appears to be agreed on though is the dual camera setup on the rear, which is said to feature 16MP and 5MP sensors above a fingerprint scanner. What we want to see Based on our usage of the range we’ve collected a few thoughts on what we would like to see in the next incarnation of the handset. 1. A HDR-enabled screen A high-quality screen could help the Moto G7 Plus stand out HDR tech is all the rage at the moment, supported by Netflix, YouTube and more, this fancy add-on is featured by a growing number of smartphones – allowing improved color, contrast and clarity when viewing optimized video. Given that the screen size of the Moto G series, the Plus in particular, is always growing, we’d really like to see Lenovo go all out and bring a truly quality panel to the sub-£300/$400 price range, with HDR, AMOLED and all the other lovely flagship features. 2. Better audio output At the high end of the smartphone market, teaming up with a known audio brand has become all the rage. Some have Dolby tuning, Samsung has its fingers wrapped around AKG. As such we’d like to see the Moto G7 Plus come with a powerful DAC in tow – maybe one tweaked to perfection by a famous audio brand. This would allow those privileged few who own fancy headphones to rock out a little harder, but would also provide a better listening experience overall for the average Joe and his out-of-the-box earbuds. Perhaps the company could even follow HTC’s lead and offer a slightly fancier pair with the phone itself? Paying some serious attention to the musical chops of its premium budget offering could really help Lenovo to draw attention to the G7 Plus in what is becoming an increasingly competitive segment. 3. Better biometrics More and better ways to unlock the G7 Plus would be appreciated At the moment, and there is nothing wrong with this, the Moto G Plus range comes with a standard fingerprint sensor beneath the display. It is functional, but nothing more – just another way to log in to your phone. There’s also basic facial recognition on the G6 Plus, but we’d like to see a more advanced option from the Moto G7 Plus, something more like Apple’s Face ID or Samsung’s Intelligent Scan. Certainly if the new device will make its way to us with a notch in tow, Lenovo could do little better than to add in an infrared biometric sensor – or indeed a fingerprint sensor embedded underneath the display itself. The options are many, however a greater variety of options for logging in would provide some needed versatility to the security of the device. 4. A truly powerful chipset For years now, what has really established budget phones as, well, budget, has been their choice of chipset. Although fine in general with the day-to-day business of swiping away notifications and general promenading around the UI, when things get tough these processors never really get going. By adding a chipset with a little more oomph, something equivalent to the Snapdragon 660 found in the Nokia 7 Plus, or one of Qualcomm’s new 710 chips, Lenovo could really cause the average buyer to question the sanity of laying down over a thousand dollarpounds for the latest iDevice. Adding such an chipset would also serve to future-proof the Moto G7 Plus against new updates and more, especially if tuned properly. 5. Moto mod support The Polaroid Insta-Share Printer is one of many Moto Mods Refining the design of the Moto G7 Plus and adding the necessary Moto mod connectors would open up the device, and a legion of consumers, to the weird and wacky world of Moto mods. Style covers, pico projectors, boom boxes and more abound, this is a differentiator that only Lenovo has access to – and could be a real draw, especially as it has traditionally been confined to the flagship Z series. As such this would perhaps be at the expense of the Z Play series, but only a few would likely mourn the loss. 6. A brave new design Lenovo is many things, but daring in design it is not. While the G series is dependably utilitarian in its looks, it isn’t what James Bond would take to a high-stakes poker game. If the boat were to be pushed out a little, incorporating new materials, or a different design inspiration, the results could be what takes the Moto G7 Plus to new heights of success. The glass sandwich is tried and true, but the time is right for something with a little more confidence and pizzazz, rather than relatively conservative and staid. 7. A more refined camera experience When it comes to photographic quality, the Moto G6 Plus is no slouch. It produces lively, interesting images – but there is always room for improvement. The camera app on Moto phones is renowned for having the same general responsiveness as the average person after a record Christmas dinner. Processing times are slow, for taking images as well as composing them. Tightening up the software would do a great deal to improve the experience on the Moto G7 Plus. We’d also like to see refinements to the image processing, which could use a little more nuance in low light scenes. Adding optical image stabilization would help a great deal to improve the imaging skills of the handset. The standard Moto G7 is also likely on the way This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Logitech’s new gaming headsets drive bigger and better 7.1 surround sound Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:55 AM PST It’s been a while since Logitech introduced a new gaming headset, but today the company is spoiling us with four new models. Starting from the high-end, the Logitech G935 features Pro-G 50mm audio drivers made of a hybrid mesh material that the company claims to deliver deeper bass and fuller sound profile. The Logitech G935 also bumps up surround sound quality up to DTS Headphone:X 2.0. Additionally, this new product is also the first headset to get Logitech’s LightSync technology, which syncs RGB lighting between all Logitech G products and can even have the headset light up to mimic on-screen content. Hopefully, Logitech has updated the accuracy of the latter mode since the feature first debuted on the Logitech G650 speaker system. We’ve also picked out the best console gaming headsets Scope out the best gaming headset deals right here The Logitech MX Master 2S is the best mouse you can buy The Logitech G935 looks like the spitting image of its predecessor, the Logitech 933, but it has been tweaked slightly with leatherette ear cups that will replace the fabric mesh material used last time. The Logitech G935 will retail for $169 (about £130, AU$230) and, if you don’t mind wires, the $139 (about £110, AU$190) Logitech G635 features all of the same sound quality improvements and lighting system in a wired headset. Headsets for budget gamers Moving down the product tree, the Logitech G432 is positioned as a mid-range 7.1 surround sound gaming headset. Like Logitech’s flagship headset, this one also gets its new Pro-G 50mm drives and a USB DAC. The only features you don’t get are RGB lighting and buttons, but that also helps make this set of cans much less bulky. The Logitech G432 cans come priced at $79 (about £60, AU$110) and, if you don’t need or want the USB DAC, the Logitech G332 comes at an even cheaper $59 (about £50, AU$80) price. Here are the best VR headsets money can buy Image Credit: TechRadar This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Google boosts password security with Password Checkup Chrome extension Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:44 AM PST In an effort to further secure the data of its users, Google has launched a new Chrome extension called Password Checkup to protect all of a user's accounts from third-party data breaches. To coincide with the launch, the search giant also released new research from YouGov (conducted on its behalf) which found that people in the UK are security conscious when it comes to their online passwords. Of the 2,000 adults surveyed, the research found that just one percent use the same password for all online services. However, while some adults are conscious of their online security, YouGov found that 39 percent will “never” review their online security settings and 32 percent do not update their passwords every six months. Google reveals end date for Hangouts Google hails Chromebook impact on schools Google hikes G Suite prices Password Checkup is Google's new Chrome extension that detects if a username and password on a site have been compromised. If they have, the extension will warn the user and suggest they change their password. Cross Account Protection While the Password Checkup extension can help detect if a user's credentials have been compromised, they could still be vulnerable if a user has signed into other apps and sites with Google. This is why the company has created its new Cross Account Protection feature. When apps and sites have implemented the new feature, Google is able to tell them an issue that could put a user's information at risk has been detected. The app or site can then take actions to help protect the user such as forcing them to log back in. Google has designed these security events to be extremely limited in order to protect the privacy of its users. The company only shares the fact that a security event has occurred, basic information about the event such as whether an account was hijacked and this information is only shared with apps where a user's Google credentials were used to login. Security and Anti-Abuse Research Scientist, Kurt Thomas explained how Google is working to protect its users on every site they visit and not just its own in a blog post, saying: “Your privacy and security is of the utmost importance. With technologies like Password Checkup and Cross Account Protection, we're continuing to improve the security of our users across the internet, not just on Google - and we'll never stop improving our defences to keep you safe online.”  We've also highlighted the best VPN This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

PlayStation Plus February 2019: all the free PS4 games you can get this month Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:36 AM PST If you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber then you'll want to know all about the free PlayStation Plus games and discounts for February 2019 – and we've got the details you need right here. We've also listed the PlayStation Plus games from previous months too. For those of you who've just signed up and are completely new to the perks of being a PlayStation Plus subscriber, each month, you’re given a range of free games for the PS4 console (PS3 and PS Vita games have unfortunately been dropped). This gives you a great way to try PlayStation games you might not otherwise have played, whether they're indie titles that slipped under your radar, or titles that were too expensive to buy. Remember PlayStation Plus games are only available for one month – so grab them while you can. Get the most from PlayStation Plus Even if you don't plan to play these games straight away, or you're not sure if they're your kind of title, when they're on PlayStation Plus we'd say it's always worth claiming them while you can get them for free. You then have access to them for as long as you have an active PS Plus account, and you can't argue with that. Plus, you might even be pleasantly surprised by some of the titles you haven't tried before, even if you weren't convinced to begin with. Since new PS Plus games appear for free every month, we've decided to create a one-stop shop where you can find the newest free games, and scroll back to see which games were featured in previous months. This should help you work out if a game might eventually appear in an upcoming PlayStation Plus haul, or if it's already been offered. Without further ado, here are the free PlayStation Plus games in North America, Europe and Australia for the month of February 2019. Credit: PlayStation  PlayStation Plus games: February 2019 Hitman: The Complete First Season – PS4 – usually $46.99 / £30 In this thrilling game, you embody the world's greatest hitman Agent 47 as you travel the world to take out your targets in traditional (and untraditional) ways. For Honor – PS4 – usually $39.99 / £24.99 Ubisoft's melee action game lets you choose your fighter: Knight, Samurai, or Viking are up for grabs as you explore the game's 18 different PvP maps.  Divekick – PS3 – usually $4.99/  £3.99 This simple fighting game can be cross played on your PS Vita, and is apparently, the world's first ever two-button fighting game.  Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – PS3 – usually $19.99 / £11.99 Set after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2, Solid Snake is back to infiltrate a number of locations across the globe. Gunhouse – PS Vita – Usually $14.99 / £9.99 Gunhouse is part-puzzle, part active tower defense with infinite levels and music composed by Fez's Disasterpeace. Rogue Aces - PS Vita – Usually $12.99 / £9.99 You can take to the air in this arcade-style game, as you join the Rogue Aces to defeat The Baron and liberate the islands.   PlayStation Plus games: January 2019 Steep - PS4 - usually $29.99 / £15.99 / AU$24.95 Ubisoft's Steep sees you taking on the epic snow-capped mountains of an open-world on skis, wingsuits, snowboards, and paragliders. One for the thrill-seekers. Portal Knights - PS4 - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$24.95 If RPGs are more your thing, then Portal Knight may be for you. The action role-playing 3D sandbox sees you on a quest to become a Portal Knight and to stop the world being torn apart by the Fracture and the evil Hollow King.  Zone of the Enders HD Collection - PS3 - usually $34.99 / £10.99 / AU$11.95 This collection includes HD editions of both the original Zone Of The Enders and its sequel, Zone Of The Enders: The 2nd Runner.  Amplitude - PS3 - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$29.95 Harmonix's Amplitude offers fast-paced, musical action as you control a beat-blasting ship making sweet music by shooting at notes. With songs from Blink-182, Slipknot and Pink, Amplitude is a bizarre rhythm game in the vein of Guitar Hero. Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$29.95 2D action RPG Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion is available as a cross-buy between PlayStation 4 and PS Vita - so you can control your empire from home or on the move.  Super Mutant Alien Assault - PS Vita - usually $9.99 / £9.49 / AU$17.95 If you're looking for something more fun and casual while on the move, then arcade platformer shooter Super Mutant Alien Assault might be just the ticket.  PlayStation Plus games: December 2018  Onrush - PS4 - Get it here from December 4 An entirely new kind of off-road racing game, Onrush isn't about coming first – it's about causing as much damage on the track as possible! From the makers of MotorStorm, features all the huge stunts and crazy crashes you could ever dream of. SOMA - PS4 - Get it here from December 4 Frictional Games hit it big with Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and its follow-up, SOMA, is another nail-biting chiller in the same vein. You wake up in a dilapidated industrial facility with a head injury, and only you can figure out why you're there and who is after you! Steredenn - PS4 - Get it here from December 4 A fast-paced and chaotic space shooter, Steredenn takes the fight to galaxy's dastardly space pirates and features some insane boss battles and intense pixelated shmup gameplay.  Steins;Gate - PS3 - Get it here from December 4 A visual novel with anime style art, Steins;Gate tells the story of teenage scientists who discover the ability to send messages into the past, leading to all sorts of time travel-related adventures. Iconoclasts - PS Vita/PS4 - Get it here from December 4 This action-adventure platform game is a deeply personal work from creator Joakim Sandberg, who spent seven years making this tale of a mechanic who wants to use her wrench to fix the world around her. Papers, Please - PS Vita - Get it here from December 4 An award-winning masterpiece, Papers, Please has you play an immigration inspector in the communist state of Arstotzka, whose job it is to approve and deny entry to people. The trick is in figuring out which people are smugglers, spies, and terrorists.  PlayStation Plus games: November 2018  Yakuza Kiwami - PS4 - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$24.95 Sega's remake of the first Yakuza game sees you taking on the role of former yakuza lieutenant Kazuma Kiryu, who spent 10 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. On his release, he realizes that his city has changed massively and quickly becomes caught in the middle of a faction war. With plenty of kooky characters and action, Yakuza Kiwami is a one not to miss. Bulletsorm: Full Clip Edition - PS4 - usually $39.99 / £34.99 / AU$54.95 In cult-classic shooter Bulletstorm, you step into the boots of exiled assassin Grayson Hunt. After a crash landing on an abandoned resort planet, Hunt must decide whether to take his opportunity for revenge or get his team off the planet alive. Jackbox Party Pack 2- PS4 - usually $24.99 / £21.99 / AU$40.95 Definitely one for those who enjoy party games. Jackbox Party Pack 2 comes with a mixture of madcap games including Bomb Corp, Bidiots, Quiplash XL, Earwax and Fibbage.  Arkedo Series - PS3 - usually $5.99  The Arkedo Series includes three retro-style games which will take you back to a simpler time.  Burly Men at Sea - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 This folktale adventure falls somewhere between a graphic novel and a classic point-and-click game. With beautiful visuals and haunting soundtrack, Burly Men at Sea is one for those wanting to turn off for a few hours. Roundabout - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 If you're less inclined to relax and more about anarchy then Roundabout is for you. This indie driving game sees you driving a limousine which is constantly spinning out of control. PlayStation Plus games: October 2018 Friday the 13th: The Game - PS4 - usually $39.99 / £30.99 / AU$55.95 Just in time for Halloween, Friday the 13th sees you playing as either Jason Voorhees (hunting down unsuspecting counsellors) or as a teen counsellor desperate to escape from his clutches alongside up to six others. If you're feeling brave enough, you might even team up to take him down. Laser League - PS4 - usually $14.99 / £11.99 / AU$22.95 Indie multiplayer Laser League will provide you with hours of competitive fun with a premise that's pretty easy to pick up. The light-speed future sport sees you competing ,in teams of two or three, to outlast your opponents by setting up moving lasers in an arena. It sounds pretty simple but provides hours of entertainment.  Master Reboot - PS3 - usually $6.99 / £5.79 / AU$10.45  Haunting first person sci-fi adventure horror Master Reboot sees you exploring a range of unique environments while solving puzzles. Master Reboot is definitely one to try for sheer uniqueness alone, with an atmospheric soundtrack, distinctive art style and psychological twist.  The Bridge - PS3/PS4/PS Vita - usually $9.99 The Bridge is a hand-drawn 2D puzzle adventure which sees you manipulating gravity to literally turn rooms upside down in order to make your way through challenging environments.  Rocketbirds 2: Evolution - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $9.99 / £8.99 / AU$16.45 Rocketbirds 2 is a plucky side-scrolling shooter adventure which sees you stepping into the shoes of a secret agent, who just so happens to also be a chicken, determined to take down evil penguins. Yep... 2064 Read Only Memories - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $19.99 / £17.99 / AU$32.95 Cyberpunk adventure 2064 Read Only Memories is a classic adventure game where you take on the role of a struggling journalist who meets the world's first sapient machine, a ROM (Relationship and Organizational Manager) named Turing. Together they set off to uncover the city's deepest secrets. PlayStation Plus games: September 2018 Destiny 2 - PS4 Just in time for its upcoming Forsaken expansion, Destiny 2 is now free for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Get some co-op buddies together and join in the planet-hopping fight against the Cabal warlord Dominus Ghaul and the Red Legion in an effort to reclaim your home.  God of War III: Remastered - PS4 - usually $19.99 / £29.99 / AU$47.95 The closing chapter of the original God of War trilogy, God of War III is about as epic as games come. In this PS4 remastered edition of the PS3 classic, the ex-Spartan warrior Kratos is closer than ever to exacting his vengeance against Zeus for the deaths of his wife and daughter.  Another World - PS3 - usually $7.99 / £6.49 / AU$11.95 A beautifully remastered version of one the greatest adventure platformers of all time, Another World: 20th Anniversary Edition sees a young man transported to... you guessed it... another world, only to find himself in the middle of a slave uprising. Featuring stunning rotoscoped animation and timeless puzzles, Another World is a must-play title.  QUBE Director’s Cut - PS3 - usually £7.99 / AU$14.95 A first person puzzle game, QUBE sees you control a pair of futuristic gloves in order to manipulate your environment and the objects therein to solve a number of physics-based brain teasers.  Foul Play - PS Vita / PS4 - usually $7.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 Devolver Digital's side-scrolling brawler Foul Play is set on a grand theatrical stage, where you must hunt daemons as Baron Dashforth, who performs bone-crunching takedowns in an effort to please his audience.  Sparkle 2 - PS Vita - usually £5.79 / AU$10.45 An orb-matching game that's both addictive and fun, Sparkle 2 has you casting magical enchantments and power-ups in an effort to clear each stage. PlayStation Plus games: August 2018 Mafia III - PS4 - usually $39.99 / £34.99 / AU$69.95 The third instalment of 2K's epic Mafia saga , Mafia III sees the gaming action moving  to 1960s New Bordeaux – a re-imagined version of New Orleans. Returning Vietnam vet Lincoln Clay finds himself building a crime empire and trying to find his place in a very different world.  Dead by Daylight: Special Edition - PS4 - usually $29.99 / £29.99 / AU$47.95 Plenty of fun here for gore-hounds: Dead by Daylight pits horror movie icons Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface and others against each other in an asymmetric multiplayer arena deathmatch for the ages. Choose to play as the killer, on the search for victims to sacrifice, or play as a survivor, working with others to outsmart the killer and escape. Definitely one to get your heart pounding. Here They Lie - PS4 (PS VR required) - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$24.95 The terror just keeps coming and doesn't let up with Here They Lie, a psychological horror game for PlayStation VR that sees you travel through an otherworldly realm filled with creatures and strange environments. It's good to see VR titles getting an airing on PlayStation Plus. Bound by Flame - PS3 - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$24.95 In this solid RPG, you play a possessed mercenary who must take on the dreaded Ice Lords and their Dead-Army in an effort to reclaim your humanity. Every choice matters, so choose your abilities and skills wisely if you want to progress. Serious Sam 3: BFE - PS3 - usually £9.99 / AU$19.45 A throwback to the glory days of first person shooters, Serious Sam 3 is all about crazy characters, silly action, and making things explode with the biggest guns you can find. Hugely enjoyable, in our book. Draw Slasher - PS Vita - usually $5.99 / £3.99 / AU$7.55 As Hanzo the ninja, you must use your finger to slash your way through hordes of pirate monkey zombies in an attempt to get your kidnapped family back. It's a simple concept, but it works.  Space Hulk - PS Vita - usually $19.99 / £6.99 / AU$14.95 Set in the legendary Warhammer 40,000 universe, Space Hulk is a turn-based strategy game where you command a squad of Space Marine Terminators against hordes of Genestealers.  PlayStation Plus games: July 2018 Heavy Rain - PS4 - usually $29.99 / £24.99 / AU$44.95 If you've been following the video game release cycle, you might've seen a game called Detroit: Become Human hit store shelves last month. Heady and complex, Detroit borrows heavily from Heavy Rain, the 2010 game designed by Quantic Dream and developer David Cage. If you like branching story path, great writing and slow-but-steady gameplay, Heavy Rain is perfect, and it was available for free on PlayStation Plus in July. Absolver - PS4 - usually $29.99 / £24.99 / AU$44.95 Hear us out on this, Absolver is a fighting game MMO with PvE and PvP areas. The way it works is that you construct a fighter with light RPG elements and bring them online to fight against other gamer's brawlers. There's not a super deep plotline here, but if you've always wanted an open-world brawler, Absolver fits the bill. Rayman 3 HD - PS3 - usually $9.99 / £4.99 / AU$14.95 While 2D Rayman has been racking up the accolades these past few years, the amelic hero got his first big break in the land of 3D graphics. Rayman 3 HD is a remastering of the PlayStation 2 adventure that pits the eponymous hero against André, an evil black lum, whose aim is to take over the world with his army of  "Hoodlum" soldiers. Silly puns aside, it showed up on PlayStation Plus in JUly. Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess - PS3 - usually $49.99 / £39.99 / AU$75.95 Deception IV is one of those games you can't believe wasn't a free title earlier in its life. The basic goal here is to lure enemies into increasingly grotesque and wacky traps in an attempt to clear missions. We probably wouldn't waste the hard drive space with this one, but hey man, it's your console. Space Overlords - PS VITA - usually $7.99 / £6.49 / AU$11.95 If you've always felt that the solar system had too many planets, Space Overlords might be the gateway to galactic destruction you've always dreamed of. Allowing you to create and destroy worlds using giant robots, Space Overlords is like a 3D, space-centric version of Rampage.  Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - PS VITA - usually $39.99 / £32.99 / AU$59.95 You know those really popular escape rooms that seem to be popping up all over the place? Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma brings all the fun of those into the digital world with a puzzle-solving adventure but blended with the world of SAW. So like, basically just SAW. It's pretty fan-service heavy like Deception IV so take that into account before you download it. PlayStation Plus games: June 2018 XCOM 2 - PS4 - usually £44.99/ $59.99/ AU $69.95 If you've managed to miss out on the critical hit that is XCOM 2, June was your chance to get it completely free on PlayStation Plus. With its tactical turn-based strategy gameplay set 20 years after humanity has lost a war against alien invaders, it's sure to keep you invested for a long time to come. Trials Fusion – PS4 – usually £24.99/ $19.99/ AU $59.95 Looking for something a little more fast paced? Then try Trials Fusion, the platform racing game. You can play solo, with friends or race against other players from around the world. And when you're done with the official game courses, you can even explore the custom ones to keep things fresh.  Zombie Driver HD – PS3 – usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95 Cars, zombies, explosions, combat – it doesn't get much more wild or bloody than this. You can choose to play through the game's narrative campaign or simply try to survive in its appropriately named 'slaughter mode'. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier – PS3 – usually £7.99/ $19.99 At this point we think it's likely you know what you're getting with a Tom Clancy game. One of the more futuristic offerings in the Ghost Recon lineup, this military shooter will take you to dangerous locations all around the world.  Atomic Ninjas – PS Vita – usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95 This colorful action platformer is a perfect fit for the Vita (a device which PlayStation Plus no longer supports). Its multiplayer gameplay will have you take charge of one of eight ninjas and pit you against others either online or locally.  Squares – PS Vita – usually £6.49/ $4.99/ AU $11.95 Looking for something a little slower-paced than Atomic Ninjas? Thoughtful puzzler Squares is worth looking at. With 91 levels to get through, this could be a good one for the morning commute. PlayStation Plus games: May 2018 Beyond: Two Souls – PS4 – usually £24.99/ $29.99/ AU $39.95 May was a big month for David Cage and colon fans, with his new game Detroit: Become Human due for release on May 25 and Beyond: Two Souls on PS Plus for the entire month. Beyond: Two Souls is an emotional narrative game driven by player decisions and stars Academy Award nominees Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe.  Rayman Legends – PS4 – usually £24.99 / $39.99 / AU $39.99 Who doesn't love a bit of Rayman? Rayman Legends will take you back to the Glade of Dreams to save it from  slew of terrifying creatures. Join forces with Rayman's friends to save their home. This game can be played solo as well as co-op with three of your friends.  Risen 3: Titan Lords – PS3 – usually £15.99/ $14.99/ AU $24.95 In the mood for some action RPG of a piratical nature? Say ahoy to Risen 3. Explore seas and lush islands over the world in a grand adventure as you try to unite your body with its missing soul. Eat Them! – PS3 – usually £3.29/ $9.99/ AU $5.95 Ever wanted to live you own comic book adventure? Here's your chance. Eat Them! puts you in the smeared lab coat of a mad scientist and lets you create and control your very own giant monsters. Customize your monsters with weapons and powers and rampage through the streets to wreak havoc and get your revenge. King Oddball – PS Vita – usually £3.99/ $4.99/ AU $7.55 This is an aptly named game which stars a king swinging a boulder back and forth with his tongue. It's up to you to decide when he releases it. All you have to do is make sure you time it right to destroy as many things as possible.  Furmins – PS Vita – usually £5.79/ $6.49/ AU $10.45 Yes Furmins are as cute as they sound and this game tasks you with leading them safely through more than 100 levels. One for fans of physics-based puzzles, Furmins is guaranteed hours of focused fun.  PlayStation Plus games: April 2018 Mad Max - PS4 - usually £49.99/ $19.99/ AU$ 99.95 TrackMania Turbo - PS4 - usually £24.99/ $39.99/ AU $49.95 In Space We Brawl - PS3/PS4 - usually £7.39/ $8.99/ AU $13.45 99Vidas - PS3/PS Vita/PS4 - usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95 Q*Bert Rebooted - PS3/PS4 - usually £9.49/ $9.99/ AU $16.45 Toy Home - PS3 - usually £3.99/$9.99/ AU $7.55 PlayStation Plus games: March 2018 Bloodborne - PS4 - usually $19.99 / £29.99 / AU$47.95 Ratchet & Clank - PS4 - usually $19.99 / £29.99 / AU$52.95 Legend of Kay - PS3 - usually $29.99 / £24.99 / AU$29.95 Mighty No. 9 - PS3 - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$24.95 Claire: Extended Cut - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $24.99 / £13.99 / AU$25.95 Bombing Busters - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $6.99 / £5.79 / AU$10.45 PlayStation Plus games: February 2018 RiME - PS4 - usually $29.99 / £29.99 / AU$47.95 Knack - PS4 - usually $19.99 / £3.99 / AU$7.55 StarBlood Arena - PSVR - usually $19.99 / £24.99 / AU$39.95 Spelunker HD - PS3 - usually $16.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 Mugen Souls Z - PS3 - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$24.95 Exiles End - PS Vita - usually $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 Grand Kingdom - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $39.99 / £11.99 / AU$24.95 PlayStation Plus games: January 2018 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PS4 - usually $59.99 / £49.99 / AU$99.95  Batman: The Telltale Series - PS4 - usually $24.99 / £24.99 / AU$39.95 StarBlood Arena - PSVR - usually $19.99 / £24.99 / AU$39.95 Sacred 3 - PS3 - usually $14.99 / £15.99 / AU$17.95 Book of Unwritten Tales 2 - PS3 - usually $19.99 / £19.99 / AU$39.95 Uncanny Valley - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $12.99 / £11.59 / AU$21.95 Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness - PS Vita - usually $29.99 / £34.99 / AU$54.95 PlayStation Plus games: December 2017 Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition - PS4 - usually $29.99 / £24.99 / AU$39.95 Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of the Legendary Legends - PS4 - usually $9.99 / £11.99 / AU$17.95 Xblaze Lost: Memories - PS3 - usually $39.99 / £24.99 / AU$44.95 Syberia Collection - PS3 - usually $29.99 / £24.99 / AU$44.95 Forma 8 - PS Vita/PS4 - usually $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 Wanted Corp - PS Vita - usually $11.99 / £9.49 / AU$17.95 PlayStation Plus games: November 2017 Until Dawn: Rush of Blood - PSVR - usually $19.99 /  £15.99 / AU$24.95 Worms Battlegrounds - PS4 - usually $24.99 / £19.99 / AU$30.95 Bound - PS4 - usually $19.99 / £15.99 / AU$29.95 R-Type Dimensions - PS3 - usually $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95  Rag Doll Kung Fu - PS3 - usually $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$7.75 Dungeon Punks - PS Vita - usually $14.99 / £11.99 / AU$22.95 Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse (Episodes 1 & 2) - PS Vita - usually $24.99 / £15.99 / AU$29.95 PlayStation Plus games: October 2017 Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain – PS4 – (usually £24.99/ $19.99/ AU $39.95) Amnesia: Collection – PS4 – (usually £23.99/ $29.99/ AU $42.95)  Monster Jam Battlegrounds – PS3 – (usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) Hustle Kings – PS3 and PlayStation Vita – (usually £9.99/ $9.99/ AU $19.45) Hue – PS4 and PSVita – (usually £11.99/ $14.99/ AU $22.95) Sky Force Anniversary – PS4 and PSVita – (usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95)  PlayStation Plus games: September 2017 inFamous: Second Son - PS4 - (usually $19.99 / £34.99 / AU$54.99) Strike Vector Ex - PS4 - (usually $14.99 / £11.99 / AU$22.95) Truck Racer - PS3 - (usually $9.99 / £10.99 / AU$16.95) Handball 2016 - PS3 - (usually $19.99 / £19.99 / AU$29.95) We Are Doomed - PS Vita - (usually $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95) Hatoful Boyfriend - PS Vita - (usually $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95) PlayStation Plus games: August 2017 Just Cause 3 – PS4 – (usually £44.99/ $59.99/ AU$99.95)  Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry – PS4 – (usually £11.99/ $14.99/ AU$22.95)  Super Motherload – PS3 – (usually £15.99/ $14.99/ AU$20.95)  Snakeball – PS3 – (usually £3.29/ $9.99/ AU$5.95)  Downwell – PS Vita – (usually £3.99/ $4.99/ AU$7.55)  Level 22 – PS Vita – (cross buy) (usually £6.99/ $6.49/ AU$11.95)  Tokyo Jungle is the best kind of weird. PlayStation Plus games: July 2017 Until Dawn – PS4 – (usually £29.99/ $19.99/ AU $47.95)  Game of Thrones – PS4 – (usually £19.99/ $19.99/ AU $33.60)  Tokyo Jungle – PS3 – (usually £9.99/ $14.99/ AU $19.45)  Darkstalkers Resurrection – PS3 – (usually £11.99/ $14.99/ AU $17.95)  Element4l – PS Vita – (usually £6.49/ $9.99/ AU $11.95)  Don’t Die, Mr. Robot – PS Vita (Cross Buy on PS4) – (usually £2.89/ $3.99/ AU $5.25)  PlayStation Plus games: June 2017 Life is Strange – PS4 – (usually £13.99 / $19.99/ AU $25.95)   Killing Floor 2 – PS4 – (usually £29.99/ $39.99/ AU $54.95)  Abyss Odyssey – PS3 – (usually £11.99/ $14.99/ AU$22.95)   WRC 5: World Rally Championship – PS3 – (usually £29.99/ $39.99/ AU $49.95)  Neon Chrome – PS Vita/ PS4 – (usually £11.99 / $14.99/ AU $22.95)  Spy Chameleon – PS Vita/ PS4 – (usually £3.99/ $4.99/ AU $7.55)  PlayStation Plus games: May 2017 Abzu (US only) – PS4 (usually $19.99) Alienation (EU and AU only) – PS4 (usually £15.99 / AU$29.95) Tales from the Borderlands – PS4 (usually $14.99 / £15.99 / AU$26.60) Blood Knights – PS3 (usually £11.99/ $9.99/ AU$22.95) Port Royale 3: Pirates and Merchants - PS3 (usually £15.99/ $19.99/ AU $29.95) Laser Disco Defenders - PS Vita / PS4 (usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU$14.95) Type:Rider – PS Vita / PS4 (usually £11.99/ $14.99/ AU$22.95) PlayStation Plus games: April 2017 Drawn to Death – PS4 Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime – PS4 (usually £9.99/ $14.99/ AU$22.95) 10 Second Ninja X – PS4 / PS Vita (usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU$14.95 ) Curses ‘n Chaos - PS4 / PS Vita (usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom - PS3 (usually £24.99/ $4.99/ AU$24.95) Alien Rage – PS3 (usually £11.99/ $14.99/ AU$22.95) PlayStation Plus games: March 2017 Tearaway Unfolded – PS4 (usually $19.99 / £15.99/ AU$29.95) Disc Jam – PS4 Under Night: In-Birth - PS3 (usually $39.99 / £15.99/AU$24.95) Earth Defense Force 2025 - PS3 (usually $49.99 / £9.99 / AU$19.45) Lumo - PS Vit / PS4 (usually $19.99 / £14.99 / AU$26.95) Severed - PS Vita (usually $14.99 / £11.99 / AU$22.95) PlayStation Plus games: February 2017 LittleBigPlanet 3 – PS4 (usually £15.99/ $19.99/ AU $29.95) Not a Hero – PS4 (usually £9.99/ $12.99/ AU $19.45) Starwhal – PS3 / PS4 (usually £9.49/ $11.99/ AU $17.95) Anna Extended Edition - PS3 (usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) Ninja Senki DX – PS Vita / PS4 (usually £4.99/ $4.99/ AU $8.95) TorqueL – PS Vita / PS4 (usually £8.99/ $9.99/ AU $16.45) PlayStation Plus games: January 2017  Day of The Tentacle Remastered – PS4 / PS Vita (£11.99/$14.99/AU $22.95) This War of Mine: The Little Ones –PS4 (£24.99/$29.99/AU $39.95) Blazerush – PS3 (usually £7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) The Swindle – PS3 / PS4 / PS Vita (£11.99/ $14.99 / AU $22.95) Azkend 2 – PS Vita ( £6.49 / $7.99/ AU $11.95) Titan Souls – PS Vita / PS4 (£11.99/ $14.99 / AU $22.95) PlayStation Plus games: December 2016  Invisible, Inc. – PS4 (£15.99/ $19.99/ AU $29.95) Stories: Path of Destinies – PS4 (£8.99/ $14.99/ AU $16.45) Hyper Void – PS3 (£6.19/ $9.99/ AU $11.25) Tiny Troopers Joint Ops – PS3 / PS4 / Vita (£5.79/ $7.99/ AU $10.45) Color Guardians – PS Vita / PS4 (£5.79/ $14.99/ AU $10.45) VVVVVV – PS Vita (£6.49/ $7.99/ AU $11.95) PlayStation Plus games: November 2016  Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture – PS4 (£15.99/ $19.99/ AU $29.95) The Deadly Tower of Monsters – PS4 (£11.99/$14.99 / AU $22.95) Dirt 3 – PS3 (no longer available) Costume Quest 2 – PS3 (£11.99/ $14.99/ AU $22.95) Letter Quest Remastered – PS Vita / PS4 (£9.49/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) Pumped BMX+ – PS Vita / PS4 / PS3 (£7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) PlayStation Plus games: October 2016  Resident Evil – PS4 (£15.99/ $19.99/ AU $29.95) Transformers: Devastation – PS4 (£39.99/ $39.99/ AU $49.95) Mad Riders – PS3 (£7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) From Dust – PS3 (£11.99/ $14.99/ AU $22.95) Code: Realize Guardian of Rebirth – PS Vita (£28.99/ $39.99/ AU $52.95) Actual Sunlight – PS Vita (£4.49/ $4.99/ AU $8.25) PlayStation Plus games: September 2016  Lords of the Fallen – PS4 (£7.99/ $19.99/ AU $14.99) Journey – PS4, PS3 (£11.99/ $14.99/ AU $22.95) Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands – PS3 (£7.99/ $19.99/ AU $12.95) Datura – PS3 (£6.49/ $9.99/ AU $11.95) Badland – PS Vita, PS4, PS3 (£3.99/ $11.99/ AU $7.55) Amnesia: Memories – PS Vita (£7.99/ $29.99/ AU $14.95) PlayStation Plus games: August 2016  Tricky Towers – PS4 (£11.99/ $14.99/ AU $22.95) Rebel Galaxy –PS4 (£7.99/ $19.99/ AU $14.95) Yakuza 5 – PS3 (£32.99/ $39.99/ AU $59.95) Retro/Grade – PS3 (£7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) Patapon 3 – PS Vita (£6.49/ $14.99/ AU $11.95) Ultratron – PS Vita, PS3, PS4 (£7.99/ $9.99/ AU $14.95) This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The best free blogging site of 2019 Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:30 AM PST Free blogging sites have come a long way in recent years, and it’s now easier than ever to create a professional-looking blog to share a hobby with likeminded people, express your opinions, and establish an online presence. These free blogging sites are aimed at hobbyist bloggers – blogs are created and managed online, and hosted on the blogging platform’s own servers. If you want to create a self-hosted blog, the downloadable version of WordPress is an excellent option, with total flexibility, support for third-party plugins, and as much storage as your hosting plan allows. If you're interested in making a static website rather than an online journal, take a look at our guide to the best free website builders. Wix makes it dead easy to design and realize your blog, and you can do a lot more besides Wix has a range of paid-for subscription plans, but also a free offering, although it’s best to note upfront that this has some caveats. With the free product, your site will have Wix branding, and you’ll be limited to 500MB of data transfer per month, so it’s not for heavily trafficked sites. You also only get 500MB storage, too, so bear that in mind. You are, however, free to build a blog with an unlimited number of pages, and where Wix really shines is with its powerful blog functionality. The editor may be simple, but you get access to all the stuff you need – from image galleries through to videos and music – and there are a ton of ways to customize a post. There’s also a lot of flexibility in the way you can schedule posts, and neat touches like being able to set things up so that posts are automatically pushed to Facebook when they’re published. For instance, you have a feature called WiX Bookings, that allows customers to schedule appointments and classes right on your website. And what makes Wix truly compelling is on top of this, you get the run of the rest of what this website builder offers aside from blog support. That includes using Wix’s ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) editor to make building your site a snap even for novices, plus impressively diverse support for various different types of media, and quality customer support to boot (yes, even on the free plan). When you consider what you’re getting for nothing, the bandwidth and data limits don’t seem like such a heavy set of shackles. And you can always upgrade at a later date if you want to break free of them in the longer run. Try it online: Wix You can host a WordPress blog yourself, or create one online and have it hosted at wordpress.com Powerful and highly customizable, WordPress is a brilliant platform for blogs of any size, and bloggers of any level of experience. Creating your first blog is very straightforward, with a simple wizard that guides you through the process of choosing a name and suitable theme. You can leave it there and begin writing posts immediately, but the real fun lies in the more advanced editor, which lets you customize virtually every aspect of your blog’s appearance. Unlike some blogging sites, WordPress isn’t a drag-and-drop affair, and you’ll have to familiarize yourself with its system of menus. It’s well worth the effort, though, and enables you to create something truly personal. The editor also lets you create static pages – like a writer’s biography, for example. The post-writing interface is much like an ordinary desktop word processor (though some options are presented in a toolbar at the top, while others are in a menu at the side, which can be a little confusing at first). Again, time spent getting to know the interface is rewarded with advanced features like customizable social media sharing buttons, geotagging, and the ability to pick a custom style for individual posts. Sometimes you might want to create a photo gallery, for example, and other times a more text-focused style would be more appropriate. You can also view and edit the HTML source. As your blog grows, WordPress lets you track its stats, including page views, visitors, likes and comments over time. You can also see how readers reach your site, which content they viewed, and where they are in the world, so you can tailor your content accordingly. Your site is hosted on WordPress servers, with an address in the format yoursite.wordpress.com. Users of the free service don’t get email or live chat support, but the WordPress community forums are very active and questions are usually answered within a few minutes.  WordPress displays ads on free blogs, but provided you can live with that, it’s a top-notch solution for a free blogging site. Try it online: WordPress Blogger has been around for many years, but has kept up with current trends and technology, including responsive blog templates Blogger is another superb blogging platform. It’s not quite as powerful as WordPress, but more accessible for new users, which comes as no surprise when you learn that it’s owned by Google. Blogger offers an excellent selection of templates, all of which include mobile versions optimized for smaller screens – a very sensible addition with so many people accessing online content through smartphones.  Blogger’s post-editing tool is much like WordPress, but offers fewer options. As a result, its toolbars are less confusing – a trade-off between power and usability. One of Blogger’s best features is its integration with other Google apps and services. For example, it uses your Google Drive account to store images and other files for your blog. Google Drive gives you 15GB of space free, so Blogger is a good choice if you’re planning to share a lot of high-res photos. Spam comments are a big problem on blogs, so Blogger’s automatic spam filter can help save your sanity. You can monitor comments via Blogger’s dashboard, which also lets you see visitor stats. There are some handy visualizations here, including a world map to show the global distribution of your readers. Your blog will have an address in the format yoursite.blogger.com, and, like all Google services, will include ads. Support is available through the Blogger user forum, which is very active but has a strange layout that can be a little off-putting. In all other respects, Blogger is brilliant – one of the best free blogging sites if you prioritize ease of use over flexibility and are a fan of the Google ecosystem. Try it online: Blogger Blogs on Weebly are built from a combination of content blocks Weebly takes a modular approach to blog building, with a drag-and-drop editor that lets you choose which elements to add to your site, and where.  Pick a basic template, then plonk various types of content onto the page, including social media links, text, images, maps, and sections of code. It’s a refreshingly simple way to build a blog that feels unique to you, but doesn’t require any messing about with menus. It’s worth noting, however, that certain content blocks can only be positioned in certain areas; it isn’t a total free-for-all. This makes sense – forcing you to stick within the confines of your chosen template stops the page looking messy – but you might find it limiting.  Blog posts are made in the same way: drag text boxes, picture frames, buttons and page breaks into position, then click to edit them. One particularly nice feature is the ‘secret draft link’, which lets you preview your unpublished post, and even share it with others via email before releasing it into the wild.  Weebly has some other interesting tricks up its sleeve too, including an area for pasting in Google Analytics tracking code (though it doesn’t offer analytics itself). You’re only given 500MB for uploaded content, so photographers might want to look elsewhere. Weebly puts an ad in your site’s footer, but it doesn’t obscure any of your content. Try it online: Weebly Penzu is a personal blogging tool that lets you create your own private diary Whereas the other free blogging sites are designed to get as many eyeballs on your posts as possible, Penzu is the equivalent of a locked diary stashed in a safe. Penzu is a journal platform that makes your posts private by default and locks them down with at least one password (even after you’re logged in, you need a second one to read or edit your posts). That’s because it’s designed for private thoughts and personal reflection. There are free apps for iOS and Android that enable you to update your Penzu diary anywhere, but the contents are for your eyes only. Penzu isn’t a tool for self-promotion, so although it’s far from ugly, it understandably focuses on function rather than looks. Custom colors and backgrounds come at a price – currently $20 (about £14, AU$25) per year. It’s a shame that 128-bit AES encryption is also limited to the paid-for version, and there’s a fair amount of pressure to upgrade. Extra options are often dangled under your nose then yanked away, but the core offering is a good one, and if you simply want a place to record your thoughts and practise writing, Penzu could be just what you need. Try it online: Penzu Check out the best website hosting services This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Epic Games Store: exclusives, early access, and how it could take on Steam Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:28 AM PST So what is the Epic Games Store? It's early days for Epic's video game marketplace, which launched December 2018, seemingly out of nowhere. While Epic Games has a long and illustrious history in making games, especially shooters – Unreal Tournament, and the free-to-play Fortnite, to name just two – the Epic Games online store is the result of several recent developments. Epic Games to take on Steam with its own digital store Fortnite has proved a huge money-spinner for the company, as a massive online game that's technically free-to-play but comes with numerous cosmetic items and skins you can pay to upgrade your character with – and has become a global phenomenon off the back of it.  Epic had to build up a huge infrastructure for managing those transactions, which placed it in good stead for opening its own store for PC and Mac titles. But why open its own video game marketplace? Can't you get everything on the Steam Store anyway? Read on below for everything you need to know about the Epic Games Store. [Update: Subnautica Below Zero (Early Access) has released on the Epic Games Store.] Epic Game's Fortnite has been a global hit What is the Epic Games Store? The Epic Games Store is a marketplace for video games you can play on your PC and Mac. They have a website where you can browse and download individual games – some of them exclusive to the store – though for the dedicated application you'll be downloading an install file from the Epic Games Store website. It's free to make an Epic account, which you can link with a PlayStation, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, or even Nintendo account for your login details – though if you play something like Fortnite you'll have an Epic account already. The service currently has a "hand-curated" selection of titles for PC and Mac, with plans to expand to "Android and other platforms throughout 2019" – so you could well be buying some mobile games here rather than the Apple App Store or Google Play. Why set up the Epic Games Store in the first place? Running out of steam The elephant in the room here is Steam: the massive PC game marketplace launched by Valve in 2003. The Steam Store has grown to immense proportions, with tens of thousands of titles available and a vice-grip monopoly on where most PC gamers today buy their games. Not that everyone is happy with Steam, though. The platform is bloated, and Steam has little incentive to clean things up as long as the money is coming in. Its decision to allow 'controversial' content to be published on its platform, as long as it was technically legal, has also brought a string of bad publicity. Valve's multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 Valve to allow 'controversial' content on its Steam Store There's been outcry from smaller-size developers over how Steam's algorithms prioritize big-name AAA titles like Fallout 4 and Far Cry 5, making it difficult for indie titles to be discovered if they don't already have a large marketing budget. Not to mention the 30% cut Steam takes on everything published on its platform, which, although an industry standard, seems harder and harder to justify for devs whose games simply aren't being seen. Real community Epic's game store is turning heads specifically for its 'developer-first' focus. Here devs will only pay a 12% cut to Epic, while games built in Epic's Unreal engine will see the usual 5% surcharge waived. "As developers ourselves, we wanted two things: a store with fair economics, and a direct relationship with players," Epic said in a blog post. Devs will control their own game pages, with no external advertisements taking attention away from their titles. They'll also be able to reach players who have purchased their games, with "game updates and news" sent directly through the Epic Games Store newsfeed, or via email.  The Epic Games Store also links up to Epic's 'Support-A-Creator' program, which allows you to send a slice of the game's revenue to YouTube or Twitch streamers who first got you interested in the game. It's a community-focused approach, and one that could chime with many players and developers tired of fighting Steam's algorithms for the service they want. Hades (Early Access) What free / exclusive games are on the Epic Games Store? A growing pile of exclusive games Part of what's turning heads is the beginnings of Epic Game Store's platform exclusives. Supergiant Games – the devs behind Bastion and Transistor – have released an Early Access version of its upcoming title Hades exclusively to Epic Games Store. The store will also be the only way to play the PC version of Journey, which was previously only available to play on PlayStation consoles. Tom Clancy's The Division 2 will not be released on Steam, as publisher Ubisoft has opted to make the PC version of the title a semi-exclusive release on the Epic Games Store. According to a report by Polygon, Ubisoft and Epic Games are teaming up to bring select future Ubisoft PC titles to the Epic Games Store. In addition, Epic Games and Deep Silver have announced a partnership to release Metro Exodus for PC as a timed exclusive on the Epic Games Store. This means Metro Exodus will not arrive on the Steam store until February 14, 2020. In response, Valve released the following statement: "Notice: Sales of Metro Exodus have been discontinued on Steam due to a publisher decision to make the game exclusive to another PC store. "The developer and publisher have assured us that all prior sales of the game on Steam will be fulfilled on Steam, and Steam owners will be able to access the game and any future updates or DLC through Steam. "We think the decision to remove the game is unfair to Steam customers, especially after a long pre-sale period. We apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale through the February 15th release date, but we were only recently informed of the decision and given limited time to let everyone know." Other titles on the Epic Game Store include Epic's Unreal Tournament, Shadow Complex, Fortnite, Subnautica Below Zero and Ashen – with the likes of Maneater, Super Meat Boy Forever, and Darksiders III set to land in the coming months. While some of these are still available on Steam, the App Store, and the like – and there are really aren't many titles here yet – we could well see Epic-branded properties like Fortnite use its pulling power to draw players to the store.  Epic has already pulled its popular series of Infinity Blade mobile games from the Apple App Store – while there don't seem to be plans to re-release them, it might be that they find an eventual home or possible reboot on Epic's own platform, if only on Android or PC. Journey (2012) Free games every two weeks While players can sign up to use the store for free, you'll also get free games bundled in every two weeks, in the vein of PlayStation Plus or Xbox's Games with Gold. Underwater exploration sim Subnautica is free December 14-27, while the hard-as-nails cartoon platformer Super Meat Boy is free from December 28 to January 10. The free-to-play Fortnite alone is sure to draw players in, while the steady release of free titles – and good ones, so far – won't hurt either. Whether Epic can take on a behemoth like Steam is uncertain, but it already looks to be carving out a space in digital distribution that many of us have been waiting for. How to download and play Fortnite on mobile Best PC games 2018: the must-play titles you don't want to miss This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Sonos' new outdoor speaker lets you take the party outside Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:16 AM PST Speaker colossus Sonos and audio manufacturer Sonance have joined forces to create a new line of in-wall, in-ceiling, and weatherproof outdoor speakers designed to work with the Sonos Amp. The new line, called Sonos Architectural, promises to bring built-in music streaming to your entire home, whether you're doing chores around your home or relaxing in the garden.  It's the first time Sonance has created a speaker solely for Sonos, whose CEO Patrick Spence explained that "our goal was to create a solution optimized for installers, bringing the Sonos experience to architectural speakers for the first time. "Sonance was the natural partner, sharing our passion for high quality, reliable sound solutions inside and outside the home.” The outdoor speaker is designed to be weatherproof, so it should be fine to use in both the height of summer and the bleakest depths of winter; Sonos says it's "engineered to withstand humidity, water, salt spray, heat, UV rays, and freezing temperatures".  Sonos Amp revealed – new, redesigned amp for the connected age The Architectural range with Sonos Amp. Credit: Sonos The in-wall and in-ceiling speakers from the new range are built to blend in with your home, and feature grilles that can even be painted to make them fully disappear into their surroundings.  If you want to fully deck out your home, you can connect up to three pairs of Sonos Architectural speakers to your Sonos Amp, and use AirPlay 2, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Youtube Music, and other compatible streaming services to play your music. Just as with one of Sonos' regular speakers, you'll also be able to tune the Sonos Architectural range to your room using the Sonos App, for a bespoke listening experience.  The outdoor speaker costs $799 (£799 / AU$1199) for a set of two, while a pair of either the in-ceiling or in-wall speakers costs $599 (£599 / AU$899).  The best wireless speaker 2019 In other Sonos news, the audio giant has announced that its long awaited Sonos Amp is now available to buy in the US, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. It's also now available to preorder in Europe, with shipping due to commence on February 12. Costing $599 (£599 / AU$999), the Sonos Amp has twice the power of the old Connect Amp, and can stream music, connect up to four speakers to the Sonos app, and even control your TV.  So, if you want to build your speaker system into your home it won't be cheap – but it will probably make you feel very flash indeed.  Best stereo speakers: the best bookshelf, floor, and Hi-Fi speakers 2019 Read our Sonos Play:1 review Via The Verge This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The best free iPhone apps of 2019 Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:15 AM PST You've got an iPhone, and have ventured into the melee of Apple's App Store, which has well over a million apps. Great news! Many of them are free. Not so great news! You've got to sift through them to work out the very best. Fortunately, that's what we're here for, listing them here. Our selection’s sorted into handy categories, so whether you need a no-cost photo editor, translation app, sat-nav or anything else, you can just jump straight to the relevant category. Click through to the following pages for each category, but first check out our free iPhone app of the week below, and make sure you give this page a cheeky bookmark so you can keep up with our latest free iPhone app pick every seven days. Free iPhone app of the week: djay djay is an app for budding DJs who want to spin some virtual vinyl. Launch the app and you can convince yourself that you’re a perfect mix of Martin Garrix and David Guetta, slamming amazing tunes into your ears, while fiddling with a mixer, looping, EQ, filters and effects. Alternatively, you can just fire up the app’s Automix feature and let it get on with all the tricky stuff. With Spotify and iTunes integration, it’s not hard to find things to play, although the interface on iPhone is a touch fiddly for full-on DJ work (rather than entertainment for a wannabe). On that basis, we’d exercise caution before grabbing the feature-rich pro-subscription. That said, if you’ve got an external DJ controller, djay for iPhone can feasibly become a vital – and portable – toolkit component even for the pros. The best free iPhone video editors and animation apps These are our favorite free iPhone apps for quickly editing videos, GIFs and Live Photos, and for creating stop-motion animation. Enlight Pixaloop Enlight Pixaloop enables you to animate your photos. This is achieved through you manually drawing ‘path’ arrows to define the direction of animation, and setting anchors to keep other areas of your image rooted to the spot. Tap the play button and you get something akin to a cinemagraph – only based on a single still image, rather than dozens of shots or a video. Whatever you create can be exported to Photos as a video (sadly, there’s no animated GIF option), but there’s plenty more you can add first, including camera wobble, overlay effects and automated moving skies. Some of those features work better than others, but the entire package is a great way to bring your photos to life. Note that there’s subscription IAP lurking, although you don’t need to pay to get a lot out of this app. Moodelizer Moodelizer is a one-trick pony – but it’s quite a trick. It enables you to add custom soundtracks to videos – and all you need is a single finger. You select a genre, and ‘rehearse’ playback by dragging your finger around the square viewfinder. Move up to increase the music’s intensity increases and move right to adjust variation. You can perform rehearsals using the viewfinder or with an existing video loaded from your Camera Roll. Just messing about with the audio alone is fun, but it all properly comes together when making a video. Now, when you’re shooting yet another clip of your cat being mildly amusing, Moodelizer can add much-needed excitement by way of rousing club music or head-banging guitar riffs. Vue Vue is a video editor whose initial incarnation was an odd mix of intriguing and ridiculous. In short, it was designed to give you six seconds of fame by snapping an ultra-short video comprising three shots. Fortunately, Vue is relaxed a bit now – and all the better for it. The app still prefers brevity, but will allow movies of up to three minutes in length and can load existing videos from your iPhone, too. Once your miniature masterpiece is done, it’s possible to add filters and stickers, overlay subtitles, and mess around with zooming and adjustment sliders. The app still feels a touch rigid compared to the likes of Clips, but Vue’s sense of focus and style – along with the sharing network that underpins everything – makes it worth checking out. Clips Clips is a video-editing app geared towards making content for sharing on social media. To that end, it eschews convention (widescreen, standard titles, typical editing tracks) and attempts to infuse plenty of fun into a streamlined, straightforward editing process. You can record directly in the app or import existing videos. In either case, you can overlay stickers and live captions that appear as the subject speaks, and apply filters for a different look. Posters serve as a replacement for titles, helping with pacing and context in a way that’s much more interesting, animated and editable. For iPhone X users, there’s an extra treat: animated 3D selfie scenes. These can transport you into a number of stylized landscapes, including neon cityscapes and ships from Star Wars. The effect is mesmerizing to the point where the app’s worth picking up for selfie scenes alone. Squigglish! Squigglish! is a very silly drawing app, on account of the fact that its brush strokes wiggle. There’s quite the variety on offer, too, from thick, snaking, gloopy lines that just jiggle a little, to spiky electrified offerings that give the impression that your artwork has just been jabbed into a socket. Given its oddball toolset, you’re probably not going to use Squigglish! as the basis for some highbrow iPhone art. But because you can import a photo, it’s perfect fodder for making yourself or a friend look vaguely ridiculous, with some silly blue hair, a pair of wibbly glasses, and the kind of animated mustache Dali would have killed for. Naturally, your tiny animated masterpiece can be exported to GIF or a movie. Motion Stills Motion Stills aims to help you do more with the Live Photos you shoot on your iPhone. Apple’s own Photos app, of course, provides options for adjusting how these images animate – but this Google offering does far more. On giving the app permission to view your photos, it will display a scrollable feed of pictures that animate as you browse. This alone makes Motion Stills worth a download, not least because the app applies stabilization technology to your Live Photos, eradicating wobble. But with a few quick swipes you can quickly select a number of Live Photos, which can then be transformed into a tiny movie. Alternatively, you can turn Live Photos into collages, or add text and emoji to your favorites. In short, Motion Stills feels like the Live Photos editor Apple forgot to make itself. Loop by Seedling If you lack the patience for working with full-on stop motion apps, but nonetheless fancy yourself as a mini-Aardman, Loop by Seedling is just the ticket. You shoot frames using your camera, and can handily overlay your previous photo in semi-transparent form, to ensure everything is properly lined up. Once you're done, you can play your photos as an animation, where tools are available to adjust the frame rate, add a filter, and mess about with grid collages, creating a Warhol-like animated GIF to share. The interface is a bit opaque – quite a lot of controls need to be 'discovered' before you become comfortable with using this app. But once you know where everything is, Loop becomes a smart and efficient way to create charming miniature animations; amusingly, it also works within Messages, so you can reply to friends with a tiny movie should you consider the written word passé. Quik If you like the idea of editing home movies but are a modern-day being with no time or attention span, try Quik. The app automates the entire process, enabling you to create beautiful videos with a few taps and show off to your friends without needing talent - surely the epitome of today's #hashtag generation. All you need do is select some videos and photos, and choose a style. Quik then edits them into a great-looking video you can share with friends and family. But if your inner filmmaker hankers for a little more control, you can adjust the style, music, format and pace, along with trimming clips, reordering items, and adding titles to get the effect you desire. Cementing its friendly nature, Quik offers a little pairs minigame for you to mess about with while the app renders your masterpiece. And there's even a weekly 'For You' video Quik compiles without you lifting a finger. Animatic If you used to sit there at school, doodling flick-animation masterpieces in the corner of your jotter, Animatic is the iPhone equivalent. You use simple tools to scribble on a small canvas, and then build your animation frame-by-frame. The app uses a basic onion-skin approach, meaning you can see the previous few frames faintly behind the current one, ensuring whatever you draw doesn't lurch all over the place. Once you're done, you can adjust the animation speed of your creation and export it to video or GIF. Given that you're scribbling with what amounts to the iPhone equivalent of felt pens, you won't be crafting the next Pixar movie here. But Animatic is fun, a great way to get into animation, and a useful sketchpad for those already dabbling. The app also includes a bunch of demos, showcasing what's possible with a little time, effort and imagination. Splice We're big fans of iMovie. Apple's video editor for iPhone is usable and powerful. In our lazier moments, we also really like Replay, which takes a bunch of videos and edits them on your behalf. But there are times when you hanker for a middle ground, and that's where Splice fits in. Getting started is simple — select some videos and photos to import (from your Camera Roll, or online sources like Facebook and Google Photos), along with, optionally, a soundtrack. Name your project, choose an orientation, and the app lays out your clips. These can be reordered by drag and drop, and transitions can be adjusted with a couple of taps. If you want to delve deeper, individual clips can be trimmed and cut, and you can apply effects. Several filters are included, as is a speed setting, and the means to overlay text. These tools perhaps won't worry the Spielbergs of this world, but a few minutes in Splice can transform a few random iPhone clips into something quite special — and all without a price-tag or even any advertising. The best free iPhone sketching and design apps Our favorite free iPhone apps for drawing, sketching, painting, layout and animation. Paper Paper is a sketching tool based around jotting down ideas quickly. Your drawings are stored in little digital notebooks, which you can open and flip through. Tap a page and you can scribble with a finger or stylus using the app’s selection of brushes. There’s a smattering of additional handy tools in the free version, most notably the ability to add text notes to any picture, and the means to export a note or book. However, some features sit behind monthly IAP, including photo import, copy/paste, and auto-correct when drawing geometric shapes and lines. Despite these limitations – and the app rather oddly reorienting your sketches on iPhone when you return to browsing – Paper remains one of the most pleasing apps of its kind, not least if you retain a fondness for real-life versions of the little notepads the app depicts. WhatTheFont WhatTheFont is a tool for identifying typefaces, and it’s extremely simple to use. You can either load an image from your iPhone or take a photo using the app. It figures out where all the words are within a few seconds, or you can drag out a selection yourself. You then tap on a selected word, and the app scoots off to find matches. The likelihood of perfect matches is slim – it depends on having a very clear image to start with, and the font being available on the MyFonts service – but during testing, the app was bang-on several times. Even when it wasn’t, it offered up something that at least captured the flavor of our original font. Whether you’re a jobbing designer or someone who puts together the odd newsletter, WhatTheFont is an excellent freebie. Canva Canva is a graphic design tool for the rest of us. It’s not going to send professionals scurrying for the shadows, but with its mix of templates, filters, and editable design elements, it gives the average iPhone owner a fighting chance of working up an invite or poster during a lunch hour. Layouts are smartly targeted and categorized, and move beyond typical posters, greetings cards and flyers into social media territory (Twitter headers, Instagram posts and blog posts), and even business (cards, logos and presentations). You can import photos, add text, and fiddle around with a wide range of drag-and-drop elements before sharing directly to social media, or saving your work to your iPhone. For anyone who wants to design something for their burgeoning home business, or just for fun, Canva is a great place to start. Arty Arty initially resembles yet another filter app – and, to be fair, it does have a bunch of filters lurking that can turn a photo sepia, or make it so vibrant that your eyes hurt. But this one’s mostly about its other tools, which have been carefully designed for jobbing artists working with real-world media. There’s a grid, and various image-tweaking settings to fine-tune a photo for the magic bit, which is comparing your photo with whatever’s lurking under your iPhone’s camera. So if you’re in the midst of making a lifelike drawing from a reference photo, your iPhone can now be a handy guide to see how you’re getting on, rather than a tool primarily for procrastination. 8bit Painter With 8bit Painter, you can pretend a couple of decades of technology evolution never happened, and create digital images like it’s 1984. On firing up the app, you select a canvas size – from a truly tiny 16 x 16 pixels, all the way up to a comparatively gargantuan 128 x 128. You’re then faced with a grid and a small selection of tools. There’s nothing especially advanced here – this isn’t Pixaki for iPhone, and it lacks that tool’s layers and animation smarts. But you do get the basics – pencil; flood fill; eraser; color selection – needed for tapping out a tiny artistic masterpiece. And, importantly, you can pinch-zoom the canvas for adding fine details, and export your image at scaled-up sizes, so it’s not minuscule when viewed elsewhere. For a freebie, this one’s pretty great. Adobe Photoshop Sketch Adobe apparently has no interest in bringing full Photoshop to iPhone, but the brand’s focused Photoshop-branded apps offer a smattering of the desktop product’s power in the palm of your hand. Adobe Photoshop Sketch is a drawing and painting tool, designed for anyone who fancies dabbling in natural media. Select a canvas and you can work with virtual pens, markers, acrylic, ink and watercolor. Acrylic is nicely gloopy, and watercolor can be realistically blended as it bleeds into the ‘paper’. A layers system provides scope for complex art, and stencils enable precision when required. For free, the app’s hard to beat; and for Creative Cloud subscribers, work can be exported to layered PSD for further refinement in full-fat desktop Photoshop. Brushes Redux Back in 2009, Jorge Colombo did some deft iPhone finger painting using Brushes, and the result became a New Yorker cover. It was a turning point for iOS and suitably handy ammunition for tech bores who'd been drearily banging on about the fact an iPhone could never be used for proper work. The app sadly stagnated, but was made open source and returned as Brushes Redux. Now free, it's still a first-rate art app, with a simple layers system, straightforward controls, and a magnificent brush editor that starts you off with a random creation and enables you to mess about with all manner of properties, from density to jitter. Assembly Developer Pixite is best known for its eye-popping filter apps, and so Assembly was quite the surprise. The app is all about building vector art from shapes. Individual components are dropped on to the canvas, and can then be grouped or have styles applied. It feels a bit like the iPhone equivalent of playing with felt shapes, but you soon realise that surprisingly complex compositions are possible, not least when you view the 'inspirations' tab or start messing about with the 'remix' projects. For free, you get loads of stuff to play with, but inexpensive IAP unlocks all kinds of bundles with new themed shape sets to explore. Marvel It's interesting to see how far the App Store has come. Time was, Apple banned apps that gave you the chance to build prototypes. Now, Marvel is welcomed by Apple, and is entirely free. Using the app, you can build on photographed sketches, Photoshop documents, or on-screen scribbles. Buttons can be added, and screens can be stitched together. Once you're done, your prototype can be shared. If you're not sure where to start, check out existing prototypes made by the Marvel community. The best free iPhone camera apps and photo editors Our favorite free iPhone cameras, photo editors and filter effects apps. sok-edit sok-edit is a collage app that doubles down on immediacy. Instead of neatly aligning photos to a grid, it’s the digital equivalent of hacking photos to bits with scissors, and sticking them on other photos for purposes of amusement and creativity. The app is tactile and noisy. You drag to cut out elements, which can then be rotated, resized, cloned and flipped. Most actions come with sound effects. It’s all a lot of fun. The only minor snag is if you have too much fun – in the sense of using three layers – you have to watch an advert to add another object, or plump for the ‘pro’ IAP. Mind you, even the latter is a mere US$0.99/99p/AU$1.49, which seems like a bargain for unlimited collage larks. Visionist Visionist has quite a lot in common with Prisma, in that it’s using neural networks to transform photos into something resembling art. The main differences with Visionist are that it affords you a level of control Prisma does not, and it doesn’t drown you in IAP and endless filters. In fact, you get just 10 (60 more sit behind a one-off US$1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99 payment), but even those have a range that can turn the dullest snaps into something pretty amazing. This is largely because you can adjust abstraction levels and how images interact; there’s support for Portrait images (and depth data is retained during export); and styles can be mixed and merged. It’s a world away from Prisma’s more simple interaction. For bringing a little artistry to your photos, Visionist is well worth a download, then, whether you stick with the free version or plump for the IAP. Infltr Infltr started out as a photo filter app for people who considered choosing filters too much effort. You simply dragged your finger across the screen, and the chosen filter updated live. Simple. Fast. Random. That tool still exists, but today it’s just one of several in a photo editor that increasingly has much in common with Snapseed. Now you can make all kinds of adjustments, from fiddling with brightness through to subtly altering perspective. Edits are non-destructive, and can therefore be reverted or changed later. There are some limitations unless you’re willing to subscribe: no HD export, only saving three custom filters (rather than an unlimited number), and the odd locked tool. But the free version is nonetheless a must-have for iPhone photographers who fancy a great toolset with a dash of chance. DailyFocus DailyFocus wants you to spend five minutes every day becoming a better photographer. This is achieved by way of super-fast lessons – short videos that outline how to succeed regardless of what you face when armed with a camera. (We’re not kidding – at the time of writing, the day’s lesson was about lenses, but an upcoming one was “capturing eggs and bacon in motion”.) The app gamifies your viewing, listing a daily streak total, and offering further encouragement by way of optional notifications – although be mindful those are sent 24 hours after you last used the app. Also, DailyFocus emphasizes the ‘daily’ bit. There’s no archive – miss a video and it’s gone for good. This is likely because DailyFocus is in part a teaser for a CreativeLive subscription; but for the camera-curious and pro photographers alike, it’s a fab freebie too. Retrica Retrica is a camera app designed to bring creativity, randomness and character to your iPhone selfies and snaps. It’s packed full of filters, which can be manually added live or to existing photos – or randomly if you want to try your luck by prodding the shuffle button. The filters are varied and interesting, and you can add blur and vignette effects. You can also quickly create multi-shot collages, which are automatically stitched together on a grid. There are GIF and video options too. Perhaps inevitably, the app has its own a social network, and may as well scream “We really want to be Instagram!” Still, even if you never sign in, Retrica is a superb freebie iPhone camera. Snapseed Snapseed is a photo editor that marries simplicity and power. At its most basic, it can be a tool for loading a photo, selecting a filter (referred to here as ‘looks’), and exporting the result. But it’s when you delve into the app’s tools and stacks that its true potential becomes clear. The tools menu, while a bit cluttered, offers a huge range of options for adjusting your photo. You can crop, adjust perspective, edit curves, and add all kinds of filters and effects. But stacks are arguably Snapseed’s best component. The stack is where your edits live, each of which can be updated at any time. This offers far more flexibility than editors that ‘burn in’ each change you make. Furthermore, you can save any combination of edits as a custom look – and use stacks to deconstruct pre-loaded ones. Brilliant stuff. Sticky AI Sticky AI is all about selfies. Shoot one (or a short video, by holding the shutter button) in the app, and Sticky AI will instantly remove its background – often with a frightening degree of accuracy. You can then get to work, resizing and rotating your beautiful face, slapping on a text label, mucking about with colors and filters, and then sharing the result to your social networks of choice. It’s naturally geared a bit towards the self-obsessed, but there’s plenty here to like: the technology’s mightily impressive, for one, but also Sticky AI neatly hangs on to your previous edits, so you can at any time peruse your collection and make a change to a favorite snap. Bricks Camera Bricks Camera is a novelty camera app that will strike a chord with anyone who has an affinity for plastic building blocks. The app’s essentially a live filter. Through its camera, the world’s transformed into a universe of brightly colored ‘bricks’, the size of which you can adjust with a swipe. Hold down the shutter and you get a short video rather than a still. Also, if you’re not feeling the vibe in live mode, you can import a photo instead. Your blocky masterpiece can be saved or shared – unfortunately only with a three-brick-wide watermark. If that bugs you, a one-off $2.99/£2.99/AU$4.49 IAP banishes watermarks for good. Regardless, this is an entertaining (if admittedly slightly throwaway) camera freebie. Emolfi There’s no getting around the fact that Emolfi is ridiculous – but it’s also a lot of fun. Self-described as the “first empathic selfie app”, it has you take a photo of your face, whereupon the app’s wizardry attempts to figure out your mood. The app then cuts out the background and adjusts the rest of the image accordingly. If you’re feeling happy, you might be surrounded by bubbles and sunshine. If you’re angry or scared, you’ll get something that looks like a horror movie, or a massive spider on your face with your eyes animating towards it in worried fashion. It certainly beats yet another app unconvincingly transforming you into characters from fantasy and comic-book movies. Famicam 64 If you wonder what your iPhone would be like if graphics technology hadn’t moved on from the age of the C64, Famicam 64 can enlighten you. This camera app uses live filtering to replicate the visuals you might once have seen on a classic games system – or other old-school kit like oscilloscopes. Filters can have their properties adjusted, and you can add text, retro-oriented stickers, freeform scribbles, and borders to a photo, before sharing the results. Note that some options are limited in the free version, and output adds a Famicam 64 banner to the bottom of the image. You can get rid of all that with the PLUS IAP ($0.99/£0.99/AU$1.99), but in either incarnation, Famicam 64 is a fun, quirky, usable way to do something different with your camera. Adobe Photoshop Fix Although creative giant Adobe doesn’t seem keen on bringing its desktop software to iPhone in one piece, we’re nonetheless getting chunks of its power reimagined as smaller, more focused apps. The idea behind Adobe Photoshop Fix is to enable you to rapidly retouch and restore photos on your iPhone – using the power of Photoshop. Some of the features aren’t anything outside of the ordinary: you get commonplace tools for cropping, rotation, and adjustments. But Photoshop Fix has some serious power within its straightforward interface, too, as evidenced by excellent vignette, defocus, and color tools. The best bit, though, is Liquify. Using this feature, you can mash a photo to bits or make really subtle changes, depending on the subject matter. And if you’re facing a portrait, you can specifically fiddle with features, in a manner usually associated with high-end PC software. FaceRig Following in the footsteps of MSQRD, FaceRig enables you to embody a virtual character by controlling it with your face. Everything happens entirely automatically – you just select a character and background, gurn into the camera, watch a seemingly sentient floating hamburger mirror your very expression, and have a little sit down to think about the terrifying advance of technology. For those not freaked out by the hamburger to the point that they hurl their iPhones into the sea, FaceRig provides plenty of characters, unlocked using tokens earned through regular use or bought using IAP. You can also snap and share photos of your virtual visage, or record entire videos where you pretend you’ve turned into a sentient goggles-wearing raccoon, an angry dragon or a slightly irritated-looking turkey. Prisma Prisma wants to turn your photos into tiny works of art. Doing so is almost disarmingly simple: shoot or select a photo, crop your image, and choose an art style. (Options in the vast library of filters range from classic paintings through to comic book doodling.) The app within a few seconds then transforms your photo into a miniature Picasso or Munch, and it’s instantly better than most of us could ever hope to achieve with Photoshop. On trying Prisma with a range of imagery, we found it almost never comes up with a duff result, thanks to some insanely smart processing. But if you find the effects jarring, a slide of your finger can soften your chosen filter prior to sharing your masterpiece online. The best free movie and entertainment apps for iPhone Our favorite free iPhone apps for having fun, whether reading, coloring or watching TV. Night Sky Night Sky initially resembles every other astronomy app. Hold your iPhone in front of your face to view celestial bodies that are in a particular place, or rather more lazily scroll about the heavens with a finger. You get chill-out music, constellation illustrations, ‘time travel’, and information pages. But Night Sky differentiates itself in how you can interact with objects. Double-tap a planet and it’s plucked from the sky and can be explored in isolation on your screen, or examined more closely by moving around it in AR. This works for constellations, too, enabling you to better understand the distance between component stars. Add subscription IAP and you get an AR grand orrery, sky tours, and more; but even for free, Night Sky is an absolute must for budding astronomers. Clarity Wallpaper Clarity Wallpaper makes it a cinch to create beautiful wallpapers for your iPhone’s Home and lock screens. The name comes from the app’s tendency to output artwork that improves the legibility of content above it. Of the available options, Gradient has you choose two colors and decide on the direction of the gradient, while Blur has you take a photo or picture and assign a blur level. Mask allows you to overlay a color-to-transparent gradient atop an image, and Frame is designed to place a framed portrait over a blurred background. Some frame controls sit behind a $1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99 IAP, as does a ‘magazine’ of curated wallpapers, but even if you stick with the free version, this is our favorite app for quickly creating sleek and effective wallpaper for iPhone. Pocket Pocket is a read-later system – time-shifting for the web. It’s designed to stop you clicking links all day, planning to read everything later, and then realizing at some point you have dozens of unread tabs. With Pocket, you simply share pages to it from Safari (or on a desktop browser use the Pocket bookmarklet). When you have a data connection, open Pocket and it will quickly download everything. When reading, articles are stripped of cruft, leaving a mobile-optimized, reader-centric view. Should you not be keen on the default set-up, it can be tweaked: fonts and colors can be adjusted, and there’s text-to-speech when you need to delve into articles eyes-free. Archives can be searched; and should you run out of things to read, Pocket has a Recommended tab you can check out to find something new. Perfect fodder for your daily commute. JustWatch JustWatch solves the problem of where to watch something. That might sound strange, but this is a common problem with modern television viewing – many shows are available on demand, but that’s no good if you’ve no idea what service they’re running on. When searching for something specific, the app will list where it can be streamed or bought as appropriate. If you have the relevant app installed, you can head there with a tap. If you’re looking for something new, Popular and Browse tabs give you plenty of options, which can be quickly filtered by various criteria, and individual items can be stashed in the WatchList until later. Given how decentralized television has become, JustWatch feels like a must-have install – a single, coherent tool for finding content from a range of providers. Feedly Feedly bills itself as a smart news reader. For old hands, it’s an RSS client. If you’re still making a confused face, it’s an app that enables you to subscribe to website news feeds, which then pipe headlines directly to your iPhone. The net result is a kind of curated newspaper. You get content from sources you know and trust, and because stories are listed in order of publication, you’re safe in the knowledge that you won’t miss anything – unlike the semi-randomized avalanche of content that afflicts social media feeds. The reading experience is clean and simple too – just text and images for sites that provide full articles within feeds, and a built-in browser for those that don’t. And when you find something that’s just too good to keep to yourself, there are plenty of sharing options. IKEA Place IKEA Place is ultimately a virtual catalog for the chain of furniture stores with a predilection for massive blue buildings, but it also happens to be an app at the forefront of augmented reality, showcasing the future of shopping. Select a piece of furniture and you can place it in your room. The app will also enable you to point your iPhone’s camera at a product elsewhere and find something similar on the store. This could be considered aggressive marketing, but with a little thought, you quickly realize how useful the app can be, even if you’re not planning on buying anything. If you’re wondering whether a second chair or bookcase would work in your room, use this app to give you an idea rather than bringing something home and then finding that it doesn’t fit. Letterboxd Letterboxd is a social app for people who love films. Sign in and you can see what friends have been watching, bellyache about the latest Hollywood blockbuster that totally offended your viewing sensibilities, and comment on other people’s reviews. Or if that fills you with horror, you can ignore the social bit entirely, and just use Letterboxd as a really savvy movie tracker. Search for films and add them to your watch list; once you’ve seen one, give it a rating. That way, you won’t end up 30 minutes into a cinematic disaster before realizing you’d already suffered through it before. Two apps for the price of none, Letterboxd is pretty great whichever way you use it. Notcho Notcho is one of the cheekier apps on the App Store, and would have perhaps best been named “Notch? NO!” In short, it’s designed to hide the divisive iPhone X notch. It does this by making clever edits to wallpaper, adding curved corners that hide the notch within a black bar. The wallpaper creation bit is pretty good, with various fit options, and the option to stick with straight edges or less pronounced corners, if you don’t want to ape the iPhone X’s curves. Bizarrely, you can also add the notch back in if you want to. Saved wallpapers do have a watermark unless you stump up for a one-off $1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99 IAP, but otherwise this is an essential app we wish could somehow extend to the rest of iOS. JigSpace JigSpace is an education app that reasons we learn things better in 3D, on the basis that this is how we experience the real world. And that’s a good point. It’s all very well to learn how a car’s transmission works by reading about it, or even pore over an exploded illustration in a book. But being able to fiddle around with a real engine is much more helpful. This app isn’t quite that level of magical, but it does use iOS’s augmented reality smarts to project various objects onto a flat surface. These can then be explored and fiddled around with, in a manner that hints at the future of anything from repair manuals to textbooks. And even though you’ll perhaps exhaust the items on offer fairly quickly, JigSpace is a nicely immersive educational experience while it lasts. WLPPR WLPPR is a wallpaper app that’s apparently not keen on vowels. But what it lacks in letters, it makes up for with beautiful satellite imagery, which you can save to Photos and later apply to your home or lock screens. Unlike many wallpaper apps, WLPPR has been crafted with care and respect. Every image has a credit but also explanatory copy regarding what you’re looking at. You can bookmark favorites for later, apply a custom blur, and download imagery in standard or ‘parallax’ sizes. Neatly, there’s a preview mode, too. Tap the eye icon and you can load a realistic-looking home or lock screen to see how your wallpaper would look. Not convinced? Swipe to get the next one. Note that WLPPR is a freemium app, with IAP for extra photo sets; but for free you get dozens of high-quality pics – more than enough for most – and even more if you’re happy to spam your social media feed one time. Pigment With its large display and the Apple Pencil, the iPad seems the natural home for a coloring app like Pigment. But if you fancy doing the odd bit of coloring-in when you need to relax, Pigment’s great to also have installed on the device you always have in your pocket. Even on the smaller screen, it excels. You get quick access to a set of top-notch coloring tools, and a range of intricate illustrations to work on. Sure, buy a subscription and you gain access to a much bigger range; but for free, you still get an awful lot. Amusingly, the app also offers options for staying inside the lines. By default, Pigment automatically detects what you’re trying to color and assists accordingly – but you can go fully manual if you wish! Wikipedia Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia is an app for browsing Wikipedia, the massive online encyclopedia that makes all paper-based equivalents green with envy. It’s the official app by Wikipedia and is easily the best free option, and only rivaled by one paid alternative we’re aware of (the rather fine V for Wikipedia). Wikipedia gets the basics right: an efficient, readable layout; fast access to your browsing history; a home page full of relevant and potentially new articles. But it’s all the small things that really count. Save an article for later and it’s also stored offline. Finding the text a bit small? You can resize it in two taps. Also, if you’ve a fairly new iPhone, 3D Touch is well-supported: home screen quick actions provide speedy access to search and random articles; and when reading in the app, the Peek gesture previews a link, and an upwards swipe displays a button you can tap to save it for later. Onefootball Although most fans want to cheer on their soccer team by hollering from the stands or, second best, yelling at a TV in a pub, that's not always possible. When you're otherwise busy, Onefootball is a great means of keeping track of your favorites. The app's a cinch to set up. Choose your teams, allow Onefootball to send notifications, and then let the app work its magic. On match days, you'll be notified of every goal, which, depending on your team's fortunes, may make you thrill at or dread hearing the notification sound. If you at any point need a little more detail, venture into the app and you'll discover everything from live tickers to customized news feeds. eBay eBay needs no introduction. But if you’ve just clambered free from a pile of boxes that fell on you in the mid–1990s, then: 1) probably tidy up a bit more often, and; 2) you can likely offload some of your junk on eBay. Although originally designed for the desktop, eBay’s a far more pleasant experience on the iPhone. You can zip through searches of its vast marketplace, and get notifications when auctions are nearly up or when you’re outbid. Selling’s a breeze, too. If your item has a barcode, scan it, take a photo of the item, and you’re good to go. Just be mindful that buying’s even easier than selling, and so don’t end up filling your home with more unnecessary tat the second you manage to offload some. The best free health, diet and exercise apps for iPhone Our favorite free iPhone apps for forming great habits, cooking, exercising and meditating. Oak - Meditation & Breathing Oak - Meditation & Breathing is a relaxation aid with no time for complexity and price tags – two things rivals often revel in, despite how they can (ironically) increase stress levels. Here, you choose between three options: meditate, breathe, and sleep. The three breathing exercises provide techniques for unwinding and boosting alertness. Meditation options cater for beginners and old-hands alike, with guided and unguided sessions across a range of durations. And if you can’t switch off in bed, a guided breathing session helps you fall asleep. Oak’s sense of elegance and focus is what sets it apart. This is an app that cuts to the chase, and immediately gets you on the path to a better you. And the Growth area helps keep you there, with tracking, stats, and achievements. Tasty Tasty gives you a modern spin on cookery apps, through a splash of color, and a large dollop of video. It starts off much like any other iPhone app: you can filter searches to specific dish types and dietary requirements; all the while, lush photography of tasty treats attempts to lure you in. But when you open a recipe page, Tasty dispenses with convention by immediately showing how the dish is made – in super-fast fashion. These tightly edited videos are like cookery TV with all the cruft removed, and they beat photographic stills because they show elements of technique. Smartly, although you can check out vanilla step-by-step instructions, it’s also possible to view individual steps alongside a relevant video clip. This should ensure you won’t go wrong and cook up a culinary catastrophe. Smiling Mind Smiling Mind is a straightforward, approachable meditation app that wants you to slow down a bit and embrace mindfulness. It starts off with a simple exercise that introduces the concept, before getting you started with short practice sessions. But if you’re already familiar with this kind of thing, you can jump right into a range of programs. As you use the app, it urges you to input how you feel, and tracks your progress over time. Also, along with providing programs for adults, the app offers exercises designed for children. Most importantly, though, everything about Smiling Mind feels calming, from the stylish interface to its lack of a price-tag. Whereas rivals go for wallet-thumping subscriptions, Smiling Mind is by a non-profit; it’s intent only on relieving you of stress rather than money. Habitica Habitica is a to-do list tracker. But before your eyes glaze over, Habitica does something very different in this particular app category, transforming boring lists into a game. The idea is that you input all the things you need to sort, including one-off items and daily goals. As you check off tasks, your little on-screen avatar gets powered-up, acquiring armor, pets, skills, and quests. Get some friends suitably invested and you can battle monsters alongside them – or just keep everyone honest. In short, this app makes productivity fun. And while there’s some satisfaction deleting an item from a boring bullet-point list, it’s a lot more interesting when taking the trash out results in your tiny hero beaming with delight at their shiny new sword. Sweat Deck Sweat Deck reimagines exercise routines as a deck of cards. You assign exercises to certain suits, and lob in a couple of ‘jokers’ for good measure. The app then has you define how many cards/reps you want to try your hand at. The app’s semi-random nature keeps you on your toes (or hands and back, depending on the exercise). If you draw a three of spades, that might mean three squats; then a nine of diamonds could mean nine push-ups. It’s a novel interface that’s a bit different from other iPhone exercise apps. Sweat Deck could do with a way to switch cards other than tapping the screen (shouting perhaps), but you can always use prodding your iPhone as an excuse to rest for a few seconds, having suitably worked up a sweat by that point. TaoMix 2 There are plenty of ambient noise products on the App Store, designed to help you relax, or to distract you from surrounding hubbub. TaoMix 2 is one of the best, due to its gorgeous interface and the flexibility of the soundscapes you create. You start off with a blank canvas, to which you drag noises that are represented as neon discs. These can be recolored and resized, and positioned wherever you like on the screen. A circle is then placed to balance the mix, or flicked to meander about, so the various sounds ebb and flow over time. For free, you get eight sounds, can save custom mixes, and can even import your own recordings. Many dozens of additional sounds are available via various affordable IAP. White Noise+ If you need some ambient noise around you, White Noise+ proves an excellent app for blocking out distractions. The free version offers a small selection of sounds to soothe your soul – white noise, rain, wind, thunder, and wind chimes. To create some ambience, you simply drag one or more noise icons to an on-screen grid; the items towards the top play at a higher volume, and those towards the right become more complex in nature. Happen upon an especially pleasing combination and you’re able to save your mix for later use. The app smartly includes built-in mixes to provide a little inspiration – and to showcase a wider range of sounds that’s available via IAP. A single $2.99/£2.99/AU$4.49 purchase also removes the ad bar, unlocks a sleep timer, alarm, and dark mode, and allows you to fiddle with the 15 additional sounds – in both the bundled mixes and also your own creations. But whether you pay or not, the combination of excellent sounds and a modern, usable interface make White Noise+ a best-in-class product on the iPhone. Round Health You might not associate taking medication with a hip and cool iPhone, but technology can be a boon to anyone with such requirements. Round Health offers great pill tracking and dosage notifications – and it doesn’t do any harm that the app also happens to be gorgeous. It’s split into three sections: in My Medicine, you add medications, and for each you can define a name, strength, individual doses, and schedules based around reminder windows of up to three hours. In Today, you view and log the day’s medication. Flexible preferences enable you to set up cross-device sync, push notifications, and to export data - and reminding users to refill will be a real help too. That the app is free is generous, given the job it does – and how well it does it. Also, the system is flexible enough that Round Health might work as a reminders system for other repeating tasks, albeit one in which jobs are labelled as ‘taken’ rather than ‘done’! Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock The science of sleep is something few people delve into. But you know some days that you wake up and feel awful, even if you think you've had a decent night's sleep. Sleep Cycle might be able to tell you why. It analyses you while you sleep, using sound or motion, and provides detailed statistics when you wake. Additionally, it'll constantly figure out what phase of sleep you're in, attempting to wake you at the best possible time, in a gentle, pleasing manner. That probably all sounds a bit woo-woo, but here's the thing: this app actually works, from the graphing bits through to helping you feel refreshed and relaxed on waking up. Runkeeper Runkeeper has been around since the App Store’s earliest days, and has gradually transformed from a then-magical means of tracking runs using your iPhone’s GPS, to a combination of personal trainer and community, providing everything you need to keep yourself fit. It still does the basics very well. Head out for a run (or a walk or cycling session), and the app will provide a clear view of your training in real-time. (And we mean that: the stats are in large enough type to see from across the street.) But it’s the other features that make Runkeeper really special: training plans; iTunes integration; custom challenges for friends; and a stopwatch mode for indoor activities and workouts. Unfortunately, it can’t actually do the exercise for you – so you’ll still have to work up a sweat yourself. The best free iPhone apps for kids and toddlers Our favorite free iPhone interactive experiences and learning aids for toddlers and children. Wonderbly Story Time Books Wonderbly Story Time Books is an iPhone take on a personalized illustrated children’s book. The story centers on a child’s magical quest to find their forgotten name, and each letter has its own beautifully realized miniature adventure. In fact, each letter has more than one scene, which means there’s no duplication even if your kid has the unlikely name ‘Daaaaavid’. The only minor snag on iPhone is the text is sometimes a bit small. You can use a zoom gesture, but the second you let go, the page snaps back into place. Still, should you want to free your book from the confines of your iPhone, you can order a printed version. And should you want to revisit previous adventures in digital form, they remain stored inside the app. Peek-a-Zoo Peek-a-Zoo doesn’t look like much at first, given that every scene essentially features simplistic cartoon animals atop a flat slab of color, but you soon appreciate how much imagination has gone into this basic setup when you watch a child using the app. It’s all down to the questions, which challenge a toddler to find the right animal. They’ll be asked things like who’s dressed up (which character has the hat), who’s winking, or who’s trying to hide. That last one makes brilliant use of the minimalist graphics, ‘hiding’ an animal by matching its body to the game’s background. It’s all very sweet-natured, and has surprising range given how simple it is. That’s something to appreciate – a free children’s app that’s free from cruft and ads. Toca Tailor Fairy Tales Toca Tailor Fairy Tales turns your child into a designer and stylist. On selecting a character to clothe, they can then drag and swipe to give them a beautiful new outfit. Well, ‘beautiful’ might be a stretch. The mix-and-match nature of the app offers equal potential for eye-searing garish fashion disasters. This is especially true when you delve into the materials section, zooming and rotating textures, or adding new ones by way of the camera. Garments can be adjusted in other ways, too – tap to switch to a different type, or drag to change something’s length. Last of all, there are accessories to give the model a perfect final touch – or a very silly hat. Laugh & Learn™ Shapes & Colors Laugh & Learn™ Shapes & Colors Music Show for Baby is an interactive experience designed for very young children. Level 1 should be approachable enough even for a six-month-old you’re brave enough to arm with your worryingly expensive iPhone; they can tilt and tap to make shapes appear and bounce around the screen. Level 2 is squarely designed at toddlers. The app chirps “Let’s put on a show!” as shapes dance and jump about on the screen. This is augmented by jaunty earworms that will burrow into your skull, while your tiny human makes their own live remix by prodding at a colorful piano keyboard. It’ll drive you bonkers, but the smile on that little face will be worth it. Probably. Lego Creator Islands Lego Creator Islands might seem like an odd choice for inclusion here, since parents would most likely sooner see their children playing with plastic bricks rather than virtual ones on an iPhone. But when the real thing isn’t available, this official game does the business. It all takes place on the titular islands, which you explore to collect bricks that act as a kind of in-game currency. These can then be used to acquire Lego sets that are constructed with a few deft taps. The selection is fairly small, but even so you can over time build a rather nice set of islands, featuring houses, roaming animals and dinosaurs, and vehicles blazing about the place. Also, there’s no chance of getting a plastic brick embedded in your foot. Green Riding Hood Green Riding Hood subverts a much-loved fairy tale, re-imagining Grandma as a hip yoga teacher, and having the Big Bad Wolf gradually learn how tasty healthy food is. Which might all sound a bit like brainwashing for tiny people if the story bit wasn’t so well designed. Each little scene in the book is interactive, so you can tap animals to make them exercise, have the wolf angrily lob a bone into the forest, or – our favorite – fashion a cacophony as the animals try to wake a dozing granny with whatever objects they have to hand. Beyond the book, you get some recipes and stickers for free. If all that takes your fancy, IAPs unlock exercise and dance routines – but, really, just the fairy tale bit alone makes this one very much worth a download. The best free music and audio apps for iPhone Our favorite free iPhone apps for playing songs, listening to podcasts, making music and being a virtual DJ. Wilson FM Wilson FM reasons there an awful lot of podcasts, and it’s tricky to find great new ones to listen to. It therefore packages hand-picked individual episodes in the format of a magazine. A new issue of Wilson FM arrives every week, and each one is designed to be thematically and culturally relevant. It’s also a handy way of branching out from your usual listening bubble, and delving into the likes of entertaining science, the meaning of words, and cracking cultural mysteries. The player itself is basic, and not a patch on the likes of Overcast. But that’s not the point of Wilson FM. It’s here to help you discover new things, and if you chance across a really great show, you can always copy its link and subscribe to it elsewhere. Beatwave Beatwave wants to simplify the process of creating music. You tap notes on to a grid, which explode in color like digital fireworks when the playhead hits them. You can keep adjusting your loop live, or add depth by overlaying loops of different sounds, including drums. For an app that looks so simple, and with vibrant blasts of color not usually associated with music creation tools, there’s surprising depth here, with sliders to tweak sounds, drum generators, and auto-chords. Veterans, though, may miss the original’s more approachable square grid play surface, which echoed Yamaha’s Tenori-on. The only other downside is the sounds you get being a touch limited. Still, there’s enough range for what’s ultimately a musical sketchpad; and if you want more, the ‘pro’ IAP US$9.99/£9.99/AU$14.99 adds several extra sets.  Yousician Yousician helps you to master a musical instrument or sing, but without that feeling like a chore. To that end, it often resembles a video game. When you’re learning piano, the interface depicts scores and keyboards with bright colors to help guide your eyes and finger, but the app really comes alive when you’re learning guitar. It turns into something like Guitar Hero, only you’re using a real guitar and the app is cunningly teaching you how to play. Things start with the basics, but before long you’re strumming and picking with the best of them. The only big limit in the free version is daily play time. Grab a subscription if you fancy learning more rapidly. Bandcamp Bandcamp might seem superfluous in a world of Apple Music and Spotify, but for anyone who enjoys venturing further afield to find new music, it’s a must. The service is chock full of indie artists, whose music you can delve into by way of the Bandcamp Weekly radio show, or by browsing the app’s news feeds. Most albums enable you to preview a few tracks in their entirety, and some are entirely free to play, forever. If you want to go old-school and actually buy music, the Bandcamp website is a good bet. Purchases can be downloaded in a range of formats; and when you only have your iPhone to hand, you can stream what you’ve bought and watch as your personal music feed fills with related tracks you might also enjoy. GarageBand The iPhone version of GarageBand has always been ambitious. Aiming at newcomers and professionals alike, its feature set includes smart instruments that always keep you in key, multitrack recording/editing functionality, a loops player, and superb guitar amps. But 2017’s major update takes things much further, with new synth Alchemy improving the app’s previously slightly ropey sound set. Smart piano strips have been expanded to all keyboard instruments, helping anyone to play perfect melodies. And Audio Unit support exists to load third-party synths directly inside of GarageBand, similar to how plug-ins work on desktop music-making apps. Because of these things, GarageBand is now even more suited to musicians of all skill levels – although be aware on smaller screens that the app can be a touch fiddly, what with there being so much going on. Figure Plenty of apps claim they can get you making music in seconds, but Figure really means it. The app's heritage helps, as it comes from Propellerhead Software, creators of the legendary Reason and ReBirth. In Figure, though, working on loops and beats is stripped right back from what you'd find in those complex PC apps; instead, you tap out drums, and slide your finger around to fashion monster bass and playful leads. Sounds can be tweaked or swapped out entirely at any point. Once you're done, finished tracks can be uploaded and shared online. For serious musicians, there's even Audiobus support. Overcast Sometimes with apps, it's the seemingly little things that make a big difference. With Overcast, for example, you get a perfectly decent podcast app that does everything you'd expect: podcast subscriptions; playback via downloads or streaming; a robust search for new shows. But where Overcast excels is in attempting to save you time and improve your listening experience. Effects (which can be assigned per-podcast) provide the smartest playback speed-up we've heard, voice boost for improving the clarity of talky shows, and smart speed. The last of those attempts to shorten silences. You won't use that setting for comedy shows, but it's superb for lengthy tech podcasts. As of version 2.0, Overcast is free, and betters all the other iOS podcast apps that also lack a price tag. (Should you wish to support the app, though, there's an entirely optional recurring patronage IAP.) Novation Launchpad On the iPad, Novation Launchpad is one of the best music apps suitable for absolutely anyone. You get a bunch of pads, and tap them to trigger audio loops, which always sound great regardless of the combinations used. This isn't making music per se, but you can get up a good head of steam while imagining yourself as a futuristic combination of electronic musician, DJ and mix genius. On iPhone, it shouldn't really work, the smaller screen not being as suited to tapping away at dozens of pads. But smart design from Novation proves otherwise. 48 trigger pads are placed front and centre, and are just big enough to accurately hit unless you've the most sausagey of sausage thumbs. Effects lurk at the foot of the screen — tap one and a performance space slides in, covering half the screen, ready for you to stutter and filter your masterpiece. As on the iPad, you can also record a live mix, which can be played back, shared and exported. This is a really great feature, adding optional permanence to your tapping exploits. Music Memos Apple's Music Memos is all about getting music ideas down — fast. You launch the app, hit record, play your guitar or piano, and your riff is safely recorded, rather than vanishing from your head the moment you see something vaguely interesting outside. Smartly, the app provides additional toys to experiment with. There's a tuner, and during playback, you can add automated electronic bass and drumming. The virtual instruments attempt to match tempo and energy with whatever you recorded (and with some success, although more complex inputs can confuse this feature to an amusing degree). Music Memos also tries to transcribe the chords being played; its accuracy is questionable beyond the basics, but not bad as a trigger when you later want to learn how to play your own spark of inspiration. Usefully, you can fling recordings at GarageBand and Logic (bass and drums going along for the ride as separate tracks). Less usefully, you can sing into the app, and still add bass, drums and chord transcription, for some kind of madcap tech-based cacophony of awfulness that we felt entirely compelled to try in the name of a thorough review. Expect our effort to (not) trouble the charts shortly. The best free office and writing apps for iPhone Our favorite free iPhone web browsers, calculators, password security tools and writing apps. LastPass LastPass has a lot in common with Apple’s iCloud Keychain, which comes baked into your iPhone. You get a place in which to securely store website login/password details and payment information. This integrates with Safari, and also – from iOS 12 onwards – with third-party app sign-in screens. The main advantage of LastPass over Apple’s solution is that it’s available for Android and Windows, meaning you can use your passwords on whatever system you wish. But also it includes secure notes, and custom form filling options, which prove handy as well. Because LastPass can be used alongside (rather than instead of) iCloud Keychain, it’s worth a look regardless, not least given that its editing and browsing interface far betters Apple’s. And although there’s a premium tier, the free version will be enough for most. Drafts 5 Drafts 5 describes itself as the place “where text starts” on your iPhone. That’s quite the claim, but the app really does excel if you work with words. The efficient interface makes it a breeze to work on structured text with Markdown, glancing at a live word count as you go. A customizable keyboard row provides speedy access to Markdown tools – or anything else you fancy stashing there for easy access. Once you’re done, you can keep your documents in Drafts, where they remain easily searchable, and can even be added to from the Apple Watch app. Or you can send them elsewhere by utilizing a range of actions. Splash out on a subscription and you unlock even more power; but for free, Drafts 5 is an astonishing bargain for anyone in the market for a top-notch iPhone text editor. DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser is a web browser that reasons privacy shouldn’t be an optional extra. Instead, it doubles down on giving you control over your personal information as you browse the web, regardless of what you’re doing. By default, tracker networks are blocked, encryption is forced whenever it’s available, and searches use DuckDuckGo, which never tracks you. Should you finish doing something confidential, you can prod a single button to erase your entire browsing history – easy. The browser can also give you details on any site’s privacy measures, and show improvements it’s made on your behalf. DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser’s simplicity and standalone nature mean it might not be a total replacement for Safari, but it’s worth installing as a back-up browser – or even just if you fancy checking out the privacy credentials of sites you enjoy using. RememBear RememBear puts a friendly, furry face on password management. Getting started is simple, as is inputting website usernames and passwords. Everything you enter is fully secured behind a master password – or Touch ID if you have a compatible iPhone. The app can integrate with Safari for iPhone, but has its own built-in browser too, should you want to keep certain passwords and activity away from prying eyes. There’s also cross-device sync so you can use your logins across Macs, PCs, and Android devices. There’s less scope here than in the likes of 1Password – RememBear is only for website logins and payment cards, not things like notes and servers. Still, its focus and friendliness make it a great choice if you’re not already using a password manager – or if you are, but fancy something simpler. Cake Browser Cake Browser is a mobile-centric web browser that wants you to skip right to dessert. Instead of presenting you with a list of search results, Cake immediately displays what it thinks is the most relevant page, while others load in background tabs. You then swipe between them (though you can still access a traditional results list by swiping from the left). There are great ideas in Cake, not least the buttons that trigger searches specifically for video, images, news, and shopping. The downside is that the search engines and sites Cake uses aren’t configurable, and the results it provides aren’t always what you want. Even so, that sense of surprise, and not always heading to the same old places, makes Cake worth a look – even if you stick to Safari for the bulk of your browsing. Pages Pages is a fully fledged and fully free word processor for your iPhone. Word processing might not be top of your list of iPhone-related tasks, but this great app might just change your mind. Pages includes a wide range of templates, such as reports, letters, cards and posters. Although you probably won’t want to create and edit an entire magazine on your smartphone, Pages is user-friendly, with an efficient interface that’s suitable for banging out a first draft of a letter, leaflet or poster while you’re on the train. Thanks to iCloud sync, whatever you create in Pages can be opened on a Mac or iPad running the app. If you’re resolutely iPhone-only, you can export your work in a range of formats, including PDF and Microsoft Word. If you’re really rocking it old-school, you can even send it to an AirPrint printer. PCalc Lite PCalc Lite is a version of leading iOS calculator PCalc, aimed at people who aren’t keen on spending money. In terms of functionality, it’s more stripped back than its paid sibling, but the app’s guts are identical. What this means is PCalc Lite is undoubtedly the best free traditional calculator for iPhone. It’s fast, responsive, and friendly, and bundles a small set of useful conversions for length, speed, temperature, volume, and weight. If you want to bolt on something from the paid version, IAPs exist, such as for multi-line support, or extra conversion options. When iOS 11 arrived, Apple’s built-in calculator proved buggy, leading to people scrabbling around for an alternative. With PCalc Lite installed, that need never happen to you. Documents by Readdle Documents by Readdle is a file manager, document reader and PDF editor. From a documents standpoint, the app wasn’t made redundant by Apple’s Files; rather, it nicely supplements it. This is because Readdle’s app can connect to remote servers, such as WebDAV, SFTP and shared network drives. In-app document management is sleek and simple, and support for Locations in Files means you can via Apple’s app access whatever you’ve stored in Readdle’s. From a productivity standpoint, Documents is handy as a reader for all kinds of files, like Microsoft Office documents, images, movies, and PDFs. With the last of those, you can also search and annotate, making this app an ideal addition to your freebie iPhone toolkit when you need to do work on the go. Scanbot Scanner App Scanbot Scanner App is, suitably, a scanner for your iPhone. This might seem unnecessary now Apple’s Notes app includes scanning functionality; and, indeed, Scanbot and Notes do have some overlap. Even so, we reckon Scanbot is very much worth a download. First and foremost, having a separate scanning app is more efficient. Rather than fiddling around setting up a new scan in Notes, embedding imagery, and then sharing your scans, Scanbot has a sleeker user flow. It also seems faster than Apple’s app when it comes to scanning – for which you can scan single or multi-page documents, and then apply effects to the end results. Scanbot also has an upgrade path, for those who want more. Pay and you gain access to automatic cloud uploads, PDF editing, document encryption, and OCR. But even for free, Scanbot deserves a place on your iPhone. The best free productivity apps for iPhone Our favorite free iPhone apps for being more productive with reminders, to-do lists, flash cards, timers, keyboards, conversion aids and automation. Bring! Bring! offers a new spin on shared shopping lists. Although you can create a straightforward shared text-based list in Reminders, Bring! opts for large colored buttons adorned with icons. Not only are these easier to spot when you’re in a busy supermarket with a basket on one arm and a toddler on the other, they’re also a mite simpler to tap. Beyond this, there’s all kinds of smart stuff going on. Color-coded rings on items change from green to orange to red when the product is getting closer to running out. For items where you want something very specific, you can add notes and a photo. And when you fancy letting everyone know you’ve made changes to a list shared with many people (for example, in an office), ready-made messages can be sent, saving you the hassle of crafting one yourself. Shortcuts Shortcuts is Apple’s redesign of the well-regarded Workflow app, which aims to streamline your day by automating common tasks. Apps of this ilk have a history of being geeky and impenetrable, but Shortcuts is the friendly face of automation. In the Gallery view are dozens of pre-made workflows to download, which perform actions like calculating tips, figuring out how long it’ll be before you’re home, and logging aspects of your routine. Actions can be added to your Home screen as pseudo-apps, and triggered from Today view or by using Siri voice commands. For a fully custom experience, there’s an editing view to dig into. You can tweak existing downloads, or start with a blank canvas, adding actions using a drag-and-drop interface. On an iPhone Plus models or iPhone XS Max, this works particularly well in landscape, with an iPad-like dual-pane interface. Bundler Bundler hugely speeds up and simplifies the process of creating and sharing ZIP archives on an iPhone. As long as the apps you want to share something from support the standard iOS Share sheet, they’ll work with Bundler. Select your document, tap the share button, and you can then send the file to the displayed ‘bundle’, or create a new one. Open up the main Bundle app and you’ll see your bundles. These can be renamed, as can individual documents within bundles. Usefully, many document types can be previewed inside of Bundle too, so you can check you’ve grabbed the right ones. Once you’re happy with your selection, you tap the Share button and send the bundle to an app or cloud storage as a ZIP. It’s fast and far more efficient than other apps of this type. Wunderlist Wunderlist is a hugely popular to-do list manager. It’s easy to see why: the app is simple to use, and yet provides depth and advanced features for those who need them. You start by dumping your to-dos in an inbox, at which point you can organize them into lists, add deadlines and reminders, define sub-tasks for more complex projects, attach files, and set regular tasks to repeat. Unlike Apple’s Reminders app, reordering tasks (alphabetically, or by due date) is a cinch, and lists can be shared across a wide range of platforms. All of this is entirely free (there’s a paid tier, but you’re unlikely to need it), so if you want a better to-do manager than Reminders but don’t fancy splashing out, this is the app to go for. Meteor Meteor is an internet speed tester designed for human beings. It eschews complex information – and even advertising – and instead provides you with straightforward, colorful buttons and readouts. An inviting ‘Start Testing’ button kicks things off, whereupon the app sets about checking your internet connection’s performance, a little meteor animating on-screen as it does so. Once the tests are done, speeds are scored, and are subsequently available from the History tab. Meteor also attempts to estimate how well your connection would fare with popular apps and games, six of which can be added to an ‘app performance’ bar. These values should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt, but this freebie nonetheless impresses for being a no-nonsense, user-friendly, ad-free way to check internet connectivity. MultiTimer Apple’s pre-loaded Clock app has a perfectly serviceable timer – but you only get one countdown at any given moment. MultiTimer, as its name might suggest, gives you multiple timers that you can set going simultaneously. On launching the app, you’ll find six timers already set up. Each has a different color, name and icon. Tap a timer and it starts, tap again to pause, or double-tap to reset. Easy. Long press and you open the timer’s options, so you can adjust its default time, label, color, icon and sound. You also have plenty of preferences to delve into, including adjusting the default workspace. Should you want extra workspaces – or a custom layout – grab the $4.99/£4.99/AU$7.99 MultiTimer Pro IAP. Tinycards From the brains behind game-like language-learning app Duolingo comes Tinycards. The aim is to enable people to memorize anything by way of friendly flashcard sets. Duolingo itself offers a number of sets based around language, history and geography. Smartly, though, anyone can create and publish a set, which has led to hundreds of decks about all kinds of subjects, from renaissance art to retro computing. The memorizing bit is based around minutes-long drills. You’re presented with cards and details to memorize, which the app then challenges you on, by way of typing in answers or answering multiple choice questions. Some early teething problems with typos and abbreviations (for example, stating ‘USA’ was incorrect because ‘United States of America’ was the answer) have been dealt with by way of a handy ‘I was right’ button. Just don’t press it when you don’t really know the answer, OK? Cheatsheet The idea behind Cheatsheet is to provide fast access to tiny chunks of information you never remember but really need to: your hotel room, your car's number plate, Wi-Fi passwords, or, if you're feeling suitably retro, the Konami code. Set-up is pleasingly straightforward. Using the app, you add 'cheats' by selecting an icon and then typing your info nugget. When you've got yourself a number of 'cheats', they can be reordered as you see fit. Once you're done, the entire lot can be displayed on the Today widget or an Apple Watch. Cheatsheet saves some features for a $2.99/£2.99/AU$4.49 'pro' upgrade - a custom keyboard, an action extension, some of the icons, and iCloud sync. But the free version is nonetheless useful and generous, along with making really good use of the Today view on your phone. Lrn We keep hearing about how important coding will be to the future of everything. That's all very well, unless code makes about as much sense to you as the most exotic of foreign languages. The idea behind Lrn is to gently ease you in. Through friendly copy and simple quizzes, you gradually gain confidence across a range of languages. For free, you get courses on HTML and CSS, along with introductions to JavaScript, Ruby and Python. You can complete any course for $2.99/£2.99/AU$4.49; but even if you don't pay anything at all, you'll get a lot out of this app if you've an interest in coding but don't know where to start. Dropbox Dropbox was a big deal in the early days of iOS. When Apple refused to provide access to a file system, Dropbox became a surrogate, and was supported by a great many apps. But you might ask if it has a place now Apple offers Files. The answer is yes. Dropbox can act as a Location within Files, which is great if you use Dropbox to share folders with people running various systems. But the standalone Dropbox app also excels: it can quickly scan receipts and whiteboards to PDF; you can use it to edit Microsoft Office documents; and it’s possible to comment on files to share feedback with a team. For free, you get 2GB of space. If you need more, Dropbox Plus gives you 1TB for $9.99/£7.99/AU$13.99 per month. SwiftKey SwiftKey reasons that you could – and should – be typing a lot more quickly on your iPhone’s keyboard. Mostly, it achieves this by freeing you from the drudgery of having to tap individual keys or even bother stabbing at the prediction bar – instead, you just lazily swipe about in the vague direction of the keys you want. During your early days with the app, this occasionally results in some comical typos, but pretty soon you end up swipe-typing at speeds you’d never thought possible. And beyond the keyboard’s AI smarts, there’s customization to delve into, including custom themes and colors, enough emoji to choke a hippo, and some very handy bilingual support for when you need to quickly switch between languages. Slack The thinking behind Slack is to free teams from the drudgery of email. It's essentially a real-time messaging system, where people have group conversations based around user-defined hashtags, or send private messages to one-another. Support for inline images, videos and Twitter-like summaries boost pasted content, and the app integrates with cloud storage from the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive. It's worth noting that while Slack is clearly aimed at businesses, it works perfectly well as a means of communication for groups of friends who aren't thrilled about storing their personal insights and details on Facebook. Vert S We're told the 'S' in Vert S stands for 'speed'. This is down to the app being an efficient incarnation of the well-regarded Vert unit converter. The older app had you browse huge category lists to pick what you need, but Vert S is keener on immediacy. There's a search, but the app's core is a Favorites page, where commonly used conversions are stored. Tap one and you enter a basic calculator, enabling you to convert between your two chosen units, which can be quickly switched by tapping the Vert button. (Note that currencies are behind an IAP paywall — $2.99/£2.99/AU$4.49 for 'Vert Pro' — but conversions for other units are free.) The best free iPhone weather and travel apps Our favorite free iPhone apps for mapping, sat-nav, translation, learning languages, weather forecasts, currency conversion and holiday planning. Thunderly Thunderly is an entertaining and unique weather app with a penchant for storms. Fire the thing up, and you get a photorealistic Earth you can spin beneath a finger. Zoom in and you can go hunting for storms. The app provides a number of options for enhancing the experience. It emits blasts of thundery noise, and can rumble your iPhone. Entertainingly, it’ll also use the flash to simulate lightning. If you zoom right into your location, you can measure how far away a storm is by prodding a button when lightning strikes, and then a second time when you hear thunder. Naturally, Thunderly isn’t a replacement for a traditional weather app, but as a free download, it’s an entertaining diversion if you’ve an interest in weather. Google Translate Google Translate is like having an entire crew of translation staff in your pocket. When online, it can translate text and conversations between dozens of languages, giving you a fighting chance at a to-and-fro in a foreign tongue when you’re stuck for other options. Favorite words and phrases can be saved, to build up a personalized phrasebook. But the real magic comes by way of the camera. Point Google Translate at some text and as long as it’s reasonably legible, it will attempt to translate it live, into your chosen language. You’re not going to be reading a book in this manner, but when you’re abroad and staring quizzically at a menu or the ingredients on a food packet, Google Translate can be a life-saver. Koins Koins is a rare currency converter that appears to have been designed with humans in mind. Rather than you dealing with a utilitarian ‘afterthought’ interface, you instead get something akin to a futuristic, playful calculator. Yes, we know, playful isn’t usually a word you’d associate with this kind of app, but it’s fun to hear the bloops and bleeps as you tap out numbers and choose your currencies. Naturally, Koins has more serious features, too: you can squish the keyboard for one-sided use (or use the app in landscape), and sync data via iCloud. However, if you want to check out how currencies have performed over time, you’ll need to unlock the premium version with IAP. World Clock Time Widget World Clock Time Widget does what you’d expect from its name, enabling you to set up a world clock that’s visible at a glance in Today view. Setup is straightforward. Tapping a + button gives you a list of locations. You can type a place name to rapidly filter the list, then tap an item to add it to your clocks. Locations appear in order from west to east, although you can rearrange them manually. The widget shows your first four clocks in Today view, but can be expanded to show more. Neatly, you can also move the clocks forward and backward by hourly increments. It’s a pity you only get a digital view – analog clocks are only available within the app – but otherwise this is a solid freebie. Trips by Lonely Planet Trips by Lonely Planet is an app for sharing travel experiences – or just reveling in the journeys made by others. It’s a bit like a travel-oriented Instagram mixed with a smattering of travel guide and blog. If you like gorgeous photography and a touch of commentary for context, it’s a must-have install. New top picks are regularly showcased on the app’s Home tab, and you can favorite those you like, and/or follow the authors. Annoyingly, there’s no search, but you can delve into themed categories, such as ‘cities’ and ‘adventure’. (Think of it more like a magazine than a website and you should be fine.) When you have an adventure of your own, you can upload your own story. The layout options are a bit basic, but the app is really easy to work with, making for stress-free sharing. Google Maps Google Maps is an app that’s been a mainstay in this list for years – and it’s easy to see why. Although Apple’s own Maps app has hugely improved since launch, Google Maps retains the lead in almost every way. It’s superb at locating points of interest –whether you’re looking for a distant town or local restaurant – and offers robust public transport suggestions. Beyond that, it just proves handier than Apple’s app. Street View is great for virtually scoping out a location, looking for landmarks that might prove handy during a drive. You can draw a route to measure the distance between two places. And best of all, you can download maps to your iPhone, transforming Google Maps into a free sat-nav equivalent that works entirely offline. Google Earth Google Earth simply gives you our planet in the palm of your hand, and encourages you to explore. You can manually rotate and zoom, search for specific locations, or take your chances with the dice icon, to check out somewhere random. Wherever you end up, Google Earth provides local photography and information, becoming something of a virtual tour guide. Places others have explored nearby are provided as cards, which prove genuinely useful for giving crowdsourced points of interest or recommendations. This concept reaches its logical conclusion with Voyager – a selection of journeys you can take to some of the world’s most amazing sights, from ancient wonders to modern ones like Kennedy Space Center. Google Earth’s visual majesty is lessened on the smaller screen, but it’d be churlish to scoff at an app that in an instant provides access to so much of our planet. Lingvist Lingvist is a language-learning app that claims to be able to teach you at light speed. Naturally, that’s hyperbole, but Lingvist nonetheless has a methodology and interface that gets you going in your chosen language (French, Spanish, German, and Russian are supported) at serious speed. Mostly, it’s about plugging words into sentences, in a drill-like fashion. Imagine interactive flash cards thrown your way in quick-fire fashion and you’re there. The underlying algorithm tracks words you’re finding tricky, and in-context explanations for things like verbs pop up as and when they’re needed. Will Lingvist make you fluent in hours? Probably not. But as a refresher, or even a first step in learning a foreign tongue, it’s the best freebie around on iPhone. Today Weather Today Weather provides a sleek, elegant take on weather forecasting, marrying modern design, usability, and a slew of data. Set a location and you get current conditions below a supposedly representative photo. (The photo is, frankly, a bit rubbish but can fortunately be disabled.) Scroll to delve into predictions about the coming hours and days, and details about UV index and pressure, the chances of imminent rainfall, air quality, sunrise/sunset times, and what the moon’s up to. Sadly, these components can’t be rearranged, and anyone who wants a rainfall radar will have to pay for it. But these drawbacks shouldn’t stop you downloading what’s a great freebie weather app. Also, Hello Weather has a trump card in its data source menu, which lists conditions and temperatures from five different providers. If one regularly seems better than the others, you can switch with a tap. Nice. Triposo Billed as ‘your smart travel guide’, Triposo elevates itself above the competition. First and foremost, it’s comprehensive. Whereas other guides typically concentrate on a few major cities, Triposo drills down into tiny towns and villages as well, helping you get the best out of wherever you happen to be staying. 50,000 destinations worldwide are included, complete with information on bars, restaurants, hotels, tours and attractions. Beyond that, the app is easy to use, and it optionally works offline, enabling you to download guides on a regional basis. This is perfect for when you’re ambling about somewhere new, without a data connection. And if you’re unsure where to head, Triposo can even build an editable city walk for you too. Foursquare One-time darling of the digital check-in crowd, Foursquare in 2014 reworked its app to focus entirely on local search. Although this irked fans who'd been there since the beginning, it's hard to criticize the app we've been left with. On iPhone, you start with a search field, beneath which sits a handy list of relatively local places of interest. Tap an item and you gain access to a photo gallery, basic details, and a slew of reviews. In the main, Foursquare is quite obsessed with food, drink and nightlife, but the 'fun' and 'more' categories house plenty of additional places to visit, from gig venues and cinemas to rather more sedate options like parks and historic sites. Filters and 'tastes' options within the app's settings enable you to further hone down recommended choices, and anything you fancy reminding yourself of on a more permanent basis can be added to a custom list. Hello Weather There's a tendency for weather apps to either bombard you with facts or try to be too clever with design Hello Weather, by contrast, simply wants to get you all the weather information you need, but nothing you don't. This focused approach doesn't mean Hello Weather is an ugly app. On the contrary, it's very smart, with a clean layout and readable graphs. Mostly, though, we're fond of Hello Weather because it eschews complexity without limiting the information on offer. The single-page view is split in three, covering current conditions, the next few hours, and the week's forecast. If you need more detail, a swipe provides access to things like sunrise/sunset times for the current day, or written forecasts for the coming week. It’s worth noting that some functionality lurks behind annual IAP, such as real-time rainfall estimates and multiple weather sources. But as a free no-fuss weather app, Hello Weather is hard to beat. Citymapper Citymapper is a travel aid that wants to help you get around big cities more easily. Unlike Google Maps, it doesn’t work worldwide, instead carefully selecting places that get coverage. But if you live in or visit one of the supported cities – which include London, Paris, Berlin and New York – Citymapper is an essential download. The app will quickly zero in on your location. When you need to get somewhere else, Citymapper makes it easy to compare all of your options in real time. But it’s the smaller features that properly cement its place on your iPhone: watching buses move about a live map; advice about the best train carriage to take; and real-time alerts when you should get ready to disembark – great when you’re dozing at the end of a busy day. Weather Underground The Weather Underground app (or 'Wunderground' to your iPhone, which sounds like an oddly dark Disney film) is one of those products that flings in everything but the kitchen sink yet somehow remains usable. Whatever your particular interest in the weather, you're covered, through a slew of 'tiles' (which can be moved or disabled to suit) on a huge scrolling page. At the top, you get a nicely designed tile detailing current conditions and showing a local map. Tick and cross buttons lurk, asking for input regarding the app's accuracy. During testing, we almost always tapped the tick — reassuring. Scroll, though, and you find yourself immersed in the kind of weather geekery that will send meteorological nuts into rapture. There are rainfall and temperature graphs for the next day and hour, along with simpler forecasts for the week. You get details on humidity, pressure and dew point. Sunrise, sunset and moon timings are presented as stylish animations. You can investigate local and global webcams and photos, and then head to the web if not satisfied with that deluge of data. Weather Underground is funded by non-intrusive ads (which you can disable annually for $1.99/£1.99/AU$2.99 if you feel the need), and is easily our favourite free iPhone weather app; in fact, it even rivals the best paid fare on the platform. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

iOS 12.2 release date and all iOS 12 features explained Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:07 AM PST New iOS 12 features are being added via the iOS 12.2 update, and marks the first of Apple's software changes for the first half of 2019. The expected iOS 13 release date is four months away, so today we're focusing in on what's in the iOS 12.2 beta as well as the latest stable version, iOS 12.1.3, meant to fix some of those lingering iOS 12 problems for a few people. The iOS updates are generally positive. We've seen 70 new emojis, eSIM support and Group FaceTime launch as part of iOS 12.1 around the same time the iPad Pro 11 got here, and that's in addition to all of the iOS 12 features launched last September. Apple has made its mobile operating system stable and, importantly, competitive in the wake of Google's Android Pie update and last year's Google Pixel 3 launch. With falling iPhone sales, that's evermore important. Here's everything you need to know about the iOS 12.2 update that's coming soon and iOS 12 in general, whether you're upgrading an older iPhone (which will be faster), or getting it out of the box with the new iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max or iPhone XR. What's the difference between the latest phones showcasing iOS? Watch our handy explainer to find out: New features: iOS 12.2 update coming soon Developer beta 2 adds four new Amoji Very minor Control Center design tweaks Release date likely in the next few weeks Could be timed with new iPads in March/April iOS 12.2 developer beta 2 clues us in on what to expect from Apple's next update: more Animoji and a few front-facing UI tweaks that you may not notice, but we did. Chief among the iOS 12.2 changes are four new Animoji: Shark Giraffe Owl Warthog There's now a total of 24 Animoji, not counting all of the customizable Memoji characters you can make. Most of the other minor design changes happen within Control Center. For example, you'll notice that the Screen Mirroring button is no longer represented by a triangle with a floating rectangular box on top of it. It now shows two rectangles overlapping each other. It makes a lot more sense. More useful is the fact that the Apple TV shortcut button in Control Center leads to a virtual remote that takes up the entire length of the screen. That's helpful if you have an Apple TV or Apple TV 4K, or have an AirPlay 2 compatible 4KTV and lost your remote. We're still searching for iOS 12.2 features and the official release date. Apple is up to developer beta 2, so it should roll out within the next few weeks – maybe around the time the rumored cheap iPad 2019 and iPad mini 5 launch in March or April. Latest stable versions: iOS 12.1 and iOS 12.1.3 70+ new emoji – good news for redheads, curly-haired and bald folks Group FaceTime for up to 32 users is part of the iOS 12.1 beta Adjust photo background blur (bokeh) in real time (not just afterward) eSIM support menus are live in the beta – but carrier support is needed iOS 12.1.3 is mostly focused on bug fixes While the newest iOS 12.1.3 update is the stable version you should download, the last time we got front-facing features was with iOS 12.1. It launched on October 30, the same day the iPad Pro 11 and iPad Pro 12.9 were unveiled. There are four important iOS 12.1 changes: 70+ new emoji On October 2, Apple announced that more than 70 new emoji were launching with the iOS 12.1 developer beta 2. Get ready for red, gray and curly hair options, as well as bald people, according to Apple's official press release. Softballs, skateboards, and frisbees are here for alternative sports, while new animal and food emojis include kangaroos, lobsters (sometimes a food, always an animal) bagels, and cupcakes. Group FaceTime First, Group FaceTime for up to 32 users is here. To test it out, however, you're going to have to pair up with people who have iOS 12.1, so tell them to upgrade. Portrait Mode bokeh effects Second, Apple has improved the bokeh (background blur) feature in portrait mode on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Before you could only adjust the blur after a picture was taken. Now, with iOS 12.1, you can also adjust the blur in real time, as you're snapping a photo. This helps you better frame your portrait photos. eSIM support – kind of Third, eSIM iPhone support is live with the proper setup menus. But there's a catch for setting up the simulated dual-SIM – you'll have to wait for your carrier to start supporting the feature, which may happen on the official iOS 12.1 release date. iOS 12.1 fixes bugs Fourth, the iOS 12.1 release notes indicate that you're in for some bug fixes. That's very good news if you're experiencing problems. Apple's updates usually remedy the issue, however, you may have to wait until iOS 12.2 in order to fix the iPhone XS and XS Max charging issues. The top iOS 12 features 1. iOS 12 makes your old iPhone and iPad faster Older iPhones are 40% to 70% faster at certain tasks Apple's looking to put the problematic iOS 11 behind it iOS 12 focuses on reliability and performance with this update, and it supports all of the same iPhones and iPads that iOS 11 worked with. Apple highlights the iPhone 6 Plus, specifically, saying iOS 12 makes this phone 40% faster at launching apps, 70% faster at launching the camera app, and 50% faster at displaying the keyboard. Keyboard typing and other routine features on older iPhones can slow down with every new iOS update, and Apple is looking to change these pain points with iOS 12. This makes your existing iPhone and iPad more reliable, and your older devices can be used by family members, or will be more sellable – they don't have to sit in a drawer because they're too slow. 2. Grouped notifications Grouped notification on iOS 12 clean up individual notifications mess Smartly grouped by app, topic, thread You can clear a whole group of notifications with a single swipe Grouped notifications are a part of iOS 12. This is a small, but very important tweak (maybe the most important in the iOS 12 update) because it changes the lock screen alerts you see each and every day.  It binds together notifications by message threads and topics, making it easier to see everything at a glance. Right now, individual notifications in the morning are a big pain to check as they pile up. 3. Memoji and changes to Animoji Personalized 'Memoji' to look like you or 'the real you' Four new Animoji masks: Ghost, Koala, Tiger and T-Rex Animoji and Memoji clips last 30 seconds (up to 10 seconds) Tongue and wink detection for iOS 12 masks Memoji is a customizable mask that can look like you – or the real you, according to Apple. It still resides in Messages. You can select hairstyles, eye color and accessories like earrings and sunglasses. Like Animoji, this is a feature for newer iPhones in the X lineup as it requires Apple's TrueDepth front-facing camera. Animoji is expanded, not just with new masks, but with tongue detection and wink detection. Ghost, Koala, Tiger, and T-Rex will be joining the cast of Animoji masks. 4. Automatically enter those pesky security codes Two-factor authentication is great, except the annoying task of entering six-digital security codes sent to you via text feels like a chore. iOS 12 fixes this issue. As soon as a security code is sent to your device as a text, it'll automatically pop up within the suggested words in the keyboard interface. All you have to do is tap it. It makes life just a little easier when you're locked out of Dropbox. 5. iOS 12 allows for more than one Face ID face Face ID on iOS 12 supports more than one face within the Setting menu labeled 'Face ID & Passcode.' Look for the 'Set up an Alternative Appearance' sub-menu to add a second look. This is helpful for two reasons: You can either allow a partner to have access to your iPhone or iPad with Face ID, or you can add your alter ego to make sure Face ID unlocks your phone no matter what you look like today, tomorrow or the next day. 6. Siri Shortcuts can find your lost keys, more Siri Shortcuts allows you to assign phrases to tasks 'I lost my keys' can ring your Tile tracker to find keys 'Heading home' sends ETA notification to roommate, sets thermostat and fan, and brings up the fastest route via Apple Maps Gallery and library full of pre-configured Siri Shortcuts Siri is smarter. If you set up Siri Shortcuts, a brand new app, It‘ll know that “I lost my keys” means to ring your Tile tracker.  Sure, Tile is a handy gadget, but getting to the slow app is a pain when you've lost your keys. An integrated Siri is a game-changer for both Tile and our peace of mind. Siri Shortcuts go far beyond this example. Apple allows for all sorts of formulas. The app can suggests coffee orders from the place you always order from, and nudge you to message contacts to tell them you're running late.  There's also Kayak-based flight information you can call up via voice. By pressing the add to Siri button, you can then say “Travel plans” and Siri will read back information such as your hotel address. Apple's IFTTT-like Siri Shortcuts app launched alongside the final iOS 12 software. However, not all shortcuts will be found in the new app. Some companies, like the aforementioned Tile, will host shortcuts within their own app, so look out for that. 7. Group FaceTime (now launching later) Group FaceTime for up to 32 people with dynamic UI Can use Animoji and Memoji in FaceTime Won't launch with the final software on day one Group FaceTime is coming to iOS 12 with up to 32 participants, and you go directly from a group chat to a group FaceTime in the Messages app. Update: Apple has delayed the launch of iOS 12 Group Notifications, according to release notes indicating that it'll come out this 'fall'. To us, that sounds like an iOS 12.1 launch – like Apple Pay, Apple Cash, AirPlay 2 and other features didn't make it live on day one in previous operating system updates. People can drop in and drop out at any time. The interface is filled with tiles that can expand, and 'the roster' along the bottom for everyone else in the Group FaceTime chat. When people start to speak, their window gets bigger, even if they're in the bottom roster of participants. It works on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and you can even answer on the Apple Watch and HomePod with just audio. Animoji is coming to FaceTime and Group FaceTime. You'll of course need to update to iOS 12 and an iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max or an iPhone XR to make that magic happen. 8. Screen time – using your iPhone less Reports give a weekly activity summary on how you use iOS 12 Breakdown: ranks app usage, highest phone pick up times (and what app draws you in first), and apps that send you the most notifications Set self-imposed time limits via reminders and temporary app blocking Limit kids time in apps by category or individual apps via Family Sharing Screen time is Apple's way of limiting your iPhone usage – calculating how much time you're spending on apps, which apps you use the most, and which apps are sending you the most notifications. Screen time doesn't lie. For those without self-control, Apple has created app limits. You can set your own limit, with a notification letting you know when time is almost up. A 'Time is up' message will display when you've reached your self-imposed-Siri-assisted limit. Parents can create limits for kids with Allowances, time-of-day-based downtime controls, and category controls. Education and essential message apps can also be greenlit thanks to an always-allowed settings.  The best part? Setting limits for your kids uses Family Sharing, so you can manage it all remotely from your parental device – no need to get hold of your 12-year-old kid's phone to execute on these new iOS 12 controls. 9. Do Not Disturb goes visual in iOS 12 Do Not Disturb during bedtime to hide visual display of notifications It offers a clean lock screen with only a reminder than DND mode is on Apple has expanding its Do Not Disturb capabilities with a cleaner 'Do Not Disturb During Bedtime' mode. It'll silence not just the notification delivery sounds, but also the visual notifications clutter that can distract you when you're trying to sleep. The lock screen remains clear until you unlock your iPhone in the morning. You can allow certain apps to break through, just like with DND mode right now. Apple refers to these as critical alerts, and they're opt-in. We really like the solo DND notification hanging out on the lock screen. It's peaceful without distracting visual clutter at night and it reminds us that DND mode is on. All notched iPhones don't have the DND icon at the top, so it was always hard to tell before iOS 12. 10. Instant Tuning for axing notifications Instant Tuning to send future notifications silently or turn them off Siri can suggest which notifications to silence based on usage Instant Tuning is an iOS 12 feature you'll love if you've ever gotten a notification from an app you always seem to dismiss (HQ trivia, breaking news alerts, etc), but don't have time to turn off future notifications in the many submenus of Settings. Apple is allowing you to control individual app notification profiles right from the lockscreen, without making you leave what you're doing. Deliver Quietly is an option within Instant Tuning, and it'll allow you to choose to have notifications delivered silently Notification Center by default so you’re not interrupted by alerts on the lockscreen. It's a nice in between option. Siri helps clean up your messy lock screen with notification delivery suggestions based on how you interact with notifications. Siri will understand which notifications it should deliver prominently and which ones to send to Notification Center. It's like iOS 12's version of 'clean up your desktop' system nudges. 11. New 'Measure' app and USDZ file format New USDZ file type dedicated at augmented reality Measure app replaces your old-fashioned measuring tape 'Measure' is getting its own AR app. It uses the iPhone's and iPad's sensors to measure objects in front of you, including suitcases, as shown in the first iOS 12 demo. All it takes it just tap-and-drag along the edges of the object on the screen.  It also automatically detects the approximate dimensions of a photo – we've used it to buy a photo frame when we couldn't find the old-fashioned tape measure. iOS 12 to the rescue. For AR developers, Apple has created a new file type called 'USDZ.' The company worked on USDZ with Pixar, and Adobe is supporting it, too. The file format can be shared across FIles, Mail, Messages and Safari. This is an important step forward for developers working on AR apps. 12. Apple News, Stocks, Voice Memos and CarPlay Apple News: new Browse tab and sidebar navigation Stocks: robust chart design and stock news integration Voice memos: easier menus, iCloud support, on iPad (finally) CarPlay: third-party app support, like Google News and Waze Apps are indeed getting updates with iOS 12, starting with Apple News. There’s a new Browse tab and a sidebar for better navigation. Stocks is finally being rebuilt with a helpful news design, complete with charts and Apple news headline integrated into into stocks. The top stories will be business news curated by Apple News editors. Voice Memos has come to iPad (as well as macOS), and it’ll get iCloud support, long overdue changes. Now you won't have to AirDrop conversations between devices in order to listen back. It'll also be easier to assign names to voice clips thanks to an overhauled Voice Memos redesign. Apple Books is the new name for iBooks, allowing you to pick up reading where you left off and a new store interface to browse buy ebooks and audio books. CarPlay now support third-party applications, with Waze and Google Maps appearing on-screen. Apple didn’t call out the Google-owned apps by name, but they were there on the screen. This was a major highlight of iOS 12. 13. Some NFC features work even with a dead battery Apple delivers a clever trick with NFC, allowing you to use a metro pass or student ID in the Wallet app, even if your iPhone has a depleted battery. Express Cards with power reserve ensures you're not stranded outside of a train station or a dorm room because there's still some low-level power in your phone. This is one of our biggest fears for users who routinely rly on NFC.  Apple solves this, and though there's not enough power to give you visual feedback, when you touch your dead iPhone to an NFC-equipped terminal and you'll get a haptic response. And like magic, it works. Just don't expect this new feature to work with Apple Pay. That requires Face ID, so you're going to have to possess a powered-on smartphone for that to work.  14. Closing apps in multitasking mode is easier For 12 and 13, iOS 12 fixes some irksome features we hated about iOS 11. They're the kind of problems only first-year iPhone X users will know about. Closing open app windows in iOS 12 is easier. All you have to do is slide up on an open app to dismiss it from the multitasking menu. iOS 11 had us press down on the app until a bunch of red close icons appeared over top of each app, and then to tap those little red icons to dismiss the app. That was unpleasant. 15. Accidental screenshots are less common Whenever we picked up our iPhone X, we'd always press the volume up and power button accidentally, which is the new 'take a screenshot' button combination on iPhone X. Apple has disabled this action whenever the phone screen is off. Our iOS 12 Photos app is no longer going to be filled with errant screenshots on the daily. 16. ARKit 2 and multiplayer gaming ARKit 2 allows for 'shared experiences' for AR multiplayer Lego, Fender, Adobe and Pixar are all working on AR with Apple iOS 12 cements Apple as a leader in augmented reality (AR) with the arrival of groundbreaking multiplayer capabilities it calls Shared Experiences in ARKit 2. These multi-user virtual environments allow for multiplayer gaming and experiences through iPhones and iPads. iOS 12 creates a more collaborative (and competitive) way of experiencing AR.  Lego demoed a four-player game at WWDC in June, pledging that it was in when it came to Apple's “creative play possibilities.” Players were involved in building up an AR town. It was like The Sims was reimagined for the future. ARKit 2 opens up AR to hundreds of millions of users, according to Apple, and that makes iOS 12 the broadest AR platform in the world. We got a taste of AR last year, but multi-user virtual environments bring more advanced tools and gameplay. 17. Camera app changes Smart DHR is reserved for the A12 chip-equipped iPhone XS and iPhone XR phones, but iOS 12 also tweaks the default camera app on older devices with new tricks. First, the Portrait Lighting mode (on newer iPhones with dual-lens cameras) looks more natural. The software will be able to define crisper edges by more effectively separating a person from a background scene. Apple is also allowing third-party apps to use the software to separate the foreground and background. Second, it's the end of an era for our how to scan a QR code from your iPhone and iPad guide. The default camera in iOS 12 makes QR code reading automatic. Third, while not part of the camera app, RAW photos can be imported and managed on an iPhone and iPad, with the bonus ability of editing RAW photos on an iPad Pro. 18. Photos app is now smarter with iOS 12 Betters search and a new 'For you' tab Suggestions on who to share photo collections with Share back suggestions nudge friends to send their photos The Photos app expands its search capabilities in an effort to compete with Google Photos. It recognizes photos by event now and indexes them accordingly. Apple says it takes into account over four million events, citing the Aspen Ideas Festival as a very niche example.  This lets you search by event without any thankless manual tagging. Searching by event joins other smart suggestions, including filtering by people, places, and relative dates (searching via Siri works with all of these and is quite handy in our experience).  The iOS 12 Photos search capabilities have also been broadened to let you use multiple search terms at once. Seeking "dog, animal" should weed out all of your gourmet hotdog results (this is a real problem we just tested at TechRadar). A new tab 'For you' is a part of the iOS 12 Photos app, and it's filled with personalized suggestions on how to improve and share your pictures. Sharing has gotten smarter, letting you share at full-resolution and suggesting who to share these photos with. Share back suggestions is a neat feature that lets you send photos to a friend, and it uses machine learning to poke them to send photos they took to you. Bonus: iOS 12’s photo sharing features uses iMessage's end-to-end encryption. 19. iPad switches to iPhone-like gestures It's confusing owning both an iPad and a new iPhone X right now because returning to the home screen and opening Control Center are executed by different gestures. The iPad takes cues from the iPhone X with the iOS 12 update: swipe up from the bottom to return home and check Control Center by pulling down from the top right-hand corner. This may be a prelude to the iPad Pro 2018 that's rumored to include Apple's TrueDepth camera for Face ID, Animoji, and Memoji. 20. Siri translates new languages, learns motorsport scores Siri can now translate over 40 language pairs Motorsports scores, schedules and stats knowledge Food and celebrity facts knowledge expanded upon Password search now part of Siri's duties in iOS 12 Try asking Siri to translate something into Spanish. It works, and with iOS 12 it'll be even more robust with over 40 language pairs to aid your international travels. So far, Siri will translate English (US) into Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Spanish. We really hope Siri will be able to translate foreign words into English. That may have to wait for iOS 13. Siri will also learn the language of motorsports, per se. Asking for Formula One and NASCAR information will have Siri recite live standings, schedule, roster and stat info. Food knowledge and celebrity facts are also part the Siri update. Right now, asking "How healthy is fish" gives a smatter of search results and requires opening up Siri. In the future, a specific answers about food will come from the USDA database, citing calories, vitamins, and how healthy the food is overall. Password hunting is now within Siri's grasp, letting you search any saved passwords, according to Apple. This applies to both apps and websites. 21. Pinpoints 911 calls in the US You won't have to worry about reciting your exact location when calling 911 in the US thanks to iOS 12. It'll pinpoint your whereabouts during emergency calls. Apple says it'll "automatically and securely" share your iPhone location with first responders, but only with them and only during such emergencies. It's an effort to reduce response time, yet maintain your privacy. 22. iOS 12 compatibility Compatible with iPhone 5S, iPad mini 2 and iPad Air and newer 11 iPhones, 10 iPads, 1 iPod touch – the broadest iOS update yet  iOS 12 will run on all devices that have its 64-bit chipset. It'll work on the iPhone 5S and newer, while the iPad Air and iPad mini 2 are the oldest iPads that are compatible with iOS 12.  That's means this update is supporting 11 different iPhones, 10 different iPads, and the sole iPod touch 6th generation, still clinging to life. It’s the broadest support for a software update Apple has ever offered, and this is one of the biggest advantages Apple has over Android phones. 23. Weather app warns unhealthy air quality Apple's official weather app contains new messaging that indicates air quality in cities. This is where Sunny, Cloudy, and Partly Cloudy messaging usually sits. iOS 12 puts it in a spot where you'll see it more regularly, as opposed to a separate air quality app. The forecast New York City as of writing this, for example, tells us that the area has 'Unhealthy Air Quality for Sensitive Groups'. People with asthma therefore may want to stay indoors. When did iOS 12 launch? June 4 – Developer beta launched (to paid Apple Developers) June 25 – iOS 12 public beta launched (it's free) September 17 – the final iOS 12 software (still free) iOS 12 released on Monday, September 17 following the iPhone XS launch event, where Apple announced the official launch date. You can now download it. There were actually three phases to the iOS 12 launch: one for developers, one for public beta testers, and one final version launching in mid-September. First, the developer beta launched at WWDC and got more frequent refreshes, but it was early software. You have to be a registered Apple developer, which costs $99 for the annual membership. It's for people who like to tinker with Xcode and make apps. Second, iOS 12 public beta launched on June 25 and was completely free. It was less problematic than the developer beta. The downside? It was always one step behind what the developers have access to. Third, the final software, meant for everyone, launched on September 17. There's no need to jump through hoops to enroll in a beta. iOS 12 is now here in its final form, right in time for the iPhone XS release date. That's a wrap for new iOS 12 features.  The two biggest highlights were Grouped notifications and Group FaceTime with Memoji. Of course, Group FaceTime is not due to launch just yet, which means an inevitable iOS 12.1 and more updates for us to write about. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

A Groundhog Day game is coming to PSVR Posted: 05 Feb 2019 08:01 AM PST After 26 years, Bill Murray's hit comedy Groundhog Day is getting a sequel. But it's not what you might expect. Groundhog Day: Like Father, Like Son is a virtual reality adventure game due for release later this year on PSVR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Like Father, Like Son sees you playing as Phil Connors Jr., the arrogant and charming descendent of Bill Murray's original iconic character Phil Connors, who was cursed with reliving the same day again and again until he got it right. The best cheap PlayStation VR bundles, prices and deals in February 2019 Best PlayStation VR games: the best PSVR games around The best Oculus Go games for newcomers Junior is a bit ratty about the fact he lives in is father's shadow, so he's not pleased to inherit his father's curse to relive the same hellish day in his parochial hometown of Punxsutawney. With over eight hours of puzzles and branching narrative gameplay, the story challenges you to think past today (and today, and today) to break the time-loop cycle and finally escape into tomorrow. You can check out the trailer below: Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Day: Like Father, Like Son is being developed by Tequila Works (the studio behind Rime) in partnership with Sony Pictures Virtual Reality and MWM Immersive. Rime was a bit of a Zelda-esque puzzle-solving adventure game set on a mysterious island, so this is a bit of a departure for them. But the trailer for the new game shows a lively world true to the spirit of the original cult film and chock full of charming NPCs that Tequila Works assures you'll be able to chat with extensively. Why now is the time to buy PlayStation VR  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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