Apple : The best student laptops: all the best options for school

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• The best student laptops: all the best options for school
• Sharks vs Blues NHL live stream: how to watch the 2019 Western Conference Finals online
• Why you should care about the 2019 VW Jetta GLI's customizable drive modes
• DDoS attacks soar after long period of decline
• Honor 20 vs Honor 10
• Huawei Android ban: Time for Honor to rise to the challenge?
• Opera jumps into gaming with Opera GX browser – whatever that is
• Apple lets loose first-ever MacBook Pro with an 8-core processor
• Peak Design unveils 'world's most portable and easy to set up tripod'
• Linux version of Winnti malware found
• Blood and Truth: how Sony’s London Studio is taking VR to the next level
• Microsoft calls for US version of GDPR
• Bucks vs Raptors live stream: how to watch 2019 NBA Eastern Conference Finals online
• The cheapest Roku sale prices and deals in May 2019
• Who's controlling your toothbrush? How and why to secure your smart home
• After ZombieLoad, Intel is running out of friends. Can Project Athena save it?
• Apple drops another hint at standalone podcasts app for Mac
• Nintendo is shutting down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in Belgium due to loot box regulation concerns
• Are these the specs of the Fujifilm GFX 100?

The best student laptops: all the best options for school Posted: 21 May 2019 02:07 PM PDT School can get expensive really fast: books, tuition and accommodation – not to mention student laptops – add up quickly. However, the silver lining is that there are many incredible student laptops out there that could save you hundreds of dollars. In fact, the best laptops for students are budget-friendly devices that exude style and power that won’t burn a hole in your pocket. When you’re spending all your money on textbooks and ramen, saving up for a new laptop can be hard. Therefore, the prime candidates for a student laptop will put value above having the top-of-the-line processors and graphics cards. You won’t have to limit yourself to Windows 10, either as the best Chromebooks can go head-to-head with some of the best laptops, which means you can get all your work done without spending a fortune. Going to school can be a stressful time, we know, but that’s why you should ensure that you have an excellent laptop. You don’t need to add the pressure of running around campus with a dying laptop to your plate. That’s why we went ahead and sought out the best student laptops you can afford with your budget: no one should be limited to an ancient relic just to get some work done, but you shouldn’t have to sell a kidney, either. Here at TechRadar, we love it when a laptop can expertly blend price and performance without any compromises, and the Huawei MateBook 13 comes closer to hitting that perfect balance than anything in 2019 so far. Thin, light, quick and affordable, this beautiful 13-inch Ultrabook will let you get all your work done in style, without breaking the bank. The battery life is underwhelming, but that’s a pain-free sacrifice to make with a simple fix – just carry the charger around with you. Read the full review: Huawei MateBook 13  Dell’s flagship laptop has always ranked among the best laptops – for college students and professionals as well as casual, everyday users. But, the Dell XPS 13 2019 brings back the entry-level model, making it more inexpensive for college students again. Plus, Dell managed to fix our biggest issue with the XPS lineup – the webcam. The manufacturer has moved the webcam up to the top of the display, where it belongs, so your friends and colleagues don’t have to stare up your nose when you’re in a video call.  Read the full review: Dell XPS 13  The Surface Laptop was already one of the best laptops for students, but it was held back by below average performance and a lack of ports. Plus, it was equipped with Windows 10 in S Mode. The Surface Laptop 2 greatly improves on the predecessor, however – except for the port situation. It’s now packed with 8th-generation Intel Kaby Lake Refresh processors, full-fat Windows 10 Home and a black color option. We wish it had even a single USB-C port, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’ll be able to get all your tasks done in style with this laptop. Read the full review: Surface Laptop 2 When you’re looking for a laptop for school, you should aim for a beautiful balance between price and performance – and a dollop of style can’t hurt. The Microsoft Surface Go, then, isn’t just one of the best Windows tablets, but it may just be one of the most ideal laptops for students, especially from a value perspective. Don’t be fooled by the low-power components, either – Microsoft has engineered this tablet to keep up with all your general schoolwork without breaking a sweat. Read the full review: Microsoft Surface Go  The Dell XPS 15 has consistently made it to our list of best laptops for college students for a few years now, and Dell has taken that old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach here. Not much has changed since the 2017 model, but that’s not a bad thing. What you’re getting here is an Ultrabook that isn’t just reliable; it also has enough power to get you through pretty much any workload. The best part? The Dell XPS 15 doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. While the entry level should be just fine for most users, you can configure this thing with up to an Intel Core i9 processor and 32GB of RAM, upgrading the Dell XPS 15 into an extremely powerful workstation. We just wish Dell would move that webcam. Read the full review: Dell XPS 15  When you’re looking for a laptop for school, you don’t need some bougie affair from Apple that looks like something out of a designer catalog. You need a laptop that’s going to get the job done. And, the Acer Swift 5 should be near the top of your list. This affordable Ultrabook is packed with the latest 8th-generation Intel processors as well as enough RAM and SSD storage to get you through pretty much any assignment. It’s not the most good-looking laptop in the world, but it’s hard to argue with that price. Read the full review: Acer Swift 5 The Microsoft Surface lineup has made a reputation for itself for being among the best Windows devices out there – stunning touch screens, impressive performance and long-lasting battery life. The Surface Pro 6 carries on this tradition, even if it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. What you’re getting here is a speedy Windows tablet that can effortlessly turn into a laptop through the Surface Type Cover. You can get your work done and then effortlessly transition into break time. Read the full review: Surface Pro 6 If you’re a student that’s on the market for a laptop that will let you do all your research and type up papers, and nothing else, the Dell Inspiron Chromebook 11 2-in-1 is going to be right up your alley. Most schoolwork that’s not specialized (i.e. engineering) can be done on a Chromebook while saving hundreds of dollars. The Dell Chromebook 11 2-in-1 won’t be able to do much heavy lifting, but at under $300, it doesn’t need to. This is the best laptop for students that need to save a few bucks. Read the full review: Dell Inspiron Chromebook 11 2-in-1 We were left waiting for Apple to renew the MacBook Air for years, as it declined in quality with a 5th-generation Intel Core processor and an out of date, low-resolution display. Thankfully, those days are over. Apple has ushered the MacBook Air into the modern age, with 8th-generation fanless processors, a thinner and lighter design, and perhaps most importantly – a Retina display. No more will you be forced to compromise on modern features if you want an “affordable Mac,” which makes the MacBook Air one of the best laptops for college students. Read the full review: MacBook Air  If you have the means to splurge, and you’re a macOS addict (we get it), the 2018 MacBook Pro is the most powerful MacBook that’s ever existed. With its formidable hexa-core processors and up to a whopping 32GB of memory, this Cupertino powerhouse will get you through whatever you throw at it. It also includes an overhauled third generation Butterfly keyboard that will not only be less distracting to the students around you, but will be less prone to failure if some dust comes within 10 feet. Read the full review: MacBook Pro 15-inch (2018)  Want more choices? Check out our list of the best laptop 2019 Images Credit: TechRadar Bill Thomas and Gabe Carey have also contributed to this article. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Sharks vs Blues NHL live stream: how to watch the 2019 Western Conference Finals online Posted: 21 May 2019 02:03 PM PDT So who's it going to be: the San Jose Sharks or the St. Louis Blues that go to the 2019 Stanley Cup? The Western Conference Finals side of the NHL Playoffs has been super tight so far and you can follow our guide to getting a Sharks vs Blues NHL live stream regardless of where on Earth you may be. The Western Conference Finals are already well underway and it's still on a knife-edge as to which way this series will go. The two franchises have been wining games back and forth, with plenty of controversy (that blatant hand pass by Timo Meier, for example) and some goal-frenzy games. Will the Blues be able to finish the job or will the Sharks bounce back once again as both teams try to earn their spot in the Stanley Cup Final. Whether you’re a St. Louis Blues fan, a San Jose Sharks fan or just want to watch the Western Conference Final to see which team will compete against the Boston Bruins in this year’s Stanley Cup Final, we’ll show you how to watch the NHL Playoffs online from anywhere in the world. Basketball fan? You should also check out our NBA playoffs live stream guide How to watch the the 2019 NHL Western Conference finals online from outside your country If you live in the US, Canada or UK and want to know how to catch a 2019 NHL Western Conference Finals live stream, then keep scrolling and we’ll tell you your best viewing options. But if you can't watch because you're not in your home country and so your coverage is geo-blocked then we can suggest a clever alternative (and no, it doesn’t involve finding some dodgy feed on Reddit). Using a VPN - or Virtual Private Network - you can change the IP address to one in a different state or country which does have the stream so that you can watch the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs from anywhere in the world. The process is very straightforward…  Watch the NHL Western Conference finals in the US All of the games in the Western Conference Finals will be shown on NBC and NBCSN (but the Stanley Cup Finals will be shown on just NBC). For cable subscribers this shouldn’t be too difficult but if you’d prefer to watch the games online or on your mobile devices, NBCSports will have live streams of the games on its website or on the NBC Sports app. You will need to provide your cable credentials to gain access to these streams but you could always setup a digital antenna to watch NBC over-the-air for free. If you’d rather not sign up for a premium cable subscription just to watch the Stanley Cup and playoffs, we recommend going with one of the many TV streaming services available as they give you access to the channels you need to watch hockey without the high cost.  For your convenience, we’ve listed all of the streaming services with the channels you need to watch the NHL playoffs below. Hulu with Live TV $44.99 per month - Hulu with Live TV gives you access to NBC, NBCSN, CNBC and USA but not the NHL Network. The service supports a wide variety of streaming devices and even includes its own Hulu Originals in case you want a break from watching hockey. Playstation Vue starting at $44.99 per month - Playstation Vue’s Access plan gives you access to NBC, NBCSN, CNBC and USA but once again not NHL Network. However, there is a 5-day free trial available. DirecTV Now $50 per month - DirecTV Now’s Plus package comes with NBC, NBCSN, CNBC and USA but doesn’t include the NHL Network. You can stream on up to three screens simultaneously and with the DirecTV Now app you can watch live TV on the go. New customers can take advantage of a 7-day trial but you'll have to purchase one of DirecTV Now's packages first. Sling TV starting at $15 per month - Sling TV's Blue package gives you access to NBC, NBCSN and USA though you’ll have to add the $5 News Extra and $5 Sports Extra packages to your subscription to watch games on CNBC and the NHL Network.  fuboTV $44.99 for the first month - fuboTV gives you access to NBC, NBCSN, CNBC and USA but not the NHL Network. The service also includes Cloud DVR so you can record games to watch them later and if you forget to record a game, the company's 3-day replay allows you to replay nearly any game, show or movie that aired in the last three days. FuboTV even offers a free 7-day trial so you can test out the service. YouTube TV $49.99 per month - YouTube TV gives you access to NBC, NBCSN, CNBC and USA but not the NHL Network. With YouTube TV you get free unlimited DVR storage space to record games for later and you can stream the service on three devices simultaneously. A free 14-day trial is also available so you can test it out for yourself. - Discover our pick of all the US's best sports streaming sites Watch and live stream Sharks vs Blues in Canada If you live in Canada and want to watch the NHL playoffs on TV, then Sportsnet has you covered. The network’s TV coverage will be available on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet ONE and CBC. However, if you’d prefer to live stream the games on your computer or mobile devices you can do so by logging in using your cable credentials on the CBCSports website or on the CBC Sports app on Android and iOS. If you’re not a cable subscriber, we recommend choosing one of the streaming services above if you just want to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs (although some may require US registration details).  However, if you’re also a big Canadian Hockey League fan, Sportsnet has its own streaming service available called SNNow for just $20 a month that shows over 300 NHL games as well as NHL, NBA, MLB, CHL, WWE and more that might be worth checking out.  Live stream the NHL playoffs in the UK Unfortunately for hockey fans in the UK, the little known Premier Sports is the only way to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs on TV.  To get access to the Premier Sports 1 & 2 you’ll either have to sign up through Sky for £9.99 a month or £99 a year, Virgin Media at £9.99 a month or with the network’s own Premier Player at £9.99 a month. Premier Sports does have an offer where you can get the first month free using the promo code FIRSTMONTHFREE - ideal for the whole remainder of the 2019 NHL season. On the other hand you could try one of the streaming services listed above. And don't forget that you can connect with a VPN if you want to watch this coverage but find yourself outside the UK when the games are on.  How to get an NHL live stream in Australia If you're an ice hockey fan in Australia and want to catch these games (starting at 10-11am AET), there are plenty of options on TV and online. If you have Fox Sports, then you'll want to turn to channel 509 for the ESPN2 channel. Watching on a mobile device is really easy, too thanks to ESPN Player. Or you can live stream NHL action via the Kayo Sports streaming service, which features no lock-in contracts and also includes access to over 50 sports, both live and on demand. Kayo Sports Basic Package costs $25 per month and allows users to stream across two devices simultaneously. Alternatively, the service also offers a Kayo Sports Premium Package, which provides three concurrent streams for $35 per month. The Foxtel Now and Kayo Sports apps means you can access this from your chosen device wherever you are (although you'll need a VPN if you're taking that abroad). This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Why you should care about the 2019 VW Jetta GLI's customizable drive modes Posted: 21 May 2019 01:04 PM PDT In the future, cars will be far more customizable. Think about the endless options on your typical smartphone, including the ringtones, the wallpaper options, the tweaks you can do for app notifications. Because we’re all heading to a driverless car future, the options available for drivers will be almost endless as well, starting with how the car itself drives. In a recent test of the 2019 VW Jetta GLI, a 228-horsepower racer, I found I could adjust basic settings using the Drive Mode button, located to the right of the driver. With a click, you can select options like normal, comfort, and sport. That’s fairly standard in many VW models and in plenty of other makes and models from Nissan, Mazda, and others.  What’s far more interesting in the Jetta GLI is the custom mode, which lets you tweak the drive modes in more detail. I was surprised by the setting for the exhaust, which you can adjust in volume. (It’s noticeably louder when you set the exhaust for sport mode, and quite a bit quieter in normal mode.) To tweak settings, you select Custom then use the small pencil icon to make further adjustments. A pop-up for each specific option appears. For example, you can also adjust the Dynamic Chassis Control or DCC to comfort, normal or sport. DCC adjusts the suspension of each tire as you drive, so in sport mode you can feel the road more intuitively, and in comfort mode you glide over bumps. I tested this multiple times on highways and around curves on country roads, and there is a distinct difference. Sport, eco or comfort In the custom drive mode screen, you can also tweak the settings for steering, front differential lock (for traction and handling), drive system (throttle response), the exhaust, and climate control (in eco mode, the car disables air conditioning). I’ve never seen this level of control in a passenger car like this, although the settings are even more varied in a Dodge Challenger and other sporty cars. The idea is that you want to feel the road and maintain control of the car for more spirited driving. Cornering in particular feels more responsive.  On one drive, I forgot I'd left all of the settings in sport mode, and two passengers started complaining about the bumps on the road and felt a bit nauseous because the corners pulled harder that they wanted. I was able to press the Drive Mode button and quickly select comfort mode, which helped everyone feel less like they were on a track. I could see someone tweaking the settings to provide a blend of comfort and tighter control, leaving the suspension on comfort but choosing to tightening up the steering, for example. As usual, my thoughts drifted to how this might change as cars become ever more advanced. When a car drives for us, we will want to do something to feel like we’re in control. It might be settings for whether the autonomous car tech is more aggressive about passing other cars and getting us to a destination faster. It might have more to do with making all of the suspension settings more comfortable during certain parts of a drive, but then we would take over on country roads when the corners and straightaways are a bit more fun and challenging. On The Road is TechRadar's regular look at the futuristic tech in today's hottest cars. John Brandon, a journalist who's been writing about cars for 12 years, puts a new car and its cutting-edge tech through the paces every week. One goal: To find out which new technologies will lead us to fully driverless cars.   This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

DDoS attacks soar after long period of decline Posted: 21 May 2019 12:33 PM PDT Last year it appeared that DDoS attacks were on the decline but new research from Kaspersky Lab has revealed   that the number of attacks actually increased significantly during the first quarter of 2019. At the time, the cybersecurity firm's experts assumed that cybercriminals had shifted their attention to other attack methods such as cryptomining. However, statistics for Q1 2019 contradict this trend and show that the number of DDoS attacks blocked by  Kaspersky Lab's DDoS Protection actually grew by a staggering 84 percent when compared to Q4 2018. Can a cyberattack spark WW3? Defeating DDoS attacks in the Cloud: Why hosting providers need to take action The future of cybersecurity in a 5G-connected world The reason the firm believes that DDoS attacks dropped in popularity is that several DDoS marketplaces were taken down. However, once new DDoS-for-Hire websites launched, the number of attacks grew exponentially as a result. DDoS attacks According to Kaspersky Lab, the most noticeable area of growth can be found in DDoS attacks that lasted for more than hour. These incidents doubled in quantity and their average length increased by 487 percent. These statistics confirm its experts' hypothesis that hackers have improved their techniques and can now launch longer attacks which require more effort to organize. Business development manager on the Kaspersky DDoS Protection team Alexey Kiselev explained how the DDoS attack market has evolved, saying: “The DDoS attack market is changing. New DDoS services appear to have replaced ones shut down by law enforcement agencies. As organisations implement basic countermeasures, attackers target them with long-lasting attacks. It is difficult to say if the number of attacks will continue to grow, but their complexity is showing no signs of slowing down. We recommend that organisations prepare themselves effectively, in order to withstand sophisticated DDoS attacks.” To prevent falling victim to a DDoS attack, Kaspersky Lab recommends that organizations ensure their web and IT resources can handle high traffic and that professional solutions are employed to counter these types of attacks. Also check out the best DDoS protection to ensure your organization is prepared to fend off these attacks This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Honor 20 vs Honor 10 Posted: 21 May 2019 12:26 PM PDT The Honor 10 stood out from the crowd in 2018, delivering near flagship specs and a striking look at a truly mid-range price. Now the Honor 20 is here (alongside the Honor 20 Pro) to try and repeat the trick. But does it succeed? You’ll have to wait for our full review for the final verdict on that, but for a rundown of how it differs from its predecessor, read on. We’ve compared the two phones across all the key categories including design, display, camera and more, so you can see just how much of an upgrade the Honor 20 really is. Honor 20 vs Honor 10 design The Honor 20 has hardly any bezel. Image credit: TechRadar The Honor 20 has a far more modern design than the Honor 10 – though it’s worth noting that at launch just a year ago, the Honor 10’s design was considered very current. The new phone has an almost all-screen front, with just a small bezel below the display and a punch-hole camera in the top left corner, while the Honor 10 has a slightly larger bottom bezel, as it’s used to house a fingerprint scanner (whereas the Honor 20 puts its scanner on the side). The Honor 10’s front-facing camera meanwhile sits in a notch at the top. The Honor 10 in a striking blue shade. Image credit: TechRadar From the back there’s less difference as both phones sport striking, reflective glass rears, but while the Honor 10 has a horizontally arranged dual-lens camera, the Honor 20 has a vertically stacked quad-lens setup. As for dimensions and weight, the Honor 20 comes in at 154.25 x 73.97 x 7.87mm and 174g, while the Honor 10 is 149.6 x 71.2 x 7.7mm and 153g, so the older phone is slightly smaller and lighter. Honor 20 vs Honor 10 display There's a 6.26-inch screen on the Honor 20. Image credit: TechRadar  The Honor 20’s screen is larger but no sharper than the Honor 10’s, coming in at 6.26 inches with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 and a pixel density of 412 pixels per inch (PPI), while the Honor 10’s screen is 5.84 inches, with a resolution of 1080 x 2280 and a pixel density of 432ppi. So on paper the size is the main difference, and even with its smaller bezels the Honor 20 is a larger phone in the hand. The Honor 10's screen is a bit smaller. Image credit: TechRadar Whether a bigger screen is better or worse is subjective, but we’ll be sure to let you know how good quality the display is once we’ve put the Honor 20 through a full review. The Honor 10 for its part has a screen that we described as bright, clear and vibrant. Honor 20 vs Honor 10 camera and battery You get four cameras on the back of the Honor 20.  Image credit: TechRadar  The Honor 20's camera looks set to be one of the biggest improvements on its predecessor, as you get a quad-lens rear snapper rather than a dual-lens one. The Honor 20 has a 48MP f/1.8 main lens, a 16MP f/2.2 wide-angle lens, a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro lens. The Honor 10 on the other hand has just a 16MP f/1.8 color lens and a 24MP f/1.8 black-and-white one. On top of fewer lenses, the focus is different. The Honor 10 tends to combine images taken with its two sensors for a single more detailed photo, while the Honor 20 has different lenses for different types of shots. That should make the Honor 20 more versatile, but we’ll let you know how the camera performs in our full Honor 20 review. It’s worth noting that both phones have various AI-powered shooting modes, but it’s likely that here too the Honor 20 will offer improvements. You get two rear cameras on the Honor 10. Image credit: TechRadar On the front, the Honor 20 has a 32MP f/2.0 camera, while the Honor 10 has a 24MP f/2.0 one, so again that sounds like an upgrade for the Honor 20, but megapixels aren’t everything. As for battery, the Honor 20 has a 3,750mAh one which the company claims offers all-day life. The Honor 10 has a slightly smaller 3,400mAh one, but in our own tests we found this lasted around a day, so there might not be a big difference in life. Honor 20 vs Honor 10 power Unsurprisingly you get more power from the Honor 20. It has an octa-core Kirin 980 chipset (the same as you’ll find in the Huawei P30 range) and 6GB of RAM, so this should be able to compete with flagships in terms of performance. The Honor 10 meanwhile has an octa-core Kirin 970 chipset (which was high-end in 2018) and either 4GB or 6GB of RAM. The Honor 10 also comes with either 64GB or 128GB of storage, while the Honor 20 just comes in a 128GB size. Honor 20 vs Honor 10 price The Honor 20 costs £399.99 (roughly $510/AU$740), which is exactly what the Honor 10 cost at launch. Of course, you can get the Honor 10 for far less than that now, with UK stores stocking it from around £280. So you're paying around £120 (roughly $155/AU$220) more for the Honor 20's improvements. Note also that the Honor 20 definitely won't be coming to the US. Image credit: TechRadar Takeaway There are a number of changes and upgrades on the Honor 20. It has a more modern, all-screen design with a punch-hole camera rather than a notch, a larger display, more power and two extra camera lenses, as well as a slightly bigger battery. However, the two phones have similarly sharp screens and – camera aside – most aspects of the Honor 20 only look to be small upgrades, so the difference between the two might not be enormous. We’ll let you know exactly how good the Honor 20 is in our full review, but on paper it looks to be a solid if conservative upgrade from the Honor 10. Read our full OnePlus 7 Pro review This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Huawei Android ban: Time for Honor to rise to the challenge? Posted: 21 May 2019 12:02 PM PDT The global launch of the Honor 20 in London today (May 21) was supposed to be a casual, normal one for Huawei, the world’s second largest smartphone vendor behind Samsung. However the legal roller-coaster that preceded it has now transformed the event into something special. The past 24 hours have seen Google announce it is planning to pull the Chinese company’s access to many of its core Android apps and services, including the Google Play Store, Gmail, Search and Chrome - although this was followed a few hours later by the US Commerce Department temporarily lifting the trade ban with Huawei.  Trump’s Huawei ban a ‘double-edged sword’  Google's Huawei Android restrictions: what does it mean for you? Huawei: We will be the biggest smartphone maker in the world  A behemoth with clay feet At the core of the issue are ongoing accusations by the US of Huawei spying and collusion with the Chinese central government. Tensions have been simmering over the last 12 months before the Trump administration struck hard - and while Huawei has been developing its own OS in case of an Android ban, it is the clampdown on Google’s proprietary services that is likely to be the coup de grace. While the impact of not having access to security updates and OS improvements can be mitigated and alleviated, having no access to Google's services will be a deal breaker for most Huawei smartphone owners who are likely to be brand agnostic (as revealed by this startling fact). Huawei is globally known for its smartphone brands (both its eponymous offering and its separate Honor line) but the current accusations are likely to be related to its lesser known but equally critical enterprise business. Huawei is the world’s largest IT network equipment vendor, and it is easy to see how critical its hardware is to the global mobile ecosystem by looking at the impact of a total Huawei ban.  Put simply, if all equipment made by Huawei was removed from the consumer and business premises, millions in the UK would be without 4G and broadband for a very long time. So the consumer arm of Huawei is - to some extent - a victim of collateral damage. Hundreds of millions of smartphones have been sold by the company and none - to date and to our knowledge - has been caught in the wild, transmitting data to Chinese servers. But the harm is done and the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) is likely to have long lasting impact on Huawei’s smartphone business. From Huawei to Honor One can wonder whether it is now time for Honor, the challenger brand launched by Huawei a few years ago, to come out of the shadows and take over Huawei consumer altogether.  The two brands have been evolving side by side as Huawei prioritise a successful “divide-and-rule” strategy that saw it obliterate the likes of LG, HTC and Sony Mobile saleswise, and, thanks to its formidable marketing clout and savvy product placement, become the only real alternative to Samsung globally. That is until President Trump intervened. So what could Huawei do? Could spinning Honor, a brand that is not tainted by accusations, as a separate company be the answer? Or perhaps more importantly, will it be enough. Huawei never disclosed numbers separately but Honor is likely to account for less than 10 percent of the estimated 200 million smartphones that the Chinese company sold in 2018. Honor is growing fast, but not fast enough. Spin-offs or splits in tech is a rare occurrence: HP split into HP Inc and HPE and eBay spinning off PayPal in 2014 were the two notable ones in the last decade.  The thing here though is that there’s no financial impetus to split the company given that Huawei smartphones accounted for around half of the company revenue in 2018 and were growing at 45 percent. That compares very favourably with the 1.3 percent drop in revenue from the company’s network division. In other words, smartphones keep Huawei buoy; cut it away and the remaining Huawei is likely to sink. The challengers One word about the other challengers; Huawei’s struggles will benefit the other Chinese smartphone brands. Expect Xiaomi, OPPO (and its Realplus subsidiary), Vivo, TCL (owners of Alcatel-TCL, Palm and BlackBerry) and OnePlus to vie for global supremacy as uncertainty clouds the future of Huawei (and Honor) as a smartphone brand.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Opera jumps into gaming with Opera GX browser – whatever that is Posted: 21 May 2019 11:59 AM PDT You may not have heard of it, but Opera is a web browser competing with the likes of Chrome and Firefox to be the best browser. It may not have much going for it in terms of market share, but it's a quality browser. Now, it seems the company behind the browser wants to offer something special for gamers with the announcement of a gaming browser called Opera GX. Beyond the name of the new browser and that it's "a new and special version of our browser made with those of you who play games in mind," next to nothing about the browser is explained. There is an image of what the browser will presumably look like, with an apparent dark theme and red accents. In a twist, readers took to the comment section below the announcement to gripe about the move. Few seem excited about the introduction of a new version of Opera when they believe more can still be done to improve existing platforms, like the new Opera Reborn 3. See our review of Mozilla Firefox, our top-rated browser See how we rate Google Chrome Check out the Tor Browser Opera-come-lately Some of the feedback centered around Opera following in the wake of the introduction of gaming features in the Vivaldi browser. While Opera claims the new browser is "the first browser built for your gaming setup" on its Opera GX early access sign-up page, Vivaldi recently launched a feature to link the browser with Razer Chroma devices. Commenters on Opera's blog post appear to expect this is the same sort of feature planned for Opera GX. Some gamers may appreciate having more browser options to take advantage of their RGB gaming devices, but the audience isn't likely to be huge. Opera only has 1% of the browser market share, and Opera GX would only see a fraction of that share. Now, if Opera GX could offer some enhancements for game streaming with services like Google's Stadia, then it might have something compelling to offer more gamers. Here's our review of Windows 10, including the Edge browser This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Apple lets loose first-ever MacBook Pro with an 8-core processor Posted: 21 May 2019 11:50 AM PDT Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro now officially supports Intel's latest 9th-generation Core processors (CPUs) – specifically, one of its 8-core Intel Core i9 parts at the highest end of its 15-inch configuration. The 8-core MBP is real. The news comes unceremoniously via a press release from Apple, with little to nothing else changing about its flagship laptops for professionals and 'prosumers' alike. Apple has updated the 15-inch MacBook Pro configuration with a six-core Intel Core i7 CPU to start, while the more expensive setup now houses that aforementioned 8-core Intel Core i9 part. Thankfully, Apple's pricing for these models remains unchanged, at $2,399 (£2,349, AU$3,499) and $2,799 (£2,699, AU$4,099) to start, respectively. Image Credit: TechRadar What does an 8-core MacBook Pro mean? To put things into context, Apple has provided some figures as to what this jump from last year's quad-core or 6-core MacBook Pro models means for the end user. Naturally, the 8-core, 15-inch MacBook Pro is twice as fast as the most recent quad-core model, and 40% faster than the previous 6-core configurations. Of course, basic math could tell you as much. As for what this means in actual everyday use, Apple promises 75% faster complex edits and filter rendering in Photoshop from the 9th-gen Intel Core i9 CPU than the fastest quad-core MacBook Pro model. Likewise, coders can expect 65% faster compiling in a similar comparison via the Xcode software development tool. Apple even highlights light gaming as a possibility on a 15-inch MacBook Pro, particularly Fortnite. Beyond this processor bump, it appears that absolutely nothing else about the 15-inch MacBook Pro has changed, and any changes to the 13-inch models are even less clear due to the limited amount of information via Apple's news release, much less its product purchase webpage. We've contacted Apple for more clarity on the changes to Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro models. However, it's likely that these new models contain the keyboard fixes that iFixit uncovered earlier this year in later runs of the 2018 products, which could help with longevity of the crucial, much-maligned aspect of the laptop. This means that, with everything else equal down to the pixel, upgraders from last year's models will experience an immediately noticeable uptick in performance. However, if you're coming in from anything older than that, you can expect a rather transformative level of increased speed and responsiveness. Image Credit: TechRadar The MacBook Pro 2019 we've been waiting for? This hardware update comes amidst rumors that Apple will once again revisit its MacBook Pro design with a model sporting a 16-inch display, possibly this year or perhaps not until 2020 or even 2021. The processor bumps that Apple has announced today don't necessarily rule out the chances of us seeing such a device later this year – though, it does certainly produce less favorable odds of such a drastic change in mid- to-late 2019. It would be a strange move for any laptop maker to issue models with an all-new design in the same year that it would have just released otherwise unchanged ones with the very latest mobile CPUs. If anything, this would only confuse consumers deciding between which model to purchase. At this point, we'd say that chances are low that we will see this rumored major redesign in 2019, and will likely have to wait until 2020 or even further off into 2021. Perhaps Apple is saving that chassis redesign to house its new ARM-based Mac processors that are reportedly in the works. Regardless, Apple's lineup of MacBook Pro models is now current and competitive with the trends of competitors – at least when it comes to raw CPU power. These are the best laptops – including MacBooks This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Peak Design unveils 'world's most portable and easy to set up tripod' Posted: 21 May 2019 11:17 AM PDT Peak Design is best known for its camera bags, straps and innovative clips that simplify carrying your kit, but the company has now decided to take on a less specialized accessory category: tripods. The Peak Design Travel Tripod has been four years in development, and is described by its maker as the product of a complete reexamination of traditional tripod design. The idea was to eliminate the dead space within the typical tripod, and the result is billed as the "world's most portable, packable, and easy to set up tripod". Best camera bag 2019: 10 backpacks and shoulder bags to protect your camera kit Read our review of the Peak Design Everyday Messenger 13 v2 Best camera accessories 2019: 23 essential bits of kit for your camera While it's marketed as a travel tripod, and has a maximum extension of 152.4cm with the center column raised, the legs don't invert in the same way as on most travel tripods, but follow the more conventional design for speedy set up. The tripod can support 9.1kg in total, which satisfies the vast majority of DSLR/mirrorless camera and lens combinations, and collapses down to just 39.4cm. Peak Design also says that by reworking the center column and nest, the diameter of the tripod has been reduced to 8.3cm – about the same as a water bottle.  The ball head that's included in the setup is also said to work more fluidly than traditional ball heads, with a single adjustment ring allowing for a full 360-degree rotation, while compatibility with all Peak Design plates and most Arca-type plates is also assured. Other features include a bubble level, a hook to enable the user to weigh the tripod down for stability, and even a universal phone mount. The tripod is also set to arrive with its own soft carry case as standard. A Kickstarter campaign for the Travel Tripod has been launched, and prospective purchasers are able to select either carbon fiber or aluminum alloy leg constructions. The carbon fiber option carries an RRP of $599, while the aluminum alloy option is a more affordable $349; pricing for other territories hasn't been made available yet. Those willing to pledge money towards the campaign can currently grab themselves a discount on either model, at approximately $289 / £227 for the aluminum model and around $479 / £376 for the carbon fibre version. This is Peak Design's ninth Kickstarter campaign, with the company claiming that previous campaigns have netted a combined total of $20.2m. As with any crowdfunding campaign, it's advisable to familiarize yourself with the process before pledging any money. 21 essential landscape photography tips you need to know This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Linux version of Winnti malware found Posted: 21 May 2019 11:15 AM PDT Security researchers from Alphabet's cybersecurity firm Chronicle have discovered a Linux version of the Winnti malware while investigating a recent cyberattack carried out against the pharmaceutical giant Bayer. According to the researchers, the code contained within the Linux variant resembles the Winnti 2.0 Windows version which has been used by Chinese cybercriminals for the past decade to launch attacks on systems worldwide. It is believed by security experts that several Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups operate under the Winnti umbrella including Winnti, Wicked Panda, ShadowPad, DeputDog, APT17, PassCV and others. Chronicle launches paid version of VirusTotal for the enterprise HP launches new laptops and workstations with built-in malware protection McAfee warns that 2019 could be the year of ‘everywhere malware’ All of these groups have used similar strategies and techniques in the past and have even shared parts of the same hacking infrastructure. Linux variant of Winnti According to Chronicle, the Linux version of Winnti is designed to work as a backdoor on infected hosts which gives hackers the ability to access the compromised system. The researchers first discovered the existence of the Linux version while attempting to look for Winnti malware samples on the company's VirusTotal platform. After analyzing the Linux variant, Chronicle discovered that it dated back to 2015 and contained a backdoor Trojan (libxselinux) and a library (libselinux.so) which is used to hide the malware from detection. In their blog post, the researchers provided further details on how the Linux version of Winnti functions, saying: “As with other versions of Winnti, the core component of the malware doesn’t natively provide the operators with distinct functionality. This component is primarily designed to handle communications and the deployment of modules directly from the command-and-control servers. During our analysis, we were unable to recover any active plugins. However, prior reporting suggests that the operators commonly deploy plugins for remote command execution, file exfiltration, and socks5 proxying on the infected host. We expect similar functionality to be leveraged via additional modules for Linux.” We've also highlighted the best Linux distros Via The Inquirer This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Blood and Truth: how Sony’s London Studio is taking VR to the next level Posted: 21 May 2019 10:11 AM PDT Since its launch in 2016, PlayStation VR has seen the emergence of some terrific exclusive titles, from Astro Bot: Rescue Mission to Tetris Effect. However, PSVR has been missing a genuine blockbuster, a system seller on the scale of Uncharted that can also show off VR to its fullest. Who better to lead the charge than Sony’s own in-house London Studio and its ambitious PSVR title Blood and Truth, a London-set gangster thriller that’s all about transforming the player into an action hero. The Soho-based studio is of a different pedigree to the developers of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, and not just because it has the privilege of being located next door to PlayStation’s head office.  "Everyone had a lot of fresh thinking and and no preconceptions of what games needed to be." Tara Saunders - Head of Studio Operation When it was first formed as Team Soho back in 1993, the development team consisted of college graduates with next to no experience in the games industry. It was still mostly a junior team when Tara Saunders, now head of studio operations, first began her career there as a junior animator working on London-set GTA clone The Getaway for PlayStation 2.  “Everyone had a lot of fresh thinking and and no preconceptions of what games needed to be,” Saunders tells TechRadar.  Indeed, following The Getaway, London Studio has built a heritage of pioneering emergent technology, having a role in developing the hardware as well as the innovative games that drive it. These include the EyeToy, a webcam that essentially turned humans into the controller, Singstar, which seen the studio develop a unique pitch detection Fsystem to make karaoke a competitive party experience, and Wonderbook, which combined AR marker tech with the motion controls of the Move controller to literally create magic. In each case, there’s a strong technology thread that pulls this hardware together. It's Morpheus time! PSVR demo The London Heist serves as a spiritual predecessor to Blood and Truth (Image credit: SIE London Studio) It was then a natural progression for London Studio to be involved in PlayStation’s VR plans from day one, developing the in-house LSSDK engine for VR rendering and creating a collection of demos later packaged into PSVR launch title: PlayStation VR Worlds.  “VR felt like the right piece of tech for us to focus our skillset on,” says Saunders. “We’ve been working in camera-based gaming, working with 3D. Looking back at Wonderbook and what you can do with AR markers, what works with AR became what can we do with VR. With new tech, we build on each iteration to do something bigger and better with everything we’ve learned.” In essence, Blood and Truth is a culmination of the studio’s work on a whole other level, taking bolder creative steps that other VR developers have shied away from so far. Instead of a mute disembodied avatar, you’re in the head of ex-SAS operative Ryan Marks, back home to help defend his family (and their not-so-legitimate business) from a criminal takeover.   "We wanted a game grounded in reality rather than science fiction." Stuart Whyte - Game Director While there’s been a nervousness to pursue photo-realism in VR, London Studio has doubled down on its photogrammetry tech to ground its characters and setting in realism, while character performances rely on eye contact to really involve you in the scene so that you’re not just an observer. Another central problem of VR has been how to grapple with locomotion. Indeed, most developers opt to avoid movement altogether or have you traverse by teleporting. Speaking to Blood and Truth’s game director Stuart Whyte, this was an area the team looked to address very early on.  “Teleportation wouldn’t work thematically,” Whyte tells us. “We wanted a game grounded in reality rather than science fiction.” Instead, traversal is done almost on-rails with node-based navigation, so that you simply look to where you want to move. All hands on deck Blood and Truth takes in a mix London's glamour and grit, from casinos to tower blocks (Image credit: SIE London Studio) Without needing to wrestle with a convoluted control scheme, the emphasis is instead on what the player can do with their hands, which is a good deal more than just shooting people. The variety of what you can do with the Move controllers makes it a richer, more immersive VR experience but is also important for the pacing.  “When you’re in a firefight in VR, the intensity is amazing compared to playing on a TV,” explains Whyte. “But conversely, you can’t stretch that out, so we break it up with other object interactions and story beats.” Shooting is still a core part of what you’ll be doing in Blood and Truth, but even this comes with more satisfying physicality than just aiming and pulling the trigger. Firing an automatic weapon, you can hold it with both hands to steady your aim, reloading is done manually by inserting ammo cartridges into the weapon chamber, and you can also do some pretty bad-ass action hero things like dual-wielding or gunspinning (a trick that’s not limited to pistols).  "When you're in a firefight in VR, the intensity is amazing compared to playing on a TV." Stuart Whyte - Game Director There’s moments where your hands can make for tactile movement, such as for climbing up ladders, crawling along the floor, or in a tense moment of free-falling, reaching out to grab onto a ledge to pull yourself up just in the nick of time. Even with the limitations of VR tech that’s really just tracking your head, the team makes use of calibrating the Move controllers to map out your body, so that you’ve got holsters to your sides for your pistols, larger weapons like rifles are kept on your back which you can reach over your head, while ammo is strapped to your chest.  “There was a huge amount of work to get that right, because the console and camera is only tracing the player’s head - it’s got no concept of the rest of the body,” explains Whyte. “Trying to make that intuitive was tough but we put a lot of time into that.” London calling The game's grounded in realism - well, action film realism, that is (Image credit: SIE London Studio) Since the first awe-inspiring deep sea shark attack demo tantalized us with the potential of Playstation VR, London Studio has embraced the tech’s potential and its constraints to bring new possibilities in VR. While Blood and Truth may be the fruition of all the studio’s work so far (even some of the game’s panoramic views of London feature assets from The Getaway), but for Saunders, it’s just the beginning of the studio’s VR roadmap. “We like the fact that we’ve done a lot of smaller things, but going forward, we want to make big blockbusters with nice, long developed stories and believable characters,” she says. As a studio with a rich history in using emergent tech to create new experiences, it also has another division quietly working away on new live-action technologies for use in creating interactive and cinematic games, though that’s all Saunders is prepared to say at this time. Otherwise, the core focus is on becoming the leading VR studio in the world, or in her words: “our ambition is to become the Naughty Dog of VR.” PSVR is already performing better than the other VR headsets currently on the market, thanks to its comparatively affordable price and focus on games, though its four million install base is still a modest success compared to the 90+ million PS4s sold. Blood and Truth may be the big flagship title to truly take VR mass market. Read more: Best PlayStation VR games - the best PSVR games around This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Microsoft calls for US version of GDPR Posted: 21 May 2019 10:02 AM PDT As we approach the one year anniversary of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Microsoft has outlined its vision for a US version of the regulation that would make it easier for consumers to protect their data. The company's corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Julie Brill explained in a blog post that consumers' understanding of their right to privacy has been a driving force behind the global movement to modernize privacy laws. Currently there are multiple state laws on data privacy including California's Consumer Privacy Act and Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act but no action has been taken on the federal level even after several senators have proposed their own bills. Satya Nadella calls for global GDPR How to configure Windows 10 to protect your privacy Americans reluctant to pay for privacy Meanwhile, tech giants including Google, Apple and Facebook have also called for a US data privacy law though each company has a different take on the specifics. Microsoft believes that the burden of protecting user data should shift from the consumer to the tech companies. Data collection by default As it stands now, the majority of data protection is an opt-out experience where data collection is enabled by default until a user changes their privacy settings. Google was criticized by lawmakers back in March over this is exact issue when they pointed out just how difficult it was to actually opt out of the company's data tracking programs. In her blog post, Brill explained how the opt-out experience was detrimental to consumers, saying: “This is important because the prevailing opt-in/opt-out privacy model in the United States forces consumers to make a decision for every website and online service they visit. This places an unreasonable—and unworkable—burden on individuals. Strong federal privacy should not only empower consumers to control their data, it also should place accountability obligations on the companies that collect and use sensitive personal information.” Using data collected from its Privacy Dashboard, Microsoft discovered that over 18m people have used its tools to protect their privacy further. However, as there are 1.5bn Windows devices, this means that only one percent of Microsoft users have actually changed their privacy settings. A US federal data protection law is most likely in the works but the question of when it will arrive and how it will protect consumer privacy online still need to be answered. We've also highlighted the best HR software Via CNET This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Bucks vs Raptors live stream: how to watch 2019 NBA Eastern Conference Finals online Posted: 21 May 2019 10:00 AM PDT In a way, a Milwaukee Bucks vs Toronto Raptors Eastern Conference Finals in the 2019 NBA postseason is exactly what we should have expected. They are the top two seeds after all. And you can watch the drama of the seven game series play out with this TechRadar Bucks vs Raptors NBA live stream guide. But in reality, neither of these franchises has been to an NBA Finals since 1974. In fact, the Toronto Raptors have never been there, losing out to LeBron's Cavs team at the NBA playoffs Conference Finals stage three years ago. And the series has been super tight so far. So who will make history and march into the NBA Finals in 2019? The Bucks will go in to the encounters as slight favorites (especially after taking the early game advantage), having overcome the Pistons and then destroying the Boston Celtics. Their first season under Mike Budenholzer started with seven straight wins and has barely slowed down since then. The Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo has been their star man, of course. It was an extraordinary buzzer-beater from Kawhi Leonard that sent his Toronto Raptors through in game seven of the Eastern Conference semi-final against the Philadelphia 76ers. Can they finally make their very first Finals in the franchise's relatively young 24 year history? Whether you’re rooting for the Bucks or the Raptors, we'll show you how to tune into all the action either on your TV or online. Keep reading to see how you can stream the 2019 NBA Eastern Conference Finals live online. How to watch the 2019 NBA Eastern Conference Finals online from outside your country Living in the US, UK or Australia and want to catch the Raptors vs Bucks series? Scroll further down the page and we'll explain how to watch a 2019 Eastern Conference NBA live stream, whether or not you have cable. But if you can't watch because you're not in your home country and so your coverage is geo-blocked then we can suggest a clever alternative (and no, it doesn’t involve finding some dodgy feed on Reddit). Using a VPN - or Virtual Private Network - you can change the IP address to one in a different state or country which does have the stream so that you can watch the series from anywhere in the world. The process is very straightforward…  Watch the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on TV in the US If you've already signed up for an NBA League Pass then we're afraid that won't help you get a live stream of Raptors vs Bucks. It isn't any NBA Playoffs games live online. The best it can do is to show the games on replay three hours after they air on TV.  To watch on TV then, TNT is your only option as the network has secured the rights to broadcast the Eastern Conference Finals live. We wish watching the NBA Playoffs was easier on TV but you can get around network exclusivity deals by opting for a streaming service that gives you access to every channel showing the playoffs and all of which coming with some kind of free trial. Hulu with Live TV $44.99 per month Playstation Vue starting at $44.99 per month DirecTV Now $50 per month Sling TV starting at $15 per month fuboTV $44.99 for the first month YouTube TV $49.99 per month - Discover our pick of all the US's best sports streaming sites How to watch the Raptors vs Bucks in the UK  Basketball fans in the UK will be able to tune into Eastern Conference Finals games on Sky Sports. The service will air the majority of the Bucks vs Raptors games at 1.30am BST. If you’re not already a Sky Sports subscriber and don’t feel like paying for the service just to watch the NBA Playoffs, don’t worry as you can buy a daily, weekly or even monthly Sky Sports Pass on Now TV. This will allow you to watch the NBA Playoffs, NBA Finals and all other sports shown on Sky. When it comes to streaming basketball online our first choice is NBA.com.  With the NBA League Pass you you can watch hundreds of Live and On-Demand games on all of your favorite streaming devices including Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox, Playstation and even on mobile. It costs £39.99, and will give you access to all remaining NBA games live. And if you find yourself outside the UK at any stage during the playoffs then don't forget that you can always use a VPN to change your IP address back to the UK and watch any of these streaming services as if you were back at home. How to get an NBA live stream in Australia If you're up for a bit of morning NBA watching Down Under (the games are due to start at 10.30am AET), there are plenty of options on TV and online. If you have Fox Sports, then you'll want to turn to channel 508 for the ESPN channel. If it's a phone or laptop you'd sooner watch from, then there's the ESPN Player instead. Or you can live stream NBA action via the Kayo Sports streaming service, which features no lock-in contracts and also includes access to over 50 sports, both live and on demand. Kayo Sports Basic Package costs $25 per month and allows users to stream across two devices simultaneously. Alternatively, the service also offers a Kayo Sports Premium Package, which provides three concurrent streams for $35 per month. The Foxtel Now and Kayo Sports apps means you can access this from your chosen device wherever you are (although you'll need a VPN if you're taking that abroad). This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The cheapest Roku sale prices and deals in May 2019 Posted: 21 May 2019 10:00 AM PDT Roku sale prices are discounted regularly throughout the year as competition in the streaming stick world is seriously intense. Good thing you've landed here then as we're here to tell you which Roku devices are best for your needs and where to find the hottest deals on them too. Roku's Streaming sticks and boxes plug into your TV via an HDMI port, essentially turning any old HD/4K TV into a smart TV or boosting the number of apps on any modern smart TV that seems to be missing a few of your favorites. In a video streaming device world dominated by Amazon, Google and Apple, Roku is the plucky underdog that continues to hold its own. In addition to worldwide services like Netflix, Amazon and Spotify you'll find plenty of apps for your country. HBO Now, Hulu, Sling and CBS All Access in the US and BBC iPlayer, All 4 and Now TV in the UK for example. Frankly, Roku can't be beaten as far as the number and quality of streaming services it supports. And yes, there are options to view in 4K HDR too. There are a lot of Roku devices out there in the wild though and some of them have been discontinued as they've been made obsolete by newer releases. Some however, have an advantage or feature that new sticks don't cater for so we've kept price comparison charts around for those models. Generally though, we've cut down the list to include the most relevant Roku streaming devices that are readily available and represent great value of money for you. By comparison, you could check out our Chromecast deals  or Amazon's Fire TV stick prices. Roku continues to give rival streaming devices something to worry about as the new Roku Streaming Stick Plus is super modern, super small and, most importantly, super cheap. Not to mention, unlike many of the older models it's been released in the UK too. Now Brits can finally join the 4K Roku party like the US has been enjoying for years! You're even getting HDR content from supported apps too. While Amazon's 4K Fire TV Sticks are similarly priced and have a more intuitive remote design, plus Alexa support, you might find the wider range of streaming services on the Roku more appealing. This is the cheapest streaming device in the Roku family. The Roku Express is newer and cheaper than the other standard Roku Streaming Stick and does all the same jobs. If you want to turn any HDMI TV into a Smart TV for as little as possible - this is for you.  However, we'd be tempted to keep an eye out for a good deal on the 4K version mentioned earlier just to avoid having to buy one once 4K content becomes the norm. This Roku was not released in the UK. So don't expect many (if any) UK prices. The Roku Ultra is the most feature-packed of all the Roku media streamers. It has all the quality 4K and HDR streaming and ports of the Roku Premiere Plus. So what do you get for the extra cash? The remote control gets the most attention on the Ultra as it can be used for voice search, it has extra buttons to make it a handy game controller and there's even a little speaker to help you find it via a button on the console. There's also a USB storage slot and an optical out audio port.  We're loving the option for private listening via the bundled-in JBL headphones headphones that you can plug into the remote too.  If you're not bothered about the extra audio ports, expandable storage and using the Roku for gaming, then you should opt for one of the Roku deals we mentioned earlier and save a big chunk of cash. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Who's controlling your toothbrush? How and why to secure your smart home Posted: 21 May 2019 09:56 AM PDT Toothbrushes, beds, ovens, lightbulbs, toasters – if it exists in your home, a company somewhere will have put a chip in it. The idea of a smart home is very appealing – all your devices connected  and controllable via an app – but many of the ‘smart’ devices you can hook up to your home network today are actually pretty dumb. Many have no security features at all – or even any means of updating their firmware. How do you patch a toaster? With that in mind we asked two of the biggest names in home security, Avast and Bitdefender, what the risks are and what you can do to keep yourself safe. “[The] matter of IoT security has become extremely pressing in the past couple of years, as the market has been flooded by a wide range of smart things that have made their way into homes,” Liviu Arsene, global cybersecurity researcher at Bitdefender, told TechRadar.  “However, while manufacturers have rushed into pushing smart capabilities into almost all household appliances and devices, security has taken a back seat. In fact, as security researchers have demonstrated on numerous occasions, a large percentage of internet-connected devices ranging from household appliances to implantable medical devices and industrial systems have been found lacking even the most basic security practices.” It’s something we’ve seen ourselves. In 2017, TechRadar attended an event where security experts from Bitdefender demonstrated just how easy it is to take control of an IP camera running insecure firmware. The camera in question – a cheaply purchased one from an unknown manufacturer – was easily accessed remotely using a hard-coded admin password, giving the ‘attacker’ full control. Many devices are shockingly exposed – master accounts often have both the username and password set to ‘admin’, and might be running open source software with known vulnerabilities. Patching is impossible – cheap devices often have no means of installing updates. Why smart home security matters But is that always so important? A camera can give criminals an unrestricted view of your home, but surely a connected coffee machine is harmless? “What’s appealing about them is that they have internet connectivity and that they’re usually connected to the same network as other critical devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers,” Arsene said. “This means that vulnerable IoTs that are connected to the internet can turn into gateways that attackers can use to remotely dial into infrastructures and potentially access other devices and information.” Arsene notes that IoTs can also be used as weapons of mass disruption – as in the Mirai incident, where thousands of IP cameras were amassed into a botnet and used to perform a denial of service attack on one of the largest DNS service providers in the US – taking down services belonging to Fortune 500 companies. Even if it doesn’t pose a direct threat to you, an insecure smart home device can be weaponized. Your home network is only as strong as its weakest link, whatever that happens to be (Image credit: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock) Security systems Bitdefender’s London event marked the launch of the Bitdefender BOX (now in its second iteration) – an all-in-one router, hardware firewall and network manager that checks all the traffic on your home network and all the devices connected, and warns you at the first sign of suspicious activity. Avast has now launched its own home security system – Avast Omni – a combination of hardware and software that works with your existing router. It's currently only available in the US, but will be rolling out more widely soon. “When we went to design this product we had a set of design goals,” Gagan Singh, senior vice president and general manager of mobile at Avast, told TechRadar. “We wanted to essentially provide you with a single subscription to protect all your IoT devices in your home. “The real meat of the product is really inside the network and inside software. The hardware is just an enabler to look at the traffic patterns and metadata of the traffic and the software analyses that and calls out anomalies in that traffic or devices that may be misbehaving. The hardware is an enabler for the software to make detections.”  What you can do However, these systems aren’t the only way to protect your smart home, and the experts have some practical advice that you can start using today. [One of] the most important things that people can do – and we often don’t , because the whole IoT [Internet of Things] landscape is so nascent – is that you have to go purchase IoT devices from reputable vendors,” said Singh.  He gave the example of an experiment where a journalist from Wired bought an unbranded IoT device, connected it to an unsecured network, and found that it took less than a minute to catch malware. Buying from a reputable vendor doesn’t guarantee that your device won’t be compromised, but it does mean it adheres to certain security standards. “Second, make sure that the firmware is updated,” Singh said. “A lot of devices are getting quite intelligent, with auto updates, but as the software gets outdated and more vulnerabilities pile up, it makes that insecure.” When buying IoT devices like IP cameras, make sure they're from reputable vendors (Image credit: Casezy idea/Shutterstock) “…[H]ome users that already have a smart home or smart devices within their home should consider already setting in place network security appliances that work in tandem with their current router, in order to weed out potential intrusions,” Arsene added. “For example, a dedicated home network security solution has the ability to let users know whenever devices are secured with poor passwords, whether firmware updates are available for IoTs and even the router, whether brute-force attempts or known exploits are performed against devices, and even warn users if sensitive data – such as passwords or credit card details - is being exposed online via unsecured communication channels. “In essence, a dedicated home network security appliance that acts as a gateway for all smart home devices and makes sure that all home network devices are equally secure.” As a wary consumer, it’s best to take as many steps as possible to keep yourself safe, because the industry won’t do it for you. “Those [methods] can help mitigate a big part of the safety risk,” said Singh. “One that cannot be mitigated by the end consumer is that a lot of appliance makers who are now selling Wi-Fi chips don’t have a background in providing IoT security. Toaster makers have been great at making toasters, but when they add Wi-Fi capability they have no sense of the risks that are associated with providing that capability and how would you secure it.” You wouldn’t trust a toothbrush maker to build your router, so why give it unrestricted access to your home network? Check out our guide to the best antivirus software This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

After ZombieLoad, Intel is running out of friends. Can Project Athena save it? Posted: 21 May 2019 09:51 AM PDT ZombieLoad is the latest in a line of high profile security flaws with attention-grabbing names to plague Intel processors, and it seems that many of the chip maker’s friends and allies are running out of patience with the company. As with previous security flaws, like Meltdown and Spectre, the disclosure of ZombieLoad, which potentially allows malicious hackers to steal private browsing history, passwords and other information, has lead to companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google rushing out patches to help mitigate the impact of the errors. Having to work around the clock to fix an issue in another company’s product is never going to go down well. And, while Intel’s biggest partners have mainly kept diplomatically quiet over their frustrations with having to fix yet another security flaw in Intel’s hardware, their engineers must have felt acutely frustrated. Just look at the noise coming from the open source community. Open source developers can talk more freely about their annoyance with Intel and its latest security fail as there are no business relationships that need to be kept sweet, no NDAs to sign or gentlemen’s agreements. The open source community isn’t well known for biting its tongue when something annoys it. Take the release notes for the Linux kernel 5.1.2 by Greg Kroah-Hartman, the stable Linux kernel maintainer, which was released in the aftermath of ZombieLoad. As he notes, “As I said before just over a year ago, Intel once again owes a bunch of people a lot of drinks for fixing their hardware bugs in our software.” There surely are many developers at the bigger tech companies that will be quietly agreeing with him. How long will Intel's partners tolerate having to fix security issues with Intel's hardware? Performance hits While many companies released mitigations against ZombieLoad, the problem doesn’t end there. Most of the fixes involve disabling hyper-threading, a feature that generates virtualized processor cores for improved multitasking performance, and that has lead to some drastic performance impacts after the patches are applied. If your Mac suddenly starts running slow, you're likely to blame Apple before you blame Intel. For example, Apple revealed that, with the ZombieLoad patch installed, there could be performance drops of up to 40% – which would particularly impact Macs with multi-core processors. That's practically every modern Mac in use today. Meanwhile, the Phoronix website has taken a deep dive into what sort of performance impact ZombieLoad mitigations have on Linux machines – and the results aren’t good. Not only will this annoy customers who are seeing their expensive devices perform worse, but it’s not a good look for the manufacturers, either. If your Mac suddenly starts running slow, you’re likely to blame Apple before you blame Intel. It’s no secret that Apple has been considering parting ways with Intel and building its own processors to power its Mac devices. After insinuating that Intel’s recent processor shortage was responsible for lower Mac sales (and prompted us to half-jokingly suggest that Apple should buy AMD), this new security flaw – and the impact its mitigations have on performance – could further sour Apple and Intel’s relationship. So, Intel is fast losing friends. Is there anything it can do? Well, apart from stop releasing hardware with major security issues in them, that is. Project Athena's collaborative approach could save Intel. Help us Project Athena, you’re our only hope With Intel’s partners seemingly frustrated with the hardware maker, it surely must be hoping that its Project Athena initiative pays off. If laptop makers and software developers end up falling out with Intel, then we could see them move to Qualcomm and ARM hardware. Project Athena sees Intel working closely with manufacturers to develop the next generation of laptops. While it won’t answer many of the problems its partners have, by working more closely together, Intel and companies such as Microsoft, Google and Dell can help shape future hardware that’s free from major security exploits. Project Athena should produce laptops that can meet the requirements of modern users: offering always-connected 5G internet, day-long battery life and drastically reduced start-up times. These are all features that Windows on Snapdragon (WOS) devices have. WOS laptops run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon hardware – making them a distinct threat to Intel. If laptop makers and software developers end up falling out with Intel, then we could see them move to Qualcomm and other ARM hardware. That means the success of Project Athena is more important than ever for Intel. If it can manage to produce hardware that’s free from the major security flaws we’ve recently seen, while collaborating with its partners and fighting off competition from Qualcomm and a resurgent AMD, then Project Athena could save Intel. If it can’t, then Team Blue could be in a lot of trouble, and it might find its old friends aren’t going to be so keen to help it out in the future. AMD vs Intel: which chipmaker does processors better? Image credits: Nyoman Arya Suartawan/Shutterstock This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Apple drops another hint at standalone podcasts app for Mac Posted: 21 May 2019 09:43 AM PDT The hints that Apple is planning to break up iTunes offerings into distinct apps just keep coming. The latest: Apple has added its own hints at what's to come with an update to its Podcasts.Apple.com page, as reported by 9to5Mac. We've previously reported on the iTunes breakup for Mac expected to coincide with the major update known as macOS 10.15. This new hint comes in the form of a changed button within iTunes. Previously, when viewing podcasts on Apple's website, a button offered a jumping off point to listen to the podcast in iTunes. Now, that button has been replaced with a "Listen on Apple Podcasts" button. Though this new button still directs to iTunes, it's highly likely that the button will direct to a standalone Apple Podcasts app when macOS 10.15 launches with said app. See what's coming to iOS 13 Here's the latest on macOS 10.15's Music app These are all the iPhone 11 rumors More coming to macOS 10.15 The Apple Podcasts app is just one of the components broken off of iTunes that's expect with macOS 10.15. Standalone apps for Apple Music and Apple Books may also come, and they'll likely be developed using Apple's Marzipan technology. This would leave them feeling mostly similar to their iOS versions. Beyond these apps, macOS 10.15 may come with some other cool features. One is the integration of Siri Shortcuts, which allow for voice-triggered, automated tasks. When it comes to productivity, this feature could let Mac users get routine tasks done much quicker. Apple Sidecar is another expected feature. This would enable use of an iPad as a secondary display with a Mac. Not only would the extra screen real estate benefit productivity, but the feature should allow touch and stylus use on the tablet. This would effectively make the tablet double as a convenient pen display backed by the full desktop versions of software like Photoshop. We'll have to wait and see how many of these rumors pan out, but there are strong hints for all the ones mentioned here. Apple will likely debut macOS 10.15 at WWDC 2019 and release it toward September this year. Having any macOS 10.14 Mojave problems? Here's how to fix them This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Nintendo is shutting down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in Belgium due to loot box regulation concerns Posted: 21 May 2019 09:34 AM PDT The loot box debate has been a hot topic in games for several years now, with several government bodies opting to classify the in-game feature as gambling and regulating them as such.  One of these countries has been Belgium, whose Gaming Commission deemed in 2018 that loot boxes are indeed a form of gambling and threatened legal action against any game companies who implement the features in their games (well, in Belgium).  While companies such as Valve and Blizzard opted to remove loot boxes from the offending games, Square Enix chose to remove three of its mobile games altogether rather than comply with regulations - and now it seems Nintendo is following suit. Best phone for gaming 2019: the top 10 mobile game performers Best games 2019: our favorite PC and console games of the year Best upcoming games 2019: most anticipated titles for console Nintendo has announced that is will shut down mobile games Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes in Belgium in August (via Eurogamer).  Nintendo Belgium announced the decision on Twitter, claiming the games are being shut down due to the "current unclear situation in Belgium regarding certain in-game revenue models".  You can check out the tweet below: A longer statement followed on Nintendo Belgium's official website, stating: "Due to the current unclear situation in Belgium regarding certain in-game revenue models, we have decided to end the service for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes in Belgium. It will therefore no longer be possible to play and download the games from Tuesday 27th August 2019. "Players who still have Orbs and / or Leaf Tickets in their account can continue to use them until the service ends. In addition, future Nintendo games with similar earnings models will no longer be released in Belgium. "We would like to thank all players in Belgium for playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes." (Thanks Eurogamer for the translation). Loot boxes: what's the deal? Image credit: TechRadar So what is a loot box? A loot box is an in-game feature that sees players spending real-world money to open an item with further randomized items inside. Essentially you spend real world money to open the box (or pay for a key to open it, among other variations) without knowing what its contents are - they could be good or they could be bad.  Due to the chance element, and the involvement of real world money, some government bodies have ruled that the feature should be classified as gambling and regulated as such.  Not surprisingly, some game companies disagree and aren't happy with the new regulations being brought in.  In the case of Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Nintendo hasn't been clear about which elements of these games are conflicting with the Belgian Gaming Commission's regulations.  However it's likely that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp's fortune cookies, which you can purchase and eat to gain a randomized reward, and Fire Emblem's Summons, which are used to obtain more heroes. It seems these games will only be pulled from Belgian stores, but it seems game developers are not willing to take loot box regulations lying down... Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch - release date, news and features This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Are these the specs of the Fujifilm GFX 100? Posted: 21 May 2019 09:19 AM PDT Fujifilm has already made it known that it's preparing a GFX 100 medium format camera, and that this should arrive in the first half of 2019, but it's stayed fairly tight-lipped on exactly what that camera will offer beyond its core features.  Japanese camera-leaking website Nokishita, however, which has accurately revealed the specs of several cameras and lenses prior to their official announcements, claims to have learned several details from "domestic sources". According to the website, the new model will feature a 120MP medium format CMOS sensor, which we already know will be designed with a back-illuminated architecture. The effective pixel count is likely to be consistent with the product's name, at 100MP. Best mirrorless camera 2019: 10 top models to suit every budget Find out why Fujifilm will 'never' launch a full-frame mirrorless camera Here are 10 things to look out for on your next mirrorless camera The site also claims the sensor will have 3.78 million phase-detect AF pixels incorporated into its design, spread across approximately 100% of the sensor's surface. The accuracy of face and pupil detection AF is also said to be improved over previous models, which would make sense as this has been a focus on recent X-series models. The model looks set to use the X-Processor 4 that has starred inside the recent X-T3 and X-T30 models, which would allow the camera to output 16-bit raw and TIFF files. Other key details include a five-axis in-body image stabilization system that works to the tune of 5.5 stops, as well as an organic EL viewfinder that boasts 5.76 million dots and a high 0.86x magnification. This is a significant step up from the 3.69 million-dot viewfinders inside some of Fujifilm's other current models, and means they may well perform to the same impressive standard as the ones inside the Panasonic S1 and S1R models. Primed for 4K shooting The GFX 100 also looks set to gain 4K video recording to 30p, with 10-bit 4:2:0 recording to the camera's memory card and 10-bit 4:2:2 output through the HDMI port. It also seems as though it will be graced with the video-centric ETERNA Film Simulation mode for the first time on the GFX model. Below the viewfinder, the model will apparently offer a 3.2-inch display that tilts in three directions, much the same as the one on the Fujifilm GFX 50S. As we've already seen from prototypes, there will also be a small pro-DSLR-style sub-monitor underneath this, together with a 1.8-inch top plate LCD to show shooting settings. Other features include a new Smooth Skin Effect and USB charging option, together with weather resistance through 95 separate seals around the body. The camera is also set to use two NP-T125 batteries, allowing for approximately 800 images to be taken when using the LCD screen. The GFX 100 is set to be the third GFX-series model, following the original GFX 50S and the more compact, but largely similar, GFX 50R that arrived earlier this year. While Fujifilm has only confirmed a few details of the GFX 100, the leaked specs are relatively consistent with what we expect – and it doesn't seem we'll have to wait much longer to find out for sure. Field Test: Fujifilm GFX 50S This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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