Apple : Fortnite Battle Royale update news, patch notes and more |
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| Fortnite Battle Royale update news, patch notes and more Posted: 02 Aug 2019 01:46 PM PDT In such a short space of time, Fortnite Battle Royale has become certified gaming phenomenon. Pitting 100 players against each other on a single map, it melds fun, cartoonish gameplay with a fierce competitive streak, and has attracted millions of players across the globe across all ages and demographics. Season 10 is now officially live, and we've got details of all the latest updates. In Out of Time there are some map changes and a brand new time travel theme to contend with. To help you keep on top of what's new and what's coming up in Fortnite, we've put together this handy page which will be updated with all the latest announcements. So to get you ready for blast off, here's everything you need to know about Fortnite. What is Fortnite?There's been a lot of hype surrounding Fortnite since its release in July 2017. But what exactly is it? Fortnite is a battle royale game which sees you thrown onto an island with no weapons or armor and it's up to you to scavenge for supplies and fight for your life to be the last man or squad standing at the end of the game – with the added pressure of a shrinking map that closes in as the match progresses, forcing players into tighter skirmishes. The game is available for free on PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android, with in-game purchases limited to purely cosmetic options. Fortnite update news and Fortnite patch notes
Image Credit: Epic Games Fortnite is now into season 10 and it's brought brand new map locations and items with it. Rift Zones As a result of the Zero Point Explosion the Fortnite island is becoming volatile with Rift Zones appearing everywhere. These zones are transforming the various locations on the island and according to Epic Games, these transformations will change as the season progresses. Old locations are reappearing and current ones are evolving. One example of a returning location is Dusty Depot which was a victim of the season 4 comet. Speaking of the comet, that's floating in the sky above the island and players can visit it for a look around. The focal point for these changes seems to be a giant orb at Loot Lake. It's worth popping by to take a look at it because it's growing and the gravity changes around it allow for some floaty fun. Weapons and Items The biggest new item in season 10 is the B. R. U. T. E mech vehicle. It can be operated by up to two players, one driving while the other mans the on-board shotgun and missile launcher. The vehicle also has an interesting mechanic: Overshield. This will see the vehicle consume 200 of any material type to create a 5 second shield that will protect you in the vehicle. With the new mech, quite a few things have been vaulted. Say goodbye to Baller, Quad Crasher, Flint Lock Pistol, Shadow Bomb, Semi-Automatic Sniper, Tactical Assault Rifle , Mounted Turret and Air Strike. Gameplay There are some new missions in Fortnite for Battle Pass Owners. These thematic objectives can be completed to earn rewards. Battle Pass owners will see a new weekly mission each week. Limited Time Missions Limited Time Missions in this update have replaced Daily Challenges and can be completed by all platers. These Limited Time Missions are comprised of objectives which will unlock over a week, with one objective opening up each day regardless of whether or not you've logged in. This is basically an incentive to log in every day and complete your objective to complete the weekly mission before the new one begins. The patch notes for version 10 can be viewed in full on the official Epic website.
Can I play Fortnite on mobile?Yes you can! Well, maybe. After months of waiting, Fortnite is finally on both iOS and Android, though you'll need a phone that can actually run the game. iOS users can download straight from the App Store. As long as you're using iOS 11 on iPhone 6S/SE, iPad Mini 4, iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, iPad Pro devices or later you'll be fine. Oh, and you'll need an internet connection, naturally. Fortnite also hit Android phones and finally came out of beta in October 2018. You can see the full list of phones – and how to find the Fortnite Installer – on our Fortnite on Android page. Is it the full game? It is the full Fortnite game. There are some small differences: it’s not quite as visually impressive as it is on more powerful devices, the controls are touchscreen, and a lot of audio cues have been made visual so you can play comfortably in public without the need for headphones. But you won’t be missing out on any key features. What's the deal with cross-play? A sweet deal is what it is. While previously Xbox One and PS4 owners couldn't play the game together, Sony's U-turn on the matter means that now everyone across Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android can all take part in the crossfire. So if you've got friends that prefer PC, others that prefer console and you're off on holiday with your mobile, that's no reason for the fun to stop. There's also cross-progression. So, if you're logged into your Fortnite account on mobile and you later log into your console to play there, everything you did on mobile later that day is carried over. Sounds great, how do I get it? We have a guide on how to get Fortnite on mobile on TechRadar and we're constantly updating it with the latest rollout news. If your device isn't there yet, keep checking back and one day it probably will be. What's a Fortnite Battle Pass?The Battle Pass is a purchasable item in Fortnite that gives you access to exclusive in-game rewards. As players complete daily challenges and level up their rank, they earn Battle Stars which can then be used to unlock Tiers in their Battle Pass. Each new Tier you unlock will bring both Free and Premium rewards. Season 10 has also seen the introduction of missions to the battle pass. These are thematic objectives that span the island and on completing them you'll unlock additional rewards. Everyone that has a Battle Pass will get the Free reward they unlock, but only Premium Pass holders will get the Premium reward. Battle Pass Premium can only be purchased with in-game V bucks and not with real money. You can purchase a Battle Pass for around £7/$10 in the Battle Pass tab of the game’s menu. Twitch Prime benefits Those who use Twitch Prime and play Fortnite will be glad to know that they have access to free loot right now. Those with a Prime account can claim the Fortnite Twitch Prime Pack and the Fortnite Twitch Prime Pack 2 which include a host of cosmetic items and are available across all platforms. The first pack includes two exclusive gliders and outfits: the Havoc Outfit and Back Bling, plus the Sub Commander Outfit and Slipstream Glider. The second pack contains three exclusive items for Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode including the camouflage-heavy Trailblazer Outfit, the True North Back Bling, and the Tenderizer Pickaxe. There’s also a brand new dance emote for those that like the dance floor as much as the battleground. The packs can only be claimed on a single platform, but they can be shared across PC/console and mobile as long as you use the same Epic account across these platforms. You can’t however, share your loot across PS4 and Xbox One even if you are using the same Epic account. (Image credits: Epic Games) This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare release date, trailer and news Posted: 02 Aug 2019 12:46 PM PDT Call of Duty Modern Warfare is going back to the series' roots. Forget the zombies. Forget the WWII battles. Forget the jetpacks, exo launchers and all the other future weaponry – Call of Duty is going back to one of the most beloved series within the franchise with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a reboot of the highly-lauded 2007 first person shooter that's set in today's battlefields. It’s all about the gritty realities of war this time out, with the ‘modern’ of the ‘Modern Warfare’ title referring to the high-tech gear of today, the cutting-edge killing machines employed in combat right now in places like the Middle East and Russia, rather than the far-flung fantasies of science fiction. With the battle royale genre taking up many shooter fans’ spare gaming time, Call of Duty’s crown as the king of competitive shooters has slipped in the past few years. Can a return to its most-popular roots bring it back to glory? Read on for what we know so far. [Update: Activision has revealed more about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's multiplayer and has confirmed when the beta testing will begin. Read on to find out more.] Cut to the chase
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare release dateAnnounced right before E3 2019, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare leaked ahead of the event but a trailer gave us our first glimpse and a variety of details for the game. It included the release date, which is set for October 25, 2019. You're already able to pre-order the game on the official site too. Call of Duty Modern Warfare screenshotsCall of Duty: Modern Warfare trailersThe latest multiplayer trailer has been revealed for what's being claimed to be Call of Duty's most immersive multiplayer to date. Infinity Ward has confirmed a brand new multiplayer mode for Modern Warfare called Gunfight and released five whole minutes of crisp 4K gameplay to give players a better idea of what to expect from this fast-paced, 2v2 mode. Watch it for yourself below. The first trailer for Modern Warfare was the release trailer that debuted on May 30. In it, we can see series protagonist (and all-around badass) Captain Price light up, and some intense - and dare we say great-looking - nightvision sequences. You can watch it below: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare betaAs expected, there will be a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare beta held prior to the game's release. At the moment, details are sparse but there are some important dates to note down if you're interested in taking part. The beta will take place across two weekends, first on PS4 and then on PS4, Xbox One and PC. On the first PS4-only weekend, early access to the beta will run from September 12 to 14 while open access will run from September 14 to 16. The second weekend which will be for both PS4 and Xbox One will run in early access across September 19 and 20. The open access for this weekend will run from September 21 to 23. Specific start times will be announced closer to the time. Wondering how you can get in on those early access days? You'll have to pre order the game. If you don't want to pre-order, you can still get access on the open access days. As far as what's included in the beta, not much is known at the moment. What we do know, however, is that it'll feature PC and console crossplay while any progress or items unlocked will carry over to the full game. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare newsMultiplayer reveal As promised, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's multiplayer reveal took place in August. Fans have already seen the brand new 2v2 mode, Gunfight, but now there's a bigger picture that suggests a truly reinvigorated Call of Duty multiplayer experience to look forward to. First up, there's cross-platform multiplayer between consoles and PC as well as a free season pass, showing Infinity Ward is taking a cue from popular multiplayer titles like Fortnite and is making efforts not to split up its playerbase. Further to 2v2 fights in Gunfight, there are 6v6, 10v10 and 20v20 matches though the real surprise is a new mode called Ground War which will support up to 100 players, though there's no footage of that just yet. With this expansive multiplayer offering, it seems that Infinity Ward is looking to appeal to all kinds of shooter fans. Watch the multiplayer trailer for yourself below. Killstreaks are back Ahead of the full multiplayer reveal scheduled for August 1, Activision has confirmed that Killstreaks will make a return in Modern Warfare, making it the first game in quite a while to include the feature. As players rack up kills, they'll be able to unlock weapons and armor. Some of the killstreaks have been revealed on Twitter already including the intimidating Juggernaut suit from Modern Warfare 3, the light infantry assault vehicle and, most unpleasantly, the controversial White Phosphorus. More information on the game will be revealed on August 1. Female multiplayer options Infinity Ward has been drip-feeding multiplayer news ahead of the full reveal on August 1st. The latest announcement has come from a Reddit post in which communications manager, Ashton Williams, has confirmed that there will be playable female models in Modern Warfare's multiplayer. Multiplayer intro In addition to that confirmation of playable female characters, Infinity Ward has also revealed some footage of what the short cinematic preceding a multiplayer match will look like to Twitter ahead of the full multiplayer reveal. Like in Call of Duty: WW2's War Mode, the cinematic will show players in a scene heading towards their drop point. Full Multiplayer Reveal While fans have had a first look at Gunfight, Modern Warfare’s new 2v2 multiplayer mode, a more full reveal has been announced for August 1. On a Twitch livestream, Infinity Ward is expected to show how the game’s story will continue into its online play and how progression across modes will play out. Gunfight Infinity Ward gave fans their first peek at multiplayer gameplay via Twitch followed by a five minute long 4K trailer. Four players streamed Modern Warfare live on the streaming platform, debuting Gunfight, the brand new 2v2 multiplayer mode that will be in the game. Gunfight is a mode for four players where two teams will play in “multi-round cage matches” across three small custom maps. Every two rounds, teams will swap to opposite sides of the map. All four players will have the same loadout which will typically be comprised of a primary and secondary weapon as well as a tactical Grenade and a piece of Lethal Equipment. The first team to win six rounds are the winners. This is going to be a mode for players that like fast rounds, with each round counting down on a 40 second timer. If one team hasn’t wiped out the other by the time the 40 seconds is up, a flag will appear on the map. The first team to control the area around the flag for more than three seconds is them the winner of the round. Each round, overall, will last for around a minute so speed is key. Aim Down Sight reload Infinity Ward has confirmed in a blog post that Modern Warfare will have Aim Down Sight reload, the first time the feature has appeared in a Call of Duty game by default. Aim Down Sight reload will mean that, while aiming down the sight of your weapon, your view won't be pulled away to watch an animation when you reload. Instead, you'll stay on target. Animation director Mark Grigsby offered some details on the feature in the post: “One other thing we added this year is the ADS [Aiming Down Sight] reload. In the past, if you're ADS, and you're shooting and you reload, the weapon would go off to the side, and you'd have to retrain to get to your target. This time if you reload, it stays on the target, so you can stay in the battle.” "Ripped straight from the headlines" This mission sees you tracking down the instigator of the terrorist attack (AKA The Wold) to a townhouse in North London. As a member of the SAS, the player creeps up a ladder and into the back of the dimly lit home where they methodically assassinate the plain-clothes terrorists occupying the residency. There's even an unsettling situation involving a woman using her baby as a shield. It's pretty rough but Infinity Ward claims the new Modern Warfare sees missions "ripped straight from the headlines" and investigated the "civilian collateral damage" that comes hand-in-hand with war. What was peculiar was that our presentation was shorter than those who had attended earlier in the week. We were only shown the London townhouse mission, whereas other journalists were shown an extra - more controversial - segment which seen players taking on the role of a child soldier in an unspecified war-torn country. Image Credit: Infinity Ward Is this a reboot of the classic Modern Warfare? Instead, Infinity Ward is using the Modern Warfare name here to evoke a similar feeling, and some of the same characters will return but this is an entirely new storyline set in a different timeline. It's totally separate to what we've seen in the previous games as here those events haven't occurred. We'll still follow Captain Price in this different timeline, and it may mean we see over returning characters throughout too. Price features heavily in the trailer above, and he ends it by saying there's a team of his "old comrades" so it may well be that we see the return of other fan favorite characters such as Soap or Gaz. This new timeline is also why the game isn't called Modern Warfare 4. It should mean it's a good place for new entrants to the series to pick up the game, but there's sure to be a few nods to the original series for die-hard fans. Narrative director at Infinity Ward, Taylor Kurosaki, also noted that the game's storyline is still being tweaked but it's anywhere between five and nine hours long. That means it's not set to be very long, but at least this time there is a storyline. Call of Duty: Blacks Ops 4 opted to drop the storyline in favor of focusing on online play, which is something we've heard very little about so far for this game. Image credit: Activision/Infinity Ward No Zombie mode for Modern WarfareZombie mode might be a staple of the over-the-top Black Ops entries into the Call of Duty series, but the undead horde will not be being reanimated this time around in Modern Warfare according to Campaign Gameplay Director Jacob Minkoff. In an interview with PlayStation Lifestyle, Minkoff said that the team's goal is to create something on par with today's battlefields - which, unfortunately, don't include any undead wandering around. "We don't have the flexibility to do something like put zombies in the game. That would compromise the feeling of playing in a world that feels realistic and authentic and relative to today's conflicts and things we face," Minkoff said. If you want Zombies, you'll just have to wait for the next Black Ops game. Image Credit: Activision / Infinity Ward Return of the JuggernautWhile Call of Duty Modern Warfare didn't have a huge presence at E3 2019, it did pop up at an E3 Coliseum event where Activision had the first two multiplayer screenshots. One shot shows a sniper in a ghillie suit, while the other shows a juggernaut suit – one of the most powerful pieces of gear from the original game. A whole new engineThis title will be the first to use a whole new engine for the series, and that should allow for some drastic graphical improvements over previous titles including Black Ops 4. It's the first time the games will use a new engine in 14 years. We've yet to learn the name of the engine, but we know that the franchise has been working on it for five years. We expect to learn more about it in the coming months, but we can expect some more detailed environments, improved volumetric lighting and ray tracing technology too. Expect controversyAccording to ComicBook.com, the game be "heavy on troubling, realistic emotions, very much inspired by the controversial 'No Russian level" That mission is in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. It was highly controversial at the time for depicting an undercover CIA agent who takes part in a mass shooting of civilians. The trailer suggests other terrorist attacks may feature in the story, and children also feature so it may be these elements are used to stir up controversy.
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| US utility firms hit by state-sponsored spear-phishing attack Posted: 02 Aug 2019 12:12 PM PDT Three US entities from the utility sector were targeted by a spear-phishing campaign which used a new malware that featured a remote access Trojan (RAT) module with the aim of giving attackers admin control of the infected systems. The new malware called LookBack was discovered by researchers from Proofpoint's Threat Insight Team after analyzing phishing attacks and their malicious payloads. In a blog post detailing their discovery, the researchers explained how the phishing emails impersonated a US-based engineering licensing board to appear as legitimate emails, saying:
“The phishing emails appeared to impersonate a US-based engineering licensing board with emails originating from what appears to be an actor-controlled domain, nceess[.]com. Nceess[.]com is believed to be an impersonation of a domain owned by the US National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. The emails contain a malicious Microsoft Word attachment that uses macros to install and run malware that Proofpoint researchers have dubbed “LookBack.” LookBack malwareThe phishing emails, which the utilities received on July 19 and July 25, were all sent from ncess.com which the attackers controlled but Proofpoint also discovered that they were impersonating several other US engineering and electric licensing bodies with fraudulent domains. Since only one of the domains was used in these recent spear-phishing attacks, there is high probability that other campaigns using similar tactics will be launched in the future. The malware dropped by the phishing campaign is a remote access Trojan developed in C++ which would allow the attackers to completely take control of the compromised machines once they were infected. According to Proofpoint, the LookBack remote access Trojan would aid the attackers in enumerating services, viewing process, system and file data, deleting files and executing commands, taking screenshots, moving and clicking the mouse and it could even reboot the machine and delete itself from an infected host. The LookBack malware also contained multiple components including a command and control proxy tool called GUP, a malware loader, a communications module and a remote access Trojan component. Proofpoint also noted that the spear-phishing attack launched against US utilities may be the work of a state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) actors because of overlaps with other historical campaigns and macros utilized.
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| Cyberpunk 2077: release date, trailer and news Posted: 02 Aug 2019 12:09 PM PDT There's still a while to wait before we can officially get our hands on Cyberpunk 2077 but, from what we've seen and heard so far, it seems like CD Projekt Red's dystopian RPG will definitely be worth the wait. Landing on Xbox One, PC, and PS4, Cyberpunk 2077 looks set to be a vast open-world game, draped in dizzying neon colors, and packed with more branching storylines than you could shake a drone at. In both an extended trailer and in our hands-off demo at E3 2019, we saw a bit more of the metropolis of the future, where body modification has become an obsession, and you're an outlaw in the sleazy underbelly of the city. Want the full scoop on Cyberpunk 2077? Here's all the news, trailers, and announcements we've had so far. [Update: It's all go in the world of Cyberpunk 2077. Not only will the game be making a grand appearance at Gamescom this month, its release will be followed up by a spin-off card game in 2020. Read on to find out more!] Cut to the Chase
What is Cyberpunk 2077?Cyberpunk 2077 is a neon cyberpunk game that has The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red moving from a gritty, high fantasy world to an equally gritty, science fiction world metropolis. It's based off the pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, but plays a hell of a lot like The Matrix game we've always wanted. We caught our first peek at the game behind closed doors at E3 2018 – you can check out what we saw in the 48-minute walkthrough video below (in the trailers section). Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that looks vastly different from its developer's The Witcher series, with towering neon skyscrapers, bionic enhancements and a focus on vertical movement rather than wide open plains. It's also all in first-person. At E3 2019 we learned a lot more about the plot of the game, which features the one and only Keanu Reeves. Reeves plays a character named Johnny Silverhand who's embedded in a biochip that's placed in the main character's brain. In order to unlock the secrets to the biochip, what basically becomes the main thread of the game, Silverhand will guide you to Alt Cunningham, the most legendary net runner of all-time. The only problem? She’s dead. But her consciousness lives on the web and you’ll need to do whatever it takes to track her down – including, but not limited to, befriending or eliminating leaders of the biggest gangs in Night City. Cyberpunk 2077 trailersE3 2019 gave us the latest, slickest trailer yet, with a look at some new characters, weapon-play, and even Keanu Reeves, who will be playing the rock star Johnny Silverhand. Get your fix in the trailer below. In March 2019, we got yet another video, this time of the development team gearing up for the E3 2019 showcase event. Those hoping for a 2019 release may want to start to brace themselves however – though the game remains without a release date, the suggestion of the video below is that development is still in full swing, and a release date may be some time away yet: After a veritable truckload of hype, CD Projekt Red released 48 minutes of gameplay footage, based on the demo journalists saw at E3 2018. In it, you'll see what gunplay looks like, character creation and backstory assignment, plus how you'll upgrade yourself via cybernetic enhancements. You'll meet some of the characters in Cyberpunk's seedy crime circuit and explore the city on foot and in vehicles. (Quick warning: the trailer contains nudity, violence and swearing.) We were treated to a Cyberpunk 2077 trailer during E3 2018 which you can watch below:
Cyberpunk 2077 release date: April 16, 2020In the game’s first official teaser trailer, it was stated that the game will be coming “when it’s ready,” but now we have an official release date: April 16, 2020, care of the E3 2019 trailer. This is despite an investor call in early 2016 that suggested that Cyberpunk 2077 would be released before June 2019. It was also said in this call that CD Projekt Red is planning to release two new triple A RPGs before 2021. It was later clarified in forums that Cyberpunk 2077 would be the first of these games to arrive and work on the second would not start before Cyberpunk 2077 was finished. Image Credit: CD Projekt Red Considering The Witcher 3 took around three and a half years to develop, a 2019 release didn't seem unmanageable for the studio. But the scale of the development, as well as rumors of the game being a cross-gen Xbox Two and PS5 title, it makes sense that the game has taken longer than initially anticipated. Cyberpunk 2077 news and featuresGamescom 2019 As we draw closer to Cyberpunk 2077's release date, CD Projekt Red is taking every opportunity it can to show off the game to the public. The next big show? That's Gamescom in August 2019. Making more noise than last year, the developer will be doing live demos of the game each day of the show while an offline qualifying round of the Cyberpunk 2077 cosplay competition will be held. Spin-off card game Forget Gwent—Cyberpunk 2077 is getting its very own spin-off card game called Afterlife that will launch sometime in 2020. The game is being made in collaboration with board game publisher Cmon, whose listing for the game reads: “The game thrusts players into the dark alleyways of Night City, where ruthless gangs clash with corporations in an endless war for money, power, and control. “In Cyberpunk 2077: Afterlife, players become Fixers, the data brokers and masterminds in Night City that recruit cyberpunks, equip them with gear, and send them out on missions. But nothing's free in Night City. Players need to balance between what they want and what they can actually afford. Using an innovative drafting mechanic and special dashboard, players must decide which cards they want to buy, and which to sacrifice for funds in order to purchase new ones. Each successful mission raises the player's Street Cred, with mission survivors becoming Veterans, imparting their knowledge and experience to newer recruits. In this chrome-infused world, Street Cred is the only currency that truly matters.” Hardcore mode that says goodbye to UI Of course, it’s not just the hardcore players that are being catered to in Cyberpunk 2077; Liu revealed that there will also be modes for those who are less experienced with first person games and shooters and wish to enjoy a more laidback experience. “If you want to play more casually for the story and maybe you’re not experienced with shooters, which was a real big concern for us. We want to tell a story and maybe you’re a big fan of The Witcher and you’re not comfortable playing a shooter, we have settings available for that.” Liu explains that as well as settings for less experienced players, there will also be weapons. The smart gun, for example, will help players to aim. Though it comes at the cost of the smart gun being a weaker and slower weapon. It will, however, be a good start for those looking to get to grips with the aiming system. For those unfamiliar with first person games, there’s also going to be a Field of View slider. Making more of the game world visible through the eyes of the avatar should alleviate that sense of tunnel vision that comes from trading third person view for first person and the potential for nausea this can cause some players. Environmental hazards Settings available for those uncomfortable with FPS Cyberpunk 2077 will look just as good on console as PC "Actually no, we have a very custom engine, the RED Engine," Liu responded. "And actually, we’re targeting consoles as first-class platforms and it looks amazing there. So obviously, if you spent, you know, $2,000 building your PC rig, it’s going to look better on that. But the graphics are quite amazing for what you’re going to get from Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles and low-end PCs." Could we see a movie adaptation in the future? "I can’t really say anything on that," Pondsmith told VGC in response to whether he is optioning the Cyberpunk movie rights. "But with Keanu Reeves being tied up in things, it’s become much more of a possibility." "At this point we are teaching people about this new kind of cyberpunk. My favorite film is Blade Runner, but I recognise inherently that it’s a cerebral film and 2049 was even more cerebral. A cerebral film is not necessarily going to allow other people to enter that space and understand it, but at the same time you don’t want to do it totally action." Keanu Reeves' band gets its first single There may or may not be three games in development Take your pick of protagonists There will be romance There will be no morality system There's more than Night City Multiple Endings New Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay shown at E3 2019, but not playable Inside Pacifica, two gangs – The Animals and The Voodoo Boys – are fighting for supremacy. In order to meet Bridgitte, the head of the Voodoo Boys, you'll have to first deal with her lieutenant Placide, who wants you to infiltrate The Animals' hideout. Your goal, at least you're told, is to find a high-tech van that's monitoring all the network traffic in Pacifica. To get to this van, you'll have to make your way past The Animals' crew. The reason they're called The Animals, it turns out, is because they take a drug that enhances their muscle mass. To get through them you'll either need to fight your way through – a risky proposition – or sneak your way into the hideout. Image Credit: CD Projekt Red Customization: perks, skills and attributes The choices are vast, and while they're not completely limitless, CD Projekt Red doesn’t want to confine you to a single play style or set path. The reasoning behind that, it seems, is to better mirror the game’s source material – a 30-year-old tabletop role playing game called Cyberpunk (however, there was also a later edition called Cyberpunk 2020). Behind all of the hacking and gunplay lies a fairly complex RPG – the perks screen we saw during our demo had more than 20 perks to choose from and level up. These perks impact how your character plays, but can also impact what choices you have in conversations with the world’s NPCs. Image Credit: CD Projekt Red Vampire Bloodlines and Deus Ex were inspirations for the game Tomaskiewicz said that games such as Deus Ex, Vampire Bloodlines and Elder Scrolls had influenced him in his work on Cyberpunk 2077's quests. He cites the original Deus Ex as a particular influence and praises the ways in which it gives players the freedom to complete missions in multiple ways. This suggests we can expect a great deal of freedom and complexity and non-linearity in Cyberpunk 2077’s missions as well as in the protagonist you'll be using to cause havoc in the game world which is something quite different from the tight gameplay-loop found in The Witcher. CD Projekt Red is working on two AAA titles – both to be released by 2021 This release window was reaffirmed on the official CD Projekt Red forums, with moderator Donata Popławska confirming the studio is sticking to its original roadmap. "As far as the strategy of the CD Projekt Capital Group for 2016-2021 is concerned, its plans to release the second AAA game by 2021 remain unchanged," the moderator wrote (translated via Resetera user Antiax). However, Popławska did not expand on what the second AAA title to be released in this time frame could be. "We are currently focusing on the production and promotion of Cyberpunk, so we do not want to comment on further projects," they continued. Lady Gaga could be making an appearance? In addition ActuGaming claims the collaboration will be officially announced at E3 2019, with Gaga rumored to be making an appearance at the gaming convention. Last year Gaga tweeted a strange mix of letters and numbers, which the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account replied to with "Of course! Of course we will!", suggesting the A Star is Born actress would be involved with the game in some way or another. E3 2018 confirmed features It's a first person RPG set in a huge open world known as Night City – a metropolis split into six districts, each offering a different environment to explore. During the demo we only saw a small part of one of them. Players can create their own character called V and embark on their journey to crawl up from the criminal underbelly. This is a dark game and though The Witcher series is mature, this takes it to a new level. As you'd expect, the game lets you augment your body using various bits of tech – illegal or otherwise – and you can use drugs to enhance your combat, or a kind of digital brain-hack called 'Braindance'. We know weapons are wide ranging and seriously creative, with smart guns and bullets as well as terrifying Mantis Blades for melee. There are no loading screens in Cyberpunk 2077 and the story and side quests are branching and numerous, and your choices genuinely impact the outcome. You can read more about how impressed were were by what we saw. E3 2018 secret message In the message CD Projekt first apologises for "staying silent longer than we planned" but following the release of The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine the developer wanted to wait until it had "something meaningful and substantial" to show. It goes on to say that the vision for Cyberpunk is "an alternative version of the future where America is in pieces, megacorporations control all aspects of civilized life, and gangs rule the rest." This game will, CD Projekt says, be a "true single player, story-driven RPG" where you'll be able to create your own character. At the moment the developer isn't ready to confirm any kind of release date and asks for more patience. It also says it has "no bloody clue" about how big the game is but does say it's "seriously big." Image Credit: CD Projekt Red It could be on the next generation of consoles Given the game's current timeline, it's possible it could launch on current systems in April (PS4, Xbox One) and then next-gen systems (PlayStation 5, Xbox Two) later in the year. It will be on Steam It’s going to be bigger than The Witcher 3 In fact, he said that The Witcher 3 was being treated as a learning experience and that they could do better. To do better, the studio has doubled in size with studio head Adam Badowski saying that after The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 needs to be “even better, even bigger, even more revolutionary” than what had originally been planned. Image Credit: CD Projekt Red You’ll be travelling on more advanced tech than boats and horses Don’t expect horses and basic boats here – a job listing for a Senior Vehicle Artist for the studio said they’d be expected to work on “incredibly complex vehicles, planes, bikes, robots and mechanics.“ There may be multiplayer The company president said in March 2018 that these elements are not on the table right now, so it's possible that they'll be introduced after the game's release in a sort of online world like GTA Online. There will be online Whether or not the online elements will feed into the multiplayer is unclear. But there won't be microtransactions It appears that while many studios are feeling the need to move to a service model to ensure their titles make money, CD Projekt is staying committed to the story-driven single player experience with Cyberpunk 2077, one which served them very well with The Witcher. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 02 Aug 2019 11:51 AM PDT Whether you're looking to start a new business or expand an existing one, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions can be an attractive way to manage and develop not just your IT infrastructure but also the software to run it. PaaS is a world of services in which you do not need to buy expensive IT hardware, but instead pay for virtual server resources according to your needs. More than that, the software to manage it all is provided as part of the package. This can make it especially economic because PaaS is scaleable, so you don't have big upfront costs to start with. It can also be much more efficient when the same PaaS provider also includes the software required to manage your virtual resources. This means no worries about whether software or hardware upgrades might cause problems with your IT equipment. Setting up your own virtual platform can come with challenges, however. You will need a degree of expertise to set up. Yet the benefits still outweigh the costs, especially in the short to mid-term, and most vendors will allow a trial period to ensure that their solution works for you.
Oracle Cloud Platform (OCP) is part of Oracle Cloud, which is belongs to the Oracle Corporation, founded in 1977. Oracle Cloud Platform works as a combination of open source technology and Oracle technology. This enable users to more efficiently build, deploy, integrate and manage all of your platform applications. The solution uses a mixture of machine learning and AI to provide a service that offers self-repairing abilities. It also reduces business start-up costs and offers predictive insights. Oracle boasts of having the largest PaaS portfolio of the cloud vendors around. Oracle believes their platform lowers costs and reduces complexity. All of your data and applications can be integrated. The solution enables the user to migrate all processes to the cloud. Everything is managed via a single platform. All data is encrypted by default. Oracle Cloud Platform claims their solution does everything for you. This saves time on repetitive tasks such as system maintenance, deploying solutions and necessary updates. The platform comes with a 30-day free trial which includes $300 credit and up to 3,500 hours. There is a ‘Pay as you Go’ tier or a ‘Monthly Flex’ plan. With the ‘Flex’ plan users commit to a monthly amount in cloud services with a contract ranging from 1-7 years. In order to sign up for either of the above, users will need to contact Oracle directly. Users have reported some issues with customer support. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud-based program for building business solutions using integrated web services. Amazon Web Services offer much more than just PaaS services. They give users access to a wide range cloud services such as content delivery and database storage. As part of your subscription to AWS users have access to ‘AWS Elastic Beanstalk’. This gives developers an easy way to deploy services. Once you have uploaded all your applications, everything else from load balancing to auto-scaling is handled by Elastic Beanstalk. The service scales your application based on the resources needed. AWS has three different pricing models; ‘Pay as you Go’, ‘Save when you reserve’ and ‘Pay less using more’. To get prices for all these you need to contact Sales directly. The Google Anthos is Google's platform as a services (PaaS) offering. With this highly intuitive engine, Google Anthos handles the management of resources for you. With Google Anthos you can use Google’s web services to build a highly customized solution to meet all your company’s needs. With the Google Anthos you can use built-in managed services for activities such as email and user management. The service can run and manage monitoring, scaling and hosting. As Google Anthos relies heavily on Linux, it helps to be familiar with the Linux command line. This will make the process of setting up firewalls, gateways and routers much smoother. A free trial is available for 12 months, and a $300 credit to access additional services if required. Microsoft Azure not only offers platform as a service but also software as a service and infrastructure as a service. With Azure, clients can use the services purely on the cloud or it can be combined with any existing applications, data centre or infrastructure you may already have in place. Azure’s PaaS was one of the solutions early offering which later included IaaS. Many cloud providers are blurring the lines between PaaS and IaaS. Microsoft Azure is no stranger to this idea of mixing and matching both services. Microsoft Azure can be used to deploy a wide variety of provisioned and managed infrastructures using its PaaS solution. It can fit any of your business needs such as storage, networking, and web hosting. The utility fully manages all of your platform needs. The platform gives you the freedom to move away from having your servers based on premises which can reduce costs. This removes the need for an on-site support team as this is all now looked after by Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure is available as a 12 month free trial, $200 credit and over 25 ‘Always Free’ services. IBM App Connect is the PaaS offering from computing behemoth IBM, intending to help business connect applications, data, and infrastructure in a seamless manner, not least where legacy systems need to work with more modern event-driven ones. Data can be easily synced to work both in the cloud and on-premise, as well as be combined into APIs to make it easier for different applications to work with it. Prebuilt templates corresponding to different workflows can be combined to automate processes, such sales data in one application being sent to an email application to automatically create a communications link in another application. Additionally, there's also monitoring to ensure that workflows work as expected and can be easily amended both to changing needs, KPIs, or the addition of new software applications. The whole process of IBM's App Connect is about working with business logic rather than worrying about the underlying architecture, and with all apps integrated it makes it easier to adapt and match capabilities to get the maximum performance and increase productivity. All in all, App Connect is a powerful platform, as would be expected from IBM. The Salesforce Sales Cloud is a platform as a service solution that allows users to build and deploy cloud solutions. The platform provides the tools necessary to automate the process which in turn gives the user more time to focus on other areas. Developers are able to build trusting cloud applications that are secure and scalable without worrying about hardware provisioning or application stacks. The platform uses Heroku which is used to deploy, run and manage applications written in programming languages such as Java and Ruby amongst others. Code can be used using a single command using developer tools such as GitHub. Salesforce’s Lightning Design System provides developers with guides and the code necessary to build applications. With the handy drag-and-drop feature, users can build applications using the Lightning App Builder. Users can get started for free by filling out a basic setup form. In order to gain access to more services, you will need to choose one of the four plans available. The lowest price tier is the ‘Employee Apps Starter’ and begins at $30. All tiers can be tried for free. While Salesforce has been widely praised as a brilliant platform by users, they have also warned of the huge learning curve that goes along with it. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Google Fit gets a Dark Mode and charts your sleep data Posted: 02 Aug 2019 11:17 AM PDT It’s official: the Google Fit app is the latest to get a Dark Mode. An update brought the eyestrain-easing palette swap along with the ability to track sleep patterns through the app. Dark theme, as Google refers to it in its blog post, is just what it says - switch it on in the settings. The other big feature addition lets you connect third-party sleep apps through Google Fit, which will then create charts to show your sleep patterns over time. This lets you edit and track your sleep history in one place alongside your other health data. Lastly, iOS users are finally getting the workout route maps that have been on the Android version of Google Fit for some time. Now your map routes tracked through a Wear OS-running-smartwatch, Apple Watch, or other connected apps can be ported over to Google Fit. Dark Mode ahoyIt’s always a pleasure for another app to get a Dark Mode - it seems like one of the top features that fans clamor for, across all devices. That’s especially true for services like Google Fit that, as of March 19, shut down its browser version to focus exclusively on its mobile app. Switching to visuals that are easier on the eyes is great for software on small-screen wearables you’ll likely check in low-light places or late at night.
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| Posted: 02 Aug 2019 10:42 AM PDT Cloud brokerages allow you to compare and contrast different cloud services and find the best deal that works for you. This is not just in terms of price buy also functionality, performance, and compatibility, among other things. It may be no surprise that some of the major cloud providers also offer cloud brokerage services, as they can help manage not just the transaction but also the deployment and integration of the services you buy into with your current cloud platform. However, their main focus may be more about connecting their existing services with other popular native services, and therefore helping to simplify the process for you. There are some independents out there, who can provide a more level playing field in terms of not making you commit to any platform in the first place, which could play to the ideals of cloud services being full integrated from different providers, without any loss of performance, reliability, or security. Whichever way you go, cloud services certainly appear to be the future of enterprise computing, and we've picked out the best in cloud brokers to help steer you in the right direction, and hopefully make your decision easier.
AWS Service Broker is part of Amazon Web Services. The solution is open source which allows AWS services to be exposed directly through third party applications such as Red Hat OpenShift. The AWS Service Broker integrates AWS services directly into AWS Network Partners’ solutions. The benefits of this are a unified interface where users can manage all their applications and resources. Users can manage infrastructure, resources and build logic through AWS CloudFormation templates. These contain a set of both strict and customizable parameters that implement production, tests and develop environments. They also interact with applications through endpoints and credentials. These can be stored as OpenShift binding. AWS Services Broker is integrated into the Red Hat OpenShift Platform on AWS QuickStart. OpenShift manages master instances, etcd instances and node instances in popular configurations. In order to utilize the service broker users need to have an account with Amazon web Services. AWS has three different pricing models; ‘Pay as you Go’, ‘Save when you reserve’ and ‘Pay less using more’. To get prices for all these you need to contact Sales directly. However, AWS provides a free tier. This offers users certain services for 12-months. After that you have to choose to sign up for any of the plans above or to cancel your AWS subscription. IBM may offer its own cloud platform, but they also offer managed cloud brokerage services to allow you to bring together cloud services from multiple suppliers under one roof. With the IBM Cloud Brokerage Managed Services you can play, design, and manage all cloud models from a single platform, while still ensuring compliance. Though the migration of apps and optimization across all your services you should be able to minimize costs. A key aim it to help allow managers and executives bring their IT infrastructure under control in a single cloud platform to reduce hybrid sprawl, especially when different departments may have their own cloud operations for CRM, sales, or ecommerce, which can otherwise complicate the overall IT environment. While initial costs may be initially higher, operational savings should easily outweigh these. Additionally, IBM provides cost management tools with built-in analytics to help improve efficiency further. Bringing together all your IT needs onto a single platform should provide added benefits in terms of easier management, not least having a clearer idea of needs, services, and costs, and being better able to balance these, without having to drop needed tools and processes. Overall, IBM expect that half of all enterprises will move into cloud brokerages over the coming years, not least the better balance the interests of developers, line-of-business executives, and IT administrators. Cloudmore is a Swedish company with offices in Estonia, the UK and US. They were founded in 2007. The solution works to bring all cloud-based IT services together into one unified platform. Cloudmore is delivered as a SaaS service. There is no hardware to buy or initial set-up costs. Everything you need from a brokerage solution is available from the get-go except for add-ons you might decide to include as you progress. The interface is simple to use and easy on the eye. It is intuitive ensuring usability for all clients. Cloudmore’s Brokerage platforms is based on a pay-as-you go pricing structure. The solution charges for the management of services which are usually paid for by the vendor. Users also have the option to purchase add-ons. Cloudmore’s API’s easily integrate into your systems. This allows for end-to-end automation. Microsoft Online Services is part of their many integrations. Users need to contact Cloudmore directly for more information and a quote. Jamcracker Cloud Services Brokerage also offers organizations the opportunity to manage diverse cloud services from a single platform. This brings with it the ability to unify public, private, and hybrid cloud operations and deliver them both across departments and also to customers. This can involve unifying SaaS, Paas, and IaaS needs, along with any other virtualizations, and Jamcracker provides support for multiple languages, currencies, and time zones. As above, the expectation is that simplifying cloud IT infrastructure should result in positive cost and efficiency savings, but by being a cloud services broker (CSB) companies can look to not simply apply these benefits internally but also resell their own value-added services - something Jamcracker is keen to develop with its customers as required. Overall, Jamcracker has positioned itself as a key provider for unifying cloud operations and management, while also being able to offer cloud brokerage services that enterprise business can take in house and repackage for use among its own clients or suppliers. Dell Boomi is a business unit acquired by Dell in 2010. It specializes in cloud-based integration, API management and Master Data Management. Major clients include Micorsoft Azure, MapAnything and Novartis. Users can build on-premise to on-premise, cloud-to-cloud and hybrid integrations. The interface gives you access to the tools needed to build end-to-end workflows. Dell Boomi has a handy drag and drop feature which makes integration simpler. It is an enterprise integration Platform as a Service. Users can build, deploy and manage all integrations seamlessly. Boomi ‘Suggest’ allows users to show others in the community ideas for integrations and receive feedback. Users can submit data on integration processes to ‘AtomSphere’ to test against future changes. Boomi is a multi-tenant platform which manages all your data management software. They have connections to multiple providers such as MailChimp, GoogleCloud and Slack. Some reviewers have noted Boomi has a steep learning curve, so it may not be suitable for absolute beginners. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Microsoft Azure now lets you set up your own private servers Posted: 02 Aug 2019 10:24 AM PDT Microsoft has announced the preview launch of a new cloud service called that will allow customers to run their virtual machines on single-tenant physical services. The company says that Azure Dedicated Host could be quite useful for businesses running loads of virtual machines that don't want to share resources on their server with anyone else while also gaining full control over everything running on the machine. Azure already offers isolated virtual machines sizes for two very large virtual machine types. These are still available but don't offer anywhere near the flexibility that Microsoft's new hosts will.
Microsoft's biggest cloud computing competitors, AWS and Google Cloud already offer similar products in the form of Dedicated Hosts for AWS and “sole-tenant nodes” on Google Cloud. Azure Dedicated HostWhen it officially launches, Azure Dedicated Host will support virtual machines running Windows, Linux and SQL Server with pricing on a per host basis. That is independent of the number of virtual machines customers run on them. Users can currently choose machines with up to 48 physical cores that will cost $4.039 per hour to run. Microsoft is offering two different processors to power its private servers. Type 1 is based on the 2.3 GHz Intel Xeon E5-2673 v4 with a clock speed of up to 3.5 gigahertz while Type 2 features the Intel Xeon Platinum 8168 with single-core clock speeds of up to 3.7 gigahertz. Both types have an available memory range from 144GiB to 448GiB. According to Microsoft, these new dedicated hosts will help businesses reach their compliance requirements for physical security, data integrity and monitoring. Customers will even be able to group these dedicated hosts into larger hosts groups in a given Azure region. This means that users will be able to build clusters of their own physical servers inside the Azure data center.
Via TechCrunch This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 02 Aug 2019 10:24 AM PDT Online clothing marketplace Poshmark has revealed that it has suffered a data breach. The site, which allows users in North America to buy and sell new or used clothes, shoes and accessories, has said that an unauthorized party was able to gain access to its servers and steal information on users including their usernames, hashed passwords, first and last names, gender and city of residence. Users who connected their social media accounts to Poshmark also had their clothing size preferences, user emails and social media profile information stolen by the attackers.
While user's hashed passwords were stolen in the breach, Poshmark uses a one-way hashing algorithm to scramble its passwords and the company also salted or randomly scrambled some passwords on a per-user basis which makes it almost impossible for the stolen passwords to be used to access an account. Poshmark data breachThose behind the data breach also managed to obtain some internal Poshmark account preferences which are used by the company to send email, browser and push notifications on mobile. The online marketplace did not reveal when the breach occurred or when it first found out about it. However, Poshmark did say that no financial data or physical addresses were taken by hackers. In a security notice, the company explained its course of action following the breach, saying: “We conducted an internal investigation and retained outside experts, including a leading security forensics firm. The security forensics firm we retained ran extensive testing designed to find vulnerabilities in our software and systems. After the testing, the firm reported that it did not find any material vulnerabilities. While our security was already strong, we have implemented enhanced security measures across all systems to help prevent this type of incident from happening in the future.” Poshmark is now notifying all impacted customers via email on a rolling basis and luckily none of its Canadian users were affected by the breach.
Via ZDNet This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:59 AM PDT Many people are aware of the need for a firewall on their personal computer, either as a standalone package or as part of an anti-virus or internet security suite. However, there has been both an increasing need and demand for something similar to protect websites and their users from similar malicious activity. The solution? A cloud-based firewall know as a Web Application Firewall (WAF). WAFs have become increasingly necessary due to various attacked vectors. These include Cross Site Scripting (XSS) attacked in which a malicious user or bot tries to leverage code executions in your database or scripting software to gain access to the underlying database, and so have a direct way into your server. Another known threat is Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacked, in which a botnet tries to flood a server or network with too much information for it to be able to handle, thus crashing the server and taking down your network and website presence with it. There are also other user-based attacks, such as phishing, credential stuffing, and clickjacking, in which malicious software comes into play between your visitor's browser and your website itself, allowing hackers to steal information that should be secure, such as passwords or even credit card information. These are all issues that Web Application Firewalls aim to prevent and protect against. However, a WAF should be invisible to users, so they will never know it's there. Usually, WAFs come with dynamic rules that are constantly updated to keep abreast of the latest threats, along with a backend dashboard to provide analytics of how it's working. There are a number of WAFs on the market, and here we'll look at some of the best available now.
CloudFlare is a company that provides content delivery services, DDoS mitigation, Internet security and distributed domain name server providers. It was founded in 2009. The solution monitors the internet on a regular basis for any new updates such as attacks and vulnerabilities. Anything that is considered a threat to the majority of their clients automatically have WAF (Web application Firewalls) rules enabled. These will protect all internet properties. Constant updates ensure that CloudFlare’s protection is in place at all times. Cloudflare deals with a huge number of requests every hour with the solution identifying and blocking new threats. Due to their large customer base, the platform is able to rely on a collective intelligence when it comes to eradicating threats. This means that when one customer creates a new WAF rule, CloudFlare decides whether it applies to all other domains on their network. CloudFlare has a free tier. This includes unmetered mitigation of DDoS, global CDN, shared SSL certificate and 3 page rules. Additional rules can be purchased through CloudFlare’s dashboard. The ‘Pro’ package is $20 per month which includes Web application Firewall (WAF) with CloudFlare rulesets, mobile optimizations with Polish and 20 page rules. For $200 per month, the ‘Business’ plan comes with WAF with 25 custom rulesets, 50 page rules and custom SSL certificate upload. The ‘Enterprise’ tier includes 24/7 enterprise grade phone, chat and email support, 100 page rules, named solution and customer success engineers. Some users have reported delays with analytics and log systems. Amazon Web Services is part of Amazon.com. It provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals and businesses. As part of this subscription, users have access to AWS WAF. AWS WAF is a web application firewall which protects web applications from threats which could compromise their security or consume resources. The solution itself is straight forward and easy to use. Users can create custom made rules designed to block common attack patterns such as cross-site scripting. The solution has a full featured API which allows users to automate the creation, deployment and maintenance of all rules in use. AWS WAF works by charging you for each new rule you create. You are not charged a set price every month but you do have to be subscribed to Amazon Web Services to access this feature. Amazon Web Services include a 12 month fully featured free trial. Sophos is a British security software and hardware company. It develops products for communication endpoint, encryption, network security and unified threat management. Sophos XG Firewall is a unified threat manager which also acts as a firewall. It also acts as application security and wireless gateway. Users can manage settings from Sophos’ ‘Control Center’. From here subscribers can access the utilities dashboard. This allows you to view your network, users and applications. You can also add Sophos ‘iView’. This provides centralized reporting across multiple firewalls. The XG Firewall management interface gives users an overview on features such as traffic insights, system statistics and firewall rules. Sophos offers users a 30-day free trial. This includes IPS, ATP, Sandboxing, Dual AV, Web and App Control, Anti-phishing and Web Application Firewall. Subscribers need to contact Sophos directly to receive a quote. Some commentators have complained the UI is not intuitive and cannot be customized. Image Credit: Akamai Akamai Technologies is a content delivery network and cloud service provider. It was founded in 1998. Akamai Kona Site Defender integrates DDoS protection with its web application firewall. DDoS services identify and neutralize threats from IP addresses by using a scale system from 1 to 10. These scores are based on the IP addresses ability to source suspicious traffic. Scores are then used to allow, alert or block based on the severity of the score. Users can also customize settings so they can choose which IP addresses they want blocked. The web application firewall inspects individual traffic. Any malicious attacks are eradicated. This tool only works against web-based attacks. Users can use the management dashboard to access information such as reports and attack rates. The utility requires very little customization. Subscribers will need to contact Akamai directly in order to start their free trial and to get a quote. Online commentators have said they regret more information about the product isn’t available on Akamai’s website. Image Credit: Imperva Imperva is a cloud-based Web Application Firewall (WAF). It provides web application security, DDoS mitigation, content caching, application delivery and load balancing through a global content delivery network. The Imperva Web Application Firewall works as a gateway for all traffic coming to your online services. It filters out malicious visitors and requests such as SQL injections and XSS attacks. The solution uses several layers of security policies to identify threats. These are maintained by a security team. Imperva uses attack information from their network to provide protection for their users. Imperva has 25 data centers around the world which ensures 24/7 monitoring. Signal Sciences was founded five years ago by the security developers at Etsy, and since then the company has grown and developed with a string of high-profile clients. A key promotional point of the Signal Sciences WAF is that too many existing services don't properly service modern IT infrastructures, especially where there is extensive use of cloud technology, as opposed to being reliant on legacy hardware. Setting up is so easy and quick it can be done in minutes, as there are no agents to deploy with all traffic being redirected through the Signal Services Cloud Engine, where it can be monitored and filtered as required. There's a single management console with built-in analytics that provides real-time monitoring, so there's no need to work through multiple interfaces. There are also DevOps integration options available, not least for Slack, PagerDuty, and Jira. Although built to cater for cloud applications, the Signal Sciences WAF can work with hybrid clouds and server hardware directly. It can also function on premise, in containers, or in the cloud. In terms of security, it blocks all common OWASP attacks, as well as misbehaving bots, and denial of services attacks. The software is fully PCI 6 compliant. Overall, the Signal Sciences WAF doesn't just focus on security, but also performance, reliability, as well as overall management operability. 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| Best premium WordPress themes of 2019 Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:52 AM PDT While there are thousands of free WordPress themes available, these are mostly suitable for hobbyists and small-time websites. Whether you are a food lover looking to monetize your passion or a business owner who wants to raise your company's profile, WordPress can help. In this guide, you’ll discover five premium WordPress themes suitable for a wide range of professional users. By paying a few dollars, you’ll benefit from extra features such as displaying pictures in a slideshow or ecommerce compatibility.
X X is a paid WordPress theme suitable for all types of websites. The theme comes with four categories of built-in demos. Each of these themes cover a wide variety of potential projects. This means that no matter what you have in mind, X more than likely has a design suited to your needs. X comes with Cornerstone, one of the most popular WordPress web page builders. The drag and drop feature is easy to use. Users are able to see exactly what their page will look like live as they are building. This enables users to change and edit while building their site. There are a huge number of customization options, with which users can build a unique webpage. X comes with a feature called ‘the customizer’. This is a handy tool as many premium themes come with their own theme options page that are not entirely compatible with WordPress. ‘The Customizer’ is highly intuitive. It integrates seamlessly with WordPress. It will help you to customize the look and feel of your website. There is also Dynamic Content, which comes in handy when building out content throughout your site. The regular license for X is $59 (£44.4) which includes future updates and 6 months customer support. Users can opt to extend support to 12-months for an additional $17.63 (£13.3). Divi Divi is a multi-purpose theme. It has website options for most users and is highly customizable. The theme comes with WooCommerce functionality. The drag and drop feature allows users to include pricing tables, video sliders, tabs and videos. A rating module is also available. Users can access a variety of pre-built layouts. These range from creating a sales page, multiple blog layouts and a variety of portfolio types. Divi is one of the few WordPress themes to include a front-end page builder tool with point and click editing. This gives users instant feedback on any editing that takes place. Users can upload logos, choose a new color palette, decide how many posts are displayed on a page and setup social media integrations amongst others. Newer users will find Divi particularly simple to use as you don’t need any coding skill or any former experience building websites. The user-friendly interface makes this process seamless. You can also optimize any page element to your liking with various CSS options. Divi allows you to use multiple rows, columns and content elements. All layouts are fully responsive. The theme comes with an impressive array of content elements which include audio player, bar counter, blog, number counter, shop, testimonial and contact form amongst others. Divi can also be translated into more than 30 languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Czech, Russian and Spanish. Users can try a demo version of Divi for free. Users can also purchase a one-year subscription to all of Elegant Themes’ products for $89 (£67.69). There is also a Lifetime option for $249 (£187.4). Uncode Uncode is a multi-purpose theme suitable for most users. The theme offers users a huge variety of website demos. These include classic, portfolio, blog and ecommerce layouts. Uncode’s images are fully adaptive so that they adjust automatically to whatever screen size they are being viewed on. Users can edit their demos through the WPBakery Page Builder Plugin. They can also access to the handy drag and drop content editor. Uncode is compatible with most third-party plugins. The themes large media library makes it easier for users to embed any type of media to your WordPress site. Uncode has over 6 different menu types with advanced options. These include top right, justify, left, center, overlay, offcanvas and lateral. The theme is WPML certified and offers RTL (Right to Left) support. The premium themes included are VC Page Builder, VC Clipboard, VC Particles, LayerSlider, Slider Revolution and iLightBox. In the recent update, new features are available like animated headlines and highlighting effects, among other things. You can purchase for $59 (£44.87) and includes future updates and 6 months support. If you want to extend support to 12 months, an additional $17.63 (£13.3) is needed. Some online commentators have expressed frustration over difficulties with customization. The Core The Core is a multi-purpose theme which requires no coding skills. The theme has been built on the Unyson network to aid with customization. Users have access to the fully featured page builder. This allows you to edit the demos that are included or create new layouts to suit your needs. The Core theme includes demo content install. Users can choose from three different sliders: Slider Revolution, Layers Slider and its own custom-built slider. The theme is retina ready and fully responsive. Users can edit the colors of their theme using simple color pickers. The Core is also fully compatible with the WooCommerce plugin. Users have access to Google’s free collection of fonts. You can also choose to use the sticky header to ensure your menu bar always remains visible no matter how far down you scroll. The Core is translation ready and is compatible with WPML. Support is available through live chat 24/7 or email. There are also over 100 support articles. Users can purchase the theme for $49 (£37.26). Online commentators have lamented the lack of a front-end page builder. Foodie Pro Foodie Pro helps users to create a beautiful blog based around all sorts of culinary delights. It is created by the Genesis Framework. This means your website will have a solid combination of this Framework along with WordPress. The theme comes with a huge amount of typography and color options. Users can build their site using up to 3 homepage and 5 site wide widget areas. These can be customized to fit around your brand. The theme allows users to upload their own logo with one click. There is also full support for text-based logos. Foodie Pro’s ‘Theme Customizer’ allows users to customize the theme’s settings, colors and backgrounds images. The ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ can be purchased for $129.95 (£98.85) for one year. This includes the Genesis Framework, Foodie Pro Theme, instant access, unlimited updates, supports, sites and access to detailed tutorials. If this is not enough, users can avail of the ‘Pro Plus Membership’ for $499.95 (£380.22). This includes all the ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ has to offer plus access to every theme the company makes including future themes. Top Image Credit: The Core
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| Up to 50,000 bonus miles and $500 credit with Delta's new credit card offers Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:50 AM PDT If you're a fan of using credit cards to make the most out of your big ticket tech purchases (or any other shopping, for that matter) then the latest offers from Delta are well worth your attention. The air line is going big on bonuses on its latest limited-time credit card offers. Delta's so-called SkyMiles cards from American Express are all about racking up the points, placing them among the best credit cards for travel out there right now. The big focus is on air miles, with up to 50,000 available depending on what card you opt for - with the Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express offering the most tempting perks. Looking for a perk other than just air miles? This pair of Delta Amex cards are also offering pure statement credit on top of the travel rewards. There's up to $500 available, which will be reduced from the amount you owe on your credit card statement (so long as you make a purchase directly with Delta within the first three months). You can see Delta's duo of new credit cards below, and click on the links to learn more about each one and to apply. But you'll need to be quick, as this limited time offer is only around until August 15.
TechRadar has partnered with The Points Guy Affiliate Network for our coverage of credit products. TechRadar and The Points Guy may receive a commission from card issuers. Do I really need a credit card?Honestly, it entirely depends on your circumstances. If, for example, you've been eyeing up a new laptop or iPhone XS Max for a while now and know that you can afford to buy it, then a credit card is a great way to get a little something back from your big purchase. Especially if you pay off your balance immediately. But if you're trying to buy something that's actually beyond your budget and the only way you can afford it is by using a credit card, it's probably a bad idea. The only thing that's really good for is getting you saddled with debt that you can't clear and potentially harsh interest rates to make things even worse. Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Amazon Prime Day UK - what we learned for 2020 Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:49 AM PDT So that's Prime Day wrapped up for another year and what an event it was, lasting 48 hours and featuring more deals than ever before. But before we start looking forwards to Amazon Prime Day 2020, or getting excited about Black Friday 2019, let's see how the much-hyped sale performed this time. Our main roundup page of the best Amazon Prime Day deals was absolutely stuffed with fantastic bargains and we published over 200 articles giving specific shout outs to the offers that stopped us in our tracks and had us reaching for our wallets. We were delighted to find some of our favourite tech items getting discounts better than anything else we'd seen this year. Actually, many of them were even better than Black Friday, proving once again that Prime Day is a fantastic opportunity to pick up a great deal. There's no denying that Amazon's own devices got the biggest discounts (more on those later) as Fire TV Sticks, Kindles, Echo smart speakers, Fire tablets and the like got bonkers bargains. We also saw plenty of deals across TVs, fitness trackers, headphones, Apple products (yes really!), and even a range of flagship smartphones for the first time. Prime members were snapping up products throughout the 48-hour event with over 175 million items sold. That's more than Amazon sold on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. That's a massive increase from an already impressive 100 millions products sold during the previous Prime Day sale, which was admittedly a shorter event at 36 hours. How competitive were Prime Day deals at Amazon?A price monitoring company called Minderest (as reported by PR Newswire) compared prices of 566 of the most in-demand products over Prime Day to see how they stacked up against rivals stores listed on Google Shopping. 58.05% of them were cheapest on Amazon UK, compared to a massive 81.9% in the US where Amazon is annihilating the competition on a regular basis. If anything, that UK figure is a testament to how competitive the UK market it is and we did notice other stores having big sales of their own around Prime Day and a lot of price matching happening too. It's also a solid reminder to double check prices elsewhere on Prime Day (we always do this before highlighting a deal for you) as you might get a better deal from the likes of John Lewis, Currys and Argos. Amazon devices, as expected, got the best deals with an average 45% reduction on their RRPs compared to 37% in 2018. According to audience research from Numerator, 65.8% of surveyed shoppers said they were extremely or very satisfied with the deals available. What were people searching for on Amazon Prime Day?Analytics experts Hitwise tracked down the data for what people were pumping into Amazon's search bar. Nintendo Switch was the winner with over a million searches in the UK - a shame that the Switch deals weren't actually that good for a second year running though. 'Laptops' was close behind (905k) and Prime Day was actually great for picking up a great deal there. 'Fitbit' was the next biggest item with close to 600k searches and multiple versions of the trackers/smartwatches were on offer for those searchers. Elsewhere, the top ten searched items were rounded out by Audible, PS4, Kindle, Fire Stick, Alexa, Echo Dot and Lego. Overall though, interest in tech and gadgets seems to once again have been the driving force behind most peoples' visit to Amazon for Prime Day. What products sold the most on Prime Day?But what actually sold well. Amazon's own devices absolutely dominated the top ten here with the Fire TV Stick coming out on top and the Echo Dot not far behind. Both had the cheapest prices we'd ever seen. The Kindle Paperwhite had a great day too. The Echo Show 5 was only released a few weeks before, but a £20 discount made it a fantastic deal for a smart speaker with a screen with a price that made it much better value than the older Echo Spot and larger Echo Show screens. The PlayStation Classic may have disappointed many at launch with its selection of installed games, but a super low price on Prime Day inspired plenty of "why, the hell not" purchases for fans of Sony's early steps into gaming. A Neos Smart Cam was another surprise inclusion in the top ten. The best Amazon Prime Day deals of 2019While we're ages away from Amazon Prime Day 2020, it certainly doesn't hurt to take a look at what the best deals were in 2019's summer event. Naturally, these prices are long gone now, but these are the sort of bargains you should expect to see in 2020. We expect to similar offers around Black Friday for sure too, although the all-time lowest prices on many of Amazon's own devices are usually saved for Prime Day to be honest. But we're only talking small amounts really. What did Amazon's rivals do on Prime Day?Currys kicked of its 'Black Tag' event before Prime Day and it was still going for a few days afterwards too. Out of all the other stores, we'd probably say Currys gave Amazon the biggest fight for TVs, laptops and gadgets. Currys' wide selection of home white goods beat out Amazon too, although Amazon has never really focused on those as much. John Lewis was very popular for Google Home products (not sold on Amazon) and while it was generally price-matching rivals rather than coming up with its own deals, we were happy to send you its way due to most items coming with a free minimum two-year warranty at no extra cost. Having to pay for delivery on items under £50 was a bit off-putting though on cheaper items and shows a key area where John Lewis are lagging behind the times a little on the UK online retailscape. So much shopping is done on mobile now either via a browser, or by using a retailer's own app. According to AppsFlyer (as reported by PerformanceIn), the top 100 retail apps took a bit of a beating during Prime Day, not only were new installs down, 53% of them had a decrease of in-app purchases. And seeing as Amazon's app got through the sale without freezing all the time like it did last year, it's not great news for rival apps. Overall, more people shopped via mobile at Amazon than ever before on Prime Day. Gone are the days when people tended to browse more on mobile, then fire up the laptop when they got home to actually finish the transaction. And to be fair, on Prime Day, you can't really afford to wait that long due to the risk of deals selling out. Did Amazon get many new Prime members on the day?It certainly did. According to Hitwise an additional 80 thousand new Prime customers signed up to Prime each day during the sale, that's a 147% increase year on year. What we don't know though is what type of membership they signed up for. If they'd never been a Prime Member before they could have signed up for a 30-day free trial, or maybe they dived into a full year via the temporary £59 offer, saving £20 on the regular annual fee. Amazon will be hoping those free trial signups don't cancel though once the 30 days are up. And with the Prime Video streaming service, free delivery, exclusive discounts free ebooks and many other perks available for members, there's certainly plenty of reason to stick with it. Did anything go wrong on Prime Day 2019?Actually, yes. The UK start at midnight was a complete flop. Amazon's site didn't crash or anything like that, but the deal prices that were supposed to go live as soon as the sale started simply didn't. So despite us, and the rest of the informed media, prepping a huge amount of content to launch around midnight to tell you about the best deals of the sale, we were left scratching our heads as all the old prices were still showing. It took until around 4am for the proper prices to come through, which was a massive disappointment to any keen shoppers who wanted to dive into the sale before heading to bed. It was a seriously poor start from Amazon and we're still shaking our heads in disappointment. You have to hope it'll up its game for Black Friday. If you decided to wait until the morning to check out the Prime Day deals then thing's were running much more smoothly. We didn't experience any other technical problems on Amazon's site or with the mobile app for the rest of the sale either. What does all this mean for Black Friday?Black Friday is certainly a busier day. While more and more retailers than ever before decided to take the fight to Amazon for Prime Day 2019 by having deals of their own, many did not. Come Black Friday though, the peak shopping event before Christmas, there will be many more stores getting involved as it's certainly not seen as 'just an Amazon' event here in the UK. We expect prices to possibly drop even lower around Black Friday, especially on items that will be a little bit older by then like TVs, consoles, headphones and any other bits of tech that make their way onto Christmas wishlists. The main exception being Amazon's own devices as we expect some of those prices won't be back until next year so Amazon can have something in it's pocket for Prime Day 2020. These Amazon products will still get great deals on Black Friday for sure, but they might just be a few quid more than they were on Prime Day. But the overall savings wouldn't quite be enough for it to be worthwhile waiting until summer next year if you really wanted a new Kindle or Alexa device before Christmas. What is Amazon Prime DayAmazon Prime Day is a summer sales event on Amazon websites around the world where members of Amazon Prime get exclusive discounts on a huge range of items. It's not just Amazon-branded items either (although they're amongst the best deals for sure), lots of other manufacturers and third-party merchants save their best deals for Prime Day too, knowing millions of extra shoppers will be hitting the online store. Why does Amazon have Prime Day? Sure, it's a neat "thank you" for all its paying members. A thank you that involves giving Amazon more money. It's a smart model to be honest. You need to either sign up for a free trial or be an existing member of Amazon Prime and people that keep the service pay Amazon a monthly or annual fee giving Amazon a regular income source from them. And it's no co-incidence the best deals are found on Amazon's items. Buy a Kindle and you're going to keep buying ebooks from Amazon. Buy a Fire TV Stick you're going to watch Prime Video (a great perk of membership) and maybe pay for the odd rental. Buy an Echo smart speaker and you're into the Alexa family and helping Amazon fight off competition from Google's rival Home devices. When is Amazon Prime Day 2020?Wow, you're keen! Amazon Prime Day 2020 is still a long way off being confirmed, but it's a safe bet it'll be another July event. Most probably July 13th and 14th given patterns of past years. Prime Day gets bigger every year. Recent years have seen it go from 30, 36 and then straight to 48 hours for two full days of deals in 2019. That seems like a sensible figure to stick at (please, Amazon, we need to sleep). So yes, we'll see you here next time for the inevitable Amazon Prime Week 2020 next July. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best WordPress themes for portfolios in 2019 Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:48 AM PDT The days of printing your business portfolio and placing it in a cardboard folder are long since past. By placing your portfolio online you can advertise your brand by search engines, which will hugely raise your profile. It's also much easier to update your portfolio as you introduce new products or services. One of the easiest ways to get started with your online portfolio is to use a bespoke theme for WordPress. In this guide, you’ll explore five such themes which have been created with portfolios in mind.
Grand Portfolio Grand Portfolio is designed to cater for those users involved in most areas of visual design. It works best for photographers, fashion designers and architects. The theme has a variety of gallery and portfolio modules. There are also choices for those interested in blogs and creating magazines. It’s useful for musicians as it has support for biographies along with event reservation support. Grand Portfolio themes can be viewed in split screen along with a full screen option for users who want to show off all their designs in their full glory. Users can utilize the infinite scroll option so that designs keep loading as you come to the end of each page. Users can customize elements color, background and typography with the built-in live customizer. Revolution Slider and iLightbox are included with the theme. These two premium themes usually cost around $34 (£25.87) each. Users gain access to the built-in ‘Content Builder’. This comes with a handy drag and drop feature. Grand Portfolio is fully responsive. It has also passed Google’s mobile compatibility check meaning that it is SEO optimized. Users can purchase the regular license for $59 (£44.89) which includes future updates and 6-months support. An additional 12-months of support can be added for $17.63 (£13.41). Some online commentators have noted there is not a huge variety in demo layouts. Kalium Kalium is designed specifically for portfolios. There are multiple styles available. Each of which can be edited with the Visual Composer, Revolution Slider and LayerSlider plugins. These are all premium plugins and usually cost around $25 (£18.8). Users can customize fonts, colors, footer styles and opt to integrate with social media. Kalium is compatible with WPML and Multilingual Plugin. It has been translated into over 16 languages. It includes support for RTL languages such as Arabic, Hebrew and Persian. Users can customize their portfolio on the ‘Theme Option’s area. They can also choose some of the premade layouts. Users can select from over 100 portfolio types with options to align images, spacing and text options. Kalium is straight forward and easy to use. Newer users need not worry as no coding knowledge or experience is needed to start working on this theme. The theme is fully responsive and retina ready. It also comes fully documented making it simple to find the information you need to build your website. Users can purchase Kalium for $60(£49.5). This includes future updates and 6-months support. This can be extended to 12-months for an additional $18 (£14.8). Portfolio Portfolio is designed by ‘MyThemeShop’. It is a multipurpose portfolio theme. Users can use the options panel to customize their theme, make their own code edits, or design edits using the Photoshop PSD files. These are included in the extended plan. Users can utilize the advanced portfolio filters to organize their work the way they see fit. Users can also show as little or as much of their work as they want by controlling how many columns of images are displayed. You can also edit image sizes. Portfolio comes with more than 600 Google Fonts. Social media integration is also included. There are unlimited color, background and sidebars options. Users can also customize widgets for their page. The theme is translation ready and supports RTL. The main source of support is through the theme’s forum. If an answer can’t be found, email support is also available. Portfolio can be purchased for $45 (£34.23) ($35 at the time of writing, due to a sale) and is SEO ready, speed optimized and responsive. The company also offer a 30-day money back guarantee. Furion Furion is a portfolio theme which will display your work with a stylish twist. The theme includes several different portfolio layouts. These include grid and masonry with different column choices along with six hover animation styles. Each item on your chosen page includes 6 layouts, options to display gallery images in a slider, a media gallery and sticky information. Furion uses over 600 icons in Font Awesome along with the latest Google Fonts. The theme is also fully compatible with plugins such as Yoast which will help boost your SEO Support is available through a ticket system along with full documentation. Furion is also fully responsive so it will look just as good on your tablet or smartphone as it does on your desktop. Users can build responsive pages with no need for coding with Visual Composer. Furion is fully integrated with Slider Revolution. This means users with no experience will be able to create beautiful presentations. Users can purchase a regular license for $33 (£24.8) which includes future updates and 6-months support. This can be extended to 12-months support for a further $7.88 (£5.9). Online commentators have noted that support can be slow to respond to tickets. Collective Collective is best suited for graphic designers, architects, photographers, interior designers and web designers. There are many homepage designs available. Most of these can be viewed in fullscreen and include descriptive overlay and vertical sliders. Users can customize their forms with Contact Form 7. There is a collection of four sets of icons with over 2000 available to users. Collective is fully responsive and translation ready. It is also fully compatible with WooCommerce. Widgets can be used on sidebars, footers and through WooCommerce. Users can customize their page with the page builder included with the theme. There are four demos and over 12 layouts available. Users can access page templates and a huge variety of portfolio layouts. Users can purchase Collective for $49 (£40.1) which includes future updates and 6 months support. Support can be extended to 12-months for a further $13.88 (£10.4). There’s also a live demo. Top Image Credit: Collective
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| YouTube TV free trial: get a free month with Verizon phone deals now Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:45 AM PDT If you're in the market for a new phone and a cheap streaming service, then you've come to the right place. Verizon is currently offering a free month of YouTube TV when you purchase a new phone on Verizon Unlimited. This allows you to stream 70+ channels that include ABC, ESPN, CNN, Bravo, and more. Looking for other phone offers? See the best cheap phones in the US. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best e-commerce WordPress themes of 2019 Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:40 AM PDT WordPress is far more than a simple platform for blogging enthusiasts. Many WordPress themes are devoted to e-commerce, meaning that if you want to monetize your skills and/or start a small business, you can set up a payment processing site with little or no coding knowledge. Not all e-commerce platforms are created equal, though. Some may require advanced technical skills, or they might not display well on tablets and smartphones. In this guide, we’ve rounded up five of the very best e-commerce WordPress themes. These all represent a good balance between value for money and useful features such as being able to display product slideshows. Each of these themes also has a free demo, so feel free to test drive them before you buy.
Shopkeeper Shopkeeper is a user-friendly WordPress e-commerce platform. The homepage consists mainly of one large slider, designed to catch the eye of any potential clients. This is part of the Slider Revolution plugin which is included. Various optional plugins like "Shopkeeper Portfolio Addon" can also be installed. The theme integrates completely with WooCommerce, and translation is supported with the WPML plugin. Shopkeeper is Retina-ready and fully responsive, making it perfect to view on both tablets and smartphones as well as your desktop computer. The theme is easily customizable. Users do not need knowledge of complex codes in order to use it. There are a huge array of pre-built layouts to suit your needs, but failing this, users can create their own layout from scratch. Users can also upload their own logo, change fonts and colors. Visual Slider and Revolution Slider plugins are included with the Shopkeeper theme; these cost around $26 (£19.5) each. Shopkeeper itself sells at $69 (£52) for a regular license ($49 at the time of writing, due to a sale). Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $21.38 (£16). Some online commentators have noted that the huge amount of customizable settings contained within Shopkeeper can be overwhelming for newer users. Bazar Shop Bazar Shop is a slightly more complex e-commerce platform. To be precise, it’s a multi-purpose theme which offers a variety of ways in which to build your website. The theme is fully responsive making it perfect to view on platforms other than a desktop PC. Users can choose from several different sliders and there are no restrictions to the number of sliders you can have on your page. There are two custom checkout pages to choose from. The ‘zoom’ effect is included in these so there is no need to bother with a third-party plugin. Users can also add multiple images of a product, similar to what you see on eBay and Amazon. The homepage includes social media sharing, email subscription forms, featured products and contact information. Bazar Shop has over 300 ready-to-use shortcodes, which are perfect for users who do not have any coding knowledge. Users can utilize the option panel to change layouts, edit headers and footers, create a sitemap, change the colors, turn on responsive, and customize blog pages. Bazar Shop costs $64 (£49) for a regular license and includes 6-months of support. Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $19.5 (£14.65). Online commentators have noted that it is inconvenient to be forced to pay for support after the initial half-year period. Divi Divi is a multi-purpose theme featuring website options to cater for most users, plus it’s highly customizable. The theme comes with WooCommerce functionality. The drag and drop feature allows users to include pricing tables, video sliders, tabs and videos. A rating module is also available. Users can access a variety of pre-built layouts. These include creating a sales page, multiple blog layouts and a variety of portfolio types. Divi is one of the few WordPress themes to include a frontend page builder tool with point and click editing. This gives users instant feedback on any editing that takes place. Users can upload logos, choose a new color palette, decide how many posts are displayed on a page, set up social media integrations and more. Newer users will find Divi particularly handy as you don’t need any coding skills or any former experience building websites. The user-friendly interface makes the whole process seamless. Furthermore, with various CSS transform options, users can offset the position of any page element with ease. Divi allows you to use multiple rows, columns and content elements. All layouts are fully responsive. The theme comes with an impressive array of content elements which include an audio player, bar counter, blog, number counter, shop, testimonial and contact form amongst others. Divi can also be translated into more than 30 languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Czech, Russian and Spanish to name but a few. Users can try a demo version of Divi for free, and there’s the option to purchase a one-year subscription to all of Elegant Themes’ products for $89 (£68) or $249(£187) for a Lifetime access. Halena Halena is the perfect choice for users with a minimalist philosophy, as its design is clean and simple, meaning that any web page you build will load almost immediately. Users can employ the custom-built product quick view mode to get a better view of their items, and the AJAX filtering tool makes inventory searches simple. Halena comes with a large variety of pre-built layouts. These include options for product display, shopping cart, checkout and customer accounts. The theme also includes WPBakery Page Builder, a drag and drop content editor. This can be used to customize templates as well as creating unique web pages. The Builder also come with its own selection of templates. Halena costs $49 (£36.8) for a regular license which includes 6-months of support, future updates and quality checks. Users can extend support for a further 12-months for $13.88 (£10.4). Artemis Artemis is aimed at those wanting a stylish and classy look for their website. It’s a multi-purpose WordPress WooCommerce theme which includes a variety of online shop demos. All the demos are laid out on the Artemis homepage, making it easier for users to find the right one for them. Designs are easily imported onto your WordPress site. Artemis comes with Visual Composer included – a drag and drop page builder plugin which will save you time when building your site. Slider Revolution is also part of Artemis. Users have a large variety of number options to choose from, and even novice users will have no trouble creating their perfect website. The whole theme is built around WooCommerce. Users can choose to have a full width shop or add left or right sidebars to their web page. Artemis is fully responsive, making it perfect for viewing on tablets and smartphones. A regular license costs $59 (£45) with 6-months support and future updates included. Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $17.63 (£13.32). Many online commentators have praised the customer support provided. Top image credit: Donald Trung (Wikimedia Commons) This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| MacBooks with 5G rumored to arrive in 2020 – but they’ll likely be pricey Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:21 AM PDT Apple will introduce a MacBook which has 5G – the first time Apple’s laptops will offer cellular connectivity – in 2020, according to the latest rumors. This comes from DigiTimes, which admittedly isn’t the most reliable source, but the outlet claims that industry insiders have indicated that Apple will roll out MacBooks toting 5G connectivity in the latter half of 2020.
Rumor has it that Apple is looking at using a ceramic antenna board for 5G, rather than the metal which would be traditionally employed. This would mean better reception and speeds – DigiTimes reckons it could potentially be twice as quick – and that’d obviously be a major benefit. However, the downside is a ceramic board might cost something like six times as much as a metal component, which would add to the price tag of a 5G MacBook (as if Apple’s laptops weren’t expensive enough, anyway – particularly in the case of the MacBook Pro). This kind of makes sense if you look at it in terms of Apple’s potential pitch, which could run something like: yes, you might have had to wait ages for cellular connectivity, but we wanted to get it right – and just look how good our 5G solution is … We shouldn’t get too carried away with theorizing here, though, as this is just a rumor, which we’ll put more stock in if alternative sources beyond DigiTimes chime in. Next year might seem optimistic as a proposed timeframe, too, although other laptop manufacturers are moving more quickly – the speculation also contends that Dell, HP and Lenovo are set to introduce 5G notebooks in 2019 (with Acer and Asus still working on their designs). Indeed, we’ve already heard about Lenovo unleashing 5G connected laptops with all-day battery life at the close of 2019. Laptop of luxuryThe current situation for MacBook users who are out and about wanting to go online away from Wi-Fi is that they have to connect via their phone’s hotspot (or another device, like a 4G dongle) rather than having the luxury of a built-in cellular modem. And, that’s quite possibly why Apple has historically shied away from cellular connectivity – because it’s a luxury the company can ill afford, in terms of the available internal space in its notebooks. Fitting yet another component inside MacBooks which the company is trying to constantly make thinner, lighter, and therefore more premium feeling would be tricky. The other reason could be wrapped up in the software side, with macOS needing to be worked on so that it can detect when a cellular connection or Wi-Fi is being used, and act appropriately (because obviously, you don’t want your data allowance chewed up by applications potentially downloading huge updates via 5G). Only time will tell if this is mere mindless churning from the rumor mill, or if there’s more substance to this 5G speculation. Although some folks doubtless feel it’s about time Apple started giving them a cellular option. Via 9 to 5 Mac This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The iRobot Roomba is down to its lowest price ever at Amazon Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:20 AM PDT If you didn't snag a discounted robot vacuum during Prime Day, then you're in luck. Right now Amazon has the best-selling iRobot Roomba 891 on sale for $379.99. That's a $52 discount and the lowest price we've seen for the Alexa-enabled vacuum. The iRobot Roomba 891 features an advanced three-stage cleaning system that loosens, lifts, and suctions dirt, dust, and pet hair from your floors. The Roomba will even work harder on concentrated areas of dirt thanks to its patented dirt detect sensors. The iRobot compatible app allows you to clean and schedule your Roomba from anywhere and get real-time updates on cleaning jobs. The Roomba 891 also works with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant to you can use your voice to clean your floors. If you'd like to check out a larger range of options, we have a few guides you might be interested in. How about the best cheap robot vacuum cleaner deals and cheap Dyson sales? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Best WordPress themes for blogs in 2019 Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:12 AM PDT If you have a passion for travel, food, gadgets, or simply enjoy ranting, you may already have discovered the benefits of blogging. Recording your forays into food or experimentation with radical communists allows you to share your news and views with the internet community. WordPress has thousands of templates to help you get started. In this guide, you’ll explore five of the very best themes specifically for hobbyists and bloggers. Some of these such as ‘Writing’ also incorporate SEO features meaning people searching online will be more likely to stumble across your blog. If you’re starting on a shoe-string budget, consider using one of the free themes we’ve listed here, such as Morning Time Lite.
TheBlogger TheBlogger is a WordPress theme suitable for storytelling and writing. It comes with a responsive design and multiple gallery features. TheBlogger also comes with a live customizer which helps you to tweak every part of your theme. It is Retina-ready and can be optimized for tablets and smartphones. Users can try the theme before buying. They can test drive the customizer to see if it meets their needs. There are a wide variety of widgets and sliders available to showcase your posts in image or video format. TheBlogger comes with helpful documentation that is straightforward and easy to follow. MailChimp for WordPress is also included. This allows you to send out newletters to blog subscribers. The theme integrates with Ninja Forms. Users can easily create and add forms with the drag and drop feature. A regular licence costs $59 (£44.58) which includes future updates and 6-months support. Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $17.63 (£13.32). Foodie Pro Foodie Pro helps users to create a beautiful blog based around all sorts of culinary delights. It is created by the Genesis Framework. This means your website will have a solid combination of this Framework along with WordPress. The theme comes with a huge amount of typography and color options. Users can build their site using up to 3 homepage and 5 site wide widget areas. These can be customized to fit around your brand. The theme allows users to upload their own logo with one click. There is also full support for text-based logos. Foodie Pro’s ‘Theme Customizer’ allows users to customize the theme’s settings, colours and backgrounds images. The ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ can be purchased for $129.95 (£98.23) for one year. This includes the Genesis Framework, Foodie Pro Theme, instant access, unlimited updates, supports, sites and access to detailed tutorials. If this is not enough, users can avail of the ‘Pro Plus Membership’ for $499.95 (£377.81). This includes all the ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ has to offer plus access to every theme the company makes including future themes. Soledad Soledad was created as a website builder for all skill types. It is geared towards users who want to run blogs or create magazines. The theme is highly customizable with multiple homepage layout models available. Users can also change the appearance of the ‘Category’, ‘Tag’, ‘Search’ and ‘Archive Layout’. Soledad is an SEO responsive WordPress multipurpose blog and magazine theme. It’s compatible with BBPress and BuddyPress. The theme is fully responsive and displays well on all screens. Soledad has over 4000 real homepage demos which can be installed with just one click. There are also a number of single post templates for different stories. The theme can be purchased for $59 (£44.58) which includes future updates and 6 months support which can be upgraded to 12-months for an extra $17.63 (£13.32). Some online commentators have lamented the lack of a search feature when it comes to support documentation. Morning Time Morning Time is a highly functional WordPress theme suitable for journalists, family blogs or personal blogs. Users can purchase the theme directly or they can test the demo the site offers. The theme is highly responsive so adapts well to tablets and smartphones. Morning Time is fully compatible with Gutenberg. Users can create blocks to insert, rearrange and style multimedia content without needing to have a lot of technical knowledge. Users can create and customize different aspects of their site including portfolio and Google maps amongst others. Morning Time is compatible with WooCommerce allowing you to turn your blog into an online store if needed. Users can make their older posts available with the ‘Blog Archive Feature’. Older posts will not disappear as you create new blogs. Users can also download ‘Morning Time Lite’ for free or subscribe to their premium tiers. Morning Time has three paid packages available. Users can avail of the ‘Yearly Access’ package for $97 (£80) per year. This includes access to all themes, child themes, PSD, HTML files, Support, updates, theme documentation and multiple site usage. Alternatively, users can purchase the ‘Lifetime’ package for $297 (£236) which includes all the ‘Yearly Access’ has to offer but with a one-off payment. The third package available is ‘Single Theme’ which naturally has less features than the ‘Yearly Access’, but it's also cheaper at $59(£47) per year. Writing Writing is the perfect theme for those trying to create a minimalist effect. The theme uses 24 Social Share Icons along with Facebook Open Graph Tags and multiple Social Icon Widgets. It is WPML compatible. Writing can be translated into any language. RTL support is also available for Hebrew, Arabic and Japanese. Writing is retina ready and is fully responsive making it adaptable to screens of all size and resolution. The whole setup is easy and geared towards users of any skill level. The theme is built according to the most recent rules of Search Engines. This means using this theme will help boost your SEO results maximizing traffic to your blog. Users can purchase Writing for $39 (£29.47) which includes future updates and 6-months support. 12-months support can be bought for a further $10.13 (£7.65).
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| Leica USA launches the Leica Women Foto Project and Award Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:04 AM PDT The photography industry has long been – indeed, continues to be – dominated by men, but recent years have seen manufacturers and organizations attempt to address this gender imbalance through various approaches. Competitions and grants have become one way in which female photographers have been able to showcase their perspective on everyday matters, and Leica is now doing its bit to help create a more diverse pool of photographic voices with a new initiative.
The US arm of the photographic specialist has launched the Leica Women Foto Project, a platform that will play host to ongoing programs and events designed for female photographers, as well as a photography award dedicated to the project. The award itself will see three photographers receive a $10,000 prize to support a personal project that's relevant to today's social and political climate, as well as the use of a Leica Q2 for a year. Once the year is up, the three recipients will pass those cameras on to next year's three winners, but will receive another camera in its place to help them continue their work. The Leica Q2 was announced earlier this year. "We enable growth through an expansion of thought when we actively support inclusivity through the photographic medium," says Kiran Karnani, Director of Marketing for Leica Camera North America. "With the Leica Women Foto Project, we aim to embolden photographers to think outside one's own point of view, support underrepresented voices to speak their visual languages, and celebrate new ways of seeing." To qualify, entrants must be 21 years or older and US residents. Leica USA requires a series of 10 images to be submitted from a personal or long-term project, along with a 500-word proposal that explains the candidate's intended project and details on how that money would be spent. You can enter via Leica USA's website but you should get in there sharpish as entries close on August 29. The winners will be announced on October 16. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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