Sunday, October 20, 2019

Apple : Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime Video: which is better for online streaming?

Apple : Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime Video: which is better for online streaming?

Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime Video: which is better for online streaming?

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 08:00 AM PDT

Disney Plus, the long-awaited online streaming service from Disney, is launching on November 12, 2019, in the US and Canada, with a follow-up launch in New Zealand and Australia on November 19 – and a Disney Plus UK launch date hopefully not far behind. This means there isn’t long to go before you need to decide whether you should ditch your other online streaming subscriptions or add another to your monthly outgoings. 

We’ve already put Netflix head-to-head with the new streaming platform in our Disney Plus vs Netflix guide. But where does Amazon stand in the best online streaming services rankings when the question is Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime Video?

We’ve collected together everything you need to know about Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video, to help you decide which one is right for you – considering what each service offers, how they work and, most importantly, the content they have to offer.

Before you decide, remember that finding the right streaming service for you will be personal, and depend on which TV shows you can’t live without, your budget and whether you can afford to add another subscription alongside your current streaming plans.

Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime: basic overview

The Disney Plus holding screen shows off the different properties that'll be available with a subscription.

Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video are both online streaming services that offer a wide range of TV shows, movies, cartoons and documentaries. You can stream content, as well as watch it later on a mobile device with offline viewing, which is handy if you’re travelling without an internet connection.

Disney Plus is yet to launch and when it does it’ll have a number of big-name properties under its belt, including Star Wars TV shows, Marvel flicks and every Disney movie you loved as a kid available to stream.

On the other hand, Amazon’s TV streaming service has been around for over a decade and is already one of the top streaming platforms globally – even if it’s lagging behind Netflix. It offers a huge library of content, both new and old, as well as its own original TV series. What’s more, Amazon Video also allows you to pay to rent or buy movies and TV shows that aren’t part of the streaming subscription. 

It’s worth mentioning that there are also a few other players in the online streaming rankings these days, including Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go.

Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime: price and availability

Disney Plus launches on November 12, 2019 in the US. No official details have been revealed about wider launch dates, but we can expect global rollout soon – probably in the new year now. 

When it launches, Disney Plus will offer subscriptions for $6.99 (around £5.50) a month or $69.99 (around £55.50) a year. That subscription allows you to stream content to four devices at the same time, with a total of 10 mobile or tablet devices for a single account – and no constraints on how much you stream.

Unlike Netflix, there are no tiered pricing plans with Disney Plus. US viewers, however, can buy a bundle package that includes ESPN+ and Hulu – all for $12.99 a month.

An single Amazon Prime membership seems much more expensive at $12.99 per month or $119 per year if you choose to pay annually. With this, you’re able to stream content to two devices at once with different formats (like HD) available. 

But when it comes to Amazon Prime Video, remember that you’ll also have an Amazon Prime membership. This will give you access to all things Prime Video and the Amazon Music streaming service – as well as same-day or one-day shipping, photo storage, access to exclusive deals and more. 

Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime: features and interface

Here's one of the early released screenshots of the Disney Plus homepage.

Because Disney Plus hasn’t launched yet, we haven’t had a chance to play with the user interface or features. However, thanks to some initial screenshots of the Disney Plus dashboard, we can see that it’ll look similar to the layout of Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. 

There’s a ‘Recommended For You’ stream and another called ‘Continue Watching’, as well as five buttons across the top of the screen for the different channels on offer on Disney Plus, including Star Wars, National Geographic and Marvel. 

Amazon Prime Video has much the same format, recommending content based on your viewing habits and collecting titles together in different genres. Sometimes it’s not as easy as it should be to find recently-released content, but everything about Amazon Prime Video is intuitive enough.

Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime: content

There’ll be a lot of content available on Disney Plus at launch, but will it be able to compete with the sheer amount of what’s on Amazon Prime Video? 

On Disney Plus we can expect many movies, cartoons and TV shows you already know and love. This is going to include all your favorite Disney movies, both old and new, every episode of The Simpsons and every Pixar movie. As well as a big bank of older content, there’s also going to be a large choice of upcoming TV shows and movies courtesy of Disney’s big-budget properties, including Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar.

One of the most highly-anticipated new TV shows is The Mandalorian, the first live-action TV show set in the Star Wars universe. There are also lots of new Marvel live-action TV shows in development, including WandaVision (about the Scarlet Witch and Vision), Hawkeye, and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

A still from upcoming Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian.

Disney also owns National Geographic, which means it’ll be a great place to visit for new documentaries about the natural world, providing a big mix of content whatever mood you’re in.

Even if Netflix tends to dominate discussions of the best and biggest TV streaming services, Amazon Prime Video has long had an advantage in the sheer number of titles available – at last count having four times as many movies as Netflix. Of course, that doesn’t mean all of it is worth watching – there are lots of mediocre choices to weed through (which is why we’ve put together lists of the best Amazon Prime movies and best Amazon TV series too). But if you’re after quantity above all else, Amazon Prime Video wins over the rest and has some of the best legacy content ever made, including Lost, Parks and Recreation and The X-Files.

Just because there’s a lot of content available doesn’t mean Amazon isn’t great at investing in new content too. It’s created some fantastic TV shows over the years, including Transparent, The Tick, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, and Carnival Row, and it’ll also be producing the next season of hit science-fiction show The Expanse – and procured the rights to create a massive TV adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

It’s also home to a lot of shows it didn’t create but has exclusive licenses to stream in many regions, including Mr Robot and the upcoming Star Trek: Picard series.

A still from the new Picard series that'll be streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

What’s interesting content-wise is that Disney has joined forces with Amazon, which will be streaming some Disney Plus content in regions where it hasn’t launched yet. According to reports, this deal is only in place in Latin America, but it could roll out to other countries soon.

That means that if you’re not in the US, an Amazon Prime subscription could bring you all the benefits of Amazon as well as some of the top new shows from Disney Plus.

Takeaway

It’s difficult to weigh up the pros and cons of Disney Plus in advance of its official launch but it certainly seems like a contender and might be worth switching your Amazon Prime and Netflix subscription for.

However, finding the right streaming service for you all depends on what content you like to watch. So, when it comes to Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime, you’ll have to ask yourself whether there’s any content on Disney Plus that you can’t live without – e.g. Star Wars or Marvel movies. Or, whether there’s Amazon Prime content that’ll keep you coming back again and again, like Mr Robot and The Expanse.

There’s no doubt about it: Disney Plus is going to have a lot of fantastic new content and old favorite legacy content that’ll be hard to beat. However, Amazon has an extensive back catalogue of movies and TV shows too, as well as a solid track record of award-winning originals. Amazon Prime is also a no-brainer if you enjoy any of the other Prime member benefits on Amazon, like super-fast deliveries on products. 

So there is no winner in the Disney Plus vs Amazon Prime head-to-head – just two great streaming services with different types of content on offer. 

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This is how the John Lewis guarantee will improve your Black Friday deals shopping

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 07:00 AM PDT

When you find a great Black Friday deal, you can often be so caught in the adrenaline of it, that you forget all the extra costs that your purchase will entail

The main one, that often costs a lot more than you'd think, is a guarantee. Thankfully, there's a retailer that has its own guarantee – John Lewis.

John Lewis offers a range of guarantees for purchases you make, whether it's in store or online, which range from two years to 15 years depending on what you buy. These will let you do your John Lewis Black Friday shopping in peace, knowing a major expense and worry is covered.

So what are these guarantees, and which products are protected for how long? We'll run you through the different guarantees John Lewis offers on its products, to help you understand what you could be getting come Black Friday.

John Lewis guarantees explained 

The best John Lewis guarantee on tech purchases you'll be able to find is on a new TV, as they’ll be protected for five long years (and maybe we'll have all our Netflix zapped into our brain at that point anyway). 

This means you can make the most of the Black Friday TV deals, happy in the knowledge that your TV is future-proof against any failures.

If you’re going for the best Black Friday laptop deals, you're going to be able to enjoy two years of John Lewis guarantee on any computer you pick up from John Lewis. If you go to a physical John Lewis store this is also applicable, and it may be worth testing out the computer before you buy, since it's a big investment.

Will the new iPhone 11 see a John Lewis Black Friday discount?

Many people will be hunting for Black Friday phones deals, and if that's you, it may be worth checking out other retailers too, as John Lewis doesn't offer its automatic guarantee on small electricals like smartphones or tablets. 

Instead, you can purchase Added Care damage insurance, but it'll cost you a little bit extra.

There are also various guarantees on other John Lewis purchases you might make over Black Friday. There's two years on large electricals like home appliances, and an extra year on top of that if it's a John Lewis own brand device. Similarly there's a two-year guarantee on lighting deals, which stretches to a whole five years for John Lewis products.

Furniture like sofas, armchairs and divans gets you a fantastic fifteen year guarantee, by which time you’ll probably have lost the whole cost of the item down the cracks in the cushions, John Lewis brand mattresses are guaranteed for seven years, bedding is covered for two to five years depending on the material, and curtains and blinds are protected for three years.

So whatever you’re looking for over the Black Friday deals period, you’ll be able to keep your purchase covered for even longer thanks to the John Lewis guarantee (unless you’re shopping for small electricals).

What's covered by the John Lewis guarantee?

The John Lewis guarantee won't cover every breakage, so it's worth knowing what you're protected for. It's slightly different for each product, so check the John Lewis guarantee page for specifics, but there are some general rules that apply for all.

Accidental damage is generally not covered, so you can't spill a glass of wine on your new laptop, throw a ball through your sparkling TV, or set fire to your plump sofa, and expect to get it replaced.

Genuine product errors are covered, so if a bug brings your computer to its knees, it's not your fault... unless it is. Problems brought about from human error, like computer viruses, screen burn (where the same image is displayed for too long for one continuous period) or battery mismanagement, won't be covered.

Theft isn't covered either, so make sure to find a great Black Friday deal on a lock, security camera, or other protection products if you're worried about your new gadget or purchase getting stolen.

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The Huawei MediaPad M7 could bring the punch-hole camera to tablets

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 06:30 AM PDT

It looks like Huawei has another tablet in the works, if a newly leaked image is to be believed, and it's bringing something a little out of the ordinary to the market – a punch-hole notch for a selfie camera.

Images procured by 91mobiles show what we think is the Huawei MediaPad M7, codenamed Marx inside Huawei, and set to be available in blue or silver.

Besides that punch-hole notch in the corner of the display, the tablet also appears to have a dual-lens camera around the back, and is going to come with support for Huawei's very own M-Pen stylus.

In terms of upgrades over the MediaPad M6, it looks like the bezels have been made thinner, and the fingerprint sensor has been moved under the display. It's not immediately clear if the 3.5mm audio jack has been kept.

Huawei MediaPad M7 leak

What we don't have yet is much in the way of specifics on the specs, but it's very likely that the tablet will show up with the latest Kirin 990 processor on board. As for a launch date, MWC 2020 is a good bet, at the end of February.

Of course big question marks remain over the sort of software that the MediaPad M7 might come with, considering the ongoing friction between the US and China (and Huawei). It may carry a Google-free variation on Android, like the Huawei Mate 30.

A lot can change between now and February though, so if the US does decide to ease some of the restrictions it's placed on business between US companies and Huawei, then the full and regular version of Android could be back on the table.

We could certainly use some more top-tier Android tablets to take on the might of the iPad – besides the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6, there's not much to pick from.

Via PocketNow

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Man Utd vs Liverpool live stream: how to watch today's Premier League football online from anywhere

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 06:12 AM PDT

With Man United's form in free fall, the international break has given Man United's beleaguered boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer some much needed respite and space to reassess.

Sadly for Solskjaer, the fixture computer hasn't been kind on their return to Premier League action, throwing up a visit from their fierce rivals Liverpool who just happen to be in seemingly unstoppable form.

Will Liverpool continue their relentless run or will United raise their game against Jurgen Klopp's men? You can watch all the action as it happens, no matter where you are in the world, by following our Man Utd vs Liverpool live stream guide below.

As if they didn't have enough incentive to win against their old rivals, Liverpool will be able to match Man City's record of 18 wins in a row if they notch up another victory today. Klopp has done little in the way of squad rotation this season, and it seems unlikely that will be the case today. The one significant change could be between the sticks, with Adrian set to step aside for the now fit again Alisson.

Solskjaer's efforts to steer Man United away from crisis club status isn't being helped by a mounting injury list, with Paul Pogba and David De Gea both picking up knocks during international duty which will rule them both out of today's game. Goals are hard to come by for United's forward line right now, and its a mark of how expectation and ambition has fallen at Old Trafford when most United fans would likely be satisfied if their side just kept things tight at the back against their great rivals today and rest their hopes of scoring from set plays.

It's shaping up to be a fascinating encounter - check out our guide below on how to obtain a Man Utd vs Liverpool live stream, regardless of where you are in the world.

To find out how to watch the rest of the weekend's games and beyond, check out our guide on how to live stream the 19/20 Premier League football season. 

Use a VPN to watch Premier League football from outside your country

If you're abroad this weekend but still want to watch your home coverage, you'll need a VPN to do so. That's because your normal coverage will be geo-blocked. It's really easy to do and stops you having to tune in to some dodgy stream you've heard about on Reddit.

How to stream Man Utd vs Liverpool live in the UK 

How to watch Man United vs Liverpool: US live stream 

How to watch a Premier League live stream in Canada

How to live stream Man Utd vs Liverpool in Australia

How to watch Manchester United vs Liverpool: New Zealand live stream 

How to live stream Manchester United vs Liverpool in India

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Here’s why the new HP Spectre x360 should be your next laptop

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 06:04 AM PDT

If you are looking for a new laptop, chances are that you want one that ticks all the boxes- design, performance, features and a battery that keeps it going. You are most likely going to use the laptop for work as well as entertainment and no other laptop comes close to the HP Spectre x360 13- especially when you want to do it all in style.

This gorgeous gem-cut 13-inch will draw admiring looks at whatever coffee shop you work in, while the powerful hardware will handle anything you throw at it. Adding to the experience is the HP Active Pen that’ll encourage budding creators to widen their horizon. Last and certainly not the least is the incredible battery life.  

Though there’s tons to love about this laptop. we’ve rounded up the five best reasons why the HP Spectre x360 should be your next laptop.

1. Borderless immersive viewing experience

The new Spectre x360 range of laptops are fitted with a 13.3-inch IPS micro-edge display which results in thin [SR(1] side bezel. The screen has a 4K display and has support for pen and touch input. Coupled with the HP Audio Boost technology powered by Bang & Olufsen, the Spectre x360 13 is a fantastic laptop to watch videos and movies on.

2. Thin and light

HP Spectre x360 has been designed keeping in mind the people who work on-the-go. With portability, the laptop has a modern hourglass design which lets a user hold the lids firmly. This allows easier switching between laptop and tablet modes which comes in handy if you’re a designer who needs to draw on the screen.

3. Creatively artful

If you’re a designer and looking for an affordable laptop which has the ability to let you create artworks, the Spectre x360 is just what you are looking for. The laptop supports simultaneous pen and touch inputs, so one can easily sketch with the bundled HP Active Pen and control the remaining tools with the other hand.

 The HP Active Pen can help users design, illustrate and sketch from the comfort of a single screen. It also supports Windows Inking feature which provides an Ink Workspace on the Spectre x360 to users for them to play around with the digital pen.

4. Fast and secure

HP Spectre x360 14 offers the perfect balance between work and play as it can be configured with up to[SR(2] 8th generation quad core Intel Core i7 processors with 8GB RAM and 512GB M.2 SSD storage. HP’s Command Center allows you the flexibility to customize performance, fan speed and noise to work exactly how you want it to.

There’s an IR camera and a fingerprint reader which let users quickly sign into the laptop. The privacy camera kill switch makes sure confidential moments are exactly that while the HP Sure View privacy screen stops others from snooping at your work.

5. A battery that doesn’t quit

The HP Spectre x360 comes equipped with a battery that lasts all day- thanks to the highly efficient Intel Core i7 processor. Besides lasting long, the HP Spectre x360 also charges up quickly going from 0 to 50% charge in approximately 30 minutes. This almost guarantees you won’t have any downtime.

Powered by Intel® Core™ i7 processor, the new HP’s Spectre x360 looks modern, feels premium in the hand and is powerful enough to back you up in your daily tasks. It is currently available from amazon.ae

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Despite challenges, quantum computing can break combination of blockchain and AI

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 04:08 AM PDT

Quantum computing can break the tough combination of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) together but it has challenges, an industry expert said.

Quantum computers, which have an immense computing power to encrypt and decrypt data, can crack even the most elaborate forms of encryption in use today and they can perform complex calculations at 100m times the speed of current computers.

What is quantum computing?

Data can be processed in an exclusive binary state at any point of time, that is, either 0 (off) or 1 (on) but in quantum computing, it can work in a two-way mode which means that it can change 0 into a superposition of 0 and 1.

 “For any technology, there is a way to break and quantum computing may make it easier for people to break the existing encryption technology." Dr. Anand Rao, global AI lead at research and consulting firm PwC, told TechRadar Middle East.

If quantum computing becomes widely accessible, he said that everyone will be forced to upgrade from the current encryption to quantum encryption to stay one step ahead of professional hackers.

But will everyone adopt quantum computing, he said: “no”.

What is quantum encryption?

Quantum encryption, also known as quantum cryptography, uses a series of photons to transmit data from one location to another over a fibre optic cable. If the photon is read or copied in any way by a middle man, the state of the photon will change. The change will be detected by the endpoints and the transaction will not be complete.

The security community will need to adopt a new set of algorithms, especially what is called “asymmetric crypto”, as old ones will be useless.

Asymmetric crypto uses public and private keys to encrypt and decrypt data. The standardisation process is underway with NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] and within a few years, it should have a new set of crypto algorithms.

Answers get unstable as qubits increase

“Some are making quantum computing available in the cloud. The gains may not be there for all types of computation. There are specific types of algorithms such as portfolio optimisation and drug discovery that can be better done on a quantum computer than on the traditional GPU machines, but it will be pricey as it needs more power and cooling,” he said.

“If you have a certain decision tree, then it is better off using a traditional computer. With quantum computing coming in, it does not validate AI or blockchain. Even if quantum computing comes in, GPUs will still be needed to process a certain type of problems,” he said.

However, he said that the challenge for quantum computers is more of an engineering challenge and not a conceptual challenge.

“To get the stability, they need to do a lot of cooling and so on. You can get stability with a smaller number of qubits [quantum bits] as you increase the qubits, the answers get unstable,” he said.

Rao said that quantum computing will take a couple of years to advance and until then, blockchain and AI can be combined to protect information and that may be a technology path to some risks.

“Adding blockchain to an AI technology will make it more difficult to hack. It is the endpoint of the blockchain that is being cracked but not the blockchain itself. There are ways the research community is working on it,” he said.

However, he said that the problem with blockchain is to bring multiple parties together and agree on something.

“Getting to agree on one thing by a single party is difficult and if you want multiple parties to come together, each party has something to lose and something to gain. If they look at something to lose, they will never come to an agreement and that is why blockchain is taking a back seat for the past year and a half,” he said.

AI will become more like internet

Blockchain as a technology is still very good, Rao said but some people say that it does do a lot of computation which means that it is consuming a lot of computing power.

When asked whether AI is fact or fiction, he said that there is still a lot of hype around AI since 1985.

There are some things; he added that is game-changing in terms of how the algorithms have become much better in recognising voice and accent than humans, recognising images (facial recognition) and text.

“There are significant advancements but sometimes the vendors are overpromising, feeding into the hype. That is why AI has suffered in the past – over-promised and under-delivered – and it has happened several times in the past, since 1956,” he said.

However, this time, he said that there is hype but there is truth in it as well.

“AI is helping in various and specific situations. All the general-purpose AI, taking over humanity, is oversold and there is no technology to take us there, it is blown up to scare people. I don’t think it is going to happen,” he said.

However, he said that AI will become more like the internet and people cannot get away from it.

“It will become a part of other channels for various functions. Machines are going to help us to make better decisions in the future,” he said.

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AMD Ryzen 9 3950X easily beats Intel’s mighty Core i9-10980XE in leaked benchmark

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 04:00 AM PDT

Another day, another set of leaked benchmarks, and once again we’re seeing the power of AMD’s imminent Ryzen 9 3950X – this time in a comparison to Intel’s incoming Core i9-10980XE (although this is not an apples-to-apples comparison in several different respects – more on that later).

So, before we come to the caveats – the most obvious one being that we assume these benchmarks are genuine – let’s take a look at the actual 3DMark scores as provided by the ever-present CPU leaker TUM_APISAK.

As you can see, we’re looking at the AMD and Intel chips in 3DMark, Fire Strike, specifically the ‘Physics’ score which pertains to the processor – the other results can’t be compared because the benchmarked PCs had different other hardware components (including, most tellingly, different graphics cards).

So the Ryzen 9 3950X hit 32,082 easily outdoing Intel’s Core i9-10980XE which recorded a result of 25,838. That’s a victory to the tune of 24% for the Ryzen processor, with both CPUs running at their stock clock speeds.

Of course, with these being pre-release chips, we don’t know if the Intel silicon might be an earlier engineering sample, maybe – and we shouldn’t put all that much emphasis on the importance of a sub-test from a single benchmark anyway.

Different worlds

Remember that these chips are from different worlds, too: the Ryzen 9 3950X is a consumer flagship, and the Core i9-10980XE is the flagship of Intel’s incoming range of Cascade Lake-X high-end desktop processors.

In other words, they are built for different purposes, with Intel’s Cascade Lake-X targeted at heavyweight computing usage and coming with other performance benefits as such (like 48 PCIe lanes, and quad-channel memory).

Nonetheless, this certainly illustrates just how the power of even Ryzen consumer processors has been ramped up, to the point where the flagship 3950X is outdoing an equivalent (in terms of cores and base clocks) current-gen Threadripper as we saw yesterday.

Although of course, 3rd-gen Threadripper is around the corner, and that’s really where the battle will lie for Cascade Lake-X CPUs – and Intel’s anticipating a fierce fight, by the looks of things, given the massive price slashes we recently witnessed to the Core i9-10980XE and all the way down the range.

Via Wccftech

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The best phone camera lenses could be about to get dramatically thinner

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT

Whether you’re an iPhone user, Huawei super-fan, Samsung phone devotee or OnePlus worshipper, everyone can agree that camera bumps – protrusions in a phone's casing, where the camera is housed – are annoying. They get damaged easily, stop you lying your phone flat on a table, and feel irritating when you’re holding your phone in landscape. However, a solution is in hand.

This solution comes from the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, where a group of researchers have just invented smartphone camera lenses that are just a few micrometers thick. If you don’t know what a micrometer is, maybe this will give you an idea: it’s a millionth of a meter, meaning these lenses are thousands of times thinner than those currently in use in flagship smartphones – and twenty times thinner than a human hair.

This news was published in a scientific paper titled "Broadband lightweight flat lenses for long-wave infrared imaging", which describes a truly tiny optical lens. It can fulfill all the functions of a thicker smartphone lens by effectively creating numerous tiny structures that bounce light to the sensor, working together to act as a lens.

A super-thin smartphone lens sounds great, but how will this actually transform your camera experience? We spoke to Rajesh Menon, an electrical and computer engineering associate professor at the University of Utah, to better understand these little lenses.

Understanding super-thin smartphone lenses

The University of Utah researchers’ prototype lens was flat, but most smartphone lenses are rounded – the ‘main’ camera on a phone is usually a wide-angle lens. Naturally, then, our first question was about lenses. 

Specifically, we asked Menon if these micrometer lenses would come in different specifications – such as ultra-wide angle, telephoto, macro, or more. The answer was simple enough: “Yes, this is exactly what we do."

“The idea is to make this completely transparent to a lens designer. In other words, the lens designer will specify [what they want] and our algorithms will turn those specifications into flat lens designs." So it’s very possible that these lenses will come in all the configurations you see on the back of your smartphone already.


The tech is great, but as is often the case with scientific breakthroughs like this, it’s possible that it could still be a ways off arriving in retail – so our next question was whether we could see this in smartphones any time soon, and what kind of time scale this would be. 

“My best guess is 2-3 years,” Menon told us, adding that, “Before smartphones, there are applications in aerospace and UAVs, where these lenses will be applied.” 

When news of the research broke, several other uses for the lenses were touted alongside smartphones, such as lighter military drones, or night vision equipment, mainly for military use – and it’s possible the lenses will be deployed for those purposes before making their way to smartphones.

It’s very easy to drop a smartphone and have it break, and this risk is increased significantly if the lens in use is a twentieth the thickness of a human hair, so our final question was about the frailty of this lens. According to Menon, though, there’s nothing to worry about: “All lenses today are protected behind strong glass, so this can be the same for our lenses as well.” 

In short, you’d have to severely damage your phone for the lenses to be affected.

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Japan vs South Africa live stream: how to watch today's Rugby World Cup 2019 quarter-final from anywhere

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 02:53 AM PDT

Japan have reached the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history off the back of four wins and some superb performances. Today's game provides another test of their underdog status, but they can draw strength from their famous win over today's opponents four years ago? You can watch the action as it happens with our Japan vs South Africa live stream guide.

South Africa come into today's match as the highest scoring team of the 2019 Rugby World Cup having thrashed Canada in their final Pool match, but today's game provides much sterner opposition. 

Japan's path to the knockout stages has been full of battling performances, and one wonders how much their resilient defending in the closing stages of their crucial last match agains Scotland will have taken out of them. Easily one of the best teams to watch in the tournament so far, if the hosts can get beyond their fatigue and harness their noise home support, they could well pull off another shock.

While confidence will up among the ranks of the Springboks, the team has a number of major injury doubts with scrum-half Herschel Jantjies, Cheslin Kolbe and Francois Louw all doubtful, with coach Rassie Erasmus placing Ruan Pienaar on standby.

A semi-final clash against Wales beckons one of these two sides, and you can watch all the action from pretty much anywhere on Earth by following our Rugby World Cup Japan vs South Africa live stream guide below.

How to watch the 2019 Rugby World Cup from outside your country

If you're abroad this weekend and try to watch your domestic Rugby World Cup coverage, you'll be metaphorically rucked off the ball due to geo-blocking. That stops you watching your home feed online wile in a foreign country.

That's where the use of a VPN comes in, as it helps you tune into those fixtures no matter where you are in the world without resorting to some dodgy feed on Reddit. And best of all, it's really easy to do (or read on for details on how to stream coverage from South Africa, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA).

Live stream the Springboks match in South Africa

How to stream Japan vs South Africa live in the UK 

How to watch a live of Japan vs South Africa in Australia

How to watch Japan vs South Africa live in New Zealand

How to live stream Japan vs South Africa in the US

  • Hulu with Live TV $40 per month - Hulu with Live TV includes CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN.
  • FuboTV $35 for the first month - FuboTV gives you the first month at a discounted rate but after that the price increases to $45 a month. The service includes CBS, Fox, NBC and the NFL Network but does not come with ESPN.
  • DirecTV Now $50 per month - DirecTV Now includes CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and for $5 extra you can add the NFL Network.
  • YouTubeTV $40 per month - YouTubeTV gives you access to CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN.

Divider

Live stream Rugby World Cup 2019 match in Canada

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Fossil Gen 5 update makes it the first Wear OS watch to make calls via an iPhone

Posted: 20 Oct 2019 02:30 AM PDT

Wear OS watches have worked with iOS for some time now, but you don't get all the functionality that you do when you pair the devices with an Android phone – and that includes making and receiving calls.

With the help of a proprietary software update (so this won't be coming to Wear OS smartwatches in general), the latest Gen 5 devices from Fossil are now able to handle iPhone calls, reports 9to5Google.

That means you can answer an incoming call to an iPhone, and launch an outgoing call too. As the Fossil Gen 5 smartwatches don't have integrated LTE connectivity, you still need a connected phone to manage the actual calling.

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As yet there's been no official word from Fossil or Apple about how the software works, but Reddit users have reported the new functionality. If you own a Gen 5 watch, the required update should appear very soon, if it hasn't already.

Fifth time around

This calling feature is made possible because of the built-in speaker on the Gen 5 smartwatches from Fossil – that speaker is one of the key upgrades you get over the Gen 4.

In our Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch review we found ourselves impressed by the battery life, the speed and the design of the latest wearable from Fossil, which is available in six different color and finish combinations.

The Gen 5 is one of the best smartwatches you can strap to your wrist right now – it's certainly one of the best watches sporting the Wear OS software from Google.

Another of the smartwatch's key features is the ability to pick a custom battery mode, so you can choose the balance between utility and battery life by turning certain options (like GPS and NFC) on or off.

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Amazon Great Indian Festival Diwali Special sale 2019: best deals and offers

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 11:20 PM PDT

Amazon India is hosting a Diwali Special sale ahead of the festivities in the country. The last leg of its Great Indian Festival 2019 sale starts from October 21. The e-tailer recently concluded its two sales which went live from September 29 in India. According to Amazon, the four-five day sale was its biggest ever and attracted shoppers from over 99.4% Indian pin-codes.

Amazon Great Indian Festival Diwali Special sale will go on till October 25, just two days before the auspicious day. As always, Amazon India offers early access to the sale for its Prime members. The sale begins from noon on October 20, giving a 12-hour lead to Prime subscribers!

During the sale, Amazon will offer deals on a variety of selection across different catalogs like smartphones, laptops, cameras, large appliances & TVs, home & kitchen products, fashion, consumables such as grocery & beauty and consumer electronic products.

  • Axis Bank, Citi & RuPay debit and credit cardholders eligible for an instant discount of 10%
  • Amazon will also offer no-cost EMI and exchange offers to make the deals even more enticing.
  • Festive cashback offers worth upto Rs 900 can be collected from the sale page and will be valid for the duration of the sale.

Best deals and offers on smartphones: Upto 40% off

  • 100+ smartphones at lowest prices ever!
  • Exchange your old phones and get upto ₹6,000 off
  • Extra cashback on select products on Amazon Pay payments

Amazon is offering a 1-year free screen replacement offer as well which will be applicable on certain products.

During the sale, mobile phone cases, covers, screen protectors, cables and chargers will start at Rs 99, power banks available starting at Rs 399 and upto 70% off on Bluetooth headsets.

Best deals & offers on laptops

Best deals and offers on electronics

As part of the new launches, OnePlus TV with 55-inch 4K screen and 50W eight speakers will be up for grabs during the festival sale. Amazon is also offering upto 50% off on smart TVs from brands like Samsung and Xiaomi.

Best deals and offers on Amazon Echo, Fire TV and Kindle

Some of the combo deals include Echo Dot with a free smart Bulb, Fire TV with Echo Dot and a smart Bulb, Echo Show 5 with Xiaomi Mi LED bulb, among others.

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