Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Apple : Cyberpunk 2077 release date, price, trailers, gameplay and news

Apple : Cyberpunk 2077 release date, price, trailers, gameplay and news

Cyberpunk 2077 release date, price, trailers, gameplay and news

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 01:47 PM PST

Cyberpunk 2077 will be hacking into our digital lives in only a few months – but the more teasers, trailers, and gameplay we get to see, the less sure we can wait that long before CD Projekt Red's massive dystopian RPG actually comes to our screens.

Landing on Xbox One, PC, and PS4, Cyberpunk 2077 looks set to be a vast open-world game, draped in dizzying neon colors and futuristic gadgetry, and packed with more branching storylines than you could shake a high-tech 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 play a mysterious outlaw in the sleazy underbelly of the city.

Here's all the news, trailers, and announcements we've had on Cyberpunk 2077 so far. Or, if you can't take the anticipation ahead of the game's 2020 release, check out our thoughts on the Cyberpunk RED tabletop role-playing game instead.

UPDATE: Some new game details have been revealed via a Q&A. Read on to find out more!

Cut to the chase

  • What is Cyberpunk 2077? A brand new IP from CD Projekt Red starring Keanu Reeves 
  • What's the Cyberpunk 2077 release date? April 16, 2020
  • What systems will Cyberpunk 2077 be released on? PS4, Xbox One and PC
  • Will it come to next-gen consoles too? We think it's likely, though there's no official word so far
  • Is it not coming to Switch? Sorry, Nintendo – while the Witcher III is somehow being ported to Switch, it seems unlikely the hardware could cope with what Cyberpunk is promising

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 trailers

The latest Cyberpunk 2077 trailer is a 15-minute deep dive into the game's lore, world, and gameplay. If you don't mind spoiling some of the visual treats in store – including what it's like to actually step into cyberspace – check out the video here.

E3 2019 gave us an incredibly slick trailer, with a look at some new characters, weapon-play – including 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, 2020

In 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. 

Cyberpunk 2077

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 features

Reddit Q&A reveals more details

More has revealed more about the depth of Cyberpunk 2077 in a recent Reddit Q&A in which a user has recounted information from their attendance at a Q&A day with CD Projekt Red in Poland.

According to the poster, the game's day and night cycle will have an impact on quests; at certain times of day, for example, a location may be more or less guarded which could impact your likelihood of success. Weather, though, won't have an impact quite so severe although in-game characters will react to it. 

The game's crime system has been revealed as being similarly dynamic— so police won't jump on you for a small crime like, say, assault on a particular individual. But they will "absolutely try to fry your ass" for more extreme things like causing harm to large groups of people with a gun or vehicle.

Quests in the game will be wide-ranging, branching and evolving, even impacting one another. And the game won't necessarily end with the completion of the main story; you can opt to keep playing. Replayability is said to be higher with this game than The Witcher 3. 

As far as customization goes, the developer has acknowledged that players are interested in car customization but has asked for more patience before saying anything with regards to any plans, while, interestingly, there won't be an option to buy a new apartment. Instead V's apartment will evolve and change depending on the paths that players take when playing the game and it'll feature options within it for customization and expression though what they are has not been confirmed. 

Post-launch content

We're still a long way away from any kind of post-launch content for Cyberpunk 2077 but fans have been thinking about how CD Projekt Red may consider monetising it. Well, the studio doesn't seem to have locked down any definite path just yet but it is being considered and the most likely scenario appears to be that the game will follow in the post-launch content footsteps of The Witcher 3.

In an interview with GameSpot at PAX Australia, the head of CDPR's Krakow office, John Mamais said “I think it’s a bad idea to do microtransactions after you release a game. It seems like it’s very profitable, though. It’s probably a hard decision for the guy that runs the business to decide if we should do it or not. But if everyone hates it, why would we do something like that and lose the goodwill of our customers?”

As far as Mamais is concerned, the Witcher 3's model which saw free DLC launched with big paid expansions was "a good model" which "worked pretty well." As a result, Mamais added "I don’t see why we wouldn’t try to replicate that model with Cyberpunk 2077. We’re not talking about that yet, but it seems like that would be the smart way to go.”

Photo mode?

Let's face it, we all want to take pictures of Night City and there have been hints that this may be possible when the game launches. The developer told fans previously that there were plans to include a photo mode in the game and a recent video posted to Twitter has suggested that may still be the case. 

The video shows a scene of the Night City skyline while the symbol of a camera shows briefly. The hashtags on the tweet itself read Capture Cyberpunk and Photos From Night City. This makes a photo mode seem very likely and given it's a feature found in most big budget games these days that may not be entirely surprising. However, the game's first person perspective may present some challenges if CD Projekt Red wishes to allow players to take pictures which will include their fully-customised avatars. 

No Reeves romance for you

We know, you're devastated. We all are. But it's now been confirmed that Keanu Reeves is not a character you'll be able to romance during Cyberpunk 2077 (via PCGamer). 

What about multiplayer?

After repeatedly stating that multiplayer elements were in R&D but saying nothing more, CD Projekt Red has confirmed on Twitter that it's definitely in the works. So far, the plan appears to be to release the game in April as a single-player experience and then follow this up with various single DLCs that will be free to download and play, after which players will begin to be invited for "some multiplayer action." Multiplayer is, then, slightly down the road but it is coming. 

Character creation will be gender fluid
In an interview with Metro, senior concept artist Marthe Jonkers clarified that players would be able to customize their characters's gender expression in a much more fluid way than traditional RPGs – with two masculine / feminine body types and voices you can mix and match as you please.

Jonkers said that "you don’t choose your gender anymore. You don’t choose, ‘I want to be a female or male character’ you now choose a body type. Because we want you to feel free to create any character you want."

GTA-style radio
You can listen to some music GTA-style while cruising about in your vehicle.

Coming to Stadia
Cyberpunk 2077 has now been announced for the Google Stadia streaming service for games.

Cyberpunk 2077

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 In an interview with Wccftech, CD Projekt Red’s Alvin Liu discussed hardcore mode, revealing that it will get rid of the game’s UI to provide a “real challenge” for players. That means there’ll be no markers or indicators telling you where things are or what level of enemy you’re going up against. It’s real immersion in Night City and the desert beyond with the potential for real frustration. 

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 In an interview with Wccftech, UI director Alan Liu revealed Cyberpunk 2077 will feature dynamic weather such as acid rain and other environmental hazards.

Cyberpunk 2077


Settings available for those uncomfortable with FPS
The game includes a number of difficulty levels for those who may struggle to adjust to playing an RPG in the style of an FPS.

Cyberpunk 2077 will look just as good on console as PC
In an interview with Wccftech, UI director Alan Liu was asked about the challenges of optimizing Cyberpunk 2077 for low-end hardware. 

"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?
In an interview with VGC at E3 2019, Pondsmith admitted that Keanu Reeves' involvement in the game has made the possibility of a Cyberpunk movie adaption much more likely.

"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
If the appearance of Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077 as a rock star wasn't enough, punk band Refused are creating the music for his in-game band (named Samurai). And if that wasn't enough, Samurai have released their first single, Chippin' In – presumably something to do with microchips – so you can start getting a sense of Night City's soundscapes already.

There may or may not be three games in development
Polish news site Bankier reported that CD Projekt President Adam Kiciński had confirmed the existence of yet another AAA game set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, likely being the planned follow-up to next year's game – with a secondary team apparently working on a multiplayer mode too. CD Projekt has refuted the claims, while refusing to be drawn on whether a sequel could appear down the line. To be fair, they're probably focused on getting the main title out first.

Take your pick of protagonists
Instead of a set lead character like the Witcher, it sounds like we'll have a few options to choose from. Cyberpunk 2077's lead quest designer, Paweł Sasko, has commented that "The player in Cyberpunk 2077 can create a custom character that has one of three origin stories, that we call Lifepaths," each with their own "starting location and story background that are strongly connected with the origin story" (via VG24/7). The three choices are Street Kid, Nomad and Corporate.

There will be romance
Fans of The Witcher 3's romantic sub-plots will be happy to hear that CD Projekt is bringing something similar to Cyberpunk 2077. In an interview with GamesRadar, the game's Quest Designer, Mateusz Tomaskiewicz, confirmed that players will be able to have relationships with different "entities", all of whom will have their own stories, goals and ideas for you to engage with. He stopped short of confirming just how many romance threads players will have the option to pursue and whether or not one of them will be with Keanu Reeves. It seems unlikely, though.

There will be no morality system
Players won't be constrained by any kind of morality system in Cyberpunk 2077 it has been confirmed by Mateusz Tomaskiewicz in an interview with GamingBolt. Given the complex nature of the decisions players made in The Witcher 3, this decision to favor the grey probably won't come as much of a surprise. This means that if you want to play through the entire game without killing anyone you absolutely can. Or if you want to be the next Angel of Death you can do that too. You just have to invest in the right in-game skills to do so. 


There's more than Night City
From what we've seen so far, the setting of Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 looks like a mighty impressive, expansive and very neon place to explore. But it won't be the only location in the game to explore. In an interview with VG247, the Lead Quest Designer, Pawel Sasko, revealed that players will be able to go beyond the walls of the metropolis and explore an area known as the "Badlands". Largely desolate and populated by Nomads, this area will have its own quests. You can even start the game as a Nomad and begin your story outside of the city. 

Multiple Endings
In an interview with CD Projekt, YouTuber Yong Yea got confirmation that Cyberpunk 2077 will have multiple endings. It's not been confirmed just how many there will be but this ties in with the expansive image of the game that's being presented and the idea that players are crafting a highly personal story.

New Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay shown at E3 2019, but not playable
At E3 2019 we got the chance to see Cyberpunk 2077 at a behind-closed doors demo centered around Pacifica – the southern-most region of Night City – and Keanu Reeves' character, Johnny Silverhand. The weirdest part? Keanu may in fact be the key to immortality. Yes, you read that correctly.

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
You’ll customize your character’s look; you’ll customize their backstory; you’ll customize their base skills and you’ll give them perks that make them who they are. If you want a ninja samurai who came from the streets and is skilled in firearms and hand-to-hand combat, you can make that. If you want a net runner super hacker that can take over turrets and jack into enemies, you can make that, too. 

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. 

Cyberpunk 2077

Image Credit: CD Projekt Red

Vampire Bloodlines and Deus Ex were inspirations for the game
Given it’s based on a tabletop roleplaying game and Cyberpunk is already a massive sub-genre in science fiction, we knew Cyberpunk 2077 hadn’t been totally pulled from the ether without any kind of influence. But we’re always interested to find out about some of the more subtle influences on the game and the way it plays, some of which Quest Director Mateusz Tomaskiewicz has revealed in a recent interview with gaming publication AreaJugones.

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
CD Projekt Red has confirmed it still plans to release two AAA titles by 2021. While we know one of these titles will definitely be Cyberpunk 2077, we're still in the dark about what the second title could be.

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?
According to french site ActuGaming, Lady Gaga and CD Projekt Red are collaborating for Cyberpunk 2077 and the artist has already visited the Polish studio to take part in motion-capture – suggesting she will have a character role in the game itself.

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
We got to spend some time watching a demo of Cyberpunk 2077 during E3 and we learned some interesting things about the game. 

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
CD Projekt RED used the Xbox Showcase to show its latest trailer for Cyberpunk 2077. But it's more than just a trailer. Spotted by Polygon, there's a moment in the trailer with hidden text with more information on the game which is revealed when you enhance the image.

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."

Cyberpunk 2077

Image Credit: CD Projekt Red

It could be on the next generation of consoles
CD Projekt Red has hinted that Cyberpunk 2077 could be developed for both current and next gen titles. GamingBolt has reported that during a presentation at the Pareto Securities Gaming Seminar 2018 event, the studio's CFO Piotr Nielubowicz and CEO Adam Kiciński mentioned Cyberpunk 2077 hinted that it may be being developed for future hardware. The slide in question stated the team was developing the title for “current and next-generation technology”.

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
Good news Steam fans: Cyberpunk 2077 will definitely be coming to the platform. At the Pareto Securities Gaming Seminar (via PCGamesN) the studio’s CEO Adam Kiciński gave a presentation in which he confirmed that the game would not be exclusive to GOG. There's been a lot of furore over the Metro Exodus being 'removed' from Steam and onto the Epic Games Store, but it looks like CD Projekt Red is steering clear of that minefield.

It’s going to be bigger than The Witcher 3
It would have been a pretty safe guess to say that Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be a big game, but in an interview with MCV in 2015 visual effects artist Jose Teixeira said it’s going to be “far, far bigger” than anything the studio has ever done. 

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. 

Cyberpunk 2077

Image Credit: CD Projekt Red

You’ll be travelling on more advanced tech than boats and horses
So, we know the game map is going to be intimidatingly big. How will we get around it, then? Well fortunately, moving out of the high fantasy realm gives CD Projekt Red a little more freedom when it comes to creating vehicles.

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
It was confirmed years ago that the game would have multiplayer elements but what exactly they’ll be is unclear. It was said, though, that the game would mainly focus on single player. 

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
As well as multiplayer, CD Projekt's CEO has confirmed that there will also be online elements to the game. In an interview with Polish tech site Strefa Inwestorow Kiciński stated that “Online is necessary, or very recommended if you wish to achieve a long-term success. At some point, we have mentioned that there will be a certain online element related to Cyberpunk.”

Whether or not the online elements will feed into the multiplayer is unclear.

But there won't be microtransactions
The studio also tweeted to quell fears over microtransactions in online components, stating that Cyberpunk 2077 will be "nothing less than" the Witcher 3, adding that players will "get what [they] pay for" with "no hidden catch."

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

Amazing Fossil Sport deal may be one of the best Black Friday smartwatch bargains

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 01:42 PM PST

Loads of Black Friday deals reduce the prices of popular smartwatches like the Apple Watch 3 or Samsung Galaxy Watch, but some of the best deals will slash the price of lesser-known smartwatches – this is one of them.

The Fossil Sport is a great smartwatch for fitness lovers (as the name suggests), that balanced great features with a competitive price. However with this price slash, it's truly a great value purchase for people who need a way to track their workouts.

Other Fossil devices are discounted, as detailed below, but we'd recommend checking out the Fossil Sport's $110 off deal most of all. (Not in the US? Scroll down for today's best Xbox One deals in your region.)

If you want a smartwatch from Fossil that's less sportsy, here's another deal on the Fossil Gen 4 Venture HR.

Here are the best Fossil Sport prices for shoppers outside the US:

Black Friday deals around the web

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. 

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Age of Empires 4: release date, trailers and features

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 01:24 PM PST

After more than 13 years in hibernation, the Age of Empires series is coming back for its fourth outing. In August 2017, publisher Microsoft Studios announced that Age of Empires 4 was alive and kicking, and that it was being developed by Relic Entertainment, the team behind Homeworld and Company of Heroes (which is a hell of a lot of pedigree).

It's not been until the tail end of 2019 that we've finally learned more about the game (and even then we'd still love to know more) but we feel like we can finally get excited about the next instalment in the Age of Empires series. Read on to find out everything we know so far!

[Update: After a true dearth of Age of Empires news we finally have a new trailer and a few more details. Read on to find out more!]

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The latest installment to the historical real-time strategy series Age of Empires.
  • When can I play it? There's no release window just yet but it'll be late 2019 at the earliest
  • What can I play it on? Windows 10 PC is the only confirmed platform

What is Age of Empires 4?

Age of Empires 4 is the latest instalment to the historical real-time strategy series Age of Empires, which began life way back in 1997. 

Follow-ups to the original were released in 1999 and 2005, and there’s been a couple of spin-offs during that period, including two Nintendo DS titles and the popular Age of Mythology, which took inspiration from myths and legends rather than history. Aside from those DS games, the series is only on PC. 

Age of Empires 4 is the first game in the series developed by Relic Entertainment – all the other Age of Empires games have been made by Ensemble Studios, which folded in 2009. Relic says it wants to “fuse historical context with deep strategic gameplay, and to bring this franchise back to the forefront of gaming and into the hands of its beloved community”. 

Age of Empires 4: release date 

Unfortunately, no release date has been announced for Age of Empires 4 – not even a rough one. It could be a way off though, because all we’ve seen of the game is a trailer filled with concept art in 2017, which suggests that at that point development was in its early stages. Even in 2019 the game still isn't far enough into development to give a rough launch window—we're looking at 2020 before some kind of announcement. 

What platforms will Age of Empires 4 release on? 

So far, all we know is that it’s coming to Windows 10 PC – so bad luck if you’re running an older version (although this could be a good excuse to upgrade). However, with Microsoft Studios as the publisher the door is open for a release on Xbox One, too, although there’s been no word on that front. For the same reason, it’s unlikely to come to other consoles, such as the PS4 or the Nintendo Switch.

Age of Empires 4: trailers 

XO19 finally brought us a gameplay trailer for Age of Empires 4 which showcased a beautiful and colorful Medieval world. 

The announcement of the game was marked with a trailer – and it’s still the only one we’ve seen to date. It’s exclusively concept art for the game, depicting large scale battles between various groups. Check it out below:

Age of Empires 4: news and rumors

No to microtransactions, yes to DLC

In an interview with PCGamesN, Age of Empires 4's Creative Director, Adam Isgreen, has said that the game won't feature microtransactions. “The idea of microtransactions in a real-time strategy game isn't a thing,” he says, “DLC, expansions – all of that is things that we're going to be exploring for Age 4.” Any expansions will be worked on by World's Edge studio. 

It will bring about some modernization

Age of Empires 4 may be set in Medieval times but in an interview with GamesRadar, Creative Director, Adam Isgreen, said that he and his team are looking at the game as "a fresh start" which will allow them to "modernize the series" and "do things differently". 

That said, it won't be so different that it won't be immediately recognizable as an Age of Empires game—Isgreen made it clear that they want to "do right by the players" and really keep the spirit of the series. But given its been 13 years since the last new game in the series a few things have had to be done to bring it into the age of modern gaming. According to Isgreen, they're "doing things that no other RTS game has done before".

Nothing has been revealed about the civilisations that will feature but there is some intense historical research going on to make those involved in the game more authentic. 

Set in Medieval times

After missing E3 2019, Age of Empires 4 finally made an appearance at XO19 in November with a brand new gameplay trailer. This trailer confirmed that the game is to be set in the Medieval period and it looks set to be a more detailed and colorful game world than we've ever seen from the strategy series. We don't know which civilisations will appear in the game just yet, though the trailer does at least reveal the Mongols and the English. It could be worth intense study to glimpse hints for more. 

News is coming

After Age of Empires 4 was announced at Gamescom in 2017, everything went somewhat quiet. Those who were hoping to see some kind of update during Microsoft's E3 press conferences for 2018 and 2019 were left disappointed too. However, shortly after E3 2019 in an interview with PC Gamer Phil Spencer confirmed that the game is still making progress and that more news will be revealed in 2019. 

Spencer didn't give much away but he did say that Relic is making "good progress" on Age of Empires 4 and that they'll be ready to "talk about it more this year" when it's in "the right context". 

When exactly in 2019 we'll hear more about the game isn't yet known but there's another Gamescom conference still to come, which would be the ideal place for Microsoft to make an update given the game was first announced there. We'll just have to wait and see. 

Age of Empires 4: gameplay features

Previous Age of Empires games have focused on one period of history: Age of Empires 3 chronicled the European colonization of the Americas, for example. 

However, judging by the trailer above, Age of Empires 4 could paint with a broader historical picture, with lots of empires from across time returning from previous games in the series. 

In the trailer, you can glimpse Native Americans, British Redcoats, Romans and Japanese samurai. It’s possible that this could just be demonstrative of the art style and themes, but we’d be surprised if they didn’t end up featuring in the final game in some capacity.

That said, it’s unlikely to break history by pitting armies from two eras against each other in the campaign, so expect a story that plays out over an extended timeline. And then perhaps the Romans could clash with the Redcoats in online multiplayer.

In terms of actual gameplay, we wouldn’t expect it to deviate too far from the formula that fans of the series know and love – it would be odd for the developer not to mine that ore of support. So, there will be the usual 4X fare (explore, expand, exploit and exterminate). However, the last Age of Empires game was more than 10 years ago, so we’re expecting some changes in terms of UI and mechanics. 

Age of Empires 4: what we want to see 

A sleeker UI

The Age of Empires games have always had decent UIs – most of the stuff you need is two or at most three clicks away and, generally, if you hover over a button you can find out what it does. But going back to it now, it looks a bit old fashioned, with a large box covering most of the bottom section of the screen, and can be overwhelming at first glance.

If the series is going to attract new players (and the more the merrier) then the UI needs to be sleek and inviting. Age of Empires Online, another spin-off, might perhaps be a good guide: that game had much less on screen at any one time, allowing you to see more of the battlefield. Smaller, contextual menus that only appear when you click on certain elements would work well.

Revamped unit tactics

The Age of Empires games do boast military tactics, and the positioning and stances of your units can turn a battle. But largely, fights are won by the biggest army, and they are over quickly. We’d like to see tactics play a bigger role in battles, and for it to be easier to make small adjustments to groups of units so they do exactly what you want.

There’s hope here: Relic has a lot of pedigree in this field. Imagine Age of Empires with Company of Heroes-style unit movement when you got close to an enemy’s base. That’s not what Relic will be shooting for (this is about clashes of large armies rather than small strike forces, after all), but we’re confident it will be more finessed than anything else we’ve seen from the series so far.

Multiple cities

Age of Empires revels in its smaller scale. You start with a town hall and build out from there, never really expanding beyond a single settlement. Rise of Nations, also published by Microsoft, could be a good yard stick for how the game should expand; in that game you could build multiple cities and combine them into large territories.

If you apply that to Age of Empires then you get multiple hubs of production: one town could focus on food production, and transport the finished product to another nearby town, which is itself churning out military units. Planning out the structure of your empire, rather than just a single city, would add another layer to the game.

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Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus - our best phone - is $200 off with free wireless earbuds

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 01:22 PM PST

If you're looking for a great Black Friday phone deal, you might as well make it the best phone in the world right now.

Samsung's Galaxy S10 Plus has now been discounted to $799.99 with a free pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds headphones included for no extra cost making it one of the most impressive deals we've seen for the watch.

We've ranked the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus as the best phone thanks to its world class camera, day long battery life and its impressive 6.4-inch QHD display that remains one of the best on the market.

If you're after a top phone, you'd be hard-pressed to go wrong with the Galaxy S10 Plus or the Samsung Galaxy S10 either. Below you'll find deals for both of the phones, plus a little extra if you wanted an even smaller device.

Looking for something even cheaper? The below Samsung Galaxy S10e doesn't come with a free pair of headphones, but it's being offered for an incredible price as a part of the best Best Buy Black Friday deals.

This is our fifth best phone in the world right now, and while the spec is a little lower than the other two Galaxy S10 models you may still find it to be a great phone for you.

Not in the US? You'll find the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus deal below but it's unlikely these are going to come with free Galaxy Buds packaged in.

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. 

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Pokémon Go updates: all the news and rumors for what's coming next

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 12:56 PM PST

Pokémon Go: the world's first augmented reality app to become a household name. Niantic's mobile AR game is still going strong two years after it first released, with a constant drip of events and updates keeping budding trainers glued to their phones and pounding the streets.

And while it hasn't managed to top the peak of its popularity in 2016, it's still going strong and finding plenty of new ways to improve its player experience.

So what's the latest news for Pokémon Go? As you'd expect, brand new features are being added all the time and community events are still going strong. Plus we have some more themed events and brand new Gen 5 Pokémon to catch!

But without further ado, here's our guide to all the latest Pokémon Go news and updates.

Pokémon Go news and Pokémon Go updates

  • What's new? Niantic has updated Pokémon Go's storage space and its Wayfarer tool is rolling out to high-level players

Niantic Wayfarer

Niantic has announced that its Wayfarer tool is now accessible to Pokémon Go players level 40 and above. This tool allows players to review and submit nominations for Gyms and Pokéstops, giving them a say in new places to play. 

Extra storage

Sick of running out of space for all your Pokémon? Good news: Niantic has upped Pokémon Go's in-game storage space. Now, players can store up to 3000 Pokémon and 2500 items. Unfortunately the extra capacity isn't free—an extra 50 spaces for items or Pokémon will cost 200 PokéCoins.

Team Go Rocket

A new quest and gameplay element has been introduced to Pokémon Go and it revolves around Team Rocket and its leader Giovanni. 

The quest, called Looming in the Shadows, has seen players over the world battle Team Rocket grunts and their shadow Pokémon in order to collect items on defeating them. These items can be combined to form a Rocket Radar which allows players to track down a trio of Team Rocket middle managers—Cliff, Sierra and Arlo who are essentially the anti-Team Leaders—and battle them. 

Now, another stage in the quest has unlocked which invites players to complete tasks and construct a Super Rocket Radar in order to track down and battle the Team Rocket leader Giovanni. The reward for defeating Giovanni is a very enticing Legendary Shadow Pokémon.

Niantic has posted a comprehensive Q&A which details the various hoops that need to be jumped through in order to reach Giovanni. It confirms a new Giovanni research quest will be issued each month so you'll be hunting him down repeatedly, no doubt in search of new Legendary Shadow Pokémon.

When's the next Pokémon Go Community Day?

  • What date is the next Community Day? December 14 and 15
  • Who's the starring Pokémon? There are several! 

Niantic is celebrating the end of 2019 with a long Community Weekend in December. Taking place over December 14 and 15, from 9am to 9pm, the event will see an abundance of exciting encounters and Raids. It's also worth noting that Community Day exclusive moves from 2018 and 2019 will be available again across the weekend. 

December 14

On this day, players will be more likely to encounter Totodile, Swinub, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Ralts, Slakoth, Trapinch, Bagon, Turtwig, and Chimchar in the wild. In Raids, on the other hand, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Eevee, Dratini, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Mareep, Larvitar, and Beldum will be more common. 

When it comes to matching eggs you'll be more likely to see Bulbasaur, Charmander, Pikachu, Dratini, Totodile, Mareep, Swinub, Larvitar, Treecko, Torchic, Slakoth, and Bagon. 

Although the above takes place between 9am and 9pm, between 11am and 2pm players will be able to enjoy additional bonuses such as double Catch Stardust, double Catch XP, and half the Hatch Distance for Eggs.

December 15

On December 15 the Pokémon appearing more commonly in Raids and in the Wild remain the same but when it comes to Eggs, things are slightly different. Players will be more likely to hatch Squirtle, Eevee, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Mudkip, Ralts, Trapinch, Beldum, Turtwig, and Chimchar.

The 11am to 2pm bonuses are just the same too. 

Pokémon Go update: what's next?

Pokémon Go Buddy Adventure

In a recent blog post, Niantic has discussed some of the recent improvements it's made to its AR technology—improvements which could see you interact with your favorite Pokémon using the AR camera. Provisionally titled Pokémon Go Buddy Adventure, this new mode would make it possible for players to see and interact with their Buddy Pokémon via the game's AR camera. Even more impressive, players would also be able to see their friends doing the same thing, making it a multiplayer experience. 

The mode would be cross-platform, meaning it doesn't matter whether or not you're an Android or iOS user, and though there's no release date just yet, Niantic has said that it's coming "in the months ahead".  

GO Battle League

Niantic has announced that a new feature called GO Battle League will be coming to the game in early 2020. It will build on the current trainer battles system and will encourage players to get out and explore. According to Niantic, players will walk to earn entry into the Battle League. Once they're in they'll be able to battle players from around the world through an online matching system. Win and lose, they'll rise and fall in the ranks of the worldwide league. We'll keep updating with more information on Battle League as it's announced. 

Pokémon Go Plus deals

Want to buy yourself a Pokémon Go Plus wearable? Check some of today's best deals down below.

(Image credits: Niantic/Pokémon Company)

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Amazon Kindle ereaders are now up to $100 cheaper in rare Black Friday sale

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 12:34 PM PST

The Black Friday deals see many retailers compete with rare low prices, but if you want a Kindle ereader there's only one place to check out – the Amazon Black Friday sales.

Kindles are arguably Amazon's most noteworthy hardware creation, as they're generally considered to be the best ereaders available (with very little competition). Amazon has slashed prices across its Kindle range, from the entry-level device to its premium offering.

The highlight is $100 off the previous generation Amazon Kindle Oasis, making what was once a pretty pricey device that much more affordable. There's also $45 off the Kindle Paperwhite and $30 off the basic Kindle and Kindle Kids Edition devices, the affordable and kids-centric versions respectively.

Amazon Kindle deals

Not in the US? These are the best prices on Amazon Kindle ereaders where you are:

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for.

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This giant Samsung 65-inch Q60 QLED 4K TV is less than $999 for Black Friday

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 12:28 PM PST

While most Black Friday shoppers out there are chasing after the cheapest TVs they can get their hands on, we've gotten a number of emails asking us which TV we'd buy if we were shopping for a new big-screen.

Among our recommendations is the Samsung Q60R QLED TV that's on sale at Amazon for $800 off its regular price.

So what makes us recommend this model in particular? Well, it's the entry-level Samsung QLED TV, meaning it has better brightness and color saturation than other comparable LED TVs. It also has Ambient Mode that allows it to blend in with the wall when it's not in use, plus low input lag that gamers will love.

Of course there are plenty of other good TVs on sale this week (see: this LG C9 OLED deal), but this one lands squarely in the value-performance Venn diagram.

Other TV deals worth considering...

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. 

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This 75-inch 4K Vizio TV is a simply incredible cheap Black Friday TV deal

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 12:25 PM PST

Want to get the cinema experience in your home this Black Friday? The deals season hasn't even officially kicked off yet, but the early Best Buy Black Friday sales have offered up a huge deal on giant Vizio P-Series screens.

Best Buy is knocking $500 off the 75-inch Vizio P-Series Quantum TV, bringing it down to an incredible $1499.99, putting a giant screen into the real of affordability for even the average movie fan:

Vizio is increasingly making a great name for itself by putting premium features into inexpensive sets, but it's still incredibly rare for even its televisions to hit prices like this at such massive screen sizes.

With pin-sharp visuals, the Vizio screen offers a 240Hz refresh rate for super-smooth motion, perfect for watching sports with. 

Quantum Color control keeps the screen looking vibrant without being over-saturated, while the 1200 nits of brightness, paired with 240 local dimming zones and Dolby Vision HDR visuals, lets brightness and contrast balance for deep and rich shadows in scenes.

As for connectivity, not only do you get Apple AirPlay and Chromecast built in for streaming from your mobile device, but also Google Assistant, Alexa and Siri voice control.

And, if you're after something a little more modest, you can knock 10-inches (and a couple of hundred dollars) off the above TV with this equally-tempting Vizio P-Series at 65-inches:

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. 

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Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker is just over $150 in this pre-Black Friday deal

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 12:19 PM PST

After a multi-cooker this Black Friday? One of the best deals we've found so far has been on the Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker which is its best price that we've seen for a while.

The Ninja Foodi with TenderCrisp & Dehydrate is a powerful multi-cooker than can airfry, pressure cook and do much more all in one pot.

We've seen some models of the Foodi drop lower than this price before, but this is a slightly more specialist model that comes with the extra dehydrate feature, and it's only $3 more than the version without that feature at the moment.

Looking for other kitchen gadgets? Ninja's coffee bar system is now cheaper this week from Walmart that you can see below:

Not in the US? You'll find the best Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker deals below, but note these are for the model that doesn't include the dehydrate.

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. 

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Best VPS hosting providers of 2019

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:57 AM PST

Standard shared web hosting packages are cheap and user-friendly, but they're also slow, inflexible, and don't have the power or functionality that professional and business users often need.

If you need more than a basic host but can't afford a dedicated server or don't want to deal with the complexity of these beasts, VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting could be a smart choice.

Buying a VPS plan means that you get your very own virtual server environment. You have full control over the operating system, the extensions and apps you install, and all their settings. Each physical server will still host multiple VPS customers, but not as many as with shared hosting, and typically each VPS will be allocated a share of key resources – RAM, storage space, CPU cores – for their use alone.

This can be easier to manage than you might think. Many VPS plans include standard tools like cPanel to help monitor and configure your site. Some hosts will manage the service for you, monitoring for problems like a crashed service, and fixing them as soon as they're detected.

VPS prices and specs vary from a few dollars a month to hundreds, depending on your requirements. There's a lot of choice out there, but don't panic – our list of five best VPS providers will point you in the right direction.

Namecheap's VPS plan might be affordable but they're all but "cheap".

Shopping for a VPS host often means staring at some huge product comparison table and trying to figure out which of its many plans works for you.

Namecheap makes life easier by providing only two plans, and making it extremely clear exactly what you're getting in each case.

Prices start low at only $11.74 per month on the annual plan, but that still gets you 2GB RAM, two CPU cores, 40GB of storage, 1000GB bandwidth and one dedicated IP.

Buying add-ons can improve these baseline specs. If you need more dedicated IPs, for instance, you don't have to upgrade to a new plan – Namecheap will add extra IPs to your product for only $2 each.

The service isn't quite as cheap as it sounds. The starter plans aren't managed, for instance (the host doesn't look after them for you), and they don't include a cPanel licence. Adding both of those capabilities will cost you extra.

Still, Namecheap does provide some exceptionally configurable VPS products for users who know what they're doing. Even if you're a beginner, checking out the various options on offer here will help you understand the factors you need to think about when choosing a VPS provider.

InMotion is one of the more popular web hosting providers out there and it is no surprise that they're secured a spot here

Check out a few VPS hosting providers and it's easy to be tempted with low headline rates, but don't be fooled – companies use a range of tricks to keep their charges down.

The hardware specs of a starter product are often kept unrealistically low, for instance, to keep the price right down. Important items – backups, cPanel – may be expensive extras. And even then, the headline rate may only apply if you pay for two or three years upfront, increasing dramatically on renewal.

InMotion Hosting is refreshingly different. Its baseline VPS-1000HA-S plan doesn't have the most eye-catching price at $27.99 per month over two years (at the moment of writing, the price dropped to $19.99 due to a sale), but it's easy to see why the company asks this much. The product has a better specification – 4GB RAM, 75GB storage, 4TB bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPs – than some high-end plans from other providers, backups and a cPanel licence are included for free, and there's a 90-day money-back guarantee.

There's an unusual feature in what InMotion calls "unlocked CPU cores". Rather than having access to one or two cores only, you're able to spread your processing load across all cores on the server, a major performance boost for tasks involving a lot of simultaneous processing.

Welcome bonus touches include a feature called Launch Assist, which essentially means you get two hours of free time with one of InMotion's server administrators. Whether you need to change domain settings, configure cPanel, migrate WordPress or database files, they can help you get the job done.

Put it all together and you're getting a very capable set of VPS hosting plans. If you'd prefer a package that comes with unexpected surprises, rather than hidden catches, we'd give InMotion a try.

Some VPS hosts focus on first-time users, others go for big business, but Hostwinds does its best to appeal to everyone with no less than 10 different VPS hosting plans.

The low-end Tier One plan looks a little underpowered to us, with just 1GB RAM, one CPU core, 30GB of disk space and 1TB traffic. But it's cheap at $4.49 per month, and you can extend it significantly without spending a huge amount (adding basic server monitoring and cloud backups costs an extra $6 a month for both).

The more realistic Tier Four includes 6GB RAM, 100GB drive space, two CPU cores and 2TB of traffic. It's also significantly more expensive at $17.09 a month, but still competitive with other providers.

Meanwhile the top-of-the-range Tier Ten product gets you 96GB RAM, 16 CPU cores, 750GB storage and 9TB of traffic for an initial $296.09 a month. You probably don't need anything like that, but this does show there's plenty of scope for upgrading your site over time.

Every plan has some appealing configuration options. In particular, along with support for the usual Linux variants – CentOS, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian – you can choose Windows Server 2008, 2012 or 2016 for only a $5 a month premium. That's very good value, and if you're more familiar with Windows than Linux, it could save you from lots of management hassles later on.

Liquid Web is a premium web hosting provider which has been offering top quality managed solutions for more than 20 years, and now handles 500,000 sites for more than 32,000 customers worldwide.

The company doesn't try to beat the competition on price, instead focusing on delivering comprehensive products which will deliver quality results.

The cheapest Liquid Web plan may cost $59 a month (you can reduce that to $29 a month by going annual), for instance, but that gets you 2GB RAM, 40GB storage and a very generous 10TB of bandwidth.

There are lots of configuration options. Instead of just telling you that you're getting CentOS 7, Liquid Web allows you to select CentOS 6, Debian 8, Ubuntu 14.04 or 16.04, and often with multiple options of their own: cPanel, Plesk, CloudLinux and more.

This is a managed product, too. Liquid Web fully supports the base operating system, and the support team will proactively restore failed services as soon as they're detected. Getting a managed VPS with other providers could cost you an extra $30 a month, or more.

If your VPS still has issues, there's speedy 24x7x365 support from knowledgeable professionals who will do their best to solve your problems at speed.

Liquid Web may not have the most appealing headline prices, but it's still cheaper than many others considering the features you get, and the excellent support will help keep your site running smoothly down the line.

OVH is a budget web host which offers straightforward VPS products for some of the lowest prices around.

The range starts with the VPS SSD 1 plan, which gets you one CPU core, 2GB RAM and 20GB of SSD storage for only $4 (£2.99) a month.

The VPS SSD 2 plan doubles the RAM and storage allocation for $6.60 (£4.99) a month, and the VPS SSD 3 plan doubles it again and gives you an extra CPU core for $14.6 (£10.99) a month. At the moment, all plans are cheaper than stated, due to a sale.

As you might guess, there are reasons why the price is so low. Forget 24x7x365 support by any means, for instance: there's UK-based phone support, but it's only available from Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm UK time.

Speeds are limited, too, with a 100Mbps connection. Many VPS plans will give you 10 times that as standard.

OVH does offer some plus points, though. You can have your VPS hosted in the UK, US, Australia, Singapore or several locations in central Europe. A dedicated proprietary control panel allows for managing your VPS, without the cost of a cPanel licence, and there's simple DDoS protection thrown in.

On balance, OVH isn't a service we would recommend for beginners or anyone who needs rock solid reliability and full-time support. But if you're a technical user looking for a cheap way to explore the VPS world, OVH will have a lot of appeal.

You might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides:

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Best fitness tracker 2019: the top 10 activity bands on the planet

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:55 AM PST

If you're looking for a collection of the best fitness trackers, wearable devices to monitor your activity and overall health, you're in the right place now. These are the best and newest devices on the market to count your steps, measure your exercises, monitor your heart rate and more, with pinpoint accuracy.

Think of them like an electronic watchdog for your health, putting a finger on your pulse, constantly measuring your vitals, checking your quality of sleep, counting your steps and - sometimes - even more. Folks even call them smart bracelets, mostly because activity bands now look as good as traditional jewelry - but they're also so light you'll barely notice them on your wrist.

Before you go any further, know that we aren't evaluating all the highest-end tech wristwear in this list. For that you'll want our best smartwatch guide, which includes top-end products like the Apple Watch 5, Fossil Sport and Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2. 

You also won't find the Fitbit Ionic, Fitbit Versa or Fitbit Versa Lite here either, which, despite their brand name, are all smartwatches and are priced accordingly.

You might be thinking already about saving money with the the forthcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals - so just bookmark those hyperlinked pages to make sure you're getting access to the top curated deals from across the web by our in-house experts. 

Right now this guide is designed to show you the best of the best that your money will get you. We'll show you how each ranks in terms of stand-out features, specs, price, design, the quality of the software you'll be using on your phone and much more.  

More refined than the Fitbit Charge 2, the Charge 3 is one of the company's most accomplished devices. It has a more lightweight design than the last-gen, and it looks better on your wrist. It's our number one all-round fitness tracker since the price has dropped slightly recently, and it offers a lot of insight into your overall health.

The display is bigger and clearer than a lot of other fitness trackers on this list, but it's still a black and white screen.

There's no onboard GPS, like some other trackers on this list have, but it's waterproof and offers a full fitness suite including a heart rate tracker. You can track GPS by pairing your phone with the tracker too.

You have to spend a bit extra on this than other fitness trackers you can buy in this same list, but if you enjoy the whole Fitbit app and experience and would also like access to notifications and Fitbit's fantastic sleep tracking, you'll want to opt for this as it's one of the company's best trackers ever.

Read our Fitbit Charge 3 review

What's next? It's likely to be the Fitbit Charge 4, but we don't currently know when it'll launch.

Our highest ranked Garmin product in the best fitness tracker list is also one of the most accomplished in its range of health bands.

This device isn't made for serious athletes like a variety of other products from the Garmin brand, but instead this is for those who want to be able to track the odd bit of exercise and have an attractive band to do it.

The screen is bigger on this version than other Garmin products, and it has a battery that should last you around a week depending on how much exercise you'll be doing.

There's also an innovative feature called body battery that helps you learn when exactly is the best time to exercise depending on how much energy you have. This is great for those who are just as interested in their recovery and general wellbeing as they are clocking up the miles. 

Read the full Garmin Vivosmart 4 review

What's next? There aren't currently any rumors of a Garmin Vivosmart 5, but it's nearing its first birthday so Garmin may soon unveil a new version.

Taking over from the Huawei Band 2 Pro is the Huawei Band 3 Pro. This is one of the best fitness trackers you can buy if you're on a strict budget, and it has some amazing features considering how much it costs.

The Band 3 Pro comes with GPS onboard, it has a water resistant design (which means you can take it swimming) and there's a 0.95-inch color screen to display all of your stats on your wrist.

We've found the heart rate monitor to be accurate, and while the GPS could be quicker at locking on we also found it to be precise. If you're looking for an affordable entry-level device for your first foray into the world of fitness tracking, this is a great place to start.

Read our Huawei Band 3 Pro review

What's next? We expect to hear about the Huawei Band 4 Pro in the future, but we haven't yet heard any details on when it may land.

This isn't the most capable fitness tracker in our best of list, but it does a lot considering its price and you'll get access to all of Fitbit's top-end services. 

The Fitbit Inspire HR unsurprisingly offers a heart rate tracker alongside a variety of other fitness tracking capabilities. 

It isn't as capable as the Fitbit Charge 3 as it lacks swim tracking or Fitbit Pay integration, but that's understandable as this is much cheaper.

It features a slimmer and more comfortable design than a lot of other trackers you can buy, so if you're after a Fitbit that won't be heavy on your wrist you may want to consider the Inspire HR as your next fitness band.

Read the full Fitbit Inspire HR review

It's not as stylish as most of the Fitbit products, but there's a reason the Garmin Vivosport appears in this list before products from the latter company. 

This is cheaper than most Fitbit products and it comes with GPS built-in too. We found the Vivosport offers a solid seven days battery life from a single charge, even when using the GPS features.

Although it's waterproof, it won't track your swimming easily but the Vivosport excels for other kinds of workouts and is great for tracking your jogging and cycling. Plus we found the heart rate tracker to be accurate too.

Read our full Garmin Vivosport review

The Honor Band 5 was a serious step up from the Band 4, with improved fitness features in many areas, as well as a color touchscreen to view all your information on.

One of the most useful features is the sleep tracking, that gives you advice to maximise your sleep time, as well as simply monitoring it like many other fitness trackers do.

The Honor Band 5 is also one of the most affordable fitness trackers on the market, so if you want an exercise monitor or sleep counter that isn't also a bank-breaker, this is where to look.

Read our full Honor Band 5 review

The Xiaomi Mi Band 4 is run-of-the-mill affordable fitness tracker, in that it has a slimline design, a smallish color screen with a capacitive button, and a selection of workouts to track. 

It has a few great perks for fitness buffs though, like its 20-day battery life, useful heart rate monitor and easy-to-view screen, so if you're looking for a new heart rate monitor there are far worse devices you can buy.

Read our full Xiaomi Mi Band 4 review

smartwatch deals sale prices

This may look more like a smartwatch than any of the other devices on this list, but as it runs its own software and has a very big focus on fitness we've decided to include it in our list of the best fitness trackers.

The Amazfit Bip design has been influenced by the Apple Watch (there's no denying that) and it comes packed with tons of features including GPS, an accurate heart rate tracker, multi-sport tracking, sleep tracking and VO2 Max features too.

If you're looking for a more watch-like design than everything else on this list, the Bip will be up your street. It's lightweight too and other highlights include the always-on display and strong battery life that should last around a month depending on your usage. 

If this all sounds good, you'd be hard pressed to go wrong with the Amazfit Bip. It's worth noting the fitness tracker isn't available in all markets at the moment though and you may struggle to find the Bip where you live.

Read the full Amazfit Bip review

What's next? The Amazfit Bip 2 is available in China, but you can't currently buy it anywhere else. We may have to wait a while until it makes it to the US or UK.

The Garmin Vivofit 4 is one of the best fitness trackers the company has ever created, and that now means it sits in this prestigious list alongside some other fantastic tracking products.

We particularly like the super-long battery life of the Vivofit 4, which means you won't need to recharge your device for a whole year. That means you can wear it all day, then all night for sleep tracking and not have to worry about recharging it.

You'll miss out on phone notifications by buying this tracker, but you do get the benefit of an always-on color display, accurate fitness tracking features - just note these are more limited than some other trackers on this list - as well as access to an in-depth app to break down your stats on your smartphone.

Read the full Garmin Vivofit 4 review

Although it may be a few years old, the Moov Now is still one of our favorite fitness bands. It's cheap, offers everything you'll want in an everyday tracker and there's a phenomenal six month long battery life.

The Moov Now isn't just designed for step tracking though - it comes with boxing and rep-based training, as well as a swimming mode on top of run coaching and sleep monitoring features. That's a lot to get stuck in with.

You won't get GPS or some of the more complex fitness tracking features that others on this list offer, but if you're looking for a great everyday tracker that doesn't cost a lot of money the Moov Now will suit you perfectly.

Read the full Moov Now review

What's next? The Moov Now was first released back in 2015, so the device is due a refresh. That said, we haven't heard any rumors of a new device coming from Moov.

Best fitness tracker at a glance

  1. Fitbit Charge
  2. Garmin Vivosmart 4
  3. Huawei Band 4 Pro
  4. Fitbit Inspire HR
  5. Garmin Vivosport
  6. Honor Band 5
  7. Xiaomi Mi Band 4
  8. Amazfit Bip
  9. Garmin Vivofit 4
  10. Moov Now

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One of the best Black Friday smartwatch deals just slashed two Garmin watch prices

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:46 AM PST

Looking for great Black Friday smartwatch deals? They might not come better than this as one of our favorite fitness-centric, wrist-mounted powerhouses has just seen a great Black Friday price cut.

The Garmin Forerunner 935, as well as its improved newer version the Forerunner 945, is now $100 off as part of the Amazon Black Friday sales, making what was already a great smartwatch good value for money too.

Since these devices are some of the best smartwatches available, the sales might not last for too long, so act quick before they're gone.

Garmin Forerunner smartwatch deals

Not in the US? Check our best Garmin Forerunner 935 and 945 prices here.

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. 

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Barcelona vs Dortmund live stream: how to watch today's Champions League football from anywhere

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:46 AM PST

This Group F Champions League clash appears to have goals written all over it. Hosts Barcelona have scored at least twice in 11 or their last 13 home fixtures in the tournament and Dortmund offer plenty of threat going forward, too. Scroll down to find out how you can grab a Barcelona vs Barcelona vs Dortmund live stream, no matter where you are in the world.

A point here tonight will be enough to send table-topping Barcelona through to the knock out stages. The stakes are a little higher for Dortmund, with Inter Milan breathing down their necks in a battle for group runners-up.

Dortmund will be bouyed by news that the home side have something of a defensive crisis on their hands. Gerard Pique is suspended, fellow centre back Clement Lenglet is a major doubt, while full-backs Nelson Semedo and Jordi Alba both remain on the sidelines. Although the German side have their own injury concerns, and will be hoping striker Paco Alcacer passes a late fitness test.

Read on to find out how to watch what looks set to be an entertaining encounter - it's TechRadar's guide to getting a Barcelona vs Dortmund live stream.

Use a VPN to watch Champions League football when away from home

Scroll down to find out your football viewing options for tonight's match in some of the major Champions League watching countries around the world. And if you're out of the country and are worried that you won't catch the game, don't sweat. With the option of using a VPN service, you can tune into this fixtures no matter where you are in the world. And best of all, it's really easy to do.

How to stream Barcelona vs Dortmund live in the UK 

How to live stream Barcelona vs Dortmund in the US

How to live stream tonight's Champions League match in Canada for FREE

How to live stream Barcelona vs Dortmund in Australia

How to watch Barcelona vs Dortmund in New Zealand

How to live stream tonight's UEFA Champions League match in India

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One of the best gaming phones is now at a ridiculously low price in Black Friday sales

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:38 AM PST

If you were waiting for Black Friday deals to pick up a new smartphone, and you're a big gamer, then we've got the perfect deal for you – the Razer Phone 2 is now at a startlingly low price.

The Razer Phone 2 is a great gaming phone with appropriately powerful processing specs, a 120Hz refresh rate on its huge screen, and more powerful speakers than you'd typically find on a smartphone.

The phone launched for $799, and since release its price dropped gradually by half to $399. But now with an extra $100 off, it's even cheaper than half its initial price, making it supremely affordable.

Not in the US? These are the best deals in your region.

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. 

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Top deal: our best tablet gets a massive price cut for Black Friday

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:26 AM PST

The Black Friday deals are upon us, and price cuts are the perfect excuse to pick yourself up the best ever tablet, the iPad Pro 11.

With a big, beautiful screen, heaps of processing power and decent battery life too, the smaller of 2018's two iPad Pros is the best tablet on the market right now. With these iPad deals, it's a tempting purchase for people who need the best tablet available.

The bigger 2018 iPad Pro, the 12.9-inch version, was also available with $200 knocked off the asking price at Best Buy, but it very quickly sold out. It's possible this smaller version will sell out quickly too, so act fast to avoid missing out!

Black Friday iPad Pro 11 deals

Not in the US? These are the best iPad Pro (2018) prices for you.

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for. 

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Should I buy an Instant Pot Duo Nova?

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:14 AM PST

An all-in-one electric pressure and multi-cooker is a clever piece of kit designed to take the fuss out of cooking, while saving you time in the kitchen. It’s likely we’ll be seeing these compact cooking gadgets crop up in the Black Friday sales, so we thought we’d take a closer look at one of the best Instant Pot models out there.  

Designed to make it easy for you to whip up gourmet meals at the touch of a button, the Instant Pot Duo Nova $87.95 / £68 / AU$129.71 is a versatile piece of kit that performs a number of tasks within its compact body. It will help you prepare a delicious home-cooked meal in a third of the time it would take the conventional way and is ideal for those who have busy schedules, or for those who, quite simply, just can’t be bothered to cook. 

The Instant Pot Duo Nova was released in August as an updated version of the Instant Pot Duo. We have reviewed the Instant Pot Duo V2 in depth here on TechRadar and gave it the thumbs up for its large capacity and batch cooking abilities. To give you a heads up on the Instant Pot Duo Nova however, we’re having a closer look at its tech specs here. 

The Bottom Line: Want to be able to enjoy tasty meals quickly and without having to toil away over a hot stove? Then the Instant Pot Duo Nova multi-functional cooker provides a clever solution with minimum fuss so you can ‘set it and forget it’. 

Pros: Useful for preparing evening meals and breakfasts alike, you can use the Instant Pot as an automatic pressure cooker as well as a slow cooker, a rice maker, a steamer, a place to sauté and reheat foods and more. The Instant Pot Duo Nova has been designed with a sleek steel body and comes in three sizes to suit the number of people you want to cook for. Its largest ‘8-quart’ size measures a reasonable L37.6L x W34.3 x H36.8cm, which makes it a viable option for even the most compact of kitchens.  

Cons: As the number-one selling electric multi-cooker in the US, Instant Pot is a brand that stands out in this area for its intuitive design and versatile offering. If you type multi-cooker into Google however, you’ll find a host of well-respected brands who are also adding stylish pressure and multi-cookers to their collections. 

While they may not be as well known as Instant Pot, their designs do come with similarly enticing, time-saving cooking options and inspiration - all at competitive prices. Look out for designs from the likes of Sage, Ninja, Cusinart and Tefal, whose multi-cooker designs we think shouldn’t be brushed off without careful consideration.

Instant Pot Duo Nova: Everything you need to know

The Instant Pot Duo Nova has a range of fast and flexible cooking settings that let you boil, simmer, bake, roast, slow cook and more, with all the action taking place in one pot and with one touch of a button. It’s a simple matter of setting the timer and letting the multi-cooker work its magic. The Instant Pot Duo Nova has a comprehensive tech spec, which we’ve highlighted here:

Easy seal lid: The Instant Pot Duo Nova’s updated features include an easy seal lid. This means that the lid will automatically set to seal when you close it - which can sometimes be tricky to remember – and it will release steam conveniently with a press of the quick-release button. 

Size: It comes in three sizes – a 3 quart that’s good for rice and smaller side dishes and meals for up to two people, a 6 quart that will feed up to six people and an 8 quart, ideal for cooking large batches.  

Cooking programmes: While like the Duo it give you 7 appliances in 1, the display on the Instant Pot Duo Nova has been given a fresh new look with easy to read icons. This means it’s easier to access the 10 safety features and timed programs for foods such as broth, soup, chilli, poultry and porridge. The bright LED display will also keep you informed of what’s going on inside and tell you how much cooking time is left. As well as being able to pressure cook, you can slow cook and sauté and make use of the handy ‘keep warm’ feature should you wish. 

Instant Pot Duo Nova: the final word

If you’re keen to give multi-cooking a go and want to take comfort in the knowledge that you’re choosing a popular and well-known brand, the Instant Pot Duo Nova is worth considering. As well as saving time and effort in the kitchen, with its range of inspirational recipe ideas it will make your weekly meal planning a breeze. 

TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for.

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Best email hosting providers of 2019

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:10 AM PST

Much like web hosting services, getting hold of an email account is easy – sign up with an ISP, register with Google, buy a web hosting account – but free and standard packages won't always deliver the quality that professional users need.

Email hosting plans are an easy way to get a more efficient and reliable service. Exactly what's included depends on the provider, but you might get support for larger attachments (up to 50MB), 50GB or more storage space for your inbox, online storage for easy file sharing, bundled apps like Microsoft Office online, Exchange and Active Directory support for business users – not to mention 24/7 support if anything goes wrong.

Your email will work with a custom domain (address@yoursite.com), and it's typically straightforward to set up. You can use an email hosting plan to effectively replace your web host's service, or you can try one without having any hosting at all.

With quality services priced under $1 per month per user, and free trials available, it's easy for anyone to check out the email hosting market. Whether you're after an individual account or would like to cover your entire business, read on for five great providers that you might want to check out first.

The best email hosting services of 2019 are : 

Bluehost has an exclusive email hosting offer for TechRadar readers

Bluehost has an exclusive email hosting offer for TechRadar readers

If you are a small business with a small headcount and don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on email accounts, then consider this. From EIG-owned Bluehost comes an exclusive business email package for TechRadar readers where you get unlimited email accounts and email storage for as little as $2.75 when paying for three years; that’s a mere $99 for the duration of the term. Is it truly unlimited though?

Bluehost says that they do not enforce any official limitations. Furthermore, they add “while email account creation is unlimited, these rely on the file storage available on the account. Therefore customers need to be operating within the Terms of Service to ensure resources are available to fully enable email functionality. Customers operating within the Terms of Service have yet to come up against technical boundaries for email, domains, or websites”.

What’s the catch then? For a start, while you get POP3 and IMAP4 plus 24/7 support, this is more of a barebone solution. You get to choose between three webmail applications (the equivalent of Outlook.com or Gmail.com); Horde, Roundcube or Squirrelmail.

You can of course configure an email client like Mail for Windows 10 or Mozilla Thunderbird to read your emails offline. Creating a new email address is a doddle thanks to an easy user interface.

best email hosting providers

Rackspace remains one of the top email hosting providers in the market

Texas-based cloud computing giant Rackspace has a wealth of hosted business-oriented email products for all levels of users.

Even the bottom-of-the-range Basic plan is well-specified, with 25GB mailboxes, spam and virus filters, and it’s accessible via Outlook, webmail, or by mobile users. Mailboxes are priced at $2.99 each per month with a minimum of four required per order, but there are no long-term contracts, just monthly bills which you can cancel whenever you like.

The next-step-up Plus account brings 30GB of cloud storage, ActiveSync support, Office-compatible apps and instant messaging for $3.99 a month, which is also better value than most.

An extended Plus account adds unlimited storage space via archiving. That might be handy if you think a 25GB inbox is too small, but we're unsure if it's really worth the $6.99 price tag.

More demanding users can check out Rackspace's Hosted Exchange 2016 plans. Specs include 100GB inboxes and support for 50MB attachments, and the starting price is $10.99 per mailbox per month.

There are cheaper services around, but quality matters, too, and Rackspace does better than most. All plans include a 100% uptime guarantee, and top-quality 24x7x365 support via chat, ticket or phone to quickly solve any issues that might crop up.

best email hosting providers

Fasthosts is part of the formidable United Internet family which also includes 1&1

Email hosting can seem expensive, and that's largely because the big companies are forever competing to offer the largest amounts of inbox and file storage space. That's great if you need it, but not so much for light email users looking for a bargain.

Fasthosts Standard Email plan is a stripped-back email hosting plan which offers the bare essentials for a very low price.

Signing up gets you five Mail Lite accounts with a tiny 100MB inbox and a maximum of 10MB attachments, and two Mail Extra accounts with 4GB inboxes and support for attachments of up to 15MB. Both products give you webmail access only. That's limited, but look at the price: just $2.60 (£1.99) a month on the annual plan (at the time of writing, you can get 50% off). If your users genuinely don't need the gigabytes available elsewhere, Fasthosts more basic package could make a lot of sense.

Fasthosts also offers a more capable Exchange Email product with a 50GB inbox, access via Outlook's web app, and even a free domain for the first year. It's priced at $5.8 (£4.49) per month for 5 or more users with the annual contract. You can also choose a 100GB inbox for $13 (£9.99). As before, Fasthosts is focusing on price more than power, but if you only need a basic Exchange account, there's plenty of value here.

best email hosting providers

Office 365 BE is a surprising third in our email hosting provider shortlist

Microsoft Office 365 isn't just a powerful suite of productivity apps. It also throws in a very capable email package, and for less money than some providers charge for email alone, which could make the service worth a place on your shortlist.

Microsoft Office 365 Business Essentials offers support for 150MB attachments, for instance, three times the size allowed with even some premium competitors. 50GB of storage per user (and a custom email domain address) means you'll be able to keep your messages for a very long time, and there's 1TB of online storage available in your OneDrive account.

Access to Office Online enables working with Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint documents from within your browser, and there's a whole range of business-friendly extras: calendars, online conferencing, intelligent search, workflow automation and more.

If you don't have Office 365 already, the Business Essentials price of $5 a month (for annual billing) looks like good value to us. If you're solely interested in business class email, though, Microsoft's Exchange Online Plan 1 provides Exchange accounts for $4 per user per month on the annual plan.

Zoho

India-based Zoho might not be a household-name but its offerings pack a lot of punch.

Zoho Mail – now known as Zoho Workplace – is a hosted email service with a bundled online office suite, and a stack of other extras. In late November 2019, Zoho introduced the Offline Mode which allows you uninterrupted emailing.

A free plan gives you 25 mailboxes with up to 5GB per user, a 20MB attachment limit and webmail access. A referral scheme could get you support for a further 25 mailboxes (at the time of writing the referral program wasn't available due to remodeling).

If that's too basic, the Standard plan gets you IMAP and POP support, 30MB attachments and 30GB of storage, 5GB file storage space, and support for working with multiple domains. That's more capable than some of the premium competition, and includes the same productivity tools as the free suite, yet still only costs $3 per user per month, billed annually.

Zoho's Professional plan gets you 100GB of storage (per user), 40MB attachments, support for Active Directory groups, and more. It's yours for $6 per user per month (billed annually), not bad at all for the storage space and features you're getting. Also, Lite plan is available with less features, but it's only $1 per user per month, billed annually.

best email hosting providers

Liquidweb is based in the US and provides with an attractive low price for its offering.

Liquid Web is probably best known for its comprehensive managed and dedicated server packages, but the company also provides an interesting email hosting service for what could be a very low price.

Note that you will need to buy LW's Premium Web Hosting in order to get their email service. They do not sell it as a stand alone service.

The baseline Standard plan offers POP, SMTP and IMAP access, supports 50MB attachments and gives you a decent 25GB of storage space. The ability to import contacts from Gmail, Outlook and more gets you set up quickly, spam protection is handled via top quality Cloudmark technology, and you're able to set up custom email filters and rules as required.

Liquid Web charges a flat $10 a month fee for your account, but after that, each Standard plan mailbox costs only $1 more. If you need five or more mailboxes, that's going to be very good value, especially for the high level of support on offer.

The Plus plan enhances the service with 30GB of cloud storage, mobile sync for contacts and calendars, and online editing of spreadsheets and documents. This also includes a one-off $10 service fee and is $3 per mailbox, potentially a very good deal if you're catering for a lot of people.

A final Microsoft Exchange plan gets you 100GB mailboxes, ActiveSync compatibility and Active Directory support, and even throws in a free copy of Outlook.

Its price of $10 a month isn't quite as impressive value as its low-end cousins, but Liquid Web does allow you to include Exchange and Starter or Plus accounts in the same order. You could have 10 Starter mailboxes and two Exchange for only $40 a month, for instance, and that competes well with even big-name budget providers.

10 things to look for in your next email hosting

If you want to host email accounts together with your website, then you should look at these email features before signup.

Most hosting companies will offer the ability to host your own email (something like email@yourdomain. com). Your package will include a number of email accounts – usually between 1-10 for basic hosting.

You’ll be given access to your own email control panel to set up your accounts. Using email requires two things: an email server and an email application, this could be an email client such as Outlook, or alternatively access to Webmail like Gmail or Yahoo.

The email server is a piece of software that runs on the server and is constantly connected to the internet. It receives and processes any mail sent to it and sends out any mail you send.

The email client is an app that runs on your PC, phone or tablet and enables you to send, receive and organise your emails, e.g. Microsoft Outlook. The client checks the mail server for messages and downloads them for viewing. It is a control panel for reading and writing messages.

The good news is that most email clients can connect with most email servers, you can even connect multiple email servers to work with multiple email accounts.

So your work and personal emails can be accessed from the same email client. The more popular email clients such as Outlook give you more features (calendars, tasks etc.) than using webmail.

Webmail is a web-based email interface that can be accessed in a web browser is often faster and more convenient because it accesses the stored data more directly without the user having to download software locally.

Emails can be checked from any device with access to the internet. Email protocols are a set of rules that help the client to send the information to or from the mail server. Two of the most common email protocols are POP and IMAP:

1. POP (Post office protocol) Applications like Outlook will use POP to download emails from the server to your computer and then delete them on the server.

2. IMAP (Internet message access protocol) IMAP is more advanced than POP, with IMAP, emails are stored in the mail server and can be accessed from any clients anywhere if they all use IMAP. 

Mail data is kept on the server as well as your computer, until you delete the mail. When comparing hosting packages, be sure to choose one with full IMAP support.

Exchange Exchange is the gold standard email protocol – the most expensive option of the three, but for good reason. It’s a Microsoft protocol that gives you the power to sync tasks like IMAP does, but with the added ability to share contacts and calendars among employees.

If you can afford to pay the extra cost (around $9.99 per month per mailbox), you will reap the benefits of its advanced functionality and tools which can be used even when you are on the move. 

You might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides:

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Google fires four workers accused of data breaches

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 11:02 AM PST

Google has fired four employees who were accused of breaching its data security policies though some believe the move was in retaliation against activists.

According to the search giant, the dismissals were the direct result of an investigation that found the employees had accessed the projects, calendars and emails of other members of its staff.

In an email obtained by Bloomberg, Google explained that the actions taken by the now former employees went against its open culture, saying:

“We have always taken information security very seriously, and will not tolerate efforts to intimidate Googlers or undermine their work, nor actions that lead to the leak of sensitive business or customer information. This is not how Google’s open culture works or was ever intended to work.”

Internal tension

Firing the four employees could lead to increased tension among Google's activist staff members who have begun to protest against some of the company's projects as well as how it handled sexual harassment allegations.

Although the company did not specifically identify which employees were fired, software engineer Rebecca Rivers announced on Twitter that she was “being terminated”. Rivers was one of Google's employees who objected to the company's work with US Customs and Border Protection and her termination has helped fuel accusations that it was trying to silence activist employees.

In a statement posted online, staff members called out Google over the firings claiming that the company was trying to prevent them from unionizing, saying: “With these firings, Google is ramping up its illegal retaliation. This is classic union busting dressed up in tech industry jargon, and we won’t stand for it.”

After leading global staff walkouts over the company's sexual harassment policy, Meredith Whittaker left Google but she has also chimed in on these latest dismissals, calling them “illegal” and “craven retaliation”. However, Google stands by its decision and says that the employees were let go for “clear and repeated violations of our data security policies”.

Via City AM

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Heathrow Airport’s expansion could be built with the help of 3D printers

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 10:13 AM PST

European construction giant Royal Bam is hoping to use its 3D printing expertise to help in the building of Heathrow Airport’s planned expansion.

Royal Bam opened a concrete 3D printing factory over in the Netherlands (at Eindhoven) back at the start of the year, and is planning further expansion – potentially to the UK and Ireland.

And according to Construction News, even if there is no UK factory yet, it would be no problem to ship 3D-printed components to the UK as part of Heathrow’s proposed expansion project (which involves a third runway).

Bam Infraconsult innovation adviser Jeroen Nuijten spoke to Construction News, and noted: “We are talking to different customers. For example, London Heathrow has a huge amount of work that needs to be done [on the expansion], as well as a big problem with how to do it logistically.

“They are in the process of creating a tender, and we'll see if we are [selected as] a partner for them.”

Construction News contacted Heathrow Airport regarding this possibility, but it declined to comment.

Offsite hubs

However, Heathrow’s commercial delivery director, Emma-Jane Houghton, had previously told the publication that the expansion will be “delivered through mixed-use construction hubs”, with four offsite hubs involved.

Bam has 10 operating companies across five European markets, which include the UK and Ireland, along with the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The organisation has around 20,000 employees.

Bam is part of the RiverLinx consortium, which has just signed a contract with Transport for London on the Silvertown Tunnel project. This is a road tunnel under the Thames linking Greenwich Peninsula and Silvertown, with construction expected to begin next year, and completion anticipated in 2025.

The idea is to reduce congestion at the Blackwall Tunnel, and the new Silvertown Tunnel will be the first road tunnel in the UK to have dedicated bus lanes (which will facilitate the swift passage of almost 40 buses per hour during peak times).

As for 3D printing being used in the building industry, this is something we are hearing a lot more about now, including the construction of large two-storey buildings using 3D printers, and a new eco-housing model which is planned around homes fashioned from mud, no less.

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Intel wants to sell off its home connectivity unit

Posted: 27 Nov 2019 10:01 AM PST

According to sources familiar with the matter, Intel is reportedly looking for buyers for its connected home division which produces chips used in home internet access gear.

The chipmaker has even gone as far as to hire a financial adviser to help with the deal as the firm looks to sell off the unit responsible for bringing in annual sales of around $450m.

Intel's connected home business manufacturers the semiconductors required to provide wireless connections in home routers and gateways. The division offers a range of chips that allow consumers to manage data traffic and connect to WiFi but it has struggled to compete against its larger rivals, Broadcom and Qualcomm.

Trimming the fat

Intel's CEO Bob Swan has been taking a closer look at the company's operations and has said that he will explore options for areas that are not competitive. 

For instance, the chipmaker sold off its smartphone modem business to Apple for $1bn back in July and Swan has indicated that its memory business is another area where he may look for a partnership.

As smart devices became more ubiquitous, Intel created its connected home initiative to ensure that its computing chips found their way into this new range of devices. Throughout its history, the company has often created new units as a way to help further its CPU business.

We'll likely hear more about Intel's connected home business once it has some potential buyers lined up for the unit.

Via Bloomberg

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