Indiana Jones returning to the big screen, still hunting for a release date
It's official: there will be another Indiana Jones film. Eventually.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that a new Indiana Jones film is in the works, though it's missing a few key parts, like a script.
According to Kennedy, a fifth installment of the series "will one day be made inside this company. When it will happen, I'm not quite sure. We haven't started working on a script yet, but we are talking about it."
With Star Wars being resurrected by Disney's Lucasfilm this December, fans of the Indiana Jones films have been waiting with bated breath for a follow-up to the somewhat disappointing 2008 installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Disney acquired the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise when it bought Lucasfilm in 2012.
Whether Harrison Ford himself will don the whip and fur felt fedora still remains to be seen. Rumors have buzzed around for years about a number of actors to replace the 72-year-old icon (just please, don't let it be Shia Labeouf.)
Read More ...
Sony is bringing streamable PS3 games … to the PS3
Don't retire your PS3 just yet, Sony has announced that its subscription game-streaming service PlayStation Now is officially coming to the gracefully aging system starting in the US on May 12.
The service, already available on the PS4 and select phones, will supposedly also have a PS Vita version "coming soon" according to the Tokyo-based company.
If you're not a member already, pricing starts at $20 for the all-you-can play subscription tier that has over 100 games available to stream instantly or an a la carte option for individual titles that starts around $1.99 for four hours of game time.
- What else is new on Sony's systems? Why PlayStation Vue and PlayStation Music of course!
Read More ...
Grooveshark clone rises from ashes of defunct music streaming site
Grooveshark as we know it is dead, but a group has apparently reincarnated the music streaming service, albeit in a very murky manner.
Here's the deal: Four days ago, Grooveshark.com shut down after coming face-to-face with $736 million in copyright violation damages. Violate the terms of its settlement, and Grooveshark would need to cough up $75 million.
Grooveshark.com still has the company's announcement/apology message detailing the circumstances of its shut down and no sign of its user-uploaded tunes. But head over to Grooveshark.io, and it's like seeing a ghost.
How Grooveshark got its groove back
Jacob Siegal at BGR got an email today from someone calling himself "Shark." Shark was "connected" to Grooveshark a few years ago, according to another email sent to The Verge.Shark revealed that along with an assembled team, he essentially cloned Grooveshark.com over to Grooveshark.io. The .io site is completely operational: users can go there right now to search, stream and download tracks, which include the very copyright-protected files that put the kibosh on Grooveshark.com.
The site quasi-lives again because Shark said he "started backing up all the content on the website when I started suspecting that Grooveshark's demise [was] close." Shark claims to have backed up 90% of Grooveshark.com's goods and is currently working on locking up the final percentage.
The idea is to recreate Grooveshark's UI on Grooveshark.io, but how long the site will be up and running remains to be seen. While it looks to cover itself with a righteous disclaimer page and claims to always show the page where a stream is indexed, we didn't find any instances of this during our own song and artist searches.
Given Grooveshark.com's decisive shutdown after years of legal battles, it's impossible not to question how long Grooveshark.io can last.
Shark had this to say to BGR about keeping the clone site up: "We have all the servers/domains infrastructure in place, it's going to be a roller coaster and we're ready for it."
We've contacted Grooveshark.io to learn more about the service. We'll update this this story if and when we hear back.
- These are the best music streaming services available
Read More ...
Hands-on review: Updated: PlayStation Now
Introduction, library, pricing and stream quality
UPDATE: PlayStation Now will soon be available on PS3. Starting on May 12, PS3 owners will be able to subscribe to the service or take advantage of the 7-day free trial. The original review follows:A lot can change in two years. Take, for example, PlayStation Now.
On July 2, 2012, Sony bought the then-barely-known cloud gaming service, GaiKai, to the tune of $380 million (£242 million). The decision was met with tepid excitement and heaps of skepticism.
The excitement made sense. Though a foreign idea at the time, game-streaming sounded like an ambitious way to replace the derelict brick and mortar rental stores. (Sorry, Blockbuster!) The skepticism, however, was also understandable.
How could the average user expect a stable, quick connection for an entire gaming session? And how could Sony price it so that both consumers and developers get a fair deal?
It's with these questions in mind that we fast-forward to July 2014, wherein the fruit of that union is finally ready for harvest. It's called PlayStation Now, and if you haven't heard of it, it's kind of a big deal.
When it started, the private beta was only open to a select few. Now, the beta's open to PS4, PS3, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV owners the world over, with plans to expand to both Sony and Samsung TVs in the near future.
What follows is my experience with the service and fly-by-night phenomena many didn't believe could even work two short years ago.
Great expectations
We had hoped back then, perhaps somewhat naively, that PlayStation Now would be the Netflix of video game streaming. That we could shell out a paltry $8.99 a month and access any game we choose forever - so long as we didn't let our subscription lapse.What we got isn't the evolution of Netflix. That's not to say it's bad, mind you. It's just … different.
Update: In the time since its inception, PlayStation Now has added a subscription option. The service will cost $19.99 per month or $45 if you sign up for three months. Skeptical? Sony is offering a seven-day trial for free.
Let's start at the beginning. PlayStation Now's interface is incredibly subdued. There are only four tabs: Welcome, All Games, Connection Test, and My PS Now Games.
Exploring the Welcome tab reminds you to use a wired connection for the best results and, before you begin streaming a title, test your connection. (If you're wondering, yes you can pass the test if you're using a wireless signal. We managed to pass the test on Wi-Fi, though that may not have been an accurate assessment.)
Sony promised close to 100 titles before the beta goes live, among them first-party behemoths like The Last of Us, God of War: Ascension and Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus.
Game Library
Sony delivered. Sort of.There are now over 100 games available to stream, everything from triple-A masterpieces like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension to smaller indie darlings. My only complaint is that games aren't added as quickly as I'd like. It'd be nice to see a new, must-play game added every week, but so far that hasn't happened. Not to say that this can't or won't change as soon as the beta switches from private to public.
But the good titles are worth the price of entry - which I'll get to soon enough, don't worry. Games like Saints Row 3, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Darksiders and Catherine are all up for grabs.
Sadly, some of the 85 games are discount bin fodder, and have been for the past few years. I don't know anyone lining up to play Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear or Jimmie Johnson's Anything with Wheels. But the variety offered here should be enough to please a diverse set of tastes.
Pricing
PlayStation Now could offer the biggest and best games from the company's 20-year foray into game consoles, but if the pricing is wrong, none of it will matter. Nailing down exactly what PlayStation Now's pricing is and how this will shake out, however, is a little tough.From now games are divided into four rental periods (four hours, seven days, 30 days and 90 days) or all-you-can-play for $20 a month. The price between the first two rental periods typically only differs by one to two dollars, but there's a major jump in cost that happens between the 30 and 90-day levels.
However, once you purchase time with a game, you can't buy additional time. Ideally, you should be able to buy a four-hour demo for $2.99 and, once you've decided you like it, unlock 7-day access by paying the difference.
As it stands, you'll need to wait out the four hours and pay the full 7-day price. There's no way to transition from one to another without waiting out the time for which you paid.
Thankfully, the rental period begins the first time you play the game not when you purchase it. However, you must start your game within 30 days of purchasing the rental or that money is wasted.
Here's a table of three games, one early PS3 game; one PSN game; and one more recent PS3 game displaying not only the difference in price over each time period, but the difference between games altogether as well:
- Metal Gear Solid 4: 4 hours - $ 3.99, 7 days - $7.99, 30 days - $12.99, 90 days - $14.99
- Mega Man 9: 4 hours - $2.99, 7 days - $3.99, 30 days - $5.99, 90 days - $7.99
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution: 4 hours - $4.99, 7 days - $6.99, 30 days - $14.99, 90 days - $29.99
But dig in a bit deeper, and these logical prices stop making sense.
Take, for example, Metal Gear Solid 4: it's $7.99 to rent for seven days - not a terrible price when it's isolated without a comparison. But when this game goes for $6.99 used at GameStop, it seems a lot less sensible. Though, the point can be made that you would need an actual PS3 console to play that disc, thanks to the lack of backwards compatibility on the PS4. So, this argument can swing either way.
Where I can see PlayStation Now finding some traction is with gamers supplementing their PS4 experience with rentals - or, crazier, users giving up their physical media collection completely. This depends largely on how quickly games come to the store. But, in a perfect world in which games launch simultaneously on retail and PS Now, you could be playing the week's biggest game without leaving your couch for the pittance of $6.99.
There's a lot of potential here, but the pricing model isn't all that consumer-friendly.
Stream quality
Games take about 15 seconds to load up, and seem a hair faster than they were at CES. Single player worked seamlessly in Guacamelee!, and local multiplayer wasn't a problem either.I also noticed that since CES, there was little to no signal degradation. Everything came through in crystal-clear HD or not at all. The only time I saw some stuttering and screen tearing was during an intense, input-heavy game, like Dead or Alive 5.
Whether PlayStation Now can support multiplayer games online, however, remains to be seen. I can only imagine that a signal being relayed from a local PlayStation 4 to a PS Now server then to the game server and back would be too slow to play online. Whether that turns out to be true, though, remains to be seen and is something that requires confirmation from Sony.
What I do know is that you really want to heed Sony's advice on an ethernet cable. A lost connection to your router will boot you from the game whether you've saved 10 seconds ago or 10 minutes ago. I got booted from games multiple times due to a bad connection. Though, this may have to do with the amount of dedicated servers for the beta, and not something indicative of the final service.
Early verdict
It's hard to judge the service on this brief, partial display. Once more server space becomes dedicated to PlayStation Now, many of these complaints may become a moot point.We liked
As promised, Sony delivered a slew of games. Picking which one of the 80-plus games to download first is a difficult decision, and this is only the beginning. Plus, rentals don't take up any space on your hard drive, and there's zero download time - just a quick 20 second setup before you play each game.Finally, while the service is only available now on the PlayStation 4, it will eventually span the entirety of Sony's gaming and media devices as well as possibly expanding onto smartphones.
We disliked
It would've be great to cut yourself off entirely from a console, but that doesn't seem possible with PlayStation Now in its current state. There's just not enough of a selection without getting the latest releases on there every week, and even if they were, the prices add up quickly.Games can sometimes be more for a seven day rental than their retail price. Frankly, I wish PlayStation Now would borrow EA Access's better, consumer-friendly pricing system.
Early verdict
Sony has time to fix the problem with its PlayStation Now pricing model, lack of flexibility, and has plans to step up the amount of content available to stream. There's a lot to look forward to with the service. That is, so long as Sony can adopt a better model to attract the most gamers to the platform.Hands on: CES 2014
Backwards compatibility may have gone the way of the dodo but now Sony has introduced a way to play its last-gen games, and you don't even need a PlayStation 3 or 4.PlayStation Now could be the Netflix of video games. Through a subscription or a la carte rental payments players can stream PS3 games in 720p, no console required.
Solid Snake on your iPhone?
When the service launches this summer it'll be exclusive to Sony Bravia TVs, the PS4 and PS3. Sony plans to expand compatibility to the PS Vita handheld and Sony Xperia Android devices.PlayStation Now won't be exclusive to Sony products forever. The Japanese electronics behemoth has said its goal is to support a "broad range of Internet-connected devices." This includes non-Sony TVs and smartphones.
At Sony's mega booth at CES 2014 I spent a little hands on time crushing mythological monsters and skulking through the apocalyptic wasteland.
My demo used a Sony Bravia TV with DualShock 3 controllers connected directly to the TV. A Sony rep told me that Bluetooth is the only requirement to get controller playing with a TV. At launch, only the PS3's DualShock 3 will be supported for direct television play.
Four games were playable at the CES demo: God of War: Ascension, Puppeteer, The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls. I played the first three and was impressed with the latency of the controls, which showed zero lag.
However, the visuals were a bit of a downgrade. God of War and Last of Us, known for being real system pushers, looked noticeably fuzzy at times. There were also some pretty big initial load times.
The opening load time on The Last of Us, known for being pretty epic, came out to a minute and thirty seconds, according to my iPhone's stopwatch. That could be due to the internet being slammed by convention-goers, or just the early nature of the Now service. Either way I'm hoping performance improves by the time its opened to the public.
The cloud advantage
While latency could be an issue, Sony is saying that a 5 Mbps connection is all that's required for PlayStation Now. Basically, if your internet connection can support Netflix, Now shouldn't be a problem.And having your data up in the cloud will mean your saves will follow you across your devices, wherever you choose to log in from.
You'll also never need to worry about patching, since the server will always be dishing up the latest version.
A lot is up in the air
Even though Sony was letting people try the service, there's still a lot it won't say about PlayStation Now. First, there's the price.Sony has said that users will be able to choose between subscription and per title pay-to-play rentals. It hasn't said how any of that will be priced, or if subscriptions will provide unlimited play, or be tied somehow to PS Plus.
Also, Sony has yet to divulge what games will be available at launch, or down the line. Reps at CES couldn't even confirm that the four titles at the demo would be ready to stream. They also wouldn't say anything about PlayStation 2 and original PlayStation games, just that they were "a possibility."
Early verdict
Despite all the unknowns and the graphical half step backwards, PlayStation Now is one of the most exciting bits of gaming news to come out of CES. As a life-long gamer, I sorely miss backwards compatibility. Having Sony's amazing back catalog at my disposal would be incredible, especially for a flat fee.This could be the HBO GO of video games, and I'm excited to hear more about the lineup, and when I'll be able to play The Last of Us on my Vita. Sony has a closed beta planned for the end of January; expect more news once that kicks off.
Originally contributed by Alex Roth
Read More ...
Updated: 7 best 2-in-1 laptops 2015: top hybrid laptops reviewed
Best 2-in-1 laptops
Microsoft's Windows 8 didn't just shake up the company's entire software empire, but the mobile computing industry as well.Given the dualistic nature of the new Windows, laptop and tablet makers responded in kind with devices commonly known as 2-in-1 laptops, or hybrid laptops.
These are devices that are able to serve as both a laptop and a tablet, either in a detachable design that sees the touchscreen doubling as a tablet, or a convertible approach in which the notebook's hinge rotates 360 degrees for a similar effect. In the past, neither have been all that successful in providing both experiences in equal measure, but that's slowly changing.
Considering their similarity to Ultrabooks in terms of build quality, thinness and lightness, 2-in-1 laptops are generally priced in the same range: between $700 (about £450, AU$800) and $2,000 (around £1,169, AU$2,131). However, some manufacturers, like Acer, make budget hybrids, and there are even 2-in-1s designed specifically for the business user, like the Dell Venue 7000 series. However, the hybrid market is almost entirely catered toward consumer needs.
These are sleek, powerful devices that look good and serve multiple use cases to varying degrees of success. With that, here are the best 2-in-1 laptops that we've reviewed thus far.
Microsoft Surface Pro 3
The best tablet-laptop hybrid device yet released
This is not only Microsoft's most striking and versatile device to date, but the most convincing poster child for the hybrid category yet. And this ringing endorsement comes from a long-time skeptic of such devices.
That said, the Surface Pro 3 (starting at $799, £639, AU$979) is hamstrung by flaws that cannot be ignored. Namely, the battery life might be in line with most Ultrabooks, but isn't close to what Apple's leading laptop and top tablet. And the Type Cover billed as an accessory doesn't help Microsoft's cause – it's quite pricey to boot.
At any rate, this version of the tablet comes in cheaper than the most affordable iPad Air and 13-inch MacBook Air combined, even with the Type Cover, and that's the point. On paper, this slate is more powerful than either Apple device, not to mention most other comparably priced laptops and tablets. The Surface Pro 3 might not be perfect, but it's far and wide the brightest shining example of a potential tablet takeover. If you're not concerned about a downgraded performance, consider the new Surface 3, which doesn't provide as much kick as the Pro, but is lighter and a lot cheaper.
Read: Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review
Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi
This 2-in-1 laptop takes thinness to a new level
The Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi is one of the first laptops to finally get the hybrid form factor right. Thanks to the use of a magnet latching system and Intel's fanless Core M processor, Asus has been able to produce a lighter tablet-laptop hybrid that's thin to boot.
The detachable Bluetooth keyboard also opens up a few alternative ways to use the device. Over the last few weeks, I propped up the screen while I used the keyboard as a remote for Netflix and stood the screen on its side, using it as a makeshift vertical screen. The best thing about all this is it's entirely seamless, letting you easily switch between tablet and laptop modes with ease.
There are a few things Asus didn't get right in this go around with the T300 Chi, namely the micro-sized ports. It has helped Asus shave down it's latest Transformer Book into a much more svelte profile, but you'll need to carry around a set of cables and adapters to plug in something as simple as a USB drive. With battery life averaging five hours and maxing out at six at best, you might want to look into a tablet or Chromebook for longer use cases. If you're looking for something similar, but less impressive and less expensive, you can always try the Asus Transformer Book T100 Chi.
Read: Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi review
Dell Venue 11 Pro 7130
A powerful, small tablet that wants to play in the big leaguesAt the $700 (£437 and AU$800) entry price, the Venue Pro 7000 offers a nice balance of performance and portability in a travel-friendly size. However, unless you find yourself accessing CPU and GPU taxing apps, you might find more value in an Atom-based convertible. Going with Atom will lower your cost and give you better battery life.
For those who need power and performance, the confines of a 10.8-inch display may be too rigid to maximize productivity. Opening more than a few tabs or windows on the small display will trigger claustrophobia. If you need to be more productive, there are bigger convertible options, like the Surface Pro 3, to choose from that may fit that need better.
Read: Dell Venue 11 Pro 7000 review
Asus Transformer Book T200
Another excellent transforming tablet-laptop from AsusIf you are looking for a combination of Windows laptop and tablet, the Asus Transformer Book T200 is a very appealing option that offers a fair amount for only $539 (£349, or AU$690).
The T200 is quiet, light, well built and feels responsive during normal usage. Battery life is excellent, so you won't find yourself hunting obsessively for charging points throughout the day. Its "smart" hard drive bay adds plenty of storage space alongside the speedy 32GB SSD, and despite having a disappointing resolution, the IPS display is at least vibrant with good viewing angles. Good connectivity in the form of USB 3.0 and RJ45 ports are welcome additions, with a reasonable pre-loaded software set finishing off the package nicely.
For those with a little more cash to splash, the Surface Pro 3 is a very appealing option that offers similar functionality in a slimmer form, and with much more power. Otherwise, if you are looking for something a little larger, Asus' 2013 13-inch Transformer Book TX300 comes with an i7 processor and a full-HD screen.
Read: Asus Transformer Book T200 review
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S
The laptop that will bend over backwards to help you out
The 11.6-inch Lenovo Yoga 11S (starting at around $799, £599, AU$1,299) laptop is a flexible machine that can fold over from a typical laptop stance to a stand position, to a position with the keyboard behind the screen, ready for delivering presentations.
It comes with HDMI, SD card and USB ports, and boasts a surprisingly impressive Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for storage. The screen is sharp and bright, though not full HD, and works well with Windows 8. It's also nicely light and small for portability. You can easily use the Yoga 11S as you would any other laptop, replete with a full QWERTY keyboard.
Read: Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S review
Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro
Lenovo's former-flagship Ultrabook is a real stunnerWith the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (starting at $1,099, £999, AU$1,599), we can now confirm that 3,200 x 1,800 pixels is delicious indeed. On top of the winning Yoga form factor, we loved the solid performance, backlit keyboard, and the snappy SSD, creating mobile device-like response times.
However, in our experience, a Haswell-based ultrabook this thin should run twice as long as the Yoga 2 Pro does on a full charge; we got about five hours in our testing. Even with cloud services like Google Drive, a 128GB SSD is hard to recommend for even your grandparents.
Drawbacks considered, the Yoga 2 Pro is a winner of a laptop, pure and simple. At the $1,000 price point, you could put the Yoga 2 Pro in just about anyone's hands and make them quite pleased.
For those of you who crave portability more than anything, Lenovo recently unveiled the new LaVie Z, which the company claims is the lightest convertible on the market.
Read: Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro review
Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12
A versatile hybrid ideal for those who work as hard as they playYes, another Lenovo hybrid! The Yoga 12 is a versatile bulldog of a device. You can use it as your work laptop. You can use it for play. It won't be the best pick for either of these tasks, but it won't stray too far from the upper tier either. At 3.4 pounds and 0.74 inches thick, it's just light and slim enough to claim portability. With more than seven hours of video playback, its battery is good enough to get through a workday, and it's affordably priced starting at just $845.
Packing a full HD display that can bend into four different modes, you'll enjoy this device's flexibility, even though it isn't the lightest or sexiest device on the planet. With that being said, it performs on par or better than any of the devices on this list.
Read: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12
Read More ...
Microsoft may be interested in buying Salesforce
Microsoft may make a bid to acquire CRM giant Salesforce.com, according to a Bloomberg report. Although no sale is imminent, and both companies have declined to comment on the matter, the potential marriage would unite two enterprise technology megaforces.
Worth approximately $50 billion, Salesforce is sitting on a cash reserve of about $1.67 billion. Bloomberg's sources claim Microsoft is evaluating a bid for Salesforce after the San Francisco, Calif.-based CRM services company was approached by another potential buyer.
The sources also indicated a long-term willingness on Microsoft's part to attempt to acquire Salesforce under the appropriate terms. However, Microsoft had remained on the sidelines until an unnamed company stepped in to make a bid for Salesforce, according to the report.
What it could mean
Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella has made it his mission to make Microsoft the dominant cloud services provider on the market. Acquiring Salesforce would give him the technology and talent to bolster a company he has already begun restructuring in favor of cloud services.Additionally, Salesforce has become the leading force in enterprise technology in the wearables and machine-to-machine space. A union with Microsoft could give the two companies the leading device and reporting mechanism by integrating Microsoft Band and Hololens with Salesforce's data and analytics tools.
Bloomberg estimates Salesforce's market value to be approximately $50 billion, or roughly 17% of Microsoft's $290 billion valuation.
Read More ...
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 will feature sick kickflips and projectiles
Tony Hawk is returning to consoles everywhere with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, a game that hopes to regain the spark of the franchise's earliest titles. According to Game Informer, Pro Skater 5 is slated for release on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. No release date was announced, but it's coming to next-gen consoles first.
The game is being developed by Robomodo, the name behind the maligned Tony Hawk: Ride and Tony Hawk: Shred games. While this bit of news probably feels like a nose grind on your hopes and dreams, the developer says it's aspiring to achieve the beloved gameplay of the first four Tony Hawk games.
At the same time, it's also clear the new title will feature some fresh and intriguing new ideas, including new power-ups and "the ability to shoot projectiles for specific missions," Game Informer says. How on earth shooting projectiles will integrate with classic game play is yet to be seen, but Robomodo promises to wed the old with the new.
While Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 probably won't have us collecting tapes with Bucky Lasek or introduce us to the hottest 90's alt rock tracks again, it's an exciting idea to return to the golden age of kickflips. Game Informer nabbed some images of the upcoming game, which you can see below.
Read More ...
Updated: Microsoft Office 2016 release date, price, news and features
Page 1
Windows grabs a huge deal of attention, of course – and Windows 10 has been generating a predictable media storm, particularly since this is a vital operating system to get right for Redmond given the failure of Windows 8.However, let's not forget that Microsoft has another major cash cow, Office, which has been gradually transformed from a Windows-centric productivity suite of five core products into a vibrant ecosystem of applications.
In Microsoft's own words, this time around, the company has reimagined the traditional Office experience for a mobile-first, cloud-first world – one where Office 2016 is expected to play an increasingly lesser role compared to Office 365.
Cut to the chase
What is it? It is the new version of Office, the first one that is designed and built from the ground-up for mobile and cloud.
When will it release? Office 2016 will be launched in autumn 2015.
What will it cost? The suite will be free for consumers on mobile devices and smaller tablets (with limitations, mind you), and probably as cheap as £95 (around $145, AU$185) for a likely "Office Home & Student 2016" edition, though the RRP of the 2013 version of this flavour is £110 (around $165, AU$215), with the subscription version of the suite (Office 365 Personal) running to £60 (or $70, which is around AU$90) per year.
What is it? It is the new version of Office, the first one that is designed and built from the ground-up for mobile and cloud.
When will it release? Office 2016 will be launched in autumn 2015.
What will it cost? The suite will be free for consumers on mobile devices and smaller tablets (with limitations, mind you), and probably as cheap as £95 (around $145, AU$185) for a likely "Office Home & Student 2016" edition, though the RRP of the 2013 version of this flavour is £110 (around $165, AU$215), with the subscription version of the suite (Office 365 Personal) running to £60 (or $70, which is around AU$90) per year.
What's the latest?
We previously heard from Julia White, the general manager for Microsoft Office, that Office 2016 (which is coincidentally the 16th iteration of the suite) will be launched in the second half of 2015, and in a recent blog post Redmond mentioned that the suite will be out in the autumn.It will still be best suited to a PC with a keyboard and mouse, a setup that Microsoft seems to believe is the best way to achieve optimal productivity.
Microsoft's Joe Belfiore has previously shown off touch and mobile optimised versions of Word and PowerPoint on Windows 10, both of them on Lumia smartphones and part of a new offering called "Office for Windows 10" (see the above and below video clips).
More recently, we got the chance to go hands-on with the Office for Windows 10 apps, which have seen changes in the aesthetics department of course, having been given the new universal app styling you'll be familiar with for Windows 10 apps. And naturally, there's a touch-centric UI that will look familiar to iPad users.
In the Word app, for example, there are finger-friendly cursor controls for easy text selection and copy/pasting, plus tapping on a spelling mistake brings up a touch menu of possible replacement words. There's also a new Bing-powered feature for Word called Insights, and this looks up background information, websites and news stories for selected words. Track changes, comments and co-editing are available too, but not every layout tool is present in this Word app.
Excel has benefited from a considerable makeover, and additions including snap functions and smart scrolling which make tapping in your spreadsheet data an easier process. It has the same touch-friendly interface, but it's not as stripped down as with Word, and it boasts a status bar that lets you switch between sheets in your workbook and view the results of common formulas for selected cells.
PowerPoint has a useful range of editing tools, but the preview version we played with had weaknesses in terms of supported file formats, and the Presenter View not being as useful as we'd hoped (it isn't really full-screen, for starters, with the title bar at the top always being present, and the Windows taskbar eating up display real-estate, too).
Overall, at this point the Office for Windows 10 apps look to offer a reasonable selection of features with a nice touch-friendly interface, but that UI takes up too much of the screen in landscape mode.
Office for Windows 10 will be released in two flavours; one for smaller 8-inch or less tablets and smartphones, and the other for larger tablets, hybrids with touchscreens and the like. These two versions are built by the same team and offer similar functionality, and are basically a matter of tuning the UI to complement the dimensions of each device. Broadly speaking, the features will also be the same across different platforms too, whether you're running on Android, iOS or Windows.
Microsoft has said that Office for Windows will be limited to four apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote), because those are the most essential apps which the company wanted to prioritise, and maximise the quality of. Redmond's Richard Ellis, director for Office in the UK, recently told us: "When the need for other apps is known to us by consumers, we will listen and make plans to develop further apps for Office for Windows."
We've reached out to Microsoft to get more clarity on exactly what the deal is with these apps in terms of pricing – it seems licensing fees will apply for business usage, though it's not exactly clear how that will work at this point (and while consumers will get free access on smaller devices, it will be with caveats and no advanced features – a familiar enough story). We'll bring you more news on this front when we hear it.
Page 2
Okay, let's move on to discuss the full Office 2016 suite, which we also recently spent some extensive hands-on time with. In terms of its looks, Office 2016 boasts a selection of five Office Themes (compared to three with Office 2013), offering a selection of greys (light, medium, dark), white, and a colourful theme which picks up the solid slabs of colour in Windows 10.
Broadly speaking, while there are certainly some welcome tweaks to the UI, and impressive new features in Office 2016, in terms of the latter, they're thin on the ground (indeed, we didn't come across any new features whatsoever in Word or PowerPoint in the build we took for a test drive).
So what is new? Microsoft has added a smart 'Tell Me' tool which is already available for Office Online and Office for iPad, and offers an assistant to help you perform various tasks.
There are also additions on the management and security front. On Windows, Office will allow for the limiting of what users can do with documents (or emails) that are shared with them, and they can be given an expiry date, prevented from being forwarded and so on.
Outlook Data Loss Prevention features have been extended to Word, Excel and PowerPoint, too – meaning users will be warned directly inside an app if they try to save a file containing confidential information in the wrong location where it would be exposed.
Microsoft has seen fit to add some pretty nifty features to Outlook, which is good to see. For example, when you click to add an attachment to an email, a list of recently worked on files pops up – pretty handy, as the file you want to attach is likely to be one you've just finished working with (and this doesn't just cover local files, but also those on OneDrive).
And Outlook 2016 offers Clutter, a feature that employs machine learning to analyse your email patterns, and then intelligently sorts unimportant and spam mails into a separate folder, to help you tame your inbox more effectively.
Improved business intelligence tools now grace Excel 2016, with Power Query being built-in rather than an add-on, and Power View now working with data from OLAP cubes. Working with the slicers that let you swiftly filter tables and Pivot Tables using a touchscreen is also easier in Excel.
Rumours suggest that Microsoft will add automatic image rotation to Office apps, to help with the positioning of pictures in your documents. Furthermore, the rumour mill reckons that Office 2016 will bring real-time Word document co-authoring to the desktop suite, coming to Word first, and then Excel and PowerPoint at a later date (previously this functionality was only available on the web).
It's worth bearing in mind that InfoPath (the electronic form designing and filling software) will be dropped from Office when the next version of the suite emerges, though Microsoft says it will continue support for InfoPath Forms Services through to 2016.
Page 3
Microsoft is also bringing a new version of the suite to the Mac, finally, after Mac users have been left with the 2011 edition for the last half decade. Office for Mac includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and also Outlook for Mac and an updated version of the free OneNote for Mac app.
The suite has witnessed the introduction of a range of new features designed for Apple's computers, including full support for Retina Displays, plus the user interface has been overhauled and brought up to date as was badly needed, delivering the ribbons and task panes of the Windows Office applications – though it still sticks firmly with the Yosemite look, of course.
New Rights Management Services are present in the suite, allowing you to set documents to expire after a certain date, or prevent an email from being forwarded anywhere else (as with Windows). Office for Mac also very neatly bakes OneDrive into the mix for Mac users, and is shaping up to be strides forward on many fronts.
However, there are certainly a number of features missing compared to the Windows version – and some of these are powerful features – and it's not clear yet how many of these will be brought across when the final version of Office for Mac ships.
Microsoft's default choice for Office is the subscription model, which is the company's preferred method of delivery and currently maintains 24 different SKUs (stock keeping units) spread between home, education, enterprise, government and non-profit.
The company currently has around 9.2 million Office 365 Personal and Home users (and more than 50 million Office Online users), a tiny fraction of the estimated total 1.2 billion Office users that have deployed the productivity suite. Still, the 9.2 million figure as of last quarter represents 30% growth, Microsoft recently announced.
Going forward, the idea with Office 365 Personal is to allow one individual to connect one PC or Mac, one phone and one tablet to the service for a yearly subscription fee, allowing for usage via the cloud. However, it's designed for personal use, as the name of course suggests, and not for those who want to use the Office apps for professional purposes. For those customers who need this better functionality and more features, those are provided by Office for Windows and its touch-optimised apps for work on the move.
Microsoft also recently announced that it is investing in strategic partnerships with device manufacturers globally, and Samsung, Dell, along with other vendors (nine of them) will bring the Office app experience to Android devices later on in 2015.
All eleven of these vendors will pre-install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype on their Android devices, in what Microsoft describes as a move to "literally hand deliver the entire productivity suite to users around the globe." Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President, Business Development at Microsoft, said that: "This is a big step forward for our cross-platform and cross-device services strategy, which will bring an array of Microsoft services to every person on every device."
Finally, at the recent Build 2015 conference, Microsoft revealed that it's making the Office suite into a platform, allowing developers to integrate their apps and services directly into Office 2016. In other words, you won't have to leave Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook to use third-party apps that will include the likes of SAP, Salesforce, Uber and DocuSign.
For example, the Uber add-on will allow Outlook users to set a reminder to call a car in order to get them to their next appointment, and the SAP add-on will let Excel users connect to the on-premise SAP server and import data directly into a spreadsheet.
Getting the preview version
If you want to try out Office 2016 on Windows, then you'll be pleased to hear that the Public Preview version is now available as a free download – and unlike the Consumer Technical Preview before it, users aren't required to sign up to an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). Head here for more details on how to grab the preview.
As for Mac users, there's a preview version available for you as well. If you want to have a gander at the next incarnation of Office for OS X, you can grab the Office for Mac Preview here. This was updated a short while back, with various performance tweaks and better VoiceOver accessibility support among other improvements.
Read More ...
Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12
Introduction and design
If you're trying to choose the right laptop for work, you've probably noticed three dissatisfying categories. You can go with an insanely powerful and heavy workstation that costs more than most used cars. You can go with a consumer laptop that looks good but doesn't pack the punch necessary to push past spreadsheets. Or you can go with a highly portable convertible that won't do much more than let you check your email.Professionals that want a device that looks cool, isn't heavier than a brick and packs enough horsepower to get the job done have mostly been out of luck. If you're this specific person, Lenovo thought of you when it made the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12 ($845, £558, AU$1077).
If you're having trouble picturing such a device, close your eyes and imagine a cross between the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro ($1,299, £999, AU$2,099), the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (starting at $799, £528, $AU1,018), and the Dell Precision M3800 workstation ($1,650, £1,091, AU$2,100). Although it isn't as light as the Surface Pro 3, as sexy as the Yoga 3 Pro, or as powerful as the Precision M3800, the ThinkPad Yoga 12 holds its own admirably in all three categories.
Design
The ThinkPad Yoga 12 is built with a black magnesium alloy chassis that feels great to the touch but doesn't do much for the eyes. This laptop isn't ugly by any means, but it features the same signature ThinkPad design that you've grown accustomed to (and bored by) since the line was unveiled in 1992. The laptop measures 12.44 inches (31cm) long by 0.74 inches (1.8cm) thick and it weighs a manageable 3.48 pounds (1.5kg).
The top of the device sports the customary ThinkPad logo with accompanying light-up lowercase letter "i," a barely noticeable black on black Lenovo logo near the upper half of the laptop's silver-colored, metal hinges. The bottom of the device features three five-inch-by-one-inch vents, and five small speaker slots. In addition to the ports that I'll mention later, the right side of the device houses a tiny slot where you store the optional digitizer pen. No larger than a pencil's eraser, you wouldn't even notice this slot if the top of the digitizer weren't red.
Although I love how the magnesium alloy feels, it does get very oily and dusty. It isn't as bad as shinier, plastic laptops, like some of Acer's budget Chromebooks, but definitely worse than higher-end laptops, like the Dell XPS 13. Despite the smudging, you won't notice a scratch anywhere on the surface for a long, long time. I scraped my nails across the chassis and there wasn't a scratch in sight.
The full HD (1,920 x 1,080) touchscreen isn't the highest quality display on the market, but it's as versatile as any you'll find. You can bend the display back 360-degrees, so that the laptop can be used in four different modes: laptop, tablet, tent, and stand. It's a shame Lenovo couldn't find a black metal hinge instead of the silver metallic hinge, which is sturdy and smooth, but takes away from the laptop's aesthetics.
Speaking of the touchscreen: I find it very unlikely many people will enjoy using this device in tablet mode. At 3.4 pounds, it's just too heavy to hold in your hands the way you would a tablet. For reference, the Surface Pro 3 is only 1.76 pounds, and the iPad Air 2 is 0.98 pounds.
The Yoga 12 is double and triple the weight, respectively, of two devices many consumers have used at least once. Tent and stand mode are fine for presenting or watching movies, because you're meant to rest the devices on a table, but don't buy this device if you plan to use it primarily as a handheld tablet.
With that being said, Lenovo's "Lift and Lock Keyboard" is pretty cool. When you bend the hinge beyond 260-degrees, the keyboard's keys sink into the frame of the laptop, providing an almost flat surface where your palm sits when using the device in tablet mode.
As for the keyboard itself: it's spill resistant and sports Lenovo's signature AccuType curved keys, of which I'm not a fan. Nor am I a fan of the three buttons at the top of the clickpad, which just seem to get in the way rather than providing me with any added value. Neither of these gripes is a deal-breaker. Just to show that I'm not an outright Lenovo keyboard hater, the clickpad itself is the perfect size, it's incredibly smooth and I found it to be accurate right out of the box.
Specifications and performance
As you can see from the specs below, you're getting a device with a solid interior. The fifth-generation Intel "Broadwell" chips can be upgraded to Core i7. I found the 2.90GHz in my device to be speedy enough to get me through a few days of work, and one day of lounging around the house.The 8GB of RAM and 180GB solid-state drive on the review unit isn't going to wow anyone, but the device can be upgraded to include up to a 1TB hard drive and 250GB of SSD storage.
You've got all the ports you'll likely need to get you through a workday. The absence of an ethernet port is annoying, but we're all just going to have to get with the times and accept that adapters are the norm these days.
Here is the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12 configuration given to TechRadar for review:
Spec sheet
- CPU: Intel Core i5-5300U (2C, 2.30/2.90GHz, 3.0MB, 1600Mhz)
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5500
- RAM: 8GB
- Screen: 1920x1080
- Storage: 180GB SSD OPAL2
- Ports: 2 USB 3.0, mini-HDMI, 4-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC)
- Connectivity: Intel Dual-Band Wireless – AC 7265 + Bluetooth 4.0
- Camera: HD 720p
- Weight: 3.48 pounds (1.5kg)
- Size: 12..44" x 8.70" x 0.74" (31 x 22 x 1.8 cm)
Benchmarks
- 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 5,377; Sky Diver: 51,238; Fire Strike: 750
- Cinebench CPU: 263 points; Graphics: 29.89 fps
- PC Mark 8 (Home Test): 2,471 points
- PCMark 8 Battery Life: 3 hours and 24 minutes
In the PCMark 8 test, the ThinkPad finished with an impressive speed that merited 2,471 points, which is more than double the Yoga 3 Pro's 1,147 score, and just narrowly edges out the Surface 3 Pro's 2,190 points. But again, if you need workstation speed, buy a proper workstation. The Precision M3800 scored a whopping 3,322 points in its test.
Battery life is where the ThinkPad gets to flex its muscle against the Precision M3800. The latter only scored two hours and nine minutes in the PCMark 8 battery test, whereas the Yoga 12 made it to three hours and 24 minutes, which is just slightly better than the Surface Pro 3 and Yoga 3 Pro. In real-life testing, the Yoga 12's battery life lasted for seven hours and four minutes of video playback with the screen brightness and the volume set to 50%. Frazzled workers beware: the laptop shut down on me with "6% and 28 minutes left."
One other important point to note: When TechRadar reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12's larger twin brother, the ThinkPad Yoga 14, we found a major issue. As we noted then: "Lifting the laptop from its front left corner causes the system to shut down immediately." This defect, as well as other reported battery defects, are common among Yoga 14s. However, the Yoga 12 review unit sent to TechRadar was in perfect condition.
Verdict
The Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12 is trying to be all things to all people. Normally when this happens there are major compromises that damage the overall integrity of the product. This isn't the case with the Yoga 12 – it competes pretty well against some of the major players in all of the specific categories in which it wants to play.We liked
The Yoga 12 is a versatile bulldog of a device. You can use it as your work laptop. You can use it for play. It won't be the best pick for either of these tasks, but it won't stray too far from the upper tier either.At 3.4 pounds and 0.74 inches thick, it's just light and slim enough to claim portability. With more than seven hours of video playback, its battery is good enough to get through a workday, and it's affordably priced starting at just $845.
We disliked
For the very same reason, you may want to avoid this device. If you absolutely need a machine that can edit video, handle multiple spreadsheets, and store a ton of data, then you're better off going with the slightly heavier Dell Precision M3800, which is only 3.8 pounds (1.8 kg) compared to the Yoga 12's 3.4 pounds. Conversely, if you need something that's lightweight and sexy, then you should definitely go with the Yoga 3 Pro or the Surface Pro 3.Final verdict
If your business is looking for a powerful and versatile convertible laptop that looks good and doesn't break the bank, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 12 should definitely be on your shortlist. However, don't expect this device to wow in any specific category.The ThinkPad Yoga 12 isn't the lightest. It isn't the fastest, it isn't the most powerful and it doesn't have the nicest screen, either. What you're getting here is just enough style to be cool, and just enough horsepower to be productive.
Read More ...
In depth: 4K TV and Ultra HD: Everything you need to know
4K
4K: Everyone wants it and no one knows why. It's the hottest techy buzzword of 2015, and it's a technology that's rewriting the rulebook when it comes to image quality.It affects not just the world of 4K TV and cinema, but also cameras and image capture, smartphones and tablets, computer monitors and PC games - practically anything that displays images or records video.
4K TV sets are now available from most of the major TV manufacturers - i.e. Sony's impossibly slim Android TV or Samsung's SUHD series of TVs - but they're merely the tip of a very cool technology iceberg.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's make sure we all understand the basics. What the heck is 4K and why should you care?
What do I need to know about 4K?
In a minute we're going to explain precisely how 4K is defined, how it works and why you should care, but to tell you the truth, you only need to know one thing about it: 4K means more pixels.That's it?
That's it.How many more pixels are we talking about?
About 8 million. Which is around four times what your current 1080p set can display. Think of your TV like a grid, with rows and columns. A full HD 1080p image is 1080 rows high and 1920 columns wide. A 4K image approximately doubles both those numbers, yielding approximately 4 times as many pixels total. To put it another way, you could fit every pixel from your 1080p set onto one quarter of a 4K screen.Why is it called 4K?
Because the images are around 4,000 pixels wide. And before you ask, yes, the industry named 1080 resolution after image height, but named 4K after image width. For extra added fun, you also might hear this resolution referred to as 2160p. Welcome to the future. It's confusing here.Do all those extra pixels matter?
They matter very much. More pixels means more information. More information means sharper pictures. Sharper pictures are more engaging. More engaging content is more fun. And fun... well fun is the thing, isn't it?So I'll see a huge difference?
That's where it gets sticky. We're talking about a similar jump in resolution as the one from SD (480 lines high) to HD (1080 lines high). And 4K screens are noticeably sharper than 1080p screens. But there are a few reasons you might not feel the same thrill you did when you upgraded your old CRT to a flatscreen.When most people went from a 480 to a 1080p set, there was a good chance they were making a big jump in TV size as well. In terms of wow factor, display size is more powerful than any resolution jump could ever hope to be. Last time around most people got big jumps to both screen size and resolution. But this time screen sizes are staying about the same, with the most popular models falling in the 40 inch to 70 inch range.
Most importantly, though, you'll only be able to see the resolution difference on a 4K set if you're 1) watching 4K content through it and 2) you're sitting close enough.
Sitting close enough?
Yup. Remember when Apple made a big fuss about "retina" displays a few iPhones back? "Retina" refers to screens that have sufficient resolution that at a normal viewing distance your eye can't make out individual pixels. Get far enough away from a 1080p set and, hey presto, It's a retina display! More importantly, at that same distance, your eyeballs won't be able to squeeze any more detail out of a 4K image than a 1080 one. If you're at "retina distance" from your 1080p set now and don't plan on moving your couch closer, upgrading to 4K may not make a big difference to your experience. This chart shows how close you need to sit at any given screen size to see the difference.So I should sit closer?
Oh my yes. The ability to get up close to the screen without the image breaking down is one of the most intoxicating things about 4K. Sitting closer allows the same sized screen to fill more of your visual field, which yields greater immersion. The up-close factor is one of the reasons 4K computer monitors have become one of the technology's fastest growing sectors. 4K monitors remain pin-sharp even when you're just a foot or two from the screen, as you are when you're sitting at your desk.Difference between Ultra HD and 4K
Technically, "Ultra High Definition" is actually a derivation of the 4K digital cinema standard. However while your local multiplex shows images in native 4096 x 2160 4K resolution, the new Ultra HD consumer format has a slightly lower resolution of 3840 X 2160.This is one reason why some brands prefer not to use the 4K label at all, sticking with Ultra HD or UHD instead. However, the numerical shorthand looks likely to stick. As a broad brush label it's so much snappier!
Why should I care about 4K Ultra HD?
There are many reasons why 4K should make you rethink your next TV purchase (actually, there are eleven and you can read about them here), not all of them immediately obvious.Photographers who routinely view their work on an HD TV are seeing but a fraction of the detail inherent in their pictures when they view them at 2160p.
A 4K display reveals so much more nuance and detail – the difference can be astonishing. While 3D has proved to be a faddish diversion, 4K comes without caveats. Its higher resolution images are simply better.
The higher pixel density of a 4K panel also enable you get much closer without the grid-like structure of the image itself becoming visible –this means you can comfortably watch a much larger screen from the same seating position as your current Full HD panel. Currently all available 4K Ultra HD TVs are in excess of 50-inches.
You also said "and up." Can UHD also designate higher resolutions than 4K?
Yes. This is the slightly confusing part. An 8K display would also be UHD.What is this 8K you speak of?
It's the next resolution standard up from 4K. Basically it doubles the pixel height and width again to yield approximately 32 million pixels. It's a regular pixel party.That sounds awesome. Should I just get one of those?
Absolutely not. The 8K standard is primarily for the exhibition market (aka movie theaters). To make that many pixels matter, you need to be feeding a truly gigantic screen and sitting right in front of it. Besides, you can't buy an 8K screen today without having it custom built, which would cost approximately seven hojillion dollars. And there's no commercially available 8K content. You'd need to get movies directly from distributors the same way theaters do. You do not need this unless you are Jerry Bruckheimer. (If you are Jerry Bruckheimer, though, give me a call. I know a guy.)My friend told me about 4K OLED. What's that?
More acronyms! Isn't this fun? OLED - organic light emitting diodes - have been around for some time, but producing big screens using this technology has proven to be prohibitively expensive, something which has so far prevented OLED television from being a mainstream proposition.It's a real shame because OLED technology can be stunning, offering vibrant colors, deep blacks and bright whites. But don't give up hope just yet. Several companies (most prominently LG) are laboring away to bring OLED to 4K televisions. We recently took a look at LG's new 4K OLED sets, but while they're gorgeous, pricing remains sky high. Hopefully that will change soon, though. "I believe the price and yield rate will be higher immediately and the price will be down," Mr K I Kwon, president of LG Electronics UK, told TechRadar recently. We hope his predictions hold and we aren't ruling out OLED as a big player in the next generation of televisions.
I've heard Netflix is going to start streaming in something called HDR. What is that?
HDR, UHD, OLED ... there's no shortage of acronyms in home entertainment.HDR, or high dynamic range, is a concept borrowed from digital imaging which combines three images - one with normal lighting, one with underexposure and one with overexposure - to give more contrast to an image or video. Netflix will be the first content provider to release HDR video in 2015.
You won't necessarily need a UHD screen to get it, but to really see a difference in picture quality you'll want to step up to the higher resolution.
Quantum Dot sounds like theoretical physics
It does indeed. But unlike some problems in theoretical physics, the solution is already here. Quantum Dot displays (QD for short) are simply LED panels with a thin film of nano-crystals in between the backlight and the display. Manufacturers like LG and Sony claim that this increases color depth by around 30% without adding extra pixels or implementing a wacky algorithm to digitally manipulate the display.We went hands on with a few QD panels at CES 2015, including the LG UF9400 Quantum Dot 4K UHD TV and Samsung SUHD Curved TV, which uses a variation of Quantum Dot. We liked what we saw, mostly, and especially on the Samsung SUHD. The LG had some issues with oversaturation ... but that may be fixed by the time the TV comes to market in Q2 2015.
What about 4K content? Can I get that?
Yeah, about that... There's actually not much 4K content to be had right now.Why not?
Because every 4K frame contains four times the information of HD, 4K content is four times more bulky than regular HD content in terms of its raw file size. That makes it a challenge to get it to you. Broadcast TV hasn't made the 4K switch yet (indeed, it's only recently that hard drive sizes have gotten big enough to manage DVRing HD programs comfortably). There is a 4K Blu-ray standard coming, but the Blu-ray disc association is only just finishing it and won't start licensing it to manufacturers until early 2015. Victor Matsuda, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association Global Promotions Committee told us we should see 4K players and discs in time for the 2015 holidays.On the streaming side, bandwidth is a definite issue. The internet's bandwidth is already dominated by Netflix's traffic, prompting ISPs to go after them for extra cash, and that's with most of its streams at SD and HD levels. Upping everything to 4K doesn't sound like a reasonable option just yet. And even if it were possible to stream 4K content to everyone without breaking the internet, streaming 4K content requires a 25Mbps or faster downstream internet connection, which is faster than most people have at the moment.
So what can I watch?
The good news is many new films and some TV shows are now filming in 4K as a future-proofing measure. The bad news is all that content will have to wait until we have established avenues for getting it to people. Your best UHD options right now come from Sony and Netflix, with Amazon to follow suit this fall.Sony launched its Video Unlimited 4K service in 2013, which offers more than 70 films and TV shows for rental or purchase. It requires Sony's 4K Ultra HD Media Player, the FMP-X1 ($350), which comes with a 2TB hard drive and is only compatible with Sony 4K TVs. 24-hour TV show rentals are $4 and 24-hour film rentals cost $8. Film purchases are $30. It's not exactly instant gratification, though. Once you rent or buy something, it needs to download to your player, which Sony estimates can take 8 to 15 hours, depending on your Internet connection, so you'd better think ahead if you're planning a 4K movie night.
If you want to watch right away, Netflix is testing the 4K streaming waters with select shows (House of Cards, Breaking Bad, The Blacklist) and films (Ghostbusters, The Smurfs 2) if you own a Samsung, Sony or LG 4K TV and have a 25Mbps internet connection. Currently, however, the content selection is limited at best. And contains The Smurfs 2. Netflix has announced that it will require new subscribers to be on the highest tier four-stream Family Plan in order to access 4K content. Existing subscribers will be grandfathered into 4K for two years on their existing lower-tier plans.
In addition, Amazon recently announced that it would begin streaming 4K content to TVs by select manufacturers in October. By the time the holidays roll around, it looks like 4K pioneers will have at least a few options to choose from.
Is it me or are those options are almost comically limited?
It's not you.Why are we even talking about 4K then?
Because it's awesome. Seriously, the pictures look amazing. You're going to love it.How does that help if there's nothing to watch?
It's a fair point. There is definitely a chicken and egg problem here. No one wants to spend money putting out 4K content until there's enough significant demand for it, and that means 4K sets showing up in homes. But 4K sets are a tough sell if there's nothing to watch on them except regular HD content. Which means we've been in this weird in-between time, waiting for significant numbers of people to make a relatively illogical decision to buy an extra-expensive TV that will only look marginally better than their old one for the next year or two.That's really dumb.
Hey, let's be careful with our mean words! Still, you've got a point. The current situation is a little silly. But 4K is legitimately awesome. And we're going to get there. We went through a similar transition a few years back with the move to HD (which came complete with the HD-DVD/Blu-ray format war and massive marketplace confusion) a few years back. Luckily that transition was eased a bit by the simultaneous move to the flatscreen form factor and a significant jump in screen sizes.So should I buy a 4K set now or should I wait?
It depends. If you want the absolute best TV you can get right now and don't mind paying a premium for it, it's a 4K set. If you're buying from one of the top tier manufacturers, you're going to get a good product that's reasonably future-proofed. As we said before, the sets look great. However, don't expect to be watching most of your video content in 4K for another two to three years. And make sure any set you buy has HDMI 2.0 ports (the first wave of 4K TVs used the previous HDMI 1.4 standard).On the other hand, if you're price sensitive or want to wait until the content side of the equation is a bit more solved, it absolutely makes sense to wait. You're not missing out on much at the moment. There are incredible values to be found in generously-sized 1080p sets right now. And 4K sets are only going to get cheaper.
Read More ...
Post-Mayweather vs Pacquiao, Periscope promises to tackle piracy head on
Over the weekend, the Mayweather vs Pacquiao boxing match was billed as the biggest fight of the century, but thanks to a few hundred Periscopers, it has also gone down as one of the most pirated events in history.
With this in mind it comes as no surprise that Periscope Co-Founder Kayvon Beykpour was quick to address piracy concerns immediately after stepping onto the TechCrunch Disrupt stage.
"From an operational standpoint we were completely prepared for our partners to reach out to us and request we respect their IP rights," Beykpour explained. "We basically have a team that looks at an email channel and if someone says, 'Hey this stream is violating our copyright,' we take it down."
"We had 66 requests for take down and took down 30 of them all within a matter of minutes," he said. "The ones we didn't take down ended because you can imagine how every stream isn't super long."
Fighting piracy in a new age
Beyond actively hunting down streams that are showing off copyrighted material, Beykpour said Periscope is committed to working on developing new methods to quash live streaming piracy."It's a new territory," Beykpour quipped. "The proliferation of all these mobile devices and the fact that I can just take out my phone and stream right now, changes the landscape."
Beykpour was also quick to note that "piracy is not a periscope thing, it's an Internet thing." Aside from taking down streams, the Periscope co-founder believes ease of access can solve most problems as iTunes did for music.
"My personal view on this is that no one wants to watch Game of Thrones on a Periscope," he expounded. "Trust me I love Periscope, but it's not the right way to watch an experience that should be had on a TV with a nice sound system."
Android version coming
Looking forward, Beykpour confirmed his team is looking to add new features like a map view to find streams and an Android version is on it's way - without any hard dates of course."We spent a year building the iOS app, we can't just snap our fingers and make an Android app appear," he said, continuing to explain the Android app will not be identical to the iOS version.
- Is HBO Now all it's cracked up to be?
Read More ...
Dropbox iOS app will soon let you create Microsoft Office docs
Dropbox has announced the expansion of its integration with Microsoft Office, soon allowing users to create Office documents within the Dropbox iOS app. This is the next step in a partnership that began last year between the two companies and will reportedly release later this month.
While not much information has been officially disclosed on how the integration will work, it's sensible to assume that files saved to your Dropbox can be accessed via Office Online or other various desktop apps. This new integration will undoubtedly help the partnership begin to compete with Google Drive and Docs.
Dropbox also recently announced that it's adding a comment feature that allows users to drop notes on hosted files, also soon to be available to iOS and web users. While this tool will help move the company forward in the realm of productivity, the most notable addition to Dropbox is the expanding integration with Microsoft Office. It'll be very interesting to see how it changes a landscape that Google unequivocally rules.
Read More ...
Microsoft improves hybrid management across clouds
Amidst all the noise about Windows 10, Microsoft has announced an Operations Management Suite (OMS) that allows enterprises to keep a handle on servers across cloud and bricks-and-mortar data centres.
First reported by Venture Beat, the product allows companies to simplify assets held in a hybrid setup and take control of any physical, virtual or container instance across any cloud whether it be inside an internal data centre, or on Azure, AWS, Windows Server, VMware or OpenStack.
"The suite enables the management of any instance in any cloud," Mike Schutz, general manager of product marketing at Microsoft's Server and Tools division, told VentureBeat in an interview.
OMS's main jobs are to track and manage log analytics, security, availability, and automation to bring to market an offering that costs a lot less than comparable products, according to Microsoft.
Much more coming soon
"I think from a broad-based standpoint, we feel that in customers' journey to the cloud, hybrid is really what makes our approach unique, and so all the investments we're making are to make our customers data centers and the servers that they run be the edge of our cloud. It blurs the line between private cloud and public cloud," Schutz added.OMS is out now and Microsoft added that it will bring even more capabilities at a "rapid pace" and in the next 12 months cloud-based patching, inventory, alerting, container management and a lot else besides will become part of the offering.
Read More ...
In Depth: This is why Tidal sounds better than iTunes or Spotify
Tidal vs Spotify
Since its acquisition and relaunch in late March by rapper/entrepreneur/media mogul Jay Z, on-demand music streaming service Tidal has made waves, pun unintended.From big-name music artists taking to the Twitterverse with the hashtag #TIDALforALL, to landing the ever-elusive streaming privileges of one Taylor Swift, the "Hi-Fi" (or high fidelity) music service looks to be taking no prisoners in the on-demand music space.
It's not all pitch-perfect for the new streaming service, however. In the months since launching, it hasn't gained the traction its management team expected. It's fallen out of the top 700 iTunes apps, leading some to adopt the hashtag #TIDALforNOONE.
But, even after considering all the buzz (both good and bad), Tidal doesn't turn heads quite like it turns ears.
The service's music quality well surpasses that of its competitors, such as Spotify, iTunes, Pandora and Songza. So, what exactly is Tidal, and how does it get its impeccable sound?
How does Tidal work?
If you've used Spotify before, you'd probably be able to catch on to Tidal in seconds. As a music streaming service, Tidal is almost identical to its rivals. After logging into either Tidal's browser-based client or smartphone app, you're granted access to over 25 million tracks and 75,000 high-definition music videos, along with a user interface and custom playlist feature Spotify users will find familiar.Following its recent rebranding, Tidal also flaunts itself as "the world's first artist-owned streaming service" by offering musician-produced content directly to the service, such as exclusive singles, video performances and even playlists curated by 'Hova himself.
That all said, the ace up Tidal's sleeve is its Hi-Fi membership, which brings audiophiles still clinging to their CDs the highest quality recordings currently streaming over the internet.
What does "Hi-Fi" mean?
Tidal's Hi-Fi offering allows the service to stream crystal-clear audio to users' headphones or speakers that surpass the usual quality offered by competing services.
Spotify and Google Play stream music to devices at a rate of up to 320 kilobytes per second (kbps), a number that may decrease depending on connection strength or if you are using a mobile device. On the other hand, Tidal's Hi-Fi subscription streams music at 1,411 kbps, well over four times as much data per second. This makes downloading and streaming its music more bandwidth-intensive, but also allows Tidal to use the 'lossless' FLAC audio file format, granting users superior sound over the 'lossy' formats used by other services.
Lossy vs Lossless
FLAC, ALAC, WMA lossless – there are a lot of terms for lossless media, but the idea is always the same. Tidal uses FLAC – a file format like MP3 or WMA – to stream audio files from its servers to your ears. By contrast, other services use lossy formats, such as MP3 or OGG – the latter being the format of choice for Spotify.The difference between lossless and lossy formats stems from what is lost after the files are received by the user and uncompressed.
Lossy formats are very good at compressing data to a small size, such as audio, video or images, so they can be easily transferred over the web via streaming, email or downloads. Lossy files, such as MP3s (for audio) and JPEG (for images), are common on websites, because they can load quickly without sucking up the user's time or data plan.
However, in doing this, these formats "simplify" parts of those files to make transfers easier, resulting in a lower quality sound or picture when retrieved on the other end.
Lossless formats, on the other hand, are able to recover all the data from their compressed files, meaning no loss in quality in the transfer. Typically, these files don't compress down to a size as small as their lossy brethren, making them more suitable for situations when the quality of the product matters more than the speed at which it downloads or the amount of memory it takes up.
This is how Tidal's Hi-Fi service, geared towards the more discerning music fan, claims to bring CD-quality music online.
Imagine packing a nice shirt for a trip. You need it to fit in a suitcase, because carrying it on a hanger would be too cumbersome. If you put it in an airtight bag and vacuumed all the air out, you could compress the shirt to a very manageable size, but the shirt may turn out slightly wrinkled when it's unpacked later.
Another option would be to gingerly fold it, which may take up more space than vacuum-sealing it, but it would be able to travel and come out virtually unchanged upon unpacking. In this scenario, the vacuum-sealing option is the lossy format, and the gentle folding option is lossless. Both allow the shirt to travel easily, but lossy favors efficiency where lossless prioritizes the original product.
Because of Tidal's ability to stream lossless files over a high bitrate, it claims to bring a richer, clearer sound than what other music streaming sites are currently able to put out. While the difference may not be noticeable coming from cheaper, utilitarian headphones, hardcore music fans may find hi-fi music streaming a more appealing way to put their home stereos to use.
While Tidal is not the first name in lossless music streaming, it has made a name for itself (thanks in no small part to the industry's biggest acts). It is entirely possible as competition heats up and audio quality becomes more in-demand, current services may up their game and offer high-fidelity sound. In the meantime, those who desire CD-quality music online have a wrinkle-free solution in Tidal.
Tidal Hi-Fi currently runs for $20/£20 a month, while those more interested in the quantity of songs over the quality can opt for Tidal Premium, a second-tier subscription that offers standard sound quality for $10/£10.
Are you able to hear the difference between lossy and lossless media? Head to test.tidalhifi.com to find out.
- Spotify, Tidal, Pandora and more: which is the best music streaming service?
Read More ...
Review: Updated: iPad Air
Introduction and design
The original iPad Air showed us all what we needed to know about Apple's changed approach to tablets - with a 43% thinner bezel and a 28% lighter body than the iPads that came before it, the iPad Air champions the 'easier to live with' ideal.Although the iPad Air's successor, the iPad Air 2, has now been out a while it doesn't mean that the original iPad Air isn't worth considering if you're after a tablet, especially since that the price has dropped now that there's a new iPad Air on the block.
The original iPad Air took many of its design cues from the iPad mini 2. It's got the same smooth back design, thinner bezel and more attractive speakers at the bottom of the slate to make it look like more of a family with the cut down tablet from Apple's stables.
While it's a clear copy of that smaller device, I'm not going to get upset as the mini already had a stunning design, and the Air takes that message and brings it to the big leagues.
It also has machined buttons that don't feel loose when shaking, bringing up the premium feel to the device.
On top of the improved design the Air also got Apple's A7 chip, bringing with it 64-bit processing power and reams of battery saving techniques to keep your tablet going even longer in day to day use. Again, that's been superseded by the A8X chip in the Air 2, but you still get a decent slug of power here.
And the greatest thing about the iPad range in my eyes is the price - Apple is starting the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model at the same cost as its rivals, and while that outlay does spiral up as capacity and connectivity increase, for an Apple device to not charge an (unnecessary) premium is something I'm really happy to see.
Even better, since the arrival of the iPad Air 2, prices for the original iPad Air have fallen.
You're looking at a price range of £319 - £459 ($399 - $579 or AU$499 - AU$709), starting from the 16GB version (Wi-Fi only) to the 32GB cellular option.
Apple has discontinued the 64GB version of the iPad Air, so if you're after a larger capacity then you'll want to invest in the iPad Air 2.
You could also scour the internet for a second hand iPad Air 64GB model. With the launch of the iPad Air 2 many people have put their perfectly good original iPad Airs up for sale, so with a bit of careful shopping you could net yourself a bargain.
Apple has lobbed in a lot of useful free software, as well as bringing a more refined experience with iOS 8, and you can see that it's put a lot of effort into making the iPad Air the tablet that shows it's not losing its relevancy in the market, even if it's nearly been two years since its launch.
If you're coming here thinking about buying the iPad Air right now - remember that the iPad Air 2 is now out with a number of enhancements over this model.
The keynote for the launch of the iPad Air talked a lot about Apple's dominance in terms of tablet usage, but since then a large number of users are starting to warm to the idea of an Android model as their main device - Samsung is currently the big name in Android, with its Galaxy Tab S line offering an improved screen and better ergonomics for those preferring the Android experience in a tablet.
- Want the best of Android in a tablet? Try our Samsung Galaxy Tab S review!
![iPad Air review]](http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/tablets/iPad/iPadAir/iPad%20Air%20hands%20on/iPad_Air_review_%20%285%29-420-100.JPG)
It's worth noting that the 16GB option of the iPad Air is nigh-on useless as a purchase if you're thinking of pulling in all the free apps Apple is slinging your way - this was an issue when the Retina display landed on the iPad 3, and has only got worse as more HD apps from developers have been slipped onto the App Store.
The fact that the original iPad Air now only comes in 16GB and 32GB configurations may make you reconsider your purchase if you're looking on storing a large number of photos, music, videos and apps.
Even so, the iPad Air remains a tempting purchase on paper - but how does it actually perform in the hand when subjected to rigorous daily use?
Design
The iPad Air is an odd device when you pick it up for the first time. When you hear all the numbers being bandied about you'd rightly assume that you'd feel something that was almost ghost-like in the hand, a tablet that could almost get blown away.And I'm utterly not disputing that - the iPad Air is the most balanced tablet on the market, with great precision going into the engineering throughout.
However, if you've touched an iPad mini or just haven't held an older iPad for a while (and with some people we tested with, even those that had) you won't feel as much of a step up as you'd be expecting.
The design of the iPad Air is, as I've mentioned, very impressive. Yes, it's totally based on the iPad mini, and the smooth aluminium back is really great to feel in the hand. It's a shame that most people feel the need to slap a cover on an iPad as soon as it's bought - while I get the notion of protection, it hides away some cracking design.
That said, at least it keeps the fingers away from the chassis, and the iPad Air is a real magnet for prints. The back cover isn't too bad, but the mirrored Apple logo sucks down finger oil and is loathe to give it back even with hard scrubbing with a cloth.
It might not sound like a big deal, but it makes your premium new tablet look a bit unkempt right from the start.
But in actual operation, the design of the iPad Air complements the impressive innards superbly. It's unsurprisingly not possible to hold your hand the entire way around the edge of the Air, but then again it's so light (and comes with the ability to disregard erroneous thumbs entering the screen, again like the iPad mini) that it doesn't really make a big difference.
The rest of the buttonry - the top-mounted power key and the silencing rocker switch and volume buttons at the side - haven't moved far, but protrude nicely to make them very easy to hit no matter where you're holding the device - being able to find such things without looking is often sacrificed in the quest to make tablets look sleeker, so I'm happy Apple has gone the other way here.
There is one note of criticism in terms of design for such a decent (and still expensive, despite costing the same as many of its peers) piece of kit: the screen has a plastic thud to it when tapping, thanks to the smaller and lighter innards.
It's most noticeable when grazed with a fingernail, although in a case the effect is lessened. I'm surprised Apple let this feature go unchallenged, but it seems in making the design thinner and removing part of the inner cage the overall strength of the chassis is somewhat reduced.
It's not a major issue by any means, and certainly one that you'll only pick up on sporadically, but it's still enough to irk at times when you're expecting a truly premium experience.
Many of you will also be wondering why there's no Touch ID onboard the iPad Air when it's such a large selling point for the iPhone 5S.
We're in the same boat. The architecture is there. It surely can't be an issue of space seeing as the technology fitted into the iPhone 5S.
Turns out Apple held it back as one of the 'big upgrades' for the iPad Air 2 - which certainly raised a few eyebrows.
Display
The display on the iPad Air is nothing overly new - but it's still amazing. It uses a new technology to make sure that the power isn't sucked as heavily, which is as much to do with the overall battery pain as it is about making sure we don't see a repeat of the ultra-warm tablets of previous years.But in reality, things look very nice indeed, with Retina already a mainstay of Apple's larger tablet for years now.
I still think it's a touch too reflective for watching video (and that's something that's been changed in the new iPad Air 2), but according to DisplayMate, it's not that bad.
There's also the small matter of the higher-res, sharper and more colour-saturated tablet screen on the market with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S - while I'm still waiting for the test results between these two tablets, I've no doubt that the South Korean model will be more impressive overall than Apple's version when it comes to web browsing and movie watching.
Ray Soneira of the same laboratory testing facility has found that things are actually pretty good on that front, with less than 10 per cent of the light hitting the screen surface actually reflecting back into your peepers.
However, Apple hasn't made the best large-screen tablet display on the market according to DisplayMate. While the Air performs fairly well in most scenarios, it's bested by the competition - namely the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9.
Credit: Republished with permission from DisplayMate Technologies
It's clear that the iPad Air is much better than the Nexus 10, which is predictable given that's a device that's well past the end of its life.
The PPI on the iPad Air may make it look like it's a tablet that isn't as sharp as the competition, but in reality that makes no difference given the distance you hold it from your eyes.
There's no doubt that the iPad Air isn't as good as the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX, which has dynamic contrast to make pictures look simply stunning on the screen.
But the Air is powerful enough and won't let you down on the display front in any way.
Credit: Republished with permission from DisplayMate Technologies
As you can see here, the iPad Air is like the rest of the competition when it comes to flicking the tablet around in your hands - the brightness and color will quickly shift away from perfection when you begin to tilt.
This wasn't a problem in most scenarios, as you'll be the only one using the device in day to day use. However, if you've got it set up on a stand in a kitchen while cooking, for instance, it will irk a little. It's nothing major, but I saw that the Kindle Fire HDX was superior here in that example.
As I mentioned, the reflectivity of the iPad Air isn't the best on the market, and might irritate lightly at times. The Nexus 10 still looks like an awful tablet, but given it has a much lower cost than the competition, we can't castigate it too much.
You can head over to the DisplayMate report to see the full findings of the tablet test, but the results were that while the Amazon tablet was the best in all tests - and the best the laboratory had ever seen, apparently - the iPad has made some significant gains here too, offering a more power efficient display.
Crucially, it's larger too, meaning you're getting more of a viewing experience - I think that the 8.9-inch screen of Amazon's offering isn't the best for an extended movie marathon.
Interface
The iPad Air launched with iOS 7, but Apple has kept up with its update commitment by pushing iOS 8 to the slate. More specifically the Air runs the very latest software - iOS 8.3 - which is the same as the iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6.I'll run through some of the key features and how they perform on the Air in a moment, but the main thing to know is that the iPad Air is fast. Really fast.
We're getting to a point where describing a smartphone or tablet as quick under the finger is pointless – once you reach a certain point there's not a lot more speed to be gained.
Even dual-core phones were more than acceptable, so why make a point of highlighting the speed of the new iPad?
Well, it's just virtually flawless through all kinds of tasks. A millisecond faster from a finger press might not seem like much, but once you do a hundred or a thousand of them in a day, and then go back to something like the iPad 3, you'll realise that there's a real difference in the operation.
Our benchmarking scores saw the iPad Air narrowly eclipse the iPhone 5S, also running the 64-bit A7 chip, in terms of overall speed - which makes sense given it's slightly more optimised for the larger screen but still maintains the same power output.
Since the upgrade to iOS 8 its performance has improved further. Back on iOS 7 it scored 2629, but now we're looking at a score of 2660. That's not a difference you'll notice, but it's nice to see something getting faster not slower over time.
Like it or loathe it, iOS 7 is still a real step forward for a company that desperately needed to refresh its offering in the face of stiff competition from Android and iOS 8 further improves things.
The new flatter interface takes away the pointless need to pretend all apps are real-life objects just to integrate them into people's lives - users know that pressing the Photos app will take them there, no matter the result.
Like most popular platforms that get upgraded, there's been a large amount of flack coming Apple's way for iOS 7, with features like the parallax effect (no, there's no way of saying that word without thinking it should be the name of a Marvel supervillain) being turned off by a number of users.
It's also fair to say that the troubled launch of iOS 8, which suffered from a number of bugs, has also left some iPad Air owners unhappy.
Parallax is where tilting your iPad will see your wallpaper move with the motion, giving a 3D effect on the screen. And while this was annoyingly unpredictable on the iPhone 5S, on the Air it's much better and I wouldn't advise you turn it off, unlike on other Apple devices.
It doesn't even have a huge effect on battery life, which is impressive in itself.
The rest of the interface is easy to use and makes sense for the most part. One of the bigger features of iOS 7 and iOS 8 is the notification bar, found by dragging down from the top of the tablet. This gives access to updates, calendar entries and missed messages. Initially it was one of the weaker parts of the OS, as it always started on the calendar, which doesn't often give a lot of useful information.
The 'Missed' section was often also sparsely populated, but update to iOS 8 and a swipe will start you on the Today and Notifications menu, the latter of which is a condensed version of the All and Missed tabs from iOS 7. It's a big improvement all round.
However, there are a lot of other areas in which the Cupertino brand has made strides in terms of improving the user experience too with iOS 7 and iOS 8.
For instance, swiping upwards with all five fingers (or double tapping the home button) will lead to the multi-tasking pane, which shows all of your apps in large thumbnails. This is an excellent interface, although perhaps a little large, and you can swiftly jump between apps or flick a thumbnail upwards to end it.
On top of that, the home screen is now updated to allow a much larger number of apps in each folder. Now you can create collections just by dragging icons on top of one another, and continue to do so almost ad nauseum. This prevents the need to make loads of folders called 'Game 1' 'Game 2' and 'Why do I have this many games that I don't play?', and allows a much less cluttered home screen.
Apple still hasn't updated its operating system to allow users to autosort their apps, meaning if you uninstall something (by long-pressing the icon until everything jiggles and then tapping the 'x') then the space won't be filled by an app from another screen. When in the edit mode you can rearrange things, but it's not the most time-efficient way of making everything look neat.
The new Control Center is something worth highlighting too - drag up from the bottom of the screen and you can control music, brightness, turn on Wi-Fi and loads more. I would have thought that most people know all about this feature, but the number of iOS 7 and iOS 8 users who get their minds blown when I show them that this exists means it's worth highlighting.
And it is well worth upgrading the iPad Air to iOS 8, for new features such as keyboard extensions, Siri improvements and more.
There are tonnes of nuances to Apples UI that I'd like to laud here, but I invite you to go and use it for yourself, as despite there being no tutorial, there's very little here that the novice user won't be able to pick up.
I would like to give a special mention to the 'five finger pinch' if you've not used it before on previous iPads. Make sure it's enabled in Settings->General, and then simply pinch in with four or five fingers in any app to return to the home screen. You'll be trying to do it on your phone before you know it, such is its simplicity.
Contacts, messaging and Facetime
The iPad Air is a fine device for a number of things - but you might not necessarily think that calling is one of them. But with the addition of Facetime Audio, and the improved Facetime HD camera, this is a great device for when you're marooned in a hotel room and desperate to say goodnight to your child / cat / favourite potato.The camera on the front of the iPad Air, a 1.2MP option, shows your whole face very nicely, with a detailed level of sharpness. Of course, it depends on your internet connection as to whether this detail is transmitted to the person on the other end of the call, but it's a great way to keep in touch with other iUsers.
And with Facetime Audio now an option, you can have free voice calls with other enabled users thanks to VoIP technology. Once in the app you can set up your favourite people as instant contacts to call - and helpfully they can also be set to call through voice or video by default.
The 1.2MP camera of the iPad Air is good enough that Apple didn't see the need to replace it on the iPad Air 2, which features the same front-facing snapper.
While there aren't that many other ways to talk to people over the iPad Air, the Contacts app is still obviously on board, giving access to all the people you've spoken to and saved over the years.
However, be careful when adding accounts, as you'll likely have a few on there and it's very easy to have information from Exchange, Gmail, Hotmail and iCloud all jostling for position in your list, as well as those from Facebook too.
It's not as easy as on Android to change these though, as you'll need to jump into the external Settings app once more to check the right boxes. However, when this is done things are nice and simple, showing the friends you've saved as well as their Facebook picture (or other that you've tagged) if you've linked the accounts.
However, here's an issue we're not sure why Apple hasn't fixed as yet: contact linking is nigh-on impossible unless you drill right down through the editing menu. You can pull all manner of social network account info into a contact card, but when adding the names in you're not going to link to the right person unless you're exact with your spelling.
It's confusing as to why your contact lists aren't pulled from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and more when you're trying to perform this task, but it's very difficult to tag people together, which is irritating when you want pictures to go alongside each name.
Messaging
While it can be hard to find the people you want (or at least have all the social networks linked) messaging on the iPad is a much better experience. There's iMessage and the decent inbuilt email app on offer as standard, and the variety of other chat apps you can download is mind blowing.iMessage remains a slightly confusing app in that it can pull in information on your phone number and email addresses and use these to connect to other users - however, this isn't always accurate when you're trying to share details and can result in people trying to contact you in the wrong way. It's better than it is on the iPhone, which has texting to worry about too, but it's never the most reliable system to set up in our eyes.
Thankfully, the Mail app is a lot better, with a wide and expansive view that makes full use of the screen size. You get a decent column down one side to see all your missives, and a gentle swipe across allows you to move or edit the mail or send it to the trash can.
On top of that, emails are grouped together nicely when in conversation flow, email folders are easy to use and you can have all your messages in one inbox, even with a variety of accounts being used.
I also like the VIP setting, allowing you to tag only your boss and colleagues, so you know when to panic should you see a mail arriving there.
The Apple keyboard on the iPad Air is an odd experience. Not because it's inaccurate or poor to use - far from it, I found that we could get up quite a speed thanks to the larger keys - but because of that strange plastic thud when you strike the screen each time. It's most off-putting, and lacks the quiet rigidity the early (and much weightier) iPads used to offer.
However, I do like the keyboard, as it's easy to split and move, which is great for both portrait and landscape use - it's nothing Earth-shattering, but it's features like this that open up the scope of the iPad so much.
If you don't get on with it then that's not such a problem any more either, as iOS 8 includes support for third party keyboards and with iOS 8.3 you're treated to Apple's new range of emojis. Exciting!
Internet
The internet browser on the iPad Air needs to be impressive, as otherwise one of the key functions for this device is really negated. While you might not be seeing much of an upgrade over older iPads in terms of functionality, the speed in overall use of the device is definitely something to be lauded.The main difference over the iPad 3 / iPad 4 (out of the box) is that iOS 7 makes everything a little cleaner and less obtrusive. For instance, the URL bar won't dynamically retreat like it does on the iPhone range, but with 9.7 inches of space to play with, I can't say that I blame it too much.
The bar is actually chock-full of functionality in the same way as its Android counterpart, although there's perhaps a spot more relevance to everything that's run with the Air. For instance, the reading mode is just a simple icon of text lines in the URL bar, allowing you to easily switch to a more text-friendly mode.
It's a little irritating that you can't sync this with Pocket, as although you might be fine using the 'Saved for Later' function of Safari on the iPad, if you're not using an iPhone as your smartphone then there's no central repository for all the articles you want to read later.
At least if you copy the URL of the site you're reading the app can intelligently work out that you might want to save it to Pocket - but when you can share links over Facebook and Twitter with such ease then it doesn't seem fair that other popular apps aren't supported.
Of course this is completely subjective, and something we would have expected from Apple a few years ago. It's become more relaxed about working with partners recently, however, so perhaps the functionality will come.
In reality, all these reading modes don't mean much when you've got such a speedy and responsive browser. Apple is touting the fact the iPad Air is one of the first tablets to use MIMO wireless connectivity, (although many on the market, Samsung Galaxy Tab S included, now do the same thing) allowing for a stronger and faster Wi-Fi connection. In reality this means that you can wander further from the router and still get access to the internet when you've decided against shelling out for the cellular version of the iPad.
The text looks supremely clear on this larger screen, which might have the same resolution as previous iterations of the iPad but in side by side comparisons looks a little clearer and brighter. It's no surprise that Apple would make strides in this area, although text wrapping when zoomed in could still do with some work.
However, the internet browser on the iPad Air is one to be rather respected, as it does what it needs to do with considerable aplomb. Whether you want to see a list of shared links from Twitter (which is a rather underrated feature, drawing only the tweets from your friends that contain links) or save articles to check out when you don't have connectivity, there's little the iPad can't do.
If you're in a family home with a number of Apple devices then you can easily share links using AirDrop, and this will be useful for those that hate doing the same over messaging or Facebook - although with iMessage, it's hardly a chore.
But Apple has kept things simple on both functionality and the interface on the iPad Air's internet browser, and that makes a lot of sense to me.
Camera and Video
What's better than an 8MP iSight camera on the iPhone 6? Well, it's not what you can find on the iPad Air, that's for sure. Apple has kept the same 5MP iSight camera from previous iterations of the tablet, which does at least have half-decent backside illumination and acceptable low-light performance.
I'm not sure what Apple is doing with the camera interface though - it's like a completely bare version of that seen on the iPhone 6, with fewer options to choose from. Want to take a photo or video? That's fine. You can even take a square snap for those moments when you need a portrait pic too.
However, there's no filter option in sight, nor the ability to change to a Slo-Mo camera as we've seen on other recent Apple hardware. Given that the Air is running the necessary A7 64-bit chip to enable the enhanced video mode, I've no idea why you can't do the same here.
Even the filters would make sense, as the iPhone 5C can use these, and that's hardly as powerful a beast. This is probably the biggest criticism of the iPad Air I can throw at the new tablet from Apple, as the decision is slightly perplexing.
But in a way, that's wonderful. You might have noticed that I'm hardly a fan of the cameras on tablets at the best of times, and if there was one thing that I'd happily sacrifice for a thinner tablet, it's this functionality.
That Apple has put anything in there at all is testament to some clever engineering, so while the performance isn't that good (although shutter speed was very impressive as I'd expected) it's more than adequate for something that shouldn't be replacing a smartphone or dedicated camera anyway.
Click here for the full res image
Click here for the full res image
Click here for the full res image
Click here for the full res image
Click here for the full res image
Click here for the full res image
Media
The iPad Air has a lofty bar to beat when it comes to media performance, as Apple is creating a rich heritage in this area. Its all-encompassing iTunes software and store are used by so many people that a device to properly output the music and video is a must.Well, I can't fault many things media-wise on the iPad Air, not least because it ticks most of the boxes we can think of.
Music
The audio performance of the iPad Air is hugely impressive, even with the most basic of earbuds on offer. There are plenty of other reviews out there that seem to gloss over the fact that the iPad is as much a media-centric device as anything else, and no matter how many streaming services you subscribe to, the output is always going to be limited by the hardware.But what Apple has done, and to be honest, always managed to do, is bring refined audio output to a system that commands a premium price.
Through a decent pair of headphones it's possible to capture all the nuance of high-bitrate audio, and even streamed to an external speaker via Bluetooth things don't sound as muddy and horrendous as they might on other devices.
OK, you're not going to use your iPad as a primary music player for either Spotify or onboard tracks, but I found myself increasingly popping the tablet out on the table next to where I was working to get my fix of Cascada or Haddaway. (Please tell us: WHAT IS LOVE?)
So while sonically I'm enamoured, the interface still feels like, as with other elements in iOS 7 and iOS 8 for iPad, it's designed for an iPhone and stretched up.
I get that it's meant to be a simple way to show as many songs as possible, and appreciate the widgets on the lock screen and in the Control Center. However, can't we have a more beautiful interface? You can either have a long list of songs with a tiny controller at the top, or a Now Playing screen that is surrounded by bland and unsubtle white.
What happened to the Cover Flow beauty of the first iPhone? Where did that go? It's made even worse by the fact that finally we have a processor that can keep up with all the artwork, yet all we get is this pool of limpid uninterestingness.
It's not a deal breaker, and it speaks volumes about the overall quality of the iPad Air that I'm so annoyed about a tiny thing. If there were bigger fish to fry, this would be glossed right over.
I could mention that it's rather irritating to not be able to get music on and off the device without using iTunes if you're against wires, but that's an old refrain. The second Apple lifts that lid, it's going to see its share of on-device downloads plummet thanks to cheaper options elsewhere.
Consumer choice vs Apple profits? That's an easy one to work out, strategy-wise.
Video
Another strength Apple has is its ability to display video in a really rather attractive way. Whether it's stuff you've bought and downloaded directly to the device, or videos that you've chucked on there yourself, it all looks brilliant on the Retina display.It's worth noting that if you want to download in super-high quality you're going to have to make sure you have enough space to keep it all – more on that a little later in the section.
The video player itself is a bit of a mixed bag. While anything you've already bought is nicely labelled and sorted, any other content you've lobbed on the device through iTunes (again, there's no other way) can look out of place, mis-named and have a weird sorting or odd thumbnail.
You can alter all of this in the menu through iTunes, but it's a bit of an effort for those that aren't as au fait with the working of Apple's media management.
Add to that the fact Apple refuses to budge on the 4:3 ratio on its iPad screens, and watching video that's not encoded from the 1990s isn't much fun. On top of that the file support is limited, and even those that are supposed to play have to be at a pretty specific bitrate to make it past the iTunes gatekeeper and onto your precious tablet.
You can download a third party player and place much more content on that way, but unless you've got one of the good ones (FlexPlayer is a decent choice) then you can find a lot of crashing while trying to watch your favourite movie.
However, for support for files like AVI you'll have to use something like this – otherwise it's a time-consuming and difficult process of re-encoding your movies.
I would like to mention the excellent performance of the speakers – they're incredibly powerful in a package so thin and come with a decent slug of bass too.
They're not going to replace your headphones – and nor should they, especially on public transport – but if you're alone in a hotel room and want to watch a special interest movie or two, then you'll get the full effect of what the... actors are trying to convey.
Storage
One issue that plagues modern iPads is that of storage. If you opt for the 16GB option then you're really only allowing yourself to get half the experience, so I advise you bump that up a little bit straight away.It's not hard to fill up double that space with apps alone – you're munching through 2-3GB of storage just by downloading Apple's free apps already.
On top of that, most HD movies and apps designed for the Retina screens can fill up huge swathes of megabytes, meaning if you're not careful you'll be told you can't download some apps pretty soon after buying your shiny new iPad.
Battery life and Apps
Battery life on the iPad Air is quoted at "Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music". I would say that's actually not a bad estimate, although the drain was closer to 2% every 10 minutes in general use, which equates to around nine hours' use.Standby time is much, much better though. I found that I could stick the iPad Air in a bag, taking it out for the commute and messing about with it on the sofa at home, for at least three days before it began to get low on battery.
In fact, the only real task that killed it was connecting to an amplifier via Wi-Fi while simultaneously streaming music to the same device through Bluetooth. It's doing things like this that make you realise that this is the kind of thing that we envisaged at the turn of the century, a tablet that has the brains and connectivity to do all the tasks we could want.
In terms of connectivity, we've already mentioned the excellent Wi-Fi performance (in terms of distance from router, rather than improved speed) through the Multiple In, Multiple Out (MIMO) technology.
4G bands are now covered throughout the globe, and low power Bluetooth is also on board as well, making it an incredibly well-connected device.
Apps
Apple has thrown on reams of free software with the iPad Air (and other iOS 7 and 8 devices too), so you now get access to the likes of Pages, Numbers, Keynote from the iWork tribe as well as iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband for free.These are incredibly powerful tools for what is still essentially a cut-down mobile device – I can't say that I'd recommend using them regularly without a keyboard (in the case of iWork, or the newer Office for iPad) but elements such as iPhoto and Garageband really give you the chance to express yourself fluidly.
When you consider that the iPad Air will be appearing under the Christmas tree for a few lucky (and wealthy) people, having software right out of the box (well, you do have to download it actually, and it's a fairly hefty download) is a big plus for a shiny new toy.
On top of that, I still feel the need to laud the Apple App Store for its ability to offer the best apps around. We're talking about things like BBC iPlayer and Sky Go, both of which offer improved user interfaces and allowed downloads first before the Android hop came.
The gap between Apple and Google's app portals is narrowing, but there's no doubt that users will still feel far more secure in the app experience they'll get on an Apple tablet compared to an Android one for now, and that's a big reason to purchase.
Maps should also gain something of a special mention, as while it was a PR disaster for Apple, it's slowly clawing its way back to usable thanks to constant upgrades.
It's still far from the best out there, and we'd recommend you download the excellent Google Maps as soon as possible, but we rarely find that Apple Maps is offering an inaccurate course for us to navigate down to the shops – just don't ask it to find obscure towns whose names appear in multiple places.
Competition
iPad Air 2
The natural successor to the Air comes with more power, an even slimmer design and enhanced cameras - improving on the overall iPad experience.
Even though it sports the same screen resolution as the original Air, the iPad Air 2 has been given a boost in brightness and colour, making a marked improvement over its predecessor.
You also get the added security of Touch ID - something which is missing on the Air - although you'll have to pay full price for all this and at the end of the day usage isn't all that different between this and the original Air.
There's also better storage options with 64GB and 128GB models joining the 16GB entry level Air 2 - although the latter is best avoided for the same reasons as I explained earlier in this review.
- Read our in-depth iPad Air 2 review
iPad mini 2
Like the iPad Air, the iPad Mini 2 has also been replaced - by the iPad mini 3 - which means the slate has witnessed a price drop and considering the tiny increment between the 2 and 3 it makes this mini iPad the best proposition.
If you're sold on the iPad offering, but less so on the £319, $399, AU$499+ price tag or general size than the 7.9-inch mini 2 could well be perfect for you.
It's got a heap of power, the same premium styling and the latest iOS software from just £239, $299, AU$369. You can get it in either 16GB or 32GB sizes (I'd recommend the larger of the two) plus there's the option to add cellular connectivity too.
- Read our in-depth iPad mini 2 review
Nexus 9
The Nexus 9 is a direct rival to the iPad Air in terms of price, design and form factor. The HTC made tablet sports a metal chassis, 8.9-inch display, dual-core Tegra K1 processor and Android 5.0 Lollipop.
It also has more RAM (2GB vs 1GB), a better camera (8MP vs 5MP) and a lighter frame (425g vs 469g).
There are some short comings however, with screen quality subpar and a design which isn't a premium, sleek or appealing as Apple's slate.
- Read our in-depth Nexus 9 review
Hands on photos
Official photography
Verdict
The iPad Air is a big step forward for Apple in so many ways – not least through design and setting a precedent for the future.It's 28% lighter and 20% thinner, taking up 24% less volume overall. I can see that Apple has really pushed the envelope when it comes to design, and the result is pretty phenomenal.
It's getting a little longer in the tooth now (check out our review of the iPad Air 2 for all the info about the sequel or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S range if you're on the market for an Android option) so if you're not desperate to buy now, perhaps wait a while to see what the new version brings.
We liked
Reading back over the iPad 4 review, the issues I came across before have largely been resolved. The design is better. The bezel is smaller. The price is palatable in comparison to the competition.The speaker output is immensely impressive, the overall look and feel of iOS 7 more intuitive and it's got even better with iOS 8, while the general speed of operation is unsurpassed.
The range of accessories, the ecosystem and the general speed with which the iPad works, especially when it comes to the heavy lifting, is massively impressive. Nothing is a huge leap forward, more a set of constant steps towards the perfect tablet that make everything that little more slick to use.
We disliked
As mentioned, there's very little that Apple hasn't addressed here for me to really criticise. The 16GB option of the tablet simply isn't enough storage for most to be able to get the best out of their iPad.iOS 7 doesn't feel like a completed operating system for this advanced device though iOS 8 has since gone some way towards fixing things, and while I'm not that bothered with the simplistic functionality which is almost a plus to some, the absence of Touch ID is strange given it was so widely expected.
The camera is no great shakes, but I wouldn't be complaining if Apple had got rid of it altogether - however, to not offer the software that's found on the iPhone 5S is odd.
And here's an odd one: the iPad Air is lighter, but it's not light. It's not got the same feel we found when we first picked up the iPad mini, or the iPhone 5, or the Sony Xperia Tablet Z. It's not too heavy or anything, but it didn't wow me the first time I held it.
Verdict
Make no mistake - Apple finally nailed the tablet with a great combination of specs, power and a decent OS in this option.It's a joy to hold the iPad Air - even though it's now the thicker option. From the clever construction to the fast processor to the improved user interface, Apple has found an answer to every criticism I had of the device and then some.
The fact it's not even more expensive than its large-screen brethren is really impressive for an Apple product, and the suite of apps that are now free, coupled with the excellent App Store and premium build, make this a no brainer for anyone looking to enter the tablet market.
I'd advise that you get the largest capacity of iPad Air your budget can manage - although at the top end you're verging on Macbook territory, so make sure you're ready to use a tablet and think about getting an external keyboard to make full use of the extra apps you've now got.
You've seen the score, and for those keeping tabs you'll realise the iPad Air is TechRadar's first five-star tablet. It's a device with almost no flaws - and even though the iPad Air 2 is out, it's still remains one of the best tablets available today.
First reviewed: November 2013
Read More ...
Could an integrated enterprise suite make business sense?
Global enterprise applications company IFS has released the latest version of its extended business software suite, IFS Applications 9.
Launching the product to kick-off its IFS World Conference 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm outlined the key new features and capabilities of Applications 9.
Designed to help organisations "spot the signals that help [a] business change and create an advantage", Applications 9 is an agile solution based on a partner-friendly architecture and can be delivered via Microsoft's Azure cloud.
New: IFS Lobby and IFS Streams
Introducing Applications 9, IFS senior VP of research and development Thomas Sald said the suite benefitted from an improved user experience, more than 500 new industry updates and capabilities including an embedded CRM, a lower overall total cost of ownership, and localised support for global businesses."We know that user experience is important - it's directly linked to the business. It increases productivity and makes it easier to make the right decision. It also shortens the implementation time and increases talent retention. It looks good, yes, but it supports your business."
Applications 9 also comes with a number of project management and collaboration improvements, thanks to the new IFS Lobby and IFS Streams applications. These include real-time messaging and notifications across multiple devices and the web in Streams, and customisation options in IFS Lobby, Applications 9's at-a-glance information dashboard that can be tailored to individual roles and processes.
Introducing the new features, the company's CTO, Dan Matthews, said:
"Applications 9 is about creating business agility and the flexibility to capitalise on change. You need to be able to look out across multiple areas of your business and understand how they work together, getting close to things that are happening, as they're happening. "
Alastair Sorbie, president and CEO of IFS Group, added: "Today, we will be launching IFS Applications 9. We think it's the best release we've ever brought out. We've tried to build this idea of agility into the product as we've gone along. If you want to ride the wave of disruption, you need to have agile systems in place, ready to work like mad when the wave comes along."
Among the one million users of the firm's applications, key verticals for IFS Applications 9 include the service management, industrial manufacturing, and offshore contracting sectors. Early adopters of the software suite include Beijer Electronics and Kimal.
Leveraging the Internet of Things
During the opening keynote session, Stephen Boyle, VP of enterprise partners at Microsoft, also encouraged businesses to start leveraging the Internet of Things for a competitive advantage, saying it was poised to disrupt a range of industries."The Internet of Things is the next opportunity facing us. Whichever set you look at, the numbers are enormous - IoT touches all industries. Whether you're in healthcare or consumer, it fundamentally allows you turn anything into a service."
Read More ...
You could be paying with an Android Wear watch this year
A big selling point for the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and Apple Watch is the fact they're Apple Pay enabled, allowing users to pay using their smart devices. Seamless integration like this isn't available on Android, the offerings are currently a little more fragmented - but that could change this year.
NXP and Qualcomm have joined forces with the former's NFC technology being integrated into the latter's fleet of Snapdragon processors.
The whole series of Snapdragon chips are getting the NXP treatment, from the flagship 800 range all the way down to the super budget 200 series - plus Qualcomm's chips for auto and IoE (Internet of Everything) will also benefit from this coalition.
The new chips are available immediately, which means we should see devices including wearables and smartphones benefitting from secure transactions later this year.
Tap and pay away
Most Android Wear smartwatches currently sport Snapdragon chips, as do many smartphones, which make any new products in these sectors ripe for the new technology.The new solution provides a more streamlined and secure way of paying using a wearable or smart device, but that's not all this collaboration is bringing to the table.
NXP's NFC technology can be used to aid Wi-Fi and Bluetooth pairing as well as enabling media streaming - and built into Qualcomm's chipsets it could make this easier at home and in the car.
For example a car may have several NFC points, allowing a passenger in the back to easily stream content from their smartphone to the monitor in the headrest in front of them by linking the two with the contactless tech, while the passenger next to them streams something different to another display.
Read More ...
Goat Simulator does zombie survival because it's what the world needs
Even though April Fools' has come and gone, GoatZ has been announced as an expansion for the indie hit Goat Simulator.
Riffing off the successful Arma mod, DayZ, it's time to goad the living dead in hilarious fashion in this satirical expansion. Complete with zombies, craftable items, tons of trademark physics and hit detection bugs, GoatZ is a surprising addition, even for a crazy game like Goat Simulator.
Goat Simulator ragdolled onto the gaming scene last year by offering a different flavor of simulator, allowing players to embody a goat and proceed to get into all sorts of goat-y things, like crashing parties, being generally aloof and putting your tongue on things.
Here's the feature list for the new expansion, GoatZ:
- Mandatory crafting system because everyone else is doing it
- Zombies that bug out. There's a pun here about actual living bugs, but we're not going to bother
- You can craft anything in the world, as long as it's one of the half dozen weapons in the game
- Zombies, because this is a zombie game, remember?
- A pretty big new map with some stuff in it
- Completely realistic survival mode where you have to eat every damn five minutes to survive because Dean Hall & Garry Newman said so
The expansion is launching May 7 on Steam. We'll update the article with more details regarding platform support when they become available.
Via: Polygon
Read More ...
Available Tags:Sony , PS3 , PS3 , Microsoft , Lenovo , TV , Everything , iOS , iPad , Android ,
No comments:
Post a Comment