Skype for Web beta launches for all US and UK users
Microsoft’s Skype is making it a little easier for you to connect your audio and video calls, opening Skype for Web (beta) to all US and UK users.
The driving force for Skype for Web is quick and easy access to your conversations without having to download an app. The company says that this service is “perfect if you normally use Skype on your mobile,” because it is made to “quickly get your calls and IMs on a bigger screen.”
The company also says that Skype’s web-based video call service is a step towards making “Real-Time-Communications (RTC) on the web a reality”; basically, conversation with virtually no latency.
The popularity and simplicity of Google Hangouts could also be motivating Microsoft to create an easier way to access your Skype calls. Undoubtedly, downloading an app has its benefits, like added security and receiving incoming calls, but the convenience of video chatting from the web can’t be ignored.
You’re not quite off the download hook yet, though. To use Skype for Web you have to download a browser plug-in, but this is much simpler than the app installation process, especially on public computers.
Skype for Web is available for Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and presumably Microsoft Edge when it launches in July. Remember that Skype for Web is still in beta testing, so some less-than-perfect features are sure to be fixed in time. Microsoft says the rollout of Skype for Web will continue “over the next few weeks.”
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Updated: LG G4 release date, price and features
LG G4 release date, price and features
Although it's been no secret for several weeks, we finally know everything about the new LG G4 thanks to its official end-of-May announcement.- Now onto the hands on: LG G4 review
Soft leather is a personal preference, but no one is going to object to the improved LG G4 camera that steps in front of Samsung's stunning camera with an impressive f/1.8 lens.
Is the LG G4 worth the wait? How long until it launches? We finally have those details clad in leather.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? LG's next flagship smartphone
- When is it out? Now
- What will it cost? Around £480 / $650 / AU$1066
LG G4 design
The LG G4 design lives up to the many rumors that it'll be clad in premium leather, specifically vegetable tanned leather. It'll come in six colors too: brown, black red, sky blue beige, and yellow.
Leather isn't for everyone, so other less-flashy backs are available with the new smartphone. The black and gold colors with a metallic coating look familiar, as does the white model with a ceramic coating.
All three of these alternate design options sport a unique hammered pattern, but have a plastic base. The dimensions give it a 148.9mm height x 76.1mm width x 6.3mm to 9.8mm curved depth.
LG G4 comes off as a larger Moto X with its similar sloped design and genuine leather back variant. However, LG says it uses a lasting vegetable tanning treatment process that takes three months.
If that's what it requires to avoid the easy bruising we experience with Motorola's Android flagship after one day, then it's well worth the effort.
However, in our long term tests we found that the leather feels, well, not as premium as we'd hoped. It's thin and a little plastic, and although it's got a decent novelty value compared to all the other phones on the market, it didn't impress many people we showed it to.
The polycarbonate option isn't that much better, as it feels rather cheap too - the dappled effect is nice, but this isn't what we expect from a premium flagship.
LG G4 screen
Going along with its sharper camera, LG G4 has a more color-rich display to show off your pictures and multimedia, and the results are bright and accurate.It's still 5.5 inches, still an IPS LCD and still quad HD, but it bumps up the screen specs to a "quantum" display level and is 98% compliant with the Digital Cinema Initiatives industry standard.
This translates into 20% better color reproduction, 25% better brighter for outdoor visibility, and a 50% bump in contrast. Yet the negative LCD technology behind it actually reduces battery life drain.
That's excellent news for people who purposely avoid phones with a 1440 x 2560 resolution because it lights up so many pixels at the expense of the battery.
Battery life should be improved with this new screen technology and, as a backup, LG G4 does support Qualcomm's fast-charging QuickCharge 2.0 spec and the battery itself is swappable.
That slight curve on the LG G4 serves as a way to avoid a cracked or damaged display for the clumsy among us. The curve is not as pronounced as the LG G Flex 2, but remains resourceful nonetheless.
LG G4 camera
The f/1.8 aperture and 0.6 second shutter speed make the LG G4 the brightest and fastest cameras around, edging out the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge by a 0.1 value in each case.
In plain English, this means the 16-megapixel camera remains excellent in low light conditions, allowing 80% more light in than the LG G3. There's also less blur when taking photos of fast-moving objects.
In real terms, the early samples we've played with have yielded quite nice results, but not quite the speed that's being advertised.
LG G4's camera software has also been enhanced with a comprehensive manual mode, RAW images and a self-friendly Quick Shot mechanic that can take four front-facing pictures for fewer retakes.
In addition to bumping up the camera from 13 megapixels to 16 megapixels, the LG G4 goes from a 2.1-megapixel front camera to a 8-megapixel selfie camera, the same resolution as an iPhone.
Impressively, an ultra-thin 0.1mm blue IR filter is also included to help give photos a natural look with accurate colors by blocking out infrared interference.
LG G4 OS and power
LG G4 has an all-new UX 4.0 interface, but don't worry, this operating system skin doesn't overtake what Google has laid out or duplicate too many apps.Sure, it has LG's so-so useful smart notices and a overly bright and cheery overlay, and now there's a new smart bulletin that lays out app updates in almost a streamlined widget form.
There's also a Ringtone ID, which automatically composes a custom ringtone for each contact and Quick Memo+, which lets you collect snippets from the web without the adverts.
Other features of the newly announced UX 4.0 include a Smart Alert, which makes activity suggestions based on the weather forecast and a Smart Board, which combines information from multiple apps into a single widget.
Surprisingly the LG G4 passed on the Snapdragon 810 and uses the weaker Snapdragon 808 instead. Overheating issues are probably to blame, but at least this phone has a meaty 3GB of RAM to it.
LG G4: what it should have been like
While we're sadly coming to realise that most of the following won't actually happen, the G4 could have been SO MUCH BETTER if LG had listened to us:A metal chassis
The LG G3 sure does a good job of looking metallic, but that's all it is, an effect, and as soon as you pick up the phone the illusion is broken, so much so in fact that it actually winds up feeling cheaper than the LG G2.
So we really hope the LG G4 will go the whole hog and have a shell crafted from actual metal. Even Samsung's sticking metal in its phones now so LG really can't afford not to.
We'd also appreciate it if they gave the G4 a unibody rather than having a removable back, as it's likely to feel more solid and premium as a result.
Sadly metal is looking ever more unlikely, but at least we might see some leather.
Improved battery life
The LG G3 had good battery life, but it was actually slightly worse than the G2's battery and that's not a trend we like to see. There's steeper competition here now too, with Sony in particular doing well with the Xperia Z3 and the Xperia Z3 Compact, both of which have a whole lot of juice.A battery saving mode
Battery saving modes are all the rage these days, whether it's Sony's Stamina mode, HTC's Extreme power saving mode or Samsung's Ultra power saving mode, but the LG G3 doesn't have one.Now it already does a good job of conserving battery on the fly, by adapting the display and slowing down the processor when the extra horsepower isn't needed, but it would be great if the LG G4 went even further and had additional options that could be toggled as needed, just to squeeze even more juice out.
More power
More power is an obvious wish and an increasingly redundant one as most high end phones are levelling out and delivering near faultless performance. But the LG G3 actually did noticeably lag at times.Maybe that's down to the QHD display, maybe it's just down to poor optimisation, but whatever the reason we really hope LG sorts it out and gives us a faster phone in the LG G4.
A slicker interface
LG could also afford to do some more work on its interface. The G2's was a cluttered nightmare and the G3's was a big step in the right direction, but still not as slick as it could be.
In particular we'd like to see improvements made to Smart Notice. This sits below the weather widget on the home screen and gives you tailored advice and suggestions, for example it might give you more details on the weather or suggest you add someone to your contacts if you call them a lot.
The problem is it just doesn't work that well, often providing irrelevant advice, so LG should make it smarter or ditch it, we already have Google Now after all.
A better camera
On the whole the LG G3 has a pretty great camera, complete with optical image stabilisation and a laser autofocus. But while it performs well in bright light it's not so good in low light, relying on software to unconvincingly smooth over noisy shots, rather than taking good photos to begin with. So hopefully the LG G4 will improve in that area.The good news is that we should be getting what we wished for, with the LG G4 now confirmed to be coming with a 16MP snapper.
We'd also like to be given more manual control. The LG G3 is great if you just want to point and shoot, but there aren't many options for those who want to adjust the exposure or ISO for example. This too looks like a wish which will be coming true, as LG has revealed a full manual mode.
A superior screen
This one might seem strange, after all the LG G3 is already QHD, but we're not talking about more pixels. Rather we'd like to see improved performance from the pixels that are already there. In particular the LG G3 suffers from a noticeable loss in brightness when not viewed square on, so if LG can sort that for the G4 we'd be pretty happy.
Thankfully it seems that might be happening, as a brighter display has been promised by the firm.
Water and dust resistance
While not exactly a headline feature, water and dust resistance are undeniably nice things to have. We have to wonder how many people ever actively make use of the fact that they can submerge their smartphone, but knowing that it can survive a little water gives us some peace of mind.Here in England it rains all the time and sometimes we'd actually like to be able to use our phone while outside, without first crafting a makeshift shield from whatever else we happen to be carrying / wearing at the time.
Knock Code improvements
We love Knock On – the ability to wake up your phone with a tap, but Knock Code, which takes things further by letting you also unlock your phone with a series of taps, just doesn't work all that well.The main problem is that if you touch the screen when picking the G3 up it registers that touch as the first tap and causes the pattern to be interpreted incorrectly. We're not quite sure how LG can get around that so it's a good thing we're not designing the G4, but hopefully LG has a solution because a feature which doesn't work is just an annoyance.
Front-facing speakers
With support for high quality audio the LG G3 already does a great job when listening to music through a good pair of headphones, but its speaker isn't so hot either in terms of positioning or quality.For the LG G4 we'd like to see dual front-facing speakers, like those on the HTC One M8 and Sony Xperia Z3. It's a much more logical place for them, especially when you're watching something or playing a game. If LG can make the sound crisper and richer too then all the better.
- We're looking ahead to the Samsung Galaxy S6 too.
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Review: Updated: iPad mini 3
Introduction and key features
The iPad mini 3 is a curious beast.Curious insofar in that I don't really know where it's supposed to fit into the tablet market, an arena arguably created by Apple itself.
It's not the top-end tablet that technology fans will lust after, given it's based almost entirely on last year's technology.
Nor is it the budget option, occupying the higher price point its predecessor held previously, starting at $399, £319, AU$499 for the basic 16GB Wi-Fi only option.
While I'm used to Apple bringing out incremental updates, this one is the oddest of them all: it's the iPad mini 2, but with added Touch ID.
Oh, and it comes in gold too, if that gets you excited (and to be fair, it does for a lot of people).
But otherwise, there's nothing that marks this new tablet out from the one that launched to such fanfare last year. OK, you might argue that the mini 2 (or mini with Retina as it was known) was such a good device that it didn't need updating. Not the greatest thing for Apple to do, but I can run with that.
Like I said, it's not like the company doesn't have a previous history of doing such a thing (the iPad 3 to 4 was pretty much that, an incremental update that was mostly designed to bring the Lightning connector to the tablet world, with added CPU grunt).
Except - EXCEPT - Apple is leaving the iPad Mini 2 on the market, with a price cut of US$100 (£80, AU$130).
Is a gold iPad with a fingerprint scanner really worth the extra money? That's a whole Christmas present or three for many people, so what's Apple up to here?
Key features
Let's step away from that argument for a while and check out the iPad mini 3 on its own merits, without worrying how it compares to competitors. What makes this a tablet worth your time?Touch ID and Apple Pay
The Touch ID sensor is the biggest improvement on the new mini slate, and it's technology Apple is (rightly) proud of.None of this swiping up and down business: this is the most perfect biometric sensor on the mobile market (although the Samsung Galaxy S6 has brought out a nifty option too) and has secured hundreds of thousands of iPhones that would have otherwise been left open to thieves.
The premise is so simple: set it up in a few seconds, and pressing the home button to turn on your tablet will unlock it securely. If for some reason the fingerprint doesn't work (it hates wet hands, for instance) you can simply tap in a passcode as before.
It works really well, and as you can set up multiple fingerprints, it doesn't matter which way up you hold the tablet - it can be opened simply however it's oriented.
And with iOS 8 the Touch ID APK has been opened up too, so developers can now add in the security to their apps. So if you're an Evernote user and want to keep that app from prying eyes, a fingerprint block can be put in place.
But the big reason Touch ID is here is Apple Pay, sadly still limited to the US at the moment. While you can use the system on a phone to pay contactlessly for items on the go, the Touch ID sensor on the iPad mini 3 limits you to online shopping.
It works really well though: in the test I had earlier this year, a simple tap of "Apple Pay" at the online checkout prompts a fingerprint scan and all your details are securely shown. Neither party sees your fingerprint, instead using a secure token generated by the iPad itself.
So in a tap you've paid and chosen your delivery address. It's all very smooth.
But the contactless tech isn't integrated into the iPad mini 3, so this capability is only relevant online. In theory it's great and simple, but until the number of retailers offering Apple Pay on their sites proliferates, it's mostly just a secure way of accessing your iPad - and that's not a big enough change to justify the price hike over the iPad mini 2.
Gold option
There's not a lot to say here other than that the iPad mini 3 now comes in a golden sheen, but to many that will be a big reason to buy.It's something it has over the mini 2, and does look sleek and sophisticated; more so than the champagne colour that was so clamored for with the iPhone 5S.
128GB storage
The iPad mini 2 did have a 128GB option, but that's now been retired, meaning the only way to get your gigabytes at the top end is to buy the most expensive version of the mini 3 - currently standing at US$729 (£579, AU$899).
I'd argue that 128GB is probably a bit more than most people will want, but I'd always recommend buying as much storage as you can afford.
The reason for this is to futureproof yourself: you don't want to buy a 16GB version and find that 12 months down the line you're forced to delete photos or home videos just to update your version of iOS.
Retina screen
Remember, I'm talking about the mini 3 in isolation here. Yes, this screen was seen on the iPad mini 2, but it was so much sharper than I was expecting last year that I don't begrudge it turning up again on the mini 3.It's a 1,536 x 2,048 resolution, and at 7.9 inches it offers very crisp text and images. It's actually the same res as the iPad Air 2, but crunched down it's more crisp thanks to the pixels being closer together.
Old technology is a poor argument for buying a new tablet, but at the same time I was so impressed by the screen last year that I don't mind seeing it again.
That said, I wish it had the same zero gap construction as the iPad Air 2, with its lower reflectivity and improved colour reproduction. It's a great screen, but one that could have been slightly better with the advancements Apple has made in other iPad models.
According to comparisons carried out by DisplayMate, the iPad Mini 3 doesn't match its bigger brothers when it comes to colour accuracy. Apple has also denied the iPad Mini 3 the enhanced anti-reflection coating and bonded cover glass that it used for the iPad Air 2.
As you would expect, all other aspects of the screen's performance are identical to the iPad Mini 2 as well: viewing angles, contrast and brightness to list a few.
Obviously, the Mini 3 is a different proposition than the iPad Air 2 so a difference in screen quality is understandable. My point is that it's a shame Apple didn't spend at least a little effort upgrading the Mini's screen from its predecessor.
Design
The iPad mini 3 is exactly the same dimensions as the iPad Mini 2, at 200 x 134.7 x 7.5 mm and 331g.The design isn't terrible by any means - the chassis is very similar to that seen on the first iPad mini two years ago, but that was such a pleasurable thing to hold that I don't mind seeing it again and again.
Unfortunately the gold version, which will be most buyers' color of choice, isn't the most attractive if you're going for the 4G version. The top features a cut-out section needed to let the radio signal through, but it's white. This jarring decision is out of keeping with the attention to detail expected from Apple.
Holding the iPad mini 3 isn't a bad sensation at all - it's a pleasing, well-packaged device indeed.
It lacks the balance of the iPad Air 2, despite being over 100g lighter, and feels a little chunkier in the hand thanks to the greater thickness.
But it fits nicely in a jacket pocket and at 331g, doesn't weigh it down too much either.
The power button, volume keys and silencer switch (the latter remaining although it's disappeared on the iPad Air 2) are all exactly where they were on the mini 2 - are you getting the feeling that there's a theme here?
There's a sense of a massively missed opportunity here from Apple. The iPad mini 2 was a triumph as it was simply a shrunken version of the iPad Air, with the same design language and power.
The mini 3 is just a rebadged mini 2. It could have been amazing. If this was slimmed down to the same extent as the Air 2, it would have been perfect for the pocket. The screen could have been sublime, the edges improved and overall look and feel a step up.
Given it costs the same as last year's model, I would have expected it to have the same upgrades and attention - as it stands I can't work out where Apple has spent the money to bring the new technology. Touch ID isn't enough to explain it.
Interface and performance
There's nothing wrong with the way the iPad mini 3 performs under the finger. It's mostly stable enough, with very little in the way of crashing. However, it's always worth checking back on these reviews as such gremlins can show their face after a few weeks' use.However, the general interface is as simple as you'd expect. iOS 8.3 works as well here as it does on the iPhone range, but with added features to make it a little more stable and usable.
The main interface is a simple layout: grids of app icons as before. But swipe around and you'll see some features that really help it feel like a next generation product. For instance, on the lock screen you can swipe an email and archive or mark as read without even unlocking your tablet.
If you're playing a game and a message comes in, swipe down on the top notification and you'll be able to send a reply without having to exit the app and possibly lose vital points or places in a race.
Then there's the Control Center, which isn't perhaps new but does give an always-available place to set the volume, brightness, connect or disconnect to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, turn on the torch and set up the calculator.
It might not sound like much (and man alive, it can be hard to drag it up from the bottom of the screen sometimes) but it's good that it's so pervasive throughout the tablet.
The notifications bar has been given an overhaul too, with widgets in the Today section providing a really useful feature.
Whether it's offering your flight info from BA (if you've got the app installed), or enabling you to bid on ending items from eBay without leaving your app, it's a really novel way of doing things.
However, there aren't that many apps that can take advantage of this right now, which is a bit of a shame. Hopefully that will increase in the future.
The general interface is easy to use. It annoyingly doesn't have the home button double tap feature from the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus (where hitting that button twice without pressing it will cause half the screen to drop down within easy reach of your digits). I say annoyingly because this would have been a really nice way to use the mini 3 one-handed.
I don't know why Apple doesn't just put the back button at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. It would solve all the problems.
The performance of the iPad mini 3 is fine, although not as responsive when it comes to the touchscreen as the iPad Air 2 as it doesn't pack the same new technology for improved finger accuracy.
It also scores ever so slightly lower in the benchmarking tests compared to the iPad mini 2. I'm talking single digit percentages (2,478 compared to 2,481 on the GeekBench 3 test) showing that, again, you're getting nothing here that you wouldn't on last year's model, save for being able to use the fingerprint scanner for security and payments.
Battery and camera
Battery life on the iPad Mini 3 is quoted at 10 hours for multimedia, which mostly refers to video watching or browsing the web.It certainly doesn't refer to gaming, which hammers the battery life of the mini 3, although not as much as some other tablets. This is such a popular refrain for a mobile gaming experience that I've learned not to expect too much juice left after a particularly powerful game is pushed through the smaller screen.
That said, it's worth it. Despite the more muted colors (which you'll only notice if you've played with an iPad Air 2) the general gaming prowess of the mini 3 means I don't mind knowing it will leave me with minimal battery.
The general battery test, a looped Full HD video run for 90 minutes, showed a drain of 18%, which is, again, almost identical to that seen on the iPad mini 2. Have I mentioned these two models are pretty similar?
However, the general use drain for the mini 3 is excellent. Throw it in a bag for a few days and you can definitely still expect to have a lot of power left over by the end of the week. It's probably not what you're going to do with such a tablet, but if you do feel the need to leave it for a day or two the power won't get sucked down with background apps.
The quoted time of 10 hours seems a little over the top when it comes to web browsing, but with lower screen brightness could probably be achieved. I could have tested it by sitting under the covers playing with the mini 3 throughout a whole night with no cease, but I didn't.
I feel like I've let you down in some way. Sorry.
The upshot is this: the battery life of the iPad mini 3 is precisely as expected. Stream video at higher brightness (and the screen does get pretty bright) and you'll suck down 20% in around 90 minutes. Play a high power game like Real Racing 3 and it's not so bad - compared to the iPad Air 2, the mini 3 can hold its power during gaming a lot better, only losing a few percent every 10 minutes.
I really wish the more powerful A8X chip was running under the hood here, as the battery life would be stellar on a device like this.
Camera
The camera on the mini 3 is nothing to write home about, in the same way as it wasn't last year. The reason is the range of options isn't the same as it is on the iPhone range - no filters to apply here, no ability to take slow-motion video.
This is all the more galling as these are two features I'd actually want on a camera like this. The larger view finder is good for setting up a slow motion video, and the filters look nicer on a device like this.
But the output isn't terrible. The focus might not be too snappy, but colors are well-reproduced and the lower-light snaps come out better than expected.
You can set the exposure now with a slide of the finger up and down, so if you don't fancy locking the focus or exposure with a long press on one part of the screen there are plenty more options to improve the shot.
HDR mode is present and correct too, meaning you can improve the snaps further this way - but let's not forget that taking an iPad to a wedding is never acceptable.
Never. And if it ever becomes acceptable, I'm quitting this job to go and live on a tablet-less desert island.
Click here for the full res picture
Click here for the full res picture
Click here for the full res picture
Click here for the full res picture
The essentials
What's the iPad mini 3 good at? The basics. And that now includes calling."WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? ARE YOU MAD?" I can hear you thinking. But it's true. If you own an iPhone running iOS 8, and an iPad mini 3 linked to the same iCloud account, you can easily make and receive calls from the tablet thanks to the new Handoff feature baked into Apple's new operating systems.
It's a really nice system actually - in that it's so simple. iPhone in bag and tablet on the desk with you? Get a call and it will show on all your iCloud connected devices, and you can answer using the iPad mini 3's inbuilt speaker and microphones.
You can even dial out through the contacts app - this is a really nice touch, although the contacts app is still woefully underpowered. Linking a contact to a social network is a nightmare - even the automatic linking seems to be confused.
Sometimes a tap will take you to the right Twitter account. Sometimes a linked Facebook account will appear, only to just open the app and nothing else.
Either way, there's no dialler, so you'd better hope that you've got the name in your contacts book. Or just stop being lazy and get your iPhone out.
Messaging and emails
The best thing about iMessage is that it's pervasive across your Apple devices. Receive an Apple-powered message from your phone, see it on your tablet. The same, sadly, isn't true for the humble text message, so it's a bit of a disjointed system, but good when you get up and running.As iOS 8 now allows you to use other keyboards as well, it's the quality of the inbuilt one is less of an issue, but it's actually now got to the point where I'd use the default option over a third party choice. Apart from GIF keyboard, but mostly because that's funny.
The range of emojis with iOS 8.3 on board is also increased, with more variation and choice to play with.
The keys are accurate and expansive, and in landscape mode work really well. It's especially good for Mail, as you can rattle through a few emails on your lap without worry, and the unified inboxes are useful for power-mailing.
The only downside is that searching through archived messages on Gmail is a nightmare, but then again the official Gmail app isn't bad and easily available.
The last thing to talk about is Facetime, with the new and improved... wait, no, exactly the same camera as last year. This means a 1.2MP camera, but it's HD and does more than well enough when showing other people what you look like in a hotel room in another part of the world.
The quality is high and works well - even Facetime Audio is loud and clear and a good way to get past tricky roaming charges.
Verdict
I'm going to get this out of the way now: the big issue here isn't that Apple is using old technology. It's that it's offering a very slightly upgraded tablet while keeping last year's model on sale right next to it on the shelves.
Apple is going to cannibalize its own sales - but then again, if the money is coming in somehow, what does it matter which version you go for? It just means it's impossible to recommend this iPad while the predecessor lives, but an improved range is a great thing.
We liked
Let's get a positive hat on now though - there are some good parts. The gold coloring is going to entice a lot of people into the iPad fold, as it's a sought-after color.That said, I prefer space gray, but at least Apple is offering it.
The 128GB storage size is ample for iPads, if not a little expensive, but having it there is good for those who can afford it.
Touch ID is a good feature with a lot of promise. If Apple Pay goes big, this is a simple way to use it. If you're into security, then it's the best way to secure an iPad without needing to faff around with codes.
And if app developers really come up with clever ways to integrate the fingerprint reader, then the iPad mini 3 becomes a lot more attractive.
We disliked
Look above and you'll see a lot of "ifs." The whole selling point of the iPad mini 3 is Touch ID, and I don't feel it really adds a lot right now. It's future-proofing at best.If Apple Pay doesn't proliferate and you don't see any apps that use the fingerprint scanner, then you've just wasted a lot of money on a feature that merely saves you pecking out a code to open your tablet.
Everything good about this tablet - and that's diminishing, given it's last year's tech - is on the iPad mini 2, which is much cheaper and will likely do 99.3% of anything you want from the mini 3.
Unless you like gold, of course. If that's you, you've got no other choice.
Verdict
The iPad mini 3 isn't a bad tablet. It's got a great OS, new features and is still attractively designed. It's just that all these features are available on the mini 2 for a lot less money.Touch ID is a nice feature, but it's not enough to recommend this tablet. I can't see Apple Pay taking off in the next year to the point where you HAVE to have Touch ID in your life, and apps that really take advantage aren't here yet.
I just can't work out how Apple can justify launching this tablet at the price point. Last year, it was all the power of the Air in a smaller frame.
This year, it hasn't matched the Air 2 in tech spec, yet the price hasn't dropped. And you can get nearly all the good features cheaper on the iPad mini 2.
So while it might seem that the score here is harsh for what is a half-decent tablet with a good screen and access to a brilliant app store (albeit a tablet still based on last year's technology), it's the score it deserves because there's a better option to its left.
Buy the iPad mini 2, or wait a few months and see if Apple Pay and Touch ID-enabled apps start to roar in popularity. If not, there's no point in the iPad mini 3.
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Mac Tips: How to show or hide file extensions in Mac OS X
Got an Apple, Mac or iOS tech question? We have the answer. This time, we answer a reader's question about file extensions in OS X. Some people like 'em, some people don't - once upon a time, Mac files didn't have extensions at all! So how do you determine whether they're shown or not? Here's the simple solution.
Question
I recently switched to a new Mac, and I've noticed something weird going on: when I save files or take screen grabs, they tend to be missing their file extensions (.txt, .png, etc.), which was never a problem on my old machine. How do I get them back?Answer
There are a couple of things you can do to ensure that your files show their extensions. The simplest is to go to the Finder > Preferences menu, select the Advanced tab, and check the "Show all filename extensions" box. All your file extensions should now be visible - easy as pie. Conversely, if you want to hide your file extensions, just uncheck the box.
You can also choose to show your file extensions on a per-file basis. When you're saving a file, you'll sometimes see a checkbox that lets you choose to hide the file extension, although this option may not appear if you've turned on the universal "Show all filename extensions" preference. Furthermore, if you want to enable or disable the extension of any existing file, click on the file, then choose the Get Info option (either from the File menu, by right-clicking, or by hitting Command + I); under the Name & Extension section, there's a "Hide extension" checkbox you can turn on or off.
Got an Apple tech question? Email ask@maclife.com.
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Review: Drift Stealth 2
Introduction and design
Action cameras generally follow one of two designs, box or bullet, but the small Stealth 2 is a mixture of the two. It looks very similar to the larger Drift Ghost-S with the same long rectangular shape, twist lock back, screen on top and rotating front lens element. This design made the Ghost-S exceptionally easy to mount, but the size and weight of the Ghost-S can be an issue, but while the Stealth 2 looks similar it's 40% lighter and 50% smaller.Physical appearance is where the similarities end because the Stealth films at 1080p at just 30fps compared with 60fps on the Ghost-S. The screen on top is just for navigating through menus rather than offering Live View, the battery is internal and it requires a waterproof housing if you want to venture into water. There are also a few differences with the way the Stealth works when it's controlled by the mobile app.
For the most part, though, the Stealth 2 is still very much part of the same 'get out there' action-ready family, despite its differences with Ghost-S.
Mount options
An action camera's mount is always an important aspect of any system and while the GoPro mount is at present by far the most popular, Drift has been around for a few years too, so there's a good selection of bike, chest to helmet mounts out there. Prices are very competitive and the mount quality is very high.The mount itself is a simple compression clip – you just slot it in and it's attached – yet despite this simplicity it holds the camera nice and firm with no play. which is important in order to avoid vibration when attached to moving vehicles or people.
This design also makes it easy to remove the camera quickly just by pinching the release tabs, so there are no fiddly knobs or bolts to undo. The compression clip itself fits to the bottom of the camera casing and can be removed to reveal a standard 1/4-inch thread, meaning that the Stealth is able to mount straight on to a tripod without the need for any additional accessories.
Modes and settings
Settings and start/stop recording are all set through the three buttons on the side, with the illuminated LCD on top letting you know where you are and what settings you've selected. The mode button enables you to cycle through the modes, which include movie, stills, time lapse and burst and also give access to the settings. There's also a handy car DVR mode which can be activated in the settings. Once the Stealth is on, the power button doubles as 'select' and the middle button enables you to scroll through the settings. All areas of the interface are well thought out and finding the settings that you want to adjust is all relatively easily.Key features
You can film at 1080p at 30fps, or 720p at 60fps in NTSC or 1080p at 25fps or 720 at 50fps in PAL, and while there are a few other options, these are the main ones of interest. It is possible, then, to shoot slow motion footage, but only at 720p.The Drift 2's big feature is the rotating lens that changes the orientation of the captured video – a small white triangle shows the position. This means you can quickly set the camera to record in a vertical format when it's side-mounted on a helmet, or horizontal format when it's mounted on a car bonnet, for example. This ease of adjustment makes the mounting process a much easier task than it is with competitors as there's no convoluted mounting process needed to correct the camera's orientation. This rotation is not just limited to 90 degree turns but can be rotated through smaller angles too.
As with the Ghost-S, a twist lock back protects the MicroSD card slot, HDMI and USB slots. This can be a little fiddly to use with cold hands, and impossible to undo if wearing gloves, but as the battery is built in there really should never be any reason to open the back when you're out filming.
Wi-fi control
WiFi is a big action cam feature and the Stealth 2 connects through the Drift Connect app which works seamlessly and is one of the nicer action camera apps out there. Again, you see the slight limitations of this camera as full live is not possible – instead you have a still image showing what the camera is seeing and touching the refresh icon in the app refreshes the feed. This makes it good for adjusting the composition but you can't really use it as a full live feed, which for an action camera really isn't too much of an issue.Viewing footage and stills that you have shot is also very easy and smooth, with the Stealth 2 saving down a smaller thumbnail video for this streaming process – and if you like you can save this version directly down to your mobile device.
All settings for video and stills quality can also be adjusted from the app's interface, further enhancing the ease of use. Stills can be shot using the app up to 12Mp, though again the live view needs refreshing every to check the composition each time you move the camera, which is annoying. The app also features a zoom slider, although this is a digital zoom rather than optical.
Battery life for action cameras is generally not great, and an hour and a half is considered good. The Stealth 2, however, manages a massive three hours, and each time we tested the camera this quoted lifespan appeared accurate.
One feature with a difference is the car DVR mode, where the Drift 2 can be used as a car dashboard cam, a feature that has recently gained interest for insurance and liability claims. Setting this up is very easy and USB plugs are readily available for less than £10 – these plug directly into a cigarette lighter socket to power the camera. It's a really nice additional feature that's easy to use and could ultimately save you a great deal of time and money if you are ever involved in a crash (as long as you don't cause it).
Performance and verdict
You cake a look at these sample videos to see how the Drift 2 handles different conditions and subjects.Shooting in all resolutions the video quality remained consistent, showing a good amount of saturation, tone and detail. In slightly overcast conditions or when shooting indoors the quality of footage still looks great with good colour, tone and contrast and plenty of detail. In bright sunlight however, large areas of highly saturated colour quickly loose definition. In bright scenes the camera shows limited ability to capture a wide dynamic range with clouds burning out or suffering a pink or yellow tinging, and this restricted range also causes tonal detail to be lost. Footage captured in bright condition also has a warm hint that needs toning down during editing.
Within its limits, though the footage is high contrast and vibrant which does give it a pleasing look direct from camera.
Motion appears smooth with no dropped frames and as the speed of motion picks up our footage showed no signs of pixelation. The lens does a good job and gives the typical wide-angle action camera look. Taking a look towards the edges of the footage you are able to see softening of detail and signs of fringing but you'd generally expect from an action camera.
Garmin and GoPro offer their own software solutions but Drift suggest that you either use either iMovie or Sony MoviEZ both of which are relatively cheap and offer a fantastic range of editing tools.
We liked
The small size, compact design and the rotating lens make this camera incredibly easy to mount and this makes it stand out from its competitors. Features such as built in WiFi, the three hour battery life and car DVR make this camera very appealing.We disliked
Footage in bright sunlight can suffer from a limited dynamic range. Frame rates are limited at 1080p to a standard 30fps and you need to drop to 720p in order to access 60fps, so creative footage options are limited. Despite featuring Wi-Fi the lack of real time live view for shooting stills can be an issue and if you do want to venture into water then an additional waterproof housing is required, although it is relatively inexpensive.Verdict
The Drift Stealth 2 builds on the design features and usability of the Ghost-S, which is already a firm favourite with automotive enthusiasts, due to its discreet design and easy mounting options. The small size and weight now make what was a relatively heavy design with the Ghost-S a viable option for lighter weight vehicles and people. The stand out features are the lens design, which enables you to quickly adjust the orientation without the need for additional mounts, and the three hour battery life. Video quality is an issue in brighter conditions but many will like the added warmth and look of the high contrast footage.
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A computer just solved a 120-year-old mystery - without the help of humans
A 120-year old mystery involving the regeneration of flatworm cells has been solved by a computer that was programmed to develop scientific theories - without help from humans.
The machine, which was built by biologists at Tufts University, was able to explain the mechanism of how the genes of sliced-up flatworms are able to turn the sliced-up cells into new organisms - a process called planaria.
To do so, it scanned the data gathered by studies performed in the field and then simulated a number of networks formed by the worm's genes until it found a match for an existing study. Every time it was successful in doing so, it saved that result and manipulated the rest of the network until it matched a new study and so on. After just three days, it had the answer.
Virtual assistant
"This represents the most comprehensive model of planarian regeneration found to date," said Michael Levin, the senior author on the paper detailing the discovery. "While the artificial intelligence in this project did have to do a whole lot of computations, the outcome is a theory of what the worm is doing."He added that it was remarkable that the end-result was a reasonably simple model that humans could easily comprehend, not a tangled mess. "All this suggests to me that artificial intelligence can help with every aspect of science, not only data mining but also inference of meaning of the data," he said.
The solution to the mystery, as well as the details of the software that solved it, were published in PLOS Computational Biology.
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TechRadar Deals: Best Samsung Galaxy Tab deals in June 2015
Welcome to the web's repository of all the best Samsung Galaxy Tab deals.
On this page you'll find the best deals currently available for all models of Samsung Galaxy Tab, whether it's the latest and greatest Galaxy Tab S you're after or the Galaxy Tab 3 designed especially for kids!
We'll walk you through each model type so you can work out which one is best for you and then we'll help you find the best deal - simples!
Here are the best Samsung Galaxy Tab deals on the market...
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 deals
The 8.4-inch version of Samsung's best Galaxy Tab everThe Samsung Galaxy Tab S comes in two sizes - 8.4-inch and then the slightly bigger and more expensive 10.5-inch. If you want the best Android tablet on the market, one of these two devices will do you proud. Whether it be the stunningly good screen or the powerful internals, this is an amazing tablet. Here are the best Galaxy Tab S 8.4 deals currently available...
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 deals
The 10.5-inch version of Samsung's best ever Android tabletThere's a lot to be said for the 8.4-inch version above - it could well be the absolutely perfect size for a touchscreen tablet. But if you want something a little bigger, the Tab S 10.5 is simply superb. It's got all the same features as the tablet above but features a bigger screen. If you want an iPad-beating tablet running Android, this is the one. Here are the best Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 deals...
Samsung Galaxy Tab Active deals
The out-and-about tablet with rugged build quality and a great batteryAs the modern small business continues to incorporate new technology into their workflows, tablets have begun to supplement notebook computers. With a battery that can outlast your flight and a rugged build quality that keeps it safe from snow and falls, the Tab Active is a decent option but an acquired taste. If you're after a tablet for home use, this probably isn't the one. Here are the best deals for the Galaxy Tab Active...
Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 deals
This incredibly big tablet is also incredibly goodIf you're looking for a super-sized tablet your options are fairly limited, yet Samsung offers up two with the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 being joined by the incredibly similar Note Pro 12.2. The battery life on the Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 is rather impressive. With light to medium use you should be able to get two days usage from one charge, which is a massive plus for those on the move who do not necessarily have access to a power point throughout their working day.
Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 deals
A fantastic tablet that offers a brilliant balance of price and performanceAlthough the budget tablet market has taken off, Samsung has proven that there is still an awful lot of life at the premium end of the tablet spectrum, and by dropping the price of its Tab Pro range it becomes a lot more attractive almost instantly. Sitting between the Tab Pro 12.2 and the Tab Pro 8.4, this tablet has excellent innards and a stunning screen that will please anyone.
Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 deals
The 8.4-inch version of the two tabs aboveBy packing a super-sharp display, a powerful processor and a much-improved UI into a compact shell, the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 is one of the finest tablets the company has ever produced. It sits in the Pro range of Samsung's best Galaxy Tabs and the 8.4-inch size makes it appeal to more than just company execs - anyone would be happy with this tablet.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Kids deals
The Samsung tab that's made for kidsThis is a low-spec tablet that's ideal for kids because it comes with two extremely robust cases, and also a super-secure and completely separate Kids Mode alternative Home screen that lets parents control every aspect of their child's tablet time.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 deals
It's a couple of years old now but good at the right priceIf you want a budget tablet you could do worse than the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3. It's by no means the most feature packed Galaxy Tab around, and even when it was new it wasn't the best, but prices make everything relative and this is a very cheap option!
We'll update with more Galaxy Tab deals as we find them.
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This robot ninja is even more accurate and deadly than you'd expect
Teaching a robot how to use a sword seems like a terrible idea, given the inevitable robot uprising. And yet in this Japanese commercial, master swordsman Isao Machii does just that.
The robot goes through several tests, from a simple diagonal cut to some basic fruit slicing familiar to anyone who's played fruit ninja, all the way through to the "thousand cuts". In every case it closely replicates the movements of the modern-day samurai.
The robot in question is the Motoman-MH24 - an industrial bot that's sometimes used in the medical field. It was built by the Yaskawa Electric Corporation.
Not pictured: the moment when the robot breaks free of its bindings, crashes through a wall with its sword and is never seen again.
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The echo of meteorite impacts could tell us what's inside Mars
We're told to never judge a book by its cover, but it's apparently fine to judge what lies inside Mars by listening to the echoes of meteorite impacts.
We know very little about the interior of the Red Planet. We know that once it had a global magnetic field and active volcanoes, but it's unclear if the core is still molten or not. If it is, plate tectonics and earthquakes (which are called marsquakes on Mars) are a possibility.
To find out, the next spacecraft to arrive on Mars will come equipped with precise seismometers to detect tremors. The InSight Lander will listen carefully for seismic waves caused by meteorites, and use the data to make some educated guesses at what materials it passed through along the way.
Triangulation
The one thing it won't be able to do is work out where the impacts came from - to do this they would need three seismometers in different locations to triangulate the position by seeing how fast the impact sound arrives at each location. Instead, observations from orbiting probes will be used to locate the impact site."Impacts do not make very large seismic signals," Nick Teanby at the University of Bristol - who suggested the idea - told New Scientist, "but Mars should be a lot quieter than Earth as there's no wave noise, vegetation noise, or noise from people and cars." The plan was detailed in the journal Icarus.
InSight is due to launch in March 2016 and arrive in September of the same year.
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Keitai: How to cook a full English breakfast with your smartphone
Cook an English breakfast with your phone
This week in Keitai we get tummies rumbling with our guide to cooking a full English breakfast with your smartphone, Winston is the first to use Nokia's Chat service and a pop star tells a story about poo at a phone launch.- Catch up on Keitai (formerly 7 days in phones)
How to cook a full English with your smartphone
There are loads of great recipe apps that you can download for your smartphone to give you help and inspiration while in the kitchen – and they can liven up any meal, even breakfast.Apps like Food Network in the Kitchen, Allthecooks and Epicurious can turn your smartphone into an almost limitless cookbook with brilliant recipes from some of the best chefs in the world.
Order the ingredients
The best thing about your smartphone is that it's easy to shop for food and have it delivered straight to your door. Most supermarkets have their own apps that make buying the food you need for a full English breakfast incredibly easy.You might have to wait a while to get it delivered, but an increasing number of stores are offering same-day delivery, so if you're smart you can order the ingredients for your breakfast the night before, and have it all ready and waiting for you when you emerge from your bed the next morning.
Fry to perfection
As any breakfast connoisseur will tell you, there's a lot more to the English breakfast than just chucking everything into a pan with a hefty glug of oil. Devices like the Cinder Sensing Cooker gives you precise control over the heat of the grill from your smartphone, allowing you to cook everything to perfection with the help of sensors and guides.
Save your bacon by cooking it just right every time by letting your smart cooker know just how crispy you like it – all from an app on your phone.
Smart baking
If you don't fancy frying everything, then you can bung some sausages and hash browns in the oven to cook. Smart ovens are becoming increasingly popular, with the LG Smart ThinQ range allowing you to remotely control your cooking from your smartphone. You can even send recipes to the oven to help it cook.
Not only can you communicate with your oven from your smartphone, but you can also use LG HomeChat to let it talk to other appliances and interact with smart home devices powered by Nest. That way, your dishwasher can make sure your pots, pans and cutlery are all washed and ready to use when you need them.
Get brewing
You can't have a full English breakfast without a cup of tea to wash it down. Devices like the iKettle allow you to boil your kettle using your smartphone from anywhere in your home, or set up a schedule so boiling water is ready and waiting when you wake up.
If coffee is more your thing, we won't judge you (too much): the Siemens Connected Coffee Maker can let you brew a cup of java straight from your phone.
1 chat received
A million things to say flowed through his mind. 'Hi wot's up'. 'U OK'. 'R U Going to Dans later' seemed to fleetingly fit, but none conveyed what he wanted to say on this iconic handset.Then Winston did something he never thought possible. He opened the 'Chat' function on the Nokia 3310, almost laughing to himself at the thought of it working.
'U There'? He tapped in, before pressing send. He waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Quietly he put the phone down. What was he doing? It was like trying to browse the real internet or listen to an MP3 on this phone (stupid for two reasons: firstly, it takes ages and was a terrible user experience, and secondly, these features were only enabled on the 3330 variant Nokia put out and everyone knows that).
His nerdy internal monologue was shattered at that point by a sound he had never heard, the phone gurgling oddly. He looked down and let out a half neigh, half gasp: the screen read '1 chat received'.
'Clever boy. Nobody will think to look for our communication here.'
Winston paused, before tapping back 'Y did u txt who ru is ths the rason the councl gv me da chrger'.
The phone bleeped almost instantly. 'I can't tell you. But that charger was a decoy.'
'The council is trying 2 kl u.'
Deep in a Finnish bunker, the last refugees of the Nokia movement jumped up as an alarm went off. The Chat server had finally been used! Bespectacled scientists ripped off sheets of paper everywhere, before sprinting up the stairs and into the old wooden office.
'Sir, it's finally happened!' they said in English with a Finnish accent. 'The prophecy has begun!'
A poo BlackBerry launch
What better way is there to celebrate the launch of your new range of smartphones than to hold a swanky party in London and have your pop star special guest regale the crowd about the time she had a poo in a caravan?
And now ladies and gentlemen, the BlackBerry 7 smartphone collection.
Scary press shot of the week
Nothing says 'premium high-end fashion phone' than a fat man in a thin man suit.
Sadly the pasty impersonator can't quite fit his excessive gut inside said suit, making for a rather awkward photo shoot with his - we can only assume - equally fat wife who's been squashed into the skin of the girl she hated at school.
Thankfully they're both rocking highly fashionable Xelibri phones to draw your attention away from the clearly questionable ethics surrounding their outfit choices.
An offshoot Siemens launched in 2003, the premium Xelibri brand lasted no more than a year. Shocker.
Retro video of the week
Pay attention kids, here's a life lesson in basic body language.
The suited gentleman in this 1996 Ericsson mobile phone advert, let's call him Frank, thinks he's just got himself a date by merely entering a restaurant and sitting at a table.
There's a lady on the table across from him – she looks like a Mallory – and judging by her hand placement she's either on the phone, or has a chronic headache. Either way, the mere fact that Mallory's not even looking at Frank should set alarm bells ringing in his head.
Unfortunately for Frank, he has not received this important life lesson and proceeds to embarrass himself by getting mistaken for a waiter. A waiter! You can't get lower than that.
Proper stuff from the site
- Google wants to count your calories, using your photos
- WWDC is next week, here's what we know so far about iOS 9
- Samsung launched a terrible, terrible ad for the S6
- Win a Motorola Moto X, wireless headphones and power pack
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Innovators: Great tech innovators: Kazuo Hirai
- Age: 54
- Best known for: Sony
- Quote: "So what does all this mean? Riiiiiidge Raaaceeeerrrrrr!"
Before he took the Sony top job, Hirai was known for turning Sony into a gaming giant. He joined Sony Computer Entertainment in 1995, when the PlayStation One was still in its infancy, and soon helped make the PlayStation the success it is today, surpassing gaming giants such as Sega and Nintendo.
In 1999 he was made president of Sony's games devision in the US which launched the PlayStation 2 in 2000. The success of the console was helped in part by Hirai's insistence on offering up platform exclusives, in the form of Ratchet And Clank and SOCOM.
It worked. The PlayStation 2 sold over 150 million units, overtaking the PSOne's 100 million and cementing itself as the most popular console of all time.
Hirai continued to oversee the development of the PlayStation and its numerous mobile versions and was seen as a cheerleader of sorts for the games on the consoles - hence his infamous Ridge Racer quote, which saw him championing the game in his usual enthusiastic style - all the way up to 2009, when he was put in charge of Sony's networked products and services.
Although he helped launch (the now defunct) Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited services, this time in his career will always be remembered for 2011's infamous PlayStation hack which put the PlayStation Network offline affecting 45 million customers.
His management of this crisis, where loyal customers were gifted free games and other things, prepared him for his biggest role yet, becoming the CEO of Sony.
When Howard Stringer stepped down in 2012, Hirai took control of Sony. While it is a company still very much in flux, it's CEO has proven time and time again that he can make a success story out of Sony once more.
- In partnership with Microsoft, powered by the HP Spectre x360
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Week in Tech: Windows 10 and Fallout 4 steal the show, Apple invades the home
What a week. We've seen FIFA brought down by a Santa lookalike, lost one of the few UK politicians that everybody liked, and in Caitlyn Jenner we've found a member of the Kardashian clan who's even more talked about than Kim and Kanye. And big things are happening in tech too: Microsoft and Apple are gearing up for big product launches, our favourite game franchise is back with a bang, and Lego promises not to show you any penises.
For the Win(dows)
Windows 10, Windows 10, July 29, you'll get it then. Pardon the pathetic poetry, but we're starting to get pretty excited about next month's Windows 10 release: as Dan Grabham's ongoing review says, it's the new Windows 7. Not only that, but it's bringing us all kinds of interesting new PCs, including one that's as small as a phone charger and 100% real. There's a new XPS 15 coming from Dell too, which is good news for anybody who lusted over the excellent XPS 13 but needs something a little bigger. The Windows wagon is really starting to roll now, so expect lots more announcements in the coming weeks.Samsung's not-so-secrets
What's Korean and rubbish at keeping secrets? That's right: Samsung. Thanks to some special tech maths, Matt Swider has discovered the supposedly secret launch date of the Galaxy Note 5: "If A = B and B = C, then the Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Pay are both due for an unveiling in September." That's science! Here's what we want to see from the phablet flagship, but in the meantime there's another Sammy to get excited about: the Galaxy S6 Active. Details of that have leaked too, and it's pretty much what we expected: a ruggedised Galaxy S6 that won't explode if you splash it.All out for Fallout 4
Clear the diary and stock up on snacks: Fallout 4's coming. The official trailer is a lot more interesting than we were expecting, and it's given us some tantalising insights into the game's setting and time period. As Hugh Langley and Cameron Faulkner explain, the game appears to have everything: "Dogs! Zombies! Boston!"No no no no, no no there's no limits
Remember 2 Unlimited? They might just have been singing about Steam's refund policy, which has no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no… we'll stop now. If you buy a game from Steam and think it's rubbish, then you'll be able to get your money back within the first two weeks unless you've played for more than two hours – although if you've played for longer Steam says you should request a refund anyway and "we'll take a look."Home is where the hardware is
HomeKit is Apple's platform for home automation, and the first devices are now on sale. Elgato's Eve sensors will be coming to the UK in July, and unlike some HomeKit devices they'll communicate via Bluetooth LE rather than Wi-Fi to give your router a break. Elgato isn't the only firm embracing HomeKit, either: we've put together an exhaustive list of all the things that will work with HomeKit this year.We know that the Apple TV is being repositioned as a HomeKit hub, but don't expect to see a new model at WWDC next week: it looks like the next generation isn't quite "ready for prime time". The problem appears to be with services rather than the hardware: Apple is trying to make deals with TV companies and the negotiations appear to be taking longer than anticipated. Still, we're sure Apple will have a few other things to talk about at WWDC 2015.
Thunderbolt is lightning, very very frightening
Intel has taken the wraps off Thunderbolt 3, the next generation of the super-fast data standard and the beginning of one-cable computing. It'll use the USB Type-C connector that Apple's just stuck into the new MacBook, and it'll deliver up to 40Gbps. That's twice as fast as the current standard and four times the top speed of USB 3.1. It can run two 4K displays simultaneously at 60Hz, deliver 100W in power, 15W per device over long distances, and it can kill a man with a single punch. We made that last bit up.Building Luke's lightsaber
Roger Christian invented one of the most famous bits of movie tech, Luke Skywalker's lightsaber – and the legendary production designer is bringing his Empire Strikes Back-supporting short, Black Angel, to screens as a full-length movie. Patrick Goss sat down with Christian to talk Star Wars, crowdfunding and whether the brand new lightsaber in The Force Awakens has his seal of approval.Why Lego doesn't have a penis problem
No, it's not because Lego people don't have genitals. The penis problem is what happens in online world-building apps: sooner or later, somebody uses the tools to make, well, a tool. That's why it's taken Lego so long to launch its Minecraft-style MMO: the company "wanted a creative building MMO with a promise of zero penises seen." Time for a song, we think. All together now: no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no there's no…
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Huge hack hits US government, Chinese hackers to blame?
Data on up to 4 million US citizens may have been compromised after the US Government's Office of Personal Management (OPM), the body in charge of security clearances and employee records for the federal government, was apparently hacked.
The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged "at the beginning of May" that the records had been taken. The Wall Street Journal quotes US Officials describing the breach as "one of the largest known thefts of government data in history" with Chinese hackers being the prime suspect in the attack.
What makes this particular attack more worrying is that the OPM handles sensitive details of 1.5 million US military personnel with the impact potentially felt across most, if not all federal agencies in the country.
Success story
It seems that hackers are having a field day with similar attacks that, although not on the same scale, are being reported almost on a weekly basis.US Insurance provider Anthem saw its 80-million-user database compromised last year with criminals making off with databases from Home Depot and JP Morgan Chase that totalled more than 130 million customers.
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How to: How to take a screenshot on a Mac - and 10 more awesome tips
1. Introduction
Pointing a camera at a computer screen is never a good idea (hey there, reflections!), which is why the humble screenshot has proved a vital tool over the years.
Whether you need to grab something off a webpage to share with a friend, create instructions or log a receipt of a purchase, a screenshot is a fast and easy way to get the job done.
It's not always obvious how to take a screenshot, though; while there are a number of keyboard combinations at your disposal, it's not necessarily clear what they do, or how to execute them to get the screenshot you want. And then there's the question of what to do with a screenshot - you may want to share it, edit it or send it up to the cloud.
But don't fret, Mac users: read on for our complete guide on how to take a screenshot, followed up by 10 handy tips of what to do with them afterwards.
- Check out these 50 best mac tips, tricks and timesavers
2. How to take a screenshot on a Mac
OS X is loved by designers and multimedia workers alike for its simple and flexible way of taking screenshots. You can choose to take snaps of the whole screen or just parts of it, in addition to open apps, windows and menus with just a few key combinations.
Save the entire screen on the desktop
To take a picture of the whole screen, press Command (⌘)-Shift-3, which will place a screenshot file on your desktop saved as a .png file.
Take a screenshot of part of the screen
If you're only interested in taking a screenshot of part of the screen, hold down Command (⌘)-Shift-4 to turn the cursor into a crosshair pointer. Move it to where you want to start the screenshot and left-click, before dragging the rectangle over the desired area while holding the mouse button. Let go to turn the selected area into a .png file on the desktop.
Take a screenshot of a window
To precisely take a screenshot of a window and its contents, press Command (⌘)-Shift-4 to turn the cursor into a camera pointer before pressing the Space bar. Move the camera pointer over the window to highlight it a dark share and left-click to save the screenshot as a .png file on the desktop. yo can hit escape before you click to cancel the screenshot.
Take a screenshot of a menu
It's also possible to take a screenshot of a menu without the title using another handy combination. Hold down Command (⌘)-Shift-4, press the Space bar and left-click on the menu to send it to your desktop in the form of a .png file.
Change the default format and save location of screenshots
OS X saves screenshots as .png files by default, which can be changed to .jpg by inputting the following command into Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
It doesn't have to be .jpg either - you can switch the file format to a number of supported extensions such as PDF, tiff, or bitmap, among others, by entering it at the end of the line. When you're done, enter this command to load the new setting:
killall SystemUIServer
3. Crop, resize, tweak screenshots using Preview
Preview is one of the most under-appreciated apps on Mac. Especially in later versions of OS X, it became hugely powerful, and is great for editing screenshots. For example, you can crop an image. Draw a selection with the regular Rectangular Selection tool then either hit Command+K or choose Crop from the Tools menu. Alternatively, show the Edit Toolbar and make a more complex selection either with the Instant Alpha tool (like in iWork) or use the Smart Lasso.
With this tool, you draw as carefully as you can around the outline of the object and then Preview works out as closely as it can where the edges are. In either case, if the screenshot isn't already a PNG cropping will convert it so that you can have the thing you're cutting out on a transparent background. (You might need the Invert Selection command, too!)
You can also resize screenshots, and even do some tweaks to the colours with the Adjust Color pop-up. Select Adjust Color… from the Tools menu, and you get some handy sliders and a histogram to help you tweak things. Plus, hit the backtick symbol (to the left of Z on a UK Mac keyboard, and to the left of 1 on a US Mac keyboard) to bring up a loupe so you can see what's happening at 100% as you make changes.
4. Annotate screenshots using Preview
As well as letting you crop, resize and tweak screenshots, Preview has some nifty built-in annotation features that come in useful for placing instructional (or other) text over them. Make sure the Edit Toolbar is visible (from the View menu) and you'll see options for drawing shapes, speech, thought bubbles and more.
For creating instructions out of screenshots, the arrow tool will come in particularly useful. There's also the option to highlight text in different colours, strikethrough some text, add notes and type some text into boxes.
5. Share screenshots quickly
Keeping screenshots to yourself is no fun (unless they're receipts, and then you probably should), so it's a good job Yosemite makes sharing them a breeze. Placed at the top-right hand corner of windows is a share button that, when clicked, displays how and whom you most often share files with. So once you've shared a screenshot, you'll see their name(s) at the bottom of the share menu, making them easy to pick out next time.
6. Open screenshots in another app
If you're not too keen on editing your screenshots in Preview, you can save yourself a bunch of time by setting image files to open in another image-editing app (such as GIMP) by default. To do this, select the screenshot file and press Command+I to show its information. Where it says 'Open with:, use the drop-down menu to choose a new app. At this point, if you close the window, that change will only be applied to that one file; if you want other files of that type to use that same app, click 'Change All…' beneath the drop-down menu.
7. Add a signature to your screenshot
In OS X 10.7, Preview gained the ability to add your signature to documents, which can be handy if you've taken a screenshot of a form and need to write yours on a dotted line.
To get started, go to the Signatures tab in Preview's preferences and then click the +. Now, sign your name in black ink on a small piece of white paper and hold it up to your Mac's webcam. Line it up and click Accept (making sure the 'Save this signature' option is checked if you want to use it in the future).
Now open a document you want to sign, pop up the Edit Toolbar and click the signature icon - it looks like an S on a line next to a tiny x. Draw a box to add your signature on the form. You can scale and reposition it afterwards too.
8. Send screenshots to your iPhone
If you want to take your screenshots with you but you're in a hurry, the fastest way to send them to your mobile device is to use Bluetooth 4 (you'll need a fairly modern Mac) and a recent iOS device (iPhone 5 or later, for example). It's done by right-clicking on the screenshot file and selecting AirDrop from the Messages fly-out menu, before tapping on the device you want to send it to. A note: you'll need AirDrop turned on from the Control Centre of the iOS device first.)
9. Quickly take iPad/iPhone screenshots
With Yosemite, you can now record whatever happens on the screen of your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, which gives you a sneaky way to take many screenshots quickly - quicker than pushing your device's Home and Power button at the same time, anyway.
To use this feature, you just connect your iOS device up to your Mac using its cable, then launch QuickTime Player. Next, choose New Movie Recording from the File menu and then, if it's not already selected for you, choose your connected iOS device as the 'camera' source from the drop-down menu next to the record button.
You'll now be able to see what's on your device's display, and use OS X's keyboard shortcuts to save screenshots to your desktop to then be shared using AirDrop or store them in iCloud (check out the next slide).
10. Store screenshots in iCloud
It used to be the case that the only files you could store on iCloud were from specially-built apps such as Apple's iWork suite, but now we have iCloud Drive in Yosemite, we can chuck any files we like onto the iCloud Drive icon in the Finder sidebar.
Those special, blessed apps still get their own folders, but you can create your own or just put things loose into iCloud Drive - including screenshots. All those files will sync to other Macs signed in with your Apple ID (so long as you've enabled iCloud Drive on them) and will also be available through icloud.com. On iOS, apps that can use iCloud will usually default to opening files from their special folder, but should also allow you to browse through your entire iCloud Drive to open files stored elsewhere.
11. Batch rename screenshots
In versions before Yosemite, renaming a group of files at once either meant third-party software or rolling your own rename script using something like Automator or AppleScript. Now, though, you can just select a group of screenshots and then select Rename either from the right-click contextual menu or from the drop-down button marked with a cog icon in Finder windows. When you do, you get the option of adding text, replacing text, or applying a format such as a name and an automatically incrementing counter.
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Google Dive: underwater Street View lets you explore the ocean
To mark World Oceans Day on 8 June, Google has partnered with the Catlin Seaview Survey to release a selection of beautiful images showing life beneath the waves.
"Covering more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface, the ocean remains one of the most uncharted and undiscovered ecosystems on the planet," wrote Jennifer Austin and Brian Sullivan from Google's Ocean Program in a blog post. "Google is committed to exploring and preserving the ocean."
So you can now go and pan around 360-degree views of sea turtles in Timor-Leste, humpback whales in the Cook Islands, dive with a giant ocean sunfish off the coast of Bali or search shipwrecks in Aruba. You can even step inside a shark cage off the coast of Australia.
Alongside the nice pictures of fish, the team is also working to document the state of the ocean today and how it'll change in the coming years. As such, Google has also released a visualisation from Global Fishing Watch that shows the places that are being fished (and overfished) around the world.
"This World Oceans Day, we hope that you're inspired to learn more about ocean change," write Austin and Sullivan. "So dive into the deeps of the sea and become engaged to protect the ocean and understand how it supports us, so that all of us can better support it in return."
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Just what's going on with the new Moto X?
A number of new rumours have surfaced regarding this year's version of Motorola's Moto X device, and although they help give us an idea of what we can expect, some of the information is rather contradictory.
For example GSMArena reports that the Moto X (2015) will come with a 5.2-inch QHD AMOLED display.
Meanwhile PhoneArena has reported that the Moto X will indeed come with a QHD (1440 x 2560) display, but will come in two different sizes – a 5.2-inch version and a 5.7-inch model that will be exclusive to the Verizon network.
Same but different
GSMArena's rumours also suggest that the new Moto X will come with a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 810 chipset and a huge 4GB of RAM.Phone Area reports a more conservative 3GB of RAM, along with 21GB of storage. A leaked image also apparently shows a wooden body, with Phone Arena claiming that the Moto X will come in this material, along with versions in plastic, leather and an unnamed new material.
Previous rumours have also suggested that the upcoming Moto X will come with a Snapdragon 808 chipset, rather than the more powerful 810.
Both sites do agree on something; the Moto X is due to launch with Android 5.1.1 pre-installed.
We won't know how accurate either of these new rumours are until the third generation Moto X is unveiled later this year, but reading between the conflicting reports, a vague idea of what the Moto X will be is beginning to take shape.
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TechRadar Deals: DealsRadar: Samsung Galaxy S6, 4K monitor, Wireless storage + more
DealsRadar
DealsRadar is the go-to destination for all the best prices on tech and games on the internet. We update daily with links to the best deals on miscellaneous tech and games, with dedicated sections for all your favourite products!- Stay up to date: Follow @TRDeals on Twitter
DealsRadar's Daily Deals:
Samsung Galaxy S6: If you don't want to sign up for a 24 month contract, buy your new phone outright. This is the cheapest price we can find for the Galaxy S6 - by our reckoning the best phone out there right now - it's £359.99.
4K monitor: If you need super-dense pixels from a new computer monitor, there's a deal going on the ViewSonic VX2880ml - a 28-inch 4K monitor now £188 on Amazon
Wireless storage: Pop all your videos and photos on this wireless media drive and then beam it around your home to any gadget that wants to listen. This SanDisk model is going for under £35 on Amazon
Storage: At 4000GB to your computer's storage ability with this Seagate Expansion 4TGB USB 3.0 drive - now £99.99 on Amazon
Projector: Don't buy a bigscreen TV, instead save £40 on an Epson projector by snaffling this one for £230 on Amazon
DealsRadar Recommended Deals:
Headphones: Sony MDR-ZX110 Overhead Headphones with In Line Control - Now only £11 at AmazonMemory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz CL9 XMP Performance Desktop Memory Kit - Down to £76.83 at Amazon
Toothbrush: Braun Oral-B PRO 4000 CrossAction 4-Mode Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush - For as little as £39.99 at Amazon
Speaker: UE MINI BOOM Bluetooth Wireless Speaker - Down to only £59.97 at Amazon
Headphones: Parrot ZIK - For as little as £129 at Parrot store
Hard Drive: Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3.0 Desktop 3.5 inch External Hard Drive - Now only £49.98 at Amazon
Activity Band: Sony SmartBand Activity Tracking Wristband - Reduced down to £19.95 at argos
GPS Watch: Garmin Forerunner 610 GPS Running Watch with Heart Rate Monitor - For as little as £129 at Amazon
Camera: FUJIFILM XQ1 High Performance Compact Digital Camera - For only £99 at PC World
Hot Water: Breville VKJ142 Hot Cup - For as little as £25 at Amazon
Alarm: Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock - Reduced down to £83.99 at Amazon
Light: Ivation Multipurpose Gooseneck 7-LED Dimmable Clip Light with Stand - For as little as £19.99 at Amazon
Mouse: HP Wireless Mouse X3300 Grey / Silver - Now only £5 at Sainsbury's
TV: Toshiba 47L6453 47 Inch Smart WiFi Built In Full HD 1080p LED TV - For as little as £329 at tesco direct
SSD:Kingston Technology 240GB Solid State Drive 2.5-inch - For as little as £59.98 at Amazon
Binoculars: Nikon Aculon A211 16x50 Binoculars - Black - Reduced down to £87.11 at Amazon
Action Camera: ContourROAM2 Handsfree HD Action Camera - For as little as £87.89 at Amazon
Home Phone: BT8500 Advanced Call Blocker Cordless Home Phone - Reduced down to £69.99 at Amazon
Pillow Speaker: SoundLAB Pillow Speaker with 3.5 mm Jack Plug - For as little as £2.99 at Amazon
Memory: G Skill Ripjaws 4 F4-2400C15Q-16GRK 16GB Memory Module Kit with Heatspreader - Now only £136.99 at Amazon
Wi-Fi Extender: TP-LINK TL-WPA4230P Kit AV500 Powerline 300 M Wi-Fi Extender/Wi-Fi Booster/Hotspot - Down to £59.99 at Amazon
Wi-Fi Extender: BT Dual-Band Wi-Fi Extender 600 - Down to only £27.99 at Amazon
Tablet: iPad Mini Retina 32GB - for only £239 at richersounds
Tablet: Toshiba Encore 2 WT8-B-102 Intel Atom Z3735G 1GB 32GB 8" Windows 8.1 - For as little as £99.99 at dabs
Headphones: Mpow® Swift Bluetooth 4.0 Wireless Stereo Sweatproof Jogger, Running, Sport Headphones - Down to just £15.89 at Amazon
Printer: Dell C1760NW Wireless Colour Laser Printer - For as little as £99.99 at ebuyer
PC: Gigabyte BRIX GB-BXPi3-4010 Barebone PC with built-in projector - Reduced down to £159.99 at ebuyer
Memory Card: Samsung Memory 32GB Evo MicroSDHC UHS-I Grade 1 Class 10 Memory Card with USB Adapter - For as little as £10.99
Gaming Mouse: Qisan® 1600 DPI Adjustable,6 Button,Wired LED Gaming Mouse - Down to just £10.79 at Amazon
GPS Watch: TomTom Multisport GPS Watch with Heart Rate Monitor - Down to just £109.99 at Amazon
Soundcard: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB External Sound Card with SBX - Now only £35.99 Amazon
Hard Drive: Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB USB 3.0 Portable 2.5 Inch External Hard Drive - Down to just £44.99 at Amazon
Smartwatch: Sony Universal SmartWatch 2 0 - Reduced down to just £64.99 at Amazon
Headphones: Marshall Monitor Headphone - Down to only £93.76 at Amazon
Tablet: LENOVO Flex 10.1" Convertible Touchscreen Laptop - Now only £179.97 at pcworld
Router: TP-LINK Archer C2 AC750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Cable Router - Reduced down to £43.99 at Amazon
Keyboard: Logitech Ultrathin Magnetic Clip On Keyboard for iPad Air 2 - For as little as £44.99 at Amazon
Blood Monitor: Sanitas SBC41 Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor - Down to only £13.71 at Amazon
SSD: SanDisk SDSSDP-128G-G25 SSD SATA III 2.5 Inches up to 475 MB/s read - 128 GB - Now only £39.99 at Amazon
Games deals of the day
Xbox One: Project Cars - For only £32.73 at gameseekPS4: Fallout 4 - Pre Order for £39.85 at shopto
Xbox One: Dying Light - Now for just £25.85 from shopto
Xbox One: Metro 2033 Redux - Reduced down to £15.99 at xbox store
PS4: The Elder Scrolls Online Tamriel Unlimited - Pre order for just £34.94 from gameseek
PS4: Sniper Elite 3 - Now only £14.99 at base
PS4: LORDS OF THE FALLEN - LIMITED EDITION - For as little as £16.95 at thegamecollection
Xbox One: State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition - Download for only £15.99 at game
The UK's best phone deals
TechRadar has some really funky tools for sorting through all of the best deals from all of the big UK networks for every phone on the market. We've also got some special pages where we've pulled out the best deals so you don't have to....Here are our picks for the best...
- Samsung Galaxy S6 deals
- Samsung Galaxy S5 deals
- iPhone 6 deals
- iPhone 6 Plus deals
- iPhone 5C deals
- HTC One M8 deals
- HTC One M9 deals
- More coming soon...
See specific deals related to the following hot handsets:
Samsung Galaxy S6 | Samsung Galaxy S5 | HTC One M9 | LG G3 | Samsung Galaxy Note 4 | Sony Xperia Z3 | Sony Xperia Z3 Compact | Google Nexus 6 | Moto X
The week's best PS4 deals:
There's no doubt that Sony's PlayStation 4 is the hottest games console on the planet now. Here are the cheapest PS4 standalone and bundle prices we've found this week:Cheapest PS4 console: Get the PS4 console on its own on eBay for only £294.99.
DealsRadar's Top 3 PS4 bundles...
Deal 1: Playstation 4 with The Witcher 3 & Bloodborne - Now only £319 at Tesco direct
Deal 2: Playstation 4 with The Witcher 3 & £25 PSN card - Now only £319 Tesco direct
Deal 3: Playstation 4 with The Witcher 3 - Now only £299.99 at Tesco direct
See more PS4 deals: Best cheap PS4 deals and bundles
The week's best Xbox One deals:
The Xbox One has evolved into a fantastic, versatile console with loads of cool features. Here are the cheapest Xbox One standalone and bundle prices we've found this week:DealsRadar's Top 3 Xbox One bundles:
Deal 1: Xbox One with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Ori and the Blind Forest - £299.99 at Game
Deal 2: Xbox One Master Chief Bundle + Project Cars - £299.85 at Shopto
Deal 3: Xbox One with The Witcher 3; Wild Hunt, Ori and the Blind Forest, Forza 5 and Project Cars - £319.99 at Game
See more Xbox One deals: Best Xbox One bundles and deals
Best cheap TV deals of the week:
DealsRadar understands that not everyone wants to spend thousands on a new TV. Here are the best cheap TV deals we found online this week.Cheap TV deal 1: Samsung UE32H5000 LED HD 1080p TV | £209 | Argos
Cheap TV deal 2: Panasonic TX-42A400B 42inch Widescreen | £288 | Amazon
Cheap TV deal 3: LG 55LB561V LED TV | £449.95 | Richersounds
Read more: Cheap TV: 25 best TV deals for April 2015
Hard drives and storage:
With smartphones recording 4K video and taking photos at 50MB a pop, it's not surprising that our laptops are running out of storage space.Cheap Storage deal 1: Toshiba HDWC130EW3J1 3TB Stor.E Canvio | Now £74.95 | Amazon
Cheap Storage deal 2: Kingston 64GB USB 3.0 DataTraveler Mini Flash Drive | Now £15.99 | Amazon
Cheap Storage deal 3: Samsung Memory 32GB Evo MicroSDHC UHS-I Grade 1 Class 10 Memory Card with USB Adapter | Now £15.99 | Amazon
Cheap Storage deal 4: Seagate Backup Plus 8TB USB 3.0 Desktop 3.5 inch External Hard Drive |Now £199.99 | Amazon
Read more: Best Hard Drive Deals
Portable phone chargers:
If your smartphone or tablet is constantly running out of power at the most inconvenient times, you should think about buying a portable power bank.Cheap Portable Charger deal 1: TeckNet® Power Bank 12000mAh Fast Portable Charger Battery Pack | Now £13.97 | Amazon
Cheap Portable Charger deal 2: EasyAcc 10000mAh Brilliant Ultra Slim Dual USB | Now £18.99 | Amazon
Cheap Portable Charger deal 3: VINSIC 20000mAh Ultra-slim Power Bank | Now £25.90 | Amazon
Cheap Portable Charger deal 4: Anker® Astro Mini 3200mAh Ultra-Compact Lipstick-Sized Portable Power Bank | Now £13.99 | Amazon
Gift cards:
Amazon gift cards | John Lewis gift cards | Currys gift cards| PC World gift cards | GAME gift cards
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China is using drones to catch exam cheats
Chinese invigilators are employing new technology in an attempt to stop students cheating in one of the country's trickiest exams - drones hovering above to check for unusual radio activity.
The National Higher Education Entrance Exam, commonly known as gaokao or 'the big test', is held annually to decide which students qualify for a university place. Almost nine million people take it each year.
But some try to cheat to improve their chances - taking covert photos of the exam questions using a special pen, and sending it to someone outside who then gives the correct answers back through an earpiece.
Unusual activity
So the city of Luoyang, in Henan province in the centre of the country, has begun using drones to monitor radio activity in the area where the exam takes place. The UAV hovers 500 metres above the students' heads and can alert school staff if unusual activity is detected.The invigilators can use tablet computers to control the drone, and spot the cheater's exact location. Anyone caught will be banned from taking any national exams for three years.
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This pompom mirror takes Photobooth effects to a really weird level
If you've ever wondered what you'd look like made out of pompoms - and let's face it, who hasn't? - then Daniel Rozin's mirrors are for you.
An interactive artist, Rozin has created a series of mirrors that show you more (or, if you look at it another way, less) than the average compact.
His mechanical mirrors render your reflection in abstract materials like pompoms, wood, rubbish and, most recently, penguins.
Capture your soul
The mechanical mirrors all have video cameras, motors and computers on board and produce a soothing sound as the viewer interacts with them, according to Rozin's website. "Hopefully it captures your soul, not your detail," he told Wired.Either way, the furry pompom mirror marks the first time we've ever wanted to hug our own reflection. Not great for doing your make-up in though.
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