LIVE: Windows 10 launch: Live Blog!
This is it, folks: the biggest day(s) of the year for Microsoft and its fans. Windows 10 is set to launch in just a few hours. We expect to hear announcements from not only Redmond campus, but also from the firm's countless partners, as the new operating system rolls out through Microsoft's free upgrade program.
We expect to receive announcements regarding the new desktop, laptop and tablet hardware that will be prepared to run Windows 10 out of the box. Plus, Microsoft is holding Windows 10 fan events all over the world at its flagship retail stores to ring in the new software right, and we'll be there.
Until then, and before the updates start rolling in, we have some key articles that you should give a good read to get yourself both informed and hyped for the future of Windows. Our hub on all things Windows 10 is a good place to start. And if you're looking for something with a little more insight into how the whole thing works – and how well it works – be sure to read our ongoing (currently hands on) Windows 10 review.
Once you're done with those, come on back – there's sure to be some juicy Windows 10 news by then.
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In Depth: OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One
Design, display and specs
OnePlus has finally announced the long-anticipated OnePlus 2, offering vastly improved specs over the OnePlus One, a device that many considered to be the ultimate Android phone.With it being a little over a year since the original OnePlus One was released, there's been plenty of time for mobile tech to develop and improve.
But just how has the company taken advantage of these improvements in the OnePlus 2? And is the this new Android really that much of a better device?
OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One: Design
While companies such as Samsung and even Apple have radically changed the design of their flagship phones over the past year, OnePlus has taken a more subtle approach. The OnePlus 2 keeps the classic sandstone black finish found on the OnePlus One and the overall shape of the device is the same. For those who don't like the sandstone black look, however, OnePlus is offering a number of other backings through its StyleSwap service, like it did with the OnePlus One.
The design is similar, yet it isn't exactly the same. The camera module on the back of the device has been moved down a little, and the Cyanogen logo has been removed without replacement, making for a slightly more minimalistic look.
Another change is the new metal frame found on all edges of the device, as well as the use of a reversible USB-C port. The OnePlus 2 is one of the first devices to use the new USB-C standard, allowing for faster data transfer for wired connections.
The metal frame may have been included to give the device a sleeker look despite its thickness. Unfortunately the OnePlus 2 is slightly thicker than the OnePlus One, coming in at 9.85mm thick, compared to the One's 8.9mm.
OnePlus has also included a new slider on the side of the device, offering more control over notifications. Called the "Alert Slider," the switch basically allows users to either disable notifications altogether, only show priority notifications, which can be customized, or to show all notifications.
Last but not least is the fingerprint scanner, included in the home button of the device. This should offer users another layer of security and allow them to save time on having to use passcodes every time they want to access their phone.
OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One: Display
Another point of similarity between the two devices is the display. While it's important to note that the OnePlus One was always about the specs under the hood for the price rather than making things look pretty, it would have been nice to see OnePlus up the ante a little. Still, the display isn't bad, coming in at 1920 x 1080 pixels, with a pixel density of 401 pixels per inch. The 5.5-inch LCD display is also protected with Corning's Gorilla Glass, which should protect against most accidental drops.
OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One: Processing and RAM
OnePlus may not have gone all out with the display of the OnePlus 2, however the processor included in the device is a substantial upgrade over the OnePlus One. While the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 featured in last year's device was great for a 2014 flagship, this year Qualcomm's flagship processor is the Snapdragon 810, featured in the OnePlus 2.The octa-core Snapdragon 810 is 64-bit ready and is runs with four cores at 2Ghz and the other four at 1.5Ghz. Coupled with a massive 4GB of RAM, the OnePlus 2 is an absolute powerhouse, even more so than the OnePlus One, which "only" had 3GB of RAM. Any power users out there that regularly have multiple high-power apps running at the same time should take a serious look at the OnePlus 2.
Coupled with the Snapdragon 810 processor is the Adreno 430 graphics processor, which is a great graphics card, and is touted by Qualcomm as being able to handle "rich 2D and 3D experiences."
Camera, battery, software
OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One: Camera
Like the OnePlus One, the OnePlus 2 includes a 13MP rear-facing camera with the ability to capture video at 4K and a dual-LED flash. Unlike the One, however, OnePlus has included optical image stabilization, or OIS, to help those with shaky hands. The inclusion of OIS has been a trend in the smartphone industry over the past year and it's nice to see that OnePlus hasn't ignored that. Users can also capture slo-mo video at up to 120 frames per second with a resolution of 720p.
Another improvement is the new low-light sensor found under the camera, which should help the sensor adjust to those low-light situations.
Last but not least when it comes to the rear-facing camera is the fact that OnePlus will be offering an update in the near future offering RAW image support. While the average user won't need access to such high quality camera data, the photographers among us will certainly appreciate it.
Selfie lovers will be happy to hear that the OnePlus 2 includes a 5MP front-facing camera, and while that is the same camera as its predecessor, that's not necessarily a bad thing, and should certainly be enough for Snapchat.
OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One: Battery
OnePlus has included a slightly improved battery in the OnePlus 2, and with a display that's the same as its predecessor, a larger battery should directly translate to a longer battery life rather than simply the ability to power a higher resolution display.While the OnePlus One included a 3,100 mAh lithium polymer battery, the OnePlus 2 includes a battery with a capacity of 3,300 mAh. This is a fairly large battery, and should last at least all day, even for the more active users among us.
OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One: Operating System
OnePlus was rather famously known as one of the few device manufacturers to offer CyanogenMod out of the box, however, for the OnePlus 2 the company took things in a different direction, having developed its own operating system, dubbed OxygenOS.
Like CyanogenMod, OxygenOS is based on Android, and this version of OxygenOS is based on Android 5.1. OxygenOS is a little closer to stock Android than CyanogenMod, and offers a little less customization, however relative to CyanogenMod that probably won't affect most users.
Price, availability and verdict
OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One: Pricing and Availability
The real draw for the OnePlus One was not necessarily its specs alone, but rather those specs for the price. The OnePlus 2 is slightly more expensive than the OnePlus One, however it is still an absolute steal compared to other Android devices on the market with such good specs. The flagship model, with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, is available starting on August 11 for $389 (£289, about AU$535). Another model will be available for $329 (£239, about AU$452), featuring 16GB of storage and 3GB of RAM at a later date.Like the OnePlus One, however, the device is only available by invite. Those interested in getting an invitation can head to the OnePlus website for more information on how to get an invitation.
OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus One: Verdict
The OnePlus 2 is certainly a worthy successor to the "flagship killer" that was the OnePlus One. While there are some drawbacks such as the thicker chassis and the same display, these are far outweighed by things like a better processor, battery, camera, and so on.Those among us who use a lot of different apps, need a device that will last through the day without a problem, and who enjoy being able to whip out their phone to take quality photos should seriously think about at least trying to get a OnePlus 2.
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How to digitise your vinyls
How to digitise your vinyls
Whether you believe vinyl sounds 'better' or just prefer to own something tangible, there's no questioning the convenience of digital audio.
While most major record companies offer free digital downloads with new vinyl purchases, that doesn't account for the many smaller labels that don't, nor does it account for the millions of vinyl records sold before the advent of digital.
Thankfully it's very easy to convert your vinyl or audio cassettes to a digital format at home, but it can be slightly time consuming. The variety and extent of the options can be intimidating as well, but it doesn't have to be hard. The good news is that if you already listen to vinyl or cassettes at home you probably won't need to purchase any new hardware to get started (though if that's what you want, there's plenty of options over page).
The amount of money or time you spend should match up with how you intend to use your digital files: are they backups, or do you want to chuck them on your phone? If the former, then unless you're ripping incredibly rare vinyl then it's probably not worth it. Wildly popular music (say, The Rolling Stones or Beyonce) will always be accessible, somewhere, unless there's a global catastrophe.
If the latter, then it's worth considering whether you're fussy about fidelity. Most people aren't, as common MP3s are of significantly lower quality than CDs and few people notice a difference. If you are, then you've probably already invested in great turntables, pre-amps and speakers – which is generally all you'll need to digitise your collection.
Hooking it up
If you've got a vinyl collection, chances are you have a turntable. If you're running your turntable through a stereo system already, then it's simply a matter of connecting an RCA cable (equipped with an RCA-to-3.5mm cord) between your stereo and your computer. Your computer should have a 3.5mm line-in socket, but if it doesn't you can usually use the headphone jack.
If you're not running your turntable through a stereo system at present then you may need a phono preamp. Some phono preamps come with USB capability, which means you'll be running your RCA into the preamp, and then a USB cord between the preamp and your computer.
Before you rush out and buy one, it's worth checking if your turntable has one built-in: most modern mid to high range models do. Separate preamps range in price dramatically, with the more you spend generally correlating with quality of sound, but unless you're a stickler for fidelity you'll probably be safe forking out for a mid-range one. Basically: if you want perfect playback, go a pre-amp. If you're not fussed, don't worry.
It's worth noting that the above applies to cassettes as well: if you've got a stereo system with a built in cassette player then you'll not have to worry about a preamp. If you've got a separate tape rack, you'll need to check whether your model has one built in.
Finally, if you've got a modern turntable with a USB line-out, then you won't need to worry about RCA cables: just make the obvious connections between your device and computer.
Converting analog to digital
Now that you've managed to connect your turntable to a computer, you'll need software to record the music. The good news is that it costs nothing: Audacity is a free, open source audio recorder perfect for the task, though if you own a Mac and a copy of Garageband, that will work as well.
Let's proceed as if you're using Audacity though, because it's available on PC, Mac and Linux and will work on virtually every modern iteration of those operating systems.
Setting it up
Your first step should be to set your device's preference to 'stereo' rather than 'mono'. Click Edit > Preferences, select devices and change the 'channels' section accordingly – it might have defaulted to that setting.
If you're using an RCA cable with a 3.5mm plug attached, then you'll need to select 'Microsoft Sound Mapper' as your input in the dropdown menu. Next, select Stereo on the menu to the right. If you're using a USB turntable or tape recorder, you'll need to select the applicable USB selection instead of Sound Mapper – these vary in name, but it's usually clear what you're after.
You'll want to keep volume levels in mind. Keep an eye on your waveform: you'll probably want to make any adjustments during a test record. You can tweak the volume in the Audio Track panel (you'll see a plus and minus sign above the L and R slider).
Recording your audio
Now, hit Transport > 'Software Playthrough' to make sure you can hear the audio through your computer speakers, press record in Audacity and then start playing your vinyl. You'll know it's working if a waveform starts appearing in the Audio Track section of Audacity. Now, you just wait. You can either record each track on the vinyl separately and add metadata as you go, or record a whole side and chop them up later.
Regarding the latter, it's as easy as you'd expect. If you're really efficient you'll take timestamps of the beginning and end of each track to make it easier separating them (we'd do this with, um, a pen and paper). The easiest way to separate your tracks is to select the time region of said track (drag the cursor over the waveform), copy, and then paste into a new file (File > New). This is better as it means you'll inevitably remove any unwanted silence at the beginning or end of your tracks.
It's best to get on top of metadata as you go. Meta data is the information you see when you load an mp3 or other audio file in iTunes or any other media player. Simply go to File>Edit Metadata and enter whichever details you like, though Artist Name, Track Title and Album Title should be the bare minimum.
Exporting your files
Now you'll need to export your files as playable music files. If you've recorded a whole side without separating the tracks, you'll want to do this first. If you've separated tracks as you go, then you'll need to export each of these.
Audacity offers a vast array of options ranging lossless FLAC files, through to MP3. You'll be prompted to fill in the metadata, so if you haven't done that yet, do it now. If you're exporting an MP3, you may be prompted for a specific plug-in file. If you haven't got it, hit 'download' and Audacity will plug it in for you.
Now you'll be able to load the files up in the music player of your choice. Chuck them in individual folders and add to your library, and you should be ready to go. If you've got hundreds of records to digitise, it's best to start up a workflow. I usually set something to rip and then separate files and add metadata later, ie, when the next record is ripping. Well done: you can now listen to your rare 1968 Velvet Underground bootleg on your smartphone!
Cassettes
Ripping cassettes using Audacity is no different to vinyl, though the quality of cassette players tend to differ more dramatically, and cassettes themselves tend to deteriorate much quicker.
Overall, when converting tapes you should play close attention to volume levels, and be wary that cranking up a cassette player will tend to introduce a bit more hiss into the equation (this sound is inherent to cassettes, especially if your player isn't amazing). This can result in quieter rips, but you can increase the master volume in Audacity -- just make sure you don't mix it into the red.
Sound Quality
While it may not be obvious, the type of soundcard you have in your PC is a big determining factor for sound quality.
The good news is that if you own a decent preamp, it'll probably have a decent one built in (but check!). If you don't, your rips will sound better if you get an external soundcard. Basically, If you can fork out for a soundcard capable of playing back audio at 96KHz/24bit or 192KHz/24 bit, then you're laughing. For reference, the latter is considered 'high resolution audio', and is pretty much the best quality you'll get.
Another more simple tip is something much cheaper: make sure your vinyl is clean! Removing dust and dirt will improve playback immeasurably, and is an important step in the ripping process. That is, unless you really love the sound of vinyl popping (some people do, you know).
Finally – and this is probably the most expensive option – if you're using an el cheapo turntable then you'll want to upgrade.
That cheap setup you bought isn't going to cut it if you're after the best possible sound quality. The problem is, prices vary from dirt cheap to a top of the line turntable. A good rule of thumb is that units with a lot of plastic are easily affected by environmental sounds or movements (ie, you stomping around the room). It's worth asking about needles as well, as cheaper needles can degrade your records quickly.
File Formats
If you've bothered to take these steps in order to improve the quality of your rips, then you'll need to save them in file formats that can handle it. FLACs are the go-to file format for high quality lossless audio, but not all media players support it.
It's worth searching for something that does though (VLC media player comes immediately to mind, or try Poweramp if you want to listen on an Android device), as there's no point spending all that time and energy on great rips if you're just going to compress them down to lowly MP3 files.
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Australian traffic signs getting e-inked
Thought traffic signs couldn’t get any more advanced? Well, you only have to cast your eyes over to Sydney, Australia, location of the world’s first e-ink traffic signs, to see that they most certainly can.
Developed with the help of a company called Visionect, the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) installed the electronic paper-enabled signs to cut down on the annoying and time-consuming act of physically replacing them on a regular basis.
Just like on a Kindle, the e-ink in these traffic signs can be read clearly in broad daylight (a necessity in sunny Australia), with a light used to display information at night.
Wirelessly connected (via 3G technology) to a unique Internet of Things ecosystem, the signs can be remotely updated to keep drivers in the loop with changed traffic conditions as soon as they occur.
They’re also solar-powered and extremely energy-efficient, so commuters (and the RMS) won’t have to worry about the signs breaking down or displaying old information.
- See why e-ink is so great in our Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review
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How 3D printers work
How 3D printers work
Over the last couple of years, we've seen a wide array of 3D printers such as the Lulzbot Mini being made available to consumers. The amazing thing is that in reality, most consumer-grade 3D printers are surprisingly simple beasts and there isn't as much to them as you might think.
In fact, a basic 3D printer is not much more than a glorified stationary robot with a brain made from low-cost 8-bit microcontroller technology that's been around for 20 years or so.
The brains of Arduino
In 2005, long before Raspberry Pi, a couple of Italian engineering lecturers came up with the idea of creating a small computer board that was cheap and easy to use, allowing anyone to mate digital computing with real-world components like motors, sensors, lights and switches. It's called 'Arduino', it's taken the world by storm and it's based on a microcontroller technology created back in 1997.
You no doubt know about 'microprocessors' that power your PC, phone or tablet – but a microcontroller is different. Whereas a microprocessor needs a mountain of extra components to handle memory and storage and talking to the outside world, microcontrollers have small amounts of all that built right into the chip.
What's more, using clever technology called 'analog-to-digital conversion', they can listen to the outside world as well. They're used in a myriad of single-function or 'embedded' applications, including drones, as we saw from last month.
The vast majority of consumer-grade 3D printers have an Arduino Mega-class microcontroller at their heart and you'll find Arduino Mega board clones on eBay that are relatively cheap.
Hot-end
The pointy-end of a 3D printer is actually the 'hot-end' or extruder and combines a motor drive to push filament through at a user-settable rate, with a heating element turning the plastic filament into a soft, molten goo at the nozzle.
Typically made from brass, the hot-end has a small reservoir where filament is heated via a tiny heater (an electronic component called a 'resistor') up to as high as 250℃ (482℉).
Stepper motors
But the key to 3D printing is maneuvering that hot-end filament nozzle to the right location at the right time, delivering the molten plastic filament to build the 3D object one layer at a time.
The job of doing the maneuvering falls to a special type of motor called a 'stepper motor'. Ordinary motors are pretty simple gadgets – you apply an electrical voltage to their terminals and they spin.
With some, you can swap the wires (called 'reversing the polarity') and the motor spins in the opposite direction. Stepper motors, however, are completely different – using multiple electromagnets, a stepper motor allows rotation in precision steps, as precise as 200 steps per revolution.
The most common types used in industry are known as NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) motors, which have standardised physical dimensions making them easier to work with.
To make a 3D printer, you need at least four stepper motors – one for each of the three axes of movement, plus one to control the flow of filament. However, most designs will use five, with two for the vertical or 'Z' axis.
RAMPS
The problem with the Arduino Mega board however, is that it doesn't have the electrical brawn to drive a NEMA-17 stepper motor on its own, so it's commonly used with a series of stepper motor driver chips that provide sufficient muscle to power the motors.
The 3D printing community has created a special add-on board or 'shield' for the Arduino Mega that incorporates these driver chips called RAMPS (RepRap Arduino Mega Pololu Shield). It's a general-purpose 3D printer power board designed to handle a wide-range of 3D printer designs.
Firmware
Consumer-grade 3D printers connect up to a PC (or phone, even) via USB, so essentially, they're just a USB peripheral device.
But in order for this collection of hardware bits to do anything, the Arduino Mega microcontroller needs to be loaded with firmware that turns the printing instructions from the PC into actual movement and flowing filament from the printer's other components. Marlin is one of the most popular firmwares and can be loaded onto an Arduino Mega without too much fuss.
Software
On the PC side, you need software to turn 3D designs into physical objects. Software such as Repetier-Host takes stereolithography (STL) files you download from Thingiverse, slices them into rows and feeds each row in turn to the Arduino Mega board inside the 3D printer.
Repetier-Host is free and available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. You can also print direct from your smartphone with GCodePrintr on Google Play.
Other alternatives include the new MatterControl Host, again for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux and Ultimaker's Cura.
Innovations in 3D printing
It's not surprising that governments are looking to the likes of robotics and 3D printing as future economic drivers – to use a well-hackneyed phrase, they are 'disruptive technologies', technologies that are changing the way we do things.
Still, it'd be fair to say 3D printing hasn't exactly grabbed the average person enough to go and buy one. But in just the last few months, 3D printing has made some pretty amazing leaps forward in everything from aeronautics to health, including some impressive home-grown wins.
3D-printed jet engine
Countries are becoming increasingly interested in the technologies used for 3D printing. For example, In late-March this year, Australia announced itself as a centre of 3D printing innovation when Monash University, in combination with the CSIRO and Deakin University, unveiled the first 3D-printed jet engine at the Avalon International Airshow.
The team, led by Monash University Professor Xinhua Wu, was given a working gas-turbine engine, used as an auxiliary power source in 'Falcon 20' aircraft from French aerospace maker Microturbo.
The Monash team pulled apart the engine, 3D-scanned each component and using the latest tricks in their kitbag, quietly printed off two more. Monash has since spun off a new company, Amaero Engineering, to commercialise the technology and give local companies a chance to benefit.
Bone replacement
But printing jet engines isn't the only thing Australia seems to be pretty good at. Not to be outdone, Sydney University's Faculty of Engineering has begun trialing 3D printed bone implants in patients with severe head trauma – with considerable success.
The new technique, called 'rapid templating cranioplasty', has been developed in conjunction with neurosurgeons at Liverpool Hospital in New South Wales. It uses a patient's previous radiography scans to create a sterilised, patient-perfect implant printed from a polymer-based bone cement.
The benefits for patients and surgeons are that it's not only cheaper, it's also stronger, faster to make and safer for patients than previous methods.
Super-fast 3D printing
One of the likely reasons for the apparent lack of consumer interest in 3D printing has been the slow print speeds of consumer-grade FDM (fused deposition modelling) technology. However, in the last few months, there's been something of a breakthrough in stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing.
California-based Carbon3D has developed a new technology called CLIP (continuous liquid interface production) that claims to deliver print speeds of between 25 and 100 times faster than current SLA tech.
Stereolithography uses ultraviolet (UV) light to cure polymer-based resins into 3D objects, but whereas a particular object using traditional SLA tech might take near-on 12 hours to print, the same job can be done with CLIP in under seven minutes, an astonishing improvement.
And Carbon3D is talking about commercial-quality printing at that speed, which is likely to open up a raft of new opportunities in prototyping and small-run industries.
Printing electric circuits
One of tomorrow tech's great goals is the ability to do away with comparatively expensive and restrictive electronic circuit boards and direct-print electrical circuits using 3D printing techniques. Previously, filament conductivity was a fairly low 10,000ohms per centimetre, too low for much else other than very low-power sensors.
Today, US start-up Functionalize has joined forces with filament maker ProtoParadigm to create a new filament called 'F-Electric' with a much-improved conductivity of 0.47-ohms per centimetre.
Still, with circuit boards using almost-pure copper having 0.00001ohms-per-centimetre conductivity, conductive filament still has a fair way to go yet to reach those numbers. But the improvements made in just the last few months suggest we haven't reached the end yet.
At US$142 for about half-a-kilogram, F-Electric isn't exactly cheap, but with quite reasonable conductivity, there's potential for numerous applications, particularly as printing speeds increase. The inventor of the RepRap open-source 3D printer project, Adrian Bowyer, plans to use the material to fully 3D-print an Arduino-style robot, circuits and all.
Budget 3D printers
Meanwhile, waves of consumer-grade 3D printers keep coming. You're probably asking yourself 'why do I need a 3D printer', but you could be soon using one in study, work, or just be the recipient of the output from one, through medical prosthetics or traveling around the globe.
One of the latest consumer models, due to hit September this year, is the X3D Machines' Genesis series. Starting life as almost all 3D printers seem to – on Kickstarter – early-birds could pick up the stylish single-head Genesis Uno for US$199 plus shipping. With a decent 9 x 9 x 12-inch build volume, LCD panel and aluminium chassis, the Genesis Uno looks as though it could wipe the floor with some post-$1000 printers currently available.
And it's not even the cheapest – the new Tiko is another Kickstarter alumni, featuring the popular tri-carriage 'delta' design and a US$179 pledge price. With a unibody frame and enclosed design, Tiko will handle a wide array of filaments including PLA, ABS and Nylon. It's now had over US$1.2million in backing at time of writing.
Then there's Flux, which received more than US$1.6million in support from Kickstarter and combines a delta-style 3D printer with built-in 3D scanner and laser engraving. Early-birds grabbed it for as little as US$599 plus shipping.
Turning a 2D printer into 3D?
But one idea that just may turn heads is Printder, which claims to turn an ordinary sub-$100 2D printer into a 3D printer.
Like any 2D printer, it works by ink and paper, but how it creates 3D objects sounds quite clever. According to the website, each sheet of the specialised paper becomes a 3D layer, with the ink printed acting as a glue. Once you've printed out all of the page layers that make up your object, you take the output paper tray and whack it in the oven for 15 minutes to allow the ink to fuse the pages together (there's no smell, they say). After allowing it to cool, you dunk the whole thing in water, the excess paper dissolves and you're left with your 3D object.
With an A4 inkjet printer, you'd have an A4-size build area (30 x 21centimetres) up to a 'height' of six inches (15centimetres).
It sounds ingeniously simple, but there are still plenty of unknowns at time of writing – such as the printers it'll work with, the cost of the ink and cost of the special dunk-and-disappear paper. We're also wondering how the duty-cycle of most budget printers will cope with the workload. Still, we're intrigued by this one, so we'll keep an eye on it.
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Hands-on review: OnePlus 2
The OnePlus One was a surprise hit when it was first announced thanks to its powerful specs and affordable price point. It lived up to our expectations as an excellent device, leaving its successor with big shoes to fill.
So far, the OnePlus 2 has been doing just that. Its lovely screen coupled with its new Oxygen OS and familiar old features have made it an impressive device.
The low prices are back again as well. The 64GB OnePlus 2 will be available with an invite in the US and Europe starting August 11 for $389 (£289, about AU$535). The 16GB OnePlus 2 with 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM will be available later for $329 (£239, about AU$452).
Eager fans can visit one of nine pop up experience centers located around the world on July 31 to sign up for an invite and be one of the first to see the OnePlus 2. You can also tune in to OnePlus' social media channels starting August 1 for a chance to get an invite.
Specs and performance
The OnePlus 2 will be shipping with OnePlus' own operating system, OxygenOS.The OnePlus 2 is lightning quick thanks to a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chip. With up to 64GB of storage and eMMC 5.0 flash memory paired with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, the handset was able to show off just how snappy its interface was.
Apps switched quickly and loaded fast while games ran smoothly during my usage. During a racing game of Asphalt 8 from EA, the phone ran a little warmer than I'd liked but it was kind of expected since the Snapdragon 810 has been accused of overheating in other devices like the LG G Flex 2.
I'm particularly interested in this element, as OnePlus has promised that it's worked with Qualcomm to stop the issue being a big problem - it'll be interesting to see how the phone performs under a stress test.
OxygenOS, based on Android 5.1, is essentially the same as the Android experience. There are subtle customizations like dark mode, the ability to switch between hardware and capacitive buttons and toggle quick settings baked in throughout the OS.
On screen gestures are back again enabling you to toggle the flashlight by drawing a "V" with your finger (even when the device is asleep), an "O" for the camera and two swipes down to play music.
Changes like dark mode have been used in other handsets but the OnePlus 2 allows you to change accent colors and even customize LED notifications.
I particularly liked the OnePlus 2's ability to change sounds depending on whether you're using the phone for music, movies or games. By integrating MaxxAudio tech, the Audio Tuner enables you to tweak the 10 band EQ settings for the three options to create custom sound profiles. You'll be able to use the tuner for every app as well.
Design
In addition to OnePlus' signature Sandstone Black which will be the initial back that's shipped out, there will be a range of covers including actual wood built Bamboo, Black Apricot, Rosewood and Kevlar. The additional styles can be bought from the OnePlus website for $26.99 (about £17, AU$37).
The OnePlus 2's aluminum-magnesium alloy frame and polished stainless steel accents encase an HD 5.5-inch IPS LCD In-Cell display.
The Sandstone Black cover reminded me a bit of the weird soft ground elementary schools use to cushion falls but the other covers helped give the OnePlus a more sleek feel. The handset in general was immediately eye-catching and while it doesn't have the smooth metallic frame of other phones out, it doesn't suffer as a result.
The OnePlus 2's beautiful display can perform in direct sunlight with 178 degrees of crystal clear viewing angles. The screen also sits at a high 600 nits which is 41 nits more than the iPhone 6, 63 nits higher than the iPhone 6 Plus, 231 higher than the LG G4, 128 nits higher than the HTC One M9 and 79 nits higher than the Samsung Galaxy S6. These numbers have been culled from internal OnePlus testing which initially makes it suspect. However, after taking it outside, the display is definitely visible in the sun.
Noticeably more solid and durable, at just 175 grams, the OnePlus 2 has a nice weight to it but is noticeably heavier than the OnePlus One. It's also visibly thicker than its predecessor.
A 3300mAh lithium polymer battery powers the device throughout the day, and as a dual-SIM device the OnePlus 2 simultaneously supports two Nano SIM cards with 4G LTE capability.
Equipped with a USB Type-C charging port, made popular by the new MacBook, the OnePlus is one of the few smartphones out that's paving the way for the adoption of USB Type-C. According to the company, the OnePlus charging cable uses patented technology making the Type-A side reversible as well.
Similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6, the OnePlus 2 is equipped with a fingerprint scanner, which is another feature the OnePlus One didn't have. Users can now wake and unlock the device with one of five stored fingerprints supposedly in less than half a second, though I didn't notice it loading up particularly quickly.
The home button is a capacitative button that also didn't feel like it registered when touched. At times, there would be a lag to return back home but because it didn't work immediately, I'd press again, unintentionally bringing up the Google Now cards screen. This annoyingly happened several times.
Additionally, the OnePlus 2 features an alert slider on the left side of the device. It allows quick access to custom notification settings. Unprecedented on an Android device, the alert slider can silence the device with a simple click. There are also two other settings that show priority notifications, which can be customized, or show all notifications.
Camera
The OnePlus 2 has a 13MP rear facing camera that boasts six physical lenses, a dual LED flash, and f/2.0 aperture. Perhaps most impressive is the sensor, which contains large 1.3 micrometre light-collecting pixels to deliver low-light shots.
The OnePlus 2 camera has been engineered for improved clarity and stability, accomplished with the addition of an advanced Optical Image Stabilization system. Rear mounted laser technology sharpens and focuses the camera in just .33 milliseconds and the wide-angle 5MP front-facing camera ensures every angle is covered.
There are three different modes you can shoot in: Clear Shot, HDR and Beauty. Pressing the menu button pulls up the choices on the right hand side of the frame. Swiping to the right pulls up options for video, panorama, time lapse and slow motion video capture. Swiping to the right lets you view the images you just took.
At the moment, zooming in on pictures doesn't consistently work right, but a OnePlus developer told me that the first over-the-air update will address the issue. He assured me that would be the largest primary fix with a few unspecified smaller bugs thrown in with the update.
Additionally, the OnePlus 2 also supports 4K video and RAW images - where both will be available through an update shortly after launch.
Aside from that zooming problem, the camera took crisp, clear photos with a definite distinction between its three shooting modes while being a quick snapper as well.
Early verdict
OnePlus has done something utterly remarkable here: created a fingerprint sensor to rival Samsung and Apple, a screen to take on Sony, a laser autofocus that steps up to LG and a build quality that elevates it above most of its other rivals, and yet does it for half the price.However, it one-ups its lesser-known brethren because of the hype surrounding it - and rightly so. At the moment, I'm most impressed with its sharp display and fantastic camera.
The 5.5-inch LCD screen and 600-nits makes battery life questionable at this point but further testing in the review should reveal its capabilities.
Right now, the OnePlus 2 is a solid handset and asking $389 (£289, about AU$535) for the 64GB version is, well, simply fantastic... as long as it stands up to scrutiny in our full review.
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OnePlus 2 boldly unveiled as a '2016 flagship killer'
The OnePlus 2 is asking its dedicated community to once again "Never Settle," with an upgraded Android phone that has a major specs bump and costs a little bit more than before.
How much? Well, the price of the new OnePlus phone is still far cheaper than many of the best phones out there. It'll cost $389 (£289) for the 64GB version and $329 (£239) for the inferior 16GB edition.
That's extremely competitive for a phablet with a 5.5-inch LCD. It still has a battery-friendly 1080p and 401 pixels per inch, but it's brighter than before, making it ideal for use in direct sunlight.
The OnePlus 2 camera is ready to cooperate in low-light conditions, too. Even though it sticks with a 13MP sensor, it now captures more light than before with larger 1.3 micron pixels.
Another ease-of-use addition to the OnePlus 2 is a fingerprint sensor, one that's faster than the iPhone's TouchID biometric system, according to the company. Get ready for ultra-fast Android Pay, folks.
OnePlus 2 'future-proofed for years to come'
OnePlus is promising that its phone is "future-proofed for years to come" thanks to top-of-the-line specs at an affordable price. It'll also be customizable with swappable back covers.
Future-proofing is being accomplished with a tweaked Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz. The company has previously teased that it solved the problems of this troubled chip, as we've seen in the LG G Flex 2.
Backing this up is 4GB of RAM for the 64GB edition and 3GB of RAM for the entry-level 16GB model, a.k.a. the cheap-o one you shouldn't get. An Adreno 430 GPU is handling the graphics processing.
OnePlus 2 is actually ahead of its time with a USB Type C port for faster charging, data transfer and reversibility. It's going to be interesting to see how many other manufacturers follow OnePlus' lead.
OnePlus 2 release date
OnePlus 2 features dual SIM support, meaning you'll only need to carry one phone with you instead of two if you're that sort of person.That's good news because the invite system in order to buy the phone, while said to be improved, is still going to be limited at first. The 16GB model won't even be available until later this year.
- Worth the upgrade? OnePlus 2 vs OnePlus 2
OnePlus 2 is calling its new phone a 2016 "flagship killer." Whether or not everyone agrees depends on what the competition has planned and if enough customers can get a hold of invites this time around.
- Here's out OnePlus 2 hands on review
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Get ready to pay GST on all your online purchases
Joe Hockey wants you to pay GST on any purchases you make from overseas retailers.
Currently, the GST has a $1,000 threshold on overseas purchases, so inexpensive packages avoid the 10 per cent tax.
But that could be about to change, with recent comments from the government hinting that the cut off could be lowered to as little as $20.
And now the Treasurer has indicated that he'd be willing to go even further.
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, taxman!
When asked on ABC radio if a $20 threshold could become a reality, Hockey replied: "It could, it may well go to zero as well."This would result in all purchases entering Australia being slapped with a 10 per cent goods and services tax.
In the past such an approach was considered too expensive, but laws passed in other countries as a result of the G20 could see overseas retailers forced to apply the GST themselves.
With the weakening Australian dollar and the GST on top, overseas purchases are in danger of becoming a far less attractive proposition.
- It's not all bad news, with our guide on how to save money buying tech.
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Workaround arrives to stop forced Windows 10 updates
A hidden Windows 10 feature allows users to hide and ignore mandatory Windows 10 updates, a feature that could have come in handy for Windows Insiders this weekend plagued with a glitchy Nvidia driver update. The feature, labeled in a package called KB3073930, allows users to block specific Windows updates.
Over the weekend, days before the launch of Windows 10, an Nvidia driver update was rolled out to Windows Insiders running Build 10240. The mandatory update, a decision made by Microsoft to deliver new features and security patches to users in a timely fashion as Windows is transformed into a service, caused constant Windows Explorer crashes among other graphics issues.
However, Microsoft has a hidden workaround through KB3073930 to block unwanted features, driver updates or patches from being installed through Windows Update.
Nvidia's update glitch
The Nvidia driver update was delivered via Windows Update to Insiders running PCs and notebooks with Nvidia graphics. Windows Update didn't provide any details on new features, but Forbes reported that the update "broke multi-monitor setups, caused glitching graphics and disabled SLI setups (and still continues to do so at the time of writing)."Unlike prior versions of Windows, Windows 10 automatically downloads and installs any updates available to the system. This means that, technically, there is no way for users to stop or not install an update. Windows 10 Enterprise will allow more flexibility for how updates are handled.
How to block unwanted Windows 10 updates
However, in the Insider program, KB3073930 can stop specified updated from installing. .To block or hide the updates available through Windows Updates, users are expected to download the software package called wushowhide.diagcab from Microsoft. After the software is installed, users can go through the setup to select which updates to block or hide.
KB3073930 is labeled for use with the Insider Preview Build, but as the latest Build 10240 is expected to be available to consumers on July 29, this workaround may continue to work.
Uninstalling incompatible drivers
If you installed a driver, like the one from Nvidia, that is causing your system to freak out, you can also uninstall the drivers.Microsoft says you can right-click on the lower left corner of the desktop, and you can select Device Manager from the menu. I right-clicked on the Windows logo. Next, you can uninstall or delete the faulty driver.
If it's a faulty Windows update, and not a driver, that is causing problems, you can type View Installed Updates in the search box or Cortana box. Then, click on View Installed Updates – Control Panel from the results and choose the update to uninstall.
- Read our coverage of Windows 10
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How to stream content to your smartphone
How to stream content to your smartphone
See that smartphone in your hand/pocket? That tiny device is actually more powerful than the large flat screen TV in your living room and your sound system combined, and is likely the 'smartest' home entertainment device you have in your possession. The newest flagship mobile devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 come with grunty octo-core processors, the latest graphics technology and more on-screen pixels than a Full HD television.See that smartphone in your hand/pocket? That tiny device is actually more powerful than the large flat screen TV in your living room and your sound system combined, and is likely the 'smartest' home entertainment device you have in your possession. The newest flagship mobile devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 come with grunty octo-core processors, the latest graphics technology and more on-screen pixels than a Full HD television.
There's a good chance that you're already using your smartphone as a primary entertainment device in the home. Plug it into a TV or sound system, or use a device such as the Google Chromecast, and the limitations of the small screen and tiny speakers all but disappear. The only remaining limitation is storage.
Here, we'll look at the range of software solutions and services you can take advantage of that let you tap into a near limitless library of movies without hogging up space on your smartphone's limited storage.
Why stream?
Even with the 128GB options on the latest devices like the Apple iPhone 6, this is bound to fill up quickly once you start download Full HD videos. The workaround is streaming content from the cloud using free and subscription services, and there are multiple options and styles to choose from.
The only caveat is that these sorts of services use up a lot of data – this isn't as big of a deal if you're at home using a fixed broadband Internet service, but if you're using a 3G or 4G mobile data connection, streaming video in particular will quickly eat up your monthly allowance.
Subscription VOD services
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of months, you'll have caught wind of the three-way subscription video on demand (SVOD) battle that's been waging between Netflix, Stan and Presto.
All three services offer an 'all-you-can-eat' style service for streaming TV shows and movies from the offered catalogue. The attraction of these services are many: unlike broadcast TV, you don't have to worry about ads cutting in to your viewing every so often, and you're not subject to the broadcaster's schedule – you can pick and choose what you want to watch whenever you want to watch it.
Further, you can use an SVOD service to satisfy your 'binge watching' urges and watch entire seasons of shows sequentially, so if you're still behind on Breaking Bad, Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, you can watch everything you've missed all at once – so long as the service offers that show.
Subscription VOD services: Limitations
And therein lies one of the rubs for the SVOD services in Australia: you won't be able to watch all of the shows you want to watch on every service.
Netflix, Stan and Presto have each worked hard to secure exclusive content, so while shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black are only available on Netflix, Stan has secured the exclusive rights to Better Call Saul and Community, while Presto has Modern Family.
The other thing worth noting is that you don't own any of the content that you watch through the service. As soon as you stop paying the monthly subscription fee, you lose access to everything. Since everything is streamed to your device in real-time, nothing is actually stored on your device permanently – although this is good news for smartphone owners that don't want to clog up their device with high-def downloads.
While the likes of Netflix make a big song and dance about the exclusive TV shows and movies they've secured, most of the content offered by an SVOD is back catalogue stuff that's 2-3 years old. Think old episodes of Sex and the City, Lost and True Blood, along with a lot of 'straight-to-DVD' movies.
Still, the recommendation engine, which suggests other TV shows and movies to watch based on your viewing patterns, means you can unearth gems that you've never heard of or wouldn't have considered buying separately. When it's all free to watch, most people tend to be a bit more experimental with their viewing choices.
Free video services
Don't want to pay for content? Going down the illegal download route isn't strictly necessary. There are a handful of free services available that let you stream TV shows, movies, and user-generated content legitimately without clogging up the internal storage on your smartphone.
The most well known service, of course, is YouTube. You'd be surprised at how much time you can while away watching funny videos on this service, and Google has added several features that make it easier to unearth good content and continue watching for extended periods. The 'What to watch' home page displays recommended content based on what you've watched previously, ensuring you'll always find something new and interesting. While you're watching a video, you also see suggestions below on similar video clips.
Once you've had your fill of user-generated content, you can access a decent library of back catalogue content via Viewster and Crackle. Viewster is an ad-supported global service with more than 150 companies offering licensed content for free viewing (including Warner Bros), and you'll be able to find TV shows and movies here such as What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Black Books. However, most of the content here is likely to be stuff you've never heard of – movies that well-known actors were in before they were famous. Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android.
Crackle, on the other hand, is a free service backed by Sony Picture Entertainment that airs TV shows and movies that are mainly produced by Sony. The content here is a little better in terms of recognised titles, with popular favourites like A Few Good Men, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Gattaca, and Don't Mess with the Zohan on the movie side and Rescue Me, Days of our Lives and Woke Up Dead in the TV shows section. Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android.
If you're looking for Australian-made shows like House Rules, MasterChef and The Block, you can also check out the various catch-up TV apps offered by the major networks, namely, PLUS7, TENplay, 9Jumpin, ABC iview and SBS On Demand.
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Rise of the machines: Hawking and Musk warn of AI arms race
There's a growing fear that the Terminator movies are on the verge of becoming a lot more prophetic, with experts warning that autonomous weapons are years, not decades, away.
Now Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and Noam Chomsky have joined over 1,000 others and signed an open letter that calls for a ban on autonomous military weapons, warning that AI weapons would trigger the third revolution in warfare, following gunpowder and nuclear arms.
The letter addresses the potential for such weapons to reduce human casualties, but raises concerns that their deployment could lower the threshold for going into battle.
The future is not set
It also speculates how such weaponry could be put to use: "Autonomous weapons are ideal for tasks such as assassinations, destabilising nations, subduing populations and selectively killing a particular ethnic group."The key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting. If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow."
Earlier this year, Musk donated $10 million to help prevent AI from turning against us, while Hawking has previously warned that technology of this kind could bring about the end of the human race.
Unfortunately, once we start down this path it's unlikely we'll get the chance to send someone back in time to foil Skynet's diabolical scheme.
- Want to know more? Stephen Hawking is discussing AI in week-long Reddit AMA.
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How to watch 4K content
Your guide to 4K
4K. Four Kay. Ultra High Definition. UHD. Forky. Puuuurdy. No matter what you call it, the replacement for HD video resolution is now a standard part of the home entertainment lexicon.
Like the megapixel race of the cameras of yore, and the MHz race of CPUs of even more yore, there has been a push for higher resolution screens. And indeed, with larger TVs such as the LG 65EG960T 4K OLED becoming standard, and projectors moving from 'enthusiast' to 'consumer' levels, there is a definite need for more pixels.
The basics of 4K
So, how many pixels are there in 4K, compared to HD? To start, the term '4K' isn't quite as clear cut as it should be: in the cinema world, 4K has been around for years, and has meant anywhere between 4096 x 1744 and 4096 x 3072 pixels (across about 10 standard aspect ratios and sizes), whereas the consumer tech now referred to as '4K' or 'UHD' is actually 3840 x 2160 pixels.
Why the difference? Well, 3840 x 2160 simply doubles the horizontal and vertical resolutions of the existing HD standard (resulting in 4x more total pixels), making it retain the 16:9 'widescreen' aspect ratio that digital TV is broadcast in (and all our TV sets conform to), so it makes sense to stick with it.
While more is usually regarded as better, does it make sense to increase the number of on-screen pixels? On many screens and from most seating positions, your eyes are unable to tell the difference between regular ol' HD and 4K. Where 4K does shine, however, is on large or those new-fangled HDR screens (which we'll get to shortly).
Why should I go 4K?
How large, you ask? Well, in order for you to discern the edges of those 8.2 million or so pixels, you'll have to be sitting within 1.5m of a screen about 60" in size (the larger the screen, the further back you'll be able to notice pixels). On screens smaller than 55", there's almost no point, unless you're sitting within a metre (like at a desk).
For these reasons (and because 55" TVs make up 64% of all TV sales, according to LG), it seems unlikely that 4K TVs smaller than 55" will arrive on the market in the near future – even though 4K computer monitors are selling like pulled pork brioche burgers at hipster bars.
However, even if you don't buy into the arguments put forth for extra pixels, 4K videos – depending on their source – will bring a host of improvements in addition to their increased resolution. First, though, let's discuss those sources, as getting your digital mittens on 4K video is actually a lot trickier than you might expect.
(Image credit: http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html.)
4K sources: Netflix
Perhaps surprisingly, despite there being a multitude of 4K TVs on the market, there is but a handful of external 4K playback sources and only a sliver of 4K content.
Netflix and YouTube are the two biggest 4K streaming services at the moment, and while many 4K TVs out there will support Netflix natively via a wired Ethernet connection, there is only a limited number of 'UHD' (Netflix's preferred term) movies and TV shows available from the service. Further, while there are a lot of people uploading 4K (cat) videos to YouTube, it's still only possible to access them from a computer (conceivably one hooked up to your TV via HDMI).
Additionally, you'll need a hefty internet connection and download quota to be able to really take advantage of streaming 4K. Netflix's 'UHD' stream clocks in at 15.5 megabits per second (Mbps – or 1.9375 megabytes per second aka MBps – note the capital 'B'), recommending an internet connection greater than 25Mbps (3.125 MBps) for UHD,
As such, if you're considering streaming 4K, we'd recommend popping over to speedtest and seeing how your connection rates before committing. Just be sure that you have a generous download limit, too, as a two-hour UHD movie from Netflix sits close to 18 GB in size, and a 13 episode TV series at a staggering 117 GB.
Crucially, if you're looking to stream Netflix to your 4K TV, check that it is indeed certified for it. It not only has to support the new HEVC codec, but Netflix themselves has to certify devices for playback, too (sometimes, your TV may only need a firmware upgrade to get that certification).
4K Sources: Other devices
If your TV isn't out-of-the-box Netflix UHD compatible, you can consider hooking up a HTPC (home theatre PC) to your TV, and setting up a proper geek's lounge room. Just make sure that your video card supports HDMI 2.0, so that you won't be limited to 30fps video.
The benefit of a HTPC is that you can also watch 4K YouTube content, as well as chuck in a TV tuner or two and set it as a PVR for free-to-air TV – note that it takes a bit of creativity (and hardware) to route Foxtel through your HTPC, but it is possible.
Playback of 4K content via USB is now a standard feature for 4K TVs, but wasn't the case in 2013 when the first models came out. Some of the cheaper 4K TVs may also have problems playing back downloaded 4K content over USB, so make sure to check before you commit.
Another option for viewing 4K content on your TV is to purchase one of the many Android-based, 4K-compatible mini PCs now on the market (such as the Minix Neo X8-H Plus, which is just over $200 on eBay). While these can play back 4K movies, they only currently support Netflix at 1080p. Also, I haven't had the luxury of trying one out, so can't speak of their quality. Minix have been around for a few years, though, and seem to have a strong following, so they can't all be bad.
Unfortunately, console owners are out of luck when it comes to 4K: the Xbox One doesn't support it at all, and the PlayStation 4 only supports it at 30fps (thanks to its HDMI 1.4 port), and even then, the PS4 Netflix App only supports up to HD resolution, and the PS4 doesn't allow you to bring your own videos (instead asking you to pay for Sony's 'Video Unlimited' service).
However, rumours are abound that both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 will receive hardware updates this year that will upgrade them to HDMI 2.0 and enable 4K playback at 60fps from streaming sources like Netflix, and maybe even locally stored content, too. Who knows? – they may even support the soon-to-be-released 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs.
4K Blu-ray - more than just pixels
4K Blu-ray discs should be coming out before the end of 2015 (there were some prototype 4K Blu-ray players seen at CES this year, so they are getting close). The discs will be encoded using the newer HEVC/H.265 codec, which is a much more efficient method of compression (in fact, HEVC stands for High Efficiency Video Coding).
In tandem with this improved compression will be an increase in the capacity of Blu-ray discs – up from 25 GB or 50 GB to 66 GB and even 100 GB. Most notably – and this is where the superiority of physical media over streaming plays out – all that extra space will allow for more than just extra pixels: each pixel will also be filled with more data! So, movies coming on the new discs will also support a wider colour gamut, better contrast, and faster frame rates.
Movies stored on 4K Blu-ray will use what is called the BT.2020 (aka Rec. 2020 or ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020) standard for video, which defines a video format's resolution (either '4K' 3840 x 2160 or '8K' 7680 x 4320 – although it will be a while before we see anything 8K), its possible frame rates (from 24 up to 120 – useful for 3D – with many stops in-between), and the bit-depth of the data (either 10 or 12 bits per sample – up from the 8 bits seen today, which translates to a jump from 16.78 million colours to 1,073,741,824 colours for 10 bit and a whopping, staggering, jaw-dropping 68,719,476,736 colours for 12 bit).
Now, the BT.2020 recommendation is built for the future, so 4K Blu-ray will sit at the bottom of the specs – that is 4K resolution, 24 fps (for most content, but up to 60 fps for some), and 10 bits per sample – but this is still a fundamental shift in picture quality. So much so that current TVs can't even display all those new colours and shades, and will likely have to sample-down when faced with them. That is, unless you have an 'HDR' TV.
HDR Video
'HDR video' (or High Dynamic Range) has been a buzzword floating around the industry for a bit, but really made itself known at this year's CES, where there were sample TVs on display from LG, Sony, Samsung, Philips, Panasonic and others, and Dolby announced their standard for HDR, known as 'Dolby Vision'.
The 'dynamic range' that HDR refers to is basically the difference between the darkest object and the brightest object that can exist in a frame together – in this sense it's almost another term for 'contrast ratio.'
However, it also encompasses the possible shades of colours, too. And, as contrast ratio plays a bigger part in the perceived quality of an image than resolution, you can see why we're a little excited about HDR screens and HDR movies (whether via a lightly compressed 4K Blu-ray or heavily compressed Netflix stream) coming to home theatres.
Basically, with an HDR movie playing on an HDR screen, expect significantly more realistic pictures – not only will you have deeper blacks alongside brighter whites, you'll also have many, many more shades and colours in between.
It's actually quite a technical achievement to have so many colours and shades displayed on a panel, and has only become possible recently thanks to 'quantum dot' coloured backlighting technology for LCDs as well as the maturation of OLED panels.
The future of 4K
In regards to 4K Blu-ray, like every other launch of a new medium, expect both the players and the releases to be very thin on the ground at launch. However, unlike when Blu-Ray launched back in 2006, there isn't a competing physical format, like HD DVD or Betamax (just video on-demand steaming services) – all studios are on-board to support it as the medium of choice for 4K content, which is a boon for consumers.
The biggest challenge for 4K Blu-ray, however, is the very simple fact that sales of physical media are down. And as shiny and technically impressive as the format is, Joe Consumer won't care a hoot about it if he can get the 'same thing' streaming over Netflix. So, watch this space for updates.
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Review: LG 65EG960T 4K OLED
Introduction and features
When it comes to televisions, there's no finer technology currently available than that of the Organic Light Emitting Diode.We've all heard the hype about incredible contrast ratios and unsurpassed brightness – but does the fancy-schmancy OLED acronym really improve the television watching experience?
And, more importantly, does it justify the added cost? Add to that the other hyped-about TV tech of the moment, 4K (or Ultra HD), as well as a slightly curved display, and you've got yourself a whole bunch of home cinema buzzwords of the moment – all of which can be used to describe LG's jaw-dropping EG960T series of televisions.
Having spent some time with the 65-inch model, we can honestly say that this is one awesome slab of next-gen tech. As the only television manufacturer currently on the Australian market that can boast both 4K resolutions and OLED technology in its displays at the same time, LG has reached the top-tier of display tech for the here and now.
With that said, with top-of-the-range specs comes top-of-the-range prices – the 65-inch 65EG960T model will set you back $9,999 while the 55-inch 55EG960T model is priced at $5,999.
One of the things that you'll likely notice right away about LG's 4K OLED is just how remarkably slim it is. It has a depth of around 5mm, with a bulge lower down the centre of the TV's chassis on the rear. You don't have to worry about that, though – it's not exactly chunky, and it's kept away from interfering from the slinky sides.
This belter is also curved or contoured – call it what you will – though it's not as severe a feature as it might look.
While the curved vs flat display debate has raged ever since the introduction of the first concave HDTV, the argument is unlikely to get people riled up with regards to the EG960T – its curve is much more subtle than all of the other curved displays we've seen, which lets the set immerse you in the action, without being distracting.
Features
What is this 65-incher's standout feature? It certainly has a few to choose from. You could pick the OLED panel, the curved design or the Ultra HD 4K screen resolution of 3840x2160 on their own and still take the cake from the majority of sets on the market.Add them all together, and you have a force to be reckoned with. Its user interface is an updated version of webOS (2.0), which is noticeably faster than before, allowing you to browse Netflix and YouTube for stunning 4K content. You'll likely be spending a lot of time in those two apps until 4K content becomes readily available elsewhere.
The EG960T doesn't come in a non-curved model, which is a bit of a shame since not everyone is entirely convinced of the added immersion benefits that these displays provide, though the curve is at least more subtle here than it is on competing sets – you can even wall-mount the EG960T without it looking weird. The addition of a filter also helps cut down on annoying reflections seen on other curved screens.
Its audio is taken care of by an Ultra Surround Sound module by Harman Kardon, which is quite loud, if not particularly bassy or impactful. If you're going to go all out by picking up the most advanced TV on the market, you're likely going to want a proper 7.1 TrueHD or Dolby Atmos setup to go along with it.
As well as Freeview HD digital tuners, WiFi and Harman Kardon speakers, the EG960T is 3D-ready, too, and comes with four pairs of the same passive 3D glasses given out at your local multiplex.
However, if forced to choose the feature that stands above the rest, we'd have to go with its OLED panel. It sports LG's four-colour Pixel WRGB technology, which adds a white subpixel to the usual red, green and blue mix.
Unlike LED and LCD displays, OLED doesn't require a backlight, letting the set's self-lighting pixels do the heavy lifting. Because of this, individual pixels turn off completely during dark scenes, allowing for true blackness on the display.
This isn't that 'almost black' that standard TVs usually get away with, where you can still see that the screen is on – OLED makes your TV look like it's completely switched off during black scenes.
This 'perfect black' makes the bright colours that shine out of the darkness stand out even more, offering unprecedented detail that's made possible due to the EG960T's infinite contrast ratio.
Yes, you read that right: this television doesn't offer a ten trillion-to-one contrast ratio – its self-lighting pixels make the display's contrast ratio literally infinite.
The lack of a backlight means that the EG960T's viewing angles are quite extraordinary. While it's not ideal to view a curved television from the side (another reason why flat screens will always be preferable), you'll be glad to know that there's no backlight leakage to be found on this set, allowing it to maintain exceptional colour, clarity and brightness when viewed from any angle.
Usability
Ins & outs
Just three HDMI 2.0 inputs on the EG960T is a slight cause for concern though elsewhere there are no such shortages.Joining that trio on an outwards facing side-panel are three USB slots, a headphones jack and a Common Interface slot, while below are feeds for the TV tuners, a Scart, a component/composite video adaptor, an optical digital audio output and an Ethernet LAN slot.
Usability
The EG960T uses LG's Magic Remote, a Wii remote-style pointer that lets you pick options on the screen rather than navigate through they with your remote's directional pad. The TV's interface is built around this kind of control method, so while you can just use the D-pad to get around, it doesn't feel as natural as just pointing at stuff and pressing 'OK'.The main pop-up taskbar is a carousel of colourful tabs that starts on the left with a pile of screen-grabs from the live input or current live app that can be flicked through.
This is how you reach Netflix, YouTube, ABC iView, SBS On Demand and other Web OS 2.0 apps. There's also a My Programmes tab that, when pressed, expands to show the last eight TV channels you watched.
Click a right-hand tab and it brings up smaller icons for all of those apps plus a few of the TVs internal options, such as live TV, a connected Blu-ray player, LG's Content Store, or whatever you've recently been watching.
You can also use the pointer to switch between content sources. This brings us to one of the TV's only notable faults – we found on a couple of occasions that the TV would get stuck when trying to switch between content sources or apps.
We'd point and click at the Netflix or Blu-ray player tab, and nothing would happen. Turning the TV off and on again fixed the problem immediately (thanks, IT Crowd), though it was a slight annoyance. It's not a deal-breaker, though – the issue is sure to be addressed in a future firmware update.
Performance
Performance
It's been said that Marvel's Daredevil series on Netflix was shot in a way that could only be viewed as originally envisioned on a 4K OLED TV. The series' director of photography, Matt Lloyd, has stated that his creative team shot scenes that were "irresponsibly dark", and that he was able to film things differently because of OLED screens.Naturally, we took this as an opportunity to go straight to the show-stopping, single-shot hallway fight scene from the second episode of Daredevil, booted up in the EG960T's Cinema mode, as recommended by TV's accompanying paperwork, and, in this case, the show's cinematographer.
Immediately, the scene's dank and dingy hallway is rendered with complete clarity, with dark areas and shadows disappearing gradually into complete blackness.
Daredevil walks into the frame, dressed head-to-toe in black, his dark-side appearing like a silhouette against a grimy green and (off)white wall. Meanwhile, the light on his back gives a good indication of how naturally the pixels fade from light to dark.
This is due to LG's 10-bit colour depth, producing over a billion colours and providing spectacular shading that eliminates that weird wavy effect that sometimes emanates from light sources on LED/LCD televisions.
As mentioned earlier, clarity is absolutely exceptional. Watching the show in its native 4K resolution (thanks to the TV's Netflix app), there was not a single instance of aliasing present.
Picture quality is to die for – bright primary colours of red and blue rip through inky black backgrounds, displaying in exquisite detail. If colour is convincing across the spectrum, so is the response time; even frenetic movement is silky smooth, and we didn't notice any motion blur or sped-up framerate spiking.
Occasionally, Netflix would drop down to 1080p during high-traffic periods (through no fault of the TV itself) and it still looked great, benefitting greatly from the OLED's perfect black technology and 6-step upscaling capabilities.
Which brings us to the performance of 1080p Blu-ray and video game content on the EG960T. We opted to test a range of Blu-ray discs or varying quality on the television, as well as Wii-U and PlayStation 4 consoles.
We began with Gravity. There was a fade-to-black moment mid-way through the film – the room didn't just darken, it disappeared. Every single pixel switched off and left no residual trace of any light. It was incredibly impressive, to say the least.
How can a TV go completely dead, and for such a brief moment? What's more, when a bright, white object is shown in the centre of the screen, the background is so black that it appears to stretch far beyond the edges of the screen itself, almost as if the entire room becomes the backdrop.
On the EG960T, light is produced by passing electricity through a thin layer of carbon-based organic dyes at a pixel level, not at a backlight level as with LED. LG also has its own take on OLED tech, producing a white pixel as well as the usual red, green and blue.
Gravity on 2D Blu-ray puts those insane black levels to good use, providing a completely convincing and involving night sky dotted with white, bright stars. Likewise, a Blu-ray viewing of Interstellar showed us the remarkable depths of space in a way we hadn't experienced since the film's initial IMAX presentation.
The film's wormhole scene provided us with a view of what seemed like a limitless supply of stars. Whenever the film cut to a full-frame IMAX shot, which is often, you'd have no way of knowing that what you're watching isn't 4K.
Quite frankly, we didn't even think this kind of detail was possible on a regular Blu-ray disc. That's either thanks to the TV's OLED technology tapping into the format's full potential, or some seriously great upscaling.
We also checked out Lawrence of Arabia on Blu-ray, in an effort to see how an older film (50+ years) would look (albeit, one remastered from a 4K scan), and the results were also impressive. With that said, picture quality was not quite as mind-blowing as something like Interstellar, which was shot on modern film stock and digitally processed. The TV's upscaling efforts were a little more evident here.
The same can be said about our turn playing the Wii-U game, Mario Kart 8. While the game itself is incredibly vibrant, silky smooth and known for being one of Nintendo's more visually impressive efforts, when viewed on a 4K television, the (admittedly older) Wii-U hardware's limitations became more evident.
That's not to say that it looked bad, far from it, but it's clear that the system wasn't designed to look fantastic on a 65-inch 4K set.
The PS4 however, fared much better. The console's newer, more powerful hardware made Batman: Arkham Knight absolutely sing on the EG960T, taking full advantage of the TV's OLED display to wow us with its deep blacks, vibrant colours and immense detail.
The lights and rain of Gotham City benefitted from the EG960T's self-lighting pixels in the same way that Interstellar did, looking like there was extra detail present that wasn't as noticeable on a regular Full HD LED/LCD display.
Turn to the 3D version of Gravity and the EG960T's passive/Cinema 3D system Offers a surprisingly detailed pictures that don't suffer from any flicker or dips in brightness.
Because of how passive 3D works, what we're seeing is half of the set's 4K resolution in each eye, which equates to two (albeit upscaled) Full HD images spliced together.
Verdict
Put simply, 4K OLED is the future of television. With incredible clarity and deep, perfect black levels that help make the make bright colours stand out even more, we can finally experience entertainment as it's meant to be seen.While the amount of content that is readily available is currently limited, to say the least, standard Full HD content upscales fantastically on the EG960T. And, with its HDMI 2.0 ports, you'll be ready for any 4K-enabled devices that are sure to come in the future.
We liked
The EG960T's self-lighting pixels are mind-blowing, providing perfect blacks, bright, pure whites and stunningly vibrant images.
While the TV's picture quality looks best when displaying 4K content, detail is still wonderful with upscaled 1080p content. And while the EG960T's pixels may look fantastic when displaying bright, colourful imagery, they truly shine (in a figurative sense) when they're switched off completely, giving us unrivalled (and unbeatable) black levels.
You've heard of ludicrously high contrast ratio numbers in the past? Well, even they can't beat infinite.
Its native 10-bit colour depth also makes the display capable of producing over a billion colours, making shading better than it has ever been before.
We disliked
While the TV's curved display is much more subtle that competing 4K sets, we do wish that completely flat option was available to purchase. The curve wasn't too bothersome here, but we're still not entirely sold on the need for a curve at all.
We also wish that a few more HDMI ports had been included, to truly future-proof this set.
Finally, the combination of OLED and 4K technologies on large screens has made purchasing an EG960T a costly endeavour. Chances are, some of you will want to wait a while before picking one up.
Final Verdict
There's no other way to put this: EG960T is hands-down the best television currently on the market.
It uses those self-lighting pixels exceptionally well, achieving outstanding images where light becomes a magical medium – can we praise it any higher?
Motion artefacts are few when watching the fluid action sequences, with film judder forgotten, too.
However, what we liked most about the EG960T was its equal treatment of various different sources. Native 4K footage from Netflix 4K looks stunning, of course, but so do Blu-ray discs and HDTV channels. Black levels and viewing angles, in particular, are light years ahead of anything else on the market.
And while price will obviously be an issue for many people, when you consider that the EG960T includes both OLED and 4K (which are still new technologies that are expensive to produce, especially at these screen sizes) and boasts market-leading specs, the price doesn't seem so exorbitant.
Yes, there's no denying that LG's EG960T will cost you a hefty chunk of change, but if you have the money to spend, you're not going to find a better TV at the moment – this is the current pinnacle in televisions.
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Samsung Galaxy Note 5, S6 Edge Plus teased for August 13 Unpacked event
Samsung has just sent out invites to its annual Unpacked event, announcing it will be held on August 13 in New York.
The Galaxy Note 5 is expected to make an appearance, as Samsung has usually held off the launch of its Galaxy Note handsets for the second half of the year.
The Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is also expected to make an appearance as well, making the event all about Samsung's larger handsets.
What's in store?
Just last week there was a report revealing the date of the event, though rumors about both handsets have been cropping up for a while now.Both phones are so far rumored to share some features, including 5.7-inch Super AMOLED 2K displays as well as glass back panels. Some photos of the handsets were also leaked just over a week ago.
The Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is said to sport a Snapdragon 808 hexa-core chipset, a 3,000mAh battery, and a 16MP camera.
The Galaxy Note 5 is rumored to have Samsung's own Exynos 7422 processor, which includes storage, GPU, RAM, a 64-bit octa-core CPU and the new Shannon LTE modem right on the chip.
With the Unpacked event a few weeks away yet, expect a lot more rumors and leaks to crop up before we get to see what Samsung has in store for us.
- In the lead up to the event, check out our review of the Galaxy Note 4
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Mac Tips: How to share printers on Mac
Just because you have multiple Macs doesn't mean you need multiple printers, nor does it mean you need to rely on only one computer to handle print jobs. OS X includes a very nice network printer system that lets you easily share printers between all of the Macs on your network. In this Mac tip, we'll show you how it's done.
Start by logging into the Mac with the attached printer, then follow these steps:
1. Open System Preferences (Apple Menu > System Preferences).
2. Open the Sharing preference pane.
3. Enable the option for Printer Sharing.
4. Check the box beside of each of the printers in the Printers list that you wish to share over the network.
That's it! Once you've enabled these settings, your connected printers will now be available for sharing over the network with all of the other Macs. However, you still need to set up the shared printer on your other Macs in order to use it by performing these steps:
1. Open System Preferences (Apple Menu > System Preferences).
2. Open the Printers & Scanners preference pane.
3. Click + to add a new printer.
4. In the Add dialog that appears, select the printer displayed from the network scan to add, then click Add.
Once you've done this, you're now ready to print over the network to the connected printer. There's no trick necessary: when you try to print, the job will automatically transfer over the network to the computer containing the printer, then the print job will be executed and printed.
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Review: Updated: Chromecast
Introduction
Update: Google is celebrating Chromecast's second birthday with a number of deals, including a free movie rental from the Google Play Store! (US only)Chromecast, pure and simple, is an inexpensive media streaming adapter that turns any HDMI-equipped television into an app-driven smart TV when paired with a phone, tablet or computer.
The diminutive package is Google's answer to products like Apple TV, Roku 3 and the Amazon Fire TV – all of which are designed to take your digital content and streaming services like Netflix, Sling TV and Amazon Prime Instant Video and get them up on your big screen without fuss or fiddle.
But whereas the competition uses fancy interfaces to hold content and run on complex operating systems, Google's little streamer is content just sitting there and waiting for your other devices to tell it what to stream.
More impressive, though, is its price. From day one the Chromecast wowed with its cheap price and it can now be had for as little as $32. It's similarly bargainous in the UK: just £30 - less than a third of the Apple TV's RRP.
- What's new with Chromecast? Chromecast is getting a $15 ethernet adapter!
On launch, the services that tied in with Chromecast were limited and very much a work in progress. But 15 months on, the list of compatible apps is impressive.
Most of the big hitting services are now compatible, with Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu Plus, Pandora, HBO Go, Starz and Showtime Anytime etc... all ready and waiting in the US, and BT Sport, BBC iPlayer and more in the UK. You can find a complete list of Chromecast-compatible apps on the Google Chrome Store.
Music is really restricted for UK users, with even the lone Pandora app support no good for us due to licensing restrictions. The key addition here would be Spotify, but there's a wide range of services that could become available. The truth is that the 'casting' method of getting video onto your TV is simply not very compatible with music.
We're sure that this will change (Google can be very persuasive…), but there are major limitations on built-in support at the moment.
Google's Chrome browser on Mac or PC lets you mirror a browser tab to your TV, meaning that you can theoretically send any of these services to your TV that way, but there are issues with this.
If you stream video via the compatible apps, the content is streamed directly from the internet to Chromecast without traveling via your phone or tablet.
But if you mirror a browser tab, you're effectively streaming video to your computer from the internet via your router, then streaming it back to your router and then streaming it out once more to your TV, resulting in heavy network traffic.
If your network is flaky, this will result in choppy performance. We tested on a variety of networks and found results were variable but a clear network (around 8-10Mbps down) should be able to handle it. Browser streaming options are Extreme (720 high bitrate), High (720p) and Standard (480p).
Using Chromecast, though, it's clear that it's designed for use with portable devices in mind. You won't find a Chromecast remote in the box or a main menu tying all of the apps together like on an Apple TV or Roku 3. Recent firmware updates have soothed this problem giving users the ability to use their TV remote to control some functionality, but at the end of the day you'll still need to keep a device running the app within arm's reach.
Chromecast rivals
All streams originate from a special "Cast" button that's built into each compatible mobile app - your device is the remote.Currently, Windows Phone 8 users, who don't have many options among app-filled streaming technology, are totally out in the cold for Chromecast support, with only third party YouTube app TubeCast being compatible. So Chromecast is only really suited to those with Android and iOS devices.
Despite these limitations from the big names, Chromecast has extra potential to it thanks to developers getting creative with the Google Cast SDK.
Apps like AllCast enable Android and Apple iOS users to display video and photos through the Chromecast. Which is useful since Google somehow neglected to add this feature to Android.
Both major media center apps, VLC and the Plex app will happily stream to Chromecast, which is perhaps the best way to get your library of downloaded videos up on the big screen. Photo Caster is a free app that enables iOS users to put their photos on-screen similarly.
Media Browser is an app for iOS and Android that streams media content stored on any computer in the house, giving the Chromecast home theater PC (HTPC) granting capabilities. You can even stream Podcasts from a few apps.
The way Apple integrated its AirPlay streaming solution deep into iOS means that it inevitably has better support when combining an iOS device with an Apple TV, but as long as developers continue to use the Cast SDK, we will inevitably see almost as widespread support for cross-platform solutions - iOS, Android and Chromecast all working together seamlessly.
Sure, Roku has its Roku SDK, but it's easier for many developers to make their apps compatible with the Android-based Chromecast. It requires a little bit of retooling rather than learning an entirely new ecosystem, as is the case with the Roku.
Between its universal nature, rock-bottom price and ease of setup, Chromecast is massively tempting as a little TV add-on.
Design and interface
Chromecast is so small it could easily be mistaken for an oversized USB thumb drive with a little more heft to it.That contrasts with Apple TV or Roku 3, which sit as separate boxes, and often have extra outputs, such as for audio. It looks more similar to the Roku Streaming Stick, but don't be fooled - the stick doesn't use casting, it runs apps onboard like the other Roku devices.
Chromecast just is one big HDMI plug, with the exception of its power cable.
It's a simple black unit, likely to blend into the colour of most TVs (though if it ends up sticking out of the side noticeable, it'll be somewhat more intrusive).
If your TV is wall-mounted, Chromecast could be really awkward to implement depending on your TV's HDMI port positions. It might also not fit into the space for HDMI ports in some setups, so Google has included a short HDMI extender cable.
It gets around immediate problems, but be aware that at 72 x 35 x 12 mm, Chromecast might be an awkward fit.
Powering Chromecast can be a little more complicated depending on the age of your television, because it can't run on the power from the HDMI port alone.
On the rear of the unit is a micro-USB port, and Google has included a five-foot micro-USB-to-USB cable in the Chromecast box along with a power adapter that plugs into the mains.
Ideally, you wouldn't use the latter of these - if your TV has a USB port on it, as many Smart TVs do, you can use that as the power source.
Otherwise, you'll have to plug in, and it's possible you'll find that five feet isn't enough. Again, it's not a big problem, but it's worth being aware of.
Once it's plugged in and ready, Chromecast's software setup is not complicated at all - in fact, it's barely existent.
It's a matter of visiting Google's Chromecast "getting started" website on a laptop, tablet or smartphone, downloading and installing some software, and connecting the device to your home WiFi network.
Google has provided apps for each platform that take care of this for you, with the Android version especially good – it does almost everything for you.
On iOS, for example, you need to switch to a Wi-Fi network created by the Chromecast so that you can then tell it how to join your main Wi-Fi network – it's easy enough, but requires a bit of annoying back-and-forth to the settings.
On Android, it's all handled for you invisibly – you don't need to manually change Wi-Fi at all. It's impressive.
Once you've set up, Chromecast is basically ready to go. It's always on, so when you want to use it, just switch the HDMI input you've got it on and fire media at it. When there's nothing playing, you generally just get a screensaver, showing pretty photography.
Content and performance
Chromecast finally gives Android owners an official media-relay option that broadcasts content from their smartphones and tablets to a TV in similar way to Apple's AirPlay technology. That it works across Android, iOS, PC and Mac is even better.There's a "Cast" button that's usually built into the top right of all of the compatible mobile apps - it looks like a rectangle with broadcasting bars (like a Wi-Fi symbol) in the corner.
It's easy to recognise, despite Android being full of similar rectangles these days (and Apple's AirPlay symbol being somewhat similar).
Tap the "Cast" button and you'll be offered a list of Chromecast devices on your network, so just choose which one and you'll see the screen spring into life, loading the video or audio content you selected.
The app then becomes a remote, basically, enabling you to control the screen. The likes of Netflix even give you a custom screen on the device, ditching playing the video there as well in favour of big buttons for controlling playback easily.
Video quality is great from most online sources - Netflix in HD looks as good as you'd hope. We did encounter some freezing issues towards the end of a film, but pausing and restarting got us back in action.
Netflix is also capable of streaming from the website on PC or Mac natively (not using the tab mirroring feature) to Chromecast, but when we tried this, the audio was often a tiny bit out of sync.
Not enough to make it unwatchable, but it was a bit distracting. Most of the time, when you send video over to the Chromecast, it picks up quickly. Generally, once you've started playing a video, you can exit the app and start doing other things - and this applies both to mobile and desktop.
This means Chromecast can act as a second screen in a couple of cases, particularly when used with desktops or Android devices, letting you browse the internet or do something else on the computer while a tab with your Gmail, Twitter feed or a video is running in a "casted" background on the big screen. Google also announced at its developer conference that it would release new software that would enable Android phones and tablets to work as controllers for some Chromecast games.
However, it's not suitable as a second screen option for work; it's just a mirror of something you've already got open, so if you want to interact with it, it needs to be done on your main computers screen. There's also noticeable two-second lag between the computer and the TV.
That's a similar amount of consistent lag experienced when using Apple AirPlay mirroring on a Mac computer, but it is at least consistent - it doesn't suddenly hang or get choppy, for the most part.
But here's where AirPlay mirroring from a Mac shows up Chromecast's limitations: the browser extension is just that - browser-based.
Showing off a photo you retouched in Photoshop, a document you want a group to proofread in Word, or any program outside of the Chrome browser tab you're casting requires diving deeper into an options menu for a hidden command that's deemed "experimental" by Google.
It's buggy and slower than Apple TV's full computer mirroring. Chromecast is not meant for mirroring system-wide applications -at least not yet.
App limitations
The Chromecast tab extension is also limited to Chrome at the moment and may never work outside of the Google-owned browser. That means FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera users are out of luck if they had hoped to "Cast" using their favorite browser.While Google has opened up the Chromecast API for building applications, it's still forcing everyone to use Chrome for tab casting from a computer.
Chromecast also doesn't require an entire Apple TV device to sit in your entertainment console or force you to wire up with a lengthy power, HDMI and optional Ethernet cable.
Its plug-and-play nature means that it can be transported much more easily and fit into a backpack to carry to a school presentation or business meeting (we used Apple's iCloud version of Keynote to show a presentation from a Chrome tab), hotel room, or friend's TV. That flexibility may be worth its inexpensive price alone.
There is one potential of inflexibility, though. The total lack of built-in apps or direct method of control (such as a dedicated remote) means that if your device runs out of battery or is in another room, you can't play anything.
We had a few little niggles, such as a photo-casting app that forgot the Chromecast after each use and had to hard quit and restarted.
Most of these are probably up to developers to fix, though, and as things mature, we expect they'll improve.
Verdict
Google's take on an AirPlay like universal streaming service is hugely impressive, not just for its price, but because it works well, on many platforms.It's possibly the perfect companion device to an older TV with no smart features, and it's certainly the cheapest way to get Netflix up and running in your living room if you can't plug in any other compatible devices.
We hope that developers will also be able to work in some other interesting Chromecast options for the future, provided the technology allows it - something equivalent to the big-screen gaming that AirPlay enables for Apple users would be great to have cross-platform, for example.
That said, this option is now being covered in Google's forthcoming Nexus Player, so don't expect Google Chromecast to get gaming features any time soon.
We liked
Chromecast is brilliantly easy to set up, gave us little hassle after the first few minutes, and then worked really well.You quickly become accustomed to the idea of just reaching for your phone and beaming something over to it - just like the future should be.
The streaming quality is generally very good, and it's quite reliable, especially for a product that's still fairly early in its life. It's also impressive that it works so well on all platforms.
At $30/£30, we definitely like the price. It's well into impulse-buy territory, and we do think it's worth picking one up just for its potential, even if you already have a way to stream the services it currently works with.
We disliked
The lack of apps was the simple, major problem when Chromecast originally launched. It was fairly well-supported in the US, but elsewhere it needed fleshing out... and it has been.The only thing you might dislike about Chromecast is its reliance on the phone in your pocket or the tablet on your coffee table. But for anyone who keeps those things with them, it's not a problem and in fact for many it's a more convenient way of arranging things.
There are a few other things we'd like to see, such as a bit more polish to improve things further – faster loading of videos in some apps, broader support in basic Android apps, stronger streaming from desktops, for example.
Verdict
Chromecast is an inexpensive, easy-to-use way of accessing streaming on your TV. All the major video streaming apps are compatible and you soon find yourself using it on a daily basis.If it cost more, we'd say it might be worth looking at the Amazon Fire TV or the Nexus Player, but at this price how can you possibly argue? Chromecast is fun enough, robust enough and has enough potential that thoroughly recommend it to anyone without a smart TV.
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Updated: What's on Netflix: new TV shows and movies for August
New shows and movies on Netflix
Can't find something good to watch on Netflix? We've all been there.Sure, you could re-watch that one episode of Scrubs for the 1,000th time or you could break out of your comfort zone and try something completely new. (We can't emphasize the "completely new" part enough.)
Netflix's rotation of shows changes every month with dozens of new series and movies arriving and a handful leaving for greener pastures.
But before we dive into which movies are fresh from the big screen, let's talk about what Netflix is and how to get it.
Netflix price and how to get it
Netflix is a streaming video service that works like an all-you-can-eat buffet. You pay one monthly fee without a contract, and you can watch whatever you want, whenever you want.Netflix is available on desktop browsers, Android, Windows and Apple mobile devices, as well as set-top boxes and game systems like the Roku 3, Xbox One and PS4. Pricing starts at $7.99/month for one screen and standard definition. There's also a $8.99/month version for two screens and HD, as well as an $11.99 version that offers Ultra HD on up to four screens simultaneously.
If you're new to Netflix, skip down to the "best shows and movies" sections found below. If you're a veteran binge-watcher, however, and are just looking for something new, here's every new show and movie coming to Netflix in June.
New Netflix TV shows and movies (August 2015)
What's new this month on Netflix? Here are all the shows and movies coming in August:Available Aug. 1
- Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (1999)
- Asylum (2005)
- Back in Time/ Cong Cong Na Nian (2014)
- Beneath the Helmet (2014)
- Breakup Buddies/ Xin Hau Lu Fang (2014)
- Bride and Prejudice (2004)
- Casting By (2012)
- Dancing on the Edge: Season 1
- Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: Season 2
- Dear Frankie (2004)
- Dogs on the Inside (2014)
- Electric Slide (2014)
- Enemy at the Gates (2001)
- Flex is Kings (2013)
- Lost and Love/ Shi Gu (2015)
- Masha and the Bear: Season 1
- November Rule (2015)
- Odd Squad: Season 1
- Outcast (2014)
- Pants on Fire (2014)
- Reading Rainbow: Volume 1
- Russell Brand: End the Drugs War (2014)
- Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery (2012)
- Somewhere Only We Know/ You yi ge di fang zhi you wo men zhi dao(2015)
- Sorority Row (2009)
- The Code: Season 1
- The Golden Era/ Huang Jin Shi Dai (2014)
- The Hurt Locker (2008)
- The Living (2014)
- The Mind of a Chef: Season 3
- Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008)
- Utopia: Season 1 .
- Vexed: Season 1-2
- War (2007)
- Wing Commander (1999)
- Chronic-Con, Episode 420: A New Dope (2015)
- Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2015)
- Yellowbird (2014)
- Kill Me Three Times (2014)
- My Amityville Horror (2012)
- The Look of Love (2013)
- Welcome to Me (2014)
- Club de Cuervos: Season 1
- Motivation 2: The Chris Cole Story (2015)
- Project Mc2 (2015)
- Transporter: The Series: Season 2
- Doctor Who: Season 8
- Fred: The Movie (2010)
- Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred (2011)
- Fred 3: Camp Fred (2012)
- Two Days, One Night (2014)
- For a Good Time, Call… (2012)
- Leap Year (2010)
- The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2014)
- DinoTrux
- Ever After High Way too Wonderland (Season 3)
- Ship of Theseus (2012)
- Alex of Venice (2014)
- Being Flynn (2012)
- Pariah (2011)
- Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
- Lord of War (2005)
- Jerk Theory (2009)
- Real Husbands of Hollywood: Season 3
- 30 for 30: Angry Sky (2015)
- As Cool As I Am (2013)
- Strange Empire: Season 1
- Grantham & Rose (2014)
- Transcend (2014)
- Girl Meets World: Season 1
- Byzantium (2012)
- White God (2014)
- Inspector Gadget: Season 2
- Narcos: Season 1
- Once Upon a Time: Season 4
- Revenge: Season 4
- Ride (2015)
- Muffin Top: A Love Story (2014)
Best TV shows on Netflix
There's no shortage of great series on Netflix. There's so many in fact, we've even written a whole article about it. (See: The Best Netflix TV shows.)But to save you a few clicks and some precious seconds, here's the top three shows you absolutely need to watch the second you subscribe to Netflix.
Daredevil (Season 1)
Dark, funny and at times inspirational, Marvel's Daredevil hits the perfect mix of emotions before switching gears to spectacularly choreographed, white-knuckle brawls. Both DC and Marvel have tried to make something as special as Daredevil work in the past, but never has a superhero series come across as genuine and heartfelt as this has in its first season.
House of Cards (Seasons 1-3)
Streaming services can be divided into two time frames: before House of Cards and after House of Cards. The series, starring Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood, proved once and for all that streaming services not only could produce its own shows, but that those shows could go on to rival - and even beat out - anything on cable.
Orange is the New Black (Seasons 1-3)
Orange is the New Black is downright special. Set in a women's prison, Orange doesn't shirk the big issues of violence and rape but manages to mix these with a heady dose of black humor. It takes a special kind of show to do that, and OITNB nails it.
Best movies on Netflix
Asking us to pick our favorite movies is like asking a parent to pick a favorite child. They're all good in their own way. But since you twisted our arm on this, we've narrowed Netflix's hundreds of titles down to five must-watch movies.
Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino is loved and revered for his work in American cinema. And while more recent movies have featured a role reversal on specific time periods in history like Nazi Germany and the Old South, Pulp Fiction will always be remembered as Tarantino's best film for the way it interweaves characters' lives and two men's twisted definition of justice.
Snowpiercer
In the spirit of trying something new, Snowpiercer is a 2013 sci-fi flick from South Korea that, despite what it seems, is actually a profound commentary on class inequality. The film follows Chris Evans on a march from the derelict caboose to the luxurious front car with the environments progressively becoming more lavish along the way. It's violent, beautiful and entirely bold in its message. Plus, it provides a good lesson of looking at the ingredients of everything you eat.
Good Will Hunting
If you haven't seen Good Will Hunting, it's not your fault. It's not your fault, Will, it's not your fault. But by not watching the film, which includes what many consider both Robin Williams and Matt Damon's best scene in their entire careers, you're depriving yourself of an emotional rollercoaster which few movies can match.
The Big Lebowski
"The Dude abides," "The rug really tied the room together," "Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about the rules?" The movie's plot may be as obfuscated as The Dude's memory, but it's with absolute clarity that we can call The Big Lebowski one of the strangest, most memorable movies of all-time.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is the uplifting documentary of one man who never gave up on his … uh, dreams. Jiro became the first three-star Michelin sushi chef in Japan and has been called a national treasure, all the while honing his mantra of being his best self. If you're hungry for a bit of inspiration in an evermore depressing world, pull up a seat.
Want even more streaming shows? Check out our list of the best online video streaming services, Hulu and Hulu Plus: the latest TV shows and movies to stream and best tv shows on Amazon Instant Video.
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New Moto X specs leak one more time before tomorrow's event
With Motorola's event slated for tomorrow, it's strange to see another Moto X leak to appear online.
The new leak comes from HelloMotoHK on its Google+ page, listing the 2015 Moto X to come packing a very large 3600mAh battery, along with a dual-SIM option.
Interestingly, the post says the Moto X will have a 5.5 FHD 1080p resolution screen, instead of a QHD screen which has been rumored previously.
It also lists the handset to have a 21-megapixel camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a microSD card slot, all powered by Android 5.1.1.
Another look
HelloMotoHk also posted the below image, which actually looks like a white and gold version of photos that cropped up online last week, leading us to believe that this really is how the Moto X will look.
The site has previously leaked other images of the 2015 Moto X as well, giving us a peak at what could be its inner workings.
But though it seems like some of the photos and specs are starting to line up together, we'll have to wait one more day to find out tomorrow what Motorola has in store for us.
- Here's our take on last year's Moto X
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1 comment:
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To sum up in tl;dr form: No story Bad acting Bad writing Waste of a great premise Waste of time Waste of money Avoid at all costs
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