sincity

Ho-Ho-Ho. Nope, that's not the sound of Santa's sleigh arriving - it's the sound we made when we found out that EE has already released a batch of mobile phone deals for the January sales. The deals start today and include a whole host of handsets. There's up to £150 to be saved on contracts for the likes of the iPhone 6S (and 6S Plus), Samsung Galaxy S8 and A6, and the Huawei Mate 20 Lite and P Smart - the last of which starts at a mere £15 per month. Perhaps the most attractive savings come on EE SIM only deals where tariffs have been slashed on big data. We're talking 60 glorious gigabytes and unlimited calls and texts on the UK's fastest 4G network at a very reasonable £30 per month. Or reduce that monthly cost by a tenner for a still excellent 25GB. It's even selling unlocked handsets for as little as £9.99 (when bought with a £10 PAYG top-up), with £50 off the Huawei P Smart that comes down to a very reasonable £139.99. You can head to the EE website to check out all of the network's latest mobile phone deals, but be sure to get in there quick - these 'January sales' end on New Year's Eve! See more: Check out all of the UK's best mobile phone dealsOur top 15 unlocked SIM-free phones and pricesDon't miss out on the cheapest SIM only deals available todayhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/FGqR9PVWhi4

You can do an awful lot with digital imaging to make things look better. Take an editing program like Photoshop, for example. Even if you’re not a professional, it’s relatively easy to tweak and fine-tune your less-than-perfect shots and make them look a little more presentable. If you’re an imaging-editing hotshot, meanwhile, it’s entirely possible to transform substandard pictures into minor masterpieces. Retouching has therefore been good news for anyone wanting to get rid of rough edges in a shot, particularly if they’re selling something that needs the subject matter to look, well, perfect. British innovation outfit Cambridge Consultants, however, are taking that thinking and turning up the repair process to 11. The company, based unsurprisingly in a science park in the flatlands of Cambridge in the UK, has just unveiled the rather science-fiction sounding DeepRay. This is technology based around artificial intelligence (AI) that can produce sharper and much less distorted images from pictures that have been damaged or had elements obscured. More impressively, DeepRay uses AI to tackle live video too. Smart thinkingWhy would a company want to invest time and money in doing something like that? Well, when you start to think about potential uses for this sort of application it all starts to make sense. DeepRay has oodles of potential, and the company cites the world of autonomous driving, as well as uses in healthcare and medical imaging as a few of its potential target markets. And, the company seems to have so much faith in its new system that it reckons DeepRay can outperform humans when it comes to scrutinizing imagery, be it a still shot or moving footage. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/pPFMnS2J4nU4q6NuhoqVm8.jpg DeepRay could help improve the accuracy of camers on cars Tim Ensor, commercial director for artificial intelligence at Cambridge Consultants said: “This is the first time that a new technology has enabled machines to interpret real-world scenes the way humans can – and DeepRay can potentially outperform the human eye. This takes us into a new era of image sensing and will give flight to applications in many industries, including automotive, agritech and healthcare.” The company has a video that showcases the powerful potential of DeepRay and, with a little bit of imagination it is possible to see where the idea could be used to good effect. Think, for example, of autonomous vehicles with on-board cameras that will be subjected to obscured or distorted views due to weather conditions and dirt obscuring their lenses and other vital sensors that view the road ahead. DeepRay might be able to use its deep learning technology to help those cameras see more clearly. Promising resultsCurrently the system doesn’t appear to be perfect, with the results we’ve seen looking passable but flawed. However, the point is that the technology is heading in the right direction. “The ability to construct a clear view of the world from live video, in the presence of continually changing distortion such as rain, mist or smoke, is transformational,” adds Ensor. “We’re excited to be at the leading edge of developments in AI. DeepRay shows us making the leap from the art of the possible, to delivering breakthrough innovation with significant impact on our client’s businesses.” http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ApKDoUDuV2JrwAejyJ74k8.jpg DeepRay can put back the goodness lost in images Of course, purists might claim that all this jiggery-pokery isn’t really the way to do things and, when it comes to correcting images then they might have a point. In the same way as Adobe’s AI and machine learning framework called Sensei can magically transform images, among other things, DeepRay could unfairly be seen as being a bit of a cheat. But, unlike Photoshopped magazine covers, this isn’t a system that is being used to fool the eye into thinking an image looks better than the real thing. In fact, if DeepRay is able to read complex visual situations and correct live video then the benefits are obvious. It’s a potentially very practical solution. And, if the system can actually outperform the human eye then perhaps an autonomous vehicle might be a lot safer having it on-board. DeepRay, reminds Cambridge Consultants, is able to learn what real-world scenes and objects look like and, similarly, judge how they appear when various distortions are applied. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QUSYJmjNANbypqk6gUksu8.jpg Cars are increasingly using more cameras that could benefit from DeepRay From there, the system can tackle distorted images it has never seen before and form a real-time judgement of the actual scene. DeepRay has the capacity to see through the distortion using extensions of the complex-sounding Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). Part of the training process includes six neural networks competing against each other in teams. These teams invent difficult scenes and situations and subsequently attempt to remove any distortion that might be present. Technical revelationThe company says that this sort of end-to-end training using so many networks together has only been possible in the last couple of years. Cambridge Consultants are hardly newcomers to the field of innovation either. They’ve been in existence for over 50 years and currently boast a workforce of more than 800 staff. So if the research being carried out to develop DeepRay helps us all see more clearly in the years to come, albeit digitally, then so much the better. Our future vision might just depend on it. What is AI? Everything you need to knowhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/jP_Vr7MPQVA

Telecommunications equipment made by Huawei is being removed from a communications system currently being developed for the UK's police and emergency services. BT confirmed the news after stating earlier this month that it would swap out the Chinese hardware giant's gear from the “core” of its 3G and 4G mobile networks. The Sunday Telegraph first reported that Huawei's equipment would be removed from the Emergency Services Network (ESN) and this could further extend the £2.3bn project. BT will cover the cost of the switch and the telecom believes that this will not lead to further delays on the project. Emergency Services NetworkThe ESN was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019 and the new system would replace an existing one owned by Motorola called Airwave. The new system is designed around giving police, fire, rescue and ambulance services secure priority access to EE's 4G network that is currently being extended thanks to additional radio frequencies in rural areas and new mast sites. The ESN should prove cheaper to operate than Airwave while also providing improved voice and data capabilities. However, in September the Home Office announced that it would pay to use Airwave until the end of 2022 with the possibility of extending its use further if need be. A spokesperson for EE explained the telecoms decision to no longer use Huawei's equipment to the BBC, saying: "We have ongoing plans to swap to a new core network vendor for ESN, in line with BT's network architecture principles established in 2006. This will be managed with no disruption to the ESN service." Via The BBC We've also highlighted the best Huawei phoneshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/M8KzxVYdUDk

A joint microelectronics project, with the aim of encouraging investment in internet-connected devices, has secured EU approval by France, Germany, Italy and Britain. The project will receive $2bn in state aid and 29 companies and research bodies will participate including Robert Bosch, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, Osram, Carl Zeiss, Global Foundries and Murata. The European Commission is also hopeful that public support for the project will help generate an additional $6bn from private investors. The microelectronics project is expected to be completed by 2024. Microelectronics innovationMicroelectronics themselves are small electronic components often referred to as chips and sensors that are found in smartphones, computers, cars and other electronic devices. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager praised the EU's approval of the project and explained how it will help the region innovate further, saying: “Innovation in microelectronics can help the whole of Europe leap ahead in innovation. That’s why it makes sense for European governments to come together to support such important projects of common European interest, if the market alone would not take the risk.” The project will focus on delivering energy efficient chips, power semiconductors, smart sensors, advanced optical equipment and compound materials. Via Reuters Interested in internet-connected devices? This is everything you need to know about the IoThttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/HUXF1vOQlzc

Although the smartphone industry keeps producing tons of new smartphones every year, the amount of really good phones that we saw was this year incredible. There was a great phone for everyone this year, no matter what your budget was. That definitely made it much harder to choose our favorites from the year, but it is something that needs to get done. Today, we're announcing the categories in which we'll be honoring products from 2018 as well as opening our People's Choice awards up for voting. Voting will close by mid January, following which we will reveal our Editor's picks as well your picks. Categories for Editor's Choice AwardsPhone of the YearBest Mid-Range PhoneBest Camera PhoneBest WearableBest TabletBest LaptopBest HeadphonesBest TVBest Smart Home DeviceInnovation in TechnologyCategories for People's Choice AwardsPhone of the YearBest Mid-Range PhoneBest Camera Phone (Blind Test)Best Online RetailerBest Tech BrandVote for your favourites and win awesome prizes!It won't be fun if there weren't any giveaways and we've got plenty of gear to giveaway. We will randomly select one entry from each category for People's Choice awards to win a prize. On top of that, everyone who picks all the right winners will go in a draw to get a collection of assorted goodies. You know you want them! Just make sure you follow us on Instagram and YouTube for more surprises. But hurry up as the voting closes on the 15th of January 2019, following which we will randomly select winners. Competition T&C'sBy taking part in this competition you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions and the Competition Rules: www.futuretcs.com. Entries are submitted by completing the form above. Open to persons aged 18 years or over and living in the Middle East. The winners will be chosen at random and be notified via email. The prizes are non-transferable and non-refundable. There is no cash alternative and winner will have to collect the prize from Dubai. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/HmJmO376nz8

Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch its own line of external webcams next year with the goal of bringing Windows Hello facial recognition to all computers running Windows 10. Paul Thurrott initially reported that the software giant is currently developing new 4K camera for both its PCs as well as its Xbox One gaming console. The cameras for Windows 10 will enable facial recognition on all Windows 10 PCs. As of now, the feature is only available on devices with built-in webcams such as Microsoft's own Surface line. The new devices may even sport Surface branding and they could allow users to login to their systems using only their faces. USB-C webcamThere also appears to be a connection between Microsoft's new webcams and the one it had previously said would be available with the next version of its Surface Hub. The Surface Hub 2 is expected to arrive in 2019 and the device will include a USB-C port. In an interview with The Verge back in October, the head of the company's Surface unit, Panos Panay suggested Microsoft could soon release a USB-C webcam, saying: "Look at the camera on Surface Hub 2, note it's a USB-C-based camera, and the idea that we can bring a high fidelity camera to an experience, you can probably guess that's going to happen." Microsoft has made great strides recently in its push for password-less sign in using Windows Hello and the October Update to Windows 10 brought support for WebAuthn-based authentication which could soon be utilised to let users sign into sites such as Office 365 using security keys. Via ZDNet We've also highlighted the best online collaboration toolshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/vEcIn8kYHKo

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are spending confidently on their tech stacks. Much of this is driven by the affordability of cloud-based services. Tools such as marketing automation, CRM, and web analytics, are helping SMBs to improve productivity, increase efficiencies, and reveal new insights into their business operations. But with so many emerging technologies available, there are many decisions to be made. Choose the right solutions and your business is optimized for growth and expansion. Choose the wrong solutions and your investments may end up under-utilized and your business plans stalled. Why its difficult to find solutions that are "fit-for-purpose"Because technology powers almost everything SMBs use, choosing the right solution starts with understanding how that product will enable your business. For example, SMBs often have immediate, tactical pain points that they need to address, such as time-consuming and manual workflows. But they’re also looking to maximize and coordinate their investments in a meaningful way and are turning to cloud and mobile technologies to help them do just that. Today, 62% of SMBs are using one or more cloud-based solutions in their business while 49% use mobile applications to manage operations. But with so many software-as-a-service (SaaS) and mobility options, how do you ensure these investments are both future-proof and work with your existing technology stack? The problem with today’s tech stack, particularly for SMBs, is that SaaS tools are often procured by teams or individuals with little oversight by IT. This leads to disjointed, fragmented silos that can create operational blind spots for companies, not to mention shadow IT headaches. Another challenge is data. Data is being captured at astonishing rates across your business – data about customers, employees, equipment, inventory, and so on. Data that could drive insights, decisions, and even compliance – if you have the power to collect, share, and learn from it. The trouble is most businesses are using manual processes to collect information – paper forms, fillable PDFs, images, etc. – making information time-consuming to collect and deriving insights from that data impossible. Yet, there are solutions that address each of these challenges, and they draw on the tools that SMBs are fast embracing – mobile technology and cloud services. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CwDEjaBULPiYXj53Px3AXH.jpg Optimize your tech stack and improve workforce productivityFor example, cloud-based mobile workflow platforms make it easy for SMBs to create powerful applications (no coding required) to capture, share and glean insights across all facets of the business. By replacing each of your paper forms with an application that can be filled out on a smart device and passed from one user to another for review and approvals, tedious tasks, errors, and inefficient processes are replaced with a digitized, streamlined workflow. And, because the data is stored in the cloud, it can be seamlessly pushed into existing tools like QuickBooks, Box, Google Drive, or other systems via Zapier integrations for greater utilization and insights. By spending less time on inefficient paperwork, like completing inspections, filling in timesheets, customer surveys, retail inventory control, and more, employees can get more done and the customer experience is improved. Imagine being able to add photographs, signatures, location/time stamps and even dispatch people to jobs from a shared calendar, all from a single app. Check the box for future-proofing your tech stackOnce a single use case or pain point is addressed, you can expand the scope to include other tasks and business processes. So, you might start with a payroll application, but then you identify a need to improve your inventory control. Adding an application for that workflow is easily done. Using pre-built templates or codeless customization you can quickly build an application to help you keep inventory and displays up to date. There are thousands of use cases for the mobile digital capture solutions, so it is easy to expand into other workflows or tackle emerging pain points as your business positions itself for future growth – at a much lower cost than bespoke solutions. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tivYXYT4ZskbT4pPvHXSKP.jpg Reduce your IT footprint and get more from your investmentsTransitioning your business to mobile technology will not only streamline transactional processes, give you more accurate information, save hundreds of hours, but it will also reduce the footprint of your tech stack and take the pressure of IT. As your company continues to digitally transform, look to procure solutions that seamlessly interface with existing systems and data – across your operations. No one wants 20 vendors in their tech stack, SMBs need unified, turnkey, future-proof solutions that address today’s need while easily scaling to tomorrow’s. Such solutions must be easy to implement and integrate with legacy tools so that your tech stack delivers maximum results with the least amount of impact on your investments and resources. James Robins, Chief Marketing Officer at GoCanvas We've also highlighted the best small business softwarehttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ZljmWGYUHnE

Bethesda is giving away a free copy of Fallout Classic Collection on PC to those who bought Fallout 76 earlier this year – or indeed, to those who buy the game before 2018 is out. The company announced on Twitter that anyone who has logged on to the full release version of Fallout 76 gets the freebie, and this applies not just to PC gamers, but also to Xbox One and PS4 players. The free codes for Fallout Classic Collection on the PC will be distributed at some point in January (likely early on according to Bethesda), although if console gamers don’t own a computer, obviously they won’t be able to do much with them. Gaming goodiesFallout Classic Collection comprises of the original Fallout game plus Fallout 2, along with Fallout Tactics, so it’s an impressive compilation of veteran titles for those who haven’t experienced them in the past. If you haven’t bought Fallout 76 and still fancy the sound of the Classic Collection, then bear in mind you can get it discounted in Steam’s Winter Sale right now – the official retail price is £13.99 (around $18, AU$25), but it currently has a 70% price cut down to £4.19 (around $5.30, AU$7.50). Grab it here. As you’re probably aware, Fallout 76 wasn’t well-received by many, and we were disappointed in our review, where we observed that this latest outing in the franchise was “an empty shell of a Fallout game, lacking the personality and story which drives the series.” Fallout 76 also suffered from further controversy regarding its refund policy, and the PC version of the game was criticized for being overly easy to hack, too (an accusation Bethesda denied). Check out our best gaming PCsVia Eurogamer http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ZkSg1peJ83c

An antivirus subscription probably isn't at the very top of your Christmas wish list, but it probably should be something you consider when you can get it for a price as low as what McAfee is offering in its Christmas Sale special. For just $29.99 you can get an entire year of McAfee Total Protection. That works out at an effective cost of $2.40 a month - a real bargain overall. Complete protection for up to 10 devices, an encrypted storage bank for all of your important files and a password manager so you can have high-level security passwords without having to remember them all. McAfee says that the usual price for this plan is $110, which amounts to a 72% saving. Want to get your hands on this deal? Well you can see all the details below but act fast - it's only around until December 29. Or if you were hoping for something a little different - or just want to compare this to other brands - check out our best antivirus guide to see who else we would recommend. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VgyagGS9HpAEPUQtUJBfrg.jpg Check out our best antivirus guide to see what other options there are out therehttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/SQUV12bltWk

The holidays are an expensive time, so we’re bringing you a special treat: a full, free Windows program to download every day until Christmas. It's Christmas Eve! Behind the 24th door on our free downloads advent calendar you'll find Auslogics BoostSpeed 9 – a full optimization suite packed with everything you need to get your PC running smoothly again. Auslogics BoostSpeed 9 scans and diagnoses your system with a single click, hunting for junk files that are cluttering your drives, and tracking down broken and corrupt registry entries. Download Auslogics BoostSpeed 9 and use license key Y2QSD-48577-FXPD3-9SL5R-43YJ2 to activateAuslogics BoostSpeed 9 can also optimize your internet connection for faster performance, recover lost or accidentally deleted files, identify duplicate files, manage the programs that run when your PC starts up, and provide detailed information on your system components. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/SCn3Ym6DJPsgSnYnQyBBWo.jpg It can help protect your privacy too, with a secure drive wiper that overwrites 'empty' space on your drives to make it impossible to recover deleted files, and tools for removing cookies, temporary internet files and browser histories. Download it free today and see what a difference it can make to your PC. Download provided by AuslogicsIn case you missed it...Day one: Ashampoo Burning Studio 2018Day two: Ashampoo WinOptimizer 2018Day three: Ashampoo Uninstaller 6Day four: Ashampoo Photo Commander 15Day five: Ashampoo Snap 9Day six: Ashampoo Backup 2018Day seven: Ashampoo UndeleterDay eight: Ashampoo Music Studio 2018Day nine: Ashampoo Disk-Space-ExplorerDay 10: Ashampoo Snap 2018Day 11: Ashampoo Photo RecoveryDay 12: Ashampoo Photo OptimizerDay 13: Steganos Safe 19Day 14: Steganos Password Manager 19Day 15: mySteganos Online Shield VPNDay 16: Incomedia WebAnimator GODay 17: Incomedia WebSite X5 Start 17Day 18: Digiarty VideoProcDay 19: Abelssoft MovieCut 2019Day 20: Abelssoft ScreenVideo 2018Day 21: Abelssoft SyncManager 2018Day 22: ASCOMP PDF ConversaDay 23: Auslogics DiskDefrag Prohttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/44ToVembiK0

The holidays are an expensive time, so we’re bringing you a special treat: a full, free Windows program to download every day until Christmas. Peel back the 23rd door on our free downloads advent calendar to discover Auslogics DiskDefrag Pro. This PC optimization tool is a cut above Windows' built-in defrag app, letting you optimize files that are inaccessible during system operation, including the registry, paging file and hibernation file. Download Auslogics DiskDefrag Pro and use license key Q2LSE-X9BY7-K9WWE-9JR3W-5D3JR to activateAuslogics DiskDefrag Pro uses four algorithms to optimize file placement on your hard drive, ensuring fast and efficient operation. It also offers multiple scheduling options to maintain consistently high drive speeds. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/D64VX3VWCVLaCzSh3vkiiC.jpg You also get a disk cleanup and checkup tool, which clears temporary files from your hard drive before defragging for a bigger performance boost. Auslogics Disk Defrag's scheduler lets you decide when your drive are defragged, but you can also perform tasks manually or use the Auto Defragmentation mode to correct fragmentation as soon as it happens. If that all sounds a little complicated, don't worry; Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro features a smart defragmentation wizard that makes it easy to choose the right settings based on your PC, and the way you use it, suggesting algorithms that will give optimum results. Download provided by AuslogicsIn case you missed it...Day one: Ashampoo Burning Studio 2018Day two: Ashampoo WinOptimizer 2018Day three: Ashampoo Uninstaller 6Day four: Ashampoo Photo Commander 15Day five: Ashampoo Snap 9Day six: Ashampoo Backup 2018Day seven: Ashampoo UndeleterDay eight: Ashampoo Music Studio 2018Day nine: Ashampoo Disk-Space-ExplorerDay 10: Ashampoo Snap 2018Day 11: Ashampoo Photo RecoveryDay 12: Ashampoo Photo OptimizerDay 13: Steganos Safe 19Day 14: Steganos Password Manager 19Day 15: mySteganos Online Shield VPNDay 16: Incomedia WebAnimator GODay 17: Incomedia WebSite X5 Start 17Day 18: Digiarty VideoProcDay 19: Abelssoft MovieCut 2019Day 20: Abelssoft ScreenVideo 2018Day 21: Abelssoft SyncManager 2018Day 22: ASCOMP PDF Conversahttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/LBqT9fHcPs4

The holidays are an expensive time, so we’re bringing you a special treat: a full, free Windows program to download every day until Christmas. Look behind the 22nd door on our free downloads advent calendar to find a full copy of ASCOMP PDF Conversa – a fantastically useful tool that takes the hassle out of working with PDFs. Get ASCOMP PDF ConversaOnce you've downloaded the software, register for a free account using the link at the top right of the program window to unlock the full version. Editing PDF documents is a real nuisance, but with PDF Conversa you can turn them into Word documents in seconds, ready to tweak and change to your heart's content. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LPM62fGdh6gXTDftFJxD4e.jpg You can integrate fonts into converted PDFs, compress text, and determine the quality of pictures contained within documents. You can even convert password-protected documents; ideal if you've accidentally locked yourself out. Grab ASCOMP PDF Conversa today and you'll wonder how you managed without it. Download provided by ASCOMPIn case you missed it...Day one: Ashampoo Burning Studio 2018Day two: Ashampoo WinOptimizer 2018Day three: Ashampoo Uninstaller 6Day four: Ashampoo Photo Commander 15Day five: Ashampoo Snap 9Day six: Ashampoo Backup 2018Day seven: Ashampoo UndeleterDay eight: Ashampoo Music Studio 2018Day nine: Ashampoo Disk-Space-ExplorerDay 10: Ashampoo Snap 2018Day 11: Ashampoo Photo RecoveryDay 12: Ashampoo Photo OptimizerDay 13: Steganos Safe 19Day 14: Steganos Password Manager 19Day 15: mySteganos Online Shield VPNDay 16: Incomedia WebAnimator GODay 17: Incomedia WebSite X5 Start 17Day 18: Digiarty VideoProcDay 19: Abelssoft MovieCut 2019Day 20: Abelssoft ScreenVideo 2018Day 21: Abelssoft SyncManager 2018http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/5rvzXHB2v0s

Business is now transacted on the move. According to the latest figures from the UK Cards Association, total spending on payment cards in April 2018 reached $77 billion (around £61 billion), with rises partly attributable to the impact of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Richard Koch, head of policy at the UK Cards Association, said: "Making a contactless payment is fast, easy and secure. With so many retailers now accepting this technology, we are sure consumers will continue to vote with their wallets and use contactless cards as their preferred way to pay." There is no doubt that the success of contactless payments is heralding a new era of mobile commerce. Consumers want to pay quickly and conveniently, and contactless payments are predicted to become the predominant way to pay with Juniper Research expecting them to account for 53% of POS transactions by 2022. For SMBs, offering the right payment methods has always been a vital component of their businesses. With more consumers wanting to buy on the move, ensuring your business has the right mobile payment methods is a commercial imperative that can't be ignored. The smartphone and tablet have not only delivered a mobile digital wallet to consumers, but this technology can also be used by your business to enhance its payment systems. With the addition of some low-cost hardware coupled with an app, it is possible to turn a smartphone or tablet into a fully functional payment device. Let’s look at some great choices to transform your smartphone into a mobile payment platform. We made our selections based on the best features, lowest prices, and both user and professional reviews. We've also highlighted the best payment gateways of 2018http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/U2PdSR7hYEhwrRtjSWiWgY.jpg SumUp SumUp is mobile card reader that is available in 31 countries, although it is a more recent entry to the US market. Notably, it supports cards with EMV, popularly known as the newer ‘chip cards,’ and is powered via a micro-USB port, and has a lithium ion battery. This mobile card reader solution is well suited to lower volume users as it offers a fixed 2.65% transaction cost, with no monthly fee, or minimum usage level. The card reader is available for a one time fee of $69 (£55), and connects via Bluetooth to your smartphone with a downloadable app. There is also support for a wide variety of credit cards, including MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover Card, as well as the newer services Apple Pay and Google Pay. Payouts to your bank account take an efficient one to two days. Unfortunately, the card reader is required for any transaction to occur, as transactions cannot be manually entered. You can sign up for SumUp herehttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tX4SGJqPaLYe5Ef59KvwnH.jpg Shopify Shopify offers an entire suite of merchant services. Here we are focusing on its mobile POS system, that targets selling at “fairs, markets, pop-ups, and everywhere in‑between,” making this an attractive solution for a business on the move with a pocket-sized card reader. The chip and swipe reader is also free, sweetening this deal even further. In addition to the mobile card reader offering, this also integrates into Shopify solutions including the Shopify POS smartphone app. Shopify offers three plans, with the starting tier being the Basic Shopify Plan costing $29 (£23) per month – it also has transaction fees of 2.9% plus $0.30 (£0.24) per transaction. Furthermore, there is an additional 2% fee for any payment provider other than Shopify payments. You can sign up for Shopify herehttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CTLmyt28CDtNGUyC8fjNn5.jpg PayPal Here PayPal Here is the mobile card reader offering from the online transaction juggernaut that brings instant name brand recognition to this space. A definite plus is a low cost of entry in terms of acquiring the card reader, and there are accessories on offer such as a bouncepad and charger to complete a professional package. The PayPal Mobile Card Reader that can handle card swipes is available for an affordable $15 (£12), and connects to the phone via the headphone jack, with interaction facilitated via a smartphone app. A better choice for many is the option to upgrade to the more modern Chip and Swipe Reader for $25 (£20), though the transaction fee is on the higher side at 2.7%. While the companion app offers plenty of features for invoicing and tracking, users describe the customer support as less than consistent. Sign up for PayPal Herehttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XdrprxzF8vU9XyEYy2cXBb.jpg QuickBooks Payments Intuit, best known for TurboTax, produces the QuickBooks small business accounting offering, and under that umbrella is its mobile card reader effort, which is known as QuickBooks Payments. The GoPayment smartphone app is notable, and this has a companion card reader, both of which come for no additional charge. Unlike free card readers from competing services, this one from Quickbooks Payments can handle both mag-stripe and chip methods of entry, and connects to the smartphone wirelessly via Bluetooth. Another benefit of this service is that there is no setup fee, or any minimum usage level, making QuickBooks Payments more attractive for the lower volume user. Transaction fees are not the lowest with this otherwise slick offering as they cost 2.4% plus $0.25 (£0.20) for each swipe, and for a keyed entry this rises to a lofty 3.4% plus $0.25 (£0.20) for each transaction. You can sign up for QuickBooks Payments herehttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5M4uaRDprffogQSj5rzoCA.jpg PayAnywhere PayAnywhere is a mobile card reader solution that integrates into the larger PayAnywhere ecosystem. This reader accepts the full range of payments, including traditional magnetic swipe, newer chip payments, and even the latest contactless payments, including Samsung Pay. The entry-level reader is free, connects via Bluetooth, and can do both swipe and chip transactions; an upgraded reader also supports contactless transactions. The notable feature of the PayAnywhere card reader is that it is part of the larger family of PayAnywhere services. These include being able to send invoices from within their app, accepting card payments on your website, and being able to apply discounts to invoices. For the Pay-As-You-Go plan, there is no monthly fee, with a transaction fee of 2.69% plus a free card reader is included. The upgraded Standard Plan reduces the transaction fee to a low 1.69%, but requires signing up to reveal the monthly fee. You can sign up for PayAnywhere herehttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/hc1pkqsod40

Canada-based Corel has announced that it has acquired the virtualisation software company Parallels best known for its virtual desktop software. The company now offers the complete Parallels product line including Parallels Desktop for Mac, Parallels Toolbox for Windows and Mac, Parallels Access, Parallels Mac Management for Microsoft SCCM and Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS). While financial details of the deal were not revealed, Corel plans to make a significant investment into the Parallels business and the company sees exception opportunities for both businesses by leveraging their combined strengths, customer bases, partner networks and global brands. Corel and Parallels will deliver applications and services intended to empower users across a wide variety of platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile and the cloud. Complementary product portfoliosCorel's CEO Patrick Nichols praised the deal in a statement announcing the acquisition, saying: “We’re excited to welcome our new Parallels employees to Corel’s global organization. From our highly complementary product portfolios to our shared business models and strategies, Corel and Parallels are a great fit. Thanks to the combined power of our technologies and teams, we see tremendous opportunities to drive continued growth and success for our businesses and most importantly, our customers.” Parallels' CEO Jack Zubarev expressed his excitement at joining Corel, saying: “Parallels and Corel share a common vision, market leadership, and passion for innovation. We look to forward to continuing to serve our customers and partners with best-in-class software as part of Corel.” We've also highlighted the best virtual machine softwarehttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/9UPfbmTH36k

A new report from the Navy Inspector General has revealed that Android apps used by US military personnel in live combat situations contained severe security vulnerabilities that could have been exploited by hackers to steal information on the troops. The two apps provided real-time messaging capabilities to coordinate with other branches of the military, displayed mission objectives and goals, showed satellite images of mission areas and highlighted both the locations of enemy combatants as well as those of friendly forces. The report, which was first published back in March and made public by ZDNet today, identified the vulnerable apps as KILSWITCH (Kinetic Integrated Low-Cost Software Integrated Tactical Combat Handheld) and APASS (Android Precision Assault Strike Suite). Both apps were made available to members of the military through an app store controlled by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. For training exercises onlyDue to the fact that the apps were designed solely for training purposes, the developers cut corners when it came to their security. However, the apps' sleek interface and useful features led them to become popular with US troops who then used them in live combat situations despite the security risks. In its report, the Office of the Naval Inspector General determined that most branches of the military failed to properly inform troops about the apps' shortcomings. To make matters worse, a civilian whistle-blower had been warning the US military about the apps for over a year. Civilian program analyst for the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), Anthony Kim raised his concerns about the apps back in March of 2017. Unfortunately he was ignored by his superiors and punished for repeatedly raising the alarm which led to his pay being reduced, him being placed on leave and eventually his security clearance was revoked. Via Engadget We've also highlighted the best antivirushttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/9yrp5QNONtg

In a way, 2018 has been like the TV series of Ninja Warrior for emerging technologies with AI, automation, data and blockchain the key competitors trying to surmount the many obstacles and challenges in their way. And, like the programme, so far these technologies have played hard and achieved much, but failed to win the big cash prize and become the overall winner. So, with 2019 looming, which of these will become the overall champion? In fact, will there be an overall champion? Here are our predictions for 2019: AI, stealth adoptionArtificial intelligence will be key – but only if companies can tame this data athlete, and understand how to apply it within the confines of the business. With Ovum’s ICT Enterprise Insights Survey anticipating that 60 percent of organizations will have an enterprise-wide strategy for AI in 2019, we expect a lot more companies to look for practical ways to bring AI into the business; and a key path will be through having AI embedded into their applications. Why? In 2019, it’s estimated we’ll generate more data than we did in the previous 5,000 years. Already, companies are challenged when it comes to being able to harness and apply that data intelligently to inform processes and get the insights needed to work more quickly, efficiently and flexibly. Not only will this give them a way of bringing AI to the masses through means they already feel comfortable with rather than fearing the ‘rise of the robots’, it will also mean that eventually, it’ll be saturated into the infrastructure and become prevalent in all of a business’ systems. As a result, we’re already seeing applications change before our very eyes. Conventional back office applications are becoming legacy. They’re being reinvented with innovative front ends and aggressive commercial automation. Looking ahead, transformation is only going to become more widespread. Doubling down on productivityOne of the key business drivers for AI adoption is its immense power to increase human productivity and business efficiency. A recent Oracle survey of international senior decision makers showed 42 percent are already looking to AI technology to improve efficiency within their organization. And, with ongoing improvements to its cognitive AI capabilities, those gains are only going to get bigger. In fact, we’ve already seen customers such as Spanish Football Club RCD Espanyol turn to AI to increase its finances’ team’s productivity levels by 20 percent - leaning on it to help make business decisions that don’t need human input. Looking ahead, we predict that by 2025, the productivity gains delivered by AI and augmented experiences could be as high as 50 percent compared to today’s operations. That’s nothing short of transformational. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/AvZcjmUMtehpuha5oJLcTB.jpg ‘Autonomous’ will move (data) mountains not just carsGartner predicts that by 2022, 90 percent of corporate strategies will explicitly mention information as a critical enterprise asset, with analytics becoming an essential competency. As the levels of data currently at hand are too much for humans to handle, a new approach is needed. In fact, it’s critical because businesses are starting to realize they need to be better handling their data if they want to really capitalize on it and execute on AI or IoT investments. What if the complex data management systems that turn data to insight could be made as self-driving, self-repairing and self-securing. What if it could be made as easy as the concept of the self-driving car? Oracle has already taken the next step in extreme automation with the Oracle Autonomous Database and, looking forward, we expect a huge proportion of businesses to explore similar capabilities for every aspect of data management. In fact, we believe automation will start to permeate throughout business, with 70% of IT functions completely automated, enabling companies to refocus teams from the billions of work hours spent performing routine and even mundane IT tasks each year and instead on innovation and business development. As a case in point, our customer QMP Health has automated its infrastructure to tune and manage itself with no downtime, with means faster response times and quicker decisions for the organization – and its patients. Many security tasks, meanwhile, will have to be automated, given the number of security events are predicted to increase 100x. McAfee’s 2019 Cloud Adoption and Risk Report showed the average organization will find only 1 out of 100 million events to be a threat, but with the volume so high, finding the needle in the haystack will be impossible without automation. Furthermore, customer experience and automation will go hand-n-hand, with 70 percent of customer interactions automated and AI-enabled chatbots ushering in a new era of experiences. Already today, 89% of people use voice assistants for customer service, and 69% of enterprise customer service functions use chatbots for easy, frictionless, anywhere, anytime engagement. Increasingly, this will move from being a ‘nice to have’ to becoming a basic customer expectation across nearly all markets. For that reason, we predict 85% of all interactions will be automated. Blockchain becomes cornerstone of trustFinally, from being the new kid on the block, distrusted for its association with bitcoin, blockchain will not only start to become more commonplace in business, it will also become the king of transparency and trust in 2019. This comes from the realization that it can be used to do far more than validate monetary transactions. Already, we’re seeing the technology being used to certify the ethical production of extra virgin olive oil, for tracking solar energy usage and to bring a single source of truth into the documentation processes underpinning the global shipping industry. In 2019, we’ll see it being used in even more broader contexts; from verifying the authenticity of precious stones, to tracking the source of food contaminations and on to confirming drugs are produced in accordance with stringent industry regulations. It will also, like AI, creep into day to day business as it too becomes integrated into business applications, and as they say, out of sight is out of mind. So, which will win? All will fare well, and 2019 will definitely be the year when we see some of the industry’s biggest buzzwords go from hype to fulfilment, but really they will only prove their worth if they gain true traction in the market. Gone are the days where AI or blockchain are seen as a separate entities within the infrastructure and, instead, they will be added into applications for organizations to realize the real benefit. So what they need a solid partner, one that can bring out their strengths and accelerate their value. And in the context of our emerging tech Ninja Warriors, their coach would equate to completely integrated cloud that unifies control, security and innovation in one place enabling organizations to run their operations in the cloud, regardless of workload or future trends beyond 2019, offering them the opportunity to deliver the products and services that keep them agile and competitive. John Abel is VP of Cloud and Innovation at Oracle The best cloud hosting providers of 2018http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/V7mT7VBInDM

Update: there's still time to get this fantastic cheap Xbox Live gold deal. And don't forget, CDKeys' instant delivery service means you won't have to worry about it being delivered in time for Christmas. The only thing you have to worry about is the store selling out at this super low price. This is a fantastic time of year to get a cheap Xbox Live Gold membership deal. Especially on the 12-month ones, which are always the length we go for to get the lowest monthly price overall. Xbox Live Gold membership grants you access to a selection of free games each month, exclusive discounts in the digital game store and also access to play online multiplayer on your Xbox One or Xbox One X. All these benefits make Xbox Live Gold subscriptions a fantastic gift at this time of year for anyone getting a new Xbox console for Christmas or even for someone that may already have one. And it doesn't matter if you already have a membership, as this one can be stacked onto an existing subscription and you'll find these prices much cheaper than the default auto-renew prices or the prices you'd pay picking a sub up at most other online stores or game store shelf. And yes, if you're moving from a regular Xbox One, to a new 4K Xbox One X you can use the same subscription. The Xbox Live Gold prices listed below are from CDKeys.com, an online specialist in cheap digital gaming and subscription keys. Codes will be delivered within minutes of the transaction, meaning you don't have to wait for them to arrive in the post. If you are gifting the membership, you could always print off the code and put it inside a nice festive card. Given prices for Xbox Live Gold usually shoot up after Christmas, you could save someone a lot of money with a present like this. Xbox Live Gold 12 months - $59.99 $44.99 at CDKeys.com - USAXbox Live Gold 12 months - £39.99 £33.99 at CDKeys.com - UKXbox Live Gold 12 months - AU$71.19 AU$60.49 at CDKeys.com - Aus If you'd rather buy from a store you might know a bit more in the US, then Walmart will email you a code straight away, although it'll cost you the regular $59.99 there. We've not seen prices this low for a long time over on our regularly-updated Xbox Live Gold deals guide, so we're confident they won't go any lower before Christmas. There are some brilliant discounts available in the US/UK for Xbox Game Pass deals too if you fancy giving the 'Netflix of gaming' a spin. If you're still looking for more gift ideas before Christmas, be sure to check out our full range of cheap deals features. We've rounded up the best offers on a huge range of items including gaming consoles, TVs, laptops, mobile phones, broadband, digital TV subs, smart speakers and much more. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/5nJ9KVNo5rg

While moving to the cloud is a large part of many businesses’ digital transformation efforts, some companies have yet to do so. Security concerns such as data breaches and data loss are the main reasons these businesses have held off on their own cloud migrations. In an effort to better understand how businesses can move their workflows to the cloud without sacrificing their security, TechRadar Pro spoke to BitTitan’s Vice President of Products Mark Kirstein. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8KyQTpRGfAJ86XhCPZLMVb.jpg http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/58c8bd22ea85f7b653ca031824272501.jpg http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nc3LDDvvKxigsEU7A5Qqca.jpg Mark Kirstein, Vice President of Products at BitTitan We've also highlighted the best cloud computing serviceshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/uNzO1hqYzLA

We've not even had chance to get the freezer out of the freezer yet, and yet we're already plunging straight on into January sales and Carphone Warehouse has led the way with its push of deals on devices including the iPhone XR, Samsung Galaxy S9 and Huawei Mate 20 Pro. To sweeten the deal, Carphone is offering the first few months half price on some of these devices meaning you'll still get the same amount of data but only pay half of your monthly costs. These range from three to six months half price depending on the contract and can shave a fair amount of your total 24 month cost. And if you order before 3pm on December 23 you can get the phone delivered in time for Christmas. We've listed all of Carphone's standout deals below and how long the half price period lasts for each one. Although these prices are brilliant during the half price stage they do become really quite expensive after that so if you would rather have some stability and pay more affordable prices throughout then go to our mobile phone deals page for all of the best offers on phones today. These January sale mobile phone deals in full:iPhone 7 - £38pm, 30GB of data, Unlimited calls and texts, three half price months, O2 iPhone 8 - £49pm, 100GB of data, Unlimited calls and texts, three half price months, O2 iPhone SE - £31pm, 10GB of data, Unlimited calls and texts, six half price months, O2 iPhone XR - £62pm, 30GB of data, Unlimited calls and texts, six half price months, EE Google Pixel 3 - £79.99pm, 30GB of data, Unlimited calls and texts, three half price months, EE Huawei P20 Pro - £49pm, 100GB of data, Unlimited calls and texts, three half price months, O2 Samsung Galaxy S9 - £43, 30GB of data, Unlimited calls and texts, three half price months, EE Samsung Galaxy Note 9 - 70GB of data, Unlimited calls and texts, three half price months, O2 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/GkMfLhmdxYk

Welcome to TechRadar’s updated review of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, on Nintendo Switch. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may already be the fastest-selling title on Nintendo's fastest selling console. That's fitting for a crossover fighting game that moves fast, and packs in a massive amount of action into even a small handheld screen. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate packs in more fighters, more stages, more gameplay modes, and more tactical elements of any game in the franchise. This is, for all intents and purposes, the definitive Super Smash Bros., with everything that entails. We've sampled all of the Classic, Smash, Spirit, and World of Light game modes Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has to offer – including the crucial online competitive multiplayer, now that the game's global servers have gone online. So what did we think of the latest iteration of Nintendo's iconic brawler? Read on in our definitive review below. The joy of SmashThe core experience of any Smash Bros. game is the multiplayer, whether that’s local co-op on the couch, or smashing heads in competitive matches online. Like its predecessors, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate looks to the tactical mechanics of traditional fighting games, and then chucks them into a sandpit of all your favorite toys - throwing together characters from Pokemon, Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Metroid, Animal Crossing, and countless other Nintendo or third-party IP. The result is a chaotic, joyous, maddening, sometimes incomprehensible mess of blows, items, assist trophies, and finishing moves. In short: it’s very, very fun. As ever, each fighter comes with a variation on standard attacks (A button and directional pad), special attacks (B button and directional pad), grab attacks (L / R), and shields (ZL / ZR). That’s not to mention the seismic ‘smash attack’ that fighters earn from capturing a floating orb called the ‘Smash Ball’ that wanders onto the stage – a massive and over-the-top special move with the potential to brutally damage the other fighters onstage. A smash attack might see a fighter jet fly into the fray (Fox McCloud) a ball of lightning knock players off the stage (Pikachu), or a vampire-slayer banish an opponent into a virtual coffin (Richter Belmont). Smash Bros. has a flair for the dramatic, and Ultimate is no exception. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vvvQpGnVDBna3hmNgyGKfE.jpg Despite the huge amount of action going on onscreen, playing Ultimate remains surprisingly accessible, with enough luck thrown in that you never quite know how a match is going to turn out. Veteran gamers may have mastered the moveset of their top fighters, but a chance smash ball or couple of unlucky slips off the edge of the stage could swing a match either way. Jumping around and button-mashing remains a valid – and crucially, fun – way to start out, given how dynamic the stages and interfering items tend to be. Local co-op can support up to eight individual players around one console, with either a Pro Controller, paired Joy-Con grip, or single Joy-Con. Sure, the single Joy-Con may feel a bit cramped for grown-up, adult hands, but it’s still somewhat incredible you still get all of the same button functionality and HD rumble features in such a small piece of hardware. The chaos is part of the charm, of course, and Ultimate ramps up the overall speed for livelier, faster-paced combat. Other mechanical changes that prevent skidding, stop fighters from ‘phasing’ past each other, and make grabs bounce off each other, make this a game where you can’t as easily run or avoid attacks, and it’s all the stronger for it. The ability to customize matches, though, means you can either ramp up the heat or strip the back the experience for something simpler. You can cull all the items, or only allow banana peels and Pokeballs. You can pick your favorite stage to battle on – out of the immense 103 options available – allocate one at random, or set the game to jump to a different stage at an unspecified point in the match. You can vary the number of lives, turn off damage counters, restrict character selection, and too many other things to list here. There's no shame in sticking to default settings, but if that sort of detail and customization interests you, you may spend as much time experimenting with small settings changes as you do actually brawling. Online messBut for all this, there have been rumblings of anger in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's matchmaking. While players with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription can battle in up to four-player matches online, there isn't as much freedom as you'd like. Players can set their 'preferred rules' regarding use of items, number of players, and style of match, but it's just that: a preference. You'll often find yourself playing in configurations you didn't sign up for, just because that's what the game found easier to match you up in. Recent patches seem to be improving this, though. Players are also reporting numerous issues with lag and connection speed – crucial for high-speed competitive play where a few milliseconds could be the difference between dodging an attack or being thrown offscreen. Smash Bros. Ultimate runs matches between each player's hardware, rather than on a dedicated server, meaning that one player's slow internet can be another player's hell. The promise of Smash Bros. competitive multiplayer will have sold a lot of Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions, so we're hoping this continues to be addressed – but be warned that you'll need a strong internet connection, and possibly some patience, to get the online experience you wanted. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/g8KxjE6wXkf8LfZACwoqsN.jpg The whole gang's hereThe sheer number of fighters on the roster – 74, at launch – may look daunting, and it is. To start, however, players will be starting with only eight: Mario, Pikachu, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Samus, Link, Kirby, and Fox. And yes, this is the starting roster from the original 1999 Super Smash Bros. (Boy, do Nintendo know how to do a throwback.) You’ll then have the ability to unlock other fighters through the single-player modes, or in chance encounters that literally spring out at you when navigating the game’s menus. The main point here is that near enough anyone sitting down the play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will know one of the characters on the roster. Whether you’re a veteran gamer who grew up playing Ice Climbers and Pac-Man, a long-time Metroid or Super Mario fan, or someone who bought a Nintendo Switch just to play Splatoon 2, you’ll recognize some of the faces, and likely have played some of the IP featured here. While the mechanics are complex, and painstakingly tweaked to ensure balance between the huge number of characters – we couldn’t even guess how many hours of playtesting Nintendo needed – anyone can pick up a Joy-Con and start swinging their fists as Kirby or Donkey Kong. By going big with its character list, Nintendo have opened up the franchise far beyond any of the previous games. You’ll see this with the 11 brand new fighters added for Ultimate. While the likes of Ridley and King K. Rule both offer small variations on ‘heavy’ fighters, and Daisy and Dark Samus copy the moveset of existing characters, others bring something far more experimental. The Inklings from Splatoon have an ink meter that needs to be recharged every few moves – literally by submerging yourself in paint – though this will leave you vulnerable to melee attacks. The Pokemon Incineroar too offers big offense, but has a tendency to launch itself offstage if you’re not careful about where you’re facing. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ihrVjmAJmSCmb6PamupTsN.jpg While we haven’t got to try out the incoming DLC characters – the first of which, Piranha Plant, will be free for anyone who buys the game by the end of January – the range of options is huge. There’s an immense feeling of community, of disparate faces and characters coming together, even if they do so to pummel each other into the air. The remaining four DLC fighters are yet to be revealed, but we know for a fact they won’t be Echo Fighters. (Our money’s on Detective Pikachu making an appearance.) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Guide: how to unlock every characterA mode for every occasionBut there’s still so much more than just smashing. The recently revealed World of Light mode functions as a single-player campaign, based on a cataclysmic event that tears the entire world’s souls from their bodies. (Yup.) Everyone except pink little Kirby, that is, who’s presumably too cute to be doomed with the others. You set off as Kirby on a quest to fight the possessed bodies of your friends, who have been inhabited by ‘spirits’, in order to add other fighters to your roster and choose your route across the World of Light map as you make your way to the final boss, Galeem: some sort of feathery-light-serpent-god that's to blame for messing with everyone's souls. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BjEPZwcMFHzsByU3dPwhpN.jpg These spirits offer the main departure from previous Smash Bros. games. Spirits are essentially a form of collectable sticker you can allocate to fighters to increase their stats, alter their weight and speed, or add special effects and items in battle. Spirits replace the collectable trophies players would collect by battling and defeating characters in previous games, with a far more tactical element. The spirits also take the form of hundreds of other Nintendo and third-party characters that are likely to inspire joyous nostalgia and puzzled looks in equal measure. That’s not to mention the Classic Mode, with a unique series of stages and opponents for each fighter. Or dedicated challenge modes and All-Star Smash stages (where you fight every single fighter on the roster). Or the camera mode for replaying battles and picking the perfect angle for your heat-of-battle stills. Or the new training mode that lets you test out the exact distance, power, and angle of each of your fighter’s moves on a literal giant graph. But whether you’re here to hone your skills, take some fun snaps, or just smash that controller to high heaven, Ultimate has something for you, and enough fighters to offer near endless replay value - even if you're only ever likely to stick with a handful that suit your play-style. The whole spirit conceit is slightly nonsensical, and rests on tenuous connections between little-known video game characters with the big names on the roster (Ultimate tries to match them together for the single-player mode, but even the whole thing can feel slightly baffling). Just labelling them collectables, or adding stat changes to trophies, might have been simpler. But for the gamers who recognise Mega Man’s Skull Man boss, Advance Wars’ pilot Hawk, or the Slime from Dragon Quest, finding and collating those stickers is a treat unto itself, and will offer a whole other layer of tactical complexity to those who are looking for it. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8jVSDeauZr73xTrSAKvkpN.jpg Fan serviceSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate is all about giving players what they want. Say what you want about Smash Bros. on the home console Wii U or lower-spec handheld 3DS – few people bought into the hardware to play on the former, while it was never going to feel like a complete experience on the latter. The line-up of games for the Nintendo Switch has had no shortage of Wii U ports, like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokken Tournement DX, or Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze – and we could well have got a port of the Super Smash Bros. entry that came to Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. But Nintendo went further. We got a brand new Smash Bros. game, built from the ground up for Nintendo Switch. We got every character ever featured in the series, along with a host of new faces, and a fully fleshed-out single-player mode. That’s 74 fighters total, with another five coming in DLC (Piranha Plant and Persona 5's Joker both being confirmed). For comparison, Street Fighter V has a roster of 34 characters, while the latest Tekken game lists 48. We may never get to play as Waluigi (sadly relegated to an Assist Trophy) but there’s more than enough here to distract ourselves. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3DTMwwS3RRptZjj2vNNkpN.jpg Our verdict: play it nowYou may not use half the settings, or end up trying 80% of the roster, or bother about collecting every 'spirit' character throughout the game. And if there's anything to criticize in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it's that there's almost too many fighters, modes, and convoluted options packed in. As exciting and inclusive as the roster is, 74 or 79 fighters are a lot for players to keep track of, and the increasingly serious focus of Nintendo on competitive play / eSports – with the complexity and intensity that entails – may well mean drifting away from the casual nature of much of its intended fanbase. Even if the initial troubles with smooth online play aren't going to please either camp. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may try to do both – and do them well – and this 'definitive' Smash Bros. may feel to some like its soul is split down the middle. Whatever you're playing for though, Ultimate is a lot of good fun. Best Nintendo Switch games 2018: must-have games at home and on-the-gohttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/VU2NojKAm5k

You're generally pushing your luck at most stores now with getting items delivered before Christmas, which is why this digital-delivery deal is perfect for a cheap PlayStation Plus membership price. We've tracked down the cheapest PlayStation Plus prices on the net and have found CDKeys.com has the best prices in both the US and UK today. As we said though, you don't have to wait for delivery as the code will be emailed to you or accessed via your orders section on CDKeys' site once you've paid. So you can either print off the code or write it into a Christmas card. Be sure to select the correct one from the links below, as PlayStation Plus membership codes are country-specific. PlayStation Plus memberships can be pricey if you pay full price or accidentally let the auto-renew settings pay for a year as soon as your current sub ends. We can do much better for you here at TechRadar Deals though. This is a fantastic gift idea for anyone you know that may be getting a PS4 or PS4 Pro for Christmas. It's even a great buy if they already have a sub, as you can stack this on top of an existing one. Note: the bigger discount is reserved for the UK sub today as you're saving over £10 off the official RRP. Whereas in the US, CDKeys despite boasting a reduction from a '$69.99' original price is actually only a couple of dollars cheaper than the actual MSRP of $59.99 (we assume that's a typo on the original price on the site) - still, it is cheaper. If you prefer Walmart, you can get a code delivered for $59.99 if you're looking to gift a code to someone. PlayStation Plus 12-months $69.99 $57.99 at CDKeys.com - USAPlayStation Plus 12-months £49.99 £39.79 at CDKeys.com - UKWe compare PlayStation Plus prices and deals all year, so we know a great set of prices when we see them and we love these ones! If you're looking for even more deals before Christmas arrives, we've got you covered for phones, laptops, TVs, gaming consoles, iPads and everything in between. Take a look at our other cheap deals. And if you're in the UK, be sure to check out the best Boxing Day sales and January sales. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/eECPd98jjFA

Photo credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University Researchers at Harvard University have created a tiny walking robot with electro-adhesive feet that's capable of wandering around freely inside tiny spaces – even upside-down, provided the surface can conduct electricity. The Harvard Ambulatory Micro-Robot with Electroadhesion (HAMR-E), which was developed in response to a challenge from Rolls-Royce, is able pad around deep inside spaces too small for humans to each. It's hoped that the bot will eventually be able to carry tools and cameras, allowing engineers to inspect and repair complex machines (like Rolls-Royce's jet engines) without disassembling them. Sticky businessThe robot's 'sticky' foot-pads consist of a polyimide-insulated copper electrode, which enables generation of electrostatic forces between the feet and the conductive surface. The pads can be engaged and released by switching the electric field on and off (much like an electromagnet). It also has a special gait, which enables it to walk while inverted. Three of its feet remain attached to the surface to keep it from sliding off the surface, while the fourth swings forward and re-attaches further along. This unique way of walking causes the legs to rotate, so the researchers created special origami-inspired ankle joints to compensate. Layers of tough fibreglass and polyimide are folded into a structure that lets the ankles rotate freely and adapt to the surface as the little bot wanders about. Baby stepsHAMR-E has great potential, and the researchers are now exploring ways to detect and compensate for detached foot pads, so it doesn't drop off if it loses its footing (nobody wants to hunt inside a jet engine for a tiny broken robot), and make it walk on non-conductive surfaces. "This iteration of HAMR-E is the first and most convincing step towards showing that this approach to a centimeter-scale climbing robot is possible, and that such robots could in the future be used to explore any sort of infrastructure, including buildings, pipes, engines, generators, and more,” said Robert Wood PhD, co-author of a report on the project in Science Robotics. “While academic scientists are very good at coming up with fundamental questions to explore in the lab, sometimes collaborations with industrial scientists who understand real-world problems are required to develop innovative technologies that can be translated into useful products." The best robot toy gifts of 2018Via Wiredhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/D6hfj3PokFo

There are many, many reasons why you need a fantastic soundbar, the main one being that your current 4K TV home theater set-up truly deserves the sound to match. With displays getting slimmer and slimmer, a powerful all-in-one speaker system is the perfect way to boost your TV's feeble speakers, and it won't stick out next to your svelte screen like a stereo system would. Soundbars traditionally sit in front of your screen - though they can also be wall-mounted - and therefore fully take over the heavy audio lifting from your television. That means that soundbars are also the perfect solution for smaller homes that can't quite fit a 7.1 channel speaker system. Despite most only featuring front-facing speakers, they’re able to confidently project sound in a way that makes it seems as though there's booming audio coming from most directions. Most of the top soundbars on the list offer even more advanced features, such as Dolby Atmos support and even multi-room audio functionality, which allows you to stream the same audio signal between different rooms within your home. The problem with soundbars is that if you choose poorly for your home and your current set-up, you may end up with a speaker that’s barely better than your TV’s built-in speakers. Want to know about the best soundbar of 2019? Our CES 2019 coverage starts January 7! What's the best soundbar?When it comes to soundbars, there’s a lot of choice. Despite they’re called soundBARS, they tend to come in different shapes and sizes. They also range in price from under £100/$100 to over £1,000/$1,500. The cheaper the model you go for, the more basic the connections are likely to be. Whereas more expensive ones add superior HDMI inputs (including 4K/HDR passthrough), wireless audio streaming (e.g. Bluetooth and AirPlay), better power, more refined speaker drivers, and decoding of Blu-ray sound formats. Of course a full surround setup is the premium solution to bad sounding televisions, but if you're short on space (as well as budget) then a soundbar offers a good compromise. More than that, these days higher-end soundbars will also include the latest and greatest audio technologies like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. So it’s not like you’re getting a sub-standard experience, just a different one. Design is also important, with some models able to sit in front of your TV on a stand while others may need a separate shelf, or to be mounted up on the wall. But whatever your budget, there are some cracking good acoustic upgrades to be had that can give your TV the sound it deserves. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/EZHjg6N6pt2jxqwMTQQZid.jpg Not content with dominating the TV world, Samsung now seems to have its sights set on becoming the number one brand for home entertainment audio, too. All this effort has already delivered outstanding results in the shape of both the HW-K850 and, especially, HW-K950 Dolby Atmos soundbars, as well as a range of ground-breaking multi-room wireless speakers. But, above everything stands the South Korean manufacturer's HW-MS650. No other one-body soundbar has combined so much raw power with so much clarity, scale and, especially, bass, or excelled so consistently with both films and music. It’s the sort of performance that only genuine audio innovation can deliver - and with that in mind, it’s well worth its $450/£599 price tag. Read the full review: Samsung HW-MS650 Soundbar http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/AJ3wbKDeAWGDfiAdWpvZFW.jpg The Sony HT-ST5000 is the priciest soundbar you’ll find here, but for the money you’ll get an exceptional piece of equipment that offers support for Dolby’s spatial Atmos tech – on top of dealing exceptionally well with more conventional surround sound. The build quality and design of the soundbar is exceptional, and its general audio performance impresses with its clarity and spatial presentation. Still, the lofty price tag might turn some users off, and most people will get everything they need from less expensive units like the Samsung HW-MS650 above. But, if you want to have the best high-end soundbar around, the HT-ST5000 is the best soundbar you can buy today. Read the full review: Sony HT-ST5000 http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/CktDzBmQtXtuiLdEwMCCjF.jpg The Q Acoustics M4 soundbar doesn’t immediately set pulses racing with its slightly prosaic looks, ‘mere’ 2.1-channel sound and lack of any HDMI support. However, you only have to hear what the M4 can do with both music and movies for your doubts about it to evaporate almost instantly. In fact, it sounds so good that it starts to make the idea of trying to deliver more channels from an affordable soundbar look a bit silly. In fact, though, it sounds so much better than pretty much any rival soundbar in the same price bracket that it’s actually ridiculously good value - especially if you care about music as much as you care about movies. Read the full review: Q Acoustics M4 Soundbar http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mwtkTBBYyffB4jEBiBBYnZ.jpg The Samsung HW-N950 is something special. It's the latest flagship soundbar from the company, but the first to benefit from Samsung’s acquisition of Harman Kardon – a partnership that's already paying dividends. The HW-N950 is a whole-hearted upgrade on our previous award-winner, Samsung's HW-K950 – which long held the #6 spot on this list. Most importantly, the N950 now supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, compared to the K950 which was disappointingly limited to the former. With that in mind, the Samsung HW-N950 is simply one of the best soundbars that we have heard to date – and one of the only soundbars that really delivers a 7.1.4-channel immersive audio experience. The use of wireless rear speakers and a subwoofer, make the N950 easy to install and setup and allow the N950 to deliver object-based audio as the content creators intended, without resorting to psychoacoustic trickery. Read the full review: Samsung HW-N950 http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/156bd6cd4744840ec91f0ee0bfe311ec.jpg The Philips Fidelio B5 is an impressive bit of kit, and it's the perfect soundbar for someone who appreciates good cinema sound but has no interest in tearing up their living room to install a 5.1 surround sound system to use only every now and then. The B5 enables you to pick and choose your movie moments, and do it on a whim. And it creates a pretty decent surround sound experience too, using both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS Digital Surround decoding. The combination of convenience and good audio – the raison d'etre of the soundbar – with its transformative surround sound capabilities makes the Fidelio B5 a great option for the movie fan who can't face all the aggravation of a proper 5.1 installation. Read the full review: Philips Fidelio B5 http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aa8784343aa683f4f529c9170bba9100.jpg The Sonos Playbar is a non-HDMI device that uses optical to hook up to a TV. Used simply on its own it delivers a massive sonic boost to your TV listening, but operating it does require using a smartphone or tablet app. The benefit is that it can seamlessly segue in to a Sonos wireless system, and can even act as the front three speakers in a 5.1 setup with two Play:1s acting as rears. Unfortunately although it's optical-only setup will be great for most, it does exclude owners of TVs that lack this connector, which has pushed it a little further down this list. Read the full review: Sonos Playbar http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FoimYAyKF7Jaz8bwHdiYgc.jpg The Sonos Beam is a fantastic soundbar for its price, one that takes full advantage of the Sonos ecosystem and is a joy to use (and set up, if your television has HDMI ARC). Its smaller form factor means it’s a device that will sit comfortably next to a 32-inch TV but it’s got enough of a footprint to not be dwarfed by a much bigger set. The Sonos Beam doesn’t offer earth-shattering bass and the lack of Dolby Atmos support will irk some, but at this price point it'd be more of a surprise if it had been included. The voice control may be Alexa-only for now, but it works well and if you have adopted some of Amazon’s TV toys, it really is worth experimenting with. Read the full review: Sonos Beam http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vUw2nh3uCnqcM9tQMAxAMk.jpg With its nine drivers are arranged in trios for left, center and right channels and a virtual surround mode to create the illusion of having more speakers around the room, the HEOS Bar is pretty much whatever you want it to be. Blessed with such a balanced soundscape, the HEOS Bar proved immediately adept with music, and has a consistently warm yet refined sound quality that's all its own. The fact that it lacks the opportunity to tweak the audio settings is not as important as we had feared. Music sounds superb, especially lossless tunes, from which HEOS Bar drags out a lot of detail. However, we did notice on a couple of occasions that the first half-a-second was cut-off songs. Read the full review: Denon HEOS Bar http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/21c5309e7901c8bf21b198a5f0486a32.jpg Focal, most known for its excellent sounding speakers (and the recently released Focal Listen headphones), is late to the soundbar space, but its Focal Dimension was worth the wait. The Dimension soundbar is simply gorgeous, with its piano black accents and aluminum unibody construction. At $1,399 (£799, AU$1,699) it's not exactly cheap, but you're paying for excellent build quality, sound and design. Read the full review: Focal Dimension http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MpJ4NgDF4eBHAHk5uBPy5a.jpg Boasting high-end design, Bose's slim soundbar looks superb, and sounds above average. At 97.9cm wide, it’s best partnered with larger screen sizes (50-inch+) and priced at £599/$700/AU$999, it offers great sound. There are caveats regarding usability and price, but overall it warrants a cautious two thumbs up. It's also worth mentioning that, as this isn’t a 2.1 package, there’s no subwoofer supplied – although Bose will sell you a wireless Acoustimas sub and the ST300 can be partnered with the brand’s Virtually Invisible (i.e. small at 10cm) 300 surround speakers. The system is also compatible with the Bose SoundTouch wireless multiroom system which includes smaller Bluetooth speakers. Read the full review: Bose SoundTouch 300 http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/w9RHTeYVV4UPKtPCiPrhGC.jpg You know, it just didn't feel fair comparing the Creative X-Fi Sonic Carrier to other soundbars on this list. It'd be like comparing jet-skis to yachts. That being said, if you have the deep pockets to afford it, the Creative X-Fi Sonic Carrier is in a different league of soundbars. It features 17 speakers set in an 11.2.4-channel or 15.2-channel configuration that can put out well over 110 dB of sound and supports Dolby Atmos right out of the box. Is $4,000 too much to spend on a soundbar - even one as genuinely awesome as the Creative X-Fi Sonic Carrier? Probably. But is a few grand worth spending to turn your basement or garage into a club / near-cinema-quality home theater? Yeah. It is. We've come up with a list of the best Sci-Fi movies to really put your soundbar to the test.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/FGYagwZBV1c

Forget Black Friday, Christmas and the Boxing Day sales are trying to wrestle back the title as the best time of the year to buy tech on the cheap. And nothing more exemplifies this than this ridiculous new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 deal. It's the cheapest we've ever seen the SIM-free phone, thanks to a meaty price drop on Amazon.co.uk combined with the cashback promotion Samsung itself is running until Christmas Eve. That means you spend £652 first up - so already over £200 cheaper than the £899 RRP - and then apply the £150 cashback. Total price: a ridiculously cheap £502! Click here to get this discounted Samsung Galaxy Note 9 If that sounds like a good price to you, then we suggest you get in there quick. These cheap Amazon prices tend not to last too long, especially when everybody's trying to snap up last minute Christmas presents. And, again, the cashback offer ends on Monday, with more details below on how to claim that. If you're eyeing up this deal, then you'll doubtlessly know all about the brilliance of the Samsung Note 9 - a phablet that sits in second place on our top phones of 2018 list. But to find out more, don't miss our in-depth Samsung Galaxy Note 9 review. Rather grab this phone on contract? Check out our best Note 9 deals guideHow to claim your Samsung cashbackAfter you've bought your brand new Note 9. There are a few steps to take to claim the cashback. The first step is going to this link within 30 days of purchasing the device. That link will ask you for your IMEI number which you can easily find by dialling *#06# on the device. Next, you give your details along with a scanned copy of the proof of purchase to Samsung. Finally, your cashback request will go through and, all being well, your money should arrive in the next 30 days. You do have to purchase your new device before December 24 to be eligible. That's a lot of information condensed, so if you're still unsure on the details check our guide for a full explanation. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/Ih-WJj6Oz-s

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is set to be the biggest, and most expensive of a trio of new smartphones from the South Korean firm in the first quarter of 2019. Alongside the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Lite, the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus could well be the biggest and possibly best of the range. While it probably won't land before late February, we've already heard a lot thanks to a swath of Galaxy S10 Plus leaks and rumors that have hit the web in recent months. From what we can tell so far, the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus could be very different to the Galaxy S9 Plus, with a new design and numerous new features. Update: A new leak suggests the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus will have at taller, 19:9 aspect ratio display with thinner bezels. You'll find full details on all the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus rumors below, as well as information on the possible Galaxy S10 Plus release date and price. We'll also be sure to update this article whenever credible information emerges, so be sure to check back here regularly if you want to keep up to date on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus. There are plenty of rumors about the Samsung Galaxy S10 tooCut to the chaseWhat is it? Samsung's next big screen flagship phoneWhen is it out? Possibly late FebruaryWhat will it cost? Likely at least $840 / £869 / AU$1,349Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus release date and priceHottest leaks: Could land at or just before MWC 2019 (February 25-28)Our best guess for when we'll see the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is at MWC 2019, which takes place from February 25-28. An announcement there has been rumored more than once and on top of that the Samsung Galaxy S9 range landed at MWC 2018, so it seems likely. More specifically, it might land a day or so before the event formally kicks off, as Samsung often holds press events in advance of MWC. Of course, there's no guarantee that this is where we'll see the S10 Plus, especially as Samsung doesn't always use MWC to announce new entries in the range, although we couldn't count on the one source that reckons the Galaxy S10 Plus could arrive at CES 2019 in January. It's simply way too early. But if not at MWC then certainly sometime within the first few months of the year, as there’s around a year between each model. There aren't any Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus price rumors yet, but given that the Galaxy S9 Plus launched for $840 / £869 / AU$1,349 we’d expect the S10 Plus will cost at least that much. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nuxqtASMW8CGuJhF8Am9qB.jpg The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is sure to be at least as expensive as the S9 Plus Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus design and displayHottest leaks: A 6.4-inch 1440 x 3040 screenA pinhole camera and small bezelsOur latest real look at the possible design of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus comes from two leaked images, which oddly don't match up. As you can see below, they both show a phone with a triple-lens camera, but the color of the camera block differs and the size of the lenses possibly does as well, so it's possible that only one or neither of these images is right, or that they show different phones - perhaps one shows the S10 while the other shows the Galaxy S10 Plus. The images otherwise do line up, showing a slightly curved back, probably made of glass, and a frame that looks to be made of metal. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/pTDbdXCKsxTzqWLbW824iC.jpg Is the Galaxy S10 Plus in line for a triple camera setup? (credit: SlashGear / Weibo) We've also seen an image possibly showing a prototype of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus from the front where you can see there's a dual-lens camera in a corner notch (as opposed to it being cut into the screen as some leaks show). You can see this below. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/97EtbDqmQjCwDLZxqLJTo5.jpg The Galaxy S10 Plus may have hardly any bezels (credit: SlashLeaks) Elsewhere, we've seen renders of the Galaxy S10 Plus in a case, complete with four cameras on the back (rather than the three pictured above). There's also a dual-lens camera on the front but it's cut into the screen rather than extending from the top edge. Previously we saw some leaked renders shared by OnLeaks (a reliable leaker), which gave a more complete look at the possible design of the Galaxy S10 Plus. The renders, which you can see below, show a cut-out in the screen for a dual-lens front-facing camera, but the bezels are very slim. The images also show a quad-lens camera on the back (check the camera section below for more information on this). An earlier version of these images showed three cameras and larger bezels, but this was apparently inaccurate, though was more in line with some of the photos above. There's also a 3.5mm headphone port on the bottom edge, a curved display and what looks to be a metal frame and glass back, shown in both black and ‘Ice Blue’. The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is apparently 157.5 x 75.0 x 7.8mm, rising to 9mm at the camera bump, which makes it a similar size to the 158.1 x 73.8 x 8.5mm Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, despite apparently having a larger 6.4-inch screen. That screen apparently has a QHD resolution, according to this source, which more or less lines up with a benchmark for one of the S10 models, which lists the phone as having a 1440 x 3040 resolution and a 19:9 aspect ratio. Further benchmarks, this time specific to the Galaxy S10 Plus, confirm the aspect ratio and resolution. We've also heard more than once that the screen might be 6.4 inches, though at least one rumor puts it at 6.2 inches, so we're not at all certain of the size yet. As for the pinhole camera in the pictures above, there's plenty of evidence for that. In fact, Samsung itself has announced a screen with a pinhole camera, dubbed the 'Infinity-O', though hasn't said what devices this display would be used for. A patent filed by the company also shows such a design. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/49D9dp7B3BsWa8cTgEDQWA.jpg Credit: LetsGoDigital More recently we've seen mock-ups shared by renowned tipster Evan Blass that point to very small pinhole notches being cut out in the center of the display. At this stage it seems no one really knows where those holes are going to be. The pictures show the comparative screen sizes of the three devices that Samsung might launch in its new range: the S10 Lite, the S10, and the S10 Plus. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zPATE89eutGzih46pCqgHD.jpg Samsung Galaxy S10 leak (credit: @evleaks) Another source has also said that at least one of the S10 models will have a "punch hole" camera, along with three rear cameras and an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner. So there's a high chance that the camera will indeed be built into the screen. As for that ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint scanner, that's another Galaxy S10 Plus rumor we've heard about plenty of times. Several phones such as the OnePlus 6T and Huawei Mate 20 Pro already have in-screen scanners, so it wouldn't be surprising if Samsung stuck one on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus. More than just being in-screen though, this is rumored to be a third-generation ultrasonic scanner from Qualcomm, which should be more secure than most in-screen scanners, as many are optical, meaning they take a 2D scan of your print, while ultrasonic ones capture a 3D picture. However, while it might gain an in-screen scanner, the Galaxy S10 Plus could lose the range's iris scanner, according to multiple reports. Though face scanning is likely to remain. And while the renders above are our best guess for the design of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus so far, there are some other possibilities. Samsung has also announced a screen with seemingly no notch, no significant bezel and no pinhole for the camera, so there's a chance that will be used. You can see how that might look in the image below, though we’d take this picture with a huge side of salt – it's one of the older Galaxy S10 leaks and another source has suggested it's inaccurate. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/C2wM3Gx7GhebzCZUcTPQSM.jpg Credit: @UniverseIce We've also seen multiple images of a screen protector supposedly for the Galaxy S10. This is likely for the standard model rather than the Galaxy S10 Plus, but the two phones will probably have a similar design and you can see here too that there's seemingly a bezel-free look. Though in the case of these screen protectors it's always possible that they just didn't bother making a cut-out for the camera, since the protector is transparent anyway. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/h536rcdps8nXDFRaax9eY3.jpg Credit: @UniverseIce Whatever the look of the phone, it's sure to be different to the S9 range, as Samsung's mobile division CEO has said to expect a "very significant" makeover. There could also be some different colors on offer. As well as the ones pictured above, we've also heard rumors of grey, blue, red, green and yellow shades, while Samsung itself may have hinted at silver, green, black, blue and red shades in a presentation. Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus cameraHottest leaks: Three lenses on the back, two on the frontCould include a 16MP wide-angle, 13MP telephoto and 12MP standard lensOne lens might have a variable apertureCould have up to six camerasMultiple sources have claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus will have a triple-lens rear camera. More specifically, a report has said that the phone will have a 12MP f/1.5-f/2.4 variable aperture lens, a 16MP f/1.9 aperture lens with a 123-degree field of view, and a 13MP f/2.4 aperture lens. Those specs have come up more than once, with another source saying the phone will have a 12MP wide-angle lens, a 16MP super wide-angle lens and a 13MP telephoto lens. Similarly, leaker Evan Blass has said that at least one S10 model will have a wide-angle lens, a standard lens and a telephoto lens. The Galaxy S10 Plus is also thought to have a dual-lens front-facing camera. That's a claim we've heard more than once. That would make for five cameras total, but one of these reports even talks about a Samsung phone with six cameras, and the renders above also show four rear cameras (along with two on the front). It sounds like this might be an even higher end model though, and a source has tried to clear up the confusion, saying that the Galaxy S10 Plus will have three rear cameras, as will the standard Galaxy S10, with the S10 Lite having two. They don't mention a four lens camera here, but in a later tweet the same leaker talks about the 'top' Galaxy S10 model having a 6.7-inch screen, an extra Time of Flight sensor on the front and back and 5G support, so it sounds like that might have four rear lenses. However, it might not be widely available, as they also say it's coming to the US and South Korea, with no other countries mentioned. Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus powerHottest leaks: A Snapdragon 855 or Exynos 9820 chipsetPossibly up to 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storageThe exact specs of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus will probably depend on what country you're in, as Samsung typically gives US buyers a Snapdragon-powered handset and those in most other countries an Exynos one. The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is thought to be no exception, and Samsung has announced the Exynos chip likely to be powering it in much of the world. Dubbed the Exynos 9820, this is an octa-core chipset built on an 8nm process, making it smaller than its 10nm predecessor. It's said to offer up to 20% better single-core performance, up to 15% better multi-core performance and up to 40% better power efficiency than the Exynos 9810 powering the Samsung Galaxy S9 range. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nzbsf4buodyC2dauNLk5sQ.jpg It also apparently delivers 10% less power consumption, and the GPU is said to provide up to 40% better performance or up to 35% better power efficiency. Those are some impressive numbers and they don’t end there. The Exynos 9820 also supports mobile download speeds of up to 2Gbps, 8K video recording at up to 30fps and displays of up to 3840 x 2400 or 4096 x 2160. It also has a NPU (neural processing unit), which can apparently carry out AI tasks up to seven times faster than the previous Exynos chip. Good as all that sounds though an early benchmark for the chip, seemingly running in a Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, revealed a score that’s lower than the iPhone XS and the rest of Apple’s latest handsets, though it was still higher than any current Android phone. Those in the US might get a better chipset, as the recently announced Snapdragon 855 is almost certainly going to be used, and this is 7nm, making it even smaller and likely more efficient than the Exynos 9820. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/byCr8DA85bFgd9X55ZBj5T.jpg This has also been subject to an early benchmark, and it scores not just higher than the Exynos 9820 but higher than any other handset, including Apple's. Qualcomm has said that the chipset will offer twice the performance of an unnamed 7nm rival - likely meaning Apple's chip, but possibly referring to Huawei's Kirin 980. The Snapdragon 855 is also confirmed to support 5G and to have the world's first computer vision image signal processor, which is a chip dedicated to processing photos and videos. It's additionally rumored to have three sets of cores - four 1.78GHz power-saving cores, three 2.42GHz high-end cores and one 2.84GHz 'gold' core. It also apparently has a dedicated NPU for AI tasks and offers all-round performance boosts, with a particular focus on gaming, augmented reality and photography. As for RAM, one report puts that at up to 12GB, along with up to 1TB of storage, but in both cases that would be more than any other phone, so we’re not at all sure of that. What we might get is an 8GB RAM chip that Samsung itself has announced and which can reduce power consumption by up to 30% and has a data rate that's apparently 1.5 times as fast as current flagship RAM chips. Though notably this RAM hasn’t been linked specifically to the Galaxy S10 range just yet. Storage could be faster too, as Samsung is set to start using UFS 3.0 storage early in 2019. This both takes up less space than current storage in phones and is up to two times faster. If Samsung does use that then presumably the smallest storage size of the Galaxy S10 Plus will be 128GB or higher, up from 64GB in the Galaxy S9 Plus, as this UFS 3.0 storage starts at 128GB. We have a good idea of the software that the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus will run too. It will use Android of course, almost certainly Android 9 Pie, but Samsung has announced a new One UI which is likely to be laid on top of that. One UI is particularly focused on making it more comfortable to interact with large phones using one hand, which should be useful on Samsung’s plus-sized flagship. The foldable Samsung Galaxy X could also land soonhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/4hz0yhx7ga8