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Amazon's Echo Show is a curious device – taking the unique selling point of the voice-only Alexa powered Echo speaker family, and pairing it up with a touchscreen interface. As many are left wondering what separates the Echo Show from a tablet with a kickstand (considering all iPads have the Siri voice assistant, Android tablets make use of the Google Assistant and Amazon's own Fire slates already have Alexa built in, Amazon has today revealed a series of videos showing off how the Show will complement voice control with visual feedback. Talk-to-scrollThe first video (embedded below) describes how music playback will work on the Echo Show: For a search for the artists Sia, for instance, you'd be presented with a screen displaying album artwork, each numbered. Stating "Alexa, play number 3" would start that album playing. A video on Alexa's movie info search works in a similar fashion (with posters and trailers supplanting album artwork), while a shopping list function offered the option to scroll through lengthy lists by voice command alone. The videos essentially highlight the hands-off nature of the Echo Show – few touchscreen buttons are present, all navigation can be handled by voice, and text is displayed in a large enough font to be read at a distance. For Amazon's Alexa system to advance, its machine learning feedback will require continued, varied voice input from millions of users. The Echo Show may have a screen, but it's clear that Amazon still wants to hear your voice as it looks to improve its virtual assistant's recognition capabilities longterm. There are a further three videos if you're interested – click through for a look at how the Show handles requests for here for and here for setting alarms and .Here's everything we know so far about the Amazon Echo Showhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/xQ_sDbGYrr8

The sales juggernaut that is Black Friday shows no signs of slowing down as the 2017 event approaches, and while you've got a broad range of shops and outlets to consider, Currys should be close to the top of your list. Even if you're restricting yourself to just one store, though, hunting down the best bargains can be something of a challenge with so many deals to stay on top of - and that's where we come in, because we'll be listing the best Currys Black Friday 2017 offers right here. From the latest gaming consoles to big screen TVs you can hook them up to, from laptops to fitness trackers, there isn't an area of electronics that you can't find at Currys (and subsidiary PC World). If you're interested in gadgets at great prices then make sure you stop off during your Black Friday 2017 travels. You'll find our selections below - just remember to enjoy your shopping along the way! Black Friday deals quick linksAmazon Black FridayJohn Lewis Black FridayGAME Black FridayCurrys Black FridayArgos Black FridayTesco Direct Black FridayeBay Black FridayCurrys Black Friday dealsAhead of Black Friday 2017, here are the best deals we saw from Currys during Black Friday 2016, so you can get in the mood ahead of time. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yhLQZSwtDuWyYfeCk4KctC.jpg TV Black Friday deals - Currys always excels in the TV department and Black Friday 2016 was no different, with a host of reductions on the latest 4K models. Take the 49-inch Sony Bravia KD8305 Ultra HD TV with HDR, for example, which dropped to just £699 on the day. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nQEU6m54LpMQVf8Yo4ktjF.jpg Audio Black Friday deals - there was plenty of choice when it came to deals on audio equipment too, whether you were in the market for speakers or a soundbar. The Samsung HW-K430 2.1 wireless soundbar was slashed in price last Black Friday to a mere £129. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8Wcs7YLP7snBDgGet7sbVJ.jpg Laptop Black Friday deals - there were almost too many Currys laptop deals to keep on top of last year, but we just about managed it. One that particularly caught our eye was the Lenovo IdeaPad 510S, down more than £70 and available for a cut-price £549 instead. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ggYWoHmaiPDGr7Z5NV7rsM.jpg Desktop Black Friday deals - you could pick up some very good deals on desktops too at Currys during Black Friday 2016, and we listed a number of bargains through the day, including the well-specced HP 24-g099na 24-inch all-in-one for £499 (a £200 discount). http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/cRyAfezfegbZTz69MidzBR.jpg Gaming Black Friday deals - Currys is also worth checking out if you're interested in the latest gaming kit: the basic PS4 with FIFA 17 and a DualShock 4 docking/charging station has been on offer at £229.99. Watch out for some similar bargains this Black Friday. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5HUrGrscSUFXkHRETc89VU.jpg Camera Black Friday deals - if all of that wasn't enough, Currys also sells some of the best cameras around, and there were deals aplenty on Black Friday 2016. One that was particularly appealing was the deal on Canon cameras, with 25% knocked off. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xWsyP3LbN7FSMqzXzd6v3Y.jpg Wearable Home Black Friday deals - wearables aren't the most expensive gadgets that Currys sells but there were bargains to be had here too, with the Fitbit Blaze down £20 to £132.99 on Black Friday 2016, alongside a variety of other discounts for Black Friday 2016. Currys on Black Friday 2017: what you need to knowWe like retailers that tend to go all-in for the big shopping events of the year, and that's certainly the case with Currys. Every year the store knocks prices down across just about every department it has - and that's a lot of departments, as we've already seen. This year, as last year, offers are going to go live at 12am on the morning of Black Friday and will continue through the day and the rest of the weekend. In total, you can expect 10 days of Black Friday discounts from Currys, and the event was a huge success last year - Currys says it was the biggest Black Friday ever for its stores, with 5 orders placed every second during peak times, and over 2 billion seconds spent on the site on the Friday. One of the reasons to turn to Currys for your Black Friday 2017 shopping is the price promise it gives to customers - if you find the same item for a cheaper price at any of Currys' major competitors, then the store will match it. There are even mobile apps you can download to make price comparisons easier. You can expect a host of special offers again from Currys during Black Friday 2017, and we wouldn't be surprised if sales records get broken yet again. Remember, we'll have the best deals listed here for you to browse through. The top 5 Currys Black Friday deals last yearhttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JRqsMFUNcxJVopHBUdegEe.jpg 1. Xbox One S bundle How does an Xbox One S with FIFA 17, three months of Xbox Live Gold, a twin docking station and a control pad sound? For £298.99? That's one of Currys' best previous deals. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mSLPehqWmvRAXeKfXthHtg.jpg 2. Microsoft Surface Pro 4 There might be a new Surface Pro in town but Currys has been offering great prices on the previous model, with a 128GB Surface Pro 4 and Type Cover bundle available for just £499. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/pH4jfcQCnEomvpoMwadwsk.jpg 3. Dyson V6 Absolute Dyson vacuum cleaners are fantastic bits of kit, but often on the pricey side. Not so last Black Friday, when the V6 Absolute was on sale for £279 at Currys, a discount of £170. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hVqAF4kgKnP2LYtymmDu8o.jpg 4. Samsung UE55KS7000 4K HDR TV If you were in the market for a 4K TV last year, then you could've got the very highly rated Samsung UE55KS7000 4K HDR TV for just £949, at least £89 cheaper than it was elsewhere. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/W2ubaeYc6yqwn7tizpX9q4.jpg 5. Google Chromecast Admittedly the Google Chromecast doesn't cost much to begin with, but last Black Friday at Currys it was down to a mere £18. Watch out for similar discounts this time around. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/7KCEYJFpeZY

Parts of the source code for Windows 10 have been leaked online, and although the spillage isn’t as serious as first thought, the incident still represents a major security worry – both for users and for Microsoft. This saga developed over the weekend, and began with a report from The Register which claimed that ‘massive’ chunks of Windows 10’s source code – the nuts and bolts of the operating system’s programming – along with unreleased internal builds of the desktop OS had been dumped online: some 32TB of the stuff. However, Microsoft later confirmed the leak to The Verge, but asserted that it was a relatively minor affair, and that most of the aforementioned 32TB of data had already been available online for quite some time (months, or even years). Microsoft issued a statement to say: “Our review confirms that these files are actually a portion of the source code from the Shared Source Initiative and is used by OEMs and partners.” Microsoft’s claim is that the leaked material actually amounted to 1.2GB of source code, which was posted to the Beta Archive website. These files reportedly relate to the USB, storage and Wi-Fi drivers of Windows 10. As the firm stated above, Microsoft already shares the source code with third-party partners as part of the Shared Source Initiative – and while this might be ‘minor’ compared to the initial claimed huge avalanche of leaked data and whole internal builds, it’s still a worrying situation for Windows 10 users. Malware mayhemThat’s because malicious types out there could still potentially make use of this material to craft exploits targeted at Windows 10 users, obviously a less-than-ideal situation for Microsoft which is pushing its newest OS hard as the most secure version of Windows ever. The code has now been removed from Beta Archive, with the website making the decision to do so voluntarily. But the damage may have already been done in terms of who may have downloaded the material before it was taken down. This incident could possibly be connected to the arrest of two men in the UK which is part of a probe into somebody gaining access to Microsoft’s internal network, one of whom is allegedly connected to the Beta Archive site, but it’s not clear yet if that is the case. If there are any further announcements from Microsoft on the matter, we’ll update this story. Maybe now’s the time to get yourself a good antivirus apphttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/iC-SyYa5tBM

There's a temporary Amazon Echo price drop going on right now, and today isn't even the online retailer's famous Amazon Prime Day. It's on sale for $50 off today only through Amazon, making the popular Alexa-enabled smart speaker just $129.99 in the US. It doesn't appear to be on sale anywhere outside of America, however. This is the cheapest Amazon Echo has been all year, and it's already the No. 1 best-selling home automation product on Amazon. It could break records today. Get the Amazon Echo deal right now by midnightThere's been a surge of interest in smart speakers, but Amazon had a head start vs the Google Home and the forthcoming Apple HomePod. This is a 24-hour Amazon Echo sale, according to Amazon. After that, its flagship Alexa speaker will revert to the normal price of $179.99. Amazon Echo ahead of Amazon Prime?We don't officially know when Amazon Prime Day will be, but it's not today. Yes, this is the biggest Amazon Echo discount this year, tying Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals last year, but the Deal of the Day is limited to this deal. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/iiS7Usinu4pHoqUn2p2JbV.jpg The fact that a full-on Amazon Prime Day isn't happening right now lines up with our thinking: Amazon Prime Day is closer to mid-July, like last year's July 12 date. We'll let you know when more Amazon mega-sales happen, and we'll keep asking Alexa to fill us in on the details. Alex is our best source these days. For now, enjoy the Amazon Echo smart speaker price drop that doesn't happen too often. At least until Apple HomePod launches and competition heats up. Top picks: 25 best Amazon Prime Instant Video TV shows we recommendhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/4xzwmzbksAo

While everyone knows that most Linux distributions (distros) are free to download, not everybody is aware that you also have access to thousands of cost-free applications through your operating system’s package manager. Many of the more user-friendly distros will come with a selection of software preinstalled to help you get started, but there are many more apps out in the wild, under continuous development. In this guide we'll highlight 10 of the best desktop applications for Linux. All of these programs can be installed either via the command line or by using a graphical frontend to your package manager. 10 of the best Linux distros for privacy fiends and security buffs10 best Linux distros: which one is right for you?What's the best Linux distro for beginners?How to choose the best Linux distro for laptops10 of the most popular lightweight Linux distrosWhile some Linux distros like Ubuntu come with their own flashy app stores, none are as quick and easy to use as Synaptic, which simply serves as a graphical frontend for the 'apt-get' command line utility. You can install it on any Debian-based Linux distro such as Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Browse categories of apps such as 'Games and Amusement' using the pane on the left-hand side. Click the box next to an app name to mark it for installation (or uninstallation) then click the Apply button at the top to affect your changes. All the programs covered in this feature can be installed via Synaptic. You can download Synaptic hereVLC is most commonly known for being a media player, although it does much more. When installed, it downloads codecs for virtually every kind of audio or video file, meaning you're unlikely to ever have playback issues again. The software can also play DVDs. You can use VLC to clip video files and even convert them from one format to another – from AVI to MP4, for example. The media player client can also act as a server, allowing you to stream media from one device to another (see our guide on this here). You can download VLC Media Player hereFirefox is the default web browser for a number of Linux distros such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint. The browser’s simple and fluid interface is one of its many attractions. Firefox will play YouTube videos right off the bat, and can download plugins to play other formats for you. The browser also updates itself from the get-go, meaning you always have the latest version. Firefox supports a number of extensions to enhance your web experience, and you can customise the browser further via the Mozilla add-ons page, where it is possible to install a colourful theme. You can download Mozilla Firefox hereGIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free image editor. It can be used to edit and retouch images by resizing, adding layers and other special effects. You can access these via the handy toolbox or dropdown menus. See our guide on how to use GIMP here. The GIMP website itself also has a great selection of tutorials. GIMP's interface does take some getting used to if you're accustomed to Adobe Photoshop, but it can do almost everything professional image editors are capable of. You can even add some Photoshop plugins to GIMP. By default the program takes up less than 100MB of space, which is another considerable benefit, particularly for those short on storage. You can download GIMP hereWhile many Linux distributions already come with a BitTorrent client, Deluge stands out as a lightweight yet fully-featured app for downloading your files. The interface is extremely easy to master and can be enhanced by a number of excellent community supported plugins which do things such as shut down your machine when a download completes. You can even set up Deluge so that it can be accessed via a web interface from other devices, allowing you to download files to your home computer when you're away. You can download Deluge hereThunderbird is a free and powerful email client. The setup wizard guides you gently through the process of either creating a new email address or setting up your existing one. Mozilla's database contains email settings for all common providers, and you can add as many email accounts as you wish. Like Firefox, Thunderbird can be enhanced by add-ons, such as themes to make it more colourful, or better ways to sort your Mail folders. The most useful of these is undoubtedly the Lightning extension which adds a fully functioning Calendar to the email client. We’ve got an in-depth review of Thunderbird right here. You can download Mozilla Thunderbird hereLibreOffice is nothing less than a full-blown office suite, on a par with commercial alternatives like Microsoft Office. While the interface may look rather basic, this product has some extremely advanced features. The LibreOffice word processor Writer, spreadsheet software Calc and presentation app Impress are preinstalled in Ubuntu and most of its derivatives. The suite also includes three less well-known apps – Draw, Math and Base – which are used for editing vector graphics, composing mathematical formulae and managing databases respectively. While LibreOffice uses the ODF (Open Document Format) by default it can open and save Microsoft Office compatible files too. Read our full review of LibreOffice here. You can download LibreOffice herePidgin is an instant messaging program which allows you to connect to multiple chat networks at once. At the time of writing these include AIM, Bonjour, IRC and Google Talk to name but a few. Sadly Facebook chat is no longer available since the social network dropped support for the open XMPP messaging protocol. Pidgin can be enhanced by installing third-party plugins. Some of these allow you to connect to other chat networks such as Skype, while others can be used to protect your conversations, for example the OTR (Off the Record) messaging plugin. You can download Pidgin hereAlthough Linux machines can't be affected by viruses designed to infect Windows, your PC can accidentally forward harmful files to other computers, for example in an email attachment. And these days, there are even some incidences of malware aimed at Linux systems. The antivirus scanner ClamAV provides some peace of mind, as it can detect many types of malware. It's often used on mail servers but will run happily on your desktop system if you want to scan files or folders. By default ClamAV can only be used from the command line, but you can use Synaptic to install 'clamtk' and 'clamtk-nautilus' to allow you to scan your system and individual files with a few clicks of your mouse. You can download ClamAV here and ClamTk hereAudacity is an editing program which allows you to record and tinker with audio. Not only can Audacity record audio simultaneously from various inputs (for example, a USB microphone), it can also trim and edit clips. Furthermore, it supports multiple tracks, allowing you, for instance, to record lyrics and backing music separately. The software also supports a number of audio effects such as noise reduction, as detailed in its extremely comprehensive manual which is both bundled with Audacity and available online. Audacity also supports VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plugins. Tracks can be exported in a number of popular sound formats such as WAV, OGG and MP3. If you want to know more about Audacity, then have a read of our full review here. You can download Audacity herehttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/-xn4bE94c0k

You can play Jump Doper in your browser, or download it for Windows, Mac or Linux. You control a blocky, Minecraft-esque cactus, which has apparently been challenged to a deadly game of jump-rope by a pair of poltergeists. It's best not to dwell on the plot too long. Tap a key (or click, in the browser version) to start the rope turning and make the plant hop into the air. You earn a point for each successful skip, but be careful – the speed of the rope varies, and connecting with it will result in your plant being neatly julienned. It can survive a little pruning, but trim it back too far and it's game over. Hop, skip, thumpThe game becomes harder as the cactus inevitably topples over and begins hopping on its side and back, making the timing trickier to control. Once it's been sliced, you'll be awarded a score for your efforts and, if you've done well enough, another character to subject to this cruel playground game. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fgRRQCn9k4vjZtMrCFZWbF.gif Jump Doper is part of a game-per-month project by Crista Castro and Bryan Singh, aka Cozy Game Pals. Check out more of their work on their Itch.io page. Download here: Jump Doper Download of the Day is our pick of the best free software around – whether it's useful, fun, or just plain silly. If you have any recommendations, please send them to downloads@techradar.com. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/sU-oZXYDqrE

Thanks to an Amazon developers kit, we now have a good idea how Alexa will look on its new smart speaker/screen the Echo Show. The developer kit has been released so that developers can start programming Display Cards for Alexa enabled devices, allowing Alexa to respond visually as well as vocally. The kit has strict guidelines for the design of the Display Cards, meaning you get a uniform Alexa experience across all devices. This means that the Echo Show, when it launches next week in the US is going to look a lot like this: http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dYzJ2dw5FySVhbwaH4P38n.jpg Obviously there is the image reference for both tablet and TV in these pictures, so if you use an Amazon Fire Stick, you could soon see these pretty side bars pop up on your favorite shows (although why anyone would check their to-do list while watching Game Of Thrones is beyond us). http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KKvdYJP7XDJKaydmeuaK59.jpg The Echo Show will be available from June 28th in the US and will retail at $230. At present there is no official release date or price for other regions. Want to know more about the Echo Show? Check out: Amazon Echo Show launched: everything you need to knowVia Engadget http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/_XdX1i-Yiag

Sacramento is a delightful, pastel-hued walk through a garden, accompanied by a soothing soundtrack to ease the day’s worries away. Listen carefully for the hum of hoverflies, which dart away as you turn to face them, and wade into Parma Violet pools alongside curious, chattering flamingos. You can roam and jump freely, and a click of your mouse will reveal a wrist watch with hand whirling uselessly. There’s no time here – just you, the creates, and the occasional stranger enjoying their own moment of peace. A walk on the mild sideSacramento uses artwork from the developer's own sketchpads, which are brought to life with charming flipbook-esque animations. Together with the soothing music, it's a very relaxing way to spend a few minutes, or even an hour. There's no end state - just wander wherever you like and take in the sights. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BKcCu2o4kondLrPJWAS8RM.gif Sacramento is available for Windows, Mac and Linux - just download the right ZIP archive, extract it, and double-click the EXE file to begin your journey. Download here: Sacramento Download of the Day is our pick of the best free software around – whether it's useful, fun, or just plain silly. If you have any recommendations, please send them to downloads@techradar.com. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/3aFUNxxhWMo

If special lenses and geotags weren't enough, Snapchat is adding a new way to see what your friends are up to across the globe. Snapchat's new Snap Map (not to be confused with the DOOM level editor by the same name) allows users to zoom out to their neighborhood, city, country, and even continent to see where their other Snapchat friends are located. From there, Snap Map also shows heatmaps indicating popular events happening in your area, should there be a concert going on or a major demonstration happening downtown. Snap Map is rolling out now via Snapchat's latest update for iOS and Android. Of course, should you want to keep your snap shenanigans to yourself, users can enter Ghost Mode to keep from sharing location details publicly. (Phew!) Our review of Snapchat's wearable Spectacleshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/vmBvDrnqIEw

Amazon Echo's newest trick — calling and text via the Alexa digital assistant — may have already gotten a sorely needed improvement, but the smart speaker is about to get yet another new feature that makes keeping up with your messages a little more intuitive. Expected to roll out soon, Amazon will update its Echo speakers to shine a yellow light when users have a new voice or text message waiting for them. Besides expanding the color scheme on Amazon's normally monochrome tube, the yellow signal also helps distinguish unchecked messages from incoming calls. Originally, a pulsing green light was used for both saved messages and someone calling on the line, causing confusion for some users. From now on though, a green light will be reserved just for incoming calls. Amazon began rolling out calling and text features to its Alexa digital assistant last month, allowing owners with Echos or other devices with the Alexa app to leave messages or ring up other Alexa users with a simple voice command. Alexa-to-Alexa calling is currently only available in the US, with Amazon urging curious international users to stay tuned for further updates. Get an Amazon Echo for less this month with these dealshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/SCS5MrXHERk

Note: Our best Linux distro for laptops feature has been fully updated. This article was first published in January 2011. The smart notebook user shouldn't overlook Linux. The question is: which distro should you pick to run on your laptop? Experienced users may recommend Arch Linux for fast performance, Debian for stability and Ubuntu for its collection of user-friendly, pre-installed apps. If that's not enough choice to make your head spin, Slackware is also very popular amongst people with older laptops, although it's only really suitable for advanced users. In this article, we'll look at different usage scenarios that should be familiar to users of portable devices and explore Linux distros that are suitable for these particular cases. To make everybody's life easier, we've limited this guide to pre-packaged Live Linux distros. We'll also stick to Live installations as much as possible throughout this tour. This is important if you're working on a corporate laptop and can't install software, as you can test drive an OS without special permissions. Install a Linux distro on your Surface Book todayhttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/1f931bc73d04dd2e094906657e9183ce.jpg Hearthstone is available via PlayOnLinux Linux for gamingLinux is a wonderful platform for gaming, whatever your preferred genre. There's plenty to choose from, including real-time and turn-based strategy titles, puzzle games and first-person shooters. To get started in the world of Linux gaming, one of the best Live DVDs has to be Fedora Games Spin, which comes as a downloadable 3.8GB ISO you can burn to disc or copy to USB. Log in as the Live system user (no password) and use the Application Finder to browse over 100 games spread across genres as diverse as arcade, adventure and sport. The concept behind the distribution is boot and play – just pop a USB drive, CD or DVD into your laptop, the distro will boot and you can start gaming. This approach is particularly useful if your laptop has been configured by an overzealous system administrator. If you copy the Live install to a USB stick, you can then install extras such as Wine and other games through the Yum Extender app, which you'll find under the Administration menu. Steam and 'Play on Linux' (a gaming-friendly frontend for Wine) can also be installed via the RPM Fusion repository – install both free and non-free repos – and the PlayOnLinux RPM repository respectively. Once installed, just reload Yum, let it update and the packages will be accessible. There are other Live-friendly gaming distros to try too. Live Linux Gamers is getting a little long in the tooth (the latest version was released in 2011) but is available as a Lite edition that fits on a CD if you're out of DVDs. Steam for Linux is an official gaming client created by Valve, the people behind Counter Strike and Team Fortress. The client supports hundreds of games such as the Civilization series as well as the original Half Life shooter. To get started, run a regular version of Linux such as Ubuntu, then follow the instructions on Valve's website to install the client. There is a separate SteamOS based on Debian Linux but this can't be booted into a Live environment, rather it must be installed to a hard drive. Finally, there's the Ubuntu-based Ultimate Gamers Edition – ignore the Gamer link, which points to an outdated release. Instead, choose the latest build (5.4). Scroll down and you'll find a link to the current Gamer release. This also includes Wine and the PlayOnLinux app for playing Windows games on Linux. If Windows games are what you're after, you'll also need to download Cedega and CrossOver Games. These tools aren't included in any distribution, but for maximum compatibility it's best to download the latest releases from the developers' original websites. Get a Chromebook with a Linux distro pre-installedMaking music and moviesWhen it comes to editing movies you've captured while on holiday, there's no time like the present. You'll find it easier to edit footage when things are fresh in your mind. To transform your hotel room into a movie editing suite, you should grab a copy of Ubuntu Studio for audio, video and graphic enthusiasts. It can be run as a Live image for those who want to use all its default apps without having to physically install it, and you'll find versions based on both the latest LTS (17.04) and regular (16.10) releases. If you're looking for a pro audio solution, then check out KXStudio, which also offers a Live DVD as well as a fully installable solution. It's compatible with both Ubuntu and Debian repositories, and comes with lots of applications and plugins aimed at professional audio production. Other distros worth examining include Music GNU+Linux and VortexBox – the latter will appeal to those looking for a quick and easy way to rip music and run a spare PC as a jukebox or audio server. Currently VortexBox can be downloaded and booted from USB only. If you want to turn your laptop into a full-blown media centre (with server capabilities), then try LibreElec, an OS designed to run Kodi. This provides an easy way to view and share movies, music and photos. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4fd96b37a9e8916540c8ec1bd484732d.jpg OpenSUSE is professional-looking and boasts some quality office software including KMailOffice workLinux is ideal for working on the go, when you need a distro that's stable, secure and works well with the apps you want to use. With this in mind, you needn't look any further than Ubuntu, Fedora or openSUSE. OpenSUSE in particular looks professional, and is well integrated with the LibreOffice suite and Kontact personal information manager, which includes the KMail email client. It's available in a variety of Live CD flavours, depending on your choice of desktop environment – the default is KDE. The latest version of openSUSE ‘Tumbleweed’ follows a rolling release model, meaning stable updates are released as they become available. You can use the installation and administration program YaST (‘Yet another Setup Tool’) to add more software if necessary. 5 of the most popular Raspberry Pi distros10 of the best Linux distros for privacy fiends and security buffs5 of the most popular Linux gaming distros10 of the most popular lightweight Linux distroshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/xWpjCTKU9G8

Fancy owning a smart cam that can detect motion, is HD enabled and, more importantly, barks like a dog? Well, you are in luck as Centrica, the folks behind British Gas and Hive smart home products, have announced its latest edition - Hive Camera. Hive Camera is a Nest-rivalling smart camera system. It allows 24/7 HD streaming in your home, all viewable through the accompanying app. The camera also has two-way audio, so you can chat to people in different rooms, soothe a baby without scraping your lazy ass off the couch or confuse the life out of your dog. Sound the alarmThe camera will also let you monitor your home if you are not there. And if you see someone unsavory - no, not uncle Jimmy - you can zoom into their face and sound an alarm, ape a police siren or get your camera to bark like a dog. Basically, if this camera was invented in the '90s, the movie Home Alone would be a pretty dull 10-minute short. Hive Cam is also fun for statisticians, as it can log all movement in your home with time and dates - all accessible from the Hive app. The Hive Camera is out now for £129 - it will be coming to the US too, but release date and pricing is yet to be announced. It will also be part of Hive Home Check, a new (yet to be priced) subscription package. Hive also revealed two new products will be out later in the year - the Hive Leak Sensor and Hive Active Hub. So keep checking back for new details on these. Hive Active Heating 2 review: a super-stylish smart thermostathttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/6MxpH3YjVJA

Not so long ago something like the Sony Xperia Touch would have seemed like the stuff of science fiction. It’s a somewhat portable (though far from pocket-sized) projector which can turn any flat surface into a 23-inch interactive Android screen. If that sounds like something you’d want you’re in luck, because you can now buy the Xperia Touch in the UK, but only if you’ve got £1,300 (around $1,660/AU$2,185) to spare. It’s listed as coming soon in the US and there’s no word on if or when the Xperia Touch will land in Australia, but you shouldn’t be too disappointed if it doesn’t launch in your region. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/B4u5ypWoRyYUe2Q2MAp6T6.jpg Room for improvementIn our hands on review we found it impressively responsive, allowing you to use any flat surface as a makeshift tablet, but found the unit itself too big, the display too dark and struggled to see why it would be preferable to a tablet for most people – and that was back when we assumed the price would be a whole lot lower. Still, this is a fairly new idea, and the first in what might well be a new wave of projectors, so over time it’s likely that the price will come down, and that future models will come in a more compact package. So unless you’re desperate to turn your dining room table into a tablet you might want to hold off for now and see what the future brings. After a more conventional tablet? These are the best.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/XE1Ng5ktlBM

Note: Our Raspberry Pi distros round-up has been fully updated. This feature was first published in May 2015. Believe it or not, the Raspberry Pi is now five years old. In its relatively short life the Pi has ushered in a new revolution in computing that stretches far beyond its original remit which was to promote basic computer science education in schools. There have been several fresh Pi developments over the past few years. The Pi Zero was released in 2015, and the Pi and its 'essentials' kit is available for less than £10 (around $13, AU$17). The Pi Zero W was added to the Zero family in February 2017, featuring a 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM and support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, all for just over £14 (around $18, AU$24) with accessories. The latest mainstream Pi, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B was released in 2016. It sports a quad-core 64-bit CPU and 1GB of RAM for under £30 (around $45, AU$60), and it’s suitable for applications requiring more processing power. There are a number of Linux kernel-based operating systems designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi. These include fully featured distros such as Raspbian, which offers a fully functional desktop environment and is based on Debian, as well as speciality distros like RetroPie, which supports a large number of controllers and is aimed at gaming fans. In this article, we're going to look at five of the most popular and distinct Raspberry Pi distros. 10 of the best Linux distros for privacy fiends and security buffs10 best Linux distros: which one is right for you?5 of the most popular Linux gaming distros10 of the most popular lightweight Linux distrosRaspbian is one of the oldest and most popular mainstream distros for the Raspberry Pi. Although it's developed independently, the Raspberry Pi Foundation also develops its own recommended version of Raspbian that you can install using the Foundation's NOOBS installer. The latest version is based on the ARM port of the Debian Jessie desktop distro, which improves performance and provides more flexibility over the previous Wheezy-based release. You'll need a 4GB SD card for installation, and it boots to the lightweight LXDE desktop environment. Here you'll find thousands of software packages, including some pre-installed apps such as LibreOffice and Claws Mail. For installation, you'll need a microSD card with a minimum size of 8GB. On first boot you'll be taken to the lightweight and elegant Pixel desktop environment. You can also choose from thousands of additional programs such as the LibreOffice suite or IceDove, all of which can be installed using Raspbian's built-in package manager. A minimal version of Raspbian without a desktop – Raspbian Jessie Lite – is also available. The Pi MusicBox distro converts your Raspberry Pi into the ultimate jukebox. The distro is based on the Mopidy music streaming server that can fetch music from various streaming services including Spotify, Google Play Music, and SoundCloud as well as a host of online radio stations. Pi MusicBox can also play music stored on an SD card or any USB drives attached to the Pi. Furthermore, you can configure the distro to fetch music by automatically mounting shared folders on the network. Additionally, the distro can also connect to any DLNA/OpenHome and AirPlay compatible devices and can be controlled via any player that supports MPD. Pi Music Box also supports a good many USB audio devices so you can connect external speakers if you wish. The most recent version 0.70 is compatible with both the Pi 3 and the Pi Zero W. If you're a fan of classic gaming titles, grab a copy of the RetroPie distro and transfer it to your SD card. The distro can emulate dozens of classic games consoles and home computers such as the Amiga, Amstrad, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Game Boy, PlayStation 1 and more. RetroPie also supports all sorts of gaming controllers, from cheap no-name USB efforts to controllers for the PS3 and Xbox 360. On first boot, Retropie loads the Emulation Station software which helps you set up the controller and then lets you select a game from any of the supported emulators. The only caveat is that you must get your own ROMs. There are several that can be legally downloaded for free and you can even create your own from old cartridges using adapters like the Retrode in conjunction with your Mac/PC. For more details on how to use RetroPie, check out: How to turn your Raspberry Pi 2 into a retro games console.One of the most popular uses for a Raspberry Pi is as a dedicated smart TV box, sitting underneath your big-screen TV to give you access to all kinds of digital media, whether stored locally or hosted online (such as catch-up TV). LibreELEC is an OS specifically designed to run the Kodi media centre, and is super-easy to install too. Boot up, add your own media to its libraries and install the add-ons you want to add smart TV functionality. The media centre also incorporates a 'scraper' to download useful metadata about films and TV shows. You can also pair it with the Kodi remote app for your Android, iOS or Windows phone for the perfect media centre experience. Originally designed for desktop PCs, the OpenMediaVault (OMV) distro has a specially tuned version for the Raspberry Pi that lets you use the little computer as a dedicated Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. Once it's up and running, you can configure and manage the distro remotely using its browser-based admin interface. Any USB devices you attach will be detected automatically and you can also manually add your network storage. For the best performance make sure you use self-powered removable disks. You can use the disks attached to the OMV NAS individually or assemble them in a RAID array. The distro has many options to manage other advanced aspects of a NAS too. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/pzBnZG5pq2k

Microsoft has gone ahead and released an official system image for the new Surface Laptop which allows users who have upgraded the device to Windows 10 Pro to revert back to Windows 10 S, the lightweight version of the desktop OS which comes installed on the machine by default. To briefly explain the situation here, as mentioned, Windows 10 S comes installed on the Surface Laptop, but users who want more flexibility – and to be able to install apps from outside the Windows Store – can upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for free (at least for the time being – next year, the upgrade will cost a small fee). But what about if you do this, and subsequently decide you don’t like Pro, so you want to switch back to Windows 10 S? Well, that’s exactly what this official Surface Laptop recovery image allows for – resetting your notebook back to how it was when you first received the machine. Clean slateNote that this is a full reset, however. That means you won’t be able to keep any data, apps or settings; all this will be nuked in the process, so you must remember to back up any data on the laptop that you wish to keep. When we engaged in a revealing interview with Microsoft on Windows 10 S, the firm explained that it wouldn’t be possible to revert to the operating system after upgrading to Windows 10 Pro unless you return the machine to its default factory image. However, at the time Microsoft was talking about resetting the device using a system image provided by the manufacturer of the laptop running Windows 10 S, and the company didn’t make it clear that it’d be offering this facility itself. Obviously, the software giant is doing so, beginning with the new Surface Laptop, and that’s good to see. In other less positive Surface Laptop news this morning, Microsoft’s notebook got a woefully low rating for repairability from iFixit, actually scoring less than Apple’s new MacBooks, which is quite a feat given that the latter were awarded a pitiful score of 1/10. Via: MS Power User Will the Surface Laptop become one of the best notebooks of 2017?http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/lA3lfc8beGQ

Britons it would seem are a nation of online shoppers. According to the latest figures from the OECD, the UK has twice the average number of online shoppers outstripping even Germany, France or the US. It's not surprising then that the e-commerce sector is thriving. However, with so much choice with how you set-up your online store, it can be difficult choosing the right platform for your needs. The good news is that you don't have to have any knowledge of HTML, graphics applications or know your Flash from your PNG files, as today e-commerce can be as easy as filling in a few online forms. Choosing your weaponsWhen deciding how to set-up your e-commerce site there are a number of key decision to be made that fall into a number of categories: Online or self-hosted – you can use a number of e-commerce applications that are hosted online, or build your own site and host this on your own serversWebsite or blog – these days the difference between these two is blurring with many businesses 'e-commerce enabling' their blogs. A standalone website can though, give you complete control over every element of your storeShopping cart – the most important aspect of your e-commerce presence is efficiently taking payments. Look for shopping cart software that is fast and efficientSecurity – shoppers are now more comfortable buying online, but always ensure your site uses SSL (Secure Socket Layer) that is now the industry standard for online paymentsAbove every other consideration should be your site's visitor experience. Don't forget your competitors are just a mouse click away in the world of e-commerce.http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/784d241ce8071306066db9b9017d4dbc.jpg eBay Business Centre for small businessesIs eBay right for your business?Opening its doors in 1999, eBay UK now has over 14 million users, with over 10,000 people using the site for a business that is their primary means of income, and it's not just people selling unwanted goods, businesses have used the simplicity that eBay offers to set-up lucrative businesses. Even the larger brands such as Argos, Debenhams and House of Fraser are using eBay to sell online. With sophisticated tools now available you can be up and running with your store in just a few hours. The eBay Business Centre has all the information you need. Each store is managed via eBay's familiar user interface, and there are a number of eBay provided tools such as Listing Strategies and Markdown Manager to help manage, track and promote your shop once it's established. Using eBay as the platform for your business could be ideal if your business wants to sell goods on a fixed price basis. The complete integration of the PayPal e-payments system into eBay takes care of this essential component of your store. The key with eBay is to look closely at the costs involved and also the transaction fees that PayPal charge before moving forward and setting up your own store. How to create your own e-commerce solutionOf course if you want complete control over every aspect of your new online store, building each page yourself will be the best course of action. Hiring someone to code your website is one option. If you decide to do this follow these steps: Ask the company for live examples of their work to look atWrite a detailed brief of the site you want created. The more detail the better to avoid confusionEnsure you understand the price you are being charged and how many revisions this price includesAlways have a signed agreement or contract before work commencesAsk whether the designers will host your site and if you will be able to make updates yourself or if all updates must go through the design agency at an additional costAsk for the copyright of your design to be assigned to your company, as your website is an important part of your business' intellectual propertyPut into your contract, details of how the agreement can be amicably dissolved if things go wronghttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/864bdf548b70e1ad8c0ebc30e24258b8.jpg Choose a website design from Template MonsterYou also don't have to build your site completely from scratch. Buying a template can give you all the basic pages your site needs. You can then either modify them yourself using an application like Dreamweaver, or hire a coding expert to make the changes. Website templates are available from a number of vendors including Template Monster. If you already have a website and want to add e-commerce functionality, this can be easily achieved with a number of applications including: XCartClickCartProCubeCartOff-the-shelf e-commerce packages for businessThere has been a steady expansion of the packaged e-commerce application over the last few years. Most of the well-know applications now offer a full set of e-commerce tools you can use to construct and manage a professional e-commerce site. Some of the leading vendors include: http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/95a448523672b36b27721f2d8c17ac4d.jpg Actinic e-commerceActinicShopFactoryekmPowershopMrSiteWhichever route you decide to take when building your website always remember: You need to ensure your store can be easily updated and managedGood professional web hosting is vital to ensure your site is always availableLook for payment and shopping carts that are intuitive and efficient to useCustomer service is king these days. Businesses shouldn't just efficiently take customers' money but should properly support themIs your store fully integrated with all the leading social media sites?Setting up your online store should be approached carefully and diligently to ensure you put a professional and efficient site live. Internet shopping continues to expand. Make sure your business doesn't miss out on a sales channel that shows no signs of slowing down. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/m7oxBJEe9zE

Alexa may be famous for powering Amazon Echo smart speakers, but the digital assistant is no stranger to other devices. In fact, the next doodad to get the Alexa treatment is the Amazon Dash Wand, which is making a comeback since its 2014 debut alongside a special promotion for Amazon Prime subscribers that essentially makes it a no-brainer. Using an attached bar code scanner, the wireless Wand instantly adds items to your Amazon shopping cart, making restocking the pantry as simple as zapping a used package before throwing it out. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MivSywbiGp7ptAwoKVKVJm.jpg The Dash Wand can also support Alexa voice commands for additional useful functions like home automation, looking up recipes, measurement conversions, and ordering last minute items. What Alexa can't do on the Dash Wand, it seems, is play your music, video, or apps — something to consider. The Amazon Dash Wand is available in the US for an even $20 for Amazon Prime members, who can save even more thanks to an ongoing $20 credit promotion and free 90-day trial of its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service simply for registering a new device. Considering the promotion makes the Amazon Dash Wand practically gratis, now may be the time to try out grocery shopping online, especially if you'd rather not drop the $179 (£150, around AU$230) on an Amazon Echo for a little help around the kitchen. Amazon Echo vs Google Home vs Apple HomePod: which speaker's smartest?http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/mL830PBFozM

Amazon Prime Day deals are like the prequel to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and we're expecting to save even more money in 2017. It's Amazon.com's 24-hour discount day on big-ticket items you actually want to buy. Sure, Amazon Prime Day is an invented online shopping holiday, but last year it turned out to be the biggest day in Amazon’s history: Traffic was up 36%, it sold 90,000 TVs and thousands of Kindle Paperwhites, Fire TV Sticks and tablets. In just three hours US customers had bought 18,048 pairs of headphones thanks to wonderfully deep discounts. So what exactly is Prime Day? Can you trust the deals or is Amazon at it? And when will Prime Day 2017 be anyway? Read on for the answers to these questions and some you might not have thought of. US free trial: Amazon PrimeWhen is Amazon Prime Day 2017?Amazon hasn’t said yet, but we’re hearing that Prime Day 2017 in the US will be held on Tuesday, July 11 2017. Prime Day 2016 was the July 12, which was the second Tuesday of the month. This year that falls on the eleventh. What's the point of Prime Day?Prime Day exists to promote Amazon’s Prime subscription service, which Amazon says is the best deal in the history of shopping. Prime Day is for Prime members, many of whom will sign up for a free trial of the service just so they can get the deals. Once signed up, many of them stay as Prime subscribers. If you're not a Prime subscriber, there's usually a big Amazon Prime sale in the run-up to the big day. In the US, a year of Prime was discounted from $99 to $79. As we mentioned in our Amazon Prime review, we think Prime is an absolute bargain anyway so at the discounted price it's hard not to strongly recommend signing up. Why Amazon Prime Day mattersIf you’re looking for bargains, Prime Day 2017 is important - not just for gadgets, but for any kind of item. For example, on Prime Day 2016 Prime members bought 215,000 pressure cookers, 200,000 pairs of headphones, 24,000 hammocks, 23,000 Roomba robots and 14,000 Lenovo laptops. The crucial difference between Prime Day and Black Friday or Cyber Monday - other than it being Amazon’s idea - is that November’s deals are geared towards gifting, because of course it’s the holiday season. Amazon Prime Day is more about personal shopping, either for treating yourself or for saving money household items. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/260610765df535bcd3d4e5744989d532.jpg Will Prime Day 2017 be more exciting than last year?That depends on what you’re planning to buy. Discounts on Amazon’s own products - the Amazon Echo, Fire TV Stick, Fire Tablets and Kindle e-readers for example - are pretty much guaranteed, and there will be stacks of lightning deals on the day too. Unless Amazon decides to do things radically differently this year it’s going to be a really mixed bag, with laptop deals next to handbag deals next to power tools and prosecco. If only there was a website beginning with “T” and ending in “echradar.com” to find the best deals so you don’t have to delve through the dross. Hang on… there is! As you’d expect, we’re going to be hyped up on energy drinks throughout Prime Day on both sides of the Atlantic, finding the deals that you really don’t want to miss. Do I need a Prime subscription to get involved? Yes and no. While Prime is for Prime customers, there will be other deals on the day that are open to everyone - it’s just that with lightning deals, which tend to have limited stock, the Prime users get to see them before anybody else. That means some of the very best deals can be gone long before people who aren’t Prime members get to know about them. That doesn’t mean you need to pay for a Prime membership, though. You can sign up for a free trial and take full advantage of all the Prime benefits, including Prime Day. But don’t forget to cancel the trial afterwards if you don’t intend to continue. If you don’t, you’ll be automatically billed for membership when the trial period ends. US free trial: Amazon PrimeAre there special Prime deals for students? Yes. Amazon Student gives you Prime membership for $49 per year instead of the usual $99, and it’s completely free for the first six months. It’s worth considering not just for Prime Day, but for the included TV, music and movie streaming. It's hard to match a 50% discount. Sadly, there's no Amazon Prime for teachers, like some US educators so desire. Amazon Student UShttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rbpPodtuSWmfvMNBVYXKYM.jpg The top 5 deals of Prime Day last year:http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/d3pbvHHhJr4zcEnLeFsRBP.png Amazon Echo - $50 off Amazon is on the forefront of deals, but it's also spearheading the smart home with an Amazon Echo. You can expect Amazon Prime Day 2017 to feature a deal on the Echo considering it was discount by a cool $50 last year. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tyvedu6eX3PjXD4ac4qjRC.jpg Samsung 55-inch 4K TV UN55KU6600 - $598.99 off When a $1,247.99 4K television costs just $649.99 for 24 hours, you better hop on that Amazon Prime Day deal if you have the money and need a 4KTV. This was Samsung's big 55-inch TV – four times the pixels as a Full HD set and yet it was almost cut in half in terms of price. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/a8979adf4e44343bf9f922ea1e240464.jpg Toshiba Chromebook 2, $120 off Amazon Prime Day laptop deals are always plentiful in the US, and the retailer's 2017 discounts should be no different. A year ago, online shoppers were going crazy for this new Toshiba notebook that went from $400 to $280. We're hoping for even more cheap laptops this year. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/X27XcTGBBTQ25jJbuaMXv7.jpg Kindle Paperwhite, $33 off Amazon started as a online book retailer, so it's no surprise that its brilliant e-ink displays are popular. One of our favorites is the Kindle Paperwhite, which usually goes for $119.99. However, on Amazon Prime Day, we were able to find it for just $86.99. Right now, Amazon has it on a temporary discount at $99. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/22bbb269e351d030715d4a5f67fc4343.jpg Huawei Watch, $174 off New Android smartwatch that look this elegant don't come cheap. However, we were able to get it for a reduced price during Amazon Prime Day. Instead of the original list price of $349.99, Amazon discounted the smartwatch to $175.99. It remains one of the classiest-looking Android smartwatches available. What to expect from Prime Day 2017We’d expect Prime Day 2017 to follow the template of the last two Prime Days. In the week or two before the big day, we'll see an enticing Amazon Prime subscription discount. Then on the day itself deals will be grouped into two category: Deals of the Day, which tend to be the most eye-catching and which are available in big numbers, and Lightning Deals, which cover every conceivable kind of product, have limited availability and often sell out very quickly. In the latter case Prime members get to see the deals before non-members. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ec59465937c13562bd597d5220fbca91.jpg Top deals to expect on Prime Day 2017 http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UqvyXBn5o5CWPSkutj8A8B.jpg All the Amazon things Last year’s biggest sellers included the Amazon Fire TV Stick, the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet and the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Spot the trend? This year we’d expect those items to be joined by the Amazon Echo, Amazon Echo Dot and Amazon Echo Look - so whatever you do, don’t buy an Amazon device this side of Prime Day unless you like spending more money than you need to. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MnwsunsbLjtvMh4Jc22DAB.jpg PS4 and Xbox One The current generation of consoles is well established and there aren’t any limited supply problems for the PS4 and Xbox One, so we’d expect some serious discounting on Prime Day 2016 - although probably not for the PS4 Pro, which is still relatively new. With the Pro out there and the Xbox One X incoming we think Prime Day could see some exciting deals, especially on bundles: they have more wiggle room when it comes to pricing than console-only offers. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BRptapWGbiMERYzNSmGYpD.jpg 4K TVs Working out the value of a TV can be difficult: the pace of change and strength of competition means that even the most cutting-edge TV goes from can’t-afford to cheap-as-chips in an incredibly short time. Pay no attention to the RRP / MSRP, though: use a service such as PriceSpy or CamelCamelCamel to see if what looks like a great deal is just Amazon getting round to matching rivals’ prices. There will be lots of genuine deals, however, so Prime Day 2016 is a good day to look for a new TV. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DX4bSpLpxkFSbwcx8dDkHB.jpg Laptops and gaming laptops We’re constantly monitoring laptop deals not just on Prime Day, but every day. There’s lots of flexibility in laptop-land, and we’d expect Amazon to take advantage of that to drop the price of big-name laptops quite dramatically. Keep a particular eye on Lenovo, Asus and HP laptops, which tend to see discounting across multiple models. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tK7PCgdQcoTnzAUYPKoNAB.jpg Home electronics House stuff might not be glamorous, but you can save an absolute packet on everything from pots and pans to food processors on Prime Day. As we mentioned earlier it’s a big day for buying hammocks, pressure cookers and robot vacuum cleaners. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/07802b759f8ececb4e1870292aa6b350.jpg Prime Day 2017 FAQ: what it is, when it happens and where to get the best deals What is Prime Day? It’s Amazon’s annual birthday celebration, when it discounts more than 100,000 products of all kinds. When is Prime Day 2017? Amazon hasn’t said yet, but we’re hearing that Prime Day 2017 will be Tuesday 11 July 2017. Is Prime Day 2017 Amazon only? The name is Amazon’s, yes, but in 2016 plenty of other retailers decided to try and spoil Amazon’s fun by running their own doorbuster sales. What about Amazon competitors? No surprise, Amazon Prime Day has attracted the attention of the store's competitors, with Walmart, Target, Best Buy and NewEgg all trying to discount items anywhere from 24 hours to a full week. It doesn't have quite the same draw, but it's great for budget conscious consumers. Are Prime Day deals real? Yes and no. They’re real in the sense that you’re paying less than the official price for things, but sometimes that official price was just silly. Like many retailers, Amazon is very keen on comparing prices against RRPs (MSRPs in the US) that nobody really expects anybody to pay - so for example in 2013 the Wall Street Journal noted that an Amazon deal of 45% off a $1,799 Samsung HDTV wasn't quite so impressive: the previous month, Amazon had been selling the same TV for $997.99, so the actual saving was less than ten dollars. Such deals are essentially the same thing as supermarket wine promotions or amazing, never-ending furniture sales. If you have a particular product in mind it's worth keeping an eye on the prices now to make sure the deals are genuine on Prime Day. We find sites such as PriceSpy invaluable, as they enable you to see exactly what prices are being charged for specific things - not just big purchases, but smaller items such as video games too. Some of the deals will clearly be paper bargains like the one the Wall Street Journal reported, but that doesn't mean all of them will be. Amazon will have been bargaining hard with key suppliers to cut the prices it pays for some products, and it'll sell some high-profile items as loss leaders in the expectation of cross-selling, up-selling and, well, selling. From Amazon's point of view it can lose money on big deals and make it back from Prime subscriptions and by shifting stock it wants to get rid of anyway. Where can I find the best Prime Day deals? Right here. We scour all the top retailers’ Prime Day deals so that you don’t have to - and we tell you whether the deals are worth getting excited about too. Whether it’s a 4K HDR OLED TV or an Xbox One controller, if it’s discounted we’ll have the details here. How do I get the best Prime Day 2017 deals? Know what you want, know what you can afford to spend and know the market: you’ll often spot interesting price hikes in June to enable amazing-looking discounts on Prime Day. Pay particular attention to real prices, not RRPs: TVs are particularly bad for this, with sets whose RRP is eleventy billion pounds routinely selling for five hundred quid. Sites such as CamelCamelCamel and PriceSpy enable you to tell if you’re looking at a legitimate bargain or some timed tomfoolery. It’s also a very good idea to be flexible: for example, if you fancy a Sony 4K TV then think about the features you want rather than a specific model number: the BRV123ABD54-88C-9218-B may not be discounted on Prime Day, but an almost identical set with the specification you want probably will be. Can I get cashback on Prime Day deals? Sometimes, yes. Your debit card or credit card may offer cashback on purchases. It’s definitely worth looking into, not just for Prime Day but for any online shopping. How can I stay safe on Prime Day? There’s a good chance that spammers and scammers will latch on to Prime Day much as they have with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so be wary of unsolicited emails or links to deals on social media no matter how legitimate they look: anything asking for card details or login details is a scam. If you’re on a PC, make sure your security software is up to date. Many suites automatically block known scam sites. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/maDaHHOJZDE

Qualcomm, the manufacturer behind the mobile-focussed Snapdragon processors, is investing big into its Smart Audio Platform, which it’s hoping will power the next generation of voice-assistant equipped devices. The new chips are built to integrate with multiple voice assistants, including Google Assistant and Alexa, and support multiple configurations of microphones, allowing it to vary between, for example, Google Home’s 2-microphone array and the Amazon Echo’s 7. Specific technologies enabled by the chips include far-field noise cancellation to allow a device’s microphones to be able to hear your voice from across the room, keyword detection, and voice biometrics (to allow a speaker to potentially recognize different voices like Google Home). Having these technologies built into the chip should allow different manufacturers to save a lot of time bringing their connected devices to market. Amazon has already encouraged other companies to integrate Alexa into their products, and has even made its own 7-microphone array available to manufacturers. Similarly, Google is also partnering with other device manufacturers to equip their devices with its smart assistant. Qualcomm’s technology is aiming to make it even easier for manufacturers to build in the technology. An end for Echo?Given that the goal appears to be equipping every speaker in your house with a voice assistant, this could spell the end for dedicated voice assistant devices such as the original Echo and Google Home. After all, if, in the future, the soundbar in my living room, DAB radio on my bedside table and connected multi-room speaker in my kitchen are all going to be equipped with Alexa, then what purpose does an Amazon Echo serve? In this context, the original devices seem more like a trogan horse for the technology rather than the end-goal. For its part, Amazon appears to be working to ensure that the Echo does more than simply act as a speaker such as building in cameras and touchscreens with the Echo Look and Echo Show. But in the long term could we see the eventual extinction of dedicated voice assistant device, even as the likes of Alexa and Google Assistant become ever-more common features in the modern smart home? Only time will tell. Check out everything we know about the Amazon Echo Show, the Amazon Echo Look, and our reviews of the Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/wYlaY-Im3-Q

We all know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but what about Amazon Prime Day? If you’re not familiar with Prime Day, it’s when Amazon goes mad for 24 hours and offers big discounts on things you might actually want to buy. Last year it was the biggest day in Amazon’s history: Amazon's traffic was up 36%. It sold 90,000 TVs and thousands of Kindle Paperwhites, Fire TV Sticks and tablets. In just three hours US customers had bought 18,048 pairs of headphones, while in the UK we bought 600 Trunki suitcases before breakfast. Amazon sold enough Philips Hue bulbs to replace every light in the Albert Hall daily for four and a half years. So what exactly is Prime Day? Can you trust the deals or is Amazon at it? And when will Prime Day 2017 be anyway? Read on for the answers to these questions and some you might not have thought of. US free trial: Amazon PrimeUK free trial: Amazon PrimeWhen is Amazon Prime Day 2017?Amazon hasn’t said yet, but we’re hearing that Prime Day 2017 will be held on Tuesday 11 July 2017. Prime Day 2016 was the 12 of July, which was the second Tuesday of the month. This year that falls on the eleventh. What's the point of Prime Day?Prime Day exists to promote Amazon’s Prime subscription service, which Amazon says is the best deal in the history of shopping. Prime Day is for Prime members, many of whom will sign up for a free trial of the service so they can get the deals. Once signed up, many of them stay as Prime subscribers. If you're not a Prime subscriber, there's usually a big Amazon Prime sale in the run-up to the big day. In the US, a year of Prime was discounted from $99 to $79 while in the UK the discount price was £59 down from £79. As we mentioned in our Amazon Prime review, we think Prime is an absolute bargain anyway so at the discounted price it's hard not to strongly recommend signing up. Why Amazon Prime Day mattersIf you’re looking for bargains, Prime Day 2017 is important - not just for gadgets, but for any kind of item. For example, on Prime Day 2016 Prime members bought 215,000 pressure cookers, 200,000 pairs of headphones, 24,000 hammocks, 23,000 Roomba robots and 14,000 Lenovo laptops. The crucial difference between Prime Day and Black Friday/Cyber Monday - other than it being Amazon’s idea - is that November’s deals are geared towards gifting, because of course it’s the holiday season. Amazon Prime Day is more about personal shopping, either for treating yourself or for saving money household items. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/260610765df535bcd3d4e5744989d532.jpg Will Prime Day 2017 be more exciting than last year?That depends on what you’re planning to buy. Discounts on Amazon’s own products - the Amazon Echo, Fire TV Stick, Fire Tablets and Kindle e-readers for example - are pretty much guaranteed, and there will be stacks of lightning deals on the day too. Unless Amazon decides to do things radically differently this year it’s going to be a really mixed bag, with laptop deals next to handbag deals next to power tools and prosecco. If only there was a website beginning with “T” and ending in “echradar.com” to find the best deals so you don’t have to delve through the dross. Hang on… there is! As you’d expect, we’re going to be hyped up on energy drinks throughout Prime Day on both sides of the Atlantic, finding the deals that you really don’t want to miss. Do I need a Prime subscription to get involved? Yes and no. While Prime is for Prime customers, there will be other deals on the day that are open to everyone - it’s just that with lightning deals, which tend to have limited stock, the Prime users get to see them before anybody else. That means some of the very best deals can be gone long before people who aren’t Prime members get to know about them. That doesn’t mean you need to pay for a Prime membership, though. You can sign up for a free trial and take full advantage of all the Prime benefits, including Prime Day. But don’t forget to cancel the trial afterwards if you don’t intend to continue. If you don’t, you’ll be automatically billed for membership when the trial period ends. US free trial: Amazon PrimeUK free trial: Amazon PrimeAre there special Prime deals for students? Yes. Amazon Student gives you Prime membership for £39 per year instead of the usual £79, and it’s completely free for the first six months. It’s worth considering not just for Prime Day, but for the included TV, music and movie streaming. Amazon Student USAmazon Student UKhttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rbpPodtuSWmfvMNBVYXKYM.jpg The top 5 deals of Prime Day last year:http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/9jJHN8AidHV2bZBboNTwsB.jpg Microsoft Surface Pro - £210 off There were lots of great laptop deals on Prime Day 2016, with a whopping £210 off Microsoft’s superb Surface Pro 4. There was nearly £200 off the Surface 3, £90 off Lenovo Ideapads and even money off Chromebooks: the Lenovo N22 Chromebook dropped from £160 to just £100. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/pxWBZeURAmvBLv6KMp2ToD.jpg Gibson electric guitars - 20% off Amazon might not be the first place you’d think of when it comes to guitars, but if you were looking for a great price on a great guitar last year then it was the place to go - especially for Gibson’s more expensive models, which were on sale with whopping 20% discounts. Sadly our budgets didn’t stretch to top end Les Pauls, so we bought a whole bunch of heavily discounted Epiphone guitars instead. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VYj3MsPnrrvJmztKExcDoD.jpg Xbox One Guitar Hero Bundle - £105 off We described this as an “epic party deal”: an Xbox One, Guitar Hero Live, a guitar controller and a bundled Kinect Value Pack with camera and three family-friendly games. At just £235 for the lot that was extraordinary value for money. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BRptapWGbiMERYzNSmGYpD.jpg HDTVs and 4K TVs: up to £100 off We’ve written elsewhere about TV deals that were too good to be true, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t genuine discounts on Prime Day. You could save up to £100 on a wide range of TVs including HD, 4K and 3D models, and there were discounts on home cinema projectors too. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KrAiav6zpbc2uui86uwukD.jpg Motion activated toilet nightlight: 25% off Okay, this one probably isn’t a must-have - but it does demonstrate the depth of Amazon’s Prime Day discounting. If toilet nightlights aren’t your thing, you could get money off LED flashing gloves and other fairly niche products. As Amazon told CNBC: “What could be weird to one person may be wonderful to someone else.” What to expect from Prime Day 2017We’d expect Prime Day 2017 to follow the template of the last two Prime Days. In the week or two before hte big day, we'll see an enticing Amazon Prime subscription discount. Then on the day itself deals will be grouped into two category: Deals of the Day, which tend to be the most eye-catching and which are available in big numbers, and Lightning Deals, which cover every conceivable kind of product, have limited availability and often sell out very quickly. In the latter case Prime members get to see the deals before non-members. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ec59465937c13562bd597d5220fbca91.jpg Top deals to expect on Prime Day 2017 http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UqvyXBn5o5CWPSkutj8A8B.jpg All the Amazon things Last year’s biggest sellers included the Amazon Fire TV Stick, the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet and the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Spot the trend? This year we’d expect those items to be joined by the Amazon Echo, Amazon Echo Dot and Amazon Echo Look - so whatever you do, don’t buy an Amazon device this side of Prime Day unless you like spending more money than you need to. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MnwsunsbLjtvMh4Jc22DAB.jpg PS4 and Xbox One The current generation of consoles is well established and there aren’t any limited supply problems for the PS4 and Xbox One, so we’d expect some serious discounting on Prime Day 2016 - although probably not for the PS4 Pro, which is still relatively new. With the Pro out there and the Xbox One X incoming we think Prime Day could see some exciting deals, especially on bundles: they have more wiggle room when it comes to pricing than console-only offers. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BRptapWGbiMERYzNSmGYpD.jpg 4K TVs Working out the value of a TV can be difficult: the pace of change and strength of competition means that even the most cutting-edge TV goes from can’t-afford to cheap-as-chips in an incredibly short time. Pay no attention to the RRP / MSRP, though: use a service such as PriceSpy or CamelCamelCamel to see if what looks like a great deal is just Amazon getting round to matching rivals’ prices. There will be lots of genuine deals, however, so Prime Day 2016 is a good day to look for a new TV. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DX4bSpLpxkFSbwcx8dDkHB.jpg Laptops and gaming laptops We’re constantly monitoring laptop deals not just on Prime Day, but every day. There’s lots of flexibility in laptop-land, and we’d expect Amazon to take advantage of that to drop the price of big-name laptops quite dramatically. Keep a particular eye on Lenovo, Asus and HP laptops, which tend to see discounting across multiple models. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tK7PCgdQcoTnzAUYPKoNAB.jpg Home electricals House stuff might not be glamorous, but you can save an absolute packet on everything from pots and pans to food processors on Prime Day. As we mentioned earlier it’s a big day for buying hammocks, pressure cookers and robot vacuum cleaners. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/07802b759f8ececb4e1870292aa6b350.jpg Prime Day 2017 FAQ: what it is, when it happens and where to get the best deals What is Prime Day? It’s Amazon’s annual birthday celebration, when it discounts more than 100,000 products of all kinds. When is Prime Day 2017? Amazon hasn’t said yet, but we’re hearing that Prime Day 2017 will be Tuesday 11 July 2017. Is Prime Day 2017 Amazon only? The name is Amazon’s, yes, but in 2016 plenty of other retailers decided to try and spoil Amazon’s fun by running their own doorbuster sales. Argos ran a “Big Sale” with discounts on PS4s, TVs, kitchen items, Android tablets, laptops and Dysons; Currys PC World offered “mega deals” with 10% off TVs, built-in appliances and Hi-Fi systems as well as deep discounts on laptops and consoles; John Lewis had a clearance event discounting towels, tablewere, furniture and garden furniture, Lenovo laptops, Bluetooth speakers, tablets and smartwatches; and Ebuyer treated us to the ultimate Dad joke with its Optimus Day of discounts. Are Prime Day deals real? Yes and no. They’re real in the sense that you’re paying less than the official price for things, but sometimes that official price was just silly. Like many retailers, Amazon is very keen on comparing prices against RRPs (MSRPs in the US) that nobody really expects anybody to pay - so for example in 2013 the Wall Street Journal noted that an Amazon deal of 45% off a $1,799 Samsung HDTV wasn't quite so impressive: the previous month, Amazon had been selling the same TV for $997.99, so the actual saving was less than ten dollars. Such deals are essentially the same thing as supermarket wine promotions or amazing, never-ending furniture sales. If you have a particular product in mind it's worth keeping an eye on the prices now to make sure the deals are genuine on Prime Day. We find sites such as PriceSpy invaluable, as they enable you to see exactly what prices are being charged for specific things - not just big purchases, but smaller items such as video games too. Some of the deals will clearly be paper bargains like the one the Wall Street Journal reported, but that doesn't mean all of them will be. Amazon will have been bargaining hard with key suppliers to cut the prices it pays for some products, and it'll sell some high-profile items as loss leaders in the expectation of cross-selling, up-selling and, well, selling. From Amazon's point of view it can lose money on big deals and make it back from Prime subscriptions and by shifting stock it wants to get rid of anyway. Where can I find the best Prime Day deals? Right here. We scour all the top retailers’ Prime Day deals so that you don’t have to - and we tell you whether the deals are worth getting excited about too. Whether it’s a 4K HDR OLED TV or an Xbox One controller, if it’s discounted we’ll have the details here. How do I get the best Prime Day 2017 deals? Know what you want, know what you can afford to spend and know the market: you’ll often spot interesting price hikes in June to enable amazing-looking discounts on Prime Day. Pay particular attention to real prices, not RRPs: TVs are particularly bad for this, with sets whose RRP is eleventy billion pounds routinely selling for five hundred quid. Sites such as CamelCamelCamel and PriceSpy enable you to tell if you’re looking at a legitimate bargain or some timed tomfoolery. It’s also a very good idea to be flexible: for example, if you fancy a Sony 4K TV then think about the features you want rather than a specific model number: the BRV123ABD54-88C-9218-B may not be discounted on Prime Day, but an almost identical set with the specification you want probably will be. Can I get cashback on Prime Day deals? Sometimes, yes. Your debit card or credit card may offer cashback on purchases. It’s definitely worth looking into, not just for Prime Day but for any online shopping. Am I protected when I buy on Prime Day? Yes. In the UK, anything you buy from a company online is covered by a wealth of consumer protection legislation including the Consumer Contracts regulations, which give you the same rights as with any other online purchasing - including the short-term right to return items even if they aren’t mis-sold or defective. How can I stay safe on Prime Day? There’s a good chance that spammers and scammers will latch on to Prime Day much as they have with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so be wary of unsolicited emails or links to deals on social media no matter how legitimate they look: anything asking for card details or login details is a scam. If you’re on a PC, make sure your security software is up to date. Many suites automatically block known scam sites. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/gk0wdGRSouM

While Amazon adding phone calls and messaging to its Echo speakers was a handy feature setting itself apart from the competition, a sorely-needed addition to Alexa's newest skill has arrived. As seen in the update notes on Alexa's App Store page, users can now finally block specific contacts from reaching them via call or messaging. Originally, Alexa users could not individual prevent contacts from reaching them through Echo's new calling and messaging feature— making it a potential privacy headache for those who'd rather not be bothered through a literal speaker in their home, according to The Verge. Now, you can scroll through your contacts list on the Alexa app and prevent any scammers or ne'er-do-wells from calling or messaging you by hitting the newly added "Block Contacts" button. The update is seemingly only available for the iOS version of the Alexa app at the moment, with the Android version still awaiting call-blocking. In the meantime, feel free to consult our guide to securing Alexa to make sure Amazon's digital assistant isn't assisting those you'd rather not associate with. Everything to know about Apple's competing HomePodhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/us00KnPOwYo

Philips’s smart lighting family gets a new home lighting system in India called Philips Hue White Ambiance. You can now select the right light level and color temperature of white as per your tasks and routines. The system claims to give you more energy during the day and dim at night to help you sleep better. There are preset recipes in the new system to relax, read, and concentrate. Light has a deep impact on regulating the human body’s 24-hour circadian rhythm, and it plays a critical role in how people wake up and fall asleep. Hue White Ambiance cover the color temperature range can help users get out of bed and start their day feeling refreshed, claims the company. "The connected LED home lighting system helps you customize your daily routines into moments you can enjoy with light recipes.” said Harshavardhan Chitale, Vice Chairman and MD, Philips Lighting India. You can experience the new lighting product range live till June 13, 2017 at DLF CyberHub in Gurgaon where Shruti Hassan, the brand ambassador of the company, unveiled the solution. The new Hue Starter Kit includes two White Ambiance bulbs – which offers 50,000 shades and all temperatures of white light -- a wireless Dimmer Switch and a Bridge to accommodate 50 Light points, 7 devices, and 12 accessories. The switch can control upto 10 Philips Hue luminaires without a bridge. The Muscari collection –the family of luminaires including Pendant, Ceiling, Table and Floor lamps, comes with slim diffusers connected via a metal ring give warm glow. Then you have the Aphelion LED downlight which is the lighting solution for your ceilings. Available in round and square shapes, Aphelion can help create your ambiance from warm white to cool daylight . You can control Philips Hue home lighting using your smartphone or tablet --across iOS and Android. It is also compatible with all major smart home hubs, including Apple HomeKit, Google Home and Amazon Echo. The new Philips Hue White Ambiance range will be available at select Philips Light Lounges and Croma stores across India and can also be bought online at Amazon. However, the new solution is already available for Rs 2,141 at Amazon as a single bulb or as part of a starter kit which includes a dimmer switch for Rs 11,999. OnePlus 5 coming to India on June 22http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/g9b6y2KI5xA

Microsoft is further bolstering its defences against cyber-attacks with the announcement that it has acquired an innovative Israeli security startup. Hexadite is a firm which specialises in using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help detect and protect against attacks, delivering automated incident investigation and remediation capabilities. The software giant said that acquiring Hexadite will help to boost the capabilities of Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (WDATP), enabling Windows 10 customers to better detect and respond to sophisticated threats and attacks on their networks. Microsoft noted: “With Hexadite, WDATP will include endpoint security automated remediation, while continuing the incredible growth in activations of WDATP, which now protects almost 2 million devices.” While Microsoft didn’t reveal any of the terms of the acquisition, TechCrunch reports that the move allegedly cost the company around $100 million (about £80 million, AU$135 million). Ongoing investmentOf course, in its press statement, Microsoft didn’t fail to take the opportunity to remind us that Windows 10 is the most secure version of its desktop operating system ever, and that the company intends to make ongoing investments in terms of the automated detection of threats. So we can doubtless expect more acquisitions on the security front when it comes to AI-powered detection. We saw recently that Windows 10 was immune to the ravages of the WannaCry ransomware, in one definite highlight of the operating system’s boosted levels of security. Although users should never be too complacent, as white hat hackers have already demonstrated that the exploit which powered WannaCry can be adapted to affect Windows 10 (or at least older versions of it). These are the best antivirus products of 2017http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/_alpH3-mY2c

Should Apple's newly announced HomePod be too pricey for your blood (and, you know, not available yet), Google's own smart speaker is going on sale. Starting now at select retailers, Google Home is taking $20 off its normal price of $129, meaning you'll spend just over $100 to own the Google Assistant-backed smart speaker. Even when not on sale, Google Home doesn't come close to meeting the HomePod's hefty $349 price tag, though the competing Amazon Echo is more in the ball park at $179. If this Google Home deal has grabbed your attention, then head to the Google Store, Best Buy, or Target to pick one out today. As is the case with most retailer promotions, the twenty bucks off only applies while supplies last. According to SlashGear, the Google Home deal lasts until June 18 — Father's Day — so don't dawdle if you're looking for a last-minute gift for Pop, lest you have to wait until Black Friday for another solid Home discount. Amazon Echo vs Google Home vs Apple HomePodhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/fcVq2NFGCho

Following the United States’ controversial rejection of the Paris Climate Agreement, many US citizens may worry about the planet’s environmental future, or feel frustrated at their own inability to make a difference to combat climate change. Yet individuals can still have a significant, positive impact on the planet’s well-being for future generations, and a good first step is employing smart home tech and green energy practices in their own homes. We’ve compiled lists of green devices that will pay for themselves by cutting down your utility bills, with the added bonus of shrinking your carbon footprint and making your home a hub of smart, adaptable technology. Read on for our suggestions in each category! Electricityhttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jbdWHZxmDdd62z8uuBR4WV.jpg Credit: Sense.comBelieve it or not, electricity usage produces more greenhouse gases in the US than cars, according to the Environmental Projection Agency. By tracking down and limiting energy-guzzling devices in your home, you can significantly reduce your own contribution to that statistic. One device, the Sense Home Energy Monitor, attaches to a circuit breaker and monitors your home’s electric usage. It automatically senses unique electronic signatures from each of your devices and sends data on your worst wattage thieves to a smartphone app, tracking both real-time usage and long-term trends. Like tracking your calories or steps, you can examine your house’s environmental impact and take action to make it healthier. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8QsTZRB4FenST7545RRhxW.png Credit: Asmo SolutionsOne energy offender you’ll likely notice is your phone charger. Chargers pull full electricity from your outlet even when not charging devices, an effect called “vampire draw”. But the Asmo Charger, an Indiegogo-produced plug that only pulls electricity when charging a device, solves that problem. Your chargers probably aren’t the only vampire electronics you have, though. Printers, gaming consoles, and other large devices should require less energy when off or in standby mode, but often pull full power anyway. For the office, try the Smart Strip Surge Protector, which senses how much energy your devices use when on, and then automatically cuts them off when shut down or idling. Or, consider the iDevices Switch or the TP-Link Smart Wi-Fi Plug, two-highly rated smart plugs that monitor energy usage for individual devices; with them you can shut down devices remotely using your smartphone, automatically shut off idling appliances after a certain time, or voice-control them using Amazon Echo or Google Home. Lighthttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8t4i4cjJ4ihDrwgrrFiUS7.jpg Energy from standard light bulbs mostly comes out as heat, not light; buying standard CFL or LED bulbs will greatly diminish your energy use. But with the new smart bulbs on the market, you can save a ton of energy while also making your home’s ambience customizable with the tap of a screen. The Lifx Color LED Bulbs are a series of Wi-Fi connected bulbs you can control with smart hubs like Echo or through a smartphone app. You can change the color scheme of your house easily, tell Alexa to dim the lights at night, or choose themes to match your mood. Designed for efficiency, they pair well with smart home devices that automatically turn them off when you leave the house. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/TAaS72x3m2cShasRBcneuU.jpg Credit: Nanoleaf.meLifx doesn’t have the monopoly on the trendy yet efficient bulb market. Philips Hue has a huge selection of color-customizable smart bulbs, along with motion sensors that turn lights on or off based on your presence and dimmer switches to keep your energy usage low. Nanoleaf Aurora is another option that combines its smart bulbs with customizable, modular light panels that can cost less than a dollar a year to power. When it comes to outdoor lighting, you shouldn’t have to spend any money on electricity at all. The Urpower LED Outdoor Solar Lights run entirely off of solar energy for 12 hours after sunset, illuminating your garden or patio at no cost. Its motion sensors trigger max brightness when movement is activated to scare off garden critters or intruders. Waterhttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/54XyeiYDb7xCjZAL2W3ExP.jpg Credit: LTE Water ProductsIt’s hard not to soak in those extra few minutes in the warm shower every morning. But by using a smart water monitor, you can keep better tabs on just how much is going down the drain. The WaterHawk low-flow showerhead cuts down on your average water usage like many other showerheads, but it also comes with a hydraulic-powered LED screen that tells you how many gallons of water you’ve used in your shower, so you’ll suddenly remember you don’t need the water running while you soap up. It also tells you the current temperature so you don’t waste too much water waiting for it to heat up. Evolve showerheads accomplish a lot of the same water conservation without the LED bells and whistles. Once you turn one on, it shoots out all the cold water and then slows the water flow to a drip once the water’s hot, and no more water comes out until you pull a cord. You can go about your morning routine with the shower on standby without wasting any water or heat. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/g5i6npkUDHqGuB9YyVaeVX.jpg Credit: RachioBut your water conservation efforts shouldn’t just be confined to the indoors. For watering your lawn, try the Blossom Smart Watering Controller, which connects to weather data via the cloud and adjusts its sprinkling schedule so it never waters when rain is on the way. For larger yards, the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller connects to up to 16 sprinkler zones and can be controlled via smart devices or home platforms. You can customize your watering patterns based on vegetation and yard size and then sit back and let it do its work. Heat and air conditioninghttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yWf5NXTa4k3fZuDYNXizdV.jpg Credit: NestJust about half of your energy use is going toward keeping your house at the right temperature. You don’t have to give up air conditioning during the next heat wave - by using smart thermostats, you can cut down your usage in small doses. Like any creepy sci-fi AI, the Energy Star–certified Nest Learning Thermostat studies your movements for a week after you install it, learning when you like to change the temperature, leave the house for work or go to bed. Hands on: Nest Cam IQ reviewOnce it’s memorized your movements, Nest adjusts energy usage to match your patterns. It also tracks your energy usage averages and savings over time, and even claims to track potential pipe leaks and carbon monoxide poisoning. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wC8DZmYALZmUgWcGARkDvU.jpg Credit: EcobeeNest’s fiercest competitor is the Ecobee4 Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat, which beats out other thermostats by measuring and adjusting “hot and cold spots” in specific areas of the house. So, for example, you can make your bedroom warm and snug at night while turning the rest of the house into an icebox to save energy. Also Energy Star–certified, remotely accessible and voice-controllable, Ecobee knows when you’re not home and anticipates when you’ll return to heat things back up. Applianceshttp://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NVq96mN2z9JkpyXKgLndGa.jpg Credit: SmartThings | KickstarterAll of the above are great tweaks to your lifestyle to cut down on bad habits and track your progress in small doses. But if you’re looking to make major cuts to your energy and water usage, you’ll need to shell out lots of cash to upgrade those old kitchen appliances and electronics taking a toll on your utilities bill. For replacing your clothes or dish washers, dryers or refrigerators, your best resource is Energy Star, which provides detailed rankings of the most efficient appliances in each category. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rr8LThEZnp98VgPrLbC94W.jpg Credit: SamsungOne smart, economical appliance to check out is the Samsung WW9000 washing machine, which allows you to monitor and control cycles using your smart device. Its “Eco Bubble” technology cuts down on the amount of warm water needed to effectively clean clothes – saving on heat and water costs in the long run – and it senses your load size, so you’ll never waste too much water per load. When it comes to dish washing, your best way of saving water and energy is to wash your plates, bowls, et. al. by hand. But not everyone has time for that, so consider the Beko line of dishwashers: they rate most efficient with water and energy usage compared to other brands. http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/b3b875ac907a2ccbb743c75cdcb26d76.jpg For your TVs and monitors, consider upgrading your old plasma and OLED screens for LEDs. These screens cut down significantly on energy leakage, so they’re less likely to heat up and demand more watts to keep your screen bright. Multiple sites rated the Samsung 2015 LED Smart TV as the most energy-efficient TV on the market today, and TechRadar rated Samsung’s smart TVs as some of the best on the market. Overall, you could potentially replace dozens of appliances, bulbs, plugs and devices, all with their own apps to control them. That could could overwhelming. But rather than clutter up your phone with apps, consider the Kickstarter backed SmartThings Hub. With it, you can link your voice assistants, smart bulbs, outlets, sensors, thermostats, speakers, sprinklers and other devices through one platform, making your new green tech household a lot easier to manage. Tesla wants to reinvent the solar roof - here's howApple wants to make future iPhones from purely recycled materialshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/digital-home/~4/bPRmJHpTJLA