sincity

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/OSX/OSX%201011/wwdc-2015-grabs/mission-control-470-75.JPGIntroductionApple occupies an odd space in the PC market. The company, which originally started making personal computers in the 1980s, has since become best known as the maker of the iPhone but its Mac lineup. Its laptops and desktops are generally considered some of the best, if most expensive, computers available today. Almost every review of a computer that comes with a bitten piece of fruit on the back is positive, if not glowing. The MacBook Pro, a powerful laptop aimed at on-the-go professionals, is regularly described as the best laptop in the world while the MacBook Air, its less powerful sibling, comes in second. Its record is far from flawless in recent years, however, with the 12-inch MacBook (due to its single USB Type-C port) and the 2014 Mac mini - which is yet to see a refresh - being two bum notes among recent highs. http://cdn2.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/laptops/Apple/New%20MacBook%20(2015)/review/table-tennis-420-100.JPG Apple has spent a lot of time, effort, and money on keeping the Mac lines up-to-date, including introducing a new version, simply called MacBook, which is closer to an iPad than a laptop, besides the fact it runs OS X, Apple's operating system. In fact, its OS X that makes Apple's computer lineup so compelling: The operating system is visually striking, fast, and available exclusively on Apple-made computers. The decision to keep OS X all to itself came from Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and first CEO who put the "personal" into the company's computers as far back as 1984, when the original Macintosh was introduced, according to Walter Isaacson's biography, http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/features/Steve%20Jobs%20greatest%20hits%202013/steve-jobs-keynote-image-420-100.jpg Jobs decided that the option that yielded the best end-user experience was if Apple made both the software and the hardware for the Mac. While this model is not only fantastically profitable, it does actually work: Apple builds software with specific hardware in mind which means it integrates better. There is a reason that MacBook's have the best trackpads and, often, battery life. It's important to understand how this differs from the "Windows model." Essentially, Microsoft chose the opposite route: Windows is made available—for a fee—to PC makers (referred to as Original Equipment Manufactures, or OEMs) who then made the hardware and bundle Windows. Microsoft has built its entire business off the back of having Windows on as many computers as possible, but it was only through choice that Apple didn't compete in this way. The market share figures tell most of the story: As of today, OS X has around 6% of the total PC market while Windows has over 90%. The total PC market is between 800 and 1 billion PCs, meaning that, well, Microsoft has a much larger footprint than Apple. A different outcomeSo, what would have happened if Apple decided to take the same tact as Microsoft and open OS X up to third parties? The most likely scenario is that the market share of OS X and Windows would be roughly tied. There is little else to work from—especially as iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone, is only available on one device—but the two operating systems are fairly evenly matched in terms of features, stability, and speed. (This is especially true of newer versions.) http://cdn2.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/laptops/Apple/MacBook%20Pro%2013-inch%20with%20Retina%202015/hero-420-100.JPG Apple's MacBooks would also have had to compete against cheaper PC alternatives, likely from Dell, HP, ASUS, and so on, just like Microsoft does today with its Surface tablets. This would have had a negative effect on the MacBook's pricing, which is traditionally high, and could have forced Apple to lower it and decrease the margins it makes on its laptops. However, it would mean that Apple's software would now be on around 400 million computers—assuming a 50/50 split with Windows in a market that is today's size—and the revenue from this would have been large. Microsoft's financials are made up, in part, by licenses that get sold to OEMs. In 2015, the company made $10 billion from this arrangement. http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/desktop_pcs_and_macs/Apple/iMac%2021.5-inch%20with%204K%20Retina%20display%20(late%202015)/4k-imac-hero-420-100.JPG Apple, however, made around $25 billion from the Mac in the same period. This doesn't tell the whole picture, though, as much of Microsoft remaining revenue, like the $40 billion it made from licensing Windows to businesses, is dependent on Windows and its prevalence in the world. If Apple had made OS X available to OEMs it could be Apple, not Microsoft, that was collecting that revenue from businesses. The enterprise side of Apple's business has recently been bolstered, reaching $25 billion in 2015, but that figure still represents around a third of Microsoft's comparable revenues. The model Apple has settled for is, most likely, that one it will stick with, especially as it has worked so well for the iPhone. The Mac is synonymous with OS X and vice versa and the upside potential isn't worth the perceived drop in quality that Apple's brand would suffer if its operating system shipped on low-quality, low-price hardware. In recent years, the Mac has started to work far more closely with the iPhone, leading some to describe it as an accessory to the phone. This idea is both true and false. Some features, like Launchpad, have been taken from iOS (and Apple isn't afraid to admit it) but others are distinctly made for the Mac, like Final Cut Pro and other high-end tools. The past may have looked different for the Mac and OS X if Apple had chosen to open the operating system up to PC makers, but it still worked out pretty well for everyone. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396641146/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea980bf/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396641146/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea980bf/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396641146/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea980bf/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247396641146/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea980bf/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247396641146/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea980bf/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ea980bf/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/fhusQ67Y-lI

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20on%20Dell/Start-470-75.JPGWindows 10 is making pretty steady progress, at least according to the latest figures which have just been released by NetMarketShare. The OS bean counters found that Windows 10 now has a 14.15% share of the desktop market as of the end of March, compared to February's figure of 12.82%. In January, Windows 10 had a share of 11.85%, so the increase to February was just under 1%. In other words, Microsoft's newest OS has made better progress across March with a 1.33% gain in the last month. That's good news for Microsoft – any increase is going to be welcome news for Nadella and company, of course. And as the summer rolls on, we're likely to see a fairly sizeable uptick in adoption as those who sat on the fence make the move to upgrade to Windows 10 before the end of July deadline (after which, the upgrade is no longer free for Windows 7/8.1 users). Windows 7 still way aheadNaturally Windows 7 is still clearly in the lead with NetMarketShare's new figures, sat at the top on 51.89% – although it did drop nearly half a percentage point. Meanwhile, Windows 8.1 also slid slightly down to 9.56% (and with Windows 8 users added in, the previous version of Microsoft's desktop OS totals a 12.01% market share). You probably didn't miss the fact that at its Build conference, Microsoft put a firm figure on the number of Windows 10 devices out there, which now totals 270 million. At Build this week, Microsoft spilled plenty of details on what's coming in the Anniversary Update (previously known as Redstone) due to land this summer. This will include a big boost for stylus users in the form of Windows Ink which is designed to make pen usage far more intuitive (so you can do things like scribble a date and have Windows automatically set up a reminder through Cortana). Speaking of Cortana, the digital assistant will naturally be bolstered as well, and Microsoft has a serious focus on bots and AI now, with the company hoping to push forward on this front and leave Apple and Google's virtual assistants in its dust. Via: Betanews Also check out: Should you upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396556168/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8f648/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396556168/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8f648/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396556168/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8f648/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247396556168/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8f648/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247396556168/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8f648/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ea8f648/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/9Td074HbsNk

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/handoff-470-75.jpgIntroductionhttp://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/AAevents/Apple%20WWDC%202015/PR%20images/OS%20X%20El%20Capitan-420-100.jpg Things were very different 15 years ago. People bought records in shops. Trousers didn't hang around people's knees. What we thought were smartphones were essentially bricks with buttons on them. Operating systems were fifty shades of grey, and not in a sexy way. And then Apple launched OS X. It wasn't a surprise - OS X 10.0 had been unveiled at MacWorld Expo in 2000 - but consumers could actually get their hands on it in 2001 for the princely sum of $129. It looked and felt amazing: a quantum leap from the ageing Mac OS, and in a different league from Windows 95. It felt like the future - and over the next 15 years it evolved to become even better. These are our 10 favorite OS X features of all time. Now check out our OS X 10.11 El Capitan review1. The Aqua user interfacehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/aqua-420-90.jpg Do you remember the bit in The Wizard of Oz when the world went from black and white to Technicolor? That was Aqua, the interface whose design goals included making people want to lick it. The Aqua interface unveiled first in iMovie and then in OS X 10.0 was stained glass in a world of Windows, and we have fond memories of trying to imitate it on PCs using theme apps such as WindowBlinds. While it's been toned down a bit over the years OS X remains a very lickable operating system. 2. Spotlight searchinghttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/spotlight-420-90.jpg Spotlight was the replacement for Apple's Sherlock system search, and it debuted in OS X 10.4 Tiger back in 2005. It indexed your entire system to enable lightning-fast searches, and it became better still in OS X 10.5 when Quick Look instant previews, a calculator and a dictionary were added. Spotlight was significantly enhanced in OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and we use it as an app launcher, Maps searcher and Wikipedia interrogator. It's baked into iOS too. 7 handy shortcuts to master Spotlight3. Time Machinehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/timemachine-420-90.jpg OS X 10.5 Leopard introduced Time Machine, which addressed an age-old problem: how do you persuade people to make regular backups of their data? The answer, it turned out, was to do it for them. Time Machine takes snapshots of your system, enabling you to travel back in time to recover individual documents or items such as Calendar entries and doing so in a very simple and attractive way. We've lost track of the number of times Spotlight saved our bacon. How to customize your Time Machine backup4. iChat AVhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/ichat-420-90.jpg It may seem limited and clunky by today's messaging standards, but iChat and its video-capable successor iChat AV were pretty exciting at the time. iChat debuted in 2002 with support for AOL Instant Messenger - ask your grandparents - and added audio and video chat in 2003. Four-way video chat arrived in 2004 with the ability to connect to other messaging services, but Apple canned it in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in favour of iMessage (now Messages) and FaceTime. 5. Boot Camphttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/bootcamp-420-90.jpg When Apple moved to Intel processors in 2006 something unthinkable was suddenly possible: running Windows on a Mac. Rather than leave it to the hacking crowd, Apple decided to make running Windows as simple as possible - so it created Boot Camp as a beta in OS X 10.4 Tiger and included a finished version in OS X 10.5. The move wasn't as odd as you might think, because it gave Windows users yet another reason to switch to the Mac: you could run bespoke business apps and demanding games natively instead of inside an emulator. How to dual boot your Mac with Boot Camp6. PDFs everywherehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/pdf-420-90.jpg Where previous Mac OSes used the PICT file format for graphics and text documents, OS X chose PDF instead. With system-level support for the format - the Quartz graphics system inside OS X, which is responsible for OS X's peerless text rendering among other goodies, is based on PDF - viewing PDFs and printing to PDF were and are utterly effortless, and so useful that we'll forgive Preview's tendency to crash for no good reason and its habit of locking up entire Macs with it. 7. Handoffhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/handoff-420-90.jpg The company responsible for OS X 10.0 was Apple Computer; by OS X 10.10 it was just Apple, because Apple was no longer just about computers. With more and more Mac users owning iPhones and iPads too, Apple decided to make them work together with OS X - and it did that with a feature called Handoff, introduced in Yosemite. Handoff enables your Mac to take phone calls and messages from your phone, open documents you've been working on in iOS, and switch on and connect to the iPhone's Personal Hotspot. 50 El Capitan tips and tricks8. AirDrophttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/airdrop-420-90.jpg AirDrop is one of the best demonstrations of Apple's "it just works" approach: from OS X 10.7 and iOS 7 onwards, you could AirDrop photos or files from one device to another with a single tap. AirDropping between iOS and OS X wasn't possible until OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and it's only available on devices with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE, although Mac to Mac AirDropping is supported on Macs going back to 2008. How to AirDrop files from your Mac9. Quick Lookhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/quicklook-420-90.jpg How many hours have we saved thanks to Quick Look? Instant file previews at the tap of a space bar might not sound like a big deal, but when those previews are of anything - of documents and images, of movies and music - it's a massive time saver, especially when you're trying to find an audio clip, video or image. Quick Look first appeared in OS X 10.5 Leopard, although it didn't get support for animated GIFs until OS X 10.7. 10 best Mac OS X add-ons to get work done10. Accessibilityhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/OSX/OS%20X%20top%20features/accessibility-420-90.jpg We've left the most valuable OS features until last. The accessibility features in OS X make computing easier for people with disabilities. Dictation, Voiceover and Braille displays help people with blindness or low vision; FaceTime, iMessage and captions are a boon for people with hearing difficulties; and Switch Control, Slow Keys, Sticky Keys and Dictation can help people with poor mobility. The tech industry is fond of hyperbolic claims, but OS X's accessibility features have been genuinely life-changing. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396550182/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8a2ac/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396550182/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8a2ac/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396550182/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8a2ac/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247396550182/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8a2ac/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247396550182/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ea8a2ac/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ea8a2ac/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/skK5oE49rGo

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/events/Microsoft%20Build%202016/photos/bots-approach-build-2016-470-75.jpgOn stage at its annual Build conference keynote, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella painted a picture of our lives being made easier with bots, intelligent agents that live within apps and services. But, would that life be much better, or less connected than it already is – or both? Nadella and team's vision for conversational computing comes just a week after their first public experiment in the field, Tay, came crashing down in a spectacular display of human depravity. Not exactly the best argument for a world run by bots. The newly-appointed executive addressed the Twitter chat bot experiment head on during the March 30 Build 2016 keynote with a three-fold plan for bots that he believes are the new apps. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Robots/Tay%20AI%20bot/tay-portrait-420-100.jpg To Nadella, so long as bots and the digital assistants that use them are built with the intention to augment human ability and experience, with trustworthiness (privacy, transparency, security) and with inclusion and respectfulness in mind, we'll be OK. Or, at the very least, we'll avoid another Tay scenario. And, on paper, that generally checks out. Of course, the bots that Microsoft envisions aren't necessarily accessible by the masses all at once, but individuals through specific communication programs or through assistants, like Cortana. Still, Tay was demonstrative of the sheer power that such intelligent, semi-autonomous software can possess. But I'm worried about another facet of these bots' power. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/Microsoft%20Build%202016/grabs/conversations-build-420-90.jpg Do we need another crutch to connect?That's my simple question to everyone: are the lay people of the world ready for such power, just as we're learning empathy on the internet? But, I'll follow that up with another one. What will that power do to a society that's more connected than ever yet whose people struggle to meaningfully connect with one another more than ever? Take Microsoft's demonstration of Cortana using bots to facilitate uniting with an old friend in Dublin, Ireland on an upcoming trip. Looking at it one way: Cortana and its squad of bots just helped someone connect with her old friend. But, try and look at it this way: wouldn't that person have remembered that old friend without Cortana's help? Americans don't visit Ireland every day, after all. Or, would she not have, for the effects of "connected" tech have already created a crutch for her to lean on to facilitate human interaction? I like to call this "The Facebook Effect." How many of your friends and family members' birthdays do you actually remember now that Facebook reminds you? (I won't even bother counting myself.) What happens when we apply similar use cases to far more powerful pieces of technology? My guess is that it won't be long before we rely on bots to remind us to connect with one another much less order a pizza. At that point, I don't know how much bots are helping so much as hindering our ability to meaningfully or earnestly connect with one another. In the above Dublin scenario, the woman didn't even reach out to her friend on her own – Cortana did it for her. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/Microsoft%20Build%202016/skype-video-bots-microsoft-build-news-420-90.jpg Bots for tedium, brains for relationshipsNow, don't mistake: I couldn't be more excited for for bots to intelligently update my calendar and remind me that I'm on deadline for that laptop review. But, I'd rather handle communicating with other humans on my own, thanks. Technology by its very definition makes life easier, we'd be nothing without it, but just how much do we want to lean on technology to foster human relationships? As we enter this new phase of automation, we could do with asking ourselves that question more often. Windows 10 is about to get quite interesting http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396417268/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9d73b5/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396417268/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9d73b5/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396417268/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9d73b5/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247396417268/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9d73b5/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247396417268/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9d73b5/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e9d73b5/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/3yqmBLyyHks

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010/review/10240-set1/10240-set1-34-470-75.jpgAs you're no doubt aware, Microsoft is pretty keen to push Windows 10 front and centre, and not just in the western world – in fact the company has produced a special edition of its newest operating system for China. As Ubergizmo reports, Windows 10 Zhuangongban translates as a 'Windows 10 Specially-Provided Edition', and Microsoft is delivering this in order to tap into the vast Chinese market. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft's chief executive in China, Ralph Haupter, explained to a Chinese magazine that many of the changes for this version revolve around beefing up security and providing more management features as requested by the Chinese government. This version of the OS also cuts out many Microsoft apps and services, which again is no great surprise. The exact differences and extent of the changes weren't made clear, although by the sound of things we're guessing they're pretty significant. Jumping hurdlesMicrosoft will almost certainly want to clear any hurdles the Chinese regime puts in its way, following the fracas you may recall two years ago when China banned Windows 8 across government offices with security and safety concerns being cited as a reason in some quarters. Redmond certainly wouldn't want Windows 10 to suffer the same fate, and miss out on a considerable revenue stream. According to the latest figures drawn from US government websites, in terms of its adoption rate over in the States, Windows 10 has now crested 20%, which might sound like an impressive figure, but growth has slowed considerably since the start of the year. Should your business upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396154943/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c3/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396154943/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c3/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396154943/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c3/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247396154943/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c3/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247396154943/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c3/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e9337c3/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/z62AEBCNyQ8

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20upgrade/should%20you%20upgrade-470-75.jpgWindows 10 is now on over 20% of PCs, at least over in the US, according to the latest figures measuring the adoption of Microsoft's newest operating system. The figures are drawn from Analytics.usa.gov, which tracks visitors to various US government websites, and while one in five computers might seem an impressive milestone for Redmond to have achieved, Windows 10 growth has slowed considerably of late. March saw Windows 10 hit 20.2% but that's only a 1% increase compared to February's figure and just over 2% up on January. Adoption is just creeping up, then, which is likely to be something of a concern for Microsoft given that the deadline for the free Windows 10 upgrade (from Windows 7/8.1) is now looming. Folks only have until the end of July – just four months' time – to make the move to the new OS for free, and when Windows 10 is no longer a free lunch, we can obviously expect a downturn in terms of adoption. Windows 7 still holds the lion's share of the market when it comes to Microsoft's desktop OS, with 63% of users running this variant according to the government website figures. Windows 10 is in second place on 20.2% as mentioned, well ahead of Windows 8/8.1 which accounts for 12% of users. Windows XP holdouts now total 3%. Fence sittersDoubtless there will be a rush to upgrade in July, as those still sitting on the fence are forced to make a decision whether to move to Windows 10 or not, for good. And Microsoft still has some aces up its sleeve to play, by all accounts. Those include supposedly ground-breaking new features which will apparently be revealed this week at Redmond's Build conference. While we don't have any clue what these will be, they will 'change everything' according to one Microsoft exec – all we do know is they are nothing to do with Cortana. And when it comes to gamers, another alleged 'game changer' will be the ability to mix AMD and Nvidia graphics cards in your PC thanks to a piece of DirectX 12-leveraging software from Stardock. Of course, DX12 is Windows 10 only, so that's a rather nifty feature only those on Microsoft's newest OS will benefit from. These won't be the only boons coming to Windows 10 in the future either, although all this has to be balanced against the likes of privacy concerns and Microsoft's hard-selling tactics when it comes to pushing the new OS that many have found off-putting. Via: Computerworld Also check out: Should you upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396154942/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c7/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396154942/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c7/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396154942/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c7/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247396154942/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c7/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247396154942/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9337c7/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e9337c7/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/GlT7H5NchJ4

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/oculus-vr-browser-470-75.JPGIntroductionhttp://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/gaming_accessories/Samsung%20GearVR/Gear%20VR%20review/gearrrr-420-100.jpg After years of trials, tribulations and terrible failures, VR is finally becoming a reality. Whether you are eying up an Oculus Rift or getting the vibes for HTC's Vive, it's not just the inevitable avalanche of VR games and video content that are suitable for virtual reality viewing - now you can browse the 2D web in 3D, too. For those after that total immersive experience, we've rounded up the best VR web browsing options currently available. Check out the rest of our VR Week coverage1. Samsung Gear VRhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/internet/VR%20browsers/samsung_gear_vr_browser-420-90.jpg While Samsung may be marketing its Gear VR headset more towards Galaxy-packing gamers and movie-goers, the Oculus 'powered' headset also gives wearers the access to a virtual reality web browser called – wait for it – 'Samsung Internet for Gear VR'. As the blindingly obvious name would suggest, this app allows you to browse the web and enjoy almost any web content in virtual reality. It gives users the capability of streaming 3D and 360-degree videos (including those you'll find on YouTube and Facebook), or can simply provide a more immersive experience for normal 2D videos. Not only can you import your bookmarks and manage multiple tabs, but there is also voice recognition and "Gaze Mode" support, which allows you to select a menu simply by staring at it. Available for free from the Oculus Store. 2. MozVRhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/internet/VR%20browsers/moz_vr_browser-420-90.jpg If you're already rocking an Oculus Rift and want to start browsing web content in the virtual reality future you've been dreaming of, the MozVR project for Firefox or Chromium desktop browser has the potential to be a viable solution. Unfortunately at present, it's really more of a concept demo than a fully-fledged browser. Once you have installed the browser add-on and configured your Rift, you can enter Mozilla's content portal to view a specially selected array of content displayed in a 3D gallery. While the content is currently rather limited, it serves as a good showcase for the kind of web-based VR experiences that web developers are keen to push. Many of the virtual reality experiences in Mozilla's portal are also viewable using an Android or iPhone and a Cardboard VR headset. Visit MozVR.com. 3. JanusVRhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/internet/VR%20browsers/janus_vr_browser-420-90.jpg If you're looking for a totally immersive way of consuming web content, JanusVR pulls out all the stops to turn boring pages on the internet into something all the more involved. In the JanusVR world, links are portals and pages are rooms, all of which can be explored in a multiplayer experience alongside other avatars. Pictures embedded into the webpages you're viewing hang on the dynamically generated environments (that can be edited directly within JanusVR), while special 3D content can be called up if the site includes special HTML tags. It is currently nowhere near the promise of a stunning environment that's a visual pleasure to explore, but if nothing else it's a more exciting way of consuming internet content than most other alternatives have so far managed. Download from JanusVR. 4. FullDive VRhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/internet/VR%20browsers/fulldive_vr_android_browser-420-90.jpg If you like the idea of Samsung's Gear VR but don't have a compatible Samsung smartphone nor the budget to stretch to one of the pricey Gear VR headsets, then your next best bet is the FullDive VR 3D Browser. This standard version of this free app allows you to simply browse the web in a VR environment, inputting text via an onscreen keyboard or voice command. Download the full version, and you'll be given access to a wealth of other VR possibilities; it has to be said though, that none of these extras offer the most polished of experiences. Download from Google Play. 5. Oculus Web Browser http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/oculus-vr-browser-420-90.JPG If all you desire is simple VR browsing in a usable environment, the free Oculus Web Browser app for Windows is worth a go. You won't find any particularly ground-breaking features, as this particular VR web browser was created by an E-learning company that's exploring the possibilities of using similar interfaces in a VR classroom. Still, the webkit browser supports HTML5 and renders web pages sharply, though you will need to download and install a third-party codec to watch any embedded HTML videos such as YouTube. Grab it from the Oculus Store. 6. SteamVR Web Browserhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/internet/VR%20browsers/steam_vr_browser-420-90.jpg Whether you're about to get your paws on one of the hotly anticipated HTC Vive VR headsets, or have already plumped for the Oculus Rift, SteamVR offers a comprehensive 3D web browsing experience alongside the catalogue of VR-compatible games. If you have opted into the client beta participation, the VR mode can now be accessed directly from the 'View' menu in Steam alongside your library of compatible games. Once in Steam's Big Picture mode, you'll find there's a rather capable browser included that can play videos and display almost any web content around – including Adobe Flash. Like all VR experiences, there's still work to be done, but Steam's solution is certainly the easiest for switching between gaming and web browsing without swapping in and out of other applications. Visit the SteamVR community to find out more. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396148222/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e93089b/sc/23/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396148222/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e93089b/sc/23/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396148222/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e93089b/sc/23/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247396148222/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e93089b/sc/23/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247396148222/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e93089b/sc/23/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e93089b/sc/23/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/5xYcY099YeI

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20on%20Dell/Start-Tablet%20Mode-Continuum-470-75.JPGOnly a week after the previous preview build of Windows 10 (version 14291) was released to Insiders by Microsoft, a new build (14295) has been deployed, ahead of Redmond's Build conference which kicks off tomorrow. Build 14291 made a big addition with the introduction of Edge extensions which included Reddit Enhancement Suite, Mouse Gestures and Microsoft Translator – albeit with basic support as these have to be side-loaded – and the new version, which was unleashed at the end of last week, adds some further polish. As the Register reports, along with the also updated Maps app – which now allows for multiple tabs to be open at the same time, so you can easily switch around between recent searches – Redmond has a new Feedback app in place. The new Feedback Hub tidies up the feedback system in general, merging two previous apps (the old Feedback app and Insider Hub app) while adding fresh functionality in terms of reaction from Microsoft. In other words, users who leave feedback on these preview builds will now receive comments back from Microsoft engineers, so they'll be able to see how well their suggestions or reports are received. That's definitely a nice touch for those testers who do provide regular feedback. Issues to be aware ofNote that there are a few issues, as ever, with this preview version of Windows 10 – as Redmond has previously stated, with the faster pace of preview builds being released now, we can expect a few more glitches. Gamers might want to steer clear of this new one if they use an Xbox controller with their PC, as one of the bugs is the system freezing when the console controller is attached. Furthermore, those who use Kaspersky antivirus will find that piece of security software doesn't work with this version of Windows 10 either. As we mentioned, Build is just about to happen and consumers and business users alike are waiting with bated breath for the promised 'ground-breaking new features' which are apparently coming to Windows 10. We will hear all about them at the conference, but we don't know much as yet regarding exactly what these huge changes will be – although one thing we do know is they don't involve digital assistant Cortana. Should you upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396148221/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9308ae/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396148221/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9308ae/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247396148221/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9308ae/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247396148221/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9308ae/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247396148221/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e9308ae/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e9308ae/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/f_xyQmGEILk

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Home%20Tech/Amazon%20Echo/echo-pi-470-75.jpgThe Raspberry Pi is a wonderfully versatile and inexpensive little bit of computing kit, and one that's capable of being transformed into all kinds of gadgets if you know how - and apparently that list of gizmos includes the Amazon Echo. Alexa Voice Service Evangelist Amit Jotwani has posted a step-by-step guide on GitHub for the benefit of anyone keen to tap into the powers of the voice-controlled digital assistant. Jotwani's job is to help developers get Alexa into third-party products, so he certainly seems well-qualified for the role. You do need a little coding knowledge and some familiarity with the Raspberry Pi but it's a project that many people will want to tackle - and of course you then get yourself an Amazon Echo clone at the fraction of the price. Echo friendlyIt might be particularly attractive to computer tinkerers outside the United States, as the Echo has yet to go on sale anywhere else up to this point. The downside to the homemade rig is that it's not always listening: you need to press a physical button to get the device to pay attention. The Echo is clearly a major part of Amazon's plans for future world domination: it keeps adding new capabilities to the Alexa assistant app built into it, and two new Echo devices are launching in the United States this month. The plain-looking bits of hardware can now do everything from play your music on Spotify to order you an Uber, and there's obviously much more to come from the service. In the meantime, if you want to hack together your own version, you know where to start. Read up on some more Raspberry Pi projects you might want to try

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/routers/Google/OnHub%20on%20counter-470-75.jpgGet ready to say "Okay Google" around the house a lot more because it sounds as if the Mountain View-based company is more than "Okay" with the idea of creating an Amazon Echo clone. Google's top secret plans for a voice-controlled AI-controlled speaker system were outed in an expose about Nest by The Information. The product has not been reported on publicly until now. The information about a possible device was buried in a piece about the troubles of Alphabet subsidiary, Nest, which is surprising considering the home automation company isn't the one tackling the Amazon Echo rival. Nest has developed hits like the Nest Smart Thermostat and Nest Protect smoke detector, and most recently acquired Dropcam and rebranded its flagship device as the Nest Cam. But its lineup stops there. The report doesn't specify which team is on the case, but there's a good chance that that it would fall to the Chromecast team. After all, the technology behind Chromecast Audio doesn't stray too far Do you hear what I hear?Amazon Echo has been a phenomenal success story for the top online retailer. It's scored with critics and topped its sales charts since it became widely available in June 2015. Currently, Amazon's voice-commanded speaker ranks third on Amazon's bestseller list, right behind the much less expensive Kindle Fire 7-inch and Amazon Fire TV Stick. It's no surprise that Google wants to take on the Amazon Echo, and it actually came close to doing just that with last year's microphone-less OnHub wireless router. Google has the design and functionality in place. If it really has plans to take on Amazon's Alexa and its streaming music player, all it needs is a bunch of far-field voice recognizing microphones for picking up commands and Google Now dropped into the cylinder via Android. Could we see it at Google IO 2016?

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/AAevents/Apple%20March%2021%202016%20Event/9.7%20iPad%20Launch/9-7-ipad-pro-hands-on-3210270.j9-7-ipad-pro-hands-on-g-470-75.jpgPre-orders for Apple's new 9.7-inch iPad Pro have begun, and for those who order the tablet, Cupertino is making a very interesting accessory available – namely a subscription to Microsoft's Office 365. Office 365 is the only non-Apple accessory offered to iPad buyers, who can opt for two different tiers of subscription to the productivity suite: Personal and Home (for £59.95 and £79.95 per year respectively). Apple is quite clearly targeting Windows users with its new 9.7-inch tablet plus keyboard, aiming to persuade folks that the iPad Pro is the "ultimate PC replacement", in marketing chief Phil Schiller's words. The magic iPadForget Windows laptops and hybrids, Cupertino is saying – you can do it all with the new iPad. But of course when it comes to productivity software, the cut-down Office apps for iOS aren't going to cut it – in many peoples' eyes – which is why it makes sense for Apple to be offering a full subscription to Office 365. Apple clearly has an angle here, and has been building its iPad up in terms of being the "ultimate" computer, and talking Windows and PCs in general down, since last autumn when CEO Tim Cook declared that the PC had become irrelevant. Cook asserted: "I think if you're looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?" Back then, he labelled the 12.9-inch iPad Pro as a "replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people", and the 9.7-inch version is clearly trying to cement that philosophy. Whether Windows users are moved by such arguments is another matter. Also check out: Could this be Apple's secret plan for the new iPad? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395876719/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e7e38b9/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395876719/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e7e38b9/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395876719/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e7e38b9/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247395876719/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e7e38b9/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247395876719/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e7e38b9/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e7e38b9/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/o0qGpVjWdZ0

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Buildings/Microsoft/microsoft-hq-redmond-470-75.JPGIntroduction and strategic slantAnother day, another Microsoft open source announcement (or three). The company whose former CEO once compared open source licences like GPL to spreading tumours is now regularly open sourcing tools, components and even the occasional product, as well as coming out with more cross-platform products than ever – even for Linux. Redmond is even joining the Eclipse foundation (which creates an IDE that competes with Visual Studio), partnering with (and donating to) the Linux Foundation to help security and running a free open source conference in May. But if you're paying attention, this is a carefully defined strategy, not a free-for-all. Strategic slantWhat's Microsoft doing with open source? .NET, TypeScript, the Chakra JavaScript engine, R Tools for Visual Studio, Azure's Service Fabric, the VS Code IDE, Team Explorer Everywhere for Eclipse, the Productivity Power Tools for Visual Studio, the Power BI framework for building visualisations, the impressive Computational Network Toolkit for deep learning, the AIX tools you can use to build AI in Minecraft, and many more. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/MS%20Open%20source/ms%20logo%20linux%20foundation-420-90.jpg If you look at the list, so far, most of Microsoft's open source products have been developer tools, often bringing Microsoft technologies to an area where they haven't been available before. The main exception is the Live Writer blogging tool, which was handed over to a foundation of enthusiasts (including plugin developers). None of these products have taken something users pay for on Windows and made it free on another platform (there's been a free version of Visual Studio on Windows for a long time). That suggests that the version of SQL Server Microsoft is bringing out for Linux (which will have the core components but probably not all the SQL Server features) probably won't be open source. Having SQL Server on Linux will be useful for ASP.NET and .NET Core adoption there, but mostly it's something Microsoft says customers have been asking for, because they want SQL Server to run on Linux servers they already have. That's about supporting heterogeneous, cross-platform computing – something Microsoft has always done (remember IE on Mac, Solaris and HP-UX?), but has been doing more and more in the last few years. Aiming at OracleBut despite the fact Microsoft now partners with competitors like Salesforce and Oracle, the main target of SQL Server on Linux is very likely Oracle (especially as Microsoft is encouraging customers to migrate from Oracle to SQL Server 2016 on Windows Server with some free SQL Server licences, as long as they take out Software Assurance). As Wes Miller, vice president at analyst group Directions on Microsoft points out: "Microsoft has opened up source code in several areas, but these areas are generally isolated, and not areas where Microsoft makes significant revenue today. As such, opening up source for these areas isn't as large of a shift as some may theorise. "Much like Apple and Google, whose open source projects may be strategic to a degree of mindshare (but not revenue), the projects that Microsoft has chosen to open source are intended to help build community/collaboration and mindshare. The areas of the company that are still breadwinners are not open source, nor do I believe we should expect them to be anytime soon." In other words, SQL Server will come to Linux, but it's not likely to be a free, open source version. Cultural shiftChange in cultureRather than changing the commercial basis of Microsoft's business, open source at Microsoft is about a change in culture, collaboration with the open source community – and the cloud. As Brian Harry, who runs the Visual Studio Team Services developer cloud service, puts it: "We are broadly, as a company, changing to very open development and embracing the community to help us further extend the development of our technologies and tools. You're seeing a lot of that with .NET – we're getting the community to take small work units, branch the code and take it to new places." Originally, the .NET team was expecting the open source work to concentrate on Linux, but once the community picked it up they quickly started porting it to OS X as well – far sooner than the .NET team had expected. As Microsoft has opened up generally, to partnerships and cross-platform support and a more cross-division way of working internally, open source has spread internally – and that includes 'internal open source' where other Microsoft teams get access to source code that a product team would once have kept to themselves. The Office team has been doing a lot of Android and iOS development on mobile apps recently. They took a copy of the VSTS build system and added the features they needed to handle things like code signing – and passed that code back to the VSTS team so they could make it part of the commercial service. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/MS%20Open%20source/RedHatAndMSCloud-420-90.jpg Opening up TypeScriptSome early open source projects at Microsoft have helped spread this open source approach, in particular the JavaScript tool TypeScript, which started out as an internal tool that Microsoft created to solve its own problems with large web projects like Office Online, turned into a technology it made available to developers and other projects, and has now moved to not just open source but also open design. "For our first year we did a lot of our design in-house behind closed doors," the former head of the TypeScript team Jonathan Turner told techradar pro. "It was secretive but not in any nefarious way; it was just because that's generally how we in Microsoft had done design. We'd try to design something as best we can and then put it out into the world. "As we learned to do open source better, we started doing things like moving to GitHub and then we took our design process open. Rather than me writing a ton of specs behind the scenes and hashing them out with the team here, we said 'no, everything becomes pull requests, everything becomes bug reports'. All the proposed new features become public knowledge and everyone in the community can come and comment on them." That goes beyond people being able to read the design documentation to understand why TypeScript does something in a specific way, or what's in development. The design process is also open to the community, Turner explains. "If you have a suggestion, if you want a new feature in TypeScript, you can come and interact with the team and say 'here's my idea and here's why I think it's a good idea', and if the team says 'yes, it's a great idea' then you can send us a pull request." That same open design process happens with .NET – it's a sign that Microsoft gets the value of open source. Impact of AzureThe impact of AzureInfluential as TypeScript has been, none of this could happen without Azure. System Center has managed Linux servers since 2009. Ever since it came out with Hyper-V, Microsoft has had to deal with Linux virtual machines, which has meant contributing code to the Linux kernel to make that work well. As Jake Oshins from the Windows Server team pointed out in a blog post last year: "Microsoft has cared a lot about supporting Linux in a Hyper-V VM for a while now. We have an entire team of people dedicated to making that work better." But he also admits that Linux wasn't always a priority when designing features. When he worked on support for devices in VMs, the security principles he'd adopted also "caused me to come up with a protocol that was perfectly tailored to what Windows needs as a guest OS. Anything that would have made it easier to accommodate Linux got left out as 'extra attack surface' or 'another potential failure path that needs to be handled'." To be a credible public cloud provider, Microsoft couldn't afford that sort of accidental compromise when supporting Linux on Azure, and it now accounts for more than a quarter of all VMs on Azure (up from 20% six months ago). Because Azure is a subscription service, supporting Linux and other open source systems turns into a revenue stream for Microsoft – and that goes beyond the way Oshins says Azure is "constantly tuning to make that even better." http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/MS%20Open%20source/azure%20open%20source%20resources-420-90.jpg The better Microsoft can understand open source tools, the better it can make them work on Azure, which means more and more Microsoft engineers getting involved in external open source projects and seeing the advantages of open source. At the same time, Azure has also embraced the Open Compute Project, not only taking advantage of open hardware designs but contributing its Open Cloud Server back to the community (like Facebook and unlike Amazon, for example). Nothing's off the tableIt's no surprise that it's Azure CTO Mark Russinovich, once best known as a Windows kernel expert, who's standing up on stage inviting open source experts to apply for jobs in Azure and saying that nothing is off the table in terms of open source. As he recently pointed out: "Microsoft's open source journey began more than 10 years ago and we've been a significant and growing contributor to open source projects ever since – particularly on Microsoft Azure, where we support numerous open source programming models, libraries, and Linux distributions." That doesn't mean that Azure itself is likely to switch from running on Windows Server to running on Linux though. For one thing Microsoft believes that the Windows kernel and hypervisor are both excellent. And for another, Microsoft wouldn't be investing so much time and money in building out container support in Windows Server 2016 and basing Azure Stack on it. What Redmond is doing is using Linux strategically, for example by creating its own open source network switch software, SONic, to run on an open hardware switch that it can control through software, so it can automate all the network provisioning and management for Azure, right down to the chips inside the switch. Down the line, that can all be part of the systems Microsoft sells to enterprises as Azure Stack hybrid cloud. Finding the balance between open source and commercial business isn't always easy – Sun's commitment to open source produced interesting developments but didn't help the bottom line enough to keep it from being sold to Oracle. Playing it cleverMicrosoft seems to be finding a good balance that brings the benefits of open source to Microsoft, to customers and to the open source communities it's working with. It's not the non-commercial philosophy that once drove some open source communities, but a large number of open source projects have a commercial arm. Microsoft is obviously committed to open source – that's both a strategy its executives are driving and something developers and engineers are adopting with enthusiasm for the benefits it brings (which means they're contributing to the open source community rather than just building on it). But it's doing that in a very disciplined and strategic way that supports Microsoft's commercial business rather than undermining it. Azure isn't just Microsoft's cloud – it's the company's Cloud OS http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395588198/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e6ead3f/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395588198/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e6ead3f/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395588198/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e6ead3f/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247395588198/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e6ead3f/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247395588198/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e6ead3f/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e6ead3f/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/SRsL2mAtTow

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/internet/Twitter/Twitter%20Apps/twitteriphone-470-75.jpgTwitter's algorithm and why it's changingToday marks a big day in the history of Twitter. It is, by every measure, fundamentally changing the way its core product operates. When Twitter was born, it was engineered to show tweets – blurbs of 140 characters of less – in reverse-chronological order. When you hopped onto Twitter.com, or TweetDeck, or one of Twitter's apps, the tweet at the top was the most recent tweet from your list of followers. As you scrolled, the tweets got older and older, but the only thing dictating the order of tweets shown was Father Time himself. But then, Wall Street happened. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Onetimers/Twitter%20Mobile%20Ad-420-100.jpg Scale for scale's sakeYou see, companies beholden to the wild, uncontrollable demands of public shareholders are oftentimes held to standards that don't make sense. Or, worse, ones that don't jibe with the ethos of the company's origins. In the case of TWTR, as it's known on the market, investors have long since demanded that the company grow its active user base at all costs. They see Facebook, with its billion or so users, and they want Twitter to meet (or beat) that. Never mind the fact that Twitter was never designed to amass as many users as Facebook, or look like Facebook, or smell like Facebook, or be Facebook. When you're Wall Street, you don't care about such trivial matters. You just want more. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/How%20tos/twitter/hero-420-100.jpg Trust us, we know what you likeAnd so, here we are. Twitter has quietly rolled out a change that'll place tweets which an algorithm thinks you'd care most about at the top of your timeline. You can opt-out in order to keep seeing things in reverse-chronological order, which is no doubt a bid to keep its early power users – largely folks in the media, like myself – from spontaneously combusting. The change represents a move that brings Twitter more in line with Facebook in terms of what's shown first as soon as you jump into the product. If you believe the media, it's also a move that'll hopefully make Twitter easier to use for laypeople. Indeed, it's difficult to explain Twitter to someone that isn't ... shall we say, technologically savvy. Conversely, everyone's mother (and a fair amount of grandmothers) are on Facebook, and they seem to have no issues using it. Twitter, apparently, needs to let its users jump right in and start interacting. More importantly, it needs to be welcoming for users who may have stepped away from their Home stream for more than 18.4 seconds. Twitter is infinitely useful as a firehose of information for those who live and breathe the service. If you sit atop your Twitter feed all day, you're the most informed person on Earth. Unfortunately for Twitter, no one outside of a newsroom can actually accomplish that. And, if I'm honest, neither can I. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/internet/Twitter/techradartwitter-420-100.jpg It's painful, but it's progressFor as much as I loathe Wall Street for putting pressure on Twitter to be more like Facebook, the reality is that my Twitter usage has dropped by around 90 percent in the past two years. It's an exhaustion thing, really. It's borderline unhealthy to just sit around monitoring Twitter for each moment of each day, and yet, the service is at its best when you do precisely that. To boot, a lot of negativity circles on Twitter. Even in my feed, which includes over 1,000 friends, peers, brands, and people that may or may not know my favorite color, the ratio of uplifting to depressing isn't tilted in the right direction. I got a lot healthier when I stopped using Twitter on a daily basis. Mentally, I was more focused on work and people that mattered, and over the past two years, I haven't (knowingly) suffered any negative repercussions by limiting my time on the service. Which brings me to this: I'm overjoyed that Twitter is embracing an algorithm to feed me the most important stuff first. Don't get me wrong – I'm really, really unhappy about investors getting their way – but I won't let that overshadow my happiness that we're here nonetheless. It makes Twitter far more approachable, and I'm looking forward to peeking it a lot more often. Now, I can count on a half-minute Twitter session having actual value. You can scan a lot of great intel while waiting for a latte, but only if Twitter puts the good stuff up top. It remains to be seen if the algorithm will get it right, but at least -- for now -- you can opt-out. Nostalgia never seemed so sweet, even if only in theory. For the uninitiated, here's how to use Twitter http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395108780/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e57218b/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395108780/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e57218b/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395108780/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e57218b/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247395108780/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e57218b/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247395108780/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e57218b/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e57218b/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/U7Rjl9bEIns

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/portable_speakers/Amazon/Echo/review/amazon-echo-hero-470-75.jpgAmazon Echo is already the most intelligent and personable Bluetooth speaker out there, but Alexa is expanding her wealth of knowledge even more, this time, with robust Fitbit integration. Once your Fitbit account is synced up with the Echo, Alexa will be able to provide verbal feedback to your fitness-related queries. Sure, you could get the same information by opening the Fitbit companion app, but Alexa's verbal feedback could be just what you need to work towards your goal. To trigger the Amazon Echo to shout out bits of your daily fitness progress, start with "Alexa, ask Fitbit…" and fill in the blanks with the metric you're curious about. Here's an example: "Alexa, ask Fitbit how many flights of stairs I climbed today." You can quiz the intelligent assistant on at least ten different areas that make up your overall health portrait with Fitbit. Feedback from Alexa for calories burned, steps taken and sleep tracking, (the usual suspects) are all supported. Even more granular details, like water consumption, weight, and resting heart rate can be recited by Amazon's speaker. Is this worth buying an Echo for?It depends! The Amazon Echo has certainly burst through our expectations in terms of its longevity and ever-expanding support for clever IoT applications, like the numerous IFTTT if/then "recipes". You should definitely consider it if you're a tinkerer and want to get more out of your connected products, like the Fitbit Charge HR or Fitbit Surge, to name a few examples. On the other hand, relying heavily on the Amazon Echo (at least, the original model) for your music needs might result in a bit of disappointment, as the speaker itself doesn't sound all that good. Amazon did, however, recently announce a few, new products that should alleviate that issue. The verdict is still out on the new Amazon Tap, a smaller, more budget-friendly version of the Echo. But the Echo Dot, which is just contain the voice-activated brains of Alexa, allows you to plug it into any set of speakers to boost the experience. Is Amazon Echo a passing fad, or something more?

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Amazon/audible-app-470-75.jpgWould you be as happy sharing a well-written chunk of Dickens prose as you are a YouTube clip of kittens doing something cute? The Amazon-owned Audible thinks so, which is why it's introducing a new feature today to make it easier to share 45-second clips of whatever you're listening to. A Wired reports, the audiobook emporium is calling the new feature Clips and sharing said clips is as easy as tapping on a button in a corner of the mobile app. There are options to trim and tweak the audio to get it spot on, and users can then save the clip for their own use or share it with the wider world. For the time being, all you get is a link to the Audible site where the clip can be played: there's no clever audio embed feature yet, which might limit its appeal. However, if you're desperate to share a line of beautifully crafted prose then the option is now there. Grin and share itIt's possible to add your own notes and commentary to the clip, so the feature set is fairly standard as far as sharing anything online goes - as all you get is a single URL, it works everywhere from Facebook to SMS. You don't have to share what you save of course - you could just use the new service as a clever bookmarking tool - but Amazon obviously wants to extend its audience reach to grab the attention of new members as well as highlighting brilliant audiobooks in its library. Will Audible's Clips be able to out-meme the GIF and the Vine? It's too early to say, but if you're an existing subscriber keep your eyes out for the feature appearing in the official mobile apps in the very near future. Amazon wants to let you make payments with just a wink http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395087925/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e540904/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395087925/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e540904/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395087925/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e540904/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247395087925/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e540904/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247395087925/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e540904/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e540904/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/gTplhT3VWVQ

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010/review/10240-set1/10240-set1-34-470-75.jpgSome potentially very cool features are just around the corner for Windows 10, those who have adopted Microsoft's newest OS will doubtless be pleased to hear. The pace of the operating system's development has been rather slow of late, thanks to Redmond working on the underlying architecture of the OS, and spending time reshaping the way the preview build process works internally. Indeed, we recently heard that the second chunk of Redstone (RS2) has been pushed back from its original target of the end of this year to spring 2017, meaning the dollop of new features that this update will carry is a long way off yet. However, according to a couple of Program Managers at Microsoft, some really smart new stuff is coming to Windows 10 very shortly. Neowin spotted that Rich Turner, Senior Program Manager on Windows, tweeted: "Finally getting to play with new #Windows10 features. You are all gonna FREAK OUT when you see this." Turner, who only started his role last month, also notes in his LinkedIn profile that he's "delivering some ground-breaking new features in Windows 10". A second exec, Scott Hanselman, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft Azure, ASP.NET, and Web Tools, also tweeted: "These features (I know what this is because I'm helping) are going to CHANGE EVERYTHING. No joke." Serious hypeAll in all, that's some serious hype building by these managers. Indeed, replies to Turner's tweet noted that this is bound to build up people's expectations considerably, and that could be a dangerous thing – to which Turner replied, "there are no smoke and mirrors here!" Exactly what these features might be, or what they might deliver for either consumers or businesses, isn't clear at this point, and no hints were dropped as to what might be forthcoming. One thing we do know is that they're nothing to do with Cortana, as one Twitter user replied to Turner's tweet indicating he didn't use the voice assistant and would be disappointed if the new stuff is Cortana-centric. Turner replied: "Nope, no Cortana from me!" As for when these nifty new bits might be revealed, according to Turner, we'll see stuff at the Build conference – which kicks off in just under a fortnight. Hopefully we'll know a lot more after Build, and fingers crossed we're not disappointed with the gravity of these revelations. Should you upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395087924/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e54090e/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395087924/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e54090e/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247395087924/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e54090e/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247395087924/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e54090e/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247395087924/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e54090e/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e54090e/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/Rg5ROoTUIcs

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/broadcast/Sky/SkyQ/For%20hands%20on/tv%20sky%20q%20silver%20ui%20tablet%20content-470-75.jpgSky Q will launch UHD 'in the summer' according to the company's director of strategy, Nick Herm, and a new Now TV box with a digital tuner is also on the way. Hern, speaking at the Connected TV Summit, confirmed what the world had assumed, namely that the UHD service that the Sky Q is ready to embrace but not yet enabled to do, would coincide with the Premier League season. According to DigitalTV Europe, Herm also confirmed that voice control would be coming to the Sky Q platform. UpsellSky's decision to hold back UHD despite the high-profile launch of Sky Q is quite probably a sensible one, although early adopters are inevitably champing at the bit for the service. With BT offering UHD sport already, tying it in with the Premier League package that remains a cornerstone of Sky's strategy will give the service a secondary push to a big chunk of its audience. With UHD 4K televisions becoming familiar sights in the home, if not proliferating just yet, Sky will hope that offering the service alongside the critically acclaimed Sky Q fluid viewing system will be an attractive proposition. The other major revelation from Herm was that a new Now TV box was on the way with a digital tuner enabling live television broadcasts. "The barrier to taking this product will be very low," he said. Read our Sky Q review

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/games_consoles/PlayStation%20Vue/PlayStation%20Vue%20Slim%20Package-470-75.jpgPlayStation Vue has been evolving ever since its launch. It started life as a passion project, exclusive to the PS4 and PS3, before expanding to iPad and, eventually, all of iOS and Amazon Fire TV. Now Sony's live TV service is making a nation-wide debut, growing immensely from the seven cities it was initially available in at launch. To distinguish the nation-wide service from the existing packages, Sony announced new PlayStation Vue Slim multi-channel plans that start at $29 per month. The Slim plans still give you access to 55-plus channels and 30-day Cloud DVR, but won't give you live access to FOX, NBC or ABC, according to the PlayStation Blog. The blog post says that on-demand content from these networks will still be available, but that it can take up to 24 hours for content to appear after airing. Similar to the standard packages, Slim will come in three flavors: Access, Core and Elite. Access Slim has 55 channels and includes live cable TV, movies, and sports channels for $29.99 per month; Core Slim has 70-plus channels, including all the channels from Access Slim with the addition of national and regional sports networks for $34.99 per month; and Elite Slim has 100-plus channels, featuring all the channels from Core Slim with the addition of more top movie and entertainment channels for $44.99 per month. The Slim packages are available in 203 markets and can be demoed for free for seven days. Sony is working on extending the standard PlayStation Vue service which includes those channels to more cities, but the Slim package will offer a stopgap until that time comes. PlayStation Vue joined Sling TV as a live TV alternative that costs less than traditional cable to a somewhat middling response. The service was applauded for offering Cloud DVR services and lumping local channels into every package, but was held back by contract negotiations with local stations. The Slim packages open up the service for more content-hungry, price-savvy TV watchers, and a national launch bodes well for an international rollout sometime down the road. These are the best PS4 games available today

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20on%20Dell/Start-Tablet%20Mode-Continuum-470-75.JPGIntroduction and migration headachesWindows 10 is the latest operating system to drop from Microsoft, but whether it is the greatest is debatable. According to figures from StatCounter, Windows 10 ran on 14.86% of desktop PCs by the end of February this year. But Windows 7 remained the dominant OS with 46% of PCs running this software. Even the ancient Windows XP accounted for 7.61% of all PCs, despite support officially ending in April 2014. Microsoft's own figures put Windows 10 as running on more than 200 million devices. And looking at other figures, it's safe to argue that businesses aren't lining up to put the OS on their computers. http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20Lenovo/Embargoed%20until%209PM%20PDT%20on%2028%20JULY/Cortana-420-100.JPG Nothing new?But why is that? Mike Hickson, managing director of LSA Systems, argues that while Microsoft has promised to focus on business consumers and their needs, how much its latest operating system branched out and brought something new and unique to the market is still under debate. "Windows 10 can be praised for bringing voice command and a virtual assistant through Cortana, Enterprise Data Protection software as well as a self-updating operating OS under one roof," he says. "However, when contrasting the amount of resources and time it takes to upgrade an entire company's PCs with an operating system that contains functions that can ultimately be found elsewhere, Microsoft has still not produced a feature that is unique and highly beneficial, which has not already been done to some extent in the tech industry." Indeed, the main problem here is the perceived cost of updating all of the company's systems with many equating the move to a full hardware and software upgrade across the board. As a result of this some are choosing to delay the upgrade and some are staggering the move by upgrading as they replace old hardware which is also slowing up the process. http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/go%20to%20store-420-100.jpg Huge undertakingOthers argue that an OS migration is a huge undertaking and analysts recommend at least 12-18 months to prepare for such a project. "As such, and despite apparent slow progress, there's a huge number of organisations that are in the process of upgrading and have been for some time – our customer conversations suggest two-thirds of organisations are looking to start migration projects now," says Andreas Fuchs, senior product manager at Heat Software. Windows 8 wasn't a great success, but if Windows 10 'solved' the problems Windows 8 created, why is Windows 7 still so popular? "First you need to ask: when is the right time to adopt a new OS?" says Fuchs. "The answer to which is when business apps are supported by the new OS and new hardware is purchased with the new, preloaded OS. While these criteria are not met, businesses are reluctant to upgrade." In the shadow of Windows 7Windows 7 overshadowsFuchs adds that Windows 7 has been tremendously successful and not without reason. "Businesses like it, IT teams like it, and many won't see a compelling reason to switch straightaway. It's classic 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentality. "Likewise, there are usually teething problems when new operating systems are introduced, sometimes more noticeably than others. A lot of businesses would rather wait around until the kinks are ironed out, and you can hardly blame them." http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/windows_7_ultimate-420-100.jpg But there will come a time when things will have to be fixed. Software moves on, loses support and a whole ton of reasons make upgrading the only option. Another reason, according to Damian Dwyer, practice director of End User Computing at IT Services firm ECS, is a real drive within organisations to 'standardise' the desktop, with the aim of reducing support and maintenance costs (usually with a single desktop build). "However, the costs of maintaining a modern hardware platform on a legacy OS that is no longer supported – and subsequently transitioning that OS to a future 2+ version – can be significant," he says. Arbitrary migration deadlinesAdrian Foxall, CEO of Camwood, says that businesses need to update (or at least start planning their upgrade) before Microsoft thrusts yet another arbitrary migration deadline upon them. In January 2020 Microsoft will end support for Windows 7. "While this may seem a long time away, from our experience working directly with large enterprises, we know it took many as long as five years to move their entire organisation from Windows XP to Windows 7. If this is the case with Windows 10, these businesses are already behind schedule!" says Foxall. Foxall further notes that we should not expect every organisation to have made the switch to Windows 10 within the next 12 or even 24 months, but given the 2020 deadline for Windows 7 they should at least be considering how they will make the migration. "Given how many businesses missed the Windows XP deadline, it would be ideal to see IT departments preparing their staff and developing a strategy now, before the migration is thrust upon them from above," he says. Foxall says that most important of all though, Windows 10 will likely be remembered as the last big Microsoft migration. "As many IT professionals have long since suspected, developers at Microsoft have announced that Windows 10 will be the 'last version of Windows', with the tech giant planning to switch to an ongoing subscription model." Michael Dortch, senior product marketing manager at Landesk, says the next 12 months are going to reveal "whether or not customers are comfortable with the idea of frequent updates". "Customers may want to monitor how well this works on a limited number of systems, and then decide whether to run on the Current Branch for Business or the Long Term Servicing Branch." The Long Term Servicing Branch approach is similar to how Microsoft has rolled out Windows updates in the past (i.e. every couple of years), whereas the Current Branch option provides security updates, bug fixes, and new features every few months, and includes four sub-branch options, each tailored to suit differing business needs and the degrees of control administrators might want to take with regards to updates. http://cdn4.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/software/Windows/Windows%20as%20a%20service/update%20hero-420-100.jpg The final version of Windows?Windows 10 is almost certainly the last large-scale OS planned. Foxall says that Windows 10 is more than just yet another upgrade, noting that "it is a jump to a whole new generation of Microsoft operating systems, and a first step towards Windows as a Service." Perhaps in the future, we won't be asking if you should upgrade Windows, but if you can ever avoid doing so. Can businesses stick with Windows XP and still avoid a hacking disaster? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247394560834/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e39ad7c/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247394560834/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e39ad7c/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247394560834/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e39ad7c/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247394560834/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e39ad7c/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247394560834/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e39ad7c/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e39ad7c/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/FUza8CmIu2g

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/Onetimers/Nest/Nest-Home-Automation-Lifestyle-470-75.jpgIt's been possible to dictate Nest products for some time now, though you'd need to be fairly savvy at linking multiple home automation systems and setting up recipes within IF (né IFTTT). Today, Nest is making life much easier by introducing Family Accounts and a native Home/Away Assist function. In a nutshell, the Nest app update now allows you to select up to 10 people as family, and if any one of them are home, your Nest Thermostat, Smoke + CO Alarm, and Camera will operate accordingly. Once the entire crew heads out, the system will automatically do what's necessary to save energy. Notably, Nest's engineering team is using more than a typical geofencing system to determine who is in and who is out -- it'll tap "learning algorithms and activity sensors built into Nest products" in a bid to be more accurate. " width="420" >YouTube : Since you're wondering (and because Nest is owned by Google), the company has proactively announced that the Home/Away Assist function doesn't track where you go; rather, it only takes note of whether you're at home or away from it. Of course, as brilliant as all of this sounds, the state of home automation is still a disaster. Nest only makes three products, and forcing your non-Nest leak, door, window, humidity, and motion sensors to operate on the same cadence remains a headache. Unless you're up for the challenge of getting disparate systems to speak a common language across varying protocols, you may still be better off doing things the old fashioned way.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/broadcast/iflix-470-75.jpgEuropean television giant Sky has invested $45 million in iflix, an Asian competitor to the streaming services like Amazon Prime Instant Video and market giant Netflix. Sky has long identified Netflix as a disruptor to its business, and the company's investment in a burgeoning service that offers a huge package of shows and films to the Asian markets is an interesting one. The service currently runs across Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines and, since its launch in May 2015 has already signed up over one million members. Growing plansThe streaming company has already outlined its plans to move into more Asian markets, although Netflix's decision to broaden its own reach across the globe will inevitably put pressure on growth. Sky already has its own streaming service called Now TV, and the company's latest offering in the set top box market - the Sky Q - is built to operate and compete in a modern streaming landscape. iflix has quickly established itself as Southeast Asia's most exciting and fastest-growing streaming TV service, said Sky CFO Andrew Griffith. "There are lots of opportunities for Sky and iflix to work together and share expertise as both companies continue to expand." iflix co-founder and Group CEO, Mark Britt added: "We are thrilled to welcome Sky to the iflix family. As pioneers in the global broadcasting industry and true leaders in television and media, they share our passion for delivering market-leading content and services through innovation. "Sky's investment will further support our commitment to providing our members with the best in entertainment." Read the Sky Q review

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Software/Microsoft/Office%20online%20integrated%20Skype-470-75.jpgMicrosoft has announced the further integration of Skype across its services, and you can now make calls and chat from within Office Online and OneDrive. As Redmond notes, this furthers the collaborative power of its online Office suite, allowing multiple users to co-edit a document and chat in-line about the various changes that they're making. The clever bit is that the chat history stays attached to the document, so the next time you open it to work on the file collaboratively, all your previous discussion is brought back up in case you need to reference something said in the past. Similarly, you can chat with friends or colleagues while browsing through folders and documents that are stored in Microsoft's OneDrive cloud storage locker. Better OutlookRedmond also said that Skype integration with Outlook.com which began rolling out a few months back is now complete, so all users of Microsoft's webmail service now have Skype available so they can fire up a chat while they're composing an email. In other Skype news, another language has been added to Skype Translator, namely Arabic, the fifth most commonly spoken language in the world. Translator now supports eight languages: English, Arabic, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. As we've found when using Skype Translator, it's pretty impressive on the accuracy front, and while not perfect it's certainly good enough to convey the meaning of a sentence. And that accuracy should only improve with time and usage. Skype's iOS and Android apps now let you video chat with 24 other people http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247394017561/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e1c6605/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247394017561/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e1c6605/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247394017561/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e1c6605/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247394017561/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e1c6605/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247394017561/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e1c6605/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e1c6605/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/QgVS96kgsbs

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/Onetimers/Google%20Photos%20for%20iOS/Google-Photos-iOS-7-470-75.jpgSo, you're already using Google Photos to back up your iPhone snaps, right? (If not, you totally should be -- it's free, it's unlimited, and it's infinitely better than Apple's limited iCloud alternative.) For those longing to create a permanent record of their best Live Photos, Google has updated its iOS app to support that format. Live Photos, which are only available on the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, grab 1.5 seconds of video and audio around each still shot that you take. Call 'em GIFs, or accidental masterpieces, or photographic remnants that do a number on your available storage if you aren't careful. Whatever you call them, having the ability to permanently push Live Photos to Google's cloud is a godsend for those perpetually low on space. Now, much like videos, you can rest easy knowing that you'll still be able to access your Live Photos even if you wipe them from your phone. After all, isn't that what the cloud is all about? Via TechCrunch http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247393894758/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e193ba6/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247393894758/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e193ba6/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247393894758/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e193ba6/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247393894758/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e193ba6/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247393894758/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4e193ba6/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4e193ba6/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/XXGS0H7ow4Y

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/gaming_accessories/Oculus%20Rift/Palmer_Luckey-470-75.jpgPalmer Luckey InterviewPalmer Luckey is going to have a big year. The Oculus Rift is about to launch its first consumer version in a few weeks and today, he and Xbox Chief Phil Spencer announced that one of the biggest games on the planet, Minecraft, will be available on the Rift when the goggles get here. The creator of Oculus Rift and founder of a now-massive VR company is on track to top last year, though that might be difficult considering that in 2015 he appeared on the cover of both Forbes and Time Magazine. He's a busy guy even without the launch of the Rift looming. But while standing next to the demo booth for Minecraft in virtual reality, he found a few minutes to discuss the future of Rift, games he'd like to see in VR and the hurdles the headset has to overcome to reach its fullest potential. Techradar (TR): We're mere weeks away from the Oculus Rift's launch. How are you feeling? Palmer Luckey (PL): Really good. We're launching at the end of March. We launched Gear VR with Samsung on Black Friday a few months ago. So we've been really busy. TR: What Rift features are you most excited about? Were any great features cut at the last minute? PL: The whole process of designing a product is deciding what makes it in and what makes it out. Nothing has been cut, though. For something to be cut, it has to be in, and we've known what we were making for quite some time. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/gaming_accessories/Oculus%20Rift/Oculus%20Rift%20press/Oculus-Rift-6-420-90.jpg TR: Was there anything that you didn't have time to include that you would consider adding to the next Rift? PL: There are a lot of things that sound really interesting and sound like good ideas that are not necessarily possible to implement with our technology. TR: That's true. But you guys do have a lot of third-party support. What accessory or app are you most excited about from third-party developers? PL: We're building a lot of first-party software and we have some second-party stuff that we're funding. There's also a lot of third-party developers working on stuff. I can't play favorites and pick any one application or one product. TR: It's like picking a child, right? You have to love them all? PL: Well ... you have to say that you love them all. TR: Let's talk about the cost of virtual reality. Is the cost of the VR hardware prohibitive to people going out and buying a headset on impulse? PL: It depends on what type of experience and device you're talking about. Like Gear VR is $99 on its own and it's being bundled for free for every person who buys a Samsung Galaxy S7. So that's on the low end, obviously, and that's very accessible. On the higher end, the limiting factor isn't the cost of the headset, it's actually the cost of the PC. Like, if we had a really high-end Gear VR headset that only ran $200, you're still going to need a high-end GPU that only gamers really have today to use it. So $200, $300, $600, there is obviously a difference there, but it's not going to greatly expand the market one way or another until the cost of the horsepower driving it comes down. That's really the biggest limiting factor. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/gaming_accessories/Samsung%20GearVR/More%20Samsung%20Gear%20VR/GalaxyVR-new5-420-90.jpg TR: Is untethering Oculus from a PC in the cards? PL: In the long-run, everything will be rendered on the headset. But it's all a matter of having enough power. It's a trade-off of weight, ergonomics, cost and power. All those things have to align in the right places. And right now, I don't think that they're in the place that they need to be to justify the cost of a wireless Rift. TR: Would it be possible if there was a better way to optimize the software? If the processor didn't need to produce two images, do you think wireless would be possible? PL: Unfortunately, it is fundamental to the technology. There are tricks you can do, but the only way to do it properly is to render two images, one for each eye. That's just the way we see the world and there's no real way to get around that. TR: Let's talk about games. You've obviously a huge gamer. Is there any franchise you'd want to secure exclusively for Oculus? PL: I'm torn because the games I'd want to see in VR, I really like that franchise obviously, but the fact of the matter is that not every game needs to be in VR. My favorite game of all-time is Chrono Trigger. I would love to see a VR version of that franchise. But at the same time, though, I can't really say that the gameplay would lend itself to VR. That's just not true. That is an IP that I'm a big fan of, but I think that the best VR games are the ones that are built from the ground up for virtual reality usually. Some types of games port over well into virtual reality. Some don't. A lot of my favorite games are not the type that would just port over into virtual reality. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/mobile_phones/Apps/Pokemon%20Go/Pokemon-Go-420-90.jpg TR: OK, but let's say for a second that I'm Game Freak and I come to you and say, "Listen, I've got an idea for one of the main series of Pokemon games in virtual reality. What do you think?" PL: I can't say. Well, you're listening to us … nope, I'm not going to say anything. TR: Can you talk a little bit about the future of Oculus? Will it follow in other hardware manufacturer's footsteps and release a new product every year? PL: You're going to see a release schedule somewhere in between a mobile phone and a console. You're not going to see huge updates every year or multiple times per year, but I can't talk about it too much just yet. TR: Just curious, what would an update look like? If you were thinking about the next product, what could you change? PL: The obvious things are a higher resolution, better field of view, lighter weight, more comfortable, lower the cost … there's a lot of obvious wins to be had. But then of course there are other new features that I can't talk too much about.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Software/Microsoft/Office%202016%20Windows%20Touch%20and%20Mac/Excel%20offers%20to%20turn%20on%20all%20the%20BI%20features%20at%20once-470-75.jpgIt seems that Microsoft is getting ready to push out a Project Centennial version of the Office 2016 suite on the Windows Store – or at least, a test version is now available, which certainly points to the possibility of this happening before long. Project Centennial focuses on allowing developers to convert their Win32 desktop apps to ones which are compatible with the Windows Store and optimised for Windows 10. So, in other words, you'll soon (in theory) be able to download the full desktop apps for Office on the store (as opposed to the touch-focused Office apps), and the process will be simplicity itself, as WinBeta notes. With one click, the entire suite will be downloaded swiftly, installed and ready to run, no mess and no fuss. Not functional yetAt the moment, the apps are apparently listed on the store, but they're not functional – this is clearly labelled a test version, and while it will install, when you launch any of the apps, nothing happens. So there's not much point downloading it now, and indeed some folks who have installed this version have reported trouble with uninstalling it. We'd leave it alone, then, but this is exciting because it shows that hopefully the full implementation of the Office suite on the Windows Store will soon be live. Although there is no guarantee of that, of course. Redmond is only playing at testing right now. Microsoft is naturally enough pushing the Windows Store (and indeed Windows 10 in general), and earlier this month introduced the 'Built For Windows 10' label which highlights those apps specifically built as universal apps for its newest OS. Microsoft Office 2016 vs Office 365 vs Office Online http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247393131397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4decc720/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247393131397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4decc720/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247393131397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4decc720/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247393131397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4decc720/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247393131397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4decc720/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4decc720/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/NIsG5AyJaF8