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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Home%20Tech/Samsung%20Family%20Hub%20fridge-470-75.jpgIt looks like the smart home future has well and truly arrived. Samsung's Family Hub refrigerator, just unveiled at CES, is equipped with a camera feed so you can check up on its contents from just about anywhere in the world. No longer do you have to sit at the office and wonder how many tomatoes are left in the fridge - fire up the accompanying smartphone app and you can find out straight away. If your family or housemates are stealing beers, then you'll know about that too. There's also a 21.5-inch, 1080p monitor on the front of the fridge that can show recipes, websites, calendars and more. You can even have the fridge play your favourite radio station while you do the washing up. A fridge too farThe Family Hub can also automatically detect what's in your fridge and prompt you when you need to order fresh supplies. Of course you can also check up on what you've got in direct from the supermarket. This being Samsung, the fridge works nicely with its SmartThings platform, so all of your other various bits of gadgetry are able to communicate with your kitchen and vice versa. Imagine having the lights flash when you're out of milk - innovation indeed. The Family Hub fridge is really just a showcase of what's possible at this stage and Samsung hasn't said when it will go on sale or for how much. Find out what you need to consider when designing your smart home
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20background-470-75.jpgApparently Microsoft is working hard to get the next preview build of Windows 10 Redstone out of the door in short order – and we should expect something to arrive very soon... Or at least that's the case as WinBeta reports, with the tech site spotting a tweet from Gabe Aul, Vice President, WDG Engineering Systems at Microsoft. Aul was replying to a question from a Windows preview addict who asked for an indication of when the next build would become available, and he tweeted: "We're working to get one out pretty quickly." So we should hopefully expect to see something new in the next week or two, barring any major hitches rearing their ugly heads or similar last-minute problems. The last Windows 10 preview build released was version 11082 (the first Redstone build) which was deployed to the Fast Ring in mid-December, and involved a lot of smoothing over following feedback on the major November update (which changed a lot, and inevitably caused some problems). Indeed, build 11082 gave birth to some bugbears of its own by all accounts, and part of the reason for getting an updated build out quickly is doubtless to cure these issues. Last month, Microsoft announced that builds would be delivered to the Fast Ring in swifter fashion – it has been criticised in the past for being a relatively slow fast lane – and Aul himself promised that Microsoft is going to pick up the pace considerably. Maybe this is the start of that gear change… Should you upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247387123187/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca64943/sc/23/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247387123187/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca64943/sc/23/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247387123187/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca64943/sc/23/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247387123187/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca64943/sc/23/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247387123187/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca64943/sc/23/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ca64943/sc/23/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/PMU2FR7R-tw
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20upgrade/should%20you%20upgrade-470-75.jpgWindows 7 still powers the majority of PCs out there, but Microsoft is continuing its rather controversial push for upgrades to Windows 10, and indeed in its latest shove a company exec has come close to labelling the older version of the desktop OS as a possible security risk. Yes, continuing to run Windows 7 is a risky proposition, at least according to Microsoft's chief marketing officer Chris Capossela, who as Forbes reports made his comments in an interview with Windows Weekly. Capossela said that those who were choosing Windows 7 did so at their "own risk" and "peril" due to possible compatibility issues in the future, and potential security risks. The main fear driver here, though, is the security angle, with Caposella further noting that users were at risk of "viruses and security problems", as well as potential incompatibilities with hardware or indeed games (he specifically mentioned Fallout 4 not working on older machines). Of course, as the Forbes article points out, Fallout 4 not working on an older PC is a hardware issue, not an OS problem. And on the security front, while mainstream support may have ended, extended support for Windows 7 goes through until January 2020 – so there's still four years of support in the pipeline from Microsoft. Turning up the heatRedmond is quite simply turning up the heat on Windows 7 (and Windows 8) hold-outs. First of all, we had more desktop pop-ups encouraging users to take the free upgrade. Then we've had controversial tactics such as confusingly worded prompts (two options, both to upgrade) and moves such as disrupting third-party software which blocks 'Get Windows 10' prompts. And now, here comes the fear – don't stay on Windows 7, or before long you'll face all manner of problems and potential vulnerabilities… As we've said before, there's nothing wrong with Windows 10 as such – privacy issues aside anyway – but Microsoft is starting to make itself look desperate in its upgrade persuasion attempts. Windows 10 has to succeed in the wake of the failure which was Windows 8, but Redmond has to shed this air of desperation or face the peril of adoption of its new OS slowing down further still as an automatic reaction and backlash to all this pushing. And of course, this year we've got the spectre of Windows 10 becoming a recommended update to cause further controversy… Microsoft should simply focus on making its operating system even more compelling and dealing with privacy concerns, after which greater adoption would happen organically. Should you upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247387009800/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca054db/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247387009800/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca054db/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247387009800/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca054db/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247387009800/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca054db/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247387009800/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ca054db/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ca054db/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/FKKIXzUTVD4
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20on%20Dell/Start-Tablet%20Mode-Continuum-470-75.JPGMicrosoft is at the centre of a new dollop of controversy in the privacy and security stakes, with the revelation that the company automatically uploads a copy of the recovery key for its disk encryption on modern PCs to its own servers – apparently without informing the owner of the computer, or presenting a choice to opt out of said process. What does this mean for the average user, exactly? If you've got a newer PC which supports TPM and you're running Windows 10 – and you've tied the OS into your Microsoft account for login – then you're automatically protected by Microsoft's device encryption, meaning the data on your disk is encrypted by default for security. But as The Intercept reports, a copy of your encryption key is also uploaded to Microsoft's OneDrive cloud storage locker, and as the article notes, this is done with no choice to opt out, and probably without the user's knowledge. Of course, built-in disk encryption is a very commendable security feature, but there are potential issues with it – and backing a recovery key up to Microsoft's servers is an understandable step to take given the sort of problems that could occur. For example, some sort of hardware failure on your PC could mean the data on your hard drive ends up permanently lost if there's no recovery key backup accessible. However, as The Intercept points out, there are potential security risks to Microsoft keeping a copy of your key – such as for example if a hacker breaches your Microsoft account, and can then access your encryption key (of course they'd still need physical access to your machine to make any use of it). Relative risksBut the truth of the matter for the average user is that the risks of any such hacking are clearly outweighed by the potential risk of catastrophic data loss if something goes wrong with their PC and a backup of the recovery key isn't accessible. Which is why Microsoft made the decision to do this… This is really more of an issue for a minority of users who have truly sensitive data (i.e. trade secrets and the like) on their machines, and, for example, if that PC was grabbed by a government, they wouldn't want said authorities to be able to strong-arm Microsoft for the decryption key to view the data. But the overall thrust of the anti-Microsoft argument is that Redmond simply needs to make this process more transparent, and let the user know what's happening – or indeed give them a choice when it comes to uploading a recovery key to Microsoft's servers. Note that it is possible to delete your recovery key from your Microsoft account – The Intercept details how to do this in its report. Bear in mind, though, that you'll need to keep a note of the key somewhere in case of a disaster in the future. The article suggests jotting it down on a piece of paper and keeping that somewhere safe, but that could come with obvious risks of its own. Should you upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386645311/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8c4bf6/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386645311/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8c4bf6/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386645311/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8c4bf6/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247386645311/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8c4bf6/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247386645311/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8c4bf6/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c8c4bf6/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/C8s92SZ1_c8
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20background-470-75.jpgApparently the number of Windows 10 installations out there has increased far more than was previously thought in the last couple of months, at least according to the rumour mill. Word has come from sources who spoke to WinBeta, claiming that Windows 10 has now been installed on over 200 million devices across the globe (note that this is devices, so not just desktop PCs). Of course, this is just speculation and not an official figure, and it represents a big jump since Microsoft's last announcement of 110 million installs back in October. Indeed, at the end of October, WinBeta's inside contacts claimed the number of Windows 10 installations had increased to 120 million – meaning an increase of around 10 million in just under a month. That doesn't quite tally with a leap of 80 million in two further months – and neither does it match up with what bean counting firms such as StatCounter have been saying about Windows 10's pace of adoption slowing down over the past couple of months. In other words, keep the usual pinch of salt to hand… That said, Christmas sales of new devices certainly won't have hurt Windows 10's prospects. Hopefully we'll get some more official figures from Microsoft soon. Meanwhile, Redmond is likely to continue to push Windows 7 and 8.1 users to upgrade, and we've seen some dubious tactics of late including presenting options in a manner skewed towards getting folks to make the leap to Windows 10 (and indeed allegedly messing with utilities which block the pop-up Windows 10 upgrade box). 5 ways Microsoft can own 2016 http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386643923/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8bcc94/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386643923/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8bcc94/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386643923/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8bcc94/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247386643923/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8bcc94/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247386643923/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c8bcc94/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c8bcc94/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/Uwp657VSKDo
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/deals/Boxing%20Day%20Sales/Boxing_Day_Graphic_Blue-470-75.jpg Boxing Day SalesLoading Boxing Day Sales quick links... Boxing Day has been and gone now but the Boxing Day sales are still going strong so there's still time to grab yourself some deals. Analysts predicted that UK shoppers would spend as much as £856m on Boxing Day, and it certainly looks as though that number was accurate - we've had record Boxing Day visitors here at techradar. We've already spotted some great deals on games consoles and some super prices on TVs, appliances and a whole bunch of amazing laptop deals. Many of them have expired now but there are loads still going and we're still updating to freshen thing up. John Lewis launched its clearance sale at 5pm on Christmas Eve and it's full of juicy items, Amazon, GAME, Currys, BOOTS and more also pulled the trigger on their Boxing Day Sales a little early. Argos went live with its own Boxing Day sales first thing on Christmas Day and all sites have launched new deals on Boxing Day itself so keep your eyes peeled - you'll find some splendid bargains. And why? Because stores and warehouses are stuffed with thousands of items which are taking up valuable space and need to be moved on to allow room for 2016 products. What that means for you is a mini tidal wave of Boxing Day Sales bargains between now and midnight on Saturday. We're listing all of the best ones so you can keep a beady eye open for anything you fancy nabbing - but be quick, all these deals are stock dependent and when they're gone, they're gone. What are we doing to help? We've been trawling the web to track down the best deals and you'll find them listed as you scroll down this page. Have a browse or if you're looking for something specific use the quick links to jump to each section. We'll continue to update this page throughout Christmas Day and of course on Boxing Day as well. Boxing Day Sales: Quick linksJust straight to the deals at the UK's biggest retailers. Links will open in new tab: John Lewis - price matching and Boxing Day dealsAmazon.co.uk Boxing Day Sales + lightning dealseBay: Boxing Day deals on new and used itemsArgos Big Sale - starts Christmas DayCurrys Boxing Day salesGAME - PS4 and Xbox One dealsHOMEBASE - Massive stock clearanceBOOTS 50% off salehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/black%20friday%20products/blackfridaynew2-900-100.jpg The best Boxing Day sales dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals so far... John Lewis clearance sale: John Lewis is price matching so if you're quick you'll find some really great deals on electricals and a whole lot more - while stocks last iPhone 6S 64GB | £175 £75 up front | Unlimited calls | Unlimited texts | O2 4G | 3GB data | £31pm | £819 total This is the best iPhone 6S deal in the UK by far, only available during the Christmas period using a secret voucher code. Use the code TRXMAS64 at the checkout to save £100 on the superior 64GB version of the iPhone 6S and pay £75 up front instead of £175. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £819. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: TRXMAS64Apple iMac: save £150 - it's down to just £749 at John Lewis while stocks last! Miele: Save £70 on this Miele C3 vacuum cleaner and get it for £159.99 at Argos Samsung Galaxy S6: Get the Galaxy S6 with a FREE wireless charger worth £49.95 all for just £379.95 at John Lewis Days out: Save up to 70% on fun days out - track days, spa days sky diving and more - over at Virgin Experience Holidays Laptop: Decent Toshiba laptops with Core i3 CPUs and 1TB storage going at Argos for £299.99 TV + Netflix: Get the best-of-the-best Samsung 4K nano crystal 55-inch TV with 6 months of Netflix 4K Premium for just £899 at John Lewis 43-inch 1080p TV: It's a Bush one, but it's also only £199 at Argos Chromecast: Get Google's awesome smart TV dongle for just £25 and get £20 Google Play credit over at John Lewis PS4 500GB: Get a refurbished PS4 with 12 month warranty and a copy of Minecraft for just £199.99 at Amazon.co.uk PS4: Get the Sony PS4 500GB with a game of your choice for £249 at Tesco direct PS4: Get the Sony PS4 with a copy of Call of Duty Black Ops III for £249 at Tesco direct Xbox One: Get the new Xbox with Forza Motorsport 6, FIFA 16 and LEGO Jurassic World for just £279.99 at GAME Xbox One: Get the new Xbox with GTA V, FIFA 16 and LEGO Jurassic World for £279.99 at GAME iPhone 6 Plus: Get the supersized iPhone 6 at a cheapest-ever standalone price - now £589 at John Lewis iPad Air: Use the voucher code AIR10 to save an extra £20 on the marked price of the iPad Air over at Currys Cheap soundbar: Get a soundbar for just £22 at Tesco direct Cheap PC games: Save up to 80% on Steam keys in the PC Game sale on the Golden Joystick Store 50-inch TV: Get this LG 50-incher for just £329 at Currys - this one won't last long Great laptop: Get this powerful 15-inch HP laptop - with Intel Core i7 CPU, 2TB storage, Windows 10 and 8GB RAM for just £549 at Currys Great laptop: Get this powerful Lenovo Z51 15-inch laptop - with Intel Core i7 CPU, 1TB storage, 8GB RAM and Windows 10 - for just £499.95 at John Lewis Xbox One: Get the console with a copy of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for £249.99 at GAME Xbox One: This is the cheapest deal out there at the moment - get the Xbox One with Rare Replay and Ori and the Blind Forest for just £239.99 at GAME - while stocks last! PS4: Six different PS4 bundles for £249 at Argos.co.uk PS4: Get the console with Star Wars Battlefront for £249 at John Lewis PS4: A whole bunch of PS4 bundles going for £249 at GAME - limited stock so be quick 4K TV: This popular Black Friday deal is back! Get this Philips 40-inch 4K TV for just £379 at Argos 4K TV: Another Philips 4K model - this one is 43-inch and going for just £299 while stocks last at Argos TV Sale: Lots of discounted TVs over at Argos.co.uk Smartwatch: Get the Pebble Smartwatch for just £44.99 at Currys Raspberry Pi: Get the world's best micro computer for £7-off - now just £25.99 at Currys Beats by Dre: Get the Beats by Dre Studio 2.0 noise cancelling headphones for just £99, saving £170 over at Currys Nutribullet: Pick up the 900W Nutribullet Pro blender for £109.99 at Currys iPhone 6S 128GB | £300 £150 up front | Unlimited calls + texts | O2 4G | 3GB | £31pm | £894 total Another Boxing Day iPhone 6S deal here. This is the same as the deal above, same contract but the 128GB phone instead of the 64GB one. Use the code XMAS150 at the checkout to save £150 on the best-of-the-best iPhone 6S 128GB handset and pay just £150 up front instead of £300. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £894. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in Rose GoldGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: XMAS150Asus Zenpad: Pick up this cheap Android 5.0 7-inch tablet for just £59 at Currys Samsung Galaxy Tab S2: Get the best ever Samsung tablet for £335.99 at Amazon Roku 2: Get this awesome smart TV box for iPlayer, Netflix, PLEX and more for just £49.99 at Currys Sennheiser Momentum: Get these stylish headphones for just £59.99 at Amazon.co.uk Samsung cameras: Save 10% on all Samsung cameras using the voucher code SAMSUNG-10-OFFat Parkcameras.com Disney: Get up to 50% off at the Disney Store while stocks last Canon compact camera: Get the Canon Powershot SX710 HD compact camera for just £159 (after £40 cashback) at Jessops while stocks last TalkTalk deals: TalkTalk is offering a range of cheap options on broadband, fibre and TV for a limited time. These include FREE unlimited superfast fibre broadband for 12 months, free unlimited Simply Broadband for 18 months, half price TV essentials for 12 months and more. Check out all the deals at talktalk.co.uk BT Christmas deals: BT is also running a huge range of deals over Christmas for cheap broadband, phone and TV packages including 40% off broadband and 50% off BT TV for new customers. Check out all the deals over at BT.com LG 4K TV: Pick up this 43-inch 4K TV from LG for just £449 at Currys Toshiba 48-inch: Save £100 on this great value 48-inch TV from Toshiba and get it for £349 at ao.com Laptops: Save up to 40% on new laptops over at Medion.com. Deals include a great 17-inch laptop with Core i5 CPU and 1TB HDD for just £349, and a 17-inch gaming laptop for just £649. Loads of other delas on laptops and tablets over at Medion Apple Watch: Save £50 on the regular price of all Apple Watches over at Currys Blu-ray price crash: Save £££ on Blu-ray discs while stocks last over at Zavvi.com Fashion: Save up to 50% on clothes, electricans and more with the end of season sale over at TheHut.com Gadget insurance: Save 20% on all gadget policies using the voucher code GDGT20 over at Gadget Cover Website domans: Save up to 80% when you register web domains - get them from just £4.99 at Easily.co.uk Lenovo: Pick up this 2-in-1 laptop/tablet hybrid with 1TB storage and Windows 10 for £299 at Currys TV & video dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals for TVs, Blu-ray players and other AV gear... John Lewis: lots of great TV deals available in the John Lewis clearance sale - get them before they're gone. John Lewis also has plenty of really superb prices on soundbars and home cinema systems while stocks last 50-inch TV: Get this LG 50-incher for just £329 at Currys - this one won't last long 4K TV: This popular Black Friday deal is back! Get this Philips 40-inch 4K TV for just £379 at Argos 4K TV: Another Philips 4K model - this one is 43-inch and going for just £299 while stocks last at Argos Sony TV: Get a big discount on this great 49-inch Sony 4K TV - down to £699.99 at Co-op Electrical Full HD TV: Get this 49-inch 1080p LG TV for just £329 at Argos 43-inch 1080p TV: It's a Bush one, but it's also only £199 at Argos Sony TV: Get this superb 1080p Sony TV at John Lewis, price matched at £449 TV + Netflix: Get the best-of-the-best Samsung 4K nano crystal 55-inch TV with 6 months of Netflix 4K Premium for just £899 at John Lewis LG 4K TV: Save £600 (43%) on the LG 55UF770 4K Ultra HD TV and get it for £799 while stocks last at ao.com Samsung 4K TV: Save £500 on the 65-inch Samsung UE65JU6000 Ultra HD 4K TV and get it for £1,299 at ao.com Samsung 4k TV: Get the 55-inch Samsung UE55JU6800 4K TV for just £899 at Currys Samsung 4K TV: Get a 40-inch Samsung 4K TV for just £499 at John Lewis Samsung Curved TV: Get the 40-inch curved 4K TV from Samsung for £699 - price matched by John Lewis LG 4K OLED: Pick up this stunning curved OLED TV from LG - the 55-inch LG 55EC930V which techradar described as 'stunning' during its review - with a £500 saving for £1,499 at ao.com Toshiba 48-inch: Save £100 on this great value 48-inch TV from Toshiba and get it for £349 at ao.com Panasonic Blu-ray: Pick up the Panasonic DMP-BDT165 Blu-ray player for just £49 at Currys LG 4K TV: Pick up this 43-inch 4K TV from LG for just £449 at Currys 32-inch: Get this JVC 32-inch TV with Freeview HD tuner for just £199 at Currys 20-inch: Ideal for a kitchen or kids' bedroom, you can currently get this 20-inch TV for just £79.99 at Currys 40-inch Sharp: Get this 40-inch 1080p TV from Sharp for just £199 at Tesco direct Cheap TV: Get this 42-inch TV for a barely conceivable £169 at Tesco direct LG 32-inch: Pick up this 32-inch LG TV for £169 at Tesco direct Roku 2: Get this awesome smart TV box for iPlayer, Netflix, PLEX and more for just £49.99 at Currys Chromecast: Get Google's awesome smart TV dongle for just £25 and get £20 movie credit and 250 Clubcard points for FREE over at Tesco direct Gaming dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo, PC and more... PS4: Get the console for just £220.99 with the code JANSALE15 at Rakuten PS4: Six different PS4 bundles for £249 at Argos.co.uk PS4 500GB: Get the console with Star Wars Battlefront for £249 at John Lewis PS4 500GB: Get a refurbished PS4 with 12 month warranty and a copy of Minecraft for just £199.99 at Amazon.co.uk PS4 500GB: The same refurbed PS4 is available at GAME, also for £199.99 PS4: Get the Sony PS4 500GB with a game of your choice for £249 at Tesco direct PS4: Get the Sony PS4 with a copy of Call of Duty Black Ops III for £249 at Tesco direct PS4: Get the Sony PS4 1TB with a game of your choice for £279 at Tesco direct Xbox One: Get the console with a copy of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for £249.99 at GAME Xbox One: This is the cheapest deal out there at the moment - get the Xbox One with Rare Replay and Ori and the Blind Forest for just £239.99 at GAME - while stocks last! Xbox One: Get the Xbox One with FIFA 16 for £259.99 at Amazon.co.uk Xbox One: Get the new Xbox with Forza Motorsport 6, FIFA 16 and LEGO Jurassic World for just £279.99 at GAME Xbox One: Get the new Xbox with GTA V, FIFA 16 and LEGO Jurassic World for £279.99 at GAME iPad & tablet dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on iPad and Android tablets... iPad Air: Get this fantastic iPad from just £289 at Argos iPad mini 2: Get this 7-inch Apple tablet from just £189 at Argos Samsung Galaxy Tab S2: Get the best ever Samsung tablet for £335.99 at Amazon Samsung Galaxy Tab E: Get this Android tablet from Argos for just £139.99 Amazon Fire HD Kids: Get this cool kids tablet for £89.99 at Amazon.co.uk Asus Zenpad: Pick up this cheap Android 5.0 7-inch tablet for just £59 at Currys Tablet insurance: Save 20% on all gadget policies using the voucher code GDGT20 over at Gadget Cover Samsung: Get the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7-inch Android 5.0 tablet for £209.99 at Currys Samsung: Get the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7-inch tablet for £89 at Tesco direct Kindle Paperwhite: Get Amazon's awesome ereader for £79 at Tesco direct Camera & accessories dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on cameras and accessories... John Lewis: is price matching cameras so you'll find some great prices in its clearance sale while stocks last Argos: Half price on selected cameras at Argos Jessops: Boxing Day Sale now on at Jessops - save on cameras, lenses, video cameras, printers and more Sony camera: Grab the Sony Cyber-shot DSCH300B bridge camera for just £99 at Currys Leica lenses: Save 10% on all Leica lenses using the voucher code LEICALENS-10-OFF at Parkcameras.com Samsung cameras: Save 10% on all Samsung cameras using the voucher code SAMSUNG-10-OFFat Parkcameras.com Zeiss lenses: Save 10% on all Zeiss lenses using the voucher code ZEISS-10-OFF at Parkcameras.com Panasonic Lumix GX7: Save an extra £50 on this great camera using the voucher code PANA50 over at WEX Nikon D750 DSLR: Save an extra £150 on the Nikon D750 by using the voucher code 150D750 over at WEX Nikon D810: Save £350 on this Nikon camera using the voucher code 350D810 over at WEX Panasonic Lumix: Use the voucher code LUMIX10 to save 10% on the marked price of all Panasonic Lumix cameras over at Currys Fuji X-T1: Save £75 on the Fuji X-T1 DSLR and kits and also get £75 cashback from Fuji using the voucher code XT1DD over at WEX Fuji X-T10: Save £40 on the Fuji X-T10 using the code FUJI40 over at Currys Canon compact camera: Get the Canon Powershot SX710 HD compact camera for just £159 (after £40 cashback) at Jessops while stocks last Laptop & Macbook dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on laptop and Macbooks so far... John Lewis: Some superb laptop deals going at John Lewis - get them before they're gone Great laptop: Get this powerful 15-inch HP laptop - with Intel Core i7 CPU, 2TB storage, Windows 10 and 8GB RAM for just £549 at Currys Great laptop: Get this powerful Lenovo Z51 15-inch laptop - with Intel Core i7 CPU, 1TB storage, 8GB RAM and Windows 10 - for just £499.95 at John Lewis Bargain laptops: Decent Toshiba laptops with Core i3 CPUs and 1TB storage going at Argos for £299.99 Macbook Pro: Get the 13-inch Macbook Pro 13-inch with Retina display with a £110 discount - now £889 at Currys Raspberry Pi: Get the world's best micro computer for £7-off - now just £25.99 at Currys Laptops: Save yo to 40% on new laptops over at Medion.com. Deals include a great 17-inch laptop with Core i5 CPU and 1TB HDD for just £349, and a 17-inch gaming laptop for just £649. Loads of other delas on laptops and tablets over at Medion Lenovo: Pick up this 2-in-1 laptop/tablet hybrid with 1TB storage and Windows 10 for £299 at Currys Asus ultrabook: Pick up the awesome Asus Zenbook UX305 ultrabook with Windows 10, Core M processor, 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM for £549.99 at Currys Cloudbook: Pick up this cheapo Windows 10 laptop from Acer for just £149.99 at Currys Cheap laptop: Get the cheapest laptop in the UK - this Acer model is now just £109 at Tesco direct Apple iMac: save £150 - it's down to just £749 at John Lewis while stocks last! Surface Pro 3: Get the Microsoft laptop/tablet in 64GB trim for £574.99 at Argos Gadgets & other dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on gadgets and other assorted items... TomTom: Get the TomTom Start 20 UK-Ireland Refurb sat nav for only £51.99 with voucher code TT-Special-START20 over at TomTom.com TomTom: Get a brand new TomTom Start 25 sat nav for just £69.99 at Currys Drones: Use the voucher code DRONE10 to save 10% on the marked price of all drones over at Currys Breaking Bad: Get every episode on Blu-ray for just £35.99 at Amazon Headphone & audio dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on headphones and audio... Speakers and DAB radios: John Lewis has loads of good discounts on assorted Bluetooth speakers and DAB radios - when they're gone they're gone Sennheiser: Get these in ear headphones half price ar Agros - now just £19.99 Beats by Dre: Get the Beats by Dre Studio 2.0 noise cancelling headphones for just £99, saving £170 over at Currys Wireless soundbar: Pick up the Samsung HW-J450 wireless soundbar with subwoofer for £179 -saving £70.99 at Currys Wireless soundbar: Or get the LG LAS455H wireless soundbar, also with a subwoofer, for just £129 at Currys Apple iPod: Get a touchscreen iPod from as little as £107 at Tesco direct Cheap soundbar: Get a soundbar for just £22 at Tesco direct Sennheiser Momentum: Get these stylish headphones for just £59.99 at Amazon.co.uk Kitchen & Home dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on coffee makers, vacuum cleaners and other home items... John Lewis: check out all of the fantastic deals on electricals in the John Lewis clearance sale Food mixer: Save £170 on this 4.8l KitchenAid Artisan food mixer - now just £299.95 Half price vacuums: while stocks last at Argos.co.uk Miele: Save £70 on this Miele C3 vacuum cleaner and get it for £159.99 at Argos Coffee makers: clear your Christmas hangovers with some discounted coffee makers at John Lewis Nutribullet: Pick up the 900W Nutribullet Pro blender for £109.99 at Currys Hotpoint: Pick up this Hotpoint smart watshing machine for £209.99 at Currys Samsung fridges: Use the voucher code AS50SAM to save £50 on the marked price of all American-style Samsung fridges over at Currys Cookers: Use the voucher code RMAS150 to save £150 on all Rangemaster Range Cookers over £1500 at Currys Samsung appliances: Save £20 on selected Samsung appliances when you use the code SAM20over at Appliance City Cookers: Use the code SALE600 to save £600 on Britannia cookers over at Appliance City Miele: Save £20 on Miele appliances using the code MIELE20 over at Appliance City Air fryer: Get this Philips Airfryer for £99.99 at Currys Smartphone dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales on smartphones... Samsung Galaxy S6: Get the Galaxy S6 with a FREE wireless charger worth £49.95 all for just £379.95 at John Lewis SIM ONLY: Carphone Warehouse is doing a "Big Event" sale on SIM ONLY plans with its iD network iPhone 6 Plus 128GB: Get the supersized best of the best 128GB version of the iPhone 6 at a cheapest-ever standalone price - now £589 at John Lewis iPhone 6S 64GB | £175 £75 up front | Unlimited calls | Unlimited texts | O2 4G | 3GB data | £31pm | £819 total This is the best iPhone 6S deal in the UK by far. Use the Christmas voucher code TRXMAS64 at the checkout to save £100 on the superior 64GB version of the iPhone 6S and pay £75 up front instead of £175. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £819. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in Rose GoldGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: TRXMAS64iPhone 6S 128GB | £300 £150 up front | Unlimited calls + texts | O2 4G | 3GB | £31pm | £894 total Use the code XMAS150 at the checkout to save £150 on the best-of-the-best iPhone 6S 128GB handset and pay just £150 up front instead of £300. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £894. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in Rose GoldGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: XMAS150Smartphones: Save an extra £10 on the upfront cost of any phone where the cost is £10 or more using the voucher code SALESCLUB over at Mobiles.co.uk Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge: Get the amazing S6 Edge with a free wireless charger worth £49.95 - all for £499.95 at John Lewis Samsung Galaxy S6: Get the 64GB version of the S6 from Samsung, also with a free wireless charger worth £49.95 - for £599.95 at John Lewis Sony Xperia Z2: Get this flagship Android phone from a few years ago for just £199.95 at Argos Phone insurance: Save 20% on all gadget policies using the voucher code GDGT20 over at Gadget Cover Moto G: Get the awesome Moto G budget Android smartphone for just £89 on Vodafone pay as you go " width="900">YouTube : Where to find the best Boxing Day sales online in 2015:Here's our rundown of where you will find the best Boxing Day sales on tech and games from Christmas Eve through Boxing Day itself. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/techradar-150-100.jpg TechRadar.com:We'll be rounding up all of the best Boxing Day sales right here on techradar, so if you want a one-stop-shop for all of the best deals, we're your Huckleberry! We'll be trawling all of the major UK online retailers and pinpointing all of the very best deals, whether they be PS4, Xbox One, Cameras, laptops, iPhones and Android smartphones, wearables, Blu-ray players, videogames... you get the idea. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/amazon-150-100.jpg Amazon.co.uk:Amazon has always been the crown jewel of the online discounters, but something seems to have changed in the last year. On Black Friday, Amazon's deals were vastly overshadowed by those of John Lewis, Argos, Currys and a few others. The site concentrated largely on lightning deals - offers which are only live for a very short amount of time. That makes them hard to spot, and the fact that Prime subscribers get first dibs means that regular folk often miss out. Amazon is hoping that you'll go there and spend money regardless. We hope for lots of Boxing Day sales deals from Amazon this year and we'll certainly bring you the best ones we find. Quick link: Amazon Boxing Day sales homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/john%20lewis-150-100.jpg John Lewis:John Lewis was perhaps the surprise package on Black Friday. After speaking out against big sales events, it turned up on the day itself with some of the very best deals in the UK. It's such a big site that you can expect more of the same in the Boxing Day sales as it shifts the remaining stock on TVs, kitchenware, games consoles, tablets and more. We'll of course be paying close attention so that we can highlight the best bargains. Quick link: John Lewis Boxing Day homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/currys-150-100.jpg Currys.co.uk:Currys is always there or thereabouts when it comes to online sales and it was right there in the thick of its during the Boxing Day sales period last year - both on the high street and online. Online is where the action is at, of course, because online you can drink sherry AND shop at the same time. As one of the UK's biggest electronics retailers you can expect some great deals on TVs, games consoles, tablets, ereaders and all the other usual stuff. Some deals will be better than others of course and we'll be here to let you know which sales items we think are the best! Quick link: Currys Boxing Day homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/argos-150-100.jpg Argos.co.uk:Argos was one of the big winners on Black Friday - it launched its deals a week early and just kept adding them as November went on. You can expect Argos to be right in there on Boxing Day as well, with sales on basically everything from toys to consoles, iPads, smartphones, tablets, TVs and more. Quick link: Argos Boxing Day homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/GAME-150-100.jpg GAME.co.uk:GAME is definitely a hot retailer to keep an eye on during Boxing Day 2015. Last year's best deals included PS4 DualShock 4 controllers for under £30, PS4 bundles such as the console PLUS Grand Theft Auto V AND The Last of Us Remastered AND Destiny + Vanguard AND a 12 month subscription to PlayStation Plus... all for just £399.99. This year you can expect all the new console bundles to come down in price as well as some great deals on standalone hardware and games titles. Quick link: GAME Boxing Day sales homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/carphone%20warehouse-150-100.jpg Carphone WarehouseMany of the very best and most popular deals during Boxing Day last year came courtesy of Carphone Warehouse. The highstreet retailer is already pumping out Christmas deals but as soon as it's too late to deliver before Christmas day you expect CPW to pivot and start offering even bigger discounts. We'll pick out the best ones, whether they're standalone smartphones, contract phones, voucher codes or whatever else. Quick link: Carphone Warehouse Boxing Day sales homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/mobiles-150-100.jpg Mobiles.co.uk:Like the site above, Mobiles.co.uk is taking advantage of the growing trend to buy and upgrade phone contracts online rather than on the highstreet. The site offered probably the best deals back on Black Friday so you can expect more of the same from this trusted site. We'll pick out what we think are the best offers and post them on this page so you can see what's worth buying and what's not. Quick link: Mobiles.co.uk Boxing Day sales homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals/Black%20Friday%20deals/zavvi%20logo-150-100.jpg Zavvi.comSpecialising in movies, games and tech, Zavvi went aggressive on Black Friday and we have it on good authority that they'll be delivering some more exciting deals in the Boxing Day sales. Expect some best-ever PS4 and Xbox One deals as well as some sweet savings on DVD and Blu-ray boxsets, console games and assorted tech items like iPads and laptops. We'll be listing the site's best deals on this page, so you can either come to us for our selection of the best ones or go straight to Zavvi's Boxing Day sales page. Quick link: Zavvi Boxing Day sales page http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/tesco%20direct-150-100.jpg Tesco Direct:Tesco Direct is building itself a good reputation as a destination for good prices on tech items online. Many of the best PS4 deals on Black Friday were available from this site so it's almost a given that we'll see the same again on Boxing Day. Expect also excellent deals on iPads and tablets, Xbox Ones, HD TVs, 4K TVs, Blu-ray players, Google Chromecasts and plenty more including videogames, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Quick link: Tesco direct Boxing Day homepage Boxing Day Sales / January Sales Fact File:Boxing Day sales seem to start in September now. We're exaggerating, but only a little bit. Faced with the question of how their sales could stand out when everybody else was doing it, retailers decided there was only one solution: start before everybody else. In 2013, some retailers kicked off their Boxing Day and January sales the week before Christmas. This year they might have already started. http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/other/LG%20Seoul%20trip/P4172392-180-100.JPG Boxing sales: online versus the High StreetSome retailers start their sales early, but only online - so you can expect to see some websites unveil deals on Christmas Eve that you won't be able to get in-store for another few days. And of course, online-only retailers from gadget emporiums to Steam are keen to get a slice of that sweet sales-frenzy pie, so they'll be running their own offers too. Should I queue overnight for Boxing Day sales?We wouldn't. So-called "doorbuster" deals tend to be very, very limited, and chances are you'll be way behind the organised eBay Tout Massive who know exactly what they want, what Buy It Now price they'll put on it and how to kill you with a single blow if it looks like you'll get to it before they do. We'd recommend staying in bed until a reasonable hour, having a nice breakfast and then relying on a trusted technology website - hello! - to tell you where the best deals are online. Have Boxing Day sales been overshadowed by Black Friday?Tesco certainly thinks so: it's reported that it expects its Black Friday sales to be higher than its Boxing Day ones, although given Tesco's recent track record in reporting important numbers - something that's seen heads roll and the financial cops called - then we should maybe take that with a pinch of salt. We're sure Boxing Day 2014 and the January sales 2015 will be just as frenzied as they've always been - maybe more so, given the current climate of austerity. Can you really get a great bargain on Boxing Day or in the January Sales?Yes, sort of, maybe, if you know what you're doing and watch out for the tricks of the trade. And there are quite a few tricks to watch out for. The most common trick is what the Consumers' Association calls "pseudo-sales"; that is, sales that look like sales and quack like sales but that aren't really sales. They exist because of retailers sticking to the letter of the law rather than the spirit. Here's how it works. UK law says that retailers can claim to have discounted goods provided they've been at full price for 28 consecutive days in the last six months, so some firms simply double their prices to ridiculous levels for a month, drop them back to normal again and stick a SUPER HUGE MEGA DISCOUNT sticker on them. That, amazingly, is perfectly legal, and it's why every single Christmas tree in the world appears to be half price in December: they were twice the price throughout August, when nobody buys Christmas trees (if you did, you were robbed. Sorry. Why are you buying Christmas trees in summer anyway?). TechRadar will only be promoting genuine deals on the day so if you're unsure, check back with this page! Boxing Day Sales: what's TechRadar doing?We'll be on hand on Boxing Day to unearth all of the best Boxing Day sales deals on the web, and we'll be listing them right here for you on this page. If you came to us on Black Friday, it's the same deal - we'll be regularly updating as more deals hit the web! We'll be continuing this throughout the January sales with deals of the day so if you stick with us it'll be almost impossible to not find a bargain or two!
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/steam2-470-75.JPGValve's Steam service is back up and running as expected, after a bug saw it give users a look at others' details. The high-profile error was explained as a code adjustment from Valve rather than a hack - but although the issue was only around for an hour it attracted huge amounts of attention and will be supremely embarrassing for the gaming giant. Stream has become the de-facto platform for PC, allowing people to buy and network play games. Up and running"Steam is back up and running without any known issues," a Valve spokesperson told GameSpot. "As a result of a configuration change earlier today, a caching issue allowed some users to randomly see pages generated for other users for a period of less than an hour. "This issue has since been resolved. We believe no unauthorized actions were allowed on accounts beyond the viewing of cached page information and no additional action is required by users." There is no official statement on the Steam service itself as yet, and it remains to be seen what the repercussions to this data leak will be. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386300603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c791fb8/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386300603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c791fb8/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386300603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c791fb8/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247386300603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c791fb8/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247386300603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c791fb8/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c791fb8/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/zQFvk9FXns0
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/deals/Boxing%20Day%20Sales/Boxing_Day_Graphic_Blue-470-75.jpg Boxing Day SalesLoading Boxing Day Sales quick links... It's Boxing Day! The sales have begun and it's time to start deal hunting. Allow us to walk you through the best Boxing Day Sales deals from all of the UK stores. John Lewis launched its clearance sale at 5pm on Christmas Eve, Amazon, GAME, Currys, BOOTS and more have also pulled the trigger on their Boxing Day Sales. Argos went live with its own Boxing Day sales first thing on Christmas Day and all sites are set to launch new and fresh deals on Boxing Day itself so keep your eyes peeled - you'll find some splendid bargains. And why?Because stores and warehouses are stuffed with thousands of items which are taking up valuable space and need to be moved on to allow room for 2016 products. What that means for you is a mini tidal wave of Boxing Day Sales bargains between now and midnight on Saturday. We're listing all of the best ones so you can keep a beady eye open for anything you fancy nabbing - but be quick, all these deals are stock dependent and when they're gone, they're gone. What are we doing to help? We've been trawling the web to track down the best deals and you'll find them listed as you scroll down this page. Have a browse or if you're looking for something specific use the quick links to jump to each section. We'll continue to update this page throughout Christmas Day and of course on Boxing Day as well. Boxing Day Sales: Quick linksJust straight to the deals at the UK's biggest retailers. Links will open in new tab: John Lewis - price matching and Boxing Day dealsAmazon.co.uk Boxing Day Sales + lightning dealseBay: Boxing Day deals on new and used itemsArgos Big Sale - starts Christmas DayCurrys Boxing Day salesGAME - PS4 and Xbox One dealsPC Games: Save up to 80% on Steam keysTesco direct Boxing Day salesBOOTS 50% off salehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/black%20friday%20products/blackfridaynew2-900-100.jpg The best Boxing Day sales dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals so far... John Lewis clearance sale: John Lewis is price matching so if you're quick you'll find some really great deals on electricals and a whole lot more - while stocks last iPhone 6S 64GB | £175 £75 up front | Unlimited calls | Unlimited texts | O2 4G | 3GB data | £31pm | £819 total This is the best iPhone 6S deal in the UK by far, only available during the Christmas period. Use the Christmas voucher code TRXMAS64 at the checkout to save £100 on the superior 64GB version of the iPhone 6S and pay £75 up front instead of £175. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £819. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: TRXMAS64iPhone 6S 128GB | £300 £150 up front | Unlimited calls + texts | O2 4G | 3GB | £31pm | £894 total Another Boxing Day iPhone 6S deal here. This is the same as the deal above, same contract but the 128GB phone instead of the 64GB one. Use the code XMAS150 at the checkout to save £150 on the best-of-the-best iPhone 6S 128GB handset and pay just £150 up front instead of £300. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £894. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in Rose GoldGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: XMAS150TV Sale: Lots of discounted TVs over at Argos.co.uk Beats by Dre: Get the Beats by Dre Studio 2.0 noise cancelling headphones for just £99, saving £170 over at Currys Nutribullet: Pick up the 900W Nutribullet Pro blender for £109.99 at Currys Samsung cameras: Save 10% on all Samsung cameras using the voucher code SAMSUNG-10-OFFat Parkcameras.com Disney: Get up to 50% off at the Disney Store while stocks last Canon compact camera: Get the Canon Powershot SX710 HD compact camera for just £159 (after £40 cashback) at Jessops while stocks last Apple iMac: save £150 - it's down to just £749 at John Lewis while stocks last! Miele: Save £70 on this Miele C3 vacuum cleaner and get it for £159.99 at Argos Samsung Galaxy S6: Get the Galaxy S6 with a FREE wireless charger worth £49.95 all for just £379.95 at John Lewis Days out: Save up to 70% on fun days out - track days, spa days sky diving and more - over at Virgin Experience Holidays Laptop: Decent Toshiba laptops with Core i3 CPUs and 1TB storage going at Argos for £299.99 TV + Netflix: Get the best-of-the-best Samsung 4K nano crystal 55-inch TV with 6 months of Netflix 4K Premium for just £899 at John Lewis 43-inch 1080p TV: It's a Bush one, but it's also only £199 at Argos 4K TV: This popular Black Friday deal is back! Get this Philips 40-inch 4K TV for just £379 at Argos 4K TV: Another Philips 4K model - this one is 43-inch and going for just £299 while stocks last at Argos Chromecast: Get Google's awesome smart TV dongle for just £25 and get £20 Google Play credit over at John Lewis PS4: Six different PS4 bundles for £249 at Argos.co.uk PS4 500GB: Get the console with Star Wars Battlefront for £249 at John Lewis PS4 500GB: Get the console for just £220.99 with the code JANSALE15 at Rakuten PS4 500GB: Get a refurbished PS4 with 12 month warranty and a copy of Minecraft for just £199.99 at Amazon.co.uk PS4: Get the Sony PS4 500GB with a game of your choice for £249 at Tesco direct PS4: Get the Sony PS4 with a copy of Call of Duty Black Ops III for £249 at Tesco direct Xbox One: Get the new Xbox with Forza Motorsport 6, FIFA 16 and LEGO Jurassic World for just £279.99 at GAME Xbox One: Get the new Xbox with GTA V, FIFA 16 and LEGO Jurassic World for £279.99 at GAME iPhone 6 Plus: Get the supersized iPhone 6 at a cheapest-ever standalone price - now £589 at John Lewis iPad Air: Use the voucher code AIR10 to save an extra £20 on the marked price of the iPad Air over at Currys Cheap soundbar: Get a soundbar for just £22 at Tesco direct TalkTalk deals: TalkTalk is offering a range of cheap options on broadband, fibre and TV for a limited time. These include FREE unlimited superfast fibre broadband for 12 months, free unlimited Simply Broadband for 18 months, half price TV essentials for 12 months and more. Check out all the deals at talktalk.co.uk BT Christmas deals: BT is also running a huge range of deals over Christmas for cheap broadband, phone and TV packages including 40% off broadband and 50% off BT TV for new customers. Check out all the deals over at BT.com LG 4K TV: Pick up this 43-inch 4K TV from LG for just £449 at Currys Toshiba 48-inch: Save £100 on this great value 48-inch TV from Toshiba and get it for £349 at ao.com Laptops: Save up to 40% on new laptops over at Medion.com. Deals include a great 17-inch laptop with Core i5 CPU and 1TB HDD for just £349, and a 17-inch gaming laptop for just £649. Loads of other delas on laptops and tablets over at Medion Apple Watch: Save £50 on the regular price of all Apple Watches over at Currys Blu-ray price crash: Save £££ on Blu-ray discs while stocks last over at Zavvi.com Fashion: Save up to 50% on clothes, electricans and more with the end of season sale over at TheHut.com Gadget insurance: Save 20% on all gadget policies using the voucher code GDGT20 over at Gadget Cover Website domans: Save up to 80% when you register web domains - get them from just £4.99 at Easily.co.uk Lenovo: Pick up this 2-in-1 laptop/tablet hybrid with 1TB storage and Windows 10 for £299 at Currys Asus Zenpad: Pick up this cheap Android 5.0 7-inch tablet for just £59 at Currys Roku 2: Get this awesome smart TV box for iPlayer, Netflix, PLEX and more for just £49.99 at Currys Sennheiser Momentum: Get these stylish headphones for just £59.99 at Amazon.co.uk Smartphone dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales on smartphones... Samsung Galaxy S6: Get the Galaxy S6 with a FREE wireless charger worth £49.95 all for just £379.95 at John Lewis SIM ONLY: Carphone Warehouse is doing a "Big Event" sale on SIM ONLY plans with its iD network iPhone 6 Plus 128GB: Get the supersized best of the best 128GB version of the iPhone 6 at a cheapest-ever standalone price - now £589 at John Lewis iPhone 6S 64GB | £175 £75 up front | Unlimited calls | Unlimited texts | O2 4G | 3GB data | £31pm | £819 total This is the best iPhone 6S deal in the UK by far. Use the Christmas voucher code TRXMAS64 at the checkout to save £100 on the superior 64GB version of the iPhone 6S and pay £75 up front instead of £175. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £819. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in Rose GoldGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: TRXMAS64iPhone 6S 128GB | £300 £150 up front | Unlimited calls + texts | O2 4G | 3GB | £31pm | £894 total Use the code XMAS150 at the checkout to save £150 on the best-of-the-best iPhone 6S 128GB handset and pay just £150 up front instead of £300. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £894. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in Rose GoldGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: XMAS150Smartphones: Save an extra £10 on the upfront cost of any phone where the cost is £10 or more using the voucher code SALESCLUB over at Mobiles.co.uk Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge: Get the amazing S6 Edge with a free wireless charger worth £49.95 - all for £499.95 at John Lewis Samsung Galaxy S6: Get the 64GB version of the S6 from Samsung, also with a free wireless charger worth £49.95 - for £599.95 at John Lewis Phone insurance: Save 20% on all gadget policies using the voucher code GDGT20 over at Gadget Cover Moto G: Get the awesome Moto G budget Android smartphone for just £89 on Vodafone pay as you go TV & video dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals for TVs, Blu-ray players and other AV gear... John Lewis: lots of great TV deals available in the John Lewis clearance sale - get them before they're gone. John Lewis also has plenty of really superb prices on soundbars and home cinema systems while stocks last 4K TV: This popular Black Friday deal is back! Get this Philips 40-inch 4K TV for just £379 at Argos 4K TV: Another Philips 4K model - this one is 43-inch and going for just £299 while stocks last at Argos Full HD TV: Get this 49-inch 1080p LG TV for just £329 at Argos 43-inch 1080p TV: It's a Bush one, but it's also only £199 at Argos Sony TV: Get this superb 1080p Sony TV at John Lewis, price matched at £449 TV + Netflix: Get the best-of-the-best Samsung 4K nano crystal 55-inch TV with 6 months of Netflix 4K Premium for just £899 at John Lewis LG 4K TV: Save £600 (43%) on the LG 55UF770 4K Ultra HD TV and get it for £799 while stocks last at ao.com Samsung 4K TV: Save £500 on the 65-inch Samsung UE65JU6000 Ultra HD 4K TV and get it for £1,299 at ao.com Samsung 4k TV: Get the 55-inch Samsung UE55JU6800 4K TV for just £899 at Currys Samsung 4K TV: Get a 40-inch Samsung 4K TV for just £499 at John Lewis Samsung Curved TV: Get the 40-inch curved 4K TV from Samsung for £699 - price matched by John Lewis LG 4K OLED: Pick up this stunning curved OLED TV from LG - the 55-inch LG 55EC930V which techradar described as 'stunning' during its review - with a £500 saving for £1,499 at ao.com Toshiba 48-inch: Save £100 on this great value 48-inch TV from Toshiba and get it for £349 at ao.com Panasonic Blu-ray: Pick up the Panasonic DMP-BDT165 Blu-ray player for just £49 at Currys LG 4K TV: Pick up this 43-inch 4K TV from LG for just £449 at Currys 32-inch: Get this JVC 32-inch TV with Freeview HD tuner for just £199 at Currys 20-inch: Ideal for a kitchen or kids' bedroom, you can currently get this 20-inch TV for just £79.99 at Currys 40-inch Sharp: Get this 40-inch 1080p TV from Sharp for just £199 at Tesco direct Cheap TV: Get this 42-inch TV for a barely conceivable £169 at Tesco direct LG 32-inch: Pick up this 32-inch LG TV for £169 at Tesco direct Roku 2: Get this awesome smart TV box for iPlayer, Netflix, PLEX and more for just £49.99 at Currys Chromecast: Get Google's awesome smart TV dongle for just £25 and get £20 movie credit and 250 Clubcard points for FREE over at Tesco direct Gaming dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo, PC and more... PS4: Get the console for just £220.99 with the code JANSALE15 at Rakuten PS4: Six different PS4 bundles for £249 at Argos.co.uk PS4 500GB: Get the console with Star Wars Battlefront for £249 at John Lewis PS4 500GB: Get a refurbished PS4 with 12 month warranty and a copy of Minecraft for just £199.99 at Amazon.co.uk PS4 500GB: The same refurbed PS4 is available at GAME, also for £199.99 PS4: Get the Sony PS4 500GB with a game of your choice for £249 at Tesco direct PS4: Get the Sony PS4 with a copy of Call of Duty Black Ops III for £249 at Tesco direct PS4: Get the Sony PS4 1TB with a game of your choice for £279 at Tesco direct Xbox One: Get the Xbox One with FIFA 16 for £259.99 at Amazon.co.uk Xbox One: Get the new Xbox with Forza Motorsport 6, FIFA 16 and LEGO Jurassic World for just £279.99 at GAME Xbox One: Get the new Xbox with GTA V, FIFA 16 and LEGO Jurassic World for £279.99 at GAME iPad & tablet dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on iPad and Android tablets... iPad Air: Use the voucher code AIR10 to save an extra £20 on the marked price of the iPad Air over at Currys iPad Air: Get this fantastic iPad for just £273.99 at Amazon.co.uk iPad mini 2: Get this 7-inch Apple tablet for £186.50 at Amazon.co.uk Samsung Galaxy Tab E: Get this Android tablet from Argos for just £139.99 Amazon Fire HD Kids: Get this cool kids tablet for £89.99 at Amazon.co.uk Asus Zenpad: Pick up this cheap Android 5.0 7-inch tablet for just £59 at Currys Tablet insurance: Save 20% on all gadget policies using the voucher code GDGT20 over at Gadget Cover Samsung: Get the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7-inch Android 5.0 tablet for £209.99 at Currys Samsung: Get the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7-inch tablet for £89 at Tesco direct Kindle Paperwhite: Get Amazon's awesome ereader for £79 at Tesco direct Headphone & audio dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on headphones and audio... Speakers and DAB radios: John Lewis has loads of good discounts on assorted Bluetooth speakers and DAB radios - when they're gone they're gone Sennheiser: Get these in ear headphones half price ar Agros - now just £19.99 Beats by Dre: Get the Beats by Dre Studio 2.0 noise cancelling headphones for just £99, saving £170 over at Currys Wireless soundbar: Pick up the Samsung HW-J450 wireless soundbar with subwoofer for £179 -saving £70.99 at Currys Wireless soundbar: Or get the LG LAS455H wireless soundbar, also with a subwoofer, for just £129 at Currys Apple iPod: Get a touchscreen iPod from as little as £107 at Tesco direct Cheap soundbar: Get a soundbar for just £22 at Tesco direct Sennheiser Momentum: Get these stylish headphones for just £59.99 at Amazon.co.uk Gadgets & other dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on gadgets and other assorted items... TomTom: Get the TomTom Start 20 UK-Ireland Refurb sat nav for only £51.99 with voucher code TT-Special-START20 over at TomTom.com TomTom: Get a brand new TomTom Start 25 sat nav for just £69.99 at Currys Drones: Use the voucher code DRONE10 to save 10% on the marked price of all drones over at Currys Camera & accessories dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on cameras and accessories... John Lewis: is price matching cameras so you'll find some great prices in its clearance sale while stocks last Argos: Half price on selected cameras at Argos Jessops: Boxing Day Sale now on at Jessops - save on cameras, lenses, video cameras, printers and more Sony camera: Grab the Sony Cyber-shot DSCH300B bridge camera for just £99 at Currys Leica lenses: Save 10% on all Leica lenses using the voucher code LEICALENS-10-OFF at Parkcameras.com Samsung cameras: Save 10% on all Samsung cameras using the voucher code SAMSUNG-10-OFFat Parkcameras.com Zeiss lenses: Save 10% on all Zeiss lenses using the voucher code ZEISS-10-OFF at Parkcameras.com Panasonic Lumix GX7: Save an extra £50 on this great camera using the voucher code PANA50 over at WEX Nikon D750 DSLR: Save an extra £150 on the Nikon D750 by using the voucher code 150D750 over at WEX Nikon D810: Save £350 on this Nikon camera using the voucher code 350D810 over at WEX Panasonic Lumix: Use the voucher code LUMIX10 to save 10% on the marked price of all Panasonic Lumix cameras over at Currys Fuji X-T1: Save £75 on the Fuji X-T1 DSLR and kits and also get £75 cashback from Fuji using the voucher code XT1DD over at WEX Fuji X-T10: Save £40 on the Fuji X-T10 using the code FUJI40 over at Currys Canon compact camera: Get the Canon Powershot SX710 HD compact camera for just £159 (after £40 cashback) at Jessops while stocks last Laptop & Macbook dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on laptop and Macbooks so far... John Lewis: Some superb laptop deals going at John Lewis - get them before they're gone Bargain laptops: Decent Toshiba laptops with Core i3 CPUs and 1TB storage going at Argos for £299.99 Laptops: Save yo to 40% on new laptops over at Medion.com. Deals include a great 17-inch laptop with Core i5 CPU and 1TB HDD for just £349, and a 17-inch gaming laptop for just £649. Loads of other delas on laptops and tablets over at Medion Lenovo: Pick up this 2-in-1 laptop/tablet hybrid with 1TB storage and Windows 10 for £299 at Currys Asus ultrabook: Pick up the awesome Asus Zenbook UX305 ultrabook with Windows 10, Core M processor, 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM for £549.99 at Currys Cloudbook: Pick up this cheapo Windows 10 laptop from Acer for just £149.99 at Currys Cheap laptop: Get the cheapest laptop in the UK - this Acer model is now just £109 at Tesco direct Apple iMac: save £150 - it's down to just £749 at John Lewis while stocks last! Surface Pro 3: Get the Microsoft laptop/tablet in 64GB trim for £574.99 at Argos Kitchen & Home dealsOur selection of the best best Boxing Day Sales deals on coffee makers, vacuum cleaners and other home items... John Lewis: check out all of the fantastic deals on electricals in the John Lewis clearance sale Half price vacuums: while stocks last at Argos.co.uk Miele: Save £70 on this Miele C3 vacuum cleaner and get it for £159.99 at Argos Coffee makers: clear your Christmas hangovers with some discounted coffee makers at John Lewis Nutribullet: Pick up the 900W Nutribullet Pro blender for £109.99 at Currys Hotpoint: Pick up this Hotpoint smart watshing machine for £209.99 at Currys Samsung fridges: Use the voucher code AS50SAM to save £50 on the marked price of all American-style Samsung fridges over at Currys Cookers: Use the voucher code RMAS150 to save £150 on all Rangemaster Range Cookers over £1500 at Currys Samsung appliances: Save £20 on selected Samsung appliances when you use the code SAM20 over at Appliance City Cookers: Use the code SALE600 to save £600 on Britannia cookers over at Appliance City Miele: Save £20 on Miele appliances using the code MIELE20 over at Appliance City Air fryer: Get this Philips Airfryer for £99.99 at Currys Where to find the best Boxing Day sales online in 2015:Here's our rundown of where you will find the best Boxing Day sales on tech and games from Christmas Eve through Boxing Day itself. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/techradar-150-100.jpg TechRadar.com:We'll be rounding up all of the best Boxing Day sales right here on techradar, so if you want a one-stop-shop for all of the best deals, we're your Huckleberry! We'll be trawling all of the major UK online retailers and pinpointing all of the very best deals, whether they be PS4, Xbox One, Cameras, laptops, iPhones and Android smartphones, wearables, Blu-ray players, videogames... you get the idea. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/carphone%20warehouse-150-100.jpg Carphone WarehouseMany of the very best and most popular deals during Boxing Day last year came courtesy of Carphone Warehouse. The highstreet retailer is already pumping out Christmas deals but as soon as it's too late to deliver before Christmas day you expect CPW to pivot and start offering even bigger discounts. We'll pick out the best ones, whether they're standalone smartphones, contract phones, voucher codes or whatever else. Quick link: Carphone Warehouse Boxing Day sales homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/mobiles-150-100.jpg Mobiles.co.uk:Like the site above, Mobiles.co.uk is taking advantage of the growing trend to buy and upgrade phone contracts online rather than on the highstreet. The site offered probably the best deals back on Black Friday so you can expect more of the same from this trusted site. We'll pick out what we think are the best offers and post them on this page so you can see what's worth buying and what's not. Quick link: Mobiles.co.uk Boxing Day sales homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/amazon-150-100.jpg Amazon.co.uk:Amazon has always been the crown jewel of the online discounters, but something seems to have changed in the last year. On Black Friday, Amazon's deals were vastly overshadowed by those of John Lewis, Argos, Currys and a few others. The site concentrated largely on lightning deals - offers which are only live for a very short amount of time. That makes them hard to spot, and the fact that Prime subscribers get first dibs means that regular folk often miss out. Amazon is hoping that you'll go there and spend money regardless. We hope for lots of Boxing Day sales deals from Amazon this year and we'll certainly bring you the best ones we find. Quick link: Amazon Boxing Day sales homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/john%20lewis-150-100.jpg John Lewis:John Lewis was perhaps the surprise package on Black Friday. After speaking out against big sales events, it turned up on the day itself with some of the very best deals in the UK. It's such a big site that you can expect more of the same in the Boxing Day sales as it shifts the remaining stock on TVs, kitchenware, games consoles, tablets and more. We'll of course be paying close attention so that we can highlight the best bargains. Quick link: John Lewis Boxing Day homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/currys-150-100.jpg Currys.co.uk:Currys is always there or thereabouts when it comes to online sales and it was right there in the thick of its during the Boxing Day sales period last year - both on the high street and online. Online is where the action is at, of course, because online you can drink sherry AND shop at the same time. As one of the UK's biggest electronics retailers you can expect some great deals on TVs, games consoles, tablets, ereaders and all the other usual stuff. Some deals will be better than others of course and we'll be here to let you know which sales items we think are the best! Quick link: Currys Boxing Day homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/argos-150-100.jpg Argos.co.uk:Argos was one of the big winners on Black Friday - it launched its deals a week early and just kept adding them as November went on. You can expect Argos to be right in there on Boxing Day as well, with sales on basically everything from toys to consoles, iPads, smartphones, tablets, TVs and more. Quick link: Argos Boxing Day homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/GAME-150-100.jpg GAME.co.uk:GAME is definitely a hot retailer to keep an eye on during Boxing Day 2015. Last year's best deals included PS4 DualShock 4 controllers for under £30, PS4 bundles such as the console PLUS Grand Theft Auto V AND The Last of Us Remastered AND Destiny + Vanguard AND a 12 month subscription to PlayStation Plus... all for just £399.99. This year you can expect all the new console bundles to come down in price as well as some great deals on standalone hardware and games titles. Quick link: GAME Boxing Day sales homepage http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals/Black%20Friday%20deals/zavvi%20logo-150-100.jpg Zavvi.comSpecialising in movies, games and tech, Zavvi went aggressive on Black Friday and we have it on good authority that they'll be delivering some more exciting deals in the Boxing Day sales. Expect some best-ever PS4 and Xbox One deals as well as some sweet savings on DVD and Blu-ray boxsets, console games and assorted tech items like iPads and laptops. We'll be listing the site's best deals on this page, so you can either come to us for our selection of the best ones or go straight to Zavvi's Boxing Day sales page. Quick link: Zavvi Boxing Day sales page http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/mline-420-90.jpg http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/deals/Black%20Friday%202015/Black%20Friday%20deals%20retailer%20logos/tesco%20direct-150-100.jpg Tesco Direct:Tesco Direct is building itself a good reputation as a destination for good prices on tech items online. Many of the best PS4 deals on Black Friday were available from this site so it's almost a given that we'll see the same again on Boxing Day. Expect also excellent deals on iPads and tablets, Xbox Ones, HD TVs, 4K TVs, Blu-ray players, Google Chromecasts and plenty more including videogames, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Quick link: Tesco direct Boxing Day homepage Boxing Day Sales / January Sales Fact File:Boxing Day sales seem to start in September now. We're exaggerating, but only a little bit. Faced with the question of how their sales could stand out when everybody else was doing it, retailers decided there was only one solution: start before everybody else. In 2013, some retailers kicked off their Boxing Day and January sales the week before Christmas. This year they might have already started. http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/other/LG%20Seoul%20trip/P4172392-180-100.JPG Boxing sales: online versus the High StreetSome retailers start their sales early, but only online - so you can expect to see some websites unveil deals on Christmas Eve that you won't be able to get in-store for another few days. And of course, online-only retailers from gadget emporiums to Steam are keen to get a slice of that sweet sales-frenzy pie, so they'll be running their own offers too. Should I queue overnight for Boxing Day sales?We wouldn't. So-called "doorbuster" deals tend to be very, very limited, and chances are you'll be way behind the organised eBay Tout Massive who know exactly what they want, what Buy It Now price they'll put on it and how to kill you with a single blow if it looks like you'll get to it before they do. We'd recommend staying in bed until a reasonable hour, having a nice breakfast and then relying on a trusted technology website - hello! - to tell you where the best deals are online. Have Boxing Day sales been overshadowed by Black Friday?Tesco certainly thinks so: it's reported that it expects its Black Friday sales to be higher than its Boxing Day ones, although given Tesco's recent track record in reporting important numbers - something that's seen heads roll and the financial cops called - then we should maybe take that with a pinch of salt. We're sure Boxing Day 2014 and the January sales 2015 will be just as frenzied as they've always been - maybe more so, given the current climate of austerity. Can you really get a great bargain on Boxing Day or in the January Sales?Yes, sort of, maybe, if you know what you're doing and watch out for the tricks of the trade. And there are quite a few tricks to watch out for. The most common trick is what the Consumers' Association calls "pseudo-sales"; that is, sales that look like sales and quack like sales but that aren't really sales. They exist because of retailers sticking to the letter of the law rather than the spirit. Here's how it works. UK law says that retailers can claim to have discounted goods provided they've been at full price for 28 consecutive days in the last six months, so some firms simply double their prices to ridiculous levels for a month, drop them back to normal again and stick a SUPER HUGE MEGA DISCOUNT sticker on them. That, amazingly, is perfectly legal, and it's why every single Christmas tree in the world appears to be half price in December: they were twice the price throughout August, when nobody buys Christmas trees (if you did, you were robbed. Sorry. Why are you buying Christmas trees in summer anyway?). TechRadar will only be promoting genuine deals on the day so if you're unsure, check back with this page! Boxing Day Sales: what's TechRadar doing?We'll be on hand on Boxing Day to unearth all of the best Boxing Day sales deals on the web, and we'll be listing them right here for you on this page. If you came to us on Black Friday, it's the same deal - we'll be regularly updating as more deals hit the web! We'll be continuing this throughout the January sales with deals of the day so if you stick with us it'll be almost impossible to not find a bargain or two! http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386293397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c78d9f8/sc/23/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386293397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c78d9f8/sc/23/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386293397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c78d9f8/sc/23/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247386293397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c78d9f8/sc/23/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247386293397/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c78d9f8/sc/23/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c78d9f8/sc/23/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/yDkVBLcY1W4
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Android/Android%20M/android-marshmallow-logo-470-75.jpg10 essential apps to download" width="420">YouTube : Unwrapped a brand new Android phone on Christmas morning? We're jealous, but we're also here to help. A smartphone can get a lot smarter with the right apps and there's a whole world of them on Android - well over a million, in fact. But with such a mindboggling number available finding the ones which are actually worthwhile isn't always easy. So we've done the hard work for you and come up with a list of ten which you really should download right this second. They're all best-in-class apps which could benefit almost anyone and are an ideal place to get started. Once you've grabbed them if your Android phone is still looking a little bare you could get some more inspiration from our long lists of the best Android apps and the best free Android apps. Google Photoshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Google%20Photos4-420-90.jpg Free Whatever new phone you've just got will have come with its own gallery app, but it won't be as good as Google Photos (although some newer phones do come with it pre-installed nowadays). Unlimited free storage allows you to back up all of your images and videos, so you'll never lose them, even if you lose your phone. You can even delete them from your device and still view them from the cloud, thereby saving valuable space. You can edit photos straight from the app and search for images based on what appears in them, without having to tag them first, so it's easy to hunt out specific shots. Not enough? How about shared albums, Chromecast support, animations, collages, montages and more. Google Photos really is the complete gallery package. Pushbullethttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Pushbullet-420-90.jpg Free If you're anything like us you probably flip-flop between a smartphone, computer and tablet, but getting all your files and notifications in sync isn't always easy. That's where Pushbullet comes in. Install it on your phone and your computer to see notifications from your handset appear on your PC. Better yet you can even reply to messages from many apps through your computer and easily share files and links between the two. WhatsApphttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/WhatsApp-420-90.jpg Free (for the first year) WhatsApp is an entirely more modern way to send messages than SMS. It uses Wi-Fi or mobile data, so you don't have to worry about SMS allowances and it's far more adept at sending high quality images than MMS. It's also a lot smarter than your standard SMS app. You can see whether a message has been sent, delivered or read, send videos and voice messages and even make free calls. It uses your phone number, so you don't need to worry about sharing usernames and it links up to your address book, so any contacts with WhatsApp will automatically be displayed. On top of that you can link it to your web browser and see your messages from your desktop, which is cheekily nifty at work. You do need an internet connection of some sort to use it, but how often do you not have that? VLC for Androidhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/VLC-420-90.jpg Free You only really need one video player on your phone and you really should make it VLC for Android. It's not the prettiest app around, but it supports just about every video file format under the sun, from AVI and MP4, to MKV, Ogg and more. VLC for Android also supports audio files, subtitles and closed captions, plus all the basics like brightness and aspect-ratio adjustments. In short, before you head off on a long train ride, load up your phone with movies and marvel as they all play back nicely with this app. SwiftKey Keyboardhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Swiftkey-420-90.jpg Free SwiftKey proudly proclaims that over 250 million people worldwide use its keyboard and there's a good reason for that: It's simply one of the best. It learns your tapping and writing style as you use it, so its predictions and corrections will get better over time, with any slang or nicknames you use also getting added to its dictionary. It's also versatile. Sure you can tap to type, but you can also swipe and you can customise the keyboard with various looks and layouts to make it feel really personal to you. CityMapperhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/CityMapper-420-90.jpg Free Navigating a city, particularly an unfamiliar one, can feel a bit like trying to escape a labyrinth. Except instead of simply worrying about a pesky minotaur or David Bowie you've got to contend with buses, trains and crowds. CityMapper makes this easier, with journey planning for all transport types, even including ferries and trams. It uses real time data and will alert you to any disruptions, so you can get where you're going as quickly and easily as possible. IF by IFTTThttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/IF-420-90.jpg Free IF is a tremendously powerful app, yet it's simple enough that anyone can use it. Formerly known as 'If That Then This', it allows you to create connections or 'recipes', stating that if one thing happens then another will occur automatically. For example, if you never want to miss a message, you could create a recipe that states if you get an SMS message then the phone should send you an email alert. You can combine any functions and apps and even link it up with smart devices like Nest and Hue. The possibilities really are endless and as easy as it is to create your own connections you don't even need to do that, as there are dozens of suggestions built in to get you going. Evernotehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Evernote-420-90.jpg Free Many notetaking apps have arrived since Evernote, but none have matched it. An attractive, clutter-free interface makes it easy to jot down notes, to-do lists and checklists. You can attach files, keep separate notebooks to stay organised and access your notes from any device with an internet connection. It's simple yet powerful and makes it so much easier to keep on top of things. We don't know how we ever survived without it. Facebookhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/mobile_phones/Apps/%20Free%20Android%20Apps%20gallery/Facebook-gallery-420-90.jpg Free This is an obvious one, but no less essential. Chances are you use Facebook and if so you really need the app. Yes, there's a mobile site, but it's ugly, slow and clunky compared to this. You can do just about all the same things from the app as you can from the site, including browsing your news feed and posting updates. Plus, you'll get alerts straight to your phone when a friend replies to one of your posts. To get the most out of it you really need to download Messenger as well, as this is required to make use of the site's chat function, but both apps are free. Poweramphttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Poweramp-420-90.jpg £2.99/$3.99 Just as VLC is essential for video, Poweramp is vital for audio. If you still prefer to own your music rather than stream it Poweramp has all the tools you need to make the most of your library. Support for just about every file type, gapless playback, an equaliser, configurable lock screen controls, lyrics support and customisable themes are just the headline features of a jam-packed app that's maintained its position of one of the best Android music players for years. Poweramp isn't free, but it does include a 15-day free trial and with regular updates and an almost overwhelming number of features it's the only Android audio player you'll ever need - providing you still fill your phone with your own music and don't got for a streaming service like Spotify. Movie fan? These ten apps are for you. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386272764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7781a6/sc/23/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386272764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7781a6/sc/23/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386272764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7781a6/sc/23/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247386272764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7781a6/sc/23/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247386272764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7781a6/sc/23/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c7781a6/sc/23/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ZAMl8YnfO48
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/tablets/Google/PixelC/HandsOn/PixelC-HandsOn-15-470-75.JPG10 essential apps for your Android tablet" width="420">YouTube : The open nature of Android makes it an incredibly versatile mobile OS, great for work, play and binge-watching House of Cards. On a tablet it's even more powerful, with the big screen making the likes of movie watching, photo editing and document creation more viable and enjoyable. The only problem then is finding the apps for the job, as there's a simply astounding number to choose from. No need to worry though, because we've sifted through them all and found ten of the most essential ones for any new Android tablet owner. Download these and you'll have the basics covered in style, but if you're still left craving more you can always take a gander at our list of the 100 best Android apps. Netflixhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/Netflix-420-90.jpg £7.49/$9.99 per month While you can watch videos on your phone, the small screen means it's not that ideal. But with the larger displays found on Android tablets a movie marathon is an appealing prospect and there's no better app for it than Netflix. There's a subscription attached, but for little more than the cost of a coffee and a sandwich each month you're getting unlimited access to thousands of films and television shows, including exclusives created by Netflix itself. If anything there's TOO much to watch, so really start thinking about how much you really need that job... SwiftKeyhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/SwiftKey-420-90.jpg Free If you're planning on getting any serious work done on your tablet you might want to invest in a physical keyboard, but if you're sticking with the touchscreen then at least download SwiftKey. This keyboard app has been around for years and while many imitators have arrived since none have matched it for speed and accuracy. It learns the words you use, becoming better over time, supports both tapping and swiping for text entry and has an assortment of different looks and layouts so you can personalise it to perfection. Evernotehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/Evernote-420-90.jpg Free Physical notebooks will soon be a thing of the past and with Evernote there's no reason to ever go back to one. Whether you're taking notes, writing a to-do list, creating agendas or tracking your expenses Evernote has the tools to do it all and it syncs across devices, so you can access your notes from anywhere with no danger of ever losing them. With support for multiple notebooks it needn't get cluttered either and thanks to a powerful search tool if something does get buried you can easily dig it up again. Snapseedhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/Snapseed-420-90.jpg Free We wouldn't endorse ever taking photos on your tablet, but editing them is another matter entirely. While you can do basic edits from a phone the larger screen on a slate makes it easier to fine tune images and get a good look at the finished product. There's a decent selection of photo editing apps, but Snapseed is one of the very best. You can use a brush tool to selectively apply effects to part of an image, tweak the exposure, white balance and shadows, add filters, crop, rotate and more. Snapseed isn't (as you'd expect) as powerful as some desktop software, but it's about as in depth as you'd want to get on a tablet - and best of all it's free. Microsoft Wordhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/Microsoft%20Word-420-90.jpg Free The thought of typing out a document on a smartphone is the stuff of very boring nightmares. But a tablet, with its wide expanse of digital real estate, is far more suited to the task. And what better pairing than Microsoft Word? It's one of the most well-known word processors in the world and the Android version is almost as full-featured as the desktop one, allowing you to easily create and edit documents full of charts and images. If you don't want to pay extra for certain elements, Google Docs is another free choice that works nicely - but is much more limited in functionality. eBayhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/eBay-420-90.jpg Free There's no better way to shop than from the comfort of your own home and with a tablet you can do it from anywhere in the house. Browse from the sofa, buy from the bathroom... we don't judge. The eBay app isn't the only shopping app available on Android, but it's feature packed, easy to navigate and can be used to both buy and sell, plus with the notifications that alert you when stuff is ending, you'll never have to curse again when those wellies you wanted went for a fraction of the price you'd have paid. Boxhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/Box-420-90.jpg Free Storage can come at a premium, but with Box you can boost it up without paying any extra. The cloud storage service offers 10GB completely free of charge and if you need more you can sign up for a monthly subscription. As it's cloud storage you'll need an internet connection to access your files, but it does also mean you can access them from almost any web connected device and share them with others. Skypehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/Skype-420-90.jpg Free Chances are your tablet can't make calls. Or send texts. But with Skype you can essentially do both over Wi-Fi and you can also video call, which works brilliantly on the screen of a slate. Log in on your phone and desktop as well and you can keep text conversations going whatever device you're on. You can only talk to other people who have Skype, but as there are over 250 million of them out there chances are your friends and family are among them and if not they should be, as it's free after all. VLC for Androidhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/VLC-420-90.jpg Free Netflix is great for streaming video, but if you prefer to keep your content local or just don't want to pay a monthly subscription VLC for Android could be the answer. It's a powerful media player with support for just about every file type under the sun, so if you've got a video, chances are this can play it. As it plays content straight from your device it's a great alternative to streaming options when you're away from a Wi-Fi connection, so just make sure you stick a bunch of films on your tablet before leaving the house. Avast Antivirus & Securityhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Features%202/Android%20tablet%20apps/Avast-420-90.jpg Free While security is a big concern on PCs it often gets neglected on mobile devices, yet they too are susceptible to viruses, malware and spyware. Thankfully there are a handful of antivirus options available and Avast Antivirus & Security is one of the best. Not only does it scan apps and content for viruses, but there's a web shield to keep you safe online, plus tools to track or wipe a lost or stolen device. Need more? Check out our list of the 100 best free Android apps. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386259605/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689e5/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386259605/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689e5/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386259605/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689e5/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247386259605/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689e5/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247386259605/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689e5/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c7689e5/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/bfiDYHSq3Fc
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/Flight-Simulator-470-75.jpgIntroductionhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/windows%20live%20writer-420-90.jpg Microsoft has been getting more involved in open source for the last few years, from donating code to the Linux kernel in order to make Linux distros run better on Hyper-V, to open sourcing not just the core of .NET and the Visual Studio Code editor, but even the Chakra JavaScript engine that powers Internet Explorer and Edge. And after lengthy negotiations by a group of developers at the company, Microsoft recently open sourced a fork of the code behind Windows Live Writer, the blogging tool, as Open Live Writer. Microsoft's new openness to open source doesn't mean that it's going to stop being a commercial software company, or that it's going to give away the code for every product that's no longer in active development. As Microsoft's Rob Dolin pointed out when announcing that Open Live Writer is a project at the .NET Foundation, Live Writer has been "well-loved but not actively developed" and it's always had a "passionate community behind it". There are a number of other products that meet those same requirements that we'd like to see Microsoft open source – equally, there are some products that could do with the improvements that open source development can bring, although it's unlikely that Microsoft will open source anything as 'abandonware' just because it's no longer developing it. On the other hand, there is some Microsoft software we might like to see go open source that's unlikely to ever make the transition; not everything is up for grabs. So in this article, we're presenting you with 15 products that Redmond should open source, followed by five that we don't expect to ever see. Microsoft's 10 worst moments of 2015Windows Media Playerhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/wmp-420-90.jpg Microsoft's vintage media player software hasn't been updated in years, although it still ships with Windows. It has plenty of features that the Groove music player and the basic Film & TV video player in Windows 10 lack. In particular, it has a still-thriving skinning and plugin development community that adds extra features to the software (like keyboard shortcuts for controlling playback). If Microsoft doesn't want to add anything new to Windows Media Player, it could turn it over to the open source community to keep improving. After all, someone just bought the venerable Winamp software so there's a market… Flight Simulatorhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/Flight-Simulator-420-90.jpg For 25 years, the various versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator let armchair pilots pull back on the throttle of the world's most popular planes and helicopters, but the last version came out in 2006, and in 2009 Microsoft shut down the ACES studio that produced it (a version was ported to Steam in 2014). The far more basic Microsoft Flight game doesn't have the significant options in Flight Simulator for add-ons and customisation – you can customise the plane cockpit and even the flight dynamics engine, add scenery, new planes and even connect to virtual air traffic control networks. Microsoft licenced Flight Simulator to Dovetail (creators of train and fishing simulators in 2014) and a new version might finally land in 2016. But if that's going to be another lightweight version, sites like FSDeveloper.com are signs of a thriving community that could take over development of the simulator and keep it aloft. Windows Live Photo Galleryhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/photo%20gallery-420-90.jpg The team that built this excellent image management and editing software (along with Picture It and Digital Image before it) are working on the Photos app for Windows 10, but again, there's no sign of advanced features that Microsoft pioneered – like being able to cut photo-bombers out of your shots. Photos doesn't yet have the geotagging, face tagging or panorama features of Photo Gallery, or the AutoCollage tool for making montages. Nearly all of these were developed by Microsoft Research and many of them are in the free and powerful (but complex) Image Composite Editor from Microsoft, while Photo Gallery withers on the branch. Open sourcing it could be an opportunity for the community to build on the excellent tagging tools. MSN Messengerhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/Windows%20Live%20Messenger-420-90.jpg Long before WhatsApp or even Skype, there was Microsoft's Messenger – over the years it was MSN Messenger and then Windows Live Messenger, and it worked on Windows, Xbox, iOS, BlackBerry, Zune and Symbian phones. After Microsoft bought Skype, it added interoperability with Skype messaging, and then turned off the Messenger service completely. The Microsoft Notification Protocol that Messenger uses to communicate hasn't been published and messages aren't encrypted. But given that instant messages with Messenger were far more reliable than text messages through Skype, Microsoft could open source the Messenger client with the Skype connection and perhaps the open source community could turn it into a tool that would always show your latest messages. Skype clienthttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/skype-420-90.jpg The WebRTC standard means that fairly soon you're going to be able to write a web page that lets you make Skype calls and send messages, so we might soon see third-party Skype apps that are really just web pages. It would be nice if Microsoft was to open source the standard Skype client at the same time. Imagine a Skype app that also built in other messaging options – with an open source client to start with, developers could add all sorts of features. And the Linux community could probably update the Skype client to the 7.0 level of the Windows and Mac versions from the two-year-old 4.3 version which is all Linux users get, and lacks features like 64-bit support and screen sharing in group video chat. Windows 10 touch keyboardhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/touch-420-90.jpg Back at the very first Build conference, Jensen Harris from the Windows team promised that the Windows 8 touch keyboard would offer more than the full, basic and split options the Microsoft team had developed. He said there would be a Dvorak touch keyboard, and that developers would be able to create their own keyboard layouts. We'd like to see Microsoft deliver on that promise by opening up the Windows 10 touch keyboard, offering an open source keyboard layout to get developers started and letting us plug alternative keyboard layouts into Windows. Notepadhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/notepad-420-90.jpg Need to open a random text file? You're very likely to end up in Notepad – which hasn't really changed since Windows Vista. There are several popular open source alternatives, the best known being Notepad++, but they tend to have powerful features designed for developers, often in a more complex interface. If Microsoft open sourced Notepad, the community could add extra features like spell checking or support for the popular Markdown format, while keeping the 'barebones, can't get confused' interface. WordPadhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/wordpad-420-90.jpg The new way to open Word applications without having Word is the Office Mobile Word app, but that's only free for viewing documents on your phone – unless you have an Office 365 subscription. You could open documents in Word Online, if you're online – or you could use WordPad, which like most of the Windows accessories hasn't been updated in some time. If Microsoft open sourced WordPad, it would give people a reliable alternative for opening Word documents, and the community could extend it to other formats like ODF, the Open Document Format used by LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org. OneDrive sync clienthttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/onedrive%20placeholders%20in%208.1-420-90.jpg This is a pipedream rather than anything we can see Microsoft doing, but we'd love to see an open source OneDrive sync client. Windows 10 dropped the placeholder feature to let you see stubs for your online files and made it impossible to manage your OneDrive files through Explorer, leaving you with only the basic tools on the OneDrive website. And while Microsoft has been concentrating on creating a unified client for OneDrive and OneDrive for Business, it's had no time to add new features to the OneDrive client (we won't even hear about the long-promised alternative to placeholders until some point in 2016). For some users, OneDrive sync remains fragile and problematic on Windows, while Microsoft has already added features to the OneDrive client on iOS that Windows 10 Mobile users won't see for three to six months. Open sourcing the OneDrive client might be a way to get more features, more reliably, and faster. It would also let other operating systems integrate OneDrive. FrontPage and Expression Webhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/frontpage-420-90.jpg Over the years, FrontPage went from being an HTML editor for building your website to become a customisation tool for SharePoint, and the web editing features moved to Expression Web, which Microsoft stopped developing in 2011. While HTML and CSS have moved on, these are still useful editors – if only someone could add support for newer web standards. Plus, Expression Web 4 includes outdated security advice, like using HTTP instead of FTP over SSL to get a more secure FTP connection. If nothing else, open sourcing the editor would let the community fix that kind of dangerous error. PowerToyshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/synctoy-420-90.jpg Over the years, Microsoft employees have created a huge variety of free tools to do everything from removing unwanted items from context menus to making your typing appear in whatever window you hover your mouse over. Over the years many PowerToy features have moved into Windows (like virtual desktops, automatically changing desktop backgrounds, burning ISO images to DVD, mounting ISO images or opening a command prompt at the current folder from Explorer) but other tools like SyncToy remain useful – this lets you choose from lots of options for how you want to sync folders from one folder to another. It hasn't been updated since 2009, so it doesn't have options for syncing to cloud services. If the original developers agreed, Microsoft could open source some of the most useful PowerToys to let the community extend them. Windows Home Serverhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/windows%20home%20server-420-90.jpg The OEMs who wanted to see Windows Home Server sold to businesses for higher prices pushed Microsoft into making it more complicated than the original, friendly system and the resulting compromise died off. Microsoft isn't likely to open source a full Windows operating system, but the Drive Extender tool (which turned a bunch of mismatched drives of different sizes into a pool of storage that kept redundant copies of all your files automatically spread across multiple disks) and the backup software that automatically found all the PCs on your network and backed them up are both excellent candidates for open sourcing. They were great tools that would still be useful; there's really nothing like them for home users. Sketchflowhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/sketchflow-420-90.jpg Microsoft used to have a fairly comprehensive set of tools for developers and designers to work together, bundled as Expression Studio, but that was dropped in 2012. The Expression Blend tool for designing user interfaces became part of Visual Studio, although you can't use it for designing in HTML any more, just XAML for Windows apps. The Expression Design vector graphics editor is free, but hasn't been updated since 2012 and doesn't get official support – if there's a strong community of developers willing to invest in it, that could be a good candidate to open source. But what Microsoft should prioritise is the excellent Sketchflow tool for sketching interfaces and making it completely clear that what you're seeing is a work in progress rather than an app you might expect to use. This was in the Visual Studio 2013 version of Blend but Microsoft abandoned it for Visual Studio 2015 and has refused to bring it back "in the foreseeable future". With plenty of developers still wanting to use it for prototyping their apps, this would be an ideal tool for Microsoft to open source – the community could add templates showing the native look when you're designing apps on different platforms, and make it useful to far more developers. Electron for universal appshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/slack-420-90.jpg Recently, Slack said it wasn't working on a Windows 10 universal app because it still had to support Windows 7 and 8 users. Microsoft could make it easier for companies like Slack – and others who use the Electron framework from GitHub to make cross-platform apps that run on Mac, Windows and Linux – to bring their software to the Windows Store by creating a fork that lets Electron apps run as universal apps using the Edge browser engine instead of Chromium (which Electron currently uses), once Node (which Electron also requires) runs on Chakra. Microsoft's own open source Visual Code editor is built on Electron, so Microsoft developers are clearly familiar with it… Visual C++http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/visualc-420-90.jpg When Microsoft open sourced .NET, it also made its powerful Roslyn C# compiler open source, but like the majority of C++ compilers, Visual C++ isn't open source. If you want to build a C# app to run on iOS, you can do that with open source tools that the community is deeply involved with building. If you want to build a C++ app to run on iOS you can still do that in Visual Studio Community (which is free for everything except enterprise development), but it's beginning to feel like an anomaly that Microsoft hasn't open sourced its C++ compiler. The most likely reason is if there happens to be low-level code licenced from Intel or AMD to optimise code to run on their chips, which Microsoft obviously couldn't open source. Microsoft Bobhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/Microsoft-Bob-credit%20wikipedia-420-90.jpg This is our first entry of the five that you won't see open sourced by Redmond, to round things off. Microsoft Bob came into being in the mid-1990s, and the idea was that it made for a more user-friendly interface for the versions of Windows around at the time (such as Windows 95). Bob expanded the idea of 'windows' into an entire 'house' you could navigate around with different rooms and items in them providing different functions – for example, clicking on a pad and pen on a desk would fire up the word processor. It also featured more inanity such as a cartoon dog help assistant, but it was Redmond who clearly needed help after coming up with this concept. Critics were unsurprisingly quick to pelt the idea with flak. Not only is this vintage software a running joke that comes up every time Microsoft shows a new interface, the code is so old it probably wouldn't run on any current PCs. (Image: Wikipedia) Microsoft Money and Accounting Expresshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/microsoft%20money-420-90.jpg The problem with old versions of money management software is that they'll have old tax rates and other outdated financial information, and Microsoft would have to spend time stripping that out. However, many online banking sites still offer to download your statements in Money format. An open source version would let fans carry on using the software, but it would need a community agitating for it – and six years after Microsoft shuttered the product, it might be too late for that. Visual Basichttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/visual%20basic-420-90.jpg The Roslyn compiler handles the newer VB.NET version rather than the original Visual Basic dialect – and the request to open source VB6 has been turned down repeatedly by Microsoft, despite the enthusiasm of the developer community. In 2014 the Visual Studio group product manager Paul Yuknewicz explained that: "VB6 is not just a language. VB6 is a language, a runtime, a platform library, a tool/IDE, and an ecosystem tightly packaged together in a way that made all of them work well together." He further added: "Even open sourcing the language/runtime wouldn't solve the fact that VB6 was thought for a different set of problems, and the fact that its strength came from the end-to-end solution provided by all these five pieces working together." Windows Media Center http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/Windows%20Media%20Center%20channel%20guide-420-90.JPG As soon as the news about Live Writer was announced, Windows Media Center fans started asking if their software could go open source too. It's only used by a small number of people (then-Windows head Steven Sinofsky famously pointed out that only 25% of the 6% of Windows users who even launch WMC run it for more than ten minutes), but beloved by those few users – at this year's shareholder meeting, one of them berated Satya Nadella for dropping the software. He pointed them at Xbox but admitted "we understand that we did downgrade from having the Media Center functionality, but we're working on it." The problem is that the feature most people want in Media Center is the DVR for recording from TV, and that means supporting encrypted content for TV services like CableCard and Sky TV – and while the encrypted TV services would work with Microsoft, they haven't supported any of the existing open source DVR tools. There are parts of Media Center Microsoft could open source, but it's likely that a lot of the code would have to be removed to keep the entertainment industry happy. Plus there are already those other open source DVR projects, which means there's less incentive for Microsoft to consider open sourcing Media Center. All of Internet Explorerhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/15%20open%20source%20Microsoft/ie-420-90.jpg Microsoft is already open sourcing Chakra, the JavaScript engine inside IE and Edge. It's even possible that Microsoft could open source the Edge rendering engine, now that it's cut out all the proprietary code that was inside the Trident rendering engine (which was forked to create Edge), although we haven't seen any hints about that. But Internet Explorer has a lot more code than this of course, some of it contributed by third parties like Intel and Adobe, and some of it licenced. Microsoft is keeping IE around for businesses that don't want to upgrade their web apps to work with Edge – if they don't want to rebuild their own web apps, it's unlikely that community would step up to work on open source IE development. And Microsoft doesn't want to encourage IE to stick around, because the ActiveX and browser helper object plugin model it uses has inherent security issues. More pieces of Edge might well go open source, but open sourcing IE itself remains improbable. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386259603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689ee/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386259603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689ee/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247386259603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689ee/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247386259603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689ee/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247386259603/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c7689ee/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c7689ee/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/WLwYH9eR5cs
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20on%20Dell/Start-470-75.JPGMicrosoft hasn't had much luck when it comes to tweaking its various bits of software of late, and the Redmond truck has suffered another update fender-bender, this time affecting Microsoft Word 2016 users running Windows 10. The problem has been caused by a Windows 10 update unleashed late last week, namely Cumulative Update KB3124200, which Microsoft noted made some tweaks and offered "improved functionality" for the OS (yes, a typically vague patch description). Except it didn't improve Microsoft Word's functionality, and as The Register reports, it caused Word's Normal.dotm template to be renamed, then recreated and reset to its default settings (losing the user any customisation and macros saved in the template). Not normalAs 'Rob L', Group Engineering Microsoft Word, posted on the Answers.microsoft.com thread regarding this issue, what's happening is that the existing Normal.dotm is being renamed to Normal.dotm.old during startup. So the good news is that this is simple to cure, as all the settings are still saved in this file, which is easy enough to recover from the Templates directory. If you're affected by this problem, check out the full instructions on the forum here. Redmond suffered a substantial number of complaints over missteps with the major November update for Windows 10, plus it has also recently been under fire over issues with its new Surface devices, and a raft of firmware updates which have been pushed out shortly after launch – with some arguing that the company simply isn't testing this stuff enough before it is loosed on the user base. Microsoft apologises over Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 flaws http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385999931/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c682bca/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385999931/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c682bca/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385999931/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c682bca/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385999931/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c682bca/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385999931/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c682bca/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c682bca/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/d6LO2W40S6s
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/iPhone/iPhone%206S/iphone-6s-pink-gallery-470-75.jpg Hold on to your hats – O2 and Mobiles.co.uk have just dropped the mother of all iPhone 6S deals just in time for Christmas. Back at the start of November, Mobiles.co.uk almost melted down as it offered the iPhone 6S 64GB for less than the price of the basic 16GB version. The BLACKFRI6S voucher code deal was meant to run through to Black Friday but it was so popular it had to be withdrawn almost straight away after all the stock ran out. Many of you have emailed us asking whether this deal would ever be back, so we decided to do something about it. Techradar got in touch with O2 and Mobiles.co.uk last week and guess what: we've managed to bring the iPhone 6S mega deal back from the dead. Yep, it's exactly the same deal as before and it's just as awesome: this time the voucher code is TRXMAS64 and using it you can save £100 on the superior 64GB version of the iPhone 6S - that leaves you paying just £75 upfront for the phone instead of £175. What's more you'll also bag yourself a highly competitive 4G contract from O2 - unlimited calls and texts with 3GB data for £31 per month. It's available in most colours – Space Grey, Silver and Gold – and it works out cheaper than even the best deal on the inferior 16GB version. The UK's best iPhone 6S deal in full:iPhone 6S 64GB | £175 £75 up front | Unlimited calls | Unlimited texts | O2 4G | 3GB data | £31pm | £819 total Use the Christmas voucher code TRXMAS64 at the checkout to save £100 on the superior 64GB version of the iPhone 6S and pay £75 upfront instead of £175. Then you'll be on a 4G contract with O2 which offers unlimited calls and texts and 3GB data for £31 per month. Total cost of this deal over two years is £819. Get this deal in Space GreyGet this deal in SilverGet this deal in GoldVoucher code: TRXMAS64Is this really such a good deal?We would never recommend a deal to you if we didn't think it offered truly great value. We've had a look around all the big sites – Carphone Warehouse, Mobiles.co.uk, e2save.com, Mobile Phones Direct etc as well as all of the UK networks' own sites – this deal comes out in front and by a considerable margin. It's by far the best deal on the iPhone 6S 64GB and also offers far better value than the 16GB deals out there. The next best deal on the iPhone 64GB is at Mobiles Phones Direct – but there you'll be paying £45.75 more in total (and £384.99 up front), and for just 1GB data instead of 3GB. The absolute cheapest way to get hold of an iPhone 6S on contract is this deal also at Mobile Phones Direct – going for that deal would save you £34.75 – but you'd be getting the 16GB version of the phone instead of the 64GB version, and 1GB data instead of 3GB. Of course, you may have noticed that Mobiles.co.uk is already running a pretty great deal on the iPhone 6S 128GB - read more about that deal here - but this 64GB deal is cheaper and we think it offers better value for money. View and compare all of the UK's best iPhone 6S deals here http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385965888/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c665bd2/sc/23/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385965888/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c665bd2/sc/23/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385965888/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c665bd2/sc/23/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385965888/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c665bd2/sc/23/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385965888/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c665bd2/sc/23/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c665bd2/sc/23/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/GDkRsYZ_Q_Q
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/Main-470-75.jpg Best LEGO Star Wars setshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/Main-420-90.jpg When two of the most powerful forces in the galaxy come together you can be sure for explosive results. No, we're not talking about the Sith facing off against the Jedi in an epic battle of Dark versus Light sides of the Force. We're talking about the glorious combination of the forces of Star Wars and LEGO. Put together LEGO Star Wars becomes possibly the most awesome toy around - not only do you get the memorable craft, characters and iconic scenes from the sci-fi fantasy tale, but it also fuels the imagination. The different X-Wing or TIE fighter variations are endless with a little creativity. And LEGO isn't just for the kids either, there are a host of incredibly intricate collector's edition sets and vast creations for the dedicated adult Star Wars and avid LEGO builder. These are our top fifteen LEGO Star Wars sets and where to buy them. 1. Star Wars Millennium Falconhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/01-420-90.jpg The fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy Han Solo's modified YT-1300 light freighter is one of the most iconic of the Star Wars sets. This latest edition has been created for The Force Awakens with a new communications dish...after Lando bust the original. Characters included: Rey, Finn, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Tasu Leech and a Kanjiklub Gang Member, plus a BB-8 Astromech Droid Where to buy: John Lewis 2. Death Starhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/02-420-90.jpg "That's no moon…" If you want to go all out for that LEGO Star Wars fix then the Imperial Death Star is the ultimate set. It's also one of the largest with nearly 4,000 pieces and 24 characters included in the final reckoning. Characters included: Luke Skywalker (plus Stormtrooper outfit), Han Solo (plus Stormtrooper outfit), Assassin Droid, Interrogation Droid, Death Star Droid and 2 Death Star Troopers, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight), Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, Emperor Palpatine, 2 Stormtroopers, 2 Emperor's Royal Guards, R2-Q5, and mouse droid. Where to buy: Amazon 3.Red Five X-Wing Starfighterhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/03-420-90.jpg "Stay on target!" With a nearly half a metre wingspan this is a serious LEGO set, made up of over 1,500 pieces of LEGO. This is no toy for kids, more a collector's piece for display and definitely not one to drop… Characters included: R2-D2 Where to buy: Argos 4. Poe's X-Wing Fighterhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/04-420-90.jpg A new classic? With a whole new paint job Poe Dameron's X-Wing is sporting a sexeh black look and is a bit more simplistic than the super-serious collector's edition. But that's no bad thing, this is far more of a toy. Characters included: Poe Dameron, Resistance ground crew and a Resistance X-Wing Pilot, plus a BB-8 Astromech Droid Where to buy: John Lewis 5. Imperial Shuttle Tyderiumhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/05-420-90.jpg "Fly casual…" The Rebellion's only chance of taking down the second gen Death Star lay with this stolen Imperial shuttle. Recreate the flight down to Endor with the beautifully intricate model. Characters included: Han Solo in Endor outfit, Princess Leia in Endor outfit, Chewbacca and 2 Endor Rebel Troopers Where to buy: John Lewis 6. First Order Special Forces TIE Fighterhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/06-420-90.jpg Still got it… The Empire may be gone, but the First Order has flooded into the vacuum left by its demise. And, of course, the TIE fighter is still the go-to combat vessel, but now with a dash of red in this excellent set. Characters included: 2 First Order TIE Fighter pilots, First Order officer and a First Order crew member Where to buy: John Lewis 7. Death Star Final Duelhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/07-420-90.jpg En garde! The LEGO Star Wars vignettes can be stunning and this one from the end of Return of the Jedi is fantastic. It's a two-on-one battle between Luke, Vader and the Emperor - but who's on whose side? Characters included: Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, 2 Emperor's Guards Where to buy: Amazon 8. AT-AThttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/08-420-90.jpg Four legs good, two legs bad Some of the most iconic vehicles from the series are the walkers from The Empire Strikes Back. Last seen stomping over the horizon to destroy the rebel's Echo Base on Hoth the huge AT-AT is an imposing beast. Characters included: AT-AT Driver, General Veers, Snowtrooper Commander and 2 Snowtroopers Where to buy: Amazon 9. T-16 Skyhopperhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/09-420-90.jpg Luke's old runabout Back in his youth Luke used to bullseye womp rats in his old T-16 back home, and now's your chance to grab a little of the old Tatooine magic. The T-16 is also one of the best value sets on our list too. Characters included: Skyhopper Pilot and a Tusken Raider Where to buy: Amazon 10. The Ghosthttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/10-420-90.jpg Ghostly goings on What happened between episodes III and IV of the Star Wars saga haven't really been covered much, but the latest Disney series, Rebels, does it. The Ghost is the cool iconic ship from the series. Characters included: Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, Zeb Orrelios and a Stormtrooper Where to buy: Amazon 11. Rancor Pithttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/11-420-90.jpg The feeding pit Okay, so talking his way into being dropped into the Rancor monster's lair wasn't Luke Skywalker's finest hour, but still managing to best the hulking giant of a beast was some feat. Much to the chagrin of Malakili, the Rancor's devoted owner... Characters included: Rancor, Luke Skywalker, Malakili, skeleton and Gammorrean Guard Where to buy: Amazon 12. Jabba's Sail Bargehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/12-420-90.jpg Not your normal barge trip So Leia in the slug-like Jabba's bondage gear might be a little weird in LEGO form, but this hefty set from Return of the Jedi is still an impressively imposing thing. And hey, you get a little blue, piano-playing elephant too. Characters included: Jabba the Hutt, R2-D2, Princess Leia in slave outfit, Max Rebo, Weequay and Ree-Yees Where to buy: Amazon 13. Desert Skiffhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/13-420-90.jpg "Boba Fett? Boba Fett...where?" If you want to complete the desert scene from Return of the Jedi you really need the skiff where Luke was held prisoner and from where Boba Fett met his sad demise in the jaws of the mighty Sarlacc. Characters included: Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett and Kithaba Where to buy: Amazon 14. Mos Eisley Cantinahttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/14-420-90.jpg Scum and villainy. The Mos Eisley Cantina was the first place we saw the alien diversity and danger of the Star Wars universe. The LEGO version comes with a load of different species and characters from the Dewback to Greedo. Characters included: Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Greedo, a Sandtrooper and 3 Bith Musicians Where to buy: Amazon 15. Kylo Ren's Command Shuttlehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Gifts/Best%20Star%20Wars%20LEGO%20sets/15-420-90.jpg Just a wannabe Vader? One of the big bads from The Force Awakens has got himself a little Vader fixation, but Kylo Ren's command shuttle is bit of a departure from the Sith lord's TIE Advanced fighter. Characters included: Kylo Ren, General Hux, First Order Officer, 2 First Order Crew and a First Order Stormtrooper Officer Where to buy: Amazon
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Carphone%20Warehouse/Safe%20phone/CBN09.safe.illo-470-75.jpgSmall and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are faced with a growing number of multi-vector challenges as they vie to adapt to today's new style of doing business where change is the only constant. Ever changing government regulations, increasing threats to network security, requirements for 24×7 application availability and the pressure to embrace new, sometimes exotic methods to work with customers, suppliers and employees require sustained investments in IT. Not something all companies can do and certainly not the smallest of them as they not only lack the budget to do that but also the knowhow and human resources. Download this whitepaper from security specialists Qualys to learn more about the big shift to cloud-based security and How mid-sized and smaller organizations can manage their IT risks and meet regulatory compliance with minimal staff and budget. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385548277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4f803c/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385548277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4f803c/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385548277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4f803c/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385548277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4f803c/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385548277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4f803c/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c4f803c/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/i2GgeEhVqnQ
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20background-470-75.jpgAlong with the release of preview build 11082 for Windows 10 insiders, Microsoft has also let the world know that it will be upping the pace when it comes to Fast Ring deployment. The Fast Ring, as you're probably aware, is the swift channel for delivery of new builds of the OS (the Slow Ring being the normal choice for insiders who want a better tested preview build). However, there has been criticism thrown at Microsoft due to the Fast Ring not being nearly fast enough… Redmond is listening to feedback though – that's a constant theme with the company these days, which is no bad thing – and Gabe Aul, VP, WDG Engineering Systems team, has said that from next month Microsoft is going to "pick up the pace". Fast and furiousTo do this, Aul notes that Microsoft will relax its ring promotion criteria – in other words, the company will be less stringent when it comes to approving builds as ready for the Fast Ring. This will mean preview builds will be released more swiftly, but also that they may contain more bugs and issues. That may excite some insiders on the fast track, but it might also sound worrying to others. Of course, if you don't fancy the idea of having to deal with more glitches, you can always shift lane to the Slow Ring. As for the new build 11082 itself, it's a pretty dull affair which doesn't make anything in the way of major introductions – it's mostly focused on implementing tweaks based on feedback given on the recent big November update for Windows 10. Via: Neowin How to customise Windows 10 http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385521663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4dff0e/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385521663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4dff0e/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385521663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4dff0e/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385521663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4dff0e/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385521663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4dff0e/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c4dff0e/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/oAlz0cn_41k
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/events/Microsoft%20Build%202015/press%20photos/Microsoft%20Edge%20Build%20press%20photo-470-75.jpgMicrosoft has updated its SmartScreen web filter to defend against drive-by attacks in the company's latest tweaks to Windows 10. SmartScreen is designed to protect surfers from various malware and phishing nastiness that they may encounter when hopping about the web, and it has been updated for both Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft's new Edge browser running under Windows 10. SmartScreen also warns users about things such as known scam sites, and now covers drive-bys, which are a particularly dangerous kettle of fish – they exploit known vulnerabilities and hit home merely by having the hapless surfer visit the infected web page (the victim doesn't have to be lured into clicking or downloading something). And the added danger is that often the sites carrying this malware are legitimate websites which have been hacked in some manner. Cross-company intelligenceMicrosoft says that this new feature is a result of gathering a broad set of data from its web browsers, Bing, Windows Defender and the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit. All this intelligence has been pieced together to implement the system which provides the drive-by protection, and theoretically gets defences in place as these attacks emerge in the wild. In a blog post, Microsoft noted: "To avoid impacting browsing performance, SmartScreen helps protect against drive-by attacks by using a small cache file created by the SmartScreen service. "This cache file is periodically updated by your browser to help keep you protected and to ensure that calls to the SmartScreen service are only made if we believe there's a high probability of malicious content on a page." If dodgy content is detected, it will be blocked and you'll see a red warning notice. Of course, don't rely entirely on SmartScreen or other anti-malware measures to keep you safe, and always exercise common sense when web browsing. Via: Neowin Microsoft about to (finally) add support for extensions to Edge browser? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385514462/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4da6f8/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385514462/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4da6f8/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385514462/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4da6f8/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385514462/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4da6f8/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385514462/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4da6f8/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c4da6f8/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/pwSKjSEE45c
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Android/Android%20M/android-marshmallow-logo-470-75.jpgIn many ways Android Marshmallow is a pretty impressive update to Google's operating system. But while it shines on phones it doesn't feel as at home on tablets, in part because there's no split-screen multitasking support. That could be fixed with Android 6.1 though, if a 'trusted' source speaking to Android Geeks is to be believed. Apparently the new feature will arrive with Android 6.1 in June, alongside an improved app permissions interface. Supposedly Android 6.1 will be a small update, with little else included other than bug fixes, but the addition of split-screen support should come as welcome news for tablet owners. Coming sooner or laterOf course it's just a rumour for now, but if it doesn't come with Android 6.1 it will surely arrive with Android N in late 2016, as Google has already confirmed it's working on the feature. Split-screen support will make the Google Pixel C even better. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385494959/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4ce8d9/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385494959/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4ce8d9/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385494959/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4ce8d9/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385494959/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4ce8d9/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385494959/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4ce8d9/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c4ce8d9/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/nLdifAzYAEc
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Streaming%20Services/Stan/No-Activity-Poster-470-75.jpgConsidering local streaming service Stan only launched at the start of the year, the venture has already had a fairly big impact on the local market. And 2016 is set to be even bigger, with the company announcing that it plans to more than double local production over the coming year. While the previously announced production of Wolf Creek will make its debut in 2016, the company has also confirmed a second season of its successful comedy, No Activity. Lots of ActivityNo Activity has been well received by both critics and subscribers, so it's not a huge surprise that the show is getting picked up for a second season. While Stan has named both No Activity and Wolf Creek in its 2016 lineup, it's also promised new programs for the new year. In any case, it's good news for Australians wanting to get their fix of quality original content, and will help Stan compete with Netflix's plans for even more TV next year as well. These are the best shows on Stan right now
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Streaming%20Services/Stan/No-Activity-Poster-470-75.jpgConsidering local streaming service Stan only launched at the start of the year, the venture has already had a fairly big impact on the local market. And 2016 is set to be even bigger, with the company announcing that it plans to more than double local production over the coming year. While the previously announced production of Wolf Creek will make its debut in 2016, the company has also confirmed a second season of its successful comedy, No Activity. Lots of ActivityNo Activity has been well received by both critics and subscribers, so it's not a huge surprise that the show is getting picked up for a second season. While Stan has named both No Activity and Wolf Creek in its 2016 lineup, it's also promised new programs for the new year. In any case, it's good news for Australians wanting to get their fix of quality original content, and will help Stan compete with Netflix's plans for even more TV next year as well. These are the best shows on Stan right now http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385447095/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4a5f68/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385447095/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4a5f68/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385447095/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4a5f68/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385447095/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4a5f68/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385447095/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c4a5f68/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c4a5f68/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/DD_V4vHu3Sk
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/cloud_services/OneDrive/onedrive-youtube-470-75.JPGMicrosoft issued an apology to OneDrive customers for its recent missteps. The company acknowledged that it did not provide enough transparency in its storage strategy, especially for business customers. "Overall, we have taken too long to provide an update on our storage plans around OneDrive for Business," said Jeff Taper, Corporate Vice President for OneDrive and SharePoint, in a statement. "We also recognize we are disappointing customers who expected unlimited storage across every Office 365 plan, and I want to apologize for not meeting your expectations." As part of its apology, Microsoft announced that unlimited storage will come to OneDrive for Business users on select Office 365 Enterprise, Government and Education plans. Unlimited for businessCompatible Office 365 plans that will receive the unlimited storage upgrade are for enterprise, government or education with five or more users. Unfortunately, the rollout is staggered, and unlimited storage is not automatic. Starting this month, Microsoft will begin increasing OneDrive storage capacity from 1TB to 5TB for all users, and the process will complete in March 2016. Users who need more than 5TB of storage will have to submit a request to Microsoft support, Taper advised. In order to be upgraded to the 5TB OneDrive storage capacity with the option to go unlimited, users must be subscribed to an Office 365 Education or Office 365 Enterprise or Government E3, E4 or E5 plans. Additionally, OneDrive for Business Plan 2 and SharePoint Plan 2 customers will also get the boosted storage. "Customers on all other Office 365 Enterprise, Business and standalone plans that include OneDrive for Business will continue to receive 1 TB of storage per user," said Taper. Taper also apologized for not giving a clearer storage roadmap to OneDrive for Business customers sooner. New sync clientMicrosoft is also rolling out a new sync client for OneDrive for Business. The OneDrive for Business Next Generation Sync Client is now out of beta and is available for download. The Windows client, available for Windows 7, 8 and 10, is available immediately, and Mac support will be coming at the end of December. Support for Windows 8.1 won't arrive until the first quarter of next year. The Next Generation Sync Client delivers a more reliable sync experience, as well as some notable new features. The client supports large files, up to 10GB in size, and removes the 20,000 file sync limit. Additionally, it also supports selective sync. At release, the Next Generation Sync Client will only support OneDrive for Business, but Microsoft promises that the client will also support SharePoint document libraries in future releases. Additionally, Microsoft also updated the mobile clients for Windows 10 Mobile, Android and iOS. Windows 10 Mobile owners can now view, edit, create, share and upload files using the OneDrive client to their personal or OneDrive for Business accounts. And similar to OneDrive for Android, OneDrive for iOS will be updated this month to include offline capabilities. Users can make select files available for offline viewing, and this capability will also come to Windows 10 Mobile in the second quarter of next year. Finally, Office Lens for iOS now integrates with OneDrive for Business. Office Lens is a mobile scanner that automatically crops and trims digitized scans before uploading the files to your OneDrive account. OneDrive for Business support will come to the Office Lens app for Android and Windows 10 Mobile in 2016. Read our comparison of the best cloud storage services http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385439385/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c495e80/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385439385/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c495e80/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385439385/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c495e80/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385439385/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c495e80/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385439385/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c495e80/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c495e80/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/8QrQqjLTDRo
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Microsoft/Lumia%20950/review/lumia-950-review-camera-flash-470-75.jpgThe suspended Windows 10 Mobile update is back online and ready for Lumia owners to download on their 950 and 950XL smartphones. Microsoft had pulled the update after it recognized several glitches, but now the company has reinstated the same build 10586.29 for its newest smartphones. "After momentarily pausing the Windows 10 Mobile update due to an issue with the update server that impacted the installation of the update on a limited number of phones, we have addressed the issue and will begin rolling out the 10586.29 update again," Microsoft told ZDNet. It appears that this build is the same build as before, and that Microsoft only made changes to its servers to resolve installation issues. This means that this reinstated release doesn't come with any new fixes, features or patches, as it's not a new build number. What went wrong Microsoft pulled the original update earlier this week after users complained that they weren't able to install the update on their Lumia 950 and 950XL phones. "We are aware of issues related to the recently published Windows 10 Mobile update, including: update not being offered, update appearing to get stuck at 0% and pesky low storage notifications," Microsoft acknowledged at the time. It's unclear what actions Microsoft took, if any, to resolve the low storage notifications after the update is installed. When the update was pulled, Microsoft advised its users to ignore the bothersome low storage notifications. Users who were successfully able to update their phones before the initial update was pulled will continue to receive future updates. This is good news, as it means that users won't have to downgrade their phones only to re-upgrade to the latest build in order to receive updates in the future, as was the case with some earlier Windows 10 Mobile Preview builds. Microsoft's support site indicates that Windows 10 Mobile will be supported through January 9, 2018. On that date, Microsoft will end mainstream support for the operating system, and it's unclear what will succeed Windows 10 Mobile. Read why your business should upgrade to the Lumia 950 http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385429865/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48d52a/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385429865/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48d52a/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385429865/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48d52a/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385429865/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48d52a/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385429865/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48d52a/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c48d52a/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/Is8ngXcOdn8
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/people/IBM%20and%20Apple%20CEO-470-75.jpgApple really wants your organization to make the switch from Windows. IBM and Apple are co-producing business-based apps for the iPad Pro to help simplify tasks and eliminate unnecessary paperwork. Since announcing a partnership last year that brought IBM business apps to Apple's iOS environment, the two tech giants have now co-produced more than 100 apps for the iPhone and iPad. The IBM-built iOS apps span 14 different verticals, including healthcare, financial services and retail. The tools combine IBM's data and analytics capabilities with Apple's mobile operating system. The partnership is designed to lure business users away from Microsoft's Windows operating system and onto Apple's Mac OS for desktop and iOS for the iPhone and iPad. How the Pro apps will workIt is immediately unclear how the iPad Pro-specific apps will differ from the 100 apps IBM has already created for Apple. However, Apple has been given a bit of grief for launching the productivity-focused iPad Pro on the mobile iOS operating system, rather than taking advantage of the desktop-based Mac OS. IBM-produced iPad Pro applications wouldn't necessarily enable a desktop-rich environment, such as Windows-based 2-in-1s like the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 or Surface Book. But IBM's enhanced analytics and computer learning tools (think: Watson) would enable iPad Pro users to pull rich insights from back-end tools and then make on-the-fly changes to business strategy. No, iPad Pro users wouldn't be able to multitask or run the same processor-heavy tasks as they would on high-end Surface device, but the large format iPad Pro, backed by IBM's analytics, give business users who prefer iPhones and Macs a capable productivity device that can easily be transported from the factory floor back to the office without having to switch computing environments. What have IBM and Apple done so far?The two companies have created a host of applications designed to provide healthcare providers with easy access to patient records, simplified hospital ward management and patient monitoring tools, among other apps. Other MobileFirst apps are built to help employees and managers keep track of shift changes, manage travel, service mortgage loans, connect with clients, diagnose issues in the field, inspect assets and document unsafe working conditions in factories. Apple and IBM offer its clients 24/7 IT support, AppleCare for Enterprise, for all Apple hardware and operating systems. As part of the package, Apple will replace up to 10% of a client's iPad and iPhone devices at no additional cost if the hardware is lost or damaged. Additionally, IBM has made some of the MobileFirst iOS apps available on the Apple Watch, thereby extending the benefits of the applications to the wearable environment. A love storyThis isn't the only monumental partnership between the two tech giants this year. IBM has adopted as many as 50,000 MacBooks for employee use. It is estimated that up to 75% of IBM employees would make the switch from Lenovo-branded ThinkPad notebooks to MacBook laptops by the end of 2015. Additionally, IBM's "Commit Health" initiative gives IBM employees a subsidy that covers the cost of the Apple Watch in order to help IBM offer a healthier workforce. Read our iPad Pro review http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385410937/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48515e/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385410937/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48515e/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385410937/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48515e/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385410937/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48515e/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385410937/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c48515e/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c48515e/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/zCLWlA25J9Y
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Android/Pay/android-pay-terminal-470-75.jpgGoogle's announcement today that Android Pay is getting a major update brought with it the news that the mobile payment service is coming to Australia. But in a separate post on the Google Australia blog, we know that the search giant has managed to accomplish what Apple couldn't do – work with Australian banks to launch a mobile payment service. According to the announcement, Google is working with a number of Australian banks to launch Android Pay in Australia. The list of banks is pretty comprehensive too: ANZ, Westpac, Bank of Melbourne, Bank of South Australia, Bendigo Bank, Cuscal, ING DIRECT, Macquarie Bank, and St. George are all name-checked. Interestingly, that means that both NAB and Commonwealth bank customers will miss out, at least initially, although Google has promised to continue working with more banks throughout the year. To get around the Australian banks roadblock, Apple instead partnered with American Express in order to get mobile payments happening down under. Broad accessThanks to the advanced tap and go infrastructure already installed at retailers around the country, Android Pay will have a rather large network of supported points of sale when it does launch in the first half of 2016. But Google has also confirmed that it is working directly with a number of retailers to ensure that Android Pay is properly implemented, including 7-Eleven, Brumby's Bakery, Coles Express, Coles Supermarkets, Crust Gourmet Pizza, Domino's Pizza Enterprises Limited, Donut King, Gloria Jean's Coffees, McDonald's, Michel's Patisserie, Pizza Capers, and Telstra. What's more, Android Pay will also be enabled on a number of local shopping apps, enabling Android users to pay for goods with a faster checkout without having to enter payment details after every purchase. Apps that will support this at launch include Catch of the Day, EatNow, GoCatch, Kogan.com, Menulog, OzSale, Rewardle, and The Iconic. While you wait for Android Pay, why not check out our Apple Pay review http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385434902/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c494bee/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385434902/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c494bee/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247385434902/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c494bee/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247385434902/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c494bee/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/247385434902/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4c494bee/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4c494bee/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/349stIf19tY
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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Connected%20home/Philips%20Hue/Philips-Hue-Homekit-Hub/Philips-Hue-Siri-1-470-75.jpgDigital rights management comes to home appliances as Phillips announced it won't support third-party bulbs for Phillips Hue. The smart home lighting system will eventually have more options for bulbs, but anyone looking to go off the proprietary path may encounter obstacles. Phillips announced its latest update as fixing an "interoperability issue," citing that certain third-party light bulbs would not operate properly with their Hue system, either not turning off successfully or properly working with the Hue's "scene" present functionality. Up until now, owners of Phillips' light framework could use (typically cheaper) bulbs from other brands such as Cree or GE that were compatible with the system. However, as Hue updates its platform, several of these bulbs were unable to keep up and showed performance bugs. Rather than working out issues with each individual product, Phillips is putting Friends Of Hue in effect, a program in which brands can undergo testing to meet Hue's standards. Products that make it into the Friends Of Hue will be able to work after the update is applied, making them the only current alternative to Phillips' proprietary light bulbs. Phillips Hue is also taking its light system on the move, thanks to Hue Go