sincity

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/How%20tos/lifestyle-470-75.jpgtechradar's November How-To challenge is well under way and this week we'll be giving you lifestyle-themed tips and tricks. We'll be showing you how you can turn your smartwatch into a personal fitness trainer, and how to get the best workout from your Apple Watch. If getting in shape sounds a bit too much like hard work, don't worry - we'll also be showing you how to get the most out of your digital media and guide you through turning your home into a high-tech paradise. Make sure you join the November How-To challenge Facebook event to make sure you don't miss a single tip.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/deals/xbox%20fifa%20deal-470-75.jpgWe've teamed up with UK retailer Zavvi to offer Techradar readers the exclusive chance to save £50 on a new Xbox One console, with a copy of FIFA 16 thrown in for good measure. Using the code TRDXBOX at the checkout, you can grab a new Xbox One 500GB with a copy of FIFA 16 for £269.99 - saving £50 on the normal bundle price of £319.99. Black Friday Xbox One dealThis looks like the cheapest way to get hold of a new Xbox One in the UK at the moment, and comes with a game as well so it's a pretty good deal. But you'll need to be quick - there are only 250 of these available and when they're gone they really are gone! Click here to get this deal using code TRDXBOX at Zavvi

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/Microsoft%20Project%20Oxford/emotion-470-75.jpgIntroduction and video wizardryMicrosoft's HowOld site for guessing your age from a photo was a viral success. The new MyMoustache site that tells you how the moustache you're growing for the annual 'Movember' charity is coming along (and offers to give you a fake moustache if you just want to join in the fun) might not take off the same way. But it does show off some of the new tools Microsoft has added to the Project Oxford APIs that let developers use machine learning to find faces, understand what users say and type – and now, how they might be feeling. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/Microsoft%20Project%20Oxford/mymoustache-420-90.jpg "The emotion API detects emotions in human faces," Ryan Galgon of Microsoft's Technology and Research group told techradar. It suggests up to eight emotions that he calls 'universal' for faces detected in an image – anger, contempt, fear, disgust, happiness, neutral, sadness or surprise (or a mix of those) – and it can work with multiple faces in a picture. "We can already tell what's happening in photos and who is in photos, and now we can move beyond that, with sentiment analysis." Imagine a photo app that automatically composites faces from multiple images so you get a family photo where everyone is smiling. "Or you could pick the best photo in an album based on whether people are smiling or not," Galgon suggests. Detecting beards and moustaches is another of the new face recognition options that developers will be able to use. "We also have significant improvements for detecting age and gender," Galgon told us. Some of the new options are available straight away, and others will be available over the coming weeks. Video wizardryThe existing face detection options will now work for video as well as still images, and the APIs can follow a particular person's face through a video. Initially that's about finding a face in the video, including knowing that faces don't usually disappear – so even if it's not detected in one frame it's likely to be there. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/Microsoft%20Project%20Oxford/video%20face%20detection-420-90.jpg In time, though, you're likely to be able to do the same kind of things for faces detected in a video that you can for faces detected in photos, Galgon says – so you could detect the emotions displayed during the video and look for when they change. "The APIs we have are starting to be able to work together, like the face detection and emotion detection. The direction we're going for is to have them provide a common set of capabilities, regardless of the type of input." Not all of the frames in video will be interesting, or fully in focus, of course. Two further new video tools in Project Oxford do image stabilisation to clean up the video (using similar research to Microsoft's Hyperlapse high-speed video) and motion detection. "The problem with motion detection is the false positives," Galgon points out. "You don't want to detect motion every time a cloud moves across the sky or a car drives past; you want to detect where there is motion in the foreground." http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/Microsoft%20Project%20Oxford/motion%20detection-420-90.jpg Learning new wordsA new spell checking service is designed to clean up text users are typing into apps, especially on mobile devices, where it's easy to miss off a letter or put a space in the middle of words, both of which the API can fix, as well as looking at the context to catch mistakes like 'four' instead of 'for'. "There might be misspellings that can throw off the system," Galgon pointed out. "If they're looking for Chicago, typing hicago isn't going to find it." Instead of the traditional spell check that just looks up words in a dictionary, the idea is to have the spelling API be able to deal with slang and 'informal' language. "The challenge is adapting over time when new phrases get coined or when a new startup becomes popular. So all of a sudden 'lift' is spelled 'Lyft' and it's a valid word that wasn't a word a year ago. The nice thing about making this a web service is that when we have new words and models, we update those in the back end and developers get better results for free." The spell check API won't learn how different people misspell words (although that's a possible area of research), but you can give it specific terms for your application. Galgon suggests: "Imagine being able to build a better speller for a particular domain, you can tell the API, here's a set of our product names that might not get recognised correctly." Audio services and powerful AISpeaker recognitionTwo audio services will be available later in the year. The new speaker recognition API will be able to work out who's talking – not just to tell people apart in an audio track, but to recognise them specifically, based on a speech model built from existing recordings. "People can enrol their voice – we let them say a phrase and build a speech model from that, then when you send audio from them we can say 'this is Ryan, or that is Mary'." That's the equivalent of the face verification API for speech, he explains. "That tells you with two images, what's the likelihood that this is the same face in both of them. Here we can say, given this audio file and this historical audio file, what's the likelihood it's the same person speaking." A voice is unique and apps could use it instead of a password in some situations, he suggests. "It's not as secure as chip and pin, but it's useful for apps that only need lighter authentication." Background noiseAnd Custom Recognition Intelligent Services – CRIS for short – learns the acoustics of difficult environments, or the speaking style of people whose speech is currently harder to recognise, to make voice recognition more accurate. "Right now, the speech APIs don't do a great job with kids' voices or with elderly folks or people who speak English as a second language," he explains. "They've mainly been trained with people working in an office and in an acoustic model of somewhere like a conference room. If you're at a kiosk at an airport or a baseball stadium, or you've got a mascot at a sports event and you want the system to be able to hear users and talk back to them in some way – the acoustic environment is very challenging at a sports game. There's a lot of background noise, there might be echoing." http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRBC/Miscellaneous/Microsoft%20Project%20Oxford/child%20voice%20model-420-90.jpg It takes five or ten minutes of audio, and that takes ten or twenty minutes to process, so you can't yet do it in real-time, but CRIS can significantly improve the accuracy of the recognition. The system can also build a model of how people speak from a couple of sample sentences, and you can add labelled phrases for unusual words – Galgon notes, "If you have player names or specific sports terms that a default recogniser isn't going to recognise." And crucially, it's not difficult to use. "That's been a complex task that's required a lot of expertise in the past. Pretty much anyone can do this." Ease of use Making these powerful AI features easy enough for developers to use with a couple of lines of code is what Galgon thinks is really different about Project Oxford (which remains free while it's in preview, although some of the features are now included in the Cortana Analytics Suite, so businesses can use them to recognise customers using face verification or analyse sentiment in customer feedback on their website). "We're going to keep expanding the portfolio and the set of APIs over time. But we've focused on making it as easy as possible for developers to use, regardless of what platform they use – you can use this for any OS, any website. People without any experience of AI could make software understand what someone was saying." In time, he thinks we'll just expect software that has these kind of smarts built in. "These are things that are human and natural to do. Our apps and our software should be able to hear and understand the world around them." How Microsoft's machine learning algorithms will make for smarter apps http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244158091438/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b70d817/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244158091438/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b70d817/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244158091438/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b70d817/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244158091438/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b70d817/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244158091438/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b70d817/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b70d817/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/AWuvyJssT08

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Apps/Facebook%20App/Facebook%20Photo%20Magic-470-75.jpgSmartphones have made it easier than ever to capture moments, but sharing them is another matter entirely. We've all been on a night out, taken reams of shots only to have to work out which to upload to social networks the next day. But Facebook's new 'Photo Magic' feature aims to solve that problem. The feature, which is currently being tested on Android and iOS in Australia, is built into Facebook Messenger and uses Facebook's facial recognition smarts to notify you whenever you take a snap of one of your 'Book friends. If there's more than one person in the shot, then Photo Magic will send the image to everyone in it via a Messenger group thread. Work in progressThere's a risk that it could be intrusive, potentially popping up notifications while you're still shooting, or, as it only brings up a notification for the last photo you took, potentially overlooking the best one if you fire off a burst of shots. But according to TechCrunch the team behind it is looking into improving these aspects. And, good news: if you don't want to use it, you don't have to. You can turn notifications off and opt out of having your face recognised in other people's pictures -but if you do choose to use Photo Magic it sounds like it could save a bit of time and make sure people are sending and receiving more snaps. By making Facebook Messenger more photo-centric it could also better help it compete with the likes of Snapchat - although just sharing them with a Messenger group sounds weird. Currently you can't get Photo Magic outside of Australia, but it's expected to land in the US soon and if people respond well we'd imagine the rest of the world will get it too. Soon we might all be doing our shopping on Facebook. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157811569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b619fb1/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157811569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b619fb1/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157811569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b619fb1/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157811569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b619fb1/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157811569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b619fb1/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b619fb1/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/Bwbb89AsGVo

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Processors/Skylake/Corei7-CPU-470-75.jpgIf you're bang up-to-date with your PC's processor and operating system – in other words, if you're running a Skylake CPU along with Windows 10 – then you'll be pleased to hear that Intel's Speed Shift tech will soon be making a difference to your computer's performance. So what's Speed Shift exactly? It's part of the performance enhancements Intel implemented with Skylake, and literally allows the CPU to shift gear between clock frequencies far more swiftly, as the processor itself is making the transition rather than the operating system. The Skylake processor can "more quickly select its best operating frequency and voltage for optimal performance and power efficiency" in Intel's words, and the company claims "dramatically quicker responsiveness" when it comes to single-threaded short duration workloads, for example simple web browsing should be far snappier. On the software side, the operating system needs to support this technology, but the good news is that it's coming to Windows 10 in a new patch soon. Indeed, Microsoft News reports that the capability may well arrive in the major update which lands for Windows 10 tomorrow – this seems a good bet. Let's hope that's the case, as while it will hardly supercharge your PC, Intel's technology certainly seems to provide a nice boost on some fronts. Anandtech has been busy testing it out with a Core i7-6600U and found some pretty impressive performance leaps with Speed Shift enabled, particularly for tasks such as tinkering with photos in the likes of Picasa (in Microsoft's Edge browser). 5 things you should know about Skylake http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157684666/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b5a04e2/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157684666/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b5a04e2/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157684666/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b5a04e2/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157684666/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b5a04e2/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157684666/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b5a04e2/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b5a04e2/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/qNmU0tbu-rg

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/AU%20News/dreamlab-470-75.jpgRemember the Folding at Home app on the Playstation 3? The app that used your gaming console to help solve some pretty nasty diseases while you weren't playing? Well, Australian scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research a new Android app that offers a similar promise for your smartphone. When your phone is plugged in and charged to at least 95% battery overnight, the DreamLab app will kick into gear, downloading and solving a small part of a cancer research problem without any effort on your part. The idea is that by pooling together thousands – if not millions – of idle smartphones across the country, the Institute will be able to help solve complex tasks in cancer research significantly faster than before. Data for scienceWith the ever-present fear of exceeding data allowances almost ubiquitous for Australians, the biggest hurdle the DreamLab app faces is one of confronting the data challenge. Fortunately, the app offers users limits on how much data the app can consume each month, both on your mobile network and on WiFi. What's more, thanks to a three-year association with the Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone has unmetered the data used by the DreamLab app, so it won't count against Vodafone customer's data allowances. You can download the free DreamLab app here.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/AU%20News/dreamlab-470-75.jpgRemember the Folding at Home app on the Playstation 3? The app that used your gaming console to help solve some pretty nasty diseases while you weren't playing? Well, Australian scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research a new Android app that offers a similar promise for your smartphone. When your phone is plugged in and charged to at least 95% battery overnight, the DreamLab app will kick into gear, downloading and solving a small part of a cancer research problem without any effort on your part. The idea is that by pooling together thousands – if not millions – of idle smartphones across the country, the Institute will be able to help solve complex tasks in cancer research significantly faster than before. Data for scienceWith the ever-present fear of exceeding data allowances almost ubiquitous for Australians, the biggest hurdle the DreamLab app faces is one of confronting the data challenge. Fortunately, the app offers users limits on how much data the app can consume each month, both on your mobile network and on WiFi. What's more, thanks to a three-year association with the Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone has unmetered the data used by the DreamLab app, so it won't count against Vodafone customer's data allowances. You can download the free DreamLab app here. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157705694/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b59d251/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157705694/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b59d251/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157705694/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b59d251/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157705694/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b59d251/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157705694/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b59d251/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b59d251/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/3Ggimsa87MQ

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/gaming_accessories/Samsung%20GearVR/Gear%20VR%20review/DSCF6799-470-75.jpgVisualisation for businessThis year has seen many developments in visualisation technology – from holograms to virtual reality headsets – designed to excite the senses and usher in a new paradigm of personal entertainment. Also exciting is the potential visualisation brings to many business processes still stuck in the doldrums of plain text and voice interaction. Visualisation can be broadly defined as technology that brings a visual dimension (2 or 3D) to information or an object that is described as non-visual data or a physical object. Visualisation allows an object to been seen without physically being there with the help of computer modelling. As computing power advances, visualisation will become more accessible from the cloud to smartphones and wearables. In the medical industry alone, Research and Markets forecasts the global advanced visualisation market to grow at more than 10 per cent each year reaching some $2.8 Billion in value by 2020. Here, we'll look at the technology of visualisation and how organisations are adopting it to dramatically change the way they do business – both internally and for their customers. 2015: A leap year for visualisationhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Wearables/Microsoft/HoloLens/Press/hololens-review-420-90.jpg With the Google Glass smart eyewear showcasing the potential for visualisation over the past few years its sun setting this year seemed to trigger a burst of product development from a range of tech vendors: Microsoft announced HoloLens; Samsung released its Gear VR headsets; and Sharp released an interactive whiteboard for the office meeting room. In addition to devices for augmented and virtual reality, this year has heralded new ways to turn mind-boggling volumes of data into patterns which can be "seen" and acted upon. Matthew Golab, legal technology manager at Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers, says with typically litigation or regulatory matters running into the hundreds of thousands of documents, the use of visual network diagrams provides an overview of the universe, or of a subset. "We also use visual breakdowns of type of document coupled with chronological views to sample the documents," Golab says. Augmented reality and facilities like the UTS Data Arena are excellent tools for exploring data sets, but the future of visualisation lies in the ability to select visuals which will communicate an anomaly or an interesting trend to a user, according to Premonition.io managing director Brad Lorge. "With the advent of smart watches, Google Glass and even smartphone notifications, apps need to be able to communicate complex trends and events incredibly concisely. The ability to understand what exactly to emphasise is the key," Lorge says. Applying imaginationThe application of visualisation is only limited by imagination and practicality, and more often than not, will result in better understanding of information and more innovation. Zip Industries, a local manufacturer of office hot water systems, has adopted 3D visualisation as a core part of its assembly and ERP processes as it is easier for people to see the volume of a component in 3D compared with a flat image. When I met the company's CIO, Nick Mennell, he was spearheading an initiative to use 3D modelling to demonstrate products "in place" to potential customers as visualisation stretches from manufacturing and ERP to sales and marketing. An easy ROI for the company is to use 3D modelling to eliminate travel time to prospects and field photography. While visualisation is making waves this year, it's worth noting that the Queensland Police Service has been using virtual reality for training since as far back as 2003. Education and training is another area which can benefit greatly from visual interaction. The benefits of real time visualisationAll eyes on real-time data visualisationhttp://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Abstract/Cyber%20head/iStock_000022845420Small_agsandrew-420-100.jpg Every business deals with some form of data set – from financial accounts to server monitoring – but the big challenge is turning raw data into real-time intelligence and that's where visualisation can make a huge difference. Ben Phillips, principal research fellow at the University of Canberra's National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, says visualisation offers many advantages, not least a simpler way to understand data. "When people have a visual interface they can quickly understand large data sets," Phillips says. "We find using a spreadsheet can be a confusing array of numbers, but a more visual approach is a lot easier and more functional. Most people find a visual interface more appealing to understand the business, more intuitive and flexible." The centre provides clients with visual interfaces which allows people to change dimensions of tables on fly so they can do analysis themselves for real-time data visualisation. Phillips says people often discover new opportunities for improvement when performing their own analysis. "It's fairly early days for visualisation in Australia, but it is promising a better way to understand data to uncover problems in business and government," he says. An example of real-time data visualisation is displayed by Finnish organisation Lucify which has created an interactive data visualisation of Europe's current migration crisis based on data from the UN and other sources. Hover over Germany and you'll see the path and number of people heading into the country represented by arrows. Lucify's self-stated mission is to foster collaboration on interactive data visualisation for journalism. Peter Gray, director of analytics and information service at Oakton, says visualising data can allow people to easily gain insights into what is really happening. "For example, in a shopping centre, by overlaying retail sales and foot traffic data over a map of the centre, you can clearly see the different people movements and spending patterns which then allows you to optimise store mix and rental agreements," Gray says. "By then delivering this on a geo-spatially aware mobile device, you're able to stand in a particular part of the centre and see what the returns are from the different stores, and put that information into context." We're just at the start of a new era in visualisation for business. More readily available equipment and cloud services coupled with applications and use cases will drive a new appetite for innovation. Don't let the legacy of text and telephone hold your business back. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157635944/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b574b7e/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157635944/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b574b7e/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157635944/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b574b7e/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157635944/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b574b7e/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157635944/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b574b7e/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b574b7e/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/iEOXeZno91I

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20notifications/action%20centre-470-75.jpgIt seems that tech support staff working at some major PC vendors are advising customers to avoid upgrading their systems to Windows 10. This news comes courtesy of Laptop, who uncovered the fact while going undercover and phoning up support lines as part of a tech support showdown feature. When speaking to Dell and HP support reps on the phone, Laptop said they were advised against upgrading to Windows 10. Indeed, one HP staff member recommended a rollback to Windows 8.1 as part of his or her solution. Another Dell rep recommended a rollback to the previous version of Windows, when dealing with a call about touchpad issues on a notebook – that employee also commented that Dell was receiving a "ton" of support calls regarding Windows 10. Big pushOf course, all this is rather at odds with Microsoft's current massive push to get its new OS downloaded and installed onto customers' machines. Windows 10 is make or break for the company after the flop of Windows 8. Everyone on Windows 7 and Windows 8 can't fail to have noticed the Windows 10 upgrade reminders popping up regularly, and indeed Redmond intends to push the operating system as a recommended update early on next year (be warned, those of you who don't manually vet your updates). But tech support reps need to get their job done, and with Windows 10 being so new – and potentially tricky with older hardware – sometimes the easiest solution is just to revert to the previous OS where everything was working. At any rate, the earlier you upgrade to a new OS, the more of a gamble it is – obviously as time goes by, more and more problems which are encountered by earlier adopters get fixed, and the smoother the operating system becomes. With Windows 10, it's also worth thinking about a fresh install as opposed to an in-place upgrade over your existing Windows installation. A clean install from scratch is less likely to run into issues. Via: Engadget Should you upgrade to Windows 10? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157416271/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b4a2bec/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157416271/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b4a2bec/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157416271/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b4a2bec/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157416271/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b4a2bec/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157416271/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b4a2bec/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b4a2bec/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/0Kt1541tpW8

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/internet/Google/Google%20Drive-470-75.jpgIt should be easier to collaborate in the digital world, but unfortunately with placeshifting, keeping track of what's been shared with you can sometimes be more burdensome than having someone walk into your office and hand you a stack of papers to look over. Google is updating its Google Drive app to make sharing easier. Rather than having to dig through your email inbox to find out what's been shared with you, the iOS and Android apps now come with push notifications to alert you when you have a new file that's been shared with you. You can also tap on the notification to jump directly to the Google Docs, Sheets or Slides file. Mobile users can also request access to open files, and the file owner can similarly grant access from their mobile devices. Recover lost invitationsGoogle also updated its Calendar app to view and recover all your trashed events and invitations. Now, when you delete a calendar event, it's similar to moving the event to the trash or recycle bin. Until you empty out your refuse bin, you can quickly see what you've removed from your calendar. "Trash is accessible from the calendar's dropdown menu in the My calendars section as well as from Calendar Settings," Google said in a blog post. "This functionality is available for both primary calendars and secondary calendars for which people have edit rights." When you delete calendar items for the first time, Google will send you an email alerting you that your "event has been moved to the trash" along with details of the new feature. Items in the trash bin for Google Calendar will be stored for thirty days. During this time, you can either permanently delete the item or you can restore deleted items, Google said in a message. Unlike the update to the Drive apps, the calendar feature is web-only at this time. Hopefully, Google will also update its Calendar apps for iOS and Android with better trash integration. For businesses deploying Google Apps, Google is also giving IT administrators access to users' trash containers by examining the Calendar Audits logs in the Admin console. Google advised that the feature may take a few days to completely roll out to all users. Learn how to sync your shared Google calendars with an iPhone http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157371162/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b45dcd4/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157371162/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b45dcd4/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157371162/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b45dcd4/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157371162/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b45dcd4/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157371162/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b45dcd4/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b45dcd4/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/7wQAyCPtyFE

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/iPhone/iOS%209/review/ios-9-siri-470-75.jpgSmiley faces are helping Apple push its latest iOS 9 software out to more iPhone and iPad owners. The adoption rate for iOS 9 stands at 66%, meaning Apple's latest mobile operating system is now found on nearly two out of every three compatible devices. This is a jump from a 61% adoption rate two weeks ago, and the jump could be partially attributed to Apple's launch of the iOS 9.1 software update, which brought more emoji to the keyboard, a feature that could entice a younger audience to update their devices. The fastest iOS adoption rateApple announced in September that iOS 9 had the fastest adoption rate of any iOS release. Unlike Android, Apple controls when OS updates are pushed out to users without having to go through the carriers, resulting in more timely updates. For users, this means that bugs are fixed more quickly and security glitches get patched before they become larger threats. The strategy will also be adopted by Microsoft, which will also push out updates to Windows 10 Mobile directly to consumers without having to go through the carriers. Apple is working on iOS 9.2. It has already begun seeding the second beta of iOS 9.2 to developers. Versions by the numbersThe second most used version of iOS is iOS 8, with Apple reporting adoption at 25%. All iOS versions older than iOS 8 are used on 9% of devices. The benefit to developers for rapid, wide-scale consumer adoption is that third-party apps may only need to be updated to support the most recent major releases of iOS, rather than multiple editions scaling back several years. iOS 9 debuted on the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. Additionally, it will also debut on the iPad Pro when that devices becomes available this month. Read our iOS 9 review http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157232097/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3d9161/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157232097/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3d9161/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157232097/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3d9161/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157232097/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3d9161/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157232097/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3d9161/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b3d9161/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ZssLpSZptJA

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Windows%20Phone/Windows%20Phone%208/Cortana/Cortana-470-75.jpgItching to get your hands on Contana on iOS? You might soon be in luck. Microsoft will begin sending a preview version of the Cortana on iOS app to beta testers. According to a ZDNet report, some respondents to a survey Microsoft sent to Insiders asking about interest in Cortana on iOS will receive a download link via email "in the coming weeks." Testers must be located in the US. Cortana on iOS is expected go live before the end of 2015. However, given how late the testing process is set to begin, the timeline appears to be a bit delayed. What you’ll get If you’re an Apple user who has never used Cortana, you can look forward to traditional features like the ability to search for static information, like the weather or a contact’s phone number, or you can use it to automate tasks, like starting an email to a friend. Recent Cortana developments have made the system smarter by allowing it to scan your email to automatically track flights and shipments, and offer exclusive discounts to Windows 10 users who land on participating retail websites. The app will be external to iOS, so it won’t be integrated into the operating system the way Windows 10 Mobile is integrated into Microsoft-produced phones, or the way Windows 10 is integrated into Windows-based PCs. So it’ll be interested to see what feature limitations iOS users will encounter once the app goes live. Read our Windows 10 Mobile review http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157189232/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3c7b8f/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157189232/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3c7b8f/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157189232/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3c7b8f/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157189232/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3c7b8f/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157189232/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b3c7b8f/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b3c7b8f/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/kU7vG4VkEsw

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/windows_7_ultimate-470-75.jpgMicrosoft has finally put a firm deadline on the time which OEMs can sell PCs with Windows 7 preinstalled, and that deadline is October 31, 2016. In other words, as of next November, PCs with Windows 7 Professional on board will no longer be on sale. ZDNet spotted the fact that Microsoft had updated its Windows Lifecycle Fact Sheet page with this new information. While Microsoft ended OEM sales of PCs with Windows 7 Home and Ultimate back in October 2014, the company continued to let PC vendors preinstall Windows 7 Professional due to the poor reception Windows 8 received. Redmond felt it couldn't force users into Windows 8, but now Windows 10 is out and the feeling towards that OS is much more positive across the board, the time has obviously come to wave goodbye to preinstalled Windows 7 for good. Windows as a ServiceWindows 8.1 will also be banned from OEM machines as of October 31 next year, so from that point, all PCs will come with Windows 10 pre-installed (and probably for quite some time into the future, if Microsoft's promises about Windows as a Service are true going forward). So if you don't want any part of Microsoft's new desktop operating systems and would rather stick with good old Windows 7 Professional, best make sure you order your new PC within the next year. Many folks, however, are happily making the shift to Windows 10 – according to the most recent figures from StatCounter, Microsoft's new OS now holds a 9% share of the desktop operating system market. It's catching up with Windows 8/8.1 which is on 13%, although Windows 10's growth rate did slow down somewhat in October according to the bean counting firm. Check out our ongoing evaluation of Windows 10 here http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157044717/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b31f1a7/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157044717/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b31f1a7/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244157044717/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b31f1a7/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244157044717/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b31f1a7/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244157044717/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b31f1a7/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b31f1a7/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/G5xwOwmN99Y

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/logos/premier-league1%20copy-470-75.jpgWe may have had a major shift in how we consume television this year with the arrival of Netflix and Stan, but the biggest change is yet to happen as live sports goes digital. That change just got sped up in a big way today, with Optus successfully acquiring the broadcast rights for the English Premier League from Fox Sports. Commencing in August 2016, Optus now has the exclusive rights for both "live broadcast coverage and digital rights for broadband and mobile" for the next three seasons of the Barclays EPL. Mobile Gooooooaaaaaaaaaallllllllll!Optus is yet to unveil exactly how customers will be able to watch the EPL next year. But one of the interesting aspects of its announcement is that it is moving towards becoming a "mobile-led multimedia company". Having a solid focus on mobile and broadband streaming of the sport (likely through the company's partnership with Fetch TV) means a fairly drastic change in how sport will be consumed in Australia. Without a traditional broadcast platform of its own, that focus on mobile takes extra significance. There is a chance that Optus will on-sell the rights to a more traditional broadcaster, but in today's on demand entertainment environment, it seems obvious that the focus for Optus will be in digital delivery. One place we're confident you won't see the EPL is on the new Telstra TV http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659931956/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b28fc3b/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659931956/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b28fc3b/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659931956/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b28fc3b/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243659931956/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b28fc3b/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243659931956/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b28fc3b/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b28fc3b/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/7VP5k8egp5E

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Software/Microsoft/Office%20online%20integrated%20Skype-470-75.jpgMicrosoft has announced some new features for Office Online, including work on Skype integration and a new Chrome browser extension. Office Online is about to get fully integrated Skype voice and video chatting, so whichever online app you're working in (Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote), you can talk directly to your Skype contacts. As Microsoft notes in a blog post, this will help with seamless collaboration on documents and the like, as when you're jointly working on a file, you can quickly fire up a chat to have a discussion about any issues that crop up. Of course, instant messaging is supported as well, and the text of your messaging chat will stay connected to the document in question, so when you work on it at a later date, you'll be able to see that previous chat history. Skype integration will arrive in Office Online imminently – Microsoft says in November – and it will be coming to the desktop version of Office at some point, as well. Chrome capersMicrosoft has also introduced a Chrome extension for Office Online, so users can swiftly open or create documents within Google's browser. A number of small tweaks have also been made to Office Online, such as a revamped Navigation pane and formatting improvements in Excel Online. Redmond also said that it has introduced several enhancements for the Visual Basic Editor on Office 2016 for Mac, and that the Office on Android apps have been considerably streamlined, with the latest version having reduced the footprint of the software by some 40%. Office 2016 review http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659632926/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b1a0031/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659632926/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b1a0031/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659632926/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b1a0031/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243659632926/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b1a0031/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243659632926/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b1a0031/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b1a0031/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/2-h8_8vEwU4

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/AU%20News/let's%20talk%20about-470-75.jpgThe Australian streaming wars have kicked it up a notch this month, with the first tastes of local, original programming making their way down the internet pipes to Aussie eyeballs. First Stan unleashed its comedy series No Activity last week, and as of today, Presto has made its series Let's Talk About available to Presto subscribers around the country. The "Up the duff" comedy, starring Matilda Brown and her father, Bryan Brown, about the challenges of pregnancy, features 10 short 3-6 minute episodes covering the different stages of an unplanned pregnancy. The start of something biggerOriginal content is a fresh battleground for the two local streaming upstarts. During an interview with techradar, Presto CEO Shaun James explained its importance: "We're really focussed on the content offering, whether it's local content or the acquisition of international series, we're looking a long way down the track," he said. "There's a lot of planning that goes into it and as you'd appreciate you can't decide on friday and publish something on Monday, it's a much longer time period than that. So the content piece is a very important one for our service and it's something that we're very focussed on." Which service is best? Read our Netflix vs Stan vs Presto comparison

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/AU%20News/let's%20talk%20about-470-75.jpgThe Australian streaming wars have kicked it up a notch this month, with the first tastes of local, original programming making their way down the internet pipes to Aussie eyeballs. First Stan unleashed its comedy series No Activity last week, and as of today, Presto has made its series Let's Talk About available to Presto subscribers around the country. The "Up the duff" comedy, starring Matilda Brown and her father, Bryan Brown, about the challenges of pregnancy, features 10 short 3-6 minute episodes covering the different stages of an unplanned pregnancy. The start of something biggerOriginal content is a fresh battleground for the two local streaming upstarts. During an interview with techradar, Presto CEO Shaun James explained its importance: "We're really focussed on the content offering, whether it's local content or the acquisition of international series, we're looking a long way down the track," he said. "There's a lot of planning that goes into it and as you'd appreciate you can't decide on friday and publish something on Monday, it's a much longer time period than that. So the content piece is a very important one for our service and it's something that we're very focussed on." Which service is best? Read our Netflix vs Stan vs Presto comparison http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659625169/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b19b88f/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659625169/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b19b88f/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659625169/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b19b88f/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243659625169/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b19b88f/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243659625169/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b19b88f/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b19b88f/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/J5dCfHsDt_U

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Microsoft/Lumia%20Denim/10%20things/Lumia-Denim_feat-470-75.jpgLooks like we're one step closer to a December Windows 10 Mobile release. Microsoft just unveiled the latest Insider Preview Build of the mobile operating system. The new preview, Build 10581, features several bug fixes, including rectifying an error that wouldn't allow users to upgrade from preview build to preview build. Additional fixes include terminating bugs that affected battery life and the ability for former Windows Phone 8.1 users who have upgraded to Windows 10 to use the Hey Cortana voice trigger to launch the personal assistant. Previously, some who migrated to Windows 10 on the Lumia 930, the Lumia Icon and the Lumia 1520 were not able to execute the command. Other updatesMicrosoft now lets you select and share photos through third-party apps. Although this feature seems standard today, previous builds suffered from a bug that made it impossible to select the images. The new build should also feature improved text prediction, auto-correction and video recording. Lingering issuesYou will be unable to set your default save locations on this build, and your SD won't be properly recognized in your folder tree. Also, if you move an app to an SD card, the app might crash. And if you restore a backup from a phone that had a different resolution, you may end up with a corrupted Start experience, Microsoft said in a statement. When's it going to be?Windows 10 Mobile was initially rumored to be made generally available in September. However, recent reports indicate the operating system might not reach the masses until December. Despite this rumor, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore recently told reporters Windows 10 Mobile is "significantly feature complete." What we do know is that when Windows 10 Mobile releases later this year the first devices to get it will be the Lumia 430, Lumia 435, Lumia 532, Lumia 535, Lumia 540, Lumia 640, Lumia 640 XL, Lumia 735, Lumia 830, Lumia 930 and of course the newly announced Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. If you're interested in previewing the mobile operating system, check out this primer on how to download the preview today. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659551262/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b14faa3/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659551262/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b14faa3/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659551262/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b14faa3/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243659551262/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b14faa3/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243659551262/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b14faa3/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b14faa3/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/jB8Lt_HBpiY

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Connected%20home/Apple%20HomeKit/Nanoleaf_Smarter_Kit-470-75.jpgApple HomeKit promises to deliver the smarthome experience we've only been dreaming of since Disney introduced us to the house of the future in the '60s. The Cupertino-developed platform integrates Internet of Things devices like smart thermometers, lamps and even dog bowls with the phones, tablets and PCs we have on us at all hours of the day. Fast-forward to today when a smarthome company called Nanoleaf introduced its latest product, the Smarter Kit, to crowdfunding site IndieGoGo. The product is essentially a spin-off of the Philips Hue lightbulbs, another HomeKit-enabled device, but differentiates itself by including built-in voice recognition. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Connected%20home/Apple%20HomeKit/Smarter_Kit_On-420-90.jpg Commands listed on the product's crowdfunding page include the mundane "turn on/off the lights" to the slightly more specific "make the living room lights the brightest." The feature that will get the most attention, though, is the Smarter Kit's ability to learn custom commands. Some examples Nanoleaf gives are "Honey, I'm Home," which sets the lights to 50%, and the infamous "Netflix and chill" that turns down lights to 1% which, according to Nanoleaf, is "just enough to see what's good." Sexual innuendos aside, should the device receive funding, the Smarter Kit will bring us one step closer to the smarthome we've been pining over for the last five decades. Rumor has it that the new Apple TV has HomeKit control baked in as well.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Office%20for%20Mobile/Office%20iOS-470-75.JPGOperating under CEO Satya Nadella's "cloud first, mobile first" strategy, Microsoft isn't afraid to get its hands dirty in rival platforms. The company overhauled its Outlook app for iOS, which is available as a free download for iPhone and iPad, with a cleaner interface and improved calendaring features. The changes are available immediately for iOS users, but Android owners will have to wait until November. Outlook's last major upgrade occurred last year when Microsoft acquired Acompli for $200 (£130, AU$282) million and re-branded the company's app, providing an easy entry into the mobile space. Microsoft also acquired calendar-maker Sunrise for an undisclosed sum earlier this year that's reported to be north of $100 (£65, AU$141) million. Now, Sunrise's calendaring features will begin appearing in Outlook. "All of this means Outlook will eventually replace the current Sunrise app. We will leave Sunrise in market until its features are fully integrated into Outlook, the exact timing of which we will communicate in advance," said Javier Soltero, creator of Acompli who joined the Outlook team as vice president. A new Sunrise in OutlookThe Outlook app has been updated with a cleaner user interface "that puts your email, calendar, people and files front and center," Mr. Soltero said in a blog post. This should help make navigation around the app more intuitive. And with fewer clicks required to perform tasks, the result should help users save time. Inside the email view, for example, Outlook now identifies events and flags them, so you can quickly identify which message contains appointments. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Microsoft/Office%20for%20Mobile/Outlook%20with%20Sunrise%20iOS-420-90.jpg On the calendar side, the Today button dynamically moves as you scroll through your list of calendar events. In the individual event, details are presented in a cleaner fashion, and attendees have a green, red or grey button next to their name indicating if they've accepted, declined or haven't yet responded to the event invitation. "Over the coming months, you'll see richer calendar experiences come to Outlook from Sunrise – including Interesting Calendars and connections to your favorite apps and services," Mr. Soltero said. Microsoft's changesIn addition to integration with third-party apps, Microsoft is working hard to make email remain relevant in the world of instant messaging services, social media and chat. A few of these changes include bringing likes, borrowed from Facebook, and @mentions, borrowed from Twitter, into email. Microsoft is also integrating Outlook mail data into Cortana to give its digital assistant more predictive intelligence. Cortana can scan your Outlook inbox to surface important emails and deliver package tracking information and travel times for purchased airline tickets. With Microsoft pushing Outlook on a variety of mobile platforms, including Windows 10 Mobile, this intelligence will be more important to smartphone users once Cortana becomes available on iOS and Android. Read our review of Office 2016 http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659411199/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b0cd46f/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659411199/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b0cd46f/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243659411199/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b0cd46f/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243659411199/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b0cd46f/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243659411199/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b0cd46f/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b0cd46f/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/gn3KzCdY5rs

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/MacLifeWebContent/Ask/Encryption-Main-470-75.jpgCisco has announced a move to bolster its security with the acquisition of Lancope, a network security company. The acquisition runs to $452 million (around £295 million, or AU$625 million) in cash and equity, along with retention bonuses for the Lancope staff who join Cisco's ranks, with the deal being subject to the usual regulatory scrutiny. The purchase is expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. Lancope, which is based in Alpharetta, Georgia, over in the US, has developed a system by the name of StealthWatch which monitors a network sniffing out any suspicious traffic patterns which could be indicative of a cyber-attack. Lancope's technology not only detects and analyses potential threats on enterprise networks, the company claims it facilitates a faster response which is obviously critical when it comes to an intrusion. Security EverywhereThe acquired firm will become a key part of pushing forward Cisco's 'Security Everywhere' strategy, the idea of which is to provide all-encompassing advanced threat protection before, during and throughout the aftermath of an attack. Rob Salvagno, vice president, Cisco Corporate Development, commented: "As enterprises digitise, security challenges rapidly evolve. Real time visibility and understanding of the behaviour of every machine or device on the network becomes critical in adapting the ability of enterprises to identify and respond to the next wave of cyber threats. "Cisco is committed to helping organisations defend their networks and devices. Together with Lancope, our combined solutions can help turn a customer's entire network into a security sensor." This isn't the only security-based acquisition Cisco has made in recent times, and other purchases have included OpenDNS, Portcullis and Neohapsis. Cisco injects $1 billion in UK digital economy http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249952021/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b035e98/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249952021/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b035e98/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249952021/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b035e98/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243249952021/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b035e98/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243249952021/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4b035e98/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4b035e98/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ioA3sAQt1TM

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/AAevents/Apple%20WWDC%202015/Screens/9-apple-pay-470-75.jpgDespite Australia's advanced contactless payments ecosystem, we're still waiting for Apple Pay to officially launch around the country. While indications point to a profit sharing dispute with the banks as the main hold up, some eagle-eyed Apple Maps users are hoping that we're about to see a shift in strategy from the tech giant. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/AU%20News/apple%20pay%20maps-250-100.jpg First spotted by the Apple Community forum AppleTalk Australia over the weekend, the business listings for certain Coles and Woolworths stores around the country on Apple Maps were updated to show the Apple Pay icon. In markets where Apple Pay has officially launched, that same icon is used to indicate stores that you can pay with your iPhone or Apple Watch. Pay yesterday, free tomorrowPerhaps the most interesting aspect of this development is that only certain Coles and Woolworths stores showed the icon. However, it appears that the references to Apple Pay have since been removed from those same business listings. In any case, we've got our fingers crossed that these listings were the scouts of the impending Apple Pay invasion into Australia, and not just a glitch in the system.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Streaming%20Services/Quickflix/Quickflix%20falling-470-75.jpgTroubled SVOD operator Quickflix has been having a tough time this year. While the arrival of Netflix and Stan and Presto has been good for competition, it's also meant that the SVOD pioneer has been struggling to make money, launching scheme after scheme to remain relevant. After going into a trading halt to restructure back at the end of August, yesterday the company sent out an update to shareholders on how plans are progressing. The good news is that there has been progress. The bad news is that, all things considered, it's still going to be a massive battle to claw back market share, based off the announcement. Out with the badThe first part of yesterday's announcement was the restructuring of SVOD debt. It has reached an agreement with one licensor for the release of approximately $2 million of debt, and has negotiations underway to release another $4 million with other studios. That's all good news, because debt is bad (mmkay). But the other way to reduce your debt is cost saving, which Quickflix has done by cutting 20% of its staff and reducing those costs by 33%. Other cost cutting measures will bring in further savings, with everything from call centre support to executive board overheads going through the wringer. All up, Quickflix reckons it will save about $4 million a year via these cost reductions. In with the good?Of course, cutting costs is only half the battle. Quickflix needs to try and make money to turn its fortunes around, and in order to do that, it needs new revenue streams. According to the announcement, Quickflix has "reached an agreement to enter affiliate arrangements with SVOD operators in Australia and New Zealand". This will allow the company to make a small percentage from signups to a complimentary (but still rival) SVOD platform. The obvious inference here is that Quickflix is taking our advice and pulling out of subscription services entirely and focusing on its DVD mail service and premium video on demand platform. The safe money is also on that SVOD platform being Presto, following the previous Quickflix plan to resell the streaming platform. We'll find out more when Quickflix releases its outstanding 30 June 2015 annual financial statements, whenever that may be.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Streaming%20Services/Quickflix/Quickflix%20falling-470-75.jpgTroubled SVOD operator Quickflix has been having a tough time this year. While the arrival of Netflix and Stan and Presto has been good for competition, it's also meant that the SVOD pioneer has been struggling to make money, launching scheme after scheme to remain relevant. After going into a trading halt to restructure back at the end of August, yesterday the company sent out an update to shareholders on how plans are progressing. The good news is that there has been progress. The bad news is that, all things considered, it's still going to be a massive battle to claw back market share, based off the announcement. Out with the badThe first part of yesterday's announcement was the restructuring of SVOD debt. It has reached an agreement with one licensor for the release of approximately $2 million of debt, and has negotiations underway to release another $4 million with other studios. That's all good news, because debt is bad (mmkay). But the other way to reduce your debt is cost saving, which Quickflix has done by cutting 20% of its staff and reducing those costs by 33%. Other cost cutting measures will bring in further savings, with everything from call centre support to executive board overheads going through the wringer. All up, Quickflix reckons it will save about $4 million a year via these cost reductions. In with the good?Of course, cutting costs is only half the battle. Quickflix needs to try and make money to turn its fortunes around, and in order to do that, it needs new revenue streams. According to the announcement, Quickflix has "reached an agreement to enter affiliate arrangements with SVOD operators in Australia and New Zealand". This will allow the company to make a small percentage from signups to a complimentary (but still rival) SVOD platform. The obvious inference here is that Quickflix is taking our advice and pulling out of subscription services entirely and focusing on its DVD mail service and premium video on demand platform. The safe money is also on that SVOD platform being Presto, following the previous Quickflix plan to resell the streaming platform. We'll find out more when Quickflix releases its outstanding 30 June 2015 annual financial statements, whenever that may be. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249870143/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4afe8dd6/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249870143/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4afe8dd6/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249870143/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4afe8dd6/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243249870143/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4afe8dd6/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243249870143/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4afe8dd6/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4afe8dd6/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/-aTsVKZ6ngo

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20background-470-75.jpgIntroductionhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/How%20to%20control%20updates/windows%20update-420-90.jpg Windows as a Service means you need to get used to updates – not just on Patch Tuesday for security, but regularly for new features and bug fixes (especially if you opt in to the Windows Insider program and take flights of new Windows builds as soon as they're available). But that doesn't mean updates to Windows have to be an annoying, intrusive experience. We show you how to take control of updates in Windows 10, controlling the new features you want, and avoiding any nastiness like unexpected reboots. Also check out: 10 ways to optimise your copy of Windows 10Manage app updateshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/How%20to%20control%20updates/store%20app%20updates-420-90.jpg Most of the update options are in the Settings app, but there's one in the Windows Store. If you want to stop Store apps getting updated automatically and only update the apps you choose, open the Store, tap on your account icon and choose Settings. Change Update apps automatically to Off. If you've tried this in an earlier version of Windows 10 Home, you may have found the slide was greyed out (and set permanently to On) – make sure you have the cumulative update KB3081448 which was released in August as that fixes the bug. Choose update optionshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/How%20to%20control%20updates/update%20restart-420-90.jpg To change Windows Update options, open Settings (type Settings into the Search the web and Windows bar next to the start button at the bottom left) and choose Update & Security, then choose Advanced options under Windows Update – this will only be available if an update isn't downloading or waiting to be installed. Change the dropdown from Automatic to Notify to schedule restart, unless you want to turn on your PC in the morning to find that it's restarted without warning. Automatic update restarts happen when you're not using your PC, usually in the middle of the night, and leaving them enabled is certainly the best way of making sure you're always up to date. But as Windows 10 won't restart the applications you leave open, the restart can be very disruptive. Switch to the Notify option and you'll get an alert asking you to pick a time for the restart, which gives you a chance to save and close your documents. Optional updates by another namehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/defer%20updates-420-90.jpg Also on the Advanced Options screen, another default option that's worth changing is to turn on 'Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows'. With the switch to Store apps this is less urgent, but if you use the Windows Live apps, or Windows Media Player, you don't have to remember to check for updates for them manually. The Edge browser is currently getting updated through Windows Update or as part of new Windows builds – in the future it might get updated through the Store, as it's actually a Store app, but there have been enough other updates for the Edge team to piggyback on. This replaces the 'optional updates' list in previous versions of Windows. You may also want to check for optional features; in Settings, look under System, Apps & Features for the Manage optional features link – this is where you'll find alternative language features. Peer-to-peer updates http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/How%20to%20control%20updates/peer%20to%20peer-420-90.jpg Again from Advanced Options, to stop Windows Update using a lot more bandwidth than you expect, select Choose how updates are delivered and change the options for Updates from more than one place. If you turn them off entirely, you won't be using the peer-to-peer system that downloads updates more quickly by copying them from other Windows 10 users – but you won't be using your bandwidth to share updates with other PCs either. If you have several PCs, leave it turned on but just select PCs on my local network, rather than both PCs on my local network and PCs on the internet (unless you have a fast network and you're feeling altruistic). Defer upgrades or become an Insiderhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/How%20to%20control%20updates/insider-420-90.jpg If you're using Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, you'll see the option to Defer upgrades – this doesn't affect security updates but postpones feature updates for what Microsoft unhelpfully calls "some months". It actually puts you on the Current Branch for Business; unless your company is controlling the timing of updates with Windows Update for Business, it means they'll arrive after four months instead of every month and you'll be able to defer them for up to eight months. If you want to get updates more quickly and more often, turn on the Windows Insider option. Click Get Started, then accept the two warning dialogs that check that you understand you're getting preview software. You'll have to restart your PC to switch to getting Insider builds, and the first build may take up to a day to download. You can choose between the Fast ring, for getting new builds as soon as they're released, and the Slow ring, which waits until Fast ring Insiders have tried the builds out for a while, which sometimes reveals problems. Remove and hide problem updateshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/How%20to%20control%20updates/hide%20updates-420-90.jpg Whether you're in the Insider program or just getting the normal Current Branch updates once a month, you can remove updates that cause you problems and block them from being installed again. Again from the Advanced Options screen, select View your update history to see a list of updates, pick the problem one and choose Uninstall. If it's a driver that's the problem, right-click on the device in Device Manager and choose Uninstall – if the dialog box has a checkbox marked Delete the driver software for this device, check the box. You can only block an update or driver after you've uninstalled it, and you'll need to download a Troubleshooter from Microsoft to do this – you can get the file from here (that's a direct download link). Click Next when the Troubleshooter starts and pick whether you want to hide updates to stop them from installing again or install updates that you've blocked in the past. The list includes both updates and hardware drivers (which are what you'll most often need to block) – pick the problem update and click Next to hide it so Windows won't keep reinstalling it when you remove it. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243250454651/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4af3aa15/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243250454651/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4af3aa15/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243250454651/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4af3aa15/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243250454651/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4af3aa15/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243250454651/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4af3aa15/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4af3aa15/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/3RZ3Gn_wxN0