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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20upgrade/should%20you%20upgrade-470-75.jpgIntroduction and understanding activationIf you're lucky, you'll install or upgrade to Windows 10 and the system will activate automatically, or as soon as you type in the 25-character product key – that confirms that you have a legal copy of Windows that you're entitled to use, which will get security updates and new features. But for some users, Windows 10 isn't activating properly. Here's how to fix that. Understanding Windows 10 activationDepending on how you get Windows 10, in some cases you're not supposed to need to type in a product key. If you were running a legitimate copy of Windows 7 or 8.1, or you're using a Windows 10 Insider Preview flight on a PC that has been activated with an earlier version of Windows, then the activation is done automatically and Windows stores what Microsoft calls a "digital entitlement" which marks the system as eligible to run Windows 10 by registering it with the Microsoft Product Activation Server. You get that after you buy a Windows 10 upgrade from the Windows Store. If you reinstall Windows 10 on that PC and setup asks for a product key, select Skip instead (or Next or Do This Later, depending on the dialog box). http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20activation/skip-420-90.jpg But you have to enter the product key if you're installing from a boxed copy or a digital download of Windows 10. Even if you buy a new PC with Windows 10, it will have a record of the product key in the box, or on a sticker on the device. Keep that around because if you ever reinstall Windows 10 on that device, you'll need to type in the key again, even if you'd previously activated Windows 10. You also need to use the product key if you're activating a different version of Windows 10 – say if you upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro. If you were part of the Windows 10 Insider Preview before launch, you can't use the same product keys that you might have had for the technical preview; they won't even activate old builds any more. If you want to join the preview now, you have to upgrade to the release version of Windows 10 first and activate it, and then change your updates to Get Insider Builds. If you've upgraded to Windows 10 and then made major changes to your hardware – especially changing your motherboard, which counts for a lot of points in the scheme Microsoft uses to check if you're still using the same PC – then you'll have to activate by phoning Microsoft. This is usually painless, but you can't do it online. Clean install issuesIf you clean install Windows 10 (which often gives you a better result on problematic systems) instead of doing a simple in-place upgrade, you can run into problems activating. Rather than formatting your PC, do a factory reset and then install Windows 10 straight away, and activation should work – or do an in-place upgrade using an installer you create with the Windows 10 Media creation tool, then use the same media to do a clean install once you've successfully activated your copy of Windows and Microsoft has issued the digital entitlement for your PC. If you're installing from an ISO or media you've created, choose Upgrade this PC now rather than Install now – and make sure you're using the edition of Windows 10 that matches the edition you're upgrading from (32-bit or 64-bit and the Home or Pro flavour depending on what version of Windows you had before). http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20activation/change%20product%20key-420-90.jpg However, starting with the Windows Insider build 10565, you can activate Windows 10 using a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 product key. Choose Settings, Update & Security, then Activation, and select Change Product Key, or enter the key during setup if you're doing a clean install. Again, the edition of Windows 10 has to match the edition of Windows that the product key is for. You'll need a Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate, or a Windows 8 Pro key to activate Windows 10 Pro, for example. Some Windows 8 and 8.1 PCs have the OEM key stored in firmware and from build 10565 onwards, Windows 10 will use that for activation. Again, this will give your PC the new 'digital entitlement' for activating later builds or if you reinstall. TroubleshootingDealing with activation problemsThe first thing to do is to check Settings, Update & Security, Activation to see if your copy of Windows has been activated. If you see Connect to the Internet to activate Windows, either your network connection isn't working or the Windows activation servers are busy. If not you can click Activate, but often it's less frustrating to wait a couple of days; many systems will activate automatically in the background. If you still can't activate, try using a different network connection – you can't activate Windows if you're connecting through a proxy server that uses basic authentication (where you have to type in a username and password for authentication). If you see error messages 0XC004E003, 0x8007000D, 0x8007232b or 0x8007007B, they usually mean that the activation servers are overloaded and the installer can't reach them to validate your installation ID. Automated phone activationIf you don't want to wait (or you suspect the problem is your network connection), you can try an automated phone activation. Press Windows-R or type this command straight into the Cortana search box (and select Run command from the Cortana results): SLUI.EXE 4 http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20activation/slui4-420-90.jpg This opens a box with a dropdown list of countries. Choose yours and you'll see both the free number to call and your Installation ID (divided into groups to make it easier to read) – take a note of it, call the number and type in your Installation ID, then click Next on screen. The Microsoft automated system will read out an installation key that you can type into the SLUI dialog box. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20activation/slui4%20enter-420-90.jpg If the SLUI command doesn't run, you may need to start it from an admin command prompt – right-click on the Windows key and choose Command Prompt (Admin). If you want to reset your product key and force activation, you can use the command line for that too. Open an admin command prompt and type: SLMGR.VBS –REARM Now press Enter and restart your PC, then enter the product key as normal and force activation by opening an admin command prompt and typing: SLMGR.VBS –ATO Again you need to restart. If you can't type in the product key for any reason, at the admin command prompt, type: SLMGR.VBS -IPK XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX (Fill in your product key instead of the Xs, then restart). Error 0xC004F061 means that you didn't have a previous version of Windows to upgrade from (if you used to run Linux or you've just reformatted or replaced your drive). Either install Windows 7 or 8, or use your Windows 7 or 8 product key (if you're installing a new enough build of Windows 10 – at least build 10565). Error 0xC004C008 means that the product key you're trying to use has been used to activate another PC already – if it's a key that can activate multiple systems, then you've reached the limit. 10 ways to optimise your copy of Windows 10 http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249616125/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aef8640/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249616125/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aef8640/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249616125/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aef8640/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243249616125/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aef8640/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243249616125/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aef8640/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4aef8640/sc/3/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ERP5LRXz5sU

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Apple/Apple%20Music/apple-music-for-android-470-75.jpgWe may have just gotten a look at what Apple's first content app could look like on an Android device. While we've known for a while that Apple Music would be heading to Android some time this fall, German site Mobile Geeks published a number of what it claims are screenshots of Apple Music running on an Android handset. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Apple/MobileGeeks%20Apple-Music-Android-02-300-100.jpg Looking at the screenshots, the Android app looks pretty much as you would expect it to, with the placement of the navigation buttons found in a slide out menu the biggest difference. The screenshots also show the app asking you to sign into your iCloud account, with recommendations, New music, Beats 1 radio, Connect and My Music options all shown in the menu. While we suggest taking the images with a grain of salt, it very well could be the real deal as with winter here in just over a month, Apple's app should see a launch on Android very soon. Via The Verge http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243250379723/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aeed967/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243250379723/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aeed967/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243250379723/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aeed967/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243250379723/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aeed967/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243250379723/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aeed967/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4aeed967/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/-9ShtsJYIuE

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/internet/Twitter/techradartwitter-470-75.jpgEarlier this month, Twitter added a new feature called Moments, which is basically a stream of curated content for news and events like the unofficial Back to the Future Day. The Moments feed is curated by an editorial team from Twitter, using the social media's analytics to pull out the most popular or notable topics and tweets based on TV shows, movies, news and events. So far, the feature has been devoid of ads, or what Twitter calls 'Promoted' posts, but unfortunately, two weeks later, that's all about to change. Promoted ads going everywhereTwitter explained in a blog post that Promoted Moments ads will feature in the Moments thread starting this Sunday. These ads will look like other Moments posts, but will sport a 'Promoted' badge and will only appear for 24 hours. The posts could include videos and photos, with Twitter saying this is the "first step in exploring how brands could integrate into Moments." The first ads you'll be seeing this weekend will be of the Rocky reboot film, Creed, with more ads set to come from a range of different business in the coming weeks. 5 things Twitter needs to improve if it wants to grow http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249597708/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aedeb1b/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249597708/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aedeb1b/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/243249597708/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aedeb1b/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/243249597708/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aedeb1b/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/243249597708/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aedeb1b/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4aedeb1b/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/3Yn_FRkL9Rk

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Apps/Boomerang-470-75.jpgBored of static shots yet vehemently against video? Then Boomerang might be for you. The new standalone app from Instagram takes a burst of five photos at the press of a button, then stitches them together into a one-second movie. The video plays forwards and backwards, rather than just stopping at the end or looping like a GIF, so it's a little bit different. Your creation is automatically saved to your camera roll and can also easily be posted on Instagram or shared to Facebook and other places. It's every bit as simple as Instagram itself, it just gives you a new way of capturing and sharing your experiences. App overloadThe only downside is you have to get a whole new app to do it, which, if you're invested in Instagram's ever-growing number of apps (such as Hyperlapse and Layout), could soon start to clutter up your phone. Boomerang is available now as a free download from the Apple App Store and Google Play. There's a whole world of excellent iPhone apps. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226400270/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae42d26/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226400270/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae42d26/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226400270/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae42d26/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226400270/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae42d26/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226400270/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae42d26/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ae42d26/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/mEGXfj-48Xk

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/go%20to%20store-470-75.jpgIntroduction and activation keyIf you want to use Windows 10 at work and join the company domain (or use Azure Active Directory for PC management), or if you want to use your home PC to remotely access your system at work, or if you want BitLocker whole disk encryption to protect your data, you want Windows 10 Pro rather than the Windows 10 Home version. If you buy a new PC that comes with Windows 10 Home, you'll have to pay to upgrade to Pro. But if you start with a Pro version of Windows 7 or 8 (that's Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8.1 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro for Students), upgrading to Windows 10 should automatically get you the Pro version. That won't happen if you do a clean install of Windows 10 though, so in that case you'll still have to do the upgrade. You'll need that key to activate Windows 10 anyway, after a clean install, and the upgrade will happen when you fill in the key. Upgrade in placehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/upgrade%20from%20about-420-90.jpg The upgrade happens in place, so you won't be reinstalling Windows or reformatting your PC or even recreating your user account, so you don't need to take more than the usual precautions for applying a major update (make sure File History is turned on, or that all your files are backed up another way, save any open files, then close any apps that are running). Open the Settings app and under System, you can either choose About, then select Change product key or upgrade your version of Windows, or go directly to Update & Security and choose Activation. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/activation%20and%20key-420-90.jpg If you have a Windows 10 Pro product key already, or if you have the product key for one of the Pro versions of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 listed above, click Change product key and type in your key. Don't worry about typing in the dashes or using capital letters – Windows will take care of that automatically as you type. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/upgrade%20by%20key-420-90.jpg If you don't have a product key to type in, click Go to Store (you can go straight to the Store and search for Windows 10 Pro, or even go to Bing and search for 'upgrade to Windows 10 Pro' to get a link to the right page in the Store). If your PC appears to freeze or hang when you buy Windows 10 Pro from the Store, it may be because you're not seeing the secure screen where you need to confirm that you want to upgrade your system. Usually you can press Alt-Tab to switch to it and accept the prompt. If not, check the User Account Control Settings in the control panel – you can temporarily change them to Never notify, or change back to the default of Notify me only when applications try to make changes to my computer, which should show the prompt normally. 10 ways to optimise your copy of Windows 10Upgrading and Pro optionshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/start%20pro%20upgrade-420-90.jpg Windows will warn you to save your files because the PC will restart; click Start upgrade when you're ready. You'll see a progress bar on-screen – you can carry on using your PC but it's going to restart without warning, so you don't want to be in the middle of editing files when that happens. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/upgrade%20progress-420-90.jpg The upgrade will take about ten minutes and then reboot, which takes another few minutes, again with a progress bar, before you're back at the login screen. When you log in, you'll see the confirmation that the upgrade has completed; this is another UAC notification and you won't be able to do anything on your PC until you close it. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/upgrade%20complete-420-90.jpg New Pro featuresYour existing Windows account will be there, complete with files and installed applications, but you'll find the extra Windows 10 Pro features available. For example, you can defer updates in Windows Update, turn on BitLocker, use the Group Policy Editor to change settings and run Hyper-V for virtualisation. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/defer%20updates-420-90.jpg Depending on what your company has set up, you may be able to connect to your business network using Direct Access (instead of a VPN) with Windows 10 Pro. If you use Azure AD to connect to services, you'll get single sign-on to cloud apps that your company subscribes to – and if they've set up their own Store for apps you can use, that will be available. You can also set a Windows 10 Pro PC to run only one application, as a kiosk, if you want; that's called Assigned Access. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Upgrade%20to%20Win%2010%20Pro/bitlocker-420-90.jpg There are other Windows 10 Pro features that companies will be able to turn on when they arrive later in the year, like Enterprise Data Protection, which puts every business file in its own encrypted container. Those will need management tools like Intune or System Center Data Protection. If it's your own files you want to protect, turn on BitLocker to encrypt the entire drive. Windows 10 Home vs Windows 10 Pro: the key differences explained http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226359743/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae1657a/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226359743/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae1657a/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226359743/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae1657a/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226359743/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae1657a/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226359743/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ae1657a/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ae1657a/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/9gCYRgXcFig

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/google%20headquarters-470-75.jpgGoogle is looking to get active in China again, and has bought up a minority stake in Mobvoi. Mobvoi is a Chinese artificial intelligence startup created back in 2012 by an ex-Google employee, which specialises in speech recognition and natural language processing, and also has its own smartwatch for the Chinese market (Ticwatch) that was launched in June, with its own OS that features Mobvoi's voice search. Neither company would say exactly how much Google invested. Google has previously entered into a partnership with Mobvoi, with an announcement last month that the latter would push Android Wear in China – with the Moto 360 being the first smartwatch to benefit from this strategic agreement, sporting full Chinese voice search and voice controls driven by Mobvoi. Buyout not on the cardsSo it seems that things are certainly moving up a gear concerning Google's Chinese ambitions – as you're probably aware, the country has blocked Google services, causing Mountain View some difficulties when it comes to an increasingly profitable territory. Mobvoi co-founder Yuanyuan Li told TechCrunch, which reported the investment, that Google wasn't about to buy up her company further down the line. She said: "We value this partnership a lot, and respect Google as an investor, [but it is] still a minority investor and we will focus on what we believe in and in our products … We're not changing what we've planned." Google has lost control of Android http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226274172/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad3b1a5/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226274172/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad3b1a5/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226274172/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad3b1a5/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226274172/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad3b1a5/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226274172/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad3b1a5/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ad3b1a5/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/OUOwr4dWgwQ

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/apps%20hero-470-75.jpgIntroductionhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/browse-420-90.jpg Microsoft recently changed the name of the extras you can run inside Office apps again, and they're now called add-ins. But they're just as useful for making Office programs do more and they work in more places – as well as running with Office 2013 and Office 2016, they also run inside the Office Online apps and they're going to work on the mobile versions of Office as well. That will start first in Office for iPad, with add-ins for Excel. There are still plenty of utilities that work with the various Office programs that don't come from Microsoft's Office Store (for example, ASAP Utilities for Excel has more than 300 handy commands for advanced sorting, insert and export). But the advantage of the add-ins in the Office Store is that they've all been checked and approved by Microsoft, and you can get them from inside the Office applications – you'll find the Store on the Insert tab of the ribbon, along with a list of what you have installed under My Add-ins. There are some big names coming to Office add-ins soon. We're waiting for the Yelp add-in for Outlook that will let you search for a place to have coffee when you're mailing to suggest it, and the Wunderlist add-in that will let you add to-dos to your list from Outlook, as soon as you get the email asking you to do something. Anyway, let's get on with the show – here are our 10 favourite Office add-ins which are currently available. Microsoft Office 2016 vs Office 365 vs Office OnlineVistaprint Ithttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/vistaprint-420-90.jpg Vistaprint is one of the cheaper and better quality online printing services and a great place to design your own business cards. But while the online design tool on the Vistaprint website is fine for filling in your name and address on one of the standard templates, it's tedious to use if you want to design something more customised. You can spend a lot of time nudging text boxes around, only to find the back of your card is upside down when the order arrives. Word is a much better tool for designing business card layouts (and you have a full spelling checker too). Use the free Vistaprint It add-in and you can either fill in one of the standard designs right inside Word, or open a Word template to create your own card. PayPalhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/paypal-420-90.jpg The next time you need to pay someone back for your share of the bill, or you want to send some birthday money, why not do it right inside the email where you promise to send the money? Install the PayPal add-in for Outlook (including Outlook.com and Outlook web for Office 365 users), and create a new email. Address the email before you open the PayPal add-in and it will pick up the name automatically, then just type in how much you want to send (change currency if you need to), write your message as normal – and remember to send it. As well as your email, your friend will also get an official email notification from PayPal that the money is in their account. Uberhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/uber-420-90.jpg When you're making a meeting in Outlook, and you know you'll need a car to take you there, the Uber add-in lets you book the ride at the same time, using the address in the meeting. You get a reminder for the ride on your phone at the same time as the reminder for your meeting – confirm the car when you see the reminder or cancel it if the meeting isn't happening. The Uber add-in works in Outlook 2013 and 2016. If you use Office 365 or Exchange 2013 it also works in the Outlook web app, and it will work on Outlook.com very soon. Poll Everywherehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/poll%20everywhere-420-90.jpg If you want to add a live quiz or poll to a presentation you're creating in PowerPoint, try the add-in for the free Poll Everywhere service (which lets you create as many polls as you want with up to 25 responses per poll). You design the questions in the add-in, choosing what kind of answers people can give, and it creates the PowerPoint slide for you. Boomerang http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/boomerang-420-90.jpg Outlook doesn't let you set a reminder to follow up on an email you've sent and while you can look at your schedule to see when you're free, you can't easily suggest multiple times for a meeting – and you can't write an email late at night but have it automatically sent in the morning, so the person you're mailing is likely to see the message as it arrives and perhaps be more likely to reply. Boomerang lets you do all of this from a task pane right next to your email in Outlook. DocuSignhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/docusign-420-90.jpg If you need to get a legally binding signature on a document, you can do that with the DocuSign service. This add-in lets you add the names of the people signing right inside your Word document, and DocuSign tags to say what kind of signature that will be, sending the document through the secure DocuSign service where you can track who's signed it – all right from Word. Fedex Package Trackerhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/fedex%20tracker-420-90.jpg Outlook.com can already give you the tracking status for various packages; this add-in only works for Fedex deliveries, but it works inside the Outlook software, not just on the web. When you get an email with a Fedex tracking number in, the add-in will appear at the top of the email – click it to see how far your parcel has got. Evernote http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/evernote-420-90.jpg Although Microsoft has its own note-taking software, OneNote, if you use the popular Evernote instead, this add-in lets you find and attach notes from Evernote to the mail you're writing without having to switch to the other app. You can also save mail messages from Outlook straight to Evernote and tag them at the same time. People Graphhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/PEOPLE%20GRAPH-420-90.jpg You can make an infographic in Excel with Microsoft's People Graph add-in – the name is a little confusing because as well as icons of people you can also use other graphics like boxes (it's possible to pick from 16 different shapes). There are three different infographic chart styles, with seven colour themes, and all you need to do is pick the two columns in the spreadsheet that have your data in. You can leave the chart in your spreadsheet or save it as an image to use elsewhere. IFTTThttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Office/10%20best%20office%20add-ins/ifttt-420-90.jpg IFTTT or If This Then That is a way of connecting different tools and services you use together, using rules (which IFTTT calls 'recipes'). IFTTT recipes work with a wide range of services from Instagram to YouTube to SoundCloud to Nest – they live online and run automatically when the trigger for the recipe occurs. Create a recipe for OneNote and Twitter and you can have every URL you tweet archived into your OneNote notebook. Or you can forward important emails or screenshots you take on iOS to OneNote, or archive a summary of your Fitbit stats every day, or add what's on your Alexa shopping list and Amazon Echo to-do list to OneNote. You can also make IFTTT recipes for Office 365 calendar, contacts and mail (which will show up in Outlook) – like adding the weather report to your calendar every day – and for OneDrive for Business (support for Outlook.com is coming soon). http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226254234/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad0ac23/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226254234/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad0ac23/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226254234/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad0ac23/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226254234/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad0ac23/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226254234/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ad0ac23/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ad0ac23/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/N3HRaaijWrU

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Cinema/HanandChewie-470-75.jpgThe 8 best bits from the new Star Wars Trailerhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/HanandChewie-420-90.jpg As you probably already know, the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer dropped today, and it's everything we could have hoped for ... and then some. There's a lot going on in the new trailer, which is made up almost entirely of new footage. Featuring Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren, the adorable BB-8 droid, rebel fighters and TIE Fighters and much, much more, the trailer, much like the ones that have preceded it, delivers an incredible amount of heart mixed in with all of its spectacular action. With that in mind, we've decided to select eight of our favourite bits from the new theatrical trailer – read on to find out if they match up to your favourite moments! Kylo Ren's mission statementhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/KyloRen-420-100.jpgNot only do we get to finally hear Kylo Ren speak, we also get to find out what his ultimate goal is. Simply put, he wants to finish what Darth Vader started. Jokes on him, though – Vader clearly dropped his evil mission at the end of Return of the Jedi. Didn't he see the movie? http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/KyloRenDeclaration-420-100.jpg Kylo Ren's monologue is delivered over two shots – the first has him standing at the command deck of what appears to be a Star Destroyer while the next has him delivering said monologue to Darth Vader's melted helmet (not a euphemism). X-Wing vs Storm Trooperhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/XWingStormTrooper-420-100.jpgSure, it's not the X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter remake/sequel you've all been waiting for over the years, but would you settle for and X-Wing taking out a Storm Trooper like it's the easiest thing in the world? Not sure what that Storm Trooper was thinking – he didn't stand a chance! Poe Dameron is threatenedhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/PoeDameron-420-100.jpg Not entirely sure what's going on here, except that Poe Dameron is clearly upset about something. We see Kylo Ren getting up close and in his face, then Poe lets out a (silent) scream as Kylo gives him the old "talk to the hand" routine. It looks like it's going to be a very emotional scene. "It's true... All of it."http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/ItsTrue-420-100.jpg "There were stories about what happened," says an inquisitive Rey to the roguish gentleman known as Han Solo. "It's true... All of it," he replies. "The Dark Side, the Jedi... They're real," he says, as shivers roll up the spines of everyone who grew up watching this beloved franchise. Crossguard Lightsaber in the rainhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/RainCrossSaber-420-100.jpg There really isn't too much to say about this shot other than it looks unbelievably, awesomely, insanely cool. Red Robothttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/RedRobot-420-100.jpg It wouldn't be a JJ Abrams production without the appearance of a red robot! Now if only we'd gotten the actual robot from the Bad Robot logo... Anyways, this shot is very cool, in that it shows Han leading Finn and BB-8 somewhere interesting, but who resides there? It has loads of colourful flags hanging in front of it – could it be Leia's place? Han's? We'll find out soon enough. Han embraces Leiahttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/LeiaHan-420-90.jpg Here we get a good look at Leia's face as she receives a loving embrace from Han. We can see that she's crying, but what is she crying about? Is this the first time she's seen Han in a long while? Did she receive some bad news? Is it regarding Luke? So many questions; so few answers! Finn vs Kylo Renhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/FinnvKylo-420-90.jpg This shot of Kylo and Finn approaching each other with lightsabers drawn is awesome and has all the makings of another classic Star Wars battle for the ages. Does Finn, a Jedi beginner, stand a chance against the likes of Kylo Ren? It seems unlikely, but you never know! " width="420">YouTube : Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailers, news and rumors http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226254749/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acff443/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226254749/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acff443/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226254749/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acff443/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226254749/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acff443/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226254749/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acff443/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4acff443/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/z1AK3EXoybA

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Cinema/HanandChewie-470-75.jpgThe 8 best bits from the new Star Wars Trailerhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/HanandChewie-420-90.jpg As you probably already know, the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer dropped today, and it's everything we could have hoped for ... and then some. There's a lot going on in the new trailer, which is made up almost entirely of new footage. Featuring Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren, the adorable BB-8 droid, rebel fighters and TIE Fighters and much, much more, the trailer, much like the ones that have preceded it, delivers an incredible amount of heart mixed in with all of its spectacular action. With that in mind, we've decided to select eight of our favourite bits from the new theatrical trailer – read on to find out if they match up to your favourite moments! Kylo Ren's mission statementhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/KyloRen-420-100.jpgNot only do we get to finally hear Kylo Ren speak, we also get to find out what his ultimate goal is. Simply put, he wants to finish what Darth Vader started. Jokes on him, though – Vader clearly dropped his evil mission at the end of Return of the Jedi. Didn't he see the movie? http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/KyloRenDeclaration-420-100.jpg Kylo Ren's monologue is delivered over two shots – the first has him standing at the command deck of what appears to be a Star Destroyer while the next has him delivering said monologue to Darth Vader's melted helmet (not a euphemism). X-Wing vs Storm Trooperhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/XWingStormTrooper-420-100.jpgSure, it's not the X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter remake/sequel you've all been waiting for over the years, but would you settle for and X-Wing taking out a Storm Trooper like it's the easiest thing in the world? Not sure what that Storm Trooper was thinking – he didn't stand a chance! Poe Dameron is threatenedhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/PoeDameron-420-100.jpg Not entirely sure what's going on here, except that Poe Dameron is clearly upset about something. We see Kylo Ren getting up close and in his face, then Poe lets out a (silent) scream as Kylo gives him the old "talk to the hand" routine. It looks like it's going to be a very emotional scene. "It's true... All of it."http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/ItsTrue-420-100.jpg "There were stories about what happened," says an inquisitive Rey to the roguish gentleman known as Han Solo. "It's true... All of it," he replies. "The Dark Side, the Jedi... They're real," he says, as shivers roll up the spines of everyone who grew up watching this beloved franchise. Crossguard Lightsaber in the rainhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/RainCrossSaber-420-100.jpg There really isn't too much to say about this shot other than it looks unbelievably, awesomely, insanely cool. Red Robothttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/RedRobot-420-100.jpg It wouldn't be a JJ Abrams production without the appearance of a red robot! Now if only we'd gotten the actual robot from the Bad Robot logo... Anyways, this shot is very cool, in that it shows Han leading Finn and BB-8 somewhere interesting, but who resides there? It has loads of colourful flags hanging in front of it – could it be Leia's place? Han's? We'll find out soon enough. Han embraces Leiahttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/LeiaHan-420-90.jpg Here we get a good look at Leia's face as she receives a loving embrace from Han. We can see that she's crying, but what is she crying about? Is this the first time she's seen Han in a long while? Did she receive some bad news? Is it regarding Luke? So many questions; so few answers! Finn vs Kylo Renhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Cinema/Star%20Wars%20Trailer/FinnvKylo-420-90.jpg This shot of Kylo and Finn approaching each other with lightsabers drawn is awesome and has all the makings of another classic Star Wars battle for the ages. Does Finn, a Jedi beginner, stand a chance against the likes of Kylo Ren? It seems unlikely, but you never know! " width="420">YouTube : Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailers, news and rumors

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Apple/Apple%20Music/Trial%20feature/apple_trial_HERO-470-75.jpgApple Music's free trial only ended for early adopters less than a month ago, but CEO Tim Cook has still given us an indication of the number of people who enjoyed the service enough to keep paying for it. Speaking at the WSJD Live event, Cook said that the service currently has 6.5 million paying customers, with another 8.5 million customers partaking in the trial. With big plans to improve the service in the pipeline, these numbers mean that Apple Music currently has over 15 million active users, which is an increase of four million since the start of September. There is a good chance that a good number of those 6.5 million paying customers simply forgot to cancel their Apple Music subscription, but the fact remains that the generous 3-month trial is definitely bringing in plenty of new subscribers. Given how long Spotify has taken to get to its 20 million paying subscribers, Apple's definitely moving in the right direction. One of the 6.5 million paying for Apple Music? Here's how to get the most from your Apple Music subscription http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226220158/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acfcba5/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226220158/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acfcba5/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226220158/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acfcba5/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226220158/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acfcba5/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226220158/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4acfcba5/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4acfcba5/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/kVlQcm3FSv8

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Apple/Apple%20Music/Trial%20feature/apple_trial_HERO-470-75.jpgApple Music's free trial only ended for early adopters less than a month ago, but CEO Tim Cook has still given us an indication of the number of people who enjoyed the service enough to keep paying for it. Speaking at the WSJD Live event, Cook said that the service currently has 6.5 million paying customers, with another 8.5 million customers partaking in the trial. With big plans to improve the service in the pipeline, these numbers mean that Apple Music currently has over 15 million active users, which is an increase of four million since the start of September. There is a good chance that a good number of those 6.5 million paying customers simply forgot to cancel their Apple Music subscription, but the fact remains that the generous 3-month trial is definitely bringing in plenty of new subscribers. Given how long Spotify has taken to get to its 20 million paying subscribers, Apple's definitely moving in the right direction. One of the 6.5 million paying for Apple Music? Here's how to get the most from your Apple Music subscription

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Abstract/Apps%20on%20tablet/iStock_000019925348Small-scanrail-470-75.jpgIntroduction and tactical vs strategic appsBy the end of 2017, market demand for mobile app development services will grow at least five times faster than internal IT organisation capacity to deliver them, according to analysts at Gartner. They forecast that mobile phone sales will reach 2.1 billion units by 2019, which will fuel demand for apps that the industry just cannot meet. Gartner also found that the majority of businesses have developed and released fewer than 10 apps, with scores not having produced any mobile apps at all. What needs to change? Is the growth in the number of devices used in workplaces to blame? According to Gartner, most workers use on average three devices each day, which will increase to five or six as wearables and the Internet of Things go mainstream. Crucially, few of these devices are sanctioned by IT departments, though employees still expect internal work apps to be developed for them. "The need for 'anytime any device' working is a necessity for many organisations," says Gareth Johnson, CEO of IT asset management Crayon UK, who thinks that apps which deliver real-time collaboration and presence mean better, more accurate business decisions, and thus a crucial competitive edge. However, having to provide apps that work seamlessly on iPhones, Android, Windows phones and even Blackberries is challenging. "Each of these platforms use specific technologies, so one app needs to be recreated for each new platform according to the particulars of this platform," says data mining expert Clément Levallios, Professor of Markets and Innovation for EMYLON Business School near Lyon, France, and founder of the CODAPPS programme, a massively open online course (MOOC) aimed at teaching entrepreneurs coding. "Solutions exist to deal with this issue, but this remains a real pain point." http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Great%20apps%20shortage/great%20apps%20drought%203-420-90.jpg Is there a shortage of good app developers?"Definitely!" says Levallios, who thinks that this shortage increases the price of app development. "There has been a surge in demand for app development in the last three years, and the corresponding skills are still in short supply – much scarcer than to develop websites, for example," he adds. Gartner's research confirms that businesses are having trouble hiring staff with good enough mobile skills to quickly develop, deploy and maintain mobile apps. "We're seeing demand for mobile apps outstrip available development capacity, making quick creation of apps even more challenging," says Adrian Leow, principal research analyst at Gartner, adding that most businesses mobile apps are consequently tactical, rather than strategic. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Great%20apps%20shortage/great%20apps%20drought%202-420-90.jpg Tactical versus strategic appsWhile tactical apps are usually off-the-shelf and aimed at completing common tasks – think Microsoft Office or run-of-the-mill expenses apps – strategic apps are those that need to be created to suit a specific company's unique operational processes. "Creating a bespoke app around processes or operations that are unique can often lead to the biggest differentiators within an organisation," says JP Luchetti, Consultancy Director at mobile consultancy and enterprise app developer Mubaloo. "Companies will often look at off-the-shelf solutions and realise that they don't provide them with exactly what they need … by creating apps around those processes, companies can drive huge improvements that impact across other parts of the business." Companies should know where they want to have control and prioritise areas that deliver value, and which they can commit to continue to support and improve over time, according to Luchetti. App development prioritiesWhat about codeless mobile apps? Not all enterprise mobile apps need complex coding, features and integrations. "There are plenty of business use cases for the rapid creation of mobile apps that don't require any coding skills," says Cathal McGloin, VP Mobile Platforms at Red Hat. "Three key areas to consider for using these codeless mobile apps are fast prototyping to quickly gather feedback on app ideas, replacing a simple paper form process with a form-based mobile app, and creating a disposable app that responds to a one-off event, requiring fast launch and short life," he adds. After all, not every mobile app needs to be complicated to be powerful. What are rapid mobile app development tools? Rapid mobile app development (RMAD) tools are fast replacing traditional coding; at present, they appear to be the only way to meet the surging demand for apps. "They are tools that provide ready-to-use building blocks to create apps," explains Levallios. "One can create simple apps at a very low cost with these systems." Gartner reports that 26% of organisations develop apps in-house, while 55% outsource at least to some degree. "These approaches are allowing those with no programming skills or coding ability, such as people in business roles, to rapidly assemble mobile app prototypes and continuously iterate on these designs," adds Leow on the topic of RMAD tools. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Great%20apps%20shortage/great%20apps%20drought%205-420-90.jpg Is app development a high enough priority in organisations? That depends on who you ask, and in what sector they work in. "If you are the CEO of a financial services firm with 5,000 desk-bound staff, you would probably be running Microsoft Office 365 across your workforce, with internal app development being a low priority," says Johnson, who suggests that a very mobile, specialised workforce reliant on the quick movement and access of data demands a very different approach to apps. "You might be spending a fair amount of your budget on developing apps to reduce data lag, improve transactional ability and business agility," he adds. What's the most difficult and time-consuming part of app development?It's subjective, again depending on the organisation and the industry they belong to, but it's always best to know what kind of commitment is required before kicking off a project. "When looking at any initiative it's key to identify what aspect of the project will be the most time-consuming and complex," says Luchetti. "To do this we need to look at the key success factors for mobile implementation," he adds, listing the GUI and functionality, integration, security, change management and tech requirements "Have you defined the backend systems that the app will integrate with, are the APIs available that are required, and can they support mobile data consumption/performance," says Luchetti about integration. Change management also requires careful thought. "Do you understand what you need to have in place to drive awareness and adoption within your organisation or with your community of users, or with your customers?" asks Luchetti. "Are there training or business deployment activities required?" It's also critical to think about the tech, and about whether a custom build, off-the-shelf or built-in app would work best, and about what platforms need to be supported. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Great%20apps%20shortage/great%20apps%20drought%206-420-90.jpg All about prioritiesIn the end, it's all about priorities. "Mobile development teams are overstretched and have difficulty effectively delivering the growing number of mobile apps in their queues," says Leow. "The result is apps being built on a first-come, first-served basis, with the line of business making the most noise having its needs met first." 'Whoever shouts loudest' is no way to efficiently use IT resources to produce effective mobile apps. Organisations tend to be as slow to react in terms of apps, as they were for websites. "For websites, they moved in the 2000s from 'our business doesn't really need it' to 'it is a basic requirement'," says Levallios. "For apps, many organisations still consider them as peripheral to their core business … but this is slowly evolving." The BYOA battle: can business apps fight back against consumer favourites? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226172500/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac8e9ea/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226172500/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac8e9ea/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226172500/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac8e9ea/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226172500/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac8e9ea/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226172500/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac8e9ea/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ac8e9ea/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ro-KsKCW2P8

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Google/Google%20Store/Google%20Play%20Store%20revamp-470-75.jpgGoogle engineer Kirill Grouchnikov has spilled the beans on a major new visual overhaul coming to Google's Play Store on mobile - and reports suggest the refreshed look is now rolling out to users across the world. As well as a slick new style inspired by Google's Material Design principles, the updated Play Store is going to make it easier for you to switch between apps (and games) and everything else on offer from the digital marketplace. One of the most noticeable changes is the introduction of a highlights banner at the top of the screen, where Google will show off popular movies, games in a particular category, and so on. It looks like the colour scheme is much more obvious as well. The Android Market, 2015 versionFrom the experiences of users who've seen the update go live, it looks like the change is happening on Google's side rather than as part of an app update - so if you don't have it yet just sit tight a little while longer. The new look also includes the recently revamped Google logo and a switch to a horizontally scrolling navigation system, which presumably is going to make it easier to find all the stuff you want whether you're looking for Crossy Road or the first series of The West Wing. Google hasn't said anything official yet but it seems likely that Grouchnikov got permission of some kind before leaking the shots online. How this is going to affect the Google Play Store on the web remains to be seen. NSA planned to infect phones with malware via Google Play store http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226148712/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac3ae70/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226148712/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac3ae70/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226148712/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac3ae70/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226148712/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac3ae70/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226148712/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ac3ae70/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ac3ae70/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/AVA2d5nnoSE

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20on%20Dell/Start-470-75.JPGMicrosoft is getting all up in the faces of Windows 7 and 8.1 users by trying to force their hand on upgrading to Windows 10. We already knew that Windows Update was downloading massive Windows 10 install files automatically so that it would be ready when users choose to update - but now it appears that it is getting even pushier. Ars Technica reports that Windows Update has started not just downloading, but launching the upgrade tool automatically, as an added nag to users to get with the programme and join everyone else on Windows 10. The good news is that Windows isn't being forced to upgrade automatically by Microsoft: It still requires users to click a button to start the final upgrade process. So it won't wreck your computer if there's a specific reason that you don't want to upgrade - it'll just a be a bit annoying. "Optional update""As part of our effort to bring Windows 10 to existing genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers, the Windows 10 upgrade may appear as an optional update in the Windows Update (WU) control panel," Microsoft told the website. "This is an intuitive and trusted place people go to find Recommended and Optional updates to Windows. In the recent Windows update, this option was checked as default; this was a mistake and we are removing the check." Getting as many users as possible on to Windows 10 makes sense from Microsoft's perspective: Not only does it mitigate the effects of owning a fragmented platform (as developers will not need to worry about compatibility with older Windows if not many people are using it), but it will also further lock users into the Microsoft eco-system and Microsoft services, which are even more tightly integrated into the latest version of the operating system. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226014870/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab9c6cc/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226014870/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab9c6cc/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226014870/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab9c6cc/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226014870/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab9c6cc/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226014870/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab9c6cc/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ab9c6cc/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/mGDbqPe17XY

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Streaming%20Services/Stan/No-Activity-Poster-470-75.jpgStan's first attempt at original programming is Seinfeld meets The Wire. A cop show where nothing happens – as the name suggests, there is No Activity. The show is half adlib, half cop comedy and – judging from the first two episodes at least – 100 per cent hilarious. But unlike the show, Australia's streaming video scene has plenty of activity. Since the arrival of Netflix earlier this year, the SVOD market has thrived in Australia, as the local contenders ramp up their offering to compete with the global giant. In the past few months, Stan and Presto have offered significant updates to their platforms, launching apps on different devices and expanding their lineup with a wide range of international content. But the next battlefield is the arrival of original programming, specifically created for their platforms. With both No Activity and Presto's 'Let's Talk About' set for release later this month, the battle for SVOD supremacy is ramping up significantly. While global rival Netflix has long shouted about the importance of its original programming, the arrival of these shows clearly illustrates that targeting the smaller, Australian SVOD market doesn't mean you can survive by simply licensing other people's programming. "Our vision," Stan CEO Mike Sneesby tells us after a screening of the first two episodes of No Activity, "is to be Australia's most-loved streaming brand. And you don't do that by following everybody else and copying each other – you do it by going out and knowing what direction you want to take and then chasing that direction." A key part of that direction for Stan is developing original Australian programming for its SVOD platform. In addition to No Activity, Stan has also commissioned a drama series based on the iconic Australian film Wolf Creek, and is working with Screen Queensland to produce its first feature film. "To be able to go and make good shows consistently, they're great as a key part of building a brand that's got real character and real texture in the Australian market," Sneesby expands. For Presto CEO Shaun James, original programming is a big part of having an Australian focus – a core pillar of the Presto experience. Being a joint venture between Foxtel and Channel 7, Presto is supplementing original content with locally produced shows from its parent companies. "We certainly see [original programming] as important, so as well as Presto commissioning programming like the two we've spoken about with Let's Talk About and the Home and Away telemovie, we believe our shareholding between Foxtel and Seven is one of the reasons that the parties came together - both are very strong with respect already to domestic productions," James explains. Seriously funnyConspiracy theorists might get excited by the fact that the initial originals offered by both Stan and Presto are comedies, while the follow up pieces are both slated to be dramas. But the truth is that in both cases, it was the idea, and the fact that the shows were already well-fleshed out, that convinced each service that comedy was the best way to start. In amongst a wide series of pitches from show creators, the comedy option stood out. "Jungle Boys had such a well developed creative idea already [with No Activity], and having that whole project bundled together and people who are already attached to it with a real passion to do it has made a real difference in terms of being able to move quickly, but also in creating a great result," Sneesby tells us. Like Stan, Presto has been inundated with pitches for a variety of shows, but the ones that have been commissioned have all had one thing in common: A great idea. And that's not an aspect of television that varies much from traditional broadcasters. In explaining why the "up the duff" comedy Let's Talk About was commissioned, James explains what kind of a show idea gets made. "It's something that people - we think - are going to find interesting and different and innovative which is no different to someone commissioning for a broadcast network, someone commissioning for Foxtel, someone commissioning for any broadcast medium," James says. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/world%20of%20tech/home%20and%20away-420-90.jpg That said, there are some differences between broadcast and SVOD platforms that change the way shows are consumed. "In terms of delivery to consumer, we are different and we offer a different utility, which is that ability to stand content up at a particular point in time - you know a full series or a complete season of a particular project, and if you look at the way that people are utilising the service, they're coming to it for that on demand capability," explains James. Sneesby also tells us that having a show available all at once changes the way it's marketed. Instead of building to a premiere, the arrival of No Activity becomes a selling point of the service for months. "One of the advantages we have in being a streaming service is we've got less of the drivers that other traditional networks and platforms have on an episodic level. We're not relying on that how many weeks until we have to bring back viewers and what our ratings look like – we can really afford to just go out and say is this a great show," Sneesby says. Shake your moneymakerOriginal programming is not just an important brand building tool – something to help these new SVOD services stand apart from their competition. It's also a money making endeavor. Netflix has made no secret of the fact that original programming is a lure to gain new subscribers around the globe. This approach is true for both Stan and Presto, too, although without the big budgets of the US giant, it's unlikely we'll see anything to the scale of a Daredevil or Marco Polo. However, what the originals will offer these SVOD platforms is a new revenue stream in the form of licensing deals. During a recent trip to LA to discuss licensing deals, some top Stan executives took the opportunity to show clips from No Activity to Hollywood executives. The response, across the board, was positive. "We didn't take No Activity to LA to go and sell it, we went there for a bunch of other reasons, but the response we had from studios was just... We literally sat there in the hotel lobby bar and just went 'we think we might be onto something here'," Sneesby confesses. "Early indications from those guys overseas, they've literally just said to us the moment they saw it: "Who's bought this show internationally and who's distributing it for you?" so I'm quite confident we're going to see more of No Activity outside of Australia as we expect to for our other titles," he adds. Interestingly, No Activity wasn't commissioned with international distribution revenues in mind, although the interest from overseas partners is certainly welcome. But according to Sneesby, other programming will definitely be targeted at both local and international audiences. "No Activity wasn't commissioned as a show that we were planning big international distribution, but other shows that we have in the pipeline are being designed to be produced in Australia with Australian production companies, and Australian talent but also overseas talent, and with concepts that are designed to translate internationally," he says. "So we've literally taken that model of creating shows, creating them for our platform, creating what we know the audience in Australia wants, but giving them relevance so that we can go and generate international revenues back into Australia and put that money back into more productions here. And really, the more successful we are with international distribution, the greater the pipeline of productions we'll be able to make," Sneesby says. All six episodes of No Activity arrive on Stan on October 22. Let's Talk About will be available in its entirety on Presto this month, with specific launch dates to be confirmed. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226066582/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab855eb/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226066582/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab855eb/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241226066582/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab855eb/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241226066582/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab855eb/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241226066582/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4ab855eb/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4ab855eb/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/f3JsFXI5trg

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Streaming%20Services/Stan/No-Activity-Poster-470-75.jpgStan's first attempt at original programming is Seinfeld meets The Wire. A cop show where nothing happens – as the name suggests, there is No Activity. The show is half adlib, half cop comedy and – judging from the first two episodes at least – 100 per cent hilarious. But unlike the show, Australia's streaming video scene has plenty of activity. Since the arrival of Netflix earlier this year, the SVOD market has thrived in Australia, as the local contenders ramp up their offering to compete with the global giant. In the past few months, Stan and Presto have offered significant updates to their platforms, launching apps on different devices and expanding their lineup with a wide range of international content. But the next battlefield is the arrival of original programming, specifically created for their platforms. With both No Activity and Presto's 'Let's Talk About' set for release later this month, the battle for SVOD supremacy is ramping up significantly. While global rival Netflix has long shouted about the importance of its original programming, the arrival of these shows clearly illustrates that targeting the smaller, Australian SVOD market doesn't mean you can survive by simply licensing other people's programming. "Our vision," Stan CEO Mike Sneesby tells us after a screening of the first two episodes of No Activity, "is to be Australia's most-loved streaming brand. And you don't do that by following everybody else and copying each other – you do it by going out and knowing what direction you want to take and then chasing that direction." A key part of that direction for Stan is developing original Australian programming for its SVOD platform. In addition to No Activity, Stan has also commissioned a drama series based on the iconic Australian film Wolf Creek, and is working with Screen Queensland to produce its first feature film. "To be able to go and make good shows consistently, they're great as a key part of building a brand that's got real character and real texture in the Australian market," Sneesby expands. For Presto CEO Shaun James, original programming is a big part of having an Australian focus – a core pillar of the Presto experience. Being a joint venture between Foxtel and Channel 7, Presto is supplementing original content with locally produced shows from its parent companies. "We certainly see [original programming] as important, so as well as Presto commissioning programming like the two we've spoken about with Let's Talk About and the Home and Away telemovie, we believe our shareholding between Foxtel and Seven is one of the reasons that the parties came together - both are very strong with respect already to domestic productions," James explains. Seriously funnyConspiracy theorists might get excited by the fact that the initial originals offered by both Stan and Presto are comedies, while the follow up pieces are both slated to be dramas. But the truth is that in both cases, it was the idea, and the fact that the shows were already well-fleshed out, that convinced each service that comedy was the best way to start. In amongst a wide series of pitches from show creators, the comedy option stood out. "Jungle Boys had such a well developed creative idea already [with No Activity], and having that whole project bundled together and people who are already attached to it with a real passion to do it has made a real difference in terms of being able to move quickly, but also in creating a great result," Sneesby tells us. Like Stan, Presto has been inundated with pitches for a variety of shows, but the ones that have been commissioned have all had one thing in common: A great idea. And that's not an aspect of television that varies much from traditional broadcasters. In explaining why the "up the duff" comedy Let's Talk About was commissioned, James explains what kind of a show idea gets made. "It's something that people - we think - are going to find interesting and different and innovative which is no different to someone commissioning for a broadcast network, someone commissioning for Foxtel, someone commissioning for any broadcast medium," James says. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/world%20of%20tech/home%20and%20away-420-90.jpg That said, there are some differences between broadcast and SVOD platforms that change the way shows are consumed. "In terms of delivery to consumer, we are different and we offer a different utility, which is that ability to stand content up at a particular point in time - you know a full series or a complete season of a particular project, and if you look at the way that people are utilising the service, they're coming to it for that on demand capability," explains James. Sneesby also tells us that having a show available all at once changes the way it's marketed. Instead of building to a premiere, the arrival of No Activity becomes a selling point of the service for months. "One of the advantages we have in being a streaming service is we've got less of the drivers that other traditional networks and platforms have on an episodic level. We're not relying on that how many weeks until we have to bring back viewers and what our ratings look like – we can really afford to just go out and say is this a great show," Sneesby says. Shake your moneymakerOriginal programming is not just an important brand building tool – something to help these new SVOD services stand apart from their competition. It's also a money making endeavor. Netflix has made no secret of the fact that original programming is a lure to gain new subscribers around the globe. This approach is true for both Stan and Presto, too, although without the big budgets of the US giant, it's unlikely we'll see anything to the scale of a Daredevil or Marco Polo. However, what the originals will offer these SVOD platforms is a new revenue stream in the form of licensing deals. During a recent trip to LA to discuss licensing deals, some top Stan executives took the opportunity to show clips from No Activity to Hollywood executives. The response, across the board, was positive. "We didn't take No Activity to LA to go and sell it, we went there for a bunch of other reasons, but the response we had from studios was just... We literally sat there in the hotel lobby bar and just went 'we think we might be onto something here'," Sneesby confesses. "Early indications from those guys overseas, they've literally just said to us the moment they saw it: "Who's bought this show internationally and who's distributing it for you?" so I'm quite confident we're going to see more of No Activity outside of Australia as we expect to for our other titles," he adds. Interestingly, No Activity wasn't commissioned with international distribution revenues in mind, although the interest from overseas partners is certainly welcome. But according to Sneesby, other programming will definitely be targeted at both local and international audiences. "No Activity wasn't commissioned as a show that we were planning big international distribution, but other shows that we have in the pipeline are being designed to be produced in Australia with Australian production companies, and Australian talent but also overseas talent, and with concepts that are designed to translate internationally," he says. "So we've literally taken that model of creating shows, creating them for our platform, creating what we know the audience in Australia wants, but giving them relevance so that we can go and generate international revenues back into Australia and put that money back into more productions here. And really, the more successful we are with international distribution, the greater the pipeline of productions we'll be able to make," Sneesby says. All six episodes of No Activity arrive on Stan on October 22. Let's Talk About will be available in its entirety on Presto this month, with specific launch dates to be confirmed.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/Skype-for-web-beta-guy-470-75.jpgNow you have one fewer reason to avoid that unnecessary meeting. Microsoft has made the Skype for Business app generally available for iOS. Previously, a technical preview of Skype for Business on iOS, which was released in August, had been made available. Today, anyone with an account can log onto Apple’s App and iTunes Store and download the video conferencing app. The Android version of Skype for Business will be available before the end of the year, according to a Microsoft statement. New featuresWith the new app, comes new features. iOS users will be able to take advantage of a new dashboard that combines the location of your contact list, your day’s schedule and recent chats and conferences. New interface enhancements include the ability to launch full-screen video and add participants during meetings in progress. A larger mute button and simultaneous content and video feeds have also been added to the iOS app. IT departments will enjoy Skype for Business’ new Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL)-based authentication, which lets organizations configure two- or three-step access for app users. The new feature enables IT to require Skype users to acknowledge a phone call, text message or an app notification after the typical sign-on process. Adios LyncSkype for Business replaced the Lync enterprise communication product earlier this year. Office 365 customers that accessed Lync Online were automatically given access to Skype for Business. A similar process is available for iOS. iPhone users with Lync 2013 will automatically get updated to the Skype for Business app, Microsoft said. iPad users with Lync 2013 will need to download the Universal app from the iTunes Store. What's in store for Skype for Business? http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225971246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac5360/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225971246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac5360/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225971246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac5360/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241225971246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac5360/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241225971246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac5360/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4aac5360/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/cTadcGMHvSo

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/advertorial/Digiarty/MacXDVD/macxdvd-10-2015-resized-470-75.jpgSick of working like a robot in mundane routine? Now, it's payback time! There is nothing better than enjoying an inspiring DVD movie or your favorite music video on your new iPhone/iPad to let go of anxieties. We are delighted to be able to give away unlimited copies of MacX Video Converter Pro, sponsored by MacXDVD. Moreover, you'll snag a whopping 100% cash back of MacX DVD Ripper Pro offer to save more. Feel lucky today? Enter the contest now! Contest DetailsGiveaway Product: MacX Video Converter Pro – An all-in-one video solution to convert HD & SD videos, download online videos from YouTube and 300-plus video sites, capture screen activities, record and edit videos. How to enter: Anyone is entitled to access the exclusive giveaway page to get our free video converter software before October 31. Cash Back Offer: MacX DVD Ripper Pro – An ultimate piece of DVD ripper software to backup and rip any latest DVD movie to MP4, H.264, MOV, MPEG, etc for playback on iPhone iPad iTunes and Mac. How to enter: [Purchase + Lucky Draw] This contest is only available for customers who have purchased MacX DVD Ripper Pro on the assigned promo page within the campaign period. For a chance of winning full cash back, just provide us with your email (please use your registration email used on the order receipt) and order ID on the promo page. Validation: The contest will be closed on Saturday, October 31 at 11:59 pm EDT Contest Terms & ConditionsThe Lucky Draw is only applicable to customers who have purchased MacX DVD Ripper Pro and completed the email submission on the promo page.5 lucky winners will be randomly selected every day. The winners will be awarded with cash rebate equivalent to the amount of the MacX DVD Ripper Pro transaction price.The daily winner list will be updated every day on promo page at 10 pm EDT.Winners will be informed by way of a notification letter from MacXDVD.One customer is eligible for the offer only once.The cash back amount will be processed by Avangate.If the order is cancelled or refunded, the customer shall not be eligible for the offer.The lucky draw is conducted at the sole discretion of MacXDVD. In case of any disputes, MacXDVD reserves the final decision. http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225966663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac17ad/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225966663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac17ad/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225966663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac17ad/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241225966663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac17ad/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241225966663/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aac17ad/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4aac17ad/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/i3BcPbKWhA4

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Microsoft%20Edge/Edge%20IE/ie%20prompt-470-75.jpgIntroduction and Enterprise Mode site listMoving away from plugins like Flash and the whole ActiveX model is good for security – there are dozens of security patches for Flash alone and if a hacker can trick a user into installing an ActiveX plugin or a toolbar, they can easily get malware onto their computer. That's why the new Edge browser in Windows 10 doesn't support any of the old extensibility options from IE – that means ActiveX controls, Browser Helper Objects, VBScript, or toolbars. It doesn't have the old Trident browsing engine either; Microsoft started with a copy of Trident but has been busy removing old proprietary features and adding more modern HTML 5 support. That's good news if you want to work with the same websites that load correctly in Chrome and Firefox. But if you have websites that rely on what Microsoft calls the legacy features of Internet Explorer, they won't work well in Edge. That's why Windows 10 also includes IE 11, which is the only version that will get support on Windows 7 and 8.1 after January 12, 2016. IE 11 has document modes that can correctly load sites that are designed for IE 8, IE 6 or even IE 5.5 for really old sites. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Microsoft/Microsoft%20Edge/Edge%20IE/new%20IE%20tab-420-90.jpg Enterprise Mode site listIf a web page doesn't work in Edge, you can click the three dots on the toolbar to open the menu and choose Open in Internet Explorer. But if you don't want everyone to have to remember to do that by hand, you can use the Enterprise Mode site list to make that more automatic. If a site is in the Intranet Zone or on the Enterprise Mode list, instead of trying to open it, Edge will show a page saying the site needs IE. You can click to open it in Edge anyway, or you can click the button to open it in IE, and tick 'Automatically open this site with Internet Explorer in future' to skip the prompt next time. You build your Enterprise Mode list with the Enterprise Mode Site List Manager and apply it with Group Policy. To turn it on for IE 11, you enable Use the Enterprise Mode IE website list – the equivalent for Edge is the Allows you to configure Enterprise Site list Group Policy under Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Microsoft Edge in the Group Policy Editor. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Microsoft/Microsoft%20Edge/Edge%20IE/group%20policy-420-90.jpg In both cases, you can put in the location of the Enterprise Mode site list (which needs to be somewhere all your PCs can see it, and that place should ideally be a secure web server), but if you don't put in a location for the Edge group policy it will use the same site list as IE 11, so you don't have to make a separate list just for Windows 10. Devices will keep a copy of the Enterprise Mode list locally, so they will still use the chosen browser for sites even if the list server isn't available, but obviously they'll need to reconnect to get any updates to the list. IE 11 looks for a more recent list just over a minute after you start the browser, but then it doesn't look for updates until you restart the browser. DoNotTransition optionAny sites in the <emie> and <docmode> sections of the site list will automatically open in IE 11. There's also a new option, DoNotTransition, where you can choose whether Edge should open specific sites itself (set DoNotTransition as True) or send them to IE (set DoNotTransition as False). If you leave DoNotTransition as Undefined, any site on the Enterprise Mode list will load in IE 11, but having the option is still useful because you don't need to put sites that IE 11 can handle in the Enterprise Mode list for Windows 7 and 8.1, but you do need to add them to the list for Edge, and this lets you keep that separate. Greater controlIf you open your site list in the latest version of the Enterprise Mode Site List Manager it will set DoNotTransition as False for all the sites already on the list. This gives you more control than using the Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Microsoft Edge/Sends all intranet traffic over to Internet Explorer Group Policy, in order to have all the sites in your Intranet zone load in IE (or using Group Policy or the default file associations to make IE the default browser), because then even new sites that work in Edge would open in IE. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Microsoft/Microsoft%20Edge/Edge%20IE/add%20a%20site-420-90.jpg In the Enterprise Mode Site List Manager, the DoNotTransition setting is marked as Open in IE or Open in Internet Explorer – click Add to add a new site to the list or Edit to change an existing site, paste or type in the URL, and select the Open in IE checkbox. Use the dropdown to choose which IE mode the site needs. When you click Save, the List Manager will validate the site before adding it. If there's a problem it will warn you that the site didn't pass validation, although you can save it anyway. Use File, Save to XML to export the new Enterprise Mode list to the location you've set in Group Policy. Hands on: Microsoft Edge review http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225921599/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa918fd/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225921599/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa918fd/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225921599/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa918fd/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241225921599/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa918fd/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241225921599/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa918fd/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4aa918fd/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/_2CS-uob1ks

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20Lenovo/Embargoed%20until%209PM%20PDT%20on%2028%20JULY/Multitasking%20Menu-470-75.JPGIf you're running an older Windows 10 Insider Preview build, you'll want to update your copy before Thursday, October 15, lest you want to turn your PC into a brick. Microsoft warned users that in a few days, Insider Preview builds released between January 23 and July 9 will expire, and once that happens, Windows 10 won't boot. These builds are numbered 9826 and 10166. Build 10166 is the final Insider Preview release prior to the launch of Windows 10 RTM. "When the build reaches the license expiration date, the system will automatically reboot every three hours," Microsoft forum moderator RajithR warned in a support thread with information updated on October 7. "Approximately 2 weeks after the license expires, the build will no longer boot at all." The deadlineIf you let the deadline lapse, you can still recover your PC, but additional steps will be required. Microsoft said that you'll need to create a bootable USB drive to upgrade your system to Windows 10 RTM and enter a one-time setup key. Unfortunately, this code won't give you a full license to Windows 10 or allow the operating system to activate. After setup, you can continue to re-join the Windows Insider program to continue testing new features and releases ahead of commercial availability. Build 10565The most recent Windows Insider Preview build is number 10565, which brings features anticipated in the release of the Threshold 2 update next month. This includes an improved Edge browser, a smarter Cortana experience and a new messaging app that integrates with Skype. Additionally, with Build 10565, Microsoft is looking at ways to make Windows 10 activation simpler. Moving forward, you can use your existing Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 key to activate Windows. Build 10565 will expire on July 16, 2015. To check to see when your copy of Windows 10 will expire, you can type "winver.exe" into the Cortana or Windows search bar. Keep up with Windows 10 news by reading our coverage http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225858510/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50edb/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225858510/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50edb/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225858510/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50edb/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241225858510/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50edb/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241225858510/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50edb/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4aa50edb/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ea4UrQxvtno

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Facebook/Facebook%20On%20This%20Day%20filter-470-75.jpgHas Facebook's On This Day feature ever cropped up a bad memory, or a photo of someone you'd rather forget? Well, thankfully, Facebook has introduced filters for what could be a time capsule from days better left forgotten, letting you filter out certain people or certain dates, or even periods of time. "Your memories are yours, so you should control which ones you see in On This Day," a new pop up message reads when you click on preferences for the feature. If you've so far stayed away from this feature since it launched in March, On This Day surfaces status updates, photos, posts from friends and other things you've shared or been tagged in on any particular day onto your News Feed, like when you became friends with someone on Facebook or a major life event. "Use these filters to help make sure we show you memories from On This Day in a way that's meaningful for you," the new filter reads. It's a nice little update that lets you finally take control of what Facebook resurfaces, and of course, you're still in control of re-sharing with friends and families. Now go forth safely with your chosen selective memory. Facebook introduced happiness, laughter and anger 'Like' buttons http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225858509/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50ee4/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225858509/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50ee4/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225858509/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50ee4/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241225858509/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50ee4/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241225858509/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4aa50ee4/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4aa50ee4/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/jmPe1fEhmyo

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/Connected%20home/Savant/savant%20smart%20remote-470-75.jpgOur homes are getting smarter by the day, but how do you take command of all this increasingly intelligent gadgetry? With the brand new Savant Remote, Savant is hoping, a svelte touchscreen controller that connects up with hardware from Sonos, Apple and other big names. You might not have heard of Savant before unless you've got a beach-front property in Malibu - the company builds bespoke, high-end smart home systems and is best known in the tech world for kitting out Steve Jobs' yacht. If it's good enough for Steve Jobs, it's good enough for us. And the new remote control looks like being the firm's cheapest device to date: a mere US$500 (about £328, AU$685). Scene this before?What do you get for your money? This is more than just a remote, because it includes a smart hub and a lamp remote communicating over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. You can use it to control a range of kit from the likes of Samsung and Sony. One of the best features is the ability to create specific 'Scenes': dimmed lighting and soulful tunes for date night, for example. Voice control is included so a quick "goodnight" will send all of your devices into sleep mode. With the likes of Google, Apple and Samsung rushing to get hubs and platforms established, it's not an easy market for consumers to navigate right now - in fact you might be best off waiting a year or two to see what standards get established. Shipping for the Savant Remote starts in December and you can already put your name down for one on the company's website. Every single home appliance that works with Apple HomeKit

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/events/wwdc/2013/color%20banner%20logo-470-75.jpgWith the Australian dollar consistently struggling against the US dollar, it was only a matter of time before Apple went and adjusted pricing for the Australian market. According to 9 to 5 Mac, Apple is raising the price of apps on the App Store in Australia, Indonesia and Sweden within the next three days. The cheap, US$0.99 price tier, which was charged at $1.29 here in Australia, will be pushed up to $1.49, with the increase translating across the board as prices get more expensive. Alternative pricingIt's not all bad news though. According to the letter sent out to developers, developers will also be getting the option of offering a new alternative cheaper pricing on the Australian App Store. So instead of having the minimum price stuck at $1.49, devs will be able to charge $0.99 for their apps (the equivalent of about US$0.70). Whether developers actually decide to use that pricing tier will be up to them on a case by case basis. Fingers crossed they do though. Here are the best Australian apps.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/OSX/OSX%201011/wwdc-2015-grabs/mission-control-470-75.JPGIntroduction and Windows 10On stage a few weeks ago, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, stated that the company has "no intention" of merging iOS and OS X, Cupertino's two main operating systems upon which almost all of its hardware is based. While it may seem odd to consider merging two almost completely contradictory elements – after all, what does the iPhone have in common with the Mac Pro? – another technology giant is currently doing just that, and going ahead merging a phone operating system with a desktop one. Second time lucky?With Windows 10, Microsoft is attempting what was previously considered a bad idea and, to a degree, the evidence does bear out this conclusion. The launch of Windows 8, the first attempt at combining the two, did not go down well with customers and forced Microsoft into back-tracking on certain key areas, such as the Start menu which got lost in the mobile-ification of Windows. However, the fortunes of Windows 10 seem a little better. At an event on October 6, Microsoft announced that over 110 million people had installed Windows 10 onto a device, a staggering achievement considering the software has only been available for a little over two months. The success of Windows 10 is, in the most part, down to Microsoft's focus on what users want, not what is in vogue with the technology press. By starting the Windows Insider programme, Redmond accurately gauged the feeling towards the OS and only implemented things users really wanted, such as the Start menu. Of course, Apple is continuously doing this. John Gruber, one of the foremost bloggers on the firm, wrote that Apple is one of the most – if not the most – customer-driven company around today, taking the feelings of users into account every step of the way. Even the most radical ideas, such as the original iPhone's lack of keyboard, are thought of with the user in mind and are ultimately shown to be good choices in time. Listen up, TimThe case for merging iOS and OS X is quite strong, and Cook would do well to listen. Developers, the cornerstone of Apple's products, are becoming disenchanted with the company's offerings, especially with regard to the App Store which doesn't offer demos or the ability to "upgrade" to the latest version for a reduced price. Some developers have even taken it as far as claiming that Apple's platforms cannot sustain anything other than a hit game or an uber-niche piece of enterprise software. Merging iOS could solve these perceived shortcomings. Developing software is long and laborious work and if developers start to feel that the monetary rewards are insufficient then they may move elsewhere. (There are, of course, other rewards, but none put food on the table quite like cold, hard cash). That "elsewhere" could end up being Windows 10, for one key reason: developing an app for Windows 10 is also developing an app for HoloLens, the virtual reality headset, for Xbox, and Windows 10 Mobile. For the same effort, the app can be used across tens of millions of devices, all because Microsoft made one operating system. There are drawbacks, and they do number highly. For example, the experience on a mobile device is impaired by the fact that it is also designed for a laptop and a desktop. On a MacBook, everything is geared toward being controlled by a keyboard and a mouse. On a Windows 10 machine, however, the same cannot be said and this can lead to some odd compatibility issues. A good example of this is the Office suite. When it was first released on the Surface back in 2012, the suite of apps was designed for a mouse and keyboard but was being used on a touch device (the Surface). This would never happen for Apple – iWork is distinct on both – but it did for Microsoft, and users didn't get the best experience as a result. User experience and satisfactionThis is where the idea of user experience – and, as Tim Cook loves to tout, user satisfaction – comes into play: Apple has evidently assessed the market and the things consumers want and decided that merging iOS and OS X does not come under the label 'things customers want.' The complications arise when considering products such as the iPad Pro, a device that is clearly geared toward having a more 'Pro' set of applications. The two other devices that share its namesake – the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro – both run OS X and so the inclusion of iOS is noticeable for how 'un-Pro' it feels, even if certain apps, such as the iWork suite, have been built out to work better. Many speculated that the second version of the iPad would come with a custom-build version of iOS which brought in some features of OS X, but it never materialised. http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net///art/tablets/iPad/iPad%20Pro/Hands%20on/iPad%20Pro%20review17-420-100.JPG Room for manoeuvreWhile Tim Cook's comments seem categorical, there is still some room for manoeuvre. The Apple of Steve Jobs, which was likely where the clearest distinction between OS X and iOS was made, is gone, and the ideas that came with it may also be vanishing. The very introduction of the iPad Pro and its associated Pencil – effectively a stylus wrapped up in Apple's cute branding – show this clearly. Jobs famously said that "if you see a stylus, they [the company] blew it" and it may be the case that in the future people look back on Tim Cook saying that Apple has "no intention" of combining iOS and OS X in a similar light. Another angle that has to be considered is that while these operating systems might not merge, OS X could be gradually phased out and replaced by iOS. We have already started to see this with the MacBook which is an amalgamation of the iPad and a MacBook Air. (The iPad Pro is the reverse but expresses the same ideals). The PC industry, especially desktop machines where OS X is most suited, is dying out to be replaced by iOS which can inherit the features of OS X without ever officially merging the two, just as OS X inherited the features of iOS back in 2010. OS showdown: OS X 10.11 El Capitan vs Windows 10 http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225776137/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a93da5d/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225776137/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a93da5d/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225776137/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a93da5d/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241225776137/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a93da5d/sc/28/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241225776137/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a93da5d/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4a93da5d/sc/28/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/2pZNgC2Mj1U

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows%2010%20background-470-75.jpgIntroduction and copying textIf you tried out the previews of Windows 10, you may have seen the experimental options in the command prompt. Now that it's released, the Experimental tab in the Properties dialog is gone, but the key features are still there – just slotted into the other tabs. To see what's available, right-click on the title bar of a command prompt window and choose Properties if you want to only change the current command window, or Defaults if you want to change every command window you open. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20cmd%20prompt/default-420-90.jpg Easy selection and copyingThe big new features are on the Options tab. 'Quick Edit Mode' isn't new, but it is now enabled by default. If you're looking for information about your system, like using IPCONFIG to find out your IP address, the output of this command shows you more information than you need, laid out in blocks on-screen. Quick Edit Mode makes it much easier to copy text from the command prompt because it selects the characters you drag your mouse over, rather than an arbitrary block of text on the screen. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20cmd%20prompt/mouse%20select-420-90.jpg Make sure 'Enable Ctrl-key shortcuts' is turned on and you can finally use Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V to copy, cut and paste text you've selected in the command prompt instead of having to right-click on the window title and hunt through the Mark menu for the commands. That means you can copy a folder path from File Explorer and use it in a command, just by copying and pasting it. If you're pasting in a command you've found online or someone has emailed to you, make sure 'Filter clipboard contents on paste' is enabled andpaste will now automatically clean up special characters like tabs and smart quotes so the command actually works (in the past you had to do that by hand, which meant checking everything in Notepad or using a utility like ClipMate). http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20cmd%20prompt/control%20keys-420-90.jpg If you're used to using Ctrl-C as the BREAK command – to cancel a command that's still running – just press Ctrl-C twice instead of once. You've been able to search inside the command prompt for a while, but again the command was hidden in the menu; now you can just type Ctrl-F. Ctrl-A selects all the text in the command prompt to make it easier to copy. Make sure 'Enable line wrapping selection'is selected to have Windows clean up the text you copy. Them's the breaksThe command prompt still treats what you select as a block of text that might be broken up over multiple lines instead of a single string of text, and again you used to have to use Notepad or ClipMate to get rid of the extra line breaks – with line wrapping enabled, you get the text without the line breaks. If you need them occasionally, just hold down the Alt key as you start to select the text and you'll get the block mode for just that selection. If you mostly use the mouse, you won't need to turn on 'Extended text selection keys' – this lets you use the Shift and arrow or Page Up and Page Down keys to select text a character, line or page at a time, in the direction of the arrow. Use Ctrl-Shift to select a whole word at a time with the arrow keys, or select to the top or bottom of the screen with the Home and End keys. You can also use Shift+Home and Shift+End to select from where the cursor is to the left or right side of the screen; if you're in the middle of typing a command, use them to select either what you're typing, or the whole line. Resizing and readable fontsResizing tricks You can now resize the command prompt window just by dragging the corners of the window to the size that you want. Make sure that 'Wrap text output on resize' is selected on the Layout tab and the text in the command prompt will resize with the window, rather than making you use the horizontal scrollbar to see the end of the line if you made the window smaller. You don't need to change the buffer size (which is where the command prompt stores commands you've already typed, so you can reuse them just by pressing the up arrow key to pick an earlier command) to match the new window size by hand anymore – Windows automatically increases and decreases it to match the window as you drag it, so everything reflows correctly. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20cmd%20prompt/word%20wrap-420-90.jpg Readable fontsOn very high resolution screens (including the Surface Pro), the command prompt has been all but unreadable because the text size was so small – make sure you choose one of the TrueType fonts on the Font tab instead of Raster Fonts and it will automatically scale so you can actually read it easily. The default Terminal font is a raster font, so make sure you change it to one of the TrueType fonts instead. You've been able to change the colours of your command window on the Colours tab for a long time (handy if you have two windows open for running different sets of commands). Now there's also an opacity slider that lets you make the window semi-transparent so you can see the windows behind it. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/software/Windows/Windows%2010%20cmd%20prompt/transparent-420-90.jpg If you're running a command that makes a change to another window or application, like saving a list of all the files in a folder to a text file with the command DIR /B>FILE.TXT, you can see through the command window to the Explorer window to make sure the file appears correctly. You can't drag the slider to less than 30% opaque; the Windows team found it was too easy to lose the command prompt entirely if you made it more transparent than that. 10 ways to optimise your copy of Windows 10 http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225744389/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a8ff5e9/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225744389/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a8ff5e9/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/241225744389/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a8ff5e9/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/241225744389/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a8ff5e9/sc/15/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/241225744389/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/4a8ff5e9/sc/15/a2t.imghttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/4a8ff5e9/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/oXw5CHnEJDQ