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http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/events/CES%202014/LG-lifebantouchpromo-470-75.jpgCES 2014: Day threeWe're down to the last day of CES 2014 coverage! But that doesn't mean there will be a short supply of news and hands ons. Keep checking back today for the last stretch of the most insane tech show of the year. Sony's got big TVs tooSony has an 85-inch LED Ultra HDTV, or if you want to be specific, the XBR-85X950B. Sure, this might be the biggest and baddest in Sony's XBR range, but it's the unique features that make Sony seem closer to achieving 4K as a mainstream reality. It's a niche product for sure, but it was still a sight to behold. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/televisions/Sony/XDR-950/xbr85-4-420-90.jpg Read our full hands on with the Sony 85-inch Ultra HD 4K TV.Forget curved screens, Sony's straying from the mainstream and going wedge-shaped. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/televisions/Sony/Sony%20Bravia%20X9/DSC_0064-420-90.jpg The tapered design of the company's 2014 Bravia X9 4K line serves a distinct purpose, and not one that has to do with visuals. Rather Sony has given the extra wedge shape over to a set of built in speakers, that are much sleeker in person. It's by no means obstructive - these are flat 4K screens and the viewing angle is the same as it would be on any such screen. The X9 has impressed us so much, we gave it TechRadar's Best TV of CES 2014. Read the full Sony wedge-shaped Bravia X9 4K TV hands on. Acer - more than tabletsAcer showcased a bunch of new Android tablet devices earlier this week but also footnoted its announcements with a curiously familiar laptop called the Acer C720P-2600. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/laptops/Acer/Acer%20C720P%20(White)/_DSC3671-420-90.jpg Those who missed out Acer's first budget and touchscreen Chromebook, the C720P, should expect practically the same 1,366x768 touchscreen equipped laptop except in a new coat of white. Meaning it's not a huge step up, but since the C720P's predecessor is a fine machine, this one seems to be as well. Check out our full hands on with the Acer C720P-2600.LG gets fitLG making a play for the fitness tracker space is nothing new - it did just the same thing last year. But this time around, things have got smarter and more oddly designed, with the new Lifeband Touch offering functionality beyond just wandering around and seeing a number raise up. If monitoring your heart rate is a must have for you, LG has added in another cool accessory: the cleverly-named Heart Rate Headphones, which is a pair of buds that can biometrically sense your heart rate when plugged into your ears. " width="420">YouTube : Read the full hands on with the LG LifeBand and Heart Rate Headphones.CES 2014: Day twoWe made it through day one of CES, and even though we're all barely standing, the TechRadar team is off to cover all the latest tech at this year's biggest consumer technology show. Here's a look at all of the news and hands ons from day two of CES 2014. TechRadar's Best of CES 2014 Award winnersThis year's show has had everything from cameras to cars, Bravias to Bayhem - so it's been no small feat to whittle the huge array of products launched down into a greatest hits collection. But we managed to find the products that stand above the rest. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/car%20tech/Toyota/Fuel%20cell/Toyota%20fuel%20cell%20(6)-420-90.jpg Check out the list winners of TechRadar's Best of CES 2014 Awards.Take a look at the new and improved Oculus RiftThe team at Oculus Rift unveiled the newest version of the virtual reality headset at CES - something a few of us here at TechRadar have been waiting for. The new prototype is going by the name of "Crystal Cove" and adds positional tracking, improved latency and lower persistence with a new 1080p OLED display. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/gaming_accessories/Oculus%20Rift/Oculus_Rift_Crystal_Cove-420-90.jpg Take a look at some of the other new improvements for the Oculus Rift.PlayStation Now, now please?The concept of backwards compatibility has caused several uproars during the pre-PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launch but now it seems like Sony might have the best solution: PlayStation Now. Maybe. Sony has introduced a way to play its last-gen games, and you don't even need a PlayStation 3 or 4. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/games_consoles/PlayStation%20Now/DSC_0005-420-90.jpg PlayStation Now could be the Netflix of video games. Through a subscription or a la carte rental payments players can stream PS3 games in 720p, no console required. Read the full PlayStation Now hands on.Garmin get into wearables with the VivofitIn an effort to compete with the Nike Fuelband SE and the FitBit Force, Garmin has unveiled their fitness wearable - the Vivofit. Although Garmin has had a few fitness watches out, this is its first fitness band, but it still houses a curved, always-on display that shows daily goals, steps, goal countdown, calories, distance and, of course, the time. Read more about Garmin's new Vivofit.Hands on with the SamsungSamsung has been quite busy during this CES. For instance, they had a massive press conference to unveil the latest in home theater entertainment with a quick appearance and even quicker exit from Hollywood director, Michael Bay. And they've been rolling out new laptops and tablets as well. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/laptops/Samsung/ATIV%20Book%209%202014/Hands%20On/ativbook96-420-90.jpg In fact, we took a look at their new and improved Samsung Ativ Book 9 on our second day of CES. Samsung bumped things up and knocked specs down in its effort to hit the ultimate sweet spot in a new form factor. But we're not going to go on and on about here ... Take a look at our hands on with the latest Samung Ativ Book 9.We also checked out the Samsung ATIV Book One 7 and boy, is it a slick machine so far. In fact, we liked it so much we gave it TechRadar's Best All-in-one Computer. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/desktop_pcs_and_macs/Samsung/ATIV%20One%207%202014/ativone7-1-420-90.jpg Running Windows 8.1, the ATIV One 7 looks like something out of a sci-fi flick, with its all-white glossy shell with chrome edges and few hard edges. It's simply a stunner. Read the full hands on of the Samsung ATIV Book One 7.But that's not all with 'ol Sammie. The company also produced a fine looking tablet - the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro, or more specifically the gigantic Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2. It may sound like a lot of superfluous space, but it proved to be quite nice when we took a gander during our hands on. The specs are also looking pretty good so head on over to the full hands on, and check back later for the full on review. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/tablets/Samsung/Galaxy%20Note%20Pro%2012.2/CES%202014/keyboard-420-90.jpg Read the entire hands on with the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro. Lenovo has big plans this summerAnd just has the holidays come to a close, Lenovo already has its eye on this summer. The ThinkPad and IdeaPad maker revealed at CES that it has "multiple" models running the Chrome OS in the pipeline, all coming this summer. Those laptops, President of Lenovo North American Jay Parker said, will come in a variety of configurations and price points. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/laptops/Lenovo/Lenovo%20ThinkPad%20X1%20Carbon/Lenovo%20ThinkPad%20X1%20Carbon%20trackpad%20angle-420-90.jpg Read on to see what else Lenovo has up its sleeve.John Legere loves MacklemoreIn fact, Legere was kicked out of an AT&T party for trying to see the band. However, it just added fuel to the T-Mobile fire. T-Mobile will start covering customers' early termination fees (ETFs) when they switch from Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, plus give them an additional credit when they make the move. In all, T-Mobile could end up forking up $650 per line. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/CES%202014/TMobile%20press%20conference/John%20Legere%20-420-90.jpg What's more, T-Mo made the claim it owns the fastest 4G LTE network in the US, treading very heavily on territory usually occupied by its competitors. The company also revealed preliminary fourth quarter 2013 results, revealing that it saw biggest customer growth in years. Read more about T-Mobile's press conference.CES 2014: Day oneIt already feels like we've been at CES 2014 for a whole week, but it's only day one of the actual show. But it's good news for you because it means more prospective meltdowns, gadgets and goodies from the show floor. Keep checking back for day two and three to keep your tech hunger satiated. DTS has some big plansThe company's latest moves are all about partnerships. DTS is introducing a growth of its Headphone:X ecosystem called the Headphone:X Headphone Tuning Program. It's also announcing a number of ODM partners that will start taking advantages of the company's Play-Fi technology. For more on DTS, check out our interview with CEO Jon Kirchner below. " width="420">YouTube : Yahoo's News Digest AppYahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer took to the stage during a press conference at CES 2014 to announce a slew of new properties for the tech company. However, before the announcement Yahoo had Katie Couric - former Today Show Host and CBS Evening News anchor - on stage to discuss her yet-to-be-defined roll at Yahoo. "It's really a blank slate," Couric said at the show. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/CES%202014/Yahoo%20Press%20Conference/Yahoo%20Press%20Conference-286-420-90.jpg Then after Couric was shuffled off stage, it was on to the new developments. One of the new properties discussed was the Yahoo News Digest App. With News Digest, users get a splashy picture followed by summaries of stories culled from around the web. Click on a story and users see a brief summary, followed by a unique set of "atoms" pertinent to the piece. Read on to see what Yahoo is up to.Sony cloud service and more wearablesThe keynote with Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai happened this morning and there were several interesting Sony tidbits announced. The company is taking advantage of its cloud capabilities by launching a "cloud-based" TV service in the US at some point in 2014. Sony President Andrew House says the IPTV service will run on all manner of devices and will offer on-demand television and live TV. It's a Netflix rival of sorts that will personalize itself when it understands viewing habits. Sony also announced a new Playstation Now game-streaming service that gives you access to Playstation games from non-Playstation devices. Comprising of games made for all generations of Playstation from the original Playstation up to the Playstation 3, Playstation Now will let you play the games on the new Playstation 4, as well as on smart TVs, smartphones and tablets. TechRadar also went hands on with a few Sony products here at CES. One of more notable devices, was the Sony Smartband. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/gadgets/Samsung%20Smartband/smart%20band%20front-420-90.jpg Even though it's just one more wearable in an already cluttered market, the Smartband is essentially an activity tracker that also lets users control media, calls and message alerts on their Android tablet or smartphone. Check out our hands on with the Sony Smartwatch.Razer introduces us to Project ChristineRazer showed off its latest concept, Project Christine - a "revolutionary new concept design," for gaming PCs according to the gaming hardware company. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/pc_cases_and_cooling/razer_project_christine-420-90.jpg Project Christine allows you purchase upgrades to RAM, graphics, input/output and even power supply and storage, and slot them in, using the PCI-Express backbone; and offers up liquid cooling, noise cancellation and a little readout to tell you what's going on with your computer Read more about Project Christine.Audi introduces a tablet. Yes, a tablet.Just when you thought the tablet market couldn't get any more congested, Audi decided to introduce a 10.2 inch device. The Android-powered device is designed to interface directly and seamlessly with Audi vehicles made possible through the company's partnership with Google and the Open Automotive Alliance announced at CES. Take a look at Audi's new gadget.CES 2014: Pre-showCES 2014 is underway in Las Vegas! We touched down on January 4, and already have seen a whirlwind of new tech - from Nvidia's 192-core Tegra K1 mobile processor to cars with laser eyes. Check out the pre-show madness below and keep an eye out for more news and hands ons. ValveWhat a CES for Valve. Though it only held a small press event Monday night, it managed to out 13 Steam Machine partners. Ranging in price and specs, the various manufacturing partners showed off their wares. Among them was Alienware, who we got to chat with about the new tech, the new PC gaming in the living room space, and a how their machine compares to the Xbox One and PS4. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/CES%202014/DSC_0004-420-90.jpg We also went hands on with the Steam Controller, and you can read our review right here.IntelCES is all about wearable tech for Intel. The company's pre-show keynote was full of talk about future concepts put-ons like fitness tracking earbuds and a wireless charging bowl. Yeah, we don't know what that means either, but it's something Intel has apparently spend plenty of time thinking about. The company did announce Edison, Intel's equivalent of the Raspberry Pi. Read our full coverage of Intel's CES keynoteSonySony too got in the wearable craze here at CES, introducing what it said may be the tiniest thing it's ever created. Called Core, it's a small chip that can be worn in a variety of ways and is small enough to slip into a Smartband also announced by Sony. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/mobile_phones/Sony/Sony%20Core/Sony_Core%20(11)-420-90.JPG SharpSharp showed off a slew of new TVs at a press conference on the day before the official start of CES 2014, pronouncing itself the top TV maker, with "the most comprehensive line" of HD big-screens. That line includes the newly announced Sharp Aquos Quattron (or Q series) Plus, "the highest resolution [full] HD television available," Sharp Marketing President John Herrington said on stage. In addition to the Quattron Plus series that plays 4K content at "half the price," Sharp unveiled two new actual 4K Ultra HD Aquos sets, at 60 and 70 inches. Sharps' 4K TVs will launch this summer, with more sizes coming later in the year. RazerRazer isn't just about gaming and computers anymore. The Razer Nabu has arrived to challenge Samsung and Sony's smartwatches and the fitness bands to boot, with the gaming firm's smartband offering dual notification OLED screens. Offering both an easily visible notifications screen and a more private message screen, the Nabu tracks a wealth of personal data including steps walked, distance travelled and sleep quality as well as location information. LGThe Korean company announced in December that a gigantic 105-inch LED TV will be on show for the convention, and then added that five new OLED units will also be showcased, including the curved 77-incher we saw at IFA 2013. But LG is bringing more than just TVs to Las Vegas. The company jumped the gun on its Monday keynote and let loose on the Lifeband Touch, a fitness wristband that will offer exercise goals, calorie output, take incoming calls and play music. It is compatible with Android and iOS, and we expect to go hands ... er ... wrist on with it at the show. SamsungSamsung hasn't officially made any CES 2014 announcements during the show yet, but all signs are pointing to the company revealing two larger-and-in-charge tablets here in LV. In fact, on January 6 Samsung pulled the sheet off one of it's more impressive, albeit impractical, TVs - the 105-inch curved Ultra HD 4K TV. According to our hands on review of the device: the screen is so lovely it's almost heartbreaking, and its unusual properties give it the exotic air that only truly new technology can have. What's more, the possible viewing angles are phenomenal. YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaLGjMnE2SUIt seems Samsung is going with a curved theme this CES - it also unveiled a bendable TV. Yes, bendable. A bendable or curved TV screen may be a bit disconcerting to the everyday consumer but according to our hands on "the bendy TV screen itself is just gorgeous. And there's no discernible dip in quality as it changes shape. It's very seamless." Read our Samsung bendable TV review.The Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and the Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 should both ring in at 12.2-inches each, making them, and look for both to sport Android 4.4 KitKat. It definitely won't be all tablets for Sammy though; we're sure to hear plenty about its UHD TV plans as well. LenovoThe the 5.5-inch Vibe Z, Lenovo's flagship handset, is also the first LTE-capable smartphone from Lenovo. The Vibe Z along with three other Android handsets will splash onto the scene in Vegas. Equipped with Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU clocked at 22.GHz, the Vibe Z is capable of upload speeds up to 50Mbps and up to 150Mbps downloads, Lenovo promises. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/mobile_phones/Lenovo/Vibe%20Z/lenovo-vibe-z-8-420-90.jpg Lenovo's S Series of phones, the S930 and S650 (both running Android 4.2), are aimed at media junkies on a budget, and the ultra-affordable, so-so-specced A859. Check out our hands on review of the Lenovo Vibe Z!The company has also outed a number of notebooks and tablets to whet your whistle, including the Lenovo Yoga 2, ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Lenovo ThinkPad 8 and Lenovo Miix 2. Nvidiahttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/CES%202014/Nvidia%20press%20conference/IMG_5139-1-420-90.JPG "Shock and awe" may have been Nvidia's M.O. during its January 5 press conference. The company dropped a bomb in the form of the Tegra K1, a 192-core mobile processor. Not only does it boast a ridiculous amount of cores, it comes in two versions - a 32-bit ARM A15 flavor and a 64-bit Dual Denver dish. Check out our full Nvidia CES press conference recap right here!The company also touched on its auto obsession and initiatives in the car-tech spaces as well as revealing several manufacturers are prepping 27-inch monitors equipped with its display-enhancing G-Sync display enhancing modules. Oculus RiftIt's official: The new, won't-make-you-want-to-hurl Oculus Rift is making it's way to Las Vegas. "We're showing the latest Rift kit at CES," tweeted Oculus team member Tom Forsyth. "Should be pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to the feedback." We can't wait to put the new lenses on. AlcatelSure, it's not the biggest name in the business, but Alcatel isn't sitting silently as its competitors bask in Vegas' sun rays. The company has announced the One Touch Idol X+, a phone with 8-cores and 5-inch full HD display, and a phablet with a mouthful of a name. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/mobile_phones/Alcatel/OneTouchPopC9/OneTouchPopC9-Press-01-420-90.jpg The One Touch Pop C9 houses a 5.5-inch, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 8MP rear camera, , Android 4.2 and 4GB of RAM. It's not the sexiest machine on the strip, but it sure is colorful. ToshibaWhat's this? A 13.3-inch Chromebook from Toshiba! Long heard of, never seen, we finally have Tosh's entry in the Chrome OS notebook space with a laptop that touts a screen larger than most. Though the machine lacks touch, the company is looking to steal a little display wow factor with its newest 4K UHD TVs. Not only that, but the Japanese firm has also announced a new 4K Blu-ray player and soundbar, covering just about every media need in a nice neat package. Acerhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/tablets/Acer/Acer%20Iconia%20A1/acer-iconia-a1-830_1-420-100.jpg Acer has revealed its 2014 line up of tablets that will be on the CES show floor - refreshes of the Iconia A1 and B1 series. The Iconia A1-830, a 7.9-inch slate in a new silver, aluminum back cover sports a 1024 x 768 IPS touchscreen. Inside the A1 is a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2560 processor and 1GB of DDR2 RAM. Despite that being a Clover Trail+ chip rather than the shiny new Bay Trail, Acer still promises 7.5 hours of battery life. The asking price: $149 (about £90.78, AU$165.91) when it lands this quarter. The Iconia B1-720, a 7-inch tablet in a new, slimmer profile that's aimed at entry-level tablet users or children with its $129 (about £78.59, AU$143.64) price tag. Netflix goes 4KNetflix continued to lead the next-gen streaming charge by announcing on December 18 that it plans to produce House of Cards season 2 in 4K. How does it plan to do this exactly? By teaming up with TV makers, of course. Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt said December 18 that the company has partnered with "major TV vendors" that will announce their 4K-Netflix-capable wares at CES. This is 4K Netflix built into smart TVs, folks, and it's all coming in January. YouTube also in the 4K ringIn a bid to kickstart Google's new open-source VP9 video format, YouTube will also be on hand to demonstrate 4K streaming technology. The company's UltraHD videos will be on display on televisions at the Sony, LG and Panasonic booths using the VP9 codec Google has developed in-house. Archoshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Watches/Archos/Archos_smartwatch_teaser-420-100.jpg Archos has announced that it will be making a splurge of "connected home" devices at CES 2014, and it'll be throwing its own range of smartwatches and tablets into the mix too. Also in the mix is an Archos fitness band - named the "Archos Activity Monitor" - that'll record your daily steps, calories burned, and will display the time in the style of the Fitbit Force. Archos will also show off another first with its entry into the 4G smartphone market with the Archos 45 Helium 4G and 50 Helium 4G. ZTEAfter much speculation, ZTE has confirmed that it will indeed bring its ZTE Grand S II, the follow up to the Grand S, to the show. The other handsets also making an appearance are the Nubia 5S, Nubia 5S mini and the Sonata 4G. ZTE is also set to debut its very first Iconic Phablet, a 5.7-inch device listed to come equipped with a dual-core processor, Dolby Digital Sound and a wireless charging feature. But that's not all! The company has a seriously full roster and plans on displaying "ZTE BlueWatch" the Chinese phone maker's inaugural smartwatch and a hybrid Wi-Fi hotspot. Lastly, ZTE said it is working in tandem with AT&T to develop the US carrier's Wireless Home Base - a device that allows users to connect their home telephone to AT&T's wireless network instead of a telephone jack. DreamworksAnimation giant Dreamworks has announced that it is teaming up with Fuhu to make a 'DreamTab' tablet built especially for its core young audience. CES 2014: Show floor speculationBelow you'll find the latest inklings of what we expect from the quickly approaching show. We'll regularly refresh this page, so check back during the coming days for all the latest about the most high-profile tech show of the year. T-Mobile unveiling phase 4T-Mo is hyping up upcoming Uncarrier plans with the final stage four event scheduled for a CES spectacle - because you know it will be if John Legere shows up (which he most likely will). http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/T-Mobile%20July%2010%202013/CEO%20John%20Legere3-420-100.jpg What can we expect from the last phase since the magenta carrier has already eliminated two-year agreements and international roaming charges while enabling customers to upgrade their handsets twice a year - not to mention 200MB of free tablet data? It's possible that early termination fees will disappear meaning customers who switch to T-Mobile might get a $350 credit (about £214, AU$392). Samsung to show new Galaxy phones?Samsung hardly misses the chance to shine a spotlight on itself, and its presence at CES 2013 was no different. We saw Youm, its flexible display tech prototype, more TVs than need be listed here and former President Bill Clinton. So yes, Samsung left an impression. For 2014, we're zeroing in on two bits of consumer tech in particular: the Galaxy Round and Galaxy S5. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/mobile_phones/Samsung/Galaxy%20Round/samsung-galaxy-round-official-420-100.jpg Reports suggest that with slowing sales of the Galaxy S4, Samsung has decided to push the Galaxy S5's release date up to a possible launch during CES 2014. With a potential 64-bit chip, new 16MP camera and all-metal body, consumers may forgive the oddly timed announcement and clamor for the new Android machine anyway. Other spec rumors suggest the new Galaxy will pack a diamond-like coat, 2K display (resolution 2560 X 1440) and iris scanner, though a December 16 report suggested the S5 won't arrive until MWC 2014. If it does debut at CES, the Galaxy S5 may not take the stage alone: Reports from December suggest Samsung is readying four or five new phones for 2014, and we would hardly be shocked to see more than one in Vegas. As for the Galaxy Round, even though it's reportedly a prototype at this point, Samsung should have plenty to say on its ability to create bendy devices. We may hear about a full Round roll out, and possibly more on Samsung's foldable phone-to-tablet and fold-in-two handset. With LG nipping at its heals with the G Flex, Samsung's turn at CES should show us more on the flexible display front. And tablets and curved 4K TVs, tooThere's a good chance we're in for some Samsung tablet tech, as reports indicate the company is prepping a Galaxy Note 12.2 slate that's already cleared the FCC. Additionally, a December 18 report from Korean media suggested Samsung has a 10.5-inch AMOLED tablet stowed in its CES carry-on. Word from SamMobile seems to suggest that the Korean company will release the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and Galaxy Tab 3 Lite before March next year - though we may see a preview of the line up in Vegas. As for the rest of the tech, Sammy will likely unveil its latest and greatest television sets (Vegas turns into TV town during every CES), cameras, home appliances and laptops. In fact, the company announced on December 18 that it plans to unveil a whopping 105-inch curved Ultra HD TV come January. That means a rounded screen packed with 11 million pixel (5120 x 2160) resolution is about to make it into Samsung's wheelhouse. The company is calling the 105 incher the "world's most curved" TV, and whether that actually means anything to viewers (good or bad) is something we'll see in Vegas. Does ZTE have Grand Vegas ambitions?It seems like the ZTE Grand S II, the follow up to the Grand S, will be making an appearance alongside the other phone offerings during the show. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/mobile_phones/ZTE/Grand%20SII/Rumors/ZTE%20Grand%20SII%20side-420-100.jpg The Grand S II will come with an even larger 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 screen. Despite the small bump in screen size, it will remain relatively thin at 154 x 77 x 7.9mm and pack Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 chipset with 2GB of RAM. If we don't get a peek at the S II during CES 2014, it may show up at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona instead - or heck, it may get party-happy and pop up at both events. Holler at AMD's Kaveri APU, desktops and moreAMD revealed during its November APU13 Developer Summit that it has big plans in store for CES, specifically around its next-gen Kaveri APU. The chipmaker said the HSA-featuring A-Series APU will have its "big coming out party" at the Vegas shindig, and we suspect AMD is planning plenty for its pre-show tech day. Kaveri promises more compute power, namely by shifting more workload to the GPU. Running up to four Steamroller x86 CPU cores and up to eight Graphics Core Next GPU cores, Kaveri is AMD's biggest push yet into the heterogeneous system architecture space. With the first Kaveri desktops launching January 14, we expect AMD and its OEMs to out a number of devices at the Vegas show, too. Read more about Kaveri at CESWhat's more, the company has also unveiled the Beema and Mullins APUs. Designed for fanless tablets, 2-in-1 and notebooks, the APUs promise double the performance per watt than their predecessors. AMD said both chips will be on hand at CES 2014, so look for more on their performance (and how they stack up to competitors like Intel's Bay Trail), then. 64-bit chip madnessAMD's biggest chip making competitors will also be on site to make sure Kaveri doesn't hog all the love. According to IBT, Nvidia and Broadcom will reportedly reveal brand new 64-bit processors. Analysts note that the three companies are set on releasing the new chips early in 2014 so a CES unveiling seems to make sense. Nvidia has a new video card that just barely tops the TitanQualcomm already announced its 64-bit processor, the Snapdragon 410, on December 9, so chances are high we will see the new dragon in action at CES. Look out for phones, if only reference designs, running the 64-bitter come January. As for what else the silicon slingers may show, we expect to hear more on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 Ultra HD, 4K-supporting mobile chip, and it may even go so far as to out Snapdragon 900 (or whatever its next-gen processor will be called). We wouldn't put it past Nvidia to lay on some Shield news, so keep an eye out for gaming gumbo to be cooked up in Las Vegas. Microsoft's bigger presence, but not triumphant return"Microsoft is back at CES!" or so was the flavor of many headlines in early October. Turns out the company isn't making the spectacular CES splash it was made out to be, as it quickly downplayed its plans for the 2014 show to The Verge. That's not to say Microsoft won't be out in force in LV, as the company confirmed it will have "a substantial set of rooms for meetings with our partners." It's in these rooms we expect OEMs and press alike to learn more about the adoption of Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 RT, sales of Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, what's the score with Nokia, how the Xbox One release is playing out and much more. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/tablets/Microsoft/Surface%20Pro%202/body%20images/5%20surface-pro-2-chair-100-100.JPG During CES 2013, Microsoft showed off a pre-production Surface Pro, and we'd be hard pressed to think it won't have a new tablet, smartphone and/or phablet to generate some pre-release buzz. Let's not rule out Microsoft hosting a press event or two, even though it's staying off the main keynote circuit. Sony speaks to next-gen gadgetsSony CEO Kazuo Hirai is slated to deliver a keynote address as part of the Tech Titans keynote series, "where CEOs from the most powerful companies in technology present their vision for revolutions in products, services and networks." Sony will be coming off a holiday season high where it saw the release of the PS4, and with a few high-powered phones rumored for release before long, look for Hirai to drop sales figures and talk about Sony's role in pushing hardware innovation forward. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/gadgets/Sony_MHZT3W_Head_Mounted_Display-100-100.jpg More to that point, the company is reportedly working on a virtual reality headset modeled in the vein of the Oculus Rift. According to Eurogamer, Sony's targeting a 2014 release for its VR dream. A keynote where he's supposed to talk about his "vision for revolutions in products, services and networks?" Sounds like CES 2014 is a plausible place for next-gen PS4 accessory to rear its head. The company dropped some heavy hints in early December that its CES will focus heavily on 4K tech, so keep an eye out for camcorders, TVs and even smartphones and laptops sporting Ultra HD. Asus prepping to pull double duty?It's tenuous, but a teaser video released December 23 strongly suggests Asus is planning a new tablet that will pull double duty. More specifically, it seems the company is plotting a slate that can dual-boot Android and Windows. The device in a questionable Statue of Liberty-led video may also be a tablet/laptop hybrid, or some other creation Asus' mad scientists have cooked up in the lab. We've recently learned that a manual published on Asus' website confirms a VivoTab Note 8 is in the offing, and will probably be Asus' hot ticket item in Vegas (or at least one of them). Yahoo's rock star heading to VegasMarissa Mayer is another notable name, and so far the only woman, who will be joining Sony's Hirai and Intel's Brian Krzanich for a Tech Titan keynote. It's likely she'll expand on her previous talks about Yahoo's mobile user growth, and imminent changes to Yahoo in general. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/TechCrunch%20Disrupt%202013/Mayer%20at%20Disrupt-420-100.jpg With all the new rollouts the company has already issued - like the new logo and email interface - we might even hear about a brand new project. Time for LG to flex, go pixel-crazyWe don't expect LG to deviate too far from this script, but there's one smartphone topic to keep an eye out for. As we mentioned before, the company has announced its G Flex phone, a handset that actually bends when pressure is applied (and doesn't break - that's key). Look for a some chest-thumping on that front, especially as it didn't make much of it last year while Samsung wowed us with Youm. This time, the opportunity shouldn't be missed. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/mobile_phones/LG/G%20Flex/Review/lg-g-flex-review-55-420-100.jpg LG is slowly releasing the phone outside of South Korea, with pre-orders going live in Singapore and Hong Kong in December. Will CES hold broader release details for the G Flex? Say, for the UK, US and Australia? It's probably still early for the LG G Flex 2, which will reportedly bend 90 degrees, but things do tend to get twisted in Las Vegas. Interestingly, LG revealed some of what it has in store for CES in mid-December, focusing primarily on the PC front. The company will showcase a number of desktop monitors, including ones with 2K and 4K resolutions. Also on December 17, LG announced the Chrombase, its Chrome OS all-in-one that will definitely be on the CES docket. The 21.5-inch comp is primarily business focused, and more details are due in January. As much as we like the thought of sentient dishwashers, we'll be paying attention to what LG has to say on its CES bread-and-butter - TVs. Speaking of ... LG takes aim at TV dominanceBeating Samsung to the punch by mere hours, LG also announced December 18 that it's taking a 105-inch curved 4K Ultra HD TV to CES. The aspect ratio is marked at 21:9 - what LG calls "CinemaScope," but we'll see how it stacks up to Sammy's at the show. The company also said December 19 that it plans to show its first smart TV featuring HP's cast-off webOS at CES 2014. We wouldn't be surprised if LG shows some sort of 8K TV prototype as well (Sharp did such a thing last year). It'd be nice if we saw a price drop on the 4K TV front, but we won't hold our breath that LG or any other manufacturer is ready to do that just yet. LG and Samsung to unveil flexible TVs?Both LG and Samsung have been pegged to show off flexible OLED TV prototypes at CES, with one LG executive telling the Korea Times that the company's head of TV "will meet with clients and reporters ... and will promote something new" plus "unveil a remote bendable OLED TV that hasn't been seen before." It doesn't get much clearer than that. Samsung's flexible TV is said to have a "huge" display, and it too will have a remote that controls its bends. Steam Machines to become more than vaporAfter much teasing throughout the years, Valve finally unveiled its concept for the game console, called Steam Machines. After giving us previews of the Steam controller and SteamOS, Valve showed the first Steam Machine prototype on November 4. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/games_consoles/Valve/Steam%20machine%20prototype-420-100.jpg Valve is sending the machine (with varying specs) out to 300 lucky beta testers this year, and word is CES 2014 will be the console's (make that consoles) biggest coming out party yet. The Seattle Times has word that various Steam Machines will be on display at the tech show, meaning we're in for not just one but several hands ons with these PC gaming wunderkinds. Valve itself has said information on the commercial Steam Machines is due at CES, meaning we'll have plenty of data to crunch and hands on reviews to write in early January. Maybe we'll see ex-Valvers' Kickstarter backed augmented reality glasses?In addition to Valve's own creation, Steam Machine partners are coming out of the woodwork with word they plan to show their Linux-based consoles in Las Vegas as well. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/games_consoles/Valve/ibuypower%20steam%20prototype2-420-100.jpg iBuyPower has already shown off its own versions of the boxes, which we're betting will make an appearance on the Vegas show floor. Digital Storm revealed on December 11 that it plans to unveil its Steam Machine at CES, a hybrid that runs both the SteamOS and Windows and has a starting price of $1,469 (about £896, AU$1,620). Oppo may launch the first 2K smartphoneIt's not the most well-known phone maker, but Oppo may just drop a next-gen bomb on the LVCC with the introduction of the world's first 2K smartphone. The company teased on Twitter December 17 that its Find 7 will feature a 2K display. Oppo was first out the gate with 1080p tech, and now it looks like it has another title in its sights. Nothing is confirmed as far as a launch goes, but look for the Find 7 to grace us with its high-pixel count next month. Wearables and fitness tech ahoyIf the thought of computers and exercise seems like an oxymoron, you couldn't be more wrong. In fact, fitness tech will see a much bigger presence during CES, with the Digital Fitness Area being expanded by 30% to include more space for new tech. Though fitness bands like the Fitbit Force and Nike Fuelband are already familiar faces, we'll probably see more bands and other types of wearable tech battle it out for our attention. Speaking of wearable tech, the Pebble made a splash at CES 2013 where its release was finally announced - cut to fall 2013 and a wave of others like the Sony SmartWatch 2, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Qualcomm Toq have joined the fancy watch scene. With rumors of the Google watch and Apple's iWatch hot on their heels, we definitely expect to see more smartwatches pop up during the show. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/Fitness_tech/Fitbit/Force/fitbit-force-100-100.jpg Seems like CES 2014 read our minds: There will definitely be an explosion of smartwatches on the Vegas showfloor in the form of a "WristRevolution" where everything from app-based programs to music players, health monitors and more will be shown off. A few confirmed watch exhibitors will be Burg Limited, COOKOO, Dennco Brands, Kronoz LLC, MetaWatch, Neptune and Qualcomm Toq. Beyond the wrist, high fashion - or just fashion in the form wearable tech - will also make waves. Karen Chupka, senior vice president of CES, said to look out for "... jackets that adjust based on outside temperatures to solar-charging handbags and more, innovations in wearable technology are shaping the [tech] industry" at the 2014 show. Perhaps we'll see and try out functional and fashionable tech that we won't be too embarrassed to wear (looking at you, Google Glass). Epson, best known for its printers, has revealed that it will be announcing "several new innovations in the wearable tech space," with a press conference planned for January 6 at 4 p.m. PST. The company already has some eyewear offerings, so we're intrigued what these new innovations could be. Speaking of Google...It looks like we'll be seeing new tech from the search engine giant at CES. Recent announcements from video compression company Ambarella state Google will jointly demo new new wearable cameras for use with Google Helpouts on the show floor. The cameras record full HD video and then stream it live in real time to the Google Helpouts server over Wi-Fi or via mobile hotspots. Intel on tablets, Haswell and Windows 8.1Intel CEO Brian Krzanich is on tap to deliver an opening keynote at 6:30 p.m. PST on January 6. With LG at 8 a.m. and Audi's Rupert Stadler at 8:30 p.m., it's going to be a long day. But! Back to Intel and not thoughts on all the coffee we'll be drinking. We expect Krzanich and the Intel floor team to focus heavily on Haswell, Ultrabooks housing the battery-saving, power-boosting processor, and Windows 8.1 tablets bandying Bay Trail. In short, Intel should have quite a few new tablets as well as Ultrabooks, all centered around its own innards and Microsoft's latest OS. Intel is also looking to shake up the wearable space with a bit of its own wearable tech. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich didn't tip his hand as to what we should expect from Intel's wearable technology, but he did hint at the processor behind it. The company is preparing a new family of Quark chips. The low-powered System-on-a-Chip is expanding from household items to all sorts of Internet of Things devices, including wearables. "Our view is that Quark can make almost everything smart," said Krzanich. "We'll show you some things that you would never have thought could become smart and communicate." The 3D printing explosionIt's not a tech expo without a 3D printing demo going on somewhere (see: IDF 2013), but CES 2014 is taking it to a whole new level with a larger-than-ever area dedicated to the machines that let you print your own bowls and vases. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/3doodler1-100-100.jpg According to CNET, Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronic Association, said on October 1 that the 3D printing tech zone is sold out for exhibitors. The area is meant to complement others dedicated to motion tech, robotics and more. Bre Pettis, CEO and co-founder of MakerBot, will deliver a keynote address during the Leaders in Technology Dinner. Shapiro says we can expect, "... his [Pettis'] vision for how 3D printing will transform entrepreneurship, business and consumer opportunities in the year ahead." Will we see the tech expand beyond printing do-dads, guns and heart valves? We hope to find out in Vegas. Did we mention there will be TVs?If there's one thing you can always count on seeing at CES, it's the beastly TVs that get bigger - and better - every year. Ultra HD 4K TVs will be back on hand to look at (or look up at) during the 2014 edition. A quick refresher: Ultra HD aims to deliver four times the resolution of today's full high-definition TVs, with more than eight million pixels of resolution. And because one-upmanish is always to be expected, 8K resolutions are sure to give the lights on the Strip a run for their money. Best TV 2013: what TV should you buy?We expect the bigwigs - Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Sharp - plus smaller guys like Hisense to return in full form to show off bigger, better and brighter Ultra HD TVs. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/Dolby%20At%20the%20Labs/Dolby%20sound-420-100.jpg We're prepped for just about every TV presser, though pay close attention to Hisense as it will likely also discuss its foray into new devices, namely tablets. We'll be seeing some new TV imaging tech from Dolby in Vegas as well. At a recent event TechRadar attended, Dolby reps informed us that five of the latest OEM glasses-free 3D screens will be on the floor, and a new super intense television display - one with "better pixels," wider dynamic range and contrast sensitivity to allow for more realistic colors. For the audiophileshttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/TRTipOff/soul%20top-420-100.jpg Headphones are getting better every year, including fancy celebrity endorsed ones that will set you back quite a bit. But we're sure there are bound to be cheaper headphones - and quite a lot of them - in Vegas. In fact, we already know Soul by Ludacris will be on hand to demo athletic headphones "fit for professional athletes and active lifestyles," and might show up with a star or two. Monster will also show off its headphones along with speaker docks and mobile accessories. You can relive the good times of CES 2013 right here.

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Nokia/Nokia_Lumia_Black_WP8_update-470-75.jpgNokia has revealed a significant software update for its range of Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices bringing a host of new features into play for owners of handsets like the Lumia 1020. The Lumia Black update allows users to group like-minded apps into folders within a single Live Tile on the homescreen, making it easier than ever to customise the Windows Phone Start screen. Also along for the ride is Nokia's neat Refocus camera app (here, go play with it!) which, like the Lytro camera, allows users to take a picture and then choose the image's point of focus. For keen photographers there's also the introduction of the new Nokia Camera interface for WP8 users. So far that software has only appeared on the company's PureView handsets. The Storyteller mode, which arranges photos by date and place, is also included. Nice BeamerThe Lumia Black update, which is rolling out worldwide for Lumia 1020 and Lumia 925 today and "in the coming weeks" soon for other Nokia WP8 devices, also includes the Nokia Beamer screen mirroring tech. Other new features include Nokia Glance, which gives users a quick indication of pending notifications, while 'Black' will also unlock Bluetooth LE connectivity for all applicable devices. The update can be downloaded over the air and you can check if it's available yet by heading to Settings > Phone Update. 10 Apps to supercharge your Nokia Lumia 925http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/35b5415c/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528480071/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b5415c/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528480071/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b5415c/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528480071/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b5415c/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528480071/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b5415c/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528480071/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b5415c/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/LbbaJfSwp-I

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/games_consoles/Xbox%20One/official%20screens/22e8f2a9-5e83-4864-9b92-8d962fa5548f-470-75.jpgMicrosoft may not have a presence at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, but that doesn't mean its next-generation gaming console can't steal a little bit of the limelight away from other manufacturers. Engadget reported Wednesday that Microsoft engineers are hard at work on the first big update to Xbox One, which promises to address early criticisms from gamers with a more streamlined Xbox Live experience. Although Microsoft doesn't have an official presence at CES, Xbox Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten was on hand to meet with partners and take an "environmental scan" of the event to see what the competition is up to. Whitten also found time to sit down for a brief interview with Engadget, where he dished on Xbox Live updates and when Microsoft plans to deliver Twitch game streaming functionality missing at launch. Theme it upAccording to Whitten, he and his team have taken early feedback and used it to shape the first major update for the Xbox One, which should be heading to more than three million (and counting) consoles in the weeks to come. "As a person who's been pretty involved in building Xbox Live for the last decade, I take it pretty seriously when people say it's harder to get into a party, and the defaults aren't right, and I don't like the model. So what I'm trying to do with the team is kind of theme some stuff up," Whitten elaborated. In addition to improving the "Live experience," Whitten also divulged those fixes could be soon be followed by game streaming sometime before this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which kicks off June 10 in Los Angeles. "This is not 100 percent, but my general strategy at E3 is to talk about things that are gonna happen from that E3 to the next E3. So, we are not yet to the next E3," Whitten teased with a smirk, hinting that gamers won't have to wait until June to start streaming. Check out our hands-on look at Sony's new PlayStation Now!http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/35b50d3a/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528477673/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b50d3a/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528477673/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b50d3a/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528477673/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b50d3a/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528477673/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b50d3a/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528477673/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35b50d3a/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/AJbWbbX8cbk

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/ZTE/Grand%20S/Press/GrandS-Press-01-470-75.jpgZTE has announced a new version of the innovative Car Mode application for its range of Android devices, allowing users to use voice commands to unlock the device, search for directions and control music. With in-car connectivity a big theme at this week's CES show, ZTE has boosted the Nuance-powered app with voice biometrics technology meaning devices can easily be unlocked while focusing on the road. The improved driving companion app will now recognise each user's voiceprint and will unlock to general or child mode, without the need to insert passwords and pin numbers while driving. Also new to the Car Mode app is the ability to use voice commands for navigation. Drivers will be able to ask for directions to addresses or points of interest or local amenities, with the results loading in Google Maps and presented with voice-powered turn-by-turn navigation. Barge inThe new functionality doesn't end there. There's also a music barge in mode, which allows users to ask the device to Play, Pause, Stop, Play Next Song or Play Previous song. ZTE's announcement comes after Google announced an Open Auto Alliance aimed at having Android-based connectivity built into new vehicles as standard. Among Google's parters are Audi, GM, Honda, Hyundai, and chip manufacturer Nvidia, as it seeks to provide a safe, driving-optimised was to integrate our favourite smartphone features into the car. Of ZTE's latest bid to do the same Zeng Xuezhong, executive VP of mobile devices, said:."Voice biometrics, natural language navigation and music barge-in are breakthroughs in handset-based telematics, giving people the connectivity they expect as part of a mobile lifestyle, while minimizing dangerous in-car distractions. "Nuance's advanced voice technology provides us with diversified and innovative speech capabilities for our mobile devices, giving users truly intelligent, safe and great mobile experiences." A ZTE smartwatch is coming in 2014... but it'll only work with ZTE phoneshttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/35ac0cfc/sc/5/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528433246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35ac0cfc/sc/5/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528433246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35ac0cfc/sc/5/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528433246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35ac0cfc/sc/5/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528433246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35ac0cfc/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528433246/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35ac0cfc/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/wqFIXLmgO90

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/TRBC/Buildings/Microsoft/microsoft-hq-redmond-470-75.JPGMicrosoft's new CEO is unlikely to be named this month, according to reports on Wednesday suggesting Bill Gates is in no hurry to announce the new face of the company. Re/code's well-connected Kara Swisher claims the Microsoft chairman is leading the search to find Steve Ballmer's replacement, but a busy January for his Foundation makes an imminent decision unlikely. "This is a Gates search, even though the board is very involved," a source told Swisher. "But nothing is going to happen without him, especially since he will be much more involved in the company going forward." Gates' January commitments include key communications from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, plus his attendance at a global conference in Switzerland. Microsoft's quarterly financial results will also be announced on January 23, leaving Gates little time to focus on the selection or naming of the new CEO. Ford boss out of the runningMeanwhile, one name you can cross off the list is current Ford CEO Alan Mulally, who has officially ruled himself out of the running to succeed Ballmer. Mulally, thought to be among a handful of top candidates under consideration said on Wednesday: "I would like to end the Microsoft speculation because I have no other plans to do anything other than serve Ford. You don't have to worry about me leaving." Are all roads leading to Stephen Elop? Could the man who oversaw Nokia's fall from grace really be sitting in the big chair at the world's biggest software company within months? It would be brave to bet against that now, although internal candidates Londoner Tony Bates, Kevin Turner and Satya Nadella are also thought to be in with a shout. Who would you pick? Let us know in the comments section below. Stephen Elop would ditch Bing and sell Xbox if he got the top job, according to reports. Yikes!http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/35a9f743/sc/21/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528427569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35a9f743/sc/21/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528427569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35a9f743/sc/21/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528427569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35a9f743/sc/21/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528427569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35a9f743/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528427569/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35a9f743/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/USwuGhdJpk8

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/gadgets/BelkinWeMosmartLEDbulb-470-75.jpgBelkin is showing off its WeMo Smart LED Bulbs at CES 2014, adding to its line of WeMo connected home products. Belkin introduced the WeMo Light Switch last year, so the move to LED smart bulbs is a natural progression - one that costs much less than the similar Philips Hue. Working with Belkin's WeMo Link and WeMo app for iOS and Android, the WeMo smart LED lightbulbs are 60-watt equivalent with 800 lumens brightness that last up to 23 years, according to Belkin. And with being fully dimmable, they can be customized on the go with a number of modes, such as "dim to sleep". WeMo everywhereAlong with the bulbs, Belkin announced it will release a starter kit that includes two bulbs and one WeMo Link, through which up to 50 bulbs can be supported. The bulbs will cost $39.99 while the kit will cost $129.99. Belkin also introduced the DIY WeMo Maker Kit, which allows you to create a WeMo solution for devices controlled via a DC switch, like a sprinkler system, garage door or antennaes. No price was announced for the WeMo Maker Kit, but it and the bulbs will be available later this year. The WeMo app is also scheduled to receive an update in February. Here's more from CES 2014

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/events/CES%202014/Yahoo%20Press%20Conference/Yahoo%20Press%20Conference-295-470-75.jpgYahoo has announced a few digital properties at CES 2014, ones aimed to simplify and beautify news consumption. The first announcement was called Yahoo News Digest, an app that curates news from various sources and sends them to users in twice-daily rounds updates, or "digests." The idea, CEO Marissa Mayer said, is to eliminate "tl:dr," or "too long; don't read." With News Digest, users get a splashy picture followed by summaries of stories culled from around the web. Click on a story, and users see a brief summary, followed by a unique set of "atoms" pertinent to the content. A story about conflict in the Middle East may include a map of where the event took place, for example. More to follow... http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/359e8419/sc/4/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528329799/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/359e8419/sc/4/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528329799/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/359e8419/sc/4/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528329799/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/359e8419/sc/4/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528329799/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/359e8419/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528329799/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/359e8419/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/kRMz9sYqyQU

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/events/CES%202014/Onstar%20Chevy%20event/DSC00037-470-75.JPGOnStar and Chevrolet announced the imminent arrival of 4G LTE service from AT&T during CES 2014. The drool worthy 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, Impala, Malibu and Volt are among the first GM cars to have the option of OnStar 4G LTE, with availability starting this summer. The 2015 Equinox, Silverado, Silverado HD, Spark and Spark EV, as well as the Chevrolet Trax subcompact CUV in Canada, plus more models will be announced later in the year. Senior Vice President of Global Chevrolet Alan Batey says of the emerging automotive capabilities: "Chevrolet is expected to implement the broadest deployment of 4G LTE in the automotive industry. The fact that OnStar with 4G LTE will be available in models that range from the Chevrolet Spark to the Silverado to the Corvette, is indicative of our broad commitment to deliver more value and convenience through smart technology applications. This new, purposeful technology solution will make our consumers lives easier to connect." Up to seven devices can be supported with a vehicle's 4G LTE service, where customers can add on to their current data plan or an individual plan. GM will announce more details on data packages and pricing later. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/CES%202014/Onstar%20Chevy%20event/DSC00056-420-90.JPG The connected carThe addition of 4G LTE in Chevys' makes the introduction of an app store even handier. Called the "AppShop," the service offers a collection of apps to fit your needs right from the touchscreen. Whether its news, music, weather conditions and more, including a Vehicle Health app that informs you of issues with your car. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/events/CES%202014/Onstar%20Chevy%20event/DSC00079-420-90.JPG Another neat feature allows you to update and uninstall apps at your leisure so there won't be as much bloatware and your car's system won't go out of style. Batey notes that the "car will evolve with the customer." Like the OnStar 4G LTE, the AppShop is an option that can be added on to your car purchase. Connect cars, connected homes from Samsung - there seems to be a lot of love for connectedness at this year's CES.http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/358c7f00/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528209842/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/358c7f00/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528209842/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/358c7f00/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528209842/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/358c7f00/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528209842/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/358c7f00/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528209842/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/358c7f00/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/O5JY1MbV2uQ

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/Eton_College-470-75.jpgIt must get a little lonely at the boys-only, £35,000-a-year Eton College, so you can't blame the young squires for seeking a little female comfort through the occasional Snapchat message. However the headmaster at the exclusive private school, which David Cameron and half of his inner circle attended, has insisted illicit exchanges of photos will not be taking place on its Wi-Fi network. "Boys can still use it via the 3G phone network, but we hope that blocking it on our network will, at least, make them think twice," Tony Little told the Telegraph. So now it all fits into place! No wonder the PM so consumed by his mission to cleanse the nation of indecent online content (unless we tell him we want to look at it first). More Blips!Not that there's any nudity, but you won't have to opt in to see these blips... Samsung outs a fancy new pebble-shaped Smart Control remotePaw for thought? Dog-to-English translator reaches funding goalBlackBerry pulls buggy Twitter update for BB10http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/35870fd5/sc/38/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528169524/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35870fd5/sc/38/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528169524/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35870fd5/sc/38/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528169524/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35870fd5/sc/38/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528169524/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35870fd5/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528169524/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35870fd5/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/sF2c7T18HGE

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Microsoft/Windows81/tips/00%20Intro-470-75.jpgWhen Windows 8 introduced the Start screen at the expense of the Start menu, it certainly made the natives restless. "It's bigger, brighter, bolder, much more personal — and much more controversial" we wrote in our Windows 8 review. And you only need to take a quick glance down at the comments underneath that article to see some of the anger directed at Microsoft. Where was the hallowed Start button? Why had the desktop been demoted to app status? How does this new-fangled Start screen work? From the Facebook news feed to iOS 7, big changes always generate a certain amount of opposing opinions. For many, it felt as if Microsoft was foisting an unwanted tablet interface onto its loyal user base, those who were already happy with the traditional Start menu, taskbar and desktop paradigm. Start screen vs Start menuFor me, after a full year of use, it feels like the brave new world of the Start screen is one that I'm very happy to be in — the look of Windows 7 feels rather old-fashioned and one-dimensional in comparison. http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/software/Windows/windows_81_rtm/personalise%20startscreen-420-100.jpg Once you've worked out how to operate the Start screen - which for most people, should be about 10-15 minutes - it's fast, intuitive and on the whole a pleasure to use. It's certainly better looking than its predecessor. As soon as Windows loads, I'm met with news stories, weather updates, emails and social media feeds before I've even clicked anything, thanks to the Live Tiles. My most-used apps are right in front of me rather than buried in hard-to-find sub-menus. When it's time to open up the old faithful desktop, it comes across as somewhat static and cluttered, although perhaps I just need to organise my shortcuts better... Improved Start screen appsThe Start screen apps - admittedly very basic and awkward when Windows 8 first came out - are fast improving in quality (although some issues remain). Netflix, for example, feels so much more intuitive and smooth when run from the Start screen rather than inside a browser, with its endlessly scrolling titles and chunky controls. Most of my time is still spent on the desktop. But when I want to focus on one task (such as a movie or a video call) the simplicity and ease-of-use of the Windows 8.1 Start screen always appeals. http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/software/Windows/windows_81_rtm/customise%20start%20screen-420-100.jpg On the whole I'm still much more attached to desktop applications, but as a launcher and navigation tool the Start screen has won me round. Viewing running apps as a cascade of thumbnails down the left makes much more sense than poking around on the taskbar, while the global Search and Settings charms are a huge improvement over grappling with File Explorer or Control Panel. The latter options are still there for the power users (and I make use of them often) but for quick, painless computing the Start screen makes sense more often than not. Optimised for touchI haven't used Windows 8/8.1 on a tablet, but I imagine the benefits are even more pronounced. The old desktop approach was never going to work on tablets - just look at the Windows XP slabs Bill Gates was pushing back in 2001 - and Microsoft needed something fresh. Of course it was going to be a bumpy ride, with many of us attached to the Start menu and quite happy with that way of working. However, I'm betting that anyone whose first PC is a Windows 8.1 machine is going to look back at the Start menu and find it more than a little antiquated. http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/software/Microsoft/Windows81/tips/10%20hot-420-100.jpg Windows 8.1 ironed out many of the niggling problems with the original Windows 8. Start screen apps can now be organised with greater ease and sorted into groups that are, in my eyes, an improvement on the nested maze of folders that the Start menu offered. You can even boot straight to the desktop if you want to. There's obviously still work to be done - a Start screen app opening up a file you wanted to see on the desktop remains a jarring experience - but further refinements will follow. Don't rule out a Windows 8.2 update in 2014. Rethinking WindowsIf you're old enough to remember back to when Windows 95 arrived, you'll know that this isn't the first time Microsoft has had to rethink the way that we use our computers. Eyebrows were raised and some quick changes of habit were required when the Start menu first appeared, complete with a Brian Eno sound effect. But before long we all got on with the new way of working and soon found it impossible to go back. Then, as now, Microsoft was trying to introduce a new approach to applications and files while trying to stay faithful to its past (the legacy of MS-DOS and the needs of power users). http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBCfeatures/Windows%208.1/02%20Apps-420-100.jpg The Start menu was gradually accepted as the more modern and flexible approach, and Microsoft will be hoping that the Start screen can pull off the same trick, given enough time. After using it day in and day out, I'm a convert. Try giving the Start screen a chance (or a second or third chance), and you might find yourself won over. Now why not read 15 Windows 8.1 annoyances fixed?http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/3585934b/sc/4/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528169540/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585934b/sc/4/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528169540/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585934b/sc/4/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528169540/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585934b/sc/4/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528169540/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585934b/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528169540/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585934b/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/wn1xB5biGvA

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/magazines/Linux/Issue%20176/LXF176.iview.karen_s_11-470-75.jpgA cyborg gnome conjures up images of a garden ornament wielding a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range, so we're looking forward to meeting Karen Sandler, executive director of the Gnome Foundation and self-professed cyborg lawyer. What followed was a journey through Gnome 3, security flaws in medical implants and why people shouldn't be jerks online. Linux Format: I saw your presentation on closed source medical software from two years ago, in which you were talking about proprietary software used in medical implants. The intellectual case for free software there is unanswerable. Karen Sandler: It was really weird to experience personally, being a lawyer at the Software Freedom Law Center; finding out that I needed this device, then finding out that it was based on proprietary software. Over the course of evaluating whether to get this device and having the magnitude of all of that sink in, I realised that it's not just my medical device; it's not just our lives that are relying on this software: it's our cars, and our voting machines, and our stock markets and now our phones in the way that we communicate with one another. We're building this infrastructure, and it's putting so much trust in the hands of individual corporations, in software that we can't review and we can't control. Terrifying. LXF: Had you only just got the heart device when you found out that it contained this mystery software? KS: I found out when I was 31 that I had the heart condition, and then it took me a whole year of struggling with the idea of whether I should get this device. First of all figuring out whether I needed one, getting doctors' opinions and then getting second opinions, and I kept putting it off. I took a whole year, and I finally decided I would get the device. And then it took me a whole other year to do the research, because every time I read about the failures of these medical devices it affected me so personally. Reading about the failed insulin pumps other software failures on medical devices, people who got lethal doses of insulin… I would start working on it and then have to put the research away, and come back and start again. It took a long time because it was a very emotional issue for me. LXF: Was that because of a bug? KS: There were multiple reasons why the insulin pumps failed, one of which was that it was unclear which field was minutes and which was hours for the dosage time, and so people were setting minutes when they thought they were setting hours for the dosages. I don't know whether you've read about this, but there's a guy called Barnaby Jack, who has done some really cool research in showing how vulnerable these devices are, and he has demonstrated that with an iPhone in a public place you can identify people with insulin pumps and pacemaker/defibrillators and in both cases can deliver a lethal result. I actually have an older device, because I was so freaked out about this. [Note: Barnaby recently died unexpectedly. You can read Karen's Gnome blog comment about it here]. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/magazines/Linux/Issue%20176/LXF176.iview.karen_s_3-420-90.jpg LXF: It's pretty crazy that you can interfere with someone's heart by Wi-Fi. KS: I was so freaked out about this. I kept trying to talk to doctors about it and they wouldn't listen to me, or they just didn't know how to handle the conversation with me. I had one electrophysiologist who I talked to who just hung up the phone on me. I said that I can imagine that there are classes of people who might be attacked in this way. Think of the people who have these devices: people who have access to really fine medical care. What percentage of our politicians, or our judges, or other people in positions of power have these devices? Dick Cheney had one of these devices. It's not that hard to think about targeting, sending out a signal… so he hung up on me. I finally found another doctor who understood the issue, and I got one of the older devices. You can talk to it with magnetic coupling. It doesn't have the wireless component. It's starting to run out of battery though, so I'm going to have to get it replaced. I'm going to have to confront it again, because there aren't any of the older devices left, so I'm going to have to get a new one, and they still haven't fixed this problem. LXF: Have you made any progress on the medical devices? KS: Only in raising awareness of the issue, which has I think been very helpful. I don't know if it's really because of me, but some of the jokes I have made have made it into other areas. Like, a joke that I had made in my early talks about this was also made on The Big Bang Theory. It probably wasn't me exactly, but I think just me talking about it in tech circles, you know, it captures the imagination. It's been a plot point in CSI and it's been a plot point in Homeland, the TV show. I'm not so full of myself that I would take credit for these things, but describing the situation and talking about it I think makes people think about it in that way. There's been progress in popular culture and understanding that these devices can be problematic. There's been progress with the FDA in that it's announced now that there could be problems, but there's been very little discussion about the software transparency component to this, and very few efforts to curb the medical device companies. The most believable reason I've heard for not requiring the device companies to publish their source code is that it will probably expose them to patent liability. LXF: They wouldn't lose out on licensing fees; I can't imagine that one manufacturer would develop software to be used in another's pacemakers, for example. KSL: It's a perfect example of where a proprietary business case makes no sense. LXF: But I think it also sounds like a perfect example of fear, uncertainty and doubt about open source software, that people allow to flourish in business software, for example. Releasing their software and realising that there are these critical problems in the source code that could be taken advantage of. KS: But these vulnerabilities exist in proprietary software too. This is why I'm so glad that Barnaby Jack and Kevin Fu do their work and demonstrate that these devices, where they're not publishing the code, are totally maliciously hackable. Security through obscurity doesn't work. LXF: It seems silly to continue with this interview. Everything else is going to seem banal in comparison with having potentially buggy software implanted in your vital organs. KS: OK, so we'll bridge to desktop environments from this: I was at a Usenix conference right after I gave that talk, a Usenix healthcare conference where I was asked to be on a panel with a gentleman who is in cyber security at the FDA. That was amazing because one of the talks I heard at the conference was a woman who was showing an app that she'd made for her iPhone where the phone could talk to her insulin pump. She had a fitness program on the iPhone where she could keep track of everything she ate and all of her exercise. The iPhone could talk to her insulin pump and monitor her blood sugar levels, and basically tell her how she was doing with the exercise and her eating with respect to her blood sugar levels. And first I was like "that's kind of cool" but then I realised: "Oh wow. Her iPhone is talking to her insulin pump!" We're relying on Apple for our health! To talk to our medical devices? When did that happen? We're building crazy amounts of infrastructure, and we're doing it by entrusting all this stuff to these companies. LXF: There's the Microsoft guy over there [we all turn and wave at the Microsoft guy who is having a chat with someone on the other side of the room. He waves back] KS: In a previous world we would have had a lot of government oversight and we would have had real infrastructure that was publicly motivated. We're making choices now that are going to be hard to go back on. We're building standards and we're building reliance on different kinds of software, and people don't even think about it. Software is just a tool right? Like a hammer? No one would think about the ethics or morality of a hammer. But it's just not the case with software. If software isn't reviewable then we're in trouble. We need to build on free and open platforms, and that's why I moved to Gnome. Because now we use our computers for everything, and therefore they have to be usable, by everyone. If we keep making solutions that are not easy for everyone to use, we'll never get adoption. And if they're not built by an independent, non-profit driven structure, we're just making bad choices as a society. When I first saw Gnome 3, I thought: this is the answer we are looking for. It's sleek, it's pretty, it is easy to use and it is different from anything that free software has done before. Two years later it still feels the same way. I love showing off Gnome. When I use it on aeroplanes people go "What is that? That looks so cool!" I think it uses the best of the PC and the Mac paradigms, so people can come in from both sides, and it's very easy for me to transition from society-critical software to the desktop, because Gnome is an ideological approach to computing and making sure that everyone has access to it. In a free software non-profit world we can care about accessibility; we can care about things like bringing in more voices; we can care about all the privacy issues; we can care about things that may not be in the bottom-line interests of particular companies, because we're free software and non-profit. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/magazines/Linux/Issue%20176/LXF176.iview.karen_s_15-420-90.jpg LXF: Does it bother you that a lot of people are not too impressed by Gnome 3? KS: You know, I think people have strong opinions about it, and people have been slowly coming to it. Gnome 3 was already well underway by the time I became executive director. And by the time I took the job Linus Torvalds had already said his negative comments about Gnome 3, and there was a storm of negative press. There's something - I think it's press in general, but I think it's even more so in the tech press - negative press gets picked up so hard, and there was sort of this feeding frenzy (no one really covered when Linus started using Gnome 3 again, for example). And so it was really slow going at the beginning, but I think more and more people have come back, given it a chance and found it to be this great environment. It's just so pretty looking to start with, and it's so easy to use, so people who want to give it a try wind up being quite enthusiastic about it… I'm not pointing any fingers, but because there's been a lot of fragmentation in the area it's actually made things a lot worse, because it's made, I think, people who maybe would have been formerly partners fan the flames a little bit. And I think that's sad, and I think that we should find all opportunities to work together to advance the GNU/Linux desktop together. Gnome is very well known and differentiated by the fact that we actively dive into the stack and try to fix problems from the bottom-up. It's one of the things that Gnome is really well known for and one thing that I'm really proud of about our community. That's why there's a great Wayland track at this year's GUADEC (the Gnome Users and Developers European Conference). Systemd, PulseAudio, all sorts of great stuff that has come out of our community because of that philosophy, and this philosophy in particular is something that we should try to highlight and work together so that we have less duplication across the stack. We as a whole are such a tiny, tiny percentage of the market, and when we can't give a clear answer to someone about what they should use or where they should start, you have 10 different projects going off in different directions, it's tough. I only care that free and open source software wins at the end of the day. I'm with Gnome because I think it's awesome. I think it's The One, but if another free software solution wins at the end of the day I don't mind so much; I just think we need to figure out what that is and all work together. LXF: On the subject of all working together, can you tell us a bit about the Gnome outreach programme for women? My first question was going to be: "Why does the sex of the person who wrote my distro matter?" But then when I looked again at the numbers, it's kind of obvious that there's something wrong. KS: It's amazing. Only 25% of all software developers are women. That includes all proprietary software. It used to be 30%. So you start out with that, which seems like a low number already, but OK, that's kind of understandable, women are less into software, I don't know what the reasons are, but OK. Then you look at students, and only 18% of computer science graduates are women. That also used to be a little bit higher, but whatever, It's sort of like OK, that's even less good; and then you look at free and open source software and all of the stats on the involvement of women are dramatically lower. The most I've even seen is 5% quoted but usually 3% or even 1% are the numbers used. It's an order of magnitude off. LXF: Why do you think there's such a massive gulf there? I would have expected it to be the other way round; free software is supposed to be inclusive and happy. KS: I don't want to get too much in detail about wondering why, because everything that I talk about is anecdotal. There aren't great surveys and research that show it. LXF: That's a problem in itself. KS: Yes, that is a problem, but I don't have that information. Actually the Ada Initiative is working towards getting more concrete data. LXF: Doesn't GitHub collect information on the sex of its contributors? KS: Do you want it to? I think there are studies that show that when you ask people to provide their gender, you're first of all asking them a binary question, which is not necessarily the right way to go because many people feel like they don't fit into one gender or another. LXF: In the UK you can't go to the dentist, for example, without filling in a form that asks for your sex. It's annoying, but I can understand why they're doing it. KS: You'll also find that of the people who don't respond, a much higher percentage of them tend to be women. So that skews the results as well. It's really tough to get a handle on those numbers. I'd rather just think about all the reasons that could possibly be the case and try to find acceptable solutions to them. That's what we've been doing. You know, if people are jerks on mailing lists, women in particular get turned off. Anecdotally, that seems to be the case. You now what? People shouldn't be jerks on mailing lists. We should have friendly communities where people don't feel like they're going to be harassed. LXF: But everyone benefits when people aren't jerks on the internet. KS: Everyone benefits. And that's what we've found with the outreach programme for women. Each of the things that we've tried to overcome, we've found, makes our community better for everyone. So why not just do that? LXF: What else do you do to make the community better for everyone? KS: We have one big session at GUADEC - it's like a keynote basically, a keynote lightning talk session - where all the Google Summer of Code and Outreach Programme for Women participants just present their work. And it's great. For a lot of people English is their second language, so giving that talk is a major challenge. But then they have the confidence that they have presented in that way and the whole community has seem their work, and knows what they're doing and knows why they're there. That's great, and it has helped a lot with having people feel like they're more integrated into our community. Actually it's not just have them feel that way, but really be more integrated, because when somebody else is working on something related to it they know that they should talk to that newcomer as well. We have an outreach programme for women and we've extended it to other free software projects and so we have 18 different projects that are participating through different distros. So we've got Debian and Fedora, and we've got the Linux kernel, and Wikimedia. LXF: Subversion? KS: Yes, as I understand it, Subversion didn't have any women contributing to it at all before it took part in our outreach programme for women, which is amazing. And the Linux kernel has a terrible track record in attracting women to participate. Now this summer there are seven women who are contributing to the Linux kernel actively through the programme. So it's a programme that works, but one of the things is that we've been learning all these lessons at Gnome and we're trying to do the best that we can to give all our newcomers a shot. Not all of those things are going to be as incorporated into the other projects. We encourage other free software projects to make efforts to incorporate and newcomers at their conferences, but I'm sure they don't do the exact same thing as we do, and they're finding out what works for them. We do now require that a $500 stipend is added into the internship, so the internship amount is now $5,500: $5,000 for the internship and $500 for travel. And that's because if you bring these women to events where they can meet the people they're working with, they're much more likely to stick around and form the relationships that we need in order to improve our communities. So we can have the program, but if we don't actually keep some of these women and integrate them into our communities there's no point in doing any of it. We're trying to do the best we can at Gnome to make things better, but I think the different participants in the outreach programme for women will find their own way. LXF: We're sold. How can we help? KS: If you know smart women, just tell them about the programme. They can either potentially get involved in some way or another. We actually got a number a of great applicants from friends of mine posting on social networking, who were not even in free software. Just getting the word out means that women who are qualified… There are exceptionally talented women who will go to proprietary software jobs without even giving free and open source software another thought. It'll get them thinking… If you're in a free software project, consider joining us, and if you're working in a company, please, please, please, ask about sponsorship. http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/3585997c/sc/4/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528155121/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585997c/sc/4/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528155121/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585997c/sc/4/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528155121/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585997c/sc/4/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186528155121/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585997c/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186528155121/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3585997c/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/48c0x0u3ZfY

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/televisions/LG/LG105UB9-470-75.jpgLG has confirmed a wide array of giant 4K Ultra HD televisions will be on show when CES gets underway this week, but they may be playing second fiddle to screens hosting the company's webOS software. LG said its curved 105-inch, cinematic 21:9, 5120 x 2160 screen (it's calling it 5K) will be joined by flatscreen 65-, 79-, 84- and 98-inch 4K models all boasting a retina-rocking resolution of 3,840 x 2,160. Those screens will utilise LG's own Tru-ULTRA HD Engine Pro processor which promises to upscale standard definition or high definition content, which should make up for the distinct lack of 4K content. The flagship 105-inch model will also see the debut of LG's new, front-facing 7.2 multi-channel ULTRA Surround, designed in collaboration with Harman Kardon. LG said the immersive new audio tech "takes the viewer deeper into the onscreen environment." Spotlight on webOS once againHowever, as we mentioned above, the giant Ultra HD sets may be a mere understudy to the screens running LG's webOS software, the former smartphone and tablet OS it purchased from HP last February. The Verge is showing photos from the show floor in Las Vegas where LG is currently setting up its booth and the webOS branding appears to feature very prominently. Alongside the new webOS logo are various promises of "easy navigation," "fun setup," and "simple connection," but we'll have to wait until early next week to find out exactly what that means. After dying a death in recent years, following its promising arrival on the scene five years ago, all of a sudden webOS is one of the more intriguing stories going into this year's show. We're pretty excited to see what LG has up its sleeve for the repurposed software. Could a Smart TV revolution be on the horizon? Typical! Samsung crashes LG's party by announcing its own 105-inch curved 4K display for CES.http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/35822cd5/sc/15/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186490236541/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35822cd5/sc/15/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186490236541/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35822cd5/sc/15/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186490236541/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35822cd5/sc/15/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/186490236541/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35822cd5/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/186490236541/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35822cd5/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/tAi_H9ezH3Y

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Apps/SnappyCam_app-470-75.jpgApple has reportedly purchased the company behind the photography app SnappyCam, which enables the iPhone to take continuous, full-res pictures at higher speeds than the native camera Following the app's recent disappearance from the App Store, TechCrunch brings word that the one-man SnappyLabs operation is now under Apple's command. The SnappyCam app, made it possible for the iPhone's camera to snap full resolution shots at between 20-30 frames per second, depending on the iPhone model and up to 60fps at lower resolution Naturally, that's significantly faster than Apple's own iSight camera software, and allowed the app to become a hit among iPhone users in many countries. Interest from the big gunsAccording to TechCrunch's sources, the SnappyCam app had attracted interest from "most of the major players," but it appears that Apple has won the day. The likelihood now is that Apple will fold SnappyCam's functionality into the iOS camera at some point, or will have the developer work on future iPhone camera tech. Terms of the deal have not been confirmed and Apple has not commented on the reports. However, the girlfriend of founder John Papandriopoulos, posted on Facebook to congratulate her partner, which, we suppose is as close to confirmation as it comes. Papandriopoulos is reportedly an electrical engineering phD at the University of Melbourne, but student or not, the Fosters will probably be on him tonight. http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/35820491/sc/5/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842745679/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35820491/sc/5/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842745679/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35820491/sc/5/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842745679/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35820491/sc/5/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842745679/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35820491/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842745679/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35820491/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/rjbAg_N5daE

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/magazines/Linux/Issue%20178/LXF178.iview.r0ml_team-470-75.jpg Robert Lefkowitz, who is nearly always referred to as 'r0ml', is an old skool hacker, programmer and thinker who switched from studying nuclear physics to computer programming in the 1970s. He met up with our sister magazine Linux Format for a wide-ranging conversation. Linux Format: Do you think computers and programming languages should be easier to understand? Robert Lefkowitz: So Charlemagne was concerned, in 789, he has this capitulary called The Adminitio Generalis, in which he reasons that monks learn how to read, so that they can read the word of God, so that they can follow God's law more effectively. If that's the case, why wouldn't you want every boy to learn to read? In fact, in this capitulary he says we will establish schools to teach every boy to read, freeman and serf. That, as near as I know, is the first aspiration to universal literacy. The other one is what the Scandinavians did a couple of hundred years later, if the emperor in those times puts out a capitulary, how is everyone in the empire going to follow it effectively - at least one person in every village has to know how to read it so that everybody will have roughly the same interpretation. So it's a way of creating cohesion for the empire. But the difficulty was that the technology was so bad that it was very difficult to read and required a lot of effort and training. My personal favourite is one of the things Alcuin (of York) shortly after invents is spaces between words. LXF: Why weren't we taught this in school! RL: It's one of those things that everyone takes for granted, "Obviously you're going to have spaces between words." But especially in Latin, there are a lot of phrases and a lot of mistranslations because if you look at the sequence of letters, you could break it in any one of two places and get two different things - and which one is correct? That's why they illuminated manuscripts because reading was so complicated. You needed pictorial hints so you knew what it was about. LXF: They added images before spaces? RL: And every scriptorium, since these things were hand-done, they each had their own hand, so there was no standard font. So, York comes down and he comes up with this standard font that's called the Carolingian minuscule to which all modern fonts trace their ancestry. He invents things like standard height ascenders, standard height descenders lengths, and then you add spaces between words and all of a sudden you have this ability to see the whole words as shapes. There's a whole number of innovations around making it possible for people to read that Alcuin kicked off. The next fifty years or so is called the Carolingian renaissance. This mini renaissance happens before the big famous renaissance later. I argue we're at that cusp where we're starting to say. 'Oh, we should teach everybody how to code,' but it's so complicated and difficult, and there's a thing like spaces between words which in retrospect will be so obvious; that makes it so much easier that we haven't thought of yet - we need an Alcuin of York. LXF: We're waiting for the spaces between words… it's not Python then? RL: (laughs) Well, I gave this talk out of PyCon, in fact, where I said a big revolution is to make spaces significant. So the Python audience can certainly relate to the concept that maybe that's the thing. But it was more than just the spaces between words. So maybe Python is that thing, but it's one of those things that's difficult to know except in perhaps a 100 years later when we look back… LXF: It's the concepts, conditional statements, the effort of constructing a solution to a problem that stays with you. This is what non-programmers are missing. It's the demystification of the process that means a lot of people go through the world thinking computers are magic. How do we tackle that? RL: I certainly think it's a more conceptual kind of education. I had set out about a year ago to write a book on this topic. And I had this thesis around what we've just been talking about - around Charlemagne, and this kind of cusp when you make it easy enough, universal literacy, and how universal literacy for computers is sort of analogous to universal phonetic literacy and what should we do to move that forward. But doing my research, my thinking evolved. I came across some other interesting stuff that I read which made my thinking evolve to the point where I don't believe my thesis holds water! LXF: What about the book! RL: There's still going to be a book! But I'll delay the schedule now because what I have to do is think about it some more and come up with a new thesis that I think holds water better, and that would be more effective. Fundamentally, the idea that literacy, from Charlemagne, and sort of subsequent revolutions of it throughout history, there were two main drivers for literacy and education, and literacy and education was all around reading. The reason it was all around reading was for these two societal myths; the first one was the Christian myth: in order to know the word of God you had to read the word of God. To read was to become better. You read in order to become good, and that was kind of the societal driving force. If it's going to make people better then obviously everyone should listen. And then the second myth, for us in colonial America, but also throughout the world, in order to have an effective democratic society, or any society, you need an informed citizenry. We felt we needed this because they needed to vote. In the non-democratic societies you needed to have an informed citizenry because they needed to know which laws to obey without getting in trouble. But in order to have an informed citizenry they needed to know how to read, and therefore, you have to teach them all how to read. Ta da! Because it will make them better citizens. Reading, is in Deborah Brandt's [professor emerita of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison] words, 'for good' not 'a good'. Writing, however, was 'a good'. You wrote, and it was a product, and then you could sell it. You didn't improve yourself by writing… That's the myth. And if you look at computing science in the 1980s, Donald Knuth's Literate Programming, they call talk about 'Yes, you have to write programs that can be readable so that other people can read them'. It's all informed by the underlying cultural sensibility that says 'Oh yes, reading is a good thing'. What I'm saying is something different. The second piece of the puzzle is the thesis that I'm developing now. In the beginning nobody reads and writes because we haven't invented that stuff, or it exists but it's only for bookkeeping. It doesn't have any societal impact because its all scribes in the royal treasury. Then, and we'll take this from Plato, Socrates believed writing was a bad idea. Plato agrees with Socrates but he writes down The Republic to explain why it's a bad idea. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/magazines/Linux/Issue%20178/LXF178.iview.r0ml_hand-420-90.jpg LXF: We're covering a lot of ground here… from the 1980s to 400BC. RL: (much laughter) Then from Aristotle, Plato, on, you have few readers but it's a societal thing, and few writers. A smaller number of people read, a smaller number of people write. This holds true roughly until Gutenberg - the printing press. They call that manuscript culture. In manuscript culture you don't have the notions of copyright, originality, plagiarism, because there's so few readers that it doesn't matter. The idea is that you couldn't possibly come up with a text all on your own anyway, because that's such a complicated thing, and you're pretty much pulling together from other texts and recombining stuff that's already there and you don't have to do attributions - none of that stuff, none of it exists. LXF: These texts would be amended as they were copied? RL: Either on purpose, or accidentally, yes, both. Sometimes there would be transcription errors - and there's some fascinating stuff when you read up about it. Sometimes it was anthologising, you'd be saying 'this is a good thing', and this one and you'd put them together. Sometimes you'd bother to mention the original source was and sometimes you wouldn't - what difference did it make? LXF: When no one could Google the source… RL: Right. So you have this notion of intertextuality. That means texts come from other texts. You can't really create a text from scratch. So you have that manuscript ethos and since there are really no readers, there's no commercial interest in writing or reading. Then you have the printing press and now you have a mass readership. This is what turns writing in 'a good' and reading into 'for good'. You still have a small number of writers because you have machinery in order to do the distribution, access and expense. But there is also now commercial gain. If you write something you can make money, and if somebody else 'steals it', that's where you have the notions of copyright, plagiarism, authorship - even the idea of authorship. Like who's the author of this scroll, you wouldn't even write your name down, because why would anybody else care? You didn't care, they didn't care, nobody cares. LXF: The writer isn't even thinking about it. RL: …So now what I'm suggesting is that there's a fourth age. The fourth age is Dave Winer, right, blogging happens, texting happens, Twitter happens. We're all writing more. Most people today write more than Dickens did in his lifetime. Not as good as Dickens, but more than Dickens! It's the volume. People say you can't make the comparison, because people write mostly lolcats and crap stuff and Dickens was awesome. But if the volume increases one thousand fold. If the average quality drops 50%. You've still got way more high quality than you used to. The level rises. We had this big ratio of readers to writers and now it's reverting back to its [dramatic pause for effect] medieval ratio. It was few and few but now it's many and many. When that ratio goes back, what should happen? And this is where I haven't thought this through, but in some ways it's going to revert to the medieval sensibility, and maybe that's why you see the weakening of the ideas of copyright, and it's not just happening with software, it's happening with music and journalism. You have this sort of disruption, not just in the business, but in whole societal/ethical framework around what's right and what's wrong. And that's being challenged. But the second thing that happened, and this is the one that's specific to code, which I think changes it so that's it's not just a reprise of the medieval era with the bar moved up, and that is - and I got that from Project Euler. Project Euler was a spin-off of a math learning site, it got very popular, and it got about 450 problems which are all math problems, because it started out to be math education, but they were the sort where you could only sort them with a computer. So the first problem is very simple - what's the sum of all of the numbers less than a million that are easily divisible by 3 and 5? You could do it with paper and pencil, but you write a computer program to do this, and the idea is that they get progressively harder. The thing that triggered this for me is that a FAQ on the website says: "Oh, I've figured out a really great solution in my favourite programming language to this problem, can I post it on the internet?" The response is, "You've answered your own question." You know that feeling you get that you're so proud of yourself because of a great solution you've figured out - don't steal that from everybody else. Don't post your code. Here what we have - and granted it's a very specific and narrow case, but I'm thinking from Aristotle on so I've got a thousand years forward to play with here, this is a case where somebody is saying, "To publish your source code would be wrong. Ethically wrong." Combining this with what we were talking about literacy, it's the writing in this case. When you go to Project Euler, you don't learn by reading, because you could - that's the old style of education, I'll just read up on these algorithms and that will make me a better person: no, no, no, no. The way you're going to figure these out is you're going to sit down and you're going to try to write solutions, because the thing that the computer does, the difference in terms of literacy, is that if you write something, how do you know if it's crappy or not? You have to get somebody to read to get any kind of feedback. When you write a programme, the computer will give you feedback. That might not be in a legible style for other humans but we're getting that medieval holdover stuff going on here. It will tell you the algorithm is more efficient or less efficient than that other thing you tried, and it will tell you whether you're getting the right answer or the wrong answer. So there's some set of feedback that you get by writing it and by writing it again only differently. Just you, just by writing, you become good at that. In this case, writing is 'a good'. Then you see the same thing popping up for Twitter, and Facebook, the cultural push is to say 'You should post, the writing is the good.' Those drivers that said everybody had to learn how to read, and then we start to teach programming, and then when you think about it, how do you teach programming? By teaching people to write a program and they don't teach them to read other people's programs. Is that because of the ethical sensibilities around that, or the practical sensibilities around that? If there were a canon of code, would it be useful for people to read it, and I think not. The cognitive dissonance for me was if I follow this thing through logically, what programming education would look like, open source would be bad in that world. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/magazines/Linux/Issue%20178/LXF178.iview.r0ml_oscon-420-90.jpg LXF: But this is only at a formative stage! RL: But it was sufficient cognitive dissonance for me to say that I have to think about this some more. The question that kicked this off, and I'm sorry for such a long answer, is this notion of what does programming education look like going forward? I think it's more writing driven than reading driven, so it differs from other literacy education. LXF: Writing the code should happen at the very beginning? RL: That's the long-term thinking. Short term, my thinking had been, and I haven't re-evaluated this, had been we shouldn't start with writing because, following a thought experiment - take somebody that you know that doesn't know anything about computers, adults or kids, and give them a program that has already been written in the favourite programming language of your choice, Python, Java, Smalltalk. LXF: Perl? RL: Or even Perl, it doesn't matter. Give them a program that is already written. Can they actually run it? Or pass it parameters if it needs parameters? And be able to tell if they need it or not and then be able to figure out how to get the output? Could they actually take an already written program and use it, read it? And I think the answer to that is mostly 'no'. This may be the spaces between words part, which is the 'why is it so hard to just figure out what to do with a program once it's written?' And maybe we should start there. If you're teaching people to write code, even after it's been written they don't know what to do with it, isn't that the cart before the horse? Maybe the first steps ought to be, and this is where open source is a good, 'Go to this website, search for the thing you want to do because somebody's done something that mostly does that, and install it and run it'. You want to do a program that has a blog, you could just go to blogger.com and get an account, but if you want to think like a programmer, you have to go get the code that does that, install it and run it. The programmer would actually write the code, install it and run it, but let's just skip the writing part and see if we can do the rest of it, and which is the harder part? And what does a citizen need to know who's not going to be a professional programmer? LXF: It should be about equipping ordinary people with the tools to demystify what tools are doing. Does it need this great arc, which is a great thing if you're into computers and you want to learn. RL: That's exactly right. I agree with you 100%. The demystification so that people understand roughly how an automobile works, so they know it's not going to fly. This idea of just being able to take already written code and see how quick it runs; how it gets used. Something in that space, and writing code is going to be part of that. I don't know if it's necessarily the first part of that, and we always seem to start there. LXF: That is all we've got, and it's how the people who are teaching were taught. RL: A large part of what's driving, and this is a holdover I think from the previous age … when you see people teaching people programming, it's always couched in the terms of you needing to teach people to do this in order to be economically competitive. Nobody says you need to read in order to be economically competitive. You learn to read to be a better functioning citizen. If you approach it from the, "I'm not going to grow up to be a programmer. I want to be a journalist. I want to be a ballet dancer." I wanted to start the book, something along the lines of, because my wife and kids are very much into the arts. I met my wife when she was teaching the circus arts, tightrope walking and so forth. And so, for her job does she need to know how to read? The answer is no. Why should we teach these people how to read? Because you have to know how to read to be able to function in society, right? But it's got nothing to do with their jobs. We don't teach people to read because it will make them more competitive in their jobs, if it's about demystifying computers so that the common man can live in a world that's heavily influenced by automata, they need to understand how it works but they're not going to use it for their jobs. They're going to use it for their daily lives, and how do they do that? I don't know. http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/357cdb75/sc/4/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842794538/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357cdb75/sc/4/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842794538/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357cdb75/sc/4/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842794538/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357cdb75/sc/4/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842794538/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357cdb75/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842794538/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357cdb75/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ts31sRHcEFI

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/internet/Vine_TV_mode-470-75.jpgTwitter-owned video sharing service Vine has rolled out its web profiles, allowing users to browser their feeds and visit the profiles of other users. After announcing the plans, and inviting users to sign up for vanity URLs last month, the company has wasted little time in launching the profiles. Users can now log in at the Vine.co page, where the experience is much the same as it is within the mobile apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. However, there is one major difference, a new TV mode, which allows users to browse through Vines in a neat full screen mode. Within TV Mode the videos will play in sequence, meaning no loops and no endless scrolling and stopping. First stepVine's online launch comes after Instagram made the leap with photos and then videos in 2012. Like Instagram, Vine users will be unable to upload videos directly to the website, with that feature remaining mobile only. The company said the roll out of web profiles is just the "first step" so perhaps uploads shouldn't be completely ruled out? "This release is just a first step toward bringing you a richer, more enjoyable web experience. We look forward to introducing more improvements in 2014," Vine wrote on its company blog. Vine actually has a bunch of really cool new editing features now... check them out.http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/357a620c/sc/5/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842735537/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357a620c/sc/5/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842735537/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357a620c/sc/5/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842735537/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357a620c/sc/5/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842735537/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357a620c/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842735537/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/357a620c/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/iEe-r4Gkjt8

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/gadgets/TomTom%20GoOfficial-470-75.jpgTomTom is gearing up for another ride with refreshed units of the TomTom Go line. Though previously announced, TomTom has finally released more info about the Go products. With the goal of creating a "more intuitive" experience, the interface has been stripped down to provide a simpler interface free of pesky nested menus. Vice President of Marketing Tom Murray told TechRadar that the new TomTom Go is more "reliable and covers a wider road network." We can expect the devices to retail in April 2014 with a specific launch date yet to be announced, but the new range will be on display during CES 2014. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/gadgets/TomTom%20Go%20search-420-90.jpg See Tom goTomTom Go boasts new features including an Interactive Map, TomTom Traffic and 3D Maps - though feature availability depends on which version you pick up. Via a free TomTom MyDrive mobile app, the Traffic feature allows you to connect your smartphone up to the device to receive warnings on road closures, traffic jams and road work. TomTom claims its information is more reliable and precise than its competitors thanks to the usage of more than a 100 million anonymous probes through a road network that functions better than the usual traffic management centers. All the portable sat nav devices will come in 4.3-inches, 5-inches and 6-inches sizes and will range from $119, $129 and $159 respectively but will only pack Lifetime Maps and a trial of TomTom Traffic. The next pricing tier up offers the full version to Traffic and 3D Maps. The top pricing tier includes the aforementioned full package of features along with pinch and zoom capability plus Speak and GO where TomTom notes "Drivers can control the device with the sound of their voice." Only a 5-inch and 6-inch option will be available and retail for $249 and $299 respectively. CES 2014 is almost upon us - see who and what will be there.http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/357bd587/sc/5/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.pnghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/aClQ7i9kWq8

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/laptops/HP/HP%20Chromebook%2011/hp-chromebook-11-470-75.JPGMany view Chromebooks as Google's attempt to pass off a glorified web browsing machine as a workable replacement for a Windows PC. But with the steady maturation of ChromeOS and Google cloud services, Chromebooks look like they may be finally ready to take a chunk out of Microsoft's share. Perhaps you haven't taken notice of Google's other mobile OS, but a host of top PC manufacturers have. They're not just re-purposed notebooks either: the HP Chromebook 11. Samsung Chromebook and Acer C7 Chromebook are the tip of an incoming Chromebook armada, with Google's own Google Chromebook Pixel leading the charge with gorgeous design and better specs than the rest, but at a MacBook-esque price. Sales are still modest, with the IDC (International Data Corporation) recently suggesting Chromebooks only make up 1% of the combined PC and tablet market. But the pace is finally starting to pick up, eating into the lower crust of the laptop market, where netbooks once reigned supreme. Thanks in part to the onward march of tablets, the netbook sector has been somewhat hijacked by Chromebooks to become that device with 'just enough' functionality to keep lightweight users happy, with an enticing price to boot. It all seems like unfortunate timing for Microsoft, who are now undergoing a three-pronged attack from strong competition in tablets, drowning in an armada of Android, with Chromebooks now arriving to deal further blows as they ride a revolt against the costly licensing fee that Windows ownership incurs. Despite budget pricing, are Chromebooks ready to replace Windows for those looking to produce as well as consume? Here's a roundup of apps that will fill the gaps in Chromebook's functionality to make it a viable Windows alternative… Office replacementFor a whole raft of users, being productive on their Windows machines boils down to one piece of software - Microsoft Office. Pulling yourself away from Microsoft's renowned productivity software can seem almost impossible, but if you're not making use of some of the more complex capabilities that Excel, Powerpoint and Word can provide, then Google Apps is a perfectly safe alternative. With almost every piece of the Microsoft Office puzzle, there's a Google alternative, though some such as Keep (for note taking) is nowhere near as comprehensive as Microsoft's OneNote, while Google's plethora of apps and services still can't offer anything resembling the power of MS Access. However, how many people still actively use Access is debatable, and they're certainly not likely to be the kind of audience Google is aiming the Chromebook at. There are loads of other features and categories in Google Apps that are similar to Office 365 - mobile apps and connectivity, document sharing, instant messenger tie-ins, and dozens of other topics. As long as you can survive being tied to services that only offer full functionality with a network connection, Google Docs and its siblings are surprisingly powerful. Beyond Google's office offerings, there's plenty more to keep you productive at home or even in business. Evernote's Chrome extension and app allow you to easily keep together ideas, research projects and inspirations as well as entire web pages for future use. Other apps worth checking out for presentations and spreadsheets include SlideRocket and Zoho Shee respectively. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/features/Can%20you%20live%20entirely%20in%20the%20cloud/powerpoint-420-90.jpg Get creativeOne of the big ties to a desktop for creative types is Adobe's Creative Suite - king of which is still Photoshop. It's long been heralded as the de facto image editor and moving away from it just doesn't seem to be a pill some are prepared to swallow. Enter web-based alternatives, the most popular being Pixlr Editor. This powerful editor borrows an awful lot from Photoshop and in some cases does it with less fuss. Due to its Flash underpinnings, processing isn't quite as snappy as Photoshop and things can get a little sluggish on the ARM-based processors that adorn most Chromebooks. Handily, Pixlr Editor is integrated directly into Google Drive, making it easily accessible from Drive's web interface or the Chrome OS file explorer. It doesn't just stop at Pixlr though - there's plenty of apps to get creative with. Audiotool is a fantastically straightforward music production studio that allows you to make melodies, play with drum machines or synthesisers and much more. For video, Stupeflix Video Maker is a simple editing suite that costs absolutely nothing if your videos are less than 60 seconds and can produce some reasonably professional results with the right footage. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/features/Can%20you%20live%20entirely%20in%20the%20cloud/Pixlr-420-90.jpg Media mogulsChromebooks aren't necessarily targeted at media addicts. The limited built-in storage means you're unlikely to want to load it up with gigabytes of music or video. Fortunately Google provides an obvious alternative to a local media player in the form of Google Music. Not only is big G rather generous with the free storage capacity of up to 20,000 songs, but the entire service makes listening to and purchasing music incredibly easy. Google Music also syncs with Android phones to give you plenty of opportunities to keep some music stored locally. The search giant hasn't quite got the market cornered in music services for Chrome - there's plenty of streaming services out there such as Grooveshark and Soundtracker, which can fulfil the needs of less picky music tastes. Video falls into the same kind of streaming groove as music. You're unlikely to have the capacity to store everything locally. Luckily there are now apps available from all the big providers including Netflix, Lovefilm, Blinkbox, YouTube/Google Play and Vdio, all of which offer ways to get your movie or TV fix. And let's not forget the likes of BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4oD which work from their own respective websites. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/features/Can%20you%20live%20entirely%20in%20the%20cloud/music%20manager-420-90.jpg GamingUnless you're buying a Chromebook for a child, gaming is unlikely to be at the forefront of your mind when pondering this OS for your next laptop. The lack of high-power machines means that gaming is purely limited to time-killing apps and will likely only keep kids or young teens content. There's no Steam, no big-budget games, and there's unlikely to be any support in the near future for anything other than ports of Android or basic Linux games. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/features/Can%20you%20live%20entirely%20in%20the%20cloud/dropbox-420-90.jpg Should you ditch Windows?Whether you can sling that aging Windows machine in favour of a sleek new Chromebook entirely depends on whether you're prepared to move from potentially pricey software you're already comfortable with, and on to pastures new that rely more on internet connectivity. Then there's the issue of versatility when multitasking with multiple windows. Microsoft built Windows around being able to quickly switch between program windows, offering a sensible file structure that scales from beginner to pro quite comfortably. ChromeOS is still limited to its browser-based underpinnings, so managing multiple tasks or programs at the same time is more restrictive, limiting you to whatever tasks you can fit in to the browser's tabs. Chromebooks are clearly marketed towards a different audience than Windows OS users. If anything, the direct competition would have come from the ARM-powered Windows RT. However with the general failure of the Surface RT, the dumbed-down OS has been swept under the rug in favour of fully fledged x86 machines. Meanwhile manufacturers who did dabble in RT have since reverted to full-fat Windows, or else looked to Chrome to fill the entry-level market segment instead. Chromebooks for business presents an interesting proposition. If you're managing a team collaborating on work, want everything backed up without a thought and kept secure, then the combination of ChromeOS and Google's Apps can be a relatively powerful, if slightly more limited combination. One of Google's biggest hurdles in convincing people to switch concerns the very subject Microsoft is currently mocking in their latest marketing campaign - privacy. Google has had a bad image when it comes to privacy. After all, its business is in personalising your internet experience and targeted advertising based on your browsing habits. The more of your life and work you give to Google, the less private you may feel. But you'd be wrong if you think everything you use a Chromebook for will be pored over by Google. The company wants to make money from advertising, not stealing your work. Now why not read Who's who at Microsoft (and what they're doing next)http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/3576b27f/sc/4/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842713914/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3576b27f/sc/4/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842713914/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3576b27f/sc/4/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842713914/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3576b27f/sc/4/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842713914/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3576b27f/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842713914/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3576b27f/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/pLctL9w2gtg

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Windows/modern_firefox_windows8-470-75.jpgIt seems the modern UI version of Firefox for Windows 8 will remain in beta for at least another two months, contrary to previous expectations. Mozilla has updated its official wiki page for the "metro" Firefox app with a new forecasted release on March 18. The new version of Firefox, with a tile-based layout to match Windows 8's interface, has been in development at least since early 2012. But delay after delay has caused the modern UI Firefox app to stagnate in beta since September. You beta believe itIn August Mozilla expected to launch the modern/metro Firefox app with Firefox 26 in December. In September the Windows 8 Firefox app was released through Mozilla's Aurora beta channel, but the full release version was pushed back to coincide with Firefox 27 in January. Now Firefox 27 has been pushed back to February 4, and the new modern Firefox pushed even further to launch with Firefox 28 on March 18. Mozilla's position on Windows 8 has been wishy-washy since 2012, when Mozilla General Counsel Harvey Anderson blogged that Microsoft's latest OS marks a "return to the dark ages." Windows 8 and 8.1 hit 10% market share while Windows 7 grows and Windows XP fallshttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/35707077/sc/21/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842704764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35707077/sc/21/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842704764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35707077/sc/21/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842704764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35707077/sc/21/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842704764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35707077/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842704764/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/35707077/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/rDmSakKmn3Q

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/software/Bump/bump-470-75.jpgGoogle is shutting down the Bump application, it purchased back in September, the company's co-founder announced on New Year's Day. The app, which allows users to exchange files by tapping their phones together, was a big hit on the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone, but Google now has the Bump team working on other projects. As a result, Bump and the Flock photo-aggregating app also developed by the company, will be been pulled from the Apple App Store and the Google Play store on January 31. After that date, the app will no longer work and all user data will be deleted. Users wishing to export their data have until the end of the month to do so. Textbook acqui-hireDavid Lieb, the app's co-founder, said the Bump team are also 'deeply involved' with other projects at Google, as if there were any doubt the purchase was a straight-up acqui-hire. He wrote in a statement: "Back in September, we announced that the Bump team was joining Google to continue our work of helping people share and interact with one another using mobile devices. "We are now deeply focused on our new projects within Google, and we've decided to discontinue Bump and Flock. On January 31, 2014, Bump and Flock will be removed from the App Store and Google Play. After this date, neither app will work, and all user data will be deleted." Bump users will be emailed with instructions for safeguarding their data before the shutdown happens. Will the soon-to-be departed Flock app eventually prove more useful for Google?http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/3566b7aa/sc/21/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842628230/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3566b7aa/sc/21/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842628230/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3566b7aa/sc/21/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842628230/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3566b7aa/sc/21/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842628230/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3566b7aa/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842628230/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3566b7aa/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/ylgrfQuxUqY

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Apps/Snapchat_screen-470-75.jpgA database containing the phone numbers, usernames and locations of 4.6m Snapchat users in North America has been posted online. In the latest security woe for the $3.5 billion-valued company, the details have appeared on the SnapchatDB.info website and are freely available to download. The site, claims the data "is being shared with the public to raise awareness on the issue," of widespread Snapchat security vulnerabilities. The last two digits of the phone numbers have been concealed, with SnapchatDB claiming it will reduce spam and abuse, but the anonymous hackers say they will release the data "under certain circumstances." Full usernamesHowever, full usernames are present with the handy tip that "people tend to use the same username around the web," prompting users to go fishing around social media for those final two digits. The leaked data appears to be localised on two area codes in the United States and Canada, which goes against claims from the hackers to have leaked the 'vast majority' of Snapchat users. The mass posting of Snapchat user data comes just days after the company made assurances that it had "implemented various safeguards to make it more difficult" to obtain and upload user data en masse. The company is yet to respond to today's leak, but it seems there will be one or two holes to plug and some tricky questions for Snapchat to answer in the coming days. Does Snapchat's new Relay option, allowing users to take a second look at photos, defeat its purpose?http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/3565f03f/sc/21/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842599927/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3565f03f/sc/21/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842599927/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3565f03f/sc/21/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842599927/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3565f03f/sc/21/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842599927/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3565f03f/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842599927/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3565f03f/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/q6evnAQ3g1g

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/mobile_phones/Windows%20Phone/WindowsPhone-02-470-75.jpgSony has been making exclusively Android phones for about four years, but soon it could branch out into Windows Phone as well. A report from tech news site The Information says that Sony is prepping a Windows Phone handset to launch in the middle of 2014. The report says Microsoft is courting Sony to help boost Windows Phone business as the OS continues to struggle against Android and iOS. Microsoft has allegedly also approached ZTE and others, going as far as cutting the software licensing fees it normally chargers device makers. Marking timeZTE has dabbled in Windows Phone in the past, but Microsoft is hoping they and other will do more than dabble, according to The Information. The site apparently got their information from "a person who was involved in the talks and a person briefed about the device." Sony was alleged to be sizing up a Windows Phone launch as far back at least as 2012, though as yet nothing concrete has come of it. In mid 2013 Windows Phone had achieved over 5 percent of the total smartphone market, and was reportedly growing at a faster rate than Android. Samsung planning major Windows Phone return with 5-inch flagship?http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/3560fcad/sc/5/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842578277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcad/sc/5/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842578277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcad/sc/5/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842578277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcad/sc/5/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842578277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcad/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842578277/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcad/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/xz2DhCp6wZk

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/classifications/gadgets/future-tech/images/fast-car-jpg-470-75.jpgThe British government has thrown its weight behind a smartphone app that lets users report potholes to their local councils. The Department for Transport (DfT) has now pledged £30,000 ($50,000, $AU55,000) to enable CTC, the UK's national cycling charity, to develop an Android version of the app and revamp its website to make the system more consumer friendly for road users. The money comes as part of a £5.8 billion ($9.5 billion, $AU10.75 billion) additional spend on highways announced in the summer. Fill that Hole has been available to iPhone users since 2010. It was originally developed for cyclists, who can receive serious injuries from accidents caused by potholes in the road. The new Android app will boost the number of potential users to over 26 million according to the DfT. It is expected to be ready in February, at the start of 'pothole season' when the winter damage to roads is at its greatest. Easy reporting"The government is serious about tackling potholes. At best they are an irritation but at worst they can damage vehicles and pose a serious danger to cyclists. That is why we want people to tell councils where to find them so they can fill them in. This app means more people are going to be able to report potholes more easily," said Roads Minister Robert Goodwill. Support for the app comes as more local authorities adopt new government guidelines which urge councils to plan extensive maintenance well in advance. This is rather than years of costly 'patching' as potholes appear. In the past year around £23.8 million ($39 million, AU$44 million) was paid in compensation by local authorities across England due to the poor condition of their roads according to the Asphalt Industry Alliance. CTC chief executive Gordon Seabright said that the partnership with the Department for Transport will enable the charity to provide its free service to many more cyclists and road users. 90 best free Android apps for 2013http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/3560fcb1/sc/5/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842578276/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcb1/sc/5/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842578276/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcb1/sc/5/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842578276/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcb1/sc/5/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842578276/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcb1/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842578276/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/3560fcb1/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/7My2axj8z58

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/gadgets/Google%20Glass/hands%20on%20IO/20130516_182119-470-75.jpgGoogle is contacting subscribers to its Play Music All Access subscription service, offering them the opportunity to buy a Google Glass headset. The firm is sending out the invites to commemorate Google Play Music arriving as a Google Glass app with the aim of extending its pool of Glass 'Explorers' prior to the expected consumer roll out in 2014. "With the launch of Google Play Music on Google Glass, we've secured VIP invitations for All Access customers to join the Glass Explorer Program," the company wrote in an email to subscribers. "Interested in rocking out while exploring with Glass? Sign up to receive your invitation below!" Fork it overPlay Music All Access is Google's answer to Spotify and iTunes Radio, with unlimited, ad-free access to millions of songs and custom radio stations for a monthly fee of $9.99 (£9.99, AU$11.99) Currently the offer is only being extended to those in the United States, but providing you can nail down a U.S shipping address of some description, you should be good to go... providing you're willing to part with $1,500 (around £907, AU$1,677) so soon after the holidays. Google in 2014: What to expecthttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/355fe864/sc/5/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842542544/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355fe864/sc/5/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842542544/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355fe864/sc/5/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842542544/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355fe864/sc/5/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842542544/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355fe864/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842542544/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355fe864/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/5hBokwNyJjI

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Gear_of_the_year-470-75.jpg That's it, folks. It's all gone. The tech year of 2013 is over and we now look ahead to 2014. It's been an astonishing year in the world of consumer tech. Smartphones have moved forward another step as specs iterate and more importantly, build quality has become a headline factor. Our best in class phone - the HTC One - is the best example of this. It was the first Android handset to really match Apple on build quality and it still sits at the top of our best phone rankings. Ultrabooks have gone touchscreen in the last 12 months, with some truly stunning products from the likes of Asus, Samsung and Lenovo. Cameras are getting smarter, sat navs are getting bigger and let's not forget we have two next gen consoles on our hands now as well. Join us as we run down our list of all the best in class products from the last 12 months. http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/HTC%20ONE-580-100.jpg HTC Onehttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Smartphone Released: March 2013 Top of the list has to be the HTC One - the best phone of the year without a doubt. It's got the wow-factor that made us fall in love with the HTC Desire, and manages to bring Sense back to a level that shows off the best of Android, rather than obfuscating it. There are those who pine for stock Android Jelly Bean, but earlier Android updates aside, we happen to think that Sense is better. The camera is a great addition for on the spot shooting - if you want to take the photos and blow them up somewhere, it's not the phone for you, but if you want to be able to snap your friends in pubs without it being a blurry, dark mess, the HTC One comes into its own. The Galaxy S4 is sleeker, the iPhone 5 is, well, Apple-ier, and the Nexus 5 is cheaper. But for the overall package of smartphone design and functionality, the HTC One stands head and shoulders above the rest. HTC One review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Moto%20G-580-100.jpg Moto Ghttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Budget smartphone Released: November 2013 Yes, it's a Motorola phone in our best in class list! The Motorola brand is back folks, it's official. It may not be the return we would have predicted - there's no flagship phone stuffed full of the latest tech - but arguably what the now Google-owned firm has done is even better. The Moto G is a top notch, low cost smartphone and we wholeheartedly recommend this as the best budget mobile currently on the market. We were genuinely impressed with the feature set on the Moto G, so if you're looking for a low cost phone you can stop searching - just go out and grab a Moto G right now. Moto G review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/iPad%20Air-580-100.JPG iPad Airhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Tablet Released: November 2013 Our best tablet was a no-contest. It's the iPad Air. From the clever construction to the fast processor to the improved user interface, Apple has found an answer to every criticism we had of the device and then some. The fact it's not even more expensive than its large-screen brethren is really impressive for an Apple product, and the suite of apps that are now free, coupled with the excellent App Store and premium build, make this a no brainer for anyone looking to enter the tablet market. We'd advise that you get the largest capacity your budget can manage - although at the top end you're verging on Macbook territory, so make sure you're ready to use a tablet and think about getting an external keyboard to make full use of the extra apps you've now got. You've seen the score, and for those keeping tabs you'll realise this is TechRadar's first five-star tablet. It's a device with almost no flaws - it's not just Apple's best tablet, it's the only tablet you should be considering this Christmas if you're keen on a larger screen. iPad Air review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Nexus%207-580-100.jpg Nexus 7 2013http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Budget tablet Released: August 2013 If you're looking for a 7-inch tablet, we'll put it like this: there is no better alternative on the market, right now. The Nexus 7 is the best in its class. And be aware of that qualification, because markets change very quickly. The Nexus 7 wipes the floor with the competition but Google could have worked at 100% rather than 97% to make the Nexus 7 the one to beat. For original Nexus 7 owners, it may not be worth an upgrade, but for new tablet buyers, you can't knock that value for money, and this is going to be amassive seller in the run-up to the holiday season. If you're an Android fan, snap one up right away. But if you're on the fence, we definitely recommend checking out the Retina iPad Mini or new Kindle Fire HD. Nexus 7 2013 review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Sony%20KD-65x9005A-580-100.jpg Sony KD-65X9005Ahttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: 4K TV Released: March 2013 Our best TV of the year is the KD-65X9005A - much more than just another large screen. The poster boy for a new generation of broadcast technology, it delivers a picture experience quite unlike conventional Full HD screens. Image quality with native 4K content is simply astonishing, both in terms of absolute fidelity and image depth. But perhaps the biggest surprise is just how beneficial its panel density is with Full HD too. Upscaling is extremely effective, and with Blu-ray (particularly Mastered in 4K discs), it simply shines. There's been considerable debate as to whether the 4K at this screen size is an appreciable advantage in the average home. Well we can confirm it most definitely is. Debate closed. Sony KD-65X9005A review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/TomTom%20GO%206000-580-100.jpg TomTom Go 6000http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Sat nav Released: August 2013 The TomTom Go 6000 is very impressive. The interface is intuitive, with TomTom's excellent routing benefiting from being able to draw on live traffic data to make for incredibly accurate journey times as well. The experience you'll enjoy when using this compared to what you'll get from a smartphone or even an older sat nav is incredible. You won't be second guessing what's around the corner or waiting for the signal to catch up - and while that will cost you, it's money well spent. TomTom Go 6000 review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/AMD%20Radeon%20R9%20290-580-100.jpg AMD Radeon R9 290http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Graphics card Released: December 2013 Our favourite graphics card has to be the 290. No sooner had we put the finishing touches to our R9 290X review when the red-tinged graphics gurus went and released this new card based on the exact same GPU. And it's a bit of a doozy. We would bet that anybody who dropped a lot of money on an R9 290X is probably cursing vociferously. At a far cheaper price point all you're really losing out on is the 'X' in the title – the actual gaming performance has barely suffered at all. This card offers super value and it's the one to buy for PC gaming enthusiasts this year. AMD Radeon R9 290 review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Panasonic%20DMP-BDT230-580-100.jpg Panasonic DMP-BDT230http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Blu-ray player Released: February 2013 In the furore about whether streaming is taking over from optical discs, Panasonic's mid-range Blu-ray player makes a strong case for the survival of hard media. It's our favourite BD player of the year due to its balance of both performance and price. Excellent digital media handling and a fairly wide suite of smart TV apps impress, but it's some excellent 2D, 3D and upscaled DVD images that make this Blu-ray player a standout option for even a high-end home cinema environment. Few decks can match it for pure image quality, and it's also one of the easiest 'smart' devices to use. It's also great to see Netflix here, complete with a dedicated button on the small, old-fashioned, but easy to understand remote control. Rather like its plasma TVs – far and away the finest TVs currently being manufactured – Panasonic's DMP-BDT230 delivers on quality, no question, but what it's surrounded with in terms of user interface design and smart TV apps means that it may be passed over in favour of ultimately less capable decks. That would be a shame since the DMP-BDT230 is a remarkably capable Blu-ray player, and great value, too. Panasonic DMP-BDT230 review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/P7-580-100.jpg B&W P7http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Headphones Released: October 2013 The B&W P7 headphones aren't for everyone. Some might find them uncomfortable, some might find that the lack of audio isolation spoils things. But for sound quality alone, these headphones are superb and that's why they're in this list. If we were to judge them on audio quality alone – sitting here, listening to the warm, layered, nuanced balm of Lambchop washing over us; pausing every now and then as a line, a chord, an arpeggio we've hitherto missed suddenly strikes us – then they'd undoubtedly score a perfect five stars. Regardless, the ultimate test of any product is whether you'd be happy to receive it as a gift or whether it would sit unloved in a drawer or be surreptitiously returned to the shop, and if someone gave us a set of B&W P7s, we'd give them a big kiss. B&W P7 review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/samsung%20ativ%20book%209%20plus-580-100.jpg Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plushttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Ultrabook Released: September 2013 The best Ultrabook of the year is the Samsung Atic Book 9 Plus. It offers a great package for those looking for a laptop that can be both a workhorse and an exemplary home entertainment machine. It's powerful, the battery life is stunning - all-day capable, even - and it has an incredible screen. The only fly-in-the-ointment here is whether you buy the cheaper Macbook Air, which is similarly specced, or the Sony Vaio Pro 13, which is almost identical on paper, but about £200 cheaper. You can even get the Core i7 version of the Sony for just £100 extra. Neither of these options have the amazing detail of the Ativ's screen, but we're not convinced it's a necessity, especially at this screen size. And we're not sure a business user would mind either, unless they were looking to maximise their screen real estate. Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/HP%20Envy%20TouchSmart%2015-580-100.jpg HP Envy TouchSmart 15http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Mainstream laptop Released: September 2013 Recently, the Envy line has been a bit hit and miss, but the Envy TouchSmart 15-j004ea is definitely a hit with us and it has become an office favourite at TechRadar Towers. It packs strong performance and great features at a price that's pretty reasonable: a 1080p screen, decent graphics card and latest-gen quad-core CPU are a great combination for under a grand. There are some slightly better value machines for power (Lenovo's IdeaPad Z500 Touch, for example), but you won't find quite this balance of specs for any less. It's not perfect, of course – anything that impresses on price is probably going to have a downside - but it's a great choice for those who want a Full HD screen and the power to back it up without breaking the bank. HP Envy TouchSmart 15 review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/MacBook%20Pro%2015-580-100.jpg MacBook Pro 15http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: High-end laptop Released: December 2013 No surprises as to which product gets our best high-end laptop award. The main improvement offered by the October refresh of the 15-inch MacBook Pro is the switch to Haswell processors, which boost battery life by using less energy than the last generation of Core-i chips. They have better graphics too, with an integrated Intel Iris Pro chipset in both models. The cheaper version reviewed here doesn't have a discrete GPU. While a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina screen is still a substantial investment, for professional users, graphic designers and video editors, it's an excellent solution for computing on the move. Battery life is even better than before, lasting an astonishingly long time on a single charge, and it's one of the most portable 15-inch notebooks around. We wish it were cheaper, but even at its current prices, you're certainly getting a lot of notebook for your money. Apple MacBook Pro 15 review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Ricoh_GR-580-100.jpg Ricoh GRhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Compact camera Released: June 2013 In the GR, Ricoh has created a superb pocketable alternative to a DSLR. It has all the control over exposure that you need and it is responsive, with fast write times. It produces very high quality images, that are generally well exposed, have natural colours and a very impressive level of detail. Noise is well controlled - especially in raw files, which at high sensitivity settings have a fine texture with no banding or clumping. Ricoh isn't a widely recognised camera brand in the way that Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Olympus are, but its compact cameras have found favour with enthusiasts and professionals in the past. The new Ricoh GR is an excellent addition to the Ricoh Pentax camera lineup, and given its considerably lower price than the Nikon Coolpix A and Fuji X100S, it's a definite hit. Ricoh GR review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Canon%20EOS%2070D-580-100.jpg Canon EOS 70Dhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: DSLR Released: November 2013 Canon has produced a very well rounded camera for enthusiast photographers. It has all the specifications that we expect, along with a few modern niceties in a body that feels well made and comfortable in the hand. It should be serious competition for the Nikon D7100. The new Dual Pixel AF system for Live View and Movie mode is very impressive. In bright light it's fast and decisive, being quickest in still mode and smoothest in movie mode. In low light, however, there's often some of the backwards and forwards adjustment that is typical of contrast detection systems rather than phase detection. All things considered, however, the Canon EOS 70D is a very desirable camera that is capable of producing superb results. Canon EOS 70D review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Olympus%20OM-D%20E-M1-580-100.jpg Olympus OM-D E-M1http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Compact System Camera Released: November 2013 The E-M1 has a comprehensive feature set and its handling is well thought through. It also looks and feels like a 'proper camera'. It's weather-sealed so it can be used whatever the conditions, has plenty of direct controls with easy reach and has just about all the features an enthusiast photographer could want from a good walk-around camera. In fact it has such a wealth of features that some photographers are likely to be finding new modes and settings for some considerable time after purchase. Happily the E-M1 isn't all style and no substance, either. It also delivers high quality, correctly exposed images with plenty of detail, good colour and well-controlled noise. The images look natural and sharp and although there is noise visible at relatively low sensitivity settings, it isn't intrusive and only visible if you look for it at 100% on-screen. Olympus OM-D E-M1 review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Spotify2-580-100.jpg Spotify Premiumhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Music streaming Released: NA Spotify was the first mainstream music streaming service and remains the best. Available on all kinds of devices, the high quality music library is as comprehensive as it gets and it's still getting better. We'd like the web player to be improved, and the desktop client could do with a refresh. But these are moot criticisms because there is no the music service out there that can match Spotify for its ease of use and its incredible social features. Sharing and discovering music has never been easy and Spotify is the best of the best. Spotify review http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/other/Gear%20of%20the%20Year%202013/Netflix3-580-100.jpg Netflixhttp://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/art/techradar/Awards%20logos%202013/tr_best_in_class_2013-100-100.jpg Best in class: Video streaming Released: NA Netflix is totally worth the money. If it had Breaking Bad and Johnny Bravo and nothing else, it'd still be worth the asking price, but when you consider the massive amount of TV series, the Disney films and the ability to watch programmes on pretty much any conceivable device, then six quid is an absolute steal. It isn't perfect - if recent movies are your thing then your money might be better spent on LoveFilm or on pay-per-view rentals - but when it comes to streaming video Netflix remains the service to beat. Netflix review

http://cdn.mos.techradar.com/art/tablets/CES2013%20Panasonic%20Tablet/panasonictablet-470-75.jpgMicrosoft has developed a new programming language reportedly called "M#" alongside its experimental Midori OS. And Midori may have moved out of the incubation phase and into the big leagues, as ZDNET reports that the project has been transferred to Microsoft's Unified Operating System group for continued development. Microsoft was developing the non-Windows Midori OS at least as far back as 2008, when we thought it might have had something to do with a successor to Windows 7. That obviously turned out to not be the case, but between ZDNET's report and a blog post from Midori team member Joe Duffy describing the new language (which itself is an extension to C#), some interesting new details have come to light. 'The lowest-level language you'll ever need'The new language Duffy described in his blog post strives to strike a balance between performance and safety/productivity. He doesn't mention the term M# ("M sharp"), but ZDNET heard from its sources that that's what he's describing. M# was reportedly developed alongside Midori in order to help build Midori as a lightweight OS free from the constraints of a Windows legacy built over decades. Another alleged former Microsoft employee chimed in on Reddit, explaining that "this new extension to C# grew out of Sing#, the system language of Microsoft Research's Singularity OS." Google Developer Infrastructure team member Aleks Bromfield, who worked formerly on Microsoft's Midori language team, explained to ZDNET, "The idea is that M# should be the lowest-level language that you'll ever need." "It sits at the very bottom of the stack. But it's also safe and productive enough to be appropriate for writing higher-level systems, like Web services," he said. According to Duffy, it may eventually go open source. Too much speculation?Even so, the fate of Midori itself is unclear. It still seems unlikely that Microsoft will ever go commercial with a non-Windows OS, but pieces of it could wind up in future iterations of Windows. ZDNet says that's why the project moved to a new group; so they can figure out which parts are worth keeping around. Meanwhile as this story blew up Duffy amended his initial blog post to thank readers for their enthusiasm, but wishing that the speculation would "die silently." "I do expect to write more in the months ahead, but all in the spirit of opening up collaboration with the community, not because of any 'deeper meaning' or 'clues' that something might be afoot. Too much speculation!" he wrote in an update. Windows 8 one year on: where did it go wrong?http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/415085/s/355a02ee/sc/21/mf.gifhttp://res3.feedsportal.com/social/twitter.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/facebook.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/linkedin.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/googleplus.png http://res3.feedsportal.com/social/email.png http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842505174/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355a02ee/sc/21/rc/1/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842505174/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355a02ee/sc/21/rc/2/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842505174/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355a02ee/sc/21/rc/3/rc.img http://da.feedsportal.com/r/184842505174/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355a02ee/a2.imghttp://pi.feedsportal.com/r/184842505174/u/49/f/415085/c/669/s/355a02ee/a2t.imghttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/software-news/~4/urbHkc8fJbA