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• How Microsoft's fast track Azure will help businesses conquer IoT
• Updated: Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailers, news and rumors
• Is Samsung Galaxy S6 already chipping at Apple's iPhone 7 plans?
• Google will put its stamp of approval on the best DIY VR kits
• Office 365 maximum attachment size gets six-fold increase
• Updated: Star Wars Battlefront release date accidentally revealed on teaser site
• Review: Updated: Amazon Fire TV Stick
• Review: Updated: Amazon Fire TV
• Review: Updated: Chromecast
• Microsoft Office 365 Video is a private YouTube for your business
• In Depth: Vizio's ultra cheap 4K TV is sharp, but it's missing a soul
• ARM's new tech promises 60% more juice for wearables
• Samsung Galaxy S6 sold out in some stores due to 'much higher' demand
• DxO Optics Pro 10.4 adds Nikon D7200 and Olympus OM-D E-M5 II support
• Review: Dell Chromebook 11 (2015)
• Watch the latest teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Review: Ultimate Ears Boom
• Star Wars droid BB8 is a totally real-life robot
• Updated: 9 Best Chromebooks 2015: top Chromebooks reviewed

How Microsoft's fast track Azure will help businesses conquer IoT Posted: 17 Apr 2015 12:39 AM PDT Things are getting smarter in business – quite literally. Everything from light bulbs to lifts to your product inventory can be a smart object that you can track, model and make predictions about, thanks to sensors that tell you where they are and how they're performing. That means the Internet of Things isn't just for big businesses and smart cities; any business that has physical assets can take advantage of IoT. That's why Microsoft is bundling up all the IoT services on its Azure cloud into the Azure IoT Suite, and offering a Quick Start program of free half-day workshops to help businesses build proof of concept systems for handling their own things. "The idea is to help them to understand some of the challenges they face in business and what IoT can offer to help them," Microsoft's Sam George told TechRadar. "IoT is an ongoing journey. The first stage is figuring out what business problems companies can tackle with IoT and moving them along in that. With this, a business can start with a very tactical business challenge, they can build a solution to help them with that and then they can expand into additional products and services. Quick Start is a way of getting on that track." Helping SMBs The plan is to pass on what Microsoft has learned from helping larger companies build IoT systems – like Transport for London's asset tracking and predictive analytics, NEC's FieldAnalyst system that does facial recognition, analyses the age and gender of visitors and tells you more about traffic patterns, or the system Rockwell Automation uses to monitor oil wells and petrol pumps – to smaller businesses who don't have those kind of resources. The IoT Suite brings together some existing Azure services and some new services that will come out later this year, for a single price. "What we're enabling with this is simplified solutions as well as extremely simple billing and we're making this available very broadly when before it has only been available to larger companies. Customers can quickly provision solutions for asset management, remote monitoring and predictive maintenance. It includes Event Hubs, Stream Analytics, HD Insight, Storm, Azure ML, map-reduce … Power BI for rich visualisation will be part of the suite. "And there are some new services that we're developing to enable extreme scale not just for telemetry ingestion but for command and control, device management and device identity and registration. We'll announce those later this year." Those will include services based on Microsoft's open source ConnectTheDots.io project for building sensor boards using hardware like Arduino UNO or DUE, Raspberry Pi, Gadgeteer or Intel Galileo. Sensor selection If you need help picking sensors to make your things smart, you can do that as part of the Quick Start, George said. "Some customers have already figured out their hardware needs, but some customers are looking to us for recommendations. We will have quite a comprehensive set of partners around hardware that we will recommend to customers if they're looking for that." The suite will even include services that will let you monitor the sensors and the data stream you're getting from them to make sure the system is collecting information correctly. There will also be some finished IoT solutions that businesses can adapt to their own situation rather than starting from scratch. Getting the pricing right will be important. "Customers tend to start with modest deployments and scale up from there," George points out. "We're designing the solution to scale to the millions and tens of millions of devices. But we want to make sure that a customer doesn't have to start with modest deployment and completely resign it when they scale up. "As part of the suite we will be providing simple billing so customers can model what their costs will be as they scale from small deployments up to the massive IoT scale. If they're considering that, they want predictable pricing." Secure and transparent Given the number of reports on how poor the security is in many IoT devices and systems deployed so far, George thinks Microsoft also has an advantage given its experience with security and privacy. "We will provide comprehensive guidance for customers on the best way to make sure they secure their solutions in ways that are easy to do out of the box and ensure privacy end-to-end. "One of the reasons customers are excited about Microsoft being in IoT is that they realise how seriously we take security and privacy and they want the lessons we've learned over the last few decades in security and privacy – things like threat models." That's also going to include considering how businesses use any data they're collecting from their own customers. Microsoft's chief privacy officer recently noted that there needs to be a trust framework for the IoT that includes transparency about the data collected and how it is used. He suggested the equation: "Trust = Privacy x Value x Security" – and noted that if any one of the variables equals zero, then trust will be zero. If the Azure IoT Suite can deliver what you want to achieve with IoT, a Quick Start session could help your business avoid some expensive mistakes. How Microsoft is stamping out Azure failures and improving reliability

Updated: Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailers, news and rumors Posted: 17 Apr 2015 12:33 AM PDT Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens Updated: We've added in some details gleaned from the second teaser trailer. Which. Is. Awesome. Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens is now just months away, and we could not be more excited about what director JJ Abrams is going to do with this most beloved of universes now that George Lucas has stepped aside. The first three Star Wars films - A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi have rightly become legendary movies - but Lucas' prequel trilogy: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith suffered from the hype and burden of expectation. But that's the past, and the future of Star Wars is looking brighter after wonderful opening trailers and high hopes from the fans that the sale of the franchise to film giant Disney can rejuvenate the franchise for a new generation. The second teaser trailer A brand new trailer was shown during the opening panel at Anaheim, giving us our best look yet at the movie. Streamed to 35 theaters across the 23 countries, including in London's historic Empire Leicester Square and five other IMAX locations, the opening event saw Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and other members of the cast reunited on stage. But most importantly, we got this... YouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngElkyQ6Rhs The first teaser YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLk59H86ww The basics Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens is (duh) the seventh Star Wars film, but the first that has been made since the purchase of Star Wars by Disney. The movie will still come from Lucasfilm but under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy. The Force Awakens will be directed by JJ Abrams, the man who helmed the Star Trek reboot as well as classic TV shows Lost and Alias. Scripting duties started with Michael Arndt, but moved on to Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams when Arndt departed. The other good news is that the music will once more be scored by legendary composer John Williams. The story takes place approximately 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, but will feature the stars of the 'middle' trilogy, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia Organa). Also on board are Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew - reprising the roles of R2D2, C3PO and Chewbacca respectively. The new cast includes Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davies), Adam Driver (Girls), Daisy Ridley and John Boyega - along with Andy Serkis (virtually every blockbuster with a CGI character), Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, About Time) and Swedish thesp Max von Sydow. Lucas will still serve as a creative consultant on the show, but that's okay with us as long as he steers clear of the Midi-chlorians. The tech of Star Wars Star Wars has traditionally been something of a trailblazer for technology within the movie industry and, somewhat inevitably, for the ways in which watch movies. Lucas' huge faith in digital movie shooting and playback has been pretty divisive in recent years, but his teams have had a massive impact in the worlds of sound, effects and format. With Abrams a huge and vocal proponent of film over digital, Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be shot in a more traditional anamorphic 35mm (Kodak film stock 5129 apparently). However, the film *will* be given the IMAX treatment, with a tweet from JJ Abrams' Bad Robot production company showing an IMAX camera being used. It remains to be seen for what portions and proportion of the film take advantage of this 70mm IMAX film - which is obviously capable of much higher resolution filming. It's important to note that whatever is used to film the visual effects are not going to suffer. Abrams loves his blockbuster SFX and has ably demonstrated this on Star Trek, but he is also very keen to use models and full scale sets to bring that lived in feeling that permeates the original trilogy and owes such a debt to the classic sci-fi films. The effects will be generated using Nvidia graphics cards - Quatro M6000 cards to be specific, so we'll be expecting some epic space battles. Will we see 3D? It's likely but by no means confirmed, and any work in this area is likely to be done in post-production. Finally, given that the Star Wars films have just arrived as digital downloads, you can expect to be able to buy the new film in digital, Blu-ray and, maybe, 4K Blu-ray as well. And, although you (probably) won't see any drones in film, you might well see bits of the film filmed by drones. Apparently the flying camera rigs are causing a real issue for the Star Wars movie makers (at least according to Mark Hamill). We love digging into the tech of Star Wars, so to get you in the mood here's 12 Star Wars facts you almost certainly should know Here's an in depth discussion about Star Wars' move from film to digital and back to film - and what that means for our favourite films Finally - check out Total Film's Everything you need to know about Star Wars VII Plot facts and rumors (rumours ahead) The facts about the plot (Kind of spoilery) So, thankfully, this is the shortest bit of this entire story. As you would expect, rumors are thick on the ground for a film this eagerly anticipated, but the actual honest-to-goodness facts around what will happen can only be culled from the official sources. We know for a fact that Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C3PO and Princess Leia will all feature in the film, and that it will be set approximately 30 years on from the events of Return of the Jedi, where the second Death Star was destroyed and the Emperor tossed into space by his protegee Darth Vader, also known as Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father and the protagonist of the prequels. We know that John Boyega will play Finn - confirmed as a Stormtrooper who clearly has a rethink about his life choices - and that Daisy Ridley will play Rey, confirmed as a loner scavenger on the desert planet of planet Jakku. There will be a character called Kylo Ren who will sport a lightsaber with a cool but slightly impractical cross guard and Poe Dameron (played by Isaac) as a rebel and, Isaac says "the best frickin' pilot in the galaxy." Perhaps most thrillingly we also get to see the Millennium Falcon (a-mazing), X-Wings, Tie fighters and enough footage to suggest that the new trilogy will take its cues from episodes IV, V and VI rather than the later I, II and III. The rumors about the plot (Spoilers ahoy!) The principal rumor revolves around the discovery of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber (and possibly his severed hand) sparking a journey to find the legendary Jedi Knight. The iconic weapon is discovered by a farmer and Poe Dameron dispatched to collect it, but in doing so bringing the bad guys with him. Stormtrooper Finn will realise that he may not be on the side of good, and begin to resists against (potential Sith) Kylo Ren, is locked up alongside Dameron and the two plot an escape. Potentially the major arc will be around Luke, who is so powerful that he has gone into hiding where he can have a measure of control. Will he be good or will he follow in his father's footsteps? There's also a cast list floating around that talks about flashbacks - so we can certainly expect to see a young Luke, we'd guess this could be showing how uncontrollable his force powers are. We also know that the venerable Max von Sydow will play a figure called The Vicar and that Rose's pub will feature. Just a short wait until the Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens release date of Dec 18

Is Samsung Galaxy S6 already chipping at Apple's iPhone 7 plans? Posted: 16 Apr 2015 05:12 PM PDT Apple has reportedly made a last-minute change to iPhone 7 production plans, enlisting the help of an additional chip manufacturer due to poor output from Samsung's camp. And based on today's rumor about Galaxy S6 sales, it seems Samsung may be to blame. Apple's main chip producer for the next iPhone has reportedly been Samsung partner GlobalFoundries, but Apple has given a chunk of that business to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Apple has worked with TSMC before, and this could be a blow to Samsung's chip-making business and its partnership with Apple. If so, at least it's a blow of Samsung's own making: unexpectedly high demand for the Galaxy S6 may be keeping GlobalFoundries extra busy making Exynos chips for Samsung's latest flagship. That could explain why the manufacturer has reportedly been unable to meet Apple's supply demands for the A9 chips that the company will allegedly use in the next iPhone, although it's unclear whether the timeline for all these events matches up perfectly. Either way, here's hoping the same thing doesn't happen to the iPhone 7's camera, which could turn out to be a real zinger - if Apple's plans don't go awry again. The iPhone 6 is bigger, better, sleeker and faster

Google will put its stamp of approval on the best DIY VR kits Posted: 16 Apr 2015 02:15 PM PDT At Google's I/O 2014, the search giant announced Cardboard, a head-mounted display that runs on Android to power a fully-featured virtual reality experience that's made out of … you guessed it, cardboard. After almost a year of availability, several third-parties have riffed on the original model, manufacturing their own Cardboard "compatible" headsets made out of such materials as plastic, wood and metal. Google encouraged this sort of engagement with the tools out of the gate, but the openness of the project has caused somewhat of an unintended problem: the reins of quality control were lost across so many different headsets in the market. Google Cardboard's Product Manager Andrew Nartker stated: "The challenge is that each viewer may have slightly different optics and dimensions, and apps actually need this info to deliver a great experience." To remedy this, Google has whipped up a solution called Works with Google Cardboard. It's a badge of approval that will be stamped onto third-party manufactured Cardboard kits, which makes it easy to tell which head-mounted displays meet the standards required for users to have a hurl-free VR experience. But does this mean that the Google Cardboard kit you already have is trash? Nope. Google is working on an update to the Cardboard app which will allow users to scan a QR code created by the headset's manufacturer to instantly set-up their experience to the best one possible. The release date for Star Wars Battlefront 3 has been leaked Source and image credit: Google

Office 365 maximum attachment size gets six-fold increase Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:42 PM PDT Microsoft has delivered an update to Office 365 that lets users send mail attachments that are six times larger than before. Being able to send mail attachments of just 25MB per message is a thing of the past and administrators can now set limits of up to 150MB on attachments for Office 365 users. The default mail attachment will remain at 25MB unless the administrator changes it and Microsoft has made the decision not to alter this due to the fact that many users will still want to keep limits at a low level. "It turns out that some folks want an even smaller setting than 25 MB and many don't want to change the current setting at all. So instead of us foisting a one-size-fits-all setting onto everyone, we're now giving Office 365 customers the freedom to choose the maximum size setting that's right for them," explained Kevin Shaughnessy, Senior Program Manager for the Office 365 team, in a blog post. How to increase it Office 365 gaining this privilege won't change much for users of the Outlook Web App in Office 365 as they can "attach" a document using OneDrive that is much larger and the user at the other end can download it from the cloud. Any administrators looking to increase the size of the maximum attachment can do so using their global administrator privileges in the Exchange Admin Center, navigate to the recipients and click the "…" icon before selecting "Set default message size restrictions." Check it out: Office 365 review

Updated: Star Wars Battlefront release date accidentally revealed on teaser site Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:37 PM PDT Update: DICE Producer Jesper Nielsen has confirmed that this leak is legit, and the new Star Wars Battlefront is launching on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on November 17. "If stuff like this happens, we only have ourselves to blame," he wrote on Reddit, where he goes by DICE_TheBikingViking. "However, you would have learned this very soon anyway." He even added a ":)" just to prove he ain't mad. Original story below… It's been ten years since the last Star Wars Battlefront game was released, but fans will have to wait a little bit longer to play EA's new take on the series. A small glimpse of the game was tacked onto the end of the second trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, revealed during the Star Wars Celebration, but that's not the only surprise fans discovered today. At 1:49 in the video below, you can see footage of the game in a thumbnail. If you click the thumbnail, you'll reach a teaser site where a NeoGAF user discovered Battlefront's release date in the source code. "The latest news and updates for Star Wars Battlefront. Available November 17, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC," the code for the site's "news & media" page reads. That's probably part of what EA and developer DICE will announce tomorrow during the Star Wars Celebration Battlefront reveal event, and while it could be a mistake, this seems legit. YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngElkyQ6Rhs The hype is strong with this one, so hopefully they don't screw it up. The PS4 and Xbox One get better and better

Review: Updated: Amazon Fire TV Stick Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:30 PM PDT Intro, design and setup Update: Amazon Fire TV Stick can now access X-Ray without the aid of a tablet. X-Ray is a service from Amazon that uses IMDB to show you the actor and trivia information about the shows and movies you're watching. The set-top box landscape is changing. It used to be a full-size battle royale where three titans – the Roku 3, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV – duked it out for control of your television. Then, in July of last year, Google released Chromecast, a set-top box built into a thumb drive form factor and fits entirely behind a TV. In many ways the Amazon Fire TV Stick, the successor to the full-size Fire TV, looks similar to Google's impulse buy offering from last year. But whatever it may look like, its arrival onto the set-top scene can only mean one thing: The time of the titans is over, and a new age of streaming sticks is here. The Fire TV Stick is petite and powerful, currently available in the US and shipping April 15 in the UK. It fits flush with most TV's HDMI ports and, unlike its main competitor Chromecast, comes with a fairly decent remote. In terms of content, you'll find just about everything here. Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Showtime Anytime and more have already joined the party, while Amazon's Prime Instant Video basically sits at the head of the proverbial table. The only player missing is HBO Go, and that, Amazon has said, will be coming in the next few months. Almost everything feels right about the Amazon Fire TV Stick, but most of all is its $40/£35 price tag. It's $10/£5 more than Chromecast, but $10/£10 less than the Roku Streaming Stick; it feels like a supremely good value for what you get in the box. Where Amazon Fire TV Stick stumbles, however, is its deep-rooted attachment to its mother service, Amazon Prime. Without Prime, the set-top stick feels devoid of personality. Yes, you can still get those great aforementioned apps, yes you'll zip around from one section of the interface to the next thanks to its powerful components, and yes you'll even get a 30-day trial for free just for buying the streaming stick – but, after the trial runs out or you choose not to commit to Amazon's service, the whole experience feels sterile without Prime. Design, setup and performance At this point in the game, a streaming stick is nothing new. It's a plastic, thumb drive-sized device that plugs into any HDMI port (not just MHL-equipped ports) and draws power from a USB port on the TV or from a wall outlet via the included converter. The exterior itself isn't all that exciting – it's 3.3 x 1.0 x 0.5 inches (84.9 x 25.0 x 11.5 mm) and has the Amazon logo on one side – but it's the lack of any distinct features that help the Fire TV Stick blend into the back of any TV. It even comes with an HDMI extender cable in case you've got a wall-mounted setup and no additional space to spare in the back. While these extras are something the $30 Chromecast comes standard with, the more expensive, $50 Roku Streaming Stick does not. Sometimes, it's the simple things in life that really count, and Amazon scores major points for putting the consumer first. After you've got the stick firmly seated in an HDMI port you've got to provide a power solution. You'll need to connect the micro-USB powered stick to either a USB port on the TV or, attach the adapter and plug it into the wall. If you choose the former, you'll get a warning when you boot the system up for the first time. It'll tell you that it can't draw enough power from the USB port to provide the ideal experience. The TV I used for testing, a TCL Roku TV (ironic, I know), had more than enough power for the job and never once did the streaming stick fail due to lack of juice. If you're in a similar situation, just ignore the warning and move on.But, besides the one micro-USB port on the exterior, you won't find any other ports on the sides of the Fire TV Jr., which means there's no way to hardwire the device to your router. In practice, this lead to a few hiccups here and there, but because it's equipped with dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO) and supports 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks, the Stick can handle some the diciest of connections with ease, though, without a hard-line in this is certainly a YMMV situation. Specifications, apps and navigation It's impressive that the Amazon Fire TV Stick requires so little energy, especially once you find out what the Fire TV Stick has going on inside the box – namely, a Broadcom dual-core processor, 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage. Comparing that to the Chromecast, which sports a single-core processor, 512MB of memory and 2GB of memory, Amazon's miniature stick comes out the clear winner. Apps and games Where the full-size set-top boxes like the Nexus Player and Apple TV struggle with too little content to choose from on their platforms, Amazon Fire TV has an abundance of apps at your disposal. All of the primary suspects are here and accounted for: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant, Showtime, NFL Network, Pandora, Spotify, Crackle and more. The only service that's nowhere to be seen is HBO Go, which seems to be a trend in most modern boxes. While the Roku 3 sports over 1,000 channels (read: apps), the Fire TV Stick has a number closer to several hundred with multi-function apps and games mixed in with the entertainment channels. Perusing the store, I discovered some new interesting apps like TripSmart – a travel channel that provides videos on exotic locales – and an old favorite, 2048, optimized for the big screen. Like Roku, there's a lot of shovelware mixed in with the good stuff, which means you'll have to root around the mud to find the two or three real gems in a given list. Games are also present and accounted for on Amazon's smaller system, and for the most part the less-intensive titles play incredibly well. Disappointingly though, you won't find many graphically demanding games here like The Walking Dead Season 1 or 2. Nor are you likely to spot Grand Theft Auto here anytime soon. That doesn't seem to be due to any fault of the hardware – the system boasts the right specs for those higher-end games – the content simply isn't there. The lack of games doesn't necessarily hurt the system, however. If you want to have a streaming system that's jam-packed with gaming goodness, consider the full-size Amazon Fire TV or Nexus Player. Both have a dedicated gamepad sold separately and have a great selection of titles. Speaking of separate controllers, the full-size Amazon Fire controller can also be paired with the Fire TV Stick. But many of the 200-plus games available on the console don't necessarily need – or work better – with a controller instead of the standard remote. Home entertainment enthusiasts, on the other hand, will be glad to see Plex here, as it has been MIA on a few of the other systems I've tested recently. PlayStation TV: I'm looking at you. The launch line-up of apps is as strong as it's going to be outside of a Roku product, and though I wish it were a little more AAA game-oriented and much more platform-agnostic (searches only return Amazon content. Also, a shared Google Play library would more than make up for any shortcomings in selection). That said, this is still a fairly balanced ecosystem. Remote One of the biggest advantages of buying the Amazon Fire TV Stick over the other guys is the remote. It weighs next to nothing and errs on the cheap side, but on it you'll find a few sparse, but powerful, buttons: back, home, menu, rewind, play/pause and fast forward. At the top you'll find a circular directional pad and a central button that does just about everything else. If you're a Fire TV owner you'll notice that this remote doesn't come with the built-in mic and voice-search button. The functionality still exists if you use the accompanying Fire TV app, but it doesn't exist on the pack-in peripheral. If you really need it, though, Amazon sells the full-size remote separately for $40 or allows you to sync your old Fire TV remote to the Stick without much of a problem. The remote also works over Bluetooth, which means it won't need direct line of sight to the Stick itself – a handy feature considering 95% of users will want to keep the Fire TV out of sight behind the television. It may not win the award for "most durable remote," but the remote is exactly like the Stick: simple and efficient. Interface and navigation The interface is a direct replica of the full-size Amazon Fire TV's menu. It's crowded and content-rich, making it a bustling, ever-evolving free-for-all for something to watch. It's may not be as clean-cut or aesthetically pleasing as some of the other menus we've seen on rival boxes, but Amazon chose to leave well enough alone and it's hard to argue against that reasoning. The users who'll see the most benefit here are compulsive Amazon media shoppers. Anytime you buy or rent a show or movie from Amazon, it will populate automatically in the "video library" sub-menu on the home screen. By doing this, Amazon builds a positive reinforcement cycle of buying new content on its storefront then showcasing everything you own in one centralized location. And, thankfully, zipping around from one section of the interface to the next takes no time at all. The hardware delivers responsive results in tenths of a second and, when you finally decide on what to watch, Amazon's predictive technology takes things one step further by pre-loading the first few seconds of the Amazon Instant movies you are most likely to watch. Verdict Chromecast is still the all-around winner when it comes to streaming sticks. It's not as fast as Amazon's Fire TV Stick, nor is it as feature-packed as the Roku Streaming Stick, but it's reliable, plays nicely with Android devices (as does the Fire Stick) and costs less than a night on the town. The Roku Streaming Stick is the agnostic brother to the other two. If you can't decide which e-tailer to give your money to, and would rather give it to the services themselves, this is the streamer for you. It also has the most content than any other platform. However just be prepared to wait a bit longer for it to load, speed really isn't Roku's strong suit. Regarding the contender at hand, the Fire TV Stick is best suited for those people who have really sunk their teeth into the Amazon ecosphere. When you strip everything else away, it feels like a device specifically engineered for Amazon Prime subscribers and generally compulsive Amazon shoppers. If you're using Amazon's Cloud Drive to store photos, you'll be able to display them with two clicks on the remote. And if your watchlists get longer than your shopping list, you'll have a great time going through the store and finally catching that 2006 Martin Scorsese film with Leo Dicaprio. (It's called The Departed and it's fantastic.) We liked The Amazon Fire Stick is dead simple to setup and, once it's going, you'll be impressed with just how much there is to see and do with the system. Menu screens populate in a fraction of a second and some smart on-board technology gets videos started faster than the competition. If you've bought into Amazon's tablet and media ecosystem, you'll almost definitely want the low-cost addition to add to your collection. It'll sync up seamlessly with these devices but, unlike Chromecast, doesn't require them in lieu of a remote. If you haven't already ponied up the $99 a year for Prime you'll find less here than on other systems but, at worst, you'll still have access to services like Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Showtime Anytime and a few other key players. We disliked Admittedly, launching out of the gate without HBO Go may have been a foolish decision for the Fire TV Stick. There's plenty to watch without it – even Amazon's interim solution, the HBO Collection – but having it there on day one wouldn't have hurt. You also won't find the same kind of niche content on Amazon's storefront as you would on the Roku 3 or Roku Streaming Stick. There may not be a major clamor for that one Korean channel you've never heard of, but someone, somewhere will be slightly broken-hearted when they can't find it here. Content, as a whole, is also largely dependent on the Amazon Store. It makes sense why search results only display Amazon Video links, but there's nothing worse than paying $3.99 for a movie only to find out it was available on Netflix for free. Lastly, there just isn't a great selection of triple-A games. There's enough casual games for a lifetime, but if you're looking to play the highest-end games that Android has to offer, you'll need to upgrade to a full-size box. Final verdict It's easy to dismiss the Fire TV Stick as a cash-in on the streaming stick fad, but doing so would be a real disservice to the work and innovation Amazon packed into its pint-sized product. It's a step forward for streaming sticks and sets a new standard of what is and is not acceptable from here on out. Namely, it provides a remote, a good interface and 99% of the key services for a very reasonable price tag. The only real faux-pas here is intentional, and that's the stick's almost unreasonable dependence on Amazon Prime to function in full. It's by far the least impartial of the three major streaming sticks – the other two being Chromecast and Roku – and around every corner is trying to sell you on a movie, game or TV show you didn't necessarily know you wanted until right then. It's not the best game console hybrid either. Though that's to be forgiven as its full-size sibling, the Amazon Fire TV and optional accompanying controller, are there to pick up the slack. The Fire TV Stick is a present from the ecommerce giant to media lovers everywhere. While it has its flaws, by and large the final product is one any TV or movie enthusiast will be happy with – as long as they have an Amazon Prime account.

Review: Updated: Amazon Fire TV Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:20 PM PDT Introduction Update: Amazon Fire TV can now access X-Ray without the aid of a tablet. X-Ray is a service from Amazon that uses IMDB to show you the actor and trivia information about the shows and movies you're watching. With the introduction of Fire TV, behemoth online retailer Amazon has entered the streaming set-top box battle that may ultimately determine the future of how we get content into our TVs. The device is competitive on both price and performance with Roku 3, Apple TV and Google Chromecast and seems squarely aimed at overthrowing those established players. More competition has come along since its launch in 2014 (like the Nexus Player), but Amazon's stalwart box still holds one of the top two spots on our shelves. Why? The product, like Amazon itself, is friendly, powerful, and innovative and tackles some of the critical consumer complaints associated with the current streaming boxes. Amazon explicitly stated that it wanted to address three problem areas about the consumer streaming experience: poor performance, closed ecosystems and cumbersome search. In terms of performance they have a clear winner on their hands. Fire TV is consistently snappy and responsive, thanks to some relatively beefy silicon inside. It's a fairly open platform too (you'll find Netflix and HBO Go here), but its interface consistently tilts toward Amazon's offerings. It can't access content from iTunes or Google Play (no surprise), but does support a wide array of third party services - including the highly coveted Sling TV app - and will presumably be adding more as time goes on. Third-party services, however, are relegated to second-class status within Fire TV's user interface. They sit in the system's "Apps" tab, while the system's prominent Movies, TV, Watchlist and My Library tabs all feed directly to Amazon's offerings. The system's first-party offerings are always in plain view and accessible directly from the home screen. Third-party offerings tend to take some clicking and scrolling to get to. While Amazon may overemphasize its own offerings, it's worth noting that the company has been putting serious work into beefing up its Amazon Prime Unlimited Streaming library. Along with a slate of well-produced original content, the company made a deal that will fold HBO's original programming (for shows more than 3 years old) into Prime Unlimited Streaming. They may not have Netflix's numbers yet, but Amazon is clearly becoming a serious player in the ongoing streaming services war. In addition, Amazon recently launched its Prime Music service on the Fire TV that gives Amazon Prime users streaming access to an extensive library of top-tier music across a panoply of genres. YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm5BGZ8t7uE Other recent additions to the platform include Bluetooth headphone support, as well as expanded memory via USB - something users have been clamoring for since launch. Search has been addressed with a slick voice recognition feature that uses a microphone on the remote to allow consumers to speak their searches instead of hunting and pecking across an on-screen letter grid. With access to cloud processing to handle the heavy lifting of voice recognition, the system does an excellent job of understanding what you're trying to tell it. However, voice searches only scan for Amazon and Vevo content, an unfortunate decision that significantly undercuts the utility of this breakthrough feature. Amazon has announced that it will be adding support for searching the catalogs of Hulu Plus, Crackle and Showtime Anytime. However, even with these additions, the device's tantalizing voice search function remains deeply underpowered. Amazon has included some compelling extras, including the ability to view photos users have stored on Amazon Cloud Drive, and playback for Music purchased through its MP3 store. It's also put special focus on games with this system and thanks to a more powerful processor and Amazon's optional dedicated game controller ($40) Kindle Fire's gaming options surpass the Angry Birds-level options offered on similar devices. Still, most games are ports of existing Android titles that already run on the Kindle HDX, so while the games look and play well on the system, it doesn't have a patch on dedicated gaming consoles (which, to be fair, are typically far more expensive). One potential differentiator for families is Amazon's integration of its FreeTime area, which allows parents to precisely proscribe the content kids access and their time on the system. It's an interesting offering that's not available on most other streaming boxes, however, it has its own set of drawbacks as well (see FreeTime section for further details). Hardware and design The box itself is about the size of a small external hard drive, or two CD jewel cases stacked on top of one another. Think of a tiny, squared-off version of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey lying flat. Its exterior is sleek and minimalist, with the only contrast coming from glossy black lettering on a matte black background. At 0.7 inches thick, all of its visual cues seem to be telling you, "Don't see me." Its rear side is devoted to the essential ports: power, HDMI, optical audio, Ethernet and USB. Under the hood, Fire TV is quite powerful compared to its competitors, sporting a quad-core processor, a discrete GPU and 2GB of RAM. Amazon claims it has three times the processing power of Apple TV, Chromecast or Roku 3, and says it can process 57 billion floating point operations per second. You can wire it into your router via Ethernet, but if that's inconvenient, Fire TV also packs two dual-band Wi-Fi antennas. All of this adds up to notably snappy menu performance. Movie titles fly by in the interface, transitioning between services is fast and the system handles itself well when tasked with rendering games. The Fire TV's minimalist matte black remote is similar in functionality to Roku's, with seven glossy black buttons and a directional selector. It uses Bluetooth to communicate, eliminating line-of sight issues and allowing you to stash the box inside a cabinet or behind a TV. There are buttons for back, home, menu, rewind play/pause and fast forward. Topping the remote on its own is the microphone button that may one day be Fire TV's secret weapon (but not now, for more on this see the Interface and Search section). Setup As with Roku 3 and Apple TV, Fire TV's setup is eerily simple, and consists of connecting two or three wires (power, HDMI and an optional ethernet cable). If you don't have it wired to your router, the system will walk you through forging a WiFi connection. As with the Kindle Fire, when you order a Fire TV, Amazon pre-links it to your Amazon account, so after a quick (unskippable) tutorial video you're immediately able to browse Amazon Instant and Amazon Prime videos along with any photos in your cloud drive. Third party apps must be downloaded and set up separately with their own credentials. In terms of simplicity, the setup process is a win, but its lack of customization options leaves you at the mercy of the one-size-fits-all menu hierarchy Amazon has created (more on this later). Movies and TV Naturally, the system provides full-spectrum access to Amazon's cloud video services, and Amazon Instant and Amazon Prime Video are both well (if not over) represented. At launch, Fire TV offered 40 third-party channels, a far cry from the hundreds available on Roku and Chromecast, but more are slowly-but-surely trickling in. Predictably however, iTunes and Google Play are not available on the system, nor are they likely to be. Amazon is touting Fire TV's innards as a competitive advantage in terms of movie performance, but while menus move quickly, our tests didn't uncover much difference in terms of speed to open third party apps or start playing videos as compared with Roku 3 or AppleTV. Amazon's native offerings, on the other hand, clearly get a boost from living on their home hardware. First off, all of Amazon's content is accessible from the main menu of the system's OS and can start playing without first launching an app. Secondly, Amazon is introducing a feature called ASAP, which is designed to pre-cache video content for you based on your habits and preferences. I saw this in action when I watched the 11th episode of Alpha House (I had previously watched the first 10 episodes, but not on the Fire TV). Impressively, playback began instantaneously when I clicked, with no load time or buffering. Supposedly the system will make more inferences over time as it monitors my actions. It's a smart, effective system, but as only Amazon's offerings can use it, it's one more way the playing field inside Fire TV is tilted to the home team's advantage. Music, photos and gaming Amazon's added a music channel post-launch that allows consumers to access any music stored in their cloud drive (all MP3s bought through Amazon are stored in your Cloud Drive for free). Curiously, Amazon has not yet implemented support for its newly launched Prime Music service, which offers access to a large library of quality music tracks. Fire TV currently supports third party music services such as iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify and TuneIn, but these are currently found in the Apps menu, not the music tab, another example of Amazon's home field advantage here. The photo channel provides a way to access any photos or videos you have stored in Amazon Cloud Drive. Amazon provides a free 5GB of storage for all accounts, and more can be purchased via subscription. The system works simply and seamlessly. You can upload photos from your computer, or use Amazon's iOS or Android apps to automatically put any photos you take up on the cloud. In addition to letting you page through slide shows, Fire TV can be set to use your images as a screensaver when the system is idle. It's clear Amazon sees games as a key piece of their strategy with this box. The idea here seems to be to capture casual gamers who aren't sufficiently invested to buy a $400 to $500 dedicated games console, not a bad bet in a time when mobile gaming is reaching more consumers than ever. Since Fire TV runs the latest version of Amazon's Fire OS ("Mojito"), which is based on Android, it's relatively easy for existing Android games to be ported to work on the system and Developers I spoke with from Telltale Games (The Walking Dead) and Mojang (Minecraft) both emphasized how easy it was to move their games onto the platform from their existing games, both of which already run on the Kindle Fire HDX. Amazon has big plans for games, and appears to be actively courting developers and publishers (including EA, Disney, Ubisoft, 2K, Sega and Rockstar) as well as starting up their own in-house design team. Amazon's seriousness about gaming is best exemplified by its creation of a dedicated game controller for the system (sold separately, $40). While serviceable, the controller does not show the same polish as the rest of the system. Looking like a cross between an Xbox 360 controller and the Ouya controller, the feel of the face buttons and sticks is solid, but its shoulder buttons are a bit stiff and the triggers have a shallow travel that feels unsatisfying. It's worth noting that many of the games on the system (primarily those with simple tablet-type controls) are playable with only the remote. Standout titles include Minecraft, The Walking Dead Seasons 1 and 2, Telltale's Game of Thrones, Terraria, Zen Pinball, You Don't Know Jack, Crossy Road, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the original Sonic The Hedgehog games. Sev Zero, the first in-house game from Amazon Game Studios is an impressive hybrid tower defense/third person shooter that moves surprisingly well for running on a box this small. The controller also sports all the buttons on the remote (including play/pause, fwd and rew), allowing you to easily manipulate the system's media options via the controller. While the controller feels substantial in the hand, its look doesn't quite measure up to the gorgeous industrial design of the box itself or the remote. That said, having a dedicated controller at all is a very welcome option. It runs $40 (about £24, AU$43) and currently ships with a free copy of SevZero – which costs $6.99 (around £4, AU$7.50) when bought a la carte – and 1,000 Amazon Coins, a $10 (likely £10, AU$10) value. Interface and search Amazon has built an amazingly elegant solution to search in this device, thanks to a microphone embedded in the remote and cloud-powered voice recognition. Unfortunately, the way they have implemented this breakthrough feature is deeply anti-consumer. Voice recognition is accurate and solves the aggravating problem of tapping in your searches in via an on-screen letter grid. However, Amazon has destroyed most of the value of searching this way as voice searches scan only Amazon's native content library. This search myopia isn't only limited to the voice feature though. Indeed there is currently no way to search across services on the device. When I search Roku for a film it tells me if it's on Netflix, Crackle and others as well as if it's on Amazon. I ran into several scenarios where I searched for content I know is on another service (that I'm already paying for) and was only presented the option of buying or renting it from Amazon. It's the device's most serious flaw and Amazon should address if they want their device to be as consumer-friendly as they claim. Amazon's self-bias is even more striking in the menu structure it has created. Of the 10 top-level tabs on its home screen (Search, Home, Movies, TV, Watchlist, Video Library, Games, Apps, Photos, Settings), all but three (Home, Games and Apps) are for Amazon services. Third party apps are relegated to the "Apps" tab. Thus, four of the highest-level menu items are devoted to different aspects of Amazon's video services, while a single menu item at the bottom of the page houses 40-plus third party apps. Certain high-profile apps (Netflix, Hulu) are profiled on the Home tab under Featured Apps and Games (which sits just below the "Recently Added To Prime" area). To make matters worse, the Apps tab is populated by games as well as apps (the Games tab only has games in it), making that area even more cluttered than it has to be. In short, Amazon seems to be going out of its way to bury third-party apps on the system. It's not a dealbreaker, as most consumers will be aware of the services they want on their device and figure out how to find them, but it's irksome that these services require several extra clicks to access and can't be customized. Tip: Voice search can be used to navigate to apps you have installed and is often the fastest and easiest way to find a given app. Freetime FreeTime, FireTV's most ironically named feature, is there to make 100% sure your children are not free to watch whatever they would like. In addition, the service costs $5 per month, making it the opposite of both meanings of the word "free" (though Amazon does offer a 1-month free trial of the service). The idea behind FreeTime is a solid one. We're sure many parents would appreciate the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your children are only accessing content from trusted and age-appropriate sources. In practice, however, FreeTime has a long way to go before we can recommend paying extra money to access it (let alone recommend it as a reason to buy the system). The service operates by having parents create profiles for each child in the household, then white-list specific apps and video content they want that child to have access to. In addition, the system lets parents specify how much time each child is allowed to spend on the system per day in increments of 15 minutes, as well as blocking off certain times. For example, I could allow one child an hour of FireTV time between 4pm and 8pm. And if I were feeling especially mean, I could allow another child four hours of screen time, but only between 2am and 6am. Parents can also set whether a child's time spent on apps, video or either. The primary flaw in the system is its selection of video content. Currently FreeTime only allows parents to white-list individual videos that has been either purchased from Amazon or are available via Amazon Prime Instant Video. Netflix and other apps are available, but if you give your kid access, they can see every movie on that service (meaning that adding them to your child's library undermines the entire point of FreeTime). Given how open FireTV's ecosystem is and how much wonderful children's content is available on Hulu Plus, Netflix and others, it feels ridiculous (and possibly manipulative) to allow parent's to only proscribe choices that only come from Amazon's libraries. In addition, FreeTime must be activated for it to work. Once the system is signed into FreeTime mode for a given kid, the countdown timer starts and it's impossible to exit to the main menu without entering a PIN. However, if an unsupervised kid is tech-savvy enough to get the system turned on by themselves (and newsflash, most are) they'll have full access to everything until FreeTime is activated. Also, when the PIN is entered (as it must be to change content choices), the magic numbers are plainly visible on screen, not even obscured by asterisks. And this is all assuming that the FireTV is the only source of content connected to the TV. The idea of this being a serious impediment to any media-hungry kid over age six is a little absurd. The idea behind FreeTime is sound, but in its current half-executed form, it's largely useless, primarily due to its lack of hooks into the other video apps on the system. FreeTime is not yet a compelling reason to buy FireTV, even for those with small children they want to safely park in front of the flatscreen. Thankfully for FireTV, FreeTime is not its only trick and the box is compelling enough on its other merits to justify purchase. We hope to see Amazon work to improve this feature down the road. Amazon Fire TV vs the Amazon Fire TV Stick The Amazon Fire TV Stick packs everything we love about the full-size box into a petite, powerful form factor. For better or worse the interfaces are identical and lean heavily on Prime content. The big differences between the two streamers are the remotes (the Stick's stick doesn't have a built-in mic), and the silicon inside the machines. By and large the Amazon Fire TV proper has better internals and therefore can play games like the gorgeously addicting Crossy Road and Zen Pinball without a problem. The Amazon Fire TV Stick has gaming capabilities too, however, you're more apt to find Solitaire and Threes than you are anything more complex. If you're just looking for a streamer and don't mind a bit more lag time when starting a show or film, then save yourself some cash and check out the pint-sized stick instead. Verdict Amazon is entering the set top box wars at a very interesting time and with a very compelling product, especially for heavy users of Amazon's digital services. At $100 it's priced competitively with Roku 3 and Apple TV, and we expect the gaps in its channel lineup to be filled in the coming months. It's clear now that the retailer was not waiting, it was watching. Almost every aspect of the Fire TV attempts to improve or refine the aspects of the Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast that currently vex consumers. And as a powerhouse retailer, it's certain Amazon put the reams of customer data to which it is privy to heavy use. We liked It's a beefy box with processing capacity to spare. Amazon services are quick and easy to access and its ASAP feature pre-caches Amazon content for you so you can watch instantly. Voice search is the kind of breakthrough you wonder why we didn't see earlier in these devices. It's an open system with most of the must-have apps and channels. Photos were a very pleasant surprise and Amazon seems to be attacking gaming with a diligence we have not seen from their competition. We disliked It's hard to escape the fact that Fire TV's interface tilts toward Amazon's offerings. We would like to see more visibility for third-party apps in the main menu, as well as customization offerings. The inability of its search function to scan across all of its services (as Roku does) makes the feature worthless unless you are only interested in Amazon's offerings. Customers who aren't sure where to find a particular piece of content will be forced back to searching the web for information. Verdict This device is simple to use and works well. If you are significantly bought in to Amazon's services, it's hard to go wrong with this box. However, if you are not an Amazon customer or even an Amazon customer who doesn't have or want Amazon Prime, then you might think twice. The device is clearly tilted toward Amazon customers, and nothing short of a full UI overhaul is going to change that. We'd like to at least see Amazon allow some kind of user customization in the interface. Until then, we're calling this device great, but not perfect.

Review: Updated: Chromecast Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:15 PM PDT Introduction Update: Check out our list of devices that work with Google Cast. Original Chromecast review written in August 2013. Streaming media around your home isn't a new idea, but the rise of internet-based on-demand services like Netflix, Sling TV and Amazon Prime Instant Video means that it's becoming more and more popular as a way to watch TV. Chromecast is an inexpensive media streaming adapter that turns any HDMI-equipped television into an app-driven smart TV when paired with a phone, tablet or computer. The total package is Google's answer to products like Apple TV, Roku 3 and the Amazon Fire TV – all of which are designed to take your digital content and get it up on your big screen without fuss or fiddle. Google's offering streaming in its simplest form: the Chromecast is a small HDMI dongle that plugs directly into your TV and connects to your Wi-Fi network. From there, you choose what to watch on another device and then Chromecast streams that content directly and displays it on your TV. But that means unlike the competition, it has no real interface of its own. It just sits and waits for your other devices to tell it what to stream. What's new with Chromecast? MTV, TED Talks and Qello Concerts now have Chromecast support! On its launch in the middle of last year in the US, the Chromecast wowed with its cheap price and it can now be had for as little as $32. It's similarly bargainous in the UK: just £30 - less than a third of the Apple TV's RRP. That's awesome. On launch, the services that tied in with Chromecast were limited and very much a work in progress. But 15 months on, the list of compatible apps is impressive. Most of the big hitting services are now compatible, with Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu Plus, Pandora, HBO Go, Starz and Showtime Anytime etc... all ready and waiting in the US, and BT Sport, BBC iPlayer and more in the UK. You can find a complete list of Chromecast-compatible apps on the Google Chrome Store. Music is really restricted for UK users, with even the lone Pandora app support no good for us due to licensing restrictions. The key addition here would be Spotify, but there's a wide range of services that could become available. The truth is that the 'casting' method of getting video onto your TV is simply not very compatible with music. We're sure that this will change (Google can be very persuasive…), but there are major limitations on built-in support at the moment. Google's Chrome browser on Mac or PC lets you mirror a browser tab to your TV, meaning that you can theoretically send any of these services to your TV that way, but there are issues with this. If you stream video via the compatible apps, the content is streamed directly from the internet to Chromecast without traveling via your phone or tablet. But if you mirror a browser tab, you're effectively streaming video to your computer from the internet via your router, then streaming it back to your router and then streaming it out once more to your TV, resulting in heavy network traffic. If your network is flaky, this will result in choppy performance. We tested on a variety of networks and found results were variable but a clear network (around 8-10Mbps down) should be able to handle it. Browser streaming options are Extreme (720 high bitrate), High (720p) and Standard (480p). Using Chromecast, though, it's clear that it's designed for use with portable devices in mind. You won't find a Chromecast remote in the box or a main menu tying all of the apps together like on an Apple TV or Roku 3. Recent firmware updates have soothed this problem giving users the ability to use their TV remote to control some functionality, but at the end of the day you'll still need to keep a device running the app within arm's reach. Chromecast rivals All streams originate from a special "Cast" button that's built into each compatible mobile app - your device is the remote. Currently, Windows Phone 8 users, who don't have many options among app-filled streaming technology, are totally out in the cold for Chromecast support, with only third party YouTube app TubeCast being compatible. So Chromecast is only really suited to those with Android and iOS devices. Despite these limitations from the big names, Chromecast has extra potential to it thanks to developers getting creative with the Google Cast SDK. Apps like AllCast enable Android and Apple iOS users to display video and photos through the Chromecast. Which is useful since Google somehow neglected to add this feature to Android. Both major media center apps, VLC and the Plex app will happily stream to Chromecast, which is perhaps the best way to get your library of downloaded videos up on the big screen. Photo Caster is a free app that enables iOS users to put their photos on-screen similarly. Media Browser is an app for iOS and Android that streams media content stored on any computer in the house, giving the Chromecast home theater PC (HTPC) granting capabilities. You can even stream Podcasts from a few apps. The way Apple integrated its AirPlay streaming solution deep into iOS means that it inevitably has better support when combining an iOS device with an Apple TV, but as long as developers continue to use the Cast SDK, we will inevitably see almost as widespread support for cross-platform solutions - iOS, Android and Chromecast all working together seamlessly. Sure, Roku has its Roku SDK, but it's easier for many developers to make their apps compatible with the Android-based Chromecast. It requires a little bit of retooling rather than learning an entirely new ecosystem, as is the case with the Roku. Between its universal nature, rock-bottom price and ease of setup, Chromecast is massively tempting as a little TV add-on. Design and interface Chromecast is so small it could easily be mistaken for an oversized USB thumb drive with a little more heft to it. That contrasts with Apple TV or Roku 3, which sit as separate boxes, and often have extra outputs, such as for audio. It looks more similar to the Roku Streaming Stick, but don't be fooled - the stick doesn't use casting, it runs apps onboard like the other Roku devices. Chromecast just is one big HDMI plug, with the exception of its power cable. It's a simple black unit, likely to blend into the colour of most TVs (though if it ends up sticking out of the side noticeable, it'll be somewhat more intrusive). If your TV is wall-mounted, Chromecast could be really awkward to implement depending on your TV's HDMI port positions. It might also not fit into the space for HDMI ports in some setups, so Google has included a short HDMI extender cable. It gets around immediate problems, but be aware that at 72 x 35 x 12 mm, Chromecast might be an awkward fit. Powering Chromecast can be a little more complicated depending on the age of your television, because it can't run on the power from the HDMI port alone. On the rear of the unit is a micro-USB port, and Google has included a five-foot micro-USB-to-USB cable in the Chromecast box along with a power adapter that plugs into the mains. Ideally, you wouldn't use the latter of these - if your TV has a USB port on it, as many Smart TVs do, you can use that as the power source. Otherwise, you'll have to plug in, and it's possible you'll find that five feet isn't enough. Again, it's not a big problem, but it's worth being aware of. Once it's plugged in and ready, Chromecast's software setup is not complicated at all - in fact, it's barely existent. It's a matter of visiting Google's Chromecast "getting started" website on a laptop, tablet or smartphone, downloading and installing some software, and connecting the device to your home WiFi network. Google has provided apps for each platform that take care of this for you, with the Android version especially good – it does almost everything for you. On iOS, for example, you need to switch to a Wi-Fi network created by the Chromecast so that you can then tell it how to join your main Wi-Fi network – it's easy enough, but requires a bit of annoying back-and-forth to the settings. On Android, it's all handled for you invisibly – you don't need to manually change Wi-Fi at all. It's impressive. Once you've set up, Chromecast is basically ready to go. It's always on, so when you want to use it, just switch the HDMI input you've got it on and fire media at it. When there's nothing playing, you generally just get a screensaver, showing pretty photography. Content and performance Chromecast finally gives Android owners an official media-relay option that broadcasts content from their smartphones and tablets to a TV in similar way to Apple's AirPlay technology. That it works across Android, iOS, PC and Mac is even better. There's a "Cast" button that's usually built into the top right of all of the compatible mobile apps - it looks like a rectangle with broadcasting bars (like a Wi-Fi symbol) in the corner. It's easy to recognise, despite Android being full of similar rectangles these days (and Apple's AirPlay symbol being somewhat similar). Tap the "Cast" button and you'll be offered a list of Chromecast devices on your network, so just choose which one and you'll see the screen spring into life, loading the video or audio content you selected. The app then becomes a remote, basically, enabling you to control the screen. The likes of Netflix even give you a custom screen on the device, ditching playing the video there as well in favour of big buttons for controlling playback easily. Video quality is great from most online sources - Netflix in HD looks as good as you'd hope. We did encounter some freezing issues towards the end of a film, but pausing and restarting got us back in action. Netflix is also capable of streaming from the website on PC or Mac natively (not using the tab mirroring feature) to Chromecast, but when we tried this, the audio was often a tiny bit out of sync. Not enough to make it unwatchable, but it was a bit distracting. Most of the time, when you send video over to the Chromecast, it picks up quickly. Generally, once you've started playing a video, you can exit the app and start doing other things - and this applies both to mobile and desktop. This means Chromecast can act as a second screen in a couple of cases, particularly when used with desktops, letting you browse the internet or do something else on the computer while a tab with your Gmail, Twitter feed or a video is running in a "casted" background on the big screen. However, it's not suitable as a second screen option for work; it's just a mirror of something you've already got open, so if you want to interact with it, it needs to be done on your main computers screen. There's also noticeable two-second lag between the computer and the TV. That's a similar amount of consistent lag experienced when using Apple AirPlay mirroring on a Mac computer, but it is at least consistent - it doesn't suddenly hang or get choppy, for the most part. But here's where AirPlay mirroring from a Mac shows up Chromecast's limitations: the browser extension is just that - browser-based. Showing off a photo you retouched in Photoshop, a document you want a group to proofread in Word, or any program outside of the Chrome browser tab you're casting requires diving deeper into an options menu for a hidden command that's deemed "experimental" by Google. It's buggy and slower than Apple TV's full computer mirroring. Chromecast is not meant for mirroring system-wide applications -at least not yet. App limitations The Chromecast tab extension is also limited to Chrome at the moment and may never work outside of the Google-owned browser. That means FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera users are out of luck if they had hoped to "Cast" using their favorite browser. While Google has opened up the Chromecast API for building applications, it's still forcing everyone to use Chrome for tab casting from a computer. Chromecast also doesn't require an entire Apple TV device to sit in your entertainment console or force you to wire up with a lengthy power, HDMI and optional Ethernet cable. Its plug-and-play nature means that it can be transported much more easily and fit into a backpack to carry to a school presentation or business meeting (we used Apple's iCloud version of Keynote to show a presentation from a Chrome tab), hotel room, or friend's TV. That flexibility may be worth its inexpensive price alone. There is one potential of inflexibility, though. The total lack of built-in apps or direct method of control (such as a dedicated remote) means that if your device runs out of battery or is in another room, you can't play anything. We had a few little niggles, such as a photo-casting app that forgot the Chromecast after each use and had to hard quit and restarted. Most of these are probably up to developers to fix, though, and as things mature, we expect they'll improve. Verdict Google's take on an AirPlay like universal streaming service is hugely impressive, not just for its price, but because it works well, on many platforms. It's possibly the perfect companion device to an older TV with no smart features, and it's certainly the cheapest way to get Netflix up and running in your living room if you can't plug in any other compatible devices. We hope that developers will also be able to work in some other interesting Chromecast options for the future, provided the technology allows it - something equivalent to the big-screen gaming that AirPlay enables for Apple users would be great to have cross-platform, for example. That said, this option is now being covered in Google's forthcoming Nexus Player, so don't expect Google Chromecast to get gaming features any time soon. We liked Chromecast is brilliantly easy to set up, gave us little hassle after the first few minutes, and then worked really well. You quickly become accustomed to the idea of just reaching for your phone and beaming something over to it - just like the future should be. The streaming quality is generally very good, and it's quite reliable, especially for a product that's still fairly early in its life. It's also impressive that it works so well on all platforms. At $30/£30, we definitely like the price. It's well into impulse-buy territory, and we do think it's worth picking one up just for its potential, even if you already have a way to stream the services it currently works with. We disliked The lack of apps was the simple, major problem when Chromecast originally launched. It was fairly well-supported in the US, but elsewhere it needed fleshing out... and it has been. The only thing you might dislike about Chromecast is its reliance on the phone in your pocket or the tablet on your coffee table. But for anyone who keeps those things with them, it's not a problem and in fact for many it's a more convenient way of arranging things. There are a few other things we'd like to see, such as a bit more polish to improve things further – faster loading of videos in some apps, broader support in basic Android apps, stronger streaming from desktops, for example. Verdict Chromecast is an inexpensive, easy-to-use way of accessing streaming on your TV. All the major video streaming apps are compatible and you soon find yourself using it on a daily basis. If it cost more, we'd say it might be worth looking at the Amazon Fire TV or the Nexus Player, but at this price how can you possibly argue? Chromecast is fun enough, robust enough and has enough potential that thoroughly recommend it to anyone without a smart TV.

Microsoft Office 365 Video is a private YouTube for your business Posted: 16 Apr 2015 01:01 PM PDT Rather than having to invest money and time in creating a custom content delivery network for videos, Microsoft has created the Office 365 Video portal for businesses to distribute their videos internally. Office 365 Video is a free service with an enterprise Office 365 account. Office 365 Video is now rolling out to users. "Office 365 Video...is growing, providing organizations with a secure, company-wide destination for posting, sharing and discovering video content," Microsoft said. "And the video experience—embedded within Office 365—meets IT requirements and wins the hearts and minds of users." YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=477&v=WFpRM5akYFQ Going mobile In addition to rolling out Office 365 Video worldwide, Microsoft is also giving iPhone owners a native app. Through the app, iPhone owners can watch and discover Office 365 Video content as they would on the web. Additionally, they can also shoot and upload videos directly from their iPhone. Non-iPhone users can browse videos from a standard web browser. Microsoft says that the UI is made to dynamically adjust to optimize player size to your screen and browser window. As Office 365 Video uses an HTML5 player, it will work work on mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. Leveraging Azure Media Services Office 365 Video relies on the Azure Media Services backbone. Once a video is uploaded to SharePoint Online, it's sent to the Azure Media Services, where it gets encoded with different resolutions and file sizes. Azure will serve the video size and resolution that's most appropriate depending on the viewer's device type and connection speed. Private or shareable sers will have granular controls on how to share their videos.In each video channel, users can assign permissions on who can view the video content, such as Owners, Editors and Viewers. Videos are also encrypted for added security. Uploaded videos can be shared on Office Delve as well as on Yammer. Read our review of Office 2016

In Depth: Vizio's ultra cheap 4K TV is sharp, but it's missing a soul Posted: 16 Apr 2015 12:55 PM PDT It wasn't too long ago 4K TV was thought of exclusively as an expensive luxury. But then at CES 2014, Vizio introduced the first Ultra HD television under $1,000. And just this week, the company dropped the price of entry-level 4K TVs yet again with a new $599 (about £400, AU$768) screen. The 43-inch M-series (model number M43-C1) comes at an amazing bargain, but like you might be asking yourself right now, I wondered if there was a catch with this affordable option. Following the news announcement, Vizio opened up a temporary showroom floor to display its latest M-series televisions with which it hopes to bring 4K to mainstream users. After staring at the M43 along with the wide selection of 4K screens Vizio had on hand for a good hour or so, I came away feeling that while these sets are affordable, they sorely lack the soul of a premium Ultra HD screen. No sharp enough yet Unlike every other 4K screen I had seen up to that point, I didn't feel the same revelation in improved image quality with the M43. It' s certainly sharper than your standard Full HD TV, and Vizio even strategically placed it next to a few of its E-series televisions, which house lower-res 1080p screens. With the 43-inch M-series you can discern more details from this riverside look at Big Ben in London to the finer details in this hillside. However, resolution is only one part of the equation. Most 4K screens I've laid my eyes on, from the Philips Brilliance 288P monitor to Samsung's 105-inch curved Ultra HD 4K TV, had a brilliance to them. Colors on a 4K screen should look warm and saturated and have an unbelievable level of contrast. With Vizio's screen I felt that hues were bright but nothing too memorable, and a shot of the London cityscape at night lacked an astonishing amount of contrast, failing to make it pop off the screen. That's not to say the screen looks terrible; it's actually quite nice and better than most other televisions you can get in the same price bracket. But when compared to other 4K TVs, it lacks the dazzle that makes the tech, however expensive, truly impressive. The upside From Vizio's perspective, it wants to make 4K more accessible while still maintaining a high picture quality. "There is a lot of market traction for 4K TVs and panel prices are coming down, so we want to lead the market from the picture performance end," Parin Shah, senior product manager at Vizio, told me at the event. "We trying to drive the market with large volumes to really get the prices down." Shah said the M43 isn't an entry-level TV, and called the step up from [its Full HD TVs] "massive from a spec standpoint." On top of the 4K resolution, Shah explained Vizio's new M-series televisions also offer a remote with a keypad on its underside for quickly typing in the names of favorite programs and local dimming zones. The dimming zone feature allows the 43-inch screen to selectively decrease the amount of backlight illumination on parts of the screen to make for better black levels and higher contrast images. While that sounds great on paper, the entry level M-series set only has 28 local dimming zones. Spread across a 43-inch canvas, this means every LED illuminating the screen covers an area roughly the size of your fist, so the contrast control is good but only to a certain point. By comparison, Samsung has employed micro dimming to deliver twice the number of lighting zones for better contrast and color control in its 4K TVs. LG's 4K TVs, meanwhile, primarily employ emissive OLED technology, which means they bypass the need for a backlit screen as the display panel acts as its own light source while rendering an image at the same time. Of course, you have to keep in mind these other options are much more expensive than Vizio's M43 4K TV. A new standard Ultimately, though, Vizio feels the most demonstrable improvement in picture quality will be the increase in resolution to 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, up from the current 1080p standard. "A lot of apps are coming up with 4K content but at the same time the upscaling engine, it's getting better and better and you'll see a difference from the original Full HD content," Shah said. "It's a good-looking TV [that] you want to put it in your living room and you want to brag to your friends about it." Shah is right about the M43 being about bragging rights. 4K TVs for the most part are still exorbitantly expensive, so a $600 set could be the first big step towards opening it up to more users. 1080p televisions used to be just as expensive when the television world was moving up from standard definition. Eventually, affordable 1080p display options hit the market that were followed by a long series of screens with improved color, refresh rates, contrast ratios - and generally better looking televisions. Now, as for where 4K TVs fits into this timeline, I feel the technology is just finally starting to chip its way into more homes. The content is nowhere near ready with the exception of a few outliers like Daredevil on Netflix and the coming 4K reboot of Planet Earth. Likewise, Vizio's own M43 shows there's still some work to be done on the hardware side, but it seems 4K is on its way to becoming the new standard and more affordable options like Vizio's $599 TV will only help to get it there. Will high-dynamic range become the next must have TV technology?

ARM's new tech promises 60% more juice for wearables Posted: 16 Apr 2015 12:55 PM PDT ARM wants to help Internet of Things (IoT) devices last even longer using new Bluetooth technology that it claims delivers 60% more battery life. To make the new technology become a reality it has acquired two companies, Sunrise Micro Devices and Wicentric, that will form the crux of its new Cordio brand focused on developing low-power radio IP technology for battery-sapping devices such as wearables. The Cordio brand name comes from Sunrise Micro Devices' line of low-power Cordio wireless products that includes a range of Bluetooth 4.0 CMOS radios. Wicentric, on the other hand, will provide a Bluetooth Smart software stack for the "sub-volt" radios being produced. ARM serious about IoT Companies that choose to use ARM's low-power radio IP technology can expect battery life to increase to a level that means devices can last up to 60% longer between charges. It can offer this thanks to the "sub-volt" operation that allows it to work below 1V and gently "sip" energy from the battery. ARM has been taking the IoT very seriously over the past six months after it announced a new device platform and free OS back in October that is built around open standards and brings security, protocols and standards together into one integrated platform. It backed that up with the purchase of Offspark to bolster its IoT security offering and overall its an area that ARM looks set to be a big part of in the coming years. Check it out: Six things you should know about the Internet of Things

Samsung Galaxy S6 sold out in some stores due to 'much higher' demand Posted: 16 Apr 2015 12:34 PM PDT The Samsung Galaxy S6 is the latest and currently the greatest smartphone, according to our best phones list, but it's sold out in some stores worldwide. "Although there may be some difficulties for the short term, we will do our utmost to secure enough supply for our global consumers," Samsung told the wire service. US carrier Verizon, for example, has the April 10-released smartphone backordered until an "estimated" April 21. And that's just when it ships. Samsung Galaxy S6 sales The flagship smartphone and that phone's curvier cousin released more gusto and bigger changes than the underwhelming Samsung Galaxy S5 update. That's good news for Samsung, as buyers had plenty of other new electronics to consider on April 10, including the HTC One M9, Apple Watch and new MacBook. We will have more news on the Samsung Galaxy S6 sales as soon as the South Korean company makes the official figures available. See the new Star Wars Trailer 2

DxO Optics Pro 10.4 adds Nikon D7200 and Olympus OM-D E-M5 II support Posted: 16 Apr 2015 12:30 PM PDT Best photo editing software DxO Optics Pro 10 review DxO is an optics an image processing specialist and carries out laboratory tests on almost all new cameras and lenses. The results are fed back into its flagship image-editing tool DxO Optics Pro, which produces extremely high-quality raw conversions and at the same time corrects a whole series of common lens flaws, including distortion, chromatic aberration, vignetting (corner shading) and edge softness. It's closest rival is Adobe Camera Raw, which comes with Adobe Photoshop and is built into Adobe Lightroom. But while this and other programs now offer lens corrections too, DxO's results still set the standard – and it supports the widest range of camera and lens combinations. In version 10.4, DxO has also added a one-click 'Reset' button so that you can quickly return the image to its original state even after you've made a whole series of adjustments. These aren't the only additions. OpticsPro v10.4 also brings support for 466 new camera/lens combinations, including Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Samyang, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Voigtlander and Zeiss lenses for Canon, Fuji, Nikon and Olympus cameras. This includes the amazing Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM super-wideangle zoom. Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM hands on The Nikon D7200 is Nikon's latest and best 'consumer' DSLR. It has a 24-megapixel APS-C sized sensor with no anti-aliasing filter, so that it delivers the highest possible resolution, even though there is a theoretical risk (though we've heard no reports of this) that you might see moiré effects in some fine textures or patterns. The Olympus OM-D E-M5 II is Olympus's latest enthusiast-orientated compact system camera. It looks like a DSLR but uses a mirrorless design and an electronic viewfinder and has a smaller, lighter body. The E-M5 II has many innovative and exciting features, including a fully-articulating touch-screen display, powerful 5-axis image stabilization and a unique high-res 40MP mode which delivers stunning resolution with static subjects. The DxO Optics Pro 10.4 update is free to any existing DxO Optics Pro 10 users, and to any users of DxO Optics Pro 9 who acquired their licence on or after September 1st 2014. Nikon D7200 review Olympus OM-D E-M5 II review Camera reviews

Review: Dell Chromebook 11 (2015) Posted: 16 Apr 2015 12:00 PM PDT Introduction and design Specifically built to withstand the abuses inherent to an education environment, this year's Dell Chromebook 11 features a solid build housed in a boring design. The Chromebook 11 ($249, £170, AU$320) looks more like a business laptop with its understated looks, but Dell claims its purpose-built design means that this notebook should survive drops, water spills, dirt and dust and most things that the harsh academic K-12 environment throws at it. Direct competitors in this rugged space include Acer's 11-inch Chromebook C740 ($249, £170, AU$320) and 15-inch Chromebook C910 ($299, £200, AU$385). Dell's new Latitude 11 ($299, £194, AU$386), which swaps Chrome OS for Windows in a similar form factor, is also an excellent rugged candidate for the education segment. Those who don't need the rugged design and choose form over durability will find the Samsung Chromebook 2 ($249, £154, AU$282), Toshiba Chromebook ($279, £167, AU$309), and Lenovo N20p ($329, £210, AU$380) to be solid choices. The recently announced all-metal Asus Flip ($249, £167, AU$327) comes with a hybrid 360-degree hinge, allowing it to transform into various form factors, including use as a tablet. Home users who may not have budget constraints can find more powerful systems elsewhere. The 11-inch MacBook Air ($899, £605, AU$1,155) is a compelling choice given its small footprint, solid aluminum construction, and portability. Apple bundles its free productivity software with OS X, and unlike Chrome OS, the Air can be used as a regular notebook without requiring a constant tether to the internet. Design Unlike Asus, which is trying to reinvent the Chromebook category with its 360-degree hinge on the Flip, Dell is taking a more measured approach in creating a durable product that will survive daily student use and abuse. Because of the rugged construction, Dell's Chromebook 11 ends up slightly larger and heavier than the competition. Compared to Toshiba's Chromebook 2, a device with a larger 13.3-inch panel that measures 12.6 x 8.4 x 0.76 inches (32.0 x 21.3 x 1.9cm), the Chromebook 11 occupies almost the same footprint at 11.69 x 8.57 x 0.83 inches (29.7 x 21.8 x 2.1cm). Acer's C740 with a similar 11.6-inch display is slightly more compact than the Dell model at 11.3 x 8 x 0.79 inches (28.7 x 20.3 x 2.0cm). With a touchscreen, the 2.91-pound (1.32kg) Dell Chromebook 11 is heavier than the Acer C740's 2.87-pound (1.30kg) weight. Without a touchscreen, Dell's model is only 2.74 pounds (1.24kg). The Chromebook 11's weight is about on par with the 11-inch category, and is still light enough for students to carry around all day. What sets the Dell Chromebook 11 apart from others on the market is its rugged design. Dell claims that its new Chromebook 11 passes US Military Standard testing for durability, dirt, dust, pressure, temperature, humidity, shock and vibration "so it can handle student life." To meet those durability claims, Dell cloaks its Chromebook 11 in a solid, matte black plastic case, a design choice that hides scratches, dirt and fingerprints well. A rubber bumper along the edges of the Chromebook 11 helps shield the notebook in case it's dropped. Acer's education-centric Chromebook offerings come with reinforced hinge designs and strengthened corners, but lack the full rubber bumpers and the sealed keyboard and trackpad of the Dell Chromebook 11. On the Chromebook 11, the touchscreen is an optional upgrade, and it allows students another means to interact with the content on their Chromebook beyond the keyboard and trackpad. Another feature that sets the Chromebook 11 apart from the competition is the reinforced barrel hinge. Not only does the barrel hinge allow the lid to be opened up to 180 degrees for better peer-to-peer collaboration, Dell says that it is also extremely sturdy. As students would often grab and carry the Chromebook by the lid, the barrel design helps to reduce stress and prevent the hinge from breaking. The hinge also houses loud, forward-firing stereo speakers. The non-backlit keyboard is surprisingly pleasant to use. With almost full-size keys - the keys are about 1/16 inches more narrow than the keys on a 15-inch MacBook Pro - typing is comfortable. The keys are extremely springy, but lack the key travel of a full-size laptop keyboard. There is a dedicated row of standard Chrome shortcut keys on top of the keyboard. The trackpad on the Chromebook 11 is extremely responsive, and I found cursor tracking to be accurate. Rugged durability In addition to the reinforced barrel hinge, the Chromebook 11 comes with a waterproof keyboard and trackpad - features that are typically found on more expensive business laptops, like the Lenovo ThinkPad T450s ($881, £591, AU$1,131). The waterproof keyboard means that the Chromebook 11 can be used in science labs and other hazardous education environments. For those opting for a touchscreen model, the Corning Gorilla Glass NBT screen helps to protect the display from scratches. Specifications and performance The Chromebook 11 is available in two color options. Dell is selling the black version at $249 (£170, AU$320), with the blue version commanding a $10 (£7, AU$13) premium. Both versions start with 2GB of RAM and a 720p HD non-touch display. Here's how the unit sent to TechRadar for review was configured. Spec sheet Processor: 2.6GHz dual-core Intel Celeron Bay Trail-M N2840 Graphics: Intel HD for Intel Celeron processors Memory: 4GB RAM (DDR3L, 1,600Mhz) Storage: 16GB SSD Screen: 11.6-inch HD, 1366 x 768 touchscreen Camera: 720p webcam Wireless: Bluetooth 4.0; 802.11ac (B/G/N), dual-band Wi-Fi Ports: HDMI 1.4, 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, memory card reader, secondary memory card reader with lock, 3.5mm combo jack Battery: Three-cell OS: Windows 8.1 If you can afford the $70 (£47, AU$90) premium, the touchscreen version of the Chromebook 11 starts at $329 (£210, AU$380) and provides a future-proof computing experience, especially if you're looking to hang on to the Chromebook for several years. Google is starting to port Android apps to Chrome OS, and a touchscreen makes that experience better than using a keyboard and trackpad. Additionally, a touchscreen can also help increase classroom collaboration. By laying the screen flat with the barrel hinge, students can tap on the touchscreen to share, collaborate, and interact with their content. Performance While the dual-core Celeron Bay Trail-M processor doesn't quite have the raw performance of the Intel Broadwell chip inside this year's Google Chromebook Pixel ($999, £799, AU$1,277), performance on the Dell Chromebook 11 is extremely smooth. Given that most computing activity on a Chromebook will be done through the cloud rather than on the device - and that most Chromebook users won't be running heavy video editing programs anyways - "downgrading" to an Atom-based processor on the Dell model brings a lot of value for the performance. In real-world use, performance of the Chromebook 11 is similar to the Toshiba Chromebook 2. Both models share the same processor, RAM and screen resolution, but the Toshiba model comes with a larger 13-inch display. I had about 15 tabs running in three different browser windows without any slow downs on the Chromebook 11. The Chromebook 11 is fast, responsive, and exhibited no delays. The Intel Celeron chipset's performance seems better than the ARM CPU on the competing Acer Chromebook 13, which runs on Nvidia's Tegra K1 processor, and exhibited slightly diminished performance when tested by TechRadar. Multimedia Unfortunately, lacking the in-plane switching (IPS) screen technology of the Toshiba Chromebook 2's display, the Chromebook 11 has narrower viewing angles. The 180-degree hinge design mitigates this somewhat as it allows students to still have peer-to-peer collaboration when the screen is laid flat. In my testing, I found that even though the screen is adequately bright indoors with a 200-nit rating, I struggled with the display outdoors as the screen was too dim, even at full brightness. Surprisingly, audio produced by the stereo speakers came out loud and clear. In fact, at the loudest volume, audio produced by the Chromebook 11 could fill a small room. When watching YouTube review videos, instructional TED Talk videos, and streaming music on Pandora, I preferred to keep the volume between 50% and 80%. I found that there is slight distortion at volumes higher than 80%, and at that level the audio lacked fullness. Battery life With a stated battery life of 10 hours, the Chromebook delivers an all-day computing experience. For classroom use, this means that teachers won't need to recharge Chromebooks between classes or in the middle of lessons, and students won't need to find power outlets when using the Chromebook 11. In real-world use, with screen brightness set to around 60%, the Chromebook 11 lasted for just over eight hours on a single charge. In my testing, I surfed the web, managed my emails, watched a few marketing videos on YouTube, edited documents in Google Docs and Google Sheets, checked the news on Feedly and performed Google search in the Chrome browser. Eight hours is enough to get through a full school day, but students who carry their own Chromebook 11 likely will need to charge the Chromebook at some point during the day if they intend on using the netbook after-school for homework or other extracurricular functions. Collaboration and communication Dell has created a useful way to use technology to foster classroom engagement. The Dell activity light is a tool that encourages participation and communication. For students who may be too timid to raise their hands or speak up in class, the activity light alerts instructors when a student wants to join a discussion or has a question. Students can tap or click the appropriate icon on the accompanying app on the Chromebook, and a corresponding light will appear on the lid to alert the instructor. A blue light means the student wants to participate. A red light indicates that a student has a question. And finally, a yellow light alerts the instructor that the student may need more time or may not have understood the materials presented. Chromebook management To manage the Chromebook 11, Dell offers an easy enterprise mobility management solution through its KACE program. School IT administrators can use the Dell KACE K1000 Systems Management Appliance as a comprehensive systems management solution to inventory Chromebooks. Dell also sells a $1,899 (£1,280, AU$2,450) mobile computing cart that can store up to 30 devices at a single time. The cart, when used inside a classroom environment, allows teachers to securely lock up the Chromebooks for safe storage. Additionally, the cart is also a charging hub, allowing educators to quickly charge up to 30 Chromebook 11 laptops overnight. The value of running Chrome OS on the Chromebook 11 is that it requires very little maintenance. Unlike using Windows systems that require constant OS updates, antivirus software, and a powerful CPU and GPU to handle computing tasks, the Chromebook 11 is a physical device that connects to the cloud to do heavy lifting. Students just need to sign into the Chromebook 11 with their Google ID and Google will keep Chrome OS constantly updated in the background. As users are mainly running web apps, not much computing power is needed as long as the school has a robust wireless connection. Verdict As one of the few Chromebooks specifically marketed for education, the Dell Chromebook 11 is an excellent option for students who need a durable computing experience that will last them for years. Solid construction, beautiful touchscreen display, and smooth performance make this year's Dell Chromebook 11 a winner. We liked There is plenty to love with Dell's vision for Chrome computing in the classroom. The Chromebook 11's rugged design, durable construction, loud speakers, and excellent keyboard experience (for the price point) make this a solid choice for students. Add in the optional touchscreen, and you'll likely be able to keep the Chromebook 11 future-proof for years to come. We disliked Even though the typing experience on the $249 (£170, AU$320) Chromebook 11 is excellent for the value, the keys are 1/16 inches smaller than keys on a MacBook Pro, and Dell could have made better use of the Chromebook 11's thickness by giving the keys more travel when pressed. Final verdict Don't let the understated aesthetics of the Chromebook 11 fool you. Dell packed in features that are typically reserved for more expensive business notebooks into its Chromebook 11 in an effort to create a durable product for the education market. In the Chromebook 11, you'll find a 180-degree reinforced hinge, rugged design, sealed keyboard and trackpad, and a great typing experience inside a portable package. In addition to using the Chromebook for school, students will appreciate the loud stereo speakers for multimedia and entertainment.

Watch the latest teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens Posted: 16 Apr 2015 11:07 AM PDT That sound just then? Millions of voices crying out with joy. The second teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens has just been revealed. Check it out below, and prepare for many, many weeks of over-analysing. The film hits cinemas on December 18. YouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngElkyQ6Rhs

Review: Ultimate Ears Boom Posted: 16 Apr 2015 11:00 AM PDT Looking at most Bluetooth speakers, how they work, where the buttons are and how you charge it up are all pretty obvious from the get go. This isn't the case with the Ultimate Ears Boom. This might seem like a weakness, but being elusive is only this speaker's first act. Coming in at $199 (£169, AU$199), the UE Boom isn't cheap. But it more than makes up the difference with its second and third act: a wealth of surprising and impressive features. Design Splashed in a variety of colors that Ultimate Ears charmingly calls "superhero", the Boom we received for review does its best Superman impression with a vibrant red and blue. The Boom's cylindrical frame is coated in a single piece of deep blue mesh fabric. This completely covers the guts of the unit, including the multi-directional speaker, the battery and microphone. Adding some nice contrast to the build is the red rubber spine and end caps. Here, we finally get to unearth some of the understated functionality of the Boom. On the top cap, the center is stamped with a power button that lights up with a subtle LED when turned on. Next to it is a Bluetooth pairing button, which is fairly self-explanatory. You won't need it again once you're connected. Running down the cylindrical body, the volume controls stand out as its most prominent design feature. You literally can't miss them. These buttons each offer a satisfying click when pressed, and if you hold them both down for a second, the speaker announces the charge remaining in the battery. Once you reach the bottom, a rubber flap covers up a 3.5mm port for wired listening and the micro USB charging port. It's optional, meaning that you don't need to have it on if you so choose to remove it. But keep in mind, without the flap, the Boom loses a bit of its water-resistant capabilities. Specifically, the UE Boom has a water resistance grade of IPX4, meaning it can withstand splashing water. Don't deliberately spray a focused stream of water at it or submerge it. Adding to that, the mesh fabric is safe and easy to wash should you splash red wine or a little bit of mud on it. This speaker comes in an appealing package. Matching its cylindrical qualities, the casing cracks open like a time capsule and cleverly packs in a neon micro USB cable and wall charger. The UE Boom's design not only makes a fun, colorful visual statement, but its materials are integral components to its durability and resistance to the elements. Performance The UE Boom is as power-packed inside as it is vibrant on the outside, with capable sound and a long-lasting battery. This speaker sounds quite vivid out of the box, but if you don't have the companion app, you're really missing out on some interesting functionality. Available for free on Android and iOS devices, the app, simply called "UE Boom," is what makes the investment shine. That's far more than what the competition in its size range can say. In the app, you can tweak simple settings, such as the speaker's name as it appears on the list of Bluetooth devices to connect. You can also set up an alarm that wakes you to the noise or song of your choice. Digging in a little more, you can adjust the equalizer of the UE Boom through the app, if the stock settings aren't doing well in your listening environment. Options to give bass, vocal clarity, and the mids and highs a clear kick in the rear are available on the fly. If those don't do it for you, you can create a custom EQ. Lastly, through the app, you can link up with another Boom or a UE Mini Boom to bring the party to two (adjacent) rooms at the same time or to create a surround sound effect. Regardless of any tweaks in the equalizer, the sound offering is impressive. Bass performance is responsive and tight, but not explosive. Most genres sound evenly balanced with lows, mids and highs all playing along nicely. Spoken word in podcasts sounds just fine too, if that's your audio of choice. The UE Boom claims to fire sound in 360 degrees, which would make the sound "viewing angle" crisp no matter where you're positioned around the speaker. While the effect is closer to a full 360-degrees than what's pumped out of the TDK TREK Flex, I still found that there is a small dead spot right where the rubber spine is located. It's a minute gripe that shouldn't change your mind on the purchase, but it pokes holes in the feature's validity, which is prominently featured on the packaging. To utilize this speaker's speakerphone capabilities, you'll have to answer the calls on your phone. It feels a little antiquated for its new-age sense of style, but again, it's no deal-breaker. Lastly, this speaker can easily groove for its advertised battery life of 15 hours. It accompanied me without issue during a few all-day fits of spring cleaning before requiring some juice. Final verdict If you've been shopping t for a Bluetooth speaker for a while now, you already know there are plenty of cheaper options available. But unless you're looking at the UE Boom's little bro, the $99 (£79, AU$99) UE Mini Boom, you'll be hard-pressed to find this impressive breadth of functionality and pizazz in speakers even twice its cost. Sure, the price of admission is arguably steep. But for the extra scratch, you're getting a very capable Bluetooth speaker that will deliver awesome audio to the longest of house parties.

Star Wars droid BB8 is a totally real-life robot Posted: 16 Apr 2015 10:56 AM PDT R2-D2 is officially classified as "retro" now that roller ball droid BB8 is a 100% real life robot. The droid and its creator took to the stage early Thursday morning at Star Wars Celebration Weekend in Anaheim, Calif. to upstage our favorite astromech unit and give the audience something to cheer about. When asked why so much effort went into making a real robot instead of solely using CGI to create one on-screen, director J.J. Abrams said, "that it would be better for the actors to have something to interact with," rather than having empty space in front of them. On closer examination, the newly debuted droid had some unique, almost gravity-defying features. The head - which is similar to R2's - seems to float on top of the rolling base, which can move 360 degrees. While there's still a lot we don't know about this generation's programmable comic relief, we can at least confirm that it is indeed real and not a figment of Abram's imagination. Want to learn more about the galaxy far, far away? Check out our Star Wars: The Force Awakens hub!

Updated: 9 Best Chromebooks 2015: top Chromebooks reviewed Posted: 16 Apr 2015 10:31 AM PDT Best Chromebooks Updated: Google's Pixel has won a top spot in our best of Chromebooks list as one of the most powerful and fastest machines around. Chromebooks are budget laptops that are both odd and brilliant, low-impact and potent. Running Google's Chrome OS rather than Windows, they focus on what computing has been all about since the late '90s, the web browser. With low-impact processors and barely HD screens starting at 1366 x 768 resolution, most of these machines are also designed to last. Almost every Chromebook claims between 7 and 9 hours of battery life and comes within a few hours of that range, based on our testing. Prices will start to climb above the budget range, as is the case with the new Chromebook Pixel ($999, £670, AU$1,320), a laptop whose specs put it in direct competition with the new MacBook. Despite the expanding Chromebook market, there should always be something within your spending limit. Or, if you require something out of the ordinary, there are even ruggedized versions of Chromebooks designed to withstand the abuse of children. At that point, it all comes down to size (and price), with Chromebooks available as small as 11.6 inches and as large as 14 inches. Always updated, here are our top-ranking Chromebook reviews: Chromebook Pixel (2015) The end all, be all of Chromebooks. Outfitted with a Core i5 processor, USB 3.1 (and USB-C) ports, a high-resolution screen, and more RAM than it will ever need, the Chromebook pixel sets a high bar for Chrome OS machines for years to come. Power and performance aside, the Pixel is one of the few Chromebooks that feels like it has itself completely figured out. The build quality of this machine is exquisite and the design has been engineered down to a science. What's more, its vivid screen - plus the impeccable keyboard and trackpad - all help to round out the Pixel as one excellent, premium package. It's impossible not to get hung up on the Pixel's high price. For the same amount of money, you could buy two or even three Chromebooks or a decent Windows laptop. So before you we suggest you consider all the much more affordable options out there before investing so much money into this machine. Read: Chromebook Pixel (2015) Acer Chromebook 15 With a stunning screen, Acer's latest Chromebook is a winner The Acer Chromebook 15 is a breath of fresh air in the Chromebook space. It takes this series of laptops to two new places, as the first with a 15.6-inch screen and the first packing a Broadwell processor. First and foremost, it neither looks nor feels the least bit "budget." The laptop also comes well equipped and is fully capable machine for multi-tasking. What's more, it has a positively radiant screen that's perfect for long Netflix binges. We would easily pick this machine over any budget 15.6-inch Windows laptop. It's simply better built and comes at a better price to boot. Heck even 15-inch display on this laptop itself would even be worth the $349 or £249 (about AU$458) price of admission. No matter what though, the Acer Chromebook 15 is on the cutting edge and first sign of where Chrome OS devices will end up this year. Read: Acer Chromebook 15 review Dell Chromebook 11 (2015) Dell's updated Chromebook is a star in almost every regard Don't let the understated aesthetics of the new Dell Chromebook 11 (starting at $249, £170, AU$320) fool you. Dell packed in features that are typically reserved for more expensive business notebooks into its Chromebook 11 in an effort to create a durable product for the education market. In the Chromebook 11, you'll find a 180-degree reinforced hinge, rugged design, sealed keyboard and trackpad, and a great typing experience inside a portable package. In addition to using the Chromebook for school, students will appreciate the loud stereo speakers for multimedia and entertainment. Read: Dell Chromebook 11 review Lenovo N20p Chromebook A versatile Chromebook experience for a reasonable price This is one of the "sexier" Chromebooks available, showcasing Lenovo's eye for style. However, the best feature is the N20p's 300-degree hinge, which lets you flip the N20p's display backward all the way into stand mode (or 'tent' mode, whatever you prefer), which lends itself nicely to viewing movies or showing presentations. The touchscreen controls also work in a pinch for recreational activities such as watching shows on HBOGo viewing or Pinteresting. Still there's some difficulty when using it as a tablet, as Chrome isn't entirely tailored to touch as a largely browser-based operating system. It's not very tuned for business use, but the Lenovo N20p offers great versatility for a leisure device. Plus with two USB ports (one 3.0), and HDMI port and an SD card reader, this Chromebook delivers a great bang for its buck. Read: Lenovo N20p Chromebook review Toshiba Chromebook 2 A gorgeous 1080p screen makes this Chromebook a real contender For $329 (about £205, AU$382), the Toshiba Chromebook 2 is a gorgeous and affordable laptop that doesn't have many weaknesses. It comes with more RAM and a full HD 1080p screen, making it a step up from other models in this class, like the Samsung Chromebook 2 and Acer C720. But potential buyers should note that the Toshiba Chromebook 2 moves the Chromebook category closer towards the territory of an affordable Windows 8.1 laptop. So you might be overpaying if you're not purchasing this laptop specifically for the Google ecosystem. That being said, the 1080p screen is a huge bonus and the laptop speakers made by Skullcandy are booming. Add it all up and the Toshiba Chromebook 2 might be an ideal streaming system for everything from YouTube and Google Play to Hulu Plus and Netflix. Read: Toshiba Chromebook 2 review Acer Chromebook 13 With incredible battery life, the Chromebook 13 is a winner Powered by Nvidia's ARM Cortex A15-based Tegra K1, this Chromebook packs a lot of punch in a tiny frame. Users will love its 13.3-inch 1080p resolution screen, as well as its portability. At 3.31 pounds, the Acer Chromebook 13 is a relatively light laptop. This Chromebook does have some minor issues: it doesn't multitask very well and the laptop itself only comes in one color. But for the price ($279 about £165, AU$300), you're likely to enjoy the simplicity and productivity, as you learn to overcome the design limitations. Read: Acer Chrome 13 review HP Chromebook 11 A Chromebook that's as cheap as it is excellent The HP Chromebook 11 (starting at $279, £179, AU$399) is smooth and usable. While Chrome OS is limited by definition, between us growing more comfortable in web apps and those apps growing in power – and Chrome OS maturing – we're bumping into those limitations far less often. This laptop is punchy enough to make the experience slick, cheap enough for anyone on a budget (or an impulse buy for the well-off), but something that still feels solid. It is a delight to own and use. Apple and the other premium manufacturers should look at this little gem of a computer and applaud what has been achieved. The Chromebook 11 shows that it's possible to create a product with a little bit of the magic and joy you get from an Apple laptop without charging four figures for it. Read: HP Chromebook 11 review Acer C720 Chromebook Offering decent features at a cheap price, this is a good budget option In terms of power and endurance, you can't argue with the Acer C720 Chromebook (starting at $199, £199, AU$399). When you just want to get on the web quickly to answer emails or look something up, the C720 is ideal. For parents, it's also a perfect "homework machine," as long as you can get a printer hooked up. This is a true web appliance, a fine system for families. The Google account log-in gives each user a personalized interface, and just a few keystrokes completely wipe the system. That limits the risk substantially in sharing the system with others. One key criterion we use in evaluating a device is whether we'd actually want to use it every day. Even taking this laptop's flaws into account, it's something we definitely would want to use, for the price. Read: Acer C720 Chromebook review Asus Chromebook C300M A colourful Chromebook that balances price and performance The Asus C300M ($249, £219) is a perfectly balanced device for coffee shop warriors, commuting accountants and peripatetic teachers. With more than nine hours of battery life, this 13.3-inch device will keep you going all day long. It also performed admirably on all of our benchmarks, and it even features a solid set of ports for those of you needing multiple connections. Like most other Chromebooks, this laptop isn't winning any innovation awards, but it is a good-looking, steady performer at an incredible price. Read: Asus Chromebook C300M review

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