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• 4G boost for Boost Mobile customers
• In Depth: The best movies on Netflix right now
• OPINION: 3 reasons I absolutely hate Facebook's new 'dislike button'
• Michael Bay–endorsed 3DR Solo drone takes off over Sydney
• iOS Tips: iOS 9: 50 tips and tricks
• Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin spaceships will launch before 2020
• Opinion: The new Apple TV Frankensteins together other set-top boxes, and that scares me
• Explained: How to install watchOS 2 on Apple Watch
• Mac Tips: Excel for Mac 2016: Six tips to master the new features
• Alphabet's next big challenge: mental health
• Here's why you can't uninstall Apple's pre-installed iPhone apps
• A Facebook 'dislike' button is in the works
• Salesforce can now pull data from your refrigerator and thermostat
• Snapchat messages no longer expire after 10 secs…for a price
• Epson's new Expression Premium printers print even better photos
• Updated: Nvidia brings PS4's coolest feature to PC gaming
• Review: AKG N90Q
• Halo 5's steady 60fps comes at the expense of a stable resolution
• New watch faces are coming to the original Moto 360
• Hands-on review: Updated: Project Morpheus

4G boost for Boost Mobile customers Posted: 15 Sep 2015 11:51 PM PDT Boost Mobile is belatedly embracing the world of 4G, announcing that customers will have access to increased data speeds from 29 September on its two prepaid recharge offers. Customers need not worry, though, as Boost promises it will not be charging new or existing customers higher prices as a result of the introduction. Boost will continue to offer its $20 ULTRA recharge, which offers 1GB of data and an addition 500MB every Sunday, and its $40 UNLTD recharge, which offers 3GB of data and an additional 1GB every Sunday. To celebrate Boost's 4G launch the company is offering $40 UNLTD customers a bonus 1GB of data every Sunday, taking total data from 7GB to 11GB. Boost customers will certainly need the 4G to get through all of that. Need help picking a phone to use that data on? Check out the best Android phone here.

In Depth: The best movies on Netflix right now Posted: 15 Sep 2015 08:30 PM PDT Best movies on Netflix If you're new to Netflix and want to find the best movies to watch, or you're tired of browsing the app for 30 minutes before finding something to watch, you've come to the right place. With thousands of movies at your disposal, it's easy to get stuck in binge-watching mode, but finding the honest-to-goodness best films can be a bit of a hassle. In an effort to determine the best of the best, we've put together a list of the greatest possible films you can watch – curated by techradar editors and backed up with ratings from IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes – so that you don't have to sift through the muck. We'll keep this best-of list up to date with the latest movies that are must-watch, so you waste zero screen time searching. Are TV shows more your scene? Here are the best TV shows on Netflix! Wake in Fright One of the most powerful and harrowing films in Australian cinema history, Wake in Fright forces audiences to take a good hard look at Australia's destructively macho drinking culture. Marooned in a small outback town while he waits for a train to Sydney, schoolteacher John Grant (Gary Bond) stops in at a local pub to pass the time. Sounds innocent enough, right? Unfortunately for John, a chance encounter with a pack of local louts sends him on an incredibly dark odyssey into the Australian heart of darkness. As shocking and menacing as any horror movie, Wake in Fright is an extremely confronting masterpiece that requires a strong stomach. IMDB Rating: 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes: 100% Drive Drive is the film that made it cool to love Ryan Gosling. Based on the novel of the same name by James Sallis, this pulpy thriller is one of the most stylish films of the last decade, having almost single-handedly revived the neon '80s synth-pop scene. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Only God Forgives), Drive sees Gosling play a nameless stunt driver who works as a shady wheelman by night. When a job goes horribly wrong, this 'driver' must dispense violent justice to make things right for those he cares for. The film's immense influence can be felt across all forms of media – the video game Hotline Miami, in particular, owes a large debt of gratitude to Drive. A loving ode to the early tough-guy crime movies of Michael Mann, Drive is essential viewing. IMDB Rating: 7.8, Rotten Tomatoes: 93% The Fountain Possibly the most polarising film on this list, The Fountain is the kind of film that is seen as transcendent by its admirers and baffling by its detractors. By far the most deeply personal film that director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream) has ever made, The Fountain is about man's inherent struggle with mortality, in this case, the inevitable death of a cancer-stricken soul mate. Tommy (Hugh Jackman) is a scientist who's desperate to find a medical breakthrough to save his dying wife, Izzi (Rachel Weisz), but in doing so squanders what little time he has left with her. A story spanning a period of a thousand years, The Fountain has Jackman and Weisz playing different versions of their characters in different eras, from the days of Mayans and conquistadors to a far off future that sees them hurtling through space towards a dying star. While not for everyone, The Fountain is an absolutely heart-wrenching experience that makes you truly appreciate those closest to you. Bring a box of tissues. IMDB Rating: 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes: 51% Fight Club While the first rule of Fight Club may be that you shouldn't talk about Fight Club, it's extremely hard to keep quiet about a film as provocative as this. Though its messages are based in extremely dark satire, David Fincher's film is as nihilistic and anarchistic as any major film studio has ever produced. Violent, gross and incendiary, Fight Club sees emasculated males bash each other's faces in to make themselves feel manly once more. While the film's themes are intended in jest, they certainly resonated strongly with certain fans, many of which would go on to start their own fight clubs. Despite being misunderstood by its biggest admirers, Fight Club is one of the must-see films of the late '90s. IMDB Rating: 8.9, Rotten Tomatoes: 80% The Town Though Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, was an exceptional film that hinted at his burgeoning filmmaking prowess, his follow-up, The Town, solidified the multitasking celebrity as one of Hollywood's biggest talents. A bank robber thriller in the vein of Heat and Point Break, The Town is set in a neighbourhood in Boston called Charlestown – described in the film as the 'bank robbery capital of America'. After taking a lady bank-teller named Claire (Rebecca Hall) hostage on a heist, Affleck pursues a relationship with her, hugely complicating things within his bank robbing crew. Will Affleck be able to leave his criminal life behind, or will Claire realise what he did to her and give him up to the authorities? The Town is a nail-biting action-packed adult thriller that will make you see Affleck in an entirely new light. We can't wait to see him direct The Batman. IMDB Rating: 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes: 93% The Matrix Way back in 1999, The Matrix blew audiences away with its amazing special effects, mind-bending sci-fi plot, incredible wire-fu action scenes, wonderfully era-appropriate industrial soundtrack and spectacular bullet-time camerawork. Though writer-director siblings The Wachowskis would eventually follow it up with two lacklustre sequels, nothing could diminish the story of a virtual superhero named Neo (Keanu Reeves) and his awakening from a lifelike illusion. Neo learns that our world is just a virtual construct developed by machines in order to enslave humanity and use us as batteries to keep itself alive – not the best news to wake up to, that's for sure. In the words of Keanu himself, The Matrix is one film that is guaranteed to make you say "whoa". IMDB Rating: 8.7, Rotten Tomatoes: 87% Sin Nombre Before he helmed the critically-acclaimed first season of True Detective, Cary Fukunaga directed this raw and authentic tale of two lost souls trying to escape Central America and immigrate into the United States. No easy feat, especially when one of the travellers, El Casper (Edgar Flores), is on the run from the Mara Salvatrucha, a notorious (real-life) gang that he was once a part of, until they murdered the love of his life. A powerful and violent film, Sin Nombre is a good primer for those who are anticipating Fukunaga's upcoming Netflix Original film, Beasts of No Nation. IMDB Rating: 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes: 89% The Shawshank Redemption Commonly regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of Andy (Tim Robbins) and Red (Morgan Freeman), two men serving time in a hellish prison together, holding on to hope and redemption as a means to survive their many, many years locked up. Will these two friends, particularly Andy, who has always maintained his innocence, ever see the world as free men again? The Shawshank Redemption earns its reputation as the definitive film to make grown men weep – it's the kind of true classic that must be watched every few years. IMDB Rating: 9.3, Rotten Tomatoes: 91% The Silence of the Lambs Simultaneously terrifying and mesmerising, The Silence of the Lambs is the film that catapulted the fictional character of Dr. Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter to mythic proportions. This brilliantly psychotic serial killer, played with great menace by Sir Anthony Hopkins in the role won him an Oscar, has since gone on be the subject of several films, books and even a fantastic television series. But while his impact on The Silence of the Lambs is huge, the story belongs to Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), an FBI trainee who is given the task of consulting with the infamous man-eater in an effort to track down a deranged killer that's skinning his victims. Foster's role is less showy but more impressive, played with equal parts determination and vulnerability. We fear for her because we see ourselves in her shoes, but also because we get a real sense of what drives her character, both emotionally and mentally. These characters may have appeared in many other films, but The Silence of the Lambs is still the best by a long stretch. A true masterpiece. IMDB Rating: 8.6, Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Up Known as the Pixar movie that makes you cry within its opening ten minutes, Up eventually perks up a bit to provide a wonderful adventure tale for the whole family. Elderly widower Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) equips his house with thousands of balloons so that he can float away on the South American adventure that he and his wife always talked about taking while she was alive. Things get complicated when he discovers a stowaway in Russell (Jordan Nagai), a Wilderness Explorer who's determined to earn a 'helping the elderly' badge. Up is a fantastic story about friendship, family and honour, and is easily one of Pixar's best films. IMDB Rating: 8.3, Rotten Tomatoes: 98% Scarface "Say hello to my leedle friend!" – possibly the most oft-quoted sentence of Al Pacino's illustrious career, and yet it's only one of the many fantastic lines spoken by his character in Scarface, an '80s gangster film fuelled by excess (and mountains of Cocaine). Pacino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who arrives in Miami with absolutely nothing, eventually amassing an enormous drug empire by sheer tenacity (and many spent bullets). With a wildly over-the-top performance from Pacino and stylish direction from Brian De Palma, Scarface is a vulgar, violent must-see for crime movie fans. IMDB Rating: 8.3, Rotten Tomatoes: 83% American Psycho Director Mary Harron and co-screenwriter Guinevere Turner did the unthinkable when they took on the job of adapting Bret Easton-Ellis' hugely controversial and largely unfilmable book, American Psycho – they looked beyond the source material's horrendously graphic and seemingly never-ending violence to focus on the scathing satire of the greed-obsessed '80s buried underneath. Christian Bale solidified himself as one of the world's most exciting actors in the role of Patrick Bateman, the Wall Street yuppie with an insatiable lust for blood and dinner reservations. Both shocking and hilarious, American Psycho is a remarkably clever cult classic. IMDB Rating: 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes: 67% Gravity It took an agonising seven years for director Alfonso Cuarón to follow his masterful last film, Children of Men, but what an incredible follow-up! With Gravity, he sure did stick the landing (ahem) and hit this one right out of orbit (I'll let myself out). This nail-bitingly intense film, in which Sandra Bullock's character must use her wits to survive in space after a catastrophic shuttle accident, is a technical marvel – the kind of film that wows even the likes of James Cameron, who called Gravity "the best space film ever done." A perfect marriage of drama and special effects, Gravity is an absolute classic. IMDB Rating: 7.9, Rotten Tomatoes: 97% This Is England A heartbreaking coming of age tale inspired by director Shane Meadows' own life, This Is England tells the story of Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), a lonely, fatherless child (thanks to Maggie Thatcher's Falklands War) who finds friendship in a group of local teenage skinheads. Though things start off well, Shaun eventually succumbs to the questionable guidance of a violent, racist named Combo (a never-better Stephen Graham) who returns to town after a stint in prison. Will Shaun be able to break away from Combo's negative influence? We're not going to mince words here – This Is England is a genuine masterpiece of British cinema. Also worth watching are its three follow-up television miniseries' – This Is England '86, This Is England '88 and This Is England '90. IMDB Rating: 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes: 93% The Departed The film that finally won director Martin Scorsese a much-deserved Oscar, The Departed is a brilliant cops and gangsters movie that proves not all remakes of foreign films are bad. Closely based on the hugely successful Infernal Affairs series from China, The Departed relocates the action to Boston, placing undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) under the watchful eye of notorious gangster, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Meanwhile, Frank has a mole within the department in Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a man who's been given the task of finding... himself. Can Billy identify the mole before the mole identifies him? Suspenseful, violent and hilarious, The Departed might be even better than its highly regarded source material. IMDB Rating: 8.5, Rotten Tomatoes: 91% Frozen Frozen is the highest grossing animated film of all time, and with good reason – though it looks old-fashioned on the surface, the film is actually an incredibly progressive Disney princess story with a unique and truly modern take on the 'true love will break the spell' plot device that has been used so many times before in similar stories. With terrific songs, loveable characters and a wonderful message that will empower an entire generation of young girls, Frozen is one of the best Disney movies of all time. IMDB Rating: 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Blackfish Blackfish, the controversial nature documentary that follows a misunderstood and often violent killer whale in captivity at SeaWorld, made a huge splash when it was released in 2013. Its story has moved audiences to take action in a way that few other films have ever done, going so far as forcing lawmakers' hands to introduce legislation that will demand that SeaWorld release killer whales back into the wild. It's an emotional ride through the highs and lows of the aquatic entertainment industry, one that reveals the real consequences of keeping animals where they don't belong. IMDB Rating: 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes: 98% The Hurt Locker Before Jeremy Renner played a badass Hawkeye in Marvel's glorious Avengers films, he played an even better badass in The Hurt Locker. Following an explosives specialist on a tour in the Middle East, Renner's character stays cool under pressure while he almost nonchalantly disarms bombs day in and day out. Between a poignant, controversial setting that continues to linger in most American's minds and Renner's cockiness and recklessness that borders on suicidal, The Hurt Locker struck all the right notes in a way few war films in the last decade have done. IMDB Rating: 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes: 98% The Big Lebowski Few movies are as quotable as The Big Lebowski. From lines like, "Has the whole world gone crazy?" to anything that "ties the room together," TBL is a font of famously hilarious dialogue. Peer deeper into the film's bloodshot eyes, however, and there's more to love. Excellent acting from Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, an off-the-wall plot that pits nihilist cronies against a burned-out Lebowski and a woman who causes more trouble in 10 minutes than most characters procure in a two-hour film culminate in a must-watch "cult" classic. IMDB Rating: 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes: 80% Forrest Gump This list is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. On this page, though, what you get is one of the most quintessential movies in American cinema. Yes, Forrest Gump tells the story of a man who falls for a girl and becomes somewhat of a phenomenon from humble beginnings, but, more importantly, it's a history lesson in how America has grown and changed over the years. Heartwarming, uplifting and inspirational, Forrest Gump teaches us an important lesson: if you're kind and you work hard, amazing things will happen to you – eventually. IMDB Rating: 8.8, Rotten Tomatoes: 72% The Terminator While other films from the same time period have struggled to stay relevant, The Terminator remains as interesting and unique as it was 30 years ago. Plenty of reboots and sequels have come out since the release and though some have actually transcended the original critically – ahem, Terminator 2 – many aren't worth the film they were printed on. If you're looking for a retro masterpiece that holds up to modern-day cinema standards, you can stop searching. IMDB Rating: 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes: 100% Almost Famous Where Ferris Bueller fed our fantasies of cutting class for an epic day on the town, Almost Famous harnessed our ambitions and played with the idea of a kid writing for Rolling Stone. One part loss of innocence, two parts coming of age story, Cameron Crowe directs the story of a boy who lies about his age to go on tour with a band, falling in love with a groupie and realising that once you discover how the sausage is made, it never tastes the same again. IMDB Rating: 7.9, Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Rocky Rocky, the 1976 film about a nobody boxer who got a chance to fight the world heavyweight champion, Clubber Lang, almost didn't happen. Stallone wrote the story with himself as the lead actor and refused to sell it until he got his way. The movie companies thought it was good, and even offered him $238,000 for it so long as they could have someone else besides Stallone, who had virtually zero acting experience at the time, cast as the eponymous role. Stallone held out. He had $106 in his bank account when he filmed Rocky. But his real-life resilience translated to his on-screen performance, making Rocky a must-watch. IMDB Rating: 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes: 92% Django Unchained Quentin Tarantino is loved and revered for his work in American cinema, and lately his takes on classic '70s movies. Like his take on Inglourious Basterds before it, Django Unchained deals with role reversal in a historically controversial time. The story of revenge and justice, Django (played by Jamie Foxx) and Dr. King Schultz (played by Christoph Waltz) set off to hunt down a gang of felons before the ultimate promise of setting Django free. Like other Tarantino films, it doesn't shy away from the grotesque and gory or mind going against the grain, making it easy to recommend and easier to watch time and time again. And, Netflix also provides QT fans with the ability to stream his classic films Inglourious Basterds and Reservoir Dogs. IMDB Rating: 8.5, Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Indie Game: The Movie Full disclosure: Almost all of us here at techradar love video games. If you couldn't tell from the hundreds of articles we write about the latest and greatest gaming hardware to the disappointment in our text when we hear that our favourite game has been delayed (again), one of the best parts of the job is getting to be so close to one of our favourite mediums. Not to sound all mushy, but Indie Game: The Movie is the culmination of that love into a single, two-hour film that illustrates perfectly the periods of heart-break and joy that go into each and every one of your favourite games. If you even remotely care about games, you should watch this film. IMDB Rating: 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes: 93%

OPINION: 3 reasons I absolutely hate Facebook's new 'dislike button' Posted: 15 Sep 2015 07:17 PM PDT Facebook is about to get a lot less likeable thanks to the planned introduction of a "dislike button," and I'm none too happy about it, even if I get the point. As CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged today, "People have asked about the 'dislike' button for many years, and probably hundreds of people have asked about this." But resistance to the downward-facing hand gesture is futile, as the social media giant finally gave in to its own self-generated mob. A dislike button prototype is "very close to shipping." Here's why I think this grumpy cat-equivalent button isn't a good idea, while fully getting the irony that I'm sounding negative about negativity. Great, just what we need: more cynicism The 80s had big hair, the 90s had grunge and boy bands, the 2000s had reality television and the 2010s currently has cynicism. Like we need more of that! Facebook is playing right into the hands of this snarkiest generation in history, motivating twenty and thirty-year-old millennials to downvote posts without ever reading beyond the headline. The "everything is wrong with the world, and I want to let it be known" attitude is pervasive on the connected internet. Meanwhile authentic positivity is rare outside of feels-good, lazy liking and resharing, the kind that makes people think, "I reshared this, so good things are going to happen. I did my part." A majority of millennials (I'm included in that generation - barely), probably want to "dislike" this very article. Negatory. Facebook hasn't quite launched its dislike button yet. Trolling with dislikes "Why the heck would someone dislike my high school graduation photos from 13 years ago?!" It's going to happen. You're going to hear complaints like this, as common as today's "swipe right" phrase. Everyone from your prank-loving friend to that person you haven't heard from in several years is going to be out to prod and poke (not the old-school Facebook poke, either) at your posts. There's nothing wrong with dissenting opinion, but when it's used as a mischievous weapon, it's going to become a burden that interrupts your newsfeed stream (and phone notifications) with undeserved negativity. Imagine posting a new profile picture, and instead of being able to delete that one negative comment in a sea of compliments, there's a lone dislike. Lazy downvotes instead of actual sympathy "A dislike button allows me to voice disapproval without having to type," said Juan Martinez, our TechRadar Pro Senior Editor, and that's a fair point. "If someone writes, 'my lizard died,' I want to reach out to them, but I don't want to write words." But if my lizard dies, I want to hear from Juan and everyone else, not rack up dislikes. By Facebook introducing a dislike button, it spurs a new form laziness. It's a shallow way to show feeling without ever expressing true empathy. The "like button" had the same effect when it was introduced in 2009, five years after "The Facebook" was founded in 2004. Hopefully Zuckerberg and company find a way to remedy unwarranted dislikes and social media malaise, no matter what form the button eventually takes. But if it doesn't work out, I know a guy with two sideways-pointing thumbs who is going to say "I told you so." Now: iOS 9 is launching and here's how to download iOS 9

Michael Bay–endorsed 3DR Solo drone takes off over Sydney Posted: 15 Sep 2015 06:50 PM PDT Aussie filmmaker's have a new tool at their disposal following the Sydney launch of the 3DR Solo, a drone that makes sweeping aerial shots a breeze. Used by Michael Bay in the shooting of his upcoming film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, the 3DR Solo offers a simple way of capturing dramatic shots without hours of practice behind the drone's controls. Designed to work with GoPro's HERO3+ and HERO4 cameras, the 3DR Solo offers four computer-assisted Smart Shots that capture sophisticated aerial footage, making the user look like some kind of drone-flying ace. Shoot smart The first Smart Shot, the Cable cam, guides the drone between two pre-set points as if it's attached to a cable suspended in the air. To set it up, the user simply flies the drone to the point where the shot needs to commence, and then once it's hovering in place just presses the A button on the dual-stick controller to set it as starting point. The process is completed by flying the drone to the finishing point and pressing B. Once this is complete, pressing the A and B buttons causes the drone to auto-navigate between the two points, freeing up the user to focus on panning and tilting the camera – the 3DR Solo can memorise shots, too. The 3DR Solo can also track a 360-degree circular shot around an object using a second Smart Shot mode called Orbit. This is achieved by simply pointing the camera at the object and pressing the Orbit button. The drone then locks on and performs circular tracking shots, which can be adjusted for height, speed and radius. Expensive selfies Perhaps more for enthusiasts than filmmakers is the Selfie mode. This involves placing the drone on the ground in front of the user, tapping the Selfie button, and then once the drone has taken off it will fly up and away, filming the user and slowly revealing their surroundings. The final Smart Shot mode is Follow, and it does exactly that. Locked onto the user's mobile device, the 3DR Solo simply follows behind, with the fully-automated flight and camera controls meaning the user can forget about the controller. The 3DR Solo is impressive in that it places previously complex aerial manoeuvres and shots within the grasp of just about anyone. During our brief time behind the controls of the drone it proved surprisingly easy to use. At $1,799.95 (plus the cost of the accompanying GoPro) it may not appeal to amateurs, but for filmmakers, the potential to add slick aerial shots to their work could make it a very tempting investment. Looking for a more affordable drone experience? Perhaps the new range of Parrot mini drones is the ticket.

iOS Tips: iOS 9: 50 tips and tricks Posted: 15 Sep 2015 05:13 PM PDT Get to know your iOS 9 tweaks After eight years of upgrades and interactions, we've come to expect certain things with iOS updates. Each time around, Apple offers a few new apps, a couple marquee features, some fresh wallpaper, and a host of minor speed and usability improvements that give users plenty of reasons to seek out the upgrade button. Apple's ridiculously high adoption rates aren't just a result of its handle on fragmentation; downloading a new iOS release can be just as exciting as peeling the plastic screen cover off a new iPhone, breathing new life into old devices and offering at least one or two must-have apps and features. iOS 9, releasing today, slows things down a bit. While there are lots of new things to try out (particularly for iPad users), many of its changes are of an intuitive nature. iOS 9 is a so-called maintenance release, focusing on improving the foundation and making it smarter rather than rebuilding and adding to it. There are far more noticeable little changes in iOS 9 than big ones - like, for example, using watchOS's San Francisco as the main system font - and while it doesn't smack you in the face with its newness like iOS 7 did, there's still a lot to absorb. In some ways, version 9 feels like something of a culmination of what Apple started with iOS 8, smoothing many of the rough edges and bringing a greater sense of coherence and navigation. In a former time, it might have been called iOS 8.5. But even though you won't find very many revolutionary changes, the usability and accessibility tweaks throughout iOS 9 make it feel like a complete, polished operating system rather than a work in progress. And as always, if you've missed anything, we've got you covered with 50 tips and tricks. 1. Enter proactive assistant Back when iOS 7 launched, Apple changed the position of the search bar from its original spot at the left of the first home screen to the top of anywhere you are (accessible by pulling down on the screen). In iOS 9, Apple has rebooted the leftmost search in a big way. Now, when you swipe right on your first home screen you'll enter the Siri-powered proactive assistant, which offers a series of app, contact, location and news suggestions based on how you use your phone each day. For example, if you check your email first thing in the morning, it'll offer a shortcut to your favorite email client, and when you go to make your nightly phone call to your mom, her contact info will be front and center. 2. Turn off proactive assistant It might be one of iOS 9's premier features, but if you don't find proactive assistant useful, you can disable it by going to the Spotlight Search settings (in Settings > General) and flipping the Siri Suggestions toggle. You'll still be able to search by swiping right at the first home screen, but all of the app, contact and news suggestions will be gone, as will the app suggestions that appear below the usual pull-down search. 3. Un-animate the keyboard iOS users have struggled with the shift and caps-lock key since Apple changed its behavior in iOS 7.1, but iOS 9 should settle it once and for all. Now, when you tap the shift key, the keys will animate their case so you can plainly see the type of character you're going to type. But if the case-changing letters are too distracting, you can shut it off by heading to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard and flipping the Show Lowercase Keys toggle from green to white. 4. Turn off character pop-ups while you type Speaking of the keyboard, Apple has always featured a useful bit of animated feedback via pop-ups when you tap one of the keys. But if you've always hated it, you can finally turn it off. Just take a trip to Settings > General > Keyboard and toggle off the Character Preview. 5. Draw, make lists and format text in Notes Apple has beefed up its Notes app in a big way in iOS 9. With last year's update, it was nice that Apple finally added rich-text support for using bold, italicized or underlined text, but now Notes might actually be an app we use to, well, take notes. Inside every file you'll see a gray plus sign just above the keyboard that opens a new menu of options; tap it and you'll be able to easily create a list, add a photo, change the formatting and even sketch a quick doodle. And when you're done you can even organize your notes into folders. 6. Save an attachment to a note iOS 8 changed the way the apps we use share data and interact with each other, and now Notes is getting in on it, too. Whether you're looking at a photo, reading an article or working on a document in another app, you can quickly save it to any of your notes (or create a new one). And if you lose track of what you've clipped, you can see an overview of every link and snap in the new Attachments Browser by tapping the grid icon in the lower-left corner. 7. Get public transit directions in Maps Maps has made great strides since its melted Brooklyn Bridge days, and if you live in or frequent Baltimore, Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Toronto or Washington it's about to get even better. When iOS 9 launches, those cities will include full transit information built right into Maps, including routes, directions, transfers and times. It'll take some time before it stretches across the world (or even the US), but it's a great start. 8. Find nearby Apple Pay locations in Maps When you go to search for a location in Maps, you'll notice a new series of buttons offering shortcuts to places nearby, like restaurants, bars, shops and hotels. It's a quick way to find something good to eat in a strange city — and if you've forgotten your wallet, you can tap on any suggestion to see if it accepts Apple Pay. 9. Plan tomorrow's subway trip If you're going to be traveling to one of the cities supported by Apple Maps transit directions, you don't have to wait until you get there to plan out your route. When you're looking at transit directions in Maps, you'll see a More Routes button next to the one suggested; tap it and then hit the Options button and you'll be able to set a date, time and method of transportation for your travels. 10. Turn on low-power mode There's nothing more frustrating than a red battery icon on your iPhone. But in iOS 9 it doesn't have to send you into a panicked search for an outlet. Much like Apple Watch, Apple has introduced a new Low Power Mode in iOS 9 that helps squeeze out every bit of juice remaining in your battery. Flip it on (inside the battery settings, which has moved to its own tab under Touch ID in the main Settings) and your iPhone's battery icon will turn yellow, indicating that it is conserving energy by reducing performance and networking activity, including Mail fetch, background app refresh, motion effects and animated wallpapers. And if you don't turn it on yourself, Apple will prompt you once your battery dips below 20%. 11. Customize the News app No matter what you like to read, chances are you do a lot of it on your iPhone. And now Apple has given us a better way to do it. Among the new apps you'll get in iOS 9, you'll find that Newsstand has been replaced with News (and your Newsstand mags have been moved into an ordinary "Newsstand" folder). But News is very different from the app it's replacing; inside you'll be able to create a personalized feed of headlines from hundreds of sources around the web, from major publications to specialized blogs. Much like Apple Music, you'll be able to pick your favorite genres and sources, and the app will learn and offer "For You" suggestions based on what you read. But if you want to give it some help, you can always edit your feeds in the favorites tab. 12. Fill your Wallet Just like Newsstand, the Passbook app has a new name and a new look in iOS 9, and it's a whole lot more useful than it was before. You can add cards using the same method, but in addition to the boarding passes, tickets and gift cards it used to store, Apple's new Wallet app is also the home for your Apple Pay credit, debit and store cards, as well as soon-to-launch rewards cards from stores such as Dunkin' Donuts, Walgreens and Panera. And now Discover customers can get in on the fun, too. 13. Pick a payment card without unlocking Apple Pay has transformed the way we pay for things - especially on the Apple Watch, where we can quickly choose a card just by double-clicking the side button. Just like Apple Watch, you can now double-click the home button while on the lock screen to bring up your cards on your iPhone, even if you're not in range of a NFC reader. 14. Navigate open apps more quickly Apple has changed the way we multitask in iOS 9. Along with things like Split Screen and Picture in Picture on the iPad, you won't see a carousel anymore when you double-click the home button. Instead, Apple has designed a series of sliding cards to help switch between apps. But you won't be using it as much; when you open a link or tap a notification you'll see a new "Back to..." button at the top left of the screen; tap it and you'll be instantly transported back to the app you were just using. 15. Show iCloud Drive on the home screen When Apple unveiled iCloud Drive as a key component in iOS 8, it seemed like it was finally bringing back iDisk, the pre-Dropbox drop box that let us quickly transfer files from our Macs to anywhere they needed to go. And it was, except for one major flaw: we couldn't access it on our iOS devices without going into a supported app first. Apple has changed that in iOS 9. Head over to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and you'll find a Show on Home Screen toggle. Turn it green and you'll be able to access everything inside, just like in the iTools days. 16. Find the new apps (and bury them) With every new iOS update comes a couple more apps Apple thinks we all need. This year two apps that were previously available as App Store downloads have apparently risen to level of essential: Find My Friends and Find My iPhone. If you didn't use them before, however, you probably won't now, since there isn't much different from the old versions, save better Siri integration and a new Find My Friends Notification Center widget. Oh, and you can add two more apps to the list of ones you can't delete. 17. Remove apps from deep Spotlight searching Apple has dramatically improved the intelligence of our searches in iOS 9, adding a natural language engine and the ability to find content stored deep within apps. And it's all under your control. Visit Settings > General > Spotlight Search and you'll be able to choose exactly which apps you want to include in the search results. 18. Set a reminder about what's on the screen Siri is great for setting reminders, but in iOS 9 it's using its newfound intelligence to do it even quicker. If you're looking at something on your screen that you want to be reminded about - whether it's a website, calendar appointment or point of interest - just tell Siri to "remind me about this" and it'll scan the page for the relevant information and add it to the Reminders app. 19. Search photos with Siri iCloud Photo Library has given us access to every single shot we've ever snapped on every device we use, but with so many pictures to scroll through, finding things can be a pain. Now, Siri can help. Just ask to search photos taken on a specific day at a specific place or whatever criteria you've assigned to them, and it'll take you right to them. 20. Silence Siri We all love Siri, but we don't always want to hear its mellifluous voice. In iOS 9, you don't have to. A new setting called Voice Feedback (under Settings > General > Siri) lets you choose when you hear an audible voice, with three options: always on, hands-free only (which will only allow audio when using "Hey Siri" or connected to a Bluetooth device) and an all-new option, control with ring switch, which will prevent Siri from speaking when your ring switch is switched to silent. 21. Search inside Settings As our iPhones have gotten more powerful, the Settings app has become overloaded with so many switches and selections it can be hard to remember where they are. But once you install iOS 9 you won't have to blindly hunt through tabs to find what you're looking for anymore. Apple has finally built a live search field into Settings, so all you have to do is type a few letters and it'll start filtering through the hundreds of toggles and titles in an instant. 22. Boost poor Wi-Fi signals with LTE We've all experienced that no-man's land between the time our Wi-Fi signal drops and LTE takes over, and Apple understands our one-bar pain. Way at the bottom of Settings > Cellular (past all the installed apps asking to use cellular data), you'll find a new toggle named Wi-Fi Assist. Turn it on and your phone will seamlessly switch to LTE whenever your signal is weak - even if the network hasn't completely dropped off. 23. Make a six-digit passcode Apple has always taken security seriously, and in iOS 9 it's beefing up one of the easiest ways to prevent theft: the passcode. Instead of the four-digit passcode that has been in existence since the beginning, Apple has expanded the passcode to include six numbers, raising the probability of cracking it from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in a million. Upgraders won't be prompted to change their old passcode, so if you want to take advantage of the stronger security take a trip to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Change Passcode, then select Passcode Options once it's available and set it to 6-Digit Numeric Code. 24. Quickly trash all in Mail Finally! With each iOS revision, Apple has added little tricks and tweaks in Mail that help us navigate our messages faster, and there are a few in iOS 9, too. The first is a new Trash All button. Where you previously had to use wonky workarounds to trash everything at once, in iOS 9 simply hitting the edit button will let you clear out your Inbox with just a single tap. 25. Add an attachment to a message in Mail We've always been able to insert photos and videos in our Mail messages, but getting other attachments required a few more steps. Apple has eliminated all of those steps in iOS 9 with the adding of a simple Add Attachment button to the text menu. Tap it and you'll be able to browse and attach anything that's in your iCloud Drive, just like you would if you were using a real computer. 26. Remove unknown contacts and events from Part of iOS 9's expanded intelligence involves suggesting things that might be useful to you, whether it's an event you haven't scheduled or a contact you might want to add to your address book. But if you're not too keen about your iPhone snooping through your messages, you can limit its access. Inside Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars you'll find a pair of toggles: Contacts Found In Mail and Events Found in Mail. Turn them off and it'll prevent any unwanted data from creeping into the suggestions you get. 27. Stream high-quality Apple Music tracks Apple Music may have made its debut in iOS 8.4, but Apple isn't resting on its laurels. In iOS 9 you'll find a slew of little changes to the interface, most notably in the way of simplified menus and a general cleaner look, plus you'll also find a few new settings to tinker with. Check out the Music settings and you'll see a new Playback & Downloads section, which lets you choose the quality of your streams over cellular networks. As it stands, Apple Music tracks play at 256Kbps when you're not connected to a Wi-Fi network in order to save data, but in iOS 9 you'll be able to listen to your favorite songs in all their hi-fi glory wherever you may roam. 28. Upgrade without deleting your favorite apps Back when iOS 8 was released, the relatively slow adoption rate was blamed on all those 16GB iPhones in the wild. The problem was that iOS 8 needed a hefty 4.6GB of free space to install, which many would-be downloaders didn't have. But rather than scramble to delete enough photos and apps to install iOS 9, Apple is helping this time around. For one, it only requires less than 2GB of free space, which should eliminate the upgrade problem for most users. And for those pushing maximum capacity, Apple has added a new feature that will automatically delete enough apps to properly download and install the new update, then put them back when it's all finished. 29. Use Health to have a baby The Activity app has taken on a greater role in iOS thanks to Apple Watch, but Apple hasn't forgotten about Health. In addition to the myriad things it already tracks, Apple has added a new Reproductive Health tab, which lets women and couples keep tabs on basal body temperature, cervical mucus quality, menstruation and ovulation, among other things. Inside you'll find your data plotted on the same gorgeous charts, and here's a bonus tip: now you can rotate your phone to get a more detailed landscape view. 30. Use CarPlay without plugging in your iPhone If you're lucky enough to drive a vehicle with Apple CarPlay integration, you're probably a little bummed that you need to plug it in each time you settle into the driver's seat. But that won't be the case for very long. The next generation of CarPlay will automatically recognize your iPhone when you enter your vehicle. It's not entirely clear whether manufacturers will be able to upgrade existing wired systems, but iOS 9 brings some good news for current CarPlay users too: Apple is opening up the SDK to car makers, so you'll no longer have to switch out of the CarPlay app to access your navigation system's main controls. 31. Disable Shake to Undo Some people might not even realize it, but Apple has had an undo gesture baked right into iOS since version 3. In apps like Mail and Messages, all you have to do is shake your phone to undo your last action (and if you change your mind, just shake again to redo it). But if you don't want this function on your phone, there's now a way to disable it. Hidden inside Settings > General > Accessibility is a Shake to Undo toggle that will turn it off. 32. Ungroup notifications by app Each of iOS 8's two Notification Center view options — sorting manually or by time — creates an unwieldy list of everything you've missed for a specific app rather than showing the most recent (and presumably relevant) notifications first. Apple's changing that somewhat in iOS 9. Inside a new Sort Order tab under Settings > Notifications, you'll be able to switch your view between Recent and Manual. Choose the former and a new Group By App toggle will appear. Turn it on and it will essentially mimic the Notification Center's old behavior, with bunches of notifications organized by app. But leave it off and you'll get a neat running list of your notifications as they arrive, letting you quickly catch up on what you've missed. 33. Keep your battery levels in check Speaking of the Notification Center, there's a new widget in iOS 9. When you tap on the Today view, you'll be able to see the battery life remaining in your iPhone and, if you have one paired, Apple Watch. And if you hate it, removing it is no different than any other widget - tap the Edit button at the bottom of the screen and hit the red minus circle. 34. Change the speed of your slo-mo movies When Apple introduced slow-motion video with iOS 8, it wasn't the all-or-nothing affair it seems to be. You might not have realized it, but if you tapped the fps number in the top-right corner of the screen, you could switch between 120 and 240 frames per second. In iOS 9, Apple has moved the options to Settings > Photos & Camera > Record Slo-mo, where perhaps more people are apt to find it. 35. Change resolution of recorded videos Don't worry, Apple hasn't forgotten about those who want to record videos at full-speed. Scroll to the bottom of the Camera settings and you'll see a new Record Video tab. Inside you'll be able to change the quality of your videos to either 720p HD at 30 frames per second, 1080p HD at 30 fps or 1080p HD at 60 fps. But be warned: Apple notes that recording at the highest setting will be about three times larger than the lowest option, so make sure you have some gigabytes free. 36. Zoom a video while it's playing If you've ever tried to zoom in while watching a video you recorded on your iPhone, you probably were confused; in previous versions of iOS, pinching to zoom only paused the video, as your pinch was misinterpreted for a tap. In iOS 9, you zoom in on a video (and reposition it on the screen) just as you would a photo, whether it's playing or not. 37. Quickly return to your photo library Browsing your pictures in the Photos app has gotten a little faster in iOS 9 thanks to the addition of a small gesture. Now when you enlarge a photo to see it full screen you don't have to reach all the way to he top left corner to get back to the album your were viewing. Just swipe down on the screen to whisk it away and return to the grid. 38. Use smart albums in Photos If you take a lot of selfies and screenshots, Apple has given you an easier way to organize them. Inside your Albums tab in Photos, you'll find two new smart folders, appropriately labeled Selfies and Screenshots. While they won't remove them from your camera roll, the two albums collect all of your screen grabs and front-camera snaps where they can quickly be shared. 39. Quickly select batches of photos We all know about the shift shortcut when selecting large batches of files on our Macs, but on our iPhones, we've always had to tap each individual photo to select more at a time. That's no longer the case. In iOS 9, you can simply glide your finger over the photos you want to select and they'll all get blue checkmarks, ready to be shared, moved or deleted. 40. Hide photos from your photo library It's happened to all of us. We're showing our friends a bunch of photos we took while on vacation and they grab your iPhone to get a closer look. Panic sets in when they start swiping over fear they'll come across something they weren't supposed to see. Now you can stop that from happening. If there's any photo you don't want in your main library, you can tap on the Share button, then the Hide button at the bottom, to hide it from plain sight (though it will stay in the All Photos album and any others you've added it to, so you can always unhide it later). 41. Customize your photo slideshow Apple has always had a nifty slideshow feature baked into its Photos app, but in iOS 9 it's gotten a bit of a surprising makeover. For starters, the controls are no longer in Settings; after you initiate a slideshow via the action inside the share sheet, you'll see a new Options button in the bottom right corner. Tap it and you'll be able to change the theme, music and speed. A set of five new transitions are available to choose from, as well as matching music to accompany them, in case you don't want to use something from your Apple Music library. 42. Request desktop site in Safari iOS 8 included a feature to request the desktop version of a site in Safari, but it was fairly hidden; however, in iOS 9, it's built right into the share sheet menu (just slide the bottom row to the left to find it). And here's an extra tip: tap and hold the reload button in the address bar and a Request Desktop Site shortcut will appear at the bottom of the screen. 43. Disable frequently visited sites iOS 8 introduced a new Safari feature that displays shortcuts to your most visited websites for quick access to them. Individual icons could be deleted by using the usual tap-and-hold method, but there was no way to turn them off entirely. Now there is. Take a trip to Settings > Safari and you'll see a new Frequently Visited Sites toggle. Turn it off and all of the shortcuts will disappear forever (or at least until you flip it back on). 44. Use two apps at once Multitasking on our tablets has always come down to the ability to quickly switch between apps, but Apple is improving it in a big way in iOS 9. While working on your iPad, just swipe from the right edge of the screen to bring up the new Slide Over feature, which lets you browse a second app inside a skinny panel. And with the iPad Air 2, you can pull the window further to enter Split View, letting you run two apps simultaneously, side by side. 45. Watch a video while you work Speaking of multitasking, Apple has added more than split-screen apps. When you're watching a video on your iPad, you'll see a new icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Tap it and your video will shrink to a small player that floats above your home screen and any other app you open. It's like a little taste of OS X right on your iPad. 46. Turn your iPad keyboard into a touchpad The last tidbit about iPad multitasking pertains to the keyboard. Along with a new shortcut bar that puts the controls for cut, copy, paste right at your fingertips, Apple has turned the keyboard into a new kind of virtual touchpad, letting you select text without needing to move your fingers off the keyboard. And if you use a Bluetooth keyboard, you'll find a full new set of keystrokes and an OS X-style app switcher. 47. Quickly delete an alarm Apple has brought the super handy swipe-to-delete gesture to most of its apps, but for some reason it neglected the Clock app. To delete an alarm, you needed to tap the edit button first, wasting precious seconds on extra steps. Now all you need to do is swipe on a clock or an alarm to delete it. 48. Find on page in Safari Find on page has always been a sort of hidden feature in Safari. To get to it before iOS 9, you needed to tap the address bar, type the word you wanted to look for, scroll down to the bottom of the suggestions window and tap on the word you typed. In iOS 9, it's gotten a lot easier. Just hit the share button and you'll see a new Find on Page activity button in the bottom row. Select it and a new search bar will pop up right over the keyboard. The old way works too, however. 49. Customize Safari Reader mode If you use Safari's Reader to view articles on the web, it's gotten whole easier on your eyes. After you enter Reader mode, you'll see a new button at the right on the address bar. Tap it and you'll get a menu of options that includes eight fonts, two sizes and four color themes. And whatever you select will become the new default until you change it. 50. Adjust the touch sensitivity of the screen Accessibility has always been a major part of iOS's superiority. In addition to everything it does for blind, low-vision and deaf users, in iOS 9 Apple has expanded its technologies geared for those with physical or motor challenges. A new section called Touch Accommodations lets users change how the screen responds to your taps. A series of options can tell your iPhone to ignore repeated touches, increase the duration of taps before recognized, and turn on Tap Assistance to allow any single finger gesture to perform a tap.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin spaceships will launch before 2020 Posted: 15 Sep 2015 04:58 PM PDT Blue Origin, the private space travel startup owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has announced plans to build and launch rockets to orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The company has been working on an experimental suborbital spacecraft, called New Shepherd, that can be saved and used numerous times with hopes of developing commercial space travel. And according to Bezos, you won't have to wait to long for a possible trip to space, as Blue Origin plans on "launching from here [Florida] later this decade." Specifically, Blue Origin will operate out of Launch Complex 36, a spaceport that used to launch rockets for NASA and the United States Air Force. "The site saw its last launch in 2005 and the pad has stood silent for more than 10 years - too long," Bezos said. "We can't wait to fix that." A new space age Blue Origin will also build a "21st century production facility" near the Kennedy Space Center at Exploration Park in Florida, which will focus on the manufacturing of a "reusable fleet of orbital launchers and readying them for flight again and again". Bezos said that a new orbital rocket using the company's new BE-4 engine will be built at this facility. The company has already tested its suborbital New Shepherd rocket, and though that test didn't end in success, after more testing, it should be able to fly three people or a mix of passengers and payloads into suborbital space. If you're interested in finding out how you can get tickets for a Blue Origin flight up to space, you can sign up for more info through the company's website. The new space race: who's who in the realm of space exploration

Opinion: The new Apple TV Frankensteins together other set-top boxes, and that scares me Posted: 15 Sep 2015 04:52 PM PDT New Apple TV It's tempting to use the phrase "too little, too late" when describing the new Apple TV. And, maybe, if I was the only one to think so, it'd be easier to dismiss that sinking feeling of seeing something you've dreamed about for months fall short of your expectations. Instead, everywhere you look, there are opinions that echo my feelings exactly. From T3's piece on the set-top box's shortcomings, to the BGR's "Apple TV can't compete with the iPhone" opinion feature, it seems like everyone has it out for the Cupertino company's latest piece of metal and plastic. Look past the criticism and a pattern emerges. What everyone is saying is this: "The new Apple TV can do X, but product Y could that and more six months ago." Nearly every aspect of the updated Apple TV has gone under the microscope and been compared to devices already out there, and in that analysis I've come to realize why I don't like Apple's new box: it's a Frankenstein's monster of features I'm already familiar with on other platforms. In essence, it's a monster - a doppelganger - that combines features we value - even love - from other platforms and puts an Apple logo on it. On some level, that both scares and enrages me. Now, before I break down each feature see how Apple's new Frankenstein steaming system stacks up against and takes pages from its competitors, let it be said that there are very few people who have actually used the new streamer, and anyone who has can't claim to have used the final product, which will inevitably be fine-tuned via software updates up until the day it launches in late October. So consider everything you read - this opinion piece included - as pure speculation. The biggest derision the Apple TV faces is that, at the end of the day, it's still a set-top box unable to stream in 4K, access live TV or work with Android devices. The features it does have, like the ability to play games at 1080p, search multiple video sources and pull up information about actors when they're on screen, are all achievable to the same extent - and sometimes, to a greater one - on Android TV. New Apple TV vs Android TV: We've seen this before If you haven't read it yet, techradar put up a smart analysis of the new Apple TV's competition, the Roku 3 and Amazon Fire TV. But as inclusive as we tried to be, we left out one key competitor: Android TV. (You immediately let us know that we messed up, with some of the first comments on the article variations of "yeah, but what about Android TV?"). Read: the new Apple TV vs. Roku 3 vs. Amazon Fire TV Looking at it objectively, the Nvidia Shield will probably be the better game player due to the fact that it comes with a controller and has access to the Nvidia Grid game-streaming service and the Google Play Store. What does the new Apple TV have going for it? A Wii-esque motion controller and Crossy Road, a game that's come out on every other platform already. There are more games coming to the Apple TV, obviously, but unless Apple has a game-streaming service waiting in the wings, it'll have a tough time going up against the Shield on that front. What about in terms of entertainment? Not everyone is looking for their set-top box to be their third, fourth or fifth game console in the house. As an entertainment device the new Apple TV is definitely iterative, but it's not innovative. The features that make it special, a voice assistant and universal search functionality, have been available on other platforms for ages, including the Android TV platform and both Amazon streaming devices. And whereas the Apple TV can only play nice with iOS devices, any device running Android TV comes with built-in Google Cast, which supports both iOS and Android apps. Heck, even the $35/£25 Chromecast is more egalitarian than the new Apple TV. Add to that the fact that the Shield can handle 4K signal and you begin to feel like the new Apple TV has shown up with a knife to the proverbial gunfight (a knife it borrowed, at that). Fear and loathing in Cupertino I've come to respect the innovations has Apple made over the years, and it's because of this history that I find this horrifying lack of originality frightening. I'm not saying everything the company has ever made deserves to win an award, but the new Apple TV feels like it's the most uninspired product the company has released in years. Now, that might change by the time Apple's rumored TV streaming service rolls around in 2016, but in its current form, the new Apple TV feels behind the times, like something that should've been made a year ago, but was put on the backburner to make room for the Apple Watch. And because it's so far behind the curve, takes so liberally from the competition and lacks the innovation the company was known for a decade ago, it feels appropriate to call it the Frankenstein's monster of set-top boxes. Think the new Apple TV is the bee's knees? We came up with 8 reasons the new Apple TV is better than ever

Explained: How to install watchOS 2 on Apple Watch Posted: 15 Sep 2015 03:57 PM PDT At long last, the watchOS 2 update for Apple Watch is nearly here. Announced during WWDC earlier this year, the new operating system brings major changes to the smartwatch. By opening the whole Watch up to developers and allowing them to access sensors and the Digital Crown, third-party Watch apps should provide a more fluid experience. Apple's own improvements to the wearable are just as exciting. We'll get to choose more watch faces, reply to emails and Facebook messages, view quick videos and so much more. While it all sounds great in theory, we'll be testing out the whole shebang in full and letting you know if watchOS 2 really does transform the Apple Watch into a worthy wearable. In the meantime, the update will be rolling out all day on September 16. Here's how to download and install watchOS 2 on your own Apple Watch when it hits. 1. Make sure your phone is connected to Wi-Fi and is at least 50% charged. You'll also need your charger on hand for the installation process. 2. Select the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. 3. Select General. 4. Select Software Update. If it loads and says you're up to date with with Watch OS 1.0.1, check back again later. 5. Tap Download and Install if the update is ready. 6. The next screen will ask for your passcode. Enter it here on your phone. 7. Choose yes to agree to the Terms and Conditions. 8. Tap install on both your iPhone and Apple Watch. Once complete, watchOS 2 should be ready to use! Have fun turning your Watch into an alarm clock with nightstand mode, use even more cards through Apple Pay and start translating with iTranslate. Here's all the new Apple Watch bands in one spot

Mac Tips: Excel for Mac 2016: Six tips to master the new features Posted: 15 Sep 2015 02:50 PM PDT The new Excel for Mac is here After a long, long wait, the 2016 version of Microsoft Excel has finally arrived on Mac. Like the latest version of Word for Mac, Excel is available now to Microsoft Office 365 subscribers and will be coming later this month as a one-time purchase. The latest version of the popular spreadsheet application delivers a long list of new features including support for Retina Display, a streamlined user interface, full-screen view, and multitouch gestures. But that's only scratching the surface of what individual Office components like Excel 2016 have to offer, which is why we've compiled this gallery of six ways to improve your spreadsheet experience while learning a few tricks at the same time. Windows keyboard shortcuts The dual-platform nature of Office 365 means some users will be required to jump between Windows (for work) and Mac (for home) — an experience that has been quite exasperating over the years when it comes to keyboard shortcuts. The good news is Excel 2016 has brought some sanity to this dilemma at long last, with many shortcuts that require the Windows CTRL modifier key now working the same way on the Mac. Most common functions like cut, copy, paste, undo, redo, and save also retain the equivalent Command key shortcut as well. Microsoft has a full list of Excel 2016 keyboard shortcuts on its support website, should you need a refresher. Formula Builder to the rescue Those who use Excel day in and day out certainly don't need hand-holding when it comes to crunching numbers. For the rest of us, Excel 2016 introduces Formula Builder, a new feature that helps novice users overcome daring financial acrobatics with the greatest of ease. A click on Shift-F3 calls up this handy option, which offers the complete range of formulas, along with the kind of hand-holding novices need to overcome their unnatural fear of mathematical computations. Charts made simple Converting a spreadsheet to a chart hasn't always been the most simple or intuitive task, even in an application as powerful as Excel. That's why Microsoft added a new Recommended Charts feature to Excel 2016, which assists in the process by offering suggestions for a chart based upon the data selected in the worksheet. To use it, click the Insert option on the Ribbon, highlight the data to be included, and click the Recommended Charts button; a drop-down menu serves up one or more samples of the chart Excel will create for you in just a click. From there, the chart is added to the spreadsheet for the user to do as they wish with it. Slice those PivotTables We're not hardcore number crunchers that use PivotTables on a daily basis, but if we were, we'd probably be dancing on the ceiling over Excel 2016's new slicer tool. Now PivotTables can be set up with options to limit the type of data being viewed — for example, only displaying relevant data from specific years, category, or just about any other way you desire. This new feature can be initiated by clicking the Insert Slicer option when using PivotTable Analyze mode on the Ribbon. Analyze this Most Excel users won't have a huge volume of data in any given spreadsheet, but those in the engineering or academic fields are another story entirely. Microsoft has come to their aid with an optional Analysis ToolPak, which can be enabled in Excel 2016 for Mac by heading to the Tools > Add-Ins menu, selecting the Analysis ToolPak option, and clicking OK. Doing so will add a new Data Analysis feature to the Tools menu, and from there you can scrutinize massive sets of data in a wide variety of different ways. Clean or green You've seen the screenshots and may have wondered, "Why does their Excel 2016 window have a green header and mine is plain white?" Glad you asked. New to all Office 2016 applications is the ability to select themes, which can be found by navigating to the Excel > Preferences menu and clicking General. At the bottom Personalize section, you'll see a pulldown menu for Office theme, which is probably set to Classic by default. Select Colorful instead, and a pop-up will appear reminding you this choice applies to all Office apps; click OK and bask in the warm glow of forest pine green for Excel.

Alphabet's next big challenge: mental health Posted: 15 Sep 2015 02:21 PM PDT Alphabet's Life Sciences division is set to take on another ambitious challenge - mental health - with news that the director of the National Institute of Mental Health has joined the team. Dr. Thomas Insel served as director of the National Institute of Mental Health for 13 years and will formally step down on November 1, after which he will join the Google Life Sciences (GLS) team. "The GLS mission is about creating technology that can help with earlier detection, better prevention and more effective management of serious health conditions," Dr. Insel said in a statement. While the Life Sciences group has so far delved into the development of technologies to help with physical health conditions, like smart contact lenses and cardiac monitors, it is encouraging to see a large tech company begin to put money behind mental illness research as well. "That the Life Sciences team at Google would establish a major exploration into mental health is by itself a significant statement - recognizing the burden of illness from psychosis, mood disorders, and autism, as well as the opportunity for technology to make a major impact to change the world for the millions affected," Insel said. It's not quite clear if there is a specific area or project related to mental health that Insel will be working on in particular, but he added that he is joining the team to explore how its mission of developing tech for the management, prevention and early detection of health conditions can be applied to mental health. What is Alphabet? Google's new parent company explained

Here's why you can't uninstall Apple's pre-installed iPhone apps Posted: 15 Sep 2015 01:10 PM PDT Apple's iPhone and iPad ecosystem has an app hoarding problem, and CEO Tim Cook is now admitting to this first and hardest step. iOS 9 forces pre-installed apps onto your device that, every day, go used by many users who cannot uninstall them. This includes Stocks, Tips, iBooks, Podcasts and, of course, Apple Maps. After all, what good is that Watch app if you have no intention of buying an Apple Watch? When is the last time you bought music from the iTunes Store via your phone? Here's why pre-installed apps can't be deleted Cook said wanting to delete such apps is a "more complex issue than it first appears." The underlying problem seems to be how apps interact with each other. "There are some apps that are linked to something else on the iPhone. If they were to be removed they might cause issues elsewhere on the phone," said Cook. He makes a strong point. If you were to ask Siri the forecast without the weather app, where would that data come from? Where would a Mail hyperlink beam you to with no Safari app? Cook admitted that "there are other apps that aren't like that" and hinted that Apple may find a way to remedy everyone's junk drawer pet peeve. "It's not that we want to suck up your real estate," said Cook, "We're not motivated to do that. We want you to be happy." Being "happy" may only happen if I'm able to delete the Videos app, which so far has contained one free video of a TV show pilot I downloaded in 2009 - six years ago. Here's our iPhone 6 review, iPhone 6 Plus review and iOS 9 explainer

A Facebook 'dislike' button is in the works Posted: 15 Sep 2015 12:46 PM PDT Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the company is hard at work on a "dislike" button. Users have long been able to like posts that they feel positively about, but haven't had a one-click avenue to express their distaste. Zuckerberg stated during a Q&A session that "people have asked about the 'dislike' button for many years, and probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it." The social media company, which has been hard at work on ambitious ventures such as getting into drones and virtual reality with the Oculus Rift, has struggled back and forth with whether to actually introduce the "dislike" button to the masses for obvious reasons. Namely, Zuckerberg stated in the Q&A that "we don't want to turn Facebook into a forum where people are voting up or down on people's posts." He also took a moment to defend Facebook's current feedback structure, saying that introducing an upvote/downvote dynamic to users "doesn't seem like the kind of community that we want to create: You don't want to go through the process of sharing some moment that was important to you in your day and have someone 'downvote' it." Basically, Facebook doesn't want you to troll people with the new "dislike" button, but to rather use it to "express empathy," as Zuckerberg stated. I feel like I know how this will pan out already. Back when Facebook said we'd never, ever get a dislike button Via CNBC

Salesforce can now pull data from your refrigerator and thermostat Posted: 15 Sep 2015 12:43 PM PDT Organizations that want to take advantage of outside-of-the-box customer data will be excited by Salesforce's latest release. The CRM giant has unveiled its Internet of Things Cloud, which is geared toward pulling in sales and service information from sensors and devices. Similar to how Salesforce has traditionally enabled businesses to log customer interaction data across smartphones, email, websites and web-based applications, the Internet of Things Cloud can gather data information from devices like refrigerators, lightbulbs and thermostats, among others. This means that any internet-connected device can provide organizations running Salesforce with information to respond to customer service inquiries, or to initiate upsell opportunities, without having to manually input data into the CRM system. Salesforce will leverage a new tool called Salesforce Thunder to gather and process all the data coming from the devices. The connected world Salesforce has been a huge proponent of the Internet of Things, specifically in the wearable space. The San Francisco-based company was one of the first enterprise partners for the Apple Watch. Apple and Salesforce have co-developed more than 20 business-focused applications for the smartwatch, most of which focus on enabling customer service reps to more quickly gather information on customers in order to provide better feedback. With Thunder, Salesforce can now apply the same principles to devices that are connected to the web, but not necessarily worn or carried by customers and professionals. Why? The worldwide Internet of Things (IoT) market will increase 133% to $3.04 trillion (about £1.8 trillion, or au$3.3 billion) in 2020, according to IDC. The number of IoT-connected units will reach approximately 30 billion in 2020. Salesforce competitor Cisco has been an aggressive evangelist of IoT technology. over the past year, Cisco has invested $1 billion (about £605 million, or au$1.1 billion) to build out a network to tackle what it calls the Internet of Everything. 10 CRM systems small businesses should know

Snapchat messages no longer expire after 10 secs…for a price Posted: 15 Sep 2015 12:36 PM PDT Snapchat has updated its app today, bringing with it it's first in-app purchase that lets you basically buy more replays. Currently, Snapchat lets you replay one snap per day, and then it would disappear, just like all other Snaps. But now, if you live in the US, you'll be able to buy three more replays per day starting at $0.99. But of course, the Snap will disappear after replaying as well. "We've provided one Replay per Snapchatter per day, sometimes frustrating the millions of Snapchatters who receive many daily Snaps deserving of a Replay," "But then we realized - a Replay is like a compliment! So why stop at just one?" Funny face It's an interesting way for Snapchat to make extra cash and still keep the app ad-free, but at nearly $1 for just three extra replays, we wouldn't call it a great deal, and interestingly, Snapchat agrees. "They're a little pricey - but time is money!" Snapchat said. The new update also adds a new Lenses feature, which adds special effects to selfies. You can add the features by holding down on your face before taking the selfie, which will bring up the different effects you can add. There's also Trophy Case feature, that unlocks different trophy emojis. Luckily, you don't need to purchase these trophies. Android M will let you talk to Snapchat

Epson's new Expression Premium printers print even better photos Posted: 15 Sep 2015 11:51 AM PDT Epson unveiled its latest premium home printers, promising better print quality and faster speeds for photography enthusiasts. The new models are part of Epson's Expression Premium range, and include the XP-830, XP-630 and XP-530 models. Additionally, Epson also announced a new Photo XP-960 Small-in-One. If you're a budding photographer, all the printer models feature borderless 8 x 10-inch prints, which is great to print and frame your personal "Shot on iPhone" (or Android) photos at home. The printers come with Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct printing, meaning that you can print straight from a smartphone or tablet without requiring a PC. You'll need the Epson Connect app for mobile printing. All four printers are capable of automatic two-sided printing to save paper, Epson said in a statement. You can also use the Epson Creative app to print Facebook photos or create your own photo projects by printing cards, coloring books and stationary. Expression Photo XP-960 Small-in-One As the flagship model of Epson's Expression Premium series, the XP-960 ($299, £195, AU$419) comes with the company's MicroPiezo print technology and a six-color ink system. Epson claims that this will deliver more vivid colors and "professional quality photos." You can print photos as large as 11 x 17 inches. Borderless 4 x 6-inch photos can be printed in as little as 11 seconds. The printer can also print on specialty papers and CDs and DVDs. There is an auto-extend and retract output tray to save space and for convenience. The XP-960 can be controlled with a large 4.3-inch touchscreen. Expression Premium XP-830 Small-in-One As a compact all-in-one, or a Small-in-One to borrow Epson's marketing lingo, the XP-830 ($199, £129, AU$279)) has a 30-page Auto Document Feeder that can perform duplex printing, faxing, copying and scanning. Like the photo-centric XP-960, the XP-830 prints photos in as little as 12 seconds, comes with a 4.3-inch touchscreen, handles specialty paper and features a space-saving auto-extend and retract paper output tray. The XP-830 uses a five-ink system. Expression Premium XP-630 and XP-530 Small-in-One The more affordable XP-630 ($149, £97, AU$209) has a smaller 2.7-inch LCD panel and a built-in USB port and memory card slot for PC-free printing direct from a flash drive or SD card. There are dedicated trays for specialty papers, and like the other models in Epson's lineup, the XP-630 also features borderless 8 x 10-inch prints. Epson did not provide an estimate on how long it would take to complete a 4 x 6-inch print with the XP-630. This model comes with automatic two-sided printing. The XP-530 ($129, £84, AU$181) comes with just a memory card slot, and the Epson Creative Print App allows you to print lined paper and calendar templates. All Expression Premium and Expression Photo printers are now shipping. Read our top picks for the best laser and inkjet printers

Updated: Nvidia brings PS4's coolest feature to PC gaming Posted: 15 Sep 2015 10:45 AM PDT Updated: the Nvidia share beta is available now for desktop and it requires downloading the beta version of GeForce experience. Most desktop PCs and laptops should be able to take advantage of the new features so long as they have at least a Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 or GTX 660M chip along with a low-powered Intel Core i3 processor and 4GB of memory. Original article follows... Taking a page out of the Sony handbook, Nvidia has added streaming and sharing features to its GeForce Experience app. While PC's don't come with an instant share button like the PS4 (unless otherwise assigned to a hotkey), Maxwell GPU owners will be able to launch a new overlay to quickly access Nvidia's new sharing features. Among the new options, users can use instant replay to record the short bursts of gameplay for a quick instant upload to Twitch, YouTube and another PC using the Share feature. Like on the PS4 or Xbox One, the recording feature switched on at all times to continuously record up to the last 20 minutes of gameplay. What's more, Nvidia's solution gives you a ton more options to pick the quality your footage and full-fledged editing options to trim your saved clips or longer let's plays. Sharing is caring On top of uploading gameplay vids, Share also adds a streaming option for any rig powered by an Nvidia GPU. Rather than relying on Ustream or Twitch, starting a broadcast through Share will produce a sharable link that opens a web client in Chrome. In an interesting wrinkle, livestreamers will also be able to pass the controller to their friend or join in two player co-op in case they run into a tough boss or can't get over a hump on their own. Users can virtually pass the controller to anyone even if their laptop or PC does not utilize a Nvidia graphics card since everything is streaming through the Chrome browser. In case this sounds at all familiar, Sony introduced its own game sharing feature on the PS4 in October 2014 called Share Play. Packed into the console's first firmware update, this feature allowed PlayStation players invite a visitor to view your screen and jump into the game themselves for up to 60 minutes. Nvidia plans to roll out the new Share features as the early access beta soon. Following that the GPU maker will release a full updated release later this September. Throwing in the low bar Aside from the new software features for its GeForce Experience app, Nvidia also introduced a new GeForce GTX 950 graphics card. The new GPU pretty much sits at the entry level of Nvidia's line up but it still offers decent performance allowing gamers to play Witcher 3 at 60 fps. Nvidia is also making a big dig at the DoTA 2 playerbase with the GTX 950, promising it will help reduce latency. The GPU maker explained it was able to do this thanks the higher performance of its latest Maxwell card along with removing DX2 from the rendering process and lowering the pre-rendered limit. Effectively this will make MoBA players feel like their game is running smoother with a reduced latency and stutter. Nvidia is also making it easy for users to access these low latency settings by adding a new option to the GeForce Experience graphics tuner. For example the app will auto tune DoTA 2 by reducing the number of maximum pre-rendered frames to one while turning off Nvidia's Multi-Frame sampled anti-aliasing and vertical sync. Of course, it might be easy to reduce input lag, but the ultimate factor when it comes to online gaming is your Internet connection and who is playing host for the match. Out of the box Nvidia promises the GeForce GTX 950 will deliver three times the performance compared to the older generation GeForce GTX 650. The new GPU comes packing 2GB of GDDR5 memory and 768 CUDA cores, and its available starting now for $159 (about £101, AU$216). 19 graphics cards the Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 owes a lot to

Review: AKG N90Q Posted: 15 Sep 2015 10:30 AM PDT Introduction and design AKG wants to push professional audio equipment to the masses with a little help from Quincy Jones. The over-ear N90Q is the result of that fruitful collaboration with the famed producer, with the goal to create an advanced and stylish set of headphones. And, oh how advanced they are. The sound capabilities deliver, as well. But golly, are these expensive: AKG is selling its N90Q for $1,499 (about £974, AU$2,101, though there's no word on a global release at the time of writing). But there's much more to this set of headphones than its celebrity endorsement. For the money, you're getting a heck of a lot. The headphones alone are jam-packed full of features. And its bundle of included accessories goes the distance to make you feel like the purchase was worth it. But at the end of the day, are they? For the average listener, nope. Even for the serious listener, there are much, much cheaper alternatives that can get you arguably similar results, albeit without the fancy accessories. Even so, aside from a few design issues that impact comfort, there's a lot to enjoy if you're in the market for a set of headphones that goes all out in every way imaginable. Design The design of a set of headphones has to sell you even before you try listening to them for the first time. To that end, the AKG N90Q has a lot of work to do if they want to help you swallow its enormous price tag. These headphones make a killer first impression, with a masterful mixture of build materials and a forward-thinking design that houses a bunch of cool features. First off, its headband is tasked with being the support system for the heavy cans. It looks the part, coated in leather and capped on each end with gold-painted aluminum. AKG's headband offers ten points of size adjustment, so finding a fit with these headphones on most, if not all, heads will be easy. Its sidearms are comprised of polycarbonate with a matte-textured coating. It's a look that compliments its aluminum and leather accents. The N90Q's earcups are the main attraction here. Designed with just as much pizzazz as the rest of the unit, what's most impressive here is how much functionality AKG packs into such a small space. Each earcup is attached to the sidearms with strong, aluminum hinges that offer 90 degrees of swivel, just enough to rest the pads on your chest. Also located on both earcups are the circular sections that jut out with slick, gold-painted aluminum detailing. On the left earcup in particular, there isn't much to see, just an etched dial that can be rotated to adjust the bass and treble presence. Moving over to the right earcup introduces us to the gamut of its features. There is another rotating dial over here, but this one on the right increases and decreases the volume with an intuitive twist motion. Facing the rear, there's a power button, the calibration button, which I'll go into more detail about below, and a microUSB charging port nestled together in a line. I'd be remiss to not go into detail about the sheer amount of goodies included with the AKG N90Q. The headphones come shipped in a luxurious, albeit huge, hard carrying case. The case itself can actually be charged up to give the N90Q a boost when it's loaded inside. We've reached out to AKG for the exact mAh capacity of the case and will update when we hear back. Opened up, there's a spot for the headphones and a capped compartment inside its head space, which contains a 3-foot cable with full inline controls and microphone, an extra 9-foot cable, a 3.5mm to 1.5mm adapter, a dual-pronged flight adapter and microUSB cable. Also included is a 2,400mAh power bank for charging the headphones on the go. Phew. There's more yet. AKG has included a soft, leather carrying case for the N90Q that's a little more practical to lug around with you. Lastly, there's a swanky, cloth screen wipe and leather carrying case for phones no bigger, I'd guess, than the iPhone 6S Plus or Samsung Galaxy Note 5. Performance and verdict AKG nailed the first impression and the unit, for packing in so many functions, are fairly intuitive to use. So, how does the N90Q sound? In one word, spectacular. But I think I'll need to use a few more. Out of the box, these headphones work wonders on your music collection without any equalizer tweaks. But, thanks to the active noise cancellation (ANC), full treble and bass control and the unique TruNote tech, the N90Q will make your music sing like you've likely never heard. Let's start off by mentioning that every feature of these headphones feeds off the battery. So when it's dead, the music stops. Powering on the N90Q automatically triggers the ANC, which I'm pleased to say doesn't damper or negatively impact the sound whatsoever. From there, you'll want to press and hold the calibration button for five seconds. It'll beep and boop, but under the hood, it's calibrating the headphones by using the outside noise to create an optimum frequency to cancel it out between the 52mm drivers and your ears. It's a bit of a process compared to other headphones that only require a flick of a switch to get things started, but it's worth it. Once you get started listening, you can adjust the left dial to add bass and treble, or rotate it the opposite way to remove it. If you still aren't getting the desired effect, you can tap the calibration button to cycle between three sound stage presets. This is no doubt the N90Q's coolest feature. First off, there's the standard setting, which offers up the tunes in an unaltered state. Then, there's the studio preset, which is said to deliver your music as its producers intended. Lastly, there's the surround sound setting, which sounds similar to the studio effect, but extends the size of the stage vastly. There's a setting that suits every genre of music I threw at it and each can be enjoyed distortion-free through the N90Q. These headphones even come stocked with a built-in digital-to-analog converter (DAC), so you can hook these up to a PC for lossless listening if you have the necessary hi-res audio files. Listening to music with the N90Q, while amazing to the ears, isn't as kind to the top of your head. In my experience, adjusting the earcups down too low made the headband grind into the top of my head after about 20 minutes of use. Thankfully, a quick re-adjustment helped considerably. As for battery life, during testing, which consisted of over 15 charge cycles, the battery lasted anywhere between 10-13 hours each time. Not too bad, considering that it's powering such a grand experience along with ANC, but you'll want to make sure that you keep the included power bank with you. Also, the inline controls and microphone work just like you'd assume they would. It's all easy to use and voice quality is completely serviceable. Final verdict This section of the review is where I tell you whether, based on everything that I've said so far, the product is worth your money. I've asked readers before to trust me on a verdict of a pricey item (see: Sennheiser Momentum Wireless) but this takes things to another level. The AKG N90Q are three times the cost of Sennheiser's amazing wireless headphones, which I truly love. If you're feature-crazy, the Parrot Zik 2.0 will keep you plenty entertained for around the same price. When things are two or three times the cost of another, similar item, be it toilet paper or audiophile-grade headphones, the expected question is: is it two or three times better than the cheaper one? To answer that question for the N90Q, yes. But should you buy them? That's a harder question to answer. These headphones try, and succeed, at a heck of a lot. At half the cost, I'd be more likely to recommend these excellent headphones. But at its current (punishing) price, you'd be better off looking elsewhere for your audiophile needs.

Halo 5's steady 60fps comes at the expense of a stable resolution Posted: 15 Sep 2015 10:27 AM PDT Halo 5: Guardians won't be in stores for another few weeks, but according to executive producer Josh Holmes that despite it being one of the biggest games in 2015 it might not have the highest resolution of any game this holiday season. Holmes wrote a post on the Xbox Wire today describing something he calls "the progressive resolution system" that allows the game to scale the resolution based on how many objects are on the screen at once. Using this system, he says, Halo 5 will be able to run at 60 frames per second both in every mode - a huge accomplishment for the series. The team has re-engineered the game engine to look at all the objects on the screen - the enemies, vehicles, other players and terrain - and slide from a lower resolution during times of complete on-screen chaos to 1080p when you're by yourself enjoying the view. "Without this system, we would need to either reduce the scale of our most intense combat encounters or lower the quality of content across the game in order to stay at 60fps at all times," Holmes wrote. "With progressive resolution, we get the best of both worlds: epic scale experiences that look incredible while running at a consistent 60fps." While games usually lock in a lower resolution to ensure a consistent experience, Halo 5 is opting to follow in the Witcher 3's footsteps with a dynamically rendered resolution. That said, the difference between 900p and 1080p is a small one, and Halo 5 certainly isn't the only next-gen title to turn down its resolution. Halo 5: Guardians comes out on Xbox One on October 27, 2015. Via Engadget These are the best games on Xbox One!

New watch faces are coming to the original Moto 360 Posted: 15 Sep 2015 10:21 AM PDT With the new Moto 360 has yet to begin shipping out, Motorola is giving those who own the older Moto 360 some new features. The company has updated its Motorola Connect app, adding new watch faces that include the Live Dials feature that is set to come with the new Moto 360 once it ships out. The new watch faces, Dials and Dials II, lets you add a trio of live dials that show you information like the date, weather, the watch's remaining battery life or steps you've taken. Essentially, they look similar to the chronographs found on a traditional timepiece and are now available on the older Moto 360. As part of the update, you'll also get more traditional looking watch faces called Essential and Refined. And though it isn't a noteworthy addition, the update also lets you change the color of your charging screen. This is why the new Moto 360 shouldn't be 'for women' Via Android Police

Hands-on review: Updated: Project Morpheus Posted: 15 Sep 2015 09:57 AM PDT E3 2015 hands on Update: Project Morpheus is no more - well, in name. Revealed during the Tokyo Game Show, Sony is now calling the virtual reality headset PlayStation VR. The new name doesn't have the same pizazz as "Project Morpheus" but it's definitely a lot more recognizable with "PlayStation" front and center. There's still no pricing or official release date yet but early 2016 still seems like the timeframe we can expect to see it. Hands on continued below... Not much has changed regarding Sony's last big announcements during GDC 2015 about Project Morpheus, but E3 2015 saw a slew of new games added to the roster. Most of the games are in pre-alpha stages with the developers hoping to launch at the same time as Morpheus during the first part of 2016. There's still no audio input aside from headphones you manually put on, unlike the consumer version of Oculus Rift but the sound is still crisp as ever. Several of the games I played utilized not only the Move controllers, but a modified PlayStation Sharp Shooter gun and even a bike with sensors. I naturally gravitated toward the bike demo, because I hadn't seen it before. Created by company VirZoom, the premise of the experience was pretty simple: sit on a bike, put on a Morpheus, pedal, get fit in the VR world. Pretty awesome, right? There were sensors attached to a bike - which can be placed on a stationary bike or your own personal bike - that wirelessly connect to the headset. Trainers keep your non-stationary bike still so you don't go flying and will be bundled at an undisclosed price with the sensors - though I was told it would be affordable. The demo on hand involved riding a horse which could turn into a Pegasus if you find wings and then pedaled faster. Being a horse while pedaling is jarring at first but really fun once you get the hang of it. The company will expand and let you be dragons, tanks and a bunch of other random things you wouldn't expect. The other games involved the more conventional Move controllers but were still immensely fun and immersive. Impulse Games wants to make a shooter with the Morpheus and what it has so far is a simple yet enjoyable game where creatures like spiders pop up to attack you. There's a lot of movement involved and you're standing the whole time while using the thumbstick on the Move navigation controller to walk around. It's not as dizzying as it sounds though which was a nice surprise. I did however get a little nauseous playing Battle Zone, a game from Rebellion where you're in the cockpit of a spaceship shooting at aliens. Turning in virtual reality while actually being stationary wasn't a particularly pleasant experience - though I felt far worse in EVE: Valkyrie and the Oculus. But the actual game where I was zooming around shooting people was a blast. London Heist was one of the first Morpheus games I played and really enjoyed. The mechanics of reloading and shooting were the same in the second demo from Heist except I was the passenger in a moving car. There were a lot things you could interact with like opening and closing the door - which made me feel like I was going to fall out of the car - to throwing empty cans of soda around. Shooting thugs was just as fun as I remembered and perhaps even more so because motorcycles were exploding and clips were being used up like crazy. Super Hypercube is a game older than Project Morpheus and has been in development since 2008 but proves the VR headset is great for all sorts of games. Using a DualShock controller, you're essentially trying to fit cubes into a cutout while more cubes are added as you move through. It's almost like a horizontal, 3D Tetris with the added difficulty - and fun - of VR. Aside from mild dizziness, the latency remained good on the other games. I couldn't detect any jitter and controllers didn't lose tracking in-game in anything I played. Early verdict After experiencing more games on the Morpheus, I'm more convinced we'll see it sooner rather than later in 2016. Sony already has a leg up on providing motion controllers unlike Oculus's Touch controllers which are still being developed. The games on both platforms don't seem like they're quite ready yet and I get the sense a lot of companies are scrambling to make polished titles in time for release. However I'm confident that there will be enough titles and more released because VR is definitely the future of gaming. GDC 2015 hands on Sony unveiled Project Morpheus at GDC 2014 introducing us to the first real virtual reality competitor to the Oculus Rift. GDC 2015 saw the newest evolution of Morpheus revealed to the public along with the news that, barring any complications, we'll be able to own one in the first half of 2016. Complete with a larger 5.7-inch OLED screen with 1920 x RGB x 1080 resolution, Morpheus 2.0's leap forward is more notable than it probably sounds. The field of view has been stretched to 100 degrees, and Project Morpheus now supports an impressive 120fps output (a new SDK will let 60fps images output at 120fps, too). It now also supports 3D audio and has a new feature called social screen, which lets users take the same gameplay they see inside their Morpheus and put it on a TV so other people can play along. The new design is, obviously, the most noticeable part of the Morpheus. It feels far lighter than the Crescent Bay edition of the Rift - and it's far easier to put on and take off, especially for the glasses-adorned folk. The visor even fits super comfortably over large frames. The weight distribution of Morpheus makes it much more comfortable to wear than the Oculus Rift and other headsets where you can start to feel some strain around your eyes. The new edition is even easier to adjust - simply pushing forward with a quick release button on the bottom right of the visor will free it from your face, making making is easy to move to a comfortable spot. There's a new single band too, which again helps with putting on and taking off the headset. Looking down might require a slight readjustment though, but on the whole it feels nice and secure - more so than the latest iteration of the Oculus Rift. Three additional LEDS have been added on for a total of nine altogether - three can be found on each side, one on top and bottom, one smack dab in the middle of the faceplate, and two lights on the very back. All this is supposed to help improve tracking accuracy which it definitely seemed to do. The game Sony is proudly showing off for Morpheus v2 is The London Heist, and, honestly, it might be the best VR experience yet. This is far more contained than many of the intergalactic space games and open environments that VR has been used for so far, but as we've learned over the course of our time trying out different headsets, these more intimate experiences can be the most incredible. The game began with us sat on a chair opposite a man - who can be best described as a "London geezer" - began barking demands at us. Moments later he was waving a blowtorch in our face and we couldn't help but recoil just a bit. Short of feeling the heat against our cheeks, this was about as real as someone thrusting a flesh cooker in your face could get. He then handed us a phone which we picked up using one of our virtual hands, both of which are controlled by the Move controllers. Those hands are noticeably detached, and while the lack of arms breaks the immersion a bit, you can understand why putting them in would cause a technical nightmare. When we held the phone it to the side of our face, the voice from the speaker grille sounded like it was close to our ear - one of those small details that makes a remarkably big difference. The next thing we knew we were teleported to a large room. There was a large desk in front of us, and a sense that something about about to kick off. This is where the demo started to pick up, as we were tasked with rummaging through the desk draws for a diamond. Using the Move's trigger we were able to create a clasping motion with our hand, which allowed us to pick up a torch and start rooting for the treasure. Instead we found a handgun and some ammo - yes, it really was about to kick off. Suddenly we were aware of approaching enemies and it was time to lock and load. Grabbing the gun with one hand and a magazine clip with the other we were able to slot it in and load the weapon. It truly was one of those moments where you realise that VR is here to stay. As the enemies starting coming in we were able to duck behind the desk for cover. Every time we sprang up we were taking down baddies (although we might have been the bad guy, we're not certain) with lifelike precision. It wasn't perfect - we felt like the Eye sometimes had difficulty tracking our movements, especially when trying to reload the gun quickly. That may have been due to us kneeling to hide behind a VR desk, making it difficult for the camera to see our hands. Sony claims latency issues have been addressed. It was hard to tell with this demo since it was a straightforward shooter but ducking down to avoid being shot, looking down to reload and then quickly looking up to shoot didn't make us feel sick at all. The graphics in general were also almost on par with my previous Rift experiences which is impressive considering we were actually interacting with the environment around me instead of just looking at things. The experience as a whole was quite incredible, and probably the most immersive we're had with VR to date. It made us want to experience something like BioShock Infinite or GTA V in VR, and this demo gave us a little sneak peek of what gaming could be like with FPS type games. The other demo we tried involved a PS4 Dualshock controller and those little guys from Sony's augmented reality game, The Playroom. The first part involved using the Dualshock controller to interact with the little bots. Pressing circle made music come on and cause the bots to dance, X shined a flashlight on their little faces (supremely annoying them) and so forth. The coolest part of this demo was seeing the controller actually in virtual reality, as in whatever buttons you pushed, the VR controller would respond in sync. The light on the controller also serves a tracking point so turning it around in your hands simultaneously turned it virtually - so what you'll see is a PS4 controller floating in front of you to help guide you. You can see this being an interesting addition to future games as it should help you feel less weird using a controller in VR. The second part of the demo was a real treat, and we could tell the creators had a blast making it. It was reminiscent of an Oculus Rift demo we tried at CES where you're basically observing a little scene. In this case, the experience involved peering into a little dollhouse with a bunch of rooms full of AR bots as they fought over sodas, had their own Morpheus experiences, swam in a pool and more. No direct interaction or controller was used but some bots would wave and turn their heads to stare at you. One was even flying a tiny DJI drone in your face, snapping pictures which made me want to keep swatting my hands around, but of course, there was nothing there. Hearing the 3D sound from the drone felt like it was seamlessly coming from all around us. This was the case with the previous demo too, where shooters would be placed in different locations. Early verdict The newest Project Morpheus is magnificent. There seem to be a few minor hiccups to sort out but it feels like the hardware is solid, and far more comfortable than a lot o VR headsets out there which is huge. No one wants to wear something bulky and restraining for more than an hour, but we can imagine you'd feel pretty comfy with a Morpheus on your noggin. The Crescent Bay edition of Rift is equally spectacular in usage compared to Project Morpheus but it doesn't provide any real game demos to show off how well it does with interactive experiences. Granted, the Oculus team seem more keen on providing immersive experiences without peripherals opposed to full on games. This is where the Morpheus has the edge. Its proven itself a real contender for virtual reality in your living room thanks to the incorporation of the Move controllers and the PlayStation Eye. As for The London Heist, well, you'll have to try that for yourself to see what we're raving about. But it's truly something special. Read on for in-depth coverage on Project Morpheus, or if you're in the mood to read Cameron Faulkner's impressions, who nearly flipped his lid upon first trying it, check that out here. Previous Project Morpheus hands ons Additional hands on reporting by Hugh Langley and Nick Pino When the creator of Oculus Rift told us that he didn't think consoles were fit for virtual reality, I wondered if he might have a point. But as is the way with VR, seeing is believing, and having taken Morpheus for a spin there's no longer a doubt in my mind: virtual reality on the PS4 is going to be amazing. Morpheus is in prototype right now. Sony told us that the final product will probably be quite different in both look and specs, but the current headset looks pretty damn slick nonetheless. It certainly feels more "finished" than Oculus; not only does the main eyepiece look like a polished product, there's a dynamic plastic headstrap to boot. Getting it to fit wasn't too difficult and the headset felt secure enough for the purposes of the demo. However it does feel like the weight balance needs addressing, and Sony will want to relocate some of those wires that I kept almost chewing on.There's also the tiniest of space near the bridge of your nose. It's not too distracting from the overall experience and, during the more intense sensations, served as an easy reminder that my feet are still planted safely in reality. Morpheus hits the ground running with a 1080p display - some of you will never know the nausea that an SD screen with lag can induce. We asked Sony if its God of Dreams might end up in 4K however it didn't sound promising. As it is, Morpheus is satisfyingly crisp, but I did notice the occasional jaggedly-rendered object and felt the odd frame rate stutter. It's the same stuff we've seen with Oculus. Morepheus's 90-degree field of vision does lose out to Oculus's 110 degrees but this is hardly noticeable - and likely to change come the final product. Lost in space The first game I tried was space simulator Eve: Valkyrie. Already a fan of Strike Suit Zero on the Oculus Rift, I was reasonably prepared for what was about to come. Hurtling through space, admiring the view of giant ships as you pass under them, dodging your way through asteroid fields - this is exactly the kind of stuff we all dreamed about when we were younger. And even though I'd experienced space in VR before, there were a couple of barrel rolls that sent my stomach spinning. It's clear that some people are more prone to feeling physically affected by VR than others, but the clarity and low latency of Morpheus in its current state mean the risks of nausea are low. I felt ok during my 10 minutes with Eve, but like I said, there were a couple of hairy moments. Beyond the sea But as great as space was, it was exploring the ocean depths that really set the pulse racing. The Deep, Sony's second demo, was a perfect tease at what's possible when you wed VR and horror. The game begins with you in a diving cage, floating near the surface of the ocean. What was different about this experience was that I was standing up so the game needed to account for this. Sure enough, when I squatted down I noticed my virtual legs bent at the same time, a feat made possible by the motion tracking. It's these little touches that help make the experience that bit more immersive. As I sunk further down to the ocean depths, it became clear that I'd made an enemy among the aquatic wildlife as a shark began circling my cage. The Deep wasn't a very interactive experience. I could look around me was holding a flare fun that would move with my real hands thanks to the motion-enabled Dualshock 4, however there were a couple of moments where I "broke" the connection between my real hands and my virtual ones. As it turned out, the flare gun was about as effective as a bacon sandwich when the shark started ripping into the cage. But it was fantastic way to experience VR, especially with the lack of any form of HUD. It was just me, under water, face to face with Jaws. And for a couple of brief moments it was absolutely terrifying. Street Luge Where The Deep represented pure fantasy as only a faux-holodeck experience could provide, the Street Luge stood out for its ability to make me cringe, wince, yelp and ultimately feel like I was on a roller coaster without the intense wind and bodily sensations. It started slow, allowing me to get used to the controls - lean left to drift left, lean right to go right. Then came my first car. I dodged left and, in doing so, earned a small speed boost. There was a timer ticking in the corner of my screen that I hadn't noticed before; this was one of virtual reality's first time trials. More cars came and went as I slowly became comfortable balancing the hardware that was secured around my head and the bodily sensations I was starting to feel. I could look straight up at the clouds and left and right over the mountainside. If I hadn't been sharing the road with sedans and semi-trucks this would've been a relatively zen-like experience. Alas. The crowning moment came when, unable to dodge left or right, I slid unscathed between an truck's wheels and looked up into its undercarriage. When I did eventually crash, however, the screen briefly flashed red before I slowed down some - there were no gruesome, Tomb-Raider-getting-impaled-on-a-tree-branch moments here. I crossed the finish line with two minutes and thirty two seconds on the clock. Not bad for my first downhill run. Morpheus Castle The final demo was called Morpheus Castle, a smack-'em-up that served to demonstrate how Move can be used so brilliantly with Morpheus. You may have forgotten about Sony's Wiimote rival, but these glowy sticks may be about to have a serious comeback. By pressing the back triggers you'll curl your fingers into a fist. Extend them rapidly and you'll throw a punch. Because the PS Camera can track your position in a room, you'll be able to walk a few feet forwards and backwards - but not very far left or right. You're asked to punch a hanging dummy. Complete the task and you're rewarded with your first weapon, a sword. I held the trigger on the back of the Move and I was able to cast the sword in huge arches, eventually lopped off the poor dummy's arms, legs and head. This was a smooth, seamless experience and gave me hope that the Star Wars game we've always dreamed of - the one where lightsaber duels are not only plausible, but an enjoyable part of the game - are within arm's reach. (See what I did there?) Next I grabbed a mace that, when extended, felt the force of gravity and hung low on its chain. I swing it a few times to get some momentum going and before long was using it to dismember a newly furnished foe. After which was a crossbow demo, the least exciting part of my experience. I didn't need to hold down a button in the back this time and was only required to press the trigger when I had lined up a shot. The arrow tended to curve down and, while realistic, it felt a little unfulfilling in a so-far, so-good demo. But as with the flare gun in The Deep, there was occasionally a disconnect between my virtual and real hands. There are clearly some technical boundaries when it comes to body motion with VR, and making them harder to break will be key to immersion. Like the Playstation camera and the Dualshock 4's tracking blue light, Move suddenly makes a lot more sense with Morpheus. Sony's master plan is coming together. YouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OQtByjyD-4 Early verdict The most frustrating thing about VR right now is trying to convey it with words. You really do have to see Project Morpheus (and, indeed, Oculus Rift) to believe it. There's still work to be done - edges were rough and objects seemed a little less than their HD display - but Sony is clearly determined to iron these out before it comes to market. When that might be is hard to say. But take Morpheus for a spin and I guarantee you'll be as excited as I am for what virtual reality will offer. This is the missing piece of the PS4 puzzle, and it's a big one.

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