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• Instagram now has more monthly users than Twitter
• Analysis: Spotify and co. have officially overtaken the old music scene
• Pope Francis US visit of course means special Twitter emojis
• Amazon Prime sign ups get discounted for one-day only
• Toshiba's Chromebook 2 gets a Broadwell makeover
• Updated: How to delete all email in iOS 9
• This Star Trek Enterprise project goes boldly into VR
• IBM wants to safeguard third-party apps for the enterprise
• Snapchat's rainbow sick feature is no more
• Review: Updated: HP Pavilion Mini
• Updated: HTC Aero release date, news and rumors
• All-optical chip memory just moved a huge step closer
• The latest virtual reality experience lets you fly around as a bee
• Samyang launches two fast prime lenses for mirrorless cameras
• Opinion: Mobile VR has landed, so what's the point in the desktop?
• I've seen the second generation of 3D printing, and it blew me away
• Our iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus verdicts are in
• Microsoft Office 2016 has finally arrived
• Nvidia crams desktop graphics into laptops in the name of VR
• Asus transforms its best Chromebook into a Windows 10 Cloud machine

Instagram now has more monthly users than Twitter Posted: 22 Sep 2015 03:11 PM PDT Instagram now has more than 400 million monthly active users, the social site announced today. It hit the mark in less than five years, and is up from 300 million monthly active users nine months ago. Instagram now has more monthly active users than Twitter (316 million), but still far less than its parent company, Facebook (over 1 billion). Perhaps even more notable than the sheer number of people sharing, commenting and liking photos (80 million daily, according to Instagram) is the global growth of the service. According to Instagram, more than 75% of its users are outside the US. More than half of the last 100 million users who signed up live in Europe and Asia, and Brazil, Japan and Indonesia were the countries that counted the most new Instagrammers. Photos may be worth a thousand words, and to Instagram, they're clearly amounting to millions of new users, too. Check out techradar's Instagram! It's full of fun stuff, we promise

Analysis: Spotify and co. have officially overtaken the old music scene Posted: 22 Sep 2015 02:02 PM PDT There are five words in the English language that, when used in succession, have the ability to both enrage and belittle music fans: "Your favorite format is dead." It was said when vinyl gave way to cassette tapes back in the '60s and then again when CDs came around in the '80s. Friends said it to one another when CDs were overtaken by MP3s in the late '90s and now, here in 2015, it will come back into the public vernacular as streaming music services have become the world's preferred way to listen to music. For the first time ever, streaming revenue has surpassed $1 billion dollars. And while the disappearance of physical media is interesting in its own right, the more interesting point here, my fellow music enthusiasts, is this explosive growth in streaming and simultaneous shrinking in every other sector means that we have front-row seats to the death knell of ownership. Where is this all coming from? The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). According to new data by the RIAA, streaming music has finally surpassed physical media (i.e. CDs and vinyl) in sales, and, if streaming music continues on this path, it will overtake digital distribution by the end of next year. So, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there's a clear message here for CD lovers and anyone who actually paid for their digital music library: Your favorite format may not be dead, but it is dying. It wasn't all that long ago that digital music sales conquered physical media, thanks in no small part to Apple and Google's steadily growing storefronts. Together they, alongside various other e-tailers like Amazon, sold around $6.85 billion in digital content last year. This year, many of those same companies are pushing Spotify-esque streaming services to the forefront of their digital businesses. Apple Music and Google Play Music are already huge forces in the streaming space, despite the former's recent arrival on the scene, while darkhorse Amazon Prime Music is quickly catching up thanks to its integration on the Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick and Amazon Echo. So while we guffawed when Taylor Swift withdrew her music from Spotify to support Apple Music, there were severe financial implications that almost certainly didn't have Spotify laughing. (Different sources speculate varying amounts, but Swift's music was on over 19 million playlists on Spotify and brought in $500,000 to $2 million in revenue in 2014.) But why shouldn't streaming services eventually win out? The same thing is happening to films thanks to iTunes, Amazon and Netflix. DVD player sales started to dip in 2006, while the number of streaming-enabled devices has grown exponentially. Music and movie services like Apple Music, Spotify and Netflix represent a growing movement that's shifting away from physical ownership - or, more precisely, any ownership at all - and more towards simply renting or borrowing on-demand. I'm not the first to spot this trend, obviously, nor the first to really dive into it. The Atlantic has given it some screen time in its "The Death of Music Sales" feature that ran in January, which made the particularly poignant point that "death" isn't the right word for what's going on. Dead, in most senses, means nothing or zero. No one in their right mind would call CDs - a format that sold $6.83 billion worth of product in 2014 - dead. What is happening is that sales are shrinking at a worrying rate as more of us make the switch to streaming services to fulfill our unwavering auditory needs. Of all forms of media, streaming was the only one to see an increase in users in 2015. For better or worse, it looks like more streaming equates to less ownership. This boils down to one last question: Is ownership worthwhile for you? At the end of the day this is a personal question ... or something to be discussed in the comment section below. If you're considering leaving ownership behind, take a look at our best music streaming services roundup.

Pope Francis US visit of course means special Twitter emojis Posted: 22 Sep 2015 01:40 PM PDT Pope Francis has arrived in the US for a historic five-day, three-city visit. Among the pontiff's travel plans: meeting with President Obama and appearing before a joint session of Congress, then jetting off to New York City and Philadelphia. This is Pope Francis' first trip to the US, and to mark the occasion Twitter is rolling out a number of special emoji to help users talk about the visit. Like the special emoji it rolled out for the World Cup, you'll need to use a hashtag in a published tweet for the emoji to appear. The Pope emoji (popeji?) pop up alongside the hashtags: #PopeInUS, #PopeInDC, #PopeInNYC and #PopeInPhilly. #PopeInUS is the most distinct, showing a beaming Pope face against an American flag background. The DC tag is a picture of the US Capitol building, NYC shows the Statue of Liberty and Philly pulls up a cracked Liberty Bell. Those interested can also follow @Pontifex (the Pope's official Twitter account) to see what His Holiness is up to this week. Update: As spotted by Mashable, Snapchat also has a special local filter that features Pope Francis driving a Popemobile along with "They see me rolling" and the city where he is, in fact, rolling. Turn your photos into emoji artwork

Amazon Prime sign ups get discounted for one-day only Posted: 22 Sep 2015 01:13 PM PDT Streaming services won big during the Emmy's and one company wants to give back. On Friday, September 25th starting at 12:01 AM ET, and ending at 11:59 PM PT, Amazon is offering up its Prime services for $67. It's a limited, one day sale that's for new customers and will only last the year. The price will resume the $99 fee once the year is over. The 67 dollar price point is in reference to Amazon's five wins at the 67th Emmy's Awards show. The online e-tailer is likely trying to garner even more attention for its Prime Instant Video Service where original Amazon show Transparent won several awards. You'll also get access to the Kindle Owner's Lending Library (if you have a Kindle), Prime Photos through Amazon Cloud Drive and of course, the two-day shipping. It's unclear if the offer is US-only though we've reached to Amazon and will update once we hear back.

Toshiba's Chromebook 2 gets a Broadwell makeover Posted: 22 Sep 2015 01:03 PM PDT If you were a fan of last year's Toshiba Chromebook 2, you should look into the newer, souped-up version that Toshiba unveiled today. The previous Chromebook 2, which techradar ranks as one of the best Chromebooks on the market, came with a gorgeous Full HD screen and 4GB of RAM, which is better than most Chromebooks out today. Unfortunately, that model came with an Intel Celeron processor and a battery that only lasted about 6 hours and 26 minutes, according to our testing. Toshiba's new Chromebook 2 will come with fifth-generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processors and a battery life that Toshiba says can last about 8.5 hours. Price and availability The new version of the Chromebook 2 is almost exactly the same as the previous model (other than the advanced chipset and a backlit keyboard). It has the same silver-colored plastic chassis, it weighs 2.9 pounds, is 0.76 inches thick, comes with a 13.3-inch non-touch display, an HDMI slot, and two USB ports (one 2.0 and one 3.0). Even the price is about the same as the old model, which was $329.99 (about £205, AU$382) when it was unveiled. This year's laptop, which will be available in October, will also cost $329.99 with a Core i3 processor and $430 (about £280, AU$515) for a Core i5 processor. Other alternatives If you really love Google's operating system, but you need a more powerful laptop, you can always turn to the Google Chromebook Pixel 2. It comes standard with a Core i5 processor, USB 3.1 (and USB-C) ports, a high-resolution 2,560 x 1,700 IPS touchscreen display, and 8GB of RAM. Of course, this will run you about $999 or £799 (about AU$1,277), roughly twice as much as the higher end Toshiba Chromebook 2. If you just need solid performance, and you don't mind a little bulk, the Acer Chromebook 15 C910 is only $499.99 (£249, AU$620). It's also packing a fifth-generation Core i5 processor, and like the Toshiba model, it's full HD and comes with 4GB of RAM. But the Acer has a 15-inch screen and it weighs 4.85 pounds, so it's not for everyone. Who makes the Best Chromebook?

Updated: How to delete all email in iOS 9 Posted: 22 Sep 2015 11:56 AM PDT UPDATED! Now that iOS 9 is out, mass-deleting those unwanted emails got a whole lot simpler. We've heard you. We've heard the complaints about not being able to easily delete all your email from your iPhone or iPad. There have been workarounds, but they've required weird finger gymnastics and they haven't always worked 100 percent. Fortunately, Apple has heard you too, so in iOS 9 they've added a quick way to delete all your email. It couldn't be simpler - just go to your inbox, hit the Edit button in the upper-right corner of your inbox, then hit the Trash All button in the lower-right corner. You'll be given a prompt to confirm you really want to trash all your email; do so and your email will be sent to the trash. Note that this will NOT work if you're in the All Inboxes folder - it only works on a per-account basis. If you want to remove the email from your phone for good, go to your Trash (or All Trash) folder, hit the Edit button, then the Delete All button, then confirm. Now that unwanted email should be gone permanently! However, if you're not yet using iOS 9, you'll still have to use a workaround. Select All Inboxes, press Edit, press the circle to the left of one of your emails, then press and hold the Move button at the bottom of the screen with one finger, then, with another finger, uncheck the email you recently checked. When you release your finger from the Move button, all of your email should be selected to be moved to a new location; choose to move it all to the Trash.

This Star Trek Enterprise project goes boldly into VR Posted: 22 Sep 2015 10:37 AM PDT Someone has set out to recreate all 42 decks of the Star Trek Enterprise D ship in VR. As far as VR recreation projects go, this one has us impressed, and you can already take a virtual tour some of the areas that Jason, the 3D artist behind the project, has completed. The project is huge - especially for just one person - and will create the entirety of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D that can be explored using the Oculus. "Fans would be able to visit engineering via the turbolift, or walk from Deck 36 to Deck 5 to see the Arboretum," Jason said on the Enterprise 3D Project website, adding that it would serve as a virtual museum for fans. A bolder experience Once he's completed the Enterprise D, the project could evolve to include a populated ship, other locations like the Starfleet Headquarters, as well as "online play with other Star Trek fans." However, building the ship itself is Jason's only goal currently, as there are some hurdles he'll need to face, including potential licensing issues. "If there is interest from the fanbase, I will try and pursue this project from a more serious standpoint," Jason said, adding that the project would then need some crowdfunding to hire other developers and artists. "There is also the matter of licensing. I will seek CBS' blessing to continue to create this. But to release it as a product, licensing will have to be procured." Until then, Jason will continue to build a "truly immersive Enterprise experience." Check out the Enterprise-D virtual tour below: YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK9ijZeHWjI Mobile VR has landed, so what's the point in the desktop? Image credit: Jason/Enterprise3DProject

IBM wants to safeguard third-party apps for the enterprise Posted: 22 Sep 2015 10:00 AM PDT Thousands of employees at top companies across the globe are sharing sensitive company information with third-party apps. Research commissioned by IBM found that one in every three employees uploads and shares corporate data with third-party cloud apps without the knowledge of their employer despite the fact that 60% know it's against the rules. That figure is expected to jump because 50% of 'millennials' already share work data outside cloud apps and that 'millennial' demographic will make up 50% of the global workforce by 2020 thus providing a boost to the earlier numbers. The response To try to combat this, IBM has unveiled its Cloud Security Enforcer that combines cloud identity management (Identify-as-a-Service) with the ability for firms to find out the external apps their employees are accessing including those on mobile devices. By scanning the corporate network in question, the Cloud Security Enforcer can then provide a more secure way to access and use apps to ensure that firms don't fall victim to security flaws that may arise from employees accessing external apps. In addition, the service uses IBM X-Force's deep threat analytics to carry out extensive security checks on the safety and integrity of apps being used by employees thus adding another layer of protection. By tying in with IBM's X-Force, it can use intelligence on malicious activity from around the world collected by the X-Force Exchange to provide a well-rounded solution that helps companies ensure the safety of themselves and their employees at all times. Can multinationals trust the cloud with precious corporate data?

Snapchat's rainbow sick feature is no more Posted: 22 Sep 2015 09:14 AM PDT Snapchat was updated last week with a bunch of new AR effects that allowed you to pretend to be sick with rainbows or have a scary horror face – but now those have been taken down. Snapchat has now once again updated, losing the rainbow sick, scary face and robot effects. The order goes crying face, mustache man, gossip mag, angry face, slapped face, scared face and heart eyes. We've reached out to Snapchat for comment to work out why the older faces have been taken down and whether updating these will become a regular thing. So far there's no word, but we'll keep you posted if we find out. 10 Snapchat achievements we want to see

Review: Updated: HP Pavilion Mini Posted: 22 Sep 2015 09:00 AM PDT Introduction and features Ever since Asus launched the desktop answer to netbooks in the form of the EeeBox PC, the market for small-footprint PCs has grown to offer a wide range of options. The HP Pavilion Mini 300-030na is one of the latest small, quiet and energy-efficient desktops to come to market, and it's one of the nicest-looking mini PCs we've seen since the launch of the Apple Mac Mini. With models starting at £249.99 ($269, AU$349) the Pavilion Mini is a competitively priced option, with ample storage space and enough power for day-to-day tasks. The model we reviewed came complete with 1TB of storage space, a 1.9GHz Intel Core i3 processor and 4GB of RAM (which can be upgraded to 16GB if needed); a faster i5 model is available, as is a lower-priced option with a less capable Pentium 3558U processor and smaller 500GB hard drive. Although the graphics may not be up to the task of heavy-duty video-editing or gaming, the Pavilion Mini offers plenty of connectivity for such a small package, making it an ideal proposition for light users at home or in the office. Design Weighing only a little over 660g (1.45lbs) and with a diminutive footprint of 144mm x 144mm x 52mm (W x D x H), the HP Pavilion Mini takes up less desk space than the Apple Mac Mini (although it's slightly taller), and slightly more than the Acer Revo One R85L (which is nearly three times as tall); if you didn't know better you could easily confuse the Pavilion Mini for an external hard drive or Wi-Fi router. Styling is reminiscent of an early 2000s Apple iMac, favouring the combination of shiny white and semi-translucent plastics over utilitarian aluminium bodies you'll find on so many other Mac clones. With miniature proportions and not a square corner in sight, the Pavilion Mini is a cute little machine that would grace even the coolest of workspaces. Up front there are twin USB 3.0 sockets alongside the power button, while on the right there's a handy SD card slot for easy photo access. On the rear there are two more USB 3.0 ports alongside a HDMI, DisplayPort, RJ45 Network, 3.5mm combined headphone/microphone and DC power sockets. The underside is covered in a rubber pad which stops the Pavilion Mini sliding around, which can be removed to enable access to the screws you'll need to undo in order to access the internals. Specifications and performance The review model we were sent had the capable 1.9GHz i3-4025U processor rather than the bog-standard Pentium 3558U some models are stuck with. Alongside the base model and the model we reviewed, HP also offers a nippier Mini in the form of an i5-5200U coupled with 8GB of RAM, rather than the 4GB in our model. 500GB or 1TB storage options are available (with our model featuring the latter, larger drive). Depending on where you purchase the Pavilion Mini from, you may find a HP-branded keyboard and mouse thrown in, although it's a pretty cheap wireless combo that doesn't exactly match the Pavilion Mini's Apple-esque aesthetics. Specifications The full specifications of the model we reviewed are as follows: CPU: 1.9GHz Intel Core i3-40255U. Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5500. RAM: 4GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM. Storage: 1TB 5,400rpm HDD. Optical drive: N/A. Ports: 4 x USB 3.0, HDMI, DisplayPort, headphone/microphone jack, SD Card. Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet. Size: 144mm x 144mm x 52mm (W x D x H). OS: 64-bit Windows 8 (Upgradable to Windows 10) On paper the specification doesn't look bad for such a diminutive unit, and indeed real-world performance was better than I had anticipated from such a tiny package. The Pavilion Mini booted in just a few seconds, and video streaming at 1080p didn't seem to be an issue. After dabbling in a few of the bundled programs I wasn't ever left feeling like HP's mini PC was being massively overworked, although this is certainly no powerhouse of a machine. More powerful options are available for a very similar price to the mid-range Pavilion Mini, including the equally white and curvaceous, but slightly larger, Acer Revo R85L, or even the Mac Mini, both of which come in at around £399 (Around $499 in the US, or AU$620). Benchmarks It's unlikely that anyone would buy the HP Pavilion Mini with 3D gaming or other high-end tasks like video-editing in mind, but to make a fair comparison with other mini PCs we ran it through the usual range of tests. Here's how the HP Pavilion Mini performed in our suite of benchmark tests: 3D Mark: Cloud Gate: 3489; Sky Diver: 2,212; Fire Strike: 477 Cinebench: CPU (single): 60 points; CPU (multi): 116 points; Graphics: 18fps PC Mark 8 (Home Test): 2,347 points I was pleasantly surprised to see Futuremark's Cloud Gate benchmark play out at a reasonable frame-rate, and while the more intensive Sky Diver and Fire Strike tests ran at considerably lower speeds (rarely making it out of single-digit frame rates), they did at least run, which is more than can be said for some miniature PCs we've seen. Of course, scores are considerably lower than the gaming-centric Maingear Spark, which managed over 5,000 in the Cloud Gate demo, but the Pavilion Mini wiped the floor with the cut-price Asus EeeBox, which only managed less than half the score. In Cinebench the Pavilion Mini managed CPU scores that were about on par with the Intel NUC, although GPU scores were considerably better, proving that the Intel HD 4400 graphics are far from being the laughing stock they were only a few years ago. Bundled software The HP Pavilion Mini comes loaded with Windows 8.1, and can easily be upgraded to Windows 10. While Windows 8 may not have been everyone's operating system of choice, the second iteration of Microsoft's outgoing OS copes well on lower-end configurations such as this, even if it generally feels like it's more suited to touchscreen interactions. HP has never been one for offering its PCs with a barebones Windows install, and an almost obese range of applications are pre-installed, many of which you'll likely want to uninstall straight away. McAffee's suite is the antivirus of choice (though it is just a trial), while a selection of Cyberlink media applications offer photo and video playback and light editing. A large number of casual games are also ready to play from WildTangent, although you won't find any triple-A titles here. The best of the bunch is probably Plants VS Zombies, although I consider even this a waste of valuable storage space. Other Windows 8 apps such as TripAdvisor, The Weather Channel and Evernote are frankly bloatware. Verdict With an increasing selection of small form factor PCs it's, this market is becoming an increasingly tough one for any one brand to dominate. Looks, price and performance vary wildly, and HP caters for a range of price and performance requirements with the Pavilion Mini, while rivalling Apple for looks, even though it's of plastic construction rather than Cupertino's trademark sleek aluminium. We liked The Pavilion Mini is a compact package that looks the part, and could happily find itself either at home fulfilling the job as a media portal or homework PC, or in the office, crunching through office documents with ease. HP has spread itself widely with the range of specifications on offer, with a £249.99 ($269 or AU$349) starting point seeming pretty competitive in light of the competition from Acer and Apple. Compared to some competitors, the variety of ports and plentiful USB connections is a pleasant surprise for such a small form factor. While the benchmarks didn't blow us away, neither did they massively disappoint, and they suggest that the mid-range model we were reviewing has sufficient grunt for any slightly more intensive tasks you may ask of it. We disliked HP has crammed an awful lot into this compact package, and despite the multiple ports on offer upgrade options are very limited. The only component you could even consider upgrading is the RAM, and doing this requires exposing the delicately stacked innards. The bundled selection of software was thoroughly uninspiring. I would have hoped for more apps that play to the potential qualities of a miniature PC as a home streaming hub or cloud computing companion, rather than the numerous awful games. Final verdict If you're looking for a mini computer to look smart in the office, sit surreptitiously under your TV or meet the compact requirements of a kid's homework needs, then the HP Pavilion Mini is a smart contender. While the base specification may not meet the requirements of gamers (who will want to consider the Maingear Spark or Alienware Alpha), or more intensive tasks, the higher-end model more than meets the needs of those looking for a home entertainment computer, and it's priced favourably against the Acer Revo RL85. The mid-range specification of the model we reviewed compares favourably against similarly priced but less powerful competitors like the Intel NUC, and the good looks make it a smart Windows alternative to the Mac Mini.

Updated: HTC Aero release date, news and rumors Posted: 22 Sep 2015 08:53 AM PDT Update: A benchmark suggests the HTC Aero could be one of the most powerful phones on the planet. We've already had one HTC flagship this year in the form of the HTC One M9, but we might be about to get another. Not the HTC One M10 - that probably won't be here until early next year - but instead something new and different. We don't know a huge amount about it yet, but the name HTC Aero is being thrown around, and with talk of a QHD screen and a ground-breaking camera, it could be well worth keeping an eye on. Cut to the chase What is it? A new high-end phone from HTC. When is it out? October probably. What will it cost? A lot. A whole lot. HTC Aero release date The Nexus 5 2015 and Nexus 6 2015 could have some competition, as it looks like HTC is holding an event on September 29, the same day as we're expecting to see Google's new phones. The advert for this event, which was spotted on Weibo, doesn't specifically mention the HTC Aero, but it does say "double flagship", so it's likely to be for something high-end. If we don't see it on September 29 then the HTC Aero will probably launch sometime in October. Although it was never referred to by name, HTC's CEO Cher Wang stated that a 'hero' device would be released then and that descriptor certainly sounds high-end. HTC Aero design So far we don't know anything about the design of the HTC Aero, if it's the high-end device that it's seemingly shaping up to be though then we'd expect it to have a premium, likely quite stylish build. But whether it will take its cues from the all-metal HTC One M9 or sport a new design remains to be seen. HTC Aero screen While the HTC One M9 has just a 1080p screen it looks like the HTC Aero could push things up to QHD. A source speaking to HTCViet certainly thinks so anyway, claiming that the upcoming handset will have a 1440 x 2560 display, protected by Gorilla Glass 4. Supposedly it will also be 2.5D, which is less exciting than it probably sounds, but means that the edges will curve ever so slightly into the frame, much like they do on the iPhone 6. HTC Aero rivals It's hard to truly get a sense of what sort of phone the HTC Aero will be yet, so predicting its rivals is tricky too. But as a likely high-end late 2015 handset it will have the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus for company. They could pose a seriously tough challenge for it, though as 'S' models we're not expecting them to stray far from what we saw with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The Sony Xperia Z5 has launched too, once again bringing the best of Sony in a smartphone, including waterproofing, a 5.2-inch 1080p screen and a fingerprint scanner. The Aero could potentially also face competition from other HTC handsets, most notably the still-decent HTC One M9, depending on the price. HTC Aero camera and battery We could be in for a real treat with the HTC Aero's camera, as sources speaking to HTCViet claim it's "ground-breaking". They go some way to explaining why, stating that it will have an f/1.9 aperture, which could improve photos in low light conditions. That's something HTC is often good at anyway, but there's always room for improvement. As well as that it will apparently be able to save photos in RAW format, so if you're serious about photography you won't have to compress the images you capture. We're not convinced any of that really sounds ground-breaking, but it is at least promising. HTC Aero OS and power A benchmark has popped up showing a handset believed to be the HTC Aero as rocking a 1.96GHz deca-core MediaTek Helio X20 SoC and 4GB of RAM, which really would make it tremendously powerful. The benchmark could be wrong though, so it's still possible that it will sport a Snapdragon 810 like the HTC One M9, though given the controversy surrounding that chip HTC might opt for something different - could it be the 808 used in the LG G4, or even a new mid-range 600 series? As for the OS, given that the HTC Aero won't launch before October it's possible that it will run Android Marshmallow out of the box, overlaid with HTC's Sense interface. HTC Aero cost There haven't been any leaks or rumors about the price of the HTC Aero, but given that it's shaping up to be a high-end phone we'd expect a high-end price. For reference the HTC One M9 has an RRP of £500/$649/AU$1099, and we doubt the Aero will be any more than that and it could be less as it's not part of HTC's main flagship line - but it's bound to cost many hundreds of pounds/dollars. On a budget? Consider the HTC One M8s.

All-optical chip memory just moved a huge step closer Posted: 22 Sep 2015 08:30 AM PDT Power supplies will one day be a thing of the past for long term data storage if a team of researchers from Germany have their way. First reported by E&T, the world's first all-optical on-chip memory that can store data for huge periods of time without access to power has been developed by a team from the respected Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and a collection of other institutions from the UK and Germany. It benefits from not just being limited to storing information in the usual ones and zeros and can store it in a range of different states. What is it? The technology used is based on phase-change materials that are able to swap between crystalline and irregular amorphous states incredibly quickly and this process alters the optical properties of the materials. Switching between the two is integral to how the memory works. To store data the memory goes from crystalline to amorphous and the reverse process erases the data stored. Both are triggered by very short light pulses. "Optical bits can be written at frequencies of up to a gigahertz," explained Professor Wolfram Pernice from the University of Münster. "This allows for extremely quick data storage by our all-photonic memory." The invention is able to store millions of bits of data in a single cell that is a billionth of a metre in size and it even has the ability to perform autonomous calculations. Saving energy "The memory is compatible not only with conventional optical fibre data transmission, but also with latest processors," Professor Harish Bhaskaran of Oxford University added. Whilst the memory is still very much in its infancy, it's thought that in the future permanent all-optical on-chip memories could increase the performance of computers and ultimately cut down on their energy footprint. 'Plasmonic' material could supercharge fibre-optics

The latest virtual reality experience lets you fly around as a bee Posted: 22 Sep 2015 07:37 AM PDT With most of the major VR headsets - including the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive - going on sale to consumers next year, content producers are scrambling to get virtual reality experiences in place for people to enjoy. Those experiences cover everything from interactive games to promotional videos, and tequila maker Patrón has had a novel idea: let you see how its drink is made from the perspective of a wandering bee. YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-lAI0GbufQ The short clip (which you can also see in 2D) takes you from the sun-drenched agave fields right into the company's distillery in Mexico. Some CGI elements were added in alongside the real footage. Buzz off Strap on a VR headset like the Oculus Rift or the Galaxy Gear VR and you can enjoy a full 360-degree view (and authentic sounds) as the bee makes its exploratory journey. It's also worth noting the custom-made drone rig and 360-degree camera that the Patrón team used to film much of the footage. These types of tools are becoming more user-friendly and less expensive, giving just about anyone the chance to put together a VR experience of their own. These virtual reality cameras will change entertainment forever

Samyang launches two fast prime lenses for mirrorless cameras Posted: 22 Sep 2015 07:30 AM PDT Samyang is a Korean lens manufacturer of fixed focal length manual focus lenses – it sounds like an anachronism but is actually a succesful and expanding lens maker. The lens designs are simple and traditional and a million miles from the autofocus zoom lenses made for today's DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, but their simple operation taps into the growing popularity of simpler, retro-style photography. They offer a chance to shoot in an old-fashioned way without being lumbered with an old-fashioned analog camera. But Samyang has spotted a second market for low-cost, high-quality professional video lenses, by creating additional 'cine' versions of its lenses with external 'declicked' geared wheels for smooth iris (aperture) adjustment and follow-focus attachments. New 21mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.2 lenses The two new lenses are a 21mm f/1.4 and a 50mm f/1.2. They are designed for mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensors and come in Sony E, Fuji X and Canon M mounts, with a crop factor of 1.5x which affects their effective focal length. On these cameras, the 21mm f/4 works as a super-fast semi-wideangle prime lens (32mm equivalent), while the 50mm f/1.2 is an even faster portrait lens (75mm equivalent). Cine versions and the differences The lack of autofocus and zoom capability for stills photography is something of a lifestyle choice, but a much more concrete benefit for professional video photography, where a wide maximum aperture is often far more useful than a zoom capability, and where manual focus is practically de rigeur. The Cine versions optically the same as the stills lenses but physically different, with the addition of geared focus and iris wheels, iris and distance scales on both sides of the lens (for easier viewing when filming) and the adoption of T (transmission) ratings for the iris settings rather than F-stops; in video, it's the light transmission that counts, not the physical aperture size. They are also available in a Micro Four Thirds mount, where the smaller sensor doubles their effective focal length to a 42mm f/1.4 and 100m f/1.2 respectively. Prices and availability The new lenses go on sale in mid-October. The 21mm f/1.4 photo lens will cost £279.99 (about US$432, AU$609) and the Cine version will be £309.99 (about US$479, AU$657). The 50mm f/1.2 will cost £309.99 (about US$479, AU$657) in the photo version while the Cine option will cost £339.99 (about US$525, AU$740). Best CSC/mirrorless camera What camera should I buy? How to use the techradar camera channel

Opinion: Mobile VR has landed, so what's the point in the desktop? Posted: 22 Sep 2015 07:18 AM PDT I asked Unity Technologies CEO (and ex EA boss) John Riccitiello about the future of VR earlier this year. Naturally, he started talking about sex. "People aren't put off by VR because they want to look silly," he said. "You look silly having sex for God's sake, but people still do it." How about people having sex in VR? Off the silly-o-meter, probably. But while the jury may be out on whether people look daft in a headset, it looks like Riccitiello was right about one thing: in the next two years we'll find out just what mobile VR is like, and what people want from it. He said: "The reality is that VR will be done in 2016 on water-cooled, high-end PCs, but by 2017 it'll be mainstream devices - and no longer a rich person's game. "Players will already have the portable that they want to plug their Oculus Rift or Vive or HoloLens into. That's the time we'll solve the problem of what's fun." Mover and shaker We now know Riccitiello is right because some of the portables that he alluded to have just been revealed, and they're hitting the shelves before 2016 comes around the corner. Housing full-fat Nvidia GTX 980 GPUs, the monster machines from Asus, Aorus, MSI and Clevo apparently crank out just as much graphical grunt as desktop PCs for the first time. And according to Nvidia, they're a prime fit if you want to dive into VR. Capable of pumping out 450 million pixels per second - or 1,680 x 1,512 x 1,512 (the native resolution of HTC's Vive headset), the new laptops offer the convenience of a portable form factor while packing the power of a high-end desktop rig, according to Nvidia. And that's exciting. We always take bragging from tech companies with a pinch of salt, but the 980 laptops have the endorsement of one particular company that wouldn't do itself any favours by raising and crushing our hopes. It comes from Owen O'Brien, executive producer of CCP (the studio behind Eve Valkyrie), who said: "The GeForce GTX 980 notebook is a very impressive piece of hardware. EVE: Valkyrie runs super smooth on it with rock solid performance." Valkyrie, which has been designed from the ground up for VR, is a stunning-looking game that's still in development. For me, the possibility of taking a laptop, strapping on an Oculus Rift and being able to dive into the game's vast and gorgeous space world anywhere at any time is an exciting one. Stuck on five-hour train journey? Why not grab some nuts, a miniature bottle of wine (you're a sophisticated pilot) and dive into an intergalactic dogfight to pass the time. Sure you'll get some odd looks, but if you're prepared to take a massive laptop and an Oculus Rift on a train in the first place then you probably won't care. It's all about the money, money Riccitiello may have been on the money when he spoke about 2016 being the year that we're going all Lawnmower Man on each other, but the sheer cost of Nvidia's new VR-ready laptops means that gaming enthusiasts and people with deep pockets will be the first to shape the future of VR. Everybody else will likely have to wait until at least 2017. We know that the Asus GX700VO, for example, is scheduled to land in the UK next year for a tear-inducing £4,000 (around $6,200). But then, it comes with a dockable water-cooling system that clamps on the back and houses a full desktop-grade K-series CPU plus the GTX 980 - so it's perhaps not the most representative of the six new systems when it comes to cost. Still: there's a good reason Nvidia is aiming the new systems at the enthusiast crowd. They're powerful, expensive and supply more power than we've ever seen in a laptop. Plus you can overclock them like crazy, tamper with fan control settings and do other stuff that gamers who love to wield screwdrivers love to do. The downsides, of course, lie around upgradability and price. But if you're looking to get into VR without having to splash out on the parts to build a miniature power station to sit in the corner of your room, going mobile is a tantalising prospect indeed.

I've seen the second generation of 3D printing, and it blew me away Posted: 22 Sep 2015 07:12 AM PDT When you look at the narrative of 3D printing, there are parallels with virtual reality's own tale: a great concept that, for a long time, just didn't have the technology to really make it sing. But I've seen the next phase of 3D printing and I really believe that it's about to have its major Oculus moment. I genuinely believe that in years to come we'll look back on the timeline of 3D printing and consider this to be one of the 'breakthrough' moments. On meeting 3D printing company Formlabs I was greeted by a table covered in various 3D-printed objects, most of which looked like the familiar, flimsy plastic designs that I've come to associate with 3D printing. I picked up what looked like a bowl and, sure enough, it felt lightweight and fragile. But then I was handed another version of the same bowl – this one was made from a thicker, sturdier plastic. It actually felt – and this is the important distinction – like something I would pick up in a shop and actually buy. With real money. Until now, 3D printers have used a process called FDM – fused deposition modelling. Formlabs, on the other hand, creates printers that use a technology called stereolithography. "It starts with a liquid resin that gets cured and hardened by a UV light. It's actually the same amount of printing time, sometimes even faster," explains David Lakatos, product lead at Formlabs. Its printers are already out in the wild. Tesla owns one. The set designers on Interstellar used one to build some prototypes of the spaceship. Now Formlabs is announcing a new printer, the Form 2, a more consumer-friendly machine that improves on the promise of 3D printing. "It's really focusing on reliability." says David. "All those tech specs are, in my opinion, secondary to the most important thing here, which is a really reliable printer." I asked why the second bowl I picked up, the one that was printed by the Form 2, felt more like the result of traditional manufacturing. "Between the layers you have the same bond as on the layers themselves," says David. "It's isotropic" The revolution will be printed Surprisingly, the first 3D printers invented actually used stereolithography technology but the machines were big, expensive and industrial. Then FDM became big and nobody was exploring stereolithography any more. In stepped Formlabs, which launched its first printer in 2013 following an almost $3m Kickstarter campaign. The Form 2 builds prints that are over 40% bigger than the Form 1 could manage, while an improved printing process affords more intricate details at a better resolution. Formlabs has also designed it to make the process simpler for the user with what it calls a "1-click print". I'm also shown a syringe-shaped device that hospitals can use to give stitches to patients. This one is actually assembled from different parts, including a functioning button that was printed with a special flexible material. This is a prototype that one hospital was able to build in five weeks instead of the usual six-month period, thanks to stereolithography. "People are realising that maybe you don't need a 3D printer in every home," says David. "but perhaps every engineer, every architect, every product designer needs one in their studio. That's where we're envisioning the new product" One problem the Form 2 hasn't quite solved, however, is speed. 3D printing is a slow process, and printing one object from a single material can take over an hour. "Getting it down to half an hour or 20 minutes, I know the problems we need to solve and they're not unsolvable," contemplates David when I ask how far off we might be from laser printer-speed. "Getting it down to one minute is just another jump, but we need to do the first jump to understand those problems." The Form 2 will be made available on September 22 for $3,499 and will come bundled with a litre of printing resin as well as the PreForm software. Formlabs hopes that this will kickstart the next phase of desktop 3D printing - at the very least it should set the bar a fair bit higher. "Everything started with these very industrial machines," says David. "It was the first time these machines came out of the labs and they were half the size of this room. But in 2010 with what we call the first wave of desktop 3D printing, Makerbot and others really started pushing the envelope on making it cheap, easy to use, and it would fit on your desktop. At least that was the dream. I think it definitely achieved the getting broad, but it's definitely fallen short on reliability." Let's hope that's all about to change.

Our iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus verdicts are in Posted: 22 Sep 2015 06:17 AM PDT It's a big moment – our new iPhone reviews are up. We've given both handsets a thorough examination, which will hopefully help you decide whether either of them are worth your hard-earned cash. We've got a full review of the iPhone 6S, where we talk through new features such as 3D Touch, that new A9 processor and iOS 9. Then there's our review of Apple's second-ever phablet, the iPhone 6S Plus, which packs these same features into a bigger frame. Have either of these handsets improved on last year's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus? You'll have to go and read our reviews to find out. We've also updated our Apple Watch review in light of the release of watchOS 2 – does the new software turn Apple's wearable into a must-have device?

Microsoft Office 2016 has finally arrived Posted: 22 Sep 2015 06:14 AM PDT Microsoft has officially unveiled Office 2016 and with it ushered in a new era of collaboration. The new version brings with it all the usual suspects as far as apps are concerned and has a range of additional features such as co-authoring and Skype integration that promise to make it the most extensive Office yet. Co-authoring has been added to the desktop versions of Word, PowerPoint and OneNote and this includes real-time typing in Word that lets you see edits as soon as they take place. Skype in-app integration allows you to instant message, screen share, talk and have video chats from within documents at any time, and builds even further on the idea of collaboration that is central to Office 2016. Groups Office 365 Groups bring a further team element to the table as part of the new Outlook 2016 client app and it is also available on mobile devices via a dedicated app. This allows companies to organize teams like never before and designate content depending on the team members. In addition, there is the new Office 365 Planner that helps teams organize work and create new detailed plans from a dedicated app that will hit the systems of Office 365 First Release customers next quarter. Microsoft's exciting next generation collaboration app GigJam is also now available in private preview and it will eventually become a part of Office 365 in 2016. Securing the enterprise Enterprise security features added include built-in data loss prevention in Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook and multi-factor authentication. Enterprise Data Protection for Office Mobile apps in Windows 10, meanwhile, will arrive later this year before hitting desktop apps in the early part of 2016. In terms of the future, OneDrive for Business updates are set to land later this month including a new sync client for Windows and Mac. Enterprise users will also be able to save bigger files, volume limits will be upped, there is a new user interface in the browser and various enhancements have been made to the mobile experience. Office 2016 apps are available for Windows 7 users or later right now and Office 365 subscribers will be able to download the new offering as part of their subscription from today. For more check out our Office 2016 review

Nvidia crams desktop graphics into laptops in the name of VR Posted: 22 Sep 2015 06:00 AM PDT It's long been the case that desktop PCs have offered more graphical grunt than laptops. Now, Nvidia claims to have levelled the playing field by squeezing a desktop-class GTX 980 into a new fleet of monster gaming machines. The Origin EON-15X was the first gaming laptop to pack a desktop-grade processor inside. Now the GPU giant has slipped a GTX 980 (note the lack of an "M") into six new laptops sporting adaptive G-Sync and other frame-smoothing capabilities. Expected to land before the end of December, they can be configured with between 4GB and 8GB of speedy DDR4 memory clocked at 7Gbps. The move could finally lead to laptops that are capable of cranking out respectable frame rates when powering games at 4K resolution. Nvidia, which has drawn praise from VR pioneer Oculus Rift and Epic Games for the move, reckons they'll let you do VR on the go for the first time too. The company boasts that 980-equipped laptops can run games at 1,680 x 1,512 x 1,512 - the render resolution of HTC's Vive headset. Enthusiasts only Described as the "world's first notebooks built for enthusiasts," the new 980-equipped machines are: the Aorus X7 DT (which features G-Sync), the Asus ROG GX700 (G-Sync, and water-cooling), the MSI GT72 Dominator (G-Sync), a refresh of the 18.4-inch MSI GT80 Titan, the Clevo P870DM (G-Sync) and the Glevo P775DM (G-Sync). Nvidia points to advancements in its Maxwell GPU architecture as the turning point that allowed it to squeeze the GTX 980 into a laptop chassis while balancing battery life and power - a tricky feat considering that models vary in shape and size and have different thermal design requirements. Still, it could be worth it. Nvidia's benchmarks point to silky smooth gameplay at 1080p and beyond, with the new GTX 980-equipped MSI GT72 Dominator achieving 61FPS in The Witcher 3, 89FPS in Grand Theft Auto V and 84FPS at Full HD resolution with graphics dialled up to Ultra. Overclcocking on And they could go even further. The 980 has been designed "from the ground up for overclocking" to provide enthusiast levels of tweakability, Nvidia says. The company has given manufacturers access to its APIs to develop their own overclocking tools used for altering memory, GPU and CPU clock speeds - just as you can on a desktop. The ability to control fan speeds, a tool usually reserved for desktop gamers, will let you manually speed up or slow down internal fans. This can be handy for making the machine quieter when not gaming, or raising the speed when tinkering with manual overclock settings. An Nvidia spokesperson told us that 980-equipped notebooks are "on a par" with models toting its 980M GPU in terms of sounds levels when under heavy load. Of course, we're champing at the bit to verify all of the company's claims ourselves. There's no prices yet for the machines, but you can expect them to cost a fair bit more than ones currently rocking Nvidia's 980M chip, which aren't exactly wallet-friendly. How far will the GTX 980 push gaming laptops?

Asus transforms its best Chromebook into a Windows 10 Cloud machine Posted: 22 Sep 2015 06:00 AM PDT After Asus wowed us with the quality of the Chromebook Flip, the Taiwanese electronics firm has ported its award winning flipping design to Windows 10 laptops. Today Asus has introduced a new Transformer Book Flip TP200SA, an 11.6-inch notebook with a screen that flips back a full 360-degrees. Integrating an Intel Celeron N3050 Braswell processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB in solid-state storage, the TP200SA definitely falls into the budget spectrum of Windows 10 notebooks. However, thanks to a thin 0.73-inch frame furnished with an aluminum lid and brushed plastic keyboard deck, it feels a bit higher class than its $349 (about £224, AU$489) price tag might suggest. Although we've only spent a few hours with Asus' latest flipping Transformer Book, we're already loving the colorful 1366 x 768 IPS display. What's more, the eight hours of battery life Asus has promised on this lightweight 2.65 pound hybrid seems to be holding some water for now. Snap off Asus also announced a detachable hybrid with the Transformer Book T100HA. Unlike its TP200SA brethren, this 2-in-1 machine features a 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800 IPS display that separates from its keyboard base to act as a standalone tablet. Starting at $299 (about £192, AU$419), the T100HA is lightly outfitted with an Intel Atom Cherry Trail x5 Z8500 processor, 4GB of memory and a 64GB SSD. Asus promises the T100HA will deliver 12 hours of battery and thanks to fast-charging technology, plugging in the device for two hours will bring it up to 80-percent battery capacity. Tablet photographers may also be interested in this 10.1-inch hybrids two cameras, which include a 5MP main snapper with a 2MP front facing webcam. Both machines will arrive later this month and readers can expect our Asus Transformer Book TP200SA review to pop-up soon. Will these budget hybrids join the ranks of the best 2-in-1 laptops?

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