Huawei Mate 20 Lite With 4 Cameras Launched at IFA 2018, AI Cube Smart Speaker Unveiled Too

https://ift.tt/wEcZxH new Huawei Mate 20 Lite has the HiSilicon Kirin 710 SoC, 6.3-inch display, 4GB RAM, dual cameras on the front and back, and 3,750mAh battery.

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No Google Pixel Watch in 2018 after all

Despite plenty of rumors that Google would release a Pixel Watch later this year to supplement its Google Pixel 3, 3 XL, and Google Pixel Buds lineup. The company has confirmed the contrary, saying that it has no plans to launch its own smartwatch this year, Tom's Guide reports.

This news comes direct from in an interview Tom's Guide conducted with Google's director of Engineering on Wear OS, Miles Barr. He said of the idea of a Google-branded watch, "I don' think we're there yet," adding, "our focus is on our partners for now."

Fortunately for those of us wanting better Wear OS smartwatches, some of those partners are at IFA 2018 right now showing off their new wares. While Sony has debuted a new smartwatch featuring e-Paper all over, it won't be running Wear OS. 

Diesel is releasing the On Full Guard 2.5, which is going to be the biggest Wear OS smartwatch on the market. That won't mean too much for smartwatch shoppers though, because it's not going to have the largest smartwatch screen. And, with a suggested two-day battery life, it's not going very far to impress in the battery capacity department either.

While it's sad news for anyone who really wanted Google to show other manufacturers how to make a great smartwatch, Google didn't say that it would never try to make one.  So, maybe one day it'll happen.

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Android Phones to Have 85 Percent Global Market Share In 2018: IDC

https://ift.tt/2hxp3Zx mobile phones will take around 85 percent share of the global market in 2018 as volumes are expected to grow, IDC said.

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HTC U12 Life With Unique Dual-Finish Back Launched at IFA 2018: Price, Specifications

https://ift.tt/2hWGIcZ U12 Life is priced at GBP 300, and should arrive in Europe, Asia, and Middle East sometime in late September.

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Honor 7S India Launch Said to Be in First Week of September

https://ift.tt/2FcxsND 7S will be launched in India next week, according to a report by IANS that cites industry sources.

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Yu Ace With 18:9 Display, 4,000mAh Battery Launched in India: Price, Specifications

https://ift.tt/2v1it5T Ace price in India has been set at Rs. 5,999 for its lone 2GB RAM/ 16GB inbuilt storage variant.

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LG Candy With Interchangeable Back Covers Launched in India: Price, Specifications, Features

https://ift.tt/17X7bt9 Candy price in India is set at Rs. 6,699, and will be made available from September 1.

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Xiaomi Mi A2 Flash Sale Today at 12PM; Redmi 5A Up for Grabs Too

https://ift.tt/2rpXWn6 A2 flash sale will be held at 12pm on Amazon India and Mi.com, while the Redmi 5A flash sale will be on Flipkart and Mi.com.

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Nokia 6.1 Plus to Go on Sale for the First Time in India Today: Price, Launch Offers, More

https://ift.tt/2ht6lVG 6.1 Plus will go on sale in India today at 12pm via Flipkart and Mi.com after a week of pre-orders. The Nokia 6.1 Plus price in India is Rs. 15,999.

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Jio Phone 2 Flash Sale to Be Held Today at 12pm on Jio.com

https://ift.tt/2qPvfTh Phone 2 price in India is Rs. 2,999 and the flash sale will be held only via Jio.com, and limited units are expected to be available.

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90s vs now: How Back to School supplies have evolved in the last 20 years

It’s Back To School season, and with it comes a lot of shopping for supplies, dorm room goodies, and tech, of course. While some things haven’t changed, like the need to load up on heavy textbooks and make sure you’ve got a reliable pencil, technology has substantially changed a lot of the things we use.

Some back to school items have evolved in leaps and bounds since the 90s, while others have become outright relics. We’ve gathered up some of the most iconic items for students and classrooms in the 90s and thrown their age into sharp relief against their modern-day counterparts. 

Trapper Keeper vs iPad

In the 90s, one of the easiest ways to keep all your school stuff together and organized was a Trapper Keeper. You could put files and folders, notebooks, calendar books, and plenty more in there, and then close it all up so nothing fell out and got lost. South Park even imagined the Trapper Keeper getting a lot more technologically advanced back in the 90s.

Now, you’d be likely to get a lot more mileage out of an iPad. The tablet can store all your notes, calendars, and school documents right in its internal storage. And, it almost goes without saying that an iPad can do a whole heck of a lot more than just store stuff. The new iPad supports the Apple Pencil, so you don’t even need a proper pencil and notebook. Ironically enough, Mead still makes Trapper Keepers, with some models designed as tablet cases.

A new book vs a full library Kindle

You might have kicked off the new school years in the 90s with a hot new book, something to start you on your way toward your reading goals. You may have even paired it with a fancy bookmark so you could keep track of your progress and take pride in it. Maybe it was Harry Potter, or perhaps it was Redwall (any other fans?). In any case, you probably snagged a book to keep with you in your backpack.

Enter the modern day, and sure you can still go back to school with a new book to read, but technology offers a lot more. Grab a Kindle or any other eReader, and you can walk around with that same new book and whole library of other books. All of that will fit right into your backpack, or maybe even your pocket. Now imagine fitting a Harry Potter book into your pocket, let alone the whole series.

Game Boy Pocket vs Nintendo Switch

Remember when the few cellphones you saw had super basic, colorless displays? Well, so did portable video games. At least in the 90s electronics were getting smaller, as was so well demonstrated with the Game Boy Pocket. It was a much more handy gaming device to take with you on the go and enjoy during your breaks between classes in the 90s.

Now, you can pack up a Nintendo Switch and take it to school. The HD screen has more colors than a Game Boy Pocket or even a Game Boy Color could have dreamt of, and the screen alone is nearly the size of the whole Game Boy Pocket. You start factoring in the kind of games and online functionality that the Nintendo Switch offers, and you might start to feel bad for folks who played Game Boy between classes.

A 90s backpack vs a modern backpack

Remember the backpack of the 90s, with its one big pouch to store all of your school stuff? Maybe it had a second small pocket for pens, pencils, and other small supplies. If you were lucky, you might have even gotten one with a sleeve for a water bottle or the cool rubber waffling inside the arm straps for comfort. Wow, what a backpack that was.

Now you’ll find backpacks with special pockets for laptops, tablets, smartphones, and all the usual sections for your books, pens, pencils, and school supplies. It’s not surprising to have water bottle sleeves, special routing for headphones cables to come out of your bag, or even ports for USB charging. Some backpacks will even build in batteries so you can charge your phone and computer on the go.

Calculator watch vs Apple Watch

Though calculator watches may have been more of a fad in the ‘80s, plenty of people looking to do a little quick math during the school year could turn to the trusty, portable device. Casio had its fair share of these calculator watches, and they wouldn’t have been hard for students to pick up at the start of a new school year. They would have been just as good as pick for parent’s who weren’t satisfied with their kid’s math grades

Now, 20 years later, telling the time and crunching numbers isn’t nearly impressive enough for a watch. The Apple Watch 3 can text your friends, call your parents, remind you when your next class is, keep track of your health, and yes, do a little math. Although it can’t do your homework for you, neither could an old-school calculator watch, so maybe we’ll all have to just wait another 20 years.

Texas Instruments TI-83 vs TI-Nspire CX Handheld

If you were going hard into math in the 90s, you probably wouldn’t have gone too far without a trusty Texas Instruments graphing calculator. In the late 90s, that would have meant the TI-83 or the upgraded TI-83 Plus should have been high on the shopping list for back-to-school purchases. These calculators were good for a bit of complex math, and if loaded up right, good for a bit of gaming as well.

Even today, a TI-83 Plus would be a fine calculator to pick up for the new school year. That is, until you compare it to the TI-Nspire CX Handheld. With the 320x240 resolution display and 16-bit color, it would be hard to look back. And, Texas Instruments notes that the newer calculator is useful in far more classes than the TI-83 Plus, and it’s permitted on the same major tests.

A bicycle vs a better bicycle

To make sure you got to class on time in the 90s, you’d probably want to get a nice bicycle. Back then, you had your pick of bikes you’d pedal with your feet and pretty much just bikes you’d pedal with your feet. There’s nothing wrong with getting a little bit of exercise on your way to and from school, but things have gotten a lot easier since then.

Now, you can pick up an battery-powered bicycle that’ll make your commute a breeze. Some use their electric motors to offer pedal assist, making it nearly effortless to get your bike up to top speeds. Others go all in on the electric motor, foregoing pedals entirely, to just let you sit back and let the bike do all the work. And, if a bike isn’t your style, there’s no shortage of electric skateboards to terrorize the campus quads.

A TV with VHS player vs Smart TV

Going off to college in the 90s, you may have been lucky enough to have your parents give you your own TV, complete with a VHS player built right in. It didn’t get much more convenient than that. You could easily move onto campus with your TV or take it to a friend’s dorm room if they had the better sofa for movie nights.

Now, we’ve come to expect a lot more from our TVs. For one, it would be just as easy (except for the shipping) to find a big-screen, flat-panel TV at a price similar to little box of a TV you’d have found in the 90s. And now, being able to play one type of media isn’t a strong selling point for a TV. Smart TVs can pull in movies and shows from all the popular streaming services, so you don’t even need to keep around a collection of Blu-rays, DVDs, or dusty old VHS tapes.

Lunchables vs Blue Apron

When it came time for lunch in the 90s, nothing made it as easy to have a fun meal and feel like a chef as Lunchables did. OK, so maybe crackers, cheese, and deli meats don’t really add up to much of a proper meal, but the little pizzas weren’t half bad. And, many of the Lunchables were nicely rounded out with a side snack and a drink.

Take the idea of a container with everything you need to put together a meal and bring it into the modern day, and you’ve got Blue Apron or any of the myriad other meal box services. Although you won’t be putting together your Blue Apron meal in 30 seconds flat, you’ll be making much more exciting meals. And, you’ll be a lot more liable to impress your friends by cooking a Blue Apron meal than by assembling Lunchables. 

Your gym teacher’s crazy rainbow parachute vs Augmented Reality?

Let’s face it, we all miss that crazy rainbow parachute all of your gym teachers had in the 90s. While this might not have been something you’d have bought for yourself with the rest of your school supplies, it was still an important staple for 90s schooling. You could put balls on it and have them all go flying, or your whole class could raise the parachute aloft and try to all hurry underneath before it came down.

Nowadays, some teachers still have he crazy rainbow parachute, but students’ sense of adventure is likely to be filled by something like augmented reality (AR). Students can hold up a phone, and instantly see other worlds colliding with their own classroom. If you took an anatomy class using AR today, you’d be able to get your own Magic Schoolbus moments with the ability to put your device inside the body and see its various organs. This is the 2018 version of hiding underneath a colorful parachute – and requires a little less imagination.

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Best waterproof headphones 2018: the best swimming headphones to take in the pool

First look: Harman Kardon Citation home cinema range brings style and smart sonics

The IFA 2018 show in Berlin is bursting at the seams with smart speakers. But with its new Citation speaker range, Harman Kardon has enough Google Assistant-enabled speakers to do an entire show of its own.

Set to compete with Sonos systems thanks to their multi-room capabilities, the Citation range is a bit of a jack of all trades, with speaker sizes and colors to fit all tastes, voice control smarts, LCD touch controls and the ability to be paired up as a wireless 5.1 channel home theatre system.

So, deep breath – let’s break down the range.

Options, options, options

First up, the Harman Kardon Citation One. Sharing a name and a price with Sonos’s speaker at $199, it’s your entry point into the range. It has Google Assistant and Chromecast built in for smart streaming and easy multi-room set up, and supports 24bit/96kHz sources.

Increasing in size, price, output power and functionality as their model numbers go up, you’ve then got the Citation 100 at $300, the Citation 300 at $400 and the Citation 500 at $600. All feature Google Assistant and Chromecast, but the Citation 300 and Citation 500 also include an LCD touch control strip along their top edges, letting you swipe through tracks, control sources and see artwork among other uses.

You then jump up to what you’d consider the more traditional home cinema elements – the Harman Kardon Bar costs $1,000 and is a three channel system, packing in 4K HDR support from its three HDMI inputs. It however can also act as a single centre channel when paired with the Harman Kardon Citation Tower speakers, which come and a pair for $2,500, each with a dedicated subwoofer and one with a touchscreen panel.

It’s all finished off with a Citation wireless subwoofer, for a potential complete 5.1 set when setting up other models in the range as wireless rear channels.

Style and sound

It’s an attractive looking range – each is finished in a high-quality, dust-resistant fabric, giving them a softer look than the sometimes–industrial stylings of other home theatre kits. While the soundbar and towers come only in grey and black colors, the smaller speakers in the range can come in a wide variety of shades, from rich burgundy to coral pink. It’s clearly a range where Harmon Kardon is doing it’s all to please all comers.

As for the sound, it’s always difficult to discern at a noisy trade show. But, having sat through a scene of the recent Jumanji film with the speakers set up in a 5.1 sat up using the tower speakers as left and right channels, we can certainly attest to its power.

Seeing The Rock (sorry, Dwayne Johnson) traverse the jungle pursued by leopards and a ring of fire, the roars and big cats and big motorbikes travelled around us well. An earlier listen to the tower speakers in a simpler stereo set up, with a selection of tracks ranging from Jamiroquai to Fleetwood Mac, showed them to be wonderfully warm and rich, with an astonishingly powerful bass response.

It’s a wide range, and a trade show floor isn’t the best place to discover the nuance in so many products at once. But it’s an incredibly promising, attractively designed line up. We’re looking forward to hearing more from them.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced. 

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Best waterproof speakers 2018: 10 outdoor adventure speakers for any budget

The 5 coolest laptops of IFA 2018

The massive, annual technology show in Berlin, Germany known as IFA 2018 is drawing to a close for the press, which means it's time to reflect on what we’ve seen. In particular, we’re looking back at the coolest laptops we’ve seen at the show.

Starting in descending order, we’re very excited to try out Asus’s new line of ZenBook laptops. This new flagships are being dubbed ‘the world’s most compact laptops’ by Asus and are aimed at general use.

All three of these laptops use the clever ErgoLift Hinge first found in the Asus ZenBook S launched earlier this year, tout a massive, 95% screen-to-body ratio and feature IR webcams for biometric login via Windows Hello. The 13- and- 14-inch versions of this laptop even feature a touchpad that can double as a numeric keypad. Asus hasn’t yet revealed pricing for these laptops, but stay tuned for when they land later this October.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

First teased during its annual launch event in New York City, Acer finally showed off a working model of the Acer Swift 5 to the press during IFA 2018. Just like the Acer Swift 7 reigns as the ‘world’s thinnest laptop,’ the Swift 5 takes the title of ‘world’s lightest 15-inch laptop.’

The laptop uses a new magnesium-lithium shell to achieve its trademark lightness, otherwise cramming inside all of the latest technology you’d expect from a 2018 laptop.

Now, we finally know when to expect this beauty on our office’s doorstep, and how much it’ll cost you. Acer Swift 5 will start going on sale in January 2019 starting at $1,099 (around £900, AU$1,500).

The latest take on the mainstream 2-in-1 laptop from Dell doesn’t do a ton of things that are entirely new, but rather introduces features that we can only hope will come to the more premium Dell XPS laptops.

Specifically, Dell has managed to produce a laptop with both its trademark, InfnityEdge thin bezels as well as a webcam that sits above the display. This might not sound like a big deal to you, but when you’ve been following Dell’s love affair with the ‘chin cam’ on XPS laptops for the past few years, you might be as excited as we are.

The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 will go for starting at $879 (about £682, AU$1,196) when it launches along with the rest of the lineup on October 2.

It’s almost become an annual event for Acer to pull the curtain off of a wild and wacky PC that will release later on in the coming year. This time, Acer showed off the Predator Triton 900, a 2-in-1 gaming laptop.

The laptop’s screen sits within a frame of sorts with a swivel hinge that allows it to orient itself in truly 360-degrees of movement. To make room for the swiveling screen, the touch pad is pushed to the right of the keyboard – just like the Acer Predator 21X.

Unfortunately, there’s not much more we know about the Predator Triton 900, as it was merely behind glass during the show. Regardless, we’re rather hyped for such a device, so stay tuned for a full review as soon as we can muster it.

Image Credit: Tom's Hardware

Lenovo has reinvented its concept for the truly 2-in-1 laptop with the Yoga Book C930. Simply put, this version is better in every way, from bigger, sharper screens to more powerful processors. 

However, those improvements have driven the asking price way up to $999 (about £750, AU$1,300) at the start. So, no longer is this product about democratizing exciting technology so much as it is about delivering that tech in a more powerful, reliable and versatile package.

Price hike or not, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t intrigued by Lenovo’s sequel to one of the most exciting laptop developments of the past five years. The Lenovo Yoga Book C930 hits stores this October.

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Nvidia vs AMD: which should be your next graphics card?

Best AirPlay speakers: the 6 best Apple-friendly wireless speakers in 2018

AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation release date, news and features: everything you need to know

It used to be that Intel was just the de facto leader of the CPU world, creating the best processors you could buy. However, AMD has changed everything with Ryzen. In 2018, AMD has carved a solid space for itself in the marketplace with the release of AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation. And, now that AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2nd Generation has arrived, with the 32-core Threadripper 2990WX, it looks like it’s going to stay that way.

As far as the current generation goes, though,we’ve had a chance to review a wide range of Ryzen 2nd Generation processors from the Ryzen 5 2600X to the powerhouse that is the Ryzen 7 2700X, we know AMD isn’t holding back as it pushes power and value even further.

We’re even more interested in the rumors behind the Ryzen 7 2800X, Ryzen 5 2500X and Ryzen 3 2300X, all possibly coming at a later date. We’ve also seen rumors about some low-power Ryzen 2nd Generation chips and then there are some rumored APUs based on the Zen+ architecture coming out next year, according to a report from PCgamsn.

It doesn’t stop with Threadripper Gen 2, though. According to the latest rumors, AMD is hard at work on Zen 2, the architecture behind AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation processors, and it will – again, according to rumor – support up to 16 cores on mainstream Ryzen chips. If this is true, it’s going to be interesting to see how Intel will compete with its Cannon Lake chips – assuming they ever actually come out.   

Cut to the chase

• What is it? AMD's upgraded, budget-friendly processor chips
• When is it out? April 19, 2018
• What will it cost?  $199 (about £140, AU$260) starting price for the Ryzen 5 2600

AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation release date

The wait for the new AMD chips is finally over. The first generation Ryzen processors shipped out in March 2017 and rolled out throughout 2017. Now, Ryzen 2nd Generation chips have launched at around the same time of year, on April 19, 2018.

Beyond the first few chips AMD released, the timeline points to released for both the 2nd Generation Ryzen Pro and Ryzen Threadripper chips throughout the second half of the 2018. Ryzen Pro chips are designed for business and IT use-cases, with up to 8-cores and 16-threads. Ryzen Threadripper 2nd Generation is the ‘big daddy’ of AMD’s offering with up to 32-cores for for die-hard creative types. 

Those are all desktop chips, and AMD has launched the Ryzen 7 2700U, along with Ryzen 5 and 3 parts earlier this year. And, laptops are starting to roll out with these chips.

AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation price

AMD plans for its second generation of Ryzen chips to be just as affordable as the first batch. Granted, delivering more affordable CPUs has always been AMD's edge, but for the first time in years, the cheaper Ryzen chips could honestly hang with, if not surpass, Intel's offerings.

Given that, AMD had to continue its course with the 2nd Generation models. It was  imperative that they deliver affordable, high-performance CPUs, so ideally we would see prices that aren't too far off from what AMD asked for the last time around. Surprisingly they're actually even more affordable than before.

• AMD Ryzen 7 2700X: $329 (about £230, AU$420) 
• AMD Ryzen 7 2700:  $299 (about £210, AU$380) 
• AMD Ryzen 5 2600X: $229 (about £160, AU$290) 
• AMD Ryzen 5 2600: $199 (about £140, AU$260) 

Last year, the quad-core Ryzen 3 1300X debuted at $129 (£112, AU$169), while Intel's Core i3 7350K went for $149 (£169, AU$299). Bump up to the hexa-core Ryzen 5 1600X, and we saw it offered for $249 (£249, AU$359) – compare that to the quad-core Intel Core i5-7600K at $239 (£219, AU$339), although you lose a couple of cores in the process.

We saw the biggest price difference with the Ryzen 7 1800X, which at $499 (£500, around AU$650) was nearly half the price of Intel's Core i7-5960X/6900K. Of course, this lead to Intel introducing a more affordable Intel Core i7-8700K and Intel Core i7-7820X. Meanwhile, the AMD Threadripper 1950X came in at $999 (£999, AU$1,439) and delivered even stronger performance than Intel's like-priced Core i9-7900X.

Of course, AMD recently dropped its Ryzen prices across the board alongside the 2nd Generation announcement, keeping things competitive with Intel as the two companies wage war for your CPU-buying dollars.

AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation specs

Ryzen 2nd generation processors offer quite the generational leap over their predecessors. They're built using a new 12-nanometer process, which will cram in even more transistors and thus provide more raw speed along the way.

According to AMD 12nm process results in an approximately 16% performance increase and 11% better lower power draw over the original Ryzen's 14nm process.

We have finally seen some rumors swirling around about the Ryzen 2nd Generation APUs, which will succeed the Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G. According to PCGamesN, the next generation APUs will be coming out next year, and will feature the same Zen+ 12nm architecture as current Ryzen 2nd Generation CPUs. This could mean APUs could see a similar boost to performance as we saw when the first generation Ryzen chips were succeeded.

AMD says that the Ryzen 2nd Generation chips will be the smallest and fastest desktop processors to date – lofty promises, but ones that are sure to excite PC enthusiasts and users of all stripes. Ryzen 2nd Generation chips will deliver higher clock speeds and introduce the enhanced Precision Boost 2 technology to boost performance during high-drain scenarios.

And, now that we’ve gotten our hands on the Ryzen 7 2700X and the Ryzen 5 2600X, we know that AMD has succeeded in pushing its specs. The 2700X with its 8-cores, 16-threads and speedy boost clock of 4.3GHz that outperforms the Intel Core i7-8700K, AMD has fully embraced the enthusiast market. Even the lower-end Ryzen 5 2600X pushes performance into the next generation with 6-cores, 12-threads and a 4.2 GHz boost clock. 

We’ve also seen leaked benchmarks for the yet-to-be announced Ryzen 3 2300X and Ryzen 5 2500X. The former is apparently a four-core, four-thread processor clocked at 3.5GHz and a 4.0GHz boost clock. Meanwhile the rumored Ryzen 5 2500X is a four-core, eight-thread chip, featuring a 3.6GHz core clock, boosting up to 4.0GHz. 

We don’t have any pricing or release date information on these rumored chips, but we assume they’ll be great entry-level and mid-range options, respectively – when and if they come out.

Recently, we saw a leak from ASRock pointing to the existence of some low-power E-series Ryzen 2nd Generation chips, the Ryzen 5 2600E and Ryzen 7 2700E. These chips will have a much lower 45W TDP and feature an 8-core design for the Ryzen 7, and 6-cores for the Ryzen 5 – according to the rumor reported by Wccftech.

But, it doesn’t end with the desktop chips. AMD has also released Ryzen 2nd Generation mobile chips in the Ryzen 7 2700U, Ryzen 5 2500U, Ryzen 3 2300U and Ryzen 3 2200U. These all have Vega graphics packed in, meaning you can comfortably do some light gaming on them. The two higher-end chips are four-core, eight-thread processors with boost clocks of 3.8GHz and 3.6GHz for the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5, respectively. 

The Ryzen 3 2300U and 2200U are four-core, four-thread chips with 3.4GHz boost clocks. The core difference in these two chips is that the former features stronger Vega graphics, while the 2200U has a higher base clock of 2.5GHz. 

AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation is a distillation of everything AMD wanted to do with Ryzen. And, if the specs of the early Ryzen 2nd Generation CPUs are anything to go off of, we’re very excited to see what this lineup looks like by the end of 2018.

AMD has a very technical primer on Precision Boost 2 from its Ryzen Mobile Processor with Radeon Vega Graphics, in case you want to dig into the specs.

We've seen some SenseMi improvements in AMD's recent Ryzen-based desktop APUs, so it stands to reason that we'll see similar performance and efficiency increases in the Ryzen 2nd Generation line. That could include optimized power usage through Pure Power smart sensors and improved overclocking potential from Extended Frequency Range 2.

Anyone looking to upgrade from Ryzen Gen 1 will be happy to know that AMD has kept the same AM4 socket intact, so you won’t need to buy a new motherboard to slot one of these CPUs into your machine. There is also an enhanced X470 chipset that’s optimized for Ryzen 2nd Generation with lower power consumption.

Keep in mind that AMD calls the heart of Ryzen 2nd Generation the Zen+ architecture, rather than Zen 2. What’s the difference? Well, Zen 2 will be an entirely new architecture built on a 7nm process, which – as you can imagine – could provide a world of difference when it comes to power and performance.

AMD's roadmap shows the Zen 2 and Zen 3 (listed at "7nm+") cores coming somewhere between the release of the Zen+ and the year 2020, so that's more likely to appear in 2019.

Zen 2 design is reportedly complete at this point, and it "improves on Zen in multiple dimensions" according to AMD. And the Zen 3 is "on track," as well. AMD could be primed to shake up the CPU industry all over again with the Zen 2, but that's not what we'll see this year: Zen+ is what's powering the Ryzen 2nd Gen chips.

Even so, there's plenty of reason to be excited for the Ryzen 2nd Generation chips, especially if you’re in the market for a PC upgrade this year. And, even with Intel on the defensive, it’s safe to say that AMD knocked it out of the park.

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Best gaming mouse pads 2018: the best mouse mats for gamers

If you would have told us a decade ago that the best gaming mouse pads would feature wireless charging a year ago, we would’ve looked at you funny.

However, a lot has changed over the last ten years, and the best gaming mouse pads have changed in ways we just didn’t see coming. These MLG tablecloths have evolved to feature new technology and innovations that will change the way you look at that electronic coaster on your desk. They may follow the same general design that mouse pads have always had, but now they come with cool tech like Qi wireless charging, so you can finally get rid of all your charging cables.

We don’t need to tell you that the best mouse pads are important, but if you’re already playing the best PC games on the best gaming PC with one of the best gaming mice, why would you settle for anything less than the best gaming mouse pad?

Unfortunately, when you go out looking for the best mouse pads, one thing you’ll notice is that there are a ton of different ones out there – making it difficult to find the best mouse pad for you. Fortunately, we thought ahead and created a guide to the best gaming mouse pads on the market in 2018. Whether you’re the kind of gamer that likes to light up the room with RGB lighting, or if you just need a reliable pad that’ll let you dominate the competition, we’ve found something for you.

The Corsair MM600 isn’t interested in distracting you with brightly colored lights like the MM800. Instead, it offers a great deal more versatility than its higher priced sibling. This double sided mouse pad stays secure in place with rubber stoppers on each corner so that your mouse moves – not your mouse pad. The MM600 is also made of aluminum, and features a low-friction surface that will boost your response times in-game. 

Existing solely as a budget mousepad, the SteelSeries QcK does exactly what you want out of a mousepad and nothing more. The QcK’s surface material has a high thread count for extremely precise mouse control and a smooth glide. At the same time, its rubber base helps prevent it from sliding around your desk while you’re gaming. It comes in a variety of shapes and sizes and there’s even a higher end version with RGB lighting – the SteelSeries QcK Prism. 

Yeah, it might not look like much, but the Cooler Master Make It Yours is one of the best mouse pads for all of your gaming needs. It features a low friction cloth surface for near frictionless mouse movement, and has a nice neutral aesthetic that will help it blend into any setup. It’s not very thick, but it’s still wide enough to freely move around without accidentally moving off of the mouse pad.  

• This product is only available in the UK as of this writing. US and Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the SteelSeries QcK.

Sure, everyone loves RGB lighting, but what if you’re looking for an unobtrusive, seamless desk surface? Well, the ultra thin – less than half a millimeter in height – Razer Sphex v2 is the mouse pad for you. Despite its thin profile, the polycarbonate surface is durable and optimised for laser or optical gaming mouse control. We picked the regular size, but if you have a smaller desk, there’s a Small size variant as well. 

The top of the Hiro+ is covered in a vulcanized silicone surface with a 3D structure to help increase your  gaming accuracy and speed. The base has a non-slip surface for steady mouse control, and the edges have been rounded for a smoother profile. Its surface is also coated to protect from water and grime, and makes for easy cleaning.

You thought that the best mouse pads for gaming were just for moving your mouse on top of didn’t you? Well, so did we – at least until we got our hand son the Corsair MM1000 Qi. Not only is this thing a great mouse pad, but it also features Qi charging. Launching alongside the Corsair Dark Core RGB SE, which itself features Qi compatibility, the MM1000 Qi is Corsair’s answer to the Logitech PowerPlay, but it takes it to another level by allowing you to charge your phone. It even costs less than the PowerPlay – it’s better in every way. 

If you’ve had your eye on a RGB mouse-pad to match all of your tricked out peripherals, and you didn’t want to settle for a rigid piece of plastic, you’re in luck. The Razer Goliathus takes Razer’s expert RGB implementation and throws into a soft gaming mouse pad that will let you score those headshots in comfort and style. 

You simply can’t go out looking for the best mouse mat for gaming in 2018 without considering RGB. All the hottest gaming peripherals right now boast about how they can light your desk up like a Christmas tree, and the Corsair MM800 RGB Polaris is no different. On top of Corsair’s always-fantastic RGB implementation, the MM800 uses a low-friction finish that’ll allow for quick and precise tracking across its surface. And if the lighting wasn’t enough, the MM800 uses Corsair’s special CUE2 interface to sync its lighting with your other peripherals and even your PC through RGB share. It’s even available in two materials: cloth and a micro-texture surface.  

The Asus ROG Scabbard is less mouse pad and more ‘everything pad’. It can hold your laptop or keyboard and mouse, and whatever other accessories you have lying around – it’s seriously huge. It has a non-slip ROG-red rubber base and low-friction Sheath woven surface for gaming control. Asus has even temperature tested the ROG scabbard down to -30°C – but why you’d game in sub-zero conditions is unimaginable, unless you really take overclocking that seriously.  

Unlike all the other soft pads and plastic surfaces in this article, the  MSI Thunderstorm gaming mouse pad is made of pure metal. To be specific, this mouse mat is made of  an anodized, hairline-surfaced aluminum piece with rubber stoppers. The hairline textured surface is optimized for mouse control and speed, while its L-shape allows it to be situated close to the keyboard. Flip it over for a micro-textured surface and the comfort of cloth. 

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Macbook air 2018 release date, news and rumors

Surface Studio 2: what we want to see

When Microsoft revealed the Surface Studio, the world was in awe of the all-in-one masterpiece. Now, in 2018, we’re anxiously waiting to get our hands on the Surface Studio 2.

While the Surface Studio doesn’t have enough ports, the sequel could – and should – fix this oversight with Thunderbolt 3 implementation. The Surface Studio 2 could also use newer Coffee Lake processors and 5K display – maybe even an RTX 2080. If Microsoft can successfully update the Surface Studio 2, it could be the perfect foil to the Apple iMac Pro.

We don’t have much to go off of, though, as Microsoft remains tight-lipped about the Surface Studio sequel. However, we don’t need to know much to do some speculation, though, so let’s dive into what the Surface Studio 2 may look like.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The would-be second Surface Studio desktop
• When is it out? Possibly between September and November 2018
• What will it cost? Likely as much as – if not more than – the current model

Surface Studio 2 release date

The original Surface Studio launched in late 2016, so Microsoft’s iMac competitor is due for a refresh given the firm’s general cadence for Surface products that aren’t the Surface Pro.

However, beyond a shaky Windows Central report, citing sources that said ‘Surface Studio 2 is a-go’, we haven’t really heard anything about when we can expect the Surface Studio sequel.

The Surface Studio could be right around the corner – we could see it launching any time in the next few months. However, time is running out if Microsoft is going to release it by the end of the year. Until more solid information shows up, though, we’re going to stick with our initial September-November prediction.

Surface Studio 2 price

Sadly, there’s even less known regarding the Surface Studio 2’s possible pricing, i.e. absolutely nothing. So, all we can expect of the potential device’s price so far is for it to hold close to that of the previous model.

Currently, the Surface Studio goes for anywhere between $2,999 (£2,999, AU$4,699) and $4,199 (£4,249, AU$6,599). For Microsoft to go any further above that price might be a shot in the foot, especially considering the pricing of its primary competition, the Apple iMac line.

Conversely, it’s tough to expect Microsoft to drive the price much lower than it is now, either, as the original Surface Studio saw an impressive demand at its current price point during launch. Stay tuned to this space as more rumors and leaks come to light.

What we want to see in Surface Studio 2

For as impressed as we were – and still are – by the Surface Studio, plenty has progressed in the nearly two years since its release, and there’s always room for improvement. Here’s what we hope to see come to fruition in the Surface Studio 2:

More powerful components
This may seem obvious, but the Surface Studio 2 would benefit from some more powerful internals. The original was weak on release day. This time around, a proper desktop-grade Coffee Lake or 9th-generation Coffee Lake-S processor is critically important, as are up to date graphics.

With the Ray Tracing technology introduced with Nvidia Turing, the Surface Studio 2 could take off as the workstation it clearly wants to be. Ray Tracing, at the moment, at least, has more to offer creatives and professionals than gamers, anyway.  

An even sharper screen
The current Surface Studio screen is absolutely gorgeous, sporting a massive 4,500 x 3,000-pixel resolution across the sRGB, DCI-P3 and Vivid color spaces. But, there’s no reason that it can’t go further. Seeing a 5K Surface Studio to directly rival the priciest iMac would be awfully exciting for content creators.

Thunderbolt 3 connectivity
For as versatile as the Thunderbolt 2 DisplayPort is on the current incarnation of the Surface Studio, it’s about time for Microsoft to move onto Thunderbolt 3 via USB-C – across the entire Surface lineup. Not only does it offer more throughput for file transfers, but it also serves as a one plug hub for all displays and other peripherals you may want to use. If the Surface Studio 2 is to truly compete, it needs to respect this growing standard for its audience’s sake. 

All accessories included
The Surface Studio is an expensive device – and the sequel will probably be no different. For how much the Surface Studio 2 is going to cost, Microsoft should be including all of the essential accessories out of the box – that even means the Surface Dial. When you’re spending several thousand dollars, you should expect a complete experience. 

• These are the best computers we’ve tested to date

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Mac mini 2018: what we want to see

We haven’t seen a new Mac Mini in a minute. And, while you’d be forgiven for thinking that Apple’s silence is the tiniest Mac’s death knell, we’re still optimistic that a new Mac Mini is on the way.

Sure, we didn’t get a Mac Mini in 2017, but Apple CEO Tim Cook himself reassured fans that Apple would still support the Mac Mini, so we might actually see it this year.

This is why we were all surprised when Apple didn’t have any hardware to show off at WWDC 2018. All hope’s not lost, though – famed Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo recently predicted that the rumored new Mac Mini could be coming out later this year, alongside a wave of other Macs. So, maybe the new Mac Mini will show up soon – which seems likely, especially when you consider the sudden MacBook Pro 2018 release.

We don’t have much concrete information beyond this speculation, so keep this page bookmarked, and we’ll update it just as soon as we hear any new rumors or information.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? A new version of Apple’s compact Mac
• When is it out?  Maybe November 2018? 
• What will it cost? Hopefully around the price of previous models

Mac mini 2018 release date

Just like other Apple products, we haven’t got a solid release date for the Mac Mini 2018. Rumors have been scarce, too, so we’re going to have to do a bit of speculation, but now that Apple has become the world’s first trillion dollar company, we expect it’ll celebrate with new products soon.

The previous Mac mini was released way back on October 16, 2014, so could we witness an October launch for the new Mac mini? 

Well, the latest rumors make that October release date seem pretty likely. There’s a rumor going around that Apple is planning to refresh its Mac lineup, including the new Mac Mini, this fall. So, even if we don’t see the new Mac Mini at the iPhone event on September 12, there’s still a chance that Apple will have another event in October. 

These are both admittedly shaky ideas, but Apple has kept a tight lid on when and if the Mac Mini will be announced. Either way, we’ll keep an eye on any rumors and update this article as soon as any new information comes our way.

Mac mini 2018 price

Again, we haven’t heard much about the potential price of the Mac mini 2018 just yet, but that’s to be expected, as pricing rumors usually begin to circulate closer to the release date.

But, could the price of previous Mac minis give us a clue to what the price of any new Mac minis would be?

The lowest spec Mac mini cost $499 (£399, around AU$650) when it launched in 2014, with the middle Mac mini costing cost $699 (£569, around AU$900) and the top-of-the range Mac mini came with a $999 (£569, around AU$1,300) price tag.

Either way, you should be prepared to pay a bit more for the new Mac Mini whenever it does get revealed, as computing components have gone up in price considerably since 2014.

 What we want to see in Mac mini 2018 

While we don’t know a lot about the Mac mini 2018 at the moment, we certainly know what we want to see from a refreshed Mac mini. 

1. An attractive new design

Honestly, there’s nothing particularly wrong with the current Mac Mini’s design, but if we’re going to get the first major refresh in nearly four years, we’d love to see a nice makeover as well. Thinner, smaller and quieter – is that too much to ask? We don’t think so.

An old rumor from early 2017 suggested that the high-end Mac mini ‘won’t be so mini anymore’ which led people to assume more powerful components will be added, requiring more room for better cooling.

However, this rumor is quite vague, so we’d urge caution when taking this completely at face value.

Of course, powerful components will mean more heat produced, so a redesigned Mac mini isn’t out of the question, but as Apple has shown with the iMac and iMac Pro, it’s a dab hand at putting powerful components into svelte devices and keep them cool.

2. A power boost

One of the things we'd most like to see from a Mac mini 2018 is an upgrade to its components, which would make it a formidable mini machine to compete with other small form factor PCs like the Asus VivoMini and Intel NUC, which have been upgraded to 7th- and 8th-generation Intel Core processors, respectively. 

For starters, the new Mac Mini straight up needs a newer CPU than the 4th-generation silicon sitting in the current model. Refreshing the silicon will open the new Mac Mini to a whole world of possibilities like Thunderbolt 3, DisplayPort 1.2 and 4K video and would give the Mac Mini a considerable power boost over the old version.

Apple is reportedly planning on releasing three Macs in 2018 with custom co-processors, though we doubt the Mac mini, even if it does come out, would be included.

RAM-wise, the previous Mac mini came with 4GB, and while that could remain, we’d like to see a base 8GB of RAM, as with the MacBook Air.

2. Mouse and keyboard included

While the Mac mini has a reputation for being the most compact and economical Apple computer around, it’s also known for its lack of included (yet essential) accessories. The Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard can only be purchased separately from the Mac mini itself. That means you’ll have to shell out an additional cost for parts that are required to use it.

A recent patent filed by Apple suggests that the company is interested in bringing spill-free and crumb-resistant keyboards to its MacBooks. We would argue that this guard structure technology, designed to “keep contaminants from reaching the innards of the machine” would be a useful addition to the Mac mini as well.

3.  4K support 

Wouldn’t it be great if the Mac mini 2018 could also act as an alternative to the Apple TV? For that to happen, the Mac mini 2018 would need to be a capable 4K machine – something previous models were decidedly not.

Thankfully, as we mentioned earlier, if the new Mac mini is going to feature recent Intel processors, then the integrated graphics should give it enough graphical power to handle 4K.

Earlier iteration of the Mac Mini aren’t quite capable of handling 4K content. This was of course due to hardware limitations of the time, coupled with Apple’s desire to keep the Mac Mini as an entry-level device, price-wise.

However, in 2018 even budget processors come with integrated graphics that are powerful enough to render 4K interfaces and play ultra high definition content from Netflix and iTunes, so we want to see Apple make use of this technology in any new Mac mini that it produces. 

4.  For it to actually exist 

We can speculate all day about what the Mac Mini 2018 might look like, and what it’s capable of, but none of that matters if it doesn’t exist in the first place. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen an update to the Mac Mini, and Apple has a lot to gain from a market where they’re starting to see more competition than ever before. 

If Apple can put out a Mac Mini that improves and innovates on its design, they might end up with one of the best multimedia PCs on the market. So, let’s just hope that Tim Cook’s stated support of the Mac mini means that the Cupertino behemoth has something up its sleeves. 

• These are the best Macs that 2018 has to offer so far

Gabe Carey has also contributed to this report

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Macbook 2018 release date, news and rumors

Google Fuchsia release date, news and rumors

Best Mac apps: the best macOS apps for your Apple computer

We might be about to get a smattering of iOS apps, like News and Stocks, in macOS Mojave, but the software built into macOS High Sierra is still worth paying attention to. Because, at the end of the day, it’s the software, more than anything else, that keeps people coming back to the Jony Ive-designed hardware every single year. 

You can do so many different things with the best Mac apps, so some might not appeal to you. However, there are some Mac apps like Evernote, the best note-taking app around, that anyone can find a use for. 

Not all of these apps will be found on the Mac App Store, but the best Mac apps are all still worth a look. So, keep reading to find the best Mac apps you can find today. From free apps and utilities to more professional programs, these are the Mac apps that will make the best Macs feel alive in 2018.  

Gabe Carey has also contributed to this article

Check out our Linux vs Windows vs Mac - OS comparison video below.

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: Free

No brand of computer is without its annoyances. For so long now, it’s been impossible to use our MacBooks – unbound by the chains of a power adapter – while video outputs to an external monitor. As we all know here at TechRadar, Apple’s laptops automatically enter sleep mode whenever the lid is closed. For the lot of us, this can be a huge inconvenience should you prefer the sheer magnitude of a monitor as opposed to a 12- or 13- or 15-inch laptop screen.

Fortunately, Amphetamine allows you to continue using your MacBook while closed. Before, you could do this by using a similar app called Caffeine, but we prefer the UI features you get with this freebie. Not only does it fit in naturally with the rest of your Menu Bar items, but Amphetamine also supports hotkey commands as well as deactivation reminders – not to mention there are no annoying ads in sight.

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: $9.99 (£7.99 or around AUS$14)

While you’ve been able to snap programs to the edge of the screen in Windows since Windows 7, Apple didn’t have a solution until OS X El Capitan. What’s more, even then it lacked some of the comprehensiveness of Microsoft’s alternative. Luckily, HyperDock gives us that full-fledged functionality we so desperately crave, allowing anyone with a Mac to apply it to both the app Dock and windows.

In Windows, you can drag an app to the left or right edges of the screen (or the corners) and it’ll automatically fill that space. This makes it much easier to be productive on the desktop without wasting time dragging windows from the corners. For the Dock, hovering over apps activates something close to Windows 7’s thumbnail previews, giving an overview of the window that can be accessed by a click or closed directly from the preview. Useful.

• Get it from: Parallels
• Price: $79.99/year (Home & Student) Around £60 or AUS$100)

If you have recently picked up a Mac and miss some of your old Windows applications, don’t fret – Parallels Desktop 13 can bring them back. Instead of having to dual-boot your Mac into a Windows partition, Parallels Desktop 13 allows Windows and macOS Sierra to co-exist side by side, and you can even run Microsoft-only programs such as Visual Studio 2015, or the Windows versions of the company’s Office 365 apps, alongside your native macOS ones.

All you need is a Windows 10 license – so prepare to buy one if you haven't already. Or, alternatively, you can use Parallels to try a handful of free operating systems including Chromium (a free distribution of Chrome OS) or Linux Debian. The latest version of Parallels in particular has seen improvements such as Touch Bar support, better resolution scaling for Retina displays and picture-in-picture for using other operating systems in conjunction with macOS. 

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: £14.99 (around $20 or AUS$25)

If you’re anything like us, working on just one monitor or screen is just painful. Portable monitors are still fairly expensive (and bulky), luckily, though, you can use an iPad instead using a nifty app called Duet. Developed by ex-Apple engineers, it works by tethering your iPad to your Mac using one of Apple’s Lightning cables and firing up the app on both devices.

You can then drag apps and windows onto your iPad’s screen just like you would with a second monitor, and if you have a more recent iPad with a Retina display, you’ll get the full benefit of all those beautiful pixels. Just realize that the bandwidth isn’t quite what you would get with one of the best monitors, so it can be a bit laggy when you bump the quality up. But it’s still better for watching videos, reading websites and typing up documents. 

• Get it from: Atom
• Price: Free

Atom is a text editor that's primarily designed for coders, but its flexibility and customization options make it a viable option for many different types of users. That's because of two reasons: first, you can download a number of different Packages - effectively plug-ins - to make it bend to your will. It can be transformed into a Markdown editor for writing blog posts, for example, or you can hook it up to Evernote for storing notes in the cloud.

There's at least 10 different word counters out there, and you can even add typewriter sound effects as you hammer out your delicious prose. Atom is also infinitely customizable on the visual side thanks to an editable back-end, allowing you to do anything from changing the font size, line height and colors to giving the caret Word 2016-like elasticity.

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: £149.99 (around $195 or AUS$255)

Whether you’re a world-famous producer or you just like creating some music in your downtime, Logic Pro X is one of the best music creation suites on the Mac. Developed by Apple itself, its accessible interface hides a ton of advanced functionality. The latest version also comes with a svelte design, 64-bit architecture and a new session drummer that will save you from having to drop more cash on a drum machine.

It also works in natural harmony with iPads, providing a touch-based alternative method of creating song structures to dragging and dropping blocks in the main visual editor. Whether you're a seasoned producer already (Sia used the app to record her hit song 'Chandelier') or are looking to upgrade from Garageband, Logic Pro X likely has what you need.

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: Free

A simple app but an important one, to-do app Wunderlist's strength lies in its cross-device functionality. It's available on Mac, PC and Android and iOS, allowing you to pick up where you left off wherever you are using macOS's Handoff feature.

Once you've created a list you can schedule reminders, add notes and embed it into the macOS Notification Centre using a widget. Team-based features are unlocked by signing up to Wunderlist's Pro option for a yearly fee, and you can add files of any size without running into limits.

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: Free

Evernote has morphed into a mighty note-taking app over the years. While some people will say that it's too bloated, the sheer number of things that you can do with it still makes it best-in-class. You can type up notes, obviously, organizing them using a combination of folders and tags. You can even embed Google Drive documents, which are accessible in a click.

There's also the ability to set reminders, share notes with friends, find information related to notes using Evernote's 'Context' feature, create lists, and favorite notes that you frequently return to. Better yet, all of your notes are synchronized using the company's servers, making them accessible on nearly any PC (through a browser or the native Evernote app) or mobile device in the world. The paid version lets you use Evernote with more than two devices while upping the amount of data you can sync each month.

• Get it from: Website
• Price: Free

GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation, is one of the best free image editing apps on the market. It’s a great alternative to Adobe Photoshop and comes with a wide variety of professional quality functions that let you tweak existing images saved in a range of formats or create fresh ones from scratch. Features include layers, highly customizable brushes, automatic image-enhancing tools and filters. You can do even more with plugins, which are available to download from the GIMP Plugin Registry. 

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: £34.99 (around $45/AUS$60)

These days, balancing features with simplicity and good design in the best Mac apps is critically important. However, unlike Word 2016, or even Apple’s own Pages, Ulysses has an extremely minimalistic interface. This allows you to get on with writing without being distracted by so many buttons and menus. The app uses its own version of Markdown – a type of text formatting engine – that allows users to focus on their writing in a way that not only makes organization easier but also makes exporting easier – Ulysses will format it in an attractive way, using one of many export styles, when you’re done writing.

There's a handy attachments bar on the right-hand side that features an attractive word counter and lets you write notes to assist you in your writing. Notes can be accessed anywhere thanks to iCloud support, so you can pick up your iPad and carry on where you left off using macOS's Handoff feature.

• Get it from: Website
• Price: $20

Sometimes you want to play your Xbox One, but you can’t because your roommate has decided to use the living room TV for watching the whole run of Ugly Delicious in one sitting. Now, you could technically stream Halo 5 or Sea of Thieves if you had a Windows PC. However, you just have a Mac.

That’s where OneCast comes in, a third-party work of reverse engineering performed by an independent developer to bring Xbox One game streaming to macOS. It works as easily as connecting both your Mac and Xbox One to the same network and subsequently logging in to Xbox Live. It works pretty well in our experience, though you should have both systems connected to your modem via ethernet if possible.

• Get it from: Website
• Price: Free

If you’re a gamer who loves using your Mac, whether it’s for work, school or leisure, Nvidia GeForce Now will silence all the haters. Seemingly since the dawn of time, it seems like PC gamers have shut down the prospect of using a Mac to play triple-A video games. The graphics weren’t there, neither was the library.

Now, we’re in the middle of an era of streaming. We no longer have to download our favorite TV shows and movies, when we can just stream them on Amazon Prime or Netflix. Why should games be any different? Well, now that the Nvidia GeForce Now beta is live, they may not be for much longer. You can stream Fortnite, Overwatch and more at the highest settings from the comfort of your MacBook.

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: Free

It’s simple and not at all essential in the grand scheme of things, but DeskCover is a free and easy way to stay focused when you need to. 

For anyone working on larger monitors, full screen apps can strain your peripheral vision, and so you’ll have no other choice but to resort to smaller windows. Of course, this can lead to you getting distracted by your desktop background – this is where DeskCover comes in handy. Allowing you to easily blur your desktop and lower the opacity, DeskCover puts the task at hand front and center so that nothing else can get in the way of getting your work done.

In other words, DeskCover is basically a free version of Hazeover, which we’re not complaining about. What’s more, your options aren’t limited to manipulation of your existing wallpaper alone. You can also temporarily replace your background with something a little more plain, blocking it out with a solid color of your choosing. Best of all, DeskCover is compatible with hotkeys, thereby minimizing the distraction possibilities of the app itself.

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: Free

The market for disk optimization apps is neither desolate nor particularly exciting, especially on the best Macs, where Apple does a pretty good job of cleaning up its drives on its own. However, for a program that’s far more intuitive and user friendly than, say, the built-in Macintosh HD storage management software, your best bet is to turn your attention to Dr. Cleaner. This app splits all of your data into easily digestible bit that would otherwise be quite obtuse.

Dr. Cleaner will group all the junk on your Mac with labels like ‘Junk Files’ and ‘Big Files’ – rather than listing off 30GB of documents and 10GB of iOS files you don’t understand. Then, you can look at the file names themselves and decide whether or not you want to keep them on your computer. You can also use Dr. Cleaner to monitor CPU, network and RAM usage as well, for the sake of putting some pep in your aging Mac’s step.

• Get it from: Website
• Price: Free

It might be kind of like three apps than just one, but SoftMaker Office 2018 takes all the key features of Microsoft Office and puts them into an interface that tailors to your needs. It comes with a group of programs called TextMaker, PlanMaker and Presentations 2018 that are similar enough to Office 365 without the rolling subscription.

Regardless of whether you need an easy-to-use word processor or a spreadsheet or slideshow creator of equal accessibility, SoftMaker Office has what you’re looking for. And, because it’s still in beta, you can get a complimentary, albeit temporary, license over email if you want to give it a spin. Otherwise, there’s a permanent free version called SoftMaker FreeOffice, but it’s only available on Windows, Android and Linux.

• Get it from: App Store
• Price: $9.99 (about £7.19, AU$12.82)

Since you’re obviously going to install all of the other apps we’ve mentioned, you’re going to need at least a utility that, well, declutters your desktop. Unclutter is the solution you’re looking for whether you’re a frivolous notetaker or a temporary file hoarder like we are. It’s designed to keep your memos, documents and pasteboard clips in one place rather than scattered across several folders.

It’s a brilliant idea made even better by the fact that it can be configured for use with gesture controls. At any given point, you can swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers on the trackpad (or one on the mouse) to reveal a trio of windows that can be concealed and re-summoned whenever you please.

• Get it from: Website
• Price: Free

When you’re out there hustling every day, it’s easy to lose track of messages. With so many social media companies, SMS platforms and instant messaging services to choose from, most of us also have a number of different accounts used to administer to all of those messages. But what if you only had to log into one?

That’s the central idea in Franz, a messaging app that allows you to view and send messages in WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, HipChat and more. It lets you seamlessly switch between any of these apps as easily as you can toggle between Slack workspaces. Best of all, there’s no limit to the amount of services you can use at once. That way, even if you have 10 Facebook accounts for whatever reason, all of your messages will be visible in the same place.

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What is 5G? Everything you need to know

What is 5G?

5G networks are the next generation of mobile internet connectivity, offering faster speeds and more reliable connections on smartphones and other devices than ever before.

Combining cutting-edge network technology and the very latest research, 5G should offer connections that are multitudes faster than current connections, with average download speeds of around 1GBps expected to soon be the norm.

The networks will help power a huge rise in Internet of Things technology, providing the infrastructure needed to carry huge amounts of data, allowing for a smarter and more connected world.

With development well underway, 5G networks are expected to launch across the world by 2020, working alongside existing 3G and 4G technology to provide speedier connections that stay online no matter where you are.

5G - the latest news

31/08 - ANALYSIS - Golf's digital ambitions make it an unlikely 5G pioneer - Golf looks to new technologies - including 5G...

31/08 - NETWORKS - German operators will have no rural obligation for 5G - 5G spectrum auction will take place in 2019...

30/08 - DEVICES - Larger screens and 5G to drive smartphone growth through to 2022 - Smartphone market 'generally healthy' despite recent dip...

28/08 - NETWORKS - German regulator calls for fourth operator for 5G - Competition chief believes new entrant will kickstart German 5G...

28/08 - NETWORKS - Nokia secures €500m EU loan for 5G research - New funding will accelerate 5G technology R&D...

23/08 - NETWORKS - Major 5G trends become more apparent as first network launch nears - The past seven days have been a long time in the world of 5G...

23/08 - ANALYSIS - Huawei & ZTE banned from Australia 5G networks - Australian government says 5G architecture makes it too risky...

22/08 - PRODUCTS - Qualcomm to start shipping its 5G modems - However chipmaker says it doesn't expect 5G phones to launch this year...

22/08 - NETWORKS - Speed takes centre stage as operators ramp up 5G testing - Report suggests 82 per cent of mobile operators worldwide are testing 5G...

22/08 - DEVICES - Nokia expects to make €3 from every 5G smartphone - Finnish giant sets rate for its essential 5G patents...

20/08 - NETWORKS - Government to test 5G on UK railways - DCMS invites participants for pilot to see how 5G can improve transport sector...

20/08 - NETWORKS - Verizon and Nokia test 5G with a moving vehicle - Partners make progress in mobile broadband and connected car apps...

17/08 - NETWORKS - 5G network slicing could be worth £51bn to mobile operators - Researchers say efforts by operators and vendors could bear fruit...

16/08 - NETWORKS - Cisco posts healthy revenues ahead of 5G push - Cisco is happy with innovation roadmap as it prepares for next generation networks...

16/08 - NETWORKS - Telstra switches on 5G for the Gold Coast, but wider availability remains murky - Australian telcos Optus and Vodafone say there’s a long road ahead...

15/08 - NETWORKS - O2 tests light-based wireless transmission ahead of 5G tests - Li-Fi is pitched as a Wi-Fi alternative...

15/08 - DEVICES - LG to launch 'first 5G smartphone' in 2019 - LG and Sprint will release a 5G-ready device in the US next year...

13/08 - NETWORKS - Ericsson hopes US 5G investments will speed up deployments - Ericsson makes investments in 5G R&D...

08/08 - NETWORKS - Samsung invests billions in 5G and AI - Samsung's £17bn investment programme looks to guard against smartphone slowdown...

07/08 - NETWORKS - US set to lose out to China in 5G race - Deloitte report urges policymakers to promote investment...

02/08 - DEVICES - Moto Z3 is the world's first 5G-upgradable smartphone, say Motorola and Verizon - The first 5G-almost-ready smartphone...

02/08 - OPERATORS - Three focuses on 5G after revenue and customer rises - Three now boasts 10.1m customers across the UK...

31/07 - DEVICES - Lenovo says it'll be the first to launch a 5G smartphone - Could be here before the end of the year...

30/07 - NETWORKS - Nokia and T-Mobile ink $3.5bn 5G network deal - US operator presses ahead with 5G rollout plans...

27/07 - OPERATORS - Mobile helps BT Q1 results ahead of 5G trials - Consumer division continues to offset BT business decline...

26/07 - OPERATORS - O2 invites FTSE 500 to trial its 5G - O2 presses ahead with 5G tests as it adds more customers...

26/07 - OPERATORS - Nokia looks to 5G after sales slowdown - Nokia says drop is to be expected but is confident for second half of 2018...

26/07 - OPERATORS - Sky Mobile extends O2 MVNO agreement to cover 5G - Sky Mobile now has 500,000 customers across the UK...

23/07 - REGULATION - UK Government promises new regulations and investment for full fibre and 5G - Government report outlines plans to deliver fibre to entire UK by 2033...

23/07 - PRODUCTS - Qualcomm's mmWave antennas pave way for first 5G smartphones - The first 5G smartphones should arrive in 2019...

20/07 - NETWORKS - Barriers to 5G could stop UK being a global leader - BSG report identifies issues and resolutions...

18/07 - NETWORKS - South Korea plans 2019 5G launch - "Korea 5G Day" will see new networks introduced a year ahead of schedule...

10/07 - NETWORKS - China Mobile, Intel and Huawei complete 5G interoperability testing - Tests pave way for China Mobile 5G launch next year...

09/07 - NETWORKS - SSE Enterprise Telecoms unbundles BT exchanges to boost broadband and Three 5G - SSE Enterprise Telecoms doubles its reach...

03/07 - NETWORKS - Samsung, Cisco and Orange hold multi-vendor 5G FWA trial - FWA will deliver a fixed-like broadband experience when 5G launches...

29/06 - DEVICES - OnePlus 7 could support 5G and be sold by US carriers - But don't expect it for a while...

28/06 - NETWORKS - "World's first" 5G network launches - Finnish operator Elisa claims global first in launching a commercial 5G network...

27/06  - ANALYSIS - The World Cup and 5G: the trials you need to know about - 5G will change how you watch football forever...

25/06 - NETWORKS - UK 'needs shared spectrum' for 5G - Ofcom urged to rethink 5G spectrum auction to ensure fairer rollout...

20/06 - NETWORKS - Vodafone launches 5G trials in seven UK cities - Vodafone to hold trials later this year with plans for a 2020 5G launch...

19/06 - NETWORKS - Mobile signal woes 'strengthens' business case for 5G - Only half of mobile users in the UK are happy with their speeds, but willing to pay more for faster service...

15/06 - NETWORKS - First standalone 5G network standard approved - 3GPP finalizes 'Release 15' of 5G after three years of work, meaning networks are on the way this year...

14/06 - ANALYSIS - Three CEO: 5G capacity is a 'big opportunity' to lead UK market - Dave Dyson says Three's spectrum holdings mean it could be the UK's 5G leader...

13/06 - NETWORKS - Vodafone: 5G smartphone uncertainty means focus on core network and IoT - Vodafone UK CTO says 5G will be a gamechanger, but smartphone innovation in the 4G era won't be matched...

12/06 - NETWORKS - 5G networks still set to arrive this year - Ericsson report suggests Europe will fall behind US and Asia on 5G adoption...

11/06 - NETWORKS - 'First ever' UK 5G report paints rosy picture - UK's 5G ambitions rely heavily on startup and research community...

06/06 - ANALYSIS - EU telecoms rule changes will hinder rather than help 5G, claim industry - Telecoms groups label the new EU code a "missed opportunity"...

06/06 - NETWORKS - EE to switch on 'UK's first' 5G trial in London - Residents and businesses in Tech City will get chance to try out 5G...

05/06 - PRODUCTS - 5G PCs coming from Intel and Sprint next year - US telecoms giant Sprint has joined the race to bring 5G to the masses, announcing at Computex 2018 to start shipping Intel-powered 5G computers next year...

01/06 - ANALYSIS - 5G UK - How far away are we really? - 5G will deliver immediate benefits in 2019, but the true mobile revolution will take time...

25/05 - POLICY - Mobile industry 'shouldn't wait' for 5G to roll out small cells - Small cells will be essential for delivering the 5G vision but industry warns there is no time too wait...

25/05 - POLICY - Nordic Prime Ministers reach agreement to support 5G - Joint agreement is welcomed by Nokia, Ericsson and regional operators...

22/05 - NETWORKS - Qualcomm details 5G small cell platform - Qualcomm wants to help operators and network equipment manufacturers densify 5G networks...

18/05 - NETWORKS - Verizon to bring 5G to Los Angeles in 2018 - Verizon says America's second largest city will be its next 5G location...

16/05 - NETWORKS - Mobile IoT networks to be a 'core component' of 5G - GSMA says NB-IoT and LTE-M deployments are paving the way for massive IoT powered by 5G...

14/05 - NETWORKS - 5G and network convergence drives growth of carrier-grade Wi-Fi market - Fixed and mobile operators look to densify network infrastructure...

08/05 - PRODUCTS - Why self-driving vehicles could be the biggest winner in a 5G world - Telefónica tells us why autonomous vehicles are set to be a key 5G use case...

08/05 - NETWORKS - Verizon and Samsung get 5G regulatory boost - Verizon and Samsung make major headway towards 5G...

03/05 - NETWORKS - Deutsche Telekom holds live 5G NR trial in Berlin - German operator says test will see how 5G NR behaves in real world...

02/05 - ANALYSIS - Why T-Mobile and Sprint merger would give the US a 5G lead - A truly national 5G network could ensure the US retains its advantage...

01/05 - NETWORKS - Three futureproofs backend infrastructure for 5G - Three and SSE Enterprise Telecoms deal with start with data centre connectivity...

30/04 - NETWORKS - T-Mobile and Sprint merger promises 5G progress in the US - America's third and fourth largest mobile operators are to merge...

18/04 - NETWORKS - Huawei dampens 5G expectations - Huawei CEO says consumer might not notice the differences...

17/04 - NETWORKS - China has narrow lead over US in 5G race - Government support and industry momentum gives China slight advantage, report says...

16/04 - DEVICES - 5G anticipation set to slow smartphone sales - Manufacturers hope for 5G boost as worldwide smartphone demand slows...

13/04 - NETWORKS - What does the Ofcom 5G auction mean for the UK mobile industry? - The long-awaited auction is over, paving the way for 5G...so what next?

12/04 - NETWORKS - Vodafone hits major UK 5G milestone - Vodafone is first UK operator to test 3.4GHz spectrum in preparation for 5G...

09/04 - NETWORKS - Europe set be left behind in 5G race - US and Asia will lead the way in 5G development, claims report...

05/04 - NETWORKS - Mobile networks fork out £1.4bn for 5G spectrum - Ofcom publishes the results of its 5G spectrum auction, revealing that the UK's biggest mobile network operators spent almost £1.4 billion...

28/03 - NETWORKS - 'World's first' 5G public trial switched on in Australia - Australian telco Telstra flips the switch on the world's first public trial of 5G at the Gold Coast...

28/03 - NETWORKS - 5G RuralFirst looks at smart farming, spectrum sharing and broadcasting - Government funded project will use Cisco tech to help transform rural lives...

28/03 - POLICY - UK5G group makes bid for global 5G leadership - Government and industry backed UK5G looks to establish UK 5G community...

27/03 - NETWORKS - GSMA: 5G will be dominant mobile tech in USA by 2025 - Mobile industry body report shows US will be a 5G leader...

27/03 - NETWORKS - Telefonica tests tech that could boost 5G broadband - Telefonica spectral efficiency trials hope to pave the way for better fixed wireless access (FWA)... 

23/03 - NETWORKS - 5G networks are now just a year away - Korea Telecom plans commercial 5G launch next March...

20/03 - NETWORKS - UK 5G spectrum auction gets underway - Five bidders will battle it out for more of the UK's airwaves...

19/03 - NETWORKS - UK university makes major 5G breakthrough - University of Kent-based iCIRRUS consortium says Ethernet equipment can help deliver 5G networks...

16/03 - NETWORKS - O2 kickstarts the UK's 5G charm offensive to consumers - 5G hypetrain moves from industry into the mainstream...

15/03 - NETWORKS - Digital minister pledges to eliminate barriers to 5G deployment - Margot James says she wants to work with mobile operators and local government on 5G...

14/03 - NETWORKS - O2: 5G will save local councils and households £6bn a year - Report details how smart technologies powered by 5G can improve society...

12/03 - NETWORKS - Ofcom 5G spectrum auction will start next week - Ofcom confirms that bidding for 5G frequencies will begin on 20 March...

12/03 - NETWORKS - Government reveals £25m prize fund for UK 5G - £25m competition will see 5G testbeds located across the UK...

11/03 - DEVICES - 5G a key factor to seamless VR experience, says Lenovo EMEA President - Lenovo wants to create memorable experiences for its customers, but is that enough?

09/03 - NETWORKS - Ofcom plans new rural coverage obligations for 700MHz spectrum - Ofcom says 700MHz is an important opportunity to improve rural coverage as it plans for 5G future...

05/03 - NETWORKS - EU Parliament and US Congress take steps to accelerate 5G legislation - EU chambers reach provisional agreement while US Congress to vote on spectrum auction...

05/03 - DEVICES - HTC CEO: 5G will turn any VR device into the most powerful in the world - Cher Wang says the smartphone still has a role to play in VR...

03/03 - NETWORKS - Qualcomm hopes 5G vision will stand out from the hype - Qualcomm's influence in the industry is significant, so its 5G roadmap is worth listening too...

02/03 - NETWORKS - BT CEO: EE convergence even more important ahead of 5G - Gavin Patterson says BT never really left mobile and is preparing for converged network era...

28/02 - NETWORKS - Intel and NTT DoCoMo prepare 5G plans for Tokyo 2020 Olympics - After success at PyeongChang 2018, Intel is stepping up plans for next Olympics...

27/02 - NETWORKS - Satellite-supported UK 5G testbed will trial mission critical apps - Juniper Networks and Satellite Applications Catapult say satellite cannot be ignored...

27/02 - MOBILE - Qualcomm looks to make it easier to make 5G phones - Launch will help OEMs build 5G connectivity into more devices...

27/02 - NETWORKS - Ofcom confirms six bidders for 5G spectrum - All four mobile operators have been approved, with small cell operator and Hull fixed wireless firm joining...

27/02 - NETWORKS - Ericsson tells operators: 5G is ready - Ericsson has agreements with 38 operators around the world as 5G moves from idea to reality...

27/02 - PRODUCTS - Get ready for a 5G Internet of the Sky - Drones like the Ehang 184 will usher in a 5G-powered autonomous airspace...

26/02 - NETWORKS - Telstra plans to ramp up 4G speeds in the lead up to its full 5G rollout - Major cities in Australia to get increased bandwidth...

26/02 - NETWORKS - Cisco targets mobile operators with '5G Now' - Cisco wants to help operators prepare for the next era of networks...

25/02 - MOBILE - Huawei reveals 5G-ready modem - Test beds for 5G networks will be launched this year, Huawei reveals...

23/02 - NETWORKS - Why PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics are a 5G milestone - Athletes are making history at the Winter Olympics, but it's an important event for 5G networks too...

22/02 - NETWORKS - O2 reveals UK 5G test bed - Operator will test 5G applications at iconic London venue later this year...

19/02 - NETWORKS - Vodafone and Huawei successfully test IP Microwave backhaul for 5G - Vodafone and Huawei achieve 2Gbps on IP microwave link, claiming it shows the tech is viable for 5G...

16/02 - NETWORKS - Why startups and research can make the UK a 5G leader - Does the UK really need to be first to the mark or be an industry powerhouse to be a 5G leader?

16/02 - OPINION - No time to waste now 5G legal challenges are over - For an industry keen to avoid a repeat of the 3G and 4G auctions, Three's failed appeal removes a barrier to 5G...

14/02 - MOBILE - Fiber-like internet and a glimpse of our 5G future are coming to smartphones in 2019 - Qualcomm's new mobile modem offering speeds of up to 2Gbps...

14/02 - NETWORKS - 5G spectrum auction to go ahead after Three's legal challenge fails - Three's bid to decrease an overall spectrum cap falls on deaf ears and prevents further delay...

12/02 - NETWORKS - China Mobile plans 5G launch in 2019 - China Mobile joins a select few number of operators planning to beat original 2020 target...

08/02 - MOBILE - The first 5G smartphones are coming in 2019 - But you won't see 5G service everywhere by next year...

07/02 - MOBILE - 5G set to push mobile data use sky-high - Giffgaff research estimates customers will use nearly 100GB of mobile data a month by 2025...

05/-2 - NETWORKS - Telstra joins Optus on 5G bandwagon, also aiming for 2019 rollout - Australian carrier Telstra will trial new tech during Commonwealth Games...

05/01 - NETWORKS - AT&T set to run 5G trials - Company to adopt new 3GPP guidelines as it continues push for next-generation networks...

04/01 - NETWORKS - Samsung teams up with Verizon on 5G - New service to be launched in Sacramento later this year...

02/02 - NETWORKS - Optus 5G network rollout set to begin in early 2019 - Australian telco Optus announces its plans for 5G rollout...

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What will 5G networks mean for me?

• Faster download and upload speeds
• Smoother streaming of online content 
• Higher-quality voice and video calls 
• More reliable mobile connections
• Greater number of connected IoT devices 
• An expansion of advanced technologies - including self-driving cars and smart cities

How fast will 5G be?

It’s still not exactly known how much faster 5G will be than 4G, as much of the technology is still under development.

That being said, the networks should provide a significant upgrade to current download and upload speeds - with the GSMA proposing minimum download speeds of around 1GBps.

Most estimates expect the average speed of 5G networks to reach 10Gb/s, and some even think transfer rates could reach a whopping 800Gb/s.

This would mean that users could download a full-length HD quality film in a matter of seconds, and that downloading and installing software upgrades would be completed much faster than today.

Will I be able to get 5G networks on my phone?

Existing smartphones, tablet or other devices that were released when 4G networks were the standard may not be able to connect to 5G to begin with, or may incur extra costs to do so. 

However following the 2020 deadline for the initial rollout, we should soon see devices coming with 5G connection as default.

Don't worry though - although 5G should represent a major step up from current 4G and 3G networks, the new technology won’t immediately replace its predecessor - at least, not to begin with.

Instead, 5G should link in with existing networks to ensure users never lose connection, with the older networks acting as back-up in areas not covered by the new 5G coverage.

So-called “4.5G” networks (also known as LTE-A) are set to fill the gap for the time being, offering connections that are faster than current 4G networks, although only certain countries such as South Korea can benefit from them right now.

Once launched however, implementing 5G may be a slower process. Much like the gradual takeover of 4G networks from the previous generation, existing network infrastructure may need to be upgraded or even replaced in order to deal with the new technology, and homes and businesses may also need to get new services installed.

It’s not yet known how 5G networks will take over from existing networks, but again, much like the rollout of 4G, you may not be able to immediately connect to the new networks without upgrading your technology.

What will a 5G network need?

The GSMA has outlined eight criteria for 5G networks, with a connection needing meet a majority of these in order to qualify as 5G:

• 1-10Gbps connections to end points in the field (i.e. not theoretical maximum)
• 1 millisecond end-to-end round trip delay (latency) 
• 1000x bandwidth per unit area
• 10-100x number of connected devices 
• (Perception of) 99.999 per cent availability 
• (Perception of) 100 per cent coverage
• 90 per cent reduction in network energy usage 
• Up to 10 year battery life for low power, machine-type devices 

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