Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2017 i PCWorld

Watch the video at go.pcworld.com/amdces17 AT THIS POINT, we know a lot about AMD’s hotly anticipated Ryzen processors, which look to be AMD’s best chip family in a decade. We know some basic specs. We know every Ryzen CPU will be overclockable. We know the chips will have a ton of hardware support at launch—and that AM4 motherboards will last until 2020 at least. The list goes on and on. One thing we don’t know? Launch date details beyond a vague “first quarter.” At CES, AMD representatives told PCWorld that the target was not the end of the quarter. But a slip-up in a Game Developers Conference session listing gives greater clarity into Ryzen’s arrival timing. The session’s entitled “Optimizing for AMD Ryzen CPU (Presented by AMD)” and it’s…

HARDWARE VENDORS SOMETIMES publicize their visions of the future. So do automakers. Now Opera Software is getting into the game with Neon, the company’s first concept browser. Opera’s new Neon browser (opera.com/neon) for Macs and Windows PCs isn’t game-changing—in fact, rather than a “concept,” it feels more like applying a fresh coat of paint. But Opera also succeeds in paring down the browsing experience to a few select tasks. It’s a refreshingly attractive design, as Neon’s background blends into your desktop, and circular tabs consciously contradict the sea of rectangles that rival browsers employ. With that said, Opera Neon won’t replace the existing Opera browser. In fact, Neon is arguably less full-featured than Opera’s existing browser, which includes native capabilities like ad blocking (go.pcworld.com/operablock). Opera did say, however, that it…

AND JUST LIKE that, we’ve officially entered Generation 9 for gaming consoles. Nintendo pulled back the veil on the Nintendo Switch (nintendo.com/switch/buy-now), its upcoming handheld/stationary hybrid console and successor to the underwhelming Wii U. First up, the important bits: The Switch will launch worldwide on March 3—yes, less than two months from now—for a suggested retail price of $299. I say that’s the important bit because we pretty much knew everything else about the console from Nintendo’s October reveal. The Switch name refers to the device’s dual nature, both a traditional TV console and a mobile handheld. In its “docked” form, the Switch looks quite a bit like a Wii—a vertically oriented rectangle that connects up to your TV with an HDMI cable. The accompanying Joy- Con controller looks fairly…

IN JANUARY, CONSUMER Reports and Apple revealed that a bug in Safari caused erratic battery life test results in Consumer Reports’ testing, which resulted in the first Apple laptop to not receive a recommendation from the publication. Consumer Reports has finished its retesting, and announced that it has revised its review to reflect a recommendation (go.pcworld.com/mbpcr) for the new MacBook Pro. After discovering the Safari bug, Apple created a fix, and Consumer Reports reran its battery life test. On its website, Consumer Reports said that the new MacBook Pro, “all performed well.” The publication tested a 13-inch Touch Bar model, a 13-inch non–Touch Bar model, and a 15-inch model. The retests resulted in battery life of 15.75 hours, 18.75 hours, and 17.25 hours, respectively. These test results far exceed Apple’s…

Samsung 960 Pro M.2/NVMe SSD PROS • Insanely fast with large files • Up to 2TB capacity CONS • Just average with small files • Pricey $630 WHEN I WAS testing Samsung’s new 960 Pro M.2/NVMe SSD (go.pcworld.com/ss960proamz), a coworker looking over my shoulder at the results declared, “That’s sick!” High praise in today’s parlance, and a direct response to this drive’s incredible speed. It’s a phrase I continued to voice silently as I saw read and write numbers of 2.7GBps and 1.7GBps, respectively, pop up. And that was from the super-conservative AS SSD benchmark with non-compressible data; CrystalDiskMark 5 boasted reads and writes of 3.5GBps and 2.17GBps, respectively, with a 2GB data set. Whoa. Price and capacity At the time of this writing, the 960 Pro is priced…

USING KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS may seem complicated since you have to memorize a bunch of key combinations. However, when it comes to efficiency you just can’t beat them. It’s much faster (and eventually easier) to keep your hands on the keyboard while navigating around your PC. Still, it can be hard to know where to get started with keyboard shortcuts (go.pcworld.com/stickyscuts). I talk about this briefly in reference to the shortcut-oriented Chrome browser extension Vimium (go.pcworld.com/vimiumskeycut)—a must-have extension in my opinion. To give shortcut newbies a possible usage template, I’ve broken down how I use keyboard shortcuts on an average day. Firing up programs Personally, I just use the mouse or Cortana voice commands to open up programs, but you can use keyboard shortcuts as well. If you have anything pinned…

I LIKE TO think of myself as a reasonably punctual, conscientious guy who shows up when he says he’s going to show up. So imagine my embarrassment when I dozed right through my Android alarm on a recent morning, missing an early meeting and earning a reproachful glare from my hungry 4-year-old. What happened? I did, after all, have my Android Clock app set to wake me at 6:30 a.m., and it’s not like I didn’t hear the buzzer; it simply never went off. As it turns out, there are plenty of reasons why an Android alarm might fail to buzz. Maybe your Do Not Disturb rules are to blame, or perhaps you’re being a tad too aggressive with Total Silence mode. And even if your Android alarm does buzz,…

Watch the video at go.pcworld.com/lgrobotsvid LG’s robot lineup for the lazy future » LG has integrated Amazon’s Alexa into several of its upcoming smart home products to make your life easier—or lazier. Its Smart InstaView Refrigerator has a 29-inch touchscreen so you can see your food, leave notes and more. The Hub Robot can follow you around to take orders or helps you manage household tasks like scheduling your automatic (natch) vacuum.…

IN 2009, MICROSOFT enflamed the minds of consumers with Courier, a foldable phone/tablet (go.pcworld.com/mscourierf) concept that was eventually cancelled. Years later, a sort-of new patent implies Microsoft hasn’t (or hadn’t) totally given up on the idea. According to the new patent, which was approved on recently, Microsoft envisions a mobile device with a continuous viewing area that extends across the foldable region—similar in spirit to the dual-screen Courier concept. It’s an exciting idea, but there’s one major caveat: This is a patent from 2014 that the U.S. Patent Office finally approved, not one that Microsoft applied for more recently. As such, it shows that Microsoft was eyeing ambitious, foldable mobile devices at a time when the landscape for mobile computing was much more favorable for Microsoft than it is today.…

Watch the video at go.pcworld.com/braviaxbra1evid THERE'S BEEN A fair amount of discussion about the two key technologies in Sony's new Bravia XBR-A1E series of OLED smart TVs, so we reached out to Sony for clarification. A company spokesperson confirmed that Sony does not manufacture the A1E-series' OLED panel, but declined to say where the panels are being sourced from. Declining to identify suppliers is not an uncommon practice in any industry, but it doesn't take much imagination to speculate that Sony is sourcing its OLED panels from LG Display, which also provides the OLED panels for Panasonic's THX-certified Viera TX-65CZ950 smart TV. (go.pcworld.com/vierathx) LG Display started out as a joint venture between LG Electronics and Philips Electronics and is now an independent, publicly traded company. The Sony spokesperson went on…

SINCE ITS LAUNCH in September 2016, the Galaxy Note7 went from being the phone to beat to the one you couldn’t take on airplanes. Even with a global recall in place and a series of software updates designed to brick any remaining devices, the FAA continued its ban on Samsung’s phablet, and frequent travelers grew accustomed to hearing about the warning before take-off. Samsung revealed that more than 96 percent of the devices had been returned. With the recall nearly complete, the U.S. Department of Transportation has announced that those announcements are no longer necessary. In a press release, the Federal Aviation Administration said that while the ban remains, the DOT has “removed the requirement for air carriers to specifically notify passengers about the Note7 phone immediately prior to boarding…

A BILL HAS been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would require that law enforcement agencies get a warrant before they poke around users’ emails and other communications in the cloud that are older than 180 days. The Email Privacy Act, reintroduced recently, aims to fix a loophole (go.pcworld.com/hr699) in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act that allows the government to search without warrant email and other electronic communications older than 180 days, stored on servers of third-party service providers such as Google and Yahoo. “Thanks to the wording in a more than 30-year-old law, the papers in your desk are better protected than the emails in your inbox,” digital rights organization, Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a blog post. “Thanks to the wording in a more than 30-year-old…

LENOVO’S YOGA 910 is the Yoga 900 (go.pcworld.com/yoga900r) convertible, upgraded—and the result is an incredibly well-rounded ultrabook that addresses all of our complaints from the previous version. That’s a rarity in the tech world. Not only is the new version more powerful than the previous model, it also now has a much longer-lasting battery, a faster SSD, and a gorgeous edge-to-edge display. It’s not perfect, of course, but it’s darn close. Lenovo Yoga 910 PROS • Excellent overall performance • Superb battery life • Gorgeous display CONS • Awkward webcam placement • Limited port selection $1,330 Plenty of Upgrades The already-capable Yoga 900 got a boost across the board to transform it into the Yoga 910. First and foremost, Lenovo has upgraded the CPU from sixth-generation Intel Skylake chips…

AFTER THE RELEASE of this year’s Man O’ War (go.pcworld.com/razer manowarrev) headset, I figured it was only a matter of time before Razer got around to updating its more mass-market design—it came even faster than I expected. Just in time, too. The Kraken 7.1’s been an also-ran for years now, a chintzy headset backed by underwhelming audio. The 2016 Kraken V2—both the analog Pro variant (go.pcworld.com/krakenalv2amz) and especially the USB-powered 7.1 V2 (go.pcworld.com/krak enchrv 2 amz)—changes that, arriving packed with most of the Man O’ War’s improvements: better audio, a sturdier design, and a more refined look. Sure, it’s just as bulky as ever, but this is the Kraken’s best showing in a long time. Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma V2 $100 Razer Kraken Pro V2 Analog Gaming Headset $80…

A taste of what’s to come Windows 10 doesn’t behave like the Windows of yesteryear. Instead of a monolithic operating system replaced by a successor in a year or two, it’s more of a living, breathing entity—one that’s constantly changing with the release of massive new “named” updates. The most high-profile example was 2016’s Anniversary Update, which added features like the Bash Shell, a dark theme, Windows Ink, Xbox Play Anywhere, and a whole, whole lot more. But that’s nothing compared to what you’ll find in this spring’s Windows 10 Creators Update. Let’s dig into the goodies Microsoft has planned this time around, and don’t forget to sign up for the Windows Insider preview program (go.pcworld.com/w10insiderprvp) if you want to get your hands on early-access test builds before the…

IT’S THE NEW year, and everyone is back at work and school. Maybe you no longer have the leisure time vacation affords, but perhaps you promised yourself to learn more about Linux this year. A small project that doesn’t take too long to do can be rewarding, and it may yield future benefits. Here are a few ideas that shouldn’t take more than a few hours. 1. Try a new Linux distro A lot of Linux users love the OS because of the level of customization it allows. Once everything is set up just right, workflows can be quicker, and computing can be more personal and enjoyable. But sometimes it’s good to step out of your comfort zone. Trying a new distribution might be trivial to some, but to others…

YOU’VE SPENT A good amount of time getting Alexa to properly activate your wireless speakers, living room lights, and smart cam, but is your new IoT setup secure? BullGuard has a quick and easy tool that can help you find out if there are any basic problems. It’s called the Internet of Things Scanner (iotscanner.bullguard.com). The service checks to see if any of your devices are on Shodan (go.pcworld.com/shodaneng), a search engine that lets anyone find Internet of Things devices like cameras, printers, and thermostats that are publicly accessible on the internet. Anything that’s publicly accessible may also be vulnerable to hackers if there are any security flaws in the software that can be exploited. Using BullGuard’s web app is easy, just land on the website and click Check…

MICROSOFT HAS PUT another nail in the coffin of Windows 10 Mobile, confirming that it has stopped development of its hit game Minecraft for Windows phones. Recently, Windows Central reported that Microsoft had halted development of Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Windows phones. When asked for comment, a Microsoft representative referred PCWorld to a Minecraft support document that indicates the platform won’t receive future updates. The official FAQ states (go.pcworld.com/minecraftpefaq): “Is the 1.0 Ender Update coming to Minecraft: Pocket Edition on Windows Phone? Why not?” It goes on to answer: “The 1.0 Ender Update will not be available on Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows Phone 10. Every Minecraft platform has different needs and our priority is to focus on long-awaited features for as many players as possible.” Microsoft’s decision means that…

VALVE FOUNDER GABE Newell took to Reddit recently for another hour-long AMA/Ask Me Anything (go.pcworld.com/gnewell ama) session. Among the topics broached: Is Valve still working on singleplayer games? What are its plans for the future? And the perennial “What is up with Steam support? Why is it so bad?” The timing is pretty fortuitous. Recently Game Informer published an interview with an alleged Valve insider, one who subsequently claimed Half-Life 3 would never happen. And as per usual, Half-Life 3 was the topic of many dodged questions, though Newell did say “I personally believe all unidentified anonymous sources on the internet” when asked about the article. Good ol’ sarcasm. Despite the absence of Half-Life 3, Newell did confirm that Valve hasn’t abandoned its game development roots, responding to “Is Valve…

MICROSOFT SAID RECENTLY that it plans to simplify the privacy options in the upcoming Creators’ Update, though some may see one component as limiting user choice as well. Microsoft plans to revamp how privacy is managed in the upcoming Creators Update to Windows 10, both as part of the initial setup as well as the amount of data it collects in day-to-day diagnostics. That amount will actually decrease, if a user so chooses. But Microsoft has also eliminated an intermediary option, forcing the user to choose whether to provide Microsoft minimal or “full” access to their PC. If that all seems somewhat confusing, Microsoft also said it has dedicated a new page to explaining what data it collects, and how to erase that data from Microsoft’s service. The new privacy…

INTEL’S RECENT ROLLOUT of the 7th-generation Kaby Lake CPU for desktops has met a dubious fanfare of leaked reviews that dismiss the new chip as one huge Core i-Yawn. Kaby Lake seems to offer barely any movement forward, and when it’s overclocked, it apparently gets to nuclear-fusion levels of heat output. But it’s too early to write off Kaby Lake. There’s a lot more to it that you still need to know. What Kaby Lake brings to the desktop Kaby Lake launched in August with dual-core versions for laptops that offered reasonable performance upticks (go.pcworld.com/kabylakerv). The highlight is its video engine, which can handle 10-bit content without breaking a sweat. Play a 10-bit color depth file on a Skylake laptop with integrated graphics, and you drop frames and destroy battery…

LINKSYS BID ITS time before jumping into the consumer mesh Wi-Fi router market, watching Eero, Luma, Netgear, and Google wade in with new products in 2016. Now, Linksys is making a splash at CES where it debuted its Velop Whole Home Wi-Fi system. We’ve benchmarked the heck out of a three-node system and found it to be one of the best yet. It’s also one of the most expensive, with a single router priced at $200, a two-pack at $350, and a three-pack going for $400 (a substantial discount over buying three singles). You’ll find benchmarks conducted with Windows PCs further down, but I performed the same tests with a MacBook Pro. Click here (go. pcworld.com/veloprev) if you’d prefer to read that version. The Velop’s slightly rounded columnar form factor…

ONE OF THE most important skills any computer user should have is the ability to use a virtual private network (VPN) to protect their privacy. A VPN is typically a paid service that keeps your web browsing secure and private over public Wi-Fi hotspots. VPNs can also get past regional restrictions for video- and music-streaming sites and help you evade government censorship restrictions—though that last one is especially tricky. The best way to think of a VPN is as a secure tunnel between your PC and destinations you visit on the Internet. Your PC connects to a VPN server, which can be located in the United States or a foreign country like the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, or Thailand. Your web traffic then passes back and forth through that server.…

IF YOU THOUGHT that deluge of political rants, memes, and arguments in your Facebook feed would end with the 2016 Presidential Election, think again. If anything, the thrum of political debate has only grown louder since the final votes were tallied. Whether you participate in these posts, just seeing them is proven to be wearing and stressful, and can ultimately be a drain on your productivity. You don’t necessarily have to swear off social media completely to get relief, nor do you have to start a campaign of “unfriending” folks with offending opinions. There are several free browser add-ons that will help you purge your feed of politics—or at least keep it out of sight long enough to get your work done. Here are a few of the best. Remove…

YOU’D THINK THE Command Prompt would be long-gone after 30 years of Windows’ graphical interface, but it’s not, and there’s a good reason why. Though many of its duties have been replaced by icons or tiles, there are still things you can do better or faster from the command line, as any IT professional or PC tinkerer already knows. Most users don’t need to go this deep into the weeds (check out Microsoft's A-Z reference, go.pcworld.com/msazref, if you do), but there are a few tasks and tricks that are handy for everyone to know. To access the command prompt, right-click the start button in Windows 10 and select Command Prompt. You'll want to have admin rights on the device you’re using to avoid permission issues. Note, too, that there's…