Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i TechLife

CHROME’S DATA-DELETING BUG: MILLIONS COULD BE AFFECTED, BUT A FIX IS ON THE WAY A SOLUTION IS ON THE WAY. A bug in Google Chrome has caused havoc this week by apparently deleting data in other apps, but Google is working on a fix. The problem arose when some Android devices were updated to Chrome 79. While the browser itself worked fine, web data suddenly vanished from other apps that rely on Chrome’s WebView component. Google responded quickly by slamming the brakes on the update while it investigated. HUAWEI P40 SET FOR LATE-MARCH LAUNCH, WITH A ‘NEVER SEEN’ DESIGN BUT AVAILABILITY REMAINS UNKNOWN. It always seemed likely that the Huawei P40 would be announced in March 2020, given that the last two generations of Huawei’s P-series flagship had March announcements.…

3000 metres IS THE HEIGHT A 4G-ENABLED PANASONIC TOUGHBOOK, TETHERED TO A BALLOON, ROSE TO BEFORE LOSING CONNECTIVITY. THIS ESSENTIAL RESEARCH WAS CARRIED OUT BY PANASONIC, NETMOTION AND MICROSOFT, AND EVENTUALLY SAW THE LOFTY LAPTOP REACH 30.5KM, WHERE THE BALLOON EXPLODED. IT LANDED IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, APPARENTLY UNSCATHED. US$33.5bn IS HOW MUCH XEROX HAS BID TO BUY HP. THE BID WAS REJECTED, WITH HP’S BOARD SAYING IT “SIGNIFICANTLY UNDERVALUED” THE BUSINESS. 628MPH IS THE SPEED BLOODHOUND LSR, A CAR POWERED BY A EUROFIGHTER JET ENGINE, ACHIEVED IN TESTING ON THE HAKSKEENPAN, IN THE KALAHARI DESERT, THIS MONTH. THE TEAM HOPES TO BREAK THE LAND SPEED RECORD OF 763MPH. US$200m IS THE AMOUNT VENTURE CAPITAL COMPANY ACCEL HAS INVESTED IN 1PASSWORD. THE PASSWORD MANAGEMENT COMPANY, FOUNDED IN 2005, HAS NEVER RECEIVED…

SELL ON ETSY.  https://www.etsy.com/mobile Sellers who are regularly on-the-go will want to download the Sell on Etsy App. Available for iPhone and Android devices, the app allows you to manage orders, respond to customers and create new listings from your smartphone. ETSY PLUS.  tinyurl.com/TL99ETS If you’re looking for a step up from the standard Etsy service, then take a look at Etsy Premium. Priced at $14.60 per month, a subscription gives you advanced store customisation, budget for listings and advertisements, plus the option to allow customers to send requests to restock items that have recently sold out in your store.…

JUST 3 MONTHS AFTER IT LAUNCHED IN EARLY ACCESS, PLANETSIDE ARENA IS CLOSING DOWN “WE REMAIN DEEPLY COMMITTED TO THIS FRANCHISE” PlanetSide Arena only released in Early Access on September 19, 2019, but Daybreak Games has already decided it’s time to pull the plug on the ambitious sci-fi arena shooter, stating low player numbers “make it impossible to sustain the gameplay experience we envisioned”. The servers closed down permanently on January 10, 2020. THE OUTER WORLDS IS GETTING STORY DLC IN 2020 THE OUTER WORLDS IS GETTING MORE STORY CONTENT IN ITS FIRST DLC PACK, COMING IN 2020, OBSIDIAN HAS ANNOUNCED. We don’t currently know details about The Outer Worlds’ first DLC pack other than that it’ll focus on “expanding the story.” Obsidian revealed the news on their official forums…

The Greedy Cave 2: Time Gate DIABLO BUT DRAWN. Free with IAP THE GREEDY CAVE is a narrative-focused roguelike dungeon crawler that has you walking the length and breadth of a bottomless cave, searching for loot and treasure while battling/avoiding a host of enemies and traps. Its sequel, Time Gate, takes this formula and improves upon it, adding real-time multiplayer, guilds, larger areas and, of course, more loot to find. It also has a very funky 2.5D drawn art style. If I could say anything about GC2 it is that it is effortlessly moreish – each level of the cave is always different and varied enough to be interesting, while the story keeps you engaged, with the difficulty climbing steadily with your progress. Movement is grid based, making it easy…

Rain World’s ‘Karma’ reflects a progression based on your actions during each cycle, building toward a series of end-game achievements. Tame a lizard? You might get ‘The Friend’ achievement. Gain a reputation with the Scavengers? You might become ‘The Chieftain’. Each time you successfully hibernate following a cycle, your base level also increases, allowing you to access new areas and progression, which are often gated by a Karma requirements. This not only incentivises survival, but allows Rain World’s safe rooms to act as a space where players can reflect – whether upon their actions, the events of each cycle, or on their place within the ecosystem.…

WHILE ALL COMPUTER manufacturers do their best to keep some consistency between device updates, few take the commitment quite as seriously as Microsoft. Its latest Surface Pro 7 uses the same 12.3-inch, 3 x 2 PixelSense display at the same 2,736 by 1,824 resolution as its two most recent predecessors. It also fits into the same 29 x 20 x 0.9cm chassis and weighs an almost identical 790g. If we then consider the Surface Pro 7 also offers the same four, eight and 16GB RAM configurations and identical 128GB to 1TB storage options, then the only real difference between the confusingly named (5th Gen) Surface Pro, its successor the Surface Pro 6, and the latest Surface Pro 7, is the processor. On the Surface Pro 7 the CPU has been…

THIS OBJECT-BASED 7.1.4 CHANNEL SYSTEM (7 EAR-LEVEL SPEAKERS, 1 CHANNEL FOR LOW BASS REPRODUCTION, 4 OVERHEAD AUDIO CHANNELS) ARGUABLY DELIVERS THE MOST IMMERSIVE AND POWERFUL AUDIO WE’VE HEARD IN A SOUNDBAR YET. DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE IN its setup process, Samsung’s HW-Q90R soundbar has been designed to deliver maximum bang for your buck within minutes of being powered on for the first time. In fact, getting the soundbar up and running almost seems too basic, with no need for calibration of any sort. Setting up this Dolby Atmos and DTS:X compatible system is as simple as plugging in and powering on the soundbar, followed by its two wireless rear speakers and its room-rattling subwoofer. A blue light will appear on the speakers and sub to let you know that they’re automatically paired…

MACS ARE FAMED for their ease of use: “it just works” was always so much more than a marketing slogan. Macs are made to do things elegantly and efficiently, and the more time you spend discovering what yours can do, the more you’ll be able to get things done. Every Mac is jam-packed with useful features that are designed to make things easier, faster or both. Once you’ve discovered the ones that suit you, your days will be brighter, your work more efficient and your hair more glossy. We’re only lying about that last one... From Safari’s shortcuts to Mission Control’s multiple desktops, from fiddling with the Finder to mastering Mail, these tips will help you get even more from your Mac. With Windows, off-the-shelf is good as far as…

01 LET SIRI SUGGEST STUFF Catalina adds Siri Suggestions to your favorite apps. In Safari, Siri can suggest websites you might want to visit; in Contacts it focuses on the people it thinks you’re most likely to contact; in Mail it recognises events in emails and adds them to a Siri Suggestions calendar. If you’d rather not have those suggestions you can turn them off on a per-app basis in System Preferences > Siri. 02 FIND SYSTEM FEATURES Siri enables you to access system and app features as well as to look things up, so for example if you have “Enable Ask Siri” checked in System Preferences > Siri you can say “turn on Do Not Disturb”, “create a meeting for today at 11am” or “How much free space do…

01 CONTEXT IS KING The Touch Bar is designed to change according to the app you’re using and provide useful tools for that app. Here, in Safari, there are thumbnails that can navigate between browser tabs. 02 ADJUST THE OPTIONS To change what appears on the Touch Bar, press and hold one, as you would an iOS app, and drag to reorder or move to Trash. Or click View and choose Customize Touch Bar. 03 CUSTOMISE CONTROLS Touch Bar customisation is app-specific, and isn’t available for every app. Here we’re customising Apple Mail. To add a tool, drag it from the screen and onto the Touch Bar. 04 CHANGE IT IN OTHER APPS Here’s the customization options for the Touch Bar in Safari. You can expect Apple’s best–known apps to…

TOOLS OF THE TRADE Many of the tips in this feature can be applied with the help of two powerful tweaking tools, so start by downloading both Ultimate Windows Tweaker (https://bit.ly/uwt-10 – you’ll find links to Windows 7 and 8.1 versions here, too) and Winaero Tweaker (https://winaero.com/download. php?view.1796). Once downloaded, extract the contents of the ZIP files – Ultimate Windows Tweaker runs as a portable app, and Winaero Tweaker gives you the option of installing it in portable form, too. QUICKLY ACCESS WINDOWS’ PERSONALISATION SETTINGS To start customising, right-click the desktop and choose Personalise to jump straight to Settings > Personalisation > Background. From here you can change your background to a picture, a solid colour or a slideshow of photos within a single folder on your PC. CUSTOMISE YOUR…

TAKE PRECAUTIONS We’re entering potentially risk territory with some of these tips. Therefore, make sure you have some kind of system backup in place – either a rollback option like System Restore or Rollback Rx or an up-to-date drive image using Macrium Reflect Free (www.macrium. com/reflectfree.aspx). Done that? Good, let’s move on… CUSTOMISE LOCK SCREEN Can’t tweak the lock screen to your satisfaction using the options under Settings > Personalisation > ‘Lock screen’? Check the ‘Boot and Logon’ section of Winaero Tweaker for options, like not automatically selecting the last logged-on user by default or adding a limit to how long the slideshow feature plays for. GRAB LOCK SCREEN IMAGES If you’re using the Windows Spotlight feature to display rotating background images, and you’d like a permanent copy of any…

THE NEST HUB Max improves on the original Google-branded smart display in every way. It has a bigger 10-inch screen, better speakers, and an integrated 6.5MP front-facing camera. The built-in camera has enabled Google to introduce a new “Face Match” feature (currently exclusive to the Nest Hub), which works similarly to Voice Match by personalising content to different users in the house, only by using facial recognition instead of their voice. You can also use the camera for video calls and messages (like the Facebook Portal, it pans and zooms the picture to keep you in the frame), and it recognises gestures for controlling media playback. But the piece de resistance is the Nest security feature, which turns the Nest Hub Max into a home security system. Using the Nest…

THE JBL LINK View’s design is a bit of a throwback to the days of iPod speakers, with the speakers out and proud, flanking either side of the 8-inch touchscreen. This smart display preceded the likes of the Google Home Hub and the Echo Show, which favour rear speakers that minimise the overall footprint, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Link View’s successor adopt a similar aesthetic. As it stands, the soccer ball-shaped Link View takes up a lot of space, despite having a display that’s only an inch larger than the Nest Hub’s. The JBL brand’s audio heritage makes itself known when you employ the Link View’s media capabilities. This is a display that’s designed to be heard, and it can really crank up the tunes when…

ERIC KING, GENERAL Manager, Amazon Alexa Europe, has been helping to grow Amazon’s voice services ever since it first opened the system up to developers, and has led the charge for growing the range of Alexa Skills and hardware partners for Amazon Voice Services that have defined Alexa’s rise to the top of the voice-assistant charts. Are there areas of the tech world that you think voice control would be suited for, but it hasn’t really permeated yet? Where we see customers adopting voice most aggressively and at the fastest rate is in areas where, frankly, it makes their lives easier – where life is easier when you don’t have to fumble for a phone in order to do something. We see our next logical advancement to that happening in…

01 INSTALLATION OPTIONS If you’re starting from scratch, install Luminar Flex after you’ve finished installing your image-editing apps, so the plug-ins register correctly. During installation, you’ll be asked which apps are on your PC, so tick the boxes that apply. Once installed, you’ll see nothing has changed apart from a new shortcut on your desktop. You can still use Elements without opening Luminar. 02 USE AS A STANDALONE APP Double-clicking that shortcut opens an app that looks like Luminar 3’s Edit mode. Luminar can be a bit baffling at first, as it doesn’t follow the conventions of image-editing apps, such as having a toolbar on the left. There are bars at the top, bottom and right, however, housing all you need to change your photos, including a layering system almost…

IF YOU’VE ALWAYS dreamed of being a guitar hero but couldn’t be bothered with the tedium and sore fingers of actually practising, GarageBand is here to help. Apple’s app enables you to play guitar even if you can’t play it for real, and the results can be really impressive: not only does GarageBand create the chords for you, but it can even do the actual playing. You can use a classic acoustic guitar, or choose from three electric offerings. Classic Clean emulates the warmth of big-bodied electrics, Roots Rock is bluesy, and the Hard Rock option adds some fun distortion to the sound. Each electric guitar also includes a pair of effects pedals to color the sound. For example, Classic Clean has an echo and a chorus pedal, while Hard…

WHEN IT COMES to both personal and business cyber security, there is perhaps no more important defence than the firewall. Firewalls don’t get the kind of press they used to, simply because they’ve actually become very good at their jobs, forcing cyber criminals to resort to other means of attack like malware and social engineering. But if your firewalls ever went down, you’d know it: it’s likely that your system would be compromised in minutes. So let’s take a look at firewalls: what rules you should know, and when and how to break those rules. WHAT DOES A FIREWALL DO? We should start with what a firewall does. Simply put, a firewall blocks internet traffic. It doesn’t allow any traffic to pass unless that traffic is ‘approved’ under the rules…

WHILE SOME MODERN digital cameras are able to offer a dynamic range of 15EV, capturing superb detail in both shadow and highlight areas, certain lighting can still prove challenging. In high-contrast light, shadows can appear too dark or highlights too bright, requiring careful metering and subtle post-processing to balance the image. Dynamic Range Optimisation (DRO) is present on most advanced cameras – Active D-Lighting is Nikon terminology, but similar systems are used on many brands. DRO works by automatically prioritising for highlight detail, underexposing the shot, then applying processing to lift dark shadow areas. For JPEG images the shadows are processed at image capture, outputting a file that already features a widened apparent dynamic range, creating a more ‘finished’ state. When shooting RAW files, as with other in-camera enhancements, this…

PERFECT YOUR PRECIOUS PHOTOGRAPHS EDIT AND IMPROVE IMAGES WITH ASHAMPOO PHOTO OPTIMIZER 2019 FULL VERSION WORTH $30 Photo editing doesn’t have to be time-consuming! With Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2019, all it takes is a single click to improve your photos significantly. The integrated image optimisation auto-detects dull colors, unsuitable color temperatures or poor exposure and instantly fixes these defects! The software even features a more advanced analysis to auto-optimise white exposure and contrast spreads. Thanks to its sophisticated algorithm, this photo editing software is your weapon of choice to optimise your photos! Download link: www.ashampoo.com/techlifemagazine KEEP YOUR DRIVE IN A SOLID STATE OPTIMIZE SSD PERFORMANCE WITH ABELSSOFT SSD FRESH FULL VERSION WORTH $17 Unlike hard drives, SSDs don’t use magnetised metal plates, but digital memory cells, which are addressed directly.…

NIKON MADE A spectacular debut in the mirrorless full-frame world with the Nikon Z6, an all-rounder that is still one of our favourate snappers. And now it’s trying to repeat the trick for APS-C cameras with the dinkier, more hobbyist-friendly Nikon Z50. What are APS-C cameras? This sensor format became dominant in the early days of DSLRs, and is used in cameras that sit below full-frame models. Smaller than full-frame, and called DX format by Nikon, these sensors are found in more compact, affordable bodies that are great for travel. Not that the Nikon Z50 is small for an APS-C camera. Perhaps thinking of those who might be moving from its DSLRs, Nikon has prioritised handling in the form of a generous grip, at the expense of a very small…

MICROSOFT EDGE IS changing. As reported in these pages previously, Microsoft’s oft-maligned web browser is getting a fresh lick of paint on the outside and a complete mechanical rewrite underneath. This means the technology borrowed from Internet Explorer, which until now has dealt with the difficult task of displaying web pages, is being removed in favour of the Chromium engine which powers Google’s Chrome. That’s a very significant update – the browser itself won’t look or feel particularly different in use, but the move to Chromium will help Edge’s updates more frequently, by more people, and means Microsoft’s own engineers can focus on building a better browser. It also means that those building the web have an easier time, given that they have one less browser technology to build for.…

THERE’S A PRETTY balanced arrangement of news this month across the emerging tech sections with a smattering of novel products, like a spraypaint wielding graffiti drone and a set of ‘affordable’ bionic leg braces, that are a little further outside the box than what we usually cover. VR has some interesting developments in the on-site experience and WebVR spaces and Snapchat have released a batty videoclip to promote the launch of the Spectacles 3 Gucci Edition AR glasses. AI take on the human writers at Cards Against Humanity for their jobs and some geniuses decided to send the defensive and malfunctioning CIMON AI robot back to the confined cabins of the ISS... what could possibly go wrong there? SpaceX sends CIMON-2 to the ISS CIMON SAYS “YOU SHOULD EAT, IT’S…

darksiders.com | US$29.99 | PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC DARKSIDERS IS DOWNSIZING a bit in 2019, but the series hasn’t lost a step. Darksiders has shed its open-world action roots in favor of a fast-paced isometric 3D action-platformer in the style of games like Diablo and Torchlight. As with past installments, Darksiders Genesis is easily compared to other action games, but it does just enough to set itself apart. From this new perspective, the puzzle-solving and platforming the series is known for feels fresh and familiar. Above all, though, it is a hack-and-slasher, with legions of enemies to dismantle and crush alone or with a co-op partner. And though it can’t help but get a bit repetitive as the adventure wears on, Darksiders Genesis feels right at home in its…

I THINK IT’S SAFE to say there are few inviolable elements in videogames. It can often seem like anything goes, as in the pure chaos of each new world, players are tried, duped, terrified and thoroughly tested – we play games, and they play us right back. It could be weeping as you repeatedly stomp an already dead jump-scare Necromorph, worrying about your heart rate as you face off against Ornstein and Smough yet again, or watching, transfixed, as the causality of your in-game decisions is brought to bear in the most tortuous manner possible. Games take their toll, whether through intensity, horror, emotion, or simply sheer visual noise. Enter safe rooms, the wonderful answer to the question, “How do we get players to take breaks if they won’t stop…

GIMP WWW.GIMP.ORG GIMP (THE GNU Image Manipulation Program) is the best free photo editor around. It’s packed with the kind of image-enhancing tools you’d find in premium software, and more are being added every day. The photo editing toolkit is breathtaking, and features layers, masks, curves, and levels. You can eliminate flaws easily with the excellent clone stamp and healing tools, create custom brushes, apply perspective changes, and apply changes to isolated areas with smart selection tools. GIMP is an open source, free photo editor, and its community of users and developers has created a huge collection of plugins to extend its utility even further. Many of these come pre-installed, and you can download more from the official glossary. If that’s not enough, you can even install Photoshop plugins. GIMP…

WANT A SMARTWATCH but don’t want to pay lots for it? There are lots of cheap smartwatch options on the market, but most of the Fitbit options so far – that’s the Fitbit Versa and Fitbit Ionic – started out relatively expensive, so the company wanted to change that with its new Versa Lite. FITBIT’S SMARTWATCH PLATFORM ISN’T AS MATURE AS WEAR OS OR WATCHOS - THAT’S WHAT THE APPLE WATCH USES - BUT IT DOES OFFER A VARIETY OF THIRD-PARTY APPS ALONGSIDE THE COMPANY’S OWN APPS AND SERVICES. The Fitbit Versa Lite Edition is a new version of 2018’s best-selling Fitbit Versa, but comes with a few features stripped away to ensure a slightly lower price. In terms of the entire Versa range, the Fitbit Versa 2 trumps both…

I SAY ‘SHIPPING container’, because the rugged industrial style makes it look like one. Functionally that’s also what it does, and as far as portable external storage goes, as WD and Seagate well know – the market battleground is all about styling with these things. YOU CAN BUY A FUNCTIONALLY IDENTICAL 8TB 7200RPM WD MY BOOK DESKTOP DRIVE FOR JUST $250 AND EFFECTIVELY HAVE THE SAME CAPACITY AND PERFORMANCE FOR $130 LESS, FROM THE SAME COMPANY. WD has five new drives marketed as game storage for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, varying in capacity and whether it uses SSD or HDD. The model with the highest capacity is the 12TB WD Black D10, but we’re testing the 8TB model here. We chose to look at the D10 because unlike the…

CREATE YOUR OWN tags in Finder’s Preferences to make it easy to classify and find related files. 01 CHANGE HOW YOUR FOLDERS ARE DISPLAYED To change how Finder displays a folder, open any folder in Finder and then click on View > Show View Options. Choose how the contents should be grouped and sorted, and also specify if you want the folder to always open in List View. Also, Cmd-1, 2, 3 or 4 displays icon view, list view, column view and gallery view. 02 DECLUTTER YOUR DESKTOP Show View Options also works on the desktop to set Stack and sorting options, icon sizes and spacing, and the size and positioning of text labels. 03 CHANGE GLOBAL SETTINGS AND SIDEBAR You can adjust global settings for the Finder in its…

01 USE MEANINGFUL NAMES You’ve got 255 characters to play with when naming things, so give images, documents, and everything else names that make it clear what they are: “Karen attacked by furious monkey” is easier to identify and find than “IMG1698.png”. 02 STICK IT IN THE CLOUD If you have an iCloud subscription you can mirror Desktop and Documents Folders, deleting local copies to free up space. Ctrl-click and select Remove Download – a little icon appears to show it’s now stored in the cloud. 03 TAG EVERYTHING Tags are brilliant, and Finder makes them simple. By creating descriptive tags in Finder > Preferences > Tags and using them to classify your files, you’re making it easy to find related files by picking the appropriate tag in the sidebar.…

Contacts you mark as VIPs get a special Smart Mailbox so you can focus on your most important contacts. You simply click on the sender name in the main message window and select Add to VIPs. VIPs are shared on iOS too. We love Smart Mailboxes too. Go to Mailbox > New Smart Mailbox to set up a mailbox that filters messages by specific criteria. You can create a mailbox that only shows mail about a specific subject or from specific people between specific dates with specific kinds of attachments or that you haven’t replied to. macOS Catalina introduced two useful features to Mail: the ability to block specific senders, and the ability to automatically unsubscribe from mailing lists. To block a sender, click on their name or email address…

MAKE USE OF THE TASKBAR The Taskbar is the best location for any, and all, shortcuts that you need. Right-click your existing desktop or Start menu shortcuts and choose ‘Pin to taskbar’ to add them. You can then drag and drop icons within the bar to order them logically. MINIMISE THE SEARCH BOX Does the new search bar take up too much room on your Taskbar? Right-click an empty part of the Taskbar and choose Cortana > ‘Show Cortana icon’ to replace it with a clickable icon instead; or choose Cortana > Hidden if you never use it. RESIZE THE TASKBAR Running out of space for shortcut icons? Make them smaller by right-clicking the Taskbar, choosing ‘Taskbar settings’ and flick the ‘Use small taskbar buttons’ switch to On. Or right-click…

SCREENS ARE A fact of life. You have one in your pocket, you probably use one at work, and you almost certainly have at least one of them at home in your living room. But the major tech titans are betting there’s room for at least one more screen in your life courtesy of a new category of gadgets called Smart Displays. Smart Displays are a natural evolution of the Smart Speaker segment popularised by the Amazon Echo and Google Home. They’re more or less the same type of device, enabling you to leverage the powerful AI voice assistant platforms of Google or Amazon, only with a screen attached that adds visual information. The extension makes sense. Certain types of content are better represented visually, such as weekly weather forecasts,…

WITH A 10.1-INCH display, plus-sized form factor and powerful, bass-heavy speakers, the second-generation Echo Show is a direct rival to the Google Nest Hub Max and Lenovo Smart Display. It has a similar set of core features, enabling you to use your voice to call up any number of functions such as music playback, smart home control, online information search and weather forecasts. But you can push it further with Alexa Skills and built-in web browsing functionality. There’s a good amount of local content in the Alexa Skills database, including video apps (ABC iView, 7 News, Sky News, Fox Sports Live News, AFL) and radio apps (SBS News, Nova, 2GB). You can also access several local services using your voice, such as hailing an Uber, ordering a Domino’s pizza, checking…

THE LENOVO SMART Clock faces stiff competition from the Amazon Echo 5. Boasting the same bargain basement pricetag of $79, the Lenovo contender has a smaller, lower-res four-inch screen, doesn’t support video playback, and lacks a video camera and 3.5mm audio output. With that many strikes against it, you’d think the Lenovo Smart Clock would be dead in the water, but that’s not necessarily the case. The ace up its sleeve is that it runs the Google Assistant platform, which offers a better all-round experience – particularly at the smart clock level. Lenovo has stripped back the Google Assistant experience, which means you can’t display photos, play YouTube videos, make video calls or send videos to it from your smartphone via Chromecast. But you can still access a healthy selection…

MELISSA GREGG IS a Senior Principal Engineer at Intel, and whose work involves researching how people use their devices, and working that into Intel’s strategies. She’s part of the team developing Project Athena, a template for a new generation of laptops designed to address recent changes in how we work as a society. Do you think there’s an important distinction between a more traditional computer with a full interface, and simpler devices or appliances that have invisible software? I think that there’s an interesting continuum right now where the visibility, or the literacy required of computing, is much broader than it once was. It’s very easy to talk to an Echo or a Google Home. It doesn’t require you to have a great deal of programming knowledge in order to…

[ ALAN STONEBRIDGE ] DOES IT EVER feel disproportionately onerous and slow to get things done in Finder? Features like Spotlight can help to a degree, but what can you do in scenarios where it’s unavailable or simply irrelevant? That’s why you can tailor Finder, and make use of some of its less–obvious features to help speed up working with files. The items that you see in Finder’s sidebar, for example, aren’t set in stone. If you don’t need a shortcut to the Applications folder there – Spotlight and Launchpad may be good enough for you – why keep it around? You can simply select Go > Applications to see that folder’s full contents instead. What if you’re not remotely fussed about filing in folders? Tags can help you find…

01 GET A GUITAR Create or open a song and tap on the instruments icon in the top–left corner. Swipe until you see Guitar. The easiest way to start playing is to choose Smart Guitar, so let’s do just that by tapping on the appropriate icon. 02 START STRUMMING Smart Guitar is fun. Tap a string and it’ll play the appropriate note; tap the name of the chord above the strings and GarageBand will play the whole chord. You can also strum by swiping up or down on the strings. 03 CHANGE THE KEY Fancy a different key? Tap the settings icon (the spanner) and then choose Key Signature. You can now choose the root note and whether it’s a minor or major key. The guitar chords change accordingly. 04…

THERE’S SO MUCH ‘Apple-ness’ that runs through the AirPods Pro – from the initial setup, where the headphones scan your ears to check they’re the right fit, through to the fact there’s a small air vent to make putting them in or removing them a more comfortable experience. In short, fans of the Apple ethos will be overjoyed with their purchase here. The sound quality of the AirPods Pro has certainly improved since the previous iteration – there’s a notable emphasis on vocals and bass, meaning these earbuds are better for pop fans than those that enjoy a more natural presentation that lends itself to classical music or more orchestral sounds. The battery life is strong (for Apple earbuds – not compared to the 8-9 hours other true wireless earbuds…

LOOKING TO SELL more than the odd second-hand toy? Then step right up to the Etsy marketplace. Focussing on vintage, hand-made, and personalised goods, if you’re someone with an up and coming business, Etsy may be the perfect platform for getting your product into the hands of buyers all over the world. Launching first in the US in 2005, Etsy has since gone on to become a go-to destination for unique and one-of-a-kind gifts perfect for any occasion, whether it be hand-made jewellery, living room furniture, abstract wall art, or a personalised keychain. After last month covering the basics of browsing and purchasing items on the site, we’re now going to walk you through the process of setting up your very own store. THE BASICS WHAT TO SELL. Deciding if…

$65 | planetzoogame.com | PC THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN a roller coaster and a ring-tailed lemur is that when one has a problem it’s a mild irritation and when the other has a problem it’s a cause of unbridled panic and guilt. There are stressful components to every management simulation game, but where Planet Coaster’s mechanical breakdowns make me worry briefly about profits, Planet Zoo’s biological breakdowns make me feel like a neglectful, abusive monster who should be dragged off to jail and never allowed near another living thing ever again. Planet Zoo has several official modes: Career, Challenge, Sandbox, and Franchise, but its two actual modes are ‘Things Seem Fine’ and ‘Oh God What Have I Done?!’. My elephants, giraffes, orangutans, panda bears, and dozens of other furry friends can…

“It’s a bit technical, but bear with me!” says Uchiyama. “A chord is made up of multiple notes; for a basic major chord, the first note determines the basic sound (eg the note C), and then two more notes at the third and fifth intervals above this note make it a chord. So for C, that would be C-E-G. Major chords sound upbeat or happy to us, whereas minor chords (in this case C, E flat and G) sound sad or scary. I intentionally removed almost all the third-interval notes (in the above example, that would be the E note) from the chords in the save room theme and added an unsettling element by sprinkling in some sixth and seventh interval notes, and sometimes seventh or ninth chords as well.…

THERE’S NOTHING BETTER than training with a decent partner – and the Garmin Forerunner 935 promises it can be the very best that you can bring with you. Whether it’s through extended battery life, more activities tracked than you can shake a stick at or just a strong watch that will stick with you through thick and thin, the Forerunner 935 could be one of the top running watches on the market. IT’S A TOUCH HEAVIER THAN SOME WATCHES AT 49G, BUT THAT’S MUCH LIGHTER THAN THE GARMIN FENIX 5X AND BARELY REGISTERS ON THE WRIST IF YOU’RE USED TO WEARING A RUNNING WATCH. That said, it’s also pretty expensive – so is this the right device for the casual fitness fan, or is it only the purview of those…

THERE’S A NEAR-ENDLESS availability of gaming headsets in the $100-200 price range, likely because products here fall in a sweet spot that balances decent audio quality, affordability, and simple, yet practical functionality. The premium market that the HyperX Cloud Orbit S finds itself in is comparatively rather sparse, so is the jump worth it? The major reason for the increased cost is the use of planar driver technology rather than typical coils. This promises significantly lower distortion (particularly at loud levels) and increased overall clarity, and it achieves this stunningly – the separation of sound sources within the mix is phenomenal, whether it’s a game, movie or music. These are some of – if not the – most affordable planar headphones on the market, so it’s tempting to consider anything…

01 AUTOCOMPLETE ENTRIES In System Prefs > Keyboard > Text, you can create automated text snippets; e.g. when we type “;shrug” it prints ¯\_ _/¯ . We also use it to auto- complete addresses and stock replies. 02 CREATE SHORTCUTS Shortcuts enables you to create shortcuts on a system–wide or per–app basis. For the latter, press the “+”, select the app you want to create a shortcut for and pick the menu command. 03 ADD OTHER KEYBOARDS If you want to use multiple keyboard languages and layouts, go to the Input Sources tab to set up multiple keyboards for the same Mac. You can also set up Bluetooth keyboards here. 4 GET DICTATING The dictation in macOS is brilliant, and you can enable it in the Dictation tab here. The…

01 GET THE HANG OF GESTURES Mission Control makes great use of trackpad gestures. You can open it with a three-fingered swipe upwards, and close it by doing the same thing downwards. Swipe left or right with the same three fingers and you can move between open windows. You can customise these gestures in System Preferences. 02 GET HOT IN THE CORNER You can automatically access Mission Control features by assigning Hot Corners, which activate when you move the pointer to that corner and which can open Mission Control or focus on the current window. A big time saver. 03 USE THE ARROW KEYS If you don’t want to use Hot Corners or trackpad gestures, you can hold down Ctrl and use the arrow keys. Ctrl-Up Arrow will open Mission…

Instead of listing every website from your favorites, Safari in macOS Catalina shows your most frequently used sites plus Siri Suggestions, which are based on things you’ve searched for or been sent recently. You can re-order icons, and use Show More if you want to see everything. If you would rather see bookmarks from a particular folder here you can change that in Safari > Preferences > General > Favorites Shows. If you type in the address of a site you’ve already got open in a tab, Safari will show you a “Switch to Tab” option. The Window menu has a new “Tile Window to Left/Right of screen” for display tidying, and you can now pop out the video playing inside a page. This enables you to get on with…

CUSTOMISE FOLDER BEHAVIOUR Windows can be instructed to treat folders in a specific way depending on the contents inside. Right-click a folder and choose Properties > Customise where you can optimise it for a specific file type, such as pictures or documents. CHANGE THE FOLDER ICON You’ll also see an option to change the folder icon – useful if you want a more visual prompt as to the folder’s contents. Click ‘Change Icon…’ to browse files for any icons they contain (shell32.dll is selected by default with lots of options). You can also select previously created or downloaded icon (ICO) files – see the step-by-step guide on the page opposite for a way to extract icons from other files. Alternatively, click ‘Choose File…’ to choose a picture to display instead…

THE NEST HUB packs a lot into its small frame. While it looks like a 7-inch tablet on a stand, it doesn’t function like one. There’s no traditional menu system or on-screen keyboard. Instead, you operate it primarily through voice commands based on the task you want to perform, and this is supported by on-screen visuals (where appropriate) that are optimised for viewing across the room. That said, there are certain things you can do straight from the screen. As with other Google Assistant-powered Smart Displays, swiping down from the top brings up the home view UI, where you can quickly manage smart home devices like lights, plugs, security cameras and doorbells. Meanwhile, swiping from the right on the home screen brings up cards based on recent activity, such as…

TECHNICALLY, THE ECHO Show 5 falls into the “smart clock” category, pitting it squarely against the Lenovo Smart Clock. We’ll cover off its enhanced snooze-busting features in a moment, but it’s worth noting from the outset that the Show 5 isn’t purposefully crippled like the Lenovo. You can still stream Amazon Prime Video, access the web browser, make video calls, control smart home devices and view how-to videos from WikiHow like you can on the larger Echo Show. The main limitation, really, is just the smaller 5.5inch screen. The rear speakers are surprisingly loud for the form factor, and most likely an improvement on what your smartphone can produce. It’s not one for audiophiles, but it’s ample for listening to music and podcasts in the bedroom, watching a quick video…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a smart display that does double duty as a compact, all-in-one video player, the Lenovo Smart Display 10 is the best option. This device offers the same 10-inch display as the flagship models from Amazon and Google, but it bumps the screen resolution up to a sharp 1,920 x 1,200 – a pixel jump that makes a real difference when you’re streaming content from YouTube, Google Play, or Stan. One thing we missed from the Google-branded smart displays, however, is the Ambient EQ. As well as adjusting the screen brightness automatically, this feature adjusts the colour temperature of the screen, which somehow eliminates the tell-tale backlight of the LCD to make it look like an actual framed picture. The wedge-shaped design and attractive, bamboo-covered rear makes…

CLEMENT WONG IS Huawei’s VP, Global Product Marketing, and has spent decades working in the digital and mobile industries. He’s been at Huawei for seven years, helping to steer its growth worldwide from a relatively unknown Chinese brand into a gadget juggernaut. How do you think the physical form of phones will change in years to come? When you look at the trend in the last 10 years, people keep making the phone compact and sleek, but the display is huge. But there’s a little bit of a difficulty, because if you keep the display huge, the phone won’t be very light or compact. So that’s why the foldable phone is coming out. I think some more variable devices are coming out, too. So I think ‘foldable’ and high-speed connectivity…

LUMINAR IS ONE of our favourite image editing apps, and takes a slightly different approach than Adobe. That firm’s Photoshop apps enable you to edit photos in many ways, cut them up, apply special effects and blend images together, as well as altering an image’s colour balance, brightness and contrast. Luminar is less flashy, but applies its tools across every image you shoot. Luminar is non-destructive, so all the edits you make are stored in a database file alongside the image file rather than being written over the top of it. This enables you to go back to the original at any time. The latest version of Luminar – Luminar Flex – can run alongside Photoshop and Photoshop Elements as a plug-in, enabling you to combine both apps’ tools. Free…

01 TIDY UP THE SIDEBAR You can drag default items out of the bar to remove them – wait for a cross to appear, then let go – and folders you want into the Favorites section. Recent macOS versions let you drag sections into the order you want. 02 MAKE SHORTCUTS ELSEWHERE Aliases are another way to reach files and folders that you don’t want in Finder’s sidebar, or in the Dock’s right side. Drag one, hold Alt-Cmd, and drop elsewhere to create a link to it. 03 TAG YOUR FILES Tags also help when you need to quickly look up files. Ctrl-click a file (or a selection) and choose a tag from the menu (which you can set in Finder > Preferences > Tags). Or choose Tags to pick…

WE’VE WRITTEN BEFORE about new uses for old Android devices, but what about old computers; can they receive an Android upgrade? We retrieved a ten-year-old Acer Aspire One netbook (remember netbooks?) from the back of a cupboard. It ran at a glacial pace on Windows 10 and seemed a perfect candidate for Android. With just 1MB of RAM it had struggled on Windows 7, too. Recent Android versions should run super fast on PC hardware, and all the Android apps and online services would be available. So: could we replace Windows 10 with Android 10? The answer turned out to be maybe, sometimes... It requires technical skill, patience, and a degree of luck. There’s no simple “How To” for this challenge but exploring the following options might get you there!…

ONE OF THE prerequisites of running a home server of any kind – web, file, Minecraft, VPN, whatever – is that your server can be found. If you’re running an old-style private Minecraft server, for example, the players will need a fixed address that they can point their client at – either an IP address or a URL. Without that ability, running the server is pointless. Last month we talked about how you can make your network ‘findable’ on the internet using dynamic DNS. That way, even if you IP address changes, your home network will always be accessible. But there’s another thing you have to consider when running a server – the private IP address of the device you’re running the server on. To understand what this is all…

Tesla laser beam windscreen wipers TESLA PATENT TURNS MODEL S INTO BOND CAR. $NA | www.tesla.com/en_au Tesla isn’t afraid of crossing boundaries with the design of its cars, but its latest ambition to include a pair of laser-driven windscreen wipers may just be its most outlandish feature yet. A Tesla patent, published by the US Trademark Office in November, shows a contraption that uses concentrated light instead of squirters and wipers to remove anything lodged on the windscreen. From the drawings it looks like the glass will have enough of a convex shape to reflect the beams once they’ve burnt off any surface gunk so it doesn’t blind those behind the wheel, but we’re curious to see if the lasers can swivel around to double as forward facing weapons. Mac…