Technology Simplified

With headphones of all types, colours and styles flooding the market, it’s hard knowing which ones to pick – do you go for the premium model you’ve always wanted, or are you better off just grabbing a cheap set from the discount bin? Well, it’s worth remembering that cheap headphones are cheap for a reason, so even if saving money is priority we can’t recommend those $2 discount-bin variety that you find all over the world. And, as you’ll find out below, you don’t always have spend a lot of dosh to snag a great set of headphones either. To save you the time and effort, we’ve put together this dedicated guide to the best bargains on great-sounding headphone. We constantly monitor major Aussie retailers and go a-huntin’ to bring you the most worthwhile deals on a variety of sets – from in-ear buds to noise-cancelling cans to Sony headphones – so check out our continually updated list below to discover the best current headphones deals in Australia. Best cheap over-ear headphones this...

Amazon Prime Day isn’t too far away and, in the lead up to the big sale, the e-commerce giant is offering Australian Prime members a chance to experience some of its other services for free. If you are an existing Prime member but have never tried Audible or Kindle Unlimited before, you can sign up for either one or both services between July 1 and July 31 and you can enjoy a three-month long free trial period for each service. Now, presumably this means that those who haven't trialled Amazon Prime before can sign up for a free 30-day trial (making use of it during Amazon Prime Day while you're at it), and then sign up for both the Audible and Kindle Unlimited offers as well. So many stories… Audible and Kindle Unlimited are for booklovers. If you love to read, then Kindle Unlimited will give you access to over a million ebooks. If any of those ebooks have an audio version available on Audible, you’ll even be able to listen to the narration if you don’t have the time to...

iPhone 7 deals might now be the oldest option from mega company Apple you can still buy, but for the price you can now pay, they are our go to cheap iPhone. Not to mention the price of iPhone 7 deals remain comforting amongst Apple's usual gut-wrenching prices we've come to expect. So forget the likes of iPhone XR deals and the rest of Apple's newer range, iPhone 7 deals are here for the budget buyers of the world. When it comes to Apple, we can't imagine a better bargain than this. Of course if affordable pricing is less of an issue for you and specs is your core focus, then another iPhone deal would probably be better. But despite its age the iPhone 7 still rocks many of the specs we have come to expect from Apple. A mid-size battery, strong processor and the much loved iOS features Apple has made famous. When it comes to choosing the tariff for you there is still a surprisingly large range of iPhone 7 deals. Big data remains affordable and brilliant cheap contr...

Apple makes some of the best phones out there but obviously with that comes a pretty big price tag. With devices such as the iPhone XS Max and XR costing eye-watering prices, it can make sense to go back a models and pick yourself up one of Apple's older plus size models.  This is where the iPhone 8 Plus deals come in. If you want one of the newest large screened Apple smartphones, but the price of the iPhone XS make you feel dizzy, then the 8 Plus will be the one for you. So how are iPhone 8 Plus prices looking. On average, if you shop wisely (using our price comparison chart below) you'll save yourself around £300 if you go for this handset over the iPhone X. We've seen monthly tariffs as low as the £25 region if you're prepared to stick a wedge down upfront. Still feeling a bit overwhelmed by these prices? Don't forget that iPhone 8 deals are also available if you'd prefer the smaller smartphone, along with the smaller prices. And you can save £10 on the...

The Galaxy Note 9 has been out for a while now and Samsung Galaxy S10 deals are readily available, which in theory should make Galaxy Note 8 deals old news. Right? Well that's what you would think.  But the 2017 model is so incredible that it still performs just like a new model and not to mention it is so much cheaper than its successor. Samsung Galaxy Note 8 deals are definitely still well worth a look. And it's still getting cheaper! When the Note 8 first came out EE had deals locked down tight, but now there is a pretty good spread across providers so no matter your preference you don't have to switch, Although EE still does have some of the very best deals on this device. Samsung Note 8 deals are now well under the £900-mark in total over the two-year contract and can go as low as £750. The Note 8 is not by any means a budget device, however. It's a absolutely massive  smartphone, not just in size but also in raw power. It's got the screen size and specifi...

It wasn't that long ago that the Galaxy S8 Plus was the big dog in the Samsung yard. It was the go to Android phablet for any looking for a bigger phone for a good six months or so after its release in 2017. With the S9 Plus, Note 9 and Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus deals all now available, the S8 Plus has been slowly replaced. But Galaxy S8 Plus deals are still well worth a look - possibly now more than ever. A year might have passed since its release, but the S8+ remains one of our absolute favourites, especially as the Galaxy S9 Plus doesn't offer much in the way of massive improvements. The S8 Plus is a way more affordable alternative to its successor, as well as to the Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max . If that's got you sold, then you'll want to hear a little about pricing. We have the full rundown of the best Galaxy S8 Plus deals right here in our comparison chart, with the cheapest prices from the major networks - EE, O2, Vodafone and Three - including sub-£25pm t...

More people are doing more with their computers these days, and that means a greater number of applications are in use at any one time, whether at home or at work. Whether you’re a writer, graphic artist, coder or call center assistant, having a second display can give you more breathing space on the desktop to spread apps out and use them as they were intended. Obviously, it’s easier to get hold of multiple monitors back at home or in the office, but what about when you’re out and about? Responding to demand, monitor makers have put out thin and light models that are just as responsive as their full-sized cousins while being slim enough to slip into a backpack. We’ve picked out some of the best portable monitors, which use the latest in display technology, so that you don’t have to. Packed Pixels is a wingmirror-style monitor that can be fixed to the left and right sides of your laptop’s screen to give you two extra displays. While they can be used at their native 2,048 x 1,536 r...

Apple News Plus , which you can pay $10 a month for in the US, is a big part of Apple's push into digital services, but a new report suggests that publishers aren't too enamoured with the platform so far – and that Apple is promising improvements. According to Business Insider , publishers aren't getting anywhere near the levels of revenue that Apple suggested they might before the service launched in March. Although initial uptake was apparently brisk , it would seem not many of those users have kept on their News Plus subscription beyond the initial free trial. It's difficult to know for sure, as Apple hasn't revealed a full breakdown of subscriber numbers. Get ready for iOS 13 Jony Ive is out at Apple There won't be a Google Stadia beta One of the issues with the service, Business Insider's sources say, is that readers are confused about what is and isn't included for free as part of Apple News: a small News Plus icon is usually the only diff...

Recent years have seen mobile photography pushed to new extremes. While mobile phones have all but replaced standard point and shoot cameras, they are now aiming at higher-end cameras with features such as bokeh effect, low-light photography and higher optical zoom ranges.  Oppo was the first mobile phone manufacturer to showcase prism-based camera technology, that allowed for much larger optical zooming than the 2x zoom found on most phones. The Oppo Reno 10X Zoom features a hybrid zooming mechanism that get you a 10x lossless zoom. If you really want to stretch it out, it can go as high as 60X digital zoom which is unheard of in a smartphone. The Oppo Reno 10X Zoom is a flagship phone with top specs, such as the latest Snapdragon 855 processor with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It looks gorgeous with a full screen design on the front and Oppo’s ingenious shark-fin slider that hides the front facing camera. The phone is absolutely gorgeous and feels very premium in your hand...

HTC expects mixed reality, the combination of virtual reality and augmented reality, to become the next “disruptive technology.” “There are some technical hurdles now such as resolution and tracking the ability to move forward but we want to overcome that. Vive Reality is the ability for us to switch between real life, mixed reality and full virtual reality,” Graham Wheeler, president for HTC Europe, Middle East and Africa, told TechRadar Middle East after announcing the winners of the “VR & Beyond” competition held in collaboration with Burj Khalifa, HTC Vive and Dubai Future Accelerators. The competition, themed around the Burj Khalifa, was initiated in November 2018 and received 115 virtual reality submissions globally. The winner – Game Cooks from the US - and runner-up estudiofuture from Spain, were honoured on Thursday. With 5G and artificial intelligence coming into the picture, Wheeler said that the Vive Reality experience is going to change dramatically. “It is not be...

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343 Industries has confirmed that the first public beta test for Halo: Reach, part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, is underway but it’s currently only accessible to fewer than 1000 Halo Insiders. 343 Industries has taken to the Halo Insider forums to announce that this first test is “just the beginning” and that it’s being kept “very small”, so if you did sign up for the Halo: Reach flighting tests and didn’t get an invite, you’re not the only one.  “We’ve had a massive amount of opt-ins to the Insider program which is awesome,” 343 explains, “but it’s way more people than we can comfortably accommodate in our first flight out the door.” Taking flight The first flight is running from June 28 until July 1 and includes the Halo: Reach campaign mission Tip of the Spear, which is an updated build of the demo shown at E3 this year. Given it’s still a work-in-progress, the build is apparently missing a few features and has several known issues. The main aim for 343 Industries...

Any smartphone can take a picture, but only the best handsets can take a great picture, and the OnePlus 7 Pro and Huawei P30 are two of the most high-end devices for photography. Each has three rear snappers – one standard, one ultra-wide, and one for long distance pictures – and they also come with an AI scene optimization tool to take the very best pictures possible. But which is the absolute best? It's a hard question to answer, so instead of picking a phone, we took them both out on a few adventures, so we can compare pictures taken with each of the devices. These are the results of the test. The images you see below are of the OnePlus 7 Pro – click on the arrow on each image to see the Huawei P30 equivalent. A word on the cameras The OnePlus 7 Pro has a 48MP main camera, joined by a 16MP ultra-wide snapper and an 8MP sensor with telephoto lens that supports up to 3x optical zoom. The Huawei P30 only has a 40MP main sensor, and like the OnePlus phone it has a 16MP ultr...

There are signs of a thaw in the ongoing US vs Huawei saga , with President Trump announcing that Huawei will once again be able to buy technology from US suppliers – with certain limits. "US companies can sell their equipment to Huawei," Bloomberg reports Trump as saying at a G20 news conference. "We're talking about equipment where there's no great national security problem with it." It would appear the US and Chinese governments are prepared to press pause on the ongoing trade war happening between the countries, which should give companies on both sides of the Pacific some breathing space. The future could be scooter-driven Huawei Android updates are under threat Microsoft patents a folding device As yet it's not clear exactly what the change in policy will mean: Huawei remains on the Commerce Department's Entities List, which means any deals will need approval from the US authorities. Further talks are planned this week. Details to fo...

Between the predictable spells of rain, the 2019 Cricket World Cup has delivered all the scintillating action that we'd been waiting four years for. We've now seen enough to start getting an idea of which teams will proceed into the knockout stages and who the form players are that may emerge as the tournament MVPs. There's been big hitting, fearsome bowling and spectacular catches. And you've come to the right place to find out how to live stream every last ball of the Cricket World Cup regardless of where you live. Although most countries have paid-for TV viewing only (including hosts England) some nations are luckier - for example, Australians can watch their boys and the latter stages on Channel 9, while Pakistan have every match free in the English language on the state-owned PTV. 10 of the world's elite cricket-playing countries are competing title of best ODI team on Earth with only one to be left standing by the end on July 14. It's the 12th incarnatio...

With Pakistan having piled the pressure on with their win on Saturday against Afghanistan, and a ruthless India eyeing pole position in the table, England taking their place in the 2019 Cricket World Cup semi-final now looks seriously in doubt. You'll be able to watch all the action from this crucial clash no matter where you are in the world by using our England vs India live stream guide below. The brief is s a simple one for Eoin Morgan's men, who entered the tournament as favourites - nothing less than a win today will do. Having lost their last two games on the spin, England's confidence looks shot, with thier batting order looking particularly jittery. They can at least take encouragement from the fact that they beat their opponents today 2-1 in their last bilateral series at home. However, with a large contingent of India fans expected in the stands to cheer on their side and pile as much pressure on the hosts as possible, there's never been a better time for...

Following the success of All Elite Wrestling’s debut Double or Nothing event over Memorial Day Weekend, the promotion is back with its second event...AEW Fyter Fest. As it looks to build momentum to try and take on the might and money of the WWE, you can see all the action tonight with our guide to watch AEW Fyter Fest for FREE. The main card will feature six matches including a huge six-man tag team matchup where Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks will face off against the Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid. Cody will take on Darby Allin in a singles match and Jon Moxley and Joey Janela will go head to head in a match wrestling fans won’t want to miss. The event will coincide with the 10th year of the CEO Fighting Game Championships. New Japan Pro Wrestling held matches during last year’s gaming convention and now it’s AEW’s turn. Today’s wrestling will begin with The Buy In pre-show where SCU will take on Best Friends and Private Party in a three-way tag team match with the winner earnin...

Pokémon Go: the world's first augmented reality app to become a household name. Niantic's mobile AR game is still going strong two years after it first released, with a constant drip of events and updates keeping budding trainers glued to their phones and pounding the streets. And while it hasn't managed to top the peak of its popularity in 2016, it's still going strong and finding plenty of new ways to improve its player experience. So what's the latest news for Pokémon Go? As you'd expect, brand new features are being added all the time and community events are still going strong. Plus we have another summer of Pokémon Go Fest events to look forward to. But without further ado, here's our guide to all the latest Pokémon Go news and updates. Pokémon Go tips and tricks : how to get better at the game How to fix the biggest problems with Pokémon Go Pokémon Gone: how Pokémon Go can bring back lapsed trainers Nintendo at E3 2019 : How to watch Nintendo...

Schools are using unproven surveillance technology to monitor students 66 by howard941 | 40 comments on Hacker News.

As autonomous cars and robots loom over the landscapes of cities and jobs alike, the technologies that empower them are forming sub-industries of their own. One of those is lidar, which has become an indispensable tool to autonomy, spawning dozens of companies and attracting hundreds of millions in venture funding. But like all industries built on top of fast-moving technologies, lidar and the sensing business is by definition built somewhat upon a foundation of shifting sands. New research appears weekly advancing the art, and no less frequently are new partnerships minted, as car manufacturers like Audi and BMW scramble to keep ahead of their peers in the emerging autonomy economy. To compete in the lidar industry means not just to create and follow through on difficult research and engineering, but to be prepared to react with agility as the market shifts in response to trends, regulations, and disasters. I talked with several CEOs and investors in the lidar space to find out how...

Public-Interest Technology Resources 2 by severine | 0 comments on Hacker News.

While Prime Day 2019 is still weeks away, Amazon is offering a rare promotion right now exclusively for Prime members. Starting today, you can get four months of Amazon Music Unlimited for just $0.99 in the US or 99p in the UK . The music streaming service normally costs $7.99/£7.99 per month, so with this offer you're saving $31/£31 and receiving four months of unlimited tunes. This promotion ends on July 16 and is for new subscribers only. Amazon Music is a subscription streaming service that's comparable to Spotify and Apple Music. The unlimited service gives you access to tens of millions of songs and thousands of playlists and stations. Amazon Music lets you listen to your favorite tunes ad-free and will even personalize your recommendations based on your listening habits. You'll also be able to enjoy hands-free listening with any Alexa-enabled device. You can ask Alexa to find a playlist, skip a song, turn up the volume and more. Like we mentioned above this off...

For the first time ever, Major League Baseball is coming to the UK (and, indeed, Europe) where the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will face off in the two-game London Series. Whether you're a UK-based baseball fan that wants to check out the action or are stateside and don't want to miss your favorite franchise, you've come to the right place to discover what you need to do to watch a Yankees vs Red Sox live stream - it's absolutely FREE in the UK (more information below). They're two of the sport's very biggest names, so the ideal way to introduce baseball to a wider world audience. The New York Yankees currently lead the AL East while the Boston Red Sox are the reigning AL East champions. However, it is the rivalry between the two teams, which began in 1919 with the trade of Babe Ruth to the Yankees, which will likely fill the 66,000 seats at London Stadium this weekend and have baseball fans worldwide glued to their TVs. Whether you’re a fan of th...