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Showing posts from December, 2016

Photoshop joins MacBook Pro Touch Bar party

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Inside the Layer Properties section, you can quickly access common actions like place a Smart Object, clip Layers, and open Select & Mask. Controls for changing the blend mode and scrubbing through the history are especially nice to use on the Touch Bar Retina display because of a visual preview of the result. The Brushes section gives you quick access to brush color, size, hardness, opacity and flow. Each of these commands has a movable slider to pick just the right value. The Favorites sections allows you to configure your own set of favorite actions. This includes any combination of actions from the previous sections, or other commands like Full screen mode, Flip Horizontal/Vertical, and launching the macOS share menu. We're still unsure as to how much design professionals will prefer using the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar to standard mouse and keyboard controls here at T3 Towers, however, this added functionality does seem like it has been thought through in t...

The best smartphone deals for Christmas 2016

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December is here and you no longer have to go down to the shops and battle through throngs of Christmas shopper to get the best deals. That's right, we've done the legwork for you and collected the very best mobile phone deals in December. So now you don't even need to leave your house to get a good deal on a phone. You can browse this page from the safety of your sofa. Or bed. Or even your toilet, hey, we don't judge. We've got every single one of the best phone deals on here, for pretty much all the major handsets. From the iPhone 7 down to the Moto X, we've got a phone deal for everyone. Every budget, style choice and data requirement is covered by this list. So what're you waiting for? Get scrolling!

The very best iPhone 7 deals and iPhone 7 Plus tariffs and offers for Cyber Monday 2016

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The very best iPhone 7 deal right now iPhone 7 32GB |   £200 £75 upfront |Unlimited calls and texts | 5GB data | £30.99 per month - save £125! This is the best Black Friday iPhone 7 deal - it stands head and shoulders above the other options. Use the voucher code BLACKNOV125 to wipe £125 off the upfront cost of the phone and get it for £75 upfront. Then pay just £30.99 per month on EE for 5GB data and unlimited calls and texts. This is the Black Friday iPhone 7 deal we've been waiting for - and it's finally cheaper than buying the phone on its own for £599. Total cost over 24 months is £818.76 The very best iPhone 7 Plus deal right now  iPhone 7 Plus 128GB |   £360 £150 upfront |Unlimited texts | 1,000 minutes | 2GB data | £33.49 per month - save £210! This is the best Black Friday iPhone 7 Plus deal. Use the voucher code BLACKNOV210 to wipe £210 off the upfront cost of the phone and get it for £150 upfront. Then pay just £33.49 per month on EE for 2GB data and u...

Apple's AirPods are (finally) available before Christmas!

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Apple's long-awaited AirPods are now available to order online in both the US ($159) and UK (£159) as well as 98 other contries including Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan and the UAE. As we write, the Apple Online Store has a cited delivery date of 22 December in the US and 19 December in the UK. In case you missed them at the iPhone 7 launch, Apple's AirPods are completely wireless headphones that aren't even wired to each other. They use Apple's brand new W1 Chip to do all the smart stuff, working with Bluetooth for quicker and more seamless connections - we've already checked out Beats' Solo 3 Wireless headphones that also have the W1 chip in, too. Sensors detect when the AirPods are in your ear and will automatically play and pause your music. Double tapping on the AirPods activates Siri, while the AirPods are immediately set up with all the devices signed into your iCloud account. AirPods supp...

How To Choose The Right Device for Better Work/Life Balance

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In the digital age, there is no downtime. You need a phone that lets you quickly switch from work to play. The Alcatel IDOL 4S with Windows 10 makes this easy. It’s like a PC that fits in your pocket. You’re sprawled on the couch, binging on the latest season of your favorite show, when your phone pings you back to reality. Then it pings again. And again. There’s only one reason why you’d be getting this many emails at 9:30 p.m. – something has come up at work. You put down the bag of chips and pick up the phone. We live in the age of the 24/7 job. Raise your hand if you check your work email before you even get out of bed. Have you stepped away from a fancy dinner to take a client call? Typed out a document from the stands at your kid’s soccer game? The most important tool for today’s working world is not your laptop. It’s your phone. It’s got to be secure, while allowing you to work on any project, at any time, from anywhere. The best phones can even take the place of ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook to deliver MIT’s 2017 Commencement Address

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Head of world’s largest publicly traded corporation will address the Class of 2017 on June 9. Cook joined Apple in 1998 and was named its CEO in 2011. As chief executive, he has overseen the introduction of some of Apple’s innovative and popular products, including iPhone 7 and Apple Watch. An advocate for equality and champion of the environment, Cook reminds audiences that Apple’s mission is to change the world for the better, both through its products and its policies.  “Mr. Cook’s brilliance as a business leader, his genuineness as a human being, and his passion for issues that matter to our community make his voice one that I know will resonate deeply with our graduates,” MIT President L. Rafael Reif says. “I am delighted that he will join us for Commencement and eagerly await his charge to the Class of 2017.” Before becoming CEO, Cook was Apple’s chief operating officer, responsible for the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including management of A...

Russian central bank loses $31 million in cyber attack

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Hackers stole more than 2 billion rubles ($31 million) from correspondent accounts at the Russian central bank, the bank said on Friday, the latest example of an escalation of cyber attacks on financial institutions around the globe. Central bank official Artyom Sychyov discussed the losses at a briefing, saying that the hackers had attempted to steal about 5 billion rubles. Sychyov was commenting on a central bank report released earlier in the day, that told about hackers breaking into accounts there by faking a client's credentials. The bank provided few other details in its lengthy report. Financial regulators around the world have recently urged banks to beef up cyber security in the wake of a string of high-profile heists on banks around the world. Fears about attacks on banks have mounted since February when unknown cyber criminals stole $81 million in funds that Bangladesh's central bank had on deposit at the New York Fed. Law en...

Samsung Sales, Profits Dive On Note 7 Recall

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Samsung's smartphone division struggled to breakeven between July and September as sales plunged due to the recall of its high-end Note 7. The smartphone giant said quarterly sales in its IT and Mobile Communications division were down 15 percent on the same period last year to 22.5 trillion Korean won (US$19.8 billion) while operating profit crashed 95 percent to 100 billion won. Problems with the Note 7 starting hitting sales shortly after it went on sale in mid-August. By early September, reports that several units had caught on fire prompted Samsung to begin a costly recall and replacement program. When it became clear that the replacements had the same problem, Samsung pulled the phone for good. Perhaps remarkably, Samsung said it saw no significant effect during the quarter on sales of its two other high-end handsets, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, but it conceded that "regaining consumer confidence" will be a key objective in the months ahead. And for t...

Many CEOs Believe Technology Will Make People 'Largely Irrelevant'

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     Although artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other emerging technologies may reshape the world as we know it, a new global study has revealed that the majority of CEOs now value technology over people when it comes to the future of their businesses.         The study was conducted by the Los Angeles-based management consultant firm Korn Ferry that interviewed 800 business leaders across a variety of multi-million and multi-billion dollar global organizations. The firm says that 44 percent of the CEOs surveyed agreed that robotics, automation and AI would reshape the future of many work places by making people "largely irrelevant". The global managing director of solutions at Korn Ferry Jean-Marc Laouchez explains why many CEOs have adopted this controversial mindset, saying: "Leaders may be facing what experts call a t...

Microsoft Updates 3D Builder App with Windows 10 Mobile and Xbox Support

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If you're a user of the Windows 10 3D Builder app, we've got some exciting news for you. Microsoft recently updated the 3D Builder app with support for Windows 10 Mobile and Xbox One, meaning you can now design and 3d print your models from even more Windows 10 powered devices! For those who are unfamiliar with 3D Builder, it's an app bundled with Windows 10 that allows users to create, design and share 3d models, with the built in ability of being able to 3d print them directly from within the app. Some might say it's similar to the recently released Paint 3D app, except it's missing all the "paint" features outside of being able to build 3d models and objects. The 3D Builder app also works with Kinect, allowing you to scan in items directly within the app.

Facebook Donating $20 Million To Affordable Housing, Job Training in Menlo Park

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Facebook has announced it is partnering with a coalition of local community groups to support affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. As part of the initiative, Facebook is promising to donate $20 million to a series of local projects that include the development of low-cost housing units in Menlo Park, a tenant assistance fund, and vocational training for local residents. Facebook is also busy planning a major expansion of its own HQ in the locality. The move will see the company extend its campus to make room for an additional 6,500 employees. Last month, Facebook opened the doors to its new flagship building, a 430,000 sq foot space where it is housing just under a third of its global team. And, earlier this year, the company casually dropped $400 million on a 56-acre industrial park close to its main building. However, some residents aren’t welcoming its construction plans. An alliance of local community members led by former Menlo Park mayor Steve...

Samsung Galaxy S8 May Miss Out On Apple-Style Dual Camera After All

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Despite rampant speculation that the Samsung Galaxy S8 will feature a dual-camera configuration, we might only get a single camera after all. A new report out of China suggests that Samsung has scrapped plans for a dual-camera on the Galaxy S8, and will retain the old single-module style seen on the Galaxy S7. The news comes courtesy of prolific mobile leaker Ice Universe, who regularly provides tips to specialist Samsung blog Sammobile – which has a generally accurate track record. After Apple introduced a dual-camera module on the iPhone 7 Plus in September, it was generally assumed that Samsung would follow suit. Even other rival brands like LG and Huawei showed off dual-camera phones, so there’s a chance it may become a must-have feature in 2017. But the new report suggests that the main Galaxy S8 model won’t feature the snap-happy technology – although the report also notes that a variant of the phone may still get it. Earlier this year, Lee Jae-yong, Samsung’s Vice Cha...