The 5 Best Laptops you Can Buy Today

1

Apple MacBook (12-inch, 2015)

This new MacBook hits some high notes, but it isn't for everyone -- not yet. Its battery life, while good, doesn't stand up to the MacBook Air, and it has no ports save for a new miniature USB Type-C socket. However, if you care most about the two-pound design and brilliant Retina display, you're unlikely to be disappointed. Once it's had more time to develop, this MacBook will likely set a new standard, but if you need something more well-rounded, Apple has several other options to choose from.

Price: $1,299+

For more info, you can check out our complete Buyer's Guide.

2

HP Spectre x360

The Spectre x360 isn't just HP's newest laptop; it was built in collaboration with Microsoft. The duo developed this convertible 13-incher over a period of 18 months to offer strong performance, long battery life and a clean OS install. Other high notes include the comfy keyboard, bright screen, and relatively affordable price tag, which ultimately outweighs its middling touchpad experience. That minor issue aside, the x360 convertible is one of our new favorite laptops.

Price: $900+

For more info, you can check out our complete Buyer's Guide.

3

Chromebook PIxel (2015)

While a $1,299 laptop that only ran Chrome OS may have been a hard sell in 2011, times have changed. With the return of Google's Chromebook Pixel, you not only get a lower price tag, but a more mature version of Chrome OS. Browser-based applications have flourished as well, with options like Skype, Spotify and even Photoshop (it's in a limited beta for now). If you find you can do everything in the browser, you'll find the Pixel has a comfortable keyboard, amazing battery life and a crisp, high-res screen that stands up against Apple's Retina display.

Price: $999+

For more info, you can check out our complete Buyer's Guide.

4

Apple MacBook Pro with Retina (13-inch, 2015)

The latest MacBook Pro refresh includes a boost in both battery life and and speed, with Apple's familiar Retina display and comfortable keyboard also in tow. Apple's new pressure-sensitive touchpad is also on board, but we're still not convinced it's an improvement over the last-gen version; the new gestures feel a bit gimmicky, and the thinner trackpad doesn't actually result in a thinner notebook. Even so, the MacBook Pro remains one of the best in its class.

Price: $1,299+

For more info, you can check out our complete Buyer's Guide.

5

Dell XPS 13 (2015)

The newly redesigned XPS 13 definitely earned its spot as a Best of CES finalist earlier this year. Thanks to a nearly bezel-less screen, Dell was able to pack a 13.3-inch display into the body of an 11-inch machine. The resulting 2.6-pound laptop is still over a third of a pound lighter than the MacBook Air and boasts a stylish carbon-fiber design, a comfy keyboard, speedy performance and decent audio. A touchscreen upgrade will set you back a hefty $500, but even so, it ranks as one of the top ultraportables on the market.

Price: $800+

For more info, you can check out our completeBuyer's Guide.

Samsung Made a 78-inch Curved TV and Decided to Cover the Back in Gold

Do you want to see the TV or do you want to see the gold?

0%Voted For The TV32,513Total Votes

 

• The TV60%
   

  • The TV60%
  • The Gold40%

The Apple Watch as a Fitness Device. that Trending

I was supposed to review the Apple Watch. That was the plan, but then, when Engadget had its first chance to test the device, I was on vacation. Specifically, I was in France, where I ran the Paris Marathon, my sixth 26.2-mile race in five years. As it happens, our Editor-in-Chief Michael wrote a fair, thorough review on his own, and he cut a fine figure in that stop-motion walkthrough video, too. If there's one thing he didn't go into detail on, though, it was the Apple Watch's performance as a fitness device. Some background there: Michael is one of those naturally skinny people with a stupidly fast metabolism who doesn't need to work out to stay trim. Which is a good thing, because he hates working out. That's why, when I finally had the chance to try out the Apple Watch myself (a $649 stainless steel model), I chose to focus on its abilities as a fitness gadget -- a fitting decision, considering my running habit was what kept me from reviewing the watch in the first place.

Article Engadget

Enrique Iglesias learns First-Hand Finger Cut by Drones and concerts don't miss

Does the notion of flying a drone around a crowded, hectic concert sound a tad too risky to you? We're sure Enrique Iglesias is having second thoughts. The singer sliced his handat a Tijuana performance this weekend after he tried to grab a camera drone and give fans a "point of view" shot -- while that stunt worked in the past, the musician clearly caught the wrong end this time around. It's not certain how badly Iglesias was hurt, although it wasn't bad enough to prevent the bleeding artist from soldiering on for another half-hour (see above if you need proof). Here's hoping he recovers quickly. In the meantime, we suspect that regulators might want to spend more time looking at the indoor hazards from drones, not just what could happen outside.

[Image credit: Francis Ramsden via AP]

SOURCE: Associated Press

TAGS: concert, drone,

Sony told off for unfair 20th Anniversary PS4 competition

To celebrate 20 years of PlayStation, Sony created 12,300 limited edition PS4 consolesand offered them to gamers all over the world. In the US, they were sold to whoever could click the buy button fast enough, but in the UK, the company took a more convoluted approach. First was the PlayStation '94 Shop in London, where 94 consoles were put aside for the low price of £19.94 (with all proceeds going to gaming charity GamesAid). Then came a partnership with GAME, which required gamers to solve riddles, click iconic PlayStation characters and enter a competition before anyone else.

As expected, it was all a bit of a mess. People quickly realised they could pool their resources and share the answer seconds after the riddle was posted, effectively locking out those who had taken time to work it out themselves. Then, an enterprising developer found a way to extract the clues before they were publicly shared by Sony. This led six people to file a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which argued that "promotion's terms and conditions had been breached in a number of ways."

Today, the ASA upheld the complaint, noting that the competition was not fair and had "caused unnecessary disappointment." Although GAME had disqualified anyone who had submitted a competition entry before Sony had posted their clue, five people had managed to acquire two consoles while the promotion was taking place. This, of course, went against the terms of the competition, which was meant to allocate a single 20th Anniversary PS4 to each winner. To make things worse, those extra consoles then found their way to eBay.

So what's happening to Sony and GAME? Well, they've been given a slap on the wrist. Both companies have been told that they must "ensure that future promotions were administered fairly and avoided causing unnecessary disappointment to participants." Okay then.

VIA: Eurogamer

SOURCE: ASA

ORIGIN:Engadget UK

Microsoft details the many different versions of Windows 10

A new Windows release wouldn't be the same without many different versions of the OS to confuse the heck out of you. Microsoft finally gave us the skinny on Windows 10's upcoming versions today -- and they're all pretty familiar to Windows fans. There's the usual "Home" version for mainstream consumers and the "Pro" version for business users. The latter is different from Windows 10 Enterprise, which is meant for bigger organizations with support for large-deployments. There's also a version of Windows 10 targeted specifically at schools, which is likely part of Microsoft's plan to take on Google's Chromebooks. On the phone front, Windows 10 Mobile is what you'll see on most consumer devices, but there's also a "Mobile Enterprise" version for businesses.

Windows 10 is still on track for release later this summer, and it will be available free to existing Windows 7 and 8 users for the first year. Microsoft revealed at its Build conference that it would be staggering the OS's release across different device types, so don't expect to have it on a phone until the fall.

Since there's still no mention of a new Windows RT, the ill-fated version of Windows 8 meant for ARM-powered devices, it's safe to call that edition of the OS dead. The mobile version of Windows 10 will support phones with ARM chips, but all of the desktop versions are geared towards x86 chips. That's not a huge surprise, since Microsoft even chose to go with an Intel chip for its latest Surface, a product line that previously served as a Windows RT showcase.

SOURCE: Microsoft

A new cybercriminal ransomware tool makes it easy for anyone to hijack other people's devices

Would-be cybercriminals who lack the technological prowess to actually hack into their targets computers themselves can now overcome that hurdle, thanks to a new “ransomware-as-a-service” tool discovered on the darknet by researchers at McAfee.

Branded as “Tox”, the tool lets anyone, regardless of technical ability, automatically create ransomware: software which encrypts a victim’s hard drive and demands payment before decrypting it.

The most notorious example of ransomware, named Cryptolocker, ran wild in the first half of 2014. It demanded a ransom paid in the cryptocurrency bitcoin, rising as high as 2 bitcoin ($2000 at the time), or the victim’s documents were lost forever. In November 2013, a US police force fell prey to the scam and ended up having to pay a ransom equal to £832 at the day’s exchange rates.

But Cryptolocker was disrupted in a simultaneous US-EU raid in June 2014, seizing the command and control network which had been used to run the software remotely. After the raids, which also took out a related piece of malware called Gameover Zeus, reports of new infections have died off.

Tox threatens to revive the problem. But unlike Cryptolocker, which had the hallmarks of a co-ordinated criminal operation, Tox lets would-be criminals roll their own ransomware. Any user can register on the darknet site and choose to create their own cryptolocker-style software. They get the option to set the ransom amount, in US dollars, as well as add a personal note.

The site then automatically generates a downloadable virus, which can be downloaded and then shared however the attacker desires. And the whole thing is funded by Tox taking a 20% cut of any ransom paid.

“We don’t expect Tox to be the last malware to embrace this model. We also anticipate more skilled development and variations in encryption and evasion techniques,” writes McAfee’s Jim Walter.

Tox shows how the hidden side of the tech industry follows the same trends as the surface side. The trend of “software-as-a-service” – charging on a regular basis for programmes, rather than one fee upfront – has grown to the point that Microsoft’s next version of Windows – Windows 10 – will be sold in that way.

Popular enterprise software such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Suite have been sold as services for some time now. What other trends from the enterprise will virus writers follow in the future?

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk