The LG 49″ 49LF5400 LED TV review verdict

Towards the end of November we always see an increase in the number of consumers that choose to buy a new TV, this includes budget, mid and high-end models. The likes of LG and Samsung always challenge for top spot, and one such model that could end up being very popular is the LG 49″ 49LF5400 LED TV.

We have a feeling that Kohl’s will be selling this LG 49-inch TV at a marked down price of $369.99, instead of $429.99. We know that this is not one of those huge discounts we are used to seeing with Televisions, but its usual price is already low in the first place.

The main LG 49-inch 49LF5400 specs include that 49-inch, 1080p display with a 60Hz refresh rate, backlight control and Screen Off function to help save more energy.


Even though this model is new for 2015, is still does not come with any Smart features, which is not too much of an issue, seeing as though you can buy an Amazon Fire TV Stick to help enhance the features of the 49LF5400.

Speaking of Amazon; if you are indecisive about whether this model is for you or not, then have a read through these 15 customer reviews. It’s far better to read a review from someone that owns one of these models, as you get as more honest opinion.

For a rundown of all the technical specs and features you should go to this LG page, where you can also download the PDF manual to learn even more.

Is this a TV model that you would consider, rather than one of those more expensive 4K TVs?

The BlackBerry Priv review: Priv to fight another day

The Blackberry Priv is the best handset they've made in years,


The BlackBerry Priv: can it turn the company's fortunes around?
The BlackBerry, as I'm sure you don't need me to remind you, has had a rough few years.
The phone of choice for millions of teenagers and businessmen alike across the world in the early to mid 2000s has fallen dramatically from grace in the past decade, with co-founder Jim Balsillie admitting the doomed launch of the bug-riddled Storm handset in 2008 "was the time I knew we couldn't compete on high end hardware."


Couldn't compete is putting it mildly. At the height of its powers in 2010, BlackBerry shipped around 14.6m handsets in the year's fourth financial quarter. By this time, the fledgling iPhone had already begun to catch up, shifting 16m models over the same period. Now, BlackBerry's chief executive John Chen said the company must sell 5m handsets in order to make a profit or consider exiting the smartphone market altogether. Comparatively, Apple sold 48m iPhones in the last three months.


But such comparisons are not helpful. BlackBerry has come back fighting with the release of the Blackbery Priv, the company's first handset to run Android, and to sport both a touchscreen and slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard. This may sound laughable, as we've all poked fun at various clip-on keyboards created to ape the BlackBerry experience on iPhones and Samsung devices. But is it any good, and is it worth the £559 price tag?

Appearance
Once you've got over the Priv's sheer size (7.2-inches when fully extended), it's a good-looking handset. It has a .4-inch 2560 x 1440 res curved display reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, released earlier this year, with colours appearing sharp and detailed and black levels deeper. Double-tapping the display with a finger wakes it from sleep mode, and it's been reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass 4, which BlackBerry assures us is rigorously drop tested. During my time testing the Priv, I managed to pick up a small nick on the left-hand side of the display, which - while annoying - didn't affect performance in any way.

 
How the handset appears without the keyboard extended

Rather than follow rival handsets down the aluminium and glass route, BlackBerry has chosen to cover the handset's back in a 'tensile weave', which, whilst fairly plasticky in the hand, is surprisingly non-slippy. The BlackBerry logo is placed in the middle, and it's not light at 192g.

The gap once the keyboard is extended

Sliding the keyboard down reveals the ugly silver back of the display, revealing a pretty sizable gap for dust to gather in. I think coating the inner back with black could have great improved the overall appearance, but on measure it's a fairly minor gripe.


The back of the handset
Software and performance
As the first BlackBerry to run Android, users have full access to the Google Play Store and its plethora of apps for the first time- a surefire draw for those left disappointed by BlackBerry's lack of innovative or new features. The Priv is shipping with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and not the recently announced Marshmallow, but an upgrade will be issued within the new year.

The resulting software is a relatively clean Android interface with the odd BlackBerry touch, including its red and white asterisk splat notification bubbles, unread notifications on the lock screen and widgets which pop up, rather than than fill your screen. If you're married to BlackBerry OS (as one of the estimated 700,000 in the UK left using it), you'll probably feel this is a poor compromise, but if you want the endless customisation of Android with the security of the enterprise-minded company, you won't be disappointed.


The Android interface is fairly clean, with the characteristic BlackBerry splat
Along the display's curved edge lies a productivity tab the more cynical among you may point out looks an awful lot like the Galaxy S6 Edge's People Edge. Here you can store contacts, tasks and unread messages and customise them as you please.

The Priv has been built with an octa-core 64-bit Snapdragon 808 processor and 3GB of RAM, and whilst it ran fairly smoothly, I did experience a few slow downs in the wake of watching videos and playing games on it. It also has a tendancy to become warm to the touch randomly.

The level of security BlackBerry can offer you is truly impressive, and an aspect that's been the company's unique selling point for many years. The DTEK by BlackBerry app is a portal to all your security settings, offering advice on how to better protect your device, such as adding a passcode or checking which apps have been recently accessing your location information or microphone and at what time.
QWERTY Keyboard
The keyboard itself is touch-capacitive, so skimming a thumb or finger over it left or right, up or down can scroll through menus and switch between apps, widgets and shortcuts.


The mighty slide-out QWERTY keyboard
Another clever function is the ability to assign a keyboard key to an app, for example, opening WhatsApp by hitting 'w' or storing Citymapper under 'c', contact or to start writing a text or email. This is BlackBerry's solution to the extra length provided by sliding it out, by embedding it with useful functions it become novel and practical, rather than pointless.

Given the indomitable rise of touchscreen typing, tapping out messages on actual keys felt like a real blast from the past. Those with larger hands may find the minuscule keys frustrating, and being forced to hold down the alt key plus the required other key to input punctuation marks was annoying, but I found it worked generally well. The sheer novelty, if nothing else, will make you curious.
Camera


The Priv's camera function is basic, but serviceable
The rear-facing camera is equipped with a protruding Schneider-Kreuznach 18MP sensor, whilst the front-facing lens is an impressive 5MP. The rear camera offers optical image stablisation with dual LED flash, integrating technologies the company claims is equal to some DSLRs. One notable feature is the ability to take pictures whilst recording a video, and pressing the space bar on the physical keyboard when in the camera app triggers the shutter on the rear lens. Overall, pictures taken were well-balanced and true-to-life, with a good depth of colour. The front-facing 2MP camera is fine, though nothing to really write home about.
Battery life

BlackBerry claims the 3410 mAh battery can withstand around 22.5 hours of relatively intense use, but I found it could last around a day and a half on a single charge. This is pretty impressive given the power-hungry OLED display, and an aspect which will appear to those who don't want to keep an additional charger at work.
Verdict

The BlackBerry Priv is a handset you'll either love or loathe. The company has been smart enough to jump aboard the Android train at a time when it makes perfect sense; Microsoft, after all, is also struggling to cater for an audience ever more hungry for the latest and best apps on their platform. BlackBerry's submission to Google allows them to be more bold in their divisory hardware design, and I loved it.

Hats off to BlackBerry for being bold enough to make a gamble they truly deserve to see pay off. In an age when all phones effectively use the same candy bar conventions, it's refreshing to see something different - some of us may have missed flipping and sliding our phones more than we actually realised. As John Chen acknowledged, the Priv may well be the last handset the company ever makes. And given that it's the best handset they've made in years, that would be a crying shame.
Pros:
The QWERTY keyboard won't be for everyone, but I loved it
Unskinned Android feels clean and functional
Excellent security and productivity features
Cons:
High price tag
Slightly slow and at times buggy
Design feels at time less than premium

Look at what the Monopoly board would look like today

The Monopoly's exact origins are disputed, but 2015 marks the 80th anniversary of when the Parker Brothers, having bought out various other rights holders, started marketing the iconic game as we know it today.
But if the board game were to be redesigned in 2015... wouldn't it look a little different? The property market has changed beyond recognition since 1935. Working with recent house price data from Savills, we've updated the old board and replaced the original properties with the most sought after locations in the capital today. What's the most expensive neighbourhood on the board? Here's a clue: it's not Mayfair.

The Windows 10 Build 10586: ‘gold disk’ release for the big Fall Update?

With less than a week to go until the speculated November 10 release day for Windows 10 (codename) Threshold 2, Microsoft has released build 10586 to participants in the Windows Insider Program.
I updated my Dell Venue 8 Pro and noticed that there isn’t a build number displayed in the lower right corner of the desktop as there was for previous preview builds. It looks like build 10586 may be released as what will be officially called the Windows 10 Fall Update. This will be the first major update since Windows 10 launched on July 29.



If you haven’t been following Microsoft’s Windows Experience Blog, here’s a summary of what it has announced as notable changes or new features since build 10547 on September 18:

Build 10547
Maximum Start menu columns up from 3 to 4;
Maximum Start menu tiles increased from 512 to 2048;
In Task View, apps can be snapped to left and right, can replace a previously snapped app with another, and you can swipe down to close an app;
Many Windows Store apps updated, including Photos, Xbox, Groove Music, Mail, Calendar, and Maps;
Text Input Panel improvements, including not having it automatically open when in Desktop mode (versus Tablet mode).

Build 10565
Skype messaging, calling, and video capabilities added through the Messaging, Phone, and Skype Video universal Windows apps;
The Edge browser gained a tab preview mode that displays a preview of the web page when hovering over the tab;
The Edge browser could synchronize Favorites and Reading Lists;
Cortana could interpret inked notes and then set reminders based on locations, times, and numbers from digital annotations;
Title bars could be set to more vibrant colors;
Device Activation began accepting activation keys from Windows 7, 8, or 8.1.

Build 10576

Microsoft Edge browser can cast video, picture, and audio content to any Miracast- or DLNA-enabled device on your network;
Cortana gained the ability to search for information from text selected in a PDF document;
The Xbox beta app could find and add Facebook friends on Xbox Live to play games, chat, and share clips;
The Xbox beta app also gained the ability record voiceovers using the Game DVR.

Build 10586

This latest build release does not add any new features. However, it provides fixes to a number of annoying issues:
Surface Pro 3 owners can use the Power button to sleep the PC instead of shutting it down;
The random flashing of a disksnapshot.exe command prompt was fixed. I saw this for the last time during the upgrade to build 10586!
Small form-factor devices, like the Dell Venue 8 Pro, that boot with rotation or virtual mode screen size set larger than the physical screen size should no longer experience a blue screen on upgrade. I’m one of the Windows Insiders who uses a Dell Venue 8 Pro as my text PC, so this one is much appreciated;
Apps and games should download from the Store more reliably. This remains to be seen. I did not see any Windows Store App updates available immediately after upgrading.



The only oddity I’ve noticed in the short time I’ve have to test build 10586 is that after switching from Tablet mode to Desktop mode and then back again, all the Start Menu tiles that had a blue background changed to a light gray background. However, that doesn’t seem like a showstopper bug, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see this build released shortly as the Fall Update.

The Lytro’s Immerge aims to make virtual reality video more realistic

light field pioneer Lytro tipped that it was going to switch gears from still cameras to VR video creation, I expected something along the lines of Samsung’s Project Beyond. Instead, it has announced that it is building what is likely the world’s most expensive, and most sophisticated, end-to-end VR video capture, storage, and processing system.

The Lytro’s new Immerge has the ambitious goal of capturing all the light rays visible from its camera location — including both their color and direction — essentially an entire light field entering a spherical volume somewhat larger than a basketball. This is so much data that the Immerge comes with its own custom server computer that needs to be moved on a tether along with the camera rig and can store about an hour of unprocessed content.

The camera rig itself is designed to be controlled remotely while mounted on a tripod or dolly. Because it captures light from many positions, and every angle, Immerge can simulate what a viewer would see as they look around, and even move around, within a volume of about one cubic meter — six degrees of freedom. The design provides a more-realistic viewing experience than other VR capture rigs by allowing for visual parallax, maintaining stereo perception even after head movement, and eliminating stitch lines. The system can even adapt to each user’s personal inter-ocular distance.
Immerge is not for the faint of heart

At an expected six-figure sales price, Immerge is intended for high-end production companies, like new Lytro partners Vrse, WEVR, and Felix and Paul. Vrse CTO, Aaron Koblin, sees Immerge as a way to mix “CG content with captured content in a convincingly real way that doesn’t cost five million dollars.” WEVR’s Anthony Batt echoes similar sentiments.
Clearly both companies believe that adding the ability to move around a bit in live-action video will make it much easier to create composite VR experiences. Specifically, Lytro’s server tools are being designed to allow integration with existing 3D content creation tools like Nuke by projecting the captured Light Field Volume into virtual space — where it can be combined with computer-generated elements.

Like previous Lytro efforts, Immerge content will require a run-time component for full-fidelity rendering. Lytro describes this as its Light Field video playback engine. As content is increasingly streamed from the cloud, this may not be as big a stumbling block as it was for Lytro’s still image cameras, but it does limit the applications of the new system. The rendered content will be able to be played on any of the major VR headsets, including the Oculus Rift, Sony PlayStation VR, Microsoft Hololens, HTC Vive, and others. It can of course be rendered into a traditional stereo VR experience for offline viewing.

Lytro expects Immerge to be available for purchase or rent in the first quarter of 2016. Components of the system will include the camera rig, capture server, extra storage units, portable rendering farm, VFX plug-ins, an operator, and streaming services. Without a doubt, like Lytro’s original camera and newer Illum, Immerge breaks new ground, and will help early adopters create some amazing content. Whether the market is big enough to help justify the additional $50 million Lytro raised to fund this effort remains to be seen.

Latest-discovered Android malware impossible to remove

 

A new piece of Android malware has been revealed by security firm Lookout, and it’s a clever one. The malware in question is a type of trojan adware called Shuanet, which is masquerading as 20,000 different popular apps. Shuanet doesn’t just display ads, though.
It also attempts to root any device it is installed on, allowing the malware to survive factory resets.

Shuanet shares a lot of code with several other adware trojans that Lookout has detected recently known as Kemoge and Shedun. What’s interesting about Shuanet is that it doesn’t seek to wreak havoc on an infected device or clog it with other malware. This is adware first and foremost, so the goal is to get people to use their devices and see the ads.

The malware operators are downloading the legitimate Android APKs of popular apps, then integrating Shuanet and reposting them in third-party app stores. The thousands of apps repackaged by Shuanet include the likes of Facebook, Snapchat, NYTimes, WhatsApp, and more. These apps appear to function normally after being installed, so the user might not even realize anything is wrong. Just a few annoying popup ads, but such is the price we pay for living in a connected world, right?

The aspect of Shuanet that is grabbing headlines is that it roots your device, which is sort of true. It certainly tries to root any Android device it is installed on, but according to Lookout, it’s not using any new secret system vulnerabilities. It’s simply a package of older community-developed exploits that enthusiast users install to gain root access for their own enjoyment. If Shuanet successfully roots a phone, it moves the infected app to the system partition, which means it will survive a factory reset. The only way to remove it would be to use a root-enabled file explorer to find and remove the package. That would be tough if you didn’t know which app was the source of the infection.

This isn’t as calamitous as it sounds at first. As we’ve mentioned in the past, there are no universal root exploits on Android, and all of the public exploits included in Shuanet have been patched (for example ExynosAbuse and Framaroot). Thus, a device is only vulnerable if it’s running a rather old version of Android. Notice how the example image provided by Lookout is a Jelly Bean phone? A newer phone wouldn’t be rooted by Shuanet, but the ad features could still work.

It’s still very hard to get infected with Shuanet. You’d have to disable installation protection, ignore the Google security warnings, then manually install one of these apps from a shady third-party app store instead of simply getting it from Google Play. I’m not sure who would do that, but Lookout says it has seen it happening in the wild. It does not provide a figure for the number of infections, though.

Greece Lunches Driverless Buses, They Are Now Accepting Passengers

This automated bus program goes on with the flow of traffic


A local resident takes a photo of the tiny CityMobil2 driverless bus in Trikala, Greece. Each bus can fit 12 passengers.
Greek commuters have a new way to get to work: a completely driverless bus that operates within normal traffic.
The buses are part of a program that has been running in Trikala, Greece, since earlier this summer, but so far they’ve only been tested without passengers--up until last Saturday, that is. Now people will be able to use the buses to get around. The trip is completely free of charge, and could be safer and more efficient than buses driven by humans.

“It’s the first time someone dared to bring a totally automated vehicle into open traffic,” Angelos Amditis tells Popular Science. Amditis is the research director at Greece's Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, which is handling the technical side of the project. Previously, automated vehicles in Greece were either operated only in segregated lanes or exhibition areas, or under the supervision of a professional driver in case of emergency. There’s no human backup for Trikala’s six automated buses, which operate surrounded by other cars, bicyclists, and pedestrians.

New laws had to be passed to make way for the project, and even so the buses operate under strict limitations. The maximum permitted speed is around 12 miles per hour. While other drivers can merge into its lane, a bus isn’t allowed to change lanes or make turns—it just drives a short circular route. And if there’s any obstacle in its path, it sits there and waits for the object to move. “We have to be strict,” says Amditis. When humans crash, it’s an accident, but a crash involving an automated vehicle would be a political mess, “even if there’s a hundred less accidents overall.”

This program is part of a European Union-funded project called CityMobil2, which aims to develop public transportation projects in medium-sized cities. There may not be enough users to justify a subway or full bus system, but commuters, the elderly, or people with limited mobility would benefit from the easy way to get around.

In densely populated cities like Manhattan or Paris, buses like these might work best with no humans behind the wheels at all. Amditis says smart vehicles work best when they can count on the smarts of other cars around them—no crazy, light-beating, lane-swerving, human stunts to throw off their calculations.

But he says most places will continue to have mixed traffic for a while. In the near future, fully automated cars may drive alongside cars with partial automation like the new Tesla as well as human-driven cars, pedestrians, and bikes. The bus program in Trikala will provide important information about how automated vehicles handle such diverse environments.

The buses will putter around Trikala until March 2016, at which point the assessment phase begins. Researchers will look at how the vehicles performed as well as the reaction of passengers, citizens, and city management. The current bus fleet, designed by Robosoft, is just for testing. If Trikala likes the program, they will have to get their own buses. Amditis says he hopes cities will exploit his research, producing more buses and implementing their own programs.

“It’s not just introducing a new type of bus,” he said, “but changing the whole system. It’s not a trivial thing.”

The Tighten Grip on Internet Economy

Do you Know That ,Facebook, Amazon and Other Tech Giants Tighten Grip on Internet Economy
Online search, messaging, advertising, applications, computing and storage are delivered on demand

ENLARGE
The Computing hardware has long served as the critical backbone of business operations. Today, the Internet economy is powered by an infrastructure that has become virtual, and is controlled by a small handful of tech giants.
These companies are delivering online search, messaging, advertising, applications, computing and storage on demand—which has positioned them not only to empower business but to extract extraordinary value as it grows.

The latest evidence comes in the form of record earnings and towering stock-market valuations. Facebook Inc., for example, on Wednesday reported a 41% surge in quarterly revenue that was propelled by a dramatic rise in advertising on mobile devices. The social network’s shares rose 5.4% Thursday, reaching an all-time high and pushing its valuation above $300 billion.

The company’s strong numbers come on the heels of equally impressive results and upward stock movements at Google parent Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp. , and Amazon.com Inc., which have built online platforms that allow them to profit as consumers and companies seek to connect with others.

Anyone building a brand, for example, can’t ignore Facebook’s highly engaged daily audience of 1 billion. Anyone starting a business needs to make sure they can be found on Google. Anyone with goods to sell wants Amazon to carry them. Any mobile app maker needs to be available in Apple Inc.’s or Google’s online stores. Any marketer with a video to promote needs to be on Google’s YouTube, while producers selling music, film, and television distribute their works through Apple’s iTunes or Amazon Video.

The giants have spent billions of dollars on computing hardware and data centers that run their own operations while increasingly providing free or low-cost services for startups and many large corporations. Many longtime Silicon Valley executives are convinced that these companies have become fundamental to the business landscape.

“You are seeing ecosystems built around all of these companies now,” said Enrique Salem, a managing director at Bain Capital Ventures and the former chief executive of Symantec Corp. “There is a platform shift happening.”

Put another way, they own the digital equivalent of railroad lines just as the Web enters a new phase of growth.

“We’re just having an expansion of the total size of technology—whether it’s cloud computing, whether it’s devices, whether it’s social networks,” said Aaron Levie, chief executive of online file-sharing company Box Inc., one of the sector’s new entrants.

As revenues roll in, the giants can spend more money than rivals to improve their services.

“All of these companies are operating in industries where scale is rewarded and where there is a very high level of capital intensity required to even hope to compete,” said Karl Keirstead a senior analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities.

Facebook, which says 1.55 billion people logged in during the month of September, has become particularly important as an advertising venue. The social network appears to have captured the market for ads on smartphones, which accounted for 78% of its ad revenues in the most recent quarter, up 66% from a year earlier. It also hosts free pages for 45 million small and midsize businesses, allowing them to interact with potential customers world-wide free of charge.


ENLARGE
Amazon’s market value has nearly doubled in 2015 largely on the strength of its cloud-computing business. Besides online shopping, the Seattle-based company pioneered the business of selling metered computing and data storage to other companies. Its cloud unit, Amazon Web Services or AWS, claims more than 1 million active customer accounts, including high-profile startups like Uber Technologies Inc., Airbnb Inc. and Pinterest Inc. as well as government agencies and many well-established companies.

Google and Microsoft, meanwhile, have spent aggressively to build rival cloud services. They have matched AWS in cutting prices, adding new data centers and online software offerings and internally developed innovations that go far beyond raw computing.

At Microsoft, CEO Satya Nadella has pushed hard on cloud services to reduce the software maker’s reliance on the shrinking PC business. While its Azure service offers special advantages to longtime users of its Windows and Office software, more than 40% of its revenue comes from startups, said Takeshi Numoto, a Microsoft vice president in charge of cloud and enterprise marketing.

But older companies also are joining. ThyssenKrupp AG , a German industrial conglomerate that makes elevators among other things, collaborated with Microsoft to create a cloud-based system that gathers data such as how often and quickly doors open and close, said Patrick Bass, chief executive of the company’s North American unit.

Not that all computing jobs are moving to the cloud. Companies in industries like financial services and health care are expected to keep most operations in their own data centers, partly because of regulations about how they handle transactions and customer data.

But cloud backers believe many of those barriers will fall. Rob Alexander, chief information officer of Capital One Financial Corp. , said last month that the new security safeguards developed with AWS’s cloud service should let the credit card company operate even more securely in the cloud than on its own computers.