Computer ShopperAugust 2019的目錄

“Alexa, turn on lounge light.” Mmm, that’s not it. “Alexa, turn on living room light.” Nope, not that either. “Alexa, turn living room light on.” Nothing. “Alexa, turn – actually don’t bother, I’ll just get up and do it myself.” For anyone who has used some kind of artificial intelligence-powered voice assistant, whether Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri, this probably sounds familiar. These AI systems promise us an easy life of bossing around an unseen slave, there to do our bidding, from turning up the heating on a cold night to turning down the volume of a tune when the phone rings. But in reality, I often end up carrying out the task myself, as I can’t remember the exact wording required to get my assistant to do it…

Gummed up The fingerprint scanner on the Nokia 9 PureView was fooled by pressing down on it using a packet of chewing gum. The problem has now been patched, thus avoiding a sticky security situation Facial unrecognition San Francisco has become the first city in the US to ban facial-recognition tech because of concerns about embedding bias in AI technology and society Haranguing Huawei The US government has banned Huawei from buying American-made equipment without government approval as fears mount over the alleged risk the Chinese firm poses to national security Counting the cost The 2017 security breach of credit report giant Equifax has cost the firm $1.4bn thus far, making it one of the largest data breaches ever recorded…

£502 •From shop.bt.com VERDICT Small, speedy and surprisingly well connected, this is the best-realised Chromebox yet THE RARITY WITH which new Chromeboxes launch is at least partially balanced by each design coming in about half a dozen different specs. The Acer Chromebox CXI3 is a perfect example. You can have it with an Intel Celeron 3865U and 4GB of RAM for about £250, but the version we tested packs a quad-core, eight-thread Core i5-8250U, not to mention 8GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD. That all makes it something of a powerhouse in Chromebox terms. Like their laptop counterparts, Chromebooks, Chromeboxes typically settle for less horsepower, and a focus on cloud-based applications and storage in order to stay more affordable than equivalent Windows systems. This particular £502 model might be…

£40 • From www.scan.co.uk VERDICT Its small stature might affect your component choices, but otherwise the PS15 is an appealing and affordable microATX case £40 IS INARGUABLY a rock-bottom price for a PC chassis with features like a full-size tempered glass side panel, largely metal construction (rather than plastic), an included fan and multiple USB3 ports. There are lots of cheap microATX cases, but the PS15 looks like one that could deliver a rare degree of value. At the same time, this is ultimately a small case, and SilverStone has been pretty ruthless in cutting things down. For instance, there’s only room for a single 3.5in hard disk in the entire thing. This comes in the form of a tool-less tray, which is nice, but that limits the ability to…

£450 • From www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT Samsung’s clever design minimises clutter, but image quality is below par IN THE BAD old days before LCD screens became affordable, your monitor used to be the biggest thing on your desk. It was two feet deep and weighed as much as a sack of potatoes. By comparison, most modern LCD monitors are positively skinny, but even these can still have space-hogging stands. That’s where the Samsung Space Monitor comes in. It’s a monitor for people who hate clutter, with an arm that minimises the amount of space the screen takes up on your desk. It’s not the first time a manufacturer has done this – Dell’s U2717DA is one of a few examples to have come and gone over the years – but the…

£50 • From www.argos.com VERDICT Sky content is still only 720p, but this new Now TV Smart Box makes up for it with flexibility and features NOW TV BOXES have long been a great way to watch Sky’s exclusive TV shows and sport content without having to commit to expensive, long-term contracts. And, because they also act as media streamers from other third-party sources, they’re a cheap tool for adding smart functionality to an older TV. This latest model retains the voice control feature from the previous Smart Box, while finally adding support for 4K playback at up to 60fps. Weirdly, this doesn’t cover Sky’s own content: only the Netflix and YouTube apps can use this higher resolution. For Sky Sports, Sky Movies and the like, you’re stuck with the…

£899 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT A four-sensor camera array is just one of this gorgeous smartphone’s many triumphs IT WASN’T TOO long ago that you’d have been laughed out of the shops if you asked for a phone with multiple cameras, but now dual- and triple-lens arrangements are the new normal. Instrumental in this sea change was the Huawei P20 Pro (Shopper 366), which introduced triple-lens cameras to the masses, and now the P30 Pro aims to take smartphone photography even further with a snapper containing not three but four different sensors. If it seems as though Huawei has only just released a flagship, you’re not far off, as the Mate 20 Pro (Shopper 373) launched just six months ago. The P30 Pro complements the Mate series with a handful…

£1,199 • From www.wexphotovideo.com VERDICT By distilling features from the X-T3 into a smaller, lighter and cheaper body, the X-T30 is everything you need in a travel CSC FUJIFILM HAS WON a lot of fans with its XT camera range, and deservedly so – its approach of applying the same features from more advanced models to cheaper cameras has produced some greats. Just as the X-T20 was a pared down X-T2, so the latest X-T30 is a baby X-T3 (Shopper 375). Featuring many of the same specifications as its pricier big brother, which costs £1,699, the X-T30 is ideal as a travel camera, a backup camera for X-T3 owners or just an all-round good performer for those who don’t want to push their budget too far. With the same 26.1-million-pixel…

01 A basic laptop costing around £300 will run everyday office, multimedia and education software, but it won’t be suitable for 3D gaming or processor-intensive tasks such as video editing. Many laptops at this price have a 15.6in screen and weigh over 2kg, so they’re best used around the house and for occasional journeys. 02 If you want to play modern games, you’ll need a laptop with a dedicated graphics chip such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060M. Good gaming laptops tend to have large 15.6 or 17in screens and weigh around 3kg, so they’re best suited to use at home. 03 If you want a laptop that you can take everywhere, look for a model that weighs less than 2kg. For the best portability, buy one that has a…

01 Building your own PC is often cheaper than buying a pre-made system, and gives full control over the components. You don’t need any special computer knowledge: just a few spare hours, a screwdriver and your choice of parts. Even things such as liquid-cooling systems can be found in user-friendly, easy-to-install packages, and for the most part it’s as simple as inserting each component into a particular slot. 02 Arguably the most important component is the CPU. These days you can get a quad-core chip even on a tight budget, which should provide more than enough brainpower for simple tasks such as web browsing, but hexa-core and octa-core chips are better for tougher jobs such as media editing, gaming and content creation. The CPU will also determine which motherboards you…

01 Wireless routers each use a number of Wi-Fi standards, so you shouldn’t have any trouble connecting your computer or phone wirelessly if you get an 802.11n or 802.11ac router. Nearly all routers support 802.11n, so even a cheap model should provide decent performance. You can expect a transfer speed of around 40Mbit/s at a distance of 10m from any modern 802.11n router. The very latest routers use the 802.11ac standard, which provides tremendously fast transfer speeds. Some devices still don’t support the 802.11ac standard, so check the specifications before you buy. 02 If you subscribe to an ADSL broadband service, you should buy a wireless router that has a built-in ADSL modem. This will cost more than the equivalent cable router, but it allows you to connect your router…

01 All tablets rely on an operating system (OS) to run apps. You have three main choices: Apple’s iOS, which runs on the iPad; Android, which Google licenses to various manufacturers; and Windows 10, which has become common in hybrid tablets and convertibles. If you own an Apple or Google smartphone, you can download your apps, music and so on to a tablet that runs the same OS, so it makes sense to stick with a compatible device. 02 It’s important to pick a tablet that has a good-quality, high-resolution screen. Many budget tablets have 1,280x800-resolution displays, but better tablets have Full HD 1,920x1,080 panels, and we’re starting to see tablets that have even higher screen resolutions. Some are as high as 2,560x1,600 or even 4K. Entry-level tablets typically use…

01 Media streamers have come a long way from the hard disk-based set-top boxes of a few years ago. They now come in two main forms: flash drive-sized dongles that plug directly into the HDMI port in the back of your TV, and larger microconsoles that sit under it. Whichever model you choose, it will stream content from the internet rather than storing media files locally. 02 Most streamers use their own operating system, which you can navigate with a bundled remote control, but Google’s Chromecast dongle requires a paired smartphone, tablet or laptop to stream content on the big screen. If you’re looking to set up Netflix for someone who doesn’t have a smartphone, buy a standalone streamer such as a Roku or Amazon Fire TV device. 03 A…

Chat and Communication Evernote 6.17.6.8292 Store your notes, ideas and plans in the cloud, and synchronise them between computers. UPDATED Mailbird 2.5.45.0 A free desktop email client for Windows. Miranda IM 0.10.80 Chat with friends across multiple messaging platforms, including AIM, Facebook, IRC and MSN, all from one simple interface. UPDATED Skype for Windows 8.44.0.40 Make internet voice and video calls for free, and buy credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines. UPDATED Telegram 1.7.0 This free IM app synchronises your conversations across multiple devices, and can spruce up chats with stickers and GIFs. UPDATED WhatsApp Desktop 0.3.2848 A free PC and Mac version of the popular messaging app, letting you chat from your desktop. Customisation iolo System Mechanic Free 18.6 Speed up your system with iolo’s PC optimisation…

There have been concerns that Alexa is listening in to everything we say and spying on us. This is only partially true. Amazon only listens in when it thinks it hears the wake word (usually Alexa), although this can be triggered by mistake. Once heard, Amazon then records and stores the requests. Bloomberg discovered that Amazon had employed staff to listen to these recordings in order to help train Alexa to better understand what’s being asked. Fortunately, you can control what information is stored, and even delete past recordings. First, the more shocking bit: seeing how much data Amazon has recorded about you. Open the Alexa app and go to Settings, Alexa Account, Alexa Privacy. Tap Review Voice History and you’ll see a list of phrases that Alexa has heard…

With Blueprints (blueprints.amazon.co.uk), you can create your very own Skills, using the templates that Amazon provides. The Skills are largely built around the same format – you provide the question that will be asked and the answer you want to give - but are split into useful categories and sub-sections with example rules. For example, the Houseguest template lets you create simple answers for people staying in your home, such as ‘What’s the Wi-Fi password’ or ‘Where is the tea kept?’. Likewise, the Pet Sitter template has questions and answers to do with looking after your pet. There are other templates to dish out favourite jokes or even insults. And you can create simple quiz games, too, either to entertain or to help with revision. Building your own Blueprint Skill…

Amazon Echo devices are about more than just giving you information, and can be used to play music, make calls and more. Here, we’ll show you how to do more with your Echo devices and get them set up for music and communication. Music is a good place to start, with Echo devices supporting a range of music services. To add the ones that you have, go to the Alexa app, tap the Menu icon and select Settings. Tap Music. You can then tap the Plus button to add a new music service, including Amazon Music, Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. You also get TuneIn radio by default. When you add a new service, you’ll be prompted to enter your username and password to log in. Once you’re connected, you…

£50 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Better, louder audio with the same great design – the latest version of Amazon’s dinky speaker is another winner AMAZON HAS LONG been cheerfully ignoring the old maxim of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. The original Kindle still works perfectly well, but Amazon has honed the e-reader format into both the first and last words in the industry. And that’s what it’s doing now with the compact smart speaker, one device at a time. Equally, the Echo Dot didn’t really need fixing, but Amazon did it anyway – twice now, in fact. This is the only Echo device to be on its third iteration, and the newest Echo Dot is a masterclass in making everything better without a price hike. The Echo Dot…

£220 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Bigger screen, bigger sound, better microphones: the second-gen Echo Show is a much improved smart home controller AT THE TIME of its release, the original Echo Show was easily the most technically able of Amazon’s Echo family, so it’s good to see the design refined for a 2nd-gen model. It’s timely, too: with the launch of the Google Home Hub, Lenovo Smart Display and JBL Link View, the upgraded Echo Show has the chance to prove it’s the best of these smart displays. One wise change Amazon has made is moving the speaker from the front to the rear. This allows for a larger screen in a shorter package, which is absolutely worth the slightly bigger footprint. It hasn’t entirely shed its gawkiness, however: since…

£300 (twin pack) • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT The DCS-2802KT is a flexible system, but if you want the best features, Arlo has the edge JUST LIKE THE Arlo Pro 2, the DCS-2802KT is a security camera system that comes in two parts: a hub that connects to your router, and the camera itself, which can be placed around your home and report back to you when there’s movement or sound. Two cameras, in fact – the basic DCS-2802KT kit includes two cameras for a few pounds less than a single Arlo 2 and its hub unit. The cameras are IP65-rated weatherproof and powered by rechargeable batteries, and the system is very easy to set up for DIYers. It’s possible for the hub to support up to four cameras at once,…

£329 • From nest.com/uk VERDICT An expensive, but super-smart, well-designed outdoor camera with excellent image quality THE NEST CAM IQ (Shopper 363), with its 4K sensor and facial recognition, proved to be the best-quality and smartest security camera we’d ever tested at the time. The Nest Cam IQ Outdoor sees the company back with more of the same, this time in a weatherproof model. Nest joined the outdoor security market with the rather neat Nest Cam Outdoor, which was the easiest external camera we’d ever installed. Thanks to its magnetic mount and use of an outdoor power socket, it could be installed in a matter of minutes; unfortunately, this also made it easier to tamper with. CABLE TIED With the Cam IQ Outdoor, Nest has made the model harder for…

Mel-ifluous @ Can I use your letters page to thank Mel Croucher? I have been a fan of his work since the first PiMan. In fact, I was very nearly involved with a later PIMan episode on the Spectrum through a mutual college friend, who asked me to investigate copy protection for a later release, but nothing ever came of it for me. But Mel’s article ‘The great digital divide’ (Mel’s World, Shopper 377), I believe, was one of the best articles he has ever written. As well as agreeing with everything he wrote, I found the article incredibly moving. I have grown up – and old – reading Mel’s work, and I have to say the old man still has it. Mel, please don’t stop what you are doing.…

Tech pioneer and all-round good egg letters@computershopper.co.uk WHEN I WAS a boy, my Uncle Sid had his voice box removed, thanks to a pioneering navy surgeon and a 40-a-day cigarette habit. Uncle Sid’s was the first synthetic voice I ever heard. It was generated by a battery-driven unit that looked a bit like an electric shaver, and he pressed it to his throat when he needed to communicate. The device emitted a very scary monotone, which was a cross between a Dalek and a vacuum cleaner, and Uncle Sid would cough after every word. His favourite word was ‘pfah!’ For years, all synthetic voices sounded like Uncle Sid, from homicidal computers in sci-fi movies to Stephen Hawking. So in 1983, when I got hold of my own artificial voice box,…

OnePlus 7 Pro takes the fight to flagship phones SAY WHAT? FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, OnePlus has built itself into a powerhouse in the smartphone market, with the handsets it has produced over the past couple of years snapping at the heels of flagship phones, yet coming at more wallet-friendly prices. The OnePlus 5T, 6 and 6T all received critical acclaim for offering a suite of high-end features for a mid-range price. However, none of these phones could quite knock more expensive flagship handsets off their lofty perches. But with the launch of the OnePlus 7 Pro, the Chinese company finally has premium smartphones such as the iPhone XS and Samsung Galaxy S10+ in its sights. Taking the design cues of the 6T as a base, the 7 Pro features a…

US military looks to artificial intelligence for close-combat aerial dogfights FUTURE AIR BATTLES could be fought with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is aiming to train AI technology to engage autonomously in close-range aerial duels. At the moment, no AI system can outwit a human fighter-jet pilot in high-speed, high-G dogfights, despite machines being able to trounce humans in activities such as poker, computer gaming and the ancient Chinese board game, Go. But DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) programme aims to change that by adding more AI-powered technology into fighter jets, which will work in collaboration with human pilots in dog-fighting scenarios. “Being able to trust autonomy is critical as we move toward a future of warfare involving manned platforms…

£1,300 • From www.lenovo.com VERDICT A laptop, tablet and e-reader, the Yoga Book C930 is a 3-in-1 – but master of none FOR A WHILE, it looked as if the Lenovo Yoga Book (Shopper 348) wasn’t coming back. The ultra-thin 2-in-1 was out of stock for months at a time and there was no sign of a replacement model. Now, however, it’s been unexpectedly revived – and revamped – with the release of the Yoga Book C930. We gave the last Lenovo Yoga Book top marks for versatility and innovation but weren’t so keen on its sluggish performance and virtual HALO keyboard. The Yoga Book C930 is a significant step forward, with a higher display resolution and E-Ink secondary display that switches between keyboard, drawing and e-reader modes. The price…

£60 • From www.alternate.co.uk VERDICT The odd performance wobble isn’t enough to spoil this cheap and colourful SSD AS USEFUL AS external SSDs can be, genuinely interesting examples are few and far between. Recently, the only two that have really stood out are the Samsung X5 (Shopper 370) and T5 (Shopper 358). Besides these coming from the same manufacturer, they also share the same traits of high speeds and high prices. In short, there’s room for something that’s a little different, while also costing less than Samsung’s premium drives, and the Adata SD600Q might well be it. With an eye-catching design and overdraft-dodging pricing, it’s got charm to spare, and that’s not something you can say about most storage hardware. FUDGING THE NUMBERS It’s not exactly packing bleeding-edge tech, however.…

£110 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Multiple improvements over the preceding BNX-60 make these our favourite low-cost ANC headphones LINDY’S BNX-60 HEADPHONES (Shopper 341) have proven hugely popular, and for good reason: £80 for a set of great-sounding, active noise-cancelling (ANC), Bluetooth over-ears is a tremendous deal. That’s still true today, three years after release, and so the new BNX-100 aren’t a replacement so much as a more fashionable, feature-rich spin-off. This means a higher price as well, but only modestly, and it does buy you a cleaner, more elegant design than that of the BNX-60. The textured leatherette on the exterior of the drivers’ housing calls to mind the premium look of Sony’s discontinued MDR-1000X headphones, but it’s tougher and much less prone to scratching. There are plenty of other…

£70 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT The basic Kindle isn’t so basic any more, gaining Bluetooth connectivity and a useful reading light FOR A LONG time, the main argument against buying the basic Amazon Kindle was that, despite the low price, it was too simple. More specifically, it wasn’t as well made as the Kindle Paperwhite (Shopper 372) and it had no built-in reading light. With the arrival of the 2019 model, however, those issues have finally been sorted out: you can happily splash out £70 on Amazon’s cheapest e-reader, safe in the knowledge that it does much more of what its pricier stablemates can do. The front light isn’t the only new feature, either. Amazon has also added Bluetooth and, along with it, the ability to download and listen to…

£399 • From www.carphonewarehouse.com VERDICT Google returns to more affordable handsets with the brilliant Pixel 3a GOOGLE’S LATEST PHONES are both a departure and a throwback. The Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are lower-specced, mid-range equivalents of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL (Shopper 372), themselves members of a product family that has exclusively dabbled in the high-end. At the same time, the concept of competitive hardware at a lower price evokes the Pixel brand’s precursor, Nexus. There’s a lot to be excited about here. The £399 Pixel 3a is £180 cheaper than the Pixel 3, yet it looks identical, uses the same clean Android UI and, crucially, has a largely identical rear camera. The main differences are that the Pixel 3a houses a slower Snapdragon 670 processor,…

£70 • From store.nintendo.co.uk VERDICT This buildable VR headset is the perfect accompaniment to your Nintendo Switch EVEN IF THE build-it-yourself cardboard contraptions of Nintendo’s Labo platform (Shopper 366) are now cluttering up your living room, the newest expansion kit might well be enough to rekindle your interest. Nintendo is finally re-entering the world of virtual reality with the aptly named Labo VR – a well-priced window into virtual reality that uses nothing but a Switch console, some folding card and just a little bit of sticky-backed plastic. The Labo VR Kit is somewhat like Google Cardboard, and not just in the sense that it’s literally built around deceased trees. Both systems make VR simpler and cheaper by placing an existing display in front of a set of goggles; with…

01 A network-attached storage (NAS) device lets you store documents, media, and other files on its hard disks so you can share them with other devices on your network. Some have disks already installed, while others are empty enclosures into which you install your own disks. Buying an empty NAS can often be the more cost-effective option, as they’re usually less expensive and give you the freedom to add disks at a later date. You should buy one with a Gigabit Ethernet interface, as these provide the highest transfer speeds. To use a NAS device at these speeds, you’ll need computers with Gigabit Ethernet network adaptors and a Gigabit Ethernet switch or router. Computers with Fast Ethernet adaptors can still access the NAS device, but only at the much slower…

01 A basic 24in LCD monitor costs around £100. It will be fine for typical Windows work but is likely to have poor viewing angles, so you’ll need to sit straight on for the best picture quality. Its colour accuracy may not be very good, either. 02 A VGA input lets you use the monitor with any PC, but the quality may not be as good as it is over DVI or HDMI. Both are digital connections and require a compatible graphics card but they avoid the need for digital-to-analogue or analogue-todigital conversions, which can reduce image quality. A digital connection achieves the best picture automatically, so you won’t have to adjust clock or phase settings as you do with analogue connections. Many DVI and all HDMI connections support HDCP,…

01 A smart thermostat can save you a lot of money by intelligently controlling your heating. Most smart heating devices are designed to be used with hot water central heating systems, with the boiler directly controlled by the system. These typically require a relay to be wired into your boiler, with a wireless thermostat giving you direct control. Smartphone apps then tie into the system to give you remote control. While it’s possible to fit controls yourself, you may want to pay an experienced plumber to do the job: expect to pay around £150 for a typical installation. If you have electric heating, there are very few choices, and the big names (Nest, Honeywell and so on) do not directly support these systems. 02 Want smart hot water control? If…

01 A 32in Full HD TV costs around £200, but premium larger 4K models can be closer to £2,000. TVs look much smaller in the shop than in your home, so measure the space available before you buy. Curved TVs are becoming increasingly more common, but bear in mind that these typically take up more floor space than a traditional flat set. 02 A 1,920x1,080-resolution TV can display a 1080p image. You can still buy TVs with a 720p (1,366x768) resolution, but they’re no cheaper and the image won’t be as sharp. 3,840x2,560 Ultra HD resolution, or 4K, TVs are finally available at reasonable prices, although you’ll still pay a premium for one over a 1080p model. 03 Consider the number of inputs you’ll need to connect the rest of…

01 A basic digital camera will suit someone who wants to take pictures to view on their computer and create 7x5in prints. It should cost around £80, but there may be hidden downsides such as slow performance and very basic user controls. 02Spend a little more and you’ll get a higher resolution. A 16-megapixel sensor has the potential to produce sharp prints up to A3 size, but only if it and the lens are of a suitably high quality. Very high resolutions in compact cameras tend to boost noise more than detail levels, so many of the best models strike a sensible balance by using a 12-megapixel sensor. Back-illuminated CMOS sensors tend to produce less noise than CCDs, but check our reviews to find out how a particular model performs.…

IT’S AN UNFORTUNATE fact that all too many computer owners can leave their files in an increasingly disorganised mess; worse, it can take an age to sort through every file and folder and arrange them in a tidier fashion. Abelssoft File Organizer 2019 can help by allowing you to define various rules, which ultimately means files can be automatically moved to a different area on your drive. For example, if you have photos saved in Documents or on your desktop, the program can have them automatically consolidated into your Photos folder, making them easier to find. Of course, the rules are yours to be defined. You could set up a rule where certain files end up in a cloud storage area on your drive, so they’re uploaded automatically. You don’t…

WEBSITE X5 GO is a powerful application that makes it incredibly easy to create top-quality, responsive websites, even if you have no design or coding experience at all. The program offers a range of professional templates, covering just about every site type and topic area you can imagine, including e-commerce, blogs, sports sites, animals, food, movies, web portals and more. Choose a design that appeals, and you can then start planning your site’s structure using a map. From here, it’s simply a case of populating each page in turn by dragging and cropping various elements on to your page. Again, there are plenty to choose from, including text blocks, images, galleries, tables, video and audio widgets, maps, Flash animations, product catalogues, email forms and more. Each element can be styled…

Alexa isn’t limited to running on Amazon’s Echo devices, and there are plenty of third-party speakers that also have Alexa built in, from the Sonos One music player (page 95) to the Netgear Orbi Voice mesh system (Shopper 376). Third-party speakers largely work in the same way as Echo devices. You ask Alexa a question or get her to turn on smart devices, and she responds. As third-party devices are linked to your Amazon account, these speakers get access to all the services and features that you set up. There are some limitations, however. First, third-party devices currently don’t support calling or drop-in between Echo devices, so you can’t use them as an alternative to an intercom or a cheap way of making phone calls. Depending on what you want…

One of the main reasons to use an Echo is to control your smart home devices, turning up the heating or turning off the lights without your having to leave the comfort of your seat or bed. Here’s what you need to know. First, each smart home device requires you to install a Skill in the same way that you’d install the Skills that we listed on the previous page. Typically, you’re prompted to log into an account, such as Philips Hue, and then Alexa will discover which devices you have in your home. Once discovered, what you can do varies from device to device, so check out the Skills page to see what commands you can use. That said, there are some basics. For example with lights, you can…

£35 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT It’s not a speaker itself, but the Echo Input can quickly and cheaply turn most old speakers into smart Alexa devices THE ECHO INPUT is the odd one out of Amazon’s smart speaker range, and that’s because it’s not really a smart speaker at all. Instead, it’s something loosely akin to the Chromecast Audio: a disc-shaped connector that turns older, ‘dumb’ speakers into modern smart devices. This goes even further than Google’s discontinued dongle, however, adding not just music streaming but full Alexa assistant capabilities as well. In this sense, it’s more like the Echo Dot but without the speaker. That’s something you’ll have to supply yourself, but as long as the Echo Input can connect either via its 3.5mm cable or over Bluetooth, it’s…

£120 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT This smart alarm clock is a decent, cheaper alternative to the Echo Show AMAZON DESCRIBES THE Echo Spot as a ‘smart alarm clock’, but there’s a lot more to this little device than that would imply. It may look like something designed to get you out of bed, but with full Alexa integration and a colour display – if a much smaller one than that of the Echo Show – it’s one of the most interesting products in the entire Echo family. The main appeal of the Echo Spot compared to the larger Echo Show – besides the lower price – is its size and the way it looks. It’s spherical in shape and about the size of a grapefruit, with a portion of the…

£308 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT If you’ve got the cash for it, the Arlo Pro 2 is temptingly stacked with features ALTHOUGH IT’S NOT as pricey as its 4K stablemate, the Arlo Ultra, the Pro 2 will set you back a pretty penny. For the base station (which includes a built-in siren) and a single camera, expect to pay £308, and additional cameras come at a premium, too. The two-camera kit is £485, the three-camera kit £605 and the largest four-camera kit £799. Thankfully, it’s not lacking in features. The Pro 2 can stream 1080p video live to your smartphone, and to save you staring at your screen all day long, it has sound and motion sensors and will send alerts if either is triggered. Click on a notification and…

£179 • From www.hivehome.com VERDICT It’s wonderfully designed, but the View suffers from unreliable motion detection and delayed notifications THE FIRST HIVE camera, fittingly called the Hive Camera, was a basic affair that could only record to an SD card. Its successor, the Hive View, is much more in line with modern expectations for a smart security camera, able to save recordings in the cloud and away from prying hands. A single camera costs £179, with 24 hours of footage history available for free. An extra £4 per month, however, will get you 30 days of footage history and 25% off the cost of any cameras when bought together, so if 24 hours doesn’t sound like enough then it’s best to get the subscription up front. The physical design of…

£179 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT The Stick Up Cam is a versatile and high-quality security camera, but the lack of free video storage disappoints RING IS PROBABLY best known for its video doorbells, which can themselves act as smart security cameras – albeit small, static ones with a limited view. Expanding into dedicated security cameras therefore makes a lot of sense for Ring. However, while the Stick Up Cam is generally a fine effort, it falls down on its subscription prices. That’s a pity, because there’s a huge amount to be positive about with the Ring Stick Up Cam, from the brilliant design to the quality of the footage it can capture. First, the design: the camera itself is a small, cute-looking cylinder with a stand that, out of the…

• NINTENDO ORDERS TAKEDOWN OF A MARIO PORT It took modder ZeroPaige seven years to create his highly impressive port of Super Mario Bros on the Commodore 64, but it didn’t take nearly as long for Nintendo to spot the game and file a DMCA takedown notice. Even though the game was technically superb – it had full side-screen scrolling and managed to run fast despite the C64’s clock speed being just over half that of the NES – Nintendo simply saw it as a violation of its intellectual property. So, four days after it was hosted on the Commodore Computer Club’s website, it was ordered to be removed. This was no great surprise to seasoned retro watchers, since Nintendo is known to protect its games rigorously. Last year, it…

Passonby @ I’m puzzled by your repeated recommendation of cloud-based password managers, most recently LastPass (‘Use a password manager’, Advanced Projects, Shopper 377). Surely the passwords and other sensitive information which these services gather in the cloud, usually a whole collection of data for each user, represent the most irresistible sort of honeypot on the internet, and therefore will be the subject of hackers’ most strenuous efforts? I’m sure LastPass and others stress how secure they keep the data, but we’ve heard that again and again from the bestresourced tech companies, to no effect. Perhaps I’m missing something, but for this reason I have avoided all such cloud-based password services. I rely on some old software, which doesn’t touch the internet and puts my passwords behind a master password. This…

Software guru and Shopper legend letters@computershopper.co.uk A WRITER AT The New Yorker recently posted a tweet that said: “Uh, this looks fake but, alas, it’s our iPad today after 3-year-old tried (repeatedly) to unlock. Ideas?” The tweet had an image attached of the iPad’s screen saying the device is disabled, along with the message, “Try again in 25,536,442 minutes.” To save you doing the arithmetic, that’s over 48 years. Quite a while to be waiting to get back to your music, photos and documents. What had happened was the toddler had kept trying to unlock the device by typing the wrong password, and Apple devices have a security feature under which the more times an incorrect password is entered, the more time is added to the lockout time. Persistent toddler,…

Bendy laptops Lenovo has jumped on the folding-screen trend, only rather than putting one in a phone, it has made a ThinkPad with a flexible display. Lenovo calls it the world’s first foldable PC Gold at the end of the rainbow The estate of Harold Arlen, composer of Over the Rainbow, is suing Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft after finding more than 6,000 unauthorised copies of Arlen’s songs on their services Ethical AI The government has appointed a host of experts to its artificial intelligence council, including Alan Turing Institute chief executive Professor Adrian Smith and Ocado CTO Paul Clarke, with the goal of ensuring ethical AI use HPE goes cray-cray Hewlett Packard Enterprise has snapped up supercomputer firm Cray for $1.3bn, with the goal of cranking out more high-performance…

“If dogs could talk – and we cannot stress this enough – they would tell you to drive a Tesla” Elon Musk’s car company isn’t shy on self-promotion “Our inquiry has exposed a health service that is losing its grip on health screening programmes” Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier MP on why some NHS technology is unfit for purpose “We want to empower everyone to use AI to apply to problems they see in their communities” Google’s AI boss Jeff Dean talks up the societal benefits of AI tech “The stakes are too high in criminal investigations to rely on unreliable – or wrong – inputs” Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy and Technology on the NYPD’s alleged abuse of facial-recognition technology “Chopping a great American success story into bits…

£900 •From www.overclockers.co.uk VERDICT A good all-rounder, but in exchange for slightly less power you can get a much better deal £200 CAN GO a long way in PC building. This is well known to anyone who’s attempted a DIY system: it can upgrade the graphics card to a whole other tier, it can massively boost storage capacity and speed, and it can get you a CPU with significantly more cores and multitasking muscle. However, spread that £200 too thinly, and what initially seems like a major overhaul can end up feeling less worthwhile than if you’d focused on making just one or two key upgrades. This is precisely what’s happened with the Overclockers XVI Gamer: at £900, it’s £200 more than the Gaming XVI Essential (Shopper 377), and is…

£138 • From www.novatech.co.uk VERDICT The GTX 1650 is Nvidia’s most powerful budget GPU yet, but it faces a strong challenge from the newly cheap RX 570 ALMOST A YEAR after Nvidia first announced its next-generation RTX 20-series cards, we finally have a replacement for the entry-level GTX 1050 as well. The GTX 1650 is a world away from the monster frame rates and real-time ray-tracing of its RTX cousins, joining the GTX 1660 Ti (Shopper 377) and GTX 1660 in the more affordable 16-series, but it’s still an interesting proposition, especially when it’s in the tiny form factor of this Zotac model. The underlying GPU is the cheapest of Nvidia’s current crop, and without a GTX 1650 Ti to compete with, is the only truly ‘budget’ GPU of the…

£107 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Despite the name, there’s not much new in HP’s travel-friendly Sprocket printer HP’S SPROCKET NEW Edition is a fun, highly portable photo printer aimed at students, backpackers and anyone who can’t bear to be away from a printer. About the size of two smartphones stacked on top of each other, it prints only on special 2x3in ink-free paper, which you can buy in packs of 10, 20 or 50 sheets. Peel off the backing paper, and prints will stick to your laptop lid or the student fridge. Their quality is fine for keepsakes, but not on a par with a good inkjet print. Nobody seems sure what to call this updated version of the original Sprocket (Shopper 357): HP itself refers to it as both…

£99 • From www.oneplus.com/uk VERDICT The Bullets Wireless 2 look almost identical to their predecessors, but sound far superior ONEPLUS MADE ITS name in smartphones, but last year saw the company venture into the headphones market with its Bullets Wireless earbuds. These had an alluring design and an affordable price, but were let down by lacklustre drivers. Now OnePlus is back for another try with the Bullets Wireless 2. Can these new headphones fix their predecessors’ problems and win over audiophiles on a budget? SECOND SHOT Design-wise, the Bullets Wireless 2 have a lot in common with the original Bullets. The wired-together format, with its rubberised neckband, will suit commuters and office workers, although it doesn’t work well with a high-collar jacket. It’s not ideal for fitness fans either, but…

£169 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT As impressive as the Xperia 1 is, its budget sibling deserves some attention too DESPITE THE XPERIA L3 acting as the budget component of Sony’s 2019 Xperia line-up, this is no bargain-bin tat. It looks just like a flagship phone you’d be charged three times as much for – and it has a few hidden surprises, too. Not that its entry-level status is entirely disguised, but the Xperia L3 certainly looks lovely. The all-metal unibody design is a pleasant surprise, and it fits nicely in the hand. There’s also a side-mounted fingerprint sensor on the right edge, which can be used both for secure unlocking and for authorising contactless card payments via NFC. This sits between the phone’s power button and volume rocker, while a…

£150 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT In this successful attempt at a more affordable Versa, Fitbit has made snips in mostly all the right places THE ORIGINAL FITBIT Versa (Shopper 365) was distinguished by its versatility, so what happens when a cheaper version comes along that jettisons features to hit a lower price? The answer isn’t as grim as it could have been. The Fitbit Versa Lite makes a few cuts, but not to anything that was essential to the original Versa’s success, and buys itself a £50 price difference in the process. THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED The first thing to go is onboard music support, mainly in the loss of Deezer. This is arguably the least significant of the cuts, as since neither this nor the original Versa have…

01 A basic PC costing around £350 will be able to run everyday office, multimedia and education software and will easily cope with surfing the internet. It might even be able to run some modern games. Many PCs can be sold either with or without a monitor. If you don’t like the display the manufacturer is offering, you can always use your current one, or buy another one separately. 02 If you want to play games, you’ll have to upgrade the graphics card. Budget cards such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 will cope well with many 3D games, but to play the latest 3D games smoothly (and enjoy the best-quality graphics) it’s worth upgrading to a more powerful card such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. 03 All modern…

01 As with Intel motherboards, you’ll need to make sure you match an AMD processor with a compatible motherboard. This is relatively simple for AMD hardware, as most of its recent chips use the same AM4 socket, and the most recent secondgeneration Ryzen processors are backwardscompatible with first-generation chipsets, such as the X370 and B350. 02 Budget APU and a minority of Ryzen processors have integrated graphics, so to make use of this, ensure that your motherboard comes with video outputs such as DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. For Ryzen chips that lack integrated graphics, or if you want more graphics power, install a dedicated graphics card into one of your motherboard’s PCI-E x16 slots. This also has the benefit of providing a greater range of video outputs to choose from.…

01 Laser printers used to be much more expensive than inkjets and were typically restricted to offices. They are now much more affordable, however, and offer several benefits over inkjets, including lower per-page printing costs and faster print speeds. 02 A decent laser printer will typically cost around £80, and will happily print hundreds of black-and-white pages per hour. If documents are your priority, you’ll want a high minimum speed and low print costs. However, you’ll probably be limited to black-and-white printing at this price. 03 Although you can still buy single function laser printers, multifunction peripherals (MFPs) are now far more common. These models can scan and photocopy documents as well as print them, and some of them also have fax capabilities. Laser MFPs start from around £200. 04…

01 A smartphone’s operating system (OS) dictates its basic features and which third-party software you can install. There are three main contenders: Apple’s iOS, which is found on the iPhone, Google’s Android, which is used by various handset manufacturers, and Windows Phone, which has few options, especially since Microsoft has discontinued support for its OS. Apple iOS and Google Android both have thousands of apps available. 02 All smartphones have colour screens, but their resolutions vary. Basic models have 1,280x720 pixels, but text can be indistinct. Look for a display that has at least 1,920x1,080 pixels so it’s easier to read text and watch Full HD videos. Don’t worry too much about built-in media players or Office document editors; you can always install apps to replace these with better versions…

01 Bluetooth speakers come in all shapes and sizes, so you’ll need to decide what you want to do with the speaker before you buy. If you don’t plan to take your music outdoors or around the house, look for a wired speaker. These are typically cheaper than speakers with built-in batteries. If you do want a portable speaker, however, pay particular attention to how much it weighs. Ruggedised models should be able to survive accidental drops, water spills and unexpected rain showers. 02 Many of the cheapest Bluetooth speakers use the lossy A2DP Bluetooth protocol, which is prone to compressing your music and discarding detail compared with the original recording. It’s hard to tell the difference when listening to pocket-sized speakers, but if you’re looking for a speaker to…

01 Wearable tech can include anything from chest-strap heart-rate monitors to augmented reality glasses, but the two most common types are smartwatches and fitness trackers. Both are designed to sit unassumingly on your wrist, and are almost always meant to be used in tandem with a paired smartphone. 02 Smartwatches are typically more complex and expensive, though more closely resemble a traditional wristwatch. You can use them to receive and reply to text messages and emails, quickly check maps and even play games – like a smartphone, most smartwatches allow you to install your own choice of apps. 03 Fitness trackers are much more dedicated to healthy pursuits. Step counters, heart-rate monitors and even sleep tracking are all common, and the data collected is fed back to you so you…

IOBIT MALWARE FIGHTER is a straightforward anti-spyware tool that can protect your PC in several different ways. For instance, you can run an on-demand scan to look for spyware, adware, trojans, bots and other threats that your regular antivirus software might have missed. The Smart Scan checks only the most critical areas of your PC, and runs fairly quickly (around seven minutes on our PC); you can run a complete system scan if you prefer, while the Custom Scan allows you to choose exactly what you’d like the program to examine. Malware Fighter also includes real-time protection in the shape of five dedicated guards, which variously monitor your startup programs, browser settings, cookies, the web pages you view, and the files you access. Our first brief tests left some questions…

NOVAPDF IS A powerful commercial tool for creating PDF files. Install the program and it equips your PC with a virtual printer driver, enabling you to create PDFs from any Windows app. Just open your target document, choose Print, select the NovaPDF printer, and the program will convert it for you. It also provides its own console, where you can choose a document and convert it to PDF directly. NovaPDF directly integrates with Microsoft Office applications, too. Open a document, click the NovaPDF tab, and again you can have it converted to PDF in a couple of clicks. However you start the conversion process, your finished document can be customised in many different ways. Bookmarks, metadata, font embedding, link detection, text optimisation, layout PDF/A and Linear PDF options are all…

There are plenty of Amazon Alexa devices out there, but the core services are all run in the cloud. As such, the hardware defines the sound quality (or picture quality, in some cases), but the main features are the same across all devices, with a few exceptions for third-party smart speakers (see box, opposite). For that reason, our group test of Echo devices on page 88 will help you buy the right hardware, but here, we’ll show you what Alexa is capable of. A good starting point is with the features that are built into Alexa. These are the commands and options you can start with. ANSWER ME At its most basic, Alexa is there to answer any questions you might have. Want to know how to spell a word?…

If you find something that Amazon Alexa can’t do, don’t panic, as there’s probably a Skill that can help you out. Think of these as apps for Alexa, and you’ll understand. Skills do everything from giving you control of your smart home devices (see page 84) to giving you travel updates. We’ll bring you our list of our favourite ones here, but first we’ll cover how to install and manage them. INSTALLING AND MANAGING SKILLS All Skills are managed through the Amazon Alexa app. Open it up and tap the menu icon at the top left of the screen, then select Skills and Games. Here, you can tap the Search icon if you know which Skill you want to look for, or you can tap Categories to browse through the…

Routines are Alexa’s way of doing multiple things in one go, all under the control of a single command word, time or through the press of a button. For example, you can set up a routine trigger by saying, ‘Alexa, goodbye’, which will turn off all of your lights and smart plugs – handy if you’re always leaving lights on when you go out. Or you could say, ‘Alexa, turn on movie mode’, which would dim the lights and turn up the thermostat. The choice on what do to is entirely up to you, but we’ll show you how to get started with Routines here so that you can start to automate your home. To get started, open the Alexa app, tap the menu icon (top left) and then select…

£90 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Even if it’s not the best-sounding smart speaker, the Echo 2nd Generation is a versatile and well-priced update HOW DO YOU follow up a device like the Echo, which almost single-handedly took voice assistant speakers into the mainstream? Amazon’s answer is to make a brand new Echo that’s smaller, lighter and considerably cheaper than the original. At £90, when the original cost £150, the Echo 2nd Generation seems like a fantastic deal. Stand the new Echo next to the old one and you can see that it’s about two-thirds the height – 89mm shorter, to be more specific – although it’s still roughly the same diameter. This makes placing the new Echo that little bit easier, as it will fit on to most shelves with…

£140 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT With an integrated ZigBee hub and improved sound quality, the latest Echo Plus is a winner LIKE THE ORIGINAL Echo Plus, this updated model wants to be all things to all Echo owners. An integrated ZigBee smart hub can put it even closer to the centre of your smart home setup than cheaper Echo speakers, and sound quality is prioritised, too. This time, there’s also a built-in thermometer to tell the temperature of the room it’s in, which should make smart thermostat features all the more effective. Even with its remarkably similar physical design, it’s even clearer than before that the Echo Plus isn’t just an Echo with nicer sounding tweeters; it’s a fully distinct device with its own standout features. LOW INFLATION It’s worth…

£169 • From www.cramptonandmoore.co.uk VERDICT Sonos and Alexa join forces in this greatsounding smart speaker NO, THIS ISN’T an Echo speaker; it won’t even solely be an Alexa speaker, as an update enabling Google Assistant is planned for this July (although this feature is overdue an initially planned 2018 launch). The Sonos One is, however, one of the best third-party Alexa speakers on the market, so is worth looking at here alongside Amazon’s own wares. It’s arguably closest to the Echo Plus, coming in with a premium price and a focus on audio quality, but there’s no built-in smart hub or touchscreen display. ONE TO ONE Design-wise, the Sonos One is extremely reminiscent of the Sonos Play:1 (Shopper 345). Both are neutral-looking, squat speakers with an Ethernet port on the…

£50 • From shop.bt.com VERDICT A decent budget alternative to premium smart cameras, but the lack of cloud video storage is a drawback FOLLOWING THE ARLO Pro 2, the BT Smart Home Cam might come as something of a relief: proof that you can get a smart security camera on the cheap. In fact, not only has the Smart Home Cam dramatically undercut its rivals, it’s done so in quite a sensible fashion, which leaves the core functionality untouched. It’s not without its weaknesses, but for those in a relatively crime-free environment, it’s a cheap way of getting a little extra peace of mind. A DIFFICULT WATCH Before we get on to what the BT Smart Home Cam does, it’s worth focusing on what it doesn’t do, because that will…

£20 • From shop.neos.co.uk VERDICT The SmartCam isn’t the most technically advanced camera, but at this price it’s incredibly well equipped SO FAR WE’VE seen how expensive it can be to get a smart security system up and running; even if you opt for the relatively affordable BT Smart Home Cam, there’s the added monthly cost of a subscription to actually let you review video clips instead of just still images. The underlying idea is that you can’t put a price on security, but the Neos SmartCam shows that this price doesn’t have to be very high. It’s only £20 but shoots at 1080p, has a night vision mode and free cloud storage for video footage. Free cloud storage isn’t a particularly rare bonus, of course. It’s often offered with…

£76 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Slightly over-the-top motion detection aside, the Kasa Cam KC120 is a quality smart camera AS USEFUL AS security cameras can be, whether it’s for deterring thieves, collecting evidence or monitoring your home while you’re out, they’re not always the simplest of devices. Besides the expected hardware differences, there’s also the matter of cloud storage plans, which can get confusing in terms of what you can save and for how long. The TP-Link Kasa Cam KC120 aims to simplify things, offering two days of free cloud storage for video footage and a flexible stand that makes it easier to install anywhere. Anywhere indoors, at least. Standing on a tall stick of a stand and decked out in black plastic, the TP-Link Kasa Cam KC120 is a…

One of the best-known algorithms that could take advantage of a quantum computer is Shor’s algorithm. While factoring a number using a conventional computer is essentially a trial and error approach, Shor’s algorithm would make light work of it. This might be a curiosity to mathematicians, but the impact could be far reaching. The most commonly used forms of encryption rely on the fact that factoring a large number would keep the fastest computers busy for decades. But if practical general-purpose quantum computing were a reality, cracking encoded messages would be much more achievable. Quantum technology might render today’s encryption technologies obsolete, therefore, but it could also offer an alternative, which is mathematically proven to be 100% effective. Enter quantum encryption. Strictly speaking, this isn’t a form of cryptography so…

Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk Drive! Drive! I’ve been using Google Drive for ages, and it now contains several years’ worth of personal and household files. A while ago I started my own business and followed an ancient Shopper guide (Business Expert, Shopper 297-299) to setting up Google Apps (now G Suite). From that point, I should probably have started saving work files in the Drive that belongs to my work account, but I didn’t. The result is that although I have a Google account linked to my work email address, my work files are stored in my personal Google Drive. When I want to share a file or collaborate on clients’ documents, I have to use my personal Gmail address. This looks unprofessional and has caused some confusion, so…

clive@computershopper.co.uk Build your own AI The rise of the robots might still be a few years off, but we’re on the cusp of the AI revolution. Clive Webster shows you how to build your own personal AI for £42 SMART SPEAKERS AND AI devices are the latest cool gadgets, but we’re already hearing of some gadgets spying on its users by ‘always listening’ (see ‘Talk To Me’ on page 78). There’s no doubt as to how useful these voice-controlled assistants can be, so the question then becomes, ‘how can you trust them?’ The answer is easy: rather than trust a huge multinational company to make your AI assistant, you make it yourself. Google’s AIY Voice kit allows you to do just that, and as it’s designed for developers and makers,…