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Whether you've cut the cord or are sticking with cable, our guide will show you all the ways you can watch America's favorite sport on TV, including Monday Night Football and NFL RedZone. from PCWorld https://ift.tt/2LlVF9s via IFTTT

Skype Meet Now was Microsoft's reaction to Zoom just as the pandemic was taking hold: a quick invitation to a video call, no app needed. Now Microsoft is making Skype Meet Now even simpler, by adding it to Windows 10's taskbar.  Well, sort of. Meet Now is the flagship feature of Windows 10 Insider build 20221, part of the Dev Channel of Microsoft's Insider builds. This means it's part of Microsoft's code base that may never see the light of day, or may emerge in a future build. In any event. Microsoft is rolling the new feature to just a subset of the Dev Channel for now, paring down its audience further. To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/2RVmJ1w via IFTTT

Stay on top of the latest tech with PCWorld’s Digital Magazine. Available as single copies or as a monthly subscription, it highlights the best content from PCWorld.com—the most important news, the key product reviews, and the most useful features and how-to stories—in a curated Digital Magazine for Android and iOS, as well for the desktop and other tablet readers. In the August issue This month we review Dell's XPS 15 9500, the laptop Apple should have made. We pick the best PC Games of 2020 (so far). Plus, find out why Xbox Game Pass for PC is the best deal in PC gaming. Other highlights include: News : Arm Macs and AMD rising: How Intel's endless 10nm struggles cost it so much Lenovo Yoga C640 review: The battery life blows us away HP Chromebook x360 12b review: It's affordable and good Samsung SSD 870 QVO review: Stupendous 8TB capacity in a SATA SSD Best Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra cases: Top picks in every style Android tips: 11 quick ways to clear...

As consumers worked on Windows PCs during the pandemic and played games on their Xbox in the evening, Microsoft benefited from both trends. In a shift from prior quarters, Microsoft’s More Personal Computing business, the home of Windows and Xbox, helped drive company growth. In its earnings call Wednesday, Microsoft reported that net income fell by 15 percent to $11.2 billion. However, second-quarter revenue jumped 13 percent from a year ago, to $38 billion. This was helped in part by a 14-percent increase in revenue for the MPC group, to $12.9 billion. There, the drivers were Microsoft’s traditional consumer pillars: Windows, Surface, and Xbox. The first six months of 2020 have been affected by the coronavirus in most areas of the world, and Microsoft has struggled to sell pricier Windows 10 Pro licenses. In the recent quarter, Pro license sales actually fell, down 4 percent. But as consumers and businesses turned to cheaper PCs, Windows 10 “non-Pro” (Windows 10 S and Windows 10 ...

A... simpler Google? Yes, from the company that brought you chat app after chat app, Google said Wednesday that it planned to integrate Gmail, Chat, Rooms, and Meet into a unified interface—that looks a lot like Outlook. That should come as no surprise. Javier Soltero, who led the Acompli email app that was later acquired by Microsoft, integrated a calendar, a file picker, and even a focused inbox years before Microsoft Outlook did. Those features eventually became part of Outlook. Now Soltero, the vice president and general manager of Google’s G Suite, has tidied up Gmail as well. Last month, Google brought Google Chat into Gmail for the web. According to a blog post Google published today, Chat will “soon” be joining Gmail on Android and iOS as well. The interface should be extremely familiar to mobile Outlook app users, though while Outlook includes a calendar, search, and email icons at the bottom of its mobile app. Google has all four of its key collaboration apps at the bot...

The gaming laptop landscape is experiencing an earthquake-like shift. With the near-simultaneous launches of  AMD’s Ryzen 4000  and Intel’s Comet Lake-H mobile CPUs, we have a real fight for the first time ever, focusing on Ryzen 4000’s cores vs. Comet Lake-H’s clock speeds. Meanwhile, Nvidia has unveiled a new generation of mobile graphics technologies. Check out our top picks immediately below, and keep reading to catch up on the latest news and reviews.  To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/2HTbRN0 via IFTTT

Intel unveiled Thunderbolt 4 on Wednesday, tightening the existing I/O specification for docks, some displays, external storage and GPUs. Bandwidth remains unchanged from Thunderbolt 3, though executives said to expect new types of docks and longer cables. AMD, which has traditionally never associated Thunderbolt with its Ryzen platforms, pooh-poohed Thunderbolt demand but said it meets the spec’s security restrictions. Thunderbolt 4 will debut later this year as part of Intel’s “Tiger Lake” CPU platform, as  Intel originally announced during CES  in January. We now know it will support 40Gbps throughput, but with tighter minimum specs. Thunderbolt 4 will guarantee that a pair of 4K displays will work with a Thunderbolt dock, and require Thunderbolt 4-equipped PCs to charge on at least one Thunderbolt port. Thunderbolt PCs will be able to connect to either “compact” or “full” docks with up to four Thunderbolt ports. Longer Thunderbolt cables will be possible, too. To read ...

Antivirus software is nearly as crucial as a PC’s operating system. Even if you’re well aware of potential threats and practice extreme caution, some threats just can’t be prevented without the extra help of an AV program—or a full antivirus suite.  You could, for example, visit a website that unintentionally displays malicious ads. Or accidentally click on a phishing email (it happens!). Or get stung by a zero-day threat, where an undisclosed bug in Windows, your browser, or an installed program gives hackers entry to your system. We’re not suggesting that PC security software is fool-proof. Antivirus software often can’t do much to stop zero-day exploits, for example. But it can detect when the undisclosed vulnerability is used to install other nasty bits, like ransomware, on your machine. Anyone who actively uses email, clicks on links, and downloads programs will benefit from an antivirus suite. To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https:/...

Hey, at least one part of E3 remains intact in 2020! Thursday night marked the debut of EA Play 2020, which usually is held in a hot parking lot in Hollywood and this year was held in Andrew Wilson’s surfboard room.  Anyway, EA kept it to a tight 45 minutes, and a big chunk of that was spent hyping up older games that came to Steam earlier in the day. We’ve rounded up the few new game announcements below though, including news of Skate 4 , new Star Wars: Squadrons footage, It Takes Two , and Lost in Random .  Wait, did I say Skate 4 ? To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/2Cgs4Mh via IFTTT

Google Meet is now free for everyone. As part of the video conferencing land rush begun by Zoom, Google has moved Google Meet out of its paid, premium tier, and made it available to both consumers and professionals alike. In the same way that rival Facebook Messenger Rooms requires you to belong to Facebook to launch a new Room, Google Meet does require users to have a Google account, such as a Gmail email address. The free tier also limits users to just 60 minutes, though the company said it won’t enforce it until after September 30. To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/3d0E0Pg via IFTTT

AMD reported very strong earnings for the first quarter of 2020, though AMD executives acknowledged that lower consumer spending may offset the strong demand for its Ryzen CPUs and Radeon GPUs as the year progresses. AMD provided important context into how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the technology industry, providing a counterpoint to rival Intel’s earnings last week . Chief executive Lisa Su said that AMD has already seen strong demand in the work-from-home category, specifically notebooks. It’s unclear, however, whether that demand will slow if the economy continues to be hit hard. To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/3bKSrqA via IFTTT

Intel overcame the early effects of COVID-19 and reported a strong first quarter of 2020, confirming that the company plans to add its next Tiger Lake processor near the middle of the year, as well as add manufacturing capacity. Intel chief executive Bob Swan also praised his staff for remaining on duty as the coronavirus ramped up, promising $100 million in assistance to his workers including special recognition for those who reported to Intel’s facilities to keep the company running. Intel reported net income of $5.7 billion, up 42 percent from a year ago, on revenue of $19.8 billion, up 23 percent from the same period. (Intel’s second-quarter outlook calls for revenue to drop slightly, to $18.5 billion.) Intel’s data-based businesses exploded, specifically its Xeon-centric Data Center Group, whose revenue rose 43 percent to $7 billion. The larger PC-specific Client Computing Group experienced slower growth, up 14 percent to $9.8 billion. Intel attributed the growth in DCG to...

There are so many smart thermostats to choose from today. We'll help you pick the right one. from PCWorld https://ift.tt/2CPRXAd via IFTTT

Due to the coronavirus and social distancing, traditional video watch parties are off the table right now—but you can still safely view movies and TV shows with loved ones. Thanks to the efforts of a few great developers, you can stream movies and TV shows together in perfect sync by installing a simple browser extension on your laptop or desktop computer.  Of the options out there, TwoSeven stands out as my favorite in the bunch. This add-on is the most versatile, with support for Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Hulu, Disney+, YouTube, Vimeo, other web-based streaming sites (like Crunchyroll), and even files stored locally on a computer. You can use it in both Firefox and Chrome, and the interface even has built-in audio and video chat for sharing reactions in real time. It feels as close as you can get to having an in-person gathering. To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/39psTgX via IFTTT

Choosing the right virtual private network (VPN) service is no simple task. A VPN should keep your internet usage private and secure, but not every service handles your data in the same way. Just look at the critiques of notable computer security experts and online pundits to understand the challenge. Even supposed experts in the field can turn out to be frauds .  To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/2TBK375 via IFTTT

AMD confirmed Thursday that at long last, its next-generation RDNA 2 graphics architecture will include hardware ray tracing, and it will advance performance-per-watt improvements by an additional 50 percent over its current designs. The company also plans to add a compute-specific version of its GPUs, dubbed “CDNA.” AMD has traditionally used its financial analyst meetings to provide insight into its future strategy in the CPU and GPU markets, especially with regard to the PC, mobile, and server spaces. It’s the latter market in which AMD is driving hard, as enterprise and scientific markets are willing to pay top dollar for a high-margin Epyc processor—the sort of boon financial analysts like to hear about.  To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/2wB1RVP via IFTTT

A day after Microsoft preannounced lower revenues due to the coronavirus impact, Dell Technologies sidestepped the same question. Dell said its fiscal 2021 guidance of between $91.8 billion to $94.8 billion in revenue does not include any impact from the coronavirus (COVID-19) at all, though executives did say they expect first-quarter revenues to be “negatively impacted,” especially in China. (Dell reported fiscal 2020 revenues of $92.2 billion. The company’s 2020 fiscal year ended on January 31, 2020.)  Dell Dell's guidance for fiscal 2021 and its risk factors, including the CPU shortages and coronavirus risks. To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/2VrMHwI via IFTTT

2020 looks like it’s going to be a great year for laptops. We have AMD and Intel battling it out on the CPU front, new mobile discrete GPUs enabling thinner, lighter, and faster gaming laptops, and battery life that won’t quit. Check out the latest reports from CES below, and stay tuned for new models we bring in for review.  Latest laptop news and reviews We just returned from CES with a slew of mobile news, and we reviewed HP’s Elite Dragonfly, a corporate laptop that’s not boring. Here’s the latest:  AMD’s Ryzen 4000 mobile CPUs  announced at CES will likely be the biggest laptop news of 2020. After years of underwhelming chips, the new generation will offer 7nm efficiency and more cores. With 100 laptops ready to rock the new CPUs, the industry is clearly behind AMD on this one. What we don’t know is how battery life will play out, as that’s been an Achilles heel for AMD in the past.  Read our full story .  We also saw one of the first 5G laptops at C...

Intel reported unexpectedly stellar fourth-quarter results on Thursday, while it continues to chart a path toward increasing wafer supply and transitioning into the first iteration of its 10nm process technology.  The numbers were outstanding: Intel reported a record fourth-quarter revenue of $20.2 billion, up 8 percent from a year ago. Intel also posted fourth-quarter profits of $6.9 billion, up 9 percent. Intel’s revenue outlook for the first quarter is $19 billion, slightly higher than a year ago. Intel’s Client Computing Group reported $10 billion in revenue, up 2 percent from a year ago. Intel’s Data Center Group was the real star, however, as revenue grew 19 percent to $7.2 billion. To read this article in full, please click here from PCWorld https://ift.tt/30PxLZY via IFTTT

Older hardware still won’t get new software features after May, but operating them won’t prevent firmware updates for new hardware. from PCWorld https://ift.tt/30UvtZx via IFTTT