TechRadar Deals: Amazon has 29 apps for free today

Amazon has again got a free app bundle giveaway as part of its Free App of the Day promotion, with the last, going on sale at the end of June.

Amazon added local pricing for the Aussie Amazon app store late last year, and has had "free app for the day" promotions since then.

There are 29 apps worth $140 available for free this time around including the cult classic Carcassonne board game, which costs $5.40 on Google Play and $12.99 on iOS.

Other apps include Daily Workouts ($4.47), · Essential Anatomy 3 ($25.46), Ultimate Guitar Tabs and Tools ($8.65), Little Piano Pro ($6.46), Language Coach ($9.99), CalenGoo ($6.49), Instapaper ($3.24), Docs to Go Premium ($11.06), Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 8th edition ($37.99), Sonic & Sega Allstars ($2.11).

Apps can be downloaded onto Amazon or Android devices.

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Apple's speedy content delivery network may be live with a little help from ISPs

Apple is making a lot of changes with iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and to help prepare it's reportedly launched its own content delivery network (CDN).

The company's incoming new operating system upgrades will communicate with one other more than ever, and the new CDN should help deliver files and data more quickly.

Apple has been working on launching its own CDN since 2013, according to StreamingMediaBlog.com.

Moreover the company has reportedly established interconnect deals with internet service providers including Comcast that will allow it to connect directly to these ISPs' networks.

i-control

Apple's CDN reportedly has more than 10 times the capacity that many existing service providers are using to deliver content to their users, according to the streaming media blog, which claims to have spoken with sources at multiple ISPs.

The delivery network could have speeds up to multiple terabits per second, with Apple investing more than $100 million (about £59m, AU$107m) in it by the end of 2014, according to the site.

If this report is accurate, Apple has just joined the ranks of companies like Microsoft, YouTube and Netflix, which also pay ISPs for improved access to customers - though it's well known that Netflix doesn't like it.

With the Yosemite beta already arriving, this CDN may be just in time for Apple to start taking some of the load on its own shoulders and wrest yet more control into its own hands.

Just to be sure, though, we've asked Apple to confirm the details of this report, and we'll update if we hear back.

• Here's everything TechRadar knows about the Apple iWatch

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Online TV set to take over broadcast TV

A new study has found that a quarter of Aussies will be signing up to an online entertainment service, like Fetch TV or Foxtel Play, within the next 12 months.

The Deloitte Media ­Consumer ­Survey found that the internet was ranked in the top three forms of entertainment by 63% of respondents.

Though still in the number one spot, traditional broadcast television sits only one percent higher than the internet as preferred form of entertainment at at 64%.

The new TV

With more than 70% of Aussies binge-viewers, Deloitte's survey of 2300 Australian's also found that a quarter of the respondents plan to subscribe to an online ­television ­service in the next 12 months.

These results aren't too surprising though, as only over the past 12 months, services like EzyFlix.tv, Foxtel Play and Presto have joined the likes of Quickflix and even Netflix (via VPN currently), with more reported to follow.

Besides, internet entertainment allows for more portable viewing on smartphones, tablets and laptops. FreeviewPlus is also set to mix broadcast television with internet streams as well for catch up services, like ABC iView and SBS Go.

• Here's more on what FreeviewPlus will be

Via: TV Tonight

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Oculus Rift DK2's 1080p visuals are provided by a Galaxy Note 3 display

The TIP OFF: TechRadar Tip Off: Save 10% on the Nvidia Shield Tablet at NewEgg

Always wanted an Adroid tablet, but couldn't stand their inability to bring the game? The Nvidia Shield Tablet is your answer.

Here's an excerpt from our hands on review:

"Specs-wise, the Shield tablet has an 8-inch full HD display, Tegra K1 (192 core Kepler) GPU, 2.2GHz Quad Core CPU and 2GB of RAM - meaning this comes off as one premium slate. But you wouldn't expect much less for 'the gamer's tablet,' would you?"

We liked ability to stream games from the Nvidia library, its killer specs and its price.

Today we really like the price because it's on sale over at NewEgg for just $269.99 (about £160, AU$290) when you use code AFUBTB10 at checkout.

Get the Nvidia Shield Tablet now!

Trading cards

Still rocking a 500 series Nvidia GPU? Treat yo' self to an upgrade by buying the EVGA GeForce GT740. And you should probably do it sooner rather than later because it's a steal at its current price of $132.99 (about £79, AU$143) on Amazon.

It's compatible with any PCI-E slot and sporting 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM you should be set to handle whatever games 2014 can throw at you.

Get the EVGA GeForce GT740 now!

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Opinion: Facebook's decision on Messenger is brilliant

As you may have heard, Facebook is making a significant change to the way messaging works on its mobile app. Specifically the company is removing the messaging functions from the primary Facebook Mobile app and has begun shunting its users into the separate Facebook Messenger app for chat.

And this is the crazy part: it requires an entirely separate download.

We all know how onerous it is to download apps these days. It can take tens of seconds for a new app to install, just so you can hate-play Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.

The Internet's response was, of course, measured and nuanced.

Ah ha ha ha. Sorry, that one gets me every time. The Internet's response was the exact opposite of measured and nuanced. In fact, to look at its reaction, you'd think the company had mounted an armed invasion of Kansas while simultaneously running over everyone's grandmother and strangling a paralyzed puppy.

Now, I'm always glad to see people getting energized over something truly important (after we tackle this problem we're going to get right on climate change and world hunger, right?). But I'd also like to offer a few words as counterpoint to the prevailing view.

Those few words are these: I freaking love Facebook Messenger.

Driven to distraction

Why do I love an app that most people seem so deeply persecuted by? Because it allows me to use Facebook's messaging system the way I'd most like to. Which is to say, without using Facebook.

Now let's get one thing straight up front. I am a happy and willing participant in Facebook and its trademark shallow, scattershot virtual interactions that have permanently devalued both liking something and being someone's friend. Though we may not actually talk to one another any more, over the past few years my "friends" have become extremely good at crafting droll commentary about what they're doing, how they feel about current events and which puppy videos are the very, very best puppy videos. And I find all of this very entertaining.

So I don't hate Facebook. But I do know I can't be trusted with it.

Facebook is the most scientifically advanced form of distraction mankind has yet created. Its intoxicating stew of self-absorption/congratulation/loathing results in an endless series of click-holes, available any hour of the night or day, with a reliable percentage of new things I can watch, read, shake a fist at, or comment on. It is the endless regress, the garden of earthly delights, the ultimate entertainment, the abyss from which no man returns (at least not without an inspiring story about an Ivory Coast cacao farmer that puts EVERYTHING into perspective).

Thus, much like drinking, catfishing and trolling the comments sections on Diary of a Quilter, Facebook is strictly an after-hours activity for me. As someone who works at a computer all day, if I start allowing Facebook into my daytime routine, I'm toast.

Still, though, I need to communicate with people. And for better or worse, a lot of those people are on Facebook. Facebook remains one of the most reliable ways to get in touch with anyone you've ever friended, despite any changes to that person's job/phone number/last name/country of residence/stated racial affiliation. In addition to being a global timesuck and a cause of depression, Facebook is also a messaging service that almost everyone I know is signed up with, most of whom still use it at least occasionally.

The right tool for the job

Unfortunately, though, when I get a message through Facebook, I have to run its hazardous distraction gauntlet to view it, meaning there is a high-to-100% chance I will get abducted by at least one thing in my feed, which will send me down one of those aforementioned click-holes, thereby blowing large holes in my productivity.

And Facebook Messenger solves this problem. When I get Facebook messages, it allows me to see and respond to only those messages. No weight loss come-ons, no parents getting hit in the crotch by overexcited 2 year-olds, no you'll-never-guess-what-happens-next.

That's why I like it. But I was using Messenger before this whole mess started. What about this business of Facebook forcing its users to use a separate app for messages?

I think that makes a lot of sense too. It comes down to good app design and the ways that apps fundamentally differ from programs that run on PCs. In the past, PC software (or services that run in the browser) have typically added disparate features over time, which is something the more flexible PC interface can handle more deftly. Apps, on the other hand, are typically purpose-built tools that (when made correctly) help us accomplish a single function better than we could in a multifunction tool.

Real-time and asynchronous: different beasts

Facebook's original stock in trade was asynchronous communication. You're interacting with your friends, but not in real time. This asynchronous nature is why it's so much more useful for entertainment than Twitter (which is better for keeping up on what's happening in real time). Facebook presents the posts its algorithm determines are most relevant to you from the past several days of your friends' activities. Conversations on a single topic are public, can last days, and are conveniently filed into their own buckets instead of jammed into the rest of your Twitter feed.

Messenger's functions are more about synchronous communications, as in real-time, all-in-a-long-stream chat. That chat can be done via text, emoji, sound files or Skype-like voice-over-IP. And if we want those communications to be as streamlined and easy-to-accomplish as possible, it makes sense to have a specially optimized app. In addition, these communications are also typically private or limited to just a few people for a given conversation. It makes psychological sense to separate them from our public Facebook lives.

And it makes no sense at all to have all of these real-time and private chat features bogging down the original Facebook app, which should optimized for browsing feeds, consuming content and engaging in asynchronous communication.

Different jobs require different tools and Facebook seems to understand this. Messenger is where you talk to your friends. Facebook is where you talk to your "friends." If all goes well, I hope to see Facebook bring more innovation and functionality to both these apps, each of which will hopefully enhance the specific experiences they have been built for.

Splitting these apps may provoke some short term pain (you're not getting the 23 seconds it takes to download Messenger back, you know), but it's a long term win for Facebook's users. As a side-bonus, you'll get to experience the joy of communicating with your friends without your newsfeed putting a bag over your head and shoving you roughly down a click-hole every time you say hi.

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LG's 65-inch Ultra HD 4K OLED TV is more affordable, but still expensive

4K Ultra HD televisions released to date have had the same Achille's heel: They're all made from LED LCD panels, but LG is coming to rescue OLED lovers with a TV set that's still too doggone expensive for most of us.

HD Guru managed to get the lowdown this week on pricing and availability for the LG 65EC9700, a 65-inch Ultra HD 4K television set the Korean manufacturer first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year.

Featuring an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel that marks a first for Ultra HD TVs, the big-screen wonder wowed CES 2014 attendees with plasma-style viewing angles and richer black levels than existing LED LCD panels.

Unfortunately, the improved picture quality comes at a relatively steep price, with a leaked pricing matrix revealing a retail price of $8,999 (about UK£5330, AU$9684), which should get knocked down to a street price somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,999 (about UK£4146, AU$7532).

You know you want it

Featuring a curved screen not unlike Samsung's latest UN65HU9000 set, LG apparently plans to begin shipping the 65EC9700 by the end of September, and expects the OLED display to offer a lifespan similar to plasma models, which are currently on their way out.

At the low end, that would work out to roughly 50,000 hours or more than 28 years, based on AC Nielsen survey data that reveals Americans watch an average of 34 hours per week watching television.

The LG 65EC9700 also promises to come loaded with goodies, ranging from Smart TV streaming to a Tru-Ultra HD Engine for higher quality upconversions and Passive 3D, complete with the glasses necessary to view such content.

If impressively large 4K OLED screens are your kind of thing, you'll have the next two months to scrounge for enough dough to actually buy LG's latest wonder, which offers four times the resolution (3840 x 2160) of regular 1080p HDTVs.

• Break off a piece of LG's 105-inch curved Ultra HD TV in our hands-on review!

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Wave-maker OnePlus is apparently working on a smartwatch

Apparently regretting nothing about its choice of naming schemes, OnePlus is reportedly preparing to release the OneWatch smartwatch.

The OneWatch will supposedly follow in the footsteps of the OnePlus One, a budget-priced high end smartphone that's currently making waves in the industry.

OnePlus is already close to launching the OneWatch, despite this being the first we've heard of it, according to BGR.

The site received a sketch that shows a smartwatch with a round face, a sapphire OLED display, titanium trim, and a curved, wireless-chargeable battery tucked inside a leather strap.

HTC who?

OnePlus isn't the only tech company that likes to use "One" in its names, but luckily HTC's rumored smartwatch is by all reports going to be called the HTC One Wear. That's different enough, right?

And another difference between the OneWatch and other smartwatches could be the OS, if OnePlus decides to go with its own Android variant rather than the Android Wear OS that most other watch makers are choosing.

Either way, BGR also received a shot of a OnePlus OneWatch website page, indicating the watch's launch could indeed be close.

Now we'll just have to wait for OnePlus to announce the OneWatch officially - and to see whether they stick with the same invite-only buying scheme they've used for the OnePlus One smartphone.

On the other hand, these images came from an anonymous tipster, so they could be altogether BS. We've reached out to OnePlus just in case, and we'll update here if we hear back.

• Is this our first look at HTC's Android Wear-based smartwatch?

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