Twitter hints at new threaded conversations and who’s online features

Twitter head Jack Dorsey sent out a tweet this afternoon hinting the social platform might get a couple of interesting updates to tell us who else is currently online and to help us more easily follow Twitter conversation threads.

“Playing with some new Twitter features: presence (who else is on Twitter right now?) and threading (easier to read convos),” Dorsey tweeted, along with samples.

Playing with some new Twitter features: presence (who else is on Twitter right now?) and threading (easier to read convos) https://t.co/aCVRxVDfy0

— jack (@jack) August 31, 2018

The “presence” feature would make it easier to engage with those you follow who are online at the moment and the “threading” feature would allow Twitter users to follow a conversation easier than the current embed and click-through method.

However, several responders seemed concerned about followers seeing them online.

@pandemona Not a fan of presence in this kind of space so would prefer opt-in if it happens. The reply threading looks promising and could be a big improvement as long as there’s still a way to read a thread without interruption.

— Staci D Kramer (@sdkstl) August 31, 2018

Twitter’s head of product Sarah Haider responded to one such tweeted concern at the announcement saying she “would definitely want you to have full control over sharing your presence.” So it seems there would be some sort of way to hide that you are online if you don’t want people to know you are there.

There were also a few design concerns involved in threading conversations together. TC OG reporter turned VC M.G. Siegler wasn’t a fan of the UI’s flat tops. Another user wanted to see something more like iMessage. I personally like the nesting idea. Cleans it up and makes it easier to follow along and I really don’t care how it’s designed (flat tops, round tops) as long as I don’t have to click through a bunch like I do with the @reply.

I also don’t think I’d want others knowing if I’m online and it’s not a feature I need for those I tweet at, either. Conversations happen at a ripping pace on the platform sometimes. You are either there for it or you can read about it later. I get the thinking on letting users know who’s live but it’s not necessary and seems to be something a lot of people don’t want.

Its unclear when either of these features would roll out to the general public, though they’re available to those in a select test group. We’ve asked Twitter and are waiting to hear back for more information. Of course, plenty of users are still wondering when we’re getting that edit button.

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IFA 2018 awards: best of the show

There’s been a heap of top tech shown off at IFA 2018 in Berlin - from the latest smart speakers, to state-of-the-art watches and top-of-the-line TVs. There’s a lot to take in, but don’t worry because we’ve scouted the halls, booths and conferences to bring you the very best in our IFA 2018 awards.

Some tough choices were made but our team of crack judges got their heads together to really thrash out which deserved our nod - so here are the winners of TechRadar’s IFA 2018 awards.

Best in Show: LG 8K OLED

LG won the show for us, launching the first OLED TV with captivating 8K resolution at IFA 2018. Although the TV is way out of the average person’s price range, retailing at £20,000 (around $25,000 / AU$35,000), the screen is undeniably stunning - providing picture clarity from every angle. 

No wonder LG called the 8K OLED the “pinnacle of technological achievement and the next evolutionary step in display technology”.

• Here’s our first look at the LG 8K OLED TV

Best Smartphone: Sony Xperia XZ3

Yes, Sony's new Xperia XZ3 is similar to the Xperia XZ2, but brand new screen technology really gives it an edge over the competition. 

The Xperia XZ3 has a vivid new OLED display and improved design that sets it apart - and certainly caught our eye with refined edges and more focus on the things that matter to consumers.

• Check out our hands on Sony Xperia XZ3 review

Best TV: Samsung 8K QLED (Q900)

Samsung announced its first 8K QLED TV, the Q900R (Q900FN in the US), at IFA 2018. We loved that the mammoth TV remains sleek, despite its 85-inch size (65, 75 and 82-inch for those in the UK), providing amazing clarity and the ability to make even low-resolution content look good.

You may be wondering why LG won best in show but not best TV? We judged that because the Samsung is a TV you'll be able to buy soon, and it’s not as conceptual as the LG, it was a more just winner of the best TV award. 

• Find out more with our hands on Samsung Q900R 8K QLED TV review

Best in Home Theater: Harman Kardon Citation range

Harman Kardon’s speaker range is the epitome of sleek and sophisticated design - but the exterior isn’t all that impressed us. 

All speakers in the range have built-in Google Assistant, meaning you can ask the smart speaker questions, use it to set reminders, control media from it and much more. 

If that’s not enough, they also come with a high-resolution LCD touchscreen and Chromecast built-in - plus nice sound indeed.

• Here’s our first look at Harman Kardon’s full Citation speaker series

Best in Smart Home: Sonos Amp

It’s taken Sonos over 10 years to update its Sonos Connect Amp - but the wait was worth it. The new product is a redesigned Sonos amp, with has twice the power of the old Connect amp. 

The Sonos Amp will cover all your audio needs, with the ability to stream music, an HDMI port on the back and audio inputs. In addition, it supports AIrPlay 2 and has a new design which allows it to fit inside a rack, be mounted on the wall or just exhibited as a decor.

• For more information, check out our first look at the Sonos Amp

Best smart speaker: Huawei AI Cube

The Huawei AI Cube is Huawei’s first smart speaker, offering a built-in Amazon Alexa assistant which gives it similar skills to the Amazon Echo, such as the ability to answer questions, control smart home devices, play music and access a library of over 50,000 skills.

While the Huawei AI Cube is pretty impressive volume-wise,  what sets it apart from the Amazon Echo is that it is both a 4G router and a speaker, meaning it can be used to connect devices to the internet. 

• Check out more of our thoughts in our hands on Huawei AI Cube review

Best headphones: Sony WH-1000XM3

The latest addition to the Sony headphones family, the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones are a huge upgrade from the previous X2 model. The audio is crystal clear, the noise-canceling technology works wonders and they have an improved design that's more comfortable than ever. 

Definitely one for those who like to shut out the noise of the world on their commute.

• Take a look at our hands on Sony WH-1000XM3 wireless headphones review

Highly commended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7b / Sennheiser Momentum Earbuds

Not quite winners, but a close second. The Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7b / Sennheiser Momentum Earbuds provide enhanced sonic performance and portability.

Best Wearable Tech: Garmin Vivosmart 4

The Garmin Vivosmart 4 was a definite standout. The fitness tracker measures your blood oxygen saturation levels using a wrist-based pulse ox2 sensor, meaning it can track your sleep quality. Arguably, even more impressive is the built-in body battery which estimates your body’s energy levels.

In addition to this, the Garmin Vivosmart 4 includes a heart rate monitor, VO2 max, stress tracking and the ability to track walks, runs, yoga and strength training.

• Read more in our hands on Garmin Vivosmart 4 review

Best Innovation: Bang & Olufsen Beosound Edge

Blurring the line between a sculpture and a speaker, the Beosound Edge is a marvel to look at and to use. The coin-shaped wireless speaker has proximity sensors which bring the aluminium interface to life when you are near - from there it’s a simple tap to stop, start or skip songs. 

If you want to increase or decrease the volume you simply rock the speaker backwards or forwards. 

The hefty speaker can be mounted on a wall or placed in a room to seamlessly blend with the decor, while sound direction can be controlled using the Band and Olufsen app. 

It’s definitely a unique product. 

• B&O's Beosound Edge is an expensive, awesome sculpture and speaker in one

Highly Commended Innovation: Acer Predator Thronos

Just losing out the the Beosound Edge, the Acer Predator Thronos ushers in a new level of gaming chair - with ergonomic seat design, a foot rest and super immersive vibrations which react according to the gameplay.

Best in Computing: Lenovo Yoga Book C930

The new Lenovo Yoga Book C930 marked a triumphant return to Lenovo’s Yoga Book product line. Lenovo’s sequel addresses many of the issues associated with the original model, delivering sharper displays, more power and ports, and a fingerprint reader. But it doesn’t come cheap, retailing at $450 (about £340, AU$600).

• Check out our hands on Lenovo Yoga Book C930 review

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Mynewsdesk acquires web monitoring service Mention

Communications workflow company Mynewsdesk is acquiring French startup Mention for an undisclosed sum. Norwegian business media group NHST currently owns Mynewsdesk.

Mention lets you monitor keywords around the web. It’s a good way to hear what customers are saying about your brand on their blog, on Twitter, on Facebook or anywhere that is public.

You can also use Mention to generate reports, study competitors to see if people are talking about them and find influencers who use your products. It can be a useful tool for PR and marketing companies for instance.

Mynewsdesk wants to be an all-in-one tool for PR agencies. It can also help you track media coverage, but it goes a bit further than that. You can organize your media contacts in the service and segment your distribution list, write and distribute press releases and measure your campaigns.

It’s clear that Mention fits well with Mynewsdesk. Mention will stick around as a standalone product for now. But it feels like the monitoring feature of Mynewsdesk could benefit from Mention’s expertise in this area.

Mention currently has 750,000 users, including 4,000 customers. It generates $6 million in annual recurring revenue with a 35 percent growth rate year-over-year. Investors include eFounders, Alven and Point Nine Capital. Mention co-founder and CEO Matthieu Vaxelaire is becoming COO at Mynewsdesk.

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Wish, Netflix, Uber and ~100 others testing WhatsApp’s new Business API

Earlier this month, WhatsApp announced the launch of its first revenue-generating enterprise product, the WhatsApp Business API. The API allows businesses to respond to messages from WhatsApp users for free up to 24 hours, then charges for any responses after that point on a per message basis. Though still in a limited preview, the company is now supporting around 100 businesses directly on its API platform, including airlines, e-commerce companies, banks, and others like Uber and Netflix, and plans to onboard many more in the months ahead.

Because businesses have to first apply to gain access the API, there’s some misinformation floating around on backchannels about how to get approved.

For example, some industry sources have been telling partners that no U.S.-based businesses are being onboarded to the API at this point. This is untrue, WhatsApp says. In fact, there’s a public site where U.S. companies Uber and Wish are featured as “customer stories.” We also understand that U.S.-based Netflix is testing the API, though not for use in the U.S. for the time being.

Others listed on WhatsApp’s website include Booking.com, MakeMyTrip, B2W, iFood, Singapore Airlines, Melia Hotels, KLM, Bank BRI, absa, Coppel, and Sale Stock.

WhatsApp isn’t limiting access to the API based on where companies are located, it says, nor does it have requirements for those businesses  – like how many messages they need to send per month.

The latter is another piece of misinformation out there, as businesses try to decipher who’s getting in. Some have been saying that API customers need to send at least 100,000 messages a month, if they expect WhatsApp to approve them during this preview phase. This is inaccurate, WhatsApp says.

There’s no requirement related to the number of messages being sent. Although the API is intended to be used by larger businesses, some today are using it for customer service which often means they’re receiving more messages than they’re sending, the company noted.

The API is now how WhatsApp generates revenue, as it ditched its subscription fee years ago. That’s why it’s worth tracking its progress. Businesses can also buy Facebook News Feed ads that launch customers into WhatsApp conversations they can respond to.

WhatsApp officially launched its Business app at the beginning of the year, which makes sense for smaller companies, and then rolled out the API this summer for the larger ones.

Bringing businesses into the WhatsApp ecosystem is a significant shift for the Facebook-owned company, as it turns what’s been a place where family and friends communicate into a place of business.

With that delicate balance in mind, WhatsApp says that businesses cannot reach out to customers using the API without the customers’ specific permission.

Instead, the API is designed to allow businesses to respond to customer inquiries, or provide them with other information they’ve requested. For example, an airline may send a boarding pass via the API; an e-commerce business may send a receipt; a bank may send over a bank statement.

Uber is using WhatsApp with its drivers to all them to connect to members of its team about questions and Netflix is sending account messages and suggestions as a part of its test.

Further down the road, the API could enable other types of customer interactions as well, like handling two-factor authentication requests, perhaps, instead of using SMS. But that’s not happening at present.

WhatsApp says there are now around 100 companies globally on the API platform.

The company is also working with a dozen or so solution providers. Businesses like VoiceSage, Nexmo, Infobip, Twilio, MessageBird, Smooch, Zendesk, and others are already advertising their services in this area.

Companies interested in gaining access to the API can work with one of the solution providers or sign up directly via the WhatsApp website.

As WhatsApp brings on more businesses, it’s only vetting requirement of sorts is that it’s looking for those interested in creating quality experiences for customers, the company says.

Of course, even the invited intrusion of businesses into WhatsApp changes the nature of the platform.

As users invite more businesses to communicate with them, WhatsApp may start to feel like more like an email inbox or even a Twitter-like support channel.

Making sure there are easy-to-find settings that let users terminate their connections with businesses will be just as critical as the API becomes more widely adopted going forward.

 

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Save £180 on this epic Sky TV deal with Sky Cinema, Kids and Entertainment in HD

If you've been holding out over the summer for a family-friendly, film-loving Sky TV deal then today could be the time to pounce. No, today, is the day to pounce. 

Today's brand new Sky TV package is packed with excellent content too, with Sky Entertainment, Sky Cinema, Sky Kids and the HD bolt-on included for just £30 a month down from the original £40. Total that up over the 18-month contract and you're saving a very tidy £180. Cheap Sky TV deals come to those that wait apparently. If you're looking to get Sky Sports, we've got a belter of a Sky TV package for you too.

Sky TV deal of the week

Sky Sports deal of the week

This offer has been running for a few weeks and Sky doesn't usually have two great TV bundles running at the same time, and we reckon this offer's days are numbered. So don't think about it for too long!

If you'd like to add any other extras, just click 'Edit your order' on the screen after adding this bundle to your basket. Sky Cinema's movies on demand service is £10 a month and gets a new premiere every single day. Sky Box Sets is also worth a look at a tiny £5 a month.

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YC-backed travel startup Duffel inks $4.7M round led by Blossom Capital, but stays coy on the details

A new London-based travel-industry startup is slowly coming out of stealth mode, but although it’s releasing it’s funding round, it’s keeping the actual product close to its chest. For now.

Y Combinator-backed travel startup Duffel says it is working on “a new way to book travel online, aiming at the booking experience “end to end”. A hint at what this might mean is the fact that the team contains alumni from GoCardless and is objectively very experienced in the FinTech world.

So far, that’s all we’re getting. But what we do know is that Duffel is today today announcing an investment round of $4.7 million.

Blossom Capital is the lead investor in the round and has built a syndicate with other major investors: The Crankstart Foundation and Index Ventures. Crankstart is the charitable investment vehicle of Michael Moritz.

It’s also revealed that it’s currently participating in the Y Combinator S18 Cohort.

The UK headquartered company was founded by two former early GoCardless employees: Steve Domin and Tom Bates, as well as Vincent Pastor. Steve and Tom join the list of GoCardless-alumni startups, which include the founders of Monzo and Nested. They say the money will be used to expand their engineering team in London.

Steve Domin, founder of Duffel said: “We are building a platform from scratch that will completely redefine the nature of travel experiences booked on web or mobile. The travel industry hasn’t evolved its technology to service the demand and behaviours of its most important customers and the providers – airlines, hotels, transport companies – and their customers are hurting as a result. Travel agents still work on terminals that look like they’re from the 70s and travel buyers still have to browse 10 websites before finding that perfect fare. This shouldn’t be the case any more and we’re planning to solve this issue from the ground up.”

Commenting Blossom Capital founder Ophelia Brown said: “The Duffel team have very ambitious plans to completely reinvent the travel space, so we are very excited to support them in their mission. Similar to payments, before the emergence of next-gen companies like Adyen or Stripe, this is an industry that hasn’t witnessed innovation in decades, still running on antiquated rails and infrastructure. We see huge opportunity for innovation in this multi-trillion dollar industry.”

This is the second firm London-based Blossom has invested in straight out of Y Combinator. Recent investments include Fat Llama, an online marketplace for renting belongings like audio, video, sound and DJ equipment.

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First Look - TCL X8S 8K TV with Dolby Atmos is an all-in-one wonder

You want 8K? You want a soundbar? You want that soundbar to have Dolby Atmos sound? TCL wants you to get all that from just one package with its TCL X8S TV at IFA 2018.

The TCL 8K QLED, for the time being at least, is going to be a China only model, branded as the “TCL 8K QLED FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Edition” to capitalise on the local popularity of the sport. But TCL is planning to release essentially the same screen in the west next year, with different branding.

Which, given TCL’s commitment to value, feels particularly enticing given the features crammed in here.

8K imaging

The X8S is a 75-inch UHD 4K Quantum Dot Display TV, making use of local dimming and an “AI powered full-scene mode”, which it uses to upscale full HD and 4K content. That’s particularly important at the moment, given that there’s a complete dearth of native 8K content until the 2020 Olympic Games. 65-inch and 55-inch models will also be available.

The demo reel on display however looked pin-sharp and vibrant, taking advantage of the Dolby Vision HDR imaging engine. Combined with the local dimming, it’s able to deliver wonderfully deep blacks and impressively punchy colour, with the Quantum Dot display offering a wide colour gamut and 1,000 nits peak brightness.

What wasn’t easy to discern however is how capable the screen is at handling motion. The only footage on display was time-lapse – perfect for distilling the detail of a scene, but not so great for seeing whether or not the image moves smoothly and naturally. We’ll have to wait a bit longer to give a verdict on that aspect of its performance.

Sound design

In terms of design, the panel is 20mm at its thinnest point, but notably wider at its base. That’s in part thanks to the fact it rests within a Dolby Atmos soundbar, tapering forwards in a wedge shape with bronze detailing.

The soundbar, which would bounce audio off a ceiling, wasn’t possible to effectively test at the high-ceilinged conference centre. But in action it should provide overhead surround sound action produced from the TV itself – a convenient space saving solution. However, note that while the audio bears Onkyo branding, the home theatre specialists precedes here is more a seal of approval than an engineering role, with the speaker units also produced by TCL.

Lastly, there’s a microphone built into the remote. It offers voice control navigation of the screen’s features, but isn’t tapping into the big name services like Alexa or Google Assistant.

While the lack of motion footage and audio makes it hard to get a true impression of the TCL 8XS, it’s great to already see ambitious packages like this coming together at the dawn of the 8K race.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

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Best PaaS providers of 2018

Own a Loewe TV? You'll soon have Freeview Play at the touch of a button

If you were one of the Virgin Media subscribers left temporarily devastated when the broadcaster had a falling-out with UKTV and briefly lost access to its channels, you'll be delighted to hear that Loewe is rolling out Freeview Play support to its TVs, protecting you from any such panic in future.

Loewe customers with supported sets will soon be able to enjoy Dave, Gold and Eden – in addition to free and on-demand content from BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and Demand 5.

"Freeview Play is a fantastic addition to Loewe TVs," said Charlie Cann, marketing manager at Loewe UK Ltd. "Loewe customers can now enjoy the full suite of UK catch-up services, together with innovative features such as the backwards TV guide and recommendations, which consolidate content across all the services for an amazingly user-friendly experience."

You won't get Dave before the new series of Taskmaster starts next week, but you can look forward to catching up when Freeview Play rolls out via a software update in October.

• The best cheap TV deals available right now

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Sharp's enormous new TVs upscale images from 4K to 8K in real time

There's no denying that the 8K TVs on display at IFA 2018 look stunning, but sadly there's very little content around right now that will make the most of their abilities. Sharp has recognized that fact, and its second-gen 8K models are all capable of scaling regular 2K and 4K content.

Sharp's algorithm detects the number of pixel points in an image, and upscales them to an 8K grid in real time. The company claims the resulting picture will "display tiny details that convey a stunning realism and deliver a greatly improved viewing experience to the audience".

Great expectations

Sharp is thinking big, and its new 8K models are available in three extra-large sizes: 60-inch, 70-inch and 80-inch. The company has noticed an increase in demand for screens over 55 inches over the last two years, and decided to get ahead of the game by only offering its top-end models with cinema-scale dimensions.

The three giant models will be available in Asia later this year and in Europe from 2019. It has yet to announce details for customers in other territories.

Sharp hasn't given any prices either, but its first 8K screen – the 70-inch LV-70X500E – retailed for €12,000 (about $14,000, £11,000, AU$19,000) when it arrived on European shores in April, so we expect the mid-sized model to carry a similar price tag.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

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What's new from Philips TV at IFA 2018?

Thursday is press day at IFA 2018, where new products are demoed to journalists before the sweaty masses swoop in and cover them in bratwurst-stained fingerprints.

Film makers James Barber and Hollie Hayton spent their press day hanging out with Philips and its new flagship 903 Series OLED. 

With Ambilight, a second-generation P5 picture processor and much improved sound thanks to a partnership with British hi-fi brand Bowers & Wilkins, the 903 is packed with features.

But what what did James and Hollie think? Find out in the video above. 

For more on Philips TV, check out part two of the Extreme Earth series, where two lucky readers were offered the chance to join Philips on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Arizona desert. 

The resulting 90-second 4K video and documentary are spectacular pieces of desert eye-candy that are well worth a watch.

For more from James and Hollie, click here to see what they made of Berlin outside of the IFA show floor.

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Firefox's upcoming releases will block ad trackers by default

Mozilla has today announced that, starting in October, the Firefox web browser will begin to implement new features aimed at blocking cross-site ad tracking. The changes will make it much harder for third-party advertisers to track Firefox users' web browsing activity and, by extension, it will be more difficult for ad networks to construct personalised profiles of those users.

The rollout of Firefox's new blocking features won't happen overnight, however. Instead, Mozilla has a three-step process in mind which will eventually ensure all ad tracking is blocked by default.

Blocking ad trackers isn’t new to the open-source browser. Firefox began blocking pop-up ads way back in 2004, while an outright ad blocking feature was implemented in 2015, although it currently only applies to Private Browsing mode.

Last year, Mozilla launched Firefox Focus on Android, which automatically blocks trackers and completely wipes browsing history when the application is closed. On Firefox for iOS, ad blocking was already available in Private Browsing mode, but earlier this year that feature was also switched on by default for normal browsing as well.

The privacy game plan

Mozilla’s three-part strategy begins with blocking trackers that slow down page loads. This feature is currently being tested on Firefox Nightly, the internet company’s testing platform. If this works well, it will be added to Firefox 63 – which is currently slated for an October 2018 release – as a default feature, thereby injecting a speed boost to page loads and enhancing general performance.

Following that, Mozilla plans to remove ad trackers that follow users across sites, a feature that will actively delete cookies and block third-party content storage. This will be tested by some Firefox users in September and, if successful, will be rolled out as a default feature in Firefox 65, due to be released in January 2019.

Finally, Mozilla wants to moderate deceptive practices in other areas, like fingerprint tracking (which can be used to identify users by their devices) and cryptocurrency mining. There’s no official word on when these additional privacy safeguards will be released, or exactly how the company plans to implement them, but Mozilla has stated its intent to block these practices by default as well.

Giving users a voice

Over the years, Mozilla has added features to its browser to ensure user privacy was protected. For instance, the company added an extension to keep Facebook locked in its own sandbox after the Cambridge Analytica fiasco and this, Mozilla says, “is about more than protecting users – it’s about giving them a voice”.

"Some sites will continue to want user data in exchange for content, but now they will have to ask for it, a positive change for people who up until now had no idea of the value exchange they were asked to make,” reads the company’s latest announcement.

• The best Mozilla Firefox VPN in 2018

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Protect your computer for less with Bitdefender's big 60% antivirus discount

For one week only, Bitdefender is offering a massive discount on its premium antivirus tools. Choose any of its paid-for security software and get 60% off the regular price.

And yes, that does include Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2019, which tops our list of the best antivirus you can get today. So that's a year of super secure antivirus for less than $25/£20, that you can use on up to three Windows PCs and laptops – protection for the whole family!

Bitdefender's Total Security and Internet Security software packages are included in the 60% off offer as well, so you can take your pick. We have an overview and pricing below. But you'll have to get in quick, as this promotion ends on September 7.

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Twitter announces new policy and certification process for ‘issue ads’

Twitter continues to roll out new policies aimed at increasing transparency, particularly around political advertising.

Amidst ongoing concerns about Russian election interference and misinformation on social media, the company recently announced political ad guidelines and launched an Ads Transparency Center where you can find more information about advertisers.

Initially, however, Twitter’s stricter standards were limited to ads for U.S. federal election candidates and campaigns. Now it’s announced a policy around the broader category of “issue ads.”

In a blog post, Twitter’s vice president of trust and safety Del Harvey and its general manager of revenue product Bruce Falck said the policy affects two categories:

* Ads that refer to an election or a clearly identified candidate, or
* Ads that advocate for legislative issues of national importance

In both cases, advertisers will need to apply for certification, which involves verifying their identity and location in the United States. Like election ads, issue ads will be labeled as such in the Twitter timeline, and they’ll allow users to click through and learn more about the advertiser. They’ll also be included in the Ads Transparency center.

As examples of the kinds of issues that would be covered, Harvey and Falck cited “abortion, civil rights, climate change, guns, healthcare, immigration, national security, social security, taxes, and trade,” though they also said that list will likely evolve over time.

News organizations that want to run ads around their political coverage can apply for an exemption. (Since the definition of what is and isn’t a news organization can be blurry, there are specific criteria that they’d need to meet, like providing editorial staff information online and not being “dedicated to advocating on a single issue.”)

“We don’t believe that news organizations running ads on Twitter that report on these issues, rather than advocate for or against them, should be subject to this policy,” Harvey and Falck wrote.

Twitter says it will start enforcing the policy (which, to be clear, is currently U.S.-only) on September 30.

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Toshiba finally finds its voice with its Alexa-enabled OLED TV

Talking to your TV certainly feels novel, and the announcement at Berlin's IFA conference that Toshiba is adding Amazon’s Alexa into its OLED, 4K HDR, and Full HD TV ranges absolutely plays into Toshiba’s goal to make the TV the entertainment center of the home once more.

From 2019, Toshiba's TV ranges will have Amazon Alexa built-in. With access to Amazon’s voice-activated assistant, the range will be able to deliver a wide range of features, some unique to the Smart TV, but also as part of Alexa’s wider skillset.

As of yet, Toshiba hasn’t divulged an official release date for Alexa integration, but the technology will be available from 2019.

Currently, Toshiba’s 65-inch OLED 4KHD TV retails for around $3900 (£3000 / AU$5300), while its 65-inch LED TV is considerably cheaper at around $900 (£700 / AU$1250) - you’ll have to wait until at least January if you want to experience the Alexa integration however. 

Stunning clarity

We tried out the Alexa feature on one of Toshiba’s Ultra HD 4K OLED TVs. The display was stunningly clear, with an extremely thin, wall-mounted monitor, making it a fantastic choice for anyone short of space. 

With super-thin edges, the TV offers completely distraction-free viewing away from any intrusive borders as well as making a cool, futuristic looking focal point for your living area. Colors were vivid, with brilliant contrast and picture clarity, making it an absolute joy to watch.

Although we saw the TV mounted on a wall, it does have a slim, silver stand, which looks really sleek and stylish. However the stand is quite narrow compared to the rest of the monitor, making it appear precariously balanced - we imagine most people would like to play it safe and have it fixed to the wall, as much for safety as for the aesthetic and space-saving benefits.

But that's enough about the TV, what about the voice?

When using the integrated Alexa feature for things like news and weather updates, the information comes up on a darker panel on the right-hand side of the screen, meaning that it doesn’t impede on whatever your watching while still being clear enough to read easily from your couch. 

This side panel does disappear rather quickly however, so if you are trying to read information that Alexa has generated, you may find yourself having to ask for it multiple times just so you can finish reading, and this could be particularly troublesome for slower readers and people with bad eyesight. 

"Alexa, change the channel"

We tested out a few simple commands, and found the far-field microphone was pretty adept at picking up our voices from across the room, although we did sometimes need to repeat ourselves. This was probably because of the Messe IFA is based in being so large. Alexa did have trouble picking up our voices when the TV was at a high volume, though, meaning it could benefit from a more powerful microphone.

We also saw Alexa responding to a number of different accents and it didn’t have any trouble recognising the commands, making it nice and accessible for those with regional accents. 

Eliminating the remote control was definitely a novelty, and simple commands like ‘Alexa, turn the volume up’ were handled seamlessly. However, when we asked Alexa to change the channel, it didn’t understand the command, so it may be that you would need to familiarize yourself with the specific phrases it’s been taught to respond to.  

As exciting as it is to tell your TV what to do, the need for a remote control becomes apparent as soon as you want to see what’s on across all channels and scroll through them - so it’s probably not a good idea to throw away your remote control just yet.

As well as TV-based features, Toshiba’s range of Alexa-enabled TVs will have access to Alexa’s entire skillset, meaning you can look up the weather, play music, and launch apps. We tested some of its pop culture knowledge by asking ‘Who is Michael Jackson?’

This brought up a neat little Wikipedia-style entry to the side of the screen, which is pretty handy if you ever need to settle couch side arguments about the age/marital status/nationality of different celebrities. 

The future of TV

Being able to talk to your TV is exciting for even the most jaded of tech experts, and using Toshiba's Alexa-enabled OLED TV has really given us a glimpse into what the future of home entertainment will likely look like in a few years.

Still, there are a few issues with the technology which means it’s not the most seamless voice activated product we’ve seen before. Although Alexa appears to understand a number of different accents and languages, you still need to have a degree of specificity when making commands. 

This is a problem with Alexa, and the wider world of voice-activated assistants rather than the TV itself, and as AI allows Alexa to learn as time goes on, we imagine that it will soon be able to understand more natural speech.

While it’s novel to not have to use a remote control, there is something to be said for the tactile nature of skipping through channels and feeling the buttons as you change the volume on your monitor - whether the general public will completely forgo the remote control in the near future is questionable, but it does seem to be the way televisions are heading.

We also felt that onscreen answers to commands should have remained onscreen for for longer - it seems as though most people would struggle to take in information fully in just a few seconds. 

Hopefully in the future Toshiba will allow users to adjust how long information appears at the side of the screen, making it adaptable for anyone who needs a little longer to read.

However, we loved the novelty of asking your TV a question and having it respond via image and text, and could see how helpful this could be - how many times have you watched the news or a documentary and had to pause to look at your phone, frantically searching for information on the subject?

If Toshiba originally set out to make the TV the center of the home once more, it feels like they have succeeded with this integration. 

Being able to make commands, ask questions, and launch apps without using an external device is quite liberating, and it encourages you to step away from the smartphone while watching your favorite show. 

Whether swapping one screen for another is a good thing is yet to be determined, but 30 minutes away from social media temptation never did anyone any harm. 

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

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Meet the common enemy of accountancy bodies: Cybercrime

The CCAB (Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies) has released its economic crime manifesto which includes a major component aimed at tackling cybercrime in the UK.

TechRadar Pro sat down with Anthony Harbinson, CCAB Chairman and Director of Safer Communities, Northern Ireland Department of Justice to explore what that means to the wider accounting community and why it was introduced in the first place.

• This is our definitive list of best accounting software packages

• These are the best business antivirus software

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First look: LG 8K OLED TV

There’s nothing like a world’s first to get the juices flowing at IFA 2018 and perhaps the most stunning so far is LG’s mysterious 8K OLED TV. 

We say it’s mysterious as when we got our eyes on it at a special show event, it was hard to gauge just what the panel will look like in the home. 

Unlike the Samsung Q900R 8K QLED TV, which was happily showcased in all its glory, the LG 8K OLED TV was mounted, and sunk, into a wall. This didn’t detract, however, from just how beautiful the screen looked. 

LG 8K OLED TV screen specs

This screen is packed with pixels. In all it has a 7,680 x 4,320-pixel resolution - that’s 33 million pixels and some change. The pixel density meant that no matter from which angle we viewed the screen, the picture clarity was jaw dropping.

On the demo we saw, it showed off what 2K, 4K and 8K footage looked on the screen, clearly demonstrating that 8K footage is only for the really (really) big screen. 

In short, it doesn't make much sense to have an 8K set that's below the 80-inch mark.

Achievement unlocked

When it was announced, LG called the 8K OLED TV the “pinnacle of technological achievement and the next evolutionary step in display technology” and under the bright glare of the IFA show floor this is hard to argue. 

But argue people will, not about the quality but the format, as many are just getting accustomed to 4K and the audiovisual goodness this brings. 

4K is certainly growing in adoption but there’s still a tussle between the standards that make 4K ping. Panasonic revealed at IFA 2018 that HDR10+ was ready to hit the mainstream, while Dolby Vision is still pushing hard to make its standard the, er, standard. 

The likes of Netflix, Amazon and even Blu-ray are bristling with 4K at the moment, but this format is by no means near its end point - in fact, it still feels close to the beginning of its shelf life. But now we have 8K. 

LG may have no word on price or date for its panel but 8K is here wowing the IFA crowd. That means yet another way to watch Jurassic Park is looming, which will no doubt make your eyeballs happy, but your wallet less so.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.
• Do we really need 8K TVs yet?

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Save £20 and get a year of Amazon Prime membership for just £59 until midnight

Today marks the last day to take advantage of the best Amazon Prime price we've seen in over a year. So yes, if you put off signing up to Amazon Prime membership around Amazon Prime Day, then feel free to feel incredibly smug as your patience has been rewarded with a massive £20 reduction on the £79 annual fee.

That's as low as Prime Day membership gets and is excellent value for money considering the benefits: free next day delivery, Prime video and music streaming, exclusive discounts and even live streaming of the US Open tournament right now. However, it's not for everyone.

Last year, we saw a similar discount ahead of Prime Day in July, giving buyers an ideal chance to save some money while signing up to the service that is required to take advantage of the exclusive discount sales event. And seeing as a similar deal never came around this year, we imagine many of you signed up to either the free trial, monthly membership or maybe even a full year.

Which makes the following all the harder to hear. This newly discounted rate, which is on promotion until midnight tonight, is only open to new members. So basically a kick in the teeth for existing users. Yes, even if you're only paying month by month, and could leave at any time, you can't do your best Philip J. Fry impression and tell Amazon to take your money.

• How to live stream US Open tennis on Amazon Prime

Is there another way to get cheap Amazon Prime?

Well, a sneaky workaround could be signing up with a different email address. You'll have to build up your watchlist again and have a different login to Amazon for shopping and Amazon Prime video services, so it might require an extra layer of friction, especially on mobile if you use the Amazon shopping and streaming apps. But considering the size of the discount, it might be worth it. It's also worth considering the US membership went up in price by $20 not so long ago and we haven't had a similar increase in the UK yet and we wouldn't be surprised if one was just around the corner.

• Amazon Prime annual membership £79 £59 at Amazon

Don't forget, after a year, membership will auto-renew for another year, but at the regular £79 price.

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Serif Affinity Publisher is out in beta for those seeking an Adobe InDesign alternative

Serif’s Affinity Publisher is now available to download, at least in its initial beta form, so you can grab this early version and give it a try for free.

And that could be a worthwhile exercise if you’re looking for something different in terms of a desktop publishing app, or perhaps an alternative to InDesign, the heavyweight offering from Adobe.

You can bag the application for either Windows or macOS direct from Serif here.

The company observes that there’s still a fair bit of work to do on the product, and it’s very much a beta, so there will be wonky bits, and you can expect bugs and crashes. In other words, don’t use Affinity Publisher for any serious work at this point, or you may end up tearing your hair out.

It’s more a case of getting a feel for the app, and of course letting Serif know about any flaws, and feeding back potential improvements or requested features.

Full integration

The full release of Affinity Publisher is still a few months away, by all accounts, at which point Serif will ensure the software is fully integrated with its other Adobe alternatives: Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. The company will then have a full trio of offerings with which to battle its big-name competitor.

The cost of Publisher is as yet unconfirmed, but seeing as the other two apps are priced at £48.99 (around $64, AU$87), you’d expect to be looking at that (and of course that’s a one-off fee rather than a subscription model, which will doubtless be a major attraction for a good number of folks).

• Maybe you’ll be using Affinity Publisher on one of our best laptops

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The Philips OLED+ 903 is a TV built for audiophiles

Philips has teamed up with the audio experts at Bowers & Wilkins to create a TV with audiophile-quality sound. Launched at IFA 2018 in Berlin, the Philips OLED+ 903 TV is designed to enhance dialog and reduce distortion.

The TV's sound system uses Bowers & Wilkins' drivers throughout, all mounted within larger, more rigid enclosures than last year's . Amplification and overall power output have stayed the same as last year (50 watts), but Bowers and Wilkins has helped optimize the TV's speakers for punchier sound.

The OLED+ 903 isn't just for movie buffs, either – Philips says the TV's bass performance has been significantly increased to give action films more oomph, but is still clean and accurate enough for discerning music fans.

Brighter and bolder

Philips has also given the OLED+ 903's visuals a welcome boost, with a new panel that's noticeably brighter than last year's model and a three-sided Ambilight system.

Although high dynamic range (HDR) is becoming more popular, Philips accepts that most of the shows and movies you'll be watching are still in standard dynamic range (SDR), and has equipped the OLED+ 903 with its Perfect Natural Reality uses a smart contrast enhancement algorithm to give SDR content a similar punch to HDR.

The TV will launch with Android Nougat, which is a little disappointing, but a planned update to Oreo will allow it to play nicely with both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

The OLED+ 903 TV is scheduled to hit stores in October, and will be available in both 55-inch and 65-inch models. Prices are yet to be announced, but we'll keep you updated once we know more.

This is only the first fruit of Philips' partnership with Bowers & Wilkins, so we expect to see more of the audio company's tech appearing in sets soon.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

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Cash-strapped Wonga has stopped accepting new loans

UK payday loans firm Wonga, whose investors include high profile European VC firms Accel and Balderton, appears to be teetering on the brink of collapse as it’s stopped taking new loans.

A spokeswoman for the company confirmed to TechCrunch it is not accepting new loan applications.

She sent us the below statement which has been posted on Wonga’s mobile website (although it was not visible to us on the desktop site at the time of writing — and it was still possible to attempt to apply for a loan there, though the page subsequently returned a broken link).

Wonga’s statement reads:  “While it continues to assess its options Wonga has decided to stop taking loan applications. If you are an existing customer you can continue to use our services to manage your loan. Click here for more information.”

The spokeswoman declined to comment further on the status of the company but speculation is rising that Wonga is about to fold.

The Guardian reports the company held emergency talks with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority on Wednesday over the impact of its collapse on existing customers.

While the BBC reports that the firm has arranged for Grant Thornton to act as administrators.

Wonga has been in trouble for some years, after regulators clamped down on the payday loans sector.

In 2014 the company agreed with the financial regulator to a £220M write down having lent money to people without properly assessing their ability to pay it back.

It was further censured for sending fake lawyers’ letters to customers in arrears — and had to pay out a further £2.6M in compensation for that.

Wonga has since made an attempt to reinvent itself — with a focus on flexible loan products — but the costs associated with its legacy behavior kept rising.

And earlier this month it emerged that Wonga’s investors had injected $10M into the business to fund rising numbers of compensation claims related to its past conduct.

In recent times the company has also been selling off assets — passing off its German payments business, BillPay, to Klarna last year, for around £60M.

Prior to this month’s $10M investor injection, the 2006 founded firm had raised around £145.5M in VC — from a string of VCs including Accel, Balderton, Oak Investment, Meritech Capital, 83North, Dawn Capital and HV Holtzbrinck Ventures.

It looks very unlikely any of them will be getting their money back.

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Do we really need 8K TVs yet?

8K TV: Everything you need to know about the futuristic resolution

Best cloud computing services of 2018

Panasonic to move its European HQ out of the UK because Brexit

Chalk up yet another Brexit deficit: Japanese electronics firm Panasonic will be moving its European headquarters from the UK to Amsterdam in October because it’s worried about the tax implications if it stays, the Nikkei Asian Review reports.

The company is concerned it could face tax liabilities if the UK shifts its corporate tax regime as a result of Brexit.

Laurent Abadie, CEO of Panasonic Europe, told the publication Japan could treat the U.K. as a tax haven if the country lowers its corporate rate — as the government has indeed suggested it will to try to make itself a more attractive destination for businesses once it’s outside the European Union’s trading bloc.

In November 2016 the UK Prime Minister announced a review of the country’s corporate tax rate — saying the government could move to substantially cut the rate below the current 20%.

Prior to that, former chancellor George Osborne pledged to cut the rate to below 15%.

At the same time as announcing the rate review, the PM unveiled a package of business-focused measures — intended to try to quell fears around Brexit. Although a rate cut evidently isn’t friendly to every business.

In the case of Panasonic, it’s concerned that if the U.K. gets designated a tax-haven by Japan it could be saddled with back taxes back home. So moving to stay regionally headquartered within the European Union removes that risk.

Abadie also told the Nikkei Asian Review that moving its regional HQ to continental Europe will help it avoid any barriers to the flow of people and goods thrown up by Brexit.

The shape of any deal — or even whether there will be a deal between the UK and the EU, post-Brexit — still remains to be seen just a few months before the UK is scheduled to exit the EU, in March 2019. So businesses are having to make key decisions based on possible or potential outcomes.

Meanwhile the UK’s regulatory influence in the region continues to be diminished…

In terms of trade, access to talent, and regulatory influence, we're relegating ourselves to the second division.

— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) August 30, 2018

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Toshiba reveals unbelievably thin, back-chatting TVs at IFA 2018

If you can get your hands on a new Toshiba TV you might soon be able to talk to it using Alexa, as announced by the company at Berlin’s IFA conference today. 

At IFA 2018 Toshiba announced that, starting in 2019, the majority of Toshiba OLED, 4K HDR, and Full HD smart ranges will have Amazon’s voice assistant built in, giving users access to a variety of voice features. 

Instead of relying on a voice-activated remote control or the Amazon Echo, the new TVs will have an inbuilt far-field microphone, meaning you can ask your TV directly to turn the volume up, change the channel, or switch inputs.

As well as that, you’ll be able to take advantage of Alexa’s capabilities, including playing music, reading the news, launching apps, and any number of third-party ‘skills’.

Remote restoration

If you always forget to order new batteries for your remote control, you may also find Toshiba’s Amazon Dash integration useful. Customers with compatible TVs will have the ability to automatically reorder remote control batteries from Amazon when low battery levels are detected. 

Integration with Amazon Dash and Alexa forms part of Toshiba’s new ‘Smart Lounge’ experience, in which they aim to make the television the “forefront of home entertainment”. 

Super-thin TVs

Toshiba also announced the launch of its thinnest ever TV - at just 2.5mm thick, the Wall Art model is designed to sit completely flush against the wall,  creating a window-like effect with its 65 inch screen. 

The Wall Art TV is not only designed for entertainment; it’s also meant to function as art for your lounge. With powerful 4K HDR, it should provide exceptionally clear images, color, and contrast - and when the TV is not in use, its ultra-thin design allows it to blend into your home decor seamlessly. 

Toshiba has been able to make this model so thin by removing any of what they call “distracting hardware”, which means the TV relies on a separate sound box for audio, which connects via a “discrete” cable. 

Box sets without borders

Aside from the Wall Art TV, Toshiba has also announced a new 65” inch bezel-less model, removing intrusive borders with a tiny 4mm frame. 

The new TV is also able to boost picture quality in real-time, using Toshiba’s ‘Micro Dimming’ feature, which analyzes every TV frame as it plays, adjusting the light and dark areas of the picture for a more lifelike image. 

As well as Micro Dimming, the bezel-less model is Dolby Vision-enabled, promising cinematic viewing in your home. 

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

• The best Amazon Alexa deals in 2018

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Toshiba launches its first ever 8K TV

Everyone’s talking about 8K TVs, and Toshiba is the latest mainstream brand to unveil an ultra HD model, as the company announced at Berlin’s IFA 2018 conference. 

With four times the clarity of the 4K models you might have become used to in recent years, the new TV from Toshiba is said to deliver sharper and better-defined imagery than ever before. 

What is 8K TV?

8K TV is the clearest picture currently available, owing to a more dense concentration of pixels than 4K and Full HD models. This calls for a larger screen size (the new Toshiba model comes in at 65-inch), allowing for over 33 million pixels per screen - making it impossible to make out the individual pixels. 

• Toshiba TV Catalog 2018: here’s every Toshiba TV model coming in 2018

Resolution-wise, this is sometimes referred to as 4320p, in the same way Full HD is known as 1080p, meaning 8K provides an unbelievably defined picture. 

Welcome to the 'Smart Lounge'

Toshiba has set out to “re-establish the TV as a go-to entertainment hub in its own right” by offering what it calls the "Smart Lounge experience". 

Features include a remote control that allows you to browse channels without leaving what you are watching, as well as dedicated buttons for streaming services like Netflix, meaning you can switch from terrestrial TV in one click.

While prices and availability are yet to be confirmed for Toshiba’s new 8K TV, prices for 4K TVs currently on the market range between around $600 (around £470 / AU$825) at the lower end to over $4000 (around £3100 / AU$5500) for high-spec models - and we'd expect it to far exceed that upper pricing level.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced.

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Facebook pulls post by Anne Frank Center after seeing only nudity in a photo of the Holocaust

Facebook moderators temporarily removed a post by the Anne Frank Center which was seeking to raise awareness about the Holocaust, after the company was unable to distinguish between historical genocide and child nudity.

The post included an archive photograph of Jewish children who had been stripped and starved by Nazi Germany.

Between 1941 and 1945 the German state imprisoned and murdered millions of Jews in concentration and death camps — the child Anne Frank, who the Center is named after, being just one of them.

Frank died in 1945, aged 15, after her hiding place in Amsterdam had been uncovered. She was taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where, seven months later, she died of typhus.

In school history class as a teenager I remember being shown similar footage of the emaciated bodies of Jewish people starved and murdered during the Holocaust.

It’s not the kind of imagery you forget. It is terrible. Haunting. It is a shame of history, not pornography.

Facebook moderators apparently cannot tell the difference.

These numbers are alarming, but this is why we do what we do. Currently only 10 states mandate Holocaust and Genocide Education. How do we counter ignorance about the Holocaust with knowledge, compassion, and understanding? https://t.co/1xtsNLAKEx

— Anne Frank Center (@AnneFrankCenter) August 21, 2018

Around six hours after the Center complained on Twitter that the post had been taken down, Facebook reinstated it.

In a tweet replying to the Center’s complaint the company explains its actions, saying “we don’t allow nude images of children”, before ending with an apology for making the wrong decision in this case — owing to the image having “important historical significance”.

It wrote: “We put your post back up and sent you a message on FB. We don’t allow nude images of children on FB, but we know this is an important image of historical significance and we’ve restored it. We’re sorry and thank you for bringing it to our attention.”

@AnneFrankCenter, we put your post back up and sent you a message on FB. We don’t allow nude images of children on FB, but we know this is an important image of historical significance and we’ve restored it. We’re sorry and thank you for bringing it to our attention.

— Facebook (@facebook) August 29, 2018

If you’re getting an acute sense of deja-vu that’s because Facebook has similarly failed to understand historical context before — when, for example, in 2016 its moderators took down an iconic war photo of a child fleeing a napalm attack in Vietnam in 1972.

The violence had also stripped that child — clothing her with terror.

Again Facebook’s moderators simply couldn’t tell. So they scrubbed historical record from the platform. An outcry was necessary to reinstate it.

Called on that crime against history, Facebook described its moderating decision as a mistake — saying “we intend to do better”.

Two years later there’s no sign it’s living up to that stated intent.

Running the world’s biggest content platform without editorial oversight and with woefully under-resourced moderation is indeed a very hard problem. One that AI cannot hope to solve in any near or short term framework — if ever. Context is king for a reason.

The kicker here is that company founder Mark Zuckerberg continues to choose to provide a platform for Holocaust deniers on Facebook.

He could choose to ban Holocaust denial — which is, after all, an attack on both history and the Jewish people. But he prefers not to. He’s not for banning, unless it’s nudity. (Classic art nudes included, at times.)

And so we arrive at the tragi-ridiculous pass of true historical imagery of the Holocaust being scrubbed from Facebook — while vicious lies about the Holocaust are allowed to stand and swirl and take root via Facebook.

That’s what running a content platform without a moral compass looks like.

Another example for the history books.
1-There is no cheap way to do content moderation well at scale;
2-It's not clear how to do it much better at scale with a lot more investment but;
3-It's guaranteed to be done badly at the level of investment—as a cost center—it gets now. https://t.co/qv4CcyeHJ9

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) August 29, 2018

We asked Facebook to explain why it took down a post by the Anne Frank Center that was seeking to raise awareness about the Holocaust yet refuses to take down posts by Holocaust deniers who are seeking to undermine historical truth.

A company representative pointed us to its earlier response to the Center — but did not engage with our question.

Update: The Center has now sent us the following statement regarding Facebook’s actions:

Our original post was to draw attention to the fact that the Holocaust
is woefully undertaught across the USA and that ignorance on what
happened is a direct result of this. We have been working with
numerous state representatives across the nation to mandate K-12
Holocaust education through our 50-State Genocide Education project.

While Facebook removes the AFC’s post promoting the need to educate on
the past, it continues to allow pages and posts that directly deny the
reality of the deaths of more than six million people.

Holocaust denial dehumanizes people. It makes thousands feel unsafe.
It violates the very standards Facebook lays out for it users. Yet
these hate-filled propaganda pages remain.

We have written to Facebook previously offering to work with them to
tackle the spread of Holocaust denial and hate on its platform and to
promote education.

If Facebook is serious about its community standards it should start
tackling Holocaust denial and not the organizations who are trying to
educate people on discrimination, facts, and history.

We understand the difficulty in assessing the context of potentially
controversial content. That said, it shouldn’t have taken us publicly
calling out Facebook to restore our post. Hopefully, Facebook can
revise their protocols.

We understand that the Center’s post was originally published on Facebook on August 21, and taken down by Facebook moderators on August 27 — before it was subsequently reinstated by Facebook after the Center complained.

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Samsung's 'The Wall' is now available in Europe

Samsung has announced at IFA 2018 that its innovative micro LED TV, 'The Wall', is now available in Europe, in a move that will see TV nerds everywhere rejoice. 

First revealed at CES 2018, 'The Wall' is the world's first fully customizable LED, bezel-less display, comprising a number of separate screens that can be configured in any number of ways. 

If you're a traditionalist, you'll probably want to stick to the standard rectangular TV shape, but for the more adventurous among you, you can experiment with lots of different shapes.

The future is modular

When The Wall was first unveiled in January, it was unclear whether it would be available for commercial installations only as it came in at a whopping 146 inches, however it's now clear that modular viewing will soon be a reality in the home too. 

The TV doesn't come in a set size, as Samsung will reportedly allow customers to choose which size they would like, meaning The Wall is completely customizable for any space.

If, on the off chance, 146 inches isn't quite big enough for you, it's possible to connect The Wall to other identical models to form an even bigger screen.

Although Samsung didn't announce how you can order the colossal display, we expect more information to come to light throughout the rest of the IFA conference. 

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced. 

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Samsung The Frame TV now offers artwork from the Tate and Magnum Photographers

Samsung TVs are doing all they can to move away from being simple black slabs when they’re switched off, with features to see them replicate your wallpaper when in standby, and slim designs to help them hide away when not in use. At IFA 2018, Samsung has given its The Frame range an update to help it in this task.

The Frame TV, first seen in summer of 2017 and given a refresh in 2018, was designed to look like a picture frame when not in use, with a border style built to merge in with hanging artworks around your home. The screen itself can then display existing works of art from not only giants like Picasso, but also from the scribbles you make on a Samsung Galaxy Note handset.

Now, that library of great works if growing, with owners able to tap into works from the Tate gallery collection, and pieces from Magnum Photos photographers.

Art attack

The Magnum Photos partnership is particularly interesting, as it includes works that will be exclusive to Samsung The Frame TVs. Called the Fine Art Every Day Collection, it will include images captured by artists including David Alan Harvey and Jonas Bendiksen among others.

The 4K screen had also recently partnered with London’s V&A, Saatchi Art and the Albertina Museum in Vienna, as well as The New York Times' classic photo library, to bring more than 800 works to the screen, so there's now plenty of choice.

The Frame comes in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes, priced at $1999 (around £1500) and $2799 (around £2100) respectively.

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced. 

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Twitter tests a feature that suggests accounts to unfollow

This week, Twitter briefly tested a new feature that provides users with a suggested list of accounts to unfollow. 

Originally spotted by TheNextWeb’s Matt Mavarra, the test – which only ran for a few days – provided a pop up on the user’s Twitter account that recommended the user review a list of "accounts you may not need to follow".

Here's how the feature looked:

Culling Twitter

In a statement to The Verge, Twitter explained that the test is a step towards cleaning up users’ timelines.

“We know that people want a relevant Twitter timeline. One way to do this is by unfollowing people they don’t engage with regularly,” the statement read. “We ran an incredibly limited test to surface accounts that people were not engaging with to check if they’d like to unfollow them.”

The test for this feature has now concluded, and Twitter hasn't confirmed if it will be rolled out permanently. 

• Check out all the latest news from IFA 2018

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What else does Berlin have to offer besides tech?

While the masses gather at IFA, Europe's biggest technology show, to fondle the latest and greatest gadgets, film makers James Barber and Hollie Hayton have been finding out what else Berlin has to offer besides lust-worthy tech and seemingly endless supplies of currywurst. 

Find wide-mouthed gawping and plenty of historical facts about the Reichstag, Berlin Cathedral and Brandenburg Gate in the video above.

Of course, James and Hollie will also be visiting IFA itself. Look out for more video shenanigans from the pair over the next few days as they explore IFA in partnership with Philips TV. 

Expect their takes on the latest tech from press day and their favourite gadgets from the labyrinthine halls of the Messe Berlin . There might even be an Ambilight TV or two in there to gawk at too.

For more on Philips TV, check out part two of the Extreme Earth series, where two lucky readers were offered the chance to join Philips on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Arizona desert. 

The resulting 90-second 4K video and documentary are spectacular pieces of desert eye-candy that are well worth a watch.

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DC Universe streaming service suits up for a September 15 launch in the US

As we move into the next phase of streaming media world dominance, in which studios launch their very own services with exclusive content in an effort to compete with Netflix (take a bow, Disney Play), Warner Bros. has announced (via a Kevin Smith-hosted live stream) that its DC Universe digital subscription service will launch in the US on September 15, 2018. 

The platform will provide access to a large back catalogue of animated shows (including Batman: The Animated Series in high definition) and movies, brand new animated and live-action original shows (such as the upcoming Titans and Swamp Thing), a Comixology-style library of digital comics and a forum for fans to discuss their favorite DC properties.

Along with its arrival date, it's also been revealed that DC Universe's first big original series, Titans, will land on the service a little less than a month later on October 12 (those attending New York Comic-Con will get the chance to see it early on October 3).

Holy streaming prices, Batman!

DC Universe has only been announced for the US so far, and has been priced at $7.99 per month (roughly £6 / AU$11) or $74.99 per year (around £60 / AU$100) with an initial three extra months offered free of charge. According to Smith, the subscription price will give users access to two screens at once. 

Users in the US who sign up for the DC Universe service before 6AM (PST) on September 12 will also be in the running to win a Batman studio tour and a ride in the Batmobile.

You can check out the excessively grim and gritty trailer for Titans below, but be warned — it's so edgy that you may cut yourself just watching it. 

• DC Universe: DC's new TV and comic book streaming service explained

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Samsung’s secret IFA announcement is an 8K QLED TV

As prefaced by the massive billboard outside the convention center in Berlin, Samsung has fulfilled its promise by bringing an 8K QLED TV to IFA. It’s called the Q900 – or Q900FN in the US – and it will be available starting in October of this year.

For US customers the Q900 will take the form of an 85-inch screen, but the UK and the rest of Europe will see 65-, 75- and 82-inch variations in addition to the 85-inch monster.

All of the Q900 TVs will be powered by Samsung’s new 8K Quantum Processor and feature Full Array Elite Local Dimming – similar to what we saw in the Samsung Q9FN  earlier this year – with a comparable number of dimming zones.

To create 8K images out of non-8K content, Samsung will use artificial intelligence to create algorithms that recognize patterns, shapes and objects and accurately fill in the details. To do this, Samsung will employ a massive image database that will constantly update itself as it learns to recognize new objects. The database will beam its knowledge to individual Q900 TVs on a regular basis, ensuring each TV has the latest and greatest in upscaling tech.

Samsung made it clear that all content would go through the upscaling process, however, it’s particularly interesting information for gamers with 4K consoles like the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro – systems that are capable of native and upscaled 4K reproduction.

Higher HDR for your Ultra-er UHD TV

Samsung didn’t release every spec from the upcoming screen but gave us one tantalizing piece of information regarding the screen’s peak luminance – which, according to representatives, is somewhere in the 4,000 nits range. 

That, in addition to HDR10+ support, will make the Q900 one of the best HDR TVs on the market, even if the screen can’t quite hit the same black levels as LG’s recently unveiled 8K OLED TV.

Like the rest of Samsung’s QLED TV line-up the Q900 will feature Bixby and SmartThings integration, as well as Ambient Mode and Samsung’s signature One Connect invisible cable that carries power and video signal from the One Connect Box to the TV itself.

Samsung has yet to announce a price for the TV, but says that will be announced closer to the TV’s retail launch in October of this year. 

• IFA 2018 is Europe's biggest tech show. The TechRadar team is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and hands-on first impressions of new phones, watches and other tech as they're announced. 

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Google, Facebook, Twitter chiefs called back to Senate Intelligence Committee

Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operations officer Sheryl Sandberg will testify in an open hearing at the Senate Intelligence Committee next week, the committee’s chairman has confirmed.

Larry Page, chief executive of Google parent company Alphabet, was also invited but has not confirmed his attendance, a committee spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said in a release that the social media giants will be asked about their responses to foreign influence operations on their platforms in an open hearing on September 5.

It will be the second time the Senate Intelligence Committee, which oversees the government’s intelligence and surveillance efforts, will have called the companies to testify. But it will be the first time that senior leadership will attend — though, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg did attend a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in April.

It comes in the wake of Twitter and Facebook recently announcing the suspension of accounts from their platforms that they believe to be linked to Iranian and Russian political meddling. Social media companies have been increasingly under the spotlight in the past years following Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election with disinformation.

A Twitter spokesperson said the company didn’t yet have details to share on the committee’s prospective questions. TechCrunch also reached out to Google and Facebook for comment and will update when we hear back.

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