CES 2016: LG's flexible OLED may not be as futuristic as you might think

The TV you unroll like a projector screen is inching ever closer thanks to LG's advances with its OLED screen technology. At CES this week LG is showing off a flexible 18-inch OLED panel that it says can roll up as tightly as a newspaper.

In its private showroom, on site at CES, LG is demonstrating its latest OLED and LCD TV tech, but it's the flexible display which is likely to really grab the imagination with its futuristic feel.

The self-emitting nature of OLED means that it needs no extra backlighting to display a bright, clear image, and that in turn means that it can be made incredibly thin. It also makes for some stunning pictures as we've seen in both the LG and Panasonic OLED TVs which hit the market last year.

We've already seen LG demonstrating a 1mm thick 55-inch TV that you can stick to the wall, but being flexible enough that you can roll it up so tightly makes this smaller screen incredibly versatile.

Already been done

But while it seems super futuristic, this 18-inch panel may already be a couple of years old. It was back in 2014 that LG first demonstrated a flexible OLED prototype, and if this is the same 18-inch 1200 x 810 resolution panel it showed off back then that could explain why LG is now happy to have it manhandled by the media masses at CES.

Hopefully the fact this prototype is being wheeled out in the showroom might indicate there are bigger things afoot for LG's OLED gang, and not just the hulking great 86-inch Super UHD 8K TVs we've heard about.

When LG first showed off its 18-inch flexible prototype it was expecting to have Ultra HD flexible OLEDs at 60 inches as soon as next year. Fingers crossed it's well on its way to achieving that feat as we're definitely up for some high-resolution flexible screens in our phones and tablets while we wait for the big screens to roll around.

• Here's what's happening at CES right now.

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The new BBC Three logo actually says BBC Two

BBC Three is soon to be online-only, and it's got a new logo to mark the bold transition. One problem: it doesn't look quite right.

While it's meant to show the number three in Roman numerals, the logo seems to say "BBC II" followed by an exclamation mark.

Or is it, in fact, a pause symbol? BBC Pause! No, that can't be right.

The new logo is based around the BBC's three principles, says Head of Marketing Nikki Carr: "The first is 'make me think' - hard hitting documentaries like Suicide and Me and thought provoking drama like Murdered By My Boyfriend. The second is 'Make me laugh'- distinctive comedy like People Just Do Nothing or new entertainment shows like Murder In Successville. The third, the exclamation mark, is 'Give me a voice', which is what we will do for young people."

That may be the case, but many online commenters haven't quite seen it the same way, with some pointing out that the logo was predicted by mockumentary W1A. In fact, the BBC has made fun of this itself.

BBC Three will move to being solely online by the end of February this year.

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Movinga, The European Online Removals Startup, Picks Up $25M Series B Round Led By Index

 Movinga, the online removals startup that claims to be a leader in its native Germany but also operates in numerous other European countries, such as Austria, Switzerland, U.K., France and Italy, has picked up $25 million in Series B funding. Read More http://ift.tt/1RlsOOt

UK Open Rights Group Crowdfunds Mass Surveillance Explainer

 Proof, if proof were needed, that democracy is a cat and mouse game of PR these days… Civil rights campaign organisation, the Open Rights Group, is running a crowdfunding campaign to try to raise £20,000 to fund a challenge to the U.K. government’s own massive PR machine which is in the midst of driving the draft Investigatory Powers bill through Parliament and onto the statute… Read More http://ift.tt/1RZsjuZ

Microsoft's latest Windows 10 upgrade tactic: Spreading fear over Windows 7

Windows 7 still powers the majority of PCs out there, but Microsoft is continuing its rather controversial push for upgrades to Windows 10, and indeed in its latest shove a company exec has come close to labelling the older version of the desktop OS as a possible security risk.

Yes, continuing to run Windows 7 is a risky proposition, at least according to Microsoft's chief marketing officer Chris Capossela, who as Forbes reports made his comments in an interview with Windows Weekly.

Capossela said that those who were choosing Windows 7 did so at their "own risk" and "peril" due to possible compatibility issues in the future, and potential security risks.

The main fear driver here, though, is the security angle, with Caposella further noting that users were at risk of "viruses and security problems", as well as potential incompatibilities with hardware or indeed games (he specifically mentioned Fallout 4 not working on older machines).

Of course, as the Forbes article points out, Fallout 4 not working on an older PC is a hardware issue, not an OS problem. And on the security front, while mainstream support may have ended, extended support for Windows 7 goes through until January 2020 – so there's still four years of support in the pipeline from Microsoft.

Turning up the heat

Redmond is quite simply turning up the heat on Windows 7 (and Windows 8) hold-outs. First of all, we had more desktop pop-ups encouraging users to take the free upgrade. Then we've had controversial tactics such as confusingly worded prompts (two options, both to upgrade) and moves such as disrupting third-party software which blocks 'Get Windows 10' prompts.

And now, here comes the fear – don't stay on Windows 7, or before long you'll face all manner of problems and potential vulnerabilities…

As we've said before, there's nothing wrong with Windows 10 as such – privacy issues aside anyway – but Microsoft is starting to make itself look desperate in its upgrade persuasion attempts.

Windows 10 has to succeed in the wake of the failure which was Windows 8, but Redmond has to shed this air of desperation or face the peril of adoption of its new OS slowing down further still as an automatic reaction and backlash to all this pushing.

And of course, this year we've got the spectre of Windows 10 becoming a recommended update to cause further controversy…

Microsoft should simply focus on making its operating system even more compelling and dealing with privacy concerns, after which greater adoption would happen organically.

• Should you upgrade to Windows 10?

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CES 2016: Samsung delivers Dolby's 3D cinema sound to the home

Samsung is unveiling its first Dolby Atmos soundbar at this year's CES show in Las Vegas this week. The new HW-K950 is part of Samsung's big audio push for 2016.

Dolby's Atmos audio technology is arguably one of the greatest cinema sound innovations since THX first thrummed into our brains. It delivers three dimensional audio, with a sense of genuine movement to the sound.

That's all well and good in bespoke cinemas, but not all of us are happy drilling holes in our ceiling to hide away the normally necessary speakers needed to pipe Dolby Atmos' moving 3D sound around our living room. Samsung's HW-K950 soundbar though is designed so that you don't have to do anything other than plug and play.

There are three forward-facing and two upward-facing speakers in the new slimline soundbar, which wirelessly connects to a separate subwoofer to give depth to the room-filling cinema-style audio.

There is another...

This isn't the first Dolby Atmos soundbar. Yamaha also has a compatible aural heavyweight, the Yamaha YSP-5600, which packs forty-four discrete speakers into this monstrous soundbar to achieve the 3D sound. And it also supports DTS:X, a secondary three-dimensional home cinema audio codec.

The key differentiator for the Samsung HW-K950 though is the pair of rear speaker units, which are also connected wirelessly to the soundbar itself. These rear units provide extra positional audio data, bouncing Dolby Atmos sound off your ceiling to simulate recessed speakers.

That does make the new setup more like a traditional multi-channel surround sound home cinema configuration than what you'd normally consider a straight soundbar. Often the reason people opt for soundbars over surround sound systems is to avoid having multiple speakers dotted around a room, so it will be interesting to see how this hybrid setup fares when it hits the shelves.

But pair the HW-K950 up with a funky new Samsung SUHD TV, or a new Dolby Vision-capable TV, with all their incredible HDR skills, and you're getting mighty close to simple home cinema perfection.

• Here's what's happening at CES right now.

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This Luke Skywalker Twitter account is much funnier than Emo Kylo Ren

Considering the level of hype we've seen around The Force Awakens, episode VII of the Star Wars series, it's perhaps no surprise that the Twitter parody accounts are out in (ahem) force. Before you read on we should warn you that mild spoilers for the new film follow.

First came Emo Kylo Ren (@kylor3n) but now there's a worthy challenger in the form of Very Lonely Luke (@VeryLonelyLuke). The latter picks up on the troubled Jedi master's rather remote and lonely existence, as revealed near the end of Episode VII.

Lonely Luke's tweets are fatalistic and philosophical throughout, musing on the angst that comes with having Darth Vader as a father and the weight of expectation associated with (perhaps) being the last Jedi Knight in the galaxy.

"Same Sith different day"

There are also jabs at the Dark Side and plenty of black humour: "Same Sith different day", "I Netflix and die alone" etc. Obviously don't browse through the feed if you don't want to read any spoilers about The Force Awakens.

We're yet to find out who's behind the account but it seems worldwide fame isn't Luke's aim. "Sometimes I think about how my life would be different if I had more followers," he tweets. "It would not be different at all. I would still be alone."

For our money the dour Very Lonely Luke is funnier than Emo Kylo Ren, but he's losing the battle in terms of follower numbers: 96.5k to 561k.

• Read the TechRadar review of The Force Awakens

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