The 35 best battery life laptops for 2020 - CNET

Our rankings of longest-lasting laptops has a few surprises.

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Puma Hybrid Astro One8 Review: You Would Not Believe The Price of These Running Shoes

If I may say so, the Puma Hybrid Astro One8, all things considered, is just a step behind the new Nike React Infinity Run (that’s priced around Rs 13,995) in terms of the tech and the experience. And the fact that it is priced as such, everything just falls into place.

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Best portable humidifiers for dry skin, sinus relief and sore throats in 2020 - CNET

Your lungs, sinuses and skin don't like things too dry. This line up of air humidifiers will keep them moist these holidays.

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Best DNA testing kits in 2020: 23andMe, AncestryDNA and more compared - CNET

Looking for the best DNA test kits from the best testing services available to buy now? Here are your top options.

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Samsung Galaxy S20 Series - the smartphone camera to beat for 2020

When Samsung decided to name the successor of the Galaxy S10 as the Galaxy S20, it was obvious that this wasn’t a small generation-over-generation upgrade. The Samsung Galaxy S20 series that is made up of the Galaxy S20, the Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra takes a huge leap with mobile photography setting itself up as the phone camera to beat for 2020.

All the models in the Galaxy S20 Series feature wide, ultra-wide and telephoto lenses allowing the user all kinds of creativity when it comes to framing their shots. Samsung has paired its flagship series with its best sensors with the Galaxy S20 Ultra going up to a whopping 108 megapixels on the primary camera and 40MP on the selfie camera. Here are some of the exceptional camera qualities on the S20 series.

Record videos in 8K

The Galaxy S20 series is the first phone we’ve seen that is capable of recording 8K video that can easily be streamed to your Samsung QLED 8K TV. The resolution of 8K is four times higher than 4K and 16 times higher that FullHD which allows you to pull 33 megapixel still shots from the video.

One shot to rule them all

The incredibly powerful camera module in the Galaxy S20 Series is matched with equally powerful software and AI to get you the best shots. Samsung has introduced a “Single Take” mode on the camera app that can basically be described as the next generation of the burst-mode. It takes one shot and turns it into multiple formats of up to 14 photos and videos instantly.

With Single Take mode, you will no longer need to shoot multiple photos or videos to get that perfect shot. Samsung’s intelligent software creates all shots for you such as Best Moment, Ultra-wide, Photo Bokeh, Beauty, AI Filter and  Smart Crop. And it’s not just restricted to photos- you will also get all sorts of videos automatically created for you such as Original, Reverse – Backwards, Bounce – Boomerang and Fast Forward, with just one click.

Turn night into day

The Galaxy S20 Series comes with a large sensor and an anti-rolling stabilizer which is great for two things. First, your videos will come out super-smooth- almost at the level of action cams. And second, you’ll get superb low-light shots using the Bright Night mode. The extremely large sensor allows for 3x3 pixel binning that will let the camera take in a lot of light empowering you to capture the best night scenes that's blur-free with less noise. 

5G power

Other than the camera, the Galaxy S20 Series also features leading industry specs. The Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra support 5G so you can transfer files in an instant or even live-stream videos or your gaming sessions without any buffering. The batteries on these phones are also some of the highest in the industry reaching up to 5,000mAh capacities while storage capacities go up to 1.5TB which is more than what most laptops are equipped with.

Your last chance to be the first to own

There’s no question that the Galaxy S20 Series are the hottest new phones. If you’re looking for premium, top of the line phones with a mind-blowing camera, you should definitely pre-order one right now on Samsung.com to get exclusive extras worth AED 828. You’ll get the all-new Galaxy Buds+, 1-year Samsung Care+ accidental damage coverage with the Galaxy S20+ or Galaxy S20 Ultra. Offer ends 5th March, so be the first to own and don’t miss out.

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Best AV receivers of 2020 - CNET

We compared affordable, full-featured AV receivers from Denon, Onkyo, Sony and Yamaha. Which one wins?

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This Photoshop Elements alternative boasts almost $1,000 worth of freebies

The Photo and Graphic designer package by Magix and Xara is a capable alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop Elements and has a suggested retail price of $60.

However, if you purchase it via Fanatical, for a limited time you can get this offering and a truckload of other applications thrown in for free.

The package is made up of three separate bundles: photos, movies and music.

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The Photo bundle includes Photo story deluxe, Photo manager deluxe, Xara Page and Layout Designer 11 and Xara Web Designer. 

The Movie bundle boasts Vegas Movie Studio 15, Vegas DVD architect, Video Sound cleaning lab and VR studio 2. 

Finally, the Music bundle includes Music Maker, Acid Pro, Sound Forge audio studio, MP3 Deluxe 19 and a voucher worth $40 to be used in the Magix In App Store.

The total price of these bundles is nearly $1,000 but they can be yours for only $60 (roughly £45 / $AU90) - a massive saving of 94%. 

This package, which includes 14 applications in all, is available worldwide but prices may vary slightly depending on taxes and conversion rates.

These are three separate bundles, and apps are downloaded separately by redeeming coupons at Magix.

• Here's our choice of the best video editing workstations of 2020

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The best chest strap heart rate monitors, as rated by Amazon reviews - CNET

No more slipping, sliding or shimmying with these chest straps.

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Best air mattresses for 2020: SoundAsleep, REI and more compared - CNET

We inflated and slept on 10 of the most popular air mattress models, from Intex, Coleman, King Koil and more. Here’s what we learned.

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Best Android tablets for 2020 - CNET

Android tablets rarely make the case for ditching Apple iPads, but that doesn't mean you don't have any good options available. Here are our favorites.

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New lion, size of house cat, with bone-crushing teeth, is found in fossil form - CNET

In Australia, researchers discover a hitherto unknown type of lion that lived over 24 million years ago.

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Game Developers Conference 2020 Canceled Due to Coronavirus Epidemic

After MWC and CP+ it seems that this year's Game Developers Conference will also be canceled, although the event is expected to now happen in the summer.

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2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S is a proper performer - Roadshow

With more than 600 horsepower and an electric motor jammed in there, the GLE63 S is always ready to party.

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These are the five leading SIM only deals this weekend: Three, EE, Vodafone and more

Now that the UK is in a perpetual cycle of bad weather, stormy winds and heavy rain, there isn't a whole lot of point in going outside this weekend. So what to do instead? Finally finding that SIM only deal you need to put in your phone now your contract has ended?

Yes, we're aware that in the long list of the funnest ways to spend your weekend, that ranks pretty low. With that in mind, we thought we might help speed the process along a little bit by picking out the five best SIM plans around right now.

With big cashback options on Vodafone, 1-month rolling contracts in a while and a Three unlimited dataoffer which just refuses to let anything else top it, there are a lot of great choices out there right now.

• Still looking for a new phone? Check our best SIM-free phone price guide

Our top 5 best SIM only deals this week:

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Game Developers Conference 2020 Postponed Due to Coronavirus Epidemic

After MWC and CP+ it seems that this year's Game Developers Conference will also be canceled, although the event is expected to now happen in the summer.

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Facebook Messenger is Getting Rid of Chatbots in Large Redesign Process

In the new design, Facebook is promoting a "People" section where you can see large squares dedicated to friends who have recently updated their Facebook Stories. One can also see the contact list organised to promote the most used contacts who are actively online.

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LinkedIn Follows Instagram, Snapchat; Begins Testing Stories Feature

LinkedIn Stories are geared more towards professional engagement than social conversation but bear striking resemblance to their Snapchat and Instagram counterparts.

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IBLA 2020: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Wins Global Indian Business Icon

The CNBC-TV18's 15th India Business Leader Awards’ (IBLA) night was held in Mumbai on Friday. The event honoured high-achievers, outstanding leaders and true visionaries of corporate India.

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The 10 best pillows in 2020 - CNET

Whether you sleep on your side or back, or prefer foam or down, there's a perfect pillow out there for you.

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Xiaomi's Mi 10 Pro 5G: Release date, specs, price, features and a 108-megapixel camera - CNET

Xiaomi's 5G promise in 2020 starts with the Mi 10 series. Starting at approximately $570, you get a Snapdragon 865 chipset, 90Hz refresh rate, and a 108-megapixel main camera.

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Internet access hangs by a thread for hundreds of millions

Despite what Wi-Fi and mobile data might lead people to believe, the internet is less of a nebulus cloud of data in the air above us, and more of an intricate mesh of wires firing away beneath our feet.

The world’s online networks are powered by a complex system of underwater and underground cabling, supplemented in some regions by satellite links.

Around 380 undersea cables carry over 99.5% of all transoceanic data, running for 750,000 miles across the ocean floor. These fiber optic wires connect the massive data centers supporting cloud behemoths such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. 

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The total number of submarine cables shot up during a period of rapid growth in the mid-2000s, followed by an interval during which relatively little new cable was laid, but available capacity was slowly exhausted. A renewed demand for bandwidth, caused by the rapid growth of connected devices, is now propelling a new wave of cable initiatives.

The first submarine cable to use fiber optics was TAT-8, which went live in 1988. It had two operational fiber pairs and one backup pair, and reached speeds of up to 280MB per second.

The current fastest cable (MAREA, owned jointly by Microsoft and Facebook) has eight fibre pairs, and achieved record speeds of 26.2TB per second in 2019 – that's almost 100,000 times faster than TAT-8.

However, despite exponential growth in quantity and capacity, whole countries can be plunged into blackout if just one cable is damaged or snapped, with ramifications for household users and businesses alike.

Undersea cables are usually run through areas of deep ocean to minimize the possibility of damage. But the deep sea is a harsh environment, and cables laid at extreme depth can be challenging to access if repairs are required.

According to telecoms research firm Telegeography, there are over 100 cable breaks per year. Many of these go unnoticed in developed regions with extensive redundancies, but the infrastructure keeping us online is still far more fragile than any of us realize.

Fragility

In many developed countries, particularly in the West and Asia, internet access is more or less taken for granted as a constant – even a moment’s downtime is met with anger and frusatration. But this isn’t the case for much of the world, where connections are intermittent, unreliable, or even non-existent. 

In 2018, the west African nation of Mauritania was taken offline for two whole days after the Africa Coast to Europe cable (owned by a syndicate of telecoms companies) was severed by a fishing trawler. Nine other countries in the region also experienced outages at the hands of the wayward fisherman.

In the former Soviet bloc nation of Georgia, an elderly woman scavenging for copper to sell as scrap cut through an underground cable with her spade, causing neighbouring Armenia to lose connection for five hours. She was dubbed “the spade-hacker” by local media. 

Millions in Yemen were also thrown off the internet last year after the submarine Falcon cable was severed, with its repair made even more complex by the ongoing civil war in the country.

Stories about sharks biting down on cables in the Pacific and causing intermittent outages have also become common in recent years. Various articles have suggested that the creatures mistake electromagnetic waves for bioelectric currents produced by schools of fish, although some experts are skeptical of the phenomenon.

“This is probably one of the biggest myths we see cited in the press. While it’s true that in the past sharks have bitten a few cables, they are not a major threat,” Alan Mauldin, Research Director at Telegeography, said in a blog post.

“There’s a cable fault somewhere in the world about every three days. These tend to be from external aggression, such as fishing and anchors – cables are damaged unintentionally [all the time],” he told TechRadar Pro via email.

Sharks or no, the list of incidents involving damage to critical cabling goes on and on. All it takes is a misplaced anchor for millions to lose their invaluable connection.

On the cusp of blackout

It might seem staggering that whole nations can so easily be taken offline, even if only temporarily. But not all countries enjoy the luxury of extensive redundancies in the event a cable is damaged.

Japan is served by a total of 26 submarine cables, the UK is supported by 54 cables, and the US by a whopping 91, but a significant proportion of the world relies on just a single cable for connection, or two if they’re lucky.

TechRadar Pro looked at the number of countries reliant on either one or two cables. In total, 19 countries – about 10% of countries globally – are supported by only a single submarine cable. The largest of these (by population) include Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Togo and Sierra Leone.

If you include countries supported by just two cables (a further 11 nations), the total number of people relying on a tenuous connection rises to almost 450 million, or 5.57% of the global population.

It’s true that some of these nations likely supplement the connection delivered by submarine cables with satellite links, which can provide a measure of support. 

According to Nicole Starosielski, author of The Undersea Network and Associate Professor at NYU, satellites are an acceptable backup, but don’t compare to the speed and bandwidth offered by fiber optic cables.

“Satellites are a viable option as a supplement to the current network – reaching areas cables cannot reach and providing redundancy in some locations. But they are not a replacement for the cable network,” she explained over email.

In other words, low-bandwidth satellites would be quickly overwhelmed if an entire nation attempted to connect at once, making them effectively useless in the absence of the cable system.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail

Reliable internet connection was once viewed as a luxury, but loss of internet can now have severe and wide-reaching consequences, both for individual businesses and entire economies.

Businesses in regions that suffer from poor internet penetration and intermittent connection have likely acclimatized, leaning more heavily on offline ways of working. However, in regions utterly dependent on connection, companies are often ill equipped to handle downtime.

Research carried out by UK-based ISP Beaming found that British businesses lost almost 60 million hours of working time to internet outages in 2018.

On average, UK firms experienced two major outages and 16 hours of downtime each. Beaming estimates these outages cost the UK economy more than £700 million in lost productivity and extra overtime.

While they're unable to influence goings-on in the world of undersea cabling, there are measures businesses can take to limit downtime, and the damage it causes.

According to Kevin Kong, Product Manager at another UK-based ISP, KCOM, “the primary solution to mitigate against downtime is tried and tested: resiliency and diversity.

“Services need to be designed for the worst case – this means having appropriate resiliency via a failover service (e.g. dual Ethernet circuits), which allows your organization to continue running critical, if not all, business systems.”

Given that infrastructure design appears unlikely to change any time soon, software could play an increasing role in keeping businesses online.

“The future could revolve around smarter network software that can work around hardware infrastructure failures. We are seeing interesting efforts in this area,” says Martin Levy, Distinguished Engineer at US web infrastructure and security company Cloudflare.

But Levy also notes that the introduction of new technologies brings with it an additional element of risk.

“With more complex technology comes more complex systems to manage it,“ he says. “This requires sophisticated training and experienced individuals. There are places in the world where additional deployed technology doesn’t equal improved quality.”

Demand for bandwidth

In response to ever-increasing capacity requirements, the world’s technology giants have taken it upon themselves to fund and manage many undersea cabling projects.

Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook all hold stakes in high-profile submarine cable networks. Between them, these companies own or lease more than half of undersea bandwidth. Google alone owns four cable networks: Curie, Dunant, Equiano and Junior.

These firms need to satisfy a rapidly accelerating customer demand for bandwidth, driven by the adoption of mobile, the proliferation of IoT devices, the transition to 5G, and the volume of data produced by and exchanged between businesses.

“The biggest shift in the last decade is that the users of the most international bandwidth have become content providers, not telecom carriers,” notes Mauldin.

“We are seeing higher capacity cables entering service, which have 12 to 16 fiber pairs. Future cables may have even more. Eventually, some of the older cables laid in the late 1990s and early 2000s will be decommissioned.”

To put this in perspective, each fiber pair is capable of carrying four million high-definition videos simultaneously. With a greater number of pairs, it’s expected that future cables will reach speeds that far exceed the 26.2TB per second achieved by MAREA. 

As fiber optic technology improves, more cable networks are laid, and old cables are replaced with high-capacity models, the quantity of data able to pass through our seas will soon reach unimaginable levels.

Underwater geopolitics

Despite this potential, massive submarine cabling projects also face a diverse range of obstacles, including budget, logistics, and dense bureaucracy. Perhaps chief among them, though, is geopolitical conflict, as demonstrated by the ongoing trade war between the US and China.

Google and Facebook recently filed to activate the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) between the US, the Philippines and Taiwan. The project is an excellent case-study in how geopolitics can stand in the way of progress.

The network, announced in 2016, was originally billed as the first to connect the US and Hong Kong. However, sections running to Hong Kong and China will remain inactive amid security concerns and ongoing conflict between Washington and Beijing.

PLCN boasts 12,800km of cabling and an estimated capacity of 120TB per second, which would make it the highest-capacity trans-Pacific route, bringing lower latency and greater bandwidth to the APAC region.

Google and Facebook might be the most high-profile stakeholders in PLCN, but much of its fiber optics belong to an organization called Pacific Light Data Communication. The sale of this company to a Beijing-based private broadband provider, Dr Peng Telecom & Media Group, in 2017 triggered concerns that have dogged the initiative ever since.

Dr Peng itself is not state-owned, but has strong links with Huawei, the mobile giant accused by the US government of posing a significant security threat.

Google and Facebook have requested permission to activate only the self-owned portions of the undersea cable network (running between the US, the Philippines and Taiwan), effectively cutting Pacific Light Data Communication from the project.

When the project was first announced, Google spoke of ambitions to provide enough capacity for Hong Kong to have 80 million concurrent HD video conferences with Los Angeles; in the end, geopolitics put paid to this particular ambition.

Given the critical importance of connection to nearly all aspects of life and business, the idea that submarine cabling could become the target of terror attacks or sabotage efforts has also been debated.

Following the Mauritania outage in 2018, Stuart Petch, Chief of the UK Defence staff at the time, spoke of the “catastrophic” threat to connection and trade posed by foreign powers interfering with deep-sea cables.

The same event saw Conservative MP Rishi Sunak (since appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer) refer to the possibility that terrorists might use grappling hooks attached to fishing trawlers to deal Britain’s network a “crippling blow”.

This perceived threat, however, appears to be overblown, dwarfed by the much more tangible threat posed by chance events and natural wear.

“The cable system has not been a frequent target of attacks. Cables are much more frequently disrupted by anchors and nets, accidentally, than anything else. Cables break all the time and we don't ever realise it,” noted Nicole Starosielski.

“Certainly the cable system could be the site of attack, but it doesn't have the high visual impact that other targets afford.”

State of play

Although new speeds are reached with each passing year, and new cables laid connecting different areas of the globe, avoiding chokepoints in London and San Francisco, much of the world’s connection remains at the mercy of chance incidents.

The ability to improve internet penetration, speed and reliability in countries with limited infrastructure sits primarily with big tech – the companies driving today’s most ambitious projects.

The total number of internet users is on the up, especially in African nations, but service reliability is an issue (acutely felt by many) that still needs to be addressed.

• Here's our list of the best web hosting services of 2020

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Could the most expensive Apple Mac Pro be surpassed by this 128-core AMD Epyc workstation?

Many smaller workstation vendors are rushing to fill a very lucrative niche; the likes of Coreto, Scan, Velocity Micro and Boston have a tiny window of opportunity before the computer giants (Lenovo, HP and Dell) jump on AMD’s EPYC bandwagon.

The EPYC 7702 is currently the best option out there if you're looking for the pinnacle of desktop performance - put it this way, you won’t find anything from Intel that will even come close to what AMD's Rome series CPU has to offer.

Rome offers 64 cores and 128 threads, and you can pair two together to get the sort of processing power that was found in supercomputers only a couple of decades ago.

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At $51,399, the Apple’s Mac Pro has “only” 28 cores (Intel Xeon W-3275M) and accommodates up to 1.5TB memory, two Radeon Pro Vega II Duo (that’s four GPU and 128GB HBM2 memory) and an 8TB SSD.

How does that compare to, say, an a-X2 from Mediaworkstations containing the EPYC 7702?

For a start, the a-X2 is a little more expensive at just over $53,000 (roughly £41,500 / AU$81,800). However, you get two 64-core processors, 2TB of memory, a pair of Nvidia Quadro RTX 8000 GPU with 48GB GDDR6 memory, and 8.68TB worth of high speed storage. For peace of mind, a three-year warranty with next business day onsite service is also thrown in.

It's true, the casing (adorned by two 200mm front intake fans) is not as alluring as the Mac Pro's aluminium housing, but you get so much more for your money.

Note, while Mediaworkstations ships internationally, you may have to pay additional tax depending on your location.

• Here's our list of the best video editing workstations of 2020

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The best 3D printers in 2020 for beginners and budget creators - CNET

From Flashforge to Monoprice, these printers will get you started making all kinds of cool stuff.

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Activist investor seeks to replace Jack Dorsey as Twitter CEO, report says - CNET

Billionaire Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management, wants to take over.

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Elliott Management's Paul Singer seeks to replace Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, source says

Elliott Management founder and billionaire investor Paul SInger is seeking to replace TWitter CEO Jack Dorsey, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC Friday

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India vs Sri Lanka live stream: watch today's T20 Women's World Cup 2020 from anywhere

The Women in Blue are the first team to qualify for the Women's T20 World Cup and they'll be looking to maintain their 100% win here against the Lionesses - don't miss a moment by reading our India vs Sri Lanka live stream guide below.

India will know they weren't completely convincing in their last game against New Zealand, sneaking through with a three-run win and will want to end the group phase in style in Melbourne.

Sri Lanka have given a decent account of themselves in their previous two matches against New Zealand and Australia, but ended up losing both games.

Sri Lankan hopes on Saturday will be resting on influential skipper Chamari Atapattu who hit who hit a superb fifty in the Lionesses last outing against Australia. Teenager Umesha Thimashini gave a solid turn as number three batter and looks set to retain her place.

India, meanwhile, will be looking for more from skipper Hermanpreet Kaur, who has only managed 11 runs in her three innings so far. 

It's a Women’s T20 World Cup match not be missed - don't miss a ball by checking out our India vs Sri Lanka live stream guide.

• Don't miss a match with our T20 Women's World Cup live stream guide

Live stream T20 cricket from outside your country

You might find you have a problem accessing your usual home service if you're abroad because of geo-blocking. It's where local broadcasters lock online streams of their coverage to specific areas by logging the IP address of the device trying to access their website.

Fortunately, there's an easy way to get around this nuisance and tune into the cricket just like you would from home. It's called using a VPN, and these useful pieces of software - known as Virtual Private Networks in full - allow you to log back to your country that is broadcasting the match.

Watch a Women's T20 Cricket World Cup live stream in India

How to stream India vs Sri Lanka live in the UK

How to live stream India vs Sri Lanka in Australia

How to watch India vs Sri Lanka: US live stream details 

How to get a FREE T20 Women's World Cup live stream in Pakistan

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Best tax software for 2020: TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxSlayer and more - CNET

Get your taxes done faster -- and at the best price -- with these online DIY tax options.

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See Marvel head Kevin Feige play a Thanos-like villain on The Simpsons - CNET

Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo also show up to try to stop Bart from spoiling their movie.

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Game Developers Conference postpones March event because of coronavirus

The San Francisco conference was scheduled for March 16 through March 20. GDC organizers didn't announce new dates.

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Norton LifeLock phishing scam infects victims with remote access trojan

The cybercriminals behind a recent phishing campaign used a fake Norton LifeLock document in order to trick victims into installing a remote access trojan (RAT) on their systems.

The infection begins with a Microsoft Word document that contains malicious macros. However, to get users to enable macros, which are disabled by default, the threat actor behind the campaign used a fake password-protected Norton LifeLock document.

Victims are asked to enable macros and type in a password, provided in the phishing email containing the document, to gain access to it. Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42, which discovered the campaign, also found that the password dialog box accepts only a upper or lowercase letter 'C'. If the password is incorrect, the malicious action does not continue.

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If the user does input the correct password, the macro continues executing and builds a command string that installs the legitimate remote control software, NetSupport Manager.

Establishing persistence

The RAT binary is downloaded and installed onto a user's machine with help from the 'msiexec' command in the Windows Installer service.

In a new report, the researchers at  Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 explained that the MSI payload installs without any warnings and adds a PowerShell script in the Windows temp folder. This is used for persistence and the script plays the role of a backup solution for installing NetSupport Manager.

Before the script continues its operations, it checks to see if an antivirus from either Avast or AVG is installed on the system. If this is the case, it stops running on the victim's computer. If the script finds that these programs aren't present on the machine, it adds the files needed b NetSupport Manager to a folder with a random name and also creates a registry key for the main executable named 'presentationhost.exe' for persistence.

Unit 42 first discovered the campaign at the beginning of January and the researchers tracked related activity back to November 2019 which shows that the campaign is part of a larger operation.

• Keep your devices protected with the best antivirus software

Via BleepingComputer

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iPhone 9 release date, price, news and leaks

The iPhone 9 looks set to launch in the near future, finally bringing the cheap iPhone that many have been waiting for since the iPhone SE was unveiled back in 2016.

However, where the previous budget model from Apple was designed for those that love a smaller phone, the new iPhone 9 looks set to be larger, aping the design first used on the iPhone 6.

While the cheaper iPhone 9 is likely to be popular in most countries, Apple will likely be bringing this out to also service more emerging nations, where cheaper phones sell well. These territories might have been able to buy the older iPhone 8, but offering a 'new' iPhone to them will have significant marketing power.

The new, lower-cost handset from Apple is supposed to be launching on March 31 but with the recent coronavirus outbreak that date might need to shift.

We're still waiting on more information regarding the iPhone 9, explaining what kind of features it might be bringing, but we've started to see the rumors start to appear with greater frequency, so it looks pretty likely we'll see the cheap iPhone launch in the next month or two (as long as Apple can actually make the phones).

iPhone 9 release date

Right, straight away we're into one of the more problematic elements of the iPhone 9 launch - when it will actually be.

The planets were starting to align around a March 31 launch event, where the iPhone 9 would be shown off alongside a possible new iPad Pro, new AirPods and, well, a rocket or something (we assume that Apple's got a lot of fingers in many pies).

However, with the recent outbreak of the coronavirus, smartphone production has slowed worldwide and the factories in China usually used to create the iPhone have been partly shuttered.

Tim Cook recently said that the factories had begun to return to full production, to offset investor worry that the new phone wouldn't be launched as quickly as first thought.

The iPhone SE at launch

That hasn't stopped Apple from needing to put out a press release confirming that revenue wouldn't be as high as previously thought, thanks to the outbreak, stating: "worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained".

So it's uncertain whether we'll see an Apple event at the end of March, but if the event is going ahead we expect to see the invitations going out by the middle of the month.

If the plans stay as expected, the launch on March 31 would see the iPhone 9 release date would be April 11 - but it depends whether enough handsets can be created to satisfy worldwide demand.

iPhone 9 price

Right - we've got something more of an idea about this one: the iPhone SE price began at a shade under $400 - well, $399 / £379 / AU$679.

Now, according to noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (get ready for hearing a lot of that name, as a lot of the current rumors are based on the researcher's notes - but they're usually rather accurate) the iPhone 9 price will be the same.

That means starting at $399 (probably £399, AU$600 given Apple pricing conventions), according to the findings for TF Securities - and reiterated again by Kuo later.

However, in 2016 the cost of high-end phones was about half as much as it is today - the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra launched for a maximum of $1400, so to see a smartphone being unveiled for just under $400 seems rather novel.

Whether that is the price remains to be seen - the design and spec list (which we'll dig into a little later) are a little better than the iPhone 8 - and that still retails for $449. 

iPhone 9... or the iPhone SE 2?

There's a lot of confusion currently reigning about the name of Apple's forthcoming budget phone.

Case-makers have gone early and tried to predict that it'll be called the iPhone SE 2 - and usually, they're pretty on the money. 

However, to go for the SE 2 title would be an odd move from Apple, given the last model came out four years ago, and was designed to be a smaller handset for those that missed the more holdable model.

Fast forward to the impending launch and we're expecting something much larger - it doesn't really feel like the same sort of special edition, does it?

If anything, the next version of the 'budget' iPhone feels more akin to the iPhone 5C, taking the same shape and innards as the 'main' handset by making it cheaper in a number of ways.

The iPhone 8

So that leads us back to the iPhone 9 - the iPhone 8 was last phone to put large bezels above and below the screen (along with the Touch ID button), so the iPhone 9 would be a continuation of that line, and reports have suggested that it will indeed be the case.

But then you run into the issue of the iPhone 9 sounding like a real downwards step from the iPhone 11, currently one of the world's best-selling phones. 

While it's understandable - the iPhone 9 will be much cheaper - subconsciously it sends out a message that this phone is 'lesser', which is why Apple as usually come up with something more random (such as SE, 5C or XR) to help disguise the fact.

So what will it be this year? Truthfully, we're currently stumped. If it follows the current nomenclature, we could see the iPhone 11 with a suffix - so the iPhone 11R, iPhone 11SE or some other random letter (Apple never explained what the 'C' stood for on the iPhone 5C).

For now, the iPhone 9 seems the best bet.

iPhone 9 design

As alluded to previously, the design of the iPhone 9 looks set to be almost identical to that of the iPhone 8, the iPhone 7, the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6. Why change a winning formula, hey?

Well, actually, Apple did precisely that when it moved to the 'all-screen' phones of the iPhone X and later - but it hasn't stopped manufacturing the iPhone 8.

That means it's got the machinery to quickly built to turn around the same shape as that model, but pack it with new innards to keep it more up to date and, crucially, allow for more updates to future versions of iOS (as iPhone 6 and 6S owners can now no longer get the newest software.

This detail comes from Kuo once more, and has since been seen in renders from note leaker @Onleaks, as you can see below.

In its guise as the iPhone SE 2, the new budget iPhone has been 'seen' in a number of forms over the last two years, from a hybrid of the original SE (with angular metal sides) and the iPhone 6-8 range (with a more rounded glass front). 

It seems that will no longer come to pass, with the same iPhone 8 design, with the single camera on the rear, back in play, combined with the same 4.7-inch LCD display too.

At least that means no notch, right?

iPhone 9 specs

OK, so we've been through the price, the iPhone 9 release date, the expected design... and one question remains: what's going to make this new phone that much different?

It's a good point to posit, as it's hard to see how this model is going to be cheaper than the iPhone 8 - but it looks like that's going to be the case.

From (once again) Kuo  - and also reported elsewhere - we're hearing the following spec list:

• 3GB RAM
• A13 chipset (the same as used in the current iPhone 11)
• 4.7-inch LCD screen
• Touch ID button
• Single camera (MP still unknown)
• 32-64GB storage starting option
• No headphone jack

Let's break down those specs a little and see if we can't find out where the costs savings might be coming.

The first is the RAM, which is 25% lower than the iPhone 11 - and that's low in modern times, which means some apps might not run as smoothly.

If there was only 32GB of onboard storage, that would suggest that the iPhone 9 was  true budget phone, and would only interest those not particularly bothered about having a high-power phone... the amount of apps and media you could save on there would be pretty stingy.

However, most rumors put the iPhone 9 as having 64GB of onboard storage, which would be more than enough for most, but doesn't explain where the cost savings are coming from.

The 4.7-inch LCD screen isn't going to be high-res, with the same 750x1334 resolution as seen on the iPhone 8 - which will be a cheaper component. It'll be more than decent, but won't have the sharpness as the iPhone 11 nor the color-dripping beauty of the iPhone 11 Pro's OLED screen.

There have been plenty of rumors tipping the iPhone 9 to have Face ID facial recognition on board, or a fingerprint sensor baked into the power button - but more rumors (and our educated guess) would say that the home button / fingerprint sensor combo will remain.

And, sadly, there's almost certainly no headphone jack on board the iPhone 9 - simply because Apple's too far down the road of saying it's not needed on a smartphone to go back now.

So let's say goodbye to that port if you're an iPhone fan, and get saving for some cheaper AirPods Pro Lite.

• The iPhone 12 will likely be all about speed

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The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez on Netflix will stay with me a long time - CNET

Commentary: This harrowing documentary is unsettling to watch, but will leave you with plenty to think about.

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Save $231 on Bowers & Wilkins PX wireless noise-canceling headphones - CNET

They're refurbished, but now's your chance to save 57% on headphones that rank among the best noise-canceling cans money can buy.

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Apple blocks Clearview AI facial recognition on iPhones after developer violation - CNET

It's a new challenge for the controversial facial recognition startup.

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Facebook Cancels F8 Developer Conference Over Global Coronavirus Scare

This move comes just days after the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a coronavirus case in Northern California, home to many tech giants.

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Spotify's Design Refresh For The iPhone App is All About New Icons And Simplifying The UX

Spotify is the most popular global audio streaming subscription service with as many as 271 million users, of which 124 million are paid subscribers. In India, Spotify subscription prices start at Rs 13. The streaming service is about to complete one year in India.

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13 Apple Watch bands to get on Amazon - CNET

From stainless steel to silicone, there's an Apple Watch band for every purpose.

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Google Doodle celebrates Alice in Wonderland illustrator John Tenniel's 200th birthday - CNET

The artist's grotesque illustrations still captivate generations of readers more than 150 years later.

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Big Bang Theory, Part 2? Scientists Have Discovered The Biggest Explosion in The Universe

The amount of energy required to create the cavity in Ophiuchus is about five times greater than the previous record holder, MS 0735+74, and hundreds and thousands of times greater than typical clusters, says the NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

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AEW Revolution: How to watch, start time, match card, B/R Live and Fite TV - CNET

Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley headlines the show.

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Galaxy Z Flip vs. Motorola Razr: How Samsung's foldable phone compares to the Moto - CNET

We compare the specs, and tell you what it's like to use each clamshell phone with a foldable screen.

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Senate passes bill banning government purchases of Huawei gear - CNET

Bill targets companies deemed to pose a threat to US national security.

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Sir John Tenniel, Illustrator Who Brought 'Alice in Wonderland' Characters to Life, Honoured by Google Doodle

Tenniel’s illustrations have animated the imaginations of children and adults alike for generations. His legacy continues to thrive, as readers cherish these timeless works of art to this day.

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Spotify Australia just launched a swathe of original and exclusive local podcasts

While Spotify currently dominates the globe on the music streaming front, the Swedish company has made it clear it wants to overtake Apple and conquer the realm of podcasts too, and its latest money move has arrived in the form of new Spotify Original and Exclusive podcasts for Australia.

This time last year, the streaming giant dropped US$200 million to help secure its podcasting future, acquiring the likes of Gimlet Media and claiming it would like to become “both the premier producer of podcasts and the leading platform for podcast creators”.

Podcasting is well and truly on the rise Down Under, with the number of weekly podcast listeners in the country increasing 50% over the last three years, bringing it up to 5.7 million active listeners (or 22% of the Australian population).

• Spotify's Daily Drive mixes music, news and podcasts in a personalised playlist

Australian launch

Two of the exclusive podcasts that have just landed for Australian listeners include season 2 of Extremes by Vice, as well as Generation Betoota from the team behind the satirical news website, The Betoota Advocate.

The second season of Vice’s Extremes will continue exploring the incredible stories of individuals who have survived against insane odds, while Generation Betoota will apply the special flavour of satire the Advocate is known for to a weekly youth-news podcast, “featuring stories young people care about, using the language they’re fluent in”.

Sound Up is a program Spotify first ran in 2018, which sought to raise the voices of First Nations Australians by offering applicants the opportunity to receive podcasting advice, equipment, and a grant that would enable their idea to reach market.

The streaming company has announced that Sound Up will be returning again in 2020 for Australia, and that one of the grant recipients of 2018’s program, Rowdie Walden, will be launching his podcast as a Spotify Original in May this year.

Walden’s project, Search Engine Sex, tackles some of the sex-related questions that are most commonly searched for online, providing advice, answers and practical information to potentially awkward situations.

• Google search just got smarter at finding podcast episodes

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Uber, Lyft, DoorDash's gig worker ballot initiative heads to voters in November - CNET

The initiative, which aims to exempt the companies from California's gig worker law, has gathered 1 million signatures.

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Best VPS hosting providers of 2020

Standard shared web hosting packages are cheap and user-friendly, but they're also slow, inflexible, and don't have the power or functionality that professional and business users often need.

If you need more than a basic host but can't afford a dedicated server or don't want to deal with the complexity of these beasts, VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting could be a smart choice.

Buying a VPS plan means that you get your very own virtual server environment. You have full control over the operating system, the extensions and apps you install, and all their settings. Each physical server will still host multiple VPS customers, but not as many as with shared hosting, and typically each VPS will be allocated a share of key resources – RAM, storage space, CPU cores – for their use alone.

This can be easier to manage than you might think. Many VPS plans include standard tools like cPanel to help monitor and configure your site. Some hosts will manage the service for you, monitoring for problems like a crashed service, and fixing them as soon as they're detected.

VPS prices and specs vary from a few dollars a month to hundreds, depending on your requirements. There's a lot of choice out there, but don't panic – our list of five best VPS providers will point you in the right direction.

• Our list of the best web hosting solutions is also worth a read

Founded in 2004, Hostinger has been providing a quality hosting service for some time now and their VPS hosting is no different.

You have plenty of choices here from the low-tier plan that has 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB of storage and 1000 GB bandwidth to high-tier plan where you get 8 CPU, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB of storage and 1000 GB bandwidth. 

Pricing is affordable too, especially if you commit to longer terms. The 1 CPU plan starts at $3.95 per month (if you choose the 4-year billing) and renews at $7.95 per month, while the 8 CPU plan starts at $29.95 per month (if you choose the 4-year billing) and renews at $65.56 per month.

All plans have IPv6 support, a dedicated IP, 100 Mb/s Network and a few more additions. Linux users also have plenty of choices. Apart from the usual CentOS, Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian, you can also choose Suse. Windows VPS hosting is available as well, with the plans being more pricier but also more powerful.

If you encounter any problems, there’s a 24/7 live chat service to help you. Hostinger delivers a capable VPS hosting with a very tempting first term price, and with all plans being fully refundable, everyone can try out the service.

Bluehost has been around for quite some time and always offered powerful plans for a variety of users, and their VPS range is no different. 

You have three plans to choose from, with the cheapest plan starting at $17.99 per month for the first term and $29.99 per month on renewal. That gets you 2 CPU cores (2x Xeon Gold 5220), 30GB SSD  storage, 2 GB RAM, 1 TB bandwidth and one IP address. The top-tier plan called Ultimate, gives you 4 CPU cores (2x Xeon Gold 5222), 120GB SSD storage, 8 GB RAM, 3 TB bandwidth and two IP addresses, and it’s priced at $59.99 per month for the first term and $119.99 per month on renewal.

All plans come with a free SSL certificate and a 1-year domain. You also get unlimited subdomains and email accounts, and cPanel is included too. Domain privacy and protection, and SiteLock are categorized as optional add-ons, so you’ll have to pay extra if you need them.

Support is available 24/7 so if you encounter any difficulties you’ll be able to call them at any time of the day. All in all, Bluehost is a capable provider for both newbies and experienced users so they are definitely worth a try.

• Bluehost VPS Hosting for US$19.99 per month

InMotion

is one of the more popular web hosting providers out there and it is no surprise that they're secured a spot here

Check out a few VPS hosting providers and it's easy to be tempted with low headline rates, but don't be fooled – companies use a range of tricks to keep their charges down.

The hardware specs of a starter product are often kept unrealistically low, for instance, to keep the price right down. Important items – backups, cPanel – may be expensive extras. And even then, the headline rate may only apply if you pay for two or three years upfront, increasing dramatically on renewal.

InMotion Hosting is refreshingly different. Its baseline VPS-1000HA-S plan doesn't have the most eye-catching price at $24.99 per month over two years, but it's easy to see why the company asks this much. The product has a better specification – 4GB RAM, 75GB storage, 4TB bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPs – than some high-end plans from other providers, backups and a cPanel licence are included for free, and there's a 90-day money-back guarantee.

There's an unusual feature in what InMotion calls "unlocked CPU cores". Rather than having access to one or two cores only, you're able to spread your processing load across all cores on the server, a major performance boost for tasks involving a lot of simultaneous processing.

Welcome bonus touches include a feature called Launch Assist, which essentially means you get two hours of free time with one of InMotion's server administrators. Whether you need to change domain settings, configure cPanel, migrate WordPress or database files, they can help you get the job done.

Put it all together and you're getting a very capable set of VPS hosting plans. If you'd prefer a package that comes with unexpected surprises, rather than hidden catches, we'd give InMotion a try.

Some VPS hosts focus on first-time users, others go for big business, but Hostwinds does its best to appeal to everyone with no less than 10 different VPS hosting plans.

The low-end Tier One plan looks a little underpowered to us, with just 1GB RAM, one CPU core, 30GB of disk space and 1TB traffic. But it's cheap at $4.49 per month, and you can extend it significantly without spending a huge amount (adding basic server monitoring and cloud backups costs an extra $6 a month for both).

The more realistic Tier Four includes 6GB RAM, 100GB drive space, two CPU cores and 2TB of traffic. It's also significantly more expensive at $26.09 a month, but still competitive with other providers.

Meanwhile the top-of-the-range Tier Ten product gets you 96GB RAM, 16 CPU cores, 750GB storage and 9TB of traffic for an initial $296.09 a month. You probably don't need anything like that, but this does show there's plenty of scope for upgrading your site over time.

Every plan has some appealing configuration options. In particular, along with support for the usual Linux variants – CentOS, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian – you can choose Windows Server 2008, 2012 or 2016 for only a $5 a month premium. That's very good value, and if you're more familiar with Windows than Linux, it could save you from lots of management hassles later on.

Liquid Web is a premium web hosting provider which has been offering top quality managed solutions for more than 20 years, and now handles 500,000 sites for more than 32,000 customers worldwide.

The company doesn't try to beat the competition on price, instead focusing on delivering comprehensive products which will deliver quality results.

The cheapest Liquid Web plan may cost $59 a month (you can reduce that to $29 a month by going annual), for instance, but that gets you 2GB RAM, 40GB storage and a very generous 10TB of bandwidth.

There are lots of configuration options. Instead of just telling you that you're getting CentOS 7, Liquid Web allows you to select CentOS 6, Debian 8, Ubuntu 14.04 or 16.04, and often with multiple options of their own: cPanel, Plesk, CloudLinux and more.

This is a managed product, too. Liquid Web fully supports the base operating system, and the support team will proactively restore failed services as soon as they're detected. Getting a managed VPS with other providers could cost you an extra $30 a month, or more.

If your VPS still has issues, there's speedy 24x7x365 support from knowledgeable professionals who will do their best to solve your problems at speed.

Liquid Web may not have the most appealing headline prices, but it's still cheaper than many others considering the features you get, and the excellent support will help keep your site running smoothly down the line.

• We consider the merits of shared hosting vs VPS hosting here 

You might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides:

• WordPress
• Cloud hosting
• E-commerce
• Dedicated server
• Small business
• Windows
• Managed
• Green
• Business
• Colocation
• Email hosting
• Resellers
• Shared
• Cheap
• Website builders
• Best website hosting

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Best universal remotes of 2020 - CNET

From Harmony to Caavo to, well, other Harmonys, here's our favorite clickers, hubs and screens for controlling a cabinet-full of gear.

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FCC now collecting data on Huawei use in US networks - CNET

The info will help the US Federal Communications Commission reimburse smaller carriers for ripping out and replacing Huawei and ZTE equipment.

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Peloton, Daily Burn and more: Best workout subscription apps - CNET

You can take (almost) every fitness class you could ever want right from your living room.

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Facebook sues analytics firm for allegedly harvesting user data - CNET

The lawsuit is part of a broader campaign to combat abuse of the platform, Facebook says.

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See Marvel head Kevin Feige play a Thanos-like villain on The Simpsons - CNET

Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo also show up to try to stop Bart from spoiling their movie.

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Smartphone market expected to decline this year amid coronavirus outbreak, IDC says - CNET

The global phone market will decline 2.3% in 2020, with just over 1.3 billion shipments, the firm estimates.

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Biggest cosmic explosion since the Big Bang spotted in distant galaxy - CNET

No, it's not Betelgeuse. Sorry.

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The Volkswagen Golf GTI keeps things fresh and familiar - Roadshow

The latest hot hatch will be no stranger to the GTI faithful.

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Hyundai A-League 2020: live stream every match online in Australia

The Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season is heating up and current champions Sydney FC seem unstoppable with a 13-point lead as the team dominates the top of the ladder.

Last year’s premier Perth Glory is also in finals form as the team from WA chases down the number one spot – but to lift the Premier's Plate again, they’ll need to muscle out Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix who are hot on their heels.

Brisbane Roar is also making a name for itself as the underdogs in the league, once again managing to hold off Perth Glory with a 1-1 draw in their round 20 match up – a repeat of the opening round performance.

With nine rounds remaining and A-League rivals soon set to face off, it’s not too late to catch all the action before grand final weekend on May 16-17.

There’s a few ways to watch the Hyundai A-League this season – the ABC has become the official free-to-air partner of the competition, and will air 29 live matches in the Saturday 5pm AEDT time slot, as well as delayed broadcasts of the final match-ups.

If you don’t want to miss a single kick though, you’ll have the choice between Australia’s top pay TV services – Foxtel and Kayo Sports. There is a third option – Telstra’s My Football Live app – which is data free but exclusive only to Telstra customers.

How to watch the Hyundai A-League 2020 season live online

Fox Sports is part of Foxtel’s sports package, which comes as an optional add-on at extra cost to a standard Foxtel subscription.

For those who have no need for Foxtel’s additional channels and just want to get their sports fix, Kayo is a more affordable alternative. The streaming service boasts over 50 sports live and on demand, and has almost everything there is from Foxtel’s sports pack, including all the A-League match-ups.

For AU$25 a month, you can get a basic Kayo package – that’ll get you access to two screens at once. There’s a 14-day free trial on offer and you’re able to cancel anytime, with no lock-in contracts to keep you bound to the service.

The biggest advantage of Kayo is that it’s the most feature-packed sports streaming service there is. There’s plenty of viewing options, such as SplitView, which lets you watch up to four streams at the same time on selected devices. The No Spoilers setting will keep the scores and results you care about hidden until you’re ready to watch, and Kayo Minis give you quick highlights of the games you’ve missed.

• Super Rugby 2020: live stream every match online in Australia

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Best email hosting providers of 2020

Email hosting is much like web hosting services. Getting hold of an email account is easy – sign up with an ISP, register with Google, buy a web hosting account – but free and standard packages won't always deliver the quality that professional users need.

Email hosting plans are an easy way to get a more efficient and reliable service. Exactly what's included depends on the provider, but you might get support for larger attachments (up to 50MB), 50GB or more storage space for your inbox, online storage for easy file sharing, bundled apps like Microsoft Office online, Exchange and Active Directory support for business users – not to mention 24/7 support if anything goes wrong.

Your email will work with a custom domain (address@yoursite.com), and it's typically straightforward to set up. You can use an email hosting plan to effectively replace your web host's service, or you can try one without having any hosting at all.

With quality services priced under $1 per month per user, and free trials available, it's easy for anyone to check out the email hosting market. Whether you're after an individual account or would like to cover your entire business, read on for five great providers that you might want to check out first.

The best email hosting at a glance

1. Bluehost email hosting
2. Rackspace email hosting
3. Fasthosts email hosting
4. Office 365
5. Zoho Mail

If you are a small business with a small headcount and don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on email accounts, then consider this. From EIG-owned Bluehost comes an exclusive business email package for TechRadar readers where you get unlimited email accounts and email storage for as little as $2.75 when paying for three years; that’s a mere $99 for the duration of the term. Is it truly unlimited though?

Bluehost says that they do not enforce any official limitations. Furthermore, they add “while email account creation is unlimited, these rely on the file storage available on the account. Therefore customers need to be operating within the Terms of Service to ensure resources are available to fully enable email functionality. Customers operating within the Terms of Service have yet to come up against technical boundaries for email, domains, or websites”.

What’s the catch then? For a start, while you get POP3 and IMAP4 plus 24/7 support, this is more of a barebone solution. You get to choose between three webmail applications (the equivalent of Outlook.com or Gmail.com); Horde, Roundcube or Squirrelmail.

You can of course configure an email client like Mail for Windows 10 or Mozilla Thunderbird to read your emails offline. Creating a new email address is a doddle thanks to an easy user interface.

• Bluehost “Best for Business” Email Hosting, $2.95 per month, unlimited inboxes

Texas-based cloud computing giant Rackspace has a wealth of hosted business-oriented email products for all levels of users.

Even the bottom-of-the-range Basic plan is well-specified, with 25GB mailboxes, spam and virus filters, and it’s accessible via Outlook, webmail, or by mobile users. Mailboxes are priced at $2.99 each per month with a minimum of four required per order, but there are no long-term contracts, just monthly bills which you can cancel whenever you like.

The next-step-up Plus account brings 30GB of cloud storage, ActiveSync support, Office-compatible apps and instant messaging for $3.99 a month, which is also better value than most.

An extended Plus account adds unlimited storage space via archiving. That might be handy if you think a 25GB inbox is too small, but we're unsure if it's really worth the $6.99 price tag.

More demanding users can check out Rackspace's Hosted Exchange 2016 plans. Specs include 100GB inboxes and support for 50MB attachments, and the starting price is $10.99 per mailbox per month.

There are cheaper services around, but quality matters, too, and Rackspace does better than most. All plans include a 100% uptime guarantee, and top-quality 24x7x365 support via chat, ticket or phone to quickly solve any issues that might crop up.

• Rackspace Email for US$2 per month

Email hosting can seem expensive, and that's largely because the big companies are forever competing to offer the largest amounts of inbox and file storage space. That's great if you need it, but not so much for light email users looking for a bargain.

Fasthosts Standard Email plan is a stripped-back email hosting plan which offers the bare essentials for a very low price.

Signing up gets you five Mail Lite accounts with a tiny 100MB inbox and a maximum of 10MB attachments, and two Mail Extra accounts with 4GB inboxes and support for attachments of up to 15MB. Both products give you webmail access only. That's limited, but look at the price: just $2.60 (£1.99) a month on the annual plan (at the time of writing, you can get 50% off). If your users genuinely don't need the gigabytes available elsewhere, Fasthosts more basic package could make a lot of sense.

Fasthosts also offers a more capable Exchange Email product with a 50GB inbox, access via Outlook's web app, and even a free domain for the first year. It's priced at $5.8 (£4.49) per month for 5 or more users with the annual contract. You can also choose a 100GB inbox for $13 (£9.99). As before, Fasthosts is focusing on price more than power, but if you only need a basic Exchange account, there's plenty of value here.

• Fasthosts Web Hosting for £2.50 per month

Microsoft Office 365 isn't just a powerful suite of productivity apps. It also throws in a very capable email package, and for less money than some providers charge for email alone, which could make the service worth a place on your shortlist.

Microsoft Office 365 Business Essentials offers support for 150MB attachments, for instance, three times the size allowed with even some premium competitors. 50GB of storage per user (and a custom email domain address) means you'll be able to keep your messages for a very long time, and there's 1TB of online storage available in your OneDrive account.

Access to Office Online enables working with Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint documents from within your browser, and there's a whole range of business-friendly extras: calendars, online conferencing, intelligent search, workflow automation and more.

If you don't have Office 365 already, the Business Essentials price of $5 a month (for annual billing) looks like good value to us. If you're solely interested in business class email, though, Microsoft's Exchange Online Plan 1 provides Exchange accounts for $4 per user per month on the annual plan.

• You can sign up to Office 365 here.

Zoho Mail is a hosted email service with a bundled online office suite, and a stack of other extras. Several of the newest features Zoho Mail introduced, are: Offline Mode, undo mail, recall mail, huge attachments (up to 250MB) and a few others.

A free plan gives you 25 mailboxes with up to 5GB per user, a 20MB attachment limit and webmail access. A referral scheme could get you support for a further 25 mailboxes (at the time of writing the referral program wasn't available due to remodeling).

If that's too basic, the Standard plan gets you IMAP and POP support, 30MB attachments and 30GB of storage, 5GB file storage space, and support for working with multiple domains. That's more capable than some of the premium competition, and includes the same productivity tools as the free suite, yet still only costs $3 per user per month, billed annually.

Zoho's Professional plan gets you 100GB of storage (per user), 40MB attachments, support for Active Directory groups, and more. It's yours for $6 per user per month (billed annually), not bad at all for the storage space and features you're getting. Also, Lite plan is available with less features, but it's only $1 per user per month, billed annually.

• You can sign up for Zoho Mail here.

10 things to look for in your next email hosting

If you want to host email accounts together with your website, then you should look at these email features before signup.

Most hosting companies will offer the ability to host your own email (something like email@yourdomain. com). Your package will include a number of email accounts – usually between 1-10 for basic hosting.

You’ll be given access to your own email control panel to set up your accounts. Using email requires two things: an email server and an email application, this could be an email client such as Outlook, or alternatively access to Webmail like Gmail or Yahoo.

The email server is a piece of software that runs on the server and is constantly connected to the internet. It receives and processes any mail sent to it and sends out any mail you send.

The email client is an app that runs on your PC, phone or tablet and enables you to send, receive and organise your emails, e.g. Microsoft Outlook. The client checks the mail server for messages and downloads them for viewing. It is a control panel for reading and writing messages.

The good news is that most email clients can connect with most email servers, you can even connect multiple email servers to work with multiple email accounts.

So your work and personal emails can be accessed from the same email client. The more popular email clients such as Outlook give you more features (calendars, tasks etc.) than using webmail.

Webmail is a web-based email interface that can be accessed in a web browser is often faster and more convenient because it accesses the stored data more directly without the user having to download software locally.

Emails can be checked from any device with access to the internet. Email protocols are a set of rules that help the client to send the information to or from the mail server. Two of the most common email protocols are POP and IMAP:

1. POP (Post office protocol) Applications like Outlook will use POP to download emails from the server to your computer and then delete them on the server.

2. IMAP (Internet message access protocol) IMAP is more advanced than POP, with IMAP, emails are stored in the mail server and can be accessed from any clients anywhere if they all use IMAP. 

Mail data is kept on the server as well as your computer, until you delete the mail. When comparing hosting packages, be sure to choose one with full IMAP support.

Exchange Exchange is the gold standard email protocol – the most expensive option of the three, but for good reason. It’s a Microsoft protocol that gives you the power to sync tasks like IMAP does, but with the added ability to share contacts and calendars among employees.

If you can afford to pay the extra cost (around $9.99 per month per mailbox), you will reap the benefits of its advanced functionality and tools which can be used even when you are on the move. 

You might also want to check out our other website hosting buying guides:

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Feb clearout: Dell ends the month with a bang by discounting laptops by up to 30%

The end of summer signifies back to school for many uni-goers – a time when many laptop makers offer deep discounts on their devices.

Dell in particular has stepped up and decided to end the month with a bang by offering a number of discounts across its range of laptops – you can score up to 30% off on gaming laptops, 2-in-1s and powerful clamshells. 

To make your purchasing decision easier, we have sifted through and picked our top 5 favourite laptop deals. Don’t dawdle though, these offers end February 29, 2020: 

• Looking for tech deals other than laptops? We round up the best discounts on the hottest tech in our regularly updated best tech deals page.

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Pep Guardiola’s Email Hacked by IT Worker Who Claims to Know Manchester City Transfer Plans

The hacker then also tried to sell the bounty, which includes contacts and confidential emails, for £100,000. He says Manchester City have, or at least had, transfer plans for Matthijs de Ligt and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

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This is the world's cheapest 3D printer, just make sure you're good at DIY

The ability to print three dimensional objects has caught the imagination of millions. Now, a little-known Chinese company is selling what is possibly the cheapest 3D printer on the market.

The Tronxy X1 is a fine entry level model, but like many of its competitors does not come pre-assembled. This means you'll have to put it together it yourself using a video guide (which is at least better than a paper manual). 

The machine usually retails for $108.99, but use the code V3C5D1885661D000 at checkout with Gearbest to bring the price down to $99.99 / £81.06 / AU$158.61.

• These are the best home printers
• Why not read our list of best Mac printers
• Checkout the list of best printers of 2020

The Tronxy X1 has a maximum printing volume of 150 x 150 x 150mm - great for an introduction to 3D printing - and uses widely available (and therefore cheap) PLA filaments. A 0.4mm nozzle is provided by default, but finer models all the way down to 0.1mm are also available.

You can either print directly via a computer or use an SD card to load your designs. Just bear in mind 3D printing involves a steep learning curve and every printer - unlike their inkjet counterparts - has its own quirks.

The price includes free shipping, although you won’t be able to use other voucher codes to further reduce the cost. While Gearbest ships globally, you may have to pay additional tax depending on your location.

Check out our full review here.

• Here's our choice of the best small business printers for 2020

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Toyota had the most autonomous vehicle disengagements, 27,000% more than Baidu Apollo - Roadshow

California's annual disengagement report is a peek into the state of self-driving car engineering, and we're going to dive into it.

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Our favorite baby food delivery subscription services in 2020 - CNET

These seven convenient options will make babies (and parents) smile.

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The Earth Has a Second Moon, And No One Noticed All This While

The researchers say the new and perhaps temporary minimoon is probably between 1.9 meters and 3.5 metres across, which is around the same size as a mid-size car. Incidentally, this isn’t the first-time earth has had an additional moon, albeit temporarily.

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Camera rumors 2020: the biggest and best camera rumors around

Last year was something of a vintage year for new cameras, so could 2020 possibly match it? The latest camera rumors suggest there's a good chance it will, with a range of new models expected from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic and Olympus.

If anything, the latest camera rumors suggest that 2020 is going to be an even more exciting year for photographers, because the mirrorless competition has never been fiercer. Now that Canon, Nikon and Panasonic have fully entered the mirrorless fray, we'll start to see them build on their early offerings – which means more choice for everyone, from enthusiasts to pros.

Not that the DSLR is going anywhere, for now – new models like the Nikon D780 and Canon 1DX Mark III show that there's an appetite for producing 'hybrid' models that add a mirrorless icing to the traditional DSLR cake.

So what are the biggest and best camera rumors we've seen so far this year? We've combined everything we know about traditional refresh rates for certain lines with some of the latest leaks to give you this regularly updated round-up of the latest rumors for each manufacturer. 

• Here are the best mirrorless cameras right now
• Mirrorless vs DSLR cameras: 10 key differences
• 10 things to look out for on your next mirrorless camera

Camera rumors 2020

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Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark III

Canon has successfully revived the DSLR with the launch of three new models since 2019, but what about the compact PowerShot line? Is Canon still serious about those?

Predicted specs: 1-inch 20.1MP CMOS sensor | Digic 8 processor | 4x optical zoom | 4K/30p video

Rumors have begun circulating that Canon is working on a refreshed version of the affordable G9 X line. The third iteration is supposedly launching "relatively soon", as Canon Rumors reports, but details are currently scant.

However, a few expected specs include the latest Digic 8 processor – and why not, when it's performing so well in the likes of the EOS 90D and the EOS M6 Mark II. While it's been rumored that the sensor resolution will remain the same as in the current three-year-old G9 X Mark II, the refreshed version will apparently get a bigger zoom. Currently, the Mark II uses a 28-84mm f/2-4.9 lens which offers 3x optical zoom, and it would be great if the next iteration came with a wider angle like the G7 X Mark II's 24-100mm lens.

We think that at this point it would be safe to assume Canon will upgrade the video specs to 4K shooting at up to 30fps, but whether these upgrades would hike the price of the rumored camera is anyone's guess.

Canon EOS R6

Now Canon has officially made a development announcement for the EOS R5, will we soon see a more enthusiast-friendly sibling called the EOS R6?

Predicted specs: 20MP full-frame sensor | RF Lens mount | 4K/60p video | 20fps burst speed | Dual Pixel CMOS AF | IBIS

Now that the Canon EOS R5 is official, it's time to turn our attention to the other full-frame model that's supposedly in Canon's pipeline – the EOS R6.

Where this second model will fit in Canon’s mirrorless line-up isn't yet known, but the latest ‘leak’ gives a clearer indication that the R6 should be positioned as a more affordable, entry-level option. If true, this is further evidence that Canon will use its more established model numbering system for the R line – think R1, R5, R6, R7 – meaning we might not see Mark II models of the EOS R or RP.

Speculating on specs, Canon Rumors is confident that the R6 will ship in June – ahead of the R5 – equipped with a 20MP full-frame sensor, along with in-body image stabilization to match that of its superior sibling.

Similarly, the R6 will apparently offer the same 20fps continuous shooting speeds as the R5 using its electronic shutter (with 12fps possible with the mechanical shutter) – but video will be limited to 4K/60p, rather than the headline 8K offered by the flagship.

Beyond that, information about the R6 remains sparse. Canon Rumors believes there might be a new battery, which could be shared with the R5. It also seems likely that the R6 would use Canon’s new Digic X processor, but we won’t know anything for certain until the rumored May launch date rolls around.

Canon EOS R Mark II

There could well be two new Canon EOS R cameras in 2020. Will we see an updated version of the original camera, aimed at enthusiasts and pros?

Predicted specs: 32MP full-frame sensor | RF Lens mount | Uncropped 4K video with Dual Pixel AF | CFExpress slot and SD slot | IBIS

According to the latest whispers from Canon Rumors, there will be two new EOS R bodies coming in 2020 – with the other new model being an upgrade to the more enthusiast-friendly EOS R, possibly called the Canon EOS R Mark II.

There haven't been any leaks of the EOS R Mark II yet, but the rumors so far suggest it'll have both in-body image stabilization (IBIS) and offer uncropped 4K video with Dual Pixel AF.

That's not the end of the rumored specs either, with Canon Rumors suggesting it'll include 12fps burst shooting (most likely without AF/AE locking) and the combination of a 32MP sensor with Canon's new Digic X processor.

Lastly, it could apparently also include a new CFExpress card slot, which will sit alongside a standard SD card slot. This would all make it much more pro-friendly compared to the original EOS R and EOS RP. We'll update this page as soon as we hear any more rumors or official news, because this could be a big one in the great full-frame mirrorless battle of 2020.

Canon EOS M50 Mark II

The EOS M50 is perhaps one of the most underestimated Canon mirrorless cameras. But will it get a refresh?

Predicted specs: 32.5MP APS-C sensor | Digic 8 image processor | 14fps burst speed | uncropped 4K video to 30p | Dual Pixel CMOS AF

The EOS M6 Mark II laid down the benchmark for Canon's future APS-C mirrorless cameras, with it's superb 32.5MP sensor, it's fast 14fps burst speed and uncropped 4K video capabilities thanks to the Digic 8 processor under the hood. 

With that compact snapper now well-established on shelves, the rumor mill has begun speculating on a refresh for the EOS M50. While we're not expecting it any time soon, it's already been rumored to be a camera to bridge the gap between the current model and the M6 Mark II. 

Canon Rumors reckons that the M50 Mark II will inherit the same sensor and image processor from the new M6 Mark II while retaining the same EVF and vari-angle LCD display of the current M50.

It should also be able to handle video better than the current model if there's any truth to the upgraded specs. Where the M50 can shoot 4K with a 1.6x crop at 24/25p, there's speculation that the Mark II might be able to capture uncropped 4K footage at a more respectable 30fps, with Full HD (1080p) shooting at 120fps.

However, we'll likely be waiting till the second half of 2020 to see if the M50 Mark II becomes official or not, but until then the current EOS M50 is definitely one of the best mirrorless cameras you can get today.

Canon EOS M5 II

Canon EOS M5

With the EOS M6 Mark II now with us, is there any call for a model with an integrated viewfinder to replace the EOS M5?

Predicted specs: New 24MP APS-C sensor | 4K video recording | DIGIC 8 image processors | 30fps Raw Burst shooting

While Canon's been focusing its attention on its new EOS R full-frame mirrorless camera, it doesn't seem the company's EOS M range is going anywhere.

A replacement for the EOS M6, the EOS M6 II, joined the EOS M stable quite recently. But does that means an EOS M5 II update to the EOS M5 won't see the light of day? After all, the EOS M5 was essentially an M6 with a built-in viewfinder – but a viewfinder is available for the EOS M6 II, so is there any need for another alternative?

If it does arrive, we expect its spec sheet to mirror that of the EOS M6 II in many areas. We expect an updated 32MP sensor that support 4K video recording, and we also expect this will record without a crop like the EOS M6 II manages.

One thing we really want to see is some new native glass to make the APS-C mirrorless system as a whole more appealing. This is one area Canon is lagging behind the likes of Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus and Sony.

Canon EOS 5D X

Could Canon launch a rival to Nikon's D850 and Sony's Alpha A7R IV?

Predicted specs: Full-frame 50MP sensor | 8fps burst shooting | Improved 4K video capture

When it was launched back in 2016, Canon's EOS 5D Mark IV was our favourite DSLR. A well-rounded camera, it was (and still is) an incredibly versatile photographic tool. However, 2017 saw Nikon release the mighty 45.4MP D850, before the 45.7MP Z7 last year, while Sony launched the 61MP Alpha A7R IV earlier this year. 

All of these cameras offer more pixels while matching or bettering the performance of the EOS 5D Mark IV. So, unless you're a die-hard Canon user and heavily invested in the system, the EOS 5D Mark IV is hard to recommend over the other two. 

Then consider that the 50MP Canon EOS 5DS was launched in 2015 and we reckon Canon might consolidate its two lines into a single, multi-purpose DSLR that offers a high pixel count and high performance to rival the D850 and Alpha A7R IV.

We're speculating here, but this new DSLR could potentially be called the EOS 5D X and feature a new and improved 50MP full-frame sensor that was used in the EOS 5DS, now with a much broader and improved ISO range, while burst shooting could hit 8fps. 

We reckon video might also get a hike in performance - the 1.64x crop when shooting 4K on the EOS 5D Mark IV is a bit of a turn off to many videographers. To aid shooting both stills and video, maybe we might also see the inclusion of a vari-angle touchscreen display.

Canon EOS 7D Mark III

The EOS 7D Mark II was an excellent DSLR, but does the arrival of the EOS 90D scupper the chances of a third-generation EOS 7D Mark III model?

Predicted specs: 32.5MP sensor | Dual DIGIC 8 image processors | 11fps+ burst shooting

Announced back in 2014, the EOS 7D Mark II is one of the oldest, if not the oldest DSLR in the EOS line-up. Will we see an EOS 7D Mark III before the year is up?

With the EOS 90D unveiled just recently, it seems even less certain. But if it does arrive, it will likely get the same 32.5MP sensor. It should also inherit the DIGIC 8 image processor, which means it should at least match the 10/11fps burst shooting mode of the EOS 90D.

The Canon EOS 7D Mark III should also see the inclusion of touchscreen functionality on the rear vari-angle display to real take advantage of Canon's Dual Pixel CMOS AF system for Live View. 

What about video? 4K recording to 30p is now becoming a standard part of many Canon cameras, so we will no doubt see this here too, although quite to what standard we don't know. Of course, it's possible that Canon will focus elsewhere and will kill off the EOS 7D line, as has been reported.

• Best camera
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• Best mirrorless camera
• Best full-frame camera
• Best compact camera
• What camera should I buy?
• Mirrorless vs DSLR: 10 key differences

Nikon Z8 / Z9

We think we could see at flagship Z9 full-frame mirrorless camera in 2020?

Predicted specs: 61MP sensor | Z mount | 6K video recording | 5.76 million-dot viewfinder | Twin card slots

The Nikon Z7 is one of our favourite cameras right now, for many reasons. Yet, much like Canon's EOS R, it's perhaps not quite the flagship full-frame mirrorless camera many were expecting. 

If we look at Sony's A7R IV and A9 models, for example, and Panasonic's video-centric S1H, we can see it's not quite at the top of the tree for pixel count, video specs or burst shooting. And rumors of a more pro-end Z series model, possibly called the Z9 or Z8, have been steadily building as soon as the initial excitement of the Z6 and Z7 had died down a little.

But will it be a sports-focused camera with a more modest sensor resolution or a megapixel beast? Our money is on the latter for two reasons. First, releasing a camera with an autofocus system that's on a par with Sony's Real Time Tracking technology – ie, a camera totally at home shooting action – is going to take some work. Sony is, after all, on its fourth generation of mirrorless camera, while Nikon's Z system has only just celebrated its first birthday.  

Some may suspect Nikon will have a suitable sports-focused mirrorless camera in time for the 2020 Olympic Games, but it's unlikely to have a native lens selection to match before then. Particularly because Nikon has confirmed it's working on a DSLR update to the D5.

Second, with the arrival of the A7R IV, we know a modern 61MP full-frame sensor exists. It's quite possible that such a model would use a variation of this sensor, given that we know Sony supplies sensors to countless other manufacturers for their own products.

We reckon a high-resolution Z9 camera would arrive with stronger video specs than the Z6 and Z7, potentially even matching the Panasonic S1H in being capable of shooting 6K footage, although this would also require beefier processing power and better heat dissipation among other things. We'd also love to see the same kind of 5.76 million-dot electronic viewfinder as we have inside the likes of the Panasonic S1 and S1R, as this is a noticeable step up on the (still very good) 3.69 million-dot finders Nikon fitted its Z6 and Z7.  

New Nikon Z-series lenses

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, 24mm f/1.8 and 20mm f/1.8 mock-up lenses.

Lots of new lenses for the Z-series cameras are due this year

What we know: At least three new lenses are due in 2020.

Nikon's new Z series camera system is now firmly established, with the Nikon Z6 riding high at the number one position in our best cameras list. The challenge now is to flesh that system out with exciting native lenses – and that's its plan for 2020.

Nikon has already released lenses that cover the most popular focal lengths, including the Z 24–70mm f/2.8 S, Z 85mm f/1.8 S, Z 50mm F1.8 S and Z 50mm f/1.8 S.

Next on the list for 2020 are four new lenses, starting with the Z 70-200mm f/2.8 S, which will be available from March. Perhaps even more exciting than that are the two incoming primes, the Nikon Z 20mm f/1.8 S and Z 50mm f/1.2 S, which will be great for street snappers who mainly shoot in light.

The final new lens for 2020 will be a pro wide-angle zoom in the form of the Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S. And there's a lot more planned for 2021 too, with another nine lenses including everything fro a 28mm compact prime to a 200-600mm full-frame super-telephoto zoom.

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• What camera should I buy?
• Mirrorless vs DSLR: 10 key differences

Sony A7 IV

The Sony A7 III remains one of the finest full-frame mirrorless cameras around, but will it soon be getting a successor?

Predicted specs: 24MP sensor | 5.76-million dot EVF | 5-axis stabilization | Real-time Eye AF | 6K video

The latest whispers from Sony Rumors suggest that the Sony will be announcing a new E-mount camera at the CP+ show. which starts on 27 February, and that this camera will be the Sony A7 IV. While these are just rumors, the timing would certainly make sense – the A7 III was announced at CP+ two years ago in 2018.

So what can we expect from the successor to the A7 III, which remains one of the best cameras you can buy? There have been no big, reliable leaks yet, but the latest speculation suggests the A7 IV will have the same design, EVF and autofocus system as the Sony A7R IV. Considering the viewfinder is one of the main aspects of the A7 III that we'd like to see upgraded, this is potentially very good news.

Some slightly more wild speculation (from Thailand, strangely), is that the A7 IV will have a fully articulating touchscreen. Sony's previous reasoning for not including one in the A7 series is the extra bulk it'd add to the body, but it's a possibility if Sony is indeed boosting the camera's size.

Aside from these specs, little is known about the A7 IV – we'll update this page as soon as we hear any more news.

Sony Alpha A7S III

Rumors of an A7S III, and update to Sony's video-focused full-frame mirrorless A7S II camera, continue to grow.

Predicted specs: 20MP+ sensor allowing for 6K video | Joystick AF control | Z-series battery

Is there a camera more anticipated than the Sony A7S III? The Alpha A7S II broke new ground at the time of its release, appealing to videographers who required excellent 4K footage and high-level control, together with low-light shooters who appreciated the more modest pixel count, low noise and wide dynamic range not offered by other mirrorless cameras at the time.

Since its release, Sony has given us all manner of other mirrorless Alpha models, from the enthusiast-focused A6400 through to the hugely popular (and rightly so) Alpha A7 III and the most recent 61MP Alpha A7R IV. The latter marks the start of the fourth generation of A7 models – so how come we're still on the Mark II here?

There's clearly massive demand for one, and we can predict many specs and features from those in models released since the A7S II. We don't see any call for a sensor resolution beyond 12MP, although if the camera breaks into 6K video recording – as Panasonic's S1H does – it will need 20MP at the very least.

Even if the model is capped at 4K video recording, we do expect a new sensor that performs to a higher standard than before, given the company's expertise in sensor design and build.

Handling refinements will no doubt include a dedicated AF joystick, AF-On button and touchscreen interface, all missing from the A7S II but introduced in subsequent models. The model is also highly likely to get a Z-series battery with much higher battery life than the NP-FW50 found inside the A7S II.

The biggest improvements should be seen in video performance. With Panasonic's Lumix GH5S, S1H and S1 models offering a wealth of advanced video features, we'd be disappointed if Sony didn't match or better these. The Alpha A7S II can record 4K 4:2:0 8-bit video, but could we see this increase to 4:2:2 10-bit like the GH5S? Could we see 4K capture at 60/50p possible as well? It would be surprising if not.

• Read more: Sony Alpha A7S III – everything we know so far

Sony Alpha A7000

With the A6600 now with us, what might a more senior A7000 bring to the mirrorless party?

Predicted specs: 24MP APS-C sensor | Improved AF | Design similar to the Alpha A9

The Sony A6000 was a phenomenally successful model for Sony, and the A6000 line has been padded out since then with the more senior A6300, A6400 and A6500 models. More recently, we witnessed the A6100 and A6600 arrive to add lower-tier and upper-tier options to these, but some still suspect a model that sits between the A6600 and full-frame A7 series is being readied.

This could be a 'baby' Alpha A9, borrowing many of the features of the flagship camera that would then be distilled into a camera based around an APS-C sensor. This is something that Nikon has done with its D5 and D500 DSLR models.

Rumors suggest that it matches and in some aspects exceeds the performance of the Fujifilm X-T3, with better AF and in-body image stabilization, while it will match the 20fps burst shooting speed of the Alpha A9.

As for the sensor, Sony's just updated the database of sensors it manufactures, which includes a back-illuminated (BSI) 26MP APS-C sensor, which would be a good fit for the new camera. There's also talk of the Alpha A7000 using a 32MP APS-C sensor as well. 

Sony has made great changes to its autofocusing systems in recent generations of camera too, and while the 425-point phase-detect AF system inside the A6500 is still a cracking performer, the eventual update will likely bring speed improvements and additional AF points to form a denser array, with better tracking capabilities.

Design-wise, it's likely the new camera will feature a similar DSLR inspired look to Sony's full-frame cameras, with a raised and centralised electronic viewfinder.

• Read more: Sony Alpha A7000: everything we know so far

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• Mirrorless vs DSLR: 10 key differences

Fujifilm X-H2

With four new cameras already under its belt, including one new instant camera, Fujifilm seems like it may have done what it can for the rest of the year. But will it rest and not refresh the X-H  line?

Predicted specs: 26.1MP back-illuminated X-Trans CMOS sensor | 5.76-million dot EVF | In-body image stabilization (IBIS) | 6K/60p video 

Fujifilm has kept busy – with a few cameras launched in 2019, the Japanese camera maker followed it up with the X100V, X-T200 and the highly anticipated X-T4 in 2020. In fact, it even refreshed its popular Instax Mini instant camera range.

However, many speculated that with the launch of the X-T4 – which boasts 5-axis image stabilization – the X-H line would be forgotten – after all, it had a very lackluster reception when it was launched. Rumors suggest that is not so.

The X-H2, a follow-up to the video-centric X-H1, will apparently be announced... just not any time soon. According to Fuji Rumors, Fujifilm will hold off till 2021 to launch a second edition of the X-H series – the first Fujifilm camera to feature in-body image stabilization (IBIS). 

Nothing is known about the possible specs of the rumored X-H2, but Fuji Addict reckons it might use a  43MP Sony-made sensor, although that may be unlikely. Video-centric cameras don't need high resolution sensors to produce topnotch results, but Fuji Addict is quite sure that the X-H2 will come with a new sensor and processor.

Whether it will match the Panasonic Lumix S1H in specs – just in an APS-C body – remains to be seen, but anything is possible.

• Read our in-depth Fujifilm X-H1 review

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Olympus PEN-F discontinued

The 20MP camera didn't meet sales expectations and now been discontinued

We've seen updates in the shape of the OM-D E-M1 Mark II and OM-D E-M10 Mark III and the OM-D E-M5 Mark III to get refreshed in the OM-D series, but fans of the Olympus PEN-F will be sorely disappointed to know that the this model has been discontinued.

It came in at a higher price than the mid-range E-M5 Mark II without a full feature set like weather sealing and connectivity. With lower-than-expected sales as a result, the Olympus PEN-F will not be refreshed.

However, the PEN E-PL10, a camera that was previously available in Europe, has now been launched in North America and Australia.

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO plus six further lenses

Olympus has already confirmed that it's working on the M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO, and this should be with us some time next year. 

The lens is set to follow the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x and Nikon AF-S 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II in having an integrated teleconverter. 

The company also updated its roadmap earlier this year to show that it will have seven further lenses on the way. While the focal lengths and specs of these have not been disclosed, the company confirmed that four of these – two telephoto zooms, one wide zoom and one standard zoom – would fall under its high-end 'Pro' label. These are set to be joined by a high-magnification zoom and super-telephoto zoom lenses.

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• What camera should I buy?
• Mirrorless vs DSLR: 10 key differences

Panasonic's new lenses

Image credit: Panasonic

A sizable collection of lenses to support the new S1R and S1 cameras is on its way

Predicted specs: At least 11 new lenses released throughout 2020

By rights, Panasonic is entitled to lay low for a while. After all, it only recently launched the S1R and S1, two full-frame mirrorless cameras in a brand new S system, followed by the 6K-capable S1H. Far from resting on its laurels, though, Panasonic has instead laid out plans to launch some eleven new lenses before the end of 2020.

The company has already confirmed that we’ll see a Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 Macro O.I.S, an S PRO 50mm f/1.4 and an S PRO 70-200mm f/4 O.I.S in 2020, as well as using the launch of the S1H to formally announce that a 24-70mm f/2.8 option inbound. But it’s not stopping there. Also on the way are 70-200mm f/2.8 and 16-35mm f/4 optics, with at least seven further lenses due to launch before the year is out – including some with particularly wide apertures.

Two teleconverters are in the pipeline – a 1.4x and a 2x – along with two fixed focal-length lenses: an 85mm f/1.8 optic and a wide-angle to go with it. A super telephoto is due, too, as is a 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens, along with an additional standard zoom lens. The system might be young but, given its plans and how prolific it’s been with its G series cameras, Panasonic is giving us plenty of hope that the S system is set to flourish.

• Read more: Panasonic Lumix S1R hands-on review

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