The November launch for Google Stadia is approaching fast, and you can already pre-order access to the cloud gaming service – but you won't be able to sign up for a beta test, because there isn't going to be one.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Google's vice president and head of Stadia Phil Harrison ruled out the possibility of launching a beta version of the service, beyond the Project Stream tests that have already happened.
"We are not going to do another test in the UK or Europe," says Harrison. "If we had time we probably would have done so, but we don't need to."
In other words, you won't be able to try before you buy – you'll just have to trust that Stadia is going to work on your internet connection and hardware when you stump up the cash. There is at least a free tier to take advantage of, after the initial purchase of the controller and Chromecast.
More Stadia tidbits
The GamesRadar+ reveal comes from the latest in a series of interviews that Harrison is doing with the gaming press. Yesterday we heard how games on Stadia are likely to cost the same as they do on a console.
For a $10/£9 monthly fee, you're going to be able to get access to a selection of games as part of your subscription, and in 4K as well – but certain top-tier titles are going to cost you extra. The free version, with lower resolutions, launches next year.
The only way to get into Google Stadia at the moment is to pre-order the Founder's Edition for $129/£119 direct from Google. As yet there don't appear to be any plans to launch the gaming service in Australia.
In a separate interview, Harrison says he expects broadband data caps in the US to increase or disappear altogether so that Stadia gamers can stream interrupted. He also confirmed if games were pulled from the Stadia library, they'd still be available to those who had purchased them.
Desktop Publishing (DTP) software allows you to create newsletters, magazines, and brochures simply and easily, by controlling the layout and design of documents.
The specific advantage DTP has over normal document programs is that it allows for the proper alignment of images and text according to guidelines and boxes that you set up.
This often involves setting up a grid in which you can place blocks of text, or images, as required. Because you have full control over size, spacing, and widths, this makes it much easier to ensure everything is in its proper place, which is especially important for printing purposes.
Even better is that DTP software tends to be easy to use, and options to format text will be familiar from most writing programs for documents. Changing background and font colors is easy, as is inserting images and resizing them to the dimensions you need them to follow.
The end result is the ability to create professional-looking documents without needing to be a skilled or experiencing graphic designer.
Here we'll look at the best in DTP software currently on the market.
If you're serious about making professional publications and marketing material, then you'll want the software that most professionals use: Adobe InDesign.
This software is our pick for the best DTP software for professionals, and there's a reason why so many businesses use it. It is practically unrivalled when it comes to features, giving you all the tools you need to create traditional print media, as well as interactive digital media as well.
If you buy it as part of Adobe's Creative Cloud, you'll also get access to Adobe Stock, giving you professional stock photos to help make your publications really stand out.
If you're after real desktop publishing power, free of charge, then nothing can compete with Scribus, and it's our pick for the best free DTP software.
It's an open source application, which means it's completely free for anyone to use, and you don't need a licence to use it as a business.
The program is packed with professional features - CMYK and spot colours, ICC colour management, direct editing of vector drawings, extensive PDF support and more - and provides everything you need to produce flyers, brochures, newspapers, books and more.
All this power does take quite some time to master, though, and while the developers have tried to help (and there is plenty of documentation to point you in the right direction) you'll need to be patient: the sheer volume of features means there's still a significant learning curve.
While Adobe InDesign is the undisputed champion when it comes to DTP software, it has stiff competition from one of its most popular alternatives: QuarkXPress.
It comes with a huge amount of features to rival InDesign, and it's even compatible with InDesign files. Quark is serious about winning over Adobe's customers, and it's resulted in an excellent, fully-featured DTP application.
It is especially impressive when it comes to typography, with OpenType controls, support for Colour Fonts in SVG, SBIX and COLR formats, and it will help you make some amazing looking publications. It's not quite as fully-featured as InDesign, but it comes very close.
If you're a beginner when it comes to desktop publishing, then the software above may seem a little overwhelming at first. That's why Xara Page & Layout Designer 11 is our pick for the best DTP software for beginners.
It doesn't throw a bewildering amount of features at you, and it has a straightforward, yet attractive, interface that is easy to get to grips with. Best of all, it's very affordable compared to InDesign and QuarkXPress, but that doesn't mean it's light on features.
In fact, you'll find a great selection of tools that will help you create professional looking publications.
Microsoft Publisher has been around for a long time now, and for many people it offers an easy way to get into desktop publishing.
It's often a part of Microsoft Office packages – including Microsoft's Office 365 subscription service – so if you already have a Microsoft Office package, you may find you have Publisher already installed. It can also be bought and installed separately as Publisher 2019.
Its interface will be familiar to anyone who has used Microsoft's other Office apps like Word and Excel, and it's easy for beginners to get to grips with. There's a decent collection of templates that will help you get going, and the results are good, though not quite as professional as InDesign.
Still, it's a great – and affordable – DTP software package for beginners.
It's another must-win game for Pakistan at the Cricket World Cup. They'll be pleased to see last-placed Afghanistan in front of them, but this is no done-and-dusted result in the waiting - struggling minnows Afghanistan will be desperate to avoid the Cricket World Cup 2019 wooden spoon. You'll be able to watch all the action from the game no matter where you are in the world by using our Afghanistan vs Pakistan live stream guide below.
Having come close to pulling off the tournament's biggest upset by nearly beating India, Afghanistan know that with players like Rashid Khan and Gulbadin Naib they're capable of pulling off a shock against inconsistent Pakistan.
With England's once seemingly assured semi-final spot within their grasp, its now a case of Pakistan not becoming complacent against a team they should beat. This, however, is cricket's most unpredictable team we're talking about, so expect tension and drama in abundance in Leeds.
You’ll be able to watch all the Cricket World Cup action with ease from anywhere in the world if you follow our Afghanistan vs Pakistan live stream guide below.
Watch a Cricket World Cup 2019 live stream from outside your country
If you're in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, US or India and looking to find out how to watch the match, we've got all the details about the broadcaster in your region below.
If you're away from home country and looking to tune in you'll likely to find you won't be able to thanks to geo-blocking. Thankfully there's a way to alleviate that frustration. By using a VPN you'll be able to watch the game safely without having to take a chance on an illegal feed from a website that's likely infested with malware.
How to watch the cricket in Pakistan for FREE
How to stream 2019 Cricket World Cup online in India
How to stream Afghanistan vs Pakistan live in the UK
How to watch a live stream of Afghanistan vs Pakistan in Australia
How to live stream Afghanistan vs Pakistan in New Zealand
How to watch Afghanistan vs Pakistan: US live stream
Apple’s next major update to its Mac and MacBook operating system – macOS Catalina – is coming later this year (the smart money is on a September launch), but now that Apple has released the public beta of the software, we’ve had a chance to play with some of the new features.
As with previous updates to macOS, macOS 10.15 Catalina (to give it its full title), brings some genuinely useful, fun and exciting new features that will help change the way you use your Mac or MacBook.
So, read on to find out what we think are the five best new macOS Catalina features. If these make you eager to test out the operating system as soon as possible, then check out our guide on how to download and install the macOS Catalina public beta.
The new Twitter app for Mac is based off the iOS version and was made in only a few days (Image credit: Twitter/Apple)
1. iPad apps for Mac
This is our choice for the best new feature to come with macOS Catalina, mainly because of the sheer potential it offers. The App Store on iOS is home to thousands of brilliant apps, and developers are now able to port their apps over to macOS so that they can run on Macs.
This means you could soon see your favorite iPad and iPhone apps on macOS, which would bring a huge amount of new tools to your Mac.
These apps run natively on your Mac, which means they will look and behave just like other Mac apps – and not like an emulated iPad app awkwardly crowbarred onto a Mac.
Apple has made it so that iOS and macOS apps can run on the same code, so it will be easy for developers to bring their app to both platforms at once. Several iOS apps are already available in macOS, and we expect this number to grow rapidly.
Using Sidecar you can use an iPad as a second screen (Image credit: TechRadar)
2. Sidecar turns your iPad into a second screen
Another of our favorite new features in macOS Catalina is Sidecar. This allows you to use an iPad as a second display alongside your Mac – effectively turning your iPad into an external monitor.
So, you can use it to extend your desktop to create more workspace. You can drag your cursor between screens, and open multiple apps across both screens.
A nice extra feature is that when using your iPad to display your Mac’s apps, if the apps support Touch Bar, those controls will appear at the bottom of the iPad’s screen – even if your Mac doesn’t have a Touch Bar!
You can also mirror the desktop – so your iPad shows the same content as your Mac. This is great for sharing information or making impromptu presentations.
If you have an Apple Pencil stylus, you can also use your iPad as a drawing pad for your Mac. So, you can draw and sketch in apps, and your work will appear on your Mac. Drag a document from your Mac to your iPad and you can write on it and mark it up, and you can insert sketches from your iPad into documents on your Mac. All you need to do is click ‘Insert from iPad’ and select ‘Add Sketch’.
A window will appear on your iPad. Sketch or write in that, then click ‘Done’ and it will appear in your document on the Mac!
Perhaps best of all, Sidecar works with your iPad no matter if it’s connected via a cable or used wirelessly – you just need to be within 10 meters of your Mac.
Voice Control is one of the best new features of macOS Catalina (Image credit: Apple)
3. Voice Control
Apple has done a commendable job of boosting the accessibility tools in macOS Catalina, meaning that more people are able to comfortably use their Macs.
The most powerful new accessibility feature in macOS Catalina is Voice Control, which, as the name suggests, allows you to control every aspect of your Mac via your voice.
It’s built on the Siri speech recognition engine, so all the latest machine learning advances that Apple has built for its virtual assistant can be used for audio-to-text transcription on your Mac.
While using your voice to write notes, you can use voice commands to edit the text as you go along – such as adding uppercase letters, replacing works (or whole lines) and selecting text. You can add custom words, and unlike some voice-to-text software which uploads your recordings to the cloud, all the audio processing for Voice Control is done on your device – which ensures your private data remains private.
Voice Control is also clever enough to know when you're dictating something, and when you’re issuing commands. So, saying “See you at home. Click send” in the Messages app will only type out “See you at home” and will then send the message.
Apps, menus and a lot more can all be controlled with the new Voice Control tool as well. Apps can be split into grids, giving you complete control, and voice gestures can replicate common mouse and trackpad gestures.
While the other macOS Catalina features in this list add cool new elements to your Mac or MacBook, the new Voice Control tool could change lives.
The Apple Music app is a great addition (Image credit: Apple)
4. The new Music app
When news emerged that Apple was killing off iTunes and replacing it with four distinct apps, not many people mourned the loss of iTunes, but many of us wondered how successful the replacement apps would be. After all, would replacing one (admittedly bloated) app with four separate ones make life easier – or just complicate things?
The good news is that these new apps benefit from their renewed focus. While iTunes became too concerned with trying to do everything, the new Music app has a single vision for making it easy to import, buy or stream your music. Its interface is similar to iTunes, so you’ll feel at home, but there’s been some nice tweaks.
For example, the Now Playing section shows lyrics while the song you’re listening to is playing. If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, the service is now integrated better in the Music app.
The Apple TV app has a dedicated section for kids (Image credit: Apple)
5. The Apple TV app
Another new app that replaces iTunes is the Apple TV app. This is where you’ll find your movies and TV shows – and you’ll be able to buy and rent the latest movies and watch TV shows on demand with an Apple TV subscription.
Apple TV channels include HBO, Showtime and Starz, and thanks to Family Sharing you can share your subscription with up to six family members.
The new interface makes it easy to find content, and there’s a dedicated Kids section that’s carefully curated to provide the best movies and TV shows for children.
Oh, and the Apple TV app supports Dolby Atmos for immersive 3D-positional sound.
Online food delivery company Grubhub has purchased thousands of domain names that resemble those of businesses that are either already on its platform or are trying to be according to a new report from New Food Economy.
The company owns over 23,000 of these look-alike domains that it has set up to resemble landing pages for restaurants on its platform. The sites even have an online ordering form to trick consumers into thinking they belong to the restaurants themselves.
Restaurant owners are up in arms over the discovery and they believe that Grubhub is tricking users that try to visit their sites into ordering on its platform instead.
The company is the largest online food delivery service in the US and is also the parent company to a number of other similar services including Eat24, MenuPages and Seamless. However, rivals DoorDash and Uber Eats have begun to threaten its dominance as they have become increasingly more popular.
Fake sites
All of the domains owned by Grubhub use a similar template and showcase items from the menus of actual restaurants. To make matters worse, some of the fake sites even use photos taken directly from the restaurant's official website or from other competing delivery services.
The company's scheme works as such, Grubhub buys domains that are similar to a restaurant's website and then uses their original logos along with stolen pictures of food to set up a very convincing fake site. These sites also include links where customers can place orders that actually direct them back to one of the delivery services owned by the company.
The fake sites are just another way to earn more commission from restaurants but Grubhub defended its deceptive practices in a statement emailed to New Food Economy, saying:
“Grubhub has never cybersquatted, which is identified by ICANN as ‘generally bad faith registration of another person’s trademark in a domain name.’ As a service to our restaurants, we have created microsites for them as another source of orders and to increase their online brand presence. Additionally, we have registered domains on their behalf, consistent with our restaurant contracts. We no longer provide that service and it has always been our practice to transfer the domain to the restaurant as soon as they request it.”
Restaurant owners who are concerned that their site may have been copied can review the full list compiled by New Food Economy here.
A patent application has been uncovered, filed by Microsoft in 2017, and it describes a Windows 10 foldable device with an interesting exoskeletal hinge.
Leaving sensitive information publicly accessible on the web is a recipe for disaster and according to new report from cybersecurity firm UpGuard, that is exactly what the data management company Attunity did for Ford, Toronto-Dominion Bank and its other Fortune 100 clients.
Researchers at UpGuard discovered more than a terabyte of data left unsecured by the company last month on AWS servers which included its own passwords and network information as well as emails and designs from several of its high-profile customers.
As a data custodian, Attunity helps integrate information its clients have stored in various places so that it can be easily analyzed. Despite its status as an “Advanced Technology Partner' of Amazon's cloud division, the company failed to configure its cloud storage correctly and left all of the data it stored visible in plain text similar to how the digital platform Cultura Colectiva left Facebook user data unsecured.
Attunity's data buckets contained files about Ford's internal project plans as well as TD Bank invoices, agreements between it and the the company as well as files related to the type of technology solution Attunity was configuring for the bank.
Unsecured servers
While client files were exposed as a result of the incident, a large collection of Attunity's own files pertaining to administrative and employee passwords to a number of systems, extensive employee email backups, a roadmap to the company's virtual network and even personal information about its own employees.
According to UpGuard, the widespread presence of login credentials could have led to a sizable data leak had it not informed the company about its discovery. Luckily though, the firm found no evidence that any bad actors had taken advantage of the information while it was accessible online.
After UpGuard informed Attunity about the incident, the company removed public access to the data buckets. However, several weeks passed before it asked the security firm more detailed questions about the data exposure.
In a blog post detailing its findings, UpGuard stressed that misconfigurations of cloud storage can lead to catastrophic damage to a company, saying:
“Attunity’s business is to replicate and migrate data into data lakes for centralized analytics. The risks to Attunity posed by exposed credentials, information, and communications, then are risks to the security of the data they process. While many of the files are years old, the bucket was still in use at the time detected and reported by UpGuard, with the most recent files having been modified within days of discovery.
“The chain of events leading to the exposure of that data provides a useful lesson in the ecology of a data leak scenario. Users’ workstations may be secured against attackers breaking in, but other IT processes can copy and expose the same data valued by attackers. When such backups are exposed, they can contain a variety of data from system credentials to personally identifiable information. Data is not safe if misconfigurations and process errors expose that data to the public internet.”
Keep your systems and data protected with the best antivirus
The enterprise SaaS market continues to grow at an extraordinary pace and according to a new report from Synergy Research, enterprise SaaS revenue managed to pass the $100bn run rate this quarter.
Microsoft and Salesforce led the charge at first and second place respectively followed by Adobe, SAP and Oracle in the remaining top five spots.
In its earnings release for Q2, Microsoft reported $10.1bn in Productivity and Business Processes revenue with an increase of 13 percent when compared to last quarter. This division includes Office 365, the Dynamics line and LinkedIn and its increased revenue helped the software giant claim the top spot with 17 percent of worldwide market share.
Salesforce took second place with 12 percent and in its most recent earnings statement, it announced $3.74bn in revenue. The company's Service Cloud accounted for $1.02bn in revenue by itself and this was the first time its CRM platform crossed the billion-dollar mark.
Adobe came in third place with 10 percent market share as it reported $2.74bn in revenue in its latest report. The company's Digital Media division, which includes Creative Cloud and Document Cloud, made up most of it revenue with $1.8bn.
SaaS market
Despite the fact that it took the SaaS market 20 years to reach the $100bn mark, it is still a significant milestone which represents how the enterprise software market has shifted from an on-premises to cloud model in recent years.
According to Synergy Research, the enterprise SaaS market still has a ways to go as SaaS revenue still accounts for only 20 percent of the overall enterprise software market.
Chief analyst at Synergy Research Group, John Dinsdale provided further insight on the findings of the report as well as his predictions for the future of enterprise SaaS, saying:
“The SaaS vendor landscape essentially breaks out into three camps – traditional enterprise software vendors, relatively new born-in-the-cloud players and large IT vendors that are looking to expand more into software markets. In the first camp you have companies like Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and IBM that have a huge base of on-premise software customers that they can convert to a SaaS-based consumption model. Born-in-the-cloud vendors include Workday, Zendesk, ServiceNow, Atlassian and Splunk, who tend to have much higher growth rates. Meanwhile Google and Cisco are making an impact in the SaaS market, via Google’s G Suite and Cisco’s collaboration apps and multiple software vendor acquisitions. There will be consolidation, with the impending Salesforce acquisition of Tableau Software being a prime example, but there will remain many opportunities for new market entrants to make an impact.”
Brainstorming can be an exclude way to develop new ideas, workflows, and opportunities for your business. However, organizing a disparate range of suggestions into working solutions and actionable insights can be something of a challenge.
This is where mind map software comes into play, providing a way in which to chart all this. While some are available just for individual use for organizing projects, others other collaborative features for business users.
Ultimately, mind-mapping software isn't simply about putting ideas into a list, but instead about connecting processes with suggestions, and developing how this could enhance efficiency, productivity, or customer service.
This means that whichever mind mapping software you use, it's likely to take a diagrammatic form in which clear workflows and outcomes can be highlighted, modified, or replaced as required, allowing a summary to remain which can then be written up into a project management report or similar presentation.
Here then are the best in mind map software platforms.
Want your company or services to be added to this buyer’s guide? Please email your request to [email protected] with the URL of the buying guide in the subject line.
Scapple enjoys the distinction of being developed by writers for writers. The group 'Literature and Latte' was formed in 2006 with the sole purpose of offering writers a simple way to develop their skills.
The result has been one of the best-known mind map tools on the market today. On first launch, Scapple invites users to double click anywhere on the blank canvas to create a note. You can repeat this process as many times as you wish to offload your initial 'brain dump'. Scapple also supports importing text files, PDF's and even images. You can then work out how to link various ideas together.
Scapple has been particularly praised for being easy to master compared to other mind map software due its small number of mind map tools. This does mean however that more advanced features such as embedding audio & video aren't supported.
Although the program itself is lightweight, Scapple won't burden your purse too heavily. There's a 30-day free trial, which only counts down those days on which you actually use the software. After this a standard license costs $14.99 (£17) per platform. Educational licenses are $12 (£13.60) each.
Mindomo was originally released in March 2014. The stated aim of its developers is to create, "useful, easy to use and beautiful software".
While beauty is subjective, most users will be delighted to find that the free version of the software supports creation of up to 3 mind maps, which is include all basic features.
'Premium' users enjoy a range of extra features denied to the free tier such as syncing projects such as iOS/Android, audio and video emdedding and backing up to cloud-based services like Dropbox. Mindomo also allows paid subscribers to export mind maps in a variety of formats including images (PNG), Adobe PDF (PDF), plain text (TXT) and Microsoft Powerpoint (PPTX). The program can also import data from a number of file formats.
If you need to collaborate on a project, 'Professional' subscriptions support 1 user and up to 5 guests. All Mindomo paid subscriptions support password protection of mind maps to make sure only you and your team can see them.
Premium subscriptions are $42 per user for 6 months, which include 1GB storage quota. Professional subscriptions cost $105 and offer a generous 5GB quota.
While these advanced features are acknowledged by the online community, Mindomo has come under criticism for its bare bones interface which offers little guidance to new users.
Bubbl.us is a cloud-based mind map service and can be accessed from virtually any internet compatible device. Its existence is thanks to a flash of inspiration by project founder 'Levon'. While at college, he was leafing through a copy of David Allen's Getting Things Done and discovered a chapter on brainstorming. Levon started doing this on pen and paper but later teamed up with fellow programmer 'Kirill' to begin development of Bubbl.us.
The beauty of Bubbl.us lies in its simplicity: the service is designed for mind mapping only, doing away with any redundant features. As it's cloud-based there's also no software to download. Users can get started right away and the project website claims that these include millions of musicians, artists, writers, teachers and people with dyslexia.
Like Mindomo, Bubbl.us offers a free tier which supports up to 3 mind maps with basic features. The Premium tier costs $4.91 per month per user, if paid annually, and allows for real-time collaboration as well as revision history. There's also a 30-day free trial to try out more advanced features.
Online reviews of Bubbl.us praise the fact that it's online and cross-platform, making very popular with students and teachers. Some reviewers have complained about lag problems when using Bubbl.us from mobile devices as well as difficulties with moving several bubbles at once.
MindManager stands on the shoulders of giants having been acquired by software giant Corel (of CorelDRAW fame) in 2015. It is designed primarily for business users and has been adopted by big names like Proctor and Gamble.
As an enterprise-focused program MindManager is capable of integrating with Microsoft Office and indeed the overall interface will be very familiar to Word and PowerPoint users, right down to the built-in text editor and spreadsheet program.
Users are introduced to this gradually, as on first launch MindManager only displays a virtual whiteboard from where you can easily add ideas, then drag them into place. Maps are accessible via an easy to use dashboard.
The general look and feel is extremely professional, meaning the finished map would be suitable for all purposes, from notes for a book to a presentation at a board meeting.
This professional pedigree doesn't come cheap. The Windows version of MindManager costs a heavy $327 per license, though the Mac version is around half the price. The Mac version which has fewer features is only $209. Whichever version you choose there's a 30-day free trial to check if you and/or your team are comfortable with the interface. This is especially important if any users are unfamiliar with Microsoft Office.
XMind is the flagship product of Hing Kong based X Mind Ltd. It was originally released in November 2008 and the project website now claims over 1 million users.
Like MindManager, XMind seems to be more focused on enterprise level solutions. The 'Idea Factory' is a great place to start listing items and there's even a useful built-in countdown timer to help regulate your mind mapping sessions.
XMind 8 Pro costs $129 per perpetual license, or alternatively pay monthly with plans starting from $1.24 for mobile only, and $4.58 for desktop as well. The dedicated brainstorming module allows you to group items and concepts, as well as create links between them.
Business users can also make use of the presentation mode which can display maps as slides, as well as list tasks in chart form e.g. in 'tree format'.
X Mind has been singled out for praise online for its clear focus on business users, as well as its minimalist interface which allows for easy mind map creation through a series of templates. Other respectable features include 'XMind cloud' which can sync your mind maps across devices and 'day and night' mode which dims the screen to protect your eyes.
We've only featured five of the best mind mapping software solutions above, but there are plenty more to consider. Here we'll list a number of others worth considering. And as we mentioned that Scapple at the start, which was built for writers, we're going to open with what is the most popular dedicated writing platform:
Scrivener may be thought of more as an author's toolkit, but at its heart it is built on the concept of mind mapping concepts into a document of work. While this may have been built for a single writer to develop a novel, there's no reason why it can't be used for any other type of project. The way it allows you to bring notes together and organize them around a central document can seem a little daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it it's difficult not to imagine working on a project without it.
Coggle is all about flow charts, connecting ideas and concepts together. It's a simple app that's easy to use, as all that's require is for you to put down and join together ideas and the connections between them. You can then export your work as an image file or PDF as required. A handy feature is that the software continually autosaves so it's easy to roll back to an early version. Even better, the software is free to download.
WiseMapping is a web-based app which means you should have no problem with cross-platform compatibility. It can also be used collaboratively, and your finished mind map can be shared easily, including to online blogs. There's a free version available for individuals, but you can download a copy to your own company servers if you want to use it for business. Either way, it's free to use.
IdeaFlip is another web-app that runs in your browser, so it shouldn't matter which operating system you use, whether on desktop of mobile. It's a more developed collaborative platform than some of the others, and has both team and management features built in. Also unlike some of the others listed here, it's not free, with monthly plans costing between $9-$16, depending on how many users and features you want.
LucidChart is also focused on collaborative flowcharts for business users, and is probably best described as a diagramming app more than anything. This means that it is good for more than just mind mapping but also project flows. The flexibility built into the program means it has a large corporate following and boasts a number of Fortune 500 companies as clients. Even still, it's not that expensive to use, with plans starting at just $4.95 per user per month.
We’re eagerly awaiting more news about the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, but we might have gotten our first look at the rumored higher-specced ‘Pro’ model - which, according to a leak, will officially be called the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus.
YouTube channel TechTalkTV picked up leaked images via an Instagram account and put them in a video (below). There are three photos total, showing off the front and rear of the supposed Samsung flagship.
The device in question - branded as a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, not the standard Note 10 - looks like a Samsung phone, with a display that curves at the edges and a noticeable punch-hole on the top-center of the front screen. Three cameras are vertically lined up on the phone’s upper-left corner.
This resembles our previous close look at the phone, a 360-degree rendering. That mock-up had the same placement for the punch-hole and rear cameras, which supports the new photo leak.
Unfortunately, however, none of the photos showed off the stylus, a mainstay of the Galaxy Note series. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 introduced a programmable button on the stylus that allowed users to snap photos from afar (among other actions), and we’re looking forward to what the Note 10 could add.
Is it the real deal?
While this looks promising it’s far too early to tell if this is the real deal - we’ll wait for more confirmation (aka more rumors and leaks) to corroborate this early look.
Images like these give us an idea how the Note 10 Plus might look, but don't reveal any specs or features - let alone how the assumedly higher-specced (and probably pricier) model will differ from the base phone, so for now it's a definite maybe.
Hopefully this is the beginning of more information coming for the Note 10, however, which other rumors predict will launch in early August.
Can't wait for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10? Here are the best Android phones available now
The 2019 Cricket World Cup continues today with Pakistan looking to push for a semi-final spot. They'll be pleased to see last-placed Afghanistan in front of them, but this is no done-and-dusted result in the waiting - struggling minnows Afghanistan will be desperate to avoid the Cricket World Cup 2019 wooden spoon. You'll be able to watch all the action from the game no matter where you are in the world by using our Afghanistan vs Pakistan live stream guide below.
Having come close to pulling off the tournament's biggest upset by nearly beating India, Afghanistan know that with players like Rashid Khan and Gulbadin Naib they're capable of pulling off a shock against inconsistent Pakistan.
With England's once seemingly assured semi-final spot within their grasp, its now a case of Pakistan not becoming complacent against a team they should beat. This, however, is cricket's most unpredictable team we're talking about, so expect tension and drama in abundance in Leeds.
You’ll be able to watch all the Cricket World Cup action with ease from anywhere in the world if you follow our Afghanistan vs Pakistan live stream guide below.
Watch a Cricket World Cup 2019 live stream from outside your country
If you're in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, US or India and looking to find out how to watch the match, we've got all the details about the broadcaster in your region below.
If you're away from home country and looking to tune in you'll likely to find you won't be able to thanks to geo-blocking. Thankfully there's a way to alleviate that frustration. By using a VPN you'll be able to watch the game safely without having to take a chance on an illegal feed from a website that's likely infested with malware.
How to watch the cricket in Pakistan for FREE
How to stream 2019 Cricket World Cup online in India
How to stream Afghanistan vs Pakistan live in the UK
How to watch a live stream of Afghanistan vs Pakistan in Australia
How to live stream Afghanistan vs Pakistan in New Zealand
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It's about to get a whole lot easier for mobile phone users in the UK to change to a new contract or network when the new Text to Switch rules come into effect on Monday.
The process of changing mobile carriers or contracts has always been a bit of a hassle for consumers but with Text to Switch, mobile customers will now be able to leave their existing network by sending a single text message.
According to research from uSwitch, at least 15 percent of mobile users are out of contract which results in them paying £27.4m more than they should be every month, resulting in a total overspend of over £325m a year. However, come Monday, these customers will now be able to switch to a new and better deal almost instantly.
Of those who have tried to switch mobile carriers or plans, 40 percent have experienced difficulties while doing so. Some have struggled to take their existing number to a new handset, some have found it hard to navigate telecom websites and others have become increasingly frustrated with automated phone services after being placed on hold by call centers.
Text to Switch
When a customer texts a request for a a cancellation code or a PAC code (porting authorization code), mobile carriers will have to respond immediately and the codes they send will be valid for 30 days. These codes will be short and all mobile providers are required to use the same codes.
In addition to sending customers codes, providers will also have to include important information about any early termination charges, outstanding handset costs or pay-as-you-go credit balances.
Head of regulation at uSwitch, Richard Neudegg provided further insight on the new rules, saying:
“Too many mobile phone customers experience difficulties when changing to a different network. It should be networks’ best interests to make switching as easy as possible. If the process is slow and cumbersome people will quickly become frustrated. But a slick and speedy service will boost consumer confidence and increase the likelihood they will switch - a win for consumers and the industry. The theoretical hassle of switching has now been reduced, and the potential savings for millions of customers should make this a no-brainer.
Networks have had 18 months to prepare for the implementation of Text to Switch, so it is likely that they will be prepared for the influx of cancellation requests they will receive on Monday.
