Apple Music's offer to bundle access to Apple TV+ along with its $4.99 per month subscription was revealed by Hailee Steinfeld on her Instagram account.
Xbox Console Streaming for Android is available for US and UK Xbox Insiders who have enrolled their consoles in the Alpha or Alpha Skip-Ahead rings.
Sony beat Microsoft to the punch with its new 4K gaming system, the PS4 Pro, and you should definitely grab one.
Here you'll find the best prices around on the PlayStation 4 Pro console and any bundle deals available so you can score Sony's excellent 4K system and jump right into the amazing array of PS4 games available at the moment.
We've got a dedicated page if you're looking for some excellent prices on the PlayStation VR and PlayStation Camera.
Keep this page bookmarked and we'll update it with bundles as they arrive, or scroll further down if you've got any burning questions about the new 4K PS4 Pro.
While Playstation 4 Pro bundles are constantly shifting from store to store, we've listed and ranked the best current options from the major retailers below so you don't have to do the sniffing and scratching yourself.
Remember that the value of a bundle will ultimately come down to whether or not you were going to purchase the included game (or games) anyway and while some bundles are obviously better priced than others, you should check to see if that saving is worthwhile.
Although the PS4 Pro isn't a 'next-gen' console necessarily, it is an upgrade of the PS4 and features the coveted 4K and HDR options that we're hearing so much about.
The new machine will allow game developers to include 4K options in their games, so expect the like of Uncharted 4, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Days Gone, Horizon: Zero Dawn and more to look even better on a 4K TV.
HDR, or High Dynamic Range is the other buzzword to be excited about as the PS4 Pro will allow for extra detail to be seen on a range of games and also a wider range of colours not usually displayed by traditional HD TVs.
Yes. While not every game will be patched to take advantage of the new 4K/HDR capabilities, all of your old games will still work. Not only that, but the default upscaling (if you have a 4K TV) will likely see some improvements to the visuals and the boosted console power may give a slight nudge to the frame rates for some smoother play.
Need an extra controller on the cheap? Take a look at the best DualShock 4 deals.
With services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video adopting 4K and HDR, with an ever-growing library entering the services, the PS4 Pro will be excellent as a streaming and media hub for your home theatre. There's also a lot of free 4K content on the YouTube app, and Stan has plenty of 4K although no HDR-compatible content yet.
No. The Xbox One S does support them though, so this was a bit of a surprise from Sony. So if you're specifically after a 4K Blu-ray player then head over to the competition, but as many viewers are crossing over to streaming services for their digital viewing, this may prove a wise move from Sony in the long run.
You don't NEED a 4K TV, no. The PS4 Pro will still run as per normal on a regular 1080p TV, although you won't get the benefits of upscaling or HDR though. There's a chance you may see a frame-rate boost or a slim amount of extra detail, but we wouldn't expect a massive leap.
If your mind is on a 4K TV, then you should probably go with a Pro rather than a Slim as it'll future proof you for a while and, realistically, the price jump is worth the longevity. Be sure to look out for a TV that supports HDR too, in order to take full advantage of the PS4 Pro's capabilities.
Maybe. Early reports seem to suggest it will as the PlayStation VR frame-rate is better on PS4 Pro and the resolution gets a bit of a bump too. You don't need a PS4 Pro to use PlayStation VR but this increase in specs may contribute a little to the immersion.
Yes! Although the optical audio output has been removed from the PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro owners will still be able to use optical connections for their soundbars and sound systems.
After scrounging through our back catalogue of PS4 games that have received a Pro update patch, we've come up with a feature packed with the games that look the best and have a noticeable difference. Take a look at our extensive list - The best PS4 Pro games.
With the release of the PS4 Pro, Sony's non-4K console has seen some incredibly competitive prices in both the bundles and the regular Slim model consoles. There's also the new white PlayStation 4 Slim which is looking cooler than ever, so we've helped you out by rounding up the best prices below.
Below you'll find all of the absolute cheapest standalone PS4 deals from Australian retailers, followed by our pick of what we think are the bundle deals that offer the best value, so you can dive straight into the wealth of amazing PlayStation 4 games on offer right now.
The PS4 is currently in a number of different forms. Directly below, you'll find the best deals for the PS4 and new PS4 Slim which has come in to replace the original model with a slimmer design (just like the Xbox One S).
The PS4 Slim is... slimmer, quieter and smaller
The new PS4 Slim effectively replaced the original PS4 when it launched in September 2016 for around $440 (500GB) or $510 (1TB). This smaller, lighter and more power efficient model also ends up being cheaper than the model it replaced, so there's little point looking out for the original model.
Check out the list below for up-to-date deals on the PS4 Slim.
However, as always the best deals come in the form of the bundles, so you should scroll further down this page as you may be able to nab one cheaper than a standalone console! The PS4 Slim is available in black or white.
Need an extra cheap PS4 controller? Don't forget to check our Best DualShock 4 deals. Or maybe a cheap PlayStation VR deal?
The Moto Razr folding phone has been in the pipeline for quite some time and there have been countless rumours and renders floating about the device. The company is going to hold an unveiling event on 13 November where it is widely believed that the Moto Razr Flip will launch. Now ahead of this event, we appear to have our first look at the device.
Moto Razr concept. Evan Blass
As per an image shared by reputed tipster Evan Blass, we see the familiar clamshell design that made the original Moto Razr quite popular. Only this time, the phone will not have a T9 keyboard but an entire display that can be folded shut. Like the Galaxy Fold, Moto has also opted for a folding display tech on its device and it is said to bend vertically instead of horizontally like the Fold.
The device will also not be very spec-heavy if the past rumours are anything to go by. The phone is expected to sport a Snapdragon 710 chipset with up to 4 or 6 GB of RAM and 64 or 128 GB of storage.
The battery s rumoured to be of a measly 2,730 mAh capacity which indicates Motorola's inclination towards a slimmer device. The screen inside was said to be a 6.2-inch panel with 876 x 2,142-pixel resolution, while the outer panel will settle for 600 x 800-pixel resolution.
With every passing week, it seems NASA has one more complication or reason to defer its targeted 2024 deadline for the upcoming human mission to the moon, Artemis.
The most recent blow (unconfirmed by NASA) was that Congress might decide not to fund the mission for the planned deadline. NASA's enormous rocket-in-development, the Space Launch System (SLS), has fallen well behind schedule. History has been unkind to deep-space exploration programs since Apollo, which means that a lot rides on NASA's Artemis mission marking the start of a "moon rush" of sorts.
Scientists John Connolly and Niki Werkheiser from NASA shared new details on the Artemis mission at the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, an annual interdisciplinary forum in Washington, held on 30 October. Artemis seems far, far more complex than the agency's earlier missions to the moon under the Apollo program, according to Ars Technica.
Artist's illustration of astronauts on the surface, installing a geophone. Image: NASA
Connolly reportedly told attendees that the first mission under Artemis to the Moon's surface will consist of two crew members, who will study the surface of the moon for 6.5 days — double the longest time any of the Apollo astronauts spent on the surface. The pair of astronauts will carry out four space(moon)walks in total to make various science observations of the surface. Importantly, this will also include the first attempt to gather a sample of water-ice from lunar craters.
The Artemis mission will also feature an unpressurized rover for astronauts to move around faster in. While this moon-mobile will come in very handy during spacewalks, NASA also intends for the rover to have remote control capability for astronauts to call on it without having to walk over to it each time.
While the first mission will deliver the rover, a second Artemis mission scheduled in 2026 is to ferry a pressurized rover to the Moon's surface. Pressurized rovers have far better mileage and could get the astronauts a lot further from the landing site than the first, unpressurized lunar rover.
By 2030, NASA says it could expand the Artemis crew to include four astronauts for 14-day missions to the moon. This will allow the agency to build new facilities — for mining, building, collecting water-ice, and producing oxygen. The companies that were awarded contracts to supply lunar landers for the Artemis mission have been mandated to provide NASA with 35 kg of capacity per lander to ferry back moon rocks, which is also extremely interesting to astrobiologists and astrophysicists alike.
For NASA, the goal, according to Connolly, is to go to the Moon to stay, while also building up capabilities for eventual human missions to Mars.
Also read: NASA unveils new, bunny-hop proof, astronaut spacesuits for its Artemis mission
Also read: NASA may opt for inflatable habitats to house future missions to the moon, Mars and beyond
When Facebook acquired the VR company Oculus a couple of years back, the social media giant had some grand plans for the future of virtual reality. Now it appears that the bet on the future isn't really paying off as per CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Oculus Quest. Reuters
After pouring in $2 billion for the Oculus acquisition, there had been a certain belief that VR was the way to go in the future. However, at the Q3 earnings report, Zuckerberg has said that not everything had gone according to plan.
"On VR and AR, you're right. This is taking a bit longer than we thought. And I'm still optimistic," Zuckerberg said as per Business Insider. "I think that the long-term vision and the reasons why I thought this — we're going to be important and big — are unchanged."
In any case, Zuckerberg has insisted that the VR market is going to pick up fast and Oculus is going to be leading it. Back at Facebook's annual F8 conference, the company unveiled the $399 Oculus Quest device.
Zuckerberg has claimed that in the near future "hundreds of millions of people will be using the Oculus Quest" and he also said that the device is "growing and doing quite well." Most of the growth for this quarter has been driven by Oculus Quest sales, said chief financial officer Dave Wehner.
The FridaysforFuture campaign for school strikes led by Swedish climate activist 16-year-old Greta Thunberg and her peers highlight the importance of treating climate change as an urgent issue.
The theme is simple: to abide by scientific evidences that point out that global average temperatures are inching towards dangerous and irreversible thresholds.
For India, climate change is already an existential threat. Coupled with mismanagement of resources and governance, India faces acute repercussions of climate impacts year-round in the form of extreme and unseasonal rainfall, droughts, floods and heatwaves leading to economic and livelihood losses, food and water security threats.
Greta Thunberg stands with School strike for the climate sign during a strike. Image credit: Wikipedia/Leonhard Lenz
India’s own positioning on climate change issues at global platforms appears impressive. Recently, at the UN Climate Change Summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of revised renewable target of 450 GW, stress on issues of adaptation to increase coping capacity of vulnerable communities, which faces relative marginalisation as compared to industry-driven mitigation pathways, drew applause from the global community. Further, his award as the “Global Goalkeeper” for addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through the flagship Swachh Bharat Mission reiterated India’s commitment and the necessity to rise to the climate crisis in a renewed context.
But the big question is: Is India ready to tackle climate change?
The country faces challenges in the strategic transformation of the power sector. Coal contributes around three-fifths of India’s carbon emissions. India is still the third-largest carbon emitter globally and its power sector is still highly fossilised with around 196 GW of total 347 GW installed power generation capacity by coal and lignite.
During the financial year 2017-18, the country generated around 1228 billion-kWh units (BU) of electricity of which 1044 BU (around 85 percent) was through burning 540 million tonnes of coal and lignite, as per a Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report. The entry of new electric vehicles, clean electric cooking and proliferation of new electrical and electronic equipment is bound to give the Indian thermal power sector a rebound-effect increase.
India’s quest for 450 GW addition of renewables can decarbonise the Indian power sector but will not be an easy task due to massive intermittence and identification for subsequent peak loads.
Suratgarh thermal power plant in Rajjasthan. Image credit: Bhuvantoo/Wikimedia Commons.
Diffusion of the renewable programme, therefore, requires proper guidance and restructuring. The existing position of renewable programme is also not very satisfactory. India has committed to generating 175 GW which is divided into 100 GW solar, 60 GW wind and 15 GW through other resources towards renewable integration by the year 2022. The solar element which forms the largest segment and political interest is subdivided further into two segments, with 60 GW for utility-scale and 40 GW for solar rooftops.
While the progress on the utility-scale solar, wind and other RE components is steady with 36 GW of installation realised by July 2019, the customer centric decentralised and grid-connected solar rooftop projects have gained least traction. The 40 GW solar rooftop (SRT) programme, mainly focused on domestic households, agriculture sector and commercial establishments, is running much behind its targets with poor adoption rates and an added cumulative capacity of just 4.5 GW.
Moreover, India’s industrial and domestic energy consumption structures have challenges in energy intensity and resource utilisation inefficiency. Every time an industrial entity produces aluminium, steel or any other consumer-oriented product without a strict adherence to recycling and/or emphasis on cleaner fuels for manufacturing process, it adds towards more fossilised economy pathways. An approach towards circular economy with emphasis on resource substitution, efficient and minimal resources utilisation, and thrust towards reusing and recycling can help in addressing climate change goals. This can not only decarbonise the economy but also reduce the challenges of environmental degradation and pollution.
Further, the energy and energy efficiency programmes cannot function optimally when they are only focussed on technical and economic potential without addressing the behavioural patterns of actual target audience. With India’s growing energy demand, energy planning has to be strategically thought within the limits of new technology paradigms, material criticality and human behavioural changes. Such programmes must not only be perceived from an investment-drive perspective but also from a necessity point of view.
In 2009, the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change introduced the State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC) for addressing responses to both Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. This action represents a proactive stance from the Government of India in decentralising the efforts towards climate change actions. India has adopted the co-benefits approach as a dominant strategy – measures that promote [India’s] development objectives while also yielding co-benefits for addressing climate change effectively. For a country like India, where development goals cannot be compromised, the co-benefits approach has been a strategy to address climate change concerns, while meeting development needs.
A sign from the climate Strike in Delhi. Image credit: Arnold Joyce.
Strengthening capacities of stakeholders responsible for planning and implementing actions on the ground with enhanced understanding of climate urgency and feasibility in specific local contexts with involvement of communities is essential. This would also help in better coordination of climate actions of line ministries at various levels of governance. Most of the state machinery like public health department, public works department, state pollution control boards and district level committees have issues of sustainable finance, limited capacity and technical know-how on a multi-thematic integrated approach for solutions of complex issues. Along with the states, cities need greater attention and support for climate actions. Towards the goal of capacity building of state and city machinery, India needs dedicated institutions on climate change.
And lastly, mass mobilisation is central to tackle an enormous and encompassing challenge of climate change. In this regard, the role of youth is critical. Even though few have condemned Greta’s action as an example of youth idealism not necessarily directed at results, the message of science-based actions to tackle climate change is expected to maintain her activism as valid and even necessary. It has helped to draw youth attention in India like in other parts of the world. More involvement of youth in school campuses, community programmes such as afforestation, waste management, awareness building will, on one hand, contribute to solving the climate crises while also acting as multipliers for further dissemination of knowledge and learnings. Such actions would also provide wider scope for media coverage.
Children participate in a climate Strike in Delhi. Image credit: Arnold Joyce.
For India, addressing climate change no longer remains a matter of choice. It is a question of survival of its communities in millions that face unseasonal rainfall, prolonged droughts and agricultural shortfalls. Climate impacts are anticipated to push further millions into poverty in coming times. Implementing climate solutions are ongoing, work in progress and involve learning by doing. However, what is required is an integrated, ambitious and urgent approach which requires three-tier changes at policy and institutional level; industrial and applied segments; and consumer level behavioural interventions with the community and citizen participation. The transition, of course, will not be simple and without sacrifices.
Nevertheless, science provides basic foundations to design new pathways to address energy transitions and coping with climate change through technological innovations.
Twitter’s ban on political advertising is ratcheting up pressure on Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg to follow suit. But so far, that doesn’t appear likely to happen.
Facebook’s policy is to accept paid political ads from candidates without fact-checking them or censoring them, even if they contain lies.
And Zuckerberg doubled down on that stand Wednesday following Twitter’s announcement, reiterating that “political speech is important” and that Facebook is loath to interfere with it.
Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites have come under fire over Russia’s use of such platforms to spread misinformation and sow political division in the US during the 2016 presidential campaign. That debate has heated up again in recent weeks along with the 2020 race for the White house.
Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites have come under fire over Russia’s use of such platforms to spread misinformation and sow political division in the U.S. Image: Getty
Twitter chose to respond with a ban on all political advertising , suggesting that social media is so powerful that false or misleading messages pose a risk to democracy.
The timing of the announcement, the same day as Facebook’s quarterly earnings report, seemed designed to goad Zuckerberg.
“The pressure is going to be extremely strong on Facebook to do something similar, and if they don’t, the criticism of Facebook will only increase,” said Tim Bajarin, president of consultancy Creative Strategies.
In fact, some of the Democratic presidential candidates immediately suggested Facebook follow Twitter’s lead.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock tweeted: “Good. Your turn, Facebook.” And Pete Buttigieg said, “I think other online platforms would do well to either accept their responsibility for truth or question whether they should be in the business at all.”
But Zuckerberg stood firm.
“This is complex stuff. Anyone who says the answer is simple hasn’t thought about the nuances and downstream challenges,” the Facebook CEO said. “I don’t think anyone can say that we are not doing what we believe or we haven’t thought hard about these issues.”
"So, you won't take down lies or you will take down lies? I think that's just a pretty simple yes or no."
Complete exchange between @RepAOC @AOC and Mark Zuckerberg at today's House Financial Services Cmte hearing.
Full video here: https://t.co/heT7Psnlp1 pic.twitter.com/0iiWtfU5gQ
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 23, 2019
As for refusing to fact-check political ads, Facebook has said it wants to provide politicians with a “level playing field” for communication and not intervene when they speak, regardless of what they’re saying.
Banning political ads has its own challenges, starting with defining what exactly is political. For example, Greenpeace might not be able to buy an ad urging people to support legislation to fight climate change. But what if an oil company wanted to run an ad for its products that also seemed to come out against such legislation?
Twitter and Facebook already take steps to prevent political manipulation by verifying the identities of political advertisers — measures prompted by the furor over Moscow’s interference. But the verifying systems, which rely on both humans and automated systems, have not been perfect.
In one case, Facebook mistakenly took down ads for Bush’s baked beans because they contained the word “Bush” and the food company was not registered with Facebook as a political advertiser. Media organizations have also seen their ads flagged for review when they promoted news stories about candidates or important issues.
And then there’s the question of what to do with individual posts from politicians or other opinion makers, which can carry political messages and be shared widely even though they are not paid ads.
Details about Twitter’s new policy won’t be released until 15 November, a week before it takes effect. But Twitter does call for removing not just campaign advertisements but also ads on issues of legislative importance. That could include such topics as climate change, gun control and immigration.
EMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said Zuckerberg’s stance probably isn’t a financial decision, since political ads aren’t big moneymakers.
Facebook, which had 2018 revenue of $55.8 billion, said Wednesday that it expects ads from politicians to account for less than 0.5 percent of its revenue next year.
Twitter, which had revenue last year of about $3 billion, is thought to make even less from the ads; it said it brought in only $3 million from political ads during the 2018 midterms.
“It is a really complicated decision,” Williamson said. “I think that Mark Zuckerberg is truly struggling with figuring out what is the best thing to do for the company and Facebook users.”
Wedbush Securities managing director Michael Pachter likewise said the Facebook founder is trying to pull off a tricky balancing act.
“Zuckerberg is trying to satisfy investors by growing revenues and satisfy regulators and legislators by cracking down on false and misleading ads, while maintaining the virtuous stance of being a defender of free speech,” Pachter said.
Daniel Kreiss, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina, said that a middle ground for Twitter and Facebook might be to allow political ads but to prohibit targeting, or showing them only to specific groups of people.
If campaigns aren’t allowed to target, he said, messages will become broader and perhaps less misleading.
Laura Packard, a partner at PowerThru, a digital consulting firm that works with left-of-center campaigns and advocacy groups, said Twitter’s ban was the right decision for voters.
“This might make my work harder,” she said. “But in general, I think that if any platform cannot police misinformation and lies, then they shouldn’t offer paid advertising.”
The suit against Facebook contends that women and older people were denied the benefits of ads for financial services because Facebook tools allow messages to be targeted at specific age ranges or genders.
Despite a wealth of changes in the photography market over the last few years, it still seems that Canon manages to provide an option for pretty much every kind of photographer.
Whether you're just taking your baby steps or shooting assignments for commercial clients, or (more likely) you're somewhere in between, there's a very good chance that an option with Canon's EOS, PowerShot or IXUS branding would fit your requirements as much as your budget.
The company is perhaps best known for its EOS DSLRs, but it maintains a collection of powerful compact cameras and has also now notched up many mirrorless offerings that rival their DSLR cousins for performance. It's also spent the last few years bolstering its Cinema EOS line with video-centric options fit for broadcast-quality filming, and has just recently broken the full-frame mirrorless seal with its EOS R camera.
By providing so many options across all levels, it's easy to see both a logical first camera or an upgrade if you're an existing Canon use
By providing so many options across all levels, it's easy to see both a logical first camera or an upgrade if you're an existing Canon user, but which are the best options from its expansive sea of offerings? We've plucked out ten current cameras that in some way stand out from everything currently on offer.
Still very much the pro-favourite all-rounder in the EOS line, the 4K-shooting EOS 5D Mark IV is used by photographers and filmmakers alike, and goes up against the likes of the Nikon D850 and a handful of flagship mirrorless competitors.
Being about three years old means that it might appear a little behind in a number of areas on the spec sheet, but the EOS line has always prioritised wide appeal and reliability over class-beating specs. To that end, we get a 30.4MP full-frame sensor with a Dual Pixel CMOS AF system for smooth focusing during live view and video, together with 7fps burst shooting, great high-ISO performance and a sturdy body that’s the result of many tweaks and refinements from previous EOS 5D generation cameras.
4K video is subject to a crop factor, however, and the use of the Motion JPEG makes for fairly hefty video files, but this is not a deal-breaker – particularly as the Full HD options are more than sufficient for most people.
It arrived a little later than its more expensive full-frame mirrorless sibling but the EOS RP takes top spot for being the Canon's best mirrorless camera by virtue of its affordability and its topnotch performance. It's compact and easy to use, so even beginners will be able to quickly find their way around the EOS RP. However, it's small size does occasionally make the camera feel overbalanced when using larger lenses.
And while it does have 4K video recording, it comes with a 1.6x crop factor and you won't be able to use Canon's trusted Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus system unless you shoot in 1080p Full HD resolution. Besides that, though, the EOS RP has excellent AF performance, produces vibrant and sharp images, boasts a wonderfully responsive rear LCD touchscreen and can be used with existing EF lenses with a lens adaptor.
The Canon EOS M50 has, for a while now, been one of our favourite Canon mirrorless cameras for many reasons, but with the arrival of the EOS M6 Mark II, there's a new king in town. It's compact and a great choice for a travelling companion and, if the idea of no viewfinder puts you off, you can easily attach one.
That tiny body houses a 32.5MP APS-C sensor (the same one that's in the Canon EOS 90D listed below) and, working with a Digic 8 image processor, offers up to 14fps continuous shooting – great for sports, wildlife, street photography and so much more.
Unlike the EOS RP mentioned above, 4K video is uncropped, utilizing the entire width of the sensor, and there's also a microphone input socket and a screen that faces all the way forward – this one's for the vloggers.
Long popular with vloggers, Canon’s G7X range has kicked it up a notch with its latest implementation. There’s still a very capable 20.1MP one-inch sensor, but now it’s also equipped with uncropped 4K video recording, and, something which had been requested many times, a microphone socket.
That means you can elevate the sound above and beyond the internal mic’s offering, if you want to. Furthermore, the G7X III can stream directly to YouTube, so you can live vlog whatever’s happening around you, without having to downgrade to using your smartphone. USB charging is another great feature which means you can give it power bursts on the go, particularly prudent if you’ve been shooting a lot of 4K video.
As we found in our review, Canon’s first full-frame mirrorless camera is something of a hit-and-miss affair, but for some Canon users looking to step up to something more capable, it may just be ideal.
While the model retains much of what makes the EOS DSLR line special, Canon has thrown in a superb electronic viewfinder with a 3.69-million dot resolution. We’re also very encouraged by the new lenses that have been released so far, although Canon has continued support for its exhaustive EF lens system through three separate adapters.
It would have been nice to see an AF lever, sensor-based image stabilisation and an additional card slot to make the model truly competitive, but the camera is at least blessed with excellent autofocus, good handling and very sound image quality. If you’re a user of older EOS 5D or double-digit models and you’re looking to step up the the very latest in Canon’s full-frame tech, you should find adopting the EOS R to be a pain-free affair.
Many entry-level DSLRs suffer from being somewhat bland on the spec sheet and uninspiring in use, but the EOS Rebel SL2 (known as the EOS 200D outside the US) adds a handful of useful technologies to make it far more capable and enjoyable to shoot with.
So, for example, Canon’s excellent Dual Pixel CMOS AF system is present for swift focusing in live view and during video recording, which also means that you can happily use it much like a mirrorless camera without the same kind of focus lagging common to other DSLR live-view systems.
You also get a flip out touchscreen that lets you shoot from all kinds of awkward positions, and even a mic port for better audio recording during videos. True, it’s not quite as compact as the previous EOS 100D, although this arguably makes it a better option if you plan on using longer or heavier lenses, such as nice wide-aperture prime lens for portraits or a dedicated macro optic.
If you aren't too sold on the full-frame mirrorless phenomenon and would still prefer a DSLR, then the EOS 6D Mark II is Canon's most affordable option yet. What the full frame does is offer superior image quality thanks to its rather good pixel count and the larger size of its individual pixels that allow them to capture more light. That also means the camera's noise performance is also pretty good.
While its 45-point autofocus system and 1080p Full HD video seem dated today, the camera's performance is excellent and there's no cause for complaint, particularly when you can use Canon's excellent Dual Pixel CMOS AF for live view photography. Even its 6.5fps has proven to be sufficient for wildlife photography.
However, it's the overall design and layout of the body that pleases us – controls are intuitively laid out and the grip is comfortable, even if you have small mitts. The rear screen is touch-enabled and you can tap to focus and to shoot. Moreover, it's current price makes it a great option for anyone on a budget and the extensive EF lens range will keep anyone happy.
Just when most people assumed that DSLRs were going to die a slow death, Canon decided to prove otherwise. The EOS 90D is the first camera of its kind to boast a 32.5MP sensor and, alongside a Digic 8 processor, gives the snapper the ability to capture 4K video at up to 30fps which, thankfully is uncropped. While it's the same sensor and image engine pairing as the EOS M6 Mark II mentioned above, the EOS 90D doesn't quite have the speed of its mirrorless cousin, instead topping out 11fps when shooting continuously in live view mode.
There's a new metering sensor under the hood as well and its performance is excellent, exposing areas of light and shadow to near-perfection. However, we did find that due to the high pixel density on the crop sensor, noise performance isn't the best but for the most part that can be taken care of during post production.
The battery has a CIPA rating of 1,300 shots but our tests showed the camera is capable of well over that, which is way more than what you'd get from the average mirrorless camera. All in all, a wonderfully versatile snapper for anyone who prefers the DSLR experience.
Canon has announced the development of the EOS 1D X Mark III, but until such time it's been tried and tested, the Mark II remains our go-to Canon sports DSLR. At the time of its launch almost four years ago, the EOS 1D X Mark II brought many layers of new technology to broaden its appeal among working professionals and continues to do so.
Notably, Canon chose to include 4K video recording at up to 60p, while also adding a touchscreen to ease operation. It also installed its tried-and-tested sensor-based Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology to keep focus swift and accurate whether you’re using live view or shooting videos, together with a fresh 20.2MP full-frame sensor to deliver the best combination of dynamic range and high-ISO performance, keeping the pixel count modest to allow for 14fps burst shooting (which you can boost to 16fps when using live view).
Yes, it’s a large, weighty and expensive bit of kit, and the arrival of a slew of high-performing mirrorless bodies, particularly the Sony Alpha A9 II, may challenge its dominance in the world of sport photography in years to come, but using it makes you realise just why Canon got to this position in the first place.
Canon has managed to pack a lot into this little pocket rocket, combining a stacked CMOS sensor with a Digic 8 imaging engine. This gives the PowerShot G5 X Mark II the ability to capture stills at a blitzing pace of 30fps when shooting RAW, or 20fps when shooting conventionally.
ISO performance has been improved over the previous iteration of this camera and 4K video capture added. For those who prefer a viewfinder to using the rear LCD screen, the pop-up EVF has a darn good resolution of 2.36 million dots. Despite packing in an EVF, Canon has even managed to add a flash to the camera. There's even an ND filter available on board if you happen to be shooting in brilliant sunlight.
Noise performance is pretty good for a camera with a 1-inch sensor, although the 4K video quality isn't something to write home about, particularly when compared to the likes of Sony's latest Cyber-shot RX100 range. Despite that, the G5 X Mark II is an excellent choice for a compact, provided you've got the spare change for it.
Plenty of tech companies are trying their hand at subscription services by this stage, and Apple is certainly ramping it up with its Apple Music and Apple Arcade platforms, along with the imminent Apple TV Plus service set to take on the likes of Netflix.
Following Apple’s earnings call and comments by CEO Tim Cook, CNBC has speculated that the tech giant could even consider implementing a premium subscription service for its iPhone line of handsets.
When asked whether Apple would consider an Amazon Prime-esque offering, Cook responded saying, “In terms of hardware as a service or as a bundle, if you will, there are customers today that essentially view the hardware like that because they’re on upgrade plans and so forth. So to some degree that exists today.”
While this is certainly not confirmation that the company has plans to roll out such a service, it could be viewed as a hint towards it due to the fact that Cook “did not shoot down the idea”, as CNBC puts it.
It could also be argued that it would make sense for Apple to sell one of its core products in a way that assured it would get a more consistent stream of revenue, and for customers wanting to upgrade to the latest handset without having to pay large sums at once.
As Cook pointed out, customers are already approaching iPhones in this way, by carrier plans that allow them to upgrade their handset after a set amount of time, or by using the company’s own Apple Upgrade Program.
The latter of these, along with the increasing promotion and success of official trade-in programs, indicates that there certainly is a market for iPhone customers wanting to upgrade their device every year but aren’t as concerned with owning it outright.
Alternatively, Tim Cook’s initial comment could be interpreted as suggesting that the existing iPhone sales model is as good as a subscription service and, hence, wouldn’t need to change. However, a later comment lends more weight to the fact that it might well do just that:
“We’re cognizant that there are lots of users out there that want a sort of a recurring payment and the receipt of new products on some sort of standard kind of basis,” Cook said, “and we’re committed to make that easier to do than perhaps it is today”.
Chemical residues released from pharmaceutical and personal care products are not only becoming a major contaminant of water bodies in urban areas but are also becoming a source of drug resistance in the environment, a new study has warned.
The study, which evaluated the vulnerability and resilience of urban water bodies in Guwahati city, found the presence of viruses and multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli, or E Coli in samples collected from the Brahmaputra river.
Deepor Beel — a freshwater wetland — was found to be the least polluted in comparison to the Brahmaputra river and Bharalu, the tributary turned urban drain.
Raw sewage flows into the river. Image credit: AP
Researchers analysed occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, intestine occurring virus, antibiotic resistant bacteria, metal, faecal contamination and antibiotic resistance genes, as well as the long term changes in precipitation and temperature of water.
Some microbes displayed 100 per cent resistance to major antibiotics — levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, kanamycin monosulphate and sulfamethoxazole.
“The Brahmaputra due its high diluting capacity through enormous discharge is providing resilience to urban water and all the pollution added by the city drains gets diluted in the downstream,” pointed out Manish Kumar of Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, who led the study, while speaking to India Science Wire.
The results are published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The research team included scientists from Sri Lanka and Japan as well.
Water samples were collected from the Brahmaputra before it entered the city as well as before its water got mixed with Bharalu. Another set of samples was collected from after downstream mixing, and then from the location at ten kilometres downstream of Guwahati city. The other three samples were collected from upstream to the confluence point of Bharalu.
It was found that the concentration of pharmaceutical and personal care products were high in drain samples and very low in lake and river water.
A map that shows the flow of the Brahmaputra river. Image credit: Britannica
Researchers said it was clear that pharmaceutical and personal care product residues were directly associated with raw sewage and hence not detected in upstream or downstream of the Brahmaputra, or in the Deepor Beel wetland.
The study further reports contamination of drain water by toxic metals like arsenic, cobalt and manganese correlates with water quality parameters such as acidity and appear to be inducing antibiotic resistance in E.coli bacteria.
“As there are not much new antibiotics discovered all over the world, the existence of superbug, resistant to several antibiotics is alarming,” commented Ryo Honda, another member of the team from Japan.
“Hundred per cent resistances for all six antibiotics that we have tested is the result, we never expected,” added another team member Tushara Chaminda from Sri Lanka.
Widespread use of antibiotics must be controlled through the attention of scientists, policymakers, and medical practitioners.
“It is time to adopt a holistic approach for vulnerability and resilience evaluation of water systems and to revise the ambient water quality guidelines by including new age parameters,” Kumar added.
In recent times spyware has become quite a threat to society and information stored on your smartphones is under an even greater threat than before.
A representation image of the Pegasus spyware by Kaspersky.
Isreali company NSO, whose bread and butter is developing spyware, has been put in the limelight the past couple of days for allegedly using WhatsApp to snoop around several high-profile individuals in many countries including India. The word Pegasus keeps cropping up in association with NSO and the spying that the company is doing.
Pegasus is a modular malware that can initiate total surveillance on the targeted device, says a report by digital security company Kaspersky. It installs the necessary modules to read the user’s messages and mail, listen to calls, send back the browser history and more, which basically means taking control of nearly all aspects of your digital life. It can even listen in to encrypted audio and text files on your device that makes all the data on your device up for grabs.
It was first discovered to Ahmed Mansoor, a UAE human rights activist, who happened to be one of its targets. He received several suspicious SMS' on his device containing what he believed to be malicious links. He sent these messages to security experts from Citizen Lab, who along with another cybersecurity firm called Lookout confirmed the existence of Pegasus and also called it the most sophisticated malware currently in existence.
So how can we detect if our device has been infected with Pegasus? As per the report, that is not an easy task to do as the malware tries to hide quite diligently. It will self-delete if it does not hear from the command server for more than 60 days, or if it detects that it has been downloaded on the wrong device.
Researchers from Lookout revealed that Pegasus exists not only for iOS but for Android as well. For the latter, the malware has been dubbed Chrysaor and it is quite similar to Pegasus, which attacks only iOS devices, but different in terms of the techniques it uses to penetrate the device.
The report states that for iOS users, Pegasus relies on three zero-day (previously unknown) vulnerabilities which could be used to remotely jailbreak the device. A zero-day vulnerability means that the developers or software experts have just learned about the flaw and as such, there is no security patch to prevent the flaw. For Android, Chrysaor does not rely on a zero-day vulnerability but instead uses a sophisticated rooting method called Framaroot to install surveillance on the target device.
Learning about the Pegasus vulnerability, Apple has immediately issued a security update (9.3.5) that patched all three of the aforementioned vulnerabilities. Google has notified directly to all those Android users who have been affected by Pegasus and it is in the process of issuing a patch for the issue.
Our list of phones under Rs 20,000 this month is dominated by Xiaomi and its sub-brands. But there’s some stiff competition too. What’s more important is the kind of features and processing power that buyers can get in this budget these days. From sharp Super AMOLED displays to 64 MP cameras to 256 GB of internal storage, you can find it all here. So let's jump into the action and check what your best options are under 20K currently.
Realme XT (Review) was the first phone with a 64 MP camera that the Oppo sub-brand launched in India. And if that wasn’t enough, Realme chose to add three more cameras at the back to give it company. The quad-camera setup comprises of the main 64 MP camera, an 8 MP ultra-wide shooter, 2 MP dedicated macro camera, and a 2 MP depth sensor. The main camera supports pixel binning and captures some impressive 16 MP images in varied lighting conditions including low light. The images have a good amount of detail along with natural colours.
Realme XT runs Android 9.0 Pie with the pleasant Color OS 6.0 UI on top.
While the 64 MP camera is its marketing mouthpiece, the other features of the phone are even more impressive. The design is elegant and has a glass back that is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5, and so is its sharp 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Full HD+ display. There’s an in-display fingerprint scanner too. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC which is a great choice in this segment. Its 4,000 mAh battery keeps the phone powered for a day and a half of moderate usage. But what’s even better is the bundled VOOC 3.0 fast charger that refills it from 0 to 100 in under 90 minutes, with the first 50 percent recharge taking just 30 minutes.
Realme XT runs Android 9.0 Pie with the pleasant Color OS 6.0 UI on top. The 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage variant is available in this budget too, but 8 GB RAM is a bit of an overkill on this chipset. So, you can choose to save a couple of thousand Rupees and opt for the 6 GB RAM / 64 GB storage variant instead. You can always pop in a micro SD card and increase the storage.
Realme XT price in India: Rs 16,999 for 6 GB RAM / 64 GB storage; Rs 18,999 for 8 GB RAM / 128 GB storage
Redmi Note 8 Pro (Review) is Xiaomi’s answer to Realme XT. This too comes with the exact quad camera combination at the back, with the 64 MP sensor being the flag-bearer. Camera performance is comparable but the colours and contrast are slightly spiced up. While purists won’t appreciate it, social media enthusiasts may actually like it. The phone's design is as good as the XT’s with a glass back and Gorilla Glass 5 protection at the front as well as at the back. The phone is on the larger side courtesy of its 6.53-inch Full HD+ display. The company hasn’t opted for an AMOLED screen here but the display is sharp and supports HDR.
Redmi Note 8 Pro is powered by Mediatek Helio G90T SoC which raises the performance bar in the midrange segment.
The protagonist of the Redmi Note 8 Pro is its Mediatek Helio G90T SoC which raises the performance bar in the midrange segment. Not only does it outperform its Qualcomm counterparts in system benchmarks, it comfortably takes the honours in gaming performance as well. One can play PUBG Mobile on it in Ultra mode with HDR on — that’s some performance for the segment. It has a 4,500 mAh battery that can last you for a couple of days of moderate usage without much gaming, and just over a day if you indulge in ample gaming.
It runs Android 9.0 Pie with MIUI 10 on top. You again get an 8 GB variant of the phone with 128 GB storage for 2K more, but you won’t see any noticeable performance gain over the 6 GB RAM variant.
Redmi Note 8 Pro price in India: Rs 15,999 for 6 GB RAM / 128 GB storage; Rs 17,999 for 8 GB RAM / 128 GB storage
The next Xiaomi phone on the list is the Redmi K20. The K20 has a more practical but competent triple camera setup comprising a 48 MP main camera with a Sony IMX582 sensor, 13 MP ultra-wide camera with a 125-degrees FOV, and an 8 MP telephoto lens that facilitates 2X optical zoom. They manage to capture some really sharp images in varied lighting conditions. You also get an option to record super slo-mo 720p videos at 960 fps. And there’s a 20 MP pop-up selfie camera too that adds to the cool quotient of this device.
The Redmi K20 runs Android Pie with MIUI 10 on top and is equipped with a 4,000 mAh battery.
With a glass body and Aura Prime design, the Redmi K20 has one of the most attractive designs among mid-range phones. There’s a 6.4-inch Full HD+ all-screen notch-less AMOLED display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. There’s also an in-display fingerprint scanner. The phone is powered by an upper-midrange Snapdragon 730 SoC and comes bundled with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. There’s also a 128 GB variant that sells for 3K more and one can give it a serious thought as there is no memory card slot here. A 4,000 mAh battery keeps the phone running for over a day of moderate usage. The Redmi K20 runs Android Pie with MIUI 10 on top.
Redmi K20 price in India: Rs 19,999 for 6 GB RAM / 64 GB storage
We can’t keep this phone out of our lists, can we? Xiaomi sub-brand, Poco last year launched a phone with Qualcomm’s then flagship Snapdragon 845 SoC for just over 20K in India. While its base variant was priced at 21K at launch, you can now get its top end variant with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage for just Rs 18,999. You can add another 256 GB to it using a microSD card, just in case. The design isn’t the most eye-catching, but it is still a beast when it comes to performance.
The Poco F1 (Review) comes with a 6.18-inch full HD+ notched display and a 12 MP + 5 MP dual camera setup at the back that does a good job in average to good lighting. The image quality is pretty good, but is nothing fancy. There’s also a more than decent 20 MP front camera for selfies. But this is mainly a phone for gamers on a budget than for camera enthusiasts. If you are looking to play PUBG in its full glory on a tight budget, Poco F1 is still an excellent option. The Poco launcher on top of Android 9.0 Pie remains a better alternative to MIUI that you get in most Xiaomi phones.
Poco F1 price in India: Rs 15,999 for 6 GB RAM / 128 GB storage; Rs 18,999 for 8 GB RAM / 256 GB storage
If you are looking for a classier version of the Poco F1, Asus Zenfone 5Z (Review) is a great option. This too boasts of a Snapdragon 845 chip, and now you can buy its mid variant with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage under 20K, which is a great deal. The storage can be expanded further up to 2 TB with a microSD card.
It has 12 MP+8 MP dual rear cameras that do an impressive job in most lighting conditions courtesy of an f/1.8, 24 mm wide-angle lens with large pixel size and 4-axis optical image stabilisation. It can also record 4K videos at 30 fps and slow-mo videos at 1080p and 720p resolution at 120 and 240 fps respectively.
The Zenfone 5Z looks and feels premium thanks to its glass and aluminium body. The 6.2-inch Full HD+ notched display is really sharp and the phone feels fairly compact in hand. The Zenfone 5Z is a solid all-round phone with premium looks, very good cameras, a powerful SoC, and now at a great price. The phone runs Android 9.0 Pie with ZenUI on top.
Asus Zenfone 5Z price in India: Rs 18,999 for 6 GB RAM / 128 GB storage
Ten minutes charging time to add 200 miles of driving range: scientists in the US have claimed a technological breakthrough that could resolve one of the key concerns surrounding all-electric vehicles. Writing in the journal Joule on Wednesday, researchers at The Pennsylvania State University said that such a speedy charge rate required a battery to rapidly take in 400 kilowatts of energy.
Current generation vehicles are not capable of this feat as it risks the lithium plating, the formation of metallic lithium around the anode, which would severely deteriorate battery life. To get around this constraint, the researchers raised the temperature of their experimental battery to 60 degrees Celsius during the charge cycle, then lowered it back down as it was used.
(Also read: Everything electric: How to go about achieving an all-electric future within the next decade)
Current generation Tesla vehicles require about 30 minutes for a partial charge. Representational Image: Pixabay
What this does is "limit the battery's exposure to the elevated charge temperature, thus generating a very long cycle life," said senior author Chao-Yang Wang, a mechanical engineer at The Pennsylvania State University. But scaling up the design and bringing it to market may take a decade, Rick Sachleben, a member of the American Chemical Society told AFP. Makers will need to make sure that rapidly raising the temperature is safe and stable, and doesn't lead to explosions given the phenomenal amount of energy that is being transferred.
"Fast charging is one of the holy grails of electric vehicles," he said. "It's one of the things that is necessary for them to compete with petroleum-fueled internal combustion engines."
Current generation Tesla vehicles require about 30 minutes for a partial charge.
The first trailer for Netflix's upcoming TV adaptation of The Witcher offered but a taste of what we could expect from the highly-anticipated show, but now a full trailer has landed which grants us a better look at the show's epic scale, along with Henry Cavill's titular Witcher, Geralt of Rivia.
The creative team behind Netflix's The Witcher has repeatedly stressed that its series is based on Andrzej Sapkowski's original novels rather than CD Projekt Red's video game adaptations.
That said, it's clear that at least some inspiration has been taken from the latter, with self-confessed superfan Cavill sounding near identical to Doug Cockle's interpretation of the character from the celebrated games.
The trailer also marks the live action debut of 'Bathtub Geralt', a clear reference to a famous cut scene from The Witcher III: Wild Hunt.
Along with his voice, fans of The Witcher games will also note that Geralt's twirly, balletic style of sword fighting has made it over to the live action TV adaptation.
Based on the action and intrigue-filled trailer below, we can expect to see plenty of small and large scale battles in the show when it lands on Netflix on December 20, 2019.
A bug recently made its way through Apple's App Store and removed over 20 million ratings from apps.
According to a report by TechCrunch, App Figures first spotted the bug, which apparently broke out last week, and as of 29 October, the issue was reportedly resolved.
Representational image.
The bug affected more than 300 popular apps including Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Nike. Reportedly, 155 countries were affected by this and on average, the apps saw a 50 percent decrease in ratings in these countries. However, some apps got it worse than the others. App Figures reports, "Hulu lost 95 percent of its ratings in the US. Chase and Dropbox lost about 85 percent of their ratings in the US."
WOW @Starbucks iOS app lost about 1.3mln of ratings overnight! @hulu lost about 900k, as well as dozens of other apps.
I hope this is just @AppStore bug. pic.twitter.com/cUIrb8yeeN— ilia kukharev (@ilyakuh) October 28, 2019
Apple has now restored ratings to all affected apps.
Hulu lost 95% of its ratings last week in a sweep/error by Apple that wiped more than 20 million ratings across hundreds of apps https://t.co/MH8GQICKTg #iOSDev #AppStore pic.twitter.com/9J5E0cTTlo
— Appfigures (@appfigures) October 28, 2019
Developers speculate that this may have an error or that Apple could possibly be working on cleaning up fake app ratings. However, App Figures found that both positive and negative ratings were removed, hinting that the 'clean up theory' may be unlikely:
"Three and four-star ratings were hit the hardest, with a decrease of 40 percent and 41 percent respectively. Two-star ratings saw a decrease of 36 percent while 5-star ratings, which would normally be where most fake ratings are, saw a drop of 35 percent and one-star ratings dipped by 30 percent. All-in-all, suggesting that maybe that isn’t the real explanation."
It was revealed yesterday that Facebook-owned online messaging platform WhatsApp sued Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group on Tuesday, accusing it of helping government spies break into the phones of roughly 1,400 users. Now it appears that some of those users had been Indian journalists.
WhatsApp.
A WhatsApp spokesperson told Indian Express that the company was aware of those targeted and had contacted each one of them.
WhatsApp first found a cyberattack involving a vulnerability in their video-calling feature back in May, wherein users were being attacked with spyware via a malicious video call, that would affect their device even without them answering the call.
“Indian journalists and human rights activists have been the target of surveillance and while I cannot reveal their identities and the exact number, I can say that it is not an insignificant number,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in an interview with Indian Express.
WhatsApp head had said that their investigation led them to servers and Internet-hosting services that were previously associated with NSO.
Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research laboratory based at the University of Toronto that worked with WhatsApp to investigate the phone hacking, told Reuters that the targets included well-known television personalities, prominent women who had been subjected to online hate campaigns and people who had faced “assassination attempts and threats of violence.”
Neither Citizen Lab nor WhatsApp identified the targets by name.
(Also read: WhatsApp security breach: Amnesty international files lawsuit against NSO group)
Governments have increasingly turned to sophisticated hacking software as officials seek to push their surveillance power into the furthest corners of their citizens' digital lives.
As of now, you can only run one WhatsApp account on your registered device.
If You Have Dry Throat Issues, You Need This. Complete Air Purification And Humidification, in one purifier.
Looking for a monstrously good time this Halloween but don't want to leave the house? Well, what better way to celebrate this positively ghoulish time of year than to cosy up on the couch (or behind it) and have your own horror movie marathon?
Video streaming services is more popular than ever in Australia, and that means Aussie horror fans now have quick and convenient access to a huge variety of genre favourites and newcomers.
Here are our recommendations for the most frightfully entertaining horror movies currently streaming on Australian SVOD services.
Horror fans know an instant classic when they see one, and writer-director Ari Aster's debut film Hereditary is exactly that. A film that chills to the bone, Hereditary follows a troubled family that's haunted by the dark secrets of its own ancestry. Australia's own Toni Collette gives a revelatory performance as Annie, a mother who's driven to uncover her family's cryptic past after an immensely tragic occurrence leaves them devastated. Trust us when we tell you that Hereditary is quite disturbing – there are moments of horror in the film that will leave you utterly speechless, while other scenes lean into truly uncomfortable darkness that's seldom explored in this type of film. While it can be a tough watch at times, Hereditary is a rewarding and immaculately-crafted horror experience that's well worth taking.
Watch Hereditary on Netflix right now
The remake to the classic splatter flick The Evil Dead, this 2013 version takes the series in an even gorier direction than before. Director Fede Alvarez (Don't Breathe) ratchets the tension by leaving out the slapstick comedy that the series ended up embracing from Evil Dead II onwards. Though no one in the cast can fill the Bruce Campbell-sized void left behind by the star's absence from this particular entry, the film is a slime-covered blast that puts its actors through hell regardless – just the way it should be.
From Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Avengers) and Drew Goddard (Cloverfield, Marvel's Daredevil) comes an extremely-meta take on a well-worn horror scenario. It all starts as you'd expect – a group of young people (including a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth) take a break from college to go relax at a 'cabin in the woods' and before long, all hell breaks loose. What these kids don't know, however, is that a secret organisation is behind all of the horrors they're experiencing. To reveal any more than that would ruin the film's many surprises, so trust us when we say that The Cabin in the Woods is clever, hilarious, gory and a must-see for any self-respecting horror fan that wants to see their genre expectations flipped.
Watch The Cabin in the Woods on Netflix
Before she kicked butt in the 2019 scare flick Ready or Not, Australia's own Samara Weaving starred in the demented Netflix Original horror comedy The Babysitter, from director McG (Charlie's Angels). It's not uncommon for young people to develop a crush on their babysitter, but what happens when that sitter turns out to be a sadistic, devil-worshipping killer with a group of equally psychotic friends? Gory and funny in equal measure, The Babysitter is destined to become a Halloween sleepover favourite amongst teenagers.
Watch The Babysitter on Netflix
Though it was remade a couple years back, the original Carrie, directed by Brian De Palma, is a horror masterpiece that has the distinction of being the first movie adapted from one of Stephen King's novels. Thanks to a religiously domineering mother (Piper Laurie), Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is a social outcast at school. Relentlessly tormented at home and at school, Carrie starts developing telekinetic powers as a means of defence. Things start looking up for Carrie when the most popular guy in school (William Katt) asks Carrie to go to the prom with him. However, her classmates have planned a prank on her on prom night that is sure to have explosive consequences. Featuring a young John Travolta in his first film role, Carrie is one of the best horror movies ever made.
A movie that has likely made countless tourists hesitant to travel across the Outback, Wolf Creek became a global sensation when it released back in 2005, with its memorably-ocker killer Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) gaining immediate admittance to the horror villain 'hall of fame' thanks to his bloodlust and his sick sense of humour. Loosely based on the Ivan Milat killings and the Bradley John Murdoch murder of English tourist Peter Falconio, Wolf Creek is a nail-bitingly intense horror film that some people may find hard to stomach.
Scared of clowns? Terrifier's Art the Clown makes Pennywise look like Ronald McDonald. Set on Halloween night, Terrifier sees a homicidal clown named Art terrorise helpless victims in an old, rundown tenement building. Sure, it's not the most original plot of all time, but it's quite effective. One kill in particular will make even the most hardened horror fans wince (seriously, this film is not for the squeamish). While Terrifier has a relatively low budget compared to the other horror films on this list, it actually grants the film a creepier, more unsettling vibe. Some of acting from the victims is a little questionable, but the totally-silent character of Art is consistently terrifying, making Terrifier the perfect title for this grimy little horror flick.
We aren't normally that keen on US remakes of classic foreign horror films around these parts, but director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) knocked it out of the park with The Ring, an English-language take on the classic Hideo Nakata-directed J-horror, Ringu. The premise is simple: there's a cursed videotape that will kill you seven days after watching it. Unfortunately, the young son of journalist Rachel (Naomi Watts) has watched the video, and now she must unravel the mystery behind the tape if she has any hope of keeping her child alive. Truly skin-crawling, The Ring is one of the best horror remakes of all time.
Feeling a bit like Re-Animator crossed with Wolfenstein, the J.J. Abrams-produced horror flick Overlord sees a group of American soldiers in WWII go behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France only to discover that the Third Reich is creating super soldiers from dead prisoners. Intense, relentless and filled with action-packed mayhem, the Aussie-directed Overlord isn't afraid to get gory in its quest to freak out audiences.
Watch Overlord on Amazon Prime Video
Another homegrown horror film for the list, The Babadook is one of the most critically-acclaimed horror films released in the last few years, making a huge splash overseas and winning a number of awards in the process. After losing her husband in a terrible accident, a mother has to come to grips her young son's intense fear of a (twisted) children's book monster that he believes is terrorising him. Though she dismisses his stories at first, his horrified reactions start to intensify, and before long, this evil presence known as The Babadook aggressively comes after her. Original, unpredictable and legitimately scary, The Babadook taps into every child's most primal fears, regardless of their age.
Watch The Babadook on Amazon Prime Video
From Aussie director James Wan (Saw, Insidious) comes this spooky story of a family terrorised by a demonic presence. Inspired by (supposedly) true events from the lives of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, The Conjuring is a non-stop 'frightmare' that will have you covering your eyes on more than one occasion. And, if you enjoy this film, you can also follow it up with the equally-terrifying sequel, The Conjuring 2 – also available to stream on Netflix.
Watch The Conjuring on Netflix
An alien film that was underappreciated at the time of its release in 1982 (you can blame Steven Spielberg's warm and fuzzy E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for that), John Carpenter's The Thing has since earned the distinction of being considered an undisputed masterpiece of horror cinema. A cold and gruelling film, The Thing deals with an American research team in Antarctica who is being hunted by a grotesque shapeshifter. Able to perfectly mimic any person or creature, it becomes impossible for anyone in the team to be trusted, leading to a highly paranoid atmosphere with no escape. Featuring incredible horror makeup effects from Rob Bottin and a terrific cast of actors that includes Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley and Keith David, The Thing is required viewing for any horror fan.
"What's your favourite scary movie?" asks Ghostface, the mysterious killer in director Wes Craven's Scream series, which sees horror film obsessed killers repeatedly stalk and attempt to murder Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her friends over the course of four films. The first (and undoubtedly best) film single-handedly revitalised the flagging horror genre upon its release in 1996, inspiring movie countless imitators in the process. What many of those films lacked, however, is a clever and biting 'whodunnit' script which somehow manages to parody well-worn horror conventions while simultaneously paying respect to them. To answer Ghostface's question, yes we do like scary movies – particularly this one.
Watch Scream on Amazon Prime Video
Watch Scream on Stan
An edge-of-your-seat thriller, A Quiet Place manages to make total silence suspenseful as hell. This is because the film sees its characters pursued by blind creatures that hunt solely by sound. After losing a young child to these creatures, a young family, led by John Krasinski (Jack Ryan) and Emily Blunt (Sicario), must learn to remain completely silent at all times – even in the face of extreme danger. Krasinski, who also writes and directs the film, cranks up the tension in every single quiet moment – every tiny creak or noise could lead to the characters' deaths, forcing the audience to also sit in silence and play close attention. That sounds pretty good to us.
Watch A Quiet Place on Amazon Prime Video
Considered by many to be the scariest film of all time, The Exorcist sees teenage girl Regan (Linda Blair) become possessed by the devil, leading her desperate mother (Ellen Burstyn) to seek the help of two priests (Max von Sydow and Jason Miller) who will attempt to expunge this evil entity. Oscar winning filmmaker William Friedkin (The French Connection) directs the hell out of The Exorcist, presenting the story's rapidly escalating horror with complete and utter effectiveness all the way until the film's unforgettable climax.
