PC Pro September 2015

Apple’s streaming service, Music, was only announced in June (see p10), but as far back as April the European Commission was reportedly sniffing around its relationships with music labels, sending questionnaires to partners and rivals. At issue are Apple’s reported attempts to convince top-selling musicians to offer their music exclusively via its own service and lock out its competitors, but Apple has other means of enticing artists from its rivals. Music will be preloaded on iPhones, making it easier to sign up users to the free trial. If it converts them to paying users, Apple gets to keep the whole fee, while it charges other app makers 30% for subscriptions generated via its devices. This makes it easier for Apple to offer more generous terms than Spotify, for instance. The EC hasn’t…

Companies running Windows 7 or 8 Pro can upgrade their desktop clients via the free upgrade programme, while those on a volume licensing agreement can roll out Windows 10 Enterprise whenever they want. By now the feature set will be familiar: the professional releases include everything in the Home edition, plus BitLocker encryption, Hyper-V, group policy management, domain support and the ability to act as both client and server in a remote desktop session. These editions of Windows 10 also feature Windows Update for Business, which frees businesses from having to keep the OS constantly up to date. Devices running Windows 10 Pro have the option to switch to an update stream entitled “Current Branch for Business”, which allows non-critical updates to be deferred to allow time for testing. Note that…

Grey imports are distinct from personal imports. Foreign retailers may simply offer delivery to the UK, leaving it to you to pay the VAT and duty. For example, New York firm B&H (bhphotovideo.com) usefully shows a calculation of shipping, tax and duty while you’re browsing an item. Foreign eBay sales work similarly, but misdeclaration isn’t unknown here. A few UK-based firms also sell grey imports, one example being HDEW Cameras (hdewcameras.co.uk). With prices as low as anywhere, and the reassurance of English law, it could be the best of both worlds. But some customers say the firm could be clearer about what you’re getting, including kit splits. One way to legally avoid some of the tax is to bring products with you when travelling into the UK from outside the EU. If…

When Intel unveiled the Ultrabook concept in 2011, Windows laptop design was in a sorry state. The original MacBook Air had been launched three years previously, but PC manufacturers were still struggling to deliver an ultraportable with even a fraction of its desirability. So Intel decided that something had to be done. Through Intel Capital, its investment arm, it launched a $300 million (£192 million) fund to promote the creation of a new, sleeker generation of laptops. “The Ultrabook Fund will focus on investing in companies building technologies that will help revolutionise the computing experience and morph today’s mobile computers into the next must-have device,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital, at the time. Intel also teamed up with leading PC manufacturers to create the Ultrabook specification. Only laptops less than…

PRICE Core i5/8GB RAM/32GB SSD, £666 (£799 inc VAT); Core i7/16GB RAM/64GB SSD, £833 (£999 inc VAT) from store. google.com (pcpro.link/251pixel) The new Chromebook Pixel is a world apart from the cheap and cheerful hardware that usually populates the category. Like Google’s original flagship, it has more in common with the luxury laptops in this month’s Labs (see p78). As soon as you start to use it, you notice thoughtful touches. The speakers are sited beneath the keyboard to preserve the Pixel’s sleek lines. The sturdy “piano hinge” serves both as a heatsink and a Wi-Fi antenna. The multicoloured, segmented LED on the lid glows all the colours of Google’s logo when the Pixel is on, and doubles as a battery gauge when the lid is closed: just tap the lid twice…

Sending a text message? Get out of the kitchen – especially if you’re in Liverpool – because that’s one of the worst spots for connectivity in Britain, according to new research. Under Ofcom rules linked to spectrum sales, mobile operators need to provide a certain level of coverage. For 3G, operators had to cover 90% of the UK. For 4G, O2 must cover 98% of the UK population by the end of 2017 – and that’s indoor coverage. However, according to research from Global Wireless Solutions (GWS), 40% of Brits face mobile notspots inside their homes, with Georgian architecture seemingly acting as a Faraday cage. While operators have reached good coverage levels for 4G outside of homes, the service degrades as soon as we step inside. “The UK is no longer a ‘fixed-line’…