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The DTI petitioned the High Court for a winding-up order on Smartalk in the public interest. The Official Receiver has been appointed as provisional liquidators pending the hearing of the petition on 22 November. A spokesman for the DTI said “We believe the company should be wound up.” In a statement, Lancashire Trading Standards outlined the reasons for the move: “[We] have since April been investigating the activities of the company and have always failed to obtain any information as to the source of additional monies to fund the purchase of the computers being supplied[,] or evidence to show that significant money could be obtained from the sale of the ‘questionnaire’ information....

There are two models of the new Surface Book, one with a 13.5in screen and the other 15in, and each come in various processor, storage and memory combinations. You can read our initial impressions in our hands-on review. The cheapest option is a 13.5in Surface Book 2 with a seventh-generation Intel Core i5 chip, while other models in the line-up run a latest-generation Kaby Lake Core i7-8650U. With either 8- or 16GB of RAM and up to a terabyte of flash storage, the new Surface Book means serious business....

We’re not in any way suggesting that these are the only classic PC and console games you should play again, they’re just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more classic PC and console games we’d love to add here, but we fear that the list would go on forever. If you fancy something more modern, check out our round-up of the best upcoming games you should be excited about....

But what if you need to edit a PDF to correct some information, update an old document so it’s fresh or replace an image? If the document in question was created by you, you may well have the original file from Word, PowerPoint or a number of other apps that can save PDFs. If you can’t find the original, that’s where PDF editors come in. Whether you need to edit a single document or have a load of them, the editors here will do what you need....

Make sure you take a look at all the other titles announced at The Game Awards 2018. The new title, The Last Campfire, has been described as a “Hello Games Short” by studio founder Sean Murray. The game will be a linear adventure title with a greater focus on storytelling, as described by Hello Games “(The Last Campfire) is about a lost ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home....

We recently spent some time playing the game on console, so take a look at our The Sims 4 for PS4 and Xbox One review for more information. When is The Sims 4 for PS4 and Xbox One coming out? The Sims 4 was first released for PC in 2014, so this news something we’ve been waiting for for years. In fact, we’ve been waiting for it since way back in 2000, because we’ve always found The Sims 4 to be temperamental on lots of computers and laptops that aren’t quite powerful enough....

Even so, the R30 can make a sturdy and reliable workhorse laptop that will appeal mainly to business users – albeit at a rather high price. The matt-black chassis of the R30 isn’t going to win any awards for elegant design, and the chunky black bezel running above and below the 13.3-inch screen looks distinctly old-fashioned when compared to the thinner surrounds found on more elegant laptop designs. The chassis is made out of magnesium with a shock-resistant ‘reinforced honeycomb’ internal structure that is designed withstand knocks....

Sure, there are other upgrades to the the core specs but for most people, these will be fairly insignificant. The inclusion of a cheaper Core i3 model is particularly interesting. Read our comparison of the Dell XPS 13 9370 and 9380. Responsible for all original photography and video content onsite and on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel, and rarely found without a camera in his hands, Multimedia Editor Dominik helps us to show as well as tell....

The VTech InnoTab Max is a tablet made specially for kids, with built-in “child-safe” Wi-Fi, video camera and player, MP3 functions and a bunch of fun, educational and creative apps. Unlike its rival, Leapfrog’s LeapPad, you can add your own movies and music to the InnoTab Max, which will interest parents. There’s also an engaging Kid Connect messaging tool that links with a parent’s smartphone and tablet app. See: Best kids tablets....

All nine episodes have now aired, but will the show be back for more? We’ve rounded up everything you need to know. We also have similar roundups for Loki and Hawkeye, as well as a full guide to all the Marvel content available on Disney Plus right now. Will there be a WandaVision season two? As far as we know, WandaVision currently has no plans to be renewed for a second season....

Much like a real personal assistant, Cortana can only be truly useful if you give her permission to access your contacts and tell her about your relationships. A PA can’t tell you your wife is calling if she doesn’t know who your wife is, and it’s a similar situation with Cortana. Allowing her to access your calendar, email and more means you’ll get better information when you ask Cortana a question such as “what’s on my schedule today” or “when is my flight to New York”....

If you watched the September 2018 event, in which Apple launched three new iPhones and an Apple Watch Series 4, not once did it mention Qi wireless charging – despite the fact all four of those devices support it, and only last year was it talking it up as an amazing new feature. Seems a little odd to say the least. Normally we wouldn’t batter an eyelid over a wireless charger, but the problem is we were actually excited about the AirPower when Apple first announced it in September 2017....

You’ve probably heard of it, but what is 4G? In short, it’s the name given to the fourth generation of mobile networks, just as the previous generation is called 3G. Another piece of jargon, which you will see tagged onto the end of 4G is ‘LTE’. This stands for Long Term Evolution and is a type of 4G technology. It’s arriving in the UK for the first time at the end of October and will be available to around a third of the population by Christmas 2012....

Our pick of the best VPNs are NordVPN and ExpressVPN. So what’s a VPN tunnel? When you browse websites without a VPN, the data that’s sent from your router via your ISP to the website is visible to anyone that can hack into the connection. However, that’s not to say all the data is readable. When you use a website with HTTPS, the information is encrypted so a hacker can’t read it....

In a confusing world of technology, Android holds an important place although it can be a bit tricky to get your head round why. Here’s the basics on Android. What is Android? Android is the name of the operating system used on many smartphones and tablets. It is owned and maintained by Google. Google bought Android in 2005 and launched it for phones and tablets in 2007, the same year Apple released the first iPhone....

What is pagefile.sys? Windows uses pagefile.sys for storing the data that would otherwise be in the computer’s random access memory (RAM). Sometimes there simply isn’t enough capacity to hold all the necessary files in RAM, so pagefile.sys sits on your hard drive or SSD (C:pagefile.sys) ready to receive data as necessary, and typically the least-used files in RAM are ‘paged’ out to this file. It also has another role: storing the information about the computer’s state in case there’s a crash or a power cut....

For all those networks secured with a password, they tend to a standard called WPA2. This has been around since 2004 and, although it’s by no means bad, the fact that it was hacked earlier this year meant a new version was due. Fortunately, that new standard was already in the works and WPA3 was sort-of announced at CES in January 2018. It’s only now that the first devices are being certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which is behind the new standard....

But with Samsung’s A13 5G handset on the market, you’d be forgiven for sticking with what you know. What is the Galaxy A13 5G release date and price? The Galaxy A13 5G replaces 2021’s A12 as one of Samsung’s lowest-priced phone. It costs £179 in the UK, having launched on 25 March. At the moment, it’s tricky to get your hands on the 5G variant of the A13, though you should be able to find the 4G variant in most places....

One lucky reader will receive the graphics card, which we awarded four stars in our review. Based on AMD’s latest Polaris architecture, the Radeon RX 480 is designed not just for general gaming, but specifically to deliver great VR performance without breaking the bank. You can find out more in our full XFX Radeon RX 480 review. If you’d like to get your hands on the graphics card, all you need to do is use the giveaway form below to be in with a chance of winning....

Version KB5016616 has been released as Windows 10’s monthly security update for August, but it has a surprise up its sleeve. Not only is there a genuinely new feature, it’s something you’ll probably want to use on a regular basis. Microsoft’s “Focus Assist” tool can already block notifications while you need to get work done, but it can now be set to allow specific “important” alerts to still reach you....