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The discussion around choosing a mobile operating system has gotten a bit stale lately- you either get an iPhone or one of the many Android based phones. But that wasn’t the case a few years back when you a lot more choice with operating systems on a phone such as Symbian, BlackBerryOS, WebOS and Windows Mobile, all competing against each other. In fact, a lot of what we find on Android or iOS today took its roots from the golden days of mobile operating system wars. 

Though Apple and Google continue to refine their respective OSes, we don’t see many giant leaps- possibly due to the nature of how duopolies work. But I can see a scenario playing out where consumers have at least two more options available to them other than iOS and Android.

The first contender is Huawei with its open-source HarmonyOS which is being forced into development due to the trade wars between the US and China. Not being able to offer Google services is an existential threat to Huawei’s mobile phone business outside China and the company has realized that it needs to own as much of its stack as it can. But what can make Huawei succeed where others such as Firefox, Samsung and Ubuntu have failed?

(Image credit: TechRadar)

It’s mainly a number game. According to IDC’s 2019 first quarter report, Huawei shipped over 59 million units globally which gives it an impressive 18.9% market share of the smartphone market. Now imagine if the Chinese Government steps in and “asks” other Chinese phone manufacturers such as Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi to adopt the open-source HarmonyOS? Between these companies, IDC estimates a market share of over 42% and that could lead to a devastating blow for Google and the Android ecosystem as we know it.

Huawei as well as Xiaomi and Oppo already have their custom UIs developed on top of Android. It’s the layer their consumers see and recognize a phone by and with a little work, each of these companies can port their user-interface to HarmonyOS. Their consumers will continue to see a UI that is familiar to them and as long as the apps that matter to them exist on HarmonyOS, they’re unlikely to care about the underlying operating system. In many ways, this is the reason why people chose a “Samsung” or “Huawei” phone and not necessarily an “Android” phone.

What’s left is convincing developers to create apps for this new platform, but with a 42% global market share (assuming Vivo, Xiaomi, Oppo and co. agree to using Harmony OS) and a few billion dollars in funding it should make things easier for Huawei. Sure, it is an area where giants like Microsoft or BlackBerry failed but their market share of targeted phones never touched double-digits.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

The second player that could also chip away Android’s market share is Microsoft. Yes, Microsoft has already failed twice with mobile operating systems, but with the introduction of its new dual screen devices- the Surface Neo and Surface Duo, there’s a plan for Microsoft to make a come back.

Let’s start with Surface Neo and Windows 10X. From a hardware perspective, there are components currently available that are fast enough to easily run the full version of Windows 10 on Surface Neo so why does Microsoft feel the need to release yet another version of Windows 10? Remember Windows 10 S that was released just a couple of year back?

It’s because Microsoft wants to start over by eliminating all the bloat that legacy Windows carries with itself but at the same time retain the ability to run modern apps. Windows 10X will do just that and is expected to only come as bundled on devices. You won’t be able to download and instal it as you do with the regular Windows 10. That’s how mobile operating systems are currently distributed and thus, Windows 10X also seems like a very good fit for a phone form factor such as Surface Duo.

But Microsoft chose to release the phone-sized Surface Duo with Android. And the very valid reason Panos Panay, chief product officer at Microsoft gave for that was that apps exist on Android. Microsoft has already failed twice as a mobile OS platform and it probably doesn’t want to directly enter this space. 

And that’s smart which is why Neo exists. If Microsoft can establish a good eco-system on the more “laptop-like” Surface Neo then it will create a future version of Surface Duo pre-installed with Windows 10X. Microsoft has tried this with metro apps and limited success but the proposition this time is the sexy new form factor with dual screens. 

What’s really smart about Microsoft’s approach is to keep the UI consistent across both the Windows 10X based Surface Neo and the Android based Surface Duo. This will make “upgrading” users from Android to Windows 10X on the Surface Duo a much easier transition- much like what Huawei could do with HarmonyOS. And in case Microsoft fails to make a dent with Windows 10X, it could potentially switch a future version of Surface Neo to Android.

It’s interesting how both Huawei and Microsoft could leverage the customization of Android to their advantages- and possibly as stepping stones to lure customers into their own platforms. What is considered as one of Android’s greatest strength could very well be the reason for its downfall.

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There is one thing that practically everyone can agree on: politics has become bitterly divided.

Whether it is the daily Brexit face-offs, the endless scandals on Capitol Hill or the yellow vests of France, the space for meaningful compromise has dramatically shrunk. Instead, it’s a time of digging in, fighting your corner, staying the course. No surrender.

It signals a deeper malaise – as electorates become more polarised, democracies become more paralysed.

Yet what if it doesn’t need to be this way? What if new ways can be found to break deadlocks and bring electorates back together?

Thousands of miles from the controversies around Trump and exiting the EU, a solution may have been found. For the last five years, Taiwan has been blending technology with politics to create a new way of making decisions. And with certain limits, it has found consensus where none seemed to exist.

It began in 2014, when Taiwan was split by a trade bill. As in Hong Kong today, many feared the law would bring their country closer to China. Protestors entered its parliament and started a weeks-long occupation that became known as the Sunflower Revolution because they used the flower to represent a symbol of hope.

“I was there the night before they burst in,” Audrey Tang told me.

She was a leading member of Taiwan’s burgeoning scene of civic hackers who joined the protests.

And in the wake of the occupation, the government asked for their help.

Some of the civic hackers were invited to join the government and Tang became Taiwan’s digital minister.

Their aim was to design a new process that people from across political divides could join and express their views. But crucially, the process had to produce a consensus that the government could turn into new laws and regulations.

Their creation was called vTaiwan – with the “v” standing for virtual – a platform where experts and other interested parties can deliberate contentious issues.

It works by first seeking to crowdsource objective facts from those involved.

Then users communicate with each other via a dedicated social media network called Pol.is, which lets them draft statements about how a matter should be solved, and respond to others’ suggestions by either agreeing or disagreeing with them.

Once a “rough consensus” has been reached, livestreamed or face-to-face meetings are organised so that participants can write out specific recommendations.

Ride-hailing row

The platform’s first test was to regulate Uber.

The ride-hailing service was expanding quickly in Taiwan, angering the traditional taxi industry as the US firm did not require its drivers to have a professional licence or the same type of insurance, and was not paying the same taxes as local firms. Customers, however, enjoyed cheaper fares and added convenience.

To break the deadlock, vTaiwan invited groups from across the debate to join its online space.

Pol.is lifted everyone out of their echo chambers. It churned through the many axes of agreements and disagreements and drew a map to show everyone exactly where they were in the debate.

A number of different groups, with different attitudes, emerged. Taxi drivers, Uber drivers, Uber passengers, and other passengers formed four poles in the corners of the map.

There was no reply button, so people couldn’t troll each other’s posts. And rather than showing the messages that divided each of the four groups, Pol.is simply made them invisible.

It gave oxygen instead to statements that found support across different groups as well as within them.

“Change the information structure,” Colin Megill, one of its founders, told me, “and you can tweak power”.

Technically, the tweak was small, but politically its effect was enormous.

Rather than encourage grandstanding or the trading of insults, it gamified finding consensus.

“People compete to bring up the most nuanced statements that can win most people across,” Tang told me.

“They spend far more time discovering their commonalities rather than going down a rabbit hole on a particular issue.”

Setting the mood

The debate continued and as people drafted more nuanced statements Pol.is showed that the four groups had became two.

“Invariably, within three weeks or four,” Tang told me, “we always find a shape where most people agree on most of the statements, most of the time.”

After a month, “consensus items” emerged, that enjoyed near-unanimous support.

One, with 95% support across all groups, read: “The government should leverage this opportunity to challenge the taxi industry to improve their management and quality control systems so that drivers and riders would enjoy the same quality service as Uber.”

In July this year, I saw vTaiwan in action on another disruptive technology – e-vehicle regulation.

The process had reached the final meeting stage and organisers had made efforts to put attendees in a co-operative mood.

The room was softly lit, everyone ate food together and the only issues on the table were those Pol.is had already identified as those that most people agreed with.

This was completely different from simply asking them to vote via an app. vTaiwan gave participants the agenda-setting power not just to determine the answer, but also define the question. And it didn’t aim to find a majority of one side over another, but achieve consensus across them.

As divisions were turned into consensuses, the government could act. New regulation was passed allowing Uber to operate with licensed drivers, and regular taxis to use apps.

And after Uber, it has been used to set the agenda for 11 pieces of law and regulation, with eight more waiting to be voted on, on everything from the regulation of online alcohol sales, fin-tech regulation to new laws on revenge pornography.

But there may be limitations.

vTaiwan has not yet been tested on an issue of real, national division, much less one that is already entrenched. And there are still fears that an online process could exclude less digitally savvy groups.

However, Taiwan’s experiment may have a tremendously valuable lesson for us all.

Democracy does not have to be fossilised or frozen in any particular form. The ones that evolve may be the ones that survive, even flourish, in a world where the pressures and challenges they face are surely changing just as quickly.

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Walmart isn’t waiting for Black Friday or Cyber Monday to offer up some big savings. The retailer is already rolling out some of the best deals we’ve seen on the Xbox One S.

What makes these deals better than the run-of-mill markdowns we usually see in the advertisement section of the paper is that they’re on both a new version of the console – the all-new All-Digital Xbox One S – and a bundle with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the brand-new reboot of the iconic first-person shooter franchise. 

So how much can you save on Microsoft’s mid-range console? In the case of the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, we’re expecting to see a drop from $249 to $199 (a $50/20% savings) while the Xbox One S Call of Duty: Modern Warfare bundle should be $249 (a $60 savings compared to buying the game and the console separately).

Of course, if Microsoft’s intermediate console isn’t doing it for you, the big-box retailer is also running a sale on the Nintendo Switch with your choice of a game for $330 (a cool $30 savings).   

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Another year, another Call of Duty game, right? Well, if you’re playing on PC, that’s not necessarily true this time around. This reboot of the beloved Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise is the first to pack Nvidia’s ray tracing technology. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare uses Nvidia’s RTX technology to render ray traced shadows, which results in a more realistic presentation. Now, don’t get it wrong, this isn’t as drastic (or as performance-intensive) as something like Control or even Battlefield V. 

Still, this is a multiplayer-focused game, so the impact on framerate is going to be extremely important – there’s no use in enabling ray traced shadows if your Call of Duty: Modern Warfare performance is going to tank. Luckily, here at TechRadar we have a ton of graphics cards at our disposal, so we can put Call of Duty: Modern Warfare performance to the test across several Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards across the performance spectrum. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare ray tracing performance

Nvidia claims that the GeForce RTX 2060 is strong enough to run Call of Duty: Modern Warfare at max settings, with ray tracing enabled, while hitting 60fps at 1080p. And, if you want a 1440p experience, you’re going to need a 2060 Super, and a 2080 Ti for 4K. 

In our testing, Nvidia’s claims check out. We didn’t have an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 on hand for testing, but we were able to get more than 60fps at 1440p with the RTX 2060 Super, a number that jumped all the way up to 76fps at 1080p.

As for how that would reflect back on the original 2060, in our testing of the RTX 2060 Super, it was about 21% faster than the original card. Even if that gap was the same in Modern Warfare, it would still see you breaking the 60fps barrier with all the settings turned up (including ray tracing). 

And, while Nvidia’s claim that the RTX 2080 Ti is needed for 4K is kind of right, we actually saw the vanilla RTX 2080 hold its own at this resolution. It hit an average of 45fps, compared to the 2080 Ti’s 57.7. It looks like there isn’t a graphics card that can actually break that 4K 60fps barrier – maybe the Titan RTX. 

Still, it has to be said that in a game like this, it still might not be worth it to enable ray tracing, at least in multiplayer. When we switch off ray tracing at 1440p on the RTX 2060 Super, we see framerates jump to 80-100fps, which is much more appropriate for a fast-paced shooter like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. 

At the end of the day, this game does start to make a good case for including ray traced effects in multiplayer games, but we probably won’t see esports gamers adopt these effects until the next generation of graphics cards land. Until then, ray tracing will likely stay as an effect meant for single-player games – and, really, there’s nothing wrong with that. 

(Image credit: Future)

What PC do you need for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s system requirements are actually pretty reasonable for a blockbuster game in 2019. If you want the game to run at 1080p 30fps, you only really need an Intel Core i3-4340, 8GB of RAM and a GTX 670 – all of which is practically ancient by today’s standards.

However, if you want to turn all the settings up (including ray tracing), you’re going to need significantly more power: like an Intel Core i7-8700K and an RTX 2070 Super. 

Here are the full Call of Duty: Modern Warfare system requirements:

Minimum:

• OS: Windows 7 
• CPU: Intel Core i3-4340 / AMD FX-6300
• RAM: 8GB
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 / AMD Radeon RX 7950
• VRAM: 2GB
• HDD: 175GB
• DirectX: 12

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• RAM: 12GB
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 / AMD Radeon RX 580
• VRAM: 4GB
• HDD: 175GB
• DirectX: 12

Recommended (for ray tracing): 

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• RAM: 12GB
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060
• VRAM: 8GB
• HDD: 175GB
• DirectX: 12

While testing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, we did notice that the game will actually eat through some RAM, though in our experience it peaked at 9.5GB, rather than the 16GB that most games recommend. However, we also noticed that the game ate up a ton of CPU cores, meaning that this is actually a pretty heavily multi-threaded game. 

So, based on that, we went ahead and created a recommended spec sheet of our own. With this PC build, you’ll be able to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare at max settings at 1080p, with ray tracing enabled – all while still hitting framerates that won’t see you fall behind in multiplayer gameplay. We even went ahead and included our exclusive price comparison tool for each of these components down below, so you can make sure you get a killer deal when you build your PC. 

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• RAM: 16GB
• Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060
• HDD: 175GB

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If you’re after cheap Halloween costume or decoration sales this spooky season, look no further than our top picks from Walmart, Amazon, and Best Buy. We’ve rounded up the very best Halloween deals from across the country, featuring spooky lighting solutions, party essentials, and extra costume accessories to give you an edge this year. 

While you may not see any of the particularly Halloween-focused products on Black Friday deals this year, the Philips Hue smart bulbs we highlight below may well feature. Keep an eye on our coverage throughout the shopping weekend for the best discounts. 

Cheap Halloween decoration sales and discounts

• Check out more cheap Halloween decoration sales from: Walmart | Amazon 

Update: Our review of The Current War has been updated now that the movie is out in theaters this weekend. We also added a video interview below and an extended video interview on YouTube. 

Before Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg, there was Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla, and The Current War captures the passion, charisma and genius of these 19th century visionaries. It’s a movie about the advent of commercial and domestic electrical systems, and their ambitious inventors.

Set in the 1880s and ‘90s, the movie tells the story of the battle between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to have their rival DC and AC current technologies widely adopted – and, ultimately, have theirs become the system that would power the approaching new century.

The film was supposed to debut two years ago through distributor The Weinstein Company, only to be mired in modern-day controversy, and put on hiatus due to the sex abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon was able to reshoot and recut the movie in that time, and it’s now opening this weekend as The Current War: Director’s Cut.

Watching the determined Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and equally dedicated but more altruistic Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) echoes recent biopics like Jobs, and ‘biopics’ like The Social Network. The difference is that, while we’re all familiar with modern-day innovators like Jobs and Mark Zuckerburg, here the story features historical figures we know by name, but who most of us probably don’t know a great deal about.

Edison vs Westinghouse

It’s a story that deserves to be told, and doesn’t hold back on the genius of Edison but also the ruthlessness of his commitment to seeing Direct Current succeed. He’s so determined to have his form of electricity adopted by candlelit American cities that he’s willing to demonstrate the dangers of Westinghouse’s Alternating Current on live animals in an attempt to smear his rival in the press.

(Image credit: Thunder Road Pictures)

Westinghouse, already a titan of the Industrial Age, thanks to his invention of the railway air brake, continues to back Alternating Current with the help of Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult). 

Edison and Westinghouse rarely meet in person, but the film jumps back and forth between the two, giving the sense that they’re always at each other’s throats. It’s not hard to pay attention to the quick jump cuts, and they act as a way to spice up what could otherwise be a dry story.

Tesla’s minor, but important role

Tesla plays a key role in the lives of both electrical industry pioneers, working for Edison at first – then, when his genius isn’t realized, Westinghouse. The movie flirts with, but doesn’t go into Tesla’s story nearly enough, as the spotlight remains squarely on the Edison vs Westinghouse rivalry. Tesla ends up being a minor, but important player in this particular film.

The complicated lives and work habits of these two innovators reflects a lot of what we see in today’s complex entrepreneurs. You admire them for their foresight to change the course of history and connect the world with their revolutionary ideas. Then you begin to discover they, at times, betray their own principles and make this mostly about winning a game.

One of the more faithful biopics in a while

The Current War: Director’s Cut stays true to the history of Edison and Westinghouse as we know it. It may have worked better as a Netflix or HBO series, diving deeper into the lives of both masterminds from a young age to their very end – the lives of both men feel as though they need an origin story. At the same time, it may have drawn things out to an even slower pace.

(Image credit: Thunder Road Pictures)

Biopics like this movie live and die by their source material. Too often, Hollywood studios like to gin up a true story in an effort to make the theater experience more entertaining. Argo (yes, that film with Ben Affleck) is the perfect example of a movie based on events that really happened, but you to come to find that the most exciting moments were fictionalized, especially toward the end of the story. 

The Current War’s pacing, as is, feels less intense than other recent biopics, and that’s OK. It’s more honest than we often see from movies “based on a true story.” If you’re looking for an entertaining lesson in history, you’ll get that here instead of entertainment masquerading as history.

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The MLB’s 2019 World Series has got underway at a thundering pace after the Washington Nationals taking the NLCS championship while the Houston Astros won the ALCS championship. This means that the two top teams in the league are now facing off in a best-of-seven battle to see who will be this year’s champions – and we’ll help you live stream every World Series minute!

The men from the capital took first blood on Tuesday night, with a closely fought 5-4 win. But then they really made the statement 24 hours later when they pummelled the Astros by a massive 12 runs to 3. The seventh inning is where they did all the damage to Houston’s relief pitchers with a massive six RBIs.

The Washington Nationals are heading to the World Series for the first time in franchise history after sweeping the Arizona Cardinals in the NLCS. The team won every game in the series and, because of this, they’ll be going into Tuesday’s first World Series game well rested and ready to take on the Astros. Could the Nationals win their first ever World Series?

The New York Yankees may have won their first game against the Houston Astros in the ALCS championship but Houston was able to turn things around and the team went on to win games 2, 3 and 4. The Yankees then won game 5 but when the two teams returned to Houston for game 6, Jose Altuve secured the Astros place in the 2019 World Series with a walk-off home run in the 9th inning. The Astros won the World Series just two years ago in 2017 but will the team be able to do it again?

Whether you’re a Nationals fan in DC, an Astros fan in Houston or just a fan of the sport of baseball, we’ll show you how to live stream every game in the 2019 World Series online from anywhere in the world. Keep reading and we’ll guide you through all of the options to watch this year’s World Series on your TV, computer and even on mobile.

How to watch a World Series live stream from outside your country

We have your viewing options below if you want to watch the baseball from the US, UK or Canada, including the routes you need if you don’t have cable access.

However, try watching your usual online coverage when you’re abroad and you’ll soon discover that you can due to broadcasters’ geo-blocking. No, we don’t suggest you go running to Reddit to see where you can stream a dodgy, illegal feed. It’s by utilising a VPN – or Virtual Private Network – that allows you to change the IP address of your laptop or mobile to one in a different state or country which does have the stream so that you can watch the series from anywhere in the world.

How to watch the Washington Nationals vs Houston Astros in the US

If you’re in the US and want to watch the 2019 World Series on TV, all of the games will be shown on Fox. For those who are out and about but still want to catch all of the action, Fox will stream every game live on its Fox Sports Go app but you will need to login using your cable provider’s credentials.

Alternatively, cord cutters can watch the World Series online via a sports streaming service. We’ve listed our favorite options below to make things easier for you, so keep scrolling down to see our favorite streaming services for watching MLB online. 

How to stream World Series 2019 with MLB.TV

Other ways to watch the 2019 World Series online

The dedicated MLB.TV won’t be for everyone. If you want a paid option that includes other television and sports, then going for a more all-encompassing plan might be better for you. Below are some other options to consider.

But remember that the same applies if you’re trying to watch the your home team play locally during a blackout game  – you’ll need a VPN to do so, so check out how to do that above.

World Series streaming for cord cutters

• Sling TV $25 or $40 – Sling TV is an inexpensive way to watch baseball though you’ll be missing out on games shown on the MLB Network.  The service splits its content into two different TV packages which does make things cheaper though to stream MLB you’ll need to sign up for both.  Sling TV is compatible with Apple TV, Roku, Xbox One, Chromecast as well as lots of other devices and its easy to get started with a 7-day free trial. 
• Hulu with Live TV $45 – Hulu with live TV includes ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, FS1 and TBS but does not come with the MLB Network.
• DIRECTV NOW $50 per month – DIRECTV NOW gives users all the channels needed to watch MLB online and also comes with some extra channels as well.  If you want a lot of content to choose from and don’t mind watching the games live as the service doesn’t include cloud DVR, then DIRECTV NOW’s 7-day trial will let you test out the platform.
• fuboTV $19.99 for the first month – fuboTV has a low introductory price though after that the price goes up to $44.99 a month and includes 70 channels. Unfortunately it does not have ESPN, MLB Network or TBS though it does offer strong local coverage and 30 hours of cloud DVR storage.  fuboTV does has a free 7-day trial available so you can test out its functionality for yourself.
• YouTube TV $40 per month – YouTube TV includes ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, FS1, MLB Network and TBS. Google’s service includes all of the networks that carry national baseball broadcasts though you’ll have to check out its welcome page to see which local networks and regional sports networks are available in your area.

How to stream Astros vs Nationals live in the UK

UK baseball fans trying to watch the 2019 World Series can do so on BT Sport which is included in BT’s TV bundles. If you aren’t a BT Sport subscriber, you can sign up for the BT Sport app for £10 a month with the first three months free or subscribe via Sky TV or TalkTalk TV for £29.99 a month.

Not in the UK but wanting to watch the BT Sport stream online from abroad? Then you’ll want to go scroll back up and read about how to use a VPN to watch from anywhere.

How to live stream Nationals vs Astros in Canada

If you live in Canada and have a cable subscription, you’ll be able to watch the 2019 World Series on SportsNet.

Not interested in signing up for cable just to watch some baseball? Don’t worry as MLB.TV is also available in Canada and with the Postseason Pass you’ll be able to watch the entirety of the 2019 World Series for just $24.99. 

2019 World Series full schedule

Game 1: Washington Nationals at Houston Astros on Tuesday, October 22

Game 2: Washington Nationals at Houston Astros on Wednesday, October 23

Game 3: Houston Astros at Washington Nationals on Friday, October 25

Game 4: Houston Astros at Washington Nationals on Saturday, October 26

Game 5: Houston Astros at Washington Nationals on Sunday, October 27

Game 6: Washington Nationals at Houston Astros on Tuesday, October 29

Game 7: Washington Nationals at Houston Astros on Wednesday, October 30

All games start just after 8pm ET (5pm PT, 1am BST) and games 5,6 and 7 will only be played if necessary

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