This year’s E3 is about to start, and all the big gaming companies are set to show what we can expect to see from them in the coming year.

Microsoft will be hoping to use this year’s gaming event to get people excited about Xbox One which, so far, has been roundly trounced by its big rival, Sony’s PlayStation 4. Microsoft recently announced it would be selling its console without the Kinect, in a bid to lower prices, and hopefully improve sales.

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While the technology versus privacy battle rages on, many consumers and businesses are still unaware of how much data can be gleaned from a mobile phone.

Despite the NSA and Edward Snowden being in the news every other day, most people don't realize how much data their most personal device is hemorrhaging at all times. But that doesn't mean you have to shut off your mobile, throw it in the nearest body of water and live a life off the grid.

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Android smartphones are a dime a dozen nowadays. If a manufacturer wants to stand out among the sea of rectangular Google-powered devices, it has to bring it. But, what exactly is "it"? Is it specs? Is it the experience? What exactly do consumers want? I'm not sure that is crystal clear anymore. When buying a smartphone, consumers are forced to choose between an iPhone or Android (sorry, Windows Phone). If you want an iPhone, there isn't much choice, it is an easy decision. If you want Android, well, you'd better do your homework. Do you want pure Android or a tweaked UI? What screen size do you want? How much do you want to pay?

Cost is a huge factor now, as devices like the Motorola G push the boundaries of what a low-cost smartphone can be. For a consumer to spend a huge amount out of pocket or sign their life away with a long contract, the phone needs to be exceptional. There must be real reasons as to why they should buy it over a low-cost no-contract variant. When the LG G3 was announced, I was immediately impressed with how the company focused beyond the incredible specs to the overall user experience. But, would the G3 prove to be wonderful in practice? Luckily, I've been using the phone and I can now answer that question.

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Most everyone, at least the tech-savvy who read this, are familiar with VLC Player -- the Video LAN Client. It's a jack-of-all trades media player, that is capable of handling pretty much any format you can throw at it, no matter how obscure it may be.

Now the developers of the project are revealing one more feature that is on the roadmap -- support for Chromecast. The question was asked on the forums and lead developer Felix Paul Kuehne responded that support was in the works. "Yep, this is exactly what we are up to", he states.

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While the iPad is seen as a content consumption rather than a content creation device by some, there's no denying that it has been widely adopted across many organizations, and has made an impact on the business world as well as the consumer arena.

The iPad can be a sterling productivity device -- providing you're well equipped for that prospect in terms of software and hardware, of course. Out of the box, your iPad Air doesn't make such a great partner in crime when it comes to cracking through whatever business needs you might have. So, what software and accessories do you need to be truly productive with your iPad? Read on...

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OpenSSL, which runs on the servers for many websites, has been having a rough time in recent weeks. We all learned of the near fatal flaw named Heartbleed, which affected quite a number companies and services on the web.

Now a new, albeit less severe, flaw has been discovered. Security researchers at AVG have unveiled what they are calling CCS Injection, which the company terms a vulnerability, but points out that it is not easily taken advantage of.

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If you have been using Netflix on any number of devices in your living room, including game consoles and various set-top boxes, then you're likely familiar with the "Post-Play" option. The feature automatically queues up the next episode of a show and begins it playing. For movies, it displays three recommendations at the conclusion.

Now the streaming service is bringing "Post-Play" to its Android app. For phones, this will work only with TV shows, but on tablets you will get the feature with both shows and movies.

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The biggest news of this week came from Apple which held a keynote speech at WWDC in San Francisco. One of the major announcements was the unveiling of iOS 8 which will be making its way to iPhone and iPads around the world sometime in the Fall. There was a lot to take in, including "Hey, Siri", HealthKit and iCloud Drive. OS X also got a new lick of paint with Yosemite, with beta versions made available for immediate download. There was also an intriguing change to the App Store Review Guidelines that suggests the doors may be opened to virtual currencies such as Bitcoin.

Windows 7 continues to grow faster than Windows 8.x, but if you're looking for an alternative to Windows, Linux Mint 17 "Qiana" could be worth a try. Windows XP is still managing to hang on it there for the time being. Microsoft celebrated the news that Windows Phone is becoming increasingly popular -- if not with developers -- particularly when security is important; which is just as well, because reports suggest that handsets need to be made more secure for enterprise. Microsoft also had cause for celebration after helping the FBI to take down the Zeus botnet.

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The new HTC One M8 is more than just a pretty face. Oh, its metal chassis and curved design have instant -- and lasting -- appeal. But under the hood there's a whole host of features that HTC has added to Android 4.4 to help make this flagship phone different from all the others.

Of course there's the headline second camera to use for depth of field related trickery, and we'll show you how to get started with that. There's also BlinkFeed which can accommodate personalised news feeds and social feeds, as well as a range of pre-selected news and information sources. Then there's the smart TV app, and all important gesture controls.

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Colleague Wayne Williams is right to call out Surface Pro 3 hidden costs necessary to make a reasonable laptop replacement. There is another choice, which geeks often overlook. Surface 2 is a great value for the price, and everyone considering Apple iPad Air as a laptop replacement should look to Microsoft's tab first.

Before explaining, I start a diatribe that will continue to future posts. Geek reviewers hung up on specs and the fanciest features missing what matters more: Benefits -- to whom they are important and in what circumstances. Not everyone needs the fastest, coolest thing, or can afford it. Lower-cost is a benefit, too, and it's one too often ignored by fanboys and tech reviewers. Wayne gets it. So should you.

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dotPDN LLC has released the fourth beta of Paint.NET 4.0, the latest pre-release of this eagerly anticipated freeware image-editing tool for Windows.

The fourth beta -- build 5628 -- sees the Line/Curve tool restored, having previously been incorporated into the Shapes tool. It also sees a number of rendering quality and performance improvements alongside a slew of other minor tweaks and bug fixes as Paint.NET edges towards its final release.

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At February's Mobile World Congress (MWC), Nokia surprised everyone with the release of its Android-powered phone, the Nokia X, but now it looks like there already are plans for its successor.

Despite Microsoft's recent acquisition of the Finnish phone manufacturer's mobile business, the company looks set to swiftly follow-up on Nokia's first foray into Android phone territory, with the Nokia X2.

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Moonchild Productions has released a relatively major update to its Firefox browser variant for Windows with the release of Pale Moon 24.6 and Pale Moon x64 24.6.

Version 24.6 comes with a major overhaul of the graphics rendering engine to boost stability, plus a number of important fixes, including all latest security fixes. It also adds support for animated personas.

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The battle for the classroom is heating up more and more every day. Lately, it feels like Google and Microsoft are fiercely going at each other in an attempt to capture precious education market share. This is beneficial for schools, as competition should lead to more affordable technology for students. Arguably, schools really can't go wrong either way -- both Chromebooks and Windows laptops (including Surface) offer very rewarding experiences.

Today, Google announces that it convinced the Chesterfield County Schools in Virginia to buy 32,000 Chromebooks. While this is a major score for Google, it is more importantly a big win for students. But, did the school make the right choice?

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Twenty-second in a series. It was Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) this week and as expected the company took the wraps off OS X 10.10 ('Yosemite') and iOS 8.

New features in the next iteration of the mobile OS include interactive notifications, HealthKit, Family Sharing, improved chatting, a better keyboard, and iCloud Drive. It will be released sometime in the fall.

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