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Sometimes a single sticker says it all when chatting online, but what if you could make your own custom ones with just a snap of your face?

Google is introducing a new feature for its Allo chat app that uses neural network-generated illustrations to make emoji-style stickers out of just your selfie.

By looking at your face, Google's algorithms can perceive details like your eye color, skin tone, and hairstyle to combine features supplied by creatives like Steven Universe storyboard artist Lamar Abrams into a coherent series of quirky stickers.

According to Google, its neural network has enough features to make over 563 quadrillion combinations, ensuring that your stickers will (fingers crossed) be truly unique.

Your stickers, your way

Should you want to tweak the cartoon "you" Allo creates, you can also customize your aesthetics in the app using a step-by-step process similar to the popular personal avatar creator, Bitmoji. 

You can also delete and make new sticker sets anytime, should you get a haircut, start wearing contacts, or make some other change to your look.

To use Allo's new selfie sticker-maker, hit the "+" symbol in the message composing bar, go to the sticker screen, then add a sticker set and select the "turn a selfie into stickers" option. 

You can also learn more how to use stickers and other add-ons to pep up your missives on Google's support page for Allo. The feature is rolling out now for Android users, with the iOS version to follow up later.

• Will Allo's newest features get you on board?

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For all there is to like about Apple TV, the set-top box does have one major setback: no support for Amazon's widely popular Prime Video service. However, it looks like the two companies may set aside differences and address the missing feature this summer.

Apple is reportedly going to announce support for Amazon's premium streaming service on the Apple TV during its annual WWDC keynote on June 5, sources familiar with the matter tell BuzzFeed News.

This report backs up a previous rumor that Amazon Prime Video would make its way to Apple TV this summer, though the sources in BuzzFeed's report say the official launch date is still subject to change.

Should this come to fruition, it would not only address a glaring omission on Apple's set-top box, but possibly suggest a friendlier coexistence between the iPhone maker and Amazon going forward.

 The A-Teams

In addition to Amazon Prime Video coming to Apple TV, the report also claims Amazon will return the favor and resume selling Apple TVs on its retail website.

If true, this change comes two years after Amazon pulled the Apple-branded set-top box (as well as Chromecasts) from its digital shelves in favor of platforms without a competing video service, such as Rokus, game consoles and of course, its own Amazon Fire TV.

That wasn't the first time Amazon and Apple couldn't play well with each other, either. In 2014, Amazon stripped in-app payments from the iOS versions of several of its services — including the recently acquired ComiXology — in response to Apple demanding a 30% cut of each sale.

Google and Amazon, however, may be at odds for a little bit longer, as Chromecasts still have limited to no support for Amazon Prime Video. All hope is not lost, however, as the Nvidia Shield — powered by Android TV — got the app this year thanks to a recent Android 7.0 Nougat update.

• These are the five best streaming boxes around

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Welcome to TechRadar's always-updated selection of the best shows on Netflix – 40 TV shows that showcase the best Netflix series available in the US. 

Netflix's transition from a DVD rental service to a streaming behemoth has been impressive to watch. The company has sunk tons of money and effort into making itself into the Number 1 destination for on-demand content that it isn't just a place to watch things, it also creates them. So much so that the big TV and movie studios are rightly running scared.

While Netflix slowly makes a land grab for movies, it's perhaps its television output that is the reason most people have an account. There's a ton of TV content to feast upon – too much to ever consider watching in one lifetime.

This is why we've created a guide to the best Netflix shows in the US right now. We'll keep this list constantly updated with the latest television shows that you should be watching and also tell you why.

Taking a long trip somewhere and unsure if you'll have an internet connection? No problem! You can now download shows for offline viewing or save them to an SD card if you have an extra one handy. 

OK, without further ado let's dive into the best shows on Netflix! 

• Check out our in-depth Netflix review

We can't wait for Orange is the New Black's fifth season. When the show returned for a fourth season things got very dark! Racial tensions and issues with the US prison system are the main plot points for season four and while the comedy is still there, it's slathered with a fair bit of drama. 

But season five should be all of that and more.

If you've never heard of the series before, here's the premise: Set in a woman's prison, Orange doesn't shirk the big issues of violence and rape but manages to mix these with a heady dose of black humor. It's even more popular than Cards which is a surprise as Netflix's advertising has always been very Spacey heavy.

Seasons on Netflix: 4

Slathered with a fantastic dose of black comedy, Santa Clarita Diet is sort of like if the show Dexter met Modern Family. It stars Drew Barrymore as the stereotypical TV mom, with one simple, but quite interesting difference: she likes eating people. This brand-new show on Netflix is a great send up of the family sitcom, taking all the tropes that make Modern Family and the like so successful, then turning them on their head, and then eating their head. And be warned: when things are eaten it's all very grizzly – so much so that it could give The Walking Dead a run for its money. Timothy Olyphant also stars in the show as the dad who is happy for his wife to be a flesh eater, and kills it. 

Seasons on Netflix: 1

This awkward rom-com has been penned by Judd Apatow and it's yet again another hit for Netflix Originals. It's a similar bedfellow to Master of None, but it improves on the themes of dating, love and city life with characters that are more rounded and a touch more believable as they fail, give up and start over again in rapid succession. Community's Gillian Jacobs is great as the prim Mickey, while Paul Rust is effortless as slacker Gus. The show stealer, though, is Apatow's uber talented daughter Iris who plays a frankly horrible child star.

The 'will they, won't they?' shenanigans continue in the second season – those expecting a plot-heavy season will be disappointed, though, as Love meanders through its storylines – which is no bad thing (and more realistic) if you ask us.

Seasons on Netflix: 2

Master of None takes Ansari out of Amy Poehler's shadow and brings him into his own, showing audiences a side of the comedian that anyone in their mid-20s or early 30s can relate to. Like Louie, Master of None covers the oddities of everyday life, incorporating all the heartfelt moments and awkward situations that come with the territory. 

If you haven't watched it, now's a good time. The second season is coming soon and you'll want to be all caught up on Aziz's adventures before it begins.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

The words 'food porn' get thrown around a lot these days, and typically are preceded by a hashtag and proceeded by us viciously rolling our eyes. But Chef's Table is the real deal – 4K footage of some of the best chefs in the world making their signature dishes and doling out morsels of philosophy to keep your mind just as engaged as your stomach. 

Parts of the show come off as a bit too heady for the source material and are prone to veering a bit off course (there's multiple scenes where a particular chef talks about polygamy for some odd reason) but overall most of the chefs come off as genuinely eccentric masters of their craft. 

Seasons on Netflix: 3

Dave Chappelle has been out of the spotlight for some time now. He disappeared close to a decade ago, leaving his stage career and multi-million dollar TV show on Comedy Central. It was hard to understand what would make him crack, and even harder to understand why he'd leave the stage for so long. Thankfully, Netflix, being a regular patron of the arts at this point, has given Chappelle a new lease on life and a spot among its Netflix original comedy specials. The good news is that Chappelle hasn't lost a beat – he's still outrageous, opinionated and comes to the table with an attitude that's best described as sorry-not-sorry. He's the person that would both defend Bill Cosby while mocking him two seconds later. He'll say things to make you laugh and, for however long after, make you think. It's comedy at the highest caliber. 

Seasons on Netflix: 1

Fresh from giving horror anthologies a new spin with American Horror Story, creator Ryan Murphy has taken this idea and expanded it into the world of crime. The first series of American Crime Story focuses on the very public case of OJ Simpson and the death of his wife Nicole. It's superb TV, dramatising what was one of the most engrossing true stories to come out of the '90s. Cuba Gooding Jr is great as OJ but it's the supporting cast that steals the show. Sarah Paulson, David Schwimmer, John Travolta and Courtney B Vance ham it up to the max and it makes for some of the most entertaining television in years.  

Seasons on Netflix: 1

When it comes to superhero movies, Marvel are bossing DC thanks to the rich tapestry it has weaved with its cinematic universe. Its TV shows, which now include Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, just keep getting better.

Daredevil is superb television, regardless if you are a superhero fan or not. Matt Murdoch's (Boardwalk Empire's Charlie Cox) rise from blind lawyer to vigilante is brutal and steeped in realism. The reason it works so well is that it doesn't shy away from being violent – each crack and crunch is a world away from Ben Affleck's terrible movie version. And special mention has to go to Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, his best role since the tortured Private Pyle.

Seasons on Netflix: 2

If you ask the execs at Netflix what their most successful show of 2017 has been, they'll point you to 13 Reasons Why, a serialized adaptation of the Jay Asher novel of the same name. And while the series can be a bit one-note at times (hey kids, don't be a bully), it's easy to sympathize with each and every member of the high schoolers the show portrays. The mystery of who, exactly, Tony (played by Christian Navarro) is helps push the series past some dull interludes while the genuinely cute romance between Hannah, the girl who commits suicide, and Clay, the boy tasked with finding out why, is both adorable and a compelling enough reason to flip from episode to the next.  

Seasons on Netflix: 1

The Jim Carey movie of the stories by Lemony Snicket was passable. But given there are 13 books on the exploits of Count Olaf and the Baudelaire children -Violet, Klaus, and Sunny – it made sense that Netflix would want to make a show out of it. Focusing on the first four books, the series nails the dour atmosphere of the books, with Patrick Wharburton popping up as Snicket to berate the viewer, much like the books. But it's because of Neil Patrick Harris' evil Count Olaf that the show really shines. He's not as hammy as Carey but manages to be menacing while still having a blast.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

Freddie Highmore was one of the sweetest child actors around in his younger years, playing cherubic children in the likes of Finding Neverland and the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Now he's a fully fledged adult he's taken a much darker turn as future Psycho psycho Norman Bates in the show Bate Motel. A prequel of sorts to the Psycho movies, Bates Motel is a fantastic spin on the horror tale, ramping up the relationship Bates has with his mother – a cold and calculating Vera Farmiga – and sprinkling breadcrumbs along the way that point to how he became who he became. 

Seasons on Netflix: 4

Is The Crown Netflix's crowning glory? Not quite, but it is a sumptuous look at one of the world's most famous families: the Royal family. 

Charting the early years of the relationship between the Queen (Claire Foy) and Prince Philip  (former Doctor Who Matt Smith), the show was written by Peter Morgan and, at £100 million, is one of the most expensive TV series ever made. Which means there's enough pomp and ceremony to keep those pining for a Downton Abbey replacement happy.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

We'll admit that we were a little disappointed when we heard director Guillermo Del Toro was making a show called Troll Hunters that it wasn't a spin-off of the excellent Scandinavian documentary, but this animated show is a delight. It stars the vocal talent of Ron Perlman, the late Anton Yelchin and Kelsey Grammar and focuses on a teenager who is chosen to be the guardian of Arcadia, a town overrun with trolls. Part one is out now and features some beautiful animation from DreamWorks.

Seasons on Netflix: 1 (Part one)

The OA rounds off what has been an exceptional year for television on Netflix. Co-created by and starring the ever-brilliant Brit Marling, the show consists of eight episodes that rival Stranger Things for, well, strangeness. Marling is a blind woman who comes back after disappearing for many years. Her sight is restored and she has a tale to tell. Although there are eight episodes they vary wildly in length – from 70 minutes to 30 minutes. The whole thing has been made to make you feel uneasy and it does a great job of that.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

Given that Archer is set at the International Secret Intelligence Service (unfortunately abbreviated as ISIS), recent terror atrocities have meant the animation has been getting headlines for the wrong reasons. But don’t let this unlucky nomenclature put you off. Archer is a brilliant send-up of spy movies of yore, complete with some of the best voiceover talent – many of which have been pruned from the cast of Arrested Development. While the fifth season ‘reboot’ wasn’t the success it should have been, Archer is still one of the best cartoon comedies around.

Seasons on Netflix: 6

If it wasn’t for Netflix, Arrested Development would have stayed as a three-season wonder. The streaming giant decided to take a gamble and fund a fourth season of Mitchell Hurwitz’s brilliant family comedy and we are glad it did. While splitting the family up for most of the season meant some of the spark had disappeared – this was done to fit in with the actors’ busy schedules – the fourth season proved that there was still a lot to like about the dysfunctional Bluth family. Filled with season-long in-jokes, perfect site gags and spot-on wordplay, Arrested Development is a comedy that needs to be watched on repeat – and even then you will find something new to laugh at.

Seasons on Netflix: 4

Created, written and well-loved by animation legend Matt Groening, you might have wrote Futurama off as filler content for Fox’s Sunday night programming block. If that sounds like you, you inadvertently did a major disservice to creativity, humor and passion Groening poured into every panel year after year for over a decade.

Futurama is funny, witty and has the uncanny ability to poke fun at cultural icons without sinking to juvenile mud-slinging. Each time the series got the axe broke our heart a little more, which didn’t get the mending it needed until the final episode of the final season.

Seasons on Netflix: 10

Mad Men is more addictive than the cigarettes Don Draper is trying to market us. If you’ve never watched it, essentially Mad Men is a show about everything we now consider taboo in glaringly harsh light. Set in 1960s America, inter-office intercourse is par for the course, along with ashtrays overflowing with cigarettes, sexism at the highest levels and a complete disregard for morals so long as it serves the characters on their climb to the top of the corporate ladder. Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and his assistant Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) shock and entertain us by showing the lifestyles of the advertising executives who got the public to buy cigarettes long after they knew the health risks.

Seasons on Netflix: 7

There's no better person to portray not-so-distant future dystopias than Charlie Brooker. He's been holding a warped mirror up to the ridiculous nature of the world's media for years, mixing cutting comments with comedy, but Black Mirror sees him entering darker territory. Each series is just three episodes long but they are all standalone treats, twisting reality in their own unique way while commenting on things we seem to hold dear today – namely technology and television.

Seasons on Netflix: 3 

More addictive than the meth pushed by Walt and Jessie, Breaking Bad is brilliant binge-watching television. The initial plot is simple: a straight-laced teacher is told he has cancer and to make sure he leaves his family with the best possible life, he turns to drug making and dealing. There’s method to his madness as he ends up being pretty good at it. Creator Vince Gilligan has created such a good group of characters, he is currently mining the same world again with Better Call Saul. But that has some way to go reach the highest highs that Breaking Bad offers.

Seasons on Netflix: 5

Narcos is that wonderful thing: a TV show that doesn't scrimp on controversy. Based on the exploits of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar, the show examines the criminal's rise to the top of one of the biggest drug rings the world has seen, while constantly trying to avoid the clutches of the DEA.

Uncompromising, uncomfortable but completely unforgettable, Narcos is exactly the sort of thing that Netflix should be commissioning. It's also the sort of thing that HBO would have snapped up just a few years ago – which is very telling as to where television is today. 

The second season of Narcos is out now! 

Seasons on Netflix: 2

 And there was us thinking that Daredevil's subject matter was dark. Jessica Jones is another tale set in Hell's Kitchen that may be under the Marvel banned but is about as far removed from the bromance of Thor and Iron Man that you are likely to see. 

Breaking Bad's Krysten Ritter is superb as the titular Jones, a private detective with superpowers and super issues. This is nocturnal noir that moves in the same circles as Daredevil – figuratively and literally as both characters will eventually team up in the Defenders. It may not have the bone-crunching violence that Daredevil is famed for, but there's enough booze, sex and black humor on the screen to make this a cracking comic-book caper that's strictly adults only. 

A second season has been announced and it has also been revealed that shooting of The Defenders will happen later this year. 

Check out our Jessica Jones review

Seasons on Netflix: 1

If you like Louis C.K.’s stand up, you’re going to love Louie. It’s dark. It’s funny. It makes us look at ourselves and our situations and just think “Huh, I guess it could be a lot worse.” Each episode is divided into two parts: a stand-up segment where Louie tells jokes to a faceless audience and a fictional vignette that either refutes or enforces the previous joke. So how can a comedian’s life, even a fictional version of it, be funny? We have no idea, but it just works.

Seasons on Netflix: 5

If your life needs a bit more blood and poetic justice in it, check out Dexter, a show about a Miami detective who not only solves homicide cases, but commits them, too. Known previously for his work on HBO’s Six Feet Under, Michael C Hall’s devious, semi-sociopathic persona shines through in his role as the lead character. The show manages to cut deep, often giving you a dozen reasons to care about a man who kills for all the right reasons.

Seasons on Netflix: 8

If there ever was a poster boy for Netflix, House of Cards would be it. Funded completely by the streaming service, Cards' first season boasted direction by David Fincher and acting by Kevin Spacey and was addictive television. The reason: Netflix positively wanted you to binge watch, putting all episodes up at once. Now going into its fifth season, Netflix's Card trick is still impressive and shows just how far Netflix has come, given it's shot in both 4K and HDR.

Seasons on Netflix: 4

Initially made on a shoe-string budget, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia first season had a cult following, but low viewing figures meant it was destined to be a one-series wonder. Thankfully, everything changed when Season 2 was eventually green-lit, thanks to some big-time star power. Danny De Vito joined for a 10-episode run that was extended because he loved it so much. He’s still in the show that’s now in its 10th season, bringing with him huge viewing figures. The antics of Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Mac (Rob McElhenney, the show’s creator), Charlie (Charlie Kelly) and Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson) won’t be for everyone – at its darkest the show’s ‘comedy’ themes range from nazism to drug abuse – but stick with it and this deliciously depraved classic will reward you.

Seasons available on Netflix: 10

After he had produced the perfect female lead in Buffy and before he was Hulk smashing with The Avengers, Joss Whedon created a short-run sci-fi series that has spawned not only a massive cult following but, quite astonishingly, a movie. The reason it was such an underground success was because Firefly takes the Star Wars framework of making space messy, where everything is a little rough around the edges – including the crew. It even has its own Han Solo in the form of Nathan Fillion’s Malcolm Reynolds. Whedon’s witty words permeate the whole of Firefly, which is not so much a space opera but a space rock opera.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

True crime stories are so hot right now, evidenced by the immense popularity of the podcast Serial and HBO’s The Jinx. Netflix’s original series Making a Murderer however, is probably the hottest of them all, documenting and recounting the trials of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, two working-class Americans accused of the murder of 23-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach. Over its 10 episodes, the show exposes the failings of the Wisconsin justice system in blood-boiling detail. Having spent 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Steven Avery is exonerated based on new DNA evidence. However, shortly after his release, he becomes the prime suspect in Halbach’s murder, and Avery is put through the ringer once again by law enforcement figures that seem to have it out for him. What follows is an anger-inducing sequence of events that involve forced confessions, unconvincing (and possibly planted) evidence, dodgy lawyers and a complete presumption of guilt from almost everyone involved. Compelling, infuriating and tragic, we guarantee you won’t be able to stop watching Making a Murderer once you’ve started.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

Most shows that take place after the apocalypse dry up after a season or two, typically because things can only go from bad to better so many times before the survivors set up a new utopia. It's good then that The Walking Dead isn't like most shows. Sure, sometimes situations go from bad to better, but that's only before things fall apart and the situation becomes even more dire than when the episode started. Oh, and the old joke about main characters always being safe when they're in a room together? That doesn't apply here. No one is safe, and that's what makes The Walking Dead a show that works season after season, episode after episode.

Seasons on Netflix: 6

Before we continue on with recommendation, Shameless comes with a warning: this show, a dramedy about a poor family in Chicago, really is shameless. Frank, played by William H. Macy will scheme his way to his next drink … even if that means taking his own kids’ lunch money. If you have ethical problems watching less-than-admirable people doing whatever it takes to make ends meet, Shameless isn’t for you.

All that said, those that don’t mind a bit more … unscrupulous cast of characters will seriously enjoy Shameless’s grittier, sex- and money-driven take on the Modern Family comedy.

Seasons on Netflix: 4

When it comes to TV and movies, the ’80s is the nostalgia decade of the moment. Whether it’s Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special that plays like a Steven Spielberg film, if Spielberg still made films like he did in the Eighties, or The Goldbergs and Red Oaks mining the decade for laughs, filmmakers can’t get enough of the shell suits and Sony Walkmans.

Stranger Things is another brilliant homage to this era. Leaning heavily on Spielberg, John Carpenter and Stephen King the story revolves around a small town, a group of friends, a missing person and a dodgy science lab. Writing anything else would give away the myriad twists in a show that is full of brilliant creepy fun.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

ESPN might’ve had the world of sports documentaries well in hand with its 30 for 30 series. But that was before Netflix got the crazy idea to make one of its own. Inspired by an article in GQ magazine, Last Chance U follows student athletes who are one step away from never playing football again. On top of the pressures on the field, students face problems in the classroom where class absences and the fear failing hit harder than a defensive lineman. It’s gritty, heart-wrenching and exactly the kind of series that gives you something to root for all while biting your nails.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

It shouldn’t work but it really really does. This modern retelling of the Sherlock Holmes stories is as good as it gets. Benedict Cumberbatch is everything you want in a Holmes – someone that wallows in wit, weirdness and warmth. While Martin Freeman plays Dr Watson as he plays all his characters – he’s the everyman that has to learn how to deal with his extraordinary colleague. Episodes are scarce but each one is feature length, which gives them time to breath. Let’s just hope these two superstars can find time in their busy schedules to keep doing the show.

Seasons on Netflix: 3

We always knew Amy Poehler was funny. Sketch after sketch on Saturday Night Live proved she had the comedic timing of a professional stand-up mixed with the creative capacity of an executive producer. Each episode of Parks and Rec is a chance to see Poehler do what she does best, with an excellent supporting cast of Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza and Rashida Jones behind her every step of the way. While we were sad to see the show come to a heart-wrenching conclusion this year, the finale in February was the perfect excuse to go back and binge-watch the entire series from start to finish.

Seasons on Netflix: 7

There’s very good reason Sons of Anarchy is the highest rated show on FX ever – its Shakespeare-esque plot (think Hamlet on bikes), following the tumultuous lives of a motorcycle gang, has everyone who watches it gripped. The show ended in 2014 after seven glorious seasons – although later seasons could never quite reach the glory days of one to three – and is perfect fodder for those looking for another Breaking Bad-style fix.

Seasons on Netflix: 6

On the list of shows that were tragically cut down before their prime, Number 1 is Firefly. Number 2, however, is Freaks and Geeks, the show that served as a launching pad for some of our favorite stars in comedy today. Brash, mischievous and hysterical, James Franco, Jason Segel and Seth Rogen provide a perfect counter-balance for the tepid (and completely loveable) Linda Cardellini.

The show scores a spot on our list and in our hearts because at the end of the day we've all been Cardellini's character, Lindsay. We've all been picked on, called a nerd and genuinely loved something – whether that's cellphones, computers, televisions, whatever. And just when you think you'll never fit in, the right group of people somehow find their way into your life.

Seasons on Netflix: 1

Luke Cage is the latest addition to Netflix's impressive and growing Marvel TV show offering. Marvel has created a rich cinematic universe and although some of its TV shows (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Agent Carter) have struggled to stay on their feet others like Jessica Jones and Daredevil have flourished. 

Luke Cage is more in the same vein as Jessica Jones and Daredevil, with less light-hearted superhero fun and more hard-hitting themes, violence, and grit. Viewers who lamented the fact that they didn't get to see more of him in Jessica Jones will enjoy the opportunity to find out more about what makes his character tick here. Don't worry if you haven't watched Jessica Jones, it's not a requirement to understand or appreciate anything about Luke Cage. 

Seasons on Netflix: 1

Proving that the UK can match the US when it comes to well-made drama, Peaky Blinders is a great-looking modernist take on the Peaky Blinder gangsters of 1920's Birmingham. Occasional dodgy accents aside, the show is a complete success thanks to lead actor Cillian Murphy as Tommy, the head of the Shelby crime family. Now in its third season, the show was perked up massively with the inclusion of Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons in series two – so it's great that Netflix offers up the first two seasons of the show. 

Seasons on Netflix: 3

While it never quite reaches the highs of the original Scandinavian drama on which its based, the US version of The Killing is still a great watch and it's all thanks to the chemistry of the two leads Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden and Joel Kinnaman' Stephen Holder. While the original drama only managed three seasons, thanks to Netflix saving the show the US Killing has four series, all of which are based around different deaths in and around Seattle. 

Seasons on Netflix: 4

Part travel show, part culinary adventure, Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown is best described as chicken soup for the soul. Bourdain's travels gives us hope in the world as he travels this massive blue orb learning, eating and drinking with the people he meets along the way. If you're looking to take a vicarious vacation, check out this show.

Seasons on Netflix: 6

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Looking for the best Bluetooth speaker? We can help. Curious what Bluetooth speakers are all about? Well, if you want a quick and easy way to get music playing around your home or on the go, then nothing beats the convenience of a Bluetooth speaker. Simply charge it up, pair it to your phone, and you'll be able to play your entire music collection wherever you choose. 

While the latest set of audio cans can do amazing things, they previously offered a weak and tinny sound. Improvements is Bluetooth technology have meant that they're able to offer a very capable audio experience in their own right. And, better yet, battery capacities have improved such that you can use a bluetooth speaker for several days on the trot without needing to recharge it. 

But not all wireless speakers are made equal, and with that in mind welcome to our list of our top picks for the best Bluetooth speakers around. Some are rugged. Some are stylish. Some are weatherproof. Some aren't fit for the outdoors. But all of them are well worth a place in your tech arsenal. 

There are hundreds of Bluetooth speakers floating around, and sorting out which ones are worth your money and which ones are best left on the shelf can be a time-consuming process. But leave it to us. We've got you covered.

Here's a quick look at our Top 10 best Bluetooth speakers list:

1) UE Boom 2
2) JBL Charge 3
3) Bose SoundLink Mini II
4) UE Wonderboom
5) Bose SoundLink Color II
6) Fugoo Style
7) B&O Beoplay P2
8) Marshall Kilburn
9) Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2
10) Razer Leviathan Mini

Below you'll find our choices in full detail. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let us know in the comments section down below.

This sequel to the UE Boom nails everything a Bluetooth speaker should be. It's loud, yet detailed. Portable, but still incredibly durable. Plus, even better, the addition of waterproofing turns what used to be the best Bluetooth speaker around for most occasions into the best one for every occasion. 

If you're deep in the search for your next –, or first – Bluetooth speaker, you can stop looking now. (But if you're looking for a little more power, the Megaboom – also from UE – is a great choice, too.) 

Read the full review: UE Boom 2

As a package, the JBL Charge 3 offers a compelling set of features and excellent sound quality to boot. It punches well above its weight, playing loudly and distortion-free. The Charge line of speakers have been on our shortlist of recommendations for a long time and the latest iteration maintains JBL's dominance in the portable Bluetooth speaker market.

Read the full review: JBL Charge 3

The Bose SoundLink Mini II is relatively ancient, having been released in June 2015. However, writing off the SoundLink Mini II because of its age would be a mistake, as it remains one of the best sounding wireless speakers. That said, it punches way above what its size would suggest, producing deep bass, sparkling highs and a lush midrange. While most wireless speakers sound OK, the Mini II proves that small speakers don’t need to compromise on sound.

Read the full review: Bose SoundLink Mini II

When someone asks us for a recommendation for a waterproof speaker, the UE Roll 2 was always on the top of our list. We loved the Roll 2’s unique form factor, 50-foot wireless range and, obviously, it sounded good, too. Where it was lacking was in the bass department. Logitech, UE’s parent company, has fixed the Roll 2’s lack of bass by creating the appropriately named UE Wonderboom. 

In our eyes, the UE Wonderboom bests the Roll 2 in just about every way –except for the Roll 2’s handy bungee cord. Still, ignoring that, if you’re looking for one of the best waterproof Bluetooth speakers on the market today, it’s hard to do better than the UE Wonderboom. 

Read the full review: UE Wonderboom

It seems just about every speaker company has a wireless speaker that can take the abuse of being outdoors and Bose, a company most well-known for its brand of excellent noise-canceling headphones, is no different. If you’re looking for something from Bose to take with you on your next hike, the $130 (about £100, AU$170) SoundLink Color II is the company’s only splash-proof speaker that can stand up to the elements with an IPX4 rating. 

Read the full review: Bose SoundLink Color II

Meet one of the Bluetooth speaker market's best-kept secrets. The Fugoo comes in your choice of jacket style (Style, Tough, or Sport), but no matter which one you choose, this speaker is just as suited for the elements as it is your coffee table. Despite its small size, this option offers surprisingly good sound performance and, get this, up to 40 hours of battery life when listening at medium volume. We were able to get nearly 20 hours out of it at a high volume.

Read the full review: Fugoo

B&O created a hit with the Beoplay P2. It’s a well-designed speaker that’s extremely easy to use, has a well-built companion app, and it sounds great. On top of that, the speaker is ultra-portable without compromising on much bass content. Sure, you could get something a little bigger (and stereo) for the same price, but at this size the sound quality justifies the price. The smart gestures are a nice touch too, although we wouldn’t buy the device solely for that reason.

Read the full review: B&O Beoplay P2

The Marshall Kilburn might not appear to be the best choice in Bluetooth speakers. It’s large, heavy, doesn’t have USB charging and isn’t waterproof. Plus, $299 (£239, about AU$390) is a lot to pay for a Bluetooth speaker. But none of this matters because the Kilburn sounds so darn good. 

If design and audio performance are your two most important criteria for a Bluetooth speaker – and they should be – the Kilburn is near perfect. 

Read the full review: Marshall Kilburn

The Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2 is the successor to the much-loved Sound Blaster Roar SR20 and rings it at a pleasing tune of $169/£149, or about AU$235. This speaker is about the size of a hard-cover book and can compliment a bookshelf or a table top nicely.

Touching on features, the built-in internal microphone allows you to make or take calls with ease. The Roar 2 supports a microSD card, which you can use either to record calls onto or listen to stored music from. Something else you don't see often in a Bluetooth speaker is an overdrive button. "Roar" mode cranks the sound performance up a few notches.

Read the full review: Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2

The Razer Leviathan Mini is a lightweight portable Bluetooth speaker that does a lot right in the company's first attempt at sound in a small package. If you're looking to add a portable Bluetooth speaker to your growing arsenal of Razer audio products, the Razer Leviathan Mini is a well-rounded option that might be a bit more than the competition, but delivers in all the right categories.

Read the full review: Razer Leviathan Mini

We'll update this page as we review more speakers, so stay tuned. Let us know if you have suggestions for us to check out in the comments below.

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In a move few saw coming, Microsoft announced during its Build developer keynote today that it's working to bring iTunes to the Windows Store.

While PC owners running Windows have the ability to download iTunes directly from Apple, this is the first time users can obtain the Apple Music client and media player directly from a Microsoft-sanctioned digital marketplace.

The announcement is also a bit of a pleasant head-turner because the Windows Store has a bit of a reputation for a somewhat underwhelming selection of apps, especially ones from platform competitors like Apple.

No details where announced yet regarding a release date or regional availability, but we will update this story as more information develops.

• Here's what's next for Windows 10

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Update: Curious what Nintendo has to show off at this year's E3? Turns out the Big N is going to return to the LA Convention Center show floor this year with Super Mario Odyssey in toe. Beyond traditional demo stations, Nintendo is using E3 as the location for its first-ever ARMS invitational and Splatoon 2 World Inkling invitational – two big tournaments for fans of the Nintendo Switch-exclusive games.

Original article continues below…

E3 is the world’s biggest gaming show. Every June, the video game development community and press gather in Los Angeles to learn about what the next year has in store for the world of video games. This year 15,000 members of the public will be joining the party too. 

It’s an exciting show. The big players in the industry, from Sony to Microsoft and Nintendo to Ubisoft, all compete to get the biggest headlines by saving their biggest announcements for the show.

In previous years we’ve seen the announcement of new consoles and new games, and with two new consoles being released this year (the Nintendo Switch and Microsoft’s Project Scorpio), we’re expecting the major publishers to have something big lined up for the show.

But what exactly is coming? Read on for our top predictions for this year’s show, and if you’re interested in reading about what went down at E3s past, check out our pages on E3 2016 and E3 2015.

Nintendo

It’s a big year for Nintendo and according to Nintendo of America's president Reggie Fils-Aime the company is planning a "big" E3 to reflect this.

It seems this bigness is going to be concentrated on the show floor, however, as it was revealed in a recent company financial briefing that once more Nintendo won't be holding a traditional on-stage press conference. Nintendo hasn't had one of these since 2012, instead reaching out to fans directly with Nintendo Direct-style videos and Treehouse livestreams. 

Bearing this approach in mind, it seems most likely that Nintendo is planning to use the fact that the show is open to the public this year as a way to showcase more of its Switch and 3DS games.

Fils-Aime didn't share any specifics with regards to show plans but he did say that there would be a "variety" of both Switch and 3DS games on display. 

Last summer’s Pokemon Go reminded everyone how much affection there still is for Nintendo’s classic franchises, and consequently Pokemon Sun and Moon went on to be one of the fastest selling Pokemon games in some time.

But Nintendo wasn’t done there. Its NES Classic Mini, which bundled 30 classic NES games into a cute little chassis was one of the hottest presents of the holidays, and its Nintendo Switch reveal had us all very excited indeed for the company’s new console.

Nintendo has a lot to play for at this year’s E3. The Switch will be three months old and Nintendo will need to use its presence at the show to maintain the console’s momentum, and convince people that it has a lot of games coming for the console for the coming years.

It's been confirmed that there'll be a Splatoon 2 tournament at the Nintendo booth this year. Though it's not certain what form the tournament will take it's highly likely that it'll be somewhat similar to the Super Smash Bros tournament that was held at E3 in 2014. 

Thanks to a recent release from Nintendo, we now know that Super Mario Odyssey will form a big part of Nintendo’s showing, but we’d be disappointed if we didn’t see at least one new big game announced, such as the rumored Pokemon Stars. 

Every year we cross our fingers and hope that Retro Studios will be allowed to make another Metroid Prime game, or that Nintendo might see fit to resurrect F-Zero for another outing, but what’s more likely is that the company will be hoping to launch a couple of all new franchises with its new console.

We’ve already seen Nintendo pushing its new games Arms and 1-2 Switch at the console’s hands on event, but we’re sure the company has a lot more in store for the new hardware.

If the response so far has been an indicator of anything, it’s that Nintendo could really use a game to show what the Switch is capable of, in the same way that Wii Sports perfectly showed off the capabilities of the Wii.

Sony

Sony's conference is scheduled to take place this year on June 12 at 6pm PT, 9pm ET, and at 2am on June 13 BST.

Sony has developed a knack for showstopping E3 presentations in recent years. Two years ago it stole the show by announcing a long-anticipated remake of Final Fantasy 7 alongside Shenmue 3, and last year it let games such as God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn speak for themselves alongside an appearance from legendary game designer Hideo Kojima.

It then went on to be a big hardware year for Sony. It launched a refresh of the PS4’s hardware with the PS4 slim, a new 4K console in the form of the PS4 Pro, and the first ever console virtual reality headset, the PlayStation VR.

We think virtual reality will be a big focus for Sony at this year’s event. Its VR headset is out in the wild now, and people need big meaty gaming experiences to convince them it’s a worthwhile investment.

Announced at last year’s presentation, Star Wars VR ended up being an amazing experience whose biggest problem was its length. We’d love to see a full-length Star Wars X-Wing game that can be played in virtual reality in its entirety announced at this year’s show.

We also saw the announcement of a new Spider-Man game developed by Ratchet and Clank studio Insomniac games last year, and with Spider-Man: Homecoming arriving on the big screen a month after E3 in July it’s highly likely that Sony will want to capitalise on the excitement with another announcement.

Otherwise we expect Sony to be pretty much business as usual at this year’s show. It’s developed a comfortable lead over Microsoft in hardware sales, and it’s unlikely to want to upset this too much. 

Microsoft

Microsoft has confirmed that this year its conference will take place on Sunday June 11 at 2pm PT/ 5pm ET/ 10pm BST which is slightly earlier than its usual Monday slot. 

Last year Microsoft announced not one, but two new pieces of hardware – the Xbox One S and Project Scorpio.

The former sounded at first as though it was going to be a traditional slimline console, but Microsoft then announced it would bundle in an Ultra HD Blu-ray player and support for 4K streaming for good measure.

Project Scorpio, meanwhile, is looking like it’ll be a much more major upgrade. Microsoft is promising it will bring native 4K gaming to consoles for the first time.

With Scorpio due out at the end of this year, we expect it to form a big part of Microsoft’s presentation at this year’s show, particularly since its image was the focus of the company's flier for the event.

In a blog post on the Xbox website, Phil Spencer stated that the company is "excited to unveil Project Scorpio and the amazing game experiences it powers at E3 this June."

Earlier this month, Microsoft revealed the hardware specifications for the console in order to make it possible to focus more on how these numbers actually affect performance and the games the company is planning to release.

We wouldn’t be surprised if some existing Xbox One games see Scorpio patches or re-releases for Scorpio. Flagship titles like Halo 5, Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3 are obvious contenders, but we’re crossing our fingers that Microsoft finally gets around to fixing the Master Chief Collection for a 4K re-release.

We know for definite that the console will support Middle Earth: Shadow of War so we imagine footage of that title will feature heavily and it's been rumored that we'll also see footage from Forza Motorsport 7, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, Call of Duty, FIFA, Madden, Battlefront 2, and Red Dead Redemption 2.

We’re also likely to see more talk of Rare’s Sea of Thieves, but beyond that Microsoft doesn’t have many franchises that have been missing in action recently that it could do with resurrecting.

EA, Activition, Bethesda and the rest

It would be great to see a Half Life 3 reveal. At this point it’s basically not going to happen, but it’s become a tradition to half-heartedly hope for it to make an appearance at E3.

From the rest of the publishers it’s going to be a bit of a weird year with a lot of different hardware combinations to support.

Developers now have around five different pieces of hardware to worry about supporting. There’s the PS4 and PS4 Pro, the Xbox One and the upcoming Project Scorpio, not to mention the Nintendo Switch and the sea of PC gaming combinations.

There’s also the three separate VR headsets to worry about supporting.

We imagine the PS4 Pro and Project Scorpio will form the basis for most of their bigger games. These games will still come to the original PS4 and Xbox One, but we think publishers will focus on the more powerful hardware, while mentioning that games will also be available for the older hardware.

Will publishers embrace the Switch? They’ve been burned before with the Wii U, so we’d say it’s unlikely that they put all their eggs in Nintendo’s basket. Expect a couple of smaller announcements for the console however, such as ports from biggest franchises like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed.

The plans of specific publishers are a little harder to predict. Activision is unlikely to return to the show, and EA has already announced that it will be hosting its alternative EA Play event once again rather than exhibit at E3.

EA Play is EA's event that runs from June 10 to June 12 alongside E3 and they've announced the games that fans can expect to be able to play this year.

Titles you'll see at the stand include Star Wars Battlefront 2, Need For Speed and EA Sports games Madden NFL 18, Fifa 18 and NBA Live 18. These aren't the only titles that will be at the show, but EA has said they'll confirm more in the coming months. 

Tickets for the event will go on sale at 9am PST on April 20. For those who can't make it to the event, there'll also be streams online. 

Bethesda has announced it'll be having a showcase at this year's show. It's set to take place on June 11 at 7pm. The star of the event is likely to be Quake Champions and we'll perhaps get a look at Fallout 4 and Doom in VR. It's not a certainty by any means, but it'd be a great time for any new Elder Scrolls game announcements too.

Bethesda has sent out its press invites for its E3 showcase and they include a tantalizing hint at two new game announcements. The invite features an image of a cartoon theme park called 'Bethesdaland' that's been split into various worlds based on Bethesda's games. These worlds are Fallout, Doom, Elder Scrolls, Quake, Dishonored, and Prey. 

Most importantly, though, there are two zones in the image with signs which say "under construction" and "coming soon" leading to speculation that there are new games coming. What these could be is unclear, though the most popular suggestions appear to be new Wolfenstein or The Evil Within titles. 

There's also the chance that there could be an entirely new major IP with fans hopeful that we might finally find out what the Trademarked Starfield project could be.

After giving its Assassin’s Creed series a year off, 2017 might be the year Ubisoft brings it back with a fresh coat of paint and some new ideas under the hood. The games haven’t gotten bad exactly, but the formula has worn thin over the years. Hopefully the year’s break will have been enough to reignite the franchise. 

A recent report from WWG has certainly suggested that we'll see the game revealed at this year's show under the name Assassin's Creed Origins and it'll take players back to the beginning of the assassin's guild in ancient Egypt. 

Finally, Konami will be in attendance. Will it have some new Metal Gear wares to show off now that Kojima has well and truly departed? Despite our curiosity, we have to admit that we’d be ok if it just let the franchise fade into obscurity now that its project lead has left the business.

Finally, outside of the big players there’s sure to be a couple of interesting indie games on show, and these might end up making an appearance at the PC Gaming Show, a conference dedicated to showing off games for the PC gaming market.

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In Arkane’s smart and stylish revival of the 2006 first-person shooter, the moon-orbiting Talos 1 space station is being overrun by Typhon, a shape-shifting collective of aliens. It’s up to your character, Morgan Yu, to fight back by any means necessary. However, your goal is just as much about finding a motive worth fighting for.

Is there anyone left to save? Can I actually make a difference? And why am I in the middle of it all? These are all questions that you’ll answer with your actions, or at least try to, throughout the roughly 20 hour campaign.

For some gamers, a gun in-hand is reason enough to truck through to the game’s end. Prey is an action game, after all, so it wastes little time rolling out a pistol, wrench and shotgun, as well as a few other futuristic weapons, like the GLOO gun that freezes enemies in their tracks.
 

But if you’re looking for more depth in your FPS games, it’s not too difficult to find it here. Prey features a large skill tree filled with fun, upgradeable abilities that will make your trek feel dynamic and fresh, no matter your style of play.

Mixed in with the balance gunplay and supernatural abilities, players can further mix up their strategy by crafting items to build up your offense against the Typhon.

Unlike games like Arkane’s own Dishonored, and BioShock, you aren’t delivered an ending based on your level of violence or lack thereof. The multiple endings hinge on some big decisions you make throughout the story, both in the main quest and in how you handle many of its sidequests.

While Prey is a solid offering on almost all accounts, it misses the mark in a few areas. While performance on the PC was rock-solid, the clumsy melee combat controls never really seem to jive with the hectic movement of the Typhon creatures. And its story, which concludes majestically, takes a little too long to find its groove and misses a beat from time to time. 

Talos 1 is so detail-packed that you’ll probably want to squeeze every drip out of it, but the game frustratingly steps on its own toes at times. For example, it’s all too easy to become overwhelmed with quest objectives that have you zipping around the environment faster than you can memorize its layout.

Also, character dialogue will sometimes overlap with audio logs, which essentially makes you miss out on two potentially important bits of story at once and is a little immersion-breaking for the serious atmosphere that Arkane has made.

All said, if you’re a fan of FPS games and enjoy a sci-fi setting, Prey is a must-play. But for the more discerning player, those few minor flaws might stand in your way of total enjoyment.  

The tale on Talos 1

Prey is, more or less, an open-world game. As you explore Talos 1 on foot (and outside of it in glorious microgravity), you’ll come across new quests to take on and be treated to many bits of environmental storytelling and collectable lore in the form of notes and audio logs.

If you look and listen closely, you’ll notice the excellent narrative details put into the game, which paints a humanizing (or sometimes, dehumanizing) picture of life on the space station just before, and as, shit hit the fan with the Typhon invasion. 

Prey has many layers to its narrative, but mostly leaves it up to you to peel them all back. It’s a shame that some of its more memorable beats are hidden away, but at least it gives you all the more reason to go back through the journey a second time.  

Speaking on the bigger moments in the story that you can’t help but see play out in front of you, many of them unfold exactly as you’d expect. Thankfully, a few big curve balls tossed in along the way really help to avoid being fatigued by familiarity.  

Attack and release

A few things are made very clear from the start of the game: you are outnumbered and outmaneuvered by the Typhon.

Ranging from the small, Half-Life headcrab-like Mimics, to the intimidating bipedal Phantoms (and a few others that I won’t spoil for you), the struggle is made just a little more bearable by knowing each enemy’s weakness, discoverable by scanning it with the Psychoscope a la Metroid Prime.

Equipped with this intel, finding the ideal mix and match of assault combos for each enemy type is endlessly satisfying. For most of the beasts, applying some motion-freezing GLOO, followed by some wrench action yields decent results. At best, you’ll lose little health and waste almost no resources in the process.

Speaking of resources, Prey features a robust inventory management system that’s actually a lot of fun to use. The remains of slain Typhon, as well as other scraps and abandoned tech can be salvaged for raw materials for use in crafting items like ammo, medkits and other things that are rare to come by during play, especially in the game’s tough later sections.

That said, there certainly are some encounters that call for the boomstick. And even though you aren’t punished for brute forcing your way through the game, the style of play that yielded the best results involved taking a moment to consider how each battle would affect my resources on hand. There’s nothing that I love more than saying hello to a Phantom with a loud gun, but in most cases (as I fail to illustrate below) I valued having a fat stack of reserve materials a little more. 

The power of choice

Neuromods also help you even-out the fight against the Typhon. Shortly after you begin the journey, Morgan can learn new perks with these collectable items that can be used to unlock new abilities and upgrades to your suit’s capabilities.

Want to boost your strength, hack terminals and double your health gauge? Enjoy being stealthy? There’s a perk for that. Additionally, there are chipsets sprinkled throughout the campaign that give your suit some specialized powers, like the ability to see hidden mimics and granting you higher chances of landing critical blows with your favorite weapon, and more.

As such, the skill tree presented here allows for surprisingly deep customization, even allowing Morgan to take on certain traits of the Typhon to gain a considerable edge in combat. Abilities like shape-shifting, teleporting and mind-hacking really broaden the playbook when they become available around halfway through the journey. However, there are some interesting implications at stake for adopting the enemy’s ways.  

To hunt and to be hunted

I have a confession to make: it took me a while to not suck at Prey. A common scenario involved being ambushed by a lowly Mimic while it was disguised as a mug. Effortlessly juking around the room, it avoided my every swing of a wrench. Having drained all of my stamina, I realize that I am the prey, owned by the easiest enemy in the game.

While I did become more proficient later on, the wild enemy patterns are tougher to read than they seem. To that end, I appreciate that this game enforces learning through failures and plotting out your attack, even when it’s just a casual encounter with a relatively harmless enemy.

In the end, the harsh, but fair difficulty made applying learned battle tactics to each Typhon encounter during my bleak tenure on Talos 1 one of the more rewarding things I’ve done in a game this year.

Prey is a captivating exploration of how far humans will go to sustain their species, even at the cost of their own lives or others. While it suffers from poor pacing at times and a few quality of life issues, this game more than makes up for it with surprising depth in its story, an incredible atmosphere and an open-ended approach that caters to casual and more hardcore gamers alike.

Arkane has crafted one of my favorite experiences of 2017.

Verdict: Play it now

Prey was reviewed on the PC with code provided by Bethesda. 

TechRadar's review system scores games as 'Don't Play It', 'Play It' and 'Play It Now', the last of which is the highest score we can give. A 'Play It' score suggests a solid game with some flaws, but the written review will reveal the exact justifications. 

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“It can be overwhelming to walk into a retailer and see all the TVs on the wall. All their settings are cranked up to compete with one another,” Chris Larson, Senior Vice President, TCL tells us at a recent briefing held at Dolby Labs in San Francisco, Calif. 

The discussion was about how TCL TVs … well, all TVs really, are calibrated differently for stores than they are for your home. It’s a trick TV manufacturers have been using for years – turning saturation levels up to sickening levels while cranking the brightness up to its maximum level. It’s intense, definitely, and more than a little deceitful. 

But let’s not focus on that god-awful practice for a minute. Let’s focus on the wall of TVs. 

For anyone who knows the difference between a composite and component cable, this wall is a visual chocolate factory – each television offering a different flavor of eye candy. We love walking into a Best Buy or Tesco to see what’s new in the world of pixels and panels. We comment on how this LG OLED might look better than Samsung’s new QLED screen, at least in terms of contrast, and quibble over whether Android TV is the best or the worst thing to ever happen to televisions in the last century. 

But for others, like my parents, this section of the store – and in particular this wall of TVs – is nothing but a bunch of seemingly identical screens. Who makes a better OLED really isn’t on their list of concerns. I’ve tried to explain Quantum Dot, Dolby Vision, HDR and dozens of other technologies over the years to my parents and, honestly, they’re not interested. As long as the TV looks good and doesn’t cost much, they’re happy. 

If you want to know how TCL (an acronym that at one point stood for True China Lion) became the third largest TV manufacturer in the world, it’s through people like my parents.

Quality, performance and value

Sorry, that last bit makes it sound like TCL doesn’t make very good TVs. They do. I mean, they’re not exceptional in the same way the LG Signature Series W7 OLED or the Samsung Q9F QLED TV are, but they’re quite good – especially now that they support Dolby Vision.

The reason for my visit to Dolby Labs was to check out TCL’s 2017 line-up. Two series from last year are getting a refresh (the P- and S-Series) while TCL is introducing a completely new line called the C-Series that taps into contemporary aesthetics and adds support for most HDR sources. 

These TVs look good and, according to Larson, will also be priced fairly. If you’re looking for a way to help differentiate TCL from the masses of TVs on the aforementioned wall, it’s their brand promise: Delivering uncompromised experiences at a recognized value with an attractive cosmetic. 

It’s a promise that seems to be harder and harder to keep every year now that new Chinese TV makers like Hisense and LeEco have moved into the market. To me, this seems like something worth fretting over, but it didn’t seem to scare anyone in that office.

Larsen told me there were already branding programs in place to help make TCL a household name. “We have a partnership with the Ellen Show and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Plus, we acquired the TCL Chinese Theater down in L.A.” Other ties include UCLA athletic teams, the San Jose Earthquakes (a MLS team based in Northern California) and the Rose Bowl, one of the biggest football games in the NCAA.

And while the list is impressive, I’m not sure a few sponsorship deals will be enough to beat out the most ubiquitous names in television like Sony, Samsung and LG – each of whom have a long and storied career in American families’ living rooms. But maybe it will be.

The grand plan

So what’s the end goal here? If TCL got this far in the TV world without an insane amount of brand recognition, why does it want to change anything?

According to Larsen, it's easy to sell smaller value TVs. It’s a crowded market, sure, but in the end value always beats out performance. But being the main screen in the house? That’s much, much harder. To get to the coveted center of the home you’ve not only got to look good in terms of picture quality and cost less than everyone else, but you need a decent design aesthetic, too. 

And according to Aaron Dew, Director of Product Development at TCL, that’s where this year’s all new C-Series come in. 

The new series will go on sale in late June and combines “contemporary design” (Dew’s words) and the latest in 4K HDR technology. As far as operating systems go, the TVs use Roku OS 7.5 – a close relative of the operating system used on Roku streaming boxes like the Roku Ultra, Roku Premiere+ and Roku Express. 

The C-Series will come in 55-, 65- and 75-inch versions and will include both HDR10 and Dolby Vision. (HLG is something TCL is looking into, but not actively including on any TV this year.) They'll feature wide color gamut with advanced LED phosphor for more realistic colors, brighter highlights and increased light-to-dark contrast and support almost 100% of the DCI-P3 color space. 

I left the demo impressed with what I saw. The Dolby Vision integration helped add some pizzazz to TCL’s panels, while Roku OS provided a familiar face that I knew could help me find the content I’ve been looking for. 

And yet, I couldn’t help but think back to that wall. 

When TCL’s latest series make it to showrooms in late June, will my parents be blown away by Dolby Vision? Will they care that the 2017 P-Series now has 72 Contrast Control Zones that increase contrast and clarity? Maybe. Maybe not.

But considering that TCL’s 55-inch C-Series TV, the 55C807, goes for $699 (around £540, AU$950), I guess it doesn’t matter.

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It feels like we’ve known about Microsoft’s Mixed Reality headsets for the longest time, but at Build 2017 we’re finally getting our first look at the VR controllers.

Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers might look similar to those we’ve seen from the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, however, it doesn’t need a tracker. Rather than setting up light boxes IR cameras, sensors in the headset work in tandem with the motion controllers to deliver precise and responsive tracking of movement in the user’s field of view.

It’s a far simpler setup we appreciate and given the lower hardware requirements of Microsoft’s Mixed Reality platform, we might actually be able take to a friend’s house and share.

Microsoft demoed the Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers on stage with Acer Mixed Reality Head-Mounted Display playing a variety of games and other tasks. From the demonstration, it looks surprisingly smooth.

What’s even, more impressive about this whole setup is the Windows Mixed Reality motion controllers on stage with Acer Mixed Reality Head-Mounted Display will come bundled together for just $399 (about £310, AU$540)  – and the bundle is available for pre-order right now.

Microsoft also announced Acer and HP Mixed reality headsets on their own are also up for preorder on the Microsoft Store for $299 (about £230, AU$400) and $329 (about £250, AU$440), respectively.

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We ask the person sitting across the table from us what it’s like to work at Canonical and they stare at their drink for a while contemplating the question: “Most companies purely want to make money,” says the Canonical employee, who we’ll call ‘DeepC’ as they want to remain anonymous. “Whereas I feel, in Canonical it’s been almost like… ‘play thing’ is the wrong word, but it’s kind of like a sandbox of ideas.”

The exciting and sometimes frustrating Canonical sandbox has lost a lot of its buckets and spades in the last month. The company that financially backs the Ubuntu distribution, which is used by tens of millions of Linux users, is in the process of a massive transformation.

Growth and profitability

On April 5, Mark Shuttleworth, the millionaire founder of Canonical, announced on the company’s blog that the firm would be trimming down to focus on growth areas and all financial support for Unity, its flagship and default desktop environment, would cease. The distribution would switch back to Gnome by 18.04 LTS, the desktop that Ubuntu had dropped in favour of Unity over six years ago (and it now appears that Gnome will become the desktop from 17.10 onwards).

With one swipe, Shuttleworth not only killed Unity, but the company’s whole convergence strategy involving a unified mobile phone and desktop OS (essentially, Microsoft’s Continuum but better) and with it at least six years of work and tens of millions of pounds in investment.

The official line was a need to focus on profitability: “The choice, ultimately, is to invest in the areas which are contributing to the growth of the company,” said Shuttleworth. “Those are Ubuntu itself, for desktops, servers and VMs, our cloud infrastructure products (OpenStack and Kubernetes) our cloud operations capabilities (MAAS, LXD, Juju, BootStack), and our IoT story in snaps and Ubuntu Core.”

IPO iceberg

But Canonical’s sudden U-turn on Unity is the tip of a rather large iceberg that has ploughed through departments dumping staff in its path, and this hulking chunk of ice has ‘IPO’ chiselled on its side. Based on performance-related shares that were being offered to the remaining staff by Shuttleworth (we’ll come back to that later), we’d also estimate that the IPO is slated for four years’ time.

To get to IPO, the company has decided to seek outside investment, as revealed by the Register, so within two days of the blog post, Canonical managed to run town halls explaining its IPO ambitions to staff scattered across the globe (the company has many remote workers living in over 80 countries), and announcing the departure of popular CEO, Jane Silber, and the return of Shuttleworth as chief executive officer.

What the corporate press release detailing Silber’s departure – which turned up the following week – didn’t say is that Silber was very upset, either by her own departure or what was about to happen to the staff. One employee described her as openly weeping while Shuttleworth awkwardly patted her back, telling Silber this was actually a step up for her.

Silber was admired by many staff and described in glowing terms by a number of them as a ‘transformational leader’. She will take a seat on the Canonical board after a three-month handover period.

Within hours of the town hall meetings, a list of affected departments was sent out indicating that roughly a hundred employees were potentially at risk of redundancy – and then the contract terminations started. Some details of the redundancies have leaked out to various news sites and while Canonical itself hasn’t been that forthcoming, its own actions have created quite a leaky boat.

Word from the ground

TechRadar Pro was contacted by employees concerned that what was happening to them should become known outside of the company, and we corresponded with a number of Canonical employees who spoke under a condition of anonymity. 

“It was clear to all my colleagues for quite some time,” said one employee. “People were leaving Canonical already and everybody expected some adjustments around April.”

But as another employee commented: “Nobody expected the adjustment to be as brutal.”

A flurry of 5-10 minute video calls began on Monday 11 April and by Tuesday evening roughly 40 contractors were fired across the globe, or “dumped” like “chattel” as one staff member described it.  Subsequently, TechRadar Pro has seen data, dated around this time, confirming that at least 83 staff members were affected in this initial stage with 29 employees already fired, one resigning and 53 waiting to hear their fate. 

Contractors in the US experienced possibly the harshest terminations: a number describe being told not only that their sign-ins wouldn’t work that same day, but their health insurance coverage would be cut off, too. One employer described how they had to scramble to cancel medical treatment that they could no longer afford to have. “I was treated like a criminal,” said one particularly unhappy staff member, while some contractors who had worked for the company for over 10 years were given two weeks’ notice.

What was particularly upsetting for one staff member was the prospect of losing their bonus. Canonical has an annual performance evaluation period in April. This is the time when all employees have discussions with their managers and their bonuses are calculated, which can be up to 10% of a person’s salary. “That process was pushed to May just few weeks ago… now we all know why,” said the employee.

We need to state at this point that all the redundancies and terminations were performed according to the employment laws of each country involved, but Canonical is a company that likes to describe itself as a ‘big family’, and family don’t tend to act like this unless you’re the Borgias, or as one employee put it: “This is not how you treat your friends who helped you in their free time, who sacrificed valuable family time for you and for your projects.”

Canonical cause

That last quote might seem naive to anyone working in the corporate world, but Canonical’s painful transformation has to be framed in the context of its origins as a company that sees open source as an empowering force for good and positive change.

Even its Linux distribution, Ubuntu, is named after an African philosophy that is concerned with humanity towards others. To quote Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a person with Ubuntu has “a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished…”

Working for Canonical, particularly when it comes to long-serving employees, was and is more than a job: “People joined Canonical for ‘the cause’”, explained one staff member. “We have been fighting for the movement of open source and we all were passionate about making the Linux client (desktop, phone, TV, etc) happen. People made compromises at Canonical that nobody would do anywhere else. People worked around the clock, spent weekends and nights on workshops. We all adapted to difficult time-zones to work together with very remote colleagues. We all were – and still are – full-time evangelists of Ubuntu.”

Shares and shares alike?

This is perhaps why Shuttleworth has offered share options to all employees. TechRadar Pro was supplied with a transcript of what was said at town halls prior to lay-offs, where Shuttleworth stated: “We'll set aside a block of equity for every employee today, uh, and no matter what happens to you as an individual, um, you can bet that you have a stake in Canonical going forward. It's really important to me to recognise that everybody who is at the company today has played a role in getting us here.”

However, to add to the bitter feelings of some departing staff, no mention of the shares was included in the severance contracts that they were required to sign. Opinions were divided over whether shares would be forthcoming – one employee described it as “super-naive” that staff would ever see them after termination. We asked DeepC about this, who speculated that the lack of any mention of shares in contracts was a legal issue: “The shares for everyone were meant to be considered like a gift rather than an obligation, so he [Shuttleworth] has said that he will give it, but he hasn’t put it down in writing because he’s not really sure how it’s going to work.”

In the lead up to IPO, Shuttleworth has also set aside equity for the remaining staff: “Going forward, we're going to take 10% of the company and we're going to write options on that 10% to align everybody's interest in the very specific goals that we're setting year-by-year on this path towards the possibility of being a public company.”

DeepC also confirmed most of these details, including that equity would be paid out “in the bonuses over the following four years building up to IPO.”

Phone pain

One of the insider emails we received included extracts of employees’ parting comments to their co-workers, and one highlights something that some have failed to acknowledge – that the Ubuntu Phone is the closest to a free and open source mobile phone that the market has seen: “In the end, I think that we managed to ship the phone with the largest percentage of GPL software on it, ever,” says the anonymous staff member. “Not sure that we could ever really prove that, but I'm just gonna say it: free-est phone EVER! Now being stuck deciding whether Apple or Google will violate my privacy first seems primitive.”

Now that UBPort has announced that it will continue to develop the mobile side of Unity and given its past work with Fairphone 2, we could also see Canonical’s work contributing to the most ethical and open source phone on the planet in the future.

However, Canonical insiders close to the mobile side of the Unity project are also angry about the timing of the project’s closure. They claim that it was two to four months from being a real product that people could use, particularly with regard to convergence.

“This is a very common complaint and frustration with how Mark [Shuttleworth] operates,” says DeepC. “He’ll have an idea, but he won’t commit the appropriate resources to make it happen. Some people look at in a very literal way and get annoyed … but if you look at it objectively, really what he’s trying to do is to disrupt things, shake things up, but he doesn’t actually want to be involved in that business. He doesn’t actually want to become a phone OS manufacturer, he just wants to make a few ripples in the pond of phone OSes.”

Firm focus

The days of treating the company as an expensive hobby or tolerating acceptable annual losses (the group lost $3.3 million – around £2.6 million – in its last accounts) are now over. The firm’s focus needs to be on what works for the business, which Shuttleworth believes is Ubuntu, cloud and IoT.

On the OS side, according to Barton George, the man behind bringing Ubuntu to the Dell XPS and Senior Architect at Dell EMC, Ubuntu (and Linux) is selling well: “We don’t release specifics around sales volumes and financials, however, customer demand remains high and our engineers and developers continue to work with partners to develop the most innovative solutions to meet their needs.”

Gnome may not be a popular desktop choice for all Ubuntu users, but it’s a pragmatic answer for a company that wants to efficiently support the desktop for the average user as well as professionals. With all the usual community drum-beating that centres around a new Ubuntu desktop release, it’s easy to forget Ubuntu’s dominance in the cloud and 17.04 now supports the widest range of containers, from snaps, LXD, Docker and Kubernetes, as well as OpenStack’s latest Ocata release.

This transformation has been painful for Canonical, plus it’s also unclear how much damage has been done to its reputation among open source professionals. 

Canonical will emerge from this transformation a more efficient – and likely profitable – corporate entity, but as long as Shuttleworth has access to a public Google+ account, it will always be a colourful company to report on. However, calling many members of the free software community “deeply anti-social” and “muppets” may not be particularly beneficial when the company floats on the stock market.

Note: Canonical was asked for a response to the key points covered in this article on April 11, but did not reply before publication.

(This investigation was first reported in issue 178 of Linux User & Developer).

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