Welcome to The Refresh, your weekly slice of tech news, gossip and reviews
This week’s top story:
Amazon Echo UK:
Alexa is cracking jokes, ordering take-out and controlling your home in a posh British accent now as Amazon’s Echo smart speaker comes to the UK. The Echo has 3000 so called ‘skills’, up from 13 when it first launched in the US in 2015. For £150 you can pre-order one now for an Autumn launch.
Also in the news this week:
iOS 10 Update:
iOS 10 is now available to download for your iPhone and iPad, but not everyone’s having a good time with the new update which brings an enhanced control panel, 3D Touch improvements, and a new Home app.
Google Pixel Phones:
The highly anticipated new 5-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL phones are expected to be unveiled on October 4th, running Android 7 Nougat software and powered by the latest Snapdragon processors. If new graphic renders are to believed, the new Pixel phones will have a two-tone metal body and rear fingerprint reader.
Forza Horizon 3:
Breathtaking Forza Horizon 3 gameplay footage shows off the new Australian outback setting along with new cars and new challenges for what has to be one of the best looking racing games I’ve ever seen. Forza Horizon 3 is coming to the Xbox One and for the first time PC, thanks to Microsoft’s new Play Anywhere service.
South Park: The Fractured but Whole:
Games editor Brett Phipps (@InverteBrett) has been hands-on with South Park: The Fractured But Whole. A big fan of the series, we’re not sure if Brett enjoyed his experience using the developer’s ‘Nosulus Rift’ smell-o-vision concept.
Related: iPhone 7 Review in progress
Tune in next Friday for another episode of The Refresh with Tom Honeyands (@TheTechChap).
We hope you enjoyed the show and please let us know what you’d like to see in the comments.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
