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YouTube launches free DIY tool to let SMBs build quick videos
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Creating video ads can be a costly and time consuming process which is why YouTube has launched a new tool to help small businesses create simple videos to better reach their customers.

The company's YouTube Video Builder has already been in the testing phase for several months but Google decided to fast track the tool's beta release to allow businesses to easily advertise their products during the global pandemic when in-person video shoots are no longer possible. 

In a blog post announcing the beta of YouTube Video Builder, director of product management at YouTube ads, Ali Miller explained how both large and small businesses can use the tool to reach their customers, saying:

“Different businesses have different creative needs. A restaurant may want to communicate changing hours or promotions, while a supermarket may highlight new services like curbside pickup. For brands or agencies with existing video resources, Video Builder can help bring agility and experimentation to the creation process by generating supplemental, lightweight videos. For smaller businesses and those with less creative experience, it can provide an efficient, low-resource way to create videos, perhaps even for the first time.” 

YouTube Video Builder

YouTube's new tool is now available for businesses to try out for themselves but they will first have to sign up to participate in the beta. Once accepted, businesses will need a Google account as well as a YouTube channel to start making and publishing videos.

The beta version of YouTube Video Builder allows businesses to animate their images, text and photos and set them to music from YouTube's free audio library. Users will also be able to select from a variety of layouts and customize the colors and fonts in their videos to create short six or 15 second videos.

Finished videos can be uploaded to a business' YouTube channel but more importantly, they can also be run as ads through Google Ads.

While YouTube's new tool has just entered its public beta phase, both large and small companies including the interior design service Havenly, sandwich shop Which Wich and the grocery store Central Market have already been using the tool to create their own videos.

Interested businesses can sign up here to gain access to the beta and Google Ads has also published a guide on how to use the new tool.

Via TechCrunch

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Sony is encouraging social distancing by gifting two free PS4 games
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Sony has some good news for all the gamers stuck in self-isolation this week: it’s giving away two of widely recognized and widely lauded PS4 games absolutely free.

The games up for grabs include Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection that rounds up the first three games in the series and remasters them for the PS4, as well as the PS4 port of Journey. 

According to a post on the PlayStation Blog, the games are part of the company’s new Play at Home Initiative that intends to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and includes a generous $ 10 million fund for indie developers to help support them in this difficult time. 

The games will be available starting on April 15 at 8pm PST / 11pm EST and will be available through May 5, 2020 at 8pm PDT / 11pm EST. Once you redeem the games, Sony says, they are yours to keep and the post makes no mention of needing a PlayStation Plus membership to snag the games.

Unfortunately, Sony says these games might take longer to download than usual – as the company is complying with the governments' request to preserve internet bandwidth – but thankfully you have three weeks to jump on this deal.

Looking for other great PS4 games to buy this week? Check these out:

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Finding remote working tools isn’t the issue – it’s how we use them
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Long before the ongoing pandemic shut down the world’s offices, millions of workers became conditioned to remote work—probably without meaning to—because their physical workplaces were rife with digital tools. But many practiced a form of remote work that doesn’t suit the current environment.

I mean, haven’t you received instant messages from people who could literally spin their chair 180 degrees to say the same thing? Have you not spent 45 minutes reading and responding to an email chain that a five-minute conversation down the hallway could have addressed?

In a physical workplace that is digitised to the teeth, we can get away with using tools inefficiently. Knowing that we can spin the chair or walk down the hall gives us permission to do so. Fire out that email as fast as possible, and if it doesn’t make sense, well, talk it out.

Not anymore. Now, we have to use our digital tools to their fullest potential. Our communications, processes, and handoffs must be impeccable. Today, the biggest difference is not the technology we use, but how we use it.

I would argue that even if you’re using platforms specialised to your department, there are some patterns and common needs in a remote work environment. Maybe you have all these boxes checked, but hopefully, I’ll point out a blind spot, and you can do something about it.

How do you initiate work?

If you’re working in a home office—perhaps while your kids reenact scenes from Lord of the Flies—your output is probably creativity, information, and ideas. And the more abstract and complex your product is, the more it’ll benefit from project management platforms. Coders (and marketers) gravitate to systems like Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Jira, and Workfront.

Particularly in a remote work setting, we need to be articulate about what we’re doing. What is it? Who’s it for? Why are we doing it? When’s it due? Time in a pandemic is a trickster. Project management will give some order to the groundhog days.

If you can't spin your chair, how do you talk?

In business, there are different versions of conversations. There are “check-ins,” often done by email, which tend to be light in substance but heavy in exclamation marks. There are, “what-do-you-really-need-from-me?” conversations, where someone sends an email, and you send one back asking the person what they actually asked. And there are many others, mostly done through email. That is why in remote work, you need a channel that isn’t email.

The top options tend to be Slack, Hangouts Chat, and Salesforce Chatter. They let you spin the chair around. Email is a medium of conversation, but it doesn’t facilitate talking. You need a way to talk.

How do we get things we need?

Have you ever counted the number of the emails you receive that entail person A, a coworker, asking person B, you, for something persons C, D, or E might have, maybe, delivered to you sometime last month?

In a physical setting, we can triangulate the location of any file, folder, or image. But in a remote setting, we need ways for people to share files and search for them without taking up someone else’s capacity. Whether your team uses Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, a digital asset management system (DAM) etc., you need a place where people can scoop their own ice cream instead of lining up and waiting for a coworker to do it.

Are we making a difference?

Without the in-person stand-ups, shout-outs, and comradery, it’s harder to feel impactful. Regardless of what department you work in, a system to measure your impact is priceless.

In marketing, we look to social and content analytics not just for validation, but to learn from our decisions and do better next time. In sales, our colleagues are motivated to hit their numbers and track how much business they’ve brought in. Many IT people find satisfaction in resolving tickets faster and eliminating recurring problems. Give yourself the pleasure of knowing you made a difference and the awareness to rise to a higher potential.

Some perspective

I wish I could end with a bold claim, like working remotely will be the best thing that ever happened to us! The reality is, we don’t know yet.

However, evicted from our usual routines, there is a chance to see anew the way we worked before the crisis, and the way we work within it. It’s the kind of perspective we normally get by traveling to a distant country or meeting someone from an unfamiliar background.  

So, meet your new remote life. It’s weird. It’s boring, at times. But it’s going to make you rethink what remote work is, and what you and your team need to be successful in any conditions.

Brooke Emley is Head of Implementation at Widen

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The DualSense PS5 controller is packed with fancy features – but they won’t get used
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In a blog post that came seemingly out of nowhere, Sony finally revealed the new DualSense PS5 controller. It marks a radical departure from the DualShock 4, but the redesigned pad will share one thing in common with its predecessor – developers will continue to ignore almost all of its unique features. 

And that’s a shame, as the DualSense is stuffed full of exciting and potentially game-changing technology. Sony wants to tingle your fingertips and massage your palms in a variety of interesting ways using haptic feedback and adaptive triggers – and I’m all for it.

We’ve seen the tech used effectively in VR controllers, but if you’re new to haptic feedback it basically means you’ll feel more of what you see on screen – the sludginess as you drive a car through mud or the tension of pulling back a bow string as you shoot an arrow, for example.  

The problem is – and I hate to admit this – that these features will largely be ignored by everyone but Sony’s first-party studios. History has shown us time and time again that even if you design a console entirely around a distinctive input device (hello, Nintendo Wii), third-party developers will still find a way to ignore 95% of a controller’s special qualities.

Ignored and underused

Let’s take a look at the DualShock 4 as our primary suspect. It’s got a lovely light bar which can change color to reflect what’s happening in a game, such as flashing white if you’re using a torch, or turning red if your health is low. How many games use it in this way, though? The answer is: barely any.

Next up, the DualShock 4 touch bar. If you ever needed a more concrete example of developer apathy in full effect, it’s that battery-draining touch bar. We saw Killzone: Shadowfall, a PS4 launch title, use the touch bar in some interesting ways – as did Infamous: Second Son. But how many other games can you name that transform the experience in any meaningful way using this feature? Probably no more than a handful, because basically every game just uses it as an oversized map button. Brilliant.

What about the PS4 accelerometer? A feature that’s been around since the SixAxis controller, which launched with the PlayStation 3. When did you last play a video game that used the accelerometer for something other than a silly gimmick? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Features schmeatures

But hold on. Maybe it’s because those features were rather superfluous. I mean, come on, a flashing light that you can’t even see most of the time? Who cares! Members of the court, may I present to you exhibit B: HD Rumble on Nintendo Switch.

The masters of cramming quirky technology down gamers’ throats, Nintendo always tries to introduce some bizarre new input system into their consoles. With Nintendo Switch it was no different. We were promised the sensation of feeling ice cubes in a controller – because of course we were. Despite the technology genuinely wowing in games like 1-2-Switch, it’s basically been ignored by even Nintendo themselves, and hasn’t come close to reaching the potential we were promised. 

Still in denial? Okay, let’s wrap this up with one more sorry example. You might not know this, but the Xbox One controller has impulse triggers. And they’re freaking awesome and never, ever get used.

Do yourself a favor and play any of the Forza Motorsport games on Xbox One and you’ll experience a fingertip-defining moment that will make every other racing game seem a little sad in comparison. The triggers rumble and respond according to where your tyres are on the track, so you can physically feel the sensation of a wheel locking up, moving over gravel and responding to torque. It’s so damn good, but clearly not a priority for any developers.

One feature fits all

So why does this worrying trend constantly happen? Truth be told, it all comes down to time and money. Video games are extremely expensive to make, and require a lot of resources to do so. There’s no monetary benefit to developers spending the extra time to code for features that are specific for one console. Occasionally it can happen, but it’s an anomaly. 

The odds are stacked against the DualSense controller, then. There’s no doubt that we’ll see some truly awe-inspiring moments from Sony’s first-party studios (firing Aloy’s bow in Horizon: Zero Dawn 2 is a given for the adaptive triggers), but try not to feel too disappointed if half the time these features come as a pleasant surprise, rather than a new standard moving forward.

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How to watch new Simpsons movie: stream Maggie’s Playdate with Destiny online free
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The Simpsons is one of the jewels in the Disney Plus crown and fans are being rewarded for their loyalty with the release of a fresh short-film starring their favorite Springfield family. Read on and we'll explain how to watch The Simpsons: Maggie's Playdate with Destiny today – stream the new Simpsons movie wherever you are with the help of our guide. 

This isn't the first Simpsons episode to track the antics of Maggie, though. Back in 2012, we got treated to something similar in the form of 'The Longest Daycare' short. And before that, fans of the show learnt she was the silent assassin who (nearly) killed Mr. Burns in a famous two-part episode with eerie and hilarious parallels to the O.J Simpson trial.

Apologies if that ruined 1995 for you, but surely that can't class as a spoiler at this stage?

Whatever the case, it's safe to say that we're seriously excited about the release of the new Simpsons Maggie movie onto Disney Plus – which is currently offering a FREE 7-day trial and costs just $ 6.99/£5.99 a month otherwise. With that in mind, here's how to watch new Simpsons short Maggie's Playdate with Destiny online from nearly anywhere in the world.

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How to watch the Simpsons online: stream Maggie's Playdate with Destiny online for free

This is the best bit – Disney Plus now has the new Simpsons Maggie movie available to stream across all of its core services – including the US, UK and Australia.

That means there's no waiting around for global audiences – which has regrettably been the case with previous Disney Plus exclusives like new Pixar flick Onward and even Frozen 2.

It's doubly good because when you take out such wait times, Disney Plus has quickly emerged as one of the very best – and best value – TV streaming services on the planet. With a catalogue full of Pixar hits, Marvel epics and the entire Simpsons back catalogue, it's got pretty much every you need to survive a lockdown and still stay firmly in love with your TV.

Better still, can get a 7-day FREE TRIAL to Disney Plus, meaning you can enjoy the new Simpsons Maggie movie and all of the service's other content without paying anything! Binge as much as you want and it won't cost you a penny, provided you cancel in time.

Disney Plus has apps for iOS and Android (of course), and is available to watch online via the likes of Amazon Fire TV Stick, PS4, Xbox One and Roku streaming devices.

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Disney Plus UK: how to sign up, movies, app links, Sky Q and more explained
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Disney Plus is out now in the UK. For just £5.99 a month, you can stream a whole host of fantastic old movies for a reasonable price, with some classic TV shows thrown in for good measure. 

With Disney Plus, you can watch all the Star Wars, Disney, Marvel and The Simpsons you can handle. Think of it as like Netflix, but focused specifically on Disney-related and Disney-owned content, like Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and more. Here's the full list of Disney Plus UK movies and TV shows that Disney released at launch, which will help you figure out if you want the service. 

The launch line-up was pretty good, even compared to the existing libraries in the US and Australia. Now we've spent plenty of time with the app, too, we can see it retains the Disney US feature of explaining when content is coming to the service in the future. 

That's how we know Frozen 2 will be on Disney Plus UK on July 17 2020, for example. We're less sure about Onward, which doesn't have a UK release date. 

If you were hoping you'd get to watch every episode of Star Wars show The Mandalorian at launch in the UK, episodes have only started to 'roll out'. Still, you've now got three episodes of this excellent show to enjoy. And let's not underestimate how awesome it is to have 30 seasons of The Simpsons available to stream.

Subscribe here, at monthly or yearly tiers:

Below, we'll talk you through everything we know about Disney Plus post-launch, including the price, compatible devices, free trial, shows, movies and more. You can also click here for our first impressions of Disney Plus UK.

Disney Plus UK release date: it's live!

Disney Plus is now live in the UK! You can start watching it now. 

How to sign up to Disney Plus

All you have to do is head to the Disney Plus website, create an account and enter your billing details to get started. With your login details to hand, you'll then want to download Disney Plus onto the device of your choice, say a smartphone, smart TV, games console or tablet. Scroll down for a list of compatible devices. 

Not sure you want it yet? Head here to grab a 7-day free trial of Disney Plus. It's easy to cancel if you don't want to commit (here's how you cancel Disney Plus). 

Disney Plus UK in April 2020: new movies and TV shows

As well as new episodes of all its originals, including The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars, April 2020 brings other new content to Disney Plus in the UK. That includes the Simpsons short film Playdate with Destiny (10 April), Edward Scissorhands (10 April), Descendants 3 (11 April) and Night at the Museum (10 April). A Celebration of the Music from Coco (10 April), Dolphin Reef (3 April) and Elephant (3 April) also join it this month.

Disney Plus app links: how to download Disney Plus

Below, we've added app links we've found so far for the UK launch, and we'll add more as they appear.

Disney Plus: UK price and subscription tiers explained

Disney Plus costs £59.99 for an annual subscription, or £5.99 per month. These are the two available tiers, and you can cancel at any time. Unlike in the US, where it's bundled in with ESPN and Hulu, in the UK Disney Plus is a standalone service. 

Either tier gets you four concurrent streams, unlimited downloads with a maximum of 10 devices and the option to create seven profiles. 

In the US, you can gift a year of Disney Plus either digitally or in the form of physical cards, but no such option has been announced for the UK yet.

Disney Plus supports 4K and HDR streams

Disney Plus indeed supports 4K and HDR. When you're in the app, head over to the 'details' tab of a given movie or show and you'll see a section that says 'available in the following formats', which will explain if the content in question features 4K Ultra HD and HDR. 

You now have every Star Wars movie to watch in 4K with HDR. Enjoy!

Disney Plus UK: compatible devices and apps

Disney Plus has launched on pretty much any device you can name in the UK, including mobile devices, games consoles, streaming media devices and smart TVs. You can take Disney Plus shows on the go, too, downloading as many movies and shows as you can fit on your device, as long as you have an active subscription and connect to the internet every 30 days.  

Disney Plus UK has launched on LG TVs, Sky Q, Apple TV, Roku streaming devices, Android (5.0 and later), iOS (11.0 and later), PS4, Xbox One, LG WebOS smart TVs, Samsung Tizen smart TVs, Google Chromecast and Amazon's Fire range of streaming devices. 

One notable exception is the Nintendo Switch, which is still pretty poor at supporting streaming services. 

Phillips' Android-based smart TVs support Disney Plus too. Your Samsung TV may be able to get Disney Plus, as well. Read our guide and discover if your TV can support it.

Disney Plus UK: shows and movies, including The Simpsons 

Click to see the full list of Disney Plus UK movies and shows at launch, and see what you can stream right now. Every Star Wars movie minus The Rise of Skywalker is on there, as well as a near-complete list of Pixar movies and Marvel movies. You've also got 2019's Aladdin and The Lion King movies on day one. Frozen 2, which just launched in the US, doesn't arrive until 17 July in the UK according to the app. 

Looking for recommendations? Check out our list of the best Disney Plus TV shows and best Disney Plus movies. Star Wars series The Mandalorian is the clear highlight of Disney Plus originals. Episodes are rolling out weekly, and the first two are available now. 

In the UK, all new episodes of original shows on Disney Plus will be released at 8am each Friday. Expect one new episode for each Disney Plus original show per week, except The Clone Wars, which will get two episodes per week until the show catches up with the US. 

Other originals include the live-action Lady and the Tramp, High School Musical: The Series, Encore!, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Togo, Diary of a Future President, Forky Asks a Question and The Imagineering Story at launch, too. Expect one episode for each original at launch. 

Disney Plus: future shows and movies

In the future, Disney Plus is getting plenty of big exclusive shows. From the Marvel Cinematic Universe side of things, new shows include The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (August), WandaVision (November), Loki (2021), Hawkeye (2021) and animated show What If?. Further off, expect TV shows based on Moon Knight, Ms Marvel and She-Hulk. Unlike Marvel's Netflix shows, too, these will canonically be part of the MCU, and feature actors crossing over between the movies and these TV series.

Lucasfilm has a second season of The Mandalorian coming in October 2020, then further off it's making shows featuring Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Diego Luna's Cassian Andor from Rogue One. 

It's likely you can expect recent Disney-associated movies like Pixar's Onward, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil on there before the end of 2020. In the US, Onward arrives early on April 3. Hopefully we'll see it in the UK before long. 

Disney Plus has launched with Sky Q and Now TV is coming at a later date

Disney Plus has made a deal with Sky to host Disney Plus on its Sky Q platform at launch. That means you can watch Disney Plus as well as your other Sky content – it'll just be added to your Sky bill. According to Pocket Lint, full integration into the Sky Q platform won't come until April, but you can watch Disney Plus through an app on your Sky Q box.

Disney Plus will be available on Now TV in the coming months, too. 

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Germany bans Zoom for official use
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Parts of the German government have blocked the use of Zoom following concerns around its privacy and security protection.

Officials at the German Foreign Ministry have had their use of Zoom restricted following a government memo warning about the risks in using the software.

Amid the coronavirus-led lockdowns, Zoom and other teleconferencing apps have experienced a spike in usage.  However, the company has faced severe backlash after reports surfaced of traffic being routed through China, Zoombombing, a lack of proper security measures and other privacy-related issues.

According to the Handelsblatt newspaper, Zoom was already being widely used across the ministry’s international partners, meaning it would be difficult to ban its use completely, so employees could log on using private machines for professional purposes if there was a crisis.

“Based on media reports and our own findings we have concluded that Zoom’s software has critical weaknesses and serious security and data protection problems,” the memo read.

Zoom ban

The move comes hours after Taiwan’s government said it would avoid using Zoom due to a number of security and privacy concerns, suggesting that alternative applications from competitors like Microsoft and Google are safer. 

As China doesn’t acknowledge Taiwan as an independent state, official data being relayed through China is considered as a privacy threat for the nation.

A statement issued by the Taiwanese Department of Cyber Security states, “if the organization must use non-domestically produced software for international exchanges or some other special situation, many global and communication giants—like Google and Microsoft—are offering such technology for free amid the current pandemic.”

“Organizations should consider these options after evaluating any associated data security risks,” it added.

Zoom, which saw its user base balloon to 200 million in March, had been struggling to control the spike in usage. The company admitted that it had mistakenly routed data through Chinese servers and has clarified that it has stopped using the backup servers for non-Chinese customers.

Similarly, reports of Zoom calls not being end-to-end encrypted, hackers being able to eavesdrop into calls, records of meetings available publicly on the internet, and un-invited attendee’s able to hijack calls caused major concerns globally.

Elsewhere, various schools in the United States have also switched to Microsoft Teams for remote classes and banned Zoom immediately. Even Elon Musk’s SpaceX has barred the usage of Zoom by its officials and Canada's electronic surveillance agency also didn’t approve the platform for “any government discussions that require secure communications.”

Last week, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan apologized for the incidents, and announced that the company will stop working on new features to focus on securing the platform. 

Zoom’s market value has been reduced by one-third since it registered a record high in late March and its shares also experienced a drop by one per cent in pre-market trading on the Nasdaq.

Via: Bloomberg, Reuters

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Rise in zero-day exploitations in 2019 in Middle East compared to three years ago
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Cybersecurity firm FireEye has seen as an increase in zero-day exploitations in 2019 than the previous three years in the Middle East.

Speaking to TechRadar Middle East, Alister Shepherd, Director for Middle East and Africa at Mandiant, a unit of FireEye, said that there are more private security companies investing a large amount of money, apart from governments such as state-sponsored actors, to develop offensive cyber capabilities and services to make additional income.

As a wider range of actors appears to have gained access to these capabilities, he said that there is going to be a greater variety of actors using zero-days, especially as private vendors continue feeding the demand for offensive cyber weapons.

“Unsophisticated threat actors have been able to buy malicious tools from the dark web for some time – you can buy access to a network and then buy the ransomware, and you just take the risk to deploy it.  We’re now seeing this being mirrored at a higher level, as Governments who have not developed their own capability, or who wish to extend their capability, can now buy off the shelf with sophisticated capabilities,” he said.

According to industry reports, espionage groups such as Stealth Falcon and FruityArmor have targeted journalists and activists in the Middle East, between 2016 and 2019, by buying malware sold by NSO, an Israeli software company, which leveraged three iOS zero-days.

Becoming increasingly commoditised

Shepherd said that SandCat, suspected to have links with Uzbekistan state intelligence, has been using zero-days in operations against targets in the Middle East.

BlackOasis, which could have acquired zero-day from private company Gamma Group, has demonstrated similarly frequent access to zero-day vulnerabilities in the Middle East.

“We believe that some of the most dangerous state-sponsored intrusion sets are increasingly demonstrating the ability to quickly exploit vulnerabilities that have been made public. In multiple cases, groups linked to these countries have been able to weaponise vulnerabilities and incorporate them into their operations, aiming to take advantage of the window between disclosures and patch application,” he said.

Even though financially-motivated groups continue to leverage zero-days in their operations, he said that they are less frequent than state-sponsored groups.

“Countries with the strongest capabilities are Russia, China, North Korea, the US, Iran and Israel, apart from other countries. We typically see Russia and China deploying these tools most broadly,” he said.

Moreover, he said that access to zero-day capabilities is becoming increasingly commodified and state groups will continue to support internal exploit discovery and development.

However, he said that buying zero-days from private companies may offer a more attractive option than relying on domestic solutions or underground markets.

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Tesco home delivery: how to get a food delivery or click-and-collect slot this weekend
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Booking a Tesco home delivery slot isn't easy at the moment, but it is possible for some customers. If you've been unsuccessfully trying for a while now, you're not alone. Tesco has been inundated with demand for its food delivery service over the past few weeks as more shoppers stay home. 

With such a high volume of orders, Tesco is urging those who are able to shop in its physical stores, which have been overhauled with protective measures against the spread of COVID-19. That means if you're not high risk, elderly, or self-isolating, you should still be heading down to your local store to pick up your groceries. 

However, if you do need a Tesco delivery, there are a number of ways to improve your chances of getting one. Here, we'll be running through the best ways to try and get a grocery delivery from Tesco, as well as just how Tesco's Click & Collect service works. 

How to get a Tesco home delivery slot

Tesco recently announced a vast expansion of its fleet of food delivery vans and drivers, following a hiring surge over the past week. That means there are now more Tesco food delivery slots available than ever before: 780,000, to be precise, up from 660,000 to weeks ago. 

That doesn't mean it's a free for all out there, though. Tesco is prioritising the elderly and vulnerable in its booking system, so if you have been deemed high risk, head over to Gov.uk to register yourself as a clinically vulnerable person. You’ll be asked for your NHS number – which you can find on any letter the NHS has sent you, or on a prescription – but you can still register if you don't have it.

Tesco is using the Government's register to make sure its most vulnerable customers are prioritised, so if you fall into this category, the best way to increase your chances of booking a Tesco home delivery slot is to make sure you're on the list. 

And if you're self-isolating, your best bet is to keep trying. New Tesco home delivery slots are added throughout the day, so keep checking back regularly.

How does Tesco click & collect work?

If you don't qualify for prioritisation in Tesco's home delivery service, you can still order your food through its click & collect service. Simply select your groceries with Tesco Online and select click & collect before you checkout. 

There are far more slots available for this service than home delivery, and it's potentially safer than shopping in store right now, plus you won't need to queue. 

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Surface Book 3: what we want to see
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It’s unsurprising that the Surface Book 3 is one of the most anticipated devices right now. With the original Surface Book being such a great success, and the elegant Surface Book 2 refining on that winning formula enough to give the MacBook Pro a good run for its money, there’s palpable excitement for the release of the line’s third installation.

Since the Surface Book 2 came out at the end of 2017, 2020 seems like a good bet for the Surface Book 3 – especially since 2019 came and went without even so much as a peep of this next iteration. In fact, we’re starting to see leaks such as the ones from @_rogame on possible Surface Book 3 configurations.

So, it’s time for us to dive into everything we know and everything we want to see from the Surface Book 3, from a higher resolution display and Thunderbolt 3 to cutting edge internal components. Will the Microsoft Surface Book 3 be the best laptop once it’s released? If Microsoft takes what made what the Surface Book line such an excellent series and builds upon that, then quite possibly. Keep this page bookmarked as we’ll update this page with any news, leaks or rumors that surface. 

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The would-be third Surface Book 2-in-1 laptop
  • When is it out? Hopefully some time in 2020
  • What will it cost? Likely as much as – if not more than – the current model

surface book 3 in motion

We’re still hoping that Microsoft will showcase the Surface Book 3. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Surface Book 3 release date

The Surface Book 2 was rolled out in late 2017 so it’s already got a few years under its belt. However, based on the release pattern of Surface devices that aren’t the Surface Pro and the recent configuration leaks, we expect a Surface Book 3 release date of sometime in 2020.

Three new Surface devices were released in late 2019 – the Surface Pro 7, Surface Pro X, and Surface Laptop 3 – but there wasn’t any sign of a new Surface Book. If you also account for the fact that Microsoft has recently given the 13.5-inch Surface Book 2 a quad-core processor, we don't expect to see a Surface Book 3 right away.

While Microsoft did release three new Surface devices in 2019, we saw no sign of the Surface Book 3. Ever the optimists, we're hoping that 2020 will feature a Surface Book 3 release date.

surface book 3 in motion

Fingers crossed that the would-be Surface Book 3 sticks well within the same price range as its predecessor. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Surface Book 3 price

Since there’s no concrete information about the Surface Book 3 right now, we don’t really know what to expect when it comes to how much it will cost.

Looking at the pricing of the Surface Book and the Surface Book 2, however, we can certainly speculate. Currently, due to a new lower-storage model, the 13.5 inch Surface Book 2 starts at $ 1,199 or £1,149, while the 15-inch iteration stays at its $ 2,499 or £2,349 (AU$ 3,649) price tag. If you ask us, that’s already plenty pricey.

We won’t likely see a price drop. However, fingers crossed that the would-be Surface Book 3 sticks well within that price range, as anything more would already be too expensive for many users or potential buyers.

Surface Book 3 patent

An image from a patent shows what the writing surface could look like of the Surface Book 3

Surface Book 3 design

Microsoft's recent Surface devices have been playing it pretty safe when it comes to design, so there's a very good chance that the Surface Book 3 will look a lot like the Surface Book 2.

However, a new patent has been discovered that suggests the Surface Book 3 could come with a radical new design.

The patent appears to show a detachable keyboard with a panel on the back that could be used for sketching and note taking with a stylus. The user can use to write down notes or perhaps use it as a graphics tablet for hand drawing and sketching.

While this isn't confirmation that the Surface Book 3 will incorporate this new detachable keyboard in its design, it's certainly an exciting prospect. We'd love to see Microsoft really innovate when it comes to the look and performance of the Surface Book 3.

surface book 3 tablet mode

Microsoft has to make better use of the room provided it with the 15-inch Surface Book. (Image credit: Microsoft)

What we want to see in a Surface Book 3

A Surface Book 3 release still seems far away, though a 2020 release does seem likely, since we don’t have much solid information on what to expect. So, all we can do right now is put together a wish list, if you must, of what we would like to see improved in this follow up.

Here are the features we’d like to see in the Surface Book 3, based on speculation, leaks and rumors.

More powerful internals
The Surface Book was the most powerful and sophisticated laptop that Microsoft had designed up to that point, so we’d appreciate to see up-to-date components all around. Now that Intel has been shipping its Ice Lake processors and we’ll start seeing them in laptops before the end of the year ­– not to mention, Nvidia has rolled out its Super RTX graphics this summer – the Surface Book 3 could hypothetically be among the most powerful devices to hit the streets.

In fact, thanks to the leaks from @_rogame, we’ve seen configurations with both Ice Lake and an unnamed (possibly Tiger Lake) chips. However, the configurations do seem to come with Nvidia GTX 1650 Max Q and 1660 Ti Max Q so we’ll see if it can handle 4K gaming.

Use the extra space accordingly
Microsoft could fit the Surface Book 3 with either an expanded keyboard with the number pad or top-firing speakers with deep bass chambers. The point is, Microsoft has to make better use of the room provided it with the 15-inch Surface Book chassis. Right now, it’s just wasted space waiting to be utilized.

Thunderbolt 3, please
The Surface connector on the Surface Book 2 is, without a doubt, versatile. However, it’s time for Microsoft to incorporate Thunderbolt 3 via USB-C. Thunderbolt 3 provides faster file transfers, and also works as a one plug hub for all monitors and other peripherals you could want to connect. If the Surface Book 3 is actually going to compete with the best there is, especially in 2019 or 2020, it needs to jump on board with this growing standard.

The good news is that looks like this might actually happen. Microsoft has patented a magnetic USB-C connector that would kind of function like the existing magnetic Surface charger. Whether or not it will actually support Thunderbolt 3 remains to be seen, but we don’t see why it shouldn’t.

Better power management
One of the biggest flaws of the Surface Book 2 15-inch is that it couldn’t play games without draining its battery on top of pulling charge through its Surface Connector. Microsoft told us that this was because of the device being designed specifically for creatives and not for gaming. But, this is the same company that also gave it a built-in Xbox controller receiver, so that excuse seems like a total cop out.

Regardless of who the next iteration is made for, it should come with improved power management so as to not dip into its battery reserves for extra juice.

A 4K display would be nice
The Surface Book 2’s screen comes in at 3,240 x 2,160 (260 ppi) at a 3:2 aspect ratio on its 15-inch model. It’s a stunning display, to be fair. However, while it does come close to hitting that 4K mark, true 4K assets are becoming standard, and digital creators, for whom the Surface Book is designed, will want a screen that mirrors the sharpness at which they produce content.

All accessories included
For what it’s charging for its current – and will charge for its future – Surface Book products, Microsoft should include all of the essential accessories in the box. Yes, that includes the innovative Surface Dial, alongside the Surface Pen, in this case. It’s only fair for what is essentially a luxury item.

Black color option
The Surface Book 2 is already an exceptionally stunning device, but now that Microsoft revealed the Surface Pro 6 and the Surface Laptop 2, we would love to see the next premium 2-in-1 adopt the black color option as well.

Just imagine, a Surface Book 3 that might not only give the MacBook Pro 2018 a run for its money, but one that has a more striking color option than the Space Gray on the latest Apple flagship.

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