Dial M for Android

Android M will usher in a new era of smartphones. Darren Yates investigates Google’s next-generation Android OS and the major advances we’ll see

Android has come a long way in a relatively short space of time since its launch in the HTC Dream in 2008. With Google’s popular I/O conference having come and gone for another year, the search giant has pulled back the curtain on its next Android release, for now called ‘Android M’. Not only will it pick up where Lollipop left off in terms of power management, it’ll coincide with some impressive new features such as faster charging speeds, thanks in part to the arrival of new USB hardware. Here’s a taste of what we can expect to see later this year.

Boot Linux faster

Neil Bothwick goes back to the start of Linux, even before root existed

When you boot your computer, the bootloader only needs two pieces of information: the path to the kernel and the location of your root filesystem, which is then passed to the kernel. In Grub, this would look something like:

linux /boot/vmlinux-3.19.0 root=/dev/sda1

Windows 10: the review

It’s loaded with changes, many improvements, but still the odd feature that makes us wince... plus some important unanswered questions. Darren Yates reviews Windows 10

As we’ve noted elsewhere, Windows 10 has a lot to try and live up to, from Microsoft’s ‘Windows Everywhere’ strategy to giving Windows 7 users reasons to come back after Windows 8. It has to appeal to consumers and business alike, which effectively means innovation and predictability in almost equal measure. It’s a tall order — so how well has Microsoft done?

Windows 10: tweaks & secrets

Get ahead of the pack with these mods and tricks for Microsoft’s new OS. Darren Yates reveals the top tips from build 10158

CHANGE THE COMMAND PROMPT OPACITY

Windows 10’s command prompt has a new trick — adjustable window opacity. Right-click on the command prompt header, select Properties, choose the Colours tab and at the bottom, drag the Opacity slider left to make the command prompt window progressively more see-through. Very handy if you still need to see what’s behind the prompt.

Windows 10: under the bonnet

What are the big-but-invisible changes in Windows 10? Darren Yates dives under the bonnet to find out what Microsoft has tinkered with

While Windows 10 comes with obvious changes like the new web browser and Start menu (more on these elsewhere), what other technical changes are there inside the OS that may affect you? Not surprisingly, Windows 10 has plenty of new tech, none more critical than the one you’ve probably heard least about — a new shared-component platform called Windows Core (tinyurl.com/q7vdbcq).