Sony Xperia Z3 Compact

Sony’s small but powerful Android phone

Smartphones are now bigger than ever, with 5 to 6-inch screens increasingly common. This is great if a large screen is your priority, but for anyone with small hands these huge phones are tricky to hold and use – especially with one hand over long periods of time. This makes the Xperia Z3 Compact especially welcome.

Not to be confused with the 8in Z3 Tablet Compact, the Z3 Compact has a 4.6in screen. This is obviously larger than the 4.3in screen of its predecessor the Z1 Compact but the difference is pretty negligible. And while it’s significantly wider than the 4in iPhone 5s, it’s comfortable to handle – especially when compared with phones that are marginally larger but much more unwieldy, such as the 4.7in iPhone 6.

Magix Movie Edit Pro 2015 Premium

Video editing with the kitchen sink thrown in

The ideal video-editing program should be easy for beginners to grasp, while still offering advanced features that satisfy more confident users. Magix claims the revamped user interface in Magix Movie Edit Pro 2015 Premium does just that, but we remain to be convinced.

The program didn’t make a great first impression. After downloading and installing it, there was no guidance as to how to install the templates and additional effects that set the top-dollar Premium version apart from its cheaper Pro and Pro Plus counterparts. Instead we were bombarded with pop-up adverts for a host of other Magix products.

ABBYY PDF Transformer+

Turn any PDF into searchable, editable text

PDF Transformer+ is a powerful program for creating searchable PDF documents from scans and existing files. ABBYY is best known for its FineReader optical character recognition (OCR) software. The same engine is used to power PDF Transformer+, which can recognise 189 different languages. A built-in scanner interface lets you import documents directly from either a flatbed or ADF scanner. Other features include the ability to annotate existing PDFs, convert them into a wide range of file formats and create your own PDFs from scanned documents or image files.

Nvidia Shield Tablet

A powerful Android tablet with the latest technology at a surprisingly low price

Nvidia is best known for graphics cards found in loads of PCs and laptops made by other manufacturers. It therefore came as a surprise to learn that Nvidia had made the Shield, an 8in Android tablet, until you realise it acts as something of a showcase for the company’s various technologies. Although most of these are aimed at gamers, the Shield still has plenty to offer those with no interest in games - starting with its low price of just £240 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only model. A 32GB 4G variant is available for just £60 more.

Nowhere to hide

Hardware governs our homes, cities, infrastructure, and military. What happens when it’s turned against us? by P.W. SINGER

In late summer of 2006, the Japanese division of McDonald’s decided to run a new promotion. When customers ordered a Coca-Cola soft drink, they would receive a cup with a code. If they entered that code on a designated website and were among 10,000 lucky winners, they would receive an MP3 player pre-loaded with 10 songs.

Cleverly constructed, the promotion seemed destined for success. Who doesn’t like a Coke and a free MP3 player? But there was one problem the marketers at McDonald’s could not anticipate: In addition to 10 free songs, the music players contained QQPass malware. The moment winners plugged their players into a computer, the Trojan horse slipped undetected into their system and began logging keystrokes, collecting passwords, and gathering personal data for later transmission.