Author: dpugh007

If you’ve been holding out on the massive range of exclusives lining the PlayStation library, this PS4 Slim deal might just be the bundle for you. This PS4 bundle sends you home with a Slim console and three of the system’s best games for just $249 this week. That’s a fantastic price considering you’re spending $50 less than the price of the console by itself and picking up $60 worth of games at the same time.

This cheap PS4 Slim deal has been kicking around on store shelves for a few weeks now, after dropping even further in price after the seasonal sales. That means there’s still time to pick up a fantastic cheap PS4 deal, but we are seeing it steadily hike back up in price. You might need to act quick to secure your bundle this weekend. You’re also picking up copies of Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition, God of War, and The Last of Us Remastered – three PlayStation hits guaranteed to give you a warm welcome to the system if you’re a first-timer.

In case you hadn’t heard, the original PS4 is out. In its place, we have the PS4 Slim, a redesigned console offering a sleeker design while maintaining the same internal specs. While it doesn’t offer the 4K scale of the PS4 Pro, it’s available for a fantastic price with some truly great games this week. This console usually goes for $299.99 by itself on a good day, so grabbing three top-quality titles for $50 less than the going rate will set you up well for 2020 gaming. 

Not in the US? Scroll down for more PS4 Slim bundle deals near you. 

Today’s best PS4 Slim deals

Got your eye on other games? Check out our full range of the latest PS4 bundles right here on TechRadar. You can also find some fantastic PS Plus deals if you know where to look (and we do). Or, if you’re shopping around a bit more for your next console, you might want to take a look at our best Xbox One deals going. 

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Best Buy’s 3-day sale starts today, and the retailer is discounting some of Apple’s best-selling devices. Now until Sunday, you can score incredible bargains on the all-new iPhone, MacBook Laptops, Beats headphones, and more. 

Our top picks include up to $350 in savings on the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max with qualified activation and trade-in. If you’re looking for a new pair of headphones, you can get the Powerbeats 3 Wireless Earphones on sale for $95, a $50 price cut on the Powerbeats Pro and the popular Beats Studio 3 on sale for just $189.99. Last but not least, you can also find Apple’s laptops on sale, like a $150 discount on the MacBook Air and the powerful MacBook Pro on sale for $1,199.99.

Keep in mind Best Buy’s 3-day sale ends on Sunday at midnight, so you should take advantage of these fantastic deals while you can.

• Shop the rest of Best Buy’s 3-day sale here

Apple deals at Best Buy:

Shop more Apple deals with our roundup of refurbished iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch deals and the best iPhone 11 and 11 Pro deals.

You can also see more of the best cheap MacBook sale prices and deals that are happening now.

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With OLED tech maturing, the only way is up for the television format – and by ‘up’, we mean upping the resolution count. 

Philips, which until now has been happy to finesse its top-notch 4K OLED panels, is now working on an 8K OLED set, which we can confirm we’ve seen in action, albeit incredibly briefly.

Revealed at a press event in Amsterdam, the Philips screen however isn’t yet ready for the public – and as such, has a spec-sheet shrouded in mystery, no firm release date, nor even a hint of a final price.

• What is OLED? The TV tech explained
• The best TV: let us help you pick your next television

8K Ambilight

So, what do we know? We know that the screen will be available at least in an 88-inch size – being the model that we saw in a preview room. 

We can also assume that it’ll be making use of Philips newly-announced 4th-generation P5 picture processing engine, which uses AI algorithms to improve the fidelity of images on the fly – this could be particularly important for upscaling lower-resolution sources to the dramatic 8K standard the TV’s panel sets. 

Content is also one of the reasons we’re unlikely to see the screen commercially realized anytime soon, either – as a Philips source told TechRadar, there’s simply not enough 8K content for their to be a viable audience for the screen yet, despite other manufacturers chasing to be the early dominant manufacturers in the area.

What we can say however is that, based on a minute-long clip we saw running on the Philips 8K OLED TV, it could be something very special, as a nighttime cityscape showed a crisp and vivid glimpse of the fidelity Philips’ processing engine can bring to the 8K realm. Throw in the immersive behind-the-screen Ambilight tech that sees colors bloom beyond the panel itself, and you’ve got a potentially-dreamlike viewing experience. We’ll keep you posted on Philips’ progress in the coming months.

After something a little more attainable in the near future? Check out the newly announced, AI-powered, OLED805 and OLED855 models, too.

• Philips 55OLED754 TV review: here’s how Philips’ current entry-level OLED stacks up

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If you’ve been watching Star Trek: Picard, you may have a few questions about Data, the android who appears in Picard’s dreams – and who may very well be the ‘father’ of new characters Dahj and Soji. Data was an important character in The Next Generation, which this new series is a direct continuation of, and he led an interesting life. So here’s everything you need to know about Lieutenant Commander Data, including how he ultimately died in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis.

• How to watch Star Trek: Picard
• When is Star Trek: Picard episode 2 released?
• Our Star Trek: Picard episode 1 recap

Who is Data?

Data was an android designed by Dr. Noonian Soong, a brilliant cyberneticist. Other androids exist in the greater Star Trek universe, but Data’s positronic brain gave him a greater depth and nuance of personality – to the point where the Federation considered him sentient, with the same rights as any biological being. 

Data was unable to feel emotion, however, and struggled to understand the many idiosyncrasies of the human race. But he was still capable of loyalty, wisdom, friendship and sensitivity, which earned him many friends when he served aboard the Federation starship Enterprise.

How did Data join Starfleet?

A mysterious alien life-form known as the Crystalline Entity destroyed a colony on the planet Omicron Theta, and Data’s deactivated body was discovered among the debris by the USS Tripoli. He was revived by the Federation, and was accepted into Starfleet Academy when it became apparent that he had achieved a level of sentience never before seen in a synthetic being. 

Data graduated, despite the social challenges of being the only android in the academy, and served as an ensign aboard the USS Trieste, before being assigned to the Enterprise-D in 2364 – which is where we meet him in The Next Generation.

How did Data die in Star Trek: Nemesis?

Nemesis was the last of the Next Generation movies. Released in 2002, it starred Tom Hardy as Shinzon, a clone of Picard who stages a violent coup and becomes leader of the Romulan Empire. At the end of the movie, Data sacrifices his own life to save Picard’s, destroying Shinzon’s ship in the process. Before he died, Data downloaded his memories into a prototype Soong-type android, B-4. But this model’s positronic brain was not as advanced as Data’s, meaning he had none of his brother’s individuality or personality: just raw memories.

How can Data be in Star Trek: Picard?

Brent Spiner reprises his role as Data in Star Trek: Picard, only in dreams so far. Picard is still haunted by the loss of his friend, and the heroic sacrifice he made to save his life. So whenever you see Data in the new series, it’s Picard experiencing a vision; an echo of the past. But who knows what the rest of the series has in store? Perhaps we’ll see a return of the old Data at some point in this story – although that might cheapen his sacrifice in Star Trek: Nemesis somewhat.

Is Data still alive in Star Trek: Picard? 

Alas, the Data we knew from The Next Generation is gone forever. But a major plot point in season one of Picard is his memories – the ones he downloaded to B-4 – being used to create two ‘daughters’, Dahj and Soji. These android twins were designed by Dr. Bruce Maddox, a cyberneticist, using a process called fractal neuronic cloning. So while Lieutenant Commander Data of the USS Enterprise, lover of cats and Sherlock Holmes, is no more, his spirit lives on in them.

Star Trek: Picard is released every Thursday on CBS All Access in the US, and every Friday on Amazon Prime internationally. 

• More of a Star Wars fan? Here’s what we know about The Mandalorian season 2

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