Welcome to the Radcomm UK’s Weekly Tech Roundup. Here, you will find the latest and greatest tech stories all in one convenient spot; ensuring you are kept up to date with current events. If you wish to join our mailing list, feel free to drop us an email at sales@radcommuk.co.uk and we’ll sign you up straight away. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news updates and exclusive online deals.

1. Radcomm UK Video: ANPR Security Gate Automation

In case you missed it last week, take a look at our Radcomm Mailing List’s exclusive look into how you can now integrate your HikVision ANPR camera with a Paxton Access Control to allow for automatic openings of gates; just by reading a vehicle’s license plate. 

2. UK police delighted by success by using facial recognition arrests

Police in South Wales deployed facial recognition technology in Cardiff last weekend, which proved to be a successful operation. 

South Wales police force began using automated facial recognition (AFR) system in July of last year. The first time this technology was trialed was during the 2017 Champions League Final which took place in Cardiff between Juventus and Real Madrid. 

Following the apparent success of the AFR system, South Wales police have now announced that the AFR trial will continue now until March 2018.

The police currently utilse AFR in two separate ways:

The first method requires a ‘static’ cross-reference images of people of interest against the police database of custody images (500,000 faces).

The other method involves a real-time analysis of live CCTV feeds so that the criminal can be arrested in the moment.

South Wales police demonstrated the effectiveness of this technology on Saturday when Wales went up against Scotland in the opening match of the Six Nations rugby tournament. The leader of the AFR project, Scott Lloyd, tweeted updates throughout the day on the success of this system.

Another male arrested on warrant as a result of the Automated Facial Recognition deployment in Cardiff City Centre they have been further arrested for being in possession of drugs. Nowhere to hide! #swpafr #swp pic.twitter.com/McPrduzfTa

— Scott Lloyd (@Inspectorslloyd) February 3, 2018

However, some concerns perpetuated by varies opponents of the AFR system suggest that the system isn’t without flaws. The system requires innocent people’s faces against criminal databases; suggesting that the UK is edging ever forward to a surveillance state.

“It is a great infringement of fans’ rights,” said Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, adding that the police “have no clear basis” for using the tech.

“Thousands of innocent people will have their faces scanned against a database of half a million photos,” she said.

Additionally, the Greater London Assembly (GLA) has also caused for greater action; pleasing with London mayor Sadiq Khan to halt the trials. Their concern stems from the fact that the police are going ahead with various AFR trials, however, the government are yet to publish their biometrics strategy, specifically detailing how innocent people’s images are used and retained by police forces.

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3. Man builds retro PC (1998 Edition)

A real throwback to the 90’s, and a great deja vu for those who were geeking out with computers in the 90’s. Check out MetalJesusRocks channel as he demonstrates a PC build from 1998; 20 years ago now! 

4. Why you should always shut down your PC properly

It’s something that we have all been guilty of. Classic scenario: it’s midnight and you need to be up for work at seven. As you click shut down; your computer has decided to inconveniently remind you that an update must take place before you can safely shut down the PC. What happens next?

This leaves the user with two choices. Either wait anywhere between 10 minutes to one hour for the update to finish, before safely switching the electrical device off at the plug (yeah, like we all really do that) – or – we become frustrated and end it all right there with a swift five-second hold of the PC.

The PC turns off, and the next day you may have to face a slightly longer wait for the PC to boot up, but no serious or permanent damage, right?

Wrong. When a computer shuts down, it is actually taking a number of steps and precautions to protect your data. One of the most obvious examples of this is when the PC prompts the user to save any work they may have open. So what if you have no work that needs to be saved? Surely it’s acceptable then to just cut the power?

Well, there is a lot more to it than just saving file for any progress you may have made.

When you tell a PC to shut down, you are actually telling all programs (and that includes programs running in the background that you won’t necessarily be able to see) that it’s time to shut down, and to make any necessary precautions before doing so.

These programs may be in the middle of writing data to your disk, installing an update, downloading a file or registry key. The possibilities go on and on. However, cutting power off when a program is in the middle of a task can result in one serious risk: corruption of data. This may result in the app in question, or in some cases the operating system becoming completely unusable.

Returning to our original anecdote; this risk of corruption only heightens when power is cut to our during a system update.

Similar to when background apps may become corrupted; the same risk applies when you kill power to your computer during an update. Corrupted data – only this time – the damage is limited to your system files. This can result in half-written registry files which can prevent the system from being able to boot up again. 

The moral of the story is simple. Don’t cut the power to your PC. Ever. Except for very rare circumstances where your PC is locked any beyond the means to initiate a manual restart, cutting power to your PC corrupts and slows down your machine and should be avoided at all costs.

5. Amazon’s top-selling TVs: 2018

Every week, we’ll take a look at the highest trending products on the net, to let you know the hottest gizmos and gadgets out there. This week, we’ll be taking a look at the top 5 TVs on Amazon, highlighting the model, the price, and the people’s verdict.

See below the top 5 most sold TVs currently on Amazon including features, price, rating and a hand-picked review from the Radcomm UK team.

5. LG Electronics 24MT49DF 24 inch

Price: £109.00

Rating: 4.5 Stars

• Enjoy both TV and Monitor together
• Wide Viewing Angle and HD resolution for lifelike picture quality and superb color accuracy
• Built in 5W * 2 Stereo Speaker
• Wall mount and aesthetic arcline stand
• Gaming Mode with Black stabilizer and DAS mode
• DVB-T/C Tuner for Freeview

Radcomm’s top review – D. Shore

4.Panasonic TX-32D302B 32 inch

Price: £189.00

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Radcomm’s top review – BLUENOSE

3. Panasonic TX-32D302B 24 inch

Price: £129.00

Rating : 4.5 Stars

Radcomm’s top review – Mrs. M. Mansouri-Robbins

2. LG 49UJ630V 49 inch 

Price: £419.00

Rating: 4 Stars

Radcomm’s top review – Vinoth Ramiah

1. LG 49UJ630V 43 inch

Price: £349.00

Rating: 4 Stars

Get the job done on the go with the sleek HP Stream 14 laptop. Designed for cloud computing, the HP Stream 14 features a thin, lightweight design and long battery life, making it ideal for travel. Access apps and store your documents, photos, videos and more on Microsoft’s OneDrive.

• Ultra HD 4K resolution – a depth of detail; Ultra HD 4K resolution is four times that of full HD producing brilliant clarity and vivid details that amaze, even when viewed up close; this level of detail is well suited to the life like colour of IPS 4K display; the resulting images will redefine your viewing experience.
• Multi HDR – television from the future; enhanced Formatting technology enables LG TV to output both HLG and HDR 10 high dynamic range formats; get the HDR experience, from a wider choice of sources
• Ultra surround sound – television deserves flawless audio; this Sound technology creates seven virtual channels which produce the multi channel ULTRA surround effect; your senses are surrounded by audio from all angles
• Smart TV webOS with Freeview play; enjoy your favourite channels and catch up TV services with no monthly cost; the smart way of watching live TV and on demand services, with no additional devices required
• Two pole stand – stand your television on this two pole swallow stand; this sturdy construction lifts the design of your TV and provides secure placement in any room

Radcomm’s top review – Jocarobu

As a 4k tv this is a bargain, excellent picture, even the sound is ok, but, if you are buying this predominantly to stream, you may want to look elsewhere, Amazon and Netflix continuously freeze and crash, to the point you just give up and watch it on your tablet.
Have deleted and reinstalled several times, reset to factory settings ect ect all to no avail, the Netflix speed checker is reading my speed at 63mbps so its not that either.
The strange thing is i also own the 43 inch model and that is fine, it appears this 49 inch is just glitchy.
So to sum up, if you want a smart tv that actually is, buy the 43 inch.