Week in Tech: The revenge of PC gaming and invisible gadgets

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www.techradar.com Week in Tech The revenge of PC gaming and the invisible iPhone What's white and invisible? The iPhone 7! We're not just resurrecting our favourite joke: as we discovered this week, future smartphones could actually be invisible thanks to some seriously cool technology. If you want something right now rather than in the next few decades, though, we were also celebrating the power of PC gaming. Holy headcrabs! The PC is BAAAACK! Amid rumours that the Xbox One is getting another price cut, James Rivington knows what's wrong with the current crop of state-of-the-art consoles: they're not PCs - or rather, when it comes to gaming, consoles are not as good as PCs. We're already in a golden age of PC gaming and that's before Oculus Rift ships, Rivington says, and to prove him right it seems that Valve has just sneakily launched the next generation of its Source engine. It's time to get the Half-Life 3 Rumour Tractor out of the shed again… Attack of the invisible iPhones Find My Phone is about to get a whole lot more useful if James Rivington has his way: he wants to see (or rather not see) invisible iPhones. "Imagine a smartphone that remains 'cloaked' until its owner whispers a pass phrase," he says, describing the tech that could well make future phones invisible. We've got our passphrase already. It's: "Where's my damn phone?" Read the full story     In this week ■ Week in Tech: The revenge of PC gaming  and the invisible iPhone ■ Talking points: Nvidia Shield Tablet, Moto 360, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, instant messaging for flirts ■ Competition: WIN! A PS4 ■ The week's best buys: Samsung Galaxy Tab S, Panasonic TZ40, Nokia Lumia 925 ■ Top 10: Phones   Talking points 1 Nvidia Shield Tablet review Despite its problems, we actually liked Nvidia's original Shield Android gaming handheld. Our biggest issue with it was that it was bulky and heavy. With rumors swirling around about a Shield 2, we were hoping to see a slimmer, lighter design. Read more       2 New pictures reveal Moto 360's secret charging method and heart rate monitor We're pretty certain that the Moto 360 is close to launch - we recently glimpsed some press shots, which is a telling sign - but Motorola's keeping quiet on a few of the essential details. However the latest batch of pictures answer a few of our burning questions and include some shots of the watch docked into the previously-secret wireless charger. Read more       3 Samsung Galaxy Note 4 set to arrive September 3 Days after a report revealed Samsung planned to unveil the Galaxy Note 4 on September 3, the Korean company sent out invites to an event on that very day. Samsung plans to host its regular Unpacked powwow in the days leading up to the official IFA 2014 kickoff, and it's during this event we expect to see the Galaxy Note 3 follow-up finally show its face. Read more       4 Instant messaging booming among Brits and it's because we're incorrigible flirts The use of instant messaging applications is set to double in the UK in 2014, according to new research claiming some tap-happy users are sending up to 100,000 messages a year. The study from Deloitte claims Brits could send a total of 300 billion messages by the time Christmas is over, up from the 160 billion sent across the nation in 2013. Read more       Competition WIN! A PS4 and EA Sports UFC with The Expendables III   The Expendables III blasts into UK cinemas on Thursday August 14 and to celebrate, we’ve got a PS4 and a copy of UFC to give away to one lucky winner! The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables’ most personal battle yet. For your chance to win, just answer one simple question. Enter competition   WIN! A pair of tickets for Reasons to be Creative worth £600 Enter competition         Your tweets this week       The week's best buys Samsung Galaxy Tab S Samsung has aimed high with the Tab S, and met its target: this premium tablet is serious competition for Apple's iPad, thanks to a gorgeous screen, some serious horsepower and impressive battery life. View offer Read review       Panasonic TZ40 It's fairly remarkable that a 20x optical zoom can fit into a body of this pocket-friendly size. An extremely flexible option for holidaying photographers, with the GPS functionality proving a valuable addition for plotting the exact locations of your shots. View offer Read review       Nokia Lumia 925 The flagship 'normal' phone from Nokia - it's got a better (if chunky) design and still makes Windows Phone look better than ever. View offer Read review       Is Twitter becoming more like Facebook? @HuddsT  I will close my Twitter account if this happens for sure.     @ElementalRoses_ Well this sucks. As long as retweets from randoms don't appear as phone notifications I'll be goodish, otherwise I'll go nuts.     @GarethAJackson Great. I actually started using Twitter to get away from all the random rubbish I couldnt care less about on Facebook.       Top   phones We've whittled our constantly updated selection down to the 10 best handsets you can get your hands on right now.   HTC One M8       LG G3       Sony Xperia Z2 View top 10           TechRadar Promotion TechRadar Download: CC Cleaner The longer you use your PC, the more clogged with data it becomes and the slower it performs. You need a dedicated system cleaner to analyse your computer, diagnose problems and optimise your system for improved performance. CCleaner is one such system optimiser, a free download that promises to make your computer faster and more secure. Download now  New issue out now Train like a pro with wearables, the ebike invasion, and how to build your own smartphone, all in this month's edition of the UK's biggest-selling digital edition. Download now         www.techradar.com

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