Techno

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Climate change: 'World's best last chance' for action at COP26. What you need to know - CNET

World leaders, activists and diplomats meet in Glasgow for COP26 this November. All your questions about the conference answered.

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The best Nintendo Switch games to play in 2021 - CNET

The Nintendo Switch has some unmissable games. Here are our favorites.

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Demon Slayer Season 2: October release date, how to watch, everything you need to know - CNET

The Mugen Train Arc is now streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll with the never-before-seen episode of Kyojuro Rengoku on his way to the mission against Enmu and Akaza.

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iPhone 13 vs. iPhone 13 Mini: Apple's smaller smartphone doesn't have me convinced - CNET

Commentary: I switched to Apple's iPhone 13 Mini. Here are three things I loved -- and three things I hated.

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Timothée Chalamet reveals first look at himself as a young Willy Wonka - CNET

What do you get when you gobble down sweets?

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Best Apple Watch deals: Save $30 on the Apple Watch SE, $50 on Series 6 - CNET

The new Series 7 ships soon, but there's a nice discount on earlier models right now.

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Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc premiere recap: Kyojuro Rengoku is back! - CNET

Set your heart ablaze on the Mugen Train again! We finally know where Rengoku got all those bento boxes from the Kimetsu no Yaiba film.

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Surface Pro 8 vs. Surface Pro 7: Microsoft's latest 2-in-1 is bigger, better than before - CNET

Microsoft's Surface Pro 8 houses a larger display, new processor and more. But depending on your needs, the older model may still be best for you.

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Apple's iPhone 13 is missing 5 useful features you can get on Android phones - CNET

The iPhone 13 offers plenty of upgrades, but Samsung, Google, Xiaomi and other Android phone-makers are still ahead in some ways.

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Latest Tech News

Arguably the biggest game of the season so far is a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship showdown, and the teams have been creeping in opposite directions since the Chiefs' 38-24 victory at Arrowhead in January. Could the Bills get their own back in Patrick Mahomes' house? Read on as we explain how to get a Bills vs Chiefs live stream and watch NFL Sunday Night Football online from anywhere.

Buffalo Bills vs Kansas City Chiefs live stream

Date: Sunday, October 10

Time: 8.20pm ET / 5.20pm PT / 1.20am BST / 11.20am AEDT

Venue: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

TV channel and live stream: NBC (via Sling TV discount or free fuboTV trial) | Sky Sports (UK)

Free live stream: DAZN FREE trial (CA) | Kayo Sports FREE trial (AU)

Watch anywhere: try the world's no.1 VPN 100% risk-free

We all know about each team's offensive firepower. They've both notched 134 points this season, second only to Kyler Murray's Cardinals.

However, the Chiefs' defense has been a total and utter disaster. Only the Falcons had surrendered more points than the 125 that have leaked through Kansas City coming into this gameweek, and it would be hugely surprising if Allen and Stefon Diggs weren't able to take full advantage.

The Bills, incidentally, have given up a league-best 44 points, though we all know what Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are capable of on their day.

This is sure to be a high-scoring affair, so follow our guide for how to watch the Bills vs Chiefs online and get an NFL live stream wherever you are in the world right now.

Stream NFL without cable with Sling TV
Get your first month for only $10 now. With the game being shown on NBC tonight, cord cutters can watch with a Sling TV subscription. Sign up to Sling Blue now and shave a mighty $25 off the usual monthly price, while also scoring access to NFL Network, Fox, NBCSN, CNN, and 20+ more channels.

More sports: how to watch a Premier League live stream

How to watch Bills vs Chiefs from outside your country

If you've mismatched a holiday or you're away on business and you want to watch your country's coverage from abroad, then you'll need to use a VPN. This will help you dial in to a location back in your home country to avoid geo-blocks and regain access to the content and services you already pay for back home.

A VPN is generally perfect for this as it allows you to change your IP address so you appear to be in a completely different location when the big game is on.

Use a VPN to live stream Bills vs Chiefs from anywhere

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We've put all the major VPNs through their paces and we rate ExpressVPN as our top pick, thanks to its speed, ease of use and strong security features. It's also compatible with just about any streaming device out there, including Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation, as well as Android and iOS.

Sign up for an annual plan now and get an extra 3 months absolutely FREE. And if you change your mind within the first 30 days, let them know and they'll give you your money back without a quibble.

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Once you've chosen and installed your VPN of choice, simply open the service's corresponding app, hit 'choose location', select the appropriate country, and you'll be able to watch the broadcast as if you were back at home.

Bills vs Chiefs live stream: how to watch NFL Sunday Night Football in the US

The Bills vs Chiefs game is being shown by NBC tonight, which is the home of Sunday Night Football this season.

Kick-off is scheduled for 8.20pm ET / 5.20pm PT, and if you have the channel as part of your cable package, you can also live stream the game directly through the NBC website.

How to watch Bills vs Chiefs FREE without cable

The obvious first port of call for cord cutters wanting to watch NBC's NFL output is a Peacock TV subscription. Plans start from $4.99 a month and can be cancelled any time,

For a fuller OTT solution, great-value Sling TV is a great option for NFL fans. Its Blue package offers local NBC/NBCSN and Fox channels in most major markets, as well as NFL Network, thereby covering off a large number of NFL games including both primetime and local broadcasts, for just $35 a month. But right now you can get a whole month of Sling Blue for $10.

An extra $15 a month for the combined Sling Blue + Orange bundle adds access to ESPN 1, 2 and 3 to your NFL viewing arsenal - as well as getting you a handful of other top premium channels like TNT, AMC, TBS, BBC America and more.

The costlier but even more thorough alternative is to get a FuboTV plan. Its standard plan costs $64.99 per month and includes Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN and the NFL Network - all the channels you need to tune into every nationally televised NFL game in the 2021/22 regular season.

You also get the benefit of the fact that FuboTV has a FREE trial.

How to watch Bills vs Chiefs: live stream NFL FREE in Canada

Tonight's Bills vs Chiefs game kicks off at 8.20pm ET / 5.20pm PT, and it's being televised by TSN and CTV, both of which also offer streaming access either on a standalone basis or at no extra cost for subscribers.

However, Canadian NFL fans are some of the the luckiest in the world, as streaming service DAZN is showing the Bills vs Chiefs along with every single game of the 2021/22 season, right the way through to the Super Bowl.

And it's an absolute bargain - DAZN costs just CAD$20 a month or $150 a year.

Plus, the FREE 30-day DAZN trial lets you try before you buy - essentially mean you can live stream Bills vs Chiefs free of charge.

Not only do you get every single NFL game, including NFL Game Pass and RedZone access, but DAZN's also the exclusive Canadian streaming home of Premier League and Champions League soccer!

It also comes with support for iOS, Android, Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Roku, Xbox One, PS4, and laptop/PC streaming (including Mac devices).

Bills vs Chiefs live stream: how to watch NFL online in the UK

The Bills vs Chiefs game is being aired in the UK on Sky Sports, with kick-off set for 1.20am BST on Sunday night/Monday morning.

The network shows at least five games a week on its dedicated Sky Sports NFL channel, and offers access to the live RedZone highlights show each Sunday.

If you don't have Sky Sports as part of your TV package, Now TV will let you stream everything it has to offer without locking you into a lengthy contract.

A great option for die-hard fans is the NFL Game Pass, which is showing every game of the season live. A subscription costs £14.99 a week or a much better-value £147.99 for the season, after a 7-day FREE trial.

Not in the UK but still want to catch the action? Use a VPN to live stream NFL as if you were at home. This also lets you get around any blackout restrictions that sometimes apply to games.

How to watch Bills vs Chiefs FREE: live stream NFL in Australia

The Bills vs Chiefs game kicks off at 11.20am AEDT on Monday morning.

ESPN, available through Foxtel, is showing the game, and you can also stream it on your laptop or mobile using the Foxtel Go app.

Streaming service Kayo Sports is showing the Bills vs Chiefs game too, and is the ideal option for those who don't want the commitment of a lengthy (and pricey) contract.

Kayo lets you stream on two devices with it $25 per month Basic plan, and on three devices with its $35 Premium plan, and both come with a FREE 14-day trial.

It's also worth bearing in mind that 7Mate shows three games a week for FREE, but not this particular one.

And if those aren't enough to satisfy your NFL cravings, we highly recommend you sign up for the NFL Game Pass, as it's showing every game of the season live. A subscription costs $28.99 a week or $274.99 for the season, after a 7-day FREE trial.

Not in Australia right now? Use a VPN if you're away from home, in order to tap into your domestic coverage.

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Best WordPress themes for portfolios

1. Angle

2. Coastline

3. Elegant

4. Gallery Pro

5. Nikkon

Read on for our detailed analysis of each theme

One of the beauties of the website builder and web hosting solution that is WordPress is its customizability. With a little bit of code tweaking, you can make your site look however you like. But such power can be intimidating. Where do you start? How do you do it? How long would it take you?

Thankfully, many creators have done all the hard work for you: there are a plethora of themes you can apply to your site to transform it in seconds. With that in mind, we’ve looked at five of the best WordPress portfolio-styled themes aimed at making your creative business stand out.

We've also highlighted the best paid and free WordPress themes

1. Angle

Grand Portfolio A nice, streamlined themlives up to its name with SEO optimization and content builder

Clean

Minimalist

Modern

Angle was created by WPZoom, who have a wealth of themes to choose from. Angle offers a very clean look. As with nearly all themes, this one covers everything, from a main page, to individual posts, and there are enough customization possibilities to transform it into the ideal display for your work or business. Widgets are also available for further customization.

As you should expect from a modern theme, it is built to be responsive (i.e. it adapts itself to the screen it’s being viewed on - be it desktop, tablet or phone), and can manage the high “retina” resolution of modern portable devices.

The theme will cost you $69 per year and includes a year of updates and support, but you also have a one-time purchase option of $159 (currently reduced from $395). Updates and support are unlimited for that option. Alternatively, it’s worth mentioning that $129 per year would get you all of WPZoom’s 37 WordPress themes.

You can sign up for Angle here

2. Coastline

Create a striking looking portfolio to beautifully showcase your work

Eye popping display of your photography

SEO optimized

Custom widgets

The aim of Coastline is to put your photography front and center. The main menu is composed of large thumbnails, as examples of your work for each of your categories. The sidebar is placed on the left and we really liked that it’s anchored in position: no matter how far you scroll down, it’s always there ready to take your visitor to another page on your site (of course this doesn’t apply when viewed on a phone screen, but just shows how well this theme’s responsive design is).

Coastline is currently on offer for $49 (at the moment, it's reduced to $34.3). This is a one-time fee, but should you need support and updates beyond your first year, you’ll have to pay again for the privilege. A little more - $69 (at the moment, it's reduced to $48.3) - grants you access to all of CSS Igniter’s themes (again for a year of updates and support). If you’re the kind of person who’d rather pay once for a lifetime’s worth of support and updates, all their themes can be yours for $249 (at the moment, it's reduced to $174.3).

You can sign up for Coastline here

Elegant theme — Elegant (Image credit: Future)

3. Elegant

A highly versatile and beautifully designed theme

Customizable

Versatile

Elegant

If you’re familiar with Themify, the designers of the Elegant theme, you’ll know they include their ‘drag & drop builder’ with each purchase, meaning that it’s incredibly easy to customize their theme to suit your exact needs, by adding and moving modules anywhere you want on the page.

Elegant is the right name for this… elegant theme. It comes with its own typography, and even comes with filters that are triggered when you mouse over your photos. These include sepia, blur and grayscale. Various layout options are offered, along with the ability to customize the header for each page.

Elegant is a very beautiful and simple theme which costs $59. This includes one year of support and updates, and the right to use it on as many sites as you’d like. Themify also offer a 30-day money back guarantee, as well as a 50% discount if you’re switching from another theme. You can also gain access to all of Themify’s themes, for $89.

You can sign up for Elegant here

4. Gallery Pro

A versatile and simple looking, but visually effective theme

Clean, minimalist approach

Customization widgets

Expensive

Gallery Pro aims for the minimalist look, which is not a negative, we assure you. As with all modern themes, it is fully responsive and looks good on whichever screen it’s viewed from. Of course, just like the others, it is fully customizable, allowing you to change its background, colors and content. It also comes with a series of templates to help you create new pages, such as blogs and landing pages, with very little effort. You can mix and match your pages with various design elements, including ‘full width’ which, as the name suggests, lets you display a photo, taking up the entire width of the screen - or window. Various customization widgets are also part of the deal.

The only downside really is its price. It’s noticeably the most expensive theme on the list as there’s no yearly subscription: $129.95 is a one-time purchase. It includes StudioPress’ ‘Genesis Framework’, continuous updates, and one year of support.

You can sign up for Gallery Pro here

5. Nikkon

Perhaps an ideal theme to launch your photography career online

Free

Simple

Enough features to get started

Nikkon is a simple theme, but it comes with an unbeatable advantage over the others on this list: it’s free. Now of course it won’t have all the bells and whistles the others offer, but if you’re starting out, you really can’t beat free. So what do you get for your money?

Ideal for photography enthusiasts, this theme’s main page offers a grid-based layout, so you can display your images clearly and with ease. You can anchor a sharing toolbar so it’s always available no matter how far a visitor scrolls down. The theme comes with several header styles to suit your needs, supports blogging, and also integrates with WooCommerce should you decide to sell your shots. As it stands, it’s ideal for starting out, and there’s also a Nikkon Pro option with additional feature when you’re ready to pay for them.

You can sign up for Nikkon here

Top Image Credit: CSSIgniter

We've also highlighted the best web hosting

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Best WordPress themes for blogs

1. Baskerville 2

2. Hemingway

3. Hestia Pro

4. OceanWP

5. Typology

Read on for our detailed analysis of each theme

Blogging is one the most popular activities online - it seems that everywhere you go, and every site you visit, there’s a blog in there, somewhere. Blogging is a great way to express yourself, and put your thoughts down to share with others, and if you’re using the popular website builder and optional web hosting solution that is WordPress, you’ll know it has a plethora of themes that cater to this specific activity. We’ve selected five we feel are definitely worth a look at if you’re thinking of venturing into this weird and wonderful world.

Also check out our roundup of the best web hosting

1. Baskerville 2

A good all round blogging theme, ideal for those starting out

Simple

Easy to use

Free

Baskerville 2 is a good theme to get your started with blogging. You can add text, images and videos with ease, and create nice looking pages, even with the standard configuration. A custom menu is located just below the header, making it effortless to subdivide your blog into easy to navigate sections. As you’d expect for a modern theme, it’s fully responsive and looks great whichever screen it’s viewed on.

You can of course alter the theme to make it feel more unique to you, altering the background, changing colours, reveal the pages’ sidebar, choose from three different widgets for the footer, among others options. Baskerville 2 comes with three page templates. Galleries can be added, the header’s dimension altered, and you can also include add a site logo. Best of all, Baskerville 2 is free to use, which is perfect, especially if blogging is still a hobby for you - for now.

You can sign up for Baskerville 2 here

2. Hemingway

Few options, but a nice clean look, for those who just want to get on with creating their posts

Modern look

Simple to use

Little customization

Another free option is Hemingway. This one’s a very simple theme with only a handful of customisation features, but its purpose is to display your blog in a clean manner, offering the reader a generous amount of white space. It’s responsive and retina-ready to ensure the best experience on any device, and has a customisable full-width header with support for parallax scrolling to make your page feel modern and fresh.

It comes with four post formats, depending on the content of the post itself (one with an image above the post, and one for short updates, for instance), and you can alter the accent colour if you’re not fond of the default green.

You can sign up for Hemingway here

3. Hestia Pro

A versatile theme that can work for many different types of websites

Visually interesting options

Support for a host of different types of sites

Although Hestia Pro is advertised as an ideal theme for one-page websites, it’s actually much more versatile than that. It’s designed to work well with blogs for instance, which is why it’s making the list. You can alter the design on the fly, and one of the features we liked was the ability to add parallax images or videos in the header, to make for a more visually striking website.

Customisation is impressive. You’re able to adjust each page’s section, for example, and choose different headers for each of them. There’s also a lot of versatility in its blogging options. To simplify matters, everything is centred around WordPress’ own Customiser but is also compatible with other page builders for greater customisation options.

Prices start at $69 for use on a single site, and include one year of support and updates. If you’d like to install this theme on additional sites, the Business option lets you do that for up to three of them, for $99. Agency, for $299, removes any such limits, and also includes live chats and priority support.

You can sign up for Hestia Pro here

4. OceanWP

A beautiful, popular theme to help you create striking blogs

Core theme is free

Loads of customization options

OceanWP is another blogging theme that advertises itself as being free, and in a way it is. The core functionality is. It’s a very popular WordPress theme, having been downloaded over 3.6 million times. It’s a fully responsive and retina-ready theme that caters to not just blogs - it’s currently pushing its e-commerce capabilities for instance. One of the great things about OceanWP is the number of Demos it has available - select the one you want to apply to your site in just a few clicks… except there’s a catch: the vast majority of them aren’t free. You will find the odd free demo, and all the ones we’ve seen are very nicely done, but if you’re itching for a “pro” one, you’ll have to hand out the cash.

Prices start at $43 per year for 3 sites, and come with 13 premium extensions and 185 pro demos. If you work on more than three sites, you can choose Business for 6 ($87 per year) or Agency for 50 ($143 per year). There’s also a one-off lifetime price if you hate subscriptions of $177, $356 and $580 respectively.

You can sign up for OceanWP here

5. Typology

This theme can help you create a clean and minimalist blog with enough customization options to keep your visitors interested

Clean

Minimalist

Good range of customization

If all you’re focused on, is writing, and don’t care about stuff like images or video, then Typology could be the theme for you. Similar to Hemingway above, its focus is on creating a minimalist site to showcase your words above all else. But of course, you can also add images and video should you want to, which merely enriches the look of the page, rather than distract from it.

It comes with header options, multiple pagination choices, including infinite scrolling, and custom widgets (which reside in the sidebar). Typology also has multi-author post support, 404 page customization, and even e-commerce integration.

You can try all this for free for seven days, or take a look at some real-life examples on the company’s website, and if you like what you see, you can purchase it for $49, which includes future updates and six months of tech support (which can be increased by a further six months for $13.88).

You can sign up for Typology here

We've also highlighted the best WordPress hosting

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In the contest to make the best noise cancelling headphones, two big brands have been tangled in a tug of war for the last three years – that’s Bose and Sony.

Sony took on the Bose QuietComfort 25 with its first Sony MDR-1000X headphones a few years back and the two have been competing for consumers’ favor ever since.

This year, the fight is between the Sony WH-1000XM4 that came out in late 2020 and the brand-new Bose QuietComfort 45 that just came out a few months back.

Each of the two excel in areas where the other doesn’t and yet, we think there’s a clear winner that’s worth your money. Here’s how they stack up.

What’s good about the Bose QuietComfort 45?

They’re cheaper

One area in which the Bose QuietComfort 45 are the clear winner is price. At just $329 / £329 / AU$499.95 they are cheaper than the Sony WH-1000XM4 that will set you back $349.99 / £349 / AU$549. That’s not a wide margin, but it’s enough to make a difference.

That being said, while Bose is the clear winner in this category right now things might change come Black Friday and Cyber Monday when Sony reliably shaves off some money from its flagship noise-cancelling headphones. We’ve seen it happen every year for the last few years, so we’re nearly positive it will happen again in 2021.

They have a familiar design

For the Bose faithful, the QuietComfort 45 will feel intimately familiar right out of the box. Bose has only slightly changed the design of the Bose QuietComfort 35 – and we think there are folks who will absolutely appreciate seeing a similar style here.

For those who haven’t seen them yet, the exterior of the headphones looks sleek and feels comfortable thanks to its padded foam bridge and faux-leatherette ear pads. The pads themselves swivel and fold to help them fit into the included carrying case, which makes them easy to throw in your carryon bag when they’re not around your neck.

At just 8.5 ounces (238g), they really feel light on the ear and are comfortable to wear for hours on end. To get them so light, Bose uses some plastic on the arms of the headphones but uses metal for all the joints and the bridge - basically all the parts that are most likely to snap in use.

Their controls are incredibly intuitive

Speaking of familiar, the controls are very similar to what we’ve seen on Bose headphones in the past: on the right earcup you’ve got controls for pause/play, volume up and volume down, while on the left earcup you’ll find a button for the new ambient aware mode. You can also summon your phone’s built-in assistant by holding the play/pause button, which is nice. It’s not as nice as having an always listening assistant built into the headphones, but better than not having an option for an assistant at all.

Their noise-cancellation is pretty darn good

The other point we have to give to Bose is that its noise-cancellation is really, really strong. It’s so powerful that you could easily turn them on and play a song at mid-volume, and you won’t hear someone talking directly to you.

What’s disappointing about them, however, is that there’s just one setting for noise cancellation and that’s strong. The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 offers 11 different levels of noise cancellation to choose from – so it feels like a big miss that the QC45 doesn’t even have two or three.

What’s better about the Sony WH-1000XM4?

Man wearing Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones around his neck — (Image credit: Aakash Jhaveri)

They have better sound quality thanks to LDAC

Not to knock Bose here, but the Sony WH-1000XM4 simply sound better: they have a warm and balanced sound that does well to offer a wide soundstage when required and detail that can pierce through a powerful bass performance.

Because the Sony headphones support LDAC – a higher-end audio codec that allows for more data to be transmitted than standard SBC – the WH-1000XM4 can receive more data when you’re connected to an Android device than the Bose can. If you want more clarity in your music and a better overall experience, Sony has it.

They support spatial audio

Speaking of audio, the Sony WH-1000XM4 take things one step further than before with 360 Reality Audio – Sony’s proprietary spatial audio format. Listening to spatial audio on these headphones doesn’t quite feel like a full Dolby Atmos experience with floorstanding speakers, but you’ll really get a feel for the large soundstage when you’ve got music mixed to come at you from all directions.

You can change how much sound they tune out

Another good reason to go for the WH-1000XM4 is that you can tune just how powerful their noise cancellation is from the Sony Music app. Sometimes you’ll want partial passthrough if, say, you’re out jogging and you want to be able to hear a siren behind you or if you’re waiting at an airport for your flight to be called. You won’t need those settings all the time – and you’ll probably default to holding the right earcup to cut noise cancellation completely when you really need to hear someone, but it’s a nice feature to have.

They have better call quality

While neither pair of headphones should replace a proper Bluetooth headset for taking business calls, we did find call quality to be slightly better on the Sony WH-1000XM4 that friends told us sounded similar to speakerphone. The Sony will give you as good of quality as talking directly into your phone – but don’t expect stellar call quality in either headphones.

They have longer battery life

If you’re just looking at pure specs, the Sony WH-1000XM4 is the longer-lasting pair of noise-cancelling headphones. They’re rated for 30 hours with noise cancelling turned on and around 38 hours with noise cancelling turned off.

And though it doesn’t have better battery life than the previous generation’s 1000XM3, the 1000XM4 does stretch things as far as possible thanks to the new auto-on/off and play/pause sensor inside the earcup that can tell when you’ve taken the headphones off. It’s a huge boon to folks who might forget to turn off their headphones at the end of the day only to find that they’re dead 24 hours later.

Verdict

In this battle, we feel the Sony WH-1000XM4 are the better headphones. They offer longer battery life, better call quality and better audio reproduction – and they have features that the Bose QuietComfort 45 simply doesn’t have right now. They’re our top pick for a reason.

That said, if/when Bose adds more features to the QuietComfort 45 via a firmware update, we could feel slightly differently – especially if those changes address the sound quality.

We’d also warn you that the Bose QuietComfort series is no longer the flagship product of Bose – that honor belongs to the Bose Noise-Cancelling Headphones 700. Those are more expensive, but have many of the features we think are missing from the QC45.

Long story short, if you can only pick one, go for the Sony WH-1000XM4.

Want to see how the 1000XM4 stack up against the NC700? Check out our Sony WH-1000XM4 vs Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 guide

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We’ve looked at various types of themes to power your WordPress site. We’ve checked which would be best for an e-commerce site, which would be best for displaying a portfolio, or for blogging, that kind of thing. So now it’s time to focus our attention on the most subjective subject of all: which are the best themes, period.

It’s impossible for such a list not to be coloured by personal preference, but we have tried to do our best, and although you will find some themes that we have already discussed in previous articles, we thought we’d keep things interesting by also including a couple that haven’t been brought up before. So strap yourselves in for what are, in our opinion, the best WordPress themes - at least for early 2021…

We've also featured the best Wordpress hosting and the best managed Wordpress hosting.

Best WordPress themes - at a glance

1. Astra

A very popular theme with an impressible number of options to create your ideal site

Fast

Highly customizable

Great e-commerce options

Astra is a very popular WordPress theme. They recently celebrated their one millionth active install, which is no small feat. It’s designed to work with various page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy and Gutenberg, and comes as a free and paid for version, but if you’re looking for e-commerce features, you have to go pro.

Some of the sales-friendly features unique to the pro version include Infinite Scroll so your products load dynamically as the visitor scrolls down the page, Off-Canvas Sidebar, an ideal place to incorporate filters and widgets to make finding what your customer is looking for quicker and easier, and multiple Checkout Options, to customise the layout to suit you and your users’ needs, such as two-step checkout, or distraction-free checkout for instance.

The customisation options are quite impressive, all without having to delve into code; you can alter the layout, the typography, even turn off the title page and sidebar if you want to. And best of all, Astra is advertised as a fast responsive theme, meaning it’ll load fast to keep your visitors on your site.

Astra offers three different plans, starting with Astra Pro, currently for $47 per year (or $249 for a one-time fee), right up to $249 a year for Growth Bundle (or $699 for a one-time fee).

You can sign up for Astra here

2. Authority Pro

A good theme that can cater to a wide variety of needs

Good flexibility and customizability

Fully responsive

Authority Pro is a theme designed for businesses, and anyone who wants to expand their branding online. It’s built around StudioPress’ Genesis Framework which is the designers’ tool for creating and customising their themes, and works with WordPress’ Gutenberg Editor.

Authority Pro is fully responsive from the get go, and can hook up to e-commerce plugins - in fact, it’s pre-configured for WooCommerce. One feature we appreciated which we don’t see being advertised enough is its compatibility with Accessibility options.

The Genesis Framework and all other StudioPress themes are included in the price of this theme, which you can get for $360 per year This includes support for one year.

You can sign up for Authority Pro here

3. Divi

Very versatile, visual creative tool to create unique modern websites

Visual editor

Loads of customization options

Easy to use

Elegant Themes includes Divi in its all-in-one package for $89 per year (or $249 for a one-time purchase). Part of the package is Divi Builder, is a WYSIWYG tool, which allows you to see your site as it ends up looking, while you’re customising it. You can choose from template pages, select your favourite layout, drag and drop elements, alter colours, fonts, etc. It all feels pretty effortless.

Altering elements is done with the help of handy sliders, and it’s all very straightforward. You can apply effects like sepia to an image, alter its colour balance, opacity, blend more, even control the blur, all from the theme, all on the fly. There are a lot of features in Divi, like Shape Dividers, 3D transform tools, the ability to customise Hover States, and more. All this makes Divi feel more like an art program than a website creation tool. The advantage here is you can make a website look modern, while being a lot of fun to use.

You can sign up for Divi here

4. Inspiro

One of the best themes for those who deal with video and images

Great for showcasing visual work

Highly customizable

Inspiro is focused on video and photography. It supports full screen slideshows that can include videos that are either self-hosted or uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo, for instance. This theme also includes a Gallery Module to help you create portfolios of your videos and photographs, and is fully responsive so your site will look great whichever device it’s viewed on.

As you’d expect, you can fully customise every aspect of Inspiro to transform your site into something truly unique to you. This is done through the Theme Options Panel, and the built-in Page Builder. And if you want to make a living out of your photography, Inspiro is fully compatible with WooCommerce, one of the best e-commerce WordPress plugins on the market.

You can get Inspiro for $79 per year, which includes one year of updates and support. If you’d rather avoid paying a subscription, you can own it for ever for $179 - which also includes unlimited updates and support.

You can sign up for Inspiro here

5. Ocean WP

A beautiful, popular theme to help you create striking blogs

Core theme is free

Loads of customization options

OceanWP is a blogging theme that advertises itself as being free, and in a way it is. The core functionality is. It’s a very popular WordPress theme, having been downloaded over 3.6 million times. It’s fully responsive, retina-ready, and caters to not just blogs - it’s currently pushing its e-commerce capabilities for instance.

One of the great things about OceanWP is the number of Demos it has available - select the one you want to apply to your site in just a few clicks… except there’s a catch: the vast majority of them aren’t free. You will find the odd free demo, and all the ones we’ve seen are very nicely done, but if you’re itching for a “pro” one, you’ll have to hand out the cash.

You can sign up for Ocean WP here

What is a WordPress Theme and How Does it Impact Ads?

Choosing the right WordPress theme for your website is much more than just opting for a minimalist, eye-catching design. To succeed online, you need to have a bit more acumen. Stephen Marsi, co-founder of Mediavine, shares some thoughts about what it takes to win online.

Advertising is always a delicate balance. What generates the maximum revenue and what provides the optimal user experience? Can those competing factions coexist?

Many things factor into this question, including WordPress theme frameworks. Hundreds of thousands of sites use them to customize functionality and appearance for just about every need, and they can significantly impact ad performance, as well.

To set up a theme framework, publishers need to purchase or download one for free. There are numerous options and pricing plans for additional features and options.

Not all WordPress sites require a framework - basic sites with a single landing page likely won’t need the customization options they offer - but many depend on the flexibility and optionality that they provide. So what does this have to do with monetization?

For digital content creators, running the highest-performing ads on WordPress websites, while still ranking in search engines that send valuable organic traffic, requires the right technology, tools and techniques - a combination not every theme framework delivers.

It’s crucial that WordPress frameworks reflect Google’s current best practices, including Core Web Vitals, Progressive Web Application (PWA) standards, Lighthouse guidelines and more.

Put another way - it’s extremely important for any website to load quickly and seamlessly. Pagespeed isn’t the most important thing, it’s the only thing. It is crucial to be cognizant of the importance of fast-loading pages and the disadvantages inherent in some frameworks.

(ed: That also means that choosing the right WordPress hosting service is important as well)

Solutions like open source WordPress theme framework, Trellis, are built with modern web technologies and designed for site speed and revenue optimization. Goals of perfect 100 scores on both desktop and mobile on PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse - the tool powering those insights - is built into the core development process.

Back to our original point; Google and most players view user experience as the linchpin of holistic website growth and sustainability. If something is bogging down your site - plugins, jittery, shifting content, ads, all of the above - that isn’t a high quality UX. Which, in turn, hurts your SEO, your traffic and your ability to monetize that traffic. It’s all interconnected.

Choosing the best WordPress theme framework is essential for content, SEO and ads to coexist in a productive way. That means a framework which plays nicely with WordPress (the most popular CMS) and focuses on Google’s best practices.

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