News written by James Delahunty (July, 2019)

The first publicly available Android ROM for Nintendo Switch has been released by developers at XDA.

The unofficial firmware is based on LineageOS 15.1 (Android 8.1 Oreo) and works with compatible Switch models only. For this to work, you would need to be able to boot into hekate, which newer Switch models probably won't be. Since the firmware is based Nvidia Shield TV trees, Tegra-exclusives like Borderlands and Half Life 2 should run.

Given it is the first release, there are some known and significant bugs of course. Battery life is not great due to a deep sleep issue. Auto-rotation isn't working since the developers haven't figured out how to "talk" to the sensor yet. The console charges but the charging itself isn't detected. Some apps cannot take input from the Joy-cons yet and so on.

There is a full list of features and bugs on the dedicated thread at XDA-Developers. It also walks you through the process of installing the custom ROM on your SD card and running it on the Switch. Additionally, there is a helpful Q&A and a changelog that you should keep an eye on.

Last week, Bethesda dropped the three original Doom titles on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, Android and iOS but faced backlash over a login requirement.

Doom, Doom II, and Doom III ports arrived for the PS4, Xbox One and Switch last week. The first two titles are also available for iOS and Android, but not Doom III for now. The arrival of the classics was a welcome announcement, though it had been leaked beforehand accidentally by Nintendo's eShop.

However, the released faced some backlash from gamers almost immediately when he became clear you needed a BethesdaNet account to login in order to get started. Effectively, this meant that to play the old classic games which emerged when Internet access was far less prevalent, you needed to be online.

Bethesda responded quickly to the complaints and explained that the login requirement was included for the Slayers Club, to reward members for playing the classic DOOM games.

"The login should be optional, and we are working on changing the requirement to optional now," Bethesda announced on social media. "We will update everyone when a fix is ready."

There was also a few complaints related to some graphical changes made to the ports and problems with the music tempo on Switch.

A researcher who is credited with impeding the spread of WannaCry ransomware in 2017 has been spared imprisonment for involvement in banking malware.

WannaCry was used in a worldwide cyberattack in May 2017. It has been blamed on the North Korean regime and relied on an NSA-developed exploit called EternalBlue. The exploit had been leaked online by a group called the Shadow Brokers in the months before WannaCry emerged. It targeted a vulnerability present in older and unpatched versions of Microsoft Windows.

As a result of its spread, governmental organizations and private institutions were hit with damages estimated in the hundreds of millions, to billions of dollars. In the UK for example, the National Health Service (NHS) was hit with outages that caused the cancellation of appointments and procedures for patients.

In response to WannaCry, Microsoft issued emergency patches for end-of-life products like Windows XP to stop the spread of the infection. However, a Kill Switch was also discovered that would prevent newly-infected computers from spreading WannaCry any further. Researcher Marcus Hutchins discovered the kill switch in WannaCry, finding that it only encrypted files on an infected system and propagated further if it was unable to connect to a specific domain.

A teaser trailer has dropped for the hotly anticipated Amazon Prime Video exclusive Jack Ryan's second season, hinting at more action for the protagonist.

The Amazon Prime Video exclusive follows titular protagonist Jack Ryan, a CIA agent created by Tom Clancy and depicted by John Krasinski, along with other characters from Clancy's Ryanverse. In Season 1, Ryan is elevated from his cozy desk job into the field when he sees banking activity related to an extremist called Suleiman, kicking off a series of events in the middle east and in the United States.

In the second season of the well-received TV adaption, Jack Ryan finds himself up against forces in power in a dangerous, declining region of South America. The first teaser for Jack Ryan season 2 was released by Amazon this weekend and it promises more action to test our protagonist.

The teaser is short, but still manages to show us an airborne insertion and Ryan having to grapple with the aftermath of an improvided explosive device (IED). There is also a clearly political element to the second season in the teaser.

There is no release date or time frame attached to the teaser right now, but it's still worth a watch to see what we can look forward to.

All-electric car maker will bring Netflix and YouTube video streaming to its vehicles soon, Elon Musk confirms.

Tesla's cars have large screens on the dash that you can use to control pretty much everything about the vehicle. The screens can also be used to access easter eggs and extra features, and even to play video games that have been ported to the OS.

This is particularly useful when a driver is sat at a charging station waiting for their EV to get its juice.

Soon Tesla will also add YouTube and Netflix functionality to its vehicles, providing more content for when a car is charging up. When it first arrives, the streaming will only be available when a vehicle is completely stopped.

However, Tesla chief Elon Musk said that eventually the car will support streaming content when regulators approve self-driving capabilities, turning a Tesla vehicle into a moving entertainment center that ferries you around.

Ability to stream YouTube & Netflix when car is stopped coming to your Tesla soon! Has an amazingly immersive, cinematic feel due to the comfy seats & surround sound audio.

-- e^👁🥧 (@elonmusk) July 27, 2019

Samsung has revealed that it is preparing to launch the Galaxy Fold, its first foldable smartphone, in the coming months.

The launch of the almost $2,000 foldable smartphone was delayed after reviewers experience serious problems with the device. Some experienced screen damage after moderate use while others said the hinges that enabled the folding of the device failed.

Samsung has strengthened the hinges and worked on the screen issues and is currently conducting final tests ahead of a planned launch in September. In the first year, it intends to make around 1 million units of the high-end smartphone.

The South Korean giant hopes that the foldable device and future derivatives of it may revive slowing smartphone sales across the world. It had hoped that the Fold would provide an early boost in revenue during the summer season, but April's problems forced the company to hold back.

Given the early issues with the device, the launch may struggle to convince prospective buyers to be early adopters, rather than waiting to see if the issues have been really fixed.

The Washington Post reports that under-fire Chinese electronics firm Huawei had secretly worked with the North Korean regime to build the country's wireless network.

It has received documents from a former Huawei employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, that shows a secret partnership between Huawei and Panda International Information Technology Co. Ltd., which is NK's state-owned firm. They show that Huawei aided in building the country's commercial wireless network.

The Washington Post also received materials from other sources related to the activity.

Already subject to a blacklist due to its links to the Chinese communist government and potentially being excluded from 5G rollouts in Western countries, Huawei will now be under-fire for potentially violating U.S. export controls. The firm uses American technology in its components and North Korea is subject to U.S. sanctions due to its nuclear program.

In a statement to the Washington Post, Huawei denied it has any business presence in North Korea and said it was "fully committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries and regions where we operate, including all export control and sanction laws and regulations", of the UN, US and EU.

OpenAI and Microsoft will work together to develop new Azure AI supercomputing technologies in pursuit of artificial general intelligence.

OpenAI was originally co-founded by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in late 2015, but he later departed the group to work with NeuraLink. Its goal was to create safe, ethical general-purpose AI that can serve the needs of the general public, and alleviate concerns about existential risks associated with super-intelligent machines.

In the meantime, OpenAI has made some news headlines for developing artificial intelligence that can best human gamers in certain games.

With Microsoft's investment, the two companies will focus on building a computational platform in Azure of unprecedented scale, which will train and run increasingly advanced AI models, include hardware technologies that build on Microsoft's supercomputing technology.

Microsoft will become OpenAI's preferred partner for commercializing new AI technologies.

"AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our time and has the potential to help solve many of our world's most pressing challenges," said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft.

"By bringing together OpenAI's breakthrough technology with new Azure AI supercomputing technologies, our ambition is to democratize AI -- while always keeping AI safety front and center -- so everyone can benefit."

A legal firm has filed a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo due to a 'drifting' problem with the Joy-con controller for the Switch console.

With over 35 million Switch consoles sold worldwide (March 2019), Nintendo's device has been a hit with gamers. The total number of Joy-con controllers sold for the device is unknown.

However, there is a common 'drifting' problem that affects the Joy-con controller for some users. They typically report that the controller seems to respond to non-existent input to the analog stick, thus causing 'drift' in the game. Many opt to send the controller in for repairs when this starts happening.

Law firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith has filed a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo of America, alleging that the company sells the Joy-cons with the knowledge that they are defective.

The complaint, filed on behalf of purchasers of Switches and Joy-Con controllers, brings claims under various consumer protection statutes as well as various warranty and common law claims.

According to the complaint, Nintendo has failed to acknowledge the problem despite reports worldwide and refuses to fix defective controllers for free.

UK Gambling Commission boss tells members of parliament that under current legislation, loot boxes and FIFA player packs do not count at gambling.

In FIFA, gamblers can purchase packs but have no idea what players they will end up with. Similarly, loot boxes essentially contain surprise items like weapons, costumes and so forth. This surprise element has prompted critics to liken the purchasing of these packs to gambling.

There are concerns about the effect this has on children who may be tempted to keep spending money in order to get the in-game content they want. However, it is not regulated by the gambling watchdog in the UK because the prize is not money, and does not necessarily have monetary value.

Third-party secondary markets that buy or sell in-game content or allow it to be used as virtual currency, but this activity is not authorized or supported by the publishers.

Brad Enright, programme directory at the Gambling Commission, said that EA in particular faces a constant battle with third-party markets. Gambling Commission chief Neil McArthur told the Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee that there are "significant concerns" about children being exposed to games with elements of expenditure and chance, but that under the law it is not classified as gambling.

Instagram appears to be having problems again with users reporting that the app simply crashes when they try to open it on their smartphones.

The Facebook subsidiary seemed to start having trouble in the last few hours with DownDetector showing the reports reaching over 5,000 by 17:00 GMT. Some Instagram users also took to Twitter to report the problem, typically with the hashtags #Instagramdown and #Instagramdownagain.

Most users seem to be reporting the problem occurs when they try to open the Instagram app on mobile, only to be thrown back to the Home Screen (sometimes with a black screen first). "I can't open the app when I do the screen goes black and it takes me to the phone home screen. I tried re-downloading the app, and refreshing. Instagram was working fine this morning, what's going on ?," one user reports on DownDetector.

Twitter user, @blxxdyaicha posted a video showing the problem:

Aptoide has removed two Android apps that are used to watch TV shows and movies for free from the market following a lawsuit two film companies.

TBV Productions and Hunter Killer Productions targeted Aptoide - an alternative Android app marketplace to Google Play - with a lawsuit for listing Showbox and Popcorn Time. Both apps allow for the streaming of mainstream films and TV shows from either the BitTorrent protocol (exclusive means for Popcorn Time) or from other sources.

The lawsuit had alleged that Aptoide promoted and encouraged the use of these Android applications for copyright infringement purposes. An interesting claim is that because Aptoide declared both apps as "100% safe" - referring to the apps being free of malicious software - that it was endorsing the apps.

Aptoide responded to the lawsuit by removing the main Showbox and Popcorn Time apps. Trying to visit their old URLs simply prompts an error now. Additionally, other Popcorn Time variants have disappeared from the alternative app store.

According to TorrentFreak, Showbox was downloaded between 5-25 million times, while Popcorn Time was downloaded between 300,000 and 3 million times.

Cambridge Analytica scandal results in a record $5 billion fine for the social network giant.

Approved by a 3-2 vote, Facebook was delivered a record fine related to the ability of political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica to access data of up to 87 million users of the social network.

In 2011, Facebook had already agreed to notify users and gain express consent to share their data with third parties. Since March 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been probing whether Facebook had violated this agreement.

The $5 billion settlement was approved in a 3-2 vote along political party lines, with 3 Republicans voting in favor of the settlement, and 2 Democrats against. It still has some hurdles to clear, with the Department of Justice' civil division to finalize it yet.

Facebook had warned investors back in April that it was expecting a fine of this magnitude, but had reassured them that it has already put funds aside to deal with it. In fact, when the news broke of the FTC approving the settlement, shares in Facebook initially rose 1.8 percent.

Source: Reuters

Some Macs may have been vulnerable to webcam hijacking due to a flaw in how the Zoom video conferencing app handled one-click-joining.

Zoom aims to make it as easy as possible to add users to a video conference. One of its selling points is that users can join a video conference session by clicking on a link. However, the way in which this was achieved posed some security risks.

Researcher Jonathan Leitschuh found that the Mac version of the app installs a web server on the local machine. The web server left the user's computer open to certain attacks.

For example, an attacker could send a target a link to a maliciously crafted website that would join the user to the Zoom call with their webcam activated. A malicious page could also effectively carry out a denial of service attack on the Mac by repeatedly forcing the user to join an invalid call.

Another issue noted by Leitschuh is that even after the Zoom client is installed, the local web server remains and can be tricked to reinstall the Zoom client by visiting a malicious webpage.

The mending relationship between Amazon and Google continues with Prime TV support coming for Chromecast, Android TV.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers will be able to cast their content to Google's Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devices. You'll need the latest Prime Video app and Android 5.0 or higher or iOS 10.1 or higher on your phone or tablet to receive the update.

Chromecast Ultra users get access to 4,000 titles included with Prime at no additional cost.

Whiole some select Android TV devices already have Amazon Prime Video, support will be rolling out to many more Android TV smart TVs, set-top boxes and streaming devices. The Prime Video app is available on Google Play for supported devices.

Another piece of good news that has come from Amazon and Google burying the hatchet is YouTube's availability on Fire TV devices. From today, the official YouTube app on Amazon Fire TV is available worldwide on Fire TV Stick (2nd Gen), Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Stick Basic Edition, and Toshiba, Insignia, Element, and Westinghouse Fire TV Edition smart TVs.

Additional device support will roll out in the coming months, and YouTube TV and YouTube Kids will launch later this year.

Spotify has released a Lite version of its music streaming app designed for slower networks and older Android devices.

At just around 10MB in size the app is a small download and won't take up much storage space on the device. It is intended for regions that have slower network connections and for users of older Android devices.

Spotify Lite is compatible with Android devices running Android 4.3 or higher. It can be used by users of the premium or ad-supported tiers.

As you would expect, the Lite app strips a lot of the features available in the standard Spotify app, but users can still search for their favorite artists and songs, save them, share them and discover new music that might interest them based on their tastes.

For users with data limits, there is also the ability to set a data limit so that the app will notify you when you reach it. For those with limited storage space, there are also cache controls and all cache can be deleted with a tap.

"Spotify Lite was built from the ground up based on user feedback from around the world, allowing millions more to enjoy the world's best music experience -- especially in areas with limited bandwidth and phone storage," says Kalle Persson, Senior Product Manager at Spotify.

The third instalment of the Duffer Brothers' sci-fi/horror series has broken Netflix viewing records in the days following its hotly-anticipated release.

Stranger Things 3 was released on July 4, more than twenty months since the sophomore season was released in October 2017. Any suggestion that the appetite for the series - which became a cultural phenomenon of sorts when it debuted with little marketing and buzz three years ago - have been rebuffed by the initial viewing figures that Netflix is only too happy to brag about.

In the four days since its release on America's Independence Day, more than 40.7 million household accounts have accessed the third season of the show. Of course, the actual number of viewers is much higher, that is simply the number of accounts that accessed episodes of the season. In that time period, 18.2 million accounts have been used already to watch all eight episodes, which are typically an hour long.

Just last month, Netflix had bragged that Murder Mystery - starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston - had racked by 30.9 million views in its first three days, which broke its movie streaming records.

.@Stranger_Things 3 is breaking Netflix records!

40.7 million household accounts have been watching the show since its July 4 global launch -- more than any other film or series in its first four days. And 18.2 million have already finished the entire season.

-- Netflix US (@netflix) July 8, 2019

The South Korean consumer electronics giant has vowed to defend itself after a regulator filed a lawsuit over ads related to its Galaxy smartphones.

An Australian consumer watchdog is litigating against Samsung's Australian unit for allegedly misleading advertisements related to its Galaxy-branded smartphones and their suitability for use underwater.

According to the watchdog, in more than three hundred advertisements related to its Galaxy products, Samsung falsely represents the conditions for which its smartphones would be suitable for usage.

"The ACCC alleges Samsung's advertisements falsely and misleadingly represented Galaxy phones would be suitable for use in, or for exposure to, all types of water ... when this was not the case," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement, reports Reuters.

It's not the first time Samsung's waterproof claims have drawn scrutiny. In 2016, Consumer Reports noted that a Galaxy S7 smartphone had failed an immersion test, despite advertisements showing a model inside a fish tank.

Some consumers also reported they had damaged their phones by using them in water, and others reported that Samsung even refused to cover water damaged devices under warranty.

Microsoft has rolled out an update that will enable users to see notifications from connected Android devices on their Windows 10 Desktop.

Microsoft's Your Phone is a Windows 10 application that pairs an Android device to your PC. Once paired, users can transfer data between the devices (media files, etc.) and see and reply to messages received on their phones.

With a new update, Your Phone users can now see Android phone notifications mirrored to the Desktop. This would include new messages from apps like WhatsApp or Twitter, for example. If you dismiss the notifications on your Desktop, they are also dismissed on the phone.

In an upcoming update, users will be able to click on the notifications in Windows 10, which will then cause the Your Phone app to mirror the phone's screen to the Desktop and let you you take appropriate actions.

Your Phone is available from the Microsoft Store.

via: Thurrot

A U.S. Congress financial services committee has written to Facebook requesting that it halt its Libra digital currency plans so they can be properly scrutinized.

The House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Maxine Waters, the U.S. Representative for California's 43rd congressional district, wrote a letter addressed to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and David Marcus on Tuesday. In it, several Democrat members of the committee ask Facebook to agree to halt the development of Libra and the Calibra digital wallet.

"It appears that these products may lend themselves to an entirely new global financial system that is based out of Switzerland and intended to rival U.S. monetary policy and the dollar," the letter reads.

"This raises serious privacy, trading, national security, and monetary policy concerns for not only Facebook's over 2 billion users, but also for investors, consumers, and the broader global economy."

The letter goes on to cite Facebook's chequered history with data privacy and highlights some potential national security risks and financial market risks.

Libra is a digital currency that Facebook is pushing and will eventually cede control of to a consortium called the Libra Association, which claims VISA, MasterCard, Spotify, PayPal and others among its members. It has insisted that Libra will be separate from Facebook.

Users of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have been reporting problems on Wednesday that affect their picture and video uploads.

Facebook acknowledged that a technical issue was causing problems for its users when they were sending media files on its platforms. The issue seems to have stemmed from something going awry during routine maintenance operations.

"During one of our routine maintenance operations, we triggered an issue that is making it difficult for some people to upload or send photos and videos," Facebook revealed.

After a similar issue hit Facebook services back in March, the firm said it was considering refunding paying advertisers for lost exposure due the glitch, but did not confirm the same consideration over this issue.

Microsoft has teased us with an introduction of the Windows 1.0 operating system, with MS-Dos Executive, a Clock and more.

A 13 second teaser of the 'forthcoming' release of Windows 1.0 - an operating system first released to the public in November 1985 - was posted on the official Windows twitter page, raising a few eyebrows. Microsoft also posted the same 13 second video to its Instagram account.

The video displays logos for older versions of Windows and stops at Windows 1.0. A noteable element is the 80s feel to the video.

While we don't know for sure what the teaser is about, there are suggestions that it has something to do with the release of Stranger Things 3 on Netflix this Thursday, which is set in 1985.

Another hint that it has to do with Netflix' megapopular Sci-Fi / Drama is a later Micosoft tweet promising that "It's going to be totally tubular!". In the second season of Stranger Things, released in 2017, several of the young characters repeatedly use the words "totally tubular" from Ghostbusters.

Introducing the all-new Windows 1.0, with MS-Dos Executive, Clock, and more!! 😲 💾 pic.twitter.com/guU4QxwsGG

-- Windows (@Windows) July 1, 2019

Electric vehicles and other forms of low emission cars are typically quiet in operation, which poses some risks to pedestrians.

From this week, all new electric vehicles sold in the European Union must be equipped with a device that sounds like a traditional engine. It must sounds when reversing or travelling below 12MPH, which is the quietest they typically would operate.

By 2021, all electric cars will have to feature an acoustic vehicle alert system (Avas), not just newly sold models.

Charity Guide Dogs had already complained that electric vehicles pose risks as they can difficult to hear approaching, and said that while it welcomes the changes, all EVs should have to emit a noise at any speed.

The UK government is hoping to stop the sale of all vehicles running on petrol or diesel by 2040.

Source: BBC News

Remedy Entertainment may bring the 2010 cult classic to non-Microsoft platforms after it regained the publishing rights from Microsoft.

Alan Wake is an Xbox 360 exclusive that was released in 2010, developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Games. It was later released on PC and was available for Xbox One through backwards compatibility.

It follows protagonist Alan Wake, a best-selling author, as he investigates his wife's disappearance in the small fictional town of Bright Falls in Washington state.

While looking for his wife, Wake begins to experience supernatural occurrences and event plots from the novel he is working on. He has no prior memory of writing the material.

"The only thing we want to clarify, now that Remedy owns the publishing rights, is that we could bring Alan Wake to different platforms if we so choose," a Remdedy spokesperson told Eurogamer after it had informed investors about regaining the publishing rights to Alan Wake, as well as its expected 2.5 million euros of royalties from previously released games as one-time income this year.

Customers who purchased ebooks from a Microsoft Store are losing access to their libraries as Microsoft pulls out of market again.

It had tried to market its Surface devices as being suitable for ebook reading when it launched its service in 2017. The Microsoft service would use the web browser rather than a dedicated app for ebook reading.

Now that Microsoft is to close the service down, customers who either downloaded free ebooks or purchased them are losing access to them.

Of course, Microsoft is offering refunds along with an additional $25 credit if highlights and notes were made on the ebooks, as those will also be lost. However, it is more the spectacle of customers losing access to books because of DRM servers going offline that is making waves.

"The fact is that you don't own e-books when you buy them with DRM [digital rights management] from Amazon or anywhere else," said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group.

"Technical controls through DRM are said to reduce unauthorised copying, but what they are really for is putting Amazon or Microsoft in charge of the e-book ecosystem."