News written by James Delahunty (April, 2020)

The hotly anticipated sequel to The Last of US has been pushed back due to the ongoing pandemic.

Naughty Dog revealed that the sequel will not make its May 29 release date and has been pushed back indefinitely. The reason for the delay is due to the coronavirus pandemic gripping the globe and the negative consequences it would have for a smooth rollout, and not because of any development delays.

In fact, Naughty Dog said they are in the midst of fixing the final bugs and development is almost complete.

"We were faced with the reality that due to logistics beyond our control, we couldn't launch The Last of Us Part II to our satisfaction," the developer said in a statement.

"We want to make sure everyone gets to play The Last of Us Part II around the same time, ensuring that we're doing everything possible to preserve the best experience for everyone. This meant delaying the game until such a time where we can solve these logistic issues."

A message from us about the delay of The Last of Us Part II: pic.twitter.com/aGsSRfmJ8a

-- Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) April 2, 2020

Facebook has finally released a Desktop client of its Messenger service for Windows and Mac OS systems.

The release of the Messenger Desktop client comes as Facebook reports a 100% increase in people using their desktop browser for audio and video calling on Messenger. Now, users can break out of the messenger and use the native client instead.

It is available from the Windows Store for Microsoft Windows, and the Mac App Store for Apple Mac devices. Being only available from the Windows Store means only Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 will be compatible with the app.

Key Features of the Messenger Desktop client:

• Group video calls on a larger screen. Stay in touch with family and friends, join a workout, or host a virtual happy hour.
  
  
• Easy to connect. You don't need to know someone's email or phone number since all your Facebook friends have Messenger.
  
  
• Multitasking. Your chats are easily accessible, and you can pop in and out of the app while doing other things on your computer.
  
  
• Notifications. You can receive notifications for new messages, so you can quickly find the chat you're looking for. But you're in control -- you can choose to mute and snooze notifications.
  Read more...

Some of HBO's most popular shows, documentaries, and a selection of movies will be available to stream for free without subscription from today.

Full series of several major TV shows including the Sopranos will be available to stream for free during the COVID-19 emergency. he content will be available through HBO NOW and HBO GO, but only for users in the United States at this time.

Viewers will be able to stream the content from April 3.

So far the confirmed freebie list includes:

TV Shows

• Ballers
• Barry
• Silicon Valley
• Six Feet Under
• The Sopranos
• Succession
• True Blood
• Veep
• The Wire

• The Apollo
• The Case Against Adnan Syed
• Elvis Presley: The Searcher
• The Inventor
• Jane Fonda in Five Acts
• I Love You, Now Die
• McMillion$
• True Justice
• United Skates
• We Are the Dream

• Isn't it Romantic?
• The LEGO Movie 2
• SMALLFOOT
• POKÉMON Detective Pikachu

Zoom has apologized for security and privacy concerns that have arisen as it explodes in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Executive Eric Yuan wrote a lengthy post on the company's blog apologizing for the lapses in privacy and security that have come to light in the past few weeks. During that time frame, Zoom has seen unanticipated staggering growth as more people rely on video conferencing for work and education during the coronavirus pandemic.

In December, Zoom experienced a maximum of ten million meeting participants. Now with around half of humanity under some kind of social restrictions to slow the COVID-19 spread, that number has exploded to 200 million.

However, Zoom has been plagued by privacy questions and security issues. For starters, Zoom was found to be sending data to Facebook from users, even if they weren't Facebook users. Hosts of meetings were also able to track attendees.

Additionally, it did not offer end-to-end encryption despite saying otherwise. On top of those privacy concerns, there were also some security issues including Zoombombing.

Zoombombing is the practice of uninvited guests joining video conferences and becoming disruptive. They either get into the conferences by gaining access to a link sent to those invited, or they would guess nine-digit ID codes to find live conferences.