Apple has today announced some greatly anticipated refreshes to lines of computers that might not be on the high-end of things for the company, but a dearly loved by Apple fans.
First one was of course the MacBook Air that was in some serious need for a upgrade, but the second one might have needed it even more.
Apple unveiled today a new Mac mini. The tiny computer gets the first redo since 2014, and obviously it means most things have been changed.
The new Mac mini includes 8th Gen Intel processors, which is a bit of a boost from the 4th Gen we saw on 2014 Mac Mini. The top-of-the-line 2018 Mac mini features a six-core i7, which should be more than enough for anything one should do on this adorable computer.
There's support for up to 64 GB of RAM and SSDs range up to 2 TB. I/O ports have been updated to four USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports. You'll also have HDMI, Ethernet as well as traditional USB-A ports in the back.
Apple has included its T2 chip, like on the 2018 MacBook Pro, which improves security and adds things like Hey Siri support.
One thing Apple hasn't really touched is the aesthetics. Mac mini still looks like the old Mac mini, which isn't really saying it's bad. It's purpose built to be pretty inconspicuous.
One the more anticipated new devices from today's Apple event is definitely a new MacBook Air.
The update has been rumored for ages it seems, and it is finally here. Apple's light and affordable MacBook got a new sharper display, biometrics, and of course performance boost.
The screen on the new MacBook Air is a 13.3 inch Retina display. This means four million pixels, or 2560 x 1600 resolution, up 4x from previous generation.
Apple has also improved the color accuracy and the color reproduction is now 48 percent better. As with the new iPad Pro the bezels are also smaller.
Inside you'll get newer 8th gen Intel CPUs and thus greatly improved performance. Base model includes 8GB RAM, a 1.6GHz Core i5, and a 128GB SSD.
Connections have been updated to 2 third gen Thunderbolts which can used for both data transfer as well as charging.
The touch pad is enabled with Force Touch and logging in is now easier thanks to Touch ID.
According to Apple, you should be able to hit 12 hour browsing with improved battery life.
Like the iPad Pro, the new MacBook Air will be available on Wednesday, November 7. You can pre-order it starting today at a starting price of $1,199.
Apple is currently hosting a press event in Brooklyn, NY, where it is introducing new Mac products as well as some improved iPads.
The latter is of course the new iPad Pro. The largest and most powerful iPad is getting a major refresh that includes improved displays, new connectivity, and some never before seen features on the iPad.
Let's start with the displays. The iPad Pro gen 2 comes with 11 and 12.9 inch displays with smaller bezels and better picture quality.
Smaller bezels also mean that there is no longer a Home button, and no Home button means no Touch ID. The new iPad Pro has instead Face ID that was introduced last year in iPhone X.
Apple has also revamped the design quite a bit. The rounded edges are no where to be seen, and Apple's new powerhouse iPad is sleeker with iPhone 5 -like sharper edges.
The device is powered by the new A12X Bionic system-on-chip, which offers superior performance in both CPU and GPU. According to Apple, the seven core GPU can perform as well as Xbox One S.
Multicore performance has increased 90 and single core performance 30 percent over the previous generation.
One of the more interesting features is the new USB-C connection. This means that not only is the new iPad Pro able to use generic power cables, you can even juice up your other devices from the iPad.
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus held its press event today in New York and unveiled OnePlus 6T first time officially.
After colliding with tomorrow's Apple event the company decided to move theirs to today. The product on display was the already mostly leaked and revealed OnePlus 6T with one of the first in-display fingerprint sensors on the market.
Beyond the cutting edge biometrics the smartphone is as you would expect from a 2018 flagship. It has a huge 6.41 inch display that features 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a Full HD+ resolution.
The display notch has been reduced to what could be called a teardrop shaped notch, a modified version of Essential Phone's notch, and one that OnePlus' sister company Oppo has previously used.
Inside you'll find a Snapdragon 845, the same chip powering the predecessor, 6 or 8 GB of RAM, a 3700 milliamp hour battery that offers an even faster than before – and believe me it was already fast – charging.
According to OnePlus charging has improved up to 20% in the first 30 minutes.
Camera is largely the same with dual sensors of 16 and 20 MP, 4K@60fps video recording, super slow-mo, and OIS. OnePlus 6T has some new trick up its sleeve though. One of them is an improved night mode called Nightscape.
You've probably heard about the visions of foldable smartphones. Samsung perhaps most notably has been painting a picture for years of displays that not only bend but fold, to no avail unfortunately.
Now that the foldable smartphone hasn't panned out, the company is pivoting to laptops, The Korea Herald reports.
According to the paper, Samsung Electronics marketing bigwig Lee Min-cheol has revealed a laptop with a foldable display in development.
There's no word whether there is actually demand for such a product or if it's just a prototype to harvest some reactions. It seems that the only real motive for the product is Samsung's need to make something out of years long R&D on foldable displays.
There's no pictures or specs of the device so everything beyond the comments about the foldable display are speculation.
We'll have to wait and see what Samsung comes up with.
It is clear that laptop manufacturers have been innovating more recently. Innovations include the smartphone as a touchpad from Razer and a second screen touchpad from Asus.
New iPhones landed a month and a half ago, and the last of them, the iPhone XR, became available worldwide today.
The XR is an interesting device for sure. It is the budget iPhone, if you want to call it that with a $749 price tag. It has a subpar display to some (*ahem* me *ahem*).
It also has an odd name. After all, we all know where iPhone XS comes from – Apple has had S versions for years. But what about XR?
Well, fortunately for us, Apple's Phil Schiller has revealed to Engadget exactly what the R stands for, or perhaps more importantly doesn't.
It doesn't stand for Regular or Reduced, none of that. In fact it doesn't mean anything. According to Schiller it just sounds good, kinda like in cars you have special S and R models.
So the closest meaning can be found in motorsport, in which it usually stands for Racing. Then again that doesn't make any sense so I guess Schiller chose it to stand for nothing.
Well anyways, now you can go buy the blue iPhone Ten Racing.
Apple was for years the leader in downloadable digital entertainment but the move towards streaming services killed the traditional iTunes business model.
Now Apple has been reinventing iTunes over the years, and the most obvious example is of course Apple Music.
Apple TV is another evolving entertainment platform and Apple has been investing in it fiercely to develop it into something new. The company has been putting down some serious cash to produce their own content to challenge the likes of Netflix and Amazon, and it is soon expected to materialize.
According to a report by The Information, Apple will be releasing their new streaming service worldwide as soon as next year. Three different sources claim that Apple is planning a simultaneous launch in over 100 countries around the world.
The unnamed service is said to first launch in the U.S. but quickly followed up with launches around the globe. Netflix is already available in most of the world as is Amazon's Prime Video.
At least some of the programming is expected to be free for Apple device owners, although at this point is it clear what limitation this might have.
Facebook is of course known for its core business, that is the world's most popular social media site, but the company is perhaps even more dominant in another space.
Facebook owns two of the world's most popular messaging platforms, namely WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. WhatsApp has continuously held the throne for years, and Messenger hasn't been able to catch up.
Both of them are of course growing, currently WhatsApp has 1.5 billion users and Messenger is still a close second with 1.3 billion. Facebook, however, hopes to get people in Messenger with a new update.
The updated Messenger is quite the revamp to the user experience, and Facebook hopes that the simpler user interface will attract more people.
That is at least what their research has shown, people love simplicity. Up to 7 out of 10 people appreciate simplicity over anything else.
The simpler UI means for example that the iOS app now only has three tabs instead of nine.
They also wanted to make the app more customizable and now the user can choose the color of chat bubbles.
If you want to preserve battery life, and happen to own a phone with an OLED display (e.g. iPhone X or Galaxy S9), you'll probably appreciate the new Dark Mode.
The fight for the fifth generation of wireless data connections is upon us. 5G is landing in not too distant future, and tech companies are trying their best to be the first, and best, one to the party.
One of the more important companies surrounding 5G is American semiconductor company Qualcomm. Known for its Snapdragon system-on-chips, they are trying to equip Android phones with 5G as early as possible.
And now we have a schedule of some kind.
According to Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon, who spoke at the 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong, its 5G modems will be found in plethora of smartphones next year.
There will be two waves of flagship phones next year, first one in the first half and second one in the second half. With the first wave Amon is likely referring to the Mobile World Congress, and press events surrounding that.
Also we might see first 5G phones as soon as early January in CES 2019 in Las Vegas.
Amon obviously didn't give us any other details of the phones or which manufacturer would be releasing what and when. However, Qualcomm revealed that a total of 19 manufacturers will be releasing Qualcomm-powered 5G devices next year.
Spotify has been doing some new A/B testing, reports from social media confirm.
The world's leading streaming music service is looking to customize their content to users more, and the new "What's New" feature might be one of the better attempts at it.
What's New section of the app is pretty much what you would expect it to be. It shows new releases but personalizes the selection by the user.
Spotify has become the leading player in the field not only because of its good app or music selection, but perhaps most because of its successes in AI and content personalization.
This newest feature is still in testing, and there's no guarantee that it'll ever make to everyone, but it seems like people are happy about it.
If it works as well as Discover Weekly it'll get a good reception, one would think.
Google has decided that it is necessary to start charging Android manufacturers for using Google Play services, and its apps, in Europe.
New rules in EU create incentives for Google to try to find new ways for revenue as the manufacturers cannot anymore be required to pre-install Google's services, such as Chrome as a default browser, on Android.
Google will also implement incentives of its own by lowering the prices if certain Google services are pre-installed.
For reasons unknown, the licensing fee depends on display pixel density. For over 500 PPI device the fee is as much as $40, with 400-500 PPI devices half of that, and under 400 PPI devices need only pay $10 fee.
According to the document the lowest end devices might have a fee of $2.50, depending on the country.
As the market forces demand, this payment will inevitably be forwarded to customers in form of a price hike.
We'll have to see how many will take use of the new EU rules or will they want relief from the fee and choose to install Google apps.
Known for its household appliances, such as curling irons and humidifiers, Dyson has been thinking outside the box in a real way.
Obviously the company is a vacuum cleaner company first and foremost, but in the future it might be remembered as a electric car manufacturer as well.
The company has been planning as move into electric cars since 2017 and is now ready to take a major step towards building its own vehicles.
Dyson's board has approved a new factory in Singapore that will that building its upcoming electric cars, The Verge reports.
Plans are to start building the factory in December and should have it running in 2020. This would mean that the first Dyson car would be ready for release perhaps in 2021.
The company has earmarked $2.6 billion for the factory.
According to Jason Dyson, the vehicle will be something completely new or, as he puts it, "radically different", although at this point there's no word on what this might entail.
It'll likely be a higher end product, as are the company's other products, but Dyson plans to introduce couple more affordable models later on.
Apple's latest "budget" iPhone has entered the pre-order stage. The iPhone XR is now available for pre-order in six bright color and three storage options.
Color options are White, Black, Blue, Yellow, Coral, and (PRODUCT)RED™, and you can get each with three storage options, including 64, 128 and 256 GB.
Starting at $37.41/mo or $749 lump sum and ranging all the way up to $43.66/mo. or $899 for the 256 GB version.
The iPhone XR is expected to be perhaps the best selling iPhone of its generation. That is supported by the fact that it is indeed the cheapest of them, despite the aforementioned fairly steep price.
Deliveries are scheduled from October 26 onward, and they range depending on the version and its availability.
Specs-wise you can expect a 6.1 inch and 828 x 1792 resolution LCD screen, new and powerful Apple A12 Bionic chip, 12 megapixel camera, Face ID, and of course updated iOS 12.
World's leading messaging platform, WhatsApp, is working on an update that brings a few new features to its mobile app.
According to WABetaInfo, a resource for WhatsApp beta updates, has found out that the Facebook-owned messaging app is looking to release a couple new features in an upcoming update.
The new Silent Mode allows users to silence conversations and notifications. With it enabled, you won't be notified of new messages unless you open the app.
Another new feature is Vacation Mode, which you might want to use on your work groups while on vacation. When enabled you can silence and archive chats without them having to pop up again when a new message is received.
In addition to these two new modes, WhatsApp is reportedly adding Linked Accounts. The feature allows you to link other (social media) accounts to your WhatsApp account. Not surprisingly it is said to support at least Instagram but likely Facebook, and perhaps even other Facebook-owned and third party services.
This could allow status updates to be posted simultaneously to social media and WhatsApp.
Winamp has gone through several ownership changes ever since AOL gave up hopes with the legendary music player and the program has been on permanent hiatus ever since 2013.
But finally, today, Winamp released the first update since 2013, as Winamp v5.8 beta 3306 was released officially. The rushed release was due a leak which spread the said release acorss the Net. To counter the leak, Winamp decided to release the v5.8 beta officially.
Company, which is nowadays owned by Radionomy, also announcd few days ago that it is working on first major update to Winamp in ages, Winamp 6, which is due to be released in early 2019. Winamp 6 should ba available to Windows, Android and iOS platforms when it is finally released.
And, best of all, now with the v.8 release, Winamp is 100% freeware again.
Download the latest version from AfterDawn's download section:
AfterDawn's official Android app has been updated. The new version, v1.60, is mostly a bug fix release to address the known issues with the app.
Our app's crash-free rate has been constantly above 99.9 percent, but there's always room to improve. We've identified handful of bugs causing the app to crash with various handsets - and have managed to fix all those known issues in our new version.
Our official app lets you read our news and allows you to scan through our news archive ever since 1999 when our site was launched. Yup, all of our news, how-tos and reviews are available there.
And of course, the app is completely free - and doesn't ask you any silly permissions when you install it. And apparently, people like it, too: it has the average rating of 4.4/5.0 in Google Play store.
Apple has revealed the date of their next product launch, and it is sooner than most expected.
The next event will be held October 30 in Brooklyn, New York. Apple seems to be spoiling OnePlus' special day as their OnePlus 6T launch is scheduled just an hour or so later the same day, also in New York City.
Apple's new iPhones are out already, so what are we expected to see?
Most likely products include some new iPad and Mac models. More specifically iPad Pro is expected to get a refresh, and perhaps the next most obvious upgrade would be to non-Pro MacBooks.
MacBook Pro was already refreshed earlier this year but the regular MacBook and MacBook Air might get updates.
Rumors also have it that Apple's tiny Mac mini might be getting an update that is long overdue.
One could easily argue that Apple is predominantly a software company, even though most people think of iPhones and Macs as hardware products first and foremost when they think about Apple.
Cupertino's own trillion dollar company has been investing heavily in hardware lately, in hopes to gain more control over the components in their hardware as well as, perhaps even more importantly, boost the bottom line.
Now rumors have it that Apple is going to bring in one more main component under their own Apple brand, 9to5Mac reports.
In smartphones, Apple designs their own system-on-chips, the A chips, and now Apple is looking into running Mac computers with their own ARM-based processors.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has noted that Apple wants to relieve itself from Intel's CPU roadmap that can be crippling.
However, even though Apple's ARM-based A chips are powerful they can't compete with top-of-the-line Intel chips designed for computers. Not yet at least.
It is thus no surprise that reportedly the transition will begin with the most portable Macs and slowly work its way up the Mac hierarchy.
OnePlus has confirmed previously that its upcoming OnePlus 6T model will ship with the latest Android Pie operating system. But company also told that the promised Pie updates to previous models have been delayed.
OnePlus got praise from the press and its fans back in July when company announced that it has revised its update policy so that previous models, starting with OnePlus 3, will get Android Pie update by end of the year 2018.
Now, the company CEO told in online chat that while company still intends to update all promised models (OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T) to Android Pie, the update will be postponed to "early 2019".
Company's current model, OnePlus 6, shipped with Android Oreo but got OTA update to Android Pie in September.
We had a severe problem with our software download section for the past 10 days that caused good portion of downloads from our site to fail.
We have finally identified the culprit and have fixed the problem. It was simply due a human error - a bug in the code that wasn't noticed and managed to slip through our testing process.
Apologies for the inconvenience this might have caused.
Our software database that we've been building for the past 19 years is available at https://www.afterdawn.com/software/ and has served more than quarter of a billion software downloads since 1999.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has died at age of 65. Cause of dead was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a condition that was diagnosed in 2009 and returned just weeks ago.
Allen is widely considered to be one of the groundbreaking tech pioneers. Paul Allen founded Microsoft together with Bill Gates in 1970s and became one of the first tech billionaires in the World after Microsoft IPO in 1980s. He maintained his position at Microsoft until 2000.
Since Microsoft era, he has been best known for his Vulcan Inc investment company and for the fact that he owns several major sports teams: Seattle Seahawks(NFL), Portland Trail Blazers(NBA) and Seattle Sounders(MLS).
Through Vulcan, Allen invested to various technology projects, including SpaceShipOne, the first privately-funded ship to put a civilian into suborbital space around the Earth. He also funded generously SETI project, a project set to search for extraterrestrial life.
The man behind the original Android, Andy Rubin, made a comeback to the smartphone world last year with his new company Essential Products and their first smartphone Essential Phone.
While there were definitely some innovation that really caught the eye of customers, and especially the competitors, it couldn't be exactly described as a hit.
Obviously Essential started a trend, the notched displays, that they might not be as proud anymore, especially after Pixel 3 XL's huge cutout.
Now, Rubin has something new in store and, by the sounds of it, it might be the revolutionary thing we're waiting for.
According to Bloomberg, Essential is developing a smartphone that will evolve machine learning and AI to completely new level allowing the smartphone to complete rudimentary everyday tasks without user input.
The smartphone would learn the users behavior and apply that to automate tasks such as answering text messages.
European Commission investigated Google's monopolistic tendencies during past few years which resulted in July to a massive fine for Google restricting competition on their mobile platform.
Google obviously wasn't happy about the $5 billion (4.34 billion euros) fine, and now it has decided to file an appeal, Financial Times reports.
Not only is it a great deal of money, even for Google, but the decision would affect Google's business model on smartphones immensely.
European Commission argues that Google has broken the law by requiring carriers and manufacturers to include Google's software. In addition Google has blocked the use of other platforms.
This means that device manufacturers haven't had the option to replace Google Play with a third-part app store, or install a competing platform as an alternative to Android.
EU and Google have a long and storied history with fines and court battles. Google got fined nearly $3 billion last year for preferring their own shopping services on Google search. That was appealed as well, and has yet to be resolved.
As expected it features a touch screen, not unlike Echo Show, and because it is a Google device it can play videos from YouTube among other things.
It has all the features of a normal Google Home but also answers your questions with content on the screen. That means that you can ask it to play a song and it'll do that but also shows the music video.
Or you can get cooking instructions now with step by step picture or video to walk you through. To make it more obvious that Google has Amazon beat here, they offer a six month membership on YouTube Premium for free with a purchase of Home Hub.
One of the more interesting software features of Home Hub also comes to the Home mobile app. New Home View combines all the smart home devices to one neat view so you don't have to open different apps for adusting the lights, checking the security camera, and tweaking the temperature on the thermostat.
Pixel Slate, as leaked prior to launch, is the search company's new try at making a proper tablet. A mobile device that brings in many of the advantages of a full fledged computer.
Thus it is not running Android, instead it is essentially a keyboard-less Chromebook. A Chromelet, let's say.
So inside you have a new version of Chrome OS that now offers an even greater Assistant integration and productivity features, such as split screen multitasking.
Pixel Slate offers both simple, fluid, and fast mobile apps as well as support for Linux apps. Two entirely different takes on computing.
Specs-wise it's an odd one. It includes a 12.3 inch LCD display with 293 ppi, which Google calls best in class, 8 megapixel cameras in the front and back, and laptop-like performance.
Performance comes from an Intel processor, and they range from less than impressive Celerons all the way to a Core i7, up to 16 gigabytes of RAM, and up to 256 GB SSD storage.
Google's this years Pixel event is over now and we have two new Pixel smartphones to feast our eyes on. The upgrades on the surface look very iterative but there's still plenty new there.
The displays are now bigger, 5.5 inches in the regular Pixel and 6.3 inches in the notched Pixel 3 XL. Both are OLED displays that hopefully prove to be better that last year's models in color reproduction as well.
Other than display size, and resolution, there's not much different in the two devices. Pixel 3 XL does have a bigger battery though.
Both of them sport the speedy Snapdragon 845 and perhaps a little underwhelming 4 gigabytes of RAM, which should be enough though, especially considering Google's track record of making buttery smooth smartphone experiences.
Cameras were the standout feature of the Pixel 2, and that shouldn't be any different this year. Front camera has turned into a dual camera with a wide angle lens, and back camera provides even more camera magic with software tricks.
Among the new tricks are a new Super Zoom that uses your hand shake to actually improve zoom quality, Top Shot that chooses the best picture (smile instead of sneeze, eyes open instead of shut, etc) with AI, and an amazing Night Sight that makes a dark scene light up like a Christmas tree.
Intel has unveiled its recent generation of Core processors, as expected. The desktop versions of Intel's latest and greatest offer improved efficiency and, of course, performance.
The unlocked K series got three new CPUs, Core i9-9900K, i7-9700K and i5-9600K. The octacore Core i9-9900K is the top of the line overclocking beast with sixteen threads, clocking in at 3.6 GHz with Turbo at 5.0 GHz.
Core i7-9700K offers the same base clock speed at 3.6 GHz, with a tad slower 4.9 GHz Turbo, and has eight threads. The most affordable of the 9th gen unlocked CPUs is the i5-9500K with six thread computing and 3.7 GHz clock speed with 4.6 GHz Turbo mode.
Prices start at $488 for the top specced i9, at $374 for the i7-9700K, and at $262 for the cheapest of the 9th gen K series chip.
The new K series is compatible with previous 300 series chipsets but the company also revealed a new Z390 chipset which includes support for both 802.11ac Wi-Fi, or as we call it now Wi-Fi 5, and USB 3.1 gen 2 which offers speeds up to 10Gb/s.
When it comes to the new X series CPUs, Intel had a total of seven new offerings to show off. They range from eight cores and 16 threads all the way up to 18 cores and 36 threads. Obviously you'll have to shell out quite a bit more cash for these ones.
Google's effort to steal some of Facebook's audience was introduces now seven years ago. Since it's inception Google+ has evolved quite a bit but it never seemed to gain any traction.
Now Google has finally acknowledged what the internet knew long ago. It is time to give up and just shut down the service from consumers.
The search giant perhaps wanted to be like Facebook too much, services like Twitter and Instagram have succeeded, in the manner that they have, because they offer different kind of experiences compared to Facebook, and Google+ arguably didn't.
But speculations aside, it is finally time to say goodbye to Google+ for good. Well, once Google actually removes it, which is somewhere in the next 10 months.
Google has made sure that you can, however, backup your one post safely, so you'll have time until October 2019 to copy your content to your preferred backup destination.
Google unveiled its WebP image format already back in 2010 but it hasn't taken the world by storm in the manner that the company probably expected, or at least hoped.
Obviously all Google's own products have since been updated to supports its superior web image format but many of the competitors are yet to fully adopt WebP.
Now few of the more influential competitors, including Microsoft and Mozilla, are ready to bring WebP to their platforms. Last week Microsoft revealed that Edge would be supporting WebP content in the future, and now Mozilla has done the same with Firefox, CNET reports.
According to Mozilla, all Gecko-based products will be gain WebP support in early 2019. Gecko is the engine that is running under the hood of Firefox browsers, excluding the iOS version.
After Microsoft and Mozilla have updated their respective browsers, Safari and Apple's platforms remain the only major forces to still reject WebP.
Alongside WebP, video format AVIF, which is based on Google developed VP9, is making inroads in the web community, and is backed by most companies, including Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, and even Apple.
Tomorrow is the big day of the year for Google. The company is debuting its new smartphones and maybe even revealing some other new Pixel devices.
In fact, a new leak suggests that Google is turning back time and unveiling a brand new tablet, first one since 2015 Pixel C.
The new one is allegedly called Pixel Slate and indeed will be revealed tomorrow in New York City as Google updates its Pixel smartphones.
However, except for these pictures, there's not a lot we know about Pixel Slate. It'll likely run Chrome OS and seems to sport a 3:2 aspect ratio, which seems to be a hallmark of Pixel tablets and computers alike.
There's also a stylus and a keyboard cover, as expected. But that's about it.
While Spotify has been growing at an impressive rate for years, it has not managed to turn its core business into a money-making machine.
The Swedish-born service has been looking into bringing other forms of entertainment, or at least other audio related entertainment. Cue in podcast fever that is running rampant.
Apparently the podcasters haven't found Spotify in numbers that would satisfy the company, and now they are trying to lure in more with new tools.
Spotify for Podcasters is meant to make it easy for podcasters to publish and monitor their podcast statistics, and thus potentially bring in more advertisement money.
You won't have to upload the audio files either, just provide Spotify a link to the RSS feed.
Spotify for Podcasters is currently in beta and you can read more about it (and get started) at podcasters.spotify.com.
Nintendo's newest console, a combination of a handheld and a traditional gaming console, has been a success, even to a surprising degree one could argue.
However, it never was very powerful and technology keep on trotting at a pace that makes Switch supremely obsolete in no time flat.
Switch is only 18 months old but it's showing age. The graphics are just not there, if they ever were, and especially with the next generation of Xbox and PlayStation consoles ever closer, Nintendo needs something to keep people buying their devices.
And arguably smartphones could be an even bigger threat as they keep evolving and catching the Switch.
So no big surprise, Wall Street Journal is reporting about Nintendo's plans to release a new Switch in 2019. According to the sources the new Switch is slated for late 2019 release but there is not much on what this new version will update.
One update could be an improved screen which is definitely not on par with today's technology. Switch has a 6.2 inch 720p LCD screen.
Some have argued that Nintendo should give up the living room battle altogether and make the updated switch a handheld only console. This would make the device smaller and/or free up space for improvements in performance.
For most people Wi-Fi is just Wi-Fi, and the cryptic numbers and letters alongside don't reveal a thing.
Why would Wi-Fi Alliance keep the odd number combination, "802.11", for the ride, and why would they differentiate Wi-Fi versions by attaching random letters to it?
Well, it turns out they don't anymore. Wi-Fi Alliance has revealed that instead of 802.11n and 802.11ac they'll be using new names, Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 respectively.
As you might imagine, the new standard that is in development currently, officially 802.11ax, will be named Wi-Fi 6. If you are in the biz, you know that the 802.11-names will probably persist far in to the future, but at least they won't confuse customers any longer.
Every new generation brings along important upgrades in speeds and reliability, which is better represented by the new naming scheme, and Wi-Fi 6 is no different. However, Wi-Fi Alliance doesn't quote any specs in the statement.
The latest trailer for Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 teases a first-person mode, endless activities, and madness.
It outlining all sorts of nefarious activities Arthur and the Van der Linde Gang can get involved in, including robbing trains, encountering rival gangs and outlaws, evading cunning lawmen and lots more in a world that is deep, teeming with life and very menacing.
The trailer shows us more of the improved Dead Eye system that was so well received in the first Red Dead Redemption title eight years ago. Additionally, we get a nice tease of viewing the world in first-person mode for those who are fond of first-person shooters.
Red Dead Redemption 2 will land on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 console systems on October 26.
Amazon workers are to get a pay increase after criticism from multiple angles about workers' pay and conditions.
Amazon became the second company in history (after Apple) to reach a valuation topping $1 trillion this year. While the news was likely celebrated at Amazon, it was also met with concerns over the low pay rate for some Amazon employees and the conditions at some of its warehouses.
In a rare glimpse of agreement on America's left and right, both the Trump White House and Bernie Sanders welcomed the move by Amazon. Senator Sanders and President Trump had both publicly attacked Amazon for workers wages and for how much tax the firm pays.
From November, Amazon's lowest-paid workers in the United States will receive at least $15 per hour. In the UK, the minimum wage at Amazon will rise from £8 per hour to £9.50 per hour or £10.50 per hour in London. Around a quarter of a million workers will benefit from the increase in the United States.
Amazon has had widespread strikes by workers across Europe over conditions at factories too.
InfoWars founder claims that PayPal is abusing its market position to discriminate against conservative and right-wing viewpoints.
InfoWars founder Alex Jones has filed a lawsuit against PayPal after the firm halted processing of payments to the media outlet in September. PayPal cited its services policies in making its decision, accusing InfoWars of promoting violence and hate.
InfoWars users and fans had paid for InfoWars branded goods using the PayPal service up until this point. According to Jones, PayPal's actions are a dangerous precedent and an example of viewpoint discrimination.
"It is at this point well known that large tech companies, located primarily in Silicon Valley, are discriminating against politically conservative entities and individuals, including banning them from social media platforms such as Twitter, based solely on their political and ideological viewpoints," the complaint states.
InfoWars and Jones' personal social media accounts were targeted in recent months in a coordinated takedown that affected podcasts, personal pages and apps.
Facebook has some reassuring news for the up to 50 million users affected by a data breach disclosed last week by the social media giant.
Last week, Facebook disclosed that a data breach affected up to 50 million users of its social network. The news set off alarms all over and concerns about how the stolen data may have been used, or is being used. One possibility is that hackers had used the "Facebook Login" feature to access third-party websites for which users signed in with their Facebook credentials.
Thankfully, there is not yet any evidence that this is the case.
"We analyzed third-party access during the time of the attack we have identified. That investigation has found no evidence that the attackers accessed any apps using Facebook Login," Facebook security VP, Guy Rosen, told the Reuters News Agency.
Facebook set out the possible negative consequences of the data breach in full when it disclosed it last week. This is thought to be due to the European Union's GDPR regulation, which would have imposed heavy penalties on Facebook if it was found to have failed to give a full picture to affected users. However, a side effect of this well-meaning and reasoned regulation is that Facebook painted the worst possible scenario after the disclosure.
As we reported last week, Tesla's own Elon Musk became the receiving end of a government lawsuit. Musk was going to be taken to court by The Security and Exchange Commission for fraudulent behavior.
Originally S.E.C. tried to settle the issue with Tesla and Musk, but no such agreement was found. Thus the government commission went forward with the lawsuit.
S.E.C. claimed Elon Musk's August tweet was recklessly false and mislead the shareholders into thinking there was agreements about privatizing the company with a specific share price.
Now Tesla has decided to settle the lawsuit but the price was a steep one. Tesla is going to have to pay $20 million in damages and Musk needs to resign as the chair for three years.
Musk will step down as the chairman of Tesla within 45 days and can only return to his duties in October 2021. He will still remain the CEO of Tesla.
Spotify announced a new feature today, integrating the popular streaming service app to Google Maps navigation on Android and on iPhone.
Spotify has previously worked with Waze, providing an integration to the Wze's navigation user interface, but obviously, integrating to the Google Maps is significantly bigger leap for the Swedish company.
With the integration, users will see barebone Spotify buttons available in the Google Maps' navigation screen. The minimzed UI will show the currently played song, has next/prev buttons and play/pause buttons shown, too. Also, the Spotify playback mutes when navigation instructions are spoken by the Google Maps and will resume after that.
According to Spotify's data, more and more people are replacing their car radio, CDs and USB sticks with Spotify when driving a car. Thus, it seems that the most important feature in current car audio systems is the Bluetooth connection, everything else can be outsourced to the phone.
Apple has today announced some greatly anticipated refreshes to lines of computers that might not be on the high-end of things for the company, but a dearly loved by Apple fans.
One the more anticipated new devices from today's Apple event is definitely a new MacBook Air.
Apple is currently hosting a press event in Brooklyn, NY, where it is introducing new Mac products as well as some improved iPads.
And of course, the app is completely free - and doesn't ask you any silly permissions when you install it. And apparently, people like it, too: it has the average rating of 4.4/5.0 in Google Play store.
