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.
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.
Nintendo has unveiled a new version of its highly successful gaming console Switch. The new version has first been introduced in Japan, but is expected to hit the U.S. soon.
FCC has received documents for regulatory approval, so it only seems to be perhaps weeks or few months before we'll see the new Switch in America.
The new device looks and feels identical to the Switch we know, but there is one very significant change. Nintendo has increased the battery size, which obviously improves upon the battery life.
This means a lot more mobile gaming. In fact, Nintendo promises around 4.5 to 9 hours of battery life. This is a massive boost to previous 2.5 to 6.5 hours.
The company has revealed that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can be played nearly twice as long with the newer version. Previously Switch would run out of juice after three hours of Zelda, the new version can go for 5.5 hours.
At least in Japan the price of the device has stayed the same, so we don't expect any price hikes here in the States either. We'll just have to wait and see how long it takes for FCC to approve the device.
For the first time in eight years, Netflix has suffered a loss in subscribers in the United States. The company that has seemed invincible has shown some signs of weakness.
The company CEO, Reed Hastings, explains the reduction of subscribers with recent price hikes, and he's most certainly right. However, Netflix isn't too worried, as the decrease was only around 126 000 users.
Compare this to the fact that Netflix gained around 2.7 million new subscribers around the world.
However, it's not a good day for the investors or the company, when they did expect increase in subscribers at home, and a 5 million increase worldwide.
Hastings also brought up the fact that second quarter of the year didn't have many high profile releases. Even with lackluster performance like this, he isn't still considering competition as a problem.
Netflix stock took immediately a slight dive, although nothing radical.
The company has probably better news next time around when the figures include the new viewership champ Stranger Things 3.
Official expectations are for 7 million new subscribers, we'll have to wait and see whether that'll be closer to the truth.
FaceApp is an image manipulation app that caused a craze in social media back in 2017. Now, the craze is back, after the company updated its ageing filter last weekend. To be honest, the ageing filter is simply amazing - the results are very, very believable and realistic.
But. The company developing FaceApp is based in Russia. And this means that, as per Russian legislation, all data passed to the company, can be accessed by Russian security and military services, if they want to.
Kurt Cobain via FaceApp's ageing filter
So, does the app upload all of your images and data to Russian servers? Apparently, the answer is no. Sure, the app asks for your permission to access your phone's images, but it only accesses the one you select for manipulation.
A security researcher has tested what the app actually sends to the Internet and where the data goes to. The conclusion is that all the uploads are being sent to Google or Amazon -owned cloud servers, located in U.S., Australia or Europe, depending on applied filter and user's own location. The actual image manipulation with filters is being done on servers, which then sends the processed image back to the user's smartphone, once finished.
Tesla has been working on its autonomous driving features for years, and slowly but surely they are inching towards what they call full self-driving. It's not a feature on all Tesla's, however, you'll have to pay quite a bit of extra for the option, and for the second time this year it's about to get more expensive.
In May, Tesla raised the price from $5,000 to $6,000, and it was already earlier suggested that another price hike was in the works. Now Musk has revealed on Twitter that its going to be raised another thousand dollars or so in August.
The raise will happen on August 16 after which the option should start at about $7,000, for those who choose the option pre-installed.
After a slight backlash on Twitter, Musk had some better news to share too. According to him, Tesla is going to release Enhanced Summon around the same time.
This means that Tesla vehicles will be capable of driving themselves off the parking spot to your location. There's no exact release date for the feature, though.
Level 5 autonomous driving, FSD or full self-driving as Tesla calls it, seems still far off. It would allow users to get from place to another without ever touching the steering wheel.
Just recently Qualcomm unveiled their newest, and most powerful, mobile chipset. The new Snapdragon 855+ improves upon its predecessor, the Snapdragon 855, in both CPU and GPU prowess.
As Qualcomm announced that the chip would be introduced to the public in August, one immediately glanced over at Samsung's table for a reaction. The reason being that the Korean manufacturer is preparing the launch of its new Note10 lineup in mid-August.
It would seem natural that Samsung would employ the best chip at the time for its American audience. However, this doesn't seem to be the case, according to WinFuture.
The report claims that Samsung is going to stick with the less powerful Snapdragon 855 that it used in Galaxy S10 phones launched earlier this year. It's all well and good, because the chip is indeed only a little bit behind the newly announced Plus model, but the international crowd is going to get an improvement in the chip department.
As per usual, Samsung has its international version using their own Exynos chips, which are going to be upgraded to Exynos 9825, instead of the Exynos 9820 in Galaxy S10. This means improved performance for Europeans and others, but not for us here in the States.
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.
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.
A researcher who is credited with impeding the spread of WannaCry ransomware in 2017 has been spared imprisonment for involvement in banking malware.
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.
