Apple : iPhone price cut at Apple: deals on the iPhone SE, iPhone 11, 11 Pro and iPhone XR |
- iPhone price cut at Apple: deals on the iPhone SE, iPhone 11, 11 Pro and iPhone XR
- Facebook Mother's Day sale: the Portal smart display gets a $50 price cut
- Amazon's first major game is coming this month
- Online game popular with millions of children gets compromised
- Apple Watch sale: the Apple Watch 5 gets a massive $100 price cut at Best Buy
- Preliminary Snapdragon 875 specs suggest much-needed improvements to 5G
- The best cheap Xbox One X prices, bundles and deals in May 2020 - where to buy the 4k Xbox
- Best email providers of 2020: Free, Paid and business services
- IBM CEO: 'Every company will become an AI company'
- Xbox One games aren’t as revered as most PS4 exclusives, but they’re much better
- The cheapest Xbox One bundle deals and sale prices in May 2020
- WWDC 2020: what to expect from Apple’s big show
- watchOS 7 release date, compatibility, sleep tracking and features
- This ransomware spreads across hundreds of devices in no time at all
- Surface Book 3 leak reveals MacBook Pro-rivalling GPU options
- iOS 14 update release date, devices and everything you need to know
- Dyson's Mother Day sale gets you $100 price cut on the Dyson V11 vacuum
- Reused a password? This browser add-on warns you if it leaks
- Cyberpunk 2077 release date, price, trailers, gameplay and news
- WWDC 2020 date is set: June 22 is when Apple will unveil iOS 14, macOS 10.16 and more
| iPhone price cut at Apple: deals on the iPhone SE, iPhone 11, 11 Pro and iPhone XR Posted: 05 May 2020 01:06 PM PDT Apple is offering a fantastic deal on the iPhone lineup, which includes the all-new iPhone SE when you purchase the smartphone and trade-in an eligible device. iPhone deals:See more of the best iPhone SE deals: the best prices and plans available right now. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| Facebook Mother's Day sale: the Portal smart display gets a $50 price cut Posted: 05 May 2020 12:19 PM PDT If you're looking for a last-minute Mother's Day gift, Facebook's Portal smart display is a fantastic option, and lucky for you, it's currently on sale. Starting now through May 10, Facebook's Mother's Day sale gets you a $50 price cut on the Portal lineup, which includes the Portal Mini, Portal, and Portal Plus. Facebook Portal deals:You can also see the best Mother's Day flower delivery services and the best Mother's Day Gifts: cheap tech deals you can still get delivered. You can also shop this Mixbook offer: 50% off your Mother's Day gifts with the latest photo book deals. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| Amazon's first major game is coming this month Posted: 05 May 2020 12:16 PM PDT Amazon has finally set a release date for Crucible, a new hero-based third-person shooter that seems to blend online battle arena games like Smite and arena-shooters like Overwatch, as well as some player-versus-environment mechanics mixed in. The release comes years after Amazon first announced it was working on Crucible at Twitchcon 2016. The game, which was shown off in a new trailer today, will be out starting on May 20 and will be available for free on Steam.
What separates Crucible from some other similar titles are its three big game modes – Heart of the Hives, Alpha Hunters and Harvester Command – and focus on upgrading skills and abilities as a match progresses. The game modes so far include Heart of the Hives that has two teams of players battling both each other as well as AI controlled alien fauna in a race to claim three alien hearts first, while Alpha Hunters pits eight teams of two against each other to be the last team standing. Harvester Command borrows some mechanics from popular MOBAs and tasks two teams of players to compete for a shared resource with the first team to deplete the other’s resource being the winner. Curious? Here’s the trailer Amazon released alongside the announcement today: MOBA? Arena shooter? Battle royale? What is this game?Crucible has a bit of everything, borrowing from every zeitgeisty genre out there at the moment and blending them together in a unique way. Some will probably describe the game like Overwatch or Smite because the game has up to 10 playable heroes to pick from (think classes but with different abilities) but adds in the upgrade tree that you’d find in a traditional MOBA like League of Legends. Set that in the far reaches of space and you’ve got the recipe for Crucible. While Amazon has been relatively quiet about its game studio, Crucible is just one of three big online projects Amazon Game Studios is cooking up at the moment – there’s also New World, an MMORPG about battling over a newly discovered continent, and a Lord of the Rings-based MMORPG coming from the studio, too. That said, don’t expect all three games to be available right away – Crucible goes live first on May 20 followed by New World in August and The Lord of the Rings MMO to come at some point down the line, potentially around the same time that Amazon debuts its new Lord of the Rings TV series. How will it make money?Like some other popular MOBA and third-person shooters, Crucible will be free-to-play, allowing gamers to jump right in while likely putting extra skins, characters or cosmetic items up for sale for extra purchase. Unfortunately we haven't seen what the in-game store looks like yet, so there could be a lot of locked content – but we'll reserve judgment until we can check the game out for ourselves later this month. All that said, hopefully there's some crossover with the company's Amazon Prime subscription service in terms of free or discounted items and, who knows, even in-game discounts around Amazon Prime Day. Nothing's certain yet, but its Twitch Prime program shows that Amazon isn't one to shy away from a little cross-promotion when it gets the chance.
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| Online game popular with millions of children gets compromised Posted: 05 May 2020 12:03 PM PDT By bribing a worker at the popular online game Roblox, a hacker was able to gain access to the company's back end customer support panel which allowed them to lookup other users' personal information and give out virtual in-game currency. As reported by Motherboard, the hacker was able to use this access to see other users' email addresses, change their passwords, remove two-factor authentication from their accounts, ban users and more. The hacker shared screenshots with the news outlet which included the personal information of some of Roblox's most high profile users including YouTuber Linkmon99. While the hacker could have looked up information on many users, they only accessed a handful of accounts. In an online chat with Motherboard, the hacker said that “I did this only to prove a point to them”.
Gaining access to other user's online accounts and in-game items through social engineering and bribery is bad enough but the fact that many of Roblox's users are children complicates things even further. Roblox hackIn addition to viewing user data, the hacker was also able to reset passwords and change other user data as well based on the screenshots of the customer support panel shared with Motherboard. According to the hacker, they changed the password for two accounts and sold their items. The hacker first began their infiltration of Roblox's platform by paying an insider to perform data lookups for them. However, this progressed a step further when the hacker targeted a customer support representative for even greater access to the company's systems. The hacker even went as far as to try and claim a bug bounty from Roblox which was denied as they didn't actually find a vulnerability but instead used social engineering and bribery to access its systems. Following the hack, Roblox addressed the issue and individually notified the small number of users who were affected. The company also reported the hacker's actions to the bug bounty platform HackerOne as an additional measure.
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| Apple Watch sale: the Apple Watch 5 gets a massive $100 price cut at Best Buy Posted: 05 May 2020 11:46 AM PDT Best Buy's Apple sale includes an incredible deal on the all-new Apple Watch 5. For a limited time, you can get the Series 5 smartwatch on sale for $299. That's a massive $100 discount and the lowest price we've seen for the 40mm smartwatch. Best Buy also has the Apple Watch 5 with LTE connectivity on sale for a record-low of $399. The Apple Watch 5 is packed with new features, as well as an upgraded design. The smartwatch features an Always-On Retina display, which allows you to easily read the time, messages, and other important notifications. The Series 5 smartwatch includes an updated ECG app and new safety features that allow you to make emergency calls. The waterproof smartwatch also tracks activity, workouts, and calories burned and provides up to 18 hours of battery life. Apple Watch 5 deals:See more smartwatch offers with our roundup of the best Apple Watch 5 prices and deals and shop other models with the best cheap Apple Watch prices and sales. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preliminary Snapdragon 875 specs suggest much-needed improvements to 5G Posted: 05 May 2020 10:56 AM PDT Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 series chipsets are synonymous with Android flagships. While the smartphone world now includes multiple Snapdragon 865-powered smartphones, some early information about the Snapdragon 875 has already surfaced, giving us an idea about what to expect from the next generation of premium flagships. According to the information received by 91mobiles, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 flagship processor, codenamed “SM8350”, will come with Snapdragon X60 5G modem for 5G connectivity(mmWave and Sub-6). The Snapdragon X60 modem is expected to cut down the overall cost of the chipset, which was one of the major concerns with Snapdragon 865 devices, driving the costs of all flagships to a higher price point. It’s currently unclear if the modem will be integrated or separate, but the former is more likely to be the case. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 is tipped to come with Kryo 685 CPU built on Arm v8 Cortex technology. Although the reports don’t mention the fabrication process, earlier rumours suggested that the next flagship Snapdragon SoC will be built on a 5nm manufacturing process by TSMC. On the graphics front, the Snapdragon 875 will be coupled with Adreno 660 GPU that will take care of the gaming and lighten the load of CPU. Specific clock frequencies haven’t been mentioned, but considering that the Adreno 650 could drive displays at QHD@144Hz or 4K@60Hz, we expect an increment on both fronts. Furthermore, the chipset will be integrated with Spectra 580 image-processing engine(ISP), Adreno 665 Visual Processing Unit(VPU) to encode and decode ultra high-resolution videos and images. The Snapdragon 865 included the Spectra 480 image sensor, which could process 2 gigapixels per second from the camera. The upgrade is expected to bring higher resolution/higher frame rate video recording as well as support for higher resolution photography. On to the audio front, the upcoming flagship chipset is said to come with low-power audio subsystem integrated with Qualcomm Aqstic Audio Technologies WCD9380 and WCD9385 audio codec. The processor will come with Hexagon DSP with Hexagon Vector eXtensions and Hexagon Tensor Accelerator. It will support Quad-channel package-on-package (PoP) high-speed LPDDR5 SDRAM. Synchronous DRAM refers to synchronizing the memory’s frequencies with the microprocessor’s clock speeds to increase the processing throughput. It supports External 802.11ax Wi-Fi, which refers to Wi-Fi 6 and something called “Bluetooth Milan”. The Wi-Fi 6 standard offers faster speeds and can also provide better connection even if the place is crowded. Also, with Wi-Fi 6, the file transfer between the devices via Wi-Fi will be faster as it improves overall latency. All smartphones powered by Snapdragon 865 support Wi-Fi 6. A separate report suggested that there will be no Snapdragon 865+ in the second half of the year, so it seems like all Android flagships will have to stick to the current Snapdragon 865.
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| The best cheap Xbox One X prices, bundles and deals in May 2020 - where to buy the 4k Xbox Posted: 05 May 2020 10:31 AM PDT Our Xbox One X deals featured this week may be your last chance to pick up a cheap Xbox One X bundle for some time, as we're currently seeing all the big retailers in the US and UK selling out. There's still a few left at the standard price of $399 / £349 but we're sure these will sell out soon, so act quickly if you're dead set on bagging a free game and want to avoid any markups. With all that said, these are still some great Xbox One X deals and a fantastic way to battle the lockdown cabin fever. You'll still be saving a decent chunk of money over buying the console and game separately, so don't be discouraged from picking up an excellent Xbox One X deal this week. Gamers looking for the most powerful console ever made have been keen to pick up Xbox One X deals since release but there was a high cost to pay in the early days. You'll find all the latest Xbox One X bundles available here, with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the Gears of War collection, and Forza Horizon 4 leading the pack in discounts. If you're after something even cheaper, you can head over to the latest Xbox One S bundle deals, but these One X prices in the US make picking up the older console a little redundant. If you're after information on the latest Australian deals, head over to our Australian page. The best Xbox One X prices
US Xbox One X bundles are running low this week, after Microsoft's previous sale all but wiped out stock. The Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order bundles are still in stock at Newegg, but otherwise check out our links below to see which retailers will replenish their stocks the quickest.
Unfortunately, UK Xbox One X bundles are running perilously low this week, with most of the big retailers selling out of their main included game bundles. If you're too late to grab the ones below, then we've also included some handy retailer links with details on current stock levels.
If you're after more games for your Xbox One X, then why not check out our Xbox Game Pass deals page. There's also plenty of savings to be had on online play as well with our top picks of the best Xbox Live Gold sales. What is the Xbox One X price?The Xbox One X MSRP is $499 in the US and the UK RRP currently sits at £449. So sure, it looks like UK gamers are paying considerable more as the direct currency conversion would have it at £390. On the plus side, retailers are starting to cut prices and we're seeing games bundled in too. So you should never pay those costs for the console alone today. Why should I buy an Xbox One X?Just to be clear, this is not what you'd call a 'next-gen' console. Instead it's a more powerful version over the current Xbox One lineup. To simplify things, it's akin to Sony's PS4 Pro. Both consoles are aimed at gamers with a 4K HDR TV who want the best graphical performance possible on their favored console. There will be modest performance boosts on non-4K TVs too, but you're kind of missing the point without a 4K HDR TV. The Xbox One X will play all Xbox One games and there are no games released exclusively for the Xbox One X, so there's certainly no reason to throw away your older Xbox One. The Xbox One X is the most powerful console ever made though, even outshining some of the specs of the PS4 Pro. But given the huge asking price, you'd hope as much. The Xbox One X is making bold claims about true native 4K gaming though and if you have a 4K TV with High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology, the Xbox One X is ready to seriously impress with the likes of Forza Motorsport 7, Metro: Exodus and Anthem acting as true jaw-droppers in the graphics department. Where can I buy an Xbox One X?Most of the usual big name retailers are stocking the Xbox One X. Prices are much better than they were at launch now too. Keep an eye on the highlighted Xbox One X bundles above and our comparison chart, which we'll keep up to date on the latest prices for the Xbox One X on its own. So feel free to bookmark us and check in again soon to see if we've found the deal that's right for you. What if I don't care about 4K or want to save money?The standard Xbox One S is a fantastic games console and you'll easily be able to get one with a few games for around $220/£200 or less. There are cheap deals all year round on our Xbox One deals and PS4 prices, deals and bundles pages. Only kidding. I want 4K HDR in my face right now.4K TVs with HDR are nowhere near as expensive as you'd think. The prices have come down much faster than the original HD TVs, so you can get a decent model for a low price. Hell we've seen some nice ones for less than the price of the Xbox One X itself (what a ridiculous world we live in). For the best of the best, take a look at our best TV article. We've also rounded up the best cheap 4K TV deals too in the UK, and also a collection of US TV deals. How big is the hard drive in the Xbox One X?For now, the only option available is the 1TB option, that's 1000GB of storage. There are no official plans for larger versions.. With some 4K-friendly update patches to games coming in at over 100GB, we certainly wouldn't hold out for a cheaper 500GB Xbox One X, as it'd be a bit pointless to be honest. We think gamers are going to fill up the 1TB Xbox One pretty soon. Thankfully the Xbox One X is compatible with external hard drives using USB 3.0. So if you need some extra storage, check out our list of the best external hard drives. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| Best email providers of 2020: Free, Paid and business services Posted: 05 May 2020 10:09 AM PDT Getting hold of an email account is easy. Sign up with an ISP and you’ve got one account for starters. Creating an account with Google and other big names will get you more. Buy a decent web hosting package and you'll probably get enough email addresses to power a large business, all for no extra charge. Getting the right email account is more difficult, as there's a lot to consider. What are the spam filters like? How easy is it to keep your inbox organized? Can you access the account from other email clients? And what about using the service with a custom domain and address of your own (yourname@yourdomain.com)? Keep reading and we'll highlight some of the best email providers around. All have decent free services, perhaps with ads and some limits, but we'll also talk about their business-friendly commercial products which deliver the power, functionality and enterprise-level extras that demanding users need.
The best email services of 2020 are:Image credit: Proton Technologies Signing up with an email provider will often involve some privacy compromises. Yahoo Mail asks for your name and mobile number, for instance. Gmail and other services might scan your messages to carry out useful actions (such as adding events to calendars), and just about everyone serves you with ads. ProtonMail is a Swiss-based email service which focuses on privacy above all else. You can sign up anonymously, there's no logging of IP addresses, and all your emails are end-to-end encrypted, which means there's no way ProtonMail (or anyone else) can read their contents. Also, address verification (which allows you to be sure you are securely communicating with the right person) and full support for PGP email encryption is available. In late April 2019, elliptic curve cryptography was introduced, which adds additional security and faster speeds. There are some significant limits. The free product has a tiny 500MB storage space, only supports sending 150 messages a day, and is distinctly short in terms of organizational tools (no folders, labels or smart filters). As the end-to-end encryption is specific to ProtonMail, it also ensures that you can't use the service with other email clients. Still, it seems a little unfair to complain about a service which is no-strings-attached free, and doesn't even show ads. In reality, ProtonMail is a specialist tool which is intended for use alongside services like Gmail – not to replace them – and overall it performs its core tasks very well. If you do need more, ProtonMail's $5 (you can choose to pay in USD, Euro and CHF) a month (or $48 yearly) Plus account gives you 5GB storage, a 1,000 message-per-day allowance, custom domains (you@yourdomain.com) and support for folders, labels, filters as well as some addition features like contact groups. A further Professional plan brings more storage, email addresses and a second custom domain, as well as adding a catch-all email address and multi-user support. It's priced from $8 per month per user (75$ yearly), which is reasonable if you need ProtonMail's security, although it's also notably more expensive than the business accounts of the big-name competition. Image credit: Google First released back in 2004, Google's Gmail has become the market leader in free email services with more than a billion users across the globe. Gmail's stripped-back web interface is a highlight. Most of the screen is devoted to your inbox, with a minimum of toolbar and other clutter. Messages are neatly organized via conversations for easier viewing, and you can read and reply to emails with ease, even as a first-time user. There's plenty of power here. Dynamic mail makes Gmail more interactive, with the ability to take action directly from within the email, like filling out a questionnaire or responding to a Google Docs comment. Messages can be automatically filtered into tabbed categories like Primary, Social and Promotions, helping you to focus on the content you need. Leading-edge spam blocking keeps your inbox free of junk, you can manage other accounts from the same interface (Outlook, Yahoo, any other IMAP or POP email), and there's 15GB storage for your inbox, Drive and photos. You can also access Gmail offline, although you'll need Google Chrome for that to work. Furthermore, there is a neat snooze feature that allows you to, well, snooze an email for a specified amount of time (it also automatically labels that email as important). Other features are more questionable. Instead of organizing messages into folders, for instance – a simple metaphor which just about every user understands – you must filter them using a custom labelling system. This works, and has some advantages, but isn't popular with all users. Still, Gmail is an excellent service overall, and a good first choice for your email provider. Google makes a paid business-oriented version of Gmail available in the shape of its G Suite product. This more professional product drops the ads and allows using a custom email address on your domain (yourname@yourcompany.tld). Business-oriented migration tools can import mail from Outlook, Exchange, Lotus and more. Storage space doubles to 30GB on the Basic plan, and you get unlimited group email addresses, 99.9% guaranteed uptime and 24/7 support. G Suite is Google's answer to Microsoft Office, so of course you also get apps for working with documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Shared calendars keep you better organized, there's video and voice conferencing for online meetings, and again, there’s 24/7 support to keep your system running smoothly. This more Office-like power makes for a more expensive product than the email-only competition, with prices starting at $6 a user for the simplest plan. You're getting a lot for your money, though, and if you'll use G Suite's features then it could be a smart choice. A 14-day free trial provides an easy way to help you find out.
Image credit: Microsoft Outlook's web interface follows the same familiar style as its desktop incarnation, and most other email clients: folders and organizational tools on the left, the contents of the current folder in the center, and a simple preview pane on the right (with adverts in the case of the free account). A toolbar gives you speedy access to common features, and right-clicking folders or messages shows you just about everything else. If you've ever used another email client, you'll figure out the key details in moments. Despite the apparent simplicity, there's a lot going on under the hood. The service automatically detects important emails and places them in a Focused Inbox, keeping any distractions out of sight. Events including flights and dinner reservations can automatically be added to your calendar. It's easy to share that calendar with other Outlook.com or Office 365 users, or you can save your events to a Family calendar that everyone can access. In addition, there are some interesting features too, like the ability to add polls directly to your Outlook emails. Excellent attachment support includes the ability to directly share OneDrive files as copies or links. You can also attach files directly from your Google Drive, Dropbox and Box accounts, and a chunky 15GB mailbox allows storing plenty of files from other people. This all worked just fine for us, but if you're unhappy with the service defaults, there's a chance they can be tweaked via Outlook.com's Settings dialog. This doesn't have quite as many options as Gmail, but they're well organized and give you plenty of control over layout, attachment rules, message handling and more. If that’s still not enough, Microsoft offers a bunch of app-based integrations to take the service further. You get built-in Skype support via the beta, and apps give you easier access to Evernote, PayPal, GIPHY, Yelp, Uber and more. Upgrading to Office 365 gets you an ad-free inbox, 50GB mail storage and a vast 1TB of OneDrive storage. Extras include offline working, professional message formatting tools, phone or chat-based support, file recovery from malicious attacks like ransomware and more. Oh, and the latest versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. All this can be yours for the equivalent of $7 a month on the single user Office 365 Personal plan or you can pay 70$ for a year. Image credit: Yahoo Yahoo Mail doesn't make the headlines so much, these days, but its latest version is a polished and professional service which stands up well against the top competition. The well-designed interface resembles Gmail, at least initially, with a large view of your inbox, one-click filters for common messages and content (Photos, Documents, Travel), and easy browsing of all the emails in a conversation. But you can also organize mails into custom folders, and the layout can be tweaked to display a message preview in a couple of clicks. Mobile users have some additional features like the option to unsubscribe to newsletters and such, without ever leaving the Yahoo Mail inbox. A powerful underlying engine can integrate with Facebook, supports sending SMS and text messages, is accessible via web, POP and (in some situations) IMAP, and can forward email to another address. Valuable extras include disposable email addresses to protect your privacy, and a mammoth 1TB of mailbox storage means you can keep just about everything you receive, for a very long time. Demanding users might find issues, over time. Mail organization can't quite match the flexibility of Gmail's labelling scheme, for instance, and there aren't nearly as many low-level tweaks, settings and options as you'll often see elsewhere. But overall, Yahoo Mail is an appealing service which needs to be on your email shortlist. As with other providers, Yahoo offers a Business Mail plan with more features. The highlight is an option to use the service with a custom domain (yourname@yourdomain.com), although there are other advantages, too. The service can import contacts from Facebook, Gmail, Outlook and more. You can view all your mailboxes on the same screen, and there are all the usual business-friendly productivity tools (multiple calendars, document handling, analytics and more). Prices start from $3.19 per mailbox per month, billed annually, and they drop as you add mailboxes – $1.59 for 5, $1.19 for 10, and for 20+ you'll need to contact them. Additionally, another pricing plan called Yahoo Mail Pro is available at $3.49 per month. This gives you ad-free inbox, priority customer support and additional features. There's even a free domain name included, and not just the initial registration: Yahoo will also renew it for as long as your subscription is active. Image credit: Zoho Zoho Workplace is a business-oriented email service which throws in an online office suite, document management, and a host of collaboration tools and other extras. Zoho's free plan supports up to 25 users, although there's an extra 25 available if you can refer others to the service (update: Zoho is currently remodeling the referral program so this isn't available at the moment), each with 5GB of mailbox storage, and can be used with one domain of your own. These are features you'll normally only find in commercial products, and when you factor in the spreadsheet, word processor, presentation and other tools, it looks like a real bargain. The email service is easy-to-use, and provides a decent set of features to help organize your emails: folders, tags, filters, smart searches, and more. You can also create custom hotkeys to expand and replace easy abbreviations of your choice with full words and phrases as you type. Zoho also has an offline mode, which allows you to read and respond to your emails even when your internet connection fails you. The free plan is still a little basic. It gives you web access only, for instance, and there's no support for email forwarding. Fortunately, the Zoho Standard plan fixes that. A mere $3 per user (paid annually) gets you IMAP and POP access, email forwarding, active sync, multiple domain hosting, domain aliases, 30GB storage, a 30MB attachment limit (up from 25MB with the free plan) and some major improvements elsewhere (the ability to send cloud files to non-Zoho users, for instance). You also have Lite plan which is a cheaper Standard plan ($1 per user) with less features, and a Professional ($6 per user) plan which adds more features. A number of these features are available elsewhere for free, of course, but businesses or anyone who will use the custom domain support or Office tools will find a lot to like here. Well worth a closer look.
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| IBM CEO: 'Every company will become an AI company' Posted: 05 May 2020 09:58 AM PDT In his first keynote since taking the reins last month, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna doubled down on the firm’s commitment to artificial intelligence (AI) as a foundational technology for the future. At the company’s virtual Think Digital event, Krishna declared that “the importance of both hybrid cloud and AI has accelerated as a result of the pandemic. AI is the only way to scale innovation, insight and expertise.” “More than 20 years ago, experts predicted every company would become an internet company. I am predicting today that every company will become an AI company - not because they can, but because they must,” he said.
IBM artificial intelligenceKrishna has spent the best part of the last three decades at IBM, most recently heading up the firm’s cloud business as SVP, Cloud and Cognitive Software. He took over last month from previous chief Ginni Rometty, who leaves behind a mixed legacy, having presided over 22 consecutive quarters of declining revenue. Krishna will hope his company’s centrality to helping businesses navigate the coronavirus crisis will help him avoid a similar fate. In his keynote, he reiterated views first expressed in an open letter to staff back in April, that hybrid cloud and AI are the two most dominant market forces today - both of which he intends to pursue with vigor. “The pandemic is a powerful force for disruption and an unprecedented tragedy, but it also represents an opportunity,” he said. “We will look back on this moment as the point at which digital transformation truly accelerated. Transformation journeys that would have lasted years are now being forced through in a matter of months.” Krishna also unveiled the firm’s new AI toolset, Watson AIOps, which is designed to bring AI to hybrid cloud environments and help businesses automate the management of IT infrastructure. “The problem is that many businesses are consumed with fixing problems after they occur, instead of preventing them before they happen. Watson AIOps relies on AI to solve and automate how enterprises self-detect, diagnose and respond to anomalies in real time,” he explained. The new chief believes his company has made “big, bold bets” to allow its clients to capitalise on the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, but his vision does not stop there. “AI and cloud are among the most powerful core technologies - but to these we can add blockchain and quantum, which will have a pivotal role to play in digital platforms of the future,” he concluded.
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| Xbox One games aren’t as revered as most PS4 exclusives, but they’re much better Posted: 05 May 2020 09:57 AM PDT Microsoft has found it tough this generation. From a disastrous launch to painfully misconstrued messaging, the Xbox One got off to a sluggish start and hasn’t been able to catch up with Sony’s PS4 since. And yet it’s the console I've played the most by some margin because Xbox has a better choice of games. Before you pick up your pitchforks and light your torches, hear me out. Xbox has certainly struggled to create compelling, critically-acclaimed exclusives – there’s no denying that. Middling Metacritic scores have accompanied many of Microsoft’s first-party efforts, with scores ranging from the low sixties and often topping out at the mid eighties, and there have been more than a few missteps with certain franchises either being cancelled or released in a shoddy state. Not great, then. But the sheer variety of Microsoft’s first-party output, in tandem with the success of Xbox Game Pass, has turned its search to find the next big hit into one of its biggest strengths – there’s a breadth of unique titles on offer. Same old SonyCompare that to Sony, however, and it’s a very different story. Since the PS4 launched, Sony’s first-party studios have committed to creating exclusive narrative-driven, single-player games. From the graphically sublime God of War to the spectacular web-slinging Spider-Man, Sony has certainly delivered on this objective, and then some. Few would argue, then, that these games are nothing short of excellent, but here’s where the problem lies. It honestly feels like that’s the only thing Sony makes anymore. Here’s a small selection for context: God of War, Spider-Man, Days Gone, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, The Order 1886 and InFamous: Second Son. When did Sony’s games become so… homogeneous? Each Sony first-party exclusive game is yet another take on the same cookie-cutter formula which has, admittedly, given Sony incredible commercial and critical success. But I remember a time when Sony took risks, and wasn’t afraid to be the outlier, like with the recently released Dreams. PlayStation used to be home to the bonkers, bizarre and the quirky – now, though, it seems Sony is only willing to roll the dice on the odd indie title, or possibly a PSVR game. It’s even more frustrating when you consider Sony’s unassailable market share – why can’t they try something different? Sony won’t be changing its approach anytime soon, either. The company seems steadfast in its goal to create more of the same for PS5. Herman Hulst, head of Sony PlayStation Worldwide Studios, has previously said, “we’re very committed to quality exclusives. And to strong narrative-driven, single-player games”. Microsoft’s mixerMicrosoft, on the other hand, has tried to move the needle with mixed results. Strangely, the green team is frequently accused of only making Halo, Gears and Forza games, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, those franchises obviously have some pulling power with gamers, and there’s nothing wrong with using an established universe to give players a different experience. Two perfect examples of this are Forza Horizon and Gears Tactics - they’re both great games within their own right, despite being spin-offs of successful series. Entirely different types of games, though? Microsoft has delivered plenty this gen, and they all vary wildly when it comes to genre and appeal. Sunset Overdrive is a criminally underrated third-person action game; Sea of Thieves has flourished into a compelling online multiplayer game; Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a superb Metroidvania; Forza Horizon 4 is a sublime racing sim/arcade hybrid; and Halo: The Master Chief Collection finally does justice to a beloved series. That list isn’t exhaustive by any means, and not every game hits the mark (see: Bleeding Edge), but what it does show is the sheer diversity of Xbox One’s library of exclusive games and Microsoft’s willingness to experiment. A quick glance at Microsoft’s upcoming games only serves to prove my point, with Flight Simulator, Ever Wild and Grounded on the way, each of which is wholly different from one another. It’s refreshing to see compared to Sony’s saturated focus. More to come?With the success of Xbox Game Pass, which now has 10 million subscribers, Microsoft is free to create even more off-the-wall titles in an attempt to disrupt the market. Few can deny it’s anything but a fantastic service, and much like Netflix, the money from subscribers reduces the risk associated with each game Microsoft decides to back. Comparatively, Sony has a reported one million subscribers to its PS Now service. Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, spoke to us about the benefits of Xbox Game Pass and how it’s influencing the company’s design decisions moving forward. “It has really freed us up from having to think about designing around a service or around a business model, and being able to just design the games that the team wants to work on,” said Booty. For those who are desperate for Sony-style exclusives (read: narrative-driven single-player games), Microsoft went on a spending spree last year and purchased a number of high-profile studios and developed one of its own, The Initiative. The studios can not only chip in with games specifically for Xbox Game Pass, but create blockbuster ‘triple A’ exclusives too. The question is, then, can Microsoft capture some of the single-player magic that Sony fans crave, while still offering a breadth of options for gamers on Xbox Series X? Ultimately we’ll have to wait and see, but as a gamer looking for the next new and exciting thing, the odds are high that Microsoft could have more to offer.
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| The cheapest Xbox One bundle deals and sale prices in May 2020 Posted: 05 May 2020 09:49 AM PDT Xbox One bundle deals are going fast this week as we see the lockdown-induced demand reach an absolute fever pitch. Luckily, there's the odd deal or two still available, with a few even managing to dip below the regular £249 bundle RRP. Whether these cheap Xbox One deals stay in stock, we can't say, so we'd recommend erring on the side of caution and acting quickly if you're still looking for a deal this week. All of our featured Xbox One deals offer some fantastic games bundled in - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Forza Horizon 4 and The Division 2 to name a few. All these are generally retailing for £249 currently but you'll be glad to know we've spotted a rare Crash Team Racing bundle that's currently going for just £239 as well, so head further down the page to check out our featured deals. So, if you've decided it's finally time to shop for some sweet Xbox One deals, you're in luck. Most of these Xbox One bundles include the 1TB consoles now, which are much more accommodating for your library of games and their large install sizes than the 500GB models, which are now mostly discontinued. Whichever Xbox you're looking for, you'll be sure to find it here, so scroll on down and see what we've got on offer this week. If you're still undecided on which Xbox bundle is for you, stay tuned for this week's bank holiday deals, which may offer extra discounts on consoles. Finding the best Xbox One bundles and dealsRetailers are stocking some cheap Xbox One deals as standalone purchases, but the best value is to be found with bundles offering extra games. Xbox One bundles often cost less than the prices of the standalone consoles too nowadays, so be sure to check out our hand-picked list of the best Xbox One deals below. Or maybe you're looking for a 4K upgrade? Then you'll want to take a look at the latest Xbox One X bundles. Looking to buy in the US or Australia? You'll want to head on over to our US page or AU page. As the name suggests, this version of the Xbox One does not come with a disc drive. So you will not be able to play physical games or blu-rays on this version. The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition costs £199 in the UK and comes with codes for Forza Horizon 3, Minecraft and Sea of Thieves, or Minecraft, Sea of Thieves and Fortnite DLC depending on which version you pick up. To be honest, we're not entirely convinced at that price point as you can get the regular version for a similar price and with newer games. Actually, we regularly see standard Xbox One S bundles on this page go for even less, so be sure to check out the offers further down the page before jumping on this. That said, we're seeing prices creep closer to £150 for Xbox bundles now, so it does represent a cheap way to get into the Microsoft ecosystem and start reaping the rewards of Game Pass for less. The slimmed-down design of the Xbox One S looks much better than the original chunky box and the power brick is now a thing of the past. The main draw though is 4K visual support meaning you'll be able to watch specialised Blu-Ray and Netflix content in 4K on your new 4K TV. As we turn the corner towards Series X, we'll be seeing better and better Xbox One bundles as retailers start to shift their stock ahead of the new console. That, and the fact that games are about to get real cheap for this system, means it's not too late to bag yourself a brand new Xbox One S deal in 2020.
More Xbox One dealsStill not found your ideal Xbox One deal in our highlights of the best offers out there? Why not check out more Xbox One bundles directly from the retailers from our list below? When to find good Xbox One salesThe best Xbox One sales usually happen around key release dates and shopping periods. That means you'll find new Xbox One bundles with the launch of first party exclusive games and hot timed-exclusives as well. That may all go out the window, however, with the upcoming launch of the Xbox Series X. With the new console due out within the year, Microsoft and retailers alike are going to be keen to shift as much stock of the older consoles as usual. That's good for shoppers for two reasons; a) it means you'll pick up Xbox One sales far cheaper, and b) the games you'll be playing on your new console will be reduced in price even more. The Xbox One X is capable of displaying games in glorious HDR 4K and is the most powerful console ever made. Sadly, it has the price-tag to match too as it's way more expensive than the Xbox One S. The comparison chart below is mainly full of prices for the new console on its own. However, we're starting to see better offers appear online where you can get discounted and free games included too. For more details, head on over to our extensive Xbox One X bundles page for the best value deals. If you're looking to play your Xbox games online or take advantage of the free Games with Gold initiative, you'll want to check out our cheap Xbox Live Gold deals page where we've found prices considerably cheaper than the default price. If you're looking to play more games on your Xbox One S but don't want to splash on full purchases, you should also check out our best Xbox Game Pass deals. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| WWDC 2020: what to expect from Apple’s big show Posted: 05 May 2020 09:41 AM PDT WWDC 2020 (or Worldwide Developers Conference 2020 to give it its full name), Apple’s mid-year software-focused show, will indeed be held this year – and it will start on June 22. It’s here that we’re likely to get our first official look at iOS 14, alongside various other software updates, like macOS 10.16 and watchOS 7. It's entirely possible that we'll see new hardware, though given the iPhone SE 2020, new iPad Pro, and even the new MacBook Pro have already been revealed, we'd bet Apple won't have many surprises for us at WWDC 2020. So there’s a lot to look forward to, and while there was some question over whether the show would go ahead, given the current coronavirus pandemic, Apple has now confirmed that it will – but it's going to be online. Below you’ll find all the information on when it’s likely to be held along with what Apple might show off and announce. Update: Apple has confirmed that the online-only WWDC 2020 will kick off on June 22. When is WWDC 2020 and will it go ahead?Apple has officially confirmed that WWDC 2020 will start on June 22. That's no big surprise, since WWDC always kicks off in June, but it's a bit late compared to previous years, which happened in the first or second weeks of the month. It could be later this year due to extra planning to adapt the event to its new online-only format, but we aren't sure. The show will likely to run through to the Friday, but Apple’s keynote – which is where the major announcements typically happen – will probably be on the first day. There was some doubt whether the event would be held at all, as the coronavirus has already caused numerous events – including MWC 2020 and Google IO – to be canceled, so the same could have happened with Apple's annual developer gathering. Instead of cancelling, Apple moved the event online. This seems like a smart move, and for most people – who would only be tuning in to the online live stream anyway – it should make little difference. The event will be free for developers, who previously had to pay $1,599 (around £1,284 / AU$2477) per ticket. They'll be able to access the event through the Apple Developer Program app – developers who want to tune in can start there or use the program's website. Apple will release info and the event schedule through those channels (and email) in June, according to a blog post. What to expect at WWDC 2020As WWDC is focused on software, the most likely announcements are all software related, but there’s a significant amount of hardware that could make an appearance too. The following things are all possibilities. iOS 14 and iPadOS 14While we’re not certain that all the things below will make an appearance at WWDC 2020, iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 seem like safe bets, since Apple has a long history of announcing new mobile software at the event. That said, this isn’t when the finished versions of the software will land on phones and tablets. Rather, Apple will likely announce many of the key features and changes, and release an early developer build. This, while aimed at developers, will likely be accessible to users willing to jump through a few hoops, though a public beta will probably follow soon after anyway, with the finished software likely launching in late September alongside the iPhone 12. We haven’t heard much about what iOS 14 might feature yet, but rumors point to a redesigned app switcher and support for Apple’s long-rumored AR glasses. watchOS 7We’re also very likely to get our first official look at watchOS 7 during WWDC 2020, though as with iOS 14 it probably won’t be finished and launched before late September, where it might land alongside the Apple Watch 6. We haven’t heard any rumors about watchOS 7 yet, but likely will do in the coming weeks and months. iPhone 9The iPhone 9 could look a lot like the iPhone 8 The iPhone 9 has been heavily rumored and we’re confident that it’s landing soon, but the question is how soon. There’s a high chance based on rumors that it could land in late March, ahead of WWDC 2020, but elsewhere we’ve heard simply that it will land in the first half of the year, making Apple’s show a candidate. As with the show itself, it’s also possible that the coronavirus has affected development and production of the iPhone 9, so even if a March launch was once on the table, it may not be now, which again makes WWDC a real possibility. As for what to expect from the iPhone 9, this is thought to be a relatively affordable handset that alternatively might launch as the iPhone SE 2. Rumors suggest a design similar to the iPhone 8, complete with large bezels and a physical home button with a Touch ID fingerprint scanner baked in. Specs reportedly include a 4.7-inch LCD screen, an A13 Bionic chipset (as found in the iPhone 11), 3GB of RAM, a single-lens rear camera, and 32GB or 64GB of storage. New iPad Pro 2020The iPad Pro 11 is overdue a refresh We’re overdue a new iPad Pro, with the iPad Pro 11 landing back in 2018. But the next model, as with the iPhone 9, could actually land in late March according to reports, so we’re not at all confident that it will land at WWDC 2020. But if not March then – particularly with the coronavirus throwing schedules off – WWDC seems like the next obvious candidate. The new iPad Pro 2020 is rumored to have three rear cameras, up from just one on the current models, but other than that we don’t know much about it. There’s talk of an Apple slate with a miniLED screen (which could make for a better quality display) but reports suggest that will land in late 2020, so if the next iPad Pro does arrive at or before WWDC then it might be too early for that tech. macOS 10.16It’s not just mobile software that we’ll likely get a look at during WWDC, the next version of macOS is also likely to be unveiled. We don’t know anything about macOS 10.16 yet, but going by previous releases it – like the other software on show – will probably get revealed at WWDC 2020 but not fully launch until at least September. AirTagApple has long been rumored to be working on a Tile rival, possibly called AirTag, which would be a small device that you can put in a wallet or a rucksack (or attach to other belongings) and then track them if they go missing. We’ve heard that this might land in the first half of the year, so WWDC is a possibility. That said, it hasn’t specifically been linked to WWDC, so we’re not at all sure that we’ll see it there. HomePod 2Apple is likely working on a new HomePod, with some reports suggesting that it could be a more compact one, possibly launching as the HomePod Mini. But whether the HomePod Mini or HomePod 2, there’s a good chance a new model will land in 2020, and WWDC 2020 is a likely venue for the announcement, especially as the original HomePod was announced at a WWDC (though it didn’t hit stores until a long time later). Apple TV and tvOS 14Mention of a new Apple TV 4K model was recently found in tvOS software, so a new Apple TV could be on the way, and it’s possible it will land at WWDC. Whether or not new hardware does though, there’s also a high chance that new software will, in the form of tvOS 14, especially given that tvOS 13 was shown off at WWDC 2019, followed by a launch in September. New Mac hardwareWe’ve mentioned that new Mac software is likely to be announced at WWDC. Well, new Mac hardware is as well. At WWDC 2019 we got the Mac Pro. At WWDC 2020 we could potentially see a new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or refreshed versions of any of Apple’s other desktop or laptop hardware.
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| watchOS 7 release date, compatibility, sleep tracking and features Posted: 05 May 2020 09:33 AM PDT Last year’s big update to the Apple Watch operating system brought a few serious improvements, but given how little changed with the Apple Watch 5, there wasn’t much room to introduce new features. That could change with watchOS 7, the next update likely coming with the Apple Watch 6. Like with its other devices, Apple always pairs its Apple Watch releases with a big operating system update. But the timing is pretty much all we know about what’s coming with watchOS 7. We'll know more we’ll know better when the company teases its end-of-year updates at an online-only WWDC 2020 that is set for June 22. That's when we're also likely to get our first teases of the Apple Watch 6, which will suggest what we're getting in watchOS 7. In other words, we’ll list everything we absolutely know is coming in watchOS 7, followed by all the leaks and rumors we hear beforehand. Finally, we’ve got a list of what we’d really like to see. Latest story: WWDC has been confirmed as a virtual event that will begin on June 22. Cut to the chase
watchOS 7 beta and release datePer precedent, it’s safe to say that the next annual watchOS update will come in late 2020 - most likely in September. That’s around when the Apple Watch launches tend to be, as well as the year’s new flagship phones such as the iPhone 12. It’s also when every other Apple operating system update is fully revealed, and they, like the next watchOS, become available either on the day of or in the weeks following. Thus, somewhere between late September and October is a safe guess for watchOS 7’s release date. We're likely to hear about it earlier than that though as the company may tease upcoming features at its software conference WWDC 2020, which is set for June 22. By now, we can safely say that watchOS 7 will be free, given that every Apple operating system update across its device range hasn’t cost users to upgrade. And while watchOS 6 wasn’t compatible with Apple Watch Series 1 and Apple Watch 2, the company has been readily selling the Apple Watch 3 at a nice discount. So we fully expect watchOS 7 to work with the Apple Watch 3 and newer. watchOS 7 features and leaksLittle is known about the watchOS 7 update, but one leak suggests it'll only be compatible with four generations of the Apple Watch. A report from The Verifier - that cites what he website calls trusted sources - has claimed the Apple Watch Series 1 and Apple Watch 2 may miss out on the update in 2020. It's also thought the update will allow for older compatible Apple Watches to use the blood oxygen monitoring feature that has long been rumored for the smartwatch as well as far more intuitive sleep tracking. watchOS 7: what we want to seeWe still haven’t heard anything concrete about watchOS 7. Come early June, we’ll have concrete facts around watchOS 7. Until then, here’s what we’d like to see in Apple's next big software update. Better battery-saving optionsOur biggest complaint with the Apple Watch 5: the battery doesn’t last long enough, rarely surpassing a single day. While you can turn on the Power Reserve mode to preserve capacity, that turns every feature off and just lists the time. That’s a last resort, not a battery-saving strategy. We’d love to see one or more different sub-modes that allow for more nuance in keeping your Apple Watch alive longer. Heck, we’d even go for granular control in turning off power-sucking modes one-by-one (like, say, always-on display) as well as clarity in how much time that would buy you. Sleep trackingSpeaking of better battery life, one of the reasons we’d like more of it is to wear our Apple Watches through the night - paired with advanced sleep tracking, of course. We’ve been clamoring for Apple-refined sleep monitoring capabilities for years, and are sure that there’s room to expand the smartwatch’s software to fit the need. But perhaps Apple is waiting for different sensors in the Apple Watch 6 - in which case, we’ll keep waiting. Device ‘leash’ alertsOne of our favorite things: plenty of Apple devices. One of our least favorite things: accidentally leaving those devices behind. We’d love if our Apple Watches and iPhones would be linked a little closer - like if we left our iPhone somewhere, our Apple smartphone would alert us. The idea, of course, would be to put a digital ‘leash’ on our smartphones - which is one of if not the most important thing we carry on our persons these days. It would make a lot of sense to try predicting user behavior enough to the point where Apple’s device family keeps tabs on each other when we do not. On-device biometric authenticationOne of the more exciting things that could be coming to the Apple Watch 6 is Touch ID through the display. A patent surfaced that showed a wearable design that moves the antenna into the watch band, ostensibly to give more room within the smartwatch for something like a fingerprint scanner. That would work with plenty of Touch ID-based services that Apple has continued to support for all the handsets that still rely on fingerprint identification - like the iPhone 8 and older. There’s always the dream that Apple finds a different way to introduce biometric authentication to the Apple Watch - like the wearer’s particular heartbeat. More precision in fitness appsWe’ve loved using our Apple Watches for workouts, but there’s always more they could do. We’d love to see more automatic detection of workouts - no manual switching between different activities - and smarter rep tracking.
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| This ransomware spreads across hundreds of devices in no time at all Posted: 05 May 2020 09:27 AM PDT The LockBit ransomware contains a feature that allows attackers to encrypt hundreds of devices in just a few hours once they've breached a corporate network. LockBit is a fairly new Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) that was launched in September of last year. The developers of the ransomware are in charge of maintaining its payment site and updates while affiliates sign up to distribute the malware. LockBit's developers then earn around 25-40 percent of the ransom payments received while the affiliates earn a slightly larger share at 60-75 percent. Researchers from McAfee Labs and the cybersecurity firm Northwave have published a joint report revealing how a LockBit ransomware affiliate hacked into a corporate network and encrypted 25 servers and 255 workstations in just three hours.
The hackers began their attack by brute-forcing an administrator account through an outdated VPN service. This gave them the administrative credentials they needed in order to deploy the LockBit ransomware on the network. Self-spreading ransomwareAccording to analysis by McAfee, the LockBit ransomware includes a feature that allows it to spread to the rest of the computers on a network by itself. In addition to encrypting a target device's files, LockBit also performs ARP requests to find other active hosts on a network and attempts to connect to them over Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. If the ransomware is successfully able to connect to a computer via SMB, it then issues a remote PowerShell command to download the ransomware and execute it. As LockBit spreads to more computers on a network, these computers are then used to help speed up the deployment of the ransomware to the remaining devices on the network. This feature is what makes LockBit so dangerous because unlike other kinds of ransomware, it can spread by itself and at a much greater pace. Since LockBit doesn't require a great deal of skill to deploy, expect this ransomware to continue to grow and expand as more cybercriminals become affiliates.
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| Surface Book 3 leak reveals MacBook Pro-rivalling GPU options Posted: 05 May 2020 09:23 AM PDT The incoming Microsoft Surface Book 3 has fallen victim to yet another leak, this time exposing its MacBook Pro-rivaling GPU credentials. Just hours ago, a leak revealed that the Surface Book 3 would arrive packing Intel’s 10th-generation Ice Lake-U processors, with both 13.5-inch and 15-inch models set to feature a Core i7 CPU with a base clock speed of 1.3GHz. There was no mention of a dedicated graphics card, but hardware tipster Roland Quandt has since revealed what GPU options the 2-in-1 machine will offer.
In a tweet, Quandt claims that the smaller 13-inch model will feature an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU coupled with 4GB of GDDR5 memory, while the 15-inch Surface Book model will feature a more powerful GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q card teamed with 6GB of GDDR5 memory. For those after more power, Microsoft will also make Quadro graphics cards available for the 15-inch model in its highest-spec 32GB configuration, according to Quandt, though the specifics of this variant have not yet been revealed. More powerWe don’t know much else about the Surface Book 3, though previous rumors had suggested that Microsoft is also planning to offer an AMD variant of the machine, much like it did with the Surface Laptop 3, that sports a custom Ryzen 4000 CPU with integrated Radeon RX Vega 11 graphics. Once it’s official, the Microsoft Surface Book 3 will be available to buy for $1,699 (around £1,385, AU$3,318), according to rumors, which will get you a 13-inch model sans dGPU with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. Microsoft’s highest-spec 15-inch Core Surface Book model, which is the version that will likely be offered with Quadro graphics, will likely set you back a whopping $3,399 (around £2,770, AU$6,640). The Surface Book 3 is expected to make its debut any day now, alongside a revamped Surface Dock and the second-generation Surface Go laptop. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| iOS 14 update release date, devices and everything you need to know Posted: 05 May 2020 09:19 AM PDT It may feel like iOS 13 only debuted yesterday, but that came out in September 2019 and we're set to get iOS 14 by the end of this year. The next big update for your iPhone is currently just rumored for now - Apple has yet to specifically confirm the name for the next piece of software - but it's very likely we'll be hearing officially about it soon. And given what was left out with iOS 13 - and what new technology could be coming in the iPhone 12 - we can make some educated guesses about what’s coming in the next big iOS update. Some of these are obvious, like support for 5G should Apple finally decide to release a 5G iPhone that works with the next-gen phone networks. If there's somehow an Apple foldable, well, iOS 14 will have software to make that work, too. Other iOS 14 features take a little bit of speculative leaps to imagine which tweaks Apple might make in its continual improvements on its iPhone operating system. Below we've put together all of the leaks and rumors for the new software so far, plus a little bit of what we want to see the new software do too. Latest story: Apple has confirmed WWDC is set to take place on June 22. That means we'll likely learn about the new software then. iOS 14 release date and beta scheduleGiven last year’s big iOS updates came out on September 19, one day before this year's new iPhone line, we’re guessing that iOS 14 will launch in late September 2020. That will be just in time for the launch of the iPhone 12, which will be the first phones to get the next iOS. Assuming Apple follows prior years, it will likely unveil iOS 14 at its annual WWDC conference. That's set to take place virtually this year - due to the Covid-19 pandemic - and it'll be starting on June 22. Apple usually releases an initial developer beta the same day, so it may do the same in 2020. The first public beta will likely follow later in the month, and will accordingly get new betas after the developer versions. iOS 14 compatibilityWhile Apple didn’t leave any phones behind when it introduced iOS 12, the most recent jump to iOS 13 made up for it by stranding two generations of iPhone handsets – anything older than the iPhone 6S or iPhone SE. It’s unclear what kind of new features require Apple to raise the threshold for which iOS phones will be able to download the new version of iOS, so it’s all speculation whether a generation of older iPhones won’t be able to install iOS 14. We’ll almost surely know which iPhones won’t be able to upgrade when Apple launches the first iOS 14 betas. For now, our best guess is that the iPhone 7 will be the cut-off point, with the big question being: will iPhone SE get the iOS 14 update? The company just unveiled a new iPhone SE, which leads us to think it won’t. However, another rumor suggests Apple is thinking of keeping support for the iPhone 6S and SE or newer. It's always possible that Apple changes its mind in the next few months, of course. iOS 14 predictionsiOS 14 could usher in the 5G iPhone eraThis might be the easiest feature to guess Apple will bring to the operating system in 2020. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen with other 5G phones, this feature can’t be retroactively applied to older iPhones - hooking up to 5G networks requires a particular type of modem and compatible processors. Only the newest phones with the latest top-tier chipsets and modems have been capable of harnessing 5G. iOS 14 could spill support for Apple AR glassesApple is planning to release AR glasses sometime in 2020 alongside a 5G iPhone, according to a Bloomberg report. These would initially serve as an iPhone accessory running through iOS to display text messages and map directions, though that could grow over time to run their own proprietary apps from a dedicated AR glasses store - and perhaps become a standalone successor to the iPhone itself. Before that happens, though, Apple’s AR glasses would need a killer app as its raison d’etre - or rather, reason for buying, as the lukewarm reception to Google Glasses and even Snapchat Spectacles 2 can tell us. Heck, even Amazon is couching its new Amazon Echo Frames behind an experimental product line to soften any hype. But given the years of experience developers have had with Apple’s ARKit, it wouldn’t be surprising if 2020 was the year we see Apple branch out to smart spectacles - and iOS 14 could support it. iOS 14 could add Home screen widgetsiOS and iPadOS support widgets up to a point, but based on early code snippets it looks like you might be able to add widgets to your Home screens in iOS 14 as well. At the moment though, sources say the feature could be still be scrapped. Other leaks suggest that more wallpaper options will be added in iOS 14 as well, so you'll be able to add dynamic, flat and gradient options. We've also seen a sneak peek at what some of the new wallpapers in iOS 14 will look like. iOS 14 could have a new app switcherA leaked video (below) supposedly shows an internal build of iOS 14, and as you can see it sports a new app switcher layout that's similar to the one on iPadOS. Rather than the current switcher that fans apps out like a deck of cards, this one shows four per screen with a smaller image of each. There's also (as part of the leak but not in the video) the suggestion that users might be able to choose between these two layouts, among others. However, we'd take all of this with a pinch of salt. The leak might not be genuine and even if it is, the presence of a feature in an internal build doesn't mean it will be available in the finished version - Apple might just be trying it out. iOS 14 what we want to seeWhat we want to see come to the next piece of iPhone software... Smart compositionThese days, everyone’s doing business on their phones, including sending emails at all hours. So why can’t we insert links into text in iOS’ Mail client? Or in third-party mail clients like Gmail? This isn’t just a convenience issue - inserting links just looks more professional. When responding to clients or simply wanting to save space it would be great to give the impression that we’re responding from desks - and not filling our messages with eyesores like full links. Smarter spam calls filterWhile iOS 13 introduced the capability to detect and block spam phone calls, it isn’t too smart. Silence Unknown Callers, as it’s termed, does exactly that - completely blocking any number not from your contact list and sending it straight to voicemail. That’s a good start, but a bit of a strong measure that isn’t too useful for folks with incoming calls from new business contacts or Tinder dates. Instead, it would be great to see smarter alerts that indicate probable spam calls, as some carriers have started doing and some third-party App Store apps do – for a price. Then it would be nice to have different levels of filtering - light blocking for only the most obvious spam numbers all the way up to aggressive filtering of any call that even has a chance of being a scam. Foldables supportThis is a bit of a stretch since we haven’t heard anything about a foldable iPhone. Oh, Apple is almost surely experimenting with the tech deep in its R&D labs, but without a planned model in the works, it’s unlikely iOS 14 will go to the effort of supporting foldables. This is in stark contrast with Android, which introduced foldables support with Android 10 just in time for the Samsung Galaxy Fold public release. Apple is on its own timeline, and there’s no rush to add the capability in its operating system before they have a model on the way. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dyson's Mother Day sale gets you $100 price cut on the Dyson V11 vacuum Posted: 05 May 2020 09:16 AM PDT Mother's Day is less than a week away, and to celebrate, Dyson is discounting its best-selling vacuums. Dyson's Mother's Day sale includes a $100 price cut on the powerful Dyson V11 Animal. That brings the cost down to $499, which is the best price we've seen for the cordless vacuum. Dyson Mother's Day deals:You can also see the best Mother's Day flower delivery services. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reused a password? This browser add-on warns you if it leaks Posted: 05 May 2020 09:12 AM PDT Firefox Lockwise, Mozilla's password manager, now alerts you immediately if you've reused a password that's leaked in a data breach. Reusing passwords isn't good practice – ideally we'd use strong, unique logins for all our accounts – but it's easily done when you're registered with scores of websites and services, particularly if you created the accounts before you started using a password manager to keep track of them all. Unfortunately, doing so leaves your accounts particularly vulnerable, as a would-be attacker can simply try plugging the same details into various different sites. Lockwise (which is now built into Firefox as standard, having started life as a plug-in) could already warn you if one of your logins appeared in a list following a data breach, so you knew to change it straight away, but the latest update goes one step further, warning you straight away if any of your repeated passwords has popped up in a recent breach. Stop shoulder-surfersThe latest Firefox update also helps protect you from shoulder-surfers who might wait until you're away from your desk for a moment to grab a coffee, open your password manager and jot down all your logins before you return. Previously, if you hadn't set a master password using Lockwise, it was possible to scope out a full list of saved logins through the browser's main menu. Hopefully it's not a problem many of us will face while working from home, but many concerned users requested a solution. Now, if you don't already have a master password set already, Firefox won't let you see stored usernames and passwords unless you first enter your Windows or macOS login credentials. A small change, and one that should give you some extra peace of mind when you're back in the office. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cyberpunk 2077 release date, price, trailers, gameplay and news Posted: 05 May 2020 09:10 AM PDT The Cyberpunk 2077 release date has been delayed to September 17, meaning it won't be hacking into our digital lives for a few months yet. The game is complete, says developer CD Projekt Red, but the extra time allows for more polish. Cyberpunk 2077 is a massive dystopian RPG launching on Xbox One, PC, and PS4 – and it could be the current-gen swan song before PS5 and Xbox Series X come out, or even after, with a confirmed Xbox Series X release and a PS5 one highly likely to follow. This vast open-world game, from the developers of The Witcher 3, is draped in dizzying neon colors and futuristic gadgetry, and packed with more branching storylines than you could shake a high-tech drone at. In both an extended Cyberpunk 2077 trailer and in our hands-off demo at E3 2019, we saw a bit more of the metropolis of the future, where body modification has become an obsession, and you play a mysterious outlaw in the sleazy underbelly of Night City. But we're due to get our best look at Cyberpunk yet, during the CD Projekt Red's Night City Wire stream on June 11. While we wait, here's all the news, trailers, and announcements we've had on Cyberpunk 2077 so far. Or, if you can't take the anticipation ahead of the game's 2020 release, check out our thoughts on the Cyberpunk RED tabletop role-playing game instead. [UPDATE: CD Projekt Red announced Night City Wire stream on June 11. Read on to find out more.] Cut to the chase
What is Cyberpunk 2077?Cyberpunk 2077 is a neon cyberpunk game that has The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red moving from a gritty, high fantasy world to an equally gritty, science fiction world metropolis. It's based off the pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, but plays a hell of a lot like The Matrix game we've always wanted. We caught our first peek at the game behind closed doors at E3 2018 – you can check out what we saw in the 48-minute walkthrough video below (in the trailers section). Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that looks vastly different from its developer's The Witcher series, with towering neon skyscrapers, bionic enhancements and a focus on vertical movement rather than wide open plains. It's also all in first-person. At E3 2019 we learned a lot more about the plot of the game, which features the one and only Keanu Reeves. Reeves plays a character named Johnny Silverhand who's embedded in a biochip that's placed in the main character's brain. In order to unlock the secrets to the biochip, what basically becomes the main thread of the game, Silverhand will guide you to Alt Cunningham, the most legendary net runner of all-time. The only problem? She’s dead. But her consciousness lives on the web and you’ll need to do whatever it takes to track her down – including, but not limited to, befriending or eliminating leaders of the biggest gangs in Night City. Cyberpunk 2077 release dateThe Cyberpunk 2077 release date is September 17, 2020. It wasn't always that way, as the game's first official teaser trailer stated it would come out “when it’s ready.” It didn't have a solid date attached to it until the E3 2019 trailer, which gave it an April 16, 2020 launch date. That was the constantly touted Cyberpunk 2077 release date for six months until the latest (and hopefully last) delay. The reason for the Cyberpunk 2077 delay to September isn't because the game isn't done. CD Projekt Red says it's finished, but more time to fine-tune the expansive game is necessary. It is, after all, a massive RPG. Cyberpunk 2077 trailersThe latest Cyberpunk 2077 trailer is a 15-minute deep dive into the game's lore, world, and gameplay. If you don't mind spoiling some of the visual treats in store – including what it's like to actually step into cyberspace – check out the video here. E3 2019 gave us an incredibly slick trailer, with a look at some new characters, weapon-play – including Keanu Reeves, who will be playing the rock star Johnny Silverhand. Get your fix in the trailer below. In March 2019, we got yet another video, this time of the development team gearing up for the E3 2019 showcase event. Those hoping for a 2019 release may want to start to brace themselves however – though the game remains without a release date, the suggestion of the video below is that development is still in full swing, and a release date may be some time away yet: After a veritable truckload of hype, CD Projekt Red released 48 minutes of gameplay footage, based on the demo journalists saw at E3 2018. In it, you'll see what gunplay looks like, character creation and backstory assignment, plus how you'll upgrade yourself via cybernetic enhancements. You'll meet some of the characters in Cyberpunk's seedy crime circuit and explore the city on foot and in vehicles. (Quick warning: the trailer contains nudity, violence and swearing.) We were treated to a Cyberpunk 2077 trailer during E3 2018 which you can watch below:
Cyberpunk 2077 news and featuresNight City Wire M for Mature Details were apparently posted and pulled from the Classificacao Indicativa website before being tweeted out (shown below) by eagle-eyed fans. CD Projekt Red replied to the tweet saying, “You surprised? We don’t f*ck around.” PS5 and Xbox Series X set to get 'full-blown next-gen' Cyberpunk 2077 – but not at launch “In terms of Microsoft’s console, like I said, we have officially confirmed both the update and the cross-gen availability, meaning that you’ll be able to play the game from the get-go on the next-gen,” CD Projekt SVP of business development Michal Nowakowski said during the call. “However, when it comes to a proper, full-blown next-gen version, that’s going to come later, we haven’t announced when and I don’t have a new comment here on that." So far, Cyberpunk 2077 has only officially been confirmed for Xbox Series X. CD Projekt Red previously confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 will make use of the Series X's Smart Delivery feature, offering players the chance to upgrade their Xbox One version of Cyberpunk 2077 to an Xbox Series X version for free – and now that decision makes a bit more sense. A CD Projekt Red spokesperson has confirmed to VGC that the “full-blown next-gen version” Nowakowski referred to is the previously announced Xbox Series X upgrade. But what about Sony? CD Projekt seemed to suggest during the earnings call that Cyberpunk 2077 will be coming to PS5 – we can't see why it wouldn't – but that the company is waiting for Sony to make the announcement first. “There’s no official announcement coming from PlayStation so we really can’t confirm or deny anything,” Nowakowski said. “It’s PlayStation that first needs to address these issues and then we’re happy to make a comment, but we can’t jump the gun ahead of them.” Committed to no further delays Hopefully the studio's efforts will be as successful as it hopes and will avoid any delays but, of course, the health and safety of the studio's employees is far more important than that. Submitted for age rating This is an exciting reveal to fans after the game's five month delay and Badowski notes teasingly that the game is "looking better and better with each passing day". Based on ratings for The Witcher 3 and what we know already about Cyberpunk 2077, it seems likely that the game will receive a high age rating. Who are the Tyger Claws? The gang, which also exists in the tabletop RPG of the game, is described in the video as being “a Japanese booster gang" which "settled in the district of Westbrook, also known as ‘Japantown,’ the part of the city where people go when they’re looking for thrills. As they are the protectors of the Japanese community at large, it is thought they are backed up by one of the most powerful megacorporations of Cyberpunk 2077: Arasaka.” The contents of the video haven't been confirmed by CD Projekt Red but adding some credence to it is a Tyger Claws poster over on the official Projekt Red store which describes Tyger Claws as a Night City gang hailing from Japantown. Another gang poster features a group called the Valentinos from the barrio. Grimes tells all in apparent gameplay leak Grimes appeared on a live stream in late February, and spoke about her involvement in Cyberpunk 2077 as the singer / performer Lizzy Wizzy, possibly revealing more than she was meant to, with mention of how her in-game character appears and the rather sci-fi situation she finds herself in. Spoilers below, obviously. The YouTube video was quickly pulled, but this thread on Reddit features a "summary" of what was mentioned (meaning this may not be perfectly verbatim): "I did my voice acting for Lizzy Wizzy, that game is going to be fucking good. I mean I haven’t played it, but I saw someone play an hour of the game. The game was fantastic, and I play a pop star who committed suicide on stage, and they had to quickly come and preform emergency surgery and replace her whole body with cybernetics while she was dead for an hour and then she finished the show as a cyborg. One of the greatest pieces of performance art ever made." Confirmed for Xbox Series X – as a Smart Delivery title The official Twitter account for the game responded to news of Microsoft's new Smart Delivery feature – which allows Xbox owners to access souped-up versions of previously-purchased games, even after switching to a next-gen console – stating that anyone buying Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox One would get the game for free on Xbox Series X. It's a big incentive to buy early, rather than wait for the improved graphical power of the next-gen console. We doubt PS5 will have the same feature, though you can be sure we'll get official word on the game coming to the next-gen PlayStation console too. As to when the next-gen versions will land? The tweet only says "when available", though we expect it will happen some time in 2021. Nvidia GeForce Now support You'll have to buy Cyberpunk 2077 on Steam before playing it on GeForce Now but this is a big win for Nvidia after losing Activision Blizzard's games. VR not happening Mamais wasn't particularly forthcoming on the topic of a port for Nintendo Switch, either, saying it's unlikely but that similar things had been though of The Witcher 3. “I don’t know if Cyberpunk 2077 would work on the Nintendo Switch. It might be too heavy for it. But then, we did put Witcher 3 on it and we thought that would be too heavy too, but somehow we pulled it off.” Big names on the soundtrack Game map Reddit Q&A reveals more details According to the poster, the game's day and night cycle will have an impact on quests; at certain times of day, for example, a location may be more or less guarded which could impact your likelihood of success. Weather, though, won't have an impact quite so severe although in-game characters will react to it. The game's crime system has been revealed as being similarly dynamic— so police won't jump on you for a small crime like, say, assault on a particular individual. But they will "absolutely try to fry your ass" for more extreme things like causing harm to large groups of people with a gun or vehicle. Quests in the game will be wide-ranging, branching and evolving, even impacting one another. And the game won't necessarily end with the completion of the main story; you can opt to keep playing. Replayability is said to be higher with this game than The Witcher 3. As far as customization goes, the developer has acknowledged that players are interested in car customization but has asked for more patience before saying anything with regards to any plans, while, interestingly, there won't be an option to buy a new apartment. Instead V's apartment will evolve and change depending on the paths that players take when playing the game and it'll feature options within it for customization and expression though what they are has not been confirmed. Post-launch content In an interview with GameSpot at PAX Australia, the head of CDPR's Krakow office, John Mamais said “I think it’s a bad idea to do microtransactions after you release a game. It seems like it’s very profitable, though. It’s probably a hard decision for the guy that runs the business to decide if we should do it or not. But if everyone hates it, why would we do something like that and lose the goodwill of our customers?” As far as Mamais is concerned, the Witcher 3's model which saw free DLC launched with big paid expansions was "a good model" which "worked pretty well." As a result, Mamais added "I don’t see why we wouldn’t try to replicate that model with Cyberpunk 2077. We’re not talking about that yet, but it seems like that would be the smart way to go.” Photo mode? The video shows a scene of the Night City skyline while the symbol of a camera shows briefly. The hashtags on the tweet itself read Capture Cyberpunk and Photos From Night City. This makes a photo mode seem very likely and given it's a feature found in most big budget games these days that may not be entirely surprising. However, the game's first person perspective may present some challenges if CD Projekt Red wishes to allow players to take pictures which will include their fully-customised avatars. No Reeves romance for you What about multiplayer? Character creation will be gender fluid Jonkers said that "you don’t choose your gender anymore. You don’t choose, ‘I want to be a female or male character’ you now choose a body type. Because we want you to feel free to create any character you want." GTA-style radio Coming to Stadia Spin-off card game “The game thrusts players into the dark alleyways of Night City, where ruthless gangs clash with corporations in an endless war for money, power, and control. “In Cyberpunk 2077: Afterlife, players become Fixers, the data brokers and masterminds in Night City that recruit cyberpunks, equip them with gear, and send them out on missions. But nothing's free in Night City. Players need to balance between what they want and what they can actually afford. Using an innovative drafting mechanic and special dashboard, players must decide which cards they want to buy, and which to sacrifice for funds in order to purchase new ones. Each successful mission raises the player's Street Cred, with mission survivors becoming Veterans, imparting their knowledge and experience to newer recruits. In this chrome-infused world, Street Cred is the only currency that truly matters.” Hardcore mode that says goodbye to UI Of course, it’s not just the hardcore players that are being catered to in Cyberpunk 2077; Liu revealed that there will also be modes for those who are less experienced with first person games and shooters and wish to enjoy a more laidback experience. “If you want to play more casually for the story and maybe you’re not experienced with shooters, which was a real big concern for us. We want to tell a story and maybe you’re a big fan of The Witcher and you’re not comfortable playing a shooter, we have settings available for that.” Liu explains that as well as settings for less experienced players, there will also be weapons. The smart gun, for example, will help players to aim. Though it comes at the cost of the smart gun being a weaker and slower weapon. It will, however, be a good start for those looking to get to grips with the aiming system. For those unfamiliar with first person games, there’s also going to be a Field of View slider. Making more of the game world visible through the eyes of the avatar should alleviate that sense of tunnel vision that comes from trading third person view for first person and the potential for nausea this can cause some players. Environmental hazards Settings available for those uncomfortable with FPS Cyberpunk 2077 will look just as good on console as PC "Actually no, we have a very custom engine, the RED Engine," Liu responded. "And actually, we’re targeting consoles as first-class platforms and it looks amazing there. So obviously, if you spent, you know, $2,000 building your PC rig, it’s going to look better on that. But the graphics are quite amazing for what you’re going to get from Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles and low-end PCs." Could we see a movie adaptation in the future? "I can’t really say anything on that," Pondsmith told VGC in response to whether he is optioning the Cyberpunk movie rights. "But with Keanu Reeves being tied up in things, it’s become much more of a possibility." "At this point we are teaching people about this new kind of cyberpunk. My favorite film is Blade Runner, but I recognise inherently that it’s a cerebral film and 2049 was even more cerebral. A cerebral film is not necessarily going to allow other people to enter that space and understand it, but at the same time you don’t want to do it totally action." Keanu Reeves' band gets its first single There may or may not be three games in development Take your pick of protagonists There will be romance There will be no morality system There's more than Night City In an interview with VG247, the Lead Quest Designer, Pawel Sasko, revealed that players will be able to go beyond the walls of the metropolis and explore an area known as the "Badlands". Largely desolate and populated by Nomads, this area will have its own quests. You can even start the game as a Nomad and begin your story outside of the city. Multiple Endings New Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay shown at E3 2019, but not playable Inside Pacifica, two gangs – The Animals and The Voodoo Boys – are fighting for supremacy. In order to meet Bridgitte, the head of the Voodoo Boys, you'll have to first deal with her lieutenant Placide, who wants you to infiltrate The Animals' hideout. Your goal, at least you're told, is to find a high-tech van that's monitoring all the network traffic in Pacifica. To get to this van, you'll have to make your way past The Animals' crew. The reason they're called The Animals, it turns out, is because they take a drug that enhances their muscle mass. To get through them you'll either need to fight your way through – a risky proposition – or sneak your way into the hideout. Customization: perks, skills and attributes The choices are vast, and while they're not completely limitless, CD Projekt Red doesn’t want to confine you to a single play style or set path. The reasoning behind that, it seems, is to better mirror the game’s source material – a 30-year-old tabletop role playing game called Cyberpunk (however, there was also a later edition called Cyberpunk 2020). Behind all of the hacking and gunplay lies a fairly complex RPG – the perks screen we saw during our demo had more than 20 perks to choose from and level up. These perks impact how your character plays, but can also impact what choices you have in conversations with the world’s NPCs. Image Credit: CD Projekt Red Vampire Bloodlines and Deus Ex were inspirations for the game Tomaskiewicz said that games such as Deus Ex, Vampire Bloodlines and Elder Scrolls had influenced him in his work on Cyberpunk 2077's quests. He cites the original Deus Ex as a particular influence and praises the ways in which it gives players the freedom to complete missions in multiple ways. This suggests we can expect a great deal of freedom and complexity and non-linearity in Cyberpunk 2077’s missions as well as in the protagonist you'll be using to cause havoc in the game world which is something quite different from the tight gameplay-loop found in The Witcher. CD Projekt Red is working on two AAA titles – both to be released by 2021 This release window was reaffirmed on the official CD Projekt Red forums, with moderator Donata Popławska confirming the studio is sticking to its original roadmap. "As far as the strategy of the CD Projekt Capital Group for 2016-2021 is concerned, its plans to release the second AAA game by 2021 remain unchanged," the moderator wrote (translated via Resetera user Antiax). However, Popławska did not expand on what the second AAA title to be released in this time frame could be. "We are currently focusing on the production and promotion of Cyberpunk, so we do not want to comment on further projects," they continued. Lady Gaga could be making an appearance? In addition ActuGaming claimed the collaboration would be officially announced at E3 2019, with Gaga rumored to be making an appearance at the gaming convention however that didn't happen. In 2018 Gaga tweeted a strange mix of letters and numbers, which the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account replied to with "Of course! Of course we will!", suggesting the A Star is Born actress would be involved with the game in some way or another. E3 2018 confirmed features It's a first person RPG set in a huge open world known as Night City – a metropolis split into six districts, each offering a different environment to explore. During the demo we only saw a small part of one of them. Players can create their own character called V and embark on their journey to crawl up from the criminal underbelly. This is a dark game and though The Witcher series is mature, this takes it to a new level. As you'd expect, the game lets you augment your body using various bits of tech – illegal or otherwise – and you can use drugs to enhance your combat, or a kind of digital brain-hack called 'Braindance'. We know weapons are wide ranging and seriously creative, with smart guns and bullets as well as terrifying Mantis Blades for melee. There are no loading screens in Cyberpunk 2077 and the story and side quests are branching and numerous, and your choices genuinely impact the outcome. You can read more about how impressed were were by what we saw. Image Credit: CD Projekt Red It will be on Steam It’s going to be bigger than The Witcher 3 In fact, he said that The Witcher 3 was being treated as a learning experience and that they could do better. To do better, the studio has doubled in size with studio head Adam Badowski saying that after The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 needs to be “even better, even bigger, even more revolutionary” than what had originally been planned. There may be multiplayer The company president said in March 2018 that these elements are not on the table right now, so it's possible that they'll be introduced after the game's release in a sort of online world like GTA Online. There will be online Whether or not the online elements will feed into the multiplayer is unclear. But there won't be microtransactions It appears that while many studios are feeling the need to move to a service model to ensure their titles make money, CD Projekt is staying committed to the story-driven single player experience with Cyberpunk 2077, one which served them very well with The Witcher. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | ||||||||||||||||||
| WWDC 2020 date is set: June 22 is when Apple will unveil iOS 14, macOS 10.16 and more Posted: 05 May 2020 09:05 AM PDT The retooled Apple WWDC 2020 is set to start on Monday, June 22, and this big software-focused keynote and all subsequent developer sessions will be held virtually. It's is a dramatic change for Apple, which typically holds its 'World Wide Developers Conference' in early June in San Jose. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the WWDC date and forced the usual in-person presentation to happen on the internet. Some things never change, though. We expect to see the iOS 14 update in detail that is set to change the way you use your iPhone, along with upgrades in the form of iPadOS 14, macOS 10.16 and watchOS 7.
All the WWDC 2020 program information will be provided through the Apple Developer app if you're planning to virtually attend the event on June 22. If you're just a fan of Apple's products and its software, you'll be sure to learn all about the new announcements at the end of June on TechRadar. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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