Valve has removed the controversial game Active Shooter from the Steam software distribution platform. The first-person shooter had been scheduled for release on June 6 but Valve has now taken steps to also ban the game’s developer and publisher, too. Active Shooter offered an option for a player to attack civilians in a school setting.

Although the OnePlus 6 has been well received and provides an excellent value, the fingerprint and the PIN/password remain the safest methods of unlocking it. A recent statement coming directly from OnePlus makes it clear that face unlocking alone cannot deliver an optimal level of security yet.

OnePlus promises dust and water resistance without any IP certifications for its latest flagship. This obviously raises some red flags, but a detailed teardown of the smartphone reveals that it's properly sealed not unlike competing smartphones with official IP67 certification. OnePlus may have waived the certification process to cut costs and keep prices as low as possible.

Using Power banks is normal in the world of smartphones, but in the laptop-space they are not seen that often. One of the reasons is that only a few battery packs have enough power to charge a laptop. Hoping to profit from accessory sales, the PC manufacturer Lenovo has now released a power bank made explicitly for its ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops.

The Intel Core i7-8086K Anniversary Edition CPU has started showing up on online retailers in Canada, Russia, and Italy. The hexa-core CPU is more or less a binned Core i7-8700K and is touted to be announced on June 5th to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Intel's highly successful 8086 microprocessor. The Core i7-8086K still has a 95W TDP envelope but is expected to attain 5 GHz boosts out of the box.

New information about Xiaomi's upcoming flagship smartphone, the Mi 8, has surfaced online just ahead of its official launch tomorrow in China. While the flagship Mi 8 is touted to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, the leaks also reveal the possibility of a Mi 8 SE variant powered by the Snapdragon 710 AIE SoC. There is also a possibility that the Mi 8 will feature advanced 3D facial recognition technology.

HMD has officially launched the Nokia 2.1, 3.1 and 5.1 smartphones. The Nokia 2.1 and 3.1 are the more affordable of the three and carry Google's Android One branding. The new 5.1 is a slightly more expensive model machined from a single block of aluminum.

Although its high-end variant is also available in black — unlike the XPS 15 9570 laptop — and features an 8th generation Intel Core i7-8705G processor, the XPS 15 9575 convertible only comes with 16 GB of soldered memory, so there is no upgrade option available. Fortunately, Frank Azor has just confirmed that a 32 GB variant should arrive in the last part of the year.

Apple is reportedly preparing to introduce ARM-powered notebooks. A Digitimes report says that Pegatron has landed orders from Apple for an ARM-powered MacBook codenamed 'Star' with series number N84. The new MacBooks are speculated to run an iOS derivative and could be marketed separately from other Intel-based MacBooks.

Gamers in the market for a new gaming laptop can purchase a budget Intel 8th gen system with the Core i5-8300H and get nearly the same CPU performance as a pricier Intel 7th gen system with the Core i7-7700HQ. The i5-8300H introduces Hyper-Threading to the series whereas the older i5-7300HQ was limited to only half the threads for measurably slower CPU performance.

A render of a smartphone currently known as the Motorola One Power has been leaked. The image shows a device with slim bezels, a notch and a dual-camera setup on the rear. The Android One logo can be seen on the back case, whilst the Motorola brand name is visible on the front. No specifications for the phone have been revealed yet.

HP has released reports for the fiscal 2018 second quarter results, and it seems to have been a good financial quarter overall for the California-based company. Net revenue was US$14 billion and GAAP net earnings stood at US$1.1 billion. HP’s results topped a Wall Street prediction of US$13.57 billion for net revenue.

Intellivision Entertainment has issued a press release announcing that a new video game console is under development. The planned device is being designed and created by a team that has members who worked on the original console that bore the renowned Intellivision brand name. Details of the new platform are expected to be made available on October 1.

The Samsung SM-G8850 handset that recently visited the offices of the Chinese telecom authority TENAA has now surfaced online in a short hands-on video. Although the processor inside it is still a mystery, most of the other specs — including a 6.28-inch Super AMOLED display and a 24 MP + 16 MP main camera setup — have been (unofficially) confirmed.

The foreign import bans imposed on ZTE are bound to shake things up in China, at least in a positive way. Tencent - one of the biggest video game company in China - is willing to take constructive actions in order to increase China's chip-making capacity and reduce the reliance on foreign component imports.

Capcom has revealed the release date for the latest installment in the Mega Man franchise. Mega Man 11 will be made available on October 2 on the PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. A pre-order trailer for the game gives viewers an insight into the gameplay of the Blue Bomber’s latest adventure.

Huawei seems to be ready to join the gaming smartphone craze with its upcoming Honor Play model. The latest smartphone teaser posted by the Chinese company on Weibo emphasizes the AI functionalities that should bring a "groundbreaking" 4D gaming experience. However, it looks like the Honor Play might have been spotted at TENAA, but the specs are mid-range at best.

Images of the supposed screen protector of the Pixel 3 devices have surfaced, throwing more light on what we should expect from the devices, including a notch and dual selfie cameras.

The LG V30S was unveiled back in February and went on sale in the US a short while ago. Its MSRP of US$930 was always a tad ridiculous, so it's no surprise that it's price has currently dropped down to US$680—which still isn't a very attractive proposition.

Google has partnered with Xiaomi to make ARCore apps available on the Xiaomi App Store in China. Google has not revealed any further details but these apps will be first made available for Xiaomi's latest flagship, the Mi Mix 2S, with more devices to follow soon.

Two new CPUs belonging to AMD 'Raven Ridge' Ryzen family were recently spotted online and on the Asus Crosshair VII Hero motherboard CPU list. Named the Athlon 200GE and the Athlon Pro 200GE, these are dual core CPUs with a base frequency of 3.2 GHz and a TDP rated at 35W.

OnePlus has removed the Always On Display setting in the new OnePlus 6 via a day 1 patch that installs after first boot. While users have been clamoring on the OnePlus Forums for the feature to return, the company replied that the feature had to be removed to save battery.

Official renders of the Motorola Moto Z3 Play have surfaced online. Perhaps even more interestingly, Motorola plans to release a 5G-capable Moto Mod that will upgrade it, and compatible Moto devices, from 4G to 5G cellular connectivity.

Announced for Japan back in March, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is finally available for Android and iOS smartphones in the US. This cult classic is more than 12 years old, but the mobile version has been refreshed with HD graphics, a wide voice cast, partial gamepad support, as well as save and autosave capabilities.

Although Andy Rubin's company is now up for sale and the chances to see a second Essential Phone reaching the market anytime soon have just evaporated, the company recently announced that its only device will get 2 years of updates and 3 years of security patches. Sadly, these timelines could change if Essential gets a new owner.

An article from English-language newspaper The Korea Times has revealed that PUBG Corporation has filed a lawsuit in the Seoul Central District Court against Epic Games, the developer of battle royale rival Fortnite. PUBG Corporation, which is a subsidiary of the South Korean company Bluehole, apparently filed the lawsuit back in January.

A report from a brand equity database shows that technology companies and tech-related brands currently dominate the ranking for top 10 most valuable global brands. At least eight out of the 10 brand names listed are directly involved in technology, with Google, Apple, and Amazon taking up the top three places, respectively. Chinese firm Tencent has also made a strong showing, coming in fifth position.

USB is about to get more complicated in the next couple of years. Now that USB 3.1 Gen. 2 is almost four years old, a Californian company is ready to introduce the world to USB 3.2 and has even demonstrated how fast the new standard will be through video. If all goes well, USB 3.2 could provide similar transfer rates as Thunderbolt 2 or twice that of USB 3.1 Gen. 2.

A game scheduled for unlocking on Steam on June 6 has started to amass considerable media attention due to its controversial theme. Active Shooter is currently listed on Valve’s software distribution platform and is described as an action simulation. The game has been heavily criticized because it allows the player to act as a shooter killing civilians in a school setting.

Sometimes delays can be benefic for laptops, since at least some of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835-powered Windows 10 portables that were expected to arrive this year will use the faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor instead, which also has a noticeably faster frequency than when used in smartphones.

In just two days after the global release of the State of Decay 2 Standard Edition open world zombie survival game for Windows and Xbox One, over one million players enjoyed it. Other figures revealed by Microsoft for the given period include six million combined hours of gameplay and almost 3.5 million hours streamed via Mixer, YouTube Gaming, and Twitch.

While a recent rumor claims that a top-of-the-line variant of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 9 might hit the market with 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage onboard, the Samsung SM-N960N model that has just surfaced on Geekbench only sports an Exynos 9810 processor and 6 GB RAM.

Lenovo Vice President Chang Cheng has, once again, teased the company's upcoming device on Weibo. This time, he clarifies that the device will be named the Lenovo Z5. The teaser paints the picture of a device with absolutely no bezels—and no notch.

Xiaomi's upcoming flagship, the Mi 7, has been spotted online. The device is expected to feature a Snapdragon 845, 6 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, 3D facial recognition, and wireless charging...and all of that could come with a US$450 price tag.

The Zenfone 5 Lite was launched a few months ago and has finally made its way to the US as the Zenfone 5Q. It's the only Zenfone 5 device to not sport a notch, and it features a Snapdragon 630, dual rear cameras, and a 20 MP selfie camera. Not a bad deal for US$300.

HTC has confirmed that its newly released U12+ flagship will not ship with a 3.5mm to Type-C adapter, and that is wrong for all sorts of reasons.

Maze was one of the upcoming smartphone companies in 2017. The company released devices like the Blade and Alpha and while both had their issues, they also offered great value for money. Sadly, it would seem that we won't be getting anything else from Maze, with the company appearing to have kicked the bucket.

Reports have started to surface of customers complaining that their iPhone X rear camera lens covers are cracking, even though they haven't been dropped. Apple uses sapphire crystal for its lens covers which are resistant to scratching, but are more susceptible to cracking under pressure than Corning Gorilla Glass.

Laptops, smartphones, and convertibles are slowly eating into the shrinking tablet market. The biggest bright spot is perhaps the convertible notebook market with the only positive compound annual growth rate of 8.8 percent until 2022. Sales of traditional laptops aren't as steep as previous years due in part to the increasing sales of gaming PCs and inexpensive Chromebooks.

Quinn of YouTube channel Snazzy Labs recently posted a video of Apple's poor repair of his iMac Pro. While attempting to repair a damaged VESA mount, the repair technicians at an Apple Store severely damaged the original stand of Quinn's iMac Pro and scratched the body of the machine in a few places.

According to court documents filed in a lawsuit against the company, Apple knew its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models were more prone to bending than previous iPhones. Internal Apple documents referenced by the judge acting in the case reveal that Apple engineers were concerned about the issue ahead of its launch.

According to reports, Valve Corporation’s new Steam Link app has been denied entry to the world of Apple. A review team at the Cupertino-based company apparently rejected the application on grounds of “business conflicts with app guidelines.” This has led to some speculation that Apple could be working on its own game-streaming service.

A report by The New York Times has stated that the Trump administration has worked out a deal that would prevent ZTE from complete collapse. According to a source familiar with the matter, ZTE would have to comply with a number of demands from the US Department of Commerce but by doing so would be able to remain in business.