Software

In a recent study concerning children and media consumption, researchers discovered that the majority of apps targeted at children 5 years of age and younger contained advertising. Some of these ads were not clearly marked, were difficult to close, or contained disturbing imagery. Additionally, some of the ads pushed the user to make purchases, a clear violation of the FTC's rules regarding ads used in children's media.

A Eurogamer analyst has reported that Red Dead Redemption 2, a fresh release from RockStar Games, seems to have failed his test for high dynamic range (HDR) support while running on the XBox One. If these results are valid, the game only offers an upscaled form of standard DR (SDR).

Just as previously rumored, the new update for Apple's mobile operating system — iOS 12.1 — comes with Group FaceTime and a set of new emojis. In addition to these changes that target all compatible iPhones and iPads, the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max receive depth control in camera preview and dual-SIM support.

OnePlus has introduced a new feature called NightScape for its latest flagship, the 6T. It is intended to improve on low-light photography for the phone. The 6T also includes re=imagined portrait shots, as a result of a partnership with Kevin Abosch.

Google launched a new grant initiative today, seeking to fund teams that want to develop "AI for social good." Dubbed the AI Impact Challenge, the initiative will award $25 million across multiple teams that qualify based on the scalability, feasibility, and impact their project can have.

Hardware tinkerers ETA Prime and Novaspirit Tech have managed to load macOS 10.14 Mojave on the LattePanda Alpha, a powerful single-board computer. While there are several bugs ranging from non-working audio to broken WiFi, this is currently one of, if not the, smallest Hackintosh-capable system currently available.

Microsoft has raised the prices of Office Home & Business 2019 and Office Professional 2019 to US$249.99 and $439.99 respectively. This is an approximate 10% hike compared to the corresponding Office 2016 suites.

ProtonDB has announced that over 2,600 Windows games are now playable on Linux via Steam Play. These include games such as The Witcher 3, Dark Souls 3, Dishonored, and more. This increase in game compatibility ever since Steam Play launched with Proton last month is an indication of Valve's commitment to making Windows games easily accessible to Linux users.

The Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus are now receiving an update to Android 8.1 Oreo. While receiving a year old update is bad enough, the phones are also receiving the June 2018 Android security patch, putting the devices' security four months behind the curve.

Code buried in Google's Play Store app hints that Google may one day offer an app bundle subscription service that offers access to several apps for a monthly fee. A question circulating through Google's Opinion Rewards app seems to corroborate this notion, asking users if they feel the word "Pass" would describe a subscription service that offers "hundreds of dollars worth of paid apps" for a monthly fee.

The OnePlus 6T has been officially launched, even if none of its details were a huge surprise. On the other hand, the company did wow the audience with the price for the base model. In addition, it unveiled a new trade-in program with T-Mobile.

Although LG Pay was supposed to reach the US back in June, it still needs to get there. However, LG has just registered the LG Pay Quick trademark in South Korea, Europe, and the US. There might not be a launch date to talk about yet, but it seems that everything is finally moving in the right direction.

Gab, a social media alternative to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, has come under fire yet again for posts from its users. This time, anti-Semitic posts from the Pittsburgh shooter, who shot and killed 11 people in a synagogue yesterday, prompted PayPal to ban Gab from its payment services and platform.

The latest update pushed to Tesla cars in the United States includes the feature 'Navigate on Autopilot'. It allows the car to suggest the next turning, if this movement will take it off or onto a highway, and complete it by itself. However, this new function still needs human approval to take effect.

Android distribution statistics for the month of September showed that pretty much no one was on Android Pie at the time. It's been a month since then and, well, things haven't changed.

After 7 years of development, Fallout: New California has finally been released. A major overhaul mod for Fallout: New Vegas, New California features a completely original storyline, new voiceover, and about 20-30 hours worth of content. The mod is free and available for download over at ModDB.

The next upcoming update for iOS is now rumored to add Group FaceTime and dual SIM support to some phones. For some other, older models, however, only restricted forms of Group FaceTime are coming. Some others are not getting this feature at all.

Anker's Nebula Capsule is a 720p portable cinema projector that could put your streamed or saved movies on any flat surface. Now, the company is back with the Nebula Capsule II. This Android-powered projector has raised just about US$650,000 on Kickstarter so far.

A press release from Epic Games has announced that the company has managed to raise US$1.25 billion from a group of investors. Undoubtedly, the massive global impact of Fortnite will have contributed to the success Epic has had in securing such a large investment amount. A separate report has valued the creators of the Unreal Engine at nearly US$15 billion.

The creators of Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar Games, are back with the second game in the Red Dead Redemption series. Red Dead Redemption 2 comes with access to Red Dead Online, and those who download it from the Microsoft Store by October 29 will get pre-order bonuses such as The War Horse, The Outlaw Survival Kit, and more.

Less than a month after the release of the 2.0 major update, Vivaldi 2.1 arrives with noticeable improvements to the popular Quick Commands feature. Notes can be created directly in Quick Commands, Page and UI Zoom can both be adjusted via Quick Commands, the browser now supports the AV1 standard, and more.

The set of new features that have just been added to Google Files Go includes — but is not limited to — the following: advanced file browsing, secure app installs, faster sharing, and even a built-in media player that supports both audio and video files, as well as background audio playback.

In the last week before the OnePlus 6T's release, the leak- and rumor-mill around the device is still going strong. Most recently, a phone with a model number that could correspond to the phone has appeared on Antutu Benchmark. It scored about 10,000 more points than the OnePlus 6.

Lyft, the second most popular ride-sharing business, announced its first acquisition centered around autonomous cars. The company will purchase Blue Vision Labs, an AR startup, for US $72 million (with an additional $30 million option). This marks Lyft's first major push into self-driving cars, a space currently ruled by juggernauts Uber, Tesla, GM, and Ford.

Expected to roll out to Android and iOS devices in the coming weeks, Facebook Messenger 4 comes with a simplified white interface that only sports three tabs, and it also comes with the ability to add color gradients to chat bubbles. In the future, this mobile app is also expected to get a Dark Mode.

Rockstar Games has announced the Companion App for its upcoming release, Red Dead Redemption 2. This app connects an Android or iOS device to the console in question, and allows the player to view maps, stats and progress on their phone or tablet while gaming.

The Pixel 3 XL's display notch is a matter of taste at best, and a matter of tolerance at worst. Google's own rules for notch support in the latest version of Android stipulate only one of them per screen edge. However, some Pixel 3 XL owners claim that the software is not complying with them.

The XDA has gotten its hands on what appears to be the most recent beta for Android 9.0 (Pie) on the Samsung Galaxy S9. This build does not exactly introduce new features, but is reported to have fixed the significant bugs of the previous beta. They include failing navigation gestures and incomplete native night theme.

War Thunder 1.83 "Masters of the Sea" introduces the British Royal Navy tech tree (in Closed Beta), but also brings in new German, Soviet, and American vessels. The naval forces of these three nations can now be played by everyone, but there is even more to this update, such as German helicopters, new planes, and new ground vehicles.

Companies such as Qualcomm and Samsung may believe that devices like the Galaxy Book 2 are the immediate future of the laptop. This is because they can leverage the power of 5G for data transfer and cloud functions. However, some company representatives believe that 5G can supplant even more aspects of computing.

Google Chrome users who run the browser on Qualcomm Snapdragon-driven Windows 10 ARM laptops are facing performance problems due to the fact that these machines have to emulate this piece of code. Qualcomm has confirmed that an ARM port of Chrome is in the making, but it might take almost a year until it becomes available.

Only available for Pixel devices until now, the Digital Wellbeing app is finally ready for Android One handsets. The problem is that it only works on Android 9.0 Pie, so only Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6.1 Plus users can enjoy this piece of code until additional Android One devices receive the update.

At first glance, the Dell XPS 15 9570 is a good choice for those who are looking for a powerful yet portable machine to use for music production. Sadly, a DPC latency issue makes it unsuitable for this task, but Frank Azor has just confirmed that the company is working on fixing this issue, so it should be patched soon.

The Honor Magic 2 is likely to be released soon. It has been slated to come with an OPPO Find X-like sliding mechanism to hide its front-facing sensors behind a notch-free screen. Recent leaks and teasers from Weibo and TENAA indicate that it will also have next-gen camera technology

The newest Windows 10 update (1809, or October update) has been plagued with teething issues. Most recently, some users have documented one of them on Reddit. This bug results in the failure to bring up dialogs that prevent the loss of data through conflicts or duplication during transfer.

Sony sent out the Pie update to the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact and has gone a step further by announcing exact dates for the XZ1, XZ1 Compact, XZ Premium, XZ2 Premium and XA2 phones' Android Pie rollout.

Even available for old-school coin-operated machines, Soulcalibur VI is now out for Windows PCs, as well as Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles. With a roster of returning fighters and newcomers, this title is set in the 16th century and aims to "uncover hidden truths" about the events of the first Soulcalibur game.

Some Pixel 2 and 2XL units do not save the pictures taken using Google Camera properly, so that they do not show up in Photos or in the phones' storage. This is now apparently happening to some newer Pixels as well. This issue may be linked to the HDR modes and how it processes photos.

As if the various taxes already in place are not enough, Android users in the EU will end up paying more for their phones starting next year due to the licensing fees that Google will start charging for devices that are activated starting on February 1. These fees will start at US$2.5 per device and can hit US$40, depending on the pixel density and market.

Samsung has shut down services in the past and will surely do the same in the future, so the fact that Family Square is going down is nothing out of this world. This app came with the 18.4-inch Galaxy View and its goal was to enable users to put images on a virtual wall, including from other devices connected to the local network.

As previously announced, the Ubuntu 18.10 release comes with the GNOME 3.30 desktop and Yaru — the new default theme that has been developed by the community. The new kernel and updated graphics libraries now support the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+, the AMD Vega M-powered Kaby Lake G series, as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845.

Windows 10 19H1, an update already being tested out by some users, is now expected to contain new adaptations to the Spectre-patch problem. These fixes for the more severe Spectre variant 2 vulnerability can reduce performance by up to 30%. The solution is known as the Retpoline kernel.

The iPhone XR may be the be-notched version of the SE line of old. It offers many new Apple features in a slightly cheaper chassis. This alternative to the XS and XS Max may be attractive for those who like different colors, don't care that much about screen quality and don't want to spend all of US$1000 on a new iPhone.

Fans of old-school first-person shooters like Doom, Wolfenstein, or Duke Nukem can enjoy the brand-new Project Warlock, a game that features 60 levels, 5 worlds, 72 enemy types, 38 upgradeable weapons, 8 unlockable spells, as well as perk-based character development. Priced at US$12, Project Warlock is a GOG exclusive title.

The music streaming service Spotify has finally pushed an update for the app used on Android smartwatches. This version takes on the functions users formerly had to turn to 3rd-party solutions for. For example, the new Spotify for Wear OS has an actual set of music controls, and also syncs speakers with them.

Google has lost out in an anti-trust hearing conducted by the European Commission. As a result, the company have been fined US$5 billion, although it is currently appealing this decision. In the meantime, the requirements for Android phones in the EEA to ship with certain Google apps will be lifted - for a price.

ZTE, a few days ago, finally released Android Oreo for the Axon 7. The update is an Android 8.0 one that also doubles up as the July security patch, both of which are only the first in a long line of things wrong with the OS update.

While the reason is — and will probably remain — unknown, it has been officially confirmed that the Android Pie update for the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 3 handsets will not arrive as soon as expected. Although an official launch date has not been revealed, the aforementioned smartphones will probably receive the update by the end of the year.

The latest Google Chrome browser comes with a new setting that allows its users to have a better control over the sign-in and sync features, the AV1 video streaming codec, as well as a rather large number of minor tweaks, fixes, and improvements. Chrome 70 is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

If everything works as planned, Winamp 5.8 will arrive tomorrow with a bunch of fixes in tow and — the best part of it all — without the paid options previously reserved to the users of the Pro version. However, this iconic piece of code should get a major update and mobile versions for iOS and Android devices in 2019.