Software

There was some excitement among JRPG fans in February when a PC port of Chrono Trigger unexpectedly turned up on Steam. However, that excitement soon turned to exasperation as many gamers complained about the graphics and the user interface. The company behind Chrono Trigger, Square Enix, is aiming to release a series of patches to address the most common issues.

The Chrome Web Store has updated its policy concerning extensions with crypto-mining scripts, outright banning such extensions from the store. Any existing extensions that can be used for mining cryptocurrencies will be removed by the end of June 2018. While the policy will prevent future extensions that are obviously used for crypto-mining, it remains to be seen if this will solve the problem of surreptitious mining scripts hidden in otherwise innocuous extensions.

The S6 was released in April 2015. The device has had its time out in the sun but that is at an end, with Samsung officially ending support for the device. The S6 Edge, S6 Active, and S6 Edge+ also get the same treatment, with the Note 5 set to follow in a few months.

A developer on XDA has devised a means of unlocking bootloaders of the Nokia 2, Nokia 5, Nokia 6, and Nokia 8. While testers have confirmed the fact that it does work, the methods involved may not be the safest.

After a rather long wait, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 phablet owners on T-Mobile can finally enjoy the benefits delivered by the Android Oreo update. Sadly, the release notes page has not been updated by T-Mobile yet, but the update is most likely based on Android 8.0, as it happens with the other Samsung flagships that recently received the update.

Intel takes the guesswork out of game compatibility by testing the most popular games throughout the Core ix series themselves. The most recent additions are the Core i7-8809G and Core i7-8705G with suggested graphical settings on current titles for what Intel deems would be an optimal gaming experience.

If you are looking for a Facebook alternative, then Arbtr might be your thing. Returning to the basics of social networking, this Kickstarter project aims to create an "anti-feed" where users can share a single thing at a time. The project has just been posted and there are 30 days left to meet the US$32,551 goal.

In case you weren’t aware, March 31 is World Backup Day. Today is the day when computer users should no longer procrastinate with that crucial task and take a few moments to backup their data. It might seem like an April Fools’ Day joke, but facts offered by the World Backup Day website show just how important it is to keep a regular backup of your files.

After being around for less than a decade, Google's URL shortener goo.gl — initially used for Feedburner and Google Toolbar — will go down in three stages. Support for it went down yesterday, from April 13 only existing users will be able to create short links, and the service is scheduled to go down for good on March 30, 2019.

Although War Thunder has been around for more than 5 years, today its players can enjoy the experience of a sub commander for the first time. Although the "Silent Thunder" game mode is now only an April Fools' Day joke, it might also become a part of the game in the future, as it happened with last year's modern tanks.

The upcoming Google Pixel 3 flagship is expected to feature a new Pixel Launcher design, but some of the changes have been already discovered inside the APK file of the existing app by a senior member of the popular XDA Developers community. The tech giant is expected to show these changes in May, at this year's Google I/O 2018 developer conference.

Apple has baked a new privacy feature into iOS 11.3, the latest software update for its iPhones and iPads. Following the update, a new icon will appear each time personal information is required to enable a service providing users with a new layer of transparency over how their data is handled.

Epic Games has released patch v3.4 for Fortnite, and among the numerous bug fixes there is also a new weapon for players to become familiar with. This large update was swiftly followed by patch v3.4.1 which dealt with a couple of gameplay issues. Undoubtedly, having a new weapon to play with will help Fortnite’s YouTube viewing figures increase even further, as the game overtook Minecraft for total monthly views in February.

Warhammer Quest 2 has been available on iOS devices for a while, and now this sequel to the original Warhammer Quest video game is finally heading for Android. Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times will hit Google Play on April 11, but it will not be free. Fortunately, the price tag does not read more than US$4.99.

Bitcoin has suffered yet another turbulent day in regard to its market value. Within the last 24 hours the virtual currency’s worth has dropped from a high of US$7382 to a close of US$6822, reaching a low of US$6660 at one point. The leading cryptocurrency was valued at US$11,645 on March 5, so its considerable drop in the space of just a few weeks will be disconcerting for investors.

Although Samsung and NextRadio announced earlier this year that all upcoming handsets of the South Korean brand to hit the US and Canada will feature FM radio support, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ came with a bug that disabled it. Now, Samsung has just confirmed that a fix for this problem is on the way, but only mentioned "in the next update" instead of an accurate date.

About two months since audiobooks became available for download and listening via Google Play and the iTunes Store for the first time, an update aims to improve the user's experience by adding bookmarks and smart resume capabilities. In addition to them, the update also brings the Family Library feature to 13 new countries and refines the playback speed settings.

Razer Phone users who feel adventurous enough can grab the Android 8.1 Oreo preview for their handset, but they should be aware that this build will not receive any OTA updates in the future. Sadly, to install it, the bootloader must be unlocked, and this action would render the warranty of the handset void.

The new free-to-play mobile RPG by FoxNext Games, Marvel Strike Force, pits the player's team against the alien warlord Ultimus and his Kree soldiers, who allied themselves with Hydra and AIM. The list of playable Marvel characters includes Spider-Man, Groot, Loki, Elektra, Hulk, Doctor Strange, and many others.

The instant messaging service Telegram has apparently filed more papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stating that it has now raised a total of US$1.7 billion during its Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The service already filed with the SEC back in February after raising US$850 million. Telegram has a native cryptocurrency token known as the Gram.

Red Hat has now spent 25 years developing and supporting Linux and other related open-source projects. Originally started by Bob Young and Marc Ewing in a small residential room, it has now grown to have annual revenue of US$2.9 billion and 11,400 employees, making it the largest open-source based company in the world.

British video-game developer Frontier Development has announced a release date for the upcoming game Jurassic World Evolution. The business simulation title will be available online from June 12, with physical copies of the game being made available from July 3. Jurassic World Evolution is coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

There has been a reported malware attack on a Boeing production plant involving the infamous ransomware cryptoworm WannaCry. A spokesperson for Boeing described the event as “a limited intrusion of malware” as there were concerns about the worm affecting production and even airplane software. The destructive WannaCry attack of 2017 affected computers in over 150 countries.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has published a press release announcing the new video game Lego The Incredibles. An official announcement trailer, featuring the Parr family, Frozone and Edna Mode, has also been released. The game will be made available for the PC, Nintendo Switch, PS 4 and Xbox One in North America on June 15 – the same day that the Incredibles 2 movie is scheduled for release.

Fitbit’s Versa smartwatch is available for pre-order and offers an interesting alternative to the market-dominating Apple Watch. For a start, there is the price: The Fitbit Versa costs US$199.95 and the Apple Watch Series 3 has prices starting at US$329 (from the Apple Store). Fitbit claims the Versa has a battery life of over four days, which certainly beats out the 18 hours that Apple advertises for its Series 3 (GPS) wearable.

Although the financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, we know that Tenor will continue to operate under the same name "to help people visually express their thoughts and emotions." Earlier this year — less than four years since it brought GIFs to mobile messaging — Tenor managed to reach the 1.2 billion search requests per month milestone.

Although it was added to Google Play last year, Amazon Kindle Lite spend a few good months in the open beta stage. Now, this e-book reader app is finally out of testing, but only Google Play users in India can get it for the time being. Having less than 2 MB in size, this Android app is optimized for slow 2G/3G networks and low-end handsets, both very popular in India.

Samsung’s wearable, the Gear S2, has received a new software upgrade from the South Korean manufacturer. The user interface has been overhauled, the Samsung Health widget has been enhanced, and the watch can be used in conjunction with the Gear VR headset and PowerPoint presentations. The update can be accessed through the Samsung Gear app.

Developer Harebrained Schemes and publisher Paradox Interactive have announced the release date for the upcoming turn-based strategy game BattleTech. The title should launch on April 24 and will cost US$39.99 on either PC or Mac. It is also possible to purchase a digital deluxe edition of the game that will include an art book and the soundtrack.

Far Cry 5 has been officially released and Nvidia has supplied a Game Ready driver for the latest installment of the famous Ubisoft series. The game has received a number of positive reviews already, even though it has courted controversy with its themes. The first-person shooter is available for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Two years after it no longer supported Android, desktop, tablets, or payments of any kind, the Firefox Marketplace is ready to shut down for good. Those still using a Firefox OS-powered device have just 3 days left to download any apps they have removed for some reason but would like to keep around.

Windows 10's upcoming feature update, the Spring Creators Update codenamed 'Redstone 4', has reached the RTM milestone after it has been internally signed off at Microsoft last week. Build 17133 is the RTM candidate, which is expected to be seeded to Insiders this week followed by a staged rollout to production systems starting April 10.

It seems actor Steven Seagal is no longer the brand ambassador for the cryptocurrency Bitcoiin. Agents for the virtual currency (VC) have claimed that a soft cap of US$75 million has now been reached, meaning that both the founders of Bitcoiin and Seagal will “exit” from any further direct involvement with the controversial VC. The State of New Jersey recently issued a cease and desist order to the token’s founders.

Fortnite continues to garner impressive statistics, this time drawing in over one million viewers during a YouTube live gaming stream. The popular Spanish YouTube personality, elrubiusOMG, held a special global gaming event and invited 99 people to join him in a Fortnite Battle Royale spectacular. The roughly three-hour session ended up attracting 1.1 million concurrent viewers at its peak.

A teardown of Facebook's user data archive has revealed the fact that the company collects private user data including well-detailed call logs and text metadata. The company has been involved in a number of cases pertaining to privacy issues, and this is just another icing on the cake.

The instant messaging app created by the founder of the social networking site VK continues to grow, although it still has a long road ahead until it can challenge Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. Telegram Messenger was used by 200 million people within the 30 days for the first time — as many users as the population of the sixth-largest country in the world.

The latest version of Google's light file manager brings improved file search capabilities and Google Photos integration, so now the user can easily remove photos that have been already backed up. In addition to the above, Google Files Go 1.0.189786363 also provides improved notifications and shows the location of the duplicates upon removal.

Nightdive Studio's remake of 1994's cult classic System Shock, previously put on hiatus in February, is now reportedly back on track and angling for a Q1 2020 release. In addition, a preview of the latest build of the game should be available for Kickstarter backers in early April.

A new 4 x 4 km PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) map has been teased at the Game Developers Conference that has been taking place in San Francisco. PUBG’s developer announced that the public testing phase for the latest map will start in early April. The intent behind releasing a smaller map is to create a more intense style of gameplay.

The battle royale version of Fortnite eclipsed PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) for the total amount of Twitch weekly unique viewers and revenue earned in February. Fortnite had 14 million unique viewers on Twitch by the last week of February whereas PUBG had 8.7 million. The game from Epic earned US$126 million last month, while PUBG managed US$103 million.

Having received the "Best Mobile Innovation for Payment" award at the annual Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO Awards) earlier this year, Samsung Pay has just reached Italy. This mobile payment service works with quite a few Samsung devices, including the new Galaxy S9/S9+ flagships.

The creator of the Steam Spy website, Sergey Galyonkin, has claimed that 2017 has been a very good year for the video-game distribution platform Steam. He stated that the platform made an estimated US$4.3 billion in revenue from paid game sales, up from US$3.5 billion in 2016. Steam was developed, and is operated, by the Valve Corporation.

The Huawei Honor 6X was released back in 2016 on Android Marshmallow. It received the update to Nougat a few months later and is set for one final blaze, with confirmation on Huawei's forums touting a May 2018 Oreo rollout for the device.

The Indian Redmi Note 5 Pro launched on Android Nougat, while its Chinese variant ran on Oreo out of the box. The latter enjoys Treble support, and a discovery has shown that users of the Indian model can flash the Chinese Oreo build on their devices with TWRP, granting them Treble superpowers.

More than a year since the first Technical Alpha test that involved 1,000 players, Sea of Thieves is finally available for everyone to play. This game is available globally for Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One consoles for a price tag of US$59.99, but it can also be acquired as a part of various bundles.

Scheduled to be generally available in the second half of this year, Windows Server 2019 is now accessible via Microsoft's Insiders program in a Preview stage. This operating system is based on the foundation of Windows Server 2016 and is expected to have the same licensing model as its predecessor.

Officially released in English back in mid-April 2011, World of Tanks received many updates in the years that followed, but now it finally gets a whole new graphics engine with support for DirectX 11 features such as tessellation, remastered in-game music and improved sounds, a new garage, and more.

Although Xiaomi released Android 8.0 Oreo for the Mi A1 handset before the end of 2017 as they previously had promised, the first security patch of the new year arrives with a long delay. Even worse, the new firmware does not bring Android 8.1 or the latest security patch from Google, only packing last month's update and nothing else.

Tencent Games released its mobile port of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds a while ago in China. The game was launched in Canada earlier in the week, and has finally been made available globally. Coming in as a free 700 MB install, PUBG Mobile may just represent the future of mobile gaming.

Since Vladimir Putin will be in charge for a few more years, it looks like Telegram might end up being blocked in Russia. A set of laws introduced back in 2016 required Telegram to give the government a way to decrypt all user conversations, and they received a fine of US$14,000 for failing to do so. Now, Telegram users in Russia should prepare for the worst.