Software

A dedicated fan of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has spent the past few years working on a remake of the classic title in Unreal Engine 4. He recently released a demo of the first village and dungeon, and the results are stunning. The fan, known as CryZENx, has said that he will continue working on the project throughout 2019.

Under normal circumstances, the most up-to-date version of Windows begins to drag in a majority of market share (defined as the percentage of PCs that run it) in the year of its release. Windows 10 1809 has not enjoyed this level of success so far. In fact, according to a new report by AdDuplex, it has only attained 6.6% of the total market share from 2016 to 2018.

The Android One program is becoming increasingly popular due to the apparent certainty of two years' worth of regular updates for the phones sold under it. Recently, however, Google has removed the text to this effect from the Android website, leading to user fears that this pledge was being rescinded. However, the company has asserted that this is not the case.

The Snapdragon Wear 3100 release event included announcements that Louis Vuitton would be one of the first OEMs to launch a smartwatch including this next-gen processor. It seems the fashion house has finally delivered with a new version of its Tambour Horizon device. This model may have improved battery life and ambient mode features.

As a sort of early holiday present, Samsung announced that the Galaxy S9 and S9+ would be updated to Android 9.0 (Pie) from December 24 onwards. However, few regions have actually seen the upgrade for these devices as yet. Some users who have managed to install it may face more battery drain than usual.

Months after sending out the Pie beta update, Huawei has finally begun the rollout of the stable Android Pie update. There’s a slight issue with that, though: Honor flagships aren’t part of the initial rollout.

The LG G7 ThinQ will reportedly have access to an official, stable update to Pie (Android 9.0) in the first quarter of 2019. This is according to a Korean-language document that appears to be a company roadmap for the software updates to come for the OEM's most recent flagships in 2019.

Microsoft has reportedly begun to induce PCs to download and install the latest Windows 10 update, whether the user seeks for it or not. The company claims that this is necessary to protect devices against security threats. However, there are a number of workarounds for this situation.

A test feature rolled-out by Instagram has been met with the apparent universal disapproval of the social network’s army of fans. The updated software meant Instagram users had to swipe through feeds in a horizontal manner rather than via the tried and tested vertical scrolling method. Unsurprisingly, the update was rapidly rolled back.

OnePlus has begun sending out the stable Pie update to its last-gen flagships, the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T. The devices were launched on Android Nougat, and this will likely be the last major update they receive.

The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus may have got their Christmas gift, in the form of an update to stable Pie with One UI, already. Now, Samsung has released the update schedule for all other models eligible to receive the latest Android update. The Galaxy Note FE, which was released in 2017, is notable by its absence.

Fallout 76 has been lambasted by users and critics over its significant bugs and lack of playability at launch. Its developers, Bethesda, has attempted to make restitution for these shortcomings through an offer of free access to older Fallout titles on PC to all who logged into '76, regardless of platform.

Christmas has come early for some Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ owners. In a surprise move, Samsung has today released its Android 9 Pie-based One UI update for both devices in certain countries. One UI is available now as an OTA update in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the UAE, according to SamMobile.

The Zanco smart pen is a stylus with (nearly) all the features of a smartphone crammed into it. It has physical buttons, a click-pad, front and rear cameras and even a teeny tiny screen. It is intended as a smartphone replacement or companion (much like the Palm phone) and can also function as a Bluetooth remote for screens for purposes such as presentation. So far, it has raised just over US$50,000 on Kickstarter.

After the start of the global Pie rollout for the Mate 10 and P20 phones, Huawei is set to send out the Pie update to older flagships like the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro, P10, and P10 Plus. Of course, that won't be until March next year.

The RTX 2070 with Max-Q design is NVIDIA's upcoming mid-range laptop card. It has been spotted in leaked Final Fantasy XV benchmarks. The results (assuming they are genuine) put the new mobile GPU at the top of a list that also includes the GTX 1080 (desktop and Max-Q versions) and the Radeon RX Vega.

Even the best speakers in smartphones struggle to produce even a relatively small amount of bass. Dirac, a rapidly-growing name in device audio, wants to change that with its new Dirac Bass feature. This tweak, which boosts the bass synthetically, is to be unveiled at CES 2019.

The Galaxy S10 series may introduce Bright Night, Samsung's take on the super-low-light image-capturing feature. Hints to this effect were found in part of the code from a One UI beta for the Galaxy Note 9. This trend may be well-established by now, but may still be a valuable selling point for the Korean OEM.

A Videocardz correspondent claims to have received tips to the effect that NVIDIA will be bringing out a Turing-based card without ray-tracing capabilities next year. It may be called either the GTX 1160 or GTX 1660 Ti, and may be launched alongside the RTX 2060. This putative card is rumored to incorporate the TU116 GPU.

HMD Global sent out the Android Pie update to the Nokia 8 a few days ago. This is the second major OS update the device has now received and will likely be the last. The update itself leaves a lot to be desired, however, with a few major Pie features found missing.

Lemmings, the classic PC puzzler, has launched on iOS and Android. The smartphone port retains many of the gameplay elements of the original, but controls and level design have been optimized for mobile gaming. The levels themselves will be procedurally generated, but there will (sadly) be a variety of in-app purchases.

Microsoft has issued a patch to fix a day-zero security flaw in Internet Explorer that affected a myriad of versions and systems. The flaw, which affected IE's scripting engine and how it handles memory, could allow attackers to break into a targeted system and assume full control. Attackers could then view and edit data, install programs, and create administrator accounts. Google alerted Microsoft to the vulnerability earlier this month.

The current Windows Insider Preview build (or Windows 10 19H1) has been updated to include support for the 'shruggie' and other emojis of its types in the OS' hotkeys. This may finally bring a welcome end to workarounds with keyboard shortcuts and so on. 19H1 should be available in early 2019.

A number of Pixel 3 and 3XL owners have reportedly taken to the Google Product Forums to complain about issues with voice-calls on their devices. These problems apparently include low-quality in-call audio, connection issues and more. On the other hand, there are claims that the December Android 9.0 software update is a solution in some cases.

NVIDIA's Titan RTX, the best-spec'd (and most expensive) iteration of Turing architecture out there, has been reportedly overclocked and benchmarked. A Twitter enthusiast has claimed that it achieved just over 41,000 in the graphics portion of 3DMark Fire Strike. However, JayzTwoCents asserts that his own Titan RTX did not break 37,000 in the same sub-test, and that it was not much faster overall than an overclocked RTX 2080 Ti.

Thanks to the 7.10 patch, the list of Android phones officially supported by Fortnite now also includes the Nokia 8.1, Oppo R17/R17 Pro, Samsung A8s/A9, Vivo Z3, and the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE. The update also comes with the "14 Days of Fortnite" holiday special event, but the Driftboard has been delayed.

The My Office app will soon be replaced by a new piece of code that Microsoft has decided to simply name "Office" and that will be delivered as an automatic update in the coming months. The new app will also be available for download from the Microsoft Store, but its launch date is still unknown.

Tencent Games has asserted that it has drawn level with Epic Games' Fortnite in terms of mobile user numbers for its own game, PUBG. This means that PUBG has made it to about 200 million users. It is estimated that both games also have the same approximate number of users who play at least once a day (30 million).

Have an hour to kill and want a free copy of Assassin's Creed Odyssey? Google is giving a digital copy of the game to users who demo Project Stream, the search giant's venture into the world of online game streaming services. Project Stream is currently an invite-only program, but its free to sign up. If you can log an hour of gameplay before January 15th, Google will send you a download code for Assassin's Creed Odyssey via Ubisoft's Uplay service.

Are you tired of using Photoshop to clear the background from your photos so you can replace it? The makers of remove.bg clearly thinks you are. It offers a service in which its AI identifies the main subject matter of any image, then makes the background around it transparent.

Earlier in the year, reports of some party or parties purporting to be Elon Musk in order to bilk Twitter users out of Bitcoin surfaced online. Now, it seems that this tactic is back, in the form of Facebook comments this time. This scheme involves replying to posts under branded names and profile pictures, asking for a certain amount of Bitcoin in return for entry into a competition for much more of the cryptocurrency. So far, The Verge and Bitmain have been reportedly imitated for this scam.

A Forbes reporter had a replica of his own head, made via 3D-printing, commissioned from a company that specializes in the same. He was able to use this object to unlock four Android phones (from different OEMs), but not an iPhone X. This suggests that Face ID remains the more powerful device-security tool.

Microsoft will soon be introducing Windows Sandbox as an optional feature in upcoming builds of Windows 10 19H1. Windows Sandbox offers a secure, isolated, and disposable environment to test out suspicious programs and prevent them from affecting the main OS installation. Windows Sandbox will be offered in Professional and Enterprise SKUs of Windows 10 and does not require any additional addons or VHDs to run.

Less than two years since it launched the Oath subsidiary, Verizon has decided to rebrand it as Verizon Media Group. This change will become effective on January 8, which also happens to be the day when next year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will open its gates for the public (after two days of media-only events).

A new post to the Android Developers Blog details the measures Google is taking to address the issue of fake reviews or ratings on the Play Store. They are described as a combination of AI and human expertise. The post claims that they have already resulted in the removal of millions of reviews from the Store.

It's no secret that Cortana is losing favor with the PC-using public, and possibly also with Microsoft developers in some departments. A well-regarded Windows-focused leaker claims to have found evidence that the digital assistant may be replaceable in future versions of the OS. This is also somewhat corroborated by the fact Amazon's Alexa is now available in Windows' Store.

The Xiaomi POCO F1 has reportedly received an update to official stable Pie, following a recent beta to test the same. However, it's not all good news for fans of the device: some users have claimed that it no longer includes an option to hide the notch in the UI. The update has brought other apparent problems, most notably unusual battery drain.

Many Android phones, flagships and budget flagships included, often fail to integrate Widevine L1 support into their software. As a result, they lack the ability to play DRM-protected content such as that provided by Netflix in full HD or HDR. The Mate 20 series was one of these; however, this series has finally acquired the ability to stream in HD, while the Mate 20 itself can do so in HDR.

UMIDIGI has released details on its upcoming new smartphone, the F1, on its official website. This device will come with Android Pie out of the box, as well as SD card support and a 5,150mAh battery. UMIDIGI claims that inbuilt AI helps the battery last longer over time by learning usage patterns and habits.

War Thunder 1.85 "Supersonic" is a major update to Gaijin Entertainment's flagship product and — as its name suggests — it comes with supersonic aircraft. Other noticeable changes include the Italian ground vehicles tree, thermal guided air-to-air missiles, new ships, new locations, and many minor adjustments.

More than a decade after its founding, Tumblr has finally reached a critical point and has decided to turn into "a better, more positive" version of itself by banning adult content, including nudity (with some exceptions). The new guidelines will be enforced starting today, but the affected pages will not disappear overnight.

Razer has unleashed a version of its Raiju controllers for smartphones. It is ostensibly designed to compete with similar products made by Xiaomi and Asus, although it may fit devices besides the company's own gaming-focused smartphones. The 'mobile' Raiju features the Mecha-Tactile action buttons found on the Ultimate variant of this controller.

The most recent versions of Windows 10 has an option in settings that apparently prevent the OS sending your activity history to Microsoft. However, HowToGeek has reported that these options may be insufficient in the case of app-history tracking. This information may still be collected unless every relevant privacy setting possible is modified.

Tetsuya Nomura, the Game Director for the hotly anticipated Kingdom Hearts III, has taken to Twitter to ask the game's fans not to share the recent leaks. This material includes gameplay footage, a secret movie and other spoilers. Nomura claims that this request will enable everyone to 'experience the game equally'.

Discord, the popular communication client, has announced that they will begin a 90/10 revenue share scheme for the Discord store in 2019. This will give 90% of all revenue from game sales on the Discord store to the game developer while Discord keeps the remaining 10%. This is quite a shift from the typical 70/30 sharing scheme and a step further than Epic's 88/12 share.

A list of the 100 worst passwords of 2018 has been published online, and “123456” and “password” have taken the top two spots. These howlers are closely followed by the equally poor “123456789,” “12345678,” and “12345.” The annual list of the most-used worst passwords is compiled by SplashData, the company that created the SplashID and TeamsID password managers.

Get your NES and SNES Classic Edition consoles while you can. Reggie Fils-Aimé, Nintendo of America President and COO, has announced that the company has stopped manufacturing both Classic Edition consoles. Fils-Aimé confirmed that the consoles will be available this holiday season in the Americas, but that Nintendo will not be producing anymore once they go out of stock.

The developer of a new home-made app claims that it allows for the streaming of PC games to the Nintendo Switch. Unlike many other similar attempts in the past, this version apparently has reduced latency and allows for the full control of said games. It is currently available for Windows only, however.

NVIDIA has released a new Game Ready driver that is available to download for RTX and GeForce GPUs. The new driver adds Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) beta to Final Fantasy XV and brings updates to GeForce Experience too.

Chrome 73 is now rumored to add a feature that can organize tabs into certain sets to the browser. This may be most reminiscent of the similar function that Microsoft is reportedly set to bring to Windows File Explorer in the future. In addition, it is now alleged that Google will add a dark mode to Chrome 73 for Macs.