Software

Keen-eyed gamers spotted a new "test" branch for Half-Life 2 on Steam, meaning that a new update for the historic game is coming soon. While this may be a simple bug fix, rumors are swirling that this update looks similar to the one the original Half-Life received for its 25th anniversary, which added gobs of new content.

The Forerunner 965 is now being offered a new update through Garmin's Beta Program. Rolling out as Beta Version 20.23, the update is the third v20.xx released so far for Garmin's premier Forerunner smartwatch.

A new update has landed for one of Garmin's former flagship smartwatches. Reportedly bringing 18 changes to the device, Beta Version 20.23 is available to download worldwide as an over-the-air (OTA) update.

Garmin has offered a new update to one of its older Forerunner smartwatches. Available to download now, the update brings nearly two dozen changes to the device, albeit only on Garmin's Beta Program for now.

Pindrop has unveiled the Pulse Inspect software to detect AI-deepfake voice clones to help stop fraud and disinformation. Cloned voices have become so convincingly real that millions have been lost to fraud, and fake phone calls and videos by politicians are becoming more common. The software reliably detects over 90% of AI-generated voices.

Sony has launched the FavoriteSpace VR world with Android and iOS smartphone apps to connect sports fans to their favorite teams. Users can enjoy VR replays, content, social games, and tours while interacting with other fans.

Garmin has issued yet another confusing update for one of its popular flagship smartwatches. Rolling out to its Beta Program, the update claims to resolve issues that could cause device shutdowns, among other changes.

Garmin has delivered another new update for one of its popular mid-range Forerunner smartwatches. Supposedly, the new update makes almost two-dozen changes to the Forerunner 265, albeit only for smartwatches enrolled on its Beta Program for now.

Garmin has rolled out a new update to the Forerunner 165, its most recent Forerunner smartwatch. Distributed as Beta Version 20.23, the update is said to resolve bugs that could cause issues during activities and on the notification glance screen, among other improvements.

Meta has been adding new features to WhatsApp for quite a while now, and it seems the company has one more that will likely roll out soon. In the latest beta version, the app introduces a new option called "Chat theme," allowing you to customize the appearance of chats.

Imagen 3 was first introduced during the I/O event in May, and Google has now quietly opened access to the AI image generation model. However, it's only available in the US at the moment.

Announced during the launch of Pixel Watch 3, Google Maps offline map support is now rolling out to other Wear OS smartwatches. With this feature enabled, all the offline maps you download on your phone will get auto-downloaded to a connected watch.

Microsoft is introducing a new function for the Phone Link app which, similar to Apple's AirDrop function, enables data to be shared wirelessly between Android devices and Windows PCs.

A paid software called Lossless Scaling on Steam has just been updated, and it now can offer up to 4x FPS boost with frame generation tech. It can also upscale games from a lower resolution, making it stand as a good option to get a bit extra performance out of gaming handhelds and relatively low-end systems.

Based on the stable Deepin 23 distro, ExTiX 24.8 comes with the 6.10.3-amd64-exton kernel (equivalent to the 6.10.3 stable kernel) and Google Chrome 127.0.6533.119-1, which replaces the Deepin Browser. Compared to Deepin 23, ExTiX 24.8 also sports the Synaptic Package Manager.

CheckMag Android power users love splurging those hard-earned salaries on apps to make their lives not only more efficient, but full of fun as well. Let's take a look at some of the best paid Android apps for August 2024.

The first version of Geekbench AI is here, and it enables you to check the AI performance of your PC's NPU, GPU, and CPU. While Primate Labs is presenting the tool as a new benchmarking software, it's basically the Geekbench ML with a marketing-friendly term.

Released yesterday (Aug 15), Deepin 23 sets a new standard for Debian-based Linux distros. This update introduces atomic updates alongside support for new hardware architectures such as ARM64, LoongArch64, and RISC-V. The custom Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE) now provides an even more user-friendly computing experience.

xAI has released Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini beta AI LLMs on X with the enterprise API arriving later this month. Grok-2 ranked among the four most powerful large-language models on the LMSYS leaderboard and among the top six across a range of standardized AI benchmarks.

If you own an Amazon Fire Tablet, you can use Fire Toolbox to circumvent some of its more annoying limitations. You can do things like install the Google Play Store, change your launcher, and on some models, even disable system-level ads.

A recent SteamOS beta update mentions support for the extra keys of the Asus ROG Ally. This hinted that third-party handhelds could get official support for the operating system that runs on Steam Deck. Valve has now said that the team is "making steady progress" on adding official support for other gaming handhelds.

Gone are the days of review bombs and copypasta on Steam; replaced instead by review bombs and copypasta with extra steps. Valve's new Helpfulness System will rank helpful Steam reviews as such and place them higher on a game's store page.

Garmin has announced which Android smartphones support its renowned satellite SOS response service. While currently limited to four smartphones, Garmin has hinted that Garmin Response could eventually be available 'across additional Android devices' too.

The Edward Snowden-endorsed live Linux distro Tails is back with version 6.6. This refresh brings Thunderbird and Tor Browser up to date, as well as packing support for new hardware and improving the persistent storage capabilities of this Debian-based piece of code, which targets those seeking complete Internet anonymity.

The Xbox Game Bar is getting a new Compact Mode that aims to make the overlay Windows gaming handheld-friendly. Microsoft is currently testing the mode in the Xbox Insider Program, and it is currently available to the members of the program.

Microsoft's quest for a better Start menu continues, and the latest beta version (22635.4010), now available via the Windows Insider Program, comes with automatic app categorization by type. The upcoming feature looks similar to the live tiles from Windows 10. Windows 11 users can still get live tiles via third-party apps, of course.

Apple is expanding support for its Adaptive Lighting feature to include smart lights compatible with the Matter smart home standard. Notably, the beta of iOS 18.1 already enables Adaptive Lighting for Nanoleaf’s Essentials Matter lights – the first ever Matter lights to use the feature in Apple Home.

Apple has reportedly forced Patreon into implementing iOS' in-app payment system within the Patreon app. Following the change, new memberships after November 4 will be charged a 30% App Store fee. Unsurprisingly, people, including Epic Game's Tim Sweeney and Elon Musk, hasn't taken the announcement well.

Opera has released its AI-powered Opera One browser for iPhones. The iOS app was in beta for a couple of weeks, and the stable release comes with a redesigned UI, free VPN, and built-in ad blocker. All these make it stand as a solid alternative to Safari.

Made by a fan of Rebecca Black, the Debian-based distribution simply called "RebeccaBlackOS" is a beta-stage live Linux with a login manager for Wayland, Qt 6, and only 64-bit support (the versions previously released, which arrived with Qt 5, supported 32-bit platforms as well).

Focused on delivering an easy initial setup and post-install configuration, IPFire is a Linux distro designed for firewalls. Version 2.29 Core 187 comes with an additional layer of protection against denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. This capability is useful in high-bandwidth and cloud deployment scenarios.

Intel's microcode update 0x129 dropped in an attempt to correct the unmitigated disaster that has become of Intel's 13th- and 14th-gen CPUs. While Intel initially claimed that the microcode update wouldn't affect performance at all, some multithreaded benchmark scores show as much as a 22% performance loss. Fortunately, gaming is unaffected by the update.

The highly anticipated Cosmic desktop environment has finally launched in alpha version alongside the Pop!_OS 24.04 alpha. The new Linux desktop environment is also available for Arch, Fedora, NixOS, and Serpent OS, with plans for openSUSE and Redox OS launches underway.

The "0.0.0.0 Day" vulnerability, discovered 18 years ago, allows malicious websites to bypass security protocols in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari, primarily affecting Linux and macOS devices. This flaw lets attackers remotely alter settings, access protected information, and potentially execute code on affected systems. Despite its initial disclosure in 2008, the vulnerability remains unresolved, though browser developers are now taking steps to address it. Additional security measures are recommended for developers to protect their applications.

Available for the Steam Deck Beta and Preview channels, SteamOS 3.6.9 Beta sports a rather long list of minor changes, including a faster cold boot alongside fixes for several external display-related issues and corrupted sound output. The Machenike G5 Pro and Asus ROG Raikiri Pro join the list of supported hardware. 

Google has released a new batch of updates for its Pixel devices from the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro onwards. Also available for the Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2, the updates are likely the final ones Google offers before unveiling the Pixel 9 and Pixel Watch 3 series next week.

Garmin has issued a new update for the Forerunner 265 on its Beta Program. While the changelog for Beta Version 20.21 stretches into double figures, so did its predecessor.

Google continues to take steps to deliver a desktop mode for its Pixel devices. Not only has the company added even more features in its recent Android 15 beta updates, but it has even enabled the functionality to run locally on a Pixel Tablet, just like Samsung DeX can on many Galaxy Tab tablets.

The Garmin Forerunner 965 is in line for another new beta update, following last month's release of Beta Version 20.15. This time, Garmin has released Beta Version 20.21, seemingly because of issues that affected its predecessor.

Garmin has now started rolling out a new stable update for the Instinct 2, Instinct 2S, Instinct 2X and Instinct Crossover. Building on last month's update, Software Version 16.11 addresses various outstanding issues with a host of bug fixes, including one related to resolving ongoing problems with Garmin's battery saver watch face.

A new teardown of Google app beta version 15.31.29.29 revealed that the company is working on new launch animations for its Gemini AI assistant. Resembling Apple's iOS 18.1 beta Siri animations, Google's design has a slightly different appearance effect, and a different color. One animation highlights the Gemini pop-up with a glowing border, while the other creates a full-screen wave emerging from the pop-up.

Samsung has started rolling out the first round of updates for its latest smartwatches. Supposedly, the two updates target performance and battery life issues that affected some Galaxy Watch7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra smartwatches at launch.

Valve's latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey data shows that Windows 10 has become even more popular than in June. Per the July 2024 report, the last-gen Microsoft operating system has gained 0.74% more users throughout the month, while Windows 11 has lost 0.82%, dropping to 45.81%.

Garmin has delivered a new update for three of its popular mid-range smartwatches. Rolling out now on its Beta Program, the update is said to improve swimming functionality for the trio.

Google is now less than a week away from unveiling new Pixel hardware. In the meantime, a reliable leaker has shared details of and a first look at a new weather app that will be exclusive to Google Pixel 9 smartphones, despite the fact that they will ship with Android 14 and not Android 15.

Xiaomi's upcoming HyperOS 2.0 may introduce a groundbreaking privacy feature. The rumored "Camera Scan" capability could revolutionize how users protect themselves from hidden cameras. As Xiaomi prepares to launch its next-generation operating system, this innovative technology might just be the tip of the iceberg.

OpenAI is said to have a powerful fingerprinting tool, which can supposedly detect ai-generated text with nearly 100% accuracy. However, internal arguments within are said to be keeping the company from deploying it for two years, reportedly due to concerns about the paying members and non-native English speakers.

The Motorola Moto Tag launched with the same use-case as the Apple AirTag and Samsung Galaxy SmartTag 2, not to mention some party tricks of its own. It is now available to buy in the US, albeit in limited choices of color and bundle SKUs. Meanwhile, its competitors have become cheaper on other platforms.

aiOla has launched Whisper-Medusa, an open-source AI model designed to improve automatic speech recognition. Combining OpenAI's Whisper with aiOla's technology, Whisper-Medusa claims to operate 50% faster than Whisper itself. This model supports over 100 languages and transforms unstructured speech data into actionable insights, showing future promise in industries such as aviation, logistics, and healthcare.