Новости за 12.08.2021

Amazon has reportedly scrapped a policy that claimed ownership rights to any games that employees created outside of work. Under the previous rules, the company required employees to using Amazon products while working on personal projects and to distribute those games on its storefronts.

When the Galaxy Z Flip 3 goes on sale later this month, you’ll be able to buy it from Google Fi, marking the first time the MVNO has sold a foldable device. Moreover, if you decide to pre-order the clamshell phone from the search giant, you can get a $400 bill credit.

Microsoft is updating some of the apps that come preloaded with Windows 11. To start, you’ll find a new version of the Snipping Tool that borrows a handful of features from Microsoft’s Snip & Sketch app. Press the “Win,” “Shift” and “S” keys on your keyboard simultaneously to activate the software and then select the part of your screen you want to capture. Once you’ve snapped a screenshot, you’ll find various tools that allow you to edit and annotate the image. With Windows 11, the Snipping Tool also finally includes a dark mode... Читать дальше...

Last week, Apple previewed a number of updates meant to beef up child safety features on its devices. Among them: a new technology that can scan the photos on users’ devices in order to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Though the change was widely praised by some lawmakers and child safety advocates, it prompted immediate pushback from many security and privacy experts, who say the update amounts to Apple walking back its commitment to putting user privacy above all else.

We learned all the way back in December that the terrific Spelunky and Spelunky 2 were coming to Nintendo Switch sometime this summer, and the wait's almost over — at least in a few regions. The two games will hit the eShop in North America, Europe and Australia on August 26th, adding another pair of indie gems to the Switch library.

According to an internal company document obtained by Motherboard, Amazon plans to monitor how its employees use their keyboards and mice to prevent customer data leaks. The retailer is reportedly leaning toward licensing tools from a company called BehavioSec.

Google has banned SafeGraph, a company that captured and sold Android users' location data. Android developers who used the company's software development kit (SDK) were given seven days to remove SafeGraph's location gathering tools from their apps or face possible ejection from the Play Store, as Motherboard reported.

Disney’s upcoming Home Alone reboot will arrive just in time for the holidays. 20th Century Studios announced today Home Sweet Home Alone will debut on November 12th. There's no trailer yet, but the cast looks promising.  

Polestar is finally ready to confirm pricing and details for its more affordable single-motor Polestar 2. As Autoblogreports, the 2022 "entry-level" EV will start at $45,900 before incentives, or a cool $14,000 below the original dual-motor version's price. If you're in California, that cost after incentives could dip to a relatively low $34,900. That's no mean feat when it offers the longest range of the bunch at an EPA-estimated 265 miles.

Three years after taking on Brexit in Not Tonight, publisher No More Robots and developer PanicBarn are working on a sequel to the satirical political RPG. Not Tonight 2 takes place in a supposedly alternate version of the US, where "capitalism and political greed have taken center stage and democracy is a thing of the past." 

Verizon (currently Engadget's parent company) is still betting on streaming bonuses to win over new subscribers. The carrier has launched a promo that gives Fios and wireless subscribers up to a year of 'free' AMC+ streaming. Not surprisingly, you'll only get the full 12 months if you spend the most — you'll have to either sign up for a Mix & Match Fios plan or activate a new line on one of the network's better unlimited wireless plans (Play More, Do More or Get More) while buying one of the company's "best" 5G-capable phones. Читать дальше...

Zagreus might struggle to escape the Underworld, but he's no longer bound by the confines of PC and Nintendo Switch. Hades, widely regarded as one of the best games of 2020, is coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and PS5 on August 13th. It'll be on Xbox Game Pass on Xbox and PC on the same date.

Foxconn is getting more serious about its electric vehicle ambitions. The company told investors during an earnings call that it plans to build EV factories in the US and Thailand in 2022 and start mass producing vehicles the following year. Chairman Liu Young-way said the company is also in talks regarding possible locations for plants in Europe.

If you’ve been holding out for VR hardware to mature, you chose wisely. Headsets have come a long way since the launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive five years ago. Standalone devices like the Oculus Quest 2 let you hop into virtual reality anywhere, while also giving you the flexibility of streaming virtual reality from powerful PCs. And if you don't care about dealing with a wired headset, there are a plethora of high-end options out there. Most importantly, there are plenty of memorable VR experiences like Vader Immortal and Half-LIfe... Читать дальше...

TikTok's determination to clean up its feeds now includes significant limits on its app for the teenage crowd. The social video service is limiting the visibility of teens' videos, with the most restrictions applying to the youngest users. Teens aged 13 to 15 are set to private by default, and will have to decide who can see a video the first time they post. They'll have that option for every video they post beyond that, and they won't have access to Duet or Stitch features.

Honor, the smartphone manufacturer that was, until late last year, Huawei’s budget division, is back. Not that it ever really went away, you understand, since it’s already released the View 40 and Honor 50 in its homeland while under its new owners. But today marks the first time that it is launching a flagship phone to the global market as an independent company. Free from the US sanctions that rocked its former parent, Honor is once again able to use American software (hello, Android 11) and silicon (hello, Qualcomm). Читать дальше...

Three senior designers pivotal to Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft are no longer at Activision Blizzard. Kotaku confirmed the trio of abrupt departures after initially learning about them from internal sources. They include Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, lead designer Jesse McCree, and World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft. Insiders told the publication that the three developers names had been removed from Blizzard’s internal directory and Slack. 

The UK's competition regulator has found that Facebook's acquisition of GIF-sharing platform Giphy will harm competition within social media and digital advertising. As part of its provisional decision, the watchdog voiced concerns that Facebook could prevent rivals including TikTok and Snapchat from accessing Giphy, a service they already use. It added that Facebook could also require customers of the GIF platform to hand over more data in return for access. If its objections are confirmed as part of the ongoing review... Читать дальше...

I’m not sold on foldable phones. They’re expensive, have questionable durability and — at least so far — don’t offer a compelling reason for the form factor. Having said all that, the Galaxy Z Flip 3, Samsung’s new clamshell foldable, is almost enough to change my mind.

While we wait for Nerf to come to Oculus VR, Hasbro has unveiled a new game featuring its toy blasters. Nerf Legends is a first-person arena shooter with a sci-fi twist that sees players battling robots across 19 single player levels. There's also online multiplayer including four versus four and eight player free-for-all modes.  

Zoom has unveiled a new feature called Focus Mode designed to keep students from distracting each in virtual classrooms. When activated, it allows the teacher to see all the students, but each student can only see the teacher or host. That way, a teacher could activate it during lectures to minimize distractions and then turn it on for class discussions. 

With the launch of Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 series and Google's new Wear OS version, Spotify has introduced a significant update to its Wear OS app, the company announced. Much like a feature it added to its Apple Watch app last May, Spotify's updated Wear OS app will let you stream and download music straight to your watch, so you can listen to it without the need for a smartphone or even a connection. 

The following contains some spoilers for the second season premiere of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks.’

Criterion has unveiled its first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases with a six-film slate that includes Citizen Kane, Menace II Society, The Piano, Mulholland Dr., The Red Shoes, and A Hard Day’s Night. The new releases will give film buffs a chance to see some of these films with the highest detail ever, even during their theatrical runs. 

Medium has announced changes to its Partner Program, offering writers extra incentives for referring new subscribers. At the same time, it's making it more difficult for contributors to join the Partner Program based on follower numbers and other criteria, the platform announced yesterday.