Tech Talk

Saying I've played worse games isn't exactly a compliment, even if it's true. The Alien series already had a video game entry to tarnish its name, so it was only a matter of time before Predator got one. I don't think Predator's will go down quite as badly (there were a lot of other factors that led to Colonial Marines' controversy), but at the very least, the game will fade into obscurity. There's nothing memorable about it. Developer IllFonic had a lot to learn from its other asymmetrical multiplayer title, Friday the 13th: The Game, which was met with mediocre reception, and it appears that the studio couldn't quite capitalize on that knowledge. Predator: Hunting Grounds is a mess. There's fleeting enjoyment to be had if you can team up with your friends, but it remains unbalanced, unpolished, and lacks the soul worthy of the franchise name. That's not to say Predator needs to, or even intends to be taken seriously. Its movie entries ra

The update hasn't started rolling out in the U.S. yet. What you need to know Samsung has started rolling out a new software update for its flagship Galaxy S20 series phones. The update comes with the latest May 2020 Android security patch. It is currently rolling out only in select countries in Europe, but is soon expected to expand to other markets. Samsung rolled out a software update to fix the Galaxy S20 Ultra's green tint issue last week. Some owners of the Exynos 990-powered Galaxy S20 Ultra variants had started complaining about the display green tint issue after installing the April 2020 security update on their phones. Just a week after releasing the fix for the green tint issue, Samsung is now pushing a new update for the Galaxy S20 series phones. As per the folks at SamMobile , the latest update arrives as version G98xxXXS2ATD5 and brings the latest May 2020 security patch. According to the official changelog, the update doesn't come with any new

Google has announced that its Meet videoconferencing service will be free to use for anyone with a Google account from next month. Following a gradual rollout through May, Meet will no longer be exclusive to paying G-Suite members, and will remain open to Google account holders until September 30, 2020. Google Meet offers many of the features that have made Zoom so popular in recent weeks, including video conferencing for up to 100 participants, the option to schedule meetings, and screen-sharing capabilities. We've invested years in making Meet a secure and reliable video conferencing solution that's trusted by schools, governments and enterprises around the world, and in recent months we've accelerated the release of top-requested features to make it even more helpful. Starting in early May, anyone with an email address can sign up for Meet and enjoy many of the same features available to our business and education users, such as simple scheduling and screen shari

OnePlus added native screen recording to OxygenOS in 2019, so if you're using a phone that has OxygenOS 9.5 and above, you can use the feature. You get a lot of customization options with the screen recorder, and the ability to record audio as well. Here's how to enable the feature on your OnePlus phone, and how to maximize its potential. How to add Screen Recorder as a shortcut The screen recorder option is available as a shortcut in the settings tray on the notification pane. It isn't listed in the default pane, so you'll have to add the tile from the settings customization window. Here's how to do it: Pull down on the status bar to reveal the notification drawer. Pull down once again to reveal all the settings. Select the Pencil icon at the bottom of the notification drawer to add more tiles. Hold and drag the Screen Recorder tile from the bottom to the notification drawer. Choose the position for the tile in the tray. Hit the Back button t

Google's Meet takes the battle to Zoom as it goes free for all What you need to know Google Meet is now free for everyone. Anyone with a Google account will be able to create and join meetings over the coming weeks. It's not entirely the same as the paid version, Google will be enforcing a 60-minute time limit from September 30. Google this morning announced that it would be making Google Meet, its premier video-conferencing product, free for everyone over the coming weeks. It had previously offered the product as part of its paid G-Suite offerings, but now it'll let anyone with a Google account sign-up to the service now. Google will eventually have limits on the free version of Meet, mostly related to how long a meeting can be run (60 mins, or 20 more than Zoom's limitations). For now, it's providing all of Meet's features for free. This will include the Zoom-like Grid layout it introduced a few weeks back, dedicated mobile apps, strong controls t

The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music, as evidenced by the world’s biggest music streaming company, appears to be minimal. Today Spotify reported its earnings for Q1 with revenues of €1.848 billion ($2 billion at today’s rates) and an inching into a positive net income of $1 million. Monthly active users (not total subscribers) now stand at 286 million, with paid (premium) users at 130 million and ad-supported monthly active users at 163 million. Ad-supported users are growing at a slightly higher rate at the moment, at 32% versus 31%, Spotify said. Spotify beat  analysts’ forecasts on both sales — they had on average been expecting revenues of $1.86 billion — and EPS, which had been forecast to be -$0.49 but came in at -$0.20 on a diluted basis and $0.00 undiluted. The numbers underscore the positive signals we’ve had from the wider industry. More generally, we have seen a huge boost in streaming media services — includ

Apple has agreed to pay $18 million to settle a California class-action lawsuit that accused it of intentionally breaking FaceTime in iOS 6 to force users to upgrade to iOS 7. According to the lawsuit, originally filed in 2017 , Apple forced users to upgrade so it could avoid payments on a data deal with Akamai. Apple used two connection methods when it launched ‌‌FaceTime‌‌ in 2010: a peer-to-peer method that created a direct connection between two iPhones, and a relay method that used data servers from content delivery network company Akamai Technologies. Apple's peer-to-peer ‌‌FaceTime‌‌ technology was found to infringe on VirnetX's patents in 2012, however, so the company began to shift toward the relay method, which used Akamai's servers. Within a year, Apple was paying $50 million in fees to Akamai, according to testimony from the VirnetX trial. Apple eventually solved the problem by creating new peer-to-peer technology that would debut in iOS 7. The class-