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Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Sony, Nvidia — all of them are trying to dominate the early and emerging market of streaming games, hosted from powerful servers and broadcast directly to players' screens without the need of a gaming PC or console. But it looks like yet another challenger is approaching this new battlefield, and it has a familiar name: Netflix.
Pokémon GO reverses course: You'll be able to hit that Pokestop from the other block again
The boosted distance for gyms and stops is here to stay
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pokémon GO developer Niantic was met with a conundrum: how do you keep people playing a game that's all about going outside and congregating in specific places when doing so will literally kill people? Among other player-friendly changes, the company boosted the distance it took to activate stops and gyms from 40 meters to 80 meters, making it a lot easier to hit from across the street (or the parking lot).
Samsung vows to remotely brick stolen TVs
A press release says that the company can shut down any of its smart televisions once they're connected to the internet
Having more or less every appliance in your home constantly connected to global interconnected networks can enable some remarkable tools. And not just tools for the consumer: device manufactures are finding themselves able to exercise more and more control over the things they sell after the sale is made. The latest example is a batch of Samsung TVs, which the company says it will remotely disable after they were stolen from a warehouse.
Microsoft is ending support for Android Office apps on Chromebooks
Time to switch to a web-based editor
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Do you use Chrome OS's Android app powers to run Microsoft Office apps on your Chromebook? Well Microsoft would like you to stop, please. And starting in September, the company will do more than ask. Office apps originally intended for Android will no longer be supported on Chrome OS beginning next month, according to a Microsoft spokesperson.
Last week the creator platform OnlyFans announced that it would be getting rid of explicit content on its site as of October of this year. The announcement was akin to the ocean announcing that it was totally over this whole "water" thing. After instant backlash from both its own creators and the wider internet, the company has reversed its plans, saying that it's suspended the change.
Hulu finally gets HDR support on some devices, but not the ones we were hoping for most
Android TV: "Am I a joke to you?"
Listen up, streaming nerds: if you really want to make the best out of your low-cost, cord-cutting entertainment setup, you'll need to pour at least ten grand into an awesome home theater setup. Which won't help at all if your streaming service of choice doesn't actually support all of that eye-melting hi-fi tech. So what took y'all so long, Hulu?
Destiny 2 crossplay is now live across Stadia, PC, Xbox, and PlayStation
After a shaky start, it's finally ready to go
One of the more persistent problems with Stadia is that, due to a relatively low amount of players versus established platforms like Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, its multiplayer games can sometimes feel a little empty. Destiny 2 will fix that problem sometime this fall ... or right the hell now, because the developers accidentally turned on crossplay a little early.
Take $20 off Fitbit's newest fitness tracker in any color
The stylish Luxe is down to $130 on Amazon and other retailers today
If you don't want something as bulky as a full smartwatch, which incidentally also lasts a lot longer on a charge, the Fitbit Luxe is your sweet spot. This model was just released in April, designed to deliver the core fitness tracking info of Fitbit's brand while also being sleeker and more stylish than conventional trackers like the Charge. It's $20 off on Amazon today, coming in at a cool $130. The Luxe tracks heart rate, workouts, and sleeping, pretty much the bare minimum of the fitness tracker game, while grating access to the more robust tools in Fitbit's ecosystem. It also tracks SpO2 (blood oxygen percentage), a more intense metric that even some more expensive models like the Versa 3 can't handle. Its 50 meters of water resistance make it great for swimming, and it can handle basic notifications for text, email, calendar, and other apps from your phone. Finally, its 5-day battery life will outlast pretty much any of the more fully-featured watches on the market.Oh yeah: it also works as a watch.
The design of the Luxe is also a lot more sleek than most of Fitbit's lineup, encouraging users to add on accessories like trendy bands and... okay, it's pretty much just bands. But some of them look pretty! All of the Luxe's various finish (black, silver, gold) and band combinations are on sale today, with the exception of the "Special Edition" version with the gold bracelet. Amazon and other retailers including the official Fitbit store are offering the discount.Buy: Amazon
Google's upgrading Chrome Tab Groups with the ability to save them for later
It's live in Canary for desktop, but doesn't seem to be fully working yet
Chrome's Tab Groups feature is an excellent way to stay organized if, like me, you tend to let your tabs multiply faster than rabbits on a diet of Spanish fly. While Tab Groups can be renamed, collapsed, expanded, and even marked with a color for easy visibility, none of those changes stay with you into a new browser session. Until now, that is: a new flag option in the latest version of Chrome Canary lets users save tab groups.
Google Maps may finally show how much your tolls will cost
It would be a huge help to anyone trying to get around as cheaply as possible
Google constantly tweaks its Maps program to make it more useful for users (and, admittedly, all the businesses that pay to advertise in the app and on the web). According to a message sent to members of the Google Maps preview program, the next major feature to be added will be automatic display of prices for tolls on roads, bridges, and other potentially expensive additions to your navigation route.
AT&T says that alleged massive customer data hack didn't happen on its watch
"The information ... does not appear to have come from our systems."
Last week T-Mobile elicited groans after it confirmed a massive hack of customer data — its fourth such hack in four years. For a short time it appeared that something similar had happened to its in-country carrier rival, AT&T: a post on an illicit hacker forum claimed to have customer data from 70 million people, selling for $200,000. But in contrast with T-Mobile's response, AT&T says its investigation of the sample data indicates that it didn't come from the company's servers.
After launching a SFW app, OnlyFans is booting all sexually explicit content off the site
It looks like the site wants its future to be a lot less exciting
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OnlyFans has an Android app. On the Play Store. If you're familiar with the platform and its rather infamous "Patreon for porn" reputation, that might be confusing — doesn't the Play Store forbid outright porn? (It does!) This OnlyFans app only shows its safe for work content, both from more conventional creators and adult entertainers whose content is merely titillating instead of explicit.
Google Podcasts on the web is picking up a welcome feature from the Android app
The episode listening queue is now available via desktop browsers
Google's Podcasts client is surprisingly good. It's a nice alternative to the more established options, especially if you're looking for something simple and straightforward. Podcasts is available either on the web via desktop browsers, or as a dedicated mobile app on Android and iOS, with your audio subscriptions and progress saved in both. But before now, the saved playlist of episodes available on the app wasn't visible on the web. Now it is. Neat.
Today only: The Galaxy Chromebook 2 is on sale at an all-time low price
For the price it really should have started at
Samsung swung for the fences with its original Galaxy Chromebook, with premium materials, a svelte frame, and a stunning OLED screen. That ... um ... didn't work out. Turns out nobody wants Chromebook with a four-figure price and a one-figure battery life, even if the screen is amazing. The Galaxy Chromebook 2 is a bit more sedate and practical, including its much lower price tag. Today you can get it for an even lower price at Best Buy: $499, a cool $200 off.
Fossil's Gen 6 smartwatch leaks, for those who prefer Wear OS
It may be coming as soon as next month
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The Galaxy Watch4 turned a lot of heads recently, both for being a pretty darn good watch in its own right and the first model that uses the third-gen version of Wear OS, infused with Samsung's Tizen software. But early reviews indicate that the watch is, well, very Samsung: you'll have to dig deep to find the Wear foundations. A new leak from Fossil might catch the eye of anyone excited for a new generation of Wear OS hardware — admittedly, expected to run older software.
Hulu's one of the few companies that remembers Android has widgets
Apple did not, in fact, invent them last year
Look, watching a never-ending stream of television episodes probably isn't great for you. But streaming services basically live on that behavior, so they're not gonna judge you for it. In fact, they'd like you to binge a little more. To that end, Hulu is adding a couple of widgets to its Android app.
Google Fi, Google's self-branded, low-cost MVNO, often has some pretty compelling deals on new phones. Though its selection is small, it typically includes all of the current Pixel phones (naturally) and a smattering of high-profile Android devices from other manufacturers, including Samsung and Motorola. A recent change in the promotion terms means that more people are eligible for the service's steep phone discounts: specifically, people who've tried Google Fi before and left for less Googley pastures.
Netflix brings HD and HDR support to the OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, and 8T
Among lots of other OnePlus and Oppo phones
If you've been binging your favorite Netflix show on a recent phone from OnePlus or Oppo, you might have been missing a lot. The Android app has to certify that the devices it's running on (and the software they're using) are of sufficient quality to enable HD playback. That probably has more to do with anti-piracy measures than performance, but that doesn't matter a whole lot to customers who are stuck with lower-quality video.
The Pixel Buds A-Series come to 10 new countries next week
They'll be available in Australia, Japan, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Singapore, and the UK
The Pixel Buds A-Series are pretty freakin' sweet as TWE headphones go, hitting a great balance of price and features. Taylor Kerns said that at $100, they make the original and much pricier model "irrelevant," even with the loss of wireless charging. The availability for the low-price buds has been updated on Google's official support page, coming to nine new countries next week.
The Pixel 6 will follow in Apple and Samsung's footsteps in one important way
The Pixel 5a is the last Google phone that will come with a charger in the box
Do you really need another power brick with your next phone? Google, following in the footsteps of Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, thinks that you don't. The company has announced that the Pixel 5a, just announced (and reviewed!) today, is the last Pixel phone that will come with a charger in the box.