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‘F1 Drive to Survive,’ ‘American Gods,’ and ‘Superstore’

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This week there’s another flood of Netflix content, including Alfre Woodard’s Juanita, Walk. Ride. Rodeo. and the documentary F1: Drive to Survive. For gamers, Devil May Cry 5 is a highlight, along with Beat Cop. Creed II and The Favourite are notable movies arriving on Blu-ray, but we’ll be tuning in this weekend to see the second season of American Gods, as well as the premiere of HBO’s The Case Against Adnan Syed. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

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The next season of ‘Destiny 2’ kicks off March 5th with a Gambit focus

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Players who’ve bought into the Annual Pass will have access to Gambit Prime, a hardcore version of the PvE/PvP hybrid mode that condenses everything into one round and encourages specialization (including through gear tailored to certain roles). There’s also a cooperative experience, The Reckoning, that aims to be a “fast-paced” battle with progressively more difficult tiers. Allegiance Quests, meanwhile, ask you to play missions from the perspective of either the Vanguard or the Drifter.

There are meaningful changes whether or not you’ve ponied up for the Annual Pass. You can start private Gambit matches and participate special occasions like The Revelry and Arc Week. More importantly, you won’t have to spend the season making up for lost time if you haven’t been keeping up. The Drifter will offer Power Surge Bounties that will help level 50 characters quickly jump to a 640 Power level and give them a fighting chance in modes that require higher-level hardware.

This season lasts through May and will be followed by the Season of Opulence in June. Bungie isn’t providing any additional clues as to what that third season entails. However, we’d expect the developer to offer more insight on its post-Activision design direction.

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Uber expands its Rewards program to all US cities

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Uber Rewards, which launched on the heels of a similar program by Lyft, gives users an incentive to spend on both ridesharing and take-out thanks to Uber Eats. Each dollar spent helps you meet one of four membership levels: blue, gold, platinum and diamond. At any level, you’ll get a $5 credit for every 500 points earned, and as you move up the ranks, you’ll gain access to perks like priority airport pickup, flexible cancellations and price protections.

While Uber has expanded beyond ride-sharing to including bike and scooter options, the company isn’t rewarding people who choose those modes of transit just yet. (But the personal satisfaction and health benefits that come with biking to work are their own reward.) For now, you’ll earn one point for every dollar spent on UberPool and Uber Eats; two points for UberX, UberXL, Select, and WAV; and three points for Black and Black SUV. The next step will likely be to roll this out internationally, but Uber has yet to make any announcements hinting at that.

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Instant Pot’s creator is merging with the company behind Pyrex

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It’s not certain how this will affect the Instant Pot line itself, but Instant Brands will continue to operate out of its home in Ottawa, Canada. Wang will stick around as the combined firm’s Chief Innovation Officer, while Corelle’s Ken Wilkes will run the united company. Corelle expects the deal to close in the second quarter of the year.

There’s no immediate hint as to how this might change the Instant Pot line, but it could easily mean a lot for distribution and exposure — it could be easier to pick up the multi-purpose cooker. This could also give the company more freedom to take chances, such as introducing new technology to Instant Pot or exploring unfamiliar device categories.

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House Democrats will introduce bill to reinstate net neutrality rules

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If the bill represents a full return to the 2015 rules, it would ban internet providers from blocking or slowing legal content, including through roundabout means like “fast lanes” where customers pay for better performance. The post-repeal FCC allows these restrictions so long as ISPs disclose what they’re doing.

The measure faces stiff odds. While the Senate voted for a net neutrality bill in 2018, there’s no guarantee it will do the same for its equivalent of the Save the Internet Act. Moreover, that bill only passed by a narrow margin. Unless it received enough votes to override the presidential veto, there’s a real chance President Trump would reject the Act. The House move may be more of a symbolic gesture in the current political climate than a realistic attempt at restoring net neutrality.

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Social robot Jibo does one last dance before its servers shut down

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While Jibo was designed to be a social robot, it won’t have much to say going forward. A Jibo owner posted a video showing the bot’s sudden limitations. It will continue to respond when users try to activate it by saying “Hey Jibo,” but it won’t understand other voice commands. Instead, the bot will display buttons on its touch screen display that feature functions it can still perform. The bot also warned that its mobile app will also shut down soon and advises users to download any pictures they took, at risk of otherwise losing them.

Jibo was a crowdfunding success when its creators launched an Indiegogo campaign in 2014, raising $3.6 million from backers. It took nearly three years for the company to finally get the bot in the hands of its supporters. By that time, smart speakers like Amazon’s Alexa devices and Google Home were already on the market. Jibo quickly fell behind in attracting third-party support and sold its intellectual property assets to investment management firm SQN Venture Partners last year.



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Google says it was paying men less than women in some jobs

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Following the results of its annual pay equity study, Google has given 10,677 employees $9.7 million in additional compensation. It’s not clear how many men received pay increases. The figures increased massively from last year, when Google paid $270,000 to narrow the wage gap for 228 workers.

As part of the study, Google looked for pay discrepancies in offers to new hires. This accounted for 49 percent of the total spent on pay adjustment.

Google also acknowledged adjusting pay directly is only part of the issue. “Because leveling, performance ratings, and promotion impact pay, this year, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of these processes to make sure the outcomes are fair and equitable for all employees,” Lauren Barbato, lead analyst for pay equity and people analytics, wrote in a blog post.

In its pay equity analysis, Google looks for “look for unexplained differences in total compensation (salary, bonus, and equity) across demographic groups.” The analysis included 91 percent of employees and it examined every job group with a minimum of 30 employees and “at least five Googlers per demographic group for which we have data (e.g., at least five men and at least five women).”

Google has faced a number of gender pay gap accusations. In 2017, it tussled with the Labor Department over pay gap data, and it’s battling a discrimination lawsuit over wages. In November, thousands of employees walked out to protest pay and opportunity inequality, as well as a reported $90 million payout to former Android head Andy Rubin. He left the company amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Workers also used the opportunity to criticize forced arbitration in harassment and discrimination cases. Google has since made such arbitration optional.

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Samsung Galaxy S10+ review: Another predictably great flagship

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One UI

After years of being criticized for its heavy-handed software, Samsung’s finally revamped its interface, which makes the S10+ feel fresher than its older siblings. I like the new font and the subtle layout tweaks that make everything easier to use with one hand. Take the brightness slider for example — One UI places it nearer to the bottom of the Quick Settings panel for easier reach. Other minor tweaks include using bigger text overall and toggles are spread out so they’re closer to the sides of the screen — again making them easier to reach. Though Samsung gave us new app icons in One UI, I didn’t like their primary colors and basic shapes. But you can always just install an alternative icon pack if you want.

One UI adds a new Night Mode that reverses the color scheme so the Settings interface uses a black background with light text, making it easier on your eyes at night. I also appreciate Smart Popup notifications, which makes alerts from apps you select show up in a Facebook Chat heads-style bubble on top of the screen. Tapping each bubble opens the app in a small, resizable window that you can stack on top of other panels which really speeds up replying to messages and emails. I wish Samsung made it easier to dismiss these, though. Instead of being able to flick them away, you’ll have to press each badge and press the X on the top right to get rid of them. If this all sounds too cumbersome, you don’t have to enable Smart Popup — it’s disabled by default.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ review

Another new One UI feature is Bixby Routines, which surprised me with how helpful they are. You can set them up yourself, or wait for the phone to suggest some after it’s learned your habits. I set a routine called “Going to work” that kicks in every weekday at 3pm (just for testing purposes, I don’t actually go to work at that time). It bumps the display brightness up to 60 percent, changes the lock screen shortcuts to Spotify and Camera, and automatically sends a text to callers saying “I’ll call you back later”. I found the nighttime routine particularly useful, since I set it to automatically dim the screen, activate Do Not Disturb, Night Mode and the Blue light filter until my alarm wakes me up. This saves me several steps each night, and reminds me to get ready for bed.

You can choose between set times of day, connectivity or location as the triggers for the routines, and tell Bixby to change almost anything on your phone. It’s surprisingly comprehensive, more than what IFTTT and Google have offered, and with enough fine tuning you could customize Routines to become extremely useful.

Performance and battery life

More importantly, the Galaxy S10+ is a powerhouse (as expected). It blazed through loading PUBG Mobile, my Instagram feed and webpages in Chrome, and switched between those apps, my messages, Telegram and Google Docs effortlessly. Though, even with up to 12GB of RAM at its disposal, the Snapdragon 855 chip struggled to keep up when it came to more intensive tasks like recording multiple stabilized videos in HDR.

The phone ran hot after my fourth or fifth consecutive 30-second clip, and the high temperatures were likely exacerbated by the fact that I was sitting in the sun. Under the heat, the S10+ refused to record video on numerous attempts, and often took a few seconds to save my footage after I hit stop. The good news is, the S10+ cooled down within a few minutes and resumed the speedy performance I was used to.

This generally breezy behavior is supposed to be aided by AI, which Samsung says will learn from my patterns to understand which background apps to close and what apps to devote more resources to. Just like the Huawei P20 Pro, the S10+ doesn’t obviously show that happening, but its smooth overall performance speaks for itself.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ review

The AI is also meant to squeeze “24 hours+” of juice out of the S10 and S10+’s 3,400mAh and 4,100mAh cells respectively. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this claim was actually true. I typically got through two full days out of the S10+ with light use (messages and photo taking) before needing a charge.

Even with heavier camera use and generating multiple AR emoji, the phone hung around for a day and a half before throwing up a low power warning. On our battery test (looping Full HD video on 50 percent brightness), the S10+ clocked about 17 and a half hours, which is longer than the Galaxy Note 9 and the Pixel 3 XL. I got to a point where I was comfortable leaving my apartment even if the S10+ was only at 60 percent after forgetting to plug it in the night before.

Wireless Powershare

The S10’s long-lasting battery can also give power to other devices, wirelessly. It has to be at least 30 percent charged for this to work, though, and it takes awhile to juice up other gadgets. I used it to try and charge up another journalist’s S10+ and it took three to five minutes to push through one percent of juice. This is really only useful for accessories with smaller batteries, like the Galaxy Buds and smartwatches. It’s also tricky to keep using the phone while you’re trying to keep another device firmly in contact with its back, so you can’t use your S10+ while charging something else.

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The best games for PlayStation 4

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Instead, we got together to imagine someone had never picked up a PlayStation 4 controller before. Why? I don’t know, maybe they went for an Xbox One and are looking to catch up on exclusive games they’ve missed. Or they’ve been trapped down a well for 5 years, and have just returned home to discover a Fedex box dated November 15th 2013 on their door step. Or perhaps they just clicked on this article to scroll down to the comments and tell us how terrible our opinions are. Either way, these are the ten games we’d recommend to someone looking to see what PlayStation 4 is all about.

Bloodborne

Bloodborne

Bloodborne was an early winner this generation — a PS4-exclusive reimagining of the Dark Souls formula. Developer FromSoftware swapped out the Souls games’ gothic fantasy world for a… still-kinda-gothic fantasy world, but introduced a kinder difficulty curve and a faster-paced combat system. You play as a hunter, slowly progressing through a labyrinthine city, mastering your weapon and upgrading your stats. If you haven’t played Bloodborne yet, some of FromSoftware’s most memorable boss battles ever await you.

God of War

God of War

Sony’s God of War series had laid dormant for half a decade when its latest incarnation hit stores in early 2018, and for good reason. Antiquated gameplay and troubling themes had made it an ill-fit for the modern gaming landscape. No more. SIE Santa Monica Studio’s God of War manages to successfully reboot the series while turning the previous games’ narrative weaknesses into its strengths. Kratos is now a dad, the camera is now essentially strapped to his shoulder and Sony has what is sure to become a new series on its hands.

Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Zero Dawn

After years spent churning our various Killzone titles, developer Guerrilla Games finally cut loose with a rich and imaginative new game in Horizon Zero Dawn. The game blends gorgeous post-apocalyptic open world with combat, crafting and a quiet but memorable story. Sure, it might not break new ground, but Horizon does everything so well that it doesn’t even matter. It also, two years after its release, remains one of the most beautiful games of this generation.

Marvel’s Spider-Man

Marvel's Spider-Man

Finally, you don’t have to pick up Spider-Man 2 on the GameCube to get your web-slinging fix anymore. For almost 15 years, that game was held as the gold standard for a Spider-Man game, and I’ll let you into a secret: it wasn’t actually that good. Marvel’s Spider-Man, on the other hand, is a tour de force. Featuring the best representation of what it’s like to swing through New York City, well, ever, Insomniac’s PS4 exclusive also borrows liberally from the Batman: Arkham series’ combat and throws in a story that, although it takes a while to get going, ends up in a jaw-dropping place. A must-buy.

Monster Hunter: World

Monster Hunter World

Monster Hunter has, for many, been impossible to decipher. It’s one of those series that we all know we should play, but trying to make your way through Monster Hunter 4 for the 3DS was a truly disorienting experience. All Monster Hunter: World had to do, then, was take the apparently winning gameplay formula and make it accessible. Good thing it did that, and more, then. It’s now easy to explain why you should pick this game up: fight monster, craft gear, fight harder monster, craft gear, fight harder monster. Or even, find friends, craft gear, fight enormous monster. It’s a pure gameplay loop that anyone can get on board with.

Persona 5

Persona 5

The third-best Persona game is still a very, very good game. The series’ trademark dungeon-crawler-plus-life-sim hook remains its biggest selling point, but Atlus takes that formula away from the Japanese countryside kicking and screaming into Tokyo. Oozing style and polish, and with a memorable and enormous cast, Persona 5 is the best RPG you can buy for your PS4.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the kind of game no one but Rockstar, the team behind the GTA series, could make. Only when a studio is this successful can it pour millions of dollars and man hours into a game. Rockstar’s simulation of a crumbling frontier world is enthralling, and serves as a perfect backdrop to an uncharacteristically measured story. While the studio’s gameplay may not have moved massively forward, the writing and characters of RDR2 will stay with you.

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard

Many were ready to write off the Resident Evil series after the disaster that was Resident Evil 6. What started as the horror game on the original PlayStation had become a bloated mess of an action game. Instead of throwing the whole franchise in the trash and forgetting about it, Capcom took a hard look at what wasn’t working, which — surprise! — was basically everything, and thoroughly rebooted the formula. Borrowing from Kojima’s PT and, in some ways, Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation, Resident Evil 7 Biohazard is horror through powerlessness. For the majority of the game, you’re basically unable to do anything but run from or delay your foes. And that’s what makes it so good.

Tetris Effect

Tetris Effect

Tetris Effect is both the best Tetris game in years and the best PSVR game perhaps ever. From the mind of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the developer behind Rez, Lumines and Child of Eden, Tetris Effect blends classic Tetris game play with music and a whole lot of particle effects to create something that’s more than the sum of its parts. Immersive to the point of transcendentalism.

Until Dawn

Until Dawn

If Resident Evil 7 is a grindhouse horror classic, Until Dawn is a slasher movie through and through. Essentially a very fancy point-and-click adventure game, Until Dawn follows a group of eight teens inexplicably doing the “cabin in the woods” thing. It’s your job to guide them through countless decisions and try to get as many of them to the end of the game alive. With a rich “butterfly effect” branching story, Until Dawn is very replayable, and actually makes a fantastic party game for anyone tired of always playing Mario Kart or Smash Bros. at every gathering.

The best games
Explore our top picks for every system

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  • Monday: PlayStation 4
  • Tuesday: Xbox One
  • Wednesday: Switch
  • Thursday: PC
  • Friday: Mobile
  • Saturday: Free-to-play

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