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Nintendo is holding a ‘Direct Mini’ partner game showcase today

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After holding a surprise “Direct Mini” event in March, Nintendo has announced that it’s holding another one, albeit on a smaller scale. Once again, this is happening with very little notice — it’ll start this morning at 10 AM ET, to be exact. “On 7/20 we’ll debut the first #NintendoDirect Mini: Partner Showcase, a series focused on titles from our development & publishing partners,” the company wrote on Twitter.

This morning’s pre-recorded video won’t be as long and information-packed as the first one. “We’ll share a few updates on a small group of previously-announced #NintendoSwitch games,” Nintendo said. The video will last for about 10 minutes, according to Nintendo’s Japanese Twitter account.



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The glass back is peeling off some Pixel 4 XL phones

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We’ve asked Google for comment. However, it doesn’t appear to be treating the peeling backs as a recurring problem. Another Reddit user reported having to negotiate with Google to get their phone fixed under warranty.

It’s not certain how widespread the problem is, but the timing is less than ideal. Google appears close to releasing its budget Pixel 4a phone, and claims of poor build quality (even if for a different model) might hurt the 4a’s chances.

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Seven Hong Kong VPN providers accused of exposing private user data

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At least some of the information went offline, although it was visible in IoT search engine Shodan.io for 18 days.

One of the providers, UFO VPN, claimed that it couldn’t lock down its data quickly due to pandemic-related staff changes. It also maintained that the logs were only used for performance monitoring and were supposedly anonymized. CompariTech and VPNMentor say UFO’s claims are incorrect, though, pointing to sample data that mentions explicit names. As it stands, the zero-log claim is clearly untrue.

The incident underscores the problems with white label VPN services. It’s all too easy for some companies to rebrand services without being held to account for their claims. If you’re concerned about the privacy of your data, it may be better to stick to major brands.

It’s also particularly dangerous for Hong Kong. Critics of the government use VPNs precisely to avoid China’s surveillance and censorship. A data leak like this not only undermines the privacy of these VPNs, but risks making it easy for officials to crack down on dissidents. While it’s unclear how much of the info was made public, this could easily leave the VPN firms’ customers scrambling to switch providers and change login details.

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Samsung cuts weight and calorie intake tracking from its Health app

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Samsung has been steadily adding to its Health app’s capabilities, but now it appears ready to take a few features away. The tech giant is notifying users (via SamMobile) that it’s removing weight, calorie (that is, food intake) and caffeine tracking from Health with updates coming to its mobile and wearable apps in July. While the initial alert was targeted at Germany, it’s expected to reach users worldwide before long.

The company didn’t explain the decision. We’ve asked Samsung for comment.

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Microsoft stops offering 12-month Xbox Live Gold memberships

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Microsoft hasn’t just discontinued most of its outgoing Xbox One consoles — it also scrapped one of the staples of online Xbox gaming. The company confirmed to TrueAchievements (via IGN) that it stopped selling 12-month Xbox Live Gold memberships. You can still buy one- or three-month access, but you’re out of luck if you want to commit for the long term.

The spokesperson didn’t outline why Microsoft was discontinuing the year-long Gold offering. Gold is required to play most Xbox content online and provides free games each month.

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FTC investigation of Facebook may not finish before 2021

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Facebook and the FTC have declined to comment on the reports of progress into the investigations, although Facebook did say it was eager to share its “views on the competitive landscape” when Zuckerberg testifies to Congress on July 27th.

Many details of the case are under wraps, but they’re believed to focus on whether or not Facebook broke any antitrust laws through acquisitions. The company owns social media heavyweights Instagram and WhatsApp, and has been acquiring relevant companies like Giphy. Rivals have struggled to compete, although larger examples like Snapchat have continued to survive and sometimes thrive.

A 2021 finish could significantly alter the course of the investigation. The US might elect a new president in November, and that could easily lead to a replacement for FTC chairman Joseph Simons. If so, the antitrust case could take a new direction, with a different focus and expectations. This doesn’t mean Facebook would escape a penalty — if anything, it might face pressure from politicians eager to break up tech giants.

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Watch the UAE launch its first Mars mission at 5:58PM ET

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The United Arab Emirates is about to join a handful of nations with an interplanetary presence, and you can watch it make history. It’s launching its Hope Mars probe today (July 19th) at 5:58PM Eastern with plans to livestream the liftoff through a dedicated YouTube channel. Coverage starts at 3PM Eastern. The mission is symbolic for the UAE, which is still relatively new to space exploration, but could also provide major insights for the scientific community as a whole.

As Space.com notes, the probe is expected to reach Mars by early 2021, and will take up an unprecedented equatorial orbit that will help it study the planet’s atmosphere over the course of a Martian year (687 days) or longer. The probe will help gauge the rate at which Mars is losing hydrogen and oxygen to space. That, in turn, could shed light on the the planet’s watery past and predict its future.

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After Math: Twitter's very bad breach

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We’ve got a mixed bag of headlines for you this week, what with everything happening at the same time these days. Let’s take a look at Twitter’s worst Wednesday in living memory, as well as some stellar game sale numbers amid the COVID-19 shutdown an…

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OnePlus Nord will rely on Google’s calling and messaging apps

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OnePlus is still dribbling out details of its sub-$500 Nord ahead of the phone’s July 21st launch, and its latest may be noteworthy if you loathe redundant pre-installed apps. The company has revealed (via 9to5Google) that the Nord will use Google’s phone, Messages apps rather than OnePlus’ own. It’ll come with Duo, too. The phone maker wasn’t specific about the reasons why, but said the Google apps would deliver the “smoothest” experience.

Raw performance shouldn’t be an issue — the Nord will use a Snapdragon 765G that can easily handle a dialer or text chat. This does, however, give Nord owners access to RCS messaging, the deep integration of Duo video chats and a common calling experience. We wouldn’t expect OnePlus to make similar changes elsewhere, but it’s clear the company is willing to use stock apps if it thinks they’ll bring more users into the fold.



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GitHub is done depositing its open source codes in the Arctic

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Last year, GitHub revealed its plan to store all of its open source software in an Arctic vault as part of its Archive Program. Now the code-hosting platform is done making sure future generations can access them even if civilization collapses within the next 1,000 years. In a blog post celebrating the undertaking’s success, GitHub’s Director for Strategic Programs Julia Metcalf has revealed that the service’s code collection was deposited into the vault on July 8th, 2020 after delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

GitHub’s archive partner Piql wrote 21TB of repository data onto 186 reels of piqlFilm — a digital photosensitive archival film that can be read by a computer, or a human with a magnifying glass. You know, in case humanity suffers from global power outage. The service originally hoped to be done with the task by February, but it had to wait until it was possible for the Piql team to travel to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, which only recently re-opened its borders. It also had to drop its plans to send its own team to the Arctic.

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