Blog

Share your favorite memories of the original Game Boy

[ad_1]

In the ‘80s there were no Switches or smartphones to play portable video games on. For on-the-go gaming, you were mostly limited to things like Nintendo’s Game and Watch, or those cheesy Tiger Electronics handhelds. Then, in 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy. That now iconic gray chassis with its green pixelated screen was packaged with Tetris, selling over a million units in the first few weeks of release. It cemented itself into the hearts and minds of millions of gamers who now had the ability to travel with games Super Mario Land, Link’s Awakening and Kirby’s Dream Land. 

Few gamers forget the first time they used a Game Boy. For the 31st anniversary of the original system, we want to hear your memories of this historic handheld. What was the first game you played on a Game Boy? How did the portable console change your gaming habits? And how would you, in retrospect, review this influential system given the advancements that have happened since its release? Tell us all your fondest stories, favorite games and high scores in a user review on the Game Boy product page — and don’t forget, the best reviews may be included in upcoming user review roundup articles, so don’t leave out any details!  

[ad_2]

Source link

Apple Music is available on Samsung Smart TVs

[ad_1]

You no longer need an Apple TV box to play Apple Music on the big screen in your living room. As of today, Apple Music is available on 2018 and newer Samsung Smart TVs — the first time it’s been available from a TV maker, or any TV-bound media player for that matter. You’ll have access to the same features you’d find on other devices, including Beats 1 radio and music videos. The interface will also be very, very familiar if you’ve used the Apple TV version.

The service has been on a wide variety of non-Apple platforms for a while, including Android and Alexa-powered smart speakers. This is relatively uncharted territory, however. Apple Music integration has been an incentive to buy an Apple TV if you’re already invested in the company’s ecosystem, and now you might not need any external device to start listening on your TV.

[ad_2]

Source link

Bloomberg: Apple plans first ARM-powered Macs in 2021

[ad_1]

As Bloomberg reports, though, moving away from Intel will be difficult. The first Apple-designed chips will have 12 cores: eight high-performance ‘Firestorm’ cores and four energy-efficient ‘Icestorm’ cores, according to the business-focused publication. Like the iPhone and iPad, these chips will be based on ARM architecture, rather than x86. As we’ve seen with Microsoft’s Surface Pro X, this approach can offer better battery life and constant mobile connectivity. The downside, though, is that ARM-based hardware often struggles to match the power of x86 processors. Indeed, Bloomberg reports that Apple will likely begin with a laptop that doesn’t compete with its high-end MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac Pro desktop PC tower.

It could be a spiritual successor to the MacBook, a 12-inch laptop that was launched with Intel’s Broadwell Core M processors in 2015. The laptop was discontinued last July, however, after the improved MacBook Air made it obsolete.

Apple has been preparing this shift, codenamed Kalamata, for several years, according to the publication. It’s also working on a second-generation of Mac processors that are based on the same chip planned for next year’s iPhone.

To be clear, Apple is sticking with macOS. The move to ARM-based processors could, in the long run, make it easier to offer applications and software that flow seamlessly between smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop PC-sized screens. It’s unclear, though, what Apple will do to ensure app compatibility between ARM and x86-based Macs. The company unveiled Project Catalyst at WWDC last year, which makes it easier to develop cross-platform apps. If Apple wants to go all-in on ARM, though, it will need some kind of solution for legacy customers that still have older x86-based machines.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard such a rumor: just last month, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made a similar prediction. Apple has also shifted desktop architecture before. In 2005, the company announced that it would be moving away from IBM-produced PowerPC processors to Intel’s x86 chips. The first devices with the latter, a 15-inch MacBook Pro and iMac Core Duo, were announced in January 2006.

[ad_2]

Source link

Engadget The Morning After | Engadget

[ad_1]

Earth Day 2020 is over, but if you’d like to keep the celebration going at home then we have some advice. Nicole Lee has curated a list of apps that focus on environmentally friendly activities, while Andrew Tarantola has the inside line on live streams that showcase nature in all its majesty, even if you can’t actually experience it firsthand.

— Richard

Apple iPhone SE review (2020)

Chris Velazco explains why this is “the best budget smartphone out there.”

iPhone SE

Engadget

After a few years away, the iPhone SE is back. For 2020, the name is attached to an iPhone 8-style device that has been updated with the same A13 Bionic chipset as in the iPhone 11 family. With a starting price of $399, it provides an impressive amount of performance and camera wizardry without breaking the bank.
Continue reading.

Zoom 5.0 update will bring much-needed security upgrades

This is just one part of a 90-day plan to improve the platform.

Zoom

Zoom

A worldwide response to the coronavirus pandemic caused a surge in users for Zoom’s conferencing setup and also uncovered some unsettling flaws. As part of its response to security and privacy concerns, the company will release version 5.0 of its software this week with upgraded encryption and improved host controls, which include the ability to “report a user.” Make sure you grab that as soon as it’s released.
Continue reading.

Motorola’s flagship plans take shape with the $1,000 Edge+

The original plan was to reveal this at MWC.

Motorola Edge+

Engadget

Four years after its last true flagship phone, Motorola is back with the Edge+. While leaks spoiled most of the surprise, the official spec list is pretty good: a Snapdragon 865 with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of storage, support for mmWave and sub-6 5G, an 5,000mAh battery and 15W fast charging.

It also adds an Infinity Edge display with some software tweaks intended to make it more usable and useful than curved-edge devices we’ve seen in the past. Chris Velazco has thorough first impressions of the device, and some bad news — this high-end version with its $1,000+ price is exclusive to Verizon (Engadget’s parent company).
Continue reading.

Sponsored Content by StackCommerce

Stack Commerce

[ad_2]

Source link

Security firm details how hackers stole $1.3 million in wire transfers

[ad_1]

The Florentine Banker manipulates the conversation until the third party approves the new banking details and confirms the transaction. If the bank rejects the transaction due to a mismatch in the account currency, beneficiary name or any other reason, the attackers are there to fix the rejects until the money is in their own hands.

Next, the thieves registered lookalike domains visually similar to the domains of the companies involved in the email chains. Since the hackers had diverted legitimate messages, they could create new conversations or continue existing ones, with the target assuming that the email source was genuine.

At that point, the team was ready to demand money for what seemed like real investments. By posing as legitimate email correspondents, they could easily do that by substituting their own banking information for that of a bona fide party. That allowed them to intercept legitimate wire transfers and even create new ones.

“The Florentine Banker manipulates the conversation until the third party approves the new banking details and confirms the transaction,” according to Check Point. “If the bank rejects the transaction due to a mismatch in the account currency, beneficiary name or any other reason, the attackers are there to fix the rejects until the money is in their own hands.”

These types of attacks show how easy it (still) is for malicious players to manipulate emails in a way that’s easily missed by busy or inattentive company officials. Check Point said that, via an “emergency intervention,” it managed to recover about half of the £1.1 million in funds (around $1.3 million), but the rest of the money was lost.

As such, it advised companies to incorporate email security, educate employees and partners immediately, and add second-party verification by direct phone calls. These things all seem obvious, especially for firms dealing in large amounts of money, but we’ve obviously still got a lot to learn.

[ad_2]

Source link

FMV thriller ‘Telling Lies’ comes to PS4, Xbox One and Switch next week

[ad_1]

Telling Lies, the investigative FMV followup to the award-winning Her Story, is coming to the PS4, Xbox One and Switch next week. In the game, players man a computer console to search through hours of secretly filmed webcam footage located on a stolen NSA computer. The aim is to piece together stories of the four main characters and find out what happened during a “shocking incident” that links them all, according to the game’s description.

With four characters instead of one, Telling Lies is a much bigger, though not necessarily better game than the original, we found. However, it still features great experimental storytelling and standout performances from Prometheus‘ Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp from X-Men: Apocalypse, Westworld‘s Angela Sarafyan, and Kerry Bishé, who starred in Halt and Catch Fire.

[ad_2]

Source link

Steam’s narrative game festival opens this weekend

[ad_1]

Unlike GDC, Gamescom and other gaming conventions that had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, LudoNarraCon can proceed as planned. It’s been a digital-only festival even before COVID-19, after all, featuring narrative games from indie developers that will be available through Steam. The event, which will take place this weekend, will showcase 40 game exhibitors and feature over 20 playable demos. It will also have over 10 panels of game development discussions and will come hand-in-hand with a sale for over 50 narrative games.

You’ll be able to try out visual novels from various genres during the event, such as text-based horror game Beyond the Veil and cybernoir point and click adventure Chinatown Detective Agency. Sukeban Games will also be there with N1RV Ann-A, the sequel to cyberpunk bartender game VA-11 Hall-A. All the streams for the event will go live at launch — panels, however, will go online at different times throughout the weekend — and will be looped throughout LudoNarraCon’s duration. That means you’ll be able to attend the whole convention, so long as you check it out from April 24th through the 27th.

[ad_2]

Source link

DJI’s Mavic Air 2 will reportedly cost $799

[ad_1]

DJI is almost ready to unleash the Mavic Air 2. The FCC recently uploaded documents revealing the drone’s specs, and now DroneDJ has also obtained clearer and close-up images of the machine. According to the publication, a DJI partner site accidentally posted Mavic Air 2’s photos and price — it’ll cost $799 like the first Mavic Air — under a different drone.

Based on previous leaked information, the foldable drone will be powered by a battery that’s 50 percent larger than its predecessor and can even fly a few minutes longer than the Mavic 2. Further, it will boast a max speed of 42.5 miles per hour like the Mavic Air, and its camera will be able to capture images up to 48 megapixels, as well as 4K videos. In addition, it will feature 3-axis image stabilization and several intelligent automated photo modes, such as ActiveTrack 3.0 that allows users to pick a subject that the drone camera automatically follows.

[ad_2]

Source link

Ford’s electric Mustang dragster delivers over 1,400 horsepower

[ad_1]

Mustang Cobra Jet 1400

Ford

That’s even more power than the Mustang Lithium electric project car that appeared last year, and more than Chevrolet’s eCOPO Camaro prototype.

There aren’t many specifics listed on the components, but we’ll probably learn more before it appears at drag racing events later this year (hopefully) and makes a sneak peek appearance this weekend on Motor Trend On Demand’s “Hard Cell” series.

Mustang Cobra Jet 1400

Ford

[ad_2]

Source link

Valve: no reason for alarm over ‘CS:GO’ source code leak

[ad_1]

Earlier today, source code for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2 started to circulate, alarming gamers and modders who worried that they could expose security flaws. At least one project shut down as a precaution. However, code for the game has been previously available, this leak just spread it much wider.

According to Valve, in a statement posted from the CS: GO Twitter account, they “believe it to be a reposting of a limited CS:GO engine code depot released to partners in late 2017, and originally leaked in 2018” and found no reason for alarm among players. SteamDB operator Pavel Djundik suggested similar, saying it would probably provide “very little” help to cheat developers.



[ad_2]

Source link