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This week, audio on Twitter with Spaces, Starlink’s internet service is open, and Bethesda games are now part of the Xbox ecosystem. But first, new handsets are coming from Samsung.

Samsung announces three new mid-range handsets

In an online event today, Samsung showed off the latest updates to its A series of mid-range smartphones.

The Galaxy A52, Galaxy A52 5G, and Galaxy A72 have brighter screens and faster refresh rates compared to last year’s A51 and A72 models.

Specifically, the A52 and A72 have a 90 Hz refresh, while the A52 5G goes up to 120 Hz.

The two A52 units have a 6.5-inch super AMOLED screen, which is 6.7 inches in the A72.

One enhancement that is uncommon in mid-tier handsets is optical image stabilization, which helps improve the quality of photos and videos, especially in low light conditions.

The cameras in the new A series are also improved, with a 64 megapixel main camera, a 12 MP ultra-wide, and a 5 MP macro lens. The A52 and A52 5G have an additional 5 MP depth sensor, used to enhance images, while the A72 replaces it with an 8 MP telephoto.

Pricing and specific Canadian availability have not been disclosed.

Twitter Spaces brings audio to the social platform

While everyone, it seems, has been talking about Clubhouse, Twitter has quietly soft launched Spaces, a feature where people can hold “live audio conversations”.

Twitter Spaces enables people using the Android or iOS versions of Twitter to listen in to conversations that people hosting Spaces are having.

For the past few months, Twitter has allowed “a very small feedback group” to test drive Spaces. The company plans on launching Spaces for all users in April.

Twitter records all the conversations that happen in Spaces and hosts can download the audio as well as a transcription, which enables podcasting options.

Until you can host your own Spaces, you can access those being hosted by people you follow at the top of your timeline where Fleets are displayed.

Starlink’s satellite internet is up and running and people are mostly happy

Starlink, the SpaceX spinoff venture to create a constellation of mini satellites around the Earth to provide internet services, has launched its beta phase.

In an article for Fast Company, Rob Pegoraro reports on “early adopters” sharing their experiences on Reddit are mostly happy with what they’re getting.

It’s not for everyone. Cable and fibre are faster and more reliable and the current configuration of Starlink satellites means that service is only available to more northerly locations.

And it’s not cheap. The equipment to get set up costs more than $750 and a montly subscription to the service is $150.

But for those with DSL or old satellite connections and in rural areas were internet connections are tenuous, Starlink may be an option. The company has more than 1,000 devices zipping around at an elevation of about 550 km.

The Fast Company article quotes Leigh Phillips from Kelowna as being “more than satisfied” with the service.

Bethesda officially becomes part of Xbox, 20 new games available on Xbox Game Pass

Microsoft has completed its acquisition of video game developer and publisher ZeniMax Media, and last week we learned more about what that means for the industry.

ZeniMax was home to Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, and others, developers of some of the most notable franchises of the last 20 years including The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Dishonored, Doom, and Wolfenstein.

The deal provides an instant boost to Xbox because 20 games, many from those franchises, are now available to anyone with an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

For those with a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. 16 of those games can be played on Windows, an Xbox console, or on mobile devices.

For those with an Xbox Series X/S, five of those titles – Dishonored, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Prey – benefit from FPS Boost, which provides an improved frame rate to nearly 60 frames per second.

Which only serves to make the Xbox Game Pass (and Ultimate) the best deal in gaming. For the price of $17 Cdn a month, players get access to more than a hundred games.

When the Microsoft acquisition was first announced, the big question was what this would mean for fans of these games who play on Sony’s Playstation consoles. Xbox head Phil Spencer clarified this in an online event from Bethesda’s headquarters.

Bethesda head of marketing Pete Hines asked Spencer outright about whether new games were going to be exclusive.

Spencer did not mince words. “If you are an Xbox customer, the thing I want you to know is this is about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists,” he said, adding, “That’s our goal. That’s why we’re doing this. (The quote comes at 9:34 of the video here.)

So if you want to be playing the next chapters of the Elder Scrolls or Fallout, you’ll be doing it on an Xbox console or Windows computer.

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This week, Sonos’ new Roam speaker, Raddish and Raya are cooking, what to do with the kids during spring break, and virtual reality and the PS5. But first, expected Chinese hackers are making a mess of Microsoft’s Exchange Server software.

Chaos worldwide as organizations running Microsoft email software hacked

Microsoft revealed last week that it had released security updates for its Exchange Server software, which tens of thousands of organizations around the world use for email.

Computer security journalist Brian Krebs wrote that the flaws were first exploited in early January.

The hacks have allegedly been carried out by a group Microsoft is calling Hafnium, believed to be sponsored by the Chinese government.

In another article on the incident, Krebs quotes a source as saying that even if organizations patch their software, they were likely already impacted and the race is on to remove the backdoors that were installed through the hack before others are added by the bad actors.

Global News reported that the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said it “could not disclose whether Canadian organizations or individuals were targeted in the attack as well.”

Sonos introduces Roam portable speaker

Sonos is expanding its line of portable speakers with the announcement of Roam, an ultra portable that was created to be taken out and about.

The Roam has a rounded triangular shape that is small enough to be carried in one hand, and weighs only 430 grams (less than a pound).

Sonos says it will give you 10 hours of playtime, and when you’re not using it the device goes to sleep to preserve power – it will maintain a charge for up to 10 days – and it wakes in an instant. It will charge with any Qi wireless charger or with the included USB-C cable. Sonos is also selling a wireless charging dock with magnets to keep the Roam in place.

The Roam is designed to be used outside, and has an IP67 rating for dust and waterproofing.

Like all Sonos speakers it has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity; the Roam automatically switches to whichever connection it needs as you move around, and a new feature called “Sound Swap” throws the music to the speaker that is closest to where you are.

And like Sonos’ other portable, the Move, Roam boasts “Automatic Trueplay”, which adjusts the sound based on the environment you’re in.

As with all Sonos products, the Roam will connect to other Sonos speakers and you can pair two Roams for a stereo experience.

The Roam costs $229 and can be preordered now for release on April 20. The magnetic charging dock costs $69.

Raddish cooking club for kids ties in with Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon

Raddish is doing dinner and a movie in a new way: your kids are going to make the dinner that goes with the new film, Raya and the Last Dragon.

The company is all about developing a love for cooking in kids. It’s a cooking club, and with a subscription comes a monthly delivery of three themed recipes and instructions and a shopping list.

The menu for Raya and the Last Dragon is free, and includes recipes for shrimp noodles, pork lettuce wraps, and mango sticky rice.

Virtual cultural excursions for kids and families alike

Spring break is either arriving soon or already happening depending on where you are in Canada. And while nobody’s going to Hawaii or Mexico or Florida, there are some fun virtual excursions you can do with your kids.

Check out these options:

Virtual reality made for Sony’s PS5 is a thing, but not this year

When the Playstation 5 was released last fall, I wondered what was going on with Sony’s virtual reality system. Now we know.

Playstation VR, PSVR, works with the PS5, but it is technology that is more than four years old, an epoch in the virtual reality space.

The next generation PSVR is being built for the PS5, and while we don’t have a firm release date, we do know that we won’t see the new system this year.

In a blog post, Playstation revealed that the new system would connect to the PS5 using a single cord, as opposed to the four-cord setup of the original model. That’s in addition to better resolution and better tracking.

We also learned that there will be a new VR controller which “will incorporate some of the key features found in the DualSense wireless controller”.

While I don’t have a PSVR myself, I have written about my experiences with it, when it first released and after previewing a bunch of new titles.

Not all experiences were great, but those that were great absolutely transported me somewhere else.

For those with a PSVR, there are six new games being released this year, including After the Fall, Zenith, I Expect You to Die 2, Fracked, Song in the Smoke, and Doom 3: VR.

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