Published
Comments None
Categories |

This week, Samsung gets a jump on CES with details about new TVs, how you can visit Acer’s CES booth, getting in on a class-action claim against Microsoft, and Nintendo acquires a Vancouver game developer. But first, Apple is bringing some changes to how you are tracked by apps.

Apple is going to give users control over their privacy and Facebook isn’t happy about it

In the very near future, Apple is going to be rolling out a change to the way you use your Apple devices. You will be explicitly asked to provide permission to apps that want to track you.

It’s a shift from automatic “opt-in” to automatic “opt-out”.

But some companies that rely on advertising are concerned that they’ll find revenues plummet if people are asked if they want to be tracked or not.

Here’s what Apple CEO Tim Cook thinks:

Cook’s post came the day after Facebook launched a campaign complaining about Apple’s proposed change, in which Facebook claimed to be standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere.

Canadians who purchased certain Microsoft software qualify for class-action lawsuit

If you purchased Microsoft software between 1998 and 2010, you could be in for a settlement payment as part of a class-action lawsuit.

The suit was first filed in B.C. in 2005, and was finally settled in mediation last year.

If you purchased a license for Windows versions of Microsoft operating systems or its office software, you have until September 23, 2021 to make a claim.

If your claim is for under $250, you do not need to provide receipts.

Claims are to be submitted online.

Samsung First Look event gives us a sneak peek at new screens

In advance of CES 2021, Samsung today previewed what to expect from its lineup of televisions.

The company’s flagship QLED screens – the 8K QN900A and 4K QN90A – are getting mini LED technology, which use smaller diodes to deliver a picture with darker black colours and a more refined image. They’re also getting Samsung’s new Neo Quantum Processor which upscales content to 4K and 8K.

These new televisions are also getting new software features, including playing games at an ultraswide 32:9 aspect ratio and casting video calls from your smartphone to the TV. You’ll also be able to easily connect your Windows computer to use the TV as a monitor, or access your Microsoft productivity apps through the in-TV browser.

Samsung is also introducing the first consumer TVs that use micro LED technology, which are so small that there’s an LED for each pixel in the screen. To start, Samsung is releasing 110” and 99” models, with smaller micro LED screens planned for later this year.

Pricing and specific available dates for the new televisions hasn’t been announced.

Check out Acer’s CES booth for yourself this year

Normally, regular citizens can’t just attend CES. It’s a trade show, reserved for manufacturers, retailers, brokers, and the media.

But Acer is welcoming everyone to attend its virtual booth this year.

Starting on January 12, you can visit Acer’s digital experience to navigate through the videos and information in four zones:

  • Consumer
  • Commercial/education
  • Creator
  • Gaming

Register to visit the Acer CES showrooms.

Nintendo acquiring Vancouver developer Next Level Games

Nintendo announced this week [PDF] that it has an agreement to acquire Next Level Games, a Vancouver development studio that has been making video games for nearly 20 years.

While Next Level has worked on games for other partners, including Activision, Sega, and Ubisoft, in the past decade it’s been all Nintendo at the studio.

The developers have worked on Mario Strikers (soccer) and Punch-Out (boxing) franchises, and have really shone with the Luigi’s Mansion games, including 2019’s Luigi’s Mansion 3.

Published
Comments None
Categories |

This week, looking back at 2020 and what we searched for and what we’ve said we plan on doing next year and the two games you should be playing over the holiday season. But first, playing chess online.

How you can play chess against Beth from Queen’s Gambit

Interest in the game of chess has spiked in recent months thanks to the Netflix limited series, Queen’s Gambit.

Chess is a two-player game, and there’s a lot of that play that happens online these days. And now the website, chess.com, will let you play against Beth Harmon, the protagonist from the show (and the Walter Tevis book the series was based on).

There are seven versions of Beth that you can play, starting with the eight year old who has just learned the game, and ending with the 22 year old who wins the world championship.

Google search trends for 2020

There’s not many surprises in this year’s search trend list from Google. The U.S. election and coronavirus were the two most searched topics in Canada, and the two top Canadian topics were coronavirus and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

The number one “why” people asked of Google was, “Why are people buying toilet paper?” The number one “what” was, “What is coronavirus?”

The second most popular “what” question? “What does WAP mean?” Which tells me there’s lot of olds searching things on Google these days.

The Google Trends team also put together a flow through the things that captured the world’s attention, from the death of George Floyd to searches for “how to stop climate change”, from the popularity of toy poodles to the sudden cool of cranberry juice.

Ford Motor Company reports on trends for 2020 and into the future

This is the ninth year that Ford has issued a report looking at how global citizens confronted the past year and what that might mean as we step into the future.

It’s an interesting exercise this year, because as the company’s chief futurist writes in the introduction, “… even the most prepared organizations couldn’t have anticipated the pace and fury of change that unfolded over the course of 2020.”

The report was developed based on interviews with more than 13,000 people from 14 countries and is organized into seven themes:

  • Pressure points
  • Time to escape?
  • The company you keep
  • Minding the gap
  • Good buy
  • Traffic detour
  • Sustaining sustainability

One of the interesting topics for me was about personal transportation, and revealed the unsurprising result that about half of all people are less likely to use public or mass forms of transportation as a result of covid-19.

At the same time, 60% of people say they will need fewer vehicles for their household.

This seems to be a contradiction, but I think suggests that many people believe that remote work and work from home is going to become the new norm. You don’t need multiple cars if everybody’s staying home all the time.

Among Us and Fall Guys are the family games to play over the holiday break

We’ll all be spending time off over the next few weeks in our households, and while you may not be able to get together with all the friends and family you want to see, you can enjoy some quality time playing games together.

Two games you want to play are Among Us and Fall Guys, which are multiplayer games that are easy to play and fun to figure out.

Among Us, from Innersloth, is newly released on Nintendo’s Switch console, and is also available on Windows and mobile devices (Android and iOS).

The premise is that one of the crew on a space ship has been “replaced by a parasitic shapeshifter”. The task of the imposter is to avoid detection while hunting the crew. The crew need to maintain the ship and, when a body is found, determine which of them is the imposter.

It’s a cartoon version of John Carpenter’s The Thing. And it’s a riot.

One of the best things is that you can use unique codes to play only with your friend group if you want.

Fall Guys, meanwhile, is available on PS4 and PS5 and Windows.

It’s a series of obstacle course races that pits you against up to 60 players. Every round a bunch of players are eliminated, and the objective is to be the last player remaining.

Season three has just begun. The environments are all winter themed and new costumes have been made available, including a Santa outfit being given to everybody.

There’s also seven new events:

  • Ski Fall, a slip and slide
  • Tundra Run, a gauntlet style race
  • Freezy Peak, a climb to the top while dodging snowballs
  • Snowy Scrap, a team event
  • Pegwin Pursuit, catch tiny penguins 
  • Thin Ice, try not to slip off the course 
  • Roll Off, a twist on Roll out

← Older Newer →