Technology News for Thursday 12th May 2022

1. Pokémon Go Water Festival Catch Challenge 2022 quest steps and field research tasks

Water Festival: Catch Challenge is a timed research quest which is only available during the Water Festival event in Pokémon Go, which means you have until Friday, 20th May at 8pm (local time) to complete it. If you miss this deadline, then you won't be ...

2. Google I/O: AI Test kitchen, LaMDA2 and other key AI announcements

Google's I/O keynote last night saw several key announcements across products from the upcoming Android 13 to a more immersive view in Google Maps and of course, the new Pixel 6a. But Google also showcased its new machine learning and AI-focused ...

3. Starfield delayed to 2023, alongside Redfall

Bethesda's next big game, Starfield, has been delayed. The news comes via a Twitter post from the company, with the usual regrets and promises that it will make for the better game. Redfall, the next game from Arkane, is taking the same hit, ...

4. Google is failing to enforce its own ban on ads for stalkerware

According to research by mobile security firm Certo Software and confirmed by MIT Technology Review, Google Search queries related to tracking partners such as a wife or girlfriend commonly return ads for software and services that explicitly offer to spy ...

5. Google Has a Plan to Stop Its New AI From Being Dirty and Rude

Pichai said the chatbot, known as LaMDA 2, can converse on any topic and had performed well in tests with Google employees. He announced a forthcoming app called AI Test Kitchen that will make the bot available for outsiders to try. But Pichai added a ...

6. Here are the 4 most surprising takeaways from the first day of Google's I/O conference

Google opened its I/O developer conference with a grab-bag of a keynote. Over two hours Wednesday, a cast of characters from the Mountain View, California tech giant covered everything from AI-assisted ukulele lessons to the company's carbon-free ...

7. Pokemon Home Is Adding Support For Legends: Arceus, Diamond and Pearl "Soon"

The free update will add compatibility with the recently released Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl and Pokemon Legends: Arceus games. Once live, you'll be able to link those titles to Pokemon Home and transfer Pokemon between them.

8. Here's Mark Zuckerberg demonstrating Meta's high-end Project Cambria VR headset

While keeping the device itself cloaked, Meta highlights the upcoming headset's ability to do high-resolution, full-color passthrough so that wearers can interact with virtual objects overlaid onto their real-life environments.

9. Bethesda's Starfield and Redfall have been delayed to 2023

The new space exploration game, which Bethesda has released precious few details about (and, to this date, no actual gameplay footage of), will get some extra development time, as will Redfall, the vampire co-op shooter coming from the team at Arkane that ...

10. The Pixel's camera bar is here to stay, and that's a good thing

YouYou can spot an Apple iPhone from 20 paces away. I bet you'd be able to tell a Samsung Galaxy from that distance, too. Yet, until last year, a Google phone didn't have an eye-catching design language all its own. But this week, Google revealed that ...

11. Roku Ultra (2022) Review: Same Streamer, Same Price, Better Voice Remote

The remote is a nice upgrade, but the company's cheaper 4K streaming devices remain better values. Eli Blumenthal headshot. Eli Blumenthal.

12. HP's ZBook Studio G9 puts an RTX 3080 Ti in an ultraportable chassis

HP's ZBook Studio is widely acknowledged as one of the best workstation laptops on today's market. Last year's model came with a stunning OLED touchscreen, a customizable RGB keyboard, and a versatile set of features that you'll be hard-pressed to find ...

13. Android 13 Arrives at Google I/O: Here Are the New Features

It builds on the changes that came with Android 12 and offers more Material You personalizations, increased tools for privacy and security, more RCS messaging support, a revamped Google Wallet and better integrations with Chromebooks, watches, TVs, cars ...

14. Google is betting big on ambient computing. But it's getting it wrong

This is Google's vision of “ambient computing”—also called “ubiquitous computing,” “quiet computing,” and “calm technology”—an idea first popularized by Mark Weiser at Xerox PARC in the 1980s.

15. 'I was totally smitten': readers share their memories of the iPod

When the incredible but short-lived iPod Mini was released in 2004, it wasn't available in the UK at first. I had to ask friends in Florida to bring one over for my son's 12th birthday. He loved showing his friends this device that looked like it belonged ...

16. Sony Xperia 1 IV Has a 4K Display and an Actual Zoom Lens

The Xperia 1 IV is the world's first phone with a true optical zoom lens -- and yet, most people would be surprised to learn that Sony still makes phones. If you're a creative type, photographer, filmmaker, gamer or audiophile, Sony and its Xperia line of ...

17. How to use a VPN: Our simple step-by-step guide

Knowing what a VPN is one thing, but using one is whole different story. Here's our guide to setting up a VPN and hiding your digital tracks · How to use a VPN: the basics · Where to connect to · Specialty servers and options · Other Settings.

18. Top Twitter execs, including heads of revenue and consumer products, are out following Musk deal

Twitter GM of Consumer, Keyvon Beykpour, announced today he will be leaving the company after seven years. Beykpour first joined the social media platform by way of its acquisition of Periscope, which he founded, said in a tweet he was asked to leave ...

19. New Mario Strikers Trailer Shows Off Chaotic Soccer Action

Nintendo has shared a new trailer for its next Mario sports game, Mario Strikers: Battle League. The nearly five-minute video, embedded below, provides a lengthy overview of the upcoming arcade soccer game, showcasing character customization, ...

20. The Top Downloaded Apps in 2022

According to the report, total app downloads reached 36.9 billion in Q1 2022, a 1.4% increase compared to Q1 2021. A majority of the top 10 most downloaded apps were social media platforms, with ...

21. Google Brings CTRL F to Real Life With Phone Camera Search Feature

Google then overlays product information and ratings on the screen so you can find snacks with no nuts or scent-free lotion, search leader Prabhakar Raghavan said. It's an expansion of the Google Lens app.

22. Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones Review: The One to Beat

The redesign and new sound profile of these latest noise-canceling headphones may polarize some long-time Sony fans, but it's ultimately a superlative noise-canceling headphone. David Carnoy ...

23. Google updates Android Auto to better fit all the different sized touchscreens in cars today

Android Auto is getting another refresh, this time with a focus on the evolving nature of vehicle touchscreens. Google says the new split-screen display will be standard for all Android Auto users, allowing them to access key features like navigation, ...

24. Sony WH-1000XM5 review: new design, new sound, new price

SonySony has a brand new flagship set of noise-canceling headphones: the WH-1000XM5. And as much as we've ragged on Sony's terrible product names before, I think that at least with the 1000X series, people get it: these have always been among the very ...

25. Google's 'Premium' Pixel Tablet Is on the Way for 2023

The Pixel Tablet isn't coming until next year, but looks to be running similar Tensor chips as Google's Pixel phones. Google. Just when you thought ...

26. Google Has Big Plans for AR. Google Maps Could Be the Key

Before Google has its own pair of augmented reality glasses, it'll need AR to work everywhere. World-spanning AR that blankets the real world using map data has been a goal for several companies lately, and Google is layering its AR using Google Maps.

27. Meta's next headset has a secret superpower

Hello, and welcome to Protocol Entertainment, your guide to the business of the gaming and media industries. This Thursday, we've got the scoop on some of the advanced mixed-reality features of Meta's next VR headset, code-named Cambria.

28. Google I/O 2022 Product and Feature Announcements

Google announced various new products and features at its I/O 2022 conference on May 11, 2022. Among these were a new Pixel 6A smartphone, Pixel earbuds, the new Android 13 operating system, ...

29. New Pokémon HOME Update to Add Recent Pokémon Game Compatibility

For example, you will be able to take a Pikachu that you caught in Pokémon Sword or Pokémon Shield into Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, or Pokémon Shining Pearl. Please note that transferring ...

30. Bethesda Delays 'Starfield' And 'Redfall' To 2023, Leaving Xbox's 2022 Barren

Massive news this morning as Bethesda has done something both standard and simultaneously still surprising. They've delayed not just one, but two major releases, Redfall and Starfield, into 2023. Now in the Microsoft era, that means that the Xbox ...

31. Google's Pixel Watch Is Coming This Fall, With Some Familiar Fitbit Features

The watch has a domed circular design, runs on Google's Wear OS smartwatch software and includes some Fitbit health-tracking features. Google didn't announce a price but said it will be sold as a premium product.

32. Twitter fires two executives and freezes most hiring after Musk's deal to buy the company.

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter's chief executive fired two top executives, froze most new hiring and said he was slashing spending on Thursday, as the social media company tries to change its business trajectory while grappling with a takeover from Elon Musk, ...

33. Unlike Google Glass, These New AR Glasses Unveiled at I/O Might Actually Be Practical

Google's focus with these glasses appears to be helpful features such as language translation. Google acquired smart glasses maker North in 2020, and its work with Google Glass pioneered smart eyewear nearly a decade ago.

34. Dead Space Remake Launches January 2023

Originally announced last year, the Dead Space Remake rebuilds the original 2008 hit horror game from the ground up using EA's Frostbite game engine. The audio and visuals will receive a big upgrade, but the developer intends to keep the horror faithful to ...

35. Testing AMD's Fidelity FX Super Resolution 2.0

Deep Learning Super Sampling and Fidelity FX Super Resolution are technologies that use image upscaling to increase performance at higher resolutions. Both implementations vary in their approach, Nvidia's DLSS needs access to Nvidia ...

36. The 5 coolest things at Google I/O

Immersive View in Google Maps · Google Search via Scene Exploration · Google Docs TL:DR Mode · Is Google Glass back? · Pixel Watch.