Technology News for Tuesday 2nd November 2021

1. Pixel 6 review: Google Hardware finally lives up to its potential

The Pixel 6 has a custom Google SoC, tons of AI software features that really work, and a new and exciting version of Android. These combine into the best Android smartphone out there—the One True Flagship of the Android ecosystem. With a great price, the ...

2. New World temporarily disables wealth transfer options due to gold duplication exploit

While New World has been out for more than a month now and many of the game's major issues have been remedied, problems seem to keep popping up and the latest of these has caused developers to pause “wealth transfer between players” for the near future ...

3. Fortnite shuts down in China, the latest foreign video game to face off with regulators—and surrender

Fortnite, the ultra-popular battle royal video game, is shutting down in China. Epic Games, the developer behind Fortnite, stopped all new user registrations on Monday, while the game server ...

4. Nike files for 7 'virtual goods' trademarks for branding in NFTs and video games like Fortnite

Nike Inc. is seeking to trademark its brands for various virtual goods in the U.S., including shoes and clothing, as digital products become more popular. The Beaverton, Oregon-based sportswear giant filed seven requests with the U.S. Patent and ...

5. Blizzard Forms World Of Warcraft Community Council To Solicit Player Feedback

Blizzard announced yesterday that it will be forming a new player organization called the WoW Community Council. It's aiming to help the MMORPG's developers get more detailed feedback on all aspects of the game, from players of different backgrounds ...

6. New World Disables 'All Forms Of Wealth Transfers' After Gold Exploit Found

After an exploit was found over the weekend that first let players send images in the chat box, kick other players unknowingly and duplicate gold, Amazon has stepped in and taken some drastic action. Advertisement. While the images and kicking was ...

7. Niantic Shutting Down Pokémon Go-Inspired Harry Potter Game

Just two years after it launched, Niantic is already giving up on its Harry Potter: Wizards Unite augmented reality experiment. What was supposed to be Pokémon Go for the popular fantasy series will instead become just a memory when the game goes ...

8. Nintendo Slashes Switch Production In Face Of Chip Shortage

The ongoing chip shortage, which has affected nearly every electronic device on the planet, has forced Nintendo to grapple with a production reduction. Nikkei Asia reports that the Kyoto-based company will make 20 percent fewer Switch consoles through ...

9. Skyrim's New Board Game Will Have A Prequel Campaign

The publisher behind the Dishonored, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls tabletop games is planning to release a Skyrim board game in 2022. Skyrim - The Adventure Game will include several story campaigns, including a prequel to the events of The Elder ...

10. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Almost Had Portals Before Portal

If you took a portal to an alternate universe, you might find yourself living in a timeline where The Legend of Zelda, not Portal, popularized the use of live portals in video games. As spotted by VGC, ex-Nintendo dev Giles Goddard recently showed off ...

11. Valorant's Newest Agent Will Be A Nightmare To Play Against, And That's Good Actually

Valorant has been defined by Jett's unrivaled ability to kill without consequence for too long, Chamber may fix that. By. Renata Price · 46 minutes ago · Comments (2). Alerts. Chamber, Valorant's newest agent, stands in a tight, tailored vest while his ...

12. Facebook says it will delete facial recognition data on more than a billion users

“Looking ahead, we still see facial recognition technology as a powerful tool, for example, for people needing to verify their identity, or to prevent fraud and impersonation,” Facebook VP of artificial intelligence Jerome Pesenti wrote in a blog post.

13. Firefox's updated mobile browser promises less clutter, easier access to recent tasks

Alternative mobile browser Firefox today shipped its latest release for iOS and Android with an update aimed at helping users address common issues — like the visual clutter of having too many open tabs or needing to pick up where your left off the ...

14. Microsoft brings JavaScript to Excel

At its Ignite conference, Microsoft today announced an update to Excel that brings a new JavaScript API to the venerable spreadsheet app. With this new API, developers will be able to create custom data types and functions based on them.

15. Microsoft launches Google Wave

Maybe we should've seen this coming. Back in 2019, Microsoft announced the Fluid Framework (not to be confused with the Fluent design system). The idea here was nothing short of trying to re-invent the nature of business documents and how developers build ...

16. Netflix games are coming to all members on Android, starting this week

In July, the streaming service first confirmed its plans to enter the mobile gaming market, calling games “another new content category” for the company to offer its subscribers, alongside movies and TV. Since then ...

17. Zoom is piloting ads for free users

Zoom also notes that it has updated its Privacy Statement to make it clear that it will not use meeting, webinar, or messaging content for any marketing, promotions, or third-party advertising purposes.

18. Windows 10 and 11 receive enterprise-focused upgrades from Microsoft

Among other additions to the ecosystem include the latest version of Universal Print — a cloud-based printer management and deployment platform — and the Test Base app security- and feature-testing service. “Each ...

19. Power Apps sees updates from Microsoft, including tight Teams integration

Intelligent process automation and robotic process automation (RPA) — technologies that automate repetitive tasks — are big and growing businesses. In its recent Trends in Workflow Automation report, Salesforce found that 95% of IT leaders ...

20. Who's building the metaverse?

In June, investment firm Roundhill Investments created an exchange traded fund (ETF) to track and profit from the work of the metaverse enablers. Hours before Facebook announced its rebrand, another firm launched its own metaverse ETF.

21. 2021 blockbuster video games keep shipping with parts missing

Friday's release of “Call of Duty: Vanguard” won't include the main quest for its popular cooperative multiplayer “zombies” mode, according to an Activision blog post. It will be added to the game weeks later. Why it matters: It's become common, ...

22. Nintendo to Cut Switch Target 20% on Chip Shortage, Nikkei Reports

Nintendo Co. plans to produce about 24 million Switch consoles for the current fiscal year, about 20% less than originally planned, the Nikkei reported. While demand for the new console is strong, the Kyoto-based company has struggled to get enough ...

23. Nintendo is expected to make 6 million fewer Switch consoles as chip shortages continue

The Nintendo Switch could soon become as scarce as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. · Nintendo is cutting production of the console by 20%, according to a new Nikkei report.

24. Microsoft launches Loop, an Office app for helping workers stay on top of projects

The company's Loop will give people a way to collaborate on documents in real time, from inside familiar programs such as Teams. A preview of a dedicated Loop application will become available in the first half of ...

25. Netflix launches first mobile games for Android globally

Netflix is ramping up an effort to include video games as a part of its standard streaming subscription. Angela Lang/CNET. Netflix is launching its first five mobile games, available to play in its Android app first and then to its app for Apple iOS ...

26. Walmart restock for PS5 digital and disk editions hits at 4 pm ET

Looking for a new PS5? Your next chance at Walmart is Monday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET). The upcoming drop will offer both versions of the PS5, and as far as we can tell does not require access to Walmart Plus to get early access like the last ...

27. The best over-ear headphones of 2021

If you need headphones that can be worn on long walks, intercontinental flights or just around the house, the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are our go-to for comfort. There's some serious memory foam plush in both the ear cups and top headband.

28. Zelda: Ocarina of Time had portals before Portal

He had previously revealed their existence in an interview with MinnMax, but yesterday also shared actual footage in a tweet.

29. Google Pixel 6 Pro review: Bringing the fight to the iPhone 13 Pro Max

And just like its smaller counterpart, the Pixel 6 Pro comes in at a very reasonable price. At £849 for a flagship with all the latest must-have smartphone features, Google has clearly given up trying to match its rivals pound for pound and is now ...

30. Apple sacrifices new iPads to boost iPhone 13 production

Anonymous, 45 minutes agoWell it is not about "combining" Android phones, like you always keep repeating. It ... more"when there are phones that have outperformed already those features" Name one? :D. Rating0 |; Reply; Report. -523135.

31. A cryptocurrency inspired by 'Squid Game' crashes. The industry has questions.

More than 40,000 people still held the token after the crash, according to BscScan, a blockchain search engine and analytics platform. One of them was John Lee, 30, of Manila. He said he had spent $1,000 on the Squid tokens, thinking “somewhat ...

32. Players are accidentally triggering New World's latest gold duplication exploit

The new bug was apparently caused by efforts to fix the gold dupe exploit that came to light yesterday. Comments. New World. (Image credit: Amazon). A gold duplication exploit forced Amazon to halt all wealth transfers in New World yesterday, ...

33. Avengers removes “pay-to-win” microtransactions after backlash

The developers behind Marvel's Avengers have announced that Hero's Catalysts and Fragment Extractors will be removed from the real money store. These items boosted XP and fragment currency gains respectively, and their addition to the game's suite of ...

34. Bowser pleads guilty, ordered to pay $4.5M to Nintendo

Nintendo Switch hack creator Gary Bowser has plead guilty in a criminal case filed by federal prosecutors last year. Bowser was arrested in 2020 with French national Max Louarn for leading the group of Nintendo Switch hackers known as Team Xecuter.

35. Marvel's Avengers stops selling XP boosters following player pushback

In a message posted to the game's Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon, its developers apologized for not responding to fan outcry over the decision sooner, and announced that by the end of the day, Hero Catalysts and Fragment Extractors will no longer be ...

36. Pixel 6 review: the cut-price Google flagship phone

The Pixel 6 is Google's affordable flagship phone for 2021 and proves to be a leader in the field with a top-class camera and a new advanced chip at its heart – while undercutting most of the competition on price. The phone costs £599 ($599/A$999), ...

37. Tempo's simplified smart home gym uses an iPhone to track your workouts

Today it's launching the Tempo Move, a new home workout setup that ditches the original's 42-inch touchscreen with Microsoft's Azure Kinect sensors built in, in favor of using existing TVs combined with the sensors built into the iPhone XS / XR and up.

38. Microsoft is giving businesses access to OpenAI's powerful AI language model GPT-3

It's the AI system once deemed too dangerous to release to the public by its creators. Now, Microsoft is making an upgraded version of the program, OpenAI's autocomplete software GPT-3, available to business customers as part of its suite of Azure ...

39. Microsoft Teams enters the metaverse race with 3D avatars and immersive meetings

Microsoft is entering the race to build a metaverse inside Teams, just days after Facebook rebranded to Meta in a push to build virtual spaces for both consumers and businesses. Microsoft is bringing Mesh, a collaborative platform for virtual ...

40. Microsoft is planning 3D metaverse apps for Xbox and gaming

Transforming Minecraft, Halo, and Flight Sim into full 3D worlds is an ambitious project, particularly if these environments will allow players to explore them together side by side with VR or AR headsets. Microsoft Flight Simulator ...

41. Ford's selling electric crate motors based on the one in the Mach-E

The motor is just the first in a series of EV building blocks Ford says it plans to sell, like battery systems, motor controllers, and inverters, all of which would make it easier to retrofit internal combustion engine vehicles with all-electric ...

42. Blizzard co-lead Jen Oneal steps down three months after taking the role

Jen Oneal is stepping down as a co-lead of Blizzard just three months after taking the role in the wake of the sexual harassment lawsuit brought against Activision Blizzard by the state of California. Mike Ybarra, a former Xbox executive who had ...

43. Facebook is ending its use of facial recognition

Facebook is ending use of facial recognition software, the company said Tuesday, saying it will delete data on more than a billion people. In a blog post, the social media company said that it made the decision to drop the technology — which it has ...

44. By joining Complexity and YouTube, TimTheTatman looks to evolve, not quit streaming

In the past few months, Tim “TimTheTatman” Betar has made some big moves. The most prominent one was literal: In September, he departed Twitch, his longtime live-streaming home, for YouTube as part of an exclusive deal that sent shock waves through the ...

45. 'Squid Game'-inspired cryptocurrency that soared by 23 million percent now worthless after apparent scam

On early Monday morning, the value of a Squid coin collapsed from a high of just over $2,860 to effectively zero as cryptocurrency traders watched the token's unknown creators clean out some $3.3 million in funds, according to digital records.

46. Review: Apple AirPods (2021)

If America stood up and collectively yelled its woes about wireless earbuds, everyone wearing a pair of standard AirPods would hear them. They don't have ear tips or noise canceling, and a leaky pair of dynamic drivers means that every sound from the ...