Technology News for Friday 19th November 2021

1. Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 review: MagSafe & an Apple Watch fast charger

The newly-announced Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 is so far the only multi-device charger to provide fast charging wireless capabilities for both iPhone and Apple Watch. Here's what we thought of it. Apple and Belkin have a close relationship.

2. Elden Ring May Just Reinvent The Open-World Genre

From Software, as you may already know, has a new game coming out early next year. It's called Elden Ring, and after spending a few hours with it during last week's preview, I'm here to say that it's shaping up to be something really special.

3. Program Teaching Girls To Code Severs Ties To Activision Over Latest Allegations

Nonprofit organization Girls Who Code, which specializes in teaching computer science to young women and other marginalized groups, will no longer affiliate itself with Activision Blizzard, after the multibillion-dollar corporation came under fire yet ...

4. I'm Enjoying Battlefield 2042, But There May Be Something Wrong With Me

Earlier this week, Ethan rightly called out Battlefield 2042 as being the “wrong game at the wrong time”. A similar piece on Eurogamer says Battlefield 2042's opening weekend was “a disaster”. User reviews of the game are in the toilet.

5. Here's All The Type Matchups In Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl

A new Pokémon is out in the wild. Well, an old Pokémon is out in the wild, resprayed to look and feel like a new Pokémon. Yes, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, released for the Switch on November 19, are by all accounts faithful but ...

6. Rockstar Apologizes For Busted GTA Trilogy, Offers Free Games To Owners

Today, Rockstar Games released a statement where the publisher apologizes for the various technical and visual issues players have documented in the recently released Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition. More importantly, Rockstar is ...

7. Six Things We Learned Today About Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite has had one hell of a week. On Monday—the sci-fi franchise's 20th birthday—series stewards 343 Industries surprise-released Halo Infinite's multiplayer mode, weeks ahead of schedule, to instant-zeitgeist reception.

8. What The Xbox Series X/S Has (And Hasn't) Added Over The Year

When Microsoft released its next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S, nearly a year ago, it was tough to want for much. After all, both machines used the same interface and UI as their seven-year-old predecessor, the Xbox One.

9. Roku to develop more than 50 shows over next two years

Unlike Netflix, Roku primarily makes its money from selling its $30 streaming stick, as well as from ads in streaming apps that live on its platform and content partnerships with media companies.

10. Facebook tests News Feed controls that let people see less from groups and pages

Facebook announced Thursday that it's running a test to give users a sliver more control over what they see on the platform. Facebook test feature. Image Credits: Facebook. The test will go live on Facebook's app for English-speaking users.

11. Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart to acquire an online pharmacy marketplace to foray into healthcare space

Walmart-backed Flipkart is acquiring online pharmacy startup SastaSundar to enter the healthcare segment in India as e-commerce battle intensifies in the world's second largest internet market. Flipkart said it has signed definitive agreements to ...

12. Earthworm Jim cartoon to try to resurface all your latent nostalgia for Earthworm Jim

Today in “We have the brand, so we might as well try to get something out of it” news: Variety reports that Interplay Entertainment is attempting to create a new cartoon series based on Earthworm Jim, the semi-obscure absurdist video game series about ...

13. Sega unleashes cologne that will let you stink like Sonic The Hedgehog

We have precious little data—despite years of research and speculation—about what Sonic The Hedgehog smells like. Sure, last year's Sonic movie had a joke about how the blue speedster sometimes fails to do a complete job of cleaning up after himself ...

14. Black Friday starts early at Amazon with lowest prices ever on many Echo, Fire Tablet and Fire TV devices

One thing that Amazon tends to do each year with its own device discounts is offer some bundles that make the deals even sweeter. You need to look on each product page to see all of the bundles available, but often you can get something for free, like an ...

15. Apple M1 Pro vs. M1 Max: How does each chip perform?

Both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are available with either of Apple's new chips. The M1 Pro or M1 Max both combine CPU and GPU cores, versus the model in older pro-level Macs and current Windows PCs that paired a CPU from Intel or AMD with a ...

16. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: How to get fossils

Explore movies, games, superheroes and more with CNET Culture. Delivered Tuesdays and Fridays. Unlike other Pokemon games, which typically let you choose between the two fossils at a certain point ...

17. Xbox Series X restock tracker: Console availability confirmed for Black Friday

It's been a slow week for Xbox restocks, outside of the big Halo Edition event. This low point in restocks is a great reminder not to trust random third-party retailers attempting to sell consoles through social media, as they almost always end in some ...

18. Best Black Friday TV deals: Deep discounts on TCL 6-Series, LG OLED, Samsung QLED

Speaking of high-end TVs, Samsung's QN90A TV is another one of our favorites that just got a Black Friday price cut. This TV uses QLED TV tech augmented by mini-LED for a brighter image than any OLED TV.

19. 6 ways FaceTime can make long-distance friendship a little easier in iOS 15

It's clear Apple is taking on video chat behemoth Zoom with its expanded FaceTime features list, and we're frankly pretty excited about it. Some of the features do indeed go some way to make ...

20. AirPods Pro tricks you should be using every day

Spatial audio, transparency mode and active noise cancellation -- here's what you need to know about the AirPods Pro. ... The AirPods Pro are small, but powerful. Angela Lang/CNET.

21. Amazon Halo View $30 off during preorder period

It looks similar to fitness devices from Google-owned Fitbit, but comes with a seven-day battery life, 50-meter water resistance for swimming, optical heart-rate sensor, sleep tracking and blood oxygen monitoring. It can also track overnight skin ...

22. Your iPhone photos give away more info than you'd probably like

Anytime you snap a photo or record a video with your iPhone, it creates information about the file -- including the creation date and your location -- and then buries this data, known more specifically as "metadata," within your media.

23. This iPhone camera trick will transform your selfies

A selfie in default mode (left) versus a selfie with Mirror Front Camera turned on (right). Alison DeNisco Rayome/CNET. Apple's latest iPhone operating system, iOS 15.1, is now available to download (and iOS 15.2 is just around the corner).

24. How 'Forza Horizon 5' Became The Biggest Xbox Game Ever In Its First Week

Microsoft announced the good news on Twitter Thursday: Forza Horizon 5 takes place in Mexico, and players can play online or solo in the open-world racing game ...

25. Apple iOS 15.1.1 Release: Should You Upgrade?

You should be automatically notified to upgrade but, if not, the update can be triggered manually by navigating to Settings > General > Software Update. If you are running a newer iOS 15 beta (see 'The Road Ahead' section at the end), you must unenroll ...

26. 'Halo Infinite' Campaign Preview: Grappling Hooked

If you've seen any ads so far, you know the basics. Master Chief is on a damaged Ring trying to figure out what happened to Cortana with the aid of a new Cortana-ish AI the game simply calls “Weapon” and an anxious pilot character who trucks you around and ...

27. The Five Biggest 'Destiny 2' PvE Ability Buffs Coming This December

There are three main goals here: Reduce ability spam in PvP; Do this by altering cooldowns of all abilities, and tuning those cooldowns separately within a category (grenades, melees, supers) ...

28. Black Friday PS5 games deals offering great discounts on top titles at Amazon

Black Friday PS5 game deals are already coming in thanks to some early Amazon UK deals, meaning there are some great savings to be had on the best PS5 games right now. A couple of the PS5 launch games are getting great discounts for those wanting to ...

29. Apple's new 14-inch MacBook Pro is $100 off

Apple newest MacBook Pro laptops are a massive improvement over the previous models, with a 10-core M1 Pro processor, mini-LED display, and a ton of expansion ports, including HDMI, Thunderbolt 4, and an SD card reader, along with MagSafe.

30. Feature: 10 Overlooked GameCube Gems You Must Play

“More Kururin” is really all the description this game needs — who doesn't want to play more Kururin? The simple-to-grasp yet difficult-to-master ...

31. Feature: 14 Wii Games That Deserve Switch Ports

Well, that's not quite true, is it? The Joy-Con controllers that slide onto the side of your Nintendo Switch feature all the gyroscopic motion-sensing gubbins needed to control any Wii game in a most authentic manner.

32. Best Buy Early Black Friday Deals: Apple Watch SE, Fitbit Charge, TCL 4K TV, & More

We've seen significant discounts on everything from Apple Watches to the coveted Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer. Using a My Best Buy or TotalTech membership, shoppers can qualify for early access and price protection on deals marked as Black Friday Price ...

33. There's $440 off my beloved XPS 13 in Dell's Black Friday laptop deals

These aren't gaming laptops. Though I suspect, like me, you probably have something else going on in your life besides PC gaming. I have to go to work and stuff, which currently entails finding great deals this Black Friday, including deals on the ...

34. The finest RTX 3070 Black Friday gaming laptop also rocks a mighty AMD CPU and a 240Hz screen

The 140W RTX 3070 in the admittedly chunky Gigabyte A5 X1 is ably backed by AMD's Ryzen 9 5900HX.

35. Battlefield 2042 (for PC) Review

Battlefield 2042 is an ambitious shooter that features the excellent Portal mode-creation tool, as well as a few, cool game types. Unfortunately, technical issues and balance problems mean that you may want to hold off buying the game until EA Dice ...

36. Meet the 'cozy streamers' of Twitch combating hate on the platform

People come to Twitch for many different reasons — to check out new games, to laugh, and to see skilled gameplay among them. Yet a new subculture has exploded in popularity over the past couple years: cozy streams. The term is used widely on the ...

37. John Lewis Black Friday sale: deals go live on Apple, Samsung, Le Creuset and LG

John Lewis has launched a portion of its Black Friday discounts today, proving the event is no longer just one day of sales – the gigantic discount offering seems to get longer every year. Our expert team is casting an eye over the site and its competitors ...

38. Amazon Black Friday UK sales are here, and we're live updating all the best deals

So seeing it down to £399? That's an incredible deal - as our Senior Phones Editor, James Peckham says: "This is One of 2020's top five phones, and to see it down to half price under a year later is something we didn't expect.".

39. A finder's fee won't guarantee a PS5 from Amazon, Walmart, or Best Buy this holiday

It's still difficult to find a PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch OLED, or practically any desktop graphics card made in the last three years. So difficult that many people resort to paying scalpers far more than it should cost to get one.

40. Halo Infinite's Grappleshot helps make the familiar feel new

You're introduced to the Grappleshot in the early missions in Halo Infinite, as you fight your way outside toward the open areas of the Zeta Halo that the Banished enemies have taken over. The first level is incredibly vertical, and it acts like a subtle ...

41. Next-gen hardware, last-gen games: where the PS5 and Xbox Series X have fallen short

But I'm choosing to define it here as a game that can't have existed as an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 title. Games like Ratchet and Clank: A Rift Apart or Microsoft Flight Simulator, which push the boundaries of graphics and SSD load times to the point ...