News: AMD 3950X, Athlon 3000G, & Threadripper 3970X, 3960X Release, Specs, & Price - Gamers Nexus

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2019-11-07 14:00:02Z
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The Microsoft HoloLens 2 ships today for $3,500 - The Verge

Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset is shipping today after being announced earlier this year. The HoloLens 2 headset, which costs $3,500, will be delivered to preorder customers in around a half-dozen countries. It’s an upgraded version of the device first released in 2016, featuring a wider field of view and more complex gesture controls.

The HoloLens 2 is shipping in the US, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. As my colleague Dieter Bohn detailed earlier, the HoloLens has gotten a redesign for better ergonomics, so its weight sits more comfortably and it’s less difficult to find a good viewing angle. Its field of view has substantially increased, from 34 degrees to 52 degrees diagonally — Microsoft has described the overall area as “more than doubled,” and while you can debate the specifics, it’s a dramatic improvement.

Microsoft has also added full-fledged gesture tracking, not just the “air tap” option from the original HoloLens. You can do things like pinch and drag objects or pull up menus by tapping a holographic button on your wrist. These new gestures are an important draw for companies that might want to upgrade from the earlier HoloLens, since they open up a new range of app options.

Microsoft prototyped some games and art apps for the first HoloLens, but the HoloLens 2 is aimed purely at business customers — especially people working in manufacturing or repair jobs where a hands-free heads-up display would come in handy. Buyers can pay an additional monthly fee for Microsoft’s Remote Assist software, which is designed for live, hands-free troubleshooting. Consumers aren’t meant to buy these headsets, but they may still interact with them in situations like product showrooms. And a custom US military version of the HoloLens is being built as part of the controversial Integrated Visual Augmentation System.

Microsoft communications director Greg Sullivan says the original HoloLens will still be supported, but some developers may start building apps that require the HoloLens 2’s gesture controls. And the preorder customers, he says, are a blend of new buyers and people who want to replace their first-generation devices. “The first time it was like, ‘What is this thing?’” says Sullivan. Now, there’s an existing base of customers — albeit a relatively small one — already sold on the idea.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/7/20946589/microsoft-hololens-2-mixed-reality-headset-preorder-shipping-price-upgrade

2019-11-07 13:05:09Z
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Nintendo boss Bowser on Switch Lite sales, 3DS support, and tiny retro consoles - The Verge

As Nintendo approaches this holiday season, the company seems to be in a good position. The streamlined Switch Lite launched in September and has already seen impressive sales, moving 1.85 million units in its first month, while new Pokémon games are on the horizon, joining other recent releases like Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Ring Fit Adventure. All told, the Switch has sold more than 40 million units, which puts it on pace to surpass the iconic SNES some time in the coming months.

While December 25th is still a ways away, the holidays begin now for Nintendo; today, the company announced its Black Friday plans, which include steep discounts on games and a Switch bundle that includes a free copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Ahead of the announcement, I had the chance to talk to Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser about the Switch Lite’s early success, the future of the 3DS, and much more. Here are the most interesting tidbits.

On the Switch Lite expanding the audience for the platform

“It’s not only raised the sell-through for the overall family, but importantly it did so without any negative impact on our flagship system,” Bowser says of Switch Lite sales. “Said another way, Nintendo Switch Lite sales have been additive to the overall Switch business.”

Meanwhile, during Nintendo’s most recent earnings report, the company revealed that 43 percent of Switch Lite owners were buying the device as a second system. That’s an important part of Nintendo’s stated goal of having multiple Switches in family homes, but Bowser also looks at it from a different perspective.

“I’ll talk to the inverse, which is 57 percent of the consumers are new to the Nintendo Switch family, and that’s equally important to us as we continue to expand the audience,” he says. “One of the important trends we’re also seeing with Nintendo Switch Lite is a higher percent of female consumers are buying a Nintendo Switch Lite, which is a strong indicator of the appeal to a broader audience.”

On the future of the Nintendo 3DS

“We continue to look at the 3DS family, both hardware and games, as a strong entry point for some consumers. And we’re seeing that. As long as consumer demand is there, we’ll continue to provide both hardware and software on the front.” When asked when it will be appropriate to say the 3DS is dead as a platform, Bowser says “We’re certainly not going to say it today. I think time will tell. We will continue to support 3DS this holiday and into 2020.”

On the difficulties of sharing Nintendo accounts across multiple Switch units

“There’s nothing to talk about at this point,” Bowser says of plans to make the process easier. “There is the ability to transfer data and to designate which is your primary device and which is a secondary device, and those instructions are available on nintendo.com. But we’re also looking at the experiences our consumers are having, and we’re always looking for opportunities to improve and enhance those experiences.”

On how the company dealt with the plague of “Joy-Con drift”

“Our goal is always, always to create quality products, and products that ensure gamers are having a great experience,” Bowser says. “We are continuously looking at ways to improve our products as we go forward, but in the end we want consumers to have a great experience. And if in any case they’re not having that experience, we encourage them to contact our customer support groups and we’ll do our best to help them through that. That has been how we’ve been handling our consumers over the last few months as issues like this have arisen, and we believe that consumers are finding their way back to great gameplay experiences.”

On whether we’ll ever see another tiny plug-and-play retro console

“Our focus right now is absolutely on our dedicated platforms such as Nintendo Switch Lite and our flagship Nintendo Switch,” Bowser explains. “I think with the gameplay experiences you saw with some of our classic consoles that we launched a few years ago, they’re now available on Nintendo Switch Online, and this is where our focus will be.”

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/7/20951926/nintendo-doug-bowser-interview-switch-lite-sales-3ds-support-consoles

2019-11-07 12:00:00Z
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Chrome OS 78 released with picture-in-picture support for YouTube - The Verge

The latest version of Chrome OS, version 78, adds picture-in-picture support to its YouTube Android app, as well as improving the operating system’s support for printers, and tweaking Chrome OS’s settings menus. 9to5Google reports that YouTube’s picture-in-picture mode activates whenever the app is minimized or otherwise covered while a video is still playing.

Google has also announced that Chrome OS 78 introduces virtual desktop support for the operating system with a feature called Virtual Desks. This virtual desktop feature has been kicking around in Chrome OS releases since at least August, and it lets you move apps into separate virtual workspaces much like macOS or Windows 10.

Chrome OS 78 should also simplify the process of printing from the operating system. The software now automatically lists compatible printers, without requiring you to manually set them up first. It should also now be easier to save specific printers to your profile for easy access.

Google has also tweaked the operating system’s settings menus by separating the respective menus for your device and browser. 9to5Google reports that the former can now be found in the quick settings sheet, while the latter is accessed directly from the top right of the browser. Finally, the operating system has a new “click-to-call” feature, where it can automatically send phone numbers to your Android phone so you can call them without having to retype a number.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/7/20953039/chrome-os-78-youtube-picture-in-picture-settings-menu-printer-support

2019-11-07 11:24:59Z
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Google forges new 'app defense alliance' to fix Android malware menace - The Next Web

Google is finally making moves to tackle the menace that is Android malware.

To this end, the internet giant has officially announced a partnership with cybersecurity firms ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium to catch sketchy apps before they end up on your devices.

Called the “App Defense Alliance,” the initiative aims to reduce the risk of app-based malware, identify new threats, and protect smartphone users from bad actors leveraging the platform for their gain.

To do so, Google is integrating its Play Protect malware detection systems with each partner’s scanning engines, thereby generating valuable risk intelligence that can be carefully scrutinized before making a third-party app available on the Play Store.

Introduced in 2017, Google Play Protect combines a mix of on-device protections and a cloud-based infrastructure to routinely scan over 500,000 apps to keep tainted apps off Google Play and out of users’s devices. It also leverages machine learning to detect malicious apps faster and at a larger scale without any human supervision.

The development comes as the Android platform has been beset by numerous instances of malware in recent months, what with smartphones proving to be a lucrative attack surface for criminals to carry out highly targeted campaigns.

Android security at stake

The Play Store malware trouble has been accentuated in part due to the open nature of the ecosystem.

Although Google has employed Google Play Protect as a means to secure devices from potentially harmful applications (PHAs), it’s been powerless against what appears to be a steady pattern of nasty apps bypassing its scanning process, highlighting the scope of the issue.

Last month, Lukas Stefanko, an ESET security researcher, compiled a list of 172 apps on Google Play with upwards of 335 million installs that were found to engage in ad fraud, credit card phishing, and serve other kinds of malware. And this was just for September.

Android Security Monthly Recap #9

Review of harmful apps found on Google Play in September 2019

Summary: 172 apps with over 335,952,400 installshttps://t.co/6plz04x2Ce pic.twitter.com/PfJf4ueBF5

— Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) October 1, 2019

Complicating the problem is the counter-mechanisms devised by Android malware authors to obfuscate their true colors.

The apps have been found to engage a number of sneaky workarounds to get past Google’s security checkpoints — including making use of remote command and control servers to download second-stage malicious payloads after going live, incorporating encrypted code, and even adding time-based activation delays to bypass detection barriers.

In its annual “Android Security & Privacy Year in Review” report released earlier this year, the search giant said only 0.08 percent of devices that used Google Play exclusively for app downloads were affected by PHAs in 2018.

Yet Google’s failure to rein in malware-laced apps has raised concerns about its supposedly vetted store. Increasingly, what should its job of proactively catching bad apps has been passed on to users, who must carefully inspect every app they intend to install on their devices.

More troublingly, even after Google removes a PHA from Google Play, the users who installed the app on their devices continue to remain at risk.

In forging this new alliance, the intention is to better screen apps before they are approved for download, and prevent users from accidentally downloading an offending app.

The fact that Google sought outside reinforcements to beef up Android app security is an acknowledgment of the seriousness of the situation. As they say, better late than never.

Read next: Alibaba and WeChat will let foreigners make mobile payments in China

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https://thenextweb.com/security/2019/11/07/google-forges-new-app-defense-alliance-to-fix-android-malware-menace/

2019-11-07 07:14:30Z
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Death Stranding: 29 Crucial Tips To Get You Started - IGN

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2019-11-07 11:01:00Z
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Google open sources Cardboard VR after killing its Daydream project - The Next Web

After killing its ambitious Daydream VR project last month, Google is making the Cardboard VR project open source.

The company said the code repository includes features such as APIs for head tracking, lens distortion rendering, and input handling, for developers to build Android and iOS apps designed for Cardboard VR experiences.

Google Cardboard was released five years ago at the company’s developer conference, Google IO. The search giant claims 15 million units of Cardboard VR –made using its Cardboard Manufacturer Kit – were used worldwide.

Google said use of Cardboard VR declined over time and it’s no longer actively developing its Software Development Kit (SDK):

While we’ve seen overall usage of Cardboard decline over time and we’re no longer actively developing the Google VR SDK, we still see consistent usage around entertainment and education experiences, like YouTube and Expeditions, and want to ensure that Cardboard’s no-frills, accessible-to-everyone approach to VR remains available.

The Cardboard headset was an affordable way for anyone to experience the VR world. But it never took off the way Google envisioned it.

Four years ago, I had plenty of Cardboard-like headsets lying around in my house. I used them as a novelty to show off to friends or watch a VR-based video on YouTube occasionally. But latency, lag, and a lack of compelling VR apps killed my interest in Cardboard over time.

Over time, phone companies have also dialed back their VR efforts and concentrated more on providing solid AR experiences through Google’s ARCore and Apple’s ARKit.

You can check out Cardboard VR’s developer documentation here, and find the GitHub code repository here.

Read next: Google forges new 'app defense alliance' to fix Android malware menace

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https://thenextweb.com/google/2019/11/07/google-open-sources-cardboard-vr-after-killing-its-daydream-project/

2019-11-07 04:27:44Z
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