The Weekly Tech Rant with Jay and Karl: Recent Episodes

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Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• TikTok faces a skeptical panel of judges in its existential fight against the US government
• Intel is separating its ailing foundry business from the main company
• Trump jumps into cryptocurrency, appears to know nothing about it

• EU compels Apple to improve iOS interoperability with third-party smartwatches, headphones and other accessories

• Rumours

• Apple Watch SE 3 now expected in 2025
• Some of Apple’s M4 Macs are already shipping ahead of rumored October launch – get ready for new MacBook Pros, a Mac mini and iMac
• New Apple Vision Pro with M5 chip on the way, featuring Apple Intelligence support

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant

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Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• Apple Watch 10
• AirPods 4 & AirPods Max
• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Pro
• What didn't we get

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant

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Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• Microsoft, Apple, and NVIDIA will reportedly bail out OpenAI from the shackles of bankruptcy, pushing the ChatGPT maker’s market valuation to over $100 billion
• Concord Is Suddenly Getting Pulled Offline With Sony Promising Full Refunds
• Elon Musk's Starlink will comply with the Brazil X ban after all

• Bluetooth 6.0 brings new technology that will help Apple improve its Find My network

• Rumours

• Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 are reportedly'scheduled to officially launch in September' and we'll believe it when we see them

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant

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Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• Arm reportedly spooling up major new GPU architecture to take on Nvidia
• AMD signs $4.9 billion deal to challenge Nvidia’s AI infrastructure lead
• EU iPhones will be able to change the default phone and messaging apps soon
• Meta pulls plug on plans for high-end Vision Pro competitor
• Amazon is bricking primary feature on $160 Echo device after 1 year
• Apple September 9 event invite promises‘It’s Glowtime’

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant

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Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• Rumours

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant

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Episode 177: It’s Time for Intel’s Costly Reconfigurations, Expanded Game Worlds, and Apple Watch SE Speculations

Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• Intel Bleeds Red, Plans 15% Workforce Layoff and $10B Cuts For 2025

• Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs get two additional years of warranty coverage

• Games

• Grey Zone Warfare
• Car destruction lovers rejoice, Wreckfest 2 is on the way
• Flight Simulator 2024's huge ambition means'you can now exit the plane, walk around… you can land on every ship, and it looks like a first person shooter environment'

• Grand Theft Auto 6 is still on track for fall 2025, and there's still no sign of a PC version

• Rumours

• The next Apple Watch SE might be plastic, but is that worth the tradeoff?

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant.

For more episodes and tech insights, visit our website: Weekly Tech Rant

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Episode 176: It’s Time for Intel’s CPU Crisis, Delayed Apple Intelligence, Key Security Breaches, and Colorful iPhone 16 Revelations

Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• Intel has no plans to recall those crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, hasn't halted sales, and the damage to affected chips may be permanent
• Apple Intelligence reportedly may not arrive until October with iOS 18.1
• Secure Boot useless on hundreds of PCs from major vendors after key leak
• OpenAI unveils SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine

• Google apologizes for breaking password manager for millions of Windows users with iffy Chrome update

• Rumours

• The iPhone 16 color lineup looks like the best in years
• New image shows off iPhone 16 Pro colors, including darker Black Titanium

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant.

For more episodes and tech insights, visit our website: Weekly Tech Rant

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Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• Elon Musk is moving X and SpaceX to Texas
• Cellebrite can’t unlock most iPhones running iOS 17.4 and later

• Trump shooter used Android phone from Samsung; cracked by Cellebrite in 40 minutes

• FTC blasts Microsoft’s new‘degraded’ Xbox Game Pass Standard tier and price increases

• CrowdStrike code update bricking Windows machines around the world

• Wiz rejects Google’s $23 billion takeover in favor of IPO

• Rumours

• New ultra-slim iPhone 17 to focus on form over function with just one camera

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant.

For more e

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Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• 'Skeleton Key' attack unlocks the worst of AI, says Microsoft
• TSMC ahead of schedule on trial production of 2nm chips; iPhone 17 first in line
• Humane execs leave company to found AI fact-checking startup
• Google is reportedly planning its biggest startup acquisition ever
• Microsoft is hiking the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and launching a new‘Standard’ tier

• Elon Musk’s X faces big EU fines as paid checkmarks are ruled deceptive

• Rumours

• iPhone 16’s new Capture button: Everything we know

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant.

For more episodes and tech insights, visit our website: Weekly Tech Rant

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Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• Cloudflare debuts one-click nuke of web-scraping AI
• Tap-to-pay could get more capable and more complicated
• Authy hack exposes phone numbers of 33M users; Twilio confirms
• Microsoft’s Midnight Blizzard source code breach also impacted federal agencies

• Here comes a Meta Ray-Bans challenger with ChatGPT-4o and a camera

• Rumours

• Kuo: Apple to begin mass production of AirPods with cameras by 2026
• HomePod with display corroborated by references to a new Apple‘HomeAccessory’

We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant.

For more episodes and tech insights, visit our website: Weekly Tech Rant

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Episode 172: It’s Time for Apple’s DMA Challenge, Encryption Policy Shifts, SpaceX’s ISS Mission, and Glimpses of Future Apple Innovations

Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Youtube | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• June 2024 - ep172 (Season 5)
• News
• Apple is first company charged with violating EU’s DMA rules
• Europe and Australia both back down on CSAM scanning that would break encryption
• Musk's SpaceX hired to destroy ISS space station

• Thwarting cyberattacks from China is DHS’s top infrastructure security priority

• Rumours

• iPhone rear display and additional cameras described in Apple patent application
• Report: Cheaper‘Apple Vision’ headset could require a tethered iPhone or Mac
• Alleged Apple Watch Series 10 schematics show larger 2-inch display, unchanged band attachment system

Comments: We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant.

For more episodes and tech insights, visit our website: Weekly Tech Rant

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Episode 171: It’s Time for AMD’s Zen 5 Breakthroughs and Intel’s Counter Moves, Plus PlayStation VR2 and Apple’s Slim Future

Welcome to the WTR with your hosts, Jay and Karl, delving into the latest tech news, gadgets, games, and films!

Available On: • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | All Major Platforms

In This Episode:

• News
• AMD
• AMD’s first Zen 5 CPU is the‘monster’ Ryzen 9 9950X
• AMD unveils Ryzen AI 300 CPUs for Copilot+ laptops
• AMD reveals the MI325X, a 288GB AI accelerator built to battle Nvidia's H200

• AMD Announces Zen 5-based EPYC“Turin” Processors: Up to 192 Cores, Coming in H2’2024

• Intel

• Intel details new Lunar Lake CPUs that will go up against AMD, Qualcomm, and Apple

• PlayStation VR2’s PC adapter hits this August, with missing features

• Rumours

• iPhone 16 Pro to feature world’s thinnest smartphone bezel
• Apple planning redesigned iPhone, MacBook Pro, and Apple Watch that are significantly thinner

Engage With Us:

• Comments: We love hearing from you! Drop us a line in the comments or tweet us at @WeeklyTechRant.

For more episodes and tech insights, visit our website: Weekly Tech Rant

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This week we covered:

• Software
• iOS 18/iPadOS 18
• WatchOS 11

• macOS 15

• AI

• Apple Intelligence

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Microsoft Build 2024: everything announced
• Sony made a PSVR 2 adapter for PC support
• ICQ is shutting down after almost 28 years
• Google scrambles to manually remove weird AI answers in search

• Apple confirms WWDC keynote details for AI-focused iOS 18, Platforms State of the Union, and more

• Gaming

• Microsoft confirms Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Xbox Game Pass

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• MediaTek and Nvidia are gearing up to tackle the AI PC market hand-in-hand, with an all-new chip
• UK watchdog looking into Microsoft AI taking screenshots
• Major ChatGPT-4o update allows audio-video talks with an“emotional” AI chatbot
• Blink and you missed it: Google has a new pair of prototype AR glasses
• Twitter is officially X.com now

• BreachForums, an online bazaar for stolen data, seized by FBI

• Gaming

• Grand Theft Auto VI is launching in fall 2025

• Microsoft to add next Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass, WSJ reports

• Rumours

• Apple is said to be working on a'significantly thinner' iPhone
• Second-generation AirTag again rumored to be announced in 2025

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News

• Nintendo blitzes GitHub with over 8,000 emulator-related DMCA takedowns

• Apple Event

• iPad Pro

• M4 SOC

• iPad Air 6

• Pencil Pro

• Magic Keyboard“Pro”

• Rumours

• Apple allegedly planning foldable 20.3-inch hybrid for 2025, foldable iPhone in 2026

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• UK's Investigatory Powers Bill to become law despite tech world opposition
• Escape From Tarkov studio boss says he"did not foresee" players would get mad about charging extra for PvE
• Apple’s iPadOS will have to comply with EU’s Digital Markets Act too

• Razer made a million dollars selling a mask with RGB, and the FTC is not pleased

• Film/TV

• Fallout

• Disco Season 5

• Rumours

• Gurman: New iPad Pro may actually be powered by the M4 chip, touting AI features

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• US Air Force confirms first successful AI dogfight
• Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas robot is a swiveling, shape-shifting nightmare
• After Embracer Group's acquisitions and subsequent troubles, the company is splitting into three oddly-named entities
• Meta Rebranding Quest Software Horizon OS, Will Run On New Headsets From ASUS, Lenovo, More

• The full Snapdragon X CPU line-up has now been unveiled, and according to Qualcomm's numbers it should put the fear of ARM into AMD and Intel's laptop divisions

• Rumours

• 12.9-inch iPad Air will use same display technology as current larger iPad Pro

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
• Microsoft hiring Inflection team triggers interest from EU's antitrust chief
• D-Link issues rip and replace order for besieged NAS drives
• Elon Musk returns to his ultimate galaxy brain plan for Twitter: charging people to post

• Google merges the Android, Chrome, and hardware divisions

• Rumours

• Vision Pro engineers moved to folding iPhone project; delayed to 2027

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Super Soaker spiritual successor Spyra just shrank its USB-C water blaster
• SpaceX is reportedly building a network of spy satellites for US intelligence
• Apple acquires fundamental AI smarts by buying DarwinAI
• Apple might use Google Gemini to power some AI features on the iPhone

• US sues Apple for illegal monopoly over smartphones

• Rumours

• iPhone 17 rumor: Apple developing new anti-reflective display technology

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• House passes bill that bans TikTok unless ByteDance sells
• Roku hackers breach 15,000 accounts and are selling them online
• Epic Games just got unbanned by Apple — again
• Microsoft confirms Russian spies stole source code, accessed internal systems
• Microsoft’s AI Copilot for Security launches next month with pay-as-you-go pricing
• SpaceX is cleared to attempt its third Starship test flight

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• The MacBook Air gets an M3 upgrade.
• Here are the new iPhone case and Apple Watch band colors for spring
• That 189GB Epic Games"hack" may have been a scam aimed at other hackers
• VMware EUC by Broadcom to be Acquired by KKR
• Apple hit with first-ever EU fine following Spotify complaint

• Bambu Lab Mini A1

• Rumours

• New CAD renders reveal iPhone SE 4 redesign that finally ditches the Home button

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Samsung has big ambitions for the Galaxy Ring
• MWC 2024: all the phones, wearables, and gadgets announced in Barcelona
• Nvidia’s role in the AI wave has made it a $2 trillion company
• As $500m EU fine looms, Apple accuses Spotify of wanting‘limitless access’ to its tools for free
• Killing the Apple car is depressing and sad
• Meta and Microsoft ask EU to reject Apple’s new app store terms

• Sony are officially working on PC game support for the PS VR2 headset

• Rumours

• A new MacBook Air coming soon: Here’s what we know

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• iMessage antitrust threat removed, as EU says it’s not a dominant service
• Nvidia’s Chat with RTX is a promising AI chatbot that runs locally on your PC
• Broadcom-owned VMware kills the free version of ESXi virtualization software
• After trying the Vision Pro, Mark Zuckerberg says Quest 3‘is the better product, period’
• Xbox Updates
• Microsoft confirms new Xbox hardware will be announced this holiday season
• Microsoft: four Xbox-exclusive games are coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch
• Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service grows to 34 million subscribers

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

• Meta‘optimistic’ about Vision Pro as it hopes to be the‘Android’ of the AR/VR world

• Apple… Hell has frozen over

• Apple announces reduced commission structure for apps in Europe
• Apple announces support for third-party iPhone app stores in the EU, coming with iOS 17.4
• Apple says third-party app marketplace creators must have €1,000,000‘letter of credit’
• Apple will prompt users to set default browsers and allow third-party web engines on iPhone in the EU
• Apple lets apps feature streaming games, chatbots and other built-in experiences
• iPad users will miss out on third-party app stores, browser engines, and more

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• The Apple Vision Pro will launch in February
• Prescription lenses for Vision Pro to cost $149 – far less than predicted
• iPhone from onboard Alaska Airlines incident found; survives 16,000-foot drop
• Intel's next gen Battlemage GPUs are up and running in its labs, and work on its next-next generation Celestial architecture is well underway
• Xreal Air 2 Ultra‘Vision Pro competitor’ has been announced – at $699

• Apple CEO meets with EU competition chief to talk sideloading iPhone apps

• Rumours

• Report: iPhone 16 to feature more RAM and faster Wi-Fi; upgraded 5G coming to iPhone 16 Pro

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• CES
• The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 is the funkiest gadget mashup at CES 2024
• The Wi-Fi 7 era officially begins with the introduction of certified devices
• Intel reveals its full 14th-gen CPU family at CES, including a powerful 24-core laptop chip
• AMD Unveils Ryzen 8000G Series Processors: Zen 4 APUs For Desktop with Ryzen AI
• AMD releases even more Ryzen 5000 CPUs, keeps its last-gen AM4 platform alive
• TCL came to CES 2024 with a 115-inch MiniLED Quantum Dot TV
• The $2,000 ASUS ZenScreen Fold solves the biggest issue with portable monitors
• Asus unveils its ROG NUC, packing up to a Core 9 Ultra and RTX 4070 graphics into a compact 2.5-liter chassis

• The first Steam Deck competitor with SteamOS is almost here

• News

• The SEC’s X account was hijacked to post a fake approval of Bitcoin ETFs

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

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This week we covered:

• News
• Microsoft’s OpenAI-powered Copilot app comes to iPhone and iPad
• Microsoft’s new Copilot key is the first big change to Windows keyboards in 30 years
• The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement

• ⁠Crypto-crook Sam Bankman-Fried spared a second trial

• Rumours

• CES 2024 Rumours and thoughts!
• CES 2024 preview: The future of PC gaming hardware
• Intel's 6.2GHz uber CPU expected to launch at CES 2024 as new image emerges
• Kuo: 24-megapixel upgraded front camera coming with iPhone 17
• Siri generative AI capabilities to be announced at WWDC – leaker

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

Our picks of the best gadgets, games, films and TV of 2023!

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

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This week we covered:

• News
• Epic decision sees jury find Google's Play store is illegal monopoly
• Microsoft exec hints at free ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming
• Microsoft is killing its Windows VR platform — announces deprecation of'Windows Mixed Reality'
• Apple Has Reportedly Been Aiming To Launch Vision Pro In January

• UniFi devices broadcasted private video to other users’ accounts

• Rumours

• Apple may unveil M3 MacBook Airs in March alongside new iPad Pro and iPad Air models
• Under-screen Face ID camera after 2026, suggests supply-chain report
• Apple Watch X - new DESIGN, new MAGNETIC BANDS, Blood Pressure, and more!

As always, we'd love to hear your comments.

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This week we covered:

• News
• Nvidia sells half a million AI chips and bags $14.5 billion in just three months
• Microsoft joins OpenAI’s board with Sam Altman officially back as CEO
• EU’s iMessage antitrust investigation looks set to rule in Apple’s favor
• A bitter pill: Amazon calls on rival SpaceX to launch Internet satellites

• Broadcom to divest VMware's end-user computing and Carbon Black units

• Games

• Yorkshire Tea is now selling branded Xbox and PS5 controllers for £150 and the designs are something to behold
• Sega just announced new Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, Crazy Taxi, and Shinobi games
• Rockstar announces next GTA game trailer

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

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This week we covered:

• News
• Meta's controversial ad-free subscription is facing scrutiny from EU privacy campaigners
• IKEA's new smart home sensors focus on safety and avoiding water damage
• UK watchdog slams the brakes on Adobe’s $20 billion bid for Figma
• AWS unveils core-packed Graviton4 and beefier Trainium accelerators for AI
• Google Drive users say Google lost their files; Google is investigating

• Microsoft could offer one of the first third-party app stores on iPhones

• Games

• Rockstar announces next GTA game trailer

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI
• OpenAI reportedly considering reinstating just-ousted CEO Sam Altman
• Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
• Breaking: Sam Altman to return as CEO of OpenAI
• SpaceX’s second Starship flight test ends in an explosion minutes after launch
• Gearbox and Crystal Dynamics owner Embracer report 900 layoffs during"one of our strongest quarters for new releases ever
• Broadcom closes its $61 billion megadeal with VMware
• TV
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 1 and 2 review and references you might have missed

• The Creator(2023 film)

• Rumours

• iPhone SE 4 Likely to Use Modified iPhone 14 Chassis

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Apple says it is not making a new 27-inch iMac
• Apple says iPhones will support RCS in 2024
• Brits make Amazon, Meta stop using third-party data to undercut rivals
• xAI’s‘Grok’chatbot will be available to X Premium+ subscribers only
• Qualcomm and Iridium's satellite link-up loses signal

• The first GTA 6 trailer will launch in early December 2023, Rockstar confirm

• Rumours

• Kuo: Apple to update all iPad models next year, including OLED iPad Pro and new 12.9-inch iPad Air

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty of fraud
• All the news from Apple’s‘Scary Fast’ Mac event
• X launches two new subscriptions to boost your replies
• Millions of smart meters will brick it when 2G and 3G turns off
• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite looks like the Windows world’s answer to Apple Silicon

• Apple decides to launch Apple Pay Later now, no longer‘early access’

• Games

• Forza Motorsport

• Rumours

• NVIDIA and AMD reportedly gearing up to offer ARM CPUs for Windows PCs

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• Meta
• Meta’s $499.99 Quest 3 headset is all about mixed reality and video games

• Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to Meta Quest 3 in December

• Google

• The Google Pixel 8 is official with 7 years of updates
• The Pixel Watch 2 is official with a Snapdragon W5 chip

• Google's Tensor G3 chip is focused on speeding up AI for the Pixel 8 phones

• Rumours

• Folding iPad as soon as 2024, says report – but 2025 more likely

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal gets preliminary approval from UK regulator
• Game on: FTC tries again to block Microsoft Activision merger
• Another console dad hangs up his spurs as PlayStation boss Jim Ryan announces he's retiring from Sony next year
• Cisco to acquire Splunk in $28B mega deal
• Online Safety Bill passes in the UK w/o iMessage impact, but government not giving up
• NASA collected a sample from an asteroid for the first time — here’s why it matters

• Epic Games is laying off more than 800 people:'We've been spending way more money than we earn'

• Rumours

• Leaked Microsoft Docs Indicate Xbox Is Planning Next-Gen Hybrid Console For 2028

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

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This week we covered:

• News
• Hackers had access to UK voter data for over a year before anyone noticed
• AMD’s FPS-doubling FSR 3 is coming soon, and not just to Radeon graphics cards
• Intel shows off 8-core, 528-thread processor with 1TB/s of co-packaged optics
• Intel confirms Thunderbolt 5 name, 120Gbps tech arrives in 2024
• Razzlekhan and husband guilty of $4.5bn Bitcoin launder

• ULTRARAM may be a silly name but it's the holy grail for memory tech and means your PC could hibernate for over 1,000 years

• Rumours

• Report: Major‘Apple Watch X’ redesign coming as soon as next year, testing magnetic band attachments
• Microsoft patents 360-degree folding display — is this the Surface Duo 3?
• This is Microsoft’s new disc-less Xbox Series X design with a new controller

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

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This week we covered:

• iPhone 15
• IPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max
• Watch 9
• Watch Ultra 2
• iOS 17
• MacOS Sonoma

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

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What we’re looking forward to

• TV/Movies
• Foundation S2
• Lower Decks S4
• The Continental
• Gen V
• Dune 2 - March 2024
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - May 2024

• Beetlejuice 2!! - September 2024

• Games

• Forza Motorsport
• Starfield

• Payday 3

• Tech

• Apple Watch Ultra 2
• Meta Quest 3

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Hundreds sign up to ponder OpenAI founder's eye-scanning crypto orb despite data concerns
• Elon Musk’s‘fund your legal bill’ tweet is a brand new level of bullshit
• 'Unpatchable' vulnerability in Tesla's AMD chips allows free access to the cars' paywalled features
• Amazon has more than half of all Arm server CPUs in the world
• $5 billion Google lawsuit over‘incognito mode’ tracking moves a step closer to trial
• North Korean hackers had access to Russian missile maker for months, say researchers

• iPhone 15 Pro’s 3 nm A17 chip will blow away competition thanks to TSMC sweetheart deal

• Rumours

• Apple testing M3 Max chip with up to 40 GPU cores for new MacBook Pro

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Apple slams UK surveillance-bill proposals
• UK privacy watchdog warns Meta over plan to keep denying Brits a choice over its ad tracking
• Kevin Mitnick, Once the‘Most Wanted Computer Outlaw,’ Dies at 59
• Fed’s deadline comes and goes without Tesla’s reply to Autopilot questions
• Elon Musk says he’ll ask Tim Cook to lower App Store fees for X subscriptions

• FBI found out who illegally used NSO spyware: It was the FBI

• Rumours

• Rumor: Apple Watch Series 9 to be available in new color option alongside black titanium Ultra

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• Musk sues law firm for overcharging Twitter when Twitter was suing Musk
• Meta blocking VPN access to Threads in EU
• Meta facing a $100,000 daily fine if it doesn't fix privacy issues in Norway
• Netflix Basic gone in the US and UK, doubling price of dumping ads
• Infrared may no longer be a punchline, as IEEE approves 9.6Gbps wireless light
• Sony agrees to 10-year Call of Duty deal with Microsoft

• Russian security service bans all Apple devices, repeats nonsensical spying claims

• Rumours

• Apple’s first M3 Macs could arrive in October

As always, we'd love to hear your comments

Find us on Twitter @WeeklyTechRant

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This week we covered:

• News
• EU antitrust team closer to full-blown Microsoft probe, say sources
• Twitter refuses to pay for arbitration it forced on 891 ex-employees, suit says
• Tesla ordered to cough up data for Autopilot probe or face heavy fines

• Razer is investigating a‘potential breach’ after hacker tries to sell‘encryption keys, database, backend access logins’ and more for $100,000

• Threads

• Meta's Threads races to 100 million users in under a week
• Threads profiles can’t be deleted without removing your entire Instagram account
• Here’s why Threads is delayed in Europe

• Twitter threatens to sue Meta over the new Threads app

• Rumours

• iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro rumored to feature big boost in battery sizes

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This week we covered:

• News
• Private email shows PlayStation chief unworried about Xbox-exclusive Call of Duty
• Plex lays off more than 20 percent of its staff
• Here’s why Apple’s latest effort to bring games to macOS is a big deal
• The Mac Pro’s biggest problem is the MacBook
• Meta wants to turn Facebook into an App Store replacement, at least in the EU

• Musk annoys Twitter users by capping number of tweets they can view each day

• Rumours

• iPhone 15 Pro again said to come in new‘crimson’ color; new green color planned for iPhone 15
• 2026 Apple Watch Ultra will be first to get micro-LED – TrendForce

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This week we covered:

• News
• Apple has bought an AR headset startup called Mira
• Meta sells Giphy to Shutterstock at a loss following UK order
• Nintendo sends Valve DMCA notice to block Steam release of Wii emulator Dolphin
• Sonos announces it needs to layoff 7% of employees and reduce real estate
• Neuralink receives FDA clearance to begin human trials of its brain-computer interface
• Meta Quest 3 Ships This Fall, Starting At $500
• AMD's Ryzen 8000 CPU with Navi 3.5 graphics could kill low-end GPUs

• Intel is officially killing off the‘i’ in Core i7 — as it goes Ultra

• Rumours

• Second-gen Apple Watch Ultra coming this fall, new big iMac‘in early development’ with larger than 30-inch screen

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A quick announcement on the delays with the latest Episode.

Thanks

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This week we covered:

• Hardware
• MacBook Air 15
• Mac Studio

• Mac Pro

• Software:

• iOS 17
• iPadOS 17
• tvOS 17
• WatchOS 10

• macOS Sonoma

• AR/VR

• Vision Pro

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his week we covered:

• News
• EU passes world's first regulatory framework for cryptocurrency
• Meta hit with record-breaking $1.3 billion fine over Facebook data transfers to the US
• There's good reason to believe that GTA 6 will release next year
• Elon Musk's lawyer just accused Microsoft of violating the Twitter developer agreement
• NASA picks Blue Origin to make a second human-crewed lunar lander

• Sony’s new Q handheld is official: 8-inch screen, streams PS5 games

• Rumours

• Google's Pixel 8 Pro could have a built-in thermometer
• Meta reportedly wants to license Magic Leap’s AR technology

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This week we covered:

• News
• Microsoft just made a huge, far-from-certain bet on nuclear fusion
• Microsoft's Activision takeover approved by EU after UK veto

• Intel's Meteor Lake iGPU is set to shake up the entry level GPU market

• Google IO

• Google Pixel Fold: The thinnest foldable(with the biggest battery) in the US
• Pixel Tablet hands-on: Basically a $500 smart display with a detachable screen

• Google announces Pixel 7A with 90Hz display and wireless charging

• Rumours

• Apple’s Reality Pro Headset Might Have More Features Than We Think
• Gurman: First M3 Macs may launch by end of the year, chip has more CPU/GPU cores compared to M2

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This week we covered:

• News
• Biden proposes 30 percent tax on cryptominers' power bills
• Apple and Google team up to bring AirTag-like unwanted tracking alerts to all item trackers on iPhone and Android
• Twitter is going to purge and archive inactive accounts

• Nvidia's Neural Texture Compression technology should alleviate VRAM concerns

• Rumours

• Apple Watch Series 9 could include the first speed boost in years
• Largest iPhone screens ever coming to iPhone 16 Pro models – Ross Young

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This week we covered:

• News
• UK regulators block Microsoft's Activision acquisition in potentially fatal surprise blow
• Apple’s App Store can stay closed but developers can link to outside payments, says appeals court
• That's cute. UK.gov gathers up £100M for AI super-models
• Lookout sells its consumer cybersecurity business to F-Secure for $223M and goes all-in on the enterprise
• UK chip giant Arm files for blockbuster US share listing

• Judge knocks back Elon Musk's ridiculous claim in fatal Tesla crash lawsuit: His statements about auto-driving safety could have been deepfaked

• Rumours

• Latest iPhone 15 Pro CADs reveal‘Action button’ and camera changes

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This week we covered:

• News
• WhatsApp, Signal, and other encrypted messaging apps urge UK to rethink‘flawed’ legislation
• Microsoft rejects $42k+ Twitter API subscription, pulls it from ads platform
• ChatGPT costs $700,000 per day to run, which is why Microsoft wants to make its own AI chips
• GlobalFoundries sues IBM for flogging chip secrets to Intel, Rapidus

• Please stop doing war crimes in multiplayer games, it's upsetting the Red Cross

• Rumours

• Microsoft is reportedly working on a smaller Surface Pro and Arm-powered Surface Go 4
• Google will reportedly announce a foldable Pixel phone at I/O next month

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This week we covered:

News

• Inside FTX: Jokes about misplaced funds, diabolical IT, poor oversight, and worse
• Calling for a pause on AI experimentation then spending millions on GPUs for a new AI project has real Musk energy
• Sega Sammy launches $772 million offer for Angry Birds-maker Rovio

Films/TV/Games

• Michelle Yeoh is beaming back into Star Trek

Rumours

• Apple AR glasses might not launch before 2026
• iOS 17 will reportedly set the stage for sideloading apps on iPhone

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This week we covered:

• News
• E3 2023 has been cancelled
• Amazon just opened up its Sidewalk network for anyone to build connected gadgets on
• Google Assistant might be doomed: Division“reorganizes” to focus on Bard
• More Google Assistant shutdowns: Third-party smart displays are dead
• Twitter’s $1,000 checkmark will be free for the 10,000 most-followed companies
• 4G internet is set to arrive on the moon later this year

• New Steve Jobs Archive ebook now available as a free download

• Rumours

• Apple patents new AirPods case with interactive display

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This week we covered:

• News

Nvidia DGX Cloud: train your own ChatGPT in a web browser for $37K a month

The SEC has put Coinbase on notice for allegedly breaking securities laws

How hackers took over Linus Tech Tips

Framework’s first gaming laptop features upgradeable GPUs, swappable keyboards

Twitter to un-verify people who don’t pay $8/month starting on April Fools’ Day

Twitter will soon only recommend paid users in its For You feed

UK Sets Up Fake Booter Sites To Muddy DDoS Market

• Rumours

iPhone 15 Action button in testing; new super-low energy mode

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This week we covered:

• News
• Jack Dorsey’s Twitter alternative Bluesky is now available in closed beta
• Elon Musk yearns for AI devs to build'anti-woke' rival ChatGPT bot
• NIST's Quantum-Proof Algorithm Has a Bug, Analysts Say
• The UK published 7 responses to the Microsoft-Activision Xbox deal — only one company opposes
• Microsoft’s new Xbox mobile gaming store may launch in 2024

• FTX inner circle helped itself to $3.2B, liquidators say

• Rumours

• Quest 3 Reportedly Much Thinner And Twice As Powerful, But More Than $400

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This week we covered:

A special live recording of the Weekly Tech Rant from Las Vegas, USA!

• News
• EU tells Elon Musk to hire more staff to moderate Twitter

• Microsoft's charm offensive with COD deals has reportedly paid off with the EU

• Rumours

• Apple could release HomePod with 7-inch panel early next year, says analyst

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This week we covered:

• News

Following Twitter’s lead, Meta launches its own blue checkmark subscription for Facebook and Instagram, costs $14.99/mo on iOS
Infineon given the green light for €5B Dresden chip fab
FBI says it has'contained' a cybersecurity incident on its network
GoDaddy says a multi-year breach hijacked customer websites and accounts
VMware, Broadcom, extend deadline for acquisition to be signed, sealed, and delivered
Microsoft is reportedly already planning to bring ads to Bing's AI chatbot
Microsoft“lobotomized” AI-powered Bing Chat, and its fans aren’t happy

• Gadgets/Media/Games

Original iPhone from 2007 auctioned for $63,356, topping prior sales

• Rumours

iMessage to voice note: Apple patent to play messages in your voice

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A quick update on this weeks episode (or lack of!).

Feb 2023

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This week we covered:

• News

Want to Delete Your Twitter DMs? Good Luck With That
Well, now we know why Google closed Stadia
Microsoft announces new Bing and Edge browser powered by upgraded ChatGPT AI
iPhone 15 USB-C port may have some features limited to Apple certified cables and accessories
Royal Mail refused to pay‘absurd’ LockBit ransom, chat logs say

• Games

Pharaoh a New Era

• Rumours

15.5-inch MacBook Air could arrive in April

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This week we covered:

• News

Meta, which pays for web scraping, sues to stop web scraping
Twitter to end free access to its API in Elon Musk’s latest monetization push
Twitter will let businesses keep their gold checkmarks — for $1,000 per month
For a small fortune you too can buy a piece of PC gaming graphics history
Google takes first shot in AI search engine wars, announces Bard competitor to ChatGPT
LockBit ransomware group threatens to publish stolen Royal Mail data
Bank of England won't call it Britcoin but says digital pound'likely to be needed in future’

• Rumours

The iPhone Ultra Is Real and on Its Way, per report

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This week we covered:

• News

Japan officially designates today Final Fantasy 7 Day
Microsoft says Sony isn't telling the truth to EU regulators about Call of Duty
Apple’s leaked email about stopping leaks violated labor laws, officials rule
Sony's expecting a severe drop in PSVR 2 sales from a projected 2 million
Jony Ive designed a'perfect' Red Nose for the Comic Relief charity

• Gadgets/Media/Games

GoldenEye 007 is now available on Nintendo Switch and Xbox
Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are reportedly all skipping E3 2023

• Rumours

Foldable iPad Coming in 2024, per report

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This week we covered:

• News

Wait, again? War Thunder fans just can't help themselves when it comes to posting sensitive military documents
T-Mobile Breached Again, This Time Exposing 37M Customers' Data
British monarchy goes after Twitter, alleges rent not paid for UK base
Apple antitrust appeal comes down to the legal meaning of the word‘shall’
Well that escalated quickly: India demos homebrew mobile OS
Meta allows Trump back on Facebook and Instagram

• Gadgets/Media

Snow Crash
M1 iPad Pro 11” 2021(Gen 3)

• Rumours

New iPhone 15 Pro Design Leak Reports CURVED BEZELS
Apple ‘Reality Pro’ headset will toggle between AR/VR, serve as Mac display, 2-hour external battery packs, more

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This week we covered:

• News

Google and Nvidia offer objections to FTC over Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard
Microsoft faces EU antitrust warning over Activision deal - sources
Microsoft announces big job cuts that will affect 10,000 employees
Nearly 300 MSI motherboards will run any code in Secure Boot, no questions asked
More restricted military intel ends up on the War Thunder forums
UK lawmakers vote to jail tech execs who fail to protect kids online
Twitter admits it’s breaking third-party apps, cites‘long-standing API rules’

• Apple

New MacBook Pro now official: M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, 8K HDMI, Wi-Fi 6E
Apple launches new Mac mini with M2 and M2 Pro chip, lower $599 starting price
Apple introduces the new HomePod with breakthrough sound and intelligence

• Rumours

iPhone periscope lens coming to both Pro models in 2024
Apple Reportedly Shelves AR Glasses, But Plans Cheaper Headset Model

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This week we covered:

• News

The tech that went too far at CES 2023
Retail PCIe Gen 5 SSDs finally break cover at CES 2023
Razer's new soundbar is tracking my head in the name of better audio
Samsung gives 5K Studio Display competition, somehow includes 4K webcam unlike Apple
Samsung makes Mini LED even bigger with the Odyssey Neo G9
A first look at Withings' toilet bowl urine analyzer
Lenovo Yoga Book 9i hands-on: A huge leap for dual-screen laptops
The Aroma Shooter
Skyted noise-cancelling Mask

• Rumours

Gurman: Apple AR/VR headset to be announced in the spring, before WWDC
Report:‘xrOS’ for AR/VR headset takes priority over iOS 17 features, augmented reality Apple Store experience coming soon
Gurman: New Apple Silicon Mac Pro will look identical to current model, lacks expandable RAM

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This week we covered:

• News
  • FBI’s Vetted Info Sharing Network‘InfraGard’ Hacked
  • Epic Games, at war with the App Store, fined $520M by FTC for violating children’s privacy
  • Xbox boss: Sony wants to‘grow by making Xbox smaller’
• Crypto!
  • FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas
  • SEC charges FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried with'defrauding investors’
  • Celebrities that promoted Bored Ape NFTs are now facing a class action lawsuit
• Apple
  • Apple mulls opening browser engine, NFC, and more to third-party apps
  • Report: Apple plans to support sideloading and third-party app stores by 2024
  • Apple‘not currently considering’ adopting RCS, despite EU law requiring iMessage interoperability

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This week we covered:

• Games

Starfield
Forza Horizon 5
Sniper Elite 5
Forza Motorsport
Jedi Survivor
KSP 2
Robocop: Rogue City

• Films

Prey
Nope
Troll
Bullet Train
Top Gun: Maverick

• Gadgets

Foodmarble Aire2
Steam Deck
One Remote
Remarkable2
Amazon Scribe

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This week we covered:

• News

Apple announces sweeping changes to App Store pricing
Apple debuts Advanced Data Protection to bring end-to-end encryption to Messages in iCloud, Photos, device backups, much more
Apple announces physical Security Key support for Apple ID two-factor, new iMessage verification technology
Apple confirms that it has stopped plans to roll out CSAM detection system
TSMC triples spending on Arizona advanced chip site with extra 3nm fab
CMA review finds fuel prices not falling fast enough
Thoma Bravo adds record $32B in new capital to fuel buyout funds
Elon Musk turns Twitter into'hotel' for staff

• Rumours

Apple Is Working on a 20-Inch Foldable Display
Apple Car on track for 2026 release, under $100K price, custom chip, and no full self-driving at launch

Cloudflare Yubikey offer: https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/products/zero-trust/phishing-resistant-mfa/

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This week we covered:

• News
  • $275M Fine for Meta After Facebook Data Scrape
  • Meta faces lawsuit for harvesting financial data from tax prep websites
  • Adtech antitrust class damages claim filed against Google in UK — seeking up to $16.3BN
  • LastPass' latest data breach exposed some customer information
  • Anker’s Eufy lied to us about the security of its security cameras
  • Microsoft vows to bring'Call of Duty' to Nintendo consoles
  • Apple’s New M2 Max Leaks Performance Online
• Rumours
  • iPhone 15 Will Have New“State-of-the-art” Low-Light Camera
  • Bloomberg: Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset will run on‘xrOS’ platform

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This week we covered:

• News

Elon Musk says Twitter is done with layoffs and ready to hire again
Musk emails remaining Twitter staff to find“anyone who actually writes software”
George Hotz, hacker and long-time frenemy of Elon Musk, signs on for 12 weeks at Twitter

I f** up,’ says FTX founder in public apology
FTX files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as CEO Sam Bankman-Fried resigns
FTX says‘unauthorized transactions’ drained millions from the exchange

ESA Presents new generation of Astronauts
Intel reveals pay-to-play Xeon features with software-defined silicon
Mercedes Makes Better Performance a $1,200 Subscription in Its EVs
Brazilian regulator seizes iPhones from retail stores as Apple fails to comply with charger requirement

• Rumours

WILD RUMOR Says That Apple Made a $50 Apple Pencil That Works on iPhone

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This week we covered:

• News

The tech industry’s moment of reckoning: layoffs and hiring freezes
Activision calls Epic's latest Google lawsuit allegations'nonsense’
Xbox offered PlayStation a 10-year deal for Call of Duty, Sony declined to comment
Broadcom’s proposed $61B VMware acquisition scrutinized by UK regulators
Elizabeth Holmes has been sentenced to over 11 years in prison
Amazon Alexa is a“colossal failure,” on pace to lose $10 billion this year
The Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane returns to Earth after over two years in space

• Rumours

Iphone 15 Non Pro’s come with USB-C but USB2 speeds
iPhone 15 design to feature titanium case, may have iPhone 5C-style rounded back – leaker

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This week we covered:

• News

AMD 4th Gen EPYC 9004“Genoa Zen 4” CPUs Launched: Up To 96 Cores, 192 Threads, 384 MB L3 Cache & Crushing All Other Server Chips

Google will pay $392 million to 40 states in largest-ever US consumer privacy settlement

Apple sued for collecting user data despite opt-outs

Amazon mass layoffs will reportedly ax 10,000 people this week

Twitter lays off 5K contractors in surprise 2nd wave of cuts, more mods lost

Musk fires Twitter engineers for correcting, criticizing him on Twitter, Slack

• Rumours

GOOGLE PIXEL FOLD - EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK! Wild design, specs, price, and more!

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• News

EU could force third-party app stores on Apple after USB-C iPhone mandate

PlayStation VR2 launches on February 22nd for $549.99

AMD Reveals Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT: First RDNA 3 Parts To Hit Shelves in December

• Twitter

Elon Musk Has Fired Twitter’s‘Ethical AI’ Team

Twitter delays rollout of $8/month blue checks; Musk warns of permanent bans for impersonation

Ten days of Twitter chaos

Elon Musk has discussed putting all of Twitter behind a paywall

Twitter’s solution for ruining verification is another check mark

Musk‘killed’ Twitter’s official checkmarks after only a few hours

• Rumours

Nvidia’s 12GB RTX 4080 rumored to return as the RTX 4070 Ti

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This week we covered:

• News

Twilio hack investigation reveals second breach, as the number of affected customers rises

Tesla reportedly faces criminal probe into self-driving hype

Apple confirms it will leave Lightning behind in future iPhones

EU is about to launch an'advanced probe' into the Microsoft Activision deal, sources say

Meta posts another revenue decline as investors voice metaverse concerns

Meta Quest 3 Launches‘Later Next Year’

Leaked RTX 4080 12GB Benchmarks Seemingly Justify Nvidia Retreat

Qualcomm says Arm threatens to end CPU licensing, charge device makers instead

• Rumour

iPhone 15 Pro may replace clicky volume and power buttons with solid-state buttons

Kuo: iPhone 15 Pro may not get this Main camera upgrade after all…

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This week we covered:

• News

Nvidia says it’s ‘unlaunching’ the 12GB RTX 4080 after backlash

Elon Musk is under federal investigation for merger conduct, Twitter tells judge

Google Fiber will offer 5Gbps and 8Gbps internet plans in early 2023

Brazil court orders Apple to reimburse customers for charger-less iPhones

Microsoft says a Sony deal with Activision stops Call of Duty coming to Game Pass

Meta will have to sell Giphy after losing UK appeal

Amazon hit with $1bn claim that secretive Buy Box algorithm screws shoppers

• Apple

Apple launches redesigned iPad with a bigger screen and USB-C

Apple announces new iPad Pro with M2 chip and Wi-Fi 6E

Apple announces new Apple TV 4K with A15 Bionic chip and HDR10+ support

Apple Increasing Pricing of Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple One

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This week we covered:

• News

Thoma Bravo buys third identity company this year with $2.3B ForgeRock acquisition

KnowBe4 to Be Acquired for $4.6B by Private Equity Firm Vista

Microsoft Responds to UK Regulator’s ‘Misplaced’ Concerns Over Activision-Blizzard Megadeal; States that Sony Still Has the Ability to Adapt and Compete

The iPhone 14 keeps calling 911 on rollercoasters

Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake CPU Source Code Reportedly Leaked Following Hack

Horizon Worlds metaverse app so bad that Meta has to force employees to use it

• Meta VR Event

The Meta Quest Pro costs $1,499 and ships October 25th

Iron Man VR and Xbox Cloud Gaming Coming to Meta Quest, 3 Top VR Studios Bought by Meta

• Rumours

Mid-Gen PS5/XSX Upgrades Should Be in the Hands of AAA Studios Shortly, Says GTA Leaker

Apple’s Headset Reportedly Has Iris Scanning And Leg Tracking

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This week we covered:

• News

Micron Has Pledged To Invest Up To $100 Billion To Establish a Gigantic Fab Unit in New York State

Elon Musk says he’ll buy Twitter, again, for $54.20 a share, again

Russian government collides with reality, rejects plans to fund a 'national game engine’

Tachyum Publishes Prodigy Universal Processor Whitepaper: Up To 6x Faster Than NVIDIA H100 & 30x Faster Than Intel Xeon 8380, Available In 2H 2023

More than half a billion dollars stolen from world's largest crypto exchange

• Google Event

Google (finally) announces the Pixel Watch

Google’s Pixel 7 is official, with wider 17-country rollout (and Pro!)

Google’s including its VPN service with the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro

Google offers a better look at the Pixel Tablet

Google once again slams Apple for not adopting RCS

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This week we covered:

• News

Intel Raptor Lake CPUs will launch October 20 with prices largely to match 12th Gen

Russian campaign spent $100,000 on anti-Ukraine propaganda, Meta says

Google is shutting down Stadia

Google challenges US ISPs with 100Gbps fiber broadband

USB kills off SuperSpeed branding as it tries to simplify its ubiquitous connector

EU Passes Law to Switch iPhone to USB-C by End of 2024

YouTube has begun asking users to subscribe to Premium to watch 4K videos

• Rumours

Alleged AMD Desktop CPU Roadmap Leaks Out: Ryzen 7000 3D V-Cache In Early 2023, Threadripper 7000 & Ryzen 7000G Chips In 2H 2023

M2 Extreme chip in upcoming Mac Pro could get 48-core CPU, 160-core GPU, 384GB RAM

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This week we covered:

• News

Nvidia RTX 4090 'the new heavyweight champ' launches October 12 for $1599

Nvidia RTX 40-series to deliver 'up to 2–3 times increase in ray tracing' performance

Nvidia unveils DLSS 3 promising 4x frame rate increases for RTX 40-series GPUs

EVGA is reportedly so sick of working with Nvidia that it's going to stop making graphics cards altogether

Facebook users sue Meta for bypassing beefy Apple security to spy on millions

UK launches competition probe into cloud giants in digital services

SiFive RISC-V cores picked for Google AI compute nodes

• Rumours

We Might Not Get an October Apple Event…

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This week we covered:

A bad few weeks for big tech!

• Google fails to overturn EU Android antitrust ruling but reduces its fine by 5 percent
• Google and Meta fined over $70m for privacy violations in Korea
• Google faces fines of up to $25.4b in UK and EU ad tech case
• Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard will face ‘in-depth’ UK investigation
• ARM sues Qualcomm, alleging its subsidiary breached a licensing agreement
• The SEC revealed today that it charged VMWare with fraud . . . then settled for next to nothing
• Meta axes internal team responsible for asking ‘are we the baddies?’
• NVIDIA reveals new US government rule restricting export of AI chips to China and Russia

Breaches Everywhere

• LastPass Suffers Data Breach, Source Code Stolen
• Critical hole in Atlassian Bitbucket allows any miscreant to hijack servers

• Optus (Austrialian Telco) Breached

• Ryzen 7000 Series Launch AMD makes Ryzen 7000 official: Launching September 27, starting at $299

• AMD Announces B650E Chipset for Ryzen 7000: PCIe 5.0 For Mainstream
• Xbox Game Pass ‘Friends & Family’ leak suggests you can share with friends

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This week we covered:

• Event Impressions
• Watch

Watch 8

Watch SE

Watch 8 Ultra

• AirPods Pro 2
• iPhone

14/14 Plus

14 Pro/14 Max

iOS 16

Dynamic Island video

• What Apple Didn’t Announce

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This week we covered:

• News

iPhone 14 in-person event confirmed for September 7:‘Far out’

Nvidia to announce next-gen GPU architecture in September amid RTX 4090 rumours

The GPU shortage is over. The GPU surplus has arrived!

Intel Kicks Off Fab Co-Investment Program with Brookfield: New Fabs to be Jointly Owned

Get ready for a movie based on the rise and fall of BlackBerry

Mark Zuckerberg confirms new Meta VR headset will launch in October

Twitter whistleblower to testify about company's'widespread security failures' at Senate hearing

Phishers who hit Twilio and Cloudflare stole 10k credentials from 136 others

• Gaming

Sony hikes price of PS5 in Europe, Japan, and more

Microsoft won’t raise Xbox prices after PlayStation 5 price hike

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This week we covered:

• News

Embracer goes on spending spree: buys Lord of the Rings IP rights, Tripwire Interactive, and more

iOS VPNs have leaked traffic for more than 2 years, researcher claims

Bloomberg: iPhone 14 event slated for September 7, release on September 16

Janet Jackson music video declared a cybersecurity exploit

UK blocks sale of chip design software company to China

Hackers Stole Crypto from Bitcoin ATMs by Exploiting Zero-Day Vulnerability

Engineer admits he stole trade secrets while working on the Apple Car

• Gaming

Sony says the PlayStation VR2 is coming in early 2023

• Rumours

M2 Pro and M2 Max Production Date Leaked, Prepare for Launch!

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This week we covered:

It’s Episode 100 - lets have a look back to Episode 1 (published on the 31st July 2020, Ep2 was 8th Aug 2020)

• News

Microsoft claims Sony pays for ‘blocking rights’ to keep games off Xbox Game Pass

Intel launches Arc Pro GPUs that are designed for workstations and pro apps

The Zoom installer let a researcher hack his way to root access on macOS

1,900 Signal users’ phone numbers exposed by Twilio phishing

Meta iOS apps accused of injecting code into third-party websites

Quest v43 Officially Transitions From Facebook To Meta Accounts

Russians Soon To Get Laptops With Its Homegrown Baikal M1 CPUs, First BitBlaze PC Shows Up & Listed Online

iOS 16 beta 6 now available as Apple finalizes features ahead of September launch

American Airlines places order for 20 supersonic jets from Boom Supersonic

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This week we covered:

• News

Now another Meta acquisition in jeopardy: VR biz Within

Intel’s foundry business strikes MediaTek chip production deal

FileWave fixes bugs that left 1,000+ orgs open to ransomware, data theft

Apple buys HP’s 67-acre San Diego campus as it expands footprint and works on custom modem

Tencent makes megabucks offer to buy majority stake in Ubisoft

Ping Identity to Go Private After $2.8B Acquisition

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X, Ryzen 5 7600X CPU Specs Leaked: Up To 16 Zen 4 Cores, 5.7 GHz Boost, 170W TDP

HUGE: Apple’s VR/AR Headset is Coming in January, Plus Pricing in Report

• Rumours

Gurman talks M1 Mac Pro, Mac mini redesign, and iMac Pro ‘active development’ for as soon as 2023

Here’s Our First Look At The Redesigned Entry-Level iPad

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This week we covered:

• News

Apple Pay lawsuit filed by firm that won ebook and developer antitrust cases

Google will let European developers use their own billing systems

Google: Kremlin-backed goons spread Android malware disguised as pro-Ukraine app

Tesla sold 75 percent of its Bitcoin

Apple AR Glass now in design development stage; iPhone 15 Pro’s periscope camera raises questions

Meta is being sued by Meta for using the name Meta

Hardcoded password in Confluence app has been leaked on Twitter

Twitter data breach exposes contact details for 5.4M accounts; on sale for $30k

• Gaming

Rockstar posts hundreds of new job listings and we bet they're for Grand Theft Auto 6

• Rumours

The Core i5 13600K looks mighty in this early leak

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 & RTX 4070“Expected” 3DMark Time Spy Performance Revealed

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This week we covered:

• News

Microsoft could be readying Windows 12 for 2024 in a major shakeup

Russia hits Google with fine for'illegal content’

UK regulator’s order for Meta to sell Giphy is under review — again

UK could force E2E encrypted platforms to do CSAM-scanning

UK’s Online Safety Bill on pause pending new PM

Intel Arc A-Series desktop GPUs to retail for less than $399, according to leak

• Rumours

Gurman: M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBook Pro expected between fall 2022 and spring 2023

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This week we covered:

• News

US military contractor moves to buy Israeli spy-tech company NSO Group

Twitter reportedly hires the firm that invented the ‘poison pill’ to sue Elon Musk

Starlink’s Dishy McFlatface internet now available for Boaty McBoatfaces — just $5,000 per month

BMW starts selling heated seat subscriptions for $18 a month

App Store apps can now use third-party payment providers in South Korea

Digital Markets Act passes, could force Apple to allow competing app stores, and more

Meta Quest VR headsets won't require a Facebook account from next month

UK launches antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s $69B proposed Activision acquisition

• Rumours

Kuo: More affordable model of Apple’s mixed reality headset coming in 2025

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This week we covered:

• News

The GPU shortage is over - according to the Verge!

TikTok commits to changes to avoid App Store ban

FBI warning: Crooks are using deepfakes to apply for remote tech jobs

You should probably skip the base M2 MacBook Pro model

Zendesk drama concludes with $10.2 billion private equity acquisition

Uh oh! European carriers are trying to get into ‘personalized’ ad targeting

AMD targeted by RansomHouse, cybercrims claim to have '450Gb' in stolen data

Apple's guy in charge of stopping insider trading guilty of … insider trading

• Rumours

Apple Watch Series 8 will reportedly be able to detect if you have a fever

Gurman: New HomePod coming in 2023, featuring S8 chip, similar audio quality of original model

Apple’s mixed reality headset will reportedly come with an M2 chip

These iOS 16 features won’t be available at launch

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This week we covered:

• Current Games

Sniper Elite 5

MSFS & Top Gun DLC

• Upcoming Games

Forza Motorsport 8

Starfield

Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC

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This week we covered:

• News

Intel's Arc A380 GPU launches in China for around $150 USD

TSMC's 2nm chips are coming to a device near you in 2026

USB-C iPhone could become mandatory in the US as senators push for common charger law

Microsoft appears to have blocked Windows downloads in Russia

Intel really just asked the EU for $624M to pay it back for overturned anti-AMD fine

FAA: Airlines must retrofit faulty altimeters “as soon as possible”

PCIe 7.0 to quadruple the bandwidth of PCIe 5.0, coming in 2025

Xbox Cloud Gaming is getting mouse and keyboard support and latency improvements

• Rumours

Tim Cook says “stay tuned” for Apple’s AR’s headset

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This week we covered:

• News

Taiwan bans exports of chips faster than 25MHz to Russia, Belarus

Qualcomm wants to buy a stake in Arm alongside its rivals

Russia seeks to hijack German telescope on its X-ray spacecraft

Mandatory USB-C phone port edges closer after EU deal

Cloud gaming ban on the App Store, and mandatory WebKit usage, both declared anticompetitive

• More AMD News!

AMD Zen 4 Update: 8% to 10% IPC Uplift, 25% More Perf-Per-Watt, V-Cache Chips Coming

AMD RDNA 3/Navi 3X GPU Update: 50% Better Perf-Per-Watt, Using Chiplets For First Time

AMD Unveils Siena, A Lower Cost EPYC Family With Up to 64 Zen 4 Cores

AMD Announces Genoa-X: 4th Gen EPYC with Up to 96 Zen 4 Cores and 1GB L3 V-Cache

AMD: Combining CDNA 3 and Zen 4 for MI300 Data Center APU in 2023

AMD Zen Architecture Roadmap: Zen 5 in 2024 With All-New Microarchitecture

AMD’s 2022-2024 Client GPU Roadmap: RDNA 3 This Year, RDNA 4 Lands in 2024

AMD Updated EPYC Roadmap: 5th Gen EPYC "Turin" Announced, Coming by End of 2024

• Rumours

Kuo: Apple’s mixed reality headset coming in Q2 2023

Report: TSMC to start mass production of new 3nm ‘M2 Pro’ chip later this year

Apple said to be planning 12″ MacBook, 15″ MacBook Air and 14.1” iPad Pro for 2023 releases

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This week we covered:

• Software

iOS 16

iPadOS 16

WatchOS 9

macOS Ventura

HomeKit

CarPlay & Next Gen CarPlay Preview

• Hardware

M2

MacBook Air

MacBook Pro

• Other

Apple’s new MetalFX Upscaling system will compete with AMD FSR, Nvidia DLSS

Apple’s Rapid Security Response will push faster updates that install on Macs without a reboot

Apple's passkeys offer even better protection for your passwords

Apple expands personal safety features with 'Safety Check’

Apple previews 'Freeform' whiteboard app for real-time collaboration

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This week we covered:

• News

EA is reportedly seeking a sale or a merger

Apple in talks to buy EA gaming, Disney and Amazon also potential suitors

Match Group and Google reach an interim compromise over app payments

TSMC Singapore plant could alleviate chip shortage

Samsung and Intel bosses discuss silicon co-operation

AMD Ryzen 7000 Announced: 16 Cores of Zen 4, Plus PCIe 5 and DDR5 for Socket AM5, Coming This Fall

• Movies

Top Gun: Maverick

• Rumours

Gurman: iOS 16 to include always-on display feature ahead of iPhone 14 Pro

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This week we covered:

• News

Intel details staggered release schedule for long-anticipated Arc GPUs

Apple discontinues iPod touch, ending 20 year run of iconic ‘iPod’ brand

Judge rules part of antitrust suit against Valve can continue

Broadcom to buy VMware 'on Thursday for $61 billion’

Nvidia open-sources Linux kernel GPU modules. Repeat, open-source GPU modules…..Hell has frozen over

AMD approaches '30%' x86 CPU market share, thanks to servers 'n' laptops

Meta ‘Still Working’ On Quest Login Options Without Facebook

Demand for PC and smartphone chips drops 'like a rock' says CEO of China’s top chipmaker

TSMC, Samsung plan price hikes for chip designers – reports

• Rumours

Kuo: Cheaper Apple TV coming later this year to ‘close the gap with competitors’

Apple ‘testing’ foldable with secondary E Ink display, says analyst

Nvidia's RTX 40 series is set to launch as soon as July

Excitement builds as new RTX 4090 specs emerge

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This week we covered:

• Pixel Watch

Google’s Pixel Watch arrives this fall

• Pixel 6a

Google’s budget Pixel 6a arrives July 28 for $449

• Pixel Buds Pro

Pixel Buds Pro are Google's first earbuds with active noise cancellation

• Pixel 7 & 7 Pro

Google offers a peek at the Pixel 7

• Pixel Tablet

Google will release a Pixel Tablet… in 2023

• AR Glasses

Google shows off AR glasses that might make a case for augmented reality

• Other Bits

End-to-end encryption is coming to Google Messages group texts

Google built a completely new Wallet for Android and Wear OS

Google Chrome is getting built-in virtual credit cards

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This week we covered:

• News

Sonos is about to introduce its own voice assistant

Intel acquires Finnish graphics tech company Siru Innovations

Intuit owes customers $141 million after it 'cheated' them out of free tax services

Sony says it won't make Bungie games exclusive, but the FTC may not be convinced

Now you can play Fortnite on your iPhone or Android for free with Xbox Cloud Gaming

Match Group is suing Google over Android’s in-app payment monopoly

AMD unleashes the RX 6950 XT, costs $100 more than RX 6900 XT

AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT beats Nvidia's RTX 3090 Ti in new 3DMark leak

This UE5 train station scene makes me fear the future of horror games

• Rumours

USB-C iPhone 15 in the works, claims Kuo, following supply-chain survey

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This week we covered:

• News

Apple to developers: if we deleted your old app, it deserved it

Apple shares criteria for removing ‘abandoned’ software from App Store, extending response window

UK government wants to regulate Apple TV+, Netflix, and other streaming services

Square Enix sells all of its Western game studios—and their games—to Embracer

Apple Pay is anticompetitive, says EU in preliminary ruling

Intel Arc scavenger hunt ends with hints at GPU prices

• Rumours

Nvidia's next-gen GPU 'Ada Lovelace is no longer a simple Ampere refresh' rumours suggest

There's no escaping the metaverse: Meta is reportedly releasing four new VR headsets by 2024

iPhone 5G modem reportedly going proprietary next year, and here’s why that matters

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This week we covered:

News

Okta says Lapsus$ breach affected only two customers

Lapsus$ hackers breached T-Mobile’s systems and stole its source code

EU to unveil landmark law to force Big Tech to police illegal content

Its a bad week for Apple…

EU continues to fight to make USB-C the new charging standard

Apple's grip on iOS browser engines disallowed under latest draft EU rules

Japanese antitrust report calls for multiple app stores and more; Apple protests

Thief steals $1 million of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs with Instagram hack

Twitter

Elon Musk still wants Twitter—and he now has $46.5 billion in financing

Twitter is reportedly re-examining Elon Musk’s $43 billion takeover bid

Twitter accepts buyout, giving Elon Musk total control of the company

Rumours

iPhone 14 camera upgrades coming for FaceTime and more, predicts Kuo

Intel could flood retailers with up to eight different Arc graphics cards

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This week we covered:

• News - It’s Acquisition time again….

Kaseya acquiring disaster recovery service Datto for $6.2B with help from consortium of investors

Bigger sound in smaller packages, as Sonos buys Mayht for $100M

Identity access management has a new price: $6.9 billion

Intel acquires private 5G network provider Ananki

• News

Meta will take a 48 percent cut from sales in Horizon Worlds

Pegasus spyware hacked iPhones of senior EU officials, who were alerted by Apple

TSMC’s 2025 timeline for 2nm chips suggests Intel gaining steam

Intel Arc A770 matches RTX 2070 OpenCL performance

• Rumours

Kuo: Meta’s High End Headset Launches H2 With 2K Per Eye Mini LED

Apple’s M2 chips and the computers they’ll power detailed in new leak

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This week we covered:

• News

Google crackdown means you won’t be able to buy Barnes & Noble ebooks on Android

Elon Musk buys 9% of Twitter stock as he pressures company on “free speech”

AMD to acquire SmartNIC and networking firm Pensando for $1.9 billion

Intel CEO made $178m in first 10 months, AMD CEO got a $2m pay rise

Russia threatens Wikipedia with fines over “false information”

Russian media watchdog bans Google from advertising its services

French court pulls SpaceX's Starlink license

iOS 15.5 includes support for apps with external purchases to satisfy regulators, code confirms

The Bluetooth group is fighting the maker of Dodges and Jeeps for not paying twice

• Rumours

Gurman: iOS 16 and watchOS 9 to bring major upgrades at WWDC 2022

Gurman: Apple could announce two new Macs at WWDC 2022

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This week we covered:

• News

IT giant Globant discloses hack after Lapsus$ leaks 70GB of stolen data

Apple project ‘Breakout’ to bring financial services in-house, could broaden payment features beyond US

Google Maps probe by U.S. Justice Department picks up speed

Apple and Facebook reportedly provided personal user data to hackers posing as law enforcement

Apple will allow Dutch dating apps to use other payment options within existing apps

Apple finally lets ‘reader’ apps like Kindle, Netflix, and Spotify link to their own sites

Russian regulator says it will fine Google over Ukraine war videos

Wyze knew hackers could remotely access your camera for three years and said nothing

• Intel Arc

Intel shows off its first Arc desktop GPU, coming summer 2022

Intel details its first Arc A-series GPUs for laptops

Intel’s XeSS AI upscaling won’t be available until sometime in‘early summer’

• Rumours

Foldable iPhone coming in 2025 at the earliest, may actually be iPad or tablet/phone hybrid

Will iPhone ever use under-display Touch ID? Kuo isn’t so sure now

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This week we covered:

• News

European Union reaches provisional agreement on antitrust law targeting tech giants

EU legislation to make iMessage and other messaging apps interoperable

Intel’s unlocked Core i9-12900KS processor claims to be the ‘world’s fastest desktop processor’ with 5.5GHz speeds

NVIDIA Releases GeForce RTX 3090 Ti: Ampere the All-Powerful

Nvidia RTX 4080 / 4090 leaks point to extremely power-hungry cards

Epic isn’t satisfied by Google’s app store billing stunt

FCC adds Kaspersky to its list of national security threats

HP buys Poly, the company formerly known as Plantronics

UK Ministry of Defence takes recruitment system offline, confirms data leak

A mysterious satellite hack has victims far beyond Ukraine

Russian military reportedly hacked into European satellites at the start of the Ukraine war

Lapsus$ - British cops arrest seven in Lapsus$ crime gang probe

• Rumours

Bloomberg: Apple planning new hardware subscription service for iPhone and iPad

Apple will reportedly release an iPad Pro with an M2 chip this fall

Kuo: iPhone 14 Pro camera bump to be even larger thanks to new 48MP sensor

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This week we covered:

• News

Acquisitions

Google buys Micro LED startup Raxium, wants to make AR displays

SentinelOne pays $617m for identity biz Attivo Networks

Lapsus$

Microsoft investigates after Lapsus$ gang brags of Bing, Cortana code heist

Okta hack puts thousands of businesses on high alert

Devil-may-care Lapsus$ gang is not the aspirational brand infosec needs

NASA’s megarocket, the Space Launch System, rolls out to its launchpad

Apple fined for ninth time as it submits new proposals in Dutch antitrust case

After CP77 mess, CD Projekt Red will switch to Unreal for next Witcher game

• TV/Film/Games

Picard Season 2 thoughts

Discovery Season 4 thoughts

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This week we covered:

• News

Intel, AMD, and other industry heavyweights create a new standard for chiplets

Looks like Google’s on an audio startup buying spree

Google is buying the cybersecurity company that uncovered the SolarWinds hack

RTX 40 graphics cards look set to get a big increase in shader count and L2 cache

Nvidia’s RTX 3090 Ti will reportedly launch on March 29th

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s Privateer comes out of stealth mode with satellite tracker ‘Wayfinder’

As Nvidia hacker deadline looms, 71,000 employee accounts have reportedly been exposed

Leaked stolen Nvidia cert can sign Windows malware

Nvidia hackers target Samsung, release 190GB of sensitive data

• Rumours

Exclusive: Updated Mac mini to have versions with M2 and M2 Pro chip

Kuo: Apple’s new A16 chip only included with higher-end iPhone 14 Pro models, base model iPhone 14 uses same chip as iPhone 13

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This week we covered:

Apple Event Replay Link - here

• Product updates

iPhone 13 - Two New colours!

iPhone SE 3

iPad Air 5

M1 Ultra

Mac Studio

Mac Studio Display

Back & Silver Trackpad, Magic Mouse and Keyboard

• What didn’t drop

Mac Pro, iMac Pro

• Thoughts

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This week we covered:

• News

The official Steam Deck Dock won’t be available at launch

Aperture Desk Job

Leaked Intel roadmap reveals more efficient chip to beat M1 – but it’s too late

Zendesk terminates $4.1B SurveyMonkey acquisition after its own investors reject deal

That tool that was supposed to unlock the full hash rate of Nvidia LHR cards is actually malware

Nvidia's next-generation Ada Lovelace GPUs are rumoured to consume scary amounts of power

Nvidia says its ‘proprietary information is being leaked by hackers

Sony's answer to Game Pass on PlayStation could cost up to $16 a month

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his brother are under investigation for alleged insider trading

Apple seeks patent for 'innovation' resembling the ZX Spectrum, C64 and rPi 400

• Rumours

Pixel 7 leaks show Google finally has a consistent phone business

Gurman: Apple’s mysterious 20″ foldable could be MacBook/iPad hybrid with touchscreen keyboard

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This week we covered:

• News

Nvidia is set to spend at least $10B to secure its share of limited 5nm chip supply

Nvidia's RTX 30-series Ethereum mining limiter might've just gone up in smoke

Airtag clones can sidestep Apple anti-stalker tech, claims firm

Trump’s free speech app Truth Social is censoring content and kicking off users

• Intel Arc updates

Intel Arc Update: Alchemist Laptops Q1, Desktops Q2; 4mil GPUs Total for 2022

Intel Meteor Lake Client Processors to use Arc Graphics Chiplets

Intel’s Arctic Sound-M Server Accelerator To Land Mid-2022 With Hardware AV1 Encoding

Intel poaches lead GPU architect from AMD

• Rumours

Apple will reportedly debut an M2 chip with four new Macs this year

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This week we covered:

• News

UK.gov threatens to make adults give credit card details for access to Facebook or TikTok

EU unveils a $49 billion plan to address chip shortages

More references to realityOS found as Apple headset product gets closer to launch

Intel chases after Bitcoin miners with a dedicated chip

SSD prices could spike after Western Digital loses 6.5 billion gigabytes of NAND chips

AMD, Xilinx complete world's biggest semiconductor merger due to stock boom

Nvidia’s RTX 3090 Ti is still missing, and the company refuses to say what’s going on

• Rumours

Apple's 2022 Mac Mini Refresh: Everything We Know

Apple VR could offer Memoji FaceTime, SharePlay experiences

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This week we covered:

• News

AMD confirms RDNA 3 GPUs this year and is spending big to 'to satisfy the demand out there’

AirTags with deactivated speakers being sold on eBay and Etsy; seller claims not for stalking

Facebook loses users for first time ever, market cap drops by $200 billion

Apple will charge 27% commission for app purchases made using alternative payment systems in the Netherlands

Wormhole cryptotrading company turns over $340,000,000 to criminals

Google's next move to keep Stadia alive: license it to anyone with cash

Nvidia’s huge Arm deal has just been scrapped

• TV/Film/Games

Rockstar finally confirms it’s working on the next Grand Theft Auto

• Rumours

Microsoft has reportedly killed its plans for the HoloLens 3

Apple will reportedly hold its next hardware event in early March

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This week we covered:

• News

Nvidia is making preparations to give up on Arm acquisition, says report

Apple hit with weekly €5M fines in Dutch dating app dispute

Apple adds support for unlisted apps hosted in the App Store, suitable for organizations and private events

Sony is buying Bungie, the developer of Destiny and original creator of Halo

Citrix to be acquired by Vista and Evergreen/Elliott in a $16.5B all-cash deal, will be merged with Tibco to create SaaS powerhouse

iOS 15.4 hints at AR/VR headset support and push notifications coming to web apps

Zuckerberg’s dream of launching a cryptocurrency is officially over

• Rumours

Apple developing new iOS feature to let iPhones to accept NFC payments with tap-to-pay

Analyst: Apple to offer eSIM-only iPhone 14 and ‘business-friendly’ dual eSIM/physical SIM model

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News

• Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion
• Sony Loses $20 Billion in Market Value After Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard
• NortonLockLife and Avast tie-up falls under UK competition regulator's spotlight
• Google launches beta of Android games on Windows PCs
• Crypto.com admits over $30 million stolen by hackers
• Wi-Fi 7 hardware demos herald next-gen wireless networking
• Airline CEOs make U-turn, now say 5G isn’t a big problem for altimeters
• Latest Intel Arc GPU leaks: 3070 Ti-ish speeds, 5 different options for laptops

TV/Film

• Ghostbusters Afterlife
• Don’t Look Up

Rumours

• Google reportedly plans to release an AR headset in 2024
• First details leak on Project Iris, Google’s next AR headset
• Apple Could be Preparing Its Own Video Game Console

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This week we covered: (and forgot about the movies - we'll pick these up next week - sorry)

• News

Fortnite is back on iOS… well sorta

AT&T and Verizon back down in a standoff with FAA, agree to 5G delay [Updated]

Samsung no-showed on its major Exynos 2200 launch [Update: Samsung speaks]

Apple is no longer letting users stay on iOS 14 with security updates

UK class action lodged against Meta seeks $3.1B for breach of competition law

The UK Government is reportedly preparing a PR blitz against end-to-end encryption

Apple will allow dating apps in the Netherlands to use alternative payment systems, developers must maintain a separate app binary

Apple will allow third-party payments for apps in South Korea

Apple just clarified alternative payments on iOS. Spoiler: Apple still takes a commission

Apple’s AR/VR headset could be priced above $2,000, feature M1 Pro-like performance

Apple VR/AR headset reportedly overheating, June announcement could be nixed for 2023 debut

• Rumours

Kuo: AirPods Pro 2 to offer Lossless support, new form factor, more

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It's our CES Special!

This week we covered:

• Gaming

MeganeX Announced: Lightweight SteamVR Headset From Panasonic-Owned Shiftall – CES 2022

Concept Nyx is Alienware’s take on a household gaming server

bHaptics Unveils Consumer-Ready TactGlove at CES 2022

PlayStation VR2 Next Generation Sony Headset Specifications Revealed

Razer’s Enki Pro HyperSense can jig to the beat of your games

Razer’s Project Sophia concept turns your desk into a modular computer

• AMD

AMD brings serious RDNA 2 graphics power to its new Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs

AMD's 3D V-cache coming to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D this Spring, beating Intel's 12900K in gaming

AMD shows off future Zen 4 Ryzen CPUs and they look absolutely wild

AMD beats Intel with first CPUs that have Xbox-like security for Windows

• Intel

Intel’s upcoming Arc GPUs inch closer to their debut with latest OEM update

More Intel 12th Gen CPUs revealed for gaming laptops and cheaper PCs

• Nvidia

Nvidia expands the RTX 3000 series with new high- and low-end GPUs

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This week we covered:

• News

TSMC client list shows Apple makes up a quarter of its revenue

Apple and Google accused of duopoly, could face antitrust action in the UK

Meta reportedly facing FTC probe over its acquisition of VR workout app 'Supernatural’

Leaked documents link Huawei to China’s domestic spying in Xinjiang

Tencent is acquiring Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock Studios

IBM and Samsung say their new chip design could lead to week-long battery life on phones

Samsung teases Exynos 2200 with AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics coming January 11th

TikTok is launching delivery-only restaurants across the US in March….Say what now!

• Rumours

Kuo: iPhone 14 to feature 48MP camera, iPhone 15 will get ‘periscope’ lens

Leaker corroborates Apple’s plan to remove iPhone’s SIM card tray

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This week we covered:

• Wrap up and look back at the year + gadgets/games we want?
• Looking Back

Epic vs Apple…What a rollercoaster

TikTok Saga… Will it won't it be sold

Global Semiconductor Shortages

Apple M1 Rollout

Nvidia 30 series, there out but are they really

Trump banned from social media, creates his own…sort of

Cyberpunk, Wreakfest, Horizon 5 & MSFS

• Looking Forward

Intel Arc

Framework Laptop

Analogue Pocket

Matter… One smart home standard to rule them all

Starfield and all the other games we are looking forward to!

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This week we covered:

• News

Apple Hiring AR/VR Frameworks Engineer For‘Entirely New Application Paradigm’

Epic v. Apple ruling put on hold after appeals court grants a stay

5G now means some flights won’t be able to land when pilots can’t see the runway

Microsoft quietly told Apple it was willing to turn big Xbox-exclusive games into iPhone apps

Sony planned to bring PlayStation Now to the iPhone, shows papers from Epic v. Apple case

British watchdog begins probing Microsoft's acquisition of AI speech specialist Nuance

Apple’s ambitious Universal Control feature for Mac and iPad delayed until spring 2022

Apple quietly removes all references to CSAM scanning

• Rumours

Report: Apple to launch 27-inch iMac Pro with miniLED display in spring 202

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This week we covered:

• News

Former Ubiquiti dev charged for trying to extort his employer

Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 8 Gen 1: Flagship SoC for 2022 Devices

SiFive Announces Latest RISC-V CPU, The P650

Users revolt as Microsoft bolts a short-term financing app onto Edge

Apple may have a problem with iPhone demand as well as supply

The FTC is suing to block Nvidia’s $40 billion purchase of Arm

• Rumours

Nvidia's RTX 40 series could be arriving sooner than expected

Sony is reportedly making its own version of Game Pass

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This week we covered:

• News

5G aviation fears: Mobile carriers propose to reduce power, especially near airports

Apple Digital Driving Licence delayed until 2022

New UK law will hit smart home device makers with big fines for using default passwords

Jack Dorsey resigns as CEO of Twitter

Meta ordered to sell Giphy by UK regulator

xCloud’s new Clarity Boost promises clearer streams, but it’s only on Edge

Panasonic admits intruders were inside its servers for months

• Rumours

Kuo: Apple’s AR headset to launch in 2022 with Mac-level computing power, will operate without the iPhone

Kuo - Apple plans to replace the iPhone with AR in 10yrs

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This week we covered:

• News

Apple announces Self Service Repair

HaptX says Meta copied its patented design for haptic glove

Microsoft will now update Windows 10 annually with new features

The new Nvidia Image Scaling is no DLSS, but boosts performance in any game

Ford taking control of chip supply in Globalfoundries deal

MediaTek’s new Dimensity 9000 flagship could compete with Qualcomm’s top-tier Snapdragon chips

Microsoft and Qualcomm special deal coming to an end could mean Windows for M1 Macs

Tile is selling its Bluetooth tracking business to Life360 for $205 million

Apple sues‘Pegasus’ spyware creator NSO Group for attacking iOS users

• Rumours

Apple reportedly aims to debut a fully self-driving car in 2025

Apple patents designs for all-glass iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac Pro tower, and more

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• News

UK will reportedly investigate NVIDIA's purchase of ARM over security concerns

The FBI’s own email infrastructure was hacked to send fake cybersecurity warnings

Apple asks States to pay for Digital Drivers licences

Biden signs law banning Huawei and ZTE from getting FCC licences

Could Homekit be doomed if Apple doesn’t make its own automation hardware?

Intel's recent Atom, Celeron, Pentium chips can be lulled into a debug mode, potentially revealing system secrets

Apple's Arm chip experts quit to form Nuvia. Qualcomm buys Nuvia. Now Nuvia works on Apple M1-class Windows chips for Qualcomm

Will you be buying your next Android phone… from a toaster company?!

• TV

Army of Thieves

Apple TV update / Foundation / Invasion

• Rumours

More Apple drone patent applications spotted, with an apparent attempt at secrecy

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• News

Intel 12th Gen Core Alder Lake for Desktops: Top SKUs Only, Coming November 4th

Intel Core i5 12600K review

Intel Core i9 12900K review

Intel finally confirmed its new GPU's specs, and it looks like a beast

‘Sideloading is a cyber criminal’s best friend,’ according to Apple’s software chief

DJI releases new flagship Mavic drones — Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Cine

Blue Origin suffers grave setback as judge dismisses lawsuit against NASA

Judge denies stay in Epic v. Apple

Games

• Forza Horizon 5
• TV

Finch

• Rumours

These might be the first leaked photos of Intel’s Arc Alchemist graphics card

Apple silicon roadmap reveals plans for Mac Pro, MacBook Air

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• News

Microsoft overtakes Apple to become worlds most valuable company!

Kuo: Apple’s AR/VR headset to support Wi-Fi 6E for higher bandwidth and low latency

Facebook officially changes its name to ‘Meta’ as it strives to be a ‘metaverse company’

Facebook teases ‘Project Cambria’ high-end VR / AR headset

Meta VR headsets won't require a Facebook account to use

Apple reportedly bringing car crash detection to the iPhone

EU opens formal investigation into Nvidia’s Arm acquisition

Mastodon issues 30-day ultimatum to Trump’s social network over misuse of its code

• TV

Dune

Army of Thieves - preview

• Rumours

Leaked images show ASUS may be releasing a Surface Pro competitor that docks to an external GPU

Gurman: Apple planning ‘pricey’ mixed reality device to launch as early as 2022

Leaker claims iMac Pro with M1 Pro/M1 Max chips, ProMotion mini-LED display, and more slated for first half of 2022

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• News

Microsoft Kinect is back, thanks to Sky’s new all-in-one TVs

SVP of Android offers open invitation to help Apple put RCS texting on the iPhone

Intel's next-gen i5 may lack Alder Lake's boldest feature but is still more than a match for AMD

Intel's Alder Lake CPUs May Not Work With Older Games

EU Commission may extend antitrust probe into Nvidia's $54bn merger with Arm

TSMC plant in Japan planned in $7B deal with Sony and Japanese government

Apple continues to take home most of the global smartphone profits

Donald Trump’s new social media SPAC, explained and Trump’s social network has 30 days to stop breaking the rules of its software license

The new 16-inch MacBook Pro offers a speed-enhancing 'High Power Mode'

Mark Zuckerberg called to testify before the Senate following Instagram reports

Facebook is planning to rebrand the company with a new name

• Gadgets

Intel Reaffirms: Our Discrete GPUs Will Be On Shelves in Q1 2022

• Rumours

Apple initiative would use iPhone to control car climate, seats, radio

iPhone SE 3 to Have Same Design as iPhone XR

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• News

Apple Event

M1 Pro/M1 Max

MacBook Pro 14 & 16

HomePod Mini - New Colours

AirPods 3rd GenAirPods Pro get MagSafe Case

Apple Music “Voice Plan”... Say What??

Apple Cloth!

MacOS Monterey coming 25th October

Apple removes Series 6 from Line up - 3 choices remain including the Series 3!

Apple is appealing the Epic Games ruling it originally called a ‘resounding victory’

Google files a counterclaim in Epic Games lawsuit, saying it’s owed financial relief

EU readies 'antitrust charges' against Apple Pay for locking rivals out of iPhone NFC chip

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• News

New World MMO might be nerfing GPU’s again

Researchers find Apple Pay/Visa contactless hack

Donald Trump sues to get his Twitter account back

Google Pay’s disastrous year continues, promised bank account feature is dead

Google says Bing users search for Google more than anything else

Rocket Report: Virgin Galactic cleared for flight, Blue Origin“bet and lost”

• Gadgets

Razer announce a new Video capture card to rival Elgato

• TV

Foundation

Free Guy

• Games

Back 4 Blood

• Rumours

Kuo: Apple drops plans for OLED iPad Air, new 11-inch iPad Pro with mini-LED still coming in 2022

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News

MSFT Surface event

• Surface Pro 8
• Surface Pro X
• Surface Laptop Studio
• Surface Go 3
• Surface Duo 2
• Surface Slim Pen 2
• EU proposes mandatory USB-C on all devices, including iPhones
• Apple tells Epic it won’t allow Fortnite back on the App Store until the court verdict is final
• Apple Watch Series 7 features a secret 60.5GHz wireless connection for data transfer
• Ransomware victims panicked while FBI secretly held REvil decryption key
• Leaked memo: Tim Cook says Apple is cracking down on leakers
• Apple chipmaker TSMC fired seven employees for reportedly leaking confidential information

Games

• Xbox gets a new Edge browser that can play Stadia games, access Discord, and more

Rumours

• The Google Pixel 6 Pro may have been leaked in a brief hands-on video
• Apple headset on sale 2H 2022; Apple Glasses ‘after 2023’ – supply chain report

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News

• Facebook Reveals $299 Ray-Ban Stories Smartglasses With Camera And Assistant
• Xiaomi shows off concept smart glasses with MicroLED display
• Judge issues permanent injunction on App Store model in Epic v. Apple case
• Epic has appealed Friday’s ruling in the Epic v. Apple case
• Tick, tick, tick … TikTok China just limited kids to 40 minutes' use each day
• Intel Alchemist GPUs are being built by a competitor because Intel doesn't have room

Rumours:

• iPhone 14 – EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK! No notch! New TITANIUM design! Don’t buy iPhone 13!
• Analyst: Under-display Face ID on iPhone 14 ‘isn’t final yet’ and could be delayed
• Report: M1X MacBook Pros to hit shelves in ‘the next several weeks’
• Kuo: Apple Watch Series 8 to have body temperature sensors; new AirPods with health features
• Surface Pro 8 leaks with 120Hz display and Thunderbolt support

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Event thoughts

iPhone 13

• Shared Improvements
  • A15
  • Notch
  • Better Battery Life
  • Brighter Screen
  • Sensor Shift image stabilization on all models
  • Cinematic Mode
  • Improved 5G
  • Dual eSIM
• Mini & iPhone
• Pro & Pro Max

Watch 7

iPad

• iPad
• iPad Mini

Other announcements

• Apple Fitness+
• MagSafe Wallet with Find My support

What was MIA?

• AirPods 3?
• Sat phone!!
• Always on display
• iCloud storage increase?

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• News

Apple delays controversial iOS15 CSAM scanning tool

Apple will let video and music apps—but not games—link to other payment options

Apple exploring open-source RISC-V chips, but almost certainly not instead of ARM

Germany reportedly pushing EU for 7 years of updates on iOS/Android

FAA grounds Virgin Galactic amidst an investigation into July mission

China's SMIC To Build a GigaFab for $8.87B: An Answer to the Shortages

Facebook Teases Ray-Ban Smartglasses Recording In New Video

Apple officially announces September 14 event for iPhone 13 and more

• Rumours:

Evil Rumours suggest Nvidias GPU supply is about to drop by 30%!

• Games

MSFS Top Gun expansion delayed till 2022 - in line with the film

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News

Apple buys classical music streaming service Primephonic Confirmed: TikTok Owner ByteDance Buying Pico VR TSMC is raising chip prices as supply shortages continue Tim Cook set to receive $750M worth of AAPL in final payout from 10-year pay deal

Apple announces App Store changes: New communication rules, Small Developer Assistance Fund, more

Also this happened… 

App Store payment platform monopoly ending in Korea; other countries likely to follow EU set to launch formal probe into Nvidia’s $54 billion takeover of Arm

Microsoft won’t stop you from installing Windows 11 on older PCsBut… Microsoft might not deliver Windows 11 updates to PCs with old CPUs Windows 11 launches October 5 Windows 11 won’t include Android app support at launch

Rumours:

Kuo: iPhone 13 to support LEO satellite communication, allowing users to make phone calls and send texts without cell signal Tim Cook wants to oversee ‘one more major new product category’ before stepping down as Apple CEO Apple Watch blood pressure measurement not happening in Series 7 – Gurman

TV

Lower Decks SE2 so-far review

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This week we covered:

It's been a year of The Weekly Tech Rant and we first off take a look back at Episode 1!

• News

Nvidia-ARM takeover raises serious antitrust concerns, finds UK’s CMA

Epic lawsuit latest: Google slipped tons of cash to game devs, Android makers to cement Play store dominance

Razer is fixing a serious Windows security flaw caused by its mice

European Commission airs out new IoT device security draft law – interested parties have a week to weigh in

9to5Mac Writer Caught Bribing a Source Who Ended up Being a Double Agent for Apple

iCloud Private Relay now considered a ‘beta’ feature comes disabled by default with iOS 15

Xbox consoles are getting xCloud this holiday so you can stream before you download

• Rumours:

Apple Working on Dual-Display MacBook With Virtual Keyboard and Wireless Charging

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News

Now Microsoft is protesting after Amazon won a $10 billion NSA cloud contract

Bezos sues Nasa over its deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX

Avast, ye takeover lawyers! Norton LifeLock to acquire security rival

Apple drops copyright lawsuit against Corellium for selling virtual iOS devices

Wait a darn moment… Apple backs out of settlement and files appeal notice in a lawsuit against Corellium

Hackers Steal Over $600 Million Worth of Cryptocurrencies from Poly NetworkThen give $260m back….

and then gets a job at the company?!!

IT Giant Accenture Hit by LockBit Ransomware; Hackers Threaten to Leak Data

Intel Video Cards Get a Brand Name: Arc, Coming in Q1 2022

Rumours:

Redesigned MacBook Air Coming With Multiple Colours, Launching 2022

Rumoured Intel laptop chip could deliver desktop graphics card frame rates

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• News

Sony reportedly showed off its next-generation PSVR at a developer's conference

Disney’s Star Wars hotel is just like Westworld: only for the wealthy

Google considered buying Epic Games, according to updated court documents

Unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. sells for a record $2 million

Microsoft is integrating Spotify into a new Windows 11 focus feature

A new Lamborghini Countach might be coming

Samsung details new smartwatch chip ahead of Galaxy Watch 4 launch

Russian Arm SoC now shipping in Russian PCs running Russian Linux

Plus we get interrupted by the worlds loudest bike and my house has possessed speakers!

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This week we covered:

• Earnings calls - Big money ahoy:

Apple

Fortune Global 500 list: Apple now the world’s most profitable company

Latest IDC numbers reiterate Apple’s dominance of the tablet market

Google

Microsoft * News

Apple warns supply constraints will impact iPhone and iPad this fall

1Password raises $100 million in funding based on a $2 billion valuation to continue Enterprise expansion

Facebook’s next hardware launch will be its Ray-Ban ‘smart glasses’

Windows 11 now has its first beta release

Microsoft's Cloud PCs debut – priced between $20 and $158 a month

US government watchdog rejects Blue Origin’s protest over lunar lander contract

• Games

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2

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• News

EVGA confirms it's replacing all its RTX 3090s killed by Amazon's New World MMO

Kaseya Gets Universal Decryptor to Help REvil Ransomware Victims

Pentagon grounds own report that said China's DJI drones are safe

Jeff Bezos offers NASA $2 billion to pick Blue Origin’s lunar lander in last-minute plea

Valve promises Steam Deck will run “the entire Steam library” at 30+ fps

Intel announces Amazon and Qualcomm as its first foundry customers * Rumours:

Report: The iPhone 14 will be a major upgrade, and it will be made of titanium

Leaked Surface Duo 2 photos reveal new triple camera system

Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series rumours point to TSMC 5nm, Lovelace, and late 2022 launch

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• News

Microsoft announces Windows 365

Chinese Network + Software manufacturers must disclose to the Gov within two days of finding a vulnerability according to new laws!

Netflix’s Apple Arcade competitor to be mobile-focused and at no extra cost

Amazon's New World MMO is reportedly killing $1,500 Nvidia GPUs

To Infinity and beyond!

Virgin Galactic Launch

Blue Origin Launch

SpaceX Super Heavy First Test Fire * Gadgets

Steam Deck

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• News

~~36~~ now 37 states launch antitrust suits against Google over the Play Store….. Colorado has joined the fight!

Expensive Retro….

A rare early copy of the Legend of Zelda' sold for $870,000

Sealed Super Mario 64 sells for more than $1.5 million, almost doubling a record just set on Friday

Kaseya was warned about security flaws years ahead of the ransomware attack

Kaseya Releases Patches for Flaws Exploited in Widespread Ransomware Attack

Redesigned iPad mini reportedly on track to launch this fall

Apple might leave the UK market, claims its lawyer in patent troll case

Microsoft and ISPs did door-to-door router replacements to stop Trickbot malware * Films

The Tomorrow War

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.This week we covered:

• News

REvil Used 0-Day in Kaseya Ransomware Attack, Demands $70 Million Ransom

Microsoft warns of PrintNightmare

Andy Jassy takes over the reins at Amazon

New HomePod Software Update Makes the Thing Overheat and Die. Enjoy! :)

Apple defeats attempts by TikTok and other apps to bypass App Tracking in China

The wheels come off Formula 1's notification service as fans plied with attacker's messages

Twitter loses its legal protections in India following a government order * Gadgets

Ender 3 Pro review

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• News

TSMC to prioritize Apple and automaker silicon orders as global semiconductor shortage continues

Sony insists it really likes crossplay now, honest

Prospect of sideloading apps on iOS gets Apple very worried

Microsoft joins Apple in the ultra-exclusive $2T company club

Oculus loses one of its first in-app VR ad partners following backlash * Windows 11

New Interface

Start menu, taskbar, widgets and teams is now native

snap layouts and groups

Improved Windows Store with……Android Apps (and sideloading)

Faster performance, less power usage

improved tablet mode and multi-monitor support

Windows updates 40% smaller, more efficient, and "happens in the background"

Free for Windows 10 users (as long as your hardware supports it….)

DirectStorage and AutoHDR

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• News

Average mobile data use now exceeds 10GB per month!

TSMC looking beyond Apple A15 chips to make smaller, faster chips

Leaker says new MacBook Pros and new M1X MacBook mini in Q4 - This sounds familiar!

McAfee discovers Peloton bike vulnerability

Facebook plans to implement Ads in VR Apps

Windows 11 leaks ahead of June 24th announcement

Picard season 2 "Q" Trailer - coming 2022

Lower Decks season 2 - coming August this year!

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• News

The EU plans a digital wallet for payments, passwords and IDs - one wallet to rule them all!

AMD's DLSS rival is coming…… to Nvidia!

Intel May Buy RISC-V CPU Designer SiFive to Fend off ARM - bolstering the defences

Your next laptop may come with a cryptominer, courtesy of Norton…. so this happened, and it had to be Norton!

Looks like Intel's new Xe gaming GPU is finished and ready to roll… maybe we will actually be able to buy a new GPU this decade!!

Huawei announces HarmonyOS update for its smartphones….. It's Android with a fancy skin

Donald Trump's blog is dead… well that didn't last long

Donald Trump-era ban on TikTok dropped by Joe Biden - as expected! * Games

Farcry 6 - one again into the fold we must go!

Forza Horizon 5…. Viva México * Films

Army of the Dead

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WWDC round up

• iOS15

Pixel tracking blocker

Privacy reporting

FindMy network updates

Apple will let users stay on iOS 14 and receive security updates when iOS15 launches * iPadOS * Maps * Health * macOS Monterey

Universal Control (sidecar evolution) * WatchOS * Spatial and Lossless Audio * Facetime * Siri * iCloud+

IP obfuscation / private relay

Burner email addresses

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• News

Intel urges gamers to ditch Mac for Windows - come on like serious gamers use Macs!

Assistive Apple Watch controls destined for Apple Glasses - amazing gesture controls!

Silicon shortage - why did the car manufacturers pause when PC makers didn’t? - money talks and car makers umm walk?

Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti price, specs and release date are official - so that's going to help with the shortages I guess

Roundup of nine things we learned from the EPIC trial - money money money makes the game's world go round!

HIBP goes open source and the FBI lends a hand - Troy Hunt leading the way in bringing security awareness to the masses

Amazon buys MGM for $8.45 billion - The names Bezos, Jeff Bezos! * Games

MSFS 2020 latest patch cuts install size in half! - finally, my SSD can breathe!

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This week we covered:

• News

EPIC Case updates and tidbits!

Apple wants you to know it chose not to take a cut of $400 billion in physical goods

Apple spends $50 million on running WWDC - HOW much!

Even Apple thinks there is too much Mac Malware - now that's a revelation!

Apple suggests Microsoft could be behind the Epic Games lawsuit…. them's fighting words!

Epic Games v. Apple by the numbers: Fortnite is worth that much money? HOW much round 2!

Apple’s Lossless Audio updates require wired headphones - needs more power!

Huge Eufy privacy breach shows live and recorded cam feeds to strangers

Microsoft is absolutely Working Towards a Consumer Hololens - may the force be with you

Amazon is in talks to buy MGM for $9 billion - that's gonna shake up the Film industry!

Apple Watch Series 7 will feature a flat-edged design, a new green colour option - in line with other products design language * Films/TV

Army of the Dead

Love, Death and Robots

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• News

WhatsApp users will lose features until they accept the new privacy policy - an interesting tactic from WhatsApp (+FB)

Apple may switch to its own 5G iPhone modems by 2023 - bringing all the HW expertise under one roof!

IBM joins TSMC and Intel in saying the Chip shortage isn’t going to end soon - quick spin up more fabs!

Valve antitrust lawsuit leads to questions about Steam's unwritten rules - another day and another game lawsuit!

The next PlayStation VR will be 4K and include eye-tracking - VR gets an upgrade

HTC launch the Vive PRO 2

Samsung won’t physically attend Mobile World Congress 2021 - so who else is gonna fall next!

Rumours that Apple is working on a Switch-like console don’t add up - Should Nintendo be worried! * Gadgets

AirPods Pro - whats that Karl I can’t hear you!

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This week we covered:

• News

Which Router survey shows 2million Brits are using insecure kit - no shock here I’m sure!

Biggest ISPs paid for 8.5 million fake FCC comments opposing net neutrality

Donald Trump’s‘social media platform’ has launched and it’s just a blog - The Trump echo chamber!

Trump social media: Twitter suspends account sharing ex-president's posts - the same time as Facebook upholds ban!

Google Play to require privacy labels on apps in 2022, almost two years after Apple - well if you can’t beat em, join em!

96% of US users opt-out of app tracking in iOS 14.5, analytics find - guess people actually don’t want to be product!

Apple Card Family members can order their own titanium card, likely coming with iOS 14.6 - but still unlikely to see this in the UK

TSMC planning up to six chip plants in Arizona, not just one - All the fabs and more chips!

Sennheiser’s headphone business has been bought by hearing aid manufacturer Sonova - well I hadn’t heard about this!

Sony faces a lawsuit over alleged“monopoly pricing” of PlayStation downloads - what? another case about monopolies! * Films

Mortal Kombat - Review

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This week we covered:

• News

UK.gov wants mobile makers to declare death dates for their new devices from launch - best before dates for your phone!

The UK Right to Repair law - on the subject of old tech!

Brace yourselves. Facebook has a new mega-leak on its hands - again…surely there can’t be many FB users not leaked?

Epic vs Apple witness details disclosed - it's a long list of notable Tech giants!

Tim Sweeney uses an iPhone because of Apple’s stance on Security + Privacy - who would have guessed?

Apple runs App Store with 78% profit margin, according to court testimony - money money money!

Fortnite isn’t on Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service because Epic won’t allow it - Come one Epic, free the Fortnite ;)

Sony charges for crossplay support to protect PSN revenue, documents show - well this explains the lack of crossplay!! * Gadgets

AirTag review - we give our first impressions on the new Apple AirTag * Films

Mortal Kombat - REVIEW now coming next week! (come on Karl!)

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• News

All new M1 powered Apple iMac - comes in all the best flavours!

Info on the accessories and compute options - all the way to 16gb RAM!

There’s a new iPad Pro in town - now with 5G goodness (and an M1 chip and much more!)

AirTags - all the info on the new U1 powerer tracker!

AppleTV 4K - typical Apple release a new Apple TV a few months after I buy one!

Don’t forget the Purple iPhone! - yes its just purple! * All the things they didn’t annouce however - where is the 32” iMac or Mx chip and more!

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This week we covered:

• News

Intel hopes to start making chips for car companies within six to nine months - Intel steps up a gear (bad pun alert)

Sony invests another $200 million in Epic Games - valuing them now at $29bn wow!

Three reasons why Epic Games can give away $17.5 billion worth of games for free - despite some good reasons, this isn’t a great business model IMHO

How long can Epic afford to throw money at the Epic Games Store? - running now at a $500m loss since 2018

Samsung’s Galaxy Quantum 2 has quantum cryptography built in - all the crypto but now quantum powered!

Apple Event on the 20th April: Spring Loaded - Siri leaks and Jon Prosser was right, so are new iPads, iMacs and Airtags incoming

Apple upgraded the security of older iPhone and Apple Watch processors in fall of 2020

Nvidia's potentially having another crack at its unhackable RTX 3060 mining limiter

Kuo has a lot to say!

iPhone 14 Pro to feature significant camera upgrades, including 48-megapixel sensor and 8K video recording - Wait, 14? we haven't even got the 13 yet!

2023 iPhones will feature under-display Face ID and periscope telephoto lens, according to Ming-Chi Kuo - Stuff the 14… what about the 15?!

Apple AR headset to include 15 cameras - more cameras more to see! * Films/TV

Discovery Season 4

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• News

Facebook refuses to provide documents requested by Apple in the ongoing Epic case - And that surprised no one!

Apple and Google block UK contact-tracing app update over privacy concerns - whoops just as the UK (England/Wales) moves to next stage of lockdown relaxation

Rumours claim Samsung will make OLED TVs with LG panels next year

Another report claims iPhone 13 will use LTPO displays to enable ProMotion high-refresh-rate -

Court documents show why Apple never made iMessage for Android - Guess we won’t be seeing that anytime soon!

Samsung launches iTest’ a new web app for turning your iPhone into a Galaxy device - sorry it does what?

Google Pixel Watch leak gives us a first look at the anticipated smartwatch - will it be an Apple watch beater?

Microsoft will acquire speech-tech giant Nuance for $19.7 billion - Satya gets out the chequebook again!

Apple Music TV launches in the UK + Canada(the US was already live) - MTV reborn? * TV

The Return of Q to Star Trek Picard season 2!

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This week we covered:

• News

Google will reportedly use its own chip in the Pixel 6 - homegrown chips are the way forward

TSMC bumps spending up 50% to meet increased demand - the latest round of the silicon wars have begun!

SK Hynix to Build $106 Billion Fab Cluster: 800,000 Wafer Starts a Month - its fab to be in the chip business

Apple to buy over $50 million worth of batteries from Tesla for a new energy storage project - that's one large Duracell bunny!

Microsoft Build will take place May 25th–27th - one more big virtual conference

A sealed copy of'Super Mario Bros.' just sold for $660,000 - holy Luigi that's a lot!

Facebook Breach leaks over 500 million users info - more like an open book!

Apple begins rejecting apps that use advertising SDKs for fingerprinting users - think it's clear now that Apple wants to ensure privacy!

LG Calls it Quits, to Close Mobile Phone Business - after 14 years Life isn’t that Good for LG! * Films

Upgrade

Kong vs Godzilla * Games

Evil Genius 2

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• News

Updates from Intel Press conference

Intel to build two new US fabs in the US - Intel breaks open the war chest

Intel to build ARM chips for other companies in new strategy - Intel adds ARMs!

New Intel HPG specs show up - leaky leaky

Another Exchange hack but it's not Brian Krebs - holes everywhere!

Apple considering a new ruggedised version of the Watch - watch out Casio!

Leaker suggests AirTags may have a $40 price point! - cheaper than expected! * Gadget

Lego NASA Shuttle Discovery - more bricks more money * Games

Isonzo a new WW1 shooter set in the Alps - looks cold!

Total War: Rome remake on the way - wasn’t this Rome: Total War

Stuck cargo ship Ever Given shows up in MSFS - Life imitating art or something like that!

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This week we covered:

• News

Apple allows Russia to pre-install apps on iPhones as part of device setup… its the beginning of the end

iOS security fixes could soon be delivered separately from other updates, beta code suggests - following the Android model here!

A new Apple Patent Describes 3D Touch Reinvented…. Please bring it back!

Apple wins the first battle in French fight over iOS 14 privacy protections

Chip shortage affecting everybody except Apple,’ Android flagships could be delayed

Activision Blizzard lays off roughly 50 esports employees as online events grow in priority… you’re fired and here’s $200 in Battle.net gift cards to spend on the games you were working on, to buy that skin you probably made..!

GeForce Now doubles its price for newcomers to $10 a month

Android 12 Developer Preview 2 lands

Google readies the first Dev release of Fuschia - will it see the light of day finally!

Intel teaser hints long-awaited Xe HPG gaming GPUs may be revealed on March 26th - HPG/LPG are these gas powered GPU's ;) * Games

EA Play now available on Game Pass PC - all the games!

As always we'd love to hear what you think!

Bonus - Jon Prosser explains what happens with the March Apple event!

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This week we covered:

• News

Nvidia's unhackable GeForce RTX 3060 hash rate limiter supposedly hacked in just two weeks - hahahahahahahahahahahahah (breathe Karl)

Chrome OS is getting a big redesign for its 10th birthday - Cake all round its Birthday time!

Mobile World Congress seemingly serious about in-person Barcelona event in June, shares safety plan - Maybe this could actually go ahead!

Qualcomm reportedly struggling with chip shortages - we need more silicon cap’n!

Biden Administration adds new limits to Huawei suppliers - not easing up

Amazon’s secret home robot Vesta reportedly in late-prototype stage’ of development - I for one welcome our robot overlords

Apple event rumours continue with 23rd March likely - waiting and waiting and waiting

Apple discontinues HomePod, but HomePod Mini will live on - actually not a bad idea! * Games

20 Bethesda games now available on Xbox Game Pass

As always we'd love to hear what you think!

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This week we covered:

• News

TSMC will produce 3nm chips this year and Apple has already grabbed them all - feed the Cupertino magic factory!

TSMC was fully booked but now auctioning spare capacity - where did they find the excess capacity?

Kaspersky says hackers made a mint during the COVID pandemic and will take a break - gotta spend the loot somewhere?

SITA confirms that Airline passenger data accessed in hack - OH SITA!

US National Security Council urges review of Exchange servers following attacks - not to be outdone by the Solarwinds hack, here's another one!

John McAfee in US indictment over pump+dump Crypto scheme - is anyone really shocked?

Stalkers won’t be able to track you with AirTags - no creepy stalking via the Find My app!

Google confirms that NEXT21 event will take place in October - place your bets now on the format!

NASA Perservence rover powered by IBM PowerPC CPU - old but still reliable!

Apple Store lists the iMac Pro base model as available while supplies last,’ hinting it’s being discontinued - could a Mx powered version be on the way? * Games

Wreckfest - Demolition Derby for the 21st Century

As always we'd love to hear what you think!

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This week we covered:

• News

SolarWinds Hackers downloaded some Microsoft source code for Azure, Exchange and Intune - slurping the secret Redmond “source”!

Former Solarwinds CEO blames intern for the weak password - yeah yeah of course it was!

Seven trackers found in Lastpass Android app - What?

Google has finally added iOS’s privacy labels to Gmail - Hooray at last!

Judge Says Apple’s subpoenas in Epic case are OTT, but it gets Steam data - a small victory!

Samsung’s recent Galaxy devices will now get at least four years of Android security updates - Samsung showing how it should be done (in the ‘Droid world)

Apple buys a company every three to four weeks - with a market cap of $2Trn I guess you can afford to splash out

Apple M1 Mac’s are hammering the SSD’s, potentially shortening the lifespan - chewing through the silicon!

Rumour: Redesigned Apple Silicon iMac might be available in iPad Air-style colours - the return of the G3 style iMacs! * Films

Sony is bringing back Twisted Metal... as a TV show - Rock on! * Games

Sifu - Kung Fu Mastery

As always we'd love to hear what you think!

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This week we covered:

• News

Epic Games brings its antitrust feud with Apple to Europe's competition watchdog - now will the EU side with them?

Apple want Valve to hand over revenue data as part of legal fight with Epic - Apple calls in reinforcements

No March 16th Apple event say tipsters - but will there still be product launches?

ChromeOS devices outsold MacOS devices in 2020 - was 2020 the year of Chrome?

What’s new in the first Android 12 Developer Preview - New flavour of Android brings new features!

Nvidia is nerfing its new RTX 3060 for Ethereum cryptocurrency mining & Nvidia says its cryptocurrency mining limiter can not be hacked' - Come on Nvidia really!

Mysterious macOS malware discovered with M1 optimization, the threat remains unclear - what is going on here?

MWC insists on holding potential COVID-19 super spreader event in Barcelona - come for the phones, get covid for free! * Films

Monster Hunter

Also here is the Nvidia eBay auction for a 3090 (jpg)! No bidding now :)

As always we'd love to hear what you think!

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This week we covered:

• News

TikTok sale to US company on hold as Biden administration looks at other options - what did we say!

Time for an iPad Pro Max - do we really need a bigger iPad?

The iPhone 13 rumour mill is in full swing - we are at least 8 months away from any announcement to be clear!

iOS 14.5 feature round up - lots of goodies ahead!

You can set Spotify as your default music player in iOS 14.5 beta - Apple slowly opening up the ecosystem in a good way!

Apple Maps will get crowdsourced incident reporting with iOS 14.5 - Watch out Waze!

Google launches Pixel for Business site - a pure google experience for the business types!

Alleged Android 12 screenshots show a privacy indicator and conversation widget - Android 12 looks to emulate the iOS 14 privacy features

Apple puts additional walls between your browsing data and Google on iOS 14.5 - This data shall not pass!

Google returns to updating major iOS apps after months-long wait

LastPass…. What have you done! - Free tier nerfed! * Games

You thought you lost time with GeoGuessr, have you met City Guesser?

Steam Lunar Sale

As always we'd love to hear what you think!

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This week we covered:

• News

Apple raises credit for the return of Dev Kit Macs - please can we have our dev units back!

iOS 14.5 Unlock with Apple Watch(for Mask wearing) - finally no more fumbling to unlock your phone when out and about in 2021!

Rumours of Financial Health info coming to Apple Wallet - Not just looking after your physical health!

Another 14.5 update brings Fitness+ casting to supported devices - too late shouts Karl!

New Chrome extension for adding Apple iCloud passwords to the browser - and ~~Google~~ Apple have pulled it from the store! (Well pulls iCloud 12 which the extension needs)

In wake of Apple privacy controls, Facebook mulls just begging its iOS app users to let it track them over the web - Desperate measures from Book of faces!

Google Stadia closes two studios and cancels multiple projects - So how long before the plug is pulled on Stadia?

Google is reportedly working on an anti-tracking feature for Android - Karl hasn’t stopped laughing at this one! * Films

Greenland - another apocalyptic action thriller! * Games

Volanta - Flight tracking app for MS FS2020 and DCS

As always please let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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This week we covered:

News

• Apple Extends Apple TV subscription again - Is there a subscriber conversion problem?
• Corellium makes its iOS virtualisation available to individuals - fancy some virtual iPhones?
• Looks like the Huawei Ban isn’t going away anytime soon - No change in China relations
• Hackers publish Gov files after Ransom is refused - We do not negotiate with Terrorists/hackers
• Apple unveils new Fitness+“Time to Walk” activity - These boots were made for walking!
• Apple Watch saves kidnapped woman - A first!
• Alphabet is shutting down the Loon Internet service - someone popped that balloon!
• LG considers exiting smartphones in 2021 - is the market too crowded?
• Weeks later, Google still hasn’t added privacy labels to its most popular iPhone apps
  • Update on the story from last week

Gadgets

• Jay has got his HomePod Minis!

Games

• Hitman 3 first thoughts
• Hitman Dev’s Bond Project could end up being a Trilogy
• Cyberpunk 2077 1.1 Patch - fix or bust?

As always please let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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News

• Intel rumoured to be looking at outsourcing with TSMC - what did we say last year!
• Pat Gelsinger returning to Intel - the prodigal son returns to Chipzilla
• Apple rumoured to be dropping Touch Bar in next Macbook Pro - Personally no tears from me if this is true!
• New studies show how Apple Watch can help detect COVID-19 prior to symptoms and testing

Gadgets

• CES Round of the best gadgets and Tech - This year everyone can go to [virtual] Vegas!
• More CES gadgets and tech
• LG Rollable Phone - Ah yes the wacky designs keep on coming!

Games

• HITMAN 3 - 47 is back again!

As always please let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Welcome back to the first episode of 2021!

• News

With only days left in Office, Trump targets 8 Chinese payment apps – Trade war not over yet!

Adobe Flash is dead (finally)

…. but Windows 7 is still alive, all 100 million of them

Report speculates that Google hasn’t updated its iOS apps in weeks to avoid providing privacy details – Remember Google don’t be evil!

Talking of don’t be evil….Facebook appeals ruling that it stole tech. So, Italian judge issues new judgment: Pay 10 times the original fine

Tiktok hit with a class action style lawsuit in the UK – not Trump-related this time!

Now is the right time for Apple to bring iMessage and Facetime to Android – would ‘droid users want an app from Cupertino? * Gadgets

Apple AR Glasses – get the Steve Jobs look (maybe)

While we wait for AirTags… how about a Tile * Games

Skypark for MSFS * TV

The Midnight Sky

As always please let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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This week we covered:

Podcast state of the union Best Tech of 2020 HP Reverb G2 Nvidia 3080Ti Sony WH-1000XM4 Headphones Apple M1 Chip

What are looking forward to in 2021 Topgun 2: Maverick No Time to Die Matrix 4 Dune Halo Infinite

We wish all our listeners a very happy Holiday season and all the best for 2021 - we'll see you on the other side!

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This week we covered:

News Samsung pulls the plug on older Smart devices in 2021 - not so smart now! Talking of plugs…. Samsung to stop including power adapters in the box… just 3 months after mocking apple about it Uber sells self-driving project to startup Aurora & Air Taxi Apple reportedly working on a 32-core processor for high-end Macs Trump administration quietly lets TikTok deadline lapse Facebook hit with antitrust probe for tying Oculus use to Facebook accounts

Gadgets Ex-Apple Mapping Cars up for sale - so you can buy an Apple car (sort of)! Overclocker pushes 14yr old CPU to 8.6Ghz - super celery!

Games CyberPunk 2077 First thoughts - bug laden or not? Microsoft surprise announcement….. Perfect Dark

TV Aliens TV Series - so many questions! Obi-wan TV series - plus Vader! Indy is back - but he’s 78!

As always please leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

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This week we covered:

News Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 888 - more dragons more speed! Apple could be planning a mysterious December Product release? - What could this be - maybe Tags? MS Project“Latte” could bring Android apps to Windows - who would have ever thought we’d see this! Salesforce buys Slack for $27.7bn! - no slacking this week for them!

Gadgets Karl has a new 34” Ultrawide monitor! - is it fixed? We pick up our new iPhone 12 Pro Max’s! - First thoughts

Games Red Dead Online CyberPunk 2077 release draws near! Karl's Xbox Series X - it's finally out of the box!

As always please leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

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This week we covered:

News UK Govt Downgrades Broadband infrastructure plans - looks like those rural blackspots will be there for a bit longer! Biden Transition team has to build its own cybersecurity protection - what you aren’t surprised that the Trump administration wasn’t helping! Apple Security charged with Bribery - how many apples to look the other way! Apple Product Redesigns tipped for 2021 - what will they change in the look of the MacBook and watch? Apple patents new MacBook’s Touch Bar with Force Touch technology - oh come on, make your mind up!!

Gadgets Karl has a new 34” Ultrawide monitor!

Games Red Dead Redemption 2 Online to launch as standalone - saddle up those horses! Flight Sim 2020 next update will cover the UK - finally a spruce up of ol’ blighty! Fly SpaceX Starship with a new game from XPlane Devs - real physics means lots of crashes! I take a return trip to Azeroth and re-visit WoW after several years!

As always please leave us a comment and let us know what you think

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News Huawei to UK/Canada, can we forget the whole ban thing(post-Trump) - What did we tell you! Intel Manufacturing is broken - is this the of Intel we know it? iOS 14.3 beta has supported for rumoured Apple Air Tags - could be getting ready for a stealth launch? Apple M1 chips outperform Nvidia 1050 Ti - Ok but AAA games on ARM is not gonna happen soon?! Apple to suggest 3rd Party apps to users at Setup - This is a huge step forward, and perhaps linked to anti-trust concerns? Thieves make off with £5m of Apple Kit - So Karl how is your new M1 Macbook ;P

Gadgets Xbox Series X Launch -  Karls thoughts on Redmonds latest console

Games DosBox Pure - a new way to experience the past ‘well it is DosBox!!)

As always please let us know your thoughts!

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This week we covered:

News TikTok asks court to intervene on sale - Limboland for TikTok forced sale? Apple One More Thing Event - 3rd Apple product launch of the year

Apple Silicon Macs - our first impressions New M1 powered MacBook Air New M1 Powered MacBook Pro New M1 Powered Mac Mini Big Sur GA on the 12th Nov - Big changes ahoy for MacOS

Gadgets Xbox Series X Launch -  First impression of Redmonds latest console

Karl will be back with us next week! As always please leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

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This week we covered:

News TikTok ban overturned but US will fight it - We hadn’t forgotten about this little saga! AirPower apparently dead again - will this ever see the light of day!? Google explains the privacy benefits of electronic Driving licences - step out of the car and show me your phone! Google is bringing its own VPN to desktops and phones with $9.99 Google One subscription. VPN, no logging….Google?! Could Apple offer a 1TB iPhone variant - Cupertino to join the 1TB Club, do you even need that much space? You can get 4TB of iCloud Storage however - Where is the 1TB storage tier Apple!!

Gadgets AMD Big Navi Event - our thoughts Raspberry Pi 400 - Back to the 80’s with all in one keyboard computers

Games Teardown - voxel destruction ahoy!

TV Truth Seekers - Frost and Pegg are back with a new paranormal series on Amazon!

We hope you enjoy and as always please get in touch in the comments!

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This week we covered:

News Google Warns of Zero-Click Bluetooth Flaws in Linux-based Devices Apple updates its COVID-19 screen Tool – Yeah its US-based only (as always!) But if you have an iPhone12 you might need to re-enable your COVID app! App updates remove the ‘Default’ setting for Mail/Browser – Apple come on please don’t say this is half-baked! Why Apple Airpods have been delayed – its time for a redesign! JellyFin – A contender to replace Plex or is it lacking in features? Apple rumoured to snap up the rights to the new Bond Film – Ah Commander Bond we weren’t expecting you! Googlefier App to bring Google apps to Huawei – need some Google love on your now unsupported device!

Gadgets Nvidia P2000 – GPU Passthrough success! Karl talks us through his VDI updates. Nvidia P400 – I caved as well and now can do H/W transcoding!

Games We return to DCS – and discuss the upcoming EF2000 DLC Cyberpunk 2077 – Launch date nears and now we hear about MP support!

TV Discovery Season 3 – Thoughts so far!

We hope you enjoy and as always please get in touch in the comments!

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This week we covered: [Spoiler its all Apple!}

News

iPhone 12 mini, 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max– Did you know it supports 5G! However, shipping is slipping! iPhone 12 Pro + Max now support Dolby Vision HDR – ditch that editing Deck we are going mobile! HomePod Mini Magsafe is back baby – but not as you know it! Apple AirPods Studio Headphones delayed – means Air Tags coming soon! Apple Silicon Macs could be announced in November – what another event?!

Gadgets It’s a Cupertino fest!

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News Apple Event on the 13th… iPhones duh! Mini Homepods, Apple Tag and Headphones? Bloomberg reports Apple Silicon Macs could launch in November - Arm we are off on into the post Intel world? Apple TV trials to be extended to 2021 - Who’s using this still or will pay for it? AMD rumored to be in advanced talks to buy FPGA slinger Xilinx for $30bn+ - a strategic investment to challenge Intel/Nvidia! Microsoft is bringing xCloud to iOS via the web - Screw you Apple! Epic judge permanently restrains Apple from blocking Unreal Engine, but won’t force Fortnite

Gadgets AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900X- Touted as“Worlds best gaming CPU” - a new challenger has joined the fight Nvidia 3070 delayed till 29th to avoid stock issue - of course, nothing to do with AMD’s Big Navi reveal on the 28th!

Games FS2020 - we've played it a bit more, how is it after several patches? What scenery packs have we bought? Amazon has canceled Crucible, its free-to-play multiplayer shooter that had already been returned to closed beta

TV ST Discovery season 3 starts on Oct 16th - Phew how were we going to get our Trek fix, as Lower Decks SE1 had wrapped! Boys Spin off show - Something to look forward to alongside Season 3!

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This week we covered:

News Google requiring devs to use its own IAP API from next year - aligning to a similar model to Apple? Google also will make it easier to install and use 3rd Party app stores with the next version of Android - totally unlike Apple!! Google releases new Google TV (Chromecast) device - Android TV reincarnation? We discuss! Apple could be banned from having pre-installed apps on devices in Europe - more antitrust issues

Gadgets Karls new ESXi Host - oh and what's that you also have moved to back to VMware software now! Tado Smart Thermostat - more home automation and with Home Assistant integrations Luna Display for iPad - “Sidecar” for Windows!

Games LFD2 - how has it held up after 8 years? Star Wars Squadrons - Karl uses the Force FS2020 VR Beta - more reasons to get a VR headset! New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - another great game on the Switch!

Enjoy and as always please let us know what you think in the comments.

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This week we covered:

News iPhone event rumoured to be Oct 13th! - Unlucky for some but not Apple. iOS14 Doesn’t destroy the performance of older phones - looks your iPhone 6S has some life left in it! Microsoft rebrands its Security products again- Defender or Sentinel! Google launches Access Control console for Nest Devices - is home automation with 3rd Party software/apps back on? TikTok deal  - Judge Tells U.S. to Delay Ban or Argue for It Friday - What is going on here and will Trump push for the ban?

Gadgets I give my first impressions of the Apple Watch Series 6 as it arrived today! Blog post RTX 3080/3090 launch - Karl and his disappointment at the bots stealing all the stock!

Games Microsoft splashes the cash and buys Bethesda -  a big day for gaming all round! LFD2 new community campaign “The Last Stand” - first major update for 8 years!!

Enjoy and as always please let us know what you think in the comments.

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This week we covered:

• News

Apple virtual events - the gold standard now in product launches * So when is the iPhone event? * All the things that could appear?

iPhone 12

Air Tags

Apple AirPods Studio Headphones

iOS 14.2 Dev beta - where did 14.1 go? * Gadgets

Apple Watch Series 6

Blood O2 levels

Altimeter

Solo Loop - um isn’t this just an elastic band?

Apple Watch SE but the Series 3 remains on sale?

Apple Family Setup - could this be the best way to track your kids?!

Apple Fitness + - is Apple now challenging Pelaton etc?

Apple ONE - what is it with Apple’s storage plans!!

New iPads

8th Gen iPad - Great value but nothing groundbreaking!

New iPad Air - or the baby Pro?

Works with most 11” Pro accessories

So does the latest Air supersede the last-gen Pro?

A14 chip - did we get a peek at the iPhone CPU

But it wouldn't be the Tech Rant without some mention of TikTok and Epic! So here are the latest items we covered!

• Epic Lawsuit is one big publicity stunt say Apple
• Could TikTok/WeChat be banned as of this Sunday 20th Sept!

Enjoy and as always please let us know what you think in the comments.

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This week we covered:

• News

TikTok sale in doubt as Bytedance and Trump administration discuss options - Is this the end of the line for TikTok in the US or will someone win out [UPDATE: Oracle last company standing in race to acquire TikTok's US operations]

Android 11 is out - No Dessert names anymore but Google's OS updates get better with each serving!

Apple event on the 15th “Time Flies” - what should we expect, as Bloomberg thinks iPhones won’t be announced until Oct? - All watches and no iPhones? Will there be an update on the Service offerings? We discuss!

iPhone to get same water ejection system as Watch - Submersible iPhone anyone?

Apple Watch Series 3 replacement to get Series 4 design, but no ECG - Is this what Apple did with all the spare Series 4 watches?

Nvidia Near Deal to Buy Arm From SoftBank for About $40 Billion - Will Nvidia keep Arm's neutral status in the chip market? * Gadgets

No Gadget updates this week :( * Games

Best FS2020 Mods so far - Godzilla rampages through San Francisco!

Gateway Brand is back- Walmart selling the legacy Gateway brand with budget gaming laptops. * TV

The Boys Season 2 - We catch up what Billy and his Boys have been getting up to!

Raised by Wolves - the new Sci-Fi series by Ridley Scott and not this UK series from 2013

Enjoy and as always please let us know what you think in the comments.

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In this weeks episode, we talk about whether Epic will get back on the App store. Is there a Watch SE about to be launched this year alongside all the new tech Apple is rumoured to be readying! SpaceX and Space lasers - it's an update on the Starlink project. We also talk about the Nvidia 30 series GPU's and look back at a week of gaming with Forza, Tony Hawks and Crusader Kings. Plus a sneak peek at the new season of The Boys - and more!

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This week on the Tech Rant it’s the latest instalment of the ongoing Epic/Apple battle, plus who will buy TikTok. We also talk about COD and the cost of games. Missing business travel then we have you covered with Airplane Mode and we look at the upcoming iPhone 12 renders plus Nvidia’s latest GPU!

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We talk about the ongoing Tiktok saga and now Oracle joins the bidding war - as does Kanye West! We look at the rumours around a new budget Apple Watch, discuss the Oculus/Facebook account fallout. We’ve also been playing FS2020 and Links Awaking (plus some Postal 4).

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We talk about Epic/Apple/Google lawsuit and also cover the Qualcomm CVE’s. Apple looks to offer a subscription bundle with new iPhones, Intels new discrete GPU's gear up for release. Project Cars and DCS are our games this week and first impressions on the new Sony WH-1000XM4s, plus a confession regarding a ‘virtual’ u-turn!

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Ep2: Jay and Karl talk all things tech. We cover Intel Breach, Trump and Tiktok. What games and films are we watching and playing this week - Lower Decks and SeaQuest DSV make an appearance. The latest on the iOS and Android betas plus Proxmox and GPUs!

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Ep1 - Jay and Karl talk all things TV (The Boys, Star Trek and more), we cover the latest Tech news and also ponder on the difficulties of running your own HomeLab.