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Nvidia's latest Shield might be the Apple TV killer - CNET
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Nvidia's latest Shield might be the Apple TV killer - CNET

Posted: 28 Oct 2019 08:00 AM PDT

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The Morning After: Apple warns iPhone 5 owners to update - Engadget

Posted: 28 Oct 2019 04:14 AM PDT

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And we're back. Over the weekend, we heard rumors that Overwatch 2 (or a sequel of some kind) could appear this week, that Facebook's (still) struggling with political ads and removed a 'stunt' post and, now that AirPower isn't happening, what the best wireless charging station is. The Wirecutter has an answer.

It highlighted Facebook's reluctance to fact-check politicians.
Facebook takes down fake political ad meant to test its fact checking

Facebook's stance on truth in political ads has been put to the test. The social media giant has removed a 'stunt' ad from a political action committee, the Really Online Lefty League, which falsely claimed Republican Senator Lindsey Graham supported the Green New Deal proposed by some Democrats. A company spokesman told Reuters that the ad was eligible for a fact-checking review since it came from a political action group rather than a politician.

The ad was prompted by a line of questioning from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who asked Mark Zuckerberg at an October 23rd House hearing if Facebook would let her get away with posting a misleading ad about Graham.

It may be more of a 1.5 release than a full sequel.
'Overwatch 2' may debut at BlizzCon with a greater focus on story

Diablo IV isn't the only high-profile game rumored to debut at BlizzCon. ESPN claims to have a training document revealing plans to introduce an Overwatch sequel at the event, which starts November 1st. The description suggests it may be more of a refinement than an overhaul. Reportedly, it'll have a stronger focus on "story and narrative elements," including a four-player experience set in Lucio's home turf of Rio de Janeiro. You might not have to rely quite so heavily on character origin videos to get a feel for Overwatch's universe.

The sequel, or second chapter, will supposedly include a major new mode, Push, introduced to sit alongside the existing Assault, Control, Escort and Hybrid options. You could expect a new map to match (Toronto) and "at least" one new hero. Who could it be?

It all stems from GPS changes taking effect in November.Apple warns iPhone 5 owners to update if they want to stay online

Apple has started warning iPhone 5 owners with full-screen alerts that they'll lose key online features (including email, web browsing, the App Store and iCloud) if they don't update to iOS 10.3.4 before 12AM UTC on November 3rd. The GPS time rollover issue that started in April will throw off features that require the correct date and time, Apple said.

You're not completely stuck if you can't update to 10.3.4 before November 3rd, but you will have to backup and restore to a computer if you intend to move to the newer software. Other devices like the fourth-generation iPad are also affected, but they're only expected to lose GPS functionality.

There's probably no need to panic. Apple says that 9 percent of all iOS device users are running software earlier than iOS 12 as of October 15th, and many of those are using newer hardware (the percentage shrinks to 7 percent when you limit the data to devices four years old or newer).

You don't have to wait for Google or your carrier -- at least, for now.

There's a way to get RCS messaging on virtually any Android phone

Google is trying to speed up RCS rollout on Android, but as it wrestles with carriers to make it all happen, there's a slightly convoluted way of getting it on your Android phone now. The process -- you'll need the guide -- involves pointing a key Android Messages flag toward a Google sandbox address, setting up Messages, resetting data and repeating part of the process until you can tap an item inside another Messages flag. If all goes well, you'll have data-only chat abilities, full-quality photo sharing. There are lots of caveats here though.
You'll need a current Android Messages beta (5.2 as of this writing), an app that can see Android activities (such as Activity Launcher) and WiFi turned off.

New meaning to the rat race.
Rats can drive tiny cars, and they find it relaxing, scientists say

Researchers at the University of Richmond in Virginia made a tiny car for its rodent test subjects. Rats could move forward when they stood on the floor and gripped one of a trio of copper bars with their paws to complete an electrical circuit. The left, center and right copper bars also control steering, and the 17 rats were rewarded for successful driving with Froot Loops cereal dotted around the pen. The aim of the tests was to see whether rats were able to learn the more sophisticated task of operating a moving vehicle. Steering achievements aside, learning to drive seemed to have a relaxing effect on the animals, as measured by their levels of corticosterone, a hormone that spikes in stressful situations, and dehydroepiandrosterone, which counteracts stress. The ratio of the two hormones was flipped in the rats and increased the more they drove.

But wait, there's more...

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Sony backtracks on PS5 'world's fastest console' claim, as competition looms - TechRadar India

Posted: 28 Oct 2019 04:04 AM PDT

Will the PS5 be the most powerful console on the market? Possibly – but while a job listing by Sony Interactive Entertainment had referred to the next-gen PlayStation 5 as the "world's fastest console", it seems like Sony's decided to reconsider its claim.

The job listing in question was for a Senior Cloud Engineering Manager, originally saying that the successful applicant would be helping "to build next generation cloud infrastructure", and "will also be one of the leaders of an elite team that is super excited to launch the upcoming world's fastest console (PS5) in 2020."

Now, though, all mention of the PS5 has been removed, simply saying that the role will involve "managing distributed systems that are powering 100+ million PS4 consoles that deliver immersive gaming experiences."

Not all about power

It's not overly surprising to see the claim removed; once the listing was being widely circulated in the news, Sony would have to either backup or backtrack on its claim, which is difficult to support so far from the release of the PS5 and its competitor, the Xbox Scarlett. (Microsoft also has the advantage on this front in the current generation, with the Xbox One X being more powerful than the PS4 Pro.)

Dev kits for both consoles are out in the wild, but iterative changes could be made to hardware or software in response to any issues experienced by devs – not to mention the actual console design.

We know a decent amount about the technical capabilities of both consoles, with drip-feed announcements on everything from 8K capability, ray-tracing, and solid-state drives looking to elevate both the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett above their current-generation counterparts. They even share the same Zen 2 and Navi architecture on the processing side.

As ever, we expect the console performances to be somewhat equivalent – and questions over exclusive games and the general ecosystem likely to be more of a differentiating factor, but we'll be keeping our ear close to the ground for anything that could give one console an edge over the other.

Via DigitalTrends

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