Today we're taking a peek at some details released by Niantic about the Holiday Events in Pokemon GO for 2019. This is the first time Niantic's made this series of events official, so they've not revealed ALL the info about each bonus or Pokemon that'll be involved - but we can start our score chart right this minute! Let's start with our predicted date range!
Here in late 2019, the FTC released a ruling and public order on their findings on Cambridge Analytica's dealings on Facebook. That's Cambridge Analytica, one of the many major reasons Facebook faced major scrutiny for their role in the spread of disinformation during the 2016 US Presidential Election season. This is not the first time Cambridge Analytica was found guilty of deception and criminal activity - it is, however, the latest clear sign that the FTC is not equipped to protect the privacy of citizens of the United States.
Today Apple released a set of videos about their also-newly-released Mac Pro. This is the Mac Pro for late-2019, revealed back in June of 2019. The focus of the most interesting of these videos is the "plug-and-play Mac Pro Expansion Module", aka the "MPX Module", a piece of hardware that Apple says "adds extra graphical power to your Mac Pro." This is the way you switch out your GPU and replace it with a new GPU - it's made to appear simple.
Apple's iOS 13.3 was released this afternoon with Screen Time updates as well as bug fixes for several apps. This update is available for all iPhone and iPod touch devices with the proper hardware requirements. Users will find improvements to Screen Time, Apple News, and the one you've been waiting for - Stocks! It's likely the changes most significant for the masses are, instead, the bug fixes for several key elements in other apps.
Facebook's person-tracking camera-display system Portal is getting an update so that users can avoid Facebook. That's right - the Facebook-made Portal, Portal Mini, Portal+ and Portal TV device collection can now be used without a Facebook account. Users can utilize "WhatsApp login" to work with video calls and features like Story Time. Let's talk about why Facebook would allow this to happen.
Today Google revealed Android 10 on Android TV, a system that'll bring Android TV up to speed with the rest of the Android universe. This update will bring Android API level 29, which in turn will bring on what Google described as "recent performance and security updates made with Android 10." Oh, they've got a brand new Android TV device too, called ADT-3 (don't call it a Nexus!)
Magic Leap was recently the subject of a report which put the company in some not-so-positive light, from the average consumer perspective. It's likely Magic Leap already had their announcements today planned well in advance, but the timing is notable. Today's Magic Leap announcements center on the Magic Leap Enterprise Suite, a package that'll cost $2995, and will include "everything a business needs to efficiently roll out spatial computing to employees."
Independent email app Edison Mail was released today for Mac. This system extends the abilities of the mobile apps for Edison Mail (iOS and Android) to the Apple desktop computer with MacOS. It's not a mobile app simply retrofit for the desktop environment, but a new desktop-based email app "engineered from the ground up to eliminate common frustrations with desktop email." This app is available "by exclusive invitation to current Edison Mail users."
Using the System Usability Scale (SUS) in a major study published this week, Mayo researchers found modern Electronic Health Records (EHR) to be less user-friendly than Microsoft Excel. EHR got an SUS score of 45, which also ranks below GPS (maps), Amazon, and ATMs. At the top of the scale - Google search.
The trailer for the next Ghostbusters movie was released, and you're gonna need to see it. In the trailer we're still seeing a lot of questions, not a lot of answers, but given the reactions we've seen from fans so far, they're already hitting all the right notes. And yes, that is Finn Wolfhard, aka Mike Wheeler from Stranger Things.
This is the trailer for Wonder Woman 1984, a movie that'll be JACKED UP with popular culture points from the year 1984. If you happened to be alive back then, you'll probably find yourself in an alternate universe, the likes of which you kinda... sorta remember. This won't be the real world - the bits we've seen so far look like some sort of fever dream about the TV-centric 80s... not unlike Stranger Things, really.
Fortnite was re-submitted to Google Play in December of 2019, and a bit of confusion ensued. Epic Games apparently attempted to get an exception to the billing agreement made between developers and Google for inclusion in Google Play. They did not get said exception. Google decided that Epic Games did not deserve any sort of exception as such, and that all developers needed to abide by the same rules, even when the game is as exceptional as Fortnite.