The Switch is quickly closing in on its third birthday and, therefore, the beginning of its fourth year on shelves. The console has enjoyed a lot of success over these past three years, not only in terms of sales but also in the number of excellent games that have launched for it. After the abysmal failure that was the Wii U, Nintendo bounced back with the Switch and now it seems unstoppable.
Any PC gamer out there will be able to tell you that there are three truths in life: we're all going to die, we all need to pay taxes, and we all know how awful Steam's customer support is. Steam's lack of comprehensive customer support has become a meme at this point, and with Steam being the king of the PC digital distribution hill for so long, it seemed like it was never going to change.
Windows on ARM processors, which has recently taken the form of Qualcomm's Snapdragon platforms, isn't exactly a new story and, so far, it has never had its happy ending. Earlier this month, Qualcomm revealed yet another attempt to retell that tale, this time with a slight bent towards affordable Windows devices running on new 8c and 7c platforms. It could be bound to fail yet again, but it doesn't have to. In fact, the timing might be perfect but only if Qualcomm and Microsoft try to spin a different narrative.
Everyone who buys video games is concerned with getting their money’s worth. These days, that seems to take the form of evaluating one's total playtime. Gamers across the internet will proudly boast about the number of hours they’ve played a game as compared to how much they’ve spent on it, as if that price per hour is the ultimate indicator of quality.
Since the end of 2018, network operators, silicon makers, and smartphone manufacturers have all been rallying around 5G, the next-generation wireless technology that is promised to revolutionize the world. Much of the rhetoric around it focused on faster speeds, lower latencies, and support for dozens if not hundreds of devices. Many of the examples carriers use to talk about how downloading an HD video file would take only seconds, something most consumers would be able to relate to immediately. While it does make 5G more understandable, it also boxes people's minds around the concept of 5G as "just faster 4G", and that undersells the new experiences that 5G will enable in the near future and beyond.
Range, torque, and zero-emissions may be the usual reasons to get excited about electric vehicles, but new packaging options may end up the sleeper factor in getting drivers out of traditional cars and trucks. For years now, "cargo flexibility" has been pretty much about how big your trunk or bed is, and whether the rear seats fold flat. Now, EVs are showing us there's so much more.
Ever since The Force Awakens, Star Wars’ sequel trilogy had been divisive. From breaking away from LucasArts’ Star Wars lore, to playing it safe with well-trodden plot points, fans found plenty of reasons to nit-pick at Disney’s take on the beloved canon. With Disney’s latest effort, The Rise of Skywalker, the House of Mouse may have gone even further to incite fans and viewers. Loopholes, conveniences and ludicrous marketing – let’s talk spoilers.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 is not the same game that released in 2017 to thunderous outrage. EA’s road to redemption has seen game-changing updates this month, including the Battlefront 2 Celebration Edition and The Rise of Skywalker update. Most importantly, they all come free.
News of Facebook working to create its own operating system has probably raised a lot of eyebrows and ruffled many feathers. The social giant made no secret that its goal is to be independent of Google and its ecosystem, particularly Android. At a time when Huawei is trying and struggling to do the same due to political circumstances, there will definitely be doubts about whether Facebook can pull it off. It definitely can and that's the most frightening part about it.
A new report reveals something that we probably already know, perhaps in jest. Corporations are out to get us and our privacy is pretty much a commodity already. It does, however, demonstrate the implications of that massive covert surveillance and the social and legal structures that empower or at least permit such activities. While it is admittedly difficult to escape that sad reality without shunning technology altogether, there are still a few things you can do to minimize the data that others can gather about you.
2019 has been an exciting year for Chromebooks. Google’s line of Chrome OS laptops has seen plenty of releases this year, adding to the range of budget-friendly models and even introducing a new flagship, spec-ed out Chromebook in the Pixelbook Go. It may be enough to get Apple and Windows users on the other side interested, but will it work for you?
Samsung, Apple and Google get most of the attention when customers are in the market for new phones today. These phones are great, but there’s plenty of innovation happening around the dimmer corners of phone stores. Away from the limelight are Sony Xperia phones, which have had a quietly impressive year with plenty of interesting features in hopes of finding a niche of its own. There is something for binge-watchers, tiny hands and people who are just a little tired of the mainstream offering. Could Xperia be for you?
