Tangle Tech

The Google Pixel 7 got its initial unveiling back at Google IO in May, but we don't yet know everything about this upcoming flagship phone. Now newly discovered references in debug documentation for Android give us another hint about what's on the way. As reported by Android Police , the documentation includes a mention of a Hall effect sensor: that's a sensor that can detect the presence of a magnet, most often deployed to tell a phone when a case is closed over it. When it comes to flip covers, a variety of useful functions can be enabled if the phone knows whether that cover is open or closed. Essentially, it expands the possibilities for Pixel 7 accessories – and it's a feature that the Google Pixel 6 range didn't have. Details, details, details While it's perhaps not the biggest upgrade that the Pixel 7 could possibly get over the Pixel 6, it does show that Google is thinking about the details when it comes to its next handset – and that it's als...

I’m rollerskating at maximum velocity and still a sniper’s laser sight is pinned to my torso. I wait for the final moment, just when they’re about to pull the trigger, to dodge the incoming bullet and fire my shotgun – right at the brute swinging a spiked club at my forehead. After beelining for the nearest half-pipe, I spin a nose grab mid-air to replenish my pistol ammo, and land on a grind rail – heading straight for the marksmen. Now it’s just a case of shooting a few homing rockets out of the air, engaging slow motion, and unloading my dual pistols – all before wall-grinding to safety. I feel like a gun-toting martial artist on wheels. I look like a high-speed jumpsuit of death. And I’m having an amazing amount of fun. This is Rollerdrome, an upcoming single-player arena shooter from Roll7 that signs you up to the titular fictional bloodsport. Made up of a series of deathmatches that string together into a complete single-player narrative campaign, Rollerdrome challenges you to...

If you love PC gaming, you’re going to want a sweet gaming PC, but there are many things to consider before getting one, the biggest being budget. Trying to build the absolute best gaming PC imagineable can be obscenely expensive and buying one prebuilt isn't much better, but there are ways to get cheaper ones; particularly when you build your own, but even if you get them pre-built.  More than anything, the best computer for gaming is ultimately the best one you can actually afford, but you don't want to just settle for any old PC. Here are some tips for how to get the very best gaming machine possible for any budget. Budget gaming PCs You don't have to spend a fortune to get the pretty good prebuilt gaming PC, believe it or not. Let’s start with the brand name. People tend to opt for PCs made by well-known brands like Alienware, Corsair or MSI. It makes sense that they would, particularly when shopping for a relatively expensive PC, considering how difficult compa...

Microsoft says it has produced a zero-carbon emissions replacement for the diesel-powered generators used for backups in data centers, in the event of power outages and other service disruptions. In a blog post announcing the news, Sean James, Microsoft’s director of data center research, called the breakthrough a "moon landing" moment for the data center industry Data center sustainability is a huge deal whatever way you look at it; the cornerstones of modern cloud hosting currently use nearly 1% of global electricity demand contributing 0.3% of all global CO2 emissions, according to research from  the International Energy Agency. How does it work? Microsoft's backup generator was powered by two fuel cells residing inside two 40-feet-long shipping containers. The set-up can reportedly generate up to 3 megawatts of power, which is enough to replace one diesel generator or up to 1,800 homes. Microsoft has been experimenting with fuel cell technology since 2013, a...

August 10 is going to be a big day for Samsung fans, as we're getting the formal unveiling of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the Galaxy Z Flip 4 (and more besides). Ahead of the event, a new leak has revealed some of the official cases we can expect to see launching alongside the foldable phones. As spotted by SamMobile , one retailer in Germany has already started listing a few accessories for both the Z Fold 4 and the Z Flip 4, showing off different elements of the design of both smartphones at the same time. These cases don't seem to have changed massively from those we got with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 , suggesting that there haven't been any major shifts in the designs of the foldable handsets either. Cases and pricing For the Galaxy Z Fold 4, it looks as though there's a Slim Standing Cover that does double duty as a case and a stand for the device, and according to the retailer that's going to go on sale for €43.47 (about $...

Silicon might be the de facto standard for today's computing, but it might be due for a change if new research from MIT, the University of Houston, and other institutions is to be believed. Cubic boron arsenide, a chemical compound cooked up from a combination of boron and arsenic, could apparently be a better semiconductor, bypassing some of the weaknesses of silicon when it comes to heat sensitivity.  In fact, according to research published in Science ,  Cubic boron arsenide has the "third-best thermal conductivity of any material — next to diamond and isotopically enriched cubic boron nitride". Is this the future? The research said that more work would be needed to determine whether cubic boron arsenide can be "made in a practical, economical form, much less replace the ubiquitous silicon".  But even in the near future, the material could find "some uses where its unique properties would make a significant difference" according to the researc...

There's finally some news on Intel Arc Alchemist's release date, but not the kind that anybody outside of Nvidia and AMD really wanted to hear: Arc Alchemist and Battlemage might get the ax entirely over unfixable hardware flaws that are kneecapping their performance, and it's threatening to scrap Intel's entire Arc discrete graphics line. This report comes from YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead , and it is a doozy, full of internal politics, bitterness, and recriminations at Intel over the company's graphics unit being unable to actually deliver the discrete graphics cards that have been hyped up for more than a year. I highly suggest you watch the video for all the tea, but the key takeaway is that internal sources at Intel told Moore's Law is Dead that there is a potentially unfixable hardware flaw in the Arc Alchemist GPU that the graphics unit had hoped to address using a driver fix, but that fix isn't working. That's the hardware challenge, repor...

Amazon has revealed it is closing its cloud storage platform in another consolidation push from the tech giant. The company has emailed Amazon Drive customers to confirm that the service will be closing at the end of next year. The move comes as part of Amazon's push towards its Amazon Photos service, which will now become a central location for photo and video storage. Amazon Drive closure "Over the last 11 years, Amazon Drive has served as a secure cloud storage service for Amazon customers to back up their files," the company's email to customers read.  "On December 31, 2023, we will no longer support Amazon Drive to more fully focus our efforts on photos and video storage with Amazon Photos. We will continue to provide customers the ability to safely back up, share, and organize photos and videos with Amazon Photos." Users will need to download all their files by the closing date, but existing Amazon users will have had their photo and video fi...

A new day is coming for your Android apps. Google is implementing new Play Store rules for developers as it attempts to stamp out intrusive ads, impersonators, and VPNService misuse. The big changes will roll out incrementally with the first rule going into effect on August 31 and will be complete on July 31, 2023.  Reading through the rules, it appears that some developers on the Play Store were getting away with uncouth practices, but Google is giving them ample time to clean up their act.  The Play Store is also clarifying the language on several policies as it cracks down on misinformation. New rules Starting August 31, apps will no longer be able to impersonate another developer/company nor can an app falsely imply that it's related to something else. Google gives the example of the RSS News Aggregator app created by Google Developer . This is an impersonator because first-party apps on the Play Store are listed under Google LLC. The developers were trying to use Goo...

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has sent a letter to the CEOs of Apple and demanding the companies explain how they review and approve mobile apps for cryptocurrency trading and storing.  The letter comes a few days after the FBI warned retail investors that their peers lost more than $42 million on crypto scams in less than a year. “Crypto mobile apps are available to the public through app stores, including Apple’s App Store,” the senator wrote to Cook on Thursday, according to The Verge . “While cryptocurrency apps have offered investors easy and convenient ways to trade cryptocurrency, reports have emerged of fake crypto apps that have scammed hundreds of investors.” Preventing fraud Brown also wants to know if the companies monitor the apps they list in the stores, and how they stop them from “transforming” into phishing scams, as well as if the two companies notified their users about fraudulent crypto apps in the past. “While firms that offer crypto investment and ot...

Google has announced new Play Store policies for Android developers in an effort to crack down on full-screen ads, VPNs, and fake apps impersonating genuine software. Coming into effect from September 30, 2022, the Play Store will require developers to stop showing “Full-screen interstitial ads,” for example those that show during gameplay or during an app’s loading screen. Additionally, full-screen ads that cannot be closed after 15 seconds shall be banned. The new policy will not include rewarded ads, such as in-app popups that users can opt into in order to unlock in-app content, which will continue to be permitted. Google Play Store developer policies There have been further revisements to the company’s FLAG_SECURE feature, which is intended to protect sensitive data by preventing or obscuring screenshots, and disallowing screen sharing and broadcasting. From November 1, 2022, apps will not be allowed to create workaround for the flagged content. With effect from the same dat...

A trio of overlooked PlayStation indies are hopping over to Xbox and Game Pass in the next few months. Solar Ash, The Pathless, and Maquette all launched as console exclusives on PS5 , PS4 as well as PC over the last couple of years. And soon, Xbox players will be able to gett their hands on them. During this week's Annapurna Interactive Showcase , it was revealed that the three titles will coming to Xbox Series X |S, letting owners of Microsoft’s console play the indie games for the first time. Maquette, and Solar Ash will be dropping on Xbox Game Pass while Solar Ash will be coming to Xbox, just not as part of the subscription service. While there are no firm dates just yet, we have a winter release date window for Maquette, and Solar Ash. Or summer if you're in the Southern Hemisphere.   Nintendo Switch owners aren't being left out, Maquette and The Pathless will be coming to the handheld console too. Three's a party While all three games belong to differe...

Just in time for International Friendship Day, Spotify is adding yet another personalized playlist. It’s called Friends Mix and it’s made by collecting songs from multiple Blend playlists and then throwing them all together in one big mixtape. It's another way, says Spotify, for people to people discover new tracks. Recommended songs are thrown into Blends that match the creators' taste, but may result in people missing out on potential new favorites. The idea is as your Friends Mix grows, you discover new music, then you add those songs to a separate Blend playlist exposing them to other people. By finding new artists, those friends continue to add new songs to your Friends Mix thereby creating an endless loop of music discovery. (Image credit: Spotify) Made for you The Friends Mix will appear in the Made For You hub, but you will need to create two-person Blends first. These playlists serve as the starting point. Creating one is very simple: all you have to d...

With the latest Amazon Fire Stick sales, you'll find turning your TV into a fully equipped smart TV is much cheaper than you would think. Hundreds of shows and apps will be at your fingertips, and our roundup of the cheapest Amazon Fire Stick deals is here to point you in the right direction. You'll find all of Amazon's Fire Stick prices on display today, including the all-new Fire TV Stick 4K Max, the budget Fire TV Stick Lite, and the original Fire TV Stick. We've also included the powerful Fire TV Cube, which acts as a combination of an Echo speaker and Fire TV device, and the US-exclusive Fire TV Recast, which allows you to record free over-the-air content - one for all you cord-cutters out there. The main advantage we've seen with the Amazon Fire TV devices over competitors like Roku and Now TV is the now-standard inclusion of Amazon's Alexa smart assistant, thanks to the voice-remote that comes with every Fire TV device. Several available apps and gam...

We often see Roku sale prices falling well below MSRP, all thanks to the particularly competitive world of streaming sticks. Whether you're after a super simple HDMI plugin, or something designed to offer high quality 4K resolution and plenty of smart home features, you'll find all the best Roku deals right here. Roku's Streaming sticks and boxes plug into your TV via an HDMI port, essentially turning any old HD/4K TV into a smart TV or boosting the number of apps on any modern smart TV that seems to be missing a few of your favorites. In a video streaming device world dominated by Amazon, Google, and Apple, Roku is the plucky underdog that continues to hold its own. In addition to worldwide services like Netflix, Amazon, and Spotify, you'll find plenty of apps for your country. HBO Now, Hulu, Sling, and CBS All Access in the US and BBC iPlayer, All 4, and Now TV in the UK, for example. Frankly, Roku can't be beaten as far as the number and quality of streaming ...

A major chat log database belonging to popular messaging app JusTalk was left unprotected on the web for months, accessible to anyone who knew where to look.  Cybersecurity researcher Anurag Sen uncovered the database, which did not have a password, storing unencrypted data including plenty of personally identifiable information, useful for cybercriminals looking to engage in identity theft , social engineering, or other forms of cybercrime.  The data included the messages themselves, user phone numbers (both sender and receiver), call logs, all sorted out just enough to be able to identify specific people and specific conversations. Millions of potential victims In fact, while going through the logs, TechCrunch says it managed to find a pastor soliciting a sex worker who listed their phone number publicly. The log included the time, location, and price of the meeting.  The database itself is “hundreds of gigabytes” large, and hosted on a Huawei server in China. In...

Security researchers have discovered two major flaws in FileWave’s endpoint management software which could have given threat actors a way to circumvent authentication measures and completely take over the affected devices. The flaws affected more than 1,100 internet-accessible FileWave management instances, used by large government entities, schools, small businesses, and many other firms. Besides fully taking over the instances, threat actors could have used the backdoor to launch ransomware attacks, or steal sensitive data.  Found by security firm Claroty, the vulnerabilities are being tracked as CVE-2022-34907 and CVE-2022-34906. Patched flaws CVE-2022-34907 is described as an authentication bypass, not unlike the flaw recently found in F5 BIG-IP WAF. The researchers explained that the scheduler service running on the mobile device management (MDM) server authenticates to the web server using a hardcoded shared secret. But this secret doesn’t change between different MDM...

Apple Watch deals can save you plenty of cash if you're browsing at the right time, and looking in the right place. Whether you're after an older budget model, or the latest and greatest in Apple's wrist candy, we often see a solid supply of discounts across the range. Whether you're after the super cheap Apple Watch 3, or the newest release (the Apple Watch 7), it's always worth checking out how much you can save.  We're rounding up the web's cheapest Apple Watch deals right here, but below our price comparison charts, you'll also find all our favorite retailers for such offers. That's because you can often find additional incentive offers like free services to sweeten the deal as well. The Apple Watch 7 has had a few months on the shelves now, and so is primed for some major discounts. However, we'd also keep a close eye on sixth generation and SE Apple Watch deals for even bigger savings and record low prices. We're rounding up all the...