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As Epic v. Apple approaches the courtroom, Valve is getting sued over Steam too

Just two days before Apple gets dragged into a California court to justify its 30 percent App Store fee — and two days after Microsoft axed its 30 percent cut on PC — we’re learning that gaming giant Valve is now facing down lawsuits against its own 30 percent cut and alleged anticompetitive practices with… Read more

30 Apple Music tips, tricks and features

Home Advice Since its launch in 2015, Apple Music garnered 72 million subscribers by the end of 2020 and even more impressively (depending on who you ask) racked up a five-star review from us. Five iOS updates and a couple of hefty interface refreshes later, the arrival of the splendid HomePod Mini (despite the discontinuation… Read more

Netflix

Our Verdict It’s nigh-on impossible to find meaningful fault with Netflix For Excellent video quality Big, easy-to-navigate catalogue High quality Originals Against Rarely first for big film releases Netflix just keeps on getting better, making a more compelling case for your money at every turn. It’s everything you want from a video streaming service: simple… Read more

Google’s answer to the problems of open plan offices? Inflatable walls

Google is redesigning its offices for the post-pandemic world, and The New York Times has a big report full of pictures and videos outlining the company’s plans. But if I had to sum up the tech giant’s approach in two words I would choose “over” and “engineered.” Google has ambitious plans to shake up its… Read more

Xbox revenues rose to $15 billion over past 12 months

Matthew Wilson 2 days ago Console, Featured Tech News Microsoft revealed its quarterly earnings results last night, giving us a good idea as to how well Xbox is doing right now to start off the new console generation. Microsoft unfortunately doesn’t reveal specific sales numbers, but everything appears to be on the up, with the… Read more

How the video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. inspired a wave of real-world Chernobyl tourists

A virtual world leads to IRL excursions By Darmon Richter Apr 29, 2021, 12:32pm EDT Illustration by Alex Castro At the entrance to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, 35 years on from the worst nuclear disaster in history, a yellow souvenir van sells T-shirts, key rings, and glow-in-the-dark “Chernobyl condoms,” all branded with gas… Read more

Intel Motherboard Lands With 32 SATA Ports For Farming Chia

Home News Chia-D32H-D4 (Image credit: ZOL) Chinese motherboard manufacturer Onda (via ZOL) has launched the brand’s new Chia-D32H-D4 motherboard. The model name alone is enough to tell you that this motherboard is aimed at farming Chia cryptocurrency, which has already caused hard drive price spikes in Asia. Designed for mining, rather than to compete with… Read more

Microsoft to Focus on Bringing More Gaming Features to PC

Home News (Image credit: Microsoft) Earlier today, Microsoft released a blog post sharing the company’s thoughts on the gaming industry and its focus for gaming in 2021 and beyond. Microsoft’s goal has changed for the Xbox team and its gaming initiatives from focusing more on a specific platform (i.e the Xbox consoles) to being focused… Read more

Sailor Moon’s newest movie is hitting Netflix on June 3

The newest movie in the hugely popular Sailor Moon franchise, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie (which was originally released in two parts), is hitting Netflix on June 3. The movie’s arrival on Netflix marks its premiere for the first time outside of Japan, where Part 1 debuted in January. You can watch a… Read more

The PlayStation Network is down

If you’re having issues with the PlayStation Network (PSN) right now, you’re not alone. Sony’s status page for the multiplayer service confirms that it’s currently experiencing problems. The outage appears to be global — the official Ask PlayStation Japan Twitter account has reported the issue, and we’ve seen many users from Europe also reporting problems…. Read more

People who are vaccinated don’t need to wear masks during many outdoor activities, CDC says

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, outlining the situations where vaccinated people can stop wearing masks. People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and two weeks after the Johnson &… Read more

Hackers threaten to release DC police data in apparent ransomware attack

Washington, DC’s police department has confirmed its servers have been breached after hackers began leaking its data online, The New York Times reports. In a statement, the department confirmed it was aware of “unauthorized access on our server” and said it was working with the FBI to investigate the incident. The hacked data appears to… Read more

Apple will reportedly face EU antitrust charges this week

The European Commission will issue antitrust charges against Apple over concerns about the company’s App Store practices, according to a report from the Financial Times. The commission has been investigating whether Apple has broken EU competition rules with its App Store policies, following an initial complaint from Spotify back in 2019 over Apple’s 30 percent… Read more

Bootleg Firmware Brings Ryzen 5000 Support to ASRock X370 Motherboards

Home News ASRock X370 Taichi (Image credit: ASRock) AMD’s 300-series motherboards were never part of the chipmaker’s support plan for Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) processors. However, an avid enthusiast (via HKEPC) has modified ASRock’s firmware to support AMD’s latest Zen 3 chips. First and foremost, it’s important to emphasize that it’s a Beta firmware, and an… Read more

The tech some countries are betting on to reach new climate goals

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. At last week’s climate summit, there was a lot of talk about climate tech and how it could help countries meet their splashy new climate goals. A couple of the emerging technologies that got the most hype… Read more