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Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream: how to watch Tribute to the Kings PPV on Fite TV

Tribute to the Kings promises to be a historic pay-per-view event, featuring father and son boxing icons Julio Cesar Chavez Sr and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, plus UFC superstar Anderson Silva. The full fight is an exclusive Fite.TV PPV at $39.99 in the US – or just $14.99 in the UK. Read our handy guide and find out how to watch a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream from anywhere in the world.

Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream

Date: Saturday 19th June 2021

Main card: 9pm ET / 2am BST

Chavez Sr vs Camacho Jr: 11.30 ET / 4.30am BST

Venue: The Jalisco Stadium, Guadalajara, Mexico

UK stream: Fite.TV ($14.99)

Watch anywhere: Try ExpressVPN

US stream: Fite.TV ($39.99)

The much-hyped Tribute to the Kings event will feature 12 bouts, the first seven of which will be streamed live on globalsportsstreaming.com. The main card is an exclusive Fite.TV PPV starting at 9pm EST / 6pm PST.

The headline fight will feature former middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr against former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a 10-round cruiserweight bout. The MMA great is considered by some to be UFC’s ‘Greatest Of All Time’ but his final MMA appearance was underwhelming and he hasn’t been in a boxing ring since 2005.

“When I look back at my journey, I see that nothing has been in vain,” said Former UFC middleweight champion Silva. “I am extremely happy for the opportunity to test my boxing skills with Julio César Chávez Jr. I train continuously, always am striving for resilience and to overcome obstacles. Fighting is my everlasting breath.”

Before that, 58-year-old boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez Sr will make his last ever ring appearance when he battles Hector “Little Macho” Camacho Jr in an exhibition bout. Camancho Jr is son of Hector “Macho” Camancho Sr, who was defeated by unanimous decision in the legendary Chavez vs Camacho WBO light welterweight title fight back in September 1992.

The main card also features Omar Chavez, who fights Ramon Alvarez in their trilogy bout. Don’t miss this one – it looks to be a spectacular PPV put together by Borizteca Boxing and Tosacano Promotions.

Saturday’s Tribute to the Kings pay-per-view is exclusive to Fite.TV. You can watch on the Fite.TV website or via the app. Follow our guide to watch a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream from anywhere in the world.

Watch a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream on Fite.TV

(Image credit: Fite.TV)

There isn’t a way to stream the Tribute to the Kings main card free, sadly.

US boxing fans must pay the $39.99 PPV fee to watch the main card including a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream.

UK boxing fans need only pay $14.99 – less than half what the PPV costs in the States. So, even if you’re not a huge boxing fan, you’re guaranteed great bang for buck at this price.

Fite.TV is accessible worldwide but if you find yourself geo-blocked, simply use a VPN to access Fite.TV from anywhere in the world. We recommend ExpressVPN because it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support.

The Fite.TV app is available from the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Roku TVs and players and Huawei App Gallery.

Watch a Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream anywhere in the world using a VPN

Even if you have subscribed to the relevant Chavez Jr vs Silva live stream rights holders, you may find yourself geo-blocked if you’re away from your own country. If that’s the case use a VPN to make sure you can access the stream.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps you get around this obstacle. A VPN creates a private connection between your device and the internet, such that the servers and services you’re accessing aren’t aware of what you’re doing. All the information passing back and forth is entirely encrypted.

There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. As a rule, we’d suggest a paid-for service such as ExpressVPN.

Try ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days

ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money back guarantee with its VPN service. You can use it to watch Lamar Odom vs Aaron Carter on your mobile, tablet, laptop, TV, games console and more. There’s 24/7 customer support and three months free when you sign-up.

Tribute to the Kings main card

(Image credit: Fite.TV)

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr vs Anderson Silva – Cruiserweight

Julio Cesar Chavez Sr vs Hector Camacho Jr – Exhibition

Omar Chavez vs Ramon Alvarez 3 – Middleweight

Damian Sosa vs Abel Mina – Junior Middleweight

Chavez Jr vs Silva tale of the tape

Nationality: Mexican – Brazilian

Age: 35 – 46

Height: 6ft – 6ft 2in

Reach: 73in – 77.5in

Total fights: 59 – 2

Record: 52-5, 1 KO – 1-1, 1 KO

Box clever with the best TVs: budget to premium

Oculus to Test In-Headset Ads in Select Games

(Image credit: Oculus VR)

Looks like immersion doesn’t quite beat monetization — Facebook is going to start putting in-headset ads in certain Oculus games within the next few weeks. Welcome to the digital frontier! Instead of the Gateway Arch, we have a McDonald’s billboard.

Don’t expect to have to karate kick pop-ups quite yet, though. According to a post Oculus made on its blog yesterday, this is going to be a slow rollout. The ads will first appear in the Resolution Games title Blastion, plus in a few unnamed games from “a couple other developers.”

“This is a test with a few apps,” the post explains. “Once we see how this test goes and incorporate feedback from developers and the community, we’ll provide more details on when ads may become more broadly available across the Oculus platform.”

(Image credit: Oculus)

If you’re worried that these ads will show up as simple flat windows over your best VR headset footage, at least it seems like they’ll be more naturally integrated than that. A sample gif from the Oculus post shows an ad placed on an in-game wall, with the user able to click on it to access some customization options.

These include the ability to save the ad link for later, to mute it if it plays audio, to report it if it breaks any rules, to hide it and to find out why the algorithm targeted that specific ad towards you. In other words, it’s a very similar menu to ads on Facebook itself, although Andrew Bosworth tweeted out that there will be differences.

You can manage what ads you want to see and we’re including controls to hide specific ads or hide ads from an advertiser completely. Ads in VR will be different from ads elsewhere and this is a space that will take time and people’s feedback to get right https://t.co/dHOlqHoOVFJune 16, 2021

He also, very bravely, asked for feedback, which you can submit by reaching out to Oculus Support.

These ads might also explain why Oculus is going to start requiring Facebook accounts to use its devices. A Facebook spokesperson told the Verge that the ad system will use information from your Facebook account, including “”hether you’ve viewed content, installed, activated or subscribed to an Oculus app, added an app to your cart or wishlist, if you’ve initiated checkout or purchased an app on the Oculus platform, and lastly, whether you’ve viewed, hovered, saved, or clicked on an ad within a third-party app.”

That said, the company still promises that “We do not use information processed and stored locally on your headset to target ads.”

It’s possible that this ad system might also be an attempt to bring a mobile-like experience to the Oculus store. On mobile, many games are free and supported by ads, and Oculus’ blog closes out by saying “We’re excited by the opportunity to open up new revenue streams for developers and as a result, broaden the type of apps and content on the Oculus Platform. A more profitable ecosystem is a critical step on the path to consumer VR becoming truly mainstream.”

Let’s just hope it doesn’t undercut the whole point of visiting another reality.

Jamie Munguia vs Kamil Szeremeta live stream: how to watch the boxing on DAZN

(Image credit: Golden Boy Promotions / Matchroom / DAZN)

Former WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia faces replacement opponent Kamil Szeremeta this Saturday, 19th June, at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. The 12-round WBO Intercontinental Middleweight Championship bout will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN, online and through the DAZN app. Follow our guide on how to watch a Jaime Munguia vs Kamil Szeremeta live stream, from anywhere in the world.

Munguia vs Szeremeta live stream

Main card: 8.30pm BST / 3.30pm ET / 5.30am AEST

Munguia vs Szeremeta: 11pm BST / 6pm ET / 8am AEST

Venue: Don Haskins Center, El Paso

Free stream: DAZN free trial (Canada)

Watch anywhere: Try ExpressVPN

UK stream: DAZN (£2/month)

US stream: DAZN ($20/month)

Tickets: Ticketmaster (from $35)

Mexican orthodox Jaime Munguia, 24, was originally due to fight Maciej Sulecki for the WBO Intercontinental Middleweight Championship, but the highly rated Polish veteran, 35, pulled out two weeks before the showdown citing “undisclosed reasons”.

Chairman of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar de la Hoya, is confident that Munguia (36-0, 29 KOs) has the maturity to adjust to his new opponent, 31-year-old Polish powerhouse Kamil Szeremeta (21-1, 5 KOs).

Szeremeta, currently ranked as the world’s seventh best active middleweight by The Ring magazine, will relish a second bite at the world title cherry but The Pride of Tijuana believes he can become a two-division world champion this weekend.

“I have a lot of experience when it comes to opponent changes,” said Munguia. “Obviously, it’s different at this level because the preparation is stronger and more strategic. However, I take it very calmly and we are going to make the necessary adjustments to walk away with our hand raised in victory on June 19.”

The co-main event will see rising Uzbek fighter Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev (7-0, 6 KOs) face his toughest test yet against former world title challenger “King” Gabriel Rosado (25-13-1, 14 KOs), who fights out of Philadelphia, for the WBO Intercontinental and WBA Continental Americas Super Middleweight Titles.

Saturday’s unmissable fight is exclusive to DAZN (except Mexico) but it’s much cheaper in some countries than others. Here’s how to find the right price Jaime Munguia vs Kamil Szeremeta live stream from anywhere in the world.

(Image credit: DAZN)

Boxing fans around the world can stream this weekend’s big fight live on DAZN, which has the rights to this middleweight clash in over 200 countries excluding Mexico. Subscription to the sports streaming service costs $20 a month in the USA, or just £2 a month in the UK. Lucky Canadian subscribers can enjoy a FREE DAZN trial. Worth knowing, right?

Munguia vs Szeremeta free live stream with DAZN free trial

DAZN has the rights to the UFC, Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, US Sports, Fightsports, and much more live and on demand in selected European countries. Canadians can try it free for one month. Cancel at anytime.

Going to be outside your home country of Canada this weekend? Simply use a VPN to access the DAZN free trial without being geo-blocked. We recommend ExpressVPN because it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support.

The Munguia vs Szeremeta ringwalks are expected at 6pm ET / 3pm PT.

Munguia vs Szeremeta free live stream anywhere in the world using a VPN

Even if you have subscribed to the relevant Munguia vs Szeremeta rights holders, you won’t be able to access these streaming services when outside your own country. The service will know your location based on your IP address, and will automatically block your access.

There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. As a rule, we’d suggest a paid-for service such as ExpressVPN.

Try ExpressVPN risk-free for 30 days

ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money back guarantee with its VPN service. You can use it to watch Munguia vs Szeremeta on your mobile, tablet, laptop, TV, games console and more. There’s 24/7 customer support and three months free when you sign-up.

(Image credit: DAZN / Matchroom)

DAZN has the exclusive rights to stream this fight live online in over 200 countries including the UK. Subscription costs just £1.99 a month – a tenth of what it costs in the States!

Remember: British boxing fans stuck outside the UK this weekend can use a VPN to access DAZN for £1.99 from anywhere – without being blocked. We recommend ExpressVPN because it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support.

The Munguia vs Szeremeta ringwalks are expected at 11pm British Summer Time.

Munguia vs Szeremeta fight card

Jaime Munguia vs Kamil Szeremeta – Middleweight

Bektemir Melikuziev vs Gabriel Rosado – Super Middleweight

Ibeth Zamora vs Marlen Esparza – for Zamora’s WBC women’s flyweight title

Blair Cobbs vs Brad Soloman – Welterweight

Raul Curiel vs Ferdinand Keroyban – Welterweight

Alexis Rocha vs James Bacon – Welterweight

Manuel Flores vs Daniel Lozano – Junior Featherweight

Tristan Kalkreuth vs Demetrius Banks – Cruiserweight

Gregory Morales vs TBA – Junior Featherweight

Name: Jaime Munguia – Kamil Szeremeta

Nationality: Mexican – Polish

Date of birth: 6th October 1996 – 11th October 1989

Height: 6ft – 5ft 9.5 inches

Reach: Unknown – Unknown

Total fights: 36 – 22

Record: 36-0, 29 KOs – 21-1, 5 KOs

Munguia on Szeremeta

“I’m excited to be fighting in El Paso. It’s been a dream of mine. It’s a place where many great fighters have fought. It fills me with pride to be able to deliver a great show. I think I need to make a statement. I’m on the rise, so I have to keep doing things better with each fight. We have a great fighter in front of us. We have a lot of respect and admiration towards him, so we have to make sure we do things correctly so that we get a big fight next.”

“This fight will be great. I’m happy to fight against such an amazing fighter. On Saturday, I will do my best to give you all a great show. I am very happy that I am fighting an undefeated boxer. It makes it more meaningful. I’m not worried about being in a place that will be full of Jamie Munguia’s supporters. I don’t even care. I’m used to this. I’m always fighting in other territories.”

Box clever with the best TVs: budget to premium

‘Many’ Xbox Series X/S games will be playable on Xbox One

(Image credit: Microsoft)

The Xbox Series X and S might be Microsoft’s newest consoles, but you won’t need them to play the latest games. That’s because new titles are coming to Xbox One consoles, Microsoft has announced.

Now, there are a few caveats to this announcement. Not all games will be playable on the older consoles, as Microsoft has only said that “many” will. They will be playable through Xbox Cloud Gaming, rather than arriving on disc. And there’s not a lot of detail to dive into – the announcement was relegated to a single sentence in a blog post following Microsoft’s showcase at the E3 gaming conference.

Here’s the announcement in full:

“For the millions of people who play on Xbox One consoles today, we are looking forward to sharing more about how we will bring many of these next-gen games, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, to your console through Xbox Cloud Gaming, just like we do with mobile devices, tablets, and browsers.”

That mention of Microsoft Flight Simulator as an example doesn’t exactly set our hearts aflutter either.

Still, it’s confirmation of what Microsoft had only hinted at before, and means anyone still struggling where to find an Xbox Series X (which is most of us) can get an idea of what all the fuss is about. Last week, Microsoft revealed it was working on bringing an Xbox app direct to smart TVs, as well as producing streaming devices, letting gamers play without the need for a console. Which, given the chip shortages that will continue until at least the end of this month, has to be good news.

We look forward to hearing more details soon.

MORE:

Find your next console: Xbox Series X stock update

Prefer a PS5? PS5 stock and where to buy

Or are you unsure which to buy? PS5 vs Xbox Series X: which is better?

PUBG Mobile returns to India after ban with green blood and a new name

Massively popular battle royale game PUBG Mobile is returning to India after being banned in September 2020, TechCrunch writes. The app is available in early access on Google’s Play Store under a new name, Battlegrounds Mobile India, and with some changes to the game itself, like green blood and a new account system.

PUBG Mobile was initially banned alongside hundreds of other apps because of connections to Chinese companies — in this game’s case, it was major video game investor Tencent. At the time of the ban, PUBG Studio (owned by the larger South Korean company Krafton) announced that it would relaunch in the region with new features customized for Indian gamers, including the color change to blood, and framing the game explicitly as a “virtual simulation training ground.”

TechCrunch writes that beyond modified bodily fluids — part of a long tradition of censoring depictions of violence in games — and reminders that the game isn’t real, Battlegrounds seems to be the same as PUBG Mobile. There’s apparently even a way to easily transfer your account from the older game to the new one.

The really consequential changes may be less visible. The Indian government’s major justification for the ban was that it had concerns about where users’ data was transmitted, with the idea that it was not comfortable having that data sent to places outside of India (read: China).

Ahead of its planned relaunch, PUBG Studio announced it was severing ties with Tencent in India and moving the game’s hosting to Microsoft Azure data centers in the country, which may have solved the matter well before any green blood did.

Facebook will start putting ads in Oculus Quest apps

Facebook will soon begin testing ads inside its Oculus Quest virtual reality system. In the coming weeks, ads will start appearing inside the Resolution Games title Blaston as well as two other unnamed apps. Facebook will later expand the system based on user feedback, saying it aims to create a “self-sustaining platform” for VR development.

Facebook introduced ads on the Oculus mobile app last month, and it’s used limited Oculus data to target Facebook advertising since 2019, but this is its first major foray into putting ads inside the Oculus VR platform itself. “Once we see how this test goes and incorporate feedback from developers and the community, we’ll provide more details on when ads may become more broadly available across the Oculus platform and in the Oculus mobile app,” the company said in a blog post.

As on Facebook’s non-VR apps, you can block specific posts or companies from appearing in ad slots. And Facebook says it’s not changing how it collects or analyzes user information. It says that some of the most sensitive data — like raw images from Oculus headset cameras and weight or height information from Oculus Move fitness tracking — remains solely on users’ devices. Also, Facebook says it has “no plans” to target ads based on movement data or recordings from its voice assistant.

A Facebook spokesperson says the system will use information from your Facebook profile, as well as “whether you’ve viewed content, installed, activated, or subscribed to a Oculus app, added an app to your cart or wishlist, if you’ve initiated checkout or purchased an app on the Oculus platform, and lastly, whether you’ve viewed, hovered, saved, or clicked on an ad within a third-party app.”

As shown above, users can click an ad and either open it or save the link for later. The former option will launch a landing page in the Oculus Quest’s web browser, and the latter will save the ad in the Quest in-VR experience and Oculus mobile app’s Explore sections. Developers will get a share of the revenue from ads in their apps, but Facebook isn’t publicly revealing the percentage.

Facebook is leaving its future roadmap open-ended. The spokesperson says Facebook hasn’t determined, for instance, whether ads could eventually appear inside your Oculus Home experience. Facebook also isn’t yet identifying the other apps using advertisements, although it will list additional names in the coming weeks. The first ads look like standard boxes inside game interfaces, but Facebook’s blog post says it’s exploring other options as well. “We’re currently investing in unobtrusive ads as a new way for developers to build businesses — and though we’re not quite ready to test them yet, we’re also exploring new ad formats that are unique to VR,” it says.

VR has arguably been an advertising medium for years, with countless film and TV promotional tie-ins as well as novelty experiences from companies like McDonald’s and Ikea. But ad-supported VR apps are using a different model that more closely resembles that of the mobile and web ecosystem. Letting developers integrate advertising could create a greater incentive to work within Facebook’s official ecosystem rather than distributing through sideloading options like SideQuest.

Facebook says ads are part of an attempt to figure out profitable business options in the growing but often difficult field of VR app development. “This is a key part of ensuring we’re creating a self-sustaining platform that can support a variety of business models that unlock new types of content and audiences. It also helps us continue to make innovative AR/VR hardware more accessible to more people,” says the blog post.

Facebook currently dominates consumer VR with its Oculus Quest 2 headset — which, at $299, is one of the cheapest options on the market. It’s also acquired the studios behind several major VR games, including rhythm game Beat Saber and the battle royale title Population: One. While it may face renewed competition from a second-generation Sony PlayStation VR headset next year, at least one VR company has retreated from consumer hardware in part because of Facebook’s influence: Vive creator HTC, which has called Facebook’s low-cost consumer headsets “artificially subsidized” by the company’s advertising-focused business model.

Meanwhile, Facebook has slowly strengthened ties between its central business and Oculus, which it acquired in 2014. It began requiring Facebook logins for Quest headsets last year, although users can maintain separate profiles and use pseudonyms in VR. Adding advertising isn’t a surprising move for the company — and it’s another signal that Oculus hardware is becoming ever more closely integrated with Facebook.

Slack is rolling out a new scheduled send feature

Slack has announced a new Scheduled Send feature that the company is starting to roll out today, which — as the name implies — will let users schedule messages to send at a later time and date.

The scheduled send feature adds a new drop-down arrow to the green “send message” button in Slack’s desktop app. Clicking it will reveal a new menu that allows for scheduling a message to send to a room, direct message, or group thread later on. Mobile users will be able to access a similar menu by long-pressing on the send button in the Slack app on Android and iOS.

Slack will offer both pre-filled options (like “tomorrow morning at 9:00AM”) as well as the ability to set a custom date and time to send a message. Messages can be scheduled up to to 120 days in advance, and users will be able to reschedule, edit, or delete scheduled messages before they’re sent.

“Today we launched Scheduled Send to empower users to communicate and collaborate in a way that works best for them,” the company announced in a statement, explaining that “teams shouldn’t be obligated to sync their schedules in order to communicate effectively.”

The ability to schedule messages is a critical one given the various time zones and locations that offices — both remote, in-person, and hybrid — stretch across in today’s work world. And while email services like Gmail have offered the ability to schedule emails for later (so that users aren’t pinging teams at odd hours or getting messages lost overnight), the feature has been notably absent from Slack until now.

Lenovo’s New ThinkPad Workstations Get Latest Intel Chips, Nvidia RTX A5000

(Image credit: Lenovo)

Lenovo’s lineup of ThinkPad workstation laptops are getting more powerful with the launch of the ThinkPad P1, P15 and P17. The notebooks are being bumped up to the latest Intel Core and Xeon mobile CPUs and Nvidia graphics, going up to the enterprise-grade RTA A5000 GPU.

The new laptops are scheduled to launch in July, starting at $2,099 for the P1, $1,749 for the P15 and $1,779 for the P17.

Specs

	Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 4	Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2	Lenovo ThinkPad P17 Gen 2
CPU	11th Gen Intel Core or Xeon	11th Gen Intel Core or Xeon	11th Gen Intel Core or Xeon
GPU	Up to Nvidia RTX A5000 (16GB) or Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 (8GB)/RTX 3080 (16GB)	Up to Nvidia RTX A5000 (16GB)	Up to Nvidia RTX A5000 (16GB)
Display	16-inch, 16:10, 3840 x 2400 IPS touch or 2560 x 1600 non-touch	15.6-inch, 3840 x 2160 IPS or OLED touch with Dolby Vision HDR or 1920 x 1080 IPS	17.3-inch 3840 x 2160 IPS or 1920 x 1080 IPS
RAM	Up to 32GB DDR4-3200 ECC/non-ECC	Up to 32GB DDR-3200 ECC/non-ECC	Up to 128GB DDR4 3200 ECC/non-ECC memory
Storage	Up to 4TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 4 SSD	Up to 6TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 4 SSD	Up to 6TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 4 SSD
Battery	90 WHr	94 WHr	94 WHr
Starting Price	$2,009	$1,749	$1,779
Availability	July	July	July

All of the laptops will use up to 11th Gen Intel Core or Xeon processors. The whole line goes up to the Nvidia RTX A5000 GPU, while the P1 also has gaming options with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 or RTX 3080. This is a first for the P1, which is now on its fourth revision.

(Image credit: Lenovo)

The P1, the flagship, has the option for a 16-inch

IPS

display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 3800 x 2400 resolution and touch. You can also opt for non-touch, 2560 x 1600 resolution, narrow bezels and low-blue light technology. The P15 goes for

4K OLED

or a standard,

1080p

screen, while the P17 has the same options as the P15 but with a larger area.

Both the P1 and P15 go up to 32GB of RAM, while the P17 can be configured with up to 128GB of RAM. You can get

ECC memory

on Xeon versions and non-ECC options with regular Intel Core.

(Image credit: Lenovo)

All three systems are part of the Nvidia Studio program aimed at creatives, and Lenovo claims that “the creative community will have total confidence these workstations will handle their mission-critical workflows without issue “

The P1 does have a few other flagship features, including the option for 5G, top-firing speakers that support Dolby Atmos and a 1080p webcam.

Lenovo is also announcing the ThinkVision P34w-20, a 34-inch ultrawide that will look to compete against the

best computer monitors

with a 3800R curve, 3440 x 1440 resolution and 21:9 aspect ratio. That will launch this fall for $899.

Additionally, the company announced that its new ThinkPad Thunderbolt 4 Workstation Dock will start at $419 this fall.

Facebook’s AI moderator will tell group admins when users are beefing in the comments

Facebook is launching a suite of new tools to help group admins get a grip on their communities. Some simply offer a clearer overview of posts and members, while others are designed to help admins tackle conflict — including an AI-powered feature that Facebook says can identify “contentious or unhealthy conversations” taking place in the comments.

This tool is called Conflict Alerts, and Facebook says it’s just testing it for now so availability is unclear. It’s similar to the existing Keywords Alerts feature, which lets admins create custom alerts for when commenters use certain words and phrases, but uses machine learning models to try and spot more subtle types of trouble. Once an admin has been alerted, they can take action by deleting comments, booting users from a group, limiting how often individuals can comment, or how often comments can be made on certain posts.

How exactly the feature will detect “contentious or unhealthy conversations” isn’t clear though, and when reached for comment, Facebook offered little additional detail. A spokesperson said only that the company would use machine learning models to look at “multiple signals such as reply time and comment volume to determine if engagement between users has or might lead to negative interactions.”

Presumably, though, Conflict Alerts uses AI systems similar to those Facebook already deploys to flag abusive speech on the site. These sorts of models are far from 100 percent reliable and are often fooled by simple things like humor, irony, and slang. However, they should be able to pick up on the more obvious cues that an argument is happening — like someone calling people “IDIOTS!” as in the sample screenshot above.

The new admin homepage on desktop.
The new admin homepage on mobile.
The Admin Assist feature lets admins set certain rules for who can post and join a group.
Admins can respond to bad behavior by limiting how often a user can post.
Member summary pages will give admins an overview of a member’s activity.

Other new tools for admins being introduced today include a new admin homepage that will function as a dashboard, offering an overview of ”posts, members and reported comments” as well as access to new member summaries, which compile “each group member’s activity in the group, such as the number of times they have posted and commented, or when they’ve had posts removed or been muted in the group.”

And there’s also a new Admin Assist feature for automated comment moderation. This will let admins restrict who is allowed to post comments (letting them block recently joined users, for example) as well as curb spam and unwanted promotions by banning certain links. The Conflict Alerts feature will be part of Admin Assist.

You can read more about all these features in Facebook’s blog post announcement.

Honor confirms Google’s apps will return to its phones with new 50 series

The Honor 50 series will be able to ship with Google’s apps and services, Honor officially announced today as it launched the Honor 50 and Honor 50 Pro in China. In a statement, Honor says its phones will go through Google’s security review and that “Honor devices will therefore have the option to have Google Mobile Services (“GMS”) preinstalled on compatible devices, in accordance with Google’s licensing and governance models.”

“Consumers will be able to experience Honor smartphones and tablets equipped with GMS,” the company said. A spokesperson confirmed that the “Honor devices” referred to in the statement include the newly announced Honor 50. The device will be available for preorder in China on June 25th and will come to international markets such as France, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the UK at a later date at a price that’s to be announced.

Honor hasn’t been able to ship Google’s apps and services, including the Google Play Store, on its phones since its former parent company Huawei was placed on the US’s entity list, forcing Google to pull its Android license. What’s changed with the 50 series is that Huawei sold off Honor at the end of last year, allowing the company to work with Google once again. Huawei, meanwhile, is still unable to use Google’s software and is positioning its own HarmonyOS as a replacement.

Reports about the return of Google’s software to Honor’s phones emerged last month, after the company’s German Twitter leaked the news in a now-deleted tweet.

Turning to the devices themselves, the most eye-catching thing about the Honor 50 and Honor 50 Pro are their rear cameras, which are arranged into a pair of circular bumps. The phones have four rear cameras in total, including a 100-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle, a 2-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel depth camera. On the front, the Honor 50 Pro has a pair of selfie cameras, combining a 32-megapixel camera with a 12-megapixel ultrawide, while the Honor 50 just has a single 32-megapixel camera.

Both phones have a 120Hz display, though the Honor 50 Pro’s is slightly bigger at 6.72 inches compared to 6.57 for the regular Honor 50. Available colors include silver, bronze, green, and black. Internally, they’re powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor. The 50 Pro has a 4,000mAh battery that can be fast charged at up to 100W, while the regular 50 has a 4,300mAh battery and supports 66W fast charging.

The return of Google’s software to Honor’s phones is unlikely to make much of a difference in China, where phones typically ship without the Play Store. But their absence has made Honor and Huawei’s phones pretty hard to recommend elsewhere. When the Honor 50 eventually releases in the West, that could all change.

In China, the Honor 50 will start at 2,699 yuan (around $422), while the Honor 50 Pro will start at 3,699 yuan (around $578). Alongside the two flagship phones, Honor is also announcing the cheaper Honor 50 SE, which will start at 2,399 yuan (around $375).

OnePlus Nord CE vs Poco F3: Which should you buy?

(Pocket-lint) – The mid-range market is heating up. And in this instance, when we say mid-range, we mean the less expensive phones, not necessarily the low powered devices. That’s because in this comparison we’re looking at two fast, smooth phones that won’t leave you wanting.

Those two phones are the excellently priced Poco F3 and the OnePlus Nord CE. Both offer great features and capabilities for what you pay, but each takes a slightly different approach.

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Design

Nord CE: 159.2 x 73.5 x 7.99mm – 170g
Poco F3: 163.7 x 76.4 x 7.8mm – 196g
Nord CE: Plastic back and frame – no official water resistance
Poco F3: Glass back, plastic frame – IP53 splash resistance

Design could actually be one area that decides it for you, if only because of the difference in size. The Nord CE is noticeably more compact. At least, when it comes to width and height. There’s not much difference when it comes to thickness, there’s only a tenth of a millimetre between them, and both are generally quite slim.

The two phones each have their own practical benefits too. For instance, the Nord CE has a 3.5mm port for wired headphones and headsets, where the F3 doesn’t. Poco F3 has IP53 rating against water and dust, which means it’s basically splash proof. OnePlus doesn’t have that, but the company has told us it should survive splashes okay.

One thing we like, surprisingly perhaps, is the fingerprint sensor in the Poco. It has a physical reader in the button on the side that’s not just thin, but quick and reliable too. OnePlus’ we found was decent enough. It was reliable, just not as quick.

Then there’s the hole-punch cutout in each screen. Poco’s is much smaller, and so doesn’t interrupt as much of the available surface area. It’s also placed nicely in the centre, out of the way.

W love the feel of the Poco in two hands, typing away. It’s a great two-handed device, but the frosted plastic finish on the back of the Nord CE is really nice, and looks fantastic in the Blue Void colour.

What’s more, it’s nearly 30 grams lighter, and that’s something you can definitely feel when it’s in your hand. And the size makes a difference too. If you want something that’s easy to hold and carry around with you in your pocket, the Nord is the one.

One minor thing we noticed when typing – the Poco has a much more subtle haptic feedback than the Nord CE, which gives a nasty buzz when you’re typing.

Displays + Media

Nord CE: 6.43-inch – AMOLED – 90Hz – fullHD+ (1080 x 2400)
Poco F3: 6.67-inch – AMOLED – 120Hz – fullHD+ (1080 x 2400)
Nord CE: Single loudspeaker + 3.5mm port
Poco F3: Stereo speakers

Despite spec lists that look a different, there’s not a huge amount in this as long as you’re happy to go into the settings menu and adjust things. That’s because that while both have AMOLED fullHD+ displays at 1080×2400 resolution, their default settings are quite different.

OnePlus default vivid mode seems to boost reds, so white skin tones looks a lot pinker than they are, while the automatic mode on the Poco seems to over-saturate blues and make them unnatural. Thankfully, both have display settings that allow you to calibrate it to the way you’d like to have it.

Poco’s reaches refresh rates of 120Hz, which is higher than the 90Hz on the OnePlus. But to our eye, it’s really hard to tell the difference in daily use. Poco’s does feel fluid in the general interface, but so does the Nord. We wouldn’t suggest basing your purchase decision on this.

Instead, there are other factors, like the fact Poco’s screen is larger, making it a great immersive canvas, joined by stereo speakers to enhance that. Nord CE only has the single loudspeaker. The screen is also brighter. In that way, it’s a much better device for media consumption.

Performance

Nord CE: Snapdragon 750G – 5G
Poco F3: Snapdragon 870 – 5G
Nord CE: 6GB/128GB – 8GB/128GB – 12GB/256GB
Poco F3: 6GB/128GB – 8GB/256GB
Nord CE: 4500mAh battery – 30W fast charge
Poco F3: 4520mAh battery – 33W fast charge

As with any point of comparison on this list, you could easily make a judgement on performance and battery from just looking at the spec sheet and assume the Snapdragon 870 will give you much better performance then the Snapdragon 750 in the Nord CE, but that will depend on exactly what you use it for.

In truth, when it just comes to general day-to-day phone usage and casual gaming, both will run even the most demanding games pretty easily.

Where we did notice a difference was in load times for the bigger games like CoD Mobile where it took a second or two longer on the Nord CE. The Poco seems to render sharper images in those games with more demanding graphics, without stuttering and lag too. The Nord by comparison – while smooth and responsive – had more jagged edges and slightly less detail.

Technically speaking, the 870 is the more powerful chip and will benchmark way higher, offering better high refresh rate performance and you will see it in the more graphically demanding titles if you put them side-by-side.

As for battery life, both have very similar capacities. It’s 4500mAh on the Nord and 4520mAh on the Poco, both with their own fast-charging. 30W vs 33W.

That means each will get you a full battery in just under an hour, roughly. They’ll both even get you similar battery life. We lasted about a day and a half with both phones, using them for casual gaming, social media and such throughout the day.

Cameras

Nord CE primary: 64MP – f/1.8 – PDAF
Poco F3 primary: 48MP – f/1.8 – PDAF
Nord CE: 8MP ultrawide – 2MP monochrome
Poco F3: 8MP ultrawide – 5MP macro

So Poco has it when it comes to performance and media, where we think Nord is a better phone is in the camera. Speaking about the primary lens here, it seems to take shots which have much more natural colours and depth.

The processing on the Poco phone is quite aggressive sometimes depending on what you’re shooting, making colours seem too saturated and contrast a bit dark at times. Often it didn’t produce great HDR effect either, completely bleaching out the sky on some shots, while just about getting it right on others. It was just a bit inconsistent in that regard.

Neither is particularly good at focussing on objects that are close to the camera, and both have ultra wide lenses with similar performance. But for the most natural processing of colours, detail and depth, we’d say the OnePlus is the one to go for here.

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Price

Nord CE: From £299
Poco F3: From £329

There’s little difference in price between these two phones. In fact, in the UK, the Poco F3 starting price is only £30 more than the Nord CE’s. It’s worth nothing that’s just the recommended retail price, and you could find it cheaper now that it’s a little older.

For those looking for more storage, the 256GB model Poco F3 is actually cheaper than the OnePlus Nord CE model with 256GB storage. So that’s also worth considering. In that instance it’s £349 for the F3 and £369 for the Nord CE in the UK.

Verdict

So in the end there are a couple of things to consider. The OnePlus is more compact, lightweight and – we think – has a better primary camera. The Poco has a bigger display, faster performance and the stereo speakers for better media and gaming consumption. There’s a little difference in price, with the Poco being slightly more expensive.

So what matters most to you: multimedia and speed or practicality and cameras? If you can answer that, you know which is the right phone for you.

Writing by Cam Bunton.

Microsoft is bringing next-gen Xbox games to the Xbox One with xCloud

Microsoft will let Xbox One owners play next-gen Xbox games through its xCloud service. The news was buried in a blog post recapping Microsoft’s Xbox + Bethesda showcase, with the company confirming plans to leverage Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) for Xbox One consoles. That means the 2013 hardware will be able to play Xbox Series X exclusive games from 2021 — extending the lifecycle of what would normally soon be obsolete boxes.

Until now, Microsoft had only described xCloud on consoles as a way for players to “try [games] before you download,” but it’s clear the company sees the service as offering much more. Microsoft originally announced Microsoft Flight Simulator as an Xbox One title, before quietly removing references to the Xbox One launch in December. Microsoft recently confirmed Flight Simulator will now launch on Xbox Series X / S consoles on July 27th.

It’s not clear when xCloud game streaming will be available on Xbox One consoles, though. It’s unlikely to be ready in time for the July launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Microsoft’s head of cloud gaming, Kareem Choudhry, previously said xCloud will be integrated into consoles “later this year.”

xCloud availability will provide a welcome boost for Xbox One consoles, particularly as Microsoft is upgrading its server blades to run Xbox Series X hardware later this month. It will give this older hardware a way to play upcoming titles like Starfield, which, like Flight Simulator, will also launch exclusively on the new Xbox Series X / S consoles.

How to keep some of your Twitter data away from advertisers

In April 2020, Twitter began sharing more of our information with advertisers. Notice came via a rather weird notification that said “your ability to control mobile app advertising measurements has been removed” — which basically meant that Twitter was now sharing data such as which ads you looked at or interacted with, as well as the tracking identifier for your phone. Previously, you could turn that off — no longer. (Unless you live in the European Union or the UK, where there are extra protections.)

Twitter removed some of its privacy protections in April 2020.

While that protection has been removed, there are still a few privacy tools that are available that can give you at least some measure of say over how much of your data is shared with advertisers. If you’re concerned about privacy, it’s worth it to take a couple of minutes to find them and turn them off. For that, you need to go to the “Personalization and data” page.

Using the mobile Twitter app:

Tap on the three lines in the upper left corner.
Select “Settings and privacy” > “Privacy and safety” > “Personalization and data”

Using the web version of Twitter:

Sign in to your Twitter account.
Use this link to go to the Personalization and data page.

The “Personalization and data” page lets you disable some of the accesses that advertisers have to your data.

The rest of this article will assume you’re using the web version.

Disabling ad personalization

On the “Personalization and data” page, you’ll find several advertising settings that give Twitter permission to “further personalize” your advertising by using information based on your “inferred identity,” location, or other factors. (Go ahead and read all the descriptions — they’re worth knowing about.) You can choose to enable any of these settings if you wish, but otherwise, use the toggle at the top of the page to disable all of the settings on the page.

See your Twitter data

If you’d like to go a little further, and check the other data that Twitter knows about you (and possibly remove at least some of it), go down to the bottom of the “Personalization and data” page and click on “See your Twitter data.” Check all of these topics out; you may be surprised by some of the info that’s there. Here’s a short summary of each.

Account. This is all basic stuff, like your name, age range, whether you have a verified account, and what other languages you speak. (I was amused to find that Twitter thinks I speak German. Okay, Twitter, whatever.)
Account history. This contains two separate areas — a listing of other accounts that have access to your account and a listing of places you have been. It’s a good idea to check the former to see if there are any services that have access to your account that shouldn’t; you can revoke permission on the Connected apps page. If you don’t want Twitter to know where you are or where you’ve been, use Location settings to turn off access.
Apps, devices & information. There are two sections here. “Apps, devices & information” is where you might find some of the devices and browsers that Twitter gets info from — assuming you allow it to. This is what is meant when Twitter asked to “Personalize based on your inferred identity” on the “Personalization and data page,” and it is one of the permissions that can be revoked there. The second, “Connected apps,” is another way to access several of the pages already mentioned here.
Account activity. This lets you see what accounts you’ve blocked or muted.

“Interests from Twitter” tells you all the various interests that Twitter has matched to you based on your activity.

Interests and ad data. Here’s a section you may spend a lot of time with, especially with “Interests from Twitter,” which tells you all the various interests that Twitter has matched to you based on your activity. If you plan on reviewing this thoroughly, put aside a few minutes: one of my Twitter accounts had 742 interests listed, including quite a few weird ones. As someone who has no interest in sports, I’d love to know how Twitter came up with “NBA videos” as an interest of mine.

The other two categories here, “Inferred interests from partners” and “Tailored audiences,” can be disabled using the “Personalization and data” page.

Finally, “Download archive” lets you download the archive of your account history and activity.

Want to be really safe? You may want to just bite the bullet and delete your Twitter history entirely.

Here’s everything we know about Halo Infinite’s free multiplayer

343 Industries gave us a first glimpse at Halo Infinite’s free multiplayer mode yesterday, and now we’re getting even more information on how the weapons, armor, and sandbox experience will work. Halo Infinite is launching on Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and PC later this year, allowing friends to play the free multiplayer mode across multiple platforms using crossplay and cross-progression.

The free multiplayer mode will also include a battle pass that never expires after you’ve purchased it. We don’t know how much the battle pass will cost yet, but Halo Infinite players will be able to purchase old season passes and choose which battle pass to focus progression toward.

343 Industries is leaning heavily into armor, weapon, and vehicle customizations, without random loot or loot boxes. The battle pass will provide armor and presumably more, and Halo Infinite players will also be able to play to earn customizations that even include customizing a character’s voice or adding prosthetics.

Armor customizations in Halo Infinite.

Image: 343 Industries

Armor

“There will be millions of customization combinations for Spartans on the battlefield,” explains Ryan Paradis, a live design director at 343 Industries. Armor customizations will include different coatings, emblems, effects, and all the typical armor pieces like your shoulders, gloves, kneepads, helmet, and visor.

Weapons will also include a variety of customizations, and even vehicles will get customization options, too. Players will be able to customize each item in-game or through the Halo Waypoint website and mobile apps.

A lot of customizations are unlocked through playing the game, and only through playing. All of the customizations are purely cosmetic, and each season will introduce new looks that players can collect. 343 Industries hasn’t revealed whether different sets of armor will have different sets of power.

Halo Infinite’s grappling hook.

Weapons

Classic Halo weapons are returning, including an assault rifle, battle rifle, gravity hammer, needler, plasma pistol, and even sticky plasma grenades. There will be a variety of heavy weapons, with one demonstrated in the trailer that can take out vehicles. Dual-wielding won’t be supported at launch, but 343 Industries isn’t ruling it out entirely.

343 Industries revealed how combat works in Halo Infinite. Equipment is returning with Halo Infinite, and you can use the new grappling hook for tactical play and combine it with other equipment to complete objectives. The grappling hook can also be used for mobility to move quickly around a map or to grab weapons and throwable objects. Other players can also pick up items like your overshield during play, and even choose when to use them instead of instant activation.

Vehicles

Vehicles are a big part of the battle arena in Halo Infinite. A new Razorback vehicle can carry additional weapons at the rear, and it’s designed to be a cousin of the classic Warthog. The Warthog will be available in Halo Infinite, and it’s part of a number of vehicles that will be delivered by Pelicans instead of spawning at bases. Weapon pods, like the Halo 2 days, will also drop during combat for resupplies.

Using a vehicle will come at a risk, though. A Warthog’s wheels can be blown off from damage, and vehicles catch fire after a certain damage threshold. That means you have to choose when to ditch a vehicle wisely.

Vehicles in Halo Infinite.

Academy and training

If you’re new to Halo, there’s even an academy mode to let people get used to the look, feel, and terminology of the game. Halo Infinite is using bots in a separate training and tutorial area, with a variety of difficulty levels so they can also be used as training partners.

This area is a separate map to the environments we’ve seen in the trailers. It’s not clear how many maps will be available in Halo Infinite yet, but we’ve seen both outdoor and indoor maps that offer the variety of close combat or distance and vehicle usage.

As Halo Infinite is launching simultaneously on PC and Xbox, crossplay and cross-progression will be included at launch. On Xbox Series X, the arena mode will support up to 120fps, and on the PC side there will be support for ultrawide monitors, triple keybinds, advanced graphics options, and other customizations.

343 Industries hasn’t provided a deep dive on how it plans to balance crossplay controller vs. mouse and keyboard, but there will be input-based matchmaking for the ranked parts of the game. The studio has also committed to a server-side anti-cheat system, which includes spotting hackers based on their behavior in the game.

Halo Infinite launches in the fall on Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and PC. A “technical preview” will be available later this summer, and you can sign up at the Halo Waypoint site for a chance to get access.

Google Workspace and Google Chat are officially available to everybody

Google is announcing some changes to its Workspace suite of apps and services today, including availability for anybody who has a Google account. Google says that there are over three billion users of its Workspace apps — though it’s probably a safe bet that Gmail accounts for a healthy chunk of that userbase.

A lot of people will soon have the option to switch over to Google’s more modern system for Gmail, Docs, and Chat. All of them can be integrated in a single tab more easily, for example with chats sliding over to the left to reveal a shared spreadsheet. It’s also related to the company’s new “smart canvas” push, which is also designed to interlink its various apps via “smart chips.”

To get started, Google is now officially offering the setting to turn on Google Chat to all users. It’s a new setting within Gmail.

With the switch, Google Chat messaging should be an option for all now, which can include direct messages and chat Rooms. But Google is also introducing a new terminology to go along with the announcement. It is announcing the “evolution of Rooms in Google Chat to Spaces.”

A Space is essentially the same thing as a chat Room, but Google wants to separate them out into their own top-level form of communication next to Gmail, Chat, and Meet. Google is layering on a few new features like improved message threading, more emoji reactions, user roles, moderation tools, and “discoverable” spaces. In that sense, it seems that Spaces wants to serve both as a Slack competitor and as a competitor for public Discord groups and, well, maybe as an optional replacement for email groups.

It’s a little confusing — but that’s par for the course for Google’s messaging strategy.

Google Spaces

Google

The key idea, according to Sanaz Ahari, senior director of product, is that users can more easily switch between “modalities” of communication. The intent is to “keep the context,” Ahari says. “If you start something with an email and then you want to upgrade it into more real-time interaction between a group — or even for a project — you’re able to do that and you can keep the context. Then you can all seamlessly upgrade into a meeting at the same time.”

Google is promising it will “launch a streamlined and flexible user interface” for Spaces this summer.

Those aren’t the only announcements getting bundled into today’s Workspace news. The company is launching a new tier called “Google Workspace Individual” at $9.99 per month, which gives users more Workspace tools without requiring them to set up their own domain or custom email address.

When Workspace users say yes to a meeting, they will be able to indicate whether they’ll be attending remotely or in the reserved meeting room. Google also provided a date for the Companion Mode feature, which encourages people in the meeting room to also turn on their cameras so that remote workers don’t feel quite as left out — it should be coming in September to desktop and “soon” to mobile.

Google also snuck in an announcement that it will finally offer a progressive web app for Google Workspace in September. In theory, it could make it much easier for Gmail users to have their email and other Google apps feel more like actual desktop apps and not just tabs in the browser. That’s possible now via various Electron apps and Single Site Browser windows, but it requires more work than it should.

Finally, Google is adding enterprise options that are going to be necessary if it really wants to have a shot at going after larger companies. Corporations will be able to use their own client-side encryption for data, add more “trust rules” for various Drive files to simplify access and permissions, and label files based on their sensitivity.

Google Workspace has been rapidly updating and iterating over the past few months, a sign perhaps that the company really does intend to seriously compete with Microsoft. Google’s strategy goes beyond just improving its products — it’s more tightly integrating them together. Gmail users will soon find more prompts than ever to bring them into Google’s other Workspace products — and some no doubt will be looking for ways to avoid all that. Putting buttons for Chat, Meet, and Rooms (soon to be Spaces) at the bottom of the most popular email app in the world is sure to raise usage — and potentially some antitrust eyebrows.

The biggest question mark is whether Google can coherently explain the switchover to Chat, why it’s worth it, and what this new Spaces thing really is. Now that Workspace is going to be available to over three billion regular people, the company is going to need to work hard to clearly communicate with all of them.