Author: Fran Pérez

{ "de-DE": "Großer Anhänger der Videospiel- und Technologieindustrie, er hat bei Medien wie Alfa Beta Juega, Urban Tecno oder Nintenderos mitgewirkt. Zusätzlich leitet er einen kleinen Blog, der sich auf Videospiele konzentriert, HelGames.", "en-US": "Avid follower of the video game and technology industry, he has worked with media such as Alfa Beta Juega, Urban Tecno, or Nintenderos. Additionally, he runs a small blog focused on video games, HelGames.", "es-ES": "Gran seguidor de la industria del videojuego y la tecnología, ha pasado por medios como Alfa Beta Juega, Urban Tecno o Nintenderos. Adicionalmente, dirige un pequeño blog centrado en videojuegos, HelGames.", "fr-FR": "Grand suiveur de l'industrie du jeu vidéo et de la technologie, il a collaboré avec des médias tels que Alfa Beta Juega, Urban Tecno ou Nintenderos. De plus, il dirige un petit blog axé sur les jeux vidéo, HelGames.", "it-IT": "Grande seguace dell'industria dei videogiochi e della tecnologia, ha lavorato con media come Alfa Beta Juega, Urban Tecno o Nintenderos. Inoltre, gestisce un piccolo blog focalizzato sui videogiochi, HelGames.", "ja-JP": "", "nl-NL": "", "pl-PL": "", "pt-BR": "Grande seguidor da indústria de videogames e tecnologia, passou por mídias como Alfa Beta Juega, Urban Tecno ou Nintenderos. Além disso, dirige um pequeno blog focado em videogames, HelGames.", "social": { "email": "", "facebook": "", "twitter": "", "linkedin": "" } }

Epic Games increases the price of Unreal Engine, but not for game developers

In recent days, Epic Games has been in the news due to a highly publicized wave of layoffs in which the company let go of up to 16% of its employees, significantly affecting the studio responsible for Fall Guys, Mediatonic. Now, just recently, the company has confirmed that it will increase the price for using Unreal Engine, although this change appears to have no effect on game development studios using this engine.

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Epic Games’ CEO, Tim Sweeney, himself made the announcement during a presentation at Unreal Fest 2023 (via Game From Scratch). With this announcement, the executive confirmed that developers from the film, television, automotive, and other industries not related to game development will have to start paying a per-seat license fee, similar to what a user pays for using software like Photoshop, for example.

The price for using Unreal Engine is increasing, but not for video game developers

While this seems to be a quite substantial change in the company’s policy, it’s worth noting that video game developers will not be affected by this increase in the price of the graphic engine by the creators of Fortnite. The company will continue to collect royalties when titles generate more than 1 million dollars in revenue. Additionally, Sweeney also wanted to make it clear that educators and students will still be able to use the engine at no cost.

On the other hand, there are also certain exceptions for a certain part of the film industry, as independent filmmakers will have to surpass a minimum threshold of revenue to have to pay for the use of Unreal Engine. That threshold will also apply to other commercial productions that earn less than certain amounts. The details of this threshold have not been disclosed yet, so we’ll have to stay tuned to learn more about this.

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This announcement comes days after all the turmoil surrounding the new pricing model introduced by Unity, although it did not succeed as developers protested vehemently against the decision. Now, Unity has opted for more conciliatory measures. In this context, Epic Games’ move doesn’t seem to be a drastic change, but it’s true that the Fortnite creators had already reached this point while being in the spotlight for their aforementioned wave of layoffs.

Sony confirms hack that leaked data of many of its employees

Following the recent cyber attack suffered by Sony, the Japanese company has claimed that this hacking managed to expose the information of a whopping 7,000 employees, whether they are still with the company or not. Specifically, it is said that 6,800 workers have been affected, which is a very important figure, as reported by Bleeping Computer. Thus, Sony has already contacted those affected.

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On the other hand, the hack would not have affected PlayStation players and users, something that was in question and that was of great concern to the gaming community itself. Also, more details about the security breach have been reported, such as that it would be related to the MOVEit software, created by Progress Software and used by Sony Interactive Entertainment employees, according to this document.

Sony claims that data of nearly 7,000 employees was leaked after hacking

In fact, Progress Software advised on May 31 that it had found a vulnerability in the aforementioned software, something that occurred a few days before a hacker, or group of hackers, accessed the personal information of the aforementioned number of Sony employees, all of them from the United States. While this seems quite worrisome, the firm claims that the incident is limited to that Progress software and not to other systems they employ. Additionally, the owner of PlayStation indicates that it has already resolved the vulnerability.

“On June 2, SIE discovered unauthorized downloads, took the platform offline and remediated the vulnerability,” Sony has told its employees. “An investigation was launched with the help of external cybersecurity experts. We also notified law enforcement. Once the files were identified, we began to determine the type of personal information and those affected. While we worked quickly, this is a time-consuming process and we wanted to provide accurate information.”

In connection with this, the company has offered free monitoring and identity restoration services for those affected by possible phishing, something that could end up arising in the near future. It is worth mentioning that no such cases have come to light so far.

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On the other hand, Sony confirmed a week ago that it was investigating the hackers’ statement, but in that attack there would be no consumer or partner data on the server that would have been affected either. In short, the company insisted in saying that “there is no adverse impact on Sony’s activities“. Also, although the aforementioned hacker group threatened to sell the stolen data, it seems that this material was not too compromising, according to some experts.

Google has released the Gmail app for Wear OS

As many of you may already know, yesterday the new Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro were officially introduced, although we had been receiving updates about them frequently due to the numerous leaks they had experienced. However, we’re not here to talk about the new phones from Mountain View, but rather about another announcement that took place yesterday.

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In addition to the mentioned new devices, the company introduced and launched the new Pixel Watch 2, a smartwatch that stands out primarily for improving the health functions and physical activity monitoring that its previous version offered. With this new smartwatch, as reported by the media outlet 9to5Google, Google debuted the official Gmail app on Wear OS, and it is now available for download from the Play Store of the aforementioned smartwatch.

Gmail can now be installed on smartwatches running Wear OS 3 and 4

The Gmail app is compatible with both Wear OS 3 and Wear OS 4, so if you have devices with these operating systems, you can enjoy Google’s service immediately. To be honest, you could interact with Gmail from a Wear OS smartwatch before, but it only allowed you to archive, reply, or delete emails directly from the notification that the device displayed when receiving a message. This has, of course, changed, and now the experience is comprehensive right from the watch itself.

When we talk about a comprehensive experience, we mean that now, from your Wear OS smartwatch, you can check your Gmail inbox, manually update it, open emails, and interact with them as if you were doing it from your smartphone or PC. You can even switch between Google accounts seamlessly. Additionally, it appears that this Wear OS app features an exclusive watch face with an analog clock and a button that shows the number of unread emails.

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While the Gmail app for Wear OS was officially introduced yesterday, it was actually announced at the past Google I/O 2023 event, which took place in May. So, we’ve been waiting for it for a few months. As mentioned earlier, the app for the renowned service from Mountain View is now available for Wear OS smartwatches.

WhatsApp will include advanced options to format messages

Considering that WhatsApp is a widely recognized and globally used messaging application, it’s not surprising that it receives various updates regularly. The Meta platform, like its other social networks and services from different companies, is constantly evolving. That’s why it is now gearing up to introduce new advanced options to customize our messages.

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About this, WABetaInfo has reported and indicates that users of the WhatsApp beta for Android are already testing these new features, so they are being tested prior to a full release. While the app already has several options that allow us to edit our texts, now we will be able to modify even their structure and format.

WhatsApp continues to evolve constantly

Therefore, not only will you be able to write text in bold, italics, or monospacing, but you will also have new tools that, for example, will allow you to share lines of code, something that can be done using backticks. Additionally, you will be able to create lists in messages, and they can be made in numbered or bulleted formats, or use a block quote if you want to respond to a specific part of a text.

These innovations can be compared to the ones implemented by Google in Google Chat, for instance. Regardless, it seems evident that both platforms are very aware that offering different options to users to write their messages is crucial for their own evolution.

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To conclude, it’s worth mentioning that these new WhatsApp features are only available to users of the beta version of WhatsApp for Android. Therefore, we will have to wait for a future update for these options to reach the full version of the Meta app, allowing us to customize our messages when sending them to our friends, family, or work groups, among others.

Google is reportedly working on a new foldable phone, and it wouldn’t be a Pixel Fold

Just hours away from the announcement of the new Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, there’s recently been a clue hinting that the tech giant might be working on a new smartphone. But that’s not all – the hint discovered by the publication 9to5Google suggests that those at Mountain View are developing a new line of foldable phones that don’t belong to the Pixel Fold series.

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The mentioned publication suggests that through the code of the latest version of the Pixel Buds app, a new, unannounced, and entirely unknown Pixel device has been revealed. In fact, this device is listed under the codename “Comet,” which is quite different from the nomenclature typically used for Pixel devices. For example, Pixel 8 devices had names based on dog breeds, while it’s rumored that the upcoming Pixel 9 devices will be associated with names of reptiles.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip might have a new competitor from Google

This “Comet” device doesn’t seem to fit into either of the two mentioned Google device series. All of this speculation has given rise to various theories, including the possibility of a new foldable Pixel by Google. This new device could feature different specifications and a more affordable price compared to the existing models from the company.

While it might make some sense to consider “Comet” as a new addition to the Pixel Fold series, given that the first version of this series was launched just a few months ago, it would be quite unusual. So, without ruling out any possibilities since there’s no official confirmation yet, it’s highly likely that the company is working on a new model of foldable phones with a clamshell design, similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, making it a direct competitor.

There’s no expectation that this rumored new foldable phone by Google will be mentioned during the announcement of Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. However, it doesn’t rule out the possibility that this device, which we could refer to as Pixel Flip, might be launched soon at a more affordable price point compared to the Pixel Fold series (which is priced at $1,800). Nevertheless, this launch could potentially happen outside Google’s regular release cycle.

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We’ll see if this ends up being confirmed, but if true, we could be witnessing the arrival of a significant competitor for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, as we’ve already discussed. Interestingly, Samsung itself acknowledged that the Galaxy Z Flip was more popular than the Z Fold. It would indeed be intriguing to see another contender in the market for these clamshell-style foldable devices.

Gmail will allow us to send client-side encrypted emails from our mobile devices

In most of the applications we use in our daily lives, we can find comprehensive data protection systems, such as end-to-end encryption employed by apps like WhatsApp. However, not all applications are up-to-date when it comes to data protection. Google, for instance, had not implemented the aforementioned system in one of its most recognized and widely used services, Gmail.

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About end-to-end encryption, we can indicate that this system involves encrypting our messages from one point of the conversation to the other. This means that the content of the text cannot be read at any point and is only decrypted when it reaches the intended recipient. Well, this is what the technology giant aims to add to the Gmail app for Android and iOS, although there are a few nuances to consider.

Security will soon increase in Gmail

Gmail does use encryption to protect our emails, but this encryption is applied only when the emails are stored on their servers. Therefore, while a message travels from our smartphone to the server, there is a potential vulnerability where someone could conduct an attack to obtain the content of our email. However, performing such an action is not straightforward. Still, having an extra layer of protection is always a good practice.

The system of “client-side email encryption,” which is already available in the desktop version of the app, will soon be introduced to Gmail for mobile devices, both on Android and iOS platforms. With this implementation, emails sent from our mobile devices will be encrypted with their own encryption key. Undoubtedly, Gmail’s security is enhanced thanks to this method.

To use this email encryption, you’ll need to follow a few simple steps. This system will appear as a new option when composing a new email in the Gmail mobile app (represented by a shield icon). However, the significant limitation is that, for now, it will only be available for business users. The company administrator will have to configure this option through Google Workspace.

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Certainly, this is undeniably good news for the protection of our data and emails. However, it remains to be seen whether this feature will be rolled out comprehensively to all users, as currently, only a select few business users can employ it.

Spotify is reportedly working on a feature to generate playlists using AI

While it may seem that the AI phenomenon has slowed down in recent months, major companies continue to prioritize artificial intelligence, and Spotify is no exception. The music streaming company might be working on a new implementation of this technology on its renowned platform.

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With this supposed new feature, we could witness a significant change in how we interact with Spotify, specifically with our playlists. According to Chris Messina, a product designer and the inventor of the hashtag, references to an unknown feature called “AI Playlist” have been discovered in the application’s source code. It appears that users might be able to generate playlists based on text commands.

Spotify aims to further utilize artificial intelligence

Messina shared this discovery through a post on Threads, Meta’s new social network. In the post, screenshots of Spotify’s source code were shown. In fact, the code suggests that this new, yet unannounced feature, might be part of Spotify Blend, an existing feature where two people can merge their musical preferences into a playlist generated algorithmically.

Currently, the company has not made an official statement. However, a Spotify spokesperson did say the following: “At Spotify, we constantly iterate and brainstorm to improve our product offerings and provide value to users. But we do not comment on speculation about possible new features and have nothing new to share at this time.”

As mentioned, this would be further evidence of the platform’s keen interest in AI, which is also evident in its AI-powered DJ. Additionally, the new feature shared in this post is somewhat similar to Niche Mixes, a function that allows creating playlists based on descriptions, although this does not employ AI but relies on the company’s own customization algorithm.

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We’ll see if this new AI-powered feature capable of generating playlists through text commands ends up coming to Spotify, although all signs point to it happening.

Reddit will no longer allow its users to avoid personalized ads

Reddit is a platform widely used by many people to closely follow specific communities, whether they are focused on content creators, gaming industry rumors, movies, series, or any other topic; and other aspects with a strong presence on this social network. Now, the platform has announced a series of changes in ad privacy settings that haven’t been well-received by many of its users.

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“In order to simplify ad privacy options, Reddit has announced, through its privacy director, that it will remove the ability for users to decide whether they want to receive personalized ads based on their activity on the platform. In other words, no one will be exempt from receiving these personalized ads based on what they search for and consume on the platform.”

Reddit won’t let anyone escape personalized ads

Settings updates—Changes to ad personalization, privacy preferences, and location settings
byu/snoo-tuh inreddit

As mentioned earlier, the news was shared by Jutta Williams, the aforementioned privacy director of the platform, through the subreddit of the network, stating that changes were being made to the privacy settings. However, they wanted to reassure users by indicating that they do not share user activity information with external advertisers. They also emphasized that this change does not mean there will be more ads or shared information. Reddit’s aim with this move is to improve ad targeting and increase click-through rates.

On the other hand, we previously stated that no one can escape personalized ads, but that’s not entirely true. Reddit confirmed with all the above that there will be some ‘selected countries’ that will still have the option to choose whether they want personalized ads or not. However, details about these specific locations were not provided. Although the company has not disclosed anything on this matter, it is highly likely that the countries exempt from this change in the platform belong to the European Union, as this would violate the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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Of course, this has been the most prominent change in this news, but it hasn’t been the only one. Reddit has also updated descriptions of privacy options and how search results are displayed. Additionally, the platform has announced that users will now be able to select if they don’t want certain categories of ads, such as alcohol, dating, gambling, pregnancy and parenting, and weight loss. This last measure, in fact, is expected to improve over time.

Nothing has launched its first products from its more budget-friendly brand, including headphones, a smartwatch, and more

Nothing is one of the most eye-catching tech companies in recent years, and it’s no surprise, as they have achieved a good balance between the quality of their products and striking, interesting designs. The company aims to cover as much ground as possible, and a while ago, they announced their sub-brand, CMF by Nothing, which was created to offer similar but more budget-friendly products.

Now, the day has arrived when the first CMF products have been revealed, and they can be found on the official website of the company. These initial releases from Nothing’s sub-brand include wireless earbuds, a smartwatch, and a GaN adapter. Among them, the smartwatch is the most surprising, as the company did not previously have one among its devices.

Wireless earbuds, a smartwatch, and a GaN adapter are the first budget-friendly products from CMF by Nothing

To begin with, we can detail the key aspects of the Buds Pro, which are the first headphones Nothing has launched under the CMF brand. Essentially, these are a non-transparent version of the Nothing Earbuds, but they are also somewhat more limited in terms of their features. The headphones can provide us with hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC, starting from 45 dB), touch control, improved call quality, and a function to boost bass. They can also be controlled through the Nothing X app.

As stated by the company itself, each of these earbuds has a 55 mAh battery, which can last up to 11 hours with ANC disabled. If you use their charging case, the total duration can extend up to 39 hours, making their battery life quite interesting. As for the price of these Buds Pro, they are available for $49.

But that’s not all; CMF has introduced two more products, and one of them is the aforementioned smartwatch called the Watch Pro. This CMF by Nothing watch can be said to be similar to the Apple Watch Ultra, at least in terms of its design, although it does not have the same quality, of course. With it, you can receive notifications, monitor 10 sports, use GPS, enjoy an IP68 rating, and it features a 340 mAh battery. You can also receive and make calls thanks to the integration of a speaker and a microphone.

Among its features, we can also find a 1.96-inch screen with a resolution of 410 x 502 pixels. Additionally, in terms of its battery life, it’s worth mentioning that, at least as claimed by its makers, this smartwatch can offer up to 13 days of battery life, which is quite impressive. As for the price of this Watch Pro, it is priced at $69.

The last product from Nothing’s new brand is a GaN adapter. This charging adapter allows for quite impressive charging speeds in compact devices, making it a noteworthy product. Regarding its features, it’s a 65W GaN adapter with two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, compatible with PD3.0 and QC4.0 standards. It can be used worldwide thanks to its voltage range, which spans from 100 to 240V. The price of this product is $39.

With all that said, it will be interesting to see the commercial progress of these more budget-friendly Nothing products, as their success will determine whether the company founded by Carl Pei can thrive in the industry as one of the major high-end manufacturers. A strong performance would also secure a good position for CMF, especially in the mid-range and lower segments of the market.

Google will eliminate the basic HTML version of Gmail in 2024

Google has announced a significant change in one of its main services. We’re talking about Gmail, the technology giant’s email platform with a large user base, which is now preparing to bid farewell to one of its most important components. The company has confirmed that in 2024, it will eliminate Gmail’s basic HTML view.

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At one point, this mentioned view was crucial for users to access Gmail. Now, from the TenFourFox blog, they noticed Google’s plans on Gmail’s support page, even though the company didn’t seem very willing to announce it publicly. In fact, if it weren’t for the media already reporting on this news, the company might not have commented on it at all.

Gmail will remove its basic HTML view in January 2024

The company has confirmed the news following the earlier reports, and we can now start preparing our best farewell to Gmail’s basic HTML view, which will only be available until January 2024. From that point onward, all users of the platform will only be able to use the standard Gmail view, which includes the latest features and better security and accessibility options.

With Gmail’s basic HTML view, the capabilities of Google’s service are much more limited, as it only allows us to check the emails we receive and perform basic functions like replying or forwarding. Additionally, due to its limited features, this version was more accessible to users with slower internet connections and older systems.

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For now, there isn’t much information about Google’s reasons for removing Gmail’s basic HTML view, although it’s logical to assume that they want to shut it down because it’s outdated. Despite being a rather antiquated view, as mentioned earlier, some users may still be using it today. Therefore, this decision may leave some of those users behind, but the number of affected individuals is likely to be exceptionally low.