F5 Live: Refreshing Technology (Audio)

This week, smartphone sales are dropping, Silent Hills Games are coming, and Netflix charges are looming.

• The global smartphone market fell
• Silent Hill series
• Starlink Internet on jets
• Netflix to charge for shared accounts

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

This week, Elon Musk is selling perfume, Netflix is setting up shop in NJ, and Apple is reportedly withholding benefits from union workers.

• Surface Studio 2
• Surface Laptop 5
• Surface Pro X
• The Final Fantasy series shuts down
• Amazon's prototype internet satellites
• Netflix with ads

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

Kirk has long had an interest in production, and began his journey by joiining Geek News Central as Todd Cochrane's Executive Producer. That brought him into the Tech Podcasts Network CES coverage in 2018. He has become the team's regular technical director and associate producer since 2019. He has since launched his own show with PLUGHITZ Live Editor-in-Chief Scott Ertz, called GNC Week in Review. This is a weekly quick-fire topical show covering the biggest tech stories of the week in a comedic atmosphere.

This week, Elon does an about-face, Tim Cook Facetimes with the Pope, and Kim Kardashian is faced with a fine. We're teaming up with GNC Week in Review to bring you the latest tech news of the week.

• CES could attract 100,000 people
• Amazon Prime Early Access
• Randy Orton wins a case
• Ransomware Attack
• YouTube is some users to purchase Premium to watch 4K

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

Kirk has long had an interest in production, and began his journey by joiining Geek News Central as Todd Cochrane's Executive Producer. That brought him into the Tech Podcasts Network CES coverage in 2018. He has become the team's regular technical director and associate producer since 2019. He has since launched his own show with PLUGHITZ Live Editor-in-Chief Scott Ertz, called GNC Week in Review. This is a weekly quick-fire topical show covering the biggest tech stories of the week in a comedic atmosphere.

This week, EVGA is removing Nvidia, Nintendo is adding more 64, Uber is giving up security, and Amazon survived the NFL.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

When it comes to videocards, one of the top brands for years is EVGA. The company makes a solid product and often does it at a more affordable price than many of its competitors. Despite the company offering a full range of computer components, most of its revenue comes from these video cards. Despite all of this, a recent report suggests that EVGA may be getting out of the video card business entirely.

One of the best parts of the Switch Online and Switch Online + Expansion Pack is the games that are available. For those who do not have the original classic hardware and games, it's a great way to easily play some of the top games of the past. For those of us who do have the classic hardware and games, it still brings new capabilities to those older games, like online multiplayer. That's why it's always exciting when Nintendo announces new games coming to the platform, and this batch is no different.

It seems like every company is constantly under attack from the outside world. Unfortunately, no amount of "IT responsibility training" can protect them from a phishing attack, no matter how many times the company forces employees to watch these videos. This week, Uber was the recipient of one of these social engineering attacks, which apparently allowed an 18-year-old to access the inner workings of the company and its computer systems.

This week, Amazon streamed its first NFL game on its platform, officially launching Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video. From a broadcast perspective, it wasn't anything special or spectacular. However, there is one aspect of the stream that stands out in a crowded streaming market: it worked. And that is good news, and a big accomplishment, for the streaming industry.

This week, T-Mobile is headed to SpaceX, Sony is headed for higher prices, DuckDuckGo is protecting your email, and DC might be ready to take on Marvel.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

Wireless subscribers in rural areas know just how difficult it can be to get service. As with wired internet, it is difficult for telecom companies to justify the expense of installing infrastructure to support a customer base that could never pay off the cost. However, companies have continued to look for solutions to the problem, enabling users to have a better wireless experience. This week, two of those companies have teamed up in order to use the power of rural internet to power rural wireless service: SpaceX and T-Mobile.

It's no secret that inflation is hitting the world hard. Over the past year, with more money flowing into the economy than products and services to support it, the price of nearly everything has gone up. In the US, we have seen the highest percentages of inflation in over 40 years over the past few months - sometimes nearing 10 percent. While costs are rising, some products, especially in the tech world, have remained the same. Often, this is because a price was announced for the product when it was brought to market, making it difficult to change later. Despite this issue, Sony has decided to increase the price of the PlayStation 5 in most major markets, while Microsoft and Nintendo have said that they have no plans to follow suit.

Over the past few years, internet users have become more aware of, and more interested in, their online privacy. Companies like Meta have made it very clear that they do not respect your privacy, and it has caused people to look harder at what they do online and who is watching them do it. Because of this, we have seen the rise of privacy-focused companies and products. One of the leaders in this arena has been DuckDuckGo, which has released an email proxy service aimed at reducing the amount of spying happening in your inbox.

Over the past few years, the direction of the DC Comics universes has been confusing at best and chaotic at worst. Some films have been fantastic while others have been major misses. And, when the franchises crossover, the results are unimpressive. Then, add in the unrelated television versions of these characters and you have an inconsistent approach to media. Now, with DC's newest owners, the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery, the brand has a renewed focus and a potentially focused future under a single leader.

This week, TikTok's tracking your keyboard, Sega's giving you all new games, Google Search is limiting clickbait, and Cineworld is filing bankruptcy.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

Social media is a gamble, no matter what you use. For example, Facebook has famously given access to far too much information to companies with API access. Twitter made private information like email addresses and phone numbers accessible to advertisers. TikTok has been in the spotlight for its privacy violations, often related to its owner's relationship with the Chinese government. This week, we have new information related to privacy, stemming from how the company deals with its in-app web browser.

Over the past few years, long-time gaming companies like Nintendo and Sega have gotten into the nostalgia business. These companies have leaned into the demand for retro titles by releasing integrated versions of their previous consoles complete with built-in titles. As these new retro devices start to make an impression on the gaming world, Nintendo and Sega have had to do more to make the newest devices look more attractive. Sega has brought some new tricks to the table this week, as they have announced the lineup for the Sega Genesis Mini 2, and there are some surprising titles coming with it.

Over the past year or so, the quality of search results on Google has decreased significantly. This is, in part, because of websites that create no useful content but are able to game the Google Search algorithm to appear higher in the results. It appears that Google has figured out that people are unhappy and has committed to making changes to improve search results by lowering the ranking for true clickbait results.

Many industries were negatively affected by the COVID lockdowns across the world, but a few have not recovered. It is no secret that movie theaters have been having trouble following the lockdowns. Ticket sales have not recovered to their pre-pandemic levels, and in fact, are not even close. Because of this, Cineworld, the world's second-largest theater owner, plans to file for bankruptcy in the coming weeks, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

This week, Elon Musk wants to have a debate about bots, Amazon buys Roomba for billions, and a mom is suing Facebook. We're teaming up with GNC Week in Review to bring you the latest tech news of the week.

• Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to a debate
• Amazon to acquire iRobot
• A mom is suing Facebook
• AT&T's $14 million settlement
• Apple's next iPhone might be expensive
• The Right Stuff
• Walmart may bundle with a streaming service
• You can get paid $1,000 to taste and rate Trader Joe's foods

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

This week, Amazon's exploring your home, GameStop is selling your stuff, DuckDuckGo is protecting your privacy, and DC is canceling Batgirl.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

One thing that appears to be inevitable in the modern technology world is large acquisitions. Whether it be Microsoft purchasing Activision or Google purchasing Raxium, we know that the big tech companies absolutely love to purchase other companies. This week, the newest addition to the list is iRobot, as Amazon has announced a deal to acquire the Roomba maker in a deal valued at $1.7 billion.

NFTs are a controversial topic any time they show up, but even more so in the gaming space. Usually, the controversy comes about because game developers are considering or announcing the inclusion of the technology into their games. However, this week, NFTs sparked problems within the gaming industry when GameStop's NFT marketplace facilitated the sale of stolen content in the form of NFTs.

The web is a dangerous place - whether it is hackers trying to take over your computer or Big Tech companies trying to track your every move, you've got to be cautious. There appear to be very few good actors on the internet today, but one of them is DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine that looks to make your online experience safer. The company announced this week that they would be extending their tracking script blocker to include those from certain Microsoft properties.

One of the film genres that have been nearly constantly successful over the past decade has been superhero films. Sure, some don't do well or are not well received, but for every Captain Marvel there are three Captain America movies, so it works out. The past few years have seen many films delayed in release, but MANY new titles have been announced to be released over the next few years. This week, however, it was announced that one superhero film would never see the light of day: Batgirl.

This week, new chips are coming from Arizona, TikTok is coming for casual games, and Instagram is going back to normal.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

TSMC, the largest chip manufacturer in the world, has completed construction on its newest 5nm fabrication facility. This new fab will help to increase TSMC's production capacity and bring the company one step closer to alleviating the chip shortage that has been affecting most industries across the globe. TSMC is also preparing for a possible invasion of Taiwan, which could further disrupt supply chains and cause even more shortages. With this new facility, TSMC will be better prepared to handle any potential disruptions and continue supplying the chips that the world needs.

TikTok, the latest social media company to try its hand at gaming, is in for a bit of controversy. The app, which is best known for its short videos, has been downloaded over a billion times, and now it's looking to get into the gaming space. TikTok is not the only social media company to foray into gaming; Facebook, Instagram, and even Snapchat have all integrated games into their platforms. However, TikTok may be in for a bit of trouble because of its history with censorship and data privacy issues.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced that it will be rolling back its new Instagram interface. The outcry from users was too loud for Meta to ignore, and it appears that the company has heeded their complaints. However, this is not all good news, as Meta also plans to move forward with a plan to source a large part of your feed from accounts that you do not follow.

The Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things, recently made a comment about the show that didn't go over well with fans. They said that they had "George Lucas'd" content in the show, suggesting that they had made changes to previously published episodes to make changes, either to graphics or plot. However, after fans reacted poorly to the comment, the writers took to Twitter to clear things up. They stated that they had never changed anything and never would.

This week, PlayStation Stars are "definitely not" NFTs, Celsius is almost certainly a Ponzi scheme, and Microsoft might just try to buy Netflix.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

When Windows 10 was announced, it was said to be the last version of Windows. The suggestion was that Windows 10 would be similar to macOS X - a single marketing version that would instead be separated by its minor version numbers. Rather than a 3-year development cycle with a new major version released in that window, the operating system would move to a biannual minor release cycle. However, with Windows 11, Microsoft seemed to change course, leaving us with questions about the future of the company's release plans.

This week, Sony Interactive Entertainment, the division behind the PlayStation, announced a new feature to the platform: PlayStation Stars. The new feature aims to take on the Microsoft Points system, though this one appears to be limited to the PlayStation ecosystem. Gamers will be rewarded with Stars for specific tasks which can be exchanged for rewards. While this sounds much like similar loyalty programs, Sony made a significant mistake: referring to "digital collectibles."

This week, another major player in the cryptocurrency space, Celsius, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move comes after the company froze customers' accounts, leaving their funds in a black hole outside of their control. The company's additional business units, including Celsius Mining, also filed for bankruptcy despite recent discussions to take the division public.

For a few years, there have been rumors of Netflix exploring advertising on the platform. The details of the implementation were never detailed, but the experiment was the rumor. This year, the company confirmed that not only had they been exploring the concept, but they also planned to bring about a new subscription tier that was ad-supported. One of the big questions, however, was where would the ads be coming from? Now we have an answer: Microsoft.