F5 Live: Refreshing Technology (Audio)

This week, Android is killing 2G, Sony is maintaining the PlayStation 4, and The CW is looking for a buyer.

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.

It's hard to believe that at the beginning of 2022, there are some places in the world that still have active 2G wireless networks, especially as the 3G network shutdown is already underway in the United States. But, while there are parts of the world that still use it, the parts of the world that do not still have 2G service simply have a potential route for an attack. Google has addressed this issue in its latest version of Android, but will Apple follow suit?

It's been over a year since Microsoft released the Xbox Series X|S and Sony released the PlayStation 5. In that time, we have seen a global pandemic that seems to be never-ending, as well as a chip shortage that has affected nearly every industry, whether or not you consider them high-tech focused. These gaming consoles have been uniquely affected, though, as many aspects of the production process have been affected and slowed down by lockdowns and manufacturing. Microsoft and Sony seem to have taken very different approaches to the problem, however.

It's been just over a year since the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed its antitrust suit against the company formerly known as Facebook. The suit was not the only one filed at the time, accompanied by a similar antitrust suit filed by a coalition representing all but 3 US states. This week, US District Judge James Boasberg has dismissed the company's motion to dismiss, meaning that the case will go forward.

A few weeks ago, a report suggested that the future of the broadcast network The CW was in flux. The owners are considering divesting from the network, and a few interested parties have come forward. But the big question is what will the network look like after the current owners, who are also major content providers for the network, leave?

This week, quantum pendants are trying to kill, NFTs are heading to gaming, and Disney is leaving YouTube.

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 stupid conspiracy theories go around, it's inevitable that people will take advantage of those who have fallen for it. Take, for example, the ridiculous collection of conspiracy theories that 5G causes various problems. We've heard everything from 5G causes cancer to 5G is used to control your thoughts or to read your thoughts. The people who have fallen into the darkness of the 5G conspiracies have become the target of a new and even better hoax: "quantum pendants."

If there is one technology that is controversial right now, it's non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Everywhere they pop up, people seem to get upset. It could be because they don't understand what the technology offers, or it could be because they absolutely do understand. Either way, companies all over the internet have been looking to add NFTs into their products, and many have changed course after consumer feedback. This week, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developer GSC Game World felt the wrath of their community after announcing NFTs in the upcoming game.

Just over a year ago, Comcast announced that they would be expanding their data caps to all customers. Clearly, customers were not happy about the change in their plans, especially as the world was in major flux. A mere 3 months later, the company announced that it would delay the rollout into 2022. Well, as 2022 approaches, Comcast has made another announcement: the rollout is delayed for at least another year.

Media contracts expire all the time. Sometimes, the content owners are willing to have negotiations and renew under similar terms. Other times, content owners have new ideas on how they want to use those rights themselves. Either way, it means that platforms and content owners have to negotiate rather regularly. This weekend, negotiations between two powerhouses broke down and YouTube TV lost all 17 of Disney's channels on the platform.

This week, Apple is trying to ignore your privacy, Tor is trying to protect its network, and YouTube is staying on Roku.

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 Apple announced App Tracking Transparency, their privacy feature for iOS and iPadOS, they received a mixed response. Consumers were excited that Apple was finally doing something to live up to their claim that they care about your privacy. But, some companies, Facebook in particular, waged war against the feature. Despite the fight, the feature went into effect, but it turns out that not everyone must abide by the rules.

Google Stadia, the company's attempt to get into the gaming world, was welcomed into the world with the general sigh of "meh." While the concept offered a lot of promise, the company seemed to have developed it more out of a feeling of obligation to fulfill years of rumors rather than out of wanting to be in the gaming space. That attitude led to a lot of challenges, including a poor rollout outside of the Google ecosystem. This week, Stadia officially launched on webOS 5.0 TVs, but is it too late for it to matter?

Tor, the subnet of the internet focused on anonymity and privacy, has seen its share of attacks over the years. Regular raids by law enforcement have shuttered various parts of the network. Now, the network is under attack thanks to a malicious actor taking advantage of the structure of the network in order to undermine its privacy.

Since May 2021, there has been a battle brewing between two media powerhouses: Roku and YouTube. The battle has been over contract terms for YouTube TV, which is the company's live TV offering. Roku decided to exercise its ever-growing platform control by blocking YouTube TV on the platform. Now, the two companies have come to an agreement just hours before the primary YouTube app was scheduled to be removed as well.

This week, PlayStation's getting a Game Pass, Twitch is getting a ban flag, and dating is getting more dangerous.

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.

It's been just under a month since a judge denied Apple's motion to indefinitely delay the court-mandated changes to its App Store following their one loss against Epic Games. And, with only a few days until the court order goes into effect, Apple is looking for a way to prevent the overall effects of the order. The company might just have found a way to comply with the order while not actually giving it any benefit, other than to Apple itself.

Over the past few months, rumblings within the gaming world have suggested that Sony was working on a PlayStation competitor for Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass. The company already offers its PlayStation Now service, but its scope is significantly smaller than that of Game Pass. But, a new report suggests that the company might be looking to roll the existing PlayStation Now service into something larger, intended to take on Game Pass in a head-to-head battle.

The last two years have left many of us with a feeling of isolation, loneliness, or both. As we all know, when a platform or category gains in popularity, people are bound to use it for nefarious purposes. Apple long promoted itself as safe from malware, but it turned out it was only because no one owned them, so it wasn't worth attacking. Dating apps were popular before, but now a new type of person is using them and so the scams begin. Here is a couple we have encountered in the past few months and what to look out for.

The past few years have been a constant up and down for Twitch. The company has seen its user base grow to incredible levels. It's seen new types of users join the platform, bringing artists and musicians, podcasters and IRL streamers, to join the gamers who already inhabited the platform. With new users come new problems, and one of those problems has been massive harassment in the streamers' chats. The company has used traditional methods of identifying and eliminating problems, but a new approach has been developed: ban evasion.

This week, DuckDuckGo is protecting your mobile privacy, Rockstar is apologizing for GTA, and Halo is finally coming to TV.

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.

It has been an interesting week for privacy products expanding their focus. DuckDuckGo announced App Tracking Protection for Android, bringing an Apple feature to Android. But DuckDuckGo isn't the only player in the space. Brave recently switched Google out for their own search product in their browser, and this week they are enhancing the browser again - with crypto.

This month, Rockstar Games released the much-anticipated Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. While gamers were excited about this release, they were treated to a series of massive problems. The company very quickly pulled the PC release from its online store but gave strange reasoning for the decision. Anyone who had purchased it, and likely anyone who watched someone play it on Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook, knew exactly what the real reasoning was. This week, the company officially addressed the issue, changing its story from last week.

Several months ago, Apple introduced a new feature to iOS - App Tracking Transparency. This feature allows users the opportunity to tell apps that track user data on their phones to bug off. It limits the amount of data available to those apps from things that happen off of the platform. Android, while being the more customizable platform, is missing this feature - until now. DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused browser and search engine, is taking the lead to introduce the feature themselves.

Over the past decade, the focus of the Xbox brand has shifted several times. Under Steve Balmer's time as CEO, Xbox was intended to be the center of your entertainment life. As part of that endeavor, they created Xbox Entertainment Studios and began to create custom content for the platform. The project that was the highest-profile was a series based on the company's Halo franchise, but it has been fraught with issues. Despite 7 years of development Hell, Microsoft showed off a teaser for the project, now destined for a new home on Paramount+.

This week, Apple's losing control of the App Store, Netflix is getting into Games, and Disney is expanding its lineup.

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.

Over the past year, the most-watched, and possibly the most important, legal challenge in the technology world has been the one between Epic Games and Apple. Epic Games claimed that Apple had violated anti-competition laws by forcing developers to use Apple's App Store payment system and blocking them from using their own, pre-existing payment systems. While the case ended in a nearly total loss for Epic Games, one of their claims was granted, and Apple wants to get out of the repercussions.

Over the past 2 weeks, a long-rumored feature of Netflix has become available: Netflix Games. The new service is similar to Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass, except it is not an additional fee.

While all focus might be on the newly renamed Meta these days, the tech company with the most scrutiny over the past decade or so has been Alphabet's Google. While the company once had an internal motto "Don't be evil," an overwhelming consensus is that Google regularly violates both the public's trust, as well as its market position in search. Governments across the globe have created special laws and started investigations into the way Google does business. This week, Google is dealing with two specific issues in the US and the EU.

A few weeks ago, DC showed off new content across all media types. Not to be outdone, this week, Disney countered by showing off a bunch of new content coming specifically to its Disney+ streaming service. This content included shows and movies from Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney itself, and there is something for nearly everyone.

This week, Apple's locking your phone down, Blizzard's holding your games back, and Facebook's letting your face go.

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.

Over the past few years, the public's perception of the mobile application landscape has been changing. Where once Apple users accepted that the company actually owned all of their devices, despite the high price, recently users have begun to demand full access to their phones and tablets. Apple has maintained that they have no intention of allowing owners to use their devices as they please because they know better than you how you should use your phone. This week, the company sent Craig Federighi to Web Summit (the sister event to Collision) to emphasize that point.

The last few months have not been kind to game studio Blizzard. Legal and cultural issues have caused everything from employee protests to executives leaving the company. While the lasting effects of these responses are yet to be seen, the more immediate effect is that two of the company's upcoming games have been delayed: Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4.

It's no surprise to anyone that the public's perception of Facebook has been circling the toilet. Users have grown weary of what appears to be constant surveillance of every aspect of their lives. Add to that, the brand and its parent company Meta seem to have no respect for the information they collect about us. But, one of the company's most controversial features will be coming to an end in the near future: facial recognition.

These days, people want more from their devices. We all know that the items we carry with us, whether it be phones or tablets, can do more than the platform they run on will allow them to do. Unfortunately, while users want more from their devices, manufacturers want you to have less. Apple is actively fighting against usefulness, but it's Roku that's taking the biggest stand - removing features from their devices.

This week, Facebook is entering the Metaverse, the MLB is ignoring extortion, and TVs are more expensive.

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.

Over the past few years, a term has become popular among software companies: metaverse. This term is a combination of the word meta, meaning beyond, and the abbreviation verse, short for universe. The idea is that it is a virtual space where people can interact with one another. The term does not require virtual reality, but in modern times it almost always does. Earlier this year, Epic Games discussed their plans, but the company at the forefront of the content is Facebook. This week, the company showed its dedication by changing its name to Meta, as well as announcing a huge collection of initiatives towards this end.

With Virtual Reality becoming the primary focus of Meta, the future of other hardware could have been placed in jeopardy. The Facebook Portal devices, for example, have seen no real market adoption. But, the company appears to have committed itself to various types of hardware outside of the former Oculus brand of VR headsets.

Now that Facebook is Meta, and the company is all-in on the Metaverse, VR is a bigger focus than social. The company has a strong VR infrastructure already, but its future is changing.

The past few years have seen everyone inundated with hacks, malware, and digital extortion. It hasn't mattered if you're an individual or an international megacorporation - everyone could come under fire from these tactics. This week, it was revealed that Major League Baseball (MLB) was the victim of hacking, as well as attempted extortion. But, the details are stranger than usual.

2021 has seen a variety of issues to the supply chain, and they are all affecting the price of a lot of products. One of those product categories being hit in price is televisions, a traditional staple of Black Friday sales. As we approach Black Friday 2021, fears over the availability of TV sales have begun to emerge.

This week, chips are still in flux, Google Stadia is getting into AT&T, and Google Search is out at Brave Browser.

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.

The last year or so has seen a series of major issues in the supply chain. Some have been caused by an irrational increase in demand, such as the hurricane prep-style shortage of toilet paper last year. Some have come from issues at California ports, locking ships offshore waiting to deliver products. But, the most noticeable challenge has come from chip production issues resulting in shortages. This week, two companies seem to be having competing experiences with these chip shortages: General Motors and Raspberry Pi.

For years, Google's gaming ambitions were a poorly kept secret Unfortunately, no one knew exactly what the company was planning to do - until it launched Google Stadia the official name of Project Stream. The issue that Google suffered from was a complete lack of consumer interest. The lack of interest led to the company shutting down its first-party studio, but that was just the beginning. Luckily for the company, others are more interested in Stadia's technology than consumers were in its product offering.

For years, the topic of online privacy had seemed to be a thing of the past. People had accepted that we had no more privacy, and we were willing to give it up in order to use free services. However, over the last couple of years, it has come back to the foreground. People are interested in their privacy again, and willing to sacrifice those services that they had once considered important in order to protect it. One of the more active ways to accomplish this is a VPN service, but a common passive approach is a privacy-focused browser, like Brave.

Since the trend of "cord-cutting" took off, one of the biggest issues for people has been getting local programming. This might include news, sports, and more. But, being able to get any sort of local content while relying on streaming services can be extremely difficult. Local broadcast channels tend to only be available through cable streaming, and that's the opposite of the point. But, Amazon has taken on the challenge, and announced that it is expanding that offering to more US cities.

This week, HTC is going with the Flow, FIFA is looking for options, and DC Comics is bringing new entertainment.

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.

Palm has had a long and complicated history. Palm was independent, then it became part of 3M, but its OS was used by Handspring, which was external and more popular than the 3M company. Eventually, they got their brand's focus back and launched webOS at CES 2009, but the sale to HP also screwed up that focus. But, that brand has been licensed in recent years for new products, most famously the poorly-named Palm Phone, a tiny 3.3" display Android phone. But a new tweet (with the image above), suggests a big change - to headphones. The company plans to announce what its been up to on October 26, 2021.

Avram has been very open about his belief that the HTC VIVE hardware is his favorite. It has always had a solid screen system, the tracking is great, and the controllers are fairly natural to hold. But, while the insides have upgraded over the years, the look of the headset hasn't really changed. It's been really high-profile, fairly heavy, and not designed for portability. But, HTC has changed this with the addition of the new VIVE Flow, a headset designed for portability and focused on health and wellness. But, what a noticeable change in physical design.

EA Sports has been the exclusive home of a lot of real-world gaming franchises for many years. The NFL, NCAA, and FIFA have been the high-profile relationships that the game publisher has been involved in over the past few decades. But, while EA has been happy in these multiple relationships, it seems no one else has been. The first to file a divorce is FIFA, which plans to shop its videogame experience around to other studios in hopes of finding a better spouse. But they might also just date around for a while, while still seeing EA on occasion.

While the backend infrastructure of Google Search has changed significantly over the years, and even since yesterday, the frontend experience has remained relatively stable. The addition of Mobile Search is possibly the only major change that has happened in most people's memories. New experiences are added to the Search results, but the actual behavior stays the same. But, Google is about to unleash a new capability to Mobile Search: doomscrolling.

DC Fandome 2021 happened over the weekend, and during this virtual event, they showed off a lot of new information. Included in this new info are trailers for projects, including movies, television, and videogames. Let's take a look at some of the new trailers that made it to the internet this past weekend.