HiTechEdge

Category: Tech

All news related to tech.

  • Microsoft Employees Receiving $1,500 Bonus

    Microsoft Employees Receiving $1,500 Bonus

    Microsoft employees are receiving a $1,500 bonus, an acknowledgement of the unusual fiscal year the company experienced.

    Like many companies, Microsoft has had to adapt to a new normal in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges, however, the company has experienced significant growth, driven largely by its cloud business.

    The company is now giving its employees a $1,500 pandemic bonus, “in recognition of the unique and challenging fiscal year that Microsoft just completed,” according to The Verge.

    Interestingly, employees of LinkedIn, GitHub, and ZeniMax — all Microsoft-owned companies – will not be eligible for the bonus.

  • OnePlus Throttles Performance With Popular Apps

    OnePlus Throttles Performance With Popular Apps

    OnePlus has confirmed its OnePlus 9 Pro and OnePlus 9 throttle performance when running popular apps.

    AnandTech was the first to notice something wasn’t quite right with the latest OnePlus 9 phones. When benchmarking the phones with the Chrome web browser, writer Andrei Frumusanu noticed the phone was not utilizing the high-performance Cortex-X1 cores when running Chrome, instead running it on the slower Cortex-A78 cores. In most cases, the phone wasn’t even running the Cortex-A78 at their full 2.41GHz, throttling them at 2GHz instead. Frumusanu found the OnePlus 9 throttled some of the most popular apps, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and more.

    GeekBench, maker of the popular benchmarking software, followed up AnandTech’s investigation with one of their own, confirming the findings. As a result, GeekBench delisted the phone from their Android Benchmark charts.

    After XDA Developers picked up the story, OnePlus reached out to them and offered a statement confirming the phones are, indeed, throttling.

    Our top priority is always delivering a great user experience with our products, based in part on acting quickly on important user feedback. Following the launch of the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro in March, some users told us about some areas where we could improve the devices’ battery life and heat management. As a result of this feedback, our R&D team has been working over the past few months to optimize the devices’ performance when using many of the most popular apps, including Chrome, by matching the app’s processor requirements with the most appropriate power. This has helped to provide a smooth experience while reducing power consumption. While this may impact the devices’ performance in some benchmarking apps, our focus as always is to do what we can to improve the performance of the device for our users.

    This is incredibly disappointing for OnePlus users. The phones’ Snapdragon 888 is an incredibly capable processor, but OnePlus owners will not get to experience its speed, instead being crippled by the device’s throttling.

  • Tencent Will Use Facial Recognition to Stop Minors From Playing Video Games at Night

    Tencent Will Use Facial Recognition to Stop Minors From Playing Video Games at Night

    Tencent, the Chinese video game juggernaut, has announced it will begin using facial recognition to prevent minors from playing video games at night.

    The Chinese government has increasingly come down on video games, with the goal of preventing minors from spending too much time gaming. The government passed a law in 2019 to restrict minors from playing video games at night, and limited the amount of time they can play to 90 minutes per day.

    Tencent has introduced a facial recognition feature called “Midnight Patrol,” designed to enforce the new regulations. According to Digital Trends, Tencent will integrate the feature in 60 of its games, including some of its most popular ones, such as Peace Elite and Glory of the King.

    Players who avoid the facial recognition tech will automatically be locked out.

  • Nintendo Unveils OLED Switch

    Nintendo Unveils OLED Switch

    Nintendo has unveiled its latest Switch, a major upgrade that boasts an OLED screen.

    The Switch is one of the world’s most popular consoles, and the star of Nintendo’s current product lineup. The console accounted for 87% of the Japanese console market in 2020, and sold more than all other consoles combined in the UK. One of the biggest elements contributing to its success is its form factor, allowing it to be used as a handheld device, or a traditional docked console.

    Nintendo has now announced the latest version, featuring a 7-inch OLED screen.

    The new system features a vibrant 7-inch OLED screen, a wide adjustable stand, a dock with a wired LAN port, 64 GB of internal storage, and enhanced audio.

    The new model has a MSRP of $349.99 and will be available October 8.

  • YouTube TV Adds 4K Support…For a Price

    YouTube TV Adds 4K Support…For a Price

    YouTube TV has announced support for 4K video, although it comes at a $20 premium.

    YouTube TV is one of the leading streaming platforms and has become a popular option among cord cutters. The platform has similar pricing ($65 per month at time of writing) as Hulu with Live TV and fuboTV, although it does have some competitive advantages. Chief among them is unlimited DVR space.

    The company is looking to add another major advantage in the form of full 4K content, something that most platforms have only limited support for. The caveat is that YouTube TV will charge more per month for 4K.

    4K Plus will be available at an additional $19.99/month, but right now, new users can get a one-month free trial and then a price of just $9.99/month for one year.

    Customers who upgrade to the 4K plan can also enjoy unlimited simultaneous streams at home, up from the three streams currently allowed. In addition, content can be downloaded to a phone or tablet for on-the-go watching.

    The company is also adding 5.1 Dolby audio for all members.

    Overall, the upgrades are welcome additions and help cement YouTube TV’s position as leader of the streaming pack. Nonetheless, $20 a month is a rather steep price for what are largely unnecessary upgrades.

  • Parallels Plans to Bring Windows 11 to macOS

    Parallels Plans to Bring Windows 11 to macOS

    Parallels is already working on supporting Windows 11 on Apple’s macOS, although no release date has been set.

    Parallels is one of the leading virtualization companies and has been a stalwart on the Mac platform for years. The software allows Mac users to run Windows and Linux from within macOS.

    The company recently updated its software to support Apple’s M1 processors, based on the same processor the company uses in its iPhone and iPad. The company confirmed to iMore that it is now working to support Windows 11 as well.

    “Since Windows 11 has just been announced recently, the Parallels Engineering team is waiting for the official Windows 11 Insider Preview build to start studying changes introduced in the new OS to deliver full compatibility in future Parallels Desktop updates,” Nick Dobrovolskiy, SVP of Engineering and Support told iMore.

    Parallels did not give a release date, or even a window, but did say it “will surely do everything that’s possible to make it happen.”

  • Google Bringing HTTPS-Only Mode to Chrome

    Google Bringing HTTPS-Only Mode to Chrome

    Google appears to be working on an HTTPS-Only Mode for Chrome, a move that will significantly improve the browser’s security.

    HTTPS is the secure version of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). When a website’s address begins with “https”, the communication between web browser and website is secure. While many websites automatically use HTTPS, some still do not, representing a potential security risk if any sensitive information is sent or received from it.

    Google is now working on an HTTPS-Only Mode for Chrome that would automatically upgrade any insecure website connections to secure ones, at least where possible. The move follows similar ones by Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.

    According to The Record, Google is working on the feature in Chrome Canary 93. It’s unclear, however, if the finished version will be ready in time for the official release of Chrome 93, or if HTTPS-Only Mode will debut later.

    As the maker of the most popular web browser (by far), it’s disappointing Google is so late to the party with such an important feature. Nonetheless, at least it is joining the party.

  • Apple Extends Trade-In Program to Include LG Smartphones

    Apple Extends Trade-In Program to Include LG Smartphones

    Apple is expanding its trade-in program to include four LG smartphones at a time when the latter is shutting down its smartphone business.

    LG announced in April it would shut down its smartphone business by July 31. Once one of the leading smartphone manufacturers, the company fell behind Apple, Samsung, Huawei and others. LG explored a number of options before finally settling on shutting the division down.

    First spotted by AppleInsider, Apple has added four additional LG smartphones to the trade-in program.

    • LG V60 ThinQ 5G, up to $180
    • LG V50 ThinQ 5G, up to $125
    • LG V40 ThinQ, up to $65
    • LG G8 ThinQ, up to $70

    Apple is clearly looking to capitalize on LG’s exit from the smartphone business. The trade-in deals may help the company pick up some LG customers.

  • HBO Max Rolls Out in 39 Additional Territories

    HBO Max Rolls Out in 39 Additional Territories

    HBO Max is expanding beyond the US, rolling out in 39 territories in Latin America and the Caribbean.

    HBO Max is AT&T’s streaming service, and has operated exclusively in the US. As more and more customers cut the cord, the streaming service has been a bright spot for AT&T, especially as DirecTV shed subscribers by the millions prior to AT&T spinning it off.

    As the company doubles down on HBO Max, global expansion is a priority, making today’s announcement an important step in that direction.

    “Over our first year since launch, fans in the U.S. have chosen HBO Max as one of their favorite streaming platforms. With today’s launch, we are introducing our global platform and providing a brand new user experience to millions of fans across Latin America and the Caribbean. There couldn’t be a better place to begin our global journey, as WarnerMedia has been a favorite and trusted source for compelling and entertaining content for the whole family,” said Johannes Larcher, Head of HBO Max International.

    HBO Max has committed to producing 100 local originals in Latin America, in addition to providing access to fan-favorite sports and programming.

    “The big day has finally arrived, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. HBO Max launches in our region with an unprecedented offer rewarding our first wave of subscribers and sure to delight our fans by making our collection of movies and TV series more accessible and more affordable than ever before. This past year with its unprecedented health and economic crises has been challenging for our fans from Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego, and so we are thrilled to bring some joy and inspiration to the entire community through this exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime launch offer,” stated Luis Durán, General Manager of HBO Max for Latin America.

  • Microsoft Brings Xbox Cloud Gaming to iOS

    Microsoft Brings Xbox Cloud Gaming to iOS

    Microsoft has brought its much-anticipated Xbox Cloud Gaming service to Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

    Microsoft has been expanding its Xbox gaming platform beyond its namesake console. As part of that endeavor, Microsoft has been working to bring its Xbox Cloud Gaming service to market, as that will enable the widest adoption.

    After a beta in April, for both iOS and Windows 10 PCs, Microsoft has announced the service is now out of beta and available to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members.

    Best of all, the company says the experience will be seamless across all devices.

    Cloud gaming provides seamless play across your devices. When you’re streaming games on a PC or mobile device, your game is playing from Xbox hardware in a Microsoft datacenter. This means you can jump into a game, connect with your friends, and play through the Xbox network just as you’ve always done. That’s right, your game saves are just the same wherever and whenever you play, so you can pick right back up from where you left off. 

    Microsoft’s announcement is good news for gamers, and should be a big win for the company.