Weekly Digest - 2021.02

CES 2021

Due to pandemic, the CES 2021 was different. First of all it was virtual. Second, it was smaller, much smaller. Not many products ware introduced, but couple of them were interesting:

Samsung Galaxy S21 family

Samsung announced the next version of the flagship phone. Here is the spec of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra:

  • 6.8-inch AMOLED 120Hz display (1440 x 3200 px),
  • Snapdragon 888,
  • 12 or 16GB of RAM,
  • 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB of Storage,
  • Triple back camera system: 108 MP (wide), 10 MP (telephoto), 12 MP (ultrawide),
  • 40 MP selfie camera,
  • 5000 mAh Battery,
  • Support for S pen,
  • Starting at $1199.

Return of the King?

According to Ming-Chi Kuo, next MacBook Pro might return to its glorious days. If rumors are true, the new MacBook Pro will get not only the ARM processor, but also new form factor, and new display. The TouchBar will be gone, and the MagSafe will return with additional ports. This is too good to be true.

Lucasfilm Games

Lucasfilm announced that all future Star Wars games will be released under the Lucasfilm Games brand. It looks like, EA lost their exclusivity right to Star Wars games. Bethesda is working on Indiana Jones game, and Ubisoft is making an open world Star Wars game. Despite the fact EA lost exclusivity rights, it's still working on the new Star Wars games, including sequel to the Jedi Fallen Order.

Wikipedia anniversary

Wikipedia turned 20. Yeah, It's hard to believe, but Wikipedia is helping us for two decades now. It definitely helped me when I was a student, so I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this awesome project.

Weekly Digest - 2021.01

Microsoft plans to replace Outlook with new Universal Client

According to Windows Central, Microsoft plans to replace all the current versions of Outlook with one, web based, universal client. This new client - codename Monarch - is based on the Outlook Web app already available available in a browser today. There is no information when the actual switch might happen.

10th years of the Mac App Store

The Mac App Store launched exactly 10 years ago, on January 6, 2011. Although it is the easiest way to install an app on the Mac, it never gained the popularity. The 30% Apple tax and not clear app review rules caused that many developers never sold their apps through the AppStore or even abandoned the AppStore.

Hopefully the new and lower Apple Tax for small businesses and upcoming investigations regarding Apple's monopoly will make the AppStore a better place for developers.

Google workers plans to unionize

A group of Google workers plan to unionize. The Alphabet Workers Union will be available to all employees and contractors that work for Google's companies. So far about 400 workers joined the union out over 130K people working for Google. The union might be small, but it is determined to solve the issues that has been reveled in recent months.

Image credits: Microsoft

Weekly Digest - 2020.53

2020 in review

This year was crazy and it's finally over. I looked back on what happened over last 12 months and picked top 3 news from each month.

January

  1. CES 2020,
  2. SpaceX Crew Dragon Launch Escape Demonstration,
  3. End of support for Windows 7.

February

  1. Fake trafic jam on Google Maps,
  2. Samsung Unpack #1,
  3. iPad turned 10.

March

  1. Coronavirus takes the world,
  2. Apple's hardware update,
  3. Apple's software updates.

April

  1. Apple and Google partner on COVID-19 contact tracing technology,
  2. One Plus 8 & iPhone SE,
  3. Apple acquired Dark Sky.

May

  1. SpaceX first maned mission with Crew Demo-2,
  2. Unreal Engine 5 reveled,
  3. Samsung announced “Samsung Money”.

June

  1. WWDC 2020,
  2. GitHub went down,
  3. The Last of us 2 released.

July

  1. F1 was back racing,
  2. Intel’s Thunderbolt 4 announced,
  3. Nasa launched Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover.

August

  1. Epic goes to war with Apple,
  2. Samsung Unpacked #2,
  3. Windows 95 is 25 years old.

September

  1. GeForce RTX  30 Series announced,
  2. Apple Event #1 - Apple Watch & iPad,
  3. Xbox Series S announced.

October

  1. Apple Event #2 - iPhone 12,
  2. Pixel 5 announced,
  3. Mandalorian Season 2.

November

  1. Apple Event #3 - ARM Macs,
  2. SpaceX Crew-1 launched,
  3. Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 launched.

December

  1. Cyberpunk 2077 released,
  2. Salesforce bought Slack,
  3. AirPods Max.

That's all folks. I hope next year will be better and we can get back to a normal life.
Happy New year and see you guys soon!

Image credits: Immo Wegmann

Weekly Digest - 2020.51

Christmas Card

I've created a minimalistic Christmas Card using HTML, CSS, and SVG. This is an interactive version of an artwork I've done couple years ago. You can check it out here.

Cyberpunk 2077 in trouble

It is a week after a premiere, and everybody is talking about Cyberpunk 2077. Too bad, it's about how bad the game is on previous generation of consoles. The issues are so severe, that Sony decided to pull the game off their store. Microsoft's action wasn't so drastic, but they expended refund policy for Cyberpunk 2077. CD Project Red says they will refund the game from their own pocket. All of this caused that CDPRed stocks have been slaughtered, and investors are abandoning, what's looks like, a sinking ship. CD Project Red has a lot of work to do, first they need to fix the game to make it at least playable, then they need to get back the trust of the gamers, which will be almost impossible task.

iPhone 13 rumors

Welp, the iPhone 12 is barely released, but we have rumors about next year iPhone. It looks like new phone will have 120Hz ProMotion display, thanks to LTPO. The LTPO screens have lower energy consumption, which is important on devices with small batteries.