Weekly Digest - 2020.37

Weekly Digest - 2020.37

Xbox Series S & X

Microsoft has officially confirmed Xbox Series S. It's a simplified version of the Xbox Series X. Here are the highlights:

  • Frame rate: up to 120FPS,
  • Resolution: 1440p with 4K upscaling,
  • 512GB NVME SSD,
  • No optical disc,
  • 60% smaller than Series X,
  • Price: $299,
  • Launch on November 10th, 2020.

It's a good choice for people who want new Xbox, but doesn't care about 8K and optical disc. The only downside is really small storage. 512GB is really small, especially when games can take more than 200GB of storage. Hopefully, soon Microsoft will release another version with 1TB of storage.

Regarding Xbox Series X, it will also launch on November 10th for $499. The preorders will start on September 22.

September Apple Event

Apple has announced an event that will be held on September 15th. Similar to WWDC, this event also will be digital only. According to rumors this event will focus on new iPad Air, Apple Watch Series 6. New iPhones will be announced in October or even later.

Epic vs Apple continued

In August, Epic sued Apple, couple weeks later Apple is suing Epic, asking for damages over the breach of  developer contract. In the press release they called Epic the "modern corporate Robin Hood" 😂

Apple has every legal right to do so, but I think the PR damages will cost Apple more than potential settlement with Epic.

Image credits: Microsoft

Weekly Digest - 2020.35

Weekly Digest - 2020.35

Floating Apple Store in Singapore

Apple is planing to open another Store in Singapore. Normally, such thing wouldn't be even worth mentioning, as Apple has hundreds stores around the world. But this is the first Apple Store that floats on the water. Apple Marina Bay Sands is a giant glowing orb and will be docked on the bayfront of Singapore.

Epic won first battle against Apple

Judge decided that Apple can’t retaliate against Epic Games by terminating the Epic's  developer accounts or restricting use of Unreal Engine by developers on Apple platforms. Also, judge decided that Apple doesn't have to bring Fortnite back, as Epic deliberately violated AppStore rules.

So the first battle has been won by Epic, but this is not the only good news for them. Epic gained an ally in Microsoft. Company from Redmond asked Apple to allow Epic continue development on Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine is one the most popular game engines in the world, and cutting off the support for Apple platforms might have severe consequences for game industry.

Despite all of this, Later this week, Apple did removed Epic's account from AppStore with all its games.  What is more important Apple  listened to the judge, and left Unreal Engine's account intact.

Windows 95 is 25 years old

Microsoft Windows 95 just turned 25. It's incredible how fast it went and how much we progressed. 25 years ago you needed good PC to run it, today you can run it in a browser.

Gamescon 2020

After cancelling E3 it looked liked gamers will not get any major gaming event this year, but Gamescom organizers found a way.  They created virtual conference. Unfortunately nothing special was announced, but we got couple of cool looking trailers.

Image credits: Javan Ng

Weekly Digest - 2020.34

Weekly Digest - 2020.34

The war continues

The conflict between Epic and Apple is escalating. Epic informed that Apple is terminating all of its developer accounts and cut Epic off from iOS and Mac development tools. Apple left 2 week notice on that matter, and is planning to terminate the accounts on August 28th, which is strange, normally account would be terminated immediately without any warning, so here is another example that not everyone is treated the same.

In a meanwhile, Epic is trying rally allies in battle against Apple.  If they succeed, they might get support from giants like: Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Valve.

Weekly Digest - 2020.33

Weekly Digest - 2020.33

Epic goes to war with Apple

Hours after removing Fortnite from AppStore, Epic filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple. The legal complaint,  seeks to establish Apple’s App Store as a monopoly, and the civil suit is seeking injunctive relief to “allow fair competition” in mobile app distribution.

Fortnite has been also removed from Play Store and Epic filled another lawsuit agains Google as well.

Epic has a really small chances to win this lawsuit,  but  this time the company with millions of users is rebelling against Apple, so they will get attention of general public. Definitely the antitrust commissions in US and EU will notice this.

Xbox Series X will launch in November

Microsoft confirmed that the Xbox Series X will launch in November, before the holiday season. According to some rumors, the premiere is set to November 6th.

Now, that we have more or less accurate release date, all we need is the price.

Microsoft Surface Duo release date

Microsoft's first foldable mobile device will arrive on September 10th. The preorders are already available for $1,399. Surface Duo is Microsoft's first phone since Lumia. It not only has interesting design, that includes two separate screens, but also it runs Android.

Image credits: Microsoft

Weekly Digest - 2020.32

Weekly Digest - 2020.32

Samsung Unpacked

This week Samsung held the Unpacked event and unveiled couple of new devices.

Samsung Galaxy Note  20 & Note 20 Ultra

New flagships have been announced and this is how they look like:

  • 6,7” (2400 x 1080 px) Super AMOLED in Note 20
  • 6,9” (3200 x 1440 px) Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120 Hz in Note 20 Ultra
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus CPU
  • 8GB or 12GB of RAM,
  • 256 or 512 GB of storage
  • Hole-punch 10 Mpix selfie camera,
  • Tripple rear camera
  • 12 Mpix + 64 Mpix (telefoto) + 12 Mpix (ultrawide) in Note 20
  • 108 Mpix + 12 Mpix (telefoto) + 12 Mpix (ultrawide)  in Note 20 Ultra
  • Fingerprint sensor built into the screen,
  • Dual SIM: SIM + eSIM
  • 5G capabilities
  • 4300 mAh battery in Note 20 & 4500 mAh battery in Note 20 Ultra,
  • Phones will be available in August starting  at $999.99.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2

Samsung still pursues the fold concept and announced the successor to famous Galaxy Fold phone.  The biggest change a full-size 6.2-inch screen that covers the entire front of the phone. This is really huge improvement  from is tiny external display that Galaxy Fold had. The main display is also bigger, at 7.6 inches and runs up to 120Hz. Also, the screen  doesn't have huge notch for camera, instead there is  a small hole-punch camera that takes up far less space. Internals of the device also have been upgraded and Z Fold 2 is powered by Snapdragon 865 Plus processor. Unfortunately we still don't know pricing or a release date.

Galaxy Watch 3

Samsungs also announced a new Watch, that has a heart-monitoring electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG), which has been cleared by the FDA similar to Apple Watch. It will be available for purchase starting on August 6th from $399.99.

Big companies fight Apple's AppStore policies

It looks like, Apple is under heavy fire not only from indie developers, but big tech giants as well. All rally agains Apple's AppStore policies.

Microsoft, after announcement that xCloud wouldn't be coming to iOS, fired back at Apple accusing them of treating gaming apps unfairly compared to other apps.

Facebook launched gaming app on iOS, but it doesn't have any games. All thanks to an App Store policy which bans streaming gaming services.

It doesn't look very good for Apple, especially when AppStore Policies are under investigation regarding antitrust concerns and anti-competitive behavior.

Apple updated iMacs

Apple updated the iMac lineup. The biggest change is Intel’s 10th Gen Comet Lake processors. The most awaited change is 1080p HD webcam, hopefully this upgrade will be introduced in other macs. Also,  SSDs are now standard across the line.

Also, iMac Pro has been refreshed. Now, the base model has the 10-core 3.0 GHz Xeon W chip that was previously an upgrade option.