Introducing DualSense the New Wireless Game Controller for PlayStation5

Microsoft Edge Is Now More Popular Than Firefox | Digital Trends

The web has changed a lot over the years, and so has the way we use it. The thing that hasn’t changed? The web browser, the tool every one of us depends on. Here’s why it’s well past time for new ideas.

Digital TrendsArif Bacchus

Play Stadia Pro for free, starting today

Video games are a great way to socialize while at home, so we’re giving gamers in 14 countries free access to Stadia Pro for two months.

GooglePhil Harrison

Disney Plus surpasses 50 million subscribers

The international rollout of Disney Plus in a number of countries has helped it roll past the 50 million subscriber mark, the company has announced. To compare, Netflix has 167 million subscribers worldwide.

The VergeJulia Alexander

Leaker Claims New 13-inch MacBook Pro Coming as Soon as Next Month

Apple will announce a new 13-inch MacBook Pro in May with the codename J223, according to a rumor shared by YouTuber and leaker Jon Prosser. ...

MacRumorsTim Hardwick

No one’s getting new emoji in 2021 because of the pandemic

The Unicode Consortium says it’s delaying the release of emoji in 2021 and will be pushing back the schedule until 2022. This means the deadline to submit new emoji goes until September 1st.

The VergeAshley Carman

Google extends free access to advanced teleconferencing features to September 30th

Google has announced that it will extend free access to some advanced Google Meet features to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers until September 30th. Previously, Google said it would offer free access until July 1st.

The VergeJay Peters

Apple and Google partner on COVID-19 contact tracing technology

Apple and Google announce a joint effort to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus, with user privacy central to the design.

Apple Newsroom

Cyberpunk 2077’s DLC will be revealed before release, CD Projekt suggests | VGC

Company says it’s planning “no less” DLC than it released for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Video Games ChronicleAndy Robinson

Zoom's security issues

• Zoom quickly fixes ‘malware-like’ macOS installer with new update
• Zoom has disabled a feature that was exposing users’ LinkedIn profiles
• Thousands of Zoom recordings exposed because of the way Zoom names recordings
• Zoom announces 90-day feature freeze to fix privacy and security issues
• Image Credits: Kaspersky

Intel's 10th Gen CPUs

• New 10th Gen Intel Core H-Series Processor Launch

Apple acquires Dark Sky

• Dark Sky Has Been Acquired by Apple and Its API Will Be Discontinued at the End of 2021
• Image Credits: Dark Sky

AirTag Confirmed?

• Apple references unreleased AirTag item trackers in new support video
• Image Credits: Guilherme Rambo

Dope Links

• 5 Must-Know Xcode Shortcuts for Unit Testing
• Use Web Workers in your Vue.js Components for Max Performance
• How to protect Serverless (Open)API's?
• Announcing AWS Lambda support for .NET Core 3.1
• Pluralsight's Free April Month
• Virtual Disney World

Apple's software updates

This week Apple has updated all their operating systems. Here is the list of the most prominent changes:

iOS 13.4

• iCloud Folder Sharing,
• Universal Purchase allows to purchase single copy of an app for all user's iPhones, iPods touch, iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs,
• Revamped toolbar in Mail app,
• Third-party navigation apps are now supported by the CarPlay Dashboard,
• 9 new Memoji and Animoji stickers.

iPadOS 13.4

• Mouse and trackpad support,
• Shared iPad feature is now available for enterprise users,
• Also includes all changes from iOS 13.4.

macOS 10.15.4

• iCloud Folder Sharing,
• Universal Purchase allows to purchase single copy of an app for all user's iPhones, iPods touch, iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs,
• Time-synced lyrics for Apple Music, with ability to jump to part of a song by clicking a line in lyrics view,
• New Parental options.

watchOS 6

• In-app purchases are now available for ‌‌Apple Watch‌‌ apps,
• ECG app and Irregular heart rhythm notifications are now available in Chile, New Zealand and Turkey.

tvOS 13.4 & HomePod

• General bug fixes and improvements.

Disney+ in Western Europe

Disney has launched their streaming service in United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria. Disney says that Disney+ will be available in France in April. Additional Western Europe countries, including Belgium, the Nordics, and Portugal should get access this summer.

Dope Links

• What’s new in Swift 5.2
• Code coverage for Swift Package Manager based apps
• Swift Package Registry
• A Jira clone built with Vuejs & Nodejs/Graphql
• CSS units cheat sheet
• Animated CSS Background Generator
• Unity Learn Premium FREE for 3 months
• A Repository for all Intel Technical Content prepared for GDC 2020
• Presentations from GDC 2020 (online presentations)
• Raytracing in Excel

Photos of the Xbox Series X leaked online

Photos of the next-gen console has were posted on NeoGAF and Twitter. It’s unclear how legitimate those photos are, but if this they are, it's the first time we can see the console with all the ports:

• HDMI Out,
• 1x front USB Type-A port,
• 2x rear USB Type-A ports,
• Ethernet port,
• Optical port
• Diagnostic port

Microsoft has not commented on the leak, so we will have to wait, probably till E3 2020, for official news.

iPhone 12 in new sizes?

According to report from Macotakara, this year iPhones will have new dimensions:

• 5.4-inch model will have a height that is midway between the iPhone SE and iPhone 8,
• 6.1-inch model will be midway between the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro Max,
• 6.7-inch model will be slightly taller than the iPhone 11 Pro Max.  Also, it will be thinner, 7.4mm instead of 8.1mm.

Disney+ in Western Europe

Disney announced that its streaming service, Disney+, will launch in Europe on March 24th.  It will be available in selected countries:

• Ireland,
• France,
• Germany,
• Italy,
• Spain,
• Austria,
• Switzerland,
• United Kingdom.

Belgium, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland will get access this summer. Unfortunately, Eastern Europe will have to wait till the first half of 2021.

Google I/O 2020 announced

Google revealed that its annual developer conference will take place from May 12th to May 14th. The conference dates were reveled through a puzzle game.

It's still unclear what Google is going to announce during the conference, but the preview of a new Android is a safe bet.

Dope links

• On the road to Swift 6
• Under the hood of Futures and Promises in Swift
• Optimizing views in SwiftUI using EquatableView
• Pull to Refresh in SwiftUI
• Sheets don’t inherit the environment
• When XML beats JSON: UI layouts
• Thanos JS - Reduce the file size of your project down to 50%,
  by randomly deleting half of the files
• Blazor and Native Mobile Apps
• Embedding Power BI in Blazor
• Deploy your side-projects at scale for basically nothing - Google Cloud Run
• Let’s Reverse Engineer Discord
• Working for someone vs. doing your own thing
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars -  Official Trailer
• LEGO International Space Station

Image credits: NeoGAF

16-inch MacBook Pro

It's finally here, and it is a beast! The brand new 16-inch MacBook Pro has been released.  Here is what's new:

2.6GHz 6-Core model:

• 16-inch display (3072x1920px) 226 ppi,
• New Magic Keyboard with a refined scissor mechanism,
• Physical Esc key is back,
• CPU:
  • 2.6GHz 6-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz or
  • 2.4GHz 8-core Intel Core i9 processor with Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz
• GPU:
  • AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 4GB of GDDR6 memory or
  • AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory,
• 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory, configurable up to 64GB,
• 512GB SSD storage, configurable up to 8TB,
• New 6-speaker sound system,
• New thermal architecture.

2.3GHz 8-Core model:

• 16-inch display (3072x1920px) 226 ppi,
• New Magic Keyboard with a refined scissor mechanism,
• Physical Esc key is back,
• CPU:
  • 2.3GHz 8-core Intel Core i9 processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz or
  • 2.4GHz 8-core Intel Core i9 processor with Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz
• GPU:
  • AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 4GB of GDDR6 memory or
  • AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory,
• 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory, configurable up to 64GB,
• 1TB SSD storage, configurable up to 8TB,
• New 6-speaker sound system,
• New thermal architecture.

All of this in almost unchanged form factor. The new MacBook Pro is ~2%  bigger, 0.5mm thicker and 170g heavier than 15-inch model,  but Apple managed to put bigger -  100Wh - battery which should allow for 11h of work.

All of this for the same price as for old 15-inch model. The base 2.6GHz 6-Core model starts at $2399. For the 2.3GHz 8-Core model  we have to pay $2799.

Disney+ launched

Disney+ launched in USA, Canada and Netherlands. On the first day new platform surpassed 10 million subscribes. This number is not surprising as Disney+ has massive portfolio of movies and TV shows, including very popular Marvel and Start Wars franchises.

Disney+ will be available in UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain on March 31st. There are rumors that Poland will be included in this group as well,  for about $8/month, which is similar to Netflix's monthly subscription.  

Interesting links

• GraphQL Crash Course (in 10 pics!)
• Push Notifications in JavaScript? Yes, you can!
• Bruno Simon — Portfolio (case study)
• New CSS Logical Properties!
• Swift Equation Solvers
• Growing EmailOctopus, a small side-project into a £1m business
• The Mac Apple Wants You To Forget About!
• We Recreated the Latest Apple Wallpaper: macOS Catalina

Image credits: Apple