“The record companies are in a difficult situation because people want to buy their music online, but there’s no real way to do it, so they steal it,” Jobs said. “The users are in a bad situation because most of them don’t want to steal music online, but there’s no other way to get it that’s any good.” Jobs proposed iTunes as “a middle way, a middle path out of this.”
Apple is facing a new controversy surrounding user data and I-phone apps, and it's ironic because when it comes to privacy, Apple has taken a firm stance that goes much further than online giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook. In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook has gone so far as to declare privacy is a human right, shortly before rolling out an ad campaign centered on the slogan "what happens on your I-phone, stays on your I-phone." So it's come as a big surprise to the Apple faithful that there are dozens of trackers running on your I-phone - and delivering the data they gather throughout the day and night.
A test run with a new app called "Disconnect" found over 5,400 trackers had gathered more than 1.5 gigabytes of data in just a single week. Even more troubling, a lot of the tracking isn't necessarily made clear in the privacy policy of the apps you're using. And what happens with all that private information may also not be spelled out in end user agreements. A lot of the time, it was even difficult to track where the data was going, opening up users to the possibility of identity theft or data corruption.
The good news - most of the data blocked by the "Disconnect" app is simply ad tracking information for apps you get for free, and some of the captured data is about how you interact with apps so that developers can improve them over time - meaning most of the apps sending data aren't doing it to "spy" on you. Still, Apple may have to do a significant amount of damage control if it turns out their privacy pledge isn't as transparent as they thought it would be.
Apple will kick off its World Wide Developer’s Conference next week, where the tech giant is sure to have several announcements about its latest software.
Starting on Monday, Apple is expected to take the wraps off its new operating systems, including iOS 13. Apple’s mobile operating system is tipped to add dark mode, a popular feature that has already arrived on macOS, according to 9to5Mac.
Dark mode looks the most striking on apps with white backgrounds, but it also has a more practical side. Newer iPhones like the iPhone X and XS have OLED displays that use less power in dark mode and, as a result, can extend battery life.
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Apple's Messages app is also expected to see a refresh, becoming increasingly similar to WhatsApp. It's anticipated it will get features that allow users to create a profile picture and who is able to see the picture. Additionally, the Mail app is slated to get better organized with the addition of searchable categories.
Tim Cook, CEO, speaks during Apple's annual world wide developer conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California, U.S. June 5, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Lam - RTX395JL (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)
It's also possible that there may be a sleep mode in the works that turns on Do Not Disturb and mutes incoming notifications. Other upgrades may include a redesigned Find My iPhone app that unifies it with Find My Friends, according to reports.
Multi-tasking on the iPad may be enhanced, thanks to the new version of iOS. For example, users will be able to open multiple windows of the same application.
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With the update of the Mac operating system, users can expect to see more progress toward so-called universal apps for developers. The aim is for developers to design a single app that works on the Mac or iOS – on mouse/trackpad or touchscreen, respectively.
This could boost the number of apps on the Mac since it would make it easier for developers to target both platforms. Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple may move new apps to macOS 10.15 such as an upgraded Apple Books, a new Music app, Podcasts, and Find My iPhone/Find My Friends, according to Bloomberg.
The bad news for macOS 10.15 is some older apps may not work because 32-bit apps will no longer be supported, due to support limited for 64-bit apps in the new macOS. For example, old 32-bit versions of the QuickTime Player won’t work but the newer 64-bit version will.
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In addition to updates to Apple's Mac operating system, the Apple Watch is also expected to get improvements to its operating system, watchOS.
The Apple Watch will finally get its own App Store, so you can download apps right to the Watch for the first time. To date, you have had to update the Watch via your iPhone.
Health apps are a big reason the Apple Watch is the best-selling smartwatch. New health apps expected include one that tracks menstrual cycles and one for pill reminders. Other planned apps are a Voice Memos app, calculator and an audiobook app.
While WWDC has largely been software focused in the past, Apple has occasionally announced new hardware, including new Macs. Some rumors suggest Apple may show the redesigned Mac Pro, which the company has been working on and is Pro aimed at its high-end users. It would likely come with the latest and greatest chips and hardware and be modular for easy upgrades.
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After a lackluster Black Ops 4 release, Activision is predictably taking the Call of Duty back to its most popular incarnation with the stupidly named Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
So, let’s address the name first.
The original Modern Warfare, named Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, was, as its name suggests the fourth entry in the series. It was also the first to drop the World War II themes on which the series was, to then, based. It was also a smash hit, and its sequels—the creatively titled Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 3—each raised the bar, catapulting COD into one of the biggest franchises in gaming history.
COD also saw great success with a second series, Black Ops, but its other titles, each an attempt to jumpstart a new series, were mostly lackluster and failed, at least within the context of COD, to generate much excitement. So Activision has retooled in recent years and has gone back to its roots: The previous two COD titles, Call of Duty: WWII and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, harkened back to great COD series of the past. And it was assumed, correctly, that the next title would be a new entry in the Modern Warfare series.
And that it would be called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. But it’s not. I guess because of the oddness of the naming of the first MW title, which had a 4 in it.
OK, whatever.
Aside from hitting the same kind of creative brick wall that led to the previous two COD games, it looks like the new MW will differ from those games in at least one important way. Unlike BO4, it will have a single-player campaign, and Activision claims it will be grittier than ever—grittier, even, than the controversial MW2 sequence in which the player was instructed to indiscriminately kill civilians in a Russian airport—and, to my eyes, it appears to use a lot of DOOM 3-style darkness to amp up the tension.
Activision’s David Hodgson published the exact same blog post to Sony’s and Microsoft’s video game blogs, and it is incredibly short on details. Based on the trailer, however, the new MW sees the return of familiar characters, familiar scenarios—including, even the lame “you’re wounded and being dragged by a compadre and must fend off chasing enemies with a pistol—and familiar environments, including the Middle East. There’s night vision, ghillie suits, aircraft strikes of all kinds, and close combat, all the things that COD fans cherished from the original MW series.
And … I don’t know. As I griped previously in Another Black Ops? Call of Duty is Stuck in the Past, Activision’s inability to push COD forward has led to the franchise getting stuck in the past. It’s become the Marvel Universe of gaming, the same thing over and over again.
BO4 was notable almost solely because it introduced a battle royale game mode in response to the success of Fortnite, which is stealing away players, media attention, and dollars, and has jumpstarted the e-sports industry in ways that, frankly, COD should have capitalized on first. Worse, it ruined the year-long value for those of us, like me, who prefer traditional multiplayer and expect regular, and high-quality, map drops. It’s been very light, and many of the “new” maps are just reimagined versions of existing maps with different weather. Come on.
The new MW, meanwhile, promises a more traditional experience of multiplayer, campaign, and co-op gameplay … and that’s about it. If you peruse the Call of Duty website, you’ll discover almost nothing about the new game at all. Other than its release date, October 24, and that it will come in five editions for some reason, three of which are digital.
I assume we’ll learn more at E3. But with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 doing everything it can to drive away traditional COD fans like myself, I’m a bit leery of the next one. Again.
Tagged with Call of Duty
The move means iOS users are now free to download bigger apps and games from the App Store. Larger files such as films can also be downloaded from the iTunes Store, in addition to video podcasts.
The idea behind Apple’s download limit is that it stops users from accidentally eating up all of their data allowance. But with no override option and in a world where most people either have unlimited data or lots of it, a 200MB limit really doesn’t make much sense.
It’ll also be interesting to see what Apple does next year when it launches the first 5G iPhones and data consumption suddenly rockets. After all, the faster data speeds mean you’ll be able to download a Full-HD movie in just 10 seconds, but if Apple doesn’t remove its download cap, you won’t even be able to start the download, ultimately limiting one of 5G's biggest benefits.
If you were hoping for some undead action in Call of Duty Modern Warfare then you're out of luck, as there's no zombies mode in the latest Call of Duty. Campaign Gameplay Director Jacob Minkoff dropped the news in an interview with Playstation Lifestyle, saying that "we’re trying to create an authentic, realistic feeling world. We don’t have the flexibility to do something like put zombies in the game. That would compromise the feeling of playing in a world that feels realistic and authentic and relative to today’s conflicts and things we face".
From the sounds of it, this year's Call of Duty is leaning hard into the realism angle, and we thankfully haven't yet got to the stage of human history where glowing-eyed zombies are a reality thanks to a virus/curse/alien invasion. Minkoff mentioned that previous games like Black Ops 4 included zombies "because they focus on more of the stylized, graphic novel, super-hero experience, [so] they can have the much more ‘out there’ different types of gameplay in their games", whereas Modern Warfare is dealing with (perhaps) uncomfortably realistic issues like the terrorist cell al-Qaeda.
For Treyarch it sounds like there was simply no way to make a zombies mode work alongside real-life issues like terrorism, as according to Minkoff when it comes to gameplay and story progression in particular "knowing that we needed to keep it more similar across the different modes, we decided to really lean into that, and make it completely continuous". Looks like even without a zombies mode there's still going to be plenty to keep you busy in Modern Warfare, and we'll just have to wait until October 25 to see it in action.
For more Call of Duty Modern Warfare info, here's everything we know about the Call of Duty Modern Warfare season pass, or look below to see what we thought of the game!
When AMD launched its third-gen Zen 2-based Ryzen processors, it also introduced the next generation PCIe 4.0 controllers. Now, Gigabyte has launched one of the first PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs that shows the incredible speed potential of the new tech. The AORUS NVMe Gen4 SSD can hit up to 5,000MB/s read speeds and 4,400 MB/s write performance. That's about 56 percent faster read and over double the write speeds of Samsung's 970 EVO, currently one of the fastest NVMe SSDs on the market.
Gigabyte isn't the only company to launch a PCI 4.0 SSD, as Corsair also unveiled the MP600 NVMe SSD with very similar performance. Both products use the Phison PS5016-E16 controller and 3D TLC (triple-level cell) NAND flash memory chips (from Toshiba, in the case of the AORUS).
The AURUS NVMe Gen4 SSD has a full body copper heat spreader, indicating that things might get pretty hot when it hits those top speeds. Gigabyte claims that the heatsink reduces temperatures by about 14 percent.
The drive will come in 1TB and 2TB sizes and the only way to get the most out of it, for now, will be to buy Gigabyte's X570 motherboard and one of the new Ryzen processors. Everything, including the AORUS SSD, motherboard and Ryzen chips will arrive sometime in July. There's no price, but given that this is a bleeding edge product, expect to be one of the more expensive NVMe SSDs available.
