Daily Tech News and Updates: May 2020

Sunday 31 May 2020

Google Stands in Support of Racial Equality: Sundar Pichai

Google stands in support of racial equality and all those who search for it, Indian-American CEO of the technology giant Sunder Pichai said on Sunday.

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SpaceX Crew Dragon Delivers Two Astronauts to International Space Station

Nearly 24 hours after launching from Florida, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule delivered NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station on Sunday, marking the first US space capsule to do so with a crew since 2011.

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Amazon UK Removes Racist Messages After They Appear on Some Product Listings

Amazon.com said it was removing certain images after messages using extremely strong racist abuse appeared on some listings on its UK website when users searched for Apple's AirPods and other similar products.

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Armed with disinfectant and admonishments, South Korean robot fights coronavirus spread

A self-driving robot equipped with cameras and an LED screen greets visitors at the lobby in the headquarters of South Korea's largest mobile operator, checking their temperature, dispensing hand sanitiser and disinfecting the floor.

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The best prepared meal delivery services to use for 2020: Home Chef, Freshly, Home Bistro, Gobble and more - CNET

No-fuss, oven-ready meal kits.

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Google's Sodar to help maintain social distancing - is it needed though?

As lockdowns are being replaced by unlock across India, the importance of social distancing as a means to curb contact spread of Covid-19 assumes greater importance. Google has now stepped in with an augmented reality based app that could help maintain safe distance.

The SODAR is currently available on Android phones. Users can simply open the Chrome browser and go to the webpage to get started. At present users do not need to download anything though it doesn't work on iOS or even on older Android devices.

The phone starts using the augmented reality of the map around your location and then does a superimposition of a two meter radius circle on the camera's view. So, once you are logged on, you are constantly monitoring the camera on your phone.

While testing it out, I found the accuracy to be in the acceptable range though one did feel at times that it wasn't exactly two meters that the screen seemed to suggest. Of course, the choice to move away from a person is completely yours as SODAR doesn't give instructions or even blink warning signals in case of violations.

Does it work better than the social distancing app called 1point5 (get it on Play Store) that the United Nations came up with to achieve the same outcomes? Most definitely as this app requires all users to be connected to Bluetooth, the same as India's own Aarogya Setu app.

Google's SODAR doesn't require users to install anything nor people around them to carry their smartphones with Bluetooth switched on. The augmented reality uses WebXR to visualise a two-meter radius on the map and sets up a virtual ring on the screen using the camera. Will it consume battery life? Only as much as a camera does.

Does it all make sense?

How useful is this tool likely to be during the next phase of Covid-19 unlocking? Not very, I'm afraid as any person who is concerned about maintaining a safe distance would definitely not need their phone to tell them about the safety zone. That's why eyes are there for, isn't it?

While the technology used is far better than what existing apps have come up with in the form of Bluetooth beacons, the fact remains that running the camera all the time through a crowded lane isn't exactly going to help users avoid contact. What's more it could prove a recipe for contact with others as the human body isn't exactly geared with equipment that auto-steers us out of harm's way.

So, this one looks like an intellectual exercise undertaken by "Experiments with Google" that has created interesting and often eye-popping stuff using Chrome though not many of them have passed muster at usability level.

India's Covid-19 tracing app may not be in good health

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India rejects Walmart-owned Flipkart’s proposed foray into food retail business

The Indian government has rejected Flipkart’s proposal to enter the food retail business in a setback for Walmart, which owns majority of the Indian e-commerce firm and which recently counted its business in Asia’s third-largest economy as one of the worst impacted by the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), a wing of the nation’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, told Flipkart, which competes with Amazon India, that its proposed plan to enter the food retail business violates regulatory guidelines.

Flipkart’s proposed food retail business, called Flipkart FarmerMart, cannot be structured on a 100% foreign direct investment, the Indian agency said. Rajneesh Kumar, chief corporate affairs officer at Flipkart, told TechCrunch that the company was evaluating the agency’s response and intended to re-apply.

“At Flipkart, we believe that technology and innovation driven marketplace can add significant value to our country’s farmers and food processing sector by bringing value chain efficiency and transparency. This will further aid boosting farmers’ income & transform Indian agriculture,” he added.

While announcing the plan to enter the nation’s growing food retail market, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Flipkart Group CEO, said in October last year that the company planned to invest $258 million in the new venture.

Flipkart planned to invest deeply in the local agriculture-ecosystem, supply chain, and work with tens of thousands of small farmers, their associations, and the nation’s food processing industry, Krishnamurthy said. The food retail unit would help “multiply farmers’ income and bring affordable, quality food for millions of customers across the country.”

Several e-commerce and grocery firms in India, including Amazon, Zomato, and Grofers, have previously secured approval from New Delhi, which earlier permitted 100% foreign direct investment in food and a handful of other sectors, for entering the food retail business.

The Indian government has since revisited the guidelines to clarify that food retail, like any other e-commerce sector, can only operate as a marketplace that allows third-party sellers to engage with buyers — and not offer their own inventories, nor have equity in any of the players who sell on the platform.

Food and grocery are compelling categories for e-commerce businesses in India as it enables them to engage with their customers more frequently. According to research firm Forrester, India’s online food and grocery market remain significantly tiny, accounting for just 1% of the overall sales.

In the most recent quarterly earnings call, Walmart said limited operations at Flipkart had negatively affected the group’s overall growth. New Delhi announced one of the world’s stringent lockdowns across the nation in late March that restricted Amazon and Flipkart from delivering in many states and only sell “essential items” such as grocery and hygienic products.

India maintains the stay-at-home orders for its 1.3 billion citizens, though it has eased some restrictions in recent weeks to resuscitate the economy.

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Samsung to add new memory chip line in South Korea as COVID-19 boosts demand

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Monday it has begun construction of a new domestic production line for NAND flash memory chips, betting on demand for personal computers and servers as the coronavirus prompts more people to work from home.

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The best meat delivery services in 2020: Omaha Steaks, Porter Road, Crowd Cow and more - CNET

Explore your options for high-quality beef, pork, chicken and seafood all delivered to your door.

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UFC 250: Nunes vs Spencer -- Start time, full fight card, how to watch or stream online - CNET

For fans of MMA, UFC 250 is a surprisingly stacked card.

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Facebook takes on Twitter with 'Venue', an app for live events

Facebook, which seems to be on an app launching spree, has rolled out 'Venue', a new iOS and Android app through which it hopes to "bring passionate fans and expert commentators together to experience live events in a new interactive way."

Facebook's Venue will look to capitalize on the emphasis around live streams that has been spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Venue is aimed to provide an interactive second-screen experience for live events like Twitter does naturally.

The new app was understandably rolled out for NASCAR races earlier today. NASCAR is among the first major sports to return to events in the US despite lacking that ability to host a live audience.

Screenshots of Facebook Venue

Launched by Facebook's New Product Experimentation Team, the app isn’t meant to live stream the events it features but instead will serve as a platform where users can openly talk about them as they happen.

It allows users to engage with content from expert commentators like journalists, analysts, or ex-athletes during an event as updates funnel into the app in real-time in the form of notifications called 'Moments.

Fans are notified whenever a new 'Moment' is created so that they can hop in and out of Venue if they want to. With Venue, fans can stop scrolling or searching to find the exact moment everyone is reacting to, Facebook said.

Live broadcasts still offer the rare opportunity for millions of people to consume content simultaneously. Despite drawing large concurrent viewership, live broadcasts are still a mostly solo viewing experience, Facebook added.

On Twitter, everyone chips in during a live event. On Facebook, the commentators and experts chosen for a given event hosted in Venue will chime in with their takes.

For instance, today's NASCAR's races, social media personality, @nascarcasm, hosted Venue.

Second-screening has become very pivotal for live events, especially sports. A research study from Facebook a few years back said that about 94% of viewers keep a smartphone on hand while watching live TV.

With Venue, fans can then split their attention between the ongoing event and their phones.

Most of the social interaction platforms have been trying to figure out the best case for this, but as of now Twitter seems to be ahead.

An early opinion on Venue by a Twitter user was not all that flattering.

Venue is the third app launched by Facebook in under a week. This is after a collaborative music video creation app was launched to take on TikTok as well as another for voice-only group calls.

Facebook's new enterprise virtual reality platform is here

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Australia's first 1000Mbps consumer NBN plan is here – and it's just AU$149 a month

Internet service provider Aussie Broadband has just launched access the NBN’s latest and fastest consumer NBN speed tier, a 1Gbps service offering unlimited downloads at speeds of up to 1000Mbps, and selling for a surprisingly affordable AU$149 a month.

With a download speed of 1Gbps, this brand new 1000/50 tier is set to be four times faster than what was previously available to consumers, with top speeds formerly maxing out at 250Mbps.

Given Aussie Broadband is the first in the market to offer NBN 1000, the ISP has warned it's as yet unable to provide definitive numbers on peak evening speeds, with managing director Phillip Britt saying it is a “best effort service”.

“We think that the plan should achieve off-peak speeds of up to 80-90%, depending on the technology type,” says Britt.

“For the moment, we will be advising customers our peak evening speeds for our 250Mbps plans as a baseline until we have collated enough data from our own network testing.”

With the peak evening speeds for Aussie Broadband's NBN250 plans currently listed as 215Mbps, that means you'll be getting these speeds at the very least – but it'll likely be a lot faster.

Even if the peak evening speed is just 215Mbps, this NBN 1000 plan will far outpace Aussie Broadband’s NBN 100 deal, which promises a typical evening speed of 86Mbps.

Can you get it?

Before rushing to sign up though, there are a couple of caveats you should be aware of. Namely, the plan is only available on two types of NBN connection – fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC). And while all FTTP connections can sign up for 1000Mbps, that speed will only work with a select subset of HFC installations – estimated to be roughly 7% of the total.

To see what’s available in your area, check your address on Aussie Broadband's website – note that you may need to select 'Build your own' to see the higher-speed 250Mbps and 1000Mbps plans.

Aussie is also recommending eligible customers get themselves a Wi-Fi router that will be able to cope with the super-fast speeds, going so far as to suggest the Google Nest Wifi, as standard modems may not be able to handle distribution of that higher download bandwidth around the home.

If you're connected via HFC but have found you can't access that 1000Mbps tier, there is some slightly consoling news: Aussie Broadband has dropped the prices on its 250Mbps plans to make them more competitive with this new 1Gbps offering.

The ISP has announced its mainstream NBN 250/25 unlimited plan will fall from AU$169 to AU$129 each month, while the NBN 250/100 unlimited plan (for users who need extra upload bandwidth) has been reduced from AU$219 to AU$209.

FTTN NBN is the worst NBN, according to the ACCC

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This is the cheapest 17-inch touchscreen laptop around - and it's surprisingly well kitted out

Touchscreens are probably better suited to large laptops than small when it comes to collaborative working, so we went in search of the best available option.

The HP Laptop-17Z is the most affordable 17-inch touchscreen laptop on the market, available at the time of writing for only $569.99 (roughly £465/AU$855).

Aimed primarily at SMBs, the laptop comes with an AMD A9-9425 dual-core processor with Radeon R5 graphics, 8GB of RAM and a 17.3-inch SVA touchscreen display with a resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels.

Check out our list of the best business laptops on the market
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It also features a 1TB SATA hard disk drive, 41Whr battery, dedicated numeric keypad, DVD writer (remember these), an HP TrueVision HD camera with digital microphone and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

However, an even better HP Laptop-17Z deal can be had for $598.99 (roughly £485/AU$900). It features an AMD Athlon Silver 3050U with Radeon graphics, a processor that’s more than twice as fast as the A9-9425, 8GB of RAM, a 2TB hard disk drive - plus a more business-oriented Jet Black color scheme.

An Athlon-based laptop opens a few additional doors beyond simple web surfing and content streaming. Despite its business focus, the laptop can also be used for gaming at HD+ resolutions for much longer periods; HP claims the device can last for up to eight hours.

Other features include a Gigabit Ethernet LAN, card reader, three USB ports and an HDMI connector. For an additional $96, you can also upgrade to a 3-year warranty that includes accidental damage, which will also net you a full rebate if it can't be repaired.

Here's our list of the best mobile workstations around

Bear in mind

If this product isn't available in your region, you may have to use a specialist parcel forwarding service if you want to take advantage of the deal.
If you've managed to get hold of a cheaper product with equivalent specifications, in stock and brand new, let us know and we'll tip our hat to you.

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Singapore’s micromobility startup Beam raises $26 million

Beam, a Singapore-headquartered micromobility firm that offers shared e-scooters, has raised $26 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its footprint in Korea, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Taiwan.

Sequoia India and Hana Ventures led the two-and-a-half-year-old startup’s Series A financing round, while several more investors from Asia Pacific region participated, Beam said without disclosing their names. The startup has raised $32.4 million to date, a spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Beam, like Bounce and Yulu in India, offers electric scooters in the aforementioned five markets. Electric and gasoline scooters have become popular in several Asian nations and elsewhere as people look for alternative transportation mediums to move around faster and at less cost.

While these vehicles make inroads into various markets, it’s also not uncommon to find these scooters abandoned carelessly in the streets. Beam said unlike other startups, it incentivizes its riders through in-app offers to park the scooters at predetermined spots.

“I’m really excited about our new technology and its ability to reduce the problems associated with randomly scattered scooters around a city. This helps us to further improve our industry-leading vehicle retention rates, reduce operational costs, and most importantly, benefits communities by keeping city streets neater,” said Beam co-founder and chief executive Alan Jiang.

Beam, which did not disclose how many customers it has amassed, will use the fresh capital to grow its operational and engineering focus and grow deeper in its existing markets, it said. It will also “accelerate” the launch of its third-generation e-scooter, the Beam Saturn, which features swappable batteries, improved build, to more markets, it said.

Abheek Anand, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital India, said Beam’s collaboration with regulators, technology, and insights into the transportation landscape stand to give it an edge in the Asia Pacific region.

The startup’s fundraising comes at a time when many young firms, especially those operating in transportation category, in Asia are struggling to raise capital. Beam said it had implemented stringent cleaning and operations practices to limit the possibility of virus transmission to allay riders’ concern.

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The fun never stops in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It's a problem - CNET

Commentary: Nintendo's smash hit is good at making you feel relaxed -- and great at keeping you hooked.

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Is there a June rent freeze, and can landlords evict tenants? Laws, late fees and what to do - CNET

Learn about your current rights and find resources for financial relief if you're concerned about being able to pay your rent this month or in the future.

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PlayStation 5 games reveal event June 4: How to watch, start time and what to expect - CNET

Sony's PlayStation division will unveil games for its new console coming this fall.

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Best weighted blanket for 2020: Layla, Gravity, Bearaby and more - CNET

These are some of the most stylish and well-rated weighted blankets you can buy.

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Best Verizon phone for 2020 - CNET

Hand-picked by CNET editors, these are the best phones available from Verizon.

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Watch The Lord of the Rings Zoom reunion with Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler and more - CNET

The cast from Middle Earth reunited (apart) nearly two decades after the end of the film trilogy.

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How to watch Rick and Morty season 4, episode 10 - stream the finale online from anywhere

Anyone waiting for new Rick and Morty episodes after season 4 went on hiatus just before Christmas could be forgiven for getting a bit antsy in 2020. After all, it was radio silence for much of the year. Fortunately, we were all finally rewarded with new episodes of the madcap cartoon series this May - just when we need them now. Now, though, the good times are coming to an end again. Read on as we explain how to watch the Rick and Morty season 4 finale online and stream episode 10 wherever you are this week.

Yes, the bizarre show has helped us get through some equally bizarre times. The part 2 trailer promised us all the unpredictability and madcap adventures we've come to expect, including manga-style superhero outfits, electrocutions, and light sabres. Perhaps the latter should have come as no surprise given that the first new episode of Rick and Morty season 4 - episode 6 'Never Ricking Morty' - was first released on May 3, just 24 hours before Star Wars Day 2020, in the United States.

Now, things appear to be coming full circle and we're only waiting on the Rick and Morty season 4 finale - episode 10, 'Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri'.

Created by Dan Harmon (of Community fame) and Justin Roiland, the show originated from a short parody of Back to the Future and first aired back in 2013. Since then, it graduated from its original cult status and grown to a show that counts the likes of Taika Waititi, Elon Musk and Liam Cunningham as some of its guest stars.

Not bad going for a permanently sozzled mad scientist and his naive 14-year-old grandson, really? For anyone totally new to the show, those are the titular characters of Rick and Morty, respectively.

Will the wait have been worth it? We reckon so - read on and discover how to watch Rick and Morty season 4 and stream every new part 2 episode including tonight's finale no matter where you are in the world right now.

Need to catch-up? Here's how to watch every season of Rick and Morty

How to watch Rick and Morty from outside your country

Below we'll take yo through your Rick and Morty streaming options for various regions around the world, where you can see it for free in the likes of the US and UK. Those who already have a streaming service they use to watch Rick and Morty online may find themselves unable to access it when abroad, due to pesky geo-blocking restrictions. We know, we know - most people aren't going anywhere anytime soon right now. But global travel will one day resume and, god forbid, you may even be stuck abroad.

Fortunately, there's an easy solution to geo-blocking. Downloading a VPN will allow you to watch Rick and Morty no matter where you are. This simple bit of software changes your IP address so that you can access episodes on demand.

Watch Rick and Morty season 4, episode 10 in the US with Sling TV

We'll cut right to the chase because, like us, you've been waiting for part 2 of Rick and Morty season 4 for a while now. Your patience has paid off, however, as you can watch new episodes for less than ever courtesy of Sling TV and, more specifically, its Sling Orange package. This includes the Cartoon Network (and therefore Adult Swim in the evenings), costs just $20 a month for the first month.

Alternatively, read on and we'll explain all the other ways you can watch Rick and Morty season 4 in the US and beyond.

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Where else to watch Rick and Morty season 4 in the US

How to watch Rick and Morty season 4 FREE in the UK

How to watch Rick and Morty in Canada

How to watch Rick and Morty in Australia

Is Rick and Morty on Netflix?

In many countries, yes! For instance, Rick and Morty is one of the best Netflix UK shows around and - as we've just said - it's also available on Netflix Australia.

But Rick and Morty season 4 hasn't yet dropped on the servicea nywhere - and we don't really expect it to until part 2 has finished airing on Adult Swim.

Something more serious? Here's how to watch Normal People

Craving sport? Here's how to watch The Last Dance

Craving sport? Here's how to watch The Last Dance

Craving sport? Here's how to watch The Last Dance

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eBay's AU$99 Apple AirPods deal is back, headlining a huge 'Plus Month' June sale

[UPDATE: Monday, June 1 @ 10:20am]

The 10am allotment of Apple AirPods has (as expected) sold out in a flash, but there will be another 100 units on offer at 2pm, so if you missed out you can try your luck again this afternoon. Our original story continues below:

For the entire month of June, eBay is giving its Plus members access to exclusive daily deals on highly sought-after products, with savings of up to 80% on offer.

The online marketplace's 'Plus Month' event starts on Monday and runs through to the end of the month, with a new Plus-exclusive deal launching at 10am each day.

To kick it off, up for grabs from 10am next Monday (June 1) are the always-popular second-generation Apple AirPods, now going for just AU$99 – that’s a hefty 60% price cut from the RRP of AU$249.

Later this month, subscribers can also expect to see price drops on the AirPods Pro, the Nintendo Switch with Animal Crossing bundled in, and a half-price pre-order deal on The Last of Us 2 for PS4.

There will also be Plus-only deals from brands such as Xiaomi and Ecovacs, but there will be only one item carrying that jaw-dropping 80% discount – a SodaStream machine for the incredibly low price of just AU$19.

Snap it up

A word of warning: you'll likely have to be quick on the mouse to score these flash discounts, as demand has always been high in similar eBay sales previously.

However, even if you aren't interested in competing for those daily deals, Plus members will still able to access a variety of other discounts, including a flat 20% off a wide range of items on eBay starting Monday, June 15 – we’ll be listing all the juiciest tech bargains from this sale on our dedicated eBay deals page.

As mentioned, this is an eBay Plus-member exclusive sale, so you will need to be a subscriber to take advantage of these savings. If you haven’t signed up yet, new subscribers can get a free 30-day trial of the service.

If you decide to stick around, it will cost you AU$49 a year to carry on the membership, the perks of which include access to free returns on Plus items and, for this sale, free express metro delivery on millions of selected items.

Here's a preview of what to expect from some of those special daily deals:

Day	Product	eBay RRP	eBay Plus deal	Total discount
Mon, June 1	Apple AirPods (2019)	AU$249	AU$99	60%
Tue, June 2	Finish Powerball tablets (45 pack)	AU$88.90	AU$49	44%
Wed, June 3	Apple AirPods Pro	AU$399	AU$249	38%
Thu, June 4	Healthy Choice 12L Digital Air Fryer	AU$199	AU$99	50%
Fri, June 5	Ugg boots	AU$69	AU$50	28%
Tue, June 9	Xiaomi Mi Air Purifier 3H	AU$259.95	AU$179	31%
Sat, June 13	Bluey kids showbag	AU$39.95	AU$15	62%
Mon, June 15	Pre-order: The Last of Us 2 (PS4)	AU$99.95	AU$49	51%
Mon, June 15	Pre-order: Assetto Corsa Competizione (PS4)	AU$69.95	AU$41	41%
Tue, June 16	Ecovacs Deebot N79T	AU$279	AU$149	47%
Thu, June 18	Nintendo Switch w/ Animal Crossing	AU$549.90	AU$449	18%
Thu, June 25	SodaStream	AU$99	AU$19	80%

It all cracks off on Monday, June 1 at 10am.

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Netease aims to raise $2-$3 billion in Hong Kong listing

Chinese tech group Netease Inc aims to raise between $2 and $3 billion in one of the largest equity deals so far this year when it launches a secondary listing in Hong Kong on Monday, said three people familiar with the transaction.

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Justice League Snyder Cut: release date, Darkseid, trailer and everything we know

The Justice League Snyder Cut is real, and it's coming to HBO Max in 2021. The film is a new version of 2017's pretty bad Justice League movie, finished by its original director Zack Snyder, who left the project during production at the time for personal reasons. Expect a vastly different and far longer film this time, possibly split into episodes.

Originally intended as the DC Comics equivalent to Marvel's enormously successful Avengers films, Justice League was a follow-up to Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice that didn't feel like it was part of the same series of films. The Snyder Cut should correct this, but whether it'll be a great film or not is yet to be seen. Expect a fascinating finished result, though.

Here's what we know about the Justice League Snyder Cut so far, including its release date, budget, trailer and Darkseid's appearance in the movie.

What is the the Snyder Cut of Justice League?

The Snyder Cut is a new version of 2017's Justice League movie, which is coming to the new streaming service HBO Max in 2021. It's the movie as envisioned by original director Zack Snyder, who left production halfway through to deal with a personal tragedy along with his wife and producing partner, Deborah Snyder.

Avengers director Joss Whedon stepped in to help finish the film, which was ultimately a critical and commercial flop. Justice League was mocked extensively for its reshot scenes featuring Henry Cavill's CG'd upper lip, the result of him being forced to retain a mustache during reshoots to finish filming Mission Impossible: Fallout.

Following Justice League's release, fans started petitioning to release the Snyder cut of the film, with actors Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck joining in on an extensive hashtag campaign. In December 2019, Snyder confirmed the cut was real in a post on social media network Vero.

In early February 2020, a group of Warner executives went to Snyder's house to watch a cut of the movie, and to figure how much finishing it will cost, according to a THR interview with the director. Warner greenlit the project and announced it for HBO Max in May 2020, and the Snyders have begun the process of finishing the movie, which involves rehiring their original post-production crew. As well as being edited and scored differently, it's possible actors will return to record more dialogue. Extensive effects work will be required to finish the Snyder Cut, too.

The Justice League Snyder Cut could be released on HBO Max as a nearly four hour-long movie, or as a series of episodes, based on that same report. Snyder believes that maybe a quarter of his work ended up in the final cut. Expect an entirely new movie at the end of it.

The finished film should feel like a more suitable follow-up to Man of Steel and Batman Vs Superman. "This movie was the culmination of a hero’s journey that all these characters went on," producer Deborah Snyder told THR. "And the idea was always to build them up to be the heroes people expected them to be." Hopefully, it'll make for a more satisfying viewing experience generally.

The finished result of 2017's Justice League is likely a more complicated matter than being a single person's fault, though. In this interview with Holt McCallany, who briefly appears in Justice League as a criminal chased by Batman across Gotham's rooftops, he mentions his scene was re-edited at the behest of the studio and not director Joss Whedon.

Justice League Snyder Cut release date: 2021 on HBO Max

The Justice League Snyder Cut release date is set for 2021 on HBO Max. There are no more specifics right now on that front.

Justice League Snyder Cut: Darkseid first look revealed by Zack Snyder

The DC Comics villain Darkseid has been confirmed for the Snyder Cut of the film. Zack Snyder tweeted out a slightly blurry first look at the character above.

Justice League Snyder Cut trailer: does one exist?

Not for this particular cut, no. The above trailer, though, which was released at San Diego Comic Con 2016 while Snyder was still filming Justice League, probably gives the best look at what the director and producing partner Deborah Snyder had in mind before they left the project.

It's not as tonally wonky as the finished product, but it's still a lot lighter than Batman vs Superman was. The Barry Allen introduction scene above is one of the best parts of the original film.

What is the Justice League Snyder Cut budget?

The Snyder Cut budget hasn't been confirmed, but it's upwards of $30 million. WarnerMedia's chairman Bob Greenblatt spoke to Vox's Recode Media podcast on the matter. "I'll just say I wish it was just $30 million, and stop there!"

Will the Justice League Snyder Cut be any good, though?

Zack Snyder's DC Comics movies have proved enormously divisive, but they're singular creations that stand apart from the Marvel movies. We're not convinced an amazing movie is waiting for us, here, but it can't be worse than the version of Justice League we have now. Besides, Snyder deserves his shot at finishing this film, given the circumstances that led to his original exit.

The Batman: what do we know about 2021's Batman movie?

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Galaxy S20, S20 Plus and S20 Ultra specs vs. Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus: What's new and what's different - CNET

Samsung's Galaxy S20 phones are available now. Here's what's different from last year's Galaxy S10.

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iPhone screenshots: How to capture your screen every time - CNET

We'll tell you exactly which buttons to press, no matter which iPhone model you have.

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Sony Xperia 1 II review: I shot an entire short film with this phone - CNET

With a $1,200 price tag, Sony's new flagship brings more mirrorless camera features to your pocket.

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Amazon UK website defaced with racist abuse

The online giant blames a "bad actor" for the language appearing alongside multiple product listings.

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Intel Xe DG1 graphics card 3DMark leak again suggests AMD and Nvidia won’t be troubled

Intel’s Xe DG1 graphics card has been spotted in a 3DMark benchmark, or at least the rumor mill believes that result is for Intel’s first crack at a discrete GPU.

As ever, we shouldn’t read too much into this given that it is just speculation that this is DG1, although the source is a reliable one, the ever-present TUM_APISAK. But even if the leak is on the money, remember that this is an early sample GPU, and won’t reflect the exact performance Intel may achieve with the final product.

At any rate, the purported DG1 graphics cards scored 5,538 in 3DMark’s Fire Strike test (paired with an Intel Core i9-9900K processor) and hit a graphics score of 5,960.

That’s not a massively impressive result, but as we’ve already mentioned, it must be treated with caution. It’s in the ballpark of a graphics card as old as the GeForce GTX 750 Ti, albeit a bit faster than that veteran GPU (which scored 5,402 for graphics in a 3DMark result highlighted on Twitter).

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As Wccftech, which spotted this, observes, it’s a fair way behind the GTX 1050 to pick out another example from Nvidia’s line-up – that previous-gen budget card is around 500 points to 800 points better than the DG1 depending on which 3DMark result you look at.

No cause for concern?

Anyhow, you get the idea – and as with a previous Geekbench result, which showed that the DG1 wasn’t much better than Nvidia’s low-end MX250, the overall vibe thus far is that Intel’s initial product is not going to be causing either AMD or Nvidia any sleepless nights.

That said, at least this new 3DMark leak shows the Intel GPU comfortably outdoing the likes of the MX350, by around a third in terms of that graphics score in fact.

Further remember that Intel’s first GPU is likely to be a testing the waters affair, and as we’ve previously heard via the rumor mill, it’s going to be a mobile part – in other words, a graphics card for laptops, not a GPU for a desktop PC. With further development, perhaps it could start to worry Intel’s rivals at least in the notebook arena – particularly when combined with the potential of Xe integrated graphics with Intel’s Tiger Lake mobile processors.

These are the best graphics cards of 2020

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You can buy a face mask right now from any of these online stores - CNET

Now that stores and restaurants are reopened in many states, they may require you to wear a face mask before entering. Check out these online stores selling masks and cloth coverings in many designs, patterns and colors.

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Amazon is discontinuing its Echo Look fashion advice gadget

Here's another reminder that the gadgets you buy aren't necessarily going to be supported forever: Amazon has decided to discontinue its Echo Look smart speaker/camera device, and existing Looks will stop working on July 24.

As reported by Voicebot.ai, people who've bought an Echo Look should already have been notified about the move, and a lot of the functionality first offered by the device has since made its way into other Amazon apps and hardware.

If you've never heard of the Echo Look before, the smart camera worked together with your phone and some computer learning magic to give you an assessment of how good your outfits looked.

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The device and its companion app could also help you keep track of what you wore when, and of course tapped into Amazon's various shopping services to help you pick out new outfits to suit you as and when needed.

Don't Look now

"When we introduced Echo Look three years ago, our goal was to train Alexa to become a style assistant as a novel way to apply AI and machine learning to fashion," Amazon said in an email to customers.

"Customers will still be able to enjoy style advice from Alexa through the Amazon Shopping app and other Alexa-enabled devices. We look forward to continuing to support our customers and their style needs with Alexa."

According to Android Central, at least some Echo Look owners are being given discount codes to get an Echo Show 5 for free, though that hasn't been confirmed by Amazon. The Echo Show devices can to some extent duplicate the functionality of the Echo Look.

While the Echo Look was hardly one of Amazon's biggest sellers, it's interesting to see the company abandoning an Alexa-enabled product even as it continues to get the smart assistant pushed into as many new devices as possible.

The best Alexa Skills and commands 2020: the ultimate in Amazon Echo tips and tricks

Via Engadget

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NASA Astronauts Behnken, Hurley Head for ISS on Historic SpaceX Flight

Two veteran NASA astronauts were headed for the International Space Station on Saturday after Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first commercial company to launch a rocket carrying humans into orbit, ushering in a new era in space travel.

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Need a live football fix? Watch live matches ahead of the Premier League's return

For football fans the past three months have been a strange, quiet time. What should have been another dramatic climax to an action-packed and VAR-influenced season was cut down in its prime back in early March.

While the English Premier League doesn't return until June 17, there's good news if you can't wait for Premier League football to restart.

You can treat your sporting soul to live games from around the world. Some of the top leagues are back playing right now, and you can even watch some of them live from the comfort of your home.

Sky Sports and BT Sport reveal what the Premier League restart means for your bills

Germany – Bundesliga

Germany's top-flight league, The Bundesliga, is one of the best leagues in the world, with giants such as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund on the fixture list and a host of world-class players.

The German Bundesliga restarted on May 16, 2020 and its bumper fixture list has games running through to the new season end date of June 27, 2020.

What's more, it's possible to watch live Bundesliga games. In the UK, BT has the rights to German football, allowing you to watch every game that's left of this season live on TV if you subscribe to the BT Sport channels.

You don't need a TV to watch BT Sport – if you're a subscriber you can also use the BT Sport app to watch the action, and it can be cast to a compatible display.

No BT, or outside the UK? Bundesliga live stream: how to watch every match

South Korea – K-League 1

South Korea’s top-tier of football, K-League 1, was the first to kick-off post-pandemic, with its initial return match between Jeonbuk Motors and Suwon Bluewings being played on May 8, 2020 – and it was live streamed on Twitter and YouTube for the world to see.

The game gave us our first glimpse of top-flight football behind closed doors, with empty stands and the handful of coaches, officials and TV crews on the sidelines all wearing face masks.

Being able to catch more live K-League 1 games outside of Korea isn't quite so easy, but YouTube Channel Copa90 is handpicking a game each week to stream live.

Spain – La Liga

Spain's La Liga – featuring greats such as Barcelona and Real Madrid – is set to kick off a few days ahead of the English Premier League, which means you'll be able to warm yourself up with some Spanish football.

The competition has been given the green light by the Spanish government to resume from June 8, and the good news for Sky subscribers in the UK is it looks like you'll be able to watch the rest of the La Liga season for free.

According to reports, Sky TV customers will be able to to activate the Premier Sports channel for free throughout June. However, there is a catch. You'll want to remember to cancel the channel once the month is up, as from July, you'll be charged a monthly fee of £5.99 to keep the channel as part of your package.

La Liga live stream: how to watch Spanish football online from anywhere

England – Premier League

This is the league you're likely waiting for, and the good news is the wait is almost over. The English Premier League will restart on June 17, 2020 with two games taking place; Manchester City vs Arsenal and Aston Villa vs Sheffield United.

Of the 92 remaining Premier League fixtures for the 2019/2020 season, Sky has confirmed that it will show 64 of the games live, with 25 of those being made available on Sky Pick – a free-to-air channel available on Freeview. That means you won’t need a Sky Sports subscription to watch those 25 games – but you will need one if you want to catch all 64 live games it will be showing.

A further 20 games will be shown live by BT, but there's no word on whether any will be made free-to-air. That means you'll likely need a BT Sport subscription to watch these 20 games.

Another four games will be shown live on Amazon Prime Video, while the BBC has snapped up the final four fixtures, which will be available free-to-air, without any subscription required.

Premier League 19/20 live stream: how to watch every game online

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Amazon removes racist messages after they appear on some product listings

Amazon.com Inc said it was removing certain images after messages using extremely strong racist abuse appeared on some listings on its UK website when users searched for Apple's AirPods and other similar products.

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These are 7 used tech items you never want to buy or sell - CNET

Whether you're trying to make or save a little money, we've rounded up the electronics you should reconsider, and what you should know before buying used gear.

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SpaceX launch: live stream video, liftoff replay and docking time with ISS

The SpaceX launch live stream video concludes with the capsule docking with the ISS (International Space Station) Sunday, almost exactly 19 hours after Saturday's liftoff.

Docking takes place today, May 31 at 10:29am EDT, according to SpaceX, with the two NASA astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, preparing for a stay of up to three months. It's going to make for some exciting video to watch.

What time is the SpaceX capsule docking with ISS in your region of the world? How can you watch yesterday's SpaceX launch video if you missed the liftoff live stream? We have a full list of otherworldly videos below, as well as the global docking times.

SpaceX docking time with ISS

The SpaceX Dragon capsule will dock with the International Space Station at 10:29am EDT (local liftoff timezone). Around the continental US, that's 9:29am CDT / 8:29am MDT, 7:29am PDT (local time zone for SpaceX's home in Hawthorne, California).

In the UK, the docking time will be 3:29pm BST, and in Australia it'll be just beyond midnight on Monday, 12:29am AEST.

We suggests tuning into the docking live stream early before it approaches ISS.

Best SpaceX video replays

All of the important SpaceX video replays are below.

Both SpaceX and NASA are providing a bunch of footage – both live video and video replays – to capture this space mission. Here are the best videos to check out.

1. SpaceX live stream

The interior cameras were off for several hours while Doug and Bob slept, but you should now be able to see them communicate with the SpaceX command center and tell you what they're eating in space for breakfast before they dock with ISS.

The live stream commentary is brilliant, insightful and inspiring regarding the future of commercial space travel.

2. SpaceX launch video replay – see the liftoff again

Liftoff happened at 3:22pm EDT Saturday, and it was spectacular, especially after a nine-year hiatus for NASA launches on US soil. You can rewatch the launch again.

3. SpaceX Falcon 9 booster returns to Earth

Just beyond the T-0 countdown, we saw the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster return to Earth – and land successfully. Having a reusable rocket is a huge milestone for the future of space travel when it comes to cost.

Commentators on the SpaceX live stream compared the Space Shuttle era rockets falling into the ocean (and being scrapped) as throwing away an airplane engine every time a plane pulled into an airport gate. It's a great analogy to explain why what SpaceX pulled off on Saturday was a huge deal for space exploration.

4. Falcon 9 second stage separates from Dragon capsule

Here's some great footage of the Falcon 9 second stage rocket separating from the Dragon Capsule and falling back to Earth.

5. NASA astronauts' first video transmission

Right now, NASA astronauts are above Earth in the SpaceX-made Dragon capsule as you read this (they'll be up there for 19 hours), and they're wearing SpaceX-designed spacesuits. The US government's Space Shuttle program ended nine years ago and the private SpaceX has picked up where NASA left off. It's a giant step for space exploration.

The first hours of Saturday's SpaceX livestream felt like deja vu if you watched the SpaceX live stream Wednesday. But unlike that first launch attempt, Saturday's launch countdown didn't stop at T-minus 17 minutes. Instead, history was made.

SpaceX launch video

It wasn't always clear that Saturday's launch would happen, even minutes before the launch window. "We are predicting a 50/50 shot of going this time," said NASA administrator NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine at the top of the SpaceX live stream. "But given the fact that we are in late May – in Florida – we have to take every shot that we can get." They're glad that they did, despite the gloomy forecast.

Saturday's SpaceX Demo-2 mission was a delayed and a second attempt, but it was always going to be historic, as it's happening at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It's the first such launch on US soil in nearly a decade – since NASA retired the Space Shuttle nine years ago. It's also the first time that a SpaceX reusable spacecraft has sent NASA astronauts into space. It's the birth of commercially-backed human space travel.

It's the birth of commercially-backed human space travel.

The destination of this SpaceX launch is the International Space Station (ISS) for a one- to four-month duration for NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, according to our friends over at Space.com.

SpaceX launch how to watch live stream

SpaceX launch – as it happened on Saturday, May 30

The official Demo-2 SpaceX launch time, Saturday, May 30 at 3:22pm EDT, so the times across the continental US were 2:22pm CDT / 1:22pm MDT / 12:22pm PDT.

The UK SpaceX launch time was 20:22 BST. In addition to tuning into the video live stream, you were able to go outside soon afterward and maybe catch a glimpse of the SpaceX-built spacecraft in the night sky at around 20:40 BST.

In Australia, it was already Sunday morning, with the new launch time occurring at 5:22am AEST.

SpaceX launch how to watch live stream

SpaceX launch weather concerns subsided

Up until the last few minutes of Saturday's SpaceX launch, weather was a concern. It wouldn't have been time, as we saw this play out on Wednesday: "The weather got us," admitted NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine in a somber 30-second Twitter video on Wednesday. "I know there was a lot of disappointment today."

Bridenstine went on to explain the reasoning behind what we all saw: the SpaceX launch was scrubbed just 17 minutes inside the launch window, with NASA hanging on until the last minutes in an effort to save its efforts. The weather didn't cooperate.

NASA has strict weather rules for clearing spacecraft launches and noted that three weather violations existed, including the chance of the craft triggering 'natural lightning'. If they would have been able to wait ten minutes beyond the countdown, they could have cleared those three violations, according to SpaceX and NASA officials.

Waiting even ten minutes wasn't an option, though. Both Saturday's successful launch and Wednesday's scrubbed launch had what's known as an 'instantaneous launch window', meaning due orbital mechanics a delay wasn't possible if the crew wanted to get to the International Space Station (ISS) on time and lock in accurately. Blame Newtown's law of universal gravity, if you'd like.

The good news is that everything technical with the SpaceX craft and NASA crew was 'go for liftoff' on both days when the hatch door successfully closed. Weather was the only concern, according to NASA during the live streams.

Even with all of the exceptional planning ahead of this SpaceX launch, NASA and SpaceX can't control the weather (not yet anyway). Florida, while normally sunny, does have frequent quick-moving thunderstorms (anyone who has ever visited nearby Disney World knows that), and that's what the crew faced Wednesday and most of Saturday until the final half-hour.

Another weather variable is the fact that the weather conditions need to be good everywhere this spacecraft might be. For example, if the crew had to abort anywhere along their ascent and come down, recovery crews would need to access the capsule, so it's more than just the immediate Florida launchpad that needs ideal weather.

What happened before the SpaceX launch

The live stream saw SpaceX founder Elon Musk visit suited-up astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken and exchange a few words before liftoff time. Sadly, there was no audio during this portion of the live stream on Wednesday.

Musk then greeted US Vice President Mike Pence, who is there to watch the launch, while President Donald Trump joined soon after. Hurley and Behnken traveled to the launch site in a Tesla Model X (Tesla being another company Musk founded). Both the President and Vice President returned to see the launch Saturday.

NASA continued to monitor the weather via data sensors around the launch site in an effort to get everything into 'the green position' on their maps. At the time, NASA said, "the weather is trending in the right direction," but as the countdown got to T-minus 17 minutes, favorability went the other direction.

This meant that the crew was seated in the capsule after crossing the crew access arm, and the crew arm had already retracted. Steam started to come off of the rocket before the launch was called off. It was that close to liftoff.

SpaceX launch time live stream

SpaceX spacecraft, SpaceX suits and NASA astronauts

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule, which sat atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff. It was situated on a launch pad at legendary Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida’s Cape Canaveral.

LC-39A was originally built for the Apollo missions and remodeled for the Space Shuttle program. Now it's home to the first space flight to send astronauts into space using a private aerospace company.

Hurley (the spacecraft commander) and Behnken (the joint operations commander) are NASA astronauts, engineers and both former members of US military (Hurley is a former marine, while Behnken was in the US Air Force).

The two-man NASA crew are not only be flying in a SpaceX-built spacecraft, but also outfitted in SpaceX pressurized suits, first shown off in 2017.

Your four-wheeled space ship: Tesla Model 3 price, news and features

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Saturday 30 May 2020

The TCL 10 Pro isn't the best phone of 2020, but it's exciting nevertheless

The TCL 10 Pro isn’t the best smartphone in the world - and in fact, it didn’t even break into our main list of the top 15 phones you can buy right now - but nevertheless, I'm excited to see it on virtual shop shelves.

The TCL 10 Pro received three stars out of five from TechRadar, and we called it “not a bad phone” with a further (and more damning) clarification that “you can get so much more for the money, whether you’re minded towards Android or iOS.”

For clarity, I didn’t review the TCL 10 Pro for TechRadar so I haven’t used the handset extensively, but I’m excited because this phone shows there’s still space for new entrants in the mobile market.

Welcome to a new contender

That quote from our review is quite damning, right? But that doesn't mean we want TCL to give up. In fact, I want TCL to see that criticism (and it’s not just us, a lot of our rival tech publications seem to agree with our review of the phone) and run further with a sequel.

TCL entering the phone game with its own branding is an exciting move. Previously, the company has produced handsets through its sub brands of Alcatel and BlackBerry, both of which catered to a very different niche than TCL is trying to target with the 10 Pro.

BlackBerry handsets under TCL haven't thrived, but they've consistently offered a business-focused experience that you can't really get anywhere else. Alcatel on the other hand has been consistently producing some of the best affordable phones on the market.

With the TCL brand becoming more and more recognized in the TV market, it makes sense for the company to apply the name - and the methodology associated with it - to smartphones too.

That methodology involves offering a quality product, but making some necessary cuts to ensure it comes in at an affordable price, which is what it has tried to do with the TCL 10 Pro.

The TCL 10 Pro isn't looking to compete with the very top-end handsets for a lower price. This isn’t going to be the phone you consider instead of a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra or iPhone 11 Pro Max, but it may be an alternative to a Samsung Galaxy A90 5G or even something like the OnePlus 8.

And while the TCL 10 Pro isn't entirely successful, with the experience of making that phone behind it, whatever comes next from TCL may be a true contender for the very best mid-range phone that money can buy.

No matter what, we now have another major manufacturer with a lot of money behind it - along with experience in the consumer tech market - going full throttle and developing 5G handsets for the mid-range mobile phone space.

That's exciting, and while I won't be recommending the TCL 10 Pro itself to people, I'm excited to see what the company is capable of doing next.

These are the very best smartphones you can buy right now

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Tracking your stimulus check with the IRS Get My Payment app? What you should know - CNET

The IRS' tracking tool for seeing the status of your economic stimulus check isn't completely straightforward. We'll show you how to use its online tracker and what information you need to have on hand.

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Your stimulus check holdup: 10 hurdles and form issues that could delay a payment - CNET

We've identified some possible reasons for a no-show stimulus check, if yours has yet to arrive.

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Supernatural: The next-generation keep-fit coach?

Will virtual reality fitness classes lead a revolution in home workouts - or is it a passing craze?

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Samsung aims to kill server CPUs with this special new SSD

At this week's OCP Global Summit, Samsung disclosed more information about a new type of solid state drive (SSD) it's working on - one that only makes sense in a data center context, for now.

When it comes to flash memory, the most common configuration in data centers worldwide is JBOF (or just a bunch of flash), which uses NVMe SSD storage attached to PCIe switches, processors and NICs (network interface cards). There are two rather significant issues with this system, to do with the lack of scalability of the storage controller and limited bandwidth; a classic case of too many middlemen.

EBOF - or Ethernet SSD Bunch of Flash, as Samsung puts it - aims to solve this issue by putting the Ethernet ports (two of them for redundancy) on the SSDs themselves.

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These are not your usual Ethernet ports, however, as each supports a staggering 25Gbps - about 25x what most Gigabit interfaces can achieve. Unsurprisingly, that's only available in a standard SSD (i.e. 2.5-inch), rather than the smaller M2 form factors.

Samsung claims the E-SSD drive will achieve PCIe Gen4x4 performance, or about 1500K IOPS at 4K random read. What’s even more spectacular, though, is that the performance of the drive scales in an almost linear fashion.

Based on the chart provided by the company, 24 NVMe drives will be about 7.5x faster than a single NVMe drive, whereas the same number of NVMe-oF SSDs will be about 23x faster than a single drive.

Removing the CPU, networking and other bottlenecks means lower latency, higher bandwidth, lower cost, better performance and potentially big TCO savings. Great news for data center operators, but not so great for everyone else in hardware procurement.

Here's our list of the best NAS drives and enclosures on the market

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What do I do if my economic stimulus check doesn't come? - CNET

If you're worried your check went to the wrong bank account or address, got lost or somehow is just missing, you're not alone wondering what to do now.

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Google Doodle slideshow celebrates Galapagos Islands - CNET

The archipelago is famous for inspiring Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.

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NASA-SpaceX mission, stuffed dinosaur float across Twitter - CNET

The historic manned launch from US soil inspires responses on the social media site. And a gravity-defying stuffed dino steals a heart or two.

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Is there a rent freeze in June? Can landlords evict tenants? Laws, late fees and what to do - CNET

Learn about your current rights and find resources for financial relief if you're concerned about being able to pay your rent this month or in the future.

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7 best blue-light blocking glasses to prevent eye fatigue - CNET

Protect your precious little corneas and look good while doing it.

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Friday 29 May 2020

Best AirPods accessories for 2020 - CNET

The Apple AirPods are a super popular iPhone accessory that have spurred a cottage industry of more accessories. Here are some of our top picks.

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Your stimulus check delivery: 10 dead ends and form issues that could delay a payment - CNET

We've identified some possible reasons for a no-show stimulus check, if yours has yet to arrive.

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Little-known Japanese CPU threatens to make Nvidia, Intel and AMD obsolete in HPC market

Sandia National Laboratories has announced it will be the first Department of Energy labs in the US to deploy the Fujitsu A64FX, the only ARM-based processor designed from ground up for HPC projects and supercomputers.

Fujitsu is known primarily for its business laptops, tablets and desktops, but is a behemoth in its own right when it comes to processors, having been in the business for well over half a century.

Launched in 2019, the CPU has 48 cores, a theoretical peak performance of 3.38 TFLOPS, runs at 2.2GHz and has 32GB HBM2 memory on the die itself.

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What makes it ideal for the HPC market is that it provides far higher bandwidth performance between memory and the CPU - up to 1TBps. Moving data to and from the CPU is the biggest obstacle by far to what researchers refer to as exascale computing.

What makes the A64FX even more exciting is that Fujitsu wants the technology to trickle down to hyperscalers and major cloud computing giants so that the masses can benefit too.

Given it is based on ARM architecture, it can (and has) run Linux distributions out of the box and even Microsoft Windows.

It is considered a general purpose CPU, but surpasses even GPUs from Nvidia and AMD on the all-important metric of performance per watt. Indeed, a 768-CPU prototype sits on top of the Green500 list - the leaderboard for supercomputers that deliver the most power per watt.

The A64FX was designed expressly to power the successor of Japan’s main supercomputer, the K, which was decommissioned back in August 2019.

Its replacement - the Fugaku - is expected to be 100 times faster when it launches later this year, will run on a Linux distribution called McKernel and will reach a staggering 400 petaflops. The aim is for it to be the first supercomputer to hit one exaflop when fully deployed with half a million processors buzzing.

Here's our list of the best bare metal hosting on the market

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Exclusive: Zoom plans to roll out strong encryption for paying customers

Video conferencing provider Zoom plans to strengthen encryption of video calls hosted by paying clients and institutions such as schools, but not by users of its free consumer accounts, a company official said on Friday.

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Marauding monkeys make off with coronavirus vials in India - CNET

The patients had to be tested again.

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The best prepared meal delivery services to use for 2020: Home Chef, Daily Harvest, Veestro, Gobble and more - CNET

No-fuss, oven-ready meal kits.

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Facebook's Zuckerberg defends decision to leave up 'inflamatory' Trump posts about Minnesota protests - CNET

President Trump's posts, which included a seeming threat of National Guard shooting citizens caught looting, were censored by Twitter. But not by Facebook.

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The best meat delivery services in 2020: Omaha Steaks, Thrive Market, Crowd Cow and more - CNET

Explore your options for high-quality beef, pork, chicken and seafood all delivered to your door.

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A popular encryption algorithm is being killed because it is too weak

The developers of two open source code libraries for Secure Shell, which is the protocol used by millions of computers to create encrypted connections, have decided to no longer support the Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA-1) due to growing security concerns.

As reported by Ars Technica, developers using the OpenSSH and Libssh libraries will no longer be able to use SHA-1 to digitally sign encryption keys going forward. In its release notes, OpenSSH explained why it will no longer support SHA-1, saying:

“It is now possible to perform chosen-prefix attacks against the SHA-1 algorithm for less than USD$50K. For this reason, we will be disabling the "ssh-rsa" public key signature algorithm by default in a near-future release. This algorithm is unfortunately still used widely despite the existence of better alternatives, being the only remaining public key signature algorithm specified by the original SSH RFCs.”

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SHA-1 is a cryptographic hash function that was first developed in 1995. It is used for producing hash “digests” which are each 40 hexadecimal characters long and these digests are meant to be distinct for every message, file and function that uses them.

Hash collisions

A collision is a cryptographic term used to describe when two or more inputs generate the same outputted digest and researchers began warning that SHA-1 was becoming increasingly vulnerable to collisions almost a decade ago.

In 2017, SHA-1 fell victim to a collision attack that cost $110,000 to produce which lead to a number of browsers, browser-trusted certificate authorities and software update systems to abandon the algorithm though some services and software continued using it despite the risk.

However, in January of this year, researchers showed that an even more powerful collision attack could be launched for just $45,000. This chosen-prefix attack showed that it is possible to modify an existing input and still end up with the same SHA-1 hash and an attacker could use this method to alter documents or software to bypass SHA-1-based integrity checks.

While OpenSSH and Libssh will no longer support SHA-1, the encryption algorithm is still supported in recent versions of OpenSSL.

We've also highlighted the best VPN services

Via Ars Technica

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Exclusive: Vivo X50 to launch in India soon

The Vivo X50 series has been gaining a lot of attention off late. The new device may represent an even more important event for Vivo as a brand in India as it may be just the right one to mark its return to the high-end smartphone space in the country.

Sources aware of the developments have confirmed to us that the upcoming Vivo X50 will indeed be making its way to India, soon after the Chinese launch, which is scheduled for June 1. It’s unclear which variant will be coming, but the teaser did suggest that it will be the Vivo X50 Pro.

This will mark the return of Vivo’s X series to India after over two years, with the last one being the Vivo X21 in 2018. Even more recently, it has primarily focussed on the budget and mid-range segments, but a proper flagship has always eluded India.

The Vivo X50 Pro is a camera-centric premium mid-ranger which will be powered by the Snapdragon 765G with at least 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. If the same specifications make it to India, it will be one of the first phones in the country to sport this chipset. Besides, it will also be 5G-capable. Most of its specs have already been leaked from a recent product briefing in its home country. Other key details include a 4,315mAh battery and support for 33W fast charging.

It will also bring a new premium design with a curved, 6.56-inch high refresh rate display along with a tiny 32MP punch-hole selfie camera on the front, and a frosted glass back. A sizeable camera island will also adorn the back, with four shooters lined up. The primary camera will be a 48MP Sony IMX598 image sensor, followed by an 8MP ultra-wide shooter, a 12MP short telephoto lens and an 8MP periscopic long telephoto lens.

Vivo claims that the primary camera will have industry-leading image stabilisation with a new “micro-cloud” system with up to 3-degrees of compensation on either of the axes. This complicated mechanism is also the reason why the camera bump is so significant.

There is no word on the exact availability, but considering that Vivo is in advanced stages of planning the device’s launch in India, we expect it arrive on Indian shores soon enough. And, Vivo’s first pair of TWS earphones may also tag along.

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OnePlus inadvertently disables ‘X-Ray’ filter with an update sent to its global phones

Images: Ben Geskin / Twitter

OnePlus accidentally pushed an over-the-air update that disables a filter that can see through some thin black plastics and, in certain cases, clothes.

Though OnePlus said on May 19 that it would temporarily disable the filter in the Chinese version of its operating system in an update, the company hadn’t planned on removing the filter from its global software. Instead, OnePlus said it would update the filter. The recent update removed the filter for people outside of China anyway.

The filter, called “Photochrom,” creates an X-Ray-like effect by using the infrared sensors built into the OnePlus 8 Pro to capture light that’s not visible to the human eye. The feature was intended to be used to create interesting-looking photos. But it...

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Exclusive: Zoom plans to roll out strong encryption for paying customers only

Zoom , the video conferencing provider whose business has boomed with the COVID-19 pandemic, plans to strengthen encryption on video calls made by paying clients and institutions like schools, but not for users of its popular free accounts, a company official said Friday.

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