ASUS Republic of Gamers reveals the ROG Phone, a gaming smartphone with a 3D vapor-chamber cooling system

Today at Computex 2018 ASUS Republic of Gamers unveiled its first gaming smartphone, the ROG Phone. That this is a gaming smartphone is not the only "first" claimed by ASUS; it is also described as the world's first smartphone with a 3D vapor-chamber cooling system called GameCool. At the event, ASUS also revealed the ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 router with Wi-Fi speeds of over 10,000Mbps, as well as ROG Ryujin and ROG Ryuo CPU coolers, and ROG Thor 1200W Platinum power supply. See also: New Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition may be the coolest flagship smartphone right now HTC U12+ is… [Continue Reading]

VR Is changing user experience design

Virtual reality has skyrocketed in popularity in just a few short years. Ten years ago, VR tech simply wasn’t there, and if it was, the hardware was prohibitively expensive. Now, your smartphone can act as a VR headset. With Google Cardboard, a smartphone with VR capabilities, and a 3D printer, you can gain access to VR tech for almost no cost whatsoever. Low-cost, High-end VR For a truly immersive virtual reality experience, you only need some compatible hardware and a few hundred dollars. While this is still expensive when compared to other media, it’s a bargain considering how expensive VR… [Continue Reading]

New York Times alleges Facebook shared user data with companies via device-integrated APIs

Facebook has vigorously denied allegations that it shared user data with the likes of Apple and Samsung through device-integrated APIs. In an article entitled "Facebook Gave Device Makers Deep Access to Data on Users and Friends", the New York Times raised concerns about the social network's privacy practices. The NYT says that Facebook has brokered "data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 device makers" over the last ten years. It alleges that the APIs gave companies access to the data of Facebook users' friends without their explicit consent. The article questions not only Facebook's privacy protections, but also its compliance with… [Continue Reading]

Version 4.17 of the Linux kernel is here... and version 5.0 isn't far away

In his weekly message to the Linux community on Sunday, Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux 4.17. The release comes a couple of months after the first release candidate, and in his message Torvalds also talks about version 5.0 of the Linux kernel. Having previously said that Linux kernel v5.0 "should be meaningless", he said that this next major numerical milestone will come around "in the not too distance future". For now, though, it's version 4.17 -- or Merciless Moray, if you prefer -- that's of interest. See also: Microsoft made its own IoT-ready Linux kernel for Azure Sphere… [Continue Reading]

Leaked video shows Apple News, Xcode 10 and dark mode in macOS 10.14

A developer a discovered a video on Apple servers that not only shows Xcode 10 running on macOS 10.14, but also reveals a dark mode as well as an icon for the Mac News app nestling in the Dock. The leak comes just days ahead of this year's WWDC. Steven Troughton-Smith found the video in an API for the Mac App Store backend, and leaked his findings to an eager audience. Coming direct from Apple's servers, this leak is something of a rarity as it gives a glimpse of what's coming up in macOS pretty much direct from the horse's… [Continue Reading]

WinStep Nexus Dock and Extreme 18.5 unveil major Dock improvements

WinStep Software Technologies has updated its flagship products, WinStep Nexus Dock and WinStep Extreme, to version 18.5. Despite the point release, WinStep is billing this as a "massive release". Docks are now accessible through NextSTART while the Media Player’s internal command gains enhanced features for unobtrusive music playback. There are also numerous improvements and features added to the Nexus Dock component. WinStep Nexus Dock 18.5 -- which is completely free -- gains lots of attention with this new release. The aforementioned Media Player enhancements improve the recently introduced internal commands for adding Media Player functionality direct to the dock. Playlists are… [Continue Reading]

Facebook is killing off Trending as it tries to revamp newsfeeds

Facebook has announced plans to kill off the Trending feature of its newsfeed. The social network says that this is to "make way for future news experiences". Over the years, Facebook has experimented endlessly with the presentation of news, and has faced criticism for failing to weed out "fake news" and also accusations of liberal bias. Now the company wants to find new ways to help people find news that matters to them, ensuring that it comes from reliable sources. See also: Facebook to ask all users to review privacy settings Facebook asks British users to submit their nudes as… [Continue Reading]