Новости за 19.01.2022

Halo Infinite multiplayer | Image: 343 Industries

Microsoft’s latest Halo game has finally arrived, and as we’ve seen, the Infinite campaign mode delivers. But for players already missing features like campaign co-op and Forge customizations, ongoing issues with the Halo Infinite Big Team Battle matchmaking have been another source of disappointment. A little over a week ago, the developers at 343 said a hotfix was on the way, and now it has arrived. But there’s bad news — it doesn’t seem to work. Читать дальше...

Over half of internet-connected devices used in hospitals have a vulnerability that could put patient safety, confidential data, or the usability of a device at risk, according to a new report from the healthcare cybersecurity company Cynerio.

irs (ray tsang flickr)

When, in 2020, the IRS pushed the due date for federal income taxes from April 15th to July 15th because of the upheaval brought about by COVID-19, a lot of taxpayers must have breathed a sigh of relief. Depending on where we lived, many of us were dealing with product shortages, layoffs, sudden isolation, and trying to figure out how to cope with the new normal.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you’re part of a business or school that is a G Suite legacy free edition user, your organization will soon have to sign up for a paid subscription to continue using Google Workspace (via 9to5Google). Google will automatically upgrade free plans to a Google Workspace subscription “based on the features you currently use” if your organization doesn’t sign up for a paid plan by May 1st.

GM’s EMPOWER rapid charger can help retail fuel stations add more affordable DC fast-charging capabilities | GM

General Motors announced plans to manufacture mobile power generators using its Hydrotec-branded hydrogen fuel cells.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Yesterday morning, Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, publisher of games ranging from the Call of Duty series to Candy Crush Saga, for $68.7 billion. Microsoft says the move would make it the third-largest gaming company by revenue, following Tencent and Sony. The company, already a giant in the market, would gain even more leverage over how games are made and distributed. That’s assuming regulators approve it — something that’s... Читать дальше...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amid an ongoing tussle with the FAA and airline industry, Verizon today flipped the switch on its mid-band 5G deployment, which uses spectrum that the company spent tens of billions of dollars to acquire in the C-band auction. The new, faster level of 5G connectivity will significantly augment Verizon’s “5G Ultra Wideband” network, which, until now, has relied solely on extremely-fast-but-very-hard-to-find millimeter wave spectrum.

AT&T is launching its expanded 5G service in eight metro areas. | Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

AT&T is lighting up its expanded 5G service in just eight metro areas in the US on Wednesday, including Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Jacksonville, Orlando, and South Florida (PDF). This comes after both AT&T and Verizon voluntarily limited the activation of C-band spectrum around airports after facing mounting pressure from airlines.

AMD claimed back in 2020 that 4GB of VRAM was “insufficient” for modern PC games and could result in error messages, warning limits, lower framerates, and even gameplay stutter or pop-in issues. Today, AMD is launching the $199 RX 6500 XT with... 4GB of VRAM, and the blog post featuring AMD’s original claims has mysteriously disappeared.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

When Nvidia announced the rollout of the Shield Experience 9.0 (Android 11) update for its Android TV devices, we were impressed by the simple fact that it would include Shield TV models dating back to 2015 — but the buzz was short-lived as many owners are reporting major bugs on even the latest models.

N95 face masks offer better protection against COVID than cloth ones, the CDC says | Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times

The US government will make 400 million N95 face masks available for free at pharmacies and health centers, sourcing them from the Strategic National Stockpile, the White House tweeted on Wednesday.

Horizon Forbidden West is almost here, and to celebrate, PlayStation released a new trailer. In the new story trailer, we get a better idea of the threats Aloy will face going into the west. The land is dying, affected by some kind of ruinous blight that only Aloy armed with her Focus has the power to stop. To do so, she’ll mount her trusty strider and head west, exploring the beautiful ruins of famous landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

This weekend, I noticed that my PS5 and Switch were literally collecting dust — and realized that’s because I’ve been playing my games almost exclusively on Xbox Game Pass instead. The service has an incredible wealth of titles; in just the past couple weeks, I’ve finished Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, unpacked boxes in Unpacking, tried and failed to get invested in Mass Effect Legendary Edition, watched my wife deliver mail in Lake, and am currently living out my Jedi dreams in Star Wars Jedi... Читать дальше...

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Image: Prime Video

Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings series finally has a name, and it’s a damned good one.

Also (unofficially) known as “the Cameron Faulkner collection”

I’m not usually the kind of person who’s easily persuaded by new colorways of controllers that I already own. But Sony’s new DualSense colors are a little different — or, they’re not, actually. I just found a reason to care about them. The three vibrant, wintery-hued controllers are my colors.

Screenshot: Arcanium: Rise of Akhan

Netflix’s foray into the mobile gaming subscription market is showing no signs of slowing down. This week it added a pair of new titles to its service, a card-battling roguelike called Arcanium: Rise of Akhan, and a hidden object game called Krispee Street. Both are available to download on iOS or Android free of charge if you’re already subscribed to the streaming service.

The image from Samsung’s website, showing the unannounced tablet. | Image: Samsung

A Samsung support page for, of all things, Bixby, may have just given us our first official look at the company’s upcoming flagship tablet. The picture, which was spotted by 91Mobiles, shows a familiar looking Samsung smartphone alongside a very unfamiliar looking tablet, complete with a display notch that Samsung savagely mocked when first introduced on the iPhone X. Reports suggest this new tablet will be called the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra... Читать дальше...

Nintendo has announced the next game coming to its Switch Online service: Nintendo 64 platforming classic Banjo-Kazooie. The game is inextricably associated with the N64 — it’s a collect-a-thon with blurry cartoon graphics and cute animal characters — but this will actually mark the first time you’ll have been able to play it on Nintendo hardware since Microsoft bought original developer Rare in 2002.

Photo by BENOIT DOPPAGNE/BELGA/AFP via Getty Images

It looks like the FAA may have made a whoopsie. Remember when the US aviation authority suggested that FedEx might possibly potentially maybe be able to stick a laser onto its cargo planes to knock missiles out of the sky? Yeah, no: “further internal study is necessary,” the FAA wrote on Thursday (via Reuters), adding that the proposal “is not moving forward at this time.”

Photo by Elizabeth Frantz-Pool / Getty Images

As the Senate Judiciary Committee inches towards passing legislation that could loosen Big Tech’s grasp on consumers, Big Tech is expectedly outraged. Both Apple and Google have written letters publicly opposing new pieces of legislation, while a coalition of smaller tech companies has voiced their support.

US President Joe Biden speaks with a fire victim as he tours a neighborhood destroyed by the Marshall Fire in Louisville, Colorado, January 7, 2022. - Authorities say the fast moving wildfire destroyed more than 1,000 homes | Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Federal authorities have a new plan to protect communities across the western US from increasingly explosive infernos by fighting fire with fire. In a shift from old-school firefighting strategies that attempted to stamp out naturally occurring blazes... Читать дальше...

Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Emirates, Air India, ANA, and Japan Airlines have all announced they’re canceling some flights to the US due to this week’s rollout of C-band 5G over concerns it could potentially interfere with some instruments. This comes as cell carriers, federal agencies, airlines, and airplane manufacturers struggle to reach an agreement on policies regarding how the rollout should be handled.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft released an out-of-band (OOB) update yesterday to fix some Windows issues caused by last week’s monthly patching cycle on Patch Tuesday.