News written by Matti Robinson (April, 2020)

Epic Games announced yesterday that they've released their supremely popular battle royale game, Fortnite, on Google Play.

The game has been available on Android for a while now but the company has decided not to release it via Google's app store due to high share they would have to provide Google for each purchase.

Clearly Epic Games has now grown tired of not being on the most populous app store on the planet, and have caved in under the pressure of Google's ecosystem.

The company's statement makes it clear that this move is not made without the slightest scorn. In fact, the company still believes that the 30 percent cut Google gets is unreasonable, and that they make developers outside the app store feel like criminals by issuing them similar status as malware.

You'll still be able to acquire the game outside the app store like you did before the announcement if you don't want Google to get a cut.

It is fairly certain that figures on Android haven't been satisfactory to Epic Games and this move was forced upon them. Now it remains to be seen how it can compete with a long-time Google Play favorite PUBG Mobile on Android.

You can download Fortnite from Google Play here.

It is perhaps not surprising that in these dire times people are seeking for explanations from all kinds of sources and beliefs. However, perhaps the most ludicrous conspiracy theory to unearth since the flat earth is linking 5G cellular networks and COVID-19.

Not only are some spreading this hilariously insane idea on the web, some are so sure of its validity that they are taking down 5G equipment to prevent the spread of the virus. This seems to have started in the UK but it was only a matter of time before somewhere else people were to follow suit.

The threat has been taken so seriously that the likes of YouTube are removing this specific conspiracy content from their service altogether.

Yesterday, a police report from a small town of Pedersöre in Osthrobothnia, Finland has revealed a fire in a telecommunications building next to a cellular tower. The fire managed to advance enough to cut the tower from the rest of the network.

According to the police, the fire seems to have been lit on purpose and they investigate the case as arson.

It has to be noted that there's no 5G network in the area, and likely no 5G equipment located at the site. Whether the suspect knew this or not is uncertain, as there hasn't been arrests yet.

The research arm of security company Check Point Software Technologies has released a study which takes a look at the online phishing scams.

Check Point Research Q1 2020 report reveals which brands are criminals exploiting when trying to scam people. The specific term for the type of scam that uses brand recognition and lookalike websites to hook people in is brand phishing.

The scam might use the logos, company names, designs, and domain names to fool people into thinking that the thing is for real. After the false positive identification, the scammer tries to phish usually personal or credit card information.

According to the report, Apple was the number one brand abused in brand phishing schemes, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly. The world's leading technology brand was identified in 10 percent of global brand phishing scams.

Following Apple, 9 percent was credited to Netflix scams and the third place went to Yahoo! with 6%.

While some of the more popular technology brands made the top, the next most popular type of brands associated with brand phishing were banking and media brands.

When it comes to platform of the scams, email only constituted 18 percent of the attacks with mobile taking the second place with 23%. However, most brand phishing scams use web (59%) as the main platform for their false information.

Apple has just revealed their newest member of the iPhone family. The most affordable iPhone has been revamped for 2020, here's the new iPhone SE.

The new device, once again called iPhone SE, has improvements over the predecessor in almost every aspect. Apple has updated the CPU to their last year's A13 Bionic that runs iPhone 11 series phones.

This will bring the computational prowess to a completely new realm, when the predecessor sports A9 that is four generations behind. According to Apple, the 12 MP single camera system is the best single camera system on any iPhone.

This means that it should be better than iPhone 8, which probably rings true if it uses the main camera from last year's flagship.

Speaking of iPhone 8, the design now resembles that of those iPhone with rounder edges, and offers IP67 water and dust resistance. Like them, it also has a Touch ID fingerprint sensor rather than Face ID.

This means that display is still not without massive chin and forehead. However, display has been improved too. It's now a 4.7 inch Retina HD display with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10.

Battery-wise, there's no Qi wireless charging like the flagships, and fast wired charging provides up to 50 percent charge in 30 minutes.

Everyone is spending more time at home than ever due to the spread of COVID-19. Whether it is full on curfew, stay-at-home order, or just a suggestion, much of the nation and the world are stuck inside.

This has meant that some industries, including movie theaters, have inevitably crumbled to nothingness for the time being, and others are booming, like Microsoft's Teams and video game sales.

Game platforms are competing against each other for this newly found player base. Stadia launched finally their free tier service and also offers free two-month trial into their Premium tier.

Now Sony has decided to give some goodies to PlayStation 4 owners. The new Stay At Home campaign offers four free games starting on April 16, so tomorrow. The deal ends on May 5, so you have plenty of time to claim your gifts.

OnePlus has today announced two new smartphones. The new flagship is the OnePlus 8 Pro with its QHD+ 120 hz display and quad camera setup but if you want something more affordable and compact, you might want to stick with this one.

If OnePlus 8 Pro took on the Galaxy S20 Ultra, with the OnePlus 8 the Chinese manufacturer had its eyes on the iPhone. OnePlus 8 features a 6.55 inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with 90 Hz refresh rate. Although not as fast and high resolution as its big brother, it is still A+ rated by DisplayMate.

The company took a lot of time to compare the size of the display, and the phone, to iPhones. While OnePlus 8 boasts a larger display than iPhone 11 Pro Max, the footprint of the device is much smaller. And at nearly the same size as iPhone 11 Pro, the OnePlus display dwarfs the small 5.8 inch panel on the iPhone.

OnePlus had their streamed launch event for the OnePlus 8 Series and, as expected, announced two new smartphones. The flagship device OnePlus 8 Pro and a more affordable, more compact, sibling OnePlus 8.

OnePlus 8 Pro is packed with top tier features. Starting with the display, the OnePlus 8 Pro features a 6,78 inch QHD+ AMOLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate. Not only is it the first one to allow simultaneous QHD resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate, it also leads the market in picture quality.

In fact, DisplayMate has awarded it A+ rating as well as best-in-class in thirteen categories that include contrast, peak brightness, and native color gamut.

There's still several months before Apple planning to reveal their upcoming iPhone 12, or whatever the name might be. The company might have some production issues at hand but rest assured, you'll be getting a new iPhone later this year.

According to some new information acquired by Bloomberg, this year iPhone is going to shift to a new design language. The industrial design of iPhone 12 is said to resemble that of recent iPads.

Essentially this is a move back to a more angular design that we remember well from the iPhone 4/iPhone 5 era. The sharp corners made to the iPad Pro recently, and the same seems to be happening to the iPhone.

Apple has stuck with similar design with rounded corners for a while now. iPhone 6 was the first of its kind and it was released in 2014.

During the pandemic, Apple has had trouble traveling to China to make sure production samples are where they need to be for the mass production to start. This is one major reason some have suggested that iPhone 12 might be the first iPhone in a while not to be released in its original September schedule.

Disney has announced that the company's streaming platform has acquired already more than 50 million paid users.

The subscriber milestone is without a doubt impressive, considering that the platform has been available, and in limited fashion, for less than 5 months.

The figure was reached in the coming weeks after the launch in India as well as in much of Europe. European launch countries in the past three weeks have included UK, Germany, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Austria.

Netflix passed 50 million subscribers only after 15 years, although it's clearly a different sort of timeline. Currently Netflix's subscriber count is likely closing in on 200 million.

It is also worth to note that 8 million of Disney+ subscribers come from Indian service Hotstar which was rebranded Disney+ Hotstar at the launch of the Disney+.

Many would've expected subscriber growth to slow down significantly after the initial 90 days in which Disney managed to lure in nearly 30 million subscribers. However, adding another over 20 million in two months is a mighty feat.

Google has announced that its streaming game service, Stadia, is now free for all. As long as you have, or acquire, a Google account, you can enjoy streamed gaming for free.

Stadia's free tier was announced already last year but only now has it been released to the public. Previously, you'd have to buy the $129 Premiere Edition and play with the paid monthly subscription of the Pro version.

As a new Stadia gamer, you can also get two free months of Stadia Pro to begin with. That will get you nine games for free and better video quality.

Pro version allows up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second plus HDR while on the free version you'll have to settle for Full HD resolution without HDR.

In the free tier games, which you still have to pay for, can be played on PC as well as select Android and ChromeOS devices.

PlayStation 5 release is still ways off but Sony is slowly come around and has stated revealing things about their next-gen gaming console, and the time has come for the Japanese electronics powerhouse to unveil the PS5 controller.

While we still don't have an official picture of the upcoming console, Sony now has released several renders of the controller, known as the DualSense.

Sony has decided to retire the name DualShock, which came from double vibration-enabled analog sticks. The controller still has the familiar layout but adds some new senses.

It features a new haptic feedback system as well as adaptive triggers (L2 and R2) that can change tension.

Sony seems to have opted for a slightly Xbox-like rounder design, and they say they've worked hard to keep the footprint still smaller and comfortable while maintaining a good battery life without adding too much weight. Design updates include slight changes to the angle of the hand triggers as well as the grip in general.

Speaking of design, the most obvious change is with the color scheme. DualSense gets also a very fresh and futuristic paint job. The flagship white on black stormtrooper design is an eye-catcher, but the internet is already demanding a matte black version.

All sorts of information and social media platforms are currently struggling with misinformation as informing the public about COVID-19 and related issues has become invaluable.

YouTube has announced that it is removing conspiracy content that links 5G cell towers to coronavirus due to people destroying 5G equipment. WhatsApp has now followed suit and come out with some unexpected protocols themselves, The Guardian reports.

The world's leading messaging platform, with more than a billion users around the world, is trying to restrict the sharing of harmful and false information about COVID-19.

While WhatsApp isn't going to ban any type of specific content, like in the case of YouTube, if you receive a message that has been shared over 5 times, you can only forward it to one chat room at a time. Previously WhatsApp allowed messages to be forwarded to up to three chats at a time.

This doesn't exactly disallow you to share false information but it does make mass sharing a little more difficult, and probably dissuades people from spreading fake news – and perhaps other content too.

Microsoft's cloud gaming platform, known as Project xCloud, has been available in beta for some time now. Microsoft started the testing in the US, UK, and Korea last fall, but now it's becoming available much wider.

European countries have been added to the list, and it now includes France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italia, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

If you hail from any of the aforementioned countries, you can download the Project xCloud Android app on your smartphone and register to be a beta tester. If chosen, you'll be able to play up to 50 different Xbox games with your smartphone.

Microsoft intends to keep a close eye on the traffic it creates in Europe. Streaming video services have lowered their quality previously to help maintain internet connections in Europe, which has been closing in on maximum capacity due to coronavirus quarantine.

For more information about the service and what games are available, visit Project xCloud website. The service is expected to debut in full force later this year, perhaps alongside Xbox Series X.

Project xCloud is competing against Google's Stadia as well as Sony's long-standing PlayStation Now. All of them, however, work a little differently and offer their own game catalogs, perks, and pitfalls.

While some means of entertainment have nearly disappeared amid COVID-19 – yes, it's movie theaters – other are able to profit from the vexatious situation.

Video game industry has been nothing but booming in the past couple of months. According to CNBC, games like Nintendo's new Animal Crossing: New Horizon has managed to sell more than 1.8 million units in the first three days. In the UK, the game sold during the premiere weekend more than the previous installments combined during their first three day period.

Although previously Animal Crossing hasn't been a top triple-A title in terms of sales, the new game seems to have hit a perfect timing.

Another massive success has been id Software's and Bethesda published Doom Eternal, which was released just a couple weeks ago. According to the the developer, Doom Eternal sold twice as much as it's predecessor.

Yet another winner is Activision Blizzard's title Call of Duty: Warzone. Call of Duty has been the best selling game five year in a row except for 2018 when it was eclipsed by Red Dead Redemption 2 and came in second. Now, Call of Duty: Warzone has managed to amass over 30 million players.

World's largest electronics contract manufacturer, Foxconn, has been one of the most carefully followed industry stories in the COVID-19 timeline. The company which manufactures much of our gadgets in China was obviously affected by the novel coronavirus, but how is it doing now?

It is hard to get reliable and trust-worthy information from China in terms of their coronavirus action. However, production facilities inevitably tell us how much has the nation returned to normal, at least in one industry.

The free fall in manufacturing seems to be a thing of the past. According to Reuters, Foxconn reports a 7.7% decline in March year-over-year. The 347.7 billion TWD ($11.55 billion) revenue is fairly comparable to the previous year's 376.6 billion ($12.51 billion).

Considering the circumstances, a lot of industries would take a sub-8 percent hit to their revenue.

The quarterly revenue, January to March, combined to a 12 percent fall from the previous year. The most significant drop was in February, which amounted to -23.7%.

This suggests that China seems to have fought through the worst, at least when it comes to the first wave of COVID-19, but a lot depends now on how electronics companies success in the west.

YouTube has been fighting the good fight against illegal content since its inception – or realistically after Google acquired it. However, much more controversial is the removal of fake news and conspiracy theory content.

Google's video service has been under scrutiny over its demonetization and removal policies, which on occasion hit channels and creators with nearly or entirely squeaky clean image and content, but even in more extreme cases it is controversial.

One of the more recent conspiracy theories gaining steam is combining 5G technology to spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. In the UK, 5G equipment has been terrorized and linked to spreading misinformation.

According to the conspiracy theory, obviously without merit of any kind, 5G is lowering the immune response in people and
making them more susceptible to the virus infection.

YouTube is taking action to mitigate the damage of such theories, which have already resulted in property damage. All conspiracy videos that link 5G and coronavirus are now deleted.

There's a real argument that limiting speech could affect issues that aren't without merit, and others would argue that even nonsense, and conspiracy thinking should be allowed as long as it doesn't turn into criminal activity.

Sprint and T-Mobile have been working on a merger for ages, and now it has finally become reality.

As far back as 2014, T-Mobile and Sprint have been rumored to be in talks about merging the companies. The negotiations have gone back and forth, been called off, and then again resumed.

In June of 2018, the companies finally agreed with the terms of the merger. Now, after nearly two years, the finalization of the deal has indeed happened.

On April 1, 2020, T-Mobile and Sprint have become one. T-Mobile press release says: "T-Mobile US Inc. announced today that it has officially completed its merger with Sprint Corporation to create the New T-Mobile, a supercharged Un-carrier that will deliver a transformative 5G network."

T-Mobile will still be called T-Mobile and stock ticker is still $TMUS. However, CEO is no longer going to be the iconic John Legere, even though he was responsible for T-Mobile's very effective turnaround which included passing Sprint as the number three carrier in the United States.

The current virus outbreak has affected every single industry in one way or another. Most of it is in a very bad way, very few have gotten off scot free or managed to make the best out of it.

However, there's probably not many businesses that have had it as bad as movie theaters. Movie studios have been either postponing their hit movies or releasing them online when they premiere. Even old school piracy solutions have made a comeback to cash in on the situation.

Now, BoxOfficeMojo.com has revealed the latest box office figures. According to their data the revenue of week 12 at the U.S. box office was $5,179. You read that right, five grand.

To give you some perspective, last year's same week 12 generated a total of $204 million at the box office. Just one percentage of that would be $204,000, which we weren't even close to.

In fact, the revenue has dropped 99.99997%, so we'll just call it 100%.

Samsung has been among the leading manufacturer of display panels for a long time. Creating panels for TVs, smartphones, tablets, computers, and other devices with several different technologies.

LCD panels have been the go to option when it comes to large and inexpensive displays. Most televisions to this day use a LCD panel due to it being simple and cheap to produce with relatively good spepcifications.

However, OLEDs and other more advanced display technologies have taken much of the market share. Smartphones, especially the ones in the premium segment, rely most of the time on OLED screens for their better power consumption and black level properties.

This is one of the reasons Samsung Display has decided to no longer produce LCD panels and focus on OLED and other technologies.

According to Samsung will run down both of its LCD lines, one in South Korea and one in China, by the end of the year. Much of their reasoning is behind LCD panel economics, which doesn't leave them much of a profit.

This is a massive move from the display giant, and means that their entire QLED TV lineup is going to go through a transition. QLED, although close to OLED in name only, is a backlit LCD TV.