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Due to anti-gambling policies in Belgium, Electronic Arts (EA) will stop Belgians from purchasing Fifa Points in the country.

Players will still be able to earn Fifa Points, but not able to buy them after the gambling regulator in the country threatened action. With the points, players can make digital purchases in-game. The Belgian gambling commission has been cracking down on 'loot boxes' in games, which are virtual crates in games that contain weapons and other items used in games.

According to the Belgian Gambling Commission, loot boxes are essentially the same as gambling because they are games of chance.

"After further discussions with the Belgian authorities, we have decided to stop offering Fifa Points for sale in Belgium," EA said in a statement.

"We're working to make these changes effective in our Fifa console and PC games by 31 January 2019. While we are taking this action, we do not agree with Belgian authorities' interpretation of the law, and we will continue to seek more clarity on the matter as we go forward."

Source: BBC News

Gamers reported a variety of issues with their Xbox One consoles on Wednesday, including a black screen issue that saw the console completely unusable.

Microsoft was acknowledging the reports throughout the day and confirmed that the issues were caused by a service change. Among the reported issues were problems signing in, problems with title updates and unresponsive guides. The worst issue, however, was a black screen on startup, rendering the consoles unusable altogether.

Microsoft has since identified the issue that was caused by a service change and has rolled back, which should fix the problems being experienced by users.

The issues surrounding Xbox One console startup, sign-in, title update errors, and our status page have now been resolved. Thank you for sticking with us while our teams addressed these issues and we appreciate the reports. As always, we're here and we're listening.

-- Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) January 30, 2019

Apple says Facebook has been abusing its membership of the Enterprise Development Program to push data-collecting apps to consumers.

Earlier this week it emerged that Facebook had been paying $20 a month to users aged between 17 and 35 to monitor their activity online. This was achieved by sideloading a VPN app onto the devices of the participants. That Facebook Research app has now provoked Apple to take action against the social media network.

Facebook took advantage of Apple's Enterprise Developer Certificates to sideload the app - install it on the devices without pushing it through the official App Store. Apple has responded by revoking Facebook's certificates, which has reportedly caused considerable disruption for Facebook.

In a statement, Apple said:

"We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization. Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple."

"Any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked, which is what we did in this case to protect our users and their data."

Samsung has unveiled a new advanced display driver IC that it says will drive new 8K all-display televisions.

The new 8K display driver IC (DDI) provides for intra-panel data transfer speed at up to 4-gigabit-per-second (Gbps), enough to transfer true 8K images to 8K panels without additional components and allowing for more streamlined product designs for slim bezel-less TVs of 65-inch or larger.

Given that 8K resolution has four times the number of pixels than 4K UHD, the amount of image data to be transferred within a panel must increase accordingly, as well as the number of components to support that task.

"To deliver true 8K resolution, it is essential for today's DDIs to support a high-speed 4Gbps intra-panel interface," said Ben K. Hur, senior vice president of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics.

"Samsung's 8K DDI (S6CT93P) with USI-T 2.0 will bring stunning 8K images to premium displays that can take visual experiences on large-screen TVs to the new level."

Lower sales of Apple's iPhone models in some regions of the world have hit the firm's financial performance, but it is bullish on future services revenue.

Apple revealed that its revenue from iPhone sales fell 15 percent in the most recent quarter, driving a 5 percent overall drop in the firm's revenue compared to a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter was $84.3 billion, which is around where Apple had cautioned investors it could end up.

"While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter's results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Sales of Apple's iPhones were particularly lower in the greater China region, where overall sales dropped by more than 25 percent during the quarter compared to the previous year. Europe also saw a 3 percent drop in overall sales for the Cupertino giant.

While acknowledging the drop in hardware sales, Apple is very optimistic about its revenue in services. During the same quarter, its services revenue rose 19 percent to a firm record of $10.9 billion.

Source: BBC News

Apple is to fix a bug in FaceTime that means audio from a recipient's end can be listened to before they have even answered a video call.

The problem appears to be with the group calling feature that was released to the public in October 2018. It means that a user can place a video call to a recipient and can hear the audio feed from the recipient's phone even before they have answered the call.

This is obviously a major privacy concern and Apple is aware of it.

"We're aware of this issue and we have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week," an Apple spokesperson said, reported the Reuters news agency.

The issue affects iPhones, iPads and Mac products.

If you are concerned about the bug, you could choose to disable FaceTime on your devices until the patches are pushed out by Apple. On an iPhone or iPad, open up the Settings app. You can then scroll down to FaceTime and toggle it off.

On a Mac, open the FaceTime app, click FaceTime in the Menu bar and you will see an option to turn off FaceTime.

Apple is reportedly working on a game subscription service, according to a report from Cheddar.

The report cites sources familiar with the service, which is in the earliest stages of development. They report that Apple began discussion a subscription service with developers in the second half of 2018.

It would charge users a monthly fee for unlimited access to a bundled list of game titles. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and others also have similar services or plans for them as the rush is on to become the "Netflix for video games."

In addition to planning a game subscription service, Apple also reportedly spoke to some developers about acting as a pubisher for their titles.

While Apple could still abandon the plans at any point, the firm is putting more focus on its revenue from services particularly as its hardware sales have slowed. Sales of iPhones have slumped in recent months though Apple has not revealed exact numbers.

Source: Cheddar

Apple has updated its App Store rules and guidelines to target apps that use dirty tricks while selling in-app subscriptions to users.

From now on, apps will have to be totally up front with monthly subscription prices. They will have to present the actual cost of a renewed subscription per month in the largest text, rather than showing potential cost savings and special offers in larger texts.

Apps that offer free trials must also be totally up front with how long the free trial is valid for, and the exact cost that will kick in once the free trial period is over.

While not required, Apple is also encouraging developers to let customers manage their subscriptions in-app, rather than through the App Store settings.

Users have often complained about winding up in subscriptions that cost more than they expected, and free trials with a shorter duration than expected.

Mastercard recently enforced new rules for merchants that offer free trials too which also require them to be upfront about costs, free trial durations and to make it very easy to cancel subscriptions.

Samsung Electronics has announced that it will dramatically reduce the use of plastics in the packaging material for its products, and focus on more environmentally friendly materials.

From the first half of 2019, the packaging used currently for Samsung's products and accessories – ranging from mobile phones and tablets to home appliances – will be substituted with environmentally sustainable materials like recycled/bio-based plastics and paper.

For its mobile phone, tablet and wearables, it will replace plastic used for holder trays with pulp molds, and bags wrapping accessories with eco-friendly materials. It will also alter the phone charger design, swapping the glossy exterior with a matte finish and eliminating plastic protection films.

While it will be increasing the use of paper, it will only use fiber materials certified by global environmental organizations. By 2030, Samsung aims to use 500 thousand tons of recycled plastics and collect 7.5 million tons of discarded products.

"Samsung Electronics is stepping up in addressing society's environmental issues such as resource depletion and plastic wastes," said Gyeong-bin Jeon, head of Samsung's Global Customer Satisfaction Center.

The Secretary of State for Health of the United Kingdom has warned that legislation will be forthcoming to take action against social media firms over suicide-related material.

Matt Hancock was speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show when he made the comments. "If we think they need to do things they are refusing to do, then we can and we must legislate," he said. Hancock went on to stress that it's not where the UK government would like to end up.

The issue has come to national attention in the UK over the tragic details surrounding the death of a 14-year-old girl in 2017. The young lady was found dead in November 2017 after taking her own life. She reportedly had not shown any previous signs of mental health issues.

Her family later realized that she had been viewing disturbing content related to suicide on social media platforms, including Instagram and Pinterest. Instagram has since commented on the case, pointing out its policies on material that encourage or glorify self-harm or suicide.

Social media platforms do allow some content that contains suicide, self-harm, depression, anxiety and similar subject matter to reside on the platform after being advised by expert groups that the sharing of stories and making connections with others who are struggling can be helpful.

People are moving away from SMS to internet based messaging systems on their phones. Whether it is iMessage, Skype, or the world's most popular messaging platform WhatsApp, it certainly is cheaper than SMS.

Like with SMS, however, you might occasionally come across numbers and people that you would like to block. This is possible in WhatsApp just like it is in SMS.

In this guide, we'll walk you through how to block people on WhatsApp.

Blocking obviously can't send you messages but the target is also blocked from seeing your "status" or "last seen" information. Neither is he or she going to see changes that you make to your profile, and the same goes for you with regards to the blocked person's profile.

How to block WhatsApp contacts

1. Open WhatsApp


2. From the Chats view select a chat with the person you want to block or use Search (magnifying glass) on the top right


3. Press Menu (three dots) on the top right


4. Select Block (might be behind More)

Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone brand, has gone through all kinds of transformations in the 2000s, but it is making a comeback in North America with the newest Android iteration.

Nowadays Nokia's smartphone brand is developed by HMD Global, a small company located in Nokia's former office building. They develop Android phones, and good ones at that.

Now HMD Global has partnered up with three different U.S. and Canadian carriers to bring upcoming Nokia phones to the American market.

Out of the three the most significant is Verizon, which will bring its first new Nokia Android phone available starting at the end of January. Nokia 2 V is a budget smartphone with 2 day battery life, but other details are still sparse.

Furthermore HMD Global is bringing Nokia 3.1 Plus, an affordable lower tier device with a large six inch display, to Cricket Wireless. This one will be priced at $159.99 and will be available January 25 on Cricket Wireless stores and online.

The company will also announce another product for Canadian carrier Rogers Communications in the upcoming weeks.

There's no word whether the already released higher tier devices, such as Nokia 7.1, will find their way to North America, but we are expecting at least some of the upcoming high-end releases in the U.S. and Canada.

Artificial Intelligence is touted as the future liberator of people or the ultimate oppressor of humanity. Likely the reality will be, at least for the longest time, somewhere in the middle, but each year we hear about new impressive achievements of AI.

We've seen amazing efforts especially from Google's DeepMind, a AI company the search giant bought in 2014. DeepMind's AI has won not only against the chess masters, and Go professionals, now it has taken over esports.

DeepMind has challenged professional gamers to StarCraft II matches, and managed to bet the players. Not only did it beat professional players, it managed to beat them nearly every time.

Only one out of eleven matches ended in the human players victory.

The success in StarCraft is determined by both the decisions you make but also how quickly you can execute the actions, often measured in action per minute (APM).

One would think the computer would performs the actions much faster, but it was in fact the better decisions that made AlphaStar win. The APM figures for professional gamers where around 559, while AlphaStar's were only 277.

We've known for years that Google is developing a new operating system behind the scenes. Now Google has hired new talent from no other than Apple to lead the effort.

The operating system, developed under the name Project Fuchsia, might be replacing Google's mobile operating system Android in the future. According to earlier reports, over 100 engineers are already working on Fuchsia and it might come to smartphones as early as in the next five years.

Obviously 100 engineers isn't massive in the scale that is Google, so if Fuchsia is ever going to be able to replace Android, it needs new recruitment both from inside the company and out.

One of the most recent hirings is Bill Stevenson, who has worked for Apple nearly 15 years and ended his career in Cupertino as the Mac and Windows Program Management Senior Manager.

He revealed in social media that he'll be joining Google to help bring Fuchsia to the market.

Fuchsia is expected to be first implemented in IoT devices where Android isn't a staple like in mobile devices. Officially Google hasn't revealed any release information.

Netflix has become the Kleenex of streaming services, its rise to world domination has been swift and its recognized as the leading video streaming service all around the world.

Well, except in Finland.

You might know Finland as the country that doesn't exist, or the birth place of AfterDawn, but it happens to also be the one country that doesn't, yet, bow entirely to Netflix.

AudienceProject has gathered some interesting statistics about streaming services around the world. According to their data Netflix has managed to get themselves the top spot in each country surveyed, except for that one Nordic blind spot.

The top spot in Finland is taken by Yle Areena, a streaming service provided by the taxpayer and the national broadcasting company Yle. Public broadcasters' services do well all around but only in Finland is it able to beat Netflix.

56% of surveyed Finns watch Netflix weekly, compared to 57% in Germany, 67% in Denmark, 70% in Sweden, 70% in UK, 76% in Norway, and 79% in the United States. Yle Areena scored 65%.

Netflix popularity is trending upwards in all countries.