As part of their effort to make Android phones more secure — Google’s Threat Analysis Group (opens in new tab) (TAG) publishes reports on vulnerabilities that are spotted around the world. TAG has now reported that Milan based RCS Labs had come up with tools to spy on private messages, passwords and contacts of users. These tools are now being used to spy on the phones of people based in Italy and Kazakhstan....
While it lacks all that’s needed to make a complete safety kit, the Justin Case All Weather Ultimate Safety Kit is inexpensive enough to add extras and has a case that’s big enough to hold it all. That places it firmly at the top of our list of the best automotive emergency kits. The Justin Case All Weather Ultimate Safety Kit comes in a 13.4 x 9.0 x 7.9 inch red and black heavy-duty nylon bag that is among the best in the business....
OLED evo is back for LG’s Gallery Series, but now extends to the reviewer-beloved C tier, which will come in a 42-inch configuration for the first time. The LG G2 Gallery Series with OLED evo will instead stand apart with heat-dissipating technology that could let the panel be brighter than any of the best OLED TVs on the market. Meanwhile, LG is adding more Mini LED-powered QNED sets with different degrees of precision-dimming for near-OLED levels of picture quality....
So, if you’ve been yearning for large-scale fantasy, with crises on the ocean and atop snowy mountains? Glorious Elven and Dwarven villages? I think my Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power review will get you properly hyped for the new series. At the same time, though, there are some character decisions that will feel like head-scratchers. And since I won’t explain them — this is a spoiler-free review, only noting story-points we’ve gotten from trailers — I will note that The Rings of Power may leave you wondering what’s going on....
Previously, a retail source speaking to MacRumors (opens in new tab) claimed that the MacBook Air M2 would on sale on July 15, with pre-orders opening from July 8 (Friday). That’s in line with Apple’s promise at WWDC 2022 that the new Air would arrive in July, and with the company’s pattern of splitting pre-orders and normal sales for its latest products across two consecutive Fridays. The MacBook Air M2 is quite a bit more expensive than the previous MacBook Air M1....
While I have several gripes with the current state of the MCU — from its frequently terrible special effects to its gratuitous fan-service cameos — my biggest problem is that right now there is just way too much content being released (and the huge list of upcoming Marvel movies and series is never-ending). The primary culprit of this issue is the abundance of Marvel TV shows hitting Disney Plus. At points in 2022, it felt like there was barely a week that went by without another slice of the MCU hitting Disney’s juggernaut streaming platform....
This information comes courtesy of Peter Friedlander, Netflix’s head of scripted series in the U.S. and Canada, while speaking with Variety (opens in new tab). Friedlander didn’t go into great detail about the decision process for cancelling shows, only that there are a bunch of different factors involved and that those decisions are “the hardest part of the job.” One thing is clear: the kind of success viewers see when they load up Netflix isn’t the full picture....
That movie is Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming, the 11th chapter in the other MCU (Madea Cinematic Universe). It currently holds a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes (opens in new tab), with a 75% audience score. Regardless of the reviews, A Madea Homecoming has proven to be very popular, as audiences collectively watched 31.56 million hours of the film over its first three days. We only have the numbers for those three days as the Netflix Top 10 list uses use data from Feb....
According to Fightful’s Denise Salcedo, Netflix’s long promised documentary on World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) former CEO Vince McMahon has been unceremoniously pulled. It was previously due for release this year, having been announced all the way back in 2020 and tipped to be (opens in new tab) “one of the highest budgeted documentaries in Netflix history” by WWE President Nick Khan. “Sources tell me that the Vince McMahon Netflix documentary has been pulled & is off the programming spreadsheet at Netflix,” Salcedo tweeted (opens in new tab)....
That’s according to the company’s Q2 2022 earnings call (opens in new tab), at any rate. Apparently Netflix is “encouraged” by the early findings of its account-sharing trials, and subscribers’ apparent willingness to convert to a new paid process. According to Netflix there are over 100 million households that watch Netflix, but aren’t directly paying for it. Or, in other words, they’re sharing the cost of an account with someone else....
Flagged by Video Games Chronicle (opens in new tab), Harding-Rolls reckons Nintendo will have a new next-generation console ready in some tow years time, but whether this will be the Nintendo Switch 2 or a completely new console range isn’t fully clear. “Ampere is currently forecasting a next-gen Nintendo device to release in 2024,” he said. “By the end of that year Switch is predicted to have sold through 146m units meaning it still has the potential to become the best-selling console ever by the end of its lifetime, selling over 158 million units and overtaking the PlayStation 2....
I can look back at one critical moment in the OnePlus timeline where things started going downhill: the OnePlus 7 launch. That was 2019, or a lifetime ago if you’ll excuse the hyperbole. While many of us were ravaged and changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems a lot of tech companies went through metamorphoses, too. OnePlus had once prided itself on its razor-sharp focus on doing two products per year....
The leaks appeared on Chinese site Weibo, courtesy of Digitial Chat Station, and the more interesting details seem to surround the Oppo Find N2. That’s the rumored successor to the Oppo Find N, one of the few foldables to give Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 a run for its money in our opinion. Like the Samsung phone, the Find N2 is tipped to run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset....
Could the Pixel 7 be a triple threat? Newly discovered code seems to suggest that there’s a third model of Google’s flagship phone in the works. If so, a Pixel 7 Ultra — or whatever Google calls this rumored third device — would be quite a departure from Google’s normal pattern of smartphone releases. Typically, the company has only released two models — a standard version and a plus-sized variation that offers improved specs in some areas....
With the PS5 now available, you might think it odd to be chewing over the PS4 Pro vs. the PS4 Slim. But thanks to the ongoing struggle of PS5 restocks, tracking down Sony’s latest games console can be a pain. But the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro are still being made and offer a compelling gaming experience given they can run some cross-generation games. so picking up one of the last-generation consoles might not seems so strange....
This is according to a tweet (opens in new tab) from Chet Faliszek who, among other things, was a writer for multiple Valve video games — including Portal and its sequel. Faliszek claims to have played the PSVR 2, and had some very positive things to say about it. But while this is good news, it’s somewhat bittersweet. While the PSVR 2 is far enough into development that it’s possible to offer private demos, the general public still haven’t seen it in action....
The Rams and Bucs have both reached the mountain top after a new quarterback has taken over their offense in recent history. Last season it was Matthew Stafford boosting the Rams to a championship. The year prior, it was Tom Brady leading the Bucs to their second Super Bowl ring in franchise history. Now both teams and quarterbacks are looking to overcome slow starts and get back to a level of play they are more familiar with....
For example, you can currently get the refurbished Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro in purple for $109 at Best Buy (opens in new tab). That’s a very healthy saving of $120, slicing more than 50% off the price of these rather neat buds. The only catch is to benefit from this saving you need to get the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro in purple. These refurbished buds have been repaired and restored to a like-new state....
Turning first to a new tweet from Ice Universe (opens in new tab), the Galaxy S23 series could be receiving a new “Light” performance profile. Turning this on will supposedly reduce the speed of the phone’s processor in order to extend battery life and keep the phone cool. IU adds that this won’t affect the phone’s refresh rate, which means you’d be able to still enjoy the smoothness of the 120Hz displays all three predicted Galaxy S23 models are thought to come with while still maximizing battery longevity....
Price drops on phones are always welcome developments. But at a time when costs on seemingly everything are on the rise, a lower-cost Galaxy flagship would be a particularly promising bit of news. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, let’s digest the rumor, which comes from a tweet by a leaker called The Galox (opens in new tab) who’s proven to be reasonably accurate with past claims. In the tweet, the leaker claims a delay in the Galaxy S23 rollout, as Samsung executives have yet to settle on pricing for the upcoming phones....
