Free Games

• Epic Games

  • The Stanley Parable

    • Started life as a Half-Life 2 mod in 2011, it became a standalone game in 2013
    • You play as the titular Stanley, and going through an office building in first person perspective, with everything that happens being narrated by the lovely British voice actor Kevan Brighting. You end up finding a bunch of diverging pathways, with options to disobey the narrator, that all get incorporated into the story with many different endings.

  • Watch Dogs

    • 2014
    • Third-person action-adventure game that follows hacker Aiden Pearce’s search for revenge after the killing of his niece, set in an open-world version of Chicago that has you going through different puzzles to hack a ton of different technology. There are also RPG mechanics with a reputation system and skill trees for hacking, crafting, combat, and driving

• App Store

  • Alto’s Adventure

    • Join Alto and his friends as they embark on an endless snowboarding odyssey. Journey across the beautiful alpine hills of their native wilderness, through neighbouring villages, ancient woodlands, and long-abandoned ruins.

  • Alto’s Odyssey

    • Join Alto and his friends and set off on an endless sandboarding journey to discover its secrets. Soar above windswept dunes, traverse thrilling canyons, and explore long-hidden temples in a fantastical place far from home.

  • Kingdom Rush

    • Original, Frontiers, and Origins
    • Highly rated tower defence games
    • Get ready for an epic journey to defend your kingdom against hordes of orcs, trolls, evil wizards and other nasty fiends using a vast arsenal of towers and spells at your command!

COVID-19

• According to the CDC, water temperature doesn’t matter at all when washing your hands
  • Hot or cold, the important factors are to use soap for at least 20 seconds and to use clean, running water. Standing water in a basin could be contaminated
  • They also mention turning off the faucet after wetting your hands to save water while you soap up, saying there is little data to prove significant numbers of germs are transferred between hands and the faucet
  • And also remember that while hand sanitizer also does the job, you’ll want to use soap and water if there is any visible dirt or grime to clean off. The best approach is to use both tools frequently
• In some solid marketing spin, Apple is kicking off WWDC 2020 in June with an all new online format
  • Though it’s clearly a cancellation of the in-person sessions due to COVID-19, the way they’ve phrased it, and indeed the way it will exist this year, is an online format equally accessible to all developers no matter their location
  • They gave brief mention to the “current health situation”, but never actually mentioned COVID-19 or coronavirus
• Many internet companies like TekSavvy and Shaw are making changes to remove data caps, offer flexible billing, and open up access points like Shaw Go WiFi to the general public
  • The FCC in the US is left scrambling to protect consumers though, after aggressively deregulating and removing their own power
    • They’ve convinced many ISP’s to waive late fees and not terminate services due to unpaid bill during this crisis, but glaringly omitted is any mention of removing data caps and overage fees
    • Ajit Pai arguing that ISP’s shouldn’t disconnect people in a time of emergency is making many wonder- isn’t this an admission that the internet is a utility, a basic service nowadays like power and water, and thus should be regulated as such?
• The vast majority of business are either closing down completely or transitioning to online-only or limited delivery/takeout options to limit personal contact
  • Apple is even offering returns up to 14 days after they re-open their retail stores, as long as it’s not a phone bought on contract
  • Gamestop, though, has made the controversial decision to stay open in the US. They’re limiting the number of customers allowed in and cancelling midnight releases, but it’s still not a great situation
    • Many staff have reported on reddit that they haven’t even received disinfectant cleaners from corporate, instead being expected to provide their own and request reimbursement
    • Gamestop also still appears to be accepting trade-ins. Workers have apparently been told they can use gloves when accepting them, but they again have to buy their own
• With movie theatres closing to keep up social distancing, Universal is releasing new movies as 48-hour rentals on the same day as their planned theatrical release. Current options include Trolls World Tour, The Invisible Man, The Hunt, and Emma, which cost $20 to rent (about two movie tickets)
  • I can see a lot of other studios doing the same, if they haven’t already, to try and keep up their revenue on new releases
• Conan O’Brien is taking an interesting route in sorting this out, allowing his crew to work from home while he shoots his show from his house on his iPhone
• The WWE is still going strong, performing their hearts out to completely empty stadiums and arenas in some entertaining and somewhat surreal Twitter videos I’ve seen
• The European Union is calling on Netflix, YouTube, and other streaming services to temporarily reduce video quality to ease the strain on broadband networks while many work from home
  • Italy, one of the countries hit worst by the pandemic, saw a 75% rise in broadband and mobile network traffic over the weekend
• Israel has passed an emergency law allowing them to track the smartphone data of people with suspected COVID-19 and others they come into contact with to make sure they follow quarantine rules, which is kind of terrifying when you think of the ramifications

Apple has announced a bunch of new hardware coming down the pipe, and DaringFireball has a solid breakdown of what we can expect

• New iPad Pro models are coming with faster CPUs and GPUs
  • They also come with more storage, with the base model up to 128GB from 64GB, all for the same prices
  • They’ve also added a LiDAR sensor (basically a laser range-finder) which could mean much faster and more effective augmented reality apps
• iPadOS 13.4 is coming this Tuesday and will include full system-wide pointer support for mice and trackpads
  • This looks pretty slick, being a round cursor when mousing around and then disappearing and highlighting buttons and controls when hovering over them
• There will be a new Magic Keyboard iPad case coming in May with an integrated trackpad and backlit keys
  • It looks pretty powerful with no kickstand and adjustable angles, converting the iPad Pro into an actual , albeit topheavy, clamshell laptop
• And the new MacBook Air has double the storage, greatly improved performance, and the prices have dropped significantly
  • With the price drops and storage increases, you can compare the previous generation’s slower 256GB model costing $1299USD to the brand new faster equivalent at $999
    • If you do want to spend $1299, you end up with a much beefier processor and double the storage
  • And as a bonus, they now have the new scissor-switch keyboard that solves many of the issues with Apple’s butterfly mechanism

China deploys a ton of ‘No touch’ Hologram elevator buttons

http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/demand-china-surges-no-touch-hologram-buttons/

• A technology company in the city of Hefei, west of Shanghai, has attracted more than 100 orders for its holographic lift buttons as Chinese look for ways to avoid touching surfaces that may harbour the Covid-19 virus.
• The device works by projecting an image of buttons in the air, and allowing users to “touch” them. The maker, Easpeed, says it can be fitted to all elevators, and has a response time of less than 30 milliseconds.
• The system is relatively expensive, at about $2,000, prompting some building owners to opt for retrofitted voice controls, at a cost of around $500.
• This has been done in hospitals in Yichang, Hubei Province, and Beijing’s Xiaotangshan Hospital.
• Zhu Yongzhi, vice president Easpeed, told Global Times that the accuracy of voice control varied depending on noise levels, and the languages and dialects of the speaker.
• He added that his company had received orders from Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang Province, and that the price may fall once Easpeed begins mass production.
• Another approach has been taken by Huawei, which has developed an app that allows users to use a mobile phone to call elevators and select levels.
• Meanwhile, those Chinese citizens who find themselves in unimproved lifts have taken their own measures, by using pens, toothpicks and keys to call their transport. Some may even have taken the stairs …

Watch Netflix with friends all from the comfort of you own homes!

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/netflix-party-lets-you-watch-movies-online-togethe/1100-6474858/

• Netflix Party is a new way to watch Netflix with your friends online.
  • Netflix Party synchronizes video playback and adds group chat to your favorite Netflix shows.
• How it works.
  • Install Netflix Party
  • Clicking the “Install Netflix Party” button on this page. Once you are redirected to the Chrome Web Store, click “Add to Chrome” to finish installing Netflix Party.
• Open a Video in Netflix
  • Go to Netflix’s website. Choose any show you would like to watch and start playing the video.
• Create your party
  • To create your party, click on the red “NP” icon located next to the address bar. Then click “Start Party” to get the party started, and share the party URL to invite friends.
• Join a Netflix Party
  • To join a party click on the party URL, which will redirect to Netflix’s website. Then click on the “NP” button next to the address bar, and you should automatically join the party.
• Has some customization options
  • User icon and nickname
  • Upload screenshots, emojis and GIFs
• Netflix Party claims they have over 500 thousand users already
  • Is is not clear is they are affiliated with Netflix
  • Since they have a Patreon of $5 a month, I feel they are not
  • And with all participants needing their own access to Netflix
    • I doubt this will be taken down
    • But we never know

Tidbits

• Microsoft’s been confirming the nuts and bolts of the Xbox Series X this last week, including a fancy solid-state drive, but they’ve made a bit of a misstep when it comes to expansion
  • They’re going to be selling the Xbox Series X Storage Expansion Card, a proprietary mcguffin developed with Seagate that you’ll need if you want to install more games than the internal storage allows. USB is allowed for backup, but not for gameplay
    • The cards will apparently offer some portability though, letting players bring a card loaded with games to a friend’s Xbox and play them there
  • Almost in response, Sony announced that the PS5 will have an expansion bay for an off-the-shelf solid-state drive, though they will be certifying specific drives to meet the new PCI Express 4.0 standard
• After founding Microsoft in 1975, Bill Gates has left the its board entirely last week to dedicate more time to his philanthropic endeavours
  • It was a surprisingly quiet announcement, snuck in on a Friday under the headline “Microsoft announces change to its board of directors”
• Apple has been fined a record $1.23B in France for price-fixing with their Apple Premium Reseller program
  • The French competition agency said that under the program, Apple published recommended prices and tightly restricted promotional materials distributors could use. One distributor said that if it ran a promotion Apple didn’t like, the company would retaliate by limiting product supply
  • The agency also found that Apple limited supplies to partners during moments of heavy demand around new product launches, to steer customers to its own stores
  • All in all some pretty nasty business practices that don’t sound very legal at all
• Comcast has mistakenly published the names, phone numbers, and addresses of nearly 200,000 customers that pay monthly fees to remain unlisted
  • The information was made available on Ecolisting, a directory run by Comcast, and shortly thereafter picked up by third party directories
  • Comcast has shut that directory down, paid each customer $100 in credits, and offered free number changes, but the last time something like this happened in 2015 it resulted in a $33M settlement
  • This could be a very big deal for people that need to stay anonymous online for things like personal safety reasons, as even though they can change their phone numbers their names and addresses are out there now

New Overwatch Character #32, Echo

Backstory

• Dr Mina Liao, Expert in robotics and artificial intelligence
  • Joined the Omnica Corporation and helped create the omnic race
  • During the Omnic Crisis, she was enlisted by Commander Morrison to join Overwatch
  • Mina created the Echo Project, to create an adaptive AI highly advanced robot to help with her vision of the future

Abilities

• Primary attack
  • Tri-Shot – 15 shots before relead
  • Shoots 3 projectiles in a triangle pattern
• Secondary Attack
  • Sticky Bombs – 5 second cooldown
  • Shoots a volley of bombs that stick to enemies and detonates after a short time
  • can be combined with Primary attack
    • Unlike Zenyatta’s charge attack
• Primary Ability
  • Flight
  • Initial boost forward
  • Followed by a short time of free flight
  • She can also glide
    • Faster falling than Mercy’s similar ability, but more maneuverability
• Alternate Ability
  • Focusing Beam
  • Deals significantly more damage to characters that are under 50% health
  • Also deals more damage to Barriers that are below 50%
    • Funfact – The first cracks on a barrier are when it falls to 50%
• Ultimate
  • Duplicate
  • Echo will duplicate an enemy character for 15 seconds
  • Echo replicates the appearance of the hero and gains all their abilities
  • Damage done or healed, in this transformed state will accumulate more Ult charge than in regular gameplay
  • If you are defeated, you lose your transformation, and become Echo again
  • Quality of life enhancement added to confirm the character selected before transforming
    • It is also added to Ana’s Ultimate, to confirm the character you will be boosting
• She is a very advanced character and will have a long time on the PTR