Free Games

• Epic

  • Just Cause 4

    • 2018
    • Third-person action-adventure sandbox that throws you into the world with a wingsuit, grappling hook, hot air balloons, rocket boosters, and all kinds of weaponry, then asks you to liberate the land from its oppressive government

  • Wheels of Aurelia

    • 2016
    • A visual novel / adventure game that takes you on a road trip through the gritty western coast of Italy during the 1970’s. Playing as Lella, a bold, spunky woman, experience the sights and sounds of a tumultuous time in Italy’s history while uncovering events from Lella’s past through branching dialogue and multiple endings.

• PS4 (without Plus!) until May 5th as part of Sony’s Play At Home initiative

  • Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

    • 2015
    • Free for PSPlus members in January, remastered port of the first three Uncharted games from the PS3 era: Drake’s Fortune, Among Thieves, and Drake’s Deception
    • Uncharted is known for its Tomb Raider style third-person action adventure gameplay including shooting, combat, and puzzle solving

  • German and Chinese gamers will get Knack 2 instead of Uncharted

    • 2017
    • Action platforming game that has you punching, kicking, and changing size to fight enemies, solve puzzles, and find upgrades. It also has local drop-in-drop-out multiplayer co-op

  • Journey

    • 2015
    • A lovely indie adventure game that originally hit the PS3 in 2012, you control a robed figure in a vast desert, travelling toward a mountain in the distance. Along the way you may encounter another player and assist each other for a while, but there’s no chat or communication other than a musical chime you use to activate strange pieces of cloth and affect the world. You don’t even see each other’s names until after the credits

Thanks to an indirect data breach, there are over 500K Zoom accounts being sold on the dark web and in hacker forums

• Cybersecurity firm Cyble was able to purchase 530K zoom credentials for about 1/5 of a cent each this month, verifying the legitimacy of the leak
• With the credentials, hackers can access your account information like your name, email address, password, personal meeting URL, and your account’s HostKey
• The twist here is that Zoom didn’t actually have a data breach themselves- I said ‘indirect’ because from the sounds of it these login details were the results of “credential stuffing attacks”, where hackers attempt to log in to a service using accounts previously leaked
  • That means that if you’ve re-used a password that has been compromised, especially if you’re using the same email address, there’s a good chance that you may be affected.

Apple and Google announced a joint effort this week that will see them using Bluetooth to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 around the world

• Starting in May, both Apple and Google will release functionality that will let Android and iOS devices help track potential exposure using apps from public health authorities (like the Canadian government COVID-19 app)
• Then in the coming months they’ll work to enable broader Bluetooth-based tracing built directly into their platforms, allowing interaction with a wider variety of apps and government health authorities
  • The initial idea for this piece is that everyone who opts in will get a random, rotating identifier that changes every 15 minutes
    • The list of identifiers you’ve been in contact with doesn’t leave your phone unless you explicitly share it
  • This ID will get transmitted to other nearby devices via Bluetooth automatically
  • The idea is that, locally on your device, you can see a 14 day window of whether your phone has been near the device of someone self-identifying that they’ve tested positive for COVID-19
    • The trick here being that users testing positive aren’t identified to Apple, Google, or other users. It’s all anonymized.
• Of course, this is going to need some major security, as privacy and consent are going to be very important to this kind of endeavour
  • Having both Apple and Google working on it will be good, as they can keep each other in check (thought I feel like Apple will have to be the main privacy watchdog here)
• The tool isn’t meant to track locations, but rather personal contact, so it’s not as bad as it could be. But it’s going to have to be locked down airtight or a lot of information could potentially be reverse-engineered from this

Telus’s Babylon Health app is being promoted in Alberta via a deal with Premier Kenney and could be dangerous to women’s health

• The Babylon app is meant to allow people to check symptoms and contact doctors remotely through text or video chats, which you’d think was a great idea in the current situation
• It’s even currently covered by BC’s provincial health care, and Alberta’s premier Jason Kenny and our minister of health Tyler Shandro made a deal with Telus to distribute it in Alberta
• Unfortunately they didn’t consult a single doctor before-hand to verify the app’s effectiveness
• Doctors have found that the built in symptom checker is deeply flawed- with the exact same symptoms and history (60 years old, 20/day smoker, sudden chest pain and nausea), a male is diagnosed with a heart attack and told to visit emergency services, but a woman is told it’s a panic attack and that some symptoms may need to be checked out by a GP within 6 hours
• This is another great example of not only health care’s gender-bias, which is appalling, but also our government’s messed up priorities
• The president of the Alberta Medical Association has gone on record saying that the way the app and its physicians are put together, the fact that they don’t actually have access to your medical records, and how they don’t coordinate your care at all beyond faxing your family doctor if you specifically request it, leads to fragmented and potentially dangerous medical care
• At this point we have our government effectively advertising a handicapped, pseudo-privatized health care
  • But then again, we also live in the province that spent between $14-20K buying Facebook ads to promote Kenney donating PPE and ventilators to BC, Ontario, and Quebec

Apple announced their new iPhone SE this week, and though the name hasn’t changed everything else has

• The new device is using the iPhone 8 body and comes in three colours- white, black, and Product(Red) that has proceeds going toward COVID-19 aid instead of HIV/AIDS this time around
• Specs-wise it has a 4.7” LCD display, the same processor as the flagship iPhone 11, TouchID 2 and Haptic Touch, the same camera as the XR and XS, and dual/eSIM support
  • So with this device replacing the iPhone 8, 3D Touch is officially dead and Haptic Touch (aka press and hold) unfortunately is the victor
• That means you’ll see some fantastic performance for years to come as long as you don’t mind not having FaceID and using a slightly more basic screen
• All that starts at $399 USD ($599 CAD) for the 64GB, up to $549 USD ($809 CAD) for the 256GB version

Final Fantasy VII Remake mini-review

• Really good, a ton of fun for fans of both the old and new styles of Final Fantasy game
• I really like the world they’ve built out of the first chunk of the original, and I’m looking forward to more

Soylent is back baby!

• Soylent.ca is where to get it

• Not following our Soylent coverage and you’re confused why we’re ecxited
• Here is their copy
  • Soylent is a complete meal — affordable, sustainable, and satisfying.
  • We engineer our ever-evolving products to deliver convenient nutrition when you need it.
  • If you’ve ever missed a meal, eaten something regrettable in the throes of hangry, or had no time to eat, Soylent is for you.
• • In a world with a rapidly growing population, and rapidly diminishing resources, we all need access to nutrition that is cost-effective and easy to consume. We’re pro-GMO, pro-sustainability, and ready to change how the world thinks about food.

• What can we buy in Canada right now?

  • Soylent Drinks
    • A ready-to-drink meal offering 400 kcal, 28 vitamins and minerals, and 20g of plant-based protein.
    • Ordering is at a case at a time
      • 12 Bottles a case
      • One time purchase at $4.75 a bottle
        • $57 a case
      • Subscription rate is $4.28 a bottle
        • $51.30
        • Frequency at 15, 30, 45 and 60 days
    • Original
      • The flavor that started it all
      • Light, sweet, and velvety smooth
• • • Chocolate
      • Rich, chocolatey flavor with real cacao powder.
• • • Cafe Mocha
      • The chocolatey, robust coffee drink of your dreams.
      • Same ready-to-drink meal with an added caffeine boost to start your day.
      • When I had the drink back when it was called Coffiest, it tasted like black coffee in Soylent, which was good in my opinion
  • Soylent Powder
    • 450 grams in a bag
    • 20g of protein and 28 vitamins and minerals per serving.
      • Recommended serving is 60 grams of powder
      • And each case has 35 meals worth of pwder
      • One time purchase at $2.51 per meal
        • $88 an order
      • Subscription at $2.09 a meal
        • $73.04 per order
        • Frequency at 15, 30, 45 and 60 days
      • Original
        • The complete-meal powder that started it all.
        • A light, sweet taste.
        • Mix Original into your favorite smoothie to create your own flavor profile or enjoy it on its own for a velvety-smooth meal.
      • Chocolate
        • Ideal for smoothies
  • Accessories
    • First subscription gives you a pitcher and scoop
      • Which I no longer have
    • And there is a Soylent branded blender bottle
      • Our 20oz Soylent Blender Bottles are perfect for all your meal replacement powder needs.
      • Shake up 200 kcal or 400 kcal servings on the go, wherever you go.
      • For a limited time only, Soylent Blender Bottles ship with a 200 kcal scoop — perfect for easy measuring.
      • $11

• Now this looks like a lot
  • I am very grateful they put a foot back into Canada
  • However, we are missing some products that are available to the United States
    • Soylent Drinks
      • Vanilla
        • Classic vanilla flavor with a sweet, subtle taste and no added caffeine
      • Strawberry
        • Our sweet strawberry flavor with a fruity finish.
      • Mint Chocolate
        • Minty chocolate deliciousness. Twist the cap and dive into our brand new flavor.
      • Brand New Soylent STACKED
        • Soylent Stacked is the first of its kind. This 11 oz complete energy drink is packed with 15g of plant protein and 36 essential nutrients, plus nootropics which improve focus, increases mental output, and gives you the nutrients your body needs.
      • And a variety pack to get 4 of each Cacao, Strawberry and Vanilla
    • Soylent Eats
      • These are little snack bars
        • 100 calorie mini meal serves up 5g of plant protein, 36 essential nutrients and probiotics.
      • They come in boxes of 30 squares
        • Chocolate Brownie
        • Salted Caramel
        • Citrus Berry
        • Variety Pack
        • And a sampler pack of 9 bars

Tidbits

• Apple’s introduced a Mac Pro Wheels kit for everyone that bought a Mac Pro and were disappointed when it didn’t roll around wildly with no way to lock it down
  • The kit goes for $700 USD, compared to the $300 static feet option, leading many to wonder- why are my computer’s wheels more expensive than my car’s tires?
• With physical distancing expected to be in effect for the foreseeable future, Polygon’s gathered a bunch of really sweet stories from people going on blind island dates
  • Animal Crossing has apparently become the latest great Tinder first date destination
• Nintendo’s latest Switch system update has brought a bunch of quality-of-life improvements this week
  • Changes include the ability to transfer games and DLC from the system’s memory to and from an SD card (though you still can’t move save data over), and the option to remap controller buttons at a global level (a big win for accessibility)
• Nevada Gaming Control has approved gambling on three eSports events, so with physical sports being cancelled you can now bet on the 2020 League of Legends European Championship, the North American League of Legends Championship Series, and the Overwatch League
• The official Star Wars website has announced that Episode I: Racer will be released on the Switch and PS4 on May 12th