Learn about how TweakTown tests and reviews hardware. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you.
Stay Updated
Follow TweakTown for breaking tech news, reviews, and daily updates.
YouTube CEO: go against the WHO on coronavirus and we'll ban you
YouTube is getting serious in banning any and all content that goes against the recommendations of, or contradicts the World Health Organization (WHO) when it comes to coronavirus recommendations.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki herself explained the news to CNN when she was on their segment 'Reliable Sources' with host Brian Stelter, where she said YouTube will be "removing information that is problematic". This includes "anything that is medically unsubstantiated".
Wojcicki continued: "So people saying 'take vitamin C; take turmeric, we'll cure you', those are the examples of things that would be a violation of our policy. Anything that would go against World Health Organisation recommendations would be a violation of our policy".
Continue reading: YouTube CEO: go against the WHO on coronavirus and we'll ban you (full post)
US using Chinese drones to spy on, warn Americans on social distancing
If you thought the headline was click bait, think again -- the US is allowing Chinese company DJI to have drones flying in 22 states allowing US authorities to enforce social distancing rules over COVID-19 coronavirus.
In a story on MSNBC that talked with officials and authorities in Elizabeth, NJ -- aerial drones are flying above many cities in the United States with some dystopian messages to Americans. DJI has donated a bunch of drones to 43 agencies across 22 states in the US in order to "enforce social distancing".
DJI is a Chinese company that scarily might be "sending data to China (more on that here)" on Americans, as these drones are being used by authorities to fly where police cars can't get to. This includes tight spaces between buildings, the backyards of innocent Americans, schools, and other places. If you are not adhering to social distancing rules, the Chinese drone will shout orders out at you -- and you will receive a summons or a $1000 fine.
Continue reading: US using Chinese drones to spy on, warn Americans on social distancing (full post)
United Nations: coronavirus could cause famine of biblical proportions
If you thought it was bad with COVID-19 now, it could get much worse -- with the chief of the United Nations food relief agency warning that the world is facing widespread famine of "biblical proportions" over coronavirus.
David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme warns that over 30 countries in the developing world could be plunged into widespread famine -- with 10 of those countries already there, and 1 million people on the edge of starvation.
Beasley explained: "We are not talking about people going to bed hungry. We are talking about extreme conditions, emergency status - people literally marching to the brink of starvation. If we don't get food to people, people will die".
Continue reading: United Nations: coronavirus could cause famine of biblical proportions (full post)
Twitter will remove 5G conspiracy theory tweets over coronavirus
Twitter is getting serious with 5G conspiracy theories, with the social networking giant announcing new rules. YouTube recently made a similar move, removing any videos that connect COVID-19 and 5G.
These new rules will see Twitter remove tweets that have "unverified claims that incite people to engage in harmful activity, could lead to the destruction or damage of critical 5G infrastructure".
Twitter won't be removing every single 5G conspiracy theory tweet, and instead will be prioritizing claims that are inciting people to action. You know, like encouraging people across the world to burn down their local 5G towers. With over 50 fires that have targeted "cell towers and other equipment" in the UK in recent weeks, this is a strong move by Twitter.
Continue reading: Twitter will remove 5G conspiracy theory tweets over coronavirus (full post)
WHO, CDC, Gates Foundation all hacked: thousands of passwords leaked
It couldn't come at a worse time, but the CDC, Gates Foundation, NIH, WHO, and the World Bank have been hacked and close to 25,000 email addresses and passwords were leaked online.
I saw this get leaked onto Twitter by "conspiracy theorists" and didn't look twice, but now it is hitting the media and seems a little more serious. Unknown hackers -- and from some of what I've read, Anonymous -- have leaked out nearly 25,000 email addresses and passwords from the likes of CDC, Gates Foundation, NIH, WHO, and the World Bank.
The SITE Intelligence Group monitors online extremism and terrorist organizations said that on Sunday, the email logins were shared -- and 24 hours later they were used in hacking and harassment attempts by "far-right extremists".
Continue reading: WHO, CDC, Gates Foundation all hacked: thousands of passwords leaked (full post)
Fortnite is finally available on the Google Play Store
Until now, if you wanted to play Fortnite on an Android-powered smartphone or tablet you couldn't download it directly from the Google Play Store -- you had to use Epic's own software or you went through Samsung.
Well, not anymore -- Epic Games has made Fortnite available on the Google Play Store after its rather epic (if you'll pardon the pun) battle with everything giant Google. Epic has explained that Google used "scary, repetitive security pop-ups", Google Play Protect, and hostile characterizations to shove non-Play Store titles "at a disadvantage".
Epic added that it wants to see Google rethink its policies regarding the Play Store, so that developers from all corners of the gaming world can "compete on a level playing field" when it comes to Google and payments, and other services.
Continue reading: Fortnite is finally available on the Google Play Store (full post)
Xbox Series X SSD natively drops load times by 4x without code changes
The Xbox Series X may not require intense optimizations to tap the powerful SSD tech, and some games were natively boosted four-fold by the PCIe 4.0 storage.
The Xbox Series X's SSD is revolutionary. It's a customized PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD that hits up blazing fast 2.4GB/sec transfers with a potent software stack to massively accelerate data flow. And now we have evidence that games will be natively boosted by the hardware without any code changes needed, similar to how the Xbox Series X will natively boost current-gen games to 4K resolution. The boost mode isn't just limited to graphics and extends to storage too; devs don't have to lift a finger to take advantage of the tech.
"With the Xbox Series X, out of the gate, we reduced our load-times by more than 4x without any code changes," The Coalition's technical director Mike Rayner told Windows Central.
Continue reading: Xbox Series X SSD natively drops load times by 4x without code changes (full post)
Animal Crossing makes history with 5 million digital sales
COVID-19 combined with a new Animal Crossing is a perfect storm for Nintendo sales.
Nintendo lucked out with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The game released just as the United States bunkered down for forced COVID-19 quarantines, so gamers could still go to stores and grab a copy. As a result of this accidental opportunism, Animal Crossing has skyrocketed as March's best-selling console game in the global and U.S. markets. It's a veritable beast that's taken a big chomp out of the competition--and Nintendo Switch availability.
Analyst firm SuperData says Animal Crossing has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling single-month game in console history.
Continue reading: Animal Crossing makes history with 5 million digital sales (full post)
Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2 source code leaks out
UPDATE: Valve issues a statement that CS:GO hasn't been jeopardized and it's safe to play online. The source code was from an outdated build and will not interfere with the current version of CS:GO.
Valve makes a ton from CS:GO. The game has multi-million dollar eSports tournaments every year and pulls in serious revenue via skins and microtransactions. It's a heavily-guarded moneymaker that Valve regulates with strict anti-cheat software. That could be jeopardized with today's leak.
Source code for CS:GO and Team Fortress 2 have leaked out to the public via 4Chan, which could have big ramifications for Valve's money-making franchises. The code is actually outdated, though: the CS:GO code leak dates back to 2017, and the TF2 code is from 2018. The worry is the code could be used to create hacks and mods that circumvent the anti-cheat software embedded into both games. The code itself is licensed out by Valve and isn't available to the public for this reason. Many services and mod sites have gone offline in response to the leak as to not provide hosting for any game-breaking content.
Continue reading: Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2 source code leaks out (full post)
Coronavirus spikes digital game earnings to historic $10 billion
The global games market earns a record-breaking $10 million from digital sales in March thanks to coronavirus quarantines.
The COVID-19 lockdowns have tremendously boosting the games industry, especially digital. The lockdowns have created a vacuum that consumers are filling with activities and games. The demand is soaring, but supply is scarce: now that most of the stores have shut down, consumers are choosing to buy games directly from digital storefronts. The result is a massive spike in monthly earnings for March 2020.
According to SuperData's latest report, the global gaming market generated a new all-time high of $10 billion from digital in March 2020. This was driven by the success of heavy-hitters like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which handily dominated the console charts, Doom Eternal, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Overall revenues are up 11% year-over-year from the $9 billion earned in March 2020.
Continue reading: Coronavirus spikes digital game earnings to historic $10 billion (full post)
Google Assistant hotword sensitivity control is rolling out now
Google has a new feature coming that anyone with multiple Google Assistant devices in their home will appreciate. The new feature will allow users to adjust the sensitivity of the "Hey Google" word that wakes the device up so it can hear what you want to tell it to do. The ability to adjust the hotword sensitivity was first seen in the Google Assistant software earlier this year.
The reason Google is rolling out the ability to adjust hotword sensitivity has to do with reducing the number of accidental awakenings of the device. Screenshots posted of the software in a tweet by Mishaal Rahman show that there will be a slider that allows users to adjust the front speaker sensitivity from default to least sensitive or most sensitive.
That will allow users to make the hotword sensitivity either less sensitive than the Google Assistant device comes from the factory, or more sensitive depending on their needs. Speculation suggests that for users with multiple devices in the home, each can have its own sensitivity level even if they are networked together. This change will be welcomed by users who frequently have a problem with waking their Google Assistant by mistake.
Continue reading: Google Assistant hotword sensitivity control is rolling out now (full post)
Doom Eternal's digital launch sales triple Doom 2016's at 3 million
Doom Eternal has sold an estimated 3 million digital copies at launch, eclipsing Doom 2016's May 2018 figures.
Bethesda says Doom Eternal is a rip-roaring with tons of sales and doubled launch revenue, but exact data is pretty light. Now SuperData jumps in to provide some color around the figures: The firm says Doom Eternal sold 3 million copies digitally on all platforms in March, which is over three times the 957,000 copies Doom 2016 sold digitally at launch.
Doom Eternal claimed two top 10 spots on the marketplace: it's the fourth best-selling game on consoles in March 2020, and the fifth best-selling game on PC.
Continue reading: Doom Eternal's digital launch sales triple Doom 2016's at 3 million (full post)
Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans are now available
Microsoft announced a few weeks ago that it would be replacing its Office 365 plans with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family and plans for is Business users. The new Microsoft 365 plans are essentially the same as the plans Microsoft offered as Office 365 in the past. For those who've been wanting to subscribe, the new Microsoft 365 plans are now generally available to all.
The first of the plans is Microsoft 365 Family, which was formerly Office 365 Home. Microsoft 365 Family costs $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month. It includes access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher. The last two of those apps are only available on PC while the others are available on Mac as well. Up to six people and devices along with up to 6TB (1TB per person) of cloud storage are covered in the plan.
Microsoft 365 Personal is available for $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month. That includes access to the same apps along with 1TB of cloud storage. The main difference is only one person can have access to that account. For those who aren't interested in subscriptions, Office Home & Student 2019 is available for $149.99 as a one-time purchase. The big catch here is that it only brings Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for one PC or Mac.
Continue reading: Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans are now available (full post)
Lordstown Motors will unveil Endurance electric pickup this summer
Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns has written an open letter to fans of the company, and it's all-electric Endurance pickup. The Endurance pickup was supposed to be unveiled officially at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in June. That event has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. With the official reveal canceled, Lordstown Motors is talking about its revised plans for unveiling the pickup.
Burns says that the company still intends to introduce the first production-intent Endurance pickup sometime in early summer. Most likely, the event will be a virtual reveal hosted at their headquarters in Lordstown. Burns notes that the company hopes to solidify the plans of the next "month or so." As for production plans, the letter states that the company intends to hand the keys to the first production versions of the Endurance in January 2021.
Burns wrote in the letter that most of the staff has been working from home and carrying out as much of their work as possible. Essential maintenance at the plant is still being conducted, and design engineers are continuing to test and fine-tune the technology that will power the truck. For those unfamiliar with the Endurance electric pickup, it will have an in-wheel motor at all four corners giving the truck all-wheel drive.
Continue reading: Lordstown Motors will unveil Endurance electric pickup this summer (full post)
ADATA debuts high-end XPG Xenia gaming laptops with beastly SSDs
ADATA today announced the XPG Xenia, a new enthusiast gaming laptop that matches high-end GPU and CPU power with its powerful SSD storage.
XPG's splash into the gaming notebook market represents a big move from memory-maker ADATA. The new higher-end Xenia notebook features proprietary hardware including its beefy XPG DDR4 32GB 2666MHz RAM, and ultra-fast SX8200 Pro PCIe Gen3x4 NVMe 1.3 M.2 2280 SSD that can hit up 3.5GB/sec reads and 3GB/sec writes. Chip-wise, ADATA has teamed up with Intel to pack in its Intel Core i7-9750H high-performance graphics notebook CPU. The Xenia has two GPU configs: an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti.
The Xenia has a lightweight chassis complemented by a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display at 144Hz refresh, complete with a slim 4.9mm bezel. It also sports a fully RGB-lit mechanical keyboard with 100% anti-ghosting, a 10-hour battery, and a 20.5mm-thick chassis that weighs 1.85KG.
Continue reading: ADATA debuts high-end XPG Xenia gaming laptops with beastly SSDs (full post)
New AirPods will have the same design as the Pro minus a key feature
A couple of days ago, we mentioned that rumors were flying that Apple had three new AirPods models in the works with rumors pointing towards a launch in May. Some new details have surfaced on what exactly those AirPods will feature. According to a report, the new AirPods will have the same design as the existing AirPods Pro but will lack active noise cancellation.
The rumor we talked about earlier this week suggested that among the models of AirPods expected to launch in May will be an AirPods Pro Lite, which would seem to be an appropriate name for the headphones mentioned in this most recent report. Also tipped by the earlier rumor was AirPods X Generation and a set of over the ear headphones.
The new report says that while Apple hasn't modified its May launch window, sources in the supply chain are saying that Apple may have to postpone that launch until the second half of 2020 or even 2021 due to the coronavirus. While it's not specifically mentioned, the assumption would be if Apple delays the launch, the delay would be due to production issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading: New AirPods will have the same design as the Pro minus a key feature (full post)
OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro smartphones launch in Europe
Smartphone shoppers around the world wanting a new device have two new smartphones from OnePlus to check out. The new devices are the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro, and they are available in Europe now and will land in the US later. Neither device is on the budget end of the smartphone realm, both are aimed at the flagship market.
The OnePlus 8 Pro will sell for $999 in the States for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage version. The same phone with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage sells for $899. The OnePlus 8 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage will sell for $699. Stepping up to the OnePlus 8 with 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage will cost $799. The Pro will come in onyx black, glacial green, or ultramarine blue with the latter only for the 12GB version. The standard OnePlus 8 will come in glacial green for the 8GB version or Interstellar Glow for the 12GB version.
Fans in the US will be able to get the OnePlus 8 with 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage on a 24-month payment plan at $33.33 per month or $799 one-time payment. The Pro version won't be offered on Verizon at this time. T-Mobile is also offering the OnePlus 8 starting on April 29 with pricing announced then. In the UK, both the standard and Pro versions are available with the cheapest OnePlus 8 offering the same hardware specifications as it will in the United States at 599 British pounds with the upper-level version selling for 699 British pounds.
Continue reading: OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro smartphones launch in Europe (full post)
AMD reveals details on 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen 3 Desktop Processors
AMD has announced the latest addition to its third generation Ryzen 3 desktop processors. AMD says that these new parts "unleash" the Zen 2 core for the mainstream user. The new announcements include the AMD Ryzen 3 3100, AMD Ryzen 3 3300X, AMD B550 Chipset for Socket AM4 motherboards. AMD notes that there are over 60 designs in development for AMD B550 chipset motherboards.
The mainstream processors aim to bring the Zen 2 core architecture to business users, gamers, and content creators. The processors leverage Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) technology to increase productivity. The tech delivers double the threads, twice the bandwidth, and support for a range of motherboards in development using the B550 chipset.
The new 3100 and 3300X processors are the fastest ever Ryzen 3 desktop processors, according to AMD. The CPUs also marked the first time SMT has been used on a Ryzen 3 desktop processor. Both of the processors have an 18MB cache to reduce memory latency and feature four cores and eight threads. AMD's Ryzen 3 3100 processor promises up to 20 percent more gaming performance than the competition and up to 75 percent more creator performance.
Continue reading: AMD reveals details on 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen 3 Desktop Processors (full post)
Latest Apple 13.3-inch MacBook Air on sale for $100 off
One of the places to get some good deals on technology products, particularly Apple gear, in the US is B&H Photo. The company currently has a good deal going with instant savings on the latest version of the Apple MacBook Air with Retina Display. The model is the early 2020 unit, and the entry-level version is currently $100 off the regular $999.99 price.
B&H is an authorized reseller for Apple computers MacBook Air is currently $899.99. The sale price is good through April 25 at 11:59 PM EDT or while supplies last. For the money, the entry-level MacBook Air features 8GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and an Intel Core i3 10th-generation processor. The 13.3-inch screen has a native resolution of 2560 by 1600, and graphics are handled by Intel Iris Plus.
The Core i3 used in this machine runs at 1.1GHz but can be boosted up to 3.2GHz. The gold version is available but is more expensive, with only a $50 discount. Both the silver and Space Gray versions are on sale for $899, with the silver version being a whopping $0.99 cheaper than the Space Gray at $899.
Continue reading: Latest Apple 13.3-inch MacBook Air on sale for $100 off (full post)
Death Stranding for PC delayed, will now release later this year
The coronavirus outbreak is affecting almost every facet of every industry, and is now even affecting the release date for one of the most anticipated PC games this year, Death Stranding.
According to a new Twitter post by the official Kojima Productions Twitter account, the release of Death Stranding on PC has been delayed and will now release on July 14th, 2020. The Twitter post explains that this decision was made to allow for the development team to have more time to work on the port since everyone is now working from home.
Death Stranding will be arriving on PC with ultrawide and high FPS support, read more on that here. The release will also come to both the Epic Games Store and the Steam Store simultaneously, and if you are interested in pre-ordering Hideo Kojima's latest title a link to the Steam and Epic Games Store listings can be found here and here.
Continue reading: Death Stranding for PC delayed, will now release later this year (full post)





















