Tag Archive for: Gaming

Qualcomm dives into handheld gaming, powering new device in partnership with Razer

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What new bells and whistles might be coming to top-tier Android smartphones next year?

Qualcomm, whose mobile processors power some 2 billion handsets worldwide, gave a few hints this week at its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii.

The San Diego company introduced technologies that deliver faster 5G and Wi-Fi, crisper photos, always-on cameras and CD-quality “lossless” Bluetooth audio, among other things.

It also added a few surprises, including a standalone mobile gaming device and a revamped branding campaign that seeks to make the Snapdragon name as well-known as “Intel Inside.”

Here are a few things to know about this week’s event.

Gonzo gaming

There are 2.5 billion mobile gamers worldwide, and they spend a lot of money on their preferred entertainment. Qualcomm estimates the amount at $90 billion to $120 billion a year.

The company has long touted its sharp graphics and fast processing for gamers on smartphones. Now it’s working with gaming hardware outfit Razer on a standalone, handheld gaming device. which includes a cooling fan for better performance.

Qualcomm isn’t making any devices. It’s simply providing a design template to enable electronics makers to more easily roll out gaming devices based on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon G3x Gaming Platform.

“Let’s say you are connected to a 5G network, and you’re doing multi-player gaming,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president of mobile, compute and infrastructure at Qualcomm. “That is when immersive audio is very important. The fan is very important because now you can push the envelope of performance to a higher level. You can attach to a TV. Fast charging capability is on there as well.”

5G, cameras, AI and security

For smartphones, Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor can theoretically reach 10-gigabit per second download speeds — though that’s unlikely in real life because of network congestion and other things. Still, it’s faster than Qualcomm’s earlier generations of 5G processors.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 also delivers the fastest version of Wi-Fi, which reaches 3.7 gigabits per second.

Its artificial intelligence engines help power natural language processing, the scanning of documents…

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The Best Cyber Monday Laptop Deals: HP, Chromebooks, Gaming Laptops, and PCs – The New York Times

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The Best Cyber Monday Laptop Deals: HP, Chromebooks, Gaming Laptops, and PCs  The New York Times

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Court orders Apple to implement App Store changes, 2022 forecast, TikTok tries gaming – TechCrunch

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Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.

The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices.

Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that’s up 27% year-over-year.

This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and suggestions about new apps and games to try, too.

Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters

Apple lost its request to delay App Store changes

Epic Games Inc. Fortnite App As Gamers Flock

Image Credits: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg / Getty Images

A federal judge ruled this week that Apple can’t push back the deadline to update its App Store policies, as previously ordered in the court’s decision on California’s Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit. Though Apple largely won that case when the judge declared that Apple was not acting as a monopolist (as Epic Games had alleged), the court sided with the Fortnite maker on the matter of Apple’s anti-steering policies regarding restrictions on in-app purchases.

The original ruling stated that Apple would no longer be allowed to prohibit developers from pointing to other means of payment besides Apple’s own payment systems. But Apple wanted that decision put on hold until its appeals case was decided — a delay that would have effectively pushed back the App Store changes by a matter of years.

The judge heard Apple’s requests for a stay on the injunction…

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Why You Should Be Using A Password Manager When Gaming Online

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For people who spend a lot of time gaming online, a password manager is likely the last thing on their minds. In fact, a strong password manager like Lastpass is a non-negotiable internet security measure for anyone who loves online gaming. Let us explain.

Digital security 101

A password manager is a powerful software suite that can store all of your passwords in a secure library. The best ones generate strong new passwords for every account you create and can update them at any time if you feel your security has been compromised. Additionally, password managers can be used to store many other kinds of sensitive information — credit card and bank account numbers, addresses, phone numbers — making them a complete solution for digital security.

But I’m a gamer! What does this have to do with me?

Here’s why you should be installing a password manager if you play a lot of games: digital storefronts. If you’re using the same password to access multiple digital storefronts for games — Steam, Epic, EA Play, the Xbox Store, the PlayStation Store, the Nintendo e-shop just to name a few — then you’re putting your credit card information in danger. Even a strong password, used more than once, becomes a target for the enterprising account cracker. Using a password manager to generate a strong, unique password for each storefront prevents your accounts from ever being broken into.

I have a lot of different devices though

Most password managers are available across every platform from PC to mobiles. This is to ensure more well-rounded security across your entire suite of devices. That’s important because, as any gamer knows, you tend to collect a lot of devices. To use Lastpass as an example, you can get their app across PC, Mac, and Linux. It’s available on the iOS and Google Play app stores, and the Windows Store. Additionally, you can install it as a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera and Safari. That’s complete, end-to-end coverage.

Does a password manager require a password?

It does! You’ll need to create a master password for any vault of logins you create. This password will need to not only be unique and quite strong, but also…

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