Fans have been eagerly awaiting The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom and its May 12 release date. Ahead of its launch, leaks stemming from its official art book have leaked online.
As a general PSA to our readers, all 204-pages of the art book are now available online. The art book is an official inclusion in the game’s collectors edition, due this spring. All pages of the art book are available in full on the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit (for those interested in seeing it). We will not be posting any of the images. However, based on a few images seen, the leak does look authentic.
The version of the Tears Of The Kingdom art book is the Japanese version. Therefore, it’s hard to glean any information from the book’s descriptions and text. From the small handful of images seen, it’s anecdotally apparent that the art book is fairly basic. To no surprise, Link is shown in full, wearing an assortment of outfits and costumes. Additionally, the art book covers some of the game’s enemies, environments, and buildings.
Thankfully, it appears as though the art book is basic enough to keep major elements of the game hidden. The art book isn’t revealing any major secrets as it’s a piece of supplemental bonus to go alongside the game at launch. The Tears Of The Kingdom art book doesn’t appear to cover or outline the story in any meaningful capacity. Even the way the images are laid out, there’s no apparent reveal of a narrative or anything like that. Additionally, there’s no allusion to whether or not Zelda is a playable character, a theory many players hold.
If you are hoping to go into Tears Of The Kingdom without any knowledge aside from trailers, it’s best to avoid the images now spreading across the internet. However, from our perspective, there’s nothing here that should make die-hard fans go into lockdown mode.
Meta is introducing its own paid verification system, similar to Twitter. Across Facebook and Instagram, users will soon be able to purchase their own blue verification checkmark.
Following months of Twitter’s paid verification debacle, Meta is now following suit. CEO Mark Zuckerberg reveals its Meta Verified service. Meta will begin rolling out its service in Australia and New Zealand this week, with other countries to soon follow.
Much like Twitter, Meta will be launching a platform-specific monthly subscription. On the web, users will be able to purchase a monthly subscription for $11.99 USD (roughly $16.13 CAD). However, to combat Apple and Google’s in-app purchase tax, Meta Verified will be available for $14.99 USD (around $20.17) each month on iOS and Android. In order to purchase a blue verification checkmark, users must be 18 years of age, provide government ID and “meet minimum activity requirements.”
The company claims that with its Meta Verified subscription, users will receive more protection from impersonation. The blue verification checkmark has historically been used to protect the identity of government officials, celebrities, journalists, and content creators. In addition, Meta states subscribers will have “access to a real person for common account issues.” Other perks include increased visibility as well as “exclusive features.”
In December of last year, Twitter launched its revamped Twitter Blue subscription, which includes paid verification. The service is available for $10 CAD/month on the web and $15/month CAD on iOS and Android.
Following Musk’s ownership of Twitter, which cost $44 billion, he began looking at new avenues of monetization. Musk is bullish in believing that the paid checkmark is “the great leveler” the platform needs. It appears as though he’s opened Pandora’s Box as other platforms are following in Twitter’s footsteps.
Musk claims those with a legacy blue checkmark will lose verification status in the near future unless they subscribe to Twitter Blue. Unlike Twitter, Meta states, “As we test and learn, there will be no changes to accounts on Instagram and Facebook that are already verified based on prior requirements, including authenticity and notability.”
Bluetooth tracker maker Tile wants to tamp down on people using trackers for crimes like stalking by threatening to slap users with a $1 million USD fine. The fine was announced as part of a new program that will also ask users to verify their identity with a government ID and allow Tile to share information with law enforcement.
Bluetooth tracking devices fell under increased scrutiny after Apple joined the game with its AirTag tracker. While the devices were intended for uses — like keeping track of important items like keys or wallets, or as anti-theft devices — trackers gained a more nefarious reputation as tools used by stalkers and thieves.
Thanks to the scrutiny, Apple and other tracker companies like Tile rushed out new anti-stalking features that enable victims to find unwanted trackers. The problem with that is that those tools can also help thieves spot trackers on stolen goods, effectively killing trackers’ anti-theft capabilities. Tile’s solution is a new ‘Anti-Theft Mode’ that hides it from the ‘Scan and Secure‘ anti-stalking feature, but only if users verify their ID and agree to the fine.
“All Tile customers now have the option to make their devices invisible to Scan and Secure, meaning thieves will not be able to misuse our stalking prevention features to locate and disable a Tile device after stealing your valuables,” Chris Hulls explained in a blog post shared on Medium. Hulls is the founder and CEO of Life360, the company that owns Tile.
Hulls goes on to detail that Tile users need to manually opt-in to the feature and when they do so, they must:
“Verify their real identity with a government-issued ID”
“Allow [Tile] to partner and share this information with law enforcement (even without a subpoena if stalking is suspected)”
“Agree to pay a $1 million penalty if they are convicted in a court of law to have used Tile in a criminal manner”
Maybe it’s just me, but that seems like a pretty wild set of conditions just to use a Tile tracker in a specific way. Sure, you don’t need to do any of this, but even so, it seems shady. Moreso considering Life360’s history — the company offered a family-safety app that let people track the location of family members and got caught selling the precise location data of users of that app in late 2021 and in 2022 promised to switch to selling aggregate location data instead.
Elsewhere in the blog post, Hulls stresses that those who are “part of the 99.99% of our customers who follow the law” have nothing to worry about. “If you’re a criminal, we’ll do our best to make sure you feel the full weight of the law and face serious financial consequences if you misuse our products.”
To be fair to Hulls, he also dedicated a large amount of the blog post to dissecting the stalking problem and examining how solutions from Tile and Apple have worked (or failed) so far. It’s all very informative, though it doesn’t lead me to the conclusion that I should willingly hand over more of my data to Tile (I do, however, agree about increasing penalties for stalking since it’s a pervasive problem not limited to users of Bluetooth trackers).
Fitbit is preparing to remove several ‘Community’ features by next month.
According to an email sent to customers, Fitbit will bid farewell to sseveral community features on March 27th in an effort to better streamline the Fitbit app experience.
All ‘adventures,’ ‘challenges’ and ‘open groups’ would be removed from the iOS and Android app starting March 27th.
Adventures, on the other hand, were launched fairly recently. They provided a type of immersive challenge where users could take virtual tours of places like Yosemite National Park while accomplishing their step goals. Open groups were groups where anyone could join around a common interest.
After March 27th, Fitbit users would no longer be able to create open groups. Fitbit will now only allow users to create private closed groups with friends and will direct users to its Health & Wellness forums to connect with others. Any trophies that you’ve earned over the years would also no longer be available.
Fitbit says that the reason behind the removal of said features is to be able to introduce “new features, deliver faster load times, and improve your experience.” Users will have until March 27th to download their data. To download your data, head to https://fitbit.com/settings/data/export.
“Fitbit found that these select features had a limited number of active users compared to other offerings, but are unable to confirm specific numbers at this time,” said Nicol Addison, head of communications at Fitbit, in an email to The Verge.
Samsung’s latest flagships, the Galaxy S23, S23+ and the S23 Ultra recently released, offering great cameras, battery life and Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. However, the smartphones are also very similar to the company’s S22 line in several ways.
During my time with the S23 Ultra, I’ve been impressed by its 200-megapixel primary camera that snaps exemplary pictures. The device also offers great battery life, a large, stunning display and more.
Below are the Galaxy S23 series’ specs.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S23+
Samsung Galaxy S23
Display
6.8-inch Curved Dynamic AMOLED, 1,440 x 3,200 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio, 120Hz display (variable 1-120Hz) HDR10+, 240Hz Touch Sampling in Games
6.6-inch Flat Dynamic AMOLED, 1,080 x 2,400 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio, 120Hz display, HDR10+, 240Hz Touch Sampling in Games
6.1-inch Flat Dynamic AMOLED, 1,080 x 2,400 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio, 120Hz display, HDR10+, 240Hz Touch Sampling in Games
Let us know in the comments below if you’ve purchased a Galaxy S23 device or if you plan to. If you want to get your hands on a free S23 Ultra, you can enter our contest in partnership with Telus.
Playing PC games in the living room on my main TV has been a goal since I decided to switch from console gaming a few years ago. I don’t really have a logical reason for this, except that I love building PCs and that I’m a huge nerd.
The ideal situation would be to build a small (mini-ITX) PC inside the silver Teenage Engineering PC-1 case I’ve been hanging on to since it released in late 2022, but that’s not a very fun story. Not to mention, mini-ITX parts are expensive, and the best GPU that fits in the PC-1 case is a year-old RTX 3060, a card I expect will be replaced by the RTX 4060 within the next six months or less. Beyond that, I happen to have a two-year-old AMD Radeon 5700 GPU that’s still able to hold its own with modern games.
That’s when I found a stopgap solution. I could buy a used Dell OptiPlex business computer, slap in my GPU and ideally play most of my PC games on my TV, albeit on low or medium quality at 1080p. There were various OptiPlexes (Optipli?) on Facebook marketplace, and most cost less than $180, so finding one was a waiting game of getting the best parts for the lowest price — and I didn’t have to wait long. After a brief search, I picked up an Optiplex i7 4770 unit packed with 32GB of DDR3 RAM and even had a 500GB SDD. None of these parts are modern, but compared to other i5 Optiplexs with hard drives and 12GB of RAM, it felt like a score.
The seller even tossed in an old Wi-Fi dongle and the world’s worst keyboard and mouse combo, all for the low price of $140. This price is key since it’s less than the cost of a new Windows 11 key. So ideally, I can move this version of Windows to my PC-1 in the future, making the whole endeavour not a total waste of money.
Remember this justification because I will reference it a lot during this build…
As easy as 1,2….
After getting the PC home, I ripped open the box and was pleasantly surprised with how clean and well-packed it was. For a $140 refurb, this was definitely done professionally by someone. Once I got the PC out, I connected it to my monitor to ensure it worked. Thankfully, everything functioned fine, so it was time to start modding.
I popped off the side panel, and the first thing that caught my eye was a giant hard drive cage in the bottom corner. It needed to go. After watching this helpful video a few times, I attacked my new PC with a drill, and after about ten minutes of the sketchiest drilling I’ve ever done, the cage was gone.
After a few test fits, I was able to get the GPU in, but it was too large for the front I/O connector, so that had to be removed. I tried shearing my GPU shoulder down to feed the cable through it, but nothing fit, so after about an hour of fiddling around, I gave up and sacrificed the four front USB ports in the name of gaming.
Everything was going well, and I felt on top of the world, but the next problem turned out to be more difficult to solve.
That’s not enough power!
With the GPU seated in the case nicely, I went to plug it in only to realize that the Dell power supply unit (PSU) attached to this PC only does 290 watts and had no modern GPU connectors.
“Not to worry,” I told myself (for the 800th time so far), “I can just buy a small form factor power supply and reuse it in the PC-1 someday.”
So that’s what I did. I headed down to my local Canada Computers before they closed and opted to future-proof myself with a Corsair 750-watt unit with great reviews and that promised to run quietly. Since the PSU fan is hard to replace, this felt worth paying about $40 over the nearest competition.
I slotted it in when I got home and quickly realized that Dell used a proprietary 8-pin power connector on some of its OptiPlex motherboards. Another hurdle, but after an hour of troubleshooting, it seemed that the 24 to 8-pin adapter used in this video was my best bet. I ordered it on Amazon, and it came in the next day. To my surprise, it worked flawlessly.
So far, I’ve run Far Cry 6, The Witcher 3, Hogwarts Legacy, Halo Infinite and Red Dead Redemption 2 to varying degrees of success. If you’re playing on a 1080p monitor you should have no problems, but I found I needed to set the internal Windows resolution to 1440p when connected to my 4K TV for optimal gameplay.
I’ve found that newer games with better FSR or internal engine upscaling solutions help a lot and can help this PC punch way above its weight. I was scared when The Witcher 3 struggled, but newer games like Hogwarts Legacy seem to implement better upscaling tech, so it’s more playable and looks better, in my opinion.
Overall, it’s enough to let me scrape by for a year and get some use out of my old GPU just sitting in my basement. The big plus I’m thrilled with is that I can rely on cloud saves to move between gaming at my desk and the new living room PC. Beyond that, perhaps the lower specs will push me towards trying some older games I’ve missed over the past few years, like Control, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Dishonoured and many others.
Every week, MobileSyrup outlines some of the most notable movies and TV shows that recently hit Canadian streaming platforms.
Our ‘Streaming in Canada’ column typically focuses on new content from Amazon Prime Video, Crave and Netflix, but other services like Apple TV+ and Disney+ are mentioned when relevant. Premium video-on-demand (PVOD) platforms are also fair game as movies continue to come to digital early.
Finally, we’ll highlight shows or movies that are made by Canadian companies, involve notable Canadian cast or crew and/or are filmed in Canada.
Amazon Prime Video
Carnival Row (Season 2) [Amazon Original]
Amazon Prime Video Canada premiere date: February 17th, 2023 (first two episodes, new episodes every Friday) Genre: Fantasy Runtime: 10 episodes (around one hour each)
In this final season, a series of mysterious killings cause tensions between the Faefolk and humans, leading the denizens of Carnival Row to take action.
Carnival Row was created by Travis Beachum (Pacific Rim) and René Echevarria (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and stars Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings franchise) and Cara Delevingne (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets).
An Amazon Prime Video subscription is included at no additional cost with an Amazon Prime membership, which is priced at $99/year.
The full list of movies and shows hitting Amazon Prime Video Canada this month can be found here.
Apple TV+
Sharper [Apple Original]
Apple TV+ Canada premiere date: February 17th, 2023 Genre: Psychological thriller Runtime: 1 hour, 56 minutes
A young man on a path of vengeance cons billionaires in Manhattan.
Sharper was directed by Benjamin Caron (Andor) and stars Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights), Sebastian Stan (Pam & Tommy), Justice Smith (The Get Down), Brianna Middleton (The Tender Bar) and John Lithgow (The Crown).
Crave premiere date: February 16th, 2023 (first episode, new episode every Friday) Genre: Sci-fi Runtime: 10 episodes (around one hour each)
After receiving a desperate message from a long-lost friend, Picard must embark on his most daring mission yet with old and new friends alike.
Picard is based on Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek franchise and was created by Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind), Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay), Kirsten Beyer (Star Trek: Discovery) and Alex Kurtzman (2009’s Star Trek).
The series features an ensemble cast that includes Star Trek: The Next Generation veterans Patrick Stewart (Picard), LeVar Burton (La Forge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Gates McFadden (Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Brent Spiner (Lore) and Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine).
The new four-part Crave Original documentary series is produced, written, and co-directed by Anishinaabe journalist Ryan McMahon, who is on a quest to uncover the truth behind the deaths of numerous Indigenous people in Thunder Bay, Ontario. #ThunderBay premieres Feb 17 on Crave. pic.twitter.com/ixLIQYJGJv
Anishinaabe journalist Ryan McMahon investigates the deaths of numerous Indigenous people in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Crave premiere date: February 17th, 2023 (first two episodes, final two episodes on February 24th) Genre: True crime documentary Runtime: 10 episodes (around 45 minutes each)
Original theatrical release date: September 16th, 2022
Crave premiere date: February 17th, 2023 Genre: Historical action-drama Runtime: 2 hours, 15 minutes
In the West African kingdom of Dahomey in 1823, a general trains the next generation of warriors to fight a foreign enemy.
The Woman King was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard) and stars Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder), Thuso Mbedu (The Underground Railroad), Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die), Sheila Atim (The Underground Railroad) and John Boyega (Star Wars series).
A standard Crave subscription is priced at $19.99/month, with Starz costing an additional $5.99/month. A mobile-only subscription is also available for $9.99/month.
The full list of movies and shows hitting Crave this month can be found here.
Netflix
Full Swing [Netflix Original]
Netflix Canada premiere date: February 15th, 2023 Genre: Sports documentary Runtime: Eight episodes (41 to 50 minutes each)
This docuseries follows pro golfers like Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka on and off the course during competitions.
Perfect Match [Netflix Original]
Netflix Canada premiere date: February 14th, 2023 (first four episodes, new episodes every Tuesday) Genre: Reality competition Runtime: 12 episodes (around 50 minutes each)
98 Degrees’ Nick Lachey hosts this new dating series bringing together hopefuls from series like Love Is Blind, The Mole and Too Hot to Handle.
With Rogers, Shaw and Québecor’s self-imposed closing deadline coming and going once again, the companies say they’re still committed to their plans.
More details, and a recap of other telecom news this week, continues below.
Business
Nearly two years after Rogers announced plans to merge with Shaw, the companies are still not one. Innovtion Minister François-Philippe Champagne still has to approve Vidéotron’s acquisition of Shaw’s wireless licenses. But NDP leader Jagmeet Singh hopes this won’t end up being the case. In a letter, Singh said the transaction will lead to higher wireless bills for Canadians. Earlier this week, the Minister said he isn’t close to making a decision.
In response to a letter from Minister Champagne and Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, Vicky Eatrides say she will work as part of a team to “meet the needs of all Canadians.” The new Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Chair also said the Commission is working to adress issues with timeliness, accessibility, and openness.
More on the CRTC, the Commission has a new set of policy directions, courtesy of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada. The policy tells the CRTC to focus on a number of issues, including wholesale internet and mobile wireless competition.
The new directions have been met with mixed reactions. While some organizations say they are hopeful of the changes the policy will bring, others are skeptical.
Eatrides announced the hiring of Leila Wright as the new executive director of telecommunications .
Saskatchewan based telecom provider SaskTel will soon start looking for a new president and CEO after the company’s board announced Doug Burnett will retire. Burnett joined the company in 1990 and has held the top roles since 2019.
Northwestel is making some changes to its internet offerings come March 1st. The company will lower the cost of the Internet 500 and 300 plans. A new tier, Internet 15, will also be available for $57.95/month.
Deals
Rogers is looking to win back former customers, offering some a $60/100GB plan with Canada/U.S. calling, texting and data.
But of all the places they visited during their year-long shoot in the province, there was one place, in particular, that stood out: Canmore.
“My favourite place that we went to was Canmore, for sure,” Ramsey noted, to which Pascal excitedly agreed. “Every inch of Canmore was just this magical little town… with really great fudge,” he added. (Sadly, we weren’t able to ask where he got said fudge.)
Now, we’re finally getting to see the small Alberta town in the hit HBO drama series. In the sixth episode, premiering February 19th, Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey) head to Jackson, Wyoming to find Joel’s brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna). As co-creator/co-showrunner Craig Mazin told us, Canmore was a “dead ringer” for Jackson thanks to its beautiful, snowy vistas.
It’s worth noting that The Last of Us has been renewed for a second season, which will adapt The Last of Us Part II. The game’s opening hours are also set in Jackson, so it remains to be seen if HBO will bring the production back to Canmore for these scenes. For now, though, we have Episode 6 (titled “Kin”) to enjoy, as well as the remaining three episodes.
Part of the appeal of The Last of Us has been to see all of Alberta’s stunning geography, and it’s something that the cast and crew have continued to praise. In a recent interview, Jeffrey Pierce, who plays Perry in the series and Tommy in the games, told us that his time shooting in Calgary was likely his “favourite” filming experience to date. John Paino, the series’ production designer, has also said that he was “shocked” at how “clean” Alberta ended up being.
If you’re not currently a Twitter Blue subscriber, you can no longer activate 2FA through text, and those still using the feature have until March 20th to disable it and switch to a different method. Twitter says it made this decision after observing “phone-number based 2FA be used — and abused — by bad actors.”
Effective March 20, 2023, only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to use text messages as their two-factor authentication method. Other accounts can use an authentication app or security key for 2FA. Learn more here:https://t.co/wnT9Vuwh5n
The social media platform’s real intention is likely to offer more exclusive features through its Blue subscription beyond the coveted Blue checkmark that has lost all meaning now that any user can purchase it. This move has likely been in the works for weeks. Earlier this week, I encountered an issue where text message 2FA suddenly stopped working, and I was locked out of my Twitter account. The only way to reaccess my account was to add my phone number again through Twitter’s mobile app, which I, thankfully, still had logged in.
Twitter users currently using 2FA with text messages are already receiving notifications that they need to switch their authentication method or shell out for a Blue subscription.
Crazy that the same people who who did the ‘Tide Pod Challenge’ are moving on to ‘Justifying Another Insane Elon Musk Decision Challenge’ pic.twitter.com/k1nGeAaGC0