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Mobile Syrup

Google disables live traffic data for Maps in Ukraine

Amid Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Live traffic layer for Google Maps, in addition to information on how busy restaurants and stores are have currently been disabled for Ukraine, quoting safety concerns for locals.

According to Google, the move will deter the invaders from gathering the Ukrainian public’s location data, though people on the ground can still use live traffic information during turn-by-turn navigation sessions.

While a necessity to safeguard civilians, the same features were also proving to be helpful to pinpoint Russian convoy locations. Note that these are most likely civilians caught in long roadblocks or traffic jams, and not Russian soldiers driving along with smartphones in their pockets.

Other big tech companies have also taken action against Russia, including Facebook and Tik Tok taking down Russian state media in Europe, YouTube blocking Russia’s state-owned media outlet RT from earning ad revenue and Elon Musk deploying Starlink to help Ukraninans stay connected to the internet.

Check out the full Reuters report about Google disabling live traffic features in Maps here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Reuters

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Mobile Syrup

Get freebies for Pokémon Legends: Arceus until March 31st

For a limited time, you can claim 30 Ultra Balls, Gigaton Balls and Jet Balls each for free in Pokémon Legends: Arceus as part of the company’s promotions for Pokémon Day, shared by RedFlagDeals user ‘JoJoCan‘.

To claim the freebies, head to the “Mystery Gifts” menu in-game and type in “ARCEUSADVENTURE,” and the Pokéballs should land up in your storage.

It’s worth noting that you’ll need to be connected to the internet when claiming the freebies, though an active Nintendo Switch Online membership is not required.

The promotion started March 27th and will remain active until March 31st.

To find all Pokémon Day promotions, check out the video embedded above or click here.

Image credit: The Official Pokémon YouTube channel 

Source: The Official Pokémon YouTube channel Via: RedFlagDeals

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Mobile Syrup

New iPhone 13 MagSafe case colours leak ahead of Apple’s spring event

If you follow my work, you’ll know that I like smartphone cases — especially Apple’s official iPhone cases. They’re undeniably pricey, but in a sense, you get what you pay for.

According to a new leak, we could see new iPhone 13 MagSafe case colours arrive alongside Apple’s reported iPhone SE and iPad Air at the tech giant’s rumoured March 9th event.

The leaked photo shows off what looks like a yellow, red, blue and green MagSafe case. It’s likely that alongside the new case colours, we’ll also see new Apple Watch bands at the event.

That said, this leak does come from a relatively unknown Apple leaker, Majin Bu, though the image does look legitimate.

Apple is expected to reveal a new iPhone SE, iPad Air and Mac mini at its upcoming March event. MobileSyrup will have more on Apple’s upcoming March hardware event in the coming days.

Image credit: @MajinBuOfficial

Source: @MajinBuOfficial Via: Apple Insider

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Mobile Syrup

Québecor partially wins piracy case against companies sharing content in hotels

Montreal, QC, Canada – September 4, 2021: Quebecor headquarters in Montreal, QC, Canada. Quebecor Inc. is a Canadian diversified media and telecommunications company.

Telecommunications company Québecor Media has partially won a summary judgement against two Québec City companies.

A summary judgment is a motion brought on by one party to have the case processed without going to trial.

In this case, Québecor argued Konek and Hill Valley worked together to distribute TVA and TVA Sports channels to hotels without obtaining prior rights.

According to a press release, Québecor first became aware of the activity in early 2020 after it learned some of its clients were asked to do business with the above companies.

But Québecor is only “partially successful” in this case, according to Justice Sébastien Grammond, because Hill Valley is considered a retransmitter since February 3rd, 2021, under section 31 of the Copyright Act. This means that they can show TVA stations but not TVA Sports stations.

“Considering that this is only a summary judgment on technical points and that the suit and counter-suit will not go to court before 2023, we do not wish to comment on this unexpected and hasty communication from Quebecor,” Jean-François Rousseau, COO of Konek, said in an email to MobileSyrup.

The court has ruled Québecor will be awarded costs during the second phase of the ruling. It’s not clear when this will be held.

This is the latest piracy case Québecor has been successful with. Last week, Vidéotron, a subsidiary of Québecor, won a lawsuit against TVAddons, along with several other media giants.

Founder Adam Lackman admitted to sharing copyrighted content on TVAddons, a media library app distributing multiple add-ons.

“Québecor takes piracy very seriously and will continue identifying resellers and taking all necessary legal action to protect the rights of subsidiaries actively engaged in creating and redistributing content for the benefit of its cultural workers,” the company says in a statement.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Québecor Media

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Mobile Syrup

Here’s what’s coming to Hayu in March 2022

Everyone knows about Netflix, Crave and Amazon Prime Video, but there are also other video streaming platforms in Canada for fans of niche content.

For example, NBC Universal’s Hayu is a reality TV subscription streaming service that gets new series monthly and continuing series weekly.

Below is everything coming to Hayu in March:

  • Top Chef Season 19 (Friday, March 4th)
  • Kandi & The Gang Season 1 (Monday, March 7th)
  • Glow Up Ireland Season 1 (Saturday, March 26th)
  • The Circus Season 1 & Season 2 (Wednesday, March 30th)

Continuing Series

  • The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 2 (Mondays)
  • The Bachelor Australia Season 9 (Mondays)
  • The Cabins Season 2 (Mondays)
  • Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins Season 1 (Mondays)
  • Snapped Season 30 (Mondays)
  • The Real Murders of Atlanta Season 1 (Mondays)
  • Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 3 (Tuesdays)
  • Summer House Season 6 (Tuesdays)
  • Watch What Happens Live Season 18 (Tuesday – Saturday)
  • Botched Season 7 (Wednesdays)
  • The Real Housewives of Miami Season 4 (Wednesdays)
  • The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 12 (Wednesdays)
  • The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 16 (Thursdays)
  • Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules Season 1 (Thursdays)
  • Twisted Killers Season 1 (Fridays)
  • The Real Housewives of Jersey Season 2 (Sundays)
  • New York Homicide Season 1 (Sundays)
  • The Greatest Dancer Season 1 & Season 2 (Boxset)

Hayu is available on web at hayu.com and on mobile via iOS App or Android App and via a wide range of TV platforms.

Image credit: Hayu

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Mobile Syrup

Ontario invests $2 million to build 340 EV chargers

The Ontario Department of Natural Resources is investing $2 million to help support the installation of 340 electric vehicle (EV) chargers across the province.

The program aims to add more chargers in public spaces, multi-unit residential buildings, streets and workplaces by October 2023. The government is working with Alectra Utilities Corporation to help determine where the chargers get allocated. However, it appears people will need to apply to have a charger installed where they think it will benefit their area.

It’s difficult to pin down how much each charger costs, but if Ontario is only investing $2 million and it wants 340 chargers, that works out to roughly $5,800 per charger. I can’t pinpoint what chargers the company will use, but judging from some of the rebate pricing structures on the government’s website, I’d expect these chargers to output between 3-50kW. These won’t be great for fast charging but would allow Ontarians to get a decent amount of range off a few hours’ charge.

MobileSyrup has reached out to Natural Resources Canada for more information and will update this story with a response.

This influx in cash into the charging network pales compared to the $4.6 million Natural Resources Canada pledged to send out to 22 organizations across the country to help raise awareness in EV adoption. This is a little ridiculous because as someone who has tested several EVs, the biggest hurdle to the burgeoning technology is the lack of chargers, not electric vehicle awareness.

Source: Natural Resources Canada 

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Mobile Syrup

Elon Musk deploys Starlink to keep Ukraine connected to the internet

Amid Russia’s ongoing illegal invasion of Ukraine, reports coming out of the on-defence country suggest that constant attacks have caused internet outages in some parts of the nation, disabling the country from staying connected with the rest of the world.

Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov requested SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to provide Ukrainians access to Starlink’s internet connection.

Later the same day, Musk replied to Fedorov’s appeal, stating “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”

It’s worth noting that Starlink satellites don’t just magically beam internet to your phone or computers. Users need to have a receiving dish along with a Starlink router to access the internet.

In a follow-up tweet, Fedorov clarified that Starlink terminals (dish) are currently on their way to Ukraine, and thanked Musk for the aid and for supporting the distraught nation. In addition, the country’s official Twitter account also thanked the billionaire for the support.

In other Starlink-related news, CEO Musk recently announced a new Starlink high-performance antenna and Premium package with speeds ranging between 150-500 Mbps.

Source: @FedorovMykhailo

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Mobile Syrup

Native Instagram app for iPad not coming anytime soon, company head tweets

Instagram won’t optimize its app for the iPad anytime soon, said the social media platform’s head Adam Mosseri in a tweet over the weekend.

The message was in response to a tweet made by tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) who pointed out the absence of the app even in 2022.

Mosseri said it’s something Instagram hears a lot but the number of iPad users wanting the app isn’t large enough to justify developing it.

Brownlee further states this group could increase if “an excellent app” existed. Mosseri agrees but says the company is “leaner than you think” and is already supporting the app on four platforms: iOS, the web, Instagram Lite, and its’s largest, Android.

Mosseri said Instagram views a dedicated app for iPad as a part of the “finally features” list. It’s a want but isn’t prioritized to be completed at this time.

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Mobile Syrup

Elden Ring’s Steam Deck stability issues could soon be fixed

This past weekend I spent a lot of time playing FromSoftware’s Elden Ring on Valve’s Steam Deck.

While it’s undeniably cool to be able to play a recently released game with PS4/Xbox One level graphics on a dedicated handheld, the experience has been far from flawless even when Elden Ring’s graphics settings are turned down.

However, that could soon change.

Regardless of how low the graphics are set, I found myself encountering bouts of lag while playing Elden Ring on the Steam Deck, mainly when there are multiple enemies on the screen at once or when fighting on my faithful Spectral Steed, Torrent. Though this doesn’t happen all the time, I’d describe these parts of the game as nearly unplayable at times.

After a particularly frustrating fight where two mounted enemies disappeared from the screen only to reappear and kill me immediately, I almost pulled the trigger on buying the Xbox Series X version of Elden Ring and abandoning playing on the Steam Deck altogether.

According to a tweet from Valve coder Pierre-Loup Griffais, the company is already working on a fix for this issue.

“The graphics team has been hard at work on optimizing Elden Ring for Steam Deck,” said Valve employee Griffais in a recent tweet. “Fixes for heavy stutter during background streaming of assets will be available in a Proton release next week, but are available to test now on the bleeding-edge branch of Experimental.”

Given only developers and the media have the Steam Deck, Valve and FromSoftware have a short window to improve Elden Ring’s compatibility with the Steam Deck before it gets into the hands of consumers. The first batch of Steam Deck units started shipping out to customers last week.

Given how much fun I’ve had diving into Elden Ring on the Steam Deck, I’m really hoping this update solves the game’s problems on the handheld (I may even give the ‘experimental’ update a shot). In fact, I’m surprised I’m enjoying Elden Ring at all given my usual distaste for soulsborne titles and their extreme difficulty level. Thankfully, FromSoftware has added several quality of live improvements to Elden Ring that make the title easier for newcomers to get into, including simple fast travel, an overall slower pace and frequent save points (Sites of Grace).

For more on Elden Ring, check out Dean Daley’s in-depth look at the game. Also, be on the lookout for my Steam Deck review on MobileSyrup in the coming days.

Source: @Plagman2 Via: IGN

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Mobile Syrup

Public Mobile flash sale offers 2GB additional data for six months

Telus-owned Public Mobile is currently offering 2GB bonus data per month for the next six months as part of its flash sale.

The promotion is only available to new users who sign up for a $35+ Public Mobile plan before March 2nd.

$35+ Public Mobile plans include:

  • $35 plan with 2.5GB data, unlimited Canada-wide minutes, unlimited international texting and picture messaging
  • $40 plan with 4.5GB data, unlimited Canada-wide minutes, unlimited international texting and picture messaging
  • $50 plan with 10GB data, unlimited Canada-wide and U.S. minutes, unlimited international texting and picture messaging
  • $60 plan with 15GB data, unlimited Canada-wide and U.S. minutes, unlimited international texting and picture messaging
  • $70 plan with 20GB data, unlimited Canada-wide and U.S. minutes, unlimited international texting and picture messaging

To claim the promotion, you need to sign up for any of the above-mentioned plans using the promo code ‘6MONTH2GB,’ and you’ll get an additional 2GB of data, on top of the data already available with the plan every month for the next six months.

The bonus data will stick on the account until users change their rate plan. The data will also expire on accounts that become inactive.

Public warns that it can take up to two business days for bonus data to apply, and notes that promo isn’t stackable with other offers.

Learn more about the promotion here.

Source: Public Mobile