Every month, PlayStation offers a few games at no additional cost to those subscribed to its PlayStation Plus service.
Now, the company has revealed what’s coming to the service to close out the year.
Notably, Godfall: Challenger Edition will be this month’s PS5 freebie, although it won’t be the full Godfall experience. That’s because the base game’s story content and Fire & Darkness expansion has been removed in favour of a trio of endgame modes that can be played in co-op. Godfall: Challenger Edition will also be free to PS Plus subscribers on PS4.
Meanwhile, the action-adventure game Lego DC Super-Villains and Dark Souls-esque action-RPG Mortal Shell round out the free PS4 games.
As well, October’s three free PS VR games — The Persistence, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners and Until They Fall — remain available until January 3rd.
Have you ever wanted a Minesweeper ugly holiday sweater? Probably not, right?
Thanks to the Xbox Gear Shop, what was likely never your dream is now a reality. The surprisingly detailed holiday sweater features a Minesweeper level shaped like a Christmas tree, with mines taking on the role of snowflakes and classic Windows minimize and expand buttons.
Of course, there’s also the classic Windows logo in the top left corner of the front of the sweater.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has released an ugly holiday-themed sweater either. For example, last, the company dropped a holiday sweater based on MS Paint.
In Canada, the ugly Minesweeper holiday sweater costs $97.95, though as of right now, it’s currently sold out in all sizes.
Have you ever wanted a Minesweeper ugly holiday sweater? Probably not, right?
Thanks to the Xbox Gear Shop, what was likely never your dream is now a reality. The surprisingly detailed holiday sweater features a Minesweeper level shaped like a Christmas tree, with mines taking on the role of snowflakes and classic Windows minimize and expand buttons.
Of course, there’s also the classic Windows logo in the top left corner of the front of the sweater.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has released an ugly holiday-themed sweater either. For example, last, the company dropped a holiday sweater based on MS Paint.
In Canada, the ugly Minesweeper holiday sweater costs $97.95, though as of right now, it’s currently sold out in all sizes.
If you’ve used the Xbox app to share gameplay footage, you’ll be aware that the process isn’t very intuitive.
For example, in the iOS app, I need to download the clip to my iPhone 13 Pro first and then share it through social media. Thankfully, it looks like that will change.
According to a recent tweet from Microsoft’s Larry Hryb (Major Nelson), users will soon be able to create publically sharable links directly in the Xbox mobile app. These links will then be located in a new ‘trending content’ section that features other public links shared by players on your friends list. You can also take these public links and share them on a social media platform like Twitter or Facebook.
The feed itself will be very TikTok-like, allowing users to scroll through content and like, comment and share videos.
Trending content will be spotlighted in the Xbox app, where you will be able to watch, like, comment, and share posts of other users game clips pic.twitter.com/Y2Ivmuj4c7
These new features are currently being tested with a small number of users but will roll out to everyone soon, according to Hryb.
As someone who often shares Halo Infinite clips on Twitter, I’m hoping that the ability to share public links makes that process a little more seamless and intuitive.
If you’ve used the Xbox app to share gameplay footage, you’ll be aware that the process isn’t very intuitive.
For example, in the iOS app, I need to download the clip to my iPhone 13 Pro first and then share it through social media. Thankfully, it looks like that will change.
According to a recent tweet from Microsoft’s Larry Hryb (Major Nelson), users will soon be able to create publically sharable links directly in the Xbox mobile app. These links will then be located in a new ‘trending content’ section that features other public links shared by players on your friends list. You can also take these public links and share them on a social media platform like Twitter or Facebook.
The feed itself will be very TikTok-like, allowing users to scroll through content and like, comment and share videos.
Trending content will be spotlighted in the Xbox app, where you will be able to watch, like, comment, and share posts of other users game clips pic.twitter.com/Y2Ivmuj4c7
These new features are currently being tested with a small number of users but will roll out to everyone soon, according to Hryb.
As someone who often shares Halo Infinite clips on Twitter, I’m hoping that the ability to share public links makes that process a little more seamless and intuitive.
Every month, Xbox adds new games to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
Typically, new titles are rolled out in two waves and now, Xbox has unveiled November’s second batch of new Game Pass games:
ANVIL (Console and PC) — December 2nd
Archvale (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 2nd
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Console and PC) — December 2nd
Lawn Mowing Simulator (Cloud, Console and PC) –December 2nd
Rubber Bandits (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 2nd
Stardew Valley (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 2nd
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 2nd
Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 7th
Halo Infinite (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 8th
One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 (Cloud, Console and PC) – December 9th
Aliens: Fireteam Elite (Cloud, Console and PC) — December 14th
Among Us (Console) — December 14th
If you’ve been playing Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer since it launched on November 15th, it’s also worth keeping in mind that you can claim a ‘Pass Tense’ MA40 AR Bundle as a Game Pass Ultimate Perk. It includes the exclusive ‘Pass Tense’ MA40 Assault Rifle coating, as well as four 2XP Boosts and four Challenge Swaps.
Finally, here’s what’s leaving Game Pass on December 15th:
Beholder (Cloud and Console)
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan (Console and PC)
Guacamelee! 2 (Cloud, Console and PC)
Wilmot’s Warehouse (Cloud, Console and PC)
Unto The End (Cloud, Console and PC)
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (Cloud, Console and PC)
As always, members can purchase these or any other Game Pass titles with an exclusive 20 percent discount to keep playing them even after they exit the catalogue.
Meanwhile, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs $16.99/month and is required for streaming (which Xbox refers to as ‘Cloud’). On top of that, this tier includes Game Pass for both Console and PC, as well as an Xbox Live Gold subscription and access to EA Play.
Find out what came to Xbox Game Pass in November here.
Unfortunately, there are a few things to be wary of too, like the always-on camera capability.
Qualcomm seems convinced that adding an image signal processor (ISP) dedicated to running the camera all the time is a good idea. In fact, when Qualcomm talked about the always-on camera during its four-hour Tech Summit live stream (it happens around hour three, and you can check it out here or below), it said its vision was to “enhance privacy and security” using the always-on camera.
If that sounds completely counterintuitive, you’re not wrong. Qualcomm’s pitch is that the always-on camera can constantly scan for your face and automatically lock your phone if you look away or enable privacy features if it detects you’re looking at your phone with someone else. One example the company shared was that the chip could temporarily hide notifications when it detects you’re showing your screen to someone else.
Except, that’s not really the main privacy concern people have with an always-on camera. I’m more worried about my phone always watching me than I am about the people around me getting a glimpse of my screen.
What’s worse is that this will exacerbate existing privacy and security concerns. We’ve got always-on microphones in our phones now and those have brought a host of problems. I am not looking forward to the can of worms that an always-on camera will open.
Qualcomm says users can disable the always-on camera, but that isn’t enough
All that said, The Vergereports that Qualcomm’s VP of product management, Ziad Asghar, said that users will be able to disable the always-on camera, or possibly even choose which always-on camera features they want to use.
Further, it’s worth considering that phone manufacturers may not use the feature. Qualcomm makes the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but other companies make the phones that run on those chips. Samsung, OnePlus and others could skip the feature entirely.
There are other potential solutions to the always-on camera thing as well, although few are elegant. Android 12 includes the ability to disable the camera and microphone via a software toggle — that could be one way of temporarily disabling the always-on camera (assuming you get a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 device running on Android 12). Phones could include a physical camera shutter, like what’s become popular on laptops. However, I doubt many manufacturers will want to integrate a physical shutter into their smartphone designs. Heck, maybe people will start sticking tape over their phone’s camera too.
Ultimately, there will likely be phones that don’t do any of that and ship with the always-on camera feature. Perhaps the worst part about the always-on camera in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is it could set a precedent that leads to other companies including the capability in a race to keep up. And if that happens, it’s only a matter of time until someone messes up and the always-on camera goes from privacy concern to privacy nightmare.
Welcome to December. To mark the fast-approaching end of the year, Spotify has released its annual ‘Wrapped’ playlists and accompanying statistics.
This includes a personalized list within your Spotify app and several global lists that showcase music trends from around the world. I’m able to view my Wrapped list on my smartphone, but not on the desktop version of Spotify. The popular feature will likely roll out to desktop in the coming days.
Personal lists
To help spice up the personal lists this year, Spotify has added a section that soundtracks your year like a movie and another that shows you a picture of your audio aura. Further into this story, you of course, can see your most played songs, top artists, and other interesting stats.
Each stat also plays out as an interactive vertical card that can shared easily on TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms.
If you want to dive deeper into Spotify’s Wrapped playlists, tap where it says ‘Your 2020 in review’ on the Home page to reveal more playlists and the ability to create a blended playlist with both you and your friend’s top songs.
Global stats
The number one artist globally was Bad Bunny, followed by Taylor Swift. BTS came in third, and two Canadians, Drake and Justin Bieber, came in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The top song was unsurprisingly Olivia Rodrigio’s Drivers License, which Spotify says was streamed over 1 billion times. Her album SOUR was also the top album of the year. You can find the rest of the regular stats here, but what’s more interesting are the company’s random finds. For instance, The top album released more than 20 years ago is Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours followed by Nevermind by Nirvana.
Spotify also mentions that its Music for Plants playlist has grown nearly 1,400 percent during the pandemic, and users have created almost 3 million of their own playlists related to plants or gardening. It’s also worth mentioning that 187,000 sea shanty playlists were auto-generated on Spotify last year.
Microsoft now has a stand-alone Teams offering aimed at small-midsize businesses (SMBs).
Dubbed ‘Teams Essentials,’ the new product packs in a few new features designed specifically for SMBs alongside the typical slate of Teams features.
That includes extended meeting times sizes, with a 30-hour time limit and a 300 person limit. Teams Essentials also offers twice the amount of free Teams cloud storage: 10GB.
Beyond that, Teams Essentials offers the same features as regular Teams. That includes calendar integration with Outlook or Google, group chat templates, easy invitations, and much more.
It’s also worth noting that regular customers looking to use Teams for personal use can unlock the expanded meeting capabilities with a Microsoft 365 Family or 365 Personal subscriptions instead of getting the business-oriented Teams Essentials.
Microsoft says it will sell Teams Essentials direct to customers as well as through cloud partners. You can learn more about Teams Essentials here.
Electric vehicle (EV) charger infrastructure continues to expand across Canada.
According to Energy Minister Todd Smith and Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, EV chargers are coming to most ONroute rest stops in Ontario by next summer. Each location will feature two chargers with busier ONroutes offering more stations.
Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation’s EV charging network will install the pay-per-use chargers that are part of a pre-existing charging network called Ivy. The project does not involve direct funding from the provincial government. Instead, Natural Resources Canada gave a $3.45 million loan to Ivy to continue the project, amounting to 30 percent of the total cost of adding the chargers to ONroute locations.
Shortly after being elected in 2018, Ontario Premiere Doug Ford stopped the provincial government’s plans to build an EV charging network and cancelled Ontario’s electric vehicle rebate program.
With nearly every legacy car manufacturer shifting its focus to EV production, electric vehicles are poised to become far more mainstream over the next few years. With this in mind, it makes sense for the province to start taking electric vehicle charging more seriously.
