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Mobile Syrup

Steam update brings revamped downloads menu and storage management tool

Valve is rolling out a big update to its popular PC gaming platform Steam that overhauls several important parts of the app.

The biggest changes are to the downloads and storage management pages, bringing a host of improvements, tweaks and changes. Along with a slightly refreshed look, the downloads page now shows installation progress as well as download progress.

That should help make it more clear what Steam’s doing with a game and cut down on frustrating moments where it looks like Steam finished downloading a game, but users still can’t click play.

Moreover, Steam users can now re-order games in the download queue through drag and drop and overall the downloads interface looks far less dated.

The ‘View News’ button got renamed to ‘Patch Notes,’ which should give gamers easier access to information about what’s new in an update as long as developers provide that information.

As for the new storage management tool, users can access it by clicking Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders. The tool shows all the drivers with Steam content and a breakdown of what’s on the disk. Steam users can quickly sort games by size and select multiple titles to move or uninstall them.

While that should cover the biggest changes, it’s worth noting there are a tone of tiny little features and updates as well. For a full breakdown of changes, check out the patch notes on Valve’s Steam blog.

Source: Valve Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Tesla Model S Plaid sets new Nürburgring lap record for production EVs

Tesla has set a new lap record for production electric vehicles (EVs) at the famous Nürburgring track in Germany.

The previous record-holder was Porsche with the electric Taycan with a time of 7:42 when it hit the track in 2019. The Tesla Model S Plaid version was able to blaze around the loop in 7:30:9, according to a recent tweet from Twitter’s biggest fan and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.

Musk also clarified that the Tesla was straight from the factory without any modifications and that he hopes to try again with carbon breaks, aerodynamic surfaces and track tires.

This record is pretty arbitrary since the Taycan is really the only car it’s competing with, at least for now. With that in mind, after spending a few weeks with the Taycan last year, this record is likely nothing to scoff at since Porsche’s EV is still super fast — and if the Tesla Model S Plaid is even faster, it’s likely a pretty impressive vehicle.

Source: Elon Musk Via: The Verge 

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 FE is now available in Canada

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 FE is now available to purchase at Samsung Experience Stores and online on the company’s website.

The Fan Edition version of the tablet features a 12.4-inch display with a 2,560 x 1,600 pixel resolution. Additionally, the tablet offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 788G processor, up to 6GB of RAM, up to 128GB of storage and MicroSD expansion options.

Further, the tablet features a 10,090mAh battery and sports an 8-megapixel rear shooter and 5-megapixel selfie camera.

The Tab S7 FE is available in ‘Mystic Black,’ ‘Mystic Green,’ ‘Mystic Pink’ and ‘Mystic Silver’ colour variants. The tablet costs $699.99 and $759.99 for the 64GB and 128GB variants, respectively.

Samsung’s early-bird promotion offers anyone who purchases a Tab S7 FE between September 1st and 30th two Google Play promotional balances of $50 each for a total value of $100.

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Mobile Syrup

Best Buy partners with Amazon to sell more Fire TVs

This fall, Best Buy shoppers will soon start seeing more  Fire TVs in the aisles as the retailer gears up to launch its next generation of Pioneer and Toshiba smart TVs.

These new TVs will run on Amazon’s Fire TV operating system, and some include built-in microphones for hands-free Alexa controls.

New Pioneer sets

The new Pioneer TVs are 4K capable and come in either 43-inch or 50-inch sizes. They also support HDR10 and Dolby Vision high dynamic range content. Since these TVs work in Amazon’s ecosystem, you can stream audio from them to Echo devices.

These sets also include Amazon’s Alexa voice-activated assistant built into the remote so you can use voice controls to navigate the television’s UI or ask regular questions regarding the weather or set a timer.

Best Buy has the 43-inch version up for pre-order for $529, while the larger 50-inch model costs $629. The TVs are set to launch on September 13th.

Toshiba TVs

These Toshiba sets are a little more interesting since they actually feature microphones in each television so it can operate as its own Alexa device without needing to hit a button on the remote. This is very similar to the Amazon-branded TVs the company revealed yesterday.

These TVs won’t be available until the spring of 2022 and will come in 55-inch, 6-inch and 75-inch sizes when they launch.

One of the interesting perks of these TVs is that you can pick them up at your local Best Buy immediately once you order them.

Source: Amazon

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Mobile Syrup

Epic v. Apple judge rules Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchases

U.S. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers issued a permanent injunction in the Epic Games v. Apple case on September 10th. Under the ruling, Apple must allow other forms of in-app purchases:

“Apple Inc. [is]… permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing and (ii) communicating with customers through points of contact obtained voluntarily from customers through account registration within the app.”

The injunction concludes a lengthy and bitter court battle between the companies. Epic argued that Apple’s App Store fees were a monopolistic tax, while the iPhone-maker said the fees were a necessary operating cost. However, Gonzalez-Rogers explained in the full ruling that neither company was entirely correct.

“The relevant market here is digital mobile gaming transactions, not gaming generally and not Apple’s own internal operating systems related to the App Store,” wrote Gonzalez-Rogers. Going by that definition, “the court cannot ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist under either federal or state antitrust laws. Nonetheless, the trial did show that Apple is engaging in anti-competitive conduct under California’s competition laws.”

In other words, Apple’s effort to block alternate payment methods in apps was anti-competitive. Going forward, Apple will need to allow developers to offer other forms of in-app purchases if they choose.

The Verge notes that these new restrictions echo some provisional anti-steering restrictions placed on Apple outside the U.S. For example, Apple recently allowed app developers to offer alternate payment methods over email, agreed to allow outside signup links for ‘reader’ apps like Netflix and Spotify following a Japanese regulatory investigation. Moreover, a recent South Korean law also opened the door for alternate payment systems in the app store.

The ruling will likely have significant impacts beyond Apple and its App Store. Epic sued Google for similar reasons, and the search giant is also battling an antitrust suit filed by several U.S. state attorneys general.

However, it remains to be seen how much the ruling will impact developers and users on Apple’s platform.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Apple Watch Series 7 is reportedly ready for mass manufacturing

Apple’s upcoming Watch Series 7 is apparently back on schedule, after the tech giant allegedly resolved some rumoured manufacturing issues that could have significantly delayed the smartwatch’s release.

The production snags — first reported on August 31st and supposedly tied to the Series 7’s new design — have been overcome, according to an article by The Verge referencing an analyst’s report seen by MacRumors.

The trouble-making design in question reportedly features a larger display screen with a new accompanying watchface and a boxy case with squared-off edges.

The Series 7 is also rumoured to include 41mm and 45mm band sizes (with support for older bands), but will likely lack a blood pressure measurement feature.

Mass manufacturing of the watches is scheduled to kick-off mid-September, just in time for Apple’s next hardware launch event scheduled for September 14th, 2021.

Source: MacRumors Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung unveils new Watch 4 bands made from eco-friendly materials

Samsung has launched a limited-edition collection of sustainably manufactured Watch Bands for the Galaxy Watch 4 created by Sami Miró, a fashion designer whose previous projects used upcycled materials.

The new Sami Miró collection offers six watchbands and three watch faces with a focus on sustainability and wellness and usage of recycled materials, including apple peel sourced from the fruit industry.

The ‘Midnight Black’ and ‘Stratus Sky’ bands are made entirely of apple peel skin, whereas ‘Aurora Night,’ ‘Cloud Navy,’ ‘Earth Sunrise,’ and ‘Dawn Atlas’ are composed of a recyclable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), according to Samsung.

“The colors Stratus Sky, Cloud Navy, and Midnight Black can translate from day to night while the Aurora Night and Dawn Atlas have gem hues and are perfect for when you are in the mood for a pop of color,” said Miró in Samsung’s release about the new bands. “I am proud that we sourced sustainable materials for the entire collection. My designs were inspired by the beauty of our planet and I want the collection to serve as a reminder to stay mindful and connected to the Earth.”

In addition to the bands, Miró has also designed three watch faces for the Watch 4 (SMV Atlas I, SMV Serenity and SMV Atlas II), which are free to download from Google Play Store.

The Galaxy Watch4 x Sami Miró Vintage sustainable watchband collection is now available on Samsung.com, with prices beginning at $39.99 ($50.51 CAD). However, the bands don’t appear on Samsung’s Canadian website.

MobileSyrup has reached out to Samsung for more information regarding Canadian availability and pricing.

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter testing new feature that will make it easier to identify bot accounts

Twitter is testing out new labels on the platform that will help you identify if the Tweet you’re reading was posted by a human or a bot account.

According to the micro-blogging platform, “automated accounts you might see on Twitter include bots that help you find vaccine appointments and disaster early warning systems.” Having a label on such accounts gives other (human)users a better understanding of the bot’s purpose.

Twitter states that the feature has been rolled out to select developer accounts, allowing them to apply labels to indicate whether a tweet has been automated by a ‘good bot’ or not. The labels include a robot head image and the words ‘Automated by,’ or simply ‘Automated.’

The new feature comes after Twitter stated last year that high-quality bot accounts must self-identify as such. It stated at the time that developers must clearly indicate if an account is a bot and identify the person operating the account. “Automated labels help you identify good bots from spammy ones and are all about transparency,” reads Twitter’s FAQ about automated accounts.

The new label feature will first be available to about 500 developer accounts and expand to all developer accounts by the end of 2021.

Twitter has been going hard with updates and test experiments in the last few weeks, including the ability to hide old Tweets, emoji reactions for Twitter users in Turkey, edge-to-edge media on your feed, themed discussion groups called ‘Communities,’ removing followers without blocking them, a new Safety Mode and pay-to-view content with new ‘Super Follows’ feature.

Source: @TwitterSupport

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Mobile Syrup

Telus invests $28.5 million to improve its internet services in Burnaby

Telus continues to expand its internet services in Western Canada with a new $28.5 million investment in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia.

According to the press release, more Burnaby households will soon have access to Telus’ high-speed fibre optic internet — which the carrier calls its “PureFibre” network — thanks to new wireless infrastructure to be built later this year.

Burnaby is the latest region targeted by Telus as part of the Vancouver-based carrier’s $13 billion investment toward upgrading its operations in British Columbia. The expansion, which launched in May 2021, is expected to continue through to 2024.

Most recently, in August 2021, the city of Quesnel, B.C. was connected to Telus’ 5G network thanks to funds from the same investment.

This year has seen all three Canadian carrier giants — Telus, Bell and Rogers — pour billions of dollars into building and updating their respective internet infrastructure networks nationwide.

Source: Telus

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Mobile Syrup

Google shows off Material You redesign heading to Calendar, Drive and more

Google showed off Material You updates headed to several Workspace apps, including Google Calendar, Drive, Docs, Gmail, Sheets and Slides.

To start, Google confirmed that Gmail would get its Material You redesign with version 2021.08.24 and newer on devices running Android 12 and up (which, right now, should just be phones in the beta program).

Along with confirming which Gmail version would see the update, Google showed off the Material You look for other apps. The search giant showed off three screenshots for its apps, with the first being the current design, followed by the Material You design and then Material You with Dynamic colour.

First up, Google calendar is getting a very slight redesign that basically tweaks the look of the header bar and floating action button (FAB) in the bottom-right corner. Google Meet is getting a similarly basic change that really only impacts the shape and colour of buttons. The Google Cal changes will start rolling out on September 20th, while Meet changes will start rolling out on the 19th.

Google Drive and the Slides, Sheets and Docs apps are getting slightly more significant updates. Drive will see the search bar, navigation bar and FAB changed over, while the other three will apply Dynamic Colours to practically everything but the document itself. Google notes that Material You will expand existing accessibility support by automatically adjusting contrast, size and line width based on user preferences. Pre-existing colour schemes, such as colour-coded file types, won’t change.

The Google Drive changes started rolling out on September 9th, while Docs, Sheets and Slides started rolling out on the 1st. However, roll-outs for all these changes could take up to 15 days before they show up on people’s devices.

Source: Google Via: 9to5Google