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Samsung's Unpacked gave us most importantly the new Galaxy Note20 smartphones but the company had a lot of somewhat secondary devices to show.

One of these was the new Galaxy Tab S7 and its better-equipped sibling Tab S7+. The new S7 is only a slight upgrade – with one major improvement – to last year's S6.

Regular S7 features a 11 inch LCD display with QHD resolution while the S7+ upgrades it to a 12.4 inch OLED panel and slightly upgrading the resolution along with the size increase.

Both of the new displays have 120 hz refresh rate which is probably the most important upgrade over the last year's model.

Samsung's today's first ever virtual Unpacked event has ended and the company has a lot of new Galaxy products to unveil. The most important of them all was of course the new lineup of Galaxy Note smartphones.

The Galaxy Note20 comes in two different variants: regular Galaxy Note20 and Galaxy Note20 Ultra. They both offer massive AMOLED displays measuring in at 6.7 inches with Note20 and 6.9 inches with Note20 Ultra. However, only the latter supports 120 hz refresh rate – the regular model comes with a rather pedestrian 60 hz display.

As you might imagine, the larger size of the Note20 Ultra also means a slightly larger 4500 mAh battery while Note20 has a 4300 mAh one. Both, however, support 25 watt quick charging as well as Qi wireless charging.

Connections-wise the devices are largely similar with both supporting 5G networks as well as speedy WiFi 6. Both also have either Snapdragon 865+ or Samsung's Exynos 990 chips. Ultra does have more RAM with 12 GB compared to Note20's 8 GB.

In terms of camera, the Galaxy Note20 Ultra is similar to the S20 Ultra with a 108 MP shooter accompanied by 12 MP ultrawide and a periscope zoom camera. The cheaper Galaxy Note20 on the other hand has a 12 MP main camera in addition to a tele zoom camera and a ultrawide.

One of the most important privacy court rulings in recent history was delivered two weeks ago when EU Court stroke down the EU-US Privacy Shield agreement. Privacy Shield agreement between EU and the United States allowed American companies to store and process EU user data within the United States.

But EU Court ruled that because United States allowed its intelligence agencies to access such data, the agreement between EU and US had to be terminated immediately. Since then, basically all American companies that maintained the user databases in U.S. soil and had EU users, were breaking EU legislation.

Problem is massive: Companies wishing to maintain unified user database must basically move it out of the United States - or United States as a country to change its national laws that permit its intelligence agencies to do surveillance on its own soil. Obviously the latter option is highly unlikely to happen.

Technically splitting user database into two separate sets, with separate rules, processes and data location would be a massive technical challenge to the Internet gients like Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

The next generation of console gaming is soon upon us, and Sony is preparing its peripherals to support the PS5. The company has announced a new Ready for PlayStation 5 badge.

The tagline will be used among Bravia TVs that support the high-definition gameplay provided by the upcoming PS5. They've developed the branding in cooperation with Bravia teams and Sony Interactive Entertainment, and it should ensure that gamers find their favorite PS5 TV easier.

The first Ready for PlayStation 5 branded TVs are going to be ZH8 (pictured below) and XH90/92 models that are current occupants of the Bravia family. The latter supports 4K gaming at up to 120 fps and the ZH8 supports an epic resolution of 8K, where ever it is available.

This year has been riddled with cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic, but most of us are hoping that it wouldn't be as big of a deal next year.

Some of the first indications that COVID-19 would be a serious issue outside China and in the west came from cancelled tech conferences. This included world's largest mobile conference MWC that was scheduled for late February.

The largest consumer electronics show in the US, CES, managed to run without much of a hiccup in early January when the spread was still somewhat contained. However, they won't be as lucky in 2021.

CTA, the organizer of Consumer Electronics Show or CES, has announced that they will be canceling next year's conference's physical manifestation. This means that CES 2021 will be an online-only event.

They've taken a page out of Apple's playbook, who very successfully held a virtual WWDC first time ever this summer.

Virtual CES 2021 will be held in the first week of the year. It remains to be seen how the reimagined conference will accommodate both exhibitors and the audience.

World's largest music streaming service has made immense investments recently in non-music audio. Most importantly the company acquired the exclusive rights to Joe Rogan Experience, and just yesterday it launched Michelle Obama's own podcast.

However, the Swedish powerhouse is still innovating in terms of music, too.

Spotify is testing a new feature that will extend the capabilities of Group Sessions. Group Session, a feature that was introduced in May, is essentially a party DJ that allows all the people in the area to add song to a playlist queue.

The new addition will allow online communities to use it too. Spotify Premium members can join the group and listen to the same songs at the same time no matter where they are.

You can have up to 5 people in a group and each member has the controls to pause, skip and add new songs to the queue.

To use the feature open Spotify and head to Group Session feature, located on the bottom right corner menu. You can share the link to your session by copying it to your social media or sending it to your friends.

Qualcomm's new Quick Charge 5 standard dramatically increases charging speeds for smartphones.

First debuted in 2013, Quick Charge is a proprietary charging standard developed by Qualcomm to deliver speedier charging of devices. Through its first few refreshes, it bumped the voltage beyond the 5V limit imposed by the USB standard safely. Later it gained compatibility with USB-PD (USB Power Delivery) along with other improvements.

Each refresh reduces charging times due to higher power output, but Quick Charge 5 is a significant improvement. With a compatible device and charger, it can charge a 4,500 mAh battery to 50 percent in about 5 minutes. The same battery can be charged from dead to full in about 15 minutes.

Underlying the improvements is 2S battery support and 20 Volts of power delivery, for a max power output of 100W+. At the same time, it is 10C cooler in operation than Quick Charge 4, while being 70 percent more efficient and about four times faster.

Quick Charge is the leading charging platform for mobile devices. There are more than 1,000 certified accessories on the market, of which 250 are smartphones. Its competitors in the space include MediaTek Pump Express and OPPO VOOC, which is licensed to OnePlus as Dash Charge.

Christopher Nolan's hotly anticipated spy thriller will debut in theaters internationally a week before it debuts in the United States.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had delayed the release of Nolan's new thriller several times already, with Warner revoking any release date just a week ago. Today it was given theatrical release dates for scores of countries, most of which will have the film available to theatergoers a week before its available in the United States.

It will first be available on August 26 in 24 countries, among them the United Kingdom, Turkey, France, Italy etc. The next day it will be in theaters in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, and 15 others. On Friday, August 28, Tenet comes to East Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and Vietnam.

The following Monday, September 3, it will be released in parts of the United States, but it depends on local COVID-19 policies. There is no date yet for the film's Chinese debut as the government has imposed a two-hour limit for films shown in theaters since they reopened.

Information on the plot of Tenet has been kept quiet, so a staggered rollout presents the risks of major spoilers leaking online, not to mention the threat of piracy. Still, Tenet looks set to be the first blockbuster to hit cinemas since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down movie theaters all around the world.

Facebook is taking the European Commission to court over broad data requests that could violate its employees' privacy or expose sensitive information.

The top competition regulator in the European Union has two ongoing probes into Facebook. One deals with Facebook's collection and use of massive amounts of data, while the other is aimed at Facebook's online marketplace. As part of the investigation, Facebook says it has provided 315,000 documents to the EU commission.

However, Facebook is now taking the commission to court arguing that its data requests are resulting in irrelevant documents being passed onto the EU. On these documents could include, "highly sensitive personal information such as employees' medical information, personal financial documents, and private information about family members of employees."

The EU Commission is seeking documents that include 2,500 specific phrases, some of which are "big question", "shut down" and "not good for us." According to the social media firm, these phrases may result in documents being handed over that include information related to its security.

Corning has revealed Gorilla Glass Victus and touted its improvements compared to its predecessor Gorilla Glass 6.

Over eight billion devices from 45 different brands have incorporated Gorilla Glass into their products. Consumers desire their mobile products to be durable and resistant to scratches and cracks. Nevertheless, most of us will have accidentally damaged a mobile device and we know that even scratches can affect usability.

It is good news then that the latest Gorilla Glass is reportedly much tougher than its predecessor. In lab tests, it has achieved drop performance up to 2 meters when dropped onto hard, rough surfaces. By contrast, Corning claims that competitive aluminosilicate glasses fail at about 0.8 meters.

Furthermore, it claims Victus is twice as scratch resistant as Gorilla Glass 6, and four times more resistant than competitive aluminosilicate glasses.

In the near future, Samsung will become the first customer to release a product using Gorilla Glass Victus.

Despite being delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tenet will not skip theaters for streaming or on-demand.

Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated spy film Tenet is currently on the shelf with no release date, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping movie theaters closed. While other films have skipped the theatrical release date and premiered online, Tenet will not be given the same treatment, or so said John Stankey, Warner Bros chief executive, to The Wrap.

"Is it going to happen on a movie like Tenet or something like Wonder Woman 1984? I'd be very surprised if that would be the case. In fact, I can assure you on Tenet that's not going to be the case."

Stankey went on to say that he still believes that theatrical is important going forward, and some films are going to be more enjoyable in theaters than at home.

Other reports suggested that Warner is considering releasing Tenet in cities on a case by case basis, depending on COVID-19 activity in the area and local policy. For now, we are in the dark.

Plex has added more free content to its service, this time focusing on live television.

Since last year, Plex has been offering more than 14,000 movies, documentaries, and TV shows that can be watched on-demand for free. Now it has broadened its options by adding more than 80 television channels.

"Whether it's live news like Reuters, or kids shows like Toon Goggles, cooking shows on Tastemade, or sports on fubo Sports Network, or even eSports on IGN TV, we've got you covered," Plex announced on its website.



Find out more at: www.plex.tv/watch-free-tv

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined with others in a lawsuit targeting YouTube over fake Bitcoin giveaways on the platform.

High profile Twitter users were the targets of a hack pushing a Bitcoin scam a week ago. Out of the blue, several verified users of Twitter - including President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and others - seemed to tweet about a Bitcoin giveaway. Twitter responded rapidly by removing the tweets and launched an investigation.

However, Twitter is not the only platform where crypto scammers operate. YouTube also hosts videos of fake Bitcoin giveaways or promotions that use images of famous people. One of those people is Steve Wozniak, and he has called out YouTube for its lackluster response to the problem.

He contrasted the response of Twitter to the recent hack which came on the "same day" and said, "YouTube has been unapologetically hosting, promoting, and directly profiting from similar scams."

The scams trick targets into sending Bitcoin to an address with the expectation that will get it back and more. Of course, they don't receive any funds in return. Some of the victims of the scam then reach out to people like Steve Wozniak, demanding their Bitcoin back.

Ubisoft has revealed that it will not charge anything extra for games for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X when they launch this fall.

The next-generation consoles are set to land this holiday season kicking off another round as Microsoft and Sony go head to head for your money. 2K Games and Take-Two Interactive have already said they will charge an additional $10 for titles for the new consoles this fall.

By contrast, Ubisoft revealed during an earnings call on Wednesday that its next-gen games will retain the common $60 price tag this fall.

"We are concentrating on the Christmas releases. We have decided those games will be launched at $60"

2K previously revealed that the next iteration of its NBA 2K series will cost $70 for the new consoles when it drops this fall. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion can be preordered for consoles already at $60.

A meta-analysis of research going back over a decades shows that playing video games does not lead to violent behavior.

The meta-analysis (examining a bulk of pre-existing research to draw conclusions) covered more than 28 separate studies dating back to 2008 probing for links between aggressive behavior and video games and was led by Aaron Drummond of New Zealand's Massey University.

The researchers acknowledge that the bundled research does show a positive correlation between gaming and aggression, but the effect is so little as to fail to meet the criteria even as a "small effect". Furthermore, the study found that there is no accumulative effect from smaller changes in temperament after gaming sessions over the long term.

"The current research is unable to support the hypothesis that violent video games have a meaningful long-term predictive impact on youth aggression," the report said.

The history of the video games industry has been shadowed by suspicions or even outright assertions that games are dangerous and can promote violent behavior, even being blamed for horrific events like mass shootings on occasion.