Tech News Roundup for August 12, 2020
Here are a few of the tech news stories I found interesting over the past couple days.
Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant – 10 Years Later
Last week the very first Galaxy S phone turned 10 years old. I pulled my (unfortunately dead) Galaxy S Vibrant out of a drawer to take a look at what one of the best smartphones of 2010 brought to the table, and compared it to my current phone, the 2019 era Galaxy Note 10+
The Rural Broadband Speed Gap in Canada Continues to Grow
This is an interesting report on comparing the average internet speed in urban centers in Canada compared to the rural parts of the country. While average Urban internet speed has increased significantly this year, rural broadband has not, and the average urban internet connection is now 10 times faster than a rural connection.
This widening gap has the potential for significant long term implications, and only increase the digital divide in this country. While most people think of internet speed in the terms of how good their Netflix experience is, or how fast they can download apps and games, it has a much bigger impact on business and education, especially in a COVID-19 world. The speeds of rural internet make video calls difficult, which is a big component of many remote learning plans, and it can make doing basic work a challenge. Businesses that need to increasingly rely on the internet are at a disadvantage.
The solution to this is way above my pay grade, because of the challenges of providing internet to very low density population areas, which most of Canada is. There have been numerous programs from different levels of government that attempt to bridge this gap. SpaceX is interested in bringing internet to rural Canada through its Starlink satellite system. Whatever the answer is, rural Canada needs better access to high speed broadband, or entire parts of this country will be left behind.
343 Studios Delays Halo Infinite until 2021, Xbox Series X Launches in November
A bit of good news, a bit of bad news around Xbox gaming. While we do not have a firm date or a price, Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox Series X console will launch in the month of November. Previously there was only a vague “Holiday 2020” time frame. This news, however, comes as 343 Studios has announced that Halo Infinite has been delayed until 2021. Halo Infinite was supposed to launch day and date with the Series X console, so this is a big blow to the fall lineup for Microsoft. With most of Microsoft’s first party studios working on future games that are not due until at least holiday 2021, Halo Infinite was to be the big tent pole game. Without Halo, Microsoft will be relying on 3rd party titles to carry the system, but with the company’s strategy of all titles being available on both the Xbox One line of consoles as well as the Xbox Series line of consoles for at least the first year, the reasons for buying an Xbox Series X are getting smaller and smaller, especially if the Series X ends up being as expensive as rumoured.
New Xbox Controller Reveals Unannounced Xbox Series S Console
Anyone familiar with the Xbox One line of consoles knows that Microsoft offers the higher end Xbox One X, as well as the lower cost Xbox One S console. The One S is focused on 1080p HDR gaming, while the One X is has a more powerful graphics processor which can do higher resolution and faster framerates.
When Microsoft announced the Xbox Series X console, speculation began that there would be an Xbox Series S console, with some media outlets reporting that it would be again focused on 1080p gaming, utilizing the same CPU as the Series X, but with a lower end GPU. Someone on Reddit was able to get their hands on a new Xbox controller that will be releasing with the new consoles, complete with the retail box. That retail box lists the Xbox Series S as one of the devices the controller is compatible with.
Microsoft has declined to comment, but one would expect that the Xbox Series S will be revealed soon, considering the line is due to launch in roughly 3 months.
A Previous Version of TikTok Collected MAC Addresses in Violation of Google Policies
Reporting by The Wall Street Journal has found that previous versions of the Tik Tok app collected device MAC addresses, which is a hardware address associated with a network card, in contravention of Google Play Store policies. MAC address collection is usually done for the purposes of ad targeting, and has been prohibited by Google since 2015. This data collection ended in November of 2019, but does not help Tik Tok’s image as it fights to retain access to the US market, its largest.
It should be noted that Tik Tok shares some application code with the version of the app produced specifically for China, where this type of data collection is at the very least permitted, and in some cases even required by the Chinese government, so this could be a case of bad code auditing by the US version of the app, accidentally leaving something in that it shouldn’t have.
Facebook begins Warning Users Sharing Stories about COVID-19 as it says it has Removed 7 Million Posts That Spread Misinformation
Facebook has begun displaying a pop up when users share a story about COVID-19. The popup shows the publisher of the story, and how long that publisher has been on Facebook. This appears to be an attempt to help stop the spread of misinformation on COVID-19. This comes after the company says it has taken down 7 million posts from its platform that violated guidelines on COVID-19 misinformation. While Facebook has earned significant criticism for it’s stance continuing to allow right wing conspiracy theories on its platform, it has taken a much harder stand against COVID-19 misinformation.