Following its launch earlier this month, The Epic Games Store gave away alien ocean survival adventure Subnautica for free up until December 27. Now, the classic Indie title Super Meat Boy can be grabbed for absolutely nothing for the next week and a half.
from TechSpot http://bit.ly/2Amlj7U
Highlights: iPhone XS Max catches fire in an Ohio man’s trouser pocket The phone dissipated heat and coloured smoke The victim is “contemplating legal action” Apple is going through a difficult time. Its products have been banned for import and sale in China and Germany. It is at loggerheads with chipmaker Qualcomm and is reportedly struggling and their recent update apparently left iPhone users in a lull after several of them reported that they were no longer able to use LTE on their new iPhones. Now, an iPhone XS Max has reportedly exploded in a man’s trousers in the US, putting too much in Apple’s plate to finish. According to a report by PhoneArena, an Ohio man escaped an unfortunate incident when his three-week-old iPhone XS Max (unidentified variant) exploded while it was in his pocket. Josh Hillard says that his phone was in his rear trouser pocket when it randomly began to dissipate “a large amount of heat” as well as green and yellow coloured smoke. By the time Hillard went to a private spot to check it, the phone had caught fire. The fire left the owner unhappy as he inhaled a lot of smoke “from the time of first noticing the fire and between removal of the pants and taking the phone out of my pocket and placing it outside.” The psychological trauma forced him to contact Apple customer service and safety department specialists, both in person and by phone. Reportedly, he has been offered a new phone as reimbursement. The report said that the victim doesn’t consider this to be an acceptable way of settling this unfortunate affair, and is said to be “contemplating legal action” for this. This is not the first time that iPhones have faced such demise. In November, a user complained that his iPhone X spewed smoke while he was charging and updating the device to iOS 12.1. In January, a man was injured when the battery of an iPhone exploded at an Apple Store in Zurich. The Apple iPhone XS Max was launched in September at a starting price of $1099 (or Rs 1,09,900 in India) and goes up to $1449 (or Rs 1,44,900 in India) for the top-end model. It comes with A12 Bionic processor and a massive 6.5-inch AMOLED display, which is the biggest display that Apple has ever offered. It has a dual 12MP+12MP (Wide Angle + Telephoto) sensors at the back and a True Depth 7MP camera on the front. Related Read: People evacuated as iPad battery explodes in Amsterdam Apple Store Apple iPhone XS Max: The Good, The Bad & The Uglyfrom Latest Technology News http://bit.ly/2Aq62D9
Key Highlights: Even though the recently announced Galaxy Home speaker is yet to become available, Samsung is reportedly working on a second smart speaker The model number revealed indicates the speaker will be smaller and more affordable than the present one. The weirdly shaped Samsung Galaxy Home speaker powered by Bixby was announced alongside the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 back in August. Yet, five months after its announcement, the speaker’s status is still “coming soon” on the Samsung website. Meanwhile, another smart speaker is reportedly being developed by Samsung. All that is known so far is that the new Galaxy Home speaker will be offered in a black colour finish and will carry the model number SM-V310. Compared with the present Galaxy Speaker’s model number, SM-V510, it seems like the one under development will be a smaller speaker. It could also be more affordable than one announced so far, although the price is still not disclosed. The Galaxy Home speaker that Samsung announced earlier has a combination of AKG-tuned speakers, 8-piece far-field microphones, and Bixby AI. Perhaps the smaller speaker will have a smaller microphone array minus the AKG branding, but everything at this point is conjecture at best. Samsung does have something lined up for CES, which is due to begin on 8th January in Las Vegas. Perhaps that’s when the company will reveal more about the speaker. At CES, Samsung is expected to announce new TVs and displays along with other smart home appliances. The flagship Galaxy S10 series, however, is expected to launch on February 20th, five days before MWC commences in Barcelona. The smart speaker market is currently dominated by Amazon’s Alexa-powered devices and Google Home speakers. Both companies offer products across a broad price range. Microsoft too announced a Cortana-powered smart speaker while HomePod is Apple’s offering in the smart speaker space. The market for smart speakers, according to IDC is expected to grow in double-digits and by 2022. Over 1.3 billion smart home products are expected to be sold. Related Links: Samsung working on a Bixby-powered speaker codenamed 'Vega': WSJfrom Latest Technology News http://bit.ly/2SvG4VY