Dominique Luchart's Blog, page 638
April 30, 2021
Coinbase now lets you buy cryptocurrency with your PayPal account,
Coinbase has added the option for users to buy cryptocurrency using their PayPal accounts in the US, the company has announced. It says the feature offers a “familiar and trusted” experience for users buying any of the numerous cryptocurrencies that the exchange currently supports, and using PayPal as an intermediary means you don’t have to give your bank account or debit card information directly to the cryptocurrency exchange. The feature will expand to other countries in the coming months.
To use the new option, Coinbase says you can add your PayPal account via the “Add a payment method” option, which links to the PayPal login screen. Purchases made via PayPal are capped at $25,000 a day, or 0.46 Bitcoin as of this writing. Debit cards and bank accounts linked to a PayPal account can be used to buy cryptocurrencies, but a Coinbase FAQ notes the feature doesn’t support payment methods like prepaid cards or credit cards.
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A PayPal account can be added from the “Add a payment method” screen.Image: CoinbaseThe news is part of PayPal’s broader trend towards embracing cryptocurrency. In November last year, the company started letting US users buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies directly from their PayPal accounts, and this year it rolled out the option for users to pay with cryptocurrency held in their PayPal account (though this is converted to local currency before a merchant is paid). PayPal currently only supports four cryptocurrencies natively — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash — compared to the dozens available on Coinbase.
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Coinbase now lets you buy cryptocurrency with your PayPal account, Jon Porter
PayPal is now available as a payment method for US Coinbase users. | Image: CoinbaseCoinbase has added the option for users to buy cryptocurrency using their PayPal accounts in the US, the company has announced. It says the feature offers a “familiar and trusted” experience for users buying any of the numerous cryptocurrencies that the exchange currently supports, and using PayPal as an intermediary means you don’t have to give your bank account or debit card information directly to the cryptocurrency exchange. The feature will expand to other countries in the coming months.
To use the new option, Coinbase says you can add your PayPal account via the “Add a payment method” option, which links to the PayPal login screen. Purchases made via PayPal are capped at $25,000 a day, or 0.46 Bitcoin as of this writing. Debit…
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April 29, 2021
Apple adds a way to speed up searches on the App Store by suggesting words, Ian Carlos Campbell
Apple has added a new App Store search suggestions feature in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, that might make it easier to find apps. Now, after typing in a search term, the App Store will attempt to predict what you’re looking for and offer suggested words that, when tapped, will further narrow down your search results and speed up your hunt for specific kinds of apps.
Search suggestions actually appeared on some iPhones earlier in April as part of a test, according to MacRumors, but now the feature should be rolling out to all iPhones in the supported regions.
Introducing search suggestions on the App Store!
Select (or deselect) multiple suggestions to refine your search so you can find even more amazing apps and games.
Search…
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Apple adds a way to speed up searches on the App Store by suggesting words,
Apple has added a new App Store search suggestions feature in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, that might make it easier to find apps. Now, after typing in a search term, the App Store will attempt to predict what you’re looking for and offer suggested words that, when tapped, will further narrow down your search results and speed up your hunt for specific kinds of apps.
Search suggestions actually appeared on some iPhones earlier in April as part of a test, according to MacRumors, but now the feature should be rolling out to all iPhones in the supported regions.
Introducing search suggestions on the App Store!
Select (or deselect) multiple suggestions to refine your search so you can find even more amazing apps and games.
Search suggestions roll out today starting with the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia. pic.twitter.com/viaZHlCZMb
— App Store (@AppStore)
Using search suggestions is pretty simple. Let’s say I’m looking for an app to help me make some pizza from scratch: I can type “pizza” in the App Store’s search field and see additional words pop up like “maker,” “game,” “call,” “calculator,” or “order.” Selecting one of those suggestions filters the results further, so choosing calculator will pull up apps for calculating the correct ratio ingredients for pizza dough (surprisingly there’s a lot of those).
Hunting for “pizza calculators” using the new App Store search suggestions.Currently, not every search allows you to select multiple suggestions. I was able to refine Apple’s example of “food” with “delivery” and “Indian,” but my other sample searches only gave me one filter each. Not every search brings up a suggested filter, either. We’ve reached out to Apple for clarification on when suggestions appear.
What does consistently show up in search are ads, which Apple originally added to App Store search in 2016. It’s easy to see how my plan to make pizza from scratch could get derailed by a big Uber Eats or Papa John’s ad above my helpful dough calculator app. Ordering delivery is so much easier than doing math.
Those ads are likely to inflame Apple’s App Store critics further — they’ll no doubt argue that an indie developer trying to make it easier to figure out the ratios of water to flour in pizza shouldn’t have to compete with Uber’s ad budget, the same way they think competing apps shouldn’t be buying ads in front of one another’s products while Apple profits from the result. But every change to a search engine has winners and losers, and it’s not yet clear whether this one will make it easier or harder for small developers to get more exposure. They could wind up being helpful for everyone who uses the App Store.
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Epic Games v. Apple: the fight for the future of the App Store, Tom Warren
Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeAll the news about the huge trial
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Epic Games v. Apple: the fight for the future of the App Store,
After months of preparation, Epic Games will finally take on Apple in court in a trial that could fundamentally change the makeup of the App Store. The fight dates back to August, when Epic added a direct payment mechanism to its hit battle royale game Fortnite in violation of Apple’s rules. The iPhone maker quickly removed the game from the App Store, and Epic responded shortly after with an antitrust lawsuit aiming to establish the App Store as a monopoly. The case will finally be brought to trial starting May 3rd.
The trial promises to deliver huge revelations about the inner workings of one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world, with testimony from Apple CEO Tim Cook, Craig Federighi, Phil Schiller, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, and more. We’ve already made some fascinating discoveries from documents published ahead of the trial, and there’s sure to be a lot more news ahead.
You can follow along with everything right here.
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Microsoft reveals how Halo Infinite will look on 32:9 super ultrawide monitors and other PC perks,
Microsoft has something of a history of neglecting PC gaming, but it’s trying to change that in a big way — by promising its flagship Halo Infinite will feel like a native PC game when it arrives later this year. We’ve known for many months that it wouldn’t be the Xbox Series X’s killer app, but Microsoft’s trying to make PC gamers feel like first-class citizens too, with features as forward-looking as support for 32:9 super-ultrawide monitors like the Samsung Odyssey G9 I reviewed late last year.
This morning, we learned the game would support ultrawide monitors, in addition to triple-keybinds, advanced graphics options, and both crossplay and cross-progression between Xbox and Windows PCs. But this evening, the Halo Waypoint blog went way deeper, revealing what Infinite will look like at 32:9 and an array of other PC-gamer-friendly details like being able to adjust your field of view up to 120 degrees — and the ability to host your own LAN multiplayer server!
In my Samsung Odyssey G9 review, I bemoaned how even the games that do support 32:9 typically look abnormally, wildly stretched out on each side, providing over a dozen examples of how they don’t properly adjust the shape and curvature of the window they’re opening into the 3D game world. But Halo Infinite PC development lead Mike Romero says the game’s designed to support arbitrary window sizes, and can fit its HUD, menus, and even in-game cutscenes into the wider aspect ratios.
“There’s dozens of people across the studio that have had to put dedicated effort into supporting something like ultrawide throughout the entirety of the game, and I’m very excited to say I think we’ll have some of the best ultrawide support I’ve ever seen in a game,” boasts Romero.
Looking at these Halo Infinite images at 32:9, it’s not immediately clear to me that Microsoft has solved the 32:9 issue — looking at the hill on the right of this image below, for instance, it seems like the game world still might appear a little bit skewed and warped.
But it is clear that you’ll see a lot more of the game world at once this way, if you’re one of the few who’ve ascended to an ultrawide monitor — and have a PC powerful enough to drive it, of course.
Here’s a short list of all the PC-esque perks Microsoft is promising:
LAN play, hosting a local multiplayer server on PC that you can join from both PC and Xbox Crossplay, restricting ranked matches to input type rather than console vs. PC, with server-side anti-cheatAdjustable FOV (up to 120 degrees) on both PC and consoleMouse and keyboard support on both PC and consoleTriple keyboard and mouse bindingsVisual quality settings up to ultra presets on PC, with individual settings for texture quality, depth of field, anti-aliasing etc.High refresh rate options21:9, 32:9 “and beyond” ultrawide monitor support on PCMinimum and maximum framerate settings on PCFixed and dynamic resolution scaling options on PCOptional borderless fullscreen on PCFPS and ping overlay on PCOut-of-game multiplayer invites let you join games through Xbox Live, Discord and SteamAs my colleague Tom Warren notes, there’s still more to learn, like whether the game will support GPU-dependent features on PC like Nvidia’s framerate-enhancing DLSS, ray tracing, and more.
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Samsung loses over $270M from Texas plant shutdown as quarterly profits boom,
Shutting down its semiconductor plant in Austin, Texas lost Samsung over 300 billion won (around $270 million), Yonhap News reports. Speaking during a conference call, a senior vice president at Samsung’s foundry business Han Seung-hoon said that the shutdown affected around 71,000 wafers, corresponding to “around 300 to 400 billion won in damage.” The statement coincided with Samsung’s latest earnings release, in which it reported strong sales of its smartphones and other consumer electronics.
The South Korean electronics giant was forced to shut down its Austin plant — which produces microprocessors like radio frequency integrated circuits and solid state drive controllers — back in February after a storm left some 200,000 Austin homes without power. The shutdown lasted a month in total, the longest Samsung has ever had to halt production at a factory. However, the company says that the plant was back up to 90 percent production at the end of March, and is now back up to normal levels.
Overall, however, The Financial Times reports that Samsung profits exceeded expectations. Net profit for the quarter was up 46 percent to 7.1 trillion won (around $6.4 billion) compared to the same quarter the previous year, resulting in its highest first quarter profit since 2018. The increase was driven by a 66 percent surge in profits at its mobile division, according to CNBC. Samsung says that sales of its “well received” flagship Galaxy S21 series have increased alongside its more price competitive midrange models.
Samsung’s own manufacturing issues have coincided with a global chip shortage that’s affected everything from graphics cards to cars and even toasters. Samsung says the supply issues have had knock-on effects on its business, contributing to a drop in sales for mobile displays in the first quarter. The company says it’s possible that supply issues will continue into the second half of the year (echoing similar predictions from TSMC and Intel), but that it’s “strengthening cooperation with the in-house foundry and expanding the use of outsourced foundries” to compensate.
Otherwise, Samsung thinks its business will benefit from economic recoveries and stimulus programs around the world. It expects strong demand for everything from servers, to storage, smartphones, and PCs in the second half of the year. However, it specifically says that demand for TVs could drop in the same period, as people start venturing outside.
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Amazon lawsuit alleging Trump bias in $10 billion military contract clears another hurdle, James Vincent
Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeAn ongoing lawsuit pursued by Amazon against the US government and Microsoft will continue after a federal judge rejected a motion to dismiss the case. The suit concerns Microsoft’s success in securing the $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract with the Defense Department — a decision that Amazon says was influenced by President Donald Trump’s dislike of the company and its CEO Jeff Bezos.
The decision, as reported by The Washington Post and Bloomberg News, means Amazon can now argue in front of a court that Trump himself and former defense secretary Jim Mattis should testify. A motion to dismiss the case was rejected by Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith on Wednesday April 28, though her full opinion was filed under seal.
Amazon and…
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Amazon lawsuit alleging Trump bias in $10 billion military contract clears another hurdle,
An ongoing lawsuit pursued by Amazon against the US government and Microsoft will continue after a federal judge rejected a motion to dismiss the case. The suit concerns Microsoft’s success in securing the $10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract with the Defense Department — a decision that Amazon says was influenced by President Donald Trump’s dislike of the company and its CEO Jeff Bezos.
The decision, as reported by The Washington Post and Bloomberg News, means Amazon can now argue in front of a court that Trump himself and former defense secretary Jim Mattis should testify. A motion to dismiss the case was rejected by Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith on Wednesday April 28, though her full opinion was filed under seal.
Amazon and Microsoft are both industry leaders in the cloud computing market, but Amazon was seen as having the edge over its rival in securing the JEDI contract. When Microsoft was announced as the winner in October 2019, Amazon quickly objected, accusing President Trump of putting pressure on the government to pick Microsoft.
President Trump shakes hands with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2017 as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos looks on. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesThere’s ample evidence of Trump’s dislike of both Amazon and Bezos, especially after Bezos’ purchase of The Washington Post, which Trump claimed pursued a political agenda against him in its reporting. Evidence of Trump’s influence includes reports that he directly told Mattis to “screw Amazon” out of the $10 billion contract. (Mattis reportedly responded: “We’re not going to do that. This will be done by the book, both legally and ethically.”)
Responding to the news, Microsoft said it would make no difference. “This procedural ruling changes little. Not once, but twice, professional procurement staff at the DoD chose Microsoft after a thorough review,” said Microsoft’s communications head Frank Shaw in a statement. “Many other large and sophisticated customers make the same choice every week.”
Amazon applauded the decision, with Drew Herdener, vice president of communications, noting that there was a “disturbing” record of Trump improperly wielding his influence. “We continue to look forward to the Court’s review of the many material flaws in the DoD’s evaluation, and we remain absolutely committed to ensuring that the Department has access to the best technology at the best price,” wrote Herdener.
Although the case is a long way from being settled, it’s possible that the mere threat of a drawn-out court battle will change the outcome. In a memo from January, the Defense Department hinted as much. “The prospect of such a lengthy litigation process might bring the future of the JEDI Cloud procurement into question,” said the department.
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