The new in the world of technology

Microsoft had a dream with Windows 8 that involved universal Windows apps that would span across phones, tablets, PCs, and even Xbox consoles. The plan was that app developers could write a single app for all of these devices, and it would magically span across them all. This dream really started to fall apart after Windows Phone failed, but it’s well and truly over now. Microsoft has spent years pushing developers to create special apps for the company’s Universal Windows Platform (UWP), and today, it’s putting the final nail in the UWP coffin. Microsoft is finally allowing game developers to  bring full native Win32 games to the Microsoft Store , meaning the many games that developers publish on popular stores like Steam don’t have to be rebuilt for UWP. “We recognize that Win32 is the app format that game developers love to use and gamers love to play, so we are excited to share that we will be enabling full support for native Win32 games to the Microsoft Store on Windows...

Various Catholic Church-associated groups and individuals funded a fertility app, Femm, which claims to help women track their menstrual cycles while also encouraging them to avoid hormonal birth control. These organizations,  The Guardian   reports  today, oppose abortion rights as well as contraception, and they have previously aligned themselves with US Vice President Mike Pence who is also a vocal anti-abortion proponent. The Chiaroscuro Foundation, a Catholic charity, provided $1.79 million to the Femm app developers and is run by Sean Fieler, a Catholic hedge funder. Additionally, the news outlet reports that two of the app’s medical advisers are not licensed to practice in the US. The Femm app works similarly to other fertility apps by allowing women to input their menstrual cycle data, including when they have their period, their reproductive goals, when they’ve had sex, and other observational data. While users can input their birth control method, the app...

Microsoft is creating a special pride Surface Type Cover and skin for gay pride this year. The  Surface Pro Pride Type Cover  is available for preorder on Friday, priced at $159.99 and it includes a rainbow logo set to the usual gray Surface Type Cover. This Type Cover will go on sale on June 27th in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. Microsoft is also creating a skin that you can stick to the back of a Surface Pro that includes strips of color to really change the appearance of the device. These strips represent the 16 flags of all the different identities within the pride community. This  Pride Skin  will go on sale on Friday for $14.99 in the US, Canada, and Australia, but not the UK. These new accessories are part of a broader effort by the company to push for inclusion for the LGBTQ community, and that effort also includes a pride theme for Windows 10 and Office, stickers for Mixer, and even an Xbox pride pin. Microsoft chose this year to push these e...

Meizu today announced the 16Xs, an oddly-named smartphone that might make you question why people spend almost $1,000 on  smartphones . Starting on the front, the 16Xs features a 6.2-inch  Samsung -produced Super AMOLED display with Full HD+ (2,232 x 1,080) resolution and an  in-display fingerprint scanner . Even with the 16MP selfie camera taking up some bezel space, the 16Xs features a 90.29 percent screen-to-body ratio. Around back is a triple camera system comprised of a 48MP Samsung S5KGM1 sensor, 8MP ultra wide-angle sensor, and a 5MP depth sensor. The ultra wide-angle sensor features a 118.8-degree field of view and 13mm focal length. Under the hood, the 16Xs features the same  Qualcomm Snapdragon 675  that’s also found in the  Moto Z4 , 6GB of RAM, either 64GB or 128GB  of storage, and a 4,000mAh battery that supports Meizu’s mCharge 18W  fast charging  standard. Lastly, the 16Xs runs Flyme OS 7 on top of  Android 9 Pie . ...

Oppo unveiled the Reno Z, the cheapest member of the company’s series of Reno phones. Oppo also unveiled two new colors for the normal Reno: Coral and Inspiration Edition. The Reno Z and two new Reno colors will be available in China starting June 6. Earlier today, Oppo announced the Reno Z. The third member of the Reno series, the Reno Z is a lower-end variant of the  Reno  and  Reno 10x Zoom Edition Starting on the front, the Reno Z features a 6.4-inch  OLED  display with Full HD+ resolution, support for HDR10, and an  in-display fingerprint sensor . Above the display is a teardrop-style notch that surrounds the 32MP selfie camera. Around back is a dual-camera setup comprised of a 48MP  Sony IMX586  sensor and 5MP depth sensor. As with other phones, the Reno Z’s 48MP camera likely uses  pixel binning  to combine four pixels into one. The result is a 12MP image that theoretically contains more data than a typical 12MP i...

The $399 Razer Core X Chroma is the ultimate laptop accessory: it’s an external graphics card (eGPU) enclosure that, with a single Thunderbolt 3 cable, can significantly boost graphical performance of a slim laptop and provide an assortment of extra USB ports and connections. Like other eGPU enclosures, the Core X Chroma arrives empty yet full of promise. In addition to the enclosure, you’ll need a computer with a Thunderbolt 3 port and an AMD (the only option for macOS users) or Nvidia desktop graphics card. These range in price from around $200 to $1,200, depending on how much power you’re looking for. This isn’t Razer’s cheapest or most expensive eGPU. The Core X Chroma splits the price difference between the $299 Core X and the $449 Core V2, and its feature set borrows their best features, then slightly refines them. The Core X Chroma comes with a 700W power supply, which makes it 50W more powerful than what was included with older Razer Core enclosures. It caps the power ...

According to a new report from  The Information , the progress surrounding Apple’s own  in-house 5G modem  for upcoming iPhones is further behind than originally anticipated. In the new report,  The Information’s  sources suggest that the iPhone 5G modem made by Apple might not be done before 2025 — a far cry from the  original rumor of 2021 . This slow progress was likely a major factor in Apple’s recent decision to  cease all litigation against Qualcomm  and sign a six-years-long deal with the company to use its modems in future iPhones. Granted, it is possible Apple slowed down progress on its own 5G modem design once it knew it was going to sign the deal with Qualcomm. Obviously, there’s no point continuing to rush out a new product if Qualcomm’s modems will fill the gap for the time being. The report seems to back up the theory that Apple was trapped between a rock and a hard place and had little choice but to cut its losses and se...

Update: May 16, 2019 at 10:52 a.m. ET:  Google has now  issued a new blog post that offers more clarification on its plans to shut down the Works With Nest program. If you have third-party devices that connect to Nest products via Works With Nest, fear not: Google says those connections will continue to work after August 31. However, it will not accept new Works with Nest connections after that date. Users with current Nest accounts will be informed if there will be any changes to their Works with Nest connections. At some point, Nest accounts will be asked to migrate to Google accounts once the new Works with Google Assistant platform is up and running. There’s no word yet on when that might happen. Google says that the Assistant program will be able to support the Works with Nest Home/Away features later in 2019. That means your smart bulb will still automatically turn itself off when you leave your house. Google also says it is working with Amazon to add the Alexa sk...

Google introduced the Live Transcribe app  earlier this year . The app helps the deaf and hard-of-hearing by transcribing speech in real time, allowing them to visualize the conversation without needing to read lips or communicate through a translator. Today,  Google announced  a few new features coming to  Live Transcribe  in the near future. The biggest and most exciting of these new features is the ability for Live Transcribe to understand and interpret non-speech sounds, such as laughter, clapping, or even a knock at the door. If you think about it, a conversation isn’t just about words spoken. If during a conversation there’s a knock at the door, a deaf person who is reading the transcription on a phone might be jolted by the conversation suddenly stopping. Additionally, if someone is reading the transcription after the fact, they might similarly be confused about why the conversation stopped. Live Transcribe will solve this problem by transcri...

UPDATE: 2019/05/14 4:00AM PDT WABetaInfo is back with a few more screenshots depicting a behind-the-scenes Night Mode in WhatsApp. It's not clear from their findings if this is Night Mode is the evolution There are few things in life more certain than Android users getting excited about an app adding a dark mode. Personally, white text on black/dark backgrounds tires my eyes, especially during daytime, but I'm not here to argue with you about personal preferences. If you like dark modes in apps, you'll be happy to know that WhatsApp is working on its own. We  already knew this was a possibility , but  WAbetainfo  just did its magic with WhatsApp's latest beta APK and triggered the new dark mode. By "magic," we mean this isn't available in the app, it's not a setting you or I can toggle. It's probably a flag or preference that needs to be tweaked in the APK and you will have to be patient and wait until it's properly implemented fo...

Have you ever played a game and thought to yourself, “ I could make this better “? If so, why not harness those creative juices and build your own? Traditionally, you would need to  spend thousands of dollars  on a formal education before your first line of code. But, for the next few days only, today’s deal can be your shortcut for  only $39  — a massive 98 percent savings on the retail price. The  2019 Game Dev and Design Mega Mastery Bundle  is a hub of knowledge for game development. Even if you’re a complete novice, the bundle trains you by distilling over  160 hours  of content into easy and digestible steps. You'll be armed with the technical skill to code, animate, model, and more. 160 hours may sound tiresome, but it’s not like you’ll be sitting there listening to an  audiobook  the entire time. This kit gets your hands dirty quick — you’ll be  crafting your very own Flappy Bird clone  from t...