They lost their jobs because of the pandemic. Now they’re full-time video game coaches
Trevor Andrews is a concert violist and music teacher who found his symphony performances canceled in late March as Covid-19 decimated the US economy. The private lessons he gave dried up as his clients cut back on their spending.

CNN Business

Social distancing due to the coronavirus has caused many challenges for the workforce, so it only makes sense for contract and gig workers needing employment to rake in money however they can. Thankfully, with social distancing comes a surge in video game usage, so those skilled enough to be experts have been able to turn their expertise into a source of income.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

iPhone SE has the same processors as iPhone 11, but it’s smaller and cheaper
Commentary: Apple wisely designed the new SE to have the same appeal as the original from 2016.

CNET

While the article is mostly gushing praise for the new iPhone SE, it also does a good job of summarizing the features. Definitely worth a read if you are looking to pick up the budget smartphone, but not really news.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

The new Moto G Stylus and G Power are surprisingly adept cameraphones
Motorola’s latest budget phones, the Moto G Stylus and G Power, boast big improvements in the photography department. They look better than ever and also include all of the features that have come to define Moto’s G series.

The Verge

Motorola’s budget phones have decent cameras at a very low price point. Overall, they each received an 8/10 from CNET.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Minecraft ray tracing is now live on PC—and it’s a must-play, if you can
Tests, hardware comparisons, and lovely results—covered in asterisks.

Ars Technica

Leave it to Ars to do a full technical dive into Minecraft. That aside, though, the ray tracing seems to be very impressive. Newsworthy, though? Not quite.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Google And Apple Reveal Their Coronavirus Contact Tracing Plans: We Kick The Tires
Google and Apple have joined forces to issue a common API that will run on their mobile phone operating systems, enabling applications to track people who you come “into contact” with i…

Hackaday

A much welcome analysis of the Apple/Google system that is basically summed up with one of their own quotes: “If COVID-19 tests aren’t widely available, it’s all moot”. We’ll have to wait and see if the API works or not.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Riot Games acquires Hypixel Studios – Gematsu
League of Legends developer and publisher Riot Games has acquired Hytale developer Hypixel Studios, the company announced. “We’ve known the team behind Hypixel Studios for several years, and from the start they’ve been the kind of visionaries that we aspire to support; a passionate studio committed …

Gematsu

Riot recently acquired Hypixel Studios who is known for an upcoming game that looks like Minecraft mixed with adventure. The title basically says it all while the article is a bit fluffy.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY, FLUFF

Apple Developing High-End Headphones With Interchangeable Parts
Apple Inc. is developing over-ear wireless headphones with parts that can be swapped in and out, seeking to augment its AirPods business with a high-end audio product, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bloomberg

Who are the people familiar with the matter? Apple is choosing to not respond to this. Where is Bloomberg getting their information from? Whatever happened to fact-checking? We don’t doubt the veracity of the report, but we simply cannot endorse something that hasn’t been verified.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

TikTok now lets parents set restrictions on their kids’ accounts
TikTok announced Family Pairing, which lets parents set screen time limits, disable DMs, and restrict content on their teen’s account.

The Verge

It’s about time. The measures being implemented do still seem a bit too loose, though. This toes that line between newsworthy and not worthy, but for the sake of the kids, we’ll give it the win.

Verdict: NEWSWORTHY

Microsoft will keep supporting Windows 10 1809 through November 2020
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Microsoft is extending the amount of time it will provide security updates for older versions of Windows 10.

Engadget

This does give organizations and consumers some additional time to get their systems updated, which should bring about a collective sigh of relief from IT departments everywhere. Does it qualify as news, though? Not quite.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

12.9-Inch iPad Pro With Mini-LED Display Possibly ‘Delayed’ Until Early 2021
The launch of a new high-end 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a Mini-LED display may be

MacRumors

What would MacRumors be if they didn’t spread rumors? Also worth considering is that almost everything is being delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak. We wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s next iPad Pro was pushed back.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Google Does the Bare Minimum to Keep Industry It Destroyed on Life Support
Despite surging traffic and readership as coronavirus keeps people in their homes and on the internet, the media layoffs and pay cuts just keep coming. Now, here to save journalism in its hour of need, Google has launched the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to “deliver urgent aid to thousands of sm…

Gizmodo

We’re going to keep our opinion out of this, so we’ll give you just the facts: Writer for Gizmodo is angry at Google (and Facebook) for taking a cut of the ad profits that they provide by allowing media sites to use their code and take advantage of their SEO. They also proceed to blame Google (and Facebook) for the excessive number of ads on their site.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Sony Plans Limited PlayStation 5 Output in First Year
Sony Corp. plans to produce far fewer units of its upcoming Playstation 5 in

Bloomberg

If you want to be among the first to own a PlayStation 5, make sure you act fast! Sony is following in Nintendo’s shoes and keeping available stock low for the first year. Though if previous iterations are any indication, we can also hope to expect a PlayStation 5 Pro, PlayStation 5 Lite, and possibly even a second model of PlayStation 5.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Random: Reggie Says Animal Crossing: New Horizons Should Give Out More Star Fragments – Do You Agree?
Nintendo’s ex-president weighs in

Nintendo Life

Look, we aren’t going to deny that forcer Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aime is wrong. We actually agree. However, this doesn’t count as news!

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Samsung’s Galaxy S10 Lite will launch in the US on April 17th for $650
Samsung’s Galaxy S10 Lite will be available in the US starting on April 17th, and it will cost $650. Samsung also announced the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, which will release in Q2 and will cost $349.99.

The Verge

Samsung’s budget Galaxy phones and tablets will be launching tomorrow. This follows the trend of pretty much everybody and their mother putting out a budget smart device, and is much welcomed in this world of devices costing over $1,000 USD.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Google Play adds a Kids tab full of teacher-approved apps
Google wants to help parents find kid-friendly content. Today, it’s rolling out a new Kids tab on Google Play filled with “teacher approved” apps. Each app is rated on factors like age-appropriateness, quality of experience and enrichment, and parents can quickly review those ratings before they dow…

Engadget

A step in the right direction, but does “teacher-approved” necessarily mean that the content will actually enrich learning? I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all suffered classes where the curriculum fails to teach and we’re forced to look to other means to educate ourselves.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Google’s fast-growing Meet video tool getting Zoom-like layout, Gmail link
Google will allow business and education users on Gmail.com to directly take calls on its video conferencing tool Meet starting Thursday, a new feature being offered as the Alphabet Inc unit seeks to capitalize on security and other concerns with rival services.

Reuters

Google is now stepping foot into the video conferencing tool category, which is currently dominated by Zoom, Microsoft, and Cisco. Touting higher levels of security and integration with with their Google apps, Google Meet is has been growing exponentially.

Verdict: NEWSWORTHY

My favorite hidden Amazon Echo trick and where to find it
Alexa has so many talents, but this is by far the best.

CNET

Custom Q&A can be found at blueprints.amazon.com. You can program Alexa to say whatever you want in response to whatever you say.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY, CLICKBAIT

New MIT machine learning model shows relaxing quarantine rules will spike COVID-19 cases – TechCrunch
MIT has developed a new model of the spread of COVID-19 infection, based on publicly available data, combined with established epidemiological equations about outbreaks, and neural network-based inference. The model, described in a new report, proves accurate when trained on data spanning late Janua…

TechCrunch

Yes, thank you for stating the obvious. Unfortunately, this study with a very obvious result is needed, as many oblivious people out there fail to understand how effective social distancing is at flattening the curve. Seriously. Stay the hell at home, people. It’s not that hard.

Verdict: NEWSWORTHY

Instagram is helping restaurants by making food pics shoppable
Independent restaurants can make their Instagram posts shoppable with interactive stickers.

Engadget

Instagram is teaming up with ChowNow to help restaurants make money during the pandemic. ChowNow doesn’t take a commission on food or gift card orders and works with restaurants based on essentially a subscription fee. Since food pics on Instagram are huge, this can hopefully inject some money into ailing local businesses.

Verdict: NEWSWORTHY

Microsoft hopes its ‘Planetary Computer’ will preserve biodiversity
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it plans to be carbon negative by 2030. The company hopes to help other organizations, researchers and governments improve the environment as well, with its “Planetary Computer” project. The initiative is more nebulous than a single computer, though. The s…

Engadget

Microsoft wants to reduce their carbon footprint while also helping other organizations to improve the environment, as well. Their Planetary Computer will provide information so that organizations in both the public and private sectors can make informed decisions around environmental issues. It’s all very vague, but Engadget believes that Microsoft’s intent is clear.

Verdict: NEWSWORTHY

Crysis Remastered Coming To PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch
A remaster of the 2007 shooter was mistakingly revealed on Crytek’s official website.

GameSpot

Remember when we reported that the Crysis Twitter account was alive again? Well, it looks like they are re-releasing Crysis Remastered on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. We don’t know much else, but could this lead to all of the Crysis games being remastered? Unfortunately, this isn’t very newsworthy yet. We’ll see what happens as we learn more.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Houseparty reports 50M sign-ups in past month amid COVID-19 lockdowns – TechCrunch
Houseparty, the popular video chat application acquired by Fortnite maker Epic Games in 2019, has seen massive growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With government lockdowns keeping people from being able to visit friends and other loved ones in person, consumer demand for video chat apps has skyroc…

Tech Crunch

During this quarantine, Houseparty has also seen a record number of downloads as an app used mainly for group video calls. Think Zoom but for buddies. The app appeals to younger users and is designed for “social hangouts”.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Pokémon Go is having an incense event, which you can play from home
Niantic announces Incense Day for Pokémon Go, letting players catch ’em all from home with cheap Incense and guaranteed spawns during the coronavirus lockdown.

Polygon

If you’re still playing Pokémon Go, Niantic will be holding their Incense Day on Sunday, April 19th. Polygon is here with all of the information that you need to maximize your Pokémon catching while in lockdown.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Users Claim the Exynos Version of the Galaxy S20 Ultra Is Suffering From a Boatload of Issues
While the Galaxy S20 Ultra that’s on sale in the U.S. uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chip, overseas in regions where the Galaxy S20 Ultra features an Exynos chip, users are complaining that they’ve encountered a number of big problems with Samsung’s $1,400 super-premium flagship phone.

Gizmodo

Adding to what we reported yesterday, it looks like certain Samsung phones are having more problems than just a green tint. Phones running the Exynos processor are having serious issues with physical performance and are also seeing compatibility issues with some apps such as the Pokémon Go.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

CoD: Modern Warfare And Warzone Patch Notes: Trios Isn’t Gone For Long
You’re going to have to learn to love shotguns and snipers in the latest playlist update for Warzone.

GameSpot

In an article that is even shorter than the patch notes, GameSpot tries to summarize the patch notes.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY

Planet Entertainment Says It’s
“Office Create has our total respect”

Nintendo Life

Who’s ready for the next installment of the Cooking Mama saga? From cryptocurrency mining to lawsuits, this story has it all. Planet Entertainment, the publisher for the hit cooking game, has fired back at Office Create, the rights holder, and stated that they were fully within their rights to publish the game when they did. You can read more about it here if you really want to.

Verdict: NOT WORTHY