Your Google Fit stats are now just a swipe away

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Spark reports rosy first half on back of mobile, cloud, and cybers

Telco crows about its highest market share since 2012.

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Chinese hackers have breached online betting and gambling sites

Hacks confirmed at gambling and betting websites in Southeast Asia, rumors of other hacks in Europe and the Middle East.

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Aussie startups still being held back by local oligopolies: Stone and Chalk

Five years later, Stone and Chalk has again highlighted the need for bureaucracy to take a backseat.

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US District Court dismisses Huawei lawsuit that federal ban is unconstitutional

'Contracting with the federal government is a privilege, not a constitutionally guaranteed right,' according to a US District Court judge.

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Alphabet quits work on its energy-generating kites

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These Devices Can Prevent Major Home Damage and Save You Money

Smart-home sensors can detect leaks, frozen pipes, and open doors so that small problems don’t turn into big expenses.

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Galaxy Z Flip teardown reveals that its hinge brushes may not block much dust

iFixit has posted a video teardown of Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip, giving us good look at the phone’s internals and revealing that the brushes on its hinge might not stop much dust from getting inside your phone.

When Samsung announced the Z Flip last week, it highlighted how the phone’s hinge has a “fiber shield” intended to trap stray dust and keep it from getting inside the phone. You can see Samsung’s zoomed-in marketing photo of it below. It looks impressive in the marketing photo, but iFixit put that fiber shield to the test — and the results weren’t great.

Samsung’s marketing image of the fiber shield.

For the test, iFixit folded up the Z Flip and dropped it into a bag of purple dust. After taking the phone...

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Spotify updates Podcasts show pages to further compete with Apple Podcasts

Spotify continues its podcast play with new features for its show pages.

What you need to know

• Spotify has updated the podcast section of its app.
• Show pages now have the description, category, and trailer more prominently featured.
• The company hopes these well help users uncover new shows faster.

Spotify has just launched a few updates to the Podcast section of its app that with a show page design rehaul that looks eerily like the Apple Podcasts app. Spotify announced the updates in a blog post and says that the new design and features are there to "help you find your next favorite podcast, faster".

The first change is a new design to the show page that looks very much like how Apple Podcasts' show pages look like. The description has been moved to the top of the page so you can get a general idea of what the Podcast is about. You'll also now see a category label on the show page and, if you'd like to see more podcasts in that category, you can tap on it. If a show has a short introductory episode, it will also be at the top of the episode list.

Spotify is hoping that these three features will allow users to taste test new podcasts quickly and find additional shows they would be interested in subscribing too. Below is a list of all three features in detail.

A refreshed Podcast Show page design

Our Podcast Show page may look a little different, but it's still got all the features you know and love. The new look moves the descriptions up, so you no longer have to swipe on a show to read about it. This allows for more information about each podcast—and episode—at a single glance.

All new show categories

Looking for a specific genre or type of show? Now, descriptive show categories will be displayed underneath the show description—everything from "personal stories" to "true crime," "travel," "relationships," and more. Simply tap the one you're most interested in to see more shows in this category.

Featured show trailers

If you're not one to commit too easily, this next feature is perfect for you. Now, if a show has a trailer "episode" to stream, it will be prominently highlighted at the top of the episode list, giving you a chance to listen to a snippet of the show before diving in headfirst. Get to know the podcast before fully committing—and maybe even fall in love with one you weren't expecting.

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Nintendo needs to do something about the racism in Pokémon HOME

This is the last thing anyone needs to see but we live in the bad place so of course it's happening.

Pokémon HOME has been out for less than a week and it's already turned into a garbage fire. No, not because people were asking for mythical Pokémon that couldn't be traded (and has since been patched) — it's because people are now naming their Pokémon after racial slurs. Because the world is awful.

One quick look on the global trading system (GTS) after searching for "Greninja" shows us three named after the n-word, presumably because it's shiny form is black instead of blue. I've also seen what I presume is the same person trying to trade similarly-named Greninja yesterday. I've attached an image of the aforementioned Pokémon, but censored the names.

It's difficult to tell how prevalent this issue is when millions of trades have taken place. Pokémon are listed on GTS practically every second, and it's impossible for a single person to catalogue them all. I haven't seen any widespread reports of others noticing this trend, but I can't be alone. I'd imagine there are a lot more, but no one else is saying anything. Let's not pretend like this may have just been one isolated incident when we all know how awful some people can be. People have already been trading hacked Pokémon with the sole purpose of crashing another person's Pokémon Sword and Shield game.

Pokémon has had its fair share of controversies in the past. Jynx's original design drew many comparisons to blackface, and that's only one of the most notable cases. The series is no stranger to racism.

I'm white, so I could never speak to the lived experience of having to deal with this personally. I'm just not targeted. But it needs to be called out regardless. There's no room to be neutral.

I doubt this is the first (and it certainly won't be the last) time people do this unless Pokémon employs some better filters and censors. It's absurd that companies like Pokémon and Nintendo, so obsessed with their family-friendly image, would let this slip through, especially given the history of both. We should at least be able to report players for ourselves, but there's no way to do that right now, unfortunately. If you happen to come across one of these Pokémon, your best option is to unfortunately ignore it until Nintendo gets involved.

Nintendo needs to fix this right away, because I can't deal with any more H.P. Lovecraft wannabes. This is disgusting. The world already has to deal with racist idiots in the real world and online, Pokémon doesn't need any of that.

Do better, Nintendo.

Begin transferring

Pokémon HOME

Free at App Store

Upgrade your membership today

Pokémon HOME allows players to manage their Pokémon collection with free and premium memberships easily, but the free option is woefully inadequate for most people. Store up to 6000 Pokémon and trade from the Pokémon Bank on 3DS by upgrading to a premium membership plan.

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Coronavirus explained: Deaths climb over 2,000, cruise ship cases rise - CNET

The number of COVID-19 cases aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship top 540 as Britain announces steps to evacuate citizens.

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The best laptops: Premium laptops, budget laptops, 2-in-1s, and more

2020 looks like it’s going to be a great year for laptops. We have AMD and Intel battling it out on the CPU front, new mobile discrete GPUs enabling thinner, lighter, and faster gaming laptops, and battery life that won’t quit. Check out the latest reviews below. 

Latest laptop news and reviews

Our latest reviews show a mix of gaming and consumer machines from Acer, HP and..Motile?! Keep reading: 

• The Motile M142 14-inch notebook PC may be the best budget laptop you’ve never heard of, because it’s Walmart’s house brand. It cuts some corners—battery life is mediocre, and the screen is somewhat dim. Given the price ($399 at Walmart.com), however, it’s a laptop we wouldn’t mind recommending to friends and family with tight budgets. Read our full review.
• The HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop is an affordable gaming laptop ($1,250 at Costco.com) that’s nearly as sturdy and refined as its higher-end Omen cousins with a couple of exceptions, most notably the dim display. Read our full review.

Jared Newman / IDG

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 has GTX 1650 graphics and a 4K screen, a lot of power packed into a business suit.  

To read this article in full, please click here

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YouTube Gaming's Most-Watched Videos Are Dominated by Scams and Cheats

YouTube is littered with bot-driven videos promising big in-game riches—that also try to steal your personal information.

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Ring belatedly makes 2FA mandatory

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Blue Apron considers selling itself as it bleeds customers

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Market shift to public cloud drives Data#3 profits up nearly 42%

It comes as public cloud revenues skyrocketed by 77% for the half year to 31 December.

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Vocus singing different tune on NBN

The telco that previously got out of a land grab now sees growth opportunities with NBN.

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Microsoft has a subdomain hijacking problem

Spammers hijack Microsoft subdomains to advertise poker casinos. Many other subdomains have been vulnerable for years.

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Pokémon Go sneaks a prehistoric surprise into eggs!

Fossil Pokémon have taken over 7 KM Eggs for a limited time only!

What you need to know

• A Pokémon Go Egg shift occurred on February 18, 2020.
• Seven KM Eggs gained from Friend Gifts will now only contain Fossil Pokémon.
• Fossil Pokémon will no longer hatch from Two, Five, or Ten KM Eggs and Riolu will now hatch from Ten KM Eggs.

While the contents of Pokémon Go Eggs are always changing, today Niantic announced one of the biggest non-event Egg shifts since the introduction of Alolan Variant Pokémon. As of February 18, 2020, all Fossil Pokémon will be hatching strictly from Seven KM Eggs. As a reminder, Seven KM Eggs are the Eggs randomly dropped from Gifts exchanged with friends. You can stock up on gifts just by spinning PokéStops but you can only hold ten at a time and you can only open 20 Gifts per day. Up until today, these Eggs were the only way to get most of the Alolan Variant Pokémon, but these Eggs also included most of the Baby Pokémon as well.

The announcement did not specify where the Alolan Variants would be moving to or if they will be unavailable for the time being, nor did it specify where most of the Baby Pokémon would be hatching. It did specify that, perhaps the most sought after Baby Pokémon, Riolu would now be hatching from Ten KM Eggs.

For now, you can be hatching the following Pokémon exclusively from your Seven KM Eggs:

• Omanyte
• Kabuto
• Aerodactyl
• Lileep
• Anorith
• Cranidos
• Shieldon
• Tirtouga
• Archen

So make sure to exchange lots of gifts and do lots of walking to hatch these Prehistoric Pokémon! Are you excited for this chance at more Fossil Pokémon? What would you like to see in the next swap? Drop us a comment below and be sure to check out our Complete Pokédex, as well as out many Pokémon Go Guides, so you too can become a Pokémon Master!

Pokemon Go

• Pokémon Pokédex
• Pokémon Go Events
• Pokémon Go Alolan Forms
• Pokémon Go Shiny Forms
• Pokémon Go Legendaries
• Pokémon Go Best Cheats
• Pokémon Go Tips and Tricks
• Pokémon Go Best Movesets
• How to find and catch Ditto
• How to find and catch Unown

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Blizzard's Diablo and Overwatch are getting animated series - CNET

A Diablo anime is coming to Netflix, according to a LinkedIn post.

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Climate change, harmful marketing pose huge threats to children's future - CNET

A landmark report evaluates 180 countries and finds glaring deficiencies threaten children and the environment now and in the immediate future.

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Free airport parking hack: Just ride your motorcycle - Roadshow

How I learned to skip traffic, skip paying for parking, ignore the cost of Uber or Lyft, and bypass the stress of LAX by going on two wheels.

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Activision Blizzard exec leaks that Overwatch might become a TV series

Since 2014, Blizzard has released so many breathtaking cinematic videos for Overwatch that most of us have wondered when Blizzard would finally look into adapting the game to the big screen or as a TV show. (The comparisons to Pixar have been around since the very beginning.) Well, an Activision Blizzard executive’s resume now hints that Blizzard did explore the possibility of an actual Overwatch TV show, one that might even still be on the way — and there may be a Diablo one, too.

According to the LinkedIn profile of Nick van Dyk, who just so happens to be in charge of the part of Activision Blizzard responsible for building TV shows and movies, he was personally involved in developing and selling an animated Overwatch TV show. The...

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