Report claims Nintendo Switch will get a smaller version

Earlier this week, Nintendo’s president said there weren’t any immediate plans to release a new version of the Nintendo Switch console. But that isn’t stopping the rumour mill from going on. A report from Japanese publication Nikkei claims there is a more compact version of the Switch in the works and that it might come out early this year. A translation of the story says, “They’re taking measures as for what is to come—one of those being a smaller version of the Switch. The company said that ‘couldn’t comment’ on their plans for the product, but has informed multiple suppliers and game development companies that they intend to release them as early as 2019. According to their affiliates, they are ‘miniaturizing the console with portability and playing outdoors in mind, as well as cutting features to reduce the price and expand the userbase.'”

Aside from that, there are rumours that Nintendo Switch Online is getting an update, too. But there weren’t any specifics on what that update is going to be. But it should be expected to come this year as well. At this point, this report still has to be taken with a grain of salt. But we will keep you posted for any updates.

Source: Nintendo Everything

Domestic American Airlines flights can stream Apple Music over in-flight Wi-Fi for free

A new partnership between Apple and American Airlines will take Apple’s music streaming service to the skies. Starting Friday, domestic American Airlines flights will let Apple Music subscribers stream songs, playlists, and music videos for free using the ViaSat satellite Wi-Fi available in flights. Those who are subscribed to Apple Music can access the service on their device of choice, while non-subscribers can sign up for a free three-month trial will onboard.

"For most travelers, having music to listen to on the plane is just as important as anything they pack in their suitcases," said Oliver Schusser, vice president of Apple Music in a press release. "With the addition of Apple Music on American flights, we are excited that customers can now enjoy their music in even more places."

Source: CNBC

Samsung is developing 1TB storage chips for smartphones

Looks like we’re one step closer to getting phones with 1TB storage capacities. Samsung has just announced it’s going to begin offering the first 1TB embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) solution for smartphones, allowing 1TB of storage in a single flash memory chip. Mass production of the new storage chips are already on its way. It has the same package size as Samsung’s 512GB unit but has read speeds of up to 1,000 megabytes a second, which Samsung says is 10 times the speed of a typical microSD card. Right now, Samsung’s option of bringing 1TB storage into a phone was with the Galaxy Note9 support a 512GB microSD card, which can be used alongside the 512GB model. With this new chip though, users will have 1TB onboard already. Some are speculating this could make its way into the rumoured high-end model of the S10, which is said to also have 12GB of RAM.

Source: The Verge

Facebook to shut down its controversial market research app on iOS

TechCrunch

It’s been evident in the past few months that Facebook isn’t the champion for its users’ privacy and data. And it seems the company has reached a new kind of low in the name of market research purposes.

TechCrunch reported on Tuesday that Facebook has been paying volunteers aged 13 to 35 monthly US$20 gift cards for near-total access to data from their phones. They needed to install an app called Facebook Research on iOS and Android, which monitors phone and web activity and sends this back to Facebook. The app needs users to install custom root certificate, which gives Facebook access to the volunteers’ information. Apple has called foul and says Facebook is violating Apple’s policy. The social network responds by taking it out of iOS—but it’ll remain available for Android users.

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