Sega hints at a Dreamcast Mini console
Something to look forward to: It might not have sold over 155 million units like the PlayStation 2, or be as famous as the Nintendo Entertainment System, but former owners will tell you that Sega's Dreamcast was one of the greatest consoles ever made. If you fondly remember the machine, which launched at the end of 1999, here's some exciting news: Sega is considering a Dreamcast Mini device.
Since the NES Classic's original launch back in 2016,
AMD reportedly in talks to acquire Xilinx for $30 billion
Rumor mill: AMD is reportedly in the advanced stages of buying field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-maker Xilinx for more than $30 billion. Should the talks be successful, a deal could be reached as early as next week.
The Wall Street Journal notes in its report that discussions between the two companies regarding a takeover have stalled in the past, so there’s no guarantee we’ll see AMD acquiring Xilinx. If it does happen, though, it would be another massive deal in the
ProtonMail CEO calls Apple's forced in-app purchases 'Mafia extortion'
Why it matters: Encrypted email provider ProtonMail says that Apple forced it to monetize its app, which was on the App Store for more than two years without in-app purchases. It also claims that when it tried to inform its customers of the sudden change, Apple blocked it from posting app updates and threatened to remove it from the store.
Apple has been facing a lot of heat lately regarding its walled garden policies. This week the stove got turned up another notch. Not only did a former App Store exec
Microsoft takes a not-so-subtle dig at Apple and Google, lays out new Windows Store principles
Why it matters: The Redmond giant has seen very little antitrust scrutiny as of late when compared to Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook -- and intends to keep it that way. To that end, the company has committed to a series of app store principles that promote "choice, fairness, and innovation."
Microsoft announced today its commitment to ten principles on how it will treat third party app stores moving forward, as well as how it will treat third-party developers in the Windows Store. The
GameStop and Microsoft announce 'strategic partnership'
What just happened? While this doesn't necessarily have a huge impact on customers, this may be more of a win for Microsoft to get more businesses to use its enterprise business tools. GameStop will get the benefit of streamlined business processes and tools but it probably won't help with getting more customers in the door.
Struggling gaming retail outlet GameStop announced a "multi-year strategic partnership" with Microsoft. The deal largely centers around GameStop's back-end systems and doesn't have much customer impact
Arm announces a new generation of 64-bit enhanced performance CPUs
Why it matters: Arm has announced that it is working on a new generation of 64 bit CPUs that will recast the market dynamics in terms of security and performance, offering a 30 percent performance boost over current chips. According to the company, the new processors are designed to amp up raw computing power and overall performance, achieved through a transformative system-on-chip (SoC) design approach.
Paul Williamson, vice president and head of Client Line of Business at Arm, has revealed that the new CPUs
Waymo opens up its driverless taxi service to the general public in Phoenix
Why it matters: Waymo has been testing out its driverless taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona, for months now. Today, however, the Google subsidiary hit a significant milestone. Moving forward, Waymo will offer driverless rides to the general public in Phoenix -- not just early beta testers.
If you're a Phoenix resident who would like to take one of Waymo's self-driving taxis out for a spin, you might have to wait a couple weeks. The company is taking
Square invests $50 million in Bitcoin
In brief: American financial services company Square on Thursday announced it has spent roughly $50 million, or approximately one percent of its total assets, to purchase 4,709 Bitcoins. The company said it believes the cryptocurrency is an “instrument of economic empowerment” that can help the world participate in finance on a global scale, aligning with its own mission.
Square has a bit of history with the popular cryptocurrency. In January 2018, the company added Bitcoin trading to its mobile payment service
Former App Store exec testifies Apple's rules are "a weapon against competitors"
A hot potato: A former Apple executive says the Cupertino tech giant uses its "arbitrary" App Store policies "as a weapon" to restrict competition. He points to Apple Arcade as just one example of how the company allows its own subscription services while denying similar models like Xbox Game Pass.
Apple has maintained that its restrictive rules denying Xbox Game Pass and Google Stadia entry to the App Store are meant to protect its users. However, testimony from former App Store director Phil Shoemaker begs to differ.
According to a
Western Digital's first PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid-state drive starts under $150
Editor's take: Western Digital on Thursday added a trio of new devices to its WD_Black portfolio of storage solutions for gamers including its first PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid-state drive. The SN850, which will be sold bare or with a passive cooling solution (your choice), looks fast enough on paper to meet the needs of most speed freaks.
The WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD is an M.2 2280 storage device that delivers sequential read