Why it matters: Government directives in response to Covid-19 have forced many theaters to close. Disney has chosen to simply release Onward for digital download and streaming on Disney+. While this may just be a temporary thing, one has to wonder if this will mean a radical shift in how movies are released in the future.

In an unprecedented move, Disney is releasing Onward for digital download tonight in the United States and will make it available for streaming on Disney+ on April 3rd. For perspective,

In context: In an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), San Francisco's Alameda County ordered all nonessential businesses in the area to halt operations earlier this week. Tesla, which has a car manufacturing plant in Fremont, was categorized as an "essential business" by the local authorities initially, but the decision was soon reversed with the county sheriff requiring that the company stick to minimum basic operations. Although the carmaker classifies "production, service, deliveries, testing, and support groups

What just happened? More free ways of passing the time is something we all could appreciate right now. Thankfully, the Epic Games Store is here to help. As it does every seven days, the platform is giving away two games. This week, it’s Watch Dogs and The Stanley Parable.

Watch Dogs got a lot of attention when it released on the PC back in 2014, but most of this was for the game-breaking bugs and how different it looked from its E3 demo

The big picture: Microsoft unifying its Windows Experience and Surface hardware teams under product chief Panos Panay was a strong indication that the company was taking the Windows 10 redesign seriously in order to evolve it with emerging dual-screen devices and to bring it on par with existing high-end Surface hardware. In celebration of a major user milestone achieved by the OS earlier this week, the company's product chief teased a new UI showcasing several new features and changes that users can expect in the future.

Windows 10

In a nutshell: With so many countries and locations in lockdown due to the coronavirus, one would expect to see a rise in music streaming. But it appears that the opposite is happening. Data shows that countries hit hardest by the virus are streaming fewer of Spotify’s most popular songs than usual.

Quartz reports that Italy, which has the second-highest number of infections (41,000+) behind China, has seen its 200 most-streamed Spotify songs fall from 18

What just happened? Facebook is officially rolling out the redesign of its desktop version that was first announced at last year’s F8 conference. The update will make the social network look like its mobile incarnation while being faster and offering a dark mode.

Most users can try out the new-look Facebook.com themselves by going to the Settings Menu and selecting “See New Facebook.” You might also see a banner at the top of the page asking if you want to try the new look. If you

Something to look forward to: Now that the hardware specifications of both major next-gen consoles have been revealed, Microsoft is taking the next step forward by announcing DirectX 12 Ultimate. In addition to adding a few improvements of its own, DirectX 12 Ultimate will attempt to bridge the gap between the Xbox Series X and PC gaming experiences when it launches later this year.

According to Microsoft, DirectX 12 Ultimate hardware, whether it comes in the form of a standalone PC video card or an onboard Xbox Series

The right move: GDC 2020 was originally scheduled to run from March 16 through March 20. In hindsight, the advisory board made the right decision as there’s no way they could have hosted GDC in this current climate, and especially in San Francisco.

Game Developers Conference organizers made the difficult decision in late February to postpone the annual conference due to fears over the coronavirus.

Organizers said they were intent on hosting a GDC event over the summer and on Thursday, we got new details about