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App Store spending hit record levels during the 2019 holidays

TechSpot News | Jan. 8, 2020, 3:14 a.m. | Original

In a nutshell: Apple on Wednesday revealed that customers spent a record $1.42 billion in the App Store between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve 2019, an increase of 16 percent year over year. On New Year’s Day alone, sales shot up 20 percent to $386 million, good for a new single-day record.

To date, the App Store has helped developers earn over $155 billion . That’s pretty incredible,

Windows 10's next major update could improve system performance with tweaked search indexer

TechSpot News | Jan. 8, 2020, 2:42 a.m. | Original

Why it matters: Indexing content on a PC enables Windows Search to instantly show related items when prompted. Maintaining the index, however, comes at a performance cost, which is why the related service is designed to kick in when the PC is receiving little to no usage. Despite these measures, Microsoft's research has shown users frustrated with system slowdowns due to excessive CPU and disk usage caused by the Windows Indexer, an issue which the company will be addressing in its next major update to the OS.

Microsoft'

Samsung launches the Galaxy XCover Pro, a rugged smartphone with a removable battery

TechSpot News | Jan. 8, 2020, 2:12 a.m. | Original

In a nutshell: Remember the good old days when phones were made to last and had batteries you could take out? Samsung does. The company has quietly launched a new Galaxy handset that joins its lineup of rugged devices while boasting a 4,050mAh removable battery.

With their fragile bodies covered in glass, many of today’s smartphones break if you so much as cough in their direction. The new XCover Pro, however, isn’t as easy to destroy, thanks to its US military standard

Adata's upcoming PCIe 4.0 SSD boasts read speeds of over 7,000 MB/s

TechSpot News | Jan. 8, 2020, 1:42 a.m. | Original

In brief: PCIe 4.0 SSDs have been making waves in the PC hardware industry over the past few months. We saw several of these speedy drives get announced by hardware makers in 2019, and Adata is joining their ranks now. At CES this year, the company announced the "XPG Sage," a blazingly-fast SSD set to launch later this year.

Most of the other PCIe 4.0-compatible SSDs that have been announced recently promise read speeds of around 5,00

Samsung and Philips adding Filmmaker Mode to their TVs to stop motion smoothing

TechSpot News | Jan. 8, 2020, 1:12 a.m. | Original

What just happened? Following the announcement of the feature last year, Filmmaker Mode, which automatically disables any post-processing a TV may have, is coming to more manufacturers’ sets. Joining LG, Panasonic, and Vizio in supporting the mode will be Samsung, Philips/TP Vision, and Kaleidescape.

Filmmaker Mode was originally announced last August by the UHD Alliance. It’s intended to provide a more cinematic experience on 4K and 8K TVs, which often have motion smoothing, or whatever the manufacturer decides

US regulators will block ISPs from charging unfair router rental fees

TechSpot News | Jan. 8, 2020, 12:41 a.m. | Original

In context: Few American citizens can genuinely say they love their ISP, and they are plenty of reasons for that -- cumbersome contracts, slow or unreliable internet speeds, and hidden fees, to name a few. While most of those annoyances probably won't be going anywhere soon, US regulators are at least addressing one ongoing problem: unfair equipment rental fees.

More specifically, monthly rental fees for routers, which some ISPs never provide in the first place. Further, those ISPs will charge you this fee even

Huami partners with Studio for the Amazfit HomeStudio smart treadmill

TechSpot News | Jan. 7, 2020, 11:44 p.m. | Original

In a nutshell: Huami, the Chinese wearables manufacturer behind the Amazfit line of smartwatches, trackers, and clothing, has partnered with fitness startup Studio for a smart treadmill. Called the Amazfit HomeStudio, it offers users a studio experience from the comfort of their own homes, thanks to the connected screen.

Unlike regular treadmills, the one that comes with the Amazfit HomeStudio lacks a front section; it’s all controlled by your smartphone, which fits into the holder at the side. It also comes with JBL surround-

Simplified Chinese is the most popular language on Steam, hardware survey claims

TechSpot News | Jan. 7, 2020, 11:15 p.m. | Original

Bottom line: PC gaming is big business in China. So much so that Valve recently announced its decision to develop a China-specific version of its popular PC gaming-oriented digital distribution platform, Steam. Until that version arrives, though, many Chinese gamers are sticking to Steam proper, if the platform's latest hardware survey is anything to go by.

The data collected in Steam's monthly survey reveals that Simplified Chinese is now the most popular language on the platform. More specifically, the language now represents

Ryzen 5 3600 vs. R5 2600: GPU Scaling Benchmark Test

TechSpot News | Jan. 7, 2020, 10:17 p.m. | Original

The old value king Ryzen 5 2600 remains to this day a great CPU option. Gamers asking if they should spend some $70 more on the R5 3600, or just get the 2600, this is the article for you. It was time to get these results out.

Tencent adds Bayonetta dev PlatinumGames to its list of investments

TechSpot News | Jan. 7, 2020, 9:47 p.m. | Original

Why it matters: Chinese internet and gaming giant Tencent is pouring its money into another developer. This time, it’s Japan-based company PlatinumGames, known for titles such as Bayonetta and Nier: Automata, that has received the investment.

In a statement on the dev’s website, PlatinumGames president and CEO Kenichi Sato confirmed the company took a “capital investment” as part of a “basis for partnership.” Exactly how much Tencent paid wasn’t revealed, but he added that the move wouldn’

In a nutshell: Apple on Wednesday revealed that customers spent a record $1.42 billion in the App Store between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve 2019, an increase of 16 percent year over year. On New Year’s Day alone, sales shot up 20 percent to $386 million, good for a new single-day record.

In a nutshell: Remember the good old days when phones were made to last and had batteries you could take out? Samsung does. The company has quietly launched a new Galaxy handset that joins its lineup of rugged devices while boasting a 4,050mAh removable battery.

Why it matters: Chinese internet and gaming giant Tencent is pouring its money into another developer. This time, it’s Japan-based company PlatinumGames, known for titles such as Bayonetta and Nier: Automata, that has received the investment.

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