GameStop Is Closing Up to 450 Stores This Year

Retail is suffering badly due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s forced GameStop to close even more stores than it planned this year.

Last year, the games retailer closed 321 stores classed as “underperforming” by CFO James Bell. It followed tumbling hardware and software sales by the company, and that was before anyone had heard the word “COVID-19.” Then in March, 300 more store closures were announced in what Bell classed as continuing to “de-densify our global store fleet.” It seems 300 isn’t enough anymore, though.

Source: PCMag.com

Walmart Now Piloting On-Demand Drone Delivery with Flytrex

Years ago, our founder Sam Walton famously said, “I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been.” It remains a guiding principle at Walmart to this day. From being an early pioneer of universal bar codes and electronic scanning cash registers to our work on autonomous vehicle delivery, we’re working to understand how these technologies can impact the future of our business and help us better serve our customers.

Our latest initiative has us exploring how drones can deliver items in a way that’s convenient, safe, and – you guessed it – fast. Today, we’re taking the next step in our exploration of on-demand delivery by announcing a new pilot with Flytrex, an end-to-end drone delivery company.

Source: WalMart

Microsoft can identify deepfakes now, just in time for the 2020 US election

The tech giant announced the new technologies as part of its Defending Democracy Program.

Microsoft is showing off two new computer programs to combat deepfakes. The company said its new apps will be able to identify manipulated videos, which are often hard to detect, as well as tell people whether the media they’re looking at is likely authentic or not.

Microsoft said its new technology will be built into its Azure server technology for businesses. Content makers will be able to send “hash” fingerprints of their videos to Microsoft, which will then in turn help people identify whether media is likely manipulated.

Source: CNet.com

SpaceX: Our Satellite Internet Can Now Hit Over 100Mbps in Download Speeds

SpaceX’s satellite internet service is starting to deliver 100Mbps download speeds to early test users on planet Earth.  

SpaceX reported the result on Thursday as the company launched another 60 satellites into orbit to power its upcoming Starlink service, which is designed to eventually offer 1Gbps download speeds.  

“In initial tests of Starlink, the team has been collecting latency data and performing standard speed tests of the system,” SpaceX tweeted after the successful launch. “Results from these tests have shown super low latency and download speeds greater than 100 mbps—fast enough to stream multiple HD movies at once and still have bandwidth to spare.”

Source: PCMag.com

Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg and Gates lose a collective $25 billion in net worth after tech stocks fall

The nation’s richest Big Tech executives lost a collective $25 billion to their net worth after Thursday’s market sell-off, according to data compiled by CNBC’s Robert Frank.

Here’s the scorecard:

• Amazon stock closed down 4.63%, taking $9 billion off CEO Jeff Bezos’s net worth.
• Tesla chief Elon Musk also lost $9 billion, after its stock slipped 9.02%.
• Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw its stock drop 3.76%, taking $4 billion off of his net worth.
• Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates’ net worth fell $3 billion after a 6.19% stock slip. 

Source: CNBC.com

HBO Max is Offering a ‘Save for 12’ Promo Discount

Just in time for Labor Day weekend, HBO Max will be offering a discounted subscription price when you sign up for 12 months. Starting today, September 4, new and returning customers can get a full subscription to HBO Max for $11.99/month (regularly $14.99), which is a savings of $36 over one year.

“We are always looking for ways to enhance our customer experience, so as we head into fall we felt it was the perfect time to pair the incredible lineup of original programming available on HBO Max with an offer that provides customers with even more value,” said Andy Forssell, Executive Vice President and General Manager of WarnerMedia and Direct-To-Consumer. “We are lucky to work with the level of talent that is part of our WarnerMedia family, and with series like Raised By Wolves from Ridley Scott and HBO’s Lovecraft Country from Misha Green, J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele, there is truly no better time to get HBO Max.”

Source: CordCutterNews.com

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit turns your house into a digital race track

More of us are staying home amid the coronavirus pandemic to protect ourselves and others. But there are only so many projects and puzzles we can put together. Thank goodness for Nintendo because the company is literally ready to turn our homes into Mario Kart race tracks.

On Thursday, Nintendo and developer Velan Studios revealed Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit for the Nintendo Switch as part of the series’ 35th anniversary celebrations. It’s exactly what it sounds like: Your home is the race track, thanks to a mixed-reality experience. Details on how it all works are light for now, but players will be able to create their own race circuits from areas around their house. The studio also teased a new kind of local multiplayer with digital opponents on the homemade race tracks. It sounds awesome.

Full Article: CNet.com

T-Mobile boosts 5G speeds in over 80 extra cities

 

• T-Mobile has expanded its mid-band (2.5GHz) 5G coverage to over 80 more cities.
• The upgrade promises faster real-world speeds, with an average of 300Mbps.
• This could help it fend off the speed claims of rival carriers.

T-Mobile has moved beyond claims of providing 5G nationwide to offering more subscribers a meaningful speed boost over their existing LTE service.

The carrier has started rolling out mid-band 5G (that is, 2.5GHz) in over 80 additional cities and towns, a huge jump over the eight cities that received upgraded coverage in April. Many of these are smaller cities like Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Camden, New Jersey. Still, that makes the faster coverage considerably easier to find than it was in the past. You can see the full list below.

The expansion comes thanks in no small part to Sprint’s 5G frequencies and promises a middle ground between T-Mobile’s slower-but-reliable low-band data and the fast-but-finicky millimeter wave access available for some AT&T and Verizon customers (disclaimer: this author also writes for Verizon-owned Engadget).

Full Article: AndroidAuthority.com

 

The stock market thinks Joe Biden is going to beat Donald Trump

New York (CNN Business)The presidential election is only two months away and the stock market is soaring.

 

In theory, that should bode well for President Trump since a bull market has historically benefited the incumbent. But Trump is trailing Democratic challenger Joe Biden in many head-to-head national polls.

Although the market’s sharp rebound since March could be viewed as a sign that investors expect the coronavirus-induced recession to be brief, you need to dig deeper and look at how the recovery is unfolding.

It turns out a basket of stocks that could fare well in a Biden presidency have been outperforming the overall market — as well as a portfolio of stocks that might benefit from a second Trump term.

Full Article:  CNN Business

A full “Corn Moon” rises tonight — and it only happens once every three years

The final full moon of the summer rises bright in the night sky on Tuesday. Known as the “Corn Moon,” it only happens once every three years.

September’s full moon was given its name by the Algonquin tribes living in the northeastern U.S., according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. They named it for the time of year when they harvested staple crops like corn, pumpkins, squash, beans and wild rice.

According to NASA, this full moon is also known at the Fruit Moon and Barley Moon in Europe, the Hungry Ghost Moon in China, the Binara Pura Pasalosvaka Poya Day in Sri Lanka and the Honey Full Moon for Buddhists in Bangladesh and Thailand. For Hindus in India, it marks the end of the 10-day celebration of Onam and the start of Pitri Paksha, which honors their ancestors through food offerings.

Full Article:  CBSNews.com

Magic: The Gathering Reveals Zendikar Rising Set Cards, Including New Gameplay Mechanics

Magic: The Gathering revealed nearly two dozen cards from the new Zendikar Rising set, including new Planeswalker cards and mechanics.

Today, Wizards of the Coast revealed details for upcoming Magic: The Gathering releases. In addition to a preview of the new Zendikar Rising set, which hits MTG Arena one week before its physical release, Wizards also revealed set names and graphics for 2021 releases and new The Walking Dead and K-Swiss collaborations. Plus, the company teased an Arena release for mobile devices.

Wizards debuted over twenty Zendikar Rising cards during a Debut Moment stream on the MTG Twitch channel, including new Nahiri and Jace Planeswalker cards, as well as art by Yongjae Choi for a new Nissa. Gameplay mechanics Kicker and Landfall return with this set, to be joined by new Party and Modal Double-Faced Cards.

Source:  CBR.com

Motorola Moto One 5G goes official w/ Snapdragon 765G, sub $500 price

The Motorola Moto One 5G has now been quietly unveiled in the United States, with the smartphone essentially being a rebrand of the Motorola G 5G Plus that was released in European markets earlier this month.

We don’t know the explicit US dollar pricing, but we do know that this smartphone will come under $500. The rest of the hardware is literally what we’ve seen already but with more freedom™ for US buyers.

So that means a 6.7-inch FHD+ 90Hz LCD display powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G 5G-enabled chipset. You’ll have mmWave 5G for Verizon, while it will support AT&T’s sub-6 5G, giving you plenty of options for connectivity on your favorite or most affordable carriers.

The Moto One 5G comes with a disappointing 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage. However, you can slap in a microSD card up to 1TB in size for added space. This should easily be a two-day phone for most people with a sizeable 5,000mAh battery inside too. It also supports 15W TurboPower charge speeds, which although is by no means the fastest, should be reasonably quick.

 

Full Article:  9to5Google.com

Pokemon Go Mega September Event: New Shiny Pokemon, Mega Evolutions, And More

Niantic is holding a big, three-week event focused on Mega Evolutions this month; here’s everything you need to know.

Pokemon Go has a variety of events lined up for September 2020, starting with Mega September–three weeks of activities revolving around the newly added Mega Evolutions. Each week will have a different focus, and if players can hit certain milestones before the week is up, Niantic will introduce additional Mega-Evolved Pokemon to the game.

Although Mega-Evolved Pokemon are the primary focus of Mega September, there will be plenty of other rewards available during the event, including a couple of new Shiny Pokemon to catch. You can see a full, week-by-week breakdown of the Mega September event below.

Full Article:  Gamespot.com

Alienware rolls out laptops with 360Hz displays

From PC monitors to mobile play, refresh rates are climbing.

Alienware has applied its 360Hz refresh rate technology to its latest and greatest laptops. The Alienware Area-51m R2 and m17 R3 will both support 360Hz FHD panels, bringing that esports vibe to mobile players. The Area-51m R2 runs on 10th Gen Intel Core i9 CPUs with NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs, while the m17 R3 is powered by Intel’s 10th Gen Core H and HK series.

Full Article: Engadget

Elon Musk is now richer than Mark Zuckerberg

New York (CNN Business)Elon Musk’s net worth is now $115 billion, pushing him past Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the list of the world’s richest people, according to Bloomberg. 

Musk’s increase in wealth was propelled by Tesla’s (TSLA) wild 12% stock gain that happened Monday after Tesla’s 5-1 stock split. This makes the Tesla founder and CEO the third-richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is now only poorer than Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

Source:  CNN Business