Latest news with #Android
Stuff.tv
42 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Stuff.tv
Sega killed a bunch of mobile games. Here's how to save them.
Sega Forever was a brilliant idea in theory. Tap into Sega's rich back catalogue. Lovingly repackage each title for smartphones. Let fans enjoy the classics with cloud saves, leaderboards, and support for virtual and physical controls. And let everyone play for free – or bin adverts with a small one-off payment. In reality? It fizzled. Most of the collection comprised a bunch of Mega Drive/Genesis titles in a creaky emulator. Beyond that, Virtua Tennis showed up as the half-hearted mobile version rather than the Dreamcast great. However, the odd title shone, such as a cracking mobile-optimised Crazy Taxi I still play, and a Super Monkey Ball remake that felt right at home on mobile devices with gyroscopes and accelerometers. Sega is now axing even these highlights. Open a remaining Sega Forever game and you'll see a notice that support is ending. Hardly a shock, since the most recent Sega Forever release arrived in 2019. But it's still a gut punch that the range would have been better named Sega For About Eight Years. My take is that while gamers obsess over the new, the industry's rich history deserves equal attention. It's worth preserving. Yet unlike with music, film and literature, it's hard to legally access more than a small selection of titles. And those are resold time and time again. Sega Forever could have been different – a window into the deeper cuts of Sega's history. But it never quite got there. There are probably solid business reasons for that. But it also again highlights the ephemeral nature of digital games. Buy something on an app store and you can download it on multiple devices – until the day you can't. There's no guarantee of permanence, which in Sega's case stands in stark contrast to the cartridges and discs these games originally appeared on. My Sega Forever games really are forever. So there. Save state Fortunately, there are ways to safeguard mobile games. Connect an iPhone or iPad to a Mac or PC, and use iMazing. Go to Tools > 'Manage Apps', click Library, and download games as IPA files to later sideload on to compatible devices using the same Apple ID. (That's how I resurrected old App Store games on a first-gen iPad Air.) Android's easier. Install Cx File Explorer, tap Local and Apps, pick a game and tap Backup. Squirt the APK+ file to another device using something like Quick Share (again, use Cx File Explorer to install it). And whether you favour Apple or Android kit, stash copies of your exports in the cloud or on a backup drive, so you don't lose them if a device dies. So it's good news that Sega Forever (and other) games can be saved, but preservation shouldn't mean jumping through hoops. The games industry must be better about safeguarding and making accessible its own history. 'Netflix of retro games' Antstream Arcade makes a valiant effort regarding accessibility, but still only has 1300 titles and lacks true ownership. Permanence for classic digital games remains vanishingly rare. And when a service winks out of existence, gaps in gaming history reappear with no guarantee they'll ever be filled again. Of course, there is one (legally grey) way to access old games that the industry hates and yet actually works: emulation. Maybe it's time to stop fighting it. Publishers could repackage old games however they like and simultaneously give us access and personal-use rights to old ROMs and disc images, to use as we please. Then a name like 'Sega Forever' would mean something, and the classic games we care about really would be able to legally live on in our lives, forever.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
JD Vance attacks Newsom and LA mayor while misnaming senator arrested by the FBI
JD Vance, the US vice-president, accused California governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used an in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending in federal officers. The centerpiece of Vance's Friday visit was a 14-minute news conference, during which he delivered remarks and took questions from correspondents selected by the White House. Local reporters were barred from attending, according to Elex Michaelson, the host of Fox LA's local evening news report. 'It's disappointing' Michaelson wrote on X, that the vice-president 'did not allow local reporters inside his Los Angeles press event. At this inflection point in L.A. history, they only took questions from national reporters.' When a correspondent for the far-right Daily Wire, who was selected by the White House to be the official pool reporter traveling with Vance, asked about a series of Democrats who have been placed in handcuffs recently by federal officers, Vance attempted to joke about California senator Alex Padilla who was forcibly detained by the FBI in the same location last week. Vance, however, called him 'Jose Padilla', using the name of an American citizen who was accused of planning to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb on behalf of al-Qaida in 2002. 'I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question,' Vance said. 'I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't a theater. And that's all it is.' Katie Porter, a former Democratic member of congress who is running for governor of California, called Vance's remark: 'Despicable-something you'd expect from an internet troll.' A spokesperson for Padilla, Tess Oswald, noted in a social media post that Padilla and Vance were formerly colleagues in the Senate and said that Vance should know better. 'He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,' Oswald said. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each. Responding to the outrage, Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance, said of the vice-president: 'He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.' Vance's visit to Los Angeles to tour a multi-agency federal joint operations center and a mobile command center came as demonstrations calmed down in the city and a curfew was lifted this week. That followed over a week of clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and looting that followed immigration raids across southern California. Trump's dispatching of his top emissary to Los Angeles at a time of turmoil surrounding the Israel-Iran war and the US's future role in it signals the political importance Trump places on his hard-line immigration policies. Vance echoed the president's harsh rhetoric toward California Democrats as he sought to blame them for the protests in the city. 'Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, by treating the city as a sanctuary city, have basically said that this is open season on federal law enforcement,' Vance said after he toured federal immigration enforcement offices. 'What happened here was a tragedy,' he added. 'You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder for them to do their job. That is disgraceful. And it is why the president has responded so forcefully.' Newsom's spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement: 'The vice-president's claim is categorically false. The governor has consistently condemned violence and has made his stance clear.' The friction in Los Angeles began on 6 June, when federal agents conducted a series of immigration sweeps in the region that have continued since. Amid the protests and over the objections of state and local officials, Trump ordered the deployment of roughly 4,000 national guard troops and 700 marines to the second-largest US city, home to 3.8 million people. Trump has said that without the military's involvement, Los Angeles 'would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years'. A review of Vance's movements on Friday suggests that he had very little time to evaluate the situation in the city. His flight from Washington touched down at Los Angeles International airport at 1:35 pm local time. Vance's motorcade arrived at the federal building in Westwood that is being guarded by active-duty marines at 2pm. He started his news conference at 3:11pm. It is not clear exactly how much of the intervening 71 minutes Vance spent meeting marines, federal agents and local police officers, but he devoted at least part of that time doing an interview with the Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin. At 3:30 pm, Vance departed the federal building for a Republican National Committee event. By 6:05pm, he was back on Air Force Two at LAX and ready for departure just four and a half hours after he had arrived.
Geeky Gadgets
2 hours ago
- Business
- Geeky Gadgets
Work Smarter, Not Harder: 5 Android Productivity Apps for 2025
In a fast-paced world where managing time effectively is crucial, productivity apps have become essential tools for staying organized and achieving goals. Android users have access to a wide range of apps designed to simplify task management, scheduling, and organization. Below are five of the best productivity apps for Android in 2025 in a new video from Enoch Boateng, each offering unique features to help you stay on top of your responsibilities and make the most of your time. Watch this video on YouTube. Custom Hourly Timeware For those who require precise control over their daily schedules, Custom Hourly Timeware stands out as a highly customizable productivity app. It allows users to set reminders at specific intervals, such as hourly, quarter-hourly, or even at random times, making sure no task is overlooked. The app's text-to-speech functionality reads reminders aloud, making it especially useful for busy individuals who need hands-free notifications. Additionally, custom audio alerts provide a personal touch to your reminders. Custom Hourly Timeware is compatible with Wear OS, allowing seamless integration with smartwatches. This feature ensures that you can manage tasks efficiently, even while on the move. Whether you're juggling professional meetings or personal errands, this app provides the tools needed to stay organized and maintain productivity throughout the day. Done If simplicity is your priority, Done offers a minimalist yet effective approach to weekly planning. Its clean and distraction-free interface is designed to help users focus on their tasks without feeling overwhelmed. Key features of Done include: Grouping recurring tasks for streamlined organization Effortless rescheduling to adapt to changing priorities An intuitive calendar view for a clear overview of your week The app also allows for personalization with pastel color themes, creating a visually calming environment that promotes focus and reduces stress. Done is an excellent choice for users who prefer a straightforward planning tool that balances simplicity with functionality. Flow Savvy For users seeking to optimize their time management, Flow Savvy offers advanced auto-scheduling capabilities. This app integrates seamlessly with Google Calendar, automatically assigning time blocks for your tasks over the next three days. Its intelligent scheduling system ensures that your workload is balanced and manageable. Notable features include: Optimized scheduling to maximize productivity Auto color-coding for better task categorization Built-in note-taking for adding context to tasks Flow Savvy is designed to help users make the most of their available time while avoiding the stress of over-scheduling. If you often find yourself struggling to manage your time effectively, this app can provide the structure and support needed to regain control of your schedule. Workflowy When it comes to managing complex projects or detailed lists, Workflowy is a versatile and powerful tool. Its minimalist interface eliminates distractions, allowing users to focus on their tasks while benefiting from advanced organizational features. These include: Subtask nesting for creating hierarchical task structures Hashtags and mentions for easy categorization and quick access Advanced text formatting and linking options for enhanced clarity Workflowy is ideal for users who need to track long-term goals, plan large-scale events, or manage intricate projects. Its flexibility and robust structure make it a reliable choice for both personal and professional use, making sure that even the most complex tasks are handled with ease. Microsoft To-Do Combining simplicity with a wide range of features, Microsoft To-Do is a popular app for managing daily responsibilities. Its standout 'My Day' feature provides personalized task suggestions, helping users start each day with a clear and actionable plan. Additional features include: Customizable lists with colors and backgrounds for better organization Task sharing options to assist collaboration Widgets for quick access directly from your home screen Printable task lists for offline use and easy reference Microsoft To-Do is a user-friendly app that caters to a variety of needs, making it a practical choice for anyone looking to streamline their daily workflow. Its combination of simplicity and functionality ensures that users can stay productive without unnecessary complexity. Explore Your Productivity Potential These five productivity apps for Android offer diverse solutions tailored to different needs and preferences. Whether you require advanced scheduling tools, a minimalist planner, or a comprehensive organizational system, there is an app designed to enhance your productivity. By incorporating features such as text-to-speech reminders, auto-scheduling, and customizable themes, these apps empower users to stay organized and focused in 2025. Explore these options to find the one that aligns with your workflow and take the first step toward achieving your goals with greater efficiency. Take a look at other insightful guides from our broad collection that might capture your interest in Productivity apps for Android. Source: Enoch Boateng Filed Under: Gadgets News Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.
The Sun
4 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Europeans ditch US tech over trust, turn to local options
BERLIN: At a market stall in Berlin run by charity Topio, volunteers help people who want to purge their phones of the influence of U.S. tech firms. Since Donald Trump's inauguration, the queue for their services has grown. Interest in European-based digital services has jumped in recent months, data from digital market intelligence company Similarweb shows. More people are looking for e-mail, messaging and even search providers outside the United States. The first months of Trump's second presidency have shaken some Europeans' confidence in their long-time ally, after he signalled his country would step back from its role in Europe's security and then launched a trade war. 'It's about the concentration of power in U.S. firms,' said Topio's founder Michael Wirths, as his colleague installed on a customer's phone a version of the Android operating system without hooks into the Google ecosystem. Wirths said the type of people coming to the stall had changed: 'Before, it was people who knew a lot about data privacy. Now it's people who are politically aware and feel exposed.' Tesla chief Elon Musk, who also owns social media company X, was a leading adviser to the U.S. president before the two fell out, while the bosses of Amazon, Meta and Google-owner Alphabet took prominent spots at Trump's inauguration in January. Days before Trump took office, outgoing president Joe Biden had warned of an oligarchic 'tech industrial complex' threatening democracy. Berlin-based search engine Ecosia says it has benefited from some customers' desire to avoid U.S. counterparts like Microsoft's Bing or Google, which dominates web searches and is also the world's biggest email provider. 'The worse it gets, the better it is for us,' founder Christian Kroll said of Ecosia, whose sales pitch is that it spends its profits on environmental projects. Similarweb data shows the number of queries directed to Ecosia from the European Union has risen 27% year-on-year and the company says it has 1% of the German search engine market. But its 122 million visits from the 27 EU countries in February were dwarfed by 10.3 billion visits to Google, whose parent Alphabet made revenues of about $100 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2024 - nearly a third of its $350 billion global turnover. Non-profit Ecosia earned 3.2 million euros ($3.65 million) in April, of which 770,000 euros was spent on planting 1.1 million trees. Google declined to comment for this story. Reuters could not determine whether major U.S. tech companies have lost any market share to local rivals in Europe. DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY The search for alternative providers accompanies a debate in Europe about 'digital sovereignty' - the idea that reliance on companies from an increasingly isolationist United States is a threat to Europe's economy and security. 'Ordinary people, the kind of people who would never have thought it was important they were using an American service are saying, 'hang on!',' said UK-based internet regulation expert Maria Farrell. 'My hairdresser was asking me what she should switch to.' Use in Europe of Swiss-based ProtonMail rose 11.7% year-on-year to March compared to a year ago, according to Similarweb, while use of Alphabet's Gmail, which has some 70% of the global email market, slipped 1.9%. ProtonMail, which offers both free and paid-for services, said it had seen an increase in users from Europe since Trump's re-election, though it declined to give a number. 'My household is definitely disengaging,' said British software engineer Ken Tindell, citing weak U.S. data privacy protections as one factor. Trump's vice president JD Vance shocked European leaders in February by accusing them - at a conference usually known for displays of transatlantic unity - of censoring free speech and failing to control immigration. In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened visa bans for people who 'censor' speech by Americans, including on social media, and suggested the policy could target foreign officials regulating U.S. tech companies. U.S. social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have said the European Union's Digital Services Act amounts to censorship of their platforms. EU officials say the Act will make the online environment safer by compelling tech giants to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. Greg Nojeim, director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said Europeans' concerns about the U.S. government accessing their data, whether stored on devices or in the cloud, were justified. Not only does U.S. law permit the government to search devices of anyone entering the country, it can compel disclosure of data that Europeans outside the U.S. store or transmit through U.S. communications service providers, Nojeim said. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? Germany's new government is itself making efforts to reduce exposure to U.S. tech, committing in its coalition agreement to make more use of open-source data formats and locally-based cloud infrastructure. Regional governments have gone further - in conservative-run Schleswig-Holstein, on the Danish border, all IT used by the public administration must run on open-source software. Berlin has also paid for Ukraine to access a satellite-internet network operated by France's Eutelsat instead of Musk's Starlink. But with modern life driven by technology, 'completely divorcing U.S. tech in a very fundamental way is, I would say, possibly not possible,' said Bill Budington of U.S. digital rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Everything from push notifications to the content delivery networks powering many websites and how internet traffic is routed relies largely on U.S. companies and infrastructure, Budington noted. Both Ecosia and French-based search engine Qwant depend in part on search results provided by Google and Microsoft's Bing, while Ecosia runs on cloud platforms, some hosted by the very same tech giants it promises an escape from. Nevertheless, a group on messaging board Reddit called BuyFromEU has 211,000 members. 'Just cancelled my Dropbox and will switch to Proton Drive,' read one post. Mastodon, a decentralised social media service developed by German programmer Eugen Rochko, enjoyed a rush of new users two years ago when Musk bought Twitter, later renamed X. But it remains a niche service. Signal, a messaging app run by a U.S. nonprofit foundation, has also seen a surge in installations from Europe. Similarweb's data showed a 7% month-on-month increase in Signal usage in March, while use of Meta's WhatsApp was static. Meta declined to comment for this story. Signal did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. But this kind of conscious self-organising is unlikely on its own to make a dent in Silicon Valley's European dominance, digital rights activist Robin Berjon told Reuters. 'The market is too captured,' he said. 'Regulation is needed as well.'
The Sun
4 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Europeans seek ‘digital sovereignty' as US tech firms embrace Trump
BERLIN: At a market stall in Berlin run by charity Topio, volunteers help people who want to purge their phones of the influence of U.S. tech firms. Since Donald Trump's inauguration, the queue for their services has grown. Interest in European-based digital services has jumped in recent months, data from digital market intelligence company Similarweb shows. More people are looking for e-mail, messaging and even search providers outside the United States. The first months of Trump's second presidency have shaken some Europeans' confidence in their long-time ally, after he signalled his country would step back from its role in Europe's security and then launched a trade war. 'It's about the concentration of power in U.S. firms,' said Topio's founder Michael Wirths, as his colleague installed on a customer's phone a version of the Android operating system without hooks into the Google ecosystem. Wirths said the type of people coming to the stall had changed: 'Before, it was people who knew a lot about data privacy. Now it's people who are politically aware and feel exposed.' Tesla chief Elon Musk, who also owns social media company X, was a leading adviser to the U.S. president before the two fell out, while the bosses of Amazon, Meta and Google-owner Alphabet took prominent spots at Trump's inauguration in January. Days before Trump took office, outgoing president Joe Biden had warned of an oligarchic 'tech industrial complex' threatening democracy. Berlin-based search engine Ecosia says it has benefited from some customers' desire to avoid U.S. counterparts like Microsoft's Bing or Google, which dominates web searches and is also the world's biggest email provider. 'The worse it gets, the better it is for us,' founder Christian Kroll said of Ecosia, whose sales pitch is that it spends its profits on environmental projects. Similarweb data shows the number of queries directed to Ecosia from the European Union has risen 27% year-on-year and the company says it has 1% of the German search engine market. But its 122 million visits from the 27 EU countries in February were dwarfed by 10.3 billion visits to Google, whose parent Alphabet made revenues of about $100 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2024 - nearly a third of its $350 billion global turnover. Non-profit Ecosia earned 3.2 million euros ($3.65 million) in April, of which 770,000 euros was spent on planting 1.1 million trees. Google declined to comment for this story. Reuters could not determine whether major U.S. tech companies have lost any market share to local rivals in Europe. DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY The search for alternative providers accompanies a debate in Europe about 'digital sovereignty' - the idea that reliance on companies from an increasingly isolationist United States is a threat to Europe's economy and security. 'Ordinary people, the kind of people who would never have thought it was important they were using an American service are saying, 'hang on!',' said UK-based internet regulation expert Maria Farrell. 'My hairdresser was asking me what she should switch to.' Use in Europe of Swiss-based ProtonMail rose 11.7% year-on-year to March compared to a year ago, according to Similarweb, while use of Alphabet's Gmail, which has some 70% of the global email market, slipped 1.9%. ProtonMail, which offers both free and paid-for services, said it had seen an increase in users from Europe since Trump's re-election, though it declined to give a number. 'My household is definitely disengaging,' said British software engineer Ken Tindell, citing weak U.S. data privacy protections as one factor. Trump's vice president JD Vance shocked European leaders in February by accusing them - at a conference usually known for displays of transatlantic unity - of censoring free speech and failing to control immigration. In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened visa bans for people who 'censor' speech by Americans, including on social media, and suggested the policy could target foreign officials regulating U.S. tech companies. U.S. social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have said the European Union's Digital Services Act amounts to censorship of their platforms. EU officials say the Act will make the online environment safer by compelling tech giants to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. Greg Nojeim, director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said Europeans' concerns about the U.S. government accessing their data, whether stored on devices or in the cloud, were justified. Not only does U.S. law permit the government to search devices of anyone entering the country, it can compel disclosure of data that Europeans outside the U.S. store or transmit through U.S. communications service providers, Nojeim said. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? Germany's new government is itself making efforts to reduce exposure to U.S. tech, committing in its coalition agreement to make more use of open-source data formats and locally-based cloud infrastructure. Regional governments have gone further - in conservative-run Schleswig-Holstein, on the Danish border, all IT used by the public administration must run on open-source software. Berlin has also paid for Ukraine to access a satellite-internet network operated by France's Eutelsat instead of Musk's Starlink. But with modern life driven by technology, 'completely divorcing U.S. tech in a very fundamental way is, I would say, possibly not possible,' said Bill Budington of U.S. digital rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Everything from push notifications to the content delivery networks powering many websites and how internet traffic is routed relies largely on U.S. companies and infrastructure, Budington noted. Both Ecosia and French-based search engine Qwant depend in part on search results provided by Google and Microsoft's Bing, while Ecosia runs on cloud platforms, some hosted by the very same tech giants it promises an escape from. Nevertheless, a group on messaging board Reddit called BuyFromEU has 211,000 members. 'Just cancelled my Dropbox and will switch to Proton Drive,' read one post. Mastodon, a decentralised social media service developed by German programmer Eugen Rochko, enjoyed a rush of new users two years ago when Musk bought Twitter, later renamed X. But it remains a niche service. Signal, a messaging app run by a U.S. nonprofit foundation, has also seen a surge in installations from Europe. Similarweb's data showed a 7% month-on-month increase in Signal usage in March, while use of Meta's WhatsApp was static. Meta declined to comment for this story. Signal did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. But this kind of conscious self-organising is unlikely on its own to make a dent in Silicon Valley's European dominance, digital rights activist Robin Berjon told Reuters. 'The market is too captured,' he said. 'Regulation is needed as well.'
