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Twitch Game Streaming Site Is Blocked in China After Gaining Popularity

As we speak, the famous Twitch game streaming site is blocked in China, and its iOS app was deleted from the local App Store after it experienced a boost in popularity during August. Twitch confirmed the news to the folks from The Verge but did not offer details in this regard.

In August this year, Twitch positioned the third most popular app in China, among free apps, as the Chinese people downloaded the famous application to watch live the e-sports matches at the Asian Games. Also, according to The Verge, during the peak of the competition, 23 times more Chinese downloaded the Twitch app.

This ban against Amazon’s Twitch is in line with the recent policy followed by the Chinese Government to block Western apps that increase in popularity across China, as a measure of caution. Also, Facebook and Twitter remain banned indefinitely, while Google, which missed form the Chinese market for eight years, is now developing a censored search engine to regain this vast Asian market.

The Twitch game streaming site is now blocked in China

The Chinese decided to block Twitch after the app massively increased in popularity in August. However, the decision was not implemented consistently, and while the majority of China’s provinces doesn’t have access to the game streaming site, some region scattered in Northern and Southern China could still access the platform yesterday.

For the majority of the IT&C companies, the Chinese Government’s decision to ban the Twitch game streaming platform is just another proof of the Chinese censorship on the Western platforms and companies. However, for one firm, in particular, Steam, the situation is very upsetting as the renowned games platform has some significant plans for the Eastern markets, including China.

Valve planned to launch a Chinese version of Steam, but they went dark soon after the announcement was made. Most likely, the Chinese market is not the best option right now for Western companies to expand.

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Games News Tech

PlayStation Now Added Download Feature For PS4 and Remastered PS2 Games

Those who are members of the PlayStation Now have the option of downloading PS4 and remastered PS2 video games offered by the service, according to a Sony official announcement released yesterday. As the statement said, the new feature will roll out in just a few days.

Therefore, PlayStation Now subscribers can download virtually every PlayStation 4 game available on the service, but Sony did not offer any details regarding which video games won’t be available. Most probably, those newer titles fall into the unavailable category, but that’s not official information.

All those downloaded games would come with all the DLC packs the user purchased and with PS4 Pro improvements, while the online multiplayer mode would not require a PlayStation Plus membership. However, the only trick is to connect your PlayStation 4 to the Internet from now and then for Sony to verify your subscription plan.

Users with PlayStation Now subscription can download PS4 and remastered PS2 games

Sony announced yesterday that every PlayStation Now subscriber can download the PS4 and remastered PS2 games that are available on the platform. However, since the feature is going live in only a couple of days, Sony did not reveal which games would be available and which won’t.

PlayStation Now platform was released in January 2015 and, at this moment, it houses about 500 titles for PS2, PS3, and PS4. The new download feature will only cover remastered PS2 games, as well as the available PS4 video games, but not those releases for PlayStation 3. To be eligible to download those games you must subscribe to PS Now (unless you’re already a member).

Also, those who have already streamed a game via the platform and now would like to download their save files from the cloud directly to their consoles can do that, too, now, but only if they are PS Plus members.

One subscription on PlayStation Now would cost you $99.99 per year (a special offer until September 25th), while for PlayStation Plus, one membership plan costs $29.99 for the first three months.

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Tech

Samsung Announced its New Three-Camera Galaxy A7 2018

Just yesterday, Samsung announced its new three-camera Galaxy A7 2018. Therefore, Samsung Galaxy A7 2018 becomes the second smartphone in the world, after Huawei P20 Pro, to boast a triple camera setup on its back.

Samsung Galaxy A7 2018 packs mid-range hardware and seems to bring a new design for the Galaxy A series, even though it keeps its frontside within similar lines of the previous Galaxy A models. Galaxy A7 2018 boasts a 6-inch Infinity Full HD with a resolution of 2,220 x 1,080. It also has a 24-megapixel front camera with a f/2.0 aperture.

On the back, however, everything is completely changed in comparison with the previous models. The fingerprint sensor has disappeared, and the three-camera system moved to the left of the phone’s backside and is enclosed in a rectangle with rounded corners.

The new three-camera Galaxy A7 2018 announced by Samsung

The three-camera setup seems to be the main component of this model, but the way Samsung chose to do it is at least strange. The new Galaxy A7 2018 has a 5-megapixel sensor with a f/2.2 aperture dedicated to portrait mode, a primary 24-megapixel wide-angle camera with a f/1.7 aperture, and, finally, an 8-megapixel sensor of f/2.4 with an ultra-wide 120-degree lens.

Under the hood, the new three-camera Galaxy A7 2018 boasts an 8-Core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, 4/6 GB RAM, and 64/128 GB internal storage. Also, Galaxy A7 2018 runs with Android 8.0 Oreo, and it boasts a 3300-mAh non-removable Li-Ion battery.

Unfortunately, Samsung decided to keep the micoUSB jack for this new three-camera Galaxy A7 2018, disappointing some of the fans who expected a USB-C. Also, some complained that Samsung could’ve opted for Android 9 Pie, but even though the new device comes only with Android 8 Oreo, that doesn’t mean Samsung won’t release an update to the new Google OS version later.

The new three-camera Galaxy A7 2018 will come out this fall.

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News Tech

BlueStacks Update Boosts Performance

Getting Android on your PC is not impossible, and in the past years there have been many programs that could help you do that, including Anbox, Console OS and Remix OS, Android X86 and GenyMotion. However, BlueStacks remains the most popular choice.

BlueStacks appeared back in 2009, and it had Suman Saraf, Rosen Sharma and Jay Vaishnav as founders. Important companies have become investors, including Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint and Samsung.

New update

Version 4 update for BlueStacks was announced, and it appears that it has many enhancements. The fourth version of BlueStacks brings several improvements that are meant to boost the performance of the program.

According to the company, the performance of BlueStacks 4 will be 8 times faster compared to the performance of BlueStacks 3. Additionally, the performance of this version will be 6 times faster than that of Samsung Galaxy S9+.

The update also brings BlueStacks Store and BlueStacks Points. You can earn these points by playing games on BlueStacks and then you can use them to purchase items from the BlueStacks Store. There are many things that you can choose, including the exclusive Pro Gamer Series of gaming tools.

Keymapping is also improved in this version. For example, you will see distinct categories for Key Controls, which should make it easier for you to navigate. You will also be able to use the Game Controls Window to manage key controls The UI went through some changes as well. For example, you will be able to use add-on features such as Quests and BlueStacks Store.

Version 4 also allows players to play the same game from multiple accounts. It is also possible to play multiple games from multiple Google Play Accounts at once. Multi-instance will make it easier to unlock rewards in RPGs.

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News Tech

Star Trek Vulcan Planet Found by Researchers

One of the things that made the Star Trek series great was the variety of characters and planets.

The Dharma Planet Survey has published a new American-lead study that brings fiction a bit closer to reality as astronomers may have stumbled upon the iconic planet Vulcan.

The new planet is classified as a super-Earth type, as its size is twice the size of Earth. It is the closest super-Earth planet found, being situated at approximately 16 light-years from the Blue Planet. It spends 43 days of its orbit in the habitable zone of its star so life may be found on its surface.

The star it orbits, HD26965, shares some characteristics with our Sun as researchers think it has the same age.  It is a bit smaller and cooler, but its 10.1-year magnetic cycle is similar to our own solar cycle. Star Trek fans may think of it as the Eridani A, according to some of the researchers. Vulcan was linked to Eridani A in officially printed material such as Star Trek 2 by James Blish. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the franchise, has formally acknowledged that Vulcan orbits Eridani A in a letter sent to magazine in 1991. It is noted in the letter that the Eridani 40 star system is composed of one main star and two companions smaller stars. Vulcan orbits the major stars and the other ones are visible on the sky and shine beautifully.

In the original Star Trek series, Vulcan is identified as the origin planet of Science Officer Spock.

The planet was identified using the Dharma Endowment Foundation Telescope, located on the top of Mount Lemmon in Arizona. It is the first super-Earth planet identified by the Dharma Survey initiative.

The star can be freely observed with the naked eye, so curious Star Trek fans do not need specialized equipment in order to observe it. The Dharma Survey will continue its work, hoping to find new and interesting worlds.

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