Samsung Electronics trials work-from-home as South Korea battles virus resurgence: Official

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd plans to allow some workers in South Korea to work from home in September under a pilot programme, a company official said, as the country battles a resurgence in novel coronavirus cases. https://ift.tt/34Ce1go

Alibaba puts India investment plan on hold amid China tensions: Sources

China's Alibaba Group has put on hold plans to invest in Indian companies, two sources aware of the plans told. This comes amid souring business relations and rising political tension between the two nations after a clash on their Himalayan border. https://ift.tt/2QqvDDF

Uber plans to expand services across Quebec this fall

The company did not give a specific date for the expansion of its service throughout the province. https://ift.tt/3aYx1a5

Leaked memo: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer resigns after Trump threatened to ban app; Vanessa Pappas, currently general manager of TikTok, will become interim head (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Leaked memo: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer resigns after Trump threatened to ban app; Vanessa Pappas, currently general manager of TikTok, will become interim head  —  Former Disney executive resigns just months after appointment by Chinese video platform  —  Kevin Mayer has quit TikTok just months …

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 with 13MP in-display camera to go on sale today via Amazon

Base variant of Redmi Note 9 packs 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. It can be purchased at Rs 11,999 https://ift.tt/2EtRCak

Down and dirty with covid genes

What weird bugs did you pick up last time you rode a subway train? Just as the covid-19 pandemic was taking off, a global network of scientists began mapping the DNA of urban microbes and using AI to look for patterns. Join host Jennifer Strong as she rides along on a subway-swabbing mission and talks to scientists racing to find an existing drug that might treat the disease.

We meet:

• Christopher Mason, Weill Cornell Medicine
• David Danko, Weill Cornell Medicine
• Baroness Joanna Shields, BenevolentAI CEO

Credits: This episode was reported and produced by Jennifer Strong, Tate Ryan-Mosley, Emma Cillekens and Karen Hao with help from Benji Rosen. We’re edited by Michael Reilly and Gideon Lichfield. Our technical director is Jacob Gorski. 

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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War to launch on November 13

Activision has finally revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War after teasing us with a trailer last week. This year’s Call of Duty is being co-developed by Treyarch and Raven. This is Treyarch’s 6th Call of Duty game and 5th in the Black Ops mini-franchise, which has been very successful. 

The game is set to hit the markets on November 13 across PC, Xbox One and PS4. Activision has also confirmed that the game will be released on the next-generation consoles during ‘Holiday 2020.’ They are also offering a cross-gen bundle which includes a copy of the game for both generations of consoles for an extra $10 at $69.99, meaning players who purchase this can play the game on both PS4 and PS5 or Xbox One and Xbox Series X.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Single Player Campaign 

After not developing a single-player campaign mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Raven has confirmed this game will feature a traditional campaign set during the 1980s in the middle of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has been confirmed to be a direct sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and we will see iconic characters like Alex Woods, Frank Mason and Jason Hudson play a major role in the story. We will also see real historical figures like the then US President, Ronald Reagan, making an appearance in the narrative. The teaser trailer we saw last week and the campaign mode trailer we saw last night, both point to the story revolving around ‘Perseus’, a soviet spy who infiltrated the US government. 

This will be the first Call of Duty in which players will get to create their own characters from scratch. Interestingly, players can choose to take a ‘psyche profile’, which determines how your characters would react in certain situations and give you attributes and perks which will directly affect gameplay. 

The campaign would also be interactive meaning players will decide which missions they want to take and how to complete them. These decisions will have direct implications on the story and lead to one of the multiple campaign endings. Players can also choose to do side missions which will be tied in with the main storyline.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Multiplayer 

Just like every CoD, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will have a 6v6 multiplayer game mode. Activision has confirmed that this game will not just feature cross-play like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but cross-gen too. This means that if you own a PS4, you can play with your friends who own the PS5. 

Activision has also announced plans for an open beta for those who pre-order the game soon. Like CoD Modern Warfare, the beta will likely be available to PS4 players first, as part of their deal with PlayStation. Leaks suggest that the beta period will start on September 12, right after the Multiplayer reveal on September 9.

Call of Duty: Warzone

Activision has promised that Call of Duty: Warzone will live on with future games in the franchise. This comes after the game was heavily teased on the Verdansk map for weeks. For the reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, a treasure hunt event was also organized in the Battle Royale game mode.

Because of this close link with Warzone, Activision has decided that it will incorporate shared progression across CoD Black Ops Cold War and CoD Modern Warfare, which means that players will be able to transition their account from one game to the other and carry-over their operator skins and gun blueprints to the next game. In fact, those who pre-order the game will receive digital rewards, including Black Ops operator Frank Woods for both Warzone and CoD: Modern Warfare.

It will be fascinating to know how Warzone handles aspects of the game that were a part of Modern Warfare which will not be present in this year’s game. Activision and Treyarch have confirmed we will get to know more about Warzone at a later date.

Zombies

Zombies mode has been a mainstay in the Black Ops series and is confirmed to continue in this year’s game too. We don’t much about this mode yet, but Treyarch and Raven plan to reveal more, closer to the release date.

In other news, Infinity Ward recently pushed a massive update to Call of Duty: Warzone which features new guns, game modes and more. Click here to check it out. To know more about Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, click here.

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Facebook users reported Kenosha Guard's page and event to Facebook before the shootings but were told it did not violate platform policies; pages are now gone (Russell Brandom/The Verge)

Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Facebook users reported Kenosha Guard's page and event to Facebook before the shootings but were told it did not violate platform policies; pages are now gone  —  Multiple users reported the account for inciting violence, but were told it did not violate platform policy

Google Chrome is getting faster tabs, support for QR codes and more

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Facebook says Apple's new privacy rules will cut advertising revenues

Facebook said it was considering discontinuing on iPhones a tool called Audience Network, which thousands of developers put into their apps to serve ads. https://ift.tt/3hE9Ows https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

India and other markets to get Facebook News soon

Facebook refers to the new product as a 'personalised' destination for news within Facebook with users getting top headlines and stories for the day based on their interests. https://ift.tt/31wVm3J https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Surf Internet in Indian skies over 3,000 metre altitude: DGCA issues draft rules

India had in December 2018 allowed inflight connectivity on flights to, from, within India as well as those flying over the country https://ift.tt/3hxBlzj https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Smartsheet to buy Brandfolder, a Denver-based startup that sells digital asset management software, for approximately $155M in cash and stock (Taylor Soper/GeekWire)

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Smartsheet to buy Brandfolder, a Denver-based startup that sells digital asset management software, for approximately $155M in cash and stock  —  Smartsheet will pay approximately $155 million in cash and stock to acquire Brandfolder, a Denver, Colo.-based startup that sells digital asset management software.

China's social credit system will soon share data across platforms and provinces using blockchain technology called "Remin Chain", according to a report (Decrypt)

Decrypt:
China's social credit system will soon share data across platforms and provinces using blockchain technology called “Remin Chain”, according to a report  —  Data sharing of social credit scores across provinces is now possible thanks to Remin Chain, a permissioned blockchain product from Hangzhou's Hyperchain Technology.

Bullish on India opportunity, will protect user data: Fitbit CEO James Park

Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park told ET that while data of Indians is not stored locally, it's subject to tight privacy and data security safeguards that it applies to data of all its global users. https://ift.tt/3hwOfxL https://ift.tt/eA8V8J