Technology

The settlement between game producer Activision Blizzard and a US government agency over sexual misconduct in the workplace has finally been approved. Not everyone involved is equally happy with the result.   A series of revelations came to light last year around Activision Blizzard, the maker of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, among others. Harassment, sexism, sexual harassment, paying less for sharing nude photos of colleagues and women and giving fewer promotion opportunities were commonplace. One employee committed suicide after extensive bullying. That led to a settlement in September last year. Activision Blizzard was willing to pay $18 million to end a lawsuit brought by the US regulator EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). The judge said he is ready to accept...

As expected, Apple presented new versions of its 'budget iPhone' and the iPad Air during an online event. There were no big surprises with these gadgets, except that the iPad Air now also has an M1 processor on board and that the iPhone SE has become significantly more expensive.   In our preview at the Apple event, we wrote that the iPhone SE is so popular, among other things, because of its (for an iPhone). We had expected a bit more storage capacity for that money, but the entry-level model still starts at 64 GB. In addition, there are also versions of 128 and 256 GB. What is new is the A15 Bionic processor, and that is the same power source that resides in the iPhone 13. Also included in the price are 5G, an improved camera of 12 megapixels and a battery that lasts a little lon...

Storage manufacturer Western Digital has discovered that errors have occurred in two of its factories, resulting in the loss of an enormous amount of flash memory, including used in SSDs.   The company does not provide many technical details, but Western Digital speaks of contamination of certain materials in its factories in Yokkaichi and Kitakami. Both Japanese sites are operated in a joint venture with Kioxia, the former Toshiba. WD says it is still working closely with Kioxia to keep the factories running as smoothly as possible. However, because it concerns the factories mentioned above, The Verge knows that it concerns CiCS 3D NAND flash memory. Together, the two companies account for about 30 percent of the NAND flash memory market. Market analyst TrendForce expects the inc...

Samsung has presented its latest high-end devices. In addition to the Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22+, this also includes an Ultra device that should make the Note forget.   The technological focus of the Galaxy S22 and S22+ is on the camera, as was the case with previous editions. As expected, the new version builds on incremental improvements. Both models have a powerful 50MP main camera, 10MP telephoto lens and 12MP ultra-wide angle lens. In addition, intelligent image processing should allow you to take beautiful photos under almost all circumstances. Also at night, with, for example, a Nightography function and a sensor that is 23% larger than that in the S21 model. Even more interesting for those who want to turn their cat into an Instagram model, Samsung reports that Portrait mo...