Google has revealed that its new cloud region in Israel will be located near Tel Aviv, and outlined its expansion across South America, Europe, Asia, and Middle East. SEE: Cloud computing: Spreading the risk with the multicloud approach Google Cloud now consists of 29 cloud regions and 88 zones — up from 25 regions and 76 zones in April 2021. It gives customers compute and storage resources that are closer to their users, as well as Google’s analytics and its content distribution network (CDN)....

Google, which was fined $22.5M by the FTC for illegal use of tracking cookies on iPhones even when the user had set Safari to reject them, is asking the UK’s High Court to reject a claim for compensation from a group of British iPhone owners, reports The Guardian. Google is arguing that any case should be held in the U.S., and that UK courts have no jurisdiction in the matter. It also observes that a similar claim in the USA was dismissed two months ago....

Apple’s just announced the long anticipated April event where we expect to see new products like the next generation iPad Pro, AirTags and maybe even an iMac. The artwork Apple’s made for the event invitation is just stunning and we’ve thrown together some wallpapers to celebrate. You can find three versions of the wallpaper below. There’s a version for iPhone, iPad and desktops. We’re absolutely in love with the new graphic, designed to represent a spring loaded version of the Apple logo....

[Spoilers for Ghost in the Shell (2017)] - Ghost in the Shell’s journey to the big screen has been dominated by accusations of whitewashing. Rupert Sanders’ live-action adaptation of the classic manga (which is also an in-part remake of the 1995 animation) was always going to be contentious for its inevitable westernization of a wholly Japanese story, but when Scarlett Johansson was cast as the series’ central icon, Major, the project seemed marked....

These days, however, no self-respecting influencer would ever upload a photo to social media without touching it up to remove blemishes or add filters. More and more have-a-go photographers are out there, ready to show off their skills. That’s where Photoshop comes in, a product so well known that it’s even become a verb in its own right. “You just Photoshopped it” is almost as common as “I’ll Google it....

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is bringing back a character from Kong: Skull Island. Is it Tom Hiddleston’s James Conrad, now played by Charles Dance? Although Godzilla 2 is being heavily marketed as an epic monster crossover of its own - it will mark the western debut of Rodan, Mothra and Ghidorah - it’s also part of a bigger, multi-film project. The MonsterVerse shared universe is two movies strong, starting in 2014 with Godzilla and continuing with Kong: Skull Island, with the end goal being 2020’s Godzilla vs....

Google replaced SMS as the default 2-Step Verification method last year with device-based Prompts. iOS users were instructed to install the Google app for two-factor authentication when logging in. To increase adoption, Google is now making 2SV available through the Gmail mobile app. Since sending security codes through text messages is vulnerable to spoofing, Google turned to 2-Step Verification via what it calls the “Google Prompt.” Upon signing in to a Google app or service, your phone will receive a notification asking you to confirm you are logging in or reject....

We thought LG and Google stopped producing the Nexus 5 back in November of last year. And it did make sense, since the massive Nexus 6 was already out and Google would be just following its usual cycle of discounting a flagship Nexus device one year after it’s been launched. However, in the beginning of the previous month, we’ve seen the handset being relisted on the Google Play Store, featuring the same price....

You can now update drivers, install firmware and recovery, unlock bootloader and root your Google Pixel 2 XL smartphone with the Skipsoft Android Toolkit. If you’ve been rooting Android devices, installing custom firmware and drivers, and unlocking bootloaders on smartphones before, then the Skipsoft Android Toolkit should not be new to you. The Skipsoft Android Toolkit is a very useful tool for performing administrator-level operations like rooting, unlocking bootloaders, installing custom firmware and recoveries, and updating drivers on Android smartphones....

Reuters reports this evening that a German court has ruled against Apple in a case centered around video streaming patents owned by OpenTV. Kudelski’s OpenTV unit originally sued Apple over the patents in 2014, alleging that Apple was infringing on its patents with streaming technologies used in iOS, OS X, iAds, the App Store, iTunes, and on Apple TV. While specific details of the ruling are unclear at this point, the decision comes from the Düsseldorf District Court in Germany and says that Apple products sold in the company cannot use streaming software covered under the five OpenTV patents in question....

A new environmental responsibility proposal from the German government to the European Union says Apple should require security updates and spare parts for iPhone for at least seven years. According to Heise Online, Germany’s Ministry of Economics also wants spare parts provided “at a reasonable price.” With these demands, the German government goes beyond the previously known proposals of the EU Commission, which wants smartphone makers, like Apple and Google, to keep updating and having spare parts for five years, while tablets spare parts should be available for six years....

Apple just announced the iPhone 13, and that means the time to trade in your old device is right now! Over the coming weeks, resale values for older iPhones are going to drop significantly, but you can with Decluttr, you can lock in your cash value to make sure get every penny you deserve. It’s the smart way to upgrade to your next phone — fast, easy and free! And you can use code 9TO5MAC to get extra cash for a limited time....

Windows Mail is unlike previous versions such as Windows Live Mail or Outlook Express. Instead, Mail works more like a viewer that caches emails stored on a mail server, similar to how the IMAP messaging protocol works. In this article, I’ll show you how the Mail app works and how it can make your life easier. Whether you want to consolidate all your email accounts into a single inbox, search your inbox for messages, send attachments or send messages to multiple contacts, Mail lets you do it with just a few mouse clicks....

GIPHY for iOS has today received an update that brings improved functionality to the iMessage app and also offers a better experience to users when loading GIFs on a slow network. The headline feature in today’s update is the ability to seamlessly see your uploads and also create new custom GIFs in the iMessage app. GIPHY has also included a new tab that organizes all of the animated stickers. The second major change today offers users with slow connections a better experience by optimizing GIFs....

There are no signs of the global chip shortage easing any time soon, and one of the reasons behind it appears to be getting worse, not better. Industry experts say that a shortage of qualified staff is a growing problem, especially the highly qualified engineers needed to design new chips and solve manufacturing problems for ever more complex ones … Multiple sources cited by the WSJ point to a growing gap between supply and demand....

Internet giant Google found itself in a middle of a potential public relations nightmare following a Wall Street Journal article this morning. Tentatively titled “Google’s iPhone Tracking,” the article asserts that “Google Inc. and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Inc.’s Web browser on their iPhones and computers” to follow iPhone users even after they explicitly set Safari’s privacy controls to disable such tracking....

I think everyone was expecting something like this to happen. As Google clears inventory to make room for the next generation of Nexus devices, it has dropped the price on the Nexus 4 by $100 in one day. Expected to be announced in September, the Nexus 5 is likely to blow its predecessor away in terms of performance and features seeing as its supposedly based on the LG G2, while simultaneously devaluing the 4 as well....

Google has done it again! They will be hosting a mega Android event in New York on Monday, 29th October, which is basically the same day as the pre-announced Windows Phone 8 Launch by Microsoft, which will take place in San Fransisco. Ouch! This isn’t the first time Google has done something like this. A couple of months back, Google held an event to announce a couple of Motorola Droid smartphones exactly on the day Microsoft & Nokia had scheduled a WP8 introduction event....

Last week, Sony debuted the trailer for Paul Feig’s reboot of Ghostbusters to a mixed response. One fan went so far as to edit the trailer to remove all the jokes, and instead focus on the action scenes. Feig chose to stay silent on the matter, perhaps assuming nothing he said would make a difference to those who already made up their minds about his film. That is until the director caught wind of attacks being levied against members of his cast, particularly Leslie Jones....

Warner Bros. has given Godzilla vs. Kong a new March 2020 release date to avoid a clash with Fast & Furious 9. WB and Legendary are in the final stages of building towards the crossover event of their own cinematic universe - but one that isn’t based on DC comics. The studios have been building a cinematic universe of the world’s biggest monsters, aptly called the MonsterVerse, for the last few years as part of an effort to see Godzilla and Kong share the big screen....