Microsoft and Nvidia are using ray tracing to make PC graphics more realistic

Ray tracing is an advanced computer graphics technique that creates an image by essentially duplicating how light strikes objects, with all of the refractions and reflections that result and that give life and depth to a scene. The technique has been used in computer-generated imagery (CGI) in movies and TV using very powerful rendering systems but has been beyond the capabilities of PC graphics — but that’s changing.

Microsoft announced, in conjunction with the Games Developer Conference (GDC), that DirectX 12 will be receiving ray tracing capabilities via a new DirectX Raytracing (DXR) application programming interface (API). In addition, according to Anandtech, Nvidia will be supporting ray tracing in its Volta GPUs and later, enabling DXR support in their latest hardware.

This is an important development due to its potential impact on how well PCs can create realistic lighting, shadowing, and reflections, which has been limited by the technology in current use. Primarily, that technology involves rasterization, which maps 3D images over 2D spaces and using various tricks to emulate a scene. As the technology has progressed, techniques are being used that are pushing rasterization beyond its limits. That is where ray tracking comes in.

As Microsoft puts it, “Today, we are introducing a feature to DirectX 12 that will bridge the gap between the rasterization techniques employed by games today, and the full 3D effects of tomorrow. This feature is DirectX Raytracing. By allowing traversal of a full 3D representation of the game world, DirectX Raytracing allows current rendering techniques such as SSR to naturally and efficiently fill the gaps left by rasterization, and opens the door to an entirely new class of techniques that have never been achieved in a real-time game.”

Nvidia’s support for DXR on Volta and later means that the hardware will work hand-in-hand with DirectX 12 to make ray tracing a realistic proposition for the PC. The details are quite technical, and you can read about them at the Microsoft blog, but the result is that PC graphics could take on some of the realism that we see in CGI productions. Rasterization will continue to be used where it provides a good experience and ray tracing techniques can be used to supplement it.

A few game engines are already planning to utilize DXR, including Electronic Arts’ Frostbite and SEED, Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, Futuremark’s 3DMark, and Unity Technologies’ Unity Engine. So far, Nvidia has announced its support and we imagine that AMD will not be too far behind, ensuring that the hardware will keep up with the software in making gaming ever more realistic.

Editors’ Recommendations

• ‘Far Cry 5’ on PC will support multi-GPU configurations, 4K at 60 fps
• Origin upgrades its towers of power to aluminum design, with a slew of options
• 5 suprising, promising, sometimes ominous ways computers changed in 2017
• Microsoft pulls list of limitations on ‘Always Connected’ Windows 10 PCs
• The best gaming desktops you can buy

This is the absolute best deal we’ve seen on the Google Wifi 3-pack

Better speeds everywhere.

If you want to blanket your house with Wi-Fi, the Google Wifi 3-pack is the way to go. Right now, you can grab one for yourself for only $220.99 when you enter coupon code PSPRINGTIME during checkout. This set normally sells for between $260 and $300 and has never dropped this low before. Setting it up is a breeze, and the added controls over individual devices on your network brings you a peace of mind that other systems just can’t match.

Not interested in a Google Wifi 3-pack? eBay is offering 15% off any single item over $25 when you use the coupon PSPRINGTIME today only.

See at eBay

Best Live Quiz / Trivia Games for Android

Play trivia throughout the day and maybe win some real cash!

Have you always thought you’d do great on a trivia game show? Well, in 2018, you can test your trivia skills multiple times in a day playing live trivia for real cash right on your phone.

This trend was started by HQ Trivia, which seemingly blew up overnight and has regularly drawn in a million players ever since launching for Android users in the Google Play Store. Keep answering the questions right to move one, or spend an extra life to stay in the game after a wrong answer. Make it through 12 questions and you win cash! It’s easy to play and addictive as hell.

But with any trendy app there are imitators and competitors, which means that every weekday you have a handful of opportunities to win cash with your trivia knowledge (and a little bit of luck).

Does it sort of feel like we’re living out the first act of an episode of Black Mirror? Absolutely, but why not enjoy the spoils before it starts to spiral out into a nightmarish dystopian future world.

• HQ Trivia
• Live.me Quiz Biz
• The Q
• SwagIQ

HQ Trivia

The app that started the craze. HQ Trivia is a daily trivia game show where you simply need to answer 12 questions to win a split of the pot. The daily weekday cash pot has risen to $5000 with a new tradition emerging for Sunday’s game — $25,000 with a non-stop stream of questions until players are whittled down to one lucky winner.

It has turned regular host Scott Rogoswky into an internet celebrity as he provides an entertaining performance as the quiz master extraordinaire. The app itself has improved significantly since launching on iOS in October 2017 — stream quality (and most importantly, stability) is improving and the servers seem to be handling the larger influx of users better now since launching for Android. You can play it alone, but it’s much more fun to play in a big group.

Recent updates have removed the payout minimum of $20 and you now have better control over how you spend your extra lives (gained by a new user using your referral code). The chat during the trivia itself is a mess and doesn’t seem to serve much use for anything meaningful.

HQ Trivia Schedule:

Weekdays: 3pm ET and 9pm ET

Weekends: 9pm ET on Saturdays and Sundays

Download: HQ Trivia (Free)

Live.me Quiz Biz

Okay, so Quiz Biz is a bit interesting. I’ll fully admit having never heard of Live.me before it launched it’s own trivia game, but it’s a natural fit.

Live.me is a live broadcasting video chat app that’s looking to build a community of influencers across a wide spectrum of topics and personalities. It’s available in 85 countries and has millions of downloads from the Google Play Store.

The platform itself is not for me — I haven’t spent any time checking out anything on Live.me beyond the daily Quiz Biz trivia show but the experience here is arguably better in so many ways. The cash prizes are always as big or bigger than HQ — on Super Bowl Sunday they hosted three separate games with $50,000 jackpots. Since it’s built upon a seemingly well-populated user base from the existing Live.me community the games feel lively and popular while still remaining small enough to ensure bigger cashouts, and the stream quality overall is way smoother than HQ on its best days. And yet…

It’s all bit overwhelming. Live.me includes a bunch of in-app currency and items that you can buy and gift. During the pre-game of one show, some dude donated 100 “magic wands” which was I suppose a display of status amongst the Live.me community… but as an outsider looking in it all felt a bit cult-like. I’m just here for the trivia.

Live.Me Quiz Biz Trivia Schedule

Weekdays: 3:30PM EST, 8PM EST, and 10PM EST

Weekends: 8PM EST on Saturdays

Download Live.me Quiz Biz

The Q

I mean this with no disrespect, but The Q is the trivia app equivalent to The Little Tank Engine Who Could. This app popped up shortly after HQ Trivia began making waves in beta for both iOS and Android, and I’ve been tracking its growth through to 2018.

I appreciate the lack of an annoying and pointless chat system, and the player pool is significantly smaller than HQ or Live.me, but The Q is the one app I’ve seen taking trying new things. They now regularly holding Survivor games where the questions keep coming until one player remains. They’ve also advertised some fun theme nights, including a Star Wars trivia show around the premiere of The Last Jedi.

The player numbers are growing, but still in the low thousands and payouts are significantly smaller than its competitors with weekday games in the $100-$200 range. Still, The Q is a fun trivia app alternative that might fit into your schedule better than the other options.

The Q Trivia Schedule

Weekdays: 1pm EST and 5:30PM EST

Weekends: 8:30pm EST

Download: The Q (Free)

Swag IQ

SwagIQ stands out from the rest on this list because it doesn’t directly dole out cash. Instead, you play to win SwagBucks, which can then be exchanged for cash via PalPal, or redeemed for gift cards for popular sites like Amazon or Steam, stores such as Barns & Noble, JCPenney, and Bath & Body Works, or even donate your winnings to charities including Doctors Without Borders or ALS.

SwagIQ also lets you earn points based on recruiting new players, and you’ll get a 10% cut of whatever they make playing the app (which, admittedly, sounds a bit like a trivia pyramid scheme to me). You can also spend your SwagBucks to buy back into games, and you earn a few SwagBucks each time you play. 100 SwagBucks convert to 1 USD, but there are deals to be had if you redeem your SwagBucks for gift cards.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve typed out ‘Swag’ one too many times and need to go take a shower.

SwagIQ Schedule

Play every day at 8pm EST

Your favorite?

Are you an HQtie or just a tourist? Let us know in the comments below!

Updated March 2018: Added SwagIQ to our list and updated the HQ Trivia information to reflect the daily prize being bumped up to $5000!

Android Gaming

• Best Android games
• Best free Android games
• Best games with no in-app purchases
• Best action games for Android
• Best RPGs for Android
• All the Android gaming news!

The Google News Initiative launches to give online news a helping hand

A lot of small steps to make the Internet a better place.

For the past couple years, there’s been a heightened focus on the subject of fake news. Misleading stories continue to pop up online, it gets more difficult to tell legitimate sources from illegitimate ones, and the words of some politicians don’t make this matter any easier to deal with. Thankfully, to help make sense of the world of online news, Google is launching the Google News Initiative.

Also referred to as the GNI, the Google News Initiative —

signifies a major milestone in Google’s 15-year commitment to the news industry, and will bring together everything we do in collaboration with the industry—across products, partnerships, and programs—to help build a stronger future for news.

Google has three primary objectives it hopes to accomplish with GNI, with one of the most prominent having to do with giving journalists the tools they need to elevate and strengthen the quality of their content. To achieve this, Google’s trained its machine learning systems to identify misleading stories during breaking news situations and redirect people to accurate ones.

Additionally, Google’s working with Poynter Institute, Stanford University, and the Local Media Association to launch a program called MediaWise that’ll help “improve digital information literacy for young consumers.”

GNI’s second goal is to “evolve business models to drive sustainable growth.” Along with giving publishers tools to better understand their audience and know when to present them with subscription offers, Google’s launching a new consumer-focused feature called “Subscribe with Google.” With this, people will be able to easily subscribe to paid news outlets using their Google account. The New York Times, Financial Times, and The Washington Post are among the first publishers pioneering Subscribe with Google, and more will be coming soon.

Also helping to achieve this goal is a new open-source tool called “The Outline” that’ll allow news organizations to easily create their own VPN for securely sharing sensitive data across the internet.

Last but not least, GNI aims to “empower news organizations through technological innovation.” Google says it’ll be dedicating $300 million to help accomplish all of this, and it notes —

The commitments we’re making through the Google News Initiative demonstrate that news and quality journalism is a top priority for Google. We know that success can only be achieved by working together, and we look forward to collaborating with the news industry to build a stronger future for journalism.

What’s your takeaway from all of this?

Telegram is being ordered by Russia to hand over user encryption keys

How to make your wired headphones wireless and Bluetooth-capable

Want to turn your old wireless headphones into wireless Bluetooth receivers? Put down the scissors — there’s a better way.

The 3.5mm headphone jack is no longer a standard when you buy a new phone, as plenty of manufacturers are ditching the tried and true port. What if you own a top-of-the-line set of wired over-ear headphones you want to use with your new phone? Want the wireless and fancy-free life without having to pay an arm and a leg for new headphones?

There are a number of options to convert your precious wired cans into Bluetooth beauties that’ll work with your new phone and any other Bluetooth-enabled device!

Note: You may not get exactly the same quality when changing from a wired sound to a Bluetooth connection. Because of how Bluetooth works, you’ll likely see a significant cut in the way your headphones sound — an inevitable trade-off in the name of convenience.

• USB-C to 3.5mm adapter
• VOXOA BTunes VXB (2.5mm and 3.5mm)
• Jumbl Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP Audio Streaming Adapter
• Mpow Steamboat Mini Bluetooth 4.0 Music Receiver

USB-C to 3.5mm adapter

Okay, so this adapter isn’t exactly a wireless option, but if you’re looking for the easiest and simplest way to convert your old wired headphones into a pair that can function with your new phone, picking up a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter provides the best pass-through with little to no reduction in sound quality.

While you could get a basic adapter from Amazon, USB-C can be a bit tricky. If you pick up a poorly made one, it could do more damage than good. The best adapter for you is going to be based on your phone since all the major phone manufacturers make one — some even come in the box with the phone.

Google, Motorola, HTC, Razer, and other companies all have USB-C to 3.5mm adapters, and they are all in the range of $10-$15.

VOXOA BTunes VXB (2.5mm and 3.5mm)

Featuring sleek and stylish design and multiple compatibility options for whichever brand of headphones you prefer, the BTunes are an outstanding option for adding Bluetooth functionality to your wired headphones — that said, it only works with higher-end over-ear headphones with a removable AUX cable.

BTunes packs tons of functionality in such a small package. There’s an NFC chip for easy pairing with your phone, built-in microphone for accepting calls or using Siri, and gold plated jack plug for superior audio fidelity. Rechargeable via Micro-USB with battery life up to 10 hours, you’ll be set for a day full of connecting your favorite headphones to your new favorite phone wirelessly while also connecting the BTunes to a second Bluetooth-connected device. That means you can watch your favorite media on your tablet or TV while still being free to talk to Siri and receiving audio notifications.

Before you buy, you’ll want to check the BTunes’ website to ensure your model of headphones are compatible. They’ve also got some models specifically designed to work best with popular headphones such as the Bose QC25, Audio-Technica ATH-M40x. Also, we’ve linked the 3.5mm BTunes adapter below, but if you’re headphones require a 2.5mm plug, VOXOA BTunes has you covered there as well. While stylish and well-functioning, these are also by far the most expensive option on the list (starting at around $69), so if these are simply out of your price range, keep reading.

See at Amazon

Jumbl Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP Audio Streaming Adapter

The Jumbl Bluetooth 4.0 adapter works with any pair of headphones or earbuds with a 3.5mm cable. Simply plug your headphones into the 3.5mm jack, pair your phone or another Bluetooth-enabled device to the Jumbl and you’re good to go. The Jumbl features a built-in microphone with noise-canceling capabilities, multipoint technology to allow for simultaneous connections to multiple devices, and big buttons for controlling playback, volume, and accepting calls. There’s a small clip on the back for attaching to your shirt, otherwise, the Jumbl will fit quite nicely in your pocket.

Yes, this option still leaves you with a length of wire to contend with, but given how it will work with any pair of headphones with a 3.5mm plug, and the easy-to-use controls, it’s a great option for untethering your wired headphones from your phone at a very reasonable $20.

See at Amazon

Mpow Steamboat Mini Bluetooth 4.0 Music Receiver

The Mpow Steamboat Mini is a fantastically versatile Bluetooth adapter for giving any wired headphones the power of Bluetooth 4.0. It comes with a double-sided 3.5mm adapter which is perfect for the AUX jack in your car stereo or for headphones with a removable AUX cable — as long as you don’t mind the awkward look of a box hanging off the end of one side of your headphones. It looks like your headphones have their own Bluetooth headset.

Don’t like that look? Remove the adapter and you’ve got a 3.5mm jack on a Bluetooth receiver that’ll work with pretty much any standard pair of headphones or earbuds. You’ll be able to connect your Mpow up to two devices at the same time, with a range of up to 30 feet in open spaces. The built-in battery provides up to 10 hours of play and talks time, with 120 hours of standby time. When it’s time to recharge, simply plug in a Micro-USB cable and you’re fully charged in 90 minutes.

Making this accessory all the better is the price; Available for about $16, you really can’t go wrong with trying out the Mpow Bluetooth Adapter.

See at Amazon

How will you be going wireless?

Have you taken the plunge to turn your current headphones wireless? Use any of these (or other) adapters that we should know about? Let us know in the comments!

Facebook never earned your trust and now we’re all paying the price

There was no Facebook data breach. You gave them the data, and they gave it away — all according to plan.

News reports have been swirling about Facebook (a company you know), Cambridge Analytica (a company you might not have heard of), and the 2016 United States presidential election. It’s an important story, but I’ve observed a critical misunderstanding or miscasting of the discussion in many media outlets, even those that are supposed to be tech-savvy. You’ve maybe seen this story described as a “breach” or a “leak.”

The reality is far more distressing: Facebook basically gave away our profile data. The company has always made all of this data available, it just never expected it to be used like this.

Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and what happened

Cambridge Analytica is a data mining and analysis firm that specializes in delivering, to quote their mission statement, “Data-Driven Behavioral Change by understanding what motivates the individual and engaging with target audiences in ways that move them to action.”

Which is to say, it uses profile data to tailor messaging and advertisements. This isn’t a new concept — magazine, TV, and radio ads have long been customized to subscriber demographics. What’s new is the breadth, depth, and precision of the targeting. The nature of the internet means that a huge amount of data about you is available for the taking, and you’ve given it all away.

Cambridge Analytica worked with the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump, using the data of 50 million Facebook users to target advertisements at voters that they believed to be receptive to the campaign’s message. It was an effort unprecedented in politics, and how much it affected the vote is unanswerable. But there’s little doubt there was an effect. But how did Cambridge Analytica get that much data?

How did the Trump campaign’s digital operation get its hands on 50 million user profiles? Facebook basically gave away your info.

According to some excellent reporting by The New York Times, Cambridge Analytica built a personality survey app that required a Facebook log-in. That app was distributed by a compliant Cambridge University professor, who claimed the data would be used for research. This was entirely legal and in accordance with Facebook’s policies and the profile settings of its users. That the data was passed from the professor to Cambridge Analytica was a mere violation of Facebook’s developer agreement.

Around 270,000 Facebook users reportedly downloaded the survey app. So how did Cambridge Analytica harvest the data of some 50 million users? Because they were Facebook friends of people who downloaded the app.

How this happened

Facebook’s policies and default privacy settings allow apps to collect massive amounts of profile data. That information is supposed to be used to provide you with a customized product; in reality, it’s usually tailored advertisements. The most painful part is that we users opened the door to these apps — the user has to download the app and grant it permission to access their Facebook profile. It tells you right up front what data it wants access to.

Taking the survey required allowing access to your Facebook profile. Thanks to Facebook’s default privacy settings (which only a small portion of users have changed) the survey app also pulled in the profile data of millions of Facebook friends. All of this data was forwarded to Cambridge Analytica, which rolled it up with data from other sources to build psychological profiles of potential voters.

Facebook is a business, but that business is not being a social network — the business is advertising.

Facebook says it cares about your privacy, but that’s lip service. The company wants you to be just comfortable enough that you keep sharing. Facebook is a business, but that business is not being a social network — the business is advertising. The free social network that most Facebook users use is a conduit for collecting data and distributing ads. Facebook was designed to get you to hand over as much information and spend as much time on it as possible, all in order to deliver more and better-targeted ads.

How we got here

Years ago we, as a collective of internet users, made a grand bargain. Given the choice between paying for a subscription service or getting a service for free and dealing with ads, we chose free with ads. Except we paid with our data and we had no concept of its value. Facebook, Google, and others are all designed to gather more and more data, and they’ve become more and more effective at synthesizing that data and precisely targeting users. Google’s free product is an incredible search engine, but the company logs all of those searches to build a profile of you and sell ads against that profile.

This is true of most companies built on a free service, including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Spotify, even free tax preparation services. The real customer is whoever is buying your data or buying advertising slots based on your data.

If you’re not paying for the product, then you are the real product.

That’s just how the modern web works. What we’ve failed to grasp are the scope of all that data and its potential. But the people collecting it certainly did. They were playing a long game and they made it fun for users. We were happy to fill out our profiles, delighted to post about our interests, comfortable handing over our files, and just fine with logging our searches.

You know the phrase “knowledge is power”? In the twenty-first century, data is power, and whoever controls it writes the rules.

Consequences and the presidential election

None of this excuses Facebook or Cambridge Analytica. That your data was readily available for exporting and exploiting — via your friends — should both appall and infuriate you. But this was not a breach or a leak; it was an exploitation of Facebook’s own tools and rules.

Facebook and Cambridge Analytica will be hauled in front of Congressional committees for testimony. But what happened was not against any laws, and it’s not clear if there will be any consequences beyond revoking Cambridge Analytica’s access to new Facebook user data. (Facebook requested the data be deleted, but it has no way to enforce that request.)

No laws were broken; it’s not clear if there will be consequences. But it was grossly negligent.

Your seemingly innocent and private profiles, musings, likes, and shares were all mined and assembled into a profile of how best to exploit your beliefs, fears, and hopes during the last election. It’s disconcerting when this information is used for advertising; it’s terrifying when that same data is used to sway the electorate.

Trump did not run a sophisticated traditional campaign. His traditional “ground game” was incredibly lacking, but he made up for it with loud media savvy (either by accident or by design) and a quiet and unprecedented online campaign that understood the power of your data better than any in the past. And now Donald Trump is President of the United States.

Data. Is. Power.

So what now?

This was the natural next evolution of the web we implicitly agreed to without understanding the trade-offs. Users and companies have reaped rewards from this data, but this level of abuse was only a matter of time.

Our society is built on trust, and when that trust fails we make laws. We trusted Facebook and the company gave away our data with an unenforceable developer agreement as the only safeguard. Facebook isn’t alone — every company wants your data, and you should be reticent to trust any of them. It doesn’t matter what company we’re talking about — Google, Uber, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, Spotify, et al — they all want your data. Some are more judicious in how they handle it, but even if they’re not selling your data they will use it to sell to you.

I won’t tell you to delete your Facebook account, but I also won’t stop you. Nobody has to have a Facebook account. If you want to keep using Facebook, review your privacy settings, your profile information, which apps you’ve authorized, and even what you’re posting and liking.

Don’t trust Facebook or any other company with data you wouldn’t give to a complete stranger. Don’t log in to apps or services with your Facebook profile — and if they offer no alternative, use something else. Don’t take random Facebook quizzes. Think twice before posting any personal information online. We all need to be cognizant of the data we’re giving out.

That’s the short game. In the longer term, we need systems in place to protect everyone. Silicon Valley is not going to fix this problem; its leaders are too naive about the nature of the humans to realize it even is a problem. We have laws and regulations governing airplanes, pharmaceuticals, construction, shipping, and everything else under the sun. I’m not normally one to advocate for more regulation, but it’s clear that today’s laws were not written for the modern internet.

Silicon Valley is too naive to even realize this is a problem, let alone fix it on their own.

Digital companies will claim that current laws and regulations are enough and that new ones will limit innovation. New regulation will indeed increase costs, but as long as there is money to be made investments will not stop. Regulation didn’t stop innovation in the automotive or aerospace industries, and it certainly won’t bring tech innovation to a halt. Some coalition of tech companies will issue an “Internet Bill of Rights” or such and say its principles will be sufficient to protect users. We’ve seen such pledges before But anything short of federal law will be insufficient. The tech sector accounts for nearly one-tenth of the U.S. economy and is growing rapidly; it’s in everybody’s best interest for it to be sensibly regulated.

It’s well past time that we demand tech companies act responsibly with our data. The internet of today and the hyper-customized AI services of tomorrow only work if we can trust them to respect and safeguard our data. We users need to get a better handle on what we’re putting out there for free, what’s being done with our data, and what we expect from the Facebooks, Googles, Amazons, and Apples of the world.

Either through negligence or malevolence, our implicit trust in these companies was misplaced. We need trust for all of this to work, and the only way for that trust to be restored is through concrete action and enforceable regulations.

Today’s best deals you won’t want to miss

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

Right now there are great discounts on the game Sea of Thieves, massive Lego kits, Beats headphones, and more! Don’t pass these up.

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Best AT&T Deals of March 2018

If you’re on AT&T, these are the hottest deals to keep an eye out for.

AT&T is one of the largest and most well-known carries in the United States, and as a result of this, you can often find some pretty sweet deals being offered. Whether you’re in the market for new phones or television service, AT&T has something for just about everyone. Here are the top deals we recommend the most.

Save 50% on the Galaxy S9

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is the hottest Android phone around, but its retail price can also set you back a pretty penny. To help offset this cost, AT&T is offering an entire 50% off the S9 when you buy it on AT&T Next with a wireless plan that costs $45/month or more.

Your savings are applied via monthly bill credits, and after 24 monthly payments, you’ll end up paying just $395 for the phone rather than the full $790. Similarly, you can take advantage of this same promo to get a $395 bill credit on either the Galaxy S9+ or Galaxy Note 8 by following the same terms and conditions.

See at AT&T

Take $300 off the LG V30 when trading in an eligible device

The LG V30 might not have gotten as much hype or attention as the Note 8 last year, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad phone by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the V30 is pretty darn great. The phone has a gorgeous design, features excellent dual rear cameras, and performance is top-notch.

Similar to the Galaxy S9, the V30 isn’t considered to be affordable with a starting price of $799. Thankfully, if you trade in an eligible phone to AT&T, you can get $300 in credits. You’ll need to either activate a new line of service or add an additional line to an existing account to be eligible for this deal, and the phone you trade in must have a regular value of at least $20 and meet AT&T’s trade-in requirements.

Assuming you check all these boxes, your $300 can be used to pay your monthly bill, buy other items from AT&T, or put a big dent in what you owe for the V30.

See at AT&T

Switch to DirecTV and get a $300 Visa gift card

Signing up for DirecTV just makes sense for a lot of AT&T customers, and if you’ve yet to jump on this bandwagon, now might be the perfect time to do so.

If you switch to DirecTV and sign up for a two-year agreement that costs $35/month for the first 12 months, you’ll be sent a $300 Visa Reward Card that you can use to buy whatever you’d like.

See at AT&T

Take 30% off select cases and screen protectors when you buy the Galaxy S9

Let’s say you choose to buy the Galaxy S9. You’re feeling pretty good about getting it for 50% off, but that lower price doesn’t make the phone any more durable. To ensure it stays as protected as can be, AT&T is offering 30% off select cases and screen protectors when you buy the phone.

The S9/S9+ and case/screen protector must be purchased in the same transaction, and there’s a limit of one discounted case or screen protector per order. Even with that restriction in place, this is still absolutely worth taking advantage of unless you want to risk cracking your brand-new gadget.

See at AT&T

Updated 3/20/2018 – Added all new deals for March 2018!

Carriers

• Which unlimited plan should you buy?
• Verizon’s Unlimited plans: Everything you need to know
• Everything you need to know about the T-Mobile ONE unlimited plan
• Everything you need to know about the AT&T Unlimited plan
• Everything you need to know about Sprint’s Unlimited Freedom plan
• Join the Discussion

Play the new ‘Overwatch’ battle healer hero Brigitte today

As is custom for Blizzard, last month the company dropped a couple hints on Overwatch’s Twitter account before announcing a new hero and immediately adding her to the PTR. Today, the front-line battle healer Brigitte has been added to the game across all platforms.

I will prove myself!

Play Brigitte now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One!

Learn more @ https://t.co/JCSkZJGOzc pic.twitter.com/Ulcb5qHt0w

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) March 20, 2018

Brigitte is a support character blending offensive and defensive abilities. Her healing boosts are similar to her father Torbjörn’s armor packs and a shield like Reinhardt’s with a charge-stun and distance-whip boop for variety. Finally, her ultimate creates an aura that adds armor to teammates in a radius around her, sort of like an ongoing version of Lucio’s ultra ability.

Brigitte showed up a month before the game was even released in the Overwatch comic Dragon Slayer, featuring the young armorsmith squiring for an aged-yet-valiant Reinhardt. Her reveal trailer showed her young tinkering days as the oldest daughter of turret-daddy Torbjörn. What else could she do but follow in his and her godfather Reinhardt’s footsteps by joining the fight? One hopes that she doesn’t forget her childhood experiments trying to strap her cat onto a jetpack, which is Blizzard’s nod to a wild character concept that fans have (understandably!) clung to for years…

Source: Overwatch (Twitter)

More than 60 new apps support Android’s AR platform

Now that Android’s ARCore platform is a practical reality, augmented reality apps are coming out of the woodwork. Google has announced that over 60 ARCore-capable apps are launching on the Play Store this week, many of them games arriving in sync with the Game Developers Conference. Some have them have already arrived, including virtual pet game My Tamagotchi Forever launched on March 15th. It’s also using the timing to highlight practical apps like Pottery Barn’s 3D Room View and eBay’s Which Box (which tells you how large a box you need to ship an item). One of the new apps even comes from Google itself — it’s launching an experiment.

The newly released Just A Line (shown above) lets you make simple drawings in 3D space, wander around them and share them as short videos. Think light drawing, just in a way that doesn’t require someone jumping in front of a camera. The app works on any Android phone that supports ARCore. While it’s just an experiment, we could see it being handy if you want to add flourishes to videos that might otherwise seem relatively tame.

Those 60-plus titles are a drop in the bucket relative to the millions of apps in the Play Store, and they’re a reflection of how young mobile augmented reality is. Even on iOS, where the comparable ARKit has been available since September, data from Apptopia suggested that fewer than 1,000 apps used the framework as of early January. However, ARCore’s expansion is no mean feat for a cutting edge platform that’s just under a month old. We’d expect a flood of new releases for a while, especially now that developers can make augmented reality apps that offer largely similar experiences across platforms.

Source: Just A Line, Google Play