play Archives

AppWizard

June 21, 2026

Marathon players are amassing way too much loot in Season 2, and the primary cause is a mystery: ‘We’re still unravelling the source’

Season 2 of Marathon began with technical issues and a free-to-play week, but introduced new features like the Night-time Dire Marsh map and Sponsored Survival mode. Players experienced unexpected ease in progression, leading to an influx of treasures and a disrupted in-game economy. Bungie acknowledged that player progression and access to power in Season 2 moved much faster than in Season 1, with players accumulating wealth comparable to weeks 11 and 12 of Season 1 by the second week of Season 2. Contributing factors included bugs causing guaranteed gold drops, early access to Sponsored Kits, and lucrative chests in the Complex Control area. Bungie is investigating the source of excessive loot, as it was not observed in internal playtests. Temporary adjustments have been made, such as disabling boosted containers and reducing Cradle XP rates, with plans to reinstate previous conditions later in the season.

AppWizard

June 21, 2026

Sideloading Android apps is great — until you have to update them. Here’s my fix

Obtainium is a free and open-source sideload manager designed to simplify the updating process for sideloaded Android applications. Users can add their sideloaded apps to Obtainium’s tracking list after a one-time setup, allowing the app to monitor these sources for updates in the background. Obtainium supports various sources, including GitHub, GitLab, F-Droid, APKMirror, and Uptodown. The app checks for updates every six hours and can either download and install updates automatically or notify the user. Setting up Obtainium involves downloading the APK, adding app source URLs, and ensuring the correct source is used for each app. However, it has limitations, such as relying on HTML scraping for websites without an API and potential API rate limits for GitHub apps. Additionally, Obtainium may have read-only access to certain sites, requiring users to manually update apps in some cases.

AppWizard

June 21, 2026

Epic Games Store Roadmap Promises 5x Faster Boot Times, User Reviews, and More

The Epic Games Store is undergoing a significant transformation, with a roadmap for new features and a redesign of its digital storefront. Upcoming updates include Fortnite chunked installation, third-party patch notes, pre-registration for free-to-play games, storefront rearchitecture, and library management improvements. Additional features like player profiles, user-written reviews, publisher-funded coupons, and enhanced search capabilities are planned for a later phase. The store, launched in 2018, has faced challenges in competing with platforms like Steam and has not yet achieved profitability. A "ground-up rebuild" of the launcher is expected to improve performance significantly.

AppWizard

June 21, 2026

Commodore Callback 8020 Retro Flip Phone Runs Android Apps

The Commodore Callback 8020 is a Sailfish OS flip phone designed to block browsers and social media, while retaining essential features like maps, messaging, music, and calls. It operates on Sailfish OS and can run over 99% of Android apps through a sandboxed Android AppSupport layer. The device lacks Google Play Services and the Play Store but comes preloaded with WhatsApp and supports various applications such as Signal, Telegram, and mapping services. It blocks web browsers and major social media applications at the system level, and email and work-related apps are excluded from the app store. The Callback 8020 features a clamshell design, T9-style texting, a 48MP rear camera, FM radio, and comes in multiple retro-inspired finishes. Preorders will start on June 30 at a price of 9.99, with shipping expected to begin in winter.

BetaBeacon

June 20, 2026

Epic Games Store 2026: $400M Record, 317M Users [AU]

Total revenue from the Epic Games Store reached .16 billion in 2025, up 6 per cent from .09 billion in 2024 and 22 per cent from 0 million in 2023.

AppWizard

June 20, 2026

Google Messages Just Solved The Biggest Problem With Smart Replies

Google Messages has introduced a "Tap to draft" option within its Smart Replies feature, allowing users to review and edit suggested responses before sending them. This feature is part of app version 2026052200RC00 and can be enabled by updating to the latest version and adjusting settings in the app. Smart Replies use AI to generate quick response suggestions based on user interactions, while ensuring that no message content or data is transmitted to Google, thus maintaining user privacy.

AppWizard

June 20, 2026

Weekend PC Game Deals: Cyberpunk 2077, Split Fiction, Sonic Racing, and more

The Epic Games Store is offering Robobeat and Citizen Sleeper for free until June 25. Humble has introduced two bundles: the June 2unes bundle for rhythm game enthusiasts, starting at a low price, and a VR bundle featuring Among Us 3D: VR and Zero Caliber VR. Valve's Next Fest is showcasing gameplay snippets from upcoming indie titles until June 22, along with free events for Stellaris, Two Point Museum, Dead by Daylight, and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. The Steam Summer Sale is approaching, prompting publishers to offer discounts. GOG has launched its own summer sale with various highlights.

AppWizard

June 20, 2026

Rockstar Games Launcher 2026: 18.3M Players, GTA 6 PC Signals

As of January 2026, the Rockstar Games Launcher has 18.3 million monthly active users engaged with Grand Theft Auto V. A software update on March 31, 2026, introduced support for Windows 11 and various performance improvements. The anticipated launch of GTA 6 is scheduled for November 19, 2026. Since its launch in September 2019, the launcher has focused exclusively on Rockstar titles, facing competition from platforms like Steam and Epic Games Store. As of March 2026, GTA Online recorded 17.9 million players across major platforms, with 4.2 million daily active users. In 2026, PC players accounted for 42% of GTA V's global player base, translating to approximately 7.7 million monthly active PC players. The March 2026 update included enhancements such as an upgraded embedded browser and a new Discord Social SDK. Players in Brazil faced restrictions on purchasing through the launcher due to local consumer protection laws. The GTA+ subscription service had 878,284 active subscribers as of early 2026.

AppWizard

June 20, 2026

I tried Samsung Health’s huge redesign for 2026. Here are the 5 biggest hits and misses

Samsung has redesigned its health tracking application, Samsung Health, coinciding with the launch of the Galaxy Watch 9 and One UI 9. The new interface features a vibrant color palette that some users find overwhelming, as colors no longer correspond to specific health metrics. The app includes a new top shortcuts bar for easier navigation to core health aspects like Activity, Sleep, Vitals, Mindfulness, and Nutrition, and allows customization of the dashboard. Graphs have been improved with pinch-to-zoom functionality, but this feature is inconsistently applied across different metrics. The app lacks a comprehensive graph page for comparing multiple metrics and may present unsupported features for users of older devices like the Galaxy Watch 4.

AppWizard

June 20, 2026

Sony confirms PS5 and PC are still “the standard” platforms for live-service PlayStation games

PlayStation CEO Hideaki Nishino stated that live-service PlayStation games will remain available on both PS5 and PC, while single-player games developed in-house will become exclusive to PlayStation. Each game will be evaluated individually for its release platforms, with a focus on expanding the audience for live-service titles. Sony aims to enhance the unique experiences of single-player games on its hardware, suggesting future exclusivity for narrative-driven titles. This marks a shift from previous strategies where several major titles were released on PC after console exclusivity. The acquisition of Nixxes Software supports Sony's dual-platform approach.