News written by James Delahunty (May, 2018)

Google Duplex enables Googles Assistant to make phone calls and book appointments, make reservations and more.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google, said that it will launch as an experiment over the coming weeks. It will make phone calls in the background at the request of user's to book appointments, make reservations and more. To accomplish this task, the Google Assistant need to interact with humans over the phone and hold a seemingly natural conservation.

Pre-recorded demonstrations were shown at the Google IO conference today showing how natural the AI voice sounded, prompting some gasps from the audience. Rather than sounding robotic and artificial, the AI voice even uttered "um" and "um-humm" making the conversation appear natural.

At no point does the Assistant reveal itself as AI.

Here's a video showing the upcoming feature in action making an appointment for a haircut:

The new Samsung PRO Endurance microSDHC/microSDXC card is suitable for continuous recording application, supporting up to 43,800 hours of recordings.

The are suitable for surveillance cameras, security cameras, for body cameras and dash cameras (basically any task that requires long continuous recording), providing read speeds of up to 100MB/s and write speed up to 30MB/s.

Available in capacities of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB, the Samsung PRO Endurance are built to withstand harsh environments and features Samsung's 4-Proof protection, making them water, temperature, magnetic and x-ray-proof.

The PRO Endurance memory cards are now available for purchase with manufacturer's suggested retail prices starting at $89.99 for 128GB, $44.99 for 64GB and $24.99 for 32GB.

The 128GB card comes with a new industry-leading limited warranty of five years (three years for 64GB, two years for 32GB).

Rockstar Games is whetting our appetite again with the release of the third official trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2, coming later this year.

The game follows the exploits of the Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang as they flee the law following a botched robbery in the western town of Blackwater. Federal officers and skilled bounty hunters are in pursuit as the gang rob, steal and fight their way across the heartland of America.

During the turmoil, Arthur must decide between his own ideals and his loyalty to the gang as growing divisions among the members threaten their survival.

Red Dead Redemption 2 has been dated for release on October 26, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. PC Gamers unfortunately are still in the dark on plans (if any) to release it on their platform.

Here's the trailer:

Sony's cloud-gaming PSN platform has its first batch of PlayStation 2 classic titles.

Most of us who owned a PlayStaion 2 during that generation of gaming consoles tend to remember it fondly. Of course, it had very limited network abilities later in its life cycle compared to the typically always-connected consoles we have now. Even it's major rival - Microsoft's original Xbox - arrived later with several advantages over it, and of course the graphics are what you'd expect from two generations ago. All that considered, the PS2 still was fun and had a lot of excellent games to choose from.

Those who had a PS2 and now have a PS4 and PS Now subscription will be happy to know that PS2 classics will be rolling out on the service to compliment the 650+ titles available.

Initially, PS Now will offer the following PS2 titles:

• Ape Escape 2
• Dark Cloud 2
• Hot Shots Tennis
• Limbo
• Metal Slug 3
• Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics
• Sine Mora EX
• Siren
• The Last Blade 2

It has been revealed that WhatsApp will soon have a coveted group video calls feature at the Facebook Developer Conference (F8 2018) in San Jose.

Having had video chat available for users of WhatsApp for a couple of years now, the absence of a group video calls feature has been noticed. It is particularly puzzling given that WhatsApp's Groups are very popular and a key strength of its service. For those who wanted to turn their Group communication to video, they would need to switch to another service.

At F8 2018, Mubarik Imam, head of growth and partnerships for WhatsApp, revealed that WhatsApp will have Group video calls within a few months time. WhatsApp will also get Stickers soon.

Not much was revealed about Group video calls except that from the images shown it appears to support at least four participants.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has opened an investigation into Nintendo over alleged patent infringement following a complaint from Gamevice.

Gamevice manufactures the Wikipad and a selection of snap-on controllers for mobile gaming devices. It sued Nintendo last year for alleged patent infringement, but the lawsuit was later dropped. However, the U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating Nintendo's Swtich after a complaint from Gamevice.

The Wikipad manufacturer is requesting a cease and desist order against Nintendo to block the import of Swtich hardware into the United States.

According to the ITC website, the body has made no ruling on the validity of the complaint and will conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Nintendo is in violation of the Tariff Act of 1930.

"The complaint alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain portable gaming console systems with attachable handheld controllers and components thereof that infringe patents asserted by the complainant," the ITC press release reads.

"The complainant requests that the USITC issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders."