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Classic PlayStation and Saturn games may be coming to your iPhone next

April 19, 2024
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With the advent of increased third-party support on iOS, video game emulators have rushed to the App Store to fill in the gap. The first bunch has been primarily for old Commodore 64 and GameBoy titles. However, this could soon change as we may see an emulator capable of running Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn games. The app in question is called Provenance EMU. In an email to news site iMore, project lead Joseph Mattiello said his team is working on launching their software to the App Store.

Provenance, if you’re not familiar, can run titles from a variety of consoles, including famous ones such as the Super Nintendo and more obscure machines. It’s unknown when the emulator will make its debut. Mattiello states they also need to make some quality-of-life fixes first and he wants to “investigate” the new rules. The report doesn’t explain what he’s referring to, but Mattiello may be talking about the recent changes Apple made to the App Review Guidelines. Lines were added in early April stating “developers are responsible for all the software inside their apps”. Plus, emulators need to “comply with all applicable laws”.

Warning

Please note the use of emulators may be in violation of the game developer and publisher terms and conditions as well as applicable intellectual property laws. These will vary so please check these. Emulators should only ever be used with your own purchased game copy. TechRadar does not condone or encourage the illegal downloading of games or actions infringing copyright.

This could put third-party developers under deep scrutiny by gaming publishers. Nintendo, for example, is not afraid to sic its lawyers after developers it claims are violating the law. Look at what happened with Yuzu.

Game emulation currently exists in a legally gray area. Despite this, they have been allowed to exist, but one wrong move could bring the hammer down. So, Mattiello wants to ensure his team won’t be stepping on any landmines at launch. If all goes well, we could see a new era of mobile gaming; one where the titles aren’t just sidescrollers with sprites, but games featuring fleshed-out 3D models and environments.

What to play

We don’t recommend downloading random ROMs of games off the internet. Not only could they violate intellectual property laws, but they can also hold malware. These digital libraries aren’t the most secure.

So if and when Provenance is released on the App Store, what can people play? At the moment, it seems users will have to try out homebrew games. They’re independently made titles that copy certain graphical styles for emulators.

iMore recommends PSX Place, a website where hobbyists come together to share their homebrewed PlayStation games. Itch.io is another great resource. If you ever wanted to play a fan adaptation of Twin Peaks, Itch.io has one available. For GameBoy-style titles, Homebrew Hub has tons of fan-made projects. Personally, we would love to see publishers like Sony and Nintendo release their games on iOS. That way, people can enjoy the classics without skirting the law.

For those looking to upgrade, check out TechRadar's guide for the best iPhone for 2024.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

December 22, 2023
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Software designers Oliur and Shane Levine have released a series of wallpapers that convert the lock screen on your iPhone into an iPod Classic.

It’s a real blast from the past. The collection is known as the iPod Wallpaper Pack, consisting of “12 high-definition wallpapers” sporting a multitude of colors. Just to name a few of the shades, you'll get the classic silver look, black, turquoise, hot pink, and lime green. But one of our favorite aspects of these covers is the attention to detail the designers gave each of them.

Color iPods on iPhone display — (Image credit: Oliur)

One wallpaper is completely covered by heart and flower stickers, and it looks exactly like something your little sister would do to your iPod. Another has carefully placed stickers around the click wheel: AC/DC in one corner with Rockstar Games in the other. Plus, we like how a few of the selections have scratches and chipped-off paint because who among us did not drop their iPod multiple times?

iPod on iPhone display with scratches and stickers — (Image credit: Oliur)

Availability

The date and time will hover around the same location – somewhere near the top of the screen with battery life over in the top right corner. There’s even a little bit of room for widgets in the iPod display.

Oliur’s iPod Wallpaper Pack is currently available for $ 14 on its official website. Upon purchase, the images will be placed into a 58 MB ZIP file that needs to be extracted to be used. According to tech news site T3, you can save the wallpapers by uploading them to your iCloud account if you’re buying them on your iPhone.

If you’re curious about what happened to iPods, Apple officially retired the series back in May 2022 with the final model being the 7th generation iPod Touch. The company continued to sell the device for a little while on its online store, however, if you go on there today, it’s completely gone. It’s sold out. Nowadays if you want an iPod, you’ll have to try your luck on a third-party retailer like Amazon or Walmart.

Or better yet: get yourself something more modern. If you want recommendations, check out TechRadar’s roundup of the best MP3 player for 2023.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

January 17, 2022
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Microsoft is trialling new functionality for web browser Edge that expands upon the RSS-style Followable Web feature, which landed recently in early-access.

As part of an A/B testing process, the company is rolling out a new YouTube integration to a small pool of Microsoft Edge users, who will be able to follow their favorite creators with the press of a button.

The YouTube follow button will appear on the right side of the URL bar for trial participants. Clicking the button will provide information about the channel (e.g. subscriber numbers, total videos), a feed of the most recent videos and the opportunity to become a follower.

The feature appears to differ from the native YouTube subscription functionality, instead serving up content to Edge users via the Collections pane, as part of Microsoft’s recent RSS push.

RSS comeback

Developed in 1999, RSS (an acronym for Really Simple Syndication) was once one of the most popular ways of keeping track of news and other content published to the web. But its reign was relatively short-lived.

By creating a new avenue for sharing and discovering web content, the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter effectively put an end to the heyday of RSS. Other algorithm-based services like Google News also provided an alternative model for serving up content to web users.

However, as the problems with the algorithm-based approach to content discovery come to light (misinformation, echo chambers etc.), there are plenty of people looking for a way to exercise greater control over the information they are presented with.

Currently, many of these people make do with free RSS readers, a large proportion of which are developed on a shoe-string budget. But now, major web browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are beginning to offer RSS functionality built-in.

Although RSS services have allowed users to follow YouTube creators for a while, Microsoft appears to be aiming at an altogether richer experience, whereby people are provided with contextual information about a channel as well as being notified when a new video lands.

The feature remains in early access for now, but depending on the outcome of testing may be rolled out as part of a full public build later in the year.

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January 17, 2022
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The first iteration of managing your files and folders has been remade and released for Windows 10 and Windows 11 users, giving you a useful alternative to Windows Explorer.

File Manager first appeared back in 1990 with Windows 3.0, where it was the only way to add, delete and manage your files and folders. But following the appearance of a graphical user interface and Windows Explorer with Windows 95, it was eventually retired in 1999.

But there were some users who loved the control that File Manager gave them, and that control is something that’s seemingly missing or hidden with Windows 11 in Explorer.

With File Manager, almost every feature was discoverable either through an icon at the top of the window, or when you right-clicked a folder, but in Windows 11 currently, some features, such as Command Prompt and ‘Copy’, are displayed through a right-click menu or in an Options menu at the top of the Explorer window.

Thanks to the source code having been released back in 2018, this rewritten version has been headed up by Microsoft Azure Architect Craig Wittenberg, you can drag and drop files into the app, alongside a search function, and much more. You can download it from GitHub or directly from the Microsoft Store to use on your PC to manage your files like it’s 1990 all over again.

Analysis: what’s old is useful again

Using File Manager in 2022 through Windows 11 is, to pardon a phrase, like stepping through a window to 1990. While the appearance of this File Manager may be overwhelming to some users, who may be used to a more elegant appearance for a user interface, the features it offers are very helpful.

Whereas in recent years with Windows Explorer, you’d have to go to the Taskbar or a different app to reach some of the features that exist in a right-click menu in File Manager, such as ‘Run’, ‘Move’ or ‘Go to ‘Directory’. Every function is accessible in a few clicks, and thanks to the tree layout of your files and folders, you gain a better overview of where your content is, alongside how you can manage these files across multiple hard drives for example.

File Manager in Windows 11 — (Image credit: Microsoft)

But it also shows how far interfaces and methods in computing have evolved in 30 years. It would be unimaginable now to start up Microsoft Edge through a command line, for instance, or use physical media such as Floppy Disks to play God of War in 8K.

Looking at Explorer in Windows 11, there’s plenty that could be influenced by File Manager. The inclusion of different view options to more clearly display folders and what they contain, alongside the facility to browse multiple windows in one Explorer window rather than separate ones, would be much more useful than what we have now.

With the next major update of Windows 11, Sun Valley 2 on its way, there’s always a chance that we could see further improvements to Windows Explorer that takes everything about what File Manager still does so well, and repackages it for a 2022 audience.

Our picks of the best laptops in 2022 so far

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

December 27, 2021
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Microsoft is attempting to bring back the RSS feed with a new feature for its web browser Edge, called Followable Web.

Currently available to members of the Edge Canary early access channel, the feature allows users to “follow” websites in order to receive a curated list of the latest updates.

The sites the user follows are shown in a panel on the side of the browser, but to see all of the followed sites, users will have to navigate to the Collections menu.

The rollout is gradual, even for Microsoft Edge Canary users, so don't fret if you're not seeing the feature in your app. Those interested in giving the test version of Edge a go can download it here.

RSS making a comeback?

Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, was once one of the most popular ways of keeping track of websites. Through the use of RSS readers, people were able to curate the newest content from their favorite places on the web with ease. But the reign of RSS was short-lived.

By creating a new avenue for sharing and discovering web content, the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter effectively put an end to the heyday of RSS. The algorithm-based methodology of Google News and Microsoft News also provided an alternative model for providing users with fresh content.

Now, it would seem, RSS is ready to come back into the limelight, with the new Followable Web feature for Edge. And Microsoft is not the only software giant working on an RSS feed feature for its browser, either; Google is also developing similar functionality for Chrome.

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TechRadar – All the latest technology news

December 3, 2021
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Microsoft Edge’s mini-game which can be played as a diversion when the browser can’t get online has been given a snowy twist for winter, with the traditional ‘surf game’ being changed into a skiing challenge that’s a blast of nostalgia (we’ll come back to its origins later).

If you aren’t familiar with the surf game, it’s basically Edge’s equivalent of the dinosaur game in Chrome – a mini-game for the browser which you can play when your internet is offline (or when you’re bored at any time, for that matter).

Normally, the Edge game allows you to use the keyboard (or mouse, touchscreen, or controller) to guide a surfer down the screen, avoiding obstacles, hitting jumps, and sometimes being pursued by a deadly monster – the kraken.

In the new skiing version for Edge 96, spotted by German tech site Deskmodder, the ocean is replaced by a snowy slope, and the kraken becomes a yeti (aka the abominable snowman).

Get your winter clothes on and hit the slopes with a limited-time skiing theme for the surf game in Microsoft Edge 96! Can you avoid the yeti while taking a trip down memory lane?🎿 Type edge://surf/ into Microsoft Edge to play! pic.twitter.com/EJObcaTSGyNovember 23, 2021

Otherwise, it remains essentially the same, offering a few different modes of play (endless, time trial, and zigzag which is a slalom) and being more fleshed out than Chrome Dino (which is a pure side-scroller with the only control being space to jump).

If you want to play, simply open Edge and type in the following in the address bar:

edge://surf

Analysis: SkiFree returns after 30 years

The surf game for Edge came out in May 2020 (with build 83) and is based on Microsoft’s aged classic SkiFree game that was released way back in 1991. So in actual fact, this new winter-inspired version is a return to the original format of a skiing game.

It’s a fun distraction, for sure, and a more interesting game than Chrome Dino – plus also it’s less prone to giving us slight motion sickness, which the dinosaur game seems to do when it starts to speed up with ridiculously fast scrolling.

Those keen to find more of these kinds of efforts to play should check out our roundup of the best free browser games.