Every time a company launches a game subscription service that lets you play a library of games for a monthly fee, it invariably gets referred to as a Netflix-for-games model. Now it looks like the real Netflix for games could be… Netflix. The company is reportedly looking to hire an executive to head up a new program that would see Netflix expand from video (and some podcasts) to games.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming already offers a game-streaming-for-a-fee service. And with the recent addition of support for dual-screen devices, there may finally be a reason to spend money on the Microsoft Surface Duo smartphone.
And there’ve been some interesting developments in the Linux smartphone space recently.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
- Mobian begins porting its Debian-based OS to more smartphones and tablets [LinuxSmartphones]
It’s been less than a year since the folks behind the Mobian project launched a mobile Linux distribution designed to bring Debian to smartphones. The operating system has come a long way in that time, but until recently it only supported the PinePhone, PineTab, and Librem 5 smartphones. Now that more smartphones are getting mainline Linux kernel support, Mobian is beginning to support additional hardware. - Nemo Mobile brings Glacier UX to the PinePhone [LinuxSmartphones]
This mobile Linux distribution rose out of the ashes of Maemo and MeeGo, two of the grandparents of the modern smartphone Linux scene. Recently the developer moved the base of the project from Mer to Manjaro, but the Glacier UX can also run on other operating systems including postmarketOS. It’s a promising UI… but also still very much a work in progress. - LibreBoot releases first new build in nearly five years [Libreboot]
Open source firmware project Libreboot has put out the first new release in almost five years with version 20210522. It’s a testing release though, so may still be a bit rough around the edges. - What’s new in PureOS 10 [Purism]
PureOS 10 “Byzantium” is the latest version of Purism’s Linux distribution. One of the biggest changes is support for GNOME desktop apps that resize for different device types including laptops and smartphones (like the Purism Librem 5 phone). But you can also shrink the window for phone-like boxes on laptops/desktops (like the new Librem 14 notebook). - Microsoft has turned the Surface Duo into a handheld Xbox [The Verge]
Xbox Cloud Gaming app for Android adds support for dual-screen devices like the Surface Duo, transforming the phone into a pseudo-Nintendo DES that can stream Xbox games, using the top as a screen and the bottom for controls. - Netflix Seeks Executive to Expand Game Efforts [The Information]
While many companies have tried to build a Netflix-for-games, it seems like Netflix may be planning to literally do just that. The company is reportedly hiring for an exec to oversee expansion into games. - Honor Germany confirms Honor 50 series will come with Google Mobile Services [GizmoChina]
Now that Honor has spun off from Huawei, at least in part as an effort to get away from US trade restrictions, it looks like future Honor phones will again ship with Google Mobile Services (the Play Store, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, etc) again. - Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21387 [Windows Blogs]
Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21387 is now rolling out to testers. It brings some bug fixes, Eco mode in the task manager has been disabled for now to address some issues, and IE11 is retired.
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