Thurrott Daily: April 28

Tech tidbits from around the web.

4/28/2016 10:35:56 AM

Weather forecast is interrupted by Windows 10 upgrade prompt

We had this on Windows Weekly yesterday, but in case you missed it.

Microsoft releases Windows 10 for PCs 10586.240 and Mobile 10586.242 to Release Preview ring

Seriously. Who can even keep this stuff straight in their heads? I’ll let Neowin handle this one.

Microsoft released two Windows 10 cumulative updates to the Release Preview ring today, including PC build 10586.240 and Mobile build 10586.242. The new build comes 15 days after the last cumulative update, which was 10586.218.

As with most cumulative updates, there are no front-facing features. There are, however, a number of improvements and fixes.

So there you go.

Remastered “Modern Warfare” will be bundled with next Call of Duty game

One of my worries with the Xbox 360 being retired is that we’ll start to lose access to some key gaming experiences from years past. And for me, that means “Call of Duty 2” through “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” a string of 8 mostly incredible games that, most important, contain some still-vital multiplayer experiences. (Subsequent COD games like Ghosts, Advanced Warfare, and BO3, are on Xbox One too.) I’ve often argued for a “Call of Duty: Online” subscription service that would combine all of the maps, weapons, and loadouts of all of these and future COD games into a single, customizable experience. But until that happens, seeing my favorite COD titles remastered for Xbox One is of course the next best thing. And it appears that that is happening.

Polygon reports.

Promotional material for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, revealed ahead of a formal announcement, hints at a remastered version of one or more of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games, according to an image published by the CoD enthusiast site Charlie Intel.

A poster was shown for the “Legacy Edition” of the game, specifying that “Modern Warfare Remastered is a full game download.” It was shown alongside a preorder card apparently coming from a Target.

On a related note, I’m curious about the name Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, since this game should in fact be Call of Duty: Ghosts 2. Has the Ghosts series/story line been canceled?

Nexus 9 disappears from the Google Store

And good riddance: The Nexus 9 is the worst Android tablet Google has ever made, and one of the few Nexus devices to not deserve the brand.

Android Authority reports.

A quick stop by the Google Store reveals that the Nexus 9 isn’t even available anymore.

Even though the Google Store isn’t selling these babies anymore, that won’t stop you from picking them up from HTC or third party retailers.

Don’t bother. But the unfortunate side effect of this change is that the over-priced Pixel C is the only Google tablet currently available. Maybe the rumored Nexus 7 tablet—the first two versions were spectacular—is real, and imminent.

Nintendo’s next game machine won’t debut until 2017, and they won’t even tell us if it’s a console or a portable device

This one is just weird. Nintendo this week announced that its next game machine will be called the NX and will ship in 2017. But that’s virtually all it said, as The Wall Street Journal reports.

Nintendo said on Wednesday it would release new smartphone games in the fall and a new videogame system in March 2017, disappointing investors who had expected quicker moves to boost results.

Chief Executive Tatsumi Kimishima declined to say much about the next system, code-named NX, including whether it would be a hand-held device or a console.

The schedule falls behind the consensus of analysts, who had expected the NX by the end of this year.

Just as with Windows phone, waiting is a great strategy. Cough.

AT&T will shut down its 2G network by the end of 2016

In 2007, I switched from Verizon to AT&T Wireless so I could buy an iPhone, and I’ve been a loyal AT&T customer ever since. But while the AT&T of 2007 did in fact support 3G speeds, Apple’s iPhone did not, and it only ran on a 2G-based network called EDGE. (Sometimes referred to, wrongly, as 2.5G.) Well, that network is finally coming down, Wireless Week explains.

AT&T has already transitioned some six million customers in the last 12 months off the 2G base and is poised to decommission the legacy network by the end of 2016.

Stevens said AT&T is planning to refarm the spectrum from the decommissioned 2G network to help meet ever increasing data demands.

Adios.