The Morning After: Sony will directly invite some gamers to pre-order the PS5

The latest news in the fight against COVID-19 is this credit card-sized test kit. The BinaxNOW system still relies on samples from nasal swabs, but its maker says it can give results in 15 minutes and will only cost $5. Abbott Laboratories developed the antigen test — which looks for proteins specific to the virus, but may be less accurate than slower PCR methods — in a format that’s more like a pregnancy test strip.

The FDA granted it an emergency use authorization, and Abbott is apparently planning to produce as many as 50 million tests per month. As far as the accuracy, it said that in trials its test showed a sensitivity of 97.1 percent (correct diagnoses of people who have the disease) and specificity of 98.5 percent (correctly ruling out people who don’t have it).

The other part of the setup is an app, which gives people with negative tests a QR code that may serve as a “digital health pass” to the kinds of gatherings we’re currently avoiding. The jury’s still out on how well that will all work.

— Richard

Google's Pixel 5 may be boring, and that's not a bad thing

Tried, true and affordable.

Judging by the leaks and rumors, Google’s next flagship phone is going to be a bit… plain. If that holds up, is it really a problem? Terrence O’Brien is ready for a “boring” Pixel 5 and he’ll explain exactly why.
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Sony might send you an invite to pre-order the PS5

Selections will be made ‘based on previous interests and PlayStation activities.’

Sony will invite some dedicated gamers to be first in line for its PlayStation 5. To get on the list for one of the pre-order invites, go to the PlayStation website and submit your PSN username on the form. If you’re selected, then you can expect a chance to pre-order one of the PS5 consoles, as well as whatever accessories you need.
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A quick read that you'll finish before your first cup of coffee.

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer quits just three months after taking the job

That was fast.

In spring of this year (after the pandemic started), Kevin Mayer was still an executive at Disney, rolling out Disney+ streaming to the masses. Since then he took the top job at TikTok and now, just three months later, he’s resigned.

Of course, he admittedly didn’t see a future where the presidential administration would take aim at the video sharing app and push for a sale of its US operations. In a letter to employees, he mentioned that a resolution should come soon, but “the role that I signed up for — including running TikTok globally — will look very different as a result.”
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NVIDIA teases its next-generation RTX 3000 GPUs

More power.

We’re expecting NVIDIA to give us more details about its next generation of video cards, the RTX 3000 series, at a special GeForce event on September 1. To tide us over, the company has released a short technical video to give us a glimpse at its new GPU designs — likely the enormous leaked RTX 3090 card — and offers up some details about its plans.
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Watch our live unboxing of the Surface Duo

It’s all glass and metal.

The Surface Duo is real and in Devindra Hardawar’s hands. Check out this video as Devindra and Chris Velazco go over the Microsoft foldable’s slick hardware — an overview of its software chops will have to wait for a different day.
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But wait, there’s more...

'Fortnite' players on Apple devices are locked out of the new season

Netflix cancels 'Altered Carbon' after just two seasons

'Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War' lands on November 13th

Netflix will make a movie about Martin Shkreli's rare Wu-Tang album purchase

Olympus' webcam software beta rolls out to macOS users

Some Canon cameras can now upload images straight to Google Photos

Cornell University's laser-activated robot is smaller than a paramecium