Smart Globies

xCloud is being bundled into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as a game streaming feature. Microsoft is launching an update to the Xbox Games Pass app on Android in 22 countries tomorrow, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Missing from the list of 150 games are EA’s Play titles. Microsoft revealed last week that it’s adding EA Play to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, but the games won’t be available on xCloud until later this holiday.

Microsoft is also working to improve xCloud with touch controls for games. The first title to launch with touch controls will be Minecraft Dungeons, including support for controlling exactly how big controls are on-screen


Microsoft has previously demonstrated Gears 5 touch controls, and xCloud testers have had access touch controls for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice for around a month now. Expect a lot of games to pick up these touch controls in the months ahead.
Unfortunately, xCloud won’t be available on iPhones or iPads initially, due to Apple previously blocking services like xCloud. Apple extended an olive branch to Microsoft last week, permitting game streaming services like xCloud or Stadia to exist on iOS or iPadOS with a big catch. Apple wants companies like Microsoft to individually submit their games as separate apps using its streaming tech.

Microsoft wasn’t happy with this requirement, but it’s not clear if the company may eventually package up some games and stream them on iPhone or iPad devices. Microsoft called Apple’s move “a bad experience for customers,” noting that streaming movie or song apps don’t have to package individual contents into separate apps.

We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok's users, while protecting national security interests," Microsoft (MSFT) said on post Sunday. "To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation, and we made these principles clear in our August statement."

ByteDance has not responded to a request for comment. TikTok declined to comment.

Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump and other US politicians have said the app poses a threat to national security. TikTok has denied the allegation.

The agreement with Oracle comes days before a ban on TikTok in the United States was scheduled to go into effect. After September 20, the Commerce Department is expected to clarify which types of business dealings involving TikTok will be prohibited in the country, according to an executive order Trump signed August 6.

It's not clear whether TikTok's partnership with Oracle would allow the short-form video app to avert that ban. The scope and language of the order, along with Trump's own off-the-cuff remarks about TikTok, have led to confusion about how a ban would be implemented. In another executive order, Trump said TikTok had until November 12 to find a buyer.

Separately, a TikTok employee has challenged the looming ban in federal court and is seeking a judicial decision to suspend the August 6 executive order. A hearing to consider the plea is scheduled for Tuesday. TikTok has also sued the Trump administration over one of the orders, calling it "heavily politicized."

Multiple analysts had described Microsoft's pursuit of TikTok as a potential "coup" for the Washington state-based firm — an opportunity to scoop up one of the world's fastest growing social media platforms at a time when TikTok may be desperate to make a deal.

A deal could have also included an American retail giant: Walmart (WMT) was also participating in negotiations with Microsoft over a potential deal. The retailer had said it was interested in how TikTok could have bolstered its access to consumers.

Walmart on Sunday told CNN Business that it "continues to have an interest in a TikTok investment and continues discussions with ByteDance leadership and other interested parties."

"We know that any approved deal must satisfy all regulatory and national security concerns," the company said in a statement


TikTok and Oracle will become business partners in the United States — a deal meant to satisfy the Trump administration's national security concerns, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Talk of a sale began as President Donald Trump issued executive orders last month seeking to ban TikTok and requiring that its US operations be spun off from its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance.

The exact nature of the agreement between TikTok and Oracle (ORCL) remains unclear, but it was not described as an outright sale. The news about Oracle came just after Microsoft announced that it's not buying TikTok's US operations from ByteDance

The Camon lineup is the camera-oriented family in the Tecno portfolio. The Camon 16 Premier is the mightiest device of new series with unusual camera setup design - an extremely big rectangle, with four cameras and one LED aligned as one big plus.

The phone looks similar to the Infinix Zero 8, another regional star, and that's no accident. The two brands are owned by the same company, but the devices are aimed at different markets


The Camon lineup is the camera-oriented family in the Tecno portfolio. The Camon 16 Premier is the mightiest device of new series with unusual camera setup design - an extremely big rectangle, with four cameras and one LED aligned as one big plus.

The phone looks similar to the Infinix Zero 8, another regional star, and that's no accident. The two brands are owned by the same company, but the devices are aimed at different markets


Then again that might well be worth it considering that the Tecno Camon 16 costs the equivalent of $300, which is outstanding considering its hardawre. We’ll give you a definitive answer when we complete our review - stay tuned!