• Netflix might be working on a new feature that will allow users to watch partially downloaded content on their devices even if they aren’t connected to the internet.
• The feature was hinted at by strings of code in the newest update for Netflix on Android.
• Netflix added the option to download content for offline viewing in 2016.

Although it isn’t an especially useful feature at the moment, as many of us are still spending most of our days stuck in our homes, the ability to download content for offline listening and viewing has become a standard part of subscription services in recent years. Netflix added show and movie downloads to its service more than three years ago, and has iterated on the feature a few times in the years since, such as with Smart Downloads in 2018.

On Wednesday, XDA Developers shared the results of its teardown of the latest update for the Netflix app on Android, and based on strings of code they found in the APK, another upgrade might be in the works for offline downloads. The strings seem to suggest that partial downloads are currently being tested by the company.

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Netflix is working on a major upgrade for offline downloads originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 20:08:07 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• The coronavirus can spread from animals to humans, the Dutch government concluded, after looking at data from mink farms in the region.
• Researchers discovered a brand new coronavirus strain in bats from China that’s described as “the closest relative of SARS-CoV-2 reported to date.” The samples were taken between May and October of last year, but the study was published only a couple of weeks ago.
• These unconnected events show that COVID-19 is a disease that could have originated in animals from a virus that evolved and developed the ability to infect all sorts of other animals, including humans.

The coronavirus origin saga continues, as China has quietly changed the story. The virus didn’t come from the wet market in Wuhan, which is what so many conspiracy theorists have been claiming all along. It didn’t come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology either, China officials said a few days ago. We know from scientists and intelligence agencies it wasn’t made in a lab either.

The likeliest explanation is that an animal passed the virus to humans, and that’s how we ended up in this position, having to deal with more than 5.7 million infections and tremendous loss of life. But we now have more evidence that the virus can be passed from animals to humans, and that similar viruses exist in the animal kingdom.

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New research points to bats as the origin of the novel coronavirus originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 19:06:31 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Tesla recently cut pricing for the Model S, Model X, and Model 3. The Model S and Model X in particular are now $5,000 cheaper.
• Model Y pricing was unchanged.
• Tesla’s new price cuts were made in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has undeniably impacted the company’s quarterly sales.

In something of an abrupt and unexpected move, Tesla today lowered the price for nearly every model in its vehicular lineup. While the price for a new Model 3 went down by $2,000, the savings are more substantial for the Model S and Model X which can now be purchased for $5,000 cheaper than before. You can now pick up a brand new Model S, for example, for about $75,000 as opposed to $80,000. Model Y pricing, meanwhile, stayed the same.

The price reductions above are only applicable for purchases in North America, but the company is expected to implement similar price cuts in China in the near future.

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Tesla cuts Model S and Model X pricing by $5,000 originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 18:35:29 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• A vaccine for the novel coronavirus likely won’t be ready for the public this year, but antiviral clothes could help to protect us from the virus in the meantime.
• Intelligent Fabric Technologies North America has developed a fabric treatment that is capable of deactivating SARS-CoV-2, and has proven its efficacy in a lab.
• Products with the PROTX2 AV treatment could begin rolling out this fall.

Dozens of novel coronavirus vaccines are currently in development, but the chances of anyone aside from frontline workers being inoculated this year are slim to none. In the meantime, we’re going to have to keep ourselves safe by socially distancing, wearing a mask, and avoiding large gatherings, but clever innovations could make our lives even easier. In recent days, we’ve reported on masks that could potentially kill the virus on contact. It turns out that masks aren’t the only article of clothing that could protect us from the deadly virus.

This week, Fast Company published a story about an antiviral fabric treatment that is capable of killing SARS-CoV-2.

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Antiviral clothes might soon keep us safe from the coronavirus originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 18:04:40 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• The Gmail Settings menu is getting a massive makeover, as Google will offer users a Quick Settings button inside the desktop version of the service for rapid user interface changes.
• The new menu will include options to change the layout of Gmail, switch themes, and even enable an additional panel for reading emails.
• The new menu will also include a link to the regular settings user interface that’s available right now in Gmail.

Gmail got a significant redesign just a couple of years ago, Google’s biggest makeover ever for its popular email service. Google didn’t stop there, and it continued adding new features to improve the overall Gmail experience and increase its security. Just in the past few months, Gmail received an attachment scanner that can thwart malicious hacking campaigns and an improved search interface to help you find what you’re looking for.

The next thing Google wants to fix is the settings experience inside Gmail, and the desktop version of the app is getting a new Quick Settings menu that will soon be available to all users.

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Gmail is getting another neat feature to make email management even easier originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 17:42:23 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Samsung’s Galaxy Fold 2 has reportedly entered mass production, suggesting the August release date that has been mentioned in multiple rumors was likely correct.
• The Galaxy Fold 2 is said to use Ultra Thin Glass and will launch at a cheaper price than its predecessor.
• Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy Note 20 alongside the Galaxy Fold 2 in August.

The rollout of the original Galaxy Fold might not have been as smooth as Samsung would have wanted, but it was certainly fascinating to watch from the sidelines. For whatever reason, smartphone makers are utterly convinced that foldable devices with flexible screens are the future of the industry, but Samsung was among the first major brands to actually launch a product that consumers could purchase. Of course, that launch was preceded by a series of speed bumps, most notably when journalists began to report that their review units were breaking.

When the Galaxy Fold finally went on sale, the reaction was mixed. But just five months later, the Galaxy Z Flip made its debut, and offered a much stronger argument for the foldable form factor. For a somewhat niche product, the Z Flip sold well, and it was clear that Samsung had learned valuable lessons from the launch of the Fold.

Now we want to know how Samsung will apply those lessons to the Galaxy Fold 2, and according to a new report, we won’t have to wait very long to find out, as the foldable phone has recently entered mass production.

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New report claims Galaxy Fold 2 is on track for August launch originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 17:20:51 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• The novel coronavirus can spread with ease, making it an incredibly dangerous pathogen.
• Researchers have studied the genome of the various SARS-CoV-2 strains circulating in the population, identified the most common mutations, and proved these genetic changes don’t increase the transmissibility of COVID-19.
• Most mutations appear to be neutral or slightly disadvantageous for the virus, and they’re primarily induced by the immune system response rather than the adaptation of the virus.

The novel coronavirus is so scary because of the way it spreads inside a community. Anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours may be enough for COVID-19 to spread from a carrier, and then it can take up to 14 days for the symptoms to appear. When they do, they’re not always specific, and many people who experienced it a few months ago could have mistaken it for the flu or a common cold. The virus’s mortality rate is higher than the flu’s, but low enough that it doesn’t hinder its ability to spread to others. The faster the virus kills the host, the less likely for that host to transmit the disease to their contacts. That’s why “flattening the curve” is so important, and why some forms of social distancing are still required to avoid a second wave. The longer the virus is contained, the easier it’ll be to treat, thanks to the emergence of new protocols, new drugs, and the arrival of the first vaccines.

However, the virus is a living organism that can adapt to the environment through mutations. Scientists are already keeping tabs on the various genetic changes that have occurred in the COVID-19 strains that have been observed since December, and they have good news. These mutations do not increase the pathogen’s ability to spread to other people.

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Researchers say mutations haven’t made the coronavirus more dangerous originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 16:53:06 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• NASA and SpaceX were scheduled to launch an historic mission to the International Space Station Wednesday, but it was unfortunately postponed with minutes to go before launch as a result of bad weather.
• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was set to carry SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule to the ISS from Kennedy Space Center.
• The next attempt at launching the SpaceX capsule could come as soon as this Saturday.

NASA and SpaceX got so close to making history today. The space agency’s Commercial Crew program sought to launch astronauts into space, and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon was moments away from fulfilling that promise with a launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday afternoon that was, unfortunately, scrubbed as a result of bad weather only moments before liftoff.

This mission would have been historic for a couple of reasons. One is that it would have marked the first time a private company launched people into orbit, and this also would have been the first crew to launch from the US since the space shuttle program was ended in 2011. According to SpaceX, meanwhile, the next attempt at the Crew Dragon launch could come as soon as Saturday.

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Historic SpaceX launch postponed moments before liftoff due to bad weather originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 16:26:40 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• HBO Max launched today and offers up more than 10,000 hours of programming.
• HBO Max is priced at $15/month but is free for existing HBO subscribers
• HBO Max is the best streaming service for movie fans and also offers a compelling selection of TV shows, including Friends and Rick and Morty.

After months of anticipation, HBO Max finally launched today. And sure, the world may not need yet another streaming service, but HBO Max is particularly compelling and could very well prove to be a viable contender in an already crowded space dominated by the likes of Netflix and Hulu.

If there’s one word to describe HBO Max, it would be content. And a whole lot of it. To put HBO Max into perspective, consider this: HBO Max will have about twice as much content as what’s currently available on HBO. All told, HBO Max offers a massive library of movies, original content, and TV shows that simply can’t be seen anywhere else. If you’re at all curious about whether or not HBO Max is for you, there are a few things you should know in terms of pricing and content.

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Everything you need to know about HBO Max pricing, original content, and more originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 16:12:40 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• The coronavirus’ toll on China was surpassed a while ago now by the number of infections and deaths in the US — a fact that the Chinese health expert who’s basically the equivalent of Dr. Fauci pointed out in a new interview contrasting both countries’ responses to the pandemic.
• Zhong Nanshan is a top infectious disease expert in China who said he’s “shocked” at the coronavirus death toll in the United States.
• He blamed part of the problem on President Trump, who he said dramatically underestimated the coronavirus. “He thought it was a big flu.”

As the war of words between the US and China continues to ratchet up thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the health expert who’s basically the Dr. Fauci of China has decided to pour a little salt into the wound and used a new interview to express his shock at the US death toll from coronavirus. While, naturally, praising the response of China to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking with the South China Morning Post, infectious disease expert Zhong Nanshan also gently chided an overall failure in the US to listen to medical experts, as well as President Trump for having “underestimated” the virus that’s infected almost 1.7 million Americans and killed nearly 100,000 as of the time of this writing. That’s according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University. “We need to find out more (about the coronavirus),” Nanshan said. “It is especially important for scientists to work together to investigate at a time like this, and I totally support that. But this has become very difficult now because (some politicians) have politicized the issues.

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China’s top coronavirus expert blames Trump for massive US death toll originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 27 May 2020 at 15:45:54 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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