• A number of Samsung company scandals have been generating news headlines at a steady clip in recent weeks, such that Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee actually felt compelled to deliver a public apology about them.
• The Samsung scandals include a bribery and corruption probe.
• Also wrapped up in the negative press is a controversial 2015 merger of affiliates that allowed the Samsung heir to advance as a successor.

Most of the users who rely on Samsung’s popular Galaxy S-series phones and Note phablets probably separate the idea of Samsung, the brand, from the idea of the Samsung company — and are probably quite unaware, in fact, of the growing pile of news headlines from recent weeks covering a complex scandal and corruption probe inside the South Korea-based conglomerate.

When ordinary people are aware of negative headlines out of the company, it tends to involve product misfires rather than boardroom intrigue. That’s to be expected, but one thing that’s striking here is the chasm between Samsung’s massive, globe-spanning success and having so many scandals swirling behind the scenes that Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee actually felt compelled recently to deliver a public apology. And in yet another development along these lines, prosecutors reportedly questioned Lee this week about a controversial 2015 merger between two affiliates that helped him, according to Korean media, secure control of the company.

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Samsung heir is trying to make a massive corruption probe go away originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 21:12:32 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Various coronavirus vaccine development programs have advanced at a rapid pace, with several candidates proving that they’re safe and effective in pre-clinical and clinical trials.
• Some drugs are already approaching the final phases of human trials and could be ready in the coming months, but others have run into an unexpected problem: Not enough sick people.
• China is considering using some of the vaccine candidates on specific groups of people by the end of the year, even if the final trials haven’t been completed by then.

The coronavirus vaccine race has run into an unexpected problem. There might not be enough sick people for the final phases of some of the most advanced drug candidates to be completed as early as initially planned. Researchers from Oxford, who hoped their candidate might be ready for use as soon as September, now have to face the prospect of delaying it. Oxford will inoculate 10,000 volunteers during the next phase, with half of them receiving the treatment candidate and half a placebo. But if not enough people around them are sick, the researchers might not be able to tell if the vaccine is effective at preventing infection. They’d still be able to study the immune response, look for neutralizing antibodies, and assess the safety of the compound. Still, that’s not enough data to release the final studies and receive the regulatory approval required for widespread immunization.

China, which contained its COVID-19 infection, faces that same issue. The country has as many as four different vaccine candidates in testing and not enough infected people. A recent study showed one of those vaccines works, and CanSino will run a trial in Canada next. Oxford also plans to partner with other countries, but this would still lead to delays. China, meanwhile, is considering going forward with vaccine deployment by the end of the year, even if the research isn’t finalized.

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China might starting using coronavirus vaccines this year, even if trials haven’t been completed originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 20:09:05 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Apple will start reopening many of its retail stores later this week.
• Apple’s new safety guidelines will require all employees and customers to wear face coverings.
• Apple initially closed all of its retail stores in mid-March on account of the coronavirus pandemic.

As the coronavirus continues to subside in many areas, and with many states planning to loosen lockdown measures over the next few days and weeks, Apple today said it plans to reopen approximately 100 of its retail stores across the country this week.

Apple’s decision comes about three weeks after the company started reopening a handful of stores in Idaho, South Carolina, Alabama, and Alaska. At the time, Apple said it was keeping a close eye on local health data and would use that information to help it decide which stores can safely start serving customers.

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Apple to reopen around 100 US retail stores later this week originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 19:07:07 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Rockstar Games hasn’t even hinted at Grand Theft Auto 6 yet, but a recent filing from the developer’s parent company Take-Two might reveal a potential release date.
• According to Take-Two’s latest K-10, marketing spend will spike in fiscal year 2024.
• The last time the company’s marketing spend spiked like this was the year Red Dead Redemption 2 launched. It seems increasingly likely that GTA 6 will be out in 2023.

Gamers have been clamoring for news about Grand Theft Auto 6 ever since Grand Theft Auto 5 launched on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2013. GTA 5 is one of the best-selling video games of all time — right behind Minecraft, in fact — and yet we haven’t heard a peep about a sequel in the nearly seven years since its arrival. Every year that goes by without a word from developer Rockstar Games, the more anxious fans get, but a recent SEC filing from publisher Take-Two might offer us our best hint yet at when we can actually expect to play Grand Theft Auto 6.

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‘Grand Theft Auto 6′ release date might be scheduled for 2023 originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 18:05:04 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Spotify finally removed the 10,000 song limit from user libraries this week.
• Previously, Spotify users could only save 10,000 songs and albums to their personal libraries, but now they can save as much music as they want without any limits.
• Playlists and downloads for offline listening are still limited to 10,000 items each.

With close to 300 million users, 130 million of which pay for a monthly subscription, Spotify is the most popular music streaming service in the world. Apple Music might have taken the lead in the United States, but globally, no streaming platform is as ubiquitous as Spotify. One of the many reasons that Spotify has become such a dominating force is the sheer number of features it offers, but one major limitation has always bugged power users.

For years, Spotify has limited every user’s library to 10,000 items. If you ever hit the limit, you would see the following message when you try to add your 10,001st song: “Epic collection my friend. There’s no more room in Your Library. To save more, you’ll need to remove some songs or albums.” Spotify users have been asking for the limit to be removed ever since the Community Ideas Exchange was introduced. This week, their prayers were answered.

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Spotify finally removed one of its most annoying limitations originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 17:34:07 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• Several high school students in Atlanta tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a drive-through graduation parade and subsequent graduation party.
• Georgia allowed non-essential businesses to reopen in late April.
• The number of coronavirus deaths in the United States is now around 100,000.

A number of recent graduates from a private high school in Atlanta tested positive for the coronavirus shortly after the school held a drive-through graduation parade a little more than a week ago. Though graduates were confined to their cars throughout the ceremony, the initial student who tested positive told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they threw a graduation party for friends and family after the fact.

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High school students in Georgia test positive for coronavirus after a graduation party originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 17:03:44 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• The Pixel 5 specs will be underwhelming, according to recent leaks, especially when compared to the iPhone 12 series that will feature Apple’s next-gen A14 flagship processor.
• While the Pixel 5 might be as powerful as the Pixel 4, the Pixel 6 that could make up for Google’s missteps.
• Arm just launched a series of mobile processors that will power next year’s flagship series, including a brand new, powerful Cortex-X1 chip that could power premium phones like the Pixel 6.

I’ve written quite extensively about how and why Google will ruin the Pixel 5 this year, and it really boils down to this: For reasons that may be out of Google’s control, the upcoming “flagship” Pixel phone will be about as powerful as the Pixel 4, if that. The silver lining is that the Pixel 5 will be a transitional phone for the company in a year that’s already going to be painful for smartphone makers. But with the Pixel 6, we might finally see the Google innovation we’ve been waiting for: A custom processor to rival the iPhone. Make no mistake, specs and performance do matter, and they matter more for Android fans and device makers than Apple or Google.

The A-series chip in the iPhone is the processor to beat. As I’ve explained before, when the iPhone 12’s A14 chip arrives, it’ll obliterate the performance of the Pixel 5, even if Google decided to spring for the Snapdragon 865 chip after all (though this is unlikely). But come next year, flagship Android phones might finally have a real response to the A-series chip, and that’s Arm’s new reference flagship chip, the Cortex-X1 CPU.

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Could this chip give the Pixel 6 a chance against the iPhone 12? originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 16:36:31 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• HBO Max will debut tomorrow and may be the best streaming service for movie lovers.
• HBO Max will also offer users a giant library of TV programming, including hits like Rick and Morty, Friends, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
• HBO Max will cost $15/month, but a new promotion lets users sign up at a $12/month rate.

As someone who grew up a big TV fan, I never thought I’d see a day where it was literally impossible to keep up with what has become an avalanche of new content. Aside from regular cable TV and network offerings, you’ve got a steady stream of content coming out of Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu. More recently, Disney+ came onto the scene and immediately made an impact on the streaming landscape. Just a few months since its debut, Disney’s nascent streaming service has already amassed a whopping 54.5 million subscribers. And looking ahead, HBO Max is set to become available tomorrow and has a good chance of making a huge splash.

Suffice it to say, the number of streaming options these days is overwhelming. In light of that, our sister-site Variety recently put together an informative rundown which sets out to see how Netflix, HBO Max, Disney Plus, Hulu, Amazon, and Apple TV Plus stack up against each other. The fact that Apple TV Plus is even in the mix here is somewhat generous, but that’s beside the point. What matters here every streaming service caters to a slightly different crowd, and figuring out which streaming service fits you best can be a bit daunting. If you’re a big movie buff, for example, you might want to steer clear of Hulu.

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Here’s how HBO Max compares to Netflix, Hulu, and other streamers originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 16:09:07 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• The World Health Organization warns that a “second peak” of novel coronavirus infections could come right behind the first if countries relax lockdown and social distancing measures too quickly.
• While infection rates are down in some countries, many regions are still on the rise.
• There is still a possibility of a second wave in the fall, but it could be preceded by a second peak in the first wave if countries aren’t careful.

Shortly after the novel coronavirus pandemic started, health experts began warning of a potential second wave in the fall (providing we made it through the first wave). Every country has handled the pandemic differently, some with more success than others, but if any of those countries reopen too quickly and relax the guidelines that they put in place to protect their populace, another spike in infections could be right around the corner.

Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, told an online briefing that while cases are dropping in several countries, they are still on the rise in Central America, South America, South Asia, and Africa. He also reemphasized that epidemics often come in waves, and the countries that have seen their infection rates drop could be in for another wave later in the year. But, as he explained, we won’t have to wait nearly that long if we ease up on vital health and social measures too quickly.

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WHO warns of ‘second peak’ in coronavirus cases if we aren’t careful originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 15:42:44 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• NASA and SpaceX are about to launch a historic mission to the International Space Station from U.S. soil for the first time in roughly a decade.
• The launch will be live-streamed on NASA TV across all of its platforms.
• This is the last step in the Commercial Crew program before SpaceX’s Crew Dragon can be certified by NASA.

After years of NASA’s Commercial Crew program partners working feverishly to deliver a crew-capable spacecraft for the space agency, we’re about to see the first launch of astronauts from U.S. soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program. The launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is officially a “go” right now, and it is expected to take place on Wednesday, May 27th, at 4:33 p.m. EDT.

It’s an incredibly important milestone not only for NASA but for SpaceX as well. It will be the first time a SpaceX craft will take to the skies with humans on board, and assuming all goes well, it will be the start of a new era in NASA manned spaceflight.

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How to watch NASA’s historic SpaceX launch on Wednesday originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 26 May 2020 at 15:13:12 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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