Geek News

Last week, Nintendo began allowing customers to leave reviews for Switch games on its site. Along with leaving comments, reviewers could list themselves as a Nintendo fan, core gamer, casual player or a parent and they could also tag their review with a number of descriptions such as kid appropriate, immersive or great characters. But, as Polygon reports, customer reviews have already been suspended and there's no word on when or if they might be back. On Nintendo's website , there's now a note under "Customer Review Status" that says, "Customer reviews have been taken offline as we evaluate this feature and its functionality. We currently have no estimated date on when an update will be provided. We appreciate the positive response and thank the reviewers who provided such thoughtful commentary on the games." That could mean that Nintendo is tweaking the feature's design or it could mean it's considering whether customer reviews should st...

Amazon will start rolling out its own version of QR codes, TechCrunch reports. Called SmileCodes, they function just like a typical QR code -- scan it with your phone and see where it leads -- but they'll only be scannable through the Amazon app and, naturally, they feature the very recognizable Amazon smile right in the center. According to TechCrunch , Amazon has been piloting them for the past few weeks in pop-up shops and Amazon Lockers in Europe and next month, SmileCodes will hit the US. They'll debut in magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Seventeen . A number of companies have continued to utilize traditional QR codes or their own take on them. Spotify began offering its own codes last year as a way for users to share music with others while Pinterest's Pincodes allow brands to link users to more information and content. Similarly, Snapchat offers Snapcodes that let users share their profile as well as website links. Meanwhile, others, like Microsoft and Ven...

Yesterday, Axios reported that the Trump administration was considering the option of a government-controlled 5G network . Documents obtained by Axios showed that Trump's national security team had proposed a couple of options, including one where the US government funds and constructs a single network, aimed at protecting US networks from Chinese cyberattacks. However, Recode now reports that those documents were outdated and their proposed plans are not actively being considered by the administration. Recode's White House sources said that not only was the document old, it was also not any sort of serious proposal on the National Security Council's part. The idea had been put out there by a staff member, but was not part of any major upcoming policy shifts and likely never would be. Today, FCC Chair Ajit Pai released a statement opposing such an idea saying, "The main lesson to draw from the wireless sector's development over the past three decades -- in...