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Sony has added support for two-factor authentication to its PlayStation Network accounts, and you really should set it up now, rather than after someone tries to take over your account or steal your password.

To set up the new security feature, turn on your PS4 and go to Settings -> PlayStation Network Account Management -> Account Information -> Security -> 2-Step Verification. You can also set it up through the Web by visiting this page. From there, on-screen instructions will walk you through the process of using a text message to confirm your mobile device as a secondary layer of security for your PSN account. Two-factor support is not available when logging on to older PlayStation systems, so Sony recommends you generate a "device setup password" to help protect the PS3, Vita, or PSP.

The addition of two-factor support comes five years after PSN was hit by multiple, high-profile hacks, which compromised many accounts and led to a $17.75 million settlement with the victims. Two-factor authentication was far from standard back then (though some game companies had it), but even today there are plenty of reports of PSN accounts being compromised, and getting charges reversed and access fixed with Sony is not always simple.

Enlarge / Don't cry, Pikachu. Millions of people still want to catch you!

I went away for a short holiday with family this past weekend and didn't pay much attention to gaming news. Imagine my surprise, then, reading the headlines on Tuesday morning and finding that Pokémon Go, by some measures the most insanely popular mobile game of all time, had already "lost its luster," as the headline from our own UK correspondent put it.

There's definitely some basis for such a summary. Pokémon Go has lost more than 12 million active users since its peak of just above 45 million in mid-July, according to Apptopia data summarized in a Bloomberg report. That month-long, roughly 25-percent drop from peak usage certainly sounds like the beginning of the end for what was recently an unquestionable phenomenon. Projecting things out linearly, you might even expect Pokémon Go to completely lose its user base by winter.

When you look at Pokémon Go's decline next to other mobile games, however, the expected drop-off in players doesn't look so dire or so surprising. While Pokémon Go's popularity peak might already be behind it, there's reason to believe the game's long tail can continue to attract millions (if not tens of millions) of loyal players for a long while.

(credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have become the best means of communication for many people, and now it seems that Apple wants to cash in on that trend. According to a Bloomberg report, Apple is looking to "capitalize on the popularity of social networks" by developing a video-sharing app for iPhone and iPad. The new app, which is reportedly in development for 2017, would let users quickly take, edit, and share video by using one-handed controls on their mobile device.

The video app sounds a lot like Snapchat in terms of features: users can record a video and then apply filters to it, doodle, or place text over it, and then send it to friends via the contact list or existing social networks like Twitter. According to anonymous sources close to the project, the app will be designed to let users shoot and upload video in less than a minute, and possibly in a square shape like Instagram photos were confined to. Bloomberg reports that the app is being developed by the Final Cut Pro and iMovie teams. It's unclear if Apple plans to release the app as a standalone download in its App Store or if it will bundle the features into its existing Camera app. It's also unclear if we'll ever see this video app—it's currently in the preliminary development stages, and the project could be killed if it "doesn’t meet the company’s timetable and expectations."

This news comes as Apple's revamped iMessages application will be available to all users when iOS 10 comes out in the fall. The updated messaging app will let users send handwritten text and drawings, full-screen effects, larger emojis, and more. With that update, Apple is clearly trying to bring its native messaging app up to the standards of Facebook Messenger, WeChat, WhatsApp, and Line, which have had similar features for a while. But now with the news of a possible video sharing app, it's clear that Apple wants to play on the same social media level as those messaging apps, as well as others like Snapchat and Instagram.