Friday, July 15, 2022

The 15 Best RPGs on Nintendo Switch - CNET

Our picks for the best role-playing games on Nintendo's system.

from CNET https://ift.tt/Mc1okxj

Latest Gadgets News

Bharti Airtel on Friday announced the successful trial of 5G private network at Bosch Automotive Electronics India facility in Bengaluru. Airtel's on-premise 5G captive private network was built over the trial spectrum allocated by the Department of Telecom (DoT), according to a statement.

from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/9TfVAz6

Latest Gadgets News

The United States' NASA said on Friday it would resume flights to the International Space Station with Russia, despite its attempts to isolate Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine. NASA said that astronaut Frank Rubio would fly with two Russian cosmonauts on a Soyuz rocket scheduled to launch on September 21 from Kazakhstan, with another astronaut, Loral O'Hara, taking...

from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/29xZsMJ

Social Security Checks Could Increase $180 a Month Next Year. Here's What the Experts Say - CNET

If inflation continues to climb, beneficiaries could see another record increase.

from CNET https://ift.tt/yDnqiYm

Latest Tech News

In a bid to bring people back, Facebook is letting a limited number of users have up to five different profiles as part of a new test.

Initial reports come from Bloomberg where it says the test is only available to certain users in a select few countries, including the United States. One profile on the account will need to serve as the core with the user’s real name attached to it. The additional four profiles won’t need to use your person’s real name as they can have their own unique username. Plus, they all have a unique news feed. It should also be noted that multiple accounts are still not allowed on Facebook. Profiles are considered different from accounts.

We reached out to Meta for more information and a spokesperson got back to us detailing the test. They said it's “to help people tailor their experience based on interests and relationships.” 

Better organization is the focus as users can create different profiles for different purposes. For example, you can have a profile for work, family, a gaming community, a cycling group, or to plan a vacation. With these different profiles, Meta also hopes to alleviate account clutter.

The spokesperson went into detail concerning account safety and community standards. If you violate the rules on one profile, it'll affect the rest. Say you impersonate someone. This may result in getting that particular profile removed or having the entire account banned. Facebook has a Counting Strikes system in place to judge which profiles get banned. Usernames must still follow Community Standards and not have numbers or special characters within them.

As for availability, that’s still unknown as Meta “may roll out this feature more broadly in the future.” We also asked the spokesperson for a full list of countries that have the multiple profile test.  All the spokesperson said was they had no information to share.

Analysis: Stagnating userbase

Facebook's popularity has been on the wane due to a number of missteps. In fact, the platform reported a decline in users back in February when Facebook saw its first drop in daily users. It went from 1.93 billion users down to 1.929 billion daily users. While the drop may seem laughably minuscule, that’s still a million people leaving. It’s also important to take into account that Facebook is not exactly winning with teenagers, either. Younger users seem to prefer Snapchat and TikTok.

And on top of all that, you can’t ignore Facebook’s numerous data leaks that have stained the company’s reputation. The platform has tried to improve user security with Facebook Protect and 2-Factor Authentication. However, all the changes in the world don’t matter if a tech giant like Meta can get tricked into coughing up sensitive user data to hackers.

Best of luck to Facebook in regaining user trust. It’ll be interesting to see if the multiple accounts feature will be enough to bring people back.

If you’re curious about beefing up your online protection, TechRadar has a list of the best internet security suites for 2022



from TechRadar - All the latest technology news https://ift.tt/smtYTdy

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Nintendo Switch Online Is Adding Pokemon Puzzle League This Friday - CNET

The classic N64 puzzler joins the Switch Online plus Expansion Pack service on July 15.

from CNET https://ift.tt/xQmdqj1

Latest Tech News

Burning ammonia could help power data centers worldwide, however doing so with current ammonia production technology could leave a catastrophic carbon footprint - a fact Fujitsu believes it can change.

Fujitsu is working with Icelandic start-up Atmonia, providing high-performance computing and AI muscle to support its research into producing sustainable ammonium.  

Access to high-performance computing is one area in which Fujitsu is definitely not lacking; the company operates the Fugaku supercomputer, currently considered the second most powerful worldwide.

How will the partnership work?

The Icelandic firm will use Fujitsu's computing might for uncovering new materials and catalyst candidates for ammonia synthesis. Fujitsu Research senior director Surya Josyula told the Register.

Atmonia announced in April that it has been conducting research on new methods to produce ammonia by only using water, nitrogen from air, and clean electricity. 

Atmonia aims to further expand and improve the efficiency of its research in catalysts for ammonia production by conducting various tests to simulate chemical reactions using quantum chemical calculations.

You can see why so much effort is being placed into making ammonia production less environmentally harmful.

The Haber-Bosch process, where nitrogen and hydrogen are converted into ammonia, reportedly accounts for around 1% of global annual CO2 emissions, more than any other industrial chemical-making reaction.

However, if sustainable ammonia could be used to used to power data centers it could go a long way toward reducing IT's carbon footprint. 

Data centers currently use nearly 1% of global electricity demand or 0.3% of all global CO2 emissions, according to research from the International Energy Agency.

"Retrofitting the industrial process to use hydrogen sourced from electrolysis of water is possible," said Atmonia in the April announcement. "However, this is a more energy intensive route and does not fit well with the intermittent nature of renewable sourced electricity (such as solar/wind) as the Haber-Bosch process requires a continuous source of hydrogen to maintain operation of the downstream processes, which in turn requires uninterrupted source of electricity."

  • Want to run scientific workloads in the cloud? Check out our guide to the best cloud hosting


from TechRadar - All the latest technology news https://ift.tt/NSX6Vwe

Latest Gadgets News

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday said it has allotted over 7.1 crore equity shares to internet major Google for Rs. 730 apiece. The allotment is part of Google's commitment to invest $1 billion (nearly Rs. 8,000 crore) with Airtel, which included equity investment in the company worth $700 million (nearly Rs. 5,600 crore), Airtel said in a regulatory filing...

from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/F7iXCh8

Abortion Laws in Every State: Where Is Abortion Banned? - CNET

According to a new poll, more than half of Americans disagree with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

from CNET https://ift.tt/Pnisjhm

Latest Tech News

Perhaps I expected too much from Twitter's CoTweeting feature. It's easy enough to use, but delivers far less than I anticipated.

When CoTweeting showed up in my mobile Twitter app a day or so ago, I pushed it aside as a curiosity to be dealt with later. At the time, I didn't realize that it was a limited test. In other words, I was among a small set of Twitter users who had access to Twitter's latest collaboration tool.

It's a little surprising that in the face of a legal battle with "will he or won't he" suitor Elon Musk, Twitter is still working on new products, rather than shoring up the battle lines with sandbags. 

CoTweeting is not, obviously, editable Tweets, a feature I'd much rather be trying out. But it is interesting, unusual… and a bit disappointing.

I decided to give it a try when I noticed a few other Twitter users diving in. Creating a CoTweet is easy. When I compose a tweet on Twitter on iOS, there's a new icon next to Tag Location that looks like a little person. I can start by composing a tweet, and then select CoTweet to initiate an invite to other Twitter users, as long as it's a public account that also follows me. So, no, you can't invite Elon Musk to CoTweet if he isn't following you.

You search for an account in the CoTweet interface, select one (for the moment, the limit is one collaborator), and then return to compose the CoTweet. However, the Tweet will not go live until your invited CoTweeter accepts the collaboration invite.

Twitter CoTweet process

The Twitter CoTweet alert (far right), new icon (middle) and the invite screen. (Image credit: Future)

For my first CoTweet collaborator I chose my friend, Canadian comedian, influencer, and media star Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds), who got a notification in his DMs that he'd been invited to "tweet together." Brittlestar immediately agreed and we were off to do… something.

The CoTweet looks like a regular tweet, but with one distinct difference: both my and Brittlestar's handles and profile pictures appear at the top with an "&" between them.

See more

That co-created tweet now appears on both of our timelines as an original tweet. That makes sense, but everything that happens after doesn't. All my replies to the original co-Tweet look like replies to myself. There's no interface where cotweeters can manage the replies, reactions, and additional tweets on the thread. I think all replies in the thread are part of the cotweet, but it's not clear that they're coming from Brittlestar and me; in fact, I think they're purposely not set up to look that way. 

The question is whether replies from each of the cotweeters should be attributed to both parties or, as they are now, remain assigned to the original tweeters. Twitter may have made the right choice here, but I would suggest an option that asks if you also want to "cotweet" a reply.

I also don't see a way of disentangling yourself from a cotweet, aside from deleting the tweet.

We had a lot of fun with the concept (Brittlestar is a comedian, after all), but I just didn't understand the point of cotweeting. I guess there is that "speaking with one voice" thing, but isn't it just as easy to like something that someone else tweeted or, better yet, retweet it?

I can see the benefit for brands that want to have guests, maybe celebrities, cotweet promotional tweets, and people who, perhaps, want to simultaneously share good or bad news as a pair, but even then, the interface does little to support this new form of Twitter conversation beyond the very first tweet.

Twitter should keep trying experiments like this, but I hope it's also listening to feedback. CoTweets feels like half of a good idea – perhaps we can fill in the rest by cotweeting about it.



from TechRadar - All the latest technology news https://ift.tt/yAmMOz1

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

The $58 Prime Day Headphones Deal That Lured Me From My AirPods Pro - CNET

Sometimes, you just have to take a risk and try something new. This 42% discount makes it a lot easier to do.

from CNET https://ift.tt/iy4t3Uf

Latest Tech News

Are thinking about picking up or renewing a PlayStation Plus subscription this Prime Day? Well, don't. 

Leave aside the fact that this year's PS Plus Prime Day deals are beyond disappointing; even if they weren't I would be offering you the same advice. Prime Day is not the best time to pick up or renew PS Plus if you want a decent discount, especially if you want to benefit from savings for years to come.

Instead, I strongly advise waiting until Black Friday 2022 for a substantial PS Plus deal – here's why.

An abysmal offering

ps plus

(Image credit: Sony)

First things first: let's look at the extremely scarce deals that are available on Amazon for PS Plus right now. From what I can see there's just one discount (if you can even call it that) in the UK and one in the US. 

In the US you can save 10% on 12 months of PS Plus, and in the UK you can literally save pennies on a three-month membership. (Not in the UK or US? Scroll down for deals in your region). These aren't necessarily Prime Day deals, per se, but even if we look at third-party retailers like CD Keys, there's not much in the way of discounts available right now.

You can check out Amazon's offerings below – although you'd be wasting your time:

PS Plus 12-Month Membership: $59.99 $54 at Amazon
Save 10% - You can save $6 on PS Plus right now at Amazon, but we advise holding off until Black Friday if you want a truly great deal, as we've seen PlayStation Plus prices drop considerably lower than this before.View Deal

PS Plus 3 Month Membership: £26.99 £26.53 at Amazon
Unless you're extremely keen to renew your PS Plus membership, or to pick one up, then we advise against going for this deal. The 46p saving is so minimal as to be meaningless.View Deal

So when should I renew?

Ratchet and Clank

(Image credit: Insomniac Games)

Black Friday is the perfect time to renew PS Plus, or get it for the first time. You'll find other discounts throughout the year, sometimes priced just as competitively as we see during the Black Friday period (the day itself is November 25 this year), but Black Friday is the one time you can actually guarantee the price will drop across a number of retailers.

Last year, for example, we saw a 12-month PS Plus subscription fall to just £29.95 at ShopTo in the UK, and to just $36.99 at CD Keys in the US. 

The best part of renewing or picking up a 12-month PS Plus subscription during this period is that when you need to renew next year it'll be Black Friday again, so you'll get a discount again. It's a genius strategy. You can even stack memberships, so you can buy up several years' worth of subscriptions at a discount if you're concerned that the price won't be as low again.

Even if you're at the critical point where your subscription is due to run out before Black Friday, I advise picking up a cheaper three-month subscription to tide you over until then (check out our cheapest PS Plus deals page for more).

However, during the sales period itself, I strongly suggest getting a 12-month membership rather than three months, as I've found this offers the best value for money. Plus, if you purchase a three-month membership during Black Friday, it'll run out at the end of February 2022, when there are typically no sales. 

How will the PS Plus revamp affect deals?

PS Plus Collection logo

(Image credit: Sony)

Great question. We're not entirely sure yet, but given that what was previously the standard PS Plus membership is now the Essential tier, we imagine that this tier at least will continue to see discounts. 

But we're hoping that the new Extra and Premium tiers, which are pricier than the regular subscription, will also get discounted. 

The revamp does, however, strengthen the argument that waiting until Black Friday for a good PS Plus deal is wise. As the revamp finds its feet and new games are gradually added to the tiered libraries, it's certainly worth holding off until November to see what tier does appeal to you.

Are you happy with your current PS Plus offering? Then sticking with the Essential tier may be best. Do you want to play a catalog of PS4 and PS5 games? Then maybe consider Extra. Want access to all that, plus retro PlayStation games? Then Premium could be for you.

Essentially, there's nothing wrong with waiting to see how it all shakes out and then deciding what is the best-value option for you.

More PS Plus deals

No matter where you live, you'll find all the lowest prices for PS Plus around the web right here, with offers available in your region. 

More Prime Day deals in the US

More Prime Day deals in the UK



from TechRadar - All the latest technology news https://ift.tt/TrR2xQg

Latest Gadgets News

Infosys on Wednesday said it will acquire Denmark-based BASE life science for EUR 110 million (nearly Rs. 900 crore) in an all-cash deal. The acquisition will deepen Infosys' expertise in life sciences domain as well as strengthen its footprint across Europe.

from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/UHRTzYK

Fed Expected to Raise Rates Aggressively This Month, as Inflation Hits a New 40-Year Peak - CNET

The Federal Reserve's strategy hasn't panned out yet. But more rate hikes could push the US into a recession.

from CNET https://ift.tt/T3e0pa4

Latest Tech News

When it comes to the hottest footwear of the last decade, shoes from the Nike/Adidas duopoly – Air Force 1s, Dunk Lows, Yeezys and so on – have dominated the conversation. The last 12 months, though, has seen a once much-maligned brand rise like a phoenix from the ashes to rank proudly among the biggest names in contemporary fashion. 

Yes, ladies and gentlemen: Crocs – the colorful foam clogs made famous by young children and elderly gardeners the world over – are officially the biggest shoes of 2022 (just ask Justin Bieber or Pharrell Williams), and Amazon has seen fit to discount a huge swathe of the brand’s range as part of its annual Prime Day deals event. 

The unisex Crocband 2 clogs, for instance, are now just $34.99 (down from $49.99) in a variety of colors and sizes, while the Crocband 3 sliders have also enjoyed a price cut (down to $20.99 from $29.99). We’ve rounded up a few more of the best Amazon Prime Day Crocs deals below, but you’ll have to act fast – these quickfire savings will only last until midnight (PT) tonight. 

The best Prime Day Crocs deals:

Crocs unisex-adult Bayaband clogs: $49.99 $34.99 at Amazon
Save 30% - This particular variety of Crocs will do a great job of letting onlookers know that you are indeed wearing genuine, shop-bought Crocs (as opposed to a pair of Crocs wannabes). For just $34.99, you'll get the brand's famously comfortable rubber soles and "sports mode" straps (as the internet now calls them), as well as a hard-to-miss logo emblazoned on either side of your feet. What's not to like?View Deal

Crocs unisex-adult classic tie dye clogs: $54.99 $24.50 at Amazon
Save 55% - If you're in the market for something a little more colorful this Amazon Prime Day, then these classic tie dye Crocs are the shoes for you. There's not much more to say about these beauties, except that multiple celebrities have been seen wearing them (and proudly, we might add). Grab them for $30 less until midnight tonight.View Deal

Crocs unisex-adult classic tie dye clogs: $49.99 $39.91 at Amazon
Save 20% - If wacky styles aren't your thing, then the regular Crocs are also discounted on Amazon right now (though not as part of Prime Day). The online retailer stocks a massive range of colors for this iconic iteration of the brand's famous footwear, so whether yellow, green, blue, red or white kicks are your calling, there's a cut-price pair of Crocs waiting for you right now.View Deal

Crocs Jibbitz 13-pack shoe charms: $39.99 $23.99 at Amazon
Save 40% - What are Crocs without Jibbitz? Every pair of Crocs can hold 26 of these friendly-looking rubber attachments, which are designed to be traded with friends and family (they're basically the footwear equivalent of Pokémon), and Amazon is currently offering this 13-pack for 40% less as part of its Prime Day sale.View Deal

As mentioned, you'll need to act quickly if you want to cash in on these stellar Crocs deals. All but one of the above discounts are Amazon Lightning Deals, meaning they expire when the clock positioned next to their respective product listing hits zero. In this case, you've got until midnight tonight (PT) to make use of the savings.

For more of today's biggest and best discounts, head over to our Prime Day deals page for a roundup of the latest and greatest Amazon offers. 

More of today's best Amazon Prime Day deals:



from TechRadar - All the latest technology news https://ift.tt/6Cqkbf9

Latest Tech News

They say fortune favors the bold, so why not rebel from cookie-cutter colorways and mix things up with some eye-catching tech instead? As a...