You might have thought just about every aspect of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 phones had leaked at this point, but not so – the rumor mill keeps coming up with more information about these flagship devices ahead of their February 1 launch.
Today we've got another tidbit of information from well-known provider of leaks Ice Universe (via GSMArena), who has taken to Chinese social media platform Weibo to give us some details of the portrait video mode on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The source says that the mode will be capable of shooting in a 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, with the phone offering relatively good thermal control so that the processing power required to capture clips in this mode doesn't overheat the phone.
Resolution bump
We weren't hugely impressed with the portrait video mode on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, especially compared with cinematic mode on the iPhone. In both cases, the subject of a video is kept in focus while the background gets blurred.
The current Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra can capture normal video at an 8K resolution at 24 frames per second, or at a 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. In portrait mode, that goes down to a 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second.
What's not clear is whether or not the other two Galaxy S23 models are going to get portrait mode this time around. All will be revealed when Samsung's next Unpacked launch event rolls around, and it's only a couple of weeks away.
Analysis: a tale of two sensors
Based on the rumors we've heard so far, we're expecting the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra to come fitted with the new 200MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor that Samsung has revealed. The standard and Plus models, meanwhile, are rumored to be sticking to a 50MP main sensor.
That should mean that the Ultra model is the one to look at for the most substantial camera upgrades over last year's models. So far we've heard that the night vision capabilities will be better, and we've seen sample shots for comparison purposes.
There has also been talk that Samsung is adding more modes on the software side, to go with improvements in the hardware. From a photo and video standpoint, you should be able to do more than ever with the upcoming Galaxy S23 handsets.
In fact there's been so much buzz around this that we think the Galaxy S23 Ultra could be one of the best photo-taking phones of the year – and it might even have more to offer than whatever Apple is plotting with the cameras on the iPhone 15.
Popular web hosting provider Hostinger has begun shifting its website builder efforts away from its subsidiary, Zyro, following the launch of its new eponymous competing service.
Founded in 2019, Zyro has - for over three years - been the platform parent company Hostinger has pushed to the frontline when website building services are needed.
However, following the launch of its website builder service, which can now be purchased as a combo deal with its web hosting service, the company has made it clear to TechRadar Pro that all its resources will now go towards pushing the Hostinger site building platform.
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What about Zyro?
In a recent blog post, Hostinger announced that it has introduced Zyro into the Hostinger ecosystem and renamed it as Hostinger Website Builder.
"We want to have everything under one already recognizable brand so that customers (both - existing and new ones) would be aware of our ecosystem. However, Zyro will remain available for existing clients,” Daugirdas Jankus, Chief Marketing Officer at Hostinger, told TechRadar Pro.
Initiated in 2020, the Zyro platform was originally a Hostinger side hustle with the goal of helping users build their own online presence with a drag-and-drop website building tool.
Hostinger also mentioned that Zyro will still be available for new customer sign ups but they will cease all marketing activities to push the product out to gain new users.
The Hostinger website builder plan is available for purchase at $2.79 per month and includes web hosting, a free domain name, free email accounts, free SSL certificates, and up to 100 websites.
The features that come with Hostinger’s website builder service is almost identical to that of Zyro, minus the pricing (Zyro’s website plan costs $2.59 per month), and there’s a separate business plan for $3.59 per month for ecommerce platforms.
Much of Avatar: The Way of Water’s rub-your-eyes-in-disbelief magic stems from its ability to convincingly blur the practical and the digital – and the animators at Wētā FX did such a good job in that department that director James Cameron was often duped into approving entirely computer-generated shots.
In an exclusive interview with TechRadar, Daniel Barrett, Senior Animation Supervisor at the New Zealand-based visual effects company, revealed that he and his team were sometimes forced to side-step Cameron’s desire to keep things as practical as possible in order to maintain the realism of certain shots.
“There’s a lot of interaction between [Na’vi] characters and Spider [played by Jack Champion] in The Way of Water,” Barrett explains, “and getting the kind of contact accuracy that you need in a stereoscopic film can be a real challenge. The planning on set was done to such a high level that many of those shots worked. But there were also times [when they didn’t].
“If you think of those shots where Quaritch is carrying Spider to the drop zone – that was all shot practically, but we realized pretty quickly that there were elements of Jack’s body that we needed to replace with a digital one to make sure we could get all of that contact done. Our digital doubles got to a really high level. We had plenty of situations on the film where we tricked Jim [Cameron] – where he thought we were practical, and we were in fact digital.
“We would make the decision: which is the path of least resistance to give Jim back his plate exactly as he shot it? And sometimes the savings were too great not to go digital [...] But obviously there was still a lot of work to be done there. For the camera team to create matchmoves that are accurate enough to hold up in 3D movies, there’s a real challenge in that. And they did amazing work on this film to reconcile some of those situations for us.”
Animation 101 with Wētā FX
As someone whose team was “largely responsible for everything that moves” in The Way of Water, Barrett is among the few people who can give an informed answer to the question: how the heck did Cameron pull this off?
If you’ve seen any of the film’s behind-the-scenes featurettes, you’ll know that the processes involved in bringing the entirely fictional world of Pandora to life on screen must have been mind-bogglingly complex. So, naturally, we asked Barrett to explain – in layman's terms – how Wētā turned the likes of Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis into 10-foot, water-dwelling Na'vi.
Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Zoe Saldaña and Sam Worthington on the set of Avatar: The Way of Water(Image credit: 20th Century Fox/Disney)
“The way we broke it up,” he begins, “there were certain teams for certain sequences, but we also have specialist artists. So, for instance, we have a facial team, who did the lion's share of the facial work, and they sit as a separate department. We have a motion edit team whose starting point is the performance capture data – obviously, they did a huge amount of work on this film. Then we have the animation team, who do a little bit of everything – they’re responsible for all the creatures, vehicles and things like that. And we also have a crowds team, who deal with the bigger crowd [animations], whether it's fish or birds or Metkayina at a village. So all of those groups of people, in those departments from what we call the motion realm, totalled about 150 at our peak.
Your facial animation will fall over if you don’t have a very accurate version of the performance.
Daniel Barrett, Wētā FX
“So the motion capture is captured – the bulk of that was done at Lightstorm [studios] – and [the footage] is then selected by Jim, whatever he likes,” Barrett continues. “Then it’ll be turned over to Wētā, where it comes through the motion capture team. The data tracking is done at Lightstorm, but we like to re-track it to make sure we maintain all the fidelity and detail of the performances. That will then go through to the motion edit team, who begin work on the bodies – and there’s sometimes a bit of cleanup involved in that [stage]. The motion edit team – also sometimes the animation team – will deal with the bits and pieces that you don’t get to capture," Barrett explains, giving Na’vi fingers and tails as examples.
“We like the bodies to be pretty much done before we move to facials – and on that note, there’s a huge amount of attention paid to what the head is doing, because your facial animation will fall over if you don’t have a very accurate version of the performance. Once that’s done, we move to facial [animations] – although sometimes, if we realize we’ve missed something with the head, we have to push it back one step. And that’s pretty much the process for performance capture, [with regards] to the motion team.
“Obviously, beyond us,” Barrett adds, “there’s an awful lot of work done prior in terms of the models, the rigging of the characters, the shading and the textures. But once the motion is there, the footage goes through the creatures team, who simulate cloth, costume and hair. And then of course we’ve got a very clever lighting team who work their magic, which is always such a wonderful thing. To see these characters finally rendered… oh, it’s just such a thrill. To have been working on something that looks a little cartoony and then see something that looks like the real thing. It’s such a pleasure, such a gift.”
Judging by The Way of Water’s near-$2 billion global box office receipts, audiences are enjoying the pleasure, too.
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters worldwide.
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Cybersecurity researchers from X41 and GitLab has discovered three high-severity vulnerabilities in the Git distributed version control system.
The flaws could have allowed threat actors to run arbitrary code on target endpoints by exploiting heap-based buffer overflow vulnerabilities, the researchers said. Of the three flaws, two already have patches lined up, while a workaround is available for the third one.
The two vulnerabilities that were patched are tracked as CVE-2022-41903 and CVE-2022-23521. Developers looking to protect their devices should update Git to version 2.30.7. The third one is tracked as CVE-2022-41953, with the workaround being not using the Git GUI software to clone repositories. Another way to stay safe, according to BleepingComputer, is to avoid cloning from untrusted sources altogether.
Patches and workarounds
"The most severe issue discovered allows an attacker to trigger a heap-based memory corruption during clone or pull operations, which might result in code execution. Another critical issue allows code execution during an archive operation, which is commonly performed by Git forges," the researchers said in their explanation of the incident.
"Additionally, a huge number of integer related issues was identified which may lead to denial-of-service situations, out-of-bound reads or simply badly handled corner cases on large input."
Git has since released a couple of additional versions, so to be on the safe side, make sure you’re running the latest version of Git - 2.39.1.
BleepingComputer notes that those that cannot apply the patch immediately should disable “git archive” in untrusted repositories, or avoid running the command on untrusted repositories. Furthermore, if “git archive” is exposed via “git daemon”, users should disable it when working with untrusted depositories. This can be done through the “git config –global daemon.upladArch false” command, it said.
"We strongly recommend that all installations running a version affected by the issues [..] are upgraded to the latest version as soon as possible," GitLab warned.
Your humble Wi-Fi router signal could be used to track your movements around a room, bat style, a new report has claimed.
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University recently published a report in which they detailed an experiment using ordinary off-the-shelf Wi-Fi routers to detect people’s locations, as well as their poses, in a room.
The experiment, although not without flaws, was an overall success, proving that the endpoints could be used to track people. It’s being described as an ethical and privacy-sensitive way to monitor (mostly elderly and alone) individuals.
Accurate images
In layman’s terms, the Wi-Fi signal transmitted by the routers can be used as a sort of sonar, where an AI-powered program analyzes the difference in the density between outgoing and incoming signals, and comes back with wireframe images of people in the room.
In some instances, the images came back incomplete, or showed people in weird, unnatural poses, demonstrating that the method obviously still needs work. But in many cases, the images created by the AI were quite accurate. People’s positions within a room were accurate, their dimensions were accurate, their poses were accurate.
Besides the occasional error in rendering, another major challenge is being able to track a bigger number of people. So far, the routers are able to successfully track up to three people.
For the experiment, the researchers used TP-Link Archer A7 AC1750 devices, which cost a measly $32. Compared to other tracking technology, such as LIDAR or radar, using Wi-Fi routers for this purpose is immensely cheaper. In some instances, the routers could even be a better solution compared to cameras, given that they work even if people are hidden behind objects such as furniture.
It seems as if the researchers will continue their work, attempting to improve the solution via better public training data for Wi-Fi-based perception.
Nvidia announced this week that the latest version of its subscription service, GeForce Now Ultimate, has officially gone live for several cities in the US, rolling out to San Jose, Los Angeles, and Dallas, as well as Frankfurt, Germany. Areas surrounding these cities will also be able to connect to the new Ultimate tier servers.
This version upgrades GeForce Now's premier RTX 3080 tier and rebrands it to Ultimate membership, offering the same benefits of the RTX 3080 tier but upgrading the cloud rig to an RTX 4080 GPU.
The service is powered by the Lovelace GPU architecture and, according to Nvidia, streams at up to 240 FPS with NVIDIA Reflex, up to 4K 120 FPS with support for DLSS 3 and RTX ON, and ultrawide support at up to 3,840 x 1,600p resolution at 120 FPS.
We punched in the numbers and found that if you paid for the Ultimate subscription tier in six-month increments for six years ($99.99, about £85/AU$145), it would cost the same as buying the RTX 4080 graphics card at its current MSRP. This makes it an excellent option for those with a solid internet connection who wants the performance of the current-gen graphics card without having to pay over $1,000 for it.
"After the start of the rollout of the RTX 4080 SuperPODs today, it’ll start rolling out to other regions, with wider release expected throughout Q1," an Nvidia spokesperson told TechRadar. "On our weekly GFN Thursday blog, we’ll be giving updates each week on which regions are getting RTX 4080 performance."
Could this be the future of PC gaming?
(Image credit: Nvidia)
We previously tried out the RTX 3080 tier for our Acer Chromebook 516 GE review and found the performance on one of the best Chromebooks we've tested to be near indistinguishable from actually running a laptop with the best GPU on the market.
And when we went hands-on with the new Ultimate tier for CES 2023, we found that the performance is even better, as it addresses latency issues that have held the subscription service back. Not only would the upgraded servers bring system latency beneath that 60ms threshold, but Nvidia also claims that by incorporating Nvidia Reflex into its server-side processing, it can bring it down as low as 35ms, which is on par with an actual gaming PC running local hardware.
If this turns out to be true, that would be absolutely huge and make an already great service perfect for even hardcore and eventually competitive gaming, maybe even beating out even the best gaming PC you can get for a comparable price.
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The new status update capability is nested among a rather batch of upcoming WhatsApp features. According to WABetaInfo, the company is working on 10 new tools. Most are currently available through the beta version of the Android app with one exclusive to iOS devices.
On Android, WhatsApp is currently testing voice status updates allowing users to record and share voice notes as a status instead of plain text. You will have a maximum recording time of 30 seconds, and if you don’t like what you hear, you can toss out the status before recording another update. Notes are confirmed to be end-to-end encrypted, “ensuring that only the people you choose with your privacy settings can listen to them.” They also automatically disappear after 24 hours or you can delete them yourself at any time.
There are restrictions for the current version of voice status updates, however. Not everyone who downloads the beta app will have the opportunity to record updates as it’s only going out to a select few. Plus other users will need to have the beta installed on their phones in order to listen.
Improving chat transfer
Next, the development team is working on a revamped chat transfer feature for securely moving your chat history over to a new Android device without needing to use Google Drive; effectively removing the middleman. The way the migration works is you need to open the chat transfer tool on your old phone first, then scan a QR code on the new device’s copy of WhatsApp. It appears this is exclusive to Android phones, as according to WABetaInfo, an iOS version “is not planned at the moment.”
And the final noteworthy Android changes are the new shortcut-blocking features. One will let you block a person within the chat list without having to open the whole conversation while the other allows users to block contacts from inside a notification. Be aware the latter feature only appears when you get a message from an unknown source. That way, you don’t accidentally block someone you know.
Exclusive for iPhone
For iOS, WhatsApp is adding tabs to the in-app camera so you can switch between taking photos or shooting videos on the fly instead of pressing and holding the on-screen button. It’s unknown if the video mode will continue recording after switching to photo mode or if it will stop. Hopefully, it’s the former, because it would be disappointing if the recording stops after switching.
Unfortunately, the iOS beta program for WhatsApp is full, so any new interested iPhone owners won’t be able to try out the upcoming camera mode. The latest Android beta, however, still has room for testers via the Google Play Store. Official launch dates remain unknown for everything.
While we have you, be sure to check TechRadar’s recent list of the best free Android apps available through the Google Play Store. It’s a massive list spanning 11 pages and covering education, travel, and camera apps.
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Denon is now shipping the AVR-X4800H AV receiver it first announced back in September 2022. That’s great news for home theater fans looking to step up their cinema sound game over what’s delivered by the best dolby Atmos soundbars, and it should also be of interest to gamers seeking a receiver that’s fully compatible with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S consoles.
A notable feature of the AVR-X4800H, and one that would rank it among the best AV receivers, is its support for 8K 60Hz and 4K 120Hz video pass-through on multiple HDMI 2.1 ports. Some earlier models from Denon and other AV receiver makers provided either a single full-featured HDMI 2.1 input, or even none at all, while promising a full suite of HDMI 2.1 capabilities would be added via a “future firmware update.”
The AVR-X4800H provides 8K and 4K 120Hz compatibility out of the box, and its other gaming features include support for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), Quick Frame Transport (QFT), and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). There’s also pass-through support for all key high dynamic range formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, Dynamic HDR, and HLG.
The AVR-X4800H offers 7 HDMI inputs and 3 HDMI outputs.(Image credit: Denon)
Denon’s latest receiver is similarly stacked on the audio side, offering up Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, IMAX Enhanced, and Auro 3D sound processing. Built-in Audyssey MultEQ XT32 room correction lets you fine-tune the interaction between your speakers and listening environment for the best sound, and a firmware update that will enable an upgrade to Dirac Live room correction (at extra cost) is promised for the future. Having used Dirac Live and experienced its sound quality benefits, we find that last feature especially compelling.
That’s not all there is to be said about the AVR-X4800H. With 9 onboard 125-watt amplifier channels, it supports Dolby Atmos configurations that use up to four overhead “height effects” speakers. It also has four subwoofer outputs that can be independently controlled. Denon’s wireless HEOS platform is used for streaming, allowing for high-res audio to be conveyed to the receiver over a Wi-Fi connection.
Analysis: Receivers with up-to-date HDMI 2.1 features have arrived (finally)
One irony concerning A/V receivers that have been released over the past few years is that many lacked HDMI 2.1 ports with comprehensive features to support the latest generation of gaming consoles, while numerous soundbars offer such support.
Anyone buying Denon’s new receiver will be able to use it well into the future
Models like Denon’s AVR-X4800H correct that situation by letting you connect both a PS5 and an Xbox series X with full pass-through of 4K 120Hz video along with VRR and ALLM support. Oh yes, it also has both 8K video pass-through and upscaling of 4K video to 8K resolution to ensure compatibility with your future 8K TV.
AV receivers like the AVR-X4800H are pricey ($2,499 / £2,000 / AU$3,600) audio components that you’ll want to hang on to for many years – decades, even – so it’s comforting to know that they are available now with a fully up-to-date feature set. Anyone buying Denon’s new receiver will be able to use it well into the future, or at least until virtual reality replaces all other forms of entertainment.
With four independent subwoofer outputs and both Audyssey MultEQ XT32 and Dirac Live support (forthcoming), the AVR-X4800H can be used as the centerpiece of a perfectionist home theater, one with deep, perfectly tuned bass output. Those features are the ones that really make this receiver interesting and different from other options on the market, and we hope to get an opportunity to test it out in the near future.
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